[Event "Denmark op"]
[Site "Denmark"]
[Date "1993.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Andreasen, E."]
[Black "Carlsen, Morten"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C42"]
[PlyCount "33"]
[EventDate "1993.??.??"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 1997"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1996.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "1996.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. Nf3 Bd6 4. Ng5 Rf8 5. Nxf7 Rxf7 6. Bxf7+ Kxf7 7. d3 Ke8
8. Bg5 Be7 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. Qh5+ Ke7 11. Nc3 c6 12. O-O-O h6 13. f4 Qa5 14. g4
Kf8 15. d4 d5 16. fxe5 Bg5+ 17. Kb1 1-0

[Event "Denmark op"]
[Site "Denmark"]
[Date "1993.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Boysan, Mubin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Morten"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D20"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "1993.??.??"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 1997"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1996.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "1996.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e3 e5 4. Bxc4 exd4 5. Qxd4 Qxd4 6. exd4 Nc6 7. Nf3 f6 8.
O-O Bg4 9. Nbd2 O-O-O 10. h3 Bh5 11. g4 Bg6 12. Nh4 Nxd4 13. Nxg6 hxg6 14. Kg2
Ne7 15. Nb3 Nxb3 16. Bxb3 Nd5 17. Rd1 c6 18. Be3 a6 19. Rac1 Bb4 20. Bxd5 Kb8
21. Bf4+ Ka8 22. Bb3 Rde8 23. Kf3 Rxh3+ 24. Kg2 Rhh8 25. Rd7 Re2 26. Rc2 Re4
27. Rc4 Rxc4 28. Bxc4 Bc5 29. Be3 Bxe3 30. fxe3 Re8 31. Kf3 f5 32. g5 Re4 33.
Rd4 Re7 34. Bg8 Re8 35. Bf7 Rh8 36. Bxg6 Rh3+ 37. Kf4 Rh2 38. Kxf5 Rxb2 39. Bf7
Rb6 40. Rd8+ Ka7 41. Kg6 1-0

[Event "Denmark op"]
[Site "Denmark"]
[Date "1993.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Morten"]
[Black "Petersen, Soren Boeck"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C42"]
[BlackElo "2235"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "1993.??.??"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 1997"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1996.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "1996.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. d3 d4 5. Nd5 Nc6 6. Bg5 Be6 7. a3 h6 8. Bxf6
gxf6 9. Nh4 Bxd5 10. exd5 Qxd5 11. Qf3 Qxf3 12. Nxf3 O-O-O 13. g3 Kb8 14. Bg2
Re8 15. Nd2 Re6 16. Bd5 Re7 17. O-O-O Rd7 18. Bf3 Bg7 19. Rhe1 a5 20. h3 h5 21.
Nc4 f5 22. Kb1 h4 23. g4 f4 24. Rg1 Bh6 25. Nd2 Rf8 26. Bxc6 bxc6 27. f3 Rg8
28. Nc4 c5 29. Nxa5 f5 30. Nc6+ Kb7 31. Nxe5 Re7 32. Nc4 fxg4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Denmark op"]
[Site "Denmark"]
[Date "1993.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Krog, T."]
[Black "Carlsen, Morten"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "1993.??.??"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 1997"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1996.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "1996.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb4+ 7. Nc3 Bxc3+
8. bxc3 Nxe4 9. Qe2 Qe7 10. Bg5 Nxg5 11. Qxe7+ Nxe7 12. Nxg5 O-O 13. O-O c6 14.
Rae1 Ng6 15. Bd3 h6 16. Bxg6 fxg6 17. Ne4 b6 18. Re3 a5 19. Nd6 b5 20. a3 Ba6
21. Rfe1 Rf6 22. Ne8 Re6 23. Nc7 Rxe3 24. Rxe3 Ra7 25. Nxa6 Rxa6 26. Re8+ Kf7
27. Rb8 Ra7 28. d5 Rc7 29. d6 Ra7 30. h3 g5 31. g4 Ke6 32. Rg8 Kf7 33. Rc8 b4
34. Rc7 Ra8 35. Rxd7+ Ke6 36. Rxg7 Kxd6 37. Rg6+ Kd5 38. cxb4 axb4 39. axb4 Rb8
40. Rxh6 Rxb4 41. Rg6 Kd4 42. Rxc6 Ke4 43. Kg2 Rb3 44. Re6+ Kf4 45. Rf6+ Ke4
46. f3+ Ke3 47. Kg3 Rb1 48. f4 gxf4+ 49. Rxf4 Rg1+ 50. Kh2 Ra1 51. Kg3 Rg1+ 52.
Kh2 Ra1 53. Rb4 Kf3 54. g5 Ra2+ 55. Kg1 Ra1+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-chB op"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2000.??.??"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Morten"]
[Black "Svindahl, Jan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A36"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2000.??.??"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2001"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2000.11.22"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2000.11.22"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 e6 4. Bg2 Nf6 5. e4 d6 6. Nge2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. d3
e5 9. Be3 Nd4 10. Bxd4 cxd4 11. Nd5 Nxd5 12. cxd5 f5 13. Rc1 f4 14. gxf4 exf4
15. Nxd4 Rf6 16. Nf3 Bg4 17. h3 Bh5 18. d4 Rg6 19. Kh2 Qd7 20. e5 dxe5 21. dxe5
Bd8 22. Qb3 Rb6 23. e6 Qd6 24. Qc4 Rxb2 25. Rb1 Rb6 26. Rb5 Rxb5 27. Qxb5 Bb6
28. a4 Be8 29. Qc4 Rd8 30. Rd1 Bxf2 31. Kh1 h6 32. Nd2 Bh5 33. Ne4 Qb6 34. Nxf2
Qxf2 35. Rf1 Qd2 36. Qxf4 Qxf4 37. Rxf4 Rd6 38. e7 Rf6 39. Re4 Be8 40. Bf1
Rxf1+ 41. Kg2 Rd1 42. Re5 Kf7 0-1

[Event "NOR-chB op"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2000.??.??"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Toan, Thanh Pham"]
[Black "Carlsen, Morten"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B73"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2000.??.??"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2001"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2000.11.22"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2000.11.22"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8.
Be3 Nc6 9. f4 Bd7 10. Bf3 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Qc7 12. Qe2 Bc6 13. Qf2 b6 14. Rad1 Qb7
15. Rfe1 Rac8 16. b4 Ne8 17. b5 Bd7 18. e5 Qc7 19. Nd5 Qd8 20. exd6 exd6 21.
Ne7+ Kh8 22. Bxg7+ Nxg7 23. Nxc8 Qxc8 24. a4 Ne8 25. Qd4+ Kg8 26. c4 Be6 27.
Bd5 Bxd5 28. Qxd5 Kg7 29. Re7 a6 30. Qc6 Qxc6 31. bxc6 Nf6 32. Rxd6 1-0

[Event "NOR-chB op"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2000.??.??"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Morten"]
[Black "Solstad, Trond"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E04"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2000.??.??"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2001"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2000.11.22"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2000.11.22"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. Nf3 c6 6. Ne5 Be7 7. Nxc4 O-O 8. O-O
Nbd7 9. e4 b5 10. Ne3 Bb7 11. e5 Nd5 12. Nxd5 cxd5 13. Be3 Rc8 14. Nc3 b4 15.
Ne2 a5 16. Nf4 Re8 17. Qd2 Bf8 18. Nd3 Ba6 19. Rac1 Nb6 20. b3 Nd7 21. Rfd1
1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-chB op"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2000.??.??"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Christenson, Thor"]
[Black "Carlsen, Morten"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B70"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2000.??.??"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2001"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2000.11.22"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2000.11.22"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8.
Kh1 Nc6 9. Nb3 Be6 10. f4 Rc8 11. Bf3 Bc4 12. Ne2 e5 13. c3 d5 14. fxe5 Nxe5
15. exd5 Nxf3 16. Rxf3 Re8 17. Nbd4 Bxd5 18. Rf1 Ne4 19. Bf4 Bc4 20. Rf3 Bxe2
21. Nxe2 Qb6 22. Be3 Qxb2 23. Rb1 Nxc3 24. Nxc3 Qxc3 25. Bxa7 Qc6 26. Qf1 Re7
27. Be3 Rce8 28. Re1 Bd4 29. Rc1 Qb6 30. Bg5 Rc7 31. Rb1 Qa6 32. Qxa6 bxa6 33.
Rfb3 Kg7 34. g3 Re2 35. Rd1 Ba7 36. Bf4 Rcc2 37. g4 Rxa2 38. Rb7 Bd4 39. Rd7
Bc3 40. Rf1 Rf2 41. Rdd1 Rxf1+ 42. Rxf1 Ra1 43. Bc1 a5 44. Kg2 a4 45. g5 a3 46.
Bd2 Ra2 0-1

[Event "NOR-chB op"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2000.??.??"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Svendsen, Magne"]
[Black "Carlsen, Morten"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C02"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2000.??.??"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2001"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2000.11.22"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2000.11.22"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. e5 Nc6 4. d4 e6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Be2 cxd4 7. cxd4 Nge7 8. Nc3
Nf5 9. Na4 Qa5+ 10. Bd2 Bb4 11. Bc3 Bxc3+ 12. Nxc3 Qb6 13. Bb5 Bd7 14. Bxc6
Bxc6 15. Qd2 O-O 16. O-O Rac8 17. g4 Ne7 18. h4 Qd8 19. Kg2 f5 20. g5 Be8 21.
Rh1 Bh5 22. Ne2 Nc6 23. Nf4 Qe8 24. Rag1 Qf7 25. g6 Bxf3+ 26. Kxf3 hxg6 27.
Nxg6 Rfe8 28. h5 Ne7 29. Nf4 Kh7 30. Rg2 Rc6 31. Rhg1 Rg8 32. Rg6 Rgc8 33. Nh3
Qg8 34. Rxg7+ Qxg7 35. Rxg7+ Kxg7 36. Qg5+ Kf7 37. Qf6+ Ke8 38. Ng5 Kd7 39. h6
1-0

[Event "NOR-chB op"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2000.??.??"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Morten"]
[Black "Sannes, Haakon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A27"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2000.??.??"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2001"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2000.11.22"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2000.11.22"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 f5 4. d4 e4 5. Nd2 Nxd4 6. Ndxe4 Nc6 7. Ng3 d6 8. e3
Be6 9. Bd3 g6 10. b3 Bg7 11. Bb2 Qd7 12. O-O Nf6 13. Qd2 h5 14. e4 Bh6 15. f4
h4 16. exf5 hxg3 17. fxe6 gxh2+ 18. Kh1 Qh7 19. Nd5 Nxd5 20. cxd5 Ne5 21. Qc2
Nxd3 22. Qxd3 Rf8 23. Qb5+ Kd8 24. Qxb7 Rc8 25. Qb4 Rf5 26. Rae1 Qe7 27. Qe4
Rb8 28. Re3 a5 29. Rh3 Rb4 30. Bd4 Bg7 31. Rd1 Rh5 32. Rxh5 gxh5 33. Qe3 Qf8
34. e7+ Qxe7 35. Qxe7+ Kxe7 36. Bxg7 Rxf4 37. Kxh2 Rf2 38. a3 Ra2 39. a4 Rc2
40. Rd3 Rc5 41. Kg3 Kd7 42. Kf4 Rc2 43. Kf3 Rc1 44. Bc3 Rf1+ 45. Kg3 c5 46.
Bxa5 Rf5 47. Bb6 Kc8 48. a5 Rg5+ 49. Kh3 Rg4 50. Rf3 Rb4 51. Kg3 Rd4 52. a6
Rg4+ 53. Kh3 Rg8 54. Rf7 Kb8 55. a7+ Ka8 56. Rd7 Rc8 57. Rxd6 Kb7 58. Rd8 Rxd8
59. Bxd8 Kxa7 60. Kh4 1-0

[Event "NOR-chB op"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2000.??.??"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Ovesen, Karsten"]
[Black "Carlsen, Morten"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D03"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2000.??.??"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2001"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2000.11.22"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2000.11.22"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bg5 d5 4. e3 Be7 5. Nbd2 O-O 6. Bd3 c5 7. c3 Nc6 8. h4
h6 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. g4 g6 11. g5 hxg5 12. hxg5 Bxg5 13. Nxg5 Qxg5 14. Qf3 Rd8
15. O-O-O e5 16. Rdg1 e4 17. Nxe4 dxe4 18. Bxe4 Qxg1+ 19. Rxg1 Kg7 20. Bd5 Rf8
21. Bxc6 bxc6 22. Qxc6 Be6 23. Qxc5 Bxa2 24. Qe5+ f6 25. Qg3 Bf7 26. f4 a5 27.
e4 Rfe8 28. e5 f5 29. Qg5 Kf8 30. Rh1 Re6 31. Rh8+ Bg8 32. d5 Rea6 33. e6 Kg7
34. Rh2 R6a7 35. Qg1 a4 36. Qd4+ Kf8 37. Qf6+ Ke8 38. Rh8 1-0

[Event "NOR-chB op"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2000.??.??"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Morten"]
[Black "Nielsen, Tage Ronnevig"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E12"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2000.??.??"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2001"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2000.11.22"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2000.11.22"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 b6 2. d4 Bb7 3. Nf3 e6 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e3 Bb4 8. Be2
d6 9. Qc2 Bxc3+ 10. Qxc3 Nd7 11. O-O-O c5 12. Qd2 O-O-O 13. Rhg1 Rhf8 14. Kb1
g5 15. Rdf1 Qg6+ 16. Qc2 Qxc2+ 17. Kxc2 f5 18. Nd2 f4 19. Bf3 Bxf3 20. Nxf3
fxe3 21. fxe3 Nf6 22. Nd2 Ng4 23. Kd3 Nxh2 24. Rxf8 Rxf8 25. Rh1 Ng4 26. Rf1
Rxf1 27. Nxf1 e5 28. d5 Nf2+ 29. Ke2 Ne4 30. Kd3 Nf6 31. e4 Ng4 32. Ng3 Kd7 33.
Ke2 Nf6 34. Kf3 h5 35. Nf5 a6 36. a4 h4 37. Nh6 Kc7 38. Nf7 g4+ 39. Ke3 h3 40.
gxh3 gxh3 41. Kf3 h2 42. Kg2 Nxe4 43. Kxh2 Nd2 44. Ng5 Nxc4 45. Ne4 Nxb2 0-1

[Event "Bayern-chI Bank Hofmann 4th"]
[Site "Bad Wiessee"]
[Date "2000.10.29"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Cordts, Ingo"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A31"]
[BlackElo "2222"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2000.10.28"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nf3 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d5 6. cxd5 Bc5 7. N5c3 O-O 8.
e3 e4 9. h3 Re8 10. g4 Re5 11. Bc4 Nbd7 12. Qb3 Ne8 13. Nd2 Nd6 14. Be2 Qh4 15.
Nc4 Nxc4 16. Qxc4 b5 17. Qxb5 Rb8 18. Qa4 Nf6 19. Qc6 Nd7 20. d6 Re6 21. Nxe4
Bb7 22. Qxd7 Bxe4 23. Rh2 Bxd6 24. Bc4 Rd8 25. Qxa7 Bxh2 26. Bxe6 fxe6 27. Qa6
Bf3 28. Bd2 Qxh3 29. Qxe6+ Kh8 30. Qe7 Bc7 0-1

[Event "Bayern-chI Bank Hofmann 4th"]
[Site "Bad Wiessee"]
[Date "2000.10.30"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Kaiser, Guenter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B08"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2000.10.28"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d6 3. Nc3 g6 4. e4 Bg7 5. Be2 O-O 6. O-O e5 7. Be3 h6 8. Qd2
Ng4 9. d5 f5 10. exf5 gxf5 11. h3 Nxe3 12. Qxe3 e4 13. Nd4 Qe7 14. Rad1 c5 15.
dxc6 bxc6 16. Bc4+ Kh7 17. Nce2 d5 18. Bb3 c5 19. Nb5 d4 20. Qd2 Bb7 21. Nf4 a6
22. Nd5 Qe5 23. Nbc7 Ra7 24. Qa5 Nd7 25. g3 Rc8 26. Nb5 Raa8 27. Nbc7 Bxd5 28.
Nxa8 Rxa8 29. Ba4 Be6 30. Kh2 f4 31. Qe1 Nf6 32. Bc6 Rc8 33. Bb7 Rc7 34. Ba8
Bd5 35. Bxd5 Nxd5 36. Qe2 fxg3+ 0-1

[Event "Bayern-chI Bank Hofmann 4th"]
[Site "Bad Wiessee"]
[Date "2000.10.31"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Olzem, Lothar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D00"]
[BlackElo "2179"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2000.10.28"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Bg5 h6 3. Bh4 Bf5 4. Nf3 Nd7 5. e3 Ngf6 6. Bd3 Bxd3 7. Qxd3 e6 8.
O-O Be7 9. c4 O-O 10. Nc3 c6 11. e4 dxe4 12. Nxe4 Nxe4 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Qxe4
Qb4 15. b3 Rfd8 16. Rad1 a5 17. Qe1 Qb6 18. Qc3 Nf6 19. Ne5 Qb4 20. Qb2 a4 21.
Nd3 Qb6 22. Nc5 Nd7 23. b4 Nxc5 24. dxc5 Qc7 25. a3 Qf4 26. Qc2 g6 27. g3 Qg4
28. Kg2 Qf5 29. Qxf5 gxf5 30. Kf3 Kf8 31. Rd6 Ke7 32. Rfd1 Rab8 33. Rxd8 Rxd8
34. Rxd8 Kxd8 35. g4 Ke7 36. gxf5 exf5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bayern-chI Bank Hofmann 4th"]
[Site "Bad Wiessee"]
[Date "2000.11.01"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Bartels, Holger"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C59"]
[WhiteElo "2170"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2000.10.28"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8.
Be2 h6 9. Nh3 Bc5 10. O-O Bxh3 11. gxh3 Ne4 12. d3 Ng5 13. Be3 Nxh3+ 14. Kg2
Nf4+ 15. Kh1 Nb7 16. Bf3 Qb6 17. Nd2 O-O 18. Nc4 Qc7 19. Qd2 Bxe3 20. fxe3 Nd5
21. Qg2 Rad8 22. Qg3 Rde8 23. Be4 Nd6 24. Rg1 g5 25. Nxd6 Qxd6 26. Raf1 Qe6 27.
Qf3 Ne7 28. Qf6 Qxf6 29. Rxf6 Kg7 30. Rgf1 Rc8 31. c3 Nd5 32. Bxd5 cxd5 33. Ra6
Rb8 34. b3 Rbc8 35. c4 dxc4 36. dxc4 Rc7 37. Rff6 Rd8 38. Rfd6 Rcd7 39. Rxd7
Rxd7 40. c5 f5 41. b4 e4 42. b5 f4 43. Kg2 f3+ 44. Kf2 Rd2+ 45. Kg1 Rd1+ 46.
Kf2 Rd2+ 47. Kg1 Rd1+ 48. Kf2 Rd2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Nordic Cup-chT U18"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2001.??.??"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nyback, Tomi"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A42"]
[BlackElo "2211"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2001.??.??"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 g6 2. Nc3 Bg7 3. d4 d6 4. g3 Nd7 5. Bg2 e5 6. Nf3 Ne7 7. O-O O-O 8. e4
exd4 9. Nxd4 Nc6 10. Be3 Nde5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. c5 Nc4 13. Qe2 Ba6 14. Rfc1 Rb8
15. b3 Nxe3 16. Qxa6 Nxg2 17. Kxg2 Bd4 18. Rc2 Qf6 19. Rac1 dxc5 20. Qe2 Qe7
21. Na4 Rb5 22. f3 h5 23. h4 Kg7 24. f4 Qd6 25. e5 Qd5+ 26. Qf3 Rd8 27. Qxd5
cxd5 28. Kf3 c4 29. bxc4 Ra5 30. Rd1 c5 31. Nc3 Ra3 32. Rdc1 dxc4 33. Ke4 Bxc3
34. Rxc3 Rd4+ 35. Ke3 Rd3+ 36. Rxd3 Rxd3+ 37. Ke4 Rxg3 38. Rxc4 Ra3 39. f5
gxf5+ 40. Kxf5 Rxa2 41. Rxc5 a5 42. Kg5 a4 43. Ra5 a3 44. Kxh5 Ra1 45. Ra7 Kf8
46. Kh6 a2 47. h5 Ke8 48. Kh7 Rh1 49. Rxa2 Rxh5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Nordic School-ch U11"]
[Site "Laugar"]
[Date "2001.??.??"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Sofiev, Alexey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C42"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2001.??.??"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2002"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d3 Nf6 6. Nc3 Nc6 7. d4 Bg4 8.
Be2 d5 9. Bf4 Bd6 10. Bxd6 Qxd6 11. O-O O-O 12. a3 Rfe8 13. h3 Bh5 14. Re1 Ne4
15. Nd2 Bxe2 16. Qxe2 Nxd4 17. Qd3 Nxc3 18. bxc3 Rxe1+ 19. Rxe1 Ne6 20. Qb5 b6
21. Qb2 Nf4 22. Nf1 Qg6 23. Ng3 h5 24. h4 Qg4 25. Qb5 Qxh4 26. Re8+ Rxe8 27.
Qxe8+ Kh7 28. Qxf7 Qg4 29. Qf5+ Qxf5 30. Nxf5 Ne2+ 31. Kf1 Nxc3 32. Ne7 g6 33.
Ke1 Kg7 34. Kd2 Kf7 35. Nc6 Ne4+ 36. Ke3 a5 37. f3 Nd6 38. Kd4 Ke6 39. a4 Nf5+
40. Kd3 Nh4 0-1

[Event "Nordic School-ch U11"]
[Site "Laugar"]
[Date "2001.??.??"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Viljanen, Markus"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D00"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2001.??.??"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2002"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bf4 g6 4. e3 Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Bd3 Nh5 7. Ne2 Nxf4 8.
Nxf4 c6 9. O-O f6 10. c4 e5 11. Nxg6 hxg6 12. Bxg6 e4 13. Nd2 f5 14. cxd5 cxd5
15. Rc1 Nc6 16. Nb3 Nb4 17. Ra1 Nd3 18. Rb1 Qg5 19. Qh5 Qxh5 20. Bxh5 b6 21.
Nc1 Ba6 22. Rd1 f4 23. Be2 fxe3 24. fxe3 Nb4 25. Bxa6 Nxa6 26. Nb3 Bh6 27. Re1
Nb4 28. a3 Nc2 29. Re2 Nxe3 30. h3 Rac8 31. Kh1 Rc2 32. Rxc2 Nxc2 33. Kg1 e3
34. Nc1 Nxd4 35. Nd3 e2 36. b4 Be3+ 37. Kh2 Rf1 38. Re1 Bf4+ 39. g3 Nf3+ 40.
Kg2 Nxe1+ 41. Kh2 Nxd3 0-1

[Event "Nordic-chT"]
[Site "Norway"]
[Date "2001.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Blomqvist, Erik"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C79"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2001.??.??"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2005"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 d6 7. Re1 Na5 8. d4
exd4 9. e5 dxe5 10. Nxe5 Be7 11. Nxf7 Nxb3 12. Nxd8 Nxa1 13. Nc6 Nd5 14. Qh5+
g6 15. Qxd5 Kf8 16. Nxe7 Rb8 17. Qd8+ Kg7 18. Qxd4+ Kf7 19. Qxh8 Nxc2 20. Qg8+
Kf6 21. Qf8# 1-0

[Event "Nordic-chT"]
[Site "Norway"]
[Date "2001.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hammer, Jon Ludvig"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D36"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2001.??.??"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2005"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Bg5 c6 7. e3 Be6 8. Bd3
Nbd7 9. Qc2 h6 10. Bh4 Rc8 11. O-O O-O 12. Rab1 Qc7 13. b4 b5 14. a4 a6 15. a5
Bg4 16. Nd2 Bd6 17. Bg3 Rfe8 18. Rfc1 Re7 19. Nb3 Kh8 20. Na2 Nb8 21. Nc5 Nfd7
22. Bf5 Bxf5 23. Qxf5 g6 24. Qf3 Bxg3 25. hxg3 Nxc5 26. Rxc5 Nd7 27. Rc3 Qd6
28. Nc1 Qf6 29. Nd3 Qxf3 30. gxf3 g5 31. Rbc1 Nb8 32. Ne5 Kg7 33. Rc5 Rec7 34.
e4 dxe4 35. fxe4 f6 36. Ng4 h5 37. Ne3 Kf7 38. Nf5 Ke6 39. d5+ Kd7 40. d6 Rb7
41. e5 fxe5 42. Rxe5 Re8 43. Re7+ Rxe7 44. dxe7 Rc7 45. Rd1+ 1-0

[Event "Nordic-chT"]
[Site "Norway"]
[Date "2001.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Rosbach, Michael"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C60"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2001.??.??"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2005"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nge7 4. O-O a6 5. Ba4 g6 6. c3 b5 7. Bb3 Bg7 8. d4
d6 9. h3 O-O 10. Be3 Bb7 11. Nbd2 d5 12. exd5 Nxd5 13. Bg5 Qd7 14. Ne4 Nb6 15.
Nc5 Qc8 16. Nxb7 Qxb7 17. dxe5 Nxe5 18. Nxe5 Bxe5 19. Re1 Bg7 20. Re7 Rad8 21.
Qg4 Qc8 22. Qf3 Rd7 23. Rae1 Rxe7 24. Bxe7 Qe8 25. Re4 Nc4 26. Bxf8 Qxf8 27.
Bxc4 bxc4 28. Rxc4 Qb8 29. Rb4 Qd8 30. g3 Qd7 31. Rb8+ Bf8 32. Qa8 Qd6 33. Qb7
Kg7 34. Ra8 Qe5 35. Qxa6 Bc5 36. Kf1 Qf5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Nordic-chT"]
[Site "Norway"]
[Date "2001.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Skovgaard, Peter Nicolai"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D94"]
[WhiteElo "2130"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2001.??.??"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2005"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. e3 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Be2 O-O 6. O-O cxd4 7. exd4 d5 8. Nc3
Be6 9. Ne5 dxc4 10. Nxc4 Nc6 11. Be3 Nd5 12. Bf3 Nxc3 13. bxc3 Bxc4 14. Re1 Bd5
15. Be2 f6 16. c4 Bf7 17. d5 Ne5 18. Rb1 b6 19. f4 Nd7 20. Bf3 Rc8 21. Bf2 Re8
22. Bg4 f5 23. Bf3 Rxc4 24. Qd3 Rc3 25. Qd2 Nc5 26. Rbd1 Rd3 27. Qc2 Rxd1 28.
Rxd1 Qd6 29. g3 Rc8 30. Re1 Rc7 31. g4 fxg4 32. Bxg4 Qxf4 33. Bh3 Bxd5 34. Qd1
Bc6 35. Be3 Qd6 36. Qc2 Qd5 37. Bf4 Bd4+ 0-1

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2001.01.05"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Edvardsen, Ragnar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D12"]
[WhiteElo "2055"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2001.01.05"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 080 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.03.08"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.03.08"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 Bf5 4. c4 c6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Bd3 Bxd3 7. Qxd3 Nbd7 8. b3
Bd6 9. O-O O-O 10. Bb2 Qe7 11. Rad1 Rad8 12. Rfe1 dxc4 13. bxc4 e5 14. dxe5
Nxe5 15. Nxe5 Bxe5 16. Qe2 Rxd1 17. Rxd1 Rd8 18. Rxd8+ Qxd8 19. Qd1 Qxd1+ 20.
Nxd1 Bxb2 21. Nxb2 b5 22. f3 Kf8 23. Kf2 Ke7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2001.01.06"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Brameld, Arthur F"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B05"]
[BlackElo "2095"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2001.01.05"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 080 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.03.08"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.03.08"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. Bc4 e6 6. O-O Nb6 7. Be2 Be7 8. h3
Bh5 9. Bf4 Nc6 10. c3 O-O 11. Nbd2 d5 12. b4 a5 13. a3 Qd7 14. Qc2 Bg6 15. Bd3
Rfc8 16. Rfb1 Bf8 17. h4 Ne7 18. g3 Qa4 19. Ne1 Qxc2 20. Bxc2 Bxc2 21. Nxc2 Na4
22. Rb3 b6 23. Kf1 c5 24. bxc5 bxc5 25. dxc5 Rxc5 26. Nb1 Rac8 27. Be3 Rc4 28.
Bd4 Nc6 29. Rb5 Nxd4 30. Nxd4 Nxc3 31. Nxc3 Rxd4 32. Ne2 Ra4 33. Ke1 Rxa3 34.
Rab1 Bb4+ 35. Kf1 Rd3 0-1

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2001.01.07"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Fant, Goran"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C16"]
[BlackElo "2062"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2001.01.05"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 080 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.03.08"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.03.08"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Ne7 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 b6 7. Qg4 Nf5 8. Bd3
h5 9. Qh3 c5 10. Bxf5 exf5 11. Qg3 Kf8 12. h4 Nc6 13. Bg5 f6 14. exf6 gxf6 15.
Be3 Qe7 16. Ne2 Be6 17. O-O Kf7 18. Nf4 Rag8 19. Qf3 Qd7 20. Rad1 c4 21. Rfe1
Rg4 22. g3 Kf8 23. Nxe6+ Qxe6 24. Bh6+ Kf7 25. Rxe6 Kxe6 26. Bf4 Ne7 27. Re1+
Kd7 28. Qe3 1-0

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2001.01.08"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Ostmoe, Geir S Tallaksen"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2258"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2001.01.05"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 080 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.03.08"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.03.08"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Bd3 Nbd7 7. e4 dxe4 8.
Nxe4 Nxe4 9. Bxe4 Nf6 10. Bc2 Bb4+ 11. Bd2 Bxd2+ 12. Qxd2 b6 13. O-O Bb7 14.
Ne5 Nd7 15. Qd3 g6 16. Nxd7 Qxd7 17. b3 Rad8 18. Rad1 c5 19. dxc5 Qxd3 20. Rxd3
Rxd3 21. Bxd3 bxc5 22. Rd1 Rd8 23. f3 e5 24. Kf2 e4 25. Be2 Rxd1 26. Bxd1 Kf8
27. fxe4 Bxe4 28. a3 a5 29. g3 Ke7 30. Ke3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2001.01.08"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nilssen, John Arni"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B32"]
[BlackElo "2371"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "2001.01.05"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 080 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.03.08"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.03.08"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. N1c3 a6 7. Na3 b5 8. Nd5
Nge7 9. c4 Nd4 10. cxb5 Nxd5 11. exd5 Bd7 12. Be3 axb5 13. Bxd4 exd4 14. Qxd4
Be7 15. Nxb5 O-O 16. Nc3 Bf6 17. Qd2 Re8+ 18. Be2 Bxc3 19. Qxc3 Bb5 20. O-O
Rxe2 21. Rfe1 Rxe1+ 22. Qxe1 Bc4 0-1

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2001.01.09"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Grubert, Christian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2170"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2001.01.05"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 080 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.03.08"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.03.08"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. O-O O-O 8. c4
c6 9. Nc3 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Bg4 11. Rb1 b6 12. cxd5 cxd5 13. c4 Nc6 14. cxd5 Nxd4
15. Bxh7+ Kxh7 16. Qxd4 Bxf3 17. Qd3+ f5 18. Qxf3 Be5 19. Ba3 Bd6 20. Bxd6 Qxd6
21. Rbc1 g6 22. Rc6 Qd7 23. Rfc1 Rac8 24. Qh3+ 1-0

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2001.01.10"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Johansen, Kai Roger"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[BlackElo "2097"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2001.01.05"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 080 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.03.08"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.03.08"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. f4 c5 5. dxc5 Qa5 6. cxd6 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 Qxc3+
8. Bd2 Qd4 9. Bd3 Qxd6 10. Bc3 f6 11. Nf3 Nc6 12. Bd2 Qc5 13. Qe2 Nh6 14. h3
O-O 15. Be3 Qc3+ 16. Kf2 Nf7 17. Rhd1 e5 18. Bc4 Qa5 19. Kg1 Kg7 20. Rab1 Qc7
21. Bc5 Re8 22. Bxf7 Qxf7 23. fxe5 fxe5 24. Ng5 Qxa2 25. Qf2 Nd8 26. Rf1 Qa6
27. Be7 Be6 28. Qf6+ Kg8 29. Bf8 Qxf1+ 30. Rxf1 1-0

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2001.01.11"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Sorensen, Henrik"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D48"]
[WhiteElo "2245"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2001.01.05"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 080 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.03.08"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.03.08"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3
a6 9. a4 Bb7 10. O-O b4 11. Ne4 Nxe4 12. Bxe4 Nf6 13. Nd2 Nxe4 14. Nxe4 Qd5 15.
f3 f5 16. Nf2 Rd8 17. b3 c5 18. Bb2 cxd4 19. Bxd4 e5 20. Bb6 Rd6 21. a5 Qe6 22.
Qc2 Be7 23. Qc4 Qxc4 24. bxc4 Kf7 25. Rfc1 Rc8 26. Rab1 Ke6 27. c5 Rd2 28. Rxb4
Bc6 29. Rb3 Bb5 30. Rbc3 Rc6 31. e4 f4 32. Rd1 Rxd1+ 33. Nxd1 Ba4 34. Nb2 Bb5
35. Kf2 Bf8 36. g3 Be7 37. Rc2 g6 38. Ke1 Kd7 39. Kd2 Ke6 40. Nd3 Bg5 41. g4
Be7 42. Nb4 Rc8 43. Nd5 Kd7 44. Kc1 Ba4 45. Rc4 Bb5 46. Rc2 Ba4 47. Rc3 Bb5 48.
Kd2 Bh4 49. Rc1 Bf2 50. c6+ 1-0

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2001.01.12"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Moen, Andreas"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C42"]
[BlackElo "2227"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2001.01.05"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 080 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.03.08"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.03.08"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. c3
Bg4 9. Nbd2 Nxd2 10. Bxd2 O-O 11. Bf4 Bd6 12. Bxd6 cxd6 13. Re1 Qf6 14. Bc2 Na5
15. Bb3 Nc4 16. Bxc4 dxc4 17. Qe2 b5 18. Qe4 Bxf3 19. Qxf3 Qxf3 20. gxf3 Rfe8
21. Kf1 g5 22. Rxe8+ Rxe8 23. Re1 Rxe1+ 24. Kxe1 Kg7 25. Kf1 Kf6 26. Ke2 Kf5
27. Ke3 d5 28. f4 g4 29. f3 h5 0-1

[Event "NOR-ch op"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2001.04.07"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Hagberg, Oivind"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C41"]
[BlackElo "2064"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2001.04.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 081 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d3 d6 4. c3 g6 5. Bg5 Bg7 6. Be2 O-O 7. d4 h6 8. Bxf6
Qxf6 9. dxe5 dxe5 10. O-O Nd7 11. Nbd2 Nc5 12. Qc2 Bg4 13. Rfe1 Rfe8 14. b4 Ne6
15. h3 Bxf3 16. Nxf3 Nf4 17. Bc4 Nxh3+ 18. gxh3 Qxf3 19. Re3 Qh5 20. Qb3 Rf8
21. Rd1 Qg5+ 22. Rg3 Qf6 23. Rdd3 g5 24. Rgf3 Qe7 25. Rf5 Kh8 26. Bxf7 Rad8 27.
Rdf3 Rd6 28. Kf1 Qd8 29. Bh5 Rxf5 30. Rxf5 Rc6 31. Rf3 Rd6 32. Rf5 Rd2 33. Rf7
Qd3+ 34. Kg2 Qxe4+ 35. Bf3 Qh4 36. Bxb7 g4 37. Qe6 Qxh3+ 38. Kg1 Rd1# 0-1

[Event "NOR-ch op"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2001.04.08"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sollid, Stein"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C63"]
[WhiteElo "2064"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[EventDate "2001.04.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 081 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 4. d3 fxe4 5. dxe4 Nf6 6. O-O d6 7. Nc3 Be7 8.
Bg5 Be6 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. Nd5 O-O 11. Be2 Qd7 12. c3 Ne7 13. Nxf6+ gxf6 14. Nd2
Qc6 15. Kh1 f5 16. exf5 Nxf5 17. Bf3 d5 18. Qe2 e4 19. Bg4 Rae8 20. Rad1 Bc8
21. Nb3 Qg6 22. Bxf5 Rxf5 23. Qe3 Rh5 24. Rde1 Ree5 25. f3 Qg3 26. Qg1 Rh4 0-1

[Event "NOR-ch op"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2001.04.08"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Flores, R."]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B76"]
[WhiteElo "2114"]
[BlackElo "2064"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2001.04.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 081 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 g6 6. f3 Bg7 7. Be3 O-O 8. Qd2
Nc6 9. Nb3 Be6 10. Bh6 a5 11. Bxg7 Kxg7 12. g4 Ne5 13. Be2 Nc4 14. Bxc4 Bxc4
15. h4 a4 16. Nd4 e5 17. Ndb5 d5 18. g5 Nh5 19. exd5 Nf4 20. O-O-O Ra5 21. Na3
Bxd5 22. Nxd5 Rxd5 23. Qe3 Rxd1+ 24. Rxd1 Qc7 25. Qe4 Qc5 26. Qxb7 Ne2+ 27. Kd2
Qf2 28. Qc7 e4 29. fxe4 Re8 30. e5 Qd4+ 31. Ke1 Qe4 32. Kd2 Rxe5 33. c4 Qf4+
34. Kc2 Nd4+ 35. Rxd4 Qxd4 36. Qxe5+ Qxe5 37. b4 Qe2+ 0-1

[Event "NOR-ch op"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2001.04.09"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Breivik, Lars H"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C05"]
[WhiteElo "2064"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2001.04.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 081 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. e5 Nfd7 4. d4 c5 5. f4 cxd4 6. Nb5 Nc6 7. Nf3 e6 8.
Nbxd4 Be7 9. Be2 O-O 10. O-O Nc5 11. Be3 Bd7 12. c3 a5 13. c4 dxc4 14. Bxc4 a4
15. a3 Na5 16. Be2 Nab3 17. Rb1 Qc7 18. Nxb3 Nxb3 19. Bd3 Rfd8 20. Qe2 Bc6 21.
Rbd1 Rd7 22. Qf2 Rad8 23. Bb6 Qxb6 24. Qxb6 Bc5+ 25. Qxc5 Nxc5 26. Be2 Rxd1 27.
Rxd1 Rxd1+ 28. Bxd1 Nd3 29. b3 axb3 30. Bxb3 Bxf3 31. gxf3 Nxf4 32. Bc4 Ng6 33.
Kf2 Nxe5 34. Bb5 Kf8 35. a4 b6 36. Ke3 Ke7 37. Ke4 Kd6 38. f4 f5+ 0-1

[Event "NOR-ch op"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2001.04.10"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Kabashaj, Agron"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A31"]
[BlackElo "2064"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2001.04.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 081 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. g3 cxd4 4. Nxd4 d5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. c4 e5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
e4 Ndb4 9. Qxd8+ Kxd8 10. Na3 Bg4 11. Be2 Bxf3 12. Bxf3 Nd4 13. Bd1 Nd3+ 14.
Kf1 Rc8 15. Be3 Nxb2 16. Bxd4 exd4 17. Nb5 Bc5 18. e5 a6 19. Nd6 Bxd6 20. exd6
d3 21. Bb3 Re8 22. Kg2 Re2 23. Rab1 Rc6 24. d7 Kxd7 25. Bxf7 Rf6 26. Bd5 Rfxf2+
27. Kh3 b5 28. g4 Re3+ 29. Kh4 g5+ 30. Kh5 Rh3+ 31. Kxg5 Rhxh2 32. Rhg1 Re2 33.
Bb7 Re6 34. Bg2 Nc4 35. Rbd1 d2 36. Bd5 Re5+ 37. Kf6 Rxd5 38. Kg7 Nb2 39. Rh1
Rxh1 40. Rxh1 d1=Q 41. Rxd1 Nxd1 42. Kxh7 Rg5 0-1

[Event "NOR-ch op"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2001.04.11"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Rukovci, Shemsi"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A21"]
[WhiteElo "2064"]
[PlyCount "12"]
[EventDate "2001.04.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 081 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Bb4 3. Nd5 Be7 4. Nxe7 Nxe7 5. d4 exd4 6. Qxd4 O-O 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-ch op"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2001.04.12"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Aarefjord, Christian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C28"]
[BlackElo "2064"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2001.04.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 081 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Bc4 Bb4 5. d3 d5 6. exd5 Nxd5 7. Bd2 Nxc3 8.
bxc3 Be7 9. Qe2 Bf6 10. O-O O-O 11. Rfe1 Re8 12. Qe4 g6 13. g4 Na5 14. Bb3 Nxb3
15. axb3 Bd7 16. g5 Bc6 17. Qh4 Bg7 18. Qg4 Qd6 19. Re2 Re6 20. Rae1 Rae8 21.
c4 b6 22. Bc1 Ba8 23. Nd2 Bc6 24. Ne4 Qe7 25. Re3 h5 26. Qg3 Bd7 27. Bb2 Bc6
28. Nf6+ Bxf6 29. gxf6 Qxf6 30. Rxe5 Rxe5 31. Rxe5 Rd8 32. Qe3 Qh4 33. Qg5
Qxg5+ 34. Rxg5 Re8 35. Kf1 Bf3 36. Re5 Rd8 37. Ke1 Kf8 38. Ba3+ Kg8 39. Re7 Rc8
40. Kd2 h4 41. Ke3 Bh5 42. Kd2 g5 43. Rd7 g4 44. Re7 Kg7 45. Ke3 Kf6 46. d4 c5
47. Rxa7 Re8+ 48. Kd2 cxd4 49. Rd7 g3 50. fxg3 Re2+ 51. Kd3 Rxh2 52. gxh4 Bg6+
53. Kxd4 Rd2+ 0-1

[Event "NOR-ch op"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2001.04.13"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Johansen, Svein Age"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B02"]
[WhiteElo "2064"]
[BlackElo "2159"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2001.04.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 081 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. e5 Ne4 4. Nce2 d4 5. d3 Nc5 6. f4 Nc6 7. Nf3 Bg4 8. Ng3
e6 9. Be2 Be7 10. O-O h5 11. h3 h4 12. Nh1 Bf5 13. Nf2 Qd7 14. c4 f6 15. b3 a5
16. a3 a4 17. b4 Nb3 18. Rb1 Nxc1 19. Rxc1 fxe5 20. b5 Na5 21. Nxe5 Qd6 22.
Bh5+ g6 23. Nxg6 O-O-O 24. Nxh8 Rxh8 25. Ne4 Qxa3 26. Ra1 Qb3 27. Rxa4 Rxh5 28.
Qxh5 Qxa4 29. Qe8+ Bd8 30. Nc5 Qa3 31. Qd7+ Kb8 32. Qxd8+ Ka7 33. Qxc7 1-0

[Event "NOR-ch op"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2001.04.14"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Badea, Bela"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A17"]
[WhiteElo "2492"]
[BlackElo "2064"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2001.04.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 081 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 b6 3. Bg2 Bb7 4. O-O c5 5. d3 e6 6. e4 d6 7. Re1 Be7 8. c4 O-O
9. Nc3 Nbd7 10. d4 cxd4 11. Nxd4 Qb8 12. f4 Rc8 13. b3 Bf8 14. Be3 a6 15. Rc1
Ra7 16. Bf2 Ba8 17. f5 Re8 18. g4 exf5 19. Nxf5 Nc5 20. Ng3 Rae7 21. Nd5 Bxd5
22. exd5 Rxe1+ 23. Bxe1 Rxe1+ 24. Qxe1 Nd3 25. Qd1 Nxc1 26. g5 Nxa2 27. gxf6
Nb4 28. fxg7 Bxg7 29. Be4 Qe8 30. Qg4 Kh8 31. Kf1 Qd8 32. Nh5 Be5 33. Qf5 Qg8
34. Nf6 Bxf6 35. Qxf6+ Qg7 36. Qd8+ Qg8 37. Qxd6 a5 38. Qxb6 Qe8 39. Qh6 1-0

[Event "Gausdal Classics IM-A"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2001.04.15"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vegh, Endre"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B40"]
[WhiteElo "2064"]
[BlackElo "2305"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2001.04.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 082 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Qb6 6. Nb3 Bb4 7. Bd3 d6 8.
O-O Bxc3 9. bxc3 e5 10. h3 O-O 11. Be3 Qc6 12. Qf3 Qxc3 13. Qg3 Kh8 14. f4 Nbd7
15. fxe5 dxe5 16. Rf2 b6 17. Raf1 Bb7 18. Qh4 Qc6 19. Nd2 Rae8 20. Bg5 Re6 21.
Kh2 Kg8 22. Rf3 h6 23. Be3 Nh7 24. Rg3 Kh8 25. Rgf3 Rf6 26. Bc4 Rxf3 27. Rxf3
Ndf6 28. Qg3 Nxe4 29. Nxe4 Qxe4 30. Bxf7 Qxc2 31. Rf2 Qc7 32. Qg6 Qc6 33. Be6
Rxf2 34. Bxf2 Ng5 0-1

[Event "Gausdal Classics IM-A"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2001.04.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hole, Oystein"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2064"]
[BlackElo "2245"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2001.04.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 082 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 Nd7 6. O-O Ne7 7. b3 h6 8. c4 Ng6
9. Nc3 Be7 10. Be3 O-O 11. Ne1 Bb4 12. Rc1 Qa5 13. Bd2 Nf4 14. Bxf4 Bxc3 15.
Bd3 Bxd3 16. Qxd3 Bxe1 17. Rfxe1 dxc4 18. bxc4 Rfd8 19. Qg3 Kh8 20. Re3 Nf8 21.
Rf3 Rd7 22. Be3 Qd8 23. h4 Ng6 24. h5 Nh4 25. Rf4 Nf5 26. Qf3 Nxd4 27. Bxd4
Rxd4 28. Rxf7 Qg5 29. Re1 Rxc4 30. Rxb7 Rf4 31. Qxc6 Raf8 32. Qxe6 Rxf2 33. Qh3
Qd2 34. Rbb1 Qd4 35. Qe3 Rf1+ 36. Kh2 Qxe3 0-1

[Event "Gausdal Classics IM-A"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2001.04.17"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Hersvik, Daniel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A38"]
[WhiteElo "2195"]
[BlackElo "2064"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2001.04.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 082 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. O-O O-O 7. d3 d6 8. Rb1
Rb8 9. a3 a6 10. b4 cxb4 11. axb4 b5 12. cxb5 axb5 13. h3 Bd7 14. Bd2 Ne8 15.
Ne4 Nf6 16. Nxf6+ Bxf6 17. Bh6 Re8 18. Ng5 Nd4 19. Ne4 Bh8 20. Qd2 Rc8 21. e3
Nf5 22. Bg5 h6 23. g4 hxg5 24. gxf5 Bxf5 25. Nxg5 Bc3 26. Qe2 Bf6 27. Ne4 Bxe4
28. Bxe4 Kg7 29. Rfc1 Qd7 30. Bg2 Rh8 31. d4 Rh5 32. Qf3 Rch8 33. Qg4 e6 34.
Qf3 d5 35. Qe2 Rg5 36. f4 Rg3 37. Kh2 Bh4 38. Rg1 Rc8 39. Bf1 Rxg1 40. Kxg1 Be7
41. Qd2 Qc6 42. Kf2 Qa6 43. Bd3 Qa3 44. Bxb5 Rb8 45. Be2 Rxb4 46. Rxb4 Bxb4 47.
Qd1 Qb2 48. Kf3 Bd2 49. Qf1 Qc3 50. Bd3 Qc1 51. Qxc1 Bxc1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gausdal Classics IM-A"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2001.04.18"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hermansson, Emil"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2064"]
[BlackElo "2400"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2001.04.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 082 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 Ne7 6. O-O c5 7. c3 Nd7 8. Be3 Nc6
9. Ne1 Qb6 10. Qd2 Be7 11. f4 O-O 12. g4 Be4 13. Bf3 Rac8 14. Qf2 cxd4 15. cxd4
Bxf3 16. Nxf3 Nb4 17. Ne1 Nc2 18. Nxc2 Qxb2 19. Rc1 Rc6 20. Nd2 Rxc2 21. Rxc2
Qxc2 22. Qg3 Rc8 23. Qf2 Rc3 24. Nf1 Qg6 25. Qg2 Rc2 26. Qf3 h5 27. h3 hxg4 28.
hxg4 f6 29. Rc1 Rxc1 30. Bxc1 fxe5 31. fxe5 Qc2 32. Bf4 Qxa2 33. g5 Nf8 34. Ng3
Qa1+ 0-1

[Event "Gausdal Classics IM-A"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2001.04.19"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Hitzgerova, Gabriela"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C86"]
[WhiteElo "2255"]
[BlackElo "2064"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2001.04.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 082 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. Qe2 a6 5. Ba4 Be7 6. O-O b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3
d6 9. h3 Bb7 10. d4 Re8 11. a4 Na5 12. Bc2 Bf8 13. dxe5 dxe5 14. Bg5 Nc4 15. b3
Nd6 16. Rd1 Qe7 17. Nbd2 Bc6 18. Nh2 Qe6 19. a5 b4 20. c4 Nb7 21. Bxf6 Qxf6 22.
Ng4 Qe6 23. Ne3 Bc5 24. Nd5 Rac8 25. Nf3 Nd6 26. Rd2 f6 27. Rad1 Bb7 28. Kh1
Nf7 29. Nh4 Red8 30. Nf5 g6 31. Qg4 Kh8 32. Nh6 Qxg4 33. Nxg4 Bxd5 34. cxd5 Kg7
35. Bd3 Rd6 36. Rc2 Bd4 37. Rdc1 Bc3 38. Ne3 c6 39. Bxa6 Rc7 40. Bc4 cxd5 41.
Nxd5 Rc5 42. a6 Rdc6 43. Ra2 1-0

[Event "Gausdal Classics IM-A"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2001.04.19"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caoili, Arianne"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B43"]
[WhiteElo "2064"]
[BlackElo "2140"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2001.04.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 082 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Nc3 b5 6. Bd3 Qb6 7. Be3 Bc5 8.
Nce2 Nf6 9. O-O Ng4 10. Bd2 e5 11. b4 Bxd4 12. Nxd4 Nxf2 13. Rxf2 Qxd4 14. a4
bxa4 15. Rxa4 Qb6 16. Qh5 O-O 17. b5 d6 18. Ba5 Qb7 19. Rc4 g6 20. Qg5 axb5 21.
Rc7 Qa6 22. Bd2 Qa2 23. Re7 Nd7 24. Bxb5 f6 25. Qh4 Rf7 26. Re8+ Nf8 27. Bh6
Be6 28. Rxa8 Qxa8 29. Rxf6 Qa7+ 30. Kf1 Rxf6+ 31. Qxf6 Qf7 32. Qxf7+ Kxf7 33.
Bc6 Nd7 34. Bxd7 Bxd7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gausdal Classics IM-A"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2001.04.20"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Petrov, Marian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2425"]
[BlackElo "2064"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2001.04.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 082 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Be2 cxd4 7. cxd4 e6 8.
Nc3 Bb4 9. O-O Qa5 10. a3 Bxc3 11. bxc3 Nf6 12. Rb1 O-O 13. Rb5 Qc7 14. h3 Bf5
15. Nh4 Bg6 16. Nxg6 hxg6 17. Bf3 a6 18. Rc5 Nd7 19. Rg5 Ne7 20. Qb3 Rab8 21.
g3 Rbc8 22. Qxb7 Qxb7 23. Bxb7 Rxc3 24. Bd2 Rxa3 25. Bb4 Rb3 26. Bxe7 Re8 27.
Bxa6 Rxe7 28. Rc1 Nf6 29. Rc8+ Re8 30. Rgc5 Rb8 31. Rxe8+ Rxe8 32. Kg2 Rd8 33.
Rc4 Kf8 34. Kf3 Rb8 35. Rc3 Nd5 36. Rc5 Rb4 37. Ke4 Nf6+ 38. Ke3 Rb3+ 39. Ke2
Rb2+ 40. Kf3 Rb4 41. Ke3 Nd5+ 42. Ke4 Nf6+ 43. Ke3 Rb3+ 44. Ke2 Rb2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gausdal Classics IM-A"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2001.04.21"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Lahlum, Hans Olav"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C02"]
[WhiteElo "2064"]
[BlackElo "2233"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2001.04.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 082 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Qb6 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. a3 Nh6 7. b4 cxd4 8. cxd4
Nf5 9. Be3 Be7 10. Bd3 Nxe3 11. fxe3 O-O 12. O-O f5 13. exf6 Bxf6 14. Nc3 g6
15. Qc2 Kg7 16. Na4 Qd8 17. Nc5 Ne7 18. g4 Kh8 19. Ne5 Bxe5 20. dxe5 b6 21. Nb3
Rxf1+ 22. Rxf1 Bd7 23. Rf7 Kg8 24. Qf2 Nc6 25. Rf6 Nxe5 26. Be2 Qe7 27. Nd4 Rf8
28. g5 Nf7 29. h4 Nd6 30. Bg4 e5 31. Rxf8+ Qxf8 32. Bxd7 Qxf2+ 33. Kxf2 exd4
34. Be6+ Kf8 35. exd4 Nb5 36. Bxd5 Nxd4 37. Be4 Ke7 38. Ke3 Ne6 39. Bd5 Ng7 40.
Be4 Kd6 41. Kf4 Ne6+ 42. Kg4 Ng7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gausdal Classics IM-A"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2001.04.22"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Kvisvik, Brede Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B40"]
[WhiteElo "2106"]
[BlackElo "2064"]
[PlyCount "12"]
[EventDate "2001.04.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 082 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Bd3 d6 6. Be3 Nc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Nordic-ch"]
[Site "Bergen"]
[Date "2001.08.04"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Gabrielsen, Stig"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2280"]
[BlackElo "2084"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2001.08.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 083 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.09.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.09.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Qc2 b6 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bd3
c5 9. Ne5 Ba6 10. O-O Bxd3 11. Qxd3 Qc7 12. f4 Nc6 13. Rf3 cxd4 14. Nxc6 Qxc6
15. exd4 Rfe8 16. f5 Ne4 17. Bf4 Bf6 18. Nb5 Rec8 19. Rc1 Qd7 20. Rff1 Rxc1 21.
Bxc1 Rc8 22. Be3 a6 23. Na3 Qa4 24. Qb3 Qxb3 25. axb3 Nd6 26. g4 h6 27. Kf2 b5
28. Ra1 b4 29. Nb1 Rc2+ 30. Kf3 Rxb2 31. Nd2 Nb5 32. Rxa6 Nxd4+ 33. Kg3 Nxb3
34. Nf3 Kh7 35. h4 d4 36. Bf4 Nc5 37. Ra7 Ne4+ 38. Kh3 Rf2 39. g5 Rxf3+ 40. Kg4
Rf1 41. Rxf7 hxg5 0-1

[Event "Nordic-ch"]
[Site "Bergen"]
[Date "2001.08.05"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Thorhallsson, Throstur"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A57"]
[WhiteElo "2084"]
[BlackElo "2456"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2001.08.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 083 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.09.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.09.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. f3 axb5 6. e4 Qa5+ 7. Bd2 Qb6 8. Qb3
Ba6 9. Na3 b4 10. Nc4 Qc7 11. a3 e6 12. Qe3 Bxc4 13. Bxc4 Be7 14. dxe6 fxe6 15.
e5 Nd5 16. Qe4 Nc6 17. f4 Nb6 18. Nf3 bxa3 19. Rxa3 Rxa3 20. bxa3 Nxc4 21. Qxc4
Qa7 22. O-O O-O 23. Bc3 g6 24. Rd1 Rb8 25. h4 Rb7 26. h5 Qxa3 27. hxg6 hxg6 28.
Rxd7 Rxd7 29. Qxe6+ Kg7 30. Qxd7 Qxc3 31. Qxc6 Qe3+ 32. Kf1 Qxf4 33. Qb7 Qc4+
34. Kg1 Qe6 35. Qe4 c4 36. Kf1 c3 37. Nd4 Qc4+ 38. Ke1 Qa2 39. Nc2 Qb1+ 40. Ke2
Qb5+ 41. Kf3 Qf1+ 42. Kg3 Qc1 43. Kf3 Bc5 44. Qd3 Kh6 45. Qe4 Qf1+ 46. Kg4 Qd1+
47. Kg3 Kg7 48. Qb7+ Kh6 49. Qe4 Kg7 50. Qb7+ Kh6 51. Qe4 Kg7 52. Qb7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Nordic-ch"]
[Site "Bergen"]
[Date "2001.08.06"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Nilssen, John Arni"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E05"]
[WhiteElo "2333"]
[BlackElo "2084"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2001.08.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 083 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.09.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.09.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. Qxc4
b5 9. Qc2 Bb7 10. Bf4 Nc6 11. Rd1 Nb4 12. Qc1 Nbd5 13. Nbd2 Nxf4 14. gxf4 c5
15. dxc5 Qc7 16. Nb3 Rac8 17. Ne5 Bxg2 18. Kxg2 Bxc5 19. Nxc5 Qxc5 20. Qxc5
Rxc5 21. Rac1 Rxc1 22. Rxc1 Nd5 23. Nd3 g6 24. Rc6 a5 25. Kf3 Ra8 26. Rc5 b4
27. Rb5 Ra7 28. e4 Nf6 29. Ne5 Rc7 30. Rxa5 Rc2 31. Ra8+ Kg7 32. Ra7 Kg8 33.
Ra8+ Kg7 34. Ra7 Kg8 35. Rxf7 Nh5 36. Ra7 Rxb2 37. Nd3 Rc2 38. Ke3 Rc3 39. Kd2
Rc4 40. f3 Rd4 41. Ke3 Rc4 42. Rb7 Rc2 43. Nxb4 Rxh2 44. a4 Rb2 45. a5 Rb3+ 46.
Kd4 Nxf4 47. a6 Ra3 48. a7 1-0

[Event "Nordic-ch"]
[Site "Bergen"]
[Date "2001.08.07"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Miellet Bensan, Yves"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2084"]
[BlackElo "2243"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2001.08.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 083 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.09.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.09.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 f5 11. Bd3 Be6 12. O-O Bg7 13. c4 Bxd5 14. cxd5 Nd4
15. exf5 Qg5 16. Nc2 Nxf5 17. Qe2 Ne7 18. a4 bxa4 19. Rxa4 O-O 20. f4 exf4 21.
Raxf4 Ng6 22. Rf5 Qd8 23. Qf2 Qc7 24. Qg3 Rae8 25. Kh1 Qb6 26. h4 Be5 27. Qg4
Bg7 28. h5 Ne5 29. Qg3 h6 30. R5f4 Nxd3 31. Rg4 Qxb2 32. Nd4 Kh8 33. Rxg7 Qxd4
34. Rgxf7 Rxf7 35. Rxf7 Qa1+ 36. Kh2 Qe5 37. Qxe5+ Nxe5 38. Ra7 Rc8 39. Rxa6
Rd8 40. Kg3 Kg7 41. Kf4 Kf6 42. g4 Ke7 43. Ra7+ Kf6 44. Ra6 Nf7 45. Ra7 Rb8 46.
Ra4 Rb5 47. Rd4 Ne5 48. Rd1 Rb4+ 49. Ke3 Nxg4+ 50. Kf3 Ne5+ 51. Ke3 Rb3+ 0-1

[Event "Nordic-ch"]
[Site "Bergen"]
[Date "2001.08.08"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Stokke, Kjetil"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A38"]
[WhiteElo "2016"]
[BlackElo "2084"]
[PlyCount "23"]
[EventDate "2001.08.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 083 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.09.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.09.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. g3 Nc6 3. Bg2 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. a3 d6 6. Rb1 a5 7. Nf3 Nf6 8. O-O
O-O 9. Ne1 Bd7 10. Nc2 Rb8 11. d3 Ne8 12. Bd2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Nordic-ch"]
[Site "Bergen"]
[Date "2001.08.09"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Hersvik, Daniel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2241"]
[BlackElo "2084"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[EventDate "2001.08.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 083 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.09.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.09.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 b6 3. Bg2 Bb7 4. O-O c5 5. d3 e6 6. e4 d6 7. Nbd2 Nbd7 8. Re1
Be7 9. b3 O-O 10. Bb2 Qc7 11. Nf1 Ne5 12. Nxe5 dxe5 13. Ne3 b5 14. a4 a6 15. h4
Bc6 16. a5 Rfd8 17. Qe2 Nd7 18. Bh3 Nf8 19. Qh5 Ng6 20. Kh2 Be8 21. Qg4 h6 22.
Rg1 Rab8 23. f4 Bf6 24. Raf1 c4 25. f5 exf5 26. exf5 Ne7 27. dxc4 Rd2+ 28. Rg2
Qxa5 29. Rd1 Rxg2+ 30. Bxg2 Qc7 31. Bd5 bxc4 32. Qxc4 Nxd5 33. Rxd5 Qb6 34. Qc5
Qxc5 35. Rxc5 Be7 36. Ra5 f6 37. Nd5 Bf8 38. Rxa6 Bf7 39. Nb6 Rd8 40. Ra8 Rxa8
41. Nxa8 Bd5 42. Nc7 Be4 43. c3 Bxf5 44. b4 Bd3 45. Nd5 Bd6 46. Ne3 f5 47. Bc1
Kf7 48. Kg2 f4 49. Nd1 Ke6 50. Nb2 Be2 51. Kf2 f3 52. Be3 Kd5 53. Bd2 e4 54.
Bf4 Be7 55. Be3 Bf6 56. Na4 Kc4 57. Nb6+ Kxc3 58. Nd5+ Kc4 59. Nxf6 gxf6 60.
Bxh6 Kxb4 61. h5 Bc4 62. Bd2+ Kb3 63. g4 Be6 64. h6 Bg8 65. Ke3 Bh7 66. Be1 Kc4
1/2-1/2

[Event "Nordic-ch"]
[Site "Bergen"]
[Date "2001.08.10"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Plachkinova, Tatjana Georgieva"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D16"]
[WhiteElo "2084"]
[BlackElo "2190"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2001.08.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 083 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.09.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.09.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. a4 Bg4 6. e3 e6 7. Bxc4 Bb4 8. Qb3
a5 9. Ne5 Bh5 10. O-O Qc7 11. e4 O-O 12. Bf4 Qe7 13. Rfe1 Nbd7 14. Re3 Nxe5 15.
dxe5 Nd7 16. Rg3 Nc5 17. Qc2 Bg6 18. Qe2 Bxc3 19. bxc3 Bxe4 20. Rd1 Bg6 21. Bg5
Qc7 22. h4 Ne4 23. h5 Nxg3 24. fxg3 Bf5 25. g4 Bc2 26. Qxc2 Qxe5 27. Be7 Rfe8
28. Bd6 Qe3+ 29. Kh2 Rad8 30. Bg3 h6 31. Qb3 Qc5 32. Rf1 Rd7 33. Be2 Red8 34.
Bf3 b5 35. Bf2 bxa4 36. Qxa4 Qxc3 37. Qxc6 Qxc6 38. Bxc6 Rd1 39. Kg1 f6 40. Bb5
Kf7 41. Be3 Rxf1+ 42. Kxf1 Rb8 43. Bc6 Rb4 44. Bd2 Rc4 45. Bf3 a4 46. Be2 Rc2
47. Bb4 Rb2 48. Bd6 Rb1+ 49. Kf2 Rb3 0-1

[Event "Nordic-ch"]
[Site "Bergen"]
[Date "2001.08.11"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Weighell, Mark"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2119"]
[BlackElo "2084"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2001.08.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 083 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.09.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.09.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 Nc6 4. cxd4 d5 5. exd5 Qxd5 6. Nf3 e5 7. Nc3 Bb4 8.
Bd2 Bxc3 9. Bxc3 e4 10. Nd2 Nf6 11. Bc4 Qg5 12. Qb3 O-O 13. O-O-O Bg4 14. h4
Bxd1 15. Rxd1 Qf5 16. g4 Nxg4 17. Rg1 Nxf2 18. d5 Ne5 19. Rg5 Qd7 20. Bxe5 f5
21. d6+ 1-0

[Event "Nordic-ch"]
[Site "Bergen"]
[Date "2001.08.12"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Flaata, Alexander R"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B00"]
[WhiteElo "2084"]
[BlackElo "2097"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2001.08.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 083 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.09.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.09.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 e5 3. d5 Nce7 4. g3 Ng6 5. Bg2 Bc5 6. Ne2 d6 7. c4 f5 8. Nbc3
Nf6 9. b4 Bb6 10. exf5 Bxf5 11. Na4 O-O 12. O-O Bd7 13. Nxb6 axb6 14. Nc3 Qc8
15. Bg5 Bh3 16. Bxf6 Bxg2 17. Kxg2 Rxf6 18. Ne4 Rf8 19. c5 Qf5 20. Qe2 bxc5 21.
bxc5 Ra4 22. Rfe1 dxc5 23. Nxc5 Rh4 24. f3 Qh3+ 25. Kg1 Rh6 26. Ne6 Rf7 27. Ng5
Qf5 28. Nxf7 Qxf7 29. Rad1 Rh5 30. Qe4 Qd7 31. d6 cxd6 32. Qd5+ Kh8 33. Qxd6
Qf7 34. Qb8+ Nf8 35. Rd8 Kg8 36. Red1 Qxf3 37. Rxf8+ Qxf8 38. Rd8 Rf5 1-0

[Event "EU-Cup 17th"]
[Site "Panormo"]
[Date "2001.09.23"]
[Round "1.6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Stojanovski, Dejan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A34"]
[WhiteElo "2084"]
[BlackElo "2417"]
[PlyCount "40"]
[EventDate "2001.09.22"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 084 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.10.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.10.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Asker"]
[BlackTeam "Skopje Alkaloid"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "MKD"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. g3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bg2 Nc7 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Qa4 Bd7 8.
Qe4 g6 9. Ne5 Bg7 10. Nxd7 Qxd7 11. O-O Rc8 12. d3 O-O 13. Be3 Ne6 14. Qa4 Rfd8
15. Rac1 b6 16. Rfd1 Ned4 17. Bxd4 Nxd4 18. Qxd7 Rxd7 19. e3 Nc6 20. d4 Nb4
1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-Cup 17th"]
[Site "Panormo"]
[Date "2001.09.24"]
[Round "2.6"]
[White "Banas, Jan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B38"]
[WhiteElo "2361"]
[BlackElo "2084"]
[PlyCount "139"]
[EventDate "2001.09.22"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 084 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.10.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.10.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Bratislava Slovan"]
[BlackTeam "Asker"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "SVK"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 g6 6. e4 Bg7 7. Be3 O-O 8.
Be2 d6 9. O-O Bd7 10. Qd2 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Bc6 12. f3 a6 13. Rfd1 Nd7 14. Be3 Nc5
15. Rac1 a5 16. b3 Qb6 17. Nd5 Bxd5 18. exd5 Qb4 19. Bf1 Rfe8 20. Qf2 a4 21.
Bd2 Qa3 22. b4 Na6 23. b5 Nb4 24. Be1 Nxa2 25. Ra1 Bxa1 26. Rxa1 Qc5 27. Rxa2
a3 28. Bd2 Ra4 29. Be3 Qb4 30. Qc2 Rc8 31. h4 Raa8 32. Bf2 Rc7 33. Bd3 Rac8 34.
Qc1 Ra8 35. b6 Rcc8 36. Qc2 Ra4 37. Qe2 Qc3 38. Be1 Qd4+ 39. Kh2 Raa8 40. Bf2
Qf4+ 41. g3 Qf6 42. Qe4 Qc3 43. Bd4 Qb3 44. Qe2 Ra4 45. Kh3 Kf8 46. h5 Raxc4
47. Bxc4 Qxc4 48. Qxc4 Rxc4 49. Ba1 Rb4 50. Rxa3 f6 51. h6 g5 52. f4 gxf4 53.
gxf4 Rxb6 54. Kg4 Rb5 55. Ra8+ Kf7 56. f5 Rb4+ 57. Kg3 Rb1 58. Bd4 Rb3+ 59. Kg2
Rd3 60. Ra4 Rd2+ 61. Kf3 Rd3+ 62. Ke4 Rg3 63. Be3 Rg4+ 64. Bf4 Rg8 65. Rb4 Rb8
66. Rb5 Ra8 67. Rxb7 Kf8 68. Be3 Ra4+ 69. Bd4 Ra8 70. Rb3 1-0

[Event "EU-Cup 17th"]
[Site "Panormo"]
[Date "2001.09.25"]
[Round "3.6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Scheffknecht, Philipp"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B43"]
[WhiteElo "2084"]
[BlackElo "2150"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2001.09.22"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 084 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.10.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.10.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Asker"]
[BlackTeam "Minsk Vesnianka"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "BLR"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Qc7 6. O-O d6 7. Be3 Nf6 8. Nc3
b5 9. a3 Bb7 10. f4 Nbd7 11. Nb3 Be7 12. Kh1 e5 13. fxe5 Nxe5 14. Nd4 Neg4 15.
Bg1 g6 16. Nd5 Nxd5 17. Qxg4 Nf6 18. Qe2 O-O 19. Rae1 Nd7 20. Nf3 Bf6 21. c3
Rfe8 22. Bd4 Ne5 23. Bb1 Re7 24. Qf2 Rae8 25. Nxe5 Bxe5 26. Ba2 Bxd4 27. cxd4
Rf8 28. Qf4 Qc2 29. Bb1 Qc6 30. d5 Qd7 31. Rc1 Re5 32. Rc3 Rfe8 33. h3 Rc8 34.
Rxc8+ Bxc8 35. Rc1 Qd8 36. Qg3 Bd7 37. Kg1 b4 38. axb4 Qb6+ 39. Qf2 Qxb4 40.
Qf6 Qxb2 41. Rf1 Be8 42. Qxd6 Rg5 43. g3 a5 44. Qf4 Rh5 45. Qf2 Qe5 46. Kg2 Kg7
47. Bd3 Qc7 48. Qf6+ Kg8 49. g4 Rh6 50. d6 Qc6 51. Qe7 g5 52. Bc4 Rg6 53. Bxf7+
Bxf7 54. Qxf7+ Kh8 55. Qf8+ Rg8 56. Qf6+ Rg7 57. Qe5 Kg8 58. Qe6+ 1-0

[Event "EU-Cup 17th"]
[Site "Panormo"]
[Date "2001.09.26"]
[Round "4.6"]
[White "Reynolds, Pat"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A45"]
[BlackElo "2084"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2001.09.22"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 084 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.10.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.10.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Bray"]
[BlackTeam "Asker"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "IRL"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bf4 d5 4. f3 Nf6 5. e3 g6 6. Bd3 Bg7 7. Ne2 O-O 8. g4
c5 9. c3 Nc6 10. Nd2 cxd4 11. cxd4 Nd7 12. Bg5 Qb6 13. Nc3 e5 14. Nxd5 Qa5 15.
e4 exd4 16. O-O Nde5 17. Nb3 Qa4 18. Bc2 Be6 19. Nc5 Qa5 20. Nb3 Qa4 21. Nc5
Qa5 22. Nb3 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-Cup 17th"]
[Site "Panormo"]
[Date "2001.09.27"]
[Round "5.6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Indrebo, Kyrre"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A87"]
[WhiteElo "2084"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2001.09.22"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 084 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.10.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.10.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Asker"]
[BlackTeam "Randaberg"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. O-O O-O 6. c4 d6 7. b3 e5 8. dxe5
Ng4 9. Ba3 Nc6 10. Nc3 Ngxe5 11. Nxe5 Bxe5 12. Rc1 f4 13. Nd5 g5 14. c5 dxc5
15. Bxc5 Bd6 16. e3 fxg3 17. hxg3 Bxc5 18. Rxc5 Qd6 19. Qc1 g4 20. Rd1 Rd8 21.
Qc3 Kf7 22. Rc4 Qe5 23. Rxc6 Qxc3 24. Rxc3 c6 25. Rd4 cxd5 26. Rc7+ Kg6 27.
Bxd5 Bf5 28. Bxb7 Rxd4 29. Bxa8 Rd1+ 30. Kg2 Bd3 31. Rxa7 Bf1+ 32. Kh2 Rd2 33.
Ra4 Bh3 34. Rf4 Rxa2 35. Bg2 1-0

[Event "EU-Cup 17th"]
[Site "Panormo"]
[Date "2001.09.28"]
[Round "6.6"]
[White "Kouvatsou, Maria"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C55"]
[WhiteElo "2234"]
[BlackElo "2084"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2001.09.22"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 084 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.10.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.10.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Kydon Chanion"]
[BlackTeam "Asker"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "GRE"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Be7 5. c3 O-O 6. O-O d5 7. Bb5 dxe4 8.
Bxc6 exf3 9. Bxf3 c6 10. Re1 Qc7 11. Qe2 Re8 12. Nd2 Bf5 13. Ne4 Nxe4 14. dxe4
Be6 15. Bg4 Qc8 16. Bxe6 Qxe6 17. Be3 Red8 18. a4 a6 19. Bb6 Rd7 20. Red1 Bd8
21. Rxd7 Qxd7 22. Rd1 Qe7 23. Qe3 Bxb6 24. Qxb6 Kf8 25. g3 Rc8 26. b4 Rc7 27.
Qa7 Rc8 28. Kg2 g6 29. h4 h5 30. Rd3 Kg7 31. Qb6 Rc7 32. b5 cxb5 33. axb5 Qc5
34. Qxc5 Rxc5 35. bxa6 bxa6 36. Rd6 Rxc3 37. Rxa6 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-Cup 17th"]
[Site "Panormo"]
[Date "2001.09.29"]
[Round "7.6"]
[White "Clements, Shannon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B95"]
[BlackElo "2084"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2001.09.22"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 084 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.10.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.10.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Dublin"]
[BlackTeam "Asker"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "IRL"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Bxf6 Qxf6 8.
Be2 Nc6 9. Nf3 Be7 10. O-O O-O 11. Qd2 b5 12. Nd1 Bb7 13. c3 Ne5 14. Nxe5 Qxe5
15. f3 d5 16. exd5 Rfd8 17. f4 Qxd5 18. Qxd5 Bxd5 19. Bf3 Bxf3 20. Rxf3 Rd2 21.
b4 a5 22. bxa5 Rxa5 23. Kf1 Raxa2 24. Rxa2 Rxa2 25. Rf2 Ra4 26. g3 g6 27. Rb2
b4 28. cxb4 Bxb4 29. Nf2 Bc3 30. Re2 Bf6 31. Nd3 h6 32. Kg2 Kg7 33. Nc5 Rd4 34.
Ne4 Be7 35. Kf3 g5 36. Ke3 Ra4 37. Kf3 f5 38. Nf2 Ra3+ 39. Kg2 Kf6 40. Nh3 Rd3
41. fxg5+ hxg5 42. Nxg5 Kxg5 43. Rxe6 Bf6 44. Re2 Kg4 45. Rc2 Bc3 46. Rf2 Rd2
47. h3+ Kg5 48. Rxd2 Bxd2 49. Kf3 Bc1 50. Ke2 Bb2 51. Kf2 Be5 52. Kf3 Bd6 53.
Kg2 Kf6 54. Kf2 Ke5 55. Kf3 Bf8 56. Ke3 Bh6+ 57. Kf3 Bg5 58. h4 Bh6 59. g4 f4
60. g5 Bg7 61. h5 Kf5 62. h6 Be5 0-1

[Event "Bayern-chI Bank Hofmann 5th"]
[Site "Bad Wiessee"]
[Date "2001.10.27"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Kacheishvili, Giorgi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2583"]
[BlackElo "2072"]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "2001.10.27"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2002"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 b6 7. Bg5 Bb7 8.
e3 c5 9. dxc5 bxc5 10. Ne2 Nc6 11. Ng3 Qa5 12. Bxf6 gxf6 13. Qxa5 Nxa5 14. Nh5
Rfd8 15. O-O-O Kf8 16. Nxf6 Ke7 17. Nh5 Ba6 18. Nf4 Bxc4 19. Bxc4 Nxc4 20. Rhe1
Rab8 21. Re2 d5 22. Rc2 Na5 23. Kb1 c4 24. Ne2 Nb7 25. e4 Nc5 26. exd5 Rxd5 27.
Nc3 Rg5 28. f4 Rh5 29. Rd4 Rxh2 30. Rxc4 Nd3 31. Ka2 Rb7 32. Ne4 Rd7 33. Nc5
Nxc5 34. Rxc5 Kf6 35. Ra5 Rb7 36. f5 e5 37. Re2 Re7 38. Ra6+ Kg5 39. f6 Rb7 40.
Rxe5+ Kg6 41. Re7 Rb8 42. Raxa7 Rxg2 43. Rab7 Rxb7 44. Rxb7 h5 45. a4 Rg4 46.
Ka3 h4 47. Rb8 Rg3+ 48. b3 Kxf6 49. Rh8 Kg5 50. a5 Re3 51. Ka4 Re6 52. b4 f5
53. b5 Re1 54. a6 Ra1+ 55. Kb4 f4 56. Kc5 f3 57. b6 Ra5+ 58. Kd4 Rxa6 59. b7
Rb6 60. b8=Q Rxb8 61. Rxb8 Kf4 62. Rf8+ Kg3 63. Ke3 1-0

[Event "Bayern-chI Bank Hofmann 5th"]
[Site "Bad Wiessee"]
[Date "2001.10.29"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Kummerow, Heiko"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B63"]
[WhiteElo "2307"]
[BlackElo "2072"]
[PlyCount "191"]
[EventDate "2001.10.27"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 Be7 8.
O-O-O Nxd4 9. Qxd4 O-O 10. e5 dxe5 11. Qxe5 Bd7 12. Qg3 Nh5 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14.
Qg4 Nf6 15. Qh4 Bc6 16. Bd3 Qc5 17. Rhe1 Rfd8 18. Bxh7+ Kf8 19. Be4 Ke7 20.
Bxc6 bxc6 21. Qg3 Rxd1+ 22. Rxd1 Rd8 23. Rxd8 Kxd8 24. a3 Ke7 25. h3 Nd5 26.
Ne4 Qb5 27. Qg5+ Kd7 28. Qxg7 Ke7 29. Qg5+ Kf8 30. Qd8+ Kg7 31. Qg5+ Kf8 32.
Qd8+ Kg7 33. Ng3 Qc4 34. Qg5+ Kf8 35. Kb1 Qd4 36. Qd8+ Kg7 37. Qg5+ Kf8 38. Nh5
f6 39. Qh6+ Ke8 40. Qg6+ Ke7 41. Qh7+ Kd6 42. Qd3 Qe5 43. Ng3 Qe1+ 44. Ka2 Kc7
45. Qd4 Qa5 46. Ne4 e5 47. Qc4 Qe1 48. g4 Nf4 49. Qf7+ Kb6 50. Nc3 Qxf2 51.
Qxf6 Qxc2 52. Qd8+ Kb7 53. Qe7+ Kc8 54. Qf8+ Kc7 55. Qf7+ Kc8 56. Qe8+ Kb7 57.
Qd7+ Kb6 58. Qd8+ Kb7 59. Qe7+ Kc8 60. Qf8+ Kd7 61. Qf7+ Kd8 62. Qb3 Qxb3+ 63.
Kxb3 Nxh3 64. Ne4 Nf4 65. Kc4 Kd7 66. b4 Nd5 67. Kc5 Nf4 68. Kc4 Nd5 69. Kd3
Ke6 70. Nc5+ Kf6 71. Nd7+ Ke6 72. Nb8 Kd6 73. Ke4 Nf6+ 74. Kf5 e4 75. Na6 e3
76. Nc5 Nd7 77. Ne4+ Ke7 78. Nc3 Nf6 79. Kf4 Ke6 80. Kf3 Ke5 81. g5 Nd7 82.
Kxe3 Kf5 83. Ne4 Ne5 84. Nd6+ Kxg5 85. Kd4 Nd7 86. Nc8 a6 87. Ne7 Kf6 88. Nxc6
Ke6 89. Na5 Kd6 90. Nc4+ Kc6 91. a4 Nf6 92. Ne5+ Kb6 93. Kc4 Ne4 94. a5+ Kb7
95. b5 Nd6+ 96. Kb4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bayern-chI Bank Hofmann 5th"]
[Site "Bad Wiessee"]
[Date "2001.10.31"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Lada, Ireneusz"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A38"]
[WhiteElo "2205"]
[BlackElo "2072"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2001.10.27"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 g6 6. g3 Bg7 7. Bg2 O-O 8.
Nc2 d6 9. O-O Be6 10. Ne3 Rc8 11. Bd2 Nd7 12. Ned5 Na5 13. b3 Bxd5 14. Nxd5
Bxa1 15. Qxa1 Re8 16. Bh3 Nc6 17. Bh6 f6 18. Be6+ Kh8 19. Rd1 Rb8 20. f4 Nc5
21. Bh3 a5 22. Bg2 Nb4 23. Nc3 Rc8 24. Kh1 a4 25. Nb5 Ra8 26. Qd4 Nxa2 27. bxa4
Nb4 28. g4 Nc6 29. Qd5 e6 30. Qf3 Qe7 31. g5 f5 32. Qc3+ e5 33. Rxd6 Rad8 34.
Rd5 Nxa4 35. Qc1 Nb6 36. h4 Nxd5 37. cxd5 Nd4 38. d6 Qf7 39. fxe5 Nxb5 40. e6
Qxe6 41. Qb2+ Kg8 42. Qg7# 1-0

[Event "Bayern-chI Bank Hofmann 5th"]
[Site "Bad Wiessee"]
[Date "2001.11.02"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vaculik, Martin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2072"]
[BlackElo "2192"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2001.10.27"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. Nc3 Ne7 5. Be3 b6 6. Qd2 h6 7. O-O-O Bb7 8. h4
d6 9. Bd3 Nd7 10. Kb1 a6 11. Rhe1 b5 12. a3 Rc8 13. d5 e5 14. h5 g5 15. g4 c5
16. dxc6 Rxc6 17. Nh2 Nb6 18. Bxb6 Rxb6 19. Nf1 Bc6 20. Ne3 b4 21. axb4 Rxb4
22. Ncd5 Rb8 23. Nxe7 Kxe7 24. Nf5+ Kf8 25. Bc4 d5 26. Bxd5 Qb6 27. Qc3 1-0

[Event "Bayern-chI Bank Hofmann 5th"]
[Site "Bad Wiessee"]
[Date "2001.11.03"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wachinger, Guenther"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B43"]
[WhiteElo "2072"]
[BlackElo "2234"]
[PlyCount "30"]
[EventDate "2001.10.27"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2002"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2001.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Qb6 6. Nb3 Qc7 7. O-O Nf6 8.
Nc3 b5 9. Qe2 d6 10. f4 Nbd7 11. Bd2 b4 12. Nd1 Bb7 13. Nf2 a5 14. Nd4 Be7 15.
Rae1 O-O 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bayern-chI Bank Hofmann 5th"]
[Site "Bad Wiessee"]
[Date "2001.11.04"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Braun, Christian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2203"]
[BlackElo "2072"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2001.10.27"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 b6 7. Bg5 Ba6 8.
Nf3 d6 9. e3 Nbd7 10. Bd3 Bb7 11. O-O Bxf3 12. gxf3 c5 13. dxc5 dxc5 14. Rad1
Qc7 15. Be2 Rad8 16. Rd2 a6 17. Bh4 Nb8 18. Rxd8 Qxd8 19. Rd1 Qe7 20. Qd3 Nbd7
21. Rd2 Rc8 22. Bd1 Ne5 23. Qc3 Rd8 24. Be2 Rxd2 25. Qxd2 Ng6 26. Bg3 Nh5 27.
f4 Nxg3 28. hxg3 Nf8 29. Bf3 Qf6 30. Kg2 g6 31. b4 Qe7 32. e4 cxb4 33. axb4 Qc7
34. Qd4 Nd7 35. e5 a5 36. bxa5 bxa5 37. Bd1 Nc5 38. Bf3 Qb6 39. Qc3 Qb4 40. Qd4
Qb6 41. Qc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-chT qualifier"]
[Site "Norway"]
[Date "2001.??.??"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Gaasland, Glenn"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E32"]
[BlackElo "2072"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2001.11.??"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 b6 7. Bg5 Bb7 8.
f3 d5 9. e3 Nbd7 10. Bd3 h6 11. Bh4 Qe8 12. Bg3 Rc8 13. c5 bxc5 14. dxc5 d4 15.
Qxd4 e5 16. Qc3 e4 17. c6 exd3 18. Bf2 Nd5 19. cxd7 Qxd7 20. Qxd3 Qe6 21. O-O-O
c5 22. Qc4 Rfd8 23. e4 Ne3 24. Rxd8+ Rxd8 25. Qe2 Qc4+ 0-1

[Event "NOR-chT qualifier"]
[Site "Norway"]
[Date "2001.??.??"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Ribbegren, Karl Johan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E30"]
[BlackElo "2072"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2001.11.??"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bg5 O-O 5. e3 b6 6. Qf3 Nc6 7. Bd3 Bb7 8. Qh3
h6 9. Bh4 Be7 10. f4 d5 11. cxd5 Nxd5 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Nge2 Ncb4 14. Bb1 c5
15. O-O Nxc3 16. bxc3 Nc6 17. Bd3 cxd4 18. exd4 Na5 19. Rae1 f5 20. g4 fxg4 21.
Qxg4 Bd5 22. Qg6 Rf6 23. Qh7+ Kf7 24. f5 Qf8 25. Nf4 Bxa2 26. fxe6+ Ke8 27. e7
Qg8 28. Bb5+ 1-0

[Event "NOR-chT qualifier"]
[Site "Norway"]
[Date "2001.??.??"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Andersen, Rune"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E59"]
[WhiteElo "2057"]
[BlackElo "2072"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2001.11.??"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 c5 7. a3 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3
dxc4 9. Bxc4 Qc7 10. Be2 Nc6 11. O-O Rd8 12. Qc2 e5 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Bb2 Nxf3+
15. Bxf3 Bg4 16. Be2 Bxe2 17. Qxe2 c4 18. Rad1 Nd7 19. Qg4 Ne5 20. Qg3 Qe7 21.
f4 Rxd1 22. Rxd1 Nd3 23. Bc1 Rd8 24. Qg5 f6 25. Qa5 b6 26. Qb5 Nxc1 27. Rxd8+
Qxd8 28. Qxc4+ Kh8 29. e4 Qd1+ 30. Kf2 Qd2+ 31. Kf3 Qd3+ 32. Qxd3 Nxd3 0-1

[Event "NOR-chT qualifier"]
[Site "Norway"]
[Date "2002.??.??"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Christensen, Kjeld"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D55"]
[BlackElo "2072"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2001.11.??"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Nc3 O-O 6. e3 Ne4 7. Bxe7 Qxe7 8.
Bd3 Nxc3 9. bxc3 dxc4 10. Bxc4 c5 11. O-O b6 12. e4 Rd8 13. Qc2 Bb7 14. Rad1
Nc6 15. Rfe1 cxd4 16. cxd4 Rac8 17. Qe2 Rc7 18. Bb5 g6 19. Qe3 a6 20. Bxc6 Rxc6
21. Ne5 Rc7 22. Ng4 h5 23. Ne5 Kg7 24. d5 exd5 25. Qd4 Qf6 26. Re3 dxe4 27.
Qxd8 Qxd8 0-1

[Event "NOR-chT qualifier"]
[Site "Norway"]
[Date "2002.??.??"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gulbrandsen, Tor"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C06"]
[WhiteElo "2072"]
[BlackElo "2293"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2001.11.??"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Ngf3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Bd3 Qb6 8. O-O
cxd4 9. cxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 Qxd4 11. Nf3 Qb6 12. Qa4 Qb4 13. Qc2 Qc5 14. Qe2 Be7
15. Be3 Qa5 16. Bg5 Qd8 17. Qe3 Bxg5 18. Nxg5 Qe7 19. Rac1 h6 20. Qxa7 Rb8 21.
Qxb8 Nxb8 22. Rxc8+ Kd7 23. Rxh8 Nc6 24. Nf3 f6 25. Bb5 fxe5 26. Bxc6+ bxc6 27.
Nxe5+ Kd6 28. Re1 Kc7 29. g3 Qb4 30. Re2 d4 31. Rd8 Qb5 32. Rd7+ Kc8 33. Re4 c5
34. Rf4 Qxd7 35. Nxd7 Kxd7 1-0

[Event "NOR-chT qualifier"]
[Site "Norway"]
[Date "2002.??.??"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Runde, Hans Arild"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B29"]
[WhiteElo "2072"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2001.11.??"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. exd5 Nxd5 5. Bb5+ Bd7 6. Ne5 Bxb5 7. Qf3 f6 8.
Nxb5 Na6 9. Qh5+ g6 10. Nxg6 hxg6 11. Qxh8 Qd7 12. Nc3 Qe6+ 13. Kf1 Nab4 14.
Qh3 Qa6+ 15. d3 Rd8 16. Qg4 f5 17. Qe2 Rd6 18. Nxd5 Nxd5 19. Bd2 Bg7 20. Re1 e6
21. h4 Kd7 22. h5 e5 23. hxg6 Rxg6 24. Rh7 Ne7 25. Bc3 Qc6 26. Qf3 Qxf3 27.
gxf3 Ke6 28. Bxe5 Bxe5 29. f4 Kd6 30. Rxe5 Re6 31. Rxe6+ Kxe6 32. Rxe7+ Kxe7
1-0

[Event "NOR-chT qualifier"]
[Site "Norway"]
[Date "2002.??.??"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Osttveit, Martin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A37"]
[WhiteElo "2121"]
[BlackElo "2072"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[EventDate "2001.11.??"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. g3 Nc6 3. Bg2 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. a3 e6 6. d3 Nge7 7. Nf3 O-O 8. O-O
d5 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Bf4 d4 11. Na4 b6 12. Rc1 Nd5 13. b4 Re8 14. bxc5 b5 15.
Ng5 bxa4 16. Qxa4 Bb7 17. Qb5 Nxf4 18. Qxb7 Nxe2+ 19. Kh1 Qxg5 20. f4 Qe7 21.
Bxc6 Qxb7 22. Bxb7 Rab8 23. c6 Nxc1 24. Rxc1 Bf8 25. Ba6 Bxa3 26. Rc4 Rb6 0-1

[Event "Nordic School-ch U14"]
[Site "Finland"]
[Date "2002.??.??"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Oksa, Jaakko"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D04"]
[WhiteElo "2127"]
[PlyCount "33"]
[EventDate "2002.??.??"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "FIN"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2005"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 Nf6 2. Bb2 c5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e3 g6 5. d4 cxd4 6. exd4 d5 7. Bd3 Bg7 8. O-O
O-O 9. a3 Ne4 10. Nbd2 Bf5 11. Qe2 Nxd2 12. Qxd2 Be4 13. Ne5 Nxe5 14. dxe5 Qc7
15. Qe3 Bxe5 16. Bxe5 Qxe5 17. f3 1-0

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2002.01.04"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Egeland, Marte"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B34"]
[BlackElo "2127"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2002.01.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 086 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. Be3 Bg7 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. Be2 O-O 8.
Qd2 d5 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Rd1 Rb8 11. b3 Qc7 12. exd5 cxd5 13. O-O Rd8 14. Bf4 e5
15. Bg5 d4 16. Bc4 Bb7 17. Ne2 Rd7 18. Ng3 Nd5 19. Ne4 Qc6 20. f3 f5 21. Nf2
Kh8 22. Bxd5 Qxd5 23. Rfe1 Re8 24. Nd3 Rf8 25. Bh6 e4 26. Bxg7+ Kxg7 27. Nb4
Qc5 28. fxe4 fxe4 29. a4 Rdd8 30. Na2 e3 31. Qb4 Qd5 0-1

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2002.01.05"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Johansson, Per"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D94"]
[WhiteElo "2127"]
[BlackElo "2041"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2002.01.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 086 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 c6 3. e3 Nf6 4. d4 g6 5. Bd3 Bg7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3 Bg4 8. h3
Bxf3 9. Qxf3 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Nbd7 11. Rd1 e5 12. d5 e4 13. Nxe4 Nxe4 14. Qxe4 Nb6
15. Bb3 cxd5 16. Bxd5 Nxd5 17. Rxd5 Qb6 18. Qd3 f5 19. Bd2 Rad8 20. Rd1 Rxd5
21. Qxd5+ Kh8 22. Bc3 Qc7 23. Rd4 Rc8 24. Qe6 Rd8 25. Qf7 Qxf7 26. Rxd8+ Qg8
27. Bxg7+ Kxg7 28. Rxg8+ Kxg8 29. f3 Kf7 30. Kf2 Ke6 31. g4 Ke5 32. gxf5 gxf5
33. Kg3 f4+ 34. Kf2 Kf5 35. e4+ Ke5 36. Ke2 Kd4 37. Kd2 Kc4 38. b3+ Kd4 39. a4
h6 40. Ke2 b6 41. Kd2 a6 42. Ke2 b5 43. a5 h5 44. h4 Kc5 45. Kd3 b4 46. e5 Kd5
47. e6 Kxe6 48. Ke4 1-0

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2002.01.06"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Womacka, Mathias"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B42"]
[WhiteElo "2499"]
[BlackElo "2127"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2002.01.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 086 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Qc7 6. Qe2 Nc6 7. Nxc6 dxc6 8.
e5 c5 9. O-O Ne7 10. Bf4 Bd7 11. Nd2 Bc6 12. Bg3 b5 13. c4 Qb7 14. f3 Rd8 15.
Nb3 Qb6 16. Bf2 Ng6 17. Bxg6 hxg6 18. Rfc1 b4 19. Qe3 Rc8 20. Nxc5 Bxf3 21.
Nxe6 Qxe6 22. Qxf3 Bc5 23. b3 Rh5 24. Bxc5 Rxc5 25. Qb7 a5 26. Qa8+ Qc8 27.
Qxc8+ Rxc8 28. Re1 Ke7 29. Rad1 Ra8 30. Rd5 Ra6 31. Red1 Ra7 32. Rb5 Ke6 33.
Rd6+ Ke7 34. Rdd5 a4 35. Ra5 Rxa5 36. Rxa5 a3 37. Rb5 Rh4 38. Rxb4 Rd4 39. Ra4
Rd1+ 40. Kf2 Rd2+ 41. Kg3 Rxa2 42. Ra6 Ra1 43. b4 a2 44. b5 Kd7 45. c5 Rb1 46.
c6+ Kc7 47. Rxa2 Rxb5 48. Ra7+ Kxc6 49. Rxf7 Rxe5 50. Rxg7 Rg5+ 51. Kf3 Rf5+
52. Kg4 Rf6 53. h4 Kd5 54. Kg5 1-0

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2002.01.07"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Hoi, Carsten"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E14"]
[WhiteElo "2407"]
[BlackElo "2127"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2002.01.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 086 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 b6 4. Bd3 Bb7 5. O-O c5 6. c4 Be7 7. Nc3 d5 8. cxd5
exd5 9. b3 O-O 10. Bb2 Nbd7 11. Qe2 Re8 12. Rfd1 Nf8 13. Rac1 Ne6 14. Bb5 Rf8
15. Ba6 Qc8 16. Bxb7 Qxb7 17. dxc5 bxc5 18. Qb5 Qxb5 19. Nxb5 Rfd8 20. Ne5 a6
21. Nc3 Rac8 22. Na4 Kf8 23. Kf1 Ke8 24. Ke2 h5 25. h3 Ng5 26. Bc3 Rd6 27. Bd4
Re6 28. Nd3 c4 29. Nf4 Rec6 30. Nb6 Rd8 31. Bxf6 Bxf6 32. Nbxd5 Rdc8 33. Nxf6+
gxf6 34. Rxc4 Rxc4 35. bxc4 Rxc4 36. Nxh5 Ne4 37. f3 Nc3+ 38. Kd3 Nxd1 39. Kxc4
Nxe3+ 40. Kc5 Nxg2 41. Kb6 Ne1 42. f4 Nd3 43. a4 Kd8 44. Kxa6 Kc7 45. Kb5 f5
46. a5 Kb7 47. h4 Ne1 48. Ng3 Ng2 49. Nxf5 Nxf4 50. Nd6+ Ka7 51. Nxf7 Nd5 52.
h5 Nc3+ 53. Kc4 Ne4 54. h6 Nf6 55. Kb5 1-0

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2002.01.08"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hole, Oystein"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D27"]
[WhiteElo "2127"]
[BlackElo "2248"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2002.01.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 086 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nf3 Bb4 7. Bd3 dxc4 8.
Bxc4 O-O 9. O-O Nc6 10. Bg5 a6 11. Bd3 Be7 12. Rc1 b6 13. d5 exd5 14. Bxf6 Bxf6
15. Nxd5 Bb7 16. Be4 Rc8 17. Qb3 b5 18. Rfd1 Na5 19. Rxc8 Bxc8 20. Qc2 g6 21.
Qc5 Re8 22. b4 Nc4 23. Ne3 Qb6 24. Nd5 Qd8 25. Qc6 Kg7 26. Ne3 Qe7 27. Nd5
1/2-1/2

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2002.01.08"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Rause, Olita V"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2127"]
[BlackElo "2234"]
[PlyCount "128"]
[EventDate "2002.01.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 086 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 c6 3. g3 Bg4 4. Bg2 Nd7 5. O-O Bxf3 6. Bxf3 Ne5 7. Qb3 Nxf3+ 8.
exf3 Qd7 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. d4 e6 11. Nc3 Bd6 12. Re1 Ne7 13. Bg5 O-O 14. Bxe7
Bxe7 15. f4 g6 16. Rad1 Rac8 17. Kg2 Bf6 18. h4 Rc4 19. Ne4 Bg7 20. Nc5 Qc6 21.
Qe3 Bxd4 22. Rxd4 Qxc5 23. Red1 Rxd4 24. Rxd4 h5 25. Qe5 Qc2 26. b3 Rc8 27. Qe3
a6 28. Rd2 Qc3 29. Rd3 Qc5 30. Rd4 Qd6 31. Rd2 b5 32. Qd4 Qc5 33. Qf6 Qc3 34.
Rd4 Qc2 35. Qe5 Qc7 36. Qf6 Qd8 37. Qe5 Rc2 38. a4 bxa4 39. bxa4 Qc7 40. Qe3
Rc4 41. Kh2 Qc5 42. Rxc4 Qxc4 43. Qb6 d4 44. Qb8+ Kh7 45. Qf8 Qc7 46. Qb4 Qd8
47. Qb7 Kg7 48. Qb2 Qd5 49. Kg1 Qc4 50. Qb8 Qxa4 51. Qe5+ Kf8 52. Qc7 Qb4 53.
Qc8+ Kg7 54. Qxa6 Qe1+ 55. Kg2 Qe4+ 56. Kh2 Qe1 57. Kg2 Qc3 58. Qd6 d3 59. Kf3
Qc2 60. Qd4+ Kh7 61. Qd7 Qe2+ 62. Kg2 Qe4+ 63. Kh2 Kg7 64. Qd8 Qd5 0-1

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2002.01.09"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Hansen, Torbjorn Ringdal"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E65"]
[WhiteElo "2282"]
[BlackElo "2127"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2002.01.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 086 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. O-O d6 6. Nc3 c5 7. d4 Nc6 8. dxc5
dxc5 9. Bf4 Be6 10. Qa4 Qa5 11. Rac1 Nh5 12. Qxa5 Nxa5 13. Bc7 Nxc4 14. Ng5
Bxc3 15. Nxe6 fxe6 16. Bxb7 Be5 17. Bxe5 Nxe5 18. Bxa8 Rxa8 19. Rxc5 Nf7 20.
Rfc1 Nd6 21. e4 Nf6 22. e5 Nd7 23. Ra5 Nc8 24. Rc7 Ndb6 25. Rac5 Kf7 26. b4 Ke8
27. f4 Kd8 28. Rb7 Nd5 29. a4 Ncb6 30. a5 Nd7 31. Rc6 Nb8 32. Rc4 a6 33. Kf2
Nd7 34. Rc6 Rb8 35. Rxb8+ Nxb8 36. Rc1 Nxb4 37. Rb1 N4c6 38. Kf3 Kc7 39. Ra1 h5
40. g4 Nd4+ 41. Kg3 Ne2+ 42. Kf3 Nd4+ 43. Ke4 Nbc6 44. Ra3 hxg4 45. Rg3 Kd7 46.
Rxg4 Ke8 47. Rxg6 Kf7 48. Rg2 Nf5 49. Ra2 Kg6 50. Ra4 Nh4 51. Kd3 Nf3 52. h4
Kh5 53. Kc4 Nd2+ 54. Kc5 Nxa5 55. Kb6 Ndc4+ 56. Kc7 Kxh4 57. Kd8 Kg4 58. Kxe7
Kf5 59. Kf7 Nxe5+ 60. fxe5 Nc6 61. Rxa6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2002.01.10"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Giddins, Stephen"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2285"]
[BlackElo "2127"]
[PlyCount "23"]
[EventDate "2002.01.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 086 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. d4 dxc4 5. Qa4+ c6 6. Qxc4 b5 7. Qc2 Bb7 8. Bg2
Nbd7 9. O-O Qb6 10. Nc3 a6 11. a4 Rc8 12. Bf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2002.01.11"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bekker Jensen, Anders"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B32"]
[WhiteElo "2127"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2002.01.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 086 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nxd4 6. Qxd4 a6 7. Bg5 Qa5 8.
f4 e5 9. Qd2 f6 10. Bh4 Be6 11. f5 Bf7 12. Bf2 Ne7 13. b4 Qc7 14. b5 Nc8 15.
Rb1 Be7 16. bxa6 bxa6 17. Nd5 Qc6 18. c4 O-O 19. Bd3 Bd8 20. O-O Bxd5 21. cxd5
Qa4 22. Rb7 Na7 23. Rxa7 Ba5 1-0

[Event "NOR-ch U18 int"]
[Site "Lysaker"]
[Date "2002.03.23"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Berstad, Joerund"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "1553"]
[BlackElo "2127"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2002.03.23"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 087 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.05.03"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.08.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bf4 e5 8.
Bg5 a6 9. Na3 b5 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Nd5 Bg7 12. c3 O-O 13. Qh5 Ne7 14. Nxe7+
Qxe7 15. Nc2 Bb7 16. Bd3 f5 17. Qxf5 Bc8 18. Qh5 f5 19. Ne3 f4 20. Nd5 Qb7 21.
Qh4 Be6 22. Ne7+ Kf7 23. Nf5 Bxf5 24. exf5 Kg8 25. Bc2 Bf6 26. Qh3 Kh8 27.
O-O-O d5 28. Qf3 e4 29. Qxf4 b4 30. cxb4 Qg7 31. Qg3 Bxb2+ 32. Kb1 Qf6 33. Rxd5
Rac8 34. Rd6 Qg7 35. Qxg7+ Bxg7 36. Bxe4 Rc4 37. f3 Rxb4+ 38. Kc1 Rc8+ 39. Kd1
Be5 40. Rd3 Bf4 41. Re1 Rb2 0-1

[Event "NOR-ch U18 int"]
[Site "Lysaker"]
[Date "2002.03.24"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kedyk, Dmitry"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A26"]
[WhiteElo "2127"]
[BlackElo "2056"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2002.03.23"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 087 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.05.03"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.08.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O O-O 5. c4 d6 6. Nc3 e5 7. d3 Nc6 8. Rb1
a5 9. a3 h6 10. b4 axb4 11. axb4 Be6 12. b5 Ne7 13. Nd2 Qc8 14. Re1 Bh3 15. Bh1
Ng4 16. Nd5 Nxd5 17. cxd5 f5 18. Qc2 Qd8 19. b6 cxb6 20. Nc4 e4 21. e3 Rc8 22.
Qb3 b5 23. Qxb5 Rc5 24. Qa4 exd3 25. Ba3 b5 26. Rxb5 Rxb5 27. Qxb5 f4 28. Bxd6
fxe3 29. fxe3 d2 30. Rd1 Nxe3 31. Nxe3 Bd4 32. Qd3 Qb6 33. Qxg6+ Bg7 34. Qe4
Qxd6 35. Bg2 Bxg2 36. Kxg2 Bc3 37. Qe6+ Qxe6 38. dxe6 Re8 39. Nd5 Be5 40. e7
Kf7 41. Rxd2 Bd6 42. Nf6 Kxf6 43. Rxd6+ Kxe7 44. Rxh6 Kf7 45. h4 Kg7 46. Ra6
Re5 47. Kf3 Rb5 48. g4 Rb3+ 49. Kf4 Rb4+ 50. Kf5 Rb5+ 51. Ke6 Rb4 52. Ra7+ Kh6
53. Kf5 Rb5+ 54. Kf6 Rb6+ 55. Kf7 Rf6+ 56. Ke8 Rf4 57. g5+ Kh5 58. Rh7+ Kg6 59.
Rh6+ Kg7 60. h5 Re4+ 61. Kd7 Re5 62. Rg6+ Kh7 63. Kd6 Ra5 64. Kc7 Re5 65. Kd7
Ra5 66. Ke6 Ra6+ 67. Kf5 Rxg6 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-ch U18 int"]
[Site "Lysaker"]
[Date "2002.03.24"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Kvisvik, Brede Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B21"]
[WhiteElo "2060"]
[BlackElo "2127"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2002.03.23"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 087 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.05.03"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.08.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 Nf6 4. Bb5+ Bd7 5. Bxd7+ Qxd7 6. c4 e6 7. Qe2 Be7 8.
dxe6 Qxe6 9. Qxe6 fxe6 10. Nf3 Nc6 11. O-O O-O-O 12. a4 Rhf8 13. Ra3 Bd6 14. g3
e5 15. fxe5 Nxe5 16. Nxe5 Bxe5 17. Raf3 Bd4+ 18. Kg2 Rfe8 19. Nc3 Ng4 20. Rf7
h5 21. h3 Ne5 22. Rxg7 Nd3 23. Rg5 Re1 24. Rxh5 Rxf1 25. Kxf1 Rf8+ 26. Ke2
Nxc1+ 27. Kd1 Nd3 28. Kc2 Nb4+ 29. Kb3 Rf2 30. a5 Rxd2 31. Nb5 Rxb2+ 32. Ka4
Nc2 33. a6 Rb4+ 34. Ka5 b6# 0-1

[Event "NOR-ch U18 int"]
[Site "Lysaker"]
[Date "2002.03.25"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Arngrimsson, Dagur"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E05"]
[WhiteElo "2127"]
[BlackElo "2094"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2002.03.23"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 087 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.05.03"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.08.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. d4 dxc4 7. Qc2 b6 8. Bg5
Nd5 9. Bxe7 Qxe7 10. Qxc4 Bb7 11. Nc3 Na6 12. Ne5 Rad8 13. Nc6 Bxc6 14. Qxc6
Nab4 15. Nxd5 exd5 16. Qa4 a5 17. a3 Na6 18. e3 Qd7 19. Qxd7 Rxd7 20. Rfc1 c5
21. dxc5 Nxc5 22. Rd1 Rfd8 23. Bh3 Rd6 24. b4 axb4 25. axb4 Ne4 26. Bg2 Nf6 27.
e4 R6d7 28. e5 Ne8 29. Rd4 g6 30. f4 Kg7 31. Ra6 b5 32. Rb6 Nc7 33. Bh3 Re7 34.
Bf1 g5 35. Bh3 Ra8 36. Bf5 Ra2 37. Rb8 f6 38. Rb7 gxf4 39. gxf4 Kf8 40. Rd1
fxe5 41. fxe5 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-ch U18 int"]
[Site "Lysaker"]
[Date "2002.03.26"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Hersvik, Anita"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "1959"]
[BlackElo "2127"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2002.03.23"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 087 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.05.03"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.08.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. cxd4 d5 5. exd5 Qxd5 6. Nf3 e5 7. Nc3 Bb4 8.
Be3 Bg4 9. Be2 Nge7 10. O-O Bxc3 11. bxc3 e4 12. Nd2 Bxe2 13. Qxe2 O-O 14. f3
exf3 15. Nxf3 Na5 16. Ne5 f6 17. Ng4 Ng6 18. Qc2 Nc4 19. Rf5 Qe6 20. Bf2 Nd6
21. Ne3 Nxf5 22. Nxf5 Rfe8 23. Rb1 Ne7 24. Ng3 b6 25. Re1 Qf7 26. Ne4 Nd5 27.
Qb3 Rad8 28. c4 f5 29. Ng5 Rxe1+ 30. Bxe1 Qe7 31. Bd2 Nf6 32. c5+ Nd5 33. c6
Qd6 34. c7 Rc8 35. Bf4 Qd7 36. Be5 h6 37. Nf3 Qf7 38. Qa3 Nxc7 39. Qc3 Qd7 40.
Qc4+ Nd5 41. Qb3 Qc6 42. Ne1 Kh7 43. Qg3 Qg6 44. Qa3 Qg5 45. Qxa7 Rc1 0-1

[Event "NOR-ch U18 int"]
[Site "Lysaker"]
[Date "2002.03.26"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wallin, Denis"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2127"]
[BlackElo "2125"]
[PlyCount "30"]
[EventDate "2002.03.23"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 087 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.05.03"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.08.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 g6 4. Bb5 Bg7 5. O-O Nf6 6. e5 Ng4 7. Bxc6 dxc6 8.
Qe2 O-O 9. d3 Nh6 10. Ne4 b6 11. Bf4 Nf5 12. h3 Nd4 13. Nxd4 cxd4 14. Bg3 Bf5
15. Rae1 Qd5 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-ch U18 int"]
[Site "Lysaker"]
[Date "2002.03.27"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Richards, Heather"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2209"]
[BlackElo "2127"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2002.03.23"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 087 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.05.03"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.08.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nc6 3. d4 d5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. Be3 cxd4 6. cxd4 e5 7. Nc3 Bb4 8.
a3 Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 Nge7 10. c4 Qe4 11. Ne2 Nf5 12. d5 Ncd4 13. Bxd4 Nxd4 14. f3
Qh4+ 15. Kd2 Bf5 16. Nxd4 Qxd4+ 17. Ke1 Qc3+ 18. Kf2 O-O 19. Be2 e4 20. fxe4
Bxe4 21. Re1 Rfe8 22. Ra2 Qf6+ 23. Kg1 Qb6+ 24. Kh1 Qf2 25. Rg1 Re5 26. Rd2
Rae8 27. Bf3 Qc5 28. Bxe4 Rxe4 29. d6 Qxc4 30. d7 Rd8 31. Rc2 Qe6 32. h3 h6 33.
Rc7 Re3 34. Qd2 Qe4 35. Qxe3 Qxe3 36. Rc8 Qe7 37. Rd1 Kh7 38. Rc7 Qe2 39. Rdc1
Qd3 40. Rxb7 Rxd7 41. Rxd7 Qxd7 42. Rc3 f5 43. Rf3 g5 44. Rf2 f4 45. Rf3 h5 46.
h4 gxh4 47. Rxf4 Qd1+ 48. Kh2 Qd6 49. g3 hxg3+ 50. Kxg3 Qxa3+ 0-1

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2002.04.11"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Tjomsland, Stig"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E94"]
[WhiteElo "2127"]
[BlackElo "2274"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2002.04.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "6"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 087 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.05.03"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.08.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. Nc3 O-O 5. e4 d6 6. Be2 Na6 7. O-O e5 8. Re1
Qe8 9. Bf1 c6 10. d5 Qe7 11. Rb1 Bd7 12. b4 cxd5 13. Nxd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 Nc7 15.
Be3 Rfc8 16. c5 Ne8 17. Qb3 h6 18. Rbc1 Kh7 19. Nd2 f5 20. Nc4 Qf6 21. Na5 f4
22. Bd2 b6 23. c6 Bf5 24. Nc4 Qf7 25. Qf3 g5 26. g4 e4 27. Rxe4 Bxe4 28. Qxe4+
Kg8 29. Bd3 b5 30. Na3 a6 31. Qf3 Nc7 32. Be4 Re8 33. Qd3 Re5 34. Bc3 Re7 35.
Nb1 f3 36. Re1 Bxc3 37. Nxc3 Qf4 38. h3 Rf8 39. Re3 h5 40. Rxf3 Qc1+ 41. Kg2
hxg4 42. Bh7+ Rxh7 43. Rxf8+ Kxf8 44. Qxh7 Qxc3 45. Qf5+ Ke7 46. Qd7+ Kf8 47.
Qxd6+ Ke8 48. Qd7+ Kf8 49. Qf5+ Ke7 50. d6+ 1-0

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2002.04.12"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Kotronias, Vasilios"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B66"]
[WhiteElo "2568"]
[BlackElo "2127"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2002.04.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "6"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 087 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.05.03"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.08.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8.
O-O-O h6 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Bf4 d5 11. Qe3 Be7 12. Be2 Qa5 13. exd5 Nxd5 14. Nxd5
cxd5 15. Be5 O-O 16. Kb1 Bd7 17. Qg3 f6 18. Bf4 Kh7 19. c4 Bc6 20. Bd3+ f5 21.
Rhe1 Bf6 22. c5 Qb4 23. Bc1 Ba4 24. Rd2 Rac8 25. Rxe6 Bg5 26. f4 Qxf4 27. Qxf4
Bxf4 28. Rf2 Bxc1 29. Rxf5 Rxf5 30. Bxf5+ Kg8 31. Rxa6 Rxc5 32. Rxa4 Bg5 33. b4
Rc1+ 34. Kb2 Re1 35. Bg6 Re2+ 36. Kc3 1-0

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2002.04.13"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Lie, Kjetil A"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B43"]
[WhiteElo "2127"]
[BlackElo "2388"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2002.04.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "6"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 087 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.05.03"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.08.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 a6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Qc7 6. Bd3 Nf6 7. Qf3 Nc6 8.
Be3 Ne5 9. Qe2 Nfg4 10. Bd2 Bc5 11. h3 Bxd4 12. hxg4 b5 13. f4 Nc4 14. Bxc4
Qxc4 15. Qxc4 bxc4 16. Nd1 Bb7 17. Bc3 Bc5 18. Rh5 Rc8 19. Nf2 Bxf2+ 20. Kxf2
Bxe4 21. f5 exf5 22. Re1 d5 23. Bxg7 Rg8 24. Bc3 Rxg4 25. g3 f4 26. gxf4 Rxf4+
27. Ke3 Rg4 28. Rf1 Rc6 29. Re5+ Re6 30. Rf4 Rg2 31. Rf6 Ke7 32. Rf4 Rxc2 33.
Kd4 Rxe5 34. Kxe5 Re2 35. Bb4+ Ke8 36. Bc3 Rg2 37. Kd6 Rg6+ 38. Ke5 Re6+ 39.
Kd4 h5 40. Rh4 Bf3 41. Kc5 Ke7 42. Rf4 Be4 43. Rh4 Rh6 44. a4 Ke6 45. a5 Kf5
46. Bd2 Rh8 47. Kb6 Rb8+ 48. Kxa6 Rxb2 49. Rxh5+ Kg4 50. Rg5+ Kf3 51. Bc3 Rb3
52. Be5 Ke2 53. Rg3 Rxg3 54. Bxg3 d4 55. Kb5 d3 0-1

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2002.04.14"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Arkell, Keith C"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D55"]
[WhiteElo "2463"]
[BlackElo "2127"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2002.04.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "6"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 087 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.05.03"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.08.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 7. cxd5 exd5 8.
b4 O-O 9. e3 c6 10. h3 Be6 11. Bd3 Nd7 12. O-O b5 13. a4 a6 14. a5 c5 15. bxc5
Nxc5 16. Bc2 Rc8 17. dxc5 Rxc5 18. Qd3 g6 19. Nd4 Bf5 20. Nxf5 Rxc3 21. Nxh6+
Kh7 22. Nxf7 Rxd3 23. Nxd8 Rd2 24. Ne6 Rc8 25. Bb3 Bxa1 26. Rxa1 Rc3 27. Rb1
Rc4 28. Nd4 1-0

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2002.04.15"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kulaots, Kaido"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D39"]
[WhiteElo "2127"]
[BlackElo "2531"]
[PlyCount "34"]
[EventDate "2002.04.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "6"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 087 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.05.03"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.08.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 e6 3. c4 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e4 Bb4 6. Bg5 c5 7. Bxc4 cxd4 8.
Nxd4 Qa5 9. Bb5+ Bd7 10. Bd2 Bxb5 11. Ndxb5 Nxe4 12. Qg4 Nxd2 13. Qxg7 Rf8 14.
O-O-O a6 15. Qe5 axb5 16. Nd5 Nd7 17. Qg5 Rc8+ 0-1

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2002.04.15"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Royset, Pal"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B40"]
[WhiteElo "2127"]
[BlackElo "2280"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2002.04.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "6"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 087 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.05.03"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.08.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. exd5 exd5 5. Bb5+ Nc6 6. O-O Bd6 7. Nxd5 Bxh2+
8. Kxh2 Qxd5 9. d4 Nf6 10. Kg1 O-O 11. c4 Qh5 12. d5 Ne5 13. Nxe5 Qxe5 14. Re1
Qd6 15. Qf3 a6 16. Bf4 Qd8 17. Ba4 Ng4 18. Qg3 b5 19. cxb5 axb5 20. Bxb5 Qxd5
21. Bd6 Rd8 22. Be7 Rd7 23. Bxd7 Bxd7 24. Rad1 Qf5 25. Qf3 Re8 26. Bxc5 Rxe1+
27. Rxe1 Qxc5 28. Qa8+ Qf8 29. Qxf8+ Kxf8 30. b4 f6 31. f4 Bb5 32. Rc1 Kf7 33.
Rc5 Bd3 34. b5 1-0

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2002.04.16"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Ostenstad, Berge"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D55"]
[WhiteElo "2438"]
[BlackElo "2127"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2002.04.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "6"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 087 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.05.03"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.08.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Nc3 h6 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 7. e3 O-O 8. Qb3
c6 9. Rd1 Nd7 10. Be2 Nb6 11. O-O Qe7 12. e4 dxc4 13. Bxc4 e5 14. dxe5 Bxe5 15.
Nxe5 Qxe5 16. Bxf7+ Kh8 17. f4 Qe7 18. Bg6 Be6 19. Qa3 Qxa3 20. bxa3 Nc4 21. f5
Bf7 22. Bxf7 Rxf7 23. Rd4 Ne5 24. Rfd1 Re8 25. h3 Rfe7 26. Kf2 Kg8 27. g4 Kf7
28. Kg3 Kf6 29. Rd6+ Kf7 30. a4 a6 31. h4 b5 32. g5 b4 33. Ne2 hxg5 34. hxg5
Nc4 35. Rd7 Nb2 36. R1d6 Nxa4 37. e5 Rxd7 38. Rxd7+ Re7 39. e6+ Ke8 40. Rd6 Rc7
41. f6 Nc5 42. Kf4 Nb7 43. Rxc6 Nd8 44. Rxa6 gxf6 45. gxf6 Rc2 46. Nd4 1-0

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2002.04.17"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bluvshtein, Mark"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B60"]
[WhiteElo "2127"]
[BlackElo "2354"]
[PlyCount "154"]
[EventDate "2002.04.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "6"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 087 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.05.03"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.08.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e5 7. Bxf6 gxf6 8.
Nf5 Bxf5 9. exf5 Be7 10. Nd5 O-O 11. c3 Kh8 12. Bd3 Nb8 13. O-O Nd7 14. Be4 Nb6
15. Nxb6 Qxb6 16. Qb3 Qc7 17. Bd5 Bd8 18. Rad1 Qd7 19. Rd3 Qxf5 20. Rf3 Qg6 21.
Qxb7 Bb6 22. Be4 Qg4 23. Bxh7 Kxh7 24. Rh3+ Qxh3 25. gxh3 f5 26. Kh1 Rae8 27.
Rg1 Bxf2 28. Rg2 Be3 29. Qf3 Bh6 30. Qxf5+ Kh8 31. Qf6+ Kh7 32. Qxd6 e4 33. Rg4
Re6 34. Qc5 e3 35. Qf5+ Kh8 36. Re4 Rg6 37. Rg4 Re6 38. Re4 Rg6 39. Rh4 Kg7 40.
Qe5+ Kg8 41. Rg4 Kh7 42. Qe4 Rfg8 43. Qf5 Rf8 44. Kg2 Kg7 45. Kf3 Kh8 46. Qe5+
Kh7 47. Qe4 Kh8 48. Ke2 Re6 49. Qd4+ Kh7 50. Qxa7 Rf6 51. Qd4 Rf2+ 52. Ke1 Re8
53. Qd3+ Kh8 54. Qd6 Kh7 55. Rh4 Re6 56. Qd3+ Kh8 57. Qd4+ Kh7 58. Qd3+ Kh8 59.
Rxh6+ Rxh6 60. Qxe3 Rff6 61. Qd4 Kg8 62. a4 Re6+ 63. Kf2 Ref6+ 64. Kg3 Rhg6+
65. Kh4 Rd6 66. Qe4 Rde6 67. Qa8+ Kg7 68. Qd5 Re2 69. Qd4+ Kh7 70. Qf4 Kg8 71.
Qb8+ Kg7 72. Qf4 Reg2 73. Qd4+ Kh7 74. Qe4 Rxb2 75. a5 Rb8 76. a6 Rh8 77. Qe5
Kg8+ 0-1

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2002.04.18"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Halkias, Stelios"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A85"]
[WhiteElo "2546"]
[BlackElo "2127"]
[PlyCount "45"]
[EventDate "2002.04.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "6"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 087 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.05.03"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.08.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 f5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. h3 Bb4 5. g4 Ne4 6. Qd3 b6 7. Nf3 Bb7 8. gxf5
exf5 9. Rg1 Qe7 10. Bf4 d6 11. Ng5 Bxc3+ 12. bxc3 h6 13. Nf3 g5 14. Be3 f4 15.
Bc1 Nd7 16. h4 O-O-O 17. Bh3 Kb8 18. Ba3 gxh4 19. d5 Ng5 20. Bxd7 Qxd7 21. Nxh4
Qa4 22. Bc1 Ba6 23. Rg4 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-chT fin"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2002.05.08"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Glenne, Bjorn Erik"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E02"]
[WhiteElo "2235"]
[BlackElo "2163"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2002.05.08"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 088 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. Qa4+ Bd7 6. Qxc4 Bc6 7. Bxc6+ Nxc6
8. Nf3 Qd5 9. Qxd5 exd5 10. O-O Ne4 11. Bf4 O-O-O 12. Rd1 Be7 13. Ne5 Nxe5 14.
Bxe5 f6 15. Bf4 g5 16. Be3 Nd6 17. Nc3 Nc4 18. Bc1 Bb4 19. Rd3 Bxc3 20. Rxc3
Rde8 21. b3 Nd6 22. Kf1 h5 23. a4 Nf5 24. Bb2 g4 25. Rac1 c6 26. f3 h4 27. e4
hxg3 28. hxg3 Nxd4 29. fxg4 Rxe4 30. Rd3 Rh1+ 31. Kg2 Rxc1 32. Bxc1 Rxg4 33.
Be3 c5 34. Bxd4 Rxd4 35. Rxd4 cxd4 36. Kf2 Kd7 37. Ke2 Kd6 38. b4 Ke5 39. Kd3
f5 0-1

[Event "NOR-chT fin"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2002.05.09"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Hansen, Victor"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B53"]
[WhiteElo "2143"]
[BlackElo "2163"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2002.05.08"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 088 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Bd7 5. c4 Nc6 6. Qd2 Nf6 7. Nc3 g6 8. b3
Bg7 9. Bb2 O-O 10. Be2 Bg4 11. O-O Qa5 12. Rad1 Nd7 13. h3 Bxf3 14. Bxf3 Nc5
15. Qc1 Rfe8 16. Qa1 Nd4 17. Nd5 Nxf3+ 18. gxf3 Bxb2 19. Qxb2 Nd7 20. b4 Qd8
21. Ne3 Qc8 22. Kh2 Ne5 23. Qe2 Qe6 24. f4 Nd7 25. Nd5 Rac8 26. Rg1 Nf6 27. f3
Nxd5 28. Rxd5 Qf6 29. f5 Qc3 30. c5 dxc5 31. Rd7 cxb4 32. fxg6 Qe5+ 33. Rg3
hxg6 34. Rxb7 Rc1 35. Rb5 Qc7 36. Rd5 Rc8 37. Rd1 Rxd1 38. Qxd1 Qc2+ 39. Qxc2
Rxc2+ 40. Rg2 Rxg2+ 0-1

[Event "NOR-chT fin"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2002.05.10"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aarland, Stein Arild"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2163"]
[BlackElo "2259"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2002.05.08"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 088 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. Qc2
Nc6 9. a3 a6 10. O-O-O Be7 11. Ng5 g6 12. h4 e5 13. Nxd5 Nxd5 14. Rxd5 Qc7 15.
Bg3 Bf5 16. Bd3 Bxd3 17. Qxd3 Rfd8 18. Kb1 b5 19. cxb5 axb5 20. Rc1 Qb6 21.
Qxb5 Rdb8 22. Qxb6 Rxb6 23. Rd3 h6 24. Ne4 f5 25. Nd2 Rab8 26. Nc4 Rb5 27. Rc2
Rf8 28. Nd6 Rb6 29. Rdc3 Bxd6 30. Rxc6 Rfb8 31. Ka2 Rxc6 32. Rxc6 Rd8 33. f3
Kf7 34. Be1 Be7 35. Bc3 Bxh4 36. Bxe5 Rd2 37. a4 Bd8 38. Rd6 Rxd6 39. Bxd6 Ke6
40. Bf8 h5 41. Kb3 g5 42. Kc4 g4 43. fxg4 fxg4 44. Kd4 h4 45. Ke4 h3 46. gxh3
gxh3 47. Kf3 Bb6 48. e4 h2 49. Kg2 Ke5 50. b4 Kxe4 51. Kxh2 Kd5 52. Kg3 Ba5 53.
bxa5 Kc6 54. Kf4 Kb7 55. Bc5 Ka8 56. Ke5 Kb7 57. Kd6 Ka8 58. Kc7 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-chT fin"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2002.05.11"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Trygstad, Kristian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E68"]
[WhiteElo "2163"]
[BlackElo "2313"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2002.05.08"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 088 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O O-O 5. c4 d6 6. d4 Nbd7 7. Nc3 e5 8. e4
a6 9. Re1 exd4 10. Nxd4 Re8 11. f3 Rb8 12. Nde2 Ne5 13. b3 c5 14. a4 Nc6 15.
Be3 Nb4 16. Qd2 Be6 17. Rad1 Qb6 18. Bf2 Rbd8 19. Nf4 Bc8 20. Rb1 Qc7 21. g4 g5
22. Nfd5 Nbxd5 23. Nxd5 Nxd5 24. cxd5 h6 25. a5 Bd7 26. h4 gxh4 27. Bxh4 Rb8
28. g5 hxg5 29. Qxg5 c4 30. f4 c3 31. Re3 Qc5 32. Bf2 c2 33. Rc1 f6 34. Qxg7+
Kxg7 35. Rg3+ Kf7 36. Bxc5 dxc5 37. Rxc2 b6 38. axb6 Rec8 39. e5 fxe5 40. fxe5
Rxb6 1-0

[Event "NOR-chT fin"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2002.05.12"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Hole, Oystein"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "2237"]
[BlackElo "2163"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2002.05.08"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 088 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. g3 Nc6 3. Bg2 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. d3 e5 6. e4 Nge7 7. c3 O-O 8. a3 a5
9. a4 d5 10. Na3 d4 11. cxd4 cxd4 12. Nd2 Be6 13. Ndc4 Ra6 14. f4 Qd7 15. Bd2
f5 16. exf5 Bxf5 17. Nxe5 Nxe5 18. fxe5 Bxe5 19. Qb3+ Kg7 20. Nc4 Bf6 21. Nxa5
Rb8 22. Nc4 Re6 23. Bf4 Re8 24. Rae1 Nd5 25. Rxe6 Rxe6 26. Ne5 Bxe5 27. Qxd5
Qxd5 28. Bxd5 Bxf4 29. Rxf4 Rb6 30. b3 Kf6 31. Bc4 Ke5 32. Kf1 g5 33. Rf2 Bg6
34. Ke1 Kd6 35. a5 Rb4 36. Rf6+ Kc5 37. Re6 Bf7 38. Re5+ Kd6 39. Rxg5 Bxc4 40.
bxc4 Rb1+ 41. Ke2 Rb2+ 42. Kf3 Rxh2 43. Ke4 h5 44. Kxd4 h4 45. gxh4 Rxh4+ 46.
Kc3 Rh3 47. c5+ Kc7 48. Rg7+ Kc6 49. Kc4 Rh5 50. Rg6+ Kc7 51. d4 Rh4 52. a6
bxa6 53. Rxa6 Kb7 54. Re6 Kc7 55. Kd5 Kd7 56. c6+ Kc7 57. Re7+ Kd8 58. Rd7+ Ke8
59. Kd6 Rh1 60. d5 1-0

[Event "Carlsen-The Net"]
[Site "Nettavisen INT"]
[Date "2002.05.15"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "The Web"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C82"]
[WhiteElo "2163"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2002.05.15"]
[EventType "game"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. c3 Nxe4 8. Qe2
d5 9. d3 Nf6 10. d4 Bb6 11. dxe5 Ne4 12. Be3 Bxe3 13. Qxe3 O-O 14. Rd1 Be6 15.
Nd4 Nxe5 16. f3 Nc4 17. Bxc4 dxc4 18. fxe4 c5 19. Nd2 cxd4 20. cxd4 Qb6 21. Nf1
Rae8 22. d5 Qxe3+ 23. Nxe3 Bd7 24. Rd4 Re5 25. a4 f5 26. Nxf5 Bxf5 27. exf5 Re2
28. axb5 axb5 29. Rb1 Rxf5 30. d6 Rff2 31. d7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Pelaro op"]
[Site "Pelaro"]
[Date "2002.06.08"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Pedersen, Oyvind"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2051"]
[BlackElo "2163"]
[PlyCount "130"]
[EventDate "2002.06.08"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SWE"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nc6 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Be2 Bg4 7. h3 Bf5 8. O-O
cxd4 9. cxd4 Bxb1 10. Rxb1 Rd8 11. Qa4 e6 12. Be3 Bd6 13. Bc4 Qe4 14. Qb3 O-O
15. Bd3 Qd5 16. Bc4 Qh5 17. Qxb7 Na5 18. Qb5 Nxc4 19. Qxc4 Nd5 20. a3 Qf5 21.
Rfd1 Qh5 22. Qd3 Kh8 23. Rbc1 Rb8 24. Rc2 g5 25. Qe4 Rg8 26. Qg4 Qg6 27. Rc6 f5
28. Qxg5 Qe8 29. Rxd6 Rxg5 30. Nxg5 f4 31. Bd2 Qg6 32. Nf3 Rg8 33. Ne1 f3 34.
g3 Qh5 35. Kh2 Nf6 36. Bc3 Ng4+ 37. Kg1 Qxh3 38. d5+ e5 39. Nxf3 Rf8 40. Bxe5+
Kg8 41. Rd3 Rxf3 42. Rxf3 Qh2+ 43. Kf1 Nxe5 44. Rf4 Qh1+ 45. Ke2 Qb1 46. Rdf6
Qd3+ 47. Ke1 Qxd5 48. R4f5 Qc4 49. Kd2 Qd3+ 50. Kc1 Kg7 51. Rf8 Qc4+ 52. Kd2
Qb3 53. f4 Qxb2+ 54. Ke3 Qxa3+ 55. Ke4 Ng4 56. R8f7+ Kg6 57. Rf8 Qe3+ 58. Kd5
Qd3+ 59. Ke6 Qe4+ 60. Re5 Nxe5 61. fxe5 Qc6+ 62. Ke7 Qc5+ 63. Ke8 Qxe5+ 64. Kd7
Qg7+ 65. Ke8 Qxf8+ 0-1

[Event "Pelaro op"]
[Site "Pelaro"]
[Date "2002.06.09"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Pilgaard, Kim"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A37"]
[WhiteElo "2426"]
[BlackElo "2163"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2002.06.08"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SWE"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. g3 Bg7 5. Bg2 e6 6. O-O Nge7 7. d3 O-O 8. Bd2
d5 9. Qc1 d4 10. Na4 b6 11. a3 a5 12. b4 axb4 13. axb4 Nxb4 14. Bxb4 cxb4 15.
Qb2 Bd7 16. Qxb4 Rb8 17. Rfb1 b5 18. cxb5 Rxb5 19. Qc4 Qb8 20. Rxb5 Qxb5 21.
Nd2 Rc8 22. Qxb5 Bxb5 23. Nc4 Rd8 24. Nab6 h5 25. Ra5 Be8 26. Rc5 Nf5 27. Rc7
Nd6 28. Nxd6 Rxd6 29. Rc8 Rxb6 30. Rxe8+ Bf8 31. Bf3 Kg7 32. Ra8 Rb2 33. Ra7
Bd6 34. Kg2 Be5 35. Bc6 Bb8 36. Rb7 Rxb7 37. Bxb7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Pelaro op"]
[Site "Pelaro"]
[Date "2002.06.10"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Westerinen, Heikki MJ"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2403"]
[BlackElo "2163"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2002.06.08"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SWE"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. O-O Nc6 6. d3 g6 7. c3 Nf6 8.
Bf4 Bg7 9. Nbd2 O-O 10. h3 b5 11. Qe2 Rfe8 12. Rad1 Qb7 13. Bh2 Nd7 14. Qe3 b4
15. d4 Qa6 16. d5 Nce5 17. Nxe5 Nxe5 18. cxb4 cxb4 19. Qb3 Nd3 20. Nc4 Nc5 21.
Qc2 Qxa2 22. e5 b3 23. Qc1 Nb7 24. Rfe1 Qa6 25. Qf4 Rac8 26. Re4 Na5 27. Nxa5
Qxa5 28. Qe3 Qb5 29. Re1 dxe5 30. Bxe5 Qxd5 31. Bxg7 Kxg7 32. Qxa7 Rc2 33. Qe3
e5 34. Rb4 Rxb2 35. Qc3 Rc2 36. Qxb3 Qxb3 37. Rxb3 e4 38. f3 f5 39. Rb7+ Kh6
40. fxe4 fxe4 41. Rb4 e3 42. Rb3 e2 43. Kf2 Rf8+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Pelaro op"]
[Site "Pelaro"]
[Date "2002.06.11"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kinnmark, Ove"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A17"]
[WhiteElo "2163"]
[BlackElo "2364"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2002.06.08"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SWE"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 Bxc3 6. bxc3 d6 7. O-O e5 8. d4
e4 9. Nd2 Re8 10. f3 exf3 11. exf3 Bf5 12. Re1 Rxe1+ 13. Qxe1 Nc6 14. Ne4 h6
15. g4 Bg6 16. Bd2 Na5 17. Qe2 Nxe4 18. fxe4 Qe7 19. Re1 Re8 20. Bf4 b6 21. h3
Qe6 22. c5 bxc5 23. dxc5 dxc5 24. Qb5 Nc4 25. Qxc5 Qb6 26. Qxb6 cxb6 27. e5 Rd8
28. e6 fxe6 29. Rxe6 Bf7 30. Re7 a5 31. Bf1 Nd2 32. Bxd2 Rxd2 33. a4 Rc2 34.
Rc7 Bb3 35. Bc4+ Bxc4 36. Rxc4 Ra2 37. Rc6 Rxa4 38. Rxb6 Rc4 39. Ra6 Rxc3 40.
Rxa5 Rxh3 41. Kg2 Rd3 42. g5 hxg5 43. Rxg5 Kh7 44. Rg3 Rd2+ 45. Kh3 Kh6 46. Ra3
Kh5 47. Ra5+ g5 48. Ra4 Rd3+ 49. Kg2 Rb3 50. Kh2 g4 51. Ra8 Kh4 52. Rh8+ Kg5
53. Rg8+ Kf4 54. Rf8+ Ke4 55. Re8+ Kf3 56. Rf8+ Ke2 57. Rf4 g3+ 58. Kg2 Re3 59.
Rg4 Kd3 60. Rxg3 Rxg3+ 61. Kxg3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Pelaro op"]
[Site "Pelaro"]
[Date "2002.06.12"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Slapikas, Vytautas"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2410"]
[BlackElo "2163"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2002.06.08"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SWE"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nc6 5. dxc5 Qxd1+ 6. Kxd1 Bf5 7. Be3
O-O-O+ 8. Nd2 Nf6 9. Ngf3 e5 10. Bb5 Nd5 11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. Nxe5 Nxe3+ 13. fxe3
Bxc5 14. Re1 Rde8 15. Nxc6 Bxe3 16. Nc4 Bc5 17. Nxa7+ Kb7 18. Nb5 Rxe1+ 19.
Kxe1 Re8+ 20. Kd2 Rd8+ 21. Nd4 Bxd4 22. cxd4 Rxd4+ 23. Kc3 Rd3+ 24. Kb4 Be6 25.
Rf1 Rd4 26. b3 Bxc4 27. bxc4 f6 28. Rf2 Kc6 29. Re2 h5 30. a4 Rd1 31. Re6+ Kd7
32. Ra6 Kc8 33. Rc6+ Kd7 34. Ra6 Kc8 35. Ra8+ Kb7 36. Rf8 g5 37. Rf7+ Kb8 38.
Rxf6 Rd2 39. g3 Rxh2 40. Rg6 g4 41. Rh6 Rh3 42. a5 Rxg3 43. Rxh5 Rg1 44. Rg5 g3
45. Rg7 g2 46. Kc5 Ka8 47. a6 Kb8 48. Rb7+ Ka8 49. Rb2 Ka7 50. Kb5 Ka8 51. Kb6
Kb8 52. c5 Rc1 53. Rxg2 Rb1+ 54. Kc6 Ka7 55. Kc7 Rh1 56. Rg7 Kxa6 57. c6 Ka7
58. Kd7 Rh8 59. Re7 Kb6 60. Rf7 Rg8 61. Rh7 Rf8 62. Rg7 Rh8 63. c7 Kb7 64. Rg4
Rh7+ 65. Kd8 Rh8+ 66. Kd7 Rh7+ 67. Kd8 Rh8+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Helsinki ShakkiNet-A 4th"]
[Site "Helsinki"]
[Date "2002.06.24"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sammalvuo, Tapani"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D36"]
[WhiteElo "2163"]
[BlackElo "2440"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2002.06.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FIN"]
[EventCategory "4"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 089 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 e6 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be7 7. Qc2 g6 8. e3
Bf5 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 O-O 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. O-O a5 13. Rad1 Na6 14. Rfe1 Bg7
15. h3 f5 16. a3 Qd6 17. Na4 Nc7 18. Nc5 b6 19. Na4 c5 20. dxc5 bxc5 21. Qc2
Ne6 22. Nc3 Bxc3 23. bxc3 c4 24. Rd2 Nc5 25. Red1 Ne4 26. Rxd5 Qxa3 27. Rc1
Rab8 28. Rd7 Nxf2 29. Qxf2 Qxc1+ 30. Kh2 Rfd8 31. Rxd8+ Rxd8 32. Qh4 Qd1 33.
Nd4 Re8 34. Qf6 Qd3 35. Qc6 Qxe3 36. Qxc4+ Kg7 37. Qc7+ Re7 0-1

[Event "Helsinki ShakkiNet-A 4th"]
[Site "Helsinki"]
[Date "2002.06.25"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nyysti, Sampsa"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C47"]
[WhiteElo "2163"]
[BlackElo "2242"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2002.06.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FIN"]
[EventCategory "4"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 089 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. a3 g6 5. Nxe5 Nxe5 6. d4 Nc6 7. d5 Nb8 8. e5
Ng8 9. d6 cxd6 10. exd6 Qf6 11. Nb5 Na6 12. Bc4 Bh6 13. Qe2+ Kf8 14. Be3 Bxe3
15. fxe3 Qh4+ 16. g3 Qh5 17. Qf2 Qf5 18. Qe2 Qh5 19. Qf2 Qf5 20. Qe2 Nh6 21.
Rf1 Qh5 22. Qf2 Qf5 23. Qe2 Qe5 24. O-O-O Kg7 25. Rd5 Qe8 26. Qd2 Rf8 27. Qd4+
f6 28. g4 b6 29. g5 Nf5 30. gxf6+ Rxf6 31. Rdxf5 gxf5 32. Rg1+ Qg6 33. Rxg6+
Kxg6 34. Bd5 Rb8 35. e4 Bb7 36. exf5+ Rxf5 37. Qg4+ Kf6 38. Qh4+ Kg6 39. Bc4
Nc5 40. b4 Ne4 41. Nc7 Nxd6 42. Qg3+ 1-0

[Event "Helsinki ShakkiNet-A 4th"]
[Site "Helsinki"]
[Date "2002.06.26"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Norri, Joose"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E43"]
[WhiteElo "2426"]
[BlackElo "2163"]
[PlyCount "187"]
[EventDate "2002.06.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FIN"]
[EventCategory "4"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 089 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 b6 5. Bd3 Bb7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. O-O d6 8. Qe2
Bxc3 9. bxc3 Be4 10. Bxe4 Nxe4 11. Qd3 f5 12. Ne1 Nc6 13. f3 Nf6 14. Nc2 Qd7
15. e4 fxe4 16. fxe4 e5 17. Bg5 Nh5 18. Qe2 Nf4 19. Bxf4 exf4 20. Qh5 Qf7 21.
Qd5 Ne7 22. Qxf7+ Rxf7 23. Nb4 Re8 24. Rae1 g5 25. e5 dxe5 26. Rxe5 Rf5 27. Re6
Rff8 28. Rfe1 Kf7 29. Na6 Nf5 30. Nxc7 Rc8 31. Nd5 Rxc4 32. R1e5 Kg7 33. g4
fxg3 34. hxg3 h5 35. Rxf5 Rxf5 36. Ne3 Rf3 37. Nxc4 Rxg3+ 38. Kf2 Rxc3 39. Ne5
g4 40. d5 g3+ 41. Kg2 h4 42. Kh3 Rc2 43. Rg6+ Kh7 44. d6 Rd2 45. Kxh4 g2 46.
Kh3 Rxd6 47. Rxg2 Rd5 48. Re2 Kg7 49. Kg4 Kf6 50. Kf4 Ra5 51. Nf3 Ra4+ 52. Ke3
Ke6 53. Kd3+ Kd5 54. Rc2 Ra3+ 55. Ke2 b5 56. Nd2 a5 57. Kd1 Rh3 58. Kc1 a4 59.
Kb2 b4 60. Rc8 Rh2 61. Kc2 b3+ 62. axb3 axb3+ 63. Kxb3 Rh6 64. Nc4 Rc6 65. Rh8
Rc7 66. Rd8+ Kc5 67. Ne5 Rb7+ 68. Kc3 Rh7 69. Nd3+ Kb6 70. Kc4 Rh4+ 71. Kd5
Rh5+ 72. Ne5 Rh1 73. Nc4+ Kc7 74. Rg8 Rh5+ 75. Ne5 Kb7 76. Rg1 Kc7 77. Rb1 Rh2
78. Rc1+ Kb7 79. Nc6 Rh5+ 80. Ne5 Rh2 81. Rc3 Rh5 82. Kd6 Rh6+ 83. Kc5 Rh5 84.
Re3 Kc7 85. Kd5 Kb7 86. Rg3 Kc7 87. Rg7+ Kb6 88. Re7 Rg5 89. Kd6 Rh5 90. Ng4
Rh1 91. Nf6 Rh6 92. Re6 Kb5 93. Kd5 Rh1 94. Ne4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Helsinki ShakkiNet-A 4th"]
[Site "Helsinki"]
[Date "2002.06.27"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Payen, Arnaud"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2163"]
[BlackElo "2356"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2002.06.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FIN"]
[EventCategory "4"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 089 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 c6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. a4 e6 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. e3 Qa5 8. Bxf6
Nxf6 9. Bd3 Bb4 10. Rc1 c5 11. O-O dxc4 12. Bxc4 O-O 13. Bd3 cxd4 14. exd4 Bd7
15. Ne5 Rad8 16. Qf3 Qb6 17. Rfd1 Bxc3 18. Nxd7 Rxd7 19. bxc3 Rc8 20. Rb1 Qc6
21. Qxc6 Rxc6 22. c4 Kf8 23. Be2 Rcd6 24. g3 Ne4 25. Rd3 Rxd4 26. Rxd4 Rxd4 27.
Rxb7 Nc3 28. Bf1 Nxa4 29. Rc7 Rd1 30. c5 Rc1 31. c6 Nb6 32. Kg2 a5 33. Bb5 Rc5
34. Rb7 Rxb5 35. c7 Rc5 36. Rxb6 Rxc7 37. Ra6 Rc5 38. Ra7 g5 39. Kh3 Kg7 40.
Kg2 h5 41. Kf3 Rc3+ 42. Kg2 Ra3 43. h3 Kg6 44. g4 h4 45. Ra8 Ra1 46. Kh2 a4 47.
Kg2 a3 48. Ra7 f5 49. gxf5+ exf5 50. Ra6+ Kf7 51. Ra5 Ke6 52. f3 Kf6 53. Kh2
Ra2+ 54. Kg1 Ke6 55. Kh1 Kd6 56. Rxf5 Rb2 0-1

[Event "Helsinki ShakkiNet-A 4th"]
[Site "Helsinki"]
[Date "2002.06.28"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Solozhenkin, Evgeniy"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2499"]
[BlackElo "2163"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2002.06.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FIN"]
[EventCategory "4"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 089 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Nbd2 b6 5. a3 Bxd2+ 6. Bxd2 Bb7 7. Bg5 d6 8.
e3 Nbd7 9. Qc2 c5 10. Rd1 Qc7 11. dxc5 Bxf3 12. gxf3 Qxc5 13. Rg1 Qc6 14. Be2
d5 15. Qb3 dxc4 16. Qxc4 Qxc4 17. Bxc4 Ne5 18. Bb5+ Ke7 19. Ke2 Rac8 20. f4
Rc2+ 21. Kf1 Nc6 22. Kg2 Rc8 23. b4 Nb8 24. Rd3 Rb2 25. Ba4 a6 26. Bd1 Nbd7 27.
Bf3 Rcc2 28. Bh4 Rd2 29. Rxd2 Rxd2 30. Rc1 Rd3 31. Ra1 a5 32. Bc6 Rc3 33. Bb5
Kd8 34. Kf3 Kc7 35. bxa5 bxa5 36. a4 Nd5 37. Rg1 g6 38. Rd1 Nc5 39. Bg5 Rc2 40.
Be8 f6 41. Bh4 Rc4 42. Bg3 Kb6 43. Rb1+ Rb4 44. Rc1 Nc7 45. Bf7 N7a6 46. Rd1
Rxa4 47. Rd6+ Kb7 48. f5 gxf5 49. Bxe6 Nxe6 50. Rxe6 Rc4 51. Rxf6 Rc5 52. Rh6
a4 53. Bd6 Rd5 54. Rxh7+ Kc6 55. Bf8 Nc5 56. Ra7 Ne4 57. Bb4 Rd8 58. Ra5 Rb8
59. Rxa4 Rh8 60. Ra5 Rh3+ 61. Kg2 Rh5 62. f3 1-0

[Event "Helsinki ShakkiNet-A 4th"]
[Site "Helsinki"]
[Date "2002.06.29"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karttunen, Mika"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A25"]
[WhiteElo "2163"]
[BlackElo "2429"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2002.06.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FIN"]
[EventCategory "4"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 089 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 g6 2. Nf3 Bg7 3. g3 e5 4. Nc3 Ne7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O Nbc6 7. d3 h6 8. Bd2
f5 9. Rb1 g5 10. b4 Ng6 11. b5 Nce7 12. Ne1 Kh7 13. c5 f4 14. Qb3 g4 15. Nd5
Nf5 16. Be4 d6 17. cxd6 cxd6 18. Bc3 Be6 19. Ng2 h5 20. Qb2 Rc8 21. Rbc1 Rc5
22. Ndxf4 exf4 23. Bxg7 Rxc1 24. Rxc1 Nxg7 25. Bxg6+ Kxg6 26. Nxf4+ Rxf4 27.
gxf4 Qb6 28. e4 Bd7 29. f5+ Kf7 30. a4 a6 31. Qc3 Ne8 32. Qh8 Nf6 33. Qh6 Qd4
34. Re1 Be8 35. Qg6+ Kf8 36. Qh6+ Kf7 37. bxa6 bxa6 38. Rb1 Qe5 39. Qg6+ Kf8
40. Qh6+ Kf7 41. Rb7+ Bd7 42. Rb8 Be8 43. Qc1 h4 44. Rb1 g3 45. Qg5 gxf2+ 46.
Kf1 Bxa4 47. Qg6+ Kf8 48. Rb8+ Be8 49. Qh6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Helsinki ShakkiNet-A 4th"]
[Site "Helsinki"]
[Date "2002.06.30"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Maki Uuro, Miika"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2335"]
[BlackElo "2163"]
[PlyCount "161"]
[EventDate "2002.06.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FIN"]
[EventCategory "4"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 089 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. Qc2 e6 6. Nf3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. cxd5
exd5 9. Be2 O-O 10. O-O Nc6 11. Rd1 Ba7 12. Qb3 Na5 13. Qa4 Bd7 14. Qh4 Be6 15.
b3 Ne4 16. Qxd8 Rfxd8 17. Bb2 Nc6 18. Nxe4 dxe4 19. Ng5 Bf5 20. Bc4 Bg6 21. Bd5
h6 22. Bxc6 bxc6 23. Nh3 Bf5 24. Nf4 Bg4 25. Rxd8+ Rxd8 26. h3 g5 27. Ng6 fxg6
28. hxg4 Rd2 29. Bc3 Rc2 30. Be5 Bc5 31. Rd1 Kf7 32. Rd8 h5 33. a4 a5 34. Bd6
Bxd6 35. Rxd6 Rc3 36. Rd7+ Kf6 37. Rd6+ Kf7 38. Rd7+ Ke6 39. Rg7 Kf6 40. Ra7
hxg4 41. Kh2 Rxb3 42. Rxa5 Rc3 43. Kg3 Rc2 44. Ra8 Ra2 45. a5 c5 46. a6 c4 47.
a7 Kg7 48. Kxg4 Ra5 49. Rc8 Rxa7 50. Rxc4 Rf7 51. Kxg5 Rf5+ 52. Kg4 Rxf2 53. g3
Ra2 54. Rxe4 Ra3 55. Kg5 Ra5+ 56. Kf4 Ra1 57. Rb4 Rf1+ 58. Kg4 Re1 59. e4 Kf6
60. Rb6+ Kg7 61. Kf4 Rf1+ 62. Kg5 Rf3 63. g4 Re3 64. Rxg6+ Kf7 65. Rf6+ Ke7 66.
Rf4 Ke6 67. Kg6 Ke5 68. Rf8 Ra3 69. g5 Kxe4 70. Kg7 Ke5 71. g6 Rg3 72. Kh7 Rh3+
73. Kg8 Ke6 74. g7 Rg3 75. Rf1 Ke7 76. Re1+ Kd7 77. Re4 Rg1 78. Kf7 Rf1+ 79.
Kg6 Rg1+ 80. Kf6 Kd8 81. Re5 1-0

[Event "Helsinki ShakkiNet-A 4th"]
[Site "Helsinki"]
[Date "2002.07.01"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hjelm, Niclas"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2163"]
[BlackElo "2313"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2002.06.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FIN"]
[EventCategory "4"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 089 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. O-O d6 6. c3 Bb6 7. Nbd2 O-O 8. h3
Ne7 9. Ba4 Ng6 10. Nc4 h6 11. Re1 Be6 12. Bb3 Re8 13. Nxb6 axb6 14. Bxe6 Rxe6
15. c4 c6 16. Nh2 d5 17. Ng4 dxc4 18. dxc4 Qxd1 19. Nxf6+ Rxf6 20. Rxd1 Nf8 21.
Be3 c5 22. Rd5 Re6 23. a4 Rc8 24. a5 Ra8 25. Ra3 bxa5 26. Rxc5 b6 27. Rb5 Rc8
28. Rxb6 Rxb6 29. Bxb6 Rxc4 30. Rxa5 Nd7 31. Ra8+ Kh7 32. Ba5 Rxe4 33. Ra7 Ra4
34. b4 Nb8 35. b5 Ra1+ 36. Kh2 f6 37. Bb6 Rb1 38. Rb7 Rxb5 39. Rxb8 Kg6 40. Ba7
Ra5 41. Be3 h5 42. Rc8 Rb5 43. Rc7 Rd5 44. Bc5 Rd8 45. g3 Ra8 46. Kg2 Rd8 47.
Kf3 Ra8 48. h4 Rb8 49. Ke4 Re8 50. Kd5 Rd8+ 51. Ke6 Re8+ 52. Kd7 Ra8 53. Rc8
Ra2 54. Ke8 Kf5 55. Kf7 g5 56. Rc6 gxh4 57. gxh4 Kg4 58. Kxf6 Kxh4 59. Kxe5 Kg4
60. Rg6+ Kh3 61. f4 1-0

[Event "Helsinki ShakkiNet-A 4th"]
[Site "Helsinki"]
[Date "2002.07.02"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Tiitta, Sauli"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2249"]
[BlackElo "2163"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2002.06.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FIN"]
[EventCategory "4"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 089 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. O-O Nc6 6. c3 Nf6 7. d4 cxd4 8.
cxd4 d5 9. e5 Ne4 10. Ne1 f6 11. f3 Ng5 12. Bxg5 fxg5 13. Nc3 e6 14. f4 gxf4
15. Nc2 O-O-O 16. Rxf4 Be7 17. Rf7 Nxe5 18. Rxe7 Qxe7 19. dxe5 d4 20. Ne4 Rd5
21. Nxd4 Rhd8 22. Qc2+ Kb8 23. Nf3 Qb4 24. Rc1 Qb6+ 25. Kh1 a6 26. Nd6 g5 27.
h3 h5 28. Nxg5 R8xd6 29. exd6 Rxg5 30. Qc8+ Ka7 31. Qxe6 Rxg2 32. Kxg2 Qxb2+
33. Kg3 Qxc1 34. d7 Qg1+ 35. Kh4 Qf2+ 36. Kxh5 Qf3+ 37. Kg6 Qd3+ 38. Qf5 Qd6+
39. Kf7 Kb8 40. d8=R+ Qxd8 41. Qe5+ Kc8 42. Qc5+ 1-0

[Event "Helsinki ShakkiNet-A 4th"]
[Site "Helsinki"]
[Date "2002.07.03"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hansen, Victor"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E54"]
[WhiteElo "2163"]
[BlackElo "2143"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2002.06.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FIN"]
[EventCategory "4"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 089 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nf3 Bb4 7. Bd3 dxc4 8.
Bxc4 O-O 9. O-O b6 10. Bg5 Bb7 11. Qb3 Be7 12. Ne5 Nfd7 13. Nxf7 Rxf7 14. Bxe6
Bxg5 15. Bxf7+ Kh8 16. Bd5 Nc6 17. Qa4 Rc8 18. Be6 a6 19. Ne4 Be7 20. d5 Nce5
21. d6 Bf8 22. f4 b5 23. Qd4 Nc6 24. Qe3 h6 25. Ng5 Qe8 26. Nf7+ Kh7 27. Qe4+
g6 28. f5 Nd8 29. fxg6+ Kg7 30. Qd4+ Kxg6 31. Qg4+ 1-0

[Event "Helsinki ShakkiNet-A 4th"]
[Site "Helsinki"]
[Date "2002.07.04"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Agopov, Mikael"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B59"]
[WhiteElo "2412"]
[BlackElo "2163"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2002.06.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FIN"]
[EventCategory "4"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 089 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nc6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8.
O-O O-O 9. Be3 a5 10. a4 Be6 11. Qd2 Nb4 12. f4 Rc8 13. f5 Bxb3 14. cxb3 d5 15.
exd5 Nbxd5 16. Nxd5 Nxd5 17. Bf2 e4 18. Rad1 e3 19. Qxd5 exf2+ 20. Kxf2 Bc5+
21. Kg3 Qg5+ 22. Kh3 Qh6+ 23. Kg3 Ba7 24. h4 Bb8+ 25. Kh3 Rce8 26. Bc4 Qf6 27.
g3 Re5 28. Qf3 Re7 29. Rd3 Be5 30. Rfd1 h6 31. Rd8 Rxd8 32. Rxd8+ Kh7 33. Rf8
Bd6 34. Qg4 b6 35. h5 Rc7 36. Qg6+ fxg6 37. fxg6+ Qxg6 38. hxg6+ Kxg6 39. Bd3+
1-0

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Roros"]
[Date "2002.07.07"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Hansen, Victor"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D13"]
[WhiteElo "2142"]
[BlackElo "2214"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2002.07.06"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 089 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Bf4 Nc6 7. e3 Bg4 8. Bd3
e6 9. O-O Bd6 10. Bxd6 Qxd6 11. a3 O-O 12. Rc1 b5 13. b4 Rac8 14. Be2 e5 15.
dxe5 Nxe5 16. Nxe5 Qxe5 17. Bxg4 Rxc3 18. Bf3 Rxa3 19. Qd2 Ne4 20. Bxe4 dxe4
21. Rc5 Qe6 22. Rd5 h6 23. Rc1 Ra4 24. h3 Rxb4 25. Rd6 Qb3 26. Rxa6 Rc4 27.
Rxc4 Qxc4 28. Rb6 Ra8 29. Qb2 Ra2 30. Qxb5 Ra1+ 31. Kh2 Qc7+ 32. g3 Ra8 33. Rb7
Qd8 34. Qf5 Qe8 35. Qd7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bergen Sommer op"]
[Site "Bergen"]
[Date "2002.07.20"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Instefjord, Stian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B95"]
[BlackElo "2214"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2002.07.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 089 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8. Be2
Be7 9. Rd1 Bd7 10. O-O O-O 11. Nb3 Ne8 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. f4 Rd8 14. Bf3 Bc8 15.
Qf2 Qc7 16. Rd2 b5 17. a3 Bb7 18. Rfd1 Nf6 19. g4 Qe7 20. Qb6 Rb8 21. Rxd6 b4
22. axb4 Nxb4 23. Qf2 Nfd5 24. e5 Nxf4 25. Qg3 Bxf3 26. Qxf3 Qg5 27. Nc5 f5 28.
Nd7 fxg4 29. Qg3 Nh3+ 30. Kg2 Rf2+ 31. Kh1 Rf3 32. Ne4 Rxg3 33. hxg3 Qe3 34.
Nxb8 Qxe4+ 35. Kh2 Nf2 0-1

[Event "Bergen Sommer op"]
[Site "Bergen"]
[Date "2002.07.21"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Fyllingen, Roy Harald"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2214"]
[BlackElo "2378"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2002.07.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 089 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 Bb4 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O Re8 7. Nd5 Bf8 8. d3
Nxd5 9. cxd5 Nb4 10. Qb3 a5 11. Bg5 f6 12. Bd2 Kh8 13. Nh4 c6 14. Bxb4 axb4 15.
Be4 g6 16. dxc6 dxc6 17. Qf7 f5 18. Bg2 Qe7 19. Qxe7 Bxe7 20. Nf3 Bf6 21. e4
Be6 22. a3 Ra4 23. Rfe1 bxa3 24. bxa3 fxe4 25. dxe4 Rea8 26. Rab1 Bc8 27. Nd2
b5 28. Rbc1 Bd7 29. Rcd1 R8a7 30. Nb1 Be7 31. f4 Bc5+ 32. Kh1 Bd4 33. Rd3 Be6
34. fxe5 Bxe5 35. Rc1 Rc4 36. Rcd1 Bg4 37. Re1 Rc2 38. Rd8+ Kg7 39. Re8 Bd6 40.
e5 Be7 41. h3 Be6 42. Rd1 Rc7 43. Rb8 Bc5 44. Re8 Rd7 45. Rf1 Bc4 46. Re1 Rf7
0-1

[Event "Bergen Sommer op"]
[Site "Bergen"]
[Date "2002.07.22"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Ellingsen, Ronny"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B66"]
[WhiteElo "2053"]
[BlackElo "2214"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2002.07.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 089 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8. Be2
Bd7 9. Rd1 b5 10. a3 Rc8 11. O-O h6 12. Be3 Be7 13. f4 O-O 14. Nb3 Re8 15. Bf3
e5 16. Nd5 Nxd5 17. exd5 exf4 18. Bxf4 Ne5 19. Bxe5 dxe5 20. Be4 Bd6 21. Qd3
Rf8 22. Rd2 a5 23. Bf5 Bxf5 24. Qxf5 g6 25. Qf6 a4 26. Nc1 Bc5+ 27. Kh1 Qxf6
28. Rxf6 Be3 29. Rd1 Rxc2 30. Nd3 e4 31. Nb4 Rxb2 32. d6 Rd2 33. Re1 Bc5 34.
Rff1 Bxb4 35. axb4 Re8 36. g4 Rxd6 37. Rd1 Rxd1 38. Rxd1 e3 39. Kg2 Re4 0-1

[Event "Bergen Sommer op"]
[Site "Bergen"]
[Date "2002.07.23"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anagnostopoulos, Dimitrios"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B76"]
[WhiteElo "2214"]
[BlackElo "2446"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2002.07.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 089 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2
O-O 9. O-O-O d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Nxd5 cxd5 13. Qxd5 Qc7 14. Qc5
Qb8 15. Qa3 a5 16. Bd4 Rd8 17. Qc5 Bf5 18. Bc4 Rc8 19. Qd5 e6 20. Qxa8 Qxa8 21.
Bxg7 Kxg7 22. Bd3 0-1

[Event "Bergen Sommer op"]
[Site "Bergen"]
[Date "2002.07.24"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Sander, Rolf"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "2061"]
[BlackElo "2214"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2002.07.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 089 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. c4 Bb4+ 6. Nc3 O-O 7. Be3 Nc6 8.
Bd3 dxc4 9. Bxc4 Bg4 10. O-O Qd6 11. a3 Bxc3 12. bxc3 Na5 13. Bd3 Qd5 14. Rb1
a6 15. h3 Bh5 16. g4 Bg6 17. Ne5 Bxd3 18. Qxd3 b5 19. Rfe1 Nc4 20. Bg5 Nd7 21.
Nxc4 bxc4 22. Qe3 Nb6 23. Bf4 Qd7 24. Qg3 Nd5 25. Re5 f6 26. Re2 Rab8 27. Reb2
Rxb2 28. Rxb2 Qe7 29. Rb1 Qe4 0-1

[Event "Bergen Sommer op"]
[Site "Bergen"]
[Date "2002.07.25"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Christenson, Flemming"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E01"]
[WhiteElo "2214"]
[BlackElo "2225"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2002.07.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 089 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 e6 4. Nbd2 Nf6 5. g3 Nbd7 6. Bg2 Bd6 7. O-O O-O 8. Qc2
Qe7 9. e4 dxe4 10. Nxe4 Nxe4 11. Qxe4 e5 12. Qc2 exd4 13. Nxd4 Qf6 14. Rd1 Bc5
15. Be3 Ne5 16. Nxc6 Bxe3 17. Nxe5 Bxf2+ 18. Qxf2 Qxe5 19. Rd5 Qc7 20. Qc5 Qb8
21. Qd4 Be6 22. Rb5 Rd8 23. Qe4 Rd7 24. b3 Qd8 25. Re1 Rb8 26. Re5 b6 27. Qf4
Rd4 28. Be4 Qd6 29. Qe3 Rd1 30. Bd5 Rxe1+ 31. Qxe1 Bxd5 32. Rxd5 Qc7 33. Qd2
Re8 34. Rd7 Qc5+ 35. Qd4 Qa5 36. Re7 Kf8 37. Rxe8+ Kxe8 38. Qe4+ Kf8 39. Qa8+
Ke7 40. Qe4+ Kf6 41. Qc6+ Ke7 42. Qc7+ Ke6 43. Qc6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bergen Sommer op"]
[Site "Bergen"]
[Date "2002.07.26"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Lahlum, Hans Olav"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2217"]
[BlackElo "2214"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2002.07.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 089 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. Nf3 b5 6. b3 Bg4 7. Be2 e6 8. O-O Nbd7
9. h3 Bh5 10. Bb2 Be7 11. Rc1 O-O 12. Qc2 Rc8 13. c5 Qc7 14. b4 a5 15. a3 Ra8
16. Kh1 axb4 17. axb4 Ne4 18. Ng1 Bg6 19. Bd3 Nxc3 20. Qxc3 Bxd3 21. Qxd3 Ra4
22. Qc3 Nf6 23. f3 Rfa8 24. Ne2 Nd7 25. e4 Ra2 26. Qb3 R2a6 27. Nc3 Bg5 28.
Rcd1 Bf4 29. Ne2 Bg5 30. f4 Be7 31. e5 Nf8 32. g4 f5 33. Rg1 Kh8 34. Qg3 Bd8
35. Nc3 Qf7 36. Rd2 Ng6 37. g5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bergen Sommer op"]
[Site "Bergen"]
[Date "2002.07.27"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Manne, Per Erik"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E09"]
[WhiteElo "2214"]
[BlackElo "2338"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2002.07.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 089 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 e6 4. O-O Be7 5. c4 O-O 6. d4 c6 7. Qc2 Nbd7 8. b3
b6 9. Bb2 Bb7 10. Nbd2 Rc8 11. e4 c5 12. exd5 exd5 13. Qf5 dxc4 14. Nxc4 Be4
15. Qh3 Re8 16. Rad1 Qc7 17. dxc5 Bxc5 18. Nd4 Bxg2 19. Qxg2 Bxd4 20. Bxd4 Re2
21. a4 Qc6 22. Qxc6 Rxc6 23. Ne3 a6 24. Bxf6 1-0

[Event "Bergen Sommer op"]
[Site "Bergen"]
[Date "2002.07.28"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Yakovich, Yuri"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2586"]
[BlackElo "2214"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2002.07.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 089 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.09.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. a3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Qc2 Be7 8. e4
Nxc3 9. bxc3 c5 10. Bb5+ Bc6 11. Bd3 O-O 12. O-O cxd4 13. cxd4 Bb7 14. Bf4 Nc6
15. d5 exd5 16. exd5 Qxd5 17. Bxh7+ Kh8 18. Be4 Qc5 19. Qe2 f5 20. Bxc6 Bxc6
21. Ne5 Be8 22. Nd3 Qd5 23. Qxe7 Bc6 24. Qh4+ Kg8 25. Qg3 1-0

[Event "Kiel op 15th"]
[Site "Kiel"]
[Date "2002.08.10"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Skrondal, Inge Sandstad"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A37"]
[BlackElo "2214"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2002.08.10"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. g3 Bg7 5. Bg2 d6 6. a3 Qd7 7. O-O b6 8. Rb1
Bb7 9. d3 Bxc3 10. bxc3 f5 11. Qd2 Nf6 12. d4 Na5 13. Qa2 Be4 14. Rb2 Qa4 15.
Ng5 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 Qxc4 17. Ne6 Nd5 18. dxc5 Qe4+ 19. Kg1 Qxe6 20. Rd1 Nc7 21.
cxd6 exd6 22. Qxe6+ Nxe6 23. Rxd6 Ke7 24. Rbd2 Nb3 0-1

[Event "Kiel op 15th"]
[Site "Kiel"]
[Date "2002.08.11"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Maeder, Torsten"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "2214"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2002.08.10"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Bd3 dxe4 4. Bxe4 Nf6 5. Bf3 c6 6. Ne2 Bd6 7. Nbc3 O-O 8.
Bg5 Nbd7 9. Qd2 Qa5 10. O-O-O Nd5 11. Kb1 Bb4 12. Bxd5 exd5 13. a3 Bd6 14. Ng3
Nb6 15. Bf6 Nd7 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Nf5+ Kh8 18. Qh6 Rg8 19. Nxd6 Rg6 20. Nxf7+
Kg8 21. Qf4 Rf6 22. Nh6+ Kg7 23. Qg5+ Rg6 24. Nf5+ Kh8 25. Qe7 Qc7 26. Rde1 Qf4
27. Qd8+ Rg8 28. Re8 1-0

[Event "Kiel op 15th"]
[Site "Kiel"]
[Date "2002.08.11"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kalinitschew, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E65"]
[WhiteElo "2214"]
[BlackElo "2487"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2002.08.10"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. g3 Bg7 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O Nf6 7. e3 O-O 8. d4
Bf5 9. b3 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Bg4 11. Qd2 Qc8 12. Bb2 Bh3 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. cxd5 Bxg2
15. Kxg2 Nxd4 16. Bxd4 {(=)} Qf5 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. Qd4+ Qf6 19. Qb4 Qe5 20.
Qxb7 Rfb8 21. Qc6 Rc8 22. Qb7 Rcb8 23. Qc6 Rc8 24. Qb7 Rcb8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Kiel op 15th"]
[Site "Kiel"]
[Date "2002.08.12"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Hansen, Victor"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D12"]
[WhiteElo "2142"]
[BlackElo "2214"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2002.08.10"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. d4 d5 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 e6 6. Be2 Nbd7 7. Nh4 Be4 8. f3
Bg6 9. Nxg6 hxg6 10. e4 dxe4 11. fxe4 e5 12. dxe5 Nxe5 13. Bg5 Qb6 14. Qb3 Bc5
15. Qxb6 axb6 16. Bxf6 gxf6 17. Kd2 Bb4 18. Kc2 Ke7 19. a3 Bxc3 20. Kxc3 Rh4
21. Bf3 Rah8 22. h3 Nxf3 23. gxf3 Rxh3 24. Rxh3 Rxh3 25. Rf1 Ke6 26. Kd4 Rh2
27. Rb1 f5 28. c5 b5 29. Re1 f4 30. Kc3 Rf2 0-1

[Event "Kiel op 15th"]
[Site "Kiel"]
[Date "2002.08.13"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kopylov, Michael"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2214"]
[BlackElo "2421"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2002.08.10"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 g6 5. c4 Nb6 6. exd6 cxd6 7. Be2 Bg7 8. O-O
O-O 9. Nc3 Nc6 10. Be3 Bg4 11. b3 d5 12. c5 Nc8 13. b4 a6 14. b5 axb5 15. Nxb5
e6 16. h3 Bxf3 17. Bxf3 N8e7 18. Qd2 Qa5 19. Qb2 e5 20. Rfd1 e4 21. Be2 Nf5 22.
Nd6 Nxd6 23. cxd6 Ra7 24. Bb5 Qb6 25. Rab1 Rd8 26. Bxc6 Qxb2 27. Rxb2 bxc6 28.
Rb6 Bf8 29. Rxc6 Bxd6 30. Bg5 Be7 31. Bxe7 Rxe7 32. Rdc1 Ra7 33. Rc8 Rxc8 34.
Rxc8+ Kg7 35. Rc5 Rxa2 36. Rxd5 Ra1+ 37. Kh2 Ra3 38. Re5 f5 39. Re7+ Kh6 40. g4
Rd3 41. gxf5 gxf5 42. Rd7 f4 43. Rf7 Kg5 44. Re7 Rxd4 45. Rxh7 Rd2 46. Kg1 Rd1+
47. Kh2 Rd2 48. Kg1 f3 49. Rg7+ Kf6 50. Rg4 Ke5 51. Rg8 Ra2 52. Rd8 Ra7 0-1

[Event "Kiel op 15th"]
[Site "Kiel"]
[Date "2002.08.14"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Feuerstack, Aljoscha"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2120"]
[BlackElo "2214"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2002.08.10"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Be2 cxd4 7. cxd4 e6 8.
Nc3 Bb4 9. O-O Bxc3 10. bxc3 Nge7 11. h3 Bh5 12. Rb1 Qxa2 13. Rb2 Qa1 14. Qb3
Qa5 15. Qxb7 O-O 16. Rb5 Qa2 17. Rb2 Qd5 18. Rb5 Qe4 19. Be3 Rab8 20. Qa6 Rxb5
21. Qxb5 Bg6 22. Nd2 Qd5 23. Bf4 Rc8 24. Nb3 Qe4 25. Bh2 Qc2 26. Rc1 Qb2 27.
Bf1 Bc2 28. Qe2 Qxb3 29. Qxc2 Qxc2 30. Rxc2 Nxd4 31. Rd2 Ndc6 32. Ba6 Rd8 33.
Rxd8+ Nxd8 34. Kf1 Ndc6 35. Ke2 e5 36. Kd3 f6 37. f4 Kf7 38. fxe5 fxe5 39. Kc4
Kf6 40. Kc5 e4 41. Bb7 a5 42. Bxc6 Nxc6 43. Kxc6 a4 44. Kd5 e3 45. Kc4 Kf5 46.
Kb4 Ke4 47. Kxa4 Kd3 48. Kb4 Ke2 49. Bf4 1-0

[Event "Kiel op 15th"]
[Site "Kiel"]
[Date "2002.08.14"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Haffner, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B80"]
[WhiteElo "2214"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2002.08.10"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. g4 h6 7. Be3 a6 8. f3 b5
9. Qd2 Bb7 10. O-O-O Nbd7 11. Rg1 b4 12. Na4 Qa5 13. b3 Nc5 14. a3 Nxa4 15.
axb4 Qc7 16. bxa4 d5 17. e5 Nd7 18. f4 Nb6 19. f5 Nc4 20. Qc3 Qxe5 21. Bxc4 Rc8
22. fxe6 fxe6 23. Rge1 Rxc4 24. Qd3 Bxb4 25. Qg6+ Kd7 26. Qf7+ Kc8 27. Bf4 Qf6
28. Qxf6 gxf6 29. Rxe6 Bc3 30. Ne2 d4 31. Rd3 Rg8 32. h3 Bg2 33. Bd2 Bxd2+ 34.
Kxd2 Rxa4 35. Rxf6 Re8 36. Rf2 Be4 37. Rxd4 Bxc2 38. Rxa4 Bxa4 39. Rf6 Bb5 40.
Ng3 Rd8+ 41. Ke3 Rd3+ 42. Kf4 Rd4+ 43. Ne4 Kd7 44. Ke5 Rd1 45. Nc5+ Ke7 46.
Rxh6 Kf7 47. Nxa6 Kg7 48. Rb6 Bf1 49. h4 Bh3 50. g5 Bg4 51. Nc7 Re1+ 52. Kf4
Bd1 53. Nd5 Rf1+ 54. Kg3 Rf3+ 55. Kg2 Ra3 56. Nf4 Ra2+ 57. Kg1 Ra4 58. Rf6 Bg4
59. h5 Ra5 60. h6+ Kh7 61. Rf7+ Kg8 62. Rg7+ Kf8 63. Ng6+ Ke8 64. h7 1-0

[Event "Kiel op 15th"]
[Site "Kiel"]
[Date "2002.08.15"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Langer, Wolfgang1"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2093"]
[BlackElo "2214"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2002.08.10"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. b3 Bg7 4. Bb2 O-O 5. Bg2 d5 6. d4 c5 7. e3 Nc6 8. O-O
cxd4 9. exd4 Bg4 10. Nbd2 Ne4 11. h3 Bf5 12. g4 Nxd2 13. Qxd2 Be4 14. Rfe1 e6
15. Rac1 Qb6 16. Ne5 Bxg2 17. Kxg2 Rad8 18. f4 {(=)} Nxe5 19. fxe5 f6 20. exf6
Bxf6 21. Ba3 Rf7 22. Bc5 Qc6 23. Bb4 Re8 24. Kg1 Qc7 25. Qd3 Bxd4+ 0-1

[Event "Kiel op 15th"]
[Site "Kiel"]
[Date "2002.08.16"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Scheerer, Christoph"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2214"]
[BlackElo "2384"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2002.08.10"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2003"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nc6 2. d4 d5 3. Bf4 Bg4 4. e3 e6 5. Be2 Bd6 6. Bxd6 cxd6 7. O-O Nge7 8.
h3 Bh5 9. Nbd2 O-O 10. c4 Rc8 11. Rc1 h6 12. cxd5 Nxd5 13. Ne4 Bg6 14. Nc3 Ncb4
15. Nxd5 Rxc1 16. Qxc1 Nxd5 17. Qd2 Qd7 18. Rc1 Rc8 19. Ne1 Rc7 20. Bd3 Rxc1
21. Qxc1 Bxd3 22. Nxd3 Qb5 23. Qc8+ Kh7 24. Qc2 g6 25. a3 Kg7 26. Ne1 Nb6 27.
Nd3 Kf6 28. Qc3 Ke7 29. Qc7+ Nd7 30. Qc3 Kd8 31. e4 Nf6 32. f3 Nd7 33. Kf2 Nb6
34. b3 Nd7 35. a4 Qb6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Nordic-chT U20"]
[Site "Viby"]
[Date "2002.09.06"]
[Round "1.7"]
[White "Ong, Kezli"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B66"]
[WhiteElo "2173"]
[BlackElo "2237"]
[PlyCount "145"]
[EventDate "2002.09.06"]
[EventType "team-tourn"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Sweden"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "SWE"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8.
O-O-O h6 9. Be3 Be7 10. f4 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 b5 12. Be2 Bb7 13. Bf3 b4 14. Na4 Qa5
15. b3 e5 16. fxe5 dxe5 17. Bb6 Qb5 18. Rhe1 O-O 19. h4 Bc8 20. Rg1 Bg4 21.
Bxg4 Nxg4 22. g3 Nf6 23. Rge1 Rac8 24. Qg2 Rc6 25. Be3 Rfc8 26. Rd2 Ng4 27. Bg1
Nf6 28. g4 Nh7 29. Bf2 Nf8 30. Qf1 Ng6 31. Qxb5 axb5 32. Nb6 Rb8 33. Nd5 Bf8
34. Red1 Ra6 35. Kb1 Nf4 36. Nxf4 exf4 37. Rd8 Raa8 38. Rxb8 Rxb8 39. Rd5 Be7
40. Rf5 g5 41. hxg5 hxg5 42. Bc5 Bd8 43. Bxb4 Kg7 44. Kb2 Kg6 45. Rd5 Bf6+ 46.
e5 Bg7 47. Bc3 b4 48. Bd4 f3 49. c3 Rh8 50. Rd6+ f6 51. exf6 Rh2+ 52. Kb1 Bh8
53. cxb4 f2 54. Bxf2 Rxf2 55. b5 Bxf6 56. b6 Rf4 57. a3 Rf3 58. a4 Rxb3+ 59.
Kc2 Rb2+ 60. Kd3 Kf7 61. a5 Be5 62. Rc6 Ra2 63. Rc5 Bh2 64. Rxg5 Ke6 65. Kc4
Kd7 66. Kb5 Bf4 67. Rf5 Rb2+ 68. Ka6 Bh2 69. Kb7 Bg1 70. Rf6 Ke7 71. Rc6 Ra2
72. a6 Kd7 73. Rg6 1-0

[Event "Nordic-chT U20"]
[Site "Viby"]
[Date "2002.09.07"]
[Round "2.7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Glud, Jakob Vang"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D36"]
[WhiteElo "2237"]
[BlackElo "2109"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "2002.09.06"]
[EventType "team-tourn"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Denmark"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "DEN"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. e3 O-O 8.
Bd3 Re8 9. O-O c6 10. Qc2 Nf8 11. h3 Bd6 12. e4 dxe4 13. Bxe4 Be7 14. Bxf6 Bxf6
15. Rad1 Qa5 16. d5 Bxc3 17. bxc3 cxd5 18. Rxd5 Qc7 19. Rb1 Rb8 20. Nd4 Be6 21.
Nxe6 Rxe6 22. Rd3 Rxe4 0-1

[Event "Nordic-chT U20"]
[Site "Viby"]
[Date "2002.09.08"]
[Round "3.7"]
[White "Leimand, Peter M"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B25"]
[WhiteElo "2003"]
[BlackElo "2237"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2002.09.06"]
[EventType "team-tourn"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Denmark II"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "DEN"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 e5 6. Nge2 Nge7 7. O-O O-O 8. Be3
d6 9. Qc1 Nd4 10. Bxd4 cxd4 11. Nd1 Be6 12. c4 Qd7 13. b4 f5 14. Rb1 Rac8 15.
Qd2 b5 16. cxb5 Qxb5 17. a3 Qa4 18. Nb2 Qxa3 19. Ra1 Qb3 20. Nc4 Bxc4 21. dxc4
Qxc4 22. Rxa7 Nc6 23. Raa1 Ne7 24. Ra7 Qe6 25. b5 fxe4 26. Bxe4 d5 27. Qa2 Qf7
28. Bg2 Kh8 29. Qa3 Bf6 30. b6 Rb8 31. Rb1 Qe6 32. b7 Qf5 33. Rb3 Nc6 34. Ra8
Be7 35. Qa2 Qxf2+ 36. Kh1 e4 37. Rb6 d3 38. Ng1 Qxb6 39. Rxb8 0-1

[Event "EU-ch U12"]
[Site "Peniscola"]
[Date "2002.09.29"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Kiss, Lajos"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D00"]
[BlackElo "2214"]
[PlyCount "30"]
[EventDate "2002.09.29"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 090 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bg5 g6 4. Qd2 Bg7 5. Nf3 Ne4 6. Qd3 Nxg5 7. Nxg5 e5 8.
h4 h6 9. Nh3 exd4 10. Nb5 c5 11. Qg3 Qa5+ 12. Kd1 Qxb5 13. Rb1 Bxh3 14. Qxh3
O-O 15. h5 g5 0-1

[Event "EU-ch U12"]
[Site "Peniscola"]
[Date "2002.09.30"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Orujov, Adnan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2214"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2002.09.29"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 090 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8.
c4 Ba6 9. b3 O-O-O 10. g3 Re8 11. Bb2 f6 12. Bg2 fxe5 13. O-O g6 14. Qd2 Nb6
15. Qa5 Kb7 16. Ba3 Qf6 17. Bxf8 Rhxf8 18. Nc3 Qe7 19. Na4 d6 20. Bxc6+ Kxc6
21. Qxa6 e4 22. c5 dxc5 23. Nxc5 Kxc5 24. Rfd1 Qe5 25. b4+ Kxb4 26. Rab1+ Kc3
27. Rb3+ Kc2 28. Qe2# 1-0

[Event "EU-ch U12"]
[Site "Peniscola"]
[Date "2002.09.30"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Vila Gazquez, Xavier"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B26"]
[BlackElo "2214"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2002.09.29"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 090 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 e5 6. Be3 d6 7. Qd2 Be6 8. Nge2
Nge7 9. Bh6 Bxh6 10. Qxh6 Nd4 11. Qd2 Qb6 12. Rb1 Bg4 13. O-O Nf3+ 14. Bxf3
Bxf3 15. Qe3 Bg4 16. f4 Qc7 17. Rbe1 Be6 18. Kg2 O-O-O 19. a3 Kb8 20. b4 Rc8
21. Rb1 d5 22. Qf2 d4 23. Na4 cxb4 24. axb4 b6 25. Rfc1 Qd7 26. b5 f6 27. Rb2
Qd6 28. Ra1 Rc7 29. Qe1 h5 30. h4 Bg4 31. fxe5 fxe5 32. Ng1 {..} 0-1

[Event "EU-ch U12"]
[Site "Peniscola"]
[Date "2002.10.01"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Salgado Lopez, Ivan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2214"]
[BlackElo "2163"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2002.09.29"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 090 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 1-0

[Event "EU-ch U12"]
[Site "Peniscola"]
[Date "2002.10.03"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2306"]
[BlackElo "2214"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2002.09.29"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 090 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. Nf3 d6 4. d4 dxe5 5. Nxe5 g6 6. Bc4 c6 7. Nc3 Be6 8. O-O
Nd7 9. Qf3 Bg7 10. Re1 O-O 11. Qg3 Nxe5 12. dxe5 Nxc3 13. Qxc3 Bxc4 14. Qxc4
Qd5 15. Qe2 Rad8 16. Bg5 Qe6 17. Qe3 b6 18. a4 Rd5 19. Bf4 Qf5 20. Qe4 Qd7 21.
c3 Rd8 22. h3 Qe6 23. Qe2 Rd3 24. a5 b5 25. a6 c5 26. Qe4 Qd5 27. Qxd5 R3xd5
28. Ra5 c4 29. Kf1 e6 30. Be3 R8d7 31. Bd4 Bf8 32. Rb1 Be7 33. b3 Bd8 34. Ra2
Rxd4 35. cxd4 c3 36. b4 Bg5 37. Rd1 Rc7 38. Rc2 Be7 39. d5 Bxb4 40. d6 Rc8 41.
Rb1 1-0

[Event "EU-ch U12"]
[Site "Peniscola"]
[Date "2002.10.05"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Spoelman, Wouter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2214"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2002.09.29"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 090 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nge2 e5 4. Nd5 Nge7 5. Nec3 d6 6. Bc4 Nxd5 7. Nxd5 Be7
8. O-O O-O 9. d3 Bg5 10. f4 exf4 11. Bxf4 Ne5 12. Bxe5 dxe5 13. Qe1 Be6 14. Qg3
f6 15. Kh1 Kh8 16. Bb3 Qd6 17. Nc3 Bd7 18. a4 Bf4 19. Qe1 f5 20. g3 Bh6 21.
exf5 Bxf5 22. Bd5 Bh3 23. Bg2 Bxg2+ 24. Kxg2 c4 25. dxc4 Rxf1 26. Qxf1 Be3 27.
Qe2 Qb6 28. Rb1 Rf8 29. Nd5 Qg6 30. Nxe3 Qe4+ 31. Kg1 Rf3 32. Re1 h5 33. Qd3
1-0

[Event "EU-ch U12"]
[Site "Peniscola"]
[Date "2002.10.06"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Andreikin, Dmitry"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2369"]
[BlackElo "2214"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2002.09.29"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 090 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. Be2 Nd7 5. h4 c5 6. Be3 h5 7. Nf3 cxd4 8. Bxd4
Ngf6 9. Ng5 O-O 10. f3 Ne5 11. Qd2 Nc6 12. Be3 Bd7 13. Bc4 Ne5 14. Bb3 b5 15.
Nd5 Nxd5 16. Bxd5 Nc4 17. Bxc4 bxc4 18. c3 Qa5 19. Bd4 Rab8 20. Bxg7 Kxg7 21.
O-O f6 22. Nh3 Bxh3 23. gxh3 Rb7 24. Kh1 Qe5 25. Qg2 f5 26. Rae1 Qf6 27. f4 Rb5
28. Rg1 Rf7 29. Re3 Kh7 30. Rg3 Rg7 31. Rg5 Rc5 32. Qe2 Qe6 33. Kh2 fxe4 34.
Rxc5 dxc5 35. Re1 Qd6 36. Qxe4 Rf7 37. Kg3 Qd2 38. Re2 Qd1 39. Kg2 Qd3 40. Qe6
Kg7 41. Rf2 Qd6 42. Qxc4 e5 43. Qxf7+ 1-0

[Event "EU-ch U12"]
[Site "Peniscola"]
[Date "2002.10.07"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Potapov, Pavel"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C50"]
[WhiteElo "2214"]
[BlackElo "2093"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2002.09.29"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 090 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. a3 d6 5. d4 exd4 6. Nxd4 Nxd4 7. Qxd4 Be7 8.
Bc4 O-O 9. O-O Kh8 10. Bg5 Ng4 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 12. f4 Be6 13. Be2 Qh4 14. Bxg4
Bxg4 15. f5 f6 16. Nd5 Rfc8 17. Rf4 Qg5 18. h4 Qh5 19. c4 c6 20. Ne3 Be2 21.
Rf2 Re8 22. g4 Bxg4 23. e5 Bf3 24. Qf4 Be2 25. exd6 Rad8 26. Re1 Bd3 27. Ng2
Rxe1+ 28. Nxe1 Qd1 29. Qe3 Bxc4 30. Rd2 Qg4+ 31. Ng2 Qxf5 32. d7 Qe6 33. Qxa7
Bd5 34. Qxb7 h6 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-ch U12"]
[Site "Peniscola"]
[Date "2002.10.08"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Khairullin, Ildar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B29"]
[WhiteElo "2214"]
[BlackElo "2329"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2002.09.29"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 090 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.11.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2002.11.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. e5 Ng4 5. Qe2 d6 6. exd6 Qxd6 7. d4 cxd4 8.
Nb5 Qb8 9. Nbxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 e5 11. h3 Nf6 12. Bf4 Bd6 13. Nb5 O-O 14. Bh2
Re8 15. O-O-O Bf8 16. Qe3 a6 17. Na3 b5 18. Be2 Qa7 19. Qxa7 Rxa7 20. Rhe1 Bc5
21. Bf3 Bd4 22. Be4 Nxe4 23. Rxe4 Rae7 24. Re2 f6 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-chT east 0203"]
[Site "Norway"]
[Date "2002.11.10"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Byklum, Bjornar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B03"]
[WhiteElo "2186"]
[BlackElo "2214"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2002.11.09"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2009"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. exd6 exd6 6. Nc3 Be7 7. Qf3 O-O 8.
Be3 Nc6 9. O-O-O Be6 10. c5 Nc4 11. Bd3 Nxe3 12. Qxe3 Re8 13. Nge2 Nb4 14. Qf3
Qd7 15. h4 Bg4 16. Qg3 Bf6 17. Ne4 Rxe4 18. Bxe4 Bxe2 19. Rd2 Bc4 20. a3 Bd5
21. Bb1 Nc6 22. Qf4 0-1

[Event "NOR-chT east 0203"]
[Site "Norway"]
[Date "2003.01.18"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Lillevold, Frode"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A41"]
[WhiteElo "2214"]
[BlackElo "2079"]
[PlyCount "153"]
[EventDate "2002.11.09"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2009"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d6 2. Nf3 Bg4 3. c4 Nd7 4. Qb3 Rb8 5. h3 Bxf3 6. Qxf3 e5 7. d5 Be7 8. Nc3
a6 9. e3 Nh6 10. e4 Bg5 11. h4 Bxc1 12. Rxc1 Qf6 13. Qe3 Ng4 14. Qe2 Qf4 15.
Rd1 Ngf6 16. g3 Qh6 17. Bh3 Ke7 18. b4 a5 19. a3 axb4 20. axb4 Ra8 21. Kf1 Ra6
22. Nb5 Rha8 23. Kg2 Ne8 24. c5 Ra2 25. Qf3 Ndf6 26. Rc1 Qd2 27. Rc4 Rc2 28.
Nc3 Ra3 29. Nb1 Rxf3 30. Nxd2 Rxc4 31. Nxc4 Rb3 32. c6 b6 33. f3 Rxb4 34. Ne3
Rb2+ 35. Kg1 g6 36. Rh2 Rxh2 37. Kxh2 Kd8 38. g4 h5 39. g5 Ng8 40. Kg3 Ne7 41.
f4 exf4+ 42. Kxf4 Nc8 43. Nc2 Na7 44. Nd4 Ke7 45. Bd7 Kd8 46. Bh3 Ke7 47. Bf1
Ng7 48. Nc2 Ne8 49. Nb4 Kd8 50. Na6 Kc8 51. e5 dxe5+ 52. Kxe5 Kd8 53. Bc4 Nc8
54. Bd3 Ncd6 55. Bc2 Ng7 56. Kf6 Nge8+ 57. Ke5 Ke7 58. Bd3 Kd8 59. Nb4 Ng7 60.
Kf6 Ngf5 61. Bxf5 Nxf5 62. Kxf7 Nxh4 63. Nd3 b5 64. Kf6 Nf3 65. Kxg6 h4 66. Kf5
h3 67. g6 Nh4+ 68. Kg4 Nxg6 69. Kxh3 Ke7 70. Kg4 Kd6 71. Kf5 Ne7+ 72. Ke4 Nxd5
73. Kd4 Ne7 74. Kc3 Nxc6 75. Kb3 Ne5 76. Nf2 c5 77. Nd3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch U12"]
[Site "Heraklion"]
[Date "2002.11.18"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Fodor, Tamas Jr"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D01"]
[WhiteElo "2100"]
[BlackElo "2250"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2002.11.15"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 091 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.01.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.01.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bg5 Nbd7 4. Nf3 c6 5. e3 Qa5 6. Bd3 Ne4 7. O-O Nxg5 8.
Nxg5 Nf6 9. e4 Bg4 10. f3 dxe4 11. Ngxe4 Bf5 12. Ne2 e6 13. c3 Bg6 14. Nxf6+
gxf6 15. Ng3 O-O-O 16. f4 Bxd3 17. Qxd3 f5 18. b4 Qd5 19. Qd2 Be7 20. Rf3 Bh4
21. Rb1 Be7 22. Nf1 c5 23. Ne3 Qe4 24. Qb2 cxd4 25. Nc4 Bf6 26. Qb3 dxc3 27.
Rc1 Rhg8 28. Kf1 Rxg2 29. Kxg2 Qe2+ 1-0

[Event "Wch U12"]
[Site "Heraklion"]
[Date "2002.11.19"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bindrich, Falko"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "2250"]
[BlackElo "2172"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2002.11.15"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 091 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.01.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.01.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 Nc6 4. Nf3 g6 5. Bb5 Bg7 6. O-O a6 7. Bxc6+ bxc6 8.
Qe2 e6 9. e5 d5 10. b3 Nh6 11. Ba3 Bf8 12. Na4 Qa5 13. d3 Rb8 14. c4 Nf5 15.
Qe1 Rb4 16. Bxb4 cxb4 17. cxd5 exd5 18. Rc1 c5 19. Qf2 d4 20. Nd2 Bb7 21. Nc4
Qc7 22. Rfe1 1-0

[Event "Wch U12"]
[Site "Heraklion"]
[Date "2002.11.21"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Berczes, David"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2232"]
[BlackElo "2250"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2002.11.15"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 091 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.01.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.01.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 Nb6 8.
Ne5 a5 9. f3 Nfd7 10. e4 Nxe5 11. dxe5 Qxd1+ 12. Kxd1 Be6 13. Kc2 Bc4 14. Bxc4
Nxc4 15. e6 fxe6 16. b3 Nd6 17. e5 Nf7 18. Re1 g5 19. Ne4 b6 20. Nd2 Kd7 21.
Nc4 Kc7 22. Ba3 c5 23. Rad1 Bg7 24. Bc1 Rad8 25. Rxd8 Rxd8 26. Bb2 Rg8 27. Kd3
Nd8 28. Ke4 Nc6 29. Rd1 Rf8 30. g3 h6 31. f4 Nb4 32. Ne3 gxf4 33. gxf4 h5 34.
f5 Bh6 35. f6 exf6 36. exf6 Bxe3 37. Be5+ Kb7 38. Kxe3 Nd5+ 39. Ke2 Nxf6 40.
Rd6 Nd5 41. Rxe6 Nf4+ 42. Bxf4 Rxf4 43. Re3 c4 44. bxc4 Rxc4 45. Ra3 Rc2+ 46.
Kd3 Rxh2 47. Ke4 Rb2 48. Kf3 Rb4 49. Ra1 h4 50. Ra3 Kc6 51. Rc3+ Kd5 52. Ra3
Kc4 53. Ra1 Kb3 54. Kg2 Kb2 55. Rf1 Rxa4 56. Rf2+ Kb3 57. Rf3+ Kb4 0-1

[Event "Wch U12"]
[Site "Heraklion"]
[Date "2002.11.21"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2250"]
[BlackElo "2344"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2002.11.15"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 091 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.01.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.01.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. O-O d5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. c4 dxc4 8.
Nxc4 Nb6 9. Nxb6 axb6 10. Nc3 Ne8 11. d5 Nd6 12. Bf4 Bd7 13. Qc2 Ra5 14. e4 e5
15. dxe6 Bxe6 16. Rfd1 Qe7 17. Bxd6 cxd6 18. Qd2 Rc8 19. Bf1 Bxc3 20. bxc3 d5
21. e5 Ra3 22. Bg2 Raxc3 23. Bxd5 R3c5 24. Bxe6 Qxe6 25. Qd7 Rxe5 26. Qxb7 Re2
27. Rdc1 Rcc2 28. Rxc2 Rxc2 29. Qb8+ Kg7 30. Qf4 Qd5 31. a4 Rc4 32. Qe3 Qc6 33.
a5 bxa5 34. Qe5+ Qf6 35. Qxf6+ Kxf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch U12"]
[Site "Heraklion"]
[Date "2002.11.22"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Susilodinata, Andrean"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B05"]
[WhiteElo "2242"]
[BlackElo "2250"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2002.11.15"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 091 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.01.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.01.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. exd6 exd6 6. Nf3 Be7 7. Be2 O-O 8.
O-O Bg4 9. b3 Nc6 10. Bb2 Bf6 11. Nbd2 Re8 12. Re1 d5 13. c5 Nd7 14. Rc1 Nf8
15. Ne5 Bxe2 16. Rxe2 Bxe5 17. dxe5 Nb4 18. Rc3 Nxa2 19. Rg3 Ne6 20. Nf3 Nb4
21. Nd4 Nc6 22. Nf5 d4 23. Re4 Qd5 24. Qf3 Kf8 25. Rh4 Qxf3 26. gxf3 g6 27.
Nxd4 Nexd4 28. Bxd4 Nxd4 29. Rxd4 Rxe5 30. b4 a5 31. f4 Re1+ 32. Kg2 a4 33. Ra3
Rb1 34. Rd7 Rb3 35. Ra2 a3 36. Rxc7 Rb2 37. Ra1 a2 38. Rd7 Rb1 39. Rd1 Rxd1 0-1

[Event "Wch U12"]
[Site "Heraklion"]
[Date "2002.11.23"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kuzubov, Yuriy"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2250"]
[BlackElo "2186"]
[PlyCount "29"]
[EventDate "2002.11.15"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 091 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.01.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.01.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 d5 3. Bxf6 gxf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Nf3 c5 6. e4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 dxe4 8.
Bb5+ Bd7 9. Qh5 Qb6 10. O-O-O Qc5 11. Nxe4 Qxh5 12. Nxf6+ Ke7 13. Nxh5 Nc6 14.
Bxc6 Bxc6 15. Rhe1 1-0

[Event "Wch U12"]
[Site "Heraklion"]
[Date "2002.11.24"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Howell, David"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A27"]
[WhiteElo "2250"]
[BlackElo "2224"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2002.11.15"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 091 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.01.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.01.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nc6 2. c4 e5 3. Nc3 g6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. g3 Ne7 8.
Bg2 O-O 9. O-O Rb8 10. Qa4 a6 11. Rd1 Re8 12. c5 Nd5 13. Nxd5 cxd5 14. Bxd5 Qe7
15. Be3 Rxb2 16. Qc4 Be5 17. Rab1 Rxb1 18. Rxb1 c6 19. Bf3 Kf8 20. Rd1 Rd8 21.
h4 Kg7 22. Kg2 h6 23. h5 g5 24. Bg4 Qf6 25. Qe4 d5 26. cxd6 Bxg4 27. Qxg4 Rxd6
28. Rxd6 Qxd6 29. Qc4 Qd5+ 30. Qxd5 cxd5 31. f4 gxf4 32. gxf4 Bb2 33. Kf3 f5
34. Bc5 Kf7 35. e3 Bg7 36. Ke2 Ke6 37. Kd3 Kd7 38. Bd4 Bf8 39. Bc3 Kc6 40. Be5
Kc5 41. Kc3 Kc6 42. Bf6 Kc5 43. Kd3 Kc6 44. Kd4 Kd6 45. Be5+ Kc6 46. Kd3 Kc5
47. Bf6 Kc6 48. Kd4 Kd6 49. Bh8 Ke6 50. Be5 Ba3 51. Kc3 Bf8 52. Bd4 Kd7 53. Be5
1/2-1/2

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2003.01.07"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Sander, Rolf"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B42"]
[WhiteElo "2048"]
[BlackElo "2279"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "2003.01.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 092 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Qc7 6. O-O Nf6 7. Kh1 d5 8. Nc3
Bc5 9. Nb3 dxe4 10. Nxe4 Nxe4 11. Bxe4 Bd6 12. Qh5 Nd7 13. Bg5 Be5 14. Rad1 Nf6
15. Qh4 Bd7 16. Nd4 O-O-O 17. Rd3 h6 18. Rc3 hxg5 19. Rxc7+ Bxc7 20. Qxh8 Rxh8
21. Bf3 g4 22. Be2 Bxh2 0-1

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2003.01.08"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Lugovoi, Aleksei"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2279"]
[BlackElo "2540"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2003.01.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 092 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. d4 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qa4 Bb7 6. Bg2 c5 7. O-O Qc8 8. dxc5
Bxc5 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Bf4 Nh5 11. Be5 Nc6 12. Rad1 Rd8 13. Ne4 d5 14. Nxc5 bxc5
15. cxd5 exd5 16. e3 Nxe5 17. Nxe5 Qc7 18. Nd3 Qb6 19. b3 Rac8 20. Rc1 Nf6 21.
Rfd1 h6 22. Bh3 Rc7 23. Bg2 a5 24. Nf4 Rcc8 25. Qa3 g5 26. Nd3 Ne4 27. Bxe4
dxe4 28. Ne5 Bd5 29. Nc4 Bxc4 30. Rxd8+ Rxd8 31. bxc4 Rd2 32. Qa4 Kg7 33. a3
Qb2 34. Rf1 Qc3 35. Rb1 Ra2 36. Qb5 Ra1 37. a4 Rxb1+ 38. Qxb1 Qxc4 39. Qb2+ Kh7
40. Qb7 Kg7 41. Qb2+ f6 42. Qb7+ Kg6 43. Qc6 Qb4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2003.01.09"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Ovsejevitsch, Sergei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D60"]
[WhiteElo "2517"]
[BlackElo "2279"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2003.01.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 092 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. d4 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
Bxe7 Qxe7 9. Bd3 c5 10. O-O Nb4 11. Be2 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Nf6 13. a3 Nbd5 14. Nxd5
Nxd5 15. Bf3 Nf6 16. Nb5 Rd8 17. Qb3 e5 18. Qb4 Qxb4 19. axb4 e4 20. Be2 a6 21.
Rfd1 Be6 22. Nc7 Rxd1+ 23. Rxd1 Rc8 24. Nxe6 fxe6 25. b5 axb5 26. Bxb5 Rc2 27.
b3 Nd5 28. Bc4 Nc3 29. Bxe6+ Kf8 30. Ra1 Ke7 31. Bg8 h6 32. h4 b5 33. Ra7+ Kf8
34. Be6 Nd1 35. Rd7 Rc1 36. Kh2 g6 37. Kg3 Nc3 38. Rf7+ Ke8 39. Rg7 Rh1 40.
Rxg6 h5 41. Kf4 1-0

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2003.01.10"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Berg, Olaf"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B53"]
[WhiteElo "2279"]
[BlackElo "2065"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2003.01.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 092 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nc6 5. Bb5 a6 6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. Nc3 c5 8.
Qd3 Bb7 9. Bg5 g6 10. O-O-O f6 11. Bf4 Nh6 12. e5 fxe5 13. Nxe5 dxe5 14. Qe3
exf4 15. Rxd8+ Rxd8 16. Qxf4 Nf5 17. Qa4+ Rd7 18. Rd1 Nd4 19. Qc4 e6 20. Kb1
Be7 21. Qa4 Bc6 22. Qxa6 Kf7 23. f3 Rb8 24. Re1 Rdb7 25. b3 Rb6 26. Qd3 Bb7 27.
h4 Ba6 28. Qe4 Bf6 29. Qf4 R8b7 30. Ne4 e5 31. Qh6 Bg7 32. Qxh7 Rb8 33. Ng5+
Kf6 34. f4 exf4 35. Re7 Kxe7 36. Qxg7+ Kd6 37. Ne4+ Kc6 38. Qxg6+ Kb7 39. Nxc5+
Ka8 40. Qe4+ Nc6 41. Nd7 R8b7 42. Nxb6+ Rxb6 43. h5 Kb7 44. h6 Kc7 45. h7 Rb8
46. Qxf4+ 1-0

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2003.01.10"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Johansen, Paul Arne"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C26"]
[WhiteElo "2239"]
[BlackElo "2279"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2003.01.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 092 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. d3 Nc6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. a3 Ba5 6. Nf3 h6 7. Bd2 d6 8. h3
Be6 9. Ne2 Bb6 10. c4 g5 11. g4 Qe7 12. Ng3 h5 13. gxh5 g4 14. Bg5 gxf3 15.
Qxf3 Nd4 16. Qxf6 Qxf6 17. Bxf6 Rh6 18. Bg7 Rh7 19. h6 Nc2+ 20. Ke2 Nxa1 21.
Nh5 Ke7 22. f4 Rah8 23. Bf6+ Ke8 24. Bxh8 Rxh8 25. h7 Ke7 26. f5 Rxh7 27. Ng3
Bd7 28. h4 Kf6 29. b4 Nc2 30. Kd2 Nd4 31. Bg2 c6 32. Rh3 Rh8 33. Kd1 a5 34. Nh1
axb4 35. axb4 Ra8 36. Rg3 Ra1+ 37. Kd2 Ra2+ 38. Kd1 c5 39. h5 Ne2 40. Rg8 Nc3+
41. Ke1 cxb4 42. h6 Be3 43. h7 Ra1# 0-1

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2003.01.11"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nordahl, Helge Andreas"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B46"]
[WhiteElo "2279"]
[BlackElo "2303"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2003.01.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 092 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Nge7 7. Nb3 Ng6 8.
Be2 Be7 9. a4 b6 10. O-O O-O 11. Qd2 Qc7 12. Rad1 Rb8 13. f4 f6 14. Nd5 exd5
15. exd5 Re8 16. Bh5 Na5 17. Nxa5 bxa5 18. f5 Bc5 19. Bxc5 Qxc5+ 20. Kh1 Re5
21. Bxg6 hxg6 22. fxg6 Rxb2 23. Rde1 Rxc2 24. Qd1 Rf2 25. Rxe5 fxe5 26. Rg1 Bb7
27. Qh5 Bxd5 28. Qh7+ Kf8 29. Qh8+ Bg8 30. Qh3 Qd6 31. Rb1 Rf6 32. Rc1 Rxg6 33.
Qh8 Qd2 34. Rf1+ Ke7 35. Qh4+ Rf6 36. Re1 Qf4 0-1

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2003.01.12"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Nygren, Kim"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B43"]
[WhiteElo "2202"]
[BlackElo "2279"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2003.01.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 092 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Nc3 b5 6. g3 Bb7 7. Bg2 Nc6 8. O-O
Nxd4 9. Qxd4 Ne7 10. Bf4 Nc6 11. Qd2 Na5 12. b3 Rc8 13. Nd5 exd5 14. exd5 Be7
15. d6 Bf6 16. Rae1+ Kf8 17. Re7 Bxg2 18. Kxg2 Nc6 19. Re4 g5 20. Be3 Kg7 21.
h4 Re8 22. Rxe8 Qxe8 23. hxg5 Bd8 24. Re1 Qe4+ 25. f3 Qg6 26. Rh1 Ne5 27. c3
Qd3 28. Qxd3 Nxd3 29. Bd4+ Kg8 30. f4 b4 31. c4 Rc6 32. Kf3 Bb6 33. Bxb6 Rxb6
34. Ke3 Nc5 35. Kd4 Nb7 36. Rh6 a5 37. g4 a4 38. bxa4 Ra6 39. Rh2 Rxd6+ 40. Ke5
Ra6 41. Rh6 d6+ 42. Kd5 Rxa4 43. Kc6 Nd8+ 44. Kxd6 Rxa2 45. Ke7 Ne6 46. f5 Ra7+
47. Ke8 Nc5 48. Rh1 b3 49. Rb1 Rb7 50. Kd8 b2 51. Kc8 Kg7 0-1

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2003.01.13"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Shumiakina, Tatiana"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B26"]
[WhiteElo "2279"]
[BlackElo "2364"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2003.01.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 092 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 d6 6. Nge2 e6 7. Be3 Nd4 8. O-O
Ne7 9. f4 O-O 10. Qd2 f5 11. Rab1 Rb8 12. b4 Nxe2+ 13. Nxe2 cxb4 14. Bxa7 Ra8
15. Bd4 Rxa2 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Rxb4 Nc6 18. Rb5 Qf6 19. e5 dxe5 20. Bxc6 bxc6
21. Rxe5 Bd7 22. Rb1 Rfa8 23. Qc3 Kf7 24. Kf2 R2a3 25. Qc5 Qe7 26. Nd4 Qxc5 27.
Rxc5 Ke7 28. Nf3 Ra1 29. Rb4 Kd6 30. Rcc4 c5 31. Rb6+ Kc7 32. Rb3 R8a5 33. Rbc3
Kd6 34. Ne5 Be8 35. d4 cxd4 36. Rxd4+ Rd5 37. Rxd5+ exd5 38. Rc8 Bb5 39. Rb8
Kc5 40. Rb7 Rc1 41. Ke3 Re1+ 42. Kf3 Rf1+ 43. Kg2 Rc1 44. Kh3 Bc4 45. Rxh7 Rxc2
46. Rc7+ Kd4 47. Nxc4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2003.01.14"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Leer Salvesen, Bjarte"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E06"]
[WhiteElo "2329"]
[BlackElo "2279"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2003.01.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 092 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 e6 3. Bg2 d5 4. Nf3 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. Qc2 c5 7. d4 Nc6 8. dxc5
d4 9. Rd1 e5 10. Nbd2 Bxc5 11. Nb3 Be7 12. h3 Be6 13. Ng5 Nb4 14. Nxe6 Nxc2 15.
Nxd8 Nxa1 16. Nxb7 Nxb3 17. axb3 a5 18. Bg5 a4 19. bxa4 Rxa4 20. c5 Rc4 21. c6
Rc2 22. Rd2 Rc1+ 23. Kh2 h6 24. Bxf6 gxf6 25. Be4 Rc8 26. g4 Bb4 27. Rd3 Re1
28. Bf3 Re8 29. Rb3 Bf8 30. Be4 Rxe2 31. Bf5 e4 32. c7 d3 33. Nd8 Bd6+ 0-1

[Event "Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2003.01.15"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Bluvshtein, Mark"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B42"]
[WhiteElo "2461"]
[BlackElo "2279"]
[PlyCount "126"]
[EventDate "2003.01.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 092 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Bc5 6. Nb3 Ba7 7. O-O Nc6 8.
Qe2 d6 9. Be3 Bxe3 10. Qxe3 Nf6 11. N1d2 O-O 12. f4 Rb8 13. Rae1 b5 14. e5 Nd5
15. Qh3 g6 16. c4 bxc4 17. Bxc4 dxe5 18. fxe5 Kg7 19. Ne4 Nxe5 20. Bxd5 exd5
21. Qc3 Qb6+ 22. Rf2 dxe4 23. Qxe5+ Kg8 24. Qxe4 Be6 25. Re3 Rfe8 26. Nd4 Rbd8
27. Rd2 f5 28. Qd3 Rd6 29. Kh1 Rc8 30. h3 Bxa2 31. Qa3 Bf7 32. Red3 Rc1+ 33.
Kh2 Qb8 34. Rg3 h5 35. h4 Qd8 36. Ne6 Qxh4+ 37. Rh3 Rh1+ 38. Kxh1 Qe1+ 39. Kh2
Qxd2 40. Ng5 h4 41. Rf3 Rb6 42. Qe7 Qd6+ 43. Qxd6 Rxd6 44. Nxf7 Kxf7 45. Rf4
Rb6 46. b4 Ke6 47. Rxh4 Kd5 48. Kg3 g5 49. Rh1 Kc4 50. Rf1 Rf6 51. Rb1 Re6 52.
Rf1 Rf6 53. Rb1 Kb5 54. Rb3 Re6 55. Kf2 Re4 56. Rd3 Kxb4 57. Rd5 a5 58. g3 a4
59. Rxf5 a3 60. Kf3 Rc4 61. Ke2 a2 62. Rf1 Kc3 63. Rc1+ Kb3 0-1

[Event "Valle d'Aosta op 11th"]
[Site "Saint Vincent"]
[Date "2003.02.11"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Sedina, Elena"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C47"]
[WhiteElo "2425"]
[BlackElo "2279"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2003.02.08"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ITA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 092 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. g3 Nxe4 5. Nxe4 d5 6. Nc3 d4 7. Bg2 dxc3 8.
bxc3 Bd6 9. O-O O-O 10. Rb1 Rb8 11. d4 Bg4 12. h3 Bh5 13. g4 Bg6 14. dxe5 Nxe5
15. Nxe5 Bxe5 16. Qxd8 Rfxd8 17. f4 Bxc2 18. Rb2 Bd3 19. fxe5 Bxf1 20. Bxf1 b6
21. Kf2 Rd5 22. Bf4 Rbd8 23. Be2 h6 24. h4 Kf8 25. h5 Rc5 26. Rc2 Ra5 27. Ke3
Rc5 28. Ke4 Re8 29. Kf3 Re6 30. a4 c6 31. Bd3 Ra5 32. Bf5 Re7 33. Rd2 Rd5 34.
Rd4 Re8 35. Be4 Rc5 36. c4 Kg8 37. Bf5 a6 38. Bd7 Ra8 39. e6 fxe6 40. Bd6 Ra5
41. Bxc6 Ra7 42. Bb4 Rg5 43. Rd8+ Kh7 44. Be4+ g6 45. hxg6+ Kg7 46. Bf8+ Kf6
47. Bxh6 1-0

[Event "Valle d'Aosta op 11th"]
[Site "Saint Vincent"]
[Date "2003.02.14"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vassallo Barroche, Mauricio"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2279"]
[BlackElo "2443"]
[PlyCount "27"]
[EventDate "2003.02.08"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ITA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 092 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c6 4. Be3 d6 5. Qd2 Nd7 6. f3 b5 7. O-O-O Bb7 8. h4
h5 9. Nh3 Qc7 10. Ng5 Ngf6 11. f4 b4 12. Ne2 c5 13. e5 cxd4 14. Nxd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Valle d'Aosta op 11th"]
[Site "Saint Vincent"]
[Date "2003.02.16"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Stefanova, Antoaneta"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D13"]
[WhiteElo "2279"]
[BlackElo "2560"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2003.02.08"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ITA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 092 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.03.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Bf4 Nc6 7. e3 Bg4 8. Be2
e6 9. Ne5 Bxe2 10. Qxe2 Rc8 11. O-O Be7 12. Rfc1 O-O 13. Na4 Nxe5 14. Bxe5 Nd7
15. Bg3 b5 16. Rxc8 Qxc8 17. Nc5 Nxc5 18. Rc1 b4 19. dxc5 Qc6 20. Qg4 a5 21.
Be5 f6 22. Bd6 f5 23. Qg3 Bxd6 24. Qxd6 Qxd6 25. cxd6 Rd8 26. Rc6 Kf7 27. f4
Ke8 28. Ra6 Rc8 29. Rxa5 Kd7 30. b3 Kxd6 31. Rb5 Rc2 32. Rxb4 Rxa2 33. Kf1 Rb2
34. Rb6+ Kc5 35. Rxe6 Rxb3 36. Ke2 g6 37. Re8 Rb2+ 38. Kd3 Rb3+ 39. Ke2 Rb2+
40. Kf3 Rb3 41. Ke2 Rb2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-ch U20 op 13th"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2003.04.12"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Abusdal, Ivar A"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "2315"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2003.04.??"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2005"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. e4 d5 3. Bd3 dxe4 4. Bxe4 Nf6 5. Bf3 c5 6. Ne2 Nc6 7. Be3 Nd5 8.
Bxd5 Qxd5 9. Nbc3 Qh5 10. Nb5 cxd4 11. Nc7+ Ke7 12. Nxa8 dxe3 13. O-O Qe5 14.
Nc3 Ke8 15. fxe3 Bd6 16. g3 Ke7 17. Qf3 Nd8 18. Ne4 b6 19. Nxd6 Qxd6 20. Rad1
Bb7 21. Qh5 Qb8 22. Rxd8 Kxd8 23. Qxf7 Bxa8 24. Rd1+ Bd5 25. Qxe6 1-0

[Event "NOR-ch U20 op 13th"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2003.04.13"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Fossum, Oystein Boyum"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A15"]
[WhiteElo "2315"]
[BlackElo "2073"]
[PlyCount "38"]
[EventDate "2003.04.??"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2005"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 Nf6 2. Bb2 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. d4 c5 7. dxc5 Qa5+ 8. Qd2
Qxc5 9. e4 Nc6 10. Ne2 Bh3 11. b4 Qxc4 12. Na3 Nxe4 13. Nxc4 Nxd2 14. Bxc6 Nxc4
15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. Bxb7 Rab8 17. Bd5 Rxb4 18. Nf4 Bf5 19. a3 Ra4 0-1

[Event "NOR-ch U20 op 13th"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2003.04.14"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mohammadi, Amir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B50"]
[WhiteElo "2315"]
[BlackElo "2172"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2003.04.??"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2005"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. b3 d6 4. Bb2 Nf6 5. e5 dxe5 6. Nxe5 a6 7. Qf3 Be7 8. Bd3
Nbd7 9. Qg3 O-O 10. f4 Nd5 11. Nc6 Bh4 12. Nxd8 Bxg3+ 13. hxg3 Rxd8 14. Bxh7+
Kf8 15. Be4 N5f6 16. Bf3 Ke7 17. g4 Rg8 18. g5 Ne8 19. Nc3 Rb8 20. O-O-O b5 21.
d4 cxd4 22. Rxd4 b4 23. Na4 a5 24. Rhd1 Nc7 25. c4 Nb6 26. Nxb6 Rxb6 27. R4d2
Na6 28. Bd4 Rb8 29. Ba7 1-0

[Event "NOR-ch U20 op 13th"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2003.04.15"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Nithander, Victor"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B40"]
[WhiteElo "2246"]
[BlackElo "2315"]
[PlyCount "154"]
[EventDate "2003.04.??"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2005"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Ndb5 O-O 7. a3 Bxc3+ 8.
Nxc3 d5 9. e5 Nfd7 10. Qh5 Nc6 11. f4 f5 12. Bd3 Nc5 13. O-O Ne4 14. Nd1 Bd7
15. Be3 d4 16. Bf2 Ne7 17. Bh4 Bc6 18. Nf2 Nd2 19. Bxe7 Qxe7 20. Rfe1 Qc5 21.
Qh3 Nc4 22. Bxc4 Qxc4 23. Qd3 Qd5 24. Qg3 Rac8 25. Rad1 Rfd8 26. Rd2 Qb5 27. c3
dxc3 28. Qxc3 Bd5 29. Qe3 Rc4 30. b3 Rc6 31. b4 Rdc8 32. Rdd1 Rc3 33. Rc1 Qc4
34. Nd3 Rc2 35. Rxc2 Qxc2 36. Re2 Qd1+ 37. Re1 Qb3 38. Nc5 Qxe3+ 39. Rxe3 b6
40. Nb3 Rc2 41. Rg3 Rc4 42. Nd2 Rxf4 43. Rc3 a5 44. b5 g5 45. Rc8+ Kg7 46. Rb8
g4 47. Rxb6 Rd4 48. Nf1 Rd3 49. g3 Rxa3 50. Kf2 Rf3+ 51. Ke1 a4 52. Nd2 Rc3 53.
Ra6 a3 54. b6 Rc6 55. Rxa3 Rxb6 56. Re3 Kg6 57. Kf2 h5 58. Rc3 Rb2 59. Ke3 h4
60. Rc8 Ra2 61. Rg8+ Kf7 62. Rg5 Ra3+ 63. Kf2 hxg3+ 64. hxg3 Rd3 65. Nf1 Rf3+
66. Ke1 Bc4 67. Nd2 Re3+ 68. Kd1 Bd3 69. Nb3 Rxg3 70. Nc5 Bc4 71. Nb7 Bd5 72.
Nd6+ Kf8 73. Ke2 Rh3 74. Kf2 Rf3+ 75. Ke2 g3 76. Rg6 f4 77. Ke1 Re3+ 0-1

[Event "NOR-ch U20 op 13th"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2003.04.16"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vea, Odin Blikra"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A87"]
[WhiteElo "2315"]
[BlackElo "2017"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2003.04.??"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2005"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 f5 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. O-O d6 6. c4 O-O 7. Nc3 Qe8 8. d5 e5
9. dxe6 Qxe6 10. Nd5 Nxd5 11. cxd5 Qe7 12. Bg5 Qe8 13. Nd4 h6 14. Be3 Kh7 15.
Rc1 Na6 16. Ne6 Bxe6 17. dxe6 c6 18. Qxd6 Rd8 19. Qa3 Qxe6 20. Bxc6 bxc6 21.
Qxa6 f4 22. Bxf4 Rxf4 23. gxf4 Qg4+ 24. Kh1 Qxf4 25. Qxc6 Be5 26. Qg2 h5 27. e3
Qb4 28. Rc6 Rg8 29. f4 Bb8 30. Rg1 g5 31. Qc2+ 1-0

[Event "NOR-ch U20 op 13th"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2003.04.18"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wallin, Denis"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A38"]
[WhiteElo "2315"]
[BlackElo "2101"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2003.04.??"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2005"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c5 4. Nf3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nc6 6. Nc2 Nf6 7. g3 b6 8. Bg2
Bb7 9. O-O O-O 10. b3 Rc8 11. Bb2 d6 12. Nd5 Nxd5 13. Bxg7 Kxg7 14. cxd5 Nb8
15. Nd4 Qd7 16. Qd2 Rc5 17. b4 Rc4 18. Rac1 Rxc1 19. Rxc1 Na6 20. Nc6 Rc8 21.
Qd4+ Kg8 22. Bh3 f5 23. e4 Bxc6 24. dxc6 Qe6 25. exf5 gxf5 26. Qd3 Nxb4 27.
Bxf5 Qh6 28. Qc4+ d5 29. Qg4+ 1-0

[Event "NOR-ch U20 op 13th"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2003.04.17"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Ekeberg, Carl Fredrik"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E94"]
[WhiteElo "2227"]
[BlackElo "2315"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2003.04.??"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2005"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. d4 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nh5 8. g3
Bg4 9. Bg5 f6 10. Be3 Nc6 11. d5 Ne7 12. Qd2 Qd7 13. Ne1 Bxe2 14. Qxe2 f5 15.
exf5 Nxf5 16. Ne4 Nxe3 17. Qxe3 Nf6 18. Nd3 c6 19. dxc6 Qxc6 20. Nxf6+ Rxf6 21.
Rac1 Rf3 22. Qe2 Raf8 23. Nb4 Qc5 24. Nd5 e4 25. b4 Qd4 26. Ne3 h5 27. Rcd1 Qe5
28. Rd5 Qe6 29. Nd1 h4 30. Re1 hxg3 31. hxg3 Qh3 32. Qxe4 Rxg3+ 33. fxg3 Qxg3+
34. Kh1 Rf4 35. Qxf4 Qxf4 36. Re8+ Kf7 37. Rc8 Qf1+ 38. Kh2 Be5+ 39. Rxe5 dxe5
40. Rd8 Qf4+ 41. Kh3 Qf3+ 42. Kh2 Qh5+ 0-1

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2003.04.03"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Daly, Colm"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B82"]
[WhiteElo "2315"]
[BlackElo "2353"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2003.04.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "8"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 093 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. f4 Be7 8. Qf3
O-O 9. O-O-O Qc7 10. Nb3 a6 11. g4 b5 12. g5 Nd7 13. h4 Bb7 14. g6 Nb4 15. a3
Nc6 16. Bh3 hxg6 17. h5 g5 18. f5 Nce5 19. Qg3 g4 20. Bxg4 Nxg4 21. h6 g5 22.
Qxg4 Ne5 23. Qh5 g4 24. Bd4 Bf6 25. Bxe5 Bxe5 26. Qxg4+ Kh8 27. Rdg1 1-0

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2003.04.04"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Paehtz, Elisabeth"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B32"]
[WhiteElo "2315"]
[BlackElo "2384"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2003.04.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "8"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 093 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. N1c3 a6 7. Na3 b5 8. Nd5
Nf6 9. Nxf6+ Qxf6 10. c4 b4 11. Nc2 Qg6 12. Qd5 Bb7 13. Nxb4 Nd8 14. Qd1 Qxe4+
15. Be3 Be7 16. Nd5 Bh4 17. Qd3 Qxd3 18. Bxd3 Ne6 19. O-O Rc8 20. b4 e4 21. Be2
Bf6 22. Nxf6+ gxf6 23. Rac1 f5 24. f4 exf3 25. Bxf3 Be4 26. Bxe4 fxe4 27. Rf5
Rf8 28. a4 Ke7 29. b5 axb5 30. axb5 Ng7 31. Rd5 Ne6 32. Rf5 Ng7 33. Rf2 Ne6 34.
b6 f5 35. g3 Kd7 36. Rb2 Rb8 37. b7 Nd8 38. Rcb1 Nc6 39. Bf4 Rfe8 40. c5 Ne5
41. Rc2 dxc5 42. Rxc5 Nd3 43. Bxb8 Nxc5 44. Bf4 Na6 45. b8=Q Nxb8 46. Rxb8 Rxb8
47. Bxb8 Ke6 48. Kf2 Kf6 49. h4 1-0

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2003.04.05"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Westerinen, Heikki MJ"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2360"]
[BlackElo "2315"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2003.04.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "8"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 093 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. O-O Nge7 5. c3 a6 6. Ba4 d5 7. exd5 Nxd5 8. d4
Bd7 9. Re1 Be7 10. dxc5 O-O 11. c4 Nf6 12. Nc3 Bxc5 13. Be3 Bxe3 14. Rxe3 Qc7
15. Ne4 Nxe4 16. Rxe4 Rad8 17. Qe1 e5 18. Re3 f6 19. h3 Be6 20. Bxc6 Qxc6 21.
b3 Rd7 22. Rd1 Rfd8 23. Rxd7 Rxd7 24. Qc3 Bf5 25. Nh4 Be4 26. Qe1 Rd4 27. Qe2
b5 28. cxb5 axb5 29. Nf3 Bxf3 30. Qxf3 Qxf3 31. gxf3 b4 32. Re2 Kf7 33. Rc2 g5
34. Kg2 Kg6 35. Rc6 Kf5 36. Rb6 h5 37. Kg3 g4 38. hxg4+ hxg4 39. fxg4+ Rxg4+
40. Kf3 Rh4 41. Kg3 Rd4 42. Kf3 Rd2 43. Rxb4 Rxa2 44. Ke3 Rc2 45. f4 Rc3+
1/2-1/2

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2003.04.05"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Lugovoi, Aleksei"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E54"]
[WhiteElo "2315"]
[BlackElo "2563"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2003.04.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "8"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 093 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. d4 c5 5. e3 cxd4 6. exd4 Bb4 7. Bd3 O-O 8. O-O
dxc4 9. Bxc4 b6 10. Bg5 Bxc3 11. bxc3 Nbd7 12. Ne5 Qc7 13. Nxd7 Nxd7 14. Bb3 h6
15. Be3 Ba6 16. Re1 Nf6 17. Qf3 Qxc3 18. Rac1 Qd3 19. Bc2 Qa3 20. Bb3 Rac8 21.
Rxc8 Rxc8 22. Bxh6 gxh6 23. Qxf6 Rc1 24. Qe5 Qb2 25. h3 Rxe1+ 26. Qxe1 Qxd4 27.
Qc1 Qe5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2003.04.06"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Sarbok, Torsten"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2325"]
[BlackElo "2315"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2003.04.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "8"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 093 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 g6 6. Bc4 c6 7. O-O Bg7 8. c3
Nd7 9. Nxd7 Bxd7 10. Nd2 O-O 11. Nf3 Be6 12. Qe2 Nc7 13. Bf4 Bxc4 14. Qxc4 Ne6
15. Be5 Qd5 16. Qxd5 cxd5 17. Rfe1 f6 18. Bg3 Kf7 19. Re2 Nd8 20. Ne1 Rc8 21.
Nd3 e6 22. Rae1 Bh6 23. Kf1 Rc6 24. Nb4 Rc8 25. Bd6 Re8 26. Nxd5 Nc6 27. Nb4
Nxb4 28. Bxb4 Rcd8 29. g3 Bg7 30. b3 f5 31. Ba3 Bf6 32. Re3 Rd7 33. Ke2 Rc8 34.
Kd3 e5 35. Rxe5 Bxe5 36. Rxe5 h5 37. h4 f4 38. gxf4 Kg7 39. c4 Rf7 40. Ke4 Rd7
41. d5 b6 42. Be7 Kf7 43. d6 Rb7 44. Kd4 a5 45. f5 gxf5 46. Rxf5+ Ke6 47. Rxh5
Rg8 48. Rg5 Rh8 49. h5 Rh7 50. f4 Rxh5 1-0

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2003.04.07"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Berg, Emanuel"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2315"]
[BlackElo "2514"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2003.04.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "8"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 093 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qa4 Be7 6. Bg2 Bb7 7. O-O O-O 8. Nc3
c5 9. dxc5 bxc5 10. Rd1 Qb6 11. Bf4 Rd8 12. Qb5 d6 13. Rd2 Qc7 14. Rad1 Nc6 15.
Qa4 a6 16. Qc2 h6 17. Qb1 Rab8 18. b3 g5 19. Be3 Ng4 20. Bh3 Nxe3 21. fxe3 Bf8
22. Bg2 f5 23. Ne1 Bg7 24. Qc2 Rd7 25. Nd3 Rbd8 26. Na4 Rf7 27. Rf1 Rdf8 28.
Nc3 Kh8 29. Nd1 Qa5 30. N1f2 Bc3 31. Rdd1 Bg7 32. Qd2 Qb6 33. Nb2 Rd8 34. Nbd3
Kg8 35. Qc2 a5 36. Qd2 Rfd7 37. Qc2 Nb4 38. Nxb4 axb4 39. Bxb7 Qxb7 40. Rd2 Qc6
41. Rfd1 Bc3 42. Rd3 Be5 43. Rf1 Ra7 44. Rdd1 Rda8 45. Nd3 Qe4 0-1

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2003.04.08"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Kallio, Heikki"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E18"]
[WhiteElo "2470"]
[BlackElo "2315"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2003.04.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "8"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 093 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. d4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3 Ne4 8. Bd2
Bf6 9. Rc1 Nxc3 10. Bxc3 Be4 11. Qd2 d5 12. c5 Nc6 13. b4 b5 14. Rfd1 Ne7 15.
Ra1 a6 16. a4 Qe8 17. Ra3 bxa4 18. Rda1 Qb5 19. Bf1 Nc6 20. Rxa4 Qb7 21. Qd1
Na7 22. e3 Nb5 23. Bb2 Bxf3 24. Qxf3 c6 25. Qe2 g6 26. Qc2 Ra7 27. Bd3 Kg7 28.
R1a2 Kg8 29. Qd1 Rfa8 30. h4 Bg7 31. h5 f5 32. hxg6 hxg6 33. Kg2 Kf7 34. Qe2
Qe7 35. Ra1 e5 36. dxe5 Bxe5 37. Rh1 Kg7 38. g4 Rg8 39. Rh3 Qf6 40. gxf5 gxf5
41. Bxe5 Qxe5 42. Qh5 Kf8+ 43. Kf3 Nc3 44. Qh6+ Rgg7 45. Ra1 Ne4 46. Rg1 Nd2+
47. Ke2 Ne4 48. Qh8+ Kf7 1-0

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2003.04.08"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "De Firmian, Nick E"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2315"]
[BlackElo "2536"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2003.04.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "8"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 093 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. g3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O e6 7. d4 Nxd4 8. Nxd4
Bxg2 9. Kxg2 cxd4 10. Qxd4 Be7 11. Rd1 O-O 12. b3 Qc7 13. Bb2 Rfd8 14. Qf4 Qxf4
15. gxf4 a6 16. Rd3 Rab8 17. a4 Kf8 18. Rad1 Rb7 19. Kf3 Ke8 20. e3 Rc8 21. e4
Nh5 22. Bc1 g6 23. Be3 Rc6 24. e5 Ng7 25. Ne2 Bc5 26. Nc3 Be7 27. Ne2 Rcc7 28.
Nd4 Bc5 29. Bd2 Rc8 30. Ke2 d6 31. exd6 Rd7 32. a5 Rxd6 33. Bc3 Nh5 34. Kf3
bxa5 35. Bxa5 Nf6 36. Ne2 Rxd3+ 37. Rxd3 Rb8 38. Bc7 Rb7 39. Be5 Nd7 40. Bd4
Bxd4 41. Nxd4 Nc5 42. Re3 Rb4 43. Ke2 a5 44. Nc6 Rxb3 45. Nxa5 Rb2+ 46. Kf3 Kd7
47. Re2 Rxe2 48. Kxe2 f6 49. Ke3 e5 50. fxe5 fxe5 51. f4 e4 52. Kd4 Kd6 53. h4
h5 54. Ke3 Kc7 55. Kd4 Kb6 56. Nb3 Nxb3+ 57. Kxe4 Nd2+ 58. Ke5 Nf3+ 59. Kd6
Nxh4 0-1

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2003.04.09"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Bluvshtein, Mark"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B03"]
[WhiteElo "2451"]
[BlackElo "2315"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2003.04.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "8"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 093 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. exd6 exd6 6. Nc3 Nc6 7. h3 Be7 8. Nf3
Bf6 9. Be3 O-O 10. Rc1 Re8 11. b3 Bg5 12. Nxg5 Qxg5 13. d5 Ne5 14. Ne2 Qf6 15.
Qd2 Qh4 16. Qd4 Qf6 17. f4 Ned7 18. Qxf6 Nxf6 19. Kf2 Ne4+ 20. Kf3 c6 21. dxc6
bxc6 22. Nc3 Bf5 23. Bd3 Nd2+ 24. Bxd2 Bxd3 25. Rhe1 f5 26. Re3 Rxe3+ 27. Kxe3
Be4 28. c5 dxc5 29. Nxe4 Re8 30. Rxc5 Nd5+ 31. Ke2 Rxe4+ 32. Kf3 Rd4 33. Bc1
Rd3+ 34. Ke2 Rg3 35. Kf2 Rc3 36. Rxc3 Nxc3 37. Ke3 Kf7 38. Kd3 Nd5 39. g3 Ke6
40. Ba3 Nf6 41. Bc5 a6 42. Bd4 Ne4 43. Bxg7 Kd5 44. g4 fxg4 45. hxg4 Nf2+ 46.
Ke3 Nxg4+ 47. Kf3 Nh2+ 48. Kg2 Ng4 49. Kf3 Nh2+ 50. Kg3 Nf1+ 51. Kf2 Nh2 52. f5
Ke4 53. Kg3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2003.04.10"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kristjansson, Stefan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2315"]
[BlackElo "2406"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2003.04.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "8"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 093 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Bg2 c6 8. O-O
d5 9. Ne5 Nfd7 10. Nxd7 Qxd7 11. Bc3 dxc4 12. Nd2 cxb3 13. axb3 O-O 14. Nc4 Bb7
15. e4 Bf6 16. e5 Be7 17. Ne3 Na6 18. f4 Nc7 19. f5 Bg5 20. Nc4 Nb5 21. Bb4
Rfd8 22. Qh5 Bh6 23. f6 c5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2003.04.11"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Lie, Kjetil A"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B20"]
[WhiteElo "2430"]
[BlackElo "2315"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2003.04.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "8"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 093 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. b3 b6 3. Bb2 Bb7 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. f4 e6 6. Nf3 d5 7. exd5 exd5 8. Qe2+
Nge7 9. d4 cxd4 10. Nb5 Qd7 11. Ne5 Nxe5 12. Qxe5 f6 13. Nd6+ Kd8 14. Nxb7+
Qxb7 15. Qxd4 Nf5 16. Qd3 Qe7+ 17. Be2 Qb4+ 18. c3 Qe4 19. O-O-O Kc7 20. Qxd5
Qxd5 21. Rxd5 Ne3 22. Rd3 Re8 23. Bf3 Bd6 24. g3 h5 25. Re1 Ng4 26. Red1 Rd8
27. R1d2 Rhe8 28. Bxg4 hxg4 29. Kd1 b5 30. Rd5 a6 31. R2d4 g6 32. c4 Kc6 33.
Rd2 Be7 34. Re2 Bc5 35. Rxe8 Rxe8 36. Bxf6 bxc4 37. bxc4 Bg1 38. Rg5 Bxh2 39.
Rxg4 Kc5 40. Rxg6 Kxc4 41. Be5 Kd3 42. Rxa6 Ke4 43. Ke2 Rg8 44. Ra4+ Kf5 45.
Kd3 Rxg3+ 46. Kc4 Rg2 47. Kb5 Rc2 48. a3 Ra2 49. Bd6 Rd2 50. Kc6 Rc2+ 51. Kd5
Rd2+ 52. Rd4 Ra2 53. a4 Bg3 54. Rc4 Bh2 55. Kc6 Ke6 56. Re4+ Kf5 57. Rb4 Bg3
58. Rb5+ Ke4 59. f5 1-0

[Event "NOR-chT"]
[Site "Asker"]
[Date "2003.05.28"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Snarheim, Dagfinn"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B76"]
[WhiteElo "2315"]
[BlackElo "2216"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2003.05.28"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 094 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.07.09"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.07.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2
Nc6 9. O-O-O Nxd4 10. Bxd4 Be6 11. g4 Qa5 12. Kb1 Rfc8 13. a3 Rab8 14. Ne2 Qa4
15. g5 Nh5 16. Bxg7 Nxg7 17. Nd4 b5 18. Qb4 Qa6 19. Nxe6 Nxe6 20. h4 Qb6 21. h5
Qf2 22. Bd3 Nxg5 23. hxg6 hxg6 24. e5 Nxf3 25. exd6 exd6 26. Qf4 b4 27. Qh6 Qd4
28. Bxg6 Qg7 29. Bh7+ Kh8 30. Qxd6 bxa3 31. Qxa3 Rc3 32. Bg6+ Kg8 33. Bxf7+
Kxf7 34. Qxa7+ Kf6 35. Rd6+ Kf5 36. Qxg7 1-0

[Event "NOR-chT"]
[Site "Asker"]
[Date "2003.05.29"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Radojicic, Aleksandar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A30"]
[BlackElo "2315"]
[PlyCount "122"]
[EventDate "2003.05.28"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 094 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.07.09"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.07.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 e6 4. O-O c5 5. c4 Nc6 6. a3 Be7 7. Qc2 O-O 8. d3 e5
9. Nbd2 d4 10. b4 cxb4 11. axb4 Bxb4 12. Ba3 Bxa3 13. Rxa3 h6 14. Rb1 Re8 15.
Ne1 Re7 16. Ne4 Nxe4 17. Bxe4 Rc7 18. Nf3 Qe7 19. Rab3 Rb8 20. Rb5 Bd7 21. Qa2
Qd6 22. R1b2 a5 23. Rb6 Qe7 24. Qa1 Be8 25. R2b5 Ra8 26. Bxc6 Rxc6 27. Rxb7 Rc7
28. Rb8 Rxb8 29. Rxb8 Rb7 30. Rxb7 Qxb7 31. Qxa5 f6 32. Qa2 Bh5 33. Nh4 e4 34.
c5+ Kh7 35. Qc2 Qb4 36. Ng2 e3 37. fxe3 dxe3 38. Qc1 Bxe2 39. Nxe3 Bxd3 40. c6
Qd4 41. c7 Ba6 42. Kf2 Bc8 43. Qd1 Qb6 44. Qd3+ f5 45. Qc4 Qb2+ 46. Nc2 Qb6+
47. Ne3 Qb2+ 48. Qc2 Qb6 49. Ke2 Ba6+ 50. Kf2 Bc8 51. h4 h5 52. Qc3 Qd6 53. Qc4
Qd2+ 54. Qe2 Qd7 55. Qc2 Qd6 56. Kg2 Qe5 57. Kf2 Qd6 58. Nf1 Qd4+ 59. Ke1 Qe5+
60. Kf2 Qd4+ 61. Ne3 Qd6 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-chT"]
[Site "Asker"]
[Date "2003.05.30"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gullaksen, Eirik Tvedt"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E94"]
[WhiteElo "2315"]
[BlackElo "2354"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2003.05.28"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 094 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.07.09"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.07.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 O-O 5. e4 d6 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nh5 8. Bg5
f6 9. Be3 Nf4 10. Bxf4 exf4 11. c5 dxc5 12. dxc5 c6 13. Bc4+ Kh8 14. Qxd8 Rxd8
15. Rfd1 Re8 16. e5 fxe5 17. Ng5 Bf6 18. Nf7+ Kg7 19. Nd6 Rf8 20. Nxc8 Rxc8 21.
Ne4 b5 22. Be2 Be7 23. a4 Na6 24. Rd7 Rc7 25. Rad1 Kf8 26. axb5 cxb5 27. Rxc7
Nxc7 28. Rd7 Ne6 29. Rd5 Nc7 30. Rd7 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-chT"]
[Site "Asker"]
[Date "2003.05.31"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Hole, Oystein"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A37"]
[WhiteElo "2247"]
[BlackElo "2315"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2003.05.28"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 094 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.07.09"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.07.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. e4 e5 4. Nc3 d6 5. g3 g6 6. d3 Bg7 7. Bg2 Nge7 8. O-O
O-O 9. Be3 Nd4 10. Ne1 Be6 11. h3 Qd7 12. Kh2 f5 13. exf5 gxf5 14. f4 exf4 15.
Bxf4 Ng6 16. Nd5 Kh8 17. Nc2 Bxd5 18. Bxd5 Nxf4 19. gxf4 Rae8 20. Nxd4 Bxd4 21.
Qh5 Qg7 22. Rae1 Rxe1 23. Rxe1 Bf2 24. Rf1 Bg3+ 25. Kh1 Qxb2 26. Bg2 Rg8 27.
Qxf5 Bxf4 28. Qe4 Be5 29. Rf7 Qc1+ 30. Bf1 Qh6 31. Qxb7 Qg6 32. Bg2 Qxd3 33.
Qxa7 d5 34. Qxc5 Qg3 35. Qg1 dxc4 36. Rf3 Qg6 37. Qf2 c3 38. Rf5 Qd6 39. Qc2
Rd8 40. Rf1 Qd3 41. Qxd3 Rxd3 42. Be4 Rxh3+ 43. Kg2 Rh2+ 44. Kf3 Rxa2 45. Rh1
Ra7 46. Rh5 Bd6 47. Rd5 Rf7+ 48. Ke3 Bf4+ 49. Kd3 Bd2 50. Bf5 Rf8 51. Rc5 Rf7
52. Rd5 Kg7 53. Rd7 Rxd7+ 54. Bxd7 Kf6 55. Ba4 Kg5 56. Ke2 Kg4 57. Kf2 h5
1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-chT"]
[Site "Asker"]
[Date "2003.06.01"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Heim, Sverre"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2315"]
[BlackElo "2399"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2003.05.28"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 094 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.07.09"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.07.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. c3 Nf6 5. e5 Nd5 6. d4 cxd4 7. Qb3 Nc7 8. Bc4
Ne6 9. cxd4 Na5 10. Qc3 Nxc4 11. Qxc4 Qc7 12. Qc3 d5 13. O-O Bd7 14. Qb3 Qb6
15. Qxb6 axb6 16. Nc3 Nc7 17. Bg5 h6 18. Be3 e6 19. Rfc1 Be7 20. Nd2 Bc6 21.
Kf1 Kd7 22. Ke2 b5 23. a3 b4 24. axb4 Bxb4 25. Nb3 b6 26. Rxa8 Nxa8 27. Bd2 Nc7
28. Ra1 h5 29. Na4 Bxa4 30. Rxa4 Be7 31. Kd3 Ra8 32. Rxa8 Nxa8 33. Nc1 Nc7 34.
g3 Kc6 35. Ne2 Kb5 36. Nc3+ Kc6 37. h3 Na6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Barents Region-chA"]
[Site "Alta"]
[Date "2003.06.20"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Hansen, Victor"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E13"]
[WhiteElo "2119"]
[BlackElo "2315"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2003.06.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 094 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.07.09"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.07.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. d4 Bb4 4. Bg5 b6 5. Nf3 Bb7 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 Bxc3+ 8.
bxc3 d6 9. Bd3 Nbd7 10. O-O g5 11. Bg3 Nh5 12. Nd2 Nxg3 13. fxg3 Qe7 14. Qh5
Nf6 15. Rxf6 Qxf6 16. Rf1 Qe7 17. Rxf7 Qxf7 18. Bg6 Rf8 19. Qxh6 Kd7 20. Bxf7
Rxf7 21. Qxg5 Raf8 22. e4 Bxe4 23. Qe3 Bb7 24. g4 e5 25. d5 c6 26. dxc6+ Bxc6
27. h3 Kc7 28. g5 Rf4 29. g3 R4f5 30. h4 e4 31. Qd4 Re5 32. Nf1 e3 33. Nxe3 Rf3
34. Nd5+ Kb7 35. Kg2 Rfe3 36. Qf4 R3e4 37. Qf7+ Re7 38. Qf5 R4e5 39. Qd3 b5 40.
Kf2 Rf7+ 41. Nf4 Rfe7 42. g6 bxc4 43. Qxc4 Rb5 44. Nd3 Rf5+ 45. Kg1 Re3 46. Nf4
Rxg3+ 47. Kh2 Rg4 48. Qb4+ Rb5 49. Qxd6 Rf5 50. Qb4+ Kc8 51. Qd6 Kb7 52. Qe7+
Kb6 53. Qe3+ Kb7 54. Qe7+ Kb6 55. Qe3+ Kb7 56. Qe7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Barents Region-chA"]
[Site "Alta"]
[Date "2003.06.20"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nordahl, Helge Andreas"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B53"]
[WhiteElo "2315"]
[BlackElo "2330"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2003.06.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 094 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.07.09"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.07.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Qxd4 a6 6. Bg5 Nc6 7. Qd2 e6 8.
O-O-O b5 9. Qe3 Be7 10. e5 Ng4 11. Qf4 Ngxe5 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Ne4 O-O 14. Nxd6
Nxf3 15. Qxf3 Bb7 16. Bd3 f5 17. Nxb7 Qxb7 18. Rhe1 Rae8 19. g4 Qc7 20. gxf5
Ne5 21. Qg3 Nxd3+ 22. Rxd3 Qxg3 23. hxg3 exf5 24. Rxe8 Rxe8 25. Kd2 Kf7 26. a4
bxa4 27. Rd5 g6 28. Ra5 Rb8 29. Rxa4 Rxb2 30. Rxa6 h5 31. Rc6 Kg7 32. Kd3 Rb4
33. c4 g5 34. Kd4 Rb2 35. Ke3 Rb3+ 36. Ke2 Rb2+ 37. Kf3 Rb3+ 38. Kg2 Rc3 39. c5
1/2-1/2

[Event "Barents Region-chA"]
[Site "Alta"]
[Date "2003.06.21"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Mikalsen, Odd Erling"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B23"]
[BlackElo "2315"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2003.06.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 094 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.07.09"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.07.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 e6 4. Nf3 a6 5. Be2 d5 6. d4 dxe4 7. Nxe4 cxd4 8. O-O
Be7 9. Bd3 Nf6 10. Nfg5 Nxe4 11. Nxe4 f5 12. Ng3 O-O 13. a3 Qd5 14. b3 g6 15.
Bb2 Bf6 16. Re1 b5 17. Rc1 Bb7 18. Be2 d3 19. Bxf6 d2 20. Ba1 Nd4 21. Bf1
dxc1=Q 22. Qxc1 Rac8 23. Qb2 Rxc2 24. Qxd4 Rxg2+ 25. Kh1 Rxg3+ 0-1

[Event "Barents Region-chA"]
[Site "Alta"]
[Date "2003.06.21"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Andersen, Alf Roger"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2315"]
[BlackElo "2165"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2003.06.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 094 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.07.09"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.07.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c6 4. Nf3 d6 5. Be3 b5 6. Bd3 Nd7 7. Qd2 Nb6 8. b3
Bg4 9. Ng1 d5 10. e5 h5 11. h3 Bc8 12. f4 Nh6 13. Nf3 a5 14. O-O Nf5 15. Bf2 e6
16. a4 b4 17. Ne2 Bf8 18. Bxf5 gxf5 19. Bh4 Qc7 20. Rfc1 Ba6 21. c3 Rc8 22. Be1
Be7 23. cxb4 axb4 24. Bh4 Bf8 25. Ne1 Nd7 26. Nd3 Qb6 27. Bf2 Be7 28. Rc2 Qb7
29. Kh2 Kf8 30. Rac1 Kg7 31. Ng1 Kh6 32. Nf3 Rc7 33. Bh4 Bxh4 34. Nxh4 Bxd3 35.
Qxd3 Rhc8 36. Qg3 c5 37. Qg5+ Kh7 38. Qxh5+ Kg7 39. g4 Rg8 40. gxf5 Kf8 41.
Qh6+ Ke7 42. fxe6 1-0

[Event "Barents Region-chA"]
[Site "Alta"]
[Date "2003.06.22"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sjkadiuk, Aleksander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2315"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2003.06.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 094 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.07.09"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.07.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 Nf6 7. Nc3 O-O 8.
Be3 b6 9. Qd2 Re8 10. Bh6 Bh8 11. O-O-O a5 12. e5 Nd5 13. Ne4 f6 14. h4 Bg4 15.
c4 Nc7 16. Qf4 Bxf3 17. Qxf3 f5 18. Ng5 Bxe5 19. h5 Qd4 20. Qe2 Bf4+ 21. Kb1 e5
22. hxg6 hxg6 23. Qf3 Qd6 24. g4 Qf6 25. Nh7 Qe6 26. Bxf4 exf4 27. Qxf4 Re7 28.
gxf5 Qxf5 29. Nf6+ Kf7 30. Rh7+ Kxf6 31. Qh4+ Qg5 32. Qxg5+ Kxg5 33. Rxe7 Rc8
34. Rde1 Kf6 35. Rd7 Kf5 36. Rf7+ Kg5 37. Rg1+ Kh6 38. f4 1-0

[Event "Barents Region-chA"]
[Site "Alta"]
[Date "2003.06.22"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Kiselev, Gennady Aleksandrov"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B45"]
[WhiteElo "2437"]
[BlackElo "2315"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2003.06.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 094 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.07.09"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.07.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. g3 Bc5 7. Nb3 Bb4 8.
Bg2 O-O 9. O-O Bxc3 10. bxc3 d5 11. exd5 exd5 12. Be3 Bg4 13. f3 Re8 14. Qd2
Bf5 15. Rfe1 Ne5 16. Bd4 Nc4 17. Qf2 b6 18. a4 Qd6 19. Bf1 h6 20. Red1 Bg6 21.
Nd2 Ne5 22. Ra2 Nc6 23. Bb5 Re6 24. Bxc6 Qxc6 25. Qf1 Rae8 26. Qb5 Qc8 27. Kf2
R6e7 28. Raa1 Qh3 29. Nf1 Ne4+ 30. fxe4 Bxe4 31. Be3 Qg2+ 32. Ke1 Bf3 33. Qd3
Rxe3+ 34. Nxe3 Qxh2 35. Rdb1 0-1

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Fredrikstad"]
[Date "2003.07.04"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gabrielsen, Stig"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B40"]
[WhiteElo "2385"]
[BlackElo "2269"]
[PlyCount "35"]
[EventDate "2003.07.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 095 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. b3 b6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bb7 6. Qe2 Nc6 7. Nxc6 dxc6 8.
Bb2 Bb4+ 9. Nd2 Nf6 10. O-O-O Qc7 11. Nc4 b5 12. e5 Nd5 13. Nd6+ Bxd6 14. exd6
Qxd6 15. Bxg7 Rg8 16. Be5 Qa3+ 17. Bb2 Qxa2 18. Rxd5 1-0

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Fredrikstad"]
[Date "2003.07.05"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Ostenstad, Berge"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D71"]
[WhiteElo "2469"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2003.07.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 095 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. d4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. g3 Bg7 6. Bg2 Nxc3 7. bxc3 O-O 8.
e3 c5 9. Ne2 Nc6 10. O-O Bg4 11. h3 Bd7 12. Rb1 Na5 13. Ba3 cxd4 14. cxd4 Rc8
15. Qd3 b5 16. Rfd1 a6 17. Bc5 Nc4 18. a4 Nd6 19. Nc3 Bf5 20. e4 Be6 21. axb5
axb5 22. Qe3 Qd7 23. Kh2 Bc4 24. e5 Nf5 25. Qe4 f6 26. Nd5 fxe5 27. Nb6 Qc7 28.
Nxc8 Qxc8 29. Rdc1 exd4 30. Bb4 Qd7 31. Ra1 d3 32. Ra8 Rxa8 33. Qxa8+ Kf7 34.
Bc6 d2 35. Rd1 Qd3 36. Rxd2 Qb3 37. Be8+ Kf6 38. Qa1+ Ke6 39. Qe1+ Kf6 40. Qa1+
e5 41. Bc3 Ke7 42. Qa7+ Kf6 43. Qa1 Ke7 44. Bxe5 Bd5 45. Bxg7 Qf3 46. Qe5+ 1-0

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Fredrikstad"]
[Date "2003.07.06"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Fyllingen, Roy Harald"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2385"]
[BlackElo "2366"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2003.07.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 095 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 b6 3. d4 e6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 a5 6. Bg2 Ba6 7. Qc2 c5 8. Nc3
Nc6 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. b3 O-O 11. Bg5 h6 12. Bxf6 Qxf6 13. O-O Bb4 14. Ne4 Qe7
15. Rfd1 Rac8 16. e3 d5 17. cxd5 exd5 18. Rxd5 Nd4 19. Nxd4 Rxc2 20. Nxc2 Rc8
21. Nxb4 Qxb4 22. Nd6 Rc2 23. Be4 Rd2 24. Rxd2 Qxd2 25. Nc4 Bxc4 26. bxc4 g6
27. a4 Qc3 28. Rd1 Qxc4 29. Rd4 Qc1+ 30. Kg2 Qc5 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Fredrikstad"]
[Date "2003.07.07"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Ekeberg, Carl Fredrik"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A16"]
[WhiteElo "2226"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2003.07.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 095 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Qxd1+ 7. Kxd1 f6
8. Be3 e5 9. Nd2 Nd7 10. a4 Bc5 11. Nc4 Bxe3 12. Nxe3 c6 13. Bc4 Nc5 14. f3 a5
15. Kc2 Ke7 16. Rhd1 f5 17. exf5 gxf5 18. g3 f4 19. gxf4 exf4 20. Ng2 Bf5+ 21.
Kc1 Rhd8 22. Nxf4 Rxd1+ 23. Kxd1 Rd8+ 24. Ke2 Bc2 25. Rg1 Kd6 26. Bd3 Nxd3 27.
Nxd3 Bxa4 28. Rg7 Bb5 29. Ke3 Re8+ 30. Kd4 b6 31. c4 c5+ 32. Kc3 Bc6 33. Rxh7
Bxf3 34. Rh6+ Kc7 35. Rh7+ Kd6 36. Rh6+ Kc7 37. Rh7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Fredrikstad"]
[Date "2003.07.08"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Lie, Kjetil A"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B38"]
[WhiteElo "2385"]
[BlackElo "2440"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2003.07.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 095 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. e4 d6 4. d4 Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 c5 7. O-O cxd4 8. Nxd4
Nc6 9. Be3 Bd7 10. Qd2 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Bc6 12. f3 a5 13. b3 Nd7 14. Be3 Nc5 15.
Rab1 Qb6 16. Rfd1 Rfc8 17. Kh1 Qd8 18. Qe1 Qf8 19. Nd5 Bxd5 20. Rxd5 Bh6 21.
Bf2 e6 22. Rdd1 Bf4 23. g3 Bh6 24. Bf1 Rd8 25. f4 Qe7 26. e5 b6 27. exd6 Rxd6
28. Rxd6 Qxd6 29. Rd1 Qc7 30. Qe2 Bf8 31. Bg2 Rd8 32. Bf3 Na6 33. Kg2 Bc5 34.
Be1 Rxd1 35. Qxd1 Nb4 36. a4 Bf8 37. Qe2 Na6 38. Bf2 Nc5 39. Qd1 Bg7 40. Be3 h5
41. Bf2 Qe7 42. Qb1 Bc3 43. Qd1 Bg7 44. Qb1 Bf8 45. b4 axb4 46. Qxb4 Qa7 47.
Bc6 Qa6 48. Qb5 Qxb5 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Fredrikstad"]
[Date "2003.07.09"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Lie, Espen"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A36"]
[WhiteElo "2260"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2003.07.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 095 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2 c5 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. a3 e6 6. b4 d6 7. Rb1 Nge7 8. e3 O-O
9. Nge2 Rb8 10. Qa4 b6 11. O-O Bb7 12. f4 Qd7 13. Bb2 Rfd8 14. Ne4 Nd4 15. Qd1
Nxe2+ 16. Qxe2 Bxe4 17. Bxe4 Bxb2 18. Rxb2 b5 19. cxb5 d5 20. Bc2 Qxb5 21. Qxb5
Rxb5 22. Bd3 Rb6 23. Rc1 c4 24. Be2 Ra6 25. Rc3 Nf5 26. d3 Nxe3 27. dxc4 Nxc4
28. Bxc4 dxc4 29. b5 Ra5 30. Rb4 Rd3 31. Rbxc4 Rd1+ 32. Kg2 Rxb5 33. Rc7 Rd2+
34. Kf3 a5 35. Ra7 h5 36. a4 Rbd5 37. Rc8+ Kg7 38. Rcc7 Rf5 39. h3 Rd3+ 40. Kg2
h4 41. gxh4 Rd4 42. Kg3 Rxa4 43. Rc3 Rfxf4 44. Rxa5 Rxh4 45. Rac5 Rh5 46. Rxh5
gxh5 47. Rb3 Kg6 48. Rc3 h4+ 49. Kf3 Kf5 50. Rb3 e5 51. Ke3 Ra2 52. Kd3 Rg2 53.
Rb1 Rg3+ 54. Kc4 Rxh3 55. Kd5 Rd3+ 0-1

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Fredrikstad"]
[Date "2003.07.10"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hansen, Torbjorn Ringdal"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E21"]
[WhiteElo "2385"]
[BlackElo "2305"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2003.07.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 095 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 O-O 5. Qd3 c5 6. Bg5 Nc6 7. a3 Bxc3+ 8.
Qxc3 h6 9. Bxf6 Qxf6 10. e3 d6 11. Be2 b6 12. O-O Bb7 13. Rfd1 Rac8 14. d5 Qxc3
15. bxc3 exd5 16. Rxd5 Rfd8 17. Rad1 Kf8 18. Rxd6 Rxd6 19. Rxd6 Ke7 20. Rd1 Ba6
21. g4 Rc7 22. Nh4 g6 23. Nf3 Ke6 24. Kf1 Na5 25. Nd2 Rd7 26. Ke1 g5 27. Rb1
Ke5 28. Rb2 Rd8 29. f3 f5 30. gxf5 Kxf5 31. Kf2 h5 32. Kg3 h4+ 33. Kf2 Rd7 34.
Bf1 Rd8 35. Bh3+ Ke5 36. Bf1 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Fredrikstad"]
[Date "2003.07.11"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Trygstad, Kristian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B41"]
[WhiteElo "2385"]
[BlackElo "2330"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2003.07.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 095 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 Qc7 7. a3 Nxe4 8.
Nxe4 Qe5 9. Bd3 Qxd4 10. O-O f5 11. Be3 Qe5 12. f4 Qc7 13. Ng5 Bc5 14. Qh5+ g6
15. Qe2 Qb6 16. Bxc5 Qxc5+ 17. Kh1 Nc6 18. b4 Qf8 19. Qb2 h6 20. Nf3 Rg8 21. b5
Nd8 22. Qd4 Nf7 23. c5 Qg7 24. Qe3 Qf6 25. bxa6 bxa6 26. Rab1 Kf8 27. Ne5 Kg7
28. g4 Ra7 29. gxf5 exf5 30. Rb6 d6 31. cxd6 Rb7 32. Rfb1 Nxd6 33. Qc5 Rd8 34.
Rxb7+ Bxb7+ 35. Rxb7+ Nxb7 36. Qc7+ Kf8 37. Qxb7 g5 38. Nd7+ Rxd7 39. Qxd7 Qa1+
40. Kg2 Qb2+ 41. Kf3 gxf4 42. Qxf5+ Ke7 43. Qc5+ Ke6 44. Qc6+ Ke7 45. Qc7+ Ke6
46. Bc4+ Kf6 47. Qd6+ Kg5 48. h4+ Kxh4 49. Qxh6# 1-0

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Fredrikstad"]
[Date "2003.07.12"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Djurhuus, Rune"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D87"]
[WhiteElo "2475"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2003.07.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 095 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8.
Ne2 O-O 9. O-O Nc6 10. Be3 Bd7 11. Rb1 a6 12. d5 Ne5 13. Bb3 Qc7 14. h3 e6 15.
d6 Qc6 16. Ng3 f6 17. Qd2 Nf7 18. Bc2 e5 19. Qd5 Qxd5 20. exd5 b5 21. Ne4 Bf5
22. Bxc5 Rfd8 23. a4 Bxe4 24. Bxe4 f5 25. Bd3 e4 26. Be2 Nxd6 27. Bxd6 Rxd6 28.
axb5 axb5 29. Bxb5 Bxc3 30. Rfc1 Be5 31. Bc6 Ra7 32. Rb8+ Kg7 33. Re8 Bd4 34.
Rd1 Bc5 35. Rc1 Bd4 36. Rc2 Kf7 37. g3 Rxd5 38. Rxe4 Rc5 39. Rxc5 Bxc5 40. Re2
1/2-1/2

[Event "Politiken Cup 25th"]
[Site "Copenhagen"]
[Date "2003.07.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Egeland, Marte"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E14"]
[WhiteElo "2385"]
[BlackElo "1990"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2003.07.14"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 095 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 c5 5. e3 O-O 6. Bd3 cxd4 7. exd4 b6 8. O-O
Bxc3 9. bxc3 Bb7 10. d5 exd5 11. cxd5 Bxd5 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bh4 d6 14. Nd4 Nbd7
15. Nf5 Be6 16. Nxd6 Qc7 17. Nf5 Qxc3 18. Rc1 Qb4 19. Bg3 Qa5 20. Qf3 Ne5 21.
Bxe5 Qxe5 22. Rfe1 Qb2 23. Rb1 Qd2 24. Red1 Qg5 25. h4 Qh5 26. Qf4 Nd5 27. Qe5
Bxf5 28. Bxf5 Nf6 29. Qf4 Qe2 30. Rbc1 Qxa2 31. Rc6 Rad8 32. Rxd8 Rxd8 33. g4
Qa1+ 34. Kg2 Nd5 35. Qe4 Nf6 36. Qf4 Nd5 37. Qc4 Nf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Politiken Cup 25th"]
[Site "Copenhagen"]
[Date "2003.07.15"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Pedersen, Kenneth"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B31"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2003.07.14"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 095 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. O-O O-O 8.
Be3 b6 9. h3 Nd7 10. Qd2 e5 11. Nh2 Qe7 12. f4 exf4 13. Bxf4 Ne5 14. Nf3 Nxf3+
15. Rxf3 Be6 16. Raf1 f6 17. Bh6 Rad8 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. Qf2 Bg8 20. Qg3 c4 21.
d4 Be6 22. Ne2 Bc8 23. Nf4 Qxe4 24. Nh5+ Kh8 25. Rf4 Qe7 26. Nxf6 Bf5 27. Nh5
Qd6 28. Qg5 gxh5 29. Rxf5 Qxd4+ 30. Kh1 Rxf5 31. Qxf5 Qxb2 32. Qxh5 Qd4 33. Qh6
Qd6 34. Rf6 Qe7 35. Qf4 c5 36. h4 Rd4 37. Qg5 Qe1+ 38. Kh2 Rxh4+ 0-1

[Event "Politiken Cup 25th"]
[Site "Copenhagen"]
[Date "2003.07.16"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Skjoldan, Benjamin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2385"]
[BlackElo "2092"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2003.07.14"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 095 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 Bg7 11. Bd3 Ne7 12. Nxe7 Qxe7 13. O-O f5 14. c4 O-O
15. Qf3 Re8 16. Rfe1 f4 17. cxb5 Qg5 18. Bc4 Bg4 19. Qb3 Bh5 20. f3 Rab8 21.
Kh1 Bf8 22. b6 Qd8 23. b7 Re7 24. Bxa6 Qa5 25. Qb5 Qd2 26. Rac1 Re6 27. Qe2 Qd4
28. Rc8 Re8 29. Qb5 Qf2 30. Rf1 1-0

[Event "Politiken Cup 25th"]
[Site "Copenhagen"]
[Date "2003.07.17"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Olsson, Linus"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D87"]
[WhiteElo "2244"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "2003.07.14"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 095 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8.
Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. Rc1 cxd4 11. cxd4 Qa5+ 12. Kf1 Rd8 13. h4 Bd7 14. h5
Rac8 15. hxg6 hxg6 16. Nf4 Nxd4 17. Kg1 Bb5 18. Bxb5 Rxc1 19. Qxc1 Qxb5 20. Qa3
Ne2+ 21. Kh2 Nxf4 22. Bxf4 Rd3 0-1

[Event "Politiken Cup 25th"]
[Site "Copenhagen"]
[Date "2003.07.18"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ward, Christopher"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E13"]
[WhiteElo "2385"]
[BlackElo "2531"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2003.07.14"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 095 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 g5 7. Bg3 Ne4 8. Qc2
Bb7 9. e3 Bxc3+ 10. bxc3 Nxg3 11. fxg3 g4 12. Nh4 Qg5 13. Qd2 Nc6 14. Bd3 Ne7
15. O-O f5 16. a4 O-O 17. a5 d5 18. Qe2 Kg7 19. Rae1 dxc4 20. Bxc4 Nd5 21. e4
Nxc3 22. Qc2 Bxe4 23. Qxc3 Rae8 24. axb6 axb6 25. Bb5 Re7 26. Bc6 Bxc6 27. Qxc6
Rf6 28. Qc3 Rff7 29. d5+ Qf6 30. Qe3 exd5 31. Nxf5+ Qxf5 32. Rxf5 Rxe3 33.
Rxf7+ Kxf7 34. Rxe3 d4 35. Re4 c5 36. Kf2 Kf6 37. Ke2 b5 38. Kd3 h5 39. Re8 1-0

[Event "Politiken Cup 25th"]
[Site "Copenhagen"]
[Date "2003.07.19"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sasikiran, Krishnan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E61"]
[WhiteElo "2385"]
[BlackElo "2654"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2003.07.14"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 095 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Nf3 O-O 5. Bg5 d6 6. e3 c6 7. Be2 a6 8. O-O b5
9. cxb5 axb5 10. b4 Nbd7 11. a4 bxa4 12. Rxa4 Bb7 13. Rxa8 Qxa8 14. Qa1 h6 15.
Bxf6 Bxf6 16. Qb2 Qb8 17. Qb3 e6 18. Rd1 Rc8 19. Bc4 Kg7 20. Ne4 Bd8 21. Bxe6
fxe6 22. Qxe6 Nf8 23. Qxd6 Qc7 24. Qc5 Ne6 25. Qc3 Kh7 26. Ne5 Qe7 27. f4 Rc7
28. Qc2 Nf8 29. f5 gxf5 30. Ng3 Bc8 31. Nxf5 Bxf5 32. Qxf5+ Kg8 33. Rf1 Qe8 34.
Qc2 Qe6 35. Qf2 Nh7 36. Qg3+ Rg7 37. Qf3 Re7 38. Qg3+ Rg7 39. Qf3 Re7 40. Qg3+
1/2-1/2

[Event "Politiken Cup 25th"]
[Site "Copenhagen"]
[Date "2003.07.20"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Jussupow, Artur"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D95"]
[WhiteElo "2583"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2003.07.14"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 095 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 d5 5. e3 O-O 6. Qb3 e6 7. Bd2 b6 8. cxd5
exd5 9. Be2 Bb7 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Rfd1 c6 12. a4 a5 13. Rac1 Re8 14. Ne1 Bf8 15.
Nd3 Bd6 16. f4 Qe7 17. Ne5 Bb4 18. Bf3 Rac8 19. Be1 Qe6 20. Bh4 c5 21. h3 c4
22. Qc2 Be7 23. Rf1 Bb4 24. g4 Bxc3 25. bxc3 Ne4 26. f5 Qd6 27. Bxe4 dxe4 28.
fxg6 fxg6 29. Nf7 Qe6 30. Nh6+ Kh8 31. Rf7 Rf8 32. Rcf1 Rxf7 33. Nxf7+ Kg8 34.
Nd8 Qd5 35. Qf2 Bc6 36. Qf4 b5 37. axb5 Bxb5 38. Qh6 Rxd8 39. Bxd8 Qd6 40. Kg2
a4 41. Ba5 1-0

[Event "Politiken Cup 25th"]
[Site "Copenhagen"]
[Date "2003.07.22"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Byklum, Bjornar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B20"]
[WhiteElo "2214"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2003.07.14"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 095 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. g3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. Bg2 Qe6+ 6. Kf1 Nc6 7. h3 Bh5 8.
Nc3 Nf6 9. d3 Qd7 10. g4 Bg6 11. Bf4 e6 12. Ne5 Nxe5 13. Bxe5 Bd6 14. Bxd6 Qxd6
15. b3 O-O-O 16. a4 Nd5 17. Nxd5 exd5 18. a5 a6 19. Rb1 Rhe8 20. Qd2 Re7 21.
Bf3 f5 22. g5 f4 23. b4 c4 24. b5 cxd3 25. cxd3 axb5 26. Rxb5 Qe5 27. d4 Qd6
28. Rxd5 Qa6+ 29. Kg2 Rxd5 30. Bxd5 Qd6 31. Bf3 Kb8 32. Rc1 Be4 33. Bxe4 Rxe4
34. Qc3 Re8 35. Qc5 Qd7 36. Rc3 Ka8 37. Rf3 Re4 38. Qf8+ Ka7 39. Qc5+ Ka8 40.
Qf8+ Ka7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Politiken Cup 25th"]
[Site "Copenhagen"]
[Date "2003.07.23"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Harestad, Hans Krogh"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C98"]
[WhiteElo "2385"]
[BlackElo "2249"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2003.07.14"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 095 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. Re1 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2 Nc6 13. d5 Nd8 14. a4 Ra7 15. Nf1
g6 16. Bh6 Re8 17. Ng3 Nd7 18. Nh2 f6 19. Be3 Nb6 20. axb5 axb5 21. Bd3 Bd7 22.
Qd2 Nf7 23. Rxa7 Qxa7 24. Qe2 Qa6 25. Ng4 Kg7 26. Bc1 Na4 27. Bc2 Ra8 28. Qe3
c4 29. Rf1 Nc5 30. Nh6 Ng5 31. f4 exf4 32. Qxf4 Bxh3 33. Qh4 Bd7 34. e5 dxe5
35. Nh5+ gxh5 36. Qxg5+ fxg5 37. Rf7+ Kxh6 38. Rxh7# 1-0

[Event "Politiken Cup 25th"]
[Site "Copenhagen"]
[Date "2003.07.24"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Speelman, Jonathan S"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2589"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2003.07.14"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 095 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bf4 d5 4. Nd2 Bf5 5. e3 e6 6. Nxe4 Bxe4 7. Ne2 Bd6 8.
Qd2 Nc6 9. Bxd6 Qxd6 10. Nc3 Bg6 11. Be2 Ne7 12. Nb5 Qd7 13. O-O O-O 14. Rfd1
c6 15. Nc3 Qd6 16. Na4 e5 17. Nc5 b6 18. Nd3 Bxd3 19. dxe5 Qxe5 20. cxd3 Qd6
21. b4 a5 22. a3 g6 23. g3 Ra7 24. d4 axb4 25. axb4 Rfa8 26. Rxa7 Rxa7 27. b5
c5 28. dxc5 bxc5 29. Bc4 Qb6 30. Bxd5 Nxd5 31. Qxd5 Qxb5 32. h4 h5 33. Rc1 Rd7
34. Qe5 Qc6 35. Qe8+ Kg7 36. Qe5+ f6 37. Qc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Politiken Cup 25th"]
[Site "Copenhagen"]
[Date "2003.07.25"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Koneru, Humpy"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2385"]
[BlackElo "2468"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2003.07.14"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 095 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 d5 6. Bg2 Bd6 7. O-O O-O 8. Nbd2
Qe7 9. Qc2 Bb7 10. Bb2 Na6 11. Nh4 Ba3 12. cxd5 Bxb2 13. Qxb2 exd5 14. e3 Ne4
15. Nhf3 c5 16. Ne5 Rac8 17. Rac1 Rfe8 18. Nd3 Nc7 19. Nf4 Qf6 20. Nh5 Qh6 21.
Nf4 g5 22. Ne2 Ne6 23. Nxe4 dxe4 24. Rfd1 Qf6 25. Nc3 Nf8 26. d5 Ba6 27. Qc2
Rcd8 28. Nxe4 Qg6 29. b4 f5 30. Nd2 Nd7 31. Qa4 b5 32. Qa5 c4 33. d6 Nb8 34. a4
Qxd6 35. axb5 Re5 36. Qa1 Rxb5 37. Ne4 Qe7 38. Nf6+ Kf7 39. Nd5 1-0

[Event "Schwarzach op-A 18th"]
[Site "Salzburg"]
[Date "2003.08.23"]
[Round "1.11"]
[White "Adinolfi, Vincenzo"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D94"]
[WhiteElo "2110"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[PlyCount "152"]
[EventDate "2003.08.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AUT"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2004"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. Be2 dxc4 7. Bxc4 c5 8. O-O
cxd4 9. Nxd4 Bd7 10. Qe2 Nc6 11. Rd1 Nxd4 12. exd4 a6 13. Bf4 b5 14. Bb3 b4 15.
Nd5 Nxd5 16. Bxd5 Bb5 17. Qe4 Ra7 18. Be5 Rd7 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. Bb3 Qb6 21. Rd2
Qf6 22. Re1 Rfd8 23. d5 a5 24. Red1 Rc8 25. Rc2 Rdc7 26. Rcd2 a4 27. Qxb4 axb3
28. Qxb5 bxa2 29. Qa4 Rc1 30. Qxa2 R8c2 31. Qa7 Rxd2 32. Rxc1 Qxb2 33. Re1 Qe5
34. Qa1 Qxa1 35. Rxa1 Rxd5 36. h4 Kf6 37. g3 Rd7 38. Kg2 h5 39. Kf3 Kf5 40.
Ra5+ e5 41. Ke3 Rb7 42. Ra3 Rb6 43. Kf3 f6 44. Ra4 Rd6 45. Rb4 Rd3+ 46. Kg2 Rd2
47. Rb5 Ke6 48. Rb6+ Rd6 49. Rb5 Rd5 50. Rb6+ Kf5 51. Ra6 e4 52. Ra3 Ke5 53.
Kf1 Rd3 54. Ra5+ Ke6 55. Ke2 Rd5 56. Ra8 Kf5 57. Ra6 Rd3 58. Ra5+ Kg4 59. Ra6
Rf3 60. Re6 Kh3 61. Rxe4 Kg2 62. g4 Rxf2+ 63. Ke1 Kg3 64. gxh5 gxh5 65. Re3+
Rf3 66. Re8 Kxh4 67. Rg8 Rf5 68. Rg6 Kh3 69. Ke2 h4 70. Ke1 Kh2 71. Ke2 h3 72.
Ke1 Kh1 73. Ke2 h2 74. Ke1 Rg5 75. Rxf6 Kg2 76. Rf2+ Kh3 0-1

[Event "Schwarzach op-A 18th"]
[Site "Salzburg"]
[Date "2003.08.24"]
[Round "2.9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Danner, Lambert"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A80"]
[WhiteElo "2385"]
[BlackElo "2178"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2003.08.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AUT"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2004"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 f5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bg5 d5 4. Bxf6 exf6 5. e3 Be6 6. Qf3 c6 7. Nge2 Bd6 8.
Nf4 Qe7 9. Bd3 g6 10. O-O-O Nd7 11. Nxe6 Qxe6 12. h3 O-O-O 13. g4 fxg4 14. hxg4
Rdf8 15. Rh6 Rfg8 16. Rdh1 Nf8 17. e4 dxe4 18. Nxe4 Be7 19. b3 Rg7 20. Bc4 Qd7
21. Rd1 f5 22. gxf5 Qxf5 23. Qe3 Ba3+ 24. Kb1 Re7 25. f3 Nd7 26. b4 Bxb4 27. a3
Nb6 28. axb4 Nxc4 29. Nd6+ Kd7 30. Qxe7+ Kxe7 31. Nxf5+ gxf5 32. Kc1 Nd6 33.
Rdh1 Nf7 34. Rxh7 Rg8 35. Kd2 Rg2+ 36. Kd3 Kf6 37. R7h2 Rg3 38. Ke3 Ke6 39. Kf4
Rg8 40. Re2+ Kd5 41. Re7 Nd6 42. Re5+ Kc4 43. Rc5+ Kxb4 44. Rb1+ Ka4 45. Ra1+
Kb4 46. Rxa7 Rh8 47. Ke5 Rh6 48. Ra1 Nc4+ 49. Kxf5 b6 50. Rb1+ Kc3 51. Rxb6
Kxd4 52. Rcxc6 Rh3 53. Kg4 Rh2 54. Rb4 1-0

[Event "Schwarzach op-A 18th"]
[Site "Salzburg"]
[Date "2003.08.25"]
[Round "3.2"]
[White "Zelcic, Robert"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2543"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2003.08.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AUT"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2004"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Nd5 Nxd5 8.
exd5 Nb8 9. c4 Be7 10. Bd3 O-O 11. O-O a6 12. Nc3 f5 13. f3 Nd7 14. Kh1 Bg5 15.
b4 Bxc1 16. Rxc1 e4 17. fxe4 f4 18. Ne2 g5 19. Nd4 Ne5 20. Nf5 Qf6 21. c5 Bxf5
22. exf5 Nxd3 23. Qxd3 Qxf5 24. Qd2 Rac8 25. c6 Rf7 26. a4 Re7 27. h3 Kf7 28.
b5 axb5 29. axb5 bxc6 30. dxc6 Qxb5 31. Qxd6 Qe5 32. Qb4 Qf6 33. Qa5 Kg7 34. c7
h6 35. Rc5 Re3 36. Qd2 Qe6 37. Rd1 Kf7 38. Kh2 Ke7 39. Qd8+ 1-0

[Event "Schwarzach op-A 18th"]
[Site "Salzburg"]
[Date "2003.08.26"]
[Round "4.9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Laqua, Christian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E08"]
[WhiteElo "2385"]
[BlackElo "2196"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2003.08.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AUT"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2004"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. c4 c6 7. b3 b6 8. Qc2 Bb7
9. Nc3 Nbd7 10. Bb2 Qc7 11. Rad1 Rac8 12. e4 Nxe4 13. Nxe4 dxe4 14. Qxe4 Rfd8
15. Rfe1 c5 16. d5 Bf6 17. Bc1 Qb8 18. Ng5 Bxg5 19. Bxg5 Re8 20. Bf4 Qa8 21.
dxe6 Bxe4 22. Bxe4 Rxe6 23. Bxa8 Rxe1+ 24. Rxe1 Rxa8 25. Re7 Nf8 26. Rb7 Ne6
27. Bb8 Nd8 28. Re7 Ne6 29. Bxa7 Kf8 30. Rb7 Nd8 31. Rb8 Rxa7 32. Rxd8+ Ke7 33.
Rd2 Ke6 34. Kg2 h5 35. h4 g6 36. Kf3 Ke5 37. a4 Rc7 38. Rd5+ Ke6 39. Kf4 Rc8
40. Kg5 Ra8 41. f4 f6+ 42. Kh6 Rc8 43. Kg7 Ra8 44. a5 Rxa5 45. Kxg6 Ra3 46. f5+
Ke7 47. Rd3 b5 48. cxb5 c4 49. Re3+ Kf8 50. b6 1-0

[Event "Schwarzach op-A 18th"]
[Site "Salzburg"]
[Date "2003.08.27"]
[Round "5.4"]
[White "Krivoshey, Sergei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2507"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2003.08.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AUT"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2004"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. e3 O-O 5. Be2 d6 6. h3 Nbd7 7. O-O e5 8. Bh2
Qe7 9. c4 b6 10. Nc3 Bb7 11. Qc2 exd4 12. Nxd4 Ne5 13. Rad1 c5 14. Nb3 Rad8 15.
e4 Qe6 16. Nd5 Nxd5 17. cxd5 Qe7 18. f4 Nd7 19. Bf3 Qh4 20. Nd2 Ba6 21. Nc4
Bxc4 22. Qxc4 Bxb2 23. Qa6 Qe7 24. Rfe1 Rfe8 25. a4 Rc8 26. Re2 Bg7 27. e5 dxe5
28. d6 Qd8 29. fxe5 Bxe5 30. Bxe5 Rxe5 31. Rde1 Rxe2 32. Rxe2 c4 33. Bd5 c3 34.
Qd3 Nf6 35. Bb3 Rc6 36. Re7 Rxd6 37. Qe3 Rd3 38. Qe2 Rd2 39. Qe3 c2 40. Bxf7+
Kf8 0-1

[Event "Schwarzach op-A 18th"]
[Site "Salzburg"]
[Date "2003.08.28"]
[Round "6.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Shchekachev, Andrei"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "2385"]
[BlackElo "2550"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2003.08.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AUT"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2004"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Be2 O-O 6. O-O Nc6 7. Be3 Ng4 8. Bg5
h6 9. Bc1 e6 10. h3 Nf6 11. Be3 b6 12. e5 dxe5 13. Nxe5 Ne7 14. Bf3 Nfd5 15.
Nxd5 exd5 16. Bf4 Be6 17. Re1 Rc8 18. c3 c5 19. Qd2 Kh7 20. Rad1 Re8 21. Be2 c4
22. b3 b5 23. Bf3 Nf5 24. bxc4 bxc4 25. Rb1 Nd6 26. Ng4 h5 27. Bg5 Qd7 28. Nf6+
Bxf6 29. Bxf6 Bf5 30. Rbc1 Be4 31. Be2 Re6 32. Be5 f6 33. Bh2 Rce8 34. Bf1 g5
1/2-1/2

[Event "Schwarzach op-A 18th"]
[Site "Salzburg"]
[Date "2003.08.29"]
[Round "7.4"]
[White "Zimmerman, Yuri"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2320"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2003.08.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AUT"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2004"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bd2 Bg7 6. e4 Nb6 7. Be3 O-O 8.
Bb5 Be6 9. Nf3 Bc4 10. b3 Bxb5 11. Nxb5 Qd7 12. Nc3 Nc6 13. Qd2 Rad8 14. Rd1 f5
15. e5 Nd5 16. Nxd5 Qxd5 17. O-O Qb5 18. Bh6 Rd5 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. Qc3 h6 21.
Rd2 Rfd8 22. Rfd1 Qb4 23. Qe3 e6 24. h4 Qe7 25. Qf4 Rh8 26. Qg3 Kf7 27. Qf4 Ke8
28. Rc2 Nb4 29. Rc4 Rd7 30. Qd2 Nd5 31. b4 g5 32. hxg5 hxg5 33. Qxg5 Qh7 34.
Kf1 Rg7 35. Qc1 Rxg2 36. Ke2 Qg7 37. Rg1 Rh3 38. Rxg2 Qxg2 39. Ne1 Qe4+ 40. Kd2
Nf4 41. Qd1 Rd3+ 42. Nxd3 Qxd3+ 0-1

[Event "Schwarzach op-A 18th"]
[Site "Salzburg"]
[Date "2003.08.30"]
[Round "8.2"]
[White "Hertneck, Gerald"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E07"]
[WhiteElo "2524"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2003.08.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AUT"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2004"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Nbd2 Bb7 6. Bg2 d5 7. cxd5 exd5 8.
O-O Be7 9. Ne5 O-O 10. b3 Nbd7 11. Bb2 c5 12. Ndc4 cxd4 13. Bxd4 Nc5 14. Ne3
Ne6 15. Bb2 Ne4 16. Rc1 Bg5 17. f4 Be7 18. Nf5 Bc5+ 19. e3 f6 20. Nd3 g6 21.
Nh6+ Kg7 22. Ng4 h5 23. Bxe4 dxe4 24. Nxc5 Nxc5 25. Nxf6 Rxf6 26. Qxd8 Rxd8 27.
b4 Na6 28. Rfd1 Rd3 29. a3 Kf7 30. Rxd3 exd3 31. Bxf6 Kxf6 32. Kf2 Kf5 33. Rc4
Be4 34. h3 d2 35. Rd4 Nc7 36. Rxd2 Nd5 37. Rd4 Nf6 38. b5 Bd5 39. Ra4 Ne4+ 40.
Ke1 Nc5 41. Rxa7 Ke4 42. Rg7 Kxe3 43. Rxg6 Bc4 44. Rxb6 Nd3+ 45. Kf1 Ne5+ 46.
Ke1 Nd3+ 47. Kf1 Ne5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Schwarzach op-A 18th"]
[Site "Salzburg"]
[Date "2003.08.31"]
[Round "9.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanov, Mikhail M"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C43"]
[WhiteElo "2385"]
[BlackElo "2406"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2003.08.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AUT"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2004"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. dxe5 d5 5. Nbd2 Nxd2 6. Qxd2 c5 7. Bd3 Nc6 8.
O-O h6 9. Bb5 Be6 10. c4 dxc4 11. Qc2 Be7 12. Bxc4 Qc8 13. Be3 b6 14. Bb5 O-O
15. Qe4 Nb4 16. a3 Bf5 17. Qf4 Nd5 18. Qg3 Nxe3 19. fxe3 Qe6 20. Qf4 Bh7 21.
Bc4 g5 22. Bxe6 gxf4 23. Bd5 fxe3 24. Bxa8 Rxa8 25. Rfd1 c4 26. Rd7 Bc5 27. Kf1
Bf5 28. Rd5 Be4 29. Rd7 Bf5 30. Rd5 Be6 31. Rdd1 a5 32. Rac1 a4 33. Nd4 Bg4 34.
Nf3 Be6 35. Nd4 Bg4 36. Ne2 b5 37. Rd5 Rc8 38. h3 Be6 39. Rdd1 b4 40. axb4 Bxb4
41. Nd4 Bd2 42. Rc2 Bd7 43. Ke2 a3 44. bxa3 Ba4 45. Rb1 c3 46. Rb7 Bxc2 47.
Nxc2 Rc5 48. Re7 h5 49. a4 Kg7 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-ch U14"]
[Site "Budva"]
[Date "2003.09.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Perman, Evgeniy"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B70"]
[WhiteElo "2385"]
[BlackElo "2081"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[EventDate "2003.09.13"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "YUG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 096 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.10.22"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.10.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. g3 g6 7. Bg2 Bg7 8. O-O
O-O 9. h3 Nc6 10. Nde2 Bd7 11. Kh2 b5 12. f4 Rc8 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 Na5 15.
c3 Nc4 16. b3 Nb6 17. Be3 b4 18. c4 Bxa1 19. Qxa1 f5 20. Nd4 h6 21. Qe1 a5 22.
g4 Kh7 23. gxf5 gxf5 24. Nf3 Be8 25. Qh4 Bf7 26. Ng5+ Kg6 1-0

[Event "EU-ch U14"]
[Site "Budva"]
[Date "2003.09.14"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Stupak, Kirill"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E68"]
[WhiteElo "2161"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2003.09.13"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "YUG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 096 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.10.22"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.10.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O O-O 5. d4 d6 6. c4 Nbd7 7. Nc3 e5 8. dxe5
dxe5 9. e4 c6 10. b3 Qe7 11. a4 Rd8 12. Ba3 Qe8 13. Qc2 Nf8 14. h3 Ne6 15. Rad1
Nd7 16. Ne2 a5 17. Bd6 f6 18. Nh4 Ndc5 19. Kh2 Nd4 20. Nxd4 Rxd6 21. Ndf5 Rxd1
22. Nxg7 Kxg7 23. Rxd1 Be6 24. f4 Bf7 25. Qf2 Qe7 26. Qe3 exf4 27. gxf4 Re8 28.
Re1 Rd8 29. Qg3 Kh8 30. Re3 Rd4 31. e5 f5 32. Nf3 Rd8 33. Ng5 Be6 34. h4 h6 35.
Nxe6 Nxe6 36. Rf3 Kh7 37. Bh3 h5 38. Qe1 Qb4 39. Qxb4 axb4 40. Bf1 Rd2+ 41. Kg3
Nc5 42. e6 Nxe6 43. Re3 Nc5 44. Re5 Ne4+ 45. Kh3 Kg8 46. c5 Rc2 47. Re7 Nxc5
48. Bc4+ Kf8 49. Rf7+ Ke8 50. Rg7 Rc3+ 51. Kg2 Rxc4 0-1

[Event "EU-ch U14"]
[Site "Budva"]
[Date "2003.09.15"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Olszewski, Michal"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C86"]
[WhiteElo "2385"]
[BlackElo "2227"]
[PlyCount "129"]
[EventDate "2003.09.13"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "YUG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 096 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.10.22"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.10.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Qe2 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3
d6 9. Rd1 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. d5 Ne8 13. b4 cxb4 14. cxb4 Nc4 15. a4
bxa4 16. Bd3 Nb6 17. Be3 Qb7 18. b5 a5 19. Nc3 Bd7 20. Rdc1 Rc8 21. Bxb6 Qxb6
22. Nxa4 Rxc1+ 23. Rxc1 Qb7 24. Nd2 Bd8 25. Rc6 g6 26. Nc4 Bxc6 27. bxc6 Qb4
28. Bc2 Nc7 29. g3 Nb5 30. Ne3 Nd4 31. Qd1 f5 32. exf5 gxf5 33. Kg2 Kh8 34. Bb1
f4 35. Be4 Nb3 36. Bxh7 f3+ 37. Kg1 Kxh7 38. Qc2+ Kh6 39. c7 Bxc7 40. Qxc7 Nd4
41. Ng4+ Kg6 42. h3 Nf5 43. Nc3 a4 44. Qc6 Qd4 45. Kh2 Rh8 46. Kg1 a3 47. Qd7
Rf8 48. Qe6+ Kg7 49. Qd7+ Rf7 50. Qd8 Re7 51. Ne3 Kg6 52. Nxf5 Qxc3 53. Nxe7+
Kf7 54. Kh2 Qb2 55. h4 Qxf2+ 56. Kh3 Qg2+ 57. Kg4 f2 58. Qd7 Qe4+ 59. Kg5 Qe3+
60. Kh5 Qf3+ 61. g4 Qf6 62. Ng6+ Kg8 63. Kh6 Qxh4+ 64. Nxh4 f1=Q 65. Qg7# 1-0

[Event "EU-ch U14"]
[Site "Budva"]
[Date "2003.09.16"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Bindrich, Falko"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2334"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[PlyCount "230"]
[EventDate "2003.09.13"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "YUG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 096 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.10.22"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.10.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. f3
Be7 9. Qd2 h5 10. O-O-O Nbd7 11. Bg5 Qc7 12. Kb1 b5 13. a3 Rc8 14. Nc1 Qb7 15.
N1a2 O-O 16. h3 Nb6 17. g4 Rfd8 18. Bxf6 Bxf6 19. Nb4 Rc5 20. Nbd5 Bxd5 21.
Nxd5 Nxd5 22. exd5 Rdc8 23. Bd3 e4 24. Bxe4 b4 25. axb4 Rc4 26. c3 Rxc3 27. g5
Be5 28. f4 R3c4 29. fxe5 Rxe4 30. exd6 Rxb4 31. Rc1 Rb8 32. Rc2 Qd7 33. Qd3 Rb3
34. Qe4 R8b4 35. Qe5 Kh7 36. h4 a5 37. Rf1 Rb7 38. Qe4+ g6 39. Qe7 Qxe7 40.
dxe7 Rxe7 41. d6 Reb7 42. Rd1 Rd7 43. Rc7 Rd8 44. Rxf7+ Kg8 45. Rf6 Kg7 46. d7
Rb7 47. Rdd6 Rdxd7 48. Rxg6+ Kh7 49. Rh6+ Kg7 50. Rxd7+ Rxd7 51. Rxh5 Rd4 52.
Kc2 a4 53. Rh6 Rc4+ 54. Kb1 Rd4 55. Ka2 Rb4 56. Ka1 Rd4 57. Kb1 Rb4 58. Kc2
Rc4+ 59. Kd3 Rb4 60. Kc3 Rb3+ 61. Kc2 Rb4 62. h5 Rh4 63. Kc3 Rh3+ 64. Kd4 Rh4+
65. Kd3 Rh3+ 66. Ke4 Rh4+ 67. Kf5 Rb4 68. Rg6+ Kh7 69. Ra6 Rxb2 70. Ra7+ Kg8
71. Rxa4 Rb5+ 72. Kg4 Rb1 73. Re4 Kg7 74. Kf5 Rf1+ 75. Rf4 Ra1 76. Rf3 Rh1 77.
Kg4 Rg1+ 78. Rg3 Ra1 79. Rc3 Rg1+ 80. Rg3 Ra1 81. Rd3 Rg1+ 82. Kf4 Rf1+ 83. Kg4
Rg1+ 84. Kf3 Rf1+ 85. Kg2 Rf5 86. Rg3 Ra5 87. Kh3 Ra1 88. Rb3 Rh1+ 89. Kg4 Rg1+
90. Kf4 Rf1+ 91. Rf3 Rh1 92. Kf5 Rxh5 93. Ra3 Rh1 94. Ra7+ Kf8 95. Kg6 Rg1 96.
Ra8+ Ke7 97. Kh6 Kf7 98. Ra7+ Kg8 99. Rb7 Kf8 100. Kg6 Rg2 101. Rf7+ Kg8 102.
Rg7+ Kf8 103. Rh7 Kg8 104. Ra7 Kf8 105. Ra4 Rg1 106. Rh4 Kg8 107. Kh6 Ra1 108.
Rb4 Ra6+ 109. Kh5 Kg7 110. Rb7+ Kg8 111. Rc7 Rb6 112. Rc8+ Kg7 113. Ra8 Rc6
114. Ra7+ Kg8 115. g6 Rc1 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-ch U14"]
[Site "Budva"]
[Date "2003.09.17"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Krivoborodov, Egor"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B19"]
[WhiteElo "2385"]
[BlackElo "2298"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2003.09.13"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "YUG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 096 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.10.22"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.10.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nf3 Nf6 8. Ne5
Bh7 9. Bd3 Nbd7 10. Bxh7 Nxe5 11. dxe5 Qa5+ 12. c3 Qxe5+ 13. Be4 Nxe4 14. Qe2
Nc5 15. Be3 O-O-O 16. O-O e6 17. Rad1 Be7 18. Qf3 Qf6 19. Qg4 b6 20. b4 Nd7 21.
Bd4 e5 22. Be3 Qe6 23. Nf5 Kc7 24. Qf3 g6 25. Nxe7 Qxe7 26. a4 f5 27. b5 Qe6
28. Rfe1 Qc4 29. h5 f4 30. Bc1 g5 31. Ba3 g4 32. Qxg4 Rhg8 33. Qf3 Nf6 34. Rxe5
Rxd1+ 35. Qxd1 Nd5 36. bxc6 Kxc6 37. Qf3 Qb3 38. Bc1 Rd8 39. Bxf4 Qxa4 40. Re6+
Kb7 41. Re7+ Ka8 42. Bc7 Rd7 43. c4 1-0

[Event "EU-ch U14"]
[Site "Budva"]
[Date "2003.09.19"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Andreikin, Dmitry"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2400"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2003.09.13"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "YUG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 096 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.10.22"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.10.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 O-O 12. Nc2 Rb8 13. g3 Bg5 14. Bg2 a5
15. O-O Ne7 16. f4 Nxd5 17. Qxd5 Be6 18. Qd2 Bh6 19. Ne3 Qb6 20. Kh1 Qc5 21. b4
Qc7 22. Rad1 Rbc8 23. bxa5 Qxa5 24. Qxd6 exf4 25. gxf4 Qxa2 26. Qe5 g6 27. Qxb5
Rxc3 28. Nd5 Bh3 29. Rg1 Rc2 30. Qf1 Rf2 31. Qxf2 Qxf2 32. Bxh3 Bxf4 33. Rg2
Qh4 34. Rg4 Qxh3 35. Rxf4 Rb8 36. Rf2 Rb2 37. Rdf1 Qd3 38. Nf6+ Kg7 39. Kg2 Qd4
40. Ne8+ Kf8 41. Rxb2 Qxb2+ 42. Rf2 Qxf2+ 43. Kxf2 Kxe8 44. Kf3 Ke7 45. Kf4 Ke6
46. Kg5 Ke5 47. h4 Kxe4 48. Kf6 Kf4 49. Kxf7 Kg4 50. Kg7 Kxh4 0-1

[Event "EU-ch U14"]
[Site "Budva"]
[Date "2003.09.20"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Zhigalko, Sergei"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2385"]
[BlackElo "2399"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2003.09.13"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "YUG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 096 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.10.22"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.10.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 f5 11. Bd3 Be6 12. O-O Bxd5 13. exd5 Ne7 14. c3 Bg7
15. Qh5 e4 16. Bc2 Qc8 17. Rae1 O-O 18. Bb3 Kh8 19. Kh1 Ng6 20. Nc2 Nf4 21. Qh4
Be5 22. Ne3 Rg8 23. Bc2 b4 24. g3 Nd3 25. Bxd3 exd3 26. Qxb4 Rb8 27. Qc4 f4 28.
Qxc8 Rgxc8 29. Nd1 Rc5 30. gxf4 Bxf4 31. Re4 Be5 32. f4 Bg7 33. Rfe1 Bf6 34. c4
Kg7 35. b3 Ra5 36. Rg1+ Kf8 37. Rg2 Ra3 38. Re3 Re8 39. Rd2 Rxe3 40. Nxe3 Bd4
41. Nf5 Bc5 42. Rxd3 Rxa2 43. Rh3 Kg8 44. Rh6 Ra1+ 45. Kg2 Ra2+ 46. Kf3 Ra3 47.
Nxd6 Rxb3+ 48. Ke4 Rb6 49. Nf5 Rxh6 50. Nxh6+ Kf8 51. Nf5 a5 52. d6 a4 53. Kd5
Bb4 54. c5 Ke8 55. c6 Ba5 56. Kc4 Kd8 57. Ne7 h5 58. f5 h4 59. h3 f6 60. Nd5 a3
61. Kb3 1-0

[Event "EU-ch U14"]
[Site "Budva"]
[Date "2003.09.21"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Andriasian, Zaven"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2385"]
[BlackElo "2311"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2003.09.13"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "YUG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 096 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.10.22"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.10.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Nh4 Bg4 7. h3 Bh5 8. g4
Bg6 9. Nxg6 hxg6 10. e3 e6 11. Bxc4 Bb4 12. Bd2 Nbd7 13. g5 Nd5 14. e4 N5b6 15.
Bb3 a5 16. Qe2 e5 17. dxe5 Nxe5 18. O-O-O Nd3+ 19. Kb1 Nc5 20. Nb5 Nxb3 21.
Bxb4 axb4 22. Rxd8+ Rxd8 23. Nc7+ Ke7 24. Qc2 Nc4 25. h4 Nba5 26. Rd1 b3 27.
Qe2 Rxd1+ 28. Qxd1 Rd8 29. Nd5+ cxd5 30. exd5 Re8 31. Qd4 Kd8 32. Qd1 Re4 33.
Kc1 Ne5 34. d6 Re1 0-1

[Event "EU-Cup 19th"]
[Site "Rethymno"]
[Date "2003.09.28"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Sutovsky, Emil"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2639"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2003.09.28"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 098"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.02.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.02.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Lipovec"]
[BlackTeam "Asker"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "SVK"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 c6 6. Bd3 Nd7 7. O-O Nxe5 8.
dxe5 Nb4 9. Be4 Qxd1 10. Rxd1 f5 11. a3 Na6 12. Bf3 g6 13. Nd2 Be6 14. Be2 Nc7
15. Nf3 Bd5 16. Nd4 Bg7 17. c4 Bf7 18. f4 Ne6 19. Nf3 Rd8 20. Be3 O-O 21. b4 a6
22. g3 Rxd1+ 23. Rxd1 Rd8 24. Rxd8+ Nxd8 25. Nd4 Be8 26. Nb3 Bd7 27. Nc5 Bc8
28. b5 axb5 29. cxb5 cxb5 30. Bxb5 Bf8 31. Kf2 Kg7 32. Nd7 Kf7 33. a4 Bxd7 34.
Bxd7 e6 35. Bb6 Be7 36. a5 g5 37. Ke2 h5 38. Bc8 h4 39. Bxb7 1-0

[Event "EU-Cup 19th"]
[Site "Rethymno"]
[Date "2003.09.29"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kiik, Kalle"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B00"]
[WhiteElo "2385"]
[BlackElo "2439"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2003.09.28"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 098"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.02.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.02.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Asker"]
[BlackTeam "Joensuu"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "FIN"]

1. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bg4 5. d5 Bxf3 6. Qxf3 Ne5 7. Qg3 c6 8. f4
Ned7 9. dxc6 bxc6 10. e5 Nd5 11. exd6 exd6 12. Nxd5 cxd5 13. Bd2 Be7 14. Qxg7
Bf6 15. Qh6 Bxb2 16. Rb1 Qf6 17. Qxf6 Bxf6 18. Bb5 Bd4 19. Kd1 O-O-O 20. Re1
Bb6 21. Re7 f6 22. a4 Nc5 23. a5 Bc7 24. Bc6 Rdg8 25. Bxd5 Re8 26. Rf7 h5 27.
a6 1-0

[Event "EU-Cup 19th"]
[Site "Rethymno"]
[Date "2003.09.30"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "McShane, Luke J"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2385"]
[BlackElo "2619"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2003.09.28"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 098"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.02.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.02.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Asker"]
[BlackTeam "Werder Bremen"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GER"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 f5 11. Bd3 Be6 12. O-O Bxd5 13. exd5 Ne7 14. c3 Bg7
15. Qh5 e4 16. Bc2 Qc8 17. Rae1 O-O 18. Bb3 {This move was long time
underestimated, and in some theoretical sources considered even dubious, based
on the game Nunn-McShane, 1998. In reality 18.Bb3 is a natural move and it
leads to a very solid line, requiring accuracy from Black. Nevertheless it has
certain drawish tendencies, which constitutes its main drawback.} a5 {A
temporary pawn sacrifice, introduced by McShane in the above-mentioned game.} (
18... Ng6 19. Nc2 Re8 20. f4 $14) 19. Nxb5 (19. Qg5 Qd7 ({Also} 19... Qb7 {
is enough for Black to keep the balance.}) 20. f3 Ng6 21. fxe4 f4 $44 22. Nb1
b4 23. cxb4 axb4 24. Nd2 Bxb2 25. Nc4 Bc3 26. Re2 Rac8 {was good for Black in
another game of McShane: Lindberg,B-McShane,L/Malmo 2003.}) 19... a4 20. Bd1 ({
After} 20. Bc2 Qc5 {White cannot play 21.Nd4 anymore, because of 21...Bxd4 22.
cxd4 Qxc2. Also to protect the knight by the bishop is not possible, so the
only move remaining is 21.Na3, which gives Black excellent play (with either
21...Qxd5 or 21...Rfb8 first).}) 20... Qc5 21. Nd4 {The strongest continuation.
} (21. Be2 {is artificial - too many moves by the bishop (Bf1-d3-c2-b3-d1-e2),
only to end up on inconvenient square e2.} Nxd5 (21... f4 $5) 22. Qg5 (22. Qxf5
Nxc3 23. Qxc5 Nxe2+ 24. Rxe2 dxc5 25. Rxe4 $11) 22... Rab8 23. Nd4 h6 {and
Black has a good play, since} 24. Qxf5 Rxb2 {points out the clumsy position of
White's pieces (rooks and bishop).}) 21... Qxd5 22. Re3 (22. Qg5 Qe5 23. f4 (
23. f3 f4 24. Qh4 f5 25. g4 Ng6 26. Qh3 fxg4 27. Qxg4 e3 $13 {1-0 Van den Doel,
E-Bade,J/Germany 2002 (56)}) 23... Qf6 24. g4 d5 25. a3 Rfb8 26. Re2 {was
absolutely equal in Nunn,J-McShane,L/Hastings 1998, which soon ended in a draw.
}) 22... Qe5 (22... Rfb8 23. Rh3 (23. b3 f4 $5) 23... h6 (23... Rxb2 $5 24.
Qxh7+ Kf8) 24. b3 a3 $13 {1-0 Vallejo Pons,F-Van Wely,L/Bled 2002 (49)}) (22...
f4 $2 23. Rxe4 $1 ({Even better than} 23. Qxd5 Nxd5 24. Rxe4 Rfb8) 23... Qxe4
24. Bc2 $18) 23. Rh3 $146 (23. Rg3 Qf6 $6 24. f3 $14 {1-0 Spoelman,W-Ris,R/
Enschede 2003 (69)}) 23... h6 24. f4 Qf6 {The position has the drawish
tendencies I was talking before. Soon White will attack and destroy opponent's
pawn chain with the help on g2-g4. That would lead to some exchange of pawns.
On the queenside Black has open files for counterplay. Most likely there will
be more exchanges (either White plays b2-b3, or Black pushes a4-a3). However,
as long as queens are on the board, there are plenty of fighting resources.
Unfortunately the queens will disappear soon from the board.} 25. Kh1 (25. g4
Qg6 (25... fxg4 $5 {/\ 26...Qg6=}) 26. Qxg6 $140 fxg6 27. Ne6 Rfb8) 25... Kh7
26. g4 Qg6 $11 27. Nxf5 Nxf5 28. Qxf5 Qxf5 29. gxf5 Bf6 30. b3 (30. Re1 d5 31.
c4 dxc4 $1 (31... Rfd8 $11) 32. Rxe4 Rfc8 {with some hopes for Black, although
it's still a draw.}) 30... d5 31. bxa4 Rfc8 32. Bb3 Ra5 33. Rd1 Rxc3 (33...
Bxc3 $2 34. Rxd5 $16) 34. Rxc3 Bxc3 35. Bxd5 e3 36. Bxf7 Rxf5 (36... e2 37.
Bg6+ Kg7 38. Rd7+ Kf8 39. Rd8+ Kg7 40. Rd7+ Kg8 41. Rd8+ $11) 37. Rd7 Kh8 38.
Bc4 Rxf4 39. Bd3 Rf2 40. Re7 Rxa2 41. Rxe3 Rxa4 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-Cup 19th"]
[Site "Rethymno"]
[Date "2003.10.01"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Winants, Luc"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2501"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2003.09.28"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 098"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.02.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.02.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Liege"]
[BlackTeam "Asker"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "BEL"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bf4 d5 4. e3 c5 5. Bd3 Nf6 6. dxc5 Nc6 7. Bb5 e6 8. b4
Bd7 9. c3 a5 10. Qb3 axb4 11. cxb4 Ne4 12. Nc3 Qf6 13. Nge2 Nxf2 14. O-O Ng4
15. h3 Nge5 16. Na4 Nc4 17. e4 Nd4 18. Bxd7+ Kxd7 19. Nxd4 Qxd4+ 20. Kh1 Qxe4
21. Rae1 Qg6 22. Rc1 Ke8 23. Rxc4 dxc4 24. Qxc4 e5 25. Nb6 Ra3 26. Bxe5 Qe6 27.
Re1 Be7 28. Qb5+ Kf8 29. Bxg7+ Kxg7 30. Rxe6 fxe6 31. Qd7 Kf6 32. Qd4+ e5 33.
Qh4+ Kf7 34. Qh5+ Kg7 35. Nd5 1-0

[Event "EU-Cup 19th"]
[Site "Rethymno"]
[Date "2003.10.02"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Arduman, Can"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2385"]
[BlackElo "2336"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2003.09.28"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 098"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.02.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.02.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Asker"]
[BlackTeam "Ankara Kolejiler"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "TUR"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. Qe2 Be7 5. O-O d6 6. d4 Bd7 7. Bxc6 Bxc6 8.
Nc3 exd4 9. Nxd4 Bd7 10. f4 O-O 11. Kh1 Re8 12. e5 dxe5 13. fxe5 Bd6 14. Bf4
Bg4 15. Qb5 Bd7 16. Qxb7 Bxe5 17. Bxe5 Rxe5 18. Rad1 Qc8 19. Qf3 c5 20. Nb3 Bc6
21. Qg3 Qg4 22. Qxg4 Nxg4 23. Na5 Be8 24. Nc4 Re6 25. h3 Nf6 26. Rf5 Rc8 27.
Nd6 Rc6 28. Nb7 g6 29. Rxc5 Rb6 30. Nd8 Red6 31. Rxd6 Rxd6 32. Rc8 Rd2 33. Nc6
Rxc2 34. Nxa7 Rxb2 35. Ne4 Kg7 36. Nxf6 Ba4 37. Ne8+ Kh6 38. Nd6 f5 39. a3 Rb3
40. Nf7+ Kh5 41. Rh8 g5 42. Ne5 g4 43. Rxh7+ Kg5 44. hxg4 fxg4 45. Rg7+ Kf6 46.
Rxg4 Rxa3 47. Nac6 1-0

[Event "EU-Cup 19th"]
[Site "Rethymno"]
[Date "2003.10.03"]
[Round "6.1"]
[White "Jeremic, Veljko"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A38"]
[WhiteElo "2467"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2003.09.28"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 098"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.02.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.02.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Glasinac"]
[BlackTeam "Asker"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "BIH"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O O-O 5. d3 d6 6. c4 c5 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. Rb1
Rb8 9. Ne1 Bd7 10. Nc2 Qc8 11. Re1 a6 12. a4 Nd4 13. Bg5 Nxc2 14. Qxc2 Bc6 15.
e4 e6 16. b4 b6 17. bxc5 bxc5 18. Rxb8 Qxb8 19. e5 Ng4 20. Bxc6 Nxe5 21. Bg2
Qb4 22. Rb1 Qa5 23. Ne4 f5 24. Bd2 Qc7 25. Ng5 Re8 26. Rb7 Qc8 27. Qb1 h6 28.
Nxe6 1-0

[Event "EU-Cup 19th"]
[Site "Rethymno"]
[Date "2003.10.04"]
[Round "7.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gretarsson, Helgi Ass"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2385"]
[BlackElo "2513"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2003.09.28"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 098"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.02.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.02.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Asker"]
[BlackTeam "Reykjavik Hellir"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "ISL"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. g4 Nxg4 8. Rg1
Qf6 9. Rxg4 Qxf3 10. Rxg7 Nf6 11. Bg2 Qh5 12. e4 dxe4 13. Bg5 Bf8 14. Bxf6 Bxg7
15. Bxg7 Rg8 16. Nxe4 Qa5+ 17. Kf1 Rxg7 18. Qc1 Qd8 19. Qf4 Kf8 20. Qe5 Rg6 21.
Qh8+ Ke7 22. Qxh7 Qg8 23. Qh4+ f6 24. Bf3 e5 25. b3 exd4 26. Ng3 Bg4 27. Re1+
Kf7 28. Be4 Rg7 29. h3 Bd7 30. Qh5+ Kf8 31. Qc5+ Kf7 32. Bg6+ 1-0

[Event "Wch U14"]
[Site "Chalkidiki"]
[Date "2003.10.23"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Hammer, Jon Ludvig"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2074"]
[BlackElo "2450"]
[PlyCount "34"]
[EventDate "2003.10.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2004"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nbd2 g6 4. e4 Bg7 5. Bd3 O-O 6. O-O Nc6 7. c3 e5 8. h3
Nh5 9. dxe5 Nf4 10. Bb5 Nxe5 11. Nxe5 Qg5 12. Ng4 Qxb5 13. Nb3 Ne2+ 14. Kh1
Bxg4 15. hxg4 Rae8 16. Be3 Rxe4 17. Re1 Qh5+ 0-1

[Event "Wch U14"]
[Site "Chalkidiki"]
[Date "2003.10.24"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Diamant, Andre"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2450"]
[BlackElo "2149"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2003.10.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2004"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 d6 7. Nc2 Bg7 8. Be2
O-O 9. O-O Nd7 10. Bd2 Nc5 11. b4 Ne6 12. Rc1 Ned4 13. Nxd4 Nxd4 14. Be3 Nxe2+
15. Qxe2 a5 16. b5 Bxc3 17. Rxc3 f6 18. c5 dxc5 19. Rd1 Qe8 20. Bh6 Rf7 21. Qc4
c6 22. Rd6 Bd7 23. a4 Kh8 24. Rcd3 Rc8 25. h3 Rc7 26. b6 Rc8 27. Qxf7 Qxf7 28.
Rxd7 Qg8 29. Rxb7 g5 30. Rc7 Qe6 31. Rdd7 Rxc7 32. Rd8+ 1-0

[Event "Wch U14"]
[Site "Chalkidiki"]
[Date "2003.10.25"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Lemos, Damian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E68"]
[WhiteElo "2218"]
[BlackElo "2450"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2003.10.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2004"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O Nbd7 7. Nc3 e5 8. h3
Re8 9. e4 exd4 10. Nxd4 a6 11. Re1 Rb8 12. b3 c5 13. Nc2 b5 14. Qxd6 Rb6 15.
Qd2 b4 16. Na4 Rbe6 17. e5 Qe7 18. Bb2 Nxe5 19. Bxe5 Rxe5 20. Rxe5 Qxe5 21. Re1
Qc7 22. Rxe8+ Nxe8 23. Qe3 Qd8 24. Nxc5 a5 25. Kh2 h5 26. Qd3 Qc7 27. Ne4 h4
28. Ne3 hxg3+ 29. fxg3 Be5 30. Nd5 Qd8 31. Qe3 Ng7 32. Ng5 Bd6 33. Ne4 Be5 34.
Qb6 Qxb6 35. Nxb6 Be6 36. Bf3 Nf5 37. Bg4 Kf8 38. Bxf5 Bxf5 39. Nc5 Bd4 40.
Nba4 Ke7 41. Nb7 Kd7 42. Nxa5 Kc7 43. c5 Bb1 44. Kg2 Bxa2 45. Kf3 Bb1 46. g4 g5
47. Kg3 Bd3 48. Kf3 f6 49. Kg3 Be4 50. h4 Be5+ 51. Kh3 Bd3 52. hxg5 fxg5 53.
Kg2 Be2 54. Nb6 Bxg4 55. Nd5+ Kc8 56. Nc6 Bc3 57. Ncxb4 Bxb4 58. Nxb4 Be6
1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch U14"]
[Site "Chalkidiki"]
[Date "2003.10.26"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Coleman, Teddy"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B76"]
[WhiteElo "2450"]
[BlackElo "2275"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2003.10.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2004"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2
Bd7 9. O-O-O O-O 10. g4 Rc8 11. h4 Ne5 12. Be2 Qa5 13. Kb1 Rxc3 14. Qxc3 Qxc3
15. bxc3 Rc8 16. Kb2 Nc4+ 17. Bxc4 Rxc4 18. h5 a6 19. hxg6 fxg6 20. Rh4 b5 21.
Rd3 a5 22. Nb3 a4 23. Nd2 Rc8 24. Bd4 Be6 25. e5 Nd5 26. exd6 exd6 27. Bxg7
Kxg7 28. a3 Rc6 29. g5 Nb6 30. Rhd4 d5 31. Rb4 Nc4+ 32. Nxc4 dxc4 33. Re3 Rb6
34. Re5 1-0

[Event "Wch U14"]
[Site "Chalkidiki"]
[Date "2003.10.27"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Wang, Hao"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2215"]
[BlackElo "2450"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2003.10.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2004"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 Nf6 7. Nc3 Nd7 8.
Be3 e5 9. Qd2 h6 10. O-O Qe7 11. a3 Nf8 12. b4 Ne6 13. bxc5 f5 14. exf5 gxf5
15. Qe1 O-O 16. d4 e4 17. Ne5 f4 18. Ng6 Qf7 19. Nxf8 Kxf8 20. f3 Kg8 21. fxe4
Qg6 22. Rd1 fxe3 23. Qxe3 Bd7 24. Kh1 Re8 25. e5 Ng5 26. Qd3 Qh5 27. Ne2 Be6
28. Ng3 Qh4 29. Qe3 Nf7 30. Rf4 Qg5 31. Ne4 Qg6 32. Rdf1 h5 33. R1f3 Qh6 34.
Rg3 Kh8 35. Qf2 Nxe5 36. dxe5 Bxe5 37. Rg5 Bxf4 38. Qxf4 Bd5 39. Nf6 Bxg2+ 40.
Kh2 1-0

[Event "Wch U14"]
[Site "Chalkidiki"]
[Date "2003.10.28"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Potapov, Pavel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A87"]
[WhiteElo "2450"]
[BlackElo "2267"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2003.10.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2004"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 f5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. O-O O-O 6. c4 d6 7. Nc3 Qe8 8. Re1
Qf7 9. b3 Ne4 10. Bb2 Nc6 11. Rc1 h6 12. d5 Ne5 13. Nxe5 Bxe5 14. f4 Bg7 15.
Qc2 Nxc3 16. Bxc3 Bd7 17. e4 Bxc3 18. Qxc3 fxe4 19. Rxe4 Bf5 20. Re3 b6 21.
Rce1 Rae8 22. Be4 Bd7 23. Bf3 Qf6 24. Qd3 Kg7 25. Qe2 Rf7 26. Bg4 Bf5 27. Bxf5
Qxf5 28. Kg2 h5 29. Re6 Kf8 30. h3 h4 31. Qg4 Qxg4 32. hxg4 hxg3 33. Kxg3 Kg7
34. g5 Rh8 35. Rxe7 a5 36. Re8 Rxe8 37. Rxe8 Kh7 38. Kg4 Kg7 39. Re6 Kh7 40.
Rf6 Re7 41. f5 gxf5+ 42. Kxf5 Kg7 43. Rg6+ Kf7 44. Re6 Rd7 45. g6+ Kg7 46. Kg5
Kg8 47. Re8+ Kg7 48. Kf5 c5 49. Ke6 Ra7 50. Re7+ 1-0

[Event "Wch U14"]
[Site "Chalkidiki"]
[Date "2003.10.29"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Dourerassou, Jonathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D99"]
[WhiteElo "2250"]
[BlackElo "2450"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2003.10.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2004"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 O-O 7. e4 Nc6 8.
Be3 Bg4 9. Rd1 Nd7 10. Qb3 Nb6 11. d5 Ne5 12. Be2 Nxf3+ 13. gxf3 Bh5 14. Rg1
Qd6 15. f4 Bxe2 16. Kxe2 c6 17. e5 Qd7 18. Bxb6 axb6 19. Qxb6 Qf5 20. dxc6 bxc6
21. Qe3 Bh6 22. Rd4 c5 23. Rc4 Rfd8 24. Rd1 Rxd1 25. Kxd1 Rd8+ 26. Kc1 Qg4 27.
Kc2 Qf5+ 28. Kc1 Rd4 29. Rxd4 cxd4 30. Qxd4 Bxf4+ 31. Kd1 Bxe5 32. Qd8+ Kg7 33.
Qxe7 Bxh2 34. Qh4 Qd3+ 35. Kc1 Be5 36. Nd1 h5 37. a4 Bf6 38. Qf4 h4 39. Ne3 Qe2
40. b4 Bb2+ 41. Kb1 Bc3 42. Nf5+ gxf5 43. Qg5+ Kf8 44. Qh6+ Bg7 45. Qd6+ Qe7
46. Qb8+ Qe8 47. Qf4 Qe4+ 0-1

[Event "Wch U14"]
[Site "Chalkidiki"]
[Date "2003.10.30"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Andriasian, Zaven"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2450"]
[BlackElo "2311"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2003.10.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2004"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Nh4 e6 7. Nxf5 exf5 8. e3
Bd6 9. Bxc4 O-O 10. Qf3 g6 11. h3 h5 12. Bd2 Nbd7 13. O-O-O a6 14. g4 fxg4 15.
hxg4 hxg4 16. Qg2 b5 17. Ba2 c5 18. Ne4 Qe7 19. Nxd6 Qxd6 20. dxc5 Qe7 21. Bc3
Rac8 22. Rxd7 Qxc5 23. Kb1 b4 24. Qxg4 1-0

[Event "Wch U14"]
[Site "Chalkidiki"]
[Date "2003.10.31"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Zhigalko, Sergei"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2450"]
[BlackElo "2460"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2003.10.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2004"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 Bg7 11. Bd3 Ne7 12. Nxe7 Qxe7 13. c4 f5 14. O-O O-O
15. Qf3 d5 16. cxd5 fxe4 17. Bxe4 Rb8 18. Rad1 Qd7 19. d6 Rb6 20. Bd5 Rxd6 21.
Bb3 Kh8 22. Rxd6 Qxd6 23. Rd1 Qg6 24. Qd5 f5 25. Qd6 Qg5 26. Qc6 e4 27. Nc2
Bxb2 28. g3 Bg7 29. Nd4 e3 30. Nf3 Qe7 31. Re1 Bb7 32. Rxe3 Bxc6 33. Rxe7 Bxf3
0-1

[Event "Wch U14"]
[Site "Chalkidiki"]
[Date "2003.11.01"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Rohit, Gogineni"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2346"]
[BlackElo "2450"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2003.10.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2004"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nf1 Bf8 14. Ng3 g6 15.
b3 Bg7 16. d5 Qe7 17. Be3 c6 18. c4 Rec8 19. Nd2 a5 20. a4 bxc4 21. bxc4 Ba6
22. Rb1 Qf8 23. Ngf1 Bh6 24. Bxh6 Qxh6 25. Ne3 cxd5 26. cxd5 Rc3 27. Nb3 Nc5
28. Nxc5 Rxc5 29. Rb6 Qf8 30. Qd2 Qd8 31. Reb1 Qc7 32. R1b2 Bc8 33. Kh2 Bd7 34.
Qe2 Rc8 35. Qa6 Ne8 36. Rb7 Qd8 37. Qa7 Nf6 38. Qb6 Qf8 39. Bd1 Be8 40. Bg4 Ra8
41. Ra7 Rxa7 42. Qxa7 h5 43. Bf3 Qh6 44. g3 h4 45. Qe7 hxg3+ 46. Kg2 Kg7 47.
Qxd6 Bd7 48. fxg3 Qxe3 0-1

[Event "Wch U14"]
[Site "Chalkidiki"]
[Date "2003.11.02"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2447"]
[BlackElo "2450"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2003.10.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2004"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2003.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. Na3 cxd4 7. Bc4 Qe4+ 8.
Be3 Nh6 9. Nb5 O-O 10. cxd4 Na6 11. Nc3 Qc6 12. Qb3 Nf5 13. O-O Qb6 14. Qxb6
axb6 15. Na4 Nd6 16. Bb3 Nb4 17. Nxb6 Ra6 18. Nd5 Nxd5 19. Bxd5 Bf5 20. Rfc1
Ra5 21. Bb3 Be4 22. Nd2 Bc6 23. Bc2 Rd8 24. Bd3 Rd5 25. Nf3 Rh5 26. Be2 Rd5 27.
g4 Nb5 28. Bc4 R5d6 29. Ne5 e6 30. Bxb5 Bxb5 31. a4 Be8 32. b4 Rxd4 33. Bxd4
Rxd4 34. Rc8 Kf8 35. Re1 Rxb4 36. h3 Rxa4 37. Nc4 Ke7 38. Rd1 Rxc4 39. Rxc4 Bc6
40. f4 f5 41. Kf2 fxg4 42. hxg4 h5 43. gxh5 gxh5 44. Rc5 h4 45. Rh5 Bf6 46.
Rh7+ Kf8 47. Rd6 Be4 48. Rc7 Bd5 49. Ke3 Ke8 50. Rh7 Be7 51. Rxd5 exd5 52. Kd4
Bd6 53. f5 1-0

[Event "Claude Pecaut Memorial"]
[Site "Taormina"]
[Date "2003.11.15"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aldrovandi, Costantino"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B76"]
[WhiteElo "2450"]
[BlackElo "2414"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2003.11.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ITA"]
[EventCategory "7"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 097 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2
O-O 9. O-O-O d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bd4 e5 13. Bc5 Be6 14. Ne4 Rb8
15. Bc4 a5 16. h4 h6 17. h5 g5 18. Bxf8 Bxf8 19. Qf2 Qe7 20. Rhe1 f5 21. Nc3
Nxc3 22. Rxe5 Nxd1 23. Qd2 Nxb2 24. Bxe6+ Kh8 25. Qxa5 Qd6 26. Bb3 Bg7 27. Re1
Nc4 0-1

[Event "Claude Pecaut Memorial"]
[Site "Taormina"]
[Date "2003.11.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Ortega, Lexy"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B36"]
[WhiteElo "2462"]
[BlackElo "2450"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2003.11.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ITA"]
[EventCategory "7"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 097 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 c5 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nc6 6. e4 d6 7. Be2 Nxd4 8.
Qxd4 Bg7 9. Bg5 O-O 10. Qd2 Be6 11. O-O Qa5 12. Rac1 Rfc8 13. b3 a6 14. f4 b5
15. f5 b4 16. fxe6 bxc3 17. exf7+ Kxf7 18. Rxc3 Kg8 19. Bf3 Rab8 20. Rc2 Qxd2
21. Bxd2 Nd7 22. Bg4 Bd4+ 23. Kh1 Rf8 24. Bf3 Nc5 25. Bh6 Bg7 26. Bg5 Bf6 27.
Be3 a5 28. Rb1 Be5 29. Bd2 Ra8 30. a3 Na6 31. Be3 Rfb8 32. g3 Nc5 33. b4 axb4
34. axb4 Ra3 35. Re2 Na4 36. Ree1 Nc3 37. Rbc1 Rxb4 38. c5 Nb5 39. c6 Rbb3 40.
Be2 Rxe3 41. Bxb5 Rxe1+ 42. Rxe1 Rc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Claude Pecaut Memorial"]
[Site "Taormina"]
[Date "2003.11.17"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Isonzo, Davide"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2450"]
[BlackElo "2349"]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "2003.11.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ITA"]
[EventCategory "7"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 097 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. Qe2 Be7 5. O-O d6 6. d4 exd4 7. Nxd4 Bd7 8.
Bxc6 bxc6 9. Rd1 O-O 10. e5 dxe5 11. Nxc6 Qe8 12. Nxe7+ Qxe7 13. Bg5 Bc6 14.
Qc4 Qe6 15. Qxe6 fxe6 16. Nd2 Rab8 17. b3 Nd5 18. Nc4 Rf5 19. Be3 Nf4 20. Bxf4
exf4 21. Re1 Rg5 22. g3 Bd5 23. Ne5 Rf8 24. c4 Bb7 25. Nd7 Rf7 26. Re5 Rgf5 27.
g4 Rxe5 28. Nxe5 Rf8 29. Rd1 h5 30. Ng6 Re8 31. Nxf4 hxg4 32. Rd7 Bf3 33. Nh5
Rf8 34. Rxg7+ Kh8 35. Rd7 Rf5 36. Ng3 Re5 37. Kf1 Ra5 38. a4 Ra6 39. Ke1 Rb6
40. Rd3 e5 41. Kd2 a5 42. h4 Kh7 43. Re3 Re6 44. Ne4 Kg6 45. Ng5 Rd6+ 46. Kc3
e4 47. Nxe4 Rd1 48. Ng3 Rc1+ 49. Kd2 Ra1 50. h5+ Kf6 51. Re8 Ra2+ 52. Ke3 Rb2
53. h6 Kg6 54. Re6+ Kh7 55. Kf4 Rxb3 56. Nf5 Rb6 57. Re7+ Kh8 58. Kg5 Rc6 59.
Nd4 Rxc4 60. Re8+ Kh7 61. Ne6 Re4 62. Re7+ Kh8 63. Kg6 1-0

[Event "Claude Pecaut Memorial"]
[Site "Taormina"]
[Date "2003.11.18"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Godena, Michele"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2523"]
[BlackElo "2450"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2003.11.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ITA"]
[EventCategory "7"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 097 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. Na3 cxd4 7. Nb5 Na6 8.
Be3 Bd7 9. Bxd4 Nf6 10. a4 O-O 11. Be2 Bxb5 12. axb5 Nc5 13. O-O Rfd8 14. Ra3
Qf5 15. Qb1 Qh5 16. Re1 Ne6 17. Bxa7 Nf4 18. Bf1 Rd5 19. Be3 Rxa3 20. bxa3 Bh6
21. Qb4 Rf5 22. Qxe7 Ng4 23. Qh4 Nxe3 24. fxe3 Nh3+ 25. Qxh3 Qxh3 26. gxh3 Rxf3
27. Bg2 Rxe3 28. Rxe3 Bxe3+ 29. Kf1 b6 30. Ke2 Bc5 31. a4 Kf8 32. Kd3 Ke7 33.
Kc4 Kd6 34. Bd5 f6 35. Bg8 h6 36. h4 g5 37. hxg5 hxg5 38. Bh7 Bg1 39. h3 Ke5
40. Kb4 Bc5+ 41. Kc4 Bg1 42. Kb4 Bc5+ 43. Kc4 Bg1 44. Bd3 f5 45. Kb4 Bc5+ 46.
Kc4 Bg1 47. Kb4 Bc5+ 48. Kc4 Bg1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Claude Pecaut Memorial"]
[Site "Taormina"]
[Date "2003.11.19"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ljubisavljevic, Zivojin Z"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2450"]
[BlackElo "2316"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2003.11.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ITA"]
[EventCategory "7"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 097 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. c4 e5 6. Nc3 Nc6 7. d3 g6 8. a3
h5 9. O-O Bh6 10. Be3 Kf8 11. b4 b6 12. Nd5 Kg7 13. Ng5 Bxg5 14. Bxg5 f6 15.
Be3 Nge7 16. bxc5 dxc5 17. f4 exf4 18. Bxf4 Nxd5 19. cxd5 Ne5 20. Ra2 Rae8 21.
h3 Rhf8 22. Raf2 Qe7 23. Qd2 g5 24. Bh2 c4 25. d4 Nd3 26. Re2 Kg6 27. Qe3 Qd7
28. d6 b5 29. h4 Qg4 30. hxg5 fxg5 31. Rxf8 Rxf8 32. e5 Qe6 33. Qe4+ Kh6 34. d5
Qf7 35. Qf3 Qg7 36. Qh3 h4 37. d7 Kh5 38. Bg3 Qf7 39. Kh2 Qf1 40. Re4 Nf4 41.
Rxf4 gxf4 42. Qxh4+ Kg6 43. Qg4+ Kh7 44. Qh5+ Kg7 45. Bh4 1-0

[Event "Claude Pecaut Memorial"]
[Site "Taormina"]
[Date "2003.11.20"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Estremera Panos, Sergio"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D87"]
[WhiteElo "2350"]
[BlackElo "2450"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2003.11.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ITA"]
[EventCategory "7"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 097 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8.
Ne2 O-O 9. O-O Nc6 10. Be3 Bd7 11. Rb1 a6 12. dxc5 Qc7 13. Nd4 e6 14. f4 Rfd8
15. Nxc6 Bxc6 16. Qc2 Kh8 17. e5 Bf8 18. Rfd1 Rxd1+ 19. Rxd1 Qa5 20. Rd6 Qa4
21. Bb3 Qe4 22. Qxe4 Bxe4 23. Rd7 Kg8 24. Rc7 Rd8 25. Bd4 h5 26. h4 Bc6 27. Kf2
Re8 28. Bd1 Re7 29. Rc8 Re8 30. Rc7 Re7 31. Rc8 Re8 32. Rc7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Claude Pecaut Memorial"]
[Site "Taormina"]
[Date "2003.11.21"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Movsziszian, Karen"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E94"]
[WhiteElo "2450"]
[BlackElo "2475"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2003.11.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ITA"]
[EventCategory "7"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 097 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. e4 Nf6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 Nbd7 7. O-O e5 8. Be3
Ng4 9. Bg5 f6 10. Bc1 Nh6 11. Be3 c6 12. c5 dxc5 13. dxe5 fxe5 14. Ng5 Qe7 15.
Bc4+ Kh8 16. Ne6 Rg8 17. Nxg7 Qxg7 18. Bg5 Rf8 19. Qd6 Nf7 20. Bxf7 Rxf7 21. f4
exf4 22. Rxf4 Rxf4 23. Qxf4 Kg8 24. Bh6 Qe7 25. Rf1 b6 26. Qc7 Ba6 27. Qxc6 Re8
28. Rf2 Ne5 29. Qa4 Bb7 30. Qxa7 Ng4 31. Nd5 Qh4 32. Nf6+ Nxf6 33. Qxb7 Qxh6
34. Rxf6 Qe3+ 35. Rf2 Qxe4 36. Qxb6 Qe3 37. Qf6 Qe4 38. Rf1 Qe3+ 39. Kh1 Qe7
40. Qf3 Qe5 41. h3 Qe3 42. Qd5+ Kg7 43. a4 Re7 44. Qc4 Qd4 45. Qxd4+ cxd4 46.
Rd1 Rb7 47. Rxd4 Rxb2 48. Rd7+ Kh6 49. a5 Ra2 50. Rd5 Kg7 51. Kh2 Kf6 52. Kg3
g5 53. Rb5 h5 54. Kf3 h4 55. Rb6+ Kf5 56. Rb5+ Kg6 57. Rc5 Kf6 58. Rc6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Claude Pecaut Memorial"]
[Site "Taormina"]
[Date "2003.11.22"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Calzetta Ruiz, Monica"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A58"]
[WhiteElo "2450"]
[BlackElo "2274"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2003.11.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ITA"]
[EventCategory "7"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 097 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 Bxa6 6. Nc3 d6 7. g3 g6 8. Bg2
Bg7 9. Nf3 Nbd7 10. Rb1 Nb6 11. a4 O-O 12. O-O Ra7 13. b3 Qa8 14. Nh4 Ne8 15.
Bb2 Nc7 16. Qd2 Rb8 17. Rfe1 Bc8 18. e4 c4 19. e5 cxb3 20. exd6 exd6 21. Re7
Bd7 22. Ne4 Ncxd5 23. Bxg7 Kxg7 24. Qd4+ Kf8 25. Rxd7 Nxd7 26. Nc3 Nxc3 27. Re1
Kg8 28. Bxa8 b2 29. Qxa7 1-0

[Event "Claude Pecaut Memorial"]
[Site "Taormina"]
[Date "2003.11.23"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Tomescu, Vlad"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2447"]
[BlackElo "2450"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2003.11.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ITA"]
[EventCategory "7"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 097 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 d5 5. e3 c5 6. a3 cxd4 7. axb4 dxc3 8. bxc3
O-O 9. cxd5 Qc7 10. Bd2 Nxd5 11. e4 Nb6 12. Nh3 e5 13. Nf2 Be6 14. Be2 Rd8 15.
O-O Nc6 16. Qc1 Bc4 17. Bxc4 Nxc4 18. Rd1 Qb6 19. Qc2 a5 20. Bg5 Rxd1+ 21. Qxd1
h6 22. Qd5 Ne3 23. Bxe3 Qxe3 24. Qd3 Qb6 25. bxa5 Rxa5 26. Rxa5 Nxa5 27. g3 Qc5
28. Kg2 Nc4 29. f4 Qc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Budapest FS12 GM"]
[Site "Budapest"]
[Date "2003.12.06"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Howell, David"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C86"]
[WhiteElo "2450"]
[BlackElo "2381"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2003.12.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "HUN"]
[EventCategory "8"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 097 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Qe2 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3
d6 9. Rd1 Bg4 10. h3 Bh5 11. d3 d5 12. Bg5 d4 13. Bxf6 Bxf3 14. Qxf3 Bxf6 15.
Bd5 Qd6 16. a4 Rab8 17. axb5 axb5 18. Ra6 Rb6 19. Rxb6 cxb6 20. Nd2 dxc3 21.
bxc3 Ne7 22. c4 Qc5 23. Rb1 bxc4 24. dxc4 Nc6 25. Qb3 Rb8 26. Qa4 Bh4 27. Qxc6
Qxf2+ 28. Kh1 Qxd2 29. Rf1 Qe2 30. Rxf7 Kh8 31. Rf3 Qe1+ 32. Kh2 Bf2 33. Rxf2
Qxf2 34. Qd6 Qf4+ 35. Kh1 Qf1+ 36. Kh2 Qf4+ 37. Kh1 Rf8 38. Qxb6 Qc1+ 39. Kh2
Qf4+ 40. Kh1 Qg3 41. Kg1 h6 42. Qb2 Kh7 43. Qe2 Rb8 44. Qf1 Qe3+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Budapest FS12 GM"]
[Site "Budapest"]
[Date "2003.12.07"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Berczes, David"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E92"]
[WhiteElo "2323"]
[BlackElo "2450"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2003.12.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "HUN"]
[EventCategory "8"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 097 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 O-O 5. Nf3 d6 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nh5 8. g3
Bg4 9. d5 Qe8 10. Ne1 Bxe2 11. Qxe2 f5 12. f3 Na6 13. Nd3 c5 14. Bd2 Qd7 15. a3
Nc7 16. b4 b6 17. Rab1 Nf6 18. Rb2 h5 19. bxc5 bxc5 20. Rfb1 Rf7 21. Rb7 Qe8
22. Qd1 h4 23. Nf2 Qc8 24. Kg2 Qf8 25. Nh3 Nh7 26. Ng5 Nxg5 27. Bxg5 hxg3 28.
hxg3 f4 29. Nb5 Ne8 30. Rxf7 Qxf7 31. Nc3 fxg3 32. Qa4 Nf6 33. Bxf6 Qxf6 34.
Ne2 Rf8 35. Qb3 Bh6 36. Rh1 Qg5 37. Qd3 Rb8 38. Rh3 Rb2 39. Rxg3 Qe3 40. Qxe3
Bxe3 41. Kf1 Kg7 42. Nc3 a6 43. Nd1 Rb1 44. Ke2 Bd4 45. Kd2 Rb3 46. Kc2 Rxa3
47. Rh3 a5 48. Rg3 a4 0-1

[Event "Budapest FS12 GM"]
[Site "Budapest"]
[Date "2003.12.08"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Drabke, Lorenz Maximilian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2450"]
[BlackElo "2449"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[EventDate "2003.12.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "HUN"]
[EventCategory "8"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 097 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Nh4 Bd7 7. e3 b5 8. Nf3
Qb6 9. Ne5 Bc8 10. axb5 cxb5 11. Nxb5 Qxb5 12. Bxc4 Qb7 13. Bxf7+ Kd8 14. Bd2
e6 15. Ba5+ Ke7 16. Qa4 Nd5 17. Qe8+ Kf6 18. Ng4+ Kg5 19. h4+ Kxg4 20. Bxe6+
1-0

[Event "Budapest FS12 GM"]
[Site "Budapest"]
[Date "2003.12.09"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Vajda, Albert"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2477"]
[BlackElo "2450"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2003.12.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "HUN"]
[EventCategory "8"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 097 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. O-O Nf6 6. Re1 Nc6 7. c4 g6 8.
d4 cxd4 9. Nxd4 Bg7 10. Nc3 O-O 11. Nde2 Qe6 12. Qb3 Na5 13. Qb4 b6 14. Nd5
Qxe4 15. Nef4 Qxc4 16. Nxe7+ Kh8 17. Qxc4 Nxc4 18. b3 Ng8 19. Rb1 Nxe7 20. Rxe7
Rfe8 21. Rxe8+ Rxe8 22. Kf1 Bc3 23. Ne2 Nd2+ 24. Bxd2 Bxd2 25. Rd1 Bb4 26. Rd4
a5 27. Rc4 Kg7 28. Rc6 d5 29. Rxb6 d4 30. a3 Bxa3 31. Nf4 Rc8 32. Ke2 Rc2+ 33.
Kf3 Bb4 34. Nd3 Rc3 35. Ke4 Rxb3 36. Rb7 Kg8 37. Rb8+ Kg7 38. Rb7 Kg8 39. Rb8+
Kg7 40. Rb7 Kg8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Budapest FS12 GM"]
[Site "Budapest"]
[Date "2003.12.10"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vajda, Szidonia"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2450"]
[BlackElo "2360"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2003.12.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "HUN"]
[EventCategory "8"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 097 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Qf6 5. Nxc6 Bc5 6. Qd2 dxc6 7. Nc3 Be6
8. Qf4 O-O-O 9. Bd3 Qe7 10. Be3 Nf6 11. Qg5 Bxe3 12. Qxe3 Kb8 13. h3 Nd7 14.
O-O-O f6 15. f4 Rhe8 16. Be2 Bf7 17. Bf3 Nb6 18. Rxd8+ Rxd8 19. Rd1 Nc4 20.
Rxd8+ Qxd8 21. Qd3 Qe7 22. Qd4 Qd6 23. Ne2 a6 24. b3 Qa3+ 25. Kd1 Nd6 26. e5
fxe5 27. fxe5 Nf5 28. Qd8+ Ka7 29. Qxc7 Bd5 30. Bxd5 Ne3+ 31. Kd2 Nxd5 32. Qd6
Qa5+ 33. Kd3 Qe1 34. Qc5+ b6 35. Qg1 Nb4+ 36. Ke3 Nxc2+ 37. Kd3 Nb4+ 38. Ke3
Qh4 39. Qf1 Qg5+ 40. Ke4 Qg6+ 41. Qf5 Qxg2+ 42. Ke3 Qd5 43. Nf4 Qc5+ 44. Kf3
Kb8 45. Qg5 Qf8 46. Ke4 Nd5 47. Nxd5 cxd5+ 48. Kxd5 g6 49. Qf6 Qc5+ 50. Ke6
Qc6+ 51. Kf7 Qd7+ 52. Kg8 Qxh3 53. e6 Kc7 54. Qe5+ Kd8 1-0

[Event "Budapest FS12 GM"]
[Site "Budapest"]
[Date "2003.12.11"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Kayumov, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2434"]
[BlackElo "2450"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2003.12.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "HUN"]
[EventCategory "8"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 097 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O
O-O 9. Re1 Be6 10. Bf1 Nbd7 11. Nd5 Rc8 12. c4 Nb6 13. Nd2 Nbxd5 14. exd5 Bg4
15. Qb3 b5 16. cxb5 axb5 17. Nb1 Qa5 18. Bd2 b4 19. Bxb4 Qxd5 20. Nd2 Qd4 21.
Bc3 Qa7 22. Ne4 Be6 23. Nxf6+ Bxf6 24. Qd1 Qb8 25. Qh5 g6 26. Qe2 Bg7 27. a4 f6
28. a5 d5 29. a6 Qa7 30. Bb4 Rfd8 31. Rec1 d4 32. Ba5 Re8 33. b4 f5 34. b5 e4
35. Qd1 d3 36. Rxc8 Rxc8 37. Rc1 Rxc1 38. Qxc1 Bd4 39. Qc6 Bxf2+ 40. Kh1 Qd7
41. Qb7 Kf7 42. b6 Ke7 43. Qxd7+ Kxd7 44. b7 Ba7 45. Bb6 d2 46. Bb5+ Ke7 47.
Bxa7 d1=Q+ 48. Bg1 e3 49. b8=Q e2 50. Bxe2 Qxe2 51. Qb7+ Kd6 52. a7 Bd5 53.
Qxd5+ Kxd5 54. a8=Q+ Kd6 55. Qa3+ Ke6 56. Qe3+ Qxe3 57. Bxe3 Ke5 58. Bg5 f4 59.
Kg1 Kf5 60. h4 1-0

[Event "Budapest FS12 GM"]
[Site "Budapest"]
[Date "2003.12.12"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Porat, Shay"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C02"]
[WhiteElo "2450"]
[BlackElo "2360"]
[PlyCount "42"]
[EventDate "2003.12.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "HUN"]
[EventCategory "8"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 097 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Nge7 6. Na3 cxd4 7. cxd4 Nf5 8. Nc2
Bd7 9. Bd3 Qb6 10. O-O a5 11. Rb1 Nb4 12. Nxb4 axb4 13. Kh1 Bb5 14. a3 h5 15.
Be3 Bxd3 16. Qxd3 Be7 17. Rfc1 O-O 18. axb4 Qxb4 19. Bd2 Qb6 20. g3 Rfc8 21.
Rc3 Qa6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Budapest FS12 GM"]
[Site "Budapest"]
[Date "2003.12.13"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Horvath, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A88"]
[WhiteElo "2457"]
[BlackElo "2450"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2003.12.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "HUN"]
[EventCategory "8"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 097 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. c4 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Nc3 d6 7. d5 c6 8. O-O e5
9. dxe6 Bxe6 10. b3 Na6 11. Bb2 Qe7 12. Qc2 Rad8 13. Rad1 Nb4 14. Qc1 Ng4 15.
Nd4 Bf7 16. h3 Nf6 17. Rfe1 d5 18. a3 Na6 19. cxd5 Nxd5 20. e4 Nxc3 21. Bxc3
fxe4 22. Bxe4 Qc5 23. b4 Qh5 24. Bg2 Nc7 25. g4 Qh4 26. Nf3 Rxd1 27. Qxd1 Qd8
28. Qxd8 Rxd8 29. Bxg7 Kxg7 30. Re7 Rc8 31. Ng5 Kf6 32. Rxf7+ Kxg5 33. Rxh7 a5
34. Kh2 axb4 35. axb4 Ne6 36. Rxb7 c5 37. Rb6 Nd4 38. Rd6 Nb3 39. bxc5 Nxc5 40.
Kg3 Kh6 41. h4 Kg7 42. g5 Rb8 43. Bd5 Rb4 44. Rc6 Nd3 45. Rc7+ Kh8 46. f3 Nf4
47. Be4 Ne2+ 48. Kh3 Ng1+ 49. Kg4 Ne2 50. Rc6 1-0

[Event "Budapest FS12 GM"]
[Site "Budapest"]
[Date "2003.12.14"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Taylor, Timothy"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B76"]
[WhiteElo "2450"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2003.12.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "HUN"]
[EventCategory "8"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 097 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2
Nc6 9. O-O-O Bd7 10. g4 Qa5 11. Kb1 Rfc8 12. h4 Ne5 13. Be2 Nc4 14. Bxc4 Rxc4
15. h5 Rac8 16. Nb3 Qd8 17. hxg6 hxg6 18. e5 Nxg4 19. fxg4 Bxg4 20. Qh2 Bxe5
21. Qh7+ Kf8 22. Bd4 Rxd4 23. Rxd4 Bf5 24. Rd5 e6 25. Rxe5 dxe5 26. Qh8+ Ke7
27. Qxe5 Qd6 28. Qe3 Kf6 29. Nd2 Qe5 30. Nde4+ Bxe4 31. Nxe4+ Ke7 32. Qa3+ Kd7
33. Rd1+ Kc6 34. Qa4+ Kb6 35. Qb4+ Ka6 36. Rd3 b6 37. Nd6 Rc5 38. Ra3+ Ra5 39.
Qc4+ 1-0

[Event "Budapest FS12 GM"]
[Site "Budapest"]
[Date "2003.12.15"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grigore, George Gabriel"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B32"]
[WhiteElo "2450"]
[BlackElo "2485"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2003.12.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "HUN"]
[EventCategory "8"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 097 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. N1c3 a6 7. Na3 Be6 8.
Nc4 b5 9. Ne3 Nf6 10. g3 b4 11. Ncd5 Nxe4 12. Bg2 f5 13. O-O Be7 14. Nxf5 Bxf5
15. Ne3 Bg6 16. Qd5 Rc8 17. Bxe4 Bf7 18. Qd3 Nd4 19. Nd5 Rc5 20. c3 bxc3 21.
bxc3 Bxd5 22. cxd4 exd4 23. Bxd5 Rxd5 24. Re1 Re5 25. Bb2 Qa5 26. Rac1 O-O 27.
Qxd4 Qd5 28. Rcd1 Qxd4 29. Bxd4 Rxe1+ 30. Rxe1 Bf6 31. Bxf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Budapest FS12 GM"]
[Site "Budapest"]
[Date "2003.12.16"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Vajda, Levente"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2537"]
[BlackElo "2450"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2003.12.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "HUN"]
[EventCategory "8"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 097 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 g6 5. dxc5 Qxc5 6. Be3 Qc7 7. Na3 Nc6 8.
Nf3 Nf6 9. Qa4 Bg7 10. Nb5 Qd8 11. Nxa7 Bd7 12. Nxc6 Bxc6 13. Qd4 Qa5 14. Be2
O-O 15. O-O Nd5 16. Qd2 Rfd8 17. Bd4 Qc7 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. Rfe1 e5 20. Bf1 f6
21. Qc2 Nf4 22. Nd2 Qd7 23. Ne4 f5 24. Rad1 Qe7 25. Ng3 h5 26. Rxd8 Rxd8 27.
Qc1 Qg5 28. Qe3 h4 29. b4 e4 30. b5 Bd5 31. c4 Bf7 32. Ne2 Nxe2+ 33. Bxe2 Qxe3
34. fxe3 Rd2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Budapest FS12 GM"]
[Site "Budapest"]
[Date "2003.12.17"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Miton, Kamil"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E65"]
[WhiteElo "2450"]
[BlackElo "2530"]
[PlyCount "17"]
[EventDate "2003.12.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "HUN"]
[EventCategory "8"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 097 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. O-O O-O 7. d4 d6 8. dxc5
dxc5 9. Be3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Budapest FS12 GM"]
[Site "Budapest"]
[Date "2003.12.18"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Antal, Gergely"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2473"]
[BlackElo "2450"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2003.12.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "HUN"]
[EventCategory "8"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 097 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.01.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 Bg7 11. Bd3 Ne7 12. Nxe7 Qxe7 13. O-O O-O 14. c4 f5
15. Qf3 Re8 16. Rfe1 b4 17. Nc2 f4 18. Nxb4 Rb8 19. Nc6 Qg5 20. Nxb8 Bg4 21.
Qxg4 Qxg4 22. Nxa6 f3 23. g3 Bh6 24. Nc7 Rb8 25. Nd5 Bg5 26. b4 h5 27. a4 h4
28. Ra3 Kg7 29. Ne3 Bxe3 30. Rxe3 hxg3 31. fxg3 f5 32. Bf1 fxe4 33. b5 f2+ 34.
Kxf2 Qd1 35. Kg2 Rf8 36. Be2 Qe1 37. Rxe4 Rf2+ 38. Kh3 Qh1 39. Rg4+ Kf6 40.
Rf3+ Rxf3 41. Bxf3 Qxf3 42. Kh4 Qf5 43. Kh3 e4 44. b6 e3 45. b7 Qh7+ 0-1

[Event "Corus-C"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2004.01.10"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Lagno, Kateryna"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B09"]
[WhiteElo "2484"]
[BlackElo "2493"]
[PlyCount "150"]
[EventDate "2004.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "9"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. f4 Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be3 b6 7. Qe2 Ba6 8. Qd2
Bb7 9. e5 Ng4 10. O-O-O dxe5 11. Nxe5 Nxe5 12. dxe5 Qxd2+ 13. Rxd2 Nc6 14. Be2
Bh6 15. Nd5 Rac8 16. Bf3 Ba8 17. Rhd1 Kh8 18. Kb1 e6 19. Nc3 Kg8 20. Re1 Rfd8
21. Rxd8+ Rxd8 22. Rd1 Rxd1+ 23. Nxd1 Bb7 24. Nc3 a6 25. b4 Nd8 26. Bxb7 Nxb7
27. Ne4 Bg7 28. c4 Kf8 29. Kc2 Ke7 30. g4 h6 31. Kd3 Kd7 32. h4 Nd8 33. b5 axb5
34. cxb5 Nb7 35. h5 gxh5 36. gxh5 Ke7 37. Bf2 f5 38. exf6+ Bxf6 39. a4 Kf7 40.
Be3 Bg7 41. Bf2 Bf6 42. Be1 Bg7 43. Bb4 Bb2 44. Ke3 Bg7 45. Kf3 Bd4 46. Kg4 Bg7
47. Bd2 Ke7 48. Be1 Kf7 49. Bd2 Ke7 50. f5 Nd8 51. f6+ Bxf6 52. Nxf6 Kxf6 53.
Bxh6 Nf7 54. Bf4 e5 55. Be3 Nd6 56. Bg5+ Ke6 57. Bd8 Kd7 58. Bf6 Ke6 59. Bh8
Nf5 60. Kg5 e4 61. Kf4 e3 62. Kf3 Kd5 63. Bf6 e2 64. Kxe2 Ng3+ 65. Kd3 Nxh5 66.
Bd8 Nf4+ 67. Kc3 Ne6 68. Bxc7 Nxc7 69. Kb4 Kd4 70. a5 Nd5+ 71. Kb3 bxa5 72. Ka4
Kc5 73. Kxa5 Nb6 74. Ka6 Nd7 75. b6 Nxb6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus-C"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2004.01.11"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Peng, Zhaoqin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C02"]
[WhiteElo "2484"]
[BlackElo "2419"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2004.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "9"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Qb6 5. Nf3 Bd7 6. a3 c4 7. g3 Nc6 8. h4 h6 9.
Bh3 Nge7 10. Nbd2 Na5 11. O-O Qc7 12. h5 O-O-O 13. Nh4 g5 14. Ng2 Bg7 15. f4 f5
16. g4 Rhg8 17. Nf3 Nb3 18. Rb1 Nxc1 19. Qxc1 Rdf8 20. fxg5 hxg5 21. Qxg5 Qd8
22. Qh4 fxg4 23. Bxg4 Nf5 24. Qxd8+ Kxd8 25. Nfh4 Nxh4 26. Nxh4 Rxf1+ 27. Rxf1
Bxe5 28. Ng6 Bg7 29. Rf7 Bh6 30. Kh2 Bc1 31. Ne5 Bc8 32. Rf2 Ke7 33. Kh3 Ke8
34. Ng6 Bd7 35. Rc2 Bg5 36. Re2 Bc1 37. Bxe6 Bxe6+ 38. Rxe6+ Kd7 39. Re2 Re8
40. Ne5+ Kc7 41. Rc2 Be3 42. Rg2 Re6 43. Rg7+ Kc8 44. Rg6 1-0

[Event "Corus-C"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2004.01.13"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Pavlovic, Milos"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2548"]
[BlackElo "2484"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2004.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "9"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. Re1 Nf6 6. Nc3 O-O 7. e5 Ng4 8.
Bxc6 dxc6 9. h3 Nh6 10. Ne4 b6 11. d3 f6 12. Bxh6 Bxh6 13. Qe2 f5 14. Neg5 Bxg5
15. Nxg5 h6 16. Nf3 Be6 17. Rad1 Kh7 18. c4 b5 19. cxb5 cxb5 20. d4 c4 21. d5
Bxd5 22. e6 Qd6 23. Qd2 Rad8 24. Qa5 Qb6 25. Qb4 Rfe8 26. Ne5 a5 27. Qa3 b4 28.
Qg3 Qxe6 29. Nxc4 Bxc4 30. Rxe6 Rxd1+ 31. Kh2 Bxe6 32. Qc7 Rd5 33. Qc6 Bf7 0-1

[Event "Corus-C"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2004.01.14"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Popov, Valerij"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B97"]
[WhiteElo "2484"]
[BlackElo "2580"]
[Annotator "Gofshtein,L"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2004.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "9"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 {[%mdl 4]} c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4
Qb6 8. Qd2 Qxb2 9. Rb1 Qa3 10. f5 Nc6 11. fxe6 fxe6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. e5 Nd5 {
13...de is more popular} (13... dxe5 $5) 14. Nxd5 cxd5 15. Bd3 $5 {A
relatively rare continuation. Usually white plays 15.Be2 or 15.c4. The idea of
Bd3 is to force e5-e4 which easies later the break of the black pawn chain in
the center.} (15. c4 $5 dxc4 16. Bxc4 Qc5 (16... d5 17. Bxd5 $2 exd5 18. Qxd5
Bb4+ $19) 17. Be2 d5 (17... Qxe5 $2 18. O-O $16 {1-0 Vogt,L-Espig,L/Colditz
1967/EXT 99/[Bulletin] (29)}) (17... Bd7) 18. Be3 Qc7 19. Rc1 Qxe5 20. Bd4 $36
{1-0 Van de Velden,E-Baak,K/Soest 1995/EXT 98 (37)}) (15. Be2 dxe5 16. O-O Bc5+
(16... Ra7 17. c4 Qc5+ 18. Kh1 d4 $13 {1/2-1/2 Grechihin,V-Popov,V/Cherepovets
1997/EXT 99 (38)}) 17. Kh1 Rf8 18. c4 Rxf1+ 19. Rxf1 $44 {0-1 Fischer,R-Geller,
E/Monte Carlo 1967/MCD (25)}) 15... dxe5 $146 {[%mdl 8] A novelty. 15...Qc5
was played before as the game given below shows} (15... Qc5 16. Be3 Qc7 17. O-O
dxe5 18. Qf2 Bd6 19. Qh4 e4 20. Be2 Be5 21. Bb6 Qd6 22. c4 $44 {1-0 Bezgodov,
A-Savon,V/Alushta 1993/TD (36)}) 16. O-O Be7 {Black tries to exchange pieces
and to neutralize white's pressure.} 17. Kh1 {A typical prophylaxic move for
this kind of position. White gets his king off possible checks} e4 18. Be2 Rf8
{Black continues with his plan - to exchange as many pieces as possible} (18...
Bxg5 19. Qxg5 Qe7 20. Qh5+ g6 21. Qe5 $36) 19. c4 $1 $36 {White breaks black's
center in the proper time. Black can't keep his pawn chain} dxc4 (19... Rxf1+
20. Rxf1 Qb4 21. Qf4 Bxg5 22. Qxg5 Qb2 23. Bd1 $36) 20. Rxf8+ Kxf8 (20... Bxf8
21. Bh5+ g6 22. Qd8+ Kf7 23. Rf1+ Kg8 24. Qc7 $18) 21. Qf4+ Ke8 (21... Kg8 22.
Qxe4 Ra7 23. Rb8 $18) 22. Rf1 {Black's position is already defenceless because
of the position of his king} (22. Qxe4 $1) 22... Ra7 (22... Bxg5 23. Qf7+ Kd8
24. Rd1+ $18) 23. Qf7+ Kd7 24. Rd1+ Kc6 25. Qe8+ $18 Kb6 (25... Bd7 26. Qxe7
$18) 26. Qxc8 1-0

[Event "Corus-C"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2004.01.15"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Lanchava, Tea"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2323"]
[BlackElo "2484"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2004.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "9"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Qe7 5. a3 Bxd2+ 6. Nbxd2 d6 7. Qc2 c5 8.
dxc5 dxc5 9. Ne5 Nbd7 10. Ndf3 Nxe5 11. Nxe5 Qc7 12. Qa4+ Ke7 13. f4 Nd7 14.
Nd3 b6 15. g3 Bb7 16. Rg1 Rhd8 17. Nf2 Nf6 18. Qc2 Rd7 19. Bg2 Bxg2 20. Rxg2
Rad8 21. Rd1 Rxd1+ 22. Nxd1 Qc6 23. Rg1 Qd6 24. Rf1 Qd4 25. e3 Qe4 26. Rf2 Qc6
27. Rg2 Ng4 28. Qe2 Rxd1+ 29. Kxd1 Nxe3+ 30. Qxe3 Qxg2 31. Qe5 Qh1+ 32. Kc2
Qxh2+ 33. Kb3 Qxg3+ 34. Ka2 Qd3 35. Qc7+ Qd7 36. Qe5 f6 37. Qh5 Qd3 38. b3 Qc2+
39. Ka1 Qxb3 40. Qxh7 Qxa3+ 41. Kb1 Qb3+ 42. Ka1 Qd1+ 43. Kb2 Kf7 44. Ka3 Qf3+
45. Ka4 a6 46. f5 Qxf5 47. Qh2 e5 48. Qg2 e4 49. Qh2 Qe5 50. Qh1 e3 51. Qb7+
Kf8 0-1

[Event "Corus-C"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2004.01.17"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Janssen, Ruud"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A61"]
[WhiteElo "2484"]
[BlackElo "2489"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2004.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "9"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. d5 d6 5. Nf3 exd5 6. cxd5 g6 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4
g5 9. Bg3 Nh5 10. Nd2 Nxg3 11. hxg3 Bg7 12. Nc4 O-O 13. e4 a6 14. a4 Qe7 15.
Ne3 f5 16. exf5 Bxf5 17. g4 Bh7 18. Bd3 Bxd3 19. Qxd3 Nd7 20. Qc2 Rae8 21.
O-O-O Rxf2 22. Qxf2 Qxe3+ 23. Qxe3 Rxe3 24. Rhe1 Rxe1 25. Rxe1 Be5 26. Ne4 Nb6
27. Kb1 Nxa4 28. b3 Nb6 29. Nxc5 Nxd5 30. Nxb7 Kg7 31. Na5 Nf6 32. Nc4 Nxg4 33.
Nxe5 dxe5 34. Kc2 h5 35. Kd3 h4 36. Ke4 Kf6 37. Ra1 Nf2+ 38. Ke3 Ng4+ 39. Ke2
Kf5 40. Rxa6 Nf6 41. Rd6 g4 42. b4 h3 43. gxh3 gxh3 44. Kf1 e4 45. Rd8 Ke5 46.
b5 Nd5 47. Rh8 Kd4 48. Rxh3 Kc4 49. Rh5 Nb6 50. Kf2 Kb4 51. Ke3 Na4 52. Kd4 Nb6
53. Kxe4 Na4 54. Kd4 Nb6 55. Rg5 Na4 56. Rh5 Nb6 57. Rh7 Kxb5 58. Rc7 Na4 59.
Rc1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus-C"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2004.01.18"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Gagunashvili, Merab"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2583"]
[BlackElo "2484"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2004.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "9"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. a4 e6 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. a5 dxc4 8. e4 h6
9. Bh4 Bb4 10. Qa4 Bxc3+ 11. bxc3 g5 12. Bg3 Nxe4 13. Qxc4 Nxg3 14. hxg3 c5 15.
Be2 cxd4 16. Rd1 dxc3 17. Qxc3 Qf6 18. Qb4 Qe7 19. Rd6 Nf6 20. Qd4 e5 21. Nxe5
Be6 22. f4 Rd8 23. Qa4+ Kf8 24. Rxd8+ Qxd8 25. fxg5 Nd5 26. gxh6 Qg5 27. Qa3+
Ke8 28. Rh5 Qf6 29. Bd1 Ne7 30. Qf3 Nf5 31. Ba4+ Kf8 32. Qa3+ Kg8 33. Ng4 Qd4
34. Bd1 Kh7 35. Be2 Re8 36. Qd3 Qg1+ 37. Kd2 Rc8 38. Bf1 Qc5 39. Ne3 Qc1+ 40.
Ke2 Rc3 41. Qxc3 Qxc3 42. Nxf5 Bc4+ 43. Kf2 Qd2+ 44. Kg1 Bxf1 0-1

[Event "Corus-C"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2004.01.19"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Werle, Jan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B41"]
[WhiteElo "2484"]
[BlackElo "2407"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2004.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "9"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 d6 7. g3 Qc7 8. Be3
b6 9. Bg2 Bb7 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Rc1 Be7 12. Nd5 exd5 13. cxd5 Qb8 14. Nc6 Bxc6
15. dxc6 Ra7 16. cxd7+ Nxd7 17. Bh3 O-O 18. Bxd7 Rxd7 19. Qd5 b5 20. Rc6 Qa8
21. Rfc1 Rfd8 22. Bb6 Re8 23. Qf5 Rb7 24. Bd4 Bf8 25. Rc8 Rb8 26. R8c7 Re7 27.
Rxe7 Bxe7 28. Rc7 Re8 29. Qd7 Qd8 30. Qc6 Bf8 31. Ra7 Qc8 32. Qd5 Qe6 33. Qxe6
Rxe6 34. f3 d5 35. Ra8 Rc6 36. exd5 Rc7 37. Bc3 1-0

[Event "Corus-C"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2004.01.20"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Pavasovic, Dusko"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2615"]
[BlackElo "2484"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2004.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "9"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8.
c4 Nb6 9. Nc3 Qe6 ({Another popular continuation is} 9... a5) 10. Qe4 d5 {
This continuation forces the exchange of queens and leads to slightly worse,
but playable position for black.} ({The main alternatives are:} 10... Ba6) ({
and} 10... Bb4) 11. exd6 cxd6 12. Bd3 (12. Be3 {- see the annotated game
Rublevsky,S-Lautier,J/Halkidiki 2002/CBM 92 [Postny,E] (36)}) (12. Bf4 {
- was checked in the game Oral,T-Sokolov,I/Selfoss 2002/CBM 92 [Postny,E] (41)}
) 12... Qxe4+ (12... Ba6 13. Be3 Qxe4 14. Bxe4 Rc8 15. c5 $1 $36 {1-0 Sutovsky,
E-Van den Doel,E/Plovdiv 2003/CBM 98 [Postny,E] (51)}) 13. Bxe4 Bb7 (13... Bd7
14. b3 O-O-O 15. O-O Be7 16. Be3 Rhe8 17. Rac1 Kc7 18. Rfd1 Bf6 19. Bf3 Bf5 20.
a4 $14 {1/2-1/2 Rublevsky,S-Kunte,A/Bled 2002/EXT 2003 (64)}) 14. b3 g6 $146 {
In the preceding games black played 14...d5, but did not manage to equalize.} (
14... d5 15. cxd5 cxd5 16. Bf3 $14 {- see the annotated games Movsesian,
S-Kharlov,A/Halkidiki 2002/CBM 92 [Postny,E] and Rublevsky,S-Sokolov,I/
Halkidiki 2002/CBM 92 [Postny,E]}) 15. Bb2 Bg7 16. O-O-O O-O-O 17. Bf3 {
White has small, but stable pressure thanks to superior pawn structure.} c5 $5
{Quite a committing decision.} ({Comes to consideration} 17... f5 $14 {
covering the e4 square.}) 18. Nb5 $6 {[%csl Ra7,Rd6] An attractive move, but
not the best one.} ({Stronger was} 18. Bxb7+ Kxb7 19. Rhe1 Be5 20. Kc2 {
keeping stable plus in the endgame.}) 18... Bxb2+ 19. Kxb2 Bxf3 20. gxf3 d5 21.
cxd5 Nxd5 22. Rd2 (22. Nxa7+ Kb7 23. Nb5 Kc6 24. Na3 Nb4 25. Nc4 f6 {followed
by 26...Nd3 with good chances for a draw.}) 22... a6 23. Rhd1 axb5 $1 {[%mdl
4096] Quite a mature decision from young prodigy. Black goes for rooks endgame
with a pawn down, but with clear drawish tendencies.} ({Possible alternative
was} 23... Nf4 24. Nd6+ Kc7 25. Nxf7 Rxd2+ 26. Rxd2 Rf8 27. Ng5 $14) 24. Rxd5
Rxd5 25. Rxd5 Kc7 26. Rxc5+ Kb6 27. Re5 (27. b4 Rd8 $11) 27... b4 $1 28. Re7
Rd8 29. Kc2 (29. a4 Rd2+ 30. Kc1 Rxf2 31. Rxf7 Rxh2 $11) 29... Ra8 30. Kb1 Rd8
{White can not prevent the invasion of black's rook.} 31. Rxf7 Rd1+ 32. Kc2 Ra1
33. Kd3 (33. Kb2 Rf1 34. Rxh7 Rxf2+ 35. Kb1 Rxf3 $11) 33... Rxa2 34. Kc4 Rxf2 {
Every exchange of pawns keeps black closer to a draw.} 35. h4 Ka5 36. Ra7+ Kb6
37. Rxh7 Rxf3 38. Kxb4 Rf4+ 39. Ka3 Kb5 {Despite an extra pawn, the endgame is
drawish. Black just need to exchange kingside pawns.} 40. Rh8 Rg4 41. Rb8+ Ka5
42. Ra8+ Kb5 43. Ra4 Rg3 44. Re4 Rg2 $2 {This blunder may be the result of
lack of concentration.} (44... Rh3 $2 45. Rg4) (44... Kc6 $1 45. Kb4 g5 {
was leading to clear draw.}) 45. Re5+ Kb6 46. Rg5 $18 {Black can not afford
the exchange of rooks and loses his last pawn.} Rh2 47. Rxg6+ Kb5 48. Rg5+ Kb6
49. Rh5 Rg2 50. Ka4 Rf2 51. Rh6+ Kb7 52. b4 {White's win now is just a matter
of time.} Rf5 53. h5 Re5 54. b5 Re1 55. Rf6 Ra1+ 56. Kb4 Rb1+ 57. Kc5 Rc1+ 58.
Kd6 Kb6 59. Rf5 1-0

[Event "Corus-C"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2004.01.22"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Etmans, Maarten D"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2484"]
[BlackElo "2225"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2004.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "9"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nd4 4. Bc4 e6 5. O-O d6 6. Nxd4 cxd4 7. Ne2 Nf6 8.
d3 Qb6 9. c3 dxc3 10. Nxc3 Bd7 11. Be3 Qa5 12. d4 d5 13. exd5 exd5 14. Bb3 h6
15. Re1 O-O-O 16. Bf4 Bc6 17. Qf3 Bd6 18. Bxd6 Rxd6 19. Qg3 Qc7 20. Rac1 Re6
21. Qxg7 Rg8 22. Qxh6 Ng4 23. Qh7 Rge8 24. Rxe6 Rxe6 25. Qg8+ 1-0

[Event "Corus-C"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2004.01.23"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Barendse, Ted"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B79"]
[WhiteElo "2206"]
[BlackElo "2484"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2004.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "9"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2
Nc6 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Qa5 11. Bb3 Rfc8 12. g4 (12. h4 $142) 12... Ne5 13.
Kb1 b5 {A standard reaction after g2-g4, which weakens pawn f3.} (13... Nc4 14.
Bxc4 Rxc4 15. Nb3 Qd8 {is a reasonable alternative.}) 14. Nd5 $2 {White must
have mixed up something. Unfortunately the precise knowledge of theory is
required in chess, especially when playing such lines of Dragon. On the other
hand I must admit that the multitude of variations in these lines require from
White a very good memory. General hints might help for that. For instance here
the type of arising endgame after Nc3-d5 (in this particular line of Dragon
with Qa5 and Rfc8) rarely favours White.} (14. h4 Nc4 15. Bxc4 bxc4 $132) (14.
g5 $142 b4 $1 (14... Nh5 15. Nd5 $14 {[%csl Rh5]}) (14... Ne8 $6 15. h4 $14 {
/+/-}) 15. Nce2 Nh5 16. Ng3 $13) 14... Qxd2 $15 15. Rxd2 (15. Bxd2 Nxd5 16.
exd5 $2 (16. Bxd5 Rab8 $15) 16... Nxg4 17. fxg4 Bxd4 18. h3 Be5 $19 {0-1
Rylander,R-Rosell,T/Haninge 1997 (58)}) 15... Nxd5 16. exd5 (16. Bxd5 Rab8 $15
17. h4 $2 e6 18. Bb3 a5 19. a3 a4 20. Ba2 b4 {and White was in deep troubles
in Leygue,D-Rausis,I/Creon 1999}) 16... a5 {One single mistake in a
theoretical postion might be enough to lose the game in Dragon. Here the
disappearance of queens from the board won't save White - he is not able to
stop Black's attack anyway.} 17. a3 Rab8 $19 18. c3 (18. Bg5 a4 (18... b4 $2
19. a4) 19. Ba2 b4 {is also hopeless:} 20. Bxe7 (20. axb4 Rxb4 21. Ka1 Nxf3 22.
Nxf3 Bxb2+ 23. Kb1 Bxg4 $19) 20... bxa3 21. b3 axb3 $19) 18... b4 19. axb4 (19.
cxb4 axb4 20. a4 Ra8 $19) 19... axb4 20. cxb4 (20. c4 Nxc4 21. Bxc4 Rxc4 22.
Rc1 {would have been a lesser evil.}) 20... Rxb4 21. Rf1 Bb5 {Black attacks
with all pieces. It's a complete disaster for White. The rest does not need
any comments, Black can win in many ways.} 22. Rff2 Nd3 23. Nxb5 Rxb3 24. Nd4
Bxd4 25. Bxd4 Nxf2 26. Rxf2 Rd3 27. Bc3 Rcxc3 28. bxc3 Rxc3 29. Re2 Kf8 0-1

[Event "Corus-C"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2004.01.24"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ernst, Sipke"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B19"]
[WhiteElo "2484"]
[BlackElo "2474"]
[Annotator "Lukacs,P"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2004.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "9"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 {McShane} c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nf3
Nd7 8. h5 Bh7 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 e6 11. Bf4 Ngf6 12. O-O-O Be7 13. Ne4 Qa5
14. Kb1 O-O 15. Nxf6+ Nxf6 16. Ne5 Rad8 17. Qe2 (17. Qb3 Qb6 18. Qxb6 axb6 {
This _|_ is again slightly better for White, but against a good technique this
cannot be converted into a win.} 19. c4 b5 $5 {clearing the way for >< d5.} 20.
cxb5 cxb5 21. g4 Nd5 22. Bc1 Rd6 (22... Rc8 23. f4) 23. f4 Ra8 24. g5 {White
still has some activity on the >> even without queens.} Rda6 $1 (24... f6 {
is a bit passive.} 25. Ng6 Rda6 26. gxh6 gxh6 27. f5 exf5 28. Bxh6 Rxa2 29.
Nxe7+ Nxe7 30. Kc2 $14 {Ledger-Gyimesi, Catalan Bay 2003}) 25. gxh6 (25. a3 b4
26. gxh6 gxh6) 25... Rxa2 26. Rdg1 Nb4 27. Rxg7+ Kf8 28. Rxf7+ Ke8 29. Rxe7+
Kxe7 30. b3 Ra1+ 31. Kb2 Nd5 $11) (17. Qg3 {is the theoretical main line these
days.} Kh8 18. c4 (18. Rd3 Nd5 (18... c5 $5 19. dxc5 (19. Qf3 Rxd4 (19... cxd4
20. Qxb7 Qc5) 20. Rxd4 cxd4 21. Qxb7 Nd5 22. Bg3 Qa4 23. Qb3 Qa6 {Black has to
keep the Q for the -> on the <<.} 24. Qd3 Qa4 $13 {Adams-Bareev, Canditas
Tournament Gp 2002}) 19... Qxc5 (19... Bxc5 20. Bxh6 $5 gxh6 21. Qf4 Ng8 22.
Rxd8 Qxd8 23. Nxf7+ Rxf7 24. Qxf7 $14) 20. Rxd8 Bxd8 21. Be3 Qa5 $13) (18...
Qb6 19. Be3 {provoking} Nd5 {after which the N can be hit by c4.} 20. Rb3 Qa6
21. Bc1 Bf6 22. f4 Ne7 23. Qf2 Nf5 24. c3 Bxe5 25. fxe5 Qd3+ 26. Qc2 Qxc2+ 27.
Kxc2 Rd7 28. g4 $14 {Z.Almasi-Bareev, BIH-chT Jahorina 2003}) 19. Bd2 Qb6 (
19... Qa4 $5) 20. c4 Nf6 21. Be3 Qa6 $1 (21... Qa5 $2 {This slight inaccuracy
is enough for getting into trouble.} 22. Rb3 $1 Qa6 23. Qf3 $1 $16 {/\ g4
Apicella-Bauer, Aix les Bains 2003 CBM 97}) 22. Qf3 Kg8 23. g4 Nd7 $1) (18. Qf3
Qd5 19. Qxd5 cxd5 {is a clearly favourable exchange for Black.} 20. f3 Nd7 21.
g4 Nxe5 22. Bxe5 Rc8 23. Bf4 Rc6 24. Rhg1 Kh7 25. Rg2 g5 26. Bc1 Bd6 27. Re1
Bb8 28. Rge2 Kg7 $11 {Cao Sang-Ruck, Balatonlelle 2002}) (18. Qb3 Qb6 19. c3
Kg8 20. g4 c5 21. Qxb6 axb6 {The doubled pawns are not really weak.} 22. dxc5
Bxc5 23. f3 Nd5 24. Bc1 b5 $11 {strengthening the position of the blockading N
on d5, Dominguez-Dreev, North Sea Cup 2003.}) 18... c5 (18... Nd7 19. Rd3 Bf6 (
19... Qa6 {- Akopian-Bareev, Enghien les Bains 2003 CBM 96}) 20. Rhd1 Nxe5 21.
Bxe5 Bxe5 22. Qxe5 Qb4 23. Qc5 Qa4 24. b3 Qa6 25. g4 b5 $13 {Karjakin-Van
Delft, Open Vienna 2003}) 19. Qf3 (19. Be3 cxd4 20. Bxd4 Kg8 21. Qe3 Rd6 22.
Bc3 Qc7 23. g4 Rxd1+ 24. Rxd1 Rd8 25. Rxd8+ {In this _|_ White has a
microscopical advantage, which cannot be enough against an expert like Dreev.}
Qxd8 26. Qd4 (26. Kc2 a6 27. f3 Qc7 28. Qd4 Bc5 29. Qd3 Bd6 $11 {Wedberg-Dreev,
SWE-chT 2002/03}) 26... a6 $11 {De Firmian-Dreev, SWE-chT 2002/03}) 19... cxd4
20. Qxb7 Bd6 21. Rhe1 Rb8 {concentrating on the |^ on the << looks more to the
point.} (21... Nxh5 $6 {Black takes the P, but loses the |^.} 22. Bd2 Qc7 23.
Qxc7 Bxc7 24. Nc6 Rd7 25. Bb4 (25. Nxa7 $5) 25... Re8 26. Bc5 $1 (26. Rxd4 Rxd4
27. Nxd4 Nf4 $132 {Landa-Schneider Zinner, Vienna 2003}) 26... d3 27. Nxa7 Nf4
28. g3 d2 (28... Ne2 29. Nb5) 29. Rh1 Nd3 30. Be3 $16) 22. Qf3 Rb6 $1 (22...
Nxh5 $4 23. Bd2 $1 $18 {Shirov-Kacheishvili, Rethymnon 2003 CBM 98} (23. Bxh6
$4 gxh6 24. Qxh5 Rxb2+ $19)) (22... Kg8 23. Re2 Rb6 24. Rxd4 Rfb8 25. g4 Qa4
26. Rd3 Rc8 27. b3 Qb4 28. Bd2 Qa3 29. Bc1 Qb4 30. Bb2 a5 31. g5 hxg5 32. h6
$40 {Van Delft-Schuurman, Wijk aan Zee 2003}) 23. g4 Ra6 24. a3 Rb6 25. Ka2 Qa4
$132) 17... c5 $2 {[#] falling into the well-known motif!} (17... Qb6 {-
Thipsay-Prakash, IND-ch Mumbai 2003 CBM 94}) (17... Nd5 18. Bc1 c5 19. c4 Nf6
20. dxc5 {1/2-1/2 Guerra Bastida-Magem Badals, Mondariz 2002}) 18. Ng6 $1 {
[%mdl 64] This devastating -> is a simple copy of a previous analyse.} fxg6 $2
{Accepting the sacrifice loses by force.} (18... Rfe8 {was the humble, but
best choice.} 19. Nxe7+ Rxe7 20. dxc5 Red7 21. Rxd7 Rxd7 (21... Nxd7 $1 {
McShane: Black should be able to recover the c5 pawn.}) 22. Bd6 b6 23. g4 $1
bxc5 24. Be5 $16) 19. Qxe6+ Kh8 20. hxg6 $1 Ng8 21. Bxh6 $1 gxh6 22. Rxh6+ $1
Nxh6 23. Qxe7 {Up to this moment there is no deviation.} Nf7 {[#]} 24. gxf7 $1
$18 {This strong move decides the game immediately!} (24. Qf6+ Kg8 25. Rh1 Nh6
26. Qe7 Nf7 27. Rh3 $1 (27. Qf6 {led only to a draw by repeating of moves after
} Nh6 28. Qe7 Nf7 {1/2:1/2 Almagro llanos-Gustafsson, Pablo Gorbea mem 2003})
27... Ng5 28. Rh7 $18) 24... Kg7 (24... Qb6 25. Qe5+ Kh7 26. Rh1+ $18 {and
mate is inevitable.}) 25. Rd3 Rd6 (25... Qb6 26. Rg3+ Qg6 27. Rxg6+ Kxg6 28. d5
$18 {and the _|_ is hopeless.}) 26. Rg3+ Rg6 27. Qe5+ Kxf7 28. Qf5+ Rf6 (28...
Ke7 29. Re3+ $18) 29. Qd7# {It is rare to give mate nowadays.} 1-0

[Event "Corus-C"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2004.01.25"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Smeets, Jan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B76"]
[WhiteElo "2505"]
[BlackElo "2484"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2004.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "9"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2
Nc6 9. O-O-O Bd7 {This set-up against 9.0-0-0 is less justified than against 9.
Bc4. The explanation is simple - the typical counterplay ...Rc8 followed by ...
Ne5-c4 loses all its attractivness, since White will take on c4 at once,
without wasting time for Bc4-b3.} 10. g4 Rc8 (10... Qa5 11. Nb3 $16) 11. h4 Ne5
(11... h5 12. gxh5 Nxh5 13. Rg1 $16) 12. h5 {A strong (and most direct)
continuation. Another possibility is to start with Kb1 (and eventually Be2
next, keeping the pawn on h4). Then after Qa5 Black must consider Nd5.
Generally, in this line White must know precisely when to play h5, Kb1 or Be2
and how to combine these moves.} Qa5 (12... Nc4 $2 13. Bxc4 Rxc4 14. hxg6 fxg6
15. e5 {is bad for Black}) 13. Be2 (13. Kb1 {Playing this move here allows
Black favourable complications:} Nxf3 $1 {The correct move order. Now the main
line goes:} (13... Rxc3 14. Qxc3 Qxc3 15. bxc3 Nxf3 16. h6 $1 {this
intermediate move limits Black's options}) 14. Nxf3 Rxc3 15. Qxc3 Qxc3 16. bxc3
Bxg4 17. Bg2 Nxe4 18. Rd3 Nxc3+ 19. Kb2 Nd1+ $11) (13. Nb3 $1 Qc7 14. Be2 b5 (
14... Nc4 {is bad again. White takes and then plays e5 at some moment (after
16.hxg6 or 16.h6).}) 15. Kb1 $14 {/+/-} ({Opening the f-file would be a mistake
} 15. hxg6 $2 fxg6 $13 {[%cal Gf8f3]})) 13... b5 14. Kb1 (14. Nb3 Qa6 $5 $13)
14... Rxc3 $5 15. Qxc3 Qxc3 16. bxc3 Rc8 {Black gets a typical compensation
for Dragon. However, it can hardly secure totally equal chances.} 17. hxg6 fxg6
$1 (17... hxg6 18. Kb2 $16) 18. Kb2 a5 19. Bh6 (19. g5 Nh5 20. Rhg1 Nc4+ 21.
Bxc4+ Rxc4 $44) 19... Bh8 20. Rhf1 {Protecting pawn f3 and thus threatening to
take on b5. However, Black is in time to create some initiative and escape.} (
20. Rb1 $1 b4 $140 (20... Be8 21. Bd2 $16 {[%cal Gb2c1]}) 21. cxb4 Nc4+ 22. Kc1
Nxg4 23. fxg4 Bxd4 24. bxa5 Nxa5 25. Bd2 $16 Nc4 26. Rb4 Be6 27. Bxc4 Bxc4 28.
a4 $16) (20. Bxb5 $2 Bxb5 21. Nxb5 Nxf3 $17 {[%csl Rc3,Re4,Rg4]}) 20... Nc4+
21. Bxc4+ Rxc4 22. Rd3 (22. Rb1 b4 $36) 22... Be8 $132 {[%cal Gf6d7,Gd7c5,
Ge8f7]} (22... b4 23. Kb3) 23. Rb1 b4 24. Kc1 (24. Kb3 $2 Bf7) 24... Nd7 25.
Nb3 Bxc3 26. Nxa5 Rc8 27. Bd2 Ne5 $11 28. Bxc3 Nxd3+ 29. cxd3 Rxc3+ (29... bxc3
$5 $13 {it is not clear how can White prove that pawn on c3 is a weakness.
Black wants to push the h-pawn (not mentioning the concrete threat 30...Ra8)
and his chances are by no means worse, while White needs more accuracy.}) 30.
Kd2 Ra3 31. Nc4 Rxa2+ 32. Ke3 Bb5 (32... Ra4 33. Nb6 $11) 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Aeroflot op-A"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2004.02.17"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Sulskis, Sarunas"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E70"]
[WhiteElo "2582"]
[BlackElo "2484"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2004.02.17"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2005"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 O-O 5. d4 c6 6. Be2 d5 7. e5 Ne4 8. O-O
Nxc3 9. bxc3 dxc4 10. Bxc4 c5 11. h3 Nc6 12. Re1 cxd4 13. cxd4 Na5 14. Bd3 Be6
15. Be3 Rc8 16. Qd2 Bd5 17. Nh2 Nc4 18. Bxc4 Rxc4 19. Bh6 Bc6 20. Bxg7 Kxg7 21.
Ng4 Rxd4 22. Qg5 Qd5 23. f3 Rd2 24. Ne3 Qd4 25. Kh1 Bd7 26. Rad1 Rxd1 27. Rxd1
Qa4 28. Qxe7 Be6 29. Qf6+ Kg8 30. h4 h5 31. g4 hxg4 32. h5 Qc6 33. Rf1 Bd7 34.
Nd5 Kh7 35. hxg6+ fxg6 36. Qe7+ 1-0

[Event "Moscow Aeroflot op-A"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2004.02.18"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Yurtaev, Leonid"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2527"]
[BlackElo "2484"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2004.02.17"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 100"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.06.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.06.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O
O-O 9. f4 b5 10. Bf3 Bb7 11. fxe5 dxe5 (11... Qb6+ 12. Qd4 Qxd4+ 13. Nxd4 dxe5
14. Nf5 Bb4 15. Bg5 Nbd7 16. Rad1 h6 17. Bd2 Rfd8 18. Rfe1 Nb6 19. Ne3 Bc5 {
0-1 Saastamoinen,A-Tyni,J/Tampere 1989/ (35)}) 12. Qxd8 {Yurtaev simplifies
into an endgame, in which he keeps the slight initiative due to the better
developed pieces.} (12. a3 Nbd7 13. Kh1 Qc7 14. Qe1 Rac8 15. Bd2 Nb6 16. Na5
Ba8 17. Qg3 Kh8 18. Rad1 h6 19. Bg4 Rcd8 20. Bf5 Nh7 21. Bxh7 Kxh7 22. Qg4 Qc8
{0-1 Wolter,K-Heinemann,T/Muenster 1992/ (40)}) 12... Rxd8 (12... Bxd8 13. Be3
Nbd7 14. Rad1 Rc8 $11) 13. Na5 Bc8 14. Nd5 (14. Be3 Bb4 15. Bb6 Rd6 16. Rad1
Nbd7 $11) 14... Nxd5 15. exd5 Bc5+ 16. Kh1 Bb6 (16... f5 $1 17. Bg5 Re8 18.
Rad1 Bb6 19. Nb3 Nd7 $11) 17. Bd2 Bf5 (17... f5 18. c4 e4 19. Be2 $11) 18. c4 (
18. Rae1 $1 f6 (18... Bxc2 19. Rxe5 Nd7 20. Re7 Nf6 21. Nb7 Rd7 22. d6 $16) 19.
d6 e4 20. Bxe4 (20. Rxe4 Bxe4 21. Bxe4 Ra7 22. Bd5+ Kf8 23. Bb4 Rad7 24. c4
Bxa5 25. Bxa5 Rxd6 26. Bb4 a5 27. Bxd6+ Rxd6 $11) 20... Bxe4 21. Rxe4 Rxd6 22.
Bb4 Rd7 23. Re8+ Kf7 24. Rfe1 Rda7 $11) 18... Bd3 19. Rfe1 Nd7 20. Rac1 $6 {
White is still ambitious, but he probably should have worried about equality.}
(20. Nc6 bxc4 (20... Re8 21. d6 Bf2 22. Nxe5 Bxe1 23. Rxe1 Rxe5 24. Rxe5 Nxe5
25. Bxa8 Bxc4 26. b3 $16) 21. Nxd8 Rxd8 22. Bc3 Bf2 23. Rxe5 Nxe5 24. Bxe5 Bc5
$11) 20... Re8 (20... Bf2 $1 21. d6 (21. Red1 e4 $17) 21... Bxe1 22. Rxe1 bxc4
23. Bxa8 Rxa8 24. Rc1 $15) 21. b3 (21. Be2 Bxa5 22. Bxa5 bxc4 $17) 21... e4 22.
Be2 Bf2 $1 (22... Ne5 $2 23. c5 $1 e3 24. Bb4 Bxa5 (24... Bxe2 25. cxb6 Nd3 26.
Nc6 Nxc1 27. b7 Rab8 28. Nxb8 Rxb8 29. Rxc1 Bg4 30. h3 Bf5 31. g4 $18) 25. Bxa5
Bxe2 26. Rxe2 Nd3 27. Rc3 Nf4 28. Rexe3 Nxd5 29. Rxe8+ Rxe8 30. Rd3 $14) (22...
Nc5 23. Nc6 Bxe2 24. Rxe2 Nd3 25. Rf1 $11) 23. Rf1 e3 $1 {[%mdl 64] Suddenly
Carlsen is so active, that he can afford small combination aiming at the
dislocated knight on a5.} 24. Bxd3 (24. Bxe3 Bxe2 25. Bxf2 Bxf1 26. Rxf1 Re2
$17) 24... exd2 25. Rcd1 Re1 26. Rxd2 (26. g4 Ne5 27. Rxd2 Nxd3 28. Kg2 Rxf1
29. Kxf1 Be1 30. Rxd3 Bxa5 31. c5 Bb4 32. c6 Bd6 $17) 26... Rxf1+ 27. Bxf1 Be1
28. Rd1 (28. Rb2 Bxa5 29. b4 Bd8 30. cxb5 a5 $17) 28... Bxa5 29. cxb5 axb5 30.
Bxb5 Rd8 {White is left with two pawns for the piece, but no real chance for
successful resistance.} 31. d6 Kf8 32. g3 (32. a3 Nf6 33. d7 Bc3 34. Rd3 Be5
35. Kg1 Ke7 $19) 32... Nf6 33. d7 Ke7 34. a3 Nxd7 35. b4 Ne5 36. Rxd8 (36. Re1
Bc7 37. a4 Rd4 38. Rb1 Bd6 $19) 36... Bxd8 37. a4 Kd6 0-1

[Event "Moscow Aeroflot op-A"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2004.02.19"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dolmatov, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "2484"]
[BlackElo "2591"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[EventDate "2004.02.17"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 100"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.06.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.06.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 f5 2. d3 d6 3. e4 e5 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. exf5 Bxf5 6. d4 Nxd4 7. Nxd4 exd4 8.
Qxd4 Nf6 9. Bc4 c6 10. Bg5 b5 11. Bb3 Be7 12. O-O-O Qd7 13. Rhe1 Kd8 14. Rxe7
Qxe7 15. Qf4 Bd7 16. Ne4 d5 17. Nxf6 h6 18. Bh4 g5 19. Qd4 1-0

[Event "Moscow Aeroflot op-A"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2004.02.20"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Shaposhnikov, Evgeny"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E38"]
[WhiteElo "2484"]
[BlackElo "2573"]
[Annotator "Golod,V"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2004.02.17"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 100"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.06.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.06.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 c5 5. dxc5 Bxc5 6. Nf3 Qb6 7. e3 a6 8. b3
Qc7 {Same position with rearrangement of moves also it is possible to receive,
after 7...Qc7 8.b3 a6.} 9. Bb2 (9. g4 $5 {You can see my annotations to game:
Bareev,E-Sakaev,K/Moscow,2001/CBM 86(1-0)(26)}) 9... b6 10. Be2 Bb7 11. g4 $5 {
Typical move in this pawn structure.Besides White has several options:} (11.
Rd1 $5 {You can see comments to Kiriakov,P-Tiviakov,S/Port Erin,1999/CBM 74
(1-0)(Golod,V)(34)}) (11. h3 $6) ({and} 11. O-O) 11... Nxg4 $6 $146 {Honestly,
I have to confess that accepting the pawn sacrifice is a very brave decision.
However the game has shown a clear estimate...} ({The games,which have reached
this position were continued as follows:} 11... h6 $5 12. Rg1 Nc6 13. O-O-O $5
(13. a3 Rc8 14. h4 h5 $5 $132 {Foisor,S-Hernandez,R/Balaguer,2003(0-1)(31)}) ({
It deserves serious attention:} 13. h4 $5 d5 $1 (13... O-O-O $140 14. g5 hxg5
15. hxg5 Ne8 16. a3 $14 {[%cal Gb3b4,Ge1c1,Ga1d1] White has a clear advantage
because of a bad position of Ne8}) (13... d6 $2 14. a3 {[%csl Rc5][%cal Gb3b4]}
) 14. g5 hxg5 15. hxg5 Nd7 $1 (15... Nh5 $143 {[%cal Gh5g7]} 16. cxd5 Nb4 17.
Qc1 $1 Nxd5 18. Nxd5 Bxd5 19. Ba3 {[%csl Rc7]} Bd6 20. Qxc7 Bxc7 21. Rc1 $14 {
[%csl Rh5]}) 16. cxd5 Nb4 17. Qd1 $5 {[%csl Yd1,Ye2] Protecting the knight on
f3.} (17. Qd2 Nxd5 18. Nxd5 Bxd5 19. Bxg7 Rh3 20. Nd4 Qh2 21. Rg4 $13) 17...
Nxd5 18. Nxd5 Bxd5 19. Bxg7 Rg8 20. Bb2 Bb4+ 21. Kf1 Qb7 $44) 13... O-O-O 14.
a3 (14. h4 $6 d5 $1 15. g5 (15. a3 dxc4 16. Bxc4 Rxd1+ 17. Nxd1 Na5 $15 {
[%csl Rc2,Rf3][%cal Gb7e4]}) 15... hxg5 16. hxg5 Nb4 17. Qb1 Ne4 $15) 14... Be7
15. h4 d6 $13 {Margvelashvili,G-Zhumabaev,R/Halkidiki,2003(1/2-1/2)(81)}) 12.
Rg1 {[%csl Rg4,Rg7]} Nxh2 (12... Ne5 $6 13. Nxe5 Qxe5 14. O-O-O $36 {[%csl Gb2,
Re5,Gg1,Rg7][%cal Gc3d5]}) (12... f5 $5 {[%csl Rf2,Yf5][%cal Gg4f2,Yf5e4] The
idea is to keep White's king in the center.} 13. h3 (13. Ng5 $4 Qxh2 $19) ({
Not enough for equality is:} 13. a3 $2 O-O 14. Na4 Be7 15. Bd4 Nc6 $1 16. Bxb6
Qb8 $15 {[%csl Rb6]}) 13... Nh2 $6 (13... Ne5 $5) {[%tqu "En","Find the best
continuation for White?","","","c3d5","",10,"f3h2","",0,"f3g5","Similar
continuation was in the game,but here the pawn on h2 remained on the board.",0]
} 14. Nd5 $3 (14. Nxh2 $143 Qxh2 15. Rxg7 Bf8 16. Rg3 (16. Rg5 Be7 17. Rg7 $11
(17. Na4 Bxg5 18. Bxh8 Qh1+ 19. Kd2 Qh2 $13)) 16... Bd6 17. Bh5+ Kd8 18. Rg7
Qh1+ 19. Kd2 Qxh3 $15) (14. Ng5 $143 {Similar continuation was in the game,but
here the pawn on h2 remained on the board.} Nc6 15. Na4 Bb4+ 16. Bc3 Qe5 $1 17.
Rh1 (17. O-O-O Bxc3 18. Qxc3 ({Dubious is:} 18. Nxc3 $2 {in view of:} Nb4 19.
Qd2 Qxc3+ $1 20. Qxc3 Nxa2+ 21. Kb2 Nxc3 22. Kxc3 Bc6 $1 $17 (22... h6 $2 {
Look's so trivial but also so bad...} 23. Nf7 $3 {[%csl Rb7,Rd7][%cal Gf7e5,
Gd1d7]})) 18... Qxc3+ 19. Nxc3 Ne7 $15 {[%cal Yb7h1]}) 17... Bxc3+ (17... b5 $5
) 18. Qxc3 Qxc3+ 19. Nxc3 Nd4 $1 20. Rxh2 Nc2+ 21. Kd2 Nxa1 22. Kc1 {[%csl Ra1]
=/+/-/+}) 14... Bb4+ $5 {Calm reaction.} (14... Nxf3+ $143 15. Bxf3 Bb4+ {
[%csl Rf3]} 16. Kf1 Bxd5 ({Also loses a game:} 16... exd5 17. Bxg7 Rf8 18. Bh5+
Kd8 19. Bxf8 Bxf8 20. Qxf5 $18 {[%csl Rd8,Rf8][%cal Gg1g8]}) 17. Bxd5 Nc6 (
17... exd5 $2 18. Bxg7 Rg8 19. Qxf5 Qd6 20. Qxh7 Qe6 (20... Rxg7 21. Rxg7 Kd8
22. Rd1 $18) 21. cxd5 Qxd5 22. Rg5 $1 {[%csl Rg8][%cal Gh7g8]} Qf7 (22... Rxg7
23. Qxg7 $18) (22... Qxg5 23. Qxg8+ Ke7 24. Bf8+ Kf6 25. Qxg5+ Kxg5 26. Bxb4
$18) 23. Qe4+ Be7 24. Rc1 $1 {[%cal Gc1c8]} Nc6 25. Rxc6 Rxg7 26. Rxg7 Qxg7 27.
Rg6 {[%csl Ra8,Rg7]} Qa1+ (27... d5 28. Qe6 {[%csl Re8,Rg7][%cal Ge6c6]} Qa1+
29. Kg2 $18) 28. Kg2 Kf7 29. Rg4 $18 {[%csl Ra8,Rf7][%cal Ge4a8,Ge4g6,Gg6g8]})
18. Rxg7 Be7 19. Bf3 O-O-O 20. Rd1 $16) ({Even worse is:} 14... exd5 15. Bxg7
Rg8 (15... dxc4 16. Bxh8 Nxf3+ 17. Bxf3 Bb4+ 18. Kf1 Bxf3 19. Qxf5 $18 {
[%csl Re8,Rf3][%cal Gg1g8]}) 16. Qxf5 {[%csl Re8,Gg1][%cal Gf5h5,Gg7f6]} Qd6 (
16... Bb4+ 17. Nd2 {[%cal Ge2h5]}) 17. Qxh7 Bb4+ 18. Nd2 {[%csl Re8,Rg8][%cal
Ge2h5]} (18. Kd1 dxc4+ 19. Nd4 Rxg7 20. Rxg7 Kd8 $16) 18... Bxd2+ (18... Rxg7
19. Qxg7 Bxd2+ (19... Kd8 20. Rg6 Qe7 21. Qd4 $18 {[%csl Rd8,Rh2][%cal Gd4b6,
Gg6b6]}) 20. Kxd2 dxc4+ 21. Kc3 Kd8 22. Rad1 $18) 19. Kxd2 dxc4+ 20. Kc3 {
[%csl Rg8][%cal Ge2h5,Gh7g8]} Rf8 (20... Rxg7 21. Qh8+ $1 Qf8 22. Bh5+ {
[%csl Re8,Rf8,Rg7][%cal Gg1g7,Gh8f8]} Rg6 23. Bxg6+ Ke7 24. Qe5+ Kd8 25. Qxh2
$18) 21. Qh5+ Kd8 22. Rg6 Qe7 23. Bxf8 Qxf8 24. Qg5+ {[%csl Rd8,Rf8][%cal
Gg6g8]} Kc7 25. Qg3+ {[%csl Rc7,Rh2]} d6 26. Rd1 $18) 15. Nxb4 (15. Kd1 $2 exd5
16. Bxg7 (16. Qxf5 $2 Rf8 17. Qh5+ g6 18. Qxh7 Nxf3 19. Qxg6+ Kd8 $19) 16...
dxc4 17. Bxh8 (17. Qxf5 $2 Nxf3 {[%csl Rd1][%cal Gc7d6]} 18. Bxf3 Bxf3+ 19.
Qxf3 Qd6+ 20. Bd4 Nc6 $19) 17... Be4 18. Qxc4 Qxc4 19. Bxc4 Bxf3+ 20. Be2 Nc6
$15 21. Rg8+ $140 $6 Bf8 {[%cal Ge8f7]}) 15... Nxf3+ 16. Bxf3 Bxf3 17. Rxg7 {
[%csl Rf6][%cal Gb2f6]} (17. Qc3 $143 Nc6 18. Rxg7 O-O-O 19. Nxa6 Qh2 {[%csl
Re1]} 20. Rg3 Bh5 $13) 17... Nc6 (17... Rf8 18. Qc3 Qh2 (18... Nc6 $143 19. Ba3
$1 {[%csl Rf8][%cal Yb4c2,Yg7e7]} Ne5 20. Nc2 $18) 19. Qe5 Qxe5 20. Bxe5 $16)
18. Nxc6 Bxc6 (18... Qxc6 19. Bf6 {[%csl Re8][%cal Gc2c3,Gf6h4] +/-/+-}) 19.
Bf6 {[%csl Re8][%cal Gc2d1,Gd1h5] White has a very strong attack because
Black's king didn't escape from the center.White threaten to transfer the
queen to "f6" or to "h5". For example,if:} Rf8 {then:} 20. Qd1 $3 Rxf6 $140 21.
Qh5+ Kd8 22. Rg8+ Ke7 23. Qxh7+ Rf7 (23... Kd6 24. Rd1+ Bd5 (24... Kc5 25. Qe7+
{[%csl Rc5,Rc7]}) 25. Rxa8 $18) 24. Qh4+ Kd6 25. O-O-O+ Bd5 26. Qf4+ Kc6 27.
cxd5+ exd5 28. Qxc7+ Kxc7 29. Rxa8 $18) 13. Ng5 $1 {[%csl Rh2]} (13. Nxh2 $143
Qxh2 14. Rxg7 Nc6 15. Na4 (15. Ne4 $2 Bb4+ 16. Nd2 $15) 15... O-O-O (15... Bf8
$6 16. Rg3 {[%csl Rb6]} Bb4+ 17. Bc3 Bxc3+ 18. Qxc3 O-O-O 19. Nxb6+ Kc7 20. c5
$14) 16. Nxc5 bxc5 17. Bf3 $44 {[%cal Ge1c1,Ga1d1]}) 13... Nc6 ({Of course not:
} 13... h6 $2 14. Nxf7 $1 {[%csl Re8][%cal Ge2h5] with decisive attack.}) (
13... f5 14. O-O-O Nc6 15. Na4 {[%csl Re8,Rg7][%cal Ge2h5,Yb2g7]} Rg8 16. Nxc5
bxc5 17. Bh5+ g6 18. f4 {[%csl Rh2]} O-O-O (18... gxh5 $4 19. Nxe6 $18 {
[%csl Rc7,Rg8]}) 19. Qxh2 gxh5 20. Bf6 Rde8 21. Qxh5 Kb8 22. Qxh7 $14) 14.
O-O-O Ne5 $6 {[%cal Yh2f3] Black had a uneasy choice, and he did not manage to
find the best continuation.} (14... f5 {transfers to 13...f5}) ({Deserves more
attention:} 14... d5 $1 15. Bh5 {[%csl Rf7]} (15. cxd5 $143 Nb4 16. Qe4 O-O-O
17. Kb1 h6 18. Nxe6 $1 fxe6 19. Qxe6+ Qd7 20. Qxd7+ Rxd7 21. Rg2 {[%csl Rh2]}
Nxd5 22. Nxd5 Bxd5 23. Rxh2 $13) 15... g6 {[%csl Rc1][%cal Gd5d4,Gc7f4]} 16.
Nxd5 exd5 17. Bxh8 Nb4 $132) (14... Be7 $143 {[%tqu "En","White has a typical
sacrifice that completely destroys Black's position?","","","g5f7","",10]} 15.
Nxf7 $1 Nb4 (15... Kxf7 $2 16. Nd5 $1 {[%csl Gb2,Rc7,Ye2,Rg7][%cal Gc2f5,Gg1g7,
Ye2h5]} exd5 17. Bh5+ g6 18. Bxg6+ $18) 16. Qb1 Kxf7 {[%tqu "En","and what now
?","","","g1g7","",10]} 17. Rxg7+ $3 {[%csl Gb2,Rc7]} Ke8 18. Rxh7 Rxh7 19.
Qxh7 {[%csl Re8,Rh2][%cal Ge2h5]} d5 20. a3 Bd6 21. Qh6 $18 {[%csl Re6]}) (
14... h6 $2 {is still losing because of:} 15. Nxf7 $1) 15. Nce4 $1 $16 {
[%csl Gb2,Ye2,Ge4,Gg5,Rg7][%cal Gf2f4,Ye2h5] Black's position already very
difficult.} O-O-O ({Not better is:} 15... h5 {[%cal Gh2g4]} 16. Nxc5 bxc5 17.
f4 Nhg4 (17... Neg4 $144 18. Bxg7 Rg8 19. Qh7 {[%csl Rg8]}) 18. Bxg4 Nxg4 19.
Bxg7 Rg8 20. Qh7 $16 {[%csl Rg8]}) ({or} 15... h6 $6 16. Nxc5 bxc5 17. Ne4 $16
{[%csl Rd6,Rg7][%cal Ge4d6,Gg1g7]} d5 $140 $2 18. Nxc5 {[%csl Re5][%cal Gc5b7]}
Nhf3 (18... Qxc5 $2 19. Bxe5 dxc4 20. Bxh2 $18) 19. Bxf3 Nxf3 20. Nxe6 {
[%csl Gb2,Gc2,Re8,Gg1][%cal Gg1g7]} fxe6 21. Rxg7 $18) 16. Nxc5 bxc5 (16...
Qxc5 $2 17. Ne4 Bxe4 18. Qxe4 Nc6 19. Qh4 $18 {[%csl Rh2]}) 17. f4 Nef3 (17...
f6 $143 18. Ne4 Ng6 19. Rh1 {[%csl Ye2,Gh1,Rh2][%cal Gh1h2]} Nxf4 20. Nd6+ Kb8
21. Rxh2 $18) 18. Nxf7 Nxg1 (18... Rhg8 $2 {is refuted by:} 19. Nxd8 Nxg1 (
19... Qxd8 20. Rg3 $18 {[%csl Rf3,Rh2]}) 20. Nxb7 Nxe2+ 21. Qxe2 Qxb7 22. Qxh2
$18) 19. Rxg1 Nf3 20. Rxg7 Rhg8 21. Nxd8 Qxd8 22. Bf6 $6 ({Looks more
convincing:} 22. Qxh7 $142 {but Black still can defends with:} Rh8 $1 (22...
Rxg7 $143 23. Qxg7 Bc6 24. Bc3 $16 {[%csl Rf3][%cal Ga2a3,Gb3b4,Gg7g4]}) 23.
Qd3 {[%csl Rf3][%cal Gg7g3]} Rh1+ 24. Bd1 {[%csl Rc5][%cal Gd3d6]} Ne1 25. Qd6
Nd3+ $1 26. Qxd3 Bf3 27. Bf6 {[%csl Rd7,Yd8][%cal Gd3d7,Yd8d7,Gf6d8]} Qc7 28.
Rg8+ Kb7 29. Be5 Qc6 30. Qg6 $1 {[%csl Rb7,Gg6,Gg8][%cal Gg6e8]} Rxd1+ 31. Kb2
Rd2+ 32. Ka3 Ka7 33. Qe8 {[%csl Ra7]} Qb7 34. Bc3 Rd3 35. Rg7 $1 Bc6 36. Ba5
$16 {[%csl Rc5][%cal Ge8f8]}) 22... Qf8 23. Qxh7 Rh8 $1 (23... Rxg7 $143 24.
Bxg7 Qe8 25. Bc3 Kc7 {[%csl Yb7,Rf3][%cal Ye8a8]} 26. a3 {[%cal Gb3b4] +/-/+-})
(23... Qxf6 $2 24. Rxg8+ Kc7 25. Qh8 $18) 24. Qg6 {[%csl Rc5][%cal Yf6e7]} Rh1+
25. Kb2 Rg1 26. Bg5 Rxg5 $2 {Black throws the game just a few moves before it
has been really started:} (26... Nh4 $1 27. Qh7 $140 Be4 $1 28. Rg8 Bxh7 29.
Rxf8+ Kc7 {[%cal Gg1g2]} 30. Ka3 Bb1 $1 {[%csl Ra2][%cal Gg1g2]} 31. Bd8+ Kd6
32. Bxh4 Rg2 33. Re8 Rxe2 34. Be7+ Kc7 35. Bxc5 Rxa2+ 36. Kb4 {+/=/+/-}) 27.
fxg5 $18 {The further resistance is senseless.} Ne5 28. Qf6 Qd6 29. Rg8+ Kc7
30. Kc3 1-0

[Event "Moscow Aeroflot op-A"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2004.02.21"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Berkes, Ferenc"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E61"]
[WhiteElo "2602"]
[BlackElo "2484"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2004.02.17"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 100"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.06.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.06.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 c6 6. e4 d6 7. Nge2 e5 8. d5
cxd5 9. cxd5 Bd7 10. O-O b5 11. a3 a5 12. Be3 Na6 13. b4 Ng4 14. Bd2 axb4 15.
axb4 f5 16. h3 Nf6 17. Qb3 Nh5 18. f3 Qb6+ 19. Kh2 Nc7 20. Rfc1 Nf6 21. Nd1
Rxa1 22. Rxa1 Ra8 23. Be3 Qb7 24. Rc1 Rc8 25. Ndc3 Na8 26. exf5 gxf5 27. f4 e4
28. Nd4 Nb6 29. Nc6 Nc4 30. Nxb5 Qxb5 31. Bf1 Bxc6 32. Bxc4 Bxd5 33. Bxd5+ Nxd5
34. Rxc8+ Kf7 35. Rc2 Ke6 36. Rc4 Kd7 37. Bf2 e3 38. Be1 Nb6 39. Rc2 Nd5 40.
Ra2 Bd4 41. Qc2 Nf6 42. Qa4 Qxa4 43. Rxa4 Bb6 44. Kg2 d5 45. Kf3 d4 46. Ke2 h5
47. Ra6 Kc6 48. Kd3 Kb5 49. Rxb6+ Kxb6 50. Kxd4 Kb5 51. Ke5 Ne4 52. Kxf5 Nd2
53. g4 Nf3 54. Bg3 h4 55. Ke4 Nd2+ 56. Kxe3 hxg3 57. h4 Kxb4 58. h5 Kc5 59. h6
Ne4 60. Kxe4 1-0

[Event "Moscow Aeroflot op-A"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2004.02.22"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Yakovich, Yuri"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B80"]
[WhiteElo "2484"]
[BlackElo "2591"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2004.02.17"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2005"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 6. g3 d6 7. Bg2 Bd7 8. O-O
Nf6 9. Nxc6 Bxc6 10. a4 Be7 11. a5 O-O 12. Qe2 Qc7 13. Rd1 b5 14. axb6 Qxb6 15.
b3 Rfd8 16. Ba3 Bf8 17. Rd3 a5 18. Rad1 Ne8 19. e5 Bxg2 20. Kxg2 Rac8 21. exd6
Bxd6 22. Na4 Qc7 23. Bxd6 Rxd6 24. Rxd6 Nxd6 25. Qe5 Nb7 26. Qb5 Nd6 27. Qe5
Qc6+ 28. Kg1 Nb7 29. c4 h6 30. Qb5 Qe4 31. Nb6 Qe2 32. Nxc8 Qxd1+ 33. Kg2 Nd6
34. Qd7 Qd3 35. Nxd6 a4 36. Qxf7+ Kh8 37. Qe8+ Kh7 1-0

[Event "Moscow Aeroflot op-A"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2004.02.23"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Volokitin, Andrei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B87"]
[WhiteElo "2594"]
[BlackElo "2484"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2004.02.17"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 100"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.06.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.06.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bc4 b5 7. Bb3 e6 8. Qf3
Qc7 9. g4 b4 10. g5 Nfd7 (10... bxc3 $5 11. gxf6 Nd7 12. fxg7 Bxg7 13. Qxc3
Qxc3+ 14. bxc3 Nc5 15. f3 Be5 $13) 11. Na4 Nc6 12. Be3 Na5 (12... Bb7 13. O-O-O
$36) 13. O-O-O $6 {Volokitin plays extremely aggressive chess as befits young
player, but sometimes the chosen set up just doesn't yeld results.} (13. O-O
Ne5 14. Qe2 Bb7 15. Nb6 Rb8 (15... Qxb6 16. Ba4+ $18) 16. Ba4+ Kd8 17. Nf3 Nec4
$13) 13... Bb7 14. Bd2 (14. Kb1 Nxb3 15. cxb3 d5 16. Qh5 Qe5 $17) 14... Nxb3+ (
14... d5 15. Qh3 Nxb3+ 16. Qxb3 Rc8 $17) 15. Qxb3 Be7 {Carlsen avoids direct
danger, but 15...e5! might have been a refutation of white ideas.} (15... e5 $1
16. Ne2 Bxe4 17. f3 Bc6 18. Bxb4 Rb8 $19) (15... Bxe4 16. Nxe6 Qxc2+ 17. Qxc2
Bxc2 18. Nxg7+ Bxg7 19. Kxc2 Rc8+ 20. Kb3 $14) 16. Bxb4 Bxe4 $2 (16... Bxg5+
17. Kb1 Be7 18. f3 Rb8 $13) 17. Rhe1 $1 {All white pieces are in active
positions (with a small exception of knight a4), the situation is critical for
black.} Bd5 (17... Bxg5+ 18. Kb1 d5 (18... Bg6 19. Bxd6 $16) 19. f3 Bh4 (19...
Bg6 20. Qxd5 $18) 20. fxe4 Bxe1 21. Rxe1 dxe4 22. Nxe6 fxe6 23. Qxe6+ Kd8 24.
Rd1 $18) (17... Bg6 18. f4 Rc8 19. f5 exf5 (19... Bh5 20. g6 hxg6 21. fxe6 $18)
20. Nb5 axb5 21. Bxd6 O-O (21... Qxc2+ 22. Qxc2 Rxc2+ 23. Kxc2 bxa4 24. Rxe7+
Kd8 25. Ba3 f4+ 26. Kc3 Bf5 27. Rxf7 $18) 22. Bxc7 Bxg5+ 23. Kb1 bxa4 24. Qxa4
$18) 18. Qg3 O-O (18... Rb8 19. Ba3 g6 20. Nc3 Ba8 (20... Nb6 21. Nxd5 Nxd5 22.
Nxe6 fxe6 23. Rxd5 $16) 21. Nxe6 fxe6 22. Bxd6 Bxd6 23. Rxe6+ Kd8 24. Rexd6 Bc6
25. Rxc6 $18) 19. Nf5 $1 exf5 (19... Bd8 20. Bxd6 Qb7 21. Nc3 Bf3 22. Rd3 exf5
23. Bxf8 Nxf8 24. Qxf3 Bxg5+ 25. Kb1 $18) 20. Rxe7 Qc4 (20... Rfc8 21. Nc3 Be6
22. Qxd6 Qc4 23. b3 Qg4 24. Nd5 $18) 21. Qxd6 {It becomes obvious, that black
has failed in the defensive task.} Be6 (21... Bc6 22. b3 Qb5 23. c4 Qb7 24. Bc3
$18) 22. b3 Qh4 23. Rxe6 fxe6 24. Qxe6+ Kh8 (24... Rf7 25. Rxd7 Qxg5+ 26. Kb2
$18) 25. Be7 $1 {Very fine move that underlines the hopless location of knight
d7.} (25. Bxf8 Qxg5+ 26. Qe3 Qxe3+ 27. fxe3 Nxf8 28. Nc5 $16) 25... Qxf2 26.
Qxd7 Rfe8 27. Bc5 Qh4 28. Qxf5 1-0

[Event "Moscow Aeroflot op-A"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2004.02.25"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Rustemov, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C02"]
[WhiteElo "2484"]
[BlackElo "2585"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "2004.02.17"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 100"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.06.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.06.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Qb6 5. Nf3 Bd7 6. a3 Bb5 7. b4 cxd4 8. Bxb5+
Qxb5 9. cxd4 Nd7 10. Nc3 Qc6 11. Na4 Ne7 12. Be3 Nb6 13. Nxb6 Qxb6 14. O-O Nf5
15. Rc1 Qd8 16. Qa4+ Qd7 17. Qa5 Be7 18. Rc7 b6 19. Rxd7 bxa5 20. Rb7 axb4 21.
axb4 O-O 22. g4 Nxe3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Reykjavik op 21st"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2004.03.07"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Halldorsson, Halldor Brynjar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2159"]
[BlackElo "2484"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2004.03.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. O-O Nc6 6. c3 Nf6 7. d4 Nxe4 8.
d5 Ne5 9. Re1 Nf6 10. Nxe5 dxe5 11. c4 g6 12. Rxe5 Bg7 13. Nc3 O-O 14. Re1 Ng4
15. Bf4 Bd4 16. Bg3 a6 17. Rb1 Qf5 18. Qf3 Nh6 19. Qxf5 Nxf5 20. Be5 Nd6 21. b3
b5 22. Bxd4 cxd4 23. Ne2 d3 24. c5 Ne4 25. Nf4 Nxc5 26. Rbd1 Ra7 27. Nxd3 Nxd3
28. Rxd3 Rd8 29. Red1 Rad7 30. Kf1 Kg7 31. Ke2 f5 32. f4 Kf6 33. Ke3 Rc8 34. g3
h6 35. Rd4 Rc3+ 36. Ke2 g5 37. R1d3 Rc1 38. Rd1 Rc8 39. Ke3 Rc3+ 40. R1d3 Rc1
41. Rd2 g4 42. R4d3 h5 43. Re2 Rc5 44. Red2 Rd6 45. Ke2 Rc1 46. Rd1 Rc8 47.
R1d2 h4 48. Ke3 h3 49. Ke2 Rc5 50. Rd1 b4 51. Rd4 a5 52. R1d2 Kf7 53. R2d3 Ke8
54. Rd2 Kd7 55. R4d3 Rc1 56. Rd1 Rc2+ 57. R1d2 Rc5 58. Rd1 Kc7 59. R1d2 Rc1 60.
Re3 Rh1 61. Rxe7+ Kd8 62. Rh7 Rxh2+ 63. Ke3 Rxd2 64. Kxd2 Rxd5+ 65. Ke2 Rc5 66.
Kd3 Rc3+ 67. Kd4 Rxg3 0-1

[Event "Reykjavik op 21st"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2004.03.08"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Timman, Jan H"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B46"]
[WhiteElo "2484"]
[BlackElo "2578"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2004.03.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e6 5. Nc3 a6 6. g3 Nge7 7. Nb3 d6 8. Bg2
Bd7 9. O-O Nc8 10. a4 Be7 11. Qe2 O-O 12. Be3 Na5 13. Nxa5 Qxa5 14. Qd2 Qc7 15.
Ne2 Bf6 16. c3 Rd8 17. f4 Rb8 18. g4 b5 19. g5 Be7 20. a5 d5 21. f5 dxe4 22. f6
Bc5 23. Kh1 Bc6 24. Qc1 Bxe3 25. Qxe3 Rd3 26. Qg1 Nd6 27. Nf4 Rf3 28. Rad1 Nc4
29. Qc5 Nxa5 30. Nh5 Nb7 31. Qa7 g6 32. Ng3 Rxf1+ 33. Nxf1 a5 34. Ng3 Rd8 35.
Rxd8+ Qxd8 36. Bxe4 Bxe4+ 37. Nxe4 Qd5 38. Kg1 h6 39. Qa8+ Nd8 40. Qxd5 exd5
41. Nd6 hxg5 42. Nxb5 Nc6 43. Kf2 Ne5 44. Kg3 a4 45. Nc7 Nc4 46. Nxd5 Nxb2 47.
Nb4 Kh7 48. Kf3 Kh6 49. Ke4 g4 50. Kd5 a3 51. Kd6 g5 0-1

[Event "Reykjavik op 21st"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2004.03.09"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Arngrimsson, Dagur"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2239"]
[BlackElo "2484"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2004.03.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. c4 Qe4+ 7. Be3 cxd4 8.
Nxd4 Nf6 9. Nc3 Qe5 10. Be2 O-O 11. Ndb5 Nc6 12. Qc1 Bg4 13. f3 Be6 14. Bf4 Qh5
15. Nc7 Rad8 16. Nxe6 fxe6 17. O-O Nd4 18. Re1 Qf5 19. Bd1 Nd7 20. Be3 Nc5 21.
Rf1 Nd3 22. Qb1 Qe5 23. Bf2 Nxf2 24. Rxf2 Qe3 25. Qe4 Bh6 26. Kf1 Qxe4 27. fxe4
Be3 28. Rxf8+ Rxf8+ 29. Bf3 Nxf3 30. gxf3 Rxf3+ 31. Kg2 Rf2+ 32. Kg3 Rxb2 33.
Nd1 Re2 34. Kf3 Re1 35. Rb1 Bd4 0-1

[Event "Reykjavik op 21st"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2004.03.10"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nataf, Igor Alexandre"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2484"]
[BlackElo "2569"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2004.03.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Qc7 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. e5 Nd5 7. Ne4 Bg4 8.
O-O e6 9. c4 Nb4 10. d4 Rd8 11. Qb3 Bxf3 12. gxf3 Rxd4 13. Be3 Rd3 14. Qa4 Na6
15. Rad1 Rxd1 16. Rxd1 Qxe5 17. Qb3 Qc7 18. Qd3 Be7 19. Bf4 Qc8 20. Nd6+ Bxd6
21. Qxd6 f6 22. a3 Rf8 23. b4 cxb4 24. axb4 Rf7 25. b5 cxb5 26. cxb5 Nc5 27.
Rc1 b6 28. Be3 Rc7 29. Kg2 Kf7 30. Rc4 Qd7 31. Qg3 e5 32. Rg4 Kg8 33. Qh4 Ne6
34. Rg3 f5 35. Rh3 Nf8 36. Qb4 f4 37. Bd2 Qf7 38. Rh4 Rc4 39. Qb2 Rc5 40. Rg4
Ne6 41. Qb1 h5 42. Rg6 Rxb5 43. Qe4 Rd5 44. Qxd5 Qxg6+ 45. Kf1 Qb1+ 46. Kg2 Qf5
47. Bc3 Kh7 48. h4 Nf8 0-1

[Event "Reykjavik op 21st"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2004.03.11"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Thorfinnsson, Bjorn"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D03"]
[WhiteElo "2340"]
[BlackElo "2484"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2004.03.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bg5 Bg7 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Nbd2 d5 8. O-O
Nd7 9. a3 h6 10. Bh4 g5 11. Bg3 e5 12. Nxe5 Ndxe5 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Bxe5 Bxe5
15. f4 Bg7 16. fxg5 Qxg5 17. Qf3 Bg4 18. Qf4 Rae8 19. Rae1 Qxf4 20. Rxf4 h5 21.
Nf1 Bh6 22. Ra4 a6 23. h3 Bd7 24. Rh4 Re5 25. g4 Rfe8 26. Rxh5 Rxh5 27. gxh5
Re5 28. Kf2 Rxh5 29. Ng3 Re5 30. e4 c4 31. Bf1 Bf4 32. Kf3 Bh6 33. Bg2 f5 34.
Kf2 dxe4 35. Rd1 Ba4 36. Rd6 Bf8 37. Rg6+ Kf7 38. Rg5 Kf6 39. h4 Bh6 40. Rh5
Kg6 41. Bh3 Bd7 42. Bf1 Rb5 43. Bxc4 Rxb2+ 44. Kg1 f4 45. Rd5 fxg3 46. h5+ Kf6
47. Rd6+ Kg5 48. Rxd7 Kh4 0-1

[Event "Reykjavik op 21st"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2004.03.12"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sedlak, Nikola"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2484"]
[BlackElo "2539"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2004.03.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 g6 3. Bxf6 exf6 4. e3 d5 5. g3 Bd6 6. Bg2 c6 7. Nd2 O-O 8. Ne2
f5 9. c4 dxc4 10. Nxc4 Bb4+ 11. Nd2 Be6 12. O-O Bxd2 13. Qxd2 Bd5 14. Bxd5 Qxd5
15. Nc3 Qd8 16. d5 cxd5 17. Nxd5 Nc6 18. Rfd1 Re8 19. Rac1 f6 20. b4 Re6 21. b5
Ne5 22. Qb4 Qf8 23. Qb3 Kg7 24. Nc7 Re7 25. Ne6+ Rxe6 26. Qxe6 Rd8 27. Qb3
Rxd1+ 28. Rxd1 Qc8 29. Kg2 g5 30. f4 Nf7 31. Qd5 g4 32. Rd2 h5 33. a4 Kg6 34.
Kf2 Qc3 35. Ke2 Qa1 36. Qxb7 Qxa4 37. Qd5 Qb4 38. Ra2 Qb1 39. Rxa7 Qb2+ 40. Kd3
Qb1+ 41. Kc4 Qc1+ 42. Kb4 Qe1+ 43. Kc5 Qxe3+ 44. Qd4 Qc1+ 45. Kb6 h4 46. Rc7
Qh1 47. Qd7 1-0

[Event "Reykjavik op 21st"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2004.03.14"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Korneev, Oleg"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B76"]
[WhiteElo "2566"]
[BlackElo "2484"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2004.03.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2
O-O 9. O-O-O Bd7 10. g4 Rc8 11. Kb1 Ne5 12. Be2 b5 13. Ncxb5 a6 14. Nc3 Nc4 15.
Bxc4 Rxc4 16. b3 Qb8 17. Ka1 Rfc8 18. Nde2 Bxg4 19. e5 Bxf3 20. exf6 Bxf6 21.
Bd4 Bxd4 22. Nxd4 Bxh1 23. Rxh1 Qb7 24. Rg1 R4c5 25. Rg3 1-0

[Event "Reykjavik op 21st"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2004.03.15"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Stefansson, Hannes"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2484"]
[BlackElo "2572"]
[PlyCount "158"]
[EventDate "2004.03.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. e4 h6 4. Bxf6 Qxf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Qd2 c6 7. f4 e5 8. dxe5
dxe5 9. f5 Bb4 10. O-O-O Nd7 11. Nf3 Qe7 12. g4 Nf6 13. Bd3 Bd7 14. h3 O-O-O
15. Kb1 Kb8 16. Rhe1 Bc8 17. a3 Ba5 18. b4 Bc7 19. Na4 g6 20. Qc3 gxf5 21. exf5
Rhe8 22. Nc5 Nd5 23. Qb3 Nf4 24. Bc4 Rxd1+ 25. Rxd1 Rf8 26. Qe3 h5 27. Ne4 f6
28. Nh4 Bb6 29. Qf3 hxg4 30. hxg4 Qg7 31. Ng3 Rh8 32. Rh1 Rh6 33. Rh2 Bg1 34.
Rh1 Bd4 35. Ne4 Qh8 36. Qg3 Nd5 37. Rh2 Ne3 38. Bd3 Qg8 39. Nf3 Rxh2 40. Qxh2
Nxg4 41. Qg3 Bb6 42. Nxf6 Nxf6 43. Qxe5+ Bc7 44. Qxf6 Qd5 45. Nd2 Be5 46. Qh4
Bxf5 47. Qc4 Qh1+ 48. Nf1 Bd7 49. Qe4 Qh5 50. Ne3 Qg5 51. Ka2 Bh8 52. Qh1 Qe5
53. Qc1 Bf6 54. Bc4 Bg5 55. Qd1 Kc7 56. Nf1 Bf6 57. Qc1 Qc3 58. Bb3 Bd4 59.
Qf4+ Be5 60. Qc1 Kc8 61. Bg8 Bg7 62. Bf7 Bf5 63. Ne3 Bh6 64. Qf1 Bd7 65. Nd1
Qxc2+ 66. Nb2 Bg7 67. Qb1 Qc3 68. Bb3 Kc7 69. Qc2 Qd4 70. Qe2 Be5 71. Bg8 Bg4
72. Qc2 Bf5 73. Qe2 b5 74. Bf7 Be4 75. Bg8 Kd6 76. Bf7 Bd5+ 77. Bxd5 cxd5 78.
Nd3 Qa1+ 79. Kb3 Qb1+ 0-1

[Event "Reykjavik op 21st"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2004.03.16"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Bjornsson, Sigurbjorn"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2337"]
[BlackElo "2484"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2004.03.07"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. Be3 cxd4 7. cxd4 Qa5+ 8.
Nc3 Nh6 9. Bc4 Nf5 10. O-O O-O 11. Qb3 Nc6 12. d5 Ne5 13. Nxe5 Bxe5 14. Ne4
Nxe3 15. fxe3 Qb6 16. d6 e6 17. Rad1 Bd7 18. Qxb6 axb6 19. Nf6+ Bxf6 20. Rxf6
Ra5 21. Bb3 Kg7 22. Rf4 Rc8 23. Rb4 Rb5 24. Rxb5 Bxb5 25. e4 Kf6 26. a4 Ba6 27.
Kf2 Ke5 28. Ke3 Rd8 29. d7 Kf6 30. Rd6 Ke7 31. e5 Rxd7 32. Rxd7+ Kxd7 33. Kd4
Bf1 34. g3 Ke7 35. Bd1 Bg2 36. h4 f5 37. b4 h6 38. b5 Bd5 39. Ke3 g5 40. h5 Kf7
41. Kd4 f4 42. gxf4 gxf4 43. Kd3 Ke7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Reykjavik Blitz"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2004.03.17"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nataf, Igor Alexandre"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2484"]
[BlackElo "2569"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2004.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Bc4 Be7 5. d3 Nf6 6. Ng5 O-O 7. f4 d5 8. exd5
Nd4 9. O-O Bg4 10. Qe1 exf4 11. Bxf4 h6 12. d6 Bxd6 13. Bxd6 Qxd6 14. Nxf7 Rxf7
15. Ne4 Qc6 16. Nxf6+ gxf6 17. Bxf7+ Kxf7 18. Qh4 Rg8 19. Rf2 Bf3 20. Qh3 Bg4
21. Qe3 Qe6 22. Raf1 Rg6 23. c3 Nc6 24. g3 0-1

[Event "Reykjavik Blitz"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2004.03.17"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Olafsson, Helgi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D80"]
[WhiteElo "2504"]
[BlackElo "2484"]
[PlyCount "33"]
[EventDate "2004.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Bg7 5. Bxf6 Bxf6 6. cxd5 c6 7. dxc6 Nxc6 8.
e3 O-O 9. Nf3 e5 10. d5 Ne7 11. e4 Bg4 12. Be2 Qb6 13. Rb1 Nc8 14. O-O Nd6 15.
Na4 Qd8 16. b4 Rc8 17. Qd3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Reykjavik Blitz"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2004.03.17"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Timman, Jan H"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C72"]
[WhiteElo "2484"]
[BlackElo "2578"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2004.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. O-O Bd7 6. c4 Nf6 7. Nc3 Nd4 8.
Bxd7+ Nxd7 9. Nxd4 exd4 10. Ne2 Qf6 11. d3 g6 12. b4 Bg7 13. Bb2 c5 14. Qa4 Qe7
15. Nf4 O-O 16. Nd5 Qd8 17. bxc5 Nxc5 18. Qc2 b5 19. Ba3 Rc8 20. cxb5 axb5 21.
Rab1 Re8 22. Rfc1 Qa5 23. Bb4 Qa6 24. Qd2 Kh8 25. h4 f5 26. f3 fxe4 27. fxe4
Ne6 28. Rxc8 Rxc8 29. Rf1 Rf8 30. Rxf8+ Bxf8 31. Qf2 Qc8 32. Kh2 Qd8 33. g3 Bg7
34. Qf7 Nc5 35. Nf4 Be5 36. Bd2 Qg8 37. Qa7 Na4 38. Nd5 Nc3 39. Nf4 Qxa2 40.
Qb8+ Kg7 41. Qc7+ Kh6 42. Ne6+ Qxd2+ 43. Kh3 Ne2 0-1

[Event "Reykjavik Blitz"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2004.03.17"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Epishin, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E90"]
[WhiteElo "2633"]
[BlackElo "2484"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2004.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 O-O 5. Nf3 c6 6. Bd3 d6 7. h3 e5 8. d5 Na6
9. Be3 Nc5 10. Bc2 cxd5 11. cxd5 Nh5 12. O-O Nf4 13. Ne2 Nxe2+ 14. Qxe2 b6 15.
b4 Ba6 16. b5 Bc8 17. Bxc5 bxc5 18. a4 Bh6 19. a5 Bd7 20. Rfb1 f5 21. Bd3 Rb8
22. Ra2 fxe4 23. Bxe4 Rf4 24. Nd2 Qg5 25. b6 axb6 26. axb6 Bxh3 27. b7 Rff8 28.
Nc4 Bg4 29. f3 Bd7 30. Nxd6 Qh4 31. Qf2 Qh5 32. Rba1 Qg5 33. Ra8 Qe7 34. Qxc5
1-0

[Event "Reykjavik Blitz"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2004.03.17"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Kasparov, Garry"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A31"]
[WhiteElo "2831"]
[BlackElo "2484"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2004.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. g3 c5 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Bd7 8. O-O
Bg7 9. Nxc6 Bxc6 10. e4 O-O 11. Be3 a6 12. Rc1 Nd7 13. Qe2 b5 14. b4 Ne5 15.
cxb5 axb5 16. Nxb5 Bxb5 17. Qxb5 Qb8 18. a4 Qxb5 19. axb5 Rfb8 20. b6 Ng4 21.
b7 1-0

[Event "Reykjavik Blitz"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2004.03.17"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D61"]
[WhiteElo "2484"]
[BlackElo "2648"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2004.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. Qc2 h6 8. Bh4
b6 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Qa4 Bb7 11. Ba6 Bxa6 12. Qxa6 c6 13. O-O Qc8 14. Qa4 Re8
15. Rac1 Qb7 16. Qc2 a5 17. Bxf6 Nxf6 18. e4 dxe4 19. Nxe4 c5 20. Nxf6+ Bxf6
21. dxc5 bxc5 22. b3 a4 23. Qxc5 axb3 24. axb3 Qxb3 25. Qc4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Reykjavik Blitz"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2004.03.17"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Short, Nigel D"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2484"]
[BlackElo "2702"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2004.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 099 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 c5 3. d5 Qb6 4. Nc3 Qxb2 5. Bd2 Qb6 6. e4 d6 7. f4 g6 8. Nf3
Bg7 9. Rb1 Qd8 10. e5 dxe5 11. Bb5+ Nfd7 12. fxe5 a6 13. Bxd7+ Nxd7 14. Qe2 O-O
15. a4 Qc7 16. Bf4 g5 17. d6 exd6 18. Nd5 Qa5+ 19. Bd2 Qxa4 20. exd6 Nf6 21.
Ne7+ Kh8 22. O-O Qe4 23. Qf2 h6 24. Rbe1 Qxc2 25. Ne5 Be6 26. Rc1 Qh7 27. Rce1
Ne4 28. Rxe4 Qxe4 29. Bc3 Rad8 30. Qb2 Kh7 31. Re1 Qa4 32. Qb1+ f5 33. N5g6
Bxc3 34. Rxe6 Qb4 35. Qf1 0-1

[Event "Reykjavik rapid"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2004.03.18"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kasparov, Garry"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D52"]
[WhiteElo "2484"]
[BlackElo "2831"]
[Annotator "Skripchenko,A"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2004.03.18"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 100"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.06.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.06.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 {Carlsen probably wants to avoid the Najdorf against Kasparov.} d5 2. c4
c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 Nbd7 (5... dxc4 {The Botvinnik System is the
sharpest line available here. Is Kasparov afraid to play something as
dangerous as this against a child who calculates like a computer?}) 6. e3 Qa5 {
Kasparov plays the Cambridge Springs, which is not as volatile as theBotvinnik.
} 7. Nd2 Bb4 8. Qc2 O-O 9. Be2 e5 10. O-O exd4 11. Nb3 Qb6 12. exd4 dxc4 13.
Bxc4 a5 14. a4 Qc7 15. Rae1 h6 16. Bh4 Bd6 17. h3 Nb6 (17... g5 $2 {is met by}
18. Qg6+ {:-)}) 18. Bxf6 Nxc4 19. Ne4 Bh2+ (19... Be6 20. Nxd6 Nxd6 {is
actually better than what happened in the game}) 20. Kh1 Nd6 21. Kxh2 Nxe4+ 22.
Be5 Nd6 23. Qc5 (23. d5 Rd8 24. Nd4 {wins a pawn, because} Bd7 {loses to} 25.
Nb5) 23... Rd8 24. d5 Qd7 25. Nd4 Nf5 26. dxc6 bxc6 27. Nxc6 Re8 28. Rd1 Qe6
29. Rfe1 Bb7 30. Nd4 ({The kid has Kasparov sweating, but he sees that after} 
30. Nxa5 {there are enormous complications arising from} Bxg2 {When you are a
pawn up against the world's strongest player you do not want to give him this
kind of counterplay, but rather to simplify the position and win in the
endgame :-)}) 30... Nxd4 31. Qxd4 Qg6 32. Qg4 ({When you are a pawn up and
have opposite colour bishops it is usually better to keep the queens on the
board. I would have have played} 32. f3) 32... Qxg4 33. hxg4 Bc6 34. b3 f6 35.
Bc3 Rxe1 36. Rxe1 Bd5 37. Rb1 Kf7 38. Kg3 Rb8 39. b4 axb4 40. Bxb4 Bc4 41. a5
Ba6 42. f3 Kg6 43. Kf4 h5 44. gxh5+ Kxh5 45. Rh1+ Kg6 46. Bc5 Rb2 47. Kg3 Ra2
48. Bb6 Kf7 49. Rc1 g5 50. Rc7+ (50. Bd8 $1 Bb5 51. Rd1 Bc4 52. Rd6 Bf1 53. f4
Rxg2+ 54. Kf3 gxf4 (54... g4+ $2 55. Ke4 Re2+ 56. Kf5 g3 57. Rxf6+ Ke8 58. Bb6
{gives White chances to win.}) 55. Rxf6+ Ke8 56. Bc7 Ra2 57. Rxf4 Kd7 58. Bb6 {
is still a draw, but with a little more suffering for Black.}) 50... Kg6 51.
Rc6 Bf1 52. Bf2 {Kasparov was actually lucky to escape with a draw against the
13-year-old Norwegian wunderkind.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Reykjavik rapid"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2004.03.18"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Kasparov, Garry"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E92"]
[WhiteElo "2831"]
[BlackElo "2484"]
[Annotator "Avrukh,B"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2004.03.18"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 100"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.06.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.06.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. e4 d6 4. d4 Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. Be3 exd4 8. Nxd4
c6 9. f3 Re8 10. Bf2 d5 11. exd5 cxd5 12. c5 Nc6 13. O-O Nh5 14. Qd2 Be5 15. g3
Bh3 $6 (15... Ng7) 16. Rfe1 $1 {In my opinion White's best option, since he
has the free d1-square for the second rook.} (16. Rfd1 Nf6 17. Bb5 Rc8 $13 {
Illescas-Smirin 2001}) 16... Ng7 (16... Nf6 17. Rad1 Rc8 18. a3 {[%cal Gb2b4]}
h5 19. Kh1 Bb8 (19... h4 $2 20. g4 $16 {[%csl Gh3]}) 20. b4 a5 21. Nxc6 Rxc6 (
21... bxc6) 22. Bb5 Rxe1+ 23. Rxe1 Rc8 24. Bd4 $16 {1-0 Roiz,M-Ahn,M/
Chalkidiki 2002/CBM 92 (27)}) 17. Rad1 $1 $146 {This logical continuation
clearly improves on White's play. Previously has been tried only:} (17. Bb5 Rc8
18. Rad1 Nxd4 $1 19. Bxd4 Bxd4+ 20. Qxd4 Rxe1+ 21. Rxe1 Ne6 22. Qxd5 Qxd5 23.
Nxd5 Rxc5 24. Nc3 $11 {1/2-1/2 Taimanov,M-Stein,L/Tallinn 1965/URS-ch (43)})
17... Rc8 $6 (17... Ne6 18. Nxe6 (18. Ndb5 $143 {[%csl Gd5]} d4 (18... a6 $2
19. Nd6 $1 Bxd6 20. cxd6 Qxd6 21. Qh6 Bf5 22. Nxd5 $16 {[%csl Gf6]}) 19. Ne4 a6
(19... Re7 20. Bc4 $36) 20. Nbd6 Nxc5 21. Nxe8 Nxe4 22. fxe4 Qxe8 $44) 18...
Bxe6 (18... fxe6 19. f4 Bg7 20. g4 {[%csl Gh3]} (20. Nb5 $16 {[%csl Gd6][%cal
Gb5d6]}) 20... d4 21. Ne4 Qd5 22. Bf3 $18) 19. f4 (19. Nxd5 Bxd5 20. Qxd5 Qxd5
21. Rxd5 Bxb2 22. Kf1) 19... Bxc3 20. Qxc3 {[%cal Gb2b4,Gb4b5] with much
better chances for White.}) ({Maybe} 17... Be6 {was the most playable
opportunity}) 18. Ndb5 $1 $16 {[%csl Gd5] Garry has placed his pieces on the
best squares and now it's exactly the right moment to start a serious
offensive.} a6 (18... d4 19. Ne4 {[%csl Gd6][%cal Gb5d6]} Nf5 20. Ng5 $18 {
[%csl Gh3]}) 19. Nd6 Bxd6 20. cxd6 d4 (20... Qxd6 21. Nxd5 {[%csl Gf6,Rh3]
[%cal Gg3g4] strangely enough Black cannot avoid material loses:} Ne7 22. Nxe7+
Qxe7 23. Bb5 $1 $18 {[%cal Ge1e7]}) 21. Ne4 Bf5 22. d7 $1 {Immediately wins
material.} Bxd7 (22... Qxd7 $2 23. Nf6+) 23. Bxd4 Nxd4 (23... Rxe4 24. fxe4 Be6
{was maybe more stubborn, but White's win is just a matter of time, since
Black has no compensation for the exchange.}) 24. Qxd4 Nf5 25. Qxd7 $18 Qb6+
26. Kh1 Red8 27. Qa4 Rxd1 28. Qxd1 Qxb2 29. Qb1 Rc2 30. Qxb2 Rxb2 31. Bc4 Nd4
32. Re3 1-0

[Event "Dubai op 6th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2004.04.19"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Doostkam, Pooyan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E92"]
[WhiteElo "2226"]
[BlackElo "2552"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2004.04.19"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 g6 2. Nc3 Bg7 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e4 O-O 5. d4 d6 6. Be2 e5 7. d5 Na6 8. Nd2
Bh6 9. h4 Nc5 10. Qc2 a5 11. h5 Bg5 12. Nf1 Bxc1 13. Rxc1 Nxh5 14. Bxh5 gxh5
15. Rxh5 Bg4 16. Rh2 Qg5 17. Ne3 f5 18. Kf1 Rf7 19. Kg1 Raf8 20. Nxf5 Bxf5 21.
exf5 Rxf5 22. Rf1 Qg6 23. Rh3 Kh8 24. Nd1 Qg7 25. Re1 Rg5 26. f3 Rg3 27. Rxg3
Qxg3 28. Re3 Rf4 29. Nf2 Rh4 30. Qf5 Rxc4 31. Qf8+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Dubai op 6th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2004.04.20"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Deepan Chakkravarthy, J."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2552"]
[BlackElo "2331"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[EventDate "2004.04.19"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 e5 {Relatively rare and risky line.} ({
More popular continuations are:} 4... Nd4) (4... Qc7) (4... g6) 5. Bxc6 {
The best reaction. In other cases black has easy equality.} (5. O-O d6 6. d3
Be7 7. h3 O-O 8. Bc4 h6 9. a3 Re8 10. Nh2 Be6 $11 {0-1 Morozevich,A-Kramnik,V/
Frankfurt 2000/CBM 78 (45)}) 5... dxc6 6. Nxe5 (6. h3 Nd7 7. d3 {--> 1-0
Nizamov,I-Sitnikov,D/St Petersburg 1999/CBM 71 [Smirin] (49)}) 6... Nxe4 7.
Nxe4 (7. Qh5 $6 Nd6 8. Ne4 g6 9. Qe2 Nxe4 10. Qxe4 Qd5 11. d3 Bf5 12. Qxd5 cxd5
$15 {0-1 Brkljaca,A-Kontic,D/Becici 1993/EXT 2000 (34)}) 7... Qd4 8. O-O (8. d3
Qxe5 9. f4 Qd5 10. Qe2 Be7 11. c4 Qd8 12. O-O O-O 13. f5 $14 {[%csl Rc8] 1-0
Glek,I-Kupreichik,V/Germany 2000/CBM 80 [Glek] (51)}) (8. Qe2 Qxe5 9. f4 Qxf4 (
9... Qe7 10. f5 g6 11. f6 Qe5 12. d3 Bf5 13. Bd2 O-O-O 14. Bc3 Qe6 15. O-O c4
$132 {1/2-1/2 Gruenfeld,Y-Blanco,C/Philadelphia 2001/EXT 2002 (45)}) (9... Qe6
10. f5 Qe5 11. O-O Be7 12. d3 O-O 13. Qf2 f6 14. g4 c4 $13 {1-0 Pridorozhni,
A-Smirnov,P/Tomsk 1999/EXT 2001 (33)}) 10. d4 (10. Nf6+ Kd8 11. Qe8+ Kc7 12.
Qxf7+ Kd8 13. Qe8+ Kc7 14. Qf7+ Kd8 15. Qe8+ {1/2-1/2 Korneev,O-Murey,J/Paris
1995/EXT 97 (15)}) 10... Qh4+ 11. g3 Qe7 12. O-O f5 13. Nd6+ Kd7 14. Qxe7+ Bxe7
15. dxc5 Bxd6 16. Rd1 Ke8 17. cxd6 Be6 18. Bg5 Kd7 $11 {1/2-1/2 Anand,
V-Kramnik,V/Monte Carlo 2003/CBM 93 ext (40)}) 8... Qxe5 9. d4 $1 {Sacrificing
a pawn for a quick development.} (9. d3 Be7 10. Bd2 O-O 11. Bc3 Qc7 12. Qh5 $14
{1-0 Georgiev,K-Popadic,D/Budva 2003/CBM 96 ext (54)}) 9... cxd4 $6 {
Considering what happened in the game later, probably black should capture
with the queen.} (9... Qxd4 10. Qf3 Be7 11. Bg5 f6 12. Rad1 Qxb2 13. Nd6+ Bxd6
14. Rfe1+ Kf7 15. Rxd6 Rf8 16. c3 Kg8 17. Bxf6 Bd7 18. Rxd7 Rxf6 19. Qg3 Rg6
20. Qd3 Rf6 $11 {0-1 Ovetchkin,R-Kokarev,D/Voronezh 2003/CBM 94 ext (34)}) 10.
Re1 Be6 11. Bg5 $1 $146 {[%csl Re5][%cal Ge4f6][%mdl 136] Strong improvement.
White simply prevents from black queenside castling and it's very hard (if
possible at all) for black to neutralize white's initiative. White's
development advantage is quite significant.} (11. Ng5 Qd5 12. Qg4 Kd7 13. Nxe6
fxe6 14. Be3 c5 15. Rad1 h5 16. Qg6 Qf5 17. Qxf5 exf5 18. c3 Bd6 19. cxd4 c4
$15 {0-1 Ristic,N-Kovacevic,P/Igalo 1994/EXT 2002 (41)}) 11... Be7 {Black is
already ready to give up his queen.} ({In case of} 11... Qd5 12. Bf6 $1 $36 {
is very unpleasant for black. For example:} c5 13. c3 d3 14. c4 $1 Qxc4 $140
15. Bxg7 $1 $18) 12. f4 $1 {Remarkable move. Magnus refrains from capturing
the queen and correctly playing for the attack, which appears to be far
stronger than expected...} (12. Nf6+ Bxf6 13. Rxe5 Bxe5 14. f4 Bc7 15. f5 {
is in white's favour as well.}) 12... Qd5 (12... Qc7 13. Bxe7 Kxe7 14. Qxd4 Qb6
15. Nc5 Rhd8 16. Rxe6+ fxe6 17. Qxg7+ {with decisive attack.}) 13. Bxe7 Kxe7 {
[%tqu "En","How should white continue?","","","f4f5","This is obvious, so no
exclamation mark...",5]} 14. f5 {This is obvious, so no exclamation mark...}
Qxf5 15. Qxd4 {Black's extra pawn does not help him to parry white's threats.}
Qd5 (15... Rhd8 16. Qb4+ Ke8 17. Rad1 $18) 16. Qb4+ c5 17. Nxc5 a5 18. Qa3 Qd4+
19. Kh1 Qb4 20. Qe3 {Black resigned in view of inevitable destruction of his
position.} 1-0

[Event "Dubai op 6th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2004.04.21"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Al Hadarani, Hatim"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2356"]
[BlackElo "2552"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2004.04.19"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. Re1 Nf6 6. c3 ({Solid alternative
is} 6. e5 Nd5 7. Nc3) 6... O-O 7. d4 d5 8. exd5 {Black is doing fine in this
opening line.} ({The alternative} 8. e5 {is more promising for white.}) 8...
Qxd5 9. c4 Qd6 10. d5 $6 {After this move white is already worse!} (10. dxc5
Qxd1 11. Rxd1 Ne4 $132 {1-0 Ricardi,P-Kotronias,V/Yerevan 1996/EXT 97 (81)})
10... Nd4 $1 (10... Na5 $6 11. Na3 a6 12. Ba4 b5 13. cxb5 Nxd5 14. Bg5 Rd8 15.
Rb1 axb5 16. Nxb5 Qb6 17. Qe2 Nc6 18. Bb3 Bg4 19. h3 Bxf3 20. Qxf3 $14 {
Anand,V-Kramnik,V/Moscow 1994/CBM 40 ext (71)}) 11. Nxd4 cxd4 12. h3 $6 (12.
Qxd4 $6 Ng4 13. Qf4 Qxf4 14. Bxf4 Bxb2 $17 {1/2-1/2 Novik,M-Pantev,V/Sofia
1994/TD (51)}) ({Objectively better is} 12. Nd2 a6 (12... e5 13. Ba4 Bf5 $15 {
0-1 Cozianu,C-Grigore,G/Bucharest 1994/EXT 98 (40)}) 13. Ba4 b5 14. Bb3 Bb7 15.
cxb5 axb5 16. Nf3 Nxd5 17. Nxd4 Rfd8 18. Nf3 h6 $15 {0-1 Speelman/NN-Kasparov/
Short/London 1993/EXT 2002 (48)}) 12... a6 13. Ba4 b5 {Breaking white's pawns
chain in the centre black gets a big advantage.} 14. cxb5 axb5 15. Bxb5 (15.
Bb3 Nxd5 16. Bxd5 Qxd5 17. Rxe7 Be6 $19 {[%csl Re7]}) 15... Qxd5 16. a4 (16.
Be2 {--> 0-1 Gubanov,A-Svidler,P/St Petersburg 1995/CBM 47 [Svidler] (27)})
16... Bb7 17. Bf1 e5 {Black achieved a dream from the opening. His control
over the centre is absolute. It's curious that all this already appeared in
practice...} 18. b4 $146 (18. Na3 $142 $17 {1-0 De Andrade,W-Coelho,L/Brasilia
2001/CBM 80 ext (35)}) 18... e4 {A picturesque position. All white's pieces
are on the back rank, while he tries (for no avail) to push forward his
queenside passed pawns...} 19. b5 Nd7 20. Ra3 $6 (20. Bb2 {was the least of
the evils, but black is dominating in any case.}) 20... d3 21. Nd2 f5 {The
rest of the game is rather pointless, but black definitely enjoyed every
moment of it...} 22. Qb3 Rfc8 23. Qxd5+ Bxd5 24. a5 Bf8 25. Ra4 Nb6 26. Ra1 Bb4
{Big material losses are inevitable for white.} 27. a6 Rc2 28. Rd1 Bc3 29. Ra3
Rxc1 30. Rxc1 Bxd2 0-1

[Event "Dubai op 6th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2004.04.22"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vladimirov, Yevgeniy"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B67"]
[WhiteElo "2552"]
[BlackElo "2621"]
[Annotator "Gofshtein,L"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2004.04.19"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8.
O-O-O Bd7 9. f3 Rc8 {Black has tried several moves in this position, for
example: a) 9...b5 or b) 9...Nd4. The main idea of 9...Rc8 is counterplay on
the queenside as soon as possible.} (9... Qa5) (9... Be7) (9... Nxd4) (9... b5
10. Nxc6 Bxc6 11. Ne2 Be7 12. Nd4 Rc8 13. h4 O-O 14. Kb1 d5 15. e5 Nd7 16. Qe3
Re8 17. g4 Qb6 $132 {0-1 McShane,L-Boidman,Y/Rethymnon 2003/CBM 98 (53)}) (9...
Nxd4 10. Qxd4 Be7 11. g4 Bc6 12. Be3 O-O 13. g5 Nd7 14. h4 b5 15. Kb1 b4 16.
Ne2 d5 17. exd5 Bxd5 $132 {1/2-1/2 Tal,M-Balashov,Y/Tallinn 1973/MCL (28)}) 10.
Be3 {10.g4 was also played, which usually leads to the same positions with a
different move order} (10. g4 Be7 11. Be3 Ne5 12. g5 Nh5 13. Rg1 Qc7 14. f4 Nc4
15. Bxc4 Qxc4 $132 {1-0 Spivak,I-Aseev,K/Rostov 1993/TD (35)}) 10... Ne5 {
Black decides not to exchange and keeping tension in the center. 10...Nd4 was
also met with a further Bd7-c6 as was in the game given below.} (10... Nxd4 11.
Bxd4 b5 12. g4 Bc6 13. g5 Nd7 14. h4 b4 15. Nb1 Qa5 $132 {Socko,B-Blehm,P/
Warsaw 2001/CBM 82/1/2-1/2 (121)}) 11. g4 h6 {Black is stopping the advance of
the white pawns and prepares d6-d5.} 12. h4 (12. Kb1 b5 13. Qe1 b4 14. Nce2 Nc4
15. Bc1 Qc7 $132 {1/2-1/2 Romero Leon,A-Campos,J/Mondariz 1996/EXT 98 (28)})
12... b5 (12... g6 13. Be2 b5 14. g5 Nh5 15. f4 b4 16. Nb1 Nc4 17. Bxc4 Rxc4
$132 {1-0 Rasmussen,C-Ziska,B/Aarhus 1991/EXT 98 (40)}) 13. Bd3 b4 14. Nce2 d5
15. exd5 Nxd5 16. Nf4 Qa5 $5 $146 {Only this move is a novelty.} (16... Nxd3+
$5 17. Qxd3 Nxe3 18. Qxe3 Bc5 19. Nh5 O-O 20. g5 (20. Qe5 f6 21. Qe4 $13) 20...
Qc7 $132 {0-1 Gazik,I-Popovic,P/Stary Smokovec 1991/CBM 26/[Boensch,U] (29)})
17. Kb1 Nxf3 (17... Nxd3 18. Qxd3 Nxe3 19. Qxe3) 18. Qf2 $8 {[%mdl 512]} (18.
Nxf3 Nc3+ 19. bxc3 bxc3 20. Qc1 Ba3 $19) 18... Nxe3 19. Qxe3 (19. Qxf3 Nxd1 20.
Rxd1 Bd6 $19) 19... Nxd4 $5 (19... Bc5 20. Qxf3 Bxd4 21. Ng6 $1 $44) 20. Qxd4
Qc5 21. Qe4 {In spite of black's material advantage, white has a serious
compensation. He has a development advantage and black's king is weak as well.}
Qc6 {Black tries to remove the white queen from a central position. The
tempting 21...Bc6 was bad as the next variations show.} (21... Bc6 22. Qe1 Bxh1
23. Nxe6 Qe7 24. Bf5 $3 $16 Bb7 25. Rd8+ $3 Rxd8 26. Nc7#) 22. Qe2 a5 (22...
Bd6 23. Nh5 O-O 24. g5 $40) 23. Nh5 $44 {White activizes his pieces and brings
them closer to the black king.} a4 24. Rhf1 $1 {[%cal Rf1f7]} Rc7 {[%cal Rc7f7]
preparing the defence of f7} (24... Qc5 25. Qf3 Qe7 26. Qb7 $36) 25. Qf2 {
[%cal Rf2f7]} Bc8 26. Qd4 $1 {[%cal Rh5g7,Rd4g7,Rd4d8] Further activizing the
queen and creating concrete threats ro the black king.} Rd7 {Black is already
not able to cope with the white's threats} (26... Rg8 27. Bb5 $18) 27. Nxg7+
$18 Bxg7 28. Qxg7 Rf8 29. Qxh6 {[%cal Rg4g6] White's material advantage and an
open position of the black king make black's position undefencible.} b3 (29...
a3 30. Qg5 $36 {[%cal Rd3b5]}) 30. axb3 axb3 31. cxb3 Ba6 {The exchange of the
bishops doesn't change anything.} 32. Bxa6 Qxa6 33. Qf4 $1 Ra7 (33... Qb5 34.
Qc4 $18) 34. Qb8+ Ke7 35. Qb4+ 1-0

[Event "Dubai op 6th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2004.04.23"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2599"]
[BlackElo "2552"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2004.04.19"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. Nf3 b5 6. b3 Bg4 7. Be2 e6 8. h3 Bh5
9. O-O Nbd7 10. Bb2 Bd6 11. Ne5 Bxe2 12. Nxe2 dxc4 13. bxc4 c5 14. Nxd7 Qxd7
15. dxc5 Bxc5 16. Qxd7+ Kxd7 17. cxb5 axb5 18. Rfd1+ Ke7 19. Nd4 Bxd4 20. Bxd4
Rhc8 21. Rd2 g6 22. Rb2 Rcb8 23. f3 Nd7 24. e4 h5 25. Rd1 Rb7 26. Bc3 f6 27.
Rbd2 Ne5 28. Bb4+ Kf7 29. a3 g5 30. Kf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Dubai op 6th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2004.04.24"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Jobava, Baadur"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2552"]
[BlackElo "2616"]
[Annotator "Roiz,M"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2004.04.19"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%mdl 32]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bf4 d5 4. e3 {A solid continuation.} ({
The alternatives are:} 4. f3) ({and} 4. Nd2) 4... c6 {That move has already
tried by strong GM's. Black prevents c2-c4 and wants to get a ''Slav'' type of
position.} ({The most common continuations are:} 4... Bf5) (4... e6) ({and} 
4... c5) 5. Bd3 {The most natural and common move. White completes the
development and intending to advance his ''c'' pawn.} ({After} 5. f3 Nf6 6. c4
e6 7. Nc3 Nbd7 {black has a good version of ''Meran'' variation due to white's
pawn on f3, which takes an important square for Ng1.}) (5. Nd2 Nxd2 6. Qxd2 Bf5
7. f3 e6 8. g4 Bg6 9. h4 h6 (9... h5 $5) 10. Ne2 Bd6 11. O-O-O Qc7 12. Bxd6
Qxd6 13. Nf4 Bh7 14. g5 $36 {1-0 Piket,J-Miles,R/Sremic Krsko 1998/EXT 99 (34)}
) 5... Nf6 {In my opinion,after that move black cannot hope for an equalizing,
since white has won a tempo for his development and can prepare a standard
plan with c2-c4.} (5... Nd7 6. Bxe4 dxe4 7. Nc3 Nf6 8. Nge2 Bf5 9. Ng3 e6 10.
Bg5 Bb4 11. O-O Bxc3 12. bxc3 h6 13. Bxf6 Qxf6 14. f3 Qg5 15. f4 $14 {1/2-1/2
Zaichik,G-Anand,V/Coimbatore 1987/EXT 97 (55)}) (5... Qb6 6. Bxe4 Qxb2 7. Nd2
dxe4 8. Ne2 Nd7 9. Nxe4 g6 10. O-O Bg7 11. Qd3 Qb6 12. a4 O-O 13. a5 Qd8 14.
Qc3 $14 {1-0 Hodgson,J-Smejkal,J/Germany 1996/GER-chT (34)}) ({comes to
consideration:} 5... Nd6 $5 6. Nf3 (6. Nd2 Nd7 7. Ne2 g6 8. h4 h5 9. c3 Bg7 10.
Nf3 Nf6 11. Ng5 Bf5 {1/2-1/2 Prie,E-Istratescu,A/Nantes FRA 2003 (11)}) 6...
Bg4 7. Nbd2 e6 8. c3 Nd7 9. Qc2 Bh5 10. O-O Bg6 11. Rae1 Be7 12. Bxg6 hxg6 13.
c4 Nxc4 14. Nxc4 dxc4 15. Qxc4 Nb6 16. Qc2 Bd6 17. Ne5 Qc7 18. Rc1 Nd7 $11 {
1/2-1/2 Le Roux,J-Istratescu,A/Guingamp FRA 2004 (90)}) 6. c4 Na6 $6 $146 {
A dubious method of development, because the knight hasn't good perspectives.}
(6... e6 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Ne5 Nbd7 9. O-O O-O 10. Nd2 $14 {0-1 Heisel,G-Strizak,N/
Germany 2000/EXT 2001 (46)}) (6... Be6 7. Nd2 dxc4 8. Nxc4 Bxc4 9. Bxc4 e6 10.
Nf3 (10. a3 $5) 10... Bb4+ 11. Ke2 Bd6 12. Bxd6 Qxd6 13. Qb3 Nbd7 14. Rhd1 O-O
15. Kf1 $14 {1/2-1/2 Torre,E-Hort,V/Bad Homburg 1998/CBM 66 (26)}) 7. a3 {
That move is not necessary at all,but it's quite useful.} (7. Nc3 $5 Nb4 (7...
Qb6 8. a3 {[%csl Ra6,Rb6]}) 8. Be2 Bf5 9. Rc1 dxc4 10. Bxc4 e6 11. Bg5 (11. Nf3
$6 Nbd5 $1 {[%csl Rf4][%cal Gd5f4]} 12. Bg5 $140 $2 Nxc3 13. bxc3 Ba3 $17 {
[%csl Rc1]}) 11... Be7 12. Nf3 $14) 7... Bg4 8. Nf3 {A quiet choice. White is
trying to get a stable advantage without any ''risky'' decisions.} ({Deserved
attention also} 8. f3 $5 Bh5 (8... Be6 9. c5 Nh5 10. Bg5 $14) 9. Nc3 e6 10.
Nge2 Nc7 (10... dxc4 11. Bxc4 Nc7 12. e4 $14) 11. c5 $36 {[%csl Rc7][%cal
Gb2b4,Gg2g4,Gh2h4] and black's position is unpleasant enough-the Nc7 is not
placed well and that doesn't allows black to prepare e6-e5. On the other hand,
white may seize a lot of space,advancing his pawns on both sides.}) 8... e6 9.
Nc3 Nc7 (9... dxc4 10. Bxc4 Nc7 11. Qb3 $1 Rb8 12. Ne5 $36) 10. c5 $1 {A
correct decision from strategical point of view - white has to prevent the
activization of Nc7.} ({after} 10. O-O dxc4 11. Bxc4 Ncd5 12. Bg5 Be7 $14 {
white could get a very solid position.}) 10... Be7 11. b4 {Too softy! White
chooses a long plan of advancing a queenside pawns.} ({White could play more
energetically:} 11. Qb3 $1 Rb8 ({there is no time for} 11... Bxf3 {in view of}
12. Qxb7 $1 $18 {[%csl Rc6,Rc7]}) 12. Ne5 Bf5 (12... Bh5 13. Qa4 $1 $16 {
[%csl Rc6][%cal Ge5c6]}) 13. Bxf5 exf5 14. Qc2 Qc8 15. h3 O-O 16. g4 $36 {
with a dangerous initiative.}) 11... O-O 12. h3 Bh5 $6 {That allows white to
create an additional target for the kside attack-that makes black's position
very dangerous.} (12... Bxf3 $142 13. gxf3 (13. Qxf3 Nd7 14. O-O Re8 $14 {
[%cal Ge7f6,Ge6e5]}) 13... Nd7 14. Qc2 f5 $14) 13. g4 $1 ({After} 13. O-O Nd7
14. a4 Bf6 15. Bd6 Re8 $132 {black has a reasonable counterplay in the centre.}
) 13... Bg6 14. Bxg6 hxg6 15. Ne5 {This knight can be easily exchanged by
black's knight.} (15. Qd3 $142 Nd7 (15... a5 16. b5 Nxb5 17. Nxb5 cxb5 18. Qxb5
$16 {[%csl Ra5,Rb7]}) 16. h4 $16) 15... a5 {In order to get some counterplay
on the queenside.} (15... Nd7 $5 16. h4 Nxe5 17. Bxe5 $14) 16. h4 Nd7 17. g5 $1
$16 {It's important to fix black's pawns around black's monarch - in that case
h4-h5 would be stronger, since black couldn't remove his king from the danger
zone so fast.} (17. h5 $143 g5 18. Bg3 Nxe5 19. Bxe5 Bf6 $14) 17... Nxe5 18.
Bxe5 axb4 19. axb4 Rxa1 {Black has to change as more pieces as he can in order
to decrease white's attacking potential and to reach some space for his king
by f7-f6.} (19... Qd7 20. Rxa8 Rxa8 21. h5 Bxg5 22. hxg6 fxg6 23. Qb1 $16) 20.
Qxa1 f6 21. Bxc7 {White's knight is much stronger than black's bishop, but
white has to play energetically in order to realize that advantage.} ({Correct
was:} 21. gxf6 $142 $1 Bxf6 (21... gxf6 22. Qb1 Kf7 23. h5 gxh5 24. Bxc7 Qxc7
25. Qh7+ Ke8 26. Qxh5+ Kd7 27. Na4 $16) 22. Bg3 Qd7 23. Qb1 $16 {and black's
weakneses are very vulnerable.}) 21... Qxc7 22. f4 {All white's pawns are
placed ideally, so the dark-squared bishop has no perspectives.} (22. h5 gxh5
23. g6 f5 24. Qd1 (24. Rxh5 Rf6 25. Qa8+ Rf8 $11) 24... Bg5 25. Rxh5 Bh6 $132)
(22. Qd1 fxg5 23. h5 (23. hxg5 Bxg5 24. Qg4 Qf7 $1 25. f4 (25. Qxg5 $2 Qxf2+
26. Kd1 Qf3+ $19) 25... Bh6 $15) 23... gxh5 24. Qxh5 Bf6 $132) (22. Qb1 f5 (
22... Kf7 $2 23. gxf6 gxf6 24. h5 gxh5 25. Qh7+ Ke8 26. Qxh5+ Kd7 27. Na4 $16)
23. f4 (23. Ne2 e5 24. dxe5 Qxe5 25. Nf4 Ra8 $132) 23... Kf7 24. h5 gxh5 25.
Rxh5 Qb8 26. Qa2 Qa8 27. Rh2 $14) 22... b6 $6 {That attempt to get a
counterplay on the queenside is too slowly.} ({badly was also:} 22... e5 $2 23.
h5 $1 exd4 (23... exf4 24. hxg6 f5 {[%cal Ge7g5]} (24... fxe3 25. Ke2 $18) (
24... fxg5) 25. Nxd5 $3 cxd5 26. Qa2 $18 {[%cal Ga2d5,Ga2h2,Gh1h8]}) 24. hxg6
dxc3 25. Qd1 $18) ({but after} 22... Kf7 $142 {black's positions seems to be
defensible.}) 23. Ne2 $2 {Missing a nice attacking possibility.} (23. Qb1 $142
$1 bxc5 24. bxc5 Kf7 (24... f5 25. h5 gxh5 26. Rxh5 Rb8 27. Qa2 $36) 25. h5
gxh5 26. g6+ Ke8 27. Rxh5 Kd7 (27... f5 28. Rh7 (28. Rh2 $6 Rf6 $132) 28... Bf6
29. Rh2 $36 {[%cal Gh2b2]}) 28. Rh7 Rg8 29. Kf1 $36 {[%cal Gc3a4]} (29. Na4 $5
Qa5+ 30. Kf1 Qa6+ 31. Kf2)) 23... bxc5 24. bxc5 Qb7 {[%csl Rb1][%cal Yb7b1]
Taking control on ''b1'' and threating 25...Qb4+. Now white cannot keep his
monarch in the centre anymore.} 25. O-O (25. gxf6 Bxf6 26. Kf2 (26. h5 gxh5 27.
Rxh5 Kf7 $11) 26... Qe7 27. Kg3 (27. Kg2 Bxh4 28. Qa6 g5 $132) 27... Kf7 $132 {
[%cal Gf8h8]} 28. Ng1 $140 $2 Qxc5) 25... Kf7 $11 {[%cal Gf8h8] Now white has
only a symbolic advantage, as he cannot make any progress.} 26. Kf2 (26. Rb1 $2
Qd7 $40 {[%cal Ge6e5,Gd7g4]}) 26... Rh8 27. Rb1 Qd7 ({After} 27... Qd7 28. Kg3
$11 {the draw is unavoidable, as any side cannot make progress.}) 1/2-1/2

[Event "Dubai op 6th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2004.04.25"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ganguly, Surya Shekhar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2552"]
[BlackElo "2582"]
[Annotator "Roiz,M"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2004.04.19"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%mdl 2048]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bf4 c5 4. f3 Nf6 {Quite a rare move
nowdays, although it was played by top players.} ({The most common line is:} 
4... Qa5+ 5. c3 Nf6 6. Nd2 cxd4 7. Nb3 Qb6 ({or} 7... Qd8)) 5. dxc5 b6 {
That original move is logical: black wants to reach a solid pawn centre. The
drawback of it is some loss of time.} ({The alternatives are:} 5... Na6 6. e4
Nxc5 7. Nc3 d6 (7... g6 8. Be3 Ne6 9. e5 Nh5 10. Qd2 Qa5 11. g4 Nhg7 12. O-O-O
Qxe5 13. Bb5 Qc7 14. Nd5 $36 {1-0 Beshukov,S-Shulman,Y/Gausdal 1994/EXT 97 (29)
}) 8. Qd2 Be6 (8... e5 9. Bb5+ Ncd7 10. Bg5 a6 11. Bxf6 Qxf6 12. Nd5 $14 {
1/2-1/2 Hodgson,J-Reinderman,D/Leeuwarden 1993/TD (22)}) 9. Nge2 a6 10. Nd4 Bd7
11. Nb3 Na4 12. Nxa4 Bxa4 13. Be2 g6 14. O-O Bg7 15. Bh6 $14 {1-0 Hauchard,
A-Bacrot,E/France 1998/CBM 64 ext (66)}) (5... Qa5+ 6. Nc3 Qxc5 7. e4 d6 (7...
g6 8. Qd2 d6 9. O-O-O Bg7 10. Bh6 O-O 11. h4 Be6 12. h5 Nxh5 13. Bxg7 Kxg7 14.
g4 $40 {1-0 Adams,M-Leko,P/Cap d'Agde 1996/CBM 55 ext (24)}) 8. Qd2 a6 9. O-O-O
Nbd7 10. g4 (10. Nh3 b5 11. Nf2 Bb7 12. Nd3 Qc7 13. g4 Rc8 14. h4 e5 15. Bh2
Nb6 16. g5 Nc4 17. Qe1 Nd7 $132 {1/2-1/2 Hodgson,J-Vyzmanavin,A/Zaragoza 1993/
EXT 97 (23)}) 10... h6 11. Nge2 (11. h4 $5) 11... b5 12. Ng3 Bb7 13. Kb1 Ne5
$132 {0-1 Grigore,G-Marin,M/Eforie Nord 2002/EXT 2003 (56)}) 6. Nc3 {White has
to play very energetically in order to exploit some slowly way of
development-5...b6.} (6. e4 bxc5 7. e5 Qc7 8. Nc3 Nc6 9. exf6 Qxf4 10. fxe7
Bxe7 11. Nd5 Qe5+ 12. Kf2 O-O 13. c3 Rb8 14. Qd2 Re8 15. f4 Qe4 16. Nf3 c4 $132
{1/2-1/2 Puranen,J-Rytshagov,M/Helsinki 1995/EXT 98 (39)}) 6... bxc5 7. e4 d6
$6 $146 {An unsuccessful idea. Black doesn't prevent white from playing e4-e5.
More than that, it becomes even more powerful.} (7... Nc6 8. Bc4 (8. Nd5 d6 9.
Nxf6+ gxf6 10. Qd2 Qb6 11. b3 f5 12. c3 Bg7 13. Bc4 Ne5 14. Bxe5 Bxe5 15. exf5
Bxf5 16. Ne2 Rd8 $132 {1-0 Pomes Marcet,J-Oms Pallise,J/Linares 1998/EXT 99 
(20)}) 8... d6 (8... Qa5 9. Nge2 g6 10. O-O d6 11. Nd5 Nd7 12. Bd2 Qd8 13. Bc3
Rg8 14. f4 $16 {0-1 Meszaros,G-Timoscenko,G/Slovakia 1997/EXT 99 (40)}) 9. e5
dxe5 10. Qxd8+ Kxd8 11. O-O-O+ Bd7 12. Bb5 exf4 13. Bxc6 Rc8 14. Bxd7 Nxd7 15.
Nh3 $14 {1-0 Kasparov,G-Reinderman,D/Wijk aan Zee 1999/CBM 68 ext (47)}) 8. e5
$1 dxe5 (8... Nh5 $2 9. Qd5 Nxf4 10. Qxa8 $18) 9. Qxd8+ Kxd8 10. O-O-O+ Nbd7
11. Bxe5 {White is ahead of black in development. Black's additional problem
is a serious weakness on c5.} Bb7 {It's not easy to find a safe place for
black's monarch. Black is trying to keep it on he queen-side.} ({White has a
great advantage after:} 11... a6 12. Nh3 Ke8 13. Bg3 e6 14. Nf2 Bb7 15. Nfe4
Nxe4 16. Nxe4 $16) 12. Nh3 Kc8 {In my opinion, better was to keep the monarch
in the centre.} ({More to the point was:} 12... a6 13. Bc4 Ke8 14. Bg3 e6 (
14... Nb6 15. Bd3 $14) 15. Rhe1 Be7 $14 {with a worse but solid position.}) 13.
Bg3 {[%cal Gh3g5]} h6 ({After} 13... g6 {white has to exchange the main
defender of the dark squares:} 14. Bc4 e6 15. Nb5 $1 $16 {with an obvious
advantage.}) 14. Bc4 e6 15. Nf4 Be7 $6 {An additional inaccucy, which allows
white to seize a strong and stable initiative.} ({Better was:} 15... Nb6 $142
16. Bd3 ({the sacrifice is not so clear:} 16. Nxe6 $6 fxe6 17. Bxe6+ Nfd7 $1 (
17... Nbd7 $2 18. Ne4 Bc6 $8 19. Nxf6 gxf6 20. Bf5 $1 $16 {[%csl Rh7,Rh8][%cal
Yf5h7,Gh1e1]}) 18. Rd2 g5 $1 19. Rhd1 Rh7 20. Ne4 Bxe4 21. fxe4 c4 $1 {[%cal
Gf8c5] and although the pin is quite unpleasant,i don't see how white can make
progress here.}) 16... Be7 $14) 16. Nb5 $1 {White's play is very energetical
and concrete - he prevents black from consolidating.} g5 {That move weakens
black's kside and will cause black very soon.} ({On the other side, I can
hardly recommend something better:} 16... Nb6 $2 17. Bxe6+ $1 fxe6 18. Ng6 Re8
19. Nxe7+ Rxe7 20. Nd6+ Kb8 21. Nf5+ Rc7 22. Nxg7 $18) (16... Rd8 17. Bxe6 $1
fxe6 18. Nxe6 $16) 17. Nd3 Bd5 (17... Ne8 18. Ne5 (18. Rhe1 $5) (18. h3 $5 Nb6
19. Ne5) 18... Nxe5 19. Bxe5 Rg8 20. h3 a6 21. Nc3 $16 {[%cal Gc3a4]}) ({
Black had no time to exchange a pair of kingside pawns:} 17... g4 18. Nc7 $1
gxf3 (18... Rb8 19. Nxe6 fxe6 20. Bxe6 $16 Ra8 $140 $2 21. Ne5 Rd8 22. Bh4 $18
{[%csl Re7][%cal Gh4e7,Ge5d7]}) 19. Nxa8 fxg2 20. Rhg1 Bxa8 21. Ba6+ Bb7 22.
Bxb7+ Kxb7 23. Rxg2 $16) 18. Bxd5 Nxd5 19. Rhe1 a6 {Black is trying to
simplify the position, but white's dark-squared bishop will be much stronger
than black's knight.} ({An attempt to avoid a loss of ''c'' pawn fails to:} 
19... c4 20. Ne5 Nxe5 21. Bxe5 Rd8 22. Re4 Nb6 23. Nc7 Rxd1+ 24. Kxd1 Rb8 25.
Nxe6 $1 $16) ({More resistant was:} 19... Kb7 20. c4 (20. Nf2 $5 N7b6 21. Ne4)
20... N5b6 21. b3 $16 {[%csl Rb6,Rc5] although white has a winning position
from strategical point of view.}) 20. Nd6+ Bxd6 21. Bxd6 c4 22. Ne5 (22. Nb4
N7b6 23. Nxd5 Nxd5 24. Re4 $6 (24. Be5 $142 {-22.Ne5}) 24... Kd7 25. Be5 Rhc8
$14) 22... Nxe5 $8 23. Bxe5 Rd8 ({After} 23... f6 24. Bd4 Re8 25. b3 $1 {
black has too many weaknesses. For example:} cxb3 (25... c3 26. Rd3 Kb7 27.
Bxc3 Nxc3 28. Rxc3 $18) 26. axb3 Kc7 27. c4 e5 28. Bxe5+ fxe5 29. Rxd5 $18) 24.
Re4 Nb6 ({An attempt to reach some counterplay fails to} 24... Kb7 25. Rxc4 f6
(25... Ne3 26. Rc7+ Kb6 27. Rdd7 $1 Rxd7 28. Rxd7 $18) 26. Bg3 Ne3 27. Rb4+ Kc6
28. Re1 $18) 25. Rxd8+ Kxd8 26. Bg7 $1 {Suddenly the drawback of 16...g5
becomes very significant in the endgame! Black cannot avoid a loss of pawn.}
Ke7 27. Bxh6 f6 (27... Rg8 28. Rg4 f6 29. h4 $18) 28. h4 gxh4 29. Rxh4 $18 {
White has already an extra pawn, while the ''c4'' pawn is still very weak.
White's only goal is preventing black from getting any counterplay.} Rh8 (29...
Rg8 30. Be3 {-29...Rh8.}) 30. Bg5 Rg8 31. Be3 $1 {It's important to take
control on ''e3'' spot.} ({Less convincing was:} 31. Rh7+ Kd6 32. Bxf6 Rxg2 33.
Bd4 Nd5 {and black's pieces are quite active.}) 31... Nd5 32. Bc5+ Kd7 33. Rxc4
Rxg2 34. Rg4 Rh2 ({The endgame after} 34... Rxg4 35. fxg4 Kc6 36. Bf2 $18 {
is completely hopeless for black.}) 35. c4 $1 {The knight has to leave an
excellent central square.} Nc7 36. Rd4+ Kc6 37. Bb4 {[%cal Gd4d6] A decisive
penetration of white's rook is unavoidable.} Rf2 (37... Ne8 38. Rd8 a5 39. Rxe8
(39. Be7 $6 Rf2 $1 40. Rxe8 Kd7) 39... axb4 40. Rxe6+ Kc5 41. Re4 $18 {[%cal
Ge4f4]}) 38. Rd6+ Kb7 39. Ba5 {[%csl Rc7][%cal Gd6d7]} Rf1+ {There are no
chances for black, so the rest is just an agony.} (39... Na8 40. Rxe6 Rxf3 41.
c5 $18) 40. Kd2 Rf2+ 41. Ke3 Rc2 (41... Rxb2 42. Rd7 $18) 42. Kd3 Rc1 (42...
Rc1 {As I know from tournament practice, after the game arbiters are usually
put white's king on e4 if white wins. That's why it looks like black has
resigned after 42...Rc1, as 43.Ke4?? is just a blunder.} 43. Ke4 ({Black has
probably resigned in view of:} 43. Bxc7 Kxc7 44. Rxe6 $18) ({or} 43. Rb6+ Ka7
44. Rc6 $18) ({because after} 43. Ke4 $4 Rxc4+ {the resignation looks
unbelievable.})) 1-0

[Event "Dubai op 6th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2004.04.27"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Fedorov, Alexei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C39"]
[WhiteElo "2616"]
[BlackElo "2552"]
[PlyCount "34"]
[EventDate "2004.04.19"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. h4 g4 5. Ne5 d6 6. Nxg4 Nf6 7. Nxf6+ Qxf6 8.
Nc3 Nc6 9. Bb5 Kd8 10. Bxc6 bxc6 11. d3 Rg8 12. Qf3 Bh6 13. Qf2 Rb8 14. Ne2
Rxb2 15. Bxb2 Qxb2 16. O-O Qxc2 17. Nxf4 Qxf2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Dubai op 6th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2004.04.28"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Iordachescu, Viorel"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2552"]
[BlackElo "2627"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2004.04.19"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 c5 5. g3 Nc6 6. Bg2 Ne4 7. Bd2 Nxd2 8.
Qxd2 cxd4 9. Nxd4 Ne5 10. Nc2 Be7 11. b3 O-O 12. Rd1 d6 13. Nb5 Qb6 14. O-O d5
15. Qe3 Qxe3 16. Nxe3 dxc4 17. Nxc4 Nxc4 18. bxc4 Bc5 19. Rd3 Rb8 20. Rb1 g6
21. a4 a5 22. Rbd1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sigeman & Co 12th"]
[Site "Malmo/Copenhagen"]
[Date "2004.04.30"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Hector, Jonny"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2512"]
[BlackElo "2552"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2004.04.30"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "SWE"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 Bg7 11. c3 f5 12. exf5 Bxf5 13. Nc2 O-O 14. Nce3
Be6 15. Bd3 f5 16. O-O Ra7 {Besides the obvious idea to transfer the rook to
the kingside and support active actions there, 16...Ra7 also prepares ...Ne7.}
(16... Ne7 $2 17. Nxe7+ Qxe7 18. Nxf5 Bxf5 19. Bxf5 Rxf5 20. Qd5+ $18 {[%csl
Ra8]}) 17. a4 (17. f4 Ne7 $1 {offers Black excellent prospects.}) (17. Qh5 Raf7
$13) 17... Ne7 18. Nxe7+ ({The piece sacrifice} 18. axb5 Nxd5 19. Bc4 Nf4 20.
Bxe6+ Nxe6 21. Qd5 {leads to unclear play, where Black's chances shouldn't be
worse:} Qf6 22. Rxa6 Rd7 23. Rxd6 (23. Qc4 Qf7 {looks good for Black.}) 23...
Rxd6 24. Qxd6 Rd8 25. Qc6 $13) 18... Rxe7 19. axb5 axb5 20. Bxb5 (20. Bc2 Kh8
$5 (20... d5 21. Bb3 f4 22. Nxd5 Rd7 23. Nb4 Rxd1 24. Bxe6+ Kh8 25. Raxd1 Qe7
26. Bd5 e4 27. Rfe1 e3 28. Bf3 Qc5 $11 {1/2-1/2 Golubev,M-Rogozenko,D/Germany
2003 (33)}) 21. Ra6 (21. Bb3 $5) 21... e4 22. Nd5 Ree8 23. Nf4 Bc4 24. Re1 Be5
$15 {1/2-1/2 Shirov,A-Kramnik,V/Linares 2004 (32)}) 20... d5 21. Ra6 Kh8 $1 (
21... f4 22. Rxe6 Rxe6 23. Qxd5 $14) 22. Qa4 (22. Nc2 Qb8 23. Qe2 f4 24. f3 Bc8
25. Ra2 e4 26. Nb4 Bb7 $44 {Cerqueira Filho,R-Dias,S correspondence game 2000.}
) (22. Qh5 f4 23. Ng4 Qb8 24. Be2 Qxb2 $17 {Hodova,L-Priborsky,J/Plzen 2003.})
(22. f4 d4 23. cxd4 exf4 24. Rxf4 Bc8 25. Ra3 Bh6 26. Rf3 f4 27. Nc2 Bg4 $13 {
0-1 Hector,J-Rogozenko,D/Gothenburg 2004 (56)}) (22. Nc2 Qb8 23. Qe2 f4 24. f3
Bc8 25. Ra2 e4 26. Nb4 Bb7 $44 {Cerqueira Filho,R-Dias,S correspondence game
2000.}) (22. Qh5 f4 23. Ng4 Qb8 24. Be2 Qxb2 $17 {Hodova,L-Priborsky,J/Plzen
2003.}) (22. Qa4 f4 23. Nc2 Bc8 24. Ra8 Re6 25. Ra1 Rh6 26. Qb4 Qh4 27. h3 Rg6
28. Bd7 Bxd7 29. Rxf8+ Bxf8 30. Qxf8+ Rg8 31. Qd6 Rxg2+ {0,5-0,5
Teichmann-Marotta, 15 e-mail OL 2003}) 22... f4 23. Nc2 Rg8 $146 ({A more
convincing plan was demonstrated in the following little known game:} 23... Bc8
24. Ra8 Re6 $1 {Black is going to attack first h2, not g2.} 25. Ra1 Rh6 26. Qb4
Qh4 27. h3 Rg6 28. Bd7 Bxd7 29. Rxf8+ Bxf8 30. Qxf8+ Rg8 31. Qd6 Rxg2+ {
0,5-0,5 Teichmann-Marotta, 15 e-mail OL 2003}) 24. Ra1 Bc8 25. Ra8 Bf8 (25...
f3 26. g3) 26. Bf1 Reg7 27. Qc6 $1 Rc7 28. Qb5 Bc5 $5 29. b4 Bxf2+ {Unexpected
decision, which suddenly requires from White a very precise defence.} 30. Kxf2
Rxc3 31. Ne1 (31. Qe2 $1 {[%csl Re5]} e4 32. Kg1 {[%csl Rh8][%cal Ge2d2,Gd2d4]
and White defends against direct threats. Black keeps the initiative though,
thanks to his strong central pawns.}) 31... f3 $1 {A very nice sacrifice,
winning time for bringing more pieces into attack.} 32. Nxf3 (32. gxf3 $2 Qh4+
33. Ke2 Qd4 $19) ({The cool} 32. Kg1 $5 {was a better alternative} Qf6 (32...
fxg2 33. Bxg2 e4 $44 34. Rd1 $5) 33. Kh1 $13) 32... e4 33. Ne1 (33. Qe2 $2 Qb6+
(33... exf3 $4 34. Qe5+ $18) 34. Ke1 Re3) 33... Qf6+ 34. Kg1 Rf8 35. R8a2 Ra3
$1 36. Qe2 (36. Rxa3 $4 Qf2+ 37. Kh1 Qxf1+ 38. Qxf1 Rxf1#) 36... Qb6+ 37. Kh1
Qf6 38. Kg1 Qd4+ ({Without any risk, Black could play on with} 38... Qd4+ 39.
Kh1 Bg4 $1) 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sigeman & Co 12th"]
[Site "Malmo/Copenhagen"]
[Date "2004.05.01"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hansen, Curt"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C02"]
[WhiteElo "2552"]
[BlackElo "2635"]
[Annotator "Psakhis,L"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2004.04.30"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "SWE"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bd7 6. Be2 Nge7 7. Na3 (7. O-O Ng6
8. g3 {[%cal Gh2h4]}) 7... cxd4 8. cxd4 Nf5 9. Nc2 Qa5+ {At this moment Black
had a great choice of reasonable alternatives, for example:} (9... Nb4 10. O-O
(10. Ne3 Nxe3 11. fxe3 Be7 12. O-O O-O 13. Bd2 Nc6 14. Bd3 f6 15. exf6 Bxf6 16.
Bc3 Qb6 17. Rf2 Ne7 18. Qe2 Be8 19. Ne5 $36 {1-0 Dvoirys,S-Wempe,J/Dieren op
2002 (30)}) 10... Nxc2 11. Qxc2 Qb6 12. Qd3 a6 13. a4 Bb4 14. h4 a5 15. g3 h6
16. Kg2 O-O-O 17. Bd2 Kb8 18. Rfc1 Rc8 19. b3 Rhd8 20. Bf4 Ne7 21. Rxc8+ Rxc8
22. Rc1 $14 {1-0 Potkin,V-Berkes,F/Wch B20 Goa 2002/ (50)}) (9... Qb6 10. O-O
Rc8 (10... a5 11. Kh1 Nb4 12. Ne3 Be7 13. Nxf5 exf5 14. Bd2 O-O 15. a3 Nc6 16.
Bc3 Rfb8 $5 17. Qd2 Qd8 18. b3 Rc8 19. Bd3 g6 20. Rfe1 Be6 21. Reb1 Qf8 22. Bb2
Qd8 23. Bc1 $14 {0-1 Cherniaev,A-Dzhakaev,D/EUR-ch Istanbul 2003/CBM 96 (34)})
11. Kh1 Na5 12. g4 Ne7 13. Nfe1 h5 14. gxh5 Nf5 15. Bg4 Nh6 16. Bh3 Nc6 17. b3
Kd8 18. Ng2 Kc7 19. Nf4 Rd8 20. Rg1 Kb8 21. Bb2 Ne7 22. Ne3 $14 {[%csl Gf4,Gh3]
1-0 Charbonneau,P-Barsov,A/Montreal 2003/CBM 97 (38)}) 10. Bd2 Qb6 11. Bc3 a5
12. O-O Be7 13. a4 (13. a3 $5 O-O 14. Bd3 Kh8 15. Re1 Na7 16. a4 Nc6 17. Bb5
Be8 18. Qd2 f6 19. exf6 Rxf6 20. Ne3 Nxe3 21. Rxe3 Bd6 $13 {1/2-1/2 Timman,
J-Sokolov,I/Amsterdam (m/3) 1996/[Sokolov,I] (34)}) (13. Ne3 $5 Nxe3 14. fxe3
O-O 15. Bd3 Nb4 16. Bb1 a4 17. a3 Nc6 18. Qe1 Na5 19. Bb4 $1 Qd8 (19... Bxb4 $2
20. Bxh7+ $1 $18) 20. Bd3 Nc6 21. Bxe7 Qxe7 22. Qg3 $14 {1-0 Galdunts,
S-Bricard,E/Bischwiller-A 1999/EXT 2001 (27)}) (13. Qd2 O-O 14. Ne3 Nxe3 15.
Qxe3 Nb4 16. Rfc1 Bb5 17. Bd1 Bc4 18. b3 Bb5 19. a3 Nc6 20. h4 Rfc8 21. g3 Rc7
22. Kg2 Rac8 23. Qd2 Qa6 $15 {[%cal Gb5d3] 0-1 Zlotnik,B-Romero Holmes,A/Villa
de Albox 2003/ (66)}) 13... O-O 14. Bb5 $146 (14. Na3 f6 (14... Rac8 $5) 15.
exf6 Rxf6 (15... Bxf6) 16. Nb5 Raf8 17. Qd2 Nd6 18. Rac1 Ne4 19. Qe3 Be8 $11 {
1-0 Rozentalis,E-King,D/Mondorf 1991 (37)}) 14... f6 {Black is ideally
developed, now it is time for action!} 15. g4 (15. exf6 Bxf6 $11) 15... Nh6 16.
exf6 Rxf6 {[%cal Gf6f1]} (16... gxf6 $5 {[%cal Gh6f7]}) 17. Ne5 ({Black doing
well after} 17. g5 Rxf3 18. Qxf3 Bxg5 $44) 17... Nxe5 18. dxe5 Rg6 $1 {
Seemingly, this move escaped Carlsen's attention. Now we see, that black has
succeeded to solve his opening problems and it's White, who must think about
defence now.} ({Weaker} 18... Bxb5 19. exf6 Bxf1 20. fxe7 Ba6 21. Qd2 {[%csl
Gc3,Ge7]}) 19. Bd4 $2 ({I think White should have taken his chances with} 19.
Bxd7 $5 {for example:} Nxg4 20. Bd4 (20. Kh1 Nxf2+ 21. Rxf2 Qxf2 22. Qf1 Qxc2
$19) 20... Qb3 21. Bxe6+ $1 Rxe6 22. Ne3 Qxd1 23. Raxd1 Nxe5 24. Nxd5 Nf3+ 25.
Kg2 Nxd4 26. Nxe7+ Rxe7 27. Rxd4 Rae8 $11) 19... Bc5 $1 20. Bxd7 (20. Bxc5 Qxc5
21. Bxd7 Nxg4 22. Bxe6+ Rxe6 23. Nd4 (23. Qxg4 Rg6 24. Qxg6 hxg6 25. Rac1 Rc8
$17) 23... Rxe5 24. Qxg4 Re4 $17) 20... Bxd4 21. Nxd4 Rxg4+ 22. Qxg4 (22. Kh1
Rxd4 23. Qc2 (23. Bxe6+ Kh8 $19) 23... Rf8 $19) 22... Nxg4 23. Bxe6+ Kh8 24.
Rad1 Nxe5 $19 {Black's positional and material advantage is decisive.} 25. Bxd5
(25. Rfe1 Nc6) 25... Rf8 ({Maybe} 25... Qg6+ $5 26. Bg2 (26. Kh1 Rd8) 26... Nd3
$19 {[%cal Rd3f4] was better choice.}) 26. Ne6 (26. Rfe1 Ng6 {[%cal Gg6f4]})
26... Rf6 27. Rc1 Nc6 $1 28. b3 (28. Rc2 $5) 28... Ne7 29. Nc7 $8 h6 (29... h5
$5) 30. Be4 Rf8 (30... Rf4 $5) 31. Nb5 (31. Rc3) 31... Qe6 $1 32. Rc4 Ng6 33.
Nc7 $2 {Final mistake.} (33. Bxb7 $142 $5 Nf4 {[%csl Gf4]}) 33... Qg4+ 34. Kh1
(34. Bg2 Nf4 $19) 34... Qe2 {Further casualties are unavoidable because of
unstable position of White's king.} (34... Ne5 $1 35. Rg1 Qe2 36. Rd4 Rc8 $19)
35. Bg2 Rxf2 36. Rg1 (36. Rxf2 Qxf2 37. h3 Nf4) 36... Rxg2 $1 37. Rxg2 Qf1+ 38.
Rg1 Qf3+ 39. Rg2 Nf4 40. Rxf4 Qxf4 41. Rxg7 (41. Nb5 Qf1+ 42. Rg1 Qf3+ 43. Rg2
Qxb3) 41... Qc1+ $1 0-1

[Event "Sigeman & Co 12th"]
[Site "Malmo/Copenhagen"]
[Date "2004.05.02"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Hillarp Persson, Tiger"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E60"]
[WhiteElo "2513"]
[BlackElo "2552"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2004.04.30"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "SWE"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 e5 4. dxe5 Nh5 5. Nh3 Nc6 6. Bg5 Be7 7. Bxe7 Qxe7 8.
Nc3 Qxe5 9. g4 Ng7 10. f4 Qe7 11. Nd5 Qd8 12. Qd2 O-O 13. Qc3 Ne8 14. Nf2 Ne7
15. g5 Nxd5 16. cxd5 d6 17. h4 Ng7 18. h5 Qe7 19. Bg2 Bf5 20. h6 Ne8 21. e4 f6
22. gxf6 Nxf6 23. O-O-O Bd7 24. Bf3 c6 25. dxc6 Bxc6 26. Qd4 Nd7 27. Nh3 Nc5
28. Rhe1 Rae8 29. f5 Nxe4 30. Rxe4 Bxe4 31. Bxe4 Qe5 32. Qxe5 Rxe5 33. Ng5 Rc8+
34. Kb1 gxf5 35. Bd5+ Kf8 36. Nxh7+ Ke7 37. Ng5 Rh8 38. h7 Kf6 39. Nf3 Re3 40.
Rh1 Kg6 41. Rg1+ Kf6 42. Ng5 f4 43. Bxb7 Kf5 44. Bd5 Rg3 45. Nf3 Rxg1+ 46. Nxg1
Rxh7 47. Nf3 Rc7 48. b4 Rc3 49. Kb2 Rd3 50. Bc6 d5 51. Ne1 Rd1 52. Nf3 Rd3 53.
Ne1 Rd1 54. Nf3 Ke4 55. Kc2 Rd3 56. Nd2+ Ke3 57. Nb3 d4 58. b5 f3 59. a4 Rxb3
60. Kxb3 d3 0-1

[Event "Sigeman & Co 12th"]
[Site "Malmo/Copenhagen"]
[Date "2004.05.03"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Beliavsky, Alexander G"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2552"]
[BlackElo "2667"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2004.04.30"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "SWE"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Nh4 Bd7 7. e3 e6 8. Bxc4
c5 9. O-O Nc6 10. Nf3 Be7 11. dxc5 Bxc5 12. e4 Qb8 13. h3 O-O 14. Qe2 Nd4 15.
Nxd4 Bxd4 16. Rd1 Qe5 17. Bf4 Qxf4 18. Rxd4 Bc6 19. Bb5 Rfd8 20. Rad1 Rxd4 21.
Rxd4 Bxb5 22. Qxb5 h5 23. g3 Qc7 24. Rc4 Qe7 25. Rd4 a6 26. Qb6 e5 27. Nd5 Nxd5
28. Rxd5 h4 29. g4 Rc8 30. Qd6 Qxd6 31. Rxd6 Rc4 32. Rd8+ Kh7 33. Rd7 f6 34.
Rxb7 Rxa4 35. b4 Kh6 36. Kg2 g6 37. Kf3 Kg5 38. b5 a5 39. b6 Rb4 40. Ra7 Rb3+
41. Kg2 Rxb6 42. Rxa5 Kf4 43. Ra4 Rd6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sigeman & Co 12th"]
[Site "Malmo/Copenhagen"]
[Date "2004.05.04"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Aagaard, Jacob"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2400"]
[BlackElo "2552"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2004.04.30"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "SWE"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 Bg7 11. c3 f5 12. exf5 Bxf5 13. Nc2 O-O 14. Nce3
Bg6 15. a4 b4 16. Nxb4 Nxb4 17. cxb4 e4 18. Bc4 Bxb2 19. h4 h6 20. Rb1 Bc3+ 21.
Kf1 Kh8 22. g3 f5 23. Nd5 Be5 24. Qd2 Kh7 25. Kg2 Ra7 26. Nf4 Bxf4 27. Qxf4 Bh5
28. Rhe1 Rg7 29. Rbd1 Bxd1 30. Rxd1 Rf6 31. Be6 Kh8 32. Rxd6 Qe7 33. Qe5 f4 34.
Rxa6 e3 35. Ra8+ Rf8 36. Rxf8+ Qxf8 37. fxe3 fxg3 38. Qf4 Qxf4 39. exf4 Ra7
1/2-1/2

[Event "Sigeman & Co 12th"]
[Site "Malmo/Copenhagen"]
[Date "2004.05.06"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nielsen, Peter Heine"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2552"]
[BlackElo "2628"]
[Annotator "Huebner,R"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2004.04.30"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "SWE"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%mdl 1]} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Nh4 Bg4 7. h3
Bh5 8. g4 Bg6 9. Nxg6 hxg6 10. e3 e6 11. Bxc4 Bb4 12. Bd2 (12. Qf3 Qa5 13. Bd2
Nbd7 14. h4 Nb6 15. Bb3 Rd8 16. g5 Nfd5 17. Rc1 c5 18. h5 cxd4 19. exd4 Rxh5
20. Rxh5 gxh5 21. Qxh5 g6 $11 {1-0 Sokolov,I-Hillarp Persson,T/Reykjavik 2000/
CBM 75 ext (46). (45)}) 12... Nbd7 13. g5 Nd5 14. e4 N5b6 15. Bb3 a5 16. Qe2 c5
(16... e5 17. dxe5 Nxe5 18. O-O-O {geschah in der Partie Carlsen-Andriasjan,
U14-EM 2003, siehe "Schach" 6/2004, S.42.}) 17. d5 c4 {Schwarz rechnet damit,
daß nach der Öffnung der Stellung, die dieses Bauernopfer bewirkt, der König
des Weißen keinen sicheren Platz finden kann.} (17... e5 18. h4 {überläßt dem
Weißen in der Tat ohne weiteres großen positionellen Vorteil.}) (17... exd5 {
ist jedoch möglicherweise spielbar:} 18. Bxd5 (18. exd5+ Kf8 19. O-O-O Bxc3 20.
bxc3 c4 21. Bxc4 (21. Bc2 Nc5 {ist nicht besser.}) 21... Nxa4 {mit unklarer
Lage.}) (18. Nxd5 Bxd2+ 19. Qxd2 c4 20. Bc2 Nxd5 21. Qxd5 Qc7 22. O-O-O Rd8 {
Weiß hat keinen Vorteil.}) 18... Bxc3 19. Bxc3 (19. bxc3 {kommt auch in
Betracht:} Nxd5 20. exd5+ Kf8 {Die Beurteilung dieser Stellung fällt mir
schwer. Schwarz hat Löcher auf der b-Linie, und Weiß hat einen aktiven Läufer;
andererseits ist es schwer für Weiß, seinem König einen sicheren Unterschlupf
zu bauen, und seine Bauernstellung am Königsflügel ist verzogen. Vielleicht
ist die Lage in etwa im Gleichgewicht, zum Beispiel} 21. Kf1 Nb6 22. c4 Nc8)
19... Nxd5 20. exd5+ Kf8 21. Qe3 (21. h4 Qc7 {ist ähnlich.}) 21... Qc7 22.
O-O-O Re8 23. Qf3 Qd6 {Das Spiel des Weißen sieht bequemer aus, aber klar ist
die Lage nicht.}) 18. Bxc4 Nxc4 19. Qxc4 O-O 20. O-O-O (20. dxe6 Ne5 21. Qd5
Qc7 {(P. Nielsen, "Schach" 6/2004, S.43) überläßt dem Schwarzen eine
gefährliche Initiative, zum Beispiel} 22. exf7+ Rxf7 23. O-O-O Rd8 24. Qe6 Nd3+
(24... Nf3 {ist ebenfalls eine sehr wirksame Fortsetzung.}) 25. Kb1 Nxf2 26.
Nd5 Qc6 27. Qxc6 bxc6 28. Bxb4 cxd5 29. Bxa5 Ra8 30. Bb6 Nxh1 31. Rxh1 dxe4 {
mit Vorteil für Schwarz.}) 20... Rc8 21. Qe2 (21. Qb5 {verspricht vielleicht
etwas mehr:} Nc5 (21... Rc5 22. Qxb7 exd5 23. Be3 Rc7 24. Qxd5 Bxc3 25. bxc3
Rxc3+ 26. Kd2 Qc7 27. Rc1 {ergibt Vorteil für Weiß.}) 22. Kb1 exd5 23. Nxd5 ({
Auf} 23. Be3 {folgt} Qe7) (23. exd5 Bxc3 24. Bxc3 Qxg5 {ist befriedigend für
Schwarz.}) 23... Bxd2 24. Rxd2 Qxg5 25. f4 Qh4 26. e5 {Weiß steht besser.})
21... exd5 22. Kb1 $1 (22. exd5 Nb6 23. Kb1 Bxc3 24. Bxc3 Nxa4 {ist
unbefriedigend für Weiß.}) 22... Bxc3 $6 {Nach dieser Fortsetzung behält Weiß
bedeutenden positionellen Vorteil: sein Läufer ist dem gegnerischen Springer
weit überlegen. Es gab zwei bessere Fortsetzungen:} (22... dxe4 23. Nxe4 Qc7
24. Bxb4 axb4 25. Nd6 {(mit leichtem Vorteil für Weiß, Carlsen, siehe "Schach"
6/2004, S.43)} Ra8 {genügt meines Erachtens zum Ausgleich, zum Beispiel} 26.
Qc4 (26. Qb5 Nc5 {ist angenehm für Schwarz.}) ({Nach} 26. Nb5 Qc6 {hängt der
Turm auf h1, so daß Weiß nicht 27.Td6 spilen kann; Schwar kommt zu Sd7-c5 mit
gutem Spiel.}) 26... Qa5 27. b3 Qxg5 {usw.}) (22... Qc7 23. exd5 (23. Rc1 Qe5
24. f4 Qe6 {ist gut für Schwarz.}) 23... Nb6 {(P. Nielsen, "Schach" 6/2004, S.
43) nebst Sb6-c4 führt ebenfalls zu befriedigendem Spiel für Schwarz.}) 23.
Bxc3 Nc5 24. Rxd5 Qe8 {Jetzt kann man den Unterschied zwischen den Zügen 22.
Kb1 und 22.ed5: sehen: statt eines Bauern steht der Turm des Weißen auf d5 und
entfaltet eine wirksame Aktivität.} 25. f3 b6 ({Ich hätte} 25... Qxa4 26. Qd1
Qxd1+ (26... Nb3 {wird mit} 27. Rxa5 {widerlegt.}) 27. Rhxd1 b6 {versucht. Im
Endspiel hat Schwarz meines Erachtens die besten Rettungsaussichten. Mit den
Damen auf dem Brett ist es schwierig, gegen die Folge h3-h4-h5 einen wirksamen
Plan zu entwerfen. Der Läufer des weißen ist übermächtig und vereitelt auch
alle Angriffsversuche des Schwarzen aufs gründlichste.}) 26. Qe3 Nxa4 ({
Auch hier hätte Schwarz noch Damentausch anstreben können:} 26... Qxa4 27. Qd4
Qxd4 28. Bxd4 Rc6 29. Rc1 Rfc8 {mit Rettungsaussichten.}) 27. Bd4 Rc4 $2 {
Damit erreicht Schwarz nichts; sein Turm verstopft nur die c-Linie. Nach} (
27... Qc6 28. Rc1 (28. h4 Qc2+ 29. Ka1 Rc4 {ist nicht im Sinne des Weißen.})
28... Qe6 {wäre der Turm des Weißen von der h-Linie abgelenkt, und Schwarz
behielte Überlebensaussichten.}) 28. h4 Qc6 29. h5 gxh5 30. Rxh5 Rc8 31. Rh1 {
Jetzt ist der Angriff des Weißen unwiderstehlich.} Rc2 (31... Nc5 32. Bxg7 Kxg7
33. g6 Qxg6 ({Nach} 33... fxg6 34. Qh6+ Kf7 35. Qh7+ Kf6 36. Rg1 {wird Weiß
bald mattsetzen.}) 34. Rg5 {ist ebenfalls hoffnungslos für Schwarz.}) 32. g6 f6
{Schwarz hat keine Rettung.} (32... Rxb2+ {wird mit} 33. Ka1 {beantwortet.}) (
32... Qxg6 33. Rg5 {ist ebenfalls hoffnungslos.}) (32... fxg6 33. Rh8+ Kf7 34.
Qf4+ {gewährt dem Schwarzen ebenfalls keine Freude.}) 33. Rdh5 Kf8 34. Qa3+ (
34. e5 fxe5 35. Rh8+ {gewinnt ebenfalls mühelos.}) 34... Ke8 35. Rh8+ Kd7 36.
Rxc8 Kxc8 37. Qe7 Qc7 38. Qe8+ Kb7 39. Qxa4 Rc4 40. Qd1 1-0

[Event "Sigeman & Co 12th"]
[Site "Malmo/Copenhagen"]
[Date "2004.05.07"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Rozentalis, Eduardas"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2619"]
[BlackElo "2552"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2004.04.30"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "SWE"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. Re1 Nf6 ({Another theoretical
direction is} 5... e5) 6. e5 ({The main alternative is} 6. c3 {[%cal Gd2d4]})
6... Nd5 7. Nc3 Nc7 8. Bxc6 dxc6 9. Ne4 Ne6 10. d3 {This is very solid
theoretical line, where white does not get much, but plays almost without any
risk.} O-O (10... h6 {--> 0-1 Lederer,Y-Mikhalevski,V/Israel 2003/CBM 94 
[Mikhalevski,V] (42)}) 11. Be3 b6 12. Qd2 f5 {Black wants to get rid of the
annoying Pe5 as soon as possible.} ({Solid alternative is} 12... Nd4 {--> 1-0
Benjamin,J-Ni Hua/Shanghai 2002/CBM 91 [Rabinovich,Al] (32)}) (12... f6 13.
exf6 exf6 {- see 12...f5.}) 13. exf6 exf6 14. Bh6 Qd7 $6 $146 {This novelty is
a serious inaccuracy.} ({Stronger is} 14... a5 15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. Qc3 (16. Re2
Ra7 17. Rae1 Raf7 18. h4 h5 19. b3 Qc7 20. Ng3 Nd4 21. Nxd4 cxd4 $11 {1/2-1/2
Kramnik,V-Kasparov,G/Moscow 1996/CBM 52 ext (29)}) (16. Ng3 Ra7 {--> 1/2-1/2
Timman,J-Lautier,J/Pamplona 1999/CBM 75 [Gershon] (30)}) 16... Ra7 17. a3 a4
18. b4 axb3 19. Qxb3 Nf4 20. Rab1 Ra6 $132 {1/2-1/2 Lutz,C-Khalifman,A/New
Delhi/Teheran 2000/CBM 80 (33)}) 15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. a3 $1 $14 {[%cal Gb2b4] If
black's pawn would have been placed on a5, black could play now a5-a4
preventing white's b2-b4 advance. Now white seizes the initiative.} Nd4 17.
Nxd4 cxd4 18. b4 {Preventing the c6-c5 advance.} Bb7 19. Qf4 Rad8 20. h4 {
Trying to create a target on the kingside.} h5 21. f3 c5 $1 {Sooner or later
black has to make this move, he can not suffer the strong Ne4 forever.} 22.
bxc5 Bxe4 23. Rxe4 {Rozentalis decided to keep the "e" file open.} ({Possible
was} 23. fxe4 bxc5 24. Rab1 {with slight pressure.}) 23... bxc5 24. Rae1 Rde8 {
Black is very close to solve all his problems.} 25. g4 {Looks like the only
attempt to achieve progress.} Rxe4 26. Qxe4 Qd6 27. Kg2 hxg4 28. Qe7+ (28. fxg4
Rf7 $11 {[%cal Gf6f5]}) 28... Qxe7 29. Rxe7+ Kh6 $6 (29... Rf7 $1 {It appears
that black could afford himself to go for pawns endgame.} 30. Rxf7+ Kxf7 31.
fxg4 Ke6 {and black holds on, despite white's possibility to organize an "h"
passed pawn, for instanse:} 32. Kg3 (32. Kf3 f5 {the same like 32.Kg3.}) 32...
f5 33. Kf4 fxg4 34. Kxg4 Kf6 35. a4 a5 36. Kf4 Ke6 37. Kg5 (37. Ke4 Kd6 $11)
37... Kf7 $11) 30. fxg4 c4 $2 {This move wastes an important tempo and weakens
the Pd4.} ({The right continuation was} 30... Rb8 31. Kf3 Rb2 {and black seems
to survive, for example:} 32. Kf4 g5+ 33. hxg5+ fxg5+ 34. Kf5 Rxc2 35. Re6+ Kg7
36. Kxg5 Rc3 37. Ra6 Rxd3 38. Rxa7+ Kf8 $11) 31. Kf3 cxd3 32. cxd3 Rc8 33. Kf4
$1 {Threatening mate in three.} g5+ $8 34. hxg5+ fxg5+ 35. Ke4 Rc1 36. Kxd4 Rg1
37. Re4 Ra1 38. Kc5 $1 {[%mdl 4096] Good endgame technique. Rozentalis
concentrates on his passed "d" pawn, which is the decisive factor in the
position.} ({Worse is} 38. Re6+ $6 Kg7 39. Ra6 Rg1) 38... Rxa3 39. d4 {[%csl
Gc5,Gd4,Ge4,Gg4]} Kg6 40. d5 {It should be noted that black's king is out of
the game, so white wins easily, nothing can stop the "d" pawn.} Rc3+ 41. Kb5
Kf6 42. d6 Rd3 43. Kc6 a5 44. d7 Rc3+ 45. Kb7 Rb3+ 46. Kc7 Rc3+ 47. Kd8 Kf7 48.
Re7+ Kf8 49. Re5 1-0

[Event "Sigeman & Co 12th"]
[Site "Malmo/Copenhagen"]
[Date "2004.05.08"]
[Round "8"]
[White "De Firmian, Nick E"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2542"]
[BlackElo "2552"]
[PlyCount "126"]
[EventDate "2004.04.30"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "SWE"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4
b4 9. d3 d6 10. a5 Be6 11. Nbd2 Rb8 12. Nc4 Nd7 13. Be3 d5 14. exd5 Bxd5 15.
Ncd2 Bxb3 16. Nxb3 Rb5 17. Qe2 Kh8 18. d4 e4 19. Qc4 Qa8 20. Nfd2 f5 21. Bf4
Nf6 22. Bxc7 Nd5 23. Bb6 Nf4 24. Nf1 Rf6 25. Ne3 Rg6 26. Kf1 Rh6 27. h3 Qe8 28.
Bc7 Bd6 29. Bxd6 Rxd6 30. Rad1 h6 31. Rd2 Qd8 32. d5 Ne5 33. Qd4 Qf6 34. Nxf5
Qxf5 35. Qxe4 Qxe4 36. Rxe4 Neg6 37. g3 Rbxd5 38. gxf4 Rxd2 39. Nxd2 Rxd2 40.
f5 Nf8 41. Rxb4 Rxc2 42. Rb8 Kg8 43. b4 Rc6 44. Ke2 Kf7 45. Ke3 Nd7 46. Rb7 Rd6
47. b5 Ke7 48. Ke4 Kd8 49. bxa6 Rxa6 50. Rb5 Kc7 51. Kd5 Rd6+ 52. Ke4 Rd2 53.
f3 Kc6 54. Rb1 Ra2 55. Rg1 Re2+ 56. Kd4 Re7 57. Rc1+ Kd6 58. Rc8 Ne5 59. a6 Ra7
60. Rg8 Nxf3+ 61. Kc4 Rxa6 62. Rxg7 Ke5 63. Kd3 Ra3+ 0-1

[Event "Sigeman & Co 12th"]
[Site "Malmo/Copenhagen"]
[Date "2004.05.09"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Agrest, Evgenij"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2552"]
[BlackElo "2601"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2004.04.30"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "SWE"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. a4 g6 6. Bf4 Bg7 7. e3 O-O 8. Qb3 Qa5
9. Qa3 Qd8 10. Be2 a5 11. O-O Na6 12. cxd5 Nxd5 13. Nxd5 cxd5 14. Rfc1 Bg4 15.
Qb3 Ra7 16. Rc3 b6 17. Bxa6 Rxa6 18. Ne5 Bxe5 19. Bxe5 Ra7 20. Rac1 Qd7 21. h3
Be2 22. Qxb6 Rb7 23. Rc7 Rxb6 24. Rxd7 Bc4 25. Rxe7 Rxb2 26. Ra7 f6 27. Bd6 Rf7
28. Rxa5 Rfb7 29. Ra1 Kf7 30. Rc5 Ke6 31. Bg3 Kf5 32. a5 Rb1+ 33. Rxb1 Rxb1+
34. Kh2 Rb5 35. Rc7 Rxa5 36. Rxh7 Ra2 37. Rf7 Ke6 38. Rg7 Bd3 39. Bh4 Be4 40.
Rb7 g5 41. Bg3 f5 42. Rg7 f4 43. exf4 gxf4 44. Bxf4 Rxf2 45. Be5 Rf7 46. Rxf7
Kxf7 47. g4 Bf3 48. Kg3 Bd1 49. h4 Ke6 50. h5 Ba4 51. Kh4 Bb5 52. Kg5 Be2 53.
Kg6 1-0

[Event "NOR-chTA final"]
[Site "Trondheim"]
[Date "2004.05.19"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Egeli, Per Ove"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A36"]
[WhiteElo "2298"]
[BlackElo "2552"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2004.05.19"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 100 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.07.06"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.07.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "08"]
[BlackTeam "06"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. c4 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. Nc3 O-O 5. e4 c5 6. Nge2 Nc6 7. d3 d6 8. O-O
Ne8 9. Be3 Nd4 10. Rb1 a5 11. a3 Nc7 12. b4 axb4 13. axb4 b6 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15.
cxd5 Ra2 16. Nxd4 cxd4 17. Qb3 Ra7 18. Bd2 Bd7 19. Ra1 Qa8 20. Qb2 Bb5 21. Rxa7
Qxa7 22. Ra1 Qd7 23. Bf1 f5 24. Qa3 fxe4 25. dxe4 Bxf1 26. Rxf1 Qb5 27. Bg5 Re8
28. Qa7 Kf7 29. h4 Qe2 30. Qxb6 h6 31. Bf4 g5 32. hxg5 hxg5 33. Bxg5 Rh8 34.
Qc7 Qxe4 35. f3 Qe2 36. Bh4 Bf6 37. Qd7 Bxh4 38. Qe6+ Qxe6 39. dxe6+ Kxe6 40.
gxh4 Rxh4 41. Re1+ Kd7 42. Kg2 e5 43. Kg3 Rh8 44. f4 Rg8+ 45. Kf3 Rf8 46. Re4
Kc6 0-1

[Event "NOR-chTA final"]
[Site "Trondheim"]
[Date "2004.05.20"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Madsen, Dag"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2552"]
[BlackElo "2287"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2004.05.19"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 100 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.07.06"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.07.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "06"]
[BlackTeam "07"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 c6 6. Be2 Bf5 7. O-O Nd7 8.
Nf3 e6 9. c4 Nb4 10. a3 Nc2 11. Ra2 Nxd4 12. Qxd4 c5 13. Qc3 Bxb1 14. Bg5 f6
15. Rxb1 fxg5 16. Qe3 Be7 17. Rd1 Bf6 18. b4 Qe7 19. Rad2 Nf8 20. Rd6 cxb4 21.
axb4 h5 22. c5 g4 23. Nd2 Kf7 24. Ne4 Rh6 25. Bc4 Kg8 26. Nxf6+ Rxf6 27. b5 Kh8
28. c6 bxc6 29. bxc6 a5 30. Qg5 Qf7 31. Rd8 Rxd8 32. Rxd8 Rf5 33. Qxf5 1-0

[Event "NOR-chTA final"]
[Site "Trondheim"]
[Date "2004.05.21"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Ostenstad, Berge"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E76"]
[WhiteElo "2492"]
[BlackElo "2552"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2004.05.19"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 100 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.07.06"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.07.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "01"]
[BlackTeam "06"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. c4 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 O-O 5. f4 d6 6. Nf3 Na6 7. Bd3 e5 8. fxe5
dxe5 9. d5 Nc5 10. Bc2 a5 11. O-O Ne8 12. Bg5 f6 13. Bh4 Qe7 14. Qe2 Bd7 15. b3
Nd6 16. a3 Na6 17. Kh1 Kh8 18. Nb5 Qe8 19. Nc3 f5 20. Rab1 Nc5 21. Nd2 Ncxe4
22. Bxe4 fxe4 23. Rxf8+ Qxf8 24. Bf2 Nf5 25. Ndxe4 Nd4 26. Qb2 Bf5 27. Re1 Qf7
28. Kg1 Rf8 29. b4 axb4 30. axb4 b5 31. Qa2 bxc4 32. Qxc4 Bxe4 33. Nxe4 c6 34.
Bxd4 cxd5 35. Nd6 dxc4 36. Nxf7+ Rxf7 37. Bxe5 Rb7 38. Kf2 Rxb4 39. Bxg7+ Kxg7
40. Re7+ Kg8 41. Rc7 h5 42. h4 Kf8 43. Ke3 c3 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-chTA final"]
[Site "Trondheim"]
[Date "2004.05.22"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Gausel, Einar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2520"]
[BlackElo "2552"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2004.05.19"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 100 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.07.06"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.07.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "03"]
[BlackTeam "06"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 c5 8.
Bb5+ Nc6 9. O-O O-O 10. Be3 Bg4 11. d5 Ne5 12. Be2 Nxf3+ 13. Bxf3 Bxf3 14. Qxf3
Bxc3 15. Rab1 Qd6 16. Bh6 Bg7 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. Qc3+ Kg8 19. Rxb7 Rfb8 20. Qb3
a6 21. Rb1 Rxb7 22. Qxb7 Rd8 23. g3 Qe5 24. Qb6 Re8 25. Qc6 Rd8 26. Qb6 Re8 27.
Qc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-chTA final"]
[Site "Trondheim"]
[Date "2004.05.23"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Lie, Kjetil A"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2552"]
[BlackElo "2430"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2004.05.19"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 100 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.07.06"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.07.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "06"]
[BlackTeam "04"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bh4 d5 4. f3 Nd6 5. Nc3 Nf5 6. Bf2 e5 7. dxe5 d4 8. e4
dxc3 9. Qxd8+ Kxd8 10. O-O-O+ Ke8 11. exf5 cxb2+ 12. Kxb2 Bxf5 13. Ne2 Nc6 14.
Nc3 a6 15. f4 Rd8 16. Be2 h5 17. Bf3 Rh6 18. Nd5 Rd7 19. Ne3 Rxd1 20. Rxd1 Bd7
21. Nd5 Kd8 22. Bh4+ Kc8 23. h3 Bc5 24. c3 Rh8 25. Be4 Re8 26. Bf6 Bf8 27. Bh4
Bc5 28. Bf3 Rh8 29. Bg5 Bf5 30. Re1 Kb8 31. Be4 Bc8 32. Bd3 Re8 33. Be2 Nxe5
34. fxe5 Rxe5 35. Bf4 Rxd5 36. Bf3 Rf5 37. Bh2 Be6 38. Rd1 Be7 39. Bg1 Rb5+ 40.
Ka1 Ra5 41. Rd2 Bf6 42. Bd4 Bxd4 43. cxd4 Bd5 44. Bxh5 Bxa2 0-1

[Event "FIDE-Wch k.o."]
[Site "Tripoli"]
[Date "2004.06.19"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2552"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[Annotator "Golod,V"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2004.06.19"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "LBY"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 102"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.09.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.09.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. e4 d5 6. e5 ({After:} 6. cxd5 exd5
7. e5 Ne4 8. Bd3 c5 {with rearrangement of moves we receive a position from a
game.}) 6... Ne4 7. Bd3 {In my opinion this line is better,than:} (7. Nf3) ({or
} 7. a3) 7... c5 8. cxd5 $5 {Besides,White has several alternatives:} (8. Nge2
$5 {You can see my annotations to Hillarp Persson,T-Polgar,J/Sigeman & Co,2000/
CBM 77(1/2-1/2)(29)}) (8. a3) ({and} 8. dxc5) 8... exd5 9. Nge2 cxd4 10. Nxd4
Nd7 11. f4 Qh4+ 12. g3 Qh3 ({Unexpectedly at once loses a game:} 12... Nxg3 $4
{because of:} 13. Qf2 {[%csl Gf2,Rg3,Rh4]} Nc5 14. Bc2 Nce4 15. Bxe4 dxe4 16.
Qxg3 $18) 13. Bd2 $5 ({On:} 13. Bf1 $5 {You can find ten games in Mega
DataBase 2004. For an example you can see my comments to Ahlander,B-Wedberg,T/
Stockholm,1999/CBM 73(1-0)(43)}) ({It was badly:} 13. Bxe4 $2 dxe4 14. Qxe4 Nc5
{with strong initiative behind pawn.}) 13... Nxd2 ({Also in this position were
checked the following moves:} 13... Bxc3) ({and} 13... Nxg3 $5) 14. Qxd2 Nc5
15. Bf1 (15. a3 $6 Bxc3 16. Qxc3 (16. bxc3 $142) 16... Qg2 17. O-O-O Bg4 18.
Rdg1 Qf2 19. Bc2 (19. Kb1 $5 $15) 19... Rac8 20. Kb1 (20. Qd2 $4 Qxd4 21. Qxd4
Nb3+) 20... Ne4 21. Qd3 Rc4 22. Rd1 Rfc8 23. Rhf1 Rxd4 $1 24. Rxf2 Rxd3 $19 {
Cramling,P-Xu Yuhua/Shenyang,2000(0-1)(35)}) 15... Qh6 $5 $146 {The queen
passes to more convenient position.} ({The game,which have reached this
position were continued as follows:} 15... Qh5 $5 16. Bg2 Ne4 17. Qe3 Bh3 18.
O-O Bxc3 19. bxc3 Rfc8 20. Rac1 Bxg2 21. Kxg2 Rc4 22. f5 $132 {Cramling,P-Xu
Yuhua/Shenyang,2000(1-0)(77)}) 16. Bg2 ({A little prematurely:} 16. a3 $6 {
in view of:} Ne4 $1 (16... Bxc3 $143 17. Qxc3 Ne4 18. Qb3 $13 (18. Qe3 $143 Re8
{[%csl Re3,Gh6][%cal Ge8e5]})) 17. Qd3 (17. Qe3 $143 Bxc3+ 18. bxc3 Re8 {
[%csl Re3,Gh6][%cal Ge8e5]}) 17... Bxc3+ (17... Ba5 $143 18. Bg2 {/\0-0}) 18.
bxc3 Bh3 $15) 16... Qa6 $1 {/^a6-f1; ><d3,Ke1} 17. Qe2 ({It was weakly:} 17.
Rd1 $2 {because of:} Bg4 18. Bf3 Bxf3 19. Nxf3 Ne4 $17) 17... b6 {This move is
the "harbinger" of active actions in this game.} ({Leads to benefit of the
contender:} 17... Nd3+ $6 18. Kd2 $140 Nxb2 19. Qxa6 bxa6 20. Kc2 $1 (20. Bxd5
$6 Rd8 (20... Rb8 $2 21. Nc6 $16) 21. Bxa8 Rxd4+ 22. Kc2 Nc4 $44 23. Rac1 $140
Bf5+ 24. Kb3 Na5+ 25. Kb2 Rd2+ 26. Ka1 Ba3 $13) 20... Bxc3 (20... Nc4 $6 21.
Nxd5 $16) 21. Kxc3 Na4+ 22. Kd2 {+/=/+/-}) 18. Bxd5 $6 {After this inaccurate
move White will have to fight for equality.} ({It deserves serious attention:} 
18. Qxa6 $1 Bxa6 $140 19. Nc6 Bxc3+ (19... Nd3+ $143 20. Kd2 {+/=/+/-}) 20.
bxc3 $14) 18... Nd3+ $36 19. Kf1 $5 ({Leads to favourable complications for
Black:} 19. Kd2 $6 Rd8 $1 20. Bxa8 (20. Bxf7+ $143 Kxf7 21. Qxd3 Bc5 $36) 20...
Rxd4 21. Ke3 Bc5 $36 22. Kf3 $140 {[%tqu "En","Please enter the best move for
Black.","","","d3e5","",10]} Nxe5+ $1 23. Kg2 (23. Qxe5 $4 Rd3+ 24. Kg2 Rd2+
25. Kf3 Qd3+) (23. fxe5 $4 Bg4+) 23... Bb7+ 24. Bxb7 Qxb7+ 25. Kh3 Qd7+ 26. f5
(26. g4 $2 Ng6 $19) 26... Qxf5+ 27. Kg2 Qf6 $1 (27... Rd2 $143 28. Qxd2 Qf3+
29. Kh3 Qg4+ 30. Kg2 Qf3+ $11) 28. Rhd1 $140 Qc6+ 29. Kh3 Nd3 $1 $40 {[%csl
Yc6,Yd7,Rh3][%cal Yc6d7]}) 19... Bh3+ 20. Bg2 Bxg2+ {For Black it's certainly
favourable to exchange these bishops.} 21. Kxg2 $8 Rfd8 (21... Bxc3 $5 22. bxc3
Rac8 23. Qd2 Qb7+ $44 {/\Nc5}) 22. Ncb5 {Magnus Carlsen has chosen the
necessary knight for a jump on a point "b5".} (22. Ndb5 $6 Rac8 23. a4 (23.
Rhd1 $2 Rxc3 $1 (23... Bxc3 $143 24. Rxd3 $8 (24. Nxc3 $4 Rxc3 25. bxc3 $140
Nxf4+) 24... Rxd3 25. Qxd3 Bxb2 26. Rd1 $13) 24. Nxc3 (24. bxc3 $2 Qxb5 {
[%csl Gb5,Re2,Rg2][%cal Gd3f4]}) 24... Bxc3 $17 25. Rxd3 $140 $2 Rxd3 {[%csl
Ga6,Re2,Gg2][%cal Gd3g3]}) 23... Bxc3 24. bxc3 Qb7+ 25. Kg1 (25. Qf3 $4 Ne1+
26. Rhxe1 Rd2+) 25... Qd5 $36) {[%tqu "En","Find the best continuation for
Black?","","","d8d4","",10,"b4c5","",0]} 22... Rxd4 $1 (22... Bc5 $6 23. Rad1
Qb7+ (23... Bxd4 $143 24. Qxd3 Qb7+ 25. Qf3 $1 (25. Kh3 Qc8+ 26. Kh4 $14) 25...
Qxf3+ 26. Kxf3 Bxb2 27. Nxa7 {[%csl Rg8]} h5 28. Rxd8+ Rxd8 29. Rb1 $16) 24.
Nf3 Nf2 25. Rxd8+ Rxd8 26. Re1 Ng4 27. Qe4 Qd7 28. Nc3 {+/=/+/-}) 23. Nxd4 $140
Rd8 {[%csl Ga6,Gd3,Yd4,Gd8,Re2,Rg2][%cal Gd8d4,Yd4e2,Gd3f4]} 24. Qe4 {White
had no other worthy alternative:} (24. e6 $2 Rxd4 25. exf7+ (25. e7 $4 Nxf4+)
25... Kxf7 26. Qh5+ Kg8 27. Qe8+ Bf8 28. Qe6+ Kh8 $17) 24... Qc4 25. b3 Qxd4 (
25... Rxd4 $4 {is refuted by:} 26. Qa8+ Bf8 27. bxc4) 26. Qxd4 Rxd4 27. Rad1 {
/\Kf3-e2} Bd2 $5 {Levon Aronian uses a beautiful tactical dodge.} (27... Bc5 $5
28. Kf3 Kf8 (28... a5 $143 29. Ke2 Nb4 30. Rxd4 Bxd4 31. Rd1 Nc6 32. Kd3 $14)
29. Ke2 Nb4 30. Rxd4 Bxd4 31. Rd1 Bc5 $11) 28. Rhf1 (28. Rxd2 $2 Nxf4+ 29. gxf4
Rxd2+ 30. Kf3 Rxa2 31. Rc1 h5 32. Rc8+ Kh7 $15) 28... g5 $1 {Black provokes a
movements of pawn "f4" with the purpose to create of weakness in camp of the
contender.} (28... Nb4 $6 29. Rf2 Be3 30. Rxd4 Bxd4 31. Rd2 Nc6 32. Kf3 {
/\Ke4 +/=}) 29. Kf3 ({Also leads to equality:} 29. Rxd2 Nxf4+ 30. gxf4 Rxd2+
31. Rf2 $11) 29... Nb2 (29... gxf4 $2 30. Rxd2 Nxe5+ 31. Ke2 Re4+ 32. Kd1 f3
$16) 30. Rb1 Nd3 $11 31. Rbd1 {Drawn game is inevitable.} (31. Rfd1 $143 Nc5
32. fxg5 Ne4 {[%csl Rb1,Rd1,Rg5][%cal Ge4c3] =/=/+}) 31... Nb2 {This game was
very interesting and important for the theory of this variation.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "FIDE-Wch k.o."]
[Site "Tripoli"]
[Date "2004.06.20"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B10"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2552"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[EventDate "2004.06.19"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "LBY"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 102"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.09.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.09.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c6 2. e4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. cxd5 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nxd5 6. Nf3 Nxc3 7. bxc3 g6
8. d4 Bg7 9. Bd3 O-O 10. O-O Nc6 11. Re1 Bg4 12. Be4 e5 13. dxe5 Qxd1 14. Rxd1
Bxe5 15. Rb1 Bxc3 16. Rxb7 Rad8 17. Rf1 Nd4 18. Bg5 Rd7 19. Rxd7 1/2-1/2

[Event "FIDE-Wch k.o."]
[Site "Tripoli"]
[Date "2004.06.20"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B14"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2552"]
[Annotator "Dautov,R"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2004.06.19"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "LBY"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 102"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.09.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.09.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c6 2. e4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Qb3 Bg7 7. cxd5 O-O 8.
Be2 Nbd7 9. Bf3 Nb6 10. a4 a5 11. Nge2 Bf5 12. Qd1 $2 $146 {Eine merkwürdige
Neuerung, Aronian gibt seinen Mehrbauern kampflos ab und landet in einer
leicht schlechteren Stellung. Um die Variante beurteilen zu können, sollte man
die Komplikationen nach dem logischen 12.0-0 Bd3 13.d6 untersuchen.} (12. O-O
Bd3 13. d6 exd6 14. Bxb7 Rb8 15. Bc6 $1 (15. Bf3 Nbd5 $1 (15... Nbd7 16. Nb5 $1
Bxb5 17. axb5 Qb6 18. Qa4 Qxb5 19. Qxa5 $14) 16. Nb5 Nb4 17. Bd2 Re8 18. Bxb4
Bxb5 19. axb5 Rxb5 {Bezdan,T-Kiss,L/Hungary 1993} 20. Bxa5 Qxa5 21. Qc2 Qb6 $11
) 15... Nbd5 16. Qd1 (16. Bb5 $2 Nxc3 17. Qxc3 Bxb5 18. axb5 Rxb5 $11) 16...
Nb4 17. Bb5 Bc2 18. Qd2 Ne4 19. Nxe4 Bxe4 20. Ra3 Qb6 21. Qf4 Qb7 22. Rg3 Bc6
23. Nc3 $16 {Rogulj,B-Markotic,G/Porec 1994}) 12... Nbxd5 $15 13. O-O Qd7 14.
Ng3 Be6 15. Nge4 Nxe4 16. Nxe4 b6 17. Ng5 Rad8 {Mehr versprach Schwarz 18...
Bf5!.} (17... Bf5 $1 18. g4 (18. Qb3 Rad8 $15) 18... Be6 19. Re1 Rad8 20. Nxe6
fxe6 $15) 18. Nxe6 Qxe6 19. Re1 Qd6 20. Bg5 Bf6 $1 (20... h6 21. Bh4 Rfe8 22.
Bxd5 Qxd5 23. Bxe7 Rd7 24. Bb4 Rxe1+ 25. Bxe1 Bxd4 26. Qe2 $11) 21. Qd2 Bxg5
22. Qxg5 Nb4 $6 {Das folgende Springermanöver bringt Schwarz nicht mehr als
ein ausgeglichenes Endspiel. Mit 22...e6 könnte Carlsen seinen leichten
Vorteil (der schwache Isolani d4!) sichern.} (22... e6 $1 23. Qe5 Nb4 $15) 23.
Rad1 Nc2 $2 (23... e6 $1) 24. Re4 $1 Qf6 (24... f5 25. Rxe7 Nxd4 26. Rde1 Nxf3+
27. gxf3 $11) 25. Qxf6 exf6 26. g4 $11 Rd6 27. Rd2 Nb4 28. Re7 Rfd8 29. Rb7
Rxd4 30. Rxd4 Rxd4 31. Rxb6 Nd3 32. b3 Nf4 (32... Ne5 $6 33. Kg2 Rd3 34. Be2
Rd2 35. Kf1 $14) 33. h4 Kg7 34. Rb5 Rd3 35. Be4 Rc3 36. Rxa5 Rxb3 37. Rb5 $6
Ra3 38. a5 Ne2+ 39. Kg2 Nc3 40. Rb4 Nxe4 41. Rxe4 Rxa5 42. Rb4 h5 43. gxh5 Rxh5
44. Kg3 Rd5 45. f3 Rd7 46. Ra4 Kh6 47. Rb4 f5 48. Rc4 Re7 1/2-1/2

[Event "FIDE-Wch k.o."]
[Site "Tripoli"]
[Date "2004.06.20"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2552"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "164"]
[EventDate "2004.06.19"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "LBY"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 102"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.09.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.09.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. e4 h6 4. Bxf6 Qxf6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Qd2 d6 7. Nge2 Nc6 8.
a3 Bxc3 9. Qxc3 O-O 10. f4 e5 11. dxe5 dxe5 12. f5 g6 13. g4 h5 14. h3 Rd8 15.
Qe3 b6 16. g5 Qd6 17. Nc3 Qd4 18. Qxd4 Nxd4 19. O-O-O gxf5 20. Bc4 Kg7 21. exf5
Bxf5 22. Rhf1 Rf8 23. h4 c6 24. Ne2 Nxe2+ 25. Bxe2 Bg6 26. Rd7 Rad8 27. Rxa7
Rd4 28. Rh1 Rfd8 29. Re7 R8d5 30. Bd3 Bxd3 31. cxd3 Rf4 32. Kd2 e4 33. Ke3 Rf3+
34. Ke2 Rdxd3 35. Rxe4 Rb3 36. a4 c5 37. Re7 Rf4 38. Rb7 Rxb2+ 39. Ke3 Rbb4 40.
Rg1 Rbe4+ 41. Kd3 Rd4+ 42. Ke3 Rde4+ 43. Kd3 Rg4 44. Rf1 Rgf4 45. Rxf4 Rxf4 46.
Rxb6 Rxa4 47. Rc6 Rxh4 48. Rxc5 Rg4 49. Ke3 Kg6 50. Kf3 Rxg5 51. Rc6+ f6 52.
Rc4 Rg1 53. Rc8 Rg4 54. Rg8+ Kf5 55. Rh8 Rg5 56. Rh6 Ke5 57. Rh8 Rf5+ 58. Ke3
Kd5 59. Ra8 Ke6 60. Ra7 Rb5 61. Kf4 Rb4+ 62. Kf3 Kf5 63. Ra5+ Kg6 64. Ra8 h4
65. Ra5 Rb3+ 66. Kg4 h3 67. Rg5+ Kf7 68. Rh5 Ke6 69. Rh8 Rc3 70. Kf4 Kf7 71.
Kg4 Kg6 72. Kf4 Rc2 73. Kg3 h2 74. Kf3 Kf5 75. Rh5+ Ke6 76. Rh8 Ke5 77. Re8+
Kd4 78. Rd8+ Kc3 79. Rh8 Rd2 80. Kg3 Kd3 81. Kf3 Kc2 82. Kg3 Kd1 0-1

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Molde"]
[Date "2004.07.03"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dannevig, Oystein"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C66"]
[WhiteElo "2552"]
[BlackElo "2372"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2004.07.03"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. O-O g6 6. d4 exd4 7. e5 dxe5 8. Nxe5
Bd7 9. Re1 Nxe5 10. Rxe5+ Be7 11. Bg5 Ng8 12. Qxd4 f6 13. Nc3 c5 14. Bxd7+ Qxd7
15. Qxd7+ Kxd7 16. Rd1+ Kc7 17. Nd5+ Kc6 18. Nxe7+ Nxe7 19. Re6+ Kb5 20. Bxf6
Rhd8 21. Rxd8 Rxd8 22. Re1 1-0

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Molde"]
[Date "2004.07.04"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Nordahl, Helge Andreas"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2359"]
[BlackElo "2552"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2004.07.03"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. a3 Bb7 5. Nc3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. e3 g6 8. Bb5+
c6 9. Bd3 Bg7 10. Nxd5 exd5 11. O-O O-O 12. b4 Nd7 13. Rb1 a5 14. Bd2 axb4 15.
axb4 b5 16. Bc3 Nb6 17. Ne5 Nc4 18. Nxc4 dxc4 19. Be4 Qe7 20. Bf3 Ra3 21. Qd2
Rfa8 22. Ra1 Bf8 23. Rxa3 Rxa3 24. Rb1 Qf6 25. Ra1 Rxa1+ 26. Bxa1 Bg7 27. Qc2
Bc8 28. Qe4 Bd7 29. Bc3 h5 30. g3 Qd8 31. h4 Qa8 32. Qc2 Bf5 33. e4 Be6 34. Qb2
Qa4 35. Kh2 Bd7 36. Qa1 Qc2 37. Qe1 Bg4 38. Bxg4 hxg4 39. e5 Kf8 40. Qd2 Qxd2
41. Bxd2 f6 42. Bc3 fxe5 43. dxe5 Ke7 44. Kg2 Ke6 45. f4 gxf3+ 46. Kxf3 Bxe5
47. Be1 c3 0-1

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Molde"]
[Date "2004.07.05"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Agdestein, Simen"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C02"]
[WhiteElo "2552"]
[BlackElo "2595"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2004.07.03"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bd7 6. Be2 Nge7 7. Na3 cxd4 8. cxd4
f6 9. O-O fxe5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. dxe5 Nc6 12. Nb5 a6 13. Bd3 g6 14. Qg4 Nxe5
15. Qg3 axb5 16. Qxe5 Rg8 17. Bxb5 Qb6 18. Bd3 Bg7 19. Qg3 e5 20. Be3 Qe6 21.
Rac1 Rxa2 22. Qh4 e4 23. Be2 Bxb2 24. Rb1 Bf6 25. Qxh7 Rg7 26. Qh8+ Rg8 27. Qh7
Rxe2 28. Rxb7 Rc2 29. Rfb1 Rg7 30. Qh8+ Rg8 31. Qh7 Rg7 32. Qh8+ Qg8 33. Qh6
Bc8 34. R7b6 Bd8 35. Rb8 Rgc7 36. R1b6 Qg7 37. Qf4 g5 38. Qd6 Rc1+ 0-1

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Molde"]
[Date "2004.07.06"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Johannessen, Leif Erlend"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2521"]
[BlackElo "2552"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2004.07.03"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 a6 5. c5 Nbd7 6. Bf4 Nh5 7. e3 Nxf4 8. exf4
b6 9. b4 g6 10. Bd3 Bg7 11. Rc1 O-O 12. O-O a5 13. b5 Bb7 14. Na4 bxc5 15. Nxc5
Nxc5 16. Rxc5 cxb5 17. Bxb5 Rc8 18. Rxc8 Bxc8 19. Qd2 Qb6 20. a4 Bg4 21. Ne5
Bxe5 22. fxe5 Rc8 23. h3 Be6 24. Rd1 Kg7 25. Kh2 Bf5 26. Qg5 Qa7 27. Kg1 Rc3
28. Bf1 Qc7 29. Bb5 h6 30. Qf4 Bc2 31. Be8 Bf5 32. Bb5 Qc8 33. h4 Rc2 34. Kh2
Rb2 35. Kg1 Rb4 36. Qe3 Qc2 37. Qd2 Qe4 38. Bc6 Be6 39. Qc3 Qe2 40. Re1 Qc4 41.
Rc1 Qxc3 42. Rxc3 Rxd4 43. Rc5 Rc4 44. Rxc4 dxc4 45. Kf1 c3 46. Ke2 c2 47. Kd2
Bb3 48. f4 f6 0-1

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Molde"]
[Date "2004.07.06"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Elsness, Frode"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2552"]
[BlackElo "2408"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2004.07.03"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. O-O Be7 6. c3 O-O 7. Re1 a6 8. Ba4
b5 9. Bc2 Re8 10. Nbd2 Bf8 11. Nf1 h6 12. Ng3 g6 13. h3 d5 14. d4 dxe4 15. Nxe4
Bf5 16. d5 Bxe4 17. Bxe4 Nxe4 18. Rxe4 Ne7 19. Rxe5 Bg7 20. Re2 Qxd5 21. Qe1
Kf8 22. Bf4 Qb7 23. Be5 Bxe5 24. Nxe5 c6 25. c4 bxc4 26. Qc3 Kg8 27. Rae1 Nd5
28. Qxc4 Re6 29. Qg4 Kh7 30. Nc4 Rxe2 31. Rxe2 Qc8 32. Qd4 Qc7 33. g3 Rd8 34.
Qc5 Kg8 35. Kg2 Qb7 36. b3 Qb5 37. Qa7 Rf8 38. Re5 Rd8 39. Kh2 Rf8 40. Nd6 Qb8
41. Qd7 Qb6 42. Kg2 Nf6 43. Qe7 Nd5 44. Qh4 Qd8 45. Qxh6 Qf6 46. Nc4 a5 47. Re4
Ra8 48. Nxa5 Nc3 49. Rf4 Qe5 50. Nxc6 Qd5+ 51. Kh2 Qxc6 52. Rh4 f5 53. Qh8+ Kf7
54. Qe5 1-0

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Molde"]
[Date "2004.07.07"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ostenstad, Berge"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D87"]
[WhiteElo "2552"]
[BlackElo "2492"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[EventDate "2004.07.03"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8.
Ne2 O-O 9. Be3 Nc6 10. O-O Na5 11. Bd3 b6 12. Rc1 e6 13. e5 Bb7 14. Nf4 Nc6 15.
Be4 Qd7 16. Qf3 Rab8 17. Rfd1 cxd4 18. cxd4 Ne7 19. d5 Nxd5 20. Bxd5 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Molde"]
[Date "2004.07.08"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Djurhuus, Rune"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B74"]
[WhiteElo "2483"]
[BlackElo "2552"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2004.07.03"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Be2 O-O 8.
Nb3 d6 9. O-O a6 10. f4 b5 11. Bf3 Bb7 12. e5 dxe5 13. fxe5 Nd7 14. e6 fxe6 15.
Bg4 Rxf1+ 16. Qxf1 Nce5 17. Bxe6+ Kh8 18. Rd1 Qc7 19. Qe2 Rf8 20. Bd4 b4 21.
Ne4 Rf4 22. Ng5 h6 23. Bxd7 hxg5 24. Be8 Re4 25. Qf2 Rg4 26. g3 Nf3+ 27. Kf1
Qc4+ 28. Rd3 Bxd4 29. Nxd4 Rxd4 30. b3 Rxd3 31. bxc4 Rd1+ 32. Ke2 Rd2+ 33. Ke3
Rxf2 34. Kxf2 Kg7 35. c5 Nd4 36. Ke3 e5 37. Kd3 Bd5 0-1

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Molde"]
[Date "2004.07.09"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Fyllingen, Roy Harald"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D77"]
[WhiteElo "2374"]
[BlackElo "2552"]
[PlyCount "40"]
[EventDate "2004.07.03"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. O-O d5 6. c4 dxc4 7. Na3 Nc6 8.
Nxc4 Be6 9. b3 a5 10. Bb2 Bd5 11. Rc1 a4 12. bxa4 Ra6 13. a3 Qa8 14. Ne3 Be4
15. d5 Nxd5 16. Nxd5 Bxb2 17. Nxc7 Qa7 18. Nxa6 Bxc1 19. Qxc1 Qxa6 20. Qh6 Bxf3
1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Molde"]
[Date "2004.07.10"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Lie, Kjetil A"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A67"]
[WhiteElo "2552"]
[BlackElo "2430"]
[PlyCount "176"]
[EventDate "2004.07.03"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. f4 Bg7 8. Bb5+
Nfd7 9. a4 a6 10. Bd3 Qh4+ 11. g3 Qd8 12. Nf3 O-O 13. O-O Nf6 14. f5 Ng4 15.
Bg5 Qb6 16. a5 Qxb2 17. Na4 Bd4+ 18. Kh1 Qxa1 19. Qb3 Nd7 20. Rxa1 Bxa1 21. Be7
Re8 22. Bxd6 Nf2+ 23. Kg2 Nxe4 24. Bxe4 Rxe4 25. Ng5 Re2+ 26. Kf1 Re8 27. Qf3
Ne5 28. Qd1 Bd4 29. Nb6 Bxf5 30. Nxa8 Ng4 31. Bf4 Rxa8 32. Qb3 Re8 33. d6 Nxh2+
34. Kg2 Re2+ 35. Kh1 Be4+ 36. Nxe4 Ng4 37. Nf6+ Bxf6 38. d7 Nf2+ 39. Kg2 Nd3+
40. Kf3 Nxf4 41. Qxb7 Ra2 42. Qb8+ Kg7 43. Qxf4 Ra3+ 44. Ke2 Ra2+ 45. Kd1 Bd8
46. Qe5+ f6 47. Qe8 Bxa5 48. Qe7+ Kh6 49. Qf8+ Kg5 50. Qxc5+ Kh6 51. Kc1 Ra1+
52. Kc2 Ra2+ 53. Kb1 Ra4 54. Kb2 Kg7 55. Kb3 Ra1 56. Qe7+ Kg8 57. Qxf6 Rd1 58.
Qe6+ Kf8 59. Qe8+ Kg7 60. Qe7+ Kg8 61. Kc4 Rf1 62. d8=Q+ Bxd8 63. Qxd8+ Kg7 64.
Qe7+ Rf7 65. Qe5+ Rf6 66. g4 h6 67. Kd5 g5 68. Qc7+ Rf7 69. Qc3+ Kg8 70. Ke6
Rf4 71. Qe5 Kh7 72. Ke7 Kg8 73. Qe6+ Kg7 74. Qf5 a5 75. Qe5+ Kg8 76. Qxa5 Kh7
77. Qd5 Kh8 78. Qd6 Kg7 79. Qe6 Kh7 80. Qd7 Kg8 81. Qc8+ Kh7 82. Qe6 Kg7 83.
Qf5 Ra4 84. Qf7+ Kh8 85. Qe8+ Kg7 86. Qf7+ Kh8 87. Qg6 Rb4 88. Kd8 Rb7 1-0

[Event "Politiken Cup 26th"]
[Site "Copenhagen"]
[Date "2004.07.24"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Andersen, Daniel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A36"]
[WhiteElo "2044"]
[BlackElo "2567"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2004.07.24"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 g6 2. Nc3 Bg7 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 O-O 5. e4 c5 6. Nge2 Nc6 7. O-O d6 8. d3
Rb8 9. Rb1 a6 10. a3 b5 11. cxb5 axb5 12. b4 Ba6 13. Nd5 Nd7 14. Be3 e6 15.
Ndc3 Nd4 16. Bf4 Nxe2+ 17. Nxe2 Ne5 18. Be3 Qe7 19. f4 Ng4 20. Bc1 f5 21. h3
Nf6 22. Bb2 Rfd8 23. Nc3 Rbc8 24. Re1 Nh5 25. Kh2 cxb4 0-1

[Event "Politiken Cup 26th"]
[Site "Copenhagen"]
[Date "2004.07.25"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Willumsen, Niels Henrik"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C18"]
[WhiteElo "2567"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2004.07.24"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 Nf5 8. Bd3
h5 9. Qf4 cxd4 10. Bxf5 exf5 11. cxd4 Qa5+ 12. Bd2 Qb5 13. Ne2 Nc6 14. Qf3 Be6
15. O-O O-O-O 16. Rfb1 Qc4 17. c3 f4 18. Nxf4 Bf5 19. Rb2 f6 20. Nxd5 Bg4 21.
Ne7+ Kc7 22. Qg3 fxe5 23. Nxc6 Kxc6 24. Qxe5 Rhe8 25. Qxg7 Rd7 26. Qg6+ Re6 27.
Qg5 Rd5 28. Qg8 Rd7 29. Qb8 Re2 30. Qxa7 Qf7 31. Qc5# 1-0

[Event "Politiken Cup 26th"]
[Site "Copenhagen"]
[Date "2004.07.25"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Koskela, Niina"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2268"]
[BlackElo "2567"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2004.07.24"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O
O-O 9. Be3 Be6 10. Qd2 Nbd7 11. a4 Rc8 12. Rfd1 Qc7 13. a5 Rfd8 14. Qe1 h6 15.
Nc1 Qb8 16. N1a2 Ng4 17. Bxg4 Bxg4 18. Rd2 Nf6 19. f3 Be6 20. Qd1 Rc4 21. b3
Rcc8 22. Rd3 Rd7 23. Qd2 d5 24. Bf2 dxe4 25. Rxd7 Bxd7 26. Nxe4 Nxe4 27. fxe4
Bc6 28. Qe2 Qd6 29. Rd1 Qa3 30. Nc3 Qxa5 31. Nd5 Bxd5 32. exd5 Bd6 33. c4 Re8
34. Qe3 Rc8 35. Rc1 Bc5 36. Qe2 e4 37. Rd1 e3 38. Bg3 Qc3 39. d6 Qxb3 40. Rd5
Qb1+ 41. Qe1 Qxe1+ 42. Bxe1 b6 43. Kf1 Rd8 44. Bg3 Rd7 45. Ke2 f6 46. Bf4 Kf7
0-1

[Event "Politiken Cup 26th"]
[Site "Copenhagen"]
[Date "2004.07.26"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dannevig, Oystein"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2567"]
[BlackElo "2363"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2004.07.24"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Ke8 10. h3 Ne7 11. b3 Ng6 12. Bb2 a5 13. Rad1 Bb4 14. Nd4
Bxc3 15. Bxc3 Nf4 16. Rfe1 h5 17. e6 fxe6 18. Bd2 Ng6 19. Nxe6 Bxe6 20. Rxe6+
Kf7 21. Rde1 Rhd8 22. Bc3 Rd5 23. R6e3 a4 24. Rf3+ Kg8 25. Rg3 Rd6 26. f4 axb3
27. axb3 Rf8 28. Bb4 Nxf4 29. Bxd6 cxd6 30. Re7 g6 31. Rf3 b5 32. Re4 g5 33. h4
Ng6 34. Rxf8+ Kxf8 35. Re6 1-0

[Event "Politiken Cup 26th"]
[Site "Copenhagen"]
[Date "2004.07.27"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Miezis, Normunds"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B42"]
[WhiteElo "2567"]
[BlackElo "2502"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2004.07.24"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. e4 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Nc6 6. Nxc6 dxc6 7. Nd2 e5 8.
Nc4 Be6 9. Bd2 Bxc4 10. Bxc4 Qd4 11. Qe2 b5 12. Bb3 Nf6 13. O-O-O Qxe4 14. Rhe1
Qxe2 15. Rxe2 Nd7 16. Bc3 Ra7 17. f4 Be7 18. fxe5 Nc5 19. e6 Nxb3+ 20. axb3 Rg8
21. Bd4 Rb7 22. exf7+ Kxf7 23. Rf1+ Ke8 24. Bc5 Rf8 25. Rfe1 Rf7 26. b4 Kd8 27.
Re6 Bxc5 28. Re8+ Kd7 29. bxc5 Rf1 30. R8e7+ Kc8 31. Re8+ Kd7 32. R8e7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Politiken Cup 26th"]
[Site "Copenhagen"]
[Date "2004.07.28"]
[Round "6"]
[White "De Firmian, Nick E"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B87"]
[WhiteElo "2537"]
[BlackElo "2567"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2004.07.24"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bc4 e6 7. O-O Be7 8. Bb3
b5 9. f4 Bb7 10. e5 dxe5 11. fxe5 Bc5 12. Be3 Nc6 13. exf6 Bxd4 14. Qe2 Bxe3+
15. Qxe3 Qd4 16. Rae1 gxf6 17. Ne4 O-O-O 18. Rxf6 Qxe3+ 19. Rxe3 Rd1+ 20. Kf2
Ne5 21. h3 Rg8 22. g4 Rd4 23. Nc5 Nd7 24. Nxd7 Rxd7 25. Rh6 Rg7 26. Re5 Rd1 27.
c4 Rd2+ 28. Ke3 Rxb2 29. cxb5 axb5 30. Rxb5 Kc7 31. Rbh5 Kd6 32. Rxh7 Rxh7 33.
Rxh7 Ke7 34. g5 Rg2 35. h4 Bd5 36. Bxd5 exd5 37. a4 Kf8 38. a5 Ra2 39. Rh8+ Kg7
40. Ra8 Rh2 41. Rd8 Rxh4 42. Rxd5 f6 43. Kd3 fxg5 44. Rd4 Rh8 45. a6 Kf6 46.
Kc4 Ke5 47. Rd7 g4 48. a7 g3 49. Rg7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Politiken Cup 26th"]
[Site "Copenhagen"]
[Date "2004.07.29"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Lie, Kjetil A"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A77"]
[WhiteElo "2567"]
[BlackElo "2459"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2004.07.24"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 c5 7. d5 e6 8. O-O
exd5 9. cxd5 Re8 10. Nd2 Nbd7 11. Qc2 Ne5 12. h3 g5 13. f4 gxf4 14. Rxf4 Kh8
15. Nc4 Ng6 16. Rf1 b5 17. Nxb5 Nxe4 18. Bd3 a6 19. Bxe4 axb5 20. Rxf7 bxc4 21.
Bxg6 Qh4 22. Rxg7 Re1+ 23. Kh2 Kxg7 24. Bxh7 Qxh7 25. Qc3+ Re5 26. Bf4 Qf5 27.
Qg3+ Kh7 28. Rf1 Ra7 29. Bxe5 Qxf1 30. Qh4+ Kg6 31. Qg3+ Kh7 32. Qh4+ Kg6 33.
Qg3+ Kf5 34. Bxd6 Qe2 35. Qf4+ Kg6 36. Qg3+ Kf5 37. Qf4+ Kg6 38. Qg3+ Kf7 39.
Be5 Re7 40. Qg7+ Ke8 41. Qg6+ Rf7 42. Qg8+ Rf8 43. Qg6+ Rf7 44. Qg8+ Rf8
1/2-1/2

[Event "Politiken Cup 26th"]
[Site "Copenhagen"]
[Date "2004.07.30"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Schlecht, Daniel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D47"]
[WhiteElo "2363"]
[BlackElo "2567"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2004.07.24"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nc3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3
Bb7 9. e4 b4 10. Na4 c5 11. e5 Nd5 12. O-O h6 13. Re1 Rc8 14. Nxc5 Nxc5 15.
dxc5 Bxc5 16. Qe2 Qb6 17. Bd2 O-O 18. a3 Rfd8 19. Rf1 a5 20. h3 b3 21. Rac1 Ne7
22. a4 Nf5 23. Kh2 Rxd3 24. Qxd3 Ba6 25. Qc3 Bxf1 26. Rxf1 Ra8 27. Be1 Nd4 28.
Nd2 Bb4 29. Qe3 Rd8 30. Nxb3 Qa6 31. Bxb4 Qxf1 32. Nxd4 axb4 33. Nc6 Ra8 34. b3
Qd1 35. Ne7+ Kh8 36. Qf4 Qe1 37. g3 Ra7 38. Qxf7 Rxe7 39. Qxe7 Qxf2+ 40. Kh1
Qf1+ 41. Kh2 Qe2+ 42. Kg1 Qe3+ 43. Kf1 Qf3+ 44. Ke1 Qxg3+ 45. Kd2 Qc3+ 46. Ke2
Qxe5+ 47. Kd2 Qb2+ 48. Ke1 Qxb3 49. Qd8+ Kh7 50. a5 Qe3+ 51. Kd1 b3 52. Qd2
Qg1+ 53. Ke2 b2 54. Qc2+ Qg6 0-1

[Event "Politiken Cup 26th"]
[Site "Copenhagen"]
[Date "2004.07.31"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Rozentalis, Eduardas"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2567"]
[BlackElo "2619"]
[PlyCount "26"]
[EventDate "2004.07.24"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Be7 7. O-O Nc6 8. c4
Nf6 9. Nc3 O-O 10. h3 Nb4 11. Be2 dxc4 12. Bxc4 c6 13. Bg5 Nbd5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Politiken Cup 26th"]
[Site "Copenhagen"]
[Date "2004.08.01"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Lindberg, Bengt"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2422"]
[BlackElo "2567"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2004.07.24"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 101 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Be3
Be6 9. Nd5 Nbd7 10. Qd3 O-O 11. c4 b5 12. cxb5 axb5 13. O-O Rb8 14. Rfd1 Bxd5
15. exd5 Re8 16. Rac1 e4 17. Qd2 Ne5 18. Nd4 Nxd5 19. Nc6 Nxc6 20. Qxd5 Nb4 21.
Qd2 Nd3 22. Bxd3 exd3 23. Qxd3 Bf6 24. Rc2 Be5 25. g3 h5 26. h4 Qf6 27. Kg2 Qe6
28. Qd5 Qg6 29. Re2 Re6 30. Qd3 Qg4 31. Bg5 f6 32. Bc1 Bxg3 33. f3 Rxe2+ 34.
Qxe2 Qg6 35. Qd3 Qxd3 36. Rxd3 Bxh4 37. Rxd6 Rc8 38. Be3 Re8 39. Rd3 f5 40. f4
Bf6 41. Rb3 Bxb2 42. Kf3 Bf6 43. Rxb5 g6 44. a4 Re4 45. Rb6 Kg7 46. Rb7+ Kh6
47. Bc5 g5 48. fxg5+ Kxg5 49. Rb4 Rxb4 50. Bxb4 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-ch playoff"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2004.09.04"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ostenstad, Berge"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C18"]
[WhiteElo "2567"]
[BlackElo "2482"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2004.09.04"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 102 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.11.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.11.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 O-O 8. Bd3
Nbc6 9. Qh5 Ng6 10. Nf3 Qc7 11. Be3 c4 12. Bxg6 fxg6 13. Qg4 Bd7 14. h4 Rf5 15.
h5 gxh5 16. Rxh5 Raf8 17. Kd2 Be8 18. Rxf5 exf5 19. Qg3 Nd8 20. Ng5 Bg6 21. Rh1
Qc6 22. Qh4 f4 23. Nxh7 Qa4 24. Nxf8 Qxc2+ 25. Ke1 Qb1+ 26. Ke2 Qd3+ 27. Kf3
Qe4+ 28. Ke2 Qd3+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-ch playoff"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2004.09.05"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Ostenstad, Berge"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E09"]
[WhiteElo "2482"]
[BlackElo "2567"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2004.09.04"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 102 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.11.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2004.11.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. d4 c6 7. Nbd2 Nbd7 8. Qc2
b5 9. c5 a5 10. e4 b4 11. e5 Ne8 12. Re1 Nc7 13. Nf1 Ba6 14. h4 Qb8 15. N1h2
Qb5 16. Bf1 Qb7 17. Bh3 a4 18. Bg5 b3 19. axb3 axb3 20. Qb1 Rfe8 21. Bxe7 Rxe7
22. Ng5 Nf8 23. Ng4 Ne8 24. Qd1 Bc4 25. Rxa8 Qxa8 26. Ne3 Qa4 27. Qd2 Ra7 28.
Nxc4 Qxc4 29. Bf1 Qa4 30. Re3 Nc7 31. Nf3 Nb5 32. Qd1 h6 33. Kg2 Ra8 34. Bxb5
Qxb5 35. Qxb3 Rb8 36. Qxb5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lausanne YM 5th"]
[Site "Lausanne"]
[Date "2004.09.15"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Alekseev, Evgeny V"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C55"]
[WhiteElo "2606"]
[BlackElo "2567"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2004.09.15"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. Bb3 d6 7. c3 d5 8. Nbd2
dxe4 9. dxe4 Bc5 10. Qe2 Qe7 11. Nc4 Bg4 12. h3 Be6 13. Kh2 a6 14. Bg5 h6 15.
Bh4 g5 16. Bg3 Nh5 17. Ncd2 Rad8 18. Rad1 Ba7 19. Ba4 b5 20. Bb3 Rd6 21. a4 Rb8
22. axb5 axb5 23. Ra1 Bb6 24. Rfd1 Rbd8 25. Qxb5 Bxb3 26. Qxb3 Nxg3 27. fxg3
Qe6 28. Qxe6 fxe6 29. Rf1 Rxd2 30. Nxd2 Rxd2 31. Rf6 Nd8 32. Raf1 Kg7 33. Rf8
Rd7 34. Re8 Bc5 35. b4 Be7 36. g4 Bf6 37. b5 Kf7 38. Rh8 Kg7 39. Re8 Kf7 40.
Rh8 Kg7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lausanne YM 5th"]
[Site "Lausanne"]
[Date "2004.09.16"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Alekseev, Evgeny V"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2567"]
[BlackElo "2606"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2004.09.15"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 f5 11. g3 fxe4 12. Bg2 Be6 13. Bxe4 Rc8 14. Qh5 Bg7
15. c3 Ne7 16. Rd1 Rc5 17. Nxe7 Qxe7 18. Nc2 d5 19. Bf5 d4 20. O-O Bxf5 21.
Qxf5 dxc3 22. bxc3 O-O 23. Ne3 e4 24. Rd5 Rxd5 25. Nxd5 Qe6 26. Qh5 Qe5 27.
Qxe5 Bxe5 28. a4 bxa4 29. Ra1 Rd8 30. Ne7+ Kf8 31. Nc6 Bxc3 32. Rxa4 Rd1+ 33.
Kg2 Ra1 34. Rc4 Bf6 35. Nb8 Kg7 36. Rxe4 a5 37. Nd7 Bb2 38. Rg4+ Kh8 39. Rf4
Kg7 40. Rg4+ Kh8 41. Rf4 Kg7 42. Rg4+ Kh8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lausanne YM 5th"]
[Site "Lausanne"]
[Date "2004.09.16"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Alekseev, Evgeny V"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C55"]
[WhiteElo "2606"]
[BlackElo "2567"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2004.09.15"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. Bb3 d6 7. c3 d5 8. Nbd2
dxe4 9. dxe4 Bc5 10. Qe2 Qe7 11. Nc4 h6 12. Bc2 a5 13. Be3 b6 14. Rfd1 Ba6 15.
Bd3 Rfd8 16. Bxc5 Qxc5 17. Ncxe5 Nxe5 18. Nxe5 Bb7 19. Ng4 Nxg4 20. Qxg4 Rd6
21. Bc2 Rg6 22. Qe2 Ba6 23. Qe1 Re8 24. Rd5 Qe7 25. Rad1 Bb7 26. Rd7 Qg5 27. g3
Rge6 28. f3 R6e7 29. Rxe7 Qxe7 30. Qf2 Bc8 31. Qd4 Be6 32. a3 Qg5 33. Kf2 Qh5
34. h4 Qc5 35. Qxc5 bxc5 36. Rd2 Rb8 37. Ba4 Kf8 38. Ke3 Ke7 39. f4 f5 40. exf5
Bxf5 41. Bd1 Kf6 42. g4 Be6 43. g5+ hxg5 44. hxg5+ Ke7 45. Bf3 Rh8 46. Bd5 Rh3+
47. Ke4 Bc8 48. Bc4 c6 49. Bf1 Rg3 50. Rg2 Rh3 51. Rf2 Rg3 52. Rg2 Rh3 53. Re2
Rg3 54. Bg2 Ba6 55. Rd2 Ke6 56. f5+ Ke7 57. Kf4 Rd3 58. Rxd3 Bxd3 59. Ke5 1-0

[Event "Lausanne YM 5th"]
[Site "Lausanne"]
[Date "2004.09.16"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Alekseev, Evgeny V"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B29"]
[WhiteElo "2567"]
[BlackElo "2606"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2004.09.15"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Ng4 5. Qe2 d6 6. exd6 e6 7. Qc4 Nf6 8.
Qxc5 Bxd6 9. Qg5 O-O 10. Bd3 Nb4 11. O-O Nxd3 12. cxd3 b6 13. b3 Bb7 14. Bb2 h6
15. Qh4 Nd5 16. Qg4 Nf6 17. Qh3 Rc8 18. Rae1 Rc5 19. Ne4 Nxe4 20. dxe4 Ba6 21.
Qg4 g6 22. d3 Bxd3 23. e5 Be7 24. Rd1 Rd5 25. Rfe1 Bf5 26. Rxd5 Bxg4 27. Rxd8
Rxd8 28. Bc1 Kg7 29. Be3 Bxf3 30. gxf3 g5 31. Rc1 Rd7 32. Rc8 Kg6 33. Rg8+ Kf5
34. Rh8 Bc5 35. Bxc5 bxc5 36. Rxh6 Kxe5 37. h4 Kf5 38. Rh5 f6 39. hxg5 fxg5 40.
Rh8 Rd2 41. a4 Rb2 42. Rc8 Rxb3 43. Rxc5+ Kf4 44. Kg2 Ra3 45. Rc4+ Kf5 46. Kg3
e5 47. Rb4 Ra2 48. Rc4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lausanne YM 5th"]
[Site "Lausanne"]
[Date "2004.09.17"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Papa, Severin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C48"]
[WhiteElo "2567"]
[BlackElo "2397"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2004.09.15"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Nc3 d6 6. Na4 Bb6 7. c3 O-O 8. Bg5
Ne7 9. Nxb6 axb6 10. Nh4 Ng6 11. Bc4 Kh8 12. O-O h6 13. Nxg6+ fxg6 14. Be3 Qe7
15. f4 Ng4 16. Qe2 Nxe3 17. Qxe3 exf4 18. Rxf4 Rxf4 19. Qxf4 Be6 20. Bxe6 Qxe6
21. a3 Qf6 22. Rf1 Rf8 23. Qf2 Kg8 24. g3 g5 25. Kg2 Rf7 26. a4 Rf8 27. b3 Rf7
28. b4 Kf8 29. Qxf6 gxf6 30. Rf5 Ke7 31. Kf3 Rf8 32. Kg4 Ra8 33. a5 c5 34. axb6
cxb4 35. cxb4 Ra4 36. b5 Ra2 37. h4 Rd2 38. Rf3 Kf7 39. Kh5 gxh4 40. gxh4 Rb2
41. Rf5 Rh2 42. d4 Re2 43. Rf4 Rb2 44. e5 dxe5 45. dxe5 Rxb5 46. Rxf6+ Kg7 47.
Rg6+ Kf8 48. Kxh6 Rxe5 49. Rf6+ Ke7 50. Kg6 Re4 51. h5 Rg4+ 52. Kf5 Rh4 53. Rh6
Kd7 54. Kg5 Rh1 55. Rg6 Rg1+ 56. Kf6 Rh1 57. h6 1-0

[Event "Lausanne YM 5th"]
[Site "Lausanne"]
[Date "2004.09.18"]
[Round "2.2"]
[White "Papa, Severin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D91"]
[WhiteElo "2397"]
[BlackElo "2567"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2004.09.15"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bg5 Ne4 6. Bh4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 c5 8. e3
Nc6 9. cxd5 Qxd5 10. Be2 cxd4 11. cxd4 Qa5+ 12. Qd2 Qxd2+ 13. Kxd2 O-O 14. Rab1
b6 15. Bb5 Bb7 16. Rhc1 Rfc8 17. Bxc6 Bxc6 18. Bxe7 Bd5 19. a3 f6 20. Rxc8+
Rxc8 21. Rc1 Rxc1 22. Kxc1 Kf7 23. Bd6 Ke6 24. Bb8 Bf8 25. Kb2 a6 26. Bc7 b5
27. Ne1 Bc4 28. Ba5 Bd6 29. h3 Kd5 30. Bb4 Bh2 31. Nf3 Bc7 32. Nd2 Be2 33. Kc3
a5 34. e4+ Kc6 35. Bf8 Kd7 36. Bc5 h5 37. g3 f5 38. d5 Be5+ 39. Kc2 fxe4 40.
Nxe4 Bc4 41. f4 Bg7 42. Nc3 Bxc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lausanne YM 5th"]
[Site "Lausanne"]
[Date "2004.09.19"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Lagno, Kateryna"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2567"]
[BlackElo "2472"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2004.09.15"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Bd3 Nf6 6. h3 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8.
c3 b6 9. Bc2 Bb7 10. Re1 Re8 11. d4 Nbd7 12. Bg5 Nf8 13. Nbd2 Ng6 14. Ba4 Nd7
15. Be3 a6 16. Nf1 b5 17. Bb3 Nb6 18. Ng3 Nd5 19. Nh2 Nh4 20. Qg4 Qc8 21. Qh5
g6 22. Qh6 Nxg2 23. Kxg2 Bf8 24. Qh4 Nxe3+ 25. Kg1 Nc4 26. Ng4 Bg7 27. Qg5
Rxe1+ 28. Rxe1 Qf8 29. Bc2 h6 30. Qf4 Re8 31. Rxe8 Qxe8 32. Be4 Bxe4 33. Nxe4
Qe7 34. Nef6+ Bxf6 35. Nxf6+ Kg7 36. Nd5 Qd8 37. b3 Nb6 38. Ne3 Qg5+ 39. Qxg5
hxg5 40. Kg2 f5 41. Kf3 c5 42. dxc5 dxc5 43. c4 bxc4 44. Nxc4 Nxc4 45. bxc4 Kf6
46. Ke3 Ke5 47. f3 a5 48. a4 Ke6 49. Ke2 g4 50. hxg4 fxg4 51. fxg4 Ke5 52. Kd3
Kf4 53. g5 Kf3 0-1

[Event "Lausanne YM 5th"]
[Site "Lausanne"]
[Date "2004.09.20"]
[Round "3.2"]
[White "Lagno, Kateryna"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B56"]
[WhiteElo "2472"]
[BlackElo "2567"]
[PlyCount "128"]
[EventDate "2004.09.15"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bd7 6. Be2 Bc6 7. O-O e6 8.
Nxc6 Nxc6 9. Bf4 Be7 10. Qd2 O-O 11. Rad1 Qa5 12. a3 Rfd8 13. Qe3 Rac8 14. Qg3
Ne5 15. Rd4 Ng6 16. Be3 a6 17. f4 e5 18. Ra4 exf4 19. Rxa5 fxg3 20. hxg3 Ne5
21. Rd1 Rc6 22. Ra4 Rdc8 23. Rad4 Kf8 24. Kf1 Nfd7 25. Bf2 Nc4 26. Bxc4 Rxc4
27. Rxc4 Rxc4 28. Bd4 Nb8 29. e5 dxe5 30. Bxe5 Nc6 31. Bd6 Bxd6 32. Rxd6 Ke7
33. Rd2 Ke6 34. Ne2 g5 35. c3 h5 36. Kf2 Re4 37. Ng1 Ne5 38. Nf3 Ng4+ 39. Kf1
f6 40. Nd4+ Kd5 41. Nf5+ Kc5 42. Re2 Ra4 43. Re7 b5 44. Ke2 Kd5 45. Nd4 Ne5 46.
Rh7 b4 47. axb4 Ra2 48. Nc2 Rxb2 49. Kd1 Kc4 50. Rc7+ Kd3 51. Ne1+ Ke3 52. Nc2+
Kf2 53. Ra7 Kxg2 54. Rxa6 Kxg3 55. Rxf6 h4 56. Rf5 Nf3 57. Ne3 Rd2+ 58. Kc1 Re2
59. Nf1+ Kg2 60. b5 Re1+ 61. Kb2 Rxf1 62. b6 Re1 63. b7 Re8 64. c4 h3 0-1

[Event "Lausanne YM 5th"]
[Site "Lausanne"]
[Date "2004.09.20"]
[Round "3.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Lagno, Kateryna"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2567"]
[BlackElo "2472"]
[PlyCount "21"]
[EventDate "2004.09.15"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 c5 5. g3 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Ne4 7. Qd3 Bxc3+ 8.
bxc3 Nc5 9. Qe3 b6 10. Bg2 Bb7 11. Ba3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lausanne YM 5th"]
[Site "Lausanne"]
[Date "2004.09.20"]
[Round "3.4"]
[White "Lagno, Kateryna"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2472"]
[BlackElo "2567"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2004.09.15"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Nh6 4. Be2 Qb6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. O-O e6 7. c3 Nf5 8. h3
Bxf3 9. Bxf3 c5 10. c4 dxc4 11. d5 Nd7 12. Na3 Nxe5 13. Qa4+ Kd8 14. dxe6 Nxf3+
15. gxf3 Qxe6 16. Bg5+ f6 17. Rad1+ Bd6 18. Bf4 Nd4 19. Bxd6 Qxd6 20. Nb5 Qd5
21. Rfe1 Nxf3+ 22. Kf1 Nh2+ 23. Kg1 Nf3+ 24. Kf1 Nd4 25. Qa5+ b6 26. Nxd4 Qh1+
27. Ke2 Qe4+ 28. Kf1 Qh1+ 29. Ke2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lausanne YM 5th"]
[Site "Lausanne"]
[Date "2004.09.20"]
[Round "3.5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Lagno, Kateryna"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E63"]
[WhiteElo "2567"]
[BlackElo "2472"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2004.09.15"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nf3 d6 6. O-O Nc6 7. Nc3 a6 8. h3
Bd7 9. e4 e5 10. dxe5 Nxe5 11. c5 Nxf3+ 12. Qxf3 dxc5 13. e5 Ne8 14. Rd1 Qc8
15. Qxb7 Rb8 16. Qxc8 Bxc8 17. Nd5 Be6 18. Be3 f6 19. Bxc5 Rf7 20. Ne7+ Kh8 21.
Nc6 Rc8 22. Nd8 Bc4 23. Nxf7+ Bxf7 24. Rd7 Kg8 25. Rad1 Bxa2 26. Bc6 Bf8 27.
Bxf8 Kxf8 28. Rd8 Rxd8 29. Rxd8 Bf7 30. e6 1-0

[Event "Lausanne YM 5th"]
[Site "Lausanne"]
[Date "2004.09.20"]
[Round "3.6"]
[White "Lagno, Kateryna"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C90"]
[WhiteElo "2472"]
[BlackElo "2567"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2004.09.15"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4
b4 9. d4 d6 10. c3 Bg4 11. d5 Na5 12. cxb4 Nxb3 13. Qxb3 Rb8 14. Bd2 Nh5 15. h3
Bd7 16. Qc4 Kh8 17. Nc3 f5 18. exf5 Bxf5 19. Be3 Qe8 20. Kh2 Qg6 21. Nh4 Bxh4
22. Qxh4 Bd3 23. Rad1 Nf4 24. Qg3 Bc2 25. Rd2 Nd3 26. Qxg6 hxg6 27. Ree2 Nxb4
28. Rxc2 c6 29. Bc1 0-1

[Event "Gausdal Classic"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2004.09.23"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "L'Ami, Erwin"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D89"]
[WhiteElo "2567"]
[BlackElo "2486"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2004.09.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "10"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8.
Ne2 O-O 9. O-O Nc6 10. Be3 Bg4 11. f3 Na5 12. Bd3 cxd4 13. cxd4 Be6 14. d5 Bxa1
15. Qxa1 f6 16. Bh6 Re8 17. Kh1 Rc8 18. Nf4 Bd7 19. e5 Nc4 20. e6 Ba4 21. Nxg6
hxg6 22. Bxg6 Ne5 23. Be4 Bc2 24. Bxc2 Rxc2 25. Qd1 Qc7 26. f4 Rc1 27. Qxc1
Qxc1 28. Rxc1 Ng4 29. h3 Nxh6 30. g4 Rd8 31. Rc7 Kf8 32. Rd7 Nf7 33. h4 b5 34.
Kg2 a5 35. Kf3 a4 36. Ke3 b4 37. Ra7 Nh6 38. g5 Nf5+ 39. Ke4 Nd6+ 40. Kf3 fxg5
41. hxg5 b3 42. Rxa4 b2 43. Rb4 Nc4 44. Kg4 Rd6 45. Rb8+ Kg7 46. f5 Rb6 47.
Rxb6 Nxb6 48. d6 exd6 49. f6+ Kf8 0-1

[Event "Gausdal Classic"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2004.09.24"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Lugovoi, Aleksei"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B65"]
[WhiteElo "2567"]
[BlackElo "2540"]
[Annotator "Gofshtein,L"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2004.09.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "10"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 {[%mdl 4]} c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7.
Qd2 Be7 8. O-O-O O-O 9. f4 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 Qa5 11. Bc4 Bd7 12. Kb1 {a rare move,
the usual move is 12.e5.} (12. e5 dxe5 13. fxe5 Bc6 {is the main line of this
variation.}) 12... Bc6 {Black moves the bishop out of fire, bringing it to a
better position.} (12... Rfd8 13. Bb3 b5 $2 (13... Bc6 {was much better and
may lead with different move order to 12...Bc6 variation.}) 14. e5 $1 $36 {
1-0 Nguyen Anh Dung-Aung Thant Zin/Bangkok 2004/CBM 102/[Gofshtein,L] (23) Now
this is very strong.}) 13. Bb3 {The immideate 13.Rhf1 was also possible, which
led to an unclear game in Tal-Larsen.} (13. Rhf1 h6 14. Bh4 Qh5 15. g3 g5 16.
fxg5 hxg5 17. Rxf6 Bxf6 18. Qxf6 gxh4 19. gxh4 Kh7 $13 {0-1 Tal,M-Larsen,B/
Eersel 1969/Candidates (41)}) 13... Rfd8 {[%cal Gd8d6] A useful move, black
prepares a breakthrough in the centre, 13...Rad8 was also played, for example:}
(13... Rad8 14. Rhf1 h6 $5 15. Bh4 Qh5 $5 (15... Rd7 16. f5 e5 17. Qf2 Rc8 18.
Bxf6 $16 {0-1 Nikitin,A-Averbakh,Y/Moscow 1964/MCD (67)}) 16. Bg3 d5 17. e5 Ne4
$132 {1/2-1/2 Sakharov,Y-Osnos,V/Riga 1968/MCD (46)}) (13... Rfe8 14. Rhf1 h6
15. Bh4 Nxe4 16. Nxe4 Bxh4 17. f5 d5 18. Nd6 Bf6 19. Qg4 $44 {1-0 Sakharov,
Y-Kots,Y/Kiev 1965/EXT 2002 (22)}) 14. Rhe1 h6 $5 {A typical move, which is
one of the steps towards the d6-d5 breakthrough.} 15. Bh4 Qh5 $5 {This way
black forces white to remove the bishop, after which d6-d5 becomes possible.}
16. Bg3 d5 {[%cal Gd5e4]} 17. exd5 (17. e5 Ne4 $132) 17... Nxd5 18. Bxd5 $6 {
A dubious move, handing the initiative to black. 18.Nd5 led to an equal game.}
(18. Nxd5 $5 Bxd5 19. Re5 $1 Bf3 20. Rxh5 Bxh5 21. Qxd8+ Rxd8 22. Rxd8+ Bxd8
$11 {1/2-1/2 Kholmov,R-Glek,I/Moscow 1983/EXT 2002 (46)}) 18... Bf6 $1 {
An important intermideate move after which black seizes the initiative. 18...
Bd5 was worse of course.} (18... Bxd5 19. Re5 Qg4 20. Nxd5 Rxd5 21. Rxd5 exd5
22. Rd3 $14 {[%csl Gd5]}) 19. Qc5 Bxc3 $5 {Exchanging the strong knight black
gets a better game.} 20. Qxc3 Bxd5 $17 {[%cal Rd5g2]} 21. Rc1 {It's not clear
how to defend the g2 pawn.} (21. Qe5 Qg4 22. Rd4 Bxg2 $17) 21... Rac8 22. Qe3
Bxg2 {Black has an extra pawn and a more active position.} 23. Rg1 (23. Qxa7
Rd2 24. Qe3 Rcd8 $17) 23... Bd5 24. f5 {White tries to open lines for his
pieces.} Qxf5 25. Bh4 Re8 26. Qxh6 Qh7 {Offering an exchange of queens and
going for an endgame with an extra pawn.} 27. Qxh7+ {[%mdl 4096] White doesn't
have a pleasent alternative. Also after 27.Qf6 black's advantage is doubtless.}
(27. Qf6 Be4 28. Ka1 Bxc2) 27... Kxh7 28. Rce1 e5 {Black starts to push
forward his passed pawn, activizing his pieces.} 29. Re3 Re6 {[%cal Re6h6]} 30.
Reg3 g6 31. Re3 Rc4 $5 {[%cal Yc4h4] By axctivizing the rook black strengthens
his pressure.} 32. Be1 f6 {Consolidating the position and protecting the e5
pawn.} 33. b3 Rf4 34. Rh3+ Kg7 35. Bd2 Rf3 {It is preferable for black to
exchange one pair of rooks as in this case his pawns would move without any
obstacles.} 36. Rh4 g5 37. Kc1 Re8 {With the idea to activize his king by Kg6.
The rook from e8 controls the 8th rank.} 38. Rhg4 Rh3 $19 {[%cal Rh3h2]} 39. c4
Bc6 40. Bxg5 {A desperate sacrifice.} fxg5 41. Rxg5+ Kf6 42. Rg6+ Ke7 43. Rg7+
Kd8 0-1

[Event "Gausdal Classic"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2004.09.25"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Ostmoe, Geir S Tallaksen"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2350"]
[BlackElo "2567"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2004.09.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "10"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. a3 Ba6 5. Qc2 Bb7 6. Nc3 c5 7. e4 cxd4 8. Nxd4
Bc5 9. Nb3 Nc6 10. Bf4 e5 11. Bg5 h6 12. Bh4 O-O 13. f3 Rc8 14. O-O-O a6 15.
Qd2 Nxe4 16. Nxe4 Qxh4 17. Nexc5 bxc5 18. Qxd7 Ba8 19. Qf5 Rfd8 20. g3 Rxd1+
21. Kxd1 Qd8+ 22. Kc1 Rb8 23. Nd2 Nd4 24. Qd3 Nxf3 25. Nxf3 Qf6 26. Qc3 Bxf3
27. Rg1 Be4 28. Bd3 Bxd3 29. Qxd3 Qf2 0-1

[Event "Gausdal Classic"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2004.09.26"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sammalvuo, Tapani"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B81"]
[WhiteElo "2567"]
[BlackElo "2445"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2004.09.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "10"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. g4 e5 8. Nf5
g6 9. g5 gxf5 10. exf5 d5 11. gxf6 d4 12. Bc4 Qc7 13. Qd3 dxe3 14. O-O-O exf2
15. Bxf7+ Kxf7 16. Qd5+ Kxf6 17. Ne4+ Ke7 18. f6+ Ke8 19. f7+ Ke7 20. Qd2 Qb6
21. Qg5+ Kxf7 22. Rhf1 Bh6 23. Rxf2+ Ke8 24. Rd8+ Qxd8 25. Qxh6 Qe7 26. Nf6+
Kd8 27. Nd5 Qe6 28. Qg5+ Kd7 29. Qg7+ Kc6 30. Rf6 Kxd5 31. Rxe6 Kxe6 32. Qxh8
Nc6 33. h4 b5 34. Qg8+ Kd6 35. h5 Ne7 36. Qh8 Ra7 37. Qxh7 Bf5 38. Qh6+ Kd5 39.
Qf6 Rc7 40. c3 b4 41. Qb6 Rc4 42. Qf6 Rc7 43. Kd2 bxc3+ 44. bxc3 a5 45. a4 Rd7
46. h6 Ke4+ 47. Kc1 Nd5 48. Qa6 Kf4 49. Qc6 Ne7 50. Qb6 Nd5 51. Qc6 Ne7 52. Qb6
Nd5 53. Qc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gausdal Classic"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2004.09.27"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Palo, Davor"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2513"]
[BlackElo "2567"]
[Annotator "Golod,V"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2004.09.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "10"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 b6 7. Bg5 Bb7 8.
Nf3 d6 9. Nd2 Nbd7 10. f3 c5 $5 {Besides Black has two alternatives:} (10... d5
$5 {You can see my annotations to game: Kasparov,G-Karpov,A/Frankfurt,1999/CBM
72(1/2-1/2)(49)}) (10... h6 $5 {You can see my comments to Shchekachev,
A-Bagheri,A/Paris,2003/CBM 99(1-0)(38)}) 11. e4 {White had no other worthy
alternative.} Re8 ({After:} 11... cxd4 12. Qxd4 Qc7 {you can find three games
in Mega DataBase 2004}) ({On:} 11... h6 $5 {I have found three games in my
database.For an example we shall consider latest of them:} 12. Bh4 cxd4 13.
Qxd4 Qe7 14. Be2 Rfd8 15. O-O Rac8 16. Rfd1 e5 17. Qf2 Nf8 18. Nf1 Ng6 19. Bg3
Nh5 20. Ne3 Nxg3 21. hxg3 {+/=/= Gustafsson,J-Vescovi,G/playchess.com INT,2004
(1-0)(64)}) 12. Bd3 ({Also four times were checked up in previous games:} 12.
Be2 $5) 12... cxd4 $1 $146 {An interesting attempt of improvement black's play.
} ({The games,which have reached this position were continued as follows:} 
12... Qc7 $5 {For further details,you can see comments to Dautov,R-Epishin,V/
Port Erin,2002/CBM 91(1/2-1/2)(Dautov,R)(67)}) ({and} 12... e5 13. d5 $2 (13.
dxe5 $5 dxe5 14. O-O $14) 13... Nf8 $6 (13... Nxd5 $1 14. Bxd8 Nxc3 15. Bc7 Na4
$36) 14. Qc2 Bc8 15. Nb1 h6 16. Be3 Nh5 17. g3 $14 {Rogozenko,D-Wells,P/
Germany,1998/GER-chT(1/2-1/2)(65)}) (12... h6 $6 {Dautov,R} 13. Bh4 Qc7 14. O-O
cxd4 15. Qxd4 Qc5 16. Qf2 $14) 13. Qxd4 $140 Nc5 14. Bc2 ({It deserves more
attention:} 14. O-O e5 15. Qe3 h6 16. Bxf6 (16. Bh4 $143 Ng4) 16... Qxf6 17. b4
Ne6 18. Nb3 Nf4 19. Rfd1 $11) 14... e5 $1 {The game of Black corresponds to
the requirements of a position. I am sure, that Magnus expected for this move,
when he made 12...cxd4.} 15. Qf2 (15. Qe3 h6 16. Bxf6 (16. Bh4 $2 Ng4 $1 $17)
16... Qxf6 17. O-O {but hardly the position of whie's bishop on a point " c2"
is better than on point "d3" in the previous variation.}) 15... Ng4 16. Bxd8 {
White has selected the most irresolute continuation.} (16. Qh4 $142 f6 17. Qxg4
fxg5 18. h4 gxh4 19. Qxh4 Qxh4+ 20. Rxh4) 16... Nxf2 17. Kxf2 Rexd8 $11 {
The position has become simpler, and now with such structure of the pawns,
White can not receive,even the minimal positional advantage.} 18. b4 Ne6 19.
Rhc1 (19. Nb3 $5 {/\Bd3,Rfc1} Rac8 20. Bd3 Nf4 21. Bf1 $11 {/\g3}) 19... Kf8 {
Black remember,that K is very important piece in the endgame!} 20. Nb3 Ke7 21.
Bd3 {All the same white's bishop is transferred on /^a6-f1.} Bc6 22. a4 $6 {
[%mdl 16384] It's very careless easing of point "b4". Now considerably wins in
force the following move of Black.} a5 $1 23. bxa5 $140 Nc5 $1 {Probably,
White have missed this beautiful resource,because only hoped on:} (23... bxa5
$2 24. c5 dxc5 25. Nxc5 Nxc5 (25... Nf4 26. Bf1 Rd2+ 27. Ke3 Rad8 28. g3 Ng2+
29. Bxg2 Rxg2 30. Nb3 {[%csl Ra5,Rc6]}) 26. Rxc5 Rxd3 27. Rxc6 Rd2+ 28. Kg3 $11
) 24. Bc2 ({I can not recommended in this position:} 24. Nxc5 $6 dxc5 (24...
bxc5 $143 25. Bc2 Rxa5 26. Rcb1 Rda8 27. Ra3 $15) 25. Ke3 (25. axb6 $2 Rxd3 26.
a5 Rd2+ 27. Kg3 Ra6 28. Rcb1 Bb7 $17) 25... Rxa5 {with obvious positional
advantage of Black.}) 24... bxa5 $15 25. Rcb1 Kd7 $1 {With the idea Kc7,by
covering of a point "b6".} 26. Nxc5+ dxc5 27. Rd1+ Kc7 28. Rxd8 Rxd8 29. Ke3 ({
It was badly:} 29. Rd1 $2 {in view of:} Rb8 {<->b (><b2; /\a4)}) 29... Rd4 30.
Bd3 Bd7 31. Rb1 $6 {[%mdl 16384] Davor Palo made this move in the most
improper moment.} (31. Ra2 $5) (31. g4 $5 {(><f5)}) (31. h4 $5) {[%tqu "En",
"Find the best continuation for Black?","It is necessary to use a weakness of
the White's rook!","","f7f5","Magnus open the second front and begin to create
to the contender of weakness on the king side.",10,"d7a4","",0]} 31... f5 $1 {
Magnus opens the second front and begins to create to the contender of
weakness on the king side.} (31... Bxa4 $2 32. Ra1 Bb3 33. Rxa5 Kd6 34. Ra6+
$11) 32. Rc1 (32. exf5 $4 Rxd3+ 33. Kxd3 Bxf5+) ({Hardly it was better:} 32. g3
{in view of:} g5 {/\f4.}) 32... f4+ 33. Ke2 Rd6 {Black's rook has finished the
his mission on a point "d4".} 34. Rb1 Rh6 $1 35. h3 {Now White have lost a
counterplay connected with progress "g3".} (35. Rh1 $143 Bxa4 36. Ra1 Bc6 37.
Rxa5 Kb6 $17 {[%csl Ra5,Rh2][%cal Gh6h2,Gb6a5]}) 35... Rg6 36. Kf2 Rd6 37. Ke2
g5 $17 {Has come is time of pawns attack on the king side.} 38. Bc2 h5 39. Rd1
Rd4 40. Bd3 (40. Rxd4 $2 cxd4 {[%csl Ra4,Rc4,Rf3,Rg2,Rh3][%cal Gc7b6,Gb6c5,
Gg5g4]}) 40... Rd6 41. Bc2 Rd4 {Sometimes it is desirable to repeat the moves.}
42. Bd3 Bc6 43. Rg1 Rd8 {Black provokes movements of Pg2 with the purpose to
create of weakness in camp of the contender:} 44. g3 Rg8 $1 45. gxf4 (45. g4
hxg4 46. hxg4 Rb8 $1 {<->b ;קa4,Pf3}) 45... exf4 {[%cal Gc7d6,Gd6e5]} 46. e5 {
It's necessary to open a /^b1-h7.} Bd7 47. Bh7 (47. h4 g4 $17) (47. Rh1 $2 Re8
$19) 47... Rg7 48. Be4 Bxh3 49. Rh1 g4 {/\g3 It's the most logical reaction to
the previous move of White.} (49... Be6 $143 50. Rxh5 Bxc4+ 51. Kd2 Bb3 52. Rh6
Bxa4 53. Ra6 $44) 50. Rb1 Rg5 51. Rb7+ (51. e6 $143 g3 52. Rb7+ Kd6 53. e7 Bd7
$19) 51... Kd8 52. e6 Re5 53. Rf7 g3 $19 {Pg3 easily decide a game!} 54. Rxf4
Rg5 55. Bd5 Bxe6 $5 ({Immediately wins the game the following move:} 55... g2
$1 56. Rf8+ Ke7 (56... Kc7 $5) 57. Rf7+ Kd6 58. Rd7+ (58. f4 {/\Rd7#} Bxe6 $1
$19) 58... Ke5 59. f4+ Kxf4 60. Rf7+ Ke5 61. e7 Bd7 $19) 56. Kf1 (56. Bxe6 $2
g2 {[%cal Gg2g1]}) 56... Bxd5 57. cxd5 Rxd5 58. Kg2 Rd4 59. Rf5 h4 60. Kh3 (60.
Rxc5 $143 Rd2+ 61. Kg1 (61. Kh3 Rh2+ 62. Kg4 g2 63. Rc1 Rh1) 61... h3 $19)
60... c4 (60... c4 {After this move White resigns, because of these variations:
} 61. Rxa5 c3 62. Rc5 Rd2 63. Rxc3 (63. Kxh4 g2 64. Rg5 c2) 63... Rh2+ 64. Kg4
g2 65. Rc1 Rh1) 0-1

[Event "Gausdal Classic"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2004.09.28"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bromberger, Stefan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B81"]
[WhiteElo "2567"]
[BlackElo "2440"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2004.09.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "10"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. g4 e5 8. Nf5
g6 9. g5 gxf5 10. exf5 d5 11. Qf3 d4 12. O-O-O Nbd7 13. Bd2 Qa5 14. gxf6 dxc3
15. Bxc3 Bb4 16. Rd5 Qb6 17. Bxe5 Nxe5 18. Rxe5+ Kd8 19. Bg2 Kc7 20. Rd1 Bd7
21. Qf4 Bd6 22. Qc4+ Kb8 23. Re7 Rc8 24. Qxf7 Qc7 25. Rd2 Bf4 26. Qb3 Bxd2+ 27.
Kxd2 Qf4+ 28. Kd1 Rc7 29. Qg3 Qxf5 30. Be4 Qg4+ 31. f3 Qxg3 32. hxg3 Ka7 33. g4
Kb6 34. g5 Bc6 35. Rxc7 Kxc7 36. Bxh7 Bxf3+ 37. Kd2 Re8 38. g6 Bd5 39. f7 Rd8
40. Ke3 Kd6 41. Kf4 Ke7 42. Ke5 Bxa2 43. Bg8 Rxg8 44. fxg8=Q Bxg8 0-1

[Event "Gausdal Classic"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2004.09.29"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Gronn, Atle"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "2409"]
[BlackElo "2567"]
[Annotator "Ribli,Z"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "2004.09.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "10"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 d4 {Das ist eine agressive Fortsetzung,
die ruhigen (und gewöhnlichen) Alternativen sind 4...dxc4 und 4...Be7. Es ist
wahr, dass wir nach der Partiefortsetzung eine assymetrische Stellung mit
beiderseitigen Chancen bekommen, aber die weißen Aussichten scheinen etwas
besser zu sein.} 5. O-O (5. b4 a5 (5... c5 $5) 6. Bb2 $5 c5 7. bxc5 Bxc5 8. e3
Nc6 9. O-O O-O 10. Na3 e5 11. Nb5 {1-0 Ehlvest,J-Pomes Marcet,J/Terrassa 1991/
CBM 24 (51)}) 5... Nc6 (5... c5 6. e3 Nc6 7. exd4 cxd4 8. d3 Bd6 9. Re1 O-O (
9... h6 $5) 10. a3 a5 11. Bg5 $5 {Ftacnik: 'The world junior champion U20
Aronian rarely combines strategic talent with an excellent tactical abilities,
we shall hear much more about him in the future. '} h6 12. Bxf6 Qxf6 13. Nbd2 {
[%cal Gd2e4,Ge4d6,Ge4f6]} Qd8 (13... Qe7 {Ftacnik} 14. Nb3) 14. Rc1 {[%cal
Gc4c5] 1-0 Aronian,L-Filippov,V/Istanbul 2003/CBM 96/[Ribli] (46) Weiß
bereitet den Plan 15.c5, 16.Nc4 vor und Schwarz hat keine gute Abwehr.}) 6. d3
Be7 7. e3 (7. Na3 O-O 8. Nc2 a5 9. b3 e5 10. Bb2 Re8 11. Qd2 Bc5 12. a3 Qe7 13.
Rfb1 Bg4 14. h3 Bh5 15. Ng5 h6 16. Ne4 Nxe4 17. Bxe4 Qe6 18. Bg2 Qd6 {1/2-1/2
Wegerle,J-Volke,K/Germany 2000/CBM 82 ext (29)}) 7... e5 8. exd4 exd4 9. Re1 {
Wir haben eine Stellung, die typisch in der Benoni Verteidigung ist, jedoch
mit vertauschten Farben.} O-O 10. Bf4 Bf5 11. Ne5 {Das ist ein bekanntes Motiv
in solchen Stellungen, aber - meiner Meinung nach - wäre es besser zuerst den
b1-Springer zu entwickeln.} (11. Nbd2 $5 Bd6 (11... Bxd3 $6 12. Qb3 {[%cal
Rb3b7,Rb3d3]} Nb4 $2 13. Rxe7 $1 Qxe7 14. Re1 Qc5 (14... Be2 15. Nxd4 $18) 15.
a3 Nc2 16. Re5 $18) (11... Re8 12. Ne5 Nxe5 13. Rxe5 $14) 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bxf6
Qxf6 14. Ne4 Bxe4 15. Rxe4 Rae8 16. Nd2 $14 {[%cal Gg2b7,Gd2e4]}) (11. Na3 $14
{[%cal Ga3b5,Ga3c2]}) (11. a3 {[%cal Gb2b4]} a5 12. Ne5 $14) 11... Nxe5 12.
Rxe5 Qd7 $1 {Schwarz opfert einen Bauern. Diese Fortsetzung ist klar besser
als der passive Läuferzug 12...Bc8?} 13. Bxb7 Rab8 $44 {Schwarz hat einen
Entwicklungsvorteil und eine gute Figurenkoordination, die ausreichend
Kompensation für den Bauern geben.} 14. Qf3 $2 (14. Rb5 Bd6 (14... Bg4 15. Qb3
Rbe8 $44) 15. Bxd6 Qxd6 16. Rxf5 Rxb7 17. b3 Re8 18. Nd2 c5 $44 {[%cal Gb7e7,
Ge8e1]}) 14... Bg4 $36 {[%mdl 2048] Schwarz hat ein ausgezeichnetes
Figurenspiel.} 15. Qc6 (15. Qg2 Bd6 16. Bc6 Qd8 17. Rb5 Bxf4 18. gxf4 Qd6 $36 {
[%cal Rd6f4]}) 15... Bd6 {[%csl Re5][%cal Rd6f4] Der e5R steht unglücklich.}
16. Na3 (16. Rb5 Qxc6 17. Bxc6 Bxf4 18. gxf4 Be2 $17 {[%csl Rd3,Ge2] Schwarz
gewinnt - mit besserer Stellung - den Bauern zurück.}) 16... Bxe5 $17 17. Bxe5
Qf5 18. Bf4 g5 $2 (18... Qxd3 19. Bxc7 Rbe8 20. Bd6 Ne4 21. Bxf8 Qf3 22. Rf1 (
22. Qxe4 Rxe4 $19) 22... Bh3 $19) 19. f3 $2 {[%mdl 8192] Weiß nutzt seine
taktischen Chancen nicht.} (19. Bxc7 $142 $1 Rxb7 (19... Rbe8) 20. Qxb7 Bf3 21.
Qb5 Nd5 (21... Qh3 $4 22. Qxg5+ Kh8 23. Qxf6+ $18) 22. Nc2 $8 Qh3 23. Ne1 Be2
24. Ng2 Bf3 25. Ne1 $11) 19... gxf4 $19 20. fxg4 Nxg4 {[%csl Rg1] Schwarz hat
einen großen Materialvorteil und einen überlegenen Angriff am Königsflügel.}
21. Rf1 Qh5 {[%cal Rh5h2,Rh2g1]} 22. h4 (22. Qg2 Rxb7 $19) 22... fxg3 0-1

[Event "Gausdal Classic"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2004.09.30"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Johannessen, Leif Erlend"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2567"]
[BlackElo "2538"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2004.09.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "10"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 Qc7 8.
g3 e5 9. dxe5 Nxe5 10. Bf4 Nfd7 11. Bg2 g5 12. Ne3 gxf4 13. Nxf5 O-O-O 14. Qc2
Nc5 15. O-O Ne6 16. Qe4 fxg3 17. hxg3 a5 18. Rfc1 Nc5 19. Qh4 Ng6 20. Qh5 Kb8
21. Rd1 Rxd1+ 22. Rxd1 Ne6 23. Ne4 Bb4 24. e3 Ka7 25. Nd4 Rd8 26. Qxh7 Nxd4 27.
exd4 Nf8 28. Qh5 Ne6 29. d5 Rxd5 30. Rxd5 cxd5 31. Qxd5 Qc1+ 32. Kh2 Qxb2 33.
Bh3 Qc2 34. Bxe6 fxe6 35. Qd4+ Ka8 36. Qd8+ Ka7 37. Qd4+ Ka8 38. Qd8+ Ka7 39.
Qd4+ Ka8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gausdal Classic"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2004.10.01"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Smeets, Jan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B74"]
[WhiteElo "2545"]
[BlackElo "2567"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2004.09.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "10"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Be2 O-O 8.
O-O d6 9. Nb3 {Other options offer Black even more possibilities to equalize.}
(9. Qd2 Ng4 (9... d5) (9... Bd7) (9... Nxd4 10. Bxd4 Be6) 10. Bxg4 Bxg4 11. f4
Nxd4 $1 12. Bxd4 e5 13. Be3 exf4 14. Rxf4 Be6 $11) (9. Kh1 d5 $11) (9. f4 Qb6
$1 10. Qd3 Ng4 $11 {[%csl Rd4][%cal Gg7d4,Gc6d4,Gb6d4]}) 9... a6 ({Miles' idea
} 9... Bd7 $5 10. f4 b5 {is another attractive way for Black to play on the
queenside.}) 10. a4 {Prevents ...b5, but weakens the queenside. Unlike in
other Sicilians, in (Classical) Dragon the advance a2-a4 is less attractive
for White, due to the fact that Black can place his bishop on e6 and together
with the other bishop on the long diagonal he exert considerable pressure on
White's queenside.} (10. f4 b5 11. Bf3 Bb7 $140 12. e5 dxe5 13. fxe5 Nd7 14. e6
fxe6 15. Bg4 $44) 10... Be6 $11 11. f4 Rc8 (11... Bxb3 12. cxb3 e6 $13 {
[%csl Ra5,Gb2,Gb3,Rb4][%cal Ga8c8,Gd8c7] is a standard way to create doubled
pawns in Classical Dragon.}) 12. Qd2 Na5 {The position is still equal, but it
is rather White who should be more careful.} 13. Nxa5 Qxa5 14. Bf3 (14. Nd5 $2
Qxd2 15. Nxe7+ Kh8 16. Bxd2 Rxc2 17. Rfd1 Nxe4 $19 {0-1 Salazar,A-La Candia,J/
ARG-ch M corr 1996 (22)}) 14... Qb4 {A direct consequence of the move 10.a4.
Black has the initiative now.} 15. Rfb1 ({After} 15. Rab1 {Black can play
similar to the game} Ng4 16. Bxg4 Bxg4 {and the absence of the rook on a1
favours Black.}) 15... Ng4 (15... Rc7 16. Qf2 $1 (16. a5 Ng4 17. Bxg4 Bxg4 $13)
16... Rfc8 (16... Ng4 $2 17. Bxg4 Bxg4 18. Nd5 $18) 17. a5 $36 {[%cal Ga1a4]})
16. Bxg4 Bxg4 $15 17. Qd3 Qc4 ({I think the strongest was} 17... Bxc3 18. bxc3
Qxc3 19. Ra2 (19. Rxb7 $4 {is obviously not possible because of} Qxa1+) (19.
Qxc3 Rxc3 20. Rb3 Rfc8 $17) 19... Qc4 20. Rab2 Bd7 $1 {I don't see any clear
way for White to reach a reasonable position. On the other hand the desire to
avoid trading off the powerful dark-squared bishop is understandable.}) 18. a5
Bd7 19. Ra3 f5 $15 {Two bishops and the evident activity still secures Black
better chances, of course.} 20. Nd5 Qxd3 21. cxd3 Rce8 {Probably already here
Carlsen had in mind the exchange sac.} (21... Rfe8 $6 22. Nb6 Rc7 23. Nxd7 $11)
22. Rb3 (22. Nc7 $5 Rb8 (22... Rc8 23. Nd5 {is same as before}) 23. Rb3 (23.
Nd5 e6 24. Nb6 Bc6 $17) 23... Ba4 24. Rb4 Bc2 25. Rc1 Bxd3 26. Ne6 Bxe4 (26...
Rfc8 27. Rxc8+ Rxc8 28. Nxg7 Kxg7 29. exf5 gxf5 30. Rxb7 Kf7 $15) 27. Nxf8 Kxf8
$15) 22... Bc6 23. Nc7 Rc8 (23... fxe4 24. Nxe8 Rxe8 {is similar to the game
with the little difference - the rook in the game was better placed on f8 
(compare with the position after 25...Rxf8). In any case Black has great
compensation, but of course it makes sense to explore at maximum available
possibilities.} 25. d4 $5 Kf7 {also with great compensation for Black.}) 24.
Ne6 (24. Nd5 Rfe8 $15) 24... fxe4 $1 (24... Rf7 25. Nxg7 Kxg7 26. Bd4+ Kg8 27.
e5 $11) 25. Nxf8 Rxf8 26. dxe4 (26. d4 Rf5 $44) 26... Bxe4 27. Rc1 Rf5 {
In spite of Black's wonderful compensation, with good play White should be
able to make a draw. It is important for White to create his own activity
rather than wait for Black to improve the position.} 28. Rc7 Kf7 29. Bd2 Bc6 {
Threatening Ke8-d8.} 30. Re3 $1 {A brave decision.} (30. Rc8 Rd5 $17) 30... Bd4
(30... Bf6 $2 31. Bc3) 31. Rcxe7+ Kf8 32. g3 (32. Bc3 Bxe3+ 33. Rxe3 Rxf4 34.
Re6 {should be a draw:} Rg4 (34... d5 35. Rf6+) 35. g3 d5 36. Rf6+ Ke7 37. Rf4
$11) 32... g5 33. fxg5 Rf3 34. Bc1 Bc5 35. Bd2 d5 36. Kg2 $2 {A blunder after
excellent defense.} (36. R7e5 Kf7 37. g4 {[%cal Ge5f5] and White holds.} Kg6
$140 (37... Rh3 38. Kg2 Bxe3 39. Bxe3 Rxe3 40. Rxe3 d4+ 41. Rf3+ Kg6 42. h4 $18
) 38. h4) (36. R7e6 Kf7 37. R6e5 Kg6 38. g4 Rh3 $15 39. Kg2 $140 $2 Bxe3 40.
Bxe3 Rxe3 41. Rxe3 d4+ 42. Rf3 d3 43. Kg3 Bxf3 44. Kxf3 Kxg5 $19) 36... Rxe3 {
White could play for a while the resulting endgame, but he must have been
really upset with 36.Kg2.} (36... Rxe3 37. Rxe3 Bxe3 38. Bxe3 d4+ 39. Kf2 dxe3+
40. Kxe3 Kf7 41. g4 Kg6 42. h4 Ba4 {the easiest plan is to come with the
bishop to d1} 43. Kf4 Bd1 44. b4 Be2 45. Kg3 Kf7 46. Kf4 (46. h5 Ke6 47. Kh4
Bd3 48. g6 hxg6 (48... h6 $2 49. g5) 49. h6 g5+ 50. Kxg5 Kf7 $19) 46... Ke6 47.
h5 Bd1 48. Kg3 (48. g6 hxg6 (48... h6 $19) 49. h6 g5+ 50. Kxg5 Bc2 51. Kf4 Kf6
52. g5+ Kg6 53. Ke5 Kxg5 54. Kd6 Kxh6 55. Kc7 Be4 $19 56. Kb6 Bc6 57. b5 axb5
58. a6 bxa6) 48... Ke5 49. g6 (49. Kh4 Kf4 50. g6 h6 $19) (49. h6 Bc2 $19)
49... h6 (49... hxg6 50. h6 Kf6 51. g5+) 50. g7 Bb3 $19) 0-1

[Event "Olympiad-36"]
[Site "Mallorca"]
[Date "2004.10.25"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ibrayev, Nurlan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E38"]
[WhiteElo "2581"]
[BlackElo "2476"]
[Annotator "Golod,V"]
[PlyCount "33"]
[EventDate "2004.10.15"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Kazakhstan"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "KAZ"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 c5 5. dxc5 Bxc5 6. Nf3 Qb6 7. e3 Qc7 8. b3
$5 {Also repeatedly were checked up in previous games:} (8. Bd3 {See comments
to game: Miranda,M-Tiviakov,S/New York,1998/CBM 64(0-1)(Gershon,A)(27)}) (8. a3
$5 {See annotations to Arlandi,E-Gurevich,M/Linares,1995/CBM 51(1/2-1/2)
(Gurevich,M)(41)}) (8. Bd2 $5 {You can see my comments to Bosboom,M-Tiviakov,S/
Leeuwarden,2004/CBM 103(1/2-1/2)(42)}) (8. Be2) ({and} 8. g4 $5) 8... b6 ({
After:} 8... a6 {it deserves serious attention:} 9. g4 {For further
information,you can find my comments to game: Bareev,E-Sakaev,K/Moscow,2001/
CBM 86(1-0)(26)}) 9. Bb2 Bb7 10. Nb5 $5 $146 {Interestingly,that in this
position,this move is applied for the first time. Three games,which have
reached this position were continued as follows:} (10. Be2 $5 {You can see my
annotations to game: Kiriakov,P-Tiviakov,S/Port Erin,1999/CBM 74(1-0)(34)}) (
10. Rd1 Be7 (10... a6 $142) 11. Bd3 a6 (11... Na6 $143 12. Nb5 Qc6 13. Qd2 $5
$14 {Kozul,Z-Ionescu,C/Berga,1991/Inf 52/564(1-0)(Kozul,Z)(33)}) 12. O-O d6 13.
Qe2 Nbd7 14. Bb1 O-O 15. Nd4 Qc5 $11 {Piket,J-Tiviakov,S/Netherlands,2000(1-0)
(44)}) 10... Qd8 ({Hardly it was better:} 10... Qc8 11. O-O-O a6 $5 (11... O-O
12. Ng5 (12. Bd3 $6 a6 $132) 12... h6 $8 13. Bxf6 hxg5 14. Be5 $1 $14 {><d6} (
14. Bxg5 $143 a6 15. Nc3 b5 $132)) 12. Nd6+ Bxd6 13. Rxd6 Qc7 {+/=/=}) 11.
O-O-O {><d6} O-O {The contenders have hidden the kings on different sides.This
fact - "harbinger" of active actions in this game.} (11... a6 $143 12. Nd6+ (
12. Bxf6 $143 gxf6 13. Nd6+ Bxd6 14. Rxd6 Qc7 $13) 12... Bxd6 13. Rxd6 Ne4 14.
Rd1 O-O 15. Bd3 f5 {+/=/=}) 12. Ng5 {[%csl Rh7][%cal Gb2f6,Yf6h7]} Re8 $1 {
Black had no other worthy alternative.} (12... g6 $2 13. Qc3 Be7 14. Nd6 Qc7 (
14... Bc6 $2 15. Nde4 Bxe4 16. Nxe4 Kg7 17. g4 $1 h6 18. f4 $18 {/\g5}) 15.
Nge4 $16) (12... h6 $4 13. Bxf6 Qxf6 $140 14. Qh7#) 13. h4 ({It was very
difficult to decide on Fritz's continuation:} 13. Bxf6 $5 Qxf6 14. Qxh7+ (14.
Nc7 $2 Qxg5 15. Nxe8 Qe5 $1 {[%csl Re8]} 16. Qb2 $140 (16. Kb1 Nc6 $36) 16...
Ba3 $1 17. Qxa3 Qc3+ 18. Kb1 Be4+ 19. Bd3 Bxd3+ 20. Rxd3 Qxd3+ 21. Kc1 Nc6 $15)
14... Kf8 {as it is impossible to estimate the following situation:} 15. Nc7
Na6 $5 $13) 13... e5 $5 {Black,in turn, prevent a threat 14.Bxf6} ({Leads to
favourable complications for White:} 13... h6 $6 14. Bxf6 $1 Qxf6 $140 $8 15.
Nc7 hxg5 (15... Qa1+ $2 16. Kd2 Bb4+ 17. Ke2 $18) 16. Nxe8 Qa1+ 17. Kd2 Qe5 18.
Qc3 Nc6 19. Qxe5 Nxe5 20. Nc7 Rc8 21. Nb5 d5 $1 {+/=/+/-}) 14. Nd6 Bxd6 15.
Rxd6 {White have created a threat: 16.Rxf6 Qxf6[] 17.Qxh7+ Kf8 18.Ba3+ and 19.
Qh8# But now it's not real,because of: 18...d6 (black's K has a field "e7").}
h6 16. Qf5 $5 {Well-hidden provocation.} Nc6 $140 $4 {Painful blunder leading
to immediate loss.} ({Also loses a game the following move:} 16... hxg5 $4 17.
hxg5 Ne4 (17... Be4 18. Qh3 Nh7 19. Bd3 Bxd3 20. Rxd3 $18) 18. Qh7+ Kf8 19. Ba3
Nc5 $8 20. Qf5 $1 {[%csl Rf8][%cal Gh1h8,Gf5e5]} Kg8 21. Rh7 $1 {/\Rdh6 (><f7)
or Qh3} Be4 (21... Ne6 22. Qh3 f5 23. g6 {with checkmated in two moves.}) 22.
Rdh6 $3 f6 (22... Bxf5 23. Rh8#) 23. gxf6 Qxf6 (23... Bxf5 24. Rxg7+ Kf8 25.
Rh8#) 24. Rh8+ Kf7 25. Rxf6+ gxf6 26. Qh5+ Bg6 27. Rh7+) ({It was necessary:} 
16... Qe7 $1 17. Rd2 (17. Ba3 $6 Na6 {/\Nc5 /^a3-f8} 18. Bd3 Nc5 19. Bxc5 bxc5
20. Rxf6 Qxf6 21. Qxf6 gxf6 22. Ne4 $15) 17... g6 18. Qh3 hxg5 19. hxg5 Nh5 20.
Rh2 $44 {/\g4}) {[%tqu "En","White has a typical sacrifice that completely
destroys Black's position?","","","d6f6","",10,"d6f6","",0]} 17. Rxf6 $3 (17.
Rxf6 $3 Qxf6 (17... hxg5 $144 18. hxg5 gxf6 19. gxf6 {[%csl Rg8][%cal Gf5h7,
Gh7h8]}) (17... gxf6 $2 18. Qh7+ Kf8 19. Qxf7#) 18. Qh7+ Kf8 19. Ne4 $1 $18 {
[%csl Rf8][%cal Gb2a3,Gh7h8] Probably,Nurlan Ibraev missed a this obvious move.
}) 1-0

[Event "Olympiad-36"]
[Site "Mallorca"]
[Date "2004.10.26"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kotronias, Vasilios"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B67"]
[WhiteElo "2581"]
[BlackElo "2599"]
[Annotator "Gofshtein,L"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2004.10.15"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Greece"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GRE"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8.
O-O-O Bd7 9. f4 b5 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Kb1 Qb6 12. Nxc6 Bxc6 13. f5 Qc5 {
Transfering the queen to a more active position. Other moves have also been
played:} (13... O-O-O 14. Bd3 h5 15. fxe6 fxe6 16. Rhf1 Be7 17. Ne2 d5 18. exd5
Bxd5 19. Nf4 Qc7 20. Qe2 Qe5 21. Qf2 $16 {1/2-1/2 Vujakovic,B-Bertok,M/Pula
1990/EXT 2000 (27)}) (13... b4 14. Ne2 Bxe4 (14... e5 15. Ng3 $5 {[%cal Rg3h5,
Rf1c4]} h5 16. h4 $5 $40 {[%csl Rh5] Lastin-Spraggett 2004}) 15. fxe6 fxe6 16.
Nf4 d5 17. Bd3 O-O-O (17... Qc6 18. Bxe4 dxe4 19. Qe2 Bg7 20. Qg4 $40 {1-0
Byrne,R-Schneider,L/Reykjavik 1982/MCD (29)}) 18. Bxe4 dxe4 19. Qe2 Rxd1+ 20.
Rxd1 $14 {1/2-1/2 Sadvakasov,D-Yermolinsky,A/Stratton Mountain 2000/EXT 2001 
(42)}) 14. Bd3 Ra7 $146 {Other moves have also been seen in this position. As
the games given below show white usually seizes the initiative.} (14... h5 15.
Qe1 (15. fxe6 fxe6 16. Rhf1 Bg7 17. e5 f5 18. exd6 O-O-O $44 {0-1 Vujakovic,
B-Kozul,Z/Pula 2001/CBM 84 ext (26)}) 15... O-O-O 16. Rf1 Bh6 17. fxe6 fxe6 18.
Rxf6 $16 {1-0 Lastin,A-Palac,M/Panormo 2001/CBM 84 ext (38)}) (14... b4 15. Ne2
a5 16. Nf4 Bd7 17. b3 (17. Nh5 $36) 17... Qe5 $132 {1-0 Byrne,R-Zaltsman,V/
Philadelphia 1985/EXT 2000 (27)}) (14... Rg8 15. Rhe1 O-O-O 16. g3 Kb8 17. Qf4
$36 {1-0 Byrne,R-Zaltsman,V/New York 1983/MCD (44)}) 15. Rhf1 {[%cal Rf1f6]
White brings his rook in order to enlarge his attacking potential.} b4 16. Ne2
{[%cal Re2f4] A typical move, the knight is transfered to f4 or g3 in the
future.} e5 17. Ng3 h5 18. h4 {[%csl Gh5] Blocking the advance of the h-pawn
and fixating the weak h5 pawn.} Ke7 19. Qe2 $16 {White wins the pawn and has
both the positional and the material advantage.} a5 20. Bc4 {[%cal Rc4f7]
Transfering the bishop to a better position.} (20. Nxh5 a4 21. g4 a3 $44) 20...
Bh6 $6 {20...Rc7 deserved attention and white cannot take on h5.} (20... Rc7 $5
21. b3 (21. Nxh5 $2 Rxh5) 21... a4 22. Nxh5 Bh6 23. g4) 21. Nxh5 $16 Be3 (21...
Rc7 22. g4 Qe3 23. Rfe1 Qxe2 24. Rxe2 a4 25. Bd5 Bb5 26. Rg2 $16) 22. Nxf6 $3 {
[%mdl 64] White carries out a spectacurlar combination, leading to a winning
position.} (22. g4 $5 a4 (22... Bxe4 23. Rfe1 $18) 23. Rf3 Bd4 24. Bd5 Bxd5 25.
exd5 Rc7 26. Rfd3 Kf8 27. Rh3 $40) 22... Kxf6 23. Rxd6+ $1 Ke7 (23... Qxd6 24.
Qxe3 $18 {[%cal Ge3g5,Ge3a7]}) 24. Rxc6 Qxc6 25. Qxe3 {[%cal Re3a7]} Rc7 26.
f6+ {As a result of the combination white has a large advantage as his 3 extra
pawns are more than enough compensation for the sacrificed exchange.} Kd8 27.
Qd3+ $16 {Protecting the c2 pawn and consolidating the position.} Kc8 28. Bd5
Qb6 29. Qg3 {29.Qf3 deserved attention, creating the Qf5 threat and also
making way for the g-pawn.} (29. Qf3 $5 Rxh4 (29... Kb8 30. h5 a4 31. g4) 30.
Qf5+ Kb8 31. Qxe5) 29... Qd4 $5 {Black activizes his queen and gets
counterplay.} 30. h5 Kb8 (30... a4 31. Qf3 Kb8 32. g4 $18) 31. h6 $6 {A
dubious move givving black chances to equalise. After 31.Qf3 with g2-g4 black
is in a difficult position.} (31. Qb3 Rxh5 32. Bxf7 Rh4) (31. Qf3 $5) 31... a4
{[%cal Ga4a3,Gd4b2]} (31... Rxh6 32. Qg8+ $18) 32. a3 {White prevents 32...a3.}
Qd2 $5 {[%mdl 256] Black activizes his queen even further, putting serious
problems to white.} 33. axb4 $6 {Another dubious move, givving black real
chances to save the game.} (33. Rc1 $5 Qxh6 34. Qxe5 bxa3 35. bxa3 Qe3 36. Qd6
Qc5 37. Qxc5 Rxc5 38. c4 $18) 33... Qxc2+ 34. Ka1 a3 $5 {With the help of the
pawn sacrifice black opens the white king and gets real chances for survival.}
35. bxa3 $8 Rxh6 36. Qxe5 Qd3 $1 {[%cal Yd3a3,Yd3f1] Creating dangerous
threats and practically forcing white to take the draw.} 37. Qe8+ Rc8 38. Qe5+
Rc7 39. Qe8+ Rc8 40. Qe5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Olympiad-36"]
[Site "Mallorca"]
[Date "2004.10.27"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Khamdamov, Suhrob"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2150"]
[BlackElo "2581"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2004.10.15"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Tajikistan"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "TJK"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. g3 d5 2. Bg2 e5 3. d3 Nc6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. e4 dxe4 7. dxe4 Qxd1 8.
Rxd1 Bg4 9. Re1 O-O-O 10. h3 Be6 11. c3 Nd7 12. Ng5 Bc4 13. b4 f6 14. Nd2 Bg8
15. Ngf3 Nb6 16. a4 a5 17. b5 Nb8 18. Bf1 N8d7 19. c4 Bb4 20. Ba3 Bxa3 21. Rxa3
Nc5 22. Rc1 Be6 23. Nb3 Nxb3 24. Rxb3 Nd7 25. Rb2 Nc5 26. Nd2 Rd4 27. Nb3 Nxb3
28. Rxb3 Rxe4 29. b6 c6 30. Rd3 Rd8 31. Rxd8+ Kxd8 32. Rd1+ Rd4 33. Rxd4+ exd4
34. f4 c5 35. Bd3 h6 36. h4 Kd7 37. Be4 Bxc4 38. Bxb7 d3 39. Kf2 d2 40. Bf3 Bb3
0-1

[Event "Olympiad-36"]
[Site "Mallorca"]
[Date "2004.10.28"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kulaots, Kaido"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2581"]
[BlackElo "2597"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2004.10.15"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Estonia"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "EST"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 Nb6 8.
Ne5 a5 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bh4 e6 11. e4 Bh7 12. f3 Be7 13. Bf2 O-O 14. Be2 Nbd7 15.
Nd3 Qb8 16. O-O Bd8 17. Qb3 Bb6 18. Rad1 Qa7 19. Ne5 Qb8 20. Nc4 Bc7 21. g3 Qc8
22. Rd2 Rb8 23. Rfd1 Qe8 24. Qa3 Ra8 25. Bf1 Qb8 26. Qb3 Re8 27. d5 exd5 28.
exd5 Ne5 29. Kg2 cxd5 30. Nxe5 Bxe5 31. Nxd5 Nxd5 32. Rxd5 Bf5 33. Qb5 f6 34.
Bb6 Qc8 35. Rd8 Qc6 36. Rxe8+ Qxe8 37. Qxe8+ Rxe8 38. Rd2 Rc8 39. Bxa5 Bc2 40.
Bb5 Bxb2 41. Bd7 Rc5 42. Bb6 Bc1 43. Re2 Rc3 44. Ba5 Rc5 45. Bb4 Rc7 46. Re7
Kh8 47. Bd6 Rc4 48. Re1 Rd4 49. Rxc1 Rxd6 50. Rxc2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Olympiad-36"]
[Site "Mallorca"]
[Date "2004.10.29"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Onischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E54"]
[WhiteElo "2653"]
[BlackElo "2581"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2004.10.15"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "US of America"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 c5 7. O-O dxc4 8. Bxc4
Nbd7 9. Qe2 b6 10. Rd1 cxd4 11. exd4 Bxc3 12. bxc3 Qc7 13. Bd2 Bb7 14. Bd3 Rfe8
15. Re1 Rad8 16. Ne5 Nxe5 17. Qxe5 Qxe5 18. Rxe5 Rc8 19. Rc1 Red8 20. Ree1 Rd5
21. a4 Ne8 22. Rb1 Bc6 23. Rb4 Nd6 24. Ra1 Bd7 25. f3 h6 26. Be1 e5 27. Ba6 Re8
28. Bg3 exd4 29. Rxd4 Rxd4 30. cxd4 Nf5 31. Bf2 Ne3 32. a5 Nc2 33. Rc1 Nb4 34.
Rc7 Nxa6 35. Rxd7 Rc8 36. g4 bxa5 37. Rxa7 Nb4 38. Rxa5 Rc1+ 39. Kg2 Rd1 40.
Rb5 Nd3 41. Bg3 Nc1 42. d5 Ne2 43. Kf2 Nxg3 44. Kxg3 {Here, too, White's
advantage of space is dangerous for Black.} Kf8 45. h4 g6 46. Kf4 f6 $2 {
But this is a terrible move. Black shouldn't weaken his position so badly.} 47.
h5 Kf7 48. Rb7+ Kg8 49. Ke4 gxh5 50. gxh5 {White is easily winning now.} Kf8
51. Rh7 Re1+ 52. Kf5 Kg8 53. Rd7 Rf1 54. f4 Kf8 55. d6 Ke8 56. Rh7 Rd1 57. Ke6
1-0

[Event "Hoogeveen Essent Crown"]
[Site "Hoogeveen"]
[Date "2004.10.17"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Stellwagen, Daniel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2512"]
[BlackElo "2581"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2004.10.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. Re1 Nf6 6. e5 Nd5 7. Nc3 Nc7 8.
Bxc6 dxc6 9. Ne4 Ne6 10. d3 O-O 11. Be3 b6 12. Qd2 f5 13. exf6 exf6 14. Bh6 a5
15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. Ng3 Ra7 17. h4 h5 18. Re4 Re7 19. Rae1 Rfe8 20. Qe3 Kf7 21.
Qh6 Rh8 22. Qd2 Rhe8 23. a3 Ng7 24. Qf4 Ne6 25. Ne5+ Kg7 26. Nxh5+ gxh5 27.
Qg3+ Kh8 28. Nxc6 Qc7 29. Nxe7 Qxe7 30. Qg6 Bd7 31. Qxh5+ Qh7 32. Qxh7+ Kxh7
33. g4 Kg7 34. f4 Kf7 35. f5 Nd4 36. Rxe8 Bxe8 37. Kf2 Nxc2 38. Re6 b5 39. g5
fxg5 40. hxg5 Bd7 41. g6+ Kg8 42. Re5 Nd4 43. f6 Ne6 44. Rd5 Be8 45. Rd6 Bxg6
46. Rxe6 Bxd3 47. Ke3 Kf7 48. Rb6 Bf1 49. Kf4 b4 50. Ke5 Be2 51. Rb7+ Kf8 52.
Ra7 c4 53. Rxa5 1-0

[Event "Hoogeveen Essent Crown"]
[Site "Hoogeveen"]
[Date "2004.10.18"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Sokolov, Ivan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2663"]
[BlackElo "2581"]
[Annotator "Dautov,R"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2004.10.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. c5 c6 8. h3 b6
9. b4 a5 10. a3 Ba6 11. Bxa6 Rxa6 12. O-O {I. Sokolov verzichtet auf die
scharfe Variante 12.b5 und zieht das ruhige Fahrwasser vor.} (12. b5 cxb5 13.
c6 Qc8 14. c7) 12... Qa8 13. Nd2 $146 {Sokolov weicht vom Plan mit der
Überführung Ne1-d3, der in der letzten Zeit recht populär geworden ist.} (13.
Rb1 Qb7 14. Qc2 axb4 15. axb4 Rfa8 16. Ne1 b5 17. Nd3 Bd8 18. f3 Bc7 19. g4 Qb8
20. Bxc7 Qxc7 21. Qh2 Qd8 $1 $11 {Ponomariov,R-Vallejo Pons,F/Leon 2003}) 13...
Qb7 14. Rb1 axb4 15. axb4 Ra3 (15... Rfa8 16. Qc2 b5 $11) 16. Qc2 Rfa8 17. Rfc1
bxc5 $2 {Die Öffnung der b-Linie kommt nur Weiß zugute, der die Schwäche c6
angreifen kann. Ein typisches Vorgehen in solchen Stellungen ist die
Schließung des Damenflügels mit 17...b5, gefolgt von der Überführung des
Läufers nach c7, siehe z. B. Dautov-Kasimdzhanov/2002.} (17... b5 $1 18. Nb3
Bd8 $11) 18. bxc5 Qa6 19. Nb3 Bd8 20. Qb2 Qc4 21. Nd2 Qa6 22. Nf3 $1 {[%cal
Rf3e1,Re1c2,Rc2b4] Weiß findet den richtigen Plan - sein Springer strebt nach
b4.} h6 $6 {Carlsen verliert nur die kostbare Zeit, energischer war das
sofortige 22...Ne4. Carlsen verliert nur die kostbare Yeit.} (22... Ne4 $1 23.
Nxe4 dxe4 24. Ne1 Ra2 25. Qb7 (25. Qb3 Nf6 $11 {/\Nd5}) 25... Qxb7 26. Rxb7 Nf6
27. Bc7 Nd5 28. Bxd8 Rxd8 $11) 23. Ne1 $1 $14 Ne4 24. Nxe4 dxe4 25. Nc2 Ra2 26.
Qb3 $1 {Nun ist Nc2-b4 nicht zu vermeiden, und Schwarz muß sich auf eine lange
Verteidigung einstellen...} (26. Qb7 Qxb7 27. Rxb7 Nf6 $11) 26... Qe2 $2 {
Aber das will er nicht! Carlsen stürmt stattdessen nach vorn, aber sein
Angriff misslingt. Besser war das passive 26...Qc8.} (26... Qc8 27. Nb4 R2a4
$14 {/\Nf6-d5}) 27. Bg3 $1 Nf6 ({Nach} 27... h5 {hat Weiß sogar zwei gute
Möglichkeiten:} 28. Qb7 (28. Nb4 h4 29. Re1 Qd2 30. Red1 Qe2 31. Nxa2 hxg3 32.
Nc3 $16) 28... h4 29. Bd6 Nf6 (29... Rxc2 30. Rxc2 Qxc2 31. Qxa8 Qxb1+ 32. Kh2
$18) 30. Qxc6 $16) 28. Nb4 R2a3 29. Qc4 $1 {Hat Schwarz diesen Zug übersehen?
Weiß tauscht die Damen und gewinnt anschließend den Bauern c6. Die Partie ist
entschieden.} Qxc4 30. Rxc4 $18 Ra1 (30... Rc8 31. Nxc6 $1 $18) 31. Rcc1 Rxb1
32. Rxb1 Rc8 33. Nxc6 $1 Rxc6 34. Rb8 Kh7 35. Rxd8 Nd5 36. Rd7 Kg6 37. Ra7 Rc8
38. Kf1 Nb4 39. f3 Nc6 40. Rb7 f5 41. Bd6 Na5 42. Rd7 Nc4 43. Kf2 Ra8 44. fxe4
fxe4 45. Bf4 Kf6 46. c6 g5 47. Bg3 Ra2+ 48. Kg1 Ra1+ 49. Kh2 Kg6 50. c7 Nxe3
51. c8=Q 1-0

[Event "Hoogeveen Essent Crown"]
[Site "Hoogeveen"]
[Date "2004.10.19"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Short, Nigel D"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2581"]
[BlackElo "2687"]
[Annotator "Dautov,R"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2004.10.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8.
cxd5 Nxd5 9. Nxd5 exd5 10. a3 Nc6 11. Bd3 Bb6 12. O-O d4 13. e4 Bg4 14. h3 Bh5
15. g4 Bg6 16. Nd2 {Der beste Plan, Weiß möchte seinen f-Bauern möglichst
schnell aktivieren.} f6 (16... Bc7 17. Bxc7 Qxc7 18. f4 f6 19. h4 Rae8 20. Qf3
h6 21. Rf2 Bh7 22. Raf1 Qe7 23. Qh3 g5 24. fxg5 fxg5 25. Bc4+ Kh8 26. Rf7 $14 {
Krasenkow,M-Skalik,P/Polska 1999}) (16... Re8 17. Bg3 $14) 17. Rc1 ({Mehr
verbreitet ist die Zugreihenfolge} 17. Nc4 Bc7 (17... Re8 18. Nd6 $36) 18. Bxc7
Qxc7 19. f4 Bf7 $1 {Dies scheint das beste Vorgehen für Schwarz zu sein, der
mobile Nc4 kann nun jeden Moment abgetauscht werden.} (19... Rac8 $6 20. Rc1
Rfe8 21. Qf3 $5 b5 22. Nd2 Qb6 23. h4 $5 Na5 24. b4 $16 {Gurevich,M-Lutz,C/
Deutschland 2000}) 20. Rc1 Kh8 21. b4 Bxc4 22. Rxc4 Qd6 (22... Qb6 $1 $132 {
/\a5}) 23. Bc2 Rfd8 24. Qd3 g6 25. Rc5 a5 $1 26. Rd5 Qc7 $132 {Pelletier,
Y-Ubilava,E/Espana 2000}) 17... Kh8 18. Nc4 Bc7 19. Bxc7 Qxc7 20. f4 Rae8 $146
{Der erste neue Zug, mit 20...Bf7 könnte Schwarz zu der Partie
Pelletier-Ubilava wechseln.} (20... Bf7 $1) 21. Qf3 Qe7 22. Rce1 Bf7 23. Nd2 $1
{Weiß behält vernünftigerweise den Springer, den er auf f3 gut gebrauchen kann.
} g5 $1 {Schwarz kann nicht passiv bleiben und das Aufrollen der gegnerischen
Bauern h4, g5 kampflos erlauben. Der Plan der schwarzfeldrigen Blockade ist
naheligend und richtig.} (23... a6 24. h4 $1 (24. Qg3 g5 $1 $132) 24... h6 25.
g5 $1 fxg5 $2 26. hxg5 hxg5 27. Qh3+ Kg8 28. e5 g6 29. e6 Bxe6 30. Rxe6 $18)
24. Bb5 a6 $2 {Dieser Fehler kostet Schwarz die Partie. Wahrscheinlich hat
Nigel die Gefahren des entstehenden Endspiel nicht rechtzeitig erkannt.
Notwendig war 24...Bg6, wonach die Stellung im dynamischen Gleichgewicht
geblieben wäre.} (24... Bg6 $1 25. Qd3 (25. Qg3 Qc5) (25. Bxc6 bxc6 26. f5 $2
Bf7 27. e5 $2 Bd5 $17) 25... Rd8 $11) 25. Bxc6 bxc6 26. fxg5 fxg5 27. Qf6+ $1
Kg8 $2 {Wohl oder übel mußte Schwarz die Damen tauschen. Selbst wenn das
Endspiel nach 27...Qxf6 sehr schlecht für ihn ist, war es der
Partiefortsetzung vorzuziehen.} (27... Qxf6 28. Rxf6 c5 29. e5 $1 (29. Ref1 Kg7
30. Rxa6 Rb8 31. Ra7 Kg8 32. e5 $1 $16) 29... Re7 (29... Bg6 30. Rxa6 Rb8 31.
b3 $16) (29... Kg7 30. Rxa6 $16) 30. Nf3 Rfe8 31. Rd6 $1 a5 32. Rc1 $16) 28.
Qxd4 c5 29. Qf6 Qxf6 30. Rxf6 $18 {Jetzt hat Weiß einen Mehrbauern und eine
bessere Stellung dazu. Die Partie ist entschieden.} Rb8 31. Nf3 Rxb2 32. Nxg5
Ba2 33. Rxf8+ Kxf8 34. Nxh7+ Ke7 35. Ng5 c4 36. Rc1 Rb3 37. Kf2 c3 (37... Rxa3
38. Ra1 c3 39. Ke3 $18) 38. e5 Rxa3 39. Ne4 c2 40. Rxc2 Rxh3 41. Rc7+ Kd8 42.
Ra7 Bc4 43. g5 Rh4 44. Nd6 Be6 45. g6 Rg4 46. g7 a5 47. Kf3 Rg1 48. Nb7+ Ke8
49. Nc5 Bf7 50. Ne4 Rxg7 51. Nd6+ Kf8 52. Ra8+ Ke7 53. Nf5+ Kd7 54. Ra7+ 1-0

[Event "Hoogeveen Essent Crown"]
[Site "Hoogeveen"]
[Date "2004.10.21"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Stellwagen, Daniel"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B19"]
[WhiteElo "2581"]
[BlackElo "2512"]
[Annotator "Lukacs,P"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2004.10.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nf3 Nd7 8. h5
Bh7 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 Ngf6 11. Bf4 e6 12. O-O-O Nd5 13. Bd2 {Black has
seemingly won a tempo by Nd5, but his N is vulnerable in the [+].} Nb4 14. Qb3
(14. Bxb4 {- Galdunts-Ruck, Griesheim 2003 CBM 94}) 14... a5 (14... Qb6 15. c4
O-O-O (15... Be7 16. c5 $5 {White wins a piece, although Black gets a lot of
pawns for it.} (16. Kb1 {is the safe option.} Na6 (16... c5 17. d5) 17. Qa4 $14
) 16... Bxc5 17. dxc5 Nxc5 18. Qa3 Nbd3+ (18... Ncd3+ 19. Kb1 $18) 19. Kb1 Nxf2
20. Be3 Nxd1 21. Bxc5 Qxb2+ 22. Qxb2 Nxb2 23. Kxb2 $14 {with three (!) pieces
versus a R and four pawns.}) (15... a5 16. a3 Nd5 17. Qc2 {White certainly
wants to avoid the exchange of queens.} N5f6 18. Bf4 Be7 19. Rhe1 O-O 20. Ne5
Rad8 21. c5 $14 {Kovalevskaya-Zangiev, St Petersburg 2001}) 16. Ne4 $14 (16. c5
$2 {is already strongly met by the prevoius sacrifice:} Bxc5 $1 17. dxc5 Nxc5
18. Qa3 Ncd3+ 19. Kb1 Nxf2 20. Bxb4 Rxd1+ 21. Rxd1 Nxd1 22. Bc5 Qb5 23. Nd4 Qc4
24. Qxa7 Qd3+ 25. Kc1 Ne3 $17)) 15. Kb1 (15. Ne4 a4 $1 {[#]} 16. Qa3 {is the
modest pragmatizm.} (16. Qxb4 $6 {White wants more he can get from this
position. The Q sacrifice is beautiful but unlucky as Mary Stuart.} Bxb4 17.
Bxb4 Qb6 (17... Qb8 {looks also strong.} 18. Nd6+ Kf8 $19) 18. a3 Qa6 19. Rh3 (
19. Nd6+ Kf8 20. Nb5+ Kg8 21. Nc7 Qa7 22. Nxa8 Qxa8 $17 {and White still has
no adequate compensation for the Q.}) 19... b6 20. Rg3 (20. Nd6+ $2 Kf8 21.
Nb5+ c5 $19) 20... Rh7 $1 {This is the precise defence.} (20... c5 21. dxc5
bxc5 22. Rxd7 cxb4 23. Rxg7 Kxd7 (23... Qf1+ 24. Rd1 $11) 24. Nc5+ Ke7 25. Nxa6
Rxa6 26. axb4 $11) 21. Ne5 (21. Nd6+ Kf8 $1) 21... Nxe5 $17 {Shirov-Grischuk,
Dubai 2002 CBM 89}) 16... Nd5 (16... Qb6 17. Kb1 Nd5 18. Qd3) 17. Nd6+ Bxd6 18.
Qxd6 Qc7 19. Qxc7 Nxc7 20. Ne5 f6 21. Nd3 Kf7 22. g4 Nb5 23. c3 Rhc8 24. Rhe1
Re8 25. Kc2 $11 {Kir.Georgiev-Dreev, Dubai rapid 2002}) (15. a3 a4 16. Qc4 $5 {
deserves also attention.} (16. Qe3 Nd5 17. Qe2 {Finally the Q has reached
safety.} (17. Qd3 b5 18. Ne5 Nxe5 19. dxe5 Qc7 20. f4 Be7 21. Ne4 O-O $13 {
and Black has good counterchances on the << because of the weakness of a3,
Sammalvuo-Palo, Gausdal 2004.}) 17... b5 18. Nf5 b4 {Black has to open up
lines on the <<.} (18... Qb8 19. c3 {The << is more or less closed and White
has good prospects on the other flank.} Qc7 20. g3 Bd6 21. Rh4 N7f6 22. Nxd6+
Qxd6 23. Ne5 Ne7 24. g4 $14 {Karjakin-Turov, Moscow 2002}) 19. Bxb4 Nxb4 20.
axb4 a3 21. c3 Qb8 $44 {Vescovi-Erenburg, playchess.com INT 2004})) (15. Rhe1 {
is usually only a waste of time here.} Be7 16. Ne4 a4 17. Qxb4 {This Q
sacrifice is nice, but not so effective, as we will see it later.} Bxb4 18.
Bxb4 Qb8 19. Bd6 Qa7 20. Ba3 Qa6 21. Rd3 b6 22. Rc3 c5 23. Nd6+ Kd8 24. dxc5
bxc5 $19 {Zufic-Saric, Kastav 2002}) 15... a4 (15... b5 16. Ne4 $5 (16. Rhe1
Be7 17. Ne4 Nf6 18. Nxf6+ gxf6 (18... Bxf6 19. Bxb4 axb4 20. Qxb4 {simply
winning a P.}) 19. a3 Nd5 20. Qd3 $14 {Pilgaard-Pedersen, Koge 2004}) (16. Ne5
a4 17. Qe3 (17. Qf3 Nxe5 18. dxe5 Qd5))) (15... Be7 16. Ne4 $5 (16. c4 {
In the long run White will regret this move when b5! will come.} O-O $1 17. a3
Na6 18. Bf4 (18. Qxb7 Bxa3 19. Qxc6 Rb8 $40) 18... b5 $1 19. cxb5 cxb5 20. Qxb5
Nb6 21. Bd2 Nd5 $15 {Karjakin-Riazantsev, INT 2003})) 16. Qe3 Nd5 (16... Nb6
17. Qe1 N4d5 18. Ne5 Nd7 19. c4 N5f6 20. f4 Qc7 21. Bc3 {Now White has got an
almost ideal position.} Be7 22. f5 $16 {Marjanovic-Logothetis, Ano Liosia 2000}
) 17. Qe2 (17. Qd3 $1 {is the precise move here.} b5 (17... Qc7 18. c4) 18. Ne5
$1 Nxe5 19. dxe5 Qc7 20. f4 {This P structure gives White the space advantage
in the [+] and the >>, but sometimes even the << can be a target after a
well-prepared c2-c4.} O-O-O 21. Qe2 Kb7 22. Ne4 {(Leko-Dreev, Wijk aan Zee 2002
} (22. c4 bxc4 23. Qxc4 Ra8 24. Ne4 Be7 $14) 22... Be7 23. c4 bxc4 24. Qxc4 Ra8
$14 {Leko}) 17... b5 $1 18. Ne5 Nxe5 19. dxe5 Qb6 $1 20. Rh3 {This looks
rather sophysticated.} (20. Ne4 b4 21. Qc4 Be7 $5 $13 (21... Qb5 22. Qxb5 cxb5
{The _|_ cannot be worse for Black at all.} 23. c3 bxc3 24. Nxc3 Nxc3+ 25. Bxc3
b4 26. Bd4 Be7 $11 {Landa-P.Nielsen, playchess.com INT 2004})) 20... a3 21. b3
Qd4 22. c3 Qxc3 $1 {This is the point!} (22... Nxc3+ 23. Bxc3 Qxc3 24. f4 $14)
23. Be1 (23. Bxc3 Nxc3+ 24. Kc2 Nxe2 25. Nxe2 Bc5 $15 {and Black has an extra
P.}) 23... Qb2+ (23... Qc5 $5 {keeping the queens on the board was also
possible, because the white K is not safe.} 24. Ne4 Qb6 25. Nd6+ Bxd6 26. exd6
Qd8 27. Bc3 Qxd6 28. Be5 Qe7 29. Bxg7 Rg8 30. Qc2 c5 $1 $36) 24. Qxb2 axb2 25.
Kxb2 Nf4 (25... g5 $5 {The target is >< e5.} 26. hxg6 Bg7 (26... fxg6 {/\ Bg7})
27. gxf7+ Kxf7 28. Ne4 Bxe5+ 29. Kb1 Ra6 $15 {with active black pieces in the
_|_.}) 26. Rh2 (26. Rh4 Nxg2 27. Rg4 Nxe1 28. Rxe1 O-O-O $15 {Black is a P up
+ White's pawns are weak.}) 26... c5 27. Ne4 c4 28. Kb1 Ba3 29. g3 (29. Rh4 Nd3
30. Nd6+ Bxd6 31. exd6 Kd7 32. bxc4 Ra3 33. c5 (33. cxb5 Rb8) 33... Nxc5 34.
Bb4 Ra4 $15) 29... Nd3 {This N becomes a superpower on d3.} 30. Bc3 O-O 31. f4
Rfd8 32. Rhd2 Rd5 (32... b4 $2 {founders on simple tactics:} 33. bxc4 $1 bxc3
34. Rxd3 Rdb8+ 35. Kc2 $18) 33. Ba1 Bb4 34. Bc3 Ba3 35. Ba1 Rd7 $1 {Black
certainly wants to continue the fight.} (35... Rad8 36. Nc3 Rc5 (36... R5d7 37.
Nxb5) 37. Ne4 Rcd5 $11) 36. Rc2 Rb8 (36... Rad8 37. bxc4 (37. Rdd2 Nb4 38. Rxd7
Rxd7 39. Rd2 Nd3 $15) 37... Nxe5 $1 38. Rxd7 Rxd7 39. Bb2 Bxb2 40. cxb5 Nd3 41.
Rxb2 Nxb2 42. Kxb2 Rd4 $15) 37. Nc3 $2 {Now the a1 B will be entombbed.} (37.
Bb2 $1 {was the last chance for a successful defence, for example:} Bxb2 (37...
Be7 38. Nf2 Kf8 39. Nxd3 Rxd3 (39... cxd3 40. Rc6) 40. Rxd3 cxd3 41. Rc7 $13)
38. Rxb2 cxb3 39. Rxb3 Nxe5 40. Rd6 Rxd6 41. Nxd6 Ng4 42. Rxb5 Rd8 43. Ne4 Rd4
$11) 37... b4 38. Ne4 c3 $19 {Look at the a1 B!} 39. Nd6 Nc5 40. Re2 Nb7 {
exchanging White's last active piece.} 41. Re4 Nxd6 42. exd6 (42. Rxd6 Rxd6 43.
exd6 Rd8 44. Rd4 Kf8 $19) (42. Red4 Rc8 $1 43. Kc2 Nf5 44. Rxd7 Ne3+ $19) 42...
Rb5 43. Rc4 Rxh5 44. Rc7 Rxc7 $1 45. dxc7 Rc5 0-1

[Event "Hoogeveen Essent Crown"]
[Site "Hoogeveen"]
[Date "2004.10.22"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Short, Nigel D"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B25"]
[WhiteElo "2687"]
[BlackElo "2581"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2004.10.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 d6 6. Bg5 Nf6 7. Nge2 Rb8 8. O-O
b5 9. a3 Bd7 10. h3 O-O 11. Kh2 a5 12. Qd2 b4 13. axb4 axb4 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15.
exd5 Nd4 16. Nxd4 Bxd4 17. c3 bxc3 18. bxc3 Bf6 19. Bxf6 exf6 20. Ra7 Re8 21.
Rfa1 Bf5 22. g4 Bc8 23. c4 Kg7 24. d4 cxd4 25. Qxd4 Re2 26. Bf1 Rc2 27. Re1 Rb7
28. Kg1 Rxa7 29. Qxa7 Bd7 30. Kg2 h6 31. Qd4 Ra2 32. Re3 Kg8 33. Bd3 Kg7 34. h4
g5 35. h5 Ra3 36. Kg3 Rb3 37. Rf3 Qe7 38. Re3 Qd8 39. Kg2 Ra3 40. Rf3 Qe7 41.
Re3 Qd8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Hoogeveen Essent Crown"]
[Site "Hoogeveen"]
[Date "2004.10.23"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sokolov, Ivan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2581"]
[BlackElo "2663"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2004.10.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 104"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 Nb6 8.
Ne5 a5 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bh4 e6 11. e4 Bh7 12. Be2 Be7 13. f3 Nfd7 14. Bxe7 Qxe7
15. Nxd7 Nxd7 16. O-O O-O 17. Qd2 Qb4 18. Nb1 Rfd8 19. Rd1 f5 20. Qxb4 axb4 21.
Nd2 fxe4 22. fxe4 Nf6 23. e5 Ne8 24. Nc4 Bc2 25. Rd2 Rxa4 26. Rxa4 Bxa4 27. Bg4
Nc7 28. Nd6 b6 29. Rf2 Rf8 30. Rxf8+ Kxf8 31. Nc8 Bb3 32. Nxb6 Nb5 33. Nd7+ Ke7
34. Nc5 Nxd4 35. Kf2 Bd5 36. Ke3 Nc2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bundesliga 0405"]
[Site "Germany"]
[Date "2005.03.12"]
[Round "12.1"]
[White "Nielsen, Peter Heine"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D76"]
[WhiteElo "2663"]
[BlackElo "2581"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2004.11.12"]
[EventType "team-tourn"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 106"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.06.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.06.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Wattenscheid"]
[BlackTeam "Neukoelln"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "GER"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GER"]

{[%mdl 2049]} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. O-O d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5
7. Nc3 Nc6 8. d4 Nb6 9. e3 Re8 10. d5 Na5 11. Nd4 Bd7 12. e4 c6 13. Re1 {
This move is more ambitious than the old} (13. b3 {, which allows Black to
break loose by} cxd5 14. exd5 e6) 13... cxd5 14. exd5 Rc8 (14... Nac4 15. b3
Nd6 16. Bf4 Rc8 {-see below and CBM 105}) 15. Bf4 Nbc4 $6 {This is hardly good.
Tactical tricks don't work and the a5 knight remains out of play. Other
possibilities:} (15... Nac4 16. b3 Nd6 {Black improves the position of his
knight.} (16... Nb2 $6 17. Qd2 Bf5 18. Ncb5 $1 Nd3 19. Nxf5 Nxe1 20. Nxg7 Nxg2
21. Be5 Rf8 22. Kxg2 a6 23. Nc3 $16 {Ftacnik}) (16... Bg4 $5 17. Qxg4 Bxd4 18.
Bd2 (18. Rac1 Nd6 19. Bd2 Bf6 (19... Nf5 $5 20. Nb5 Rxc1 21. Bxc1 Bg7 22. Nxa7
Nxd5 23. Nb5 Qd7 24. a4 e6 $132 {Ftacnik}) 20. h4 Qd7 21. Qb4 Nf5 22. Ne4 Nxd5
23. Nxf6+ Nxf6 24. Rxc8 Rxc8 25. Bg5 $44 {1-0 Miton,K-Bobras,P/Lubniewice 2003/
EXT 2004 (45)}) 18... Bf6 19. bxc4 Nxc4 20. d6 Nxd2 21. d7 Rxc3 22. dxe8=Q+
Qxe8 23. Rac1 $14 {1/2-1/2 Karpov,A-Ivanchuk,V/Wijk aan Zee 2003/CBM 093 (39)})
17. Qd2 (17. Rc1 Bg4 $5 (17... Nf5 18. Nde2 Na8 19. Qd2 Qb6 20. Ne4 e5 21. dxe6
Bxe6 22. Bg5 $14 {1-0 Cvitan,O-Milu,R/Medulin 2002/CBM 090 ext (26)}) 18. Qd2
Rxc3 19. Qxc3 Nb5 20. Nxb5 Bxc3 21. Nxc3 Qd7 22. a4 $44 {1/2-1/2 Filippov,
V-Johannesson,I/Izmir 2004/CBM 104 no vc (50)}) 17... Nf5 (17... Na8 {[%cal
Yd8a5]} 18. Rad1 (18. Be5 Bxe5 19. Rxe5 Qa5 20. Re3 Nc7 21. a4 (21. Rae1 Ncb5
22. Ndxb5 Nxb5 23. Ne4 Qxd2 24. Nxd2 Kf8 25. Nc4 $14 {Ftacnik}) 21... Na6 22.
Rae1 Qb4 23. R1e2 Bg4 24. Re1 Bd7 25. h4 Nc5 $132 {0-1 Tkachiev,V-Ye
Jiangchuan/Shanghai 2001/CBM 085/[Ftacnik] (48)}) 18... Qa5 19. Ne4 Qxd2 20.
Rxd2 Nc7 21. Bxd6 exd6 22. Rf1 Bb5 23. Nxd6 Bxf1 24. Bxf1 Nxd5 25. Nxc8 Rxc8
26. Nf5 gxf5 27. Rxd5 f4 28. Rd7 $16 {1-0 Rogozenko,D-Ftacnik,L/Hamburg 2004/
CBM 100 ext (61)}) (17... Bf5 18. a4 a6 19. Rac1 Qd7 20. h4 Bh3 21. Bh1 h5 22.
Kh2 Bg4 23. Bg2 Nf5 24. Nxf5 Bxf5 25. d6 $1 exd6 26. Rxe8+ Rxe8 27. a5 Nc8 28.
Nd5 $16 {1-0 Miton,K-Kempinski,R/Warsaw 2003/CBM 095/[Ftacnik] (35)}) 18. Nde2
(18. Nce2 Nxd4 (18... e5 19. dxe6 Bxe6 20. Rad1 Nxd4 21. Nxd4 Bg4 22. Bxb7 {
1/2-1/2 Kresz,L-Kopasov,E/Chessfriend.com 2003/Telechess CBM 97}) 19. Nxd4 Bg4
20. h3 e5 21. hxg4 exf4 22. Rxe8+ Qxe8 23. Qxf4 Rd8 $15 {Ftacnik}) 18... h6 $5
(18... e5 19. dxe6 Bxe6 20. Qxd8 Rexd8 21. Rac1 Rd7 22. Ne4 Rxc1 23. Rxc1 Nd4
24. Nxd4 Bxd4 25. Bb8 a5 26. Ba7 $14 {1-0 Filippov,V-Nedev,T/Istanbul 2003/CBM
096 (53)}) 19. h4 h5 20. Rac1 Rc5 21. Red1 Nc8 22. Ne4 Rxc1 23. Rxc1 Ncd6 24.
Nc5 Bc8 25. Nd3 Qb6 26. Ne5 (26. Be5 Bh6 27. Bf4 Bg7 28. Be5 Bh6 29. Bf4 Bg7 {
1/2-1/2 Hauchard,A-Nataf,I/Montreal CAN 2005/The Week in Chess 533}) 26... Rd8
27. Qc3 Bd7 28. Qc7 Qxc7 29. Rxc7 Bb5 30. Nc3 Ba6 31. Ne4 Bxe5 32. Bxe5 Ne8 33.
Rc1 b6 $11 {0-1 Kuljasevic,D-Kozul,Z/Zagreb 2004/CBM 105 (64) - see
annotations in CBM105}) (15... h6 $5 {[%cal Yg6g5] is interesting to push the
white bishop from its active position:} 16. Be5 (16. h3 g5 17. Bc1 e6 18. dxe6
Bxe6 19. Nxe6 Rxe6 20. Rxe6 Qxd1+ 21. Nxd1 fxe6 22. Kf1 Nd5 23. Rb1 b6 {
1/2-1/2 Khalifman,A-Smirin,I/Togliatti 2003/CBM 094 ext}) (16. Rc1 g5 17. Be3 (
17. Be5 $2 f6 {is the point!}) 17... Nac4 18. b3 Nxe3 19. Rxe3 Qc7 20. Qd3 Qd6
21. Nf5 Qa3 22. Rc2 Bxc3 23. Nxh6+ Kg7 24. Nxf7 Qa6 25. Qe4 Bf6 26. Ne5 Kf8 27.
Qg6 Bxe5 28. Rf3+ Bf6 29. Rxf6+ {1/2-1/2 Ilic,Z-Yermolinsky,A/San Francisco
2003/EXT 2004}) 16... Bxe5 17. Rxe5 Nbc4 18. Re1 Nxb2 19. Qd2 Qb6 20. Ne6 g5
21. Re5 fxe6 22. Rxg5+ hxg5 23. Qxg5+ Kf7 24. Qh5+ Kg7 25. Qg5+ Kf7 26. Qf4+
Kg7 27. Qg5+ {1/2-1/2 Grischuk,A-Timofeev,A/Moscow 2004/CBM 104}) 16. b3 Nb2 {
This tactical idea meets a very nice riposte in the present game. The other
option was} (16... Qb6 {[%csl Ra5] (a logical consequence of the previous move
but White is better anyway)} 17. Nce2 Na3 (17... Nd6 18. Qd2 Nf5 19. Nxf5 Bxf5
20. Rac1 e5 21. Be3 Qa6 22. Bf1 b5 23. Nc3 Bd7 24. Ne4 $16 {1-0 Merrifield,
D-Clark,R/Chessfriend.com 2004/Telechess CBM 103 (29)}) 18. Qd2 e5 19. dxe6
Bxe6 20. Rac1 {[+]} Bg4 21. Rxc8 Rxc8 22. Be3 Rd8 23. Qc1 Qd6 24. h3 Bxe2 25.
Nxe2 b6 26. Nf4 $16 h6 $2 27. Nd5 g5 28. Bd2 Nc6 29. b4 $2 (29. f4 $1 $18)
29... Nb5 {1/2-1/2 Tania,S-Ganguly,S/Mumbai 2003/CBM 093 ext}) 17. Qd2 Nac4 18.
bxc4 Nxc4 19. Qd3 Nb2 20. Qe3 Nc4 {Repetition of moves? No!} {[%tqu "En","How
to evade the repetition of moves?","","","e3e4","",100]} 21. Qe4 $1 {[%mdl
2048]} f5 22. Qd3 Nb2 23. Qd2 Nc4 24. Qd1 $1 Nb2 25. Qb3 $1 Bxd4 26. d6+ {
This is the point!} e6 (26... Kg7 27. Qxb2 Bxc3 28. Be5+ $18) 27. Nd5 $1 {
[%csl Gd6][%cal Cd7a4,Ca4b3,Rd5c7,Rd5e7] Black is temporarily a pawn up but
White creates very dangerous threats with the help of his d6 pawn. The
position is full of tactics.} Ba4 (27... Rc5 28. Nc7 Ba4 29. Qa3 $16) (27...
Nc4 28. Ne7+ Rxe7 29. dxe7 Qxe7 30. Rad1 Qc5 31. Qxb7 Bxf2+ $140 32. Kh1 Bxe1
33. Qxd7 Bc3 $8 34. Rc1 Bg7 35. Bb7 $18) 28. Qxb7 Nd3 {Looks dangerous but...}
29. Ne7+ Kh8 $6 (29... Rxe7 $142 $1 {; still, White is better after} 30. dxe7
Qe8 (30... Qd7 31. Qxd7 Bxd7 32. Rad1 $1 Bxf2+ 33. Kh1 Nxe1 $8 34. Rxd7 Bb6 35.
Bc6 Kf7 36. Bg5 Rxc6 37. Rd8 $18) 31. Qa6 $1 Bxf2+ 32. Kh1 Nc5 (32... Bxe1 33.
Qxe6+ Kg7 34. Rxe1 Bc6 $5 35. Kg1 $1 Bxg2 (35... Nxe1 36. Be5+ Kh6 37. Qf6 $18)
36. Qxc8 Qxc8 37. e8=Q Qc5+ 38. Be3 Qd6 39. Rb1 Bc6 40. Qb8 $18) 33. Qxa7 Bxe1
34. Rxe1 Bc6 35. Rd1 $16 {[%csl Ga2,Ge7]}) 30. Be3 $1 {This parries Black's
counterthreats and reminds him of the a1-h8 diagonal.} Rc4 $2 {Losing at once.}
(30... Qxd6 $2 31. Nxc8 $18) (30... Bxe3 $2 31. Rxe3 Rb8 32. Qc7 $18 {[%cal
Re3d3,Rc7c3]}) (30... Bxa1 31. Rxa1 Rb8 32. Qa6 Bb5 (32... Qd7 33. Bf1 $1 $18)
33. Qa3 $16 {[%csl Rh8][%cal Oe3a7,Ra3d3]} Qd7 34. Bxa7 $1 Rbd8 35. Qxd3 $1
Rxe7 36. Qc3+ Rg7 37. Bd4 $18) (30... Bc3 31. Reb1 $1 Rb8 32. Qa6 Bc2 33. Rxb8
Qxb8 34. Rf1 {and Black can't protect all his weaknesses.}) 31. Qa6 $1 Nxe1 (
31... Nb2 32. Qxc4 $1 {The point!} Nxc4 33. Bxd4+ e5 34. Rxe5 Kg7 35. Re6+ Kh6
36. Nxf5+ Kh5 (36... Kg5 37. h4+ Kg4 38. f3+ Kxf5 39. Bh3#) 37. f4 Kg4 38. Nh6+
Kh5 39. Nf7 Kg4 40. Nxd8 $18) 32. Qxc4 Bxa1 33. Bd4+ e5 34. Qe6 $1 1-0

[Event "Bundesliga 0405"]
[Site "Germany"]
[Date "2005.03.13"]
[Round "13.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nikolic, Predrag"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C92"]
[WhiteElo "2581"]
[BlackElo "2676"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2004.11.12"]
[EventType "team-tourn"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 106"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.06.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.06.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Neukoelln"]
[BlackTeam "Solingen"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "GER"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GER"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Re8 10. d4 Bb7 11. Nbd2 Bf8 12. d5 Ne7 13. Nf1 g6 14. N3h2 Bg7 15.
Qf3 Kh8 16. h4 Rf8 17. Ng3 h5 18. Bc2 Nh7 19. Qe2 Ng8 20. Nf3 Bf6 21. c4 Bxh4
22. Nxh4 Qxh4 23. cxb5 axb5 24. Qxb5 Ba6 25. Qb3 Ne7 26. Qf3 Kg7 27. Qe3 Kh8
28. Qf3 Kg7 29. Qe3 Kh8 1/2-1/2

[Event "ESP-chT"]
[Site "Sanxenxo"]
[Date "2004.11.18"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Marin, Mihail"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C91"]
[WhiteElo "2581"]
[BlackElo "2511"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2004.11.18"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. d4 Bg4 10. d5 Na5 11. Bc2 c6 12. dxc6 Qc7 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15.
Nbd2 Be6 16. a4 Qxc6 17. b4 Nc4 18. Nxc4 Bxc4 19. Bb3 Rfd8 20. Nd2 Bxb3 21.
Qxb3 Bg5 22. Nf3 Rac8 23. axb5 axb5 24. h4 Bf6 25. Re3 d5 26. exd5 Qxd5 27.
Qxd5 Rxd5 28. g3 e4 29. Rxe4 Rxc3 30. Kg2 Rf5 31. Nd4 Bxd4 32. Rxd4 Rc2 33. Rf1
h5 34. Kg1 Rb2 35. f3 Re5 36. Rf2 Rb1+ 37. Kg2 Ree1 38. Rc2 Rg1+ 39. Kf2 Rbf1+
40. Ke2 Re1+ 41. Kf2 Ref1+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "ESP-chT"]
[Site "Sanxenxo"]
[Date "2004.11.19"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Sokolov, Ivan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D83"]
[WhiteElo "2663"]
[BlackElo "2581"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2004.11.18"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bf4 Bg7 5. Rc1 O-O 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Na6 8. cxd5
Nxc5 9. Be5 Qa5 10. Nf3 Rd8 11. Qd2 Nxd5 12. Nxd5 Qxd2+ 13. Nxd2 Rxd5 14. Bxg7
Kxg7 15. e4 Nd3+ 16. Bxd3 Rxd3 17. Ke2 Rd6 18. Rc7 b6 19. Rd1 Rd7 20. Rxd7 Bxd7
21. Nb1 Be6 22. Nc3 Rc8 23. Ke3 f6 24. f4 Kf7 25. Rd4 Ke8 26. a3 Rc5 27. Ra4 a5
28. Rd4 Bb3 29. h4 h5 30. g3 Be6 31. Na4 Rc6 32. b4 axb4 33. axb4 Bc4 34. Nxb6
Bb5 35. Nd5 Kf7 36. f5 gxf5 37. exf5 Rc1 38. Re4 Re1+ 39. Kd4 Rxe4+ 40. Kxe4
Be2 41. Nf4 Bd1 42. b5 Bc2+ 43. Ke3 Bxf5 44. b6 Bc8 45. Nxh5 Ke6 46. Ng7+ 1-0

[Event "ESP-chT"]
[Site "Sanxenxo"]
[Date "2004.11.20"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gurevich, Mikhail"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C16"]
[WhiteElo "2581"]
[BlackElo "2644"]
[Annotator "Finkel,A"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2004.11.18"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 b6 $5 {Playing against 13 years old boy
Gurevich is looking for less popular line hoping to force his opponent to be
on his own from the very beginning.} 5. a3 Bf8 6. Nf3 a5 (6... Qd7) 7. Bb5+ {
Opting for the most popular reply.} (7. h4 h6 (7... h5 8. Bb5+ c6 9. Ba4 Ba6
10. Ne2 Bxe2 11. Qxe2 b5 12. Bb3 a4 13. Ba2 Nd7 14. c3 $14 {Shomoev,A-Vaganian,
R/Istanbul 2003}) 8. h5 Ba6 9. Bxa6 Nxa6 10. Rh4 Ne7 11. Rf4 Qd7 12. b3 c6 13.
a4 Nc8 14. Rg4 $14 {Yurtaev,L-Tulchinsky,M/Tomsk 1997}) (7. a4 Ne7 8. Bd3 Ba6
9. O-O Bxd3 10. Qxd3 Nbc6 (10... Nf5 11. Ne2 Be7 12. Ng3 g6 13. Nxf5 gxf5 14.
Bh6 Rg8 $13 {Jakovenko,D-Kosyrev,V/Internet 2004}) 11. Ne2 Nb4 12. Qd1 Nf5 13.
Ng3 g6 14. b3 Be7 15. c3 Na6 16. Nxf5 gxf5 17. Bh6 Rg8 $132 {Jakovenko,
D-Vaganian,R/Sochi 2004}) 7... c6 8. Ba4 Ba6 (8... b5 9. Bb3 Nd7 10. Ne2 c5 11.
c3 c4 12. Bc2 Ne7 13. Ng5 g6 14. Nf4 Nb6 15. h4 $16 {Labib,I-Mohamed,F/Cairo
1996}) 9. Ne2 Bxe2 {After trading the lightsqared bishop black intends to
close up the queenside putting all his pawns on the light squares.} (9... Ne7
10. c3 (10. O-O Nf5 11. Re1 b5 12. Bb3 c5 13. c3 Nc6 14. Bc2 g6 15. Bg5 Be7 16.
Bxe7 Qxe7 17. dxc5 Qxc5 18. Bxf5 gxf5 19. Ned4 $16 {Fedorowicz,J-Zerm,A/
Philadelphia 1997}) 10... h6 11. h4 Bb5 12. Bc2 c5 13. g3 Qc8 14. O-O Nbc6 15.
Re1 $14 {Diaz,J-Nikolic,Z/Vrnjacka Banja 1988}) (9... Bb5 10. Bb3 Ne7 11. c3 c5
12. O-O Nbc6 13. Re1 Nf5 14. Bc2 $14 {Singer,C-Vogel,J/Krumbach 1991}) (9...
Qc7 10. c3 Ne7 11. O-O Nd7 12. Re1 h6 13. Nf4 g6 14. Be3 Bg7 15. Bc2 c5 16. Qd2
$14 {Leoncini,M-Turci,S/Forli 1993}) 10. Qxe2 b5 11. Bb3 a4 12. Ba2 Nd7 13. c3
Nb6 (13... h6 14. Bb1 Ne7 15. Bd3 Qc7 16. h4 Nb6 17. h5 Nc4 18. g3 Nc8 19. Kf1
N8b6 20. Kg2 $14 {Lutz,C-Fries Nielsen,J/Copenhagen 1995}) 14. Bb1 Nc4 {
It seems that white has an advantage, but the Norvegian prodigy didn't succeed
to find a key to the position.} 15. Ng5 {It's obvious that white should try to
break through on the kingisde, but it's easier said, than done since black's
position is very solid.} (15. Bd3 h5 16. O-O g6 17. Rb1 Be7 18. g3 Nh6 19. Kg2
Kd7 $13) 15... g6 16. Qf3 (16. f4 $6 h5 17. g3 Nh6 18. h3 Nf5 19. Rg1 c5 $15)
16... Qe7 17. Qg3 Kd7 18. h4 $6 h5 19. Nh3 Nh6 20. Bg5 (20. Bd3 Nf5 21. Bxf5
gxf5 22. Bg5 Qe8 23. Bf6 Rh6 24. Rb1 Be7 25. Bg5 Rh8 26. Nf4 Qg8 $132) 20...
Qe8 21. Ra2 $6 {[%csl Ra2] Such a move simply can't be correct, since the rook
is cut off the game on a2.} Be7 22. Nf4 $6 Kc7 23. Nd3 (23. Bd3 $5 {[%cal
Ge1d1,Gd1c2,Ga2a1]}) 23... Nf5 24. Qf4 Kb6 25. Rh3 Qd8 26. Nc5 {[%csl Rc5]} Qc7
27. Bxe7 Qxe7 $15 {Black's opening plan worked out just perfectly, however the
only possibility to play for a win is to push g5, which might not be enough
since white may easily protect the pawn on g2.} 28. Bd3 Rhg8 {[%cal Gg6g5]} 29.
Kf1 Rg7 30. Kg1 Kc7 $5 {[%csl Ga4] Black is getting ready for B:c4.} (30...
Rag8 $5 31. Bxc4 bxc4 32. Nxa4+ Kb5 33. Nc5 g5 34. a4+ Kb6 35. hxg5 Rxg5 36.
a5+ Ka7 $13) 31. Kf1 g5 (31... Rag8 32. Be2 (32. Bxc4 $6 bxc4 33. Nxa4 g5 34.
hxg5 Rxg5 35. Rh2 Rg4 $17 {[%csl Ra2,Rh2]}) 32... g5 33. hxg5 Rxg5 34. Bf3) 32.
hxg5 Rxg5 33. Be2 Rag8 34. Bf3 Rg4 ({May be black shouldn't force the matters
by} 34... h4 {[%cal Ge7f8,Gf8h6] followed by Qf8-h6 or Qf8-g7 with
considerable pressure.}) 35. Bxg4 Rxg4 36. Qc1 Rh4 37. Rxh4 Qxh4 38. Kg1 Qg4
39. Nd3 (39. f3 Qh4 40. b3 Ng3 41. Qe1 axb3 42. Nxb3 Qh1+ 43. Kf2 Qh4 $44)
39... Nh4 40. Ne1 Qe2 41. Nc2 Qg4 (41... Nd2 $5 42. Ne3 Ne4 43. Qf1 $140 (43.
Qc2 Qe1+ 44. Nf1 Ng6 $44) 43... Nxc3 $1 {[%csl Ra2]} 44. Ra1 Qxb2 $15) 42. Ne1
Qe2 43. Nc2 Qg4 1/2-1/2

[Event "ESP-chT"]
[Site "Sanxenxo"]
[Date "2004.11.21"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Illescas Cordoba, Miguel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E70"]
[WhiteElo "2626"]
[BlackElo "2581"]
[Annotator "Hazai,L"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2004.11.18"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 O-O 5. d4 c6 6. Be2 d5 7. e5 Ne4 8. O-O (
8. Nxe4 {- Murdzia-G.Kuzmin, Swidnica 1999 CBM 71}) (8. cxd5 {-
Fassnacht-Lisanti, Rheinhessen ch 1997}) 8... Nxc3 (8... Bf5 {-
Illescas-Herraiz Lopez, Albacete 1999}) 9. bxc3 dxc4 (9... b6 10. Be3 (10. a4
Ba6 {Black wants to blockade the position on >< c4.} 11. cxd5 Qxd5 (11... cxd5
12. Bb5 Qc8 13. Ba3 Qb7 14. e6 Nc6 15. exf7+ Rxf7 16. Qe2 Bxb5 17. axb5 Na5 18.
Ng5 $16 {Topalov-Svidler, Prague 2002}) 12. Ba3 Re8 13. Re1 Bxe2 14. Qxe2 b5
15. Rab1 a6 16. c4 bxc4 17. Rec1 Bh6 18. Rc2 Nd7 19. Qxc4 $14 {
Rashkovsky-Epishin, RUS-ch Elista 1995}) 10... Ba6 11. Nd2 e6 12. f4 Qe7 13. a4
Nd7 $2 {This is a clear blunder.} 14. cxd5 $1 Bxe2 15. d6 $1 {Zwischenzug!}
Bxd1 16. dxe7 Rfe8 17. Rfxd1 Rxe7 18. c4 Kf8 19. Ne4 $18 {Schebler-R.Ruck,
Budapest 1998}) (9... Nd7 10. cxd5 (10. a4 Nb6 11. c5 Nc4 12. Nd2 {1/2-1/2
Krivoshey-L.Vajda, Balatonlelle 2004}) 10... cxd5 11. h4 Nb6 12. h5 Bg4 13. Ng5
Bxe2 14. Qxe2 Qc8 15. e6 $36 {Berg-Nunn, Germany 1984}) 10. Bxc4 c5 11. Be3 (
11. h3 {against Bg4.} Nc6 (11... cxd4 12. cxd4 Nc6 13. Be3 Na5 14. Bd3 Be6 15.
Qe2 Bd5 16. Rfc1 Qd7 17. Nd2 Rac8 18. Ne4 b6 $11 {Sakalauskas-Wojtkiewicz,
playchess.com 2004}) 12. a3 {securing the a2-g8 /^ for the B.} (12. Re1 cxd4
13. cxd4 Na5 14. Bd3 Be6 15. Be3 Rc8 16. Qd2 Bd5 17. Nh2 Nc4 18. Bxc4 Rxc4 19.
Bh6 Bc6 20. Bxg7 Kxg7 21. Ng4 Rxd4 22. Qg5 Qd5 $15 {Sulskis-M.Carlsen, Moscow
2004}) 12... b6 13. Re1 Qc7 14. Ba2 {crisper than} (14. Bg5 Bb7 15. Qe2 e6 16.
Ba6 Bxa6 17. Qxa6 cxd4 18. cxd4 Qd7 $11 {D.Gurevich-Gutman, Bad Zwesten op 1997
}) 14... Bb7 15. Bf4 $14) (11. d5 $5 {is overestimating White's chances.} Bg4
12. Bf4 Nd7 13. Re1 Nb6 {Black has an enormous pressure on White's central
pawns.} 14. Qb3 Qd7 15. Bg3 Bxf3 16. gxf3 Qf5 17. Bf1 h5 {/\ h4} (17... Qxf3
18. Bg2) 18. h4 c4 $5 19. Bxc4 Rac8 20. Bf1 Qxf3 21. c4 Qg4 22. Rad1 Nxc4 $13 {
Shipov-Kengis, Lubniewice 1998}) (11. Re1 cxd4 (11... Qc7 12. Qb3 Nc6 13. Ng5
$1 e6 14. Ba3 Rd8 15. Bb5 (15. Bxc5 $2 {Jacimovic} Na5 16. Qb4 b6) 15... b6 16.
Rac1 Na5 17. Qb2 (17. Qb1 Bb7) 17... Bb7 18. Ne4 $16 {Jacimovic-Ivanisevic,
FYROM 85/469 2002}) 12. cxd4 Bg4) 11... Nc6 12. Ng5 Na5 13. Bd3 cxd4 14. cxd4
h6 15. Ne4 f5 (15... Be6 16. Qe2 b6 {The N on a5 is badly placed, he cannot
get to d5.} 17. Rac1 Rc8 18. Rxc8 Qxc8 19. Rc1 Qa8 20. Nc3 $14 {Weglarz-Blehm,
Glogow 2001}) 16. exf6 (16. Nc5 {is an interesting positional piece sacrifice:}
f4 17. Bxg6 $1 fxe3 18. fxe3 b6 19. Bc2 Rxf1+ 20. Qxf1 Qf8 21. Qe2 bxc5 22. Rf1
Bf6 23. Qd3 Qf7 {1/2-1/2 Teplitsky-Blehm, Paget Parish 2001}) 16... exf6 17.
Nd2 (17. Nc5 f5) (17. Qd2 f5 18. Nc3 Kh7) 17... f5 18. Nf3 Be6 (18... Nc6 {
The cold-blooded} 19. Rc1 {was interesting, because} (19. Bc4+ $2 Kh7 20. Qd2
f4 $1 21. Bxf4 Nxd4 $17) (19. Ne5 $5 Nxe5 (19... Bxe5 20. Qb3+ (20. dxe5 Nxe5)
20... Kh7 21. dxe5 Nxe5 22. Bb5 f4 23. Bc5 Rf5 24. Rfe1 $44 {and White's ^^ is
very active fully compensating the lost P.}) 20. dxe5 Bxe5 21. Bxh6 Qh4 22. f4
$1 Qxh6 23. Bc4+ (23. fxe5 {loses the P, but White's lead of development is
also an important factor.} Qe3+ 24. Kh1 Qxe5 25. Re1 Qf6 26. Rc1 $44) 23... Kg7
24. fxe5 Rh8 $1 $132 {Suddenly the white K has problems, Eljanov-Kempinski,
Kharkov 2002 CBM 89.}) 19... f4 {is not a big threat since >< g6 becomes also
weak.} (19... Be6 20. Qd2 f4 21. Bxf4 Nxd4 22. Nxd4 Qxd4 23. Be3 Qd7 24. Rfd1
Rfd8 25. Bc4 Kh7 26. Qxd7 Bxd7 27. Bd5 $14) 20. Bd2 Nxd4 21. Nxd4 Qxd4 22. Bxg6
f3 23. gxf3 Be6 24. Qe2 Qf6 25. Be4 $14) 19. Re1 Bd5 {Black has successfully
blockaded White's o^ on d5. Although his >> is a bit weakened, his active
pieces give reasonable counterplay.} 20. Bf4 (20. Ne5 $5 {was possible:} Kh7 (
20... Qd6 21. Qd2 Nc6 22. Bxh6 $14) 21. Rb1 Bxa2 22. Rb5 $44) 20... Nc6 21. Ne5
g5 (21... Nxe5 22. Bxe5 Qg5 23. Bf1) 22. Nxc6 Bxc6 (22... bxc6 23. Be5 $14) 23.
Bc4+ $1 (23. Be5 {allows} Qd5) 23... Bd5 $1 (23... Kh7 24. Be5 $16) 24. Qb3
Bxc4 25. Qxc4+ Rf7 {The pin is not dangerous for Black.} 26. Be5 Rc8 27. Qa4 {
provoking some weaknesses.} (27. Qb3 Qa5) 27... a6 28. Qb3 Qa5 29. h4 (29. Bxg7
Kxg7 30. Rad1 Qc3 31. Qe6 Qc6 {with good drawing chances in an _|_ with rooks
and queens.}) 29... Qc3 30. Qe6 Qc6 31. Qb3 Qc3 32. Qe6 Qc6 33. Bxg7 (33. Qb3 {
leads to threefold repetition of moves.}) 33... Qxe6 34. Rxe6 Kxg7 35. hxg5 (
35. h5 Rf6 $11) 35... hxg5 $11 {This R _|_ cannot give White any hopes for a
success.} 36. d5 Rd8 (36... Rc2 $11) 37. Rd1 Rfd7 38. Rb6 Rxd5 39. Rxb7+ Kf8
40. Re1 Rd1 41. Kf1 Rxe1+ 42. Kxe1 Rd4 43. Rb6 Ra4 44. Rf6+ Kg7 45. Rxf5 Kg6
46. Rc5 Rxa2 1/2-1/2

[Event "ESP-chT"]
[Site "Sanxenxo"]
[Date "2004.11.22"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Korneev, Oleg"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B42"]
[WhiteElo "2581"]
[BlackElo "2583"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2004.11.18"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Bc5 6. Nb3 Ba7 7. Qe2 Nc6 8.
Be3 d6 9. Nc3 Nge7 10. f4 b5 11. O-O-O b4 12. Na4 Bd7 13. e5 Bxe3+ 14. Qxe3
dxe5 15. Be4 O-O 16. Nac5 Ra7 17. Qd3 Nd5 18. Bxd5 exd5 19. Qxd5 Nb8 20. Qxe5
Qc8 21. Rd6 a5 22. Nd4 a4 23. Nxd7 Nxd7 24. Qg5 b3 25. a3 Rc7 26. Nf5 Rxc2+ 27.
Kd1 Rc1+ 28. Ke2 Rc2+ 29. Kd1 Rc1+ 30. Ke2 Rc2+ 31. Kd1 Rc1+ 32. Ke2 1/2-1/2

[Event "ESP-chT"]
[Site "Sanxenxo"]
[Date "2004.11.23"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Graf, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A14"]
[WhiteElo "2646"]
[BlackElo "2581"]
[Annotator "Ribli,Z"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2004.11.18"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. b3 d4 {Der junge norwegische Spieler spielt
gern diese ambitionöse Fortsetzung. Der Zug führt zu scharfem Spiel, die
ruhige Alternative ist 4...Be7, wonach Schwarz im Folgenden mit b6-Bb7 die
Entwicklung des Damenflügels fortsetzen kann.} 5. Bg2 Nc6 (5... c5 $5 6. O-O
Nc6) 6. O-O Be7 7. d3 O-O 8. Na3 {[%cal Ga3c2,Ge2e3]} e5 9. Nc2 {Wir haben
eine ähnliche Stellung, wie in der Benoni-Verteidigung. Schwarz hat
Raumvorteil im Zentrum, aber Weiß kann die Stellung mit e2-e3 sprengen.} a5 (
9... Re8 $5) 10. e3 $5 (10. Bb2 Re8 11. Qd2 Bc5 12. a3 Qe7 13. Rfb1 Bg4 14. h3
Bh5 15. Ng5 h6 16. Ne4 Nxe4 17. Bxe4 Qe6 18. Bg2 $11 {1/2-1/2 Wegerle,J-Volke,
K/Germany 2000/CBM 82 ext (29)}) 10... dxe3 11. Nxe3 Nb4 $5 12. d4 (12. Nxe5 $4
Qd4 $19 {[%cal Rd4a1,Rd4e5]}) 12... exd4 13. Nxd4 Bc5 14. Bb2 $14 {[%csl Gb2,
Gg2] Weiß hat eine ausgezeichnete Stellung - seine Läufer stehen gut und er
hat ein sehr aktives Figurenspiel, weil Schwarz Probleme mit der
Figurenkoordination hat.} Ra6 $1 {[%cal Ga6d6,Gd8d1][%mdl 4] Schwarz bringt
seinen Turm durch die 6. Reihe ins Spiel.} 15. a3 (15. Ndf5 Nd3 16. Bc3 (16.
Bxf6 Rxf6 17. Be4 Bxf5 (17... Bxe3 18. Nxe3 Nc5 19. Bxh7+ $1 Kxh7 20. Qh5+ $16
{[%cal Rh5c5,Rh5h7]}) 18. Nxf5 Nxf2 $1 $17) 16... Re8) 15... Rd6 16. axb4 Bxd4
17. Bxd4 Rxd4 18. Qe1 axb4 19. Qxb4 b6 (19... c6 20. Ra8 $14 (20. Rfd1 Re8 21.
Rxd4 Qxd4 22. Rd1 Qe5 $11)) 20. Ra8 (20. Bc6 Ng4 21. Nxg4 Bxg4 22. Rfe1 Be6 23.
Ra8 Qd6 $11) 20... Qd6 21. Qxd6 Rxd6 22. b4 {[%csl Ga8,Gb4,Gc4,Gg2] Nach
Vereinfachungen hat Weiß einen kleinen Positionsvorteil, weil er positionellen
Druck am Damenflügel hat. Anderseits ist die Bauernstellung symmetrisch und
Schwarz hat keine Schwächen.} Be6 23. Ra7 (23. Rfa1 $14) 23... c5 24. bxc5 (24.
b5 $14) 24... bxc5 25. Rc7 Rc8 (25... Nd7) 26. Rxc8+ Bxc8 27. Ra1 {[%cal Ra1a8,
Ra8g8]} Ra6 28. Rd1 Re6 $4 {Schwarz möchte die weiße Drohung 29.Rd8+ mit 29...
Re8 parieren.} (28... Nd7 $2 29. Bb7 (29. Nf5 $18) 29... Bxb7 30. Rxd7 Ra1+ 31.
Nf1 $18) (28... Bd7 $1 29. Nd5 Ra7 (29... Nxd5 $2 30. Rxd5 $16) 30. Nxf6+ gxf6
$14) {[#]} 29. Bc6 $3 $18 {[%csl Rc8][%cal Rd1d8,Rd8g8,Rd8c8][%mdl 64] Nach
diesem schönen Zug verliert Schwarz eine Figur; er hat keine Verteidigung
gegen 30.Rd8+.} (29. Bc6 Rxc6 30. Rd8+ $18) 1-0

[Event "ESP-chT"]
[Site "Sanxenxo"]
[Date "2004.11.24"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Krasenkow, Michal"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C83"]
[WhiteElo "2581"]
[BlackElo "2676"]
[Annotator "Finkel,A"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2004.11.18"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. Be3 {A solid continuation which usually yields white only a minimal
advantage.} Be7 (9... Nc5 $6 10. Nc3 Nxb3 11. cxb3 $1 $14 {Ponomariov,
R-Kortschnoj,V/Donetsk 2001/CBM 81}) (9... Bc5 {--> 1-0 Akopian,V-Adianto,U/
Tripoli 2004/CBM 102 [Postny,E] (43)}) 10. c3 O-O 11. Nbd2 (11. Re1 Na5 {
--> 0-1 Efimenko,Z-Kaidanov,G/Moscow 2003/CBM 94 [Postny,E] (39)}) 11... Qd7 (
11... Bg4 {--> 1/2-1/2 Sadvakasov,D-Kortschnoj,V/Astana 2003/CBM 93 [Postny,E]
(44)}) 12. Re1 ({Immediate} 12. Nxe4 {leads to a slightly better ending after}
dxe4 13. Qxd7 Bxd7 14. e6 $5 (14. Rfd1 $5 Rad8 15. Rxd7 $5 Rxd7 16. e6 exf3 17.
exd7 Ne5 18. Rd1 Rd8 19. Bf4 Bd6 20. Bxe5 Bxe5 21. Re1 $18 {Hansen,M-Nielsen,J/
DEN 1989}) 14... Bxe6 15. Bxe6 fxe6 16. Nd2 Ne5 17. Nxe4 Nd3 (17... Nc4 $5 18.
Bc1 Rf5 19. b3 Nd6 20. Ng3 Rd5 21. Be3 Bf6 $11 {0-1 Thipsay,P-Sasikiran,K/
Guntur, AP IND 2000}) 18. b3 $14 {Ravi,T-Dridi,A/Moscow 1994}) ({Does not
create any problems for black:} 12. Bc2 {--> 0-1 Ganguly,S-Nielsen,P/Tripoli
2004/CBM 102 [Postny,E] (29)}) 12... f5 (12... Kh8 13. Nxe4 dxe4 14. Qxd7 Bxd7
15. e6 Bxe6 16. Bxe6 fxe6 17. Nd2 Ne5 18. Nxe4 Nd3 19. Re2 $14 {Ivanchuk,
V-Krasenkov,M/Lviv 2000}) ({Much more popular is} 12... Rad8 13. Bc2 Bf5 (13...
Nxd2 14. Qxd2 Bf5 15. Rad1 Bxc2 16. Qxc2 $14 {Golod,V-Mikhalevski,V/Beersheba
1997}) (13... f5 14. exf6 Nxf6 15. a4 Bf5 $5 16. axb5 axb5 17. Bxf5 Qxf5 18.
Ra6 Nb8 19. Ra5 b4 20. Bc5 Bxc5 21. Rxc5 bxc3 22. bxc3 {1/2-1/2 Brodsky,
M-Ernst,S/Dieren 2001/CBM 83 ext (22)}) 14. Nxe4 Bxe4 15. Bxe4 dxe4 16. Qxd7
Rxd7 17. e6 fxe6 18. Nd2 Ne5 19. Nxe4 Nd3 (19... Rfd8 20. f3 Bh4 21. Bf2 Bxf2+
22. Nxf2 Rd5 23. a4 $14 {Bruzon Bautista,L-Ponomariov,R/Mallorca 2004}) 20. Re2
Rf5 21. g3 Kf7 22. a4 h6 23. axb5 axb5 24. Ra6 Re5 $11 {Shirov,A-Mamedyarov,S/
Izmir 2004}) 13. exf6 Nxf6 14. Bc2 {This natural move seems to be harmless for
black, so white should look for an advantage in the other directions.} (14. Qe2
$5 Bd6 15. a4 Na5 16. Bc2 Nc4 17. axb5 axb5 18. Rxa8 Rxa8 19. Nxc4 bxc4 20. Bd4
$16 {Korneev,O-Cruz Lopez Claret,C}) 14... Bf5 (14... Bg4 15. Qe2 Rae8 16. Qf1
Bd6 17. h3 Bh5 18. Nd4 Nxd4 19. cxd4 Ne4 $132 {Van Elst,A-Ackermann,D/Porz 1990
}) 15. Bxf5 (15. Nd4 $6 Nxd4 16. cxd4 Bd6 17. f3 Rae8 18. Nf1 Nh5 19. Bb3 Be6
20. Bf2 Kh8 $15 {Golubovic,G-Popov,S/Cetinje 1991}) (15. Nb3 Rae8 16. Nbd4 Nxd4
17. Bxd4 Bxc2 18. Qxc2 Ne4 $132) 15... Qxf5 16. Nf1 Ne4 ({Very serious
attention deserved} 16... Bd6 $5 {since the knight on f6 could be very
important attacking piece.} 17. Ng3 $140 $6 Bxg3 18. hxg3 Rae8 $15 {[%csl Rg1]
[%cal Gf6g4,Gf5h5]}) 17. Ng3 Nxg3 18. hxg3 Rad8 $5 {[%csl Gd5] Prophilaxis in
case of g4 by white.} (18... Rae8 {[%cal Gc6d8,Gc7c6,Gd8e6]} 19. a4 Nd8 (19...
b4 $6 20. g4 {[%csl Rd5]} Qf7 21. Qd3 $1 $14 {[%csl Ra6]}) 20. axb5 axb5 21. g4
Qd7 22. b4 c6 $13) 19. a4 b4 20. Qe2 (20. Rc1 Rd7 $5 {[%csl Gc7,Ge7]} (20...
Qd7 21. c4 d4 22. Nxd4 Nxd4 23. Qxd4 Qxa4 $13) 21. Nd4 Nxd4 22. cxd4 {[%csl
Ra6][%cal Gc1c6]} Rf6 (22... a5 $6 23. Rc6 Bd6 24. Ra6 Re7 25. Qb3 Rfe8 26.
Rxa5 $14) 23. Qc2 Qxc2 24. Rxc2 b3 $11) 20... bxc3 21. bxc3 Qc8 22. Rad1 (22.
Nd4 $6) 22... Bf6 23. Bg5 $5 h6 $6 {Krasenkov either underestimated white's
chanses in he endgame or just missed white's reply.} (23... Bxc3 24. Bxd8 (24.
Qe6+ $6 Qxe6 25. Rxe6 Rd6 26. Rxd6 cxd6 27. Rxd5 Bb4 $11) 24... Bxe1 25. Bh4
Bb4 (25... Ba5 $6 26. Rxd5 Bb6 27. Qc4 $1 $18 {[%csl Rc6,Rg8]}) 26. Rxd5 Kh8
27. Qd3 h6 $132 {[%cal Gc8e6]}) 24. Qe6+ $1 $14 {Very strong move after which
black has to play very carefully to keep the balance.} (24. Bxf6 Rxf6 25. Nd4
Nxd4 26. cxd4 Rdf8 27. f3 Qd7 $11) 24... Qxe6 25. Rxe6 hxg5 (25... Nb8 26. Bxf6
Rxf6 27. Rxf6 gxf6 28. Nd4 c6 29. Rb1 $1 $14 {[%cal Gb1b7,Gb7c7]}) 26. Rxc6
Rde8 27. Rxc7 $6 (27. g4 $5 Re4 28. Rxa6 Rxg4 29. Rxd5 Rc4 (29... Bxc3 30. Rxg5
Rxg5 31. Nxg5 c5 32. Ne4 Bd4 33. Kf1 $16) 30. Ne5 Bxe5 31. Rxe5 Rxc3 32. Re2
$14) 27... Re4 $1 $11 28. a5 (28. Rxd5 g4 $1 (28... Rxa4 $2 29. Nxg5 $16) 29.
Nd4 Re1+ 30. Kh2 Rb8 $1 $15 {[%csl Rh2][%cal Gb8b1]} 31. Nc2 $140 Rc1 32. Nb4
Rxb4 33. Rxg7+ Kxg7 34. cxb4 Rc4 $15) 28... g4 29. Nd4 Bxd4 30. Rxd4 Re1+ 31.
Kh2 Rxf2 32. Rxg4 (32. Rxd5 $4 Rff1 $19) 32... Rf7 33. Rc8+ Rf8 34. Rxf8+ Kxf8
35. Rg6 Rc1 36. Rxa6 Rxc3 37. Rd6 1/2-1/2

[Event "ESP-chT"]
[Site "Sanxenxo"]
[Date "2004.11.25"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bologan, Viktor"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A33"]
[WhiteElo "2581"]
[BlackElo "2669"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2004.11.18"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. g3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nc6 6. Bg2 Bc5 7. Nb3 Be7 8.
Nc3 b6 9. O-O Bb7 10. Bf4 O-O 11. Nb5 Na5 12. Qd3 Bxg2 13. Kxg2 a6 14. Nc3 Nb7
15. Rfd1 d6 16. Qf3 Qc7 17. Rac1 Rac8 18. Nd2 Nd7 19. b4 Ne5 20. Bxe5 dxe5 21.
a3 f5 22. Na4 Bg5 23. e3 Rcd8 24. b5 Na5 25. bxa6 Rd3 26. c5 b5 27. Nb6 Be7 28.
a4 Bxc5 29. a7 Qxa7 30. Rxc5 Qxb6 31. Rxb5 Qd8 32. Qe2 Nc4 33. Nxc4 Rxd1 34.
Nxe5 Qa8+ 35. Qf3 Qxa4 36. Rb6 Ra1 37. Rxe6 Qb5 38. Kh3 g5 39. g4 Rg1 0-1

[Event "ESP-chT"]
[Site "Sanxenxo"]
[Date "2004.11.26"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Vallejo Pons, Francisco"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2678"]
[BlackElo "2581"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2004.11.18"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. d4 cxd4 6. cxd4 d6 7. Bc4 Nb6 8. Bb3
d5 (8... dxe5 9. d5 Na5 10. Nc3) 9. Nh4 {Preventing the black Bishop to
develop on f5 or g4 is the only way for White to fight for an opening
advantage.} (9. Nc3 Bg4 $11) (9. h3 Bf5 $11) 9... e6 (9... Nc4 $6 10. Nc3 a6 $2
11. e6 $1 Nd6 (11... Bxe6 12. Bxc4 dxc4 13. d5 $18) (11... fxe6 12. Qh5+ $18)
12. exf7+ Nxf7 13. Bxd5 e6 14. Bxc6+ bxc6 15. Nf3 $16 {1-0 Pavasovic,
D-Miladinovic,I/Nova Gorica 2003 (51)}) (9... a5 $5 10. Nc3 a4 11. Bc2 (11.
Nxa4 $4 Nxa4 12. Bxa4 Qa5+ $19) (11. Bxa4 $5) 11... a3 12. bxa3 e6 13. g3 (13.
Nf3) 13... Nc4 14. O-O Be7 15. Qg4 Kf8 16. Nf3 h6 17. h4 f5 18. exf6 Bxf6 19.
Qf4 g5 $1 $17 {0-1 Yagupov,I-Ragozin,E/Orel 1992 (40)}) (9... g6 $5) 10. Nf3 {
The pawn structure reminds of the French Defense. The difference in
development of the pieces is that White has the bishop on b3 and Black the
knight on b6. It's a matter of personal preference how to evaluate this
double-edged position. Black's play is somewhat more difficult (because of
certain problems with the king). I believe that he should play for a quick ...
Be7 and ...f6 rather than what he did in the present game.} Bd7 (10... Bb4+ 11.
Nc3 (11. Bd2 Be7) 11... Na5 12. Bc2 h6 13. h4 Bd7 14. Rh3 Bxc3+ $13 {0-1
Jonkman,H-Alekseev,E/Wijk aan Zee 2005 (53)}) (10... Be7 11. Nc3 f6 12. exf6
Bxf6 $13) 11. Nc3 (11. a3 Qc7 12. Nc3 Na5 13. Bc2 f5 14. O-O Be7 $11 {0-1
Prelevic,M-Horvath,A/Budapest 1998 (40)}) 11... Rc8 {A committing move. If
Black is not willing to castle short (like in the present game), then in such
positions it is advisable for him to keep for a while the possibility to
castle long.} (11... Be7 12. O-O (12. Bc2 Nc4 13. O-O Qa5 14. a3 O-O-O $13 {
1-0 Har Zvi,R-Shmuter,L/Rishon Le Ziyyon 1995 (30)}) 12... O-O 13. Bc2 f6 14.
Qd3 g6 15. a3 Rf7 {1/2-1/2 Filipovic,B-Lazarev,V/Switzerland 2003}) 12. O-O h6
$6 {Another committing decision. It's clear that Black failed to find a clear
plan.} 13. h4 g6 $6 14. g3 Bb4 (14... Bg7 15. Nb5 $16) 15. Bc2 Ne7 16. Ne2 Nf5
17. Bd3 Be7 18. Kg2 Nc4 {It may look like Black has two strong knights. This
is a wrong impression though, since they both are very unstable. In fact
without all four knights Black's position would have been very acceptable.} 19.
Rh1 $16 {As a result of opponent's completely irresponsible play White
achieved a huge advantage. Black's problem is obviously the king. He can't
find a safe place on the board for his monarch. For the moment it's relatively
safe in the center, but this is a temporary safety, since the lack of
coordination between black pieces will sooner or later play its role.} Qb6 (
19... O-O 20. b3 Nb6 21. Bxf5 exf5 22. Bxh6 $18) 20. b3 Na5 21. Nf4 Nc6 22.
Bxf5 {Time for concrete actions. White penetrates with the knight on f6, which
means that the happy life of black king is over.} gxf5 23. Nh5 Nb4 24. Nf6+ Kd8
(24... Bxf6 25. exf6 Bb5 26. Bf4 Nd3 27. Qd2 $16) 25. Ne1 Qa6 26. a3 Bb5 (26...
Nc6 27. Be3 Kc7 28. Nd3 $16) 27. Bxh6 $1 {[%cal Gd1a1] No wonder that White
finds a tactical solution in order to achieve the decisive advantage.} Rxh6 28.
axb4 Qb6 29. Qd2 Rh8 30. Nf3 Bxb4 31. Qg5 Kc7 32. Rac1+ Bc6 33. h5 $18 {
This pawn decides the outcome.} Bf8 34. h6 Qxb3 35. h7 Qa3 36. Qg8 Be7 37. Qxf7
Rcf8 38. Qg7 Kd8 39. Ra1 {The reason of Black's loss is a bad understanding of
the "king's problem" in chess.} 1-0

[Event "Drammen Smartfish Masters"]
[Site "Drammen"]
[Date "2004.12.27"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Nielsen, Peter Heine"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2663"]
[BlackElo "2581"]
[Annotator "Huebner,R"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2004.12.27"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. d4 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 Qc7 8.
g3 e5 9. dxe5 Nxe5 10. Bf4 Nfg4 $6 {Für diesen Zug habe ich keine Vorbilder
gefunden; er scheint neu zu sein. Es ist aber zu bezweifeln, daß er auch gut
ist.} 11. f3 g5 $2 {Dies ist nicht korrekt. Nur mit} (11... Qe7 {kann Schwarz
versuchen, sein Konzept zu rechtfertigen, doch dürfte er nach} 12. fxg4 Nd3+
13. Qxd3 Bxd3 14. Nd6+ Kd7 15. O-O-O {keine Freude daran erleben.}) 12. fxg4
gxf4 13. Nxe5 Qxe5 14. gxf5 Bc5 15. Qc2 $2 (15. Qd3 $18 {ist viel genauer, um
den Schwarzen an der langen Rochade zu hindern und gleichzeitig den Bauern auf
g3 zu decken; zudem droht noch 16.De4.}) 15... O-O-O 16. Qe4 fxg3 {Jetzt kann
Schwarz den Kampf noch fortsetzen.} 17. Bg2 Qd6 18. Qd3 Qf4 ({Auch} 18... gxh2
19. Qxd6 Bxd6 20. Kf2 Be5 {bietet Aussichten auf langwierigen Widerstand.}) 19.
Qxg3 Qd2+ 20. Kf1 Qxb2 $2 (20... Rhg8 21. Ne4 Rxg3 22. Nxd2 Rxg2 23. Ne4 Re8 {
sollte versucht werden:} 24. Kxg2 (24. Nxc5 Rexe2 25. Nd3 Rd2 26. Ra3 Rge2 {
ist für Weiß keineswegs so klar, wie er wünschte.}) 24... Rxe4 25. Rhe1 Rf4 26.
Rf1 Re4 {Schwarz gewinnt noch einen Bauern, und es ist nicht deutlich, ob der
Materialvorteil des Weißen zum Gewinn genügt.}) 21. Rb1 Qxb1+ {Nun gibt es
nichts Besseres:} (21... Qd2 {scheitert an} 22. Bxc6) (21... Qa3 22. Bxc6 {
kommt auf dasselbe hinaus.}) 22. Nxb1 Rd1+ 23. Qe1 Rhd8 24. Be4 $18 Rxe1+ 25.
Kxe1 Rd4 26. Bc2 Kc7 27. e4 a5 28. Ke2 Rc4 29. Kd3 Rd4+ 30. Ke2 Rc4 31. Kd3
Rd4+ 32. Kc3 b5 33. axb5 cxb5 34. Rd1 Rc4+ 35. Kd3 a4 36. Nd2 Rd4+ 37. Ke2 a3
38. Bb3 f6 39. Bd5 Kb6 40. Rc1 Ra4 41. Nb3 Bb4 42. Rc6+ Ka7 43. Nc1 Ra6 44.
Rc7+ Kb6 45. Rb7+ Ka5 46. Nb3+ Ka4 47. Nd4 Bc5 48. Kd3 Bxd4 49. Kxd4 Kb4 50.
Rxh7 a2 51. Bxa2 Rxa2 52. Rh6 Rd2+ 53. Ke3 Rd6 54. e5 Rd5 55. e6 Kc5 56. Rxf6
b4 57. Kf4 Rd4+ 58. Kg5 b3 59. Rf8 Rb4 60. e7 b2 61. e8=Q b1=Q 62. Qe5+ Kc4 63.
Rc8+ Kb3 64. Qc3+ 1-0

[Event "Drammen Smartfish Masters"]
[Site "Drammen"]
[Date "2004.12.28"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Lie, Kjetil A"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B38"]
[WhiteElo "2581"]
[BlackElo "2474"]
[PlyCount "129"]
[EventDate "2004.12.27"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Bg7 5. c4 Nc6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Nc3 O-O 8.
Be2 d6 9. O-O Bd7 10. Qd2 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Bc6 12. Bd3 a5 13. b3 Nd7 14. Bxg7 Kxg7
15. Rfe1 Qb6 16. Bf1 Ne5 17. Nd5 Bxd5 18. exd5 e6 19. Rad1 exd5 20. Qxd5 Rfe8
21. Re3 Ng4 22. Rf3 Re6 23. Qg5 h5 24. Qd2 Rae8 25. h3 Ne5 26. Rf4 Nc6 27. Qc3+
Kg8 28. a3 Qd8 29. Rf3 Ne5 30. Re3 b6 31. g3 h4 32. Bg2 hxg3 33. Rxg3 Qf6 34.
Bd5 R6e7 35. Qd4 Kg7 36. Qxb6 Nd7 37. Qxa5 Re2 38. Qc3 Ne5 39. Rf1 Qf4 40. a4
Rh8 41. a5 Rh5 42. Bf3 Rc2 43. Qxc2 Nxf3+ 44. Kh1 Nd2 45. Qc3+ Kf8 46. Kg2 Nxf1
47. Kxf1 Rf5 48. Rg2 Qe4 49. Rg4 Qh1+ 50. Rg1 Qe4 51. Qd2 Qb1+ 52. Kg2 Qxb3 53.
Qxd6+ Kg8 54. a6 Qxc4 55. Re1 Kh7 56. a7 Qc8 57. Qd4 Rg5+ 58. Kf1 Qxh3+ 59. Ke2
Qh5+ 60. Kf1 Qh3+ 61. Ke2 Qh5+ 62. Kd3 Qf3+ 63. Kc2 Qc6+ 64. Kd2 Ra5 65. Ra1
1/2-1/2

[Event "Drammen Smartfish Masters"]
[Site "Drammen"]
[Date "2004.12.29"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Kortschnoj, Viktor Lvovich"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D34"]
[WhiteElo "2601"]
[BlackElo "2581"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2004.12.27"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. g3 e6 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Bg2 d5 6. cxd5 exd5 7. d4 Be7 8. Be3
c4 9. Ne5 O-O 10. O-O Be6 11. Nxc4 dxc4 12. d5 Nxd5 13. Nxd5 Bf6 14. Qd2 Bd4
15. Nf4 Bxe3 16. Qxe3 Re8 17. Rfd1 Qf6 18. Bxc6 bxc6 19. Qd4 Qxd4 20. Rxd4 Bd5
21. Rad1 c3 22. Nxd5 cxd5 23. bxc3 Rxe2 24. Rxd5 g6 25. R5d2 Rxd2 26. Rxd2 Rc8
27. Rc2 Rc4 28. Kf1 Kf8 29. Ke2 Ke7 30. Kd3 Ra4 31. Rd2 Ke6 32. c4 Ra3+ 33. Ke4
h5 34. f4 f6 35. Re2 Ra4 36. Kd4+ Kd6 37. Rf2 Ra5 38. Kc3 Kc5 39. Kb3 Ra6 40.
Rd2 1-0

[Event "Drammen Smartfish Masters"]
[Site "Drammen"]
[Date "2004.12.30"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "McShane, Luke J"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E94"]
[WhiteElo "2581"]
[BlackElo "2629"]
[Annotator "Avrukh,B"]
[PlyCount "42"]
[EventDate "2004.12.27"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. d4 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. Be3 Na6 8. O-O
Ng4 9. Bg5 Qe8 10. dxe5 dxe5 11. h3 Nf6 {Recently not the most popular reply.}
({The alternatives} 11... f6) ({and} 11... h6 {can be seen much more often in
tournament practice.}) 12. Be3 {[%cal Gc4c5]} c6 {Once again Black chooses a
rare continuation.} (12... b6 {is considering to be a main line.}) 13. c5 {
The natural reply.} Nh5 14. Nd2 Nf4 15. Bxa6 {This straightforward
continuation appears not to be so dangerous for Black.} (15. Nc4 {should be a
critical continuation.} Nc7 {[%cal Gc7e6,Ge6d4]} ({Worse is} 15... Qe7 16. Nd6
Qg5 17. Bg4 $1 Be6 (17... Bxg4 18. Qxg4 $5 (18. hxg4 {[%cal Gg2g3] is worth
considering}) 18... Qe7 (18... Qxg4 19. hxg4 Nd3 20. Na4 $1 $16) 19. Rfd1 $14))
16. Nd6 Qe7 {with complicated play.}) 15... bxa6 16. Nc4 Qe6 $1 $146 {A very
strong novelty, which actually reabilitates this variation, which was
considered to be bad due to the following game:} (16... Bxh3 $2 17. gxh3 Qe6
18. Nd2 Rad8 (18... Qxh3 19. Qf3 $18) 19. Qf3 Nxh3+ 20. Kh1 $16 {1-0 Schebler,
G-Movsziszian,K/Germany 1997/GER-chT (41) and Black didn't get sufficient
compensation for the piece.}) 17. Nd6 {This move allows Black to force
perpetual check.} ({The alternative was too risky for White:} 17. Bxf4 exf4 18.
Nd6 (18. Qd3 f3 $1) 18... Rb8 {[%csl Gb2]} 19. Rb1 (19. Qd2 f3 $1) 19... Bxc3
20. bxc3 Rxb1 21. Qxb1 f3 $1 22. Re1 fxg2 23. Re3 Qe5 {[%csl Gc5]} 24. Qb4 Be6
25. a3 Qg5 26. Rg3 Qc1+ 27. Kxg2 f5 $1 {[%csl Rg2] and White easily can get a
worse position.}) 17... Nxg2 $1 18. Kxg2 Qxh3+ 19. Kg1 Bg4 20. f3 Qg3+ 21. Kh1
Qh3+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Drammen Smartfish Masters"]
[Site "Drammen"]
[Date "2005.01.01"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Johannessen, Leif Erlend"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E99"]
[WhiteElo "2519"]
[BlackElo "2581"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2004.12.27"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 O-O 5. Nf3 d6 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5
Ne7 9. Ne1 Nd7 10. Be3 f5 11. f3 f4 12. Bf2 g5 13. Rc1 Rf6 14. c5 a6 15. c6
bxc6 16. dxc6 Nf8 17. Nd3 Ne6 18. Nb4 Rg6 19. Ncd5 Kh8 20. Nxe7 Qxe7 21. Nd5
Qf7 22. b4 Nd4 23. Bxd4 exd4 24. Rf2 Be6 25. h3 Be5 26. a4 Rh6 27. a5 Qh5 28.
Bf1 Ra7 29. Rd2 Qf7 30. Rxd4 Rg6 31. Rd3 h5 32. Be2 Ra8 33. Rc2 Rag8 34. b5
axb5 35. a6 Qg7 36. a7 Ra8 37. Ra2 b4 38. Kf1 Rh6 39. Rb3 Bc3 40. Ra5 Rh7 41.
Rb5 Qg8 42. Nxc3 Bxb3 43. Qd4+ Rg7 44. Qxb4 Re7 45. Qxb3 Qxb3 46. Rxb3 Rxa7 47.
Nd5 Rf7 48. Rb7 Ra1+ 49. Kf2 Rc1 50. Bb5 Rc2+ 51. Kf1 Rf8 52. Nxc7 g4 53. Na6
Rc1+ 54. Ke2 Rc2+ 55. Kd3 Rxg2 56. hxg4 hxg4 57. c7 gxf3 58. Rb8 Rgg8 59. Rxf8
1-0

[Event "Drammen Smartfish Masters"]
[Site "Drammen"]
[Date "2005.01.02"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Stefanova, Antoaneta"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2523"]
[BlackElo "2581"]
[Annotator "Finkel,A"]
[PlyCount "153"]
[EventDate "2004.12.27"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 d5 3. e3 {Antoanetta Stefanova is probably an only world
champion in the history of ches who was too lazy to study openings!
Nevertheless she suceeds to perform at the very high level time after time.
The following game is not an exeption- white has got completely nothing after
the opening and managed to outplay her opponent in the tricky middlegame
struggle.} c5 4. Nd2 Nc6 5. Ngf3 cxd4 (5... Bg4 6. c3 e6 7. Qa4 Bxf3 8. Nxf3
Qb6 9. Bb5 a6 10. Bxc6+ Qxc6 11. Qxc6+ bxc6 $11 {Zimmermann,W-Juglard,E/France
1989}) (5... Qb6 6. dxc5 $6 Qxb2 7. c4 Nb4 8. Rb1 Nc2+ 9. Ke2 Qxa2 10. Bxf6
exf6 11. Nd4 Nxd4+ 12. exd4 dxc4 $15 {Berend,F-Schwartzman,G/Cannes 1992}) 6.
exd4 Qb6 $5 7. Nb3 {It's quite unusual for the knight to be placed on b3, but
it turns out to be not such a bad spot.} Ne4 8. Bf4 Bg4 9. Be2 a5 10. a4 e6 11.
O-O Bd6 ({Deserved attention} 11... Bxf3 12. Bxf3 Bd6 13. Be3 Nf6 (13... f5 14.
Bxe4 fxe4 15. Qg4 $16 {[%csl Re6,Rg7]}) 14. c4 Qc7 $13 {with complicated
struggle.}) 12. Ne5 Bxe2 13. Qxe2 Qc7 14. f3 Nf6 15. Rae1 O-O (15... Nd7 $2 16.
Nxf7 {[%csl Re8]} Bxf4 17. Qxe6+ Kf8 18. Nxh8 $18) 16. Bg5 $1 $14 {[%cal Gf3f5,
Gf1f3,Gf3h3] white's got a clear plan to improve his position, while it'not so
easy fr black to come up with active counterplay.} Nd7 (16... Bxe5 $6 17. dxe5
Nd7 18. f4 Nb6 19. Qg4 Kh8 20. Re3 Nxa4 21. Rh3 $18 {[%csl Rh8]}) 17. f4 Rae8 {
Threatening to push f6.} (17... Nb6) 18. Bh4 f6 $6 {[%csl Re6] Creating to
himself a weakness on e6.} (18... Nb6) 19. Nxd7 Qxd7 20. Qb5 Qc7 21. Bg3 f5 (
21... Na7 $6 22. Qxa5 Qxc2 23. Qb6 Nc8 24. Qxb7 Qxb2 25. Qb5 $14) 22. Rf3 Bb4
$6 (22... Na7 $6 23. Qxa5 Qxa5 24. Nxa5 Bb4 25. Nxb7 Bxe1 26. Bxe1 Rb8 27. Rb3
$16) 23. c3 Na7 24. Qe2 {[%csl Re6][%cal Gb3c1,Gc1d3,Gd3e5]} Bd6 25. Nc1 Nc8
26. Nd3 Nb6 27. Bh4 $1 {[%csl Gf6] Less convincing was} (27. Re3 Rf6 28. Bh4
Rg6 29. Ne5 Bxe5 30. Rxe5 Qc6 31. Rxf5 Nxa4 32. Re5 Rf8 $14) 27... Nd7 $6 (
27... Nxa4 28. Re3 Qd7 29. Rxe6 Rxe6 30. Qxe6+ Qxe6 31. Rxe6 Bc7 32. Kf2 Rc8
33. h3 $14) 28. Re3 Nf6 29. Rxe6 Ne4 30. Rxe8 Rxe8 31. Ne5 Bxe5 32. dxe5 Qc6
33. Qb5 $6 {By trading the queens white loses major part of the advantage.} (
33. Rd1 $5 Qxa4 34. Qd3 Nc5 35. Qxd5+ Ne6 36. Bf2 Qxf4 37. Qb5 Re7 38. Qxa5 $16
) 33... Qxb5 34. axb5 Kf7 35. Bf2 (35. Ra1 b6 36. Bf2 Nxf2 (36... Rb8 $5) 37.
Kxf2 Rc8 38. b4 $1 axb4 39. cxb4 Rc4 40. Ra7+ Kg6 41. g3 Rxb4 42. Ke3 Rxb5 43.
Kd4 Rb2 44. Kxd5 Rxh2 $14) 35... a4 36. Ra1 Ra8 37. Be3 (37. Bd4 Ke6 38. Ra3
Nd2 $132 {[%cal Gd2c4,Ga8a5]}) 37... a3 $5 38. bxa3 (38. Rxa3 Rxa3 39. bxa3
Nxc3 40. b6 d4 41. Bd2 Nd5 $15) 38... Nxc3 39. Kf1 Ke6 (39... Nxb5 40. Rb1 Rxa3
41. Rxb5 Rxe3 42. Rxb7+ Kg6 $11) 40. b6 Ra4 {[%cal Gd5d4]} 41. Bd2 d4 42. Rc1
Nd5 $2 (42... Rxa3 43. Bxc3 dxc3 44. Ke2 Rb3 $11) 43. Rc8 $16 Nxb6 (43... Rxa3
44. Rd8 Ra2 45. Rd6+ Ke7 46. Rxd5 Rxd2 47. Rc5 $16) 44. Rd8 Nc4 45. Bb4 Ne3+
46. Ke2 Ra6 47. g3 $1 (47. Rxd4 Nxg2 48. Kf2 Nh4 49. Rd8 Rc6 $14) 47... Rc6 48.
Kd3 g5 49. Kxd4 gxf4 50. Re8+ $6 (50. gxf4 $1 Nc2+ (50... Ng2 51. Re8+ Kd7 52.
Re7+ Kc8 53. e6 Nxf4 54. Re8+ Kc7 55. Ke5 $18) 51. Kd3 Nxb4+ 52. axb4 b5 53.
Rf8 $18) 50... Kd7 51. Re7+ Kd8 52. Rxh7 Rc4+ 53. Kd3 b5 54. e6 Re4 55. e7+ Kd7
56. gxf4 (56. Rh8 f3 57. Rd8+ Kc7 58. Rd4 $1 (58. e8=Q Rxe8 59. Rxe8 f2 60.
Kxe3 f1=Q $11) 58... Rxe7 (58... f2 59. Rxe4 f1=Q+ 60. Kxe3 Qg1+ 61. Kf4 Qf2+
62. Kg5 $18) 59. Rf4 (59. Bxe7 f2 60. Rf4 f1=Q+ 61. Rxf1 Nxf1 62. h4 Nxg3 63.
Ke3 Kd7 $11) 59... Re5 60. Rxf3 $16) 56... Nd5 57. Bc5 Nxf4+ 58. Kd2 Ne6 59.
Bb4 Nd4 60. Rf7 Nc6 61. Bc3 (61. Rxf5 Nxb4 62. axb4 Rxb4 63. Re5 Ke8 $11) 61...
Rxe7 62. Rxf5 Rh7 63. Rxb5 (63. Rf2 Rh3) 63... Rxh2+ $11 64. Kd3 Rh3+ 65. Kc2
Rh2+ 66. Kb3 Rh3 67. Rd5+ Kc7 68. a4 Kb6 69. Rg5 Na5+ 70. Kc2 Rh2+ 71. Kd3 Rh3+
72. Kc2 Rh2+ 73. Kd3 Rh3+ 74. Kd4 Rh4+ 75. Kd5 Rxa4 76. Rg6+ Kb5 77. Bxa5
1/2-1/2

[Event "Drammen Smartfish Masters"]
[Site "Drammen"]
[Date "2005.01.03"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Shirov, Alexei"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2581"]
[BlackElo "2726"]
[Annotator "Wedberg,T"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2004.12.27"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{This game is no masterpiece, but it's a fighting game. The fact that young
Magnus Carlsen manages to beat the great Alexei Shirov with his own methods is
quite impressive.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1
b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d6 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nf1
Bf8 14. Ng3 g6 15. b3 c6 16. Bg5 Bg7 17. Qd2 Qc7 (17... Qe7 18. Rad1 Qf8 19.
Nf1 h6 20. Bh4 Rac8 21. N1h2 exd4 22. cxd4 c5 $132 {1-0 Karjakin,S-Sasikiran,K/
playchess.com 2004/EXT 2005 (60)}) 18. a4 d5 $146 {[%mdl 8]} (18... Rad8 19.
Bd3 Nf8 20. Qc2 Ne6 21. Be3 Nd7 22. Rec1 Qb8 23. axb5 axb5 24. b4 $14 {1-0 Acs,
P-Gabriel,C/Germany 2004/EXT 2005 (43)}) 19. dxe5 Nxe5 20. Nxe5 Qxe5 21. Bf4 (
21. f4 Qc7 22. e5 Nd7 $13) 21... Qe6 22. e5 Nd7 23. Bh6 Bh8 24. f4 Qe7 25. Re3
Nf8 26. Rf1 {White is looking for a knock out on the K-side but the black
forces are well placed to withstand any attempts to storm.} c5 27. f5 d4 $5 (
27... Bxe5 $5) 28. cxd4 cxd4 29. fxg6 $6 {[%mdl 512] A brave but incorrect
sacrifice. From a psychological point of view this move is close to a winner.}
(29. Qxd4 Bxe5 $13) 29... hxg6 $6 {Shirov accepts the calculations made by his
young adversary. But he should have taken the R.} (29... dxe3 $1 30. gxf7+ Qxf7
31. Qxe3 Qc7 $1 32. Qg5+ Ng6 33. Bxg6 Qb6+ 34. Kh1 Qxg6 $19) 30. Nf5 $5 {
Once you have your opponent on the defensive - throw everything at him. Shirov
himself has made a nice career from that strategy.} gxf5 31. Rg3+ Ng6 32. Bxf5
Qxe5 33. Rg4 Bg7 (33... Qd6 34. Qd3 Re6 35. h4 $1 $40) 34. Bxg6 fxg6 35. Rxg6
Re7 36. Rf4 Be4 $4 {The deciding mistake.} (36... Rc8 $1 37. Rfg4 Rcc7 $17) 37.
Rg5 $1 Qe6 38. Bxg7 $18 1-0

[Event "Drammen Smartfish Masters"]
[Site "Drammen"]
[Date "2005.01.04"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Macieja, Bartlomiej"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B35"]
[WhiteElo "2613"]
[BlackElo "2581"]
[Annotator "Mikhalevski,V"]
[PlyCount "139"]
[EventDate "2004.12.27"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 g6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O 8.
Bb3 e6 {This rare move is a pet-line of GM Zvjaginsev. He is the only player
to advocate the position on the GM level in the recent years.} 9. f4 d6 {
I believe Magnus had chosen this move after studying recent developments in
the 8...e6. 9...Ng4?! was almost refuted by Grischuk and so the young
Norwegian follows another recent game of Zvjaginsev.} (9... Ng4 $6 10. Qxg4 $1
{was reviewed in Nataf-Zvjaginsev,V, Petrosian mem Internet 2004. See Grischuk,
A-Zvjaginsev,V/Poikovsky RUS 2004.} (10. Bg1 {promised no advantage in view of}
e5 $1 11. Nxc6 dxc6 12. Qxd8 Rxd8 13. h3 Nf6 14. fxe5 Ne8 15. Bh2 Nc7 16. O-O
Be6 17. Rad1 Bxb3 18. axb3 Ne6 19. Bg3 {and a draw was agreed in Svidler,
P-Zvjaginsev,V/Pojkovsky 2003.})) 10. Qf3 $1 {[%cal Ge1c1] White prepares long
castle. It's clear that both players were aware of the below-mentioned game of
Zviaginsev.} (10. Ndb5 $6 {was strongly met by a very interesting tactical
blow.} Nxe4 $1 {1/2-1/2 Nataf,I-Zvjaginsev,V/ICC INT 2004/CBM105 [Mikhalevski,
V] (20)}) 10... Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Bd7 12. O-O-O ({Also a plan with the short
castle deserves attention.} 12. O-O {[%cal Ga1d1]} Bc6 13. Rad1 $14) 12... Bc6
(12... e5 $6 {is dubious in view of} 13. fxe5 Bg4 14. Qf4 dxe5 15. Bxe5 Bxd1
16. Rxd1 {[%csl Rd8,Rf6]}) 13. Be5 {White underestimates the queen sacrifice.}
({Probably he should have preffered} 13. g4 {[%cal Gg4g5]}) 13... dxe5 $1 {
A strong positioal sacrifice of the queen. Soon Black will return the e5-pawn
and obtain control over the dark squares.} ({After the passive} 13... Ne8 $6
14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. h4 $14 {[%cal Gh4h5] White has a clear advantage.}) 14. Rxd8
Raxd8 15. fxe5 Nd7 {[%cal Gd7e5]} 16. Qe3 $1 {[%cal Ge3a7] With a modest idea
of Qxa7.} a6 $6 {A serious inaccuracy, which allows White to trade his
bad-placed knight.} ({Brave} 16... b5 $1 {[%cal Ga7a5] deserved serious
attention. For example} 17. Qxa7 b4 18. Nd1 Bxe4 {[%csl Re5,Rg2] First Black
wins back one pawn and then another and gets good counterplay. His bishops are
very strong.}) 17. Nd5 $1 {[%cal Gd5e7] This move has become possible thanks
to the last move. Now after accepting the sacrifice Black's light-squared
bishop will not be able to escape to a6.} Rfe8 $1 {Preventing Ne7+ with the
exchange of the strong light-squared bishop.} (17... exd5 18. exd5 Bb5 $2 (
18... Nxe5 $142 19. dxc6 Nxc6) 19. e6 $1 Rfe8 20. a4 $1 $18 {[%csl Rb5] and
trapping the bishop White obtains a decisive advantage.}) 18. Nf6+ ({I don't
understand why White hadn't exchanged the bishop by means of} 18. Nb4 Bb5 $140
19. a4) 18... Nxf6 19. exf6 Bxf6 {Now strong black bishops seem to compensate
White's material advantage.} 20. c3 $1 {A useful move. White takes control
over the d4-square, restricts the f6-bishop and prepares retreat of the
light-squared bishop to c2.} Rd7 21. h4 Kg7 $1 22. g4 (22. h5 {doesn't reach
the goal in view of} h6 $1 {[%csl Rc1,Re3][%cal Gf6g5]}) 22... h6 23. Rh2 {
[%cal Ge4e5]} (23. g5 {is not dangerous for Black since his bishop occupies a
nice square on e5 after} hxg5 24. hxg5 Be5 25. Qh3 $140 $4 Bf4+ 26. Kb1 Bxe4+)
23... g5 $5 {Black closes position on the kingside.} (23... Be5 {also looked
not bad.}) 24. e5 Be7 25. h5 Red8 $1 {[%cal Gd7d3] Black takes the d-file and
obtains initiative.} 26. Rh3 {[%csl Rd3]} Bb5 {[%cal Gd7d3] Black renews the
threat of Rd3.} 27. Bc2 (27. Rh1 $5 {[%cal Gh1d1] with the idea to trade a
pair of rooks looks logical.} Rd3 28. Qb6 $1 {[%csl Rb7]} Bc6 29. Rd1) 27...
Bc6 $1 {[%csl Rh3]} 28. Qe2 $1 Rd5 {[%csl Re5][%cal Ge7d8,Gd8c7,Yd8d7] Black
finds a target.} 29. Bb3 (29. Rd3 $4 {is impossible in view of} Bb5 {[%csl Rd3,
Re2]}) 29... Rc5 30. Re3 Rd7 {[%csl Re5][%cal Ge7d8,Gd8c7]} 31. Bc2 Bd8 32. Rd3
$1 {White exploits the last move in order to trade the rooks.} Rcd5 ({Now} 
32... Bb5 {is not dangerous in view of} 33. Qe3 $1 {[%csl Rc5]}) 33. Rxd5 Rxd5
{[%cal Gd8c7]} 34. Bb3 Rd7 ({Black could go on with his plan of attacking the
e5-pawn.} 34... Ra5 $1 35. Qd3 $1 Bc7 36. Bxe6 $1 Bxe5 37. Bc4 Bf4+ 38. Kc2 Re5
$44 {and Black is fine.}) 35. Bc2 Rd5 $1 36. Bb3 Rd7 37. Bc2 Bb6 $2 {Magnus is
too optimistic.} (37... Rd5 $11 {repeating the position was necessary.}) 38.
Be4 $1 {After this exchange of bishops White obtains a clear advantage.} Bd5
39. Bxd5 Rxd5 40. Qf3 $1 {[%csl Rb7,Rf7,Rh6][%cal Gc3c4,Gf3f6]} Bd8 $1 {
A sad necessity.} (40... Bc7 41. Qf6+) 41. c4 Rd7 ({I believe an active defence
} 41... Rxe5 42. Qxb7 a5 {offered more practical chances.}) 42. Kc2 a5 43. Kb3
$1 $18 {[%cal Gb3a4] White prepares Ka4 followed by advance of the queenside
pawns.} Be7 44. Qe3 {[%cal Gb3a4]} ({Also strong was} 44. Ka4 $5 b6 45. Qf2 $1)
44... Bf8 {Black can't prevent creating of a passed pawn on the queenside.} 45.
Ka4 (45. a3 $5 Rc7 46. Qd4 Rc6 47. Ka4 $18) 45... Bb4 46. a3 Bd2 47. Qb6 Be1
48. b3 {White is not in a hurry.} Bc3 49. Qe3 Bd2 50. Qc5 Be1 51. Qe3 Bd2 52.
Qf2 {[%cal Gf2f6]} Bc3 ({Also} 52... Bf4 53. Qc5 Rd3 54. Qb5 Rg3 55. Qxb7 Rxg4
56. c5 Bxe5+ 57. Kxa5 {looks hopeless for Black.}) 53. Qf6+ Kh7 54. Qf3 Bd2 55.
Qd1 Kg7 56. Kb5 Rd3 57. b4 axb4 58. axb4 Rd7 59. Qf3 Bf4 60. Qe4 Bd2 61. Qe2
Bc3 62. Qe3 Bd4 63. Qe1 Bb2 64. Kb6 Bd4+ 65. c5 Bb2 66. Ka7 {[%cal Ga7b8,Gb8c8]
} Rd3 ({Also a tougher defense} 66... Bd4 {would have been broken with} 67. Kb8
Kf8 68. Kc8 Ke8 69. Qf1 $1 {[%cal Gf1b5]} Ke7 ({or} 69... Rd8+ 70. Kxb7) 70.
Qf6+ Ke8 71. Qh8+ Ke7 72. Qxh6 Bxe5 73. Qxg5+ $18) 67. Kxb7 {The rest was
unnecessary.} Bc3 68. Qb1 Rd5 69. c6 Bxe5 70. b5 {A very nice technical win of
the ex-European Champion.} 1-0

[Event "Drammen Smartfish Masters"]
[Site "Drammen"]
[Date "2005.01.05"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Khalifman, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2581"]
[BlackElo "2669"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2004.12.27"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. Re1 Nf6 6. Nc3 O-O 7. e5 Ne8 8.
Bxc6 dxc6 9. d3 Nc7 10. Ne4 b6 11. h3 Ne6 12. Be3 Nd4 13. Nxd4 cxd4 14. Bf4 c5
15. Qf3 Be6 16. Qg3 Qd5 17. Qh4 f6 18. exf6 exf6 19. Bh6 Bf5 20. Bxg7 Kxg7 21.
b3 Rae8 22. Ng3 Bd7 23. Qf4 Bc6 24. f3 Re5 25. Rxe5 Qxe5 26. Qxe5 fxe5 27. Re1
Kf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2005.01.15"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Ramirez Alvarez, Alejandro"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E55"]
[WhiteElo "2507"]
[BlackElo "2553"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2005.01.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. d4 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 c5 7. O-O dxc4 8. Bxc4
Nbd7 9. Qb3 Qe7 10. Rd1 Nb6 11. Be2 cxd4 12. exd4 Bd7 13. Ne5 Rac8 14. Bg5 Bxc3
15. Bxf6 Qxf6 16. Nxd7 Nxd7 17. bxc3 Rc7 18. Qa3 b6 19. Qd6 Qd8 20. c4 Nf6 21.
Qf4 Rd7 22. a4 Qb8 23. Qe3 Rfd8 24. a5 h6 25. h3 Qc7 26. axb6 axb6 27. Rac1 Rd6
28. Bf3 Qa7 29. Qc3 Rc8 30. Qb4 Rcd8 31. c5 bxc5 32. dxc5 Rxd1+ 33. Bxd1 Nd5
34. Qc4 Qa3 35. Bf3 Rc8 36. Rc2 Qa1+ 37. Kh2 Qe5+ 38. g3 g6 39. Re2 Qf5 40.
Bxd5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2005.01.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kosteniuk, Alexandra"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E01"]
[WhiteElo "2553"]
[BlackElo "2490"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2005.01.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c6 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. g3 Nf6 6. Bg2 Nbd7 7. O-O Bb4 8. Bg5
Qa5 9. Qc2 Nd5 10. Ne4 b5 11. b3 h6 12. a3 Bc3 13. bxc4 bxc4 14. Bd2 Bxd2 15.
Nfxd2 O-O 16. Nxc4 Qc7 17. Rfc1 Ba6 18. e3 Rab8 19. Ncd2 Bb5 20. Nc5 Nxc5 21.
Qxc5 Ba4 22. Ne4 Rb3 23. Qc4 Nb6 24. Qe2 Bb5 25. Qc2 Ba4 26. Nc5 Rb4 27. Qd2
Rb5 28. Bf1 Qd6 29. Bxb5 cxb5 30. Qa5 e5 31. Nxa4 1-0

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2005.01.17"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Nielsen, Peter Heine"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2648"]
[BlackElo "2553"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2005.01.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Nf3 c5 8.
Rb1 O-O 9. Be2 Qa5 10. O-O Qxc3 {This (quite playable) move is less popular
than} (10... Qxa2) 11. d5 {Logical. White sacrifices a pawn to create a strong
pawn center. The other (perhaps more dangerous for Black) possibilities are:} (
11. Bd2) (11. Rb3) 11... Qa5 12. Bg5 (12. Bb2 b6 13. Bxg7 Kxg7 14. Ne5 Ba6 15.
Bxa6 Qxa6 16. Qd2 f6 17. Ng4 Nd7 18. Rb3 Qc4 19. Re1 Ne5 20. Nh6 Qd4 21. Qf4
Kh8 22. Rh3 Nd3 23. Qh4 g5 {0-1 Lobron,E-Sokolov,I/Garmisch Partenkirchen 1994/
CBM 043 ext (23)}) (12. e5 Qc7 13. Bf4 e6 14. d6 Qd7 15. Qc1 b6 16. Bb5 Nc6 17.
Bh6 Bb7 18. Re1 a6 19. Bf1 Nb4 20. Bxg7 Kxg7 21. a3 Nd5 22. Bc4 Rab8 23. Ng5
Qc6 24. Ne4 $40 {1-0 Hansen,S-Brettschneider,S/Lyngby 1991/EXT 2000 (41)})
12... Qc7 (12... Re8 13. Bb5 $1 (13. Qc1 a6 14. Rd1 Nd7 {Raetsky,A-Konopka,M/
USSR 1985/Inf 40 (14)}) 13... Nd7 14. e5 (14. d6 exd6 15. Qxd6 Re6 16. Qf4 Qxa2
17. Rbd1 Nf8 18. e5 $36 b6 19. Qe4 Rb8 20. Ra1 Qb2 21. Rfb1 Qc3 22. Bd2 Bxe5
23. Bxc3 Bxh2+ 24. Kxh2 Rxe4 25. Be5 Rxe5 26. Nxe5 a5 27. Bc4 Nd7 28. Nxd7 Bxd7
29. Rxa5 {1-0 Hansen,S-Konopka,M/Gistrup 1992/EXT 98 (29)}) 14... a6 (14... e6
15. dxe6 fxe6 16. Bxd7 Bxd7 17. Qxd7 {1-0 Becker,M-Heinrich,T/St Ingbert 1998/
EXT 2002 (17)}) 15. Bxd7 Bxd7 16. Rxb7 Bb5 17. Re1 f6 18. Bh4 $5 (18. Bf4 $5)
18... g5 19. Bg3 Qxa2 20. d6 Bc6 21. Rc7 $1 Bxf3 22. gxf3 exd6 23. exd6 f5 24.
Rxe8+ Rxe8 25. d7 Rd8 26. Rc8 {1-0 Kopjonkin,G-Konopka,M/Zalakaros 1994/Inf 61/
[Kopjonkin,G; Raetsky,A] (26)}) (12... f6 13. Bf4 (13. Be3 Nd7 14. Qc1 Kh8 15.
Bb5 Qd8 16. Bxd7 Qxd7 17. Bxc5 b6 18. Bb4 Ba6 19. Re1 Bd3 20. Rb3 Rfc8 21. Rc3
{1/2-1/2 Tolnai,T-Sax,G/Lillafured 1999/CBM 070 (21)}) 13... Nd7 14. Qb3 Kh8
15. Rfd1 Qd8 16. h4 Ne5 17. h5 Nxf3+ 18. Qxf3 g5 19. Bg3 b6 20. d6 e5 21. d7
$36 {Vekshenkov,N-Elianov,V/USSR 1982/Inf 33 (21)}) 13. Qd2 (13. Qc1 b6 (13...
Bg4 14. Bf4 Qc8 15. e5 $44 {Chiburdanidze,M-Malaniuk,V/USSR 1982/Inf 33 (15)})
14. Bf4 Qd8 15. Rd1 Ba6 16. Bxa6 Nxa6 17. e5 Qd7 18. h4 Nb4 19. Qc4 Rad8 20. d6
exd6 21. Rxd6 Qg4 22. Re1 b5 23. Qe4 Rfe8 24. Rxd8 Rxd8 25. Ng5 Qf5 26. Qf3 Nd3
27. Re4 h5 $19 {0-1 Remon,A-Alzate,D/Havana 1983/MCL (40)}) (13. h3 b6 14. Qd2
Rd8 15. Rfd1 Nc6 16. Rbc1 Bb7 17. Qe3 Na5 18. h4 f6 19. Bf4 e5 20. dxe6 Qe7 21.
Nd2 Rd4 22. Nb3 Rxd1+ 23. Rxd1 Qxe6 24. Nxa5 bxa5 25. Qxc5 Qxe4 26. Bf3 Qxf4
27. Bxb7 Rf8 28. h5 gxh5 29. Qxa5 f5 30. Qxa7 h4 31. a4 Be5 32. a5 Bc7 33. Bd5+
Kh8 34. Bc6 Rf6 35. Qc5 Kg7 36. Rd7+ Rf7 37. Rd1 Rf6 38. Qc3 Qe5 39. Qb4 h3 40.
gxh3 {1/2-1/2 Gurevich,M-Gavrikov,V/Sverdlovsk 1984/EXT 99 (40)}) 13... Bg4 {
A logical move since White has not prevented it.} (13... b6 14. e5 Ba6 15. d6
exd6 16. exd6 Qd7 17. Bxa6 Nxa6 18. Be7 Rfe8 19. Rfe1 Nb4 20. Ng5 Bh6 21. Rbd1
Nc6 22. Qd5 Bxg5 23. Qxg5 c4 24. Qf6 Rac8 25. h4 Nxe7 26. dxe7 Qf5 27. Qc3 Qa5
28. Qf6 Qf5 29. Qc3 Qa5 30. Qf6 $11 {1-0 Mueller,K-Puth,D/Chessfriend.com 2003/
Telechess CBM 101 (62)}) 14. e5 (14. Rfc1 $5 b6 15. h3 Bxf3 16. Bxf3 e5 $6 (
16... Be5) 17. d6 Qc6 18. Be7 Re8 19. Be2 Nd7 20. Bb5 Qb7 21. Qc2 Bf8 22. Qa4
$16 {1/2-1/2 Legky,N-Veingold,A/Sverdlovsk 1984/EXT 99 (56)}) 14... Bxf3 15.
Bxf3 $5 $146 (15. d6 exd6 16. exd6 Qd7 17. Bxf3 Nc6 18. Be7 (18. Bxc6 Qxc6 19.
Be7 Rfe8 20. d7 Rxe7 21. d8=Q+ Rxd8 22. Qxd8+ Re8 $11) 18... Rfe8 19. Rfe1 Rac8
20. Bd5 Kh8 21. Qf4 $2 (21. Bxc6 Rxc6 22. Rxb7 Qxb7 23. d7 Rcc8 24. dxe8=Q+
Rxe8 25. Bxc5 $11) 21... Nxe7 22. Qxf7 Qxd6 23. Bxb7 Rb8 24. Bf3 Qf6 {0-1
Watanabe,A-De la Villa Garcia,J/Linares 2002/CBM 087 ext (24).}) 15... Bxe5 16.
d6 {This breakthrough is quite harmless. White wins an exchange but Black gets
two pawns and a solid position.} Bxd6 (16... Qxd6 $5 17. Bxb7 Nd7 18. Bxa8 Rxa8
19. Rb7 $13) 17. Rxb7 Qc8 18. Rbb1 (18. Bh6 Nc6 $1 (18... Rd8 $2 19. Qc3 e5 20.
Bd5 Nd7 21. Qf3 $18) 19. Bxc6 Qxc6 20. Qb2 f6 21. Bxf8 Kxf8 $11) (18. Bxe7 Bxe7
19. Rxe7 Nc6) 18... Nc6 19. Qd5 Nd4 20. Qxa8 Qf5 (20... Qxa8 $5 21. Bxa8 Rxa8)
21. Qd5 Nxf3+ 22. Qxf3 Qxg5 $11 23. Qe4 (23. Rb7 Qh4 24. g3 Qa4 25. Qb3 Qa6 $11
) 23... Rc8 24. Rfc1 Kg7 25. g3 h5 26. Rc4 Qf6 27. Kg2 Be5 28. Rd1 Bd6 29. Rb1
Be5 30. Rd1 Bd6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2005.01.18"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A35"]
[WhiteElo "2553"]
[BlackElo "2599"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2005.01.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e5 4. d3 g6 5. a3 a5 6. e3 f5 7. d4 e4 8. d5 Nb8 9.
Nd2 d6 10. g4 Nf6 11. gxf5 gxf5 12. Bh3 Bg7 13. Rg1 O-O 14. b3 Kh8 15. Bb2 Nbd7
16. Na4 Ne8 17. Bxg7+ Nxg7 18. Qc2 Ne5 19. Qc3 Qf6 20. f4 exf3 21. O-O-O f4 22.
Bxc8 Raxc8 23. e4 Rce8 24. Rdf1 Ng6 25. Rxf3 Qxc3+ 26. Nxc3 Rf6 27. Rh3 Ne5 28.
Nf3 Kg8 29. Kc2 b6 30. Nxe5 dxe5 31. Kd3 Rg6 32. Ne2 Re7 33. Rxg6 hxg6 34. Rh6
Kf7 35. Ng1 Ne8 36. Nf3 Kg7 37. Rh4 Nd6 38. Rg4 Kf6 39. Rg1 Ra7 40. a4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2005.01.20"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Ernst, Sipke"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E94"]
[WhiteElo "2509"]
[BlackElo "2553"]
[Annotator "Avrukh,B"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2005.01.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Nf3 O-O 5. e4 d6 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Na6 8. Re1
c6 9. Bf1 exd4 10. Nxd4 Qb6 {A rare continuation which seems to me not enough
for equality.} ({The main theoretical line is} 10... Ng4 11. h3 Qb6) 11. Na4 {
White has to drive away Black's Q, otherwise 11...Ng4 would be unpleasant.} Qa5
12. f3 $1 $146 {A logical novelty, which clearly improves White's previous
play. Black is unable to create sufficient counterplay, which could compensate
White's space advantage.} ({The previous try was:} 12. Bd2 Qd8 13. Nb3 Ng4 14.
h3 Ne5 15. Qc2 d5 16. cxd5 cxd5 17. f4 Bd7 18. fxe5 Bxa4 19. exd5 Qxd5 $11 {
1/2-1/2 Gyimesi,Z-Smirin,I/Rabac 2004/CBM 102 ext (33)}) 12... Re8 13. Nc3 Nc5
(13... Qb6 14. Be3 $1 Qxb2 $140 $2 15. Na4 Qa3 16. Bc1 Qb4 17. Bd2 Qa3 18. Re3
Ng4 $1 19. Rxa3 Bxd4+ 20. Be3 Bxe3+ 21. Rxe3 Nxe3 22. Qxd6 $16) 14. Nc2 {
[%cal Gb2b4]} ({There was nothing wrong with the natural-looking} 14. Be3 {
since Black cannot break through in the centre.} d5 $2 15. exd5 cxd5 16. cxd5
$16) 14... Qb6 15. Kh1 Nfd7 16. Qd2 $1 ({Not falling into Black's trap after} 
16. Qxd6 Ne5 17. b4 Ncd3 $1 18. c5 (18. Bxd3 $2 Re6 $1 $17) 18... Qd8 {with
fantastic compensation.}) 16... Ne5 (16... a5 17. b3 $14) 17. b4 Na6 18. Rb1
Be6 19. Ne3 ({It was premature to play} 19. c5 $2 dxc5 20. Na4 Qc7 21. Bxa6
Rad8 22. Qf2 bxa6 23. Nxc5 Nd3 24. Nxd3 Rxd3 $15 {[%csl Ga2]}) 19... Bh6 $2 {
Black either overestimates his chances or simply misses White's 22.c5.} (19...
Rad8 $142 20. Na4 Qc7 21. f4 Ng4 22. Nxg4 Bxg4 23. Bb2 $14 {and White has a
very pleasant edge.}) 20. Qxd6 Bg7 ({Unfortunately neither} 20... Rad8 21. Qxe5
Bg7 22. Na4 Bxe5 23. Nxb6 axb6 24. Bb2 $16) ({nor} 20... Red8 21. Qxe5 Bg7 22.
Na4 Bxe5 23. Nxb6 axb6 24. Bb2 Bxb2 25. Rxb2 Nc7 26. b5 cxb5 27. Nd5 $1 $16 {
don't work, in both cases White retains clear advantage.}) 21. Qd2 Rad8 22. c5
$1 Rxd2 ({After} 22... Qc7 23. Qc2 {Black has no compensation at all.}) 23.
cxb6 Rdd8 24. bxa7 Nd3 $6 ({More stubborn was} 24... Nxf3 $142 25. gxf3 Bxc3
26. Re2 Ra8 {though after} 27. b5 $1 cxb5 28. Nd5 $1 Bxd5 29. exd5 Rxe2 30.
Bxe2 Rxa7 31. Be3 Ra8 32. d6 $16 {White's advantage is clear.}) 25. Bxd3 Rxd3
26. b5 cxb5 27. Ncd5 b4 28. Nb6 $2 {This move allows Black to escape, but the
solution was far from obvious.} (28. Nxb4 $2 Nxb4 29. Rxb4 Bc3 30. Rxb7 Bxe1
31. Rb8 Rdd8 32. a8=Q Rxb8 $17) (28. Nf4 Bxa2 29. Nxd3 Bxb1 30. Nxb4 Nxb4 31.
Bd2 Bd3 32. Bxb4 Bd4 $11) ({The right decision was:} 28. Nc2 $3 {[%csl Ge1]
defending the Re1.} Bxd5 29. exd5 Ra8 30. Be3 Rxd5 31. Red1 {[%csl Ga7] and
White has almost decisive advantage due to his a7-pawn.}) 28... Bxa2 29. Rb2
Bxb2 30. Bxb2 Nc7 31. Ng4 Red8 32. Nf6+ Kf8 33. Nxh7+ Kg8 34. Nf6+ Kf8 35. Nh7+
({A very bad decision would be:} 35. Bc1 Kg7 $1 36. Bg5 Rd1 37. Rg1 b3 {
and Black is winning.}) 35... Kg8 36. Nf6+ Kf8 37. Nh7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2005.01.21"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Stefanova, Antoaneta"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2553"]
[BlackElo "2491"]
[PlyCount "146"]
[EventDate "2005.01.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. c5 Nbd7 6. Bf4 Nh5 7. e3 b6 8. cxb6
Qxb6 9. Bd3 Nxf4 10. exf4 Qxb2 11. Rc1 g6 12. O-O Bh6 13. Qa4 Qb7 14. Rc2 Nb6
15. Qa5 Nc4 16. Bxc4 dxc4 17. Rb1 Qa7 18. Ne5 Bxf4 19. Nxc6 Qc7 20. Rb6 Bxh2+
21. Kh1 Be6 22. d5 Bg4 23. Nb5 Qf4 24. Qb4 O-O 25. Nxe7+ Kg7 26. Nd6 f6 27. Rb7
Kh8 28. Qxc4 Rab8 29. g3 Bxg3 30. fxg3 Qxd6 31. Qc7 Bf3+ 32. Kg1 Qxc7 33. Rbxc7
Rbd8 34. R2c5 Rd6 35. Kf2 Be4 36. Ke3 Bb1 37. a3 Rf7 38. Rc1 Ba2 39. Nxg6+ Kg7
40. Rxf7+ Kxf7 41. Nf4 Rd7 42. Kd4 a5 43. Rc6 Rb7 44. Kc5 Rb3 45. Rc7+ Ke8 46.
Kd6 Rb6+ 47. Rc6 Rb3 48. Ne6 Kf7 49. Nd8+ Ke8 50. Rc8 Rxa3 51. Ne6+ Kf7 52.
Rf8+ Kg6 53. Rg8+ Kf5 54. Nd4+ Ke4 55. Rg4+ Ke3 56. Nf5+ Kd2 57. Rf4 Ke1 58.
Rd4 Ke2 59. Ke7 Bxd5 60. Rxd5 a4 61. Kxf6 Rd3 62. Ra5 a3 63. Ke5 Kd2 64. Ke4 h5
65. Ra8 Rc3 66. Rd8+ Kc1 67. Ra8 Kb2 68. Ne3 Rc7 69. Rb8+ Kc1 70. Kd3 a2 71.
Ra8 Kb1 72. Rb8+ Kc1 73. Ra8 Kb1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2005.01.22"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Onischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D88"]
[WhiteElo "2652"]
[BlackElo "2553"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2005.01.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8.
Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O Bg4 11. f3 Na5 12. Bxf7+ Rxf7 13. fxg4 Rxf1+ 14.
Kxf1 cxd4 15. cxd4 e5 16. Kg1 exd4 17. Bxd4 Rc8 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. Nf4 Qxd1+ 20.
Rxd1 Kf6 21. g3 Ke7 22. h4 Nc4 23. Nd5+ Ke6 24. g5 Ne5 25. Rf1 Nd7 26. Kg2 Rc4
27. Nf6 Rc2+ 28. Kh3 Nxf6 29. gxf6 Kf7 30. Kg4 h5+ 31. Kg5 Rc5+ 32. Kh6 Re5 33.
Rd1 Rxe4 34. Rd7+ Kxf6 35. Rxb7 Re3 36. Rxa7 Rxg3 37. a4 Rg4 38. a5 Rxh4 39. a6
Ra4 40. Ra8 Kf5 41. a7 Kg4 42. Kxg6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2005.01.23"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Stellwagen, Daniel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2524"]
[BlackElo "2553"]
[Annotator "Finkel,A"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2005.01.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. Re1 e5 6. b4 $5 {Starting an
action without any prelimenary preparations!} cxb4 {With this move black shows
that he is not interested in accepting the pawn sacrifice.} (6... Nxb4 $5 7.
Bb2 a6 (7... Nc6 8. Bxc6 dxc6 9. Nxe5 Qc7 10. Nc4 Bxb2 11. Nxb2 Be6 12. a4
O-O-O $132 {Qin Kanying-Pigusov,E/Shanghai 2000}) 8. a3 axb5 9. axb4 Rxa1 10.
Bxa1 cxb4 11. Bxe5 Bxe5 12. Nxe5 Ne7 13. d3 O-O 14. Nd2 $14 {Okkes,M-Van Wely,
L/Enschede 2003}) 7. a3 Nge7 8. axb4 O-O 9. Bxc6 $5 {Once the bishop is on b5
it's quite obvious that white won't hesitate to trade it for the knight!} (9.
c3 d5 10. d3 Be6 11. Nbd2 a6 12. Ba4 h6 (12... b5 13. Bc2 d4 14. Bb2 dxc3 15.
Bxc3 Nd4 16. Bxd4 exd4 17. Bb3 $14 {Gdanski,J-Pyda,Z/Zakopane 2000}) 13. Bb3
Qc7 14. exd5 Bxd5 15. Bb2 Rad8 $132 {Lutikov,A-Petersons,A/Kiev 1964/URS-ch}) (
9. Bb2 d6 10. Bxc6 Nxc6 11. b5 Na5 12. d3 a6 13. Nc3 Bd7 14. Ba3 Bxb5 15. Nxb5
axb5 16. Qb1 Qd7 $13 {Brynell,S-Yakovich,Y/Stockholm 1999}) 9... bxc6 (9...
Nxc6 10. Bb2 d6 11. b5 Na5 12. Bc3 b6 13. Bxa5 bxa5 14. c4 a6 15. Nc3 axb5 16.
Nxb5 $14 {Jackova,J-Szabo,V/Mureck 1998}) (9... dxc6 10. Bb2 Bg4 11. h3 Bxf3
12. Qxf3 Qd6 13. Qb3 Rfe8 14. d3 Nc8 15. Nd2 Nb6 16. Ra5 $14 {Ashton,A-Byway,P/
Birmingham 2002}) 10. Bb2 d6 11. d4 f6 12. Nbd2 {The opening phase is over and
the plans of the sides are more or less clear: white is going to play on the
queenside and in the center, while black will try his luck trying to launch an
attack against white king.} (12. c4 Qb6 13. c5 dxc5 14. Qb3+ Kh8 15. dxc5 Qc7
16. Ra5 g5 17. Na3 Ng6 $132 {Mazara,A-Pazos,P/Cuba 1998}) 12... Be6 13. c4 g5 (
{An attempt to get rid of the weak pawn wouldn't solve black's problems:} 13...
a5 14. bxa5 Rxa5 15. Rxa5 Qxa5 16. c5 Rd8 17. cxd6 Rxd6 18. d5 $14 {[%cal
Gd2c4] and white keeps an edge.}) 14. Qc2 ({Deserved attention} 14. d5 $5 cxd5
15. cxd5 Bd7 16. Nc4 g4 17. Nfd2 $14 {[%cal Gd2f1,Gf1e3]}) 14... Ng6 15. Nf1 {
White's desire to bring another piece to the kingside is understandable, but
may be the knight should go in the opposite direction.} (15. Nb3 g4 16. Nfd2 f5
17. dxe5 Nxe5 18. Nd4 Qd7 19. Ra6 $14) 15... g4 16. N3d2 f5 {Black needs to
open up the center to give the bishops some space.} 17. dxe5 (17. d5 cxd5 18.
cxd5 Bd7 19. Ne3 f4 20. Nec4 f3 $132) 17... dxe5 (17... Nxe5 18. exf5 Bxf5 19.
Qb3 Be6 20. Qg3 $14 {[%csl Re5][%cal Gc4c5]}) 18. exf5 Bxf5 19. Ne4 Nf4 20.
Rad1 Qh4 21. Nfg3 Bg6 22. Rd7 (22. Qa4 $5) 22... Rad8 23. Rxg7+ $5 {
Interesting attempt to break through, but may be it was more accurate to
refrain from the sacrifice keping the pressure in the center.} (23. Qd2 Rxd7
24. Qxd7 Rd8 25. Qc7 $1 Nd3 26. Rd1 $16 {[%csl Ra7,Rc6,Rd3,Rd8,Re5]}) 23...
Kxg7 24. Bxe5+ Kg8 25. Ba1 Ne6 26. c5 {[%cal Gc2c3,Ge4d6] It's very hard to
believe that black will be able to hold this position, but the Norvegian
wonder-child manages to pull the things together.} Rd5 $1 27. b5 Qe7 28. bxc6
$6 {Providing black a chance to get counterplay.} (28. Qa2 $142 $1 $16) 28...
Rxc5 $1 29. Qa4 Bxe4 30. Qxe4 Qf7 $1 31. Qxg4+ Qg6 32. Qe2 (32. Qxg6+ hxg6 33.
Rxe6 Rc1+ 34. Nf1 Rxa1 35. Rxg6+ Kf7 $15) 32... Rxc6 33. Qe5 Ng7 (33... Rc5 34.
Qh8+ Kf7 35. Qb2 $13) 34. h4 Qf7 $2 {Missing 35.Nf5 which could've decided the
game in white's favor.} (34... Re6 35. Qd5 Qf7 36. Ne4 h6 $1 $15 {[%csl Gg5]})
35. Rf1 $2 (35. Nf5 Re6 36. Rc1 $1 (36. Qxe6 $5 Qxe6 37. Rxe6 Nxf5 38. g3 $18 {
[%csl Ra7]})) 35... Re6 $2 (35... Re8) 36. Qd4 $2 {Blowing the second chance!}
(36. Nf5 $1 Rxe5 37. Nh6+ Kh8 38. Nxf7+ Rxf7 39. Bxe5 $18) 36... Re7 37. h5 h6
(37... Qf4 $5 {[%cal Ge7f7,Gf4g4]}) 38. Qd6 Qe6 39. Qd4 Ref7 40. Qc3 Qg4 41.
Qe5 Kh7 42. Qb5 Qxg3 $11 {Forcing a draw.} (42... Nf5 $5 43. Qd3 Re8 $15) 43.
fxg3 Rxf1+ 44. Qxf1 Rxf1+ 45. Kxf1 Nxh5 46. g4 Nf4 47. Bc3 Nd5 48. Bd2 Kg6 49.
Ke2 a6 50. Kd3 Nf6 51. Kc4 Nxg4 52. Bxh6 $1 {[%cal Gc4b4,Gb4a5]} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2005.01.25"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2553"]
[BlackElo "2657"]
[Annotator "Huzman,A"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2005.01.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. O-O O-O 8. c4
c6 9. Re1 Re8 10. cxd5 cxd5 11. Nc3 Nxc3 12. Rxe8+ Qxe8 13. bxc3 b6 $146 {
The favourite idea of Mamedyarov is to exchange the light-squared bishops!
White tries to avoid this.} (13... Bg4 14. Rb1 (14. Be3 Qd7 (14... Qd8 15. Rb1
Nd7 16. h3 Bxf3 17. Qxf3 Nb6 18. a4 Rb8 19. a5 Na4 20. Bd2 Qxa5 21. Rb5 Qc7 22.
Rxd5 $16 {1-0 Timofeev,A-Raetsky,A/Abu Dhabi UAE 2004/(26)}) 15. Rb1 Nc6 16. h3
Bh5 17. Ne5 Bxd1 18. Nxd7 Ba4 19. Nc5 Bxc5 20. dxc5 Nd8 21. f4 Rc8 22. Kf2 Bc6
(22... Rc7 23. g4 f6 24. c4 d4 25. Bxd4 Rd7 26. Ke3 Ne6 27. Bf5 Re7 28. Bxe6+
Rxe6+ 29. Kd3 Bc6 $11 {1/2-1/2 Yemelin,V-Solozhenkin,E/St Petersburg 2000/CBM
77 (51)}) 23. g4 f6 24. h4 Ne6 25. f5 Nf8 26. c4 Nd7 27. Be2 Ne5 28. cxd5 Bxd5
$11 {1/2-1/2 Grischuk,A-Tkachiev,V/Belfort FRA 2004/(34)}) (14. Bd2 Qd7 15. Rb1
b6 16. Rb5 a6 17. Rb1 Bc7 18. h3 {1/2-1/2 Morovic Fernandez,I-Pavasovic,D/
Pinamar 2002/CBM 88 (18)}) 14... Qe7 15. h3 Bh5 16. Rb5 Qd7 17. c4 dxc4 18.
Bxh7+ $16 {1/2-1/2 Topalov,V-Gelfand,B/Monaco 2002/CBM 87 ext (35)}) (13... Nc6
14. Qb3 (14. Rb1 b6 15. Bd2 Na5 $2 (15... h6 $5) 16. Ng5 $40 {1-0 Gruenfeld,
Y-Huzman,A/Ramat Aviv ISR 2004/(23)}) 14... Qd7 15. g3 Bf8 16. Ba3 Bxa3 17.
Qxa3 Qd8 18. Re1 Be6 19. Qc1 h6 $11 {1-0 Kasparov,G-Ehlvest,J/Moscow 2002/CBM
90 (61)}) (13... Nd7 14. Qb3 Nb6 15. Ba3 Bxa3 16. Qxa3 Be6 17. Re1 h6 18. Ne5
Qf8 19. Qb3 Rc8 20. Bb1 $36 {[%cal Gb3c2,Gb1h7] 1-0 Damaso,R-Fernandes,A/Maia
2003/EXT 2004 (42)}) 14. Be3 (14. Qb3 Be6 15. Ng5 (15. Ba3 Bxa3 16. Qxa3 Nc6
17. Qd6 Qd7 18. Qf4 h6 $11) 15... Bf5 16. Bb5 Bd7 (16... Qe1+ 17. Bf1 $16) 17.
Bf1 Bc6 18. Ba3 (18. Qc2 g6 19. Bd2 Qd7 20. Re1 Qc7 21. Nf3 Nd7 $11) 18... Bxa3
19. Qxa3 Nd7 20. Bd3 h6 21. Nf3 Qf8 $11) 14... Ba6 15. Ng5 h6 (15... Bxd3 16.
Qxd3 g6 17. c4 Nc6 18. cxd5 Nb4 19. Qb3 $14) 16. Bh7+ $1 Kf8 (16... Kh8 17. Qh5
Nd7 (17... Nc6 18. Bf5 Kg8 19. Re1 Nd8 20. Nh7 $1 $40) 18. Bf5 Nf6 19. Nxf7+
Kg8 20. Nxh6+ gxh6 21. Qxh6 Qf7 22. Bg5 $18) 17. Nf3 (17. Nh3 Nd7 18. Bf4 Bxf4
19. Nxf4 Nf6 $11) 17... Nd7 18. Qc2 Qe7 (18... Nf6 19. Re1 Qc6 20. Ne5 Qc7 21.
Bf4 Re8 22. Re3 $36) 19. Re1 Re8 20. Bf5 Nf6 21. Ne5 Qc7 (21... Bxe5 22. dxe5
Qxe5 23. Bc5+ bxc5 24. Rxe5 Rxe5 25. h3 $14) 22. Bf4 Bc8 23. Bd3 Re7 $11 {
Black finished the piece development successfully and equalized the game. His
last problem is to exchange the Ne5.} 24. h3 Nd7 25. Nxd7+ Bxd7 26. Rxe7 Kxe7
27. Qe2+ Be6 28. Bxd6+ Qxd6 29. Qb2 a5 $6 30. Be2 g5 31. Bf3 Kd8 32. Qb5 Kc7
33. Qa6 Kb8 (33... Qf4 $11) 34. Qb5 (34. c4 Bc8 35. Qb5 dxc4 36. Qxc4 f5 $132)
34... Ka7 35. Be2 Qc7 36. Qa6+ Kb8 37. Qb5 Qd6 38. Bf3 Ka7 39. Be2 Bd7 40. Qa6+
Kb8 41. Bf3 Qc6 42. c4 Bc8 43. Qb5 (43. cxd5 Qc1+ 44. Qf1 Qxf1+ 45. Kxf1 Kc7
$15) 43... Bb7 44. Qb1 Qxc4 45. Qxb6 a4 (45... Qc1+ $11) 46. Qd8+ Ka7 47. Qa5+
Kb8 48. Qd8+ Ka7 49. Qa5+ Kb8 50. Qd8+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2005.01.26"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Cheparinov, Ivan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2572"]
[BlackElo "2553"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2005.01.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 Bg7 11. Bd3 Ne7 12. Nxe7 Qxe7 13. c4 f5 14. O-O O-O
15. cxb5 $6 (15. Qh5) (15. Qf3) 15... d5 16. exd5 e4 17. Qe2 Rb8 ({Black
achieves good play with} 17... Qb4 18. Bc4 Qxb2 19. Nc2 axb5 20. Rab1 Qf6 21.
Rxb5 f4 $44) 18. Rab1 Rb6 $146 (18... Qe5 19. Bc4 axb5 20. Nxb5 Bd7 21. Rfd1
Rb6 22. Nc3 Re8 23. d6 Rxd6 24. Rxd6 Qxd6 25. Rd1 Qc7 26. Nd5 (26. Rxd7 Qxd7
27. Bb5 Qe6 28. Bxe8 Qxe8 29. Qd2 $16) 26... Qb7 27. b4 Be6 28. b5 Rd8 {
0-1 Hennigan,R-Juergens,V/Aarhus 1990 (38)} 29. a4 Bxd5 (29... Rxd5 30. Bxd5
Bxd5 31. Qd2 Be6 32. Qd8+ Bf8 33. Qg5+ Kh8 34. Rd8 $18) 30. Qd2 $16) 19. Qe3
Rg6 20. Bc2 (20. bxa6 Qh4 21. a7 Bb7 22. Bc4 Bd4 (22... Be5 23. g3 Qh3 24. f4
Bc7 $44) 23. Qxd4 Rxg2+ $11) 20... Qh4 $44 21. b6 (21. f4 $2 exf3 22. Qxf3 (22.
Rxf3 $4 Bd4 $19) 22... Be5 23. h3 Rg3 $40) 21... Kh8 $5 (21... Bd4 22. Qxd4
Rxg2+ 23. Kxg2 Qg4+ $11) 22. Nc4 Rg8 23. g3 Qh3 24. Rfd1 (24. Qd2 f4 $1 (24...
Rh6 25. f3 f4 26. g4 $13) 25. Bxe4 (25. Qxf4 Rh6 $19) 25... Rh6 $19) 24... Rh6
25. Qf4 Bf6 (25... a5 $5 {[%cal Gc8a6]} 26. d6 Bf6 27. d7 Ba6 28. b3 Rh4 $13)
26. Ne5 $2 (26. b7 $1 Bxb7 27. Nd6 Qxh2+ 28. Kf1 Rg7 (28... Rh4 29. Qxf5) 29.
Qxf5 (29. Nxf5 $5 Qh1+ 30. Ke2 Qh5+ 31. Ke1 Rg4 32. Qxh6 Qxf5 33. d6) 29... Bd8
30. Nxe4 $13) (26. Nd6 $2 Qxh2+ 27. Kf1 Rh4 $5 28. Nxf7+ Kg7 29. Qc7 Qh1+ 30.
Ke2 Qf3+ 31. Kd2 Qxf2+ 32. Kc1 Qe3+ 33. Rd2 Rh2 34. Nd6+ Kh6 $19) 26... Bxe5
27. Qxe5+ f6 28. Qf4 Rg4 29. Qc7 Rg8 30. Re1 $2 (30. Qf4 Bd7 {[%cal Gd7b5]} ({
Or} 30... Rh4 31. Qd6 Qxh2+ 32. Kf1 Qh1+ 33. Ke2 Qf3+ 34. Kd2 Qxf2+ 35. Kc3 Rh6
$17) 31. a4 Rh4 32. Qd6 Qxh2+ 33. Kf1 Qh1+ 34. Ke2 Qf3+ 35. Kd2 Qxf2+ 36. Kc3
Rhg4 $5 (36... Rc8+ 37. Kb4 Qxc2 38. Qxd7 $1 Rg4 $13 {/=} (38... Rc4+ $2 39.
Ka3 $18)) 37. Qxf6+ R4g7 $17 {[%cal Gg8b8,Gg8c8]}) 30... Qxh2+ 31. Kf1 Qh1+ 32.
Ke2 Qf3+ 33. Kd2 Qxf2+ 34. Kd1 f4 $19 35. Qc3 fxg3 36. Bxe4 Bg4+ 37. Kc1 Rc8
0-1

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2005.01.28"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nikolic, Predrag"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C08"]
[WhiteElo "2553"]
[BlackElo "2676"]
[Annotator "Psakhis,L"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2005.01.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 exd5 5. Ngf3 c4 6. b3 cxb3 7. axb3 (7. Bb5+
Bd7 8. Qe2+ Qe7 9. Bxd7+ Nxd7 10. axb3 Nh6 (10... f6 11. Nf1 Qxe2+ 12. Kxe2 Bd6
13. Ne3 Ne7 14. Ba3 Bxa3 15. Rxa3 Kf7 16. Ne1 Nf8 17. Nd3 Ne6 18. c3 Rhd8 19.
Kd2 Nc6 20. Rd1 Rac8 {1/2-1/2 Adams,M-Nikolic,P/BIH t-ch Neum 2002/}) 11. Ra5
Nb6 12. Nf1 Qxe2+ 13. Kxe2 Nf5 14. c4 f6 15. c5 Nc8 16. Ne3 Nxe3 17. fxe3 a6
18. Kd3 Na7 19. Bd2 g6 20. Ng1 Nb5 21. Ne2 Kd7 {1/2-1/2 Beliavsky,A-Nikolic,P/
Belgrade INV 1991/ChessBase (40)}) 7... Bb4 8. Ne5 $5 (8. Bd3 Ne7 9. O-O Nbc6
10. Ba3 O-O 11. Qc1 Bxa3 12. Qxa3 Bf5 13. Bxf5 Nxf5 14. c3 a5 15. Rfe1 Qd6 16.
Qa4 f6 17. Qb5 Qd7 18. Nf1 Rfd8 19. Qd3 Nd6 20. Ne3 Qf7 21. Nh4 Rac8 22. Re2 b5
{0-1 Nevostrujev,V-Andreev,A/RUS-sf Novosibirsk 2002/ (60)}) (8. Bb5+ Bd7 9.
Qe2+ Qe7 (9... Ne7 10. O-O O-O 11. Ba3 Bxa3 12. Rxa3 Bxb5 13. Qxb5 Qc7 14. Re1
Qxc2 15. Qxb7 Nbc6 16. Raa1 Rab8 17. Qc7 Rfc8 18. Qf4 h6 19. h3 Ng6 20. Qg4 Nb4
21. Rxa7 Nd3 22. Rf1 Ndf4 {1/2-1/2 Korneev,O-Garcia Martinez,S/Mislata op 1999/
(49)}) 10. Ne5 Nf6 11. O-O O-O 12. Bd3 Nc6 {1/2-1/2 Sarakauskas,G-Alekseev,V/
Pelaro op 2002/}) 8... Ne7 (8... Nf6 9. Bd3 O-O 10. O-O Bc3 11. Ra4 Bd7 12.
Nxd7 Nbxd7 13. Nb1 Ba5 14. Bd2 Bc7 15. Nc3 Re8 16. Qf3 Nb6 17. Raa1 h6 18. Rae1
Qd6 19. g3 a6 20. Re3 Qc6 21. Rfe1 Bd6 22. Nd1 Rxe3 23. Nxe3 {Svidler,
P-Kortchnoi,V/Groningen 1996/ 1-0 (39)}) 9. Bd3 $146 (9. c3 Bxc3 10. Qf3 Bxd2+
11. Bxd2 O-O 12. Bd3 Nbc6 13. Ra4 Ng6 14. Nxc6 bxc6 15. O-O Bd7 16. Ra6 Qh4 17.
Be3 Rfb8 18. Rb1 Rb6 19. Ra5 Bg4 20. Qg3 Qxg3 21. hxg3 Ne7 22. Rb2 f6 {1/2-1/2
Bondarets,V-Hryhorenko,N/Lvov-8 2003/}) 9... Nbc6 10. O-O {[%mdl 512] Showing
a clear intention to sacrifice the pawn d4 if necessary.} (10. Bb2 $5) 10...
Bc3 {[%cal Gc3a1,Gc3d4] This tempting move wins a pawn at the cost of
development.} ({Worth considering} 10... O-O 11. Bb2 $14) 11. Ra4 $1 Bxd4 (
11... Nxe5 $5 12. dxe5 Bd7 (12... Bxe5 13. Qh5 Bf6 14. Re1 $44 {[%csl Gh5]
[%cal Ge1e8]}) 13. Ra2 Nc6 14. Ba3 $14) 12. Nxc6 Nxc6 13. Ba3 $1 {[%csl Ga3,
Re8][%cal Ga3f8]} Be6 14. Nf3 Bb6 $6 (14... Bf6 $142 15. Re1 Be7 16. Bxe7 Qxe7
17. Rh4 $44 {but it was lesser evil.}) 15. Qa1 $1 {[%cal Ra1g7] Immediately
begins an offensive against Black's king.} Qc7 (15... f6 16. Re1 Kf7 17. Rf4
$40) 16. b4 $5 (16. Qxg7 O-O-O {[%cal Cd3h7,Gh8g8]} 17. Qf6 $36) 16... f6 $2 (
16... O-O $5 17. b5 Ne7 18. Re1 $44) 17. Re1 Kf7 $5 (17... Nd8 18. b5 Kf7 19.
Qd1 $40 {[%csl Rf7]} (19. Bb2 $5)) ({Good or bad, but Black had to play} 17...
Ne5 $142 $5 {otherwise White will attack in a very comfortable situation.
Continuation could be :} 18. Nxe5 fxe5 19. b5 $5 (19. Qxe5 Qxe5 20. Rxe5 Kd7
21. b5 $36) (19. Rxe5 O-O $1 20. Rxe6 $140 Bxf2+ 21. Kh1 Qd7 {[%cal Rd7a4,
Rd7e6]}) 19... Qf7 (19... d4 20. f4) 20. Re2 (20. Rxe5 Bxf2+ 21. Kh1 O-O-O 22.
Bb2 $36 {[%cal Gb2d4]}) 20... Qf6 21. Qxe5 Qxe5 22. Rxe5 {with clear advantage
of white, but at least black king doesn't afraid of direct attack.}) 18. b5 Na5
(18... Nd8 $5) 19. Qd1 $1 $18 {[%cal Rf3g5]} (19. Nd4 Bxd4 20. Qxd4 $40) 19...
Rae8 (19... Nc4 20. Bf5 $1 Ne5 21. Bxe6+ Kxe6 22. Nxe5 fxe5 23. Qg4+ $18) (
19... g6 20. Ng5+ $1 fxg5 21. Qf3+ Kg7 22. Rxe6 Rhf8 $5 (22... Rhe8 23. Qf6+
Kg8 24. Bxg6 $1 $18) 23. Bxf8+ Rxf8 24. Qxd5 Rxf2 25. Kh1 $18) 20. Ng5+ $1 {
This heavy blow is a signal to the decisive assault.} fxg5 21. Qf3+ Kg8 22.
Rxe6 {The rook is untouchable in view of the mating threat} 1-0

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2005.01.29"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Smeets, Jan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2475"]
[BlackElo "2553"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2005.01.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 O-O
8. Qd2 Nd7 9. O-O-O Nc5 10. Kb1 Bf6 11. Nd4 Re8 12. f3 Bd7 13. g4 Qe7 14. Bf4
Ne6 15. Nf5 Qd8 16. Be3 Bc6 17. Bg2 Bg5 18. f4 Bxg2 19. Qxg2 Nxf4 20. Qxb7 Rb8
21. Qxa7 Ne2 22. Bxg5 Qxg5 23. Qxc7 Qxg4 24. Nxd6 Rf8 25. Rhe1 Qe6 26. Ka1 Ra8
27. a3 Qg4 28. Qc4 Qxc4 29. Nxc4 Rae8 30. Rd2 Nf4 31. Rxe8 Rxe8 32. b4 f5 33.
a4 Ne2 34. Nd6 Re5 35. Rd3 f4 36. b5 Re3 37. b6 1-0

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2005.01.30"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nijboer, Friso"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B67"]
[WhiteElo "2553"]
[BlackElo "2549"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2005.01.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 105"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.04.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8.
O-O-O Bd7 9. f4 h6 10. Bh4 g5 11. fxg5 Ng4 12. Nxc6 Bxc6 13. Be2 Ne5 14. Kb1
Be7 15. Bg3 hxg5 16. Qe3 Qc7 17. Rhf1 Bd7 18. Rd4 Qc5 19. Qd2 b5 20. Nd1 Rd8
21. Ne3 Bc6 22. c4 Qb6 23. Rc1 O-O 24. cxb5 axb5 25. Rf1 Qb7 26. Bd3 Nxd3 27.
Qxd3 b4 28. Rf2 b3 29. a3 Rc8 30. Ng4 Qb5 31. Qd2 f5 32. exf5 exf5 33. Re2 Be4+
34. Rexe4 fxe4 35. Ne3 Rc5 36. Rxe4 Rfc8 37. Rxe7 Qd3+ 0-1

[Event "Gausdal GM-A"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2005.04.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Tiviakov, Sergei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2631"]
[BlackElo "2548"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2005.04.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "10"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 107"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Bc4 Nb6 6. Bb3 d5 7. exd6 Qxd6 8.
Na3 {A tricky move order, which became quite popular thanks to E.Sveshnikov,
who implemented it in the middle of 1990-es} ({After} 8. O-O Be6 9. d4 cxd4 10.
Na3 {the easiest way to solve all the problems is} dxc3 $1 ({In case of} 10...
Bxb3 11. Qxb3 {we reach same position from the variation 8.Na3 Be6, see below.}
)) ({In case of} 8. d4 cxd4 9. Na3 {the best is again} dxc3 $1 $11 ({although
playable is also} 9... a6 10. O-O)) 8... e6 {This novelty is not so bad, but
Black restricts his possibilities, since he will have to play ...a6 anyway.
Therefore if Black didn't want 8...Be6, then it made sense to start with 8...
a6 and later to choose if play ...e6 or develop the bishop to f5, for instance.
However, soon it will become clear that Carlsen wanted to do without ...a6,
which doesn't work out well for Black.} (8... Be6 $142 9. d4 ({Less precise is
} 9. O-O Bxb3 10. Qxb3 ({or} 10. axb3 Qd3) 10... Qd3 $1) ({Or} 9. Nb5 Qd7 10.
Bxe6 (10. d4 Bxb3 11. axb3 (11. Qxb3 $2 Na5) 11... a6 $1) 10... Qxe6+ 11. Qe2
Qxe2+ 12. Kxe2 Rc8 $11) 9... Bxb3 ({Starting with} 9... cxd4 {offers White an
additional possibility} 10. Nb5 Qd7 11. Bxe6 Qxe6+ 12. Be3 $1) 10. Qxb3 cxd4
11. O-O {Now we can see the advantage of 8.Na3. White avoided 10...dxc3, see
the variation 8.0-0. However, even here Black is able to keep equality:} ({
Another way is} 11. Nb5 Qd7 12. Nbxd4 Nxd4 13. Nxd4 e6 14. O-O Be7 15. Rd1 O-O
$1 {and Black will neutralize White's slight initiative.}) 11... e6 12. Rd1 (
12. Nb5 Qd7 13. Nbxd4 Bc5 $11 ({or} 13... Nxd4 14. Nxd4 Be7 15. Rd1 O-O {
which is the same as 11.Nb5})) 12... Qd5 13. Nb5 Qxb3 ({Also possible is} 13...
Rc8 14. Nbxd4 Nxd4 15. Nxd4 (15. Rxd4 Qxb3 16. axb3 a6 17. b4 {White is
slightly better according to Cuban GM R.Vera. Black looks pretty okay to me
after the simple 17...Be7.}) 15... Bc5 (15... Qxb3 16. axb3 a6 17. b4 $14) 16.
Qb5+ Qd7 (16... Ke7 17. Qe2 $36) 17. Qe2 Qe7 {+/=/=}) 14. axb3 Rd8 15. Nbxd4
Nxd4 16. Rxd4 Rxd4 17. Nxd4 a6 18. b4 e5 (18... Kd7 $5 19. b5 axb5 20. Ra7 Bc5
$1 21. Rxb7+ Kc8 22. Rxf7 Bxd4 23. cxd4 Rd8 {and soon Black achieved a draw in
Charbonneau-Dominguez, Oropeza del Mar, 1999}) 19. Nb3 Kd7 20. b5 axb5 21. Ra7
Kc8 22. Be3 Nc4 23. Ra8+ Kc7 24. Bc5 Nd6 {Here the draw was agreed in the game
Magem-Romero, Spain 1997. White could play for a long-term compensation with}
25. Bxd6+ {Otherwise Black plays 25...Nc8} Kxd6 26. Na5 Kc7 27. b4 $1 $44) (
8... a6 9. d4 cxd4 10. O-O {transposes into a variation, which arises more
often when White plays d2-d4 first, and later Na3. With the present move order
White avoided ...dxc3 (without ...a6), which usually equalizes easily (see 8.
d4).} e6 (10... Bf5 $13) (10... Be6 $14)) 9. d4 (9. Nb5 Qd8 10. d4 a6 11. dxc5
Bxc5 12. Qxd8+ Kxd8 $11) (9. O-O Be7 (9... a6 $5) 10. d4 cxd4 11. Nb5 Qd8 12.
Nbxd4 Nxd4 13. Nxd4 O-O $14) 9... Be7 $2 (9... a6 $1 10. O-O cxd4 $14 {/=}) (
9... cxd4 10. Nb5 Qb8 (10... Qd8 $2 11. Bf4 $18) 11. Nbxd4 $14) 10. Nb5 $1 Qd8
$2 {In such a position two mistakes in a row are fatal.} (10... Qb8 11. dxc5
Bxc5 12. Be3 Bxe3 13. Nd6+ Ke7 14. Nxc8+ Rxc8 15. fxe3 $14 {(Tiviakov)}) 11.
dxc5 Bxc5 (11... Qxd1+ {loses at once after both 12.Kxd1 and 12.Bxd1, since
Black is losing material in view of the threat Nc7+.}) 12. Qxd8+ Kxd8 13. Bf4
a6 (13... Ke7 14. Ng5 a6 15. Nc7 Ra7 16. Ne4 Nd7 17. Bg5+ $18) 14. Rd1+ Bd7 (
14... Ke7 $142 15. Nc7 Ra7 16. Ng5 Na8 17. Ne4 $16 {(Tiviakov)}) 15. Nc7 {
White starts a forced operiation, which wins material.} ({Good is also} 15. Nd6
Bxd6 16. Bxd6 $16) 15... Rc8 16. Ng5 e5 (16... Ke7 17. Ne4 e5 18. Nxc5 Rxc7 19.
Be3 Nc8 20. Rxd7+ Rxd7 21. Nxd7 Kxd7 22. Bxf7 $18) 17. Nd5 Nxd5 18. Nxf7+ Ke7
19. Rxd5 exf4 20. Rxc5 (20. Nxh8 $1 b6 21. O-O $1 $18 {(Tiviakov)}) 20... Rhf8
21. Ng5 Rf5 22. Rxf5 Bxf5 23. O-O Kf6 24. Nf3 {White is a pawn up and Tiviakov
gradually converted it into a full point.} Re8 25. Rd1 Re2 26. Rd6+ Ke7 27. Rd2
Rxd2 28. Nxd2 Ne5 29. g3 g5 30. gxf4 gxf4 31. Bd5 b6 32. Kg2 Bg4 33. b4 Kd6 34.
Be4 h6 35. Nf3 Nxf3 36. Bxf3 Be6 37. a3 Ke5 38. Bb7 a5 {In order to win White
needs either to create a passed pawn on the queenside, or penetrate with the
king to c4. In any case he must bring the king to the queenside first.} 39. Kf3
Bd7 40. Be4 Ba4 41. Bd3 Bd7 42. Bf1 Be6 43. Bb5 Bf5 44. Ke2 Be4 45. Kd2 Bf5 46.
Bd3 {As long as Black can meet c3-c4 with the answer ...Ke5-d4, White cannot
advance the c-pawn.} Be6 47. Kc2 Bf7 48. Bf1 Be6 (48... Bg6+ 49. Kb3 Be8 50.
bxa5 bxa5 51. Kc4 $18) 49. Kd3 Bf7 50. c4 axb4 51. axb4 Bg6+ 52. Kc3 Be4 53. c5
bxc5 54. bxc5 Bc6 (54... Kd5 55. Kb4 Kc6 56. Kc4 $18) 55. Kb4 Bd5 56. Kb5 Ke4
57. Be2 f3 58. Bc4 Ba8 59. c6 Kd4 60. c7 Bb7 61. Be6 1-0

[Event "Gausdal GM-A"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2005.04.14"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Kulaots, Kaido"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2578"]
[BlackElo "2548"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2005.04.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "10"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 107"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O
O-O 9. Kh1 b6 10. f3 Bb7 11. Be3 Nbd7 {The modern line with careful advance 9..
.b6 is very popular, black is often ready to sacrifice the exchange for the
knight on c3 in order to enable d6-d5 advance.} (11... b5 12. a4 b4 13. Nd5
Nxd5 14. exd5 Nd7 15. c4 bxc3 16. bxc3 Bg5 17. Bg1 Qc7 18. c4 a5 19. Nd2 f5 20.
Nb1 Nc5 21. Nc3 Rf6 22. Rb1 Ba6 23. Qc2 {Anand,V-Gelfand,B/Dos Hermanas/1997/
0,5}) 12. a4 Rc8 (12... Qc7 13. Rf2 Rfd8 14. Bf1 $14) 13. Rf2 Rc7 14. Bf1 (14.
Qf1 Qa8 15. Rd1 h6 16. Nd2 d5 17. exd5 Rxc3 18. bxc3 Nxd5 19. Nc4 b5 20. Rxd5
Bxd5 21. axb5 axb5 22. Nd2 b4 {1/2-1/2 Lopez Rodriguez,J-Morales,J/Medina del
Campo 2001/ (48)}) 14... Qa8 15. Rd2 Rfc8 (15... h6 16. Nc1 Rxc3 17. bxc3 d5
18. exd5 (18. Nb3 Rc8 19. exd5 Nxd5 20. Rxd5 Bxd5 21. c4 Be6 22. a5 bxa5 23.
Rxa5 Bb4 24. Ra4 a5 {1/2-1/2 Barua,D-Sowray,P/London 2001/ (37)}) (18. c4 dxe4
19. Rxd7 Nxd7 20. Qxd7 exf3 21. Kg1 fxg2 22. Bd3 (22. Be2 Bf6 23. Qg4 Be7 {
0-1 Rohl Montes,J-Leitao,R/San Felipe 1998/ (31)}) 22... Bc5 23. Bxc5 bxc5 24.
Nb3 Bc6 25. Qf5 {1-0 Ye Jiangchuan-Lin Weiguo/Beijing 1997/ (46)}) 18... Nxd5
19. Rd3 e4 20. fxe4 Nxe3 21. Rxe3 Nc5 22. e5 Ne4 23. Qe1 Rc8 24. Nb3 Bg5 25. e6
fxe6 26. Rf3 {1-0 Brodsky,M-Sowray,P/Port Erin 2001/ (38)}) 16. Qe2 {
Interesting idea 16.Nc1!? has brought success in two important predecessors
games.} (16. Nc1 $5 Rxc3 (16... Bf8 17. N1a2 h6 18. Nb4 Rxc3 19. bxc3 Rxc3 20.
Rd3 Rc7 21. Rb1 Nc5 22. Bxc5 Rxc5 23. Rd2 {1-0 Ganguly,S-Alzate,D/Bled 2002/ 
(36)}) 17. bxc3 Rxc3 18. Rd3 Qc8 19. Rxc3 Qxc3 20. Nd3 d5 21. Bd2 Qc8 22. exd5
Bxd5 23. Bb4 {1-0 Lutz,C-Roeder,M/Vienna 1996/ (44)}) 16... h6 17. Rad1 Rxc3
18. bxc3 d5 (18... Rxc3 19. Rd3 Rxd3 (19... Rc8 20. Qd2 $16) 20. Qxd3 d5 21.
exd5 Nxd5 22. Bg1 $14) 19. exd5 (19. Qf2 Rxc3 20. exd5 Nxd5 21. Rd3 $14) 19...
Nxd5 20. Rd3 (20. Rxd5 Bxd5 21. Qxa6 Qxa6 22. Bxa6 Rxc3 $1 23. Rxd5 Rxe3 24.
Kg1 Nc5 $11) 20... N7f6 $1 {Carlsen understands, that his chances are closely
married to the activity and coordination of his pieces.} (20... Nxc3 $4 21.
Rxc3 Rxc3 22. Rxd7 $18) 21. Qe1 e4 (21... b5 22. axb5 axb5 23. Bf2 $16) (21...
Bf8 22. Bf2 Qb8 23. c4 $16) 22. fxe4 Nxe4 (22... Nxe3 23. Rxe3 Nxe4 24. Rd4 f5
25. Bc4+ Kh8 26. Be6 Rf8 $14) 23. Bd4 Nf4 {Black is full exchange down, but
his pieces are dancing on many attractive squares.} (23... f5 24. Rf3 Rf8 25.
c4 Nb4 26. Bxb6 $18) 24. Rf3 (24. Re3 Ng6 25. Kg1 $14) 24... Ng6 (24... Bg5 25.
h4 Nc5 26. hxg5 Bxf3 27. Rd2 $1 (27. gxf3 Qxf3+ 28. Kg1 Ne4) 27... Bd5 28. Qe5
Nce6 29. gxh6 $14) 25. Kg1 Re8 $5 (25... Bh4 26. g3 Ng5 27. Re3 Nf3+ 28. Rxf3
Bxf3 29. gxh4 Re8 30. Qd2 Bxd1 31. Qxd1 Nxh4 32. Nd2 Re6 33. Qh5 $16) 26. Bc4 (
26. Be2 Ng5 27. Rf2 Ne4 28. Rf5 Nd6 $11) 26... Nd6 27. Be2 Nh4 $1 (27... Bxf3
28. Bxf3 Qb8 29. Qf2 Bg5 $11) 28. Rg3 Ndf5 29. Qf2 Bg5 (29... Nxg3 $5 30. hxg3
Ng6 31. Bxb6 (31. Bc4 Bd5 $1) 31... Qc8 $15) 30. Bf1 (30. Rxg5 hxg5 31. Bf1 Qd8
$11) 30... Re4 $2 {[%mdl 2048] The concentration of black forces was pretty
dangerous, but with his last move he oversteps the limit.} (30... Nxg3 31. hxg3
Ng6 32. Bxb6 Ne5 $15) 31. Bd3 $6 (31. Rxg5 $1 hxg5 32. Bxb6 Re8 33. a5 $16)
31... Rf4 32. Qe2 Nxg3 33. hxg3 Nxg2 $2 {The young swedish prodigy has got
lost in complications. The last chance to use potential of his pieces was
hidden in the spectacular move 33...Bf3!} (33... Rxd4 34. Nxd4 Nxg2 35. Rb1 $14
) (33... Bf3 $1 34. gxf3 (34. Qe5 Rxd4 35. cxd4 (35. Qxd4 Nxg2 $19) 35... Bxd1
36. gxh4 Bxh4 $15) 34... Nxf3+ 35. Kh1 Nxd4+ (35... Rg4 $5 36. Qg2 $18) 36. Qg2
Qxg2+ 37. Kxg2 Nxc2 $1 38. Bxc2 (38. gxf4 Ne3+ 39. Kf3 Nxd1 40. fxg5 Nxc3 $11)
38... Rxa4 $14) 34. gxf4 Nxf4 35. Qe5 $1 {Kulaots immeditely sizes his chances
for an attack of his own.} f6 (35... Nh3+ 36. Kf1 Bg2+ 37. Ke1 Bh4+ 38. Kd2
Bg5+ 39. Be3 $18) 36. Qf5 g6 (36... Bh1 37. Bc4+ (37. Qh7+ Kf7 38. Bc4+ Ne6 $15
) 37... Kh8 (37... Kf8 38. Rd2 $18) 38. Rd2 $18) 37. Bc4+ Kf8 38. Qd7 Nh3+ (
38... Bd5 39. Bxd5 Nxd5 40. Rf1 $18) 39. Qxh3 1-0

[Event "Gausdal GM-A"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2005.04.15"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Korneev, Oleg"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2548"]
[BlackElo "2611"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2005.04.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "10"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 107"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. g3 dxc4 6. Bg2 b5 7. O-O Bb7 8. Ne5
Nd5 9. a4 a6 10. e4 Nxc3 11. bxc3 Nd7 12. f4 Be7 13. Ng4 Qb6 14. e5 h5 15. Ne3
g6 16. Qf3 O-O-O 17. Rf2 Qc7 18. Rfa2 Nb6 19. axb5 cxb5 20. Qe2 Kd7 21. Bxb7
1/2-1/2

[Event "Gausdal GM-A"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2005.04.16"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Williams, Simon Kim"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2466"]
[BlackElo "2548"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2005.04.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "10"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 107"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. a3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bd2 Nd7 8.
Nxd5 exd5 9. b4 Bd6 10. Bg5 f6 11. Bh4 a5 {Black doesn't seem to suffer too
much in this line, undermining of the queenside with a pawn is a new idea here.
} (11... c5 12. Bg3 Be7 (12... Bxg3 13. hxg3 c4 14. Qc2 g6 15. e3 b5 16. g4 a5
17. Rb1 axb4 18. axb4 Qe7 19. Nd2 Nb8 20. Be2 Nc6 {1/2-1/2 Dreev,A-Psakhis,L/
playchess.com INT 2004/ (61)}) 13. dxc5 (13. bxc5 bxc5 14. e3 c4 15. Be2 Qa5+
16. Qd2 Qxd2+ 17. Nxd2 Nb6 18. Bd1 Kd7 19. Nb1 Bd6 20. Nc3 Bxg3 21. hxg3 {
1-0 Dreev,A-Psakhis,L/playchess.com INT 2004/ (63)}) 13... bxc5 14. e3 cxb4 15.
Bd3 Nc5 16. Bb5+ Kf7 17. axb4 Ne4 {1/2-1/2 Eingorn,V-Van der Wiel,J/Manila
1992/ (17)}) 12. Bg3 Qe7 (12... Bxg3 13. hxg3 axb4 14. axb4 c5 $11) 13. Bxd6
Qxd6 14. b5 c5 (14... O-O 15. e3 c5 16. bxc6 Bxc6 17. Bd3 g6 18. O-O $14) 15.
bxc6 Bxc6 16. e3 b5 17. Bd3 {The f6 move has weakened the white square complex
around h7, Carlsen has to play carefully.} g6 (17... O-O) 18. Qc2 Kf7 (18...
Nb6 19. h4 Ra7 20. h5 g5 21. O-O $14) 19. h4 $1 Nb6 20. h5 Nc4 $2 {Black has
an idea about his possible compensation for the pawn, but with best white's
play it would have been slow in coming.} (20... Kg7 21. Nh4 Be8 22. Qd1 Qc6 $14
) 21. hxg6+ (21. a4 Rac8 $14) 21... hxg6 22. Bxg6+ Ke7 (22... Kg7 23. Bh7 Kf8
24. Nh4 $18) 23. Nh4 Kd7 (23... Nxa3 $2 24. Rxa3 Qxa3 25. Qxc6 Qb4+ 26. Kd1
Qa4+ 27. Bc2 Qa1+ 28. Kd2 Qxh1 29. Qc7+ Kf8 30. Bg6 $18) 24. Qb3 (24. Bf5+ Kc7
25. Qa2 $16) 24... b4 (24... Nxe3 $5 25. Qxe3 (25. fxe3 Qg3+ 26. Kd2 Rxh4 27.
Rxh4 Qxh4 28. Rf1 Qg3 $11) 25... Rae8 26. Bxe8+ Rxe8 27. Nf5 Rxe3+ 28. Nxe3 Qe7
$11) 25. a4 $6 (25. Rc1 Nxa3 26. Rc5 Nb5 $13) (25. Bf5+ $1 Kd8 26. axb4 Qxb4+
27. Qxb4 axb4 28. Rxa8+ Bxa8 29. Rh3 b3 30. Nf3 $14) 25... Kc7 (25... Nxe3 $1
26. fxe3 (26. Qxe3 Rae8 27. Bxe8+ Rxe8 28. Nf5 Rxe3+ 29. fxe3 Qe6 $15) 26...
Qg3+ 27. Kd2 Rxh4 28. Rxh4 Qxh4 29. Rf1 Rh8 $15) 26. Ke2 f5 $1 27. Bxf5 Qf6 28.
g3 Raf8 $6 {Carlsen suddenly wants too much from the position, it was much
better to take the two pieces for the rook immediatelly with better chances.} (
28... Rxh4 $1 29. Rxh4 Qxf5 30. Rah1 Re8 $15) 29. Qd3 $1 Rxh4 $2 {[%mdl 64]} (
29... Bd7 $1 30. e4 Re8 31. Kf1 Bxf5 32. exf5 Re4 33. Rd1 $11) 30. gxh4 Qxf5
31. Qxf5 Rxf5 32. h5 $1 {Williams must have been very happy about his luck, he
has lost material but won the overall war.} b3 (32... Rf8 33. h6 Rh8 34. h7 Nd6
35. Rag1 Bxa4 36. Rg8 Nf7 37. Rxh8 Nxh8 38. Rg1 b3 39. Kd2 b2 40. Kc3 b1=Q 41.
Rxb1 Be8 42. f3 $18) 33. h6 Rf8 34. h7 b2 35. Rag1 $1 Rh8 36. Rg8 b1=Q {
Black's undoing is the location of his king, white can check him in suitable
moment and win material.} (36... Rxh7 37. Rxh7+ Bd7 38. Rxd7+ Kxd7 39. Rb8 Kc7
40. Rb3 $18) 37. Rg7+ $1 Bd7 38. Rxb1 Kd6 39. Rh1 Bf5 (39... Nb2 40. Rh6+ (40.
Rg8 $18) 40... Kc7 41. Ra6 $18) 40. Rh6+ 1-0

[Event "Gausdal GM-A"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2005.04.17"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vidonyak, Roman"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B45"]
[WhiteElo "2548"]
[BlackElo "2417"]
[Annotator "Golod,V"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2005.04.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "10"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 107"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Ndb5 Bc5 $6 {Black
chose a very rare idea in this position.} 7. Bf4 O-O 8. Bc7 $5 (8. e5 $5 {
For further information, you can see comments on Xu Yuhua-Cramling,P/Shenyang,
2000/CBM 79(1-0)(Golod,V)(34)}) 8... Qe7 9. Bd6 Bxd6 10. Qxd6 Ne8 ({Other
options are:} 10... Qd8) ({and} 10... Qxd6) 11. Qxe7 Nxe7 12. O-O-O f5 {
Black aspires to exchange White's central pawn in order to finish development.}
({Hardly recommended may be:} 12... a6 $5) 13. Nd6 $5 {In this position White
has many possibilities:} (13. Bd3) (13. exf5) (13. f3) ({and} 13. e5 $5) 13...
Nxd6 14. Rxd6 fxe4 15. Nxe4 Nf5 16. Rd2 d5 {[%csl Rc8] Now Black is close to
finishing his development, but the weakness of the pawn structure and the bad
bishop define white's advantage.} 17. Ng5 (17. Nc5 $143 b6 18. Nd3 Nd6 19. f3
Ba6 20. Ne5 Bxf1 21. Rxf1 Rac8 22. Re1 Rfe8 23. Kb1 a5 24. Rde2 Nb5 25. a4 Nc7
26. Re3 b5 27. axb5 Nxb5 28. Nd3 $14 {Ernst,T-Bellon Lopez,J/Stockholm,2001(1/
2-1/2)(38)}) 17... b6 ({I also found games in other continuations:} 17... Bd7)
({and} 17... Nh4) 18. Nf3 $1 {[%csl Re5] A good move. Magnus Carlsen prevents
his opponent from playing e5.} (18. Bd3 $143 e5 19. Re1 e4 20. Bb5 Ne7 21. Re3
h6 22. Nh3 Be6 (22... Bb7 23. Rc3 Rac8 24. Rxc8 Bxc8 25. Ng1 {1/2-1/2 Wahls,
M-Hall,J/Germany,1999(25)}) 23. Ba4 Nf5 24. Rc3 Nh4 25. Bb3 Rad8 26. Rc6 Bg4
27. Rxd5 Kh7 28. Nf4 Rxd5 29. Nxd5 Nxg2 $15 {Czebe,A-Chernov,V/Interlaken,2003
(0-1)(47)}) 18... Nd6 19. Bd3 Nb7 $6 $146 {Originally only this move is a
novelty. And I'm not sure that is a good novelty. I like the continuation of
the next game more:} (19... Bd7 $5 20. Re1 Nf7 21. c4 Rac8 22. Kb1 Rfe8 23.
cxd5 exd5 24. Rxe8+ Rxe8 25. Bc2 Bg4 26. Bb3 Bxf3 27. gxf3 Re1+ 28. Kc2 Kf8 29.
Rxd5 $14 {Berg,E-Hall,J/Germany,2002(1/2-1/2)(48)}) 20. c3 {White has very
simple play on the black squares and his advantage is clear. I think, that
from a strategical point of view - white's position is won.} Nc5 21. Bc2 a5 22.
Re1 a4 23. Ne5 $1 {According to theory of blockade of Nimzowitsch.} a3 24. b3 {
Now Black Pa3 is weak.} Ra7 {Unfortunately Black has no option for any
counterplay. He only needs to sit and wait.} 25. b4 Na6 26. f3 Rc7 27. Re3 Bb7
28. Rd4 {Full blockade on black squares!} Nb8 29. Kd2 Ba6 (29... Nc6 $5 30.
Nxc6 Rxc6 31. Bd3 Rfc8 32. Bb5 Rd6 33. c4 $16 {[%csl Ra3][%cal Ge3a3]}) 30. c4
{It's the right time to open the game. All white's pieces are on ideal
positions.} dxc4 (30... Rfc8 $5 31. Rxa3 Bxc4 32. Nxc4 Rxc4 (32... dxc4 33. Kc3
$16) 33. Rxc4 dxc4 (33... Rxc4 34. Ra8 Rc8 35. a4 $18) 34. Ra8 $18) (30... Bxc4
$5 31. Nxc4 dxc4 32. Rxe6 $16) 31. Rxa3 Bb5 (31... b5 $143 32. Rd6 $18) (31...
Rcc8 32. Re3 Nc6 33. Nxc6 Rxc6 34. Kc3 b5 35. a4 $18) 32. Rc3 Ra7 (32... Rfc8
$142 33. a4 Nd7 34. Ng4 Ba6 35. Ne3 {[%csl Ya6,Rc4][%cal Gb4b5]}) 33. a3 Rc8
34. Nxc4 $18 {That's all - now Magnus Carlsen transforms his positional
advantage in material.} Rac7 {The last chance.} 35. Bb3 Kf8 36. Rc2 Nd7 37. Nd6
Rxc2+ 38. Bxc2 e5 39. Re4 Rd8 $2 40. Nxb5 Nf6+ 41. Kc3 Nxe4+ 42. Bxe4 {Very
good positional victory for young Norvegian GM!} 1-0

[Event "Gausdal GM-A"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2005.04.18"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Bogner, Sebastian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C68"]
[WhiteElo "2409"]
[BlackElo "2548"]
[Annotator "Finkel,A"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2005.04.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "10"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 107"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Bg4 6. h3 Bh5 7. g4 $5 {
This very interesting line leads to a complicated struggle with mutual chances.
It seems White should be able to get an advantage either by returning his
extra pawn at the right moment or by keeping it!} Bg6 8. Nxe5 Bd6 (8... Qh4 9.
Qf3 f6 10. Nxg6 hxg6 11. Kg2 O-O-O 12. d3 Bd6 13. Rh1 Ne7 14. Nc3 g5 15. Ne2 {
+/- Gipslis,A/ECO/Fuchs-Trifunovic/Berlin/1962}) 9. Nxg6 (9. d4 Bxe5 10. dxe5
Qxd1 11. Rxd1 Bxe4 $13) 9... hxg6 10. Qf3 (10. Kg2 Qe7 11. d3 g5 12. Nd2 O-O-O
13. Nc4 f6 14. Qf3 Nh6 15. Be3 Nf7 16. Rad1 $14 {Petersen,S-Agergaard,L/Lyngby
1991}) 10... Qh4 (10... Be5 11. c3 (11. d3 Qh4 12. Kg2 O-O-O 13. g5 Rf8 14.
Qg4+ Qxg4+ 15. hxg4 Ne7 16. f4 Bd6 17. Nc3 $16 {Garcia del Rey,S-Gutierrez
Canseco,P/Spain 1993}) (11. Nc3 Ne7 12. Ne2 c5 13. d3 Nc6 14. Kg2 Qd6 15. Bf4
O-O-O 16. Qg3 g5 17. Bxe5 Nxe5 18. f4 gxf4 19. Nxf4 f6 20. b3 $16 {Wittmann,
W-Pilz,D/Austria 1998}) 11... c5 12. Na3 b5 13. Nc2 c4 14. d4 cxd3 15. Rd1 c5
16. Rxd3 Qc7 17. Ne3 $16 {Guseinov,G-Davidov,S/Baku 2000}) (10... Qd7 11. d3
O-O-O 12. Kg2 Ne7 13. Bf4 f5 14. Bxd6 cxd6 15. Nd2 d5 16. e5 Rh4 $13 {Schelle,
A-Appel,H/Freising 2001}) 11. Kg2 Nf6 $146 {This move was most likely analysed
by Norwegian youngster at his home-lab.} (11... Bf4 $5 12. Nc3 (12. d3 $5 g5 (
12... Bxc1 13. Rxc1 g5 14. Nc3 Ne7 15. Ne2 Ng6 16. Rh1 Qh6 17. Qe3 $14) 13.
Bxf4 gxf4 14. Nd2 Ne7 15. Rh1 Ng6 16. Qe2 $16) 12... Ne7 13. d4 g5 14. Ne2 (14.
Bxf4 gxf4 15. Ne2 Ng6 16. Rh1 Qg5 17. Qb3 Nh4+ 18. Kf1 O-O-O 19. f3 $13) 14...
Ng6 15. Rh1 Qh6 {/\Nh4+} 16. Kf1 Nh4 17. Qd3 (17. Qb3 $5 O-O-O 18. Bxf4 (18.
Qxf7 $2 Rhf8 $40) 18... gxf4 19. f3 $13) 17... Bxc1 18. Rxc1 O-O-O 19. Qe3 Rhe8
$17 {Djurhuus,R-Hector,J/Malmo 1995; Wedberg}) (11... O-O-O 12. d4 f6 13. Nd2
Nh6 14. Nc4 Nf7 15. Rh1 Be7 16. c3 Nd6 17. Nxd6+ Bxd6 18. Be3 $16 {Hautala,
R-Juntunen,J/Oulu 1998}) 12. e5 (12. Nc3 O-O-O 13. d4 c5 14. dxc5 Bxc5 15. Qg3
Qh7 16. Bg5 Bd4 $44) 12... Nd5 13. d4 ({After} 13. exd6 {black has to force a
draw by} Nf4+ 14. Kh2 Qxh3+ (14... Nxh3 15. Qg3 Qh7 16. Re1+ Kd7 17. Kg2 Nf4+
18. Kf3 $18) 15. Qxh3 Rxh3+ 16. Kg1 Ne2+ 17. Kg2 Nf4+ $11) 13... Be7 14. Qg3 $6
{I see no point in this move, but it shouldn't be too bad.} (14. c4 Nb4 (14...
Nb6 15. b3 O-O-O 16. Bb2 (16. Be3 $6 c5 17. d5 Nd7 18. Bf4 Bg5 19. Bh2 Rde8 20.
Re1 Bf6 $15) 16... f6 17. Qg3 Qh6 18. e6 $14) 15. Na3 O-O-O 16. Rd1 f6 17. Bf4
$13) 14... Qh7 15. c4 Nb4 16. Na3 (16. Nc3 Nc2 17. Rb1 Nxd4 18. Rd1 O-O-O 19.
Be3 Nc2 $15) 16... O-O-O 17. Be3 $2 (17. Rd1 {[%csl Gd3]} g5 18. Qf3 Kb8 $13)
17... Nd3 18. Rab1 (18. Bg5 $2 Bxg5 19. Qxd3 Rxd4 $19 {[%csl Rh3]}) 18... g5 $1
$17 {[%cal Gh7e4] Threatening to come to e4.} 19. Qf3 (19. Rfd1 f6 20. e6 Qe4+
21. Kg1 Nf4 $17) 19... c5 $1 20. dxc5 Bxc5 21. Bxg5 (21. Qf5+ Qxf5 22. gxf5
Bxa3 23. bxa3 Nxe5 24. Bxg5 f6 25. Bf4 Nxc4 $17) (21. Bxc5 Nxc5 22. Rfd1 Rxd1
23. Rxd1 Ne6 $40 {[%cal Ge6f4]}) 21... Nxe5 22. Qf5+ Qxf5 23. gxf5 Rd3 24. Nc2
$6 (24. Bf4) 24... Rdxh3 $19 {Black's attack is very dangerous even with the
queens off the board.} 25. Be3 (25. Rh1 Rxh1 26. Rxh1 Rxh1 27. Kxh1 Nxc4 28. b3
Nd6 $19) 25... Rh2+ 26. Kg3 Bd6 27. c5 R8h3+ 28. Kf4 Rf3+ 29. Ke4 Rh4+ 30. Kd5
Nc6 31. Nd4 (31. cxd6 Rxf5#) 31... Rxf5+ $1 0-1

[Event "Gausdal GM-A"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2005.04.19"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nordahl, Helge Andreas"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2548"]
[BlackElo "2402"]
[PlyCount "133"]
[EventDate "2005.04.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "10"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 107"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O
O-O 9. Kh1 b6 10. f3 Bb7 11. a4 h6 12. Be3 Nc6 13. Qd2 Nb4 14. a5 d5 15. Bxb6
Qc8 16. exd5 Nfxd5 17. Nxd5 Nxd5 18. Bd3 Bg5 19. Qe1 Re8 20. Ra4 Nxb6 21. axb6
Qc6 22. Rb4 Be7 23. Na5 Bxb4 24. Qxb4 Qd7 25. Nxb7 Qxb7 26. Be4 Qd7 27. Bxa8
Rxa8 28. c4 Qd4 29. Qc3 Qxb6 30. Qxe5 Rd8 31. c5 Qb5 32. Re1 Rd2 33. h3 Rxb2
34. Qf5 Qc6 35. Re7 Qg6 36. Qxg6 fxg6 37. Re6 Rc2 38. Rxg6 a5 39. c6 a4 40. Rg4
a3 41. Ra4 a2 42. Kh2 Kf7 43. c7 Rxc7 44. Rxa2 Rc6 45. Ra7+ Kf6 46. Kg3 Rb6 47.
Kh4 g6 48. g4 Rb3 49. Kg3 g5 50. Ra6+ Kg7 51. Ra1 Kg6 52. Rc1 Ra3 53. Rb1 Rc3
54. Rb2 Ra3 55. Kg2 Ra6 56. Rb8 Kg7 57. Kg3 Ra3 58. Re8 Kf7 59. Re2 Kg6 60. Rd2
Rb3 61. Kf2 Rb6 62. Rd8 Kf7 63. Rd5 Kg6 64. Re5 Rb2+ 65. Kg3 Rb3 66. Rf5 h5 67.
h4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gausdal GM-A"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2005.04.20"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Pedersen, Christian Kyndel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C92"]
[WhiteElo "2396"]
[BlackElo "2548"]
[PlyCount "189"]
[EventDate "2005.04.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "10"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 107"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Bb7 10. d4 Re8 11. Ng5 Rf8 12. Nf3 h6 13. Nbd2 Re8 14. Bc2 Bf8 15. a4
Qd7 16. Bd3 Na5 17. b3 exd4 18. cxd4 d5 19. e5 Ne4 20. Nxe4 dxe4 21. Bxe4 Bxe4
22. Rxe4 Qd5 23. Re3 c5 24. axb5 axb5 25. Ba3 b4 26. Bb2 c4 27. bxc4 Nxc4 28.
Re2 Rxa1 29. Bxa1 Ra8 30. Nd2 Nxd2 31. Rxd2 b3 32. Bb2 Ra2 33. Qc1 Be7 34. Qc3
Bg5 35. f4 Bd8 36. Qd3 Ba5 37. Rf2 Bb6 38. Kh2 h5 39. Qe3 h4 40. Rd2 Ba5 41.
Rf2 Bb6 42. Kh1 Qc4 43. Kh2 g6 44. g3 Ra4 45. Rd2 Ba5 46. Rg2 hxg3+ 47. Qxg3
Qe6 48. Qd3 Qc4 49. Qf3 Ra2 50. f5 Rxb2 51. Rxb2 Qxd4 52. Rxb3 Qxe5+ 53. Kg2
Kg7 54. fxg6 Qg5+ 55. Qg3 Qd2+ 56. Qf2 fxg6 57. Qxd2 Bxd2 58. Rd3 Bg5 59. Kf3
Bf6 60. Ke4 Kf7 61. Kd5 Bb2 62. Rb3 Ba1 63. Ra3 Bb2 64. Ra2 Bc3 65. Rf2+ Kg7
66. Ke6 Bd4 67. Rf7+ Kg8 68. Rd7 Bc3 69. Rc7 Bb2 70. Rb7 Bc3 71. Ke7 Kg7 72.
Ke8+ Kg8 73. Ke7 Kg7 74. Ke6+ Kg8 75. Rb3 Bd4 76. Rg3 Kg7 77. Rg4 Bc3 78. h4
Kh6 79. Kf7 Kh5 80. Rxg6 Kxh4 81. Ke6 Be1 82. Kf5 Kh3 83. Kf4 Bd2+ 84. Kf3 Kh4
85. Rd6 Bc1 86. Rg6 Bd2 87. Rg1 Kh5 88. Ke4 Kh4 89. Rg8 Bc1 90. Rc8 Bd2 91. Rc2
Bb4 92. Rc4 Be7 93. Kf4 Kh5 94. Kf5 Bd8 95. Rc8 1-0

[Event "Gausdal GM-A"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2005.04.21"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Lie, Kjetil A"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E62"]
[WhiteElo "2548"]
[BlackElo "2495"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2005.04.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "10"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 107"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. O-O d6 6. c4 c6 7. Nc3 Qb6 8. h3 (
8. Qc2) ({or} 8. e3 $5 {are better tries to fight for an edge.}) 8... Qa6 9. b3
b5 10. Bg5 $5 {[%mdl 512] A rare sacrificial alternative. White needs some new
ideas to enliven the position, as currently the whole line is considered
rather innocuous. The main moves are:} (10. cxb5 cxb5 11. Qd3 b4 12. Ne1 {
runs into} Bxh3 $1 $11 {/~~ and Black is fine.}) (10. Nd2 bxc4 11. Nxc4 Be6 12.
Ne3 (12. Nd2 Nd5 (12... d5 $6 13. Bb2 Nbd7 14. Na4 Ne8 15. Nf3 f6 16. Ne1 Bf7
17. Nd3 Nd6 18. Rc1 Rac8 19. Rc2 Rfe8 20. Qc1 $36 {Safin,S-Strikovic,A/Yerevan
olm/1996/}) 13. Ndb1 Nxc3 14. Nxc3 Nd7 15. Bb2 Rab8 16. Qd2 Rfc8 17. Rac1 Nb6
18. Kh2 Qa5 19. Rfd1 Qb4 20. Ne4 Qxd2 21. Rxd2 a5 22. Ng5 Bh6 23. f4 {1/2,
Gorelov,S-Titov,G/Moscow/1986/} Bxg5 24. fxg5 a4 $11) (12. Qd3 Nbd7 (12... Nd5
13. Bb2 Nb6 14. d5 Nxc4 15. bxc4 Bf5 16. e4 Bd7 17. Rab1 Qa5 18. Ne2 Na6 19.
Bxg7 Kxg7 20. Qd4+ f6 21. Rb2 Nc5 22. f4 Rab8 $132 {Szmetan,J-Tempone,M/Villa
Ballester/1996/}) 13. Ne5 Qxd3 14. Nxd3 Nb6 15. Bb2 Rac8 16. Rfc1 a5 17. e3 g5
18. e4 Nfd7 19. Nd1 f5 20. Ne3 fxe4 21. Bxe4 c5 $11 {Dautov,R-Smirin,I/BLR-ch
Minsk/1987/}) 12... Nbd7 13. Bb2 Rfc8 (13... Rac8 14. Nc2 Rc7 15. e4 Nb6 16.
Kh2 Rb8 17. Rb1 Qc8 18. f4 c5 (18... a5 $5 $13) 19. d5 Bd7 20. Qd2 Ne8 21. Rfe1
a5 22. Na3 c4 23. Rec1 Rc5 24. Bf1 cxb3 25. axb3 {Fancsy,I-Wells,P/Budapest/
1994/} Qb7 $132) 14. Rc1 Rab8 15. Qd2 Nb6 16. f4 c5 17. d5 Bd7 18. Ra1 Qa5 19.
Kh2 Ne8 20. f5 Nf6 21. Qd3 Be8 22. fxg6 hxg6 23. Rac1 c4 $1 24. bxc4 Nbd7 $44 {
|^,Agdestein,S-Bischoff,K/Dortmund/1987/}) 10... bxc4 11. bxc4 Qxc4 12. Rc1 Ba6
(12... Nbd7 13. e4 $44 {[%cal Re4e5,Rc3d5] /\Nd5,e5}) (12... h6 $5 13. Bd2 (13.
Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Ne4 Qxa2 15. Nxf6+ exf6 16. Ra1 Qe6 17. Qd2 Kg7 $44 {/=/+ White
has some compensation, but it's barely enough for two P.}) 13... Qe6 14. Re1
Ba6 (14... Nbd7 15. e4 Nb6 16. e5 Nfd5 17. Nxd5 cxd5 18. Bf4 $44) 15. e4 Bc4
$13) 13. Re1 $146 (13. e4 h6 14. Bd2 e5 (14... Qe6 $5 15. Re1 {-12...h6!?}) 15.
dxe5 dxe5 16. Nd5 $5 cxd5 $6 (16... Qxa2 $1 {/\} 17. Ra1 Qb2 $8 18. Rb1 Qa2 $11
) 17. Rxc4 Bxc4 18. Nxe5 $1 Bxf1 19. Kxf1 Nxe4 $2 (19... dxe4 20. Qb3 $32 {|^})
20. Bb4 Rd8 21. Nxf7 $1 Nc6 22. Nxd8 Rxd8 23. Ba5 {1-0,Berkes,F-Stokke,K/
Stockholm/2003/}) 13... Qb4 (13... Nbd7 $6 14. e4 $36 {[%cal Rg2f1,Ye4e5] /
\Bf1,e5}) (13... h6 {still seems better.}) 14. e4 $32 {[%csl Gd4,Ge4] |^[+]} e5
$6 {Returns the P, but doesn't relieve the pressure - now White will have
equal material and a positional advantage.} (14... Rd8 15. Bd2 (15. Qc2 $5 $44)
15... Qb7 16. e5 $36) 15. dxe5 dxe5 16. Nxe5 Qa5 (16... Re8 17. Nxc6 Nxc6 18.
Bxf6 Bxf6 19. Nd5 Qd6 20. Rxc6 $1 Qxc6 21. e5 Rxe5 22. Ne7+ (22. Rxe5 Kg7 $11)
22... Rxe7 23. Bxc6 $16) 17. Nxf7 $6 {Was this really necessary?} (17. Bxf6
Bxf6 18. Nxc6 $1 Nxc6 19. Nd5 Be5 20. Rxc6 $16 {gives White a healthy extra P
and reasonable chances to convert his advantage.} Qxa2 $140 $2 21. Nb4 $18)
17... Rxf7 18. e5 Nbd7 $2 {[%mdl 8192] Black buckles under the pressure and
returns the extra piece immediately. The only consistent move was} (18... Ne8 {
I don't see anything concrete for White, who must still prove he has enough
for a whole piece after, e.g.,} 19. Bd8 Qb4 20. e6 Rf5) 19. exf6 Nxf6 (19...
Qxg5 20. fxg7 {[%cal Rc3e4] /\Ne4+/-}) 20. Bxf6 (20. Be3 Rd8 21. Qa4 $36) 20...
Bxf6 (20... Rxf6 21. Nd5 $1 $16) 21. Ne4 Be7 {Black is more or less forced to
give the ><c6, as without his dark-squared B he is unable to defend his K
properly.} (21... Bb5 22. Nxf6+ Rxf6 23. Re5 $1 $40 {[%csl Rg8][%cal Rg2c6] /
\Bc6,ע}) (21... Qxa2 22. Rxc6 Bg7 23. Rc2 $18 {/\Nf6} (23. Nd6 Qxf2+ 24. Kh1
Rd8 25. Bd5 Bb7 26. Nxb7 Rxd5 27. Re8+ Bf8 28. Qxd5 Qf1+ 29. Kh2 Qf2+ 30. Qg2
Qxg2+ 31. Kxg2 Rxb7 $14)) 22. Rxc6 $16 Bb7 23. Re6 Rd8 (23... Qxa2 $2 24. Rxe7
$1 Rxe7 25. Nf6+ Kf7 (25... Kf8 26. Qd6 $18) 26. Rxe7+ Kxe7 27. Bxb7 Rd8 28.
Bd5 $40 {/\} Qa6 29. Qe1+ $1 Kxf6 30. Qc3+ Ke7 31. Qg7+ Kd6 32. Qf6+ $18) 24.
Qe2 {[%cal Re6e7]} Bxe4 {The best way to meet the threat Re7.} (24... Qf5 25.
Rxe7 Rxe7 26. Nf6+ Qxf6 27. Qxe7 Qxe7 28. Rxe7 Bxg2 29. Kxg2 a6 30. Re6 $18) (
24... Bb4 25. Rc1 $40) 25. Qxe4 Bc5 26. Re2 Rdf8 27. Qd5 Qb4 (27... Kg7 28. Kh2
$16 {is similar to the game.} Rxf2 $140 29. Rxf2 Rxf2 30. Re7+ $1 Kh6 31. g4
Qd2 32. g5+ $1 Qxg5 33. Rxh7+ Kxh7 34. Qxg5 $18) 28. Kh2 Kg7 (28... Bxf2 $2 29.
Rxf2 Rxf2 30. Rxg6+ Kh8 31. Qe5+ $18) 29. Qe5+ (29. f4 Qd4 $16) 29... Kg8 30.
a3 {This allows Black to exchange Q, White could have played for the -> with} (
30. f4 $142 $1 $40 {as now Black can't simplify:} Qd4 $2 31. Qxd4 Bxd4 32. Bd5
Rf5 (32... Kg7 33. R6e4 $18) 33. Rxg6+ Kh8 34. Rd6 $18) (30. Rc6 $5 $40) 30...
Qd4 $1 (30... Qxa3 $2 31. Rc6 {[%cal Rg2d5] /\Bd5+-}) 31. Qxd4 Bxd4 32. f4 Kg7
$14 {[%csl Gd4] /+/-,_|_^- Black has survived the worst and can fight on in
the _|_.} 33. Bd5 Bf6 34. h4 Rd7 35. Be4 Rfd8 36. Kh3 Rd6 37. Rxd6 Rxd6 38. Rc2
Rd7 39. Kg4 Be7 40. a4 Rd4 41. Bc6 h5+ $6 {[%csl Rg6] ><g6} (41... Kf6 $142)
42. Kh3 Bd6 43. Kg2 Bb4 44. Kh3 Bd6 (44... Kf6 $16) (44... a5 45. Be8 Rd6 $16)
45. Be8 $1 Rd3 46. Kg2 Re3 (46... a5 47. Rc6 {[%csl Ra5][%cal Rc6a6] /\Ra6+-})
47. Rc6 $1 Re6 (47... Rxe8 48. Rxd6 Re7 49. Kf3 $18 {is a hopeless R_|_, White
has an extra P and a more active R.}) (47... Bxf4 48. Rxg6+ Kf8 49. gxf4 Rxe8
50. Ra6 {is similar:} Re4 51. Kf3 Re7 52. Ra5 $18) 48. Ra6 $18 {Now Black must
either go for the R_|_ form the aobve note, or lose the Pa7.} Kf8 49. Bb5 Rf6
50. Bd3 $5 Kg7 51. Rxa7+ Kf8 52. a5 Bb4 53. a6 Rd6 54. Rc7 Rxd3 55. Rc8+ Kg7
56. a7 Rd2+ 57. Kf3 Rd3+ 58. Ke4 Ra3 59. a8=Q 1-0

[Event "Schagen rapid 25'+5"]
[Site "Schagen"]
[Date "2005.04.30"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Smeets, Jan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B14"]
[WhiteElo "2581"]
[BlackElo "2515"]
[Annotator "Dautov,R"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2005.04.30"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "12"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c6 2. e4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nf3 Bb4 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
Qc2 Nc6 9. Bd3 Nxc3 {Eine spielbare Fortsetzung, aber meistens wird hier 9...
Ba5 10.a3 eingeschaltet, damit der schwarze Läufer auf b4 nicht hängt.} (9...
Ba5 10. a3 Nxc3 11. bxc3 Nxd4 12. Nxd4 Qxd4 $13) 10. bxc3 Nxd4 11. Nxd4 Qxd4
12. Bb5+ (12. O-O $5 Qxc3 13. Bb5+ Ke7 14. Qe2 (14. Qa4 Bd6 15. Bf4 Bxf4 $2 (
15... e5 $1 $13) 16. Qxf4 Qc5 17. a4 g5 18. Qg3 $40 {Nunn,J (2565)-Lobron,E 
(2470)/Biel 1982}) 14... Qxa1 (14... Bd6 15. Bb2 Qa5 16. Rfd1 Rd8 17. Qh5 $18 {
Najdorf,M-Portisch,L/Varna 1962}) 15. Bg5+ Qf6 16. Bxf6+ gxf6 17. Qg4 Bd6 18.
Qg7 Rd8 19. Qxh7 a6 20. Be2 Bd7 21. Bh5 Be8 $14 {Solleveld,M-Janssen,R (2350)/
Leiden 1997}) 12... Kf8 {Erlaubt Weiß ein aussichtsreiches Qualitätsopfer,
vorzuziehen war m.E. 12...Ke7.} (12... Ke7 13. O-O Qxc3 {-12.0-0.}) 13. cxb4 $1
$146 {[%mdl 512]} (13. O-O Qxc3 14. Qd1 Be7 $13) 13... Qe5+ (13... Qxa1 14. O-O
$44) 14. Qe2 Qxa1 15. O-O Qf6 16. Bb2 Qe7 17. Rd1 {[%mdl 128]} f6 (17... a6 18.
Be5 Kg8 19. Bd6 Qf6 20. Bc4 b5 (20... Bd7 $2 21. Be5 Qe7 22. Qg4 $18) 21. Bd5
Ra7 22. Bc6 $44) 18. Qh5 $2 {Weiß hat eine starke Initiative, aber er muß sehr
präzise spielen. In einer Schnellschachpartie hat man keine Zeit, lange
Varianten zu berechnen. Kein Wunder, daß Carlsen den besten Zug 18.Bd4! nicht
findet.} (18. Bd4 $1 Kg8 (18... Qxb4 $4 19. Qh5 $18) (18... b6 19. Be5 $1 $16)
19. Bc5 Qc7 20. Qh5 g6 21. Qh6 Qg7 22. Rd8+ Kf7 23. Qd2 $16) 18... e5 $2 {
Ein Gegenfehler.} (18... g6 $1 19. Qh6+ Kf7 $15) 19. Bxe5 $1 Bg4 (19... fxe5
20. Qf3+ Qf6 21. Rd8+ Ke7 22. Qxf6+ Kxf6 23. Rxh8 $14) 20. Qxg4 Qxe5 21. Rd7 f5
22. Qh5 Qe6 23. Qg5 $2 {Läßt erneut eine gute Möglichkeit aus, mit 23.Rxb7
könnte Weiß seinen Angriff unbeschwert fortsetzen.} (23. Rxb7 $1 $16) 23... Qf6
24. Qc1 h5 25. Bc4 Rc8 26. Qf1 Qc3 27. Rf7+ Kg8 28. Rc7+ Kh7 29. Bg8+ Rhxg8 30.
Rxc3 Rxc3 $11 {Letzten Endes endet die Partie in einem remislichen Endspiel.}
31. h4 Rgc8 32. Qb5 R8c7 33. Qxf5+ g6 34. Qe5 Rc1+ 35. Kh2 Rf7 36. f3 Rc4 37.
Qd5 Rxh4+ 38. Kg3 Rhf4 39. b5 R4f5 40. Qc4 Kh6 41. a4 b6 42. Qd4 Kh7 43. Qc4
Re7 44. Qc6 Rc5 45. Qd6 Rg7 46. Qd4 Rgc7 47. Kh3 Rc4 48. Qd6 Rg7 49. Qd1 Rf7
50. Qd5 Rcf4 51. Kg3 Kg8 52. Qd8+ Kg7 53. Qd1 Rb4 54. Qa1+ Kh7 55. Qa2 Rff4 56.
Qe6 h4+ 57. Kh3 Rxa4 58. Qe7+ Kh6 59. Qe5 Rfd4 60. Qh8+ Kg5 61. Qe5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Schagen rapid 25'+5"]
[Site "Schagen"]
[Date "2005.04.30"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "L'Ami, Erwin"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B97"]
[WhiteElo "2581"]
[BlackElo "2516"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2005.04.30"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "12"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 8. Qd3
Nc6 9. O-O-O Qxd4 10. Qxd4 Nxd4 11. Rxd4 Nd7 12. Be2 h6 13. Bh4 g5 14. fxg5 Be7
15. Bg3 hxg5 16. Rhd1 Ne5 17. Na4 f6 18. Nb6 Rb8 19. Bc4 Bd7 20. Bb3 Rd8 21. h3
Kf7 22. Nxd7 Rxd7 23. Bxe5 fxe5 24. Rf1+ Bf6 25. Rd3 Ke7 26. Rdf3 Rf8 27. Rc3
Rdd8 28. Kd1 Rc8 29. Rg3 Rh8 30. Rgf3 Rcf8 31. Ke2 Rh4 32. g4 Rhh8 33. Rc3 Kd7
34. Ba4+ b5 35. Bb3 Bd8 36. Rxf8 Rxf8 37. Rf3 Rf4 38. Rxf4 exf4 39. a4 b4 40.
Bc4 a5 41. b3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Schagen rapid 25'+5"]
[Site "Schagen"]
[Date "2005.04.30"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Stellwagen, Daniel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B45"]
[WhiteElo "2512"]
[BlackElo "2581"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2005.04.30"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "12"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. e5 Nd5 8.
Ne4 Qc7 9. f4 Qa5+ 10. Qd2 Qb6 11. a3 f5 12. exf6 Nxf6 13. Nxf6+ gxf6 14. b3
Bg7 15. Bb2 O-O 16. O-O-O d5 17. Re1 Bd7 18. Bd3 c5 19. Qf2 Rac8 20. Qh4 h6 21.
Bc3 c4 22. bxc4 dxc4 23. Be4 f5 24. Qg3 Rf7 25. Bf3 Ba4 26. Qg6 Rb8 27. Bxg7
Qb1+ 28. Kd2 Qxc2+ 29. Ke3 Rxg7 30. Qxe6+ Kh7 31. Re2 Re8 32. Rxc2 Rxe6+ 33.
Kd2 Rd6+ 34. Kc1 Bxc2 35. Kxc2 Rc7 36. Re1 c3 37. Re2 Ra6 38. Bd5 Rxa3 39. Re5
Ra4 40. Rxf5 Rd4 41. Rf7+ Rxf7 42. Bxf7 Rxf4 43. Bd5 Rd4 44. Be6 Rd2+ 45. Kxc3
Rxg2 46. h3 Kg7 0-1

[Event "Schagen rapid 25'+5"]
[Site "Schagen"]
[Date "2005.05.01"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Smeets, Jan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B45"]
[WhiteElo "2515"]
[BlackElo "2581"]
[PlyCount "160"]
[EventDate "2005.04.30"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "12"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. e5 Nd5 8.
Ne4 Qc7 9. f4 Qa5+ 10. c3 Be7 11. Bd3 Qb6 12. Qe2 Bb7 13. a3 f5 14. exf6 Nxf6
15. Be3 c5 16. Nxf6+ gxf6 17. O-O O-O-O 18. b4 Rhg8 19. Rf2 f5 20. Kf1 Bh4 21.
Bxc5 Qc7 22. g3 Qc6 23. Ke1 Bf6 24. Rc1 Kb8 25. Qe3 a6 26. Be2 e5 27. Bf3 d5
28. Kf1 Qb5+ 29. Be2 Qc6 30. Bf3 Qb5+ 31. Qe2 e4 32. Qxb5 axb5 33. Be2 Bc6 34.
Ke1 Kb7 35. Kd2 Ra8 36. Ra1 Rgd8 37. Bd4 Bxd4 38. cxd4 Bd7 39. Rff1 Rdc8 40.
Rfc1 Rxc1 41. Kxc1 Ra6 42. Kb2 Rh6 43. Rh1 Kb6 44. Bd1 Kc6 45. a4 bxa4 46.
Bxa4+ Kd6 47. Bxd7 Kxd7 48. Kb3 Kc7 49. b5 Kb6 50. Kb4 e3 51. Re1 Rxh2 52. Rxe3
Rb2+ 53. Kc3 Rg2 54. Kb4 Rb2+ 55. Ka4 Ra2+ 56. Kb3 Rg2 57. Re5 Kxb5 58. Rxd5+
Kc6 59. Rxf5 Rxg3+ 60. Kc4 Rf3 61. Rf6+ Kd7 62. Kd5 Ke7 63. Ke4 Rh3 64. Ra6 h5
65. d5 h4 66. f5 Rh1 67. Ra7+ Kd6 68. Ra6+ Kd7 69. Rh6 h3 70. Ke5 Re1+ 71. Kf6
Rh1 72. Kf7 h2 73. f6 Kd6 74. Rh5 Kd7 75. Rh8 Kd6 76. Rh5 Kd7 77. Rh6 Kd8 78.
d6 Kd7 79. Kf8 Rf1 80. Rxh2 Rxf6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Schagen rapid 25'+5"]
[Site "Schagen"]
[Date "2005.05.01"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Stellwagen, Daniel"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E67"]
[WhiteElo "2581"]
[BlackElo "2512"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2005.04.30"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "12"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. O-O d6 6. c4 Nbd7 7. Nc3 e5 8. h3
exd4 9. Nxd4 Nb6 10. b3 d5 11. Ba3 Re8 12. cxd5 Nfxd5 13. Nxd5 Nxd5 14. Rc1 c6
15. Qd2 a5 16. Rfd1 Nb4 17. e3 Qb6 18. g4 Bd7 19. Ne2 Rad8 20. Bxb4 axb4 21.
Qc2 Bc8 22. Nf4 Rxd1+ 23. Rxd1 Rd8 24. Bf3 Bf6 25. Kg2 Kg7 26. Rd2 Rxd2 27.
Qxd2 Qc5 28. Be2 Be7 29. Qb2+ Qc3 30. Qb1 Bd6 31. Qe4 Qe5 32. Qd3 Qe7 33. Qd4+
Be5 34. Qe4 f5 35. Qc4 Bd6 36. Bf3 Qf6 37. Ne2 Be6 38. Qd3 Be5 39. Ng3 fxg4 40.
hxg4 Qe7 41. Ne2 Qd6 42. Qxd6 Bxd6 43. Nd4 Bd7 44. Ne2 Kf6 45. Nc1 Kg5 46. Nd3
Bxg4 47. Bxg4 Kxg4 48. e4 c5 49. f3+ Kg5 50. Kf2 b5 51. Ke3 c4 52. Nb2 Bc5+ 53.
Ke2 Bd4 54. Nd1 Kf4 0-1

[Event "Schagen rapid 25'+5"]
[Site "Schagen"]
[Date "2005.05.01"]
[Round "6"]
[White "L'Ami, Erwin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E34"]
[WhiteElo "2516"]
[BlackElo "2581"]
[PlyCount "155"]
[EventDate "2005.04.30"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "12"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. cxd5 c5 6. dxc5 Nxd5 7. Bd2 Bxc5 8.
Nxd5 Qxd5 9. Rc1 Nd7 10. b4 Bb6 11. e4 Qh5 12. Nf3 O-O 13. Be2 Nf6 14. Ng5 Ng4
15. Rf1 h6 16. h3 hxg5 17. hxg4 Qh2 18. Bxg5 Bd7 19. Qd3 Bc6 20. Qh3 Qxh3 21.
gxh3 Bxe4 22. f3 Bd5 23. Bc4 Bxc4 24. Rxc4 Rac8 25. Rxc8 Rxc8 26. Kd1 Rc3 27.
Bc1 f6 28. Kd2 Rc4 29. a3 a5 30. Kd3 Rd4+ 31. Kc3 axb4+ 32. axb4 Rd5 33. Re1
Kf7 34. Be3 Bc7 35. Re2 Be5+ 36. Kc2 Bd6 37. Kb3 Re5 38. Re1 Rb5 39. Bd2 Rd5
40. Be3 g5 41. Re2 Re5 42. Re1 Ke7 43. Bd2 Rd5 44. Be3 Rd3+ 45. Kc4 Ra3 46. Re2
e5 47. Re1 Ke6 48. Re2 Kd7 49. Re1 Kc6 50. b5+ Kd7 51. Re2 Ra4+ 52. Kc3 Ke6 53.
Rb2 e4 54. Rf2 exf3 55. Rxf3 Bf4 56. Kb3 Re4 57. Bxf4 gxf4 58. Kc3 Ke5 59. Kd2
Rb4 60. Rc3 Rxb5 61. Ke2 Rd5 62. Kf3 b5 63. Rb3 Kd4 64. Kxf4 Kc4 65. Rb1 b4 66.
h4 b3 67. h5 Kc3 68. h6 b2 69. h7 Rd8 70. Kf5 Rh8 71. Kg6 Rb8 72. Kg7 Rb7+ 73.
Kg6 Rb8 74. Kxf6 Kc2 75. Rxb2+ Kxb2 76. g5 Kc3 77. Kg7 Rb7+ 78. Kh6 1-0

[Event "NOR-chT"]
[Site "Moss"]
[Date "2005.05.06"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Fyllingen, Roy Harald"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D46"]
[WhiteElo "2386"]
[BlackElo "2543"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2005.05.04"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2007"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. Be2 O-O 8. O-O
dxc4 9. Bxc4 a6 10. Rd1 b5 11. Be2 Qc7 12. Ne4 Nxe4 13. Qxe4 e5 14. Qh4 Re8 15.
Bd3 h6 16. Bc2 c5 17. d5 c4 18. e4 Qd8 19. Qg3 Qf6 20. a4 Bb7 21. axb5 axb5 22.
Rxa8 Rxa8 23. Nh4 Kh7 24. Nf5 Bc5 25. h4 b4 26. Qh3 Bc8 27. g4 b3 28. Bb1 Ra1
29. Bd2 Qg6 30. h5 Qb6 31. Qf3 Nf6 32. Kg2 Kg8 33. g5 hxg5 34. Bxg5 Nh7 35. Bh4
Bxf5 36. Qxf5 Qd6 37. Bg3 Nf6 38. Bxe5 Qd7 39. Qxd7 Nxd7 40. Bc3 Bd6 41. e5
Bxe5 42. Bxe5 Rxb1 43. Rxb1 Nxe5 44. Rc1 Kf8 45. f4 Nd3 46. Rxc4 Nxb2 47. Rc3
1-0

[Event "NOR-chT"]
[Site "Moss"]
[Date "2005.05.07"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Johannessen, Leif Erlend"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D42"]
[WhiteElo "2531"]
[BlackElo "2543"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2005.05.04"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2007"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. e3 d5 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bd3 cxd4 8.
exd4 Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. Re1 Nf6 11. a3 b6 12. Bg5 Bb7 13. Bc2 Ba6 14. Qd2 Rc8
15. Qf4 Nh5 16. Qg4 Bxg5 17. Qxh5 Bh6 18. d5 exd5 19. Bf5 Rb8 20. Nxd5 Bc8 21.
Bxc8 Rxc8 22. Rad1 Re8 23. Ne7+ Rxe7 24. Rxd8+ Rxd8 25. Rxe7 Nxe7 26. g3 Ng6
27. Qf5 Ne7 28. Qe5 Nd5 29. Nd4 g6 30. Nc6 Bg7 31. Qe2 Rd6 32. Qe8+ Bf8 33. Ne5
1-0

[Event "NOR-chT"]
[Site "Moss"]
[Date "2005.05.08"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ostenstad, Berge"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2543"]
[BlackElo "2488"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2005.05.04"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2007"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. d4 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. c5 c6 8. h3 b6
9. b4 a5 10. a3 Bb7 11. Bd3 Qc8 12. Rc1 axb4 13. axb4 bxc5 14. bxc5 Ra3 15. O-O
Ba6 16. Bxa6 Qxa6 17. Qc2 Ra8 18. Qb2 Ra7 19. Rb1 h6 20. Rfc1 Bd8 21. Ne1 Ne4
22. Nxe4 dxe4 23. Nc2 Ra2 24. Qb3 Qe2 25. Bg3 R2a4 26. Nb4 Qb5 27. Qc4 Qxc4 28.
Rxc4 Ra1 29. Rbc1 R7a4 30. Nxc6 Rxc4 31. Rxa1 Bf6 32. Ra7 1-0

[Event "Leon 18th"]
[Site "Leon"]
[Date "2005.06.11"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2785"]
[BlackElo "2548"]
[Annotator "Mellado,E"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2005.06.10"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{La segunda semifinal del XVIII Magistral Ciudad de León nos ofrece un
encuentro apasionante e inédito. Anand , número 1 del mundo, va a enfrentarse
a una de las mayores promesas del ajedrez mundial, el GM de 14 años Magnus
Carlsen de Noruega. Por supuesto a día de hoy, ni los más entusiastas
seguidores de Magnus le conceden demasiadas posibilidades de triunfo. Pero el
encuentro es de capital importancia para la historia del ajedrez, puesto que
Carlsen está llamado a ser el natural relevo de la generación actual de
jugadores, y quien sabe si algún día no se enfrentaran para dirimir ese número
uno mundial que ahora ostenta el GM Indio} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 {Magnus elige
la Petrov, una sólida defensa habitual en los torneos de élite.} 3. Nxe5 d6 4.
Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 {Este viejo sistema lo rehabilitó hace unos años Alexei Shirov,
que le dió buena publicidad consiguiendo algunas bonitas victorias. Anand lo
utilizó hace poco para ganar una partida contra Vladimir Kramnik.} Nxc3 6. dxc3
Be7 7. Bf4 O-O 8. Qd2 Nd7 9. O-O-O Nc5 10. h4 ({Shirov prefirió en esta
posición} 10. Kb1 Bf6 11. Be3 b6 12. Nd4 Bb7 13. f3 a6 14. h4 Re8 15. Rh3 Bc8
16. Nc6 Qd7 17. Nb4 Bb7 18. g4 a5 19. Nd3 Nxd3 20. Bxd3 b5 21. Bg5 Be7 22. h5
Bc6 23. Bf5 Qd8 24. Be3 Rb8 {Shirov,A-Morozevich, A Moscú 2002 1-0 (71)}) 10...
Bg4 11. h5 $146 {Anand introduce una nueva jugada en esta posición} ({
Recientemente el GM moldavo Viorel Bologán jugó:} 11. Re1 Re8 12. Nd4 Ne6 13.
Nxe6 Bxe6 14. Bd3 Qd7 15. f3 a5 16. Kb1 b5 17. Bg5 Bf8 18. h5 d5 19. h6 g6 20.
Bf6 b4 21. Qg5 bxc3 22. Bxc3 d4 23. Bb5 c6 24. Rd1 cxb5 25. Rxd4 Qe7 {Bologan,
V-Motylev,A chessassistantclub.com INT 2004 /0-1 (48)}) 11... Re8 $146 {
una jugada nueva , aunque esta posición solo se había jugado una vez} ({
en esa ocasión las negras optaron por la lógica} 11... h6 12. Be2 Bf6 13. Nd4
Ne4 14. Qe3 Bxe2 15. Qxe2 Re8 16. Qf3 Bg5 17. Rhe1 Qf6 18. Rxe4 Rxe4 19. Qxe4
Qxf4+ 20. Qxf4 Bxf4+ 21. Kb1 Re8 22. g3 Bg5 23. a4 a6 24. Ka2 Bf6 25. Kb3 Re5
26. Rh1 Re4 27. Kc4 {Obteniendo una posición igualada 1-0 Galego,L-Camejo
Almeida,R 1993}) 12. Bc4 {Carlsen, que hasta este momento ha hecho sus jugadas
rápidamente, está ahora gastando mucho tiempo tiene 13 minutos por 17 de Anand}
c6 $5 {# Carlsen da el peón de d6, un juego concreto propio del estilo de este
prodigio de 14 años.} 13. Bxd6 {Anand captura el peón sin pensarselo un
instante....} Bxd6 14. Qxd6 Qxd6 15. Rxd6 Bxf3 {Magnus tambien juega ahora
rápido} ({la jugada esperada era} 15... Ne4 {pero después de} 16. Rd4 Nxf2 ({
una jugada interesante es} 16... h6 {fijando la debilidad en h5 , con algo de
compensación por el peón entregado}) 17. Rf1 $1 Bxf3 18. gxf3 Nh3 19. Rd7 {
y las blancas ganan}) 16. gxf3 Rad8 17. Rd4 {Las blancas tienen un peón de más
aunque su estructura hace muy difícil materializar esta ventaja.} b5 18. Rhd1
Rxd4 19. cxd4 Nd7 20. Bd3 Nf6 21. d5 $1 {# Anand devuelve el peón para forzar
un final con un alfil mejor que el caballo negro.} cxd5 (21... Nxd5 22. Bxb5 {
y las blancas tienen mucha ventaja}) 22. Bxb5 Re5 23. c4 Kf8 24. c5 d4 $2 {
después de esto la posición negra parece perdida} (24... Rxh5 25. c6 Ne8) 25.
b4 $1 {las blancas tienen dos fuertes peones pasados en el flanco de dama.} a5
26. a3 axb4 27. axb4 Nd5 28. Rxd4 {Anand tiene 17 munutos y una posición
ganada , a Magnus le quedan menos de 4 y su posición parece desesperada.} Rxh5
({Entregar una pieza con} 28... Nxb4 29. Rxb4 Rxc5+ 30. Bc4 Rxh5 31. Rb8+ Ke7
32. Rb7+ {no es suficiente para salvarse.}) {#} 29. c6 $1 Ke7 30. Rxd5 $1 {
Anand remata con dos mazazos la partida. La coronación es inevitable. Una
victoria aparentemente muy fácil para Anand.} 1-0

[Event "Leon 18th"]
[Site "Leon"]
[Date "2005.06.11"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C89"]
[WhiteElo "2548"]
[BlackElo "2785"]
[Annotator "Mellado,E"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2005.06.10"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3
{Carlsen permite el temido gambito Marshall} d5 {El Ataque Marshall, un
sistema que goza de gran prestigio en la actualidad, y la principal culpable
del auge que han cobrado en los torneos de élite actuales los sistemas
llamados Anti-Marshall.} 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 ({Este gambito
fue inventado por el GM americano FJ Marshall, quien guardó el secreto durante
años hasta poder emplearlo contra su más peligroso rival, el futuro campeón
del mundo José Raúl Capablanca. La siguiente partida es un clásico de la
historia del ajedrez} 11... Nf6 12. Re1 Bd6 13. h3 Ng4 14. Qf3 Qh4 15. d4 Nxf2
16. Re2 Bg4 17. hxg4 Bh2+ 18. Kf1 Bg3 19. Rxf2 Qh1+ 20. Ke2 Bxf2 21. Bd2 Bh4
22. Qh3 Rae8+ 23. Kd3 Qf1+ 24. Kc2 Bf2 25. Qf3 Qg1 26. Bd5 c5 27. dxc5 Bxc5 28.
b4 Bd6 29. a4 a5 30. axb5 axb4 31. Ra6 bxc3 32. Nxc3 Bb4 33. b6 Bxc3 34. Bxc3
h6 35. b7 Re3 36. Bxf7+ {1-0 Capablanca,J-Marshall,F New York 1918}) 12. d3 $5
(12. d4 {es la variante principal}) 12... Bd6 13. Re1 Bf5 14. Qf3 Qh4 ({
Anand también ha jugado esta posición con blancas.} 14... Qd7 15. Bxd5 cxd5 16.
Bf4 Bxf4 17. Qxf4 Bxd3 18. Nd2 Rfe8 19. h3 h6 20. Qd4 Bg6 21. Nb3 Qc6 22. Nc5
a5 23. a3 a4 24. Rad1 Rac8 25. Rxe8+ Rxe8 26. Nd3 Re4 27. Qa7 Re2 28. Nb4 Qd6
29. Qd4 {Anand,V-Adams,M/Paris 1992 1-0 (96)}) 15. g3 Qh3 16. Bxd5 ({Un
ejemplo muy reciente es} 16. Nd2 Rae8 17. Ne4 Bg4 18. Qg2 Qxg2+ 19. Kxg2 f5 20.
h3 Bh5 21. Bf4 Bxf4 22. gxf4 fxe4 23. dxe4 Bf3+ 24. Kxf3 Rxf4+ 25. Kg3 Rfxe4
26. Rxe4 Rxe4 27. f3 Re2 28. c4 bxc4 29. Bxc4 Rxb2 30. Bxa6 g5 31. a4 Kg7 32.
a5 Nf4 33. Bf1 Kg6 34. h4 Kf5 35. a6 Ke5 {1/2-1/2 Nakamura,H-Aronian,L
Gibraltar 2005}) 16... cxd5 17. Be3 Bxd3 18. Qxd5 Rad8 {# Anand tiene 21
minutos en Reloj !más que al principio de la partida!} 19. Qf3 Rfe8 ({
Kasimdzhanov , clasificado ayer para la final de este Magistral, llegó también
a esta posición el año pasado en la Olimpiada de Calvià ....} 19... Qf5 20.
Qxf5 Bxf5 21. Nd2 Rfe8 22. Bd4 f6 23. Nb3 Kf7 24. Bb6 Rc8 25. Rxe8 Rxe8 26. Rd1
Bf8 27. Nd4 Be4 28. f3 Bd5 29. a3 Rb8 30. Bc7 Rb7 31. Bf4 Bc5 32. Kf2 Rd7 33.
Be3 Bc4 34. g4 a5 35. h4 a4 36. h5 Bxd4 37. Bxd4 Rd5 38. Kg3 g6 39. hxg6+ Kxg6
40. Re1 h5 41. Re8 hxg4 42. fxg4 Rd6 43. Kf4 Re6 {1/2-1/2 Kasimdzhanov,
R-Onischuk,A Calvia 2004}) 20. Nd2 Qf5 21. Qxf5 Bxf5 22. Bd4 f6 {Como mandan
las reglas clásicas el bando que tiene pareja de alfiles debe colocar su
cadena de peones en las casillas del color del alfil contrario. Por
trasposición se ha llegado a la partida anteriormente mencionada.} 23. f3 {
Esta es la autentica novedad, nada menos que en la jugada 23.} b4 {Las negras
efienden con éxito habitualmente este tipo de finales con peón de menos a
cambio de la pareja de alfiles en posición abierta.} 24. Ne4 Bc7 $1 {Carlsen
12:39 Anand 16:31} 25. Kf2 bxc3 26. bxc3 Rb8 27. Re2 Kf7 {Anand tiene el doble
de tiempo que su rival: 16 minutos por 8 de Carlsen} 28. Rd1 h5 $1 {Fritz
considera que las blancas tienen gran ventaja, aunque en estas posiciones
donde uno de los bandos mantiene ventaja material durante muchas jugadas, son
seguramente, las que peor valora .} 29. Bc5 {Magnus quiere cambiar un alfil
para privar a las negras de su principal baza: la pareja de alfiles.} Kg6 $1 {
# impidiendo elegantemente la amenaza blanca.} 30. Bd4 {Y Carlsen ofrece
tablas que Anand acepta. Una partida que demuestra lo difícil que resulta
obtener alguna ventaja tangible contra el GM Indio, que ha demostrado una
preparación teórica de altísimo nivel.} (30. Bd6 Rbd8 31. Red2 Bb6+ {y las
negras mantienen sus alfiles Anand 1,5 Carlsen 0,5}) 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leon 18th"]
[Site "Leon"]
[Date "2005.06.11"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2785"]
[BlackElo "2548"]
[Annotator "Mellado,E"]
[PlyCount "141"]
[EventDate "2005.06.10"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 {Anand cambia ahora a la
variante principal, en lugar de 5.Nc3 que le sirvió para ganar la primera
partida.} d5 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. O-O O-O 8. Re1 (8. c4 c6 {es lo que se juega con
más frecuencia}) 8... Re8 9. Nc3 {Una jugada muy poco frecuente, Nos
encontramos en territorio prácticamente virgen} Nxc3 10. bxc3 Rxe1+ 11. Qxe1 h6
{Novedad, una jugada muy lógica que controla g5, donde podrían acceder dos
piezas menores blancas.} 12. c4 dxc4 13. Bxc4 Nc6 14. Bb2 Bg4 $6 ({la
alternativa es} 14... Bf5 {y a la interesante} 15. Qc3 $5 Qf6 16. Ne5 Bxe5 17.
dxe5 Qg6 {y a pesar de la pareja de alfiles de las blancas , las negras
parecen tener una posición defendible.}) 15. Qe4 {#} Bxf3 (15... Qd7 16. Bd3 f5
17. Qd5+ Qf7 18. Qb5 Qg6 19. Ne5 Bxe5 20. dxe5 {con ventaja blanca}) 16. Qxf3
Qe7 17. g3 {como en la partida anterior: Anand coloca la cadena de peones en
casillas del color del alfil de su rival.} Re8 (17... Nd8 18. a4) 18. Bc3 Nd8
19. a4 Qe4 20. Qxe4 Rxe4 21. a5 {Anand ha obtenido otra vez con asombrosa
sencillez una posición claramente ventajosa.} Re8 (21... Bb4 $5 22. Bb2 {
no cambia mucho las cosas} ({pero no} 22. Bxb4 Rxd4 23. Be7 (23. Bxf7+ Kxf7)
23... Nc6 {recuperando la pieza con igualdad})) 22. Kg2 Ne6 23. h4 {Anand,
juga ndo con su habitual rapidez, está dando una clase acerca de como tratar
este tipo de posiciones. Anand 17:12 Carlsen: 6:23} Kf8 24. Bb2 b6 25. h5 Rb8
$6 ({mejor es intentar el recurso} 25... b5 26. Bd3 c5) 26. axb6 axb6 ({
se podía intentar} 26... Rxb6 27. Bc3 (27. Ra2) 27... Bb4 28. Bxb4+ Rxb4 29.
Bxe6 fxe6 30. Rxa7 Rc4 {con un final de torres que tal vez sea defendible}) 27.
Bb5 Rd8 (27... c5 $5 28. d5 Nd4) 28. Bc6 Be7 29. c3 {Anand 15:08 Carlsen: 2:44}
b5 30. Ra7 $1 (30. d5 Nc5 31. Ba3 Na4 32. c4 Nc3 33. cxb5 Bxa3 34. Rxa3 Nxd5
35. Ra7 {también parece fuerte pero la jugada de la partida es mejor y más
sencilla.}) 30... Rb8 31. d5 {#} Bc5 32. Ra5 Nd8 33. Bd7 $1 Bd6 34. Bxb5 ({
esperabamos} 34. Rxb5 {la jugada de la partida permite al negro soñar con
salvarse gracias a los alfiles de distinto color}) {después de} 34... c6 $1 {#}
35. dxc6 Nxc6 36. Bxc6 Rxb2 37. Bd5 Rd2 38. c4 Be5 39. Ra8+ Ke7 40. Ra7+ Kd6
41. Rxf7 Bd4 42. Rf5 Rc2 43. g4 Bc5 44. Bf7 Rd2 45. Kg3 Rd3+ 46. f3 Rd2 {
Anand 9:27 Carlsen: 00:24 Carlsen se defiende ya con pocos segundos para cada
jugada} 47. Rd5+ {Anand entra en el final de alfiles de distinto color,
valorando sin duda que debe estar ganado.} Rxd5 48. Bxd5 Ke5 49. f4+ Kf6 50.
Kf3 Bd6 51. Ke4 Bc5 52. Bg8 Bd6 53. Bh7 Ke6 54. g5 Ke7 55. Bg8 {# Quitándole
casillas al rey negro. Y asegurando un camino para penetrar con el propio.} Kf8
56. Be6 Ke7 57. Bg4 Kf7 58. gxh6 gxh6 59. f5 Kf6 60. Kd5 Bg3 61. c5 Ke7 62. c6
Bh2 63. Bf3 Bg3 64. Kc5 Bc7 65. Kb5 Kd8 66. Ka6 Kc8 67. f6 Bd6 68. Kb6 Bc7+ 69.
Kc5 Be5 70. f7 Bg7 71. Kd6 {Y las negras abandonan Anand se enfrentará a
Kasimdzahanov en la gran final de mañana.} 1-0

[Event "Leon 18th"]
[Site "Leon"]
[Date "2005.06.11"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B46"]
[WhiteElo "2548"]
[BlackElo "2785"]
[Annotator "Mellado,E"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2005.06.10"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e6 5. Nc3 a6 ({Anand suele jugar en
esta posición} 5... Qc7 {como veremos la diferencia entre esta jugada y la de
la partida es importante si se quiere evitar que las blancas jueguen
posiciones del ataque inglés} 6. Be3 a6 7. Qd2 Nf6 8. O-O-O Bb4 {es una de las
posiciones más discutidas en la actualidad.}) 6. Be3 (6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 {
es la variente principal contra este orden}) 6... Nf6 7. Qd2 $6 {un orden
dudoso Anand impedirá ahora llegar a las posiciones del ataque inglés} Bb4 $1
8. f3 d5 $1 {#} 9. a3 Qa5 $1 10. Nb3 Bxc3 11. bxc3 Qc7 12. Bf4 ({resulta
interesante la siguiente partida en la que las blancas, a pesar de perder,
obtuvieron buenas posibilidades de ataque.} 12. Bd3 dxe4 13. fxe4 O-O 14. O-O
b6 15. Rxf6 gxf6 16. Bh6 Ne5 17. Bxf8 Kxf8 18. Qh6+ Ke7 19. Rf1 Ng6 20. h4 Qe5
21. Nd4 Bb7 22. h5 Nf8 23. Rb1 Nd7 24. Nf3 Qxc3 25. Qxh7 f5 26. exf5 Rh8 27.
Rb3 Qc5+ {0-1 Panarin,M-Rublevsky,S/chessassistantclub.com INT 2004}) 12... e5
13. exd5 exf4 14. dxc6 O-O {Carlsen 14:31 Anand 20:54} 15. O-O-O Qxc6 16. c4
Be6 17. Qxf4 Rac8 $6 (17... Rfd8 {impidiendo la siguiente maniobra del blanco
era más fuerte}) 18. Qd6 $1 {Magnus aprovecha la ocasión para cambiar damas en
una posición en la que su principal debilidad es el rey.} Qa4 19. Qb4 $1 Qxb4
20. axb4 Bxc4 21. Nc5 Bxf1 22. Rhxf1 a5 23. Nxb7 axb4 24. Kb2 Rc7 25. Nd6 {
Ahora este final parece un poquito mejor para el blanco debido a la debilidad
del peón de b4.} g6 26. Rd4 Rb8 27. Rfd1 Rb6 28. R1d2 h5 29. Rf4 $1 Nh7 30. Re4
(30. Nc4 Rb8 31. Ne5 {ofrece, según Fritz, mejores perspectivas al blanco.})
30... Nf8 31. Nc4 Rb8 32. Ne3 Ne6 33. Rc4 Rcb7 34. Rd3 Kg7 35. Nd5 Rb5 36. Nc7
Nxc7 37. Rxc7 Re8 38. Rd2 (38. Rdd7 Rf5 39. Re7 Rd8 40. Rcd7 Rb8 41. Rb7 Rd8
42. Rxb4 Rd2) 38... Re3 39. Rc4 Rb7 {# Y Anand ofrece tablas que son aceptadas
por su rival. Un match muy cómodo para Anand, pero seguramente dentro de unos
años las fuerzas de estos jugadores estarán más equilibradas y Magnus
disfrutará de oprtunidades de revancha. ?Quizás en León?} 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-ch 6th"]
[Site "Warsaw"]
[Date "2005.06.18"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Praszak, Michal"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B76"]
[WhiteElo "2548"]
[BlackElo "2261"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2005.06.18"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "POL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2
Nc6 9. O-O-O d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bd4 e5 13. Bc5 Be6 14. Ne4 Re8
15. h4 h6 16. g4 Qc7 17. g5 h5 18. Bc4 Red8 19. Qf2 Qa5 (19... Qb7 $142 $14 {
/~~}) (19... a5 20. a4 $14) 20. Qe1 $146 (20. a3 Nf4 21. Rxd8+ Rxd8 22. Bxe6
Nxe6 23. Bxa7 Nd4 24. Bc5 Qb5 25. Re1 Rb8 $14 {1/2-1/2 Kriventsov,S (2409)
-Kudrin,S (2554)/Stillwater 2005}) (20. Rd2 Nf4 21. Bxe6 Nxe6 22. a3 Rd5 23.
Be3 Nd4 24. Rd3 Rb8 $13 {1-0 Vorobiov,E (2440)-Pavlov,N (2310)/Moscow 1996 (56)
}) (20. Rd3 Nf4 21. Ra3 Qc7 22. Bxe6 Nxe6 23. Rd1 Rxd1+ 24. Kxd1 Nxc5 25. Qxc5
Qd7+ 26. Rd3 Qh3 27. Qf2 Qh1+ 28. Qe1 Qh3 29. Kc1 Rb8 30. Qf2 Rb7 31. b3 Rd7
32. Rxd7 Qxd7 33. Qc5 Qf5 34. Qxc6 Qf4+ 35. Kb2 Qxh4 36. Qe8+ {1-0 Mueller,
M-Weitzer,S (2250)/Germany 1995/GER-chT2}) 20... Nc3 $2 {This idea has a
refutation.} (20... Qa4 21. Bb3 Qa6 22. Qf1 Qa5 $14) 21. Rxd8+ (21. Qxc3 $2
Qxc3 22. Nxc3 Bxc4 $11) 21... Rxd8 22. Bxe6 $1 Rd1+ 23. Qxd1 Nxd1 24. Bb3 $1
$18 {Black took the queen but loses too many pieces for it.} Nxb2 25. Kxb2 Qc7
26. Rd1 {White is easily winning - all his pieces are very active.} a5 27. a4
Kh7 28. Rd6 Qc8 29. Bxf7 Qf5 30. Bxg6+ Qxg6 31. Rxg6 Kxg6 32. Kb3 Kf5 33. Ng3+
1-0

[Event "EU-ch 6th"]
[Site "Warsaw"]
[Date "2005.06.19"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Volkov, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2634"]
[BlackElo "2548"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2005.06.18"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "POL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 h6 7. Bd2 Bb4 8. a3
Ba5 9. Bd3 O-O 10. O-O Re8 11. Rad1 e5 12. dxe5 Nxe5 13. Nxe5 Rxe5 14. cxd5
Nxd5 15. Nxd5 Rxd5 16. Bxa5 Qxa5 17. Bc4 Rxd1 18. Rxd1 Bf5 19. e4 Bg6 20. Bf1
Rd8 21. Qc3 Qb6 22. Rxd8+ Qxd8 23. Qe3 b6 24. b4 Qe7 25. f3 Qe5 26. Qd3 c5 27.
g3 Kh7 28. bxc5 Qxc5+ 29. Kg2 f5 30. exf5 Bxf5 31. Qb3 Qd4 32. g4 Qd2+ 33. Kg3
Qe1+ 34. Kg2 Qd2+ 35. Kg3 Qe1+ 36. Kg2 Qd2+ 37. Kg3 Qe1+ 38. Kg2 Qd2+ 39. Kg3
1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-ch 6th"]
[Site "Warsaw"]
[Date "2005.06.20"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Efimenko, Zahar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2548"]
[BlackElo "2620"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2005.06.18"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "POL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Rc1
Bb7 9. Bg2 d5 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Nxd5 Bxd5 12. Qc2 Nc6 13. e4 Nb4 14. Qb1 Bb7
15. O-O c5 16. Bxb4 cxb4 17. Rfd1 Rc8 18. Rxc8 Qxc8 19. Ne5 Qc7 20. Nc4 Rd8 21.
Ne3 g6 22. e5 Bxg2 23. Kxg2 Qc6+ 24. Kg1 Qf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-ch 6th"]
[Site "Warsaw"]
[Date "2005.06.21"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Movsesian, Sergei"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E94"]
[WhiteElo "2548"]
[BlackElo "2628"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2005.06.18"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "POL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O c6 8. Re1
Na6 9. Bf1 Bg4 10. d5 Ne8 11. Be2 Bd7 12. Bg5 f6 13. dxc6 Bxc6 14. Be3 f5 15.
b4 f4 16. Bc1 Nxb4 17. Qb3 a5 18. c5+ Kh8 19. cxd6 Nxd6 20. Bb2 Qe7 21. Bf1 Qf7
22. Rad1 Qxb3 23. axb3 Rad8 24. Ba3 h6 25. Rd2 Nf7 26. Red1 Rxd2 27. Rxd2 Rd8
28. Rxd8+ Nxd8 29. Bc4 Bf6 30. Bxb4 axb4 31. Nd5 Kg7 32. Nd2 b5 33. Be2 Ne6 34.
Nxb4 Be8 35. Nd5 Nd4 36. Bd1 Bd8 37. Nf3 Nxf3+ 38. Bxf3 Kf8 39. Be2 Bc6 40. b4
Be7 41. Nxe7 Kxe7 42. f3 g5 43. g4 fxg3 44. hxg3 h5 45. Kh2 Kd6 46. Kh3 Bd7+
47. g4 Kc6 48. Kg3 h4+ 49. Kf2 Be6 50. Bf1 Bc4 51. Bh3 Kd6 52. Ke3 Ke6 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-ch 6th"]
[Site "Warsaw"]
[Date "2005.06.22"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Jobava, Baadur"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2637"]
[BlackElo "2548"]
[Annotator "Huebner,R"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2005.06.18"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "POL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 Qc7 8.
g3 e5 9. dxe5 Nxe5 10. Bf4 Nfd7 11. Bg2 g5 12. Bxe5 Nxe5 13. Qd4 f6 14. O-O-O {
Mit diesem Abspiel hat Weiß recht gute Ergebnisse erzielt; vergleiche die
folgende Auswahl an Beispielen.} Be6 (14... Be7 {ist öfter gespielt worden; es
sollte zum Ausgleich genügen:} 15. Ne3 (15. Ne4 O-O (15... Rd8 16. Qc3 Rxd1+
17. Rxd1 Nxc4 18. Qxc4 Qe5 19. Qd4 Qxd4 $11 {1-0 Mikhalevski,V-Rodshtein,M/
Ramat Aviv 2004/CBM 102 ext (49). (48)}) 16. Nxg5 b5 17. Nxe5 fxe5 18. Qe3 bxa4
19. Be4 a3 20. Bxf5 Rxf5 21. Ne4 Rb8 (21... axb2+ $17) 22. bxa3 Qa5 23. Rd3 Qb5
24. Kd2 Qa5+ 25. Kc1 Qb5 26. Kd2 {1/2-1/2 Erdos,V-Ronchetti,N/Heraklio 2004/
EXT 2005 (26).}) (15. Nxe5 Qxe5 16. Qxe5 fxe5 17. Be4 Be6 18. f3 Rd8 19. g4 O-O
20. Rxd8 Rxd8 21. Rd1 $11 Rd4 22. e3 Rxd1+ 23. Kxd1 a5 24. Bf5 Bb3+ 25. Bc2 {
1/2-1/2 Rowson,J-Johannessen,L/Mallorca 2004/CBM 104 no vc (25).}) 15... Be6
16. Qe4 Bb3 17. Rd2 O-O (17... Rd8 $5) 18. h4 gxh4 $2 (18... Bc5) 19. Qxh4 Rf7
20. Nf5 Kh8 21. Be4 Raf8 22. f4 Nc4 23. Ng7 Rxg7 24. Bxh7 f5 25. Qh5 Bh4 26.
Bxf5+ {1-0 Jobava,B-Grischuk,A/Mallorca 2004/CBM 104 no vc (26).}) (14... Nxc4
{genügt wohl auch zum Ausgleich:} 15. Qxc4 Bd6 16. Be4 Bh3 17. Qd3 Be5 18. Bf5
Bxf5 19. Qxf5 Qc8 20. Qe4 O-O 21. h4 g4 22. Rd2 Qe6 23. Rhd1 Rf7 $2 (23... Rae8
$11) 24. Rd6 Qxd6 25. Rxd6 Bxd6 26. Qxg4+ Kf8 27. Qf5 Be5 28. Ne4 Rd8 29. e3
Rd5 30. Qc8+ Kg7 31. g4 c5 32. f4 Bc7 33. g5 Bd8 34. gxf6+ Bxf6 35. Qe6 Rd3 36.
Nd6 {1-0 Jobava,B-Kulaots,K/Instanbul 2004/CBM 102 ext (36).}) 15. f4 {Dies
ist ein neuer, scharfer Versuch. Nach} (15. Ne3 Bg7 (15... Be7 {führt zur oben
zitierten Partie Jobava-Grischuk.}) 16. f4 gxf4 17. gxf4 Nf7 (17... Ng4 $5) 18.
Qe4 {hat Weiß das etwas bequemere Spiel.} Qe7 19. Nf5 Bxf5 20. Qxf5 {1-0
Gelfand,B-Kobalija,M/playchess.com INT 2004/EXT 2005 (30). (29)}) 15... gxf4
16. gxf4 Nxc4 {Schwarz versucht, die Idee des Weißen zu widerlegen.} (16...
Bxc4 17. fxe5 Bb3 18. exf6 Bxd1 19. Qe4+ Kf7 20. Qc4+ {ist offensichtlich
nicht gut für Schwarz.}) (16... Nd7 {ist eine solide Fortsetzung, die dem
Schwarzen gleiches Spiel verspricht:} 17. Ne4 (17. Qe3 Kf7 18. Bf3 h5 {bringt
dem Weißen nichts ein.}) 17... O-O-O 18. Nxf6 Bg7 19. Ne8 Rhxe8 20. Nd6+ Kb8
21. Nxe8 (21. Qxg7 Rg8 22. Qe7 Nc5 {kostet Weiß eine Figur.}) 21... Bxd4 22.
Nxc7 Be3+ 23. Kc2 Kxc7 {ist ungünstig für Weiß.}) 17. Qxf6 Bf7 18. Qxh8 Qxf4+
19. Kb1 Bg6+ (19... Nd2+ 20. Rxd2 Qxd2 21. Qxh7 {ist gut für Weiß.}) (19... Ne3
20. Rd4 {geht gar nicht für Schwarz.}) 20. Ka1 (20. Ka2 {ist schwächer:} Ne3
21. Rhf1 Nxf1 22. Rxf1 Qd6 {mit etwa gleichem Spiel.}) 20... Ne3 21. Rd2 (21.
Rhf1 Nxf1 22. Rxf1 Qb4 (22... Qd6 23. Ne4 {ist nicht gewinnträchtig für
Schwarz.}) 23. Qe5+ Be7 (23... Qe7 {scheitert an} 24. Rxf8+ Kxf8 25. Qh8+) 24.
Qh8+ {mit remis.}) 21... Nc2+ $2 (21... Nxg2 {verdient natürlich Erwägung:} 22.
Rd4 (22. e3 {ist ungenügend:} Nxe3 23. Re1 Rd8 (23... Kf7 24. Rd7+ Ke6 25. Qd4
Qxd4 26. Rxd4 Ke5 27. Rd2 Bc5 28. Nd1 Kf4 29. Rf2+ {ist befriedigend für Weiß.}
) 24. Rxd8+ (24. Rde2 Rd3 {ist für Weiß ganz hoffnungslos.}) 24... Kxd8 25.
Rxe3 Qxe3 26. Qxf8+ Kc7 {, und Schwarz gewinnt ziemlich mühelos.}) 22... Qf5 {
Auf andere Damenzüge folgt 23.Se4 mit entscheidender Kraft.} 23. Ne4 Ke7 {
Es gibt nichts anderes.} 24. Rhd1 Ne3 25. Rd7+ Ke6 (25... Qxd7 26. Qe5+ Kd8 (
26... Qe6 27. Qc7+ Ke8 28. Nf6+ Qxf6 29. Qd7#) 27. Rxd7+ Kxd7 28. Nf6+ Kd8 29.
Qxe3 {mit Gewinnstellung für Weiß.}) 26. R1d6+ (26. Qg8+ Ke5 27. Qh8+ Kf4 {
ist keine Verbesserung für Weiß.}) 26... Bxd6 27. Rxd6+ Ke7 28. Qxa8 Qf1+ 29.
Ka2 Bf7+ 30. b3 Bxb3+ 31. Kxb3 Qb1+ 32. Kc3 Qc2+ 33. Kd4 Nf5+ 34. Ke5 Nxd6 35.
Nxd6 Qb2+ 36. Kf5 Kxd6 37. Qb8+ Kd7 38. Qxa7 {mit Ausgleich. Es ist zu
verstehen, daß dem Schwarzen dieses Abspiel nicht geheuer war; aber er mußte
sich darauf einlassen, denn nun kommt er in Nachteil.}) 22. Rxc2 Bxc2 23. Rf1
Qd6 ({Nach} 23... Qb4 24. Qf6 (24. Qe5+ Be7 25. Bh3 Rd8 {führt zu einer
ungefähr ausgeglichenen Stellung.}) 24... Kd7 25. Qe5 {gerät der König des
Schwarzen ebenfalls unter Beschuß.}) 24. Be4 Bb3 25. Nb5 $1 cxb5 26. Bxb7 Rb8
27. Bc6+ Kd8 28. Qxf8+ Kc7 29. Qg7+ (29. Qxd6+ Kxd6 30. axb5 Bc4 {ist nicht
überzeugender.}) 29... Kxc6 (29... Kb6 30. Bxb5 {ist aussichtslos für Schwarz.}
) 30. Qc3+ Kb6 31. Qxb3 Ka5 (31... a6 32. Qe3+ Ka5 33. axb5 {ist nicht besser;
nach} Rxb5 34. Qc3+ {verliert Schwarz in wenigen Zügen die Dame.}) (31... Qe5
32. axb5 Rc8 33. Qa4 Qxb5 34. Rf6+ {ist auch nicht geeignet, Widerstand zu
leisten.}) 32. Qc3+ Qb4 (32... Kxa4 33. b3+ Ka3 34. Rb1 {führt zum Matt.}) 33.
Qc7+ $18 {Eine außerordentliche Partie.} Rb6 34. Qxa7+ Ra6 35. Qc7+ Rb6 36. Rf4
Qb3 37. Qa7+ Ra6 38. Qc5 Rg6 39. axb5 1-0

[Event "EU-ch 6th"]
[Site "Warsaw"]
[Date "2005.06.23"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Guseinov, Elmir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D13"]
[WhiteElo "2391"]
[BlackElo "2548"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2005.06.18"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "POL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bf5 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Nc3 Nc6 7. Ne5 Nd7 8.
Qb3 e6 9. Qxb7 Ncxe5 10. dxe5 Rb8 11. Qxa7 Bc5 12. Qa4 O-O 13. Be2 Nxe5 14. O-O
Rb4 15. Qd1 Qf6 16. a3 Rh4 17. g3 Qg6 18. b4 Bb6 19. Bb2 Ng4 20. Bf3 Nxh2 21.
Bg2 Bg4 22. Nxd5 exd5 23. Qxd5 Rh5 0-1

[Event "EU-ch 6th"]
[Site "Warsaw"]
[Date "2005.06.25"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kharlov, Andrei"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2548"]
[BlackElo "2628"]
[Annotator "Mueller,Karsten"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[EventDate "2005.06.18"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "POL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Be6 10. Ng5 Ke7 11. f4 h5 12. Rd1 Rd8 13. Rxd8 Kxd8 14.
Nxe6+ fxe6 15. Ne4 Be7 16. Kf2 c5 17. Be3 b6 18. Rd1+ Kc8 19. Ke2 Kb7 20. Bf2
c4 21. Kf3 Kc6 22. g3 a6 23. h3 g6 24. g4 hxg4+ 25. hxg4 Rh3+ 26. Ke2 Nh6 27.
Rg1 b5 28. Be3 b4 29. Nf2 Rh2 30. Kf3 Bh4 31. Rh1 Rxh1 32. Nxh1 Kd5 33. Bf2
Bxf2 34. Nxf2 a5 35. c3 b3 36. a3 Ng8 37. Nd1 Ne7 38. Ne3+ Kc5 39. Ke4 a4 40.
Nf1 Kb5 41. Nd2 Kc5 42. Nf3 Kc6 43. Nd4+ Kd7 44. Ne2 Kc6 45. Nd4+ Kd7 46. f5
exf5+ 47. gxf5 c5 48. e6+ Ke8 49. Ne2 Nxf5 50. Nf4 Ne7 51. Ke5 g5 52. Nh5 Kd8
53. Kd6 Nf5+ 54. Ke5 Ne7 55. Kf6 Nc6 $2 {Nach diesem passiven Zug bekommt
Schwarz kein Bein mehr auf den Boden.} (55... Nd5+ {war vonnöten:} 56. Kf7 (56.
Kxg5 $2 Nxc3 $19) 56... g4 57. Ng3 Ne7 $11) 56. Kxg5 Ke7 57. Nf4 Kd6 (57... Na7
58. Kf5 Nb5 59. Nd5+ Kd6 60. Ne3 Ke7 61. Nxc4 Nc7 62. Ke5 Nxe6 63. Nb6 $18) 58.
Kf6 Ne7 59. Kf7 Nc6 60. Kf6 Ne7 (60... Ne5 61. Nd5 Ng4+ 62. Kg5 Ne5 63. e7 Kd7
64. Kf6 Ng4+ 65. Kf7 Ne5+ 66. Kg7 Nc6 67. Kf8 $18) 61. Ng2 Ng8+ 62. Kg7 Ne7 (
62... Kxe6 63. Kxg8 Ke5 64. Ne3 Ke4 65. Nxc4 Kd3 66. Nb6 Kc2 67. Nxa4 $18) 63.
Kf7 Nc6 64. Kf6 Nd4 (64... Ne7 65. Ne3 Ng8+ 66. Kg7 Ne7 67. Kf7 Nc8 68. Kf6 $18
) 65. e7 Kd7 66. Kf7 1-0

[Event "EU-ch 6th"]
[Site "Warsaw"]
[Date "2005.06.26"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sargissian, Gabriel"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2548"]
[BlackElo "2630"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2005.06.18"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "POL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. h3
Bb7 9. d3 d6 10. a4 Na5 11. Ba2 c5 12. Bg5 b4 13. Nbd2 Nd7 14. Bxe7 Qxe7 15.
Nf1 Nb6 16. c3 bxc3 17. bxc3 Qc7 18. Ne3 c4 19. dxc4 Bc8 20. Nf5 Nbxc4 21. Nd2
d5 22. Ne3 Nxe3 23. Rxe3 dxe4 24. Nxe4 Bf5 25. Qd6 Rac8 26. Qxc7 Rxc7 27. Nd6
Be6 28. Bxe6 fxe6 29. Rxe5 Nb3 30. Rb1 Nc5 31. a5 Rd8 32. Ne4 Nxe4 33. Rxe4 Rd5
34. Ra4 Rcc5 35. c4 Re5 36. Rb6 Rxa5 37. Rxa6 Rxa6 38. Rxa6 Re2 39. Ra4 Rc2 40.
c5 Kf7 41. Ra8 e5 42. Rc8 Ke6 43. c6 g6 44. Rc7 Kf6 45. f3 h5 46. Kh2 h4 47.
Rc8 Kg7 48. Kg1 Rc4 49. Kf1 e4 50. Ke2 exf3+ 51. Ke3 Kf6 52. gxf3 Kg7 53. c7
Rc1 54. f4 Kh7 55. Ke4 Kg7 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-ch 6th"]
[Site "Warsaw"]
[Date "2005.06.27"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C91"]
[WhiteElo "2626"]
[BlackElo "2548"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2005.06.18"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "POL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. d4
d6 9. c3 Bg4 10. d5 Na5 11. Bc2 c6 12. h3 Bh5 13. dxc6 Qc7 14. Nbd2 Qxc6 15.
Nf1 Bg6 16. Ng3 Rfe8 17. a4 Nc4 18. Qe2 d5 19. exd5 Nxd5 20. Bxg6 hxg6 21. axb5
axb5 22. Nxe5 Nxe5 23. Rxa8 Rxa8 24. Qxe5 b4 25. Qe4 bxc3 26. bxc3 Qxc3 27. Rd1
Rd8 28. Ne2 Qb4 29. Qc2 Nf6 30. Rxd8+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-ch 6th"]
[Site "Warsaw"]
[Date "2005.06.28"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Smirnov, Pavel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2624"]
[BlackElo "2548"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2005.06.18"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "POL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 Nc6
8. Qd2 Be6 9. O-O-O Qd7 10. Ng5 Bxg5 11. Bxg5 f6 12. Be3 O-O-O 13. b3 Rhe8 14.
h3 Bf5 15. Kb2 Kb8 16. Be2 Be4 17. Rhg1 Re7 18. g4 Rde8 19. h4 Ne5 20. Qd4 Nc6
21. Qd2 Ne5 22. Qd4 Nc6 23. Qa4 a6 24. b4 Ne5 25. Qxd7 Rxd7 26. Rg3 b5 27. Rd4
1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-ch 6th"]
[Site "Warsaw"]
[Date "2005.06.29"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Korneev, Oleg"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B46"]
[WhiteElo "2548"]
[BlackElo "2611"]
[Annotator "Ribli,Z"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2005.06.18"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "POL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. g4 {Dieser
Zug führt zu sehr scharfem Spiel und erinnert mich ein wenig an den
Keres-Angriff der Scheveninger Variante. Mit 7.Qd2 kann Weiß nicht so
erfolgreich spielen, wie im Falle von 5...Qc7 (statt 5...a6), da mit 7...Bb4 8.
f3 d5 Schwarz gute Chancen bekommt.} (7. Qd2) 7... h6 {Wie in der Scheweninger
Variante (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.g4) ist dies eine
gute und ruhige Fortsetzung.} (7... h5 8. gxh5 Qa5 9. h6 g6 10. Qf3 Nh5 11.
Nxc6 bxc6 12. O-O-O Rb8 13. Rd4 c5 14. Rc4 Bb7 15. Be2 Bc6 16. Rd1 Rb4 {
1/2-1/2 Forster,R-Gavrikov,V/Switzerland 2003/EXT 2004 (32)}) (7... Bb4 8. Bg2
d5 (8... h6 $5) 9. g5 $1 Nxe4 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Bxe4 Bxc3+ (11... dxe4 12.
Qxd8+ Kxd8 13. O-O-O+ Ke7 14. Nxe4 $16) 12. bxc3 dxe4 13. Qxd8+ Kxd8 14. O-O-O+
Kc7 15. Bf4+ Kb7 16. Be5 $36 {[%csl Rb7,Rc8,Ge5] 1-0 Hector,J-Hansen,C/Malmo
2003/CBM 95/[Ribli] (49)}) 8. Bg2 (8. h3 Qc7 9. Bg2 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 e5 11. Qb6
Qxb6 12. Bxb6 d6 13. O-O-O Be6 14. Bc7 Kd7 15. Ba5 Rb8 {1/2-1/2 Hector,
J-Andersson,U/Sweden 2000/EXT 2002 (63)}) 8... d5 9. O-O Bb4 10. exd5 {Das ist
die Neuerung von Weiß; 7 Runden früher spielte der junge norwegische GM hier
10.h3.} (10. h3 O-O 11. Nde2 Bxc3 12. Nxc3 d4 13. e5 Nxg4 14. Qxg4 dxe3 15.
Bxc6 bxc6 16. Ne4 Qc7 {0-1 Carlsen,M-Volokitin,A/Biel 2005/CBM 108 (37)}) 10...
exd5 11. h3 O-O $11 {Diese Stellung erinnert mich an die Variante 1.e4 c5 2.
Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 e6 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.Nge2 d5 6.exd5 exd5 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4. Der
Hauptunterschied ist, dass in unsere Partie die weiße Königsstellung schächer
ist.} 12. Nce2 Re8 13. Nxc6 $6 {[%mdl 16384] Mit diesem Zug verstärkt Weiß nur
die gegnerische Zentrumsstellung.} (13. c3 $11) (13. Ng3 $11) 13... bxc6 $15 {
[%csl Gc6,Gd5]} 14. c4 a5 {[%cal Gc8a6,Ga6f1]} (14... Rb8 $15) 15. Nd4 Ra6 (
15... Bb7 16. Rc1 $11) 16. Qd3 (16. a3 Bf8 $15 (16... Bd6 $15)) 16... c5 17.
Nf5 (17. Nc2 Rd6 $15 {[%cal Gc8a6,Ga6f1]}) (17. Nb5 $5) 17... d4 (17... Bxf5
18. Qxf5 dxc4 19. Qc2 $11) 18. Bf4 (18. Bd2 $6 Bxd2 19. Qxd2 Bxf5 20. gxf5 Qd7
$17) 18... a4 19. Bf3 $6 {Dieser Läuferzug scheint mir etwas zu passiv - nach
meiner Meinung sollte Weiß 19.a3 spielen.} (19. a3 Ba5 $15) 19... a3 20. b3
Bxf5 21. Qxf5 (21. gxf5 Nd7 $17 {[%cal Gd7e5,Ge5d3,Ge5f3]}) 21... Rae6 $17 {
[%csl Gb4,Ge6,Ge8][%cal Ge8e1] Schwarz kontrolliert sehr stark die einzige
offene Linie und sein Läufer steht gut auf b4. Aber statt der
Partiefortsetzung konnte Schwarz stark mit 21...Nxg4! fortsetzen.} (21... Nxg4
$1 {[%csl Ga6][%cal Ga6g6]} 22. Qxg4 (22. hxg4 Rf6 23. Qd3 Rxf4 $19) 22... Rg6
$19) 22. Rad1 Ne4 23. Bxe4 Rxe4 {Alle schwarzen Figuren stehen sehr aktiv,
während es in der weißen Stellung nur Schwächen gibt.} 24. Bd2 g6 (24... R8e5
25. Qf3 Re2 26. Bxb4 cxb4 $17) 25. Qf3 Bxd2 26. Rxd2 h5 $1 {[%cal Rd8g5,Rg5g1,
Rg5d2][%mdl 128] Mit diesem Zug beginnt Schwarz seinen direkte Angriff am
Königsflügel.} 27. Qg3 hxg4 28. hxg4 Qg5 {[%csl Rd2,Rg1,Rg3][%cal Rg5d2,Re4g4]}
29. f4 Re3 $19 (29... Qe7 $17) 30. Qh2 (30. fxg5 Rxg3+ $19) 30... Qxg4+ 31. Rg2
Qf5 32. Rg5 Qd3 33. Qh4 Rh3 34. Qg4 Rh1+ 0-1

[Event "EU-ch 6th"]
[Site "Warsaw"]
[Date "2005.06.30"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nielsen, Peter Heine"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2548"]
[BlackElo "2653"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2005.06.18"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "POL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 h6 10. h3 Bd7 {The plan with evacuating the king to
queenside is the most popular on the top level since the match
Kasparov-Kramnik 2000.} 11. Bf4 Kc8 12. Rad1 b6 (12... Bb4 13. Ne4 Be6 14. c3
Be7 15. b3 b6 16. g4 Nh4 17. Nxh4 Bxh4 18. Bg3 Be7 19. f4 h5 20. f5 Bd5 21. Rd4
hxg4 22. hxg4 Ba3 23. Kf2 a5 24. c4 Bxe4 25. Rxe4 $16 {1-0 Short,N-Sokolov,I/
Wijk aan Zee 2005 (48)}) 13. a3 (13. Rd3 Be6 14. Rfd1 Kb7 15. b3 g5 16. Bc1 c5
17. Nd5 Ne7 18. Nxe7 Bxe7 19. c4 Rag8 20. Nd2 g4 21. hxg4 Rxg4 22. Nf1 Rhg8 23.
Rg3 h5 24. Re1 a6 25. Rxg4 hxg4 26. Rd1 Kc6 $15 {1-0 Anand,V-Topalov,V/Monte
Carlo 2005 (46)}) (13. b3 Ne7 14. Bh2 a5 15. Rd2 Be6 16. Nd4 Nd5 17. Nce2 Bb4
18. Rd3 Bc5 19. a4 Nb4 20. Rg3 g5 21. c3 Nd5 22. Nxe6 fxe6 $15 {1/2-1/2 Polgar,
J-Bruzon,L/Wijk aan Zee 2005 (55)}) 13... Be6 (13... Ne7 14. Rfe1 Ng6 15. Bg3
Be7 16. Nd4 Nf8 17. Bf4 Kb7 18. Be3 Re8 19. f4 h5 20. Ne4 c5 21. Nf3 Bf5 22.
Bc1 Ne6 23. c3 h4 24. Neg5 Nxg5 25. Nxg5 Bxg5 26. fxg5 a5 $15 {1/2-1/2
Kasimdzhanov,R-Sasikiran,K/Jodhpur 2003 (53)}) 14. g4 $146 {Sooner or later,
white has to follow his main plan of advancing his pawn majority on the
kingside.} (14. Rfe1 Be7 15. Ne2 g5 16. Bc1 c5 17. g4 Ng7 18. Nc3 Kb7 19. Nd5
Bxd5 20. Rxd5 Ne6 21. Kg2 Kc6 22. Rdd1 b5 $11 {1/2-1/2 Horvath,T-Petran,P/
Austria 2000 (32)}) 14... Ne7 15. Nd4 Bc4 16. Rfe1 c5 17. Nf5 Nc6 (17... Be6
18. Nxe7+ Bxe7 19. Nd5 $14) 18. Nd5 (18. Kg2 $5) 18... Bxd5 19. Rxd5 g6 20. e6
$1 {It's always curious to see a piece sacrifice in the endgame, but this one
is actually forced.} (20. Ng3 $2 Nd4 $17 {[%csl Rc2,Rd5][%cal Gd4f3,Gc7c6]})
20... gxf5 21. exf7 Bd6 $1 (21... Ne7 22. Rde5 Kd7 23. Rd1+ Kc8 24. Rde1 Kd7
$11) 22. Bxh6 $6 {[%cal Gd5d6] This is too optimistic.} (22. Re8+ Kd7 23. Rxa8
Rxa8 24. Bxh6 Ke6 (24... fxg4 25. f8=Q Rxf8 26. Bxf8 Ke6 27. Rxd6+ (27. Bxd6
Kxd5 28. Bxc7 gxh3 29. Kh2 Ke4 30. Kxh3 Kf3 $15) 27... cxd6 28. hxg4 Ne5 $11)
25. Rxd6+ cxd6 26. f8=Q Rxf8 27. Bxf8 fxg4 28. hxg4 Ne5 $11) 22... Kb7 $4 {
The king goes wrong way.} (22... Rxh6 $2 23. Rxd6 $18) ({After the correct} 
22... Kd7 $1 {black is on top. For example:} 23. g5 (23. Bg7 Nd4 24. Bxh8 Rxh8
25. Kg2 fxg4 26. hxg4 Nxc2 (26... Rh2+ $6 27. Kf1 Rh1+ 28. Kg2 Rh2+ $11) 27.
Rh1 Rf8 28. Rh7 Ke6 29. Rf5 Nd4 $19) 23... Ne7 24. Rd2 Ng6 (24... Rxh6 $2 25.
gxh6 Rf8 26. h7 Ng6 27. Re8 Rxe8 28. fxe8=Q+ Kxe8 {[%tqu "En","Find the
winning move.","","","f2f4","",7]} 29. f4 $1 $18 {[%csl Rg6,Gh7][%cal Gd2g2,
Gg2g6]}) 25. Rde2 Nf4 26. Re3 Raf8 27. Bxf8 Rxf8 $17) 23. Bg7 $6 ({More
convincing would have been} 23. g5 $1 Nd4 24. Rxd6 cxd6 25. Kf1 Nf3 26. Re7+
Kc6 27. g6 Rxh6 (27... Ne5 28. Rxe5 dxe5 29. g7 $18) 28. g7 Rhh8 29. gxh8=Q
Rxh8 30. Re8 $18) 23... Rh7 24. Rxd6 $1 Rxg7 25. Rxc6 fxg4 (25... Kxc6 $2 26.
Re8 Rxf7 27. Rxa8 $18) 26. Rxb6+ {?? I assume that this is a mistake in the
scoresheet, because the refutation of this is pretty much obvious to miss it...
} (26. Rxc7+ Kxc7 27. Re7+ Kc6 {should be the correct order of moves.}) 26...
cxb6 {??} (26... axb6 $19) 27. Re7+ Kc6 28. f8=Q Rxf8 29. Rxg7 gxh3 30. Rh7 {
After some wild complications, both sides landed in the endgame where white'
passed "f" pawn should decide the outcome of the game in his favour.} Rd8 (
30... Rf3 31. Kf1 $18 {[%cal Gf1e2]}) 31. Rxh3 Rd1+ 32. Kg2 Rc1 33. Rc3 b5 34.
Kf3 Kd5 35. Ke2 c4 36. Kd2 Rb1 37. Rh3 $1 Rf1 (37... Rxb2 $2 38. Kc1 Ra2 39.
Kb1 $18 {[%csl Ra2]}) 38. Rh5+ Kd4 $2 ({Much better was} 38... Kc6 {, but I
believe that after} 39. Rf5 {white has great winning chances.}) 39. Ke2 Rc1 40.
Kd2 Rf1 41. Ke2 Rc1 42. c3+ Ke4 43. f3+ Kf4 44. Rxb5 $18 Rc2+ 45. Kd1 Rh2 46.
Kc1 Kxf3 47. Rc5 Rh4 48. Kb1 Ke3 49. Rc7 {White is winning the second pawn.}
1-0

[Event "EU-ch 6th"]
[Site "Warsaw"]
[Date "2005.07.01"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Riazantsev, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2608"]
[BlackElo "2548"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2005.06.18"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "POL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. a3 Bb7 5. Nc3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bd2 Be7 8. Qc2
Nd7 9. e4 Nxc3 10. Bxc3 O-O 11. Rd1 Rc8 12. Bc4 Nf6 13. Bd3 c5 14. dxc5 Rxc5
15. O-O Qa8 16. Rfe1 Rfc8 17. Qe2 R5c7 18. a4 a6 19. Ne5 Bf8 20. Nc4 Nd7 21.
Qe3 Rc6 22. Bf1 Nc5 23. a5 bxa5 24. Nxa5 R6c7 25. Be5 Rd7 26. b4 Rxd1 27. Rxd1
f6 28. Bf4 Nxe4 29. Rd7 Rc3 30. Qe1 Bd5 31. f3 Bxb4 32. fxe4 Bxe4 33. Bd2 Bc5+
34. Kh1 Rf3 35. Bc3 Rf2 36. Rd2 Bxg2+ 0-1

[Event "NOR-chB"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2005.07.06"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Djurhuus, Rune"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2509"]
[BlackElo "2548"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2005.07.01"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 107 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 Nc6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Nf3 d5 6. exd5 Nxd5 7. O-O Bxc3 8.
bxc3 O-O 9. Bd2 Kh8 10. Ng5 f6 11. Qf3 Nce7 12. Ne4 b6 13. d4 Bb7 14. dxe5 Ng6
15. Qe2 f5 16. Bg5 Qe8 17. Bxd5 Bxd5 18. Nd2 h6 19. c4 Bb7 20. Be3 f4 21. Bd4
Bxg2 22. Kxg2 f3+ 23. Nxf3 Nf4+ 0-1

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Sandnes"]
[Date "2005.07.02"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dannevig, Oystein"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B05"]
[WhiteElo "2528"]
[BlackElo "2347"]
[PlyCount "129"]
[EventDate "2005.07.02"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 107 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. Be2 c6 6. O-O Bxf3 7. Bxf3 dxe5 8.
dxe5 e6 9. Nd2 Nd7 10. Re1 Bb4 11. Bxd5 cxd5 12. Qg4 Qb6 13. Qxg7 O-O-O 14. c3
Bc5 15. Qg3 Rdg8 16. Qf4 Rg7 17. b4 Be7 18. Nf3 Rhg8 19. g3 Kb8 20. Be3 Qc7 21.
Rac1 Nb6 22. Bxb6 Qxb6 23. a3 h5 24. c4 h4 25. Qe3 hxg3 26. hxg3 Qxe3 27. Rxe3
dxc4 28. Rxc4 Bd8 29. Rd3 Bb6 30. Kg2 a6 31. Rd7 Rc8 32. Nd2 Rd8 33. Rxd8+ Bxd8
34. Ne4 Be7 35. f4 Rg8 36. Kf3 Rd8 37. Ke3 Rd1 38. Rd4 Ra1 39. Rd3 Kc7 40. Nf6
Kc6 41. Ke4 Re1+ 42. Kf3 Ra1 43. Kg4 b6 44. Ng8 Bf8 45. Kg5 a5 46. Kf6 axb4 47.
axb4 Ra7 48. g4 Kb5 49. g5 Kxb4 50. Rd8 Bc5 51. Re8 b5 52. Nh6 Ka3 53. Nxf7 b4
54. g6 b3 55. g7 b2 56. Rb8 Bb4 57. Rxb4 Kxb4 58. g8=Q Ra1 59. Qb8+ Kc3 60. f5
exf5 61. e6 b1=Q 62. Qxb1 Rxb1 63. e7 Rb6+ 64. Kxf5 Rb5+ 65. Kf4 1-0

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Sandnes"]
[Date "2005.07.03"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Agdestein, Simen"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A33"]
[WhiteElo "2571"]
[BlackElo "2528"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2005.07.02"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 107 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 e6 6. a3 Be7 7. e4 O-O 8. Nc2
b6 9. Be2 Bb7 10. O-O Qc7 11. Ne3 a6 12. f4 d6 13. b4 b5 14. cxb5 axb5 15. Bb2
Qb6 16. Qd3 Nd4 17. Bd1 e5 18. Kh1 Rac8 19. Ncd5 Nxd5 20. exd5 g6 21. Bb3 Nxb3
22. Qxb3 f6 23. Rad1 Rce8 24. h3 Bd8 25. Rd3 Qc7 26. fxe5 fxe5 27. Rdd1 Bg5 28.
Ng4 Qc4 29. Qxc4 bxc4 30. Bc1 Bxc1 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Sandnes"]
[Date "2005.07.04"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hole, Oystein"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D12"]
[WhiteElo "2528"]
[BlackElo "2336"]
[PlyCount "149"]
[EventDate "2005.07.02"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 107 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nh4 Bg6 7. Nxg6 hxg6 8. Bd2
Nbd7 9. Rc1 Bd6 10. a3 O-O 11. Qc2 Rc8 12. c5 Bb8 13. f4 Nh5 14. g3 f5 15. Be2
Nhf6 16. h4 Kf7 17. b4 a6 18. a4 Bc7 19. Kf2 Ra8 20. Kg2 Qe7 21. Bf3 Rfb8 22.
Ra1 b6 23. Rhb1 a5 24. Na2 bxc5 25. bxc5 Qd8 26. Nc1 Ne4 27. Be1 Ndf6 28. Nd3
Nd7 29. Rxb8 Rxb8 30. Rb1 Rxb1 31. Qxb1 Qa8 32. Be2 Qa7 33. Qb3 Qa8 34. Nc1 Ke7
35. Bf3 Qa6 36. Qd3 Qa8 37. Nb3 Kf7 38. Be2 Nb8 39. g4 fxg4 40. Bxg4 Na6 41.
Bf3 Nb4 42. Qe2 Qb7 43. Bxe4 dxe4 44. Nd2 Nd5 45. Nxe4 Qb3 46. Bd2 Ke7 47. Ng5
Qc2 48. Kf1 Nf6 49. e4 Qb1+ 50. Kf2 Qh1 51. Qf3 Qxh4+ 52. Kg2 Qh5 53. Be1 Nd7
54. e5 Qxf3+ 55. Kxf3 Nb8 56. Kg4 Na6 57. Ne4 Nb4 58. Bxb4 axb4 59. Nd2 Bd8 60.
Kf3 Kd7 61. Ke4 g5 62. f5 exf5+ 63. Kxf5 g6+ 64. Kg4 Kc7 65. Nb3 Kb7 66. Kf3
Ka6 67. Ke4 Be7 68. e6 Bf6 69. a5 Kb5 70. d5 cxd5+ 71. Kxd5 g4 72. c6 g3 73. c7
g2 74. c8=Q g1=Q 75. Qc6# 1-0

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Sandnes"]
[Date "2005.07.05"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Lie, Kjetil A"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2472"]
[BlackElo "2528"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2005.07.02"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 107 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Bf4 Nc6
8. Qd2 O-O 9. O-O-O Bf5 10. Rg1 Qd7 11. h3 Rae8 12. g4 Be4 13. Be2 Bf6 14. Be3
Ne5 15. Nxe5 Rxe5 16. g5 Bd8 17. Bd4 Ree8 18. b3 Qxh3 19. Bg4 Qh2 20. Kb2 f5
21. Be2 c5 22. f3 Bd3 23. Bxd3 Qxd2 24. Bc4+ Kh8 25. Bxg7+ Kxg7 26. Rxd2 Bc7
27. Bd5 b5 28. Bc6 Re3 29. a3 a6 30. Rh1 Kg6 31. f4 d5 32. Rh6+ Kg7 33. Rh4 d4
34. cxd4 cxd4 35. Rxd4 Rd8 36. Rxd8 Bxd8 37. Bd7 Re7 38. Bxf5 Kg8 39. Bd3 Bc7
40. b4 Rf7 41. f5 Rg7 42. g6 Be5+ 43. Kb3 hxg6 44. fxg6 Re7 45. c4 Rd7 46. Rh3
1-0

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Sandnes"]
[Date "2005.07.06"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ostmoe, Geir S Tallaksen"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2528"]
[BlackElo "2349"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2005.07.02"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 107 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. d4 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 b5 6. cxb5 Bxb5 7. Bg2 d5 8. O-O
Nbd7 9. Nc3 Ba6 10. Re1 Bd6 11. Bb2 O-O 12. e4 Nxe4 13. Nxe4 dxe4 14. Rxe4 Bb7
15. Rh4 Be7 16. Rh3 Nf6 17. Qe2 Bd5 18. Re1 Qb8 19. Ne5 Qb7 20. Bxd5 Qxd5 21.
Qc2 c5 22. Ng4 h6 23. Re5 Qf3 24. Nxh6+ gxh6 25. Rxh6 Kg7 26. Rg5+ Kxh6 27. Bc1
cxd4 28. Rg4+ Qe3 29. Rh4+ Nh5 30. Rxh5+ Kxh5 31. Qh7+ Kg4 32. fxe3 Rac8 33.
Kg2 Rxc1 34. h3+ Kg5 35. Qg7+ Kf5 36. g4+ Ke4 37. Qxd4# 1-0

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Sandnes"]
[Date "2005.07.07"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Djurhuus, Rune"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2461"]
[BlackElo "2528"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2005.07.02"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 107 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 Nc6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Nf3 d5 6. exd5 Nxd5 7. O-O Bxc3 8.
bxc3 O-O 9. Bd2 Kh8 10. Ng5 f6 11. Qf3 Nce7 12. Ne4 b6 13. d4 Bb7 14. dxe5 Ng6
15. Qe2 f5 16. Bg5 Qe8 17. Bxd5 Bxd5 18. Nd2 h6 19. c4 Bb7 20. Qh5 Bxg2 21.
Rfe1 Bb7 22. e6 f4 23. h4 Rf5 24. Qg4 Qc6 25. f3 Ne5 26. Qxf5 Nxf3+ 27. Kf2
Nxd2 28. Qd5 hxg5 29. Rad1 Nxc4 30. Qxc6 Bxc6 31. hxg5 Ne3 32. Rd3 Re8 33. Rg1
Rxe6 34. Rd8+ Re8 35. Rxe8+ Bxe8 36. Kf3 Nxc2 37. Kxf4 Nd4 38. Rh1+ Kg8 39. Ke5
c5 40. Rf1 Bg6 41. a4 Nc6+ 42. Kd6 Nb4 43. Ke7 c4 44. Rf8+ Kh7 45. Rc8 c3 46.
Kf8 Nd5 47. Ra8 Nc7 48. Rc8 Ne6+ 49. Ke7 Nc5 0-1

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Sandnes"]
[Date "2005.07.08"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Fyllingen, Roy Harald"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C08"]
[WhiteElo "2528"]
[BlackElo "2395"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[EventDate "2005.07.02"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 107 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 a6 4. Ngf3 c5 5. exd5 exd5 6. dxc5 Bxc5 7. Nb3 Ba7 8.
Qe2+ Qe7 9. Nfd4 Bg4 10. f3 Qxe2+ 11. Bxe2 Bd7 12. Bf4 Ne7 13. O-O-O Nbc6 14.
Rhe1 Nxd4 15. Nxd4 O-O-O 16. Bd3 Rde8 17. c3 Bxd4 18. cxd4 Nc6 19. Be3 Re7 20.
Kd2 Rhe8 21. Rc1 h6 22. Bf2 Rxe1 23. Bxe1 Kd8 24. Bh4+ Kc7 25. Bg3+ Kd8 26. Rc5
Nxd4 27. Rc7 Bc6 28. Rxf7 Re7 29. Rf8+ Re8 30. Rxe8+ Kxe8 31. Be5 Ne6 32. Bf5
Kf7 33. Bxe6+ Kxe6 34. Bxg7 h5 35. Ke3 Kf5 36. Bd4 Bb5 37. Bc5 Bc4 38. a3 Bb5
39. b3 a5 40. Kf2 a4 41. bxa4 Bxa4 42. h3 Bd1 43. g4+ hxg4 44. hxg4+ Kg6 45.
Kg3 b5 46. f4 Bc2 47. Be3 d4 48. Bf2 Be4 49. Bxd4 Bc2 50. Bb6 Be4 51. Bd8 Bc2
52. Kf2 Be4 53. Ke3 Bc2 54. Bh4 Bb1 55. Kd4 Bc2 56. Ke5 Bd3 57. f5+ Kf7 58. g5
Bc2 59. Be1 Bd3 60. Bc3 Bc2 61. Kf4 Bb1 62. g6+ Kg8 63. Kg5 Bc2 64. f6 Bb3 65.
Bb4 Ba2 66. Kf4 1-0

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Sandnes"]
[Date "2005.07.09"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Johannessen, Leif Erlend"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E34"]
[WhiteElo "2543"]
[BlackElo "2528"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2005.07.02"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 107 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. cxd5 c5 6. Bg5 Qxd5 7. Bxf6 gxf6 8.
dxc5 Qxc5 9. Rc1 Nc6 10. Nf3 Bd7 11. e3 Rc8 12. Be2 Bxc3+ 13. bxc3 O-O 14. O-O
Rfd8 15. Qe4 Be8 16. Qh4 Kg7 17. c4 Ne5 18. Qg3+ Ng6 19. h4 Qh5 20. Rfd1 Bc6
21. c5 Rxd1+ 22. Bxd1 Rd8 23. Be2 Qh6 24. Qg4 Kh8 25. h5 Ne7 26. g3 Rg8 27. Qf4
Qxf4 28. exf4 Rd8 29. Rd1 Rd5 30. Rxd5 Nxd5 31. Nd4 Nc3 32. Bc4 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Sandnes"]
[Date "2005.07.10"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gronn, Atle"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D43"]
[WhiteElo "2528"]
[BlackElo "2394"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2005.07.02"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 107 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 Qb6 7. Qc2 Ne4 8. e3
Bb4 9. Bd3 Qa5 10. O-O Nxc3 11. bxc3 Bxc3 12. Rab1 dxc4 13. Bxc4 Bb4 14. Ne5
Bd6 15. f4 Qc7 16. Qe4 b6 17. Nxf7 Qxf7 18. f5 Qh5 19. Bxe6 Nd7 20. f6 Nxf6 21.
Rxf6 Qxh4 22. Qxc6+ Ke7 23. Rf7+ Kxe6 24. Qc4# 1-0

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2005.07.17"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C91"]
[WhiteElo "2660"]
[BlackElo "2528"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2005.07.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. d4
d6 9. c3 Bg4 10. Be3 exd4 11. cxd4 Na5 12. Bc2 c5 13. dxc5 dxc5 14. h3 Qxd1 15.
Bxd1 Be6 16. Nbd2 Nc6 17. Ng5 c4 18. a3 Rad8 19. Bc2 Bc8 20. f4 Nd7 21. Ngf3
Nc5 22. e5 Nd3 23. Bxd3 Rxd3 24. Ne4 Bf5 25. Nd6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2005.07.18"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Pelletier, Yannick"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C18"]
[WhiteElo "2528"]
[BlackElo "2603"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2005.07.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Ne7 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. Qg4 Nf5 8. Bd3
h5 9. Qf4 Qc7 10. Ne2 Ne7 11. dxc5 Nd7 12. O-O Qxe5 13. Qa4 Qc7 14. Be3 e5 15.
Ng3 O-O 16. Qh4 Nxc5 17. Nxh5 Nxd3 18. Qg5 Ng6 19. cxd3 Qxc3 20. d4 exd4 21.
Rac1 Qb2 22. Rb1 Qc3 23. Rbc1 Qb2 24. Rb1 Qc3 25. Rbc1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2005.07.19"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2724"]
[BlackElo "2528"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2005.07.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. a3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Qc2 Nxc3 8.
bxc3 Be7 9. e4 O-O 10. Bd3 c5 11. O-O Qc7 12. Qe2 Nd7 13. e5 Rfd8 14. h4 Nf8
15. Be3 Qc6 16. Rfd1 Rac8 17. h5 h6 18. Ne1 Nh7 19. Qg4 Ng5 20. Kh2 Kh8 21. a4
Ne4 22. Rdc1 Bg5 23. f4 f5 24. Qe2 Bh4 25. Nf3 Be7 26. Bb5 Qc7 27. Bc4 Qd7 28.
Bb5 Qc7 29. Bc4 Qd7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2005.07.20"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Volokitin, Andrei"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B46"]
[WhiteElo "2528"]
[BlackElo "2671"]
[Annotator "Ribli,Z"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2005.07.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. g4 h6 8. Bg2
d5 9. O-O Bb4 {Mit normalen Entwicklungszügen erreicht Schwarz eine bequeme
Stellung.} 10. h3 {In der 11.Runde des Turniers spielte Magnus 10.exd5.} (10.
exd5 exd5 11. h3 O-O 12. Nce2 Re8 13. Nxc6 bxc6 14. c4 a5 15. Nd4 Ra6 16. Qd3
c5 17. Nf5 d4 18. Bf4 a4 {0-1 Carlsen,M-Korneev,O/Warsaw 2005/CBM 108 (34)})
10... O-O 11. Nde2 $6 (11. exd5 exd5 12. Nce2) 11... Bxc3 12. Nxc3 d4 {[%cal
Rd4c3,Rd4e3]} 13. e5 Nxg4 $1 $15 {[%mdl 64] Dieser Zwischenzug ist sehr stark.}
(13... dxe3 14. Qxd8 Rxd8 15. exf6 $14) 14. Qxg4 (14. Bxd4 Ngxe5 15. Bc5 Re8
$15) 14... dxe3 15. Bxc6 (15. Qg3 $5) 15... bxc6 16. Ne4 $1 {[%cal Ge4f6] Weiß
beschäftigt sich nicht mit dem schwarzen e3-Bauern, er positioniert seinen
Springer am Königsflügel.} (16. fxe3 Qb6 $15) 16... Qc7 (16... Rb8 $15) 17.
Nf6+ $6 {Der Springer steht "schön" auf f6, aber Weiß hat keine konkreten
Drohungen am Königsflügel.} (17. Nd6 $5) (17. Qg3 $5) 17... Kh8 18. Qh5 Rb8 {
[%csl Gb8][%cal Gb8b2,Gb8b4,Gb4f4] Schwarz bringt den Turm ins Spiel.} 19. Rae1
Rb4 (19... exf2+ 20. Rxf2 Rxb2 $17) 20. Ng4 (20. Rxe3 Rd8 $15 (20... c5 $15))
20... Kh7 21. fxe3 (21. Nxe3 Rxb2 $17) (21. Rxe3 Rxb2 22. Rg3 Qd8 $17) 21... f5
$1 {[%mdl 256] Ein ausgezeichneter Verteidigungszug - 22.exf6 ep. ist schlecht,
da Weiß Probleme mit seiner Figurenkoordination bekommt.} 22. e4 (22. exf6 Qg3+
23. Kh1 Rb5 24. fxg7 Rxh5 25. gxf8=N+ Kg7 $19) 22... Qb6+ (22... Rxb2 $17) (
22... Qd8 $17) 23. Kh1 Qd8 24. Nf2 (24. exf5 exf5 $17) 24... Rxb2 $17 {Schwarz
hat einen Bauern mehr und eine schwache weiße Bauernstruktur.} 25. Rg1 Qe8 26.
Qh4 Rxc2 {Für die zwei Minusbauern hat Weiß keine Kompensation.} 27. Rg2 c5 {
[%cal Gc8b7,Gb7h1] Schwarz möchte seinen Läufer auf die Diagonale b7-h1
bringen.} 28. Reg1 Rg8 29. Qg3 Bb7 30. Qb3 Bxe4 31. Nxe4 Rxg2 32. Rxg2 fxe4 $19
{Schwarz hat drei Bauern mehr und steht auf Gewinn.} 33. Qb7 Qh5 34. Qxe4+ Qf5
35. Qe3 (35. Qxf5+ exf5 $19) 35... Rd8 36. Qg3 Rd7 37. Kh2 Qe4 0-1

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2005.07.21"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Bauer, Christian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2641"]
[BlackElo "2528"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2005.07.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. Qa4+ c6 6. Qxc4 b5 7. Qb3 Bb7 8. d4
Nbd7 9. Bg5 a6 10. a4 c5 11. axb5 Bd5 12. Bxf6 gxf6 13. Qd1 axb5 14. Rxa8 Qxa8
15. O-O b4 16. Nh4 Be7 17. Re1 f5 18. dxc5 Bxh4 19. Bxd5 exd5 20. gxh4 Rg8+ 21.
Kh1 Qc6 22. Qd4 Rg4 23. Qe3+ Kf8 24. Nd2 Qxc5 25. Qf3 Qd4 26. Nf1 Nf6 27. Ng3
f4 28. e3 Qe5 29. Nf1 Ne4 30. Nd2 fxe3 31. Qxe3 Qf6 32. Nxe4 Rxe4 33. Qc5+ Qe7
34. Qc8+ Qe8 35. Qc5+ Qe7 36. Qc8+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2005.07.23"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2528"]
[BlackElo "2660"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2005.07.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 Nb6 8.
Ne5 a5 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bh4 Bh7 11. f3 Nfd7 12. Nxd7 Nxd7 13. Qb3 Qc7 14. e3 e6
15. Be2 Bd6 16. Bf2 O-O 17. Rc1 e5 18. e4 exd4 19. Nb5 Qb8 20. Nxd6 Qxd6 21.
Bg3 Qb4+ 22. Qxb4 axb4 23. Kf2 f5 24. exf5 Bxf5 25. Rhd1 c5 26. Bd6 Rfc8 27.
Bc4+ Kh7 28. g4 Bg6 29. Bb5 Be8 30. Bxd7 Bxd7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2005.07.24"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Pelletier, Yannick"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E34"]
[WhiteElo "2603"]
[BlackElo "2528"]
[Annotator "Pelletier,Y"]
[PlyCount "29"]
[EventDate "2005.07.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. cxd5 c5 6. dxc5 $5 (6. dxc6 Qxd4 7.
cxb7 Bxb7 $44) (6. Bg5 {- Bareev-Topalov, Monaco blind 2005}) 6... Nxd5 (6...
Qxd5 7. a3 {kostet einen Bauern.}) (6... exd5 {könnte wohl in die Variante 5...
ed5 6.Bg5 c5 7.dxc5 übergehen, außer Weiß findet nun etwas Klügeres als 7.Bg5.}
) 7. Bd2 Bxc5 8. Nxd5 Qxd5 9. e4 Qd4 $6 ({Die Dame ist hier exponiert. Besser
sind} 9... Qd6 10. Rc1 (10. Nf3) 10... Nd7 11. Nf3 O-O 12. e5 Qb6 (12... Qe7
13. Bd3 h6 14. a3 a5 15. O-O $36) 13. Bc3 $14 {und}) (9... Qc6 10. Rc1 Be7 11.
Qd3 (11. Bc3 O-O 12. Nf3 $14) 11... Qd7 12. Qg3 O-O 13. Nf3 $36 {, auch wenn
Weiß in beiden Fällen besseres Spiel behält.}) 10. O-O-O (10. Bc3 Bb4 $11)
10... Nd7 (10... Qxf2 $2 11. Nh3 Qd4 12. Bg5) 11. Bb5 ({Auch} 11. f4 $5 {
sieht interessant aus:} O-O (11... Be7 12. Nf3 $36) 12. Nf3 Qf2 $5 13. Kb1 $36)
11... O-O $4 {[%mdl 8192]} ({Ein böser Fehler. Die Alternativen zeigen aber,
dass Schwarz bereits kein leichtes Leben hat:} 11... a6 12. Be3 Qe5 13. Bxc5 $1
(13. Bxd7+ Bxd7 14. Bxc5 Rc8 15. b4 b6) 13... Qg5+ 14. Kb1 axb5 15. Bb4 Qxg2
16. Ne2 Qxf2 17. Rd3 $16) (11... Qe5 12. Nf3 Qc7 13. Kb1 $5 (13. b4 Bd6 14.
Qxc7 Bxc7) 13... a6 14. Bxd7+ Bxd7 15. Rc1 Rc8 16. Be3 Bd6 17. Qd3 Bc6 18. Nd4
O-O 19. Nxc6 bxc6 20. Qxa6 $16) (11... Qd6 $142 12. Bc3 (12. Nf3 Qb6) 12... Qe7
13. Nf3 (13. Qa4 a6 14. Nf3 Rb8) 13... O-O (13... a6 14. Bxd7+ Bxd7 15. Bxg7
Rg8 16. Bc3 $36) 14. e5 $36) 12. Bc3 Qxf2 13. Qxf2 Bxf2 14. Bxd7 Be3+ 15. Kc2
1-0

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2005.07.25"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B96"]
[WhiteElo "2528"]
[BlackElo "2724"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2005.07.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Nbd7 8. Qf3
Qc7 9. O-O-O b5 10. Bxf6 Nxf6 11. e5 Bb7 12. Qh3 dxe5 13. Ncxb5 Qb6 14. fxe5
Ne4 15. Bc4 Nf2 16. Qb3 O-O-O 17. Nd6+ Rxd6 18. exd6 Qxb3 19. Nxb3 Nxh1 20. Nc5
Bxg2 21. Bxe6+ Kd8 22. Bxf7 g6 23. Kb1 Bc6 24. Ne6+ Kd7 25. Nc5+ Kd8 26. Ne6+
1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2005.07.26"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bauer, Christian"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B27"]
[WhiteElo "2528"]
[BlackElo "2641"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2005.07.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 b6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Bb7 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. Qd2 Qc7 8. f3
Bb4 9. Nde2 Nc6 10. Bf4 e5 11. Bg3 Nge7 12. a3 Bxc3 13. Nxc3 d6 14. Bc4 O-O 15.
Ba2 b5 16. Rd1 Rad8 17. Bh4 Rd7 18. O-O Kh8 19. f4 exf4 20. Bg5 Qb6+ 21. Kh1
Ne5 22. Bxf4 N7g6 23. Be3 Qd8 24. Bd4 Re8 25. Nd5 Qh4 26. Rde1 h6 27. Re3 Kg8
28. Bc3 Ng4 29. Rh3 Qg5 30. Qd4 N6e5 31. Nf4 Nc4 32. Rh5 Qf6 33. Qxf6 Nxf6 34.
Bxf6 gxf6 35. Bxc4 bxc4 36. Rxh6 Rxe4 37. Rxf6 Rde7 38. Kg1 Rd4 39. Nh5 Rd2 40.
R6f2 Ree2 41. Nf4 Rxf2 42. Rxf2 Rd1+ 43. Rf1 Rd2 44. Rc1 d5 45. Kf1 d4 46. Ke1
c3 47. Ne2 a5 48. bxc3 dxc3 49. h4 Ba6 50. Nxc3 Rxg2 51. Nd5 Kg7 52. c4 Rg1+
53. Kd2 Rxc1 54. Kxc1 Bxc4 55. Nf4 Kf6 56. Kd2 Kf5 57. Ke3 Bb3 58. Nd3 Kg4 59.
Ne5+ Kxh4 60. Nxf7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2005.07.27"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Volokitin, Andrei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2671"]
[BlackElo "2528"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2005.07.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.09.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. O-O O-O 8. c4
c6 9. Re1 Re8 10. Nc3 Nxc3 11. bxc3 Rxe1+ 12. Qxe1 h6 13. c5 Bc7 14. Ne5 Be6
15. f4 Qc8 16. Qh4 Nd7 17. Qg3 Nf8 18. f5 Bxf5 19. Bxh6 Bg6 20. Bxg6 Nxg6 21.
Nxg6 Bxg3 22. Ne7+ Kh7 23. Nxc8 Kxh6 24. hxg3 Rxc8 25. Re1 Rc7 26. Kf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lausanne YM 6th"]
[Site "Lausanne"]
[Date "2005.09.14"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2528"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2005.09.14"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Bf4 Nc6
8. Qd2 O-O 9. O-O-O Bf5 10. Rg1 Qd7 11. h3 Rae8 12. Kb1 Bf6 13. g4 Be4 14. Rg3
Bxf3 15. Rxf3 Ne5 16. Re3 Qa4 17. Qd4 Qxd4 18. cxd4 Ng6 19. Rxe8 Rxe8 20. Bc1
Bh4 21. Bc4 c6 22. Rf1 d5 23. Bd3 Nf8 24. c3 Ne6 25. f4 g5 26. fxg5 Bxg5 27. b3
Kg7 28. Kc2 Bxc1 29. Kxc1 h6 30. h4 Nf8 31. Kd2 Ng6 32. h5 Nf8 33. Bf5 Ne6 34.
Kd3 Nc7 35. c4 a5 36. c5 a4 37. bxa4 Ra8 38. Rb1 Rxa4 39. Rxb7 Nb5 40. Bg6 Ra3+
41. Kd2 Rxa2+ 42. Ke3 Ra7 43. Rxa7 Nxa7 44. Bd3 Nc8 45. Kf4 Kf6 46. Bf5 Na7 47.
Bd7 Nb5 48. Bxc6 Nxd4 49. Bxd5 Nb5 50. Bc4 Nd4 51. Ke4 Nc6 52. Bb5 Ne7 53. Bd7
Ng8 54. c6 Ke7 55. Kd5 Nf6+ 56. Ke5 1-0

[Event "Lausanne YM 6th"]
[Site "Lausanne"]
[Date "2005.09.15"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C91"]
[WhiteElo "2528"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[EventDate "2005.09.14"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. d4 Bg4 10. Be3 exd4 11. cxd4 Na5 12. Bc2 Nc4 13. Bc1 c5 14. b3 Nb6 15.
Nbd2 Nfd7 16. h3 Bh5 17. Bb2 Rc8 18. Rc1 d5 19. dxc5 Nxc5 20. exd5 Nxd5 21. Bf5
Ne6 22. Rxc8 Qxc8 23. Qa1 Bf6 24. Nd4 Ndf4 25. Ne4 Bxd4 26. Bxd4 Bg6 27. Bxg7
Bxf5 28. Bh6 f6 29. Nxf6+ Kf7 30. Qe5 Kg6 31. Bxf8 Qxf8 32. Nd7 Qd8 33. Re3
Bxh3 34. Qe4+ Kh6 35. Ne5 Qd1+ 36. Re1 Qd2 37. gxh3 Nxh3+ 38. Kh2 Qxf2+ 39. Kh1
Neg5 40. Qe3 Qf5 41. Kh2 Nf4 42. Kg3 Nge6 43. Ng4+ Kg5 44. Qe5 Nd3 45. Qxf5+
Kxf5 46. Re3 Nec5 47. Kf3 h5 48. Nh6+ Kg6 49. Ng8 Kf7 50. Ne7 Nb4 51. Re2 Ne6
52. Ke4 Kxe7 53. Kf5 Kd7 54. Rd2+ Ke7 55. Re2 Kd7 56. Rxe6 Nxa2 57. Ke5 Nc1 58.
Rd6+ Kc7 59. b4 Na2 60. Rd4 Kb6 61. Rf4 Kc6 62. Ke6 Nc1 63. Rd4 Na2 64. Rd6+
Kc7 65. Rd7+ Kb6 66. Rd6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lausanne YM 6th"]
[Site "Lausanne"]
[Date "2005.09.16"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Paehtz, Elisabeth"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2528"]
[BlackElo "2421"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2005.09.14"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Bd3 Nf6 8.
O-O b5 9. Nxc6 Qxc6 10. f3 Bb7 11. Kh1 Bc5 12. Bxc5 Qxc5 13. Qe1 d6 14. a4 bxa4
15. Nxa4 Qc7 16. Ra3 O-O 17. Qc3 Bc6 18. Rfa1 Rfb8 19. b3 Qd7 20. Qd4 e5 21.
Qe3 Qb7 22. Nc3 a5 23. Bc4 Qb4 24. R3a2 g6 25. Kg1 Kg7 26. h3 h5 27. h4 Rb7 28.
Na4 Rbb8 29. Nb2 Nd7 30. c3 Qc5 31. Kf2 f5 32. Nd3 Qxe3+ 33. Kxe3 fxe4 34. fxe4
Nf6 35. Nf2 d5 36. exd5 Bxd5 37. Rxa5 Bxg2 38. Nd3 Ng4+ 39. Ke2 Rf8 40. Rxa8
Rxa8 41. Rxa8 Bxa8 42. b4 g5 43. hxg5 Kg6 44. Be6 e4 45. Nc5 Kxg5 46. c4 h4 47.
Bd5 Bxd5 48. cxd5 h3 49. Nxe4+ Kf4 50. Nf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lausanne YM 6th"]
[Site "Lausanne"]
[Date "2005.09.17"]
[Round "2.2"]
[White "Paehtz, Elisabeth"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C55"]
[WhiteElo "2421"]
[BlackElo "2528"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2005.09.14"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Be7 5. Bb3 O-O 6. c3 d5 7. Nbd2 dxe4 8.
dxe4 Bg4 9. h3 Bh5 10. O-O Bc5 11. Qe2 Qe7 12. Re1 Bg6 13. Nh4 Kh8 14. Qf3 Rad8
15. Bc2 Nh5 16. Nf5 Qf6 17. b4 Bb6 18. Nc4 Nf4 19. a4 Qe6 20. Nxb6 axb6 21.
Bxf4 exf4 22. Qxf4 Qc4 23. Qxc7 Qxc3 24. Rac1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lausanne YM 6th"]
[Site "Lausanne"]
[Date "2005.09.17"]
[Round "2.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Paehtz, Elisabeth"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2528"]
[BlackElo "2421"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2005.09.14"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 a5 5. g3 d6 6. Bg2 Nbd7 7. O-O e5 8. Be3
exd4 9. Bxd4 O-O 10. Nc3 Bc5 11. Qc2 Bxd4 12. Nxd4 c6 13. Rad1 Nc5 14. Rd2 Qe7
15. Rfd1 g6 16. b3 Bd7 17. Qb2 Rfd8 18. Nc2 Be6 19. Ne3 h5 20. Rd4 Rd7 21. Qd2
Ne8 22. Bf3 Bh3 23. Rh4 Be6 24. Kg2 Ng7 25. Rd4 Ne8 26. h3 Qf6 27. g4 hxg4 28.
hxg4 Qg5 29. Rh1 Rdd8 30. Rh2 Qe5 31. Kg1 Kf8 32. Bg2 g5 33. Ne4 Nxe4 34. Rxe4
Qa1+ 35. Nf1 d5 36. Rd4 Nf6 37. Bf3 Ke7 38. cxd5 cxd5 39. Kg2 Rh8 40. Rxh8 Rxh8
41. e3 Rc8 42. Qxa5 Rc2 43. a4 Rc1 44. Qb4+ Ke8 45. Be2 Nd7 46. Bb5 Qc3 47. Qd6
Qc7 48. Qxc7 Rxc7 49. Nd2 Ke7 50. Bxd7 Rxd7 51. Nf3 f6 52. Kg3 Rc7 53. Rb4 Kd6
54. Rb6+ Ke7 55. Nd4 Bd7 56. a5 Bc8 57. b4 Bd7 58. b5 Bc8 59. a6 Kf7 1-0

[Event "Lausanne YM 6th"]
[Site "Lausanne"]
[Date "2005.09.17"]
[Round "2.4"]
[White "Paehtz, Elisabeth"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2421"]
[BlackElo "2528"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2005.09.14"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Bf4 O-O
8. Qd2 Nd7 9. O-O-O Nc5 10. Nd4 Bf6 11. f3 Re8 12. g4 Ne6 13. Bg3 Nxd4 14. cxd4
Be6 15. h4 c5 16. Bb5 Bd7 17. Bxd7 Qxd7 18. Bf2 c4 19. c3 b5 20. g5 Bd8 21. Qf4
d5 22. Bg3 Rc8 23. h5 Bc7 24. Qh4 b4 25. Bxc7 Qxc7 26. h6 g6 27. cxb4 c3 28. b3
c2 29. Rd3 Qd6 30. a3 Qa6 31. Kd2 Qxa3 0-1

[Event "Lausanne YM 6th"]
[Site "Lausanne"]
[Date "2005.09.18"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B84"]
[WhiteElo "2528"]
[BlackElo "2527"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2005.09.14"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 6. Be2 e6 7. f4 Be7 8. O-O
O-O 9. a4 b6 10. Bf3 Ra7 11. Be3 Rc7 12. f5 Rc4 13. g4 h6 14. Qd2 Nh7 15. Rad1
Bg5 16. Bxg5 Nxg5 17. Bg2 Nd7 18. fxe6 Ne5 19. exf7+ Ngxf7 20. h3 Ng5 21. Nf5
Bxf5 22. exf5 h5 23. Qxd6 Qxd6 24. Rxd6 hxg4 25. Bd5+ Kh7 26. Bxc4 Nxc4 27. Rd3
Nxh3+ 28. Kg2 Nxb2 29. Rd4 Rc8 30. Nd5 Rxc2+ 31. Kg3 Ng5 32. Rxg4 Nf7 33. Nf6+
gxf6 34. Rh1+ Nh6 35. Rg6 Rc3+ 36. Kg2 Rc2+ 37. Kf3 Rc3+ 38. Ke4 Rc4+ 39. Kd5
Rc5+ 40. Ke6 1-0

[Event "Lausanne YM 6th"]
[Site "Lausanne"]
[Date "2005.09.19"]
[Round "3.2"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B45"]
[WhiteElo "2527"]
[BlackElo "2528"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2005.09.14"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. e5 Nd5 8.
Ne4 Bb7 9. Be2 c5 10. O-O Qc7 11. Nd6+ Bxd6 12. exd6 Qc6 13. f3 c4 14. Qd4 O-O
15. Bxc4 Rfc8 16. b3 Qxd6 17. Rf2 Qb6 18. Qd2 a5 19. Bb2 Rxc4 20. Bxg7 Rxc2 21.
Qxc2 Kxg7 22. Qb2+ f6 23. Rd1 Rc8 24. h4 Qe3 0-1

[Event "Gausdal Byggern Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2005.10.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Svensen, Tarjei Joten"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2112"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2005.10.01"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 d5 3. Bxf6 exf6 4. e3 c6 5. Bd3 Bd6 6. Qf3 Qb6 7. b3 h5 8. h3
Rh6 9. g3 Be6 10. Ne2 Nd7 11. Nd2 O-O-O 12. c3 f5 13. h4 g6 14. b4 Nf6 15. Nb3
Ne4 16. O-O-O f4 17. Bxe4 dxe4 18. Qxe4 Bf5 19. Qg2 fxe3 20. fxe3 Re8 21. Qf2
Qa6 22. Kb2 Rhh8 23. Rhe1 b6 24. a3 Re7 25. Nf4 Rhe8 26. Nxh5 Qc4 27. Ng7 Be6
28. Nxe6 Rxe6 29. Qf3 Qd5 30. Qxd5 cxd5 31. g4 Re4 32. c4 dxc4 33. Nd2 Rxg4 34.
Nxc4 Bc7 35. Kc3 Rxh4 36. d5 b5 37. Nb2 Bb6 38. Rd3 Kd7 39. Re2 Kd6 40. a4 Rc8+
41. Kb3 Rcc4 42. e4 Rcxe4 43. Rxe4 Rxe4 44. axb5 Rd4 45. Nc4+ Kxd5 46. Nxb6+
axb6 47. Rc3 Ke5 48. Rc6 Rd6 0-1

[Event "Gausdal Byggern Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2005.10.02"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hole, Oystein"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D10"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2336"]
[Annotator "Prusikin,M"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2005.10.01"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 dxc4 4. e4 b5 5. a4 b4 6. Na2 Nf6 7. e5 Nd5 8. Bxc4 e6
9. Nf3 Be7 10. Bd2 a5 11. Nc1 Bb7 12. Nb3 Nd7 13. O-O Rc8 14. Rc1 O-O 15. Qe2
c5 $146 {Dieser natürliche Zug stellte eine Neuerung dar.} (15... Ra8 $6 {
1-0 (47) Lawton,G (2402)-Shaw,J (2464) West Bromwich 2003}) 16. Bb5 $1 {
Der Beginn einer glorreichen Karriere. Dieser schöne Prophylaxezug verhindert
sowohl 16...Db6 als auch 16...Lc6 und bindet damit die schwarzen Kräfte.} cxd4
17. Rxc8 Bxc8 18. Nfxd4 $1 {Eben mit diesem Springer! Damit wird der
Damenschwenk zum Königsflügel eingeleitet, während der andere Springer auf
b3, wo er Druck auf den Bauern a5 ausübt, ausgezeichnet postiert ist.} Nb8 {
Die einzige Möglichkeit, 19.Sc6 zu verhindern:} (18... Bb7 $2 19. Nxa5 Qxa5
20. Bxd7 $16) 19. Qg4 $1 Kh8 20. Re1 Qb6 21. Bd3 $1 {Wieder Prophylaxe!
Diuesmal gegen den drohenden Läufertausch.} (21. h4 Ba6 $1) 21... Ba6 22. Bb1
$1 Nc6 $6 {Der natürlichste Zug und zugleich der entscheidende Fehler, aber
die weiße Idee war nicht leicht zu sehen.} 23. Bh6 $1 Rg8 ({Im Falle von} 
23... gxh6 24. Qe4 f5 25. exf6 Nxf6 26. Qxc6 $18 {muss sich Weiß mit einem
gewonnenen Endspiel "begnügen"}) 24. Bxh7 $1 {Dieser Läufer stirbt als Held!}
Kxh7 25. Be3 $1 $18 {...und Aus! Gegen die Drohung 26.Dh5# hilft nur} Rc8 {
...aber jetzt entscheidet der Springerabzug!} (25... Nxe3 26. Qh5# $1) (25...
g6 26. Qh3+ Kg7 27. Qh6#) 26. Nxe6 $1 fxe6 (26... Nxe3 27. Qxg7#) 27. Qh3+ Kg8
28. Qxe6+ Kf8 29. Bxb6 Nxb6 30. Nxa5 Rc7 31. Nxc6 Bc8 32. Qb3 1-0

[Event "Gausdal Byggern Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2005.10.03"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Brynell, Stellan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D47"]
[WhiteElo "2496"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2005.10.01"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Be2
Bb7 9. O-O Be7 10. e4 b4 11. e5 bxc3 12. exf6 Bxf6 13. bxc3 c5 14. dxc5 O-O 15.
Ba3 Be7 16. Qd4 Qc7 17. Rab1 Bc6 18. Qe3 Bxf3 19. Bxf3 Rab8 20. c6 Bxa3 21.
cxd7 Qxd7 22. c4 Qe7 23. Rb5 Rxb5 24. cxb5 Rd8 25. Rd1 Rxd1+ 26. Bxd1 Qd6 27.
Bf3 Bc5 28. Qe2 Qd4 29. g3 g6 30. Kg2 Kg7 31. Bc6 Bb6 32. Qf3 f5 33. Qe2 e5 34.
Bb7 e4 35. Bc6 Kf6 36. Bb7 Ke5 37. Bc6 g5 38. Bb7 g4 39. Bc6 h5 40. Be8 h4 41.
Qe1 h3+ 42. Kg1 Qb2 43. Bc6 Qxa2 44. Bb7 Qb2 45. Bc6 Bd4 46. Be8 e3 47. Kf1 Kf6
48. Qe2 Qc1+ 49. Qe1 Qxe1+ 50. Kxe1 exf2+ 51. Kf1 f4 52. gxf4 Kf5 53. Bf7 Kxf4
0-1

[Event "Gausdal Byggern Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2005.10.04"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Burmakin, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2508"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2005.10.01"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 c6 2. c4 d5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. e3 b5 6. c5 g6 7. Ne5 Bg7 8. Be2 O-O
9. O-O Nfd7 10. f4 Nxe5 11. fxe5 f6 12. exf6 Rxf6 13. Rxf6 Bxf6 14. e4 dxe4 15.
Be3 Be6 16. Nxe4 Nd7 17. Nxf6+ Nxf6 18. Bf4 Qd7 19. Qd2 Rf8 20. Be5 Bg4 21. Bf1
Qd5 22. h3 Nd7 23. Bf4 Be6 24. a3 Rd8 25. Re1 Bf7 26. Qe3 e5 27. Bxe5 Nxe5 28.
dxe5 Be6 29. b4 Qd4 30. Qxd4 Rxd4 31. Be2 Re4 32. Kf2 Rxe5 33. Bf3 Rxe1 34.
Kxe1 Bd7 35. Kd2 Kf7 36. Ke3 Kf6 37. Kd4 h6 38. h4 g5 39. hxg5+ hxg5 40. Be4
Be8 41. g3 Bd7 42. Bg2 Be8 43. Bh3 Bf7 44. Bg2 Be8 45. Be4 Bd7 46. Bc2 Bf5 47.
Bd1 Be6 48. Bf3 Bd7 49. Be4 Be8 50. Bc2 Bh5 51. a4 Bf3 52. a5 Bh1 53. Bd3 Bg2
54. g4 Bf3 55. Bf5 Ke7 56. Ke5 Be2 57. Bc8 Kd8 58. Bxa6 Bxg4 59. Kd6 1-0

[Event "Gausdal Byggern Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2005.10.05"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Dobrov, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A17"]
[WhiteElo "2515"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2005.10.01"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. g4 d6 5. g5 Bxc3 6. bxc3 Nfd7 7. d4 b6 8. a4
Nc6 9. e4 Qe7 10. Be3 f5 11. gxf6 Nxf6 12. a5 O-O 13. axb6 cxb6 14. Rg1 e5 15.
Nd2 Kh8 16. Bd3 Bd7 17. Qe2 Be8 18. f4 Bh5 19. Qf2 Ng4 20. Rxg4 Bxg4 21. Qg3
Bh5 22. fxe5 dxe5 23. d5 Na5 24. c5 Nb7 25. c6 Nc5 26. Be2 Bg6 27. Bg5 Qf7 28.
d6 Bxe4 29. c7 Qd5 30. Be7 Bd3 31. Bf3 e4 32. Bxf8 Rxf8 33. Qg4 exf3 34. Kf2
Bf5 35. Qd4 Nd3+ 36. Kg3 Qe6 37. Kxf3 Be4+ 38. Ke3 Bg6+ 39. Ne4 Nc5 40. c8=Q
Rxc8 41. Rxa7 Qxe4+ 0-1

[Event "Gausdal Byggern Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2005.10.06"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kulaots, Kaido"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B43"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2558"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2005.10.01"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Nc3 b5 6. Bd3 Qb6 7. Nf3 Nc6 8. O-O
Qb8 9. Re1 Nge7 10. e5 Bb7 11. Be4 Qc7 12. Bf4 f5 13. exf6 Qxf4 14. fxe7 Bxe7
15. Qd3 O-O-O 16. a4 d5 17. Bxh7 b4 18. Rxe6 bxc3 19. bxc3 Bf6 20. Rb1 Kc7 21.
Bf5 Bc8 22. Rxc6+ Kxc6 23. Bxc8 Rxc8 24. Qxa6+ Kd7 25. Qb7+ Rc7 26. Qxd5+ Qd6
27. Qf5+ Ke7 28. g3 Re8 29. Qh5 Kd7 30. Qf5+ Re6 31. a5 Rc5 32. Qg4 Rxa5 33.
Nd4 Bxd4 34. cxd4 Kc7 35. Qxg7+ Qe7 36. Qg4 Re1+ 37. Rxe1 Qxe1+ 38. Kg2 Ra1 39.
Qf4+ Kc6 40. Qf6+ Kd5 41. c4+ Kxc4 42. Qc6+ Kd3 43. Qb5+ Kc2 44. Qc4+ Qc3 45.
Qe2+ Qd2 46. Qc4+ Kb2 47. Qb5+ Kc3 48. Qc6+ Kd3 49. Qb5+ Kc2 50. Qc4+ Kb2
1/2-1/2

[Event "Gausdal Byggern Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2005.10.07"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Antic, Dejan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2519"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2005.10.01"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Qc2
d5 9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. Nxd5 exd5 11. e3 Bxf1 12. Kxf1 c5 13. Kg2 Nc6 14. Bc3 Qd7
15. Rhe1 Rac8 16. Qb2 Qg4 17. dxc5 bxc5 18. Ne5 Nxe5 19. Bxe5 Rfd8 20. Rad1 Bf8
21. Bc3 Qe4+ 22. Kg1 h5 23. Qe2 h4 24. f3 Qg6 25. Ba5 Rd6 26. g4 Ra6 27. Qb5 d4
28. exd4 cxd4 29. b4 Re6 30. Qf5 Rxe1+ 31. Rxe1 Qc6 32. Kg2 g6 33. Qe4 Qc4 34.
Kh3 Bd6 35. Re2 d3 36. Qxc4 Rxc4 37. Re8+ Kh7 38. Rd8 Rd4 39. b5 d2 40. Bxd2
Rxd2 41. g5 Rxh2+ 42. Kg4 Bc5 0-1

[Event "Gausdal Byggern Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2005.10.08"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ostmoe, Geir S Tallaksen"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2350"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2005.10.01"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nf1 Bf8 14. Ng3 g6 15.
a4 Bg7 16. Bd3 c6 17. Bg5 h6 18. Bd2 Qc7 19. Qc2 Rad8 20. b4 Nf8 21. dxe5 dxe5
22. c4 Ne6 23. Bf1 bxc4 24. Bxc4 c5 25. b5 axb5 26. axb5 Ra8 27. Rxa8 Bxa8 28.
Qb3 Nd7 29. Rd1 Bb7 30. Nh4 Kh7 31. Ba5 Qxa5 32. Rxd7 Bxe4 33. Qd1 Ba8 34. Rxf7
Rd8 35. Qb1 Nf4 36. Nh5 Nxh5 37. Rxg7+ 1-0

[Event "Gausdal Byggern Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2005.10.09"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Akesson, Ralf"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A17"]
[WhiteElo "2486"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2005.10.01"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 108 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3 6. Qxc3 b6 7. g3 Bb7 8.
Bg2 c5 9. O-O d5 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Qc2 Nc6 12. b3 e5 13. Bb2 Re8 14. e3 e4 15.
Nh4 Nf6 16. f3 Ba6 17. fxe4 Bd3 18. Qc3 Bxf1 19. Rxf1 Ne5 20. Rf5 Nfd7 21. Bf1
f6 22. Ba6 Nf8 23. Bb7 Rb8 24. Bd5+ Kh8 25. Qc2 Nfg6 26. Nxg6+ Nxg6 27. Rh5 Qd7
28. Qd1 Nf8 29. Qf3 Rbd8 30. Rf5 Ne6 31. Bc3 Ng5 32. Qg4 Nf7 33. Qe2 Qxf5 34.
exf5 Rxd5 35. Qc4 Rd7 36. b4 cxb4 37. axb4 Nd6 38. Qc6 Rdd8 39. g4 Ne4 40. Bd4
Nxd2 41. Bxf6 gxf6 42. Qxf6+ Kg8 43. Qg5+ Kh8 44. Qf6+ Kg8 45. Qg5+ Kh8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Samba Cup 2nd"]
[Site "Skanderborg"]
[Date "2005.10.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Timofeev, Artyom"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C91"]
[WhiteElo "2658"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[Annotator "Erenburg,S"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2005.10.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 110"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. d4
d6 9. c3 Bg4 10. Be3 exd4 {Other theoretical possbilities are:} (10... Bh5 11.
h3 exd4 12. cxd4 d5 $5 13. g4 (13. e5 Ne4 14. Nc3 Nxc3 15. bxc3 Na5 16. Bc2 Nc4
17. g4 Bg6 18. Bf5 Bxf5 (18... a5 19. Qd3 b4 20. Re2 Ra6 21. Kg2 Rb6 22. cxb4
axb4 23. Rae1 $14 {1-0 Svidler,P-Delchev,A/Plovdiv 2003/CBM 098 (49)}) 19. gxf5
f6 $13 {1/2-1/2 Grischuk,A-Sokolov,I/Mainz 2003/CBM 095 ext (31)}) 13... Bg6
14. Ne5 Na5 (14... Nxe5 15. dxe5 Nxe4 16. Bxd5 $14) 15. Nxg6 hxg6 16. e5 Ne4
17. Nc3 Bb4 18. Rc1 Nxb3 19. axb3 Bxc3 20. bxc3 Qh4 21. Rc2 f5 $1 {After a
long and rather forced sequence of exchanges Black initiates an offensive
against the weakened white K-side.} 22. f3 Nxc3 $1 (22... Ng5 23. Bxg5 Qxg5 24.
c4 $11) 23. Rxc3 Qg3+ 24. Kf1 fxg4 25. Ke2 (25. f4 gxh3 26. Qe2 g5 $40) 25...
b4 26. Rxc7 gxf3+ 27. Kd2 Qg2+ 28. Kc1 f2 29. Rf1 Rf3 30. Bd2 Rxh3 31. Qe2 $2 {
Immediately losing.} (31. e6 a5 32. e7 Re8 33. Kb2 a4 34. bxa4 Qg3 $19) 31...
Rh1 {0-1 Tischbierek,R-Gustafsson,J/Altenkirchen 2005/CBM 106/[Wedberg]}) (
10... Bd7 11. Nbd2 Ng4 12. Nf1 Nxe3 13. Nxe3 Bf6 14. Nd5 Rb8 15. h3 g6 16.
Nxf6+ Qxf6 17. dxe5 Nxe5 18. Nxe5 Qxe5 19. Qd2 a5 $11 {1/2-1/2 Belov,
V-Khalifman,A/Moscow 2005/CBM 106/[Mueller,Karsten] (66)}) 11. cxd4 Na5 {
attacking White's light-squared bishop, as well as preparing to attack White's
centre with c7-c5.} (11... d5 12. e5 Ne4 13. Nc3 Nxc3 14. bxc3 Qd7 15. h3 Bf5
16. Bg5 $146 {With this P-formation its clear that White's chances are on the
K-side. The question is just how to get started. Exchanging the B on e7 seems
like a reasonable alternative to playing an immediate g4. A few exchanges
won't diminish White's dominating P-structure.} (16. g4 Bg6 17. Nh2 (17. Nd2
Na5 18. f4 Nxb3 19. Nxb3 f5 20. Kh2 a5 21. Rg1 a4 22. Nc1 Ra6 23. Ne2 Rc6 24.
Bd2 Ba3 25. Qf1 b4 $36 {0-1 Formanek,E-Kovacs,L/Reggio Emilia 1977/MCD (51)})
17... Na5 18. Bc2 Bxc2 19. Qxc2 Nc4 20. Bf4 a5 21. Bg3 b4 22. Re2 Ra6 23. f4
Na3 24. Qd2 Rc6 $132 {0-1 Yurkov,V-Sokolov,A/Moscow 1978/EXT 2002 (59)}) 16...
Bxg5 17. Nxg5 Na5 (17... h6 18. Nf3 Na5 19. Nh4 Bh7 20. Qh5 $5 $36 {[%cal
Yf2f4,Yf4f5]}) 18. g4 Nxb3 $6 {This looks premature. Now White gets to improve
his Q-side P-structure.} 19. axb3 Bg6 20. f4 Qe7 21. b4 $1 {[%csl Ra6] Black
is scrambling for counterplay after this blockading move.} f6 22. exf6 Qxf6 23.
Ne6 Be4 24. f5 (24. Nxf8 Qxf4 {Is no fun for White.}) 24... Rfe8 25. Qd2 h5 $2
{A mistake. Black had to defend c7. Probably Black over-estimated his chances
against the white K.} 26. Nxc7 $1 hxg4 27. Nxa8 Qh4 {[%cal Rh4g3]} 28. Re3 $1
Rxa8 29. Qe1 Qh5 30. Rxe4 $1 dxe4 31. Qxe4 Re8 32. hxg4 Qf7 33. Qf3 $18 {
1-0 Naiditsch,A-Karjakin,S/Dortmund 2004/CBM 103/[Wedberg] (52) Two P:s up.})
12. Bc2 c5 {Black has chosen an option of immediately attacking White's centre.
The alternative is to attack white's dark-squared bishop at first with} (12...
Nc4 13. Bc1 {and afterwards to attack white's centre with} c5 14. b3 {driving
away the knight from the active position, as well as preparing to fianchetto
the dark-squared bishop.} Nb6 15. Nbd2 (15. Bb2 cxd4 16. Nbd2 Nfd7 17. h3 Bh5
18. g4 d3 19. Bxd3 Nc5 20. Bc2 Bg6 21. Nd4 Qd7 22. f4 f6 23. N2f3 Rfe8 24. Nf5
Bf8 25. Qd4 Qa7 26. Kh1 Rac8 27. Rac1 $14 {1-0 Polgar,S-Slobodjan,R/Bad
Homburg 1996/CBM 055/[Wedberg] (48)}) 15... Nfd7 {intending to place the
dark-sqaured bishop on a long diagonal, and sometimes, Black's knight can
occupy the c5 square.} (15... Rc8 16. h3 Bh5 17. g4 Bg6 18. d5 Nfd7 19. Nf1 Re8
20. Ng3 Bf6 21. Rb1 $13 {1-0 Grischuk,A-Sokolov,I/Bled 2002/EXT 2003 (46)}) 16.
h3 Bh5 17. Bb2 ({Another option is} 17. g4 Bg6 18. d5 Bf6 19. Rb1 Re8 20. Nf1
h6 21. Kg2 Rc8 22. Ng3 c4 23. Re2 $13 {0-1 Dominguez,L-Bologan,V/Poikovsky RUS
2005/The Week in Chess 539 (52)}) 17... Re8 (17... Rc8 {is also possible:} 18.
Rc1 Re8 19. Bb1 cxd4 20. Bxd4 Bf6 21. Rxc8 Qxc8 22. Qc1 Qb7 23. Qa3 Bxf3 24.
Nxf3 $14 {1-0 Tseshkovsky,V-Vogt,L/Leipzig 1975/MCL/[Bulletin] (41)}) 18. a4 {
White is creating some pressure on the queenside, as well as he adds an option
of driving away the knight from b6.} ({White didn't get anything special after
} 18. Qb1 Bg6 19. a4 d5 20. axb5 axb5 21. Rxa8 Qxa8 22. dxc5 Nxc5 23. e5 Ne6
$11 {[%cal Ye7b4] 1/2-1/2 Adams,M-Sokolov,I/Wijk aan Zee NED 2005/The Week in
Chess 533 (31)}) 18... bxa4 19. bxa4 Rb8 $1 $146 {An improvement in comparison
to:} (19... cxd4 20. a5 d3 21. Bb1 $1 (21. Bxd3 $2 Nc5 {[%cal Gb6d7]}) 21...
Nc8 22. Bxd3 Nc5 23. Bc4 $14 {1-0 Sax,G-Mazi,L/Bled 1994/TD (42)}) 20. a5 ({
Another logical continuation is} 20. Rb1 cxd4 (20... d5 21. a5 Nc4 22. Nxc4
dxc4 23. Ba4 $14) 21. a5 (21. Bxd4 Bf6 22. Be3 d5) 21... Bxf3 22. Qxf3 Ne5 23.
Qe2 Nbd7 24. Bxd4 Rxb1 25. Rxb1 Qxa5 $11) (20. Ra2 $5 {[%cal Gd1a1] looks very
interesting...}) 20... Nc8 {Now Black's knight is willing to occupy the b5
square via a7.} ({Black doesn't equalize after} 20... Nd5 21. Nc4 Nc7 (21...
Nf4 22. Bc1 (22. dxc5 Nxc5) 22... Ne6 23. g4 Bg6 24. d5 Nc7 25. Bf4 $14) 22.
Rb1 $14) 21. Nc4 Na7 $11 {1/2-1/2 Kramnik,V-Adams,M/Dortmund 2005/CBM 108/
[Erenburg] (57)}) 13. h3 {forcing black to define the status of light-squared
bishop.} ({Another ambitious continuation is} 13. dxc5 dxc5 14. Nc3 Nc4 15. e5
{A tricky position. The final verdict is not yet given.} Ne8 (15... Qxd1 16.
Raxd1 Bxf3 17. exf6 Bxd1 18. fxe7 Bxc2 19. exf8=Q+ Rxf8 20. Bxc5 Rc8 21. Nd5
Kh8 22. Nb6 {1/2-1/2 Zaitsev,I-Beliavsky,A/Minsk 1983/MCD}) (15... Nd7 16. Bf4
Ndb6 17. Qe2 Qc8 18. Be4 Ra7 19. b3 Na3 20. Bc1 b4 21. Bxa3 bxa3 22. Nd5 $14 {
1/2-1/2 Zaitsev,I-Balashov,Y/Moscow 2002/EXT 2003 (27)}) (15... Bxf3 16. Qxd8
Bxd8 17. Bxc5 Re8 18. exf6 Bc6 19. Rxe8+ Bxe8 20. Nd5 $16 {1-0 Lupulescu,
C-Timoscenko,G/Mallorca 2004/CBM 104 no vc (29)}) 16. Qe2 Nc7 (16... Nxe5 17.
Rad1 $1 {is not easy for Black.}) 17. Rad1 Qc8 18. Bc1 {All white pieces are
well placed in the centre and they point towards the black K. It is soon time
to harvest.} Re8 19. Qe4 g6 20. Qf4 h5 21. h3 Ne6 22. Qg3 Bxf3 23. Qxf3 Nd4 {
Some counterplay?} 24. Rxd4 $1 {No, instead the white attack crushes through.}
cxd4 25. e6 $1 f5 (25... Rf8 26. Nd5 Ra7 27. Qg3 $18) 26. Bxf5 $1 {1-0
Nisipeanu,L-Ivanov,A/Moscow 2005/CBM 106/[Wedberg] The main line goes: 26. -
gxf5 27.Qxf5 Bf8 28.Nd5! and the attack is unstoppable.}) 13... Bxf3 {It has a
reputation as the most solid continuation, which became more popular nowadays.}
({Black faces some problems to equalize after} 13... cxd4 14. Bxd4 Bh5 15. g4
Bg6 16. Nc3 Rc8 17. Rc1 Nc6 18. Be3 Nb4 {Black has an uneasy task of solving
the problem of the center. White is exposed on the kingside, but the square d5
is ideal for the knight.} (18... Re8 19. Nh4 (19. Nd5 Nxd5 20. exd5 Nb8 21. Bf4
Bf8 22. Rxe8 Qxe8 23. Nd4 Bxc2 24. Rxc2 Rxc2 25. Qxc2 Qe1+ 26. Kg2 Nd7 {
0-1 Timofeev,A-Bacrot,E/Istanbul 2003/ (84)}) 19... Nd7 20. Nxg6 hxg6 21. Bb3 (
21. Nd5 Bh4 22. Re2 Nf6 23. Bb3 Nxe4 24. Nb6 Nxf2 25. Bxf2 Bxf2+ 26. Rxf2 Qxb6
27. Bxf7+ Kh7 28. Qxd6 {1-0 Dominguez,L-Inarkiev,E/Tripoli 2004/ (32)}) 21...
Nc5 22. Nd5 Ne5 23. f4 Ned3 24. Bxc5 Nxc5 25. g5 Bf8 26. Qf3 {1-0 Dominguez,
L-Inarkiev,E/Tripoli 2004/ (41)}) 19. Bb1 d5 20. e5 (20. exd5 $6 Bxb1 21. Rxb1
Nfxd5 $15) 20... Ne4 21. Ne2 $5 Nc5 (21... Rxc1 22. Qxc1 Qa8 23. a3 Nc6 24. Nf4
$14) 22. Bxc5 Rxc5 23. Rxc5 Bxc5 24. Nf4 $14 {1/2-1/2 Kasimdzhanov,R-Adams,M/
Tripoli 2004/CBM 102/[Ftacnik] (43)}) 14. Qxf3 cxd4 {opening the c-file for
the rook.} ({Black faces some problems after} 14... Nc4 15. dxc5 dxc5 16. Nc3
Nd7 17. Rad1 $146 (17. Bf4 Nde5 (17... Nxb2 $5 18. e5 $40) 18. Bxe5 Nxe5 19.
Qg3 Nc6 20. Rad1 Nd4 21. e5 $14 {White has the slightly better chances due to
his domination in the centre and the possibility to attack the black K.} Ra7
22. Ne2 Rd7 (22... Nxe2+ 23. Rxe2 Rd7 24. Ree1 $14) 23. Nxd4 Rxd4 24. Qe3 Kh8 (
24... Rxd1 25. Rxd1 Qc7 26. e6 $40) 25. f4 Qd7 26. Rxd4 Qxd4 27. Qxd4 cxd4 28.
Kf2 Rc8 29. Bd3 {It´s opposite coloured B:s, but White has all the play. As
long as there are R:s on a draw is not easy to achive for Black.} f6 30. exf6
Bxf6 31. Re6 Ra8 32. g4 $16 {1-0 Grischuk,A-Socko,B/Istanbul 2003/CBM 096/
[Wedberg] (49)}) (17. Nd5 Bg5 18. Bxg5 Qxg5 19. b3 Na3 20. Bd3 c4 21. bxc4 bxc4
22. Bb1 Qe5 {0-1 Grischuk,A-Golod,V/Dos Hermanas 2003 (84)}) 17... Nxb2 18. Rd5
Qe8 $2 (18... Nc4 19. e5 {[%cal Cc4e5,Gf3f5]} (19. Red1 Qa5 20. Rxd7 Qxc3 21.
Rxe7 Qxc2 $19) 19... Ncxe5 20. Qd1 Qa5 21. Bd2 b4 22. Na4 Rfd8 23. Bf5 $44) (
18... Qa5 $5 19. Rxd7 (19. Bc1 Nc4 20. e5 (20. Rxd7 Ne5 $19) 20... Ndb6 21.
Rdd1 Rad8 $15) 19... Qxc3 20. Rc1 {[%cal Gd7e7,Yc2b3]} Qe5 21. Rd5 Qe6 22. Bxc5
Bxc5 23. Rxc5 Rac8 24. Bb3 Nc4 25. Rxc8 Rxc8 $11) 19. e5 $1 {[%cal Gf3f5,Yd5d7,
Yf5d7,Yf5h7]} Nb6 (19... Rd8 20. Qg4 {[%cal Cb5b4,Cb4c3,Ge3h6]} Kh8 21. Bh6 g6
(21... gxh6 22. Qf5 $18) (21... Rg8 22. Bc1 Nc4 23. Bxh7 $18) 22. Bxf8 $18) (
19... Ra7 20. Qg4 Kh8 21. Bh6 Rg8 22. Bc1 $18) 20. Rxc5 $1 Bxc5 (20... N2c4 21.
Rc7 Nxe3 22. Qxe3 Rc8 23. Qxb6 Qd8 24. Nd5 $1 Qxd5 25. Bb3 Qd8 26. Rec1 $16)
21. Bxc5 N2c4 22. Bxf8 Qxf8 23. Qd3 g6 24. Ne4 $16 {1-0 Jakovenko,D-Grischuk,A/
Saint Vincent 2005/CBM 110_01/[Erenburg] (35)}) 15. Bxd4 Rc8 16. Qd1 {
centralizing the queen, protecting the light-squared bishop. Other options are:
} (16. Qd3 Nc6 17. Bc3 g6 $6 (17... Ne5 18. Qe2 Qb6 $13) 18. Bb3 Nd7 19. a3 Nc5
20. Qd5 Nxb3 21. Qxb3 Bf6 22. Qd5 Bxc3 23. Nxc3 Qf6 24. Rad1 $14 {1-0 Lanc,
A-Mrva,V/SVK 1997/EXT 98 (52)}) (16. Bb3 {White is ready to change one of his
bishops in order to stabilize the position and to keep a superior pawn
structure. White has the following alternatives:} Nc6 17. Qd1 {White cannot
move away the bishop from the central position. Otherwise, Black's c6 knight
will get some important spots:} (17. Be3 Ne5 $15) (17. Bc3 b4 18. Bd2 Nd4 19.
Qd3 Nxb3 20. Qxb3 d5 $11) 17... d5 $1 $146 {Black is sacrificing a pawn, but
he will get a control of the dark squares. It looks like a serious improvement
in comparison to the previous games, where Black hasn't equalized:} (17... a5
18. Nc3 a4 19. Bd5 Nxd4 20. Qxd4 Qa5 21. a3 $1 Nd7 22. Qb4 $16 {1-0 Grischuk,
A-Tkachiev,V/France 2003/CBM 95/[Wedberg] (59)}) (17... Nxd4 18. Qxd4 Nh5 19.
Nc3 Bf6 20. Qd2 Bg5 21. Qe2 Nf4 22. Qf3 Ng6 23. Red1 Bf6 24. Rac1 $14 {1/2-1/2
Ivanchuk,V-Romanishin,O/73rd ch-UKR, Kharkiv UKR (2.2) 2004 (93)}) {Other
continuations are not better:} 18. exd5 (18. Bxf6 Bxf6 19. exd5 Bxb2 20. dxc6
Bxa1 $19) (18. Bxd5 Nxd5 19. exd5 Qxd5 20. Nc3 Qf5 $15 (20... Qxd4 21. Qxd4
Nxd4 22. Rxe7 $11)) 18... Nxd4 19. Qxd4 Bc5 {If we compare the locations of
white's light-squared bishop, that is limitted by his d5 pawn, and Black's
dark-squared bishop, that is extremely active on a7-g1 diagonal, it is easy to
understand, that black has sufficient compensation.} 20. Qd3 ({Doesn't promise
too much:} 20. Qd2 b4 {preventing from White to complete the development.} 21.
Qd3 (21. a3 Qb6 $44) 21... Qb6 22. Qf3 (22. Qf5 Bd4 23. Nd2 Bxb2 24. Nc4 Rxc4
25. Bxc4 Bxa1 26. Rxa1 Qd4 $11) 22... Bd4 23. Nd2 Bxb2 24. Nc4 Rxc4 25. Bxc4
Bxa1 26. Rxa1 Rc8 $11 (26... Qd4 27. Rc1 Rc8 28. d6 $13)) 20... Qb6 21. Qf3 a5
$44 {Black has got full compensation for a sacrificed pawn. White faces some
problems to complete the development, and his pieces are passive in comparison
to Black's.} 22. Nc3 {1/2-1/2 Svidler,P-Bacrot,E/Gothenburg 2005/CBM 109_01/
[Erenburg]} (22. Nd2 $6 a4 23. Bd1 Rfd8 $15)) 16... Nd7 {preparing to transfer
the dark-squared bishop to long diagonal.} 17. Nc3 Bf6 18. Rc1 $146 {adding
the queenside rook to the battle, covering the c-file.} ({In a previous game
White prefered to protect the light-squared bishop from the second rank by} 18.
Re2 {preparing to connect the heavy pieces along the d-file.} Be5 {[%cal Ga5c4,
Yd8f6] The following moves are worse, than the continuation in the game:} (
18... Nc6 19. Bxf6 Qxf6 20. Rd2 {winning the pawn.}) (18... Nc4 19. Nd5 $1 Nxb2
20. Nxf6+ Qxf6 21. Bxf6 Nxd1 22. Rxd1 Nxf6 23. Rxd6 $14) 19. Nd5 {covering the
f6 square.} ({Of course not} 19. Rd2 $2 {, due to} Nc4) ({After} 19. Rc1 {
Black equalizes:} Nc4 20. b3 Qg5 $1 21. Bxe5 (21. bxc4 Bxd4 $17) 21... Ncxe5
$11) 19... Nc6 20. Bc3 (20. Bxe5 $2 dxe5 {and Black gets the central d4 square.
}) 20... Nb6 $1 {Black is willing to change White's centralized knight.} (20...
Bxc3 {doesn't equalize:} 21. Nxc3 Nb6 22. Bb3 Na5 23. Qd4 $14) 21. Rc1 {
Probably, after this move Black equalizes the position...} ({Maybe,} 21. Bb3 $5
{, would give White more chances for an advantage. For example:} Bxc3 (21...
Nxd5 22. Bxe5 $1 {This is the point!} dxe5 (22... Nxe5 23. Bxd5 $14) 23. exd5
Na5 24. Rxe5 $14) 22. Nxc3 Na5 (22... Qf6 23. Rd2 Rfd8 24. Rc1 $14) (22... Ne5
23. Qd4 Nc6 {-leads to 22...Na5.}) 23. Qd4 Nc6 {'-leads to 22...Na5.' '-leads
to 22...Na5.'} 24. Qd3 Ne5 25. Qg3 $14) (21. a4 {leads to an equal position:}
Nxd5 22. exd5 Bxc3 23. dxc6 Bxb2 24. Bxh7+ Kxh7 25. Rxb2 Rxc6 $11) 21... Nxd5
22. exd5 b4 $1 ({Less convincing is} 22... Bxc3 23. dxc6 Be5 (23... Bxb2 24.
Bxh7+ $16) 24. Be4 $14) 23. dxc6 (23. Qd3 g6 24. Bxe5 Nxe5 $11 25. Qxa6 $2 b3
$1 26. axb3 Nf3+ $1 27. Kh1 (27. gxf3 Qg5+ $19) 27... Nd4 $17) 23... bxc3 24.
bxc3 Rxc6 $11 {1/2-1/2 Gelfand,B-Bacrot,E/Gothenburg 2005/CBM 109_01/[Erenburg]
(29) The position is absolutely equal, the opponents could agree a draw right
now...}) 18... Nc6 {forcing White either to exchange the dark-squared bishops
or to give up the long diagonal.} ({In my opinion, Black doesn't equalize after
} 18... Nc4 19. Nd5 Be5 20. Bb3 Qh4 21. g3 Bxg3 22. Qg4 Qxg4 (22... Nce5 23.
Qxg3 (23. Bxe5 Bxf2+ $17) 23... Rxc1 24. Rxc1 Qxg3+ 25. fxg3 Nf3+ 26. Kf2 Nxd4
27. Ne7+ Kh8 28. Bd5 $14) 23. Ne7+ Kh8 24. hxg4 Bf4 25. Nxc8 Bxc1 26. Nb6 Ndxb6
27. Rxc1 $14) 19. Be3 $6 {Probably, after this move Black's chances are not
worse.} ({More principled was} 19. Bxf6 $5 {, and there is not a clear way to
equalize the game:} Nxf6 (19... Qxf6 20. Qh5 g6 21. Qh6 Nb6 22. Bb3 Na5 (22...
Nd4 23. Nd5 Nxd5 24. Bxd5 Rxc1 25. Qxc1 $14) 23. Nd5 Nxd5 24. Bxd5 Qxb2 25.
Rxc8 Rxc8 26. Qf4 $16) 20. Bb3 Re8 21. Qd3 Na5 22. Bd5 b4 23. Na4 $14) 19...
Nc5 20. Re2 {protecting the pawn b2, and, intending to build a battery from
heavy pieces along the d-file.} ({In case of} 20. f4 {[%cal Ye4e5] Black can
eliminate White's knight and to occupy the c4 outhold with the knight:} Bxc3
21. bxc3 Na5 $11) 20... Re8 {attacking White's central pawn.} ({It was more
precise to eliminate white's knight immediately:} 20... Bxc3 $5 21. bxc3 Re8
$11) 21. Rd2 {allowing Black to simplify the position.} ({Probably, the last
chance to fight for an advantage was} 21. Bb1 Bxc3 (21... Na5 22. Nd5 Nc4 23.
Nxf6+ Qxf6 24. Bd4 $14) 22. Rxc3 Nxe4 $1 23. Bxe4 Rxe4 24. Bb6 $1 Qe8 25. Rxe4
Qxe4 26. Qxd6 h6 $14 {[%cal Ye4e6]}) 21... Bxc3 22. Rxd6 ({Worse is} 22. bxc3
Nxe4 23. Bxe4 Rxe4 24. Rxd6 Qe7 $15) {This key move should have been seen when
black was playing 20...Re8. Black is ready to change his queen for two white's
rooks.} 22... Bxb2 $1 (22... Qh4 {doesn't lead to an equal position:} 23. Bxc5
Bxb2 24. Rb1 Be5 25. Rd5 Red8 26. Qd3 $14) 23. Rb1 (23. Rxd8 {doesn't promise
anything special:} Rexd8 24. Bxc5 (24. Qh5 Bxc1 25. Bxc5 Na5 26. Bb6 Rd2 $15)
24... Rxd1+ 25. Rxd1 h6 $11) 23... Qc7 24. Bxc5 {It is more important to
eliminate the knight, as White saves his central pawn e4 on the board.} ({
Worse is} 24. Rxb2 $2 Nxe4 25. Bxe4 (25. Rd7 Qe5 $17) 25... Rxe4 $17) 24... Bd4
$1 {Black forces White to change the dark-squared bishops, that leads to an
equal position.} 25. Rd5 ({White cannot keep the dark-squared bishop on the
board:} 25. Ba3 $2 b4 $1 26. Bxb4 Nxb4 27. Rxb4 Qxd6 28. Rxd4 Qa3 $17) (25.
Rxd4 $2 Nxd4 26. Bxd4 Qxc2 $19) 25... Bxc5 26. Rxc5 Red8 (26... Qe7 {leads to
equality as well:} 27. Rd5 Qa3 28. Bb3 Na5 29. Qf3 Nxb3 30. axb3 $11) 27. Qe1 (
27. Qg4 {doesn't change the evaluation of the position:} Qe7 28. Rg5 Ne5 29.
Rxg7+ Kh8 30. Qg5 Qf8 31. Rxh7+ Kxh7 32. Qxe5 Qc5 33. Qf6 Qxc2 34. Qxf7+ $11)
27... Qe7 28. Qe3 Na5 {transfering the knight to c4.} (28... Ne5 29. Rxc8 Rxc8
30. Bb3 $11) 29. Rxc8 Rxc8 30. Bb3 {covering the spot c4. The opponent agreed
for a draw in absolutely equal position.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Samba Cup 2nd"]
[Site "Skanderborg"]
[Date "2005.10.15"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hansen, Lars Bo"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B19"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2565"]
[Annotator "Mueller,Karsten"]
[PlyCount "163"]
[EventDate "2005.10.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 110"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nf3 Nd7 8. h5
Bh7 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 e6 11. Bf4 Qa5+ 12. Bd2 Bb4 13. c3 Be7 14. c4 Qc7 15.
O-O Ngf6 16. Rfe1 O-O 17. Nf5 Bd6 18. Nxd6 Qxd6 19. Qb3 c5 20. Rad1 cxd4 21.
Bb4 Nc5 22. Ne5 b6 23. Qf3 Nfd7 24. Nxd7 Qxd7 25. Bc3 e5 26. Rxe5 dxc3 27. Rxd7
Nxd7 28. Re2 cxb2 29. Rxb2 Nf6 30. Rd2 Rac8 31. Rd4 Rc5 32. g4 b5 33. cxb5 Rxb5
34. Kg2 Rg5 35. Kh3 Nh7 36. Qb3 Re5 37. Kg3 Re6 38. Qd3 Rfe8 39. Rd8 Rxd8 40.
Qxd8+ Nf8 41. a4 g5 42. hxg6 Rxg6 43. f4 a6 44. f5 Rc6 45. a5 Kg7 46. Qd5 Rf6
47. Kf4 Ng6+ 48. Ke4 Nf8 49. Ke5 Ng6+ $5 {[%mdl 4352] Hansen wickelt lieber in
eine Festung ab, anstatt sich auf} (49... Nh7 $6 50. Qd8 Rc6 51. Qb6 Rf6 {
einzulassen. Allerdings habe ich auch hier keinen Weg gefunden, die schwarze
Burgmauer zu erstürmen.}) 50. fxg6 Rxg6 51. Qd4 Kg8 52. Kf5 Kh7 53. Qd8 Kg7 54.
Qc8 Rf6+ 55. Ke5 Re6+ 56. Kd5 Rg6 57. Kc5 Re6 58. Qb8 Rg6 59. Qb2+ Kh7 60. Qd4
Kg8 61. Qd8+ Kg7 62. Qb6 Re6 63. Qb2+ Kh7 64. Kd5 Rg6 65. Ke5 Kg8 66. Kf4 Kh7
67. Kf5 Kg8 68. Qb6 Kg7 69. Qd8 Rg5+ 70. Kf4 Rg6 71. Kg3 Re6 72. Kh3 Rg6 73.
Kh4 Re6 74. Qd4+ Kh7 75. Qf4 Kg7 76. g5 hxg5+ 77. Kxg5 Rg6+ 78. Kh5 Kg8 79. Qd4
Kh7 80. Qe5 Kg8 81. Qe3 Kg7 82. Qb6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Samba Cup 2nd"]
[Site "Skanderborg"]
[Date "2005.10.16"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Miton, Kamil"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D97"]
[WhiteElo "2636"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2005.10.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 110"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Qb3 dxc4 5. Qxc4 Bg7 6. e4 O-O 7. Be2 c6 8. Nf3
b5 9. Qb3 Qa5 10. Bd2 Be6 11. Qc2 b4 12. Nb1 Qb6 13. O-O Nbd7 14. Be3 Bxa2 15.
Nfd2 Bxb1 16. Rfxb1 a5 17. d5 c5 18. Nc4 Qc7 19. f4 Rfe8 20. Bf3 e5 21. dxe6
fxe6 22. Rd1 e5 23. Nd6 c4 24. Be2 Re7 25. Qxc4+ Qxc4 26. Bxc4+ Kf8 27. f5 Ng4
28. Bg5 Ndf6 29. h3 Bh6 30. Bxh6+ Nxh6 31. g4 g5 32. Bd5 Nxd5 33. Rxd5 a4 34.
Nc4 Nf7 35. Rb5 Rd7 36. Nb6 Rb7 37. Nxa8 Rxb5 38. Rxa4 Rb7 39. Ra6 b3 40. Kf2
Rd7 41. Ke3 Rd1 42. Nb6 Re1+ 43. Kd3 Rd1+ 44. Kc3 Nd6 45. Nd7+ Ke7 46. Nxe5
Nxe4+ 47. Kxb3 Nc5+ 48. Kc2 Nxa6 49. Kxd1 Kf6 50. Nd3 h5 51. Kd2 Nc7 52. Ke3
hxg4 53. hxg4 Nb5 54. b4 Nd6 55. Kd4 Ke7 56. Kd5 Ne8 57. Kc6 1-0

[Event "Samba Cup 2nd"]
[Site "Skanderborg"]
[Date "2005.10.17"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Zhang, Pengxiang"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2613"]
[Annotator "Ribli,Z"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2005.10.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 110"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bd3 {Die
Alternative 7.Qd2 wäre weniger stark, da mit 7...Bb4 8.f3 d5 Schwarz aktives
Spiel erhält.} Qc7 8. O-O Ne5 9. Nf3 {Das ist eine Nebenvariante, die zu
scharfem taktischem Spiel führt. Die Hauptvariante ist 9.h3. Der chinesische
Großmeister spielte ebenfalls diese Variante mit Weiß vor ein paar Jahren.} Bd6
{Eine selten gespielte Fortsetzung, aber sie erscheint logisch, da Schwarz
eine neue Figur entwickelt.} (9... Nfg4) (9... Neg4 $5 10. Bd2 d6 11. Ne2 Be7
12. c4 O-O 13. Rc1 b6 14. Nc3 Bb7 15. Qe2 Nd7 $11 {1/2-1/2 Carlsen,M-Ivanchuk,
V/Samba Cup (6) 2005/CBM 110 (33)}) 10. Nxe5 Bxe5 11. f4 Bxc3 12. bxc3 Qxc3 {
Schwarz hat einen Bauern mehr, aber Weiß hat das Läuferpaar und
Entwicklungsvorteil.} (12... d6 13. c4 e5 14. Kh1 Ng4 15. Bg1 exf4 16. Rxf4 Ne5
17. Qh5 Be6 18. Bd4 O-O 19. Raf1 f6 {1/2-1/2 Djurhuus,R-Akesson,R/Karlstad
2005/(60)}) 13. e5 {Dieser Zug kommt mit Tempo und scheint mir viel
konsequenter, als die Alternativen.} (13. Qf3 d5 (13... b5 14. e5 (14. Rab1 Bb7
15. a4) 14... Nd5 15. f5 Qxe5 16. fxe6 Qxe3+ 17. Qxe3 Nxe3 18. exf7+ Kf8 19.
Rfe1 $13) 14. e5 (14. exd5 Nxd5 15. f5) 14... Ne4 15. Bxe4 dxe4 16. Qxe4 Bd7
17. Qd4 (17. Rad1 Bc6 18. Qd4 Qxd4 (18... Qxc2 19. Rd2 $44) 19. Bxd4) 17...
Qxd4 18. Bxd4 O-O 19. Rab1 Bb5 20. Rf2 Rac8 21. c3 Rc4 {0-1 Gruskovnjak,
T-Farago,I/TCh-SLO, Celje SLO 2003 (74)}) (13. Rb1 Nxe4 14. Rb3 Qc6 15. Rb6 Qc3
16. Rb3 Qc6 17. Rb6 Qc3 18. Rb3 {1/2-1/2 Cernousek,L-Gara,A/Budapest 2004/(18)}
) 13... Nd5 14. Bd2 Qd4+ {Die schwarze Dame steht aktiver auf d4, als auf c5;
z.B. im Falle vom später folgendem f4-f5 wird der e5P kontrolliert.} (14...
Qc5+ 15. Kh1 b5 16. f5 Bb7 17. Qh5 (17. fxe6 dxe6 18. Qg4 h5 19. Qxg7 O-O-O 20.
Qxf7 Rhg8 21. Rf2 Nc7 22. Raf1 h4 23. h3 Rg3 24. Kh2 Rdg8 25. Rg1 Qd5 $44 {
0-1 Jansa,V-Kveinys,A/Prague 1993/CBM 37 (44)}) (17. a4 b4 18. Qg4 g6 19. fxg6
hxg6 20. Rxf7 Ne3 (20... Kxf7 21. Qxg6+ $18) 21. Bxe3 Qxe5 22. Bg1 Qxa1 23.
Bxg6 O-O-O (23... Kd8 24. Qxb4 Bc6 25. a5 $36 (25. Be4 Rxh2+ 26. Kxh2 Qe5+ 27.
Kh1 Qh5+ 28. Bh2 Qd1+ $11 (28... Qxf7 29. Bxc6 Qf1+ 30. Bg1 dxc6 31. Qd6+ Kc8
32. Qxc6+ Kb8 33. Qb6+ Kc8 34. Qxe6+ Kb8 35. Qe8+ Kb7 36. Qd7+ Kb8 37. c4 $18))
) 24. Qc4+ Kb8 25. Qf4+ Kc8 $11) 17... O-O-O 18. Qe2 exf5 19. c4 bxc4 20. Bxc4
Nc7 21. Rfc1 Qa3 22. Rab1 Bc6 23. Bb4 Qa4 24. Bd6 f4 25. Qf2 Nb5 26. Bxb5 axb5
27. Qb6 {1-0 Andrzejewska,E-Blimke,D/Brzeg Dolny 2001/(27)}) 15. Kh1 b5 {
Mit diesem Zug sichert Schwarz die Springerstellung auf d5; c2-c4 kommt
aufgrund des Läuferverlustes nicht in Betracht. Nun plant Schwarz, seinen
Läufer auf b7 zu positionieren.} 16. f5 exf5 (16... Bb7 17. Qh5 $1 $36 (17.
fxe6 dxe6 18. Qh5 g6 19. Qf3 O-O 20. Bh6 Qxe5 $13)) (16... Qxe5 17. a4 $36 (17.
Qg4 $36)) 17. Qf3 g6 (17... O-O 18. Qxf5 g6 19. Qf3 $40) 18. c3 Qc5 19. c4 $1
bxc4 20. Rac1 $44 {[%csl Re8] Weiß hat schon drei Bauern weniger, aber er hat
starkes Figurenspiel, während Schwarz Entwicklungsprobleme hat .} Bb7 (20... c3
21. Bxc3 O-O 22. Bd2 $36 {[%cal Rc1c5,Gd2h6]}) 21. Bxc4 Bc6 22. Bb3 Qb5 23. Qg3
(23. Bh6 $5) 23... O-O 24. Rxf5 Rfe8 (24... Ne7 25. Rf6 Bd5 26. Bh6 Rfe8 27.
Rcf1 $40) 25. Rcf1 {[%csl Gf1,Gf5,Gg3,Rg8][%cal Rf1f7][%mdl 128] Weiß verfügt
über einen starken Angriff am Königsflügel.} Re7 26. Bg5 $16 {[%csl Yf6,Gg5,
Yh6] Der schwarzfeldrige Läufer ist der Stolz der weißen Stellung.} Rae8 27. h3
(27. Bxe7 Rxe7 28. R5f2 $16) 27... a5 (27... Rxe5 28. Rxf7 $18) 28. R1f2 (28.
Bxe7 Rxe7 29. Qg5 a4 30. Bxd5 Qxd5 31. R1f2) 28... a4 29. Bxd5 Qxd5 30. Bf6 $2
{Weiß nimmt nicht die Qualität, sondern möchte seinen schwarzfeldrigen Läufer
auf dem Brett halten. Es wäre jedoch besser die Qualität zu nehmen.} (30. Bxe7
Rxe7 31. Kh2 $16) 30... Re6 31. Kh2 (31. Qg5 Qc5) 31... d6 $1 $132 {[%mdl 256]}
32. Qg5 (32. exd6 $2 Qxd6 $17) 32... dxe5 33. Qh6 Rxf6 34. Rxf6 Re7 {Schwarz
hat schon zwei Bauern für die Qualität und seine Stellung ist fest.} 35. h4 $1
{[%cal Gh4h5] Weiß mobilisiert in Form seines h-Bauern seine Reserven.} e4 {
[%csl Ge4][%cal Ge4e3]} 36. h5 Re5 {[%cal Re5h5,Rh5h2,Rh5h6]} 37. g4 {Dieser
Zug schwächt die weiße Königsstellung.} e3 {[%cal Gc6h1]} 38. Rxf7 Qh1+ 39. Kg3
Qg1+ 40. Kh3 (40. Kh4 Qh1+) 40... Qh1+ 41. Rh2 Bg2+ 42. Kg3 Qe1+ 43. Kxg2 Kxf7
44. Qxh7+ Ke6 $11 {Nach forcierten Zügen besitzen beide Seiten Probleme mit
ihrer Königsstellung.} 45. Qxg6+ Ke7 46. Qg7+ Ke6 47. Qg6+ Ke7 48. Qg7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Samba Cup 2nd"]
[Site "Skanderborg"]
[Date "2005.10.18"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Jobava, Baadur"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2601"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2005.10.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 110"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. d4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Bg5 h6 5. Bh4 Be7 6. Nc3 c5 7. e4 cxd4 8. Nxd4
d6 9. Ndb5 a6 10. e5 $5 $146 {Jobava was not satisfied with the result of his
opening battle with Ivanchuk and he comes up with interesting novelty.} (10.
Bxf6 Bxf6 11. Nxd6+ Ke7 12. Nxc8+ Qxc8 13. Na4 (13. Be2 Rd8 14. Qc1 Qc5 15. O-O
Nc6 16. Rd1 Rxd1+ 17. Qxd1 Bxc3 18. bxc3 Rd8 19. Qc2 Ne5 {1/2-1/2 Pantsulaia,
L-Volokitin,A/Beersheba 2005/ (27)}) 13... Rd8 14. Qb3 Nd7 15. Qa3+ Nc5 16. Be2
Qc6 17. Nxc5 Qxc5 18. b4 Qg5 19. Rd1 Qxg2 20. b5+ Ke8 21. Rxd8+ Rxd8 {0-1
Jobava,B-Ivanchuk,V/Havana 2005/ (30)}) 10... dxe5 (10... axb5 11. exf6 gxf6
12. Qf3 Ra5 13. cxb5 $14) 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 (11... axb5 12. Bxg7 Rg8 13. Qf3 Nc6
14. Bxh6 Bb7 15. cxb5 Na5 16. Qd1 $16) 12. Qf3 $1 {Ambitious and dangerous for
black since the rook can not be saved.} axb5 (12... e4 13. Qxe4 (13. Nxe4 axb5
14. Nxf6+ Qxf6 15. Qxa8 Qxb2 16. Rd1 Qc3+ 17. Rd2 Qa1+ 18. Rd1 Qc3+ $11) 13...
axb5 14. Qxa8 Bxc3+ 15. bxc3 Qc7 16. Qe4 $16) 13. Qxa8 b4 (13... Nd7 14. Nxb5
O-O 15. O-O-O $16) 14. Ne4 (14. Qxb8 bxc3 15. Rd1 Bd7 16. Qxd8+ Kxd8 17. bxc3
Kc7 18. Bd3 Ra8 $11) 14... Bd7 15. Nxf6+ (15. Nd6+ $5 Kf8 16. O-O-O Qc7 17. Qe4
$16) 15... gxf6 16. c5 {Both players are doing their best, white would like to
simplify the structure on the queenside.} (16. Qf3 Bc6 17. Qe2 (17. Qd1 Qd4)
17... Nd7 18. f3 f5 $14) 16... bxc5 17. Qa7 Nc6 (17... Qc8 18. Rc1 O-O 19. Qxc5
$16) 18. Qxc5 Nd4 19. O-O-O $2 (19. Bd3 Qe7 20. Qb6 O-O 21. O-O $14) 19... Qe7
$1 {[%mdl 1024] Carlsen will get tremendous positional compensation for the
exchange. White has no play while black pieces will control center and both
flanks.} 20. Qxe7+ (20. Qb6 O-O 21. Bd3 Bc6 $15) 20... Kxe7 21. Kb1 (21. Kd2
Bc6 22. f3 Bd5 $15) 21... Bc6 22. f3 (22. Rg1 Bd5 23. Bd3 Ra8 24. b3 Ra3 25.
Kb2 Kd6 $15) 22... Rg8 23. Rc1 f5 24. Rc4 Rb8 25. b3 (25. Rg1 Kd6 26. Rc1 e4
$17) 25... f4 26. Kb2 f5 27. h4 (27. Bd3 Bd5 28. Rc7+ Kd6 29. Rg7 e4 $17) 27...
Kd6 28. h5 Bd5 29. Rc1 e4 $1 {The mass of black forces in the center is truly
scary.} 30. fxe4 (30. Bc4 Bc6 31. Rhg1 e5 $17) 30... fxe4 31. Rh4 Ke5 (31...
Rf8 32. Rg4 Rf5 $17) 32. Rg4 e3 33. Rg6 (33. Re1 Nf5 34. Be2 Rd8 35. Rg6 Be4
36. Rd1 Rxd1 37. Bxd1 Bd3 $19) 33... Be4 34. Rxh6 Rg8 {White pieces are still
scattered and black coordination is reaching maximum impact.} (34... e2 35.
Bxe2 Nxe2 36. Rc5+ Kd6 37. Rc4 Bd3 $19) 35. Rc5+ Kd6 36. Rc4 Kd5 37. Kc1 (37.
Rxb4 e2 38. Bxe2 Rxg2 $19) 37... e2 38. Rxd4+ Kxd4 39. Bxe2 Rxg2 40. Bd1 (40.
Kd1 Ke3 41. Rg6 Bxg6 42. hxg6 Rg1+ $19) 40... Rxa2 (40... Rxa2 41. Rh8 Ke3 42.
Rd8 e5 43. h6 Ra6 $19) 0-1

[Event "Samba Cup 2nd"]
[Site "Skanderborg"]
[Date "2005.10.20"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2748"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2005.10.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 110"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bd3 Qc7 8.
O-O Ne5 9. Nf3 Neg4 10. Bd2 d6 11. Ne2 Be7 12. c4 O-O 13. Rc1 b6 14. Nc3 Bb7
15. Qe2 Nd7 16. b3 Rfe8 17. Rfd1 Rad8 18. Bb1 Ngf6 19. Bf4 Ne5 20. Nxe5 dxe5
21. Be3 Rxd1+ 22. Rxd1 b5 23. f3 Qa5 24. Rc1 bxc4 25. Qxc4 Ba3 26. Rc2 Rd8 27.
Kf2 h6 28. Ke2 Bb4 29. Na4 Nd7 30. Qc7 Qb5+ 31. Qc4 Qa5 32. Qc7 Qb5+ 33. Qc4
1/2-1/2

[Event "Samba Cup 2nd"]
[Site "Skanderborg"]
[Date "2005.10.21"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Bruzon Batista, Lazaro"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "2677"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2005.10.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 110"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d3 {Avoiding the main lines of Paulsen.} Nc6 4. g3 g6 5.
Bg2 Bg7 6. O-O Nge7 7. c3 O-O 8. d4 cxd4 9. cxd4 d5 10. e5 {A "French type"
pawn structure has arised.} f6 (10... Qb6 11. Nc3 Nf5 12. Na4 Qc7 13. Bf4 b5
14. Nc3 Qb6 15. Ne2 f6 16. exf6 Bxf6 17. Be5 Nxe5 18. dxe5 Be7 19. Qd2 Bd7 20.
Kh1 Kg7 21. g4 Nh6 22. h3 Nf7 23. Ned4 $14 {1/2-1/2 Psakhis,L (2610)-Shaked,T 
(2445)/Honolulu 1997/EXT 98 (30)}) (10... Nf5 11. Nc3 f6 12. g4 Nfe7 13. exf6
Rxf6 14. Be3 Rf8 15. Qd2 Bd7 16. h3 Nc8 17. Rfe1 Nd6 18. b3 Qa5 19. Rac1 Rac8
$11 {1-0 Zhang Zhong (2607)-Kobalija,M (2581)/Ubeda 2001/CBM 080 ext (64)}) 11.
Re1 fxe5 ({A highly interesting game was played earlier this year:} 11... Nf5
12. Nc3 Kh8 13. g4 Nh4 14. Nxh4 fxe5 15. Nxg6+ hxg6 16. dxe5 Nxe5 17. Be3 Qf6
18. Bc5 Rf7 19. Re3 Qxf2+ 20. Kh1 Kg8 $2 (20... Qf4 $1) 21. Nxd5 $1 exd5 22.
Qxd5 Bd7 23. Rxe5 Qxb2 24. Rf1 Qxg2+ 25. Kxg2 Bc6 26. Qxc6 bxc6 27. Rxf7 Bxe5
28. Re7 Bf4 29. Rxa7 $16 {1-0 Vescovi,G (2645)-Volokitin,A (2685)/Bermuda BER
2005/The Week in Chess 535 (44)}) 12. dxe5 Rf5 $146 {[%csl Re5] Quite an
awkward move, but Carlsen's idea is rather concrete.} (12... h6 13. h4 Nf5 14.
Nc3 Bd7 15. Bf4 Rc8 (15... Be8 16. Qd2 Rc8 17. Rac1 Rc7 18. Nh2 Rcf7 19. Ng4
Kh7 20. b3 $2 Nxh4 $17 {1-0 Morozevich,A (2718)-McDonald,N (2389)/Birmingham
2002/CBM 084 ext (48)}) 16. Qd2 Kh7 17. Rad1 Qa5 18. Nh2 d4 19. Ng4 h5 20. Nf6+
Bxf6 21. exf6 e5 22. Bg5 Be6 23. Ne4 $16 {1-0 Vescovi,G (2592)-Markowski,T 
(2574)/Bermuda 2003/CBM 094 (59)}) (12... Bd7 13. Nc3 Rc8 14. Bf4 Nf5 15. Qd2
Na5 16. b3 b5 $4 (16... h6) 17. Bg5 Qb6 18. g4 $18 {[%csl Rf5] 1-0 Ljubojevic,
L (2565)-Tatai,S (2430)/Manila 1973/EXT 98 (24)}) 13. Bf4 Qf8 14. Qd2 ({
Bruzon was probably concerned about a possible exchange sacrifice:} 14. Nc3
Rxf4 $5 15. gxf4 Qxf4 $44) 14... g5 15. Nxg5 Ng6 16. Nc3 Nxf4 (16... Ncxe5 $6
17. Bxe5 Nxe5 (17... Rxe5 18. f4 Rxe1+ 19. Rxe1 $16 {[%csl Re6]}) 18. f4 Nc4
19. Qe2 Nxb2 20. Rac1 $1 (20. Qxb2 $2 Qc5+ {[%csl Rc3,Rg1]}) (20. Nxe6 $2 Bxe6
21. Qxe6+ Kh8 22. Nxd5 Nd3 $17 {[%csl Ra1,Re1,Rg1]}) 20... Qc5+ (20... Rxg5 21.
fxg5 Qc5+ 22. Kh1 Bxc3 23. Qxb2 Bxb2 24. Rxc5 $18) 21. Kh1 Bxc3 22. Nxe6 Bxe6
23. Qxe6+ Rf7 24. Bxd5 Raf8 25. Re3 Na4 26. Bb3 $18) 17. gxf4 Rxf4 {It looks
like black is doing great, but the next move frustrates his plans...} {[%tqu
"En","What would you suggest for Black?","","","c3d5","White does not get
anything concrete after this, the idea of the sacrifice is rather positional.",
20]} 18. Nxd5 $3 {[%mdl 512] White does not get anything concrete after this,
the idea of the sacrifice is rather positional.} exd5 19. Qxd5+ Kh8 20. e6 {
[%csl Ya8,Yc8] Black's queenside pieces are out of play now, which gives white
a definite compensation for the sacrificed piece. It's extremely hard to
evaluate this position, but it's clear that psychologically it's much easier
to play this position as white.} Qe7 (20... Bxb2 21. Nf7+ Rxf7 22. exf7 Bxa1
23. Re8 Bg4 24. Qe4 Bh5 25. Rxf8+ Rxf8 26. Qb1 Bg7 27. Qxb7 Ne5 {[%csl Rf7]}
28. Qxa7 Rxf7 $13) 21. Rad1 Nd4 22. Kh1 $1 {Calmly played. White simply moving
his king to a safer square clearly indicating that he is not really concerned
about opponent's extra piece...} (22. Nf7+ Kg8 23. Qd8+ Qxd8 24. Nxd8 {[%csl
Ge6][%cal Ge6e7,Ge7e8]} Kf8 25. e7+ Ke8 26. Nxb7 Bxb7 27. Bxb7 Rb8 28. Rxd4
Rxd4 29. Bc6+ Rd7 $17) 22... Rb8 23. Re5 Nc6 $2 {The decisive mistake.} (23...
Bd7 $3 24. Rxd4 (24. exd7 Bxe5 25. Ne6 Qxe6 26. d8=Q+ Rxd8 27. Qxd8+ Qg8 $19) (
24. Qxd7 Qxd7 25. exd7 Bxe5 26. Re1 h6 27. Rxe5 hxg5 28. Re8+ Rf8 $19) 24...
Bc6 25. Rxf4 $1 Bxd5 26. Nf7+ Kg8 27. Bxd5 Bxe5 28. Nxe5 {[%cal Gf4g4]} h5 29.
Rf3 {[%cal Gf3g3]} Qb4 30. e7+ (30. Nd7 Qb5 {[%cal Gb5f1,Gb5d5]} 31. e7+ Kg7
32. Rg3+ Kh8 33. Nxb8 Qxd5+ 34. Kg1 Qd1+ 35. Kg2 Qd5+ $11) 30... Kg7 31. Rf7+
Kh6 32. Rf6+ Kg7 33. Rf7+ Kh6 $11) 24. Rf5 $18 Bxe6 {Desperation. However, the
alternatives are not better.} (24... Rg4 25. Nf7+ Kg8 26. Nd8 {[%cal Cc6b4,
Cb4d5,Gf5f7,Gd8c6]} Nb4 27. Qb3 $18) (24... Rxf5 25. Qxf5 Bf6 26. Bxc6 bxc6 27.
Rd8+ Qxd8 28. Qxh7#) 25. Nxe6 Rxf5 26. Qxf5 Bxb2 {The position is now
materially equal, but white's attack is irresistible.} 27. Be4 Rg8 28. Rd3 {
[%csl Rh7][%cal Gd3h3]} Ne5 29. Rb3 (29. Rh3 $18) 29... Qh4 30. Rh3 1-0

[Event "Samba Cup 2nd"]
[Site "Skanderborg"]
[Date "2005.10.22"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Nisipeanu, Liviu Dieter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2707"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2005.10.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 110"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bf4 e5 8.
Bg5 a6 9. Na3 b5 10. Nd5 Be7 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. c3 Bg5 13. Nc2 O-O 14. a4 bxa4
15. Rxa4 a5 16. Bc4 Rb8 17. b3 g6 18. O-O Kh8 19. b4 Bd7 20. b5 Na7 21. Qa1 Qc8
22. Bd3 Nxb5 23. Rxa5 Nc7 24. Nxc7 Qxc7 25. Nb4 Qd8 26. Bc4 Ra8 27. Ra7 Qc8 28.
Rxa8 Qxa8 29. Qd1 Qb8 30. Qd3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Samba Cup 2nd"]
[Site "Skanderborg"]
[Date "2005.10.23"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hansen, Curt"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D61"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2607"]
[Annotator "Babula,V"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2005.10.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 110"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Qc2 {White
waits with the development of his Bf1 and makes useful move as he would like 
(after possible d5xc4) to capture on c4 in one step .} ({Other, more frequent
option is} 7. Rc1 {with the same idea. By playing the text move White keeps
the chance to put his Ra1 also on the d1 square.}) 7... h6 {Black forces White
to show his intention with his Bg5,} ({possible is also direct} 7... c5) 8. Bh4
{A simple retreat,} ({other options are more interesting:} 8. cxd5 exd5 (8...
hxg5 $6 9. dxe6 fxe6 10. Nxg5 $40 {is very risky}) 9. Bf4) ({or} 8. h4 {
, what leads to sharp play.}) 8... c5 {The insertion of moves h7-h6 Bg5-h4 is
probably more useful for Black, but it is not so significant.} 9. Rd1 Qa5 10.
cxd5 Nxd5 11. Bxe7 Nxe7 12. Be2 Nd5 $5 {[%mdl 8] A new attempt, Black will
exchange his passive N and also change the pawn structure.} ({In the position
with the symmetrical pawn structure White easily keeps an edge due to his
better development, for example} 12... Nf6 13. O-O Bd7 14. Ne5 cxd4 15. Nxd7
Nxd7 16. Rxd4 $14 {1-0 Hansen,C-Jakobsen,O/Norresundby 1984/EXT 2000 (50)}) 13.
O-O Nxc3 14. bxc3 b6 $5 {Black closes his queen on the queenside and believes
that he will get here an effective counterplay and will not need the queen
else-where.} (14... Qc7 {[%cal Yb7b6,Yc8b7] looks more natural.}) 15. Nd2 $5 {
[%csl Ra5][%cal Yd2c4]} (15. e4 {gives no advantage:} cxd4 16. cxd4 Ba6 $11)
15... Ba6 16. Nc4 Bxc4 17. Bxc4 b5 $1 18. Be2 Rfc8 $132 {[%csl Rc3][%cal Yd7b6,
Yb6a4] Black has successfully solved the opening problems, his position is OK
as his counterplay on the queenside is getting real.} 19. d5 $5 exd5 20. Rxd5
Nb6 21. Rf5 {White tries to create threats against Black's monarch as most of
Black's pieces are on the other side.} Rc7 22. Rd1 Na4 23. Bf3 Re8 24. Re5 {
White exploits Black's weak basic rank.} Rf8 25. Rc1 a6 $11 {The position is
balanced and till the end of game neither one player doesn't change it to his
side.} 26. h4 Rd7 {[%cal Ya5d8] <->d} 27. h5 Qd8 28. c4 Rd2 29. Qf5 {[%cal
Yf3e4,Yf5h7]} Qf6 30. cxb5 axb5 (30... Qxf5 31. Rxf5 axb5 32. Bc6 $11) 31. Qe4
b4 32. Re8 Qd6 33. Rxf8+ Qxf8 34. a3 Nc3 35. Qc4 Rb2 36. axb4 cxb4 37. Ra1 Rb1+
38. Rxb1 Nxb1 39. Bd1 Qb8 40. Qd3 Nc3 41. Bb3 Qc7 42. f3 Qe7 43. Kf1 Qh4 44.
Qd7 Qh1+ 45. Kf2 Qh4+ 46. Kf1 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-ch playoff"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2005.11.07"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Agdestein, Simen"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2582"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2005.11.07"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2006"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 b6 7. Nf3 Bb7 8.
e3 d5 9. b4 Nbd7 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Qb2 Qc8 12. Bd2 c5 13. Rc1 Ba6 14. dxc5 Bxf1
15. Rxf1 bxc5 16. bxc5 Rb8 17. Qc2 Qc6 18. e4 N5f6 19. Nd4 Qa6 20. f4 e5 21.
Nf5 exf4 22. c6 Ne5 23. Rf3 Rbe8 24. Bb4 Nxe4 25. Ne7+ Rxe7 26. Bxe7 Re8 27.
Qxe4 Rxe7 28. c7 Re8 29. Kd1 Qc8 30. Rd3 Kf8 31. Qb4+ Kg8 32. Qe4 Kf8 33. Rd4
Ng6 34. Qd5 Qg4+ 35. Kc2 Ne7 36. Qf3 Qg6+ 37. Kd2 Qb6 38. Qxf4 Qa5+ 39. Rc3 Nf5
40. Rdd3 1-0

[Event "NOR-ch playoff"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2005.11.08"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Agdestein, Simen"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C80"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2582"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2005.11.07"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2006"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. Nbd2 Nc5 10. c3 d4 11. Bxe6 Nxe6 12. cxd4 Ncxd4 13. a4 Be7 14. Nxd4 Qxd4
15. axb5 Qxe5 16. bxa6 O-O 17. Nf3 Qb5 18. a7 Bc5 19. Be3 Bxe3 20. fxe3 Qb6 21.
Qa4 Qxe3+ 22. Kh1 Rfd8 23. Rfe1 Qb6 24. Ne5 c5 25. Rf1 Rd4 26. Qa2 Qc7 27. Nxf7
c4 28. Qa6 Nc5 29. Qa5 Rd7 30. Qb5 Nb3 31. Ne5 Re7 32. Qd5+ 1-0

[Event "NOR-ch playoff rap"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2005.11.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Agdestein, Simen"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B17"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2582"]
[PlyCount "155"]
[EventDate "2005.11.09"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2006"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Ng5 Ngf6 6. Bd3 e6 7. N1f3 Bd6 8.
Qe2 h6 9. Ne4 Nxe4 10. Qxe4 Nf6 11. Qe2 Qc7 12. Bd2 b6 13. O-O-O Bb7 14. Ne5
O-O-O 15. f4 Kb8 16. Kb1 Rhe8 17. Rhf1 Nd5 18. c4 Nb4 19. Be4 f6 20. a3 Na6 21.
c5 Bxe5 22. cxb6 axb6 23. dxe5 Nc5 24. Bc2 Ba6 25. Qe3 Bxf1 26. Rxf1 f5 27. Bb4
Rd5 28. Bb3 Ne4 29. Bxd5 exd5 30. Qd3 c5 31. Rc1 Qc6 32. Be1 Kb7 33. h4 Rd8 34.
h5 c4 35. Qd4 Nc5 36. Bh4 Nb3 37. Qc3 Rd7 38. Re1 d4 39. Qb4 Qe6 40. Bf2 Nc5
41. Qb5 Nd3 42. Rf1 Nxf4 43. Rc1 Qd5 44. Qxc4 Qxc4 45. Rxc4 Ne6 46. Kc2 Rd5 47.
Kd3 Nc5+ 48. Ke2 d3+ 49. Kd1 Ne4 50. Be3 b5 51. Rd4 Kc6 52. e6 Re5 53. Rxd3
Rxe6 54. Bd4 Re7 55. Kc2 f4 56. b3 Ng3 57. Rc3+ Kd5 58. Kd3 Ne4 59. Rc8 Rf7 60.
Rd8+ Nd6 61. a4 bxa4 62. bxa4 f3 63. gxf3 Rxf3+ 64. Ke2 Rf7 65. Kd3 Rf3+ 66.
Ke2 Rf7 67. Bf2 Kc6 68. a5 Re7+ 69. Kd3 Rd7 70. Rxd7 Kxd7 71. a6 Kc6 72. Bd4
Nf5 73. Be5 Kb6 74. Ke4 Ne7 75. Bxg7 Ng8 76. Kf5 Kxa6 77. Kg6 Kb5 78. Kf7 1-0

[Event "NOR-ch playoff rap"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2005.11.09"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Agdestein, Simen"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2582"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[PlyCount "137"]
[EventDate "2005.11.09"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2006"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Nbd2 Bb4 6. Qc2 Bb7 7. Bg2 Be4 8. Qb3
Bxd2+ 9. Bxd2 O-O 10. O-O d6 11. Rfd1 Nbd7 12. Rac1 Re8 13. Bf1 Qe7 14. Qe3 a5
15. b3 h6 16. Bc3 c6 17. Nh4 d5 18. f3 Bh7 19. Qf2 b5 20. e3 Reb8 21. Qd2 b4
22. Bb2 a4 23. Ng2 Qd8 24. Nf4 a3 25. Ba1 Ne8 26. Bd3 Bxd3 27. Nxd3 Qb6 28. g4
Ra7 29. Rc2 Nc7 30. Rdc1 Na6 31. h4 Qd8 32. Qh2 Nf8 33. Ne5 Rc7 34. cxd5 Qxd5
35. e4 Qb5 36. Nxc6 Rb6 37. Ne5 Rxc2 38. Qxc2 f6 39. Nc4 Rc6 40. Qd2 Ng6 41. h5
Ne7 42. f4 Nc7 43. f5 Ne8 44. fxe6 Rxe6 45. Qf4 Qg5 46. Rf1 f5 47. e5 Qxf4 48.
Rxf4 fxg4 49. Rxg4 Nd5 50. Kf2 Kf7 51. Kf3 g6 52. Rh4 gxh5 53. Ke4 Nef6+ 54.
Kd3 Ne8 55. Ne3 Nxe3 56. Kxe3 Nc7 57. Ke4 Rg6 58. d5 Rg4+ 59. Rxg4 hxg4 60. e6+
Ke7 61. Bd4 g3 62. Ke5 Ne8 63. d6+ Nxd6 64. Bc5 g2 65. Bxd6+ Ke8 66. Bc5 h5 67.
Kf6 h4 68. Bg1 h3 69. e7 1-0

[Event "NOR-ch playoff rap"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2005.11.09"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Agdestein, Simen"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2582"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[PlyCount "160"]
[EventDate "2005.11.09"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2006"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Nbd2 Bb7 6. Bg2 c5 7. e4 cxd4 8. e5
Ng4 9. O-O Nc6 10. h3 Nh6 11. Ne4 Be7 12. Bf4 O-O 13. Nxd4 Nxd4 14. Qxd4 Nf5
15. Qd3 Qc7 16. Rad1 Rfd8 17. b3 Rac8 18. Qe2 Bc6 19. h4 Qb7 20. h5 Bc5 21. g4
Nd4 22. Qd3 d5 23. exd6 f5 24. gxf5 exf5 25. Nxc5 bxc5 26. f3 Re8 27. Rde1 Qf7
28. Be5 Re6 29. b4 Rce8 30. bxc5 Rxe5 31. Rxe5 Rxe5 32. Qxd4 Re2 33. Qh4 h6 34.
Re1 Rxe1+ 35. Qxe1 Qxc4 36. Qe5 Qxa2 37. Qxf5 Qa1+ 38. Kh2 Qe1 39. Qf4 a5 40.
Qd4 Qe6 41. Bf1 Qf5 42. Bc4+ Kf8 43. Qg4 Qxg4 44. fxg4 a4 45. Kg3 a3 46. Kf4
Ke8 47. Kf5 Bd7+ 48. Kg6 Kf8 49. g5 hxg5 50. Kxg5 Ke8 51. Bd5 Kf8 52. Kf4 Bc6
53. Ba2 Ke8 54. Kf5 Bd7+ 55. Ke5 Bc6 56. Ke6 Bb5 57. Bd5 Bd7+ 58. Ke5 Kd8 59.
Kd4 Bc6 60. Be6 Bd7 61. Ba2 Ba4 62. Kc3 Be8 63. Kb4 Kd7 64. Kxa3 Bxh5 65. Kb4
Bf3 66. Kb5 g5 67. Bf7 g4 68. Bh5 Be2+ 69. Kb6 g3 70. c6+ Kxd6 71. c7 g2 72.
c8=Q g1=Q+ 73. Kb7 Qb1+ 74. Ka8 Qa1+ 75. Kb8 Qb2+ 76. Qb7 Qh8+ 77. Ka7 Qxh5 78.
Qb6+ Kd7 79. Qb7+ Ke6 80. Qc6+ Kf5 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-ch playoff rap"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2005.11.09"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Agdestein, Simen"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B17"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2582"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2005.11.09"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2006"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Ng5 Ngf6 6. Bd3 e6 7. N1f3 Bd6 8.
Qe2 h6 9. Ne4 Nxe4 10. Qxe4 Qc7 11. O-O c5 12. Re1 Nf6 13. Qh4 c4 14. Bf1 c3
15. Bb5+ Bd7 16. Bxd7+ Qxd7 17. bxc3 Qa4 18. Bg5 Nd5 19. Bd2 Rc8 20. Qg4 Kf8
21. Qe4 Qc6 22. Rab1 b6 23. Rb3 b5 24. Ne5 Bxe5 25. Qxe5 a6 26. c4 bxc4 27. Rf3
Re8 28. Rb1 Kg8 29. Rg3 g6 30. h4 h5 31. Rf3 Rc8 32. Rb8 f6 33. Rxf6 Nxf6 34.
Rxc8+ Qxc8 35. Qxf6 Qe8 36. Bf4 Qf7 37. Qg5 Kh7 38. Qh6+ Kg8 39. Qg5 Kh7 40.
Qh6+ Kg8 41. Qg5 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-ch playoff rap"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2005.11.10"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Agdestein, Simen"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C09"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2582"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2005.11.09"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2006"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 exd5 5. Ngf3 Nc6 6. Bb5 Bd6 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8.
O-O Nge7 9. Nb3 Bd6 10. Re1 O-O 11. Bd3 a6 12. Be3 Ng6 13. h3 Nf4 14. Bf1 Bf5
15. Qd2 Qc7 16. Bc5 Bxc5 17. Nxc5 Rad8 18. c3 d4 19. cxd4 Nxd4 20. Nxd4 Qxc5
21. Qxf4 Rxd4 22. Re5 Rxf4 23. Rxc5 Be6 24. a3 Rd4 25. Rc7 Rb8 26. Rac1 Kf8 27.
b4 Rd7 28. Be2 Ke7 29. Bf3 Kd8 30. R7c3 Rd6 31. Kh2 b6 32. Kg3 Rc8 33. Rxc8+
Bxc8 34. h4 Rd3 35. Rd1 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-ch playoff rap"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2005.11.10"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Agdestein, Simen"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2582"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2005.11.09"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2006"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.11.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2005.11.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qb3 c6 6. Nc3 d5 7. cxd5 cxd5 8. Bf4
Bc4 9. Qa4+ Qd7 10. Qc2 Nc6 11. Ne5 Nxe5 12. dxe5 Ng8 13. Bg2 Bb4 14. a3 Bxc3+
15. Qxc3 Ne7 16. Qd2 O-O 17. O-O Ng6 18. Rfc1 Rac8 19. Rc3 Ba6 20. Rac1 Rxc3
21. Rxc3 Rc8 22. e3 h6 23. h3 Rxc3 24. Qxc3 Qa4 25. Qd2 Qc4 26. h4 h5 27. Qd4
Qc1+ 28. Kh2 Qc2 29. e4 Nxf4 30. gxf4 Qc4 31. Qxc4 Bxc4 32. exd5 Bxd5 33. Bxd5
exd5 34. f5 Kh7 35. f4 Kg8 36. Kg3 Kf8 37. Kf3 Ke7 38. Ke3 Kd7 39. Kd4 Kc6 40.
a4 a5 41. e6 fxe6 42. fxe6 g6 43. e7 Kd7 44. Kxd5 Kxe7 45. Kc6 Kf6 46. Kxb6 Kf5
47. Kxa5 Kxf4 48. b4 g5 49. b5 1-0

[Event "FIDE World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.11.27"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Azmaiparashvili, Zurab"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2658"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6 6. e3 Bf5 7. Qf3 Bg6 8.
Bxf6 Qxf6 9. Qxf6 gxf6 10. Nf3 Nd7 11. Nh4 ({In my annotations for CBM 106 I
wrote that this might be a more precise move order than} 11. g3 {1/2-1/2
Volkov,S (2612)-Slobodjan,R (2544)/Mulhouse 2005/CBM 106/[Marin] (47) when} a5
$5 {looks to be better than 11...Be7 12.Nh4.}) 11... Bb4 $5 {This rare move is
an interesting attempt to deviate from the customary course of events.} ({
Now, there is no time for} 11... a5 {because} 12. f4 {cannot be met by} f5 {
in view of} 13. Bd3 {winning a pawn.}) (11... Be7 12. g3 {would just transpose
to the aforementioned game, which looks favourable for White.}) 12. Rc1 $146 {
White prevents the weakening of the c4-square in case of a further ...Bxc3.} ({
The main idea behind Black's last move is revealed after} 12. f4 {when the
bishop can get out of danger with} Be4 $1) ({Previously, White has been
successful with} 12. a3 Bxc3+ 13. bxc3 b5 14. Kd2 (14. a4 {1-0 Vaisser,A (2575)
-Guigonis,D (2315)/Meribel 1998/CBM 067/[Tsesarsky] (50)}) 14... Nb6 15. Bd3
Rb8 16. g4 Nc4+ 17. Ke2 Ke7 18. Nxg6+ fxg6 19. h4 $14 {1-0 Milov,V (2653)
-Bellini,F (2484)/Switzerland 2000/EXT 2001 (41)}) 12... Nb6 {[%csl Rc4,Re4]
[%cal Yb6c8,Yc8d6]} 13. a3 Bxc3+ 14. Rxc3 Nc8 15. f3 Nd6 {Black has achieved
an optimal regroupment. However, the weakness of the king side emains a
permanent source of worries.} 16. g3 a5 17. b3 ({White could have prevented
the weakening of the c4-square with} 17. a4 {[%csl Yb4] but this would have
provoked a complete lack of flexibility of his queen side.}) 17... a4 18. b4
Bb1 {[%cal Yb1a2,Ya2c4] White intended to complete his development with Kf2
and Be2 and then prepare his minority's attack based on b5. Black hurries to
prevent this plan before it even gets started, but his king side will remain
hopelessly weak after the departure of the bishop.} 19. Kf2 Ba2 20. Rc1 Bc4 21.
Bh3 Nb5 22. Ra1 O-O 23. Ng2 Rfd8 24. Nf4 Kf8 25. Bf5 $14 {Black's nice queen
side position does not entirely compensate for the weaknesses of the other
wing.} h6 26. Nh5 Ke7 27. g4 b6 28. Rhe1 Ra7 29. Ng3 Kf8 30. Bc2 c5 31. bxc5
bxc5 32. dxc5 Rc8 33. Nf5 Rxc5 34. Reb1 Rc8 35. Rb4 d4 36. exd4 Be6 37. Bxa4
Nc3 38. Bc2 h5 39. h3 hxg4 40. hxg4 Na2 41. Rb2 Rxa3 42. Rh1 Bxf5 43. Bxf5 Rca8
44. Rb7 Nc3 45. Rh8+ Kg7 46. Rh7+ Kg8 47. Rhxf7 Ra2+ 48. Ke3 Re8+ 49. Kd3 Nd1
50. Rg7+ Kh8 51. Rh7+ Kg8 52. Rhg7+ Kh8 53. Rh7+ Kg8 54. d5 Re3+ 55. Kd4 1-0

[Event "FIDE World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.11.28"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Azmaiparashvili, Zurab"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D97"]
[WhiteElo "2658"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 O-O 7. e4 Na6 8.
Bg5 c5 9. d5 e6 10. O-O-O Qa5 11. Qb5 Qxb5 12. Bxb5 Nc7 13. Be2 exd5 14. exd5
Rd8 15. d6 Nce8 16. Bb5 Bd7 17. Rhe1 a6 18. Bc4 Bf5 19. Nd5 Nxd5 20. Bxd8 Rxd8
21. Rxd5 Bh6+ 22. Kd1 Nxd6 23. Ne5 Be6 24. Rd3 Bf5 25. Nxf7 Bxd3 26. Nxh6+ Kg7
27. Bxd3 Kxh6 28. Kc2 Re8 29. Rxe8 Nxe8 30. Kc3 Nc7 31. Kc4 b6 32. a4 a5 33. f4
Kg7 34. g4 Kf6 35. h4 h6 36. Be4 Kg7 37. Bc6 Kf6 38. Bf3 Ke6 39. Be4 Kf6 40.
Bc6 Ke6 41. Kd3 Ke7 42. Ke3 Ke6 43. Be4 Kf6 44. g5+ Kg7 45. Bd3 Nd5+ 46. Ke4
Nb4 47. Bb1 hxg5 48. hxg5 Kf8 49. Ke5 Kf7 50. Be4 Kg7 51. Kd6 c4 52. Kc7 Na2
53. Kxb6 1-0

[Event "FIDE World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.11.29"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Azmaiparashvili, Zurab"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2658"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Bg5 h6 5. Bh4 Be7 6. Nc3 Bb7 7. e3 c5 8. Be2
O-O 9. O-O cxd4 10. Nxd4 a6 11. Bf3 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 Ra7 13. Rac1 Rc7 14. b3 Nc6
15. Bg3 Nxd4 16. exd4 d6 17. d5 e5 18. Qe2 Nd7 19. f4 Re8 20. Qf2 Rf8 21. fxe5
dxe5 22. Qe2 f5 23. Rcd1 Bd6 24. Qh5 Qg5 25. Qxg5 hxg5 26. Be1 g4 27. a4 Nc5
28. b4 Nd7 29. c5 bxc5 30. b5 a5 31. Nb1 Ra7 32. Nd2 Nb6 33. Nb3 g6 34. Nxa5
Rfa8 35. Nc6 Rxa4 36. Bc3 e4 37. Be5 Bxe5 38. Nxe5 Kg7 39. d6 Kf6 40. Nxg4+ Ke6
41. Ne3 Rd4 42. g4 Rxd1 43. Rxd1 f4 44. Ng2 g5 45. h4 f3 46. Ne3 gxh4 47. Nf5
c4 48. d7 Nxd7 49. Rd6+ Ke5 50. Rxd7 c3 51. Rc7 Ra1+ 52. Kf2 Ra2+ 53. Kg1 c2
54. b6 Ra1+ 55. Kf2 c1=Q 56. Rxc1 Rxc1 0-1

[Event "FIDE World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.11.29"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Azmaiparashvili, Zurab"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2658"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d6 2. e4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. f4 a6 5. Nf3 b5 6. Bd3 Nd7 7. Be3 c5 8. dxc5
Nxc5 9. Bxc5 dxc5 10. e5 Ra7 11. Qe2 Nh6 12. a4 Qa5 13. O-O b4 14. Ne4 O-O 15.
Qf2 Rc7 16. Nfd2 Be6 17. Nc4 Bxc4 18. Bxc4 Nf5 19. Rfd1 Qb6 20. c3 h5 21. a5
Qc6 22. Qe2 Rb8 23. Bd5 Qb5 24. Bc4 Qc6 25. Bd5 Qe8 26. Bc4 Bh6 27. g3 Rd8 28.
Bxa6 Rxd1+ 29. Rxd1 Qa4 30. Bc4 Qxa5 31. e6 fxe6 32. Nf6+ Kh8 33. Rd8+ Kg7 34.
Rg8+ 1-0

[Event "FIDE World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.11.30"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Amonatov, Farrukh"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2572"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nf3 Qc7 8. a4
b6 9. Nd5 Nxd5 10. Qxd5 Nc6 11. Ng5 Rb8 12. Bc4 {Carlsen is obviously working
on chess in a great depth. In the given position he comes up with a radical
attack against the weakness f7.} (12. c3 Nd8 13. Qd1 h6 14. Nf3 Be7 15. Bd3 Qc6
16. Qe2 b5 17. axb5 axb5 18. Nd2 Ne6 19. Ra5 Bd7 20. O-O O-O {1/2-1/2 Piuva,
M-Valkesalmi,K/Finland 1980/ (54)}) 12... Nd8 13. Qd3 h6 14. Nf3 Ra8 {Amonatov
has played the first independent move, but it doesn't make a healthy
impression. The tragedy for black is a poor coordination of pieces and rather
slow development.} (14... Qb7 15. O-O Be7 16. Ra3 O-O 17. Rb3 Qc6 18. Ra1 Ne6
19. Bxa6 Bxa6 20. Qxa6 Qxc2 21. Rxb6 Rbc8 22. h3 Qxe4 23. Qb7 Qxb7 24. Rxb7 Rc7
25. Rxc7 Nxc7 26. b4 {1-0 Zieher,H-Schubert,C/Germany 1981/GER-chT (43)}) 15.
Nd2 Ne6 (15... Be7 16. Bd5 Bb7 17. a5 b5 18. c4 $16) 16. Bd5 Rb8 (16... Bb7 17.
O-O Bxd5 18. exd5 Nc5 19. Qc4 $16) 17. Qc4 Nc5 $6 {The logical move, that
finally develops the knight to promissing square fails to the immediate
tactical trick. The defender was poorly prepared for the direct contact of the
pieces.} (17... Qxc4 18. Nxc4 Nf4 (18... b5 19. axb5 axb5 20. Ba7 $18) 19. Bxb6
Nxg2+ 20. Kd2 $16) 18. b4 $1 b5 $8 19. axb5 axb5 20. Qc3 Ne6 21. Qxc7 Nxc7 22.
Ba7 Nxd5 (22... Rb7 23. Bc6+ Kd8 24. c3 $18) 23. Bxb8 Nxb4 24. O-O $1 {The
young Norwegian has won an exchange for the pawn. His development advantage
contributes to the rush cracking of the enemy's resistance.} Nc6 (24... Nxc2 $2
25. Rac1 $18) 25. Rfb1 Be7 (25... Nxb8 26. Ra8 Nc6 27. Rxc8+ Kd7 28. Ra8 b4 29.
Nc4 $18) (25... b4 26. Nc4 Kd7 27. Nb6+ Kd8 28. Ba7 Be6 29. Nd5 $18) 26. Rxb5
O-O 27. Nc4 $1 {The tactical tit for tat is the quickest way to realize the
huge advantage.} Be6 (27... Nxb8 28. Rxb8 Be6 29. Rxf8+ Bxf8 30. Ne3 $18) 28.
Bxd6 Bxc4 (28... Bxd6 29. Nxd6 Rd8 30. Nb7 $18) 29. Rc5 Rc8 (29... Bxd6 30.
Rxc6 $18) 30. Rxc4 Bxd6 31. Ra6 $18 Rb8 (31... Ne7 32. Rxc8+ Nxc8 33. Ra8 $18)
32. g3 Nd4 33. Rxd6 Rb1+ 34. Kg2 Rb2 35. c3 Nc2 36. Kf1 1-0

[Event "FIDE World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.12.01"]
[Round "2.2"]
[White "Amonatov, Farrukh"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2572"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[Annotator "Lukacs,P"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nc3 e6 5. g4 Bg6 6. Nge2 c5 7. Be3 cxd4 (7...
Nc6 {- Zambrana-Leitao, Santiago 2004 CBM 100}) 8. Nxd4 Bb4 (8... h5 $6 {
Black has completely forgotten about the importance of development.} 9. f4 $1 {
/\ f5} hxg4 (9... Ne7 10. f5 $1 exf5 11. Ndb5 $1 {and Black is on the verge of
collapse.} Nec6 12. Nxd5 Na6 13. Qd2 fxg4 14. O-O-O Qc8 15. Nd6+ Bxd6 16. exd6
O-O 17. d7 $16 {Cu.Hansen-K.Berg, Esbjerg 1981}) 10. f5 $1 {This is the
beginning of the breakthrough in the [+].} exf5 11. Bb5+ Nd7 12. e6 $1 fxe6 13.
Nxe6 Qh4+ 14. Bf2 Qe7 15. O-O Ngf6 16. Nxd5 Nxd5 17. Qxd5 Qd6 18. Qg2 $16 {
Hetey-Aarland, Aarhus 1993}) (8... Nd7 $6 9. f4 $14) (8... Ne7 9. f4 a6 10. f5
$5 {is crucial here, for example:} (10. Bh3 {/\ f5} Nec6 {/\ Qh4} 11. O-O Nxd4
12. Bxd4 Nc6 (12... h5 $6 {is again met by the devastating} 13. f5 $1 hxg4 14.
fxg6 gxh3 15. Ne4 Qh4 16. Qf3 $18 {A.David-Piankov, France 1997}) 13. f5 (13.
Bf2 h5 14. f5 Bh7 $13) 13... exf5 14. gxf5 Qg5+ 15. Kh1 Bh5 16. Qd3 Nb4 $1 $13)
10... exf5 11. Qe2 $5 Nbc6 (11... fxg4 12. O-O-O $19) 12. O-O-O Nxd4 (12...
fxg4 13. Bg2 $44) 13. Rxd4 fxg4 14. Bg2 Rc8 15. Rhd1 Qc7 16. R1d2 Bf5 17. Bxd5
Nc6 18. Rf4 Qxe5 {(Ziatdinov-Savon, Tashkent 1985)} (18... g6 19. Ne4 $16) 19.
Bb6 $1 $16) (8... Nc6 9. f4 (9. Bb5 Nge7 10. f4 a6 11. Ba4 Qc7 12. O-O O-O-O
13. Bxc6 Nxc6 14. Nxc6 Qxc6 15. Qd4 Be7 16. Ne2 (16. f5 $6 {is premature
because of} exf5 17. gxf5 Bxf5 18. Rxf5 Qg6+ 19. Rg5 Bxg5 20. Qg4+ Kb8 21. Qxg5
d4 $17) (16. Rad1 $5) 16... h5 17. f5 (17. g5 {gives up all the light squares.}
h4) 17... exf5 18. gxf5 Bxf5 $1 19. Rxf5 Qg6+ 20. Ng3 h4 21. Rf3 {1/2:1/2 Van
der Wiel-Scheeren, Amsterdam Drachten 1982}) 9... Bb4 (9... Nxd4 10. Bxd4 Ne7
11. Bb5+ Nc6 12. O-O {(Wittmann-A.Ward, Oxford 1998)} Bb4 $5 13. a3 Ba5 $13)
10. a3 Bxc3+ 11. bxc3 Be4 12. Rg1 Nge7 13. Bd3 O-O 14. Bxe4 dxe4 15. Nxc6 Nxc6
16. Qxd8 Rfxd8 {White's P structure is not very impressive in the _|_.} 17. Ke2
Ne7 18. Bd4 Nd5 19. f5 Rac8 $11 {Herbrechtsmeier-Chandler, GER-chT 1982}) 9.
Qd2 (9. Bb5+ Nd7 10. f4 Qh4+ (10... Rc8 11. O-O $1 {White can bravely
sacrifice the P.} Bxc3 12. bxc3 Be4 (12... Rxc3 13. Qd2 $16) (12... a6 13.
Bxd7+ Qxd7 14. f5 $16) 13. f5 $40) (10... Be4 11. O-O Bxc3 12. bxc3 a6 (12...
Ne7 13. f5 O-O 14. f6 {This -> looks rather dangerous for Black.} Ng6 15. fxg7
Kxg7 16. Bxd7 Qxd7 17. Bg5 $36 {Shabalov-Macieja, playchess.com 2004}) 13. Bd3
{(Serra Pages-Quintas Galeano, ESP 1999)} (13. Bxd7+ Qxd7 14. f5 Ne7) 13... Rc8
$132) 11. Bf2 Qh3 12. Bg3 Nh6 $132) (9. h4 h5 10. a3 Bxc3+ 11. bxc3 a6 12. Rb1
Qc7 13. c4 Ne7 $15 {and White's P structure is in ruins, Paragua-Liang Chong,
Tagaytay City 2004.}) (9. f4 Ne7 10. Bg2 h5 11. f5 exf5 12. gxf5 Bxf5 13. O-O
Bg4 14. Qd3 Nbc6 {1/2-1/2 Conquest-Magem Badals, Pamplona 2004}) 9... Nd7 (9...
Ne7 10. a3 Ba5 11. Ndb5 (11. f4 O-O (11... Be4 12. Rg1 O-O) 12. Bg2 Nbc6 13.
O-O Nxd4 14. Bxd4 Nc6 $15 {and White had no time for f4-f5.}) 11... O-O 12. Bg2
Nbc6 13. f4 {(Van der Weide-Yevseev, Cappelle la Grande 2006)} f6 $132) 10. a3
(10. Bb5 {is less logical than before.} Rc8 11. O-O h5 $1 $15) (10. f4 $5 {
is the other critical continuation.} Nh6 $5 (10... Qh4+ 11. Bf2 Qxg4 12. Rg1
Qh5 {Black has won the g P but lost a couple of tempi.} 13. a3 $44) (10... Be4
11. Rg1 a6 (11... Rc8 12. Ndb5 a6 {(Aswin-Wojtaszek, Kochin 2004)} 13. Nd6+
Bxd6 14. exd6 Qh4+ 15. Bf2 Qxh2 16. Nxe4 dxe4 17. O-O-O $16) 12. a3 Bxc3 13.
Qxc3 Qh4+ 14. Rg3 $14) (10... Nc5 11. Bb5+ Kf8 12. O-O $16) 11. h3 Be4 12. Rg1
O-O $13) 10... Qa5 $5 {[#]} (10... Bxc3 11. Qxc3 Rc8 12. Qb4 Nxe5 13. Qxb7 (13.
Nb5 $6 {is strongly met by} a5 $1 $17 (13... Rxc2 {is not so impressive:} 14.
Nd6+ Kd7 15. Nxb7 Nf3+ 16. Kd1)) 13... Nf6 14. Bf4 (14. Bb5+ Kf8 $13) 14...
Nfd7 (14... Be4 15. Bxe5 Bxh1 16. Bb5+ $16) 15. Bxe5 Nxe5 16. Bb5+ Kf8 $13) (
10... Ba5 $5 $13) 11. Rb1 $6 {doesn't seem to be a successful improvement.} (
11. Bb5 $142 Bxc3 12. bxc3 $1 (12. Bxd7+ $6 {solving the pin deliberately
cannot be good.} Kxd7 13. bxc3 Rc8 14. O-O (14. Rb1 b6 15. Rb3 h5 16. g5 Ne7
$15) 14... Qxc3 $17 {and Black has a healthy extra P, while his K in the [+]
cannot be attacked, Shirov-Grischuk, Dubai 2002 CBM 089.}) 12... Rc8 13. Rb1
Rc7 (13... b6 14. Rb4 $1) 14. Rb4 $1 (14. c4 Qxd2+ 15. Bxd2 dxc4 16. Bb4 Be4
17. O-O $13) 14... Qxa3 15. Ra4 {^^} Qxc3 16. Rxa7 Qxd2+ 17. Bxd2 Ne7 $14) (11.
f4 $5 Be4 12. Rg1 Ne7 (12... Bxc3 13. bxc3) 13. Ndb5 O-O 14. Nd6 $13) 11...
Bxc3 12. bxc3 a6 $15 {Black is not afraid of Rxb7.} 13. Rxb7 (13. f4 Be4 14.
Rg1 Qc7 15. Bd3 Ne7 16. Ne2 Bxd3 17. cxd3 h5 18. h3 hxg4 19. hxg4 g5 $5 $15 {
completely ruining White's P structure.} (19... Rh2 20. Bf2 O-O-O 21. Bg3 Rhh8
{1/2-1/2 Van Oosterom-Delemarre, Boeblingen 2004})) 13... Qxa3 14. c4 (14. Rxd7
Kxd7 15. c4 $44 Rb8 16. cxd5 Rb1+ 17. Ke2 {Both kings look rather odd.} exd5
18. Bg2 Rxh1 19. Bxh1 Ne7 20. f4 h5 $1) 14... Nxe5 15. f3 Nf6 16. g5 Nfd7 17.
cxd5 O-O {Now the black K is in safety, which cannot be said about his
colleague.} 18. dxe6 fxe6 19. Be2 Qa1+ 20. Qc1 Qa5+ 21. Qd2 Qa1+ {Black is
happa to take the draw by perpetual.} ({Continuing the fight by} 21... Qd5 $17
{was not against all odds.}) 22. Qc1 Qa5+ 23. Qd2 Qa1+ 24. Qc1 1/2-1/2

[Event "FIDE World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.12.03"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Cheparinov, Ivan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2618"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[PlyCount "170"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 b5 6. Nbd2 Bb4 7. Bg2 bxc4 8. bxc4
Bxc4 9. Rb1 Nc6 10. Rxb4 Bxe2 11. Qxe2 Nxb4 12. Nc4 O-O 13. O-O Rb8 14. Nfe5 d6
15. Nc6 Nxc6 16. Bxc6 Qc8 17. a4 Nd5 18. Ne3 Nb4 19. Bg2 Qa6 20. Qd1 Qd3 21.
Bf3 d5 22. Ng4 Qxd1 23. Rxd1 Nc6 24. Ba3 Rfc8 25. Be2 Rb3 26. Bc5 a5 27. Bb5
Nb4 28. Bd7 Rd8 29. Ne5 Nd3 30. Rxd3 Rxd3 31. Nxd3 Rxd7 32. Kf1 Rd8 33. Ke2 f6
34. Kd2 Kf7 35. Kc2 h5 36. Ba3 h4 37. g4 h3 38. Bb2 Ke7 39. Nc5 Ra8 40. Bc3 Kd6
41. Bxa5 e5 42. Bb4 exd4 43. Kd3 Kc6 44. Kxd4 Re8 45. Kd3 g6 46. Nb3 Re4 47.
Nd4+ Kb6 48. f3 Re8 49. Nb3 Ra8 50. Nc5 Kc6 51. Kd4 Re8 52. Kd3 d4 53. Nb3 Kd5
54. Nxd4 c5 55. Nb5 Kc6 56. Bd2 Ra8 57. Nc3 Rd8+ 58. Kc2 c4 59. Ne2 Rd3 60. Bc3
Kb7 61. Nd4 Ka6 62. a5 f5 63. g5 f4 64. Kb2 Rd1 65. Ka3 Rh1 66. Bd2 Rxh2 67.
Bxf4 Rd2 68. Nc6 Rd3+ 69. Ka4 Rxf3 70. Nb4+ Ka7 71. Be5 Rf5 72. Bd6 Rxg5 73.
Nc6+ Kb7 74. Nd8+ Ka6 75. Ne6 Rxa5+ 76. Kb4 Ra2 77. Kxc4 h2 78. Bxh2 Rxh2 79.
Kd5 Rf2 80. Ke5 Rf1 81. Nf4 g5 82. Nh5 g4 83. Ke4 Kb5 84. Ng3 Rf2 85. Nh1 Rf3
0-1

[Event "FIDE World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.12.04"]
[Round "3.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Cheparinov, Ivan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A43"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2618"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. d5 b5 {This is an aggressive and risky line. Black is
trying to grab space on the queenside from the very beginning at the price of
delaying the natural development.} ({The next day on tiebreak Cheparinov chose
more solid setup, but failed:} 3... d6 4. Nc3 g6 5. e4 Bg7 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O
Na6 8. Nd2 Nc7 9. a4 b6 10. Nc4 Ba6 11. Bf4 Bxc4 12. Bxc4 a6 13. Qe2 Nd7 14.
Ra3 $14 {1-0 Carlsen,M (2570)-Cheparinov,I (2618)/Khanty Mansiysk 2005/CBM
111_01 (30)}) 4. Bg5 Ne4 5. Bh4 ({Not so promising for white:} 5. Qd3 $6 Nxg5
6. Nxg5 e6 7. Qd2 Be7 8. Nf3 exd5 9. Qxd5 Nc6 $132 {1/2-1/2 Ehlvest,J (2605)
-Van Wely,L (2680)/Liepaya 2004/CBM 103_01 [Postny,E] (27)}) ({Another
playable bishop's retreat I played by myself:} 5. Bf4 {1-0 Postny,E (2556)
-Abergel,T (2456)/Warsaw 2005/CBM 108_01 (23)}) 5... Bb7 {This variation was
played several times by Topalov few years ago. Obviously, Cheparinov was
familiar with those games.} 6. e3 ({Very sharp and double-edged is:} 6. Qd3 f5
7. Nbd2 c4 8. Qd4 Na6 9. c3 Nxd2 10. Qxd2 Qb6 11. O-O-O g6 12. Qd4 Rg8 13. e4
Bg7 14. Qxb6 axb6 15. exf5 gxf5 16. Re1 Nc5 17. Rxe7+ Kf8 18. Nd4 Rxa2 $13 {
0-1 Kramnik,V (2758)-Topalov,V (2702)/Monte Carlo 2000/CBM 076 (33)}) 6... g6
7. c4 {After this move the position is becoming similar to a Benko gambit.} ({
More logical is} 7. c3 {building a barrier on the long diagonal against
black's dark-squared bishop. For instanse:} Qa5 8. Nbd2 Nxd2 9. Qxd2 Bg7 10. e4
d6 11. Bd3 Nd7 12. O-O a6 13. Rfc1 Rc8 14. h3 Qb6 15. Bf1 Nf6 16. Re1 O-O $11 {
1-0 Timman,J (2629)-Topalov,V (2718)/Wijk aan Zee 2001/CBM 081 [Tsesarsky] (38)
}) 7... Bg7 8. Nbd2 $146 (8. Qc2 Qa5+ 9. Nbd2 f5 10. Bd3 bxc4 11. Bxe4 fxe4 12.
Qxe4 e6 13. Qf4 Bxd5 14. O-O Nc6 15. Nxc4 Bxc4 16. Qxc4 O-O $15 {0-1 Nalivajko,
E (2400)-Zubarev,A (2460)/Simferopol 2003/CBM 097 ext (44)}) 8... Qa5 $4 {
[%mdl 8192] Looks normal, isn't it?} (8... Nxd2 9. Qxd2 bxc4 10. Bxc4 d6 {
is a normal continuation.}) 9. Bd3 $4 {It's rather weird that two young bright
tacticians missed the simple 9.b4 move.} (9. b4 $1 Qxb4 (9... cxb4 10. Nxe4 b3+
11. Ned2 bxa2 (11... Bxa1 12. Qxa1 O-O 13. Bxe7 $18) 12. Nd4 $18) 10. Rb1 Qc3
11. Rb3 $1 Nxd2 (11... Qa5 12. Rxb5 $18) 12. Rxc3 Nxf3+ 13. Qxf3 Bxc3+ 14. Kd1
$18) 9... Nxd2 10. Nxd2 bxc4 11. Bxc4 d6 12. O-O Nd7 {Black avoided an
immediate disaster, but still experiencing some problems due to his uncastled
king.} 13. Qe2 a6 $6 {Covering the b5 square, but wasting an important tempo.}
(13... Nf6 $2 14. Bb5+ $16) (13... Qd8 {looks safer.}) 14. e4 Qc7 15. Rab1 Nb6
{The Pe7 is now protected. Black is ready to castle.} 16. Bd3 $2 {Too passive.}
({Much more dynamic and troublesome for black would have been:} 16. b4 $1 cxb4
(16... Na4 17. Qe3 O-O 18. bxc5 Nxc5 19. Nb3 Nxb3 20. Rxb3 Qxc4 21. Rxb7 $16)
17. Rfc1 $16) 16... O-O {Now the position is approximately balanced.} 17. b3 e6
$1 {Opening up the centre is black's typical plan in this kind of pawn
structure.} 18. dxe6 fxe6 19. f4 Rae8 20. Rbe1 a5 21. Bg3 Bc6 22. Kh1 a4 23.
Nf3 {Magnus moves all his pieces towards the black king.} Qb7 $6 {A careless
move.} (23... Qe7 $142 {preparing to meet} 24. Ng5 {with} Bf6) 24. Ng5 Bf6 25.
Qg4 $1 Qe7 26. e5 ({Another promising continuation is:} 26. Nxh7 $1 Qxh7 27. e5
Bd8 (27... Bh8 28. Bxg6 Qg7 29. f5 exf5 30. Rxf5 Rxf5 31. Qxf5 Re7 32. Rf1 Nd7
33. exd6 Re2 34. Bf7+ $18) (27... Qh5 28. Qxh5 gxh5 29. exf6 axb3 30. axb3 Rxf6
31. Bh4 Rff8 32. Bg6 Ra8 33. Rxe6 Ra2 34. Rg1 $18) 28. Bxg6 Qg7 29. f5 $1 (29.
Qh5 Nd5 (29... dxe5 30. fxe5 Rxf1+ 31. Rxf1 Rf8 32. Bh7+ $1 $18) (29... d5 30.
f5 exf5 31. e6 d4 32. Be5 Bf6 33. Qxf5 Nd5 34. Rf3 $1 $40) 30. Bxe8 Bxe8 31.
Qh3 Rf5 32. exd6 Bd7 $13) 29... exf5 30. Rxf5 Bd7 31. e6 Rxf5 32. Qxf5 Bxe6 33.
Qb1 $1 (33. Rxe6 $4 Qa1+) (33. Bxd6 $2 Bh4 $1 34. g3 $140 $2 Qb7+ $19) 33...
axb3 34. axb3 Re7 35. Bxd6 Bd5 36. Bxe7 Bxe7 37. Be4 $16) 26... Bxg5 27. fxg5 (
27. Qxg5 $2 Qxg5 28. fxg5 Rxf1+ 29. Rxf1 d5) 27... Rxf1+ 28. Rxf1 Qb7 {[%csl
Rg2]} 29. Qe2 $2 {The turning point of the game.} (29. Rf6 $1 Bxg2+ 30. Kg1
axb3 31. axb3 (31. Rxe6 $2 Qc8 32. Rxe8+ Qxe8 33. Kxg2 bxa2 34. Bc4+ Kg7 35.
Bxa2 Qa8+ 36. Kh3 Qxa2 37. exd6 Qd5 $11) 31... Bh1 (31... Bd5 32. Bxg6 Ra8 33.
Qh4 $1 Ra1+ (33... Bh1 34. Bxh7+ Qxh7 35. Qxh7+ Kxh7 36. Kxh1 $18) 34. Be1 Bh1
(34... Qg7 35. Bf7+ Kh8 36. Bxe6 Rxe1+ (36... dxe5 37. Rf7 Rxe1+ 38. Kf2 Qg8
39. g6 Qxg6 40. Rf8+ Kg7 41. Rg8#) (36... Nd7 37. Bxd5 Rxe1+ 38. Qxe1 Nxf6 39.
exf6 Qxg5+ 40. Bg2 $18) 37. Qxe1 Qxg5+ 38. Qg3 Qxg3+ 39. hxg3 dxe5 40. Bf5 $18)
35. Bxh7+ Qxh7 36. Rf8+ Kxf8 37. Qxh7 Rxe1+ 38. Kf2 Rxe5 39. g6 $18) 32. Qh3
Be4 (32... Qd5 33. Bb5 Re7 34. exd6 $18) 33. Rxe6 Ra8 34. Rxd6 Bxd3 35. Qe6+
Qf7 36. Qxf7+ Kxf7 37. Rxd3 $16) (29. Kg1 axb3 30. axb3 Bxg2 31. Rf6 {leads to
the same position as after 29.Rf6, but in this case black does not have to
take on g2...}) 29... d5 30. h4 c4 $1 {Magnus missed his chance and after this
breakthrough black is clearly in possession of an initiative.} 31. bxc4 dxc4
32. Bc2 Nd5 33. Kh2 (33. h5 Ne3 $1 34. Rf2 (34. Qxe3 $2 Bxg2+ 35. Kg1 Bxf1 36.
Kxf1 Qh1+ 37. Ke2 Rf8 38. Be1 Qxh5+ 39. Kd2 Rf3 {and black is nearly winning.})
34... Nxc2 35. Qxc2 Rc8 $1 36. hxg6 c3 $1 $17 {[%csl Gc3]}) ({Deserved
attention} 33. Rf2) 33... c3 {[%cal Gc6b5,Gb5f1]} 34. Qf2 $6 {Another unsound
manouevre.} (34. Rb1 Qe7 35. Qc4 Rc8 $15) 34... Qe7 35. Qd4 $2 ({Necessary was
} 35. Rb1) 35... Rb8 36. Be4 $4 {Blundering a piece. On the other hand,
white's position is bad anyway.} (36. Rf2 Rb2 $19) {[%tqu "En","How can Black
win material?","","","b8b4","",5]} 36... Rb4 $19 37. Qd3 Bb5 {[%csl Rd3,Rf1]}
38. Qf3 Rxe4 39. Qxe4 Bxf1 40. Qxa4 Bd3 41. Qc6 Kf7 0-1

[Event "FIDE World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.12.04"]
[Round "3.3"]
[White "Cheparinov, Ivan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2618"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[Annotator "Mueller,Karsten"]
[PlyCount "144"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 c5 6. cxd5 exd5 7. e3 O-O 8. Qc2
Be6 9. Bd3 h6 10. Bh4 c4 11. Be2 Nbd7 12. O-O Qa5 13. Nd2 Rfe8 14. f3 b5 15. e4
Bf5 16. a4 Bxc3 17. bxc3 b4 18. cxb4 Qxb4 19. Rab1 Qa3 20. Bxc4 Bg6 21. Bb3
Rac8 22. Qd3 Kh7 23. Rfe1 Re6 24. Qe3 Rec6 25. Ra1 Qb4 26. e5 Rc3 27. Qf2 Nh5
28. Bxd5 Rd3 29. Ne4 Nf4 30. Rab1 Qxa4 31. Ra1 Qxd4 32. Qxd4 Rxd4 33. Bb3 Nxe5
34. Bg3 Ned3 35. Bxf4 Nxf4 36. Rxa7 Bxe4 37. fxe4 f6 38. Ra2 Rc3 39. Bd5 Nxd5
40. exd5 Rxd5 41. Rae2 h5 42. g3 Kh6 43. Kg2 Rcd3 44. Rf2 R3d4 45. Re7 h4 46.
Re8 Kg6 47. Re3 hxg3 48. hxg3 Kg5 49. Re7 g6 50. Re6 f5 51. Re3 Kg4 52. Ra3 g5
53. Rb3 Re5 54. Ra3 Rde4 55. Rb3 $2 {[%mdl 4096] Die schwarzen Gewinnchancen
sind zwar höher als im einfachen Turmendspiel, aber} (55. Kh2 {hätte den Laden
noch zusammengehalten, z.B.} Re2 (55... Re8 56. Ra5 Rh8+ 57. Kg2 Rh3 58. Rfxf5
Rxg3+ 59. Kf2 Kh4 60. Rf3 $11) 56. Ra4+ R5e4 57. Rxe2 Rxa4 58. Rb2 Re4 59. Kg2
$11) 55... Re3 56. Rfb2 (56. Rb4+ R5e4 57. Rxe4+ fxe4 $19 {[%cal Ge3g3]}) 56...
Rxb3 57. Rxb3 Re2+ 58. Kg1 Ra2 59. Rc3 Kh3 60. Rf3 Ra5 61. Kf1 g4 62. Rb3 Ra2
63. Rb5 (63. Rc3 Rg2 64. Rc5 Rxg3 65. Rxf5 Kh2 66. Rf2+ Kh1 67. Rf4 Rg2 68. Re4
g3 69. Rg4 Rf2+ 70. Ke1 Kh2 $19) 63... Kxg3 64. Rxf5 Ra1+ 65. Ke2 Kg2 66. Rf2+
Kh3 67. Rf8 g3 68. Rh8+ Kg2 69. Re8 Kg1 70. Rg8 g2 71. Rg7 Ra8 72. Rh7 Re8+ (
72... Re8+ 73. Kd2 Re5 74. Rh8 Kf2 75. Rf8+ Kg3 76. Rg8+ Kf3 77. Rf8+ Kg4 78.
Rg8+ Rg5 $19) 0-1

[Event "FIDE World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.12.04"]
[Round "3.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Cheparinov, Ivan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A43"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2618"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. d5 d6 4. Nc3 g6 5. e4 Bg7 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O Na6 8. Nd2
Nc7 9. a4 b6 10. Nc4 Ba6 11. Bf4 Bxc4 12. Bxc4 a6 13. Qe2 Nd7 14. Ra3 Qc8 15.
Rb3 Rb8 16. Nb1 Ne5 17. Na3 Re8 18. Bxe5 Bxe5 19. f4 Bg7 20. f5 Qd7 21. Bxa6
Qxa4 22. Bd3 Qd4+ 23. Kh1 gxf5 24. Rxf5 e6 25. dxe6 fxe6 26. Rf1 d5 27. exd5
Rf8 28. Rd1 Qh4 29. d6 Rf2 30. dxc7 1-0

[Event "FIDE World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.12.06"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Bareev, Evgeny"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E35"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 c5 7. dxc5 h6 8.
Bh4 g5 9. Bg3 Ne4 10. e3 Qa5 11. Nge2 Bf5 12. Be5 O-O 13. Nd4 Nxc3 14. Nxf5
Ne4+ 15. Kd1 Nc6 16. Bd6 Bxc5 17. Bxc5 Nxc5 18. Nxh6+ Kh8 19. h4 g4 20. f3 d4
21. Qf5 dxe3 22. Qf6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "FIDE World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.12.07"]
[Round "4.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bareev, Evgeny"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[Annotator "Finkel,A"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 a6 8. Qd2 b5
9. a3 Bb7 10. dxc5 {A quite rare move. In most of the cases White preferred to
keep the pressure with 10.Bd3 or 10.Be2.} Nxc5 (10... Bxc5) 11. Qf2 $1 {
Forcing Black to come to e4.} (11. Rd1 Qc7 12. Qf2 Nd7 13. Bd3 b4 14. axb4 Nxb4
15. O-O Bc5 16. Nd4 g6 17. Kh1 $14 {Guadalpi,D-Letreguilly,O/France 2001})
11... Ne4 12. Nxe4 dxe4 13. Nd2 Ne7 14. c4 $1 {I guess this move was prepared
in Carlsen's home lab. In my opinion it poses Black very serious problems so
may be it's safer to take with the bishop on c5 on move 10.} (14. O-O-O Qc8 15.
g4 Nd5 $1 (15... h5 $2 16. Bg2 hxg4 17. Nxe4 Nf5 18. Bb6 Bd5 19. Nd6+ Bxd6 20.
Bxd5 $18 {Plachetka,J-Schmidt,W/Trnava 1984}) 16. Nxe4 Nc3 17. Nxc3 Bxh1 $15 {
Hernandez Molina,D-Miranda Pantoja,A/corr 1995}) 14... bxc4 15. Nxc4 ({Another
interesting continuation is} 15. Bxc4 $5 Nf5 16. O-O Rc8 17. b4 $36 {, but
it's a pity to ''give up'' the darksquared bishop.}) 15... Nd5 16. Bc5 {
Intending to bring the knight to d6.} Rc8 17. Bxf8 Kxf8 18. Be2 ({It's too
early for} 18. Nd6 $2 e3 19. Qg3 Qa5+ 20. b4 Nxb4 $19) ({Serious attention
deserved} 18. Qa7 $5 Bc6 19. Nd6 Rc7 20. Qf2 e3 21. Qg3 $14 Rd7 $140 22. Be2
Qa5+ 23. b4 Nxb4 24. O-O $16 {[%csl Rf8][%cal Ga1b1]}) 18... e3 $8 (18... g6
19. O-O Kg7 20. Nd6 $18) 19. Nxe3 $6 {After the move in the game Black manages
to escape. More problems would pose the agressive} (19. Qg3 $5 Rxc4 $1 (19...
a5 $6 20. O-O (20. Nd6 $6 Rc2 21. Nxb7 Qc7 $132) 20... Ba6 21. Rac1 $16) 20.
Bxc4 Qa5+ 21. b4 Qc7 22. Rc1 (22. Bxd5) 22... Nb6 23. Qxe3 Nxc4 24. Qd4 Bd5 25.
f5 $1 $36 {and it's not so easy for Black to coordinate his pieces.}) 19...
Nxe3 20. Qxe3 Bxg2 21. Rg1 Bd5 $132 22. Kf2 a5 (22... Rc2 23. Rgc1 Rxb2 24.
Qc5+ Kg8 25. Qc8 Rb8 26. Qxd8+ Rxd8 27. Bxa6 $14) 23. Rac1 Rxc1 24. Rxc1 g6 25.
f5 {This move leads to a draw almost by force, but also after} (25. b4 axb4 26.
axb4 Kg7 27. b5 Qe7 $132 {Black shouldn't have any problems due to the exposed
position of the white king.}) 25... Qh4+ (25... exf5 $2 26. Qd4 Kg7 27. Rd1 $18
) (25... gxf5 $2 26. Qh6+ Ke7 27. Qf6+ Kd7 28. Bb5+ $18) 26. Qg3 Qxg3+ $11 27.
Kxg3 (27. hxg3 gxf5 28. Rc5 (28. Rc8+ Kg7 29. Rxh8 Kxh8 30. b4 axb4 31. axb4
Kg7 32. Ke3 f6 33. Bf3 Bc4 34. Kd4 Ba6 35. Bc6 fxe5+ 36. Kxe5 Kg6 $14) 28... a4
29. Bd1 Kg7 30. Bxa4 f6 31. Rc7+ Kg6 32. exf6 Kxf6 33. Bc6 Bxc6 34. Rxc6 h5 $11
) 27... gxf5 28. Rc8+ (28. Rc5 $6 Rg8+) 28... Kg7 29. Rxh8 Kxh8 30. b4 axb4 31.
axb4 Kg7 32. b5 (32. Bf3 $4 Bxf3 33. Kxf3 Kf8 34. b5 Ke8 $19) 32... Kf8 33. b6
Ke7 34. Kf4 h6 35. h4 1/2-1/2

[Event "FIDE World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.12.08"]
[Round "4.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bareev, Evgeny"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[Annotator "Lukacs,P"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nc3 e6 5. g4 Bg6 6. Nge2 c5 7. h4 h5 8. Nf4 Bh7
9. Nxh5 cxd4 (9... Nc6) 10. Nb5 Nc6 (10... Be4 $5 11. Rh3 Nc6 12. Nxd4 Nxe5 $5
{- Antal-Flumbort, Budapest 2002 CBM 89}) 11. Nxd4 Nge7 (11... Nxd4 $6 {
- Shirov-Yermolinsky, Wijk aan Zee 1999 CBM 89}) (11... Qc7 $6 {is rather
useless now.} 12. Nxc6 Qxc6 (12... bxc6 13. f4 $16) 13. Bd3 Bxd3 14. cxd3 d4
15. O-O {White is not afraid of the h <->, because Black has problems with his
development.} g6 16. Ng3 Bg7 17. Re1 {The e5 P is the key of the position.} Qd5
18. Qe2 Rxh4 19. Bg5 Rh3 20. Rac1 $16 {Sax-Berg, Aahus 1993}) ({There is no
need to hurry with} 11... Nxe5 12. Bf4 Nc6 13. Bb5 Rc8 14. Qe2 Qd7 (14... Nge7
$5) (14... Nf6 $6 15. Bg5 $1) 15. Bxc6 $1 bxc6 16. Nf5 $1 $36 {with a very
complicated tactical battle.} (16. Qe5 Nf6 $1 17. O-O-O (17. Nxf6+ gxf6 18.
Qxf6 Rg8 $44) 17... c5 $1 18. Nb3 c4 $13 {Schoenicz-Heinze, Germany 1998})) 12.
c3 (12. Rh3 $6 a6 {- Grischuk-Bareev, Corus Wijk aan Zee 2003 CBM 93}) (12. Bb5
$6 {(1/2:1/2 Kreiman-Seirawan, USA-ch Seattle 2002)} a6 $1 {and again White
cannot hold his active position.} 13. Ba4 (13. Nxc6 Nxc6) 13... b5 14. Bb3 Nxd4
15. Qxd4 Nc6 16. Qe3 Qc7 17. O-O Na5 18. Qe2 Nxb3 19. axb3 Qxc2 $17 {
Svetushkin-Piankov, Ciudad de Ubeda op 2000}) (12. Bg5 Qa5+ (12... Nxe5 13.
Nf6+ (13. Bb5+ Nd7 14. Qd2 (14. Qe2 a6 15. Bxd7+ Qxd7 16. O-O-O O-O-O $13)
14... a6 15. Bxd7+ Qxd7 16. Bf6 O-O-O $44) 13... gxf6 14. Bxf6 N7c6 $5 {
This is nice, but still White has some advantage after} 15. Bxd8 Nxd4 16. Bf6
Bb4+ (16... Nef3+ 17. Qxf3 Nxf3+ 18. Kd1) 17. c3 Nef3+ 18. Qxf3 Nxf3+ 19. Ke2
$14) 13. c3 Nxd4 (13... Nxe5 $2 {founders on the typical blow} 14. Nf6+ $1 gxf6
15. Bxf6 N5g6 (15... N7g6 16. h5 $16) 16. h5 $16) 14. Qxd4 Nc6 15. Qf4 Qb6 {
- Fedorov-Dreev, Moscow Aeroflot op 2003 CBM 94} (15... d4 $6 {This is not a
very successful novelty.} 16. Rh3 $1 $16 {Bringing the R into action on the
third rank, Fedorov-Belov, Istanbul 2003 CBM 096.})) 12... Nxe5 (12... a6 13.
Bg2 $1 {- Shomoev-Galkin, RUS-ch Krasnodar 2002 CBM 91}) 13. Bb5+ (13. Bg5 Nd7
14. Bg2 (14. Bb5 a6 {- 13.Bb5}) 14... Nc5 15. O-O Qd7 $5 (15... Ne4 $2 16. c4
$1 Nxg5 17. hxg5 Qd7 18. cxd5 Nxd5 (18... exd5 19. Rc1 $16 {Carlsen-Schandorff,
Aalborg 2006}) 19. Bxd5 $1 exd5 20. Re1+ Kd8 21. Nf3 $1 Qxg4+ 22. Ng3 $40 {
and the black K in the middle disturbs the harmony.})) 13... Nd7 (13... N7c6 $6
14. Bf4 $16 {and the pin is very nasty.}) (13... N5c6 14. Bg5 Qc8 $1 (14... Qb6
15. Qe2 (15. O-O e5 $17) (15. Be3 Qc7 $13) 15... a6 16. Bxe7 axb5 $1 (16...
Bxe7 17. Nxg7+ Kf8 18. Ngxe6+ fxe6 19. Bxc6 bxc6 20. Qe5 $16) 17. Bf6 $5 Be4
18. f3 gxf6 19. fxe4 Nxd4 20. cxd4 $40) 15. Bxe7 $142 (15. O-O a6 (15... f6 $5
{deserves serious attention, because the sacrifices do not seem to be correct.}
) 16. Ba4 {- Grischuk-Seirawan, Moscow 2002 CBM 090}) (15. Qe2 $5 {/\ 0-0-0 is
another aggressive plan in these type of positions.}) 15... Bxe7 16. Nxg7+ Kf8
17. Nh5 Bg6 $13) 14. Bg5 (14. Bh6 {is parried by the cold-blooded} Rg8) 14...
a6 15. Bxd7+ $2 {This helps only for Black to finish the development.} (15. Ba4
$5 {was the logical move keeping the tension.} e5 (15... b5 16. Bc2) 16. Nf5
Bxf5 17. gxf5 b5 18. Bb3 f6 19. Be3 $36) 15... Qxd7 16. Qe2 O-O-O $15 {If
Black can finish the development, his chances are better, because White's
position is rather shattered.} 17. Rh3 Bg6 (17... e5 $5 18. Qxe5 (18. Nb3 Ng6)
18... f6 {Now White gets three pawns for the piece.} 19. Nxf6 (19. Bxf6 Ng6 $1
(19... Qxg4 20. Rg3) 20. Qe2 (20. Qg5 gxf6 21. Nxf6 Bh6 22. Qxh6 Qe7+ 23. Re3
Qxf6 24. Nf5 d4 $1 25. cxd4 Rxd4 $13) 20... gxf6 21. Nxf6 Qf7 22. g5 Bg7 23.
Ne6 Bxf6 24. Rf3 Rhe8 25. Rxf6 Qg8) 19... gxf6 20. Qxf6 (20. Bxf6 Rg8 $17)
20... Re8 21. O-O-O Ng6 $13) 18. Nf4 (18. O-O-O $140 Bxh5 19. gxh5 e5 $1) 18...
e5 $1 19. Nxg6 (19. Bxe7 Bxe7 20. Nxg6 fxg6 21. Qxe5 Bf6 22. Qg3 Bxh4 $1 $17) (
19. Qxe5 f6 $17) 19... Nxg6 20. Bxd8 $2 {Now Black can get the upper hand.} (
20. Nf5 f6 21. Be3 Ne7 22. Nxe7+ Bxe7 23. O-O-O Qa4 24. Kb1 Qc4 $15) 20... Kxd8
$2 ({missing the forceful} 20... Qxd8 $1 21. Qd3 (21. Nf5 $2 Nf4 22. Qf3 (22.
Qxe5 $2 Nxh3 23. O-O-O Nxf2 24. Rxd5 Nd3+) 22... Nxh3 23. Qxh3 g6 $17) (21. Qc2
$2 exd4 22. O-O-O Qd7 $19) 21... exd4 22. O-O-O Bd6 $17 {and the two pieces
are better than the R, >< f4 is weak.}) 21. Nf5 Nf4 $2 {This is a tactical
miscalculation, first Black had to improve his K's position.} (21... Kc8 $142
22. Rg3 Qc7 23. O-O-O Nf4 24. Qc2 g6 25. Ne3 d4 $1 $132) 22. Qxe5 $1 Nxh3 23.
O-O-O {The N is trapped on h3.} Kc8 24. Qg3 {The white pieces look harmonious
again.} g6 (24... Qa4 25. Qxh3 Qxa2 26. Qf3 Qa1+ 27. Kc2 Qa4+ 28. Kb1 Qe4+ 29.
Qxe4 dxe4 30. h5 $16 {with a better _|_ for White.}) 25. Ne3 Nxf2 26. Nxd5 $1
$16 (26. Qxf2 Bc5) 26... Bc5 {Black has to sacrifice his Q.} 27. Nb6+ Bxb6 28.
Rxd7 Kxd7 29. Qf3 Kc8 $2 {The f7 P was more important than the b7 one.} (29...
Ke6 30. Qxb7 Be3+ 31. Kc2 Rxh4 32. Qxa6+ Ke5 33. Qb5+ Kf4 34. Qc4+ Kg3 35. Qxf7
g5 36. b4 Rh1 37. c4 $16 {but here Black has some counterchances in the P race.
}) 30. Qxf7 $18 Rd8 31. Kc2 Kb8 32. Qxg6 Be3 33. g5 Rd2+ 34. Kb3 Nd1 {Black's
only chance is to harrass the white K.} 35. a4 b5 36. axb5 axb5 37. Kb4 Rxb2+
38. Ka5 Nxc3 39. Qe8+ Kc7 40. Qe5+ Kb7 41. Qg7+ Kb8 42. g6 Bf4 {There is one
square difference between loss and win...} {Probably this was already in
time-trouble...} 43. Qf8+ $4 {[%mdl 8192] This is the wrong choice, now the
white K gets into trouble.} (43. Qf7 Bc7+ 44. Ka6 {and everything is
well-protected.} Ra2+ 45. Qxa2 Nxa2 46. g7 $18 {was winning easily!}) 43... Kb7
44. Qf7+ Bc7+ 45. Qxc7+ Kxc7 46. h5 Rg2 0-1

[Event "FIDE World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.12.08"]
[Round "4.4"]
[White "Bareev, Evgeny"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E37"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 Ne4 7. Qc2 c5 8.
dxc5 Nc6 9. Nf3 Qa5+ 10. Bd2 Qxc5 11. e3 Nxd2 12. Nxd2 d4 13. b4 Qe7 14. Nf3
dxe3 15. fxe3 a5 16. b5 Nb8 17. c5 Nd7 18. Rc1 Nf6 19. Be2 O-O 20. O-O Bd7 21.
a4 Rfc8 22. Ne5 Be8 23. Bf3 Nd5 24. Bxd5 exd5 25. Qc3 Rc7 26. Qd4 Rac8 27. Nd3
f6 28. Rc3 Bg6 29. Rfc1 Bxd3 30. Qxd5+ Kf8 31. Qxd3 Rxc5 32. Rxc5 Rxc5 33. Rxc5
Qxc5 34. Qd8+ Kf7 35. Qxa5 Qxe3+ 36. Kf1 Qf4+ 37. Kg1 h5 38. Qb6 Qe4 39. Kf2
Qh4+ 40. Ke2 Qe4+ 41. Kf2 Kg6 42. a5 Qc2+ 43. Kf1 Qd1+ 44. Kf2 Qd2+ 45. Kf1
Qf4+ 46. Kg1 h4 47. h3 Qe4 48. a6 bxa6 49. bxa6 Qe1+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "FIDE World Cup 9-10"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.12.15"]
[Round "7.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B43"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[Annotator "Atlas,V"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Bd3 b5 7. O-O Bb7 8. Qe2
Ne7 9. Re1 $1 {A new and a very strong move.} Nbc6 10. Nxc6 Nxc6 (10... dxc6 {
was more prudent here. The text move yields White a dangerous initiative.}) 11.
Nd5 $1 exd5 12. exd5+ Ne7 13. c4 $1 b4 (13... bxc4 14. Bxc4 Qd6 {is strongly
met by} 15. g3 {/\Bf4.}) 14. Bg5 f6 15. Qh5+ g6 16. Qf3 fxg5 17. Qf6 O-O-O 18.
Qxh8 ({It is much stonger than} 18. d6 Ng8 $1 19. Qxh8 Bxd6 {, and Black has
excellent attacking prospects.}) 18... Qd6 19. Be4 Kb8 20. Rac1 Qf4 21. g3 Qf7
22. Qd4 d6 23. Qb6 Rd7 24. Qxb4 Nf5 25. Bxf5 gxf5 26. Re6 f4 27. Rce1 Rd8 28.
Qb6 Rc8 29. b4 fxg3 30. hxg3 h5 31. b5 Qc7 32. Qxc7+ Kxc7 33. a4 axb5 34. axb5
Kb6 35. Re8 (35. Rf6 $1 {was another tempting continuation here.}) 35... Bg7
36. R8e6 Rd8 $2 ({The final mistake. More stubborn was} 36... Bf8 {or 36...Rc4.
After the text move White has a nice winning continuation.}) {[%tqu "En",
"Prove that you are a really strong endgame player and find the winning move
for White!","Exploit an unfortunate placement of the black bishops on the
seventh rank.","The pawn move shall break Black's defense...","c4c5","This
elegant pawn move shatters Black's last illusions.",4]} 37. c5+ $1 {[%csl Rb7,
Ge6,Rg7] This nice pawn move decides the game.} Kxc5 (37... Ka7 {falls short
after} 38. c6 {, winning immediately}) 38. Re7 Bd4 (38... Bc3 {is strongly met
by} 39. Rc7+ Kb6 40. Rxc3 Bxd5 41. Rd1 Ba8 42. Ra3 Bb7 ({or} 42... Kxb5 43.
Rda1 {followed by 44.Ra5+}) 43. Re3 {, and Black' position is defenseless.})
39. Rxb7 Rf8 40. Rc7+ Kxd5 41. Rd1 $1 {Now the game is over.} Rb8 42. Rg7 g4
43. Rg5+ Kc4 44. Rxh5 Bc5 45. Rg5 Rxb5 46. Rxg4+ Kc3 47. Kg2 Ba3 48. Rgd4 1-0

[Event "FIDE World Cup 9-10"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.12.16"]
[Round "7.2"]
[White "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 Bg5 12. Nc2 Ne7 13. Ncb4 O-O 14. a4 bxa4
15. Qxa4 a5 $6 ({The main continuation is} 15... Nxd5 16. Nxd5 Bd7 {after
which White is slightly better. One of the latest examples:} (16... Be6 17. Bc4
Qb8 18. O-O Rc8 19. Bxa6 Bxd5 20. exd5 Rc7 21. Qb5 $16 {0-1 Krakops,M (2440)
-Shariyazdanov,A (2470)/Siofok 1996 (42)}) 17. Qd1 (17. Qa2) (17. Qa3) (17. Qc2
) (17. Qa5) 17... a5 18. Be2 a4 19. O-O Rb8 20. Nb4 Qb6 21. Bd3 $1 Ra8 22. Bc2
Bb5 23. Re1 a3 24. Rxa3 Rxa3 25. bxa3 Bh4 26. g3 Bd8 27. Qd5 Ba6 28. Rd1 $16 {
1-0 Baramidze,D (2554)-Brener,I (2323)/Osterburg 2006 (48)}) 16. Bb5 $1 Nxd5
17. Nxd5 $1 ({Shariyazdanov and Lisenko recommended} 17. exd5 {with the idea
Nc6, evaluation the position as clear better for White. But Black can always
sacrifice the pawn on a5 and achieve good compensation:} f5 (17... Qf6 $5 18.
O-O Qg6 $13) 18. Nc6 Qf6 (18... Qb6 $5) (18... Qe8 $5) 19. O-O (19. b4 f4 $36)
(19. Nxa5 f4 20. f3 (20. O-O f3 $40) 20... Bh4+ $44) 19... f4 20. f3 Bf5 $5 21.
Nxa5 Qg6 $44 {[%cal Gg5d8,Gd8b6]}) 17... Be6 18. Bc6 Rb8 19. Ra2 Qc8 20. O-O
Bd8 21. b4 $1 {White's pieces are perfectly placed for the advance of the
b-pawn, while Black didn't even start any counterplay yet.} Kh8 (21... f5 $2
22. exf5 Bxf5 23. bxa5 $18 Bxa5 24. Ne7+) 22. Rd2 (22. bxa5 $2 Bxa5 $1) 22...
Qa6 $2 ({Good or bad, Black had to go for} 22... f5) 23. b5 Qa7 24. Qa3 $16 {
Now Böack's position is very difficult.} Bxd5 {No wonder that Carlsen starts
to miss simple tactics. The position is extremely unpleasant.} (24... Qc5 $8
$16) 25. Qxd6 $1 Be7 26. Qxd5 Rfd8 27. Qa2 Rxd2 28. Qxd2 a4 29. Qa2 a3 (29...
Kg8 30. Rd1 Rd8 31. Bd5 $18 {[%cal Gd1d3,Gd3f3]}) 30. Qxf7 Rf8 31. b6 $1 1-0

[Event "FIDE World Cup 9-10"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.12.17"]
[Round "7.3"]
[White "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D14"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[Annotator "Huebner,R"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 c5 4. c3 cxd4 5. cxd4 Nc6 6. Nc3 Bf5 7. e3 e6 8. Bb5
Bb4 9. O-O O-O 10. Rc1 Bxc3 {Dies ist nicht nötig, aber spielbar. Es ist
jedoch mit einer verfehlten Idee verbunden.} (10... Rc8 $11) 11. Rxc3 Ne4 12.
Rc1 g5 (12... Qb6 13. Bxc6 bxc6 14. b3 {ist unbequem für Schwarz, weil Weiß
Sf3-h4 droht.}) 13. Bg3 h5 $2 {Dies ist nicht korrekt. Nach} (13... Qb6 14.
Bxc6 bxc6 15. b3 {hat Weiß einen kleinen Vorteil, aber überwältigend ist der
noch nicht.}) 14. Bxc6 bxc6 15. Ne5 h4 16. Nxc6 Qd7 17. Be5 f6 (17... Rac8 18.
f3 Ng3 (18... Rxc6 19. Rxc6 Qxc6 20. fxe4 dxe4 21. Bf6 Bg6 22. Qg4 Qd5 23. Be5
{ist hoffnungslos für Schwarz:} Qd8 24. Rf6) 19. hxg3 Rxc6 20. e4 {wird
Schwarz ebenfalls nicht aushalten.}) 18. f3 Nd6 19. Bxd6 Qxd6 20. Qd2 Rf7 21.
b4 Rg7 22. h3 Re8 23. Rfe1 Rc7 24. b5 a6 25. a4 axb5 26. axb5 Rb7 27. e4 dxe4
28. fxe4 Bh7 29. e5 Qf8 30. Rc5 Rg7 31. exf6 Qxf6 32. Ne5 Bf5 33. Rf1 Qd8 34.
Qe3 g4 35. hxg4 Bxg4 36. Nc6 Qc7 37. Rg5 h3 38. gxh3 Bf5 39. Rfxf5 1-0

[Event "FIDE World Cup 9-10"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.12.17"]
[Round "7.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Bd3 Nf6 7. O-O Nc6 8.
Be3 b5 9. Nxc6 Qxc6 10. f3 Bc5 11. Qe1 d6 12. Kh1 Bxe3 13. Qxe3 O-O 14. Rfd1
Bb7 15. Qd4 Qc5 16. Qxc5 dxc5 17. a4 b4 18. Nb1 Nd7 19. Nd2 Ne5 20. Be2 a5 21.
Kg1 g5 22. Kf2 Ba6 23. g3 Rfd8 24. f4 gxf4 25. gxf4 Ng6 26. Bxa6 Rxa6 27. Nc4
Rxd1 28. Rxd1 Nxf4 29. Rd8+ Kg7 30. Rc8 f5 31. Kf3 Nh3 32. exf5 exf5 33. Rxc5
Ng5+ 34. Ke3 f4+ 35. Ke2 Re6+ 36. Re5 Rc6 37. b3 Kf6 38. Rxa5 Re6+ 39. Kf2 f3
40. Ne3 Re4 41. Ra6+ Ke5 42. Rh6 Rd4 43. Nc4+ Kf5 44. h4 Nf7 45. Rb6 Rxh4 46.
Rxb4 Rh3 47. a5 Ng5 48. a6 Ne4+ 49. Ke3 f2+ 50. Ke2 Rc3 51. Nd2 Rxc2 52. Rd4
Nxd2 53. Rd5+ Ke6 0-1

[Event "FIDE World Cup 9-12"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.12.12"]
[Round "6.1"]
[White "Malakhov, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A36"]
[WhiteElo "2670"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. g3 c5 2. c4 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 e6 6. O-O Nge7 7. e3 O-O 8. d4
cxd4 9. Nxd4 d5 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Nxd5 Nxd4 12. exd4 exd5 13. Qb3 Be6 14. Rd1
Qd7 15. Bf4 Rac8 16. Rac1 Rxc1 17. Rxc1 Rc8 18. Rxc8+ Qxc8 19. Qa4 a6 20. h4 h5
21. a3 b5 22. Qd1 Qc4 23. Be3 b4 24. Bf1 Qa2 25. axb4 Qxb2 26. Qe1 Qa3 27. Bc1
Qb3 28. Be3 Qa3 29. Kh2 Bf5 30. Bc1 Qa2 31. Be3 Be4 32. Qe2 Qb3 33. Qxa6 Qxb4
34. Qb5 Qe7 35. Be2 Qf6 36. Qb3 Qf5 37. Qc3 Bf6 38. Qe1 Kg7 39. Qd1 Qe6 40. Qd2
Kh7 41. f3 Bf5 42. Kg2 Bh3+ 43. Kf2 Qb6 44. Bd3 Bd7 45. Qc3 Kg7 46. Bf1 Qa7 47.
Qb2 Qa4 48. Be2 Bf5 49. Kg2 Be6 50. Bf2 Bf5 51. Be3 Be6 52. Kf1 Bc8 53. Kg2 Ba6
54. Bxa6 Qxa6 55. Qd2 Qc4 56. Bf2 Qc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "FIDE World Cup 9-12"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.12.13"]
[Round "6.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Malakhov, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2670"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 a6 5. e3 b5 6. c5 g6 7. Ne5 Bg7 8. Be2 O-O
9. O-O Nfd7 10. f4 f5 11. Nd3 a5 12. Bd2 Nf6 13. Be1 Be6 14. b4 a4 15. Ne5 Bd7
16. a3 Ne4 17. Ra2 Nxc3 18. Bxc3 Be8 19. g4 e6 20. Bd3 Ra7 21. Rg2 Kh8 22. Be1
Qc8 23. h4 Nd7 24. h5 gxh5 25. gxf5 exf5 26. Qc2 Nxe5 27. dxe5 Bg6 28. Bc3 Qe6
29. Kf2 Rg8 30. Rh1 Bf8 31. Be2 Rag7 32. Rgh2 h6 33. Kf1 Rf7 34. Bd4 Be7 35.
Bxh5 Bxh5 36. Rxh5 Bf8 37. Qh2 Kh7 38. Qh3 Rg6 39. Ke2 Be7 40. Kd3 Bf8 41. Kc3
Rg4 42. Rh2 Qg6 43. Rg5 Qe6 44. Qh5 Rxg5 45. fxg5 Bg7 46. Rg2 Re7 47. Rh2 Kg8
48. Kc2 Bxe5 49. Bxe5 Qxe5 50. Qg6+ Rg7 51. Qxh6 f4 52. g6 Qf5+ 53. Kc1 Qxg6
54. Qxf4 Qg1+ 55. Kd2 Rg2+ 56. Rxg2+ Qxg2+ 57. Kd3 Qb2 1/2-1/2

[Event "FIDE World Cup 9-12"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.12.14"]
[Round "6.3"]
[White "Malakhov, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C55"]
[WhiteElo "2670"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. Bb3 d6 7. c3 Be6 8. Bc2
d5 9. Nbd2 dxe4 10. dxe4 Nd7 11. Qe2 Qe8 12. Nc4 f6 13. Ne3 Qf7 14. Rd1 Rfd8
15. Nd5 Rac8 16. Be3 Bc5 17. Bxc5 Nxc5 18. Qb5 b6 19. b4 a6 20. Qxc6 Rd6 21.
Nxf6+ gxf6 22. Rxd6 cxd6 23. Qxb6 Nd7 24. Qxd6 Rxc3 25. Bb3 Bxb3 26. axb3 Rxb3
27. h3 Nf8 28. Rxa6 Ng6 29. Ra8+ Kg7 30. Rc8 Kh6 31. Rc7 Rd3 32. Qc6 Qf8 33. b5
1-0

[Event "FIDE World Cup 9-12"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.12.14"]
[Round "6.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Malakhov, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D94"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2670"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 a6 5. e3 g6 6. Be2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. Qb3
dxc4 9. Bxc4 b5 10. Be2 Nbd7 11. e4 Nb6 12. Bf4 Be6 13. Qc2 Bc4 14. Rfd1 Rc8
15. Rac1 Bxe2 16. Qxe2 Qd7 17. h3 Qb7 18. Bg5 Rfe8 19. e5 Nfd5 20. Ne4 Nd7 21.
Qd2 Qb8 22. Bh6 Bh8 23. h4 Nf8 24. Nc5 Qa7 25. h5 Nc7 26. hxg6 hxg6 27. Bxf8
Rxf8 28. Qh6 Bg7 29. Qh4 f6 30. Qg4 Kh7 31. Nh4 g5 32. Qh5+ Kg8 33. Nf5 Ne8 34.
Qg6 1-0

[Event "FIDE World Cup 9-12"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.12.14"]
[Round "6.5"]
[White "Malakhov, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C55"]
[WhiteElo "2670"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[Annotator "Lukacs,P"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. Bb3 d6 7. c3 Be6 8. Bc2
$143 {This modest retreat cannot be recommended from theoretical point of view.
} (8. Ba4 $143 {loses some tempi in order to transpose to a closed Ruy Lopez
type of position.} Bd7 $11 {Compare to the Ruy Lopez Accelerated Steinitz
Variation.} (8... Nd7 9. d4 exd4 (9... Bg4 {keeping the tension in the [+]
deserved attention.}) 10. Bxc6 $1 bxc6 11. Nxd4 c5 12. Nxe6 fxe6 13. Qb3 {
Black's P structure is a bit vulnerable.} (13. Nd2 Bg5 $11 (13... Nb6 14. Qe2 (
14. f4 d5) 14... a5 {Black ignores the fight for the [+].} 15. f4 a4 16. Nf3
Qc8 17. Be3 Qa6 {The _|_ looks OK for Black.} 18. Rae1 Qxe2 19. Rxe2 Nc4 20.
Bc1 Rab8 $11 {Tischbierek-Grivas, Dortmund 1990})) 13... Rf6 14. f4 $1 Rb8 $1 (
14... Qf8 15. Na3 Rb8 16. Qd1 Qc8 {Black cannot find a clear-cut plan.} 17. Nc4
Qb7 18. Re1 $14 {Yudasin-Klovans, Kostroma 1985}) 15. Qd1 c4 $5)) (8. Bxe6 $143
fxe6 {This P structure is not so bad for Black, he controls the [+] and the
semi-opened f <->.} 9. Re1 (9. Qb3 Qc8 10. Be3 b6 (10... Ng4) 11. Nbd2 Ng4 12.
Bg5 h6 13. Bxe7 Nxe7 {1/2-1/2 I.Botvinnik-Dydyshko, Minsk 1988}) 9... Qd7 10.
Nbd2 Nh5 $5 {deserves attention.} (10... Rae8 {doesn't seem to be urgent here.}
11. a4 d5 (11... a5 12. Qb3 b6 13. Nc4 $14 {with some pressure on the light
squares.}) (11... Nh5 $5 12. Nc4 Nf4 13. b4 $14) 12. b4 Bd6 13. b5 Nd8 14. c4
Nf7 15. Bb2 $14 {I.Almasi-Golod, Internet 2000})) (8. Nbd2 Qd7 (8... Nd7 9. d4
Bxb3 10. Qxb3 {This reminds me to the 9...Be6 Ruy Lopez C92.} Qc8 11. Nc4 Bf6
12. Be3 Re8 13. Ncd2 (13. d5 Ne7 14. a4 $14) 13... Nf8 (13... Ne7 $5 {/\ Ng6
improving the bad N's position.}) 14. h3 a6 15. Rfc1 Qd7 16. d5 Ne7 17. c4 $14
{with good prospects on the <<,  Gipslis-Radulov, Albena 1983.}) (8... Bxb3 9.
Qxb3 $142 (9. axb3 {allows the freeing move} d5 10. Qc2 Re8 11. exd5 Qxd5 12.
Nc4 Rad8 $13 {Kim-Kharitonov, St Petersburg 1997}) 9... Rb8 (9... Qc8 10. Re1
Re8 11. Nf1 (11. Nc4 $5) (11. d4 $5) 11... Bf8 12. Ng3 Nd8 13. d4 {White gets
the upper hand in the [+].} g6 14. Be3 $16 {Smagin-Averbakh, Moscow 1982}) 10.
Re1 Nd7 11. Nc4 (11. Qc2 Bf6 12. Nf1 g6 (12... Nb6 {/\ d5}) 13. Bh6 Bg7 14.
Bxg7 Kxg7 15. d4 $14 {and again White comes first in the [+], Kengis-Klovans,
Riga 1981.}) (11. Nf1 {is a bit passive.} Nc5 $1 12. Qc2 d5 {This central push
solves Black's problems at once.} 13. Ne3 dxe4 14. dxe4 Qd3 $11 {
Dolmatov-Klovans, Moscow 1981}) 11... h6 12. d4 Bf6 13. Be3 exd4 {giving up
the [+] is not a good strategy.} (13... Nb6 $5) 14. cxd4 Nb6 15. d5 $16 (15.
Ncd2 {again allows the freeing move} d5 $1 16. e5 Be7 17. a3 Qd7 $13 {
Dolmatov-Agdestein, Tilburg 1993})) 9. Re1 {- 8.Re1}) (8. Re1 Qd7 (8... Bxb3 9.
Qxb3 Na5 (9... Rb8 10. Nbd2 (10. a4 {against b5?} Re8 11. Nbd2 Bf8 12. Nf1 d5 {
Here this push is not so effective because of} (12... h6 13. Ne3) 13. Bg5 dxe4
14. dxe4 h6 15. Rad1 $14 {Minasian-Klovans, Podolsk 1990})) 10. Qd1 c5 (10...
Re8 {is not consistant.} 11. Nbd2 Bf8 12. Nf1 a6 {is highly useless.} 13. Ng3
g6 14. d4 c6 15. h3 $14 {with an excellent Ruy Lopez type of position for
White, Kornev-Kholmov, Tula 2002.}) 11. b4 (11. d4 {is met by the counterblow
in the [+] :} exd4 12. cxd4 d5 13. e5 Ne4 14. Nc3 Nc6 15. Nxe4 dxe4 16. Rxe4
Qd5 $10) 11... Nc6 (11... cxb4 $5 12. cxb4 Nc6 13. a3 a6 14. Bb2 $14) 12. b5
$14 {Dolmatov-Vasiukov, Moscow 1981}) (8... a6 9. Nbd2 (9. h3 $6 {is not
important here.} Qd7 10. Nbd2 Rad8 11. d4 (11. Nc4) 11... Bxb3 (11... exd4 12.
cxd4 d5 13. e5 {is a favourable change in the central structure for White.})
12. Qxb3 Na5 13. Qc2 Nc6 14. d5 Nb8 15. c4 {and here the light-squared B is
missing for Black.} c6 16. Nf1 $14 {Psakhis-Geller, Riga 1985}) 9... Qd7 10.
Nc4 Rad8 11. Ne3 $14) (8... Nd7 9. d4 Bg4 10. Be3 Bf6 {(Atlas-Dydyshko, Minsk
1987)} 11. d5 $14 {and Black cannot execute easily the freeing move c7-c6.}) 9.
Nbd2 (9. Ba4 $5 {provoking some "weakening moves" as in the Ruy Lopez} a6 10.
Nbd2 b5 11. Bc2 Bg4 12. Nf1 Rfe8 13. h3 Bh5 14. Ng3 Bg6 15. d4 $14 {
Ehlvest-Fridman, Liepaja 2001}) 9... Rfe8 (9... Rae8 {/\ Bd8, Ne7-g6, but this
looks a bit sophysticated.} 10. Ba4 (10. h3 Bxb3 11. Qxb3 Na5 12. Qd1 Nc6 {
/\ d5} 13. Qb3 {1/2-1/2 Kudrin-Christiansen, Needham 2000}) (10. Nf1 a6 (10...
Bd8 $5) 11. Ng3 Bd8 12. Bc2 Qc8 (12... h6 13. d4 $14) 13. d4 Bg4 14. Be3 d5 15.
h3 exd4 16. cxd4 dxe4 17. hxg4 exf3 18. Bf5 {White's ^^ becomes dangerous in
the opened position.} Nd7 19. g5 $14 {Nunn-Geller, London 1982}) 10... a6 11.
d4 exd4 12. Nxd4 $14 {Yudasin} (12. cxd4 {allows the counterplay in the [+].}
b5 13. Bc2 Bg4 14. h3 Bh5 15. Nb3 d5 $13 {Yudasin-Murey, Moscow 1991})) (9...
Rad8 10. Ba4 a6 11. d4 b5 12. Bc2 Bg4 13. h3 Bh5 14. d5 Na5 $142 (14... Nb8 15.
Nf1 c6 16. dxc6 Nxc6 17. Ng3 $14 {and the B is outplaced, Jakubiec-Balashov,
Wisla 1992.})) (9... a6 $5 {Yudasin} 10. Nf1 $14) 10. Ba4 a6 11. d4 b5 12. Bc2
Bg4 13. h3 Bh5 14. d5 Na5 15. a4 {The position is a bit similar to the 9.d4
Ruy Lopez.} c6 16. b4 Nc4 17. Nxc4 bxc4 18. dxc6 Qxc6 19. Bg5 $14 (19. a5 Red8
20. g4 Bg6 21. Bg5 h6 22. Bxf6 Bxf6 23. Ba4 $2 Qb7 $15 {Nevednichy-Schuh,
Manila 1992}) 19... h6 20. Bxf6 Bxf6 21. a5 Red8 22. Qe2 $14) 8... d5 {Black
grabs the |^ in the [+].} (8... Nd7 9. d4 exd4 10. Nxd4 (10. cxd4 d5 $13) 10...
Nxd4 11. cxd4 Nb6 12. Nc3 c5 (12... d5 13. e5 $14) 13. d5 Bc8 14. f4 Bf6 15. e5
$5 $14 {Totsky-Golod, Moscow 1991}) 9. Nbd2 dxe4 (9... Re8 10. Re1 Bf8 11. h3
h6 12. Ba4 dxe4 13. dxe4 Nd7 $1 {/\ Nc5, >< d3.} 14. Nf1 Qf6 $5 {/\ Rad8, Nc5}
(14... Na5 15. Ne3 c6 16. Bc2 Nc4 17. Ng4 $13 {Lutikov-Tuzovsky, Frunze 1973}))
10. dxe4 Nd7 (10... a5 {is not the most important here.} 11. Qe2 Nd7 12. Rd1 f6
13. Nf1 Bc5 (13... Qe8 $5) 14. Be3 Bd6 {Black's plan clearly failed.} (14...
Bxe3 15. Nxe3 $14) 15. Nh4 Ne7 16. Ng3 $14 {Gorelov-Kalinski, Saratov 1981})
11. Qe2 Qe8 (11... Nb6 {against Nc4 was possible.}) 12. Nc4 {/\ Ne3-d5} f6 13.
Ne3 Qf7 14. Rd1 Rfd8 15. Nd5 Rac8 {looks a bit passive.} (15... Nb6 $142 $5 16.
Nxe7+ (16. c4 Bc5) 16... Nxe7 {and White's ^^ gives him a very small edge}) 16.
Be3 Bf8 (16... Bc5 $2 {is punished by the simple double -> after} 17. Bxc5 Nxc5
18. Qb5 b6 19. b4 a6 20. Qxc6 Rd6 21. Nxf6+ $18 {and the Q comes out of the
trap, Malakhov-Carlsen, Khanty Mansyisk 2005.}) 17. Rd2 a6 $6 {There is no
time for this move.} (17... Ne7 {improving the bad N's position was required.}
18. Nxe7+ Bxe7 19. Rad1 $14) 18. Rad1 Ncb8 {This looks rather awkward.} 19. h3
(19. Nh4 $5 {looked crisper.}) 19... Re8 {White has the control over the d <->.
} 20. b3 {/\ c4 with further advance on the <<.} c6 21. Nb6 $2 {This exchange
helps for the party lacking space.} (21. Nb4 a5 22. Nd3 Na6 $14) 21... Nxb6 22.
Bxb6 c5 $1 {and the b6 B is suddenly out of place.} 23. c4 (23. Bd3 Rc6 24. Ba7
Nd7 25. Bc4 $1 Rc7 $17) 23... Nc6 {The N comes back to the [+] with a great
effect.} 24. Qe3 Nd4 {Black controls now the [+].} 25. Bd3 Qh5 26. Be2 Qf7 27.
Ne1 Rc6 28. Ba5 b5 $17 29. cxb5 axb5 30. Bc3 Ra8 31. Nd3 Rca6 32. Nc1 Nxe2+ $6
{This exchange cannot be praized from strategical point of view. However Black
can simply do what he wants.} (32... Qg6 $5) 33. Qxe2 c4 $1 34. b4 (34. bxc4
Bxc4 35. Qe3 Ra3 $17) 34... Ra3 $1 35. Rc2 h6 36. Kh2 Kh7 37. Qd2 Qh5 38. f3
Be7 39. Ne2 Qg5 40. f4 $2 {This founders on a tactical blow.} (40. Qxg5 hxg5
41. Rdd2 R3a4 42. Rb2 Rd8 43. Rxd8 Bxd8 44. Bd2 Be7 $17) 40... exf4 41. Nxf4 {
[#]} Rxc3 $1 $19 {and White's position collapses.} 42. Rxc3 Bxb4 43. Nxe6 Qe5+
44. Kh1 Qxe6 45. Rb1 Bxc3 46. Qxc3 Qxe4 47. Rb2 Rd8 48. Kh2 Rd3 49. Qc2 c3 0-1

[Event "FIDE World Cup 9-12"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.12.14"]
[Round "6.6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Malakhov, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2670"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 e6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4 6. g3 Qc7 7. Qb3 Nc6 8.
Nxc6 Qxc6 9. Qxb4 a5 10. Qa3 Qxh1 11. Nb5 Ra6 12. Nc7+ Kd8 13. Nxa6 bxa6 14.
Qxa5+ Ke7 15. Bf4 Qc6 16. Qc7 Qxc7 17. Bxc7 Bb7 18. f3 Rc8 19. Ba5 Rxc4 20. Bc3
g5 21. Rc1 Ke8 22. Bd2 Rxc1+ 23. Bxc1 h6 24. Kf2 d5 25. h4 Nh7 26. hxg5 hxg5
27. g4 f6 28. e3 Nf8 29. b4 Nd7 30. b5 a5 31. a4 Nb6 32. Bd2 Nxa4 33. Bxa5 Kd7
34. Bb4 e5 35. Bd3 Nb2 36. Bf5+ Kd8 37. Ke2 Nc4 38. Bd3 Nb6 39. Ba5 Kc7 40. Bf5
Ba8 41. Bd7 d4 42. exd4 exd4 43. Bf5 Bd5 44. Kd3 Bxf3 45. Kxd4 Kb7 46. Be4+
Bxe4 47. Kxe4 Nc4 48. Kf5 Ne3+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "FIDE World Cup 9-16"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.12.09"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Lautier, Joel"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E05"]
[WhiteElo "2570"]
[BlackElo "2680"]
[Annotator "Ribli,Z"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. Qxc4
{Diese Fortsetzung ist heutzutage wieder populär, die Alternative ist 8.a4.} b5
9. Qc2 Bb7 10. Bd2 Nbd7 {Das ist ein natürlicher Entwicklungszug, aber der
prophylaktische Turmzug 10...Ra7 ist ebenfalls spielbar.} 11. Ba5 Rc8 12. Nbd2
Nb8 {Die Idee des Springermanövers ist 13...Nc6 zu ziehen und den a5-Läufer zu
verjagen.} 13. Nb3 {Der Springerzug ist gegen c7-c5 gerichtet, aber nach
meiner Meinung bietet 13.a3! Weiß mehr Chancen Eröffnungsvorteil zu erlangen.}
(13. a3 $5 Nc6 14. Bc3 (14. Nb3 $2 Nxa5 15. Nxa5 Be4 {/\ c5=/+}) 14... b4 (
14... Nd5 15. Nb3 {/\ Bd2} (15. b4 Nxc3 16. Qxc3 Ra8 17. Nb3 $14) 15... Nxc3
16. Qxc3 $14) 15. axb4 Nxb4 16. Qb3 (16. Qa4 Nbd5) 16... Bd5 17. Qa4 Bc6 (17...
Rb8 18. Ne5 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 $14 {><a6}) 18. Qa5 Rb8 19. Ne5 $1 $14 {1/2-1/2
Almasi,I-Lauber,A/Gyula 1997/}) 13... Be4 {Jetzt sehen wir den Nachteil des
Zuges 13.Nb3; der schwarze Läufer steht gut auf e4.} 14. Qc1 (14. Qd2 Nc6 15.
Rfc1 b4 16. Ne5 (16. Rxc6 Bxc6 17. Bxb4 Bxb4 18. Qxb4 Qd6 19. Qa5 {[%csl Ra6]
[%cal Ra5a6]} Bd5 {[%csl Gd5]} 20. Rc1 {[%cal Gc1c7]} Qb6 $15 {. 1/2-1/2
Nielsen,P-Polgar,J/Las Vegas 1999/CBM 72/[Ribli] (58)}) 16... Nxa5 17. Nxa5
Bxg2 18. Kxg2 c5 $15 {0-1 Koneru,H-Mahesh Chandran,P/Calcutta 2002/(41)}) 14...
Nc6 {[%csl Gc6,Ge4][%cal Gc6a5,Gc6d4][%mdl 2048] Schwarz hat ausgezeichnetes
Figurenspiel; der c6N kontrolliert das Feld d4, während der Läufer auf a5
unsicher steht.} 15. Bd2 (15. Rd1 Nxa5 16. Nxa5 c5 $17) 15... Bxf3 16. Bxf3
Nxd4 17. Nxd4 Qxd4 $15 {Schwarz hat einen Bauern mehr. Da Weiß das Läuferpaar
besitzt, erhält er positionelle Kompensation, jedoch muss er noch um das Remis
kämpfen.} 18. Be3 (18. Bb7 {[%cal Rb7a6,Rb7c8]} Rcd8 $15) 18... Qd6 19. Rd1 {
[%csl Gd1,Ge3,Gf3]} Nd5 20. Bf4 Qb4 21. a3 {Weiß verteidigt sich gut und
verjagt die aktive Dame von b4.} (21. Bxd5 exd5 22. Rxd5 Bf6 23. Rb1 (23. Be5
$2 Qe4 $19) 23... Qa4 24. a3 Rfe8 $15) 21... Qa4 22. Bxd5 exd5 23. Rxd5 c5 (
23... Bf6 24. Rc5) 24. Bd6 Rfd8 (24... Bxd6 25. Rxd6) 25. Rxc5 Rxc5 26. Bxc5
Rc8 27. Qe3 $1 {[%mdl 256] Auf diese Weise kann Weiß Ausgleich erreichen.} (27.
b4 Bxc5 28. bxc5 Qd4 29. e3 Qxc5 (29... Qd5 30. Qc2 Rxc5 31. Rd1 Rxc2 32. Rxd5
$11) 30. Qxc5 Rxc5 31. Rd1 $11) 27... Bxc5 28. Rc1 $11 {[%cal Gc1c8]} g6 29.
Rxc5 Qd1+ 30. Kg2 Rxc5 31. Qxc5 Qxe2 32. Qd4 (32. Qc8+ Kg7 33. Qxa6 Qxb2 $11 (
33... Qe4+ $11)) 32... h5 1/2-1/2

[Event "FIDE World Cup 9-16"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2005.12.10"]
[Round "5.2"]
[White "Lautier, Joel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E55"]
[WhiteElo "2680"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[EventDate "2005.11.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 c5 7. O-O dxc4 8. Bxc4
Nbd7 9. Qe2 b6 10. Rd1 cxd4 11. exd4 Bxc3 12. bxc3 Qc7 13. Bb2 Bb7 14. Bd3 Nd5
15. Qe4 N7f6 16. Qe5 Rac8 17. c4 Nf4 18. Bf1 Bxf3 19. gxf3 Rfd8 20. Qxc7 Rxc7
21. a4 h6 22. a5 Nh7 23. axb6 axb6 24. Ra3 Nf8 25. Rda1 Rcc8 26. Rb3 N8g6 27.
Rxb6 Nh4 28. Ra3 Nf5 29. c5 e5 30. Ba6 Nxd4 31. Rd6 (31. Bxc8 Nde2+ 32. Kf1
Rd1#) 31... Rxd6 32. cxd6 Rd8 33. Kf1 Rxd6 34. Bd3 g5 35. Be4 Kg7 36. Ra1 Rb6
37. Ba3 f5 38. Ba8 Kf6 (38... Nc2 $1 {wins because the white rook cannot leave
the first rank (...Rb1# is threatened)} 39. Bc5 Rb5) 39. Bc5 Rb5 40. Bd6 Ke6
41. Bf8 Rb8 42. Bc5 Rb2 43. Re1 Kf6 44. Rd1 h5 45. Ke1 Re2+ 46. Kf1 Rb2 47. Ke1
Re2+ 48. Kf1 Rc2 49. Bb6 Kg6 50. Bb7 Rb2 51. Bxd4 exd4 52. Ba6 Kf6 53. Bc4 Ke5
54. Re1+ Kd6 55. Rd1 Kc5 56. Ba6 Kd5 57. Ke1 Ra2 58. Bb5 Kc5 59. Bd7 d3 60.
Bxf5 Kd4 61. Rb1 Re2+ 62. Kf1 d2 63. Bc2 Re5 64. Rd1 Kc3 65. Be4 Rxe4 66. fxe4
Kc2 0-1

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2006.01.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "L'Ami, Erwin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C91"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2550"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2006.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. d4 Bg4 10. Be3 exd4 11. cxd4 Na5 12. Bc2 c5 13. h3 Bxf3 14. Qxf3 cxd4
15. Bxd4 Rc8 16. Qd1 Nc6 17. Nc3 b4 18. Ne2 Nxd4 19. Nxd4 g6 20. Qd2 Qb6 21.
Rad1 Nd7 22. Bb3 Nc5 23. Bd5 Bf6 24. Nf3 Kg7 25. Nh2 h5 26. g4 Rh8 27. Kg2 hxg4
28. Nxg4 Nd7 29. Bxf7 Kxf7 30. Qf4 Ke6 31. Nxf6 Nxf6 32. e5 Qb7+ 33. Kg1 dxe5
34. Rxe5+ Kf7 35. Rd6 Rxh3 36. Qxf6+ Kg8 37. Rd8+ 1-0

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2006.01.15"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Smeets, Jan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2550"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2006.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 Bg5 12. Nc2 Ne7 13. Ncb4 O-O 14. a4 (14.
Nxe7+ Qxe7 15. Nd5 Qb7 $11 {[%cal Gc8e6,Yg5d8,Yd8b6]}) 14... bxa4 15. Rxa4 (15.
Qxa4 a5 (15... Nxd5 16. Nxd5 Bd7) 16. Bb5 $5 Nxd5 17. Nxd5 $14 {1-0 Kamsky,G 
(2690)-Carlsen,M (2570)/Khanty Mansyisk 2005 (31)}) (15. h4 $5 Bh6 16. Rxa4)
15... a5 16. Nxe7+ (16. Bb5 Bd7 $11 (16... Bh3 $5 $13)) 16... Qxe7 (16... Bxe7
$5) 17. Bc4 (17. Nd5 Qb7 $11) 17... Bd7 (17... Be6 18. Nd5 Qb7 {1/2-1/2 Nunn,J
(2515)-Adorjan,A (2550)/Vienna 1980}) 18. Nd5 Qe8 19. Ra2 (19. Nc7 $2 Bxa4 $19)
19... Bd8 (19... a4 $5 20. Nc7 $140 $2 Qc8 21. Nxa8 Qxc4 $19) (19... Rc8 $2 20.
Nb6 Rc7 21. Nxd7 Qxd7 (21... Rxc4 22. Qd5) 22. b3 $16) 20. O-O Rc8 $1 21. Bb3 (
21. b3 a4 $11) 21... Rb8 $1 22. Qc2 Kh8 23. Rfa1 $2 {Too optimistical. Pawn a5
is well protected and the rook is clearly misplaced on a1. In fact with the
bishop on b3 and queen on c2 White lacks coordination and must have found a
plan to keep the balance.} (23. Ne3 {[%csl Ra5,Rd6][%cal Ge3c4]} Be6 24. Bd5 (
24. Nc4 $2 Qb5 $19) (24. Bxe6 fxe6 25. Nc4 d5 $5 26. Nxa5 (26. Nxe5 Bc7 27. Nf3
Rxf3 28. gxf3 Qg6+ 29. Kh1 Qh5 $40) 26... Rf4 27. exd5 exd5 $44) 24... Bb6 25.
Nf5 $11 (25. Nc4 Bxd5 26. exd5 Qb5 $132)) (23. Ba4 $2 Bxa4 24. Rxa4 Rxb2 25.
Qxb2 Qxa4 $17) 23... f5 $132 24. Ba4 {The idea of the previous move, but now
Black quickly creates counterplay.} (24. exf5 Bxf5 25. Qd1 Qg6 $36) (24. f3
fxe4 25. fxe4 Qg6 $36) 24... Bxa4 25. Rxa4 fxe4 26. R4a2 (26. Rxe4 Qb5 {
[%csl Rb2,Rd5]}) 26... Qf7 {The start of an amazing maneuver: who could guess
that the rook from b8 will be on f3 in just 3 moves!} 27. c4 Rb3 $1 {A typical
play for Carlsen to discover unexpected tactical resources. The rook finds its
quickes way to the kingside.} 28. Re1 Bh4 29. g3 $2 ({White had to play} 29.
Re2 {and although Black has several attractive continuations, White also has
resources to defend.} e3 $5 (29... Rd3 30. Ra1 Rd4) 30. f3 $8 Bf2+ 31. Kh1 Rfb8
) 29... Rf3 $1 30. b3 Bd8 31. Rxe4 h5 $1 32. Re2 (32. h4 g5 $1 33. hxg5 Bxg5
34. Qe2 (34. Rxa5 Rxf2 $19) (34. Kg2 h4 35. gxh4 Qe6 $19) 34... h4 35. gxh4 Qh5
36. hxg5 Qxg5+ (36... Rg8 $4 37. Rh4 $1 $18) 37. Kf1 Qh6 38. Rg4 (38. Ke1 Rxf2
39. Qxf2 Qh1+ 40. Ke2 Rxf2+ 41. Kxf2 Qh2+ $19) 38... Qh3+ 39. Rg2 Rg3 $19)
32... h4 33. Rb2 g6 34. Kg2 $2 {Loses by force.} ({Correct was something like} 
34. Qd2 Kg7 35. Re3 {and Black has nothing concrete yet. Generally with
precise moves White should be able to defend, but in a practical game it is
very difficult to hold such a position.}) 34... hxg3 35. hxg3 Rxg3+ $1 36. Kf1
(36. Kxg3 Qf3+ 37. Kh2 Kg7 {[%cal Gf8h8] and mate}) (36. fxg3 Qf1+ 37. Kh2 Kg7
38. Re4 Rh8+ 39. Rh4 Bxh4 40. gxh4 Rxh4+ 41. Kg3 Rh3+ 42. Kg4 Qf3+ 43. Kg5 Rh5#
) 36... Qf3 37. Qe4 Qh5 38. Ne3 Bg5 39. Ke1 Rgf3 {Black is a pawn up and has a
deadly attack.} 40. Nf1 Bc1 41. Ra2 (41. Rb1 Ba3 $1 {[%cal Ga3b4]}) 41... Rxb3
42. Ng3 Qh6 43. Qg4 (43. Kd1 Bf4 $19) 43... Rxg3 44. Qxg3 (44. fxg3 Qh1#) 44...
Qh1+ 0-1

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2006.01.16"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Jobava, Baadur"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2614"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2006.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Nbd2 O-O 6. Bg2 dxc4 7. Qc2 a5 8.
Qxc4 b6 9. a3 Ba6 10. Qc2 Be7 11. Ne4 Nxe4 12. Qxe4 Ra7 13. O-O Nd7 14. Bf4 Bb7
15. Qc2 Qa8 16. Rfd1 Be4 17. Qd2 Rd8 18. Bg5 f6 19. Be3 Ne5 20. Ne1 c5 21. Qc3
Rad7 22. Rd2 Bxg2 23. Nxg2 Nc6 24. Rad1 cxd4 25. Bxd4 Bb4 26. axb4 axb4 27. Qe3
Rxd4 28. Nf4 Rxd2 29. Rxd2 Rxd2 30. Qxd2 Qd8 31. Qc2 Qd6 32. Qe4 Ne5 33. Qa8+
Kf7 34. Qb7+ Nd7 35. Nd3 b3 36. h4 Qd5 37. Qc7 Qd4 38. Qd8 e5 39. h5 Qg4 40.
Nc1 Ke6 41. Qg8+ Kd6 42. h6 Qe6 43. Qxg7 Qc4 44. Nxb3 Qxb3 45. Qxh7 Qxb2 46.
Qg6 e4 47. e3 Qe5 48. Qf7 Qa1+ 49. Kg2 Qd1 50. h7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2006.01.17"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Stellwagen, Daniel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B45"]
[WhiteElo "2573"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[Annotator "Golod,V"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2006.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. e5 Nd5 8.
Ne4 Bb7 9. c4 Nb4 10. c5 Qb8 {Very rare move.} ({I also analysed other
alternatives in this position:} 10... Qh4 $6) ({and} 10... Ba6 $5) 11. f4 $5 ({
On:} 11. Nd6+ $5 {I have found three games in my database.}) 11... Ba6 $140 12.
a3 Bxf1 13. Rxf1 Nd5 14. Qd4 Be7 ({Also once was checked in the preceding game:
} 14... Qd8 $5 {/\Qh4+}) 15. f5 {Probably Daniel Stellwagen was studying my
comments to the below mentioned game:} (15. Bd2 $6 O-O 16. O-O-O f6 $1 $15 {
Najer,E-Yakovich,Y/Sochi,2005/CBM 107(1/2-1/2)(Golod,V)(59)}) 15... exf5 16.
Rxf5 O-O {Black finished development and ready to open the game by "f6".} 17.
Bd2 {White wants to castle queenside. Black governs the open "b"-file, and
could immediately start counterplay. Besides, the knight on "d5" is very
strong.} ({This deserves more attention:} 17. Bg5 $5) 17... f6 {The center
must be opened, Black doesn't have any other respective alternative.} 18. O-O-O
{Yet there was time to move the king to queenside.} Qb3 $5 $146 {Black doesn't
hurry to recapture on "e5" and first activates his queen.} (18... fxe5 19. Rxe5
Qb3 $2 (19... Bf6 $5 20. Nxf6+ Rxf6 21. Bg5 Rf7 22. Rde1 Qf8 {and Black has a
good defense.}) 20. Bg5 $14 Rae8 21. Bxe7 Ne3 $4 22. Nf6+ {[%csl Re3][%cal
Ge5e3] 1-0 Topalov,V-Illescas Cordoba,M/Cala Galdana,1999}) 19. exf6 {It's
hard for me to suggest another move :)} ({For example:} 19. Re1 Rae8 20. exf6
Bxf6 21. Nxf6+ Nxf6 {and Black is OK.}) 19... Bxf6 {Of course Black keeps his
pride and joy - his knight.} 20. Nxf6+ Rxf6 {Exchanging a pair of rooks favors
Black.} 21. Rxf6 Nxf6 22. Re1 Qf7 $5 {Magnus wants to get his king to safety,
and only then get his knight back to the center.} ({Even though after:} 22...
Nd5 {it is unclear how White can use the stuck black queen on the queenside:}
23. Bh6 (23. Qg4 $6 Rb8 {קb2}) 23... gxh6 24. Qg4+ Kh8 (24... Kf7 $4 25. Rf1+
Ke7 (25... Nf6 26. Qxd7+ Kg8 27. Rxf6 Qe3+ 28. Kb1 Qe4+ 29. Ka1 $18) 26. Qe4+
Kd8 27. Rf8+ Kc7 28. Rxa8 $18) (24... Kf8 $144 $4 25. Rf1+ {and so on}) 25.
Qd4+ Kg8 26. Qg4+ {with perpetual check.}) 23. Bf4 Nd5 24. Bd6 {It is unclear
which piece stands better: The bishop on "d6" or the knight on "d5". The white
bishop prevents the black rook from getting to the <->b or <->f. So Black puts
it on the <->e s in order to exchange them.} Re8 25. Rxe8+ Qxe8 26. Qe5 Qf7 $1
$11 {[%csl Rc1,Rg2][%cal Gf7f1] Of course it is bad to exchange the queens,
because after:} (26... Qxe5 27. Bxe5 Kf7 28. Kd2 g6 29. Kd3 Ke6 30. Bb8 {
Black has problems, in view of the weak "a" pawn. It is obvious that White has
the advantage here.}) 27. Kb1 h6 {Magnus Carlsen doesn't hurry to force a draw:
} (27... Qf1+ 28. Ka2 (28. Kc2 $6 Qxg2+ 29. Kb3 Qf3+ 30. Ka4 Kf7 31. Ka5 $44)
28... Qc4+ 29. Ka1 Qf1+ {and so on.}) 28. g3 Qf1+ 29. Ka2 Qc4+ 30. Ka1 (30. b3
$4 Qc2+ 31. Ka1 (31. Qb2 $143 Nc3+ 32. Ka1 Qd1+) 31... Nc3 $19) ({This doesn't
change anything:} 30. Kb1 Qd3+ 31. Ka1 (31. Kc1 $4 Ne3 $19 {[%csl Rc1][%cal
Gd3c2,Gd3d1]}) 31... Qf1+ 32. Ka2 $11) 30... Nf6 {Black continues to fight,
and he doesn't seem to be in a hurry to finish the game:} (30... Qc1+ 31. Ka2
Qc4+ 32. Kb1 (32. Ka1 Qc1+) 32... Qf1+ 33. Kc2 Qf2+ 34. Kb3 Qf3+ 35. Ka2 (35.
Ka4 $4 Qd3 {[%csl Ra4][%cal Gd3b5]} 36. b4 $8 Nc3+ 37. Kb3 $8 Ne2+ {with a
simple win.}) 35... Qf7 $11) 31. Qf5 Kf7 32. Qe5 Kg8 33. Qe7 {The position on
the board is dynamically equal, and the most predictable result of the game is
a draw.} Qg4 {Black's idea - get the knight to "d5" or "e4" and have some
counterplay, but easier said than done...} 34. Be5 Nd5 35. Qe8+ Kh7 36. Qf7 {
[%csl Rd7,Rg7] White in his turn attacks the "d7" and "g7" pawns.} Qg5 37. Bd6
{It's hard to see how it is possible to improve the position, the players have
reached their first time control, perhaps it is time to agree a draw :)} Qc1+
38. Ka2 Qc4+ 39. Ka1 ({White avoids the last trap:} 39. Kb1 $4 Nc3+ {[%csl Rb1,
Rf7][%cal Gc4f7]}) 39... Qc1+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2006.01.19"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Beliavsky, Alexander G"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2626"]
[Annotator "Mikhalevski,V"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[EventDate "2006.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bb7 7. d3 Bc5 8. Nc3
(8. a4 d6 9. Nc3 {leads to the same position.}) 8... d6 9. a4 Na5 {Already
this move is very uncommon, although it may transpose to 9...b4 10.Ne2.} (9...
b4 {is the main line.} 10. Ne2 {[%cal Ge2g3]} (10. Nd5 {is a more popular
continuation. Here is a relatively recent example.} Na5 11. Nxf6+ Qxf6 12. Ba2
Bc8 (12... h6 13. c3 bxc3 14. bxc3 O-O 15. Be3 Rad8 16. Rb1 Bc8 17. Qe2 Be6 $6
18. h3 $14 {Kasparov,G-Anand,V, PCA World Championship/CBM 49[Benjamin,J].})
13. h3 Rb8 14. c3 b3 15. Bb1 O-O 16. d4 Bb6 17. d5 Qg6 18. Nh4 Qf6 19. Nf5 c6 {
1/2-1/2 Khairullin,I-Riazantsev,A/Kazan RUS 2005/The Week in Chess 566}) 10...
O-O ({Now} 10... Na5 11. Ba2 {transposes to the text.}) 11. a5 $5 {Preventing
Na5.} (11. Ng3 Na5 12. Ba2 Bc8 13. c3 bxc3 14. bxc3 Bb6 15. Bg5 $1 h6 16. Bh4
$1 Bg4 17. h3 Bxf3 18. Qxf3 g5 19. Nf5 (19. Nh5 $1 Nxh5 20. Qxh5 gxh4 21. Qg6+
Kh8 22. Qxh6+ Kg8 23. Kh1 $1 $40) 19... gxh4 20. Nxh6+ $13 {1-0 De Firmian,
N-Lugo,B/San Diego USA 2004/The Week in Chess 525 (44)}) 11... Ne7 (11... d5 $5
) 12. Be3 Ng6 13. Bxc5 dxc5 14. Ng3 Bc8 15. Qe1 Be6 16. Bxe6 fxe6 17. Nd2 $14 {
[%cal Gd2c4] 1-0 Anand,V-Hector,J/Middelfart DEN 2003/The Week in Chess 439 
(65)}) 10. Ba2 b4 (10... c6 $6 {is dubious. In the following game White
brilliantly exploited a misplaced knight on a5.} 11. Bd2 O-O 12. Ne2 bxa4 $2
13. Qe1 $1 Bb6 14. b4 $1 axb3 15. Bb1 $1 Nc4 16. dxc4 b2 17. Ra2 Nxe4 18. Rxb2
$16 {1-0 Savon,V-Bronstein,D/Odessa 1974/EXT 99 (40)}) 11. Ne2 Bc8 {[%cal
Gc8e6] Although a typical idea by itself it had never been tested yet in the
current position. From c8 Black brings the bishop to e6, covering on the way
the f5-square.} ({Earlier Black played} 11... Rb8 {with the idea to meet 12.c3
with b3.} 12. Ng3 (12. c3 b3 $5) 12... O-O (12... Bc8 13. d4 exd4 14. Nxd4 O-O
15. Bg5 h6 16. Bf4 Bxd4 17. Qxd4 b3 18. Bxb3 Nxb3 19. cxb3 Rxb3 20. Rac1 $14 {
1/2-1/2 Rodriguez Cespedes,A-Diaz,J/Mexico 1991/TD}) 13. Bg5 {[%cal Gg3h5]} h6
14. Bh4 $5 (14. Be3 Bxe3 15. fxe3 Bc8 16. Qe1 c6 17. Nd2 Be6 18. Bxe6 fxe6 19.
Qe2 Qb6 20. Rf3 Qc5 $15 {1/2-1/2 Perez Perez,A-Ilczuk,J/ICCF Email 2003/ICCF
Telechess CBM 102 (26)}) 14... g6 $6 15. Qd2 Kh7 $1 (15... Kg7 16. d4 exd4 17.
Nxd4 Bxd4 18. Qxd4 Nc6 19. Qe3 $16 {1/2-1/2 Rayner,F-Ledger,D/Telford ENG 2003/
The Week in Chess 429 (35)}) 16. d4 Bxd4 17. Nxd4 exd4 {[%csl Rh4][%cal Gf6e4]}
18. Rfe1 Nc6 19. f3 g5 20. Nf5 $1 Bc8 21. Bf2 Bxf5 22. exf5 $14 {[%csl Rd4]
1-0 Dijon,J-Johansson,S/ICCF Email 2002/ICCF Telechess CBM 98 (40)}) (11... b3
$6 12. Bxb3 (12. Qe1 $5 {[%csl Ra5]}) 12... Nxb3 13. cxb3 h6 14. Ng3 (14. Be3
$5) 14... O-O 15. Be3 Bxe3 16. fxe3 $16 {1-0 Hagarova,Z-Skripchenko,A/Halle
1995/EXT 97 (47)}) 12. c3 {[%cal Gd3d4]} bxc3 13. bxc3 Bb6 {Otherwise 14. d4
with a tempo.} 14. Ng3 Be6 $6 {Black shouldn't have left his king in the
centre.} (14... O-O {, which was necessary would transpose to De Firmian,
N-Lugo,B/San Diego 2004. See above.}) 15. d4 $1 $16 {White is much better
prepared for opening of the position.} Bxa2 $6 {ANother unfortunate decision.
I believe Black had to leave the bishop on e6 at least to cover the f5-square.}
(15... O-O) 16. Rxa2 O-O 17. Bg5 $1 {[%cal Gg3h5] This pin turns out to be
very annoying. White has two extra pieces in attack.} exd4 $2 {This careless
move leads to a disaster. Beliavsky has definitely underestimated the threats.}
(17... h6 {was necessary, but after} 18. Bh4 $1 {Black's position is already
dangerous anyway. F.e.} exd4 (18... Nc6 {is not better.} 19. Nh5 $1 {[%csl Rf6]
} (19. Nf5 $5) 19... g5 20. Nxg5 $1 Nxh5 21. Qxh5 hxg5 22. Bxg5 f6 23. Bh6 $16
{and again White has a huge advantage thanks to a vulnerable position of
Black's king.}) 19. Nh5 (19. cxd4 $5 {[%cal Gg3h5]} Re8 (19... g5 20. Nxg5 hxg5
21. Bxg5 $18 {[%cal Gg3h5]}) (19... c5 20. Nh5 g5 21. Nxg5 Nxh5 22. Qxh5 hxg5
23. Bxg5 f6 24. Qg6+ Kh8 25. Ra3 $1 $18 {[%csl Rh8][%cal Ga3h3]}) 20. Qc1 {
[%cal Gg3h5]} (20. Nh5 $5 Rxe4 21. Bxf6 gxf6 22. Nd2 {[%cal Gd1f3]} Rxd4 23.
Qf3 f5 24. Ng3 $40 {[%cal Gg3f5]}) 20... Nb3 21. Qe3 Nxd4 22. Nxd4 Bxd4 23.
Qxd4 g5 24. f3 $1 gxh4 25. Nf5 $18 {and despite material equality White has a
decisive advantage.}) 19... g5 20. Nxg5 Nxh5 21. Qxh5 hxg5 22. Bxg5 f6 (22...
Qd7 $4 23. Bf6 {[%cal Gh5h8]}) 23. Bh6 Qe8 24. Qg4+ Kf7 25. Bxf8 Kxf8 26. cxd4
$16 {[%csl Rf8] and White has a clear advantage since Black king has no refuge.
}) 18. Nh5 $1 $18 {This strong, but rather obvious move decides the game.
Black's position is already defenseless.} dxc3 19. Nh4 $1 {[%csl Rg7][%cal
Gh4f5] Magnus knows to attack. The knight comes to f5 with devastating
consequences for Black.} Kh8 20. Nf5 {[%csl Rf6,Rg7] Black resigned as he
can't protect neither the g7-pawn nor the knight on f6. I don't remember that
such an experienced GM as Beliavsky loses so quickly. Bravo, Magnus!} (20. Nf5
Nc6 21. Nfxg7 Bd4 22. Nf5 Rg8 23. Bh4 $1 Be5 (23... Rg4 24. Bxf6+ Bxf6 25. Qxg4
$18) 24. f4 $18 {and Black loses all his pieces.}) 1-0

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2006.01.20"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2657"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2006.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Nxe7 Nxe7 11. Bd3 Nd7 (11... Bb7 $142) 12. O-O Nc5 13. b4
Nxd3 14. Qxd3 f6 15. Be3 d5 16. Bc5 dxe4 (16... d4 17. f4 O-O 18. fxe5 fxe5 19.
Rxf8+ Qxf8 20. Qg3 $16) (16... Be6 17. f4 $5 exf4 18. Rae1 d4 19. e5 $36) 17.
Qxe4 Qd5 18. Qe2 $1 (18. Qxd5 Nxd5 19. c4 $14) 18... Bb7 (18... Ng6 19. f4 $1
$16 {[%csl Re8]}) 19. f3 Ng6 20. Rfd1 Nf4 21. Qf1 Qe6 22. c4 {With his king
somewhere on h8 Black could have hopes to create counterplay, but here he must
waste too much time to find a relatively safe position for the king. Therefore
Black's compensation will not be enough.} Kf7 (22... bxc4 $2 23. Nxc4 $18) 23.
Rd6 Qf5 24. cxb5 axb5 25. Nxb5 Kg6 (25... Ba6 26. Qc4+ Kg6 27. a4 $16) 26. Rd2
Rhd8 27. Rxd8 Rxd8 28. Nd6 Rxd6 {The only way to create some practical chances.
} (28... Qd7 29. a4 $18) 29. Bxd6 Qg5 30. Kh1 h5 {White is of course winning.
He still must watch out for some tricks, but it is not very complicated.} 31.
Bc5 $2 ({A clear win is} 31. a4 h4 32. h3 Qg3 33. Ra3 Bd5 {[%cal Gd5c4]} (33...
Nh5 34. b5 Qf4 35. Qd3+ Kf7 (35... Kh6 36. Qe3 $18) (35... f5 36. Qe3 Ng3+ 37.
Kg1 Qc4 38. Ra1 $18) 36. Qb3+ Kg6 37. Qc2+ Kf7 38. Bc5 Ng3+ 39. Kg1 e4 40. Bb6
$18) 34. Bc5 e4 (34... Bc4 35. Qf2 Qg5 36. Be3 $18) 35. a5 exf3 36. Rxf3 {
The safest} Bxf3 37. gxf3 {[%cal Gf1g1,Gg1g7]} Kh7 38. a6 $18) 31... e4 32. Be3
$4 {[%mdl 8192]} ({Again he should have played} 32. a4 {[%cal Ga1a3] with the
idea Ra3. White still should be winning.}) 32... exf3 33. gxf3 Qg4 $1 0-1

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2006.01.21"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vescovi, Giovanni P"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B46"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2633"]
[Annotator "Ribli,Z"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2006.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 a6 {Die Hauptidee des Zuges 5.
..a6 ist, dass Schwarz nach 6.Be3 6...Nf6 ziehen kann und nach 7.Qd2?! Bb4 8.
f3 d5 9.a3 Qa5 hat Schwarz eine bequeme Stellung.} 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 d5 8.
O-O Nf6 9. Re1 Be7 10. e5 Nd7 11. Qg4 (11. Na4 Nb6 12. Nxb6 Qxb6 13. c4 O-O 14.
Qc2 g6 15. Be3 Qb8 16. g3 Bb7 17. h4 dxc4 18. Be4 c5 {1/2-1/2 Najer,E-Lautier,
J/FIDE World Cup 2005/CBM111 (21)}) 11... g6 12. Na4 {[%cal Gc2c4]} (12. Bh6
Rb8 13. Qh3 Rb4 {[%csl Gb4][%cal Gb4h4]} 14. Bg7 Rg8 $5 15. Qxh7 Rxg7 16. Qxg7
Bf8 17. Qg8 Qg5 $1 $44 {[%csl Gb4,Re5,Gg5,Rg8] 1/2-1/2 Polgar,J-Anand,V/Sofia
2005/CBM 107/[Ribli] (70)}) (12. b3 c5 13. Na4 c4 14. Bf1 Bb7 15. Bd2 Bc6 16.
Nb2 Qb8 17. Qg3 O-O 18. Rab1 cxb3 19. axb3 Nc5 20. f3 {1/2-1/2 Adams,M-Svidler,
P/Dortmund 2005/CBM 108 (20)}) 12... Qa5 (12... c5 13. c4 O-O 14. Bh6 Re8 15.
Rad1 Rb8 16. b3 d4 17. f4 Qc7 18. h4 {1-0 Sax,G-Franzoni,G/Thessaloniki 1984/
EXT 97}) 13. Bh6 Qb4 (13... Rb8 14. b3 Rb4 15. Qe2 Rxa4 16. bxa4 Bb4 17. Red1
Bc3 18. Bd2 Bxd2 19. Rxd2 Qc3 20. Rb1 O-O 21. Rdd1 c5 22. Rb3 Qxe5 23. Qxe5
Nxe5 24. Rb6 {1-0 Benjamin,J-Piasetski,L/Thessaloniki 1988/TD (74)}) 14. Qxb4
Bxb4 15. c3 Bf8 {Das ist die schwarze Verbesserung. Vor ca. einem Monat
spielte Schwarz 15...Ba5 (Bacrot,E - Rublevsky,S 2005). Mit dem Läuferzug
beabsichtigt Schwarz den Tausch der schwarzfeldrigen Läufer.} (15... Ba5 16. b4
Bc7 17. f4 a5 18. b5 Nb6 19. Nxb6 Bxb6+ 20. Kf1 cxb5 21. Bxb5+ $14 {1-0 Bacrot,
E-Rublevsky,S/2005/FIDE World Cup/CBM 111/40}) 16. Bxf8 (16. Bg5 Be7 (16... Bg7
17. f4) 17. Bxe7 Kxe7 18. c4) 16... Rxf8 17. c4 {Das ist die Hauptidee des
Zuges 12.Na4.} Ke7 18. cxd5 cxd5 19. Rac1 $14 {[%csl Gc1,Rc8][%cal Gc1c8] Weiß
kontrolliert die c-Linie und der c8B steht passiv.} Ra7 $6 (19... a5 $5 {
[%cal Gc8a6,Ga6d3]} 20. Rc6 (20. Rc7 Kd8 21. Rc6 Nxe5 22. Rxe5 Bd7 23. Rd6 Kc7)
20... Nxe5 21. Rxe5 Bd7 22. Rc7 Kd6 23. Rxd7+ Kxd7) 20. b4 $1 {[%csl Ga2,Gb4,
Yc5,Gd3][%cal Ga4c5][%mdl 32] Dieses Motiv erinnert mich an die Partie Fischer,
R - Petrosian,T Buenos Aires 1971. 7.Matchpartie. Weiß mobilisiert seine
Reserven am Damenflügel und kontrolliert das Feld c5.} Bb7 (20... a5 $2 21. b5)
21. f4 (21. Rc7 Rc8) 21... Rc8 22. Rxc8 Bxc8 23. Rc1 Kd8 24. Kf2 {[%cal Gf2e3,
Ge3d4]} Nb8 (24... Rc7 25. Rxc7 Kxc7 26. Ke3) 25. Nc5 (25. Ke3) 25... Rc7 26.
Rc2 Nd7 27. Nb3 Rxc2+ 28. Bxc2 $16 {[%mdl 4096] Weiß verfügt über deutlichen
Positionsvorteil in diesem Endspiel. Alle schwarzen Bauern stehen auf weißen
Feldern und darüber hinaus kontrolliert Weiß die wichtigsten schwarzen Felder.
In der Reserve hat er seine Bauernmehrheit auf den a- und b-Linien.} Nb8 29.
Nd4 {[%csl Ga2,Gb4,Gd4]} Bd7 30. g4 {[%cal Gg4g5] Die weiße positionelle
Drohung ist 1.g5, h4-h5 usw.} h6 (30... Nc6 31. Nxc6+ Bxc6 32. g5 d4 (32... Bb5
33. Ke3 $18) 33. Ke2 $18) 31. Ke3 (31. h4) 31... Kc7 32. a4 Kb6 {[%cal Ga6a5]}
33. a5+ Kb7 34. Bd3 Ba4 35. Be2 Nd7 36. h4 Nb8 37. f5 $18 gxf5 (37... Nc6 38.
fxg6 fxg6 39. Nxe6 $18) 38. gxf5 Bd7 39. Bh5 {[%csl Rf7][%cal Rh5f7]} 1-0

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2006.01.22"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Navara, David"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2660"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2006.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. d4 Bb4 5. Bg5 c5 6. cxd5 exd5 7. dxc5 Nbd7 8.
Rc1 Qa5 9. a3 Bxc3+ 10. Rxc3 Ne4 11. Bd2 Ndxc5 12. Rc1 Nxd2 13. Qxd2 Qxd2+ 14.
Nxd2 b6 15. e3 Ke7 16. b4 Ne6 17. Nb3 a5 18. bxa5 Bd7 19. Rc3 bxa5 20. Kd2 Rab8
21. Bd3 a4 22. Nd4 Nxd4 23. exd4 Rb2+ 24. Rc2 Rb3 25. Rc3 Rb2+ 26. Rc2 Rb3 27.
Ra2 Rc8 28. Re1+ Kd6 29. Re3 h6 30. h4 g5 31. hxg5 hxg5 32. Bc2 Rbb8 33. Rc3
Rxc3 34. Kxc3 Rc8+ 35. Kd2 Rc4 36. Ke3 Rc3+ 37. Kd2 Rc4 38. Ke3 Rc3+ 39. Kd2
1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2006.01.24"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Koneru, Humpy"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2537"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2006.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. c4
Nb4 9. Be2 O-O 10. a3 Nc6 11. cxd5 Qxd5 12. Nc3 Nxc3 13. bxc3 Bf5 14. Re1 Bf6
15. Bf4 Rac8 16. Nd2 Rfe8 17. Bf3 Rxe1+ 18. Qxe1 Qd7 19. Ne4 Be7 20. Qe2 Bxe4
21. Qxe4 Bd6 22. Be3 Re8 23. Qd5 Nd8 24. g3 c6 25. Qa5 b6 26. Qa4 Re7 27. c4 c5
28. Qxd7 Rxd7 29. Bg4 Rc7 30. d5 Nb7 31. Bd2 Kf8 32. Be2 Be5 33. Rb1 Ke7 34.
Bd3 Kd6 35. Kg2 Re7 36. g4 h6 37. h4 Kc7 38. f4 Bd4 39. Kf3 Nd6 40. h5 Re8 41.
a4 a5 42. Rh1 Kd7 43. g5 f5 44. Rh2 Rh8 45. Rh3 Kc7 46. Rh1 Kd7 47. Rh2 Ba1 48.
Re2 Re8 49. Rg2 Rh8 50. Re2 Re8 51. Be3 Rh8 52. Ra2 Bc3 53. Rc2 Bd4 54. Rh2 Re8
55. Bd2 Rh8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2006.01.25"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Almasi, Zoltan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C91"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2006.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3
d6 9. d4 Bg4 10. Be3 exd4 11. cxd4 Na5 12. Bc2 Nc4 13. Bc1 c5 14. b3 Nb6 15.
Nbd2 Nfd7 16. h3 Bh5 17. Bb2 Rc8 18. Rc1 cxd4 19. Bb1 Bf6 20. Rxc8 Qxc8 21. g4
Bg6 22. Nxd4 Qc5 23. N2f3 Re8 24. Qd2 d5 25. g5 Bxd4 26. Bxd4 Qc8 27. Bb2 dxe4
28. Qd4 f6 29. Nh4 Re5 30. Nxg6 Rxg5+ 31. Kh2 hxg6 32. Qxe4 Nf8 33. f4 Rh5 34.
Qf3 Nd5 35. f5 Qc7+ 36. Be5 fxe5 37. Qxd5+ Qf7 38. Rxe5 gxf5 39. Bxf5 g6 40.
Be4 Rxe5 41. Qxe5 Qf2+ 42. Bg2 Qxa2 43. Qd5+ Kg7 44. Qe5+ Kg8 45. Qd5+ Kg7 46.
Qe5+ Kg8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2006.01.27"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Motylev, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2638"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2006.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 Nbd7 7. g4 g6 8. Be3
Bg7 9. h4 h5 10. g5 Nh7 11. Qd2 b5 12. f4 Bb7 13. f5 Ne5 14. O-O-O O-O 15. Nd5
Bc8 16. Nf4 Bb7 17. fxg6 fxg6 18. Nde6 Qc8 19. Nxf8 Nxf8 20. Nd5 Qd8 21. Bb6
Qd7 22. Qg2 Rc8 23. Bd4 Qd8 24. Kb1 Ne6 25. Bxe5 Bxe5 26. Qf2 Bxd5 27. exd5 Nc5
28. Bh3 Rc7 29. Rhf1 Bg7 30. Be6+ Kh7 31. Bf7 Qd7 32. Bxg6+ Kxg6 33. Qf7+ Kh7
34. Qxh5+ 1-0

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2006.01.28"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Cheparinov, Ivan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2006.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5
8. Rxe5 O-O 9. d4 Bf6 10. Re1 Nf5 11. d5 d6 12. Nd2 Bg5 13. c3 Bd7 14. g3 Re8
15. Ne4 Bxc1 16. Rxc1 Nh6 17. f3 Nf5 18. Qd2 c6 19. dxc6 bxc6 20. Qf2 Be6 21.
Rcd1 d5 22. Nc5 Qf6 23. Rd2 Re7 24. Rde2 Rae8 25. Nb3 h5 26. Qc5 Qg5 27. Re5 h4
28. g4 Bc8 29. Rxe7 Rxe7 30. Rxe7 Nxe7 31. Kf2 Qe5 32. Kg1 f5 33. Qxa7 fxg4 34.
Qd4 Qg5 35. f4 Qg6 36. Qe5 Kf7 37. Nd4 g3 38. Qg5 gxh2+ 39. Kxh2 Qxg5 40. fxg5
c5 41. Nb3 c4 42. Nd4 Kg6 43. Nf3 Bg4 44. Nxh4+ Kxg5 45. Kg3 Bd7 46. Nf3+ Kf6
47. Nd4 Nf5+ 48. Nxf5 Bxf5 49. Kf4 Bd7 50. b3 cxb3 51. axb3 g5+ 52. Ke3 Ke5 53.
b4 g4 54. b5 Kd6 55. Kf4 Kc5 56. Bg2 Bxb5 57. Bxd5 Kxd5 58. c4+ Bxc4 59. Kxg4
1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus-B"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2006.01.29"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Lagno, Kateryna"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2500"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[Annotator "Mikhalevski,V"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2006.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "15"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 Bc5 6. Nc3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. Nd5
h6 9. c3 O-O 10. O-O Rb8 11. Ne3 $6 {[%cal Gd3d4] A not very fortunate novelty.
White has to connect his hopes to obtain an advantage with the advance d4.} ({
So the previous games saw} 11. Re1 $5 {preparing d4.} Re8 (11... Bg4 12. h3
Bxf3 13. Qxf3 Nxd5 14. Bxd5 Ne7 15. Bb3 $14 {and White is slightly better
thanks to a pair of bishops.1-0 Vallejo Pons,F-Georgiev,V/Mallorca 2004/CBM
104 no vc (70)}) 12. d4 $1 (12. h3 a5 13. a4 (13. d4 $5 Ba7 14. Be3 $1) 13...
b4 14. Bc4 Nxd5 15. Bxd5 Ne7 16. Bc4 bxc3 17. bxc3 Ng6 18. d4 Bb6 19. Bb5 Bd7
20. Bxd7 Qxd7 $11 {1/2-1/2 Radjabov,T-Ganguly,S/Moscow RUS 2005/The Week in
Chess 537 (22)}) 12... Ba7 13. Be3 $1 {I believe this is the way to fight for
advantage in this line.} Ng4 $1 14. Qd3 Nxe3 15. fxe3 (15. Nxe3 $5 $14) 15...
Na5 16. Bc2 Bb7 {[%cal Gc7c6] 1-0 Akopian,V-Ganguly,S/Gibraltar ENG 2006 (32)
and with a pir of bishops and a misplaced knight on d5 Black looks ok.}) ({
and the immediate} 11. d4 Ba7 12. Be3 $1 exd4 ({In case of} 12... Nxe4 {
White plays} 13. Re1 $1 {[%csl Re4][%cal Gd4e5] and suddenly black pieces
start to hang. F.e.} Bg4 14. dxe5 Nc5 15. exd6 Qxd6 16. h3 Bh5 (16... Bxf3 17.
Qxf3 Nxb3 18. axb3 Bxe3 19. Nxe3 $14 {[%cal Ge3f5,Ga1d1]}) 17. g4 Bg6 18. Bf4
Qd7 19. Ne7+ Nxe7 20. Qxd7 Nxd7 21. Rxe7 $16) (12... Ng4 $5) 13. Nxd4 Nxd4 14.
Bxd4 Bxd4 15. Qxd4 $14 {1-0 Asrian,K-Yegiazarian,A/Yerevan ARM 2005/The Week
in Chess 548 (51)}) 11... Bb6 $1 {Black moves the bishop away from a possible
attack by means of d4.} 12. Qe2 {[%cal Gf1d1] White prepares Rd1.} ({Now} 12.
d4 {would be met by} exd4 13. cxd4 Re8 $15 {[%csl Re4] and White can't protect
his central pawn.} (13... Nxe4 $4 14. Bd5 $18 {[%csl Rc6,Re4]})) 12... Ne7 {
[%cal Ge7g6,Gg6f4] Noticing that f4 would be a nice square for the knight
Black transfers it there via e7 and g6.} 13. Rd1 Ng6 14. Nf5 ({It was better
to move the queen away from e2.} 14. Qc2 {with the idea to meet} Nf4 {with} 15.
Nf5 Bxf5 16. exf5 {[%cal Gd3d4]} Qd7 17. Bxf4 (17. d4 e4 $1 18. Bxf4 exf3 19.
gxf3 Rfe8 $44) 17... exf4 18. d4 $11 {with almost a symmetric position.}) 14...
d5 $1 {Exploiting a hanging position of the knight on f5.} 15. h3 Re8 $1 {
[%csl Re4][%cal Gc7c5] A useful prophylactic move. Black prepares advance of
the c-pawn to c5 taking space on the queenside and in the centre.} 16. g4 $2 {
This move can't be good. White weakens the dark squares getting nothing in
exchange.} (16. Ng3 {agreeing with a slightly worse position would be a more
realistic approach.}) 16... c5 $1 17. c4 bxc4 18. dxc4 d4 $15 {First
achievement-Black obtained a defended passed pawn in the centre.} 19. Ba4 Re6
$1 {Magnus doesn't want to allow a manoeuvre of the light-squared bishop via
c6 to d5. Moreover the rook will be useful o the e-file after exchange on f4.}
(19... Rf8 20. Bc6) 20. Ne1 {[%cal Ge1d3] It would be nice to block the d-pawn
by means of Nd3, but...} Nf4 $1 21. Bxf4 ({In case of} 21. Qf3 {Black can play
similar to the game.} g6 $1 (21... Ba5 $5) 22. Nxh6+ Kg7 23. Bxf4 exf4 24. e5
$1 (24. Nd3 Nxe4 25. Nxf4 Ng5 $1 26. Nxe6+ Bxe6 $17 {[%csl Rh6]}) 24... Nh7 $1
25. Qxf4 Ng5 $1 {[%csl Rf4,Rg1][%cal Gg5h3]} 26. Kf1 Bc7 $1 {[%csl Re5]} 27.
Nd3 f6 $1 28. h4 Rxe5 $1 29. Nxe5 Bxe5 $17 {[%csl Rf1,Rh6] with an obvious
advantage for Black.}) 21... exf4 {[%csl Re4]} 22. f3 g6 $1 $17 {[%csl Rf5]
Suddenly the knight on f5 gets in a trouble.} 23. Nxh6+ Kg7 {[%csl Rh6] Where
is a way out?} 24. g5 ({Probably} 24. Nd3 {would be a better practical chance,
but after} Kxh6 25. Nxf4 Nh7 $1 {[%cal Gd8h4]} 26. Nxe6 Bxe6 $17 {[%csl Rf4,
Rg3][%cal Gb6c7,Gd8h4] and with two pieces for a rook plus weak dark squares
around White's king Black can look forward with a smile.}) (24. Qh2 Bc7 25. h4
Nxe4 $1 ({or} 25... Nh7 $5 {and White's position collapses.})) 24... Nh7 {
The simplest. Black prepares a sacrifice of the knight on g5, which will
provide him with a number of extra pawns and a vulnerable white king.} ({
Also the computer's} 24... Nxe4 $5 {was strong.} 25. Nxf7 (25. fxe4 Qxg5+ 26.
Ng4 f5 27. Nf3 Qh5 28. Qg2 fxe4 $1) 25... Kxf7 26. fxe4 Qxg5+ 27. Ng2 Bc7 $1
$19 {[%cal Ge6f6,Gg5g3]}) 25. h4 (25. Nxf7 $1 Kxf7 26. h4 {[%cal Ge1d3] trying
to build a fortress was the very last practical chance.}) 25... Nxg5 26. hxg5 (
{Doesn't help} 26. Qg2 Nxe4 $1 27. Nxf7 Qxh4 $1 28. fxe4 Kxf7 29. Nf3 Qh5 30.
Ng5+ Kg7 31. Nxe6+ Bxe6 $19 {with a decisive attack.}) 26... Qxg5+ 27. Qg2 Qxh6
{[%cal Ge6e5,Ge5g5] Black is already a pawn up while his attack is only
getting stronger.} 28. Nd3 g5 $1 $19 {[%cal Ge6g6,Gg5g4] Sacrifices never
stoped the young Norwegian. The idea to open up the g-file with g4 leaves
White no choice.} 29. Nxf4 Bc7 $1 {Now White starts to feel his weak dark
squares- a consequence of her careless play in the opening.} 30. Nd3 (30. Nxe6+
{would only prolong the game, but after} Bxe6 $19 {[%cal Gc7f4,Gf4e3] Black
fully dominates.}) 30... g4 $1 {[%csl Rg1,Rg2] Black shouldn't be asked twice
before making this move. Opening of the g-file concludes the game.} 31. fxg4
Rg6 {[%csl Rg4]} (31... Rg6 32. Nf2 Rxb2 $19 {[%cal Gg6g4] is completely
hopeless and so White resigned. Another brilliant win of Carlsen in Wijk aan
Zee.}) 0-1

[Event "Aalborg Fibertex Cup blindfold"]
[Site "Aalborg"]
[Date "2006.02.04"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nielsen, Peter Heine"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2644"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2006.02.03"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 112"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.06.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.06.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. a4 Rb8 8. c3
O-O 9. axb5 axb5 10. d4 Bb6 11. Re1 d6 12. Be3 Bg4 13. Na3 exd4 14. cxd4 Re8
15. Nxb5 Nxe4 16. Nc3 Nxc3 17. bxc3 Qf6 18. Ba4 d5 19. h3 Bxf3 20. Qxf3 Qxf3
21. gxf3 Re6 22. Bf4 Nd8 23. Bg3 Rxe1+ 24. Rxe1 Ne6 25. Bd7 Rd8 26. Bxe6 Re8
27. Bxf7+ Kxf7 28. Ra1 Re2 29. Be5 Rc2 30. Ra3 g6 31. Kg2 Ke6 32. h4 h5 33. Kg3
Kf7 34. Kf4 Rxf2 35. Ke3 Rc2 36. Kd3 Rf2 37. Ke3 Rc2 38. Kd3 Rf2 39. Ke3
1/2-1/2

[Event "Aalborg Fibertex Cup blindfold"]
[Site "Aalborg"]
[Date "2006.02.04"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Schandorff, Lars"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2521"]
[Annotator "Lukacs,P"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2006.02.03"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 112"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.06.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.06.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nc3 e6 5. g4 Bg6 6. Nge2 c5 7. h4 h5 8. Nf4 Bh7
9. Nxh5 cxd4 10. Nb5 Nc6 (10... Be4 $5 11. Rh3 Nc6 12. Nxd4 Nxe5 $5 {-
Antal-Flumbort, Budapest 2002 CBM 89}) 11. Nxd4 Nge7 (11... Nxd4 $6 {-
Shirov-Yermolinsky, Wijk aan Zee 1999 CBM 89}) (11... Qc7 $6 {is rather
useless now.} 12. Nxc6 Qxc6 (12... bxc6 13. f4 $16) 13. Bd3 Bxd3 14. cxd3 d4
15. O-O {White is not afraid of the h <->, because Black has problems with his
development.} g6 16. Ng3 Bg7 17. Re1 {The e5 P is the key of the position.} Qd5
18. Qe2 Rxh4 19. Bg5 Rh3 20. Rac1 $16 {Sax-Berg, Aahus 1993}) ({There is no
need to hurry with} 11... Nxe5 12. Bf4 Nc6 13. Bb5 Rc8 14. Qe2 Qd7 (14... Nge7
$5) (14... Nf6 $6 15. Bg5 $1) 15. Bxc6 $1 bxc6 16. Nf5 $1 $36 {with a very
complicated tactical battle.} (16. Qe5 Nf6 $1 17. O-O-O (17. Nxf6+ gxf6 18.
Qxf6 Rg8 $44) 17... c5 $1 18. Nb3 c4 $13 {Schoenicz-Heinze, Germany 1998})) 12.
c3 (12. Rh3 $6 a6 {- Grischuk-Bareev, Corus Wijk aan Zee 2003 CBM 93}) (12. Bb5
$6 {(1/2:1/2 Kreiman-Seirawan, USA-ch Seattle 2002)} a6 $1 {and again White
cannot hold his active position.} 13. Ba4 (13. Nxc6 Nxc6) 13... b5 14. Bb3 Nxd4
15. Qxd4 Nc6 16. Qe3 Qc7 17. O-O Na5 18. Qe2 Nxb3 19. axb3 Qxc2 $17 {
Svetushkin-Piankov, Ciudad de Ubeda op 2000}) (12. Bg5 Qa5+ (12... Nxe5 13.
Nf6+ (13. Bb5+ Nd7 14. Qd2 (14. Qe2 a6 15. Bxd7+ Qxd7 16. O-O-O O-O-O $13)
14... a6 15. Bxd7+ Qxd7 16. Bf6 O-O-O $44) 13... gxf6 14. Bxf6 N7c6 $5 {
This is nice, but still White has some advantage after} 15. Bxd8 Nxd4 16. Bf6
Bb4+ (16... Nef3+ 17. Qxf3 Nxf3+ 18. Kd1) 17. c3 Nef3+ 18. Qxf3 Nxf3+ 19. Ke2
$14) 13. c3 Nxd4 (13... Nxe5 $2 {founders on the typical blow} 14. Nf6+ $1 gxf6
15. Bxf6 N5g6 (15... N7g6 16. h5 $16) 16. h5 $16) 14. Qxd4 Nc6 15. Qf4 Qb6 {
- Fedorov-Dreev, Moscow Aeroflot op 2003 CBM 94} (15... d4 $6 {This is not a
very successful novelty.} 16. Rh3 $1 $16 {Bringing the R into action on the
third rank, Fedorov-Belov, Istanbul 2003 CBM 096.})) 12... Nxe5 (12... a6 {
- Najer-Dreev, Poikovsky 2006 CBM 112}) 13. Bg5 (13. Bb5+ Nd7 (13... N7c6 $6
14. Bf4 $16 {and the pin is very nasty.}) (13... N5c6 14. Bg5 Qc8 $1 (14... Qb6
15. Qe2 (15. O-O e5 $17) (15. Be3 Qc7 $13) 15... a6 16. Bxe7 axb5 $1 (16...
Bxe7 17. Nxg7+ Kf8 18. Ngxe6+ fxe6 19. Bxc6 bxc6 20. Qe5 $16) 17. Bf6 $5 Be4
18. f3 gxf6 19. fxe4 Nxd4 20. cxd4 $40) 15. Bxe7 $142 (15. O-O a6 (15... f6 $5
{deserves serious attention, because the sacrifices do not seem to be correct.}
) 16. Ba4 {- Grischuk-Seirawan, Moscow 2002 CBM 090}) (15. Qe2 $5 {/\ 0-0-0 is
another aggressive plan in these type of positions.}) 15... Bxe7 16. Nxg7+ Kf8
17. Nh5 Bg6 $13) 14. Bg5 (14. Bh6 {is parried by the cold-blooded} Rg8) 14...
a6 15. Ba4 $5 {was the logical move keeping the tension.} (15. Bxd7+ $2 Qxd7
16. Qe2 O-O-O $15 {- Carlsen-Bareev, Khanty Mansiysk 2005 CBM 111}) 15... e5 (
15... b5 16. Bc2) 16. Nf5 Bxf5 17. gxf5 b5 18. Bb3 f6 19. Be3 $36) 13... Nd7 {
This retreat looks a bit passive.} (13... N5c6 $142 {seems to be more natural.}
14. Bb5 {- 13..Bb5} (14. Bf6 Rg8 {Black has to play without nerves!} 15. Qa4 (
15. Nxc6 bxc6) 15... Qb6 16. O-O-O O-O-O {and White's |^ vanishes.}) (14. Qa4
Qb6 15. O-O-O O-O-O 16. Nxc6 bxc6 17. Nxg7 $1 Bxg7 18. Bxe7 Rd7 $44)) 14. Bg2
$5 {[%mdl 8]} (14. Bb5 {- 13.Bb5}) 14... Nc5 (14... Qb6 $5 {/\ 0-0-0 is a
serious alternative.} 15. Qe2 (15. O-O O-O-O $1 (15... Qxb2 {is too greedy!}
16. Bxe7 $1 Kxe7 (16... Bxe7 $2 {founders on the devastating sacrifice} 17.
Nxg7+ Kd8 18. Ndxe6+ $40) 17. Nf4 $44) 16. Qe2 $142 (16. Nxg7 Bxg7 17. Bxe7 {
wins the P but loses the activity.} Rde8 18. Bg5 Ne5 $17) (16. Rc1 Ne5 $17) (
16. Nf4 Nc5 $17) 16... e5 17. Nb3 Kb8 18. Rad1 f6 19. Be3 Qc6 20. c4 $1 $13 {
with a very sharp tactical skirmish.}) 15... O-O-O $1 16. Nxg7 (16. O-O {
- 15.0-0}) 16... Bxg7 17. Bxe7 Rde8 18. Bg5 Bxd4 19. cxd4 e5 20. Rc1+ Kb8 21.
dxe5 f6 $1 22. Bf4 Nxe5 23. O-O Ka8 $13 {with unclear consequences.}) 15. O-O
Ne4 $2 {[#] This allows White to blow up the [+].} (15... Qd7 16. Nb3 (16. Be3
O-O-O $5) (16. Bf6 Rg8) 16... Ne4 17. Be3 Bg6 18. c4 $13) (15... Qb6 16. b4 $5
(16. Nb3 O-O-O 17. Nxc5 (17. Be3 Nc6) 17... Qxc5 $13) (16. Be3 $2 Qxb2 $17)
16... Ne4 17. Be3 O-O-O 18. Qa4 a6 19. b5 $13) 16. c4 $1 {This is the point,
only the opening of the position counts.} (16. Bh6 $5 {may win the g7 P, but
this is not so important.} Rg8 $5 {deserves attention.} (16... Qd6 17. Nb5 $1 (
17. Nxg7+ Bxg7 18. Bxg7 Rg8 19. Bh6 O-O-O) 17... Qd7 18. c4 O-O-O 19. Be3 $16)
(16... Qd7 17. Nxg7+ (17. Bxg7 $5) 17... Bxg7 18. Bxg7 Rg8 19. Be5 Ng6 20. Bg3
Nxg3 (20... O-O-O 21. h5) 21. fxg3 Ne5 22. g5 $16) (16... Qb6 17. Nxg7+ Bxg7
18. Bxg7 Rg8 19. Be5 O-O-O 20. Qb3 $14)) 16... Nxg5 17. hxg5 Qd7 18. cxd5 exd5
$6 {Now Black is unable to finish the development.} (18... Nxd5 19. Bxd5 $1
exd5 (19... Qxd5 20. Qa4+ Qd7 21. Nb5 {and White's lead of development will be
decisive.} Bd3 22. Nc7+ Ke7 (22... Kd8 23. Nxe6+ $1) 23. Qb4+ Kd8 24. Qxb7 Rc8
25. Rfd1 $1 $18) (19... Rd8 20. Nxe6 $1 fxe6 21. Bc4 $16) 20. Re1+ Kd8 21. Nf3
$1 Qxg4+ 22. Ng3 $40 {and the K is very vulnerable in the middle of the board.}
) 19. Rc1 Bg6 20. Re1 $18 {The rooks on the opened lines are real killers.}
Bxh5 21. gxh5 Kd8 22. g6 Nc6 23. gxf7 Be7 24. Ne6+ Kc8 25. Bxd5 1-0

[Event "Aalborg Fibertex Cup blindfold"]
[Site "Aalborg"]
[Date "2006.02.04"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Pedersen, Nicolai Vesterbaek"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2516"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2006.02.03"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 112"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.06.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.06.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 d5 5. g3 dxc4 6. Bg2 Nc6 7. O-O O-O 8. a3
Ba5 9. e3 e5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. dxe5 Qxd1 12. Rxd1 Nd7 13. f4 Nc5 14. Bf3 Bxc3
15. bxc3 Bf5 16. e4 Bxe4 17. Bxe4 Nxe4 18. Rd4 Nxc3 19. Rxc4 Nd5 20. Bb2 Rfd8
21. Re1 Rd7 22. f5 Re8 23. h4 b6 24. h5 h6 25. Rg4 Nf6 26. Rh4 Nh7 27. Bc1 Rd5
28. Rg4 Kf8 29. f6 Nxf6 30. Rxg7 Rexe5 31. Rxe5 Rxe5 32. Bxh6 Rxh5 33. Rh7+ Ke7
34. Rh8 Ke6 35. Kg2 Ng4 36. Re8+ Kd7 0-1

[Event "Aalborg Fibertex Cup blindfold"]
[Site "Aalborg"]
[Date "2006.02.05"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Pedersen, Nicolai Vesterbaek"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2516"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2006.02.03"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 112"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.06.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.06.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4
Bb7 9. d3 d6 10. Bd2 Qd7 11. Nc3 Nd4 12. Nxd4 exd4 13. Ne2 c5 14. Ng3 g6 15. c3
dxc3 16. Bxc3 d5 17. Qf3 d4 18. Bd2 Qg4 19. Qxg4 Nxg4 20. e5 Kg7 21. h3 Nh6 22.
axb5 axb5 23. Rxa8 Rxa8 24. Bxh6+ Kxh6 25. Bxf7 Rc8 26. Be6 Rc7 27. b3 Bc8 28.
Bxc8 Rxc8 29. Ne4 c4 30. bxc4 bxc4 31. dxc4 Rxc4 32. Rd1 d3 33. f3 Rd4 34. Kf2
g5 35. g3 Bd8 36. Ke3 Bb6 37. Rxd3 Rb4+ 38. Ke2 Kg6 39. g4 Ba5 40. Rd6+ Kg7 41.
Nxg5 Rb2+ 42. Kd3 Rh2 43. Ke4 h6 44. Ne6+ Kf7 45. Nf4 Bd2 46. e6+ Ke8 47. Nd5
1-0

[Event "Aalborg Fibertex Cup blindfold"]
[Site "Aalborg"]
[Date "2006.02.05"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Schandorff, Lars"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2521"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2006.02.03"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 112"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.06.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.06.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 c5 7. e3 O-O 8. Bd3
c4 9. Bc2 Be6 10. O-O Bxc3 11. bxc3 Nbd7 12. Ne5 Qa5 13. Nxd7 Nxd7 14. Qd2 Nb6
15. a4 Bd7 16. Be7 Rfe8 17. Bb4 Qa6 18. a5 Nc8 19. f3 Qh6 20. Rfe1 Ne7 21. Qf2
Nc6 22. Bc5 f5 23. e4 fxe4 24. fxe4 Be6 25. e5 Qg5 26. Re3 Ne7 27. Rf1 Rf8 28.
Rf3 Rxf3 29. Qxf3 Ng6 30. Kh1 b6 31. axb6 axb6 32. Bd6 b5 33. Bb1 Qg4 34. Qf2
Qh4 35. Qf3 Qg4 36. Qf2 Qh4 37. Qf3 Qg4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Aalborg Fibertex Cup blindfold"]
[Site "Aalborg"]
[Date "2006.02.05"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Nielsen, Peter Heine"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2644"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2006.02.03"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 112"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.06.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.06.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Bg2 c6 8. Bc3
d5 9. Ne5 Nfd7 10. Nxd7 Nxd7 11. Nd2 O-O 12. O-O Rc8 13. e4 b5 14. Re1 dxe4 15.
Bxe4 bxc4 16. bxc4 Nb6 17. Qb3 c5 18. d5 Bf6 19. Rad1 exd5 20. Bxf6 Qxf6 21.
cxd5 Rfd8 22. Bg2 c4 23. Qa3 Bb7 24. Ne4 Qg6 25. Nc3 Ra8 26. Re7 Bc8 27. Rxa7
Rxa7 28. Qxa7 Bf5 29. Re1 h5 30. h4 Qd6 31. a4 Ra8 32. Qb7 Qb4 33. Re3 Rf8 34.
Qe7 Qb2 35. d6 Nxa4 36. Bc6 Qc1+ 37. Kg2 Rb8 38. Bxa4 Rb2 39. Rf3 Bh3+ 40. Kh2
1-0

[Event "Reykjavik op 22nd"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2006.03.06"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Weeks, Manuel William"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2273"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2006.03.06"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nf1 Bf8 14. Ng3 g6 15.
a4 Bg7 16. Bd3 c6 17. Bg5 Qc7 18. Qd2 Nf8 19. Bh6 Ne6 20. b4 Nd7 21. Bf1 Nb6
22. Bxg7 Kxg7 23. a5 Nd7 24. c4 Rad8 25. Rac1 Qb8 26. Red1 f6 27. d5 cxd5 28.
exd5 Nf4 29. cxb5 axb5 30. Bxb5 Bxd5 31. Bc6 Bxc6 32. Rxc6 d5 33. Rdc1 Nf8 34.
Rb6 Qa7 35. Nd4 Rc8 36. Nb5 Qd7 37. Nd6 Rxc1+ 38. Qxc1 Re7 39. a6 Qa7 40. Qc6
N4e6 41. Nc8 1-0

[Event "Reykjavik op 22nd"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2006.03.07"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Tissir, Mohamed"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B32"]
[WhiteElo "2444"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2006.03.06"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. N1c3 a6 7. Na3 Be7 8.
Nd5 Nf6 9. Nxf6+ Bxf6 10. Nc4 Be7 11. Be3 Be6 12. Nb6 Rb8 13. c3 Bg5 14. Bxg5
Qxg5 15. Qd2 Qd8 16. Nc4 d5 17. exd5 Qxd5 18. Qxd5 Bxd5 19. O-O-O Be6 20. Nd6+
Ke7 21. Bc4 Rhd8 22. Bxe6 Kxe6 23. Ne4 b6 24. Rxd8 Nxd8 25. Rd1 f6 26. c4 f5
27. Nc3 Rc8 28. Kb1 Nf7 29. Nd5 b5 30. cxb5 axb5 31. a3 Nd6 32. Nc3 Rc4 33. Ka2
g5 34. Kb3 Rf4 35. Rd2 Nc4 36. Rc2 Na5+ 37. Ka2 b4 38. axb4 Nc6 39. Ka3 Nxb4
40. Rd2 Nc6 41. Na4 Nd4 42. Nc3 Rh4 43. h3 g4 44. hxg4 Rxg4 45. f3 Rg8 46. Ka2
h5 47. b4 h4 48. Ne2 Nc6 49. b5 Nb4+ 50. Kb3 Nd5 51. Nc3 Ne3 52. b6 Nxg2 53.
Na4 h3 54. Nc5+ Kf7 55. Nd7 h2 56. Rd1 Ne1 57. Rxe1 Rg1 58. Nxe5+ Kg7 59. Re2
h1=Q 0-1

[Event "Reykjavik op 22nd"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2006.03.08"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Galego, Luis"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2538"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2006.03.06"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 c5 5. Bxb4 cxb4 6. g3 O-O 7. Bg2 Qe7 8.
O-O d6 9. Qb3 a5 10. a3 Na6 11. axb4 Nxb4 12. Nc3 e5 13. c5 e4 14. cxd6 Qxd6
15. Ng5 Qxd4 16. Rfd1 Qe5 17. Ngxe4 Nxe4 18. Nxe4 Bf5 19. Qc3 Qe7 20. Nd6 Bg6
21. Rd2 Rfb8 22. h4 h6 23. Bf3 h5 24. Rad1 Kh7 25. Qc5 Rc8 26. Qb5 Rc2 27. Bxh5
Rxd2 28. Rxd2 Bxh5 29. Qxh5+ Kg8 30. Nf5 Qf6 31. Rd6 Qxb2 32. Rd7 Qb1+ 33. Kh2
1-0

[Event "Reykjavik op 22nd"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2006.03.09"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Tregubov, Pavel V"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D12"]
[WhiteElo "2556"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2006.03.06"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 d5 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nh4 Bg6 7. Nxg6 hxg6 8. g3
Nbd7 9. Bg2 dxc4 10. Qe2 Be7 11. Qxc4 e5 12. O-O Nb6 13. Qe2 exd4 14. Rd1 O-O
15. Rxd4 Qc7 16. e4 Qe5 17. Rd3 Rad8 18. Bf4 Qe6 19. Rad1 Rxd3 20. Rxd3 Re8 21.
Kh1 Bb4 22. f3 Nfd7 23. Rd1 Ne5 24. Qc2 Qf6 25. h4 Nec4 26. Bc1 Rd8 27. Bg5
Rxd1+ 28. Nxd1 Qd4 29. b3 Bc5 30. Kh2 f6 31. Bc1 Qg1+ 32. Kh3 Ne5 33. f4 Nf7
34. Qd3 g5 35. hxg5 fxg5 36. fxg5 Ne5 37. Qf1 Qd4 38. Ne3 g6 39. Ng4 Nxg4 40.
Kxg4 Nd7 41. Bf4 b5 42. Bf3 Qh8 43. Qh1 Ne5+ 44. Bxe5 Qxe5 45. Qe1 Bd6 46. Kh3
c5 47. Be2 a6 48. a4 Qe6+ 49. Bg4 Qe5 50. Be2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Reykjavik op 22nd"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2006.03.10"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hillarp Persson, Tiger"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E01"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2548"]
[PlyCount "192"]
[EventDate "2006.03.06"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 e6 5. g3 dxc4 6. Bg2 Nbd7 7. O-O b5 8. Bg5
Bb7 9. a4 a6 10. Ne5 Qb6 11. b3 Rd8 12. a5 Qc7 13. Nxd7 Rxd7 14. Bxf6 gxf6 15.
bxc4 f5 16. e3 Bb4 17. Qb3 Bxa5 18. Ne2 O-O 19. cxb5 axb5 20. Rfc1 Bb6 21. Nf4
Qd6 22. Nd3 Rc7 23. Rc3 Kh8 24. Rac1 f6 25. Nc5 Bc8 26. Qb2 Bxc5 27. Rxc5 Bd7
28. d5 exd5 29. Bxd5 Re8 30. Bf3 Re5 31. Qa3 Kg7 32. Qa5 Rxc5 33. Rxc5 Rb7 34.
Rc1 b4 35. Rd1 Qe7 36. Qa8 Rc7 37. Qb8 Be6 38. Rd8 Bf7 39. Qa8 Ra7 40. Qc8 Rc7
41. Qa8 b3 42. Rb8 c5 43. Qa5 Ra7 44. Qc3 c4 45. Kg2 Rc7 46. h4 Qe5 47. Qb4 Qc5
48. Qc3 Qd6 49. h5 h6 50. Qa5 Re7 51. Rb6 Qc7 52. Qb4 c3 53. Rb7 c2 54. Qxe7
Qxe7 55. Rxe7 Kf8 56. Rc7 b2 57. Rxc2 b1=Q 58. Rc8+ Kg7 59. Rc7 Qb3 60. Rd7 Kf8
61. Rd4 Ke7 62. Bd1 Qb5 63. Bf3 Bc4 64. Kh2 Ke6 65. Kg2 Ke5 66. Kg1 Bd3 67. Rf4
Qb1+ 68. Kh2 Qe1 69. Bg2 Qe2 70. Kg1 Qxh5 71. Bf3 Qg6 72. Rh4 Be4 73. Bg2 Qg7
74. Kh2 Qg6 75. Kg1 Kd6 76. Kh2 Kc5 77. Rf4 Qh5+ 78. Rh4 Qg6 79. Rf4 Kd6 80.
Rh4 Ke7 81. Kg1 Kf8 82. Rf4 Kg7 83. Rh4 Qe8 84. Kh2 Qc6 85. Bh3 Kg6 86. Rf4 Qc2
87. Bg2 Kf7 88. Kg1 Qc6 89. Bxe4 fxe4 90. g4 Kg6 91. Kg2 Kg5 92. Kg3 Qd6 93. f3
exf3 94. Kxf3 Qd1+ 95. Kg3 Qg1+ 96. Kf3 Qh1+ 0-1

[Event "Reykjavik op 22nd"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2006.03.11"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Pavlovic, Milos"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2494"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2006.03.06"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. c3 d6 8. d4
Bb6 9. a4 Bg4 10. axb5 axb5 11. Rxa8 Qxa8 12. h3 Bh5 13. Qd3 exd4 14. Bg5 Bxf3
15. Bxf6 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 gxf6 17. Qxb5 Ke7 18. Kh2 Ne5 19. f4 Qxe4 20. fxe5 Rg8
21. exf6+ Kf8 22. Rf2 d3 23. Qh5 Rg6 24. Qf3 Qe5+ 25. Kh1 Qe1+ 26. Rf1 Rg1+ 27.
Kh2 Qe5+ 28. Qf4 Rxf1 29. Qxe5 dxe5 30. Nd2 Rf2+ 31. Kg3 Rxd2 32. Bxf7 Kxf7 33.
b4 Rf2 0-1

[Event "Reykjavik op 22nd"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2006.03.12"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kveinys, Aloyzas"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B43"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2517"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2006.03.06"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Bd3 Bc5 7. Nb3 Be7 8.
Qg4 g6 9. Bg5 d6 10. Bxe7 Nxe7 11. O-O-O e5 12. Qg5 Be6 13. f4 Nd7 14. f5 f6
15. Qh6 Bxb3 16. cxb3 O-O-O 17. Kb1 Kb8 18. Rc1 Nc5 19. Bc2 gxf5 20. exf5 d5
21. Qxf6 Nc6 22. Nxd5 1-0

[Event "Reykjavik op 22nd"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2006.03.13"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Hamdouchi, Hicham"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2575"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2006.03.06"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. c3 d6 8. d4
Bb6 9. a4 Bg4 10. d5 Ne7 11. h3 Bh5 12. Re1 Ng6 13. Qd3 O-O 14. Bd1 Bxf3 15.
Bxf3 Nf4 16. Qf1 Rb8 17. axb5 axb5 18. Na3 Nd7 19. Nxb5 Qf6 20. Bxf4 Qxf4 21.
Na3 f5 22. Nc4 Nf6 23. exf5 e4 24. Bd1 Qxf5 25. Bc2 Qxd5 26. Nxb6 Rxb6 27. b4
Qe5 28. Re3 d5 29. Ra5 Rd6 30. Qe2 Qf4 31. Qd2 Kh8 32. Re2 Qh4 33. Qd4 Nh5 34.
Rxd5 Nf4 35. Rxe4 Rxd5 36. Qxd5 Nxh3+ 37. Kh2 Nf4+ 38. Kg1 Qg4 39. Rc4 Re8 0-1

[Event "Reykjavik op 22nd"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2006.03.14"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Adly, Ahmed"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2473"]
[PlyCount "136"]
[EventDate "2006.03.06"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4
g5 9. Bg3 Bg7 10. h3 Ne5 11. Nf5 Bxf5 12. exf5 Nbc6 13. Nd5 e6 14. fxe6 fxe6
15. Ne3 d5 16. Be2 O-O 17. O-O Ng6 18. c4 d4 19. Ng4 Nf4 20. Bxf4 Rxf4 21. Bd3
Nb4 22. Re1 h5 23. Nh2 Nxd3 24. Qxd3 Qf6 25. Re2 Qf5 26. Rd1 Rf8 27. f3 Qxd3
28. Rxd3 e5 29. Nf1 g4 30. hxg4 hxg4 31. Nd2 gxf3 32. gxf3 Rh4 33. Re4 Rh5 34.
Rg4 Rh6 35. Rb3 b6 36. Ra3 Ra8 37. Ne4 Rc6 38. Rb3 Kf7 39. Kf2 Bf8 40. f4 Rb8
41. f5 Rh6 42. c5 Be7 43. Rg6 Rh5 44. Rgxb6 Rxf5+ 45. Rf3 Rxf3+ 46. Kxf3 Rc8
47. b4 a5 48. a3 axb4 49. axb4 Ke8 50. Ke2 Ra8 51. c6 Kf7 52. b5 Ke6 53. Ra6
Rh8 54. b6 Bd8 55. b7 Bc7 56. Ra8 Rb8 57. Kd3 Kd5 58. Ra6 Rf8 59. Nd2 e4+ 60.
Nxe4 Rf3+ 61. Kc2 Kxe4 62. Ra8 Rc3+ 63. Kd1 Rb3 64. Kc2 Rb6 65. Rc8 d3+ 66. Kd1
Bf4 67. Re8+ Kf3 68. b8=Q Rxb8 0-1

[Event "Glitnir blitz"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2006.03.15"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kjartansson, David"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B60"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2260"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2006.03.15"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 Bd7 7. Be2 Rc8 8.
O-O a6 9. Nb3 Ne5 10. f4 Nc4 11. Bxc4 Rxc4 12. e5 dxe5 13. fxe5 Ng4 14. Qe2 b5
15. h3 Qb6+ 16. Kh1 h5 17. Rad1 Be6 18. Nd5 Bxd5 19. Rxd5 Qg6 20. Rfd1 Rc8 21.
Qd2 Qb6 22. Rc5 Qb7 23. Na5 Qb8 24. Qd7# 1-0

[Event "Glitnir blitz"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2006.03.15"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Kjartansson, David"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B32"]
[WhiteElo "2260"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[PlyCount "42"]
[EventDate "2006.03.15"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. N1c3 a6 7. Na3 Be7 8.
Nd5 Nf6 9. Nxe7 Nxe7 10. Bd3 O-O 11. Bg5 Ng6 12. Qf3 Be6 13. c3 Qb6 14. Qe2 Nd7
15. Nc4 Qc7 16. O-O Nc5 17. Ne3 f6 18. Bc4 fxg5 19. Nd5 Bxd5 20. Bxd5+ Kh8 21.
g3 Ne7 0-1

[Event "Glitnir blitz"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2006.03.16"]
[Round "3.2"]
[White "Fressinet, Laurent"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C66"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2006.03.15"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 d6 5. d4 Bd7 6. O-O exd4 7. Nxd4 Be7 8.
Bxc6 bxc6 9. Qf3 O-O 10. b3 c5 11. Nf5 Bxf5 12. Qxf5 Re8 13. Bb2 Qd7 14. Qf3
Bf8 15. Rfe1 Qg4 16. Qd3 Qe6 17. Rad1 a5 18. h3 Rab8 19. Ba1 Rb4 20. f3 c4 21.
Qe3 cxb3 22. axb3 d5 23. Qg5 dxe4 24. fxe4 Nxe4 25. Nxe4 Rxe4 26. Bc3 Rxe1+ 27.
Rxe1 Qb6+ 28. Kh1 Rxe1+ 29. Bxe1 Qc6 30. Qxa5 Qxc2 31. Bg3 c6 32. Qb6 h6 33.
Qd8 Qc5 34. Qb8 Qe7 35. Kh2 Kh7 36. Qc8 Qc5 37. Qb7 Qd5 38. Qb8 Bc5 39. Qc8 Qe4
40. Qd7 Kg6 41. Qd1 f5 42. Qd2 Qe3 43. Qc2 Qg1# 0-1

[Event "Glitnir blitz"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2006.03.16"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Erenburg, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C55"]
[WhiteElo "2573"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2006.03.15"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. Re1 d6 7. a4 Be6 8. Nbd2
Qd7 9. a5 a6 10. Nf1 Rfe8 11. Ne3 Bxc4 12. Nxc4 Bf8 13. Bg5 Qe6 14. Ne3 h6 15.
Bxf6 Qxf6 16. Nd5 Qd8 17. b4 Ne7 18. c4 Nxd5 19. cxd5 c6 20. Qb3 Qd7 21. d4
exd4 22. dxc6 bxc6 23. Nxd4 c5 24. bxc5 dxc5 25. Nf3 Rab8 26. Qc4 Qc6 27. Nd4
Qc8 28. Nf5 g6 29. Ne3 Rb4 30. Qd3 Rbxe4 31. Rec1 Bg7 32. Rab1 Bd4 33. Nc2 Qf5
34. Nxd4 Re1+ 35. Rxe1 Rxe1+ 36. Rxe1 Qxd3 37. Nc6 Qb5 38. Ne7+ Kg7 39. Nd5
Qxa5 40. Rc1 Qd2 0-1

[Event "Glitnir blitz"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2006.03.16"]
[Round "4.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Erenburg, Sergey"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2573"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2006.03.15"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 c6 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Qc2 dxc4 8. Qxc4
b5 9. Qc2 Bb7 10. a4 a6 11. Rd1 Nbd7 12. Nc3 Rc8 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bxf6 Nxf6 15.
Ne5 Qb6 16. e3 c5 17. Bxb7 Qxb7 18. axb5 axb5 19. Qb3 b4 20. Ne2 Qb5 21. Qc4
Qxc4 22. Nxc4 cxd4 23. Rxd4 Nd5 24. Rad1 Bf6 25. Re4 Rfd8 26. Nf4 Nxf4 27.
Rxd8+ Rxd8 28. exf4 Rd1+ 29. Kg2 Bd4 30. Ne3 Rd2 31. b3 f5 32. Rxe6 Kf7 33. Re5
Bxe5 34. fxe5 Ke6 35. Nc4 Rd3 36. Na5 Rc3 37. f4 Rc7 38. Kf2 Rc2+ 39. Ke3 Rxh2
40. Nc6 Rb2 41. Nxb4 Rxb3+ 42. Nd3 Kd5 43. Ke2 Kd4 44. Ne1 Rxg3 45. Nc2+ Ke4
46. e6 Rc3 47. Nb4 Rc7 48. Na6 Re7 49. Kf2 Kxf4 50. Nc5 Ke5 51. Kf3 Rxe6 0-1

[Event "Glitnir blitz"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2006.03.16"]
[Round "4.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Erenburg, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2573"]
[PlyCount "177"]
[EventDate "2006.03.15"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 e6 5. e3 a6 6. b3 Bb4 7. Bd2 Nbd7 8. Bd3
O-O 9. O-O Bd6 10. Qc2 h6 11. Rad1 e5 12. cxd5 cxd5 13. e4 dxe4 14. Nxe4 Nxe4
15. Bxe4 exd4 16. Nxd4 Nf6 17. h3 Nxe4 18. Qxe4 Re8 19. Qf3 Qh4 20. Be3 Qe4 21.
Qxe4 Rxe4 22. Nf3 Be7 23. Rfe1 Be6 24. Nd4 Bb4 25. Rf1 Re8 26. Nxe6 R4xe6 27.
Rd7 R6e7 28. Rfd1 f6 29. g4 Kf7 30. Kg2 Rxd7 31. Rxd7+ Re7 32. Rd8 Re8 33. Rd3
Ke7 34. Rd4 Bd6 35. Kf3 Rc8 36. Rd2 Bb4 37. Re2 Kf7 38. h4 Ba5 39. h5 Rc6 40.
Rb2 Bb4 41. Rb1 Rc2 42. a4 Bc5 43. Rd1 Bxe3 44. fxe3 Ke6 45. Rd8 Rc3 46. b4 Rc4
47. Rd4 Rc6 48. Ke4 Rc1 49. a5 Rb1 50. Rc4 Rg1 51. Kf3 Kd6 52. Rd4+ Ke6 53.
Re4+ Kd6 54. Re8 Rc1 55. Rd8+ Ke7 56. Rb8 Rc7 57. Ke4 Ke6 58. Kd4 Kd6 59. e4
Rd7 60. Rg8 Kc6+ 61. Ke3 Kd6 62. Kf4 Ke6 63. Re8+ Kf7 64. Rb8 Ke6 65. Rc8 Re7
66. Rc5 Rd7 67. b5 axb5 68. Rxb5 Kd6 69. Kf5 Kc6 70. Rb6+ Kc5 71. Kg6 Re7 72.
Rb1 Rxe4 73. Kxg7 Rxg4+ 74. Kxh6 Kc6 75. Rb6+ Kc7 76. Rxf6 Ra4 77. Rf5 Rg4 78.
Rg5 Rf4 79. Kg6 Kd6 80. h6 Ke7 81. h7 Rf6+ 82. Kh5 Rf8 83. Rg8 Rf5+ 84. Kg6
Rf6+ 85. Kg5 Rf1 86. h8=Q Rg1+ 87. Kf4 Rxg8 88. Qxg8 Kd6 89. a6 1-0

[Event "Glitnir blitz"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2006.03.16"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C55"]
[WhiteElo "2792"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2006.03.15"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 Nc6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. Re1 d6 7. a4 Be6 8. Nc3
Qd7 9. a5 a6 10. h3 Rfe8 11. Ng5 Bxc4 12. dxc4 Nd4 13. Nf3 Nxf3+ 14. Qxf3 Qe6
15. b3 h6 16. Be3 Nd7 17. Red1 Bg5 18. Nd5 Rac8 19. Bxg5 hxg5 20. Qg3 Qg6 21.
Qg4 Re6 22. Rd3 Kf8 23. Rg3 Nf6 24. Nxf6 gxf6 25. h4 Ke7 26. h5 Qh7 27. b4 Rh8
28. Rh3 f5 29. Qxg5+ Rf6 30. Re1 fxe4 31. Qh4 Qf5 32. Re2 e3 33. Rexe3 Qxc2 34.
Ref3 Qc1+ 35. Kh2 Qh6 36. g4 Qg7 37. g5 Rxf3 38. Rxf3 Ke8 39. Kg3 Qh7 40. h6
Qb1 41. Kg2 Qg6 42. Rf6 Qd3 43. Qg4 Ke7 44. Qf3 Qxc4 45. Kg3 Rg8 46. Rf5 Qe6
47. Kh4 Qg6 48. Qg4 Qe6 49. Rf6 Qxg4+ 50. Kxg4 d5 51. Kf5 d4 0-1

[Event "Glitnir blitz"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2006.03.16"]
[Round "5.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A58"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2792"]
[PlyCount "155"]
[EventDate "2006.03.15"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bxa6 7. Nf3 Bg7 8. g3
d6 9. Bg2 O-O 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Rb1 Ne8 12. Qc2 Nc7 13. Rd1 Nb6 14. e4 Bc8 15.
h3 Bd7 16. b3 Qc8 17. a4 Bxh3 18. Bb2 Bg4 19. Re1 Na6 20. Nb5 Bxb2 21. Rxb2 Bd7
22. Nc3 Nb4 23. Qd2 c4 24. bxc4 Nxc4 25. Qh6 f6 26. Rxb4 Ne5 27. Qe3 Qc7 28.
Nxe5 fxe5 29. Reb1 Rac8 30. Rb7 Qd8 31. Nb5 Rc2 32. Rf1 Bg4 33. Qb6 Qxb6 34.
Rxb6 Be2 35. Rc6 Rb2 36. Re1 Bxb5 37. axb5 Rfxf2 38. Bf1 Rf3 39. Re2 Rxg3+ 40.
Kf2 Rbb3 41. b6 Rgf3+ 42. Kg1 Rb1 43. Rf2 Re3 44. Kh2 Rxe4 45. Bh3 Kg7 46. Bc8
h5 47. b7 Kh6 48. Rc7 Ree1 49. Rxe7 Kg5 50. Ref7 Kh4 51. Kg2 g5 52. Rf1 Rxf1
53. Rxf1 Rb2+ 54. Rf2 Rb6 55. Ra2 g4 56. Ra8 Rb2+ 57. Kf1 Kg3 58. b8=Q Rxb8 59.
Rxb8 h4 60. Rb3+ Kf4 61. Bxg4 Kxg4 62. Rb6 h3 63. Rxd6 e4 64. Re6 Kf5 65. Rxe4
Kxe4 66. d6 Kf3 67. Kg1 Kg3 68. d7 h2+ 69. Kh1 Kh3 70. d8=Q Kg3 71. Qd6+ Kf3
72. Kxh2 Ke3 73. Kg2 Ke4 74. Kg3 Ke3 75. Qd5 Ke2 76. Qd4 Ke1 77. Kf3 Kf1 78.
Qd1# 1-0

[Event "Glitnir blitz"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2006.03.16"]
[Round "6.1"]
[White "Stefansson, Hannes"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2585"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2006.03.15"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Bg2 c6 8. Bc3
d5 9. Nbd2 Nbd7 10. O-O O-O 11. Qc2 c5 12. dxc5 Nxc5 13. Rfd1 Rc8 14. Qb2 dxc4
15. Nxc4 Qe8 16. Nfd2 Bxc4 17. Nxc4 Na4 18. bxa4 Rxc4 19. a5 Qa4 20. axb6 axb6
21. Rd3 Rfc8 22. Bf3 h6 23. Kg2 b5 24. Rad1 Rxc3 0-1

[Event "Glitnir blitz"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2006.03.16"]
[Round "6.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Stefansson, Hannes"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B66"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2585"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2006.03.15"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 Be7 8.
O-O-O Nxd4 9. Qxd4 a6 10. f4 b5 11. Bxf6 gxf6 12. Be2 Qc7 13. Bh5 Qc5 14. Qxc5
dxc5 15. e5 f5 16. g4 fxg4 17. Rhg1 Bb7 18. Bxg4 h5 19. Bh3 Rd8 20. Rxd8+ Kxd8
21. Bg2 Bc8 22. Bf3 Bd7 23. Ne4 c4 24. Kd2 h4 25. h3 Be8 26. Ke3 Kc7 27. b3
cxb3 28. cxb3 Ba3 29. Rg7 Bc1+ 30. Nd2 Kb6 31. Rg1 Ba3 32. Ke2 Kc5 33. Ne4+ Kb4
34. Rd1 Bc6 35. Rd6 Rc8 36. Rd4+ Ka5 37. Nd6 Bxf3+ 38. Kxf3 Rc2 39. Nxf7 Rxa2
40. Ng5 Bc5 41. Rd3 Rf2+ 42. Ke4 Kb4 43. Nxe6 Bb6 44. f5 a5 45. f6 a4 46. bxa4
bxa4 47. Rd6 Ka5 48. Nf4 Rc2 49. f7 Rc8 50. e6 a3 51. e7 a2 52. f8=Q a1=Q 53.
Qxc8 Qb1+ 54. Kd5 Qb5+ 55. Ke6 Qb3+ 56. Rd5+ 1-0

[Event "Glitnir blitz Prelim"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2006.03.15"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gunnarsson, Jon Viktor"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D16"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2421"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2006.03.15"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Be6 6. Ng5 Bd5 7. e4 h6 8. exd5
hxg5 9. dxc6 Nxc6 10. d5 Na5 11. Bxg5 Qd6 12. g3 g6 13. Bg2 Bh6 14. Bxf6 Qxf6
15. O-O O-O 16. Qe2 Rfd8 17. Rad1 Rac8 18. Rfe1 Rd7 19. Bh3 Rcd8 20. Bxd7 Rxd7
21. d6 e6 22. Ne4 Qd8 23. Qf3 Bg7 24. Qf4 b6 25. Re2 f5 26. Ng5 e5 27. Qe3 Nb3
28. h4 Rxd6 29. Rxd6 Qxd6 30. Re1 e4 31. h5 gxh5 32. Qe2 Qd3 33. Qxh5 Qd7 34.
Rd1 Nd4 35. Kg2 Qd5 36. Qe8+ Bf8 37. Qg6+ Bg7 38. Qe8+ Bf8 39. Rxd4 Qxd4 40.
Qf7+ 1-0

[Event "Glitnir blitz Prelim"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2006.03.15"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Williams, Simon Kim"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2452"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2006.03.15"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. a3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bd2 Nd7 8. Qc2
Nxc3 9. Bxc3 Be7 10. e4 O-O 11. Rd1 Rc8 12. Bc4 Nf6 13. Bd3 c5 14. e5 c4 15.
Be2 Nd5 16. O-O Nf4 17. Ne1 Nxe2+ 18. Qxe2 Qd5 19. f4 Qe4 20. Qf2 b5 21. Nc2 f5
22. exf6 Bxf6 23. Rde1 Bh4 24. Rxe4 Bxf2+ 25. Rxf2 Bxe4 26. Ne3 Rcd8 27. g3 a5
28. Rd2 Ra8 29. Kf2 Rfb8 30. d5 exd5 31. Nxd5 Rd8 32. Nc7 Rxd2+ 33. Bxd2 Rd8
34. Bxa5 Rd3 35. Bc3 Bc6 36. Ne6 g6 37. Nd4 Bd7 38. h4 Bg4 39. Nxb5 0-1

[Event "Dos Hermanas Internet f 7th"]
[Site "ICC INT"]
[Date "2006.03.24"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giaccio, Alfredo Gustavo"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2470"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2006.03.24"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2007"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 1-0

[Event "Dos Hermanas Internet f 7th"]
[Site "ICC INT"]
[Date "2006.03.24"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Giaccio, Alfredo Gustavo"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2470"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2006.03.24"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2007"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 0-1

[Event "Dos Hermanas Internet f 7th"]
[Site "ICC INT"]
[Date "2006.03.24"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giaccio, Alfredo Gustavo"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2470"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2006.03.24"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2007"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 1-0

[Event "Dos Hermanas Internet f 7th"]
[Site "ICC INT"]
[Date "2006.03.24"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Todorovic, Goran M"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B35"]
[WhiteElo "2480"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2006.03.24"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O 8.
Bb3 Qa5 9. O-O d6 10. f3 Bd7 11. Qd2 Rac8 12. Rad1 Ne5 13. Nd5 Qd8 14. Nxf6+
Bxf6 15. Bh6 Re8 16. c3 Nc4 17. Qe2 b5 18. Kh1 Qb6 19. Rfe1 a5 20. a3 e5 21.
Nc2 Nxb2 22. Rb1 Qc5 23. Rxb2 Qxc3 24. Ne3 Be6 25. Nd5 Bxd5 26. Bxd5 Qxa3 27.
Rxb5 Rb8 28. Reb1 Rxb5 29. Qxb5 1-0

[Event "Dos Hermanas Internet f 7th"]
[Site "ICC INT"]
[Date "2006.03.24"]
[Round "2.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Todorovic, Goran M"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D34"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2480"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2006.03.24"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. g3 Nf6 7. Bg2 Be7 8. Be3
Ng4 9. Bf4 Be6 10. O-O O-O 11. Rc1 c4 12. e4 dxe4 13. Nxe4 Nf6 14. Nc3 Nb4 15.
Ng5 Bf5 16. Bxb7 Nd3 17. Bxa8 Qxa8 18. Qf3 Nxc1 19. Qxa8 Rxa8 20. Rxc1 h6 21.
Nf3 Rd8 22. Be3 Bh3 23. Ne5 Rc8 24. d5 Bb4 25. Nc6 Bxc3 26. Ne7+ Kf8 27. Nxc8
Bxb2 28. Rxc4 Nxd5 29. Bxa7 Ke8 30. Nd6+ Ke7 31. Bc5 Ke6 32. Re4+ Kd7 33. Nxf7
1-0

[Event "Dos Hermanas Internet f 7th"]
[Site "ICC INT"]
[Date "2006.03.24"]
[Round "2.3"]
[White "Todorovic, Goran M"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C90"]
[WhiteElo "2480"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2006.03.24"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. Re1 d6 7. Bb3 Na5 8. Ba4
c5 9. c3 a6 10. Nbd2 b5 11. Bc2 Nc6 12. Nf1 Nd7 13. Ng3 Nb6 14. d4 cxd4 15.
cxd4 exd4 16. Nxd4 Nxd4 17. Qxd4 Bf6 18. Qd3 g6 19. Bh6 Re8 20. Rab1 Be6 21. b3
Rc8 22. Rbd1 Be5 23. Bb1 Qh4 24. Be3 Nd7 25. Qd2 Bc3 26. Qxd6 Ne5 27. Bd4 Ng4
28. h3 Red8 29. Qxd8+ Rxd8 30. Bxc3 Rc8 31. Bb2 Nxf2 32. Kxf2 Qf4+ 33. Kg1 Qxg3
34. Kh1 h5 35. Bf6 Bxh3 0-1

[Event "Dos Hermanas Internet f 7th"]
[Site "ICC INT"]
[Date "2006.03.24"]
[Round "2.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Todorovic, Goran M"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C83"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2480"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2006.03.24"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. Be3 Be7 10. c3 Nc5 11. Bc2 Bg4 12. Re1 Qd7 13. h3 Bh5 14. Nbd2 Ne6 15.
g4 Bg6 16. Nf1 Rd8 17. Bf5 Na5 18. Ng3 Nc4 19. Bc1 c5 20. a4 O-O 21. axb5 axb5
22. h4 h6 23. h5 Bh7 24. b3 Nb6 25. Qd3 Bxf5 26. gxf5 Ng5 27. Nxg5 Bxg5 28.
Bxg5 hxg5 29. Qe3 d4 30. Qxg5 f6 31. exf6 Rxf6 32. cxd4 cxd4 33. Re6 Nd5 34. h6
Qf7 35. Nh5 Rxf5 36. Qxd8+ Kh7 37. hxg7 1-0

[Event "Dos Hermanas Internet f 7th"]
[Site "ICC INT"]
[Date "2006.03.25"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Doettling, Fabian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A44"]
[WhiteElo "2542"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2006.03.24"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. d5 d6 4. Nc3 e5 5. e4 Be7 6. Bb5+ Nbd7 7. a4 O-O 8. O-O
Ne8 9. Bd3 g6 10. Nd2 f5 11. exf5 gxf5 12. f4 e4 13. Be2 Bf6 14. Nc4 Bxc3 15.
bxc3 Ndf6 16. Ne3 Bd7 17. c4 Qe7 18. Bb2 Qf7 19. Qe1 Qg6 20. Kh1 Rf7 21. Qh4
Rg7 22. Rg1 h5 23. Ra3 Qh6 24. h3 Rg6 25. a5 Ng7 26. Rb3 Rb8 27. Rb1 Bc8 28.
Nf1 Kh7 29. Rg3 Rxg3 30. Nxg3 Ng8 31. Qd8 h4 32. Bxg7 Qxg7 33. Nxf5 Bxf5 34.
Qxb8 b6 35. axb6 axb6 36. Rxb6 Qa1+ 37. Kh2 1-0

[Event "Dos Hermanas Internet f 7th"]
[Site "ICC INT"]
[Date "2006.03.25"]
[Round "3.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Doettling, Fabian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2542"]
[PlyCount "133"]
[EventDate "2006.03.24"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. c4 Bg4 6. cxd5 Qxd5 7. Be2 cxd4 8. Nc3
Qa5 9. Nxd4 Rd8 10. Bxg4 Rxd4 11. Qe2 e6 12. Be3 Rd8 13. f4 Nh6 14. O-O Be7 15.
Bh3 O-O 16. Rad1 Nf5 17. Bxf5 exf5 18. Qc4 Rxd1 19. Rxd1 Rd8 20. Nd5 Bf8 21. a3
Ne7 22. Nxe7+ Bxe7 23. Rxd8+ Qxd8 24. Kf2 b6 25. Ke2 Qa8 26. Kf2 Qd8 27. a4 h6
28. b4 Qd7 29. b5 Qe6 30. Qxe6 fxe6 31. a5 Bd8 32. a6 Kf7 33. Kf3 h5 34. g3 g6
35. h3 Kg7 36. g4 Kf7 37. Bd2 Be7 38. Be3 Bd8 39. Bf2 Kg7 40. Be1 Be7 41. Ba5
Bc5 42. Bc3 Be7 43. Bb2 Bc5 44. Bc1 Be7 45. Bd2 Bc5 46. Be1 Be7 47. Bf2 Bd8 48.
Be3 Kf7 49. Kg3 Kg7 50. gxh5 gxh5 51. Kf3 Kf7 52. Bf2 Kg7 53. Ke2 Kf7 54. Kd3
Kg7 55. Kc4 Kf7 56. Be1 Be7 57. Bd2 Kg7 58. Be3 Bd8 59. Bd4 Kf7 60. Bc3 Be7 61.
Ba5 Bd8 62. Bb4 Be7 63. Bd6 Bxd6 64. exd6 Ke8 65. Kd4 Kd8 66. Ke5 Kd7 67. h4
1-0

[Event "Dos Hermanas Internet f 7th"]
[Site "ICC INT"]
[Date "2006.03.25"]
[Round "3.3"]
[White "Doettling, Fabian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2542"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2006.03.24"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. a3 Ba6 5. Qc2 Bb7 6. Nc3 c5 7. dxc5 bxc5 8. Bf4
Be7 9. Rd1 O-O 10. e3 Bxf3 11. gxf3 Nc6 12. Be2 Qb6 13. O-O Rfd8 14. Rd2 Nh5
15. Bg3 f5 16. f4 Nf6 17. Bf3 Rab8 18. Rfd1 Na5 19. Qa4 Nb3 20. Rd3 Qa5 21. Bh4
Qxa4 22. Nxa4 d6 23. Bxf6 gxf6 24. Kf1 Na5 25. Rc1 Rb3 26. Ke2 Rdb8 27. Rxb3
Nxb3 28. Rg1+ Kf8 29. Kd3 Na5 30. Kc3 Rb3+ 31. Kc2 Rb8 32. Be2 Kf7 33. Rb1 Nc6
34. Bh5+ Kf8 35. Bf3 Na5 36. Be2 Nc6 37. Nc3 Bd8 38. Rd1 Be7 39. Nb5 Rd8 40.
Bf3 Na5 41. Nc7 Rb8 42. Nxe6+ Ke8 43. Bd5 Nb7 44. Rg1 Kd7 45. Ng7 Nd8 46. Nxf5
Bf8 47. Rg8 1-0

[Event "Dos Hermanas Internet f 7th"]
[Site "ICC INT"]
[Date "2006.03.25"]
[Round "3.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Doettling, Fabian"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2542"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2006.03.24"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. c4 Bg4 6. dxc5 e6 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Nc3
Bxc5 9. Qxd5 Qxd5 10. Nxd5 O-O-O 11. Nc3 Nb4 12. Ne4 Nc2+ 13. Ke2 Bb6 14. Nd6+
Rxd6 15. exd6 Nxa1 16. Kd1 Nf6 17. Bd3 Rd8 18. Bf4 Nh5 19. Be5 f6 20. Bg3 Nxg3
21. fxg3 Rxd6 22. Ke2 Re6+ 23. Kd2 Be3+ 24. Kd1 Rc6 25. Re1 Rc1+ 26. Ke2 Rxe1+
27. Kxe1 Be6 28. Ke2 Bc1 29. b3 g6 30. Kd1 Be3 31. Ke2 Bh6 32. Nd4 Bd5 33. Kf2
a6 34. h4 Kd7 35. g4 Bf8 36. h5 Bc5 37. Ke3 Bxb3 38. Bxg6 hxg6 39. h6 Bg8 0-1

[Event "Schagen m"]
[Site "Schagen"]
[Date "2006.04.28"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2655"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2006.04.28"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Rc1
c6 9. e4 d5 10. e5 Ne4 11. Bd3 Nxd2 12. Qxd2 Nd7 13. O-O Bb4 14. cxd5 Bxc3 15.
Rxc3 Bxd3 16. Qxd3 cxd5 17. Rfc1 f6 18. Qe2 fxe5 19. dxe5 Nc5 20. Nd4 Qe8 21.
f3 a5 22. a3 Qg6 23. b4 axb4 24. axb4 Nd7 25. Rc6 Rae8 26. Rd6 Rf7 27. Kg2 h5
28. h4 Nf8 29. Rxb6 Ra8 30. Qd2 Ra3 31. Rb8 Rd3 32. Qf2 Qh6 33. f4 Qg6 34. f5
Qh6 35. Rc2 Kh7 36. Re8 Rxd4 37. Qxd4 Rxf5 38. Rf2 Ng6 39. Rxf5 exf5 40. Rc8 f4
41. Qd3 1-0

[Event "Schagen m"]
[Site "Schagen"]
[Date "2006.04.29"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2646"]
[BlackElo "2655"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2006.04.28"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Bd3 Nf6 7. O-O Bc5 8.
Nb3 Be7 9. f4 d6 10. a4 Nc6 11. a5 b5 12. axb6 Qxb6+ 13. Kh1 O-O 14. Qe2 a5 15.
Be3 Qc7 16. Nb5 Qb8 17. c3 d5 18. e5 Ne4 19. Bxe4 dxe4 20. Nc5 Bxc5 21. Bxc5
Ba6 22. c4 Rd8 23. Nd6 f5 24. exf6 Rxd6 25. Qxe4 Bb7 26. Bxd6 Qxd6 27. Rad1 Nd8
28. f7+ Kxf7 29. Qxh7 Qc6 30. Rf2 Qe4 31. f5 e5 32. Rfd2 Bc6 33. Qg6+ Ke7 34.
Rd7+ 1-0

[Event "Schagen m"]
[Site "Schagen"]
[Date "2006.04.30"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2655"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "173"]
[EventDate "2006.04.28"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Nc3 c6 8. e4 d5
9. Qc2 dxe4 10. Nxe4 c5 11. Bc3 Bb7 12. Bd3 cxd4 13. Nxd4 Na6 14. Nxf6+ Bxf6
15. Be4 Bxe4 16. Qxe4 O-O 17. Rd1 Nc5 18. Qf3 Qc7 19. O-O Qb7 20. Qxb7 Nxb7 21.
Bb4 Rfc8 22. Rd2 a5 23. Ba3 a4 24. Nb5 axb3 25. axb3 Nc5 26. Rb1 Ne4 27. Rd7 h5
28. Bc1 Rd8 29. Rxd8+ Rxd8 30. Be3 Nd2 31. Bxd2 Rxd2 32. h4 Kh7 33. Kf1 Kg6 34.
Kg2 Be7 35. Nc3 Kf5 36. Na4 Bf6 37. Nxb6 Bd4 38. Nc8 Kg4 39. Rf1 Bc5 40. b4
Bxb4 41. Nb6 Bc5 42. Na4 Bd4 43. c5 Rc2 44. c6 e5 45. c7 e4 46. Rd1 Rxf2+ 47.
Kh1 Kh3 48. c8=Q+ f5 49. Kg1 Rc2+ 50. Rxd4 Rxc8 51. Rd7 Kxg3 52. Rxg7+ Kf3 53.
Nb6 Rc1+ 54. Kh2 e3 55. Nd5 f4 56. Rf7 Rc2+ 57. Kh3 Rc4 58. Nxe3 Kxe3 59. Ra7
Rc3 60. Ra2 Ke4+ 61. Kh2 Kf3 62. Kh3 Re3 63. Rb2 Re1 64. Rb3+ Kf2 65. Rb2+ Kf1
66. Rb5 Re3+ 67. Kh2 Re2+ 68. Kh3 Re3+ 69. Kh2 f3 70. Rxh5 f2 71. Rf5 Ke1 72.
Kg2 Re2 73. Kg3 f1=Q 74. Rxf1+ Kxf1 75. Kg4 Kf2 76. h5 Ke3 77. Kf5 Rf2+ 78. Kg6
Rg2+ 79. Kf6 Rh2 80. Kg6 Ke4 81. h6 Ke5 82. h7 Ke6 83. Kg7 Ke7 84. h8=Q Rg2+
85. Kh6 Rh2+ 86. Kg7 Rxh8 87. Kxh8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Schagen m"]
[Site "Schagen"]
[Date "2006.05.01"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2646"]
[BlackElo "2655"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2006.04.28"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 Bg5 12. Nc2 O-O 13. a4 bxa4 14. Rxa4 a5
15. Bc4 Rb8 16. Ra2 Kh8 17. Nce3 Bxe3 18. Nxe3 Ne7 19. b3 f5 20. exf5 Nxf5 21.
Nxf5 Bxf5 22. O-O Be4 23. Bd5 Bxd5 24. Qxd5 Qc7 25. Rxa5 Rxb3 26. c4 h6 27. Ra6
Rb6 28. Rfa1 Qb8 29. h3 Rxa6 30. Rxa6 Qb2 31. f3 Qc1+ 32. Kf2 Rb8 33. Ra8 Qc2+
34. Kg3 Qg6+ 35. Kh2 Rxa8 36. Qxa8+ Kh7 37. Qd5 Qf6 38. Kg3 Qg6+ 39. Kf2 Qc2+
40. Kg3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Schagen m g/5ґ"]
[Site "Schagen"]
[Date "2006.05.01"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A31"]
[WhiteElo "2655"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2006.04.28"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 d6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Bd7 8. O-O
Bg7 9. e3 Qc8 10. b3 Bh3 11. Bb2 Bxg2 12. Kxg2 O-O 13. Rc1 Qd8 14. Qf3 Rc8 15.
Rfd1 Qa5 16. h3 a6 17. a3 Qb6 18. Na4 Qc7 19. Kg1 Rfd8 20. Qe2 h5 21. Nc3 Qb6
22. Na4 Qa5 23. Bc3 Qc7 24. Bb2 Rb8 25. Nc3 Qb6 26. b4 Rbc8 27. Na4 Qc7 28. Nf3
Qd7 29. Nb6 Qxh3 30. Nxc8 Rxc8 31. Qf1 Qf5 32. Nd4 Nxd4 33. Bxd4 Ne4 34. Bxg7
Kxg7 35. Rd5 Qe6 36. Qd3 b5 37. Qd4+ Nf6 38. Rg5 bxc4 39. Ra5 d5 40. f3 Qd6 41.
f4 Kg8 42. Qe5 Rc6 43. Qxd6 Rxd6 44. a4 Ne4 45. b5 axb5 46. Rxb5 c3 47. a5 d4
48. exd4 Rxd4 49. a6 Ra4 50. Rb6 Ra2 51. Rc6 e6 52. Rc4 Nxg3 53. Rb1 c2 54.
Rb8+ Kg7 55. Rxc2 Rxc2 56. a7 Ra2 57. a8=Q Rxa8 58. Rxa8 Ne2+ 59. Kf2 Nxf4 0-1

[Event "Schagen m g/5ґ"]
[Site "Schagen"]
[Date "2006.05.01"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B40"]
[WhiteElo "2646"]
[BlackElo "2655"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2006.04.28"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 c5 2. e4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. exd5 exd5 5. Bb5+ Bd7 6. Bxd7+ Nxd7 7. O-O Bd6
8. d4 Ne7 9. Nc3 O-O 10. dxc5 Nxc5 11. Bg5 f6 12. Be3 Ne4 13. Nb5 Bb8 14. Nfd4
a6 15. Ne6 Qc8 16. Nbd4 Rf7 17. f3 Nc3 18. Qd3 Be5 19. a4 Qd7 20. Nc5 Qc7 21.
Qxc3 b6 22. Ne4 Bxh2+ 23. Kh1 dxe4 24. Qxc7 Bxc7 25. fxe4 Be5 26. Rad1 Rc8 27.
c4 h5 28. Nf3 Bc7 29. Rd3 Nc6 30. Rd5 Re8 31. Rxh5 Rxe4 32. Bf2 Na5 33. c5 b5
34. axb5 axb5 35. c6 Nxb3 36. Rxb5 Rc4 37. Rxb3 Rxc6 38. Nd4 Rc4 39. Rh3 Rd7
40. Nf5 Kf7 41. Re1 Rf4 42. Rf3 Rxf3 43. gxf3 g6 44. Ng3 Rd2 45. Ne4 Rc2 46.
Bd4 Bd8 47. Rd1 f5 48. Nf2 Bh4 49. Nd3 g5 50. Be3 Rc3 51. Kg2 g4 52. f4 Bf6 53.
Bf2 Rc2 54. Nb4 Rb2 55. Nd3 Ra2 56. Kg3 Ra3 57. Rd2 Bc3 58. Rd1 Bf6 59. Kg2 Ra2
60. Kf1 Ke6 61. Nc5+ Kf7 62. Rd7+ Kg6 63. Ne6 Ra6 64. Nf8+ 1-0

[Event "Schagen m g/5ґ"]
[Site "Schagen"]
[Date "2006.05.01"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A17"]
[WhiteElo "2655"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2006.04.28"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 c5 5. a3 Ba5 6. g3 Nc6 7. Bg2 O-O 8. O-O
d5 9. Na4 Nd4 10. Nxd4 cxd4 11. b4 Bc7 12. Bb2 dxc4 13. Qxc4 e5 14. Rac1 Bd6
15. e3 Be6 16. Qd3 Qd7 17. Nc5 Bxc5 18. Rxc5 dxe3 19. Qxe3 b6 20. Rcc1 Bd5 21.
Bxe5 Rfe8 22. d4 Bxg2 23. Kxg2 Ng4 24. Qf3 Rac8 25. Rxc8 Rxc8 26. h3 Nxe5 27.
dxe5 h6 28. Rd1 Qe6 29. Rd5 g6 30. Qd3 h5 31. Qd4 Re8 32. b5 Kg7 33. a4 Kg8 34.
Rd7 Re7 35. Rd8+ Kh7 36. Rd6 Qxe5 37. Qxe5 Rxe5 38. Rd7 Kg7 39. Rxa7 Re2 40.
Kf3 Ra2 41. Ra6 g5 42. Ke4 f6 43. Kd5 g4 44. hxg4 hxg4 45. Kc6 Rxf2 46. Kxb6
Rf3 47. Ka7 Rxg3 48. b6 Rb3 49. b7 g3 50. Rc6 g2 51. Rc1 Ra3 52. Rb1 Rxa4+ 53.
Kb6 Rb4+ 54. Rxb4 g1=Q+ 55. Ka6 Qa1+ 56. Kb6 Qe5 57. Rc4 Qd6+ 58. Rc6 Qd8+ 59.
Ka7 Qa5+ 60. Ra6 Qc7 61. Ka8 Qc4 62. Ka7 Qd4+ 63. Ka8 Qd5 64. Ka7 Qc5+ 65. Ka8
Qd5 66. Ka7 Qd4+ 67. Ka8 Qd5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Schagen m g/5ґ"]
[Site "Schagen"]
[Date "2006.05.01"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B43"]
[WhiteElo "2646"]
[BlackElo "2655"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2006.04.28"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 111 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. g3 b5 7. Bg2 Bb7 8. O-O
Be7 9. Re1 d6 10. a4 bxa4 11. Rxa4 Nd7 12. Qg4 h5 13. Nxe6 Qxc3 14. bxc3 hxg4
15. Nc7+ Kd8 16. Nxa8 Bxa8 17. Rxa6 Bb7 18. Ra7 Bc8 19. e5 Nxe5 20. Be3 Nd7 21.
Ra8 Ngf6 22. Rea1 d5 23. R1a7 Bd6 24. c4 Bc7 25. cxd5 Re8 26. c4 Rxe3 27. fxe3
Bb6 28. Ra3 Ne8 29. Rb3 Kc7 30. Rxb6 Nxb6 31. Ra7+ Kd6 32. Rxf7 Nxc4 33. e4 Ne5
34. Rf1 Nf6 1-0

[Event "Sarajevo Bosnia-A 36th"]
[Site "Sarajevo"]
[Date "2006.05.07"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Malakhov, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B35"]
[WhiteElo "2646"]
[BlackElo "2691"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2006.05.07"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BIH"]
[EventCategory "17"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O 8.
Bb3 e6 9. f4 d6 10. Qf3 e5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. fxe5 Ng4 13. exd6 Nxe3 14. Qxe3
Qxd6 15. Rd1 Qf6 16. Qf2 Qe7 17. O-O Ba6 18. Rfe1 Rad8 19. Rxd8 Rxd8 20. e5 Bc8
21. h3 Bf5 22. Ne2 Qxe5 23. Ng3 Qxb2 24. Nxf5 gxf5 25. Qxf5 Qf6 26. Qa5 Rd7 27.
Qa6 Qd6 28. Qc8+ Bf8 29. Rf1 Qc7 30. Qxc7 Rxc7 31. Rf5 Kg7 32. Kf2 Bd6 33. Kf3
f6 34. Ra5 Be5 35. Ra6 Kg6 36. Ke4 Kg5 37. Kf3 c5 38. Bc4 Rd7 39. g3 h5 40. Rc6
Rc7 41. h4+ Kh6 42. Rxc7 Bxc7 43. Bd3 f5 44. Bxf5 c4 45. Be6 c3 46. Bf7 Be5 47.
a4 Bc7 48. Be8 Be5 49. g4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sarajevo Bosnia-A 36th"]
[Site "Sarajevo"]
[Date "2006.05.08"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Nisipeanu, Liviu Dieter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B35"]
[WhiteElo "2695"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[EventDate "2006.05.07"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BIH"]
[EventCategory "17"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O 8.
Bb3 Qa5 9. O-O d6 10. h3 Bd7 11. Qe1 Rfe8 12. Rd1 Nxd4 13. Bxd4 Bc6 14. f4 Nd7
15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. Kh2 Rac8 17. Qh4 h6 18. Nd5 e6 19. Nc3 Nf6 20. Qe1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sarajevo Bosnia-A 36th"]
[Site "Sarajevo"]
[Date "2006.05.09"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sasikiran, Krishnan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2646"]
[BlackElo "2692"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2006.05.07"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BIH"]
[EventCategory "17"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 b6 3. Nc3 Bb7 4. d4 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 Be7 7. e3 Ne4 8. Nxe4
Bxe4 9. Bg3 d6 10. Bd3 Bb7 11. O-O Nd7 12. e4 O-O 13. Qe2 Bf6 14. Rad1 e5 15.
d5 a5 16. b3 Re8 17. a3 Nf8 18. b4 axb4 19. axb4 c5 20. bxc5 bxc5 21. Nd2 Ng6
22. Nb1 Bc8 23. Nc3 Nf4 24. Qc2 Bd7 25. Ra1 Ra5 26. Rfb1 Qa8 27. Rxa5 Qxa5 28.
Bf1 Nh5 29. Qb2 Ra8 30. Qb7 Qd8 31. Nb5 Rb8 32. Qa6 Be7 33. Ra1 g6 34. Be2 Nf4
35. Bf1 Nh5 36. Be2 Nf4 37. Bf1 Nh5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sarajevo Bosnia-A 36th"]
[Site "Sarajevo"]
[Date "2006.05.10"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A34"]
[WhiteElo "2646"]
[BlackElo "2664"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2006.05.07"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BIH"]
[EventCategory "17"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. d4 cxd4 6. Qxd4 Nxc3 7. Qxc3 Nc6
8. e4 e6 9. Bb5 Qb6 10. a4 a6 11. Be3 Qc7 12. O-O Bd7 13. Be2 Qa5 14. Qxa5 Nxa5
15. Ne5 Bc6 16. b4 Bxb4 17. Rab1 Bc3 18. Nxc6 Nxc6 19. Rxb7 Bd4 20. Rc1 Nd8 21.
Rbc7 Bxe3 22. fxe3 O-O 23. e5 f6 24. exf6 gxf6 25. a5 f5 26. h3 Rb8 27. Ra7 Rb3
28. Kf2 Nf7 29. Rcc7 Rb2 30. h4 Kg7 31. Rxa6 Rd8 32. Raa7 Rdd2 33. Rxf7+ Kg6
34. h5+ Kg5 35. Rg7+ Kh4 36. Kg1 Rxe2 37. Rab7 Rxg2+ 38. Rxg2 Rxb7 39. Ra2 Kxh5
40. a6 Ra7 41. Kf2 Kg4 42. Ra4+ Kg5 43. Kf3 e5 44. Ra5 Kf6 45. Kg3 Ke6 46. Kh4
Kf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sarajevo Bosnia-A 36th"]
[Site "Sarajevo"]
[Date "2006.05.11"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Predojevic, Borki"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B67"]
[WhiteElo "2566"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2006.05.07"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BIH"]
[EventCategory "17"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qc7 8. Bxf6
gxf6 9. Qd2 Nc6 10. O-O-O Bd7 11. Kb1 Nxd4 12. Qxd4 Be7 13. Be2 h5 14. Rhf1 Qc5
15. Qd2 b5 16. Bf3 Rc8 17. Ne2 h4 18. Nd4 b4 19. Rfe1 a5 20. e5 fxe5 21. fxe5
dxe5 22. Nb3 Qc7 23. Nxa5 Ba4 24. Nb3 f5 25. Qe2 Kf7 26. Bh5+ Kg7 27. g4 hxg3
28. Rg1 Kf8 29. hxg3 Bf6 30. g4 e4 31. Qd2 Qb6 32. Qg2 Qb8 33. gxf5 Qe5 34. Rd4
Bxb3 35. Qg6 Rxh5 36. axb3 Ke7 37. c3 bxc3 38. Qxh5 c2+ 39. Kc1 Qf4+ 40. Rd2
Bxb2+ 0-1

[Event "Sarajevo Bosnia-A 36th"]
[Site "Sarajevo"]
[Date "2006.05.12"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Malakhov, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2691"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2006.05.07"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BIH"]
[EventCategory "17"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bf4 e5 8.
Bg5 a6 9. Na3 b5 10. Nd5 Be7 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. c4 b4 13. Nc2 a5 14. Be2 O-O 15.
O-O Bg5 16. Qd3 Bb7 17. Rad1 Nb8 18. a3 bxa3 19. Nxa3 Na6 20. Nb5 Nc5 21. Qc2
a4 22. Bf3 Ra6 23. Rfe1 Qa5 24. Ndc3 Rd8 25. Be2 Qb4 26. Bf1 g6 27. Qe2 Kg7 28.
Qg4 Ne6 29. Nd5 Qc5 30. Qg3 Rc8 31. Ra1 Bd8 32. Red1 Nd4 33. Nbc3 Rca8 34. Qd3
Bc6 35. Ra3 Ra5 36. Ne2 Bxd5 37. Nxd4 Qxd4 38. Qxd4 exd4 39. cxd5 Rb8 40. Ra2
1/2-1/2

[Event "Sarajevo Bosnia-A 36th"]
[Site "Sarajevo"]
[Date "2006.05.13"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nisipeanu, Liviu Dieter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B65"]
[WhiteElo "2646"]
[BlackElo "2695"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[EventDate "2006.05.07"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BIH"]
[EventCategory "17"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 Be7 8.
O-O-O O-O 9. f4 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 Qa5 11. Bc4 Bd7 12. Kb1 Rfd8 13. Bb3 Rac8 14. g4
Qc5 15. Qd3 Bc6 16. f5 d5 17. Be3 Qa5 18. fxe6 fxe6 19. Bd4 Nxe4 20. Nxe4 dxe4
21. Bxe6+ Kh8 22. Qh3 Bd5 23. Bxd5 Rxd5 24. g5 Qc7 25. Bc3 Rxd1+ 26. Rxd1 Rd8
1/2-1/2

[Event "Sarajevo Bosnia-A 36th"]
[Site "Sarajevo"]
[Date "2006.05.14"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Sasikiran, Krishnan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E37"]
[WhiteElo "2692"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "205"]
[EventDate "2006.05.07"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BIH"]
[EventCategory "17"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 Ne4 7. Qc2 c5 8.
dxc5 Nc6 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Nf3 Bf5 11. b4 d4 12. g4 Bg6 13. Qc4 d3 14. Be3 Qf6
15. Rd1 O-O 16. Rxd3 b5 17. Qc1 a5 18. bxa5 Nxc5 19. Rc3 Nd3+ 20. exd3 Qxf3 21.
Rg1 Ne5 22. d4 Nc4 23. Bg2 Qxg4 24. h3 Qe6 25. Bxa8 Rxa8 26. a4 Qa6 27. Rg5 f5
28. axb5 Qxa5 29. Kf1 Qxb5 30. Kg1 Bf7 31. Qf1 g6 32. Rg3 Qd5 33. Rc1 Re8 34.
Rd1 Kg7 35. Bc1 Re4 36. Rgd3 f4 37. Qg2 h6 38. f3 Re3 39. Bxe3 Nxe3 40. Qf2
Nxd1 41. Rxd1 g5 42. Qe2 Be6 43. Kh2 Qf5 44. Qe5+ Qxe5 45. dxe5 Kg6 46. Rd8 Kf5
47. Rh8 Kxe5 48. Rxh6 Bf5 49. Kg2 Be6 50. Kf2 Bf5 51. h4 gxh4 52. Rxh4 Be6 53.
Rh5+ Kf6 54. Rc5 Bb3 55. Ke2 Ke6 56. Kd3 Bd5 57. Ke2 Kd6 58. Ra5 Ke5 59. Kf2
Kd6 60. Kg2 Be6 61. Rh5 Bd7 62. Kf2 Be6 63. Ke2 Bc4+ 64. Ke1 Bd5 65. Kf2 Be6
66. Rg5 Bd7 67. Ke2 Be6 68. Ra5 Bd5 69. Ra3 Bc4+ 70. Kf2 Be6 71. Ra5 Bd5 72.
Kg2 Be6 73. Rh5 Bd7 74. Rh7 Be6 75. Rh8 Bd7 76. Rd8 Ke7 77. Ra8 Kd6 78. Ra7 Be6
79. Kf2 Bd5 80. Rh7 Be6 81. Rh1 Ke5 82. Re1+ Kf5 83. Kg2 Bd5 84. Re8 Kf6 85.
Kf2 Kf5 86. Rc8 Ke5 87. Ke2 Kf5 88. Rc3 Ke5 89. Kd2 Kd6 90. Rd3 Ke5 91. Kc3 Bb7
92. Kb4 Bd5 93. Ra3 Kd4 94. Rc3 Bb7 95. Kb3 Bd5+ 96. Kc2 Ke5 97. Kd2 Kd6 98.
Ke2 Ke5 99. Kf2 Kd6 100. Kg2 Be6 101. Rc1 Ke5 102. Re1+ Kf6 103. Re4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sarajevo Bosnia-A 36th"]
[Site "Sarajevo"]
[Date "2006.05.15"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C68"]
[WhiteElo "2664"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2006.05.07"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BIH"]
[EventCategory "17"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Be6 6. Nxe5 Qd4 7. Nf3 Qxe4
8. Ng5 Qg6 9. Nxe6 fxe6 10. d3 O-O-O 11. Qe2 Bd6 12. Nd2 Nf6 13. Ne4 Nxe4 14.
Qxe4 Qxe4 15. dxe4 Bc5 16. Bg5 Rd7 17. Rad1 Rxd1 18. Rxd1 Rf8 19. Bh4 b5 20.
Bg3 h5 21. h4 Rd8 22. Rxd8+ Kxd8 23. Be5 g6 24. b3 Be7 25. g3 c5 26. c4 c6 27.
Kg2 Ke8 28. Kf3 Bf8 29. a4 Ke7 30. Bb8 Kf6 31. Bc7 e5 32. Bd8+ Ke6 33. Bg5 Bd6
34. Ke3 Bf8 35. Kd3 Bd6 36. Bh6 Be7 37. Ke2 Bd6 38. Ke3 Be7 39. Bg5 Bd6 40. f4
Bc7 41. Kf3 Bd6 42. Bh6 Be7 43. Bg7 exf4 44. Kxf4 Kf7 45. Be5 Ke6 46. Bc7 Kd7
47. Bb8 Ke6 48. e5 Bd8 49. Bd6 Ba5 50. Kg5 Kf7 51. Kh6 Bd2+ 52. Kh7 g5 53. Bxc5
gxh4 54. gxh4 Be1 55. Kh6 Bxh4 56. Kxh5 Bg3 57. Kg4 Bxe5 58. Kf5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sarajevo Bosnia-A 36th"]
[Site "Sarajevo"]
[Date "2006.05.16"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Predojevic, Borki"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C83"]
[WhiteElo "2646"]
[BlackElo "2566"]
[PlyCount "175"]
[EventDate "2006.05.07"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BIH"]
[EventCategory "17"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. Nbd2 Be7 10. c3 O-O 11. Qe2 Nxd2 12. Bxd2 Na5 13. Bc2 c5 14. b3 Nc6 15.
Qd3 g6 16. Bh6 Re8 17. Qd2 b4 18. cxb4 Nxb4 19. Bd1 Nc6 20. Qf4 Rb8 21. a3 Qd7
22. Rc1 Na5 23. Nd2 Rec8 24. h4 Nc6 25. Nf3 Na5 26. Nd2 Nc6 27. Nf3 Na5 28. Rb1
c4 29. b4 c3 30. Be2 Nc4 31. Ra1 a5 32. Rfc1 Nxa3 33. Rxa3 Rxb4 34. Qe3 d4 35.
Qd3 Bf5 36. Qa6 d3 37. Raxc3 Rxc3 38. Rxc3 dxe2 39. Qxe2 Rb8 40. Ng5 Qd4 41.
Rc4 Qd5 42. Rc7 Bd8 43. Rc1 a4 44. Rd1 Qxd1+ 45. Qxd1 Rb1 46. Qxb1 Bxb1 47. Nf3
Be4 48. Nd4 a3 49. Bc1 a2 50. Bb2 Bxh4 51. g3 Be7 52. f4 h5 53. Kf2 Bd5 54. Ke3
h4 55. gxh4 Ba3 56. Ba1 Bc1+ 57. Kf2 Bxf4 58. Ne2 Bd2 59. Nc3 Be6 60. Ne4 Bc1
61. Nf6+ Kg7 62. Ne4 Kh6 63. Nf6 Ba3 64. Kg3 Bb4 65. Kf2 Ba5 66. Bb2 g5 67.
hxg5+ Kxg5 68. Ke3 Kf5 69. Ne8 Bb6+ 70. Kd2 Ke4 71. Nd6+ Kd5 72. Kc2 Bc5 73.
Bc3 Bb4 74. Ba1 f5 75. Nxf5 Bxf5+ 76. Kb3 Bc5 77. Kxa2 Be6 78. Kb3 Ke4+ 79. Kc2
Ke3 80. Bc3 Bf5+ 81. Kb2 Be6 82. Kc2 Bb6 83. Bd2+ Ke2 84. Bc3 Bf5+ 85. Kb2 Kd3
86. e6 Bxe6 87. Bh8 Bd4+ 88. Bxd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Olympiad-37"]
[Site "Turin"]
[Date "2006.05.27"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Prasca Sosa, Rafael Felipe"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2646"]
[BlackElo "2448"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2006.05.21"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "ITA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Venezuela"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "VEN"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 cxd4 8. Nxd4
Bc5 9. Qd2 Nxd4 10. Bxd4 Bxd4 11. Qxd4 Qb6 12. Qd2 Qxb2 13. Rb1 Qa3 14. Nb5
Qxa2 15. Nd6+ Ke7 16. Rc1 b6 17. Be2 Qa5 18. c3 f5 19. O-O Qc5+ 20. Kh1 Nf8 21.
g4 Bd7 22. gxf5 exf5 23. Bf3 Ng6 24. c4 d4 25. Nb7 Qa3 26. Qxd4 Be6 27. Ra1 Qb3
28. Qd6+ Kf7 29. Bd5 Bxd5+ 30. Qxd5+ Ke7 31. Qd6+ Ke8 32. Qe6+ Ne7 33. Nd6+ 1-0

[Event "Olympiad-37"]
[Site "Turin"]
[Date "2006.05.28"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Adams, Michael"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2646"]
[BlackElo "2720"]
[PlyCount "145"]
[EventDate "2006.05.21"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "ITA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "England"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "ENG"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d5 6. d4 dxc4 7. O-O Nc6 8. a3
Bxc3 9. bxc3 Rb8 10. Bg5 b5 11. e4 h6 12. Bh4 e5 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. dxe5 Qxd1
15. Rfxd1 Nd7 16. f4 Re8 17. e6 fxe6 18. e5 Nxe5 19. Bd8 Nd3 20. Bxc7 Rb7 21.
Bxb7 Bxb7 22. a4 bxa4 23. Rdb1 Bc6 24. Rb8 Kf7 25. Rxe8 Kxe8 26. Bd6 a6 27. Rb1
h5 28. Rb6 Kd7 29. Bf8 g6 30. Rxa6 e5 31. fxe5 Nxe5 32. h4 Ng4 33. Bg7 Kc7 34.
Bd4 Nh6 35. Kf2 Nf5 36. Bc5 Kd7 37. Bb4 Kc7 38. Ra7+ Kb6 39. Rf7 Nh6 40. Re7
Bd5 41. Rd7 Ng4+ 42. Ke2 Be4 43. Rd4 Bd3+ 44. Kf3 Nh2+ 45. Kf4 Nf1 46. Rd6+ Kb5
47. Rd5+ Kb6 48. Ra5 Bc2 49. Re5 Bd3 50. Kf3 Nd2+ 51. Kf4 Nf1 52. g4 hxg4 53.
Kxg4 Nd2 54. Kf4 Nb3 55. Re6+ Kb5 56. Re8 Nc1 57. Rb8+ Kc6 58. Ra8 Ne2+ 59. Kf3
Ng1+ 60. Ke3 Ne2 61. Rxa4 Kd5 62. Ra5+ Ke6 63. Ra2 Ng3 64. Kf4 Nf5 65. Ra6+ Kf7
66. Kg5 Ng3 67. Ra7+ Kg8 68. Kf6 Nh5+ 69. Ke5 Ng3 70. Bc5 Nf5 71. Bf2 Nh6 72.
Bd4 Nf5 73. Kf6 1-0

[Event "Olympiad-37"]
[Site "Turin"]
[Date "2006.05.29"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Macieja, Bartlomiej"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2584"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2006.05.21"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "ITA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Poland"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "POL"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Bg2 c6 8. Bc3
d5 9. Ne5 Nfd7 10. Nxd7 Nxd7 11. Nd2 O-O 12. O-O Rc8 13. e4 b5 14. Re1 dxe4 15.
Nxe4 bxc4 16. Qe2 Rb8 17. Bf1 Nb6 18. Nc5 Bb5 19. a4 Nd5 20. Qf3 Bxc5 21. dxc5
Ba6 22. bxc4 Nxc3 23. Qxc3 Qf6 24. Qxf6 gxf6 25. Red1 Rfd8 26. Bg2 Rxd1+ 27.
Rxd1 Rb4 28. h4 Rxc4 29. Rd7 Rxc5 30. Rxa7 Bc4 31. Rc7 Bd5 32. Bxd5 exd5 33. a5
Rxa5 34. Rxc6 Kg7 35. Kg2 h5 36. Rd6 Kg6 37. Rd7 Rb5 38. Kf3 Rb3+ 39. Ke2 Rb2+
40. Ke3 Rb5 41. Kf3 f5 42. Rd6+ f6 43. Rd7 Rb3+ 44. Kf4 Rd3 45. Rd8 Rd4+ 46.
Ke3 Re4+ 47. Kf3 d4 48. Rd7 Rg4 49. Rd5 f4 50. Rxd4 fxg3 51. Rxg4+ hxg4+ 52.
Kxg3 Kh5 53. Kf4 Kxh4 54. Kf5 g3 55. fxg3+ Kxg3 56. Kxf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Olympiad-37"]
[Site "Turin"]
[Date "2006.05.30"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2584"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2006.05.21"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "ITA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Iran"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "IRI"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d3 Bb4 5. Bd2 O-O 6. e3 d5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
Qc2 Nxc3 9. Bxc3 Qe7 10. Be2 Bf5 11. O-O e4 12. dxe4 Bxe4 13. Qb3 Rfd8 14. Rfd1
Bxc3 15. Qxc3 Nb4 16. a3 Nd5 17. Qe5 Qxe5 18. Nxe5 Nb6 19. Rac1 c6 20. f3 Bd5
21. e4 Bb3 22. Rd3 Rxd3 23. Nxd3 Na4 24. Kf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Olympiad-37"]
[Site "Turin"]
[Date "2006.05.31"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B54"]
[WhiteElo "2646"]
[BlackElo "2717"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2006.05.21"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "ITA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Azerbaijan"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "AZE"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 d6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 e5 6. Nf3 Be6 7. Nd5 Nf6 8.
Nxf6+ Qxf6 9. Ng5 Bd7 10. Bc4 h6 11. Qh5 Nd4 12. O-O g6 13. Bxf7+ Ke7 14. Bxg6
Rg8 15. Bh7 Rxg5 16. Bxg5 Qxg5 17. Qxg5+ hxg5 18. c3 Ne2+ 19. Kh1 Nf4 20. Rad1
Bh6 21. g3 Nh5 22. Bf5 Bxf5 23. exf5 Rc8 24. Kg2 Nf6 25. Rfe1 Rc5 26. h3 Bf8
27. Re3 Kf7 28. a4 Be7 29. Kf1 Bf8 30. Ke2 Be7 31. Kf1 Bf8 32. Kg2 Be7 33. Kf1
1/2-1/2

[Event "Olympiad-37"]
[Site "Turin"]
[Date "2006.06.02"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Granda Zuniga, Julio E"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2646"]
[BlackElo "2631"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2006.05.21"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "ITA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Peru"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "PER"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Be2
O-O 9. O-O Nbd7 10. a4 b6 11. f3 Bb7 12. Rf2 Qc7 13. Bf1 Rfb8 14. Nc1 Nc5 15.
Rd2 Ne6 16. N1a2 Nd4 17. Nb4 Rd8 18. Kh1 a5 19. Nd3 Ne6 20. Nf2 Nd7 21. Nb5 Qb8
22. Nxd6 1-0

[Event "Olympiad-37"]
[Site "Turin"]
[Date "2006.06.03"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C57"]
[WhiteElo "2664"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2006.05.21"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "ITA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Germany"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "GER"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 b5 6. Bf1 h6 7. Ne6 fxe6 8.
dxc6 Bc5 9. d3 O-O 10. Be3 Bxe3 11. fxe3 Qd6 12. Nd2 Qxc6 13. e4 Qc5 14. Nb3
Qb6 15. Qe2 Bd7 16. g3 a5 17. Bh3 a4 18. Nd2 a3 19. b3 Be8 20. Qf2 Qc6 21. O-O
Bh5 22. Qe3 Bg4 23. Bg2 Qxc2 24. Rfc1 Qb2 25. h3 Rad8 26. Rab1 Qxa2 27. Ra1 Qb2
28. Rab1 Qa2 29. Ra1 Qb2 30. Rab1 Qd4 31. Qxd4 Rxd4 32. hxg4 Rxd3 33. Nf1 Ra8
34. Rxc7 a2 35. Ra1 Rxb3 36. Rc2 Rba3 37. Rb2 R8a5 38. Nd2 Nxg4 39. Nb3 R5a4
40. Bh3 h5 41. Bxg4 hxg4 42. Nd2 Rxg3+ 43. Kf2 Rga3 44. Rxb5 Kf7 45. Ke2 Kf6
46. Kd1 Rh3 47. Kc2 g3 48. Rb3 Kg5 49. Kb2 Kg4 50. Rc3 g2 51. Rcc1 Re3 52. Kc2
Kg3 53. Kb2 Kf2 54. Rc2 Re2 0-1

[Event "Olympiad-37"]
[Site "Turin"]
[Date "2006.06.04"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C83"]
[WhiteElo "2671"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2006.05.21"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "ITA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "US of America"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. Be3 Be7 10. c3 O-O 11. Nbd2 Qd7 12. Re1 Nxd2 13. Qxd2 Na5 14. Bg5 c5 15.
Bc2 Nc4 16. Qf4 Rfe8 17. Bf6 Qd8 18. b3 Na3 19. Bxe7 Qxe7 20. Bf5 Bxf5 21. Qxf5
Qe6 22. Qd3 a5 23. Rad1 Rad8 24. Re2 h6 25. Qe3 Rc8 26. Red2 Red8 27. h4 Rd7
28. Qf4 b4 29. c4 Rcd8 30. cxd5 Rxd5 31. Qe4 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-chT2"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2006.06.08"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Stokke, Kjetil"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B20"]
[WhiteElo "2302"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2006.06.07"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 112 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. a3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. c3 Bg7 5. Nf3 d3 6. Bxd3 Nc6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Bg5
O-O 9. Qe2 d6 10. Nbd2 Nd7 11. Rad1 b6 12. Nc4 Nc5 13. Bc2 Ba6 14. b4 Ne6 15.
Bd2 Rc8 16. Bd3 d5 17. exd5 Qxd5 18. Be3 Rfd8 19. Nce5 Bxd3 20. Rxd3 Qe4 21.
Rxd8+ Ncxd8 22. Qb5 Nb7 23. Bd4 Nd6 24. Qa4 Nxd4 25. cxd4 Rc7 26. Re1 Qd5 27.
h3 Nb5 28. Kh1 Rc3 29. Qa6 Nxd4 30. Qxa7 Bxe5 31. Nxe5 Rxh3+ 32. Kg1 Ne2+ 33.
Kf1 Nf4 34. Qb8+ Kg7 35. Nf3 Rh1+ 36. Ng1 Rxg1+ 37. Kxg1 Qxg2# 0-1

[Event "NOR-chT2"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2006.06.09"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Leer Salvesen, Bjarte"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E09"]
[WhiteElo "2646"]
[BlackElo "2372"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2006.06.07"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 112 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 d5 3. Nf3 c6 4. Qc2 Nf6 5. Nbd2 Nbd7 6. g3 Be7 7. Bg2 O-O 8. O-O
b6 9. e4 Bb7 10. e5 Ne8 11. cxd5 cxd5 12. Re1 Rc8 13. Qa4 a5 14. Nf1 Ba6 15.
Qd1 b5 16. h4 b4 17. Ng5 Qc7 18. Ne3 Bxg5 19. hxg5 Qb6 20. Bf1 Bxf1 21. Kxf1 f5
22. exf6 gxf6 23. Ng4 Rc4 24. Be3 fxg5 25. Kg2 e5 26. b3 Rc3 27. dxe5 d4 28.
Bxd4 Qc6+ 29. Kg1 Rcf3 30. e6 Ndf6 31. Ne5 1-0

[Event "NOR-chT2"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2006.06.10"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Hansen, Torbjorn Ringdal"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2319"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2006.06.07"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 112 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nf1 Bf8 14. Ng3 g6 15.
b3 c6 16. Bg5 Bg7 17. dxe5 Nxe5 18. Nxe5 Rxe5 19. Qd2 Qf8 20. Bf4 Re6 21. Rad1
d5 22. c4 b4 23. exd5 Rxe1+ 24. Rxe1 cxd5 25. cxd5 Nxd5 26. Be5 Bxe5 27. Rxe5
Rd8 28. Qe1 Qd6 29. Re8+ Rxe8 30. Qxe8+ Kg7 31. Bd3 Bc6 32. Qe1 a5 33. Bc4 Nf4
34. f3 Qf6 35. Qe3 Qg5 36. Kf2 h5 37. Qd4+ Kg8 38. Qa7 Qf6 39. Ne2 Nxg2 40. Nd4
Nf4 41. Nxc6 Nxh3+ 42. Kg3 Ng5 43. Qb8+ Kh7 44. Qf4 Qa1 45. Bxf7 Qg1+ 46. Kh4
Kh6 47. Bd5 Qe1+ 48. Qg3 Qh1+ 0-1

[Event "NOR-chT2"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2006.06.11"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Hoen, Ragnar Harald"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B43"]
[WhiteElo "2291"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2006.06.07"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 112 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Bd3 Nf6 7. Qe2 Bd6 8. h3
Nc6 9. Nxc6 dxc6 10. O-O e5 11. f4 b5 12. a4 Bb7 13. axb5 axb5 14. Rxa8+ Bxa8
15. Kh1 O-O 16. fxe5 Bxe5 17. Bg5 Re8 18. Nd1 c5 19. Bxf6 Bxf6 20. Bxb5 Rxe4
21. Qf3 Qb8 22. Bd3 Rh4 23. Qf5 c4 24. Be2 g6 25. Qd7 Rd4 26. Qa4 c3 27. Qa6
Rd6 28. Qa2 Bd5 29. b3 Re6 0-1

[Event "Tromsoe Midnight Sun"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2006.06.24"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hobber, Anders"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C10"]
[WhiteElo "2646"]
[BlackElo "1926"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2006.06.24"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 112 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Bd3 Ngf6 6. Qe2 Nxe4 7. Bxe4 Nf6
8. Bxb7 Bxb7 9. Qb5+ Qd7 10. Qxb7 Qd5 11. Qxd5 exd5 12. Bf4 Bd6 13. Bxd6 cxd6
14. Ne2 Kd7 15. f3 Rab8 16. b3 Rhc8 17. Kd2 Re8 18. Rae1 Re7 19. Nf4 Rxe1 20.
Rxe1 Re8 21. Rxe8 Kxe8 22. h4 Kd7 23. g4 Kc6 24. Kc3 h6 25. Kb4 Nd7 26. Ka5 1-0

[Event "Tromsoe Midnight Sun"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2006.06.25"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Andreassen, Lars"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2141"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2006.06.24"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 112 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bxd2+ 6. Qxd2 Ba6 7. b3 c6 8.
Bg2 d5 9. Ne5 Nfd7 10. Nxd7 Nxd7 11. cxd5 cxd5 12. O-O O-O 13. Nc3 Rc8 14. Rfc1
Qe7 15. Rc2 Nf6 16. e3 Rc7 17. Rac1 Rfc8 18. Nb1 Rxc2 19. Rxc2 Rxc2 20. Qxc2 h5
21. h3 Ne8 22. Bf1 Bxf1 23. Kxf1 Nd6 24. Nd2 Qe8 25. a4 Qd7 26. Nf3 f6 27. Kg2
Qf7 28. h4 Nf5 29. Qc8+ Kh7 30. Kf1 Nd6 31. Qc2+ Qg6 32. Qxg6+ Kxg6 33. Nd2 Kf5
34. f3 g5 35. Ke2 g4 36. f4 Ne4 37. Nf1 a6 38. Kd3 a5 39. Ke2 Kg6 40. Kd3 Kf7
41. Kc2 Ke7 42. Kd3 Kd6 43. Kc2 Kc6 44. Kd3 b5 45. Kc2 bxa4 46. bxa4 Kd6 47.
Kd3 e5 48. Kc2 Ke6 49. Kd3 Kf5 50. Kc2 exf4 51. exf4 Nf2 52. Kd2 Ke4 53. Ke2
Nh1 54. Nd2+ Kxd4 55. Nb3+ Kc3 0-1

[Event "Tromsoe Midnight Sun"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2006.06.26"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dworakowska, Joanna"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B91"]
[WhiteElo "2646"]
[BlackElo "2364"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2006.06.24"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 112 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. g3 e5 7. Nb3 Nbd7 8. a4
b6 9. Bg2 Bb7 10. O-O Be7 11. Re1 O-O 12. Nd2 Nc5 13. Nf1 b5 14. Bg5 b4 15.
Bxf6 bxc3 16. Bxe7 Qxe7 17. b4 Ne6 18. Ne3 Nd4 19. Qd3 Rac8 20. b5 axb5 21.
axb5 Rc5 22. b6 Rb8 23. Reb1 Bc6 24. Nf5 Nxf5 25. exf5 e4 26. Qd4 h5 27. h4 Qe5
28. Qxe5 Rxe5 29. Ra7 Bb7 30. Rb4 d5 31. Bh3 Ree8 32. Kf1 Rec8 33. Ke2 Rc6 34.
Ke3 Kf8 35. Bf1 Ke7 36. Ba6 Kd6 37. Rxb7 Ra8 38. Bb5 Rcc8 39. Kd4 1-0

[Event "Tromsoe Midnight Sun"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2006.06.27"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Johannessen, Leif Erlend"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A58"]
[WhiteElo "2559"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2006.06.24"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 112 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bxa6 7. g3 d6 8. Bg2
Bg7 9. Nf3 Nbd7 10. Rb1 O-O 11. O-O Qa5 12. Qc2 Rfb8 13. Rd1 Ng4 14. Bd2 Nge5
15. Nxe5 Nxe5 16. b3 Bc8 17. Na4 Qa6 18. Bc3 Bf5 19. Be4 Bd7 20. f4 Ng4 21.
Bxg7 Kxg7 22. Bf3 c4 23. e3 Qa7 24. Re1 cxb3 25. axb3 Nf6 26. Ra1 Rb4 27. Kh1
Rc8 28. Qd1 Qb7 29. e4 Rxb3 30. e5 Ng4 31. Bxg4 Bxg4 32. Qxg4 Qxd5+ 33. Kg1 Rc2
34. Qh3 Qd4+ 35. Kh1 Re3 36. Qf1 Qd2 0-1

[Event "Tromsoe Midnight Sun"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2006.06.28"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Krasenkow, Michal"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C83"]
[WhiteElo "2646"]
[BlackElo "2650"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2006.06.24"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 112 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. Nbd2 Be7 10. c3 O-O 11. Bc2 f5 12. Nb3 Qd7 13. Nbd4 Nxd4 14. Nxd4 c5 15.
Nxe6 Qxe6 16. f3 Ng5 17. a4 Rad8 18. axb5 axb5 19. Bxg5 Bxg5 20. f4 Be7 21. Kh1
Kh8 22. Qd3 Qc6 23. Rfd1 c4 24. Qf3 g6 25. b4 Rd7 26. Qe3 Ra8 27. Qd4 Rdd8 28.
g4 Rxa1 29. Rxa1 Ra8 30. Rg1 Bd8 31. e6+ Kg8 32. gxf5 Bb6 33. Qe5 Bxg1 34. fxg6
hxg6 35. Bxg6 Bb6 36. Qg5 Qxe6 37. Bf5+ Kf8 38. Bxe6 Ra1+ 39. Kg2 Rg1+ 40. Kf3
Rxg5 41. fxg5 d4 42. cxd4 Bxd4 43. h4 Bc3 44. Bd7 Bxb4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tromsoe Midnight Sun"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2006.06.29"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Rozentalis, Eduardas"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C68"]
[WhiteElo "2596"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2006.06.24"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 112 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Qf6 6. d3 Ne7 7. Be3 Ng6 8.
Nbd2 Bd6 9. h3 O-O 10. Nc4 b5 11. Nxd6 cxd6 12. d4 Qe7 13. Re1 Bb7 14. dxe5
dxe5 15. c4 Rfd8 16. Qc2 Bc8 17. a4 Be6 18. axb5 axb5 19. Rxa8 Rxa8 20. cxb5
cxb5 21. Qc6 Qe8 22. Qxe8+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tromsoe Midnight Sun"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2006.06.30"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Shipov, Sergei"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C08"]
[WhiteElo "2646"]
[BlackElo "2576"]
[PlyCount "152"]
[EventDate "2006.06.24"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 112 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 a6 4. Ngf3 c5 5. exd5 exd5 6. dxc5 Bxc5 7. Nb3 Bb6 8.
Qe2+ Ne7 9. Be3 Nbc6 10. Bxb6 Qxb6 11. Qd2 O-O 12. Be2 a5 13. a4 Bf5 14. O-O
Rac8 15. Bb5 Be4 16. Ng5 Bg6 17. Rfe1 d4 18. Nf3 Rfd8 19. Nh4 Nf5 20. Nxg6 hxg6
21. Bd3 Nb4 22. Re5 Nxd3 23. Qxd3 Rc6 24. Rae1 Qb4 25. Nxa5 Rcc8 26. R1e2 Qxb2
27. g3 Qa1+ 28. Re1 Qxa4 29. Nxb7 Rf8 30. Nc5 Qa7 31. Ne4 Qa2 32. Re2 Qa1+ 33.
Kg2 Qa8 34. Qf3 d3 35. Re1 dxc2 36. Rc1 Rfd8 37. Kh3 Nd4 38. Qe3 Nf5 39. Qb3
Nd4 40. Qe3 Qb7 41. Ng5 Qd7+ 42. g4 Re8 43. Rxe8+ Rxe8 44. Qd3 Qe7 45. Nf3 Ne2
46. Qxc2 Nxc1 47. Qxc1 Qf6 48. Kg3 Qd6+ 49. Kg2 Qd5 50. Kg3 Re4 51. h3 f6 52.
Qc8+ Kh7 53. Qc2 Rb4 54. Qe2 Rb3 55. Kg2 Qd3 56. Qxd3 Rxd3 57. Nh4 g5 58. Nf5
Kg8 59. Ne3 Kf7 60. Kg3 Ke6 61. Kg2 Ke5 62. Nf1 Kd4 63. Ng3 Ke5 64. Nf1 Kf4 65.
Nh2 Ra3 66. Nf1 g6 67. Nh2 Ke4 68. Nf1 Rd3 69. Ng3+ Ke5 70. Nf1 f5 71. gxf5
gxf5 72. Nh2 Ke4 73. Nf1 f4 74. Nh2 f3+ 75. Kg3 Rd1 76. h4 Rg1+ 0-1

[Event "Tromsoe Midnight Sun"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2006.07.01"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Gullaksen, Eirik Tvedt"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2380"]
[BlackElo "2646"]
[PlyCount "144"]
[EventDate "2006.06.24"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 112 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Nd7 6. e5 Nb6 7. O-O c4 8. d4
Bg4 9. c3 e6 10. Be3 Be7 11. Nbd2 O-O 12. Qe2 Qd5 13. b3 Qa5 14. bxc4 Na4 15.
Nb3 Qa6 16. h3 Bh5 17. Bd2 Nb6 18. g4 Bg6 19. Bg5 Bxg5 20. Nxg5 Qxc4 21. Qxc4
Nxc4 22. Rfe1 b6 23. Ne4 Rfd8 24. Rad1 Nxe5 25. dxe5 Rxd1 26. Rxd1 Bxe4 27. c4
Kf8 28. Rd7 Ke8 29. Rc7 Rd8 30. Rxa7 Rd1+ 31. Kh2 g5 32. f3 Bxf3 33. c5 b5 34.
Na5 Rd2+ 35. Kg1 Rd7 36. Ra8+ Ke7 37. Rc8 Ra7 38. Nxc6+ Bxc6 39. Rxc6 Rxa2 40.
Rc7+ Kf8 41. Rb7 Rb2 42. c6 Rc2 43. c7 Kg7 44. Kf1 b4 45. Kg1 Kg6 46. Rxb4 Rxc7
47. Kg2 Rc2+ 48. Kg3 Rc3+ 49. Kg2 Re3 50. Rb5 h5 51. gxh5+ Kxh5 52. Ra5 Kg6 53.
Rb5 Rd3 54. Rb2 Rd5 55. Re2 Rd4 56. Kg3 Kf5 57. Rf2+ Rf4 58. Re2 g4 59. hxg4+
Rxg4+ 60. Kh3 Re4 61. Rf2+ Rf4 62. Re2 Rf3+ 63. Kg2 Kf4 64. Re1 Rg3+ 65. Kh2
Re3 66. Rf1+ Rf3 67. Re1 Kg4 68. Re4+ Kg5 69. Re1 Rf5 70. Kg3 Kg6 71. Kg4 Kg7
72. Re2 Kf8 0-1

[Event "Tromsoe Midnight Sun"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2006.07.02"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hammer, Jon Ludvig"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A17"]
[WhiteElo "2646"]
[BlackElo "2287"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2006.06.24"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 112 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.07.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. g3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O O-O 7. d3 d5 8. cxd5
exd5 9. Bf4 Bd6 10. Bxd6 Qxd6 11. d4 c6 12. Ne5 Nbd7 13. f4 Qe7 14. e3 Ne8 15.
e4 dxe4 16. Bxe4 Nxe5 17. dxe5 Nc7 18. Qh5 g6 19. Qh6 f6 20. f5 Qg7 21. Qxg7+
Kxg7 22. Rad1 Nd5 23. Nxd5 cxd5 24. Bxd5 Bxd5 25. Rxd5 gxf5 26. Rxf5 fxe5 27.
Rd7+ Kg6 28. Rxe5 Rf7 29. Re6+ Kg7 30. Ree7 Rxe7 31. Rxe7+ Kg6 32. b3 Rc8 33.
Rxa7 Rc1+ 34. Kg2 Rc2+ 35. Kh3 Rb2 36. Ra6 Kg5 37. g4 h5 38. gxh5 Kxh5 39. Kg3
Kg5 40. h4+ Kh5 41. Kf4 b5 42. Ke4 Kxh4 43. Kd3 Rf2 44. Kc3 Rf4 45. Rb6 Rf2 46.
a3 1-0

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Moss"]
[Date "2006.07.08"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Stokke, Kjetil"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E94"]
[WhiteElo "2673"]
[BlackElo "2303"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2006.07.08"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Na6 8. Re1
c6 9. Bf1 exd4 10. Nxd4 Ng4 11. h3 Qb6 12. hxg4 Qxd4 13. g5 Qxd1 14. Rxd1 Nc5
15. f3 Be5 16. Be3 a5 17. Rac1 a4 18. Rc2 Ne6 19. Ne2 Nc5 20. Nc1 Re8 21. Nd3
Nxd3 22. Rxd3 f5 23. gxf6 Re6 24. Bg5 Kf7 25. Rcd2 Ra5 26. Be3 Rxf6 27. Bb6 Ra8
28. Bc7 Bf4 29. Rd1 Ke7 30. c5 dxc5 31. Bd8+ Kf7 32. Bxf6 Kxf6 33. g3 Be5 34.
Rd8 Ke7 35. Bh3 Bxh3 36. Rxa8 Bxg3 37. Rh8 Be6 38. Rxh7+ Bf7 39. Rxf7+ 1-0

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Moss"]
[Date "2006.07.09"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Johannessen, Leif Erlend"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E36"]
[WhiteElo "2555"]
[BlackElo "2673"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2006.07.08"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. Nf3 O-O 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. Qxc3 dxc4 8.
Qxc4 b6 9. Bg5 Ba6 10. Qc2 Nbd7 11. e4 Bxf1 12. Rxf1 h6 13. Bxf6 Nxf6 14. O-O-O
Qe7 15. Ne5 c5 16. dxc5 Qc7 17. f4 bxc5 18. Nc4 Rad8 19. e5 Rxd1+ 20. Rxd1 Nd5
21. Qe4 Rb8 22. f5 Qe7 23. Qg4 exf5 24. Qxf5 Qh4 25. g4 Ne7 26. Qd7 Qg5+ 27.
Kb1 Qg6+ 28. Ka1 Qc2 29. Qd3 Qxh2 30. Qd6 Rb7 31. e6 Qxd6 32. Nxd6 Rb6 33.
exf7+ Kf8 34. Kb1 Rc6 35. Kc2 Ng6 36. Rd5 Nf4 37. Rd2 Ne6 38. Kc3 Nd4 39. Ne4
Kxf7 40. b4 cxb4+ 41. Kxd4 bxa3 42. Ra2 Ra6 43. Nc5 Ra5 44. Kc4 a6 45. Kb4 Rb5+
46. Kc4 Ra5 47. Kb4 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Moss"]
[Date "2006.07.10"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Lie, Kjetil A"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B35"]
[WhiteElo "2673"]
[BlackElo "2536"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2006.07.08"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Bg7 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 Qa5 8.
O-O O-O 9. Bb3 d6 10. h3 Bd7 11. Qe1 Rfe8 12. Rd1 Rac8 13. f4 Nd8 14. Bf2 e5
15. fxe5 Qxe5 16. Nf3 Qh5 17. Rxd6 Bxh3 18. gxh3 Qxf3 19. Bg3 Qh5 20. Rdxf6
Bxf6 21. Rxf6 Qxh3 22. Qf2 Ne6 23. Nd5 Ng5 24. Rxf7 Rxc2 25. Ne7+ Kh8 26. Be5#
1-0

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Moss"]
[Date "2006.07.10"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Ostmoe, Geir S Tallaksen"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2356"]
[BlackElo "2673"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2006.07.08"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Nbd2 Bb4 6. Qc2 Bb7 7. Bg2 c5 8. dxc5
Bxc5 9. O-O Be7 10. b3 d6 11. Bb2 Nbd7 12. e4 Qc7 13. Rfe1 O-O 14. e5 dxe5 15.
Nxe5 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 Qb7+ 17. Kg1 Nxe5 18. Bxe5 Rfd8 19. Bc3 Rd7 20. Rad1 Rad8
21. Ne4 Ne8 22. Rxd7 Rxd7 23. Re2 h6 24. Rd2 Rxd2 25. Nxd2 Qd7 26. Qe4 Nf6 27.
Qa8+ Kh7 28. Qf3 Bd8 29. Kf1 Kg8 30. Ke2 Ne8 31. Qd3 Qc8 32. b4 Be7 33. a4 Nd6
34. Be5 Nb7 35. Bc3 Bf8 36. Ne4 Qc6 37. b5 Qc7 38. Kf1 Qe7 39. Bd4 Qb4 40. Qc2
Qa3 41. Kg2 Qe7 42. Qd3 Qd7 43. Qe3 Na5 44. Qc3 f5 45. Nd2 Bb4 46. Qxb4 Qxd4
47. Qe7 Qxd2 48. Qxe6+ Kf8 49. Qxf5+ Ke7 50. Qe5+ Kf8 51. Qf5+ Ke7 52. Qe5+ Kd7
53. Qxg7+ Kd6 54. Qf8+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Moss"]
[Date "2006.07.11"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bae, Torstein"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B17"]
[WhiteElo "2673"]
[BlackElo "2284"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2006.07.08"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Ng5 Ngf6 6. Bd3 e6 7. N1f3 Bd6 8.
Qe2 h6 9. Ne4 Nxe4 10. Qxe4 Qc7 11. O-O b6 12. Qg4 Kf8 13. b3 Bb7 14. Bb2 Nf6
15. Qh4 c5 16. dxc5 Qxc5 17. Bd4 Qc7 18. Bxf6 Bxf3 19. Bb2 Bb7 20. Rfe1 Qe7 21.
Qd4 e5 22. Qg4 h5 23. Qf5 g6 24. Qh3 Qg5 25. Rad1 Rd8 26. Bf1 Bc8 27. Qc3 Qe7
28. Rxe5 Bxe5 29. Ba3 Kg7 30. Bxe7 Bxc3 31. Bxd8 Bf5 32. Bg5 Rc8 33. Bd3 Bxd3
34. Rxd3 Bf6 35. Bxf6+ Kxf6 36. c3 b5 37. Kf1 Rc6 38. Ke2 Ke5 39. Kd1 g5 40.
Kc2 f5 41. Rd4 g4 42. Kd3 h4 43. a4 a6 44. axb5 axb5 45. Rb4 Rc5 46. h3 gxh3
47. gxh3 f4 48. f3 Kf5 49. c4 bxc4+ 50. bxc4 Rc8 51. Rb5+ Kg6 52. c5 Kf5 53.
Kc4 1-0

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Moss"]
[Date "2006.07.12"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Sahl, Bjarke"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2364"]
[BlackElo "2673"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2006.07.08"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. f4 Qc7 8.
Qf3 Bd6 9. f5 Bb4 10. a3 Bxc3+ 11. bxc3 d5 12. Bd3 Qa5 13. Bd2 O-O 14. O-O dxe4
15. Bxe4 Ba6 16. Rf2 Nxe4 17. Qxe4 f6 18. Qb4 Qd5 19. Be3 Rab8 20. Qa4 Bc4 21.
Rd2 Qb5 22. Qxb5 Rxb5 23. Bxa7 Ra8 24. Be3 Bd5 25. a4 Rba5 26. c4 Be4 27. g4 h6
28. Re1 Rxa4 29. Bxh6 Bf3 30. Re3 Bxg4 31. Rg3 Rxc4 32. h3 gxh6 33. hxg4 Raa4
34. Rb3 Rxg4+ 35. Kh2 Rh4+ 36. Kg3 Rag4+ 37. Kf3 e4+ 38. Ke3 Rh3+ 0-1

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Moss"]
[Date "2006.07.13"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Agdestein, Simen"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C18"]
[WhiteElo "2673"]
[BlackElo "2575"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2006.07.08"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Qa5 7. Bd2 Qa4 8. Qg4
g6 9. Qd1 b6 10. h4 h5 11. c4 Nc6 12. Nf3 Nge7 13. dxc5 bxc5 14. Be2 dxc4 15.
O-O Nd5 16. Bg5 Ba6 17. Re1 c3 18. Bd3 Bxd3 19. Qxd3 Rb8 20. Re4 Qb5 21. Qd1
Qb6 22. a4 Qc7 23. Qe2 Kd7 24. Rd1 Kc8 25. Be3 Na5 26. Ng5 Rd8 27. Qa6+ Rb7 28.
Nxf7 Qxf7 29. Bxc5 Kb8 30. Qxa5 Rc8 31. Rc4 Qe8 32. Qa6 Nb6 33. Rxc3 Ka8 34.
Bxb6 1-0

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Moss"]
[Date "2006.07.14"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Djurhuus, Rune"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2462"]
[BlackElo "2673"]
[PlyCount "138"]
[EventDate "2006.07.08"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 d5 3. Bxf6 exf6 4. e3 f5 5. c4 dxc4 6. Bxc4 Bd6 7. Nc3 O-O 8.
Nf3 Nd7 9. O-O Nf6 10. Qc2 a6 11. Rfe1 g6 12. a4 Kg7 13. Rad1 Rb8 14. g3 Qe8
15. Nd5 Qe4 16. Qxe4 Nxe4 17. Re2 Bd7 18. Ra1 b5 19. axb5 axb5 20. Bd3 Bc6 21.
Nxc7 Rb7 22. d5 Bd7 23. Na6 Ra8 24. b4 Rba7 25. Rea2 Bc8 26. Bxb5 Nc3 27. Nc7
Rxa2 28. Rxa2 Rxa2 29. Ne8+ Kf8 30. Nxd6 Nxb5 31. Nxc8 Ra6 32. Ne5 Ke8 33. Nc4
Kd8 34. N8b6 Kc7 35. d6+ Nxd6 36. Nd5+ Kc6 37. Nxd6 Kxd6 38. Nc3 Rb6 39. b5 Rb8
40. Kg2 Kc5 41. h4 Kc4 42. Ne2 Rxb5 43. Nd4 Rd5 44. Nf3 h6 45. Kg1 Kd3 46. Kg2
Ke4 47. Ng1 Rd2 48. Nf3 Rd1 49. Nh2 f6 50. Nf3 g5 51. h5 Rd5 52. Ng1 Rd2 53.
Nf3 Rd1 54. Ng1 Rxg1+ 55. Kxg1 Kf3 56. Kf1 Kg4 57. Kg2 Kxh5 58. Kf3 Kg6 59. e4
fxe4+ 60. Kxe4 h5 61. Kf3 Kf5 62. g4+ hxg4+ 63. Kg3 Ke5 64. Kxg4 Ke4 65. Kg3 f5
66. Kg2 f4 67. Kg1 Kf3 68. Kf1 g4 69. Kg1 Ke2 0-1

[Event "NOR-ch"]
[Site "Moss"]
[Date "2006.07.15"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Ostenstad, Berge"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A20"]
[WhiteElo "2480"]
[BlackElo "2673"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2006.07.08"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 113 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 h6 4. d4 exd4 5. Qxd4 Nc6 6. Qd1 Bb4+ 7. Bd2 Bxd2+ 8.
Qxd2 O-O 9. Nc3 d6 10. Nh3 Ne5 11. b3 c6 12. Rd1 Qa5 13. O-O Kh8 14. Nf4 Bf5
15. e4 Bh7 16. Nfe2 Rad8 17. Qb2 Rfe8 18. Rd4 d5 19. cxd5 cxd5 20. b4 Qb6 21.
exd5 Bd3 22. Rd1 Nfg4 23. Qd2 Nxf2 24. Kxf2 Ng4+ 25. Kg1 Bxe2 26. Nxe2 Ne3 27.
Nc3 Nxd1 28. Nxd1 Re5 29. Nf2 Rc8 30. Bf3 f5 31. Kg2 Rd8 32. d6 Rd7 33. h4 Re6
34. Qf4 Rexd6 35. Rxd6 Qxd6 36. Qxf5 g6 37. Qc2 Kg7 38. a3 b6 39. Ne4 Qe5 40.
Nf2 Rc7 41. Qd2 Qc3 42. Qe2 Qf6 43. h5 gxh5 44. Bxh5 Re7 45. Qd3 Qg5 46. Bf3
Qe3 47. Qd8 Re8 48. Qd1 Re7 49. Ng4 Qg5 50. Qd4+ Kf7 51. Qd6 Re6 52. Qd7+ Qe7
53. Qd4 Kg6 54. Bd5 Re2+ 55. Kf3 Re1 56. Be4+ 1-0

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2006.07.24"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Pelletier, Yannick"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2583"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2006.07.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "17"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bxd2+ 6. Qxd2 Ba6 7. Na3 O-O 8.
Bg2 Bb7 9. O-O d6 10. Rad1 Nbd7 11. Rfe1 Qe7 12. Nh4 Bxg2 13. Nxg2 c5 14. Ne3
Rfd8 15. Nb5 cxd4 16. Qxd4 Nc5 17. Qf4 Nce4 18. Ng4 Nxg4 19. Qxe4 Nf6 20. Qf3
Ne8 21. a4 Rac8 22. b3 Nf6 23. Nc3 h6 24. Rd3 Nd7 25. Qb7 Qf8 26. Qxa7 Nc5 27.
Rdd1 Rc6 28. a5 Ra8 29. axb6 Rxa7 30. bxa7 Qa8 31. Ra1 Nxb3 32. Ra4 Nd2 33. Nb5
Nxc4 34. Rb1 Kh7 35. f3 d5 0-1

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2006.07.25"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E97"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2731"]
[Annotator "Mikhalevski,V"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2006.07.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "17"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5
Ne7 9. a4 {This is a rare line of the Classical system. White starts an
offensive on the queenside without weakening the a1-h8 diagonal, which seems
to be logical comparing to the Bayonet attack. However the line also has a
drawback - White weakens the b4-square, which Black exploits by means of} a5
10. b3 $5 {[%cal Gb3b4,Gc1a3] Preparing Ba3 followed by b4. Curiously this
idea was almost never being tested before.} ({Earlier White played mostly} 10.
Ne1 Nd7 11. Nd3 f5 12. exf5 gxf5 13. Ra3 Ng6 14. Kh1 Rf7 15. f4 b6 16. Nb5 Nf6
17. fxe5 dxe5 18. Nf2 Bf8 19. Rb3 Bd7 20. Bg5 Bc5 21. Qb1 e4 22. Nh3 Be7 23.
Qc1 $16 {Larsen,B-Gabriel,C, Bad Homburg 1998/CBM 66[Huzman].}) ({One recent
game saw the immediate} 10. Ra3 {, which doesn't look too promising.} Nd7 11.
Nh4 Nc5 12. g3 f5 13. exf5 Nxf5 14. Nxf5 Bxf5 $15 {0-1 Gonzalez Zamora,
J-Dominguez Aguilar,G/Mexico City MEX 2006(49). and Black obtained a good
position.}) 10... Nd7 11. Ba3 {Magnus is consistent in his plans.} ({A mix of
two plans in the following game doesn't look convincing.} 11. Ne1 Nc5 12. Ba3
b6 13. b4 axb4 14. Bxb4 f5 15. f3 Bd7 16. a5 Na6 17. Ba3 bxa5 18. c5 (18. Nd3
$5 {[%cal Gc4c5] preparing c5.}) 18... Nxc5 19. Bxc5 dxc5 20. d6 cxd6 21. Qxd6
Bc6 $17 {Lehikoinen,P-Virtanen,A/Finland 2003. and White doesn't have
sufficient compensation for the sacrificed material.} (21... Rf6 $5)) 11... Bh6
{[%csl Rg5][%cal Gf7f5] This idea is also typical for the Bayonet attack.
Black takes control of the g5-square, which White could exploit in case of the
immediate f5 playing Ng5, like in the game below.} ({In a fresh game Black
tested} 11... f5 $6 12. Ng5 $1 Nf6 (12... Nc5 $5) 13. c5 $1 h6 14. cxd6 cxd6
15. Ne6 Bxe6 16. dxe6 $16 Nxe4 17. Nxe4 fxe4 18. Qxd6 Nf5 19. Qxd8 Rfxd8 20. e7
Rd7 21. Bb5 $18 {1-0 Oosterom,E-Nijs,N/Vlissingen NED 2006.}) 12. b4 axb4 13.
Bxb4 {It's interesting that the same position arises in the Bayonet attack (9.
b4) with an extra tempo since here White played first b3 and only then b4. So
either Carlsen is so sure in this position even a tempo down or he's
unfamiliar with this line of the Bayonet attack. The latter seems to me less
likely.} f5 14. Nd2 {White supports the centre and sometimes brings the knight
to b3 to prepare c5.} Kh8 {A useful prophylactic move. Black takes his king
away from the a2-g8 diagonal to a safer square in the corner of the board.} 15.
a5 Rf7 {For those who are familiar with the similar line of the Bayonet attack
all these ideas are well known. Black makes another useful move and leaves the
knight on d7 for one more move in order to prevent c5.} 16. Nb5 {White not
only activates his knight and creates some pressure on the queenside, but also
frees the c3-square for the dark-squared bishop.} Nf6 {Black finds no useful
moves anymore and attacks the centre. The move however has a serious drawback
- Black allows c5.} 17. c5 dxc5 18. Bc3 $5 {[%csl Re5] Trying to exploit the
weakness of the e5-pawn.This retreat in the Bayonet attack is a speciality of
Vladimir Kramnik. Carlsen shows that he's familiar with this idea and thus
refutes my earlier assumption that he's unfamiliar with this line of the
Bayonet attack.} ({In case of} 18. Bxc5 {White has to be ready to sacrifice a
piece after} Bxd2 19. Qxd2 Nxe4 20. Qb2 $1 {[%csl Re5] It's very difficult to
find this move.} Nxc5 21. Qxe5+ Kg8 22. Nxc7 {and it turns out that White is
slightly better. I.e.} Rb8 ({or} 22... Nd7 23. Qc3 Ra7 24. Rfd1 Nf6 25. d6 Nc6
26. Bc4 $16) 23. d6 (23. Rfb1 $5) 23... Ne4 24. dxe7 Qxe7 25. Qxe7 Rxe7 26.
Bc4+ Kg7 27. Nd5 $14) 18... c6 19. dxc6 bxc6 $6 {After this inaccurate move
Black will be unable to protect the e5-pawn and thus White obtains a serious
initiative.} (19... Nxc6 $1 {was necessary and after} 20. Nc4 Rd7 21. Qc2 {
Black sacrifices an exchange and gets serious compensation.} Nxe4 22. Nb6 Rb8
23. Nxd7 Bxd7 {[%cal Gc6d4] with Nd4 to follow. The resulting position is very
complicated and both sides have their chances.}) 20. Na3 {[%cal Ga3c4] From
here the knight is ready to jump to c4.} fxe4 $6 {Black wants the d5-square
for his knights. However, Black had to distract the white pieces from the
e5-pawn.} (20... Bxd2 $1 {I understand that exchanging the dark-squared bishop
looks bad, but in this case it seems to be playable and even necessary.
Sometimes concrete approach prevails on positional aspects of the position and
this seems to be the case.} 21. Nc4 {[%csl Rd8] Exploiting the pin along the
d-file.} (21. Bxd2 Nxe4 22. Bc3 $1 Qxd1 23. Bxe5+ Kg8 24. Rfxd1 Rxa5 25. f3 Ng5
26. Nc4 Rxa1 27. Rxa1 Nd5 28. Nd6 Rf8 29. Ra7 Ne6 {and Black should be able to
hold the position.}) 21... Nxe4 22. Bxe5+ Kg8 23. f3 Qd5 $1 24. fxe4 Be3+ 25.
Nxe3 Qxe5 26. Ng4 $3 fxg4 27. Qd8+ Kg7 28. Rxf7+ Kxf7 29. Rf1+ Nf5 30. Bc4+ Kg7
31. Qg8+ Kh6 32. exf5 gxf5 (32... Ba6 $2 33. Qxa8 Bxc4 34. Qf8+ Kg5 35. fxg6 $1
$18) 33. Kh1 $14 (33. Qf8+ Kg5 34. Kh1 Ba6 $1 35. Qxa8 Bxc4 36. Rg1 Bd5 37.
Qd8+ Kg6 38. a6 Bxg2+ $1 39. Rxg2 Qe1+ 40. Rg1 Qe4+ 41. Rg2 $11)) 21. Nac4 $1
Ned5 22. Bxe5 Bg7 (22... Kg8 $5) 23. Nd6 Re7 24. N2c4 {White is only a pawn
down, but all his minor pieces are nicely situated.} Be6 $2 {This is already a
serious mistake. The a-pawn shouldn't be left unattended.} 25. a6 $1 {[%csl
Ga6] The a-pawn goes forward immediatly.} (25. Qb3 {[%cal Gb3b2] with the idea
of Qb2 also looked strong.}) 25... Nb4 $5 (25... Rea7 $2 {would be strongly
met by} 26. Na5 $1 {[%csl Rc6]}) 26. Qc1 Nd3 $6 ({White's idea behind 26.Qc1
can be seen in the following line.} 26... Rxa6 27. Rxa6 Nxa6 28. Qa1 $1 {
with a double attack on a6 and f6.} Ra7 29. f3 $1 e3 30. Nxe3 $16 {and White
is clearly better.}) ({Probably Morozevich should have tried} 26... Nxa6 27.
Qf4 Rea7) 27. Bxd3 exd3 28. Qc3 $6 {This seems to be an inaccuracy.} (28. Rd1
$5 {would be more precise.}) 28... Bxc4 $1 29. Qxc4 Qg8 $1 {Covering the
f7-square.} 30. Qxc5 d2 (30... Rxe5 {would probably lead to a position similar
to the game.} 31. Qxe5 Nd5 {[%csl Ra1,Re5]} 32. Qe1 Bxa1 33. Qxa1+ Qg7 34. Qa4
Qc7 35. Qd4+ Kg8 36. Ne4 Rxa6 37. Qxd3 $14 {[%csl Rg8] and White is better
thanks to the vulnerability of the black king.}) 31. Rad1 $6 (31. Nc4 $1 {
deserved serious attention.}) 31... Rxa6 $6 {Returning the favour.} (31... Qd5
$1 {was much better. However it was very difficult to spot the following idea.}
32. Qc3 Rxe5 $1 33. Qxe5 Rxa6 $1 {and it turns out that White can't win the
d2-pawn.} 34. Qxd5 cxd5 35. Nf7+ Kg8 36. Ng5 Ra2 $11 {[%csl Gd2][%cal Gg7h6]
with the idea of Bh6 and Black looks ok.}) 32. Rxd2 $16 {Now the unsecure
position of the black king and activity of white pieces yield White chances
for a win.} Nd5 33. Bxg7+ Rxg7 $6 (33... Kxg7 34. Qd4+ Nf6 {was better.}) 34.
h3 $6 {Now it's White's turn to return a favour.} ({After} 34. Re2 $1 {it
would be very difficult for Black to defend his king.} Re7 (34... Nc7 $5 35.
Qe5 Ra8 $16 {is the only defense.}) 35. Rxe7 Nxe7 36. Ne8 $3 {[%csl Rh8]} Qxe8
37. Qc3+ Kg8 38. Qc4+ $18) 34... Qe6 $1 35. Rb1 $1 h6 $1 {Black finds only
moves to stay in the game.} 36. Qc4 $1 Rb6 ({After} 36... Rga7 $1 {White would
have to find} 37. Rdb2 $3 {and eventually a position with R+N+1 extra pawn on
the kingside arises as well as it could happen in the game.} Ra1 (37... Qxd6
38. Rb8+ Kg7 39. R1b7+ Kf6 (39... Ne7 40. Rg8+ $1 Kf6 41. Rf8+ $1 {and mate on
the next move.}) 40. Qd4+ Kg5 41. Rxa7 Rxa7 42. Qxa7 $18) 38. Qxc6 Rc7 39. Qe8+
Qxe8 40. Nxe8 Rc1+ 41. Rxc1 Rxc1+ 42. Kh2 $16) 37. Rxb6 Qe1+ 38. Kh2 Nxb6 $2 {
The decisive mistake.} (38... Qxd2 {was necessary.} 39. Rxc6 Qf4+ 40. Qxf4 Nxf4
$16 {and Black still maintains chances for a draw.}) 39. Qf4 $1 {[%cal Gf4f8]}
Nd5 $2 {Loses on the spot, however Black's position was already hopeless.} (
39... Qe7 {against Qf8 was Black's best defense. Still after} 40. Qxh6+ Kg8 41.
Qf4 Nd5 42. Qg3 $18 {White should be able to convert his extra pawn in a win.})
40. Rxd5 $1 cxd5 41. Qf8+ Kh7 (41... Rg8 42. Qxh6#) 42. Ne8 {[%cal Ge8f6] A
nice mating construction. Black can't prevent huge material losses and so he
resigned. The line introduced by Carlsen deserves further tests.} 1-0

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2006.07.26"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A58"]
[WhiteElo "2728"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[PlyCount "135"]
[EventDate "2006.07.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "17"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bxa6 7. Nf3 d6 8. g3
Bg7 9. Rb1 Nbd7 10. Bg2 O-O 11. b3 Qa5 12. Bd2 Bb7 13. O-O Qa6 14. e4 e6 15.
dxe6 fxe6 16. Ng5 d5 17. exd5 exd5 18. Re1 Rae8 19. Rxe8 Rxe8 20. Qf1 h6 21.
Qxa6 Bxa6 22. Nf3 d4 23. Na4 Ne4 24. Re1 Ndf6 25. Ba5 Bb5 26. Nb6 Nc3 27. Rxe8+
Bxe8 28. Bxc3 dxc3 29. Ne1 Ng4 30. h3 Ne5 31. Na4 Nd7 32. Kf1 Bd4 33. Bc6 Kf8
34. Ke2 g5 35. Nc2 Ke7 36. f3 Kd6 37. Bb5 Bg6 38. Bd3 Bf7 39. b4 Bxa2 40. bxc5+
Nxc5 41. Nxd4 Nxa4 42. Nf5+ Ke5 43. Nxh6 Nc5 44. Ke3 Bb3 45. Ng4+ Ke6 46. Nf2
Nxd3 47. Nxd3 Bd1 48. Nf2 c2 49. Nd3 Kf5 50. Nc1 Ke5 51. Nd3+ Kf5 52. g4+ Kf6
53. Nc1 Ke5 54. Na2 Kf6 55. f4 gxf4+ 56. Kxf4 Be2 57. h4 Kg6 58. Nc1 Bc4 59.
Ke5 Ba6 60. Ke4 Bc8 61. Kf4 Ba6 62. Ke3 Bc8 63. g5 Kh5 64. Kd2 Bf5 65. Nb3 Kxh4
66. Nd4 Kxg5 67. Nxf5 Kxf5 68. Kxc2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2006.07.27"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Bruzon Batista, Lazaro"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A39"]
[WhiteElo "2667"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2006.07.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "17"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. g3 ({According to the present stage of
theory, the immediate opening of the centre with} 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 {allows
Black adequate counterplay after} e6 6. g3 Qb6 {. In fact, Carlsen himself
unsuccessfully tried to change this evaluation when playing with White just
one round later.}) 4... g6 ({In case of} 4... d5 {White is not forced to
accept playing a reversed Maroczy, but can actively fight for the supremacy in
the centre with} 5. d4) 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. O-O O-O 7. d4 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Nxd4 9. Qxd4
d6 10. Qd3 {This position can arise via fianchetto King's Indian move order
and, decades ago, was one of Geller's favourite weapon with Black. Compared
with a genuine Maroczy, the more active placement of the white king's bishop
certainly puts some pressure on the enemy queen side, but its absence from the
"traditional" f1-a6 diagonal facilitates Black's counterplay based on ...a6
and ...b5.} a6 11. Bd2 {This apparently modest development of the bishop is
aimed to inhibit the development of the enemy queen to the active a5-square,
where from it can be easily transferred to h5 in order to put pressure on the
white king side.} ({The main alternative is} 11. Be3) 11... Rb8 12. Rac1 Bf5 {
Before placing the bishop on d7 in order to sustain the planned ...b5, Black
forces his opponent to advance the pawn to e4, not only releasing part of his
pressure against the queen side but also creating himself a potential weakness
in the centre. Quite curiously, this logical continuation is not the most
popular here.} ({The immediate} 12... b5 {, which leads to complications that
tend to favour White and}) (12... Bd7 {have been more frequently seen in
practice.}) 13. e4 {By the way, if White had developed the bishop on e3, he
would have had to retreat with his queen (most likely to d2), allowing Black
to complete his development in a very comfortable way with 13...Qd7.} Bd7 14.
h3 {This prophyactical move, depriving the enemy knight from the g4-square,
does not prepare Be3 as it could seem at first glance (and which would be
slightly inconsequent) but the advance of the b-pawn to b4, in order to keep
Black's queen side initiative under control. White has no reasonable ways to
prevent ...b5, so that he has to learn to live with it. In practice several
other moves have been tried, without too much success.} (14. Be3 $6 b5 15. cxb5
axb5 {faces White with the unpleasant threat ...b4.} 16. Ba7 {Aiming to solve
the problems by tactical means, but this only helps Black develop his
initiative.} ({The usefullness of the move h3 can be seen after} 16. b4 Ng4 {
followed by ...Ne5-c4.}) 16... b4 $1 17. Bxb8 bxc3 18. Ba7 cxb2 $17 {0-1
Lengyel,L-Geller,E/Beverwijk 1965/MCD (26)}) ({Playing for the better
development with} 14. Rfd1 b5 15. c5 b4 16. Nb1 {as happened in the game 1-0
Zheliandinov,V-Pribyl,J/Prague 1966/EXT 99, should fail because White's
position contains too many weaknesses already. Khalifman recommends} dxc5 $1
17. Rxc5 Ba4 18. Qxd8 Rfxd8 19. Rdc1 Nd7 $13) ({The physical prevention of ...
b5 with} 14. a4 {has the significant drawback that it weakens the b4-square.}
Ng4 {Black probably intended to outplay his less experienced and lower rated
opponent in a position with flexible structure, but this could have led to
trouble.} ({The standard reaction is} 14... a5 15. h3 Bc6 {[%cal Yf6d7,Yd7c5]})
15. b3 Ne5 16. Qe2 Bc6 17. b4 b6 18. Rfe1 e6 {1/2-1/2 Petrosian,A (2320)
-Vasiukov,E (2560)/Riga 1975/MCD. and now White could have obtained an
advantage with} 19. f4 Nd7 20. Qd3 Qc7 (20... Qe7 21. e5 Bxg2 22. exd6 $16) 21.
Nb5 $1 axb5 22. cxb5 Bxe4 23. Bxe4 Qa7 24. Bc6 $16) ({One month later, Carlsen
managed to defend Black's point of view against a legendary opponent. In that
game, White avoided to weaken his position in any way, but completely failed
to put Black under pressure.} 14. b3 b5 15. Rfd1 bxc4 16. Qxc4 Qb6 17. h3 Rfc8
18. Qe2 h5 19. Be3 Qa5 20. Qd2 Kf8 21. Ne2 Qxd2 22. Bxd2 Ke8 23. Rxc8+ Rxc8 24.
Rc1 Rxc1+ 25. Bxc1 Bb5 26. Nc3 Bd3 27. Bd2 Kd7 28. f3 Ne8 29. Bf1 Bxf1 {
1/2-1/2 Andersson,U (2542)-Carlsen,M (2675)/Amsterdam NED 2006/TWIC 617}) 14...
b5 15. cxb5 axb5 16. b4 {The critical moment of the opening. White has managed
to stop Black's first wave of counterplay. The b5-pawn is submitted to strong
pressure, while Black's minor pieces are considerably restricted in their
actions. However, it can be foreseeen that if Black will be able to regroup in
a favourable way, the weaknesses in White's camp (c4, d3, d4) might tell. We
can state that the position is strategically unbalanced.} Qe8 $5 $146 {This
slightly unnatural move, typical for the Dutch Defence rather than for the
English-Maroczy, has the very concrete purpose of over-defending the b5-pawn
in order to enable the maneouvre ...Be6 followed by ...Nd7-e5. In the games
played so far, Black has generally abandoned the pawn for the sake of
obtaining dynamic compensation.} (16... Ra8 17. Nxb5 Rxa2 18. Nc3 Ra8 19. b5 {
This unnecesarily gives up the control of the a5-square.} (19. Ra1 $5 $14)
19... Ra3 20. Ra1 Qa5 21. Rxa3 Qxa3 22. b6 Rb8 23. Qe3 Qa6 24. Rb1 Be6 25. Bf1
Qb7 26. Rb5 Bd7 27. Rb3 Bc6 28. Bg2 Nd7 {Black has safely blocked the enemy
pawn and has nothing to fear. In fact, in the game 1/2-1/2 Smyslov,V-Geller,E/
Moscow 1965/Candidates (79) White eventually lost the pawn and had to fight
hard for a draw.}) ({The spectacular} 16... Be6 {was successfull in a
corespondence game, but does not look entirely sound.} 17. Nxb5 Qd7 18. a4 Bxh3
19. Rc7 Bxg2 (19... Qg4 20. Rxe7 $16) (19... Qe6 20. Nd4 Qg4 21. Bf3 $18 {
[%csl Yg4]}) 20. Rxd7 ({In case of the simple} 20. Kxg2 Qe6 21. Re1 {Black
would still need to prove that his counterplay against the slightly weakened
white king side offers adequate compensation for the queen side passed pawns.})
20... Bxf1 21. Qxf1 Nxd7 22. a5 ({Simpler is} 22. Na7 Ra8 23. Nc6 $16) 22...
Ne5 23. Kg2 Rfc8 24. a6 Nc4 25. a7 Nxd2 26. axb8=Q Rxb8 27. Qd3 Nxe4 28. Qxe4
Rxb5 29. Qc4 Rb6 30. b5 Bd4 $5 $11 31. Qxd4 Rxb5 {Black's fortress is
impossible to break. In fact, the position would be drawn even if Black would
miss one of the h- or d-pawns, something Fritz would never believe, though.}
32. f4 Rc5 33. g4 f6 34. Kg3 Kf7 {1/2-1/2 Meissner,P-Handke,M/DDR corr 1982/
Corr Nr. 1}) 17. Rfe1 Be6 18. Nd5 {There was no hurry to jump with the knight
to d5 so soon, because the threat ...Bc4 is not so strong. In fact, the bishop
could be slightly exposed on that square, in view of the possibility of a
further a4.} (18. Bg5 $5 Bc4 19. Qd2 Nd7 20. Nd5 f6 (20... Bxd5 21. exd5 $16 {
[%csl Yc6,Ye7]}) 21. Be3 Ne5 22. Red1 $14 f5 23. f4 Nd3 24. Rc3 $1 Bxc3 25.
Qxc3 $16) 18... Nd7 (18... Bxd5 {would be premature because after} 19. exd5 {
[%csl Yc6] White would get an excellent outpost for his rooks on c6.}) 19. f4 {
This is a double edged decision. If White will not manage to break the
position with a further e5, the advance of the pawn to f4 would count only as
a weakening move.} (19. Qe2 $5) 19... Nb6 20. Bc3 $6 {But this is innacurate
already. After having weakened so many dark squares in his position, White
should have avoided the exchange of the dark squared bishops, especially that
there was nothing to fear along the a1-h8 diagonal.} (20. Nc7 $5 Qd7 21. Nxe6
fxe6 22. e5 $36) 20... Bxc3 21. Qxc3 Bxd5 $1 {Now, only the negative aspects
of the move f4 will be revealed.} 22. exd5 Rb7 $13 {White has a slightly more
active position, but his structure contains more weaknesses than his
opponent's. Chances are about equal in a rather complicated position.} 23. Rc2
Qa8 24. Rce2 Rc8 25. Qf3 Nc4 26. h4 Qa7+ 27. Kh1 Re8 28. h5 Qd4 29. Re4 Qf6 30.
Qe2 Ra7 31. h6 Kf8 32. Bh3 Ra3 33. Qh2 Nb6 34. Bf1 Nxd5 35. Bxb5 Rc8 36. Bc4
Qf5 37. Bb3 e6 38. Kg1 Rc3 39. Qh4 Nf6 40. R4e3 Rxe3 41. Rxe3 Ra8 42. Re2 Qb1+
43. Kg2 Qd3 44. Rxe6 Nd5 45. Re1 Ne3+ 46. Rxe3 Qxe3 47. Qf6 Qe2+ 48. Kg1 Qe1+
49. Kg2 Qe2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2006.07.28"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Volokitin, Andrei"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A33"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2662"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2006.07.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "17"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 e6 6. g3 Qb6 7. Nb3 Ne5 8. e4
Bb4 9. Qe2 d6 10. f4 Nc6 11. Be3 Bxc3+ 12. bxc3 Qc7 13. Bg2 O-O 14. O-O {
This variation allows White to obtain the pair of bishops and an optically
impressive advantage of space. However, the chronic weakness of the c4-pawn 
(partly caused by the fact that the light-squared bishop has been developed on
another diagonal than f1-d3) offers Black excellent prospects for active
counterplay. This game will not question this general evaluation in any way.}
b6 15. Nd4 {The fact that this logical move (aiming to take advantage that
double pawns generally offer excellent outposts for minor pieces) fails to
solve White's structural problems is a serious signal of alarm for the
adherents of this whole setup.} Nxd4 $1 {This paradoxical move, allowing White
to get rid of the double pawns, but in no way of his weakness on c4, is
probably the simplest way out the opening.} (15... Bb7 {allows White develop
some initiative with} 16. Nb5 {for instance:} Qe7 (16... Qb8 17. Nxd6 $6 {
This leads to premature simplifications.} (17. Rad1 Rd8 18. g4 {looks better
and if} Na5 {then} 19. f5 $1 $36 {taking advantage of the fact that the knight
is far from the e5-square.}) 17... Qxd6 18. e5 Qe7 19. exf6 Qxf6 20. c5 Rac8 {
1/2-1/2 Bui Vinh (2444)-Breder,D (2438)/Budapest 2002/CBM 090 ext (31)}) 17.
Rad1 Rfd8 18. Bc1 $1 {The transfer of the bishop to the a3-f8 diagonal is the
most efficient way of increasing the pressure against the relatively weak
d6-pawn.} (18. Qd3 Ne8 19. Rf2 Na5 20. Nxa7 Rxa7 21. Bxb6 Bc6 22. c5 Rdd7 23.
Bxa7 dxc5 24. Qb1 Rxa7 $15 {0-1 Ostenstad,B (2475)-Dvoirys,S (2525)/Gausdal
1991/TD (41)}) 18... Ne8 (18... a6 {unnecessarily weakens the b6-square. After
the already familiar to us exchange operation} 19. Nxd6 Rxd6 20. Rxd6 Qxd6 21.
e5 Qe7 22. exf6 Qxf6 {White has} 23. Qf2 $14) 19. Ba3 Na5 (19... a6 20. Nxd6 $1
) 20. Rd4 e5 (20... Nc6 21. Rd2 {/\ Rfd1}) 21. fxe5 Qxe5 22. Rfd1 $16 {1-0
Evdokimov,A (2356)-Zarezenko,I (2230)/Cherepovets 2001/EXT 2002 (56). with
strong pressure for White.}) (15... e5 $6 {unnecessarily gives White chances
for a kingside attack.} 16. Nb5 Qe7 17. f5 Bb7 18. Rad1 Rfd8 19. g4 Na5 20. Bc1
h6 21. h4 Nh7 22. g5 hxg5 23. hxg5 Nxg5 24. f6 gxf6 25. Rd3 $40 {1-0 Rotstein,
A (2485)-Schlosser,P (2515)/Vienna 1998/EXT 99 (31)}) 16. cxd4 {White has
built up an impressive pawn centre but Black has won time to attack his
Achile's heel (the c4-pawn). If the d-pawn was placed just one square behind,
on d3, White would enjoy considerable positional advantage, but the way it is
he even has problems maintaining the balance even.} Ba6 17. Rac1 $146 {Judging
from the modest effects produced by this novelty, we can guess that it was
just over-the-board inspiration rather than fruit of thorough home analysis.} (
17. e5 Bxc4 (17... Nd5 $5) 18. Rfc1 Bxe2 19. Rxc7 Nd5 {1/2-1/2 Cvetkovic,S 
(2460)-Lanka,Z (2420)/Trnava 1989/EXT 97}) 17... Rac8 18. e5 {White's problems
consists of the fact that after the elimination of the c4-pawn the chronic
weakness is extended to other light squares in the centre, which can be seen
after} (18. g4 Bxc4 19. Qf3 d5 $1 20. e5 Ne4 {and White's attacking chances
are rather doubtful.}) 18... Nd5 19. Bxd5 {White definitevely gives up the
fight for the light squares for the sake of a rather illusory kingside attack.
In any case, after} (19. exd6 Qxd6 20. Bd2 Ne7 {he would have faced problems
defending his central pawns.}) 19... exd5 20. f5 dxc4 21. f6 g6 22. Qg4 ({
Pelletier:} 22. e6 fxe6 23. Bh6 Rf7 24. Qxe6 Qd7 25. d5 $13) 22... Qc6 $17 {
Black's threats along the h1-a8 diagonal are more realistic than White's plan
to deliver mate on g7.} 23. Rf4 dxe5 24. dxe5 Bb7 25. Qh3 Rfe8 26. Kf2 Rxe5 27.
Rcxc4 Qxc4 28. Rxc4 Rxc4 29. Qd7 Rc2+ 30. Kg1 Bc6 31. Qd4 Rd5 32. Qg4 h5 0-1

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2006.07.30"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Pelletier, Yannick"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B47"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2583"]
[Annotator "Kritz,L"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2006.07.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "17"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Qc7 {Black chooses the
classical Paulsen Variation. The move 5...a6 has become very modern. Schwarz
wählt die klassische Paulsen-Variante. Sehr modern ist heute der Zug 5....a6
geworden.} (5... a6 6. Nxc6 (6. Be3 Nf6 7. Qd2 (7. Bd3 Qc7 {leads to the old
Paulsen liquidations. führt in die alten Paulsenabwicklungen über.}) 7... Bb4
8. f3 d5 9. a3 Qa5 $15) 6... bxc6 7. Bd3 d5 8. O-O Nf6 $132 {White has a
slight lead in development here. But Black has in return a solid centre. There
are chances for both sides. Weiß hat hier einen kleinen Entwicklungsvorsprung,
dafür verfügt Schwarz über ein sehr solides Zentrum. Die Stellung bietet
Chancen für beide Seiten.}) 6. g3 ({Today's main line is Die Hauptfortsetzung
heutzutage ist} 6. Be3 a6 (6... Nf6 7. Ndb5 Qb8 8. f4 $14) 7. Qd2 $1 {The plan
with queenside castling seems to me to be the most dangerous. - der Plan mit
der langen Rochade scheint mir der gefährlichste zu sein -} Nf6 8. O-O-O Bb4 9.
f3 $13 {after which black has lots of interesting possibilities, e.g. 9...Ne5,
9...Ne7, 9...d5 etc. wonach Schwarz viele interessante Möglichkeiten hat, z.B.
9...Ne5, 9...Ne7, 9...d5 usw.}) 6... a6 7. Bg2 Nf6 8. O-O Nxd4 $1 {The best
reaction to White's setup. Die beste Reaktion gegen den weißen Aufbau.} (8...
d6 {is also possible, but leaves White with a molre pleasant position. ist
auch möglich, doch bekommt Weiß hier eine angenehmere Stellung zu spielen.} 9.
Be3 Be7 10. a4 Bd7 11. Nxc6 Bxc6 12. a5 O-O 13. Re1 Nd7 14. Na4 $14) (8... Bc5
{does not lead to full equality either. führt ebenfalls nicht zum vollen
Ausgleich:} 9. Nxc6 dxc6 (9... bxc6 10. Na4 Be7 11. c4 d6 12. b3 O-O 13. Bb2
$14) 10. Na4 Ba7 11. c4 {Despite the threat of c5, Black is forced to play
Wegen der Drohung c5 ist Schwarz gezwungen} Nd7 {, after which his
white-squared bishop looks unhappy. zu spielen, wonach sein weißfeldriger
Läufer unglücklich aussieht.} 12. Qg4 $14) 9. Qxd4 Bc5 10. Bf4 (10. Qd3 d6 11.
Bf4 Nd7 $1 (11... h6 $2 12. Na4 $1 e5 13. Nxc5 exf4 14. Nb3 fxg3 15. hxg3 $16 {
The d6-pawn and the f5-square on which the white knight will soon stand look
menacing for Black. Der Bauer d6 und das Feld f5, worauf sich der weiße
Springer bald stellen wird, versprechen Schwarz nichts Gutes.}) 12. Na4 e5 13.
Be3 (13. Nxc5 $2 Nxc5 14. Qc3 exf4 15. Qxg7 Rf8 16. gxf4 Be6 $17) 13... Bxe3
14. Qxe3 b5 15. Nc3 Bb7 $132) 10... d6 (10... Bxd4 $2 11. Bxc7 d5 {or else
Be6-d5 will follow. sonst folgt Bd6-e5} 12. Rad1 Bxc3 13. bxc3 O-O 14. e5 Nd7
15. c4 dxc4 16. Rd4 $16) 11. Qd2 h6 {It is important to control the g5-square.
Es ist wichtig, das Feld g5 zu kontrollieren.} (11... e5 12. Bg5 $16) 12. Rad1
(12. Na4 {leads to toal equality after führt zum totalen Ausgleich nach} e5 13.
Nxc5 dxc5 $1 (13... exf4 14. Nb3 fxg3 15. hxg3 $16) 14. Be3 Ng4 $11) 12... e5
13. Be3 Be6 ({Of course not Selbstverständlich nicht} 13... Bxe3 14. fxe3 $1
Be6 (14... Ke7 $4 15. Rxf6 $18) 15. Qxd6 Qxd6 16. Rxd6 $16) 14. Bxc5 dxc5 15.
Nd5 (15. f4 O-O 16. Nd5 Bxd5 17. exd5 Qd6 {transposes to the game. geht in die
Partie über.}) 15... Bxd5 16. exd5 Qd6 (16... O-O $2 17. d6 $16 {The white
pawn cannot simply be let on to d6, because then all the white pieces,
especially the bishop on g2, become very active. Man darf nicht den weißen
Bauern einfach so nach d6 lassen, denn dann werden alle weißen Figuren, vor
allem der Läufer g2, sehr aktiv.}) 17. f4 O-O (17... e4 18. Rfe1 O-O 19. Bxe4
$16) 18. fxe5 Qxe5 19. d6 $1 {The only winning try is the pawn sacrifice Der
einzige Versuch auf Gewinn zu spielen ist das Baueropfer} (19. c4 Qd6 $1 20.
Qf4 Ne8 $1 $15 {In this position the queen turns out, exceptionally, to be a
good blockader, but only because White has no active play whatsoever. In
dieser Stellung erweist sich die Dame ausnahmsweise als guter Blockierer, das
aber nur, weil Weiß überhaupt kein aktives Spiel hat.}) 19... Qxb2 20. c4 Qxd2
21. Rxd2 $44 {White does have enough compensation for the sacrificed pawn, but
no more. With correct play Black can secure the half point. Für den geopferten
Bauern hat Weiß zwar ausreichende Kompensation, aber auch nicht mehr. Bei
richtigem Spiel kann sich Schwarz den halben Punkt sichern.} Rab8 22. a4 Rfd8
23. Re1 Kf8 24. Re5 Nd7 25. Re4 f6 26. Rb2 Re8 27. Rxe8+ Kxe8 28. Bd5 b6 29.
Kg2 Ne5 30. Be6 a5 31. Rb1 Kf8 32. Bd5 Ke8 33. Be6 Nc6 34. Bf5 Kf8 35. Be4 Ne5
36. Bd5 Ke8 37. Be6 Nc6 38. Bf5 Ne5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2006.07.31"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2731"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2006.07.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "17"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Nd7 {Neither this nor my
third move are the most common, but I had taken a look at them and I must say
that on the whole I like Black's position. Weder dieser noch mein dritter Zug
sind die geläufigsten, aber ich habe sie mir ein wenig angeschaut, und ich
muss sagen, dass generell mir Schwarz gefällt.} 6. Bf4 $5 {This seems like a
novelty, but it is also a logical one, preventing e5. Additionally, I guess it
serves Moros style well Dies sieht aus wie eine Neuerung, aber es ist auch
eine sehr logische; e5 wird verhindert. Außerdem schätze ich, es passt sehr
gut zu Moros Stil.} g6 (6... e5 $2 7. Nxe5 Qf6 8. Nxd7 Qxb2 $2 (8... Bxd7 9.
Qc1 $16) 9. Be5 $1 $18) 7. Qc1 {The logical follow-up. Die logische Folge.} Bg7
$6 {I decided to play a bit unusually as well for a change, but it will give
me some problems. It was more in the spirit of the position to play Ich
beschloss, zur Abwechslung auch einmal ein wenig ungewöhnlich zu spielen, aber
dies wird mir ein paar Probleme bereiten. Mehr im Geist der Stellung war} (7...
h6 {with good chances of obtaining a type of position like in the variation 3..
.g6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 and a normal game. mit guten Chancen, einen Stellungstyp wie
in der Variante 3...g6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 zu erreichen, und einer normalen Partie.})
8. Bh6 Qa5+ $1 9. c3 Ne5 {The point of my play. However, I had evaluated the
arising type of position mistakenly. Die Pointe meines Spiels. Allerdings
hatte ich den entstehenden Stellungstyp falsch eingeschätzt.} 10. Nxe5 Bxe5 11.
Nd2 Qa6 {Slightly strange and eventually the queen will feel uncomfortable
here, but I wanted to avoid Etwas seltsam, und am Ende wird sich die Dame hier
unwohl fühlen, aber ich wollte} (11... Be6 12. Nb3 Qb5 (12... Qb6 13. Be3 Bxb3
14. axb3 $14) 13. c4 Qb6 14. Be3 {Probably without reason, as vermeiden.
Vermutlich grundlos, denn} Rd8 {gives me certain play for a pawn, even if
probably not enough. gibt mir gewisses Spiel für einen Bauern, wenngleich
wahrscheinlich nicht genug.}) 12. Qc2 Be6 13. f4 (13. Nf3 Bc7 14. Ng5 O-O-O (
14... Bd7 15. Qb3 $16) 15. Nxe6 fxe6 {is ok for Black due to the pressure on
d3. ist okay für Schwarz wegen des Drucks auf d3.}) 13... Bc7 14. O-O f6 {
I felt that I had to provide my bishop with a square on f7 after a possible
f4-f5. Ich hatte das Gefühl, meinem Läufer ein Feld auf f7 verschaffen zu
müssen nach einem möglichen f4-f5.} 15. c4 $1 O-O-O 16. a4 $1 {Here I finally
realised what my oppenent was up to, but I still felt that the upcoming
complications should be ok for me. Hier begriff ich endlich, was mein Gegner
im Schilde führte, aber ich meinte noch immer, dass die bevorstehenden
Komplikationen für mich okay sein sollten.} Rd7 {Actually, this seems like the
best chance, as Sieht tatsächlich aus wie die beste Chance, denn} (16... Ba5
17. Nb3 Bb4 18. a5 {is fairly cheerless, with the queen totally out of play.
ist ziemlich freudlos, da die Dame völlig außer Spiel bleibt.}) 17. a5 Rhd8 18.
Ra3 Bxa5 $5 {A terribly risky move, not even the engines prefer this! However,
I calculated the variations, and it seemed to me that Black would eventually
be fine. Ein schrecklich riskanter Zug; nicht einmal Engines wollen dies
spielen! Aber ich berechnete die Varianten, und mir schien, dass Schwarz am
Ende ordentlich stehen würde.} 19. f5 {A good move, it is useful to include
Bh6 in the game. Ein guter Zug; es ist nützlich, den Bh6 mitspielen zu lassen.}
Bf7 20. fxg6 (20. Nb3 Rxd3 21. Nxc5 (21. Rxa5 {gives nothing: ergibt nichts:}
Qxc4 22. Qxc4 Bxc4 23. Nxc5 Rd1 24. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 25. Kf2 b6 26. Ra4 Bb5 27. Rxa7
bxc5 28. Rxe7 gxf5 29. exf5 Rf1+ 30. Kg3 Rxf5 31. Rxh7 Rh5 $1 $11) 21... Bb6 (
21... Qxc4 22. Qxc4 Bxc4 23. Nxd3 Bb6+ 24. Nf2 Bxf1 25. Kxf1 $16) (21... Qb6
22. Rxa5 (22. Rxd3 Rxd3 23. Qxd3 Qxc5+ $44) 22... R3d4 23. Qb3 (23. Rfa1 Rxc4
24. Qf2 Qxa5 $1)) 22. Rxa6 Bxc5+ 23. Kh1 bxa6 {with play similar to the game,
although after mit Spiel ähnlich der Partie, wenngleich weiß nach} 24. b3 $1 {
White probably has a slighlty better version, and he should maybe have gone
for it. wahrscheinlich eine leicht bessere Version hat, und er hätte sich
vielleicht dafür entscheiden sollen.}) 20... hxg6 21. e5 Be6 (21... Qb6 22.
Rfa1 Bb4 23. Rxa7 {is not great for Black. Instead, the idea of Be6 is very
clear: Put the bishop on f5 and activity at any cost! ist nicht toll für
Schwarz. Stattdessen ist die Idee von Be6 glasklar: den Läufer nach f5 stellen
und Aktivität um jeden Preis!}) 22. exf6 exf6 23. Nb3 (23. Rxf6 Bf5 $13) 23...
Rxd3 24. Nxc5 Bb6 (24... Qb6 25. Rxa5 Qxa5 26. Nxe6 $18) (24... Qxc4 25. Qxc4
Bxc4 26. Nxd3 Bb6+ 27. Nf2 Bxf1 28. Kxf1 $18) 25. Rxa6 (25. Rxd3 Bxc5+ 26. Kh1
Bd4 $5 {I was actually more worried about Rxd3 than the game continuation, but
I eventually found this continuation, and even if I still was not too sure
about it, it seemed to me that I would survive. Ich war eigentlich mehr
besorgt wegen Rxd3 als wegen der Partiefortsetzung, doch schließlich fand ich
diese Fortsetzung, und selbst wenn ich mir bei der Sache nicht allzu sicher
war, schien mir doch, dass ich überleben würde.} (26... Rxd3 {Is the obvious
continuation Die offensichtliche Fortsetzung.} 27. Qxd3 Bxc4 28. Qh3+ f5 29.
Re1 $13 {But my king did not feel too safe here... Allerdings fühlte sich mein
König hier nicht allzu sicher an...}) 27. Rxd4 (27. b3 Bf5 $15) 27... Rxd4 28.
Qxg6 Qxc4 29. Qxf6 Rd8 $13) 25... Bxc5+ 26. Kh1 bxa6 {During the game I was
totally convinced that I was fine here, with my active pieces, however, White
probably has a forced continuation leading to a better game for him even if
Black has counterchances. Während der Partie war ich völlig überzeugt, hier
ordentlich zu stehen, bei meinen aktiven Figuren; doch Weiß hat wahrscheinlich
eine forcierte Fortsetzung, die zu besserem Spiel für ihn führt, wenngleich
Schwarz Gegenchancen hat.} 27. Bg7 $4 {Too careless, and meeting a surprising
refutation. Zu sorglos, und findet eine überraschende Widerlegung.} (27. b4 $1
Bb6 (27... Bxb4 28. Qa4) 28. Qe2 {I did not see this move, which turns out to
be quite strong, and the only which poses Black any problems. Diesen Zug hatte
ich nicht gesehen, welcher sich als recht stark erweist und der einzige ist,
der Schwarz vor Probleme stellen kann.} Bf7 (28... Bf5 29. g4 $1) (28... Bxc4
$2 29. Qg4+) 29. Qe4 (29. Bg7 f5 30. c5 Bc7 31. Bf6 R8d7 $13) 29... Kb7 30. b5
axb5 31. cxb5 Bd5 32. Qe7+ (32. bxc6+ Bxc6 33. Qxg6 Rd1 $132) 32... Ka8 33.
bxc6 Bxc6 34. Qxf6) 27... Bg4 $1 {Surprisingly enough, after this there is no
way to defend against Rd1. Überraschenderweise gibt es hiernach keine
Verteidigung gegen Rd1.} 28. b4 (28. h3 Rd1 29. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 30. Kh2 Bd6+ 31. g3
Bf3 $1 $19) (28. Qa4 Rd1 $5 29. Qxc6+ Kb8 30. Qxf6 Rxf1+ 31. Qxf1 Rd1 $19)
28... Be3 (28... Bxb4 29. Qa4 Rd1 30. Qxc6+ Kb8 31. Rg1 {is amazingly enough
not so clear. ist verblüffenderweise nicht so klar.}) (28... Rd1 29. Rxd1 Rxd1+
30. Qxd1 Bxd1 31. bxc5 f5 {is probably won too, but more complicated. ist
wahrscheinlich auch gewonnen, aber komplizierter.}) 29. h3 Rd1 30. Rxd1 Rxd1+
31. Kh2 Bf4+ 32. g3 Rd2+ {I had somehow overlooked that I could not play Ich
hatte irgendwie übersehen, dass ich nicht} (32... Bf3 $4 {spielen konnte wegen}
33. gxf4 {and the king gets the g3 square! But the game continuation wins
easily enough. und der König erhält das Feld g3! Aber die Partiefortsetzung
gewinnt leicht genug.}) 33. Qxd2 Bxd2 34. hxg4 Bxb4 $6 {Here I played too fast,
right after I had made this move, I saw that I could have won much easier:
Hier spielte ich zu schnell; sofort nach Ausführung dieses Zuges sah ich, dass
ich viel leichter hätte gewinnen können:} (34... c5 35. bxc5 Bg5 36. Bf8 a5 37.
c6 Bc1 {and White will have to give up the bishop for the a-pawn. und Weiß
wird den Läufer für den a-Bauern geben müssen.}) 35. Bxf6 a5 36. Kg2 Kd7 37.
Kf3 Bd6 $1 38. Ke4 Bxg3 39. Kd3 Ke6 40. Bd4 a6 41. Kc2 a4 42. Kb1 Be5 43. Bf2
Kd6 44. Ka2 Bc3 45. Ka3 Ke5 46. Kxa4 Kf4 47. Bb6 Kxg4 48. Ba5 Bxa5 49. Kxa5 Kf4
50. Kb6 a5 0-1

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2006.08.01"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E97"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2728"]
[Annotator "Mikhalevski,V"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2006.07.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "17"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5
Ne7 9. Kh1 {Earlier in the tournament Carlsen introduced a new idea in the
side line with 9.a4 against Morozevich, this time he comes with an even more
rare continuation, which was a speciality of Miles.} Nd7 {[%cal Gd7c5,Gf7f5]
Black prepares f5 and brings the knight to c5. What else can be more typical
for the KID?} (9... Kh8) 10. g4 $5 Kh8 {Black frees the g8-square for the
knight and moves the king away from the g-file and thus prepares f5.} (10...
Nc5 {usually leads to transposition after} 11. Rg1 a5 12. Be3 Kh8) 11. Rg1 {
White also prepares himself for opening of the g-file.} a5 {Securing the
outpost of the knight on c5.} 12. Be3 Nc5 ({Black also tested} 12... b6 $6 {
preparing Nc5.} 13. Qd2 (13. a3 $1 {with the idea to meet} Nc5 {by means of}
14. b4 {would be the most logical refutation of Black's slow play.}) 13... Nc5
14. Rg3 Bd7 15. Rag1 $14 {1-0 Lafuente,P-Fiorito,F/Mar del Plata 2001/CBM 081
ext (28)}) (12... Ng8 13. Qd2 Nc5 14. Ne1 f5 15. f3 fxg4 16. fxg4 $14 b6 $2 17.
g5 $16 {1-0 Miles,A-Becerra Rivera,J, Capablanca mem 34th 1999/ CBM71 [Huzman].
}) 13. Rc1 {This turns out to be a novelty. Frankly speaking it's not easy to
understand the idea behind this move. Probably White decided to keep all his
plans open and made a useful move, taking his rook away from the a1-h8
diagonal.} ({Earlier White tested} 13. Qd2 Ng8 14. Rg3 b6 15. Rag1 {As you can
see doubling of rooks along the g-file is a typical idea in this line, which
is aimed against f5.} Nf6 16. Qc2 Bd7 17. Nd2 (17. Ne1 $5 {[%cal Ge1d3]
Heading to d3.}) 17... c6 18. f3 (18. dxc6 $5 Bxc6 19. Rh3 $14) 18... Qc8 19.
Qd1 Qb7 20. Qf1 Rab8 21. Qf2 Kg8 22. Rh3 Rfe8 23. Qh4 h5 24. dxc6 Qxc6 25. Nd5
$1 $16 {Tosic,M-Kolev,A/Vrnjacka Banja 1990. with a clear edge for White.}) (
13. Ne1 f5 14. f3 fxe4 15. fxe4 c6 16. Nd3 cxd5 17. cxd5 b6 18. Nxc5 bxc5 19.
Qd2 Rb8 20. Raf1 Bd7 21. Rxf8+ Qxf8 22. Rf1 Qc8 23. h3 $16 {Miles,A-Gheorghiu,
F/Crans Montana 2001. and all Black's minor pieces are out of play.} (23. g5 $5
$16)) (13. a3 {[%cal Gb2b4] preparing b4 deserved serious attention. Now Black
has either play} f5 {immediately.} ({or} 13... a4 {sacrificing a pawn and only
after} 14. Bxc5 dxc5 15. Nxa4 b6 {[%cal Gf7f5] preparing f5.}) 14. gxf5 gxf5
15. Bxc5 dxc5 16. Bd3 $14 {with a slightly better position for White.}) 13...
Bd7 14. b3 {White is ready to meet a4 with b4. The plan with a3 and b4 is not
very dangerous for Black right now as a3 will be always met by means of a4 b4
Nb3.} Ng8 15. Nd2 {[%csl Ye4][%cal Ga2a3,Gb3b4,Gd2e4] Getting ready for f5 and
at the same time covering the b3-square and thus preparing a3 and b4.} (15. a3
a4 16. b4 Nb3 17. Rb1 {would have been a double-edged idea as the knight is
close to the d4-square and Black may always try to open the position by means
of f5.}) 15... f6 $1 {[%cal Gg7h6] Black prepares the exchange of the
dark-squared bishops by means of Bh6 and so the text is made in order to
prevent g5.} 16. h4 f5 {[%csl Rh4] The waste of a tempo is not essential as h4
weakened the king.} ({Now} 16... Bh6 {can be met by means of} 17. g5) 17. g5 {
White has to close the position this way since the h4-pawn was hanging.} Nxe4
$5 {Otherwise White plays f3 and stabilizes the position in the centre.} 18.
Ndxe4 fxe4 19. Nxe4 Ne7 {[%csl Re3,Rh4][%cal Ge7f5] The knight comes to f5.}
20. Bg4 {This move connected with the following exchange is a risky idea.
Probably all of this was caused by White's somewhat bit careless play in the
early stages of the game.} (20. h5 $5 Nf5 21. Bd3 {deserved attention.}) 20...
Nf5 21. Bxf5 Bxf5 {This allows White to consolidate the position.} (21... gxf5
$5 {looks like an interesting attempt to play for a win.} 22. Qh5 $1 (22. Nc3
f4 23. Bd2 f3 $1 24. Rg3 h5 $1 25. Rxf3 (25. gxh6 $2 Qxh4+ 26. Kg1 Bxh6 $19)
25... Bg4 26. Rxf8+ Qxf8 $36 {with a strong initiative.}) (22. Nf6 $2 f4 $1 23.
Bd2 Bxf6 24. gxf6 Qxf6 $19) 22... f4 $1 (22... fxe4 $4 23. g6 $18) (22... Be8
23. g6 Bxg6 24. Rxg6 fxe4 25. Rg2 (25. Rcg1 Qe8 $1) (25. Rg3 Rf3 $1) 25... Qf6
26. Rcg1 Rf7 27. Rg3 $1 {with the idea of Qg4 looks good for White.}) 23. Bd2
Bf5 24. Qf3 (24. Rce1 $5 Bg6 25. Qf3 Qe8) 24... Qe8 {[%cal Gf5g6,Ga5a4,Gb7b5]
with a complicated position in which Black looks at least not worse.}) 22. f3
Qd7 23. Rg3 $1 {[%csl Rh3] Covering the h3-square.} Rf7 (23... Bxe4 24. fxe4
Rf4 {is hardly a good idea to play for a win.} 25. Bxf4 exf4 26. Qg4 Qe7 27.
Rf3 Be5 28. Rcf1 $16 {and then Rh3 with h5 to follow.}) 24. Kg2 b6 25. Qe2 Raf8
26. Rh1 Kg8 27. a3 Rb8 {[%cal Gb6b5] Preparing b5. So} 28. a4 Rbf8 29. Qd1 Rb8
30. Qd3 {Neither side can make progress and so a draw was agreed. An
interesting game, which however leaves many questions open. Hopefully we'll
see more games on the subject.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2006.08.02"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Volokitin, Andrei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B60"]
[WhiteElo "2662"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[Annotator "Kritz,L"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2006.07.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "17"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 g6 $5 {A rare but
interesting move! Black avoids the Rauser and transposes to a hybrid of the
Dragon. Of course the only problem is the capture on f6. Ein seltener, aber
interessanter Zug! Schwarz vermeidet Rauser und geht in einen Hybrid mit der
Drachen-Variante über. Das einzige Problem ist natürlich das Nehmen auf f6.} 7.
Bxf6 $1 {Der einzige Zug, der es erlaubt, um Eröffnungsvorteil zu kämpfen.} (7.
Be2 $6 {lets Black achieve complete counterplay. erlaubt Schwarz ein
vollkommenes Gegenspiel zu bekommen:} Bg7 8. Nb3 a6 9. O-O b5 10. a3 Bb7 $132)
(7. Bb5 Bd7 8. Bxf6 exf6 {leads to lines which can also occur after 7.Bxf6.
führt zu Varianten, die auch nach 7.Bxf6 entstehen können.}) 7... exf6 8. Bc4
$1 {This move has the incredible statistic of 100%! It also looks very logical
- White takes control of the d5-square. Other moves to consider are: Dieser
Zug hat eine unglaubliche Statistik von 100%! Er sieht auch sehr logisch aus -
Weiß übernimmt die Kontrolle über das Feld d5. Andere Züge, die in Betracht
kommen, sind:} (8. Bb5 Bd7 9. O-O Bg7 10. Nde2 Be6 11. Qd2 O-O 12. Rad1 f5 $132
{The black-squared bishop is good compensation for the weka pawn on d6. Der
schwarzfeldrige Läufer ist eine gute Kompensation für den schwachen Bauern d6.}
) (8. Qd2 Bg7 9. O-O-O O-O 10. Ndb5 f5 $1 $132 {The same is true here: the
g7-bishop compensates for the loss of the d6-pawn. Das Gleiche gilt auch hier
- der Läufer g7 kompensiert den Verlust des d6-Bauern.}) 8... Bg7 9. Ndb5 O-O
10. Qxd6 (10. O-O $5 f5 {Black's plan remains the same - the f6-pawn advances
and the g7-bishop enters the the fray forcibly. Der schwarze Plan ist immer
wieder derselbe - der f6 Bauer rückt nach vorne und der Läufer g7 kommt mit
aller Kraft ins Spiel.} 11. exf5 Ne5 12. Bb3 Bxf5 13. Nxd6 (13. Qxd6 a6 14.
Qxd8 Raxd8 15. Nc7 Nc6 $44) 13... Bg4 14. f3 Qb6+ 15. Kh1 Rad8 16. fxg4 Rxd6
$44) 10... f5 {The most principled continuation. Die prinzipiellste
Fortsetzung.} (10... a6 {leads to a position with a pawn down and no real
compensation. führt zur Stellung mit einem Minusbauern und ohne wesentliche
Kompensation.} 11. Qxd8 Rxd8 12. Nc7 Ra7 (12... Rb8 13. Bd3 f5 14. O-O-O Bxc3
15. bxc3 fxe4 16. Bxe4 Bd7 17. Rd6 $16) 13. N7d5 b5 14. Bd3 $14) 11. O-O-O Qa5
(11... Qg5+ 12. f4 Qxg2 (12... Qh6 13. Qd2 fxe4 14. Nxe4 Bg4 15. Rde1 Rad8 16.
Nbd6 $16) 13. e5 Bh6 14. Rhf1 Qxh2 15. Kb1 $16 {Black simply has no more good
moves. Schwarz hat einfach keine guten Züge mehr.}) (11... Qxd6 12. Nxd6 Bxc3
13. bxc3 fxe4 14. Nxe4 $16 {Es gibt kein gutes Feld für den Läufer c8.}) 12.
Qc7 $1 {A very strong move which apparently brings this line to an end. White
must of course exchange queens to save his king - if this happens without any
material losses, then Black does not have enough for the sacrificed pawn. Sehr
starker Zug, der anscheinend diese Variante schließt. Weiß muss natürlich die
Damen tauschen, um seinen König abzusichern - wenn dies ohne materiellen
Verluste gelingt, dann hat Schwarz nicht genug für den geopferten Bauern.} fxe4
(12... Bxc3 {This would be the best attempt to refutre the move 12.Qc7, but it
too fails: Das wäre wohl der beste Versuch, den Zug 12.Qc7 zu widerlegen, aber
auch er scheitert:} 13. bxc3 Qa4 (13... fxe4 14. Qxa5 Nxa5 15. Bd5 Bg4 (15...
Bf5 16. Nd6 $16) 16. Rd4 Be6 17. Bxe4 Bxa2 18. Ra4 $18) 14. Nd6 Be6 (14... Qa3+
15. Kb1 Be6 16. Bb3 $16 {The white knight on d6 is decisively disrupting the
cooperation of the black pieces. der weiße Springer d6 stört entscheidend das
Zusammenspiel der schwarzen Figuren.}) 15. Bb3 (15. Bxe6 $5 fxe6 16. exf5 exf5
17. Kb1 Rad8 18. h4 $1 $36) 15... Bxb3 16. axb3 Qa1+ 17. Kd2 Qa3 18. b4 $3 Qa2
(18... Rad8 19. Ra1 $18) 19. Qxb7 Ne5 20. Qd5 $1 Qxd5+ 21. exd5 Rfd8 22. Nb7
Rxd5+ 23. Ke2 $18) 13. Qxa5 Nxa5 14. Bd5 Bg4 15. Rde1 $14 {Now the position
has been simplified. White wins back the e4-pawn and with no queens on the
board Black may still have compensation in the shape of the bishop pair, but
no more than enough for a draw. In my opinion White's position is preferable.
Nun hat sich die Stellung vereinfacht. Den Bauern e4 gewinnt Weiß zurück und
ohne Damen hat Schwarz zwar immer noch Kompensation aufgrund des Läuferpaars,
die kann aber höchstens zum Ausgleich reichen. Aus meiner Sicht ist die weiße
Stellung vorzuziehen.} Rad8 16. Rxe4 Bf5 17. Ra4 b6 18. Rd1 a6 19. Nd4 Bd7 20.
Rb4 b5 21. Nf3 Nc6 22. Re4 b4 23. Bxc6 Bxc6 24. Rxb4 Bh6+ 25. Kb1 Rxd1+ 26.
Nxd1 Bxf3 27. gxf3 Rd8 28. Nc3 Rd2 29. a4 Rxf2 30. Rb6 a5 31. Nd5 Rxh2 32. Rb5
Bd2 33. c4 h5 34. c5 Rh1+ 35. Kc2 Bh6 36. f4 Bf8 37. Rb8 Rh2+ 38. Kd3 Rh3+ 39.
Kc4 1-0

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2006.08.03"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bruzon Batista, Lazaro"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2667"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2006.07.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "17"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 d6 7. c3 O-O 8. Nbd2
b5 9. Bc2 Bb7 10. Re1 Re8 11. Nf1 Bf8 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bh4 Nb8 14. Ne3 Nbd7 15.
a4 g6 16. b4 Bg7 17. Bb3 c6 18. g4 Qc8 19. g5 Nh7 20. gxh6 Bxh6 21. Kh1 Ndf6
22. Rg1 Kf8 23. Ng5 Nxg5 24. Bxg5 Bxg5 25. Rxg5 Qh3 26. Rg3 Qh5 27. Qf1 Ke7 28.
f4 Rh8 29. Ra2 Rh7 30. f5 g5 31. Qg2 c5 32. axb5 axb5 33. Rxa8 Bxa8 34. Qa2 c4
35. Bd1 Qh4 36. Qa7+ Kf8 37. Qxa8+ Kg7 38. Nf1 cxd3 39. Bf3 d2 40. Kg1 Nxe4 41.
Qd5 Nxg3 42. f6+ Kxf6 43. Qxd6+ Kg7 44. Qxe5+ f6 45. Qe7+ Kg6 46. Qe8+ Kg7 47.
hxg3 Qc4 48. Qe7+ Kg8 49. Qd8+ 1-0

[Event "Amsterdam NH Hotels 1st"]
[Site "Amsterdam"]
[Date "2006.08.19"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ljubojevic, Ljubomir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2551"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2006.08.19"]
[EventType "schev"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 a6 8. Qd2 b5
9. a3 g5 10. fxg5 cxd4 11. Bxd4 Bg7 12. O-O-O Bb7 13. Re1 Rc8 14. Ne2 Qc7 15.
Kb1 Ndxe5 16. Nxe5 Nxd4 17. Nxd4 Bxe5 18. c3 Kd7 19. g3 Rce8 20. Bh3 Kc8 21.
Rhf1 Bd6 22. Rf6 Kb8 23. Ref1 Rhf8 24. Rh6 Rh8 25. Bg4 e5 26. Nc2 d4 27. cxd4
exd4 28. Bf5 Bf8 29. Rxh7 Rxh7 30. Bxh7 Bg7 31. Bd3 Re7 32. Qf2 Qd6 33. Re1 Be5
34. Re2 Ka7 35. Qe1 Bf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amsterdam NH Hotels 1st"]
[Site "Amsterdam"]
[Date "2006.08.20"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Nunn, John DM"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2617"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[PlyCount "156"]
[EventDate "2006.08.19"]
[EventType "schev"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. O-O Nge7 5. c3 a6 6. Ba4 b5 7. Bc2 d5 8. e5 d4
9. Be4 d3 10. c4 b4 11. Qb3 Bb7 12. Qxd3 Qxd3 13. Bxd3 O-O-O 14. Be4 Nd4 15.
Bxb7+ Kxb7 16. Nxd4 Rxd4 17. d3 Rxd3 18. Nd2 Nc6 19. f4 Be7 20. b3 a5 21. Ne4
a4 22. Nf2 Rc3 23. Ne4 Rc2 24. Be3 Kb6 25. Rf2 Rxf2 26. Kxf2 Ra8 27. Rd1 axb3
28. axb3 Ra3 29. Rd3 f6 30. exf6 gxf6 31. g4 f5 32. gxf5 exf5 33. Ng3 Bh4 34.
Rd5 Rxb3 35. Rxc5 Rc3 36. Rxf5+ Ka6 37. Ke2 Rxc4 38. Rc5 Nd4+ 39. Bxd4 Rxd4 40.
Ke3 b3 41. Rc1 Rb4 42. Ne4 b2 43. Rb1 Kb5 44. f5 Kc4 45. f6 Kb3 46. f7 Be7 47.
Kd3 Rb8 48. Nd2+ Ka2 49. Re1 Rd8+ 50. Kc4 Ba3 51. Re2 Rd7 52. Rf2 Bf8 53. Kc3
Bg7+ 54. Kc4 Rc7+ 55. Kd3 Rd7+ 56. Ke4 Rd4+ 57. Kf5 Rd6 58. f8=Q Bxf8 59. Nc4
Kb3 60. Rxb2+ Kxc4 61. Rb8 Rd5+ 62. Ke4 Bd6 63. Rc8+ Bc5 64. Rc7 Rh5 65. Kf3
Rxh2 66. Kg3 Rh6 67. Kg2 Kd5 68. Rc8 Bd6 69. Ra8 Ke4 70. Ra1 Rh2+ 71. Kg1 Rd2
72. Rb1 Bf4 73. Kh1 Kf3 74. Rf1+ Kg4 75. Re1 Kh3 76. Kg1 Bg3 77. Rf1 Rg2+ 78.
Kh1 Bf2 0-1

[Event "Amsterdam NH Hotels 1st"]
[Site "Amsterdam"]
[Date "2006.08.21"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Jussupow, Artur"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C09"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2617"]
[PlyCount "138"]
[EventDate "2006.08.19"]
[EventType "schev"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 Nc6 5. exd5 exd5 6. Bb5 Bd6 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8.
Nb3 Bd6 9. O-O Nge7 10. Re1 O-O 11. Bd3 h6 12. h3 Nf5 13. c3 Qf6 14. Bc2 Rd8
15. Qd3 g6 16. Bd2 a5 17. Be3 Nxe3 18. Rxe3 Bf5 19. Qd1 Be4 20. a4 Bf4 21. Re1
Bc7 22. Nbd4 Bxf3 23. Qxf3 Qxf3 24. Nxf3 Bb6 25. Rad1 Rd6 26. Rd2 Rad8 27. Red1
Bc5 28. Kf1 d4 29. Be4 dxc3 30. bxc3 Rxd2 31. Rxd2 Rxd2 32. Nxd2 Nd8 33. Nb3
Bb6 34. Ke2 Kf8 35. f3 Ne6 36. Bxb7 Nc5 37. Nxc5 Bxc5 38. Kd3 Ke7 39. Kc4 Kd6
40. Bd5 f6 41. Be4 g5 42. Kb5 h5 43. Kxa5 h4 44. Kb5 Bg1 45. a5 Bf2 46. a6 Ba7
47. f4 gxf4 48. Kc4 Ke5 49. Bf3 Bg1 50. Kd3 Ba7 51. Bb7 Bb6 52. Ke2 Ba7 53. Kf3
f5 54. Ke2 Bb6 55. Kd3 Ba7 56. Kc4 Kd6 57. Bf3 Bg1 58. Kb5 Ba7 59. Bh5 Be3 60.
Bg6 f3 61. gxf3 f4 62. Be4 Ba7 63. c4 Bg1 64. a7 Bxa7 65. Ka6 Bc5 66. Kb7 Bd4
67. Kc8 Bb6 68. Bd5 Ba5 69. Be4 Bb6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amsterdam NH Hotels 1st"]
[Site "Amsterdam"]
[Date "2006.08.22"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Beliavsky, Alexander G"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E55"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[PlyCount "35"]
[EventDate "2006.08.19"]
[EventType "schev"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 c5 7. O-O dxc4 8. Bxc4
Nbd7 9. a3 Ba5 10. Bd2 b6 11. Qb1 Bxc3 12. Bxc3 Bb7 13. Rd1 Qc7 14. dxc5 Qxc5
15. Be2 Rfd8 16. Qd3 Qf8 17. Qc4 Ne4 18. Bb4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amsterdam NH Hotels 1st"]
[Site "Amsterdam"]
[Date "2006.08.23"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Andersson, Ulf"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C10"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2542"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2006.08.19"]
[EventType "schev"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Bg5 Be7 7. Nxf6+ Nxf6
8. Bd3 c5 9. dxc5 Qa5+ 10. c3 Qxc5 11. O-O Bd7 12. Re1 Ng4 13. Bxe7 Qxf2+ 14.
Kh1 Kxe7 15. Re2 Qc5 16. Qe1 Rad8 17. Qh4+ Nf6 18. Nd4 Bc6 19. Rf1 Rhg8 20. Qg3
Kd7 21. Bxh7 Rh8 22. Bg6 1-0

[Event "Amsterdam NH Hotels 1st"]
[Site "Amsterdam"]
[Date "2006.08.25"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Ljubojevic, Ljubomir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A58"]
[WhiteElo "2551"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2006.08.19"]
[EventType "schev"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bxa6 7. Nf3 Bg7 8. g3
d6 9. Bg2 Nbd7 10. O-O Nb6 11. Ne1 O-O 12. Nc2 Nc4 13. Ne3 Qb6 14. Qc2 Rfb8 15.
b3 Nxe3 16. Bxe3 Ng4 17. Bd2 c4 18. h3 cxb3 19. axb3 Ne5 20. Ra4 Nd7 21. b4 Qb7
22. Rb1 Qc8 23. b5 Bxc3 24. Qxc3 Rxb5 25. Rxb5 Bxb5 26. Qxc8+ Rxc8 27. Ra7 f6
28. Rb7 Rb8 29. Rxb8+ Nxb8 30. e4 Nd7 31. f3 f5 32. Kf2 fxe4 33. fxe4 Kf7 34.
Ke3 Ne5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amsterdam NH Hotels 1st"]
[Site "Amsterdam"]
[Date "2006.08.26"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nunn, John DM"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2617"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2006.08.19"]
[EventType "schev"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bc4
O-O 9. O-O Be6 10. Bb3 Nc6 11. Qe2 Na5 12. Rfd1 Nxb3 13. cxb3 Qe8 14. Ne1 h6
15. Nc2 Qd7 16. Nb4 Rfc8 17. f3 Bd8 18. Rd3 a5 19. Nbd5 Nxd5 20. Nxd5 a4 21.
bxa4 Rxa4 22. b3 Ra6 23. Rad1 Ra5 24. Nb6 Bxb6 25. Bxb6 Ra6 26. Rxd6 Qe7 27.
Qb2 Qg5 28. a4 h5 29. a5 h4 30. b4 Raa8 31. Qd2 Qxd2 32. R1xd2 Rc4 33. Bc5 Rc8
34. Rb6 Rc7 35. Kf2 Kh7 36. Bd6 Rd7 37. Ke3 f6 38. Bxe5 fxe5 39. Rxe6 Rxd2 40.
Kxd2 Rxb4 41. Rxe5 Rb2+ 42. Kc3 Rxg2 43. Rh5+ Kg6 44. Rxh4 Ra2 45. Kb4 1-0

[Event "Amsterdam NH Hotels 1st"]
[Site "Amsterdam"]
[Date "2006.08.27"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Jussupow, Artur"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E55"]
[WhiteElo "2617"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2006.08.19"]
[EventType "schev"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 c5 7. O-O dxc4 8. Bxc4
Nbd7 9. a3 Ba5 10. Bd2 cxd4 11. exd4 Bxc3 12. bxc3 b6 13. Qe2 Bb7 14. Bd3 Qc7
15. Rfe1 Rfe8 16. c4 Rad8 17. Bg5 Nf8 18. Bxf6 gxf6 19. Be4 Bxe4 20. Qxe4 Qxc4
21. Qg4+ Kh8 22. Qh4 Kg7 23. Qg4+ Ng6 24. h4 Kh8 25. h5 Ne7 26. Rac1 Qd5 27.
Qh4 Qf5 28. Rc7 Rg8 29. Nh2 Nd5 30. Rxf7 a5 31. g3 b5 32. Qe4 Qxh5 33. Qxe6 b4
34. axb4 axb4 35. Re7 Qg6 36. Rd7 Nf4 37. Qd6 Nh3+ 38. Kg2 Rxd7 39. Qxd7 Nxf2
40. Nf1 Nd3 41. Re3 b3 42. Qd6 b2 43. Nd2 h6 44. Kg1 Qf5 45. Kh1 Nf2+ 46. Kg2
Ne4 47. Rxe4 b1=Q 48. Rf4 Qb7+ 0-1

[Event "Amsterdam NH Hotels 1st"]
[Site "Amsterdam"]
[Date "2006.08.28"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Beliavsky, Alexander G"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2625"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2006.08.19"]
[EventType "schev"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 d6 7. c3 O-O 8. Nbd2
Nd7 9. Bc2 Bf6 10. Nc4 Ne7 11. Ne3 g6 12. d4 Bg7 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Nxe5 dxe5
15. Bb3 Bd7 16. Ng4 Kh8 17. Nh6 Be8 18. Qf3 Nc8 19. Qg3 Nd6 20. Re1 Bc6 21. f3
Qe7 22. Ng4 Rae8 23. Ne3 f5 24. Nd5 Qd7 25. Qh4 fxe4 26. fxe4 Bxd5 27. Bxd5 Bf6
28. Qg3 c6 29. Bb3 Bd8 30. Qd3 Bb6+ 31. Kh1 Qg4 32. Be3 Bxe3 33. Qxe3 Rf4 34.
Bd1 Qg5 35. Qd3 Rf2 36. Bf3 Rd2 37. Qf1 Rxb2 38. Rad1 Rd8 39. c4 Kg7 40. Qd3
Nf7 41. Qa3 Rdd2 42. Rxd2 Qxd2 43. Rd1 Rxa2 44. Qe7 Qc3 45. h4 Ra1 46. Rxa1
Qxa1+ 47. Kh2 b5 48. c5 Qc1 49. h5 b4 50. Bg4 Qf4+ 51. Kh3 Kh6 52. Qf8+ Kg5 53.
Qe7+ Qf6 54. Qd7 Kh6 55. hxg6 hxg6 56. Qd2+ Qf4 0-1

[Event "Amsterdam NH Hotels 1st"]
[Site "Amsterdam"]
[Date "2006.08.29"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Andersson, Ulf"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A39"]
[WhiteElo "2542"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2006.08.19"]
[EventType "schev"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 g6 5. O-O Bg7 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 O-O 8.
Nc3 Nxd4 9. Qxd4 d6 10. Qd3 a6 11. Bd2 Rb8 12. Rac1 Bf5 13. e4 Bd7 14. b3 b5
15. Rfd1 bxc4 16. Qxc4 Qb6 17. h3 Rfc8 18. Qe2 h5 19. Be3 Qa5 20. Qd2 Kf8 21.
Ne2 Qxd2 22. Bxd2 Ke8 23. Rxc8+ Rxc8 24. Rc1 Rxc1+ 25. Bxc1 Bb5 26. Nc3 Bd3 27.
Bd2 Kd7 28. f3 Ne8 29. Bf1 Bxf1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Longyearbyen m"]
[Site "Longyearbyen"]
[Date "2006.09.02"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2742"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2006.09.02"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 115"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 d6 7. c3 O-O 8. Nbd2
b5 9. Bc2 Re8 10. Re1 Bf8 11. Nf1 h6 12. d4 g6 13. d5 Nb8 14. b3 c6 15. c4 Qc7
16. Ne3 Nbd7 17. Ba3 Rb8 18. dxc6 Qxc6 19. cxb5 axb5 20. Bb4 Bb7 21. Rc1 Qb6
22. Nd2 Ra8 23. a3 Red8 24. Qf3 Bg7 25. Nb1 Nb8 26. Nc3 Na6 27. Bd3 Nxb4 28.
axb4 Rac8 29. Red1 Rc7 30. Bf1 Rxc3 31. Rxc3 Nxe4 32. Rcd3 Nc3 33. Nd5 Bxd5 34.
Rxd5 e4 35. Qe3 Qxe3 36. fxe3 Nxd1 37. Rxd1 Bc3 38. Bxb5 Bxb4 39. Rd4 Bc5 40.
Rxe4 d5 41. Re8+ Rxe8 42. Bxe8 Bxe3+ 43. Kf1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Longyearbyen m"]
[Site "Longyearbyen"]
[Date "2006.09.02"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2742"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2006.09.02"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 115"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Qc7 5. O-O Nd4 6. Nxd4 cxd4 7. Nd5 Nxd5
8. exd5 a6 9. Ba4 g6 10. d3 h6 11. Qf3 Bg7 12. Bf4 Qa5 13. Rfe1 Qxa4 14. Rxe7+
Kxe7 15. Re1+ Kd8 16. Bd6 Qa5 17. b4 Qb6 18. Qf4 g5 19. Be7+ Ke8 20. Bc5+ Qe6
21. Qd2 d6 22. Bxd6 Kd7 23. dxe6+ Kxd6 24. exf7 Rf8 25. Qe2 Bf6 26. Kf1 Kc7 27.
Qh5 Bf5 28. Qf3 Rxf7 29. Qxf5 Raf8 30. f3 Bg7 31. Qc5+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 1st"]
[Site "Rishon Le Ziyyon"]
[Date "2006.09.07"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sutovsky, Emil"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B93"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2607"]
[PlyCount "130"]
[EventDate "2006.09.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ISR"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bd3 g6 7. f4 Bg7 8. Nf3
Nbd7 9. O-O Nc5 10. Kh1 O-O 11. Qe1 b5 12. a3 e6 13. Qh4 Nfd7 14. Qh3 Nxd3 15.
cxd3 Nc5 16. Rd1 Nb3 17. Rb1 Nd4 18. Nxd4 Bxd4 19. Be3 Qb6 20. Bxd4 Qxd4 21.
Ne2 Qf2 22. Qf3 Qxf3 23. gxf3 Bb7 24. Rdc1 Rac8 25. Kg2 f5 26. Kf2 Kf7 27. Ke3
Ke7 28. Nd4 Kd7 29. h4 Ke7 30. Nb3 Kd7 31. h5 gxh5 32. Rxc8 Rxc8 33. Rh1 Rh8
34. Rxh5 Ke7 35. exf5 exf5 36. Nd4 Bc8 37. Rh6 Bd7 38. b4 Bc8 39. Kf2 Bd7 40.
Kg3 Rg8+ 41. Kf2 Rg7 42. Ne2 Bc8 43. Ng3 Be6 44. Nf1 Bd7 45. Ne3 Be6 46. d4 Rf7
47. d5 Bd7 48. Nc2 Rg7 49. Nd4 Rf7 50. Ke3 Rg7 51. Ne6 Bxe6 52. Rxe6+ Kd7 53.
Rf6 Rg1 54. Rxf5 Ra1 55. Rf7+ Ke8 56. Rxh7 Rxa3+ 57. Ke4 Rb3 58. Kf5 Rxb4 59.
Ke6 Rxf4 60. Ra7 Kd8 61. Kxd6 Rf6+ 62. Kc5 Rxf3 63. Kc6 Rc3+ 64. Kd6 Kc8 65.
Rxa6 Kb7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 1st"]
[Site "Rishon Le Ziyyon"]
[Date "2006.09.07"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Smirin, Ilia"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C90"]
[WhiteElo "2659"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2006.09.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ISR"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. d3
d6 9. c3 Be6 10. Nbd2 Qd7 11. Nf1 Rfe8 12. Ne3 Bf8 13. Bc2 d5 14. Ng5 dxe4 15.
Nxe6 fxe6 16. dxe4 Qxd1 17. Rxd1 Rad8 18. Bd2 Bc5 19. Kf1 Rd6 20. Ke2 Red8 21.
a4 Bb6 22. axb5 axb5 23. f3 Kf7 24. Be1 Rxd1 25. Rxd1 Ra8 26. Bd3 Ra5 27. b4
Ra2+ 28. Rd2 Ra3 29. Bxb5 Rxc3 30. Rd7+ Nxd7 31. Bxc3 Nd4+ 32. Bxd4 exd4 33.
Nc4 Nb8 34. Nxb6 cxb6 35. e5 Kg6 36. Kd3 Kf5 37. Kxd4 Kf4 38. Be8 Na6 39. b5
Nc5 40. Bc6 Nb3+ 41. Kc3 Nc5 42. Kd4 Nb3+ 43. Kc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 1st"]
[Site "Rishon Le Ziyyon"]
[Date "2006.09.07"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2779"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2006.09.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ISR"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4
Rb8 9. axb5 axb5 10. Nc3 d6 11. Nd5 Nxd5 12. Bxd5 Bd7 13. c3 Bf6 14. Be3 b4 15.
Ra6 Ne7 16. Bc4 bxc3 17. bxc3 Bb5 18. Bxb5 Rxb5 19. Qa4 Rb8 20. d4 Ng6 21. Qc6
Ne7 22. Qa4 Ng6 23. d5 Nh4 24. Nxh4 Bxh4 25. Qc6 f5 26. exf5 Rxf5 27. g3 Bg5
28. Bxg5 Rxg5 29. Ra7 Rc8 30. Rfa1 Rf5 31. Ra8 Rf8 32. R8a4 Qf6 33. Rf1 Rf7
1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 1st"]
[Site "Rishon Le Ziyyon"]
[Date "2006.09.07"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A39"]
[WhiteElo "2729"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[PlyCount "145"]
[EventDate "2006.09.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ISR"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. g3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 g6 6. Bg2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8.
Nc3 Nxd4 9. Qxd4 d6 10. Qd3 a6 11. Bg5 Rb8 12. Rac1 Bf5 13. e4 Be6 14. b3 h6
15. Bd2 Kh7 16. Rfd1 Ng4 17. h3 Ne5 18. Qe2 Nc6 19. Be3 Qd7 20. Kh2 Rfc8 21.
Nd5 Bxd5 22. exd5 Nd8 23. Bb6 f5 24. c5 dxc5 25. Bxc5 Bf6 26. d6 e6 27. Bb6
Rxc1 28. Rxc1 Nc6 29. Bc7 Ra8 30. Bxc6 bxc6 31. Qc4 Kg7 32. Qxc6 Qxc6 33. Rxc6
Kf7 34. d7 Bd8 35. b4 Ke7 36. Bxd8+ Rxd8 37. Rxa6 Rxd7 38. b5 Rd2 39. Kg2 g5
40. a4 Rb2 41. b6 e5 42. a5 e4 43. Kf1 f4 44. gxf4 gxf4 45. Ra7+ Kd6 46. b7 f3
47. Kg1 Kc7 48. Ra8 Kxb7 49. Re8 Re2 50. Re6 h5 51. a6+ Ka7 52. h4 Kb8 53. Re7
Ka8 54. a7 Re1+ 55. Kh2 e3 56. Rxe3 Ra1 57. Rxf3 Kxa7 58. Rb3 Ra4 59. Kg3 Rg4+
60. Kh3 Ka6 61. f3 Rg1 62. Rb8 Ka7 63. Rb5 Ka6 64. Rxh5 Kb6 65. Rd5 Kc6 66. Rd2
Rf1 67. Kg4 Rg1+ 68. Kf5 Rh1 69. f4 Rxh4 70. Ke5 Rh1 71. f5 Rf1 72. Ke6 Re1+
73. Kf7 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 1st"]
[Site "Rishon Le Ziyyon"]
[Date "2006.09.07"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gurevich, Dmitry"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B60"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2507"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2006.09.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ISR"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 g6 7. Bxf6 exf6 8.
Bc4 Bg7 9. Ndb5 O-O 10. Qxd6 f5 11. O-O-O Qa5 12. Qc7 Bxc3 13. bxc3 a6 14. Rd8
Qxc7 15. Rxf8+ Kxf8 16. Nxc7 Ra7 17. Bd3 b5 18. Nd5 Be6 19. Kb2 Ne5 20. Nf4 Bc4
21. exf5 g5 22. Re1 Re7 23. Ne6+ Bxe6 24. Rxe5 Bc8 25. Rc5 Bb7 26. f6 Re6 27.
Rxg5 h6 28. Rc5 Rxf6 29. f3 Rd6 30. c4 bxc4 31. Rxc4 Kg7 32. Rb4 Bc8 33. a4 Kf6
34. Rf4+ Ke7 35. Kc3 Rc6+ 36. Rc4 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 1st"]
[Site "Rishon Le Ziyyon"]
[Date "2006.09.07"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2742"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2006.09.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ISR"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3
Bb7 9. d3 Re8 10. c3 h6 11. Nbd2 Bc5 12. Nf1 Bb6 13. Ng3 d5 14. exd5 Na5 15.
Bc2 Qxd5 16. b4 Nc6 17. Bb3 Qd7 18. Nh4 Rad8 19. Nh5 Nxh5 20. Qxh5 Re6 21. Bxe6
Qxe6 22. Be3 Rxd3 23. Bxb6 cxb6 24. Rad1 Rxc3 25. Nf5 Bc8 26. Nd6 Bd7 27. Qxf7+
Qxf7 28. Nxf7 Be6 29. Nxe5 Nxe5 30. Rxe5 Bxa2 31. Rd6 Rc4 32. Rxb6 Rxb4 33.
Rxa6 Bc4 34. Re7 Rb1+ 35. Kh2 b4 36. Raa7 Kf8 37. Rec7 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 1st"]
[Site "Rishon Le Ziyyon"]
[Date "2006.09.07"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gagunashvili, Merab"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2591"]
[PlyCount "130"]
[EventDate "2006.09.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ISR"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bd3 a6 8.
O-O Nxd4 9. Bxd4 Bc5 10. Bxc5 Qxc5 11. Kh1 d6 12. Qe1 e5 13. f3 Be6 14. Na4 Qc6
15. Qb4 O-O 16. c4 Nd7 17. Be2 a5 18. Qa3 Nb6 19. Nxb6 Qxb6 20. Rad1 Rfd8 21.
Rd2 Qc5 22. Qc3 Rac8 23. b3 Qb4 24. Qe3 Qc5 25. Qc3 Qb4 26. Qb2 a4 27. Rfd1 a3
28. Qc1 b5 29. Rc2 bxc4 30. Bxc4 Bxc4 31. bxc4 Rc6 32. Rd3 Ra8 33. h3 h6 34.
Kh2 Qc5 35. Rd5 Qa7 36. Rc3 Qa4 37. Rdd3 Qb4 38. Rb3 Qxc4 39. Rdc3 Qxb3 40.
axb3 a2 41. Rxc6 a1=Q 42. Qxa1 Rxa1 43. Rxd6 Rb1 44. Rb6 g5 45. b4 Kg7 46. b5
h5 47. h4 gxh4 48. Rb8 Kh7 49. b6 Kg7 50. Re8 Rxb6 51. Rxe5 Kg6 52. Kh3 Rb2 53.
Rf5 f6 54. Ra5 Rc2 55. Ra6 Kg5 56. Ra8 Rc1 57. Rg8+ Kf4 58. Kh2 h3 59. Rf8 hxg2
60. Rxf6+ Kg5 61. Rf5+ Kh4 62. Kxg2 Rc2+ 63. Kf1 Kg3 64. Rxh5 Kxf3 65. e5 Rc1#
0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 1st"]
[Site "Rishon Le Ziyyon"]
[Date "2006.09.07"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Polgar, Judit"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2710"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2006.09.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ISR"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bf4 d5 4. e3 Bf5 5. f3 Nf6 6. c4 e6 7. Nc3 Bb4 8. Qb3
Nc6 9. a3 Bxc3+ 10. Qxc3 O-O 11. Ne2 Bg6 12. h4 Re8 13. g4 dxc4 14. e4 Nxe4 15.
fxe4 Bxe4 16. Rh2 Bd3 17. O-O-O Ne7 18. Qd2 Nd5 19. Nc3 Bxf1 20. Rxf1 b5 21. g5
a5 22. Nxb5 Rb8 23. Nc3 Rb3 24. Nxd5 Qxd5 25. Be5 Reb8 26. Qf4 Qd7 27. Rc2 c3
28. bxc3 Rxa3 29. Kd2 a4 30. h5 Rab3 31. h6 Rb2 32. hxg7 Rxc2+ 33. Kxc2 a3 34.
g6 Rb2+ 35. Kc1 hxg6 36. Rh1 Rb1+ 37. Kxb1 Qb5+ 38. Kc2 Qe2+ 39. Kb3 Qb2+ 40.
Kc4 Qe2+ 41. Kb4 Qb2+ 42. Ka4 Qc2+ 43. Kb4 Qb2+ 44. Kc4 Qa2+ 45. Kd3 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 1st"]
[Site "Rishon Le Ziyyon"]
[Date "2006.09.07"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2728"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2006.09.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ISR"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 c5 7. e3 O-O 8. Bd3
c4 9. Bc2 Nbd7 10. O-O Qa5 11. Ne5 Bxc3 12. bxc3 Nxe5 13. dxe5 Ne4 14. Be7 Re8
15. Bb4 Qc7 16. Qxd5 Rxe5 17. Qd4 Bf5 18. Rad1 Ree8 19. Qd5 Bg6 20. Bxe4 Bxe4
21. Qd6 Qc8 22. f3 Bd3 23. Rfe1 a5 24. Ba3 Ra6 25. Qf4 Rf6 26. Qh4 b5 27. Qf2
Rb6 28. e4 Rc6 29. Rd2 h6 30. h3 Rg6 31. Kh1 Rc6 32. e5 Qf5 33. Qg3 Rg6 34. Qh2
Rge6 35. f4 Rg6 36. Kg1 b4 37. cxb4 c3 38. Rf2 axb4 39. Bxb4 c2 40. Bd2 Rb8 41.
g4 Rb1 42. Bc1 Qe4 43. Rff1 Qd4+ 44. Qf2 Qc4 45. f5 Rc6 46. e6 Bxf1 47. e7 Rc8
48. Qxf1 Qxf1+ 49. Kxf1 Re8 50. a4 Rxe7 51. Rxe7 Rxc1+ 52. Kf2 Ra1 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 1st"]
[Site "Rishon Le Ziyyon"]
[Date "2006.09.07"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Erenburg, Sergey"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2585"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2006.09.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ISR"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Bd3 Nf6 6. O-O Be7 7. h3 O-O 8.
c3 b6 9. Bc2 Bb7 10. Re1 Nbd7 11. d4 Re8 12. Nbd2 Bf8 13. Rxe8 Qxe8 14. Nf1 Be4
15. Bf4 Bxc2 16. Qxc2 Qe4 17. Qd2 b5 18. Bg3 Nd5 19. Re1 Qf5 20. Qe2 a6 21. Ne3
Nxe3 22. fxe3 Qd5 23. b3 f5 24. c4 bxc4 25. bxc4 Qe4 26. Ng5 Qe7 27. Nf3 Re8
28. Qc2 Qf7 29. Bh4 h6 30. Bf2 Nf6 31. Qxf5 Qxc4 32. Qb1 Ne4 33. Rc1 Rb8 34.
Rxc4 Rxb1+ 35. Be1 c5 36. dxc5 Nxc5 37. Rc2 Nd3 38. Kf1 Nb4 39. Rd2 Ra1 40. Ke2
Rxa2 41. Rxa2 Nxa2 42. Kd3 d5 43. Kd4 Nb4 44. Bxb4 Bxb4 45. Kxd5 a5 46. Kc4 Kf7
47. e4 Ke6 48. Kb5 Kd6 49. Nd4 Ke5 50. Nf5 Bf8 51. Kxa5 Kxe4 52. Ng3+ Ke3 53.
Nh5 g6 54. Nf6 Bg7 55. Ng4+ Kf4 56. Kb4 h5 57. Nf2 Kg3 58. Nd3 g5 59. Nc5 Bf8
0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 1st"]
[Site "Rishon Le Ziyyon"]
[Date "2006.09.07"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Roiz, Michael"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E62"]
[WhiteElo "2611"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[PlyCount "24"]
[EventDate "2006.09.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ISR"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O O-O 5. d4 d6 6. c4 c6 7. Nc3 Qb6 8. b3
Qa5 9. Bb2 Qh5 10. e4 Bg4 11. Qd3 Nbd7 12. Rfe1 e5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 1st"]
[Site "Rishon Le Ziyyon"]
[Date "2006.09.07"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Zoler, Dan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2455"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2006.09.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ISR"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4
g5 9. Bg3 Bg7 10. h3 Ne5 11. f3 Nbc6 12. Bf2 Bd7 13. Qd2 Rc8 14. Be2 b5 15. h4
gxh4 16. Rxh4 Ng6 17. Rh1 b4 18. Nd5 e6 19. Nxc6 Bxc6 20. Nxb4 Bxb2 21. Rb1 Be5
22. Bxa6 Bb7 23. Bb5+ Kf8 24. Bd4 Bf4 25. Qe2 e5 26. Bf2 h5 27. a4 h4 28. Nd3
Qa5+ 29. Kf1 Kg7 30. c4 Bc6 31. Nxf4 Nxf4 32. Qe1 Qxe1+ 33. Bxe1 h3 34. gxh3
Nxh3 35. a5 Ba8 36. Rb2 Nf4 37. Rbh2 Rxh2 38. Rxh2 f5 39. Bb4 fxe4 40. Bxd6 Kf6
41. fxe4 Bxe4 42. a6 Bd3+ 43. Ke1 Bxc4 44. Bxc4 Rxc4 45. a7 Ra4 46. Rh7 Ke6 47.
Bb8 Nd3+ 48. Kd2 e4 49. Ke3 Nc5 50. Rh6+ Kd5 51. Rh5+ Kc4 52. Bd6 Nb7 53. Bb8
Nc5 54. Bd6 Nb7 55. Bb8 Nc5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 1st"]
[Site "Rishon Le Ziyyon"]
[Date "2006.09.07"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Bacrot, Etienne"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A58"]
[WhiteElo "2707"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2006.09.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ISR"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bxa6 7. Nf3 d6 8. g3
Nbd7 9. Bg2 Bg7 10. Rb1 Nb6 11. b3 Bc8 12. Nd2 Bf5 13. e4 Bc8 14. O-O Ba6 15.
Re1 Nfd7 16. Bb2 O-O 17. Nf3 Ne5 18. Nxe5 Bxe5 19. Qd2 Nd7 20. Nd1 Qb6 21. Kh1
c4 22. bxc4 Bxc4 23. Ne3 Qa6 24. Bd4 Qxa2 25. Rb2 Qa6 26. Rc1 Rfc8 27. Ng4 Bxd4
28. Qxd4 f6 29. Rbc2 Bb3 30. Rxc8+ Rxc8 31. Rxc8+ Qxc8 32. Qb2 Nc5 33. Ne3 Qa6
34. h4 Qd3 35. h5 Nxe4 36. hxg6 hxg6 37. Kh2 Nc5 38. Qa3 Qa6 39. Qb4 Qb7 40.
Qg4 Kf7 41. Qh4 Kg7 42. Qg4 Qd7 43. Qb4 Qa4 44. Qb8 Qd4 45. Qd8 Qe5 46. Bh3 f5
47. Bg2 Ne4 48. Bxe4 Qxe4 49. Qd7 Kf7 50. Qb5 Ba2 51. Qa5 Bb1 52. Ng2 Qf3 53.
Qe1 Be4 54. Nh4 Qh5 55. f3 Bxd5 56. Qe3 g5 57. Qd3 Be6 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 1st"]
[Site "Rishon Le Ziyyon"]
[Date "2006.09.07"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Livshits, Gaby"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B35"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2406"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2006.09.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ISR"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 Bg7 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nc6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O 8.
Bb3 a5 9. O-O a4 10. Nxa4 Nxe4 11. Nb5 d5 12. c3 e6 13. Nc5 Nd6 14. Nxd6 Qxd6
15. Qd2 Rd8 16. Rad1 b6 17. Ne4 Qc7 18. Ng5 Ne5 19. f4 Nc4 20. Bxc4 Qxc4 21. a3
Qc7 22. Qf2 Rb8 23. Rfe1 Ba6 24. Bd4 Bxd4 25. Rxd4 h6 26. Nf3 Qe7 27. Ne5 Rbc8
28. Qg3 Kh7 29. Re3 Qf6 30. Ng4 Qf5 31. h3 Rc4 32. Qh4 Rxd4 33. cxd4 Rh8 34.
Re5 Qb1+ 35. Re1 Qf5 36. Nxh6 Qh5 37. Qxh5 gxh5 38. Nxf7 Rc8 39. Rxe6 Rc2 40.
Ng5+ Kg7 41. f5 Bb5 42. f6+ Kf8 43. Rxb6 Rc1+ 44. Kh2 Bd7 45. Rb8+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 1st"]
[Site "Rishon Le Ziyyon"]
[Date "2006.09.07"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2709"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2006.09.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ISR"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 114 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. c3 d5 5. Bxc6+ bxc6 6. Qa4 Nf6 7. e5 Nd7 8. d3
Qb6 9. O-O Ba6 10. c4 Be7 11. Qc2 O-O 12. b3 f6 13. exf6 Bxf6 14. Nc3 Rae8 15.
Re1 Bxc3 16. Qxc3 d4 17. Qc2 e5 18. Bd2 Bc8 19. Re2 e4 20. Rxe4 Rxe4 21. dxe4
Qd8 22. Qd3 Qe7 23. Re1 Nf6 24. h3 Be6 25. Re2 Nd7 26. Bc1 h6 27. Nh2 Ne5 28.
Qg3 Qf6 29. f4 Nd7 30. f5 d3 31. Qxd3 Ne5 32. Qg3 Bxf5 33. exf5 Qxf5 34. Qxe5
1-0

[Event "NOR-ch playoff"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2006.09.19"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Agdestein, Simen"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D27"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2575"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2006.09.19"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 115"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 c5 6. O-O a6 7. Bb3 Be7 8. Nc3
O-O 9. Qe2 b5 10. dxc5 Bb7 11. e4 Nfd7 12. Bf4 Nxc5 13. Rfd1 Qa5 14. Bc2 b4 15.
Nb1 b3 16. Bd3 bxa2 17. Nc3 Nxd3 18. Rxd3 Rd8 19. Rxa2 Qb6 20. Rxd8+ Qxd8 21.
Ra1 Nc6 22. Rd1 Qe8 23. Bd6 Rd8 24. Bxe7 Qxe7 25. Rxd8+ Qxd8 26. Qc4 Qd6 27. h3
h6 28. Qe2 Nd4 29. Nxd4 Qxd4 30. Kf1 g5 31. f3 Kg7 32. Qf2 Qd6 33. Qa7 Bc8 34.
Qe3 e5 35. Ne2 Qd1+ 36. Kf2 Qc2 37. b4 Be6 38. Qc3 Qxc3 39. Nxc3 h5 40. Ke3
1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-ch playoff"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2006.09.20"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Agdestein, Simen"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A31"]
[WhiteElo "2575"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2006.09.19"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 115"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 d6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Bd7 8. Nc2
Bg7 9. b3 O-O 10. Bb2 Qa5 11. Qd2 Bf5 12. Rb1 d5 13. cxd5 Bxc2 14. Qxc2 Nxd5
15. Bxd5 Nb4 16. Qd2 Rad8 17. e4 e6 18. a3 exd5 19. axb4 Qxb4 20. e5 Bxe5 21.
O-O d4 22. Ne4 Qxb3 23. Nc5 Qd5 24. Nd3 Bg7 25. Ra1 a6 26. Ra5 Qb3 27. Ra3 Qb5
28. Nf4 Rfe8 29. Rd3 Re4 30. Rd1 Qc4 31. Qa5 Qc8 32. Rc1 Qd7 33. Rc7 Qe8 34.
Rxb7 Re5 35. Qc7 Re1+ 36. Kg2 g5 37. Nh3 Bf6 38. Rf3 g4 39. Rf4 gxh3+ 40. Kxh3
Re6 41. Rg4+ Bg7 42. Bxd4 Rh6+ 43. Kg2 Rg6 44. Rxg6 hxg6 45. Bxg7 Qe4+ 46. Kh3
Qf5+ 47. Kg2 1/2-1/2

[Event "NOR-ch playoff"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2006.09.21"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Agdestein, Simen"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2575"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2006.09.19"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 115"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e3 Bb4 5. Nd5 Be7 6. a3 e4 7. Ng1 O-O 8. Qc2
Re8 9. Ne2 Ne5 10. Nxf6+ Bxf6 11. Nc3 d5 12. cxd5 Bf5 13. Nxe4 Bh4 14. Qa4 Qxd5
15. Nc3 Qd8 16. d4 Nd3+ 17. Bxd3 Bxd3 18. Bd2 b5 19. Qb3 Qxd4 20. O-O-O Qc5 21.
g3 Bc4 22. Qc2 Bf6 23. Kb1 a5 24. f3 Rad8 25. Ka1 b4 26. Ne4 Rxe4 27. Qxe4 Bd3
28. Rc1 Qxc1+ 29. Bxc1 Bxe4 30. fxe4 bxa3 31. h4 h5 32. Rf1 Be5 33. Rg1 f6 0-1

[Event "NOR-ch playoff"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2006.09.21"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Agdestein, Simen"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C76"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2575"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2006.09.19"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 115"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. c3 a6 5. Ba4 d6 6. d4 Bd7 7. dxe5 b5 8. Bb3
dxe5 9. Qd5 Qf6 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Qxa8+ Ke7 12. Be3 Bc6 13. Bc5+ Kd7 14. Qxf8
Nh6 15. Qxh6 Nd3+ 16. Ke2 Nxc5 17. f3 Re8 18. Nd2 Kc8 19. Qe3 Qe7 20. Rhd1 f5
21. Kf1 g5 22. Kg1 f4 23. Qe2 h5 24. Bc2 Nd7 25. a4 Ne5 26. axb5 axb5 27. Nb3
g4 28. Nd4 Qc5 29. Kh1 1-0

[Event "Cap d'Agde-B"]
[Site "Cap d'Agde"]
[Date "2006.10.27"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Karpov, Anatoly"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A39"]
[WhiteElo "2668"]
[BlackElo "2698"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2006.10.27"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 115"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. O-O Nc6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 O-O 8.
Nc3 Ng4 9. e3 d6 10. h3 Nge5 11. b3 Nxd4 12. exd4 Nc6 13. Be3 Bd7 14. Qd2 Qa5
15. Rfd1 Rac8 16. Rac1 Rfe8 17. d5 Nb4 18. Nb1 b6 19. a3 Na6 20. b4 Qa4 21. Bd4
Bxd4 22. Qxd4 b5 23. Qxa7 Nc5 24. Qxa4 Nxa4 25. cxb5 Nb2 26. Re1 Nd3 27. Rxc8
Rxc8 28. Rd1 Nb2 29. Re1 Nd3 30. Rd1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Cap d'Agde-B"]
[Site "Cap d'Agde"]
[Date "2006.10.27"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Volokitin, Andrei"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E61"]
[WhiteElo "2698"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2006.10.27"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 115"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 d6 3. Nf3 g6 4. Nc3 Bf5 5. g3 Ne4 6. Nd2 Nxc3 7. bxc3 c5 8. Bg2
Nc6 9. Nb3 Bg7 10. O-O O-O 11. Be3 Na5 12. Nxa5 Qxa5 13. Bxb7 Rab8 14. Bf3 Qxc3
15. Rc1 Qa5 16. dxc5 dxc5 17. Qd2 Qxd2 18. Bxd2 Rb2 19. Be3 Rc8 20. a4 Ra2 21.
Bb7 Rc7 22. Bf3 Rxa4 23. g4 Be6 24. Rfd1 Rc8 25. Bb7 Rb8 26. Bf3 Ra5 27. Bf4
Rc8 28. h3 Bb2 29. Rb1 Bc3 30. Bb7 Rf8 31. Bd5 Bxd5 32. Rxd5 Bb4 33. Rbd1 f6
34. Rd7 Re8 35. Rc7 Ra2 36. e3 a5 37. Rdd7 Be1 38. Rxe7 Bxf2+ 39. Kf1 Rxe7 40.
Rxe7 Bh4 41. Bh6 Bg5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Cap d'Agde-B"]
[Site "Cap d'Agde"]
[Date "2006.10.28"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Zhao, Xue"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2467"]
[BlackElo "2698"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2006.10.27"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 115"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. a3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bd2 Nd7 8. Qc2
Be7 9. e4 Nxc3 10. Bxc3 O-O 11. Rd1 Rc8 12. Bc4 Nf6 13. d5 exd5 14. Bxf6 Bxf6
15. Bxd5 Bxd5 16. Rxd5 Qe7 17. O-O Rfd8 18. Rfd1 Rxd5 19. Rxd5 c6 20. Rd1 g6
21. g3 Bg7 22. Kg2 c5 23. Rd5 Qe6 24. Ng5 Qc6 25. Qd2 h6 26. Nf3 Re8 27. Qc2
Qe6 28. Nd2 f5 29. f3 fxe4 30. fxe4 Qg4 31. Qc4 Kh7 32. e5 Qxc4 33. Nxc4 b5 34.
Nd6 Rxe5 35. Rxe5 Bxe5 36. Nxb5 Bxb2 37. a4 c4 38. Kf3 a6 39. Ke4 axb5 40. a5
c3 0-1

[Event "Cap d'Agde-B"]
[Site "Cap d'Agde"]
[Date "2006.10.28"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2698"]
[BlackElo "2579"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2006.10.27"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 115"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Bd3 Nf6 8.
O-O Ne5 9. h3 Bc5 10. Kh1 d6 11. f4 Ng6 12. Qe1 O-O 13. f5 Ne5 14. Qh4 b5 15.
Rf3 exf5 16. exf5 Nxf3 17. gxf3 Bb7 18. Rg1 Bxf3+ 19. Nxf3 Bxe3 20. Qxf6 Bxg1
21. Qg5 Qc6 22. Ne4 f6 23. Qxg1 Rae8 24. Qd4 d5 25. Nc5 Re7 26. Kg2 g6 27. Ne6
Rxe6 28. fxe6 Qxe6 29. a4 bxa4 30. Qxa4 Rb8 31. b3 Rb6 32. Qa5 Kg7 33. Nd4 Qd6
34. c3 h5 35. h4 Kh6 36. b4 Rb8 37. Qxa6 Qf4 38. Nf5+ 1-0

[Event "Cap d'Agde-B"]
[Site "Cap d'Agde"]
[Date "2006.10.28"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Koneru, Humpy"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2545"]
[BlackElo "2698"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2006.10.27"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 115"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 O-O 7. e3 c5 8.
dxc5 Nbd7 9. Be2 Qa5 10. O-O Bxc3 11. bxc3 Ne4 12. Qxd5 Nxc3 13. Qc4 b5 14. Qd3
Nxc5 15. Qc2 Bb7 16. Rfc1 b4 17. Be7 Rfe8 18. Bxc5 Qxc5 19. Nd4 Rac8 20. Bf1 a5
21. a3 h6 22. axb4 axb4 23. Qb2 Bd5 24. h3 Ra8 25. Nc2 Rxa1 26. Rxa1 b3 27. Nd4
Qb4 28. Nc2 Qc5 29. Nd4 Rb8 30. Rc1 Rc8 31. Kh1 Qa5 32. Bd3 g6 33. e4 Bxe4 34.
Bxe4 Qb4 35. Qxb3 Qxd4 36. Bxg6 Qxf2 37. Bh5 Rc5 38. Bxf7+ Qxf7 39. Rxc3 Qxb3
40. Rxb3 Kg7 41. Kh2 Rc2 42. Rb6 Ra2 43. Kg3 Ra3+ 44. Kh4 Ra4+ 45. Kg3 Ra3+ 46.
Kh2 Ra2 47. Rb3 Kg6 48. Kg3 Rc2 49. Kf3 Ra2 50. g4 h5 51. Rb6+ Kg7 52. g5 Ra3+
53. Kg2 h4 54. Rb4 Rg3+ 55. Kh2 Rxg5 56. Rxh4 Ra5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Cap d'Agde-B"]
[Site "Cap d'Agde"]
[Date "2006.10.29"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Skripchenko, Almira"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2698"]
[BlackElo "2427"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2006.10.27"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 115"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Qc7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. f3 a6 8. Qd2
b5 9. O-O-O Nxd4 10. Qxd4 Bb7 11. Kb1 Rc8 12. Bd3 Bc5 13. Qxc5 Qxc5 14. Bxc5
Rxc5 15. a4 Bc6 16. axb5 axb5 17. Ne2 b4 18. Nd4 Ra5 19. Kc1 Ke7 20. Kd2 Rha8
21. h4 h5 22. Ke3 g6 23. Rd2 Bb7 24. Rhd1 Ra2 25. Rb1 e5 26. Ne2 d5 27. exd5
Bxd5 28. c3 Be6 29. Kf2 Rb8 30. cxb4 Rxb4 31. Nc3 Ra7 32. Re1 Rab7 33. Ree2 Rb8
34. g3 Nd7 35. Be4 Nf6 36. Bb1 Rd4 37. Ba2 Rxd2 38. Rxd2 Bxa2 39. Nxa2 Ke6 40.
Nc3 Rb3 41. Ke2 Rb4 42. Ke3 Rb8 43. Kd3 Rb4 44. Kc2 Rb7 45. b3 Kf5 46. Rd3 g5
47. hxg5 Kxg5 48. Rd6 Kf5 49. b4 Rxb4 50. Rxf6+ Kxf6 51. Nd5+ Kf5 52. Nxb4 e4
1/2-1/2

[Event "Cap d'Agde-B"]
[Site "Cap d'Agde"]
[Date "2006.10.29"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Bacrot, Etienne"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2705"]
[BlackElo "2698"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2006.10.27"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 115"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 d5 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 c5 7. cxd5 exd5 8.
dxc5 Nbd7 9. Rc1 Qa5 10. Nd2 b6 11. c6 d4 12. cxd7 dxc3 13. bxc3 Bxc3 14. Bxf6
gxf6 15. Bd3 Bxd7 16. Rc2 Rfd8 17. O-O Bxd2 18. Rxd2 Bf5 19. e4 Be6 20. e5 f5
21. Qe2 Rd4 22. Qe3 Rad8 23. Qg5+ Kf8 24. Qh6+ Ke8 25. Qf6 Rxd3 26. Qh8+ Ke7
27. Qf6+ Ke8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bundesliga 0607"]
[Site "Germany"]
[Date "2006.12.09"]
[Round "5.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Socko, Bartosz"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2698"]
[BlackElo "2630"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2006.10.28"]
[EventType "team-tourn"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 116"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.02.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.02.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Baden-Baden"]
[BlackTeam "Kreuzberg"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "GER"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GER"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nf1 Bf8 14. Ng3 g6 15.
b3 Bg7 16. d5 Qe7 17. c4 Qf8 18. Be3 Bh6 19. Bxh6 Qxh6 20. cxb5 axb5 21. b4
Rec8 22. Bb3 c5 23. dxc6 Rxc6 24. Qd3 Ba6 25. Nf1 Rac8 26. Ne3 Qf4 27. Qd1 h6
28. h4 Kg7 29. Bd5 Nxd5 30. Nxd5 Qg4 31. Ne7 Nf6 32. Nxc6 Rxc6 33. a4 Bb7 34.
axb5 Rb6 35. Nd2 Qxh4 36. Qe2 d5 37. Nf3 Qh5 38. exd5 e4 39. Nd2 Ng4 40. Qxe4
Rf6 41. Qd4 Nxf2 42. Nf3 Nh3+ 43. Kf1 Ng5 44. Re3 Bxd5 45. Ra6 Ne6 46. Qc3 Qh1+
47. Kf2 g5 48. Ra1 Qh4+ 49. Kg1 Bxf3 50. Rxf3 Nd4 51. Re3 Qf2+ 52. Kh2 Nxb5 53.
Qe5 Qh4+ 54. Kg1 Qf2+ 55. Kh1 Kg6 56. Rh3 Nd6 57. Ra8 Nf5 58. Rg8+ Kh7 59. Rxg5
Ne3 60. Qg3 Qf1+ 61. Kh2 Nf5 62. Qe5 1-0

[Event "Bundesliga 0607"]
[Site "Germany"]
[Date "2006.12.08"]
[Round "7.2"]
[White "Stocek, Jiri"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2572"]
[BlackElo "2698"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2006.10.28"]
[EventType "team-tourn"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 118"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Bann"]
[BlackTeam "Baden-Baden"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "GER"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GER"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 O-O 7. e3 c5 8.
dxc5 Nbd7 9. Rc1 Qa5 10. Nd2 Qxc5 11. a3 Bxc3 12. Rxc3 Qb6 13. Rb3 Qe6 14. Be2
Nc5 15. Rb4 Nfe4 16. Nxe4 dxe4 17. O-O Qg6 18. Qd5 Nd3 19. Rd4 Nxb2 20. Rb1 Nd3
21. h4 h6 22. Be7 Re8 23. Bh5 Be6 24. Bxg6 Bxd5 25. Rxd5 Rxe7 26. Bxe4 Nxf2 27.
Kxf2 Rxe4 28. Rxb7 Rxh4 29. Rdd7 Ra4 30. Kg3 Rxa3 31. Rxf7 Rxe3+ 32. Kf2 Re6
33. Rxg7+ Kh8 34. Rh7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bundesliga 0607"]
[Site "Germany"]
[Date "2007.03.31"]
[Round "14.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hracek, Zbynek"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D58"]
[WhiteElo "2698"]
[BlackElo "2614"]
[Annotator "Meyer,CD"]
[PlyCount "135"]
[EventDate "2006.10.28"]
[EventType "team-tourn"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 118"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Baden-Baden"]
[BlackTeam "Werder Bremen"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "GER"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GER"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 b6 8. Bd3
Bb7 9. O-O dxc4 ({Eine Nebenvariante des Tartakower-Systems: Schwarz aktiviert
den Bb7, strebt mittels ...Ne4 Leichtfigurentausch an und hofft, sich mit
baldigem ...c5 befreien zu können.} 9... Nbd7 {ist die oft erprobte
Hauptvariante. Hierzu kurz ein älteres, aufregendes Bundesliga-Gefecht des
Tschechen} {sowie eine aktuelle, solide Partie:} 10. Qe2 c5 11. Rad1 (11. Bg3
Ne4 12. cxd5 exd5 13. Rad1 Qc8 14. Rc1 Rd8 15. Rfd1 Ndf6 16. Ne5 Qe6 17. Bh4
Rac8 18. f3 cxd4 19. exd4 Nxc3 20. Rxc3 Rxc3 21. bxc3 Nd7 22. Bxe7 Qxe7 23.
Nxd7 Rxd7 24. Re1 Qxe2 25. Rxe2 Kf8 26. Re3 Re7 27. Kf2 Rxe3 28. Kxe3 Ke7 {
1/2-1/2 Bacrot,E (2705)-Ivanchuk,V (2750)/Odessa 2007/CBM 116}) 11... Ne4 12.
Bg3 Nxg3 13. hxg3 cxd4 14. exd4 dxc4 15. Bxc4 Nf6 16. Ne5 Bb4 17. f4 Bxc3 18.
bxc3 Ne4 19. f5 exf5 20. Nxf7 Rxf7 21. Rxf5 Nf6 22. Rxf6 gxf6 23. Qh5 Qe7 24.
Qg6+ Kf8 25. Rf1 Be4 26. Qxh6+ Ke8 27. Re1 f5 28. Rxe4 Qxe4 29. Qg6 Rc8 30.
Qxf7+ Kd8 31. Be6 Qe3+ {1/2-1/2 Speelman,J (2603)-Hracek,Z (2610)/Germany 2001/
CBM 87}) 10. Bxc4 Ne4 11. Nxe4 ({I} 11. Bg3 $5 Nxg3 12. hxg3 c5 (12... Nd7 {
/\c5}) 13. d5 exd5 14. Bxd5 Nc6 15. Qa4 Qc7 16. Rfd1 a6 (16... Rad8) 17. Qf4 $5
$14 {1-0 Van Wely,L (2676)-Borriss,M (2455)/BL 0607 SF Berlin - SG Köln Porz
2007 (40)}) ({II} 11. Bxe7 $6 Qxe7 12. Rc1 (12. Nxe4 Bxe4 $11) 12... Nxc3 13.
Rxc3 Rc8 14. Qe2 c5 15. Rfc1 cxd4 16. Nxd4 Nc6 17. Nxc6 Rxc6 18. Ba6 {1/2-1/2
Unzicker,W (2437)-Spassky,B (2548)/Mainz 2005/CBM 107 ext}) 11... Bxe4 12. Bg3
Nd7 13. Qe2 ({Zu beachten ist} 13. Rc1 {/\} Bd6 14. Bb5 Bxg3 15. hxg3 c5 16.
Qa4 $1 {S. Atalik/CBM} (16. Bxd7 $2 Qxd7 17. dxc5 Qb7 18. Qe2 Rfd8 $132)) 13...
Bd6 14. Rfd1 Qe7 15. Bb5 Rad8 16. Rac1 Bxg3 17. hxg3 c5 18. Nd2 Bd5 $6 ({
Verfehlte Provokation, nach} 18... Ba8 $142 19. Bxd7 Rxd7 20. dxc5 bxc5 $13 {
/= stünde Schwarz völlig okay.}) 19. e4 Ba8 20. Bxd7 Qxd7 (20... Rxd7 $142 21.
dxc5 bxc5 22. Nb3 Rxd1+ 23. Rxd1 Rc8 24. Rc1 $14 {/=}) 21. dxc5 bxc5 22. Nb3
Qa4 23. Rxd8 (23. Nxc5 $142 $14) 23... Rxd8 24. Nxc5 Qxa2 25. Qb5 Kh7 {
Entlastet die Grundreihe und plant Rd2.} 26. f3 Rd2 27. Na4 Rd4 $6 ({Der
taktisch äußerst versierte "Fritz" empfiehlt} 27... f5 $1 {, um den
ausgesperrten Ba8 zurück ins Spiel zu holen:} 28. exf5 a6 $1 29. Qe8 (29. Qxa6
$4 Rxb2) (29. Qb4 Rc2 $1 30. Rxc2 (30. Rd1 exf5) 30... Qb1+ 31. Rc1 Qxc1+ 32.
Kh2 exf5 $11) 29... exf5 $11) 28. Nc3 Qc4 29. Qxc4 Rxc4 30. Ra1 Rc7 31. Nb5 Rb7
32. Nd6 Rd7 33. Ra6 {In diesem für ihn unerquicklichen Endspiel wählt Schwarz
unter Bauernopfer eine mutige Fortsetzung, welche die Leichtfiguren tauscht
und ihm einen Turmendspiel-Typus mit besseren Remischancen verschafft.} Bb7 $5
({Unter dem sofortigen Einschalten von} 33... h5 $5 {war das gleich
thematische Endspiel auch gut zu erreichen:} 34. b4 (34. Kf2 Bb7 $5 35. Rxa7
Rxd6 36. Rxb7 Rd2+ 37. Kf1 Kg6 $14) 34... Kg6 35. Kf2 (35. Nc4 Rb7 36. Ne5+ (
36. b5 Rxb5 37. Rxa7 Bc6 38. Re7 Kf6 39. Rc7 Rc5 40. Nd6 Rc2 41. Rxf7+ Ke5 42.
Nb7 Bxb7 43. Rxb7 g6 $14) 36... Kf6 37. Nd3 Rd7 38. Nc5 Rc7 39. Kf2 Bc6 $14)
35... Bb7 $5 (35... f6 $2 36. Nb5 Rb7 37. Nd4 Rxb4 38. Nxe6 Rb7 39. Rd6 Re7 (
39... Rb6 $2 40. Nf4+ Kh7 41. Rxb6 axb6 42. Nxh5) 40. Nf4+ Kf7 41. Nxh5 $16)
36. Rxa7 Rxd6 37. Rxb7 Rd2+ $14) 34. Rxa7 Rxd6 35. Rxb7 Rd1+ 36. Kf2 Rd2+ 37.
Kf1 Kg6 (37... h5 $5 {war immer noch möglich, z.B.} 38. b4 (38. Rxf7 Rxb2 39.
Re7 Rb6 40. Kf2 (40. Kg1 Kg6 41. e5 Kh7 42. Kh2 Kg8 43. Kh3 Kf8 44. Rd7 Rb5 45.
f4 Rb2 $14) 40... Kg6 41. e5 Kh7 42. Kg1 (42. Ke3 Kg8 43. Rd7 (43. f4 Kf8 44.
Rd7 Rb2 45. Rd2 Rb3+ 46. Rd3 Rb2 $14) (43. Kf4 $6 Kf8 44. Rd7 Rb2) 43... Rb2
44. Rd2 Rb4 $14)) 38... Kg6 39. b5 Rb2 40. b6 Kf6 41. Rb8 (41. Ke1 Rxg2 42. Rc7
Rb2 43. b7 g5 $11) (41. f4 Rb3 42. Kg1 Rb4 43. e5+ Kg6 44. Rb8 Kf5 45. Kh2 f6
46. b7 Rb1 $11) 41... Ke5 42. b7 g6 43. Ke1 f5 $5 44. f4+ Kxe4 45. Re8 Rxb7 46.
Rxe6+ Kd4 47. Rxg6 h4 48. gxh4 Ke3 49. Kd1 Rd7+ 50. Kc1 Rc7+ 51. Kb1 Kxf4 $11)
38. g4 $1 {Verbessert die Mobilität der weißen Königsflügelbauern.} Kf6 (38...
e5) 39. b4 Rb2 40. b5 Rb1+ 41. Kf2 Rb2+ 42. Kg3 $6 ({Chancenreich war der
Marsch zum b-Bauern:} 42. Ke3 $5 Rxg2 43. Kd4 (43. b6 e5 44. Rd7 Rb2 45. b7 g6
46. Kd3 h5 47. Kc4 h4 48. Kc5 h3 49. Rd6+ Kg7 50. Rb6 Rxb6 51. Kxb6 h2 52. b8=Q
h1=Q 53. Qxe5+ $14) (43. e5+ $6 Kxe5 44. Rxf7 Rb2 $11 (44... g5)) 43... e5+ $1
(43... g6 $2 44. e5+ Kg7 45. Ra7 Rb2 (45... h5 46. gxh5 gxh5 47. Ra1 (47. Ra4
h4) 47... Rb2 48. Kc5 h4 49. Rh1 Rc2+ 50. Kb6 Rc4 51. Ka5 Rc5 52. Rxh4 Rxe5 53.
Ka6 $18) 46. Kc5 h5 47. gxh5 gxh5 48. Ra4 Rc2+ 49. Kd6 Rb2 50. Kc6 Rc2+ 51. Kb7
$18) (43... Rb2 $2 44. e5+ $1 Kg6 (44... Kg5 45. Kc5) 45. Kc5 $18) 44. Kc5 Rc2+
({Jedoch nicht} 44... g6 $2 45. Rc7 $1 Rc2+ 46. Kb6 Rb2 (46... Rf2 47. Rc6+ Kg5
48. Kc7 Rxf3 49. b6 Rb3 50. b7 Rxb7+ 51. Kxb7 Kxg4 52. Rf6 $18) 47. Ka6 h5 48.
b6 h4 49. b7 h3 50. Ka7 (50. Rc6+ $6 Ke7 51. Rb6 Rxb6+ 52. Kxb6 h2 53. b8=Q
h1=Q 54. Qxe5+ Kf8 $14) 50... Ra2+ 51. Kb8 Kg5 52. Kc8 Rb2 53. b8=Q Rxb8+ 54.
Kxb8 h2 55. Rc1 Kf4 56. Kc7 Kxf3 57. g5 $1 Kxe4 (57... Kg4 58. Kd6 $18) 58. Kd6
$18 Kf4 59. Rh1 e4 60. Rxh2 e3 61. Kd5) 45. Kd6 (45. Kb6 Rf2) 45... Rd2+ 46.
Kc7 Rc2+ 47. Kb6 Rf2 (47... g6 $2 48. Rc7 $1 Rb2 49. Ka6 {wie vorher}) 48. Rc7
(48. Ra7 Rxf3 49. Ra5 Re3 50. Ka6 Rxe4 51. b6 Rb4 52. b7 Rxb7 53. Kxb7 Kg5 54.
Kc6 Kxg4 55. Kd5 f6 $11) 48... Rxf3 49. Rc5 (49. Rc6+ Kg5 50. Kc7 Kxg4 {
und ohne den Einschub von ...g6 ist Schwarz hier deutlich schneller als in der
44...g6?-Variante} 51. b6 Rb3 52. b7 Rxb7+ 53. Kxb7 Kf3 $11) 49... Kg5 50. Kc6
(50. Kc7 Kxg4 51. b6 Rb3 52. Kc6 Rxb6+ 53. Kxb6 Kf4 54. Kc6 Kxe4 55. Kd6 f6 56.
Ke6 Kf4) (50. Rxe5+ Kxg4 51. Kc6 f6 (51... h5 52. b6 Rf6+ 53. Kc7 Rxb6 54. Kxb6
h4 55. Re7 Kf3 56. e5 Ke4 57. Kc5 h3 58. Re8 g5 59. Kd6 g4 60. Rh8 Kf4 61. Rh7
Ke3 62. Kd5 Ke2 63. Rxf7 g3 (63... h2 64. Rh7 g3 65. e6 $18) 64. e6 g2 65. e7
g1=Q 66. e8=Q+ $18) 52. Rc5 Rd3 (52... Re3) 53. b6 Rd8 54. b7 Kf4 55. Kc7 Re8
56. Kb6 Rb8 57. Rc8 Rxb7+ 58. Kxb7 Kxe4 $11) 50... Kxg4 51. b6 Rf6+ 52. Kc7
Rxb6 53. Kxb6 Kf4 54. Kc6 Kxe4 $11) 42... e5 $1 43. b6 ({Falls Weiß seinen
König zum Damenflügel zurückbeordert, erhält Schwarz reichlich Zeit, um ein
Gegenspiel mittels Kg5 plus g6 nebst f5 aufzuziehen:} 43. Kh2 g6 44. Kg1 Kg5
45. g3 f5 $5 46. gxf5 gxf5 47. exf5 Kxf5 48. b6 e4 49. Rb8 Rb1+ 50. Kf2 Rb2+
51. Ke3 exf3 52. Kxf3 Rb3+ 53. Ke2 (53. Kg2 Kg4 54. b7 Rb2+ 55. Kf1 Kh3 $11)
53... Kg4 54. Rg8+ (54. b7 Kh3 $11) 54... Kf5 (54... Kh5 $4 55. g4+ Kh4 56. Rg6
$18) 55. g4+ Kf6 56. Rb8 Ke5 $1 (56... Kg5 $2 57. b7 Kh4 58. g5 $1 $18) 57. b7
Kd6 $11) 43... g6 44. Rb8 Kg7 ({Die eingekeilte Lage des weißen Königs war
aktiv durch} 44... Kg5 $1 {auszunutzen:} 45. Kh2 (45. b7 Rb1 (45... f6 $2 46.
Kh2 Rb1 (46... Kf4 $2 47. Rg8) 47. g3 Rb3 48. Kg2 Rb1 49. Kf2 Rb2+ 50. Ke3 Rb3+
51. Kd2 Rb2+ 52. Kc3 Rb1 53. Kc4 Rc1+ 54. Kd5 Rd1+ 55. Ke6 Rb1 56. Kf7 Rb6 57.
Kg7 Rb1 58. f4+ $1 $18 exf4 (58... Kxg4 59. Kxf6) 59. gxf4+ Kxf4 60. Kxg6 Rb6
61. Kxh6) (45... Kf6 46. Kh2 Kg5 47. Re8 Rxb7 48. Rxe5+ Kf6 $14) 46. Re8 (46.
Kf2 Kh4 $11) 46... Rxb7 47. Rxe5+ Kf6 $14) 45... Kf4 46. Rf8 (46. Rb7 Kg5 (
46... f6 $2 47. Rg7 Kg5 48. b7) 47. Rxf7 Rxb6 $14) (46. b7 $2 Rb1) 46... Rxb6
47. Rxf7+ Kg5 $14) 45. Kh2 Kf6 46. Kg1 Ke6 $2 ({Der entscheidende Fehler, die
Knetmassage zeitigt endlich Erfolg! Alternativen: I Zu spät kommt jetzt} 46...
Kg5 $2 {z.B.:} 47. g3 $1 (47. Kf1 $2 Kf4 $11) (47. b7 $2 Kf4 $14) (47. Rb7 $2
Kf4 48. Kh2 (48. Rxf7+ $2 Kg3 49. Kf1 Rxb6 $11) 48... Kg5 49. Rxf7 Rxb6 $14)
47... h5 $5 (47... Rb1+ 48. Kf2 Rb2+ 49. Ke3 Rb3+ 50. Ke2 Kf6 51. b7 $18) 48.
gxh5 Kxh5 49. Kf1 (49. b7 $2 Kg5 50. Kf1 Kf6 51. Ke1 (51. f4 Rb4 52. Kf2 (52.
fxe5+ Kg5) 52... Rb3 53. Ke2 exf4 54. gxf4 Kg7 55. e5 (55. f5 gxf5 56. exf5 Kf6
$11) 55... Kh7 56. Kd2 Kg7 57. Kc2 Rb6 58. Kc3 Rb1 59. Kc4 Rc1+ 60. Kb5 Rb1+
61. Kc6 Rc1+ 62. Kd6 Rd1+ 63. Ke7 Rb1 $11) 51... Rb6 52. Kd2 Rb1 53. Kc3 Rb6
54. Kc4 Rb1 55. Kc5 Rc1+ 56. Kd6 Rd1+ 57. Kc7 Rc1+ 58. Kd8 Rb1 59. Ke8 Kg7 $14
60. f4 (60. Kd7 Kf6) 60... exf4 61. gxf4 Rb4 62. Kd7 Rb1 $11) (49. Rf8 $2 Rxb6
50. Rxf7 Rb1+ 51. Kf2 Rb2+ 52. Ke3 Rb3+ 53. Ke2 Ra3 54. f4 (54. Re7 Ra5 55. Kd3
(55. Kf2 Ra2+ 56. Kf1 Ra1+ 57. Kg2 Ra2+ 58. Kh3 Ra5 59. Rd7 Ra3 $11) 55... Ra3+
56. Kc4 Rxf3 $11) (54. Rd7 Kg5 55. Rd3 Ra2+ 56. Ke3 Ra5 $14) (54. Rf6 Kg5 55.
Re6 Ra2+ 56. Ke3 Ra3+ 57. Kf2 Ra2+ 58. Kg1 Ra1+ 59. Kh2 Ra2+ 60. Kh3 Ra5 $14)
54... exf4 55. gxf4 Ra5 $1 (55... Kg4 $2 56. e5) 56. Rf6 Kg4 57. Ke3 Ra3+ 58.
Kd4 g5 59. f5 (59. fxg5 Kxg5 $11) 59... Kf4 $11) 49... Kg5 50. Ke1 (50. b7 $2
Kf6 $11) 50... Kf6 (50... f5 51. exf5 Kxf5 52. b7 Kg5 53. f4+ $1 $18 exf4 54.
gxf4+ Kg4 55. f5) 51. Kd1 Ke7 52. Kc1 Rb5 53. Kc2 Kd6 54. Rb7 $1 (54. Kc3 $2
Kc5 55. g4 Rb1 (55... Rxb6 $2 56. Rxb6 Kxb6 57. Kc4 Kc6 58. g5 $18) (55... g5
$2 56. b7 Kc6 57. Re8) 56. Rc8+ Kd6 57. Rd8+ Kc5 58. g5 (58. b7 Rxb7 59. Rd5+
Kc6 60. Rxe5 Ra7 $14) 58... Rxb6 59. Rd5+ Kc6 60. Rxe5 Kd7 $14) 54... Kc5 (
54... f6 55. Rb8 Kc5 56. b7 Kc6 57. Rf8 Rxb7 58. Rxf6+ Kc5 59. Kd3 $1 $18) 55.
Rc7+ Kxb6 56. Rxf7 Kc5 57. Rd7 Kc4 58. Rd6 Ra5 59. Kd2 (59. Rxg6 $6 Ra2+ 60.
Kc1 Rf2 61. Rf6 Kd4 62. g4 Ke3) 59... g5 60. g4 $18) ({II Allein richtig war
die Verfolgung} 46... Rb1+ $8 {, und falls Weiß einen Fortschritt erzielen
will, also} 47. Kf2 {, dann} Rb2+ 48. Kf1 {(Im Gegensatz zur Variante nach dem
46.Zug verfügt Weiß hier eben nicht über die Möglichkeit Ke3-d4 plus e5+.)}
Rb1+ 49. Ke2 Rb2+ (49... Kg5 $2 50. g3) 50. Kd3 Rxg2 {(Analyse)  und nun:} 51.
Kc4 (51. Rc8 Rb2 52. Rc6+ Kg5 53. Kc4 h5 54. gxh5 gxh5 55. Kc5 h4 56. Kd6 h3
57. Kc7 h2 58. Rc1 Rg2 $11 (58... Kf4 $11)) (51. Ra8 Rb2 52. Ra6 Kg5 53. Kc4 h5
54. gxh5 gxh5 55. Kd5 h4 $11) 51... h5 52. gxh5 gxh5 53. Rh8 Rb2 (53... Rc2+
54. Kd5 $18 Rd2+ 55. Kc6 Rc2+ 56. Kd7 Rd2+ 57. Kc8 Rc2+ 58. Kb8 Kg5 59. b7 Rc3
60. Ka7 Ra3+ 61. Kb6 Rxf3 62. b8=Q Rb3+ 63. Kc6 Rxb8 64. Rxb8) 54. Kc5 (54.
Rxh5 Kg6 55. Rxe5 Rxb6 $11) 54... Kg5 55. Kc6 Rc2+ 56. Kd7 Rd2+ 57. Kc8 Rc2+
58. Kb8 f6 59. b7 Kf4 60. Rc8 Rb2 61. Kc7 Kxf3 62. b8=Q Rxb8 63. Rxb8 Kxe4 $11)
47. b7 $1 $18 {Im höheren Sinne ist Schwarz jetzt bereits verloren, da der
weiße König zur entscheidenden Wanderung gen Damenflügel ansetzt.} Kf6 ({
In ein verlorenes Bauernendspiel führt} 47... Kd7 {nach} 48. Rf8 Rxb7 49. Rxf7+
Kc8 50. Rxb7 Kxb7 51. Kf2 Kc6 52. g5 h5 (52... hxg5 53. Kg3 $18) 53. g3 Kc5 54.
f4 $18) 48. g3 $1 g5 ({I} 48... Kg7 49. Kf1 {nebst Königsmarsch analog dem Text
}) ({II} 48... h5 49. gxh5 gxh5 50. f4 exf4 51. e5+ Kg7 52. gxf4 $18 h4 53. f5
h3 54. f6+ Kh7 55. e6) 49. Kf1 Rb1+ 50. Ke2 Rb2+ (50... Ke7 51. Kd3 Kd7 (51...
Kf6 52. Kc4 Rc1+ 53. Kd5 Rd1+ 54. Kc6 Rc1+ 55. Kd7 Rb1 56. Ke8 Kg7 57. Ke7 {
ist Zugumstellung zur Partie}) 52. Rf8 Rxb7 53. Rxf7+ Kc6 54. Rxb7 Kxb7 55. f4
$18 {ergibt wieder ein für Weiß gewonnenes Bauernendspiel:} exf4 56. gxf4 gxf4
57. Ke2 {-f3-xf4 usw.}) 51. Kd3 Rb3+ 52. Kc4 Rb1 53. Kc5 Rc1+ 54. Kd6 Rd1+ 55.
Kc6 Rc1+ 56. Kd7 Rb1 57. Ke8 Kg7 ({Als erstes, schönes Mattbild zeichnet sich
nach} 57... Rb2 58. Kf8 Rb3 (58... Kg6 59. Ke7 Kg7 60. Kd6 {siehe Partie}) 59.
Rc8 Rxb7 60. Rc6# {ab.}) 58. Ke7 Rb2 59. Kd6 Kf6 ({Nach} 59... f6 {gewinnt der
Übergang ins Bauernendspiel auf beliebige Weise:} 60. Re8 (60. Rd8 Rxb7 61.
Rd7+ Rxd7+ 62. Kxd7 Kh7 63. Kd6 $18) (60. Rc8 Rxb7 61. Rc7+ Rxc7 62. Kxc7 $18)
60... Rxb7 61. Re7+ Rxe7 62. Kxe7 $18) {Nun jedoch gewinnt Weiß auf
spektakuläre Weise mittels Bauerndurchbruch und Mattangriff:} 60. f4 $1 exf4 ({
Oder} 60... Rd2+ 61. Kc6 Rc2+ 62. Kd5 Rd2+ 63. Kc4 Rc2+ 64. Kd3 (64. Kb3) 64...
Rb2 65. fxe5+ Kg7 66. Kc4 {und der König wandert nach e7 und unterstützt die
Schaffung eines weiteren Freibauern mittels e6.}) 61. gxf4 gxf4 62. Rg8 $1 $18
{Die entscheidende Pointe: Der Turm kann sich aus seiner passiven Lage
befreien, indem er dem schwarzen König die Fluchtfelder auf der g-Linie nimmt
und Weiß gleichzeitig e5# droht.} Rb6+ 63. Kc7 Rxb7+ 64. Kxb7 f3 65. Kc6 {
Das erwähnte Mattmotiv taucht wieder auf und zwingt den schwarzen König ins
Freie.} Ke5 (65... f2 66. Kd6 f1=Q 67. e5#) 66. Re8+ Kf4 67. Kd5 f6 (67... Kxg4
68. Rf8 $18) 68. Rf8 1-0

[Event "Bundesliga 0607"]
[Site "Germany"]
[Date "2007.04.01"]
[Round "15.4"]
[White "Kempinski, Robert"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2590"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2006.10.28"]
[EventType "team-tourn"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 118"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Hamburger SK"]
[BlackTeam "Baden-Baden"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "GER"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GER"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bxd2+ 6. Qxd2 Ba6 7. b3 O-O 8.
Nc3 d5 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Bg2 Re8 11. Ne5 c5 12. O-O Bb7 13. Qf4 Nbd7 14. Nxd7
Qxd7 15. dxc5 bxc5 16. e3 d4 17. Bxb7 Qxb7 18. exd4 cxd4 19. Qxd4 Rad8 20. Qf4
Rd3 21. Rac1 h5 22. Rfd1 Rf3 23. Qd4 Ng4 24. Qd5 Qxd5 25. Nxd5 Re2 26. Nc3 Rb2
27. Ne4 Rf5 28. Rf1 Rxa2 29. h3 Nh6 30. Ra1 Re2 31. Nc3 Rc2 32. Nd1 Rc7 33. Ne3
Rb5 34. Ra3 Nf5 35. Nxf5 Rxf5 36. h4 a5 37. Ra4 Rb7 38. Rfa1 Rbb5 39. Kg2 Kf8
40. Rb1 Rfe5 41. Rb2 g6 42. Rc4 Rec5 43. Rd4 Rc3 44. Rd8+ Ke7 45. Ra8 Rcxb3
1/2-1/2

[Event "Cap d'Agde KO"]
[Site "Cap d'Agde"]
[Date "2006.10.31"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Fressinet, Laurent"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C82"]
[WhiteElo "2698"]
[BlackElo "2640"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2006.10.30"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 115"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. Nbd2 Bc5 10. c3 O-O 11. Bc2 Bf5 12. Nb3 Bg6 13. Nfd4 Bxd4 14. cxd4 a5
15. Be3 a4 16. Nd2 f6 17. exf6 Qxf6 18. Rc1 Rae8 19. Nxe4 Bxe4 20. Bxe4 Rxe4
21. Qd3 Kh8 22. f3 Re6 23. Bf2 Qf4 24. Rfd1 Rb8 25. Rc5 Nb4 26. Rxb5 c6 27. Qf5
1-0

[Event "Cap d'Agde KO"]
[Site "Cap d'Agde"]
[Date "2006.10.31"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Fressinet, Laurent"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B50"]
[WhiteElo "2640"]
[BlackElo "2698"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2006.10.30"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 115"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c3 Nf6 4. Be2 g6 5. O-O Bg7 6. Bb5+ Bd7 7. Bxd7+ Nfxd7 8.
d4 O-O 9. Re1 Nc6 10. d5 Nce5 11. Nxe5 Nxe5 12. f4 Nd7 13. Nd2 b5 14. Nf3 Qb6
15. Qe2 Qb7 16. Rd1 Rae8 17. f5 c4 18. a4 b4 19. Nd4 Nc5 20. Bf4 Nd3 21. Be3 e6
22. Nb5 exd5 23. Nxd6 Qc7 24. Nxe8 Rxe8 25. cxb4 Rxe4 26. Rxd3 cxd3 27. Qxd3
Bxb2 28. Rd1 Be5 29. h3 gxf5 30. Bc5 Qd7 31. a5 d4 32. a6 Bb8 33. Qf3 Qe6 34.
Rf1 Qe5 35. g3 Re3 0-1

[Event "Cap d'Agde KO"]
[Site "Cap d'Agde"]
[Date "2006.11.01"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2672"]
[BlackElo "2698"]
[PlyCount "141"]
[EventDate "2006.10.30"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 115"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 Bg5 12. Nc2 O-O 13. a4 bxa4 14. Rxa4 a5
15. Bc4 Kh8 16. O-O Rb8 17. b4 Bd7 18. Ra2 axb4 19. Ncxb4 Nxb4 20. cxb4 f5 21.
exf5 Bxf5 22. Qb3 Be6 23. b5 Qc8 24. Ra6 Qc5 25. Rc6 Qxc6 26. bxc6 Rxb3 27.
Bxb3 Rc8 28. f4 exf4 29. Re1 Bxd5 30. Bxd5 g6 31. Re6 Kg7 32. Rxd6 Rc7 33. Kf2
Be7 34. Re6 Kf8 35. Kf3 Bd8 36. Re4 Re7 37. Rxf4+ Kg7 38. h3 Bc7 39. Rb4 Kf6
40. Be4 Bd6 41. Ra4 Bc7 42. Ke3 Re5 43. Kd3 Ra5 44. Rb4 Ke5 45. Bf3 Rc5 46.
Re4+ Kf6 47. Rd4 Be5 48. Rd7 Rc3+ 49. Kd2 h5 50. Bd5 h4 51. Rf7+ Kg5 52. Re7
Bf6 53. Re8 Rc5 54. Bf3 Be5 55. Rf8 Bd6 56. Rf7 Be5 57. Kd3 Rc3+ 58. Ke4 Rc5
59. Rh7 Kf6 60. Kd3 g5 61. Be4 Ke6 62. Rh6+ Bf6 63. Bf3 Rc3+ 64. Kd2 Rc5 65.
Rh7 Be5 66. Rd7 Kf6 67. Bd5 Kf5 68. Rf7+ Kg6 69. Rd7 Kf5 70. Bf3 Ke6 71. Bg4+
1/2-1/2

[Event "Cap d'Agde KO"]
[Site "Cap d'Agde"]
[Date "2006.11.01"]
[Round "2.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2698"]
[BlackElo "2672"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2006.10.30"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 115"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2006.11.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bc4
O-O 9. O-O Be6 10. Bb3 Nc6 11. Qe2 Na5 12. Rfd1 Nxb3 13. cxb3 Qe8 14. Ne1 Ng4
15. Nc2 f5 16. f3 Nxe3 17. Nxe3 fxe4 18. Nxe4 Rd8 19. Nd5 Qf7 20. Qd3 Bxd5 21.
Qxd5 Qxd5 22. Rxd5 Kf7 23. Rad1 Ke6 24. b4 Rc8 25. b5 Rc2 26. bxa6 bxa6 27. Ra5
Rb8 28. b3 Rb6 29. Kf1 Rbc6 30. h3 h5 31. Rd3 g5 32. Rd2 Rxd2 33. Nxd2 d5 34.
Ra4 a5 35. Ke2 Bd8 36. Kd3 Rc1 37. b4 axb4 38. Rxb4 Rg1 39. g4 Rg3 40. Rb8 e4+
41. Ke2 Rg2+ 42. Kf1 Rxd2 43. Rxd8 hxg4 44. hxg4 exf3 45. Re8+ Kd6 46. Rf8 Rxa2
47. Rf5 Ke6 48. Rxg5 d4 49. Rf5 d3 50. Ke1 Re2+ 0-1

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 1st"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2006.11.06"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2698"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2006.11.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 116"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.02.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.02.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Nh4 Bg4 7. h3 Bh5 8. g4
Bg6 9. Nxg6 hxg6 10. e3 e6 11. Bxc4 Bb4 12. Bf1 $2 $146 {The strange thing
about this bad novelty is that Carlsen has played the position twice before.
Generally in my opinion this opening variation looks healthy for Black - a
good development and White already has created weaknesses.} (12. Qf3 $13) (12.
Bd2 Nbd7 13. g5 Nd5 14. e4 N5b6 15. Bb3 a5 16. Qe2 c5 (16... e5 17. dxe5 Nxe5
18. O-O-O Nd3+ 19. Kb1 Nc5 20. Nb5 $1 Nxb3 21. Bxb4 axb4 22. Rxd8+ Rxd8 23.
Nc7+ $2 (23. Rd1 $1 O-O 24. Nd6 $16) 23... Ke7 24. Qc2 Nc4 $1 $132 {0-1
Carlsen,M (2385)-Andriasian,Z (2311)/Budva 2003 (34)}) 17. d5 c4 18. Bxc4 Nxc4
19. Qxc4 O-O 20. O-O-O Rc8 21. Qe2 exd5 22. Kb1 Bxc3 $6 (22... dxe4 23. Nxe4
Qc7 24. Bxb4 axb4 25. Nd6 Ra8 $11) (22... Qc7 23. exd5 Nb6 $11 {(P. Nielsen)})
23. Bxc3 Nc5 24. Rxd5 Qe8 25. f3 $14 {1-0 Carlsen,M (2552)-Nielsen,P (2628)/
Malmo/Copenhagen 2004 (40)}) 12... Qd5 $1 {Taking advantage of Black's
considerable lead in development. White is forced to create more weaknesses in
his own camp.} 13. f3 {Making such a move means that most likely White will
have to advance soon the pawn further.} Qa5 14. Bg2 c5 $1 {Possibly Carlsen
expected Black to take the pawn immediately, after which White will have
compensation. But Gelfand first completes development and only then takes the
pawn, when White won't be able to create anything in return.} (14... Bxc3+ 15.
bxc3 Qxc3+ 16. Bd2 Qc4 17. Rb1 b6 18. f4 $44) (14... Nd5 15. O-O Nxc3 16. bxc3
Bxc3 17. Rb1 Bb4 (17... b6 18. Ba3 (18. f4 O-O 19. Ba3 Rd8 20. Qc2 $44) 18...
Bd2 19. Rb3 Qxa4 20. Qb1 $44) 18. Qb3 Na6 19. f4 $44) 15. dxc5 Nc6 16. O-O O-O
17. f4 ({White had to prevent other weaknesses by} 17. Bd2 Rfd8 18. Qe2 {
with good chances to equalize later on.}) 17... Qxc5 18. g5 $2 {Certainly not
Carlsen's best game. His move backwards 12.Bf1 was bad, now a move forwards is
even worse, only helping Black to further improve the position.} ({He could
still be in the game with} 18. Qe2 {For instance:} Bxc3 (18... Rfd8 19. Bd2 $15
{/=}) 19. bxc3 Qxc3 20. Bb2 Qa5 21. f5 {with activity for the pawn, probably
enough to hold the balance thanks to very strong bishops.}) 18... Rfd8 19. Qe2
Bxc3 $1 20. bxc3 Nd5 {Now Black has a large advantage. White cannot prevent a
loss of a pawn.} 21. Qb5 (21. Bd2 Na5 $17 {[%csl Rc3,Rd2,Re3][%cal Ga5c4,Ga5b3]
}) (21. c4 Nc3 22. Qc2 Qxc4 {[%cal Gc3e2]} 23. Kh2 Nb4 $19) 21... Qxc3 22. Rb1
(22. Ra3 Qc2 $17 23. Qxb7 $140 $2 Rab8 24. Qa6 Ndb4 $19 {catching the queen.})
22... Ndb4 23. Qe2 Rac8 24. Be4 Na5 25. Bb2 Qc4 $17 26. Qg2 Nb3 {The
conversion of the huge advantage is a matter of style and possibly mood.
Gelfand decides to return the extra pawn and activate all his pieces to their
maximum.} (26... Nd5 $17) 27. Bxb7 Rd2 28. Qf3 ({Tougher is} 28. Qg3 {with
some interesting tactical ideas:} Rcd8 (28... Rc7 $142 29. Bh1 Nd3 $17) 29. f5
Nd3 {(otherwise White could play 30.Qe7} 30. fxg6 Nxb2 (30... fxg6 31. Ba3 $13)
31. gxf7+ Kf8 32. g6 $44) 28... Rcd8 {With such active pieces and an exposed
king on g1, Black's win is out of the question.} 29. Be5 Nc5 30. Rbc1 Nc2 31.
Bc6 a6 {A very rare case when White has problems to find squares for his
light-squared bishop on the long diagonal.} (31... Nb3 $1 32. Rb1 (32. Bb5 Qc5
$19) 32... Nxe3 $1 $19) 32. Rf2 Nb3 33. Rcf1 Nb4 ({Again} 33... Rxf2 34. Rxf2
Nd2 {[%csl Rc6,Re3] wins on the spot}) 34. Qe4 Qxc6 35. Qxb4 Rxf2 36. Rxf2 Qc1+
37. Kg2 Qxe3 38. Qb7 Nd2 0-1

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 1st"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2006.11.07"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2747"]
[BlackElo "2698"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2006.11.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 116"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.02.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.02.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Nxe7 Nxe7 11. Bd3 {Played by Anand once long ago (well,
the Indian GM tried virtually everything against Sveshnikov Sicilian), this
variation gained popularity lately among several young and strong GMs. I can
mention Naiditsch, Timofeev and Areshchenko.} Nd7 {Carlsen has his own view on
the position. Usually Black starts with 11...Bb7. Another option is 11...d5.}
12. c4 $146 {Morozevich goes a new way already. In this variation White
usually first blockades opponent's pawn on b5 (with b2-b4) and only then plays
c2-c4.} ({Although Carlsen's previous experience had a happy end, his position
in that game was highly suspicious, to say the least:} 12. O-O Nc5 13. b4 Nxd3
14. Qxd3 f6 15. Be3 d5 16. Bc5 dxe4 (16... d4 17. f4 O-O 18. fxe5 fxe5 19.
Rxf8+ Qxf8 20. Qg3 $16) (16... Be6 17. f4 $5 exf4 18. Rae1 d4 19. e5 $36) 17.
Qxe4 Qd5 18. Qe2 $1 (18. Qxd5 Nxd5 19. c4 $14) 18... Bb7 (18... Ng6 19. f4 $1
$16) 19. f3 Ng6 20. Rfd1 Nf4 21. Qf1 Qe6 22. c4 Kf7 (22... bxc4 $2 23. Nxc4 $18
) 23. Rd6 Qf5 24. cxb5 axb5 25. Nxb5 Kg6 (25... Ba6 26. Qc4+ Kg6 27. a4 $16)
26. Rd2 Rhd8 27. Rxd8 Rxd8 28. Nd6 Rxd6 (28... Qd7 29. a4 $18) 29. Bxd6 Qg5 30.
Kh1 h5 31. Bc5 $2 (31. a4 h4 32. h3 Qg3 33. Ra3 $18) 31... e4 32. Be3 $4 ({
After} 32. a4 {[%cal Ga1a3] with the idea Ra3. White still should be winning.})
32... exf3 33. gxf3 Qg4 $1 {0-1 Naiditsch,A (2657)-Carlsen,M (2625)/Wijk aan
Zee 2006}) (12. b4 $5 h6 (12... O-O 13. O-O Nb6 14. c4 f6 15. Be3 Nxc4 16. Nxc4
bxc4 17. Bxc4+ Kh8 18. f3 $16 {1-0 Varga,Z (2540)-Pal,P (2285)/Zalakaros 1996 
(32)}) 13. Be3 d5 14. exd5 Nxd5 15. Qf3 N7f6 (15... Bb7 $142 $13) 16. Bc5 Bg4
17. Qg3 Nf4 18. h3 Bh5 19. Nxb5 $1 Nxd3+ 20. cxd3 axb5 21. Qxe5+ Kd7 22. Qd6+
Kc8 23. Qc6+ Qc7 24. Qxa8+ Kd7 25. Qa7 $18 {1/2-1/2 Gurevich,I (2495)-Vaisser,
A (2565)/London 1991 (58)}) 12... b4 13. Nc2 a5 {A similar pawn structure
arises in the variation 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c4 b4 12.Nc2 a5, which was actually
played by Morozevich before as well (versus Leko in San Luis 2005). The
difference is that here White has the dark-squared bishop instead of the
knight on d5 and Black has a knight instead of the dark-squared bishop. This
is not a problem for Black, since in the mentioned variation he is often happy
to exchange his bishop for one of the opponent's knights. On the other hand
White has the bishop pair here and Morozevich shows that this is an important
factor. Black should play accurately in order to keep the equality.} 14. Ne3 f6
15. Bh4 O-O 16. O-O Nc5 17. f3 Be6 18. Re1 Qb8 {The pawn formation is of such
a nature that it is difficult for either side to make real progress without
creating severe weaknesses in their own positions.} 19. Bf1 Kh8 20. Re2 Rc8 21.
Rd2 Ra6 {The only weakness on d6 is well protected. Morozevich finds a way to
put some more pressure on Black's position, though.} 22. Rc1 Rac6 23. Bf2 Bf7
24. Nd5 $1 Nxd5 (24... Qb7 {allows White to activate his pieces:} 25. Bxc5 $5
dxc5 (25... Rxc5 26. Nxe7 Qxe7 27. Rxd6 $16) 26. Nxe7 Qxe7 27. Rd7 {and
although after} Qe8 {this might be not so dangerous for Black, it looks pretty
scary to play like that.}) 25. cxd5 ({After} 25. exd5 $6 R6c7 {Black has
blockaded opponent's queenside pawn majority and later he can concentrate on
making progress on the other side. It is White here who must hold the balance.}
) 25... R6c7 26. Rdc2 $14 Be8 27. b3 Bd7 28. g4 $5 {With the open c-file
White's actions on the kingside can hardly create serious problems for Black
now, but nevertheless this is the only attempt to make some progress. Later
White can choose the right moment to combine plans on both wings.} Kg8 29. Qe2
{Now Black will have to reckon always with the exchange on c5 followed by Qa6.}
({Deserved attention also} 29. Bc4 {trying to avoid exchanges on the c-file
for the moment.}) 29... Nb7 {This is a somewhat unexpected decision, allowing
White to penetrate with the queen. However, Carlsen shows a very concrete
approach - the Norwegian considers that Black will have everything well
protected and White won't be ableto achieve anything even after the activation
of his queen.} (29... Qb7 $142 $14 {[%csl Ra6] /=}) 30. Rxc7 Rxc7 31. Rxc7 Qxc7
32. Qa6 Nc5 33. Qa8+ Kf7 34. h4 h6 35. Bc4 ({After} 35. Qh8 a4 36. bxa4 Nxa4
37. g5 hxg5 38. hxg5 fxg5 39. Qh5+ Kf8 40. Qxg5 (40. Qh8+ Kf7 41. Qh5+ $11)
40... Nc3 {Black creates counterplay on the queenside.}) 35... Be8 {Locking
the queen on a8. White cannot release it easily, because the exchange on c5
obviously favours Black. However, Morozevich still has resources to fight.} 36.
Be3 Ke7 37. g5 hxg5 38. hxg5 Kf7 39. Kg2 {This position will soon occur in the
game again.} Ke7 40. Kg3 {The march of the king forwards brings nothing.} Kf7
41. Kg4 Ke7 42. Kh4 Kf7 43. Kh3 Ke7 44. Kg2 Kf7 {Second time, only that now it
is White to move.} 45. Bd2 ({White had to try} 45. g6+ Ke7 $8 46. Bb5 (46. Bf1
Bxg6 47. Qg8 Bf7 48. Qxg7 Qc8 49. Bc4 Nd7 $11 {[%cal Gc8g8]} (49... Qg8 $2 50.
Qxg8 Bxg8 51. Bxc5 dxc5 52. d6+ $18)) 46... Bxg6 (46... Bxb5 47. Qg8 Be8 48.
Qxg7+ Kd8 49. Qh8 $18 {[%cal Gg6g7]}) 47. Qg8 Bf7 48. Qxg7 Qc8 (48... Qb8 $2
49. Bxc5 $1 dxc5 (49... Qxb5 50. Bxd6+ Kxd6 51. Qxf6+ $18) 50. Bc4 Qd6 51. Kf2
{and Black is close to zugzwang:} Ke8 52. Bb5+ Ke7 53. Ke1 Qd8 54. d6+ Qxd6 55.
Bc4 $18) 49. Kf2 Qg8 50. Qh6 {and Black still must work before reaching the
draw. Possibly Morozevich wanted to postpone his decision to complicate the
position, eventually to bring the king on f2 first. But an unexpected thing
happened...}) 45... Qb6 46. Be3 Qc7 {and Carlsen claimed the threefold
repetition, wrongly accepted by the chief arbiter Geurt Gijssen. Morozevich
signed the scoresheets and left the playing area. Soon it was discovered that
the arbiter shouldn't have accepted Carlsen's claim, since in the first case 
(after 39.Kg2) it was Black's turn to move. Carlsen agreed to continue the
game. However, Morozevich wasn't there anymore and later didn't want to resume
the game... It is clear that the normal course of the battle was broken, even
if the result would have been a draw anyway.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 1st"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2006.11.08"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B46"]
[WhiteElo "2698"]
[BlackElo "2728"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2006.11.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 116"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.02.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.02.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 a6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nc6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 d5 8.
O-O Nf6 9. Re1 Be7 10. e5 Nd7 11. Qg4 g6 12. Na4 Qa5 13. Bh6 c5 14. b3 c4 15.
Bf1 Bb7 16. Re3 Bc6 17. Qf4 Bxa4 18. Rf3 O-O-O 19. Qxf7 Rhe8 20. bxa4 Bc5 21.
Rb1 Qxa4 22. Bg5 Qc6 23. Bxd8 Nxe5 24. Rb8+ Kxb8 25. Bc7+ Qxc7 26. Qxe8+ Qc8
27. Qxc8+ Kxc8 28. Rh3 Ng4 29. Rf3 Ne5 30. Rh3 Ng4 31. Rf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 1st"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2006.11.10"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2750"]
[BlackElo "2698"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2006.11.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 116"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.02.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.02.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. a4 Bf8 14. Bd3 {If
White does not wish to embark any long theoretical discussion, this variation
looks like the best way to move the accent of the fight to the middlegame.} c6
15. b3 (15. Rb1 $5 $146 {1-0 Topalov,V (2813)-Mamedyarov,S (2728)/Hoogeveen
2006/CBM 115 [Marin, Mihail] (50)}) 15... Qc7 {Usually, Black transfers his
king's bishop to g7 in this line. He can start doing that with or without
developing the queen, although this can just lead to a transposition. In this
game, Black has completely different plan, for which ...g6 is not useful at
all.} (15... g6 16. Bb2 {1-0 Morozevich,A (2743)-Sasikiran,K (2666)/Biel 2004/
CBM 102/[Wedberg] (35)} (16. Bf1 {1-0 Ponomariov,R (2722)-Sasikiran,K (2666)/
Biel 2004/CBM 102/[Wedberg] (62)})) 16. Bb2 d5 $5 $146 {Quite curiously, this
thematic break has never been played so far.} (16... g6 17. Qc2 Bg7 18. c4 (18.
b4 Nb6 19. a5 Na4 20. Rac1 (20. Bc1 {[%cal Yg7a1]} exd4 21. cxd4 c5 $132) 20...
Nxb2 21. Qxb2 Nd7 22. c4 bxc4 23. Bxc4 exd4 24. Qa2 Re7 25. Nb3 Ne5 $11 {
Haag,E-Forintos,G/Budapest 1965/MCD (1/2-1/2, 33)}) (18. Bf1 Rac8 19. Rad1 Nb6
{Since the a4-pawn is safely defended, this move makes less sense now and just
weakens Black's control over the centre.} (19... d5 $5) 20. c4 exd4 21. Bxd4
bxa4 22. e5 dxe5 23. Bxe5 Qe7 24. c5 Nbd7 25. Bd6 Qd8 26. bxa4 $16 {Vitomskis,
J (2575)-Girod,F (2415)/LAT-SUI corr 1994/Corr 2000 (1-0, 29)}) 18... bxc4 (
18... bxa4 19. c5 $5 axb3 20. Nxb3 exd4 21. cxd6 Qxd6 22. Na5 $36 {[%csl Gb7]
Grigoriants,S (2313)-Platonov,E (2296)/Orel 1999/EXT 2001 (1-0, 42)}) 19. Bxc4
exd4 20. Bxd4 Re7 ({Black can also choose another move order of concentrating
his forces against the e4-pawn.} 20... c5 {[%cal Yb7e4]} 21. Bc3 Re7 22. Qb2
Rae8 {[%csl Ye4]} 23. Rad1 h6 {The strong pressure against the e4-pawn
restricts White's active possibilities.} 24. Bd3 Re6 25. Bc4 R6e7 {1/2-1/2
Hendriks,R-Girod,F/ICCF corr 1994/Corr 2000}) 21. b4 Rae8 22. Bd3 c5 23. Rac1
Qd8 (23... Nd5 $5 {[%csl Gd4,Ge1]}) 24. bxc5 Nxc5 25. Bxc5 dxc5 $13 {Aseev,K 
(2540)-Yemelin,V (2520)/Elista 1994/CBM 044 (1/2-1/2, 87)}) 17. dxe5 {
Confronted with a relatively early opening surprise, White chooses the safe
way.} ({The main alternative was} 17. exd5 Nxd5 18. Qc2 $5 {[%csl Gh7] not
only connects rooks, but underlines the relative vulnerability of the black
kingside too.} ({Now,} 18. dxe5 {involves a nice trap, but is not too
dangerous otherwise.} Nf4 (18... Nxe5 $2 19. Rxe5 Rxe5 20. c4 $16) 19. Be4 Nxe5
$11) 18... exd4 $5 {Since Black has no adequate way of avoiding kingside
weaknesses, he bravely plays for material grabbing.} (18... h6 19. dxe5 Nf4 20.
Bh7+ Kh8 21. Qe4 $16) (18... g6 19. Nxe5 Nxe5 20. dxe5 Nf4 21. Ne4 $16 {
[%csl Gf6]}) (18... N5f6 19. dxe5 Nxe5 20. Nxe5 Rxe5 21. c4 Rxe1+ 22. Rxe1 $36
{[%csl Yb5,Yf6,Yh7]}) 19. Bxh7+ Kh8 20. Nxd4 g6 21. Bxg6 fxg6 22. c4 N5f6 23.
Qxg6 $36 {[%csl Yb7,Gh8]}) 17... Nxe5 18. Nxe5 Qxe5 19. Nf3 Qf4 {A brave
decision. The queen is rather exposed here.} (19... Qh5 $5 20. e5 $140 Nd7 $11)
20. exd5 {Again, White refrains from complicating the game.} (20. e5 $5 {
[%csl Gf4][%cal Yb2c1]} Ne4 21. Qc2 {would have led to a complex position,
where Black's activity might be just apparent, while the exposed placement of
his queen would offer White some tactical ideas.}) 20... Nxd5 21. c4 Nb4 22.
Be5 Qh6 23. Be4 Rad8 24. Qb1 bxc4 25. bxc4 $11 {We can state that Black's
strategy has been crowned with success. The usefullness of the dark-squared
bishop on the a3-f8 diagonal is obvious. At the same time, the fact that he
refrained from ...g6 ensures the return of the queen to the centre in the near
future.} Ba8 26. Bc3 c5 27. Bxa8 Rxa8 28. Ne5 Qe6 29. Qb3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 1st"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2006.11.11"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Shirov, Alexei"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2698"]
[BlackElo "2720"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2006.11.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 116"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.02.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.02.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. O-O O-O 8.
Re1 Bf5 9. Nc3 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Bxd3 11. Qxd3 Nd7 12. Rb1 Nb6 13. Ng5 g6 14. Qh3
h5 15. g4 Qd7 16. gxh5 Rae8 17. Be3 Qxh3 18. Nxh3 gxh5 19. Bf4 Kg7 20. Rxe8
Rxe8 21. Bxd6 cxd6 22. Nf4 Kh6 23. Kg2 Kg5 24. Kf3 Rc8 25. Rb3 Rc4 26. Ra3 h4
27. h3 f5 28. Ne6+ Kf6 29. Nf4 Kg5 30. Ne6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 1st"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2006.11.12"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2741"]
[BlackElo "2698"]
[PlyCount "147"]
[EventDate "2006.11.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 116"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.02.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.02.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qc2 Nc6 6. Nbd2 d5 7. cxd5 Qxd5 8. e4
Nb4 9. Qa4+ Qd7 10. Qxd7+ Nxd7 11. Bxa6 Nxa6 12. O-O Nf6 13. a3 c5 14. Re1 Be7
15. Ne5 Rc8 16. b4 cxd4 17. Ndf3 Nb8 18. Nxd4 Nfd7 19. Nef3 O-O 20. Bf4 Nc6 21.
Rac1 Nxd4 22. Nxd4 g5 23. Nc6 Rxc6 24. Rxc6 gxf4 25. Rc7 Ne5 26. Rxe7 Nf3+ 27.
Kf1 Nxe1 28. Kxe1 a5 29. Rb7 axb4 30. axb4 Rd8 31. f3 Rd3 32. Ke2 Rb3 33. Rxb6
Rb2+ 34. Kd3 Rxh2 35. gxf4 h5 36. Rb5 h4 37. Rh5 h3 38. Kd4 Kf8 39. Ke5 Ke7 40.
f5 exf5 41. Kxf5 Rb2 42. Rxh3 Rxb4 43. f4 Rb5+ 44. e5 Kf8 45. Rd3 Rb4 46. Kg5
Kg7 47. Rd7 Rb5 48. Kg4 Kf8 49. Kf5 Kg7 50. Ke4 Rb4+ 51. Rd4 Rb1 52. Rd7 Re1+
53. Kd5 Rd1+ 54. Kc6 Rf1 55. Rd4 Kf8 56. Kd7 Rf2 57. Kd6 Rf1 58. Kd5 Ke7 59.
Ra4 f6 60. Ra7+ Kf8 61. Kd6 fxe5 62. Ra8+ Kf7 63. Ra7+ Kf8 64. fxe5 Rd1+ 65.
Ke6 Re1 66. Rf7+ Ke8 67. Rh7 Kf8 68. Rh8+ Kg7 69. Rd8 Ra1 70. Ke7 Ra5 71. e6
Ra7+ 72. Rd7 Ra8 73. Rd6 {[%mdl 4096]} Ra7+ $2 {[%mdl 8192]} (73... Kg6 $11)
74. Ke8 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 1st"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2006.11.14"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Leko, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2698"]
[BlackElo "2741"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2006.11.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 116"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.02.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.02.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. g3 c5 5. Nf3 cxd4 6. Nxd4 O-O 7. Bg2 d5 8.
cxd5 Nxd5 9. Qb3 Qa5 10. Bd2 Nc6 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. O-O Bxc3 13. bxc3 Ba6 14.
Rfd1 Qc5 15. e4 Bc4 {This line was examined in CBM 106 by GM V.Gavrikov 
(annots to Bacrot-Grischuk).} 16. Qc2 $146 (16. Qa4 {is usually played. Here
is the latest example:} Nb6 17. Qb4 Qh5 18. Bf4 e5 $1 $146 19. Be3 Be2 20. Re1
Nc4 21. Qc5 Rfd8 22. Rab1 h6 23. h3 Nxe3 24. Qxe3 Bc4 25. a4 a5 26. Qc5 Be6 $11
{0-1 Najer,E-Jakovenko,D/Moscow RUS 2006/The Week in Chess 631 (50)}) 16... Nb6
17. Bf4 {White provokes ...e6-e5 to clarify the situation and open the h3-c8
diagonal for his bishop. However,} (17. Be3 $5 {was probably better. If} Qa5 (
17... Qa3 18. Bf4 $5) {then} 18. Qb2 {[%cal Yb2b4]}) 17... e5 18. Be3 Qa3 19.
Bh3 Rab8 20. Qc1 Qxc1 21. Rdxc1 Bd3 22. f3 Rb7 23. Rd1 Bc2 24. Rdc1 Bd3 25. Rd1
Bc2 26. Re1 $2 {White has absolutely no grounds to play for a win.} (26. Rdc1
$11) 26... Nc4 27. Bc5 Rd8 $15 {[%csl Gc4][%cal Gd8d2,Gb7b2]} 28. Bf1 Nd2 29.
Bg2 a5 30. Re2 Bb1 31. Re1 Bc2 32. Re2 Bb1 33. Re1 h6 34. Ba3 {it is not easy
to find a move for White!} (34. Be3 Rb2 $15) 34... Rd3 {Black has created a
strong pressure but it is still difficult to break down White's position.} 35.
Rc1 Rd8 (35... Rxf3 $5 36. Bxf3 Nxf3+ 37. Kf2 Bxe4 $15 {Kasparov}) 36. Re1 Bc2
37. Bc1 (37. Re2 Nb1 $1 $17) 37... Nb1 38. c4 Rd4 (38... Bd3 $1 39. Rd1 (39. c5
Nc3 $17) 39... Nc3 40. Rd2 Ne2+ 41. Kf2 Nxc1 42. Rxc1 Rd4 $17 {Jakovenko}) 39.
c5 a4 40. Bf1 a3 41. Re3 Ra7 $6 {Too passive. After this move White gets a
drawish endgame with opposite-coloured bishops.} (41... Rd1 $5 42. Bxa3 Ba4 {
Dvoretzky} 43. Kf2 Rd2+ 44. Kg1 {Emelin} g5 $5 $36 {[%cal Yh6h5,Yh5h4]}) 42.
Re2 Bd3 43. Re3 Bxf1 44. Rxb1 Rd1 45. Kf2 Bd3 46. Rb8+ Kh7 47. Re1 Rxe1 48.
Kxe1 Bc4 49. Rd8 Ra5 50. Rd2 f6 51. Rc2 Be6 52. Kd2 g5 53. Rc3 Kg6 54. Rxa3
Rxa3 55. Bxa3 Bxa2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 1st"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2006.11.15"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ponomariov, Ruslan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2698"]
[BlackElo "2703"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2006.11.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 116"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.02.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.02.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Qa4 Bb4+ 7. Bd2 Bd6 8.
O-O O-O 9. Bc3 Nd5 10. Qxc4 Nxc3 11. bxc3 Na5 12. Qd3 c5 13. Nbd2 cxd4 14. cxd4
Bd7 15. Ne4 Be7 16. h4 h6 17. Rac1 Bc6 18. Ne5 Bd5 19. Nc3 Bxg2 20. Kxg2 Rc8
21. Rfd1 Ba3 22. Rb1 Bd6 23. Nf3 Qe7 24. Ne4 Rfd8 25. Rb5 Nc6 26. g4 a6 27. Rb6
Bb8 28. e3 Ba7 29. Rbb1 Rc7 30. g5 Nb4 31. Qa3 Nd5 32. Qxe7 Rxe7 33. Rdc1 f6
34. Nc5 Bxc5 35. Rxc5 Kf7 36. Kg3 Red7 37. a4 Ne7 38. Kg4 Rc8 39. Rxc8 Nxc8 40.
Ne1 b6 41. Rc1 Ne7 42. f4 Nd5 43. e4 Rc7 44. Rxc7+ Nxc7 45. Nc2 Ne8 46. gxh6
gxh6 47. f5 exf5+ 48. Kxf5 Nd6+ 49. Kf4 b5 50. a5 Nc4 51. Nb4 Nxa5 52. Nxa6 h5
53. e5 fxe5+ 54. dxe5 Nc6 55. Kg5 Nxe5 56. Kxh5 Kf6 57. Nc7 b4 58. Nd5+ Kf5 59.
Nxb4 Ng6 60. Nd5 Nxh4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 1st"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2006.11.16"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2710"]
[BlackElo "2698"]
[PlyCount "33"]
[EventDate "2006.11.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 116"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.02.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.02.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 O-O 7. e3 c5 8.
dxc5 Nbd7 9. Rc1 Qa5 10. Nd2 b6 11. Be2 bxc5 12. O-O Bxc3 13. Rxc3 Qxa2 14. Qc2
Rb8 15. Rb1 Qa5 16. Bxf6 Nxf6 17. Nb3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Faaborg Midtfyn Blindfold Cup"]
[Site "Faaborg"]
[Date "2007.01.02"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nielsen, Peter Heine"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2651"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2007.01.02"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 116 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. c4
Nb4 9. Be2 O-O 10. Nc3 Bf5 11. a3 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Nc6 13. Re1 Re8 14. cxd5 Qxd5
15. Bf4 Rac8 16. Bg3 Bd6 17. Qa4 Bd7 18. Qc2 Bf5 19. Qb2 Na5 20. Nd2 Bxg3 21.
hxg3 c5 22. Qb5 b6 23. Bg4 Kf8 24. Bxf5 Qxf5 25. Nf3 Qd5 26. Ne5 f6 27. Nf3 Qc4
28. Qd7 Qxc3 29. Rac1 Qb3 30. Qxa7 cxd4 31. Rxc8 Rxc8 32. Qd7 Qc3 33. Re7 Qc4
34. Kh2 Nc6 35. Rxg7 Rd8 36. Qc7 Rc8 37. Qd7 Rd8 38. Qg4 Ne7 39. Rxh7 Qg8 40.
Qh4 1-0

[Event "Faaborg Midtfyn Blindfold Cup"]
[Site "Faaborg"]
[Date "2007.01.02"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Berg, Emanuel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2586"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2007.01.02"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 116 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. g3 c5 5. Nf3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bd2 cxd4 8.
Nxd5 Bxd2+ 9. Qxd2 Qxd5 10. Qxd4 Qxd4 11. Nxd4 Bd7 12. Bg2 Nc6 13. Nxc6 Bxc6
14. Bxc6+ bxc6 15. O-O-O Ke7 16. Rd4 Rhd8 17. Rhd1 Rd5 18. e4 Rxd4 19. Rxd4 e5
20. Ra4 Kd6 21. Kc2 f6 22. Kc3 g5 23. Kc4 g4 24. b4 Kc7 25. Ra6 Kb7 26. b5 Rc8
27. Kc5 cxb5+ 28. Kxb5 Rc5+ 29. Kxc5 Kxa6 30. Kd5 Kb5 31. Ke6 Kc4 32. Kxf6 Kd4
33. Kg5 Kxe4 34. Kxg4 a5 35. f4 a4 36. f5 Kd5 37. Kf3 a3 38. Ke3 e4 39. g4 Ke5
40. h3 Kd5 41. h4 Ke5 42. h5 Kd5 43. g5 Ke5 44. g6 hxg6 45. fxg6 Kf6 46. Kxe4
Kg7 47. Kf5 Kg8 48. h6 Kh8 49. Kf6 Kg8 50. h7+ Kh8 51. g7+ Kxh7 52. Kf7 1-0

[Event "Faaborg Midtfyn Blindfold Cup"]
[Site "Faaborg"]
[Date "2007.01.03"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Pedersen, Steffen"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A59"]
[WhiteElo "2439"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2007.01.02"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 116 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bxa6 7. e4 Bxf1 8.
Kxf1 d6 9. Nf3 Nbd7 10. h3 Bg7 11. Kg1 O-O 12. Kh2 Qa5 13. Re1 Rfb8 14. Re2 Ne8
15. Bf4 Rb4 16. Rc1 Bxc3 17. bxc3 Ra4 18. Rcc2 Qa6 19. Bg3 f6 20. Ne1 Qc4 21.
Qd3 Nc7 22. Rb2 R8a7 23. f3 Kf7 24. Kg1 Na8 25. Qd2 Nab6 26. Nd3 Qa6 27. Rc2
Nc4 28. Qh6 Nf8 29. h4 Na3 30. Rcd2 Nb1 31. e5 Nxd2 32. exf6 Nf1 33. Qg7+ 1-0

[Event "Faaborg Midtfyn Blindfold Cup"]
[Site "Faaborg"]
[Date "2007.01.03"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Pedersen, Steffen"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B18"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2439"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2007.01.02"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 116 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Nc5 b6 6. Nb3 e6 7. Nf3 Bd6 8. g3
h6 9. Bg2 Ne7 10. O-O Nd7 11. Re1 Qc7 12. Nbd2 Nd5 13. c4 N5f6 14. d5 cxd5 15.
cxd5 O-O 16. Nd4 Bg4 17. f3 e5 18. fxg4 exd4 19. Nb3 Rae8 20. Rf1 d3 21. g5
hxg5 22. Bxg5 Ne4 23. Bxe4 Rxe4 24. Qxd3 Nc5 25. Qf3 Qb7 26. Rad1 Rfe8 27. Nd4
Na4 28. Nf5 Bc5+ 29. Kh1 Nxb2 30. Nxg7 Nxd1 31. Nxe8 Nf2+ 32. Rxf2 Rxe8 33. Bf6
Re1+ 34. Kg2 Qd7 35. Qh5 Kf8 36. Qh8# 1-0

[Event "Faaborg Midtfyn Blindfold Cup"]
[Site "Faaborg"]
[Date "2007.01.03"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Berg, Emanuel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2586"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2007.01.02"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 116 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 Bg5 12. Nc2 Ne7 13. a4 bxa4 14. Ncb4 O-O
15. Qxa4 Nxd5 16. Nxd5 Bd7 17. Qa5 Qb8 18. b4 Bd8 19. Qa2 a5 20. Bc4 Bc6 21. b5
Bxb5 22. Rb1 Bxc4 23. Rxb8 Rxb8 24. Qxc4 Rb1+ 25. Ke2 Rxh1 26. Qa6 Rxh2 27.
Qxd6 Rxg2 28. c4 Rg6 29. Qd7 h5 30. c5 h4 31. c6 h3 32. c7 Bxc7 33. Ne7+ Kh7
34. Nxg6 fxg6 35. Qxh3+ Kg8 36. Qe6+ Rf7 37. Qe8+ Rf8 38. Qxg6 Rf6 39. Qe8+ Kh7
40. Qh5+ Kg8 41. Qe8+ Kh7 42. f3 a4 43. Qxa4 Bb6 44. Qe8 Bd4 45. Qh5+ Kg8 46.
Kd3 Rf4 47. Kc4 Rf6 48. Kd5 Rf4 49. Ke6 Rf6+ 50. Ke7 Bc5+ 51. Kd7 Bd4 52. Ke8
Rf8+ 53. Ke7 Rf6 54. Qh3 Rf7+ 55. Ke6 Rf6+ 56. Kd5 Rf4 57. Qg2 Rf6 58. Qg3 Rf7
59. Qg4 Rf6 60. Qc8+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Faaborg Midtfyn Blindfold Cup"]
[Site "Faaborg"]
[Date "2007.01.03"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Nielsen, Peter Heine"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E18"]
[WhiteElo "2651"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2007.01.02"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[EventCategory "14"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 116 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3 Ne4 8. Nxe4
Bxe4 9. Ne1 Bxg2 10. Nxg2 d5 11. Qa4 Bf6 12. Rd1 Qe8 13. Qxe8 Rxe8 14. cxd5
exd5 15. Be3 Na6 16. Rac1 Rac8 17. Nf4 c6 18. Rd3 Nb8 19. Ra3 a5 20. Rb3 g5 21.
Nh5 Bd8 22. g4 Nd7 23. Rbc3 Re6 24. Ng3 Nf8 25. Nf5 Ng6 26. h3 Kf8 27. Kg2 Bf6
28. Rb3 Rb8 29. Rbc3 Rc8 30. Rb3 Rb8 31. Rbc3 Rc8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Faaborg Midtfyn Blindfold Cup Final"]
[Site "Faaborg"]
[Date "2007.01.04"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Nielsen, Peter Heine"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A56"]
[WhiteElo "2651"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2007.01.04"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 116 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e5 4. Nc3 d6 5. e4 Be7 6. Be2 Nbd7 7. Nf3 O-O 8. O-O
Ne8 9. Rb1 g6 10. Ne1 Bg5 11. Nd3 Bxc1 12. Qxc1 Qe7 13. f4 exf4 14. Qxf4 f6 15.
Rf2 Ne5 16. Nxe5 dxe5 17. Qe3 b6 18. Rbf1 Bd7 19. h4 Nd6 20. h5 f5 21. g3 gxh5
22. Bd3 fxe4 23. Nxe4 Nxe4 24. Bxe4 Rxf2 25. Rxf2 Rf8 26. d6 Qg7 27. Bd5+ Kh8
28. Rxf8+ Qxf8 29. Qg5 h6 30. Qg6 Qg7 31. Qxh5 Qxg3+ 32. Kh1 Qe1+ 33. Kg2 Qd2+
34. Kh1 Qc1+ 35. Kh2 Qf4+ 36. Kh1 Kg7 37. Bg2 Qc1+ 38. Kh2 Qf4+ 39. Kh1 e4 40.
Bh3 Qc1+ 41. Kh2 Qxb2+ 42. Bg2 Qf6 43. Bxe4 Qf4+ 0-1

[Event "Faaborg Midtfyn Blindfold Cup Final"]
[Site "Faaborg"]
[Date "2007.01.04"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nielsen, Peter Heine"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2651"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2007.01.04"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 116 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.07"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.07"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 g6 7. g4 Bg7 8. Bg2
O-O 9. b3 Nc6 10. Nde2 h5 11. g5 Nd7 12. Bb2 b5 13. e5 Bb7 14. exd6 exd6 15.
Qd2 b4 16. Na4 Bxb2 17. Nxb2 a5 18. Nc4 d5 19. Bxd5 Nb6 20. Nxb6 Qxb6 21. Qe3
Qc7 22. O-O-O a4 23. Qf4 Ne5 24. Bxb7 axb3 25. axb3 Qxb7 26. Qxe5 Rfe8 27. Qf6
Rxe2 28. Rhe1 Rxe1 29. Rxe1 Kh7 30. Re7 Qh1+ 31. Kd2 Rd8+ 32. Ke3 Qe1+ 33. Kf3
Qh1+ 34. Kg3 Qg1+ 35. Kh4 1-0

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2007.01.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Tiviakov, Sergei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2667"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2007.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Bc4 Nb6 6. Bb3 d5 7. exd6 Qxd6 8.
Na3 a6 9. O-O Bf5 10. d4 cxd4 11. Nxd4 Nxd4 12. cxd4 e6 13. Qf3 Qd7 14. d5 Nxd5
15. Rd1 Bxa3 16. bxa3 O-O 17. h4 Rac8 18. Bxd5 exd5 19. Rxd5 Qe6 20. Rxf5 Qe1+
21. Kh2 Rxc1 22. Rxc1 Qxc1 23. Qxb7 Qxa3 24. Qd5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2007.01.14"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Navara, David"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D87"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2719"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2007.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8.
Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O Bd7 11. Rb1 Qc7 12. Bf4 Qc8 13. d5 Na5 14. Bd3 e5
15. Bg3 f5 16. f4 fxe4 17. Bxe4 Nc4 18. Qd3 Nd6 19. fxe5 Nxe4 20. Qxe4 Bf5 21.
Qc4 Bxb1 22. d6+ Kh8 23. Rxb1 Qf5 24. Re1 Bxe5 25. Nd4 Bxd4+ 26. cxd4 Rae8 27.
Rxe8 Rxe8 28. h3 Kg7 29. Qb5 Rd8 30. dxc5 Rd7 31. a4 g5 32. a5 a6 33. Qc4 h5
34. Be1 Rf7 35. c6 bxc6 36. Bc3+ Kh7 37. Qxc6 Qf2+ 38. Kh1 Qf1+ 39. Kh2 Qf4+
40. Kh1 Qf1+ 41. Kh2 Qf4+ 42. Kh1 g4 43. hxg4 hxg4 44. Qc8 g3 45. Qh8+ Kg6 46.
Qg8+ Kh5 47. Qh8+ Qh6 48. Qxh6+ Kxh6 49. Kg1 Kg5 50. Bd4 Rf5 0-1

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2007.01.15"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Ponomariov, Ruslan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2723"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2007.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. Nf3 Bf5 6. Ne5 ({Another critical
test for Black's quite dubious opening set-up is} 6. Qb3 b5 7. cxd5 cxd5 8. a4
b4 9. Qxb4 Nc6 10. Qc5 Na5 11. Bxa6 Rxa6 12. Qb5+ Rc6 13. Ne5 Bd7 14. Nxd7 Nxd7
15. Bd2 Rc8 16. Nxd5 Nc4 17. Rc1 Nd6 18. Rxc8 Qxc8 19. Qa6 $1 Qxa6 20. Nc7+ Kd8
21. Nxa6 {The game 1-0 Radziewicz,I (2421)-Kononenko,T (2417)/Ekaterinburg
2006 (48) showed that Black is struggling in this endgame.}) 6... h6 (6... e6 {
runs into} 7. g4 Bg6 8. h4 $16) ({Perhaps instead Black should develop a piece
with} 6... Nbd7 {although his position looks pretty shaky anyway, in spite of
the draw in the following game:} 7. Qb3 Qc7 8. cxd5 Nxe5 9. dxe5 Nxd5 10. Nxd5
cxd5 11. Bd2 e6 12. Rc1 Qd7 13. Be2 (13. Qb6 Rc8 14. Rxc8+ Qxc8 15. Be2 Bc5 $1)
13... Be7 14. Qb6 Bd8 (14... Rc8 15. Rxc8+ Qxc8 16. O-O $36) 15. Qb4 Be7 16.
Qa5 Rc8 (16... Bd8 17. Qa3 Be7 18. Bb4 Bxb4+ 19. Qxb4 $16) 17. Rxc8+ Qxc8 18.
O-O Bd8 19. Qa3 f6 20. Rc1 Qd7 21. exf6 gxf6 $14 22. Ba5 Kf7 23. Bxd8 {1/2-1/2
Gelfand,B (2723)-Svidler,P (2765)/Monte Carlo (rapid) 2006}) 7. Qb3 Ra7 (7...
b5 8. cxd5 cxd5 9. a4 $16) 8. cxd5 cxd5 9. Bd2 e6 10. Rc1 Nbd7 (10... Bd6 11.
Qa4+ Nbd7 12. Nb5 $18) (10... Be7 11. Qa4+ Nbd7 12. Nb5 $18) 11. Bb5 (11. Nxd7
Nxd7 12. Ne2 Nb8 13. Nf4 Bd6 14. Bb4 Bxb4+ 15. Qxb4 Nc6 16. Qc5 Ra8 $11 {
0-1 Radjabov,T (2610)-Morozevich,A (2716)/Moscow 2002 (34)}) (11. Na4 Be7 (
11... Nxe5 12. dxe5 Nd7 13. Nb6 $1 Nxb6 (13... Qxb6 14. Rc8+ Ke7 15. Bb4+ $18)
14. Ba5 $16 {1-0 Kachiani Gersinska,K (2444)-Ionescu Brandis,I (2366)/Istanbul
2003 (36)}) (11... b5 12. Nc6 $1 bxa4 13. Qd1 Qb6 14. Nxa7 Qxa7 15. Rc8+ Ke7
16. Bb4+ $18)) (11. Qa4 Ra8 $1 {brings White nothing.}) 11... Bd6 (11... Be7
12. Bxd7+ Nxd7 13. Nxd7 Qxd7 14. Na4 Qb5 15. Nb6 Qxb3 16. axb3 a5 17. Nc8 Ra6
18. Nxe7 Kxe7 19. Rc7+ Kf6 20. Rxb7 a4 21. bxa4 Rxa4 22. Ke2 $16 {1-0 Pert,N 
(2503)-Tippleston,C (2203)/Swansea 2006 (50)}) 12. Nxd7 Nxd7 13. Bxd7+ Qxd7 $2
$146 {A bad novelty. It remains a mystery whether Carlsen tries to improve
over the existing theory, or he simply didn't know the variation. Considering
the fact that the theory of this line is based on a game of PH Nielsen, who is
Carlsen's coach, it would be very surprising for Magnus to know nothing about
it. In any case 12...Qxd7 is a result of a superficial homework, since now
White achieves a large advantage by force.} (13... Kxd7 14. Na4 b5 15. Nc5+ Ke7
{should be better for White, but things aren't simple and this is definitely
preferable to 12...Qxd7.} 16. f3 (16. a4 $5 Qb8 17. a5 $1 Rc8 18. Bb4 Kf8 19.
Kd2 Kg8 20. Nd3 Bxb4+ 21. Nxb4 Rxc1 22. Rxc1 Qxh2 23. e4 $1 Bxe4 24. Qg3 Qh5
25. f3 Bf5 26. Qf4 $44 {[%csl Ra6] 1-0 Vaganian,R (2653)-Frolov,D (2418)/
Togliatti 2003 (36)}) 16... Re8 17. e4 dxe4 18. fxe4 Bg6 19. e5 Bxc5 20. Bb4
Kd7 21. Bxc5 Qh4+ 22. g3 Qe4+ 23. Kf2 Qf5+ 24. Qf3 {1/2-1/2 Nielsen,P (2625)
-Hansen,S (2537)/Malmo 2003. It would have been interesting to see where
Ponomariov would have improved White's play here.}) 14. Na4 $1 O-O (14... Bc7
15. Nb6 Qd8 16. Qa4+ Ke7 17. Ba5 Bxb6 18. Qb4+ Qd6 19. Qxb6 Qxb6 20. Bxb6 Raa8
21. Rc7+ Kf6 22. Kd2 {The endgame looks very difficult for Black:} Rhc8 23.
Rhc1 Rxc7 24. Rxc7 Rb8 25. b4 (25. Ba7 Re8 $1 26. Rxb7 Re7 $11) (25. Kc3 $5 $16
{[%cal Gc3b4,Gb4a5,Yb6a7,Ra2a4,Ga5b6]}) 25... g5 26. a4 h5 27. Kc3 {leads to a
probably lost endgame for Black:} (27. a5 g4 28. b5 axb5 29. Ba7 Ra8 $1 (29...
Re8 $2 30. Rxb7 Re7 31. a6 $18) 30. Rxb7 b4) 27... Be4 28. f3 Bf5 29. b5 axb5
30. axb5 Ra8 31. Rxb7 {and White should be winning.}) (14... b5 15. Nb6 $18 {
[%cal Gc1c8]}) 15. Nb6 Qd8 16. Nc8 $1 {Possibly Magnus simply missed this.
White wins material.} ({After} 16. O-O a5 $1 (16... Bc7 17. Ba5 Qd6 18. g3 {
still requires accuracy from Black} (18. Rc3 {would be a mistake due to the
unexpected} Qxh2# {A very rare mate for the Slav Defense indeed...})) 17. Nc8 (
17. Qb5 Bd3 $1 18. Qxd3 Qxb6 $11) (17. h3 Bc7 $15) 17... Ra8 18. Nxd6 Qxd6 {
White's advantage disappears}) 16... Qxc8 (16... Ra8 17. Nxd6 Qxd6 18. Bb4 $18)
17. Rxc8 Rxc8 18. Qb6 $1 ({The quiet} 18. O-O Rc6 19. Rc1 Rxc1+ 20. Bxc1 b5 {
[%cal Ga7c7] allows Black to activate the pieces and reach a perfectly
playable position.}) 18... Bb8 19. O-O Kh7 20. Rc1 $18 {Ponomariov's precise
play leaves Black with no hopes to survive.} Bc2 21. Ba5 Kg6 (21... Rc6 22. Qd8
Ra8 23. Qd7 $18 {[%csl Rb7,Rf7]}) 22. Qb4 Rc4 (22... b5 23. Qd2 $18) 23. Qd2
Bf5 24. Rxc4 dxc4 25. Bb6 Ra8 26. Qe2 e5 ({Black cannot even take his pieces
out, since} 26... Bd6 27. e4 {loses the bishop.}) 27. Qxc4 exd4 (27... Bd6 28.
Qd5 $18) 28. Qxd4 f6 29. f4 Bb1 30. Qd5 1-0

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2007.01.16"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2779"]
[PlyCount "40"]
[EventDate "2007.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bc4
O-O 9. O-O Be6 10. Bb3 Nc6 11. Bg5 Nd7 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Nd5 Qd8 14. c3 Na5 15.
Bc2 Nc4 16. b3 Na3 17. Ne3 Nxc2 18. Qxc2 Rc8 19. Rfd1 Rc6 20. Rac1 b5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2007.01.18"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2744"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[EventDate "2007.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qc2 Bb7 6. Bg2 c5 7. d5 exd5 8. cxd5
Nxd5 9. O-O Be7 10. Rd1 Qc8 11. Bg5 h6 12. Bxe7 Nxe7 13. e4 O-O 14. Nc3 Nbc6
15. Rd2 Ba6 16. Bh3 Ng6 17. Bxd7 Qb7 18. Bh3 Rad8 19. Rad1 Qb8 20. Bg2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2007.01.19"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Motylev, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C48"]
[WhiteElo "2647"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2007.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Nd4 5. Ba4 Bc5 6. Nxe5 O-O 7. Nd3 Bb6 8.
e5 c6 9. O-O Ne8 10. Ne2 Qh4 11. Nxd4 Qxd4 12. Bb3 d5 13. Qe2 f6 14. e6 Nc7 15.
c3 Qh4 16. g3 Qh6 17. Nc5 Bxc5 18. d4 Qh3 19. dxc5 Nxe6 20. Be3 Re8 21. Qd2 Nf8
22. Rae1 Ng6 23. f3 h5 24. Bd4 Bf5 25. c4 Ne7 26. Re3 Be6 27. Qe2 Kf7 28. g4
Ng6 29. f4 Bxg4 30. cxd5 Bxe2 31. dxc6+ Kf8 32. Rxh3 Bxf1 33. Kxf1 bxc6 34. f5
Nf4 35. Rh4 Nd3 36. Be6 Rab8 37. Rxh5 Rb4 38. Rh8+ Ke7 39. Bxf6+ Kxf6 40. Rxe8
Rxb2 41. Rf8+ Ke5 42. Rf7 Nxc5 43. Rxg7 Rxh2 44. Rxa7 Nxe6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2007.01.20"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2728"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2007.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a3
Bc5 $5 {This move certainly looks like a loss of tempo. However, since this
tempo was used by White to play the modest move a3, Black's position should be
entirely viable.} 9. c3 d6 10. d4 Bb6 11. Be3 h6 12. h3 {After this
prophylactic move, Black will have to develop his bishop to b7 sooner or later.
This will transpose to the Arhangelsk variation, where the presence of the
pawn on a3 instead of a2 makes little or no difference.} Re8 ({In the
Arhangelsk, after} 12... Bb7 13. Nbd2 {one of the main line goes} exd4 14. cxd4
{and now 14...Nb4, which is impossible in the given circumstances of our
present game. This is the only moment when the move a3 seems to be useful, but
Black has other viable continuations at his disposal.}) 13. Nbd2 Bb7 14. dxe5
$146 {Technically speaking, a novelty in the position with the pawn on a3 and
a very rare move in the Arhangelsk.} ({Svidler must have got his inspiration
from the following game, where he had White:} 14. Bc2 {This move is possible
because the typical counterplay based on exd4 followed by ...Nb4 is impossible.
In the Arhangelsk, only few games with this move are available.} Nb8 15. dxe5
dxe5 16. Bxb6 cxb6 17. a4 bxa4 18. Bxa4 b5 19. Bb3 Nbd7 20. Qe2 Nc5 21. Bc2 Qc7
22. Qe3 a5 23. Nh4 Rad8 24. Nf5 Bc8 25. Nf3 Bxf5 26. exf5 b4 $132 {Svidler,P 
(2765)-Leko,P (2740)/Monte Carlo 2006/CBM 111 ext (1/2-1/2, 46)}) ({The main
moves in the Arhangelsk are} 14. d5 {followed by Bxb6}) ({and} 14. Qb1) 14...
dxe5 15. Bxb6 cxb6 16. Nh2 Qe7 17. Ng4 Rad8 $11 {Black has succesfully solved
his opening problems.} 18. Nxf6+ Qxf6 19. Qe2 Na5 20. Ba2 Bc8 21. Nf1 Qg6 22.
Kh2 Be6 23. Bxe6 Rxe6 {By maintaining the e4-pawn under pressure, Black
prevents the transfer of the enemy knight to d5.} (23... Qxe6 24. Ne3 $14) 24.
a4 $2 {A curious mistake.} (24. Rad1 $11) 24... Nb3 25. Rad1 $6 (25. Ra3 bxa4
26. Rxa4 Nc5 27. Ra2 Red6 $15) 25... Rxd1 26. Rxd1 bxa4 $17 {Black is just a
pawn up.} 27. Qxa6 Qxe4 28. Qc8+ Kh7 29. Rd8 Qf4+ 30. Ng3 Nd2 31. h4 Qxh4+ 32.
Kg1 e4 33. Rxd2 e3 34. Rd3 Qf4 35. Rxe3 Rxe3 36. fxe3 Qxg3 37. Qf5+ Qg6 38. Qd5
Qe6 39. Qd4 g6 40. Qxa4 Qxe3+ 41. Kh2 h5 42. Qd1 Kg7 43. Qd6 f6 44. Qc7+ Kh6
45. b4 Kg5 46. Qc6 Qe5+ 47. Kg1 b5 0-1

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2007.01.21"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2766"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2007.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. d4 dxc4 5. Bg2 a6 6. O-O Nc6 7. e3 Bd7 8. Nc3
Nd5 9. Nd2 Nb6 10. Qe2 Na5 11. Nde4 Be7 12. Nc5 Bc6 13. Bxc6+ Nxc6 14. Nxb7 Qc8
15. Nc5 O-O 16. N5a4 Nb4 17. Bd2 Rd8 18. a3 Nc6 19. Rac1 Rb8 20. Rfd1 e5 21.
Nxb6 cxb6 22. Qxc4 exd4 23. Ne4 dxe3 24. Bxe3 Rxd1+ 25. Rxd1 Qb7 26. Rc1 Ne5
27. Qc7 f6 28. Qxb7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2007.01.23"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B32"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2729"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2007.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. N1c3 a6 7. Na3 b5 8. Nd5
Nge7 9. c4 Nxd5 10. exd5 Nd4 11. cxb5 Be7 12. Be3 Nf5 13. Bd2 e4 14. bxa6 O-O
15. Be2 Bf6 16. Nc4 Bxa6 17. O-O Nd4 18. Rc1 Bb5 19. Bc3 Nxe2+ 20. Qxe2 Rxa2
21. Qxe4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2007.01.24"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2783"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2007.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 O-O 7. e3 c5 8.
dxc5 Nbd7 9. Rc1 Qa5 10. a3 Bxc3+ 11. Rxc3 Ne4 12. b4 Nxc3 13. Qa1 Qa4 14. Qxc3
a5 15. b5 Nxc5 16. Qxc5 Be6 17. Qc1 Rfc8 18. Qa1 Qc2 19. Be2 Qc1+ 20. Qxc1
Rxc1+ 21. Bd1 Ra1 22. a4 Rc8 23. Nd4 Rc4 24. O-O f6 25. Bf4 Bf7 26. h4 1-0

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2007.01.26"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2683"]
[PlyCount "218"]
[EventDate "2007.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bc4
O-O 9. Qd3 Nc6 10. a3 b5 11. Bd5 Qc7 12. Bg5 Be6 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. O-O Rac8 15.
Rfd1 Nd4 16. h3 g6 17. Rac1 Bg7 18. Qe3 Qb8 19. Qd3 Qc7 20. Nxd4 exd4 21. Bxe6
fxe6 22. Ne2 Bh6 23. Rb1 Qxc2 24. Qxc2 Rxc2 25. Nxd4 Rcxf2 26. Nxe6 R8f6 27.
Rxd6 Be3 28. Kh1 Kf7 29. Nd8+ Ke7 30. Rxf6 Rxf6 31. e5 Rb6 32. Rd1 Bf4 33. g4
Bxe5 34. Re1 Kf6 35. Rf1+ Ke7 36. Re1 Kf6 37. Rf1+ Kg7 38. Rf7+ Kg8 39. b3 Rd6
40. Re7 Bb2 41. Re8+ Kg7 42. a4 Rd3 43. axb5 axb5 44. Kg2 Bf6 45. Nc6 Rxb3 46.
Rb8 h5 47. gxh5 gxh5 48. Na7 b4 49. Nc6 Bc3 50. Nxb4 Bxb4 51. h4 Kf6 52. Rb5
Kg6 53. Rg5+ Kf6 54. Rb5 Ke6 55. Rxh5 Bd6 56. Rg5 Bf4 57. Rc5 Be5 58. h5 Rg3+
59. Kf1 Rh3 60. Ke2 Kf5 61. h6 Ke4 62. Rc4+ Bd4 63. Rc2 Rxh6 64. Rd2 Rh3 65.
Rc2 Bc3 66. Kd1 Kd4 67. Rf2 Kd3 68. Rd2+ Kc4 69. Rf2 Re3 70. Re2 Rd3+ 71. Kc2
Bd4 72. Rd2 Ra3 73. Re2 Be3 74. Kd1 Ra1+ 75. Kc2 Kd4 76. Kb2 Ra8 77. Kb1 Rh8
78. Kc2 Rc8+ 79. Kb3 Kd3 80. Rb2 Bd2 81. Rb1 Ra8 82. Rb2 Ra1 83. Ra2 Rd1 84.
Rc2 Ra1 85. Rc3+ Kd4 86. Rc4+ Kd5 87. Rg4 Be3 88. Kc2 Bd4 89. Kd3 Ra3+ 90. Ke2
Kc4 91. Rg2 Rh3 92. Kd2 Re3 93. Re2 Ra3 94. Kc2 Be3 95. Kb2 Kb4 96. Kb1 Bd4 97.
Kc2 Kc4 98. Rd2 Be3 99. Re2 Rb3 100. Kd1 Kd3 101. Rd2+ Ke4 102. Kc2 Rb8 103.
Rd3 Bd4 104. Rd2 Rc8+ 105. Kd1 Be3 106. Rc2 Rf8 107. Ke2 Kd4 108. Kd1 Kd3 109.
Rd2+ Bxd2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2007.01.27"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C83"]
[WhiteElo "2678"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2007.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. Nbd2 Be7 10. c3 O-O 11. Bc2 f5 12. Nb3 Qd7 13. Nbd4 Nxd4 14. Nxd4 c5 15.
Nxe6 Qxe6 16. f3 Ng5 17. a4 Rad8 18. axb5 axb5 19. Bxg5 Bxg5 20. f4 Be7 21. Kh1
{The two youngest participants have courageously entered the discussion of the
position, that became very topical lately.} Kh8 (21... c4 22. Qd4 Qc6 23. b4 $1
cxb3 24. Bxb3 Kh8 25. Ra5 Rc8 26. Bxd5 Qxc3 27. Qxc3 Rxc3 28. Rxb5 {1/2
Volokitin,A (2660)-Harikrishna,P (2680)/Foros 2006/ (90)}) (21... Qb6 22. b3 (
22. Qf3 d4 23. cxd4 {1/2 Fedorov,A (2614)-Atalik,S (2632)/Malmo 2006/}) 22...
d4 23. c4 bxc4 24. bxc4 Qb7 25. Bd3 {1/2 Karjakin,S (2672)-Fressinet,L (2640)/
Cap d'Agde 2006/ (44)}) 22. Qd3 (22. Ra7 d4 23. cxd4 Rxd4 24. Qf3 Rd2 25. Rf2
Rd7 26. Rxd7 Qxd7 27. h3 c4 28. g4 g6 29. gxf5 {1/2 Polgar,S (2480)-Unzicker,W
(2460)/Bad Homburg 1996/}) 22... Qb6 {Carlsen had a direct experience from the
game against Krasenkow. Leading white pieces he had developed really dangerous
attack.} (22... Qc6 23. Rfd1 c4 (23... d4 24. c4) 24. Qf3 g6 (24... b4 25. cxb4
Bxb4 26. Rd4 Bc5 $2 27. Rxc4) 25. b4 Rd7 26. Qe3 Ra8 27. Qd4 Rdd8 28. g4 Rxa1
29. Rxa1 Ra8 30. Rg1 Bd8 31. e6+ Kg8 32. gxf5 Bb6 33. Qe5 Bxg1 34. fxg6 hxg6
35. Bxg6 Bb6 {1/2 Carlsen,M (2646)-Krasenkow,M (2650)/Tromsoe 2006/ (44)}) 23.
g4 c4 (23... d4 24. gxf5 c4 25. Qe4 d3 26. Bd1 Qh6 27. Ra7 Bc5 {1/2 Fedorov,A 
(2617)-Delchev,A (2628)/Predeal 2006/ (38)}) 24. Qh3 Qc6 (24... d4 25. Bxf5 g6
(25... Qc6+ 26. Qg2) 26. Be4 Qe6 27. Qg3 $16) 25. Qg2 (25. Bxf5 g6 26. Bc2 (26.
Bb1 d4+ 27. Qg2 Qxg2+ 28. Kxg2 d3 $44) 26... d4+ 27. Qg2 (27. Kg1 $4 d3) 27...
Qxg2+ 28. Kxg2 dxc3 29. bxc3 Rd2+ 30. Rf2 Rxf2+ 31. Kxf2 Rxf4+ $11) (25. gxf5
d4+ 26. Qg2 Qxg2+ 27. Kxg2 d3 28. Bd1 Rxf5 $11) 25... fxg4 26. f5 Bc5 $6 {
The critical position of the whole game was asking for the defender's full
attention. It seems a bit absurd, that the best solution layed in the advance
of the pawn to the g3 squre.} (26... Qc7 27. f6 $1 (27. Rae1 d4) 27... gxf6 28.
Qxg4 fxe5 (28... Qxe5 29. Rfe1) (28... Bc5 29. exf6 d4 30. Be4 $14) 29. Bxh7 $1
Bg5 (29... Kxh7 30. Qh5+ Kg7 31. Rg1+) 30. Bg6 Bh6 31. Qh5 Qg7 32. Rg1 $18) (
26... g3 $1 27. Rf3 (27. hxg3 Qh6+ 28. Qh2 Qxh2+ 29. Kxh2 d4) (27. Rae1 Qh6 28.
Qxg3 Bh4 $17) (27. f6 gxf6 28. Bxh7 fxe5 $1) (27. Qxg3 $2 d4+ 28. Qg2 Qxg2+ 29.
Kxg2 d3 30. Bd1 Rd5) 27... d4 28. cxd4 Rxd4 29. Rxg3 Qxg2+ 30. Rxg2 Rfd8 $11)
27. Qxg4 Rde8 (27... d4+ 28. Be4 Qc7 29. f6 gxf6 30. exf6 $14) 28. f6 $1 (28.
Rae1 d4+ 29. Be4 Qc7 30. f6 Rxe5 31. cxd4 Bxd4 32. Rd1 Rxe4 33. fxg7+ Qxg7 34.
Rxf8+ Qxf8 35. Qxe4 Bxb2 $11) 28... gxf6 29. Bxh7 $1 Rxe5 (29... Kxh7 30. Qh5+
Kg7 31. Rg1+ Bxg1 32. Rxg1#) 30. Bf5 $2 {Karjakin pays back to his opponent
with the unexact solution. Most likely the fine idea 30.Bg6! would have won.} (
30. Bg6 $1 Qb7 (30... d4+ 31. Rf3 Qb7 32. Rg1 $18) 31. Bf5 $1 Rf7 (31... d4+
32. Rf3 Rxf5 33. Qxf5 $18) 32. Rf3 Rg7 33. Qh3+ $1 Kg8 34. Be6+ $18) 30... Rf7
(30... Rg8 31. Qh5+ Kg7 32. Qh7+ Kf8 33. Bd7 $1 $18) (30... d4+ 31. Rf3 Rg8 32.
Qh5+ (32. Qh4+ Kg7 33. Be4 $1 Rxe4 34. Rg1+ Kf7 $1 35. Qh7+ Ke6 36. Rxf6+ $1
Kxf6 37. Qh6+ Ke7 38. Qxc6 Rxg1+ 39. Kxg1 Re5 $11) 32... Kg7 33. Qg6+ Kf8 34.
Ra8+ $1 Qxa8 (34... Ke7 $6 35. Qh7+ Kd6 36. Be4 $1 Rxe4 37. Qxg8 Re8 $1 38.
Qg3+ Kd7 39. Rxe8 Kxe8 40. Qg6+ $16) 35. Qxf6+ Ke8 36. Qxe5+ Kd8 37. Bg4 $1 (
37. Be4 $4 Qa1+ $19) 37... Rf8 $1 (37... Qa1+ $2 38. Kg2 Rxg4+ 39. Kh3 Qg1 40.
Qb8+ $18) (37... Rxg4 38. Qh8+ $18) 38. Qxc5 Qa1+ (38... Rxf3 39. Qxd4+ Ke7 40.
Bxf3 Qxf3+ 41. Kg1 $16) 39. Kg2 Qxb2+ 40. Kg3 Rxf3+ 41. Bxf3 Qxc3 42. Qd6+ $16)
31. Rae1 {More troublesome for the defender was the move with the other rook
as the one on a1 was ready in a good firing location.} (31. Rf3 Rg7 32. Rh3+
Kg8 33. Ra8+ $1 (33. Qh5 $2 d4+ 34. Qf3 Qxf3+ 35. Rxf3 d3 $19) (33. Qf3 Re3 $19
) 33... Qxa8 34. Be6+ Rxe6 (34... Kf8 35. Rh8+ Ke7 36. Qxg7+ Kxe6 37. Qg4+ $1 (
37. Rxa8 $2 Re1+ 38. Kg2 Rg1+ $19) 37... Kd6 38. Rxa8 Re1+ 39. Kg2 Rg1+ 40. Kf3
Rxg4 41. Kxg4 $18) 35. Qxe6+ Rf7 36. Qg4+ Rg7 37. Qe6+ Rf7) (31. Rfe1 $1 d4+ (
31... Bb6 32. Qh5+ Kg8 33. Qg6+ Rg7 (33... Kf8 34. Rxe5) 34. Be6+ $1 Rxe6 (
34... Qxe6 35. Ra8+) 35. Rxe6 Rxg6 36. Rxc6 $18) (31... Rg7 32. Qh3+ Kg8 33.
Rxe5 fxe5 34. Be6+ $18) 32. Be4 Rxe4 (32... Qe6 $2 33. Ra8+ $18) 33. Rxe4 d3
34. Qg2 Rh7 35. Rae1 Bf8 36. Rg1 Qd5 $14) 31... d4+ 32. Be4 Qe6 33. Bf5 (33.
Qh4+ Kg7 $1 (33... Kg8 $2 34. Qh6 $1 Bf8 35. Rg1+ Bg7 36. Ra1 $16) 34. Rg1+ Kf8
35. Qh8+ Ke7 36. Rg8 Qd7 $13) 33... Qc6+ 34. Be4 {Karjakin decided to accept
the draw with move repetition as the continuation of the attack was not
promissing concrete results.} Qe6 35. Bf5 Qc6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2007.01.29"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Shirov, Alexei"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C90"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2715"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2007.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Before the Corus Tournament I agreed to annotate a game from the tournament
for CBM, obviously thinking that I might be able to win at least one game or
achieve something memorable. However, things did not go according to plan at
all as I made blunders or huge mistakes in calculation in almost every game I
played. The following game is not a very good game, but I came very close to
winning and the game was quite interesting.  Vor dem Corus-Turnier erklärte
ich mich bereit, eine Partie daraus für das CBM zu kommentieren,
offensichtlich annehmend, in der Lage sein, zumindest eine Partie zu gewinnen
oder etwas Denkwürdiges zu leisten. Doch die Dinge liefen ganz und gar nicht
nach Plan, denn in fast jeder Partie, die ich spielte, übersah ich etwas oder
machte riesige Rechenfehler. Die folgende Partie ist nicht besonders gut, aber
ich kam dem Sieg sehr nahe und es war recht interessant.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a3 {Hardly anyone
dares allow the Marshall nowadays, so I guess I'm excused for playing a
somewhat unusual line. Kaum jemand wagt es heutzutage, Marshall zuzulassen,
also kann man mir das Anwenden eines etwas ungewöhnlichen Abspiels wohl
verzeihen.} d6 (8... Bc5 {ist auch recht verlässlich, wie Svidler in einer
früheren Runde des Turniers gegen mich zeigte.}) 9. c3 Na5 (9... Be6 {is the
main line. ist das Hauptabspiel.}) 10. Bc2 (10. Ba2 {would appear more natural
now that I have played a3, but the bishop might get closed in here after a
future c4 by Black. Anyway, it was an interesting alternative. würde
natürlicher wirken, da ich ja a3 gespielt habe, doch dort könnte der Läufer
nach einem zukünftigen c4 von Schwarz eingemauert werden. Jedenfalls war es
eine interessante Alternative.}) 10... c5 11. d4 Nd7 12. b4 {Trying to make
use of having played a3 instead of h3 as in the normal line. Versucht, die
Tatsache zu nutzen, dass a3 geschehen ist statt h3 wie im normalen Abspiel.}
cxb4 13. cxb4 (13. axb4 {would seem more natural, and might have been better,
though White does not have much to write home about here either. sieht
natürlicher aus und könnte auch besser gewesen sein, obwohl Weiß auch hier
nichts Besonderes erreicht hätte.} Nc4 14. Nbd2 Nxd2 (14... Ndb6 15. Nxc4 Nxc4
16. Bd3 {might be a little bit better for White. ist vielleicht einen Tick
besser für Weiß.}) 15. Nxd2 (15. Bxd2 Qc7 {Black looks very comfortable here.
Hier sieht die schwarze Stellung sehr bequem aus.}) 15... exd4 (15... Nb6 16.
Nb3 {is the point behind Nxd2, but Black should be fine here also. ist die
Pointe hinter Nxd2, doch auch hier sollte Schwarz ordentlich stehen.}) 16. cxd4
d5 {is an interesting option, and why I didn't go for axb4. ist eine
interessante Option und der Grund, weshalb ich axb4 unterließ.} 17. Rb1 (17. e5
Bxb4 18. Ba3 $44 {was interesting as well. war ebenfalls interessant.}) 17...
dxe4 18. Nxe4 {with a complicated position, but one where Black should be fine.
mit einer komplizierten Stellung, aber einer, in der Schwarz ordentlich stehen
sollte.}) 13... Nc4 14. Nc3 {Leaving the knight alone on c4 looks strange, but
I wanted to exploit the fact that the c3 square was free, and Den Springer auf
c4 in Ruhe zu lassen, wirkt seltsam, doch ich wollte die Tatsache nutzen, dass
das Feld c3 frei war} (14. Nbd2 {doesn't seem to promise much anyway . scheint
sowieso nicht viel zu versprechen.}) 14... Ndb6 15. h3 exd4 16. Nxd4 Bf6 17.
Rb1 {Shirov apparently found my play in this part of the game very strange,
which made me wonder if I was playing like a total idiot (which might be true).
This move however is quite natural, as there wasn't any other ovbious way of
bringing the rook into play, and the somewhat loose pieces on the c-file might
need some protection. Black looks very much fine here, which he should be, but
it isn't so easy for him to find a plan to improve his position further after
he has developed his bishop and put his rooks on the e- and c-files. Shirov
fand mein Spieler in dieser Phase der Partie offenbar sehr seltsam, worauf ich
mich fragte, ob ich wie ein Vollidiot gespielt hätte (was der Fall sein könnte)
. Dieser Zug allerdings ist ganz natürlich, da es keine anderen
offensichtlichen Weg gab, den Turm ins Spiel zu bringen und die etwas
unsicheren Figuren in der c-Linie etwas Schutz vertragen könnten. Schwarz
scheint hier sehr ordentlich zu stehen, was auch der Fall sein sollte, aber es
ist nicht so leicht für ihn, einen Plan zu finden, wie er seine Stellung
weiter verbessern könnte, nachdem er seinen Läufer entwickelt und seine Türme
in die e- und c-Linien gestellt hat.} Bd7 {This bishop could also be put on b7.
} 18. Rb3 Re8 19. f4 Rc8 20. Kh1 g6 21. Rf1 {Around here I started to like my
position, but it is nothing special. Etwa hier begann meine Stellung mir zu
gefallen, aber es ist nichts Besonderes.} Bg7 22. Nce2 Na4 $2 {I think this
move deserves a question mark, the knight doesn't do a lot over here, and he
loses the chance to play d5 as an answer to f5. Ich denke, dieser Zug verdient
ein Fragezeichen; der Springer leistet hier drüben nichts, und er nimmt sich
die Chance, d5 zu spielen als Antwort auf f5.} (22... Rc7 $1 {As suggested by
Simen Agdestein looks like a nice, flexible move, with the idea of bringing
the bishop to b7 and protecting the seventh rank. After Rc7 I think Black must
be fine, which is quite fair, as he has not "committed any crimes" so far. ,
wie von Simen Agdestein vorgeschlagen, sieht aus wie ein schöner, flexibler
Zug, mit der Idee, den Läufer nach b7 zu bringen und die siebte Reihe zu
schützen. Nach Rc7 denke ich, Schwarz muss ordentlich stehen, was auch recht
fair ist, da er bislang "keine Verbrechen begangen hat".}) 23. f5 Nab6 24. Nf4
Qf6 {This move took me by surprise, but it was not a very unpleasant one, and
I started to look for a refutation.  Dieser Zug überraschte mich, aber nicht
gerade unangenehm, und ich begann, eine Widerlegung zu suchen.} 25. fxg6 fxg6 (
25... Qxd4 26. gxf7+ Kxf7 27. Ne2+ {obviously loses at once. verliert offenbar
sofort.}) (25... hxg6 26. Nf5 gxf5 27. Rg3 Kh8 28. exf5 $1 Qh4 29. Rg4 $18) 26.
Nf5 (26. Nfe6 Rxe6 27. Rxf6 Rxf6 {This obvious computer continuation did not
impress me much. Diese offensitchtliche Computerfortsetzung beeindruckte mich
nicht sonderlich.}) 26... Kh8 (26... gxf5 {was worse: war schlechter:} 27. Rg3
$1 (27. Nh5 Qd4 28. Rg3 (28. Rd3 Nb2 $1) 28... Qxd1 29. Rxg7+ Kh8 30. Bxd1 Rxe4
31. Bg5 $13) 27... Kh8 28. Nh5 Qd4 29. Nxg7 {This is the point, the capture
with the knight is far more effective than with the rook. Das ist die Pointe,
das Schlagen mit dem Springer ist weitaus effektiver als mit dem Turm.} Qxd1
30. Rxd1 Rxe4 (30... Rg8 31. Nxf5 Rxg3 32. Nxg3 $16) 31. Bxe4 fxe4 32. Nh5 {
When Black obviously has innsufficient compensation for the exchange. wonach
Schwarz offensichtlich unzureichende Kompensation für die Quailität hat.}) 27.
Nxg7 Qxg7 28. Rg3 (28. Rbf3 {was probably better. White keeps a pleasant
advantage, and his position is easier to play, because Black will always have
to worry about his king, while having no real counterplay. war wahrscheinlich
besser. Weiß behält einen angenehmen Vorteil, und seine Stellung ist leichter
zu spielen, da Schwarz sich immer um seinen König sorgen muss, während er kein
echtes Gegenspiel hat.}) 28... Rf8 {Here I felt that there had to be a forced
win somehow, but even after spending a lot of time I could not find one.  Hier
hatte ich das Gefühl, es müsste irgendwie einen forcierten Gewinn geben, aber
selbst, nachdem ich viel Zeit investiert hatte, konnte ich keinen finden.} 29.
e5 {The most direct, but probably not the best continuation. Die direkteste,
aber vielleicht nicht die beste Fortsetzung.} (29. Rgf3 {could be considered
here too. war auch hier zu erwägen.}) 29... Nxe5 30. Bb2 Nbc4 31. Nxg6+ {
The only consistent choice. However, it only leads to a draw, and I had not
calculated precisely at all, as it turned out. Die einzig konsequente Wahl.
Doch sie führt nur zum Remis, und ich hatte keinesfalls genau gerechnet, wie
sich herausstellte.} hxg6 32. Rxf8+ Rxf8 33. Bxg6 (33. Rxg6 Nxb2 34. Qh5+ Kg8
35. Rxg7+ Kxg7 {did not look too great to me. schien mir nichs allzu Tolles zu
sein.}) 33... Bg4 $2 {We both considered this the only defence during the game,
but in fact it is a mistake. Diesen Zug hielten wir beide während der Partie
für die einzige Verteidigung, aber tatsächlich ist er ein Fehler.} (33... Rf1+
34. Qxf1 Nxb2 35. Be4 $1 Qh6 36. Bd5 {creates the lethal threat of Rg8 and
forces Black to give up material. stellt die tödliche Drohung Rg8 auf und
zwingt Schwarz, Material zu geben.}) (33... Qh6 34. Bc1 Rf4 {During the game,
I did not see this move, suggested by Fritz,.. It seems that Black is OK after
it. Diesen Zug hatte ich während der Partie nicht gesehen, ein Vorschlag von
Fritz... Danach scheint die Stellung von Schwarz in Ordnung zu sein.} (34...
Qh4 35. Bg5 $18) 35. Be4 Ng4 36. Kg1 Qf6 37. Bxf4 Qxf4 38. Rxg4 Bxg4 39. Qxg4
Qxg4 40. hxg4 Nxa3 41. Bb7 {is a strange computer variation leading to draw.
ist eine seltsame Computervariante, die zum Remis führt.}) (33... Be8 {is
another move I did not spot, and it seems to give a draw as well. ist ein
anderer Zug, den ich nicht gesehen hatte, und auch er scheint Remis zu ergeben.
} 34. Qh5+ Kg8 35. Bh7+ Kh8 36. Bg6+ $11) 34. Rxg4 Qf6 35. Bd4 Qf1+ 36. Qxf1
Rxf1+ 37. Kh2 Nxa3 38. Bd3 {I had spend so much time searching for a win that
my only concern at this point was to not blunder anything before the time
control. Ich hatte auf der Suche nach einem Gewinn so viel Zeit verbraucht,
dass meine einzige Sorge an dieser Stelle war, bis zur Zeitkontrolle nichts
mehr einzustellen.} Rd1 39. Rg3 Nac4 40. h4 Nd2 41. Bc3 Ndc4 (41... Nf1+ {
was probably his plan, but after thinking for a long time he correctly changed
his mind. war wahrscheinlich sein Plan, aber nach langem Nachdenken überlegte
er es sich zurecht anders.} 42. Bxf1 Rxf1 43. Rg6 Rc1 44. Bd4 Kh7 45. Rxd6 {
and White wins easily. und Weiß gewinnt leicht.}) 42. h5 Nb6 43. h6 Nd5 44. Rf3
{Here I thought that the game would be over in a few moves, but he kept
finding resources. Hier dachte ich, die Partie würde in wenigen Zügen vorbei
sein, aber er fand immer wieder Ressourcen.} Nf6 $8 45. Bf5 Ng8 (45... Nxf3+ $2
46. gxf3 {leaves the knight indefensible, and illustrates the power of a
bishop pair in an open position. macht den Springer undeckbar und
veranschaulicht die Kraft eines Läuferpaars in offener Stellung.}) 46. h7 Nf6
47. Rh3 $2 (47. Rg3 Rf1 48. Rg5 {as pointed out by numerous commentators, is
the way forward , wie von zahlreichen Kommentatoren angemerkt, ist der Weg
vorwärts.} Rf4 49. Kg1 Rc4 $8 50. Bxe5 dxe5 51. Rg6 Rc1+ 52. Kh2 Nxh7 53. Be6
$18) 47... Rf1 48. g4 Rf4 {Here I realized that something had gone wrong. In
retrospect, I cannot even see what I might have overlooked. Hier begriff ich,
dass irgendwas schiefgelaufen war. Im Nachhinein kann ich nicht einmal sagen,
was ich übersehen haben könnte.} 49. Rg3 (49. Kg3 {does not lead anywhere:
führt zu nichts:} Rf3+ 50. Kh4 Rxh3+ 51. Kxh3 Nxh7 52. Bc8 (52. Bxe5+ dxe5 53.
Bxh7 Kxh7 54. g5 Kg6 55. Kg4 e4 56. Kf4 e3 57. Kxe3 Kxg5 58. Kd4 Kf5 59. Kc5
Ke6 60. Kb6 Kd7 61. Kxa6 Kc6 62. Ka5 Kc7 $11) 52... Nf6 53. Bxa6 Nd5 54. Bd2
Nd3 $11) (49. Bxe5 dxe5 50. Kg3 {was the last chance: war die letzte Chance:}
Nd5 $1 {The best way to save the game. Die beste Möglichkeit, die Partie zu
retten.} (50... Rxb4 51. Rh6) 51. Rh6 Ne3 52. Be6 Rxb4 53. g5 Rf4 54. g6 Rf8 {
and Black should be able to hold. und Schwarz sollte sich halten können.})
49... Kg7 $1 (49... Nfxg4+ 50. Bxg4 Kxh7 51. Bc8 $18) 50. Rh3 Kh8 51. Rg3 Kg7
52. Kg2 (52. Kh1 {was better, but far too deep for the time available,
especially as I had already got into time trouble. war besser, aber viel zu
tief bei der verfügbaren Zeit, vor allem, da ich bereits in Zeitnot gekommen
war.}) 52... Nxh7 53. Rd3 Nf6 54. Rxd6 Nexg4 55. Bxg4 Rxg4+ 56. Kf3 Rg6 57.
Rxa6 (57. Kf4 Kf7 58. Kf5 Rg5+ {or oder} (58... Ng8 {also doesn't lead
anywhere. führt ebenfalls zu nichts.})) 57... Kf7 58. Rxf6+ {Black will lose
the b5-pawn, as White gains the oppostion, but obviously not the game. Schwarz
wird den b5-Bauern verlieren, da Weiß die Opposition erobert, aber
offensichtlich nicht die Partie.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Morelia/Linares 24th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2007.02.17"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E66"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2741"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "135"]
[EventDate "2007.02.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nc3 d6 6. Nf3 c5 ({This move order
presents a series of minor advantages over the more popular} 6... Nc6 7. O-O a6
8. d5 Na5 9. Nd2 c5 10. Qc2 e5 {. First of all, White's centre is submitted to
less pressure after 6...Nc6, offering White a wider choice of systems on the
8th move. The second aspect will become clear later.}) 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 ({
The main drawback of this variation is that White can retain a tiny edge
without any risk by means of} 8. dxc5 {. However, the critical line against
both 6...Nc6 and 6...c5 remains the advance of the d-pawn.}) 8... Na5 9. Nd2 e5
10. b3 Ng4 {This is Black's additional possibility compared to the 6...Nc6
lines. Black decides to start his kingside play without "wasting time" with ...
a6, ...Rb8 and ...b5. Leaving the a5-knight out of play for such a long time
is a very risky decision, but it seems to suit Morozevich' original and
enterprising style of play.} 11. h3 ({Generally speaking, White should avoid
such weakening moves, unless he has something concrete in mind. A classical
brilliant game went} 11. e4 f5 12. exf5 e4 13. f6 Nxf6 14. Ndxe4 $1 Nxe4 15.
Nxe4 Bxa1 16. Bg5 Bf6 17. Nxf6+ Rxf6 18. Qa1 Kf7 {Now, after the quiet move}
19. Re1 $3 {Black found it difficult to defend against the threats Re3-f3 or
Qc3 and if ...b6 then Re6! in Geller-Velimirovic, Havana 1971.}) 11... Nh6 12.
Nde4 {This novelty is a logical consequence of the previous move. With the
provocative knight jump to the centre, White aims to take advantage of Black's
temporary lack of coordination by energetical means.} f6 ({Black intends to
consolidate with ...Nf7. The generally desirable} 12... f5 {is met by} 13. Ng5
{, taking advantage of the weakness of the light squares in Black's camp.}) 13.
Nxd6 $5 {There was no way back already. If Black was allowed to carry out his
planned regroupment (...Nf7 folowed by ...f5), White's previous play would
simply become pointless.} Qxd6 14. Ne4 Qd8 15. Nxc5 {White's compensation for
the sacrificed piece is out of question. The a5-knight did not improve its
situation any bit, while the white central pawns look threatening.} f5 $5 ({
Morozevich chooses to return the material "with interest", for the sake of
rapidly completing his development.} 15... Nf7 $2 {would have been bad because
of} 16. Ne6 Bxe6 17. dxe6 Nd6 18. e7 Qxe7 19. Qd5+ {with a more advantageous
position for White than in the game. However, 15...Nf5 or 15...Qc7 are worth
investigating.}) ({In case of, say} 15... Qc7 {play would have a less concrete
character than in the game, but the passive position of the a5-knight would
have provided White with excellent compensation.} 16. Ba3 Rd8 {[%cal Gg7f8]}
17. Nd3 f5 18. Qc2 $44 {[%csl Ga5][%cal Ya1d1,Yg1h2,Ye2e4]} (18. Rc1 Nc6 $5 {
[%cal Yd8d1]}) (18. e4 fxe4 {[%csl Gh3]}) 18... e4 19. Nf4 Bxa1 $6 20. Rxa1 $40
{[%csl Ga5][%cal Yb2h8,Ra3b2,Rc2c3]}) 16. d6 ({Actually, even here White could
refrain from winning the piece back, in order to maintain his strong centre of
pawns and keep the a5-knight out of play.} 16. Ba3 e4 17. Rc1 $44) 16... e4 17.
d7 Nf7 18. Rb1 Qe7 19. dxc8=Q Raxc8 20. Na4 Rfd8 21. Qe1 Nc6 {Generally
speaking, Black can be content with the outcome of the opening. He is much
better developed and has considerable advantage of space. Besides, the
g2-bishop will remain passive for a long time. However, White's position has
no weaknesses, which gives him hope to repell the first wave of Black's
initiative and retain the small material advantage. From this point of view,
Carlsen's play in the next phase of the game deserves the highest praise.} 22.
Nc3 Nd4 23. Bb2 ({The hurried activation of the knight with} 23. Nd5 {could
have been met by} Rxd5 $5 24. cxd5 Rc2 $44 {with very active play for Black.})
23... b5 24. Nd5 Qd6 $6 {There are several things to reproach to this move.
The queen fails to increase the pressure against the c4-pawn and to support
the central knight (or bishop after Bxd4, Bxd4) and will be slightly exposed.}
(24... Qc5 $5 25. Bxd4 Bxd4 26. e3 Be5 27. Rc1 bxc4 28. bxc4 Rb8 $44 {Black
cannot be worse here.}) 25. Bxd4 Bxd4 26. Rd1 Be5 27. Qa5 bxc4 28. Ne3 $1 Qc7
29. Qxc7 Bxc7 30. Nxc4 {White has activated his position a lot.} Ne5 31. Rxd8+
Rxd8 32. Rc1 Nxc4 33. Rxc4 {Only a dozen of moves have passed since the
previous diagrammed position and we can see that White has fulfilled all the
programmed tasks. He has provoked mass exchanges and retained the extra-pawn
at the same time. Even so, it is highly questionable whether he has real
winning chances, because of Black's persisting advantage of space and the
presence of the opposite coloured bishops.} Rd1+ 34. Bf1 Bd6 35. e3 a5 36. Kg2
Kf7 37. Rc2 Ke7 38. Be2 Rd5 39. Bc4 Rd1 40. g4 f4 $2 {A blunder just before
the first time control. Morozevich must have overlooked White's 43rd move.} ({
Any neutral move such as} 40... Kf6 {would have maintained Black's drawing
chances intact. His considerable advantage of space would have restricted
White's active possibilities.}) 41. exf4 Bxf4 42. Re2 Rd4 43. Bd3 $3 {With
this unexpected tactical resource, White wins a second pawn.} Kf6 (43... Rxd3
44. Rxe4+ {leads to a hopeless rook ending.}) 44. Bxe4 Rd2 45. Rxd2 Bxd2 46.
Kg3 Be1 47. Kf3 Bb4 48. h4 h6 49. Ke2 Bd6 ({Morozevich' plan is hard to
understand. The best chance for survival was blocking the white pawns on light
squares with} 49... g5 {when White still needs to prove a winning plan. See
the comment on the next move.}) 50. Kd3 Bc5 ({This was the last moment when
Black could play} 50... g5 {It turns out that White is winning, but certain
technical effort is needed still.} 51. h5 $1 {This is a dangerous candidate to
promotion. Black faces severe problems defending both his wings. For instance,
if the king guards the queenside majority (orpassed pawn), allowing the white
king get to g6, the bishopcouldnot defend the h6-pawn for too long. (...Bf8 is
met by Kg8 followed by Kg7). Black has to permanently count with a double pawn
break on the kingside.} Ke5 52. f3 Bb4 53. Kc4 Ba3 (53... Kd6 54. f4 $1 gxf4 (
54... Bd2 55. f5 $18 {is relatively easy. Black cannot fight against two
remote passed pawns.}) 55. g5 hxg5 56. h6 Ba3 57. b4 $1 Bb2 (57... axb4 58. Kb3
$1 $18 {and the h-pawn promotes.}) 58. bxa5 Kc7 {It should be mentioned that
in certain cases, if White would have only one passedpawn on the a-file and
the black king could get to h8, the position would be a draw. Black would just
give up his bishop for the a-pawn when needed.} 59. Bf3 Kb8 60. Kd5 Ka7 61. Ke6
Ka6 62. Kf5 Kxa5 63. Kxg5 Kb4 64. Kg4 (64. Kxf4 $2 Bc1+ 65. Kf5 Bxh6 $11) 64...
Ka3 65. Bd5 Be5 66. h7 Kb4 67. Kf5 Bh8 68. Kxf4 $18) 54. Kb5 Bb4 55. Ka4 Bd2
56. a3 Kd6 57. Kb5 Be1 58. b4 axb4 59. axb4 Bd2 60. Kc4 Bc1 (60... Be1 61. f4
gxf4 62. g5 $18) 61. Bd5 $1 {/\Kd4-e4, קh6. A typical method of restricting
the enemy king.} Bf4 (61... Bb2 62. b5 $18) (61... Be3 62. Kd3 $18 {[%cal
Yd3e4] /\Ke4}) 62. Kd4 Bd2 63. b5 Ba5 64. Ke4 Bb6 65. Bc4 $18 {[%csl Gd6][%cal
Ye4g6,Yg6h6,Rc4g8]}) 51. f4 h5 52. g5+ Kg7 53. Kc4 {This move marks the fiasco
of Black's play in the endgame. Although he has managed to block the enemy
pawns on dark squares and make them vulnerable, the white king has been given
enough time to get activated. Black's counterplay will be too slow.} Bd6 54.
Kb5 Bxf4 55. Kxa5 Bg3 56. Kb5 Bxh4 57. a4 Bxg5 58. a5 Kf6 59. a6 Be3 60. Kc6 g5
61. b4 Ke5 62. b5 Kxe4 63. b6 g4 64. a7 g3 65. a8=Q Kf3 66. b7 Bf4 67. Qf8 Ke4
68. Qe8+ 1-0

[Event "Morelia/Linares 24th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2007.02.18"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2744"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2007.02.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 {Such important events as the World Championship
match from Elista usually determine changes in the fashion. Aronian has
included the Catalan in his repertoire recently; in Wijk aan Zee he obtained
two important wins with it.} d5 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. Bg2 a6 6. O-O Nc6 7. e3 Bd7 8.
Qe2 b5 9. Rd1 Be7 10. Nc3 O-O {A courageous novelty. Black decides to ignore
the pin along the Catalan diagonal.} 11. Ne5 Qe8 {Black has managed to prevent
the immediate threats, but his coordination is rather poor, at least
temporarily.} 12. b3 ({White decides to undermine Black's advantage of space
on the queenside. A more natural continuation was} 12. e4 {, aiming to
continue the development, for instance} Rd8 13. Be3 Bc8 14. f4) 12... Nd5 ({
Black considered the opening of the a-file with} 12... cxb3 13. axb3 {to be
too dangerous. Instead, he prefers to return his small material advantage in
order to activate his play.}) 13. Bxd5 {Giving up the Catalan bishop in order
to install a second active knight in the centre.} exd5 14. Nxd5 Nxe5 15. dxe5
Ra7 16. bxc4 {White is a pawn up already, but the weakness of the light
squares offer Black good compensation.} c6 17. Nf4 Qc8 18. Bb2 g5 19. e4 $5 {
An interesting decision. White could not find a stable square for his knight
too easily and decides to sacrifice it in the hope of obtaining a direct
attack against the king. The plan is logical from asbtract point of view, but
probably unsound practically.} gxf4 20. gxf4 f5 21. Qe3 Rb7 22. Qg3+ Kf7 23.
Qh3 Ke8 24. Qh5+ Rf7 25. Kh1 fxe4 26. Rg1 Bf5 27. Rad1 Rd7 ({Probably missing
White's answer. After} 27... Bg6 {, the attack would have been difficult to
carry out.}) 28. e6 $1 Bxe6 29. Rg8+ Bf8 30. Rxf8+ $1 {A draw by perpetual is
inevitable now.} Kxf8 31. Qh6+ Ke7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Morelia/Linares 24th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2007.02.19"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D47"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2779"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2007.02.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3
Bd6 $5 {This interesting move was introduced in practice by Zviaginsev in the
early '90s, but has never been in the centre of the theoretical disputes.
Adopting it for this specific game must have been an over-the-board decision
of Anand, possibly based on the fact that Carlsen had never played the the
Meran variation (6.Bd3) before.} 9. O-O ({The only game where Anand had played
this line before went} 9. Bd2 O-O 10. Ne4 Nxe4 11. Bxe4 Bb7 12. Rc1 Rc8 13. b4
{. White has delayed his castle, for the sake of rapid queenside developemnt,
aimed to prevent the typical counterplay based on ...c5.} Qe7 14. Qb3 e5 15.
dxe5 Nxe5 16. Nxe5 Bxe5 17. Qb1 g6 {. It might seem that White's strategy has
been dubious, because castling is connected with a loss of pawn now. However,
after} 18. O-O $5 Qd6 19. Bc3 Bxh2+ 20. Kh1 Be5 21. Rfd1 {White had excellent
compensation in view of the passive b7-bishop and the imobility of the black
queenside, Sokolov-Anand, Wijk aan Zee 2005.}) 9... O-O 10. b3 ({Carlsen opts
for a quiet way of developing. Several other moves have been tried here, with
no definitive conclusion yet. It should be said that the most principled line} 
10. e4 e5 11. Bg5 exd4 12. Nxd4 Ne5 13. Be2 {has yielded Black excelent
results in practice.}) 10... Bb7 11. Bb2 a6 12. Ne4 Nxe4 13. Bxe4 Nf6 ({
Curiously, this natural move is a novelty, which is quite suggestive for the
unsettled character of theory in the Zviagintsev line.} 13... f5 {has been
occasionally played before, but it is hard to understand why would Black
weaken the a1-h8 diagonal so easily.}) 14. Bc2 c5 15. dxc5 Bxc5 {The position
is almost symmetrical. By having adopted the modest method of development
based on b3 (compared to Black's ...b5 and ...a6), White has spared a tempo,
which offers him some chances of taking over the initiative. However, in the
long run the light-squared bishop will face difficulties achieving stability,
precisely because the b3-square is not available.} 16. Ng5 ({This knight jump
might be premature. I would prefer continuing the development with} 16. Qe2 {
followed by Rfd1 and Ng5 and/or a4.}) 16... Qxd1 17. Raxd1 $6 ({Quite
illogical. The queen's rook is "designed" to occupy the c-file, eventually
after provoking a weakening of the enemy queenside by means of a4.} 17. Rfxd1
Kh8 18. a4 {looks like a better continuation. Yet, this general aspects might
seem irrelevant, since Black faces problems defending his kingside.}) 17... Kh8
$1 ({This elegant defence solves Black's problems.} 17... h6 $6 {would have
lost apawn after} 18. Bxf6 gxf6 ({or} 18... hxg5 19. Bxg5 {with the same
result.}) 19. Nh7 Rfd8 20. Be4 $5 Bxe4 21. Nxf6+ Kg7 22. Nxe4 {without any
compensation for Black.}) 18. g3 ({It is hard to comment on this move. White
spends a valuable tempo on... weakening the f3-square. Probably, Carlsen
wanted to make the threat of winning a pawn with Bxf6, which would not work
now. If} 18. Bxf6 gxf6 19. Nxh7 $2 {then} Rg8 20. g3 Kg7 {trapping the knight.
Instead of 19.Nxh7, White has several ways of reaching a drawn opposite
coloured bishop ending: 19.Ne4, 19.Be4 or 19.Rd7. Curiously, the engines like
18.g3, too, in fierce competition with... 18.g4.}) 18... h6 19. Bxf6 hxg5 20.
Bb2 ({Another drawback of 18.g3 can be seen in theline} 20. Bxg5 $2 f6 {
, trapping the bishop.}) 20... Rac8 21. Rc1 {Practically admitting the
inaccuracy of his 17th move.} Rfd8 22. Rfd1 Bf3 23. Rxd8+ Rxd8 {White's
temporary initiative has been extinguished completely and now he has to endure
the consequences of his superficial strategy. The f3-bishop is dominating the
board, while his white colleague occupies a passive position on c2. In the
long run, the massive advance of the kingside pawns is likely to increase
Black's advantage. And yet, in symmetrical positions the drawish zone is quite
wide and White should not be in too big danger of losing yet.} 24. a3 b4 {
Of course! The c2-bishop will not be allowed to get to b3.} 25. a4 f5 26. Kf1
f4 ({This active move will be crowned by success after Black's mistaken answer.
In case of the more static} 26... g4 {White would have activated his play with}
27. Ke1 Bd6 28. Bd1 Bb7 29. a5 {followed by Be2. Black's advantage after} Kg8
30. Be2 Kf7 31. Bc4 g5 {would be more of symbolic nature.}) 27. Be4 $2 ({
Instead of panicking, White should have put the enemy king under pressure, too,
with} 27. gxf4 gxf4 28. exf4 Rd2 29. Bg6 {when in view of the weaknes of the
8th rank Black seems to have nothing better than a perpetual.}) 27... Bxe4 28.
Rxc5 Rd1+ 29. Ke2 Rb1 30. Bc1 f3+ 31. Kd1 Rxb3 {How much different is this
rook and opposite coloured bishops ending from that from Carlsen's first round
game against Morozevich... White has little hope of surviving.} 32. Rc4 Bd3 33.
Rc8+ Kh7 34. e4 Rb1 35. Kd2 Bxe4 36. Ke3 Bd5 37. Bd2 Rb3+ 38. Kd4 Rb2 39. Be3
Re2 40. Rc1 Ba2 0-1

[Event "Morelia/Linares 24th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2007.02.21"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A46"]
[WhiteElo "2750"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2007.02.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 b5 {Well, there is no such perfect move
order in chess. White has avoided the Queen's Indian with ...Ba6 and the
Catalan with an early ...dxc4, but Black deviates now radically from the long
main lines of the Catalan. Just a couple of hours later, I had the occasion to
see the following opening in our national championship: 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.
Nbd2!? d5 4.b4 and White soon obtained a promissing position in Nanu - Grigore.
I had not the occasion to ask nanu whether he was inspired by Carlsen's play
or if it was a mere coincidence.} 5. Nbd2 Bb7 6. Nb3 a5 7. Bd2 Nc6 8. Nc1 Bd6
9. Nd3 O-O 10. O-O Ne4 11. Be3 b4 12. Re1 Ba6 {White has regrouped his pieces
harmoniously, but his central pawns are too passively placed. Black has no
problems.} 13. Nfe5 Ne7 14. f3 Nf5 15. Bf4 Nf6 16. c3 Ne7 17. Qd2 bxc3 18. bxc3
Rc8 19. Bg5 Bxd3 20. Nxd3 Nd7 21. e4 c5 22. exd5 exd5 23. Bh3 cxd4 24. cxd4 h6
25. Bf4 Bxf4 26. Nxf4 Rc4 27. Bf1 Rc8 28. Bh3 Rc4 29. Bf1 Rc8 30. Rab1 Nf6 31.
Rb5 Nc6 32. Rc5 Qb6 33. Rec1 g5 34. Ne2 Ne5 35. Qc3 Nc4 36. Kh1 Nd7 37. Rxc8
Rxc8 38. Qd3 Nf6 39. Nc3 Qb2 40. Rc2 Qa1 41. Qd1 Qxd1 42. Nxd1 Re8 43. Kg2 Ne3+
44. Nxe3 Rxe3 45. Kf2 Ra3 46. Bb5 h5 47. Ke2 Kg7 48. Rb2 h4 49. Kf2 hxg3+ 50.
hxg3 g4 51. Be2 gxf3 52. Bxf3 a4 53. Rb5 Rxa2+ 54. Ke3 a3 55. Ra5 Ra1 56. Kd2
a2 57. Kc2 Rf1 58. Bd1 Ne4 59. g4 Nf2 60. Rxa2 Rxd1 0-1

[Event "Morelia/Linares 24th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2007.02.22"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2783"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2007.02.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. b3 O-O 8. Be2
b6 9. O-O Bb7 10. Bb2 Re8 11. Rad1 Qe7 12. Rfe1 Rac8 ({For some reasons,
Topalov sticks to this continuation, that had led him to defeat in the second
play-off game against Kramnik. From analytical point of view, the variation
might be OK, but it will again prove as an "unlucky" choice. The main
alternative is} 12... Rad8) 13. e4 (13. Bd3 $5 {Kramnik,V (2743)-Topalov,V 
(2813)/Elista 2006/CBM 115/[Marin,M] (1-0, 45)}) 13... Nxe4 14. Nxe4 dxe4 15.
Qxe4 Bb4 16. Rf1 Ba3 $146 ({Previously, Black played this generally desirable
move only after forcing the white queen define its intentions.} 16... Nf6 17.
Qh4 Ba3 18. Ba1 c5 19. Ne5 cxd4 20. Rxd4 Rcd8 21. Rf4 Nd7 22. Qg3 Nxe5 23. Bxe5
f5 24. Bh5 Rf8 $13 {Genov,P (2485)-Rmus,A (2310)/Sutomore 2004/CBM 102 ext 
(0-1, 33)}) 17. Bxa3 Qxa3 18. Qc2 Nf6 19. c5 $5 {This structure is typical for
the Catalan opening, but with a very significant difference: by immediately
exchanging his passive bishop, Black basically solves his opening problems.}
Ba6 20. Bxa6 Qxa6 21. Ne5 Nd5 {Black's control of this central square entirely
compensates for White's advantage of development.} 22. Nc4 Red8 23. a3 Rc7 24.
Qc1 Ne7 25. Rd2 Nf5 26. Rfd1 b5 27. Ne5 Qc8 28. Rd3 f6 29. Nf3 Rcd7 30. Qf4 Rd5
31. Qe4 Qd7 32. R3d2 {The d4-pawn is not in real danger, but its relative
weakness restricts White's possibilities. If the game was played between less
ambitious opponents, the most probable result would have been a draw.} h5 33.
h4 a5 34. Kf1 Re8 35. Re1 Kf7 36. Red1 Nh6 37. Re1 Re7 38. Qf4 Rf5 39. Qd6 Qc8
({This looks like an attempt to play for a win, but also a bit like playing
with fire.} 39... Qxd6 40. cxd6 Rd7 41. Rc1 Rxd6 42. Rdc2 {would have led to
approximate equality.}) 40. Rde2 $6 ({Carlsen misses the possibility of a
thematic pawn break:} 40. d5 $5 {followed by d4, when Black's army would have
been rather poorly coordinated.} Rxd5 (40... cxd5 41. Nd4 Re5 42. Rxe5 fxe5 43.
Nc6 Rc7 44. Nxe5+ Kg8 45. b4 $16) 41. Rxd5 cxd5 42. Nd4 {Black's whole
queeside is in danger, while the central mass of pawns cannot be advanced
easily. Another source of danger is the strong c-pawn, sustained by
practically all White's pieces.} b4 43. axb4 (43. a4 $16) 43... axb4 44. c6 $16
) 40... Rd5 41. Qf4 Nf5 42. Re4 Rd8 $11 43. g4 $6 {With light-squared bishops
on board, this would have been a decissive attack already, because White's
bishop would have largely contributed to creating decissive threats. The way
it is, Black has reliable stability on light squares, ensuring him against
immediate dangers. In the long run, White faces the risk of getting a ruined
pawn structure, which makes his decision quite questionable.} hxg4 44. Qxg4 Qd7
$5 ({An ambitious approach. Instead of preventing White's planned attack,
Black starts a powerful counterplay on light squares. He could have
immediately taken the h-pawn under control with} 44... Rh8 {and if} 45. h5 {
then} Qd7 (45... Rh6 $2 {unexpectedely offers White a crushing attack after}
46. Qxf5 $1 exf5 47. Rxe7+ Kf8 48. Nh4 $1 $18)) 45. h5 Kg8 ({Here, too,} 45...
Rh8 {could have been played.}) 46. Kg2 Qd5 {The queen's planned incursion to
b3 is very unpleasant for White, who's attack has not really started yet.} 47.
Qg6 Rf8 ({As pointed out by Jacob Aagaard,} 47... Qxb3 {was entirely possible,
not so much for the sake of the pawn, but with the intention of submitting
White's arrierguard to some unpleasant pressure, for instance} 48. h6 (48. Rg4
Kf8 $1 {Aagaard}) 48... Qd3 49. Rg4 $2 Rxd4 $3 $19 {Aagaard. The point is that}
50. Nxd4 {loses the queen to} Nh4+) 48. h6 Qd8 $2 (48... Nxh6 $2 49. Rh4 Nf5 (
49... Kh8 50. Reh1 $18) 50. Rh5 $1 $18 {followed by Rh1.}) (48... Qxb3 $5) 49.
d5 $5 ({Better later than never! White intends to distract the enemy queen
from the defence of the kingside. The immediate} 49. Rg4 $6 {would have been
adequately met by} Qe8) ({At the same time,} 49. Rxe6 $6 Qd5 $1 {would have
left White with problems of coordination because of the threat ...Nh4+.}) 49...
Qxd5 50. Rg4 $40 Qd7 ({This regrouping will fail to absolve Black from
problems, but} 50... Qxb3 {was bad, too.} 51. Rh1 Ref7 ({This move is more or
less necesaary because in case of the more natural} 51... Qd5 $2 {White has a
fantastic combination at his disposal:} 52. Qh7+ $3 Kxh7 53. hxg7+ {followed
by mate.}) 52. Rh5 {White has put up enormous pressure against the enemy
king's position. Black is lost, for instance} Qc2 (52... b4 53. hxg7 Rxg7 54.
Qh7+ Kf7 55. Ne5+ $1 fxe5 56. Rxf5+ $18) 53. hxg7 Ne3+ (53... Rxg7 54. Qh7+ Kf7
55. Rxg7+ Nxg7 56. Qxc2 $18) 54. Kh3 Qxg6 55. gxf8=Q+ Kxf8 56. Rxg6 $18) 51.
Rh1 Qe8 52. hxg7 Rxg7 53. Qh7+ Kf7 54. Rxg7+ Nxg7 55. Rh6 ({When attacking,
the natural tendency is to move the pieces "forward". However, chess geometry
is special. Here,} 55. Nd2 {would have been the start of the knights marching
forward to d6. Black would have faced a difficult defensive task.}) 55... Qd8
56. Qg6+ Kg8 57. Qh7+ Kf7 58. Qg6+ Kg8 59. Rh7 Qd7 60. Nd2 {The same comment
as after the 49th move applies here. It seems that the young Norvegian
prodigee is able to learn from his own mistakes at breathtaking speed....} f5
61. Nf3 Rf6 62. Qxf6 Kxh7 63. Ng5+ Kg8 64. Qg6 ({The position looks so joyless
for Black, that Topalov resigned. He probably saw that he has no perpetual
after} 64. Qg6 Qd5+ 65. f3 {but obviously missed that after} e5 {the queen's
access to g8 is opened. After} 66. Qh7+ Kf8 67. Qh8+ Qg8 {White has nothing
better than take a draw by perpetual with} 68. Nh7+) 1-0

[Event "Morelia/Linares 24th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2007.02.24"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Leko, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2749"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "40"]
[EventDate "2007.02.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. b3 O-O 8. Be2
b6 9. Bb2 Bb7 10. O-O Qe7 11. Rad1 Rad8 {This is the most natural way to
develop the queen's rook. One round earlier, Topalov preferred to place it on
c8.} 12. Rfe1 Rfe8 13. e4 Nxe4 14. Nxe4 dxe4 15. Qxe4 Bb4 16. Rf1 Bd6 ({
This position usually arises through a different move order, with 12.e4
instead of 12.Rfe1. In this concrete position, the last move clearly shows
that Leko does not have the least intention of depose the surprising leader of
the tournament. The more ambitious} 16... f5 {is not without drawbacks. After}
17. Qc2 Bd6 18. c5 bxc5 19. dxc5 Bxc5 20. Bc4 {White obtained excellent
compensation for the sacrificed pawn, in view of the weakness of the dark
squares from Black's camp, Rustemov-Gurevich, Copenhagen 2001.}) 17. Rfe1 {
A brave decision dictated by the impetuosity of youth. Previously, 17.Bd3 and
17.Ne5 have been tried.} Bb4 18. Rf1 Bd6 19. Rfe1 Bb4 {Excellent fighting
spirit! Black could have claimed a draw by repetition already, but he prefers
to continue this fierce duel of nerves for a while.} 20. Rf1 Bd6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Morelia/Linares 24th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2007.02.25"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B35"]
[WhiteElo "2728"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2007.02.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O 8.
Bb3 e6 $5 ({An interesting atempt to take advantage of the presence of the
d-pawn on its initial square.} 8... d6 {would have transposed to a genuine
Dragon.}) 9. O-O d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxd5 exd5 12. c3 Na5 {new} 13. Qd3 Nxb3
14. axb3 a6 15. Qd2 Re8 16. Rfe1 Bd7 17. Nc2 Bc6 18. Bd4 f6 $1 {Optically
speaking, an "ugly" move, creating a weakness and restricting the own bishop.
However, this is the lesser evil in this position. Allowing the exchange of
the dark-squared bishops would have left Black's position in ruins.} 19. Rxe8+
Qxe8 20. h3 Qf7 21. Nb4 Bf8 22. Nxc6 bxc6 23. b4 Bd6 24. b5 cxb5 25. Bxf6 a5
26. Bd4 Qf4 27. Qxf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Morelia/Linares 24th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2007.03.02"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C83"]
[WhiteElo "2741"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2007.02.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. c3 Be7 10. Nbd2 Nc5 11. a4 {Morozevich is faithful to himself by
playing a very rare move in a well known position. In the Ruy Lopez, White
usually does not part with his light-squared bishop so easily.} Nxb3 12. Qxb3
O-O ({Actually, it would be interesting to know what he had in mind against
the natural} 12... d4 {. As an adherent of the Open Variation of the Ruy Lopez,
I would say that Black is more than OK here.}) 13. axb5 axb5 14. Rxa8 Qxa8 15.
Qxb5 Rd8 16. Qd3 Qb7 {Black has certain compensation for the sacrificed pawn,
due to his pair of bishops and the lead in development.} 17. Nd4 {Just as in
the previous game against Carlsen, Morozevich decides to immediately return
the material. The difference is that now he gets very little in exchange.} Nxe5
18. Qe2 Bf6 19. Nxe6 fxe6 20. f4 Qb6+ 21. Kh1 Nf7 22. Nf3 c5 {Black has the
more active position and the better pawn structure. His chances are preferable.
} 23. g4 Re8 24. g5 Bd8 25. f5 e5 26. c4 Qa6 27. Re1 e4 28. cxd5 Qxe2 29. Rxe2
Nd6 30. Nh4 h6 31. Bf4 Nb5 32. d6 Nd4 33. Rg2 Bxg5 34. Bxg5 hxg5 35. Rxg5 Kf7
36. Rg3 Nb5 37. Rg6 Rd8 38. Re6 Nxd6 39. Re5 c4 40. Rd5 Kf6 41. Ng2 Ke7 42. Ne3
1/2-1/2

[Event "Morelia/Linares 24th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2007.03.03"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2744"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2007.02.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Bg2 c6 8. Bc3
d5 9. Ne5 Nfd7 10. Nxd7 Nxd7 11. Nd2 O-O 12. O-O Rc8 13. e4 c5 14. exd5 exd5
15. dxc5 dxc4 16. c6 cxb3 17. Re1 b2 18. Bxb2 Nc5 19. Nb3 Nd3 20. Re2 Nxb2 21.
Rxb2 Qxd1+ 22. Rxd1 Rfd8 23. Rbd2 Rxd2 24. Rxd2 Rd8 25. Rxd8+ Bxd8 26. Nd4 Bc4
27. Bf1 ({Not really creative. In the game Topalov-Leko, played just days
earlier in Morelia, White chose} 27. a4 Kf8 28. Nb5 {which left White with
"the symbolically better side of a dead drawn position". Carlsen is not that
ambitious and forces an immediate repetition of moves.}) 27... Bd5 ({Not} 27...
Bxa2 $2 {because of} 28. Nb5 {winning a piece after 29.c7.}) 28. Bg2 Bc4
1/2-1/2

[Event "Morelia/Linares 24th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2007.03.04"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C96"]
[WhiteElo "2779"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[Annotator "Anand,V"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2007.02.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{At this stage, we were both tied in the lead with +2.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3.
Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5
11. d4 Nd7 12. d5 {Magnus choice had come as a surprise to me, so I decided
not to repeat my usual systems. I had seen some games of Leko with 12.d5 and
felt that it was a better try.} Nb6 13. Nbd2 g6 (13... f5 14. exf5 Bxf5 15.
Bxf5 Rxf5 16. Ne4 {and Leko got an advantage against both Kramnik and Adams in
2005.}) 14. b4 {Following Leko's game against Mamedyarov.} cxb4 15. cxb4 Nac4
16. Nxc4 Nxc4 17. Bb3 $1 {Leko went for Bh6, but in fact there is no need for
this move.} Nb6 18. Be3 {In fact, the bishop belongs on e3.} Bd7 19. Rc1 Rc8 (
19... Qb8 {This may be worth considering, to first play Qb7 and then Rc8.}) 20.
Rxc8 Bxc8 (20... Nxc8 21. Qc2 Nb6 {comes to the same thing.}) 21. Qc2 Bd7 22.
Rc1 {This forces the knight back to a8.} Na8 (22... Qb8 $2 23. Qc7 Rc8 24. Qxb8
Rxb8 25. Bxb6 Rxb6 26. Rc7) 23. Qd2 (23. Ne1 {I was initially attracted to
this move, but} Bg5 24. Qd2 (24. Bxg5 Qxg5 {and here White has to deal with
both Rc8 and Bxh3}) 24... Bxe3 25. Qxe3 Qb8 {though even here} (25... f5 26.
Nf3 fxe4 27. Ng5 $16) 26. f4 {gives White a nice edge.}) 23... Qb8 (23... f6
24. Ne1 {with the idea to play Nd3 and Nc5!}) 24. Bg5 $1 {Exploiting the fact
that f6 is impossible.} Bxg5 (24... Qd8 $1 25. Qe3 (25. Bxe7 Qxe7 26. Qe3 Rc8
$1) 25... Bxg5 26. Nxg5 Qe7 27. f4 $36) (24... Bd8 25. Bxd8 Qxd8 26. Qh6 f6 (
26... Qf6 27. Ng5 Qg7 28. Qh4 Rc8 (28... Re8 29. Ne6 $1) (28... Kh8 29. Nxh7 $1
Qxh7 30. Qe7) 29. Rxc8+ Bxc8 30. Nxh7 $1) 27. Rc6 $1 Bc8 28. h4 $1 Rf7 29. h5
Rg7 (29... g5 30. Nxg5 fxg5 31. Rxd6 $16) 30. hxg6 hxg6 31. Nh4 g5 32. Nf5 Bxf5
33. exf5 {Now White's rook can never be dislodged from c6.}) 25. Nxg5 Rc8 26.
Rf1 h6 27. Ne6 $1 {An aesthetically pleasing move, but White has no other way
to keep the pressure.} (27. Nf3 Kg7 $11) 27... Kh7 {The best try.} (27... fxe6
28. dxe6 Be8 29. Qxh6 $1 (29. e7+ Kg7 30. Qd5 Rc4 31. Bxc4 bxc4 32. Qxc4 Nc7
33. Rc1 Nb5 34. Qc8 Qxc8 35. Rxc8 Kf7 36. Ra8 Kxe7 37. Rxa6 Nc3 {Will be very
difficult technically.}) 29... Nb6 30. e7+ (30. f4 Nc4 31. f5 Qa7+ {followed
by Qe3 is too messy.}) 30... Nc4 31. Qf8+ Kh7 32. f4 (32. Bd1 {The computer
even suggests Bd1 winning!} Bc6 33. Qf7+ Kh6 34. f4 Rg8 35. fxe5 Nxe5 36. Qf8+
Kh7 37. Rf4 $1 {and Black has nothing better than to give up the exchange.}
Rxf8 38. exf8=Q Qxf8 39. Rxf8 $18) 32... Qa8 33. Rf3 (33. f5 gxf5 34. Rxf5 Qxe4
35. Rf6 Qe3+ 36. Kh2 e4 37. Rf4 {and White wins.}) 33... Qxe4 34. f5 gxf5 35.
Rg3 $18) 28. f4 Qa7+ 29. Kh2 Be8 (29... fxe6 30. dxe6 Be8 31. f5 gxf5 (31...
Qd4 $2 32. Qxd4 exd4 33. f6 Nb6 34. f7 Bxf7 35. Rxf7+ Kg8 {By not taking on f5,
Black has to return to g8.} 36. Rd7 Nc4 37. e7 Re8 38. Rxd6 Rxe7 39. Rxd4 Rc7
40. Rd6 $1 $18) 32. exf5 Qd4 33. Qxd4 {This is what I intended.} (33. Qe1 {
This is harder to work out over the board.} e4 34. Qh4 {This seems to win.} (
34. f6 Qe5+ 35. Kh1 (35. Qg3 Qxg3+ 36. Kxg3 Nb6 {Again, its not completely
clear.}) 35... Bg6 36. f7 Rf8 37. Qh4 d5 $1) 34... Qe5+ 35. Kg1 e3 36. Qe7+ Qg7
37. Qxg7+ Kxg7 38. f6+ Kg8 39. Rf3 $18) 33... exd4 34. f6 Nb6 35. f7 Bxf7 36.
exf7 (36. Rxf7+ Kg6 37. Rf4 d5 38. e7 Re8 39. Bc2+ Kg7 40. Rg4+ Kh8 41. Rg6 Nc4
) 36... Rf8 37. Be6 $1 {Before Black can play d5 or Nc4} Nc4 38. Rd1 Ne5 39.
Rxd4 Nxf7 40. Rf4 $1 ({Not} 40. Bxf7 $2 Rxf7 41. Rxd6 Rf4 $1 42. a3 a5 43. bxa5
Ra4) 40... Kg7 41. Bxf7 Rxf7 42. Rxf7+ Kxf7 43. Kg3 {White wins the pawn
ending.} Ke6 44. Kf3 Ke5 45. g4 d5 46. h4 d4 47. g5 hxg5 48. hxg5 Kf5 49. g6
Kxg6 50. Ke4 $18) 30. f5 gxf5 31. exf5 (31. Ng5+ Kg8 32. exf5) 31... f6 (31...
fxe6 32. dxe6 {would transpose to the above note}) 32. Re1 $1 {The rook is
going via the 4th rank.} (32. Rf3 Bf7 33. Rg3 Rg8) 32... Nc7 (32... Nb6 33. Re4
Nc4 (33... h5 34. Qe1 Nc4 35. Bd1 $18 {Black has no defence against Bxh5.}) 34.
Nf8+ $1) 33. Rc1 {Now White can use the pin.} Bd7 34. Rc3 e4 (34... Ne8 35. Rg3
Bxe6 {White threatened Nf8} 36. Rg6 $1 $18) 35. Rg3 (35. Qc1 Nxe6 36. fxe6 Rxc3
37. Qxc3 Be8 38. Qxf6) 35... Nxe6 (35... Rg8 36. Rxg8 Kxg8 37. Qxh6) 36. dxe6
Be8 37. e7 $1 Bh5 (37... Qxe7 38. Bg8+) 38. Qxd6 {In addition to being my best
win in Morelia/Linares, this win gave me a one point lead in the tournament.} (
38. Qxd6 Re8 39. Qxf6 Qxe7 40. Bg8+ $18) 1-0

[Event "Morelia/Linares 24th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2007.03.06"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D88"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2007.02.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 118"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{This game was played in the 11th round, right after I had lost the very
important game against Anand. I played for a win, but as usual I did not
expect very much.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3
Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O Na5 11. Bd3 b6 {Ivanchuk chose
this variation against Nielsen in Monaco, after which Nielsen replied:} 12. Rc1
(12. Qd2 $6 e5 {After which Nielsen was gradually outplayed (although he saved
a draw in the end).}) 12... cxd4 {This move, opening the c-file right after
White has played Rc1 doesn't look very good, but it is part of a setup.} 13.
cxd4 e6 {Before developing the bishop on b7, Black wants to prevent d5. This
move does, however, create some weaknesses on the dark squares around the
black king.} 14. Qd2 Bb7 15. h4 {This move has long been considered the best
move here. The h4 pawn is obviously immune.} Qe7 $6 {This is just a bit too
indifferent in my opinion.} (15... Nc6 {Is the main continuation, after which}
16. e5 {Is quite interesting, and probably quite promising for White.}) 16. h5
Rfc8 17. e5 $1 {This is apparently a novelty, but quite a logical one, as to
create play on the dark squares on the kingside is whites plan here.} Rxc1 $2 {
This looks like a very bad plan to me.} (17... Nc6 {should probably have been
tried, I think that Black's first priority here should be to bring the knight
back into the game.}) 18. Rxc1 Rc8 19. Rxc8+ Bxc8 20. Bg5 Qc7 $6 (20... Qd7 {
was more resistant, but after Bf6 it is in any case very hard to believe that
Black can survive.}) (20... f6 21. exf6 Bxf6 22. Bxf6 Qxf6 23. hxg6 hxg6 24.
Qc2 {Drops a pawn, but the black position is anyway so critical that it may
have considered.}) 21. Bf6 Nc6 22. Qg5 h6 {This prevents immediate
infiltration, but doesn't help, as after} (22... Nb4 23. Bxg7 Kxg7 24. Qf6+ Kf8
25. Bxg6 $1 hxg6 26. h6 {and wins.}) 23. Qc1 {Black is completely defenceless.}
g5 (23... Qd7 24. hxg6 {is clearly no better.}) 24. Bb5 Bd7 25. d5 $1 {By
exploiting the pin on the c-file, White wins a piece and the game.} exd5 26.
Nd4 Bxf6 27. exf6 Qd6 28. Bxc6 Qxf6 29. Bxd7 Qxd4 30. g3 Qc5 31. Qxc5 bxc5 32.
Bc6 d4 33. Bb5 Kf8 34. f4 gxf4 35. gxf4 {After this game had finished I had a
strange feeling, since I could not really understand what that had just
happened: Without making any particularily spectacular moves I had just beaten
one of best players in the world. It seems to me that Ivanchuk must have had
an extremely bad day (as it seemed to me, for most of this tournament he
played really well).} 1-0

[Event "Morelia/Linares 24th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2007.03.07"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2783"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2007.02.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 b6 3. g3 c5 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O e6 6. Nc3 Be7 7. Re1 d5 8. d4 ({
The other possible move order is} 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. e4 {. Topalov probably
wanted to avoid} Nb4 (9... Nxc3 10. bxc3 O-O 11. d4 {leads to one of the main
lines of the system based on Re1, which is considered to favour White.}) 10. d4
cxd4 11. Nxd4 N8c6 {with simplifications, as, for instance, in Vallejo Pons,F 
(2674)-Van Wely,L (2648)/Khanty Mansyisk 2005/CBM 111/[Stohl] (1/2-1/2, 25).})
8... dxc4 ({Carlsen has no intention to transpose to the aforementioned line
with} 8... O-O 9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. e4) 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Qa4+ Nbd7 11. Qxc4 (11.
Ne5 Bxg2 12. Kxg2 O-O $2 (12... a6 13. Nxd7 Qxd7 14. Qxc4 O-O $11) 13. Rd1 $1
$16 {Garcia,R (2385)-Ricardi,P (2530)/Buenos Aires 1995/EXT 97 (1/2-1/2, 22)})
11... O-O 12. Rd1 Rc8 {The position is characteristic for the Catalan Defence.
Black has a normal development and has managed to neutralise the g2-bishop,
but White's main hopes are connected with the relative weakness of the
c6-square.} 13. Qh4 {A typical manoeuvre. White puts up some pressure on the
enemy kingside.} Be7 {This might look like a loss of tempo, but in fact it
will force White spend some time regrouping with his queen, too.} ({Besides,
in the Catalan Black usually avoids such pins as} 13... Qe7 14. Bg5 {although
things are not entirelyckear here:} h6 15. Rxd7 $5 (15. Bxh6 gxh6 16. Qxh6
Bxf2+ 17. Kf1 Qc5 $17 {Shipov}) 15... Qxd7 16. Bxf6 gxf6 17. Qxh6 (17. Qxf6
Bxf3 18. Bxf3 Qd4) 17... Qe7 $13 {and White has good compensation for the
exchange, with virtually no risk tolose, but possibly not more than that.}) 14.
Qh3 {This way of transferring the queen to the long diagonal is quite original.
} Qe8 (14... Qc7 15. Bf4 Qc5 (15... e5 16. Bg5 {><d5}) 16. Rd2 $5 (16. Rac1 Qb4
$132) 16... Rfd8 17. Rad1 {maintains some pressure for White.}) (14... Rc5 {
[%cal Yc5h5]} 15. g4 $5) 15. Nd4 Bxg2 16. Qxg2 Ne5 {A curious alignment of all
knights on the long dark diagonal. From practical point of view, it is more
important that the chances for the occupation of the c6-square are about equal.
} 17. Qb7 {This queen incursion might be just premature.} ({Maybe White should
have just continued his development with} 17. Bf4 {Possibly, Topalov feared
that Black can take advantage of the slightly unnatural placement of the white
queen by attacking the relatively vulnerable queenside with} Nc4 (17... Nfg4 $2
18. h3 $16) (17... Neg4 18. Ndb5 $14 {[%csl Ga7]}) {However, after} 18. b3 Nb2
(18... Ne3 19. Bxe3 Rxc3 {allows White increase his control over the c6-square
with} 20. Rac1 Rxc1 21. Bxc1 $14) 19. Rdc1 {the b2-knight might get into
trouble.}) 17... Bc5 {Carlsen decides to remove the danger of an invasion to
c6 as in radical way.} 18. Bg5 {Curiously, Topalov refrains from employing one
of his favourite methods of complicating the fight: the exchange sacrifice.} (
18. Qxa7 Bxd4 19. Rxd4 Nc6 20. Qxb6 $44) 18... Nfg4 19. h3 Nc6 $1 20. hxg4 ({
In case of} 20. Nxc6 {Black should refrain from delivering check with 20...
Bxf2+, which just loses material to the calm 21.Kg2 and play} Nxf2 $1 {, when
too many of White's pieces are hanging (the c6-knight, the g5-bishop, the
d1-rook).}) 20... Bxd4 21. Nb5 Rb8 22. Qc7 Rc8 ({Black has no time to capture
the b-pawn with} 22... Bxb2 {because of} 23. Nd6 {, trapping the queen.}) 23.
Qb7 ({The main adherent to the Sofia rule cannot do anything against a
peaceful end of the game before the 30th move.} 23. Qd6 {would be bad because,
once the d6-square is occupied, Black could play} Bxb2 {already.}) ({The other
queen retreat,} 23. Qf4 {leaves the bishop trapped after} f6) 23... Rb8 24. Qc7
Rc8 25. Qb7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Morelia/Linares 24th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2007.03.09"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D78"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2728"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2007.02.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 c6 5. Bg2 d5 6. Qa4 $5 {If White intends
to avoid the symmetrical position arising after the exchange on d5, he usually
defends his c-pawn with 6.b3 or 6.Qb3. However, the game move has also been
played and could simply transpose to 6.Qb3 if Black captures on c4.} O-O 7. O-O
Bf5 ({Black takes advantage of the lack of pressure against the b7-pawn to
take the important e4-square under control. The attempt to take advantage of
the queen's placement on a4 with} 7... Nbd7 {fails to equalize completely, for
instance} 8. cxd5 Nb6 9. Qa3 cxd5 ({Now,} 9... Nfxd5 {would be met by} 10. e4
Nc7 11. Nc3 {, consolidating White's advantage of space.}) 10. Nc3 Nc4 11. Qb4
e6 12. Bf4 Re8 13. Ne5 Bf8 14. Qb3 Nd6 15. Bg5 Be7 16. Rfd1 Nf5 {Black has
moved arond with thisknight quite a lot. Little wonder that White's
development is superior, allowing him obtain a strong initiative with} 17. e4 {
, Portisch-Ivkov, Petropolis Interzonal 1973.}) 8. Nc3 Nbd7 9. cxd5 Nb6 10. Qb3
Nfxd5 {Black has not managed to put White's central pawn under pressure, but
his development is acceptable and the thematical advance e2-e4 quite difficult
to carry out. A typcal position for the Grünfeld.} 11. Rd1 Qd6 12. Bd2 Nxc3 13.
Bxc3 Qe6 14. d5 {Under different circumstances (a better development for White)
, such a pawn break would be advantageous, but here it will just lead to
simplifications.} cxd5 15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. Nd4 Qf6 17. Nxf5+ Qxf5 18. a4 Rfd8 19.
a5 Nc4 20. Qxb7 e6 21. e4 dxe4 22. Bxe4 Qe5 23. Bg2 Nxa5 24. Qxa8 Rxa8 25. Bxa8
Qe2 26. Re1 Qd2 27. Red1 Qe2 28. Re1 Qd2 29. Red1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Morelia/Linares 24th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2007.03.10"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Leko, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2749"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2007.02.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.03.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bxd2+ 6. Qxd2 Ba6 7. b3 {
This combination between ...Ba6 and ...Bb4+ is not very popular nowadays.} O-O
({Recently, there have been a couple of games with the rather ambitious
continuation} 7... c5 8. Bg2 d5 9. Nc3 Nc6 10. cxd5 exd5 11. O-O O-O 12. dxc5
bxc5 {(This position can be reached via several move orders, of course). The
placement of the knight on c6 is slightly unusual for positions with hanging
pawns (...Na6 or ...Nbd7 are more popular ways of developing this knight), but
here it seems to make sense because of Black's general activity.} 13. Rfd1 (13.
Rfe1 Re8 14. Nh4 Qa5 15. Rad1 Rad8 16. Nf5 $6 (16. Nxd5 Qxd2 17. Rxd2 Nxd5 18.
Rxd5 Rxd5 19. Bxd5 Nb4 $132 {[%csl Ya2,Ye2]}) 16... Re5 $132 17. Nxd5 $2 Qxd2
18. Rxd2 Nxd5 {0-1 Zubarev,A (2074)-Kengis,E (2589)/Polanica Zdroj 2000/EXT
2001}) (13. Nh4 Rc8 14. Rac1 Re8 15. Rfe1 d4 16. Na4 c4 17. bxc4 Ne5 18. Nb2 (
18. c5 d3 $132 19. e3 $2 Nc4 $17) 18... Nxc4 19. Nxc4 Rxc4 20. Rxc4 Bxc4 21.
Nf5 d3 22. Ne3 Bb5 23. exd3 Qxd3 $11 {Gyimesi,Z (2614)-Pelletier,Y (2570)/
Turin 2006/CBM 113 (1/2-1/2, 34)}) 13... d4 (13... Re8 $5) 14. Na4 Re8 (14...
Ne4 $5 15. Qc2 Re8 16. Nxc5 $6 Nb4 $1 {[%csl Gc5]}) 15. Nxc5 Bxe2 16. Nxd4 $1
Nxd4 17. Bxa8 Bxd1 18. Rxd1 Re2 19. Qd3 Qxa8 20. Qxd4 $16 {Kempinski,R (2619)
-Kengis,E (2528)/Hamburg 2005/CBM 108 ext (1-0, 40)}) 8. Nc3 d5 9. cxd5 exd5
10. Bg2 Re8 11. Ne5 c5 12. O-O Bb7 13. Rfd1 Na6 (13... Qe7 {CBM 36-5.b3 Bb4 6.
Bd2 Bd2 7.Qd2/Opening 1993/CBM 036/[Dautov]}) 14. Qf4 Nc7 $6 $146 {Black must
have been just too happy to threaten ...Ne6 with gain of tempo, probably
overloking White's answer.} (14... Qc7 15. Nb5 $5 (15. Nc4 Rad8 16. Ne3 (16.
Qxc7 Nxc7 17. dxc5 bxc5 18. Na5 Ba8 19. Na4 Rxe2 20. Nxc5 $14 {van der Wiel})
16... Qxf4 17. gxf4 Nc7 $13 {Tukmakov,V (2590)-Van der Wiel,J (2540)/Rotterdam
1988/CBM 009 (1/2-1/2, 36)}) 15... Qe7 16. e3 (16. Ng4 Nxg4 17. Qxg4 Qxe2 18.
Qxe2 Rxe2 19. Nd6 Bc6 20. Bf1 Re6 21. Nxf7 $1 $14 {Van der Wiel. Maybe too
optimistic?!}) 16... Rec8 17. Bh3 Rd8 18. Rac1 Nb4 19. a4 $6 (19. Nc3 $14)
19... a6 20. Nc3 {Rovchakov,V-Arzumanyan,S/RUS corr 1991/Corr Nr. 1 (0-1, 34)}
a5 $5 $13) 15. Ng4 $1 Nxg4 16. Qxg4 {White has obtained strong pressure
against Black's hanging pawns. The exchange of two pairs of minor pieces
favours him, by restricting Black's possibilities of counterplay in the centre.
} Qf6 17. e3 Rad8 18. Rac1 Qe7 19. dxc5 bxc5 20. Qa4 Rd7 $5 ({An indirect way
of defending the a7-pawn. However, placing the rook on d7 has a major drawback,
as shown by Leko's next move.} 20... a6 21. Qa5 {, threatening Na4 would not
have been much fun either.}) 21. Ne4 $1 ({Black would have obtained certain
counterplay after} 21. Qxa7 Ne6 {, with the threat of d4.}) 21... d4 ({Black
could not defend his centre anymore.} 21... Ne6 {loses the c5-pawn to} 22. Nxc5
$1 Nxc5 23. Rxc5) ({while} 21... c4 {drops an exchange to} 22. Nc5 $1) 22. exd4
Bxe4 23. Bxe4 {Since the d7-roo is hanging, White just won a pawn.} Ne6 24. d5
$5 {An ambitious move.} ({Leko might have feared that after} 24. dxc5 Rxd1+ 25.
Rxd1 Nxc5 26. Qa3 $1 $16 {his winning chances would not be 100% sure. In case
of 26...Qxe4 27.Qxc5. Of course,} Nxe4 $4 {is impossible because of} 27. Qxe7
Rxe7 28. Rd8+) 24... Nd4 {Black's counterplay should not be underestimated.
The knight is very well placed, while the white queen is somewhat isolated
from the rest of the army (notably, the king).} 25. Re1 Qd8 26. Kf1 Rde7 27.
Bd3 {White has managed to avoid the knight forks on e2 and f3 and get out of
the pin. However, Black has not exhausted his resources.} Qc8 28. g4 $3 ({
This paradoxical move is the only way to prevent the deadly check on h3. Black
cannot capture the pawn because of Qxe8!+ followed by mate; a curious way of
coordinating White's queen with the other pieces. There was no time for the
intermediate} 28. Rxe7 {because of} Qh3+ {when the king's return to g1 would
be met by ...Nf3+ followed by mate, forcing him to go to the centre} 29. Ke1
Rxe7+ {with a powerful attack for Black.}) 28... Rxe1+ 29. Rxe1 Rf8 30. h3 {
White has consolidates his position, maintaining his extra-pawn. However, the
technical part is quite difficult, especially beacuse of the weaknesses
induced by the move g4.} Qd8 31. Be4 Qb6 {Black should not have allowed the
infiltration of the enemy queen to d7.} 32. Bg2 g6 33. Kg1 Kg7 34. Qd7 Rd8 35.
Qe7 a5 36. Kh1 Nb5 37. Re6 Nd6 38. Qf6+ Kg8 39. Re7 {White has an extra-pawn
and a strong attack. The game is practically decided, despite the mutual time
trouble.} a4 $6 40. bxa4 $6 ({Just before the time control, Leko misses an
immediate win with} 40. Rxf7 $1) 40... c4 41. Kh2 Qb8 42. f4 Qc8 43. Re3 Re8
44. Rxe8+ Nxe8 45. Qc6 Qxc6 46. dxc6 {Black has managed to exchange the
intruders, but the ending is just as hopeless for him as the middlegame.} Kf8
47. Kg3 Ke7 48. Kf2 Kd6 49. Ke3 Kc5 50. g5 Nc7 51. a3 Ne6 52. Be4 c3 53. f5 1-0

[Event "Amber-blindfold 16th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2007.03.17"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "45"]
[EventDate "2007.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 b6 3. d4 e6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qc2 Bb7 6. Bg2 c5 7. d5 exd5 8. cxd5
Nxd5 9. O-O Be7 10. Rd1 Qc8 11. Nh4 Bxh4 12. Rxd5 Be7 13. Nc3 Nc6 14. Bf4 Nb4
15. Qf5 Nxd5 16. Nxd5 Bxd5 17. Bxd5 O-O 18. Rd1 d6 19. Qe4 Re8 20. Qf3 Rf8 21.
Qe4 Re8 22. Qf3 Rf8 23. Qe4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 16th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2007.03.18"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Vallejo Pons, Francisco"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E16"]
[WhiteElo "2679"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2007.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 b6 3. d4 e6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Nbd2 Bb7 6. Bg2 c5 7. a3 Bxd2+ 8.
Qxd2 cxd4 9. Qxd4 Nc6 10. Qd3 Ne5 11. Qd4 Nxf3+ 12. exf3 Rc8 13. Be3 Ba6 14.
Rc1 O-O 15. b4 d5 16. b5 Bb7 17. f4 Ba8 18. O-O Rxc4 19. Rxc4 dxc4 20. Qxc4
Bxg2 21. Kxg2 Qa8+ 22. Kg1 Rc8 23. Qa4 h5 24. Bd4 Qe4 25. Qa6 Qa8 26. Bxf6 gxf6
27. Qa4 Rc5 28. h4 Kg7 29. Rb1 Qb7 30. Qd4 Qf3 31. Qa4 Qd3 32. Rd1 Qf3 33. Rb1
Kg6 34. Qxa7 Qe4 35. Rf1 Rxb5 36. Qe7 Kg7 37. Qd6 Rb2 38. Qd1 Kg6 39. Qd8 Qf3
40. Qg8+ Kf5 41. Qxf7 Kg4 42. Qxe6+ f5 43. Qg6+ 1-0

[Event "Amber-blindfold 16th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2007.03.19"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A41"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2728"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2007.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d6 2. d4 Bg4 3. e4 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. h3 Bh5 6. g4 Bg6 7. Qe2 c6 8. Bg2 d5
9. exd5 cxd5 10. Ne5 Nc6 11. Nxg6 hxg6 12. g5 Nd7 13. Bxd5 Nxd4 14. Qe4 Bc5 15.
Bd2 O-O 16. Bb3 Bb6 17. O-O-O Nc5 18. Qg4 Qc8 19. Be3 Ncxb3+ 20. axb3 Nf5 21.
Rd3 Rd8 22. Rhd1 Rxd3 23. Rxd3 Qc6 24. Qe4 Nxe3 25. Qxc6 bxc6 26. fxe3 Kf8 27.
b4 Ke7 28. Na4 Rh8 29. Nxb6 axb6 30. Ra3 Rxh3 31. Ra7+ Kd6 32. Rxf7 Rg3 33.
Rxg7 Rxg5 34. Kd2 Rg4 35. b5 cxb5 36. Kd3 Rg5 37. Rb7 Rd5+ 38. Ke4 Kc5 39. Re7
Rd2 40. Rxe6 Rxc2 41. Rxg6 Rxb2 42. Kd3 Rb3+ 43. Kd2 b4 44. Kc2 Rxe3 45. Kb2
Kb5 46. Rg8 Rh3 47. Rf8 b3 48. Rf5+ Ka4 49. Rf4+ Ka5 50. Rf5+ b5 51. Rf4 b4 52.
Rf8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 16th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2007.03.20"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A33"]
[WhiteElo "2744"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "151"]
[EventDate "2007.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nf3 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 e6 6. g3 Qb6 7. Nf3 Bc5 8. e3
O-O 9. Bg2 Qa6 10. Qa4 Qxa4 11. Nxa4 Be7 12. O-O b6 13. b3 Bb7 14. Nc3 Na5 15.
Ne5 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 Nc6 17. Nf3 Rfd8 18. Rd1 a6 19. Bb2 Rab8 20. Rac1 b5 21. Ne2
Kf8 22. Ned4 Nxd4 23. Nxd4 Rdc8 24. cxb5 Rxc1 25. Rxc1 axb5 26. a3 Ne8 27. e4
f6 28. f4 Nd6 29. Kf3 Nb7 30. Rc2 Kf7 31. Bc1 Nc5 32. b4 e5 33. Nf5 Ne6 34. Bb2
exf4 35. gxf4 Bf8 36. Ne3 Ra8 37. h4 Bd6 38. f5 Nd8 39. Rd2 Ra6 40. Rd5 Rb6 41.
Bd4 Ra6 42. Bb2 Rb6 43. h5 h6 44. Ng4 Ke7 45. e5 fxe5 46. Nxe5 Bxe5 47. Bxe5
Kf8 48. Rxd7 Nf7 49. Bb2 Rd6 50. Rxd6 Nxd6 51. Kf4 Kf7 52. Bc3 Nc4 53. Ke4 Nxa3
54. Kd5 Nc4 55. Bd4 Na3 56. Kc5 Nc2 57. Bb2 Ne3 58. Kxb5 Nxf5 59. Kc6 Ne7+ 60.
Kd6 g6 61. hxg6+ Nxg6 62. b5 Ne7 63. Bc1 h5 64. Bg5 Nf5+ 65. Kc7 Ke6 66. b6 Nd6
67. Bf4 Nb5+ 68. Kc8 Kd5 69. b7 Na7+ 70. Kc7 Nc6 71. Bg3 Kc5 72. Bd6+ Kd5 73.
Be7 h4 74. Bxh4 Nb4 75. Kb6 Nc6 76. Bg3 1-0

[Event "Amber-blindfold 16th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2007.03.22"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Leko, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E24"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2749"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2007.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 Nc6 6. f3 b6 7. e4 Ba6 8. Bg5
h6 9. Bh4 g5 10. Bf2 Qe7 11. h4 O-O-O 12. d5 Na5 13. c5 Bxf1 14. d6 cxd6 15.
cxd6 Qf8 16. Kxf1 Ne8 17. e5 f6 18. Qd3 Kb7 19. Rb1 fxe5 20. Qe4+ Nc6 21. Bxb6
axb6 22. Qe3 Nxd6 23. Qxb6+ Ka8 24. Qa6+ Na7 25. Rb6 Rb8 26. Rxd6 g4 27. Rxd7
Qc5 28. Qd3 Rb2 29. Ne2 g3 30. Ke1 Rhb8 31. Kd1 Qxa3 32. Qe4+ R2b7 33. Nxg3 Nb5
34. Qc6 Na7 35. Qe4 Nb5 36. Qc6 Na7 37. Qe4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 16th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2007.03.23"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B45"]
[WhiteElo "2779"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2007.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. e5 Nd5 8.
Ne4 Bb7 9. Be2 c5 10. O-O Qc7 11. Nd6+ Bxd6 12. exd6 Qc6 13. f3 c4 14. Qd4 O-O
15. Bxc4 Rfc8 16. b3 Qxd6 17. Rd1 Qb6 18. Qxb6 axb6 19. Bd2 Nf6 20. Be3 Ba6 21.
Bxa6 Rxa6 22. c4 d5 23. Rac1 h6 24. cxd5 Rxc1 25. Bxc1 Nxd5 26. a3 b5 27. Bb2
f6 28. g3 Kf7 29. Kf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 16th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2007.03.24"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C63"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2729"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2007.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 4. d3 fxe4 5. dxe4 Nf6 6. O-O Bc5 7. Bxc6 bxc6 8.
Nxe5 O-O 9. Nc3 d6 10. Nd3 Bd4 11. Ne2 Bb6 12. Bg5 Qe8 13. Bxf6 Rxf6 14. Ng3
Ba6 15. Kh1 Bxd3 16. cxd3 Rxf2 17. Rxf2 Bxf2 18. Nf5 Bb6 19. Qg4 Qf8 20. Rf1 g6
21. Rf4 Kh8 22. Nd4 Qg7 23. Ne6 Qxb2 24. Rf1 Qe5 25. h4 Kg8 26. Ng5 Rf8 27.
Rxf8+ Kxf8 28. Qf3+ Ke7 29. Qf7+ Kd8 30. Ne6+ Kc8 31. d4 Qb5 32. Kh2 Qh5 33.
Kh3 Qb5 34. Kh2 Qh5 35. Kh3 Qb5 36. Kh2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 16th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2007.03.25"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2750"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2007.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 c6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bd2 e6 7. Nh4 Be4 8. f3 Bg6
9. Qb3 Ra7 10. O-O-O Be7 11. Nxg6 hxg6 12. Kb1 O-O 13. g4 dxc4 14. Bxc4 b5 15.
Be2 c5 16. dxc5 Nbd7 17. c6 Nc5 18. Qc2 Qb6 19. g5 Nh5 20. Rc1 Rc8 21. b4 Na4
22. Nxa4 bxa4 23. Qxa4 Rb8 24. Rc4 Bxg5 25. f4 Bd8 26. Rhc1 Bc7 27. Qb3 Nf6 28.
a4 Rd8 29. R1c2 Raa8 30. Ka2 Rab8 31. Bf3 Rd6 32. e4 Rbd8 33. Be3 Qb8 34. R4c3
Rd4 35. Bxd4 Rxd4 36. Rc4 Qd8 37. e5 Ne8 38. Rxd4 Qxd4 39. Qc4 Qe3 40. Qe4 Qb6
41. a5 Qg1 42. h4 Qg3 43. Be2 Qxh4 44. Bxa6 g5 45. Bc8 Bd8 46. Qd4 gxf4 47. Rd2
Be7 48. Qd7 f3 49. Qxe8+ Kh7 50. Ba6 Qxb4 51. Bd3+ Kh6 52. Qh8+ Kg5 53. Qxg7+
Kf4 54. Qh6+ Kg4 55. Qg7+ Bg5 56. Rc2 Qa4+ 57. Kb2 Qb4+ 58. Ka2 Qa4+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 16th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2007.03.27"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2766"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[EventDate "2007.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. Nbd2 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. d5 Bd7 13. b3 g6 14. Re1 Nh5 15. Nf1
Nb7 16. Bh6 Ng7 17. a4 Rfb8 18. Qd2 Nd8 19. b4 f6 20. bxc5 dxc5 21. axb5 axb5
22. c4 b4 23. Qe2 Nf7 24. Be3 Rxa1 25. Rxa1 f5 26. Bc1 f4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 16th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2007.03.28"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2741"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2007.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qb3 c6 6. Nc3 d5 7. cxd5 cxd5 8. Bf4
Bc4 9. Qd1 Nc6 10. Nd2 Ba6 11. Qa4 Bb7 12. Nb5 Kd7 13. Bg2 a6 14. Nc3 Bd6 15.
Bxd6 Kxd6 16. e4 b5 17. e5+ Kc7 18. Qd1 Nd7 19. Nb3 Rc8 20. Qg4 g5 21. f4 h6
22. O-O Kb8 23. Rad1 Ka8 24. fxg5 hxg5 25. Rxf7 Ndxe5 26. dxe5 Qb6+ 27. Nd4
Nxe5 28. Rxb7 Kxb7 29. Qxe6 Qxe6 30. Nxe6 g4 31. Nf4 Ka7 32. Rxd5 Nf3+ 33. Bxf3
gxf3 34. Rd7+ Kb8 35. h4 b4 36. Ne4 Rc2 37. Rd2 Rhc8 38. Rxc2 Rxc2 39. h5 Rxb2
40. h6 Rb1+ 41. Kh2 Rb2+ 42. Kh3 Rb1 43. Kg4 Rh1 44. Nh3 f2 45. Nexf2 1-0

[Event "Amber-blindfold 16th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2007.03.29"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D47"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2683"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2007.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3
Bd6 9. a3 O-O 10. Bd2 a5 11. Ne4 Nxe4 12. Bxe4 Bb7 13. Rc1 Rc8 14. b4 axb4 15.
axb4 Qe7 16. Rb1 e5 17. Qc2 g6 18. dxe5 Nxe5 19. Nxe5 Bxe5 20. O-O Bd6 21. Bc3
c5 22. Bxb7 Qxb7 23. bxc5 Rxc5 24. Qb2 Qc7 25. Rfc1 Rc8 26. Bd2 Bxh2+ 27. Kf1
Qd7 28. Qd4 Rxc1+ 29. Bxc1 Qxd4 30. exd4 Bd6 31. Bd2 Rc4 32. Rxb5 Rxd4 33. Be3
Re4 34. Rb6 Be7 35. Rb8+ Kg7 36. g3 h5 37. Kg2 Bf6 38. Kf3 Ra4 39. Rb5 Rc4 40.
Rc5 Ra4 41. Rb5 Ba1 42. Bf4 Ra3+ 43. Kg2 Kf6 44. Rb6+ Kg7 45. Rb5 Kf6 46. Rb6+
Kf5 47. Rb5+ Ke6 48. Rb6+ Kf5 49. Rb5+ Ke6 50. Rb6+ Kd5 51. Rb7 Ke6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-rapid 16th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2007.03.17"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D47"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2007.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3
Bd6 9. a3 O-O 10. Bd2 a5 11. Rc1 Bb7 12. O-O Qb8 13. Ne4 Nxe4 14. Bxe4 c5 15.
dxc5 Bxh2+ 16. Nxh2 Bxe4 17. Bc3 Qb7 18. Qg4 e5 19. Rfd1 f5 20. Qg3 Ra6 21. Rd6
Rxd6 22. cxd6 Qc6 23. Nf3 b4 24. axb4 axb4 25. Nxe5 Nxe5 26. Qxe5 bxc3 27. Qe6+
Kh8 28. Rxc3 Qd5 29. Rc8 Qd1+ 30. Kh2 Qh5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-rapid 16th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2007.03.18"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vallejo Pons, Francisco"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E01"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2679"]
[PlyCount "216"]
[EventDate "2007.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. g3 Nbd7 6. Bg2 dxc4 7. a4 a5 8. O-O
Bd6 9. Qc2 O-O 10. Rd1 Qe7 11. Nd2 Nb6 12. Nce4 Nxe4 13. Nxe4 Bb4 14. Bf4 f6
15. Rac1 Bd7 16. Nd2 Be8 17. Nxc4 Nxc4 18. Qxc4 Bf7 19. Qc2 Bg6 20. Qb3 Bf7 21.
Qc2 Bg6 22. Qc4 Bf7 23. Be3 Rfd8 24. h4 Rd7 25. Be4 f5 26. Bg2 e5 27. Qc2 e4
28. Bf1 Qe6 29. Bf4 Qb3 30. e3 Qxc2 31. Rxc2 Bb3 32. Bc4+ Bxc4 33. Rxc4 Rd5 34.
h5 Rad8 35. Rdc1 Be7 36. Kg2 g5 37. hxg6 hxg6 38. Rh1 Bf6 39. b4 axb4 40. Rxb4
g5 41. Bc7 R8d7 42. Bb8 c5 43. dxc5 Rxc5 44. Rhb1 Ra5 45. Rxb7 Rxb7 46. Rxb7
Rxa4 47. Rb5 Kf7 48. Rxf5 Ke6 49. g4 Rb4 50. Bg3 Rc4 51. Rb5 Ra4 52. Rb6+ Kf7
53. Bd6 Rc4 54. Ra6 Kg7 55. Ra5 Kf7 56. Be5 Bxe5 57. Rxe5 Kf6 58. Rf5+ Kg6 59.
Rf8 Kg7 60. Rd8 Kf6 61. Rd6+ Kf7 62. Ra6 Rb4 63. Ra1 Kf6 64. Kf1 Ke6 65. Ra6+
Kf7 66. Ra5 Kf6 67. Rf5+ Kg6 68. Rd5 Rb1+ 69. Kg2 Rb8 70. Rd6+ Kf7 71. Rd4 Re8
72. Kf1 Kf6 73. Ke2 Ke5 74. Ra4 Rb8 75. Ra5+ Kf6 76. Ra6+ Kf7 77. Ra4 Re8 78.
Kd2 Kg6 79. Ra6+ Kg7 80. Ra4 Kg6 81. Kc3 Rf8 82. Ra6+ Kh7 83. Ra2 Rd8 84. Ra7+
Kg6 85. Ra6+ Kg7 86. Re6 Rf8 87. Kd4 Rxf2 88. Kxe4 Rf1 89. Ra6 Rf2 90. Re6 Rf1
91. Ke5 Rf3 92. Kd5 Rg3 93. Re4 Kf6 94. Kd6 Kf7 95. Kd7 Rg1 96. Kd6 Rg3 97. Ke5
Rf3 98. Kd5 Rg3 99. Kd4 Kf6 100. Kd3 Rg2 101. Ra4 Kf7 102. Rd4 Kf6 103. Kc4 Ke5
104. Kd3 Kf6 105. Re4 Kf7 106. Kd4 Kf6 107. Kd5 Rg3 108. Kd6 Kf7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-rapid 16th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2007.03.19"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C83"]
[WhiteElo "2728"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2007.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. Be3 Be7 10. c3 Nc5 11. Bc2 Nd7 12. Re1 Ndxe5 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. Bd4 f6
15. a4 b4 16. cxb4 Bf7 17. Nc3 O-O 18. b5 axb5 19. axb5 Rxa1 20. Qxa1 c5 21.
bxc6 Nxc6 22. Qa4 Nxd4 23. Qxd4 Bd6 24. Qd3 g6 25. g3 Be5 26. Bb3 Qa5 27. Rd1
Bxc3 28. bxc3 Rc8 29. Bxd5 Qxd5 30. Qxd5 Bxd5 31. Rxd5 Rxc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-rapid 16th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2007.03.20"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2744"]
[PlyCount "143"]
[EventDate "2007.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Bb4+ 5. Nd2 O-O 6. Ngf3 dxc4 7. Qc2 Nc6 8.
Qxc4 Qd5 9. O-O Bxd2 10. Qxd5 exd5 11. Bxd2 Re8 12. Rfe1 Nd8 13. Ne5 c6 14. f3
Nd7 15. Nd3 Ne6 16. Bc3 f5 17. Kf2 Nf6 18. h4 Nh5 19. e3 Nd8 20. Bf1 Nf7 21. a4
a6 22. Ba5 Re7 23. b4 Nd6 24. b5 Nc4 25. Bb4 Rc7 26. Ne5 Nxe5 27. dxe5 c5 28.
Rec1 c4 29. Bd6 Rf7 30. bxa6 Rxa6 31. a5 g6 32. Rcb1 Ng7 33. Rb5 Be6 34. Rab1
Ne8 35. Bc5 Nc7 36. Rxb7 Rxa5 37. Bd4 Na6 38. R7b6 Re7 39. Be2 Nc5 40. R6b5
Rxb5 41. Rxb5 Nb3 42. Bc3 Nc1 43. Rb8+ Kf7 44. Rb1 Nxe2 45. Kxe2 Ra7 46. Bd4
Rc7 47. Kd2 Bd7 48. Rb8 Rc8 49. Rb7 Ke6 50. Kc3 h5 51. Bb6 Rc6 52. f4 Rc8 53.
Ba5 Rc6 54. Kd4 Rc8 55. Bc3 Rc6 56. Rb5 Rc7 57. Rxd5 Kf7 58. Ba5 Rb7 59. Rd6
Be6 60. Rc6 Rd7+ 61. Kc5 Rd3 62. Bb4 Rd8 63. Rc7+ Rd7 64. Rc6 Rd8 65. Rb6 Rd3
66. Rb7+ Rd7 67. Rb8 Rd3 68. Rb7+ Rd7 69. Rxd7+ Bxd7 70. Kxc4 Ke6 71. Kd4 Bc6
72. Kc5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-rapid 16th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2007.03.22"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Leko, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2749"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2007.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 118"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. d4 d5 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 a6 {Magnus likes to play this.}
6. Ne5 ({A few days later in the blindfold game versus Carlsen, Ivanchuk
achieved an advantage by less committal means:} 6. Bd2 e6 7. Nh4 Be4 8. f3 Bg6
9. Qb3 Ra7 10. O-O-O Be7 11. Nxg6 hxg6 12. Kb1 O-O 13. g4 $14 {1/2-1/2
Ivanchuk,V (2750)-Carlsen,M (2690)/Blindfold Monte Carlo MNC 2007 (58)}) (6.
Qb3 $14) 6... Nbd7 {This developing move is better than 6...h6, which Carlsen
played in the Corus tournament.} (6... h6 7. Qb3 Ra7 8. cxd5 cxd5 9. Bd2 e6 10.
Rc1 Nbd7 11. Bb5 Bd6 12. Nxd7 Nxd7 13. Bxd7+ Qxd7 $2 ({Black has good chances
to defend after the surprising} 13... Kxd7 $1) 14. Na4 O-O 15. Nb6 Qd8 16. Nc8
Qxc8 17. Rxc8 Rxc8 18. Qb6 Bb8 19. O-O $18 {1-0 Ponomariov,R (2723)-Carlsen,M 
(2690)/Wijk aan Zee 2007 (30)}) 7. g4 $146 {This new attempt to refute Black's
set-up will soon backfire. However, it led to a very exciting game.} Nxe5 8.
dxe5 ({Considering what happened in the game, preferable is} 8. gxf5 Nxc4 9. e4
{with more chances to prove compensation}) 8... Nxg4 9. cxd5 Nxe5 10. f4 $6 {
Uncharacteristically for Leko (but rather typically for the spirit of the
Amber tournament) White forgets completely about strategical principles. Now
his king becomes too exposed.} ({It was still possible to fight for
compensation with the help of normal means:} 10. e4 Bg4 11. Be2 Bxe2 12. Qxe2 {
and although Black is better, White retains enough resources to put up a fight.
}) 10... e6 $1 {With this piece sacrifice Magnus cleverly underlines the
drawbacks of White's concept} ({Possibly the Hungarian GM came to the
conclusion that in the event of the natural continuation} 10... Bg4 11. Be2
Bxe2 12. Qxe2 Nd7 {White has compensation, although is seems that Black should
be able to complete development without problems}) (10... Ng6 11. e4 $44) 11.
fxe5 Qh4+ 12. Kd2 O-O-O {There are many attractive possibilities for Black,
but Carlsen's play is very energetic.} 13. Qe1 {This allows a nice refutation.}
(13. Bd3 Bb4 14. Bxf5 (14. d6 Bxd3 15. Kxd3 Bxd6 16. Qe2 Bxe5+ 17. Kc2 {
Three pawns and the attack for the knight secure Black the advantage.}) 14...
Rxd5+ 15. Bd3 Rxd3+ (15... Rhd8 16. Kc2 Rxd3 17. Qxd3 Rxd3 18. Kxd3) 16. Kxd3
Rd8+ 17. Kc2 Rxd1) 13... Rxd5+ $1 {Very strong and not an obvious idea.} 14.
Nxd5 Qe4 {[%cal Ge4c2] A good "human" move.} ({However, the computer finds the
fantastic} 14... Qd8 $3 {creating several threats, the main one being a check
with the bishop on b4. Black is winning in all variations. For instance after}
15. Ke2 Bg4+ 16. Kf2 {the queen returns} Qh4+ $1 {Here is the main difference
to the game: after giving the check with the bishop on g4 from d8 the queen
can access square h4 again.}) 15. Nb6+ $2 {The knight had to remain on d5 to
control the vital square b4.} ({The only move to defend was} 15. Ke2 $1 {Then}
cxd5 (15... Qg4+ 16. Kf2 Qh4+ 17. Ke2 $11) (15... Qxh1 16. Nb6+ Kc7 {
transposes to the game}) 16. Qc3+ Kb8 17. Rg1 Bg4+ 18. Kf2 Qf3+ (18... Bb4 $2
19. Rxg4 $1 Qxg4 20. Qd4) 19. Ke1 Be7 20. Rxg4 Qxg4 21. Qd4 Bh4+ 22. Kd2 {
and Black keeps the initiative, but there is nothing forced}) 15... Kc7 16. Ke2
Qxh1 $2 ({Missing the simple} 16... Qg4+ 17. Kf2 Qh4+ 18. Ke2 Bg4+ 19. Kd2 Bb4+
{and Black wins the queen}) 17. Qa5 $1 {Suddenly White achieves some
counterplay.} Qxh2+ 18. Kf3 Qh5+ 19. Kf2 Qh4+ (19... Kb8 20. Nd7+ Ka7 $4 21.
Qb6+ Ka8 22. Qd8+ Ka7 23. Qb8#) 20. Ke2 $2 {The computer shows the difference
again: closing the diagonal a6-f1 could be fatal for White.} (20. Kg1 $1 Kb8
21. Nd7+ Ka8 (21... Ka7 22. e4 $1 $132 {[%cal Gc1e3]}) 22. Bxa6 {and Black
must repeat the position by giving checks}) 20... Qg4+ ({After the triangular
manoeuvre with the king, Black escapes from White's checks:} 20... Kb8 $1 21.
Nd7+ Ka8 22. Nb6+ Ka7 23. Nc8+ Kb8 {The material is about equal, but White's
exposed king makes his position hopeless:} 24. Nd6 Be7 25. Nxf5 exf5 26. Bd2
Qg4+ $19) 21. Kf2 Qh4+ 22. Ke2 Qh2+ 23. Kf3 Bg4+ {Nice, but Black has no more
pieces left with which to attack and must force perpetual anyway.} 24. Kxg4
Qg1+ 25. Kf3 Qxf1+ 26. Kg3 Qg1+ 27. Kf3 Qf1+ 28. Kg3 Qg1+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-rapid 16th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2007.03.23"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D46"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2779"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2007.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. Be2 O-O 8. O-O
dxc4 9. Bxc4 a6 10. Rd1 b5 11. Be2 Qc7 12. e4 e5 13. g3 Re8 14. Bg5 exd4 15.
Nxd4 Be5 16. Bf3 h6 17. Be3 c5 18. Nf5 Nb6 19. a4 b4 20. a5 Nc4 21. Nd5 Nxd5
22. exd5 Bxf5 23. Qxc4 Bd6 24. Rac1 Rec8 25. Bf4 Bd7 26. Bxd6 Qxd6 27. Re1 Bb5
28. Qc2 c4 29. Qd2 Re8 30. h4 Rxe1+ 31. Rxe1 Rc8 32. Qd4 c3 33. bxc3 bxc3 34.
Qb6 Qa3 35. Qb7 Qc5 36. d6 Rd8 37. Qb6 Qxd6 38. Rc1 Qd2 39. Kg2 Re8 40. Rd1 Qc2
41. Rd8 Rxd8 42. Qxd8+ Kh7 43. Qd5 Bd3 44. Qxf7 Be4 45. Qf4 Bd3 46. Qe3 Qb1 47.
Qd4 Qc2 48. h5 Qd2 49. Be4+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-rapid 16th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2007.03.24"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A56"]
[WhiteElo "2729"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2007.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e5 4. Nc3 Bd6 5. Nb5 Bc7 6. Nxc7+ Qxc7 7. f3 d6 8. e4
O-O 9. Bd3 b5 10. Ne2 bxc4 11. Bxc4 Ba6 12. Qc2 Nbd7 13. O-O Bxc4 14. Qxc4 Rfb8
15. Nc3 Rb4 16. Qe2 c4 17. Be3 Rab8 18. Rab1 h6 19. Rfc1 Qa5 20. Nd1 Nc5 21.
Bd2 Nd3 22. Bxb4 Rxb4 23. Rc3 Qxa2 24. Qc2 Qa5 25. b3 Nd7 26. Kf1 N7c5 27. bxc4
Rxc4 28. g3 Rd4 29. Ne3 Nb4 30. Qb2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-rapid 16th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2007.03.25"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2007.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qc2 c5 6. d5 exd5 7. cxd5 Bb7 8. Bg2
Nxd5 9. O-O Be7 10. Rd1 Nc6 11. Qf5 Nf6 12. e4 g6 13. Qf4 O-O 14. e5 Nh5 15.
Qg4 d5 16. exd6 Bf6 17. Nc3 Nd4 18. Nxd4 Bxg2 19. Nf5 Bc6 20. d7 Qc7 21. Nd5
Bxd5 22. Rxd5 Rfd8 23. Be3 Bxb2 24. Nh6+ Kf8 25. Rad1 Bg7 26. Rxh5 gxh5 27. Qf5
1-0

[Event "Amber-rapid 16th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2007.03.27"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D44"]
[WhiteElo "2766"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2007.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. d4 dxc4 5. e4 Bb4 6. Bg5 b5 7. a4 c6 8. e5 h6
9. exf6 hxg5 10. fxg7 Rg8 11. g3 Bb7 12. Bg2 c5 13. O-O g4 14. axb5 gxf3 15.
Bxf3 Bxf3 16. Qxf3 Nd7 17. dxc5 Bxc3 18. bxc3 Nxc5 19. Rfd1 Qc8 20. Rd6 Qb7 21.
Qh5 Rc8 22. Rc6 Nd3 23. Rxc8+ Qxc8 24. Rxa7 1-0

[Event "Amber-rapid 16th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2007.03.28"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2741"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2007.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Bb4+ 4. Nd2 O-O 5. Ngf3 d6 6. Bg2 Re8 7. O-O e5 8. Nb3
e4 9. a3 exf3 10. Bxf3 Bxa3 11. Rxa3 c6 12. d5 cxd5 13. cxd5 Bh3 14. Re1 Nbd7
15. Nd4 a6 16. e4 Ne5 17. Bg2 Bxg2 18. Kxg2 Rc8 19. Nf5 Qd7 20. f3 h5 21. h3 g6
22. Nd4 Qc7 23. g4 Qb6 24. Rb3 Qa5 25. Bf4 Rc4 26. Be3 hxg4 27. hxg4 Nexg4 28.
Bd2 Qc5 29. Bc3 Nxd5 30. fxg4 Nxc3 31. bxc3 Rxc3 32. Rxc3 Qxc3 33. Nf3 Qb2+ 34.
Kg3 Qb4 35. Qd5 Re5 36. Qd3 b5 37. Rb1 Qxe4 38. Nxe5 Qxe5+ 39. Kg2 Qf4 40. Qf3
Qd2+ 41. Kg3 Qc2 42. Rd1 Qc5 43. Qa8+ Kg7 44. Qd5 Qe3+ 45. Qf3 Qe5+ 46. Qf4
Qc3+ 47. Kf2 f6 48. Rxd6 Qc5+ 49. Qd4 Qc2+ 50. Kg3 Qb3+ 51. Qd3 Qb2 52. Rd7+
Kh6 53. Qd2+ Qxd2 54. Rxd2 1-0

[Event "Amber-rapid 16th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2007.03.29"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2683"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2007.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 117 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.09"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Qc2
d5 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Bg2 c5 11. Rd1 Nc6 12. Be3 Rc8 13. O-O cxd4 14. Nxd4 Bb4
15. Bh3 Nxd4 16. Bxd4 Rxc3 17. Bxc3 Bxc3 18. Qxc3 Bxe2 19. Bg2 Qd6 20. Qd4 Rd8
21. b4 h6 22. Rfe1 Bxd1 23. Rxd1 Qc6 24. Bf3 Rd7 25. Qb2 Rc7 26. Kg2 Qd6 27.
Qd4 Kf8 28. a3 Rc8 29. Rd3 Qd7 30. Qf4 Qc6 31. Qd2 Ne4 32. Qe3 Qe6 33. Rd4 Ng5
34. Bxd5 Qxe3 35. fxe3 Rc2+ 36. Kh1 Rc3 37. h4 Nh7 38. Rc4 Rxe3 39. Rc7 Nf6 40.
Bxf7 Rxa3 41. Kg2 Ne4 42. Bd5 Rxg3+ 43. Kh2 Rg4 44. Rxa7 Rxh4+ 45. Kg2 Nf6 46.
Be6 Re4 47. Ba2 Rxb4 48. Kf3 Nh5 49. Rf7+ Ke8 50. Rb7 Kd8 51. Ke3 g5 52. Rf7
Nf4 53. Rg7 Ra4 54. Bb1 Nd5+ 55. Kf2 Rf4+ 56. Ke2 Nc3+ 0-1

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2007.04.18"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Kulaots, Kaido"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2525"]
[BlackElo "2693"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2007.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "12"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 118"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 a6 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. h3 d6 8. Bb3
Ba7 9. Nf1 Be6 10. Ng3 Bxb3 11. Qxb3 Qc8 12. O-O Ne7 13. d4 Ng6 14. Bg5 Nd7 15.
Nf5 Kh8 16. Ne7 Qe8 17. Nxg6+ fxg6 18. Qxb7 exd4 19. cxd4 Bb6 20. Qc6 h6 21.
Be3 Nf6 22. Qxe8 Rfxe8 23. e5 Nd5 24. Bd2 dxe5 25. dxe5 Rad8 26. Rfd1 Kg8 27.
Kf1 g5 28. Rac1 Kf7 29. Ke2 Ke6 30. Rc6+ Kf7 31. Rc4 Ne7 32. Be3 Rxd1 33. Kxd1
Ng6 34. Bxb6 cxb6 35. Rc6 Re6 36. Rc7+ Re7 37. Rc6 Re6 38. Rc7+ Re7 39. Rc6
1/2-1/2

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2007.04.19"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Lie, Kjetil A"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B21"]
[WhiteElo "2529"]
[BlackElo "2693"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2007.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "12"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 118"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. f4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d3 Nc6 4. e4 d5 5. e5 Ng8 6. Be2 Nh6 7. O-O Bg4 8. Ng5
Bxe2 9. Qxe2 e6 10. Qh5 Qe7 11. Nc3 O-O-O 12. Bd2 f6 13. exf6 gxf6 14. Rae1
fxg5 15. fxg5 Ng8 16. Rf7 Qe8 17. Nxd5 Bd6 18. Bc3 Rd7 19. Ref1 Nd8 20. Rxd7
Qxh5 21. Rxd6 Qe8 22. Bxh8 exd5 23. Rxd5 Ne7 24. Rxc5+ Nec6 25. Bd4 Ne6 26. Re1
Qd7 27. Rxc6+ Qxc6 28. Be3 Kd7 29. c4 Qa4 30. a3 Qc2 31. Bxa7 Nf4 0-1

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2007.04.20"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Moskow, Eric"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A33"]
[WhiteElo "2693"]
[BlackElo "2260"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2007.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "12"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 118"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. g3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nc6 6. Bg2 Bc5 7. Nb3 Be7 8.
Nc3 b6 9. Bf4 Bb7 10. O-O O-O 11. Qd2 Na5 12. Nxa5 Bxg2 13. Kxg2 bxa5 14. Rac1
Qb6 15. b3 d5 16. cxd5 Bb4 17. Be5 Bxc3 18. Bxc3 Ne4 19. Qd4 Nxc3 20. Qxb6 axb6
21. Rxc3 exd5 22. Rd1 Rfd8 23. Rcd3 a4 24. Rxd5 Rxd5 25. Rxd5 axb3 26. axb3 Kf8
27. Rd6 Ra6 28. b4 Ke7 29. Rc6 Kd7 30. b5 f5 31. e3 g6 32. h4 1-0

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2007.04.21"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Jones, Gawain C B"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B45"]
[WhiteElo "2518"]
[BlackElo "2693"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2007.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "12"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 118"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. e5 Nd5 8.
Ne4 Bb7 9. c4 Nb4 10. c5 Qb8 11. f4 Ba6 12. a3 Bxf1 13. Rxf1 Nd5 14. Qd4 Be7
15. f5 exf5 16. Rxf5 O-O 17. Bg5 Bxg5 18. Rxg5 Qb3 19. Rg3 Qc2 20. Nf6+ Nxf6
21. exf6 Rfe8+ 22. Kf1 g6 23. Qc3 Qe2+ 24. Kg1 Re5 25. Rf1 Rae8 26. b4 Rd5 27.
Qf3 Re4 28. h3 h5 29. h4 Kh7 30. Qxe2 Rxe2 31. Rff3 Re1+ 32. Kh2 Re4 33. Rh3
Rdd4 34. Kg1 Kg8 35. Re3 Kf8 36. Rxe4 Rxe4 37. Rd3 Ke8 38. g3 Re6 39. Rf3 d6
40. cxd6 Kd7 41. Kf2 Kxd6 42. a4 Ke5 43. Re3+ Kd5 44. Rd3+ Kc4 45. Rd7 Rxf6+
46. Ke3 Kxb4 47. Rxa7 c5 48. Rb7+ Kc3 49. a5 Re6+ 50. Kf4 c4 51. Rb6 Kd4 0-1

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2007.04.22"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dreev, Alexey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B61"]
[WhiteElo "2693"]
[BlackElo "2633"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2007.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "12"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 118"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 Bd7 7. Qd2 Rc8 8.
O-O-O Nxd4 9. Qxd4 Qa5 10. Bd2 a6 11. f3 g6 12. Bc4 Qc5 13. Qxc5 Rxc5 14. Bb3
h5 15. Kb1 Bh6 16. Be1 O-O 17. Bf2 Rcc8 18. Bd4 Bg7 19. Rhe1 Rfe8 20. Bxf6 Bxf6
21. Nd5 Bg7 22. Nb6 Rcd8 23. Nxd7 Rxd7 24. e5 e6 25. Rxd6 Rxd6 26. exd6 Rd8 27.
Rd1 Be5 28. d7 Kf8 29. c4 Bxh2 30. c5 Ke7 31. Ba4 Bc7 32. b4 g5 33. b5 axb5 34.
Bxb5 f5 35. Kc2 g4 36. fxg4 fxg4 37. Rh1 Rh8 38. Be2 Kxd7 39. Bxg4 Ra8 40. Bf3
Rxa2+ 41. Kb3 Ra5 42. Rxh5 Bd8 43. Kc4 Ra4+ 44. Kc3 Ra3+ 45. Kb4 Ra1 46. Rh7+
Be7 47. Kb5 Rc1 48. Rh5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2007.04.23"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Rozentalis, Eduardas"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2578"]
[BlackElo "2693"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2007.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "12"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 118"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. O-O Ne7 6. Re1 Ng6 7. c3 Be7 8.
d4 O-O 9. Be3 cxd4 10. cxd4 f5 11. Nc3 Ba6 12. b3 Bb4 13. Bd2 Nf4 14. Na4 Bxd2
15. Qxd2 fxe4 16. Rxe4 Qf6 17. Re3 Qg6 18. Ne1 Qg5 19. Rd1 Qh5 20. f3 d6 21.
Nb2 c5 22. Re4 Qf5 23. Nbd3 Nxd3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2007.04.24"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Portisch, Lajos"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2693"]
[BlackElo "2512"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2007.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "12"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 118"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 Nbd7 6. O-O Rb8 7. Qc2 b5 8. b3
cxb3 9. axb3 a6 10. Ne5 Nxe5 11. dxe5 Nd5 12. Rd1 Qe7 13. Nc3 Qc5 14. Rxd5 exd5
15. b4 Qxb4 16. Ba3 Qg4 17. Bxf8 Kxf8 18. Nxd5 Qc4 19. Qd2 Be6 20. Rc1 Qb3 21.
Nxc7 Kg8 22. Qd6 Rc8 23. Bb7 h6 24. Bxc8 Bxc8 25. Nxb5 axb5 26. Rxc8+ Kh7 27.
Rc1 Re8 28. Kg2 Kg8 29. Rc5 Qa2 30. Qc6 1-0

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2007.04.25"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Krush, Irina"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E25"]
[WhiteElo "2464"]
[BlackElo "2693"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2007.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "12"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 118"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
dxc5 Qa5 9. e4 Nf6 10. Be3 O-O 11. Qb3 Nfd7 12. a4 Qc7 13. Qa3 Na6 14. Bxa6
bxa6 15. Ne2 a5 16. O-O Ba6 17. Rfe1 Rfc8 18. Nd4 Nxc5 19. Nb5 Bxb5 20. axb5
Nd3 21. Re2 Qc4 22. Rd2 h6 23. Qxa5 Nc5 24. Bxc5 Qxc5+ 25. Kh1 Rab8 26. Qxa7
Qxc3 27. Qd4 Qxd4 28. Rxd4 Rxb5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gausdal Classics GM"]
[Site "Gausdal"]
[Date "2007.04.26"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Krasenkow, Michal"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A90"]
[WhiteElo "2693"]
[BlackElo "2661"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2007.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "12"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 118"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c6 4. Nbd2 f5 5. g3 Nf6 6. Bg2 Bd6 7. O-O O-O 8. Ne5
b6 9. Ndf3 Ne4 10. Qc2 Bb7 11. b3 a5 12. Bb2 Na6 13. a3 Qe7 14. Nd3 Rac8 15. e3
c5 16. Nde5 cxd4 17. exd4 a4 18. Qd3 Nb8 19. Rfc1 Nd7 20. cxd5 Bxd5 21. b4 Ndf6
22. Nc4 Qb7 23. Qe2 Ng4 24. Nfd2 Nxd2 25. Nxd6 Rxc1+ 26. Bxc1 Qc6 27. Qxe6+
Bxe6 28. Bxc6 Nb3 29. d5 Ne5 30. Rb1 Nd4 31. dxe6 Nexc6 32. b5 Ne7 33. Be3 Rd8
34. Nc4 Ne2+ 35. Kg2 Nc3 36. Re1 Nxb5 37. Bg5 Kf8 38. Re5 Nd6 39. Nxb6 h6 40.
Be3 Ke8 41. Ra5 1-0

[Event "Porto Vecchio m of the Hopes"]
[Site "Porto Vecchio"]
[Date "2007.05.18"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2747"]
[BlackElo "2693"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2007.05.18"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 118 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.07.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.07.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Nbd2 Bb4 6. Qc2 Bb7 7. Bg2 c5 8. dxc5
Bxc5 9. O-O Be7 10. b3 d6 11. Bb2 Nbd7 12. Rac1 Qc7 13. Rfe1 O-O 14. e4 a6 15.
Qb1 Rac8 16. Nd4 Qb8 17. f4 Qa8 18. Bf3 Rfd8 19. g4 e5 20. Nf5 Bf8 21. g5 Ne8
22. Qa1 Nc5 23. Qb1 Ne6 24. Nf1 Nxf4 25. h4 b5 26. N1e3 bxc4 27. bxc4 g6 28.
Ng3 f5 29. Kh2 Rb8 30. Qc2 fxe4 31. Bg4 Bc8 32. Ba1 Nd3 33. Rf1 Ng7 34. Rcd1
Qa7 35. Nxe4 Qxe3 36. Nf6+ Kh8 37. Rxd3 Qc5 38. Rd5 Qc7 39. c5 Bxg4 40. Nxg4
Qc6 41. Qd1 Ne6 42. cxd6 Bxd6 43. Rxd6 Rxd6 44. Bxe5+ Kg8 45. Nh6# 1-0

[Event "Porto Vecchio m of the Hopes"]
[Site "Porto Vecchio"]
[Date "2007.05.18"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2693"]
[BlackElo "2747"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2007.05.18"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 118 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.07.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.07.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Nxe7 Qxe7 11. c4 b4 12. Nc2 O-O 13. f3 h6 14. Bh4 a5 15.
Be2 Be6 16. O-O Rfd8 17. Kh1 g5 18. Bf2 Nh5 19. Re1 Nf4 20. Bf1 Qc7 21. Qd2 Kg7
22. Rac1 Qb7 23. Ne3 Ne7 24. b3 Rac8 25. Red1 f6 26. Nd5 Nexd5 27. exd5 Bf7 28.
Qe3 Ra8 29. Qb6 Qd7 30. Qc6 Qe7 31. c5 Rac8 32. cxd6 Qxd6 33. Qxd6 Rxc1 34.
Qxd8 Rxd1 35. Be1 Nxd5 36. Kg1 Rxe1 37. Kf2 Ra1 38. Qxa5 Nc3 39. Qxb4 Rxa2+ 40.
Kg1 Ne2+ 41. Bxe2 Rxe2 42. Qb7 Kg6 43. b4 Rb2 44. b5 h5 45. b6 Rb1+ 46. Kf2
Rb2+ 47. Ke1 Bd5 48. Qxd5 Rxb6 49. Qg8+ Kh6 50. Kf2 Rb7 51. Ke3 Rg7 52. Qe8 g4
53. Ke4 gxf3 54. gxf3 Rg5 55. h4 Rg7 56. Kf5 e4 57. Qh8+ 1-0

[Event "Porto Vecchio m of the Hopes"]
[Site "Porto Vecchio"]
[Date "2007.05.18"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C63"]
[WhiteElo "2693"]
[BlackElo "2747"]
[PlyCount "154"]
[EventDate "2007.05.18"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 118 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.07.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.07.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 4. d3 fxe4 5. dxe4 Nf6 6. O-O Bc5 7. Qe2 d6 8.
Qc4 Qe7 9. Nc3 Bd7 10. Bg5 a6 11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. Be3 Bxe3 13. fxe3 Qf7 14. Nd2
O-O 15. Qxf7+ Kxf7 16. Nc4 Ke7 17. Na5 Rab8 18. Rab1 c5 19. a3 Bb5 20. Rf3 Bd7
21. Rff1 Rb6 22. Nc4 Rb7 23. Na5 Rbb8 24. b4 cxb4 25. axb4 Rb6 26. Nd5+ Nxd5
27. exd5 Rxf1+ 28. Kxf1 c6 29. dxc6 Bxc6 30. c4 Be4 31. Rb2 Ke6 32. Ke1 Rb8 33.
b5 axb5 34. cxb5 Ra8 35. Nc4 Ra4 36. Nd2 Bb7 37. b6 Kd7 38. Rc2 Bc6 39. Rb2 Bb7
40. Rc2 Ra1+ 41. Kf2 Bc6 42. Rb2 Ra8 43. Nc4 Rb8 44. Rd2 Ke7 45. Nxd6 Bd7 46.
Nc4 Be6 47. Nxe5 Rxb6 48. Nf3 Rb8 49. h4 h6 50. Rd4 Rb2+ 51. Nd2 Rb5 52. g4 Rb8
53. Nf3 Rb3 54. g5 hxg5 55. Nxg5 Bf5 56. Rf4 Bg6 57. Nf3 Rb2+ 58. Kg3 Re2 59.
Rg4 Kf6 60. Kf4 Rf2 61. Rg5 Bc2 62. e4 Bd1 63. Rf5+ Ke7 64. Kg3 Re2 65. Re5+
Kf6 66. Rd5 Bc2 67. e5+ Ke7 68. Nd4 Re3+ 69. Kf2 Rd3 70. e6 g6 71. Rd7+ Kf6 72.
e7 Kf7 73. Rd8 Kxe7 74. Nc6+ Kf6 75. Rxd3 Bxd3 76. Ke3 g5 77. hxg5+ Kxg5
1/2-1/2

[Event "Porto Vecchio m of the Hopes"]
[Site "Porto Vecchio"]
[Date "2007.05.18"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2747"]
[BlackElo "2693"]
[PlyCount "173"]
[EventDate "2007.05.18"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 118 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.07.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.07.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Bg2 c6 8. Bc3
d5 9. Ne5 Nfd7 10. Nxd7 Nxd7 11. Nd2 O-O 12. O-O f5 13. Re1 Rc8 14. e3 Nf6 15.
a3 Bd6 16. Qc2 g5 17. Nf3 g4 18. Nd2 Ne4 19. Bb4 h5 20. Rec1 h4 21. Nxe4 dxe4
22. Bxd6 Qxd6 23. b4 Qe7 24. Qc3 Qf6 25. a4 c5 26. dxc5 Qxc3 27. Rxc3 bxc5 28.
b5 Bb7 29. Bf1 h3 30. a5 Rcd8 31. Rc2 Rd6 32. Be2 Rfd8 33. Kf1 Kg7 34. Ke1 e5
35. Rb2 Kf6 36. Rab1 a6 37. Bd1 Bc8 38. Ba4 Be6 39. Bb3 Rb8 40. Ba2 Ke7 41.
bxa6 Rxb2 42. Rxb2 Rxa6 43. Rb5 Kd6 44. Bb3 Bd7 45. Rb6+ Rxb6 46. axb6 Be6 47.
Kd2 Kc6 48. Kc3 Kxb6 49. Ba4 Ka5 50. Bb5 Kb6 51. Ba4 Kc7 52. Bc2 Bd7 53. Kb3
Kb6 54. Ka3 Ka5 55. Bd1 Bc6 56. Bc2 Bb7 57. Bd1 Bc8 58. Ba4 Ba6 59. Bd7 Bxc4
60. Bxf5 Be2 61. Kb3 Bf3 62. Kc4 Kb6 63. Bd7 Kc7 64. Bf5 Kd6 65. Kc3 Kd5 66.
Bc8 Kc6 67. Be6 Kb5 68. Bd7+ Kb6 69. Bf5 Kc6 70. Kc4 Be2+ 71. Kb3 Kd5 72. Kc3
Bf3 73. Bc8 Kc6 74. Ba6 Kb6 75. Bc4 Ka5 76. Bd5 Ka4 77. Kc4 Ka3 78. Kc3 Ka4 79.
Bb3+ Kb5 80. Bc4+ Kc6 81. Be6 Kd6 82. Bf5 Kd5 83. Bc8 Kd6 84. Bb7 Kc7 85. Bd5
Kd6 86. Bc4 Kc6 87. Be6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Porto Vecchio m of the Hopes"]
[Site "Porto Vecchio"]
[Date "2007.05.18"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A80"]
[WhiteElo "2693"]
[BlackElo "2747"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2007.05.18"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 118 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.07.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.07.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 f5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bg5 d5 4. Bxf6 exf6 5. e3 c6 6. Qf3 Be6 7. Bd3 g6 8. h3
Nd7 9. g4 fxg4 10. hxg4 Bf7 11. Nge2 Qb6 12. O-O-O O-O-O 13. Nf4 Bb4 14. Nce2
Qa5 15. Kb1 Bd6 16. c3 b5 17. e4 dxe4 18. Bxe4 Qxa2+ 19. Kc1 Kc7 20. Bxc6 Qa1+
21. Kc2 Bb3+ 22. Kd2 Qxb2+ 23. Ke1 Bxd1 24. Kxd1 Qb3+ 25. Kd2 Qa2+ 26. Kd1 Qb3+
27. Kd2 Qa2+ 28. Ke3 Rhe8+ 29. Be4 f5 30. gxf5 gxf5 31. Ra1 Qxa1 32. Nd5+ Kb8
33. Qxf5 Qa5 34. Kf3 Rf8 0-1

[Event "Candidates sf"]
[Site "Elista"]
[Date "2007.05.27"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2693"]
[BlackElo "2759"]
[Annotator "Aronian,L"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2007.05.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 {Marin,M} e5 {To give the reader a general picture of my matches 
(assuming of cours ethat he is interseted), I would say that my opponents
surprised me in the opening, by playing lines they had not used before. I
should add that I did not go in for such refinements myself.} 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5
a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 {When I began playing the Marshall, I would usually
hold my breat in this position, and only after seeing the move 6.Re1 would I
quickly play 6...b5 7.Bb3 0-0, practically thinking that the matter was
settled. It would be interesting to know if other devotees of this variation
have experienced similar feelings of euphoria.} 6. d3 {Whereas this is the
very move I used to be afraid of.} b5 7. Bb3 d6 {Here I thought for a long tim,
as I wanted to surprise my opponent with something new.} 8. a4 Rb8 {When
playing 7...d6, I had planned to continue 8...Bd7 now, but then I changed my
mind, in view of 9. c3 0-0 10.Bc2. Probably without good reason, but that is
another story. I played 8...Rb8 because I remembered that some very strong
player had played the same way in a similar position.} 9. axb5 axb5 10. Nc3 {
The knight is needed on c3, to meet the freeing Be6 with Nd5.} O-O 11. h3 {
A useful move. Marin,M: 'Compared to the normal Anti-Marshall systems, White's
early defining of the structure in the centre has allowed Black refrain from ..
.Bb7, which places the bishop on a relatively unfavourable square. First of
all, it hits into the well defended e4-pawn, secondly, it does not contribute
to the annihilation of the white Spanish bishop.'} ({It is probably also
possible to seek some advantage after} 11. Nd5 Nxd5 12. exd5 Nd4 13. Nxd4 exd4
{, although in view of the symmetriacl nature of the position, I believe Black
should be able gradually to equalize.}) 11... Nb4 $5 $146 {I decided on this
move after rejecting Marin,M: 'Aronian spent a considerable amount of time on
this new move. Before playing the planned ...Be6, Black takes the d5-square
under firm control.'} (11... Be6 {because of} 12. Nd5 $1 (12. Bxe6 {Marin,M}
fxe6 13. d4 $6 exd4 14. Nxd4 Nxd4 15. Qxd4 c5 16. Qd3 d5 $11 {Tarrasch,
S-Leonhardt,P/San Sebastian 1912/HCL (1-0, 59)}) 12... Bxd5 (12... Qd7 $6 {
Marin,M} 13. c3) (12... Nd4 {Marin,M} 13. Nxd4 exd4 14. Bd2 $5 Nxd5 15. exd5
Bd7 16. Ra5 Ra8 17. Qa1 $14 {|^<->a Romanishin. The position is almost
symmetrical, but White's position is more active and Black still has to fight
for complete equality.}) 13. exd5 Nb4 14. g4 {This is hardly all that
terrifying, but I preferred not to go in for forcing variations, since Magnus
had been moving fairly quickly.} (14. d4 {Marin,M} e4 15. Ng5 c5 {/\ 16.dc6 d5!
} 16. c3 Nbxd5 17. dxc5 dxc5 18. Nxe4 c4 19. Bc2 b4 20. Qf3 Ra8 21. Rxa8 Qxa8 {
Romanishin,O (2595)-Nunn,J (2615)/Debrecen 1992/EU-chT/[Bulletin] (1-0, 73)}
22. Nxf6+ Nxf6 23. Qe2 $16 {Romanishin})) (11... Nd4 {Marin,M} 12. Nxd4 exd4
13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 (14. Bxd5 Be6) 14... Bd7 {Ljubicic,F (2407)-Plenkovic,Z 
(2302)/Split 2005/CBM 106 ext (1-0, 72)} 15. Bd2 $14) 12. Ne2 {This typical
Spanish knight manoeuvre is even more natural here, in view of the unwanted
guest on b4. Marin,M: 'Obviously, White will not tolerate the knight on b4 for
too long. It is also noteworthy that the transfer of the knight to g3 is
carried out without the necessity of spending a tempo on Re1 at an early stage.
'} c5 13. Ng3 ({On} 13. c3 {I was considering} Nxd3 14. Qxd3 c4 15. Bxc4 bxc4
16. Qxc4 Be6 17. Qd3 Qc7 {with well-known compensation for Black, although 13..
. Nc6 is in no way worse.}) 13... Be6 14. Bxe6 {Marin,M: 'This exchange
improves Black's control in the centre, but it was not easy to deal with the
tension in the position anyway.'} (14. Bd2 $5 {Marin,M} Nc6 $1 (14... Bxb3 15.
cxb3 Nc6 16. b4 {offers White some initiative, while 15...Nxd3 is impossible
because of 16.Ba5!.}) 15. Bxe6 (15. c3 c4 16. Bc2 d5 $36) 15... fxe6 $11) 14...
fxe6 15. c3 Nc6 {The position reached is very similar to various lines of the
Anti-Marshall. I was happy to reach a middlegame in which I was familiar with
the typical plans and ideas of both sides.} 16. Re1 {This move very much
surprised me, since I had assumed that my opponent had decided to do without
it. Marin,M: 'Finally, White plays this generally useful move anyway. The
short term purpose of the development of this rook is to inhibit ...d5.'} Qd7
$11 {A normal consolidating move in this type of position. Marin,M: 'Black's
novelty has been crowned with success. With his massive pawn centre he has
little to fear. '} 17. d4 $6 {An ambitious decision. Magnus probably did not
imagine that by giving up the centre, Black could get the better chances. I
think he should have preferred some sort of developing move, such as 17.Bd2
Marin,M: 'But this over-optimistic opening of the centre will leave Black with
a dangerous queenside majority.'} exd4 18. cxd4 c4 $1 {Since Black has active
ideas connected with Nb4, giving up the centre is not dangerous for him.} 19.
Bg5 h6 20. d5 {The attempt to ease the problems by exchanges does not bring
the desired result. After the correct Bd2, White is only a tad worse.} exd5 21.
Bxf6 ({After} 21. exd5 Nb4 {Black's initiative is too strong.}) 21... Bxf6 22.
Qxd5+ Rf7 {Marin,M: 'White has managed to weaken some of the central light
squares in Black's camp, but his knights are not well placed for taking
advantage of this relative achievement. Besides, Black's pressure against the
enemy queenside is quite strong. Apart from the obvious ...Bxb2, ...Nb4-d3 is
a strong threat. '} 23. Qd2 ({Unfortunately for White} 23. Nf5 {is refuted by}
Nb4 24. Qxd6 Qxd6 25. Nxd6 Rd7 26. e5 Nc2) 23... Ne5 ({Of course not} 23... b4
{on account of} 24. Rec1 c3 25. bxc3 bxc3 26. Rxc3 Bxc3 27. Qxc3 {and White is
not worse.}) 24. Nxe5 Bxe5 25. Ne2 {After the game, of corse, it is easy to
recommend other moves, but at the time, I also thought that this was the best
move in the position.} Rbf8 26. Rf1 {White only requires a couple of moves in
order to consolidate, but now Black turns out to have a strong resource
available.} Rf3 $3 {It is always nice to be able to make such an impudent move
with impunity. Marin,M: 'A very elegant rook sacrifice, taking advantage of
Black's perfect coordination. Apart from the brutal threat of continuing the
attack with ...Rxh3, Black enables the transfer of the rook to d3 or b3. '} 27.
Ra3 {After this, White is lost.} ({Naturally} 27. gxf3 {is bad because of} Rxf3
{and White is defenceless.}) ({The only way to attempt to cast doubt on
Black's idea was by} 27. Qd5+ Kh7 28. Rad1 {, although after the strong} Qc8 {
Black still has a very strong position. For example, after} 29. Qxb5 {there
follows} Rxh3 30. f4 Rb3 31. Qd5 Bxb2 32. Qxd6 Ba3 {and Black is practically
winning.}) 27... Rxa3 28. bxa3 Qc6 29. Nd4 {More stubborn is 29.Qe3 although
it also looks fairly dismal.} Bxd4 {Since I saw that it was very hard for
White to defend the pawns on a3 and e4, I spared myself the effort of looking
for other moves.} 30. Qxd4 Ra8 31. Ra1 {31.Qb2 was the last chance to muddy
the waters.} c3 32. Qb4 Qc5 33. Qb3+ Kh8 34. Ra2 Ra4 35. Re2 Rxa3 36. Qd1 Ra8
0-1

[Event "Candidates sf"]
[Site "Elista"]
[Date "2007.05.28"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A58"]
[WhiteElo "2759"]
[BlackElo "2693"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2007.05.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bxa6 7. g3 d6 8. Bg2
Bg7 9. Nf3 Nbd7 10. Rb1 Qa5 11. O-O Nb6 12. a3 Nc4 13. b4 Qc7 14. Qa4+ Nd7 15.
Nb5 Qb8 16. bxc5 Bxb5 17. Qxb5 Qxb5 18. Rxb5 Nxc5 19. Nd2 Nxa3 20. Bxa3 Rxa3
21. Ne4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Candidates sf"]
[Site "Elista"]
[Date "2007.05.29"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2693"]
[BlackElo "2759"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2007.05.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 b6 3. g3 c5 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O e6 ({After his recent success
in the rapid match against Kramnik, Aronian seems to like the Hedgehog more
than his previous weapon - the double fianchetto:} 5... g6) 6. Nc3 Be7 7. Re1
d5 {However, this is a clear deviation from the Hedgehog structure.} ({A true
Hedgehog adherent would always play} 7... d6 8. e4 a6 9. d4 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Qc7 {
and, although Black is under strong pressure, his counterchances are not to be
neglected.}) 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. d4 $5 {A rare move.} ({The main continuation is
considerd to be} 9. e4 Nb4 (9... Nxc3 10. bxc3 O-O 11. d4 {transposes to a
relatively unpleasant (for Black) variation of the Queen's Indian, strongly
advocated by Kramnik some 10 years ago. Among his "scalps" we can find such
outstanding names as Anatoly Karpov (twice!)}) 10. d4 cxd4 11. Nxd4 N8c6 12.
Nxc6 Qxd1 13. Rxd1 Bxc6 {and Black has managed to somewhat simplify the
position, with good chances to maintain the balance even.}) 9... Nxc3 (9...
cxd4 {is the main alternative.} 10. Qxd4 Nxc3 $6 {A premature release of the
tension, helping White consolidate his advantage of development.} (10... O-O $1
) 11. Qxc3 O-O 12. Bf4 $14 Bf6 13. Be5 Bxe5 $6 {Same comment.} (13... Nd7) 14.
Nxe5 Bxg2 15. Kxg2 Qd5+ 16. Qf3 $1 Rd8 17. Red1 Qxf3+ 18. Kxf3 Na6 19. Nc6 $16
{Erdelyi,T (2365)-Delanoy,A (2210)/Kecskemet 1991/TD (1-0, 37). A typical
Catalan ending. Major simplifications have only consolidated White's advantage.
He has a wonderful knight on c6 and the more active king.}) 10. bxc3 Be4 $6 ({
This is the only way to prevent the transposition to the aforementioned
variation after} 10... O-O 11. e4 {. However, moving around with the bishop
while several other pieces find themselves on their initial squares still will
leave Black with big problems of development.}) 11. Ne5 $1 {It might seem that
this exchange favours Black, who las less space, but White's initiative will
soon become very threatening.} Bxg2 12. Kxg2 O-O 13. e4 Qc8 $146 (13... Qc7 14.
Bf4 Bd6 15. Qf3 Nc6 {1/2-1/2 Dementiev,O (2490)-Gofshtein,L (2415)/Yerevan
1981/MCD. Slightly premature decision.} 16. Nxc6 Bxf4 (16... Qxc6 17. d5 exd5
18. e5 $1 Be7 19. c4 $16) 17. d5 $14) 14. Qg4 Bf6 15. Nf3 {/\e5, Bh6.} Kh8 16.
h4 Nc6 (16... h6 {only weakens the kingside and does not prevent} 17. Bg5 $5 {
in any way.}) 17. Bg5 $16 cxd4 {Black has to accept the deterioration of his
kingside structure.} ({In the event of} 17... Bxg5 18. hxg5 {followed by Rh1,
the black king would be in great danger. We can see here that the move Kxg2
can be considered a developing move in a more general sense, casting
additional doubt over Aronian's 10...Be4.}) 18. Bxf6 gxf6 19. cxd4 e5 20. Qxc8
Raxc8 21. d5 Na5 {Black has managed to exchange queens and enjoys the
perspective of installing the knight on the excellent blockading d6-square.
Besides, he has occupied the only open file already. Aronian probably hoped
that all these aspects would compensate for the chronic weakness of his
kingside, but Carlsen's subtle play will prove the contrary.} 22. h5 {Clearing
the way for the knight towards f5.} Nc4 23. Nh4 Nd6 {Black's knight has
succeded in occupying the optimal square first, but that is not the endof the
story yet...} 24. h6 {This is Carslen's only debatable move in a generally
marvellously played game. His desire to put the enemy king under the permanent
threat of aback rank mate is understandable, but the c-file also deserved some
attention.} (24. Rac1 $5 {/\h6 would have maintained his advantage intact.}
Rxc1 (24... h6 25. Kf3 $16) 25. Rxc1 Nxe4 26. Rc7 $16) 24... Rc3 25. Rac1 Rfc8
$6 {Not sensing the danger.} ({He should have grabbed his chance to complicate
matters with} 25... Nxe4 $5 26. Nf5 Rd8 (26... Rfc8 $2 27. Rxc3 Nxc3 28. Rc1 b5
29. Ne7 Rc4 30. d6 b4 31. a3 a5 32. axb4 axb4 33. d7 Rd4 34. Ra1 $18) 27. Rxc3
Nxc3 28. d6 b5 {and Black's achievements on the queenside seem to be a
reasonable match for White's advantage on the other wing. However, the
difference between the kings' activity can make itself felt after} 29. f4 e4
30. Kf2 $14 {when despite his extra-pawn Black is struggling.}) 26. Rxc3 Rxc3 {
Black has obtained an active placement of his pieces and "only" needs to
centralize his king in order to obtain an entirely viable position. Can White
really prevent this?} 27. Nf5 $3 {A fantastic move, proving a very deep
understanding of the position. White gives up the plan of installing a piece
on f5 and provokes a radical modification of the structure. In doing so, he
destroys Black's apparent stability in the centre and clears the e4-square for
his own rook.} Nxf5 28. exf5 Kg8 (28... Rc7 29. Kf3 $16) (28... b5 29. Rb1 a6
30. a4 $16) 29. Re4 Kf8 (29... Rc7 30. Rg4+ Kh8 31. d6 Rd7 32. Rc4 Rd8 33. d7
$18) 30. Rg4 Rc7 31. Rg7 b5 32. Rxh7 Kg8 (32... b4 33. Rh8+ Ke7 34. h7 $18) 33.
Rg7+ Kh8 {The king has been forced to the corner anyway. The fact that the
threat of a back rank mate has been removed is a feeble consolation.} (33...
Kf8 34. Rg4 Rc4 35. Rxc4 bxc4 36. d6 $18) 34. d6 Rd7 35. Kf3 $18 b4 36. Ke4 {
[%cal Ye4c6]} Rxd6 37. Rxf7 Ra6 38. g4 Kg8 39. h7+ (39. Rg7+ Kh8 40. Rg6 {
is also winning, but Carslen's method is more elegant.}) 39... Kh8 40. g5 fxg5
41. f6 {[%cal Ye4g6]} 1-0

[Event "Candidates sf"]
[Site "Elista"]
[Date "2007.05.31"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E14"]
[WhiteElo "2759"]
[BlackElo "2693"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2007.05.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 Bb4+ 4. Nbd2 b6 5. a3 Bxd2+ 6. Qxd2 Bb7 7. e3 O-O 8.
b4 d5 $6 {Quite illogical. Black opens up the position against White's bishop
pair...} (8... d6 {is common.}) 9. Bb2 Nbd7 10. Bd3 dxc4 11. Bxc4 c5 12. O-O
Rc8 13. Qe2 Qe7 (13... Rc7 14. dxc5 bxc5 15. b5 Qe7 16. Rfd1 e5 17. Nd2 e4 18.
Nf1 (18. Nb3 $5) 18... Ne5 19. Ng3 g6 20. Rd2 h5 21. h3 h4 22. Nf1 $14 {
1/2-1/2 Huss,A-Karlsson,P/Graz 1972/MCD (42)}) 14. Rfc1 cxd4 15. Nxd4 h6 16.
Ba6 {[%mdl 32] Trading one of the bishops but weakening light squares in
Black's camp.} Bxa6 17. Qxa6 Rxc1+ 18. Rxc1 Nb8 19. Qc4 {[%csl Rb8][%cal Gc1c8]
} Rd8 20. h3 Ne8 21. b5 Rd5 22. Qe2 Rc5 23. Rd1 Rc8 24. Qf3 Rd8 25. Rc1 Nd6 26.
a4 e5 $6 {Black can't stand the pressure and tries to break through. As often
happens, it leads to new weaknesses.} 27. Nf5 (27. Nc6 Nxc6 28. bxc6 Ne8 29.
Qe4 f6 30. f4 $1 $16 {is another attractive option.}) 27... Nxf5 28. Qxf5 f6
29. Qe4 {Black can't defend all his weaknesses, from the a7 pawn to his weak
kingside. White needn't hurry, his only concern is to prevent Black's b8
knight entering the game.} Qf7 30. Ba3 Kh8 31. Kh2 Kg8 32. Bd6 $1 Qd7 33. Bc7
Rf8 34. Rc2 (34. Qb7 $5) (34. Qa8 $5) 34... Re8 35. Rc4 (35. Qa8 $18) 35... Qf7
36. Bd6 Rd8 $6 (36... Qd7 $8 $16) 37. Rc7 Nd7 38. Qc6 Qe6 39. Rxa7 Kf7 40. Qxb6
{An instructive game!} 1-0

[Event "Candidates sf"]
[Site "Elista"]
[Date "2007.06.01"]
[Round "1.5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2693"]
[BlackElo "2759"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2007.05.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{After losing the 4th game in a terrible way I was essentially in a must-win
situation in this game.  Nachdem ich die 4. Partie auf schreckliche Weise
verloren hatte, war ich in dieser Partie im Grunde zum Siegen verdonnert.} 1.
d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. a3 Bb7 5. Nc3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Qc2 Be7 8. e4
Nxc3 9. bxc3 {Since I fared so well with this structure in the 3rd game I felt
that it might be an idea to try and get the same structure again. Da ich mit
dieser Struktur in der 3. Partie so gut gefahren war, hatte ich das Gefühl, es
wäre vielleicht eine Idee zu versuchen, selbige noch einmal zu bekommen.} O-O
10. Bd3 c5 11. O-O Qc7 (11... Qc8 {intending Ba6 is a more solid alternative.
mit der Absicht Ba6 ist eine solidere Alternative.}) 12. Qe2 Nd7 13. Bb2 (13.
e5 {is the main alternative and was played in Gelfand-Carlsen, Biel 05, but
white didn't get much of an advantage there. ist die Hauptalternative und
wurde in Gelfand-Carlsen, Biel 05, gespielt, allerdings holte Weiß dort keinen
besonderen Vorteil heraus.}) 13... c4 14. Bc2 b5 15. Bc1 {I hadn't devoted so
much time to c4 during my preparation, and this move was found over the board.
The idea is however very logical. Der Fortsetzung ...c4 hatte ich während
meiner Vorbereitung nicht so viel Zeit gewidmet, und dieser Zug wurde am Brett
gefunden. Die Idee ist allerdings sehr logisch.} a5 16. Rb1 Ba6 $6 (16... b4 $1
{was the logical follow-up. After war die logische Folge. Nach} 17. axb4 axb4
18. cxb4 Ra2 {Black has very reasonable compensation. White should probably
play hat Schwarz sehr ordentliche Kompensation. Weiß sollte wahrscheinlich} 19.
Bg5 {with a double-edged game. ziehen mit zweischneidigem Spiel.}) 17. e5 b4 $2
{This has to be considered a mistake, but even after e.g. Dies muss man als
Fehler sehen, doch auch nach z.B.} (17... Rfe8 18. Ng5 Nf8 19. Qh5 Bxg5 20.
Bxg5 {White is better, as Black has little counterplay. steht Weiß besser, da
Schwarz wenig Gegenspiel hat.}) (17... Rfb8 18. d5 $5 $40) 18. axb4 axb4 19.
Bg5 $6 (19. Rxb4 $1 {winning a clear pawn was better. , was einen klaren
Bauern gewinnt, war besser.} Bxb4 20. Bxh7+ Kxh7 (20... Kh8 {is better but
insufficient: ist besser, aber unzureichend:} 21. Ng5 g6 22. Qf3 $1 Kg7 23.
Bxg6 $1 $18) 21. Ng5+ Kg8 (21... Kg6 22. Qe4+ f5 23. exf6+ Kxf6 (23... Kh5 24.
Qh7+ Kg4 25. h3#) 24. Qxe6#) 22. Qh5 Rfe8 23. Qxf7+ {I saw this far, but after
considering moves like cxb4 for a short while, I decided that there was no
more than a perpetual. But White has the simple yet elegant So weit hatte ich
gesehen, doch nach dem kurzen Erwägen von Zügen wie cxb4 beschloss ich, dass
es nicht mehr als Dauerschach gibt. Doch Weiß hat das einfache, aber elegante}
Kh8 24. Re1 $1 {when there is no other defence against Re3-h3 than Nf8 or Nxe5,
giving up the queen and leaving White with a completely winning position.
wonach gegen Re3-h3 keine andere Verteidigung vorhanden ist als Nf8 oder Nxe5,
was die Dame gibt und Weiß eine komplette Gewinnstellung überlässt.}) 19... Nb6
20. Qe4 g6 21. Qh4 Ra7 {This is the kind of position where White must have
something, but after considering moves like Rxb4 for a while, I got so
confused that I decided to play it safe. Dies ist die Art von Stellung, wo
Weiß etwas haben muss, doch nachdem ich eine Zeit lang an Zügen wie Rxb4
überlegt hatte, wurde ich so verwirrt, dass ich beschloss, auf Nummer sicher
zu gehen.} 22. Bf6 $6 (22. Rxb4 Bxb4 (22... Nd5 {I thought that Black could
probably defend here, but now I cannot really imagine how... Ich dachte, dass
Schwarz sich hier wahrscheinlich verteidigen könnte, jetzt aber kann ich mir
nicht wirklich vorstellen wie...} 23. Ra4 $16) 23. Bf6 Rb8 24. cxb4 {with a
decisive-looking attack. mit entscheidend wirkendem Angriff.} (24. Ng5 h5 25.
Bxg6 fxg6 26. Qe4 Qf7 27. Nxf7 Kxf7 28. cxb4 Nd5 {is less clear. ist weniger
klar.})) 22... Bxf6 23. exf6 Nd5 24. Be4 Qf4 25. Bxd5 Qxh4 26. Nxh4 exd5 27.
Rxb4 {Luckily, my advantage is still very big, and I was convinced that I
would be able to convert it in the end. Zum Glück ist mein Vorteil noch immer
sehr groß, und ich war überzeugt, ihn am Ende verwerten zu können.} Bc8 28. Rb6
{This move is nessecary in order to prevent Ra6. Dieser Zug ist nötig, um Ra6
zu verhindern.} Ra3 29. Rc1 Be6 30. Nf3 Rfa8 31. h4 h6 32. Ne5 Ra1 {The only
chance. Die einzige Chance.} 33. Rxa1 $1 {I calculated for a while and came to
the conclusion that White is winning, but my calculation wasn't entirely
accurate. Ich rechnete eine Weile und kam zu dem Schluss, dass Weiß gewinnt,
allerdings war meine Berechnung nicht ganz genau.} (33. Rbb1 {is a move I
considered for a while, but I was a bit worried about ist ein Zug, an dem ich
eine Weile überlegte, aber ich machte mir ein bisschen Sorgen wegen} R1a3 $1 (
33... Rxb1 34. Rxb1 Ra3 35. Rc1 {is worse - White protects c3 and will have
all the time in the world to improve his position. ist schlechter - Weiß deckt
c3 und wird alle Zeit der Welt haben, seine Stellung zu verbessern.})) 33...
Rxa1+ 34. Kh2 Ra3 35. Rb8+ Kh7 36. f4 $1 {A not very obvious move, but the
only winning one. Nicht sehr offensichtlich, aber der einzige Gewinnzug.} (36.
Rf8 {This obvious move doesn't give White a winning advantage: Dieser
offensichtliche Zug gibt Weiß keinen Gewinnvorteil:} Rxc3 37. Nxf7 Bxf7 38.
Rxf7+ Kg8 39. Rg7+ (39. Rd7 Rd3 40. Rxd5 Kf7 $14) 39... Kf8 40. Rxg6 Rd3 {
is not better for White anymore. ist nicht mehr besser für Weiß.}) 36... Rxc3
37. h5 gxh5 38. Rf8 {Now the point of f4 is clear. White will get a passed
pawn on f6, which is supported by a very strong knight and will lead to a
decisive gain of material. Nun ist die Pointe von f4 klar. Weiß wird einen
Freibauern auf f6 erhalten, der von einem bärenstarken Springer gestützt ist
und zu entscheidendem Materialgewinn führen wird.} Ra3 39. f5 Bxf5 40. Rxf7+
Kg8 {I had seen this far when I went for Rxa1, but I had to stop and think
here, as White at first doesn't seem to have anything better than perpetual
check. However, I quickly found the winning idea.  So weit hatte ich bei 32.
Rxa1 gesehen, doch hier musste ich einhalten und überlegen, da Weiß auf den
ersten Blick nicht mehr als Dauerschach zu haben scheint. Doch schnell fand
ich die Gewinnidee.} 41. Rg7+ Kf8 42. Rb7 Ra8 43. Kg3 $1 {The king is included
in the game with lethal effect. The poor black bishop is forced away from f5,
which is the only square where it protects the crucial squares d7 and g6. Der
König wird mit tödlicher Wirkung ins Spiel eingeschaltet. Der arme schwarze
Läufer wird von f5 vertrieben, welches das einzige Feld ist, wo er die
kritischen Felder d7 und g6 schützt.} Rd8 (43... c3 {is one move too late:
kommt einen Zug zu spät:} 44. Kf4 c2 45. Kxf5 c1=Q 46. Ng6+ Ke8 (46... Kg8 47.
Rg7#) 47. f7+ Kd8 48. f8=Q#) 44. Kf4 Be4 45. g3 {The simplest for a human
being. Für einen Menschen am einfachsten.} (45. Nf7 $1 {followed by Nxh6 and
Rg7-g8 is better, but the text is much simpler. nebst Nxh6 und Rg7-g8 ist
besser, doch der Text ist viel simpler.}) 45... c3 46. Rf7+ Kg8 47. Rg7+ Kf8
48. Nd7+ Rxd7 49. Rxd7 {The c-pawn is stopped and there is no stopping the
f6-pawn. This was obviously a very important win for me, and actually achieved
quite smoothly. It has to be said, however, that this wasn't Levon's best day.
Der c-Bauer wird gestoppt, und der f6-Bauer ist nicht aufzuhalten. Dies war
offensichtlich ein sehr wichtiger Sieg für mich, und er wurde eigentlich recht
glatt errrungen. Allerdings muss gesagt werden, dass Levon nicht seinen besten
Tag hatte.} 1-0

[Event "Candidates sf"]
[Site "Elista"]
[Date "2007.06.02"]
[Round "1.6"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2759"]
[BlackElo "2693"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2007.05.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 Nb6 8.
Ne5 a5 ({Exchanging a pair of knights is one of the main strategical ideas for
Black in this system. However, trying to do so immediately is a mistake:} 8...
Nfd7 9. e4 Nxe5 (9... Bg6 10. a5 (10. Nxg6 hxg6 11. a5 Nc8 12. Qb3 $16) 10...
Nxe5 (10... Nc8 11. a6 $18) 11. axb6 Nd7 12. Rxa7 Nxb6 13. Rxb7 e6 14. Be3 $16)
10. exf5 Ned7 (10... Nec4 11. a5 $18) 11. a5 $16 Nc8 (11... Nd5 $142 12. Nxd5
cxd5 13. Qb3 $5 $16) 12. a6 $1 b6 (12... bxa6 $142 13. Bxa6 $16 {/+-}) 13. d5
$1 $18 {1-0 Fridman,D (2562)-Maze,S (2525)/Marseille 2006 (24)}) ({Also bad is
} 8... Nbd7 $6 9. Qb3 Nxe5 10. dxe5 Ng4 11. Qxb7 Nxe5 12. f4 (12. Bf4 Rb8 13.
Qxa7 Rxb2 14. Rd1 Nd7 15. e4 e5 16. Bc1 $1 Rc2 17. exf5 Rxc3 18. Qb7 $16) 12...
Ng6 (12... Ng4 13. Qxc6+ Bd7 14. Qf3 $16) 13. e4 Bd7 $2 (13... Qc8 $8 14. Qxc8+
(14. Ba6 Bd7 15. a5 e5 $1 16. f5 Qxb7 17. Bxb7 Rb8 18. a6 Nf4 $132 {[%cal
Gf4d3,Gf4g2,Gf8c5]}) 14... Bxc8 15. Be3 e6 (15... e5 16. f5 $14) 16. O-O-O $14)
14. f5 Ne5 15. Bf4 f6 16. Bxe5 fxe5 17. Rd1 $18 {1-0 Kasparov,G (2805)-Timman,
J (2635)/Riga 1995 (22)}) 9. g3 ({Alternatives are} 9. f3) ({and lately the
fashionable} 9. Bg5) 9... Nfd7 (9... e6 10. Bg2 Bb4 11. O-O O-O 12. e3 h6 13.
Qe2 Bh7 14. Rd1 Nfd7 $14 {/=}) 10. Nxd7 (10. Nd3 e5 $5 (10... Bxd3 11. Qxd3 e6
(11... e5 $5) 12. Bg2 Be7 13. O-O O-O 14. Rd1 $14 {1-0 Cech,P (2404)-Holemar,D
(2380)/Brno 2004 (30)}) (10... Nd5 11. Bg2 Nb4 12. e4 Bg4 13. f3 $16 {1-0
Blagojevic,D (2450)-Kirov,N (2435)/Cetinje 1996 (40)}) 11. dxe5 Nc5 12. e4 (12.
Nxc5 Qxd1+ 13. Nxd1 Bxc5 $44) 12... Be6 13. Nxc5 Bxc5 14. Qxd8+ Rxd8 $44) (10.
Nf3 e6 11. Bg2 Bb4 12. O-O O-O 13. e4 Bg4 $11 {1/2-1/2 Komarov,D (2566)-Berkes,
F (2602)/France 2004 (22)}) 10... Qxd7 (10... Nxd7 11. Bg2 e6 12. O-O Bb4 13.
e4 Bg6 14. f4 $5 h6 15. f5 $36 {1-0 Gyimesi,Z (2553)-Shaw,J (2465)/Cappelle la
Grande 2004 (53)}) 11. e4 (11. h3 e6 (11... e5 $5) 12. e4 Bg6 13. Bg2 Bb4 14.
O-O O-O $11) 11... Bh3 ({Worse is} 11... Bg4 12. f3 Bh3 13. Bxh3 Qxh3 14. Qb3
Ra6 (14... Qg2 15. Rf1 Ra6 16. d5 e5 17. dxe6 $18) 15. Be3 Qg2 $2 (15... e6 16.
Kf2 $16) 16. O-O-O Qxf3 17. Rhe1 $18 {1-0 Nielsen,P (2636)-Timman,J (2616)/
Malmo 2002 (23)}) 12. Bxh3 ({After} 12. Be2 {Black achieved excellent play in
the game in which 11...Bh3 was played for the first time:} e6 13. Be3 Qc7 (
13... Bb4 14. d5 Nc8 15. dxc6 Qxd1+ 16. Rxd1 bxc6 $11) 14. d5 exd5 15. Qd4 Nc4
16. exd5 (16. Bxc4 dxc4 17. Qxc4 O-O-O $17) 16... Nxe3 17. Qxe3+ Be7 {1/2-1/2
Bu Xiangzhi (2640)-Sokolov,I (2676)/Turin 2006 (48)}) 12... Qxh3 13. Qb3 Ra6 {
This relatively new; the theoretical position is considered to offer Black
reasonable chances. Aronian's next novelty is a good attempt to improve, but
the position remains rather double-edged anyway.} 14. Bf4 $1 $146 ({Previously
} 14. Be3 {was played:} e6 15. d5 Bb4 16. dxe6 Qxe6 17. Qxe6+ fxe6 18. Bxb6
Rxb6 19. O-O-O Bc5 20. f4 Ke7 {0-1 Gyimesi,Z (2611)-Bu Xiangzhi (2644)/
Bundesliga 2007 (82), with an edge for Black.}) 14... e6 15. Be5 $5 {Before
playing Bc7 White would like to provoke some weaknesses in opponent's pawn
formation.} (15. Bc7 {brings nothing in view of} Bb4) 15... Bb4 ({After} 15...
f6 16. Bc7 Bb4 17. O-O-O O-O {strong is} 18. Ne2 $1 {pointing out drawbacks of
15...f6.} (18. Kb1 Rf7) (18. Na2 c5 19. Nxb4 c4 $5 20. Qa3 axb4 21. Qxb4 Nxa4
$132 {[%csl Rc1]}) (18. d5 cxd5 19. exd5 Nxd5 (19... Nd7 $5) 20. Nxd5 exd5 21.
Qxd5+ Qe6 $11 (21... Kh8 22. Kb1 $13))) 16. Bxg7 Rg8 17. Be5 Qg2 18. O-O-O Bxc3
19. Qxc3 (19. bxc3 Qxe4 20. c4 Qe2 $11) 19... Qxe4 20. Rhe1 Qd5 ({In case of} 
20... Qf5 {White can consider} 21. d5 $5 {with initiative:} cxd5 (21... Nxd5
22. Rxd5 exd5 (22... cxd5 23. Qc8+ Ke7 24. Qxb7+ $18) 23. Qc5 $1 {and White
wins}) 22. Qc7 (22. Rxd5 $5 Nxd5 (22... exd5 $2 23. Bd6+ $18) 23. Qc8+ Ke7 24.
Qxb7+ Kf8 25. Qxa6 Qxf2 26. Qd6+ Ke8 27. Rd1 $13) 22... Qg5+ 23. Kb1 Qe7 (23...
Qd8 24. Qc2 $44 {[%csl Rh7][%cal Gf2f4,Gf4f5]}) 24. Qb8+ Qd8 25. Qxb7 Qc8 26.
Qxc8+ Nxc8 27. Rc1 $14) 21. b3 Qd7 22. Qc2 Qe7 {Continuing the same courageous
strategy started with 15...Bb4. Carlsen sacrifices the pawn on h7.} ({More to
the point looks to me} 22... Rg6 23. h4 h5 {with a complicated position:} 24.
Qe2 (24. Kb2 $14 {/~~}) 24... Qe7 25. Kb2 Qb4 {[%cal Gb6a4]} 26. Ra1 Rg4 $13)
23. Qxh7 Rg6 (23... Qa3+ 24. Kd2 Rg6 (24... Qa2+ 25. Qc2 $16) 25. Re3 $1 Qb2+
$140 26. Ke1 $16) 24. Re3 $5 {It turns out that White can defend conveniently
even with his queen on h7.} (24. Kb2 Qb4 $132) ({Aronian must have came to the
conclusion that in spite of his extra pawn White's winning chances are not so
high after} 24. Qh8+ Qf8 (24... Kd7 25. d5 $1 cxd5 ({or} 25... Nxd5 26. Qb8 $40
) 26. Qb8 $40) 25. Qxf8+ Kxf8) 24... Nd5 (24... Qa3+ 25. Kb1 $16) 25. Rf3 Qf8
26. h4 ({Interesting was the unexpected blow} 26. Bd6 {although it is not
clear if this is better than the game:} Rg7 (26... Qxd6 $2 27. Qxf7+ Kd8 28.
Qxg6 $18) (26... Rh6 27. Rxf7 $1 Qxf7 28. Qxh6 Qf3 29. Qxe6+ Kd8 30. Qg6 Qxb3
31. Bc5 $16) 27. Qh6 (27. Bxf8 Rxh7 {[%csl Rf8,Rh2]}) 27... Qg8 {[%cal Gg7h7]}
28. h4 $14) 26... Rh6 (26... Rb6 27. Kb2 $14) 27. Qc2 Ra8 {So White won a pawn,
but making progress is extremely difficult. Black has a powerful knight on d5
and always keeps counterplay possibilities against White's king. In my opinion
the position is objectively just slightly better for White. In practice it
might be even easier to play with Black, who must fight against White's ideas,
whereas White still must search for those ideas.} 28. Qd2 Rh5 29. Kb2 Qg8 30.
Re1 Qg6 31. Bd6 Rd8 32. Ba3 Qg4 {Both sides are maneuvering, trying to improve.
Essentially there are no changes in the position.} 33. Rd3 Rf5 34. Re5 Kd7 35.
Qe2 Rg8 {These moves must have been made when both opponents where short of
time. It is not easy to figure out who will benefit from the exchange of
queens.} 36. Qe1 {Aronian is trying to exploit his opponent's pawn on a5, but
Carlsen succeeds in keeping counterplay without making the move ...b6.} ({
Apparently more logical is to play the endgame after} 36. Qxg4 Rxg4 {but how
to make progress still remains an open question. On the other hand here White
at least won't have to worry about a possible attack against his king.} 37.
Rxf5 exf5 $44 {[%cal Gf5f4]}) 36... Rg6 37. Re2 Rf3 38. Rxf3 Qxf3 39. Rc2 Qf6
40. Qxa5 Qxd4+ 41. Ka2 Rf6 42. f4 {[%csl Rg3] Unlike his opponent, Aronian
doesn't have any problems advancing his pawns. But f2-f4 weakens the g3-pawn
and this factor is immediately exploited by Carlsen.} ({Some chances for
advantage were kept by} 42. Bc5 Qe4 43. Rd2 Rf3 44. Qa7 Kc7 45. Be3 $1 $14 {
[%cal Ga7d4] and bad is} Nxe3 $4 46. Qa5+ b6 47. Qa7+ Kc8 48. Qa8+ Kc7 49. Qd8+
Kb7 50. Rd7+ Ka6 51. Qa8#) (42. Qa8 Nc3+ $11) 42... Rg6 $11 (42... Qd3 {
also not bad, but the game continuation is convincing enough}) 43. Qa8 Nb4+ 44.
Bxb4 Qxb4 45. Rg2 (45. Rc4 Qd2+ 46. Ka3 Kc7 $1 47. Qf8 Rxg3 48. Qxf7+ Qd7 49.
Qxd7+ Kxd7 $11) 45... Rxg3 46. Rxg3 Qd2+ 47. Ka3 Qc1+ (47... Qc1+ 48. Kb4 Qxf4+
49. Kc5 Qf2+ $11) 1/2-1/2

[Event "Candidates sf"]
[Site "Elista"]
[Date "2007.06.03"]
[Round "1.7"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A62"]
[WhiteElo "2759"]
[BlackElo "2693"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[EventDate "2007.05.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 c5 4. d5 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. Nc3 g6 7. g3 Bg7 8. Bg2
O-O 9. O-O a6 10. a4 Re8 11. Bf4 Ne4 {I had this early knight move in my
opening notebook (paper notebook, I mean) about 20 years ago. I remember that
I was attracted by the activity displayed by the black rook along the 4th rank,
but did not bother about remaining underdeveloped. Nowadays I would think
twice before playing this line.} 12. Nxe4 Rxe4 13. Nd2 Rb4 14. b3 $5 {A rare
move. According to my old notebook, it was first suggested by Bozidar Ivanovic.
} ({The main line continues} 14. Ne4 {Apparently threatening to win a crucial
pawn.} h6 $1 {Black's whole play is based on this modest looking move.} 15. Ra2
$1 {Suddenly, it becomes clear that capturing the d6 pawn would lose material
to echo variations:} (15. Nxd6 Rxf4 16. Nxc8 Rd4 {or}) (15. Bxd6 Rxe4 16. Bxb8
Rd4) ({These lines are a good illustration of the fourth rank activity of the
black rook. My initial preparation relied on an older game by Tal:} 15. Bd2
Rxb2 16. Qc1 Rxd2 17. Qxd2 f5 18. Nc3 {and now I wanted to improve over
Savon-Tal USSR 1970, where Black saved himself by a miracle, with the
developing move} Nd7 {Black has a dangerous queenside majority and a strong
bishop to compensate for the exchange; besides, White's rook don't have too
many active possibilities yet. 15.Ra2 was the novelty prepared for use against
me by Adorjan.}) 15... f5 16. Nc3 Qf6 {I only once repeated the line in recent
times. The game went:} 17. Qc1 {Before retreating the bishop to d2 in order to
bother the rook, White defends the b2 pawn without loss of tempo, causing at
the same time a further weakening of the black kingside.} (17. e4 Nd7 18. exf5
gxf5 19. Bd2 Qf7 20. b3 Nf6 {I put maximum pressure on the central pawn, in
order to prepare the spectacular escape of the rook.} 21. Ne2 Re4 $1 22. Bc3 ({
After} 22. Bxe4 fxe4 {Black would get a strong centre after eliminating the
d5-pawn, as well as excellent attacking chances on the weakened light squares
around the white king.}) 22... Re7 23. Nf4 {White has regrouped his minor
pieces in an optimal way, but he will still have to lose some time in order to
nullify the pressure along the e-file, thus allowing Black to maintain the
balance.} Bd7 24. Re1 Rae8 25. Rxe7 {and White offered a draw in the game
Adorjan-Marin, Szirak Izt 1987/CBM 003. A logical continuation would have been}
Rxe7 26. Re2 Rxe2 27. Qxe2 Nh5 {A key move, exchanging White's active knight.}
28. Bd2 Nxf4 29. Bxf4 Qf6 30. a5 {with even chances. When annotating the game
for the New in Chess Yearbook 8, I became less convinced that Adorjan's 17.e4
was the best move. 17.Qc1, as played by Akesson, seemed much more dangerous,
but in my notes I gave an apparently promising continuation for Black...})
17... g5 18. Bd2 {The only thing I remembered during the game was that this
was the critical continuation and that I had written something about it. White
intends to retreat the knight to d1 and win the exchange in a reasonable form.}
Bd7 $5 {One of the most paradoxical move I've ever played. As if it wasn't
enough that Black is undeveloped, he seemed to volunturily block the access of
the knight and rook to life. How can a player ever consider such a move? I had,
of course, started with the natural continuations.} ({I saw rather quickly that
} 18... b5 $2 {loses to} 19. Nxb5 $1 {because of the pin along the c-file. (I
was rather confused when I found out that in 1987 I had missed this tactical
blow and recommended 18...b5 as the best move with the continuation}) (18...
Nd7 {looks like the most natural continuation, but after} 19. Nd1 {the main
problem is that White will capture on b4 only after the black knight will move
away from d7, thus failing to occupy the c5-square, made available by ...cxb4.
At the same time, maintaining the knight on d7 would leave the rest of the
queen side undeveloped. We shall soon see that the move actually played in the
game is a much better way of coordinating the pieces.}) 19. Qc2 {One obvious
aim of Black's last move was to delay Nd1 for a moment because of the hanging
a4-pawn. However, the idea is much deeper than that, as will become clear
after the next move.} a5 $1 {After having taken the b5 square under control,
Black can safely play this move, preparing to develop the knight to a6.} 20.
Nd1 ({My opponent avoids a small trap:} 20. Nb5 $6 Bxb5 21. Bxb4 $2 axb4 $1 {
when Black wins material.}) 20... Na6 21. Bc3 Qf7 22. Ra1 {White has made all
the preparatory moves and seems to be ready to capture the rook. On the other
hand, Black has completed his development and is ready to recapture on b4 with
the c-pawn, clearing the c5 square for the knight, an improved version of the
idea behind the natural 18...Nd7 (instead of 18...Bd7). I considered my
position to be slightly better already.} f4 {It is important to deny the
access of the white knight to c4 via e3. For the first time in the game, my
opponent sank into a prolonged thought. He gradually understood that "winning"
the exchange wouldn't favor him and played the strong} 23. Be4 {taking under
control the weakened light diagonal and preventing the annoying ...Bf5.} ({
I had hoped for a variation such as} 23. Bxb4 cxb4 24. Rc1 Nc5 25. b3 Bf5 26.
Qa2 Re8 {when White is completely paralyzed. For instance,} 27. Re1 $2 {
with the idea of defending the e2 pawn and preparing Nb2-c4, would lose
instantly to} Nd3 $1) 23... Rf8 24. Bg6 Qe7 25. Re1 Be5 $36 {Black prepares to
drive the enemy bishop back with Kg7, Rf6, thus preparing a massive kingside
attack, Akesson,J (2333)-Marin,M (2531)/Gothenburg 2004/CBM 099 (1/2-1/2, 93)})
14... Rxf4 $146 {This move has never been played before, but was part of my
preparation, too.} (14... Nd7 15. Ra2 (15. Bxd6 $1 $14) 15... Ne5 16. Bxe5 Bxe5
17. Nc4 Qe7 18. a5 Bd7 19. Qc2 Bb5 $11 {Hausner,I (2435)-Sikora Lerch,J (2415)/
Frenstat 1982/MCD (1-0, 56)}) 15. gxf4 Bxa1 16. Qxa1 {Black has managed to
somewhat simplify the position, but this does not solve the problem of his
delay in development. Just look at the position! All his pieces (except for
the king) find themselves on their initial squares, while White has brought
all his pieces into play already (well, maybe with the exception of his rook).
However, if Black manages to develop somehow, he would get a good position,
mainly because of his more flexible pawn structure.} Nd7 17. Ne4 $1 {It is
important to prevent Black from placing his knight on f6.} ({My old analysis
goes} 17. Nc4 Nf6 18. a5 Qe7 {with a reasonable position for Black. My main
argument was that a massive pawn attack in the centre, which generally is a
logical consequence of installing a knight on c4, is not without risk because
it would weaken the f4-square:} 19. e4 Nh5 $1 $132) 17... Qe7 18. Rc1 {
Systematic improvement of piece placement.} b6 {A safe, but somewhat passive
way to complete the development. The bishop will have nothing to do on b7.} (
18... f5 $6 19. Ng5 Nf6 20. Rc3 $36 {[%csl Ye6]}) 19. Rc3 Nf6 20. Re3 Nxe4 21.
Bxe4 Qd8 22. Rg3 {White concentrates all his forces against the enemy kingside.
However, the g6-square is solidly defended and Black gets some time to
continue his development.} Qh4 $6 {The idea of this move was probably to force
e3 and cut the rook off from the rest of the board.} ({I believe that Black
should have hurried to neutralize White's pressure along the long dark
diagonal with} 22... f5 23. Bd3 Ra7 {[%cal Ya7f7,Gd8f6] This manoeuvre might
make the whole variation playable.}) 23. e3 Qe7 24. Bd3 {The bishop is well
placed here. It inhibits ...b5 and prevents the natural development based on ..
.Bd7 and ...Re8, by keeping the a6-pawn under observation.} Bb7 25. e4 Re8 26.
f5 $14 {White has strong pressure now and it is not easy for Black to free
himself.} Qh4 (26... Qe5 {would have led to similar positions as in the game.})
27. h3 Bc8 28. Qc3 Qf4 29. Qf6 Qe5 30. Qxe5 Rxe5 ({Maybe} 30... dxe5 $14 {
would have offered better chances to avoid being crushed by White's central
pawns.}) 31. f4 Re8 32. f6 $1 $16 {Black is very passive. He cannot do
anything against White's systematic strengthening of his position.} Bd7 33. Re3
b5 34. axb5 axb5 35. e5 Kf8 36. Kf2 Kg8 37. Be2 Kf8 38. h4 Kg8 39. Ke1 Kf8 40.
Kd2 h6 41. Bd3 h5 42. e6 fxe6 43. Bxg6 exd5 44. Bxe8 Bxe8 45. Re6 c4 46. Rxd6
cxb3 47. Kc3 Kf7 48. Kxb3 Kg6 49. Kb4 Kf5 50. Kc5 Bf7 51. Kxb5 Be6 52. Kc5 Kxf6
53. Kd4 Kf5 54. Ke3 Bf7 55. Kf3 Be6 56. Ra6 Bf7 57. Ra8 Kf6 58. Ra6+ Kf5 59.
Ra1 Bg6 60. Rg1 Kf6 61. Ke3 Bf7 62. Rg5 Ke6 63. Kd4 Kf6 64. Kc5 Ke7 65. Rg7 Kf6
66. Rxf7+ 1-0

[Event "Candidates sf"]
[Site "Elista"]
[Date "2007.06.03"]
[Round "1.8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E17"]
[WhiteElo "2693"]
[BlackElo "2759"]
[PlyCount "143"]
[EventDate "2007.05.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 e6 6. O-O Be7 7. b3 O-O 8. Bb2
d5 9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. Nxd5 Bxd5 11. Rc1 Nd7 12. d4 Rc8 13. Qd2 Nf6 14. Rfd1 cxd4
15. Nxd4 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 Qd5+ 17. f3 h6 18. e4 Nxe4 19. Qe2 Nf6 20. Nc6 Qxc6 21.
Rxc6 Rxc6 22. Bxf6 Bxf6 23. Qa6 Rc7 24. Kh3 g6 25. Qa4 Rfc8 26. Rd7 Kg7 27. b4
h5 28. Qd1 g5 29. Rxc7 Rxc7 30. Kg2 Rc4 31. a3 a5 32. b5 Rd4 33. Qc2 Rd5 34. a4
Bd4 35. Qe4 Bf6 36. Qc2 Rd4 37. Qc6 Bd8 38. Qc3 e5 39. f4 gxf4 40. gxf4 Bf6 41.
fxe5 Bxe5 42. Qc2 Rg4+ 43. Kh1 Bd4 44. h3 Rg3 45. Qf5 h4 46. Kh2 Rg6 47. Kh1
Bf6 48. Qf2 Bg5 49. Qd4+ Rf6 50. Kg2 Kg6 51. Qe4+ Kh6 52. Qe8 Kg7 53. Qe5 Bf4
54. Qd4 Bg3 55. Kh1 Kg6 56. Qe4+ Kh6 57. Qe3+ Kh7 58. Qe4+ Rg6 59. Qf5 Kg7 60.
Qd5 Rd6 61. Qf5 Kf8 62. Qe4 Re6 63. Qa8+ Kg7 64. Qd5 Kg6 65. Qd3+ f5 66. Qd5
Rd6 67. Qc4 Kf6 68. Qc3+ Be5 69. Qe1 Bg3 70. Qc3+ Ke7 71. Kg2 Kd7 72. Kf3
1/2-1/2

[Event "Candidates sf"]
[Site "Elista"]
[Date "2007.06.03"]
[Round "1.9"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E01"]
[WhiteElo "2759"]
[BlackElo "2693"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2007.05.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 c5 4. g3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 d5 6. Bg2 e5 7. Nf3 d4 8. O-O
Nc6 9. e3 Be7 10. exd4 exd4 11. Bf4 O-O 12. Ne5 Qb6 13. Qb3 Na5 14. Qxb6 axb6
15. Nd2 Nh5 16. Nef3 Nxf4 17. gxf4 Bd6 18. Ne5 Be6 19. b3 f6 20. Nd3 Nc6 21.
Ne4 Bc7 22. c5 Bf5 23. Rfd1 Rad8 24. cxb6 Bxb6 25. Nec5 Nb4 26. Nxb4 Bxc5 27.
Nd3 Bxd3 28. Rxd3 Rf7 29. a3 Rc7 30. b4 Be7 31. Rad1 Ra8 32. Be4 g6 33. f5 g5
34. Kg2 Kf8 35. Rh3 Rd7 36. Rhd3 Rc7 37. Bd5 Kg7 38. h4 h6 39. h5 Ra7 40. Rf3
Rc3 41. Rxd4 Raxa3 42. Rxc3 Rxc3 43. Bxb7 Rb3 44. Rd7 Kf8 45. Rc7 Rxb4 46. Rc8+
Kg7 47. Bd5 Rg4+ 48. Kf1 Rd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Candidates sf"]
[Site "Elista"]
[Date "2007.06.03"]
[Round "1.10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E13"]
[WhiteElo "2693"]
[BlackElo "2759"]
[PlyCount "167"]
[EventDate "2007.05.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 c5 8. Be2
cxd4 9. Nxd4 a6 10. O-O Nc6 11. Nf3 O-O 12. Qd2 Qb8 13. Rfd1 Rd8 14. Rac1 d6
15. Qc2 Qa7 16. a3 Rac8 17. Qb1 Nb8 18. b4 Nbd7 19. Bg3 d5 20. cxd5 Nxd5 21.
Nxd5 Bxd5 22. e4 Bc6 23. Nd4 Ba4 24. Rxc8 Rxc8 25. Rc1 Qa8 26. f3 Bg5 27. f4
Rxc1+ 28. Qxc1 Qxe4 29. fxg5 Qxd4+ 30. Bf2 Qe5 31. Qc8+ Nf8 32. Qxa6 b5 33. Bf1
hxg5 34. Qc8 f5 35. Bc5 Qf6 36. h3 e5 37. Bxf8 Qxf8 38. Qe6+ Qf7 39. Qxe5 Qd7
40. Be2 Kh7 41. Kf2 g6 42. Qe3 Qd8 43. Qe5 Qd2 44. Kg3 Qc1 45. Kh2 Qxa3 46.
Qe7+ Kh6 47. Qf8+ Kh7 48. Qe7+ Kh6 49. Qe5 Kh7 50. Qe7+ Kh6 51. Bxb5 Bxb5 52.
Qe5 Kh7 53. Qxb5 f4 54. Qd7+ Kh6 55. Qe8 Qb2 56. Qf8+ Kh7 57. Qe7+ Kh6 58. h4
f3 59. Qxg5+ Kh7 60. h5 gxh5 61. Qxh5+ Kg7 62. Qg4+ Kh7 63. Qd7+ Kh6 64. Qc6+
Kg7 65. Qc7+ Kh6 66. Qf4+ Kh7 67. Qf7+ Kh6 68. Qxf3 Qxb4 69. Kh3 Qb1 70. Qf6+
Kh7 71. Qf3 Kg7 72. Kh4 Kh7 73. Qf7+ Kh8 74. Qh5+ Kg7 75. Qg4+ Kh7 76. Qh5+ Kg7
77. Qe5+ Kh7 78. Qd5 Kg7 79. Qd4+ Kh7 80. Qd7+ Kh8 81. g4 Qh1+ 82. Kg5 Qc1+ 83.
Kg6 Qb1+ 84. Qf5 1-0

[Event "Candidates sf"]
[Site "Elista"]
[Date "2007.06.03"]
[Round "1.11"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A32"]
[WhiteElo "2759"]
[BlackElo "2693"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2007.05.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 c5 4. g3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Bc5 7. Nb3 Be7 8.
Bg2 Nc6 9. Nc3 b6 10. Bf4 Bb7 11. O-O O-O 12. Bd6 Na5 13. Nxa5 Bxg2 14. Kxg2
bxa5 15. e4 Rc8 16. b3 Bxd6 17. Qxd6 a4 18. e5 Ne8 19. Qd4 axb3 20. axb3 f6 21.
Rxa7 Rc7 22. Rxc7 Qxc7 23. exf6 Nxf6 24. Nb5 Qc6+ 25. f3 h6 26. Ra1 Nh7 27. Qe4
d5 28. Qe2 dxc4 29. Nd4 Qd5 30. Qxc4 Qxc4 31. bxc4 Rc8 32. Rc1 e5 33. Nf5 Kf8
34. c5 Ng5 35. Nd6 Rc6 36. h4 Ne6 37. Ne4 Ke7 38. h5 Rc7 39. Kh3 Nd4 40. Kg4
Ne6 41. Rc2 Nd4 42. Rc3 Rc6 43. Ra3 Ne6 44. Kf5 Nxc5 45. Rc3 g6+ 46. hxg6 Ne6
47. Rxc6 Nd4+ 48. Kg4 Nxc6 49. Kh5 Kf8 50. Kxh6 Ne7 51. Kh7 1-0

[Event "Candidates sf"]
[Site "Elista"]
[Date "2007.06.03"]
[Round "1.12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E29"]
[WhiteElo "2693"]
[BlackElo "2759"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2007.05.27"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. Bd3 Nc6 8.
Ne2 b6 9. e4 Ne8 10. O-O Ba6 11. f4 f5 12. e5 d6 13. d5 exd5 14. cxd5 Bxd3 15.
Qxd3 dxe5 16. Qd2 Ne7 17. Rd1 Ng6 18. fxe5 Nxe5 19. Nf4 Rf7 20. Qe2 Ng6 21. Ne6
Qd7 22. c4 Nd6 23. Bb2 Re8 24. Qh5 Nf8 25. Ng5 Rfe7 26. Rac1 Re2 27. Bc3 R2e7
28. Rf1 h6 29. Nh3 Re4 30. Nf4 Qf7 31. Qh3 Rxc4 32. Nh5 Ne4 33. Bxg7 Ng5 34.
Qb3 Rxc1 35. Nf6+ Kxg7 36. Nxe8+ Qxe8 37. Qb2+ Kg6 38. Qxc1 Qe5 39. Rd1 Ne4 40.
Qe3 Nd7 41. d6 h5 42. Qb3 c4 43. Qxc4 Qc5+ 44. Qxc5 bxc5 45. Rb1 Kf6 46. Rb7
Ke6 47. Rxa7 Kxd6 48. Kf1 c4 49. Ke2 c3 50. Ra6+ Kd5 51. Kd1 Ne5 52. Ra5+ Kd4
53. Kc2 Nc4 54. Ra8 Ne3+ 55. Kb3 Nc5+ 56. Ka2 c2 57. Rd8+ Kc3 0-1

[Event "Dortmund SuperGM 35th"]
[Site "Dortmund"]
[Date "2007.06.23"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Leko, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2693"]
[BlackElo "2738"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2007.06.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. d4
Nxd4 9. Nxd4 exd4 10. e5 Ne8 11. Qxd4 {Safe, but ...unambitious. See my notes
to Carlsen,M (2693)-Leko,P (2738)/Dortmund 2007/CBM 119 (1/2-1/2, 29) from
this same issue of CBM.} ({For the more consistent} 11. c3 {see Jakovenko,D 
(2708)-Karjakin,S (2686)/Foros 2007/CBM 119/[Marin] (1/2-1/2, 29)}) 11... Bb7 (
11... c5 $2 {does not win a piece as in some other lines of the Ruy Lopez
because of} 12. Qe4 $1 $16) 12. c4 (12. Qg4 {was examined in the notes to
Svidler,P (2738)-Naiditsch,A (2612)/Dortmund 2005/CBM 108/[Erenburg] (1/2-1/2,
21)}) (12. c3 {is too unpretentious and allows Black to obtain easy equality.}
d6 13. Bf4 dxe5 14. Qxe5 Bd6 15. Qg5 h6 16. Qg3 Qf6 17. Bxd6 Nxd6 18. Nd2 Rad8
$11 {Navarro,R (2400)-Peng Xiaomin (2480)/Moscow 1994/CBM 044 ext (0-1, 37)})
12... bxc4 13. Qxc4 d5 14. exd6 Nxd6 15. Qg4 {White's active queen gives him
some hopes for a minimal advantage, but this should be not too real, because
in fact he is slightly behind in development.} Nb5 {Anticipating the
development of the enemy knight to c3.} (15... Bf6 16. Nc3 Nb5 {Black should
provoke simplifications before White completes his development.} (16... Rb8 17.
Bf4 Bc6 18. Rad1 Rb4 19. Qg3 {offers White the kind of domination he hopes for,
although Black is very much in the game still.} Rd4 20. Be5 Rxd1 21. Rxd1 Re8
22. f4 Qe7 23. Nd5 Bxd5 24. Rxd5 $14 {Nijboer,F (2475)-Sokolov,I (2665)/
Netherlands 1996/CBM 054 (1/2-1/2, 31)}) (16... Re8 17. Bf4 Rb8 18. h3 Bc6 19.
Qh5 Qd7 20. Qa5 Bb5 21. Nxb5 axb5 22. Qd2 $14 {After creating a curious
triangle with her queen, White managed to obtain a stable advantage in the
shape of the pair of bishops, Arakhamia Grant,K (2446)-Hebden,M (2559)/
Scarborough 2004/CBM 101 ext (1-0, 50)}) 17. Ne4 $146 {Maybe this is the move
on which Carlsen pinned his hopes, but he will not get that chance.} (17. Nxb5
$6 axb5 18. Bf4 c5 19. Rad1 Qc8 {was just equal in Polgar,J (2575)-Nunn,J 
(2595)/Hastings 1992/CBM 033 (1/2-1/2, 33)}) 17... Bxe4 18. Qxe4 Bd4 19. Qf4 c5
20. Be3 Bxe3 21. fxe3 $5 {><d4} Qe7 22. Rac1 Rad8 23. Red1 Rfe8 24. Rd5 Rxd5
25. Bxd5 $14 {with an active position for White, whose bishop is marvellous,
Balogh,C (2617)-Jenni,F (2518)/Dresden 2007 (1/2-1/2, 56)}) 16. Nc3 Nxc3 $146 {
Simple chess.} (16... Bf6 {would transpose above, and in fact this was the
move order actually played in some of the games.}) 17. bxc3 Bd6 $11 {in the
absence of knights, Black has little to worry about.} 18. Bf4 Qf6 19. Bxd6 cxd6
20. Rad1 Rad8 21. Re3 Rfe8 22. Rde1 Rxe3 23. Rxe3 g6 24. h4 h5 25. Qb4 Rd7 26.
Rd3 Re7 27. Qd4 Re1+ 28. Kh2 Qe7 29. Re3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Dortmund SuperGM 35th"]
[Site "Dortmund"]
[Date "2007.06.24"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C68"]
[WhiteElo "2654"]
[BlackElo "2693"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2007.06.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Qf6 6. d4 exd4 7. Bg5 Qd6 8.
Nxd4 Be7 9. Bxe7 Nxe7 10. Nb3 Be6 11. Nc3 O-O-O 12. Qe2 Kb8 13. Rad1 Qf4 14. g3
Qf6 15. Rxd8+ Rxd8 16. Rd1 Rd6 17. f4 Bc8 18. Rd3 Qe6 19. Qd2 Rxd3 20. Qxd3 b6
21. Nd4 Qd6 22. e5 Qd7 23. b4 h6 24. a3 Nf5 25. Nce2 Ne7 26. Nc1 Bb7 27. Ndb3
Qh3 28. Qd8+ Nc8 29. Qd2 h5 30. Nd3 h4 31. Nf2 Qe6 32. Nd4 Qd5 33. Nb3 Qe6 34.
Nd4 Qd5 35. Nb3 Qe6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Dortmund SuperGM 35th"]
[Site "Dortmund"]
[Date "2007.06.26"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Alekseev, Evgeny V"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E18"]
[WhiteElo "2693"]
[BlackElo "2679"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2007.06.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3 Ne4 8. Nxe4
Bxe4 9. Nh4 Bxg2 10. Nxg2 d5 11. Qa4 Qe8 12. Qxe8 Rxe8 13. cxd5 exd5 14. Be3 c5
15. Nf4 Rd8 16. dxc5 bxc5 17. Rac1 d4 18. Bd2 a5 19. Nd3 Nd7 20. e3 Nf6 21.
Rfd1 Ne4 22. exd4 Nxd2 23. Rxd2 Bg5 24. f4 Rxd4 25. fxg5 c4 26. Rdc2 Rxd3 27.
Rxc4 g6 28. R4c3 Rd2 29. R1c2 Rad8 30. Rxd2 Rxd2 31. Rb3 a4 32. Rb4 a3 33. bxa3
Rxa2 34. a4 Kg7 35. h4 h6 36. Kf1 hxg5 37. hxg5 Kf8 38. Re4 Rc2 39. Ke1 Rc5 40.
Rg4 Ke7 41. Kd2 Ke6 42. Kd3 Rc1 43. Rc4 Rg1 44. g4 Rg3+ 45. Kc2 Kd5 46. Rf4 Kc5
47. Kd2 Ra3 48. Ke2 Kd5 49. Kf2 Ra2+ 50. Kg3 Ra3+ 51. Kf2 Ra2+ 52. Ke3 Ra3+ 53.
Kd2 Kc5 54. Kc2 Rg3 55. Kb2 Rg2+ 56. Kc3 Rg3+ 57. Kc2 Ra3 58. Kb2 Rg3 59. a5
Kb5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Dortmund SuperGM 35th"]
[Site "Dortmund"]
[Date "2007.06.27"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E05"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2693"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2007.06.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 ({In his recent match against Aronian, Carlsen answered the classical
Catalan move order, consisting of} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 {with} c5 {.
Despite the fact that the game ended with a convincing win for White, Kramnik
prefers to avoid the Benoni this time.}) 1... Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. d4 Be7
5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. Qxc4 b5 9. Qc2 Bb7 10. Bd2 Nc6 11. e3 Nb4
12. Bxb4 Bxb4 13. a3 Be7 {This is one of the more or less equivalent bishop
retreats.} (13... Bd6 {allows White win a tempo after} 14. Nbd2 {followed by
e4, threatening with a fork, but after the new bishop retreat from d6 to e7 it
is far from clear whether the pawn really stands better on e4 than on e3.
Anyway, that is an entirely different variation in fact.}) 14. Nbd2 Rc8 15. b4
{White has to keep the c5-square blocked...} a5 {... and Black has to try to
unblock it at any cost!} 16. Ne5 {Some 16 years ago, when I started analysing
and playing the Catalan, I considered this move to be one of my discoveries.
After the creation and evolution of databases, it appeared that the move had
been played 10 years before I gave it a practical try myself...} ({A recent
game saw} 16. Qb2 {, which seems to be playable, too.} axb4 17. axb4 Qd6 18.
Rfb1 Ra8 (18... Nd5 $2 19. Ne4 $1 $16 Qxb4 $2 20. Qc1 $1 $18 Qc4 $8 21. Qxc4
bxc4 22. Rxb7) 19. Ra5 Nd5 $6 (19... Rxa5 $5 20. bxa5 b4 $132) 20. Ne4 Qxb4 21.
Rxb5 Qxb2 22. R5xb2 Nb6 23. Ne5 f6 24. Nxf6+ $5 (24. Nd3 $14 {[%csl Gc5,Rc7]})
24... gxf6 25. Bxb7 fxe5 26. Bxa8 Rxa8 27. dxe5 Ra4 28. Rc2 Nd5 $14 {Bruzon,L 
(2614)-Capo Vidal,U (2375)/Morelia 2007 (1-0, 36). The position is not easy to
assess, despite White's material advantage. Black's stability in the centre
offers him good chances for defence, but he can hardly aspire for more.
White's structure is too compact...}) 16... Nd5 $2 $146 {This move looks like
a bad over-the-board inspiration rather than the fruit of mistaken home
analysis.} (16... Bxg2 17. Kxg2 c6 {is more or less forced, although it does
not solve Black's problems entirely.} (17... axb4 {allows the occupation of
the c6-square with} 18. Nc6 Qd7 19. axb4 $16 {Speelman,J (2535)-Cox,J (2355)/
Southport 1983/EXT 99 (1/2-1/2, 41)}) 18. Nd3 axb4 19. axb4 Nd5 20. Qb3 Ra8 21.
Rfc1 {White has more space and a flexible structure in the centre. The
weakness of the c6- and b4-pawns compensate for each other. In order to have
chances for equality, Black needs to get equal rights over the only open file.
He will fail painfully to do so...} Qb6 22. Nf3 {/\ Ne5} Qb7 23. Kg1 $1 Rxa1
24. Rxa1 Ra8 25. Ra3 $14 Nxb4 $6 26. Nxb4 c5 27. dxc5 Qxf3 (27... Rxa3 28. Qxa3
Qxf3 29. Qa7 Bf8 30. c6 $18) 28. Nd5 $3 $16 {1-0 Marin,M (2515)-Marciano,D 
(2430)/Bucharest 1993/CBM 034/ (1-0, 36)}) 17. Nb3 $1 {This move is easy to
overlook, because the b4-pawn is attacked no less than 3 times.} axb4 18. Na5
Ba8 19. Nac6 Bxc6 20. Nxc6 Qd7 21. Bxd5 $1 {The only way to retrieve the
temporarily sacrificed pawn, but entirely sufficient for retaining a crushing
positional advantage.} exd5 22. axb4 $16 {Black is completely paralyzed.
What's worse, his b5-pawn is impossible to defend.} Rfe8 (22... Ra8 23. Ra5 $5
Rxa5 24. bxa5 Ra8 {and now the a-pawn advances faster than Black would like it:
} 25. a6 $1 $16 Rxa6 $2 26. Nb8 $18) 23. Ra5 Bf8 24. Ne5 {An interesting
moment.} ({Black's conterplay after} 24. Rxb5 Re6 25. Rc1 Rh6 26. h4 {looks
questionable, but Kramnik must have asked himself whether it was worth playing
with the c6-knight pinned.}) 24... Qe6 (24... Rxe5 25. dxe5 Bxb4 {fails to
complicate the matters because of} 26. Ra7 {followed by Rc1.}) 25. Rxb5 Rb8 $6
({However, the unexpected} 25... Bxb4 $5 26. Rxb4 c5 {might have muddied the
waters a bit (at least psychologically), by changing the course of the game:}
27. dxc5 (27. Rb5 cxd4 $1 {[%csl Ye5]}) 27... Qxe5 28. Rd1 $16) 26. Rxb8 Rxb8
27. Qxc7 $18 Bd6 28. Qa5 Bxb4 (28... Bxe5 29. dxe5 Qxe5 30. Rd1 Qe4 {would
have allowed White win a second pawn with} 31. Rxd5 {although it would have
required some accurate calculation to foresee that he can avoid perpetual
check in the most convenient way with} Qb1+ 32. Kg2 Qe4+ 33. Kf1 Qb1+ 34. Ke2
Qb2+ 35. Kf3 Qf6+ 36. Kg2 $18) 29. Rb1 Qd6 30. Qa4 {Black will soon lose his
d5-pawn, which makes further resistance useless.} 1-0

[Event "Dortmund SuperGM 35th"]
[Site "Dortmund"]
[Date "2007.06.29"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2693"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2007.06.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4 5. h3 Bxf3 6. Qxf3 e6 7. Nc3 Nbd7 8. Bd3
Bb4 9. O-O O-O 10. Bd2 dxc4 11. Bxc4 e5 12. a3 Bd6 13. Rad1 Qe7 14. Qf5 Rad8
15. dxe5 Bxe5 16. Qc2 Bc7 17. Be2 Nc5 18. Bc1 Qe5 19. g3 Qe6 20. Kg2 Nb3 21.
Nb5 Bb8 22. Bc4 Na1 23. Bxe6 Nxc2 24. Bf5 Nxe3+ 25. Bxe3 cxb5 26. Bc5 Rfe8 27.
Rxd8 Rxd8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Dortmund SuperGM 35th"]
[Site "Dortmund"]
[Date "2007.06.30"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2757"]
[BlackElo "2693"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2007.06.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qa4+ Nc6 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bxf6 Qxf6 8.
e3 O-O 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Be2 Rd8 11. O-O a6 12. Rfc1 Rb8 13. a3 Bf8 14. b4 Ne7
15. Qb3 Be6 16. a4 Nf5 17. b5 axb5 18. axb5 c5 19. bxc6 bxc6 20. Qa4 c5 21.
dxc5 Bxc5 22. Nb5 Bb6 23. Nbd4 Nxd4 24. Nxd4 Bxd4 25. Qxd4 Qxd4 26. exd4
1/2-1/2

[Event "Dortmund SuperGM 35th"]
[Site "Dortmund"]
[Date "2007.07.01"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D12"]
[WhiteElo "2693"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2007.06.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.08.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nh4 Bg6 7. Nxg6 hxg6 8. Bd2
Nbd7 9. a3 Be7 10. Qc2 O-O 11. Be2 dxc4 12. Bxc4 c5 13. dxc5 Nxc5 14. O-O Rc8
15. Rfd1 Qc7 16. Rac1 Rfd8 17. Be2 Nce4 18. Be1 Nxc3 19. Qxc3 Rxd1 20. Bxd1
Qxc3 21. Rxc3 Rxc3 22. Bxc3 Ne4 23. Be1 g5 24. Kf1 b6 25. Ke2 Bf6 26. Bc2 Nd6
27. b3 Kf8 28. Bd3 Ke7 29. g4 Bb2 30. a4 f6 31. b4 e5 32. f3 Bc1 33. Bc3 Kd8
34. b5 Ba3 35. Bd2 Ke7 36. f4 gxf4 37. exf4 exf4 38. Bxf4 g5 39. Bxd6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2007.07.23"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bu, Xiangzhi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D94"]
[WhiteElo "2710"]
[BlackElo "2685"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "167"]
[EventDate "2007.07.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 120"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O a6 {A
useful move asking White to declare his intentions.} 8. b3 ({I myself preferred
} 8. Bd2 {against S.Conquest.}) 8... Ne4 9. Bb2 Nxc3 10. Bxc3 Bg4 11. h3 Bxf3
12. Bxf3 e6 {Very solid. Black has got rid of two pairs of "less necessary"
pieces, now he has a good bishop and no weaknesses.} 13. Qd2 $5 {An
interesting plan. White puts his bishop on a5 in order to provoke the
weakening ...b7-b6.} (13. Qc2 Nd7 14. e4 dxe4 15. Qxe4 Rc8 16. Rfd1 Nf6 17. Qe3
Re8 18. Rd3 Re7 19. Rad1 Ne8 $2 (19... Rd7 $142) 20. Bb4 Nd6 21. Qf4 Rd7 22. d5
$1 cxd5 (22... e5 23. dxc6 exf4 24. cxd7 Qxd7 25. Rxd6 $16) 23. Bxd5 $1 Nf5 24.
Bxe6 $1 Rxd3 25. Rxd3 Qxd3 26. Bxc8 $18 {1-0 Riazantsev,A-Sergienko,S/Sochi
2005/CBM 107 (31)}) 13... Re8 ({In case of} 13... a5 14. a4 {Black's a5 pawn
will require permanent attention} (14. e4 $143 dxe4 15. Bxe4 a4)) 14. Ba5 $1
Qe7 15. Rac1 Nd7 16. Qb4 {The queen exchange looks logical to make use of
White's bishop pair but Black finds a good reply.} Qxb4 17. Bxb4 a5 18. Bd2 (
18. Bd6 Bf8 $5) 18... dxc4 $5 19. bxc4 e5 20. d5 $6 (20. Bc3 $1 {was the only
way to fight for an edge.}) 20... e4 21. Be2 Red8 (21... cxd5 22. cxd5 Re5 {
was a simpler way to equality, e.g.} 23. d6 (23. Bc4 Nb6 24. d6 Rd8) 23... Rd5
24. Rfd1 Rxd6 25. Bxa5 Rxd1+ (25... Bf8 $5) 26. Rxd1 Rxa5 (26... Ne5 $5) (26...
Nf8 $5 27. Rd5 $140 b6 28. Bxb6 Rxa2) 27. Rxd7 Rxa2 28. Bc4 Ra1+ 29. Kh2 b5 30.
Bxf7+ Kf8 31. Be6 Be5+ 32. g3 Ra6 33. Bd5 Rd6 $11) 22. Rfd1 cxd5 23. cxd5 Nf6
24. Be1 Nxd5 $6 {Starting a series of inaccuracies, which eventually lead to a
lost endgame.} (24... Rxd5 25. Rxd5 Nxd5 26. Rc5 Nb4 27. Bxb4 axb4 28. Bc4 Rd8
$1 $11) 25. Rc5 Nb4 26. Rxa5 $1 $14 Nc2 27. Bd2 Rxa5 (27... Rac8 28. Rb5 Rc7
29. Ba5 Rxd1+ 30. Bxd1 Na3 31. Bxc7 Nxb5 32. Bb6 $14) 28. Bxa5 Ra8 29. Rd5 Bf8
$6 {It was absolutely crucial not to allow the white bishop to the a2-g8
diagonal.} (29... Na3 $1 30. Bb4 (30. Bd1 Nc4 31. Bb4 Bf8 $14) 30... Bf8 $14
31. Bxa3 Rxa3 32. Bc4 Rc3 33. Bb3 Kg7 $1 34. g3 (34. Rd7 Rc1+ 35. Kh2 Rc7 $1)
34... Rc7 35. Rb5 f5 $16 {with a better defense than he had in the game.}) 30.
Bd1 Nb4 31. Bxb4 Bxb4 32. Bb3 {[%csl Gb3,Re4,Rf7][%mdl 4096] Despite the
opposite-coloured bishops, Black's position is difficult because White's
bishop is much stronger and the f7 pawn is under pressure. Material losses are
inevitable.} b6 (32... Re8 33. Rb5 Bd6 34. Rxb7 {is hardly a lesser evil.}) 33.
Rd7 {White is not hurrying to take the e4 pawn. It is more important to force
the black rook to f8.} Rf8 34. g4 g5 35. Rb7 Bc5 36. Bd5 Kg7 37. Kf1 ({Again
not} 37. Bxe4 Re8 {[%cal Ye8e7]}) 37... h6 38. Ke2 Kf6 39. a4 Kg7 40. Rc7 Bb4
41. Bxe4 {It's time now!} Rd8 (41... Re8 42. Bd5 Re7 43. Rc6 Ba5 (43... Bc5 $2
44. a5) 44. e4 {[%cal Ye2b5,Yc6b6]}) 42. Bd3 Kf8 43. Rb7 Rd6 44. Bc4 Rf6 {
The rook is not much more active on f6 than on f8. White's winning plan is:
f2-f4-f5 and then preparation of the exchange sacrifice on b6.} 45. Bd5 Be7 46.
f3 Bb4 47. Kd3 Be1 48. Ke4 Bg3 49. Bc4 Be1 50. f4 gxf4 51. exf4 Bg3 52. f5 Be1
53. Bd5 Kg7 54. Kd4 h5 55. Kc4 hxg4 56. hxg4 Bf2 57. Be6 Be3 58. Kd5 Kf8 59.
Ke5 Kg7 60. Ke4 Bd2 61. Kd3 Bf4 62. Kc4 Kf8 63. Bd5 Be3 64. Kb5 Kg7 65. Be6 Kf8
66. Bc4 Bf2 67. Bd5 Kg7 68. Bc6 Kh6 69. Rxb6 $1 {Such an exchange sacrifice,
creating a passed pawn, is a typical winning method in R+B vs R+B engings,
with opposite-coloured bishops.} Kg5 70. a5 $1 Rd6 (70... Kxg4 71. Bd7 $1 Kg5 (
71... Rxb6+ 72. axb6 Bg3 73. Ka6 Kf3 74. Kb7 $1 $18) 72. Rxf6 Kxf6 73. Kc6 Ke7
74. a6 Kd8 (74... Be3 75. Kc7 $1) 75. f6 $1 Bg1 76. Bg4 Bf2 77. Kb7 Be3 78. Bh5
$18) 71. Rb7 Kxg4 72. Rxf7 Kg5 73. Rd7 {The bishop endgame is now absolutely
winning for White.} Rh6 74. Be4 Rh8 75. a6 Rb8+ 76. Kc4 Kf4 77. Re7 Rc8+ 78.
Kd3 Rd8+ 79. Ke2 Bd4 80. Bd3 Bc5 81. Re6 Rh8 82. f6 Rh2+ 83. Kd1 Rh6 84. f7 1-0

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2007.07.24"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Polgar, Judit"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C83"]
[WhiteElo "2707"]
[BlackElo "2710"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2007.07.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 120"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. Nbd2 Be7 10. c3 O-O 11. Bc2 f5 12. Nb3 Qd7 13. Nfd4 Nxd4 14. Nxd4 c5 15.
Nxe6 Qxe6 16. f3 Ng5 17. a4 Rad8 18. axb5 axb5 19. Ra7 Rd7 20. Rxd7 Qxd7 21.
Be3 f4 22. Bf2 g6 23. Qd2 Ne6 24. Rd1 Rd8 25. Be4 Qc7 26. Bxd5 Qxe5 27. b3 Kg7
28. c4 bxc4 29. bxc4 Nc7 30. Qa2 Nxd5 31. cxd5 Kf8 32. h3 Qd6 33. Qc4 Kf7 34.
Kh1 Kf8 35. Re1 Kf7 36. Rd1 Kf8 37. Bg1 Kf7 38. Qe4 Bf6 39. Qc4 Bd4 40. Qc1
Qxd5 41. Qxf4+ Kg8 42. Bxd4 cxd4 43. Rd3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2007.07.25"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Avrukh, Boris"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B42"]
[WhiteElo "2710"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2007.07.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 120"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Bc5 6. c3 Ne7 7. O-O Nbc6 8.
Be3 d6 9. Nd2 O-O 10. Qe2 Qc7 11. Rad1 Bd7 12. Nxc6 Qxc6 13. e5 Bxe3 14. Qxe3
dxe5 15. Qxe5 Rad8 16. Nf3 f6 17. Qh5 g6 18. Qh4 Qc7 19. Rfe1 Bc8 20. Qc4 Nd5
21. Nd4 e5 22. Qxc7 Nxc7 23. Bc4+ Kg7 24. f4 Bg4 25. Nf3 Rxd1 26. Rxd1 exf4 27.
Rd6 Re8 28. Nd4 Bc8 29. Kf2 Re5 30. a4 g5 31. b4 h5 32. Bb3 Re3 33. Rd8 Re8 34.
Rd6 Re3 35. Rd8 Re8 36. Rd6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2007.07.27"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Motylev, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2648"]
[BlackElo "2710"]
[Annotator "ChessBase"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2007.07.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 120"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3
d6 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nf1 Bf8 14. Ng3 g6 15. b3
c6 16. a4 Bg7 17. Ba3 d5 18. dxe5 Nxe5 19. Nxe5 Rxe5 20. f4 Re8 21. e5 Nd7 22.
Bd6 c5 23. axb5 axb5 24. Rxa8 Bxa8 25. b4 cxb4 26. Bxb4 f6 27. Bb3 fxe5 28.
Bxd5+ Bxd5 29. Qxd5+ Kh8 30. f5 Qb6+ 31. Kh2 Nf6 32. Qf7 e4 33. fxg6 Qb8 34.
gxh7 Qe5 {Carlsen had played the game extremely quickly, but not without some
inaccuracies. Here Motylev had a winning position, but he was already in
extreme time trouble and carlsen's rapid play did not allow him much thinking
time on his opponent's moves.. Carlsen hatte die Partie extrem schnell
gespielt, aber auch nicht fehlerlos. Motylev hatte hier eine Gewinnstellung,
aber er befand sich auch schon starker Zeitnot und wegen Carlsens schnellen
Spiel erhielt er wenig Gelegenheit bei gegnerischem Zugrecht nachzudenken.} 35.
Bd6 $4 ({The strongest move, and almost the only winning one was Am stärksten 
(und fast auch der einzige Gewinn) war} 35. Qg6 Z0 {and the unpinning of the
g3-knight with und die Entfesselung des Springers g3 mit} 36. Kg1) 35... Qxd6 {
The plan now was 36.Qxg7+ Kxg7 37.Nf5+, but the knight on g3 was still pinned.
Geplant war nun 36.Qxg7+ Kxg7 37.Nf5+, aber der Springer auf g3 ist immer noch
gefesselt.} 0-1

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2007.07.28"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Onischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D43"]
[WhiteElo "2710"]
[BlackElo "2650"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2007.07.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 120"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Bg5 h6 5. Bxf6 {I figured that this might be a
reasonable choice since Onischuk doesn't usually play the Moscow with Black,
and avoids it by choosing the sharper Bh4 with White. Dies schien mir eine
vernünftige Wahl zu sein, denn Onischuk spielt die Moskauer Variante
gewöhnlich nicht mit Schwarz, und mit Weiß vermeidet er sie durch das
schärfere 5.Bh4.} Qxf6 6. Nc3 c6 7. Qb3 dxc4 {I don't honestly believe that
White has serious chances of obtaining an advantage in the lines starting with
7...Nd7 8.e4, but I felt that Onischuk probably wasn't ready for this
challenge. Ich glaube nicht wirklich, dass Weiß in den Abspielen mit 7...Nd7 8.
e4 ernste Chancen auf Vorteil hat, aber ich spürte, dass Onischuk für diese
Herausforderung wahrscheinlich nicht bereit war.} 8. Qxc4 Nd7 9. e3 g6 10. Be2
(10. h4 {is sharper and probably stronger, and certainly the critical line. It
wasn't such positions I was aiming for, though. ist schärfer und womöglich
starker, und auf jeden Fall auch das kritische Abspiel. Dies war aber nicht
der Stellungstyp, den ich anstrebte.}) 10... Bg7 11. O-O O-O 12. Rfd1 {I was
quite happy with the outcome of the opening, but it is hard to believe that
White has anything serious still. Ich war mit dem Ausgang der Eröffnung ganz
zufrieden, doch es fällt trotzdem schwer zu glauben, dass Weiß etwas
Ernsthaftes hat.} e5 {Perhaps not the most accurate, the waiting move
Vielleicht nicht das Genaueste; der Wartezug} (12... Qe7 {was worth
considering. The text should, however, be fine as well. kam in Betracht. Doch
auch der Textzug sollte in Ordnung sein.}) 13. Ne4 {The only way to play for
an advantage, after 13.d5 Nb6 or 13.dxe5 Nxe5 White could even have ended up
worse. Der einzige Weg, auf Vorteil zu spielen; nach 13.d5 Nb6 oder 13.dxe5
Nxe5 könnte Weiß am Ende sogar schlechter stehen.} Qe7 $6 (13... Qf5 $1 {
was actually quite interesting, and what I had considered best during the game.
Even though White is allowed to put the knight on d6 he has nothing. On the
other hand, 13...Qf5 is a difficult move to make, allowing the knight to jump
to d6 with tempo. war tatsächlich ziemlich interessant und wurde von mir
während der Partie auch als Bestes eingestuft. Obwohl Weiß erlaubt wird, den
Springer nach d6 zu fahren, hat er nichts. Andererseits macht man einen Zug
wie 13...Qf5 nicht ohne Weiteres, schließlich wird ja dem Springer gestattet,
mit Tempo nach d6 zu hüpfen.}) 14. d5 cxd5 15. Qxd5 Nb6 (15... Nf6 16. Qd6 Qxd6
17. Nxd6 {is a small plus for White as well. ergibt ebenfalls ein leichtes
Plus für Weiß.}) 16. Qc5 Qxc5 17. Nxc5 Bg4 (17... Rb8 18. Rac1 {is quite
difficult for Black since he cannot develop his bishop comfortably. 18...Bf5
is met by 19.Nh4 and 18...Bg4 with 19.h3. ist recht schwierig für Schwarz, da
er seinen Läufer nicht bequem entwickeln kann: Auf 18...Bf5 folgt 19.Nh4 und
auf 18...Bg4 19.h3.}) 18. h3 Rac8 {Here I actually thought for some time, but
now I cannot understand why, 19.Nxb7 is the only way to seriously play for a
win. Hier überlegte ich tatsächlich einige Zeit, aber jetzt verstehe ich nicht
mehr warum; 19.Nxb7 ist der einzige Weg, ernsthaft auf Gewinn zu spielen.} 19.
Nxb7 Be6 {White is a pawn up, but Black has some activity, and White has
problems consolidating. Weiß besitzt einen Mehrbauern, doch Schwarz verfügt
über einige Aktivität, und Weiß hat Probleme bei der Konsolidierung.} 20. b3 {
I decided that this was the least of the evils, not being satisfied with lines
like Ich beschloss, dass dies das geringste Übel war, denn andere Abspiele
befriedigten mich nicht, zum Beispiel} (20. Rd2 Rc7 21. Nd6 (21. Na5 Rfc8 22.
Rad1 Rc2 {with some activity, mit einiger Aktivität.}) 21... Rd8 {with
compensation, mit Kompensation,}) (20. Nd6 Rc2 21. Rd2 Rxd2 22. Nxd2 Rd8 23.
N2c4 e4 {with a likely draw. mit wahrscheinlichem Remis.}) 20... Rc2 21. Bf1
Nd5 22. Bc4 Nc3 23. Rd2 Rxd2 24. Nxd2 e4 25. Kf1 Rb8 (25... Bc8 {does not
quite work: funktioniert nicht ganz:} 26. Nd6 Rd8 {and now, instead of Nxc8
Rxc8, when White has minimal winning chances, there follows some nice tactics:
und nun, statt Nxc8 Rxc8, wonach Weiß nur minimale Gewinnchancen hat, folgt
eine hübsche taktische Einlage:} (26... Nb5 27. Nxc8 Bxa1 (27... Rxc8 28. Rc1
Nc3 29. Nxe4 $1) 28. Ne7+) 27. Bxf7+ Kf8 28. Nxc8 Kxf7 29. Nc4 Nb5 30. Rc1 Rxc8
31. a4 $18) 26. Nc5 Bxc4+ $2 (26... Na4 {Objectively this gives the best
drawing chances: Objektiv gibt dies die besten Remischancen:} 27. Nxe6 Bxa1 28.
bxa4 fxe6 29. Bxe6+ Kg7 30. Nxe4 {It is on the other hand clear that defending
this endgame would have been a long and probably impossible task. Andererseits
ist klar, dass die Verteidigung dieses Endspiels eine lange und wahrscheinlich
unmögliche Aufgabe wäre.}) 27. Nxc4 Rb5 (27... Na4 {leads absolutely nowhere:
führt absolut zu nichts:} 28. Na6 Rd8 29. Rc1 Nc3 30. a3) 28. Na6 $1 {My
opponent had probably underestimated this move, after which he has big
problems. The knight looks a little awkward here, but together with the other
knight it takes away important squares from the rook, while preparing b4,
which will free the rook and lead to relatively easily won position. Diesen
Zug, nach dem er große Probleme hat, hatte mein Gegner wahrscheinlich
unterschätzt. Der Springer scheint hier ein wenig komisch zu stehen, doch
gemeinsam mit seinem Kollegen nimmt er dem Turm wichtige Felder und bereitet
gleichzeitig b4 vor, was den Turm befreit und zu einer relativ leicht
gewonnenen Stellung führt.} Bf8 29. b4 $1 {This is the key. I very much liked
the motifs that occured after this move. Das ist der Schlüssel. An den sich
nach diesem Zug ergebenden Motiven fand ich großen Gefallen.} Bxb4 {This
cannot really be called a mistake, as the alternatives were just depressing.
Dies ist nicht wirklich als Fehler zu bezeichnen, denn die Alternativen waren
einfach trübselig.} 30. a4 Rb7 31. Rc1 {Now the pin will be lethal. Nun wird
die Fesselung tödlich sein.} Nd5 32. Rb1 f5 (32... Re7 33. Nxb4 Rb7 {could
have been tried, but hätte man versuchen können, doch} 34. Nxd5 Rxb1+ 35. Ke2
Rc1 36. Nd6 f5 37. g4 {should win without much trouble. sollte ohne allzu
große Schwierigkeiten gewinnen.}) 33. a5 {Taking away the b6 square, freeing
the knight and finally sealing Black's fate. Nimmt ihm das Feld b6, befreit
den Springer und besiegelt schließlich das Schicksal von Schwarz.} Kg7 ({
Now Nun könnte auf} 33... Re7 {could be met by the funny little trick der
witzige kleine Trick} 34. Nxb4 Rb7 35. Nb6 $1 {folgen.}) (33... Rb5 34. g3 $1 {
The most precise, after which Black might as well resign. Am genauesten,
wonach Schwarz ebenso gut aufgeben könnte.} (34. Nd6 {Here Black at least has
some kind of counterplay: Hier hat Schwarz zumindest irgendeine Art von
Gegenspiel:} Rxa5 35. Nxb4 Nxb4 36. Rxb4 Ra1+ 37. Ke2 Ra2+ 38. Ke1 Ra1+ 39. Kd2
Ra2+ 40. Kc3 Rxf2)) 34. Ne5 f4 {As well as being lost, Onischuk was running
out of time, which explains his last moves, which were rather desperate.
Onischuk stand nicht nur auf Verlust, sondern ihm ging auch die Zeit aus, was
seine letzten Züge erklärt, die ziemlich verzweifelt waren.} 35. exf4 e3 36.
fxe3 Nxe3+ 37. Kg1 Nd5 38. Kh1 {And here he lost on time. An important and
pleasing win for me. Und hier verlor er auf Zeit. Ein wichtiger und
erfreulicher Sieg für mich.} 1-0

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2007.07.29"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2726"]
[BlackElo "2710"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2007.07.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 120"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. e3 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bb5+ Bd7 7. Bxd7+ Nbxd7
8. dxc5 Nxc5 9. O-O Be7 10. Nc3 O-O 11. b3 Nce4 12. Ne2 Rc8 13. Bb2 Qd7 14. Ne5
Qd6 15. f3 Nc5 16. Qd2 Ne6 17. Rfd1 Rfd8 18. Nd3 Ne8 19. Ndf4 Nxf4 20. Nxf4 Bf6
21. Rac1 Rxc1 22. Qxc1 Bxb2 23. Qxb2 Nf6 24. Rd4 Qc5 25. Qd2 h6 26. h3 Rd7 27.
Rd3 Rd8 28. Kh1 Re8 29. Nxd5 Nxd5 30. Rxd5 Qxe3 31. Qxe3 Rxe3 32. Rd8+ Kh7 33.
Rd7 Re2 34. a4 b6 35. Rxf7 Rb2 36. Rxa7 Rxb3 37. Kh2 b5 38. axb5 Rxb5 39. g4 h5
40. Kg3 hxg4 41. hxg4 Kg8 42. f4 g6 43. Kf3 Rb4 44. Rd7 Kf8 45. g5 Ra4 46. Ke3
Rb4 47. Rd4 Rb1 48. Ke4 Re1+ 49. Kd5 Kf7 50. Kc6 Rc1+ 51. Kd7 Rc5 52. Kd6 Rf5
53. Rc4 Kg8 54. Ke7 Kg7 55. Ke6 Kg8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2007.07.31"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Pelletier, Yannick"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2710"]
[BlackElo "2591"]
[Annotator "Pelletier,Y"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2007.07.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 120"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 b6 7. Bg5 Bb7 8.
e3 c5 9. dxc5 bxc5 10. Ne2 a5 11. Bxf6 $6 ({Dieser Tausch war später unter
besseren Bedingungen möglich. Nach} 11. f3 d6 12. O-O-O {sollte Schwarz} Ra6 {
ziehen. Dies war die Idee hinter meinem 10. Zug: d6 muss gedeckt werden, damit
auf Lxf6 wie in der Partie Dxf6 geschehen kann. Denselben Turmzug hätte ich
auch nach dem sofortigen 11. 0-0-0 gespielt.}) 11... Qxf6 12. Qxf6 gxf6 13.
O-O-O Rd8 14. Nc3 d6 (14... Kf8 $2 15. Na4) 15. Bd3 Kf8 {Schwarz braucht
seinen König auf e7, um die Drohung 16. Be4 Bxe4 17. Nxe4 zu entschärfen.} 16.
Bxh7 ({Dieser Zug ist die Ursache der weissen Schwierigkeiten. Carlsen dachte
lange nach und schätzte die Stellung als ausgeglichen ein. Deshalb versuchte
er dieses originelle Figurenopfer. Nach} 16. Be4 Bxe4 17. Nxe4 Ke7 $11 {und}) (
16. Rd2 Ke7 17. Rhd1 Ra6 18. f3 h6 $11 {hat Schwarz in der Tat keine Probleme.}
) 16... f5 17. e4 Kg7 18. exf5 Kxh7 19. fxe6 fxe6 20. Rhe1 {Weiss gewinnt den
e-Bauern zwangsläufig (20. ... e5? 21. Rxe5), wonach er 3 Bauern für die Figur
besitzt. Zum Glück kann Schwarz g2 erobern, sodass die weissen Bauern
ungefährlich sind.} Bxg2 21. Ne4 $2 ({Carlsen übersah einfach meinen 22. Zug!
Sonst hätte er sich wohl mit} 21. Rxe6 Nc6 22. Rdxd6 Rxd6 23. Rxd6 {zufrieden
gegeben. Schwarz kann in diesem Endspiel mittels} Rf8 (23... Rd8 24. Rxd8 Nxd8
$11) 24. Na4 Rf5 $15 {/= auf einen leichten Vorteil hoffen, aber das
natürliche Ergebnis sollte natürlich Remis sein.}) 21... Bxe4 22. Rxe4 {
(/\ 23.Rg1, 24.Rh4)} Ra7 $1 {[%cal Ga7g7]} 23. Rxe6 Rad7 {Schwarz behält
hiermit seinen Materialvorteil.} 24. Rd3 Nc6 25. Rh3+ Kg8 26. Rhh6 Ne5 27. f4 (
{Ein tückischer Versuch, die restlichen schwarzen Bauern zu eliminieren, sei
es zum Preis aller weissen Bauern.} 27. b3 Kg7 {verliert auf die Distanz.})
27... Nxc4 28. b3 Nxa3 29. Rhg6+ (29. Reg6+ Rg7 30. Rxd6 Rxd6 31. Rxd6 Nb5 $1
$19) 29... Kh8 30. Rh6+ Kg8 31. Rhg6+ Kh8 32. Rh6+ Rh7 33. Rxd6 Rxd6 34. Rxd6
Rxh2 35. Ra6 (35. Rc6 Rc2+ 36. Kd1 Rc3 $19) 35... Nb5 36. Rxa5 Nd4 {Knapp
scheitert die weisse Absicht. Der Bauer c5 ist wegen der Gabel auf b3 tabu.}
37. Kb1 (37. Ra8+ Kg7 38. Rb8 Kf6 39. b4 c4 40. Rc8 Rc2+ 41. Kd1 c3 42. b5 Rd2+
43. Ke1 Re2+ 44. Kf1 c2 $19) (37. Ra3 Kg7 38. Kb1 Kf6) 37... Nxb3 38. Rb5 c4 {
Wieder ist die schwarze Aufstellung perfekt: Rxc4 kann wegen Nd2+ nie
geschehen.} 39. f5 Kg7 40. f6+ (40. Rb6 Rf2 41. Rb7+ Kf6 42. Rb6+ Ke5 $19)
40... Kxf6 41. Rf5+ {Carlsen versucht es noch mit einem Patttrick, aber der
schwarz König entschwindet auf die 2. Reihe.} Ke6 42. Re5+ Kd6 43. Rd5+ Kc6 44.
Rd6+ Kc5 45. Rc6+ Kd5 46. Rd6+ Ke4 47. Re6+ Kd3 48. Re3+ Kd2 0-1

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2007.08.01"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2680"]
[BlackElo "2710"]
[Annotator "Van Wely,L"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2007.07.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 120"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{I was a happy camper on 1,5 from 7, and Magnus was leading the tournament
with +2, but just lost horribly against Pelletier, so any result possible. Ich
zierte das Tabellenende mit 1,5 aus 7, und Magnus führte im Turnier mit +2,
hatte allerdings gerade auf schreckliche Weise gegen Pelletier verloren, also
jedes Resultat möglich.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 O-O 6.
e3 c5 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bd3 $5 {Today I was in a creative mood and over the
board decided to play something new. A risky strategy when your tournament is
not running well, but somehow this kept me sharp. Heute war ich in kreativer
Stimmung und beschloss am Brett, etwas Neues zu spielen. Eine riskante
Strategie, wenn das Turnier nicht gut für dich läuft, aber irgendwie hielt
mich das unter Spannung.} (8. Rc1 {was Topalov's choice vs Carlsen. war
Topalovs Wahl gegen Carlsen.} Nbd7 9. dxc5 Qa5 $6 (9... Nxc5 $142 10. Qd4 (10.
Bd3 {Morozevich - Movsesian 0-1 Sarajevo 2007}) 10... Bxc3+ 11. Qxc3 Nce4 12.
Bxf6 Nxf6 $14) 10. a3 (10. Nd2 b6 11. c6 $6 (11. Be2 bxc5 12. O-O Bxc3 13. Rxc3
Qxa2 14. Qc2 Rb8 $11 {Grischuk-Carlsen Moscow 2006}) 11... d4 12. cxd7 dxc3 13.
bxc3 Bxc3 14. Bxf6 gxf6 15. dxc8=Q (15. Bd3 Bxd7 16. Rc2 $11) (15. Rxc3 Qxc3
16. dxc8=Q Raxc8 $36) 15... Raxc8 $36) 10... Bxc3+ 11. Rxc3 Ne4 12. b4 $1 Nxc3
13. Qa1 $16 {Topalov-Carlsen Wijk aan Zee 2007}) 8... c4 9. Bc2 Nbd7 10. O-O
Qa5 11. Rc1 (11. Ne5 Bxc3 12. bxc3 Nxe5 13. dxe5 Ne4 14. Be7 Re8 15. Bb4 Qc7
$11 {Radjabov-Carlsen blitz 2006}) 11... Bxc3 12. bxc3 Ne4 13. Bb1 Re8 14. Bf4
Nb6 $6 {I suppose Magnus didn't expect some violent action to happen on his
kingside, otherwise he might have gone for the solid Ich vermute, Magnus hatte
keinen Ausbruch von Gewaltätigkeiten an seinem Königsflügel erwartet,
ansonsten hätte er vielleicht das solide} (14... Nf8 {gewählt.}) (14... Qa3 {
with clear intentions to take on c3 is not so great: mit klaren Intentionen,
auf c3 zu schlagen, ist nicht so besonders:} 15. Ng5 $1 Ndf6 16. Nxe4 Nxe4 (
16... dxe4 17. d5) {and now the positonal und jetzt sehen sowohl das
positionelle} 17. Qe1 {and als auch} ({the more aggressive das aggressivere} 
17. Qh5 {both look tempting verlockend aus.})) 15. Ne5 f6 16. Qh5 Be6 17. f3 $1
{That was White's idea. Das war die Idee von Weiß.} fxe5 18. Bxe5 Bf7 19. Qh3
$1 {Doesn't give Black a chance to bail out to an inferior endgame. Gibt
Schwarz keine Chance, sich in ein schlechteres Endspiel zu verdrücken.} (19.
Qh4 $6 Nd7 $1 20. fxe4 Nxe5 21. dxe5 Bg6 22. exd5 Bxb1 (22... Qxd5 $6 23. Bxg6
hxg6 24. Rcd1 Qc5 (24... Qxe5 25. Qxc4+ Re6 (25... Qe6 26. Qxe6+ Rxe6 27. Rd7
$16) 26. Rf3 $16) 25. Qd4 (25. Qf4 Re7) 25... Rxe5 26. Qxc5 Rxc5 27. Rd7 Rf8
28. Rxf8+ Kxf8 29. Rxb7 Rd5 30. Rxa7 Rd3 31. Kf2 Rxc3 $16) 23. Rxb1 Qxd5 24.
Qd4 Qc6 $16 {Somehow White's compromised pawn structure gives Black good
drawing chances. Irgendwie gibt die kompromittierte Bauernstruktur von Weiß
Schwarz gute Remischancen.}) 19... Nf6 (19... Ng5 20. Qf5 h6 21. h4 Rxe5 22.
dxe5 Ne6 23. Qh7+ Kf8 24. f4 Bg8 25. Qh8 Qc5 26. Rce1 $40 {and during the game
and also now I didn't see any way for Black to stop my attack. und während der
Partie - und auch jetzt - sah ich keinen Weg für Schwarz, meinen Angriff
aufzuhalten.}) (19... Be6 20. Qh4) 20. Bxf6 gxf6 21. Qh6 $1 ({I understood
very well that after Ich war mir durchaus im klaren, dass nach} 21. Qxh7+ Kf8
22. e4 $40 {White has a nice attack going on, but the move played is even
stronger. Weiß einen schönen Angriff hat, aber der gespielte Zug ist noch
stärker.}) 21... Bg6 22. Bxg6 hxg6 23. Qxg6+ Kf8 24. Qxf6+ Kg8 25. Qg6+ Kf8 26.
Qf6+ Kg8 27. e4 ({After a long think I finally rejected Nach einer langen
Denkpause verwarf ich schließlich} 27. f4 $5 {because I prefered to win slowly
but surely instead of winning quickly but running some risk of screwing it up.
Later it happened that this "surely" was not to be 24 carats gold by the way. ,
weil ich lieber langsam, aber sicher gewinnen wollte, statt schnell zu siegen,
dafür jedoch das Risiko einzugehen, die Sache zu vermasseln. Später sollte
sich übrigens herausstellen, dass dieses "sicher" auch nicht auf die Goldwaage
zu legen war.} Qa3 $1 (27... Nd7 28. Qg6+ Kf8 29. f5 Ke7 30. Rb1 $1 (30. f6+
Kd6 $1) 30... Qa6 31. f6+ Kd6 32. f7+ Re6 33. Qg3+ Kc6 34. e4 $1 dxe4 35. Rf5
Rd6 36. Qf4 $18) 28. Qg6+ Kf8 29. f5 Ke7 30. f6+ Kd7 31. Qh7+ Kc6 32. f7 Rf8
33. e4 $36) 27... Qb5 (27... Qxa2 $5 {Is this possible? During the game I even
didn't notice this pawn was hanging, and right now I don't see a clear
refutation. At least it would have forced White to speed up matters. Ist das
möglich? Während der Partie bemerkte ich nicht einmal, dass dieser Bauer hing,
und selbst jetzt sehe ich keine klare Widerlegung. Zumindest hätte es Weiß
gezwungen, die Dinge zu beschleunigen.}) 28. Qg6+ Kf8 29. Qf6+ Kg8 30. Qg6+ Kf8
31. e5 Qc6 32. Qf5+ $2 (32. Qc2 $1) 32... Ke7 33. Qh7+ (33. f4 Qh6) 33... Kd8
34. f4 Qd7 35. Qxd7+ $2 {A big mistake, White still had a chance to better his
life and to show some understanding, but unfortunately again this was not the
case. The fact is that White's pawns are easier pushed with queens on, and
apart from that, Black's king lacks shelter, so the more pieces on, the better.
To make it even worse, with queens off, Black's king might become a very
useful blockader of White's pawn phalanx. Ein grober Fehler. Weiß hatte noch
immer eine Chance, sich das Leben zu erleichtern und etwas
Stellungsverständnis zu zeigen, aber leider versäumte er es aufs Neue.
Tatsache ist nämlich, dass die weißen Bauern mit Damen auf dem Brett leichter
vorgestoßen werden können,  und außerdem mangelt es dem schwarzen König an
Schutz; also je mehr Figuren auf dem Brett, desto besser. Was es noch
schlimmer macht, bei getauschten Damen könnte der schwarze König ein sehr
nützlicher Blockierer der weißen Bauernphalanx werden.} (35. Qh4+ Kc7 36. f5 {
was the way to play. war die angesagte Fortsetzung.}) 35... Kxd7 $1 (35... Nxd7
36. Rb1 Rb8 37. Rb5) 36. g4 Rg8 $1 {Slowing White down.} (36... Na4 $2 37. Kg2
{and there will be no stopping g5-h4-f5-g6 etc.}) 37. h3 (37. g5 $2 Raf8 38.
Kg2 Ke6) 37... Na4 38. Kg2 (38. f5 {to push the pawns was also an option,
however, I was waiting till I had all my bases loaded. um die Bauern
voranzutreiben, war ebenfalls eine Möglichkeit, doch ich wartete ab, bis ich
all meine Tablebases geladen hatte.}) 38... b5 39. Kg3 a5 40. a3 b4 (40... Rab8
$5 41. f5 b4 42. cxb4 axb4 43. axb4 Rxb4 44. h4 c3 45. Rf4 Rc8 46. f6 c2 (46...
Rb3 47. g5 $18) 47. Rf2 Rbc4 (47... Nc3 48. Rfxc2 Ne2+ 49. Rxe2 Rxc1 50. e6+
Ke8 51. Ra2 $18 {would have led to some kind of masochistic affair where
Black's extra rook won't be very helpful. hätte zu einer Art Masochismusnummer
geführt, wo der schwarze Mehrturm nicht besonders hilfreich sein wird.}) (47...
Rxd4 48. Rfxc2 Rd3+ 49. Kg2 Nc3 50. g5 Ke6 (50... d4 51. g6 $18) (50... Rc4 51.
f7 Ke7 (51... Rg4+ 52. Kf1 Rf3+ 53. Rf2 Rxf2+ 54. Kxf2 Ke7 55. Rxc3 $18) 52.
Rf2 $18) 51. g6 $18) 48. f7 Nc3 49. Kg2 Na2 50. Rcxc2 Rxc2 51. f8=Q Rxf8 52.
Rxc2 Nb4 53. Rd2 Nc6 54. h5 Nd8 $1 {and maybe Black can save himself. und
vielleicht kann Schwarz sich retten.}) 41. cxb4 {Not allowing some fancy stuff,
although probably bad: Lässt keine Spirenzchen zu, obwohl sie vermutlich
nichts taugen:} (41. axb4 Nxc3 $5 42. Rxc3 axb4) 41... axb4 42. axb4 Nb2 (42...
Rab8) 43. Rc3 Nd3 44. b5 Rgb8 45. Rb1 Ra5 46. f5 (46. b6 Ra6 47. b7 Ra7 48. g5
{I must confess that this was my first intention Ich muss gestehen, dass dies
meine erste Absicht war} (48. Rb5 Kc6) (48. Rb6 $2 Raxb7 49. Rd6+ Ke8 50. Rxd5
Rb3 $1 $19) 48... Raxb7 (48... Ke6 $2 49. Rb6+ Kf5 50. Rxd3 cxd3 51. Kf3) 49.
Rxb7+ Rxb7 50. g6 Ke6 51. Kg4 {but then I was unpleasantly surprised by the
consequences of , doch dann wurde ich unangenehm überrascht von den
Konsequenzen von} Nf2+) (46. g5 $2 Ke6 47. Kg4 Nf2+) 46... Raxb5 47. Rxb5 Rxb5
48. e6+ $6 {Laziness could have cost me the game, were it not that the
position is winning anyway. A good player would have calculated the endgame
after Faulheit hätte mich die Partie kosten können, wäre die Stellung nicht
sowieso gewonnen.} (48. Ra3 $1 Nxe5 {til the end: bis zum Ende:} 49. Ra7+ Kd6
50. dxe5+ Kxe5 51. Re7+ Kd6 52. Re6+ Kd7 53. Kf4 {but I couldn't and I still
can't. Just waiting for the tablebase of 9 pieces... , aber ich konnte es
nicht, und ich kann es noch immer nicht. Warte nur auf die 9-Steiner-Tablebase.
..}) 48... Ke7 $2 ({During the game I was getting very much worried about
Während der Partie bekam ich große Sorgen wegen} 48... Kd6 $1 {and I don't put
my hands in the fire that I would have found the solution: , und ich lege
meine Hand nicht dafür ins Feuer, dass ich die Lösung gefunden hätte.} 49. Ra3
Nb4 50. g5 Rb8 (50... Nc6 51. Kg4 Rb7 (51... Rb8 52. Re3 c3 53. Rxc3 Nxd4 54.
Re3 Rb4 55. e7 Nc6+ 56. Kh5 Nxe7 57. f6 Rh4+ 58. Kxh4 Nf5+ 59. Kh5 Nxe3 60. g6
Ke6 61. g7 Kf7 62. Kh6 $18) 52. g6 Nxd4 53. Kg5 Rb3 54. e7 $1 (54. Ra8 Rxh3 55.
g7 Nxe6+ 56. fxe6 Rg3+ 57. Kf6 Rf3+ 58. Kg6 Rg3+ 59. Kf7 Rxg7+ 60. Kxg7 Kxe6
$11) (54. Rxb3 cxb3 55. g7 Nxe6+ 56. fxe6 b2 $11) 54... Kxe7 55. f6+ {and it
seems White is winning here.  und es sieht so aus, als ob Weiß hier gewinnt.})
51. Kg4 Rc8 52. e7 $3 {To give up your pride like this, you need to be tough!
Um seinen Stolz so aufzugeben, muss man schon ein ganz Harter sein!} Kxe7 53.
f6+ Kf8 (53... Kf7 54. Ra7+ Ke6 55. Re7+ Kd6 56. g6) 54. Ra7 Nc6 55. Rh7) 49.
Ra3 Rb7 50. g5 Nb4 (50... Nc5 {Also this last swindle doesn't work: Auch
dieser letzte Schwindel funktioniert nicht:} 51. dxc5 Rb3+ 52. Rxb3 cxb3 53. c6
b2 54. c7 b1=Q 55. c8=Q Qe1+ 56. Kg4 Qe2+ 57. Kh4 Qc4+ 58. Qxc4 dxc4 59. Kh5 c3
60. Kg6 c2 61. f6+ Kxe6 62. f7 c1=Q 63. f8=Q $18) 51. Re3 $1 {Now there is no
more stopping. Nun gibt es kein Halten mehr.} Nc6 52. f6+ Kd6 53. Kg4 c3 54. e7
c2 55. Rc3 Rb8 56. Rxc2 Nxd4 57. Rb2 Rc8 58. g6 Ne6 59. Rb6+ Kd7 60. Rb7+ 1-0

[Event "Biel GM"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2007.08.02"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2710"]
[BlackElo "2746"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2007.07.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 120"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Nge2 Nbd7 5. g3 c6 6. Bg2 b5 7. a3 Be7 8. O-O
O-O 9. h3 a5 10. g4 Ba6 11. Ng3 b4 12. Nce2 bxa3 13. Rxa3 d5 14. Re3 dxe4 15.
Re1 Qc7 16. Nf5 Bd8 17. g5 Nd5 18. Rxe4 f6 19. Neg3 g6 20. Nh6+ Kg7 21. dxe5
fxg5 22. e6 Kxh6 23. e7 Qb6 24. exf8=Q+ Nxf8 25. c4 Nf4 26. Qd6 Kg7 27. Bxf4
gxf4 28. Re7+ 1-0

[Event "Biel GM playoff"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2007.08.02"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Onischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2650"]
[BlackElo "2710"]
[PlyCount "138"]
[EventDate "2007.08.02"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 120"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 d5 6. Bg2 Bb4+ 7. Bd2 Bxd2+ 8.
Nbxd2 Bb7 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Ne5 O-O 11. O-O c5 12. dxc5 bxc5 13. Rc1 Qe7 14. Nd3
Nbd7 15. Re1 Rfe8 16. Qc2 Rac8 17. Qb2 Ba6 18. Nf4 d4 19. b4 cxb4 20. Qxd4 Nb6
21. Nb3 Rxc1 22. Rxc1 Rd8 23. Qc5 Qxc5 24. Nxc5 Bc4 25. Nfd3 Nfd5 26. Nb7 Rb8
27. Rxc4 Nxc4 28. Bxd5 Nb6 29. Bf3 Na4 30. Nxb4 Nc3 31. e3 a5 32. Na6 Ra8 33.
Nc7 Ra7 34. a3 a4 35. Kf1 Nb1 36. Nb5 Ra6 37. Be2 Rc6 38. Na5 Rc5 39. Bd3 Nxa3
40. Nxa3 Rxa5 41. Bb5 Ra8 42. Ke2 Kf8 43. Kd3 Rc8 44. Nc2 Ra8 45. Na3 Rc8 46.
Nc2 Ra8 47. Bc4 Rb8 48. Kc3 Rb1 49. h4 Rh1 50. Bb5 Rh2 51. f3 Rh3 52. Bxa4 Rxg3
53. Nd4 Rh3 54. Kd3 Rxh4 55. f4 Rh1 56. Ke4 h5 57. Kf3 g6 58. Bb3 Rf1+ 59. Kg2
Rb1 60. Bd5 Kg7 61. e4 Rd1 62. Nf3 f5 63. Ng5 Rd2+ 64. Kg3 fxe4 65. Bxe4 Kf6
66. Nf3 Re2 67. Bd3 Ra2 68. Be4 Ra3 69. Bd5 Rxf3+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM playoff"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2007.08.02"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Onischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E36"]
[WhiteElo "2710"]
[BlackElo "2650"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2007.08.02"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 120"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 dxc4 7. Qxc4 b6 8.
Bf4 Nd5 9. Bg3 Ba6 10. Qa4+ Qd7 11. Qc2 Qb5 12. Nf3 Nc6 13. Rc1 Nde7 14. b4 Qh5
15. Qa4 Bb5 16. Qb3 Qd5 17. Qxd5 exd5 18. e3 Bxf1 19. Kxf1 Rc8 20. Ke2 f6 21.
b5 Na5 22. Rxc7 Rxc7 23. Bxc7 Kd7 24. Bg3 Rc8 25. Kd3 Nc4 26. Ra1 Nf5 27. Nh4
Nfd6 28. Bxd6 Nxd6 29. a4 Ne4 30. Ra2 Rc3+ 31. Ke2 Rc4 32. Kd3 Rc3+ 33. Ke2 Rb3
34. Kf3 Nc3 35. Ra1 Rb2 36. Nf5 Ne4 37. Ng3 Rxf2+ 38. Kg4 Rxg2 39. a5 Rxh2 40.
Nxe4 dxe4 41. axb6 axb6 42. Kf5 Rg2 43. Kxe4 Rg5 44. Ra7+ Kc8 45. d5 h5 46.
Ra8+ Kc7 47. Rh8 Kd6 48. Rd8+ Kc5 49. Rc8+ Kxb5 50. d6 Re5+ 51. Kd4 Re6 52. Kd5
Re5+ 53. Kd4 Re6 54. Kd5 Re5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM playoff"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2007.08.02"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Onischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A58"]
[WhiteElo "2650"]
[BlackElo "2710"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2007.08.02"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 120"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bxa6 7. Nf3 d6 8. g3
Bg7 9. Bg2 Nbd7 10. Qc2 Nb6 11. Nd2 Bb7 12. e4 Ba6 13. Bf1 Qc8 14. Bb5+ Bxb5
15. Nxb5 O-O 16. O-O Qh3 17. f3 Nh5 18. Rf2 f5 19. Nc4 Nxc4 20. Qxc4 fxe4 21.
Qxe4 Nf6 22. Qe6+ Qxe6 23. dxe6 Nd5 24. a4 Rfb8 25. Ra3 Nb6 26. b3 c4 27. bxc4
Nxc4 28. Raa2 Nb6 29. Rfc2 Rxa4 30. Bg5 Rxa2 31. Rxa2 Nd5 32. Na7 h6 33. Rd2
hxg5 34. Rxd5 Rb1+ 35. Kg2 Rb2+ 36. Kh3 Bf6 37. Nc6 Re2 38. Nd8 Kg7 39. Ra5 Bd4
40. Nf7 Rxe6 41. Nxg5 Re5 42. Rxe5 Bxe5 43. Kg4 Bb2 44. f4 Kf6 45. Ne4+ Kf7 46.
h4 d5 47. Nf2 Bd4 48. Nd3 Kf6 49. Kf3 e5 50. fxe5+ Bxe5 51. g4 Bd6 52. h5
1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM playoff"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2007.08.02"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Onischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2710"]
[BlackElo "2650"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2007.08.02"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 120"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Bc5 6. c3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. d3
O-O 9. Nbd2 Be6 10. Re1 Bb6 11. Nf1 Ng4 12. Re2 d5 13. exd5 Bxd5 14. Bxd5 Qxd5
15. h3 e4 16. Ne1 exd3 17. Qxd3 Qxd3 18. Nxd3 Rad8 19. hxg4 Rxd3 20. Be3 Re8
21. Rae1 h6 22. Bxb6 Rxe2 23. Rxe2 cxb6 24. Re8+ Kh7 25. Ra8 a5 26. Ra6 Ne5 27.
Rxb6 Nc4 28. Rxb5 Rd1 29. f3 Ne3 30. Kf2 Nxf1 31. Rxa5 Rb1 32. Rd5 Rxb2+ 33.
Kxf1 Rxa2 34. c4 Rc2 35. c5 f6 36. Ke1 Rxg2 37. Kd1 Ra2 38. c6 Ra8 39. c7 Rc8
40. Rd7 Kg6 41. Ke2 f5 42. Ke3 fxg4 43. fxg4 Kf6 44. Ke4 g6 45. Kd5 Kg5 46. Kd6
Kxg4 47. Rd8 Rxc7 48. Kxc7 h5 49. Rd4+ Kg3 50. Kd6 h4 51. Ke5 h3 52. Rd3+ Kg4
53. Rd2 Kg3 54. Kf6 h2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM playoff"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2007.08.02"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Onischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2650"]
[BlackElo "2710"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2007.08.02"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 120"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.10.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 c5 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4 6. g3 O-O 7. Bg2 d5 8.
cxd5 Nxd5 9. Bd2 Bxc3 10. bxc3 e5 11. Nb3 Nc6 12. O-O Nb6 13. Be3 Qc7 14. Qc2
Be6 15. Rfd1 Nc4 16. Bc5 Rfd8 17. Qe4 Rac8 18. f4 f5 19. Qf3 b6 20. Bf2 e4 21.
Qh5 Qf7 22. Qh4 Rxd1+ 23. Rxd1 Nb2 24. Rd6 Nc4 25. Rd1 Nb2 26. Rc1 Na4 27. Nd4
Nxd4 28. Bxd4 Bxa2 29. g4 Be6 30. Rd1 Nb2 31. Ra1 Nc4 32. gxf5 Bxf5 33. Qg5 h6
34. Qg3 Kh7 35. e3 Rc7 36. Kf2 Qg6 37. Qh4 Nb2 38. Bf1 Nd3+ 39. Bxd3 exd3 40.
Rg1 Qxg1+ 41. Kxg1 d2 42. Qh5 Bc2 0-1

[Event "Arctic Chess Challenge"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2007.08.04"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Larsen Hagen, Brede Andre"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B91"]
[WhiteElo "2034"]
[BlackElo "2710"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2007.08.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. g3 e5 7. Nde2 Be7 8. Bg2
Nbd7 9. O-O b5 10. h3 Bb7 11. g4 b4 12. Nd5 Nxd5 13. exd5 O-O 14. Ng3 Re8 15.
a3 a5 16. Be3 Qc7 17. Qd2 Nb6 18. b3 Bf8 19. Rfd1 bxa3 20. Rxa3 a4 21. Qb4 Qxc2
22. Rc1 Qb2 23. Rca1 Bxd5 24. Qxb6 Rab8 25. Qxb8 Rxb8 26. Bxd5 axb3 27. Ra7 Qc2
28. Rc1 Qg6 29. Bxf7+ Qxf7 30. Rxf7 Kxf7 31. Rb1 b2 32. Bd2 d5 33. Bc3 Rc8 34.
Bxb2 Rb8 35. Rd1 Rxb2 36. Rxd5 Ke6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Arctic Chess Challenge"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2007.08.05"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "De Firmian, Nick E"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A32"]
[WhiteElo "2710"]
[BlackElo "2540"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2007.08.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. g3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nc6 6. Bg2 Bc5 7. Nb3 Bb4+ 8.
Bd2 d5 9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. O-O O-O 11. Bxb4 Ncxb4 12. Qd2 Qb6 13. Na3 Nxa2 14. Nd4
Ndb4 15. Nf3 Rd8 16. Qf4 Bd7 17. Nc4 Qa6 18. Rfd1 f6 19. Rd6 Nc3 20. Re1 Ncd5
21. Qe4 Qb5 22. b3 Nc3 23. Qd4 Ncd5 24. Qd2 Qc5 25. e4 b5 26. exd5 exd5 27.
Rxd7 Rxd7 28. Nb2 Rc7 29. Nd3 Nxd3 30. Qxd3 Kh8 31. Nd4 a6 32. Qe2 Rcc8 33. Qg4
Re8 34. Ne6 Qe7 35. Bxd5 Rad8 36. Bc6 1-0

[Event "Arctic Chess Challenge"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2007.08.06"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Larsen, Karsten"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C68"]
[WhiteElo "2307"]
[BlackElo "2710"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2007.08.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Bd6 6. d4 exd4 7. Qxd4 f6 8.
Be3 Ne7 9. Nbd2 Be6 10. Rad1 Ng6 11. Nc4 Bxc4 12. Qxc4 Qe7 13. Rfe1 O-O-O 14.
Bd4 Rhe8 15. Bc3 Kb8 16. a4 Rd7 17. b3 Red8 18. g3 h5 19. h4 Qe8 20. Kg2 Re7
21. a5 Rdd7 22. Rd4 Nf8 23. Rd3 Ng6 24. Rde3 Ne5 25. Bxe5 Bxe5 26. Rd3 Bd6 27.
Rde3 Re6 28. c3 Rde7 29. Nd4 Re5 30. b4 Ka8 31. Nf5 Rd7 32. f4 Re6 33. Nd4 Ree7
34. Nf3 g5 35. hxg5 fxg5 36. Nxg5 Rg7 37. e5 Be7 38. Qe6 Qd8 39. Ne4 h4 40. g4
h3+ 41. Kh2 Bh4 42. R1e2 Rde7 43. Qf5 Rgf7 44. Qh5 Rh7 45. Qf5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Arctic Chess Challenge"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2007.08.07"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Stubberud, Ornulf A"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2710"]
[BlackElo "2231"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2007.08.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Nf3 Bb4+ 5. Nbd2 O-O 6. Bg2 dxc4 7. Qc2 Nc6 8.
Qxc4 Ne4 9. Qd3 Nxd2 10. Bxd2 Qe7 11. O-O Rd8 12. Bxb4 Nxb4 13. Qc4 Nd5 14.
Rac1 c6 15. Rfd1 Bd7 16. Ne5 Be8 17. Nd3 Nb6 18. Qc3 Nd7 19. Qa5 Qd6 20. e3 f6
21. b4 a6 22. Nc5 Nxc5 23. bxc5 Qe7 24. Rb1 Bg6 25. Rb4 Rd7 26. Rd2 Rc8 27. h4
Rcc7 28. Qa4 Bf7 29. Qd1 g6 30. Rbb2 Kg7 31. Rbc2 Rd8 32. Qa1 Rcd7 33. Bh3 Rd5
34. e4 R5d7 35. Qc3 Rc7 36. a3 Qf8 37. Rd3 Qe7 38. Re2 Rcd7 39. Ree3 Rc7 40. f4
Qf8 41. Re1 Kg8 42. Kh2 Re8 43. Rde3 Rce7 44. R1e2 e5 45. dxe5 fxe5 46. f5 Rd8
47. Rf3 Rd4 48. fxg6 hxg6 49. Ref2 Qe8 50. Qe3 Kg7 51. h5 1-0

[Event "Arctic Chess Challenge"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2007.08.08"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Agdestein, Simen"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2582"]
[BlackElo "2710"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2007.08.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 b5 6. cxb5 Bxb5 7. Nc3 Ba6 8. Bg2
d5 9. O-O Nbd7 10. Na4 Bb5 11. Nc3 Ba6 12. Na4 Rc8 13. Bd2 Be7 14. Ba5 O-O 15.
Rc1 Ne4 16. Nd2 Nd6 17. Nc5 Nxc5 18. dxc5 Nb7 19. Bb4 Qe8 20. a4 Rb8 21. Ba3
Na5 22. b4 Nc4 23. Nxc4 Bxc4 24. b5 a6 25. Rxc4 dxc4 26. Bc6 Qd8 27. Qc2 Qd4
28. Rd1 Qe5 29. bxa6 Rb3 30. a7 Rxa3 31. Qxc4 Rc3 32. Qa6 g6 33. a8=Q Rxa8 34.
Qxa8+ Kg7 35. Bf3 Bxc5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Arctic Chess Challenge"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2007.08.09"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Carlsen, Henrik"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D36"]
[WhiteElo "2710"]
[BlackElo "2089"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2007.08.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 c6 7. Qc2 h6 8. Bh4
O-O 9. Bd3 Re8 10. Nge2 Ne4 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 12. Bxe4 dxe4 13. Ng3 f5 14. O-O Na6
15. a3 Nc7 16. f3 exf3 17. Rxf3 f4 18. exf4 Bg4 19. Rff1 Rad8 20. f5 Rxd4 21.
Qf2 Qe3 22. h3 Rd2 23. Qxe3 Rxe3 24. Rf2 Rxg3 25. Rxd2 Bxf5 26. Re1 Kf7 27. Rf1
Kg6 28. Rd6+ Be6 29. Re1 Kf7 30. Ne4 Rg6 31. Nc5 b6 32. Rxc6 bxc5 33. Rxc7+ Kg8
34. Rc6 Rxg2+ 35. Kxg2 Bd5+ 36. Kg3 Bxc6 37. Rc1 1-0

[Event "Arctic Chess Challenge"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2007.08.10"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Burmakin, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "2581"]
[BlackElo "2710"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2007.08.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. b3 d4 5. Bg2 Nc6 6. O-O e5 7. d3 a5 8. e3 Be7
9. exd4 exd4 10. Na3 O-O 11. Nc2 Bf5 12. Re1 Qd7 13. Bb2 Bc5 14. Ne5 Nxe5 15.
Rxe5 Bd6 16. Re1 c5 17. Na3 Rae8 18. Qd2 b6 19. Nb5 Bb8 20. a3 Ng4 21. h3 Ne5
22. g4 Bg6 23. f4 Nxd3 24. Rxe8 Rxe8 25. f5 Bxf5 26. gxf5 Qxf5 27. Rd1 Re3 28.
Nxd4 cxd4 29. Bxd4 Rg3 30. Bf2 Rxh3 31. Bxh3 Qxh3 32. Bxb6 Bh2+ 33. Qxh2 Qg4+
34. Kh1 Qxd1+ 35. Bg1 h6 36. Qg2 Qe1 37. Qa8+ Kh7 38. Qf3 Ne5 39. Qf4 Ng6 40.
Qe3 Qf1 41. Kh2 f5 42. Bf2 a4 43. bxa4 Qxc4 44. a5 Qc7+ 45. Kg1 Qxa5 46. Qa7
Qd2 47. a4 Nf4 48. Qc5 Qd1+ 49. Kh2 Qg4 50. Bd4 0-1

[Event "Arctic Chess Challenge"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2007.08.11"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Lie, Kjetil A"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C56"]
[WhiteElo "2536"]
[BlackElo "2710"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2007.08.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. e5 Ng4 6. Qe2 Qe7 7. Bf4 f6 8.
exf6 Nxf6 9. Nbd2 d6 10. O-O-O Qxe2 11. Bxe2 Nh5 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bh4 g5 14. Nxd4
Nf4 15. Bb5 Bd7 16. Rhe1+ Be7 17. Bxc6 bxc6 18. Bg3 Nxg2 19. Re4 c5 20. Ne6
Bxe6 21. Rxe6 Nh4 22. Bxh4 gxh4 23. Re4 Rh7 24. Nf3 h3 25. Ng1 Kd7 26. Nxh3 Rf7
27. Rg1 Raf8 28. Rg6 Rf6 29. Rg3 d5 30. Rd3 Rf5 31. c4 d4 32. f4 Bd6 33. Rf3
Rh5 34. Kc2 Rg8 35. Kd3 Rg4 36. Nf2 Rgh4 37. h3 Rf5 38. Ng4 h5 39. Nf2 Rfxf4
40. Rfxf4 Bxf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Arctic Chess Challenge"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2007.08.12"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Epishin, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E16"]
[WhiteElo "2710"]
[BlackElo "2587"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2007.08.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 119 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.09.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.09.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 c5 6. Bxb4 cxb4 7. Bg2 Bb7 8.
O-O O-O 9. Qd3 Qc7 10. Nbd2 d6 11. e4 Nbd7 12. Ne1 a5 13. Nc2 e5 14. Ne3 exd4
15. Qxd4 Rae8 16. f3 Re5 17. Rfd1 Nc5 18. Ndf1 Ne8 19. Rac1 g6 20. Ng4 Ne6 21.
Qd2 Rc5 22. Nfe3 h5 23. Nf2 Qe7 24. a3 bxa3 25. bxa3 h4 26. Rb1 hxg3 27. hxg3
Rg5 28. Nf1 Qc7 29. f4 Rh5 30. Bf3 Rh7 31. Qb2 Nc5 32. Qxb6 f5 33. Qxc7 Rxc7
34. Nd2 Ng7 35. Rb6 g5 36. exf5 Bxf3 37. Nxf3 Nxf5 38. g4 Ne3 39. Rdxd6 Rxf4
40. Nxg5 Rxc4 41. Rg6+ Kf8 42. Rb8+ 1-0

[Event "NED-chT 0708"]
[Site "Netherlands"]
[Date "2008.05.17"]
[Round "9.1"]
[White "Werle, Jan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E29"]
[WhiteElo "2552"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2007.09.15"]
[EventType "team-tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2013"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.11.22"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.11.22"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Groningen Hotels"]
[BlackTeam "Hilversum HSG"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NED"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NED"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 c5 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 b6 8. Ne2
Nc6 9. e4 Ne8 10. O-O Ba6 11. f4 f5 12. e5 d6 13. d5 exd5 14. cxd5 Bxd3 15.
Qxd3 dxe5 16. fxe5 Nxe5 17. Qd1 Qd7 18. Bf4 Ng6 19. Qd3 Nf6 20. Rad1 Rae8 21.
Ng3 Nxf4 22. Rxf4 g6 23. h3 Re5 24. c4 Rfe8 25. Rf3 R8e7 26. Qc3 Ne8 27. d6
R7e6 28. Rfd3 Nf6 29. Qd2 Re8 30. a4 Qxa4 31. d7 Rd8 32. Qg5 Kf7 33. Rd6 Re6
34. Kh2 Rxd7 35. Nxf5 gxf5 36. Rxd7+ Nxd7 37. Qh5+ Ke7 38. Qxh7+ Kd8 39. Qh8+
Re8 0-1

[Event "EU-Cup 23rd"]
[Site "Kemer"]
[Date "2007.10.03"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Pruijssers, Roeland"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2408"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2007.10.03"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "TUR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 121"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Baden-Baden"]
[BlackTeam "Hagendoorn Homburg"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "GER"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NED"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nf1 Bf8 14. Ng3 g6 15.
b3 c6 16. Bg5 Bg7 17. Qd2 Qe7 18. a4 Qf8 19. Rad1 h6 20. Be3 Rad8 21. Qc1 Kh7
22. b4 Re6 23. Qb1 d5 24. dxe5 Nxe4 25. Bxe4 dxe4 26. Nxe4 Nxe5 27. Nfg5+ hxg5
28. Nxg5+ Kg8 29. Nxe6 Rxd1 30. Qxd1 fxe6 31. Bd4 Qd6 32. f4 Nc4 33. Bxg7 Kxg7
34. Qxd6 Nxd6 35. Rd1 Nc4 36. Rd7+ Kf6 37. axb5 Bc8 38. Rc7 Nd6 39. bxa6 Bxa6
40. Rxc6 1-0

[Event "EU-Cup 23rd"]
[Site "Kemer"]
[Date "2007.10.04"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Haba, Petr"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2525"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2007.10.03"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "TUR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 121"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Novy Bor"]
[BlackTeam "Baden-Baden"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "CZE"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GER"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 c6 6. Bc4 Nd7 7. Nxd7 Bxd7 8.
Qf3 e6 9. O-O Qf6 10. Qxf6 Nxf6 11. Nd2 c5 12. dxc5 Bxc5 13. Nf3 Rc8 14. Be2
Ke7 15. Ne5 Be8 16. c3 Nd7 17. Nd3 Bd6 18. Be3 Nc5 19. Nxc5 Bxc5 20. Bxc5+ Rxc5
21. Rfd1 Bc6 22. Rd2 Rd8 23. Rad1 Rxd2 24. Rxd2 Bd5 25. c4 Bc6 26. b4 Re5 27.
g3 Re4 28. Kf1 e5 29. Rc2 Bd7 30. Rc3 Be6 31. Re3 Rxe3 32. fxe3 a5 33. a3 axb4
34. axb4 b6 35. Kf2 Kd6 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-Cup 23rd"]
[Site "Kemer"]
[Date "2007.10.05"]
[Round "3.2"]
[White "Milov, Vadim"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A57"]
[WhiteElo "2680"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2007.10.03"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "TUR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 121"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Taldea Gros Xake"]
[BlackTeam "Baden-Baden"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ESP"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GER"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. Nf3 g6 5. cxb5 a6 6. b6 d6 7. Nc3 Qxb6 8. e4 Bg7
9. Nd2 Nbd7 10. a4 Qb4 11. Be2 Ne5 12. O-O O-O 13. Ra3 g5 14. Qc2 Bd7 15. b3 g4
16. Na2 Qb7 17. Nc4 Nxc4 18. Bxc4 Nh5 19. Bb2 Nf4 20. Bxg7 Kxg7 21. Nc1 Ng6 22.
Nd3 f6 23. Raa1 a5 24. f4 gxf3 25. gxf3 Ne5 26. Kh1 Nxc4 27. bxc4 Kh8 28. Rab1
Qc7 29. Rg1 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-Cup 23rd"]
[Site "Kemer"]
[Date "2007.10.06"]
[Round "4.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Almasi, Zoltan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2691"]
[PlyCount "163"]
[EventDate "2007.10.03"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "TUR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 121"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Baden-Baden"]
[BlackTeam "Sarajevo Bosna"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "GER"]
[BlackTeamCountry "BIH"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 b6 7. Nf3 Bb7 8.
e3 d6 9. Be2 Nbd7 10. O-O c5 11. b4 a5 12. Bb2 Qe7 13. Rfd1 Rfc8 14. dxc5 dxc5
15. b5 Rd8 16. Rd3 Be4 17. Rd2 Ne8 18. Rad1 f6 19. h3 Nf8 20. Nh2 Nd6 21. Nf1
Bb7 22. Ng3 Ne4 23. Nxe4 Bxe4 24. Bg4 Kf7 25. h4 Ke8 26. Bh5+ Ng6 27. f3 Bb7
28. Qc2 Kf7 29. Rd3 Qc7 30. Bc3 e5 31. Kf2 e4 32. fxe4 Ke7 33. Bxg6 hxg6 34. e5
fxe5 35. Rxd8 Rxd8 36. Rxd8 Qxd8 37. Qxg6 Qf8+ 38. Kg3 Qf6 39. Qh5 Kd6 40. Qe8
Be4 41. Qb8+ Kd7 42. Qxe5 Qxe5+ 43. Bxe5 g6 44. Bf6 a4 45. Be5 Bd3 46. Kf4 Bxc4
47. Kg5 Ke6 48. Bc7 Kf7 49. Bxb6 Bxb5 50. Bxc5 Bf1 51. g4 Bd3 52. Kf4 Ke6 53.
e4 Be2 54. Bd4 Bd1 55. Bh8 Be2 56. Kg5 Kf7 57. h5 gxh5 58. gxh5 Bf3 59. e5 Ke6
60. Bf6 Be4 61. Kf4 Bc2 62. h6 Kd5 63. Ke3 Bg6 64. Kd2 Ke6 65. Kc3 Kd7 66. Kb4
Bc2 67. Kb5 Ke6 68. Kc6 Bg6 69. Kc7 Bf5 70. Kd8 Kf7 71. Bg7 Bg6 72. Kd7 Bf5+
73. Kd6 Bg4 74. Bf6 Bf5 75. Bg5 Bg4 76. Bf4 Bf5 77. e6+ Bxe6 78. h7 Kg7 79.
Kxe6 Kxh7 80. Kd5 Kg6 81. Kc6 Kf5 82. Kd5 1-0

[Event "EU-Cup 23rd"]
[Site "Kemer"]
[Date "2007.10.07"]
[Round "5.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Cornette, Matthieu"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E01"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2494"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2007.10.03"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "TUR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 121"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Baden-Baden"]
[BlackTeam "Cannes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "GER"]
[BlackTeamCountry "FRA"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. g3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 d5 6. Bg2 e5 7. Nf3 e4 8. Nd4
dxc4 9. Qa4+ Bd7 10. Qxc4 Na6 11. O-O Rc8 12. Qb3 Nc5 13. Qd1 Be7 14. Nc3 O-O
15. Be3 Ng4 16. Bf4 e3 17. Bxe3 Nxe3 18. fxe3 Bg5 19. Nf5 Bxf5 20. Rxf5 Bxe3+
21. Kh1 g6 22. Rd5 Qf6 23. Rd6 Qe7 24. Qd5 Rfd8 25. Rd1 Rxd6 26. Qxd6 Qxd6 27.
Rxd6 Bg5 28. Bf3 Be7 29. Rd1 Kg7 30. Nd5 Bf8 31. Rc1 Rd8 32. Kg2 Ne6 33. Nc7
Bd6 34. Nxe6+ fxe6 35. Bxb7 Rb8 36. Ba6 Rxb2 37. Bc4 Kf6 38. Kf3 a5 39. a4 h5
40. Bb5 Rb3+ 41. Kg2 Bb4 42. Rc7 Rc3 43. Ra7 Rc2 44. Ra6 g5 45. Ra7 h4 46. gxh4
gxh4 47. Rh7 Be1 48. Rh6+ Ke7 49. Rg6 Rc3 50. Bd3 Ra3 51. Rg4 Bb4 52. Rxh4 Rxa4
53. Re4 Kf6 54. h4 Ra1 55. h5 Bd2 56. Rg4 Be3 57. Kf3 Rg1 58. Ra4 Bh6 59. Rxa5
Rg5 60. Rxg5 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-Cup 23rd"]
[Site "Kemer"]
[Date "2007.10.08"]
[Round "6.3"]
[White "Sutovsky, Emil"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B45"]
[WhiteElo "2656"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[Annotator "Avrukh,B"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2007.10.03"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "TUR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 121"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Ashdod"]
[BlackTeam "Baden-Baden"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ISR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GER"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. e5 Nd5 8.
Ne4 Bb7 9. Be2 c5 10. O-O Qc7 11. c4 $5 {Relatively speaking, a rare
continuation.} ({Much more popular is} 11. Nd6+) 11... Ne3 $1 {Definitely the
best reaction.} ({Very dangerous for Black} 11... Qxe5 12. cxd5 Qxe4 13. Bf3
$44) 12. Nd6+ {This is the idea behind White's 11th move.} ({Black has nothing
to worry about after} 12. Bxe3 Bxe4 $11) 12... Bxd6 13. exd6 Qc6 14. Bf3 Nxd1
15. Bxc6 Bxc6 16. Rxd1 {After a series of forced moves a very interesting
endgame has arisen. I don't believe Black has a serious problems to hold this
endgame. On the other hand White can play without any risk and it's Black who
requires to show an accurate defence.} Rb8 $146 {A new try, which seems to me
sufficient for the draw as well.} ({I believe the natural} 16... O-O 17. Be3
Rfc8 {is Black's best defence in this position} 18. Rd3 (18. Rac1 Rab8 19. Rd2
Be4 20. f3 Bg6 21. Rc3 Rb6 {and Black held quite easily in Shirov-Kramnik 2000}
) 18... a5 (18... Bb7 $5) 19. Rb3 a4 20. Rb6 Ra5 21. Re1 f6 22. f3 Kf7 23. Kf2
e5 $11 {1/2-1/2 Murdzia,P-Lindinger,M/Hamburg 2003/CBM 096 ext (32)}) 17. Rd3
a5 (17... O-O 18. Ra3 Rb7 19. Ra5 $16) 18. Rg3 Kf8 $4 {An incredible blunder
for a player of Magnus' level. Black simply loses the game in 1 move.} ({
Black should have played} 18... g6 {and I haven't manage to find a way for
White to pose Black serious problems, despite the weakening of the dark
squares,} 19. b3 (19. Bh6 Rg8 20. Bd2 a4 21. Bc3 f5 $11) (19. Rb3 O-O) (19. Bg5
f5 20. Bf6 O-O 21. Bc3 a4 $11) 19... O-O 20. Ba3 Rfc8 21. Re1 a4 22. Bxc5 axb3
23. axb3 Bxg2 24. b4 Bb7 25. Ra3 Ra8 26. Rea1 e5 {and Black holds.}) 19. Rb3 $1
$18 {Strangely enough White is winning after this move , since Black loses one
of his pawns on the queenside.} Rxb3 (19... Rc8 20. Be3 a4 21. Rb6 f6 22. Bxc5
Kf7 23. Be3 $18) 20. axb3 f6 21. Rxa5 Kf7 22. Be3 (22. Rxc5 $4 Ra8 $19) 22...
Rb8 ({The rook exchange doesn't help Black} 22... Ra8 23. Rxa8 Bxa8 24. f3 e5
25. Bxc5 Ke6 26. Kf2 g5 27. b4 f5 28. b5 f4 29. b6 e4 30. b4 h5 31. b5 $18 {
with an easy win.}) 23. Ra3 Be4 (23... e5 24. Bxc5 Ke6 25. b4 $18) 24. Bxc5 Bd3
25. Ba7 ({Things are not so easy after the natural} 25. f3 e5 26. Kf2 Ke6 27.
Ke3 Bf1 28. g3 (28. g4 f5 29. Ba7 Rb7 30. gxf5+ Kxf5 31. Kf2 Bd3 $16) 28... g5
29. Kd2 (29. Ba7 Rb7) 29... h5 30. Ba7 (30. Kc3 Be2 31. b4 Bxf3) 30... Rb7 31.
Ke1 Bd3 {and it's not so clear how White is going to improve his position.})
25... Rb4 ({White wins nicely after} 25... Rb7 26. c5 Rb5 (26... Be4 27. Bb6
$18) 27. f3 e5 28. b4 Bf5 29. Ra4 $1 (29. c6 dxc6 30. Bc5 Bd7 31. Ra8 {might
be not enough}) 29... Ke6 30. Bb6 Bc2 31. Ra7 Rxb4 32. c6 Rxb6 33. c7 Rc6 34.
Ra8 $18) 26. Bc5 Rb8 27. Ra7 {Finally Emil finds a very nice tactical solution.
} Ke8 28. Ba3 e5 ({Another important line runs} 28... Rxb3 29. Ra8+ Kf7 30. Rd8
Rb7 31. Rc8 $1 {[%cal Gc8c7]} (31. c5 Be4) 31... Be4 (31... e5 32. Rc7 (32. f3
Bf5 33. Rc7 Rb8 34. c5 $16) 32... Be4 33. f3 Rxc7 34. dxc7 Bb7 35. Bd6 Ke6 36.
c5 $18) 32. f3 (32. Rc7) 32... Bc6 33. b4 Ra7 34. b5 Bxb5 35. cxb5 Rxa3 36. Rc7
e5 37. Rxd7+ Ke6 38. Rxg7 Kxd6 39. Rxh7 Rb3 40. Rb7 $18) 29. f3 Rxb3 30. c5 $1
$18 Bb5 (30... Rb8 31. c6 dxc6 32. Rxg7 $18) 31. Rb7 Bc4 32. c6 $1 dxc6 33. d7+
Kd8 34. Bb4 $1 {The deciisve blow.} Rxb4 35. Rxb4 Bb5 36. f4 $6 {A small
inaccuracy ,which slightly complicates the matters.} ({White could have won on
the spot after} 36. Rb3 $142 Kxd7 37. Ra3 Ke7 38. Ra7+ Kf8 39. Rc7 $18) 36...
Kxd7 37. fxe5 fxe5 38. Rb3 $1 {Transferring the rook to c3 , where it will
prevent Black from moving the B from b5.} Ke6 39. Rc3 h5 40. Kf2 h4 41. Kf3 Kf5
42. Ke3 g6 43. Rc5 g5 44. b3 {Now Black's position is hopeless.} Bf1 45. Rc2
Bb5 46. Rc1 (46. Rf2+ Ke6 47. Rf8 $18) 46... g4 47. g3 (47. Ra1 $18) 47... hxg3
48. hxg3 Ke6 49. Ke4 {The rest is quite easy.} Kd6 50. Rd1+ Kc5 51. Re1 Kb4 52.
Re3 Bf1 53. Kxe5 Bg2 54. Rd3 Bf3 55. Kd6 Kb5 56. Rd4 Be2 57. Re4 Bf3 58. Rc4
1-0

[Event "EU-Cup 23rd"]
[Site "Kemer"]
[Date "2007.10.09"]
[Round "7.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Fressinet, Laurent"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2654"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2007.10.03"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "TUR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 121"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Baden-Baden"]
[BlackTeam "Clichy Echecs 92"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "GER"]
[BlackTeamCountry "FRA"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. a4
Rb8 9. Nbd2 d6 10. c3 Nd7 11. axb5 axb5 12. Re1 Bf6 13. Nf1 Nc5 14. Ba2 Bg4 15.
b4 Ne6 16. Ne3 Bxf3 17. Qxf3 Bg5 18. Bd5 Qd7 19. Nf5 Ne7 20. Nxg7 Nxd5 21. Nxe6
fxe6 22. Qg4 Nxc3 23. Bxg5 Kh8 24. Ra7 Qf7 25. Qh4 Rbc8 26. Be7 Qf4 27. Qxf4
Rxf4 28. Kf1 Na4 29. Rc1 Nb2 30. Ra3 Rg8 31. Rxc7 Nd1 32. Bxd6 1-0

[Event "World Cup blindfold"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2007.10.16"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2668"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2007.10.16"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 120 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. g3 Bb4 4. Bg2 O-O 5. e4 Bxc3 6. dxc3 d6 7. Qe2 a6 8. a4
a5 9. Nf3 Na6 10. O-O Nc5 11. Nd2 Be6 12. b3 Qd7 13. Rd1 Qc6 14. h3 Qb6 15. Rb1
Nfd7 16. Nf1 f5 17. exf5 Bxf5 18. Rb2 Kh8 19. Ne3 Be6 20. Nd5 Bxd5 21. cxd5 Qa7
22. Be3 Qb8 23. Qc2 Qe8 24. Re1 Qf7 25. b4 axb4 26. cxb4 Nxa4 27. Ra2 Nab6 28.
Rxa8 Nxa8 29. Ra1 Nf6 30. Ra7 Rb8 31. Qa2 Nb6 32. Bxb6 cxb6 33. Ra8 Qe8 34.
Rxb8 Qxb8 35. Qc4 Qd8 36. h4 Qd7 37. Qc2 g6 38. Qc3 Kg7 39. Qc4 Kf7 40. Kh2 Ne8
41. Bh3 Qc7 42. Qd3 Nf6 43. Be6+ Kg7 44. Qe3 b5 45. Qa7 Ne4 46. Qa8 Qe7 47. Kg2
Qf6 48. Qxb7+ Kh6 49. Qb6 g5 50. Qe3 Qg6 51. h5 Kxh5 52. Qf3+ Kh6 53. Bf5 Nd2
54. Qd3 Qf6 55. Bxh7 Nf3 56. Qxf3 Qxf3+ 57. Kxf3 Kxh7 58. g4 Kg6 59. Ke4
1/2-1/2

[Event "World Cup blindfold"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2007.10.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C09"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2668"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2007.10.16"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 120 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 Nc6 5. exd5 exd5 6. Bb5 Bd6 7. dxc5 Qe7+ 8.
Be2 Bxc5 9. Nb3 Bb6 10. O-O Nf6 11. Bb5 O-O 12. Re1 Qb4 13. Bxc6 bxc6 14. Be3
Bxe3 15. Rxe3 c5 16. Ne5 Qb6 17. c4 d4 18. Re2 Bf5 19. Nd3 Bg4 20. f3 Be6 21.
Rc1 Rfc8 22. g4 Nd7 23. Qe1 Nf8 24. Qg3 f6 25. Nd2 Bf7 26. f4 Re8 27. Rxe8 Rxe8
28. Re1 Rc8 29. b3 Qa5 30. Ne4 Qxa2 31. Ndxc5 Qa5 32. Nd3 Rd8 33. Qf2 Qb6 34.
Nec5 Qxb3 35. Nxb3 1-0

[Event "World Cup blindfold"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2007.10.17"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bu, Xiangzhi"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2692"]
[PlyCount "136"]
[EventDate "2007.10.16"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 120 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. f3
Be6 9. Qd2 O-O 10. O-O-O Nbd7 11. g4 b5 12. Rg1 b4 13. Na4 Qc7 14. Qxb4 Rfc8
15. Qd2 a5 16. g5 Nh5 17. Kb1 Rcb8 18. Nc1 Rb4 19. Nc3 Rab8 20. b3 Nb6 21. Ka1
d5 22. exd5 Nxd5 23. Nxd5 Bxd5 24. Be2 a4 25. Qxd5 Rd8 26. Qxd8+ Bxd8 27. Nd3
Rb8 28. Nc5 Be7 29. Rd7 Qa5 30. Ne4 axb3 31. cxb3 Ra8 32. Rd2 Bb4 33. Rc2 Nf4
34. Bc4 Nd5 35. Bxd5 Qxd5 36. Rgc1 h5 37. g6 fxg6 38. Ng5 Kf8 39. Bc5+ Bxc5 40.
Rxc5 Qd2 41. Rc8+ Rxc8 42. Rxc8+ Ke7 43. Rc7+ Ke8 44. Ne4 Qd1+ 45. Kb2 Qxf3 46.
Rc4 Qe2+ 47. Kc3 Qxa2 48. h4 Kd7 49. Ra4 Qe2 50. Rc4 Qe1+ 51. Kc2 Ke7 52. Ng5
Qf2+ 53. Kc3 Kd8 54. Re4 Kd7 55. Rc4 Qg3+ 56. Kc2 Qh2+ 57. Kc3 Kd6 58. b4 Qg3+
59. Kc2 Qf2+ 60. Kc3 Qe1+ 61. Kc2 Qa1 62. Kb3 Qd1+ 63. Kc3 Qb1 64. Nf7+ Kd5 65.
Rc5+ Ke6 66. Ng5+ Kd7 67. Rc4 Qf1 68. Ne4 Qf3+ 0-1

[Event "World Cup blindfold"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2007.10.17"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Bu, Xiangzhi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D12"]
[WhiteElo "2692"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2007.10.16"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 120 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. d4 d5 4. e3 Bf5 5. Bd3 Bxd3 6. Qxd3 e6 7. O-O Nbd7 8.
Nbd2 Be7 9. e4 dxe4 10. Nxe4 O-O 11. Bf4 Nxe4 12. Qxe4 Qa5 13. Rfd1 Rad8 14. h3
Rfe8 15. Qc2 Nf6 16. a3 Qh5 17. Ne5 Nd7 18. Nf3 Nf8 19. Bg3 Ng6 20. Rd3 Rd7 21.
Rad1 Red8 22. Qe2 Bf6 23. Qe4 h6 24. b4 a6 25. Bh2 Qf5 26. Qxf5 exf5 27. Kf1 f4
28. g3 fxg3 29. fxg3 b5 30. Rc1 Nf8 31. cxb5 cxb5 32. Rc6 Ne6 33. Bg1 Rd6 34.
Rxd6 Rxd6 35. Ke2 Nc7 36. Rc3 Ne6 37. Kd3 Bd8 38. Rc8 f6 39. Ke4 Nc7 40. g4 Rd7
41. Bh2 Nd5 42. Ra8 Kf7 43. Rxa6 Bb6 44. Ra8 Nc3+ 45. Kd3 Nd5 46. Ke4 Nc3+ 47.
Kd3 Nd5 48. Ke4 1/2-1/2

[Event "World Cup blindfold"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2007.10.18"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2694"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2007.10.16"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 121"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. d3 Ne7 6. Qe2 Qc7 7. Ng5 e5 8. f4
exf4 9. O-O Ng6 10. Qh5 d6 {Carlsen has done his homework and studied this
interesting line in some detail. We will have to wait till somebody decides to
test 10...Qe5!? with an unpleasant pin for the white queen.} (10... Bd6 11. g3
Ba6 $6 (11... fxg3 $1 12. Rxf7 gxh2+ 13. Kh1 Ba6 14. Nxh7 Kxf7 15. Qf5+ Ke8 16.
Qxg6+ Kd8 17. Qxg7 Be5 18. Nf6 Kc8 19. Qxh8+ Kb7 20. Qh6 Bxf6 21. Bf4 Qd8 22.
e5 Qg8 23. Nc3 Qg4 {0-1 Cornette,M (2482)-Palac,M (2571)/Dresden 2007 (27)})
12. gxf4 Rf8 13. e5 Be7 14. Nc3 O-O-O 15. Nge4 f5 16. Ng5 Bxg5 17. Qxg5 d6 18.
Be3 dxe5 19. fxe5 Qxe5 20. Rae1 $16 {1-0 Bologan,V (2679)-Lautier,J (2676)/
Reykjavik 2004 (46)}) (10... Qe5 $5 11. Bxf4 (11. Nd2 h6 12. Ndf3 Qf6 $13)
11... Qd4+ (11... Qxb2 12. Na3 Qd4+ (12... Qxa3 $2 13. Nxf7) 13. Kh1 h6 $13)
12. Kh1 Qf6 $1 13. e5 Qf5 14. Qf3 Nxf4 15. Qxf4 Qxf4 16. Rxf4 f6 $15) 11. Bxf4
Nxf4 $1 (11... h6 $6 12. Nxf7 $1 Qxf7 13. Bxd6 Qe6 14. Bxf8 Rxf8 15. Nd2 Bd7
16. Qxc5 Qe7 17. Rxf8+ Kxf8 18. Rf1+ Kg8 19. Qxe7 Nxe7 20. Nb3 Rd8 21. Nc5 {
1-0 Grischuk,A (2710)-Shirov,A (2720)/Moscow 2006 (51)}) (11... f6 12. Nf3 (12.
Nxh7 Qf7 13. Bg3 Be6 14. Nd2 O-O-O) 12... Qf7 13. Bg3 Ne5 14. Qxf7+ $14) 12.
Rxf4 g6 13. Qf3 (13. Qh4 $2 h6 $1 14. Nxf7 (14. Rf6 Be7 15. Rxf7 Bxg5 $19)
14... Rh7 $1 15. Qg3 g5 $1 16. Nxg5 hxg5 17. Qxg5 Qg7 $19) 13... Bg7 $1 (13...
Bh6 $2 14. Rxf7 Qa5 15. Nd2 (15. Nc3 Bxg5 16. Rf1 Be6 17. Rf6 $1 (17. e5 d5 18.
Rf6 $1 $16) 17... Kd7 18. Rxe6 $1 Raf8 (18... Kxe6 19. Qf7+) 19. Rxd6+ Kxd6 20.
Qg3+ $16) 15... Bxg5 (15... Qxd2 16. Qf6 Bxg5 17. Re7+ Kd8 18. Qxd6+ $18) 16.
Nc4 Qd8 17. e5 Bg4 (17... dxe5 18. Re1 Bf5 19. Nxe5 $18) 18. Qf2 dxe5 19. Re1
Bf5 20. Nxe5 $18) 14. Rxf7 (14. e5 $6 O-O $1 (14... Bxe5 $4 15. Rxf7 Qd8 16.
Qxc6+ $18) 15. exd6 Qd8 (15... Qxd6 16. Nd2 Qe5 $17) 16. Nxf7 Qe8 $1 $19) (14.
Nd2 $5 O-O 15. Rf1 f6 16. Nc4 Rb8 $15) 14... Bd4+ {Both young players must
have known some interesting analyses of this sharp position. Each move
required attention and exact calculation.} 15. Kh1 (15. Kf1 $5 Qd8 16. Nxh7 Bf5
$1 (16... Qh4 17. c3 Rxh7 18. Rxh7 Qxh7 19. cxd4 Qh6 20. Na3 Qxh2 21. Re1 $16)
17. Rf8+ Rxf8 18. Nxf8 Bg4 19. Qxg4 Qf6+ 20. Qf3 Qxf3+ 21. gxf3 Bxb2 $15) 15...
Qd8 $1 16. c3 (16. Rxh7 Rxh7 17. Nxh7 Bxb2 18. e5 Qe7 $3 19. Qxc6+ Kd8 20. Qxa8
Qxh7 $17) (16. Nd2 Qxg5 17. Nc4 Be5 18. Rf1 Be6 $17) (16. Nxh7 $5 Bf5 (16...
Bxb2 $2 17. Nc3 $1 Bxa1 (17... Bxc3 18. Rf1 Bf5 19. exf5 Kxf7 20. fxg6+ Kg7 21.
Qf7+ Kh6 22. Rf3 $18) 18. Rf8+ Rxf8 19. Qxf8+ Kd7 20. Qf7+ Qe7 21. Nf6+ Kd8 22.
Qg8+ Kc7 23. Ncd5+ cxd5 24. Nxd5+ Kd7 25. Nxe7 Kxe7 26. g4 $16) (16... Be6 $5
17. Rf8+ Rxf8 18. Qxf8+ Kd7 19. Qxd8+ Rxd8 20. Nc3 $14) (16... Qh4 $2 17. Rf8+
Rxf8 18. Qxf8+ Kd7 19. Nd2 $18) 17. Rxf5 gxf5 (17... Qe7 $2 18. Nf6+ Kd8 19.
Ng8 $1 Rxg8 20. Rf7 $16) 18. Qh5+ Kd7 19. Qxf5+ Kc7 20. Ng5 Rh6 $5 21. Nd2 Qg8
$15) 16... Be5 {After the game it seems, that White is the one playing with
fire. There is a strong suspicion, that Black could have tried for an
advantage with 16...Qxg5!?} (16... Qxg5 $5 17. cxd4 Qc1+ (17... Bf5 18. Nc3 $1
Kxf7 19. exf5 $44) 18. Qf1 Qxf1+ 19. Rxf1 cxd4 20. Nd2 Ba6 21. Nc4 Ke7 $17) 17.
Rg7 $2 (17. d4 $2 cxd4 18. cxd4 Bxd4 19. Rxh7 Rxh7 20. Nxh7 Qe7 $1 (20... Bxb2
$6 21. Nc3 $1 Bxa1 22. Qf8+ Kd7 23. Qf7+ Qe7 24. Nf6+ Kd8 25. Qg8+ Kc7 26.
Ncd5+ cxd5 27. Nxd5+ Kd7 28. Nxe7 Rb8 29. h4 Kxe7 $13) 21. Nd2 Qxh7 $19) (17.
h4 $1 h6 18. Rg7 $1 Rf8 (18... Qf6 19. Qxf6 Bxf6 20. Rxg6 $14) 19. Rf7 (19. Rg8
$5 Qe7 20. Rxf8+ Qxf8 21. Qxf8+ Kxf8 22. Nf3 Ba6 $11) 19... Rh8 $11) 17... Qf6
$1 {[%mdl 4] An extremely charming refutation of White's spirited attack, as
castling short on move 19 will create a mating attack!} (17... Qxg5 $2 18. Qf7+
Kd8 19. Qc7+ $11) (17... Rf8 $2 18. Rg8 $1 $16) 18. Qxf6 (18. Rxh7 Rxh7 19.
Nxh7 Qh4 (19... Qh8 $5 20. d4 cxd4 21. cxd4 Bxd4 22. Nd2 Qxh7 $17) 20. Qf8+ Kd7
21. Qf7+ Kd8 22. g3 Bxg3 23. Qf6+ Qxf6 24. Nxf6 Be5 25. Nh7 Rb8 $19) 18... Bxf6
19. Rxh7 O-O $1 20. Na3 (20. Rh6 $2 Bxg5 21. Rxg6+ Kh7 22. Rxg5 Rf1#) 20...
Bxg5 21. Rc7 Rf7 {Carlsen already had a pleasant choice. His only task is to
coordinate pieces and punish his unfortunate opponent.} (21... Ba6 22. Nc4 (22.
Rxc6 Bxd3 23. Rxd6 Bxe4 $19) 22... Bxc4 23. dxc4 Rf2 24. Rxc6 Raf8 $19) 22.
Rxc6 Bf4 $1 23. Nc4 Bd7 24. Ra6 (24. Rc7 $2 d5 $19) 24... Bb5 25. Ra5 Bxc4 26.
dxc4 Be5 27. Rd1 (27. Kg1 Raf8 28. Rb1 Rf2 29. Rxa7 Re2 $19) 27... Raf8 28. g3
Rf2 {Black is dominating the board and thus can play for a mating attack.} 29.
b4 (29. Rb5 Re2 $19) 29... Bxc3 30. Rxa7 Bd4 31. Rd7 Rxa2 32. bxc5 Rff2 $1 (
32... dxc5 33. Rb1 Bg7 (33... Rff2 34. Rb8+) 34. Kg1 Rc2 $19) 33. Rd8+ (33.
Rxd4 Rf1#) 33... Kg7 34. Rd7+ Kh6 0-1

[Event "World Cup blindfold"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2007.10.18"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D47"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2694"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2007.10.16"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 120 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3
Bb7 9. e4 b4 10. Na4 c5 11. e5 Nd5 12. O-O cxd4 13. Re1 g6 14. Bg5 Qa5 15. Nd2
Rc8 16. Nc4 Rxc4 17. Bxc4 Bg7 18. Rc1 Nxe5 19. Rxe5 Bxe5 20. Qe2 Nc7 21. Bh6
Bd6 22. Bb3 Qf5 23. Rd1 Ke7 24. Rxd4 Rd8 25. Rd1 Nd5 26. g4 Nf4 27. gxf5 Nxe2+
28. Kf1 Ba6 29. Ke1 gxf5 30. Be3 Ng1 31. f4 Nf3+ 32. Kf2 Nxh2 33. Bxa7 Ng4+ 34.
Ke1 h5 35. Nc5 Bc8 36. Bb6 Rh8 37. a4 bxa3 38. bxa3 h4 39. Ke2 h3 40. a4 h2 41.
Rh1 f6 42. a5 Kf7 0-1

[Event "World Cup blindfold"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2007.10.19"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Polgar, Judit"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2708"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2007.10.16"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 120 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. c3 d6 8. d4
Bb6 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bh4 O-O 11. Nbd2 exd4 12. Bd5 Bd7 13. Nxd4 Bxd4 14. cxd4 g5
15. Bxc6 Bxc6 16. d5 Bxd5 17. exd5 gxh4 18. Nf3 Re8 19. Qd2 Kg7 20. Rfe1 h3 21.
Nh4 Qd7 22. Qf4 Qg4 23. Nf5+ Kg6 24. Nh4+ Kg7 25. Nf5+ Kg6 26. Nh4+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "World Cup blindfold"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2007.10.19"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Polgar, Judit"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A32"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2708"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2007.10.16"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 121"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Qb6 6. g3 Bc5 7. e3 Nc6 8. Bg2
Nxd4 9. exd4 Bxd4 10. O-O O-O {Judit plays a dangerous line, but in the
critical position even avoids the main defence 10...e5 that has yet to be
refuted. White has a dangerous initiative for the pawn, but can he aspire to
more than the equality?} (10... a6 11. Na4 Qa7 12. Bf4 $1 d5 (12... e5 13. Bxe5
$1 Bxe5 14. Re1 O-O 15. Rxe5 d5 16. cxd5 b5 17. Nc3 b4 18. Na4 Bb7 19. Qd2 a5
20. b3 Rad8 21. Rd1 {1-0 Greenfeld,A (2549)-Rocius,M (2240)/Saint Vincent 2005
(25)}) 13. Bd6 $1 e5 (13... dxc4 14. Rc1) 14. c5 Bg4 15. Qd2 Rd8 16. Rae1 $16 {
Umansky-Schmittdiel/Absam 2002/}) (10... Bxc3 $6 11. bxc3 O-O 12. Ba3 $1 $14)
11. Bg5 $146 (11. Na4 Qd6 12. Bf4 $5 (12. Be3 Be5) 12... e5 13. Be3 Qb4 14.
Bxd4 exd4 15. b3 d5 16. a3 Qa5 17. cxd5 Nxd5 18. Qxd4 $14 {1-0 Bricard,E (2460)
-Olafsson,H (2270)/Reykjavik 1993 (52)}) 11... e5 12. c5 $5 {Carlsen is
uncorking a dangerous idea, that would be challenging enough without the
limitations of the blindfold game..} Qxc5 $6 (12... Qxb2 $6 13. Bxf6 Qxc3 14.
Rc1 $1 (14. Qg4 g6 15. Rac1 Qd2 $1) 14... Qb2 (14... Qb4 15. a3 $1) 15. Qg4 g6
16. Rc4 Qd2 17. Qh4 h5 (17... Re8 $2 18. Rc2 $1 $18) 18. Rxd4 Qxd4 (18... exd4
19. Bxd4 g5 (19... a5 20. Qf6 Qh6 21. Bd5 $16) 20. Qe4 $16) 19. Qg5 Kh7 20.
Bxe5 $5 f6 21. Bxd4 fxg5 22. Re1 Rf7 23. Bd5 Rg7 24. Re8 $18) (12... Bxc5 $5
13. Na4 Qa5 14. Bxf6 gxf6 15. Qg4+ Kh8 16. Qh4 Kg7 17. Be4 Rh8 18. Qg4+ Kf8 $13
) (12... Qe6 $6 13. Nb5 Qf5 14. Be3 $1 Bxe3 15. fxe3 Qg5 16. Qb3 $14) (12...
Qa6 13. Be3 (13. Rc1 d5 14. Bxf6 Qxf6 15. Nxd5 Qd8 $15) 13... Bxc3 14. bxc3 d5
15. cxd6 Rd8 $13) 13. Bxf6 gxf6 14. Nd5 (14. Qg4+ Kh8 15. Qh4 $1 Kg7 (15...
Bxc3 $2 16. Be4 $1 $18) 16. Be4 Rh8 17. Nd5 Qd6 18. Rad1 $1 h5 19. Rd3 $16)
14... d6 $2 {[%mdl 256] Polgar feels, that developing the bishop from c8 is
imperative, but unfortunately it is too slow. Suddenly the black queen is cut
off from the kingside and White will just win.} (14... f5 $1 15. Rc1 (15. Qh5
Qd6 16. Qxf5 Qh6 $13) 15... Qd6 16. Nc7 Rb8 17. Nb5 Qb4 18. Nxd4 exd4 19. Qh5
$40) 15. Qh5 Kg7 (15... f5 $2 16. Qg5+ Kh8 17. Qf6+ Kg8 18. Ne7#) 16. Be4 h6 (
16... Rh8 17. Qh4 $18) 17. Rac1 Bxf2+ (17... Qa5 18. Rxc8 Rfxc8 19. Qf5 Rg8 20.
Qxf6+ Kf8 21. Qxh6+ Ke8 22. Qxd6 $18) 18. Kg2 Qd4 19. Qh4 $1 {Black has
grabbed three pawns, but her position is completely hopeless.} f5 (19... Rg8
20. Qxf6+ Kf8 21. Qxd6+ Kg7 22. Qf6+ Kf8 23. Qxh6+ $18) 20. Qf6+ Kg8 (20... Kh7
21. Bxf5+ Bxf5 22. Qxf5+ Kg7 23. Nf6 $18) 21. Ne7+ Kh7 22. Bxf5+ Bxf5 23. Qxf5+
(23. Nxf5 Qe4+ 24. Kxf2 $18) 23... Kg7 24. Rxf2 e4 25. Rc4 $1 {Carlsen is
enjoying himself and tries to win with an impressive attack.} (25. Qh5 $18)
25... Qxc4 26. Qf6+ Kh7 27. Nf5 $1 1-0

[Event "World Cup blindfold"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2007.10.20"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2769"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2007.10.16"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 120 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Nc3 dxc4 6. Bg2 Nc6 7. a3 Be7 8. Qa4
O-O 9. Qxc4 e5 10. d5 Na5 11. Qa4 c6 12. b4 Nc4 13. dxc6 Qc7 14. O-O bxc6 15.
Nd2 Nxd2 16. Bxd2 Bd7 17. Qa6 Qb6 18. Qc4 Qd4 19. Qxd4 exd4 20. Na4 Nd5 21.
Rac1 Rfe8 22. Rfd1 Rad8 23. Bf3 Bf6 24. Nc5 Bc8 25. Ne4 Be5 26. Rxc6 h6 27.
Rdc1 Bb7 28. R6c2 Bc8 29. h4 Bd7 30. Rc5 Be6 31. Ra5 Bb8 32. Nc5 Bc8 33. Nd3
Nb6 34. Bf4 Bxf4 35. Nxf4 Re7 36. Nd5 Re5 37. Nxb6 Kf8 1-0

[Event "World Cup blindfold"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2007.10.20"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E17"]
[WhiteElo "2769"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2007.10.16"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 120 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Bf4 d5 8. Nc3
dxc4 9. Qa4 Nbd7 10. Qxc4 c5 11. Rfd1 cxd4 12. Qxd4 Nc5 13. Qe3 Qe8 14. Ne5
Bxg2 15. Kxg2 Rc8 16. Qf3 b5 17. Rac1 b4 18. Nb1 Nd5 19. Nd2 Qa4 20. Nec4 Nxf4+
21. gxf4 Rfd8 22. f5 exf5 23. Qxf5 g6 24. Qf3 Ne6 25. b3 Qb5 26. Ne4 Ng5 27.
Nxg5 Qxg5+ 28. Kf1 Kg7 29. e3 Qb5 30. h3 a5 31. Kg2 a4 32. Rxd8 Rxd8 33. Rd1
Rxd1 34. Qxd1 a3 35. Qd4+ Bf6 36. Qe4 Qd7 37. Qf3 Qd3 38. e4 Qd4 39. Qe3 Qd7
40. e5 Be7 41. Qe4 Qd1 42. e6 Qd8 43. exf7 Kxf7 44. Ne5+ Kf8 45. Qc4 Qe8 46.
Qe6 Kg7 47. Nc6 Kf8 48. Ne5 Kg7 49. Nc6 Kf8 50. Ne5 Kg7 51. Nc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bundesliga 0708"]
[Site "Germany"]
[Date "2008.02.09"]
[Round "8.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Jussupow, Artur"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D61"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2583"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2007.10.20"]
[EventType "team-tourn"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Baden-Baden"]
[BlackTeam "Solingen"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "GER"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GER"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. Qc2 Nbd7 7. e3 c5 8. Rd1
cxd4 9. Rxd4 h6 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Bxe7 Nxe7 12. Be2 Qc7 13. O-O Nb6 14. Rfd1
Bd7 15. Qe4 Bc6 16. Qe5 Rac8 17. e4 Ng6 18. Qxc7 Rxc7 19. h4 a6 20. a4 Rfc8 21.
g3 Be8 22. a5 Nc4 23. Rxc4 Rxc4 24. Bxc4 Rxc4 25. Rd8 Kf8 26. h5 Ne7 27. Ne5
1/2-1/2

[Event "Bundesliga 0708"]
[Site "Germany"]
[Date "2008.02.10"]
[Round "9.3"]
[White "Bartel, Mateusz"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2608"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2007.10.20"]
[EventType "team-tourn"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Wattenscheid"]
[BlackTeam "Baden-Baden"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "GER"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GER"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Bc4 Be7 5. Nd5 d6 6. d3 Nf6 7. Nxe7 Qxe7 8. c3
O-O 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bh4 a6 11. O-O Be6 12. Bxe6 Qxe6 13. Re1 Rac8 14. Nd2 Nd7 15.
Nc4 b5 16. Ne3 Nb6 17. Nf5 Kh7 18. Qh5 f6 19. Re3 Ne7 20. Nxe7 Qxe7 21. Bg3 Qf7
22. Qf5+ Qg6 23. Qxg6+ Kxg6 24. f4 Rfe8 25. Rd1 Kh7 26. Re2 a5 27. d4 exd4 28.
cxd4 c4 29. f5 c3 30. bxc3 Na4 31. Rde1 Nxc3 32. Rc2 d5 33. exd5 Nxd5 34. Rc5
Rxc5 35. dxc5 Rc8 36. Bf2 b4 37. Bd4 Nc3 38. Re7 Kg8 39. Kf2 Nxa2 40. Ke3 Nc1
41. Re6 Nb3 42. Ra6 Re8+ 43. Re6 Kf7 0-1

[Event "EU-chT (Men) 16th"]
[Site "Heraklion"]
[Date "2007.10.28"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Shirov, Alexei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2007.10.28"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 121"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Spain"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ESP"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. c3 Nge7 5. d4 cxd4 6. cxd4 d5 7. Nc3 dxe4 8.
Nxe4 Nf5 9. O-O Be7 10. Bxc6+ bxc6 11. Be3 O-O 12. Rc1 f6 13. Re1 Rb8 14. b3
Qd5 15. Bf4 Rb4 16. a3 Rb7 17. b4 Rd8 18. Nc5 Bxc5 19. Rxc5 Qd7 20. Qc2 Ne7 21.
Be3 Rb5 22. Nd2 Rxc5 23. Qxc5 Nf5 24. Nb3 Qd5 25. Qxd5 cxd5 26. Rc1 Nd6 27. Rc5
Bd7 28. Bf4 Nc4 29. Rc7 Nxa3 30. Nc5 Bc8 31. Rxa7 Nb5 32. Ra8 Kf7 33. Be3 e5
34. dxe5 fxe5 35. Rb8 Nd6 36. b5 d4 37. Bc1 Re8 38. b6 Bb7 39. Rxe8 Kxe8 40. f4
e4 41. Nxb7 Nxb7 42. Bb2 d3 43. Kf2 g6 44. g4 Kd7 45. f5 gxf5 46. gxf5 Nd6 47.
f6 Ke6 48. Bd4 Kf7 49. Ke1 Ke6 50. Kd1 Nb7 51. Kd2 Nd6 52. Kd1 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-chT (Men) 16th"]
[Site "Heraklion"]
[Date "2007.10.29"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Jones, Richard S"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B80"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2327"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2007.10.28"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 121"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Wales"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "WLS"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. f3 b5 8. Qd2
b4 9. Na4 Nbd7 10. c4 bxc3 11. Nxc3 Bb7 12. Be2 d5 13. exd5 Nxd5 14. Nxd5 Bxd5
15. Rc1 Qb8 16. a3 Bd6 17. Nf5 O-O 18. Nxd6 Qxd6 19. O-O Rfd8 20. Rfd1 Qb8 21.
Qd4 Ne5 22. b4 Nc6 23. Qb6 Qxb6 24. Bxb6 Rdc8 25. Rc3 Kf8 26. Rdc1 Ke8 27. b5
Rab8 28. Bd4 axb5 29. Bxg7 b4 30. axb4 Rxb4 31. Ba6 Ra8 32. Bd3 Nd4 33. Bf6 h6
34. Rc7 Rb3 35. Rd1 Nb5 36. Bxb5+ Rxb5 37. Rdc1 h5 38. Re7+ Kf8 39. Rcc7 e5 40.
Rxe5 Rb2 41. Rc1 1-0

[Event "EU-chT (Men) 16th"]
[Site "Heraklion"]
[Date "2007.10.30"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Stefansson, Hannes"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D43"]
[WhiteElo "2574"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2007.10.28"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 121"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Iceland"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ISL"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e3 Nd7 8. Bd3
dxc4 9. Bxc4 g6 10. O-O Bg7 11. b4 O-O 12. a4 e5 13. a5 exd4 14. exd4 Rd8 15.
Re1 Nf8 16. Qb3 Be6 17. Rad1 Bxc4 18. Qxc4 Ne6 19. Ne5 Qf5 20. Nxf7 Kxf7 21.
Re3 Bxd4 22. Rf3 Qxf3 23. gxf3 Bxc3 24. Rxd8 Rxd8 25. f4 Rd4 0-1

[Event "EU-chT (Men) 16th"]
[Site "Heraklion"]
[Date "2007.10.31"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bacrot, Etienne"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2695"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2007.10.28"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 121"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "France"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "FRA"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4
b4 9. d3 d6 10. Nbd2 Be6 11. Bxe6 fxe6 12. c3 Rb8 13. Nf1 bxc3 14. bxc3 Na5 15.
Ra2 c5 16. d4 exd4 17. cxd4 Nb3 18. dxc5 Nxc5 19. Ng3 Rb1 20. Qc2 Qb8 21. Rb2
Rxb2 22. Bxb2 Qb4 23. Bd4 Nfd7 24. Ra1 Rxf3 25. Bxc5 Rc3 26. Bxb4 Rxc2 27. Kf1
Kf7 28. f3 Ne5 29. Ne2 Nc4 30. Rc1 Rxc1+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-chT (Men) 16th"]
[Site "Heraklion"]
[Date "2007.11.01"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Kulaots, Kaido"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2547"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2007.10.28"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 121"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Estonia"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "EST"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Bd7 10. b3 Kc8 11. Bb2 h6 12. Rad1 a5 13. Rd3 Be7 14. h3
Nh4 15. Nd4 c5 16. Ndb5 Ra6 17. Nd5 Bd8 18. a4 Bf5 19. Rg3 Rg6 20. Ne3 Be6 21.
Rxg6 fxg6 22. Nc3 Nf5 23. Ncd5 Bg5 24. f4 Bh4 25. g4 Ng3 26. Rf2 Ne4 27. Re2
Rf8 28. Kg2 c6 29. Nb6+ Kc7 30. Nbc4 Rxf4 31. Nxa5 Ng5 32. Nac4 Rf3 33. Ba3 b5
34. Nd2 Rg3+ 35. Kf1 Nxh3 36. Ng2 b4 37. Bb2 Rxg4 0-1

[Event "EU-chT (Men) 16th"]
[Site "Heraklion"]
[Date "2007.11.03"]
[Round "6.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Tiviakov, Sergei"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E17"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2643"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2007.10.28"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 121"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Netherlands"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NED"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. Nc3 Na6 7. O-O O-O 8. Bf4
Ne4 9. Re1 d5 10. cxd5 exd5 11. Rc1 c5 12. dxc5 Bxc5 13. e3 Nxc3 14. bxc3 Qe7
15. Nd4 Rad8 16. h4 Rfe8 17. Bf1 Ba3 18. Rc2 Nc5 19. Nb5 Ne6 20. Be5 Bc6 21.
Nxa3 Qxa3 22. Qg4 Qa4 23. Qxa4 Bxa4 24. Rd2 Nc5 25. Bd4 Rc8 26. Rb2 Rc7 27. Rb4
Bc2 28. c4 Nd3 29. Bxd3 Bxd3 30. cxd5 Rd7 31. Rc1 Rxd5 32. Ra4 Rd7 33. g4 h6
34. f3 Kh7 35. Kf2 Ree7 36. Ra3 Bb5 37. Rac3 Rd8 38. Kg3 f6 39. f4 h5 40. g5
Kg6 41. Rb1 Rd5 42. Rc8 Be8 43. Rbc1 f5 44. Rb8 Rd6 45. Rcc8 Rde6 46. Be5 Kf7
47. Rd8 Kg6 48. Kf2 Kf7 49. e4 Kg6 50. Bd6 Rd7 51. Rxd7 Bxd7 52. e5 Bc6 53. Rc8
Be8 54. Ra8 Bf7 55. Rxa7 Re8 56. a3 Bd5 57. Ke3 b5 58. Kd4 Bg2 59. e6 Rxe6 60.
Be5 Kh7 61. Rxg7+ Kh8 62. Re7+ 1-0

[Event "EU-chT (Men) 16th"]
[Site "Heraklion"]
[Date "2007.11.04"]
[Round "7.1"]
[White "Sutovsky, Emil"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2655"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "171"]
[EventDate "2007.10.28"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 121"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Israel"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ISR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Be3 Bxe3 7. fxe3 Qe7
8. O-O Ng4 9. Qd2 f6 10. Nh4 g6 11. Nc3 Bd7 12. Rf3 f5 13. g3 Nf6 14. exf5 g5
15. Ng2 e4 16. Nxe4 Nxe4 17. dxe4 O-O-O 18. Qa5 Qxe4 19. Qxa7 Bxf5 20. Raf1 Bh3
21. Qa8+ Kd7 22. Qa3 Kc8 23. Qa8+ Kd7 24. Rf7+ Ke8 25. Rf8+ Rxf8 26. Rxf8+ Kxf8
27. Qxd8+ Kf7 28. Qd2 Ke8 29. Ne1 Qc4 30. Qd3 Qb4 31. Nf3 Qxb2 32. Nxg5 Qa1+
33. Kf2 Qf6+ 34. Nf3 Bf5 35. Qd4 Qf7 36. Qh8+ Ke7 37. Qe5+ Kd7 38. Qd4+ Ke8 39.
Qh8+ Ke7 40. Qe5+ Kd7 41. Qf4 Qd5 42. c4 Qa5 43. a3 Bg6 44. Qd4+ Ke6 45. Qg7
Qa4 46. g4 Qc2+ 47. Kg3 Qc1 48. Ng5+ Kd6 49. Qd4+ Ke7 50. Qe5+ Kd7 51. Qd4+ Ke7
52. Qc5+ Kd7 53. Nf3 b6 54. Qd4+ Kc8 55. a4 c5 56. Qf4 Bc2 57. h4 Bxa4 58. h5
Bc6 59. g5 Qh1 60. Qg4+ Bd7 61. Qh4 Qb1 62. g6 hxg6 63. h6 g5 64. Qxg5 Bf5 65.
Qg8+ Kb7 66. Qd5+ Kb8 67. Kf4 Bh7 68. Qd8+ Kb7 69. Qd5+ Kb8 70. e4 Qh1 71. Qd8+
Kb7 72. Qd5+ Kb8 73. Qd8+ Kb7 74. Qd5+ Kb8 75. Qe6 Qc1+ 76. Kg4 Qc2 77. Kf4
Qc1+ 78. Kg4 Qc2 79. Ng5 Qe2+ 80. Kh4 Qf2+ 81. Kh5 Qe2+ 82. Kh4 Qe1+ 83. Kh5
Qe2+ 84. Kh4 Qe1+ 85. Kg4 Qe2+ 86. Kh4 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-chT (Men) 16th"]
[Site "Heraklion"]
[Date "2007.11.05"]
[Round "8.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Djukic, Nikola"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2528"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2007.10.28"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 121"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Montenegro"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "MNE"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 Nf6 7. Nc3 Nd7 8.
Be3 e5 9. Qd2 Qe7 10. Bh6 f6 11. Bxg7 Qxg7 12. a3 Nf8 13. b4 Ne6 14. O-O O-O
15. Ne2 a5 16. bxc5 Nxc5 17. Qc3 Qe7 18. a4 Be6 19. Rfb1 Rfb8 20. Nd2 Nd7 21.
Nf1 Qc5 22. Qd2 b5 23. d4 exd4 24. Nxd4 Bc4 25. Ne3 Ne5 26. axb5 Rd8 27. Rxa5
Rxa5 28. Qxa5 Rxd4 29. Qa8+ Qf8 30. Qxf8+ Kxf8 31. b6 Nd7 32. b7 Be6 33. b8=Q+
Nxb8 34. Rxb8+ Ke7 35. f3 Rd7 36. h4 Kd6 37. Kf2 Ke5 38. Re8 Kd6 39. Kg3 Bf7
40. Rh8 Be6 41. Kf4 h5 42. g4 hxg4 43. Nxg4 Bxg4 44. fxg4 Rg7 45. Rh6 Kc5 46.
e5 g5+ 47. hxg5 fxe5+ 48. Kxe5 Rxg5+ 49. Kf4 Rg8 50. g5 Kd5 51. g6 Ke6 52. Kg5
1-0

[Event "EU-chT (Men) 16th"]
[Site "Heraklion"]
[Date "2007.11.06"]
[Round "9.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanisevic, Ivan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2607"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2007.10.28"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 121"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Serbia"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "YEM"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 Bb4+ 6. Nbd2 b5 7. a4 c6 8. Qc2
Bb7 9. O-O O-O 10. e4 Nbd7 11. e5 Nd5 12. Ne4 h6 13. Bd2 a5 14. b3 cxb3 15.
Qxb3 bxa4 16. Rxa4 Ba6 17. Rc1 Bb5 18. Raa1 Be7 19. g4 Bb4 20. Bxb4 axb4 21. g5
Nf4 22. gxh6 gxh6 23. Rxa8 Qxa8 24. Qe3 Ne2+ 25. Kh1 Qa3 26. Re1 Qxe3 27. fxe3
Ra8 28. Bf1 Nc3 29. Nfd2 Ra2 30. Bxb5 cxb5 31. Kg1 Kf8 32. Kf1 Ke7 33. Rc1 f5
34. exf6+ Nxf6 35. Nxf6 Rxd2 36. Ng4 Nd5 37. Rb1 h5 38. Ne5 Nxe3+ 39. Ke1 Rxh2
40. Rb3 Nc2+ 41. Kd1 Kd6 42. Nf3 Rf2 0-1

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.10"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E05"]
[WhiteElo "2785"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2007.11.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. d4 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. Qxc4
b5 9. Qc2 Bb7 10. Bd2 Bd6 {The newest trend of fashion.} 11. Bg5 {Finally,
this move gets tested at the top level.} (11. Rd1 {was played in the recent
games Gelfand,B (2733)-Anand,V (2792)/Mexico City 2007/CBM 120/[Marin,M] (1/
2-1/2, 20) and Georgiev,K (2649)-Onischuk,A (2674)/Kemer 2007/CBM 121/[Marin,M]
(1-0, 71)}) 11... Nbd7 12. Nbd2 Rc8 {The most logical sequence of moves. Both
sides keep developing, concentrating their attention on the critical c5-square.
} 13. Nb3 (13. Bxf6 Nxf6 14. Nb3 Be4 (14... c5) 15. Qc3 Qe7 16. Rac1 Nd7 {
Bauer,C (2571)-Bologan,V (2652)/Belfort 2002/CBM 090 (0-1, 40)}) 13... c5 ({
Since White's intention is to capture on f6 at some moment anyway, it does not
make too much sense to play} 13... h6 {Hansen,C-Petersen,S/DEN-chT corr 1990/
Corr Nr. 1 (1-0, 24)}) 14. Bxf6 Nxf6 $1 {The only favourable way to capture
the bishop.} ({After} 14... Qxf6 $6 15. Ne5 $1 cxd4 16. Nxd7 $16 {a draw was
agreed in 1/2-1/2 Hoffmann,M (2440)-Braun,P (2215)/Bad Wiessee 1998/EXT 2001.
From White's point of view, this was at least premature.} Qd8 17. Nbc5 Bxg2 18.
Nxf8 Bxf1 19. Qxh7+ Kxf8 20. Nb7 Qd7 21. Nxd6 Rc6 22. Nxf7 Kxf7 23. Kxf1 $16) (
14... gxf6 $6 15. Ng5 fxg5 16. Bxb7 $16) 15. Nxc5 ({Given the final result and
that I have failed to find a significant improvement for White after this move,
} 15. dxc5 {deserves to be investigated. Black would win his pawn back with}
Ne4 {, but White would have a relatively wide choice of continuations, aiming
to simplify to a (hopefully) minimally better ending. Only further practice (a
Kramnik game?!) will shed some light. Here is just an illustrative attempt.}
16. Rad1 Nxc5 17. Nxc5 Bxf3 $1 (17... Rxc5 18. Qxc5 Bxc5 19. Rxd8 Rxd8 20. Ne5
$5 (20. Rc1 Be7 21. Ne5 Rc8 $1 $11) 20... Bxg2 21. Kxg2 $14 {[%cal Gf1c1,Ge5d3]
} Rd2 $2 22. Rc1 Bf8 23. Nd3 $1 {[%csl Gd2]} Rxe2 24. Kf3 Rd2 25. Ke3 $18) 18.
Bxf3 Rxc5 $11 {White's advantage is of a purely aesthetic nature. His bishop
looks more active than its rival, but there is no clear target available.})
15... Be4 16. Qc3 ({After} 16. Qb3 Bxc5 17. dxc5 Rxc5 18. Qe3 {, Black is in
time to neutralize White's plan to occupy the c-file with} Qc7 19. Rac1 Rc8 $11
) 16... e5 17. e3 (17. b4 {fails to maintain the extra pawn.} exd4 18. Qxd4 (
18. Nxd4 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 Bxc5 20. bxc5 Qd5+) 18... Bxc5 19. bxc5 Qxd4 20. Nxd4
Rxc5 $11) ({White does not get sufficient compensation for the queen after} 17.
Nxe5 Bxg2 18. Kxg2 Bxe5 19. dxe5 Ne4 20. Nxe4 Rxc3 21. Nxc3 b4 $15 {and the
knight has no good squares to retreat.}) 17... Bxc5 $1 $146 (17... Nd5 $6 {
allows White to maintain his minimal material advantage.} 18. Qa3 exd4 19. exd4
b4 20. Qxa6 Bxc5 21. dxc5 Rxc5 22. Rad1 $16 {Jostes,M-Hummeling,H/IECC email
1998/E-Mail 2000 (1/2-1/2, 80)}) 18. dxc5 Qd5 $44 {Judging from the high speed
of his play, Carlsen had analyzed all these moves at home. Untypically for him,
Kramnik was taking his time to answer. Black's pressure along the h1-a8
diagonal, combined with the weakness induced by e3 offers him excellent
compensation for the pawn.} 19. Rad1 Qa8 (19... Qxc5 $6 20. Qxe5 $1) (19... Qb7
{is slightly more natural, but has equal merit. After 27...Qc8 play would
transpose to the game continuation.}) 20. Nh4 Bxg2 21. Nxg2 Ne4 22. Qxe5 Rxc5
23. Qd4 Rc4 24. Qd3 (24. Qd5 Rc2 25. f3 Qxd5 26. Rxd5 Nd2 27. Ne1 Rxb2 28. Rf2
Rb1 $5 (28... Nc4 29. Rxb2 Nxb2 30. Nc2 {leads to a similar position as in the
aforementioned Georgiev,K (2649)-Onischuk,A (2674)/Kemer 2007/CBM 121/[Marin,M]
(1-0, 71). White's superior activity offer him chances for an advantage.}) 29.
Rfxd2 Rxe1+ 30. Kf2 Rh1 31. Kg2 Rc1 $11 {In the absence of pawns, the position
is just equal.}) 24... Ng5 25. b3 {Before attacking the knight to h4, White
needs to drive the enemy rook away from the fourth rank.} (25. h4 $2 Nf3+ 26.
Kh1 Qc8 27. Nf4 $2 (27. Qd7 Rc2) 27... Rxf4 $1) 25... Rc5 26. h4 Nf3+ 27. Kh1
Qc8 28. Nf4 (28. Qd7 Qxd7 29. Rxd7 Rc2 $44) 28... Qg4 29. Qd7 Rf5 {Black's
concentration of forces starts looking threatening. An interesting tactical
phase starts now.} 30. Rd5 Rxf4 31. exf4 f5 $1 32. Qe6+ $5 {Kramnik plays "to
the audience".} (32. Kg2 Nxh4+ 33. Kg1 $11 {would have led to an immediate
draw, without further complications.}) 32... Kh8 33. Qxf5 $1 Qxf5 34. Rxf5 Rxf5
35. Rd1 g5 $5 {Carlsen also loves beauty in chess.} ({The trivial} 35... h5 {
would have been entirely satisfactory as well, for instance} 36. Kg2 Nxh4+ 37.
gxh4 Rxf4 38. Rd6 $11) 36. hxg5 Nxg5 37. fxg5 Rxf2 38. a4 bxa4 39. bxa4 Ra2 40.
Rd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.11"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Alekseev, Evgeny V"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2716"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2007.11.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
Nxd5 exd5 9. Be2 Bb4+ $1 {An important move, that lures the white knight on to
the lesser square d2.} 10. Nd2 Nf6 11. O-O Bd6 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bh4 c6 14. Qc2
Re8 (14... g6 15. f3 Bf5 16. e4 g5 17. Bf2 Bg6 18. Bd3 dxe4 19. fxe4 Ng4 20.
Nf3 Nxf2 21. Rxf2 Bf4 22. Kh1 Be3 23. Re2 Bxd4 24. e5 Bxd3 25. Qxd3 c5 26. e6
Bg7 27. Qc4 {1/2 Tregubov,P (2609)-Gonzalez Garcia,J (2541)/Merida 2007}) 15.
Rab1 g6 16. Bxf6 $6 {The eternal optimism of youth! The exchange of the bishop
for the knight f6 is typical for this pawn structure, but usually White has
more minor pieces left supporting the queenside attack.} (16. Bd3 Kg7 17. Bg3
Bxg3 18. hxg3 $11) 16... Qxf6 17. b4 a6 18. a4 h5 19. b5 (19. Bd3 Kg7 20. Qc3
h4 21. h3 Bc7 $15) 19... Bf5 20. Bd3 Bxd3 21. Qxd3 cxb5 $1 {Brave, but
absolutely the correct solution. The passed pawn on the a-file is strong and
the d5 weakness defendable.} (21... axb5 22. axb5 Ra3 23. Rb3 Rea8 24. Nf3 $11)
22. axb5 a5 23. Qb3 Qf5 (23... a4 $2 24. Qxd5 Qe7 25. Nc4 $14) 24. Qa4 Rec8 (
24... Qd3 25. Nf3 (25. Rfd1 Rec8 26. b6 Qc2 27. Qd7 Qc6 28. Qxc6 Rxc6 29. e4
$15) 25... Qc4 26. Qxc4 dxc4 27. Rfc1 Rec8 28. e4 a4 $15) 25. b6 Qc2 26. Nb3 $1
{Carlsen deserves full praise for composing his mind enough for the difficult
defensive task.} (26. Qxc2 Rxc2 27. Nb3 a4 $17) 26... Qc6 (26... Qc4 $5 27. Qa1
(27. Ra1 $6 Qxa4 28. Rxa4 Bb4 29. Rfa1 Rc4 30. g3 Bc3 31. R1a2 Rxa4 32. Rxa4
Ra6 $17) 27... Qa6 (27... a4 28. Rfc1 axb3 29. Rxc4 dxc4 30. Qc3 Ra2 31. g3 Bf8
$15) 28. Qa4 Rc6 29. g3 Bb4 (29... Qc4 30. Qa1 Rxb6 31. Rfc1 Qe2 32. Nc5 $13)
30. Rfc1 Rxb6 31. Nc5 Bxc5 32. dxc5 Rxb1 33. Rxb1 Qc6 $17) 27. Qa1 Bb4 (27...
a4 28. Rfc1 Bxh2+ 29. Kxh2 Qd6+ 30. Kg1 axb3 31. Rxc8+ Rxc8 32. Rxb3 Rc2 $15)
28. Nc5 $5 Qxb6 (28... Bxc5 29. dxc5 a4 (29... Qxc5 30. Rfc1 Qd6 31. Rxc8+ Rxc8
32. Qxa5 $11) 30. Rfc1 Re8 31. Qa3 Re4 $17) 29. Nd3 Qd6 {Alekseev must have
been satisfied with the progress he has made. A better position and an extra
pawn promise him fair winning chances.} 30. Qa2 Ra6 31. g3 Rc3 32. Rb3 $1 (32.
Nf4 Rc4 33. Qa4 Qc6 $17) 32... Rxb3 33. Qxb3 Rc6 34. Qa4 (34. Nf4 Rc4 35. Ra1
Qc6 $17) 34... Kg7 (34... Rc4 35. Nxb4 axb4 36. Qa8+ Kg7 37. Qxb7 $15) 35. Rb1
{[%mdl 256] Amazingly enough White has managed to organize his resistance on
the queenside so flexibly, that Black will find it very challenging to make
progress.} Rc4 (35... Rb6 36. Rc1 f6 37. Rc8 Rc6 38. Ra8 $15) 36. Ne5 Rc7 (
36... Rc3 37. Qb5 Rc7 38. Qa4 $1 (38. Kg2 f6 39. Nd3 Qc6 40. Qxc6 bxc6 $17)
38... f6 39. Nd3 $14) 37. Nd3 Qc6 38. Qa2 {White's queen has to stay on the
board to create tension against the black pawns.} (38. Qxc6 bxc6 $17) 38... Qb5
(38... Qc4 39. Nxb4 axb4 40. Qa5 $11) 39. Qb3 Rc6 (39... Rc4 40. Ne5 Rc7 41.
Nd3) 40. Kg2 (40. Nxb4 axb4 41. Qxb4 $2 Rc1+ $19) 40... Qc4 41. Qd1 {White is
not dreaming about activity, as his defensive set up is ideal.} (41. Nxb4 Qxb3
42. Rxb3 Rb6 43. Rc3 axb4 44. Rb3 Kf6 $17) 41... Qb5 (41... Rb6 42. Ne5 Qa2 43.
Nd3 Rf6 44. Rb2) 42. Qb3 Rc4 43. Ne5 Rc7 44. Nd3 Rc4 45. Ne5 Rc7 {Frustrating
for Alekseev, but ideas for improvement are simply lacking.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.12"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Jakovenko, Dmitrij"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2710"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2007.11.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 {I hadn't seen Jakovenko play this before,
so I was somewhat surprised. I soon remembered that Grischuk played this way
against Gelfand in the World championship, so Jakovenko had to be well
prepared for the main lines with c5. Anyway I decided to follow my preparation.
Dies hatte ich bei Jakovenko zuvor noch nicht gesehen, daher war ich etwas
überrascht. Bald fiel mir ein, dass Grischuk bei der Weltmeisterschaft gegen
Gelfand auch so gespielt hatte, also musste Jakovenko für die Hauptabspiele
mit c5 gut gewappnet sein. Trotzdem beschloss ich, meiner Vorbereitung zu
folgen.} c5 5. g3 cxd4 6. Nxd4 O-O 7. Bg2 d5 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. Qb3 Qa5 10. Bd2
Nc6 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. O-O Bxc3 13. bxc3 Ba6 14. Rfd1 Qc5 (14... Rab8 15. c4 Qc5
16. cxd5 Rxb3 17. axb3 {and bzw.}) (14... Bxe2 15. c4 {are both known to give
White relatively risk-free pressure. gibt Weiß bekanntlich relativ
risikofreien Druck.}) 15. e4 Bc4 16. Qa4 Nb6 17. Qb4 Qh5 18. Bf4 c5 (18... Be2
19. Re1 c5 20. Qb3 e5 21. Bc1 {was the Grischuk-Gelfand game, where White
developed some pressure. war die Grischuk-Gelfand-Partie, wo Weiß einigen
Druck entwickelte.}) 19. Qb2 (19. Qa5 {was Cheparinov-Carlsen from the World
cup. This game was played only a little more than 3 weeks later (but still in
Russia!). After playing a few more moves relatively quickly I realised that
there was an embarrassing flaw in my preparations, after which I had to defend
an endgame a pawn down, which I luckily managed to do. The former game
continued war Cheparinov-Carlsen aus dem World Cup. Diese Partie fand nur
etwas mehr als 3 Wochen später statt (aber noch immer in Russland!). Nachdem
ich relativ schnell ein paar Züge gemacht hatte, dämmerte mir, dass meine
Vorbereitungen ein peinliches Loch hatten, wonach ich ein Endspiel mit
Minusbauern verteidigen musste, was mir glücklicherweise gelang. Weiter ging
es mit} e5 20. Be3 Be2 21. Re1 Nc4 22. Qa6 Nxe3 23. Rxe2 Nxg2 24. Kxg2 {
The position is quite symmetrical, but the black pawns are weaker than the
white ones, and one of them is bound to fall fairly soon, which did indeed
happen in the game. Die Stellung ist ziemlich symmetrisch, aber die schwarzen
Bauern sind schwächer als die weißen, und einer von ihnen muss ziemlich bald
fallen, was auch tatsächlich in der Partie geschah.}) 19... Rad8 {This appears
to be a novelty. I had indeed prepared the move at home, but it's probably the
most natural move anyway, so I guessed that Jakovenko had taken it into
account Dies scheint eine Neuerung zu sein. Tatsächlich hatte ich den Zug zu
Hause vorbereitet, aber es wahrscheinlich sowieso die natürlichste Fortsetzung,
daher vermutete ich, dass Jakovenko ihn auf dem Zettel hatte.} 20. Re1 {
He spend some time for this move, which was a surprise for me. Anyway I
couldn't remember what to do against it anyway, so I think we were both on our
own from now on Für diesen Zug brauchte er einige Bedenkzeit, was mich
überraschte. Wie dem auch sei, ich konnte mich sowieso nicht mehr daran
erinnern, was dagegen zu tun war, also denke ich, von jetzt an waren wir beide
auf uns allein gestellt.} (20. Rxd8 Rxd8 21. h3 {and und}) (20. f3 {were two
of the most important alternatives. waren zwei der wichtigsten Alternativen.})
20... Rd7 {I liked this move, which prepares the doubling of the rooks, while
at the same time protecting the a-pawn, enabling me to meet Qa3 with Rc8.
Apparently, Black has no problems here.  Dieser Zug gefiel mir - er bereitet
die Turmverdopplung vor und deckt gleichzeitig den a-Bauern, was mir
ermöglicht, Qa3 mit Rc8 zu begegnen. Offenbar hat Schwarz keine Probleme hier.}
21. h3 {A natural move, giving the king some air and preparing g4 in some
lines. Ein natürlicher Zug, dem König wird etwas Luft verschafft und in
manchen Abspielen g4 vorbereitet.} h6 {I decided to make a useful waiting move,
since Ich beschloss, einen nützlichen Wartezug zu machen, denn} (21... Rfd8 22.
Qa3 {isn't really desirable; the rook will have to go to c8 anyway. ist nicht
wirklich wünschenswert; der Turm wird sowieso nach c8 gehen müssen.}) 22. a4 {
My opponent probably felt that since he didn't have many useful moves he had
to do something active. Da er nicht viele nützliche Züge hatte, glaubte mein
Gegner vermutlich, etwas Aktives unternehmen zu müssen.} Ba6 $1 {I have to
make space for the knight. I like this move better than Bd3, as the bishop
seemed to be a little loose there in some lines.  Ich muss Platz für den
Springer machen. Dieser Zug gefällt mir besser als Bd3, denn dort schien der
Läufer in manchen Varianten etwas in der Luft zu hängen.} 23. Qa2 {The
sharpest move, but probably not the best one, as Black seems to benefit from
the coming complications. I think my opponent offered a draw here (or maybe on
the next move), but since I was ahead on time and liked my position, I
declined Der schärfste Zug, aber wahrscheinlich nicht der beste, da die
kommenden Komplikationen Schwarz zu begünstigen scheinen. Ich glaube, hier 
(oder im nächsten Zug) bot mein Gegner Remis an, aber da ich in der Bedenkzeit
vorn lag und mir meine Stellung gefiel, lehnte ich ab.} (23. g4 Qh4 24. Red1 {
was safer and probably better, but Black is certainly not worse in any case.
war sicherer und womöglich besser, aber so oder so steht Schwarz bestimmt
nicht schlechter.}) 23... Rfd8 24. a5 Nc4 25. Bf1 (25. e5 {This move,
preventing e5, was an important alternative, I would then have had to play the
energetic Dieser Zug, der e5 verhindert, war eine wichtige Alternative; darauf
hätte ich das energische} g5 $1 26. g4 (26. Bc1 $2 Rd1 27. Ba3 Rxe1+ 28. Rxe1
Rd1 29. Rxd1 Qxd1+ 30. Kh2 Qa4 $19) 26... Qg6 27. Be4 Qg7 28. Bg3 Nd2 {with
very active play and probably the better chances. spielen müssen, mit sehr
aktivem Spiel und wahrscheinlich den besseren Chancen.}) 25... e5 26. g4 {
Practically forced as Praktisch erzwungen, denn} (26. Bc1 Rd1 27. g4 Rxe1 $1
28. gxh5 Rdd1 {is disastrous for White. ist katastrophal für Weiß.}) 26... Qg6
27. Bxc4 exf4 $1 (27... Bxc4 28. Qxc4 exf4 29. Qxc5 Rd3 {with good counterplay
for the pawn was possible, but rather drawish-looking. I wanted more at this
point. mit gutem Gegenspiel für den Bauern war möglich, sah aber ziemlich
remislich aus. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt wollte ich mehr.}) 28. Bd5 {The logical
follow-up. Die logische Folge.} f3 {The key move. Black is just in time to
prevent White from playing c4 with the better position. h6-h5 is a big threat
now.  Der Schlüsselzug. Schwarz kommt gerade rechtzeitig, um Weiß daran zu
hindern, c4 mit besserer Stellung zu spielen. Jetzt ist h6-h5 eine schwere
Drohung.} 29. c4 $2 {White simply doesn't have time for this. Dazu hat Weiß
einfach keine Zeit.} (29. Re3 Be2 30. Rxe2 fxe2 31. Qxe2 Rb8 {is not very
pleasant for White, but it does give him reasonable chances for survival due
to his strong bishop. ist nicht sonderlich angenehm für Weiß, gibt ihm
angesichts seines starken Läufers aber doch ordentliche Überlebenschancen.})
29... h5 30. Kh2 Qf6 $1 {Threathening Qf4 in some lines, and quite importantly,
attacking the apparently well protected a1-rook.  Droht in einigen Abspielen
Qf4 und greift, ganz wichtig, den scheinbar gut gedeckten Turm a1 an.} 31. Rg1
hxg4 32. Rab1 $2 {The final mistake. White had to try Der letzte Fehler.
Versuchen musste Weiß} (32. Rxg4 Bxc4 33. Qxc4 $1 (33. Bxc4 Rd2 34. Qa4 (34.
Qa3 Rxf2+ 35. Kg1 Qd4 $19) 34... Rxf2+ 35. Kg1 Rfd2 $1 {with the lethal
threats of Qd4+ and Qe5-h2. mit den tödlichen Drohungen Qd4+ und Qe5-h2.} (
35... Qd4 $4 36. Bxf7+ $1 $18)) 33... Qxa1 34. Qxc5 {with some saving chances.
mit einigen Rettungschancen.}) (32. Rac1 Qf4+ 33. Kh1 Qh6 $1 {was certainly
not better than the game. war bestimmt nicht besser als die Partie.}) 32...
Bxc4 $1 {I guess my opponent missed this stroke, which combines a couple of
tactical motifs.  Ich schätze, diesen Schlag, der einige taktische Motive
miteinander kombiniert, hatte mein Gegner übersehen.} 33. Qxc4 Qf4+ 34. Rg3
Rxd5 35. Qxd5 Rxd5 36. exd5 c4 {The simplest. White has such bad coordination
that it's hard to stop the c-pawn.  Am einfachsten. Weiß hat eine derart
schlechte Koordination, dass es schwer ist, den c-Bauern aufzuhalten.} 37. Rd1
{A desperate attempt. But White was lost anyway. Ein verzweifelter Versuch.
Aber Weiß war sowieso verloren.} c3 38. d6 c2 39. Rd3 Qc4 (39... c1=Q 40. d7
Qc2 41. d8=Q+ Kh7 42. Qh4+ Qh6 {would also have won, but I tried to be precise
till the end. hätte ebenfalls gewonnen, aber ich versuchte, bis zum Ende genau
zu spielen.}) 40. Re3 Qc6 (40... c1=Q 41. d7 Qd2 {was quicker, but the text is
more than sufficient. ging schneller, aber der Textzug ist mehr als
ausreichend.}) 41. Rd3 Qc5 $1 {And since 42.Rd2 c1=Q would attack the white
rook White has no sensible way to protect f2, so he resigned. My only victory
in the Tal memorial so far, but a very pleasing one! Und da 42.Rd2 c1=Q den
weißen Turm angreifen würde, hat Weiß keine vernünftige Möglichkeit, f2 zu
decken, daher gab er auf. Mein einziger Sieg im Tal Memorial bislang, aber ein
sehr angenehmer!} 0-1

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.13"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B09"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2752"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "2007.11.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. f4 Bg7 5. Nf3 c5 6. Bb5+ Bd7 7. Bxd7+ Nbxd7 8.
e5 Nh5 9. exd6 O-O 10. O-O exd6 11. Be3 Re8 12. Qd2 Nhf6 13. Kh1 Nb6 14. b3
Nbd5 15. Nxd5 Nxd5 16. Bg1 Nf6 17. Rae1 Qd7 18. dxc5 dxc5 19. Qxd7 Nxd7 20.
Rxe8+ Rxe8 21. Rd1 Re7 22. Bf2 b6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.14"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2787"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "185"]
[EventDate "2007.11.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 Bg5 12. Nc2 O-O 13. a4 bxa4 14. Rxa4 a5
15. Bc4 Kh8 16. O-O Rb8 17. b3 f5 18. exf5 Bxf5 19. Qe2 Bg6 20. Rd1 e4 21. Nd4
Nxd4 22. Rxd4 Rb7 23. Qe1 Rbf7 24. Ra2 h5 25. Ne3 Rf4 26. Rd5 Bh6 27. Rdxa5
Rxf2 28. Rxf2 Rxf2 29. Qxf2 Bxe3 30. Rxh5+ Bxh5 31. Qxe3 d5 32. Bf1 Be8 33. b4
Qb8 34. Be2 Kg8 35. h3 Bb5 36. Bg4 Bc4 37. Be6+ Kh7 38. Qf2 Qd8 39. Qf7 Kh6 40.
Qf4+ Kh7 41. Qe5 g6 42. Bg4 Qb6+ 43. Qd4 Qd6 44. Qa7+ Kh6 45. Qe3+ Kh7 46. h4
Kg7 47. h5 gxh5 48. Bxh5 Qe7 49. Bg4 Kg6 50. Bc8 Qc7 51. Be6 Qd6 52. Bh3 Qc7
53. Kf2 Qf7+ 54. Ke1 Qf1+ 55. Kd2 Kh7 56. Qa7+ Kg6 57. Qb6+ Kh7 58. Qe3 Bb3 59.
Qg3 Bc4 60. Bg4 Qf6 61. Qe3 Qf1 62. Qh3+ Kg7 63. Qg3 Kf8 64. Bh5 Qf6 65. Qe3
Qf1 66. Qh6+ Kg8 67. Qg6+ Kf8 68. Ke3 d4+ 69. cxd4 Qd3+ 70. Kf4 Qxd4 71. Qe8+
Kg7 72. Qe7+ Kg8 73. Qg5+ Kh8 74. Qh6+ Kg8 75. Qg5+ Kh8 76. Qc5 Qd2+ 77. Kf5
Qh6 78. Qe5+ Kh7 79. Kxe4 Qc1 80. Qd6 Qc2+ 81. Kd4 Bf1 82. Qe7+ Kh6 83. Qf8+
Kxh5 84. Qxf1 Qb2+ 85. Kc4 Qa2+ 86. Kc5 Qa7+ 87. Kb5 Qd7+ 88. Kc4 Qe6+ 89. Kc3
Qe5+ 90. Kc2 Qe4+ 91. Kb3 Qe3+ 92. Kb2 Qd2+ 93. Ka3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.16"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Shirov, Alexei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C83"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2007.11.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. Nbd2 Be7 10. c3 O-O 11. Re1 {Recently, this half-forgotten move has
come back to top level tournaments.} ({In the last few years, the discussion
has been mainly around the following line:} 11. Bc2 f5 12. Nb3 Qd7 13. Nbd4
Nxd4 14. Nxd4 c5 15. Nxe6 Qxe6 16. f3 Ng5 {Black has achieved reasonable
practical results.}) 11... Nc5 12. Nd4 (12. Bc2 {is a normal alternative, but
then Black can push} d4 {with good chances to equalise.}) 12... Nxd4 {In my
opinion, this exchange is a strategical concession, because it helps White to
strenghten his centre and get an open c-file at his disposal. Black, for his
part, is counting on a pair of bishops in the long run. Still, the alternative
12...Qd7 seems to me a more flexible continuation.} (12... Qd7 13. Bc2 Bg4 14.
f3 Bh5 15. Nf5 $6 {White should keep up the blockade on d4.} (15. N2b3 {
looks much more solid.}) 15... Bg6 16. g4 $6 {Consequently continuing the
dubious idea.} d4 $1 {A typical strike in the centre.} 17. cxd4 Bxf5 18. Bxf5
Qxd4+ 19. Kg2 Nxe5 20. Nb3 Qxd1 21. Rxd1 Na4 $17 {1/2-1/2 Shirov,A (2739)
-Ivanchuk,V (2787)/Moscow 2007/EXT 2008 (53)}) 13. cxd4 Nd3 (13... Nxb3 14.
Nxb3 {Now, Black is not able to make the c7-c5 thrust. The Pc7 will be weak
forever.} a5 15. Qc2 Qd7 16. Bd2 Bf5 17. Nc5 Bxc2 18. Nxd7 Rfd8 19. Rac1 Bf5
20. Nc5 {with a stable advantage for White. 1-0 Svidler,P (2732)-Sutovsky,E 
(2655)/Crete 2007/CBM 121 (62)}) 14. Re3 Nxc1 15. Rxc1 c5 $1 {Without this
strike Black won't get out of the pressure. On the other hand, the whole line
seems to be in White's favour.} (15... Rc8 $6 16. Rc6 Qd7 17. Rec3 {with
strong pressure along the c-file.}) 16. dxc5 Rc8 17. Rec3 $6 $146 {In the
previous games White achieved a pleasant advantage by the prosaic 17.Rd3.} (17.
Rd3 Qc7 (17... Rxc5 18. Rxc5 Bxc5 19. Ne4 Ba7 20. Bxd5 Qh4 21. g3 Qh3 22. Bxe6
Qxe6 23. Rd5 $16 {1/2-1/2 Luther,T (2575)-De Vreugt,D (2504)/Santo Domingo
2003/CBM 097 ext (61)}) 18. Bxd5 Bxc5 19. Nb3 Qb6 20. Nxc5 Rxc5 21. Rxc5 Qxc5
22. h3 $16 {0-1 Geller,E-Suetin,A/Moscow 1950/URS-ch (35)}) 17... b4 (17... d4
18. Rd3 Rxc5 19. Bxe6 fxe6 20. Nf3 $14) 18. R3c2 $1 {Shirov is ready to
sacrifice an exchange.} Bf5 19. c6 Bxc2 20. Rxc2 {In this position White has
more than enough compensation for the exchange. His passed Pc6 is very strong.
Soon, the knight will be transfered to an ideal blockading square d4.} Qa5 (
20... Qb6 21. Ba4 $14 {and White keeps his strong passed pawn.} (21. Bxd5 $6
Qd4 22. Bf3 Qxe5 {helps Black to achieve central and open lines for his major
pieces.})) ({But, Black could still be pretty much in the game after} 20... d4
$1 21. e6 d3 22. exf7+ Kh8) 21. Nf3 Rfd8 22. Nd4 g6 23. e6 $1 {Everything is
ready for an attack on the light squares.} Bf6 24. exf7+ Kxf7 25. h4 $6 {
Making 'luft' for the king secures White from getting mated along the back
rank, but actually this is a waste of time.} (25. Qg4 Re8 26. Qd7+ Kg8 27. Re2
$1 (27. Bxd5+ $2 Kh8 {[%csl Rd4,Re1]}) 27... Red8 28. Qe6+ Kg7 29. Qg4 Kf7 30.
Ne6 Rxc6 31. Nxd8+ Qxd8 32. Qxb4 Rc1+ 33. Re1 Qb6 34. Qd2 Rxe1+ 35. Qxe1 Bxb2
36. Bxd5+ Kf8 {Black might hold this endgame with accurate defence, counting
on the opposite coloured bishops.}) 25... Qb6 26. Rd2 Rd6 $2 {Carlsen
definitely missed Shirov's reply. It was necessary to eliminate the knight.} (
26... Bxd4 27. Rxd4 Rxc6 28. Rxd5 Ke7 $1 {An important defensive resourse. The
Steinitz principle is working! The king is able to defend himself in the
centre. Black keeps the balance.} 29. Qe1+ Re6 30. Re5 Rxe5 31. Qxe5+ Kd7 32.
Qg7+ Kc8 33. Qxh7 Rf8 34. Qe7 Qxf2+ 35. Kh2 Qf4+ 36. Kh3 Qf5+ $11) {[%tqu "En",
"Black's last move was a mistake. How can White exploit it?","","","d4f5",
"Such tactical punches are meat and drink to Shirov!",10]} 27. Nf5 $1 {[%mdl
64] Such tactical punches are meat and drink to Shirov!} Rdxc6 (27... gxf5 28.
Rxd5 Rxd5 29. Qxd5+ Kg7 30. Qf7+ Kh6 31. Qxf6+ Kh5 32. Bd1# {The point of 27.
Nf5.}) 28. Bxd5+ (28. Rxd5 $2 Kf8 $1) 28... Kf8 29. Bxc6 Rxc6 (29... Qxc6 30.
Rd6 $18 {[%csl Rc6,Rf6]}) 30. Ne3 Bxh4 31. Qf3+ Rf6 $2 {This move leaves the
bishop totally misplaced on h4 and loses outright.} ({It was still possible to
put up very stubborn resistance after} 31... Bf6 32. Ng4 Re6 33. Rd7 Qc6 34.
Rf7+ Kxf7 35. Ne5+ Rxe5 36. Qxc6 Re6) 32. Qa8+ Kg7 33. Qe4 {[%csl Rh4][%cal
Ge4e7]} b3 {Desperation, but there is nothing else he can do.} 34. axb3 (34.
axb3 Bg5 35. Qe7+ Kh6 36. Ng4+ $18) 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.17"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A20"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2007.11.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. O-O Be7 7. d4 e4 8. Ne5
f5 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Nc3 O-O 11. f3 exf3 12. exf3 Bf6 13. Re1 Rb8 14. f4 Rb4 15.
Nxd5 cxd5 16. Be3 Rxb2 17. Qa4 a6 18. Rab1 Rxb1 19. Rxb1 Qd6 20. Rc1 Bd7 21.
Qa5 Bb5 22. Qxc7 Qxc7 23. Rxc7 Bc4 24. Rc5 Bxa2 25. Bxd5+ Bxd5 26. Rxd5 Ra8 27.
Rxf5 a5 28. Rc5 a4 29. Rc2 a3 30. Ra2 Kf7 31. f5 g6 32. fxg6+ hxg6 33. Kg2 Ke6
34. Bc1 Be7 35. h4 Kd5 36. g4 Kc4 37. g5 Kxd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.18"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Leko, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C68"]
[WhiteElo "2755"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2007.11.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Qf6 6. d4 exd4 7. Bg5 Qd6 8.
Nxd4 Be7 9. Bxe7 Nxe7 10. Nc3 Bd7 11. Nb3 Qxd1 12. Raxd1 b6 13. Rd2 O-O-O 14.
Rfd1 c5 15. Nd5 Nxd5 16. Rxd5 f5 17. exf5 Bxf5 18. Rxd8+ Rxd8 19. Rxd8+ Kxd8
20. c3 Be6 21. Kf1 a5 22. Nc1 Kd7 23. Ke2 Kc6 24. Kd2 a4 25. a3 Kd5 26. Nd3 Kc4
27. Ne5+ Kd5 28. Nd3 Kc4 29. Ne5+ Kd5 30. Nd3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.19"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C90"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2007.11.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4
b4 9. d3 d6 10. Nbd2 Rb8 11. c3 Bg4 12. h3 Bh5 13. g4 Bg6 14. Nh4 Kh8 15. Bc4
d5 16. Nxg6+ fxg6 17. exd5 Nxd5 18. Ne4 bxc3 19. bxc3 Na5 20. Ba2 c6 21. Be3
Nb7 22. Rb1 Nxe3 23. Rxe3 Nc5 24. Rxb8 Qxb8 25. Nxc5 Bxc5 26. Rf3 a5 27. Kg2
Rf6 28. Qe2 Qf8 29. Qe4 Rxf3 30. Qxf3 Qf6 31. Bf7 Ba3 32. Be8 Bb2 33. c4 c5 34.
Bf7 e4 35. dxe4 Be5 36. Bd5 Qxf3+ 37. Kxf3 g5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.21"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 c6 6. Be2 Bf5 7. g4 Be6 8. c4
Nc7 9. Rg1 Nd7 10. Nf3 g6 11. Nc3 Bg7 12. Be3 O-O 13. Qd2 b5 14. cxb5 cxb5 15.
Nxb5 Nxb5 16. Bxb5 Bd5 17. Be2 Rc8 18. b3 Nf6 19. Ne5 Ne4 20. Qb2 e6 21. g5 Qd6
22. h4 Nc3 23. Rg3 Nxe2 24. Kxe2 Rc7 25. Rc1 Qa6+ 26. Ke1 Rfc8 27. Rxc7 Rxc7
28. Bf4 Bf8 29. Ng4 Bb4+ 30. Bd2 Bd6 31. Rc3 Bg2 32. Ne3 Bf3 33. Nc4 Bd5 34.
Nxd6 Qxd6 35. Rxc7 Qxc7 36. Qa3 Qh2 37. Be3 Qh1+ 38. Kd2 Qb1 39. Qxa7 Qb2+ 40.
Kd3 Qb1+ 41. Kc3 Qe1+ 42. Kb2 Qe2+ 43. Ka3 Kg7 44. Bf4 Qb5 45. Be5+ Kf8 46.
Qc5+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.21"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kasimdzhanov, Rustam"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E63"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. d4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O Nc6 7. Nc3 a6 8. Qd3
Nb4 9. Qd2 Nc6 10. b3 Rb8 11. d5 Na7 12. Bb2 b5 13. cxb5 axb5 14. Nd4 b4 15.
Nd1 Bd7 16. Rc1 Nb5 17. Ne3 Ra8 18. Nxb5 Bxb5 19. Rc2 Rxa2 20. Qxb4 Rxb2 21.
Rxb2 Qb8 22. Rc2 Nd7 23. Nc4 Nc5 24. Na5 Qb6 25. Nc6 e6 26. h4 Re8 27. dxe6
Rxe6 28. Nd4 Bxd4 29. Qxd4 Bxe2 30. Re1 Qb5 31. b4 Bd3 32. Rcc1 Nb3 33. Qc3
Nxc1 34. Rxc1 c5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.21"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Savchenko, Boris"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2583"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Nd4 5. Bg2 Nxf3+ 6. Bxf3 Bb4 7. Qb3 Bc5 8.
Qb5 Qe7 9. d3 c6 10. Qa4 O-O 11. O-O h6 12. a3 a6 13. b4 Ba7 14. e3 Rd8 15. Qb3
d6 16. Bb2 Be6 17. Qc2 d5 18. c5 Bb8 19. Bg2 Bc7 20. e4 dxe4 21. dxe4 Bc4 22.
Rfd1 Qe6 23. Rxd8+ Rxd8 24. Rd1 Rd4 25. Ne2 Rxe4 26. Bxe4 Bb3 27. Qb1 Bxd1 28.
Bf5 Qb3 29. Nc3 Bf3 30. Bc2 Qe6 31. Bd1 Bxd1 32. Qxd1 Kf8 33. h4 Qc4 34. Qd2
Ke7 35. Qe3 Nd5 36. Nxd5+ Qxd5 37. Qe2 g6 38. h5 g5 39. Qg4 Qe6 40. Qe2 f5 41.
g4 e4 42. gxf5 Qxf5 43. Bg7 Qf4 44. Kf1 Qh4 45. Ke1 Qh1+ 46. Kd2 Bf4+ 47. Kc2
Qc1+ 48. Kb3 Qb1+ 49. Kc4 g4 50. Bc3 Kf7 51. Bb2 Qa2+ 52. Kd4 Qd5+ 53. Kc3 Be5+
54. Kc2 Qd3+ 55. Qxd3 exd3+ 56. Kb3 d2 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.21"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 b6 4. Be3 Bb7 5. Qd2 e6 6. h4 h6 7. f3 d6 8. O-O-O
Nd7 9. g4 a6 10. Bd3 b5 11. Nge2 b4 12. Na4 a5 13. b3 Ne7 14. f4 Nf6 15. Bb5+
Kf8 16. Ng3 Nxe4 17. Nxe4 Bxe4 18. Rhe1 h5 19. f5 gxf5 20. gxf5 Bxf5 21. Bg5 f6
22. Bf4 Nd5 23. Bc4 Nxf4 24. Kb1 Bh6 25. Rf1 Nd5 26. Qe1 Ne3 27. Rxf5 exf5 28.
Be6 Nxd1 29. Qxd1 Qe8 30. d5 Qg6 31. Qd4 Kg7 32. a3 Qg4 33. Qd3 Rhe8 34. Qb5
Re7 35. Qc6 Rb8 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.21"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A17"]
[WhiteElo "2785"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. g3 O-O 5. Qb3 c5 6. Bg2 Nc6 7. O-O d6 8. d3
h6 9. e3 e5 10. Nd2 Bf5 11. a3 Bxc3 12. Qxc3 Qd7 13. Re1 Bh3 14. Bh1 Rac8 15.
b4 b6 16. Bb2 Rfe8 17. Qb3 h5 18. Nf3 Qf5 19. Nh4 Qd7 20. Bc3 Nh7 21. Qd1 Bg4
22. f3 Bh3 23. f4 Nf6 24. Bf3 Bg4 25. b5 Nd8 26. a4 e4 27. Bxg4 Nxg4 28. d4
cxd4 29. Qxd4 Nf6 30. Red1 Qh3 31. Qxd6 Ng4 32. Rd2 Rxc4 33. Qd7 Rf8 34. Bxg7
Kxg7 35. Nf5+ Kh7 36. Nd6 Rc3 37. Nxe4 Ne6 38. Nxc3 Nxe3 39. Qd3+ Nf5 40. Nd5
Rd8 41. Qe4 Kh6 42. Qe5 Nxg3 43. Qf6+ Kh7 44. Qxf7+ Ng7 45. hxg3 Rxd5 46. Qxd5
Qxg3+ 47. Qg2 Qe3+ 48. Kh1 Nf5 49. Rg1 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.21"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Rublevsky, Sergei"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A53"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2676"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. d4 c6 3. Bf4 d6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Nf3 Qa5 6. Bd2 e5 7. e3 Qc7 8. Qc2
Be7 9. g4 Nxg4 10. Rg1 Nf8 11. h3 Nf6 12. Rxg7 Ng6 13. Ng5 Rf8 14. Nxh7 Nxh7
15. Rxh7 Bd7 16. O-O-O O-O-O 17. Bd3 Nh4 18. Kb1 Nf3 19. Bc1 exd4 20. Ne2 dxe3
21. Bxe3 Kb8 22. Bf5 Ng5 23. Bxg5 Bxg5 24. Ng3 Bf4 25. Bxd7 Qxd7 26. Qf5 Qxf5+
27. Nxf5 Kc7 28. h4 Kd7 29. Re1 Rde8 30. Rxe8 Rxe8 31. Nd4 Ke7 32. Rh5 Be5 33.
Nf3 Bf6 34. Rf5 Rh8 35. Rf4 Rh5 36. Kc2 Be5 37. Rg4 Ke6 38. a4 Kf5 39. Rg8 Kf4
40. Ne1 Rh7 41. b3 a5 42. Kd3 Bf6 43. Rb8 Bxh4 44. Ng2+ Kf3 45. Nxh4+ Rxh4 46.
Rxb7 f5 47. Ra7 Kxf2 48. Rxa5 c5 49. Ra6 Rd4+ 50. Kc3 f4 51. Ra8 f3 52. a5 Rd1
53. Kb2 Re1 54. a6 Re7 55. b4 cxb4 56. Kb3 Ke2 57. Kxb4 f2 58. Rf8 f1=Q 59.
Rxf1 Kxf1 60. Kb5 Rc7 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.21"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Bacrot, Etienne"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2695"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 b5 6. cxb5 Bxb5 7. Bg2 d5 8. O-O
Nbd7 9. Nc3 Ba6 10. a3 Bd6 11. b4 O-O 12. Re1 Bb7 13. Na4 a5 14. Nc5 Bc6 15.
Rb1 axb4 16. axb4 Bb5 17. Bf4 Bxf4 18. gxf4 Ra2 19. Ne5 Nxe5 20. dxe5 Nd7 21.
Nb3 Qh4 22. Nc1 Ra3 23. Qd2 g5 24. fxg5 Nxe5 25. Rb3 Rfa8 26. Qe3 Rxb3 27. Nxb3
Qxb4 28. Rc1 Nc4 29. Qg3 Ra3 30. Rc3 Ba4 31. Qxc7 Rxb3 32. Qd8+ Qf8 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.21"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ponomariov, Ruslan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D10"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2705"]
[PlyCount "165"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. Qc2 g6 6. Bd3 Bg7 7. Nf3 O-O 8. h3
dxc4 9. Bxc4 b5 10. Be2 c5 11. dxc5 Nc6 12. a3 b4 13. axb4 Nxb4 14. Qa4 Nd3+
15. Bxd3 Qxd3 16. Qd4 Qf5 17. e4 Nxe4 18. Qe3 Nxc5 19. O-O Nb3 20. Ra3 Qe6 21.
Re1 Nxc1 22. Qxc1 Qd7 23. Rd1 Qb7 24. Ra5 Rb8 25. Qe3 Qxb2 26. Nd5 Bb7 27.
Nxe7+ Kh8 28. Ng5 Qf6 29. Rd7 Ba8 30. Nd5 Bxd5 31. Raxd5 Kg8 32. Ne4 Qa1+ 33.
Kh2 Rb1 34. Rd8 Rb8 35. Rxb8 Rxb8 36. Qd3 Rf8 37. g3 a5 38. Rd7 a4 39. Qd5 a3
40. Ra7 Qb2 41. Kg2 h6 42. Nd6 Qf6 43. Rxa3 Rd8 44. Rd3 Bf8 45. Ne4 Qe7 46.
Qxd8 Qxe4+ 47. Rf3 Qe6 48. Qf6 Qd5 49. Kh2 Bg7 50. Qf4 Be5 51. Qe3 Bg7 52. Qe8+
Bf8 53. Re3 Qf5 54. Re2 Qf6 55. Kg2 h5 56. Qe4 Qd6 57. Rc2 Kg7 58. Rc6 Qd7 59.
Qe5+ Kg8 60. Rc7 Qd8 61. Rb7 Qa8 62. Qd5 Qe8 63. Qd7 Qxd7 64. Rxd7 Kg7 65. Kf3
Bc5 66. Rd2 Kf6 67. Ke4 Kg7 68. Rc2 Bb6 69. Kd5 Ba7 70. Kd6 Bd4 71. Kd7 Kf6 72.
Ke8 Ke6 73. Rc6+ Kd5 74. Rc2 Ke6 75. Re2+ Kf6 76. Re7 g5 77. Rxf7+ Ke6 78. g4
hxg4 79. hxg4 Bf6 80. Kf8 Ke5 81. Kg8 Ke6 82. Rf8 Be7 83. Rf5 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.21"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Karpov, Anatoly"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2670"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "184"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. d4 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 b5 6. cxb5 Bxb5 7. Bg2 d5 8. Nc3
Ba6 9. O-O Nbd7 10. Ne5 Bd6 11. Bf4 O-O 12. Rc1 Bxe5 13. dxe5 Ng4 14. Nxd5 exd5
15. Qxd5 Nb6 16. Qa5 Bxe2 17. Rfe1 Bd3 18. Red1 Qd4 19. Rd2 Rad8 20. h3 Nxf2
21. Rxf2 Be4 22. Qxa7 Bxg2 23. Kxg2 Qe4+ 24. Kh2 Nd5 25. Rc4 Qb1 26. Rd4 h5 27.
Bg5 Rd7 28. Qc5 Qe1 29. Rg2 Qxe5 30. Bf4 Qe6 31. Rgd2 Nxf4 32. gxf4 Rxd4 33.
Qxd4 Re8 34. b4 Qf5 35. Rf2 h4 36. a4 Re4 37. Qd8+ Kh7 38. Qxh4+ Kg8 39. Qg5
Qd7 40. a5 Rxb4 41. Rg2 Qd4 42. a6 Ra4 43. Qg4 Qf6 44. Qg5 Rxa6 45. Qxf6 Rxf6
46. Rc2 c6 47. Kg3 Kf8 48. Kf3 Ke7 49. Ke4 g6 50. h4 Kd6 51. Ra2 Rf5 52. Ra7 c5
53. Ra8 Rh5 54. Ra6+ Ke7 55. Ra7+ Kf6 56. Ra6+ Kg7 57. Rc6 Rf5 58. Rc8 Rh5 59.
Rc6 Kf8 60. Rc7 Ke8 61. Kf3 Rf5 62. Ke4 Kd8 63. Ra7 Ke8 64. Rc7 Kf8 65. Ra7 Rh5
66. Rc7 f6 67. Kf3 Ke8 68. Rg7 Kf8 69. Rxg6 Kf7 70. Rg1 Rxh4 71. Ra1 Ke6 72.
Ra5 Kd5 73. Ra6 Rh6 74. Ra8 Kd4 75. Rd8+ Kc3 76. Ke4 c4 77. Rc8 Rh5 78. Rc6 Rh6
79. Kf5 Kd3 80. Rd6+ Kc2 81. Rc6 c3 82. Rc8 Kd2 83. Rd8+ Kc1 84. Rc8 c2 85. Rc7
Rh4 86. Rc8 Kd2 87. Rd8+ Ke3 88. Re8+ Kf3 89. Rc8 Rxf4+ 90. Kg6 Rg4+ 91. Kxf6
Rg2 92. Ke5 Rd2 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.21"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2752"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Be2 O-O 6. O-O c6 7. h3 Nbd7 8. e5
dxe5 9. dxe5 Nd5 10. Nxd5 cxd5 11. Bf4 Qc7 12. c3 Nxe5 13. Qxd5 Nxf3+ 14. Qxf3
e5 15. Bh2 Be6 16. Qe3 a6 17. f4 exf4 18. Bxf4 Qc6 19. Bf3 Qb5 20. Qf2 Rad8 21.
a4 Qb3 22. Ra3 Qc4 23. Bxb7 Bd5 24. Bxd5 Rxd5 25. Raa1 Re8 26. Rae1 Rxe1 27.
Rxe1 Qxa4 28. Qe3 Bf8 29. Qe4 Qd7 30. Be5 Bc5+ 31. Kh1 Bf2 32. Rf1 Qe6 33. Rxf2
Rxe5 34. Qf4 h5 35. Qf6 Qd5 36. Kh2 Re1 37. Qf4 a5 38. Rd2 Qc5 39. Rd8+ Kg7 40.
Qd4+ Qxd4 41. Rxd4 Re2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.21"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E48"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "177"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Nge2 Re8 8.
O-O Bd6 9. f3 c5 10. Nb5 Bf8 11. dxc5 Bxc5 12. Nbd4 Nc6 13. Bd2 Qb6 14. Kh1
Nxd4 15. exd4 Bxd4 16. Nxd4 Qxd4 17. Bc3 Qf4 18. Bb5 Rd8 19. Re1 d4 20. Bd2 Qd6
21. Bd3 Be6 22. Bg5 h6 23. Bxf6 gxf6 24. Qd2 Kg7 25. Re4 Qd5 26. Rh4 Qg5 27.
Qf2 Qe3 28. Qg3+ Kf8 29. Rd1 Rac8 30. Re4 Qg5 31. Qe1 Bf5 32. h4 Qg7 33. Qb4+
Kg8 34. Rxd4 Bxd3 35. R4xd3 Rxd3 36. Rxd3 Qg3 37. Qg4+ Qxg4 38. fxg4 Rc4 39.
Rd7 Rxg4 40. Rxb7 Rxh4+ 41. Kg1 a5 42. Rb5 a4 43. a3 Rc4 44. b3 axb3 45. Rxb3
Rc2 46. Rf3 Kg7 47. Rf2 Rc4 48. Rf3 Rc1+ 49. Rf1 Rc4 50. Rf3 h5 51. Kh2 Kg6 52.
Rb3 f5 53. Rg3+ Kf6 54. Rh3 h4 55. Rb3 Ra4 56. Rb4 Rxa3 57. Rxh4 Kg5 58. Rb4 f4
59. Rb7 f6 60. Rg7+ Kf5 61. Rb7 Ra2 62. Kg1 f3 63. gxf3 Kf4 64. Rb5 Kg3 65. Kf1
Rf2+ 66. Kg1 Rxf3 67. Rb8 Ra3 68. Rg8+ Kf3 69. Rf8 Ra6 70. Rf7 Kf4 71. Kf2 f5
72. Rf8 Ra2+ 73. Kg1 Kg4 74. Rg8+ Kf3 75. Rf8 f4 76. Rf7 Ra1+ 77. Kh2 Rf1 78.
Ra7 Rf2+ 79. Kg1 Re2 80. Rf7 Ra2 81. Rf8 Ra4 82. Rf7 Re4 83. Rf8 Re7 84. Kf1
Ra7 85. Kg1 Rh7 86. Ra8 Rg7+ 87. Kf1 Kg3 88. Ra3+ f3 89. Ra8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.21"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Korotylev, Alexey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E72"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2600"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e5 4. Nc3 d6 5. e4 Nbd7 6. g3 g6 7. Bg2 Bg7 8. Nge2
O-O 9. O-O a6 10. a4 Ng4 11. f3 Nh6 12. Be3 f5 13. Qd2 Nf7 14. exf5 gxf5 15. f4
Nf6 16. fxe5 Nxe5 17. b3 Ng6 18. Rae1 Ng4 19. Bg5 Qc7 20. h3 N4e5 21. Nf4 Nxf4
22. Bxf4 Bd7 23. Bxe5 Bxe5 24. Rxe5 dxe5 25. d6 Qa5 26. Qd5+ Rf7 27. Ne4 Qd8
28. Nxc5 Bc6 29. Qxe5 Bxg2 30. Kxg2 b6 31. Ne6 Qf6 32. Qd5 Re8 33. d7 Rxd7 34.
Qxd7 Rxe6 35. Qd5 Kg7 36. Rxf5 Qb2+ 37. Rf2 Re2 38. Qf7+ Kh6 39. Qf4+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.21"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B03"]
[WhiteElo "2787"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. exd6 exd6 6. Nc3 Be7 7. Bd3 Nc6 8.
Nge2 Bf6 9. Be3 O-O 10. b3 Re8 11. O-O Bg4 12. Qd2 d5 13. c5 Bxe2 14. Bxe2 Nc8
15. Rfe1 N8e7 16. Bg4 g6 17. Re2 Bg7 18. Rae1 Nf5 19. Bxf5 gxf5 20. Bh6 Rxe2
21. Nxe2 Qf6 22. Bxg7 Qxg7 23. Rd1 Re8 24. f3 Ne7 25. Ng3 Qf6 26. Re1 Kf8 27.
Re5 c6 28. Nh5 Qg6 29. Nf4 Qf6 30. Qe3 h6 31. g3 Rc8 32. Kf2 b6 33. h4 Rd8 34.
Nh5 Qg6 35. Rxe7 Qxh5 36. Rxa7 Re8 37. Qxe8+ Kxe8 38. cxb6 f4 39. b7 fxg3+ 40.
Kg2 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.21"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Adams, Michael"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2729"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "133"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 c6 6. Bd3 Nd7 7. Nf3 N7f6 8.
h3 Nb4 9. Bc4 Bf5 10. Na3 e6 11. c3 Nbd5 12. Nc2 Be7 13. Ne3 Bg6 14. Ne5 O-O
15. O-O Nxe3 16. Bxe3 Nd5 17. Bd2 c5 18. Nxg6 hxg6 19. dxc5 Bxc5 20. Qe2 Nf6
21. Rad1 Qc7 22. Bb3 Rad8 23. Bc1 Rxd1 24. Rxd1 Rd8 25. Rxd8+ Qxd8 26. g3 Qb6
27. Kg2 Qc6+ 28. Qf3 Qd7 29. Bc4 a5 30. Be2 Nd5 31. Qd3 Qc7 32. Bf3 Nf6 33. h4
Qb6 34. Qe2 Kf8 35. b3 Nd5 36. Qd2 Nf6 37. Qc2 Nd5 38. a3 Qc7 39. Qd3 Nf6 40.
b4 Be7 41. Be3 Kg8 42. Bd2 b6 43. Be3 e5 44. Kg1 Bf8 45. Bd1 Qc6 46. Bd2 Qe6
47. Be3 Be7 48. Be2 Nd5 49. Qc4 Nxe3 50. Qxe6 fxe6 51. fxe3 e4 52. Kf2 Kf7 53.
Bf1 Kf6 54. g4 g5 55. h5 Ke5 56. Ke2 Kd5 57. Kd2 Bf6 58. Kc2 Be5 59. Ba6 Kd6
60. Bb7 Bg3 61. Bxe4 Be1 62. Kd3 Ke5 63. Bf3 Kd6 64. Kc4 Bd2 65. Kd3 Be1 66.
Kd4 Bd2 67. Kd3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.21"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B10"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2755"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c6 2. e4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. cxd5 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nxd5 6. Nf3 Nxc3 7. bxc3 g6
8. d4 Bg7 9. Bd3 O-O 10. O-O Nc6 11. Re1 b6 12. Bg5 Re8 13. Qd2 Bb7 14. h4 Rc8
15. h5 Na5 16. Re3 Nc4 17. Bxc4 Rxc4 18. Rae1 f6 19. Bf4 g5 20. Bg3 h6 21. Qe2
Bd5 22. Nd2 Ra4 23. c4 Bf7 24. d5 Rxa2 25. Qd3 e5 26. dxe6 Qxd3 27. exf7+ Kxf7
28. Rxe8 Bf8 29. Ne4 Kxe8 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.21"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Shirov, Alexei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 c6 6. Bc4 Nd7 7. Nf3 N7f6 8.
h3 Bf5 9. O-O e6 10. Bg5 Be7 11. Nbd2 h6 12. Bxf6 Nxf6 13. c3 O-O 14. Bb3 c5
15. Bc2 Bxc2 16. Qxc2 Rc8 17. Qb3 Qc7 18. Rfe1 Rfd8 19. Rad1 cxd4 20. Nxd4 Bc5
21. N2f3 Rd5 22. c4 Rd7 23. Nb5 Qb6 24. Re2 Rxd1+ 25. Qxd1 Bxf2+ 26. Rxf2 Ne4
27. Qd4 Qxd4 28. Nfxd4 Nxf2 29. Kxf2 Rxc4 30. b3 Rc5 31. Nxa7 Ra5 32. Nc8 Rxa2+
33. Kg3 Rb2 34. Kf4 Rxg2 35. Nd6 Rd2 36. Ke3 Rh2 37. Nxb7 Rxh3+ 38. Ke2 e5 39.
Nf3 e4 40. Nd2 f5 41. b4 f4 42. Nd6 Rh2+ 43. Ke1 e3 44. Nf3 Rb2 45. b5 g5 46.
Ne5 h5 47. Nd3 Rb3 48. Nc5 Rb1+ 49. Ke2 h4 50. Ne6 h3 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.21"]
[Round "17"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Leko, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2755"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. a3 Bb7 5. Nc3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Qc2 Nxc3 8.
bxc3 Be7 9. e4 O-O 10. Bd3 c5 11. O-O Qc7 12. Qe2 Nd7 13. Bb2 Rfd8 14. Nd2 Ne5
15. Bb1 Ng6 16. g3 Rac8 17. Nf3 e5 18. d5 c4 19. a4 Bd6 20. Bc2 a6 21. Rfb1 Rb8
22. Bc1 Bc8 23. Be3 Bd7 24. Nd2 b5 25. h4 h6 26. axb5 axb5 27. Ra6 Bc5 28. Rba1
Ne7 29. Kg2 Bc8 30. R6a2 Bd7 31. Qe1 Re8 32. Bxc5 Qxc5 33. Nf3 Nc8 34. Ra8 Rxa8
35. Rxa8 Bg4 36. Ra6 Bd7 37. Qb1 f6 38. Qb4 Qxb4 39. cxb4 Kf7 40. Nd2 Ke7 41.
Nb1 Nd6 42. Nc3 g5 43. hxg5 hxg5 44. Ra7 Rb8 45. Bd1 Nc8 46. Ra6 Nd6 47. Ra7
Nc8 48. Ra6 Nd6 49. Ra7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.21"]
[Round "18"]
[White "Dreev, Alexey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2607"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 c5 8. dxc5
bxc5 9. Be2 O-O 10. O-O d6 11. Qc2 Nbd7 12. Rfd1 Qb6 13. Rd2 Rfd8 14. Rad1 Rab8
15. h3 a6 16. Bg3 Nf8 17. b3 Ng6 18. Ne1 Rd7 19. Bf3 Bxf3 20. Nxf3 Rbd8 21. e4
Qc7 22. Na4 Qc6 23. Nc3 Bf8 24. Nh4 Nxh4 25. Bxh4 Be7 26. Bg3 Nh5 27. Bh2 Bg5
28. Rd3 Nf4 29. Rf3 Ng6 30. Rfd3 Bf6 31. Na4 Qxe4 32. Qd2 Bd4 33. Nc3 Qc6 34.
Ne2 e5 35. Rg3 d5 36. Nxd4 cxd4 37. Rc1 Qe6 38. Rd3 Qf6 39. Qe2 Qf5 40. f3 f6
41. Bg3 Ne7 42. Qe4 Qxe4 43. fxe4 Rc8 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.21"]
[Round "19"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C55"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2715"]
[PlyCount "162"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a4
Bd7 9. Nbd2 O-O 10. c3 Na5 11. Bc2 c5 12. d4 cxd4 13. cxd4 Nc6 14. d5 Nb4 15.
axb5 Bxb5 16. Re1 Nxc2 17. Qxc2 Rc8 18. Qb1 Qc7 19. b3 Qc2 20. Ba3 Nd7 21. Nc4
Qxb1 22. Rexb1 Bxc4 23. bxc4 Rxc4 24. Rb7 Rd8 25. Nxe5 Nxe5 26. Rxe7 Ra4 27. h3
Nc4 28. Rc1 Nxa3 29. Ra1 Ra5 30. Ra7 g6 31. f3 Kf8 32. h4 h5 33. Kf2 Nc4 34.
Rxa5 Nxa5 35. Rxa6 Nc4 36. Rc6 Ne5 37. Ra6 Ke7 38. Kg3 Rd7 39. Ra2 Rb7 40. Kf4
Rb2 41. Ra7+ Nd7 42. Kg3 Rc2 43. Kh3 Kd8 44. Ra6 Ke7 45. Ra7 Rb2 46. Kg3 Rd2
47. Rc7 Ra2 48. Kh2 Ra6 49. Kg3 Kd8 50. Rb7 Kc8 51. Rb2 Ra7 52. Kf4 Kd8 53. Kg5
Ke7 54. Kf4 Ne5 55. Kg3 Nd7 56. Kf4 Nc5 57. Kg3 Ra3 58. Kh2 f5 59. exf5 gxf5
60. Rb8 Nd7 61. Rb7 Ra5 62. Kg3 Rxd5 63. Kf4 Ke6 64. Kg5 Nf6 65. Kg6 Rd2 66. g4
hxg4 67. Rf7 Nd5 68. fxg4 fxg4 69. Rf1 g3 70. Rg1 g2 71. h5 Nf4+ 72. Kg5 Nxh5
73. Kxh5 Kf5 74. Kh4 Kf4 75. Kh3 Kf3 76. Kh2 d5 77. Kh3 d4 78. Kh2 d3 79. Ra1
Rf2 80. Rd1 d2 81. Ra1 Rf1 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.22"]
[Round "20"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Ne5 Bd6 7. f4 O-O 8. Bd3
c5 9. O-O cxd4 10. exd4 dxc4 11. Bxc4 Nb6 12. Bb3 Bd7 13. Qf3 Rc8 14. f5 exf5
15. Nxd7 Qxd7 16. Qxf5 Bb4 17. Qxd7 Nbxd7 18. Ne2 Nb6 19. Ng3 Nfd5 20. a3 Be7
21. Ne4 Rfd8 22. Bd2 Nc4 23. Rac1 Nxd2 24. Rxc8 Nxb3 25. Rxd8+ Bxd8 26. Rf5 Nc7
27. d5 Nd4 28. Rf1 Nxd5 29. Rd1 Bb6 30. Kh1 Ne3 31. Rc1 h6 32. Nd6 Ng4 33. g3
f5 34. Nxb7 g5 35. b4 Kf7 36. a4 Ne6 37. a5 Be3 38. Nd6+ Kf6 39. Rc6 f4 40.
gxf4 gxf4 41. Nb5 Ke5 42. h3 Nf2+ 43. Kg2 Ne4 44. h4 Nd2 45. Rc1 f3+ 46. Kg3
Ne4+ 47. Kxf3 Bxc1 48. Nxa7 Nd4+ 49. Kg4 Nf6+ 50. Kh3 Bd2 51. a6 Bxb4 52. Nc8
Ne6 53. a7 Nc7 54. Nb6 Kf5 55. a8=Q Nxa8 56. Nxa8 Ba5 57. Kg3 h5 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.22"]
[Round "21"]
[White "Kasimdzhanov, Rustam"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Nd5 Nxd5 8.
exd5 Nb8 9. c4 Be7 10. Be2 O-O 11. O-O Nd7 12. Be3 a6 13. Nc3 f5 14. f3 Bg5 15.
Bf2 Bh4 16. Be3 Bg5 17. Qd2 Bxe3+ 18. Qxe3 a5 19. f4 Re8 20. Bd3 Nc5 21. Bc2
Bd7 22. Kh1 Qf6 23. fxe5 Rxe5 24. Qf2 Rae8 25. Rad1 g6 26. h3 Kg7 27. Qf4 g5
28. Qf2 f4 29. Bb1 a4 30. b4 axb3 31. axb3 Re3 32. b4 Qxc3 33. bxc5 Bxh3 34.
cxd6 Bxg2+ 35. Kxg2 Re2 36. d7 Rxf2+ 37. Rxf2 Qg3+ 38. Kf1 Qh3+ 39. Rg2 Qf3+
0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.22"]
[Round "22"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Savchenko, Boris"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B72"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2583"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Bg7 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 Na5 8.
Bb3 d6 9. h3 O-O 10. O-O Bd7 11. Qd2 Rc8 12. Bh6 Rc5 13. Bxg7 Kxg7 14. Rad1 Qb6
15. Rfe1 Rfc8 16. Nd5 Qd8 17. Nxf6 exf6 18. c3 Re5 19. Nf3 Nxb3 20. axb3 Re6
21. Nd4 Re7 22. b4 Qe8 23. f3 a6 24. Qf2 Rd8 25. Re2 Ba4 26. Rde1 Bb5 27. Re3
Bc6 28. h4 Re5 29. c4 b5 30. b3 Bb7 31. Qd2 Rd7 32. Qc3 Rde7 33. Nc2 Kg8 34.
Rd1 f5 35. Rxd6 fxe4 36. Qd4 Qf8 37. c5 f6 38. c6 Bc8 39. Rd8 Re8 40. c7 Bb7
41. Rxe4 Rxe4 42. fxe4 Qe7 43. Ne3 Kf7 44. Rd7 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.22"]
[Round "23"]
[White "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 Nc6 5. c3 Qb6 6. Qb3 c4 7. Qc2 Bf5 8. Qc1
Nh5 9. Bg3 e6 10. Nbd2 Nxg3 11. hxg3 h6 12. Be2 Be7 13. Bd1 Qc7 14. Bc2 O-O 15.
e4 dxe4 16. Nxe4 Rad8 17. Qf4 Qxf4 18. gxf4 b5 19. a3 f6 20. O-O Rd5 21. Rfe1
g5 22. fxg5 hxg5 23. Re2 g4 24. Nfd2 e5 25. dxe5 Nxe5 26. b3 Rfd8 27. Nf1 Bg6
28. bxc4 bxc4 29. Ne3 Rb5 30. a4 Rb2 31. Ng3 Bxc2 32. Rxc2 Rxc2 33. Nxc2 Rd3
34. Ne3 Bc5 35. Nef5 Bb6 36. a5 Bc7 37. Ne4 a6 38. Kf1 Kf8 39. Nc5 Rxc3 40.
Ne6+ Kg8 41. Nxc7 Rb3 42. Nxa6 c3 43. Nc5 Rb5 44. Ne4 c2 45. Re1 Rb1 46. Nxf6+
Kh8 47. Ne3 Rxe1+ 48. Kxe1 c1=Q+ 49. Ke2 Qb2+ 50. Kd1 Qxf2 51. Nfd5 Nd3 52. a6
Qa2 53. Nc3 Qxa6 54. Nxg4 Qc4 55. Kd2 Qxg4 56. Kxd3 Qxg2 57. Ne4 Kg7 58. Nd6
Qd5+ 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.22"]
[Round "24"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D58"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2785"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 b6 8. Be2
Bb7 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. cxd5 exd5 11. b4 c6 12. O-O Re8 13. a4 a5 14. bxa5 Rxa5
15. Qb3 Nd7 16. Rfd1 Be7 17. Rab1 Bd6 18. g3 Bc7 19. Bf1 Qf6 20. Bg2 Ba6 21.
Qc2 Bc8 22. Nd2 Ra7 23. e4 dxe4 24. Ndxe4 Qg6 25. d5 Nc5 26. dxc6 Bf5 27. Re1
Be5 28. Rxb6 Bxc3 29. Qxc3 Nxe4 30. Bxe4 Bxe4 31. f3 Rxa4 32. fxe4 Raxe4 33.
Rxe4 Qxe4 34. c7 Qa8 35. Rc6 Rc8 36. Rc5 Qe4 37. Qd2 Qb1+ 38. Kg2 Qb7+ 39. Kh3
Qb6 40. Qd7 Qxc5 41. Qxc8+ Kh7 42. Qd7 Qh5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.22"]
[Round "25"]
[White "Rublevsky, Sergei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2676"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 c6 6. Be2 Bf5 7. O-O Nd7 8.
Nf3 e6 9. a3 Be7 10. c4 N5f6 11. Nc3 h6 12. Bf4 O-O 13. d5 exd5 14. cxd5 Nxd5
15. Nxd5 cxd5 16. Qxd5 Be6 17. Qxb7 Nc5 18. Qc7 Nb3 19. Qxd8 Rfxd8 20. Rad1 Bf6
21. Be5 Bxe5 22. Nxe5 Rxd1 23. Rxd1 Rc8 24. f3 g5 25. Bd3 Rc5 26. Ng4 Kg7 27.
Kf2 f5 28. Re1 Nd4 29. Re5 Rc1 30. Ke3 Nb3 31. Rxe6 Re1+ 32. Be2 fxg4 33. Kf2
Rc1 34. Bd3 gxf3 35. gxf3 Nc5 36. Rg6+ Kf7 37. Bf5 Rd1 38. Rc6 Nb3 39. Be6+ Ke7
40. Bxb3 Rd2+ 41. Kg3 Rxb2 42. Bg8 h5 43. Rc7+ Kf6 44. Rxa7 h4+ 45. Kh3 Rf2 46.
Bd5 Ke5 47. Be4 Kf4 48. Rf7+ Ke3 49. Rf5 g4+ 50. fxg4 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.22"]
[Round "26"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bacrot, Etienne"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C41"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2695"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7 6. g3 d5 7. e5 Ng4 8. Bg2
c6 9. f4 Nh6 10. O-O Qc7 11. f5 Qxe5 12. Bxh6 O-O 13. Bf4 Qf6 14. g4 Bc5 15.
Nce2 Nd7 16. Kh1 h6 17. c3 Ne5 18. Ng3 Nc4 19. b3 Nb6 20. Nh5 Qh4 21. Bg3 Qg5
22. h4 Qd8 23. Qd2 Bd6 24. Bxd6 Qxd6 25. f6 Bxg4 26. fxg7 Bxh5 27. Nf5 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.22"]
[Round "27"]
[White "Ponomariov, Ruslan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2705"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 b5 6. Nbd2 c5 7. Bg2 Nc6 8. d5
exd5 9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. Bb2 Nf6 11. O-O Be7 12. e4 d6 13. Nh4 Rc8 14. Nf5 O-O 15.
f4 Ne8 16. Nh6+ gxh6 17. Qg4+ Bg5 18. fxg5 Qxg5 19. Qe2 Nd4 20. Qf2 b4 21. Nc4
Bxc4 22. bxc4 Ng7 23. a3 a5 24. axb4 axb4 25. Ra7 Nge6 26. Rxf7 Qg6 27. Rf5 Qg7
28. h4 Ra8 29. Kh1 Ra2 30. Rxf8+ Nxf8 31. e5 dxe5 32. Bd5+ Nfe6 33. Qg2 Qg6 34.
Rf2 Kg7 35. Kh2 Rxb2 36. Rxb2 Qf6 37. Rf2 Qe7 38. Qe4 Nf8 39. Qg4+ Ng6 40. h5
e4 41. hxg6 hxg6 42. Rf7+ Qxf7 43. Bxf7 Kxf7 44. Qxe4 b3 45. Kg2 Kf6 46. Qb7
Ke5 47. Qd5+ Kf6 48. Qxc5 Ne6 49. Qe3 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.22"]
[Round "28"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karpov, Anatoly"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2670"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Nd7 7. Bf4 Be7
8. Qd2 O-O 9. O-O-O Nc5 10. h4 Re8 11. Bc4 Be6 12. Bxe6 Nxe6 13. Be3 c6 14. c4
a6 15. Ng5 b5 16. Qd3 Nf8 17. Qf5 f6 18. Ne6 Qc8 19. Nd4 bxc4 20. Qf3 d5 21.
Nf5 Rb8 22. h5 Qb7 23. Bd4 Ne6 24. Qg4 Bf8 25. Bxf6 c5 26. Rhe1 d4 27. b3 Qd7
28. Bxg7 Bxg7 29. h6 Rb7 30. hxg7 Nxg7 31. Qxg7+ Qxg7 32. Rxe8+ Qf8 33. Rxf8+
Kxf8 34. bxc4 Rf7 35. g4 h5 36. Rh1 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.22"]
[Round "29"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A57"]
[WhiteElo "2752"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. f3 g6 6. e4 Bg7 7. Nc3 O-O 8. a4 e6
9. Nh3 Bb7 10. dxe6 fxe6 11. Be3 d5 12. Bxc5 Re8 13. Be2 Nbd7 14. Bf2 dxe4 15.
O-O axb5 16. Nxb5 Ne5 17. Nd6 exf3 18. Nxb7 fxe2 19. Qxe2 Qd5 20. Nc5 Neg4 21.
Rad1 Qc6 22. b4 Nxf2 23. Qxf2 Nd5 24. b5 Qb6 25. Na6 Qxf2+ 26. Rxf2 Nc3 27. Rd7
Red8 28. Rfd2 Bd4+ 29. R2xd4 Ne2+ 30. Kf2 Nxd4 31. Rxd8+ Rxd8 32. Nf4 e5 33.
Ne2 Nb3 34. b6 Na5 35. Nc5 Rd6 36. b7 Rb6 37. Nd7 Rxb7 38. Nxe5 Rb4 39. g3 Rxa4
40. Nf4 Ra2+ 41. Kg1 Nb3 42. h4 Nd4 43. Nd7 Ne2+ 44. Nxe2 Rxe2 45. Kf1 Ra2 46.
Nf6+ Kg7 47. Ng4 Kf7 48. Nf2 Kf6 49. Kg2 Kf5 50. Kf3 Ra3+ 51. Kg2 Ke5 52. Ng4+
Kd4 53. Nf6 Ra7 54. g4 Ke5 55. g5 h5 56. Kf3 Kf5 57. Nd5 Ra3+ 58. Ne3+ Ke5 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.22"]
[Round "30"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "149"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. O-O Be7 7. d3 O-O 8. a3
a5 9. b3 Be6 10. Bb2 f6 11. Nbd2 Qd7 12. Qc2 Kh8 13. Rfd1 Nb6 14. Rac1 Rfd8 15.
Ne4 Qe8 16. Nfd2 Nd5 17. Nc5 Bxc5 18. Qxc5 Nde7 19. Qc2 Qh5 20. Re1 Qf7 21. Bc3
Nd5 22. Ba1 Nde7 23. Rb1 Bd5 24. Ne4 Nf5 25. e3 Nd6 26. h4 Nxe4 27. dxe4 Be6
28. Bc3 Rd7 29. Red1 Rad8 30. Rxd7 Qxd7 31. b4 axb4 32. axb4 Na7 33. f4 Nb5 34.
Bb2 Qd2 35. Qxd2 Rxd2 36. Ba1 Na3 37. Rc1 Nc4 38. Bc3 Rd7 39. Kf2 Rd6 40. Bf1
c6 41. g4 exf4 42. exf4 Nd2 43. e5 fxe5 44. Bxe5 Rd7 45. Be2 Kg8 46. Ra1 Nc4
47. f5 Bd5 48. Bc3 Rd8 49. Ra7 Nd6 50. Be5 Ne4+ 51. Ke3 Re8 52. Kf4 c5 53. Bf3
Nf6 54. Bxf6 Bxf3 55. Bxg7 Bc6 56. Bf6 cxb4 57. Kg5 b3 58. Ra3 Bd5 59. Ra1 Kf7
60. Bc3 Re4 61. Rd1 Bc6 62. Rd6 Rc4 63. Bh8 Bf3 64. Rd7+ Ke8 65. Rxh7 Rxg4+ 66.
Kh6 Rxh4+ 67. Kg6 Rg4+ 68. Kh6 Rh4+ 69. Kg6 Rxh7 70. Kxh7 Kd7 71. Kg6 Kc6 72.
Kg5 Kb5 73. Kf4 Bd5 74. Ke3 Kc4 75. Bb2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.22"]
[Round "31"]
[White "Korotylev, Alexey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2600"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. a3 d5 6. Bg5 Be7 7. Qa4+ Bc6 8. Qb3
dxc4 9. Qxc4 O-O 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. e4 Bb7 12. Rd1 c5 13. e5 Be7 14. d5 exd5 15.
Nxd5 Nc6 16. Bd3 Nd4 17. Be4 b5 18. Qa2 Nxf3+ 19. Bxf3 Bxd5 20. Bxd5 Qc7 21.
Bxa8 Qxe5+ 22. Kf1 Rxa8 23. Qd5 Qb8 24. g3 Qf8 25. Kg2 Bf6 26. b3 Rc8 27. Rc1
h6 28. Rc2 Be7 29. Re1 Rc7 30. h4 a6 31. Re4 Bf6 32. Rce2 Rc8 33. Qb7 c4 34.
bxc4 bxc4 35. Qxa6 c3 36. Qxc8 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.22"]
[Round "32"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E39"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 c5 5. dxc5 O-O 6. Nf3 Na6 7. a3 Bxc3+ 8.
Qxc3 Nxc5 9. e3 b6 10. Be2 d5 11. cxd5 Nxd5 12. Qc2 Ba6 13. Bxa6 Nxa6 14. O-O
Rc8 15. Qe2 Nc5 16. Bd2 Nb3 17. Rad1 Nxd2 18. Rxd2 Qc7 19. Rfd1 h6 20. Nd4 Qc4
21. e4 Qxe2 22. Nxe2 Ne7 23. Rd7 Nc6 24. f4 Rfd8 25. Nc3 Rxd7 26. Rxd7 Na5 27.
Rxa7 Nc4 28. Nb5 Nxb2 29. Nd6 Rc1+ 30. Kf2 Rc2+ 31. Kg3 Nd3 32. Ra8+ Kh7 33.
Nxf7 Rc3 34. Kg4 Nf2+ 35. Kh4 Nxe4 36. Rh8+ Kg6 37. Ne5+ Kf5 38. Rf8+ Nf6 39.
g3 Rxa3 40. Rf7 Ra2 41. Kh3 b5 42. Rxg7 b4 43. Rf7 b3 44. Ng4 b2 45. Rxf6+ Ke4
46. Rxe6+ Kd4 47. Rb6 Kc3 48. Nxh6 Ra4 49. Rxb2 Kxb2 50. Kg4 Kc3 51. Nf5 Kc4
52. h4 Kd5 53. Kg5 Ke6 54. g4 Kf7 55. Ng3 Ra3 56. Nh5 Ra5+ 57. f5 Rb5 58. Nf4
Ra5 59. h5 Kg7 60. Ne6+ Kh7 61. Kf6 Kh6 62. Nf8 Ra6+ 63. Ke7 Ra4 64. f6 Rxg4
65. Ng6 Rb4 66. f7 Rb7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.22"]
[Round "33"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Adams, Michael"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2729"]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4
b4 9. Nbd2 d6 10. c3 Rb8 11. Re1 Na5 12. Ba2 c5 13. d4 Qc7 14. dxe5 dxe5 15.
Nc4 Rd8 16. Qe2 b3 17. Nxa5 Qxa5 18. Bb1 Qc7 19. Bd3 a5 20. Bg5 Nh5 21. Be3 Bb7
22. Bc4 h6 23. Nd2 Nf4 24. Bxf4 exf4 25. Nxb3 Bc8 26. Rad1 Bd7 27. Bb5 Be6 28.
Nd2 g6 29. h3 Kg7 30. Nf3 Bf6 31. Rxd8 Rxd8 32. Bc4 Bc8 33. e5 Be7 34. e6 f6
35. Rd1 Rxd1+ 36. Qxd1 Qd6 37. Qxd6 Bxd6 38. Nd2 Bb7 39. Nb3 Bc6 40. Bb5 Bd5
41. Nxa5 Bxe6 42. Nb7 Be7 43. a5 Bd5 44. a6 Bxb7 45. axb7 Bd6 46. Kf1 f5 47. f3
Kf6 48. Ke2 Ke5 49. Bc4 Bc7 50. Bf7 g5 51. Kd3 Kd6 52. Kc4 Kc6 53. Be8+ Kb6 54.
Kd5 Bb8 55. Bd7 Kxb7 56. Kxc5 Kc7 57. Bxf5 Ba7+ 58. Kd5 Be3 59. b4 Bd2 60. Kc4
Kd6 61. Be4 Be1 62. Kb3 Ke5 63. c4 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.22"]
[Round "34"]
[White "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2755"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c4 b4 12. Nc2 a5 13. Qf3 Bg5 14. h4 Bh6 15.
g4 f6 16. Rg1 O-O 17. Qg3 g6 18. g5 fxg5 19. hxg5 Bg7 20. O-O-O a4 21. c5 b3
22. axb3 axb3 23. Qxb3 Be6 24. Bh3 Bf7 25. Qb6 Qxb6 26. Nxb6 dxc5 27. Nxa8 Rxa8
28. Rg3 Nd4 29. Ra3 Rb8 30. Bg4 h5 31. gxh6 Bxh6+ 32. Kb1 Bb3 33. Nxd4 Bxd1 34.
Nc6 Bxg4 35. Nxb8 Bf4 36. Rc3 Be2 37. b3 Bd2 38. Rxc5 Bd3+ 39. Kb2 Bf4 40. Nd7
Bxe4 41. Nf6+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.22"]
[Round "35"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Shirov, Alexei"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2739"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. c3 d6 8. d3
O-O 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bh4 g5 11. Bg3 Bg4 12. Nbd2 Nh5 13. Re1 Nxg3 14. hxg3 Ne7 15.
Nf1 Ng6 16. d4 Bb6 17. Ne3 Bxf3 18. gxf3 exd4 19. cxd4 Qf6 20. Ng4 Qg7 21. e5
Kh8 22. Kg2 dxe5 23. Rh1 Bxd4 24. Rxh6+ Kg8 25. Qd3 e4 26. Qxe4 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.22"]
[Round "36"]
[White "Leko, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C81"]
[WhiteElo "2755"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. Qe2 Be7 10. Rd1 O-O 11. c4 bxc4 12. Bxc4 Qd7 13. Nc3 Nxc3 14. bxc3 f6
15. Bf4 fxe5 16. Nxe5 Nxe5 17. Bxe5 c6 18. Bb3 a5 19. Re1 Bf6 20. Bxf6 Rxf6 21.
Rad1 a4 22. Bc2 Bf7 23. Rb1 a3 24. h3 d4 25. Qd3 Bg6 26. Qc4+ Bf7 27. Qd3 Bg6
28. Qc4+ Qf7 29. Qxf7+ Bxf7 30. Bb3 dxc3 31. Bxf7+ Rxf7 32. Rb3 Rd7 33. Rxc3
Rd2 34. Rxc6 Rxa2 35. Rc7 Rb2 36. Ree7 a2 37. Rxg7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.22"]
[Round "37"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dreev, Alexey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2607"]
[PlyCount "137"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Ne5 e6 6. c3 Nxe5 7. dxe5 Ne7 8.
Nd2 Nc6 9. Nf3 Qc7 10. Bf4 Be7 11. Bg3 Bd7 12. Bd3 g5 13. Qe2 h5 14. h4 g4 15.
Nd2 a6 16. a4 Bf8 17. O-O Bg7 18. Rfe1 Qb6 19. b4 a5 20. b5 Ne7 21. c4 O-O 22.
cxd5 exd5 23. Nb3 Rac8 24. Rad1 Nf5 25. Bxf5 Bxf5 26. Rxd5 Qe6 27. Qd2 b6 28.
Re3 Rc2 29. Qd1 Rfc8 30. Kh2 Rb2 31. Rd8+ Kh7 32. Rxc8 Qxc8 33. Nd4 Qd7 34. Re1
Bg6 35. e6 Qxd4 36. Qxd4 Bxd4 37. e7 f6 38. e8=Q Bxe8 39. Rxe8 Rb4 40. Re6 Rxa4
41. Bc7 Bxf2 42. Bxb6 Bxb6 43. Rxb6 Kg7 44. Ra6 Ra3 45. b6 Kg6 46. b7 Rb3 47.
Rxa5 Rxb7 48. g3 Rb2+ 49. Kg1 Rd2 50. Rb5 Re2 51. Ra5 Re5 52. Ra6 Kf5 53. Kf2
Rc5 54. Rb6 Ke5 55. Ra6 f5 56. Ra8 Rc2+ 57. Kf1 Ke4 58. Ra4+ Ke3 59. Rf4 Rc5
60. Kg1 Re5 61. Kg2 Kd3 62. Kg1 Re1+ 63. Kg2 Re2+ 64. Kg1 Re3 65. Kf2 Re5 66.
Kg2 Ke3 67. Kg1 Rc5 68. Kg2 Rd5 69. Kg1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.22"]
[Round "38"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2715"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2008"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2007.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 c6 6. Be2 Bf5 7. O-O Nd7 8.
Ng4 e6 9. c4 N5f6 10. Ne3 Bg6 11. Nc3 Bd6 12. b3 Qc7 13. h3 O-O 14. Bb2 Rad8
15. Qd2 Rfe8 16. Rfd1 Bf4 17. Qe1 e5 18. d5 Bxe3 19. fxe3 Nc5 20. Rac1 Qb6 21.
Bf1 h6 22. Kh2 cxd5 23. Nxd5 Nxd5 24. cxd5 Ne4 25. Bc4 Nd6 26. Ba3 Be4 27. Bb4
Nxc4 28. bxc4 Qg6 29. Qg3 Qa6 30. a3 Rd7 31. Qg4 Qg6 32. Qxg6 Bxg6 33. Bc5 Ra8
34. Rd2 Be4 35. Rdd1 f6 36. a4 Kf7 37. a5 Rc7 38. Bd6 Rd7 39. Bc5 h5 40. h4 Kg6
41. Re1 Bd3 42. Red1 Be4 43. Re1 Kf5 44. Kg3 Rc7 45. Bd6 Rd7 46. Bc5 Kg6 47.
Red1 Rc7 48. Bd6 Rd7 49. Bc5 b6 50. axb6 axb6 51. Bxb6 Ra2 52. Rg1 Rb7 53. c5
Bxd5 54. Ra1 Re2 55. Rae1 Rxe1 56. Rxe1 Kf5 57. Ra1 Ke4 58. Kf2 Rd7 59. Ra4+
Kf5 60. Ra7 1/2-1/2

[Event "World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2007.11.24"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Zhao, Zong Yuan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2491"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "144"]
[EventDate "2007.11.24"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 O-O 8. Bd3
c5 9. O-O cxd4 10. exd4 d5 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. cxd5 exd5 13. Re1 Nc6 14. Bc2 Qd6
15. Qd3 g6 16. Bb3 Na5 17. Ne5 Bg7 18. Re2 Nxb3 19. axb3 a6 20. Rae1 Rad8 21.
h3 b5 22. Qd2 Bc8 23. Na2 Rde8 24. Qb4 Re6 25. Qxd6 Rxd6 26. Nb4 g5 27. Nbd3
Bf5 28. Nc5 b4 29. g4 Bc8 30. Ncd3 a5 31. Nc5 Kh7 32. f3 f6 33. Ned3 f5 34. Re7
fxg4 35. fxg4 h5 36. Ne5 hxg4 37. hxg4 Rf4 38. Ra1 Rxd4 39. Rxa5 Rd8 40. Raa7
Rg8 41. Kf2 Kh6 42. Ncd7 Bxd7 43. Ra6+ Kh7 44. Nxd7 Kh8 45. Ne5 Rf8+ 46. Rf7
Rf4+ 47. Rxf4 Rxf4+ 48. Nf3 Rxg4 49. Rg6 Bd4+ 50. Nxd4 Kh7 51. Rd6 Rxd4 52. Ke3
Re4+ 53. Kd3 Rf4 54. Rxd5 Kg6 55. Rb5 Rf3+ 56. Kc2 Rf4 57. Kd3 Kh5 58. Ke2 Kg4
59. Rc5 Kh4 60. Ke3 Rg4 61. Kf2 Kh3 62. Rc4 Rg2+ 63. Kf1 Rxb2 64. Rxb4 g4 65.
Rb8 Rb1+ 66. Ke2 g3 67. b4 Rb3 68. Rh8+ Kg2 69. Rb8 Kh2 70. Rh8+ Kg1 71. Rh4 g2
72. Ke1 Rb2 0-1

[Event "World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2007.11.25"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Zhao, Zong Yuan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2491"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2007.11.24"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. d4 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Qe7 5. g3 Nc6 6. Nc3 Bxc3 7. Bxc3 Ne4 8.
Qc2 Nxc3 9. Qxc3 O-O 10. Bg2 d6 11. d5 Nb8 12. O-O e5 13. c5 Bg4 14. Rac1 a5
15. Rfe1 Na6 16. cxd6 cxd6 17. Nd2 b6 18. Qe3 Nc5 19. b3 Bd7 20. a3 Bb5 21. b4
axb4 22. axb4 Nd7 23. Ne4 Rfb8 24. Rc7 Qd8 25. Rc6 Bxc6 26. dxc6 d5 27. cxd7
dxe4 28. Bxe4 Ra4 29. Bc6 Rxb4 30. Qxe5 Qf8 31. Rd1 Rd8 32. Rd3 Rg4 33. Re3 Rg6
34. Qe7 Re6 35. Rxe6 fxe6 36. Qxe6+ 1-0

[Event "World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2007.11.27"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E36"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2639"]
[PlyCount "140"]
[EventDate "2007.11.24"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 c5 7. dxc5 d4 8.
Qg3 Nc6 9. Nf3 e5 10. Nxe5 Qa5+ 11. Kd1 Nxe5 12. Qxe5+ Be6 13. Bd2 Qa4+ 14. Ke1
Rd8 15. c6 Qxc6 16. Qb5 Bxc4 17. Qxc6+ bxc6 18. Rc1 Bb5 19. Bb4 Kd7 20. Bc5 Ke6
21. f3 a5 22. Kf2 Rd5 23. e4 dxe3+ 24. Bxe3 Bxf1 25. Rhxf1 Kd7 26. Rc2 Rb8 27.
Rfc1 Rd3 28. Ke2 Rd6 29. Bf4 Re6+ 30. Kf2 Rb3 31. Rd2+ Nd5 32. Rc5 Ke8 33. Bg3
f5 34. Kg1 f4 35. Bf2 Ne3 36. Rxa5 Nc4 37. Ra8+ Kf7 38. Rd4 Rxb2 39. Rxf4+ Kg6
40. Rxc4 Rb1+ 41. Be1 Rbxe1+ 42. Kf2 R6e2+ 43. Kg3 Rg1 44. Rg4+ Kf6 45. Kh3 g6
46. Rf8+ Kg7 47. Rc8 h5 48. Rg5 Rc1 49. a4 Kf6 50. f4 Rc3+ 51. Rg3 Rxg3+ 52.
hxg3 Rc2 53. a5 Kf5 54. a6 Ra2 55. Rxc6 Ra1 56. Kh2 Ra5 57. Kg1 g5 58. fxg5
Kxg5 59. Kf2 Ra3 60. Ke1 Ra2 61. Kd1 Kg4 62. Kc1 Kxg3 63. Kb1 Ra5 64. Rg6+ Kf2
65. g3 Ke3 66. Kb2 Ke4 67. Kb3 Kf5 68. Kb4 Ra1 69. Rc6 Kg4 70. Rh6 Kxg3 1/2-1/2

[Event "World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2007.11.28"]
[Round "2.2"]
[White "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2639"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2007.11.24"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Be3 Qf6 6. c3 Nge7 7. Bc4 Ne5 8.
Be2 Qg6 9. O-O d6 10. Kh1 O-O 11. Nd2 d5 12. Bh5 Qd6 13. f4 Bxd4 14. cxd4 N5c6
15. f5 f6 16. Qg4 Kh8 17. Rf3 dxe4 18. Nxe4 Qd5 19. Raf1 Nxf5 20. Rxf5 Qxa2 21.
Bg6 1/2-1/2

[Event "World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2007.11.29"]
[Round "2.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E36"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2639"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2007.11.24"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 c5 7. dxc5 d4 8.
Qg3 Nc6 9. b4 e5 10. e4 O-O 11. Bd3 b6 12. Nf3 Nh5 13. Qg5 Qxg5 14. Bxg5 bxc5
15. b5 Na5 16. Bd2 Nb3 17. Rb1 Nxd2 18. Nxd2 a6 19. g3 axb5 20. cxb5 Rxa3 21.
Ke2 Bb7 22. Rhc1 Rc8 23. Nc4 Ra2+ 24. Ke1 Rd8 25. Nxe5 Nf6 26. Bc4 d3 27. Nxd3
Raa8 28. f3 Nd7 29. Bb3 Rdc8 30. Rc3 Kf8 31. Rbc1 Ra3 32. Nb2 Nb6 33. Nc4 Nxc4
34. Bxc4 Rca8 35. Rxa3 Rxa3 36. Be2 f5 37. exf5 Bxf3 38. Bxf3 Rxf3 39. Rb1 Rd3
40. b6 Rd8 41. b7 Rb8 42. Kd2 Ke7 43. Kc3 Kd6 44. g4 h6 45. Kc4 Kc6 46. h4 Rxb7
47. Rxb7 Kxb7 48. g5 hxg5 49. hxg5 1-0

[Event "World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2007.11.29"]
[Round "2.4"]
[White "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2639"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2007.11.24"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. a4 Rb8 8. axb5
axb5 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Nd5 Nxd5 11. exd5 Nd4 12. Nxd4 exd4 13. O-O d6 14. Bd2 Bd7
15. Ra5 Rb7 16. Re1 Bg5 17. Re4 Bf6 18. Qa1 Bf5 19. Re1 Be5 20. h3 Qh4 21. Qd1
Bd7 22. Qf3 Re8 23. Re4 Qd8 24. Qd1 h6 25. f4 Bf6 26. Rxe8+ Qxe8 27. Qe1 Qb8
28. Qa1 Qe8 29. Ra8 Rb8 30. Ra7 Rc8 31. Qe1 Qd8 32. Ba5 h5 33. Kh2 h4 34. Qb4
Be8 35. c4 dxc3 36. bxc3 g6 37. Bd1 Kg7 38. Rb7 Bd7 39. Rxc7 Rxc7 40. Qxd6 Qe8
41. Bxc7 Qe1 42. f5 Bxf5 43. Bg4 Bxc3 44. Qf4 Bxd3 45. Bf3 b4 46. Bb8 b3 0-1

[Event "World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2007.11.30"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C96"]
[WhiteElo "2683"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2007.11.24"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Na5 10. Bc2 d5 $5 {This highly unusual move seems to be part of
Carslen's special preparation for the World Cup 2008.} 11. d4 ({A couple of
days later,} 11. exd5 {was tried in Adams,M (2729)-Carlsen,M (2714)/
Khanty-Mansiysk RUS 2007/CBM 122/[Marin] (1/2-1/2, 83)}) 11... dxe4 12. Nxe5 c5
13. Bg5 {We are following the main theoretical stream still.} ({However, the
solid} 13. Be3 {is less inoffensive than it might look.} Bb7 14. Nd2 Qd5 $6 {
This pseudo-active move places the queen on a vulnerable square and deprives
the f6-knight of the possibility of a jump to the centre.} (14... Qc7 $6 15.
Bf4 $1 {[%csl Gc7,Ge4]}) (14... Rc8 $5 $13 {might be better} 15. Ng4 $140 Nd5
$1) 15. Ng4 $1 {[%csl Ge4]} cxd4 (15... Nxg4 16. hxg4 f5 17. gxf5 Qxf5 18. f3
$5 $14) 16. Bxd4 $1 e3 $5 (16... Nxg4 17. Qxg4 $18 {[%csl Ge4,Gg7]}) 17. Nxe3
Qc6 18. Nf3 $16 {Kotronias,V (2614)-Mastrovasilis,A (2529)/Igoumenitsa 2007 
(1-0, 36)}) 13... Bb7 14. Nd2 (14. dxc5 {was played in Volokitin,A (2678)
-Wojtaszek,R (2635)/Crete 2007/CBM 121/[Ftacnik] (0-1, 33), which also
contains a survey of the variation.}) 14... cxd4 15. cxd4 {Black has obtained
the control of the d5-square, but the vulnerability of the e4-pawn, combined
with the activity of White's minor pieces and the relative weakness of the
c5-square maintain the position quite tensioned.} Re8 (15... Qxd4 16. Nxe4 Qxd1
17. Raxd1 $14) 16. Nb3 $146 (16. Bxf6 {Charbonneau,P (2503)-Benjamin,J (2576)/
ICC 2007 (0-1, 80)}) 16... Nxb3 (16... Nc4 $5 {is an important alternative,
preventing the activation of the Spanish bishop.}) 17. Bxb3 Nd5 {This move
leaves the f7-pawn under the X-Ray attack of the b3-bishop. The merits of the
move is that after the exchange of the g5-bishop Black will get some stability
on dark squares.} (17... Bd5 $5 {should also be mentioned. Here, too, it is
not easy for Black to neutralize White's pressure completely.} 18. Rc1 h6 (
18... Rc8 $2 19. Rxc8 Qxc8 20. Bxf6 Bxb3 21. Qxb3 Bxf6 22. Qxf7+ $18) 19. Bh4
$14 (19. Bxf6 Bxf6 20. Rc5 Bxb3 21. Qxb3 Qxd4 22. Qxf7+ Kh8 $132)) 18. Bxe7
Rxe7 19. Rc1 Nf4 $6 {Black moves again with a well-placed piece, before having
completed his development. Besides, the dangerous diagonal is opened.} ({
The developing move} 19... Qd6 {would be more desirable.} 20. Rxe4 $5 ({
This looks tempting, but maybe the more restrained} 20. Qc2 $14 {is better and
only if} Rd8 {then} 21. Rxe4 $1 {for instance} Nb4 22. Nxf7 $1 Rxf7 23. Bxf7+ {
[%cal Gg8f7,Gc2c7]} Kf8 24. Re6 Nxc2 25. Rxd6 Rxd6 26. Rxc2 Bxg2 27. Kxg2 Kxf7
$14) 20... f6 21. Rc5 $5 (21. f4 $5) 21... Rae8 {[%cal Gf6e5] /\fxe5.} (21...
fxe5 $2 22. Rxd5 Bxd5 23. dxe5 Rxe5 24. Rxe5 Qxe5 25. Qxd5+ Qxd5 26. Bxd5+ Kf8
27. Bxa8 $18) 22. Nf7 $1 Kxf7 23. Bxd5+ Bxd5 24. Qh5+ Kf8 25. Rxd5 Qc6 26. Rxe7
Qc1+ $1 $11) 20. Qg4 Ng6 (20... Nd3 21. Qf5 $1 {[%csl Gf7]} Nxe5 22. dxe5 {
transposes}) 21. Qf5 Nxe5 22. dxe5 Qf8 23. Rc5 Rd8 24. Rec1 $14 {Black is
under serious pressure.} Qe8 25. Rc7 h6 26. R1c5 Rxc7 27. Rxc7 Bd5 28. Bxd5
Rxd5 29. Rc8 Rd8 30. Rc7 Rd1+ 31. Kh2 Rd5 32. Rc8 Rd8 33. Rxd8 Qxd8 34. Qxe4
Qd2 35. Qa8+ Kh7 36. Qe4+ Kg8 37. f4 Qxb2 38. e6 fxe6 39. Qxe6+ Kh7 40. Qe4+
Kh8 41. Qa8+ Kh7 42. Qxa6 Qd4 43. Qxb5 Qxf4+ 44. Kg1 Qd4+ 45. Kh2 1/2-1/2

[Event "World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2007.12.01"]
[Round "3.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2683"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2007.11.24"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Bg5
Be6 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. Qd3 Bg5 11. Rd1 Nc6 12. a3 Bxb3 13. cxb3 Nd4 14. b4 Rc8
15. O-O O-O 16. Bg4 Rc6 17. g3 g6 18. f4 Bh6 19. Rf2 Bg7 20. f5 Qg5 21. Bh3 Bh6
22. Re1 b5 23. Kg2 Ra8 24. fxg6 hxg6 25. Bd7 Rc4 26. b3 Rc7 27. Nd5 Rc1 28. h4
Rxe1 29. hxg5 Bxg5 30. Bg4 Ra1 31. a4 Kg7 32. Nc3 Ra3 33. axb5 axb5 34. Nxb5
Nxb5 35. Qxb5 Be3 36. Rf1 Ra2+ 37. Be2 R8a7 38. Kh3 Ra8 39. Bc4 Rh8+ 40. Kg4
Rh5 41. Rxf7+ Kh6 42. Qd7 1-0

[Event "World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2007.12.03"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Adams, Michael"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E36"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2729"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "153"]
[EventDate "2007.11.24"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 dxc4 ({Another
variation that becomes more and more popular lately is} 6... c5) ({Adams
usually prefered the main} 6... Ne4) 7. Qxc4 b6 {Nigel Short's idea. Black
tries to use the exposed position of the white queen.} 8. Bf4 {The most
principled answer.} (8. Nf3) 8... Ba6 ({Earlier this year Carlsen achieved
advantage in a blitz game against Onischuk after} 8... Nd5 9. Bg3 Ba6 10. Qa4+
Qd7 11. Qc2 Qb5 12. Nf3 Nc6 13. Rc1 Nde7 14. b4 Qh5 15. Qa4 Bb5 16. Qb3 Qd5 17.
Qxd5 exd5 18. e3 Bxf1 19. Kxf1 Rc8 20. Ke2 {1/2-1/2 Carlsen,M (2710)-Onischuk,
A (2650)/Biel (blitz) 2007 (54)}) 9. Qxc7 Qxc7 10. Bxc7 {Black has
compensation for the pawn thanks to the lead in development. However, the
present game reminds that the development advantage is a temporary factor and
can easily disappear.} O-O {With this novelty Black keeps the possibility to
develop the knight either on d7 or c6. However, Adams failed to show the
advantages of the knight on d7.} ({Short played} 10... Nc6 11. Nf3 Rc8 12. Be5
({The critical variation seems to be} 12. Bf4 Na5 13. b4) 12... Nxe5 13. dxe5
Nd7 14. b4 Bb7 15. e3 Bxf3 16. gxf3 Nxe5 17. Bb5+ Ke7 18. f4 Nd7 {and Black
soon achieved a draw in Baburin,A (2590)-Short,N (2670)/Port Erin 1998.}) 11.
Nf3 Rc8 12. Bf4 Nbd7 ({Another way to look for compensation is} 12... Nc6 13.
e3 Bxf1 14. Rxf1 Na5) 13. Nd2 {The begin of an impressive maneuver.} Rc2 ({
Deserves attention to chase away the bishop from the diagonal c1-h6:} 13... Nd5
14. Bg3 Rc2 15. Rb1 Rac8 16. Kd1 f5 {although after} 17. e3 Bxf1 18. Rxf1 {
White will most likely find a way to coordinate his pieces and keep the extra
pawn (appart from Ke2-d3, followed by Nb3 and Rfc1, White also has Re1-e2, or
in some cases even Nb3 and Rc1, using the pin on the c-file).}) 14. Rb1 Rac8 {
Adams achieved a visible activity, but Carlsen finds a strong defensive plan:
the knight goes to a1 in order to control square c2.} 15. Nb3 $1 Bc4 (15... Nd5
16. Bd2 N7f6 17. f3 $16 {[%cal Gb3a1]}) 16. Na1 $1 Ba2 17. Nxc2 Bxb1 18. Na1
Nd5 19. Bd2 {A rare case when White can be proud having a knight in the corner.
Indeed, it controls the vital square c2 and cannot be disturbed there. The
bishop controls square c1, so in fact the yound Norvegian is just a healthy
pawn up. White's position contains no weaknesses and he will soon complete
development.} e5 20. e3 $1 ({Stronger than} 20. dxe5 Nxe5 21. e3 Bd3 (21...
Nd3+ 22. Bxd3 Bxd3 23. f3 $16)) 20... exd4 21. exd4 Nb8 (21... Re8+ 22. Kd1 $16
) (21... Nf8 22. Ba6 Re8+ 23. Kd1 Ne6 24. Re1 Ndc7 $14 {/+/-}) 22. f3 Nc6 23.
Bc4 Rd8 24. Kf2 Bf5 25. Nb3 {White has everything protected and the game
enters in the phase of converting the extra pawn. This is not a trivial task,
though, since the isolated d-pawn is blockaded and it is difficult for White
to find targets for attack.} Be6 26. Rc1 f6 27. a4 $1 {Now Black faces an
unpleasant choice. Allowing the further advance of the a-pawn will open files
for white pieces. Adams chooses to blockade it, but then the b-pawn remains
weak.} a5 28. Bc3 Bf7 29. Nd2 Nde7 30. Bf1 $5 {Carlsen decides to give up the
d4-pawn in order to open the position, where his bishop pair together with the
weakness of pawn b6 will secure the advantage.} ({White could have kept the
extra pawn with} 30. Rd1 $16 Nxd4 $140 $6 31. Bxf7+ Kxf7 32. Nc4 Nec6 33. Nxb6
$18) 30... Nxd4 31. Re1 Ndc6 32. Nc4 Nd5 33. Rb1 Kf8 (33... Nxc3 34. bxc3 $16 {
[%csl Rb6]}) 34. Be1 Ke7 (34... Ncb4 35. Rd1 (35. Kg1 $5 Re8 36. Bf2 Re6 37.
Rd1 $14) 35... Nc2 36. Bd2 $14 (36. Nxb6 $6 Nxe1 37. Nxd5 Nxg2 $11)) 35. Kg1 $1
{Again Carlsen finds a powerful way to improve the position.} Nb8 36. Bf2 Nd7
37. Re1+ Kf8 38. Rd1 Ke7 39. Re1+ Kf8 40. Nd6 Ne5 (40... Nc5 41. Nxf7 Kxf7 42.
Bxc5 ({or} 42. Bb5 $14 {/+/-}) 42... bxc5 43. Bc4 Rd7 44. Rd1 Ke6 45. f4 g5 46.
g3 $16) 41. Nxf7 Kxf7 $16 42. Rd1 {The bishops are much stronger than the
knights and in spite of material eqiality White has a clear advantage.} Ke7 43.
f4 (43. Ba6 $16) 43... Ng4 (43... Nxf4 44. Rxd8 Kxd8 45. Bxb6+ $18) 44. Re1+
Kf8 45. Bd4 Rd6 ({Again taking on f4 loses:} 45... Nxf4 46. Bxb6 Rd5 47. b4 $1
axb4 48. a5 {and the knights can't fight against the marginal passed pawn.})
46. h3 Nh6 ({Here} 46... Nxf4 {was worth a try, at the same time containing a
trap.} 47. Re4 ({After} 47. Rd1 $2 {(threatening 48.Bc5) Black has a strong
answer} Ke7 $1 {which is also the only defense} (47... Ne6 48. Bc5 $18) (47...
Ke8 48. hxg4 Ne6 49. Re1 $18) 48. hxg4 Ne6 {and it is White who must look for
escape}) 47... Ne6 48. Rxe6 Rxe6 49. hxg4 $16 {White is clearly better, but
winning it might be a difficult task.}) 47. Rd1 $1 Nf5 (47... Nxf4 $2 48. Bc5
$18) 48. Bf2 Ke7 (48... Nxf4 49. Rxd6 Nxd6 50. Bxb6 $16) 49. g4 Nh6 50. f5 Nf7
51. Bg2 Nf4 52. Rxd6 Nxd6 53. Bxb6 {In spite of Adams' efforts the inevitable
happened. Now the extra pawn secures a technical win.} Nc4 54. Bc5+ Kd7 55. Bf1
({Even stronger is} 55. b3 Nxg2 (55... Nd2 56. Be3 Nxg2 57. Bxd2 $18) 56. Kxg2
Nd2 57. b4 $18) 55... Nxb2 56. Bb5+ Kd8 ({More stubborn is} 56... Kc7 {
although after} 57. Bf8 ({or} 57. h4 {[%cal Gc5f8]}) 57... g6 58. fxg6 hxg6 59.
h4 {Black's position is difficult anyway}) 57. Bb6+ Ke7 58. Kh2 $18 Nd5 59.
Bxa5 Kd6 60. Bd2 Kc5 61. Kg3 Nc7 62. Be3+ Kb4 63. Bd2+ Kc5 64. Bc1 Nc4 65. Bxc4
Kxc4 66. Bd2 Na6 67. a5 Kb5 68. Kf3 Nc5 69. Bc3 h6 70. Ke3 Kc4 71. Bd4 Na6 72.
Ke4 Nb4 73. h4 Kb5 74. Bc3 Na6 75. Kd5 Nc5 76. Bd4 Nd3 77. Ke6 1-0

[Event "World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2007.12.04"]
[Round "4.2"]
[White "Adams, Michael"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C96"]
[WhiteElo "2729"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "165"]
[EventDate "2007.11.24"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Na5 10. Bc2 d5 11. exd5 ({Just few days ealrier, Carlsen found
himself in some toruble after} 11. d4 {Dominguez Perez,L (2683)-Carlsen,M 
(2714)/Khanty-Mansiysk 2007/CBM 122/[Marin] (1/2-1/2, 45). However, it was
obvious that he had found an improvement since he was ready to play the same
line again. Besides, having familiarized himself during a couple of hours in
an over-the-board game and whi knows how many others examining it before the
tournament would have offerd him an advantage from practical point of view.})
11... e4 12. Bxe4 {White has to give up the pride of his position.} (12. Ng5 {
offers Black good play.} Nxd5 13. Nxe4 ({The tactical operation initiated with
} 13. Nxh7 {wins two pawns after} Kxh7 14. Bxe4+ Kg8 15. Bxd5 Qxd5 16. Rxe7 {
. However, White is strongly undderdeveloped (while the weakness of the
d3-square makes one remember the games Paulsen-Morphy 1857 and
Fischer-Matulovic 1970. In both games, Black installed a queen on d3, causing
White huge problems in development, although in the second game he managed to
survive somehow. Here, The least Black could do is} Be6 {winning the exchange.
White should give up the rook for the e6-bishop, because} 17. Rxc7 Qd6 {
would only make things worse.}) 13... f5 14. Ng3 f4 15. Ne4 f3 $40 16. d4 fxg2
17. Ng3 (17. Qh5 g6 18. Qh6 Rf5 19. Ng3 Bf8 20. Qd2 Rf7 $32 {Guliyev,N (2560)
-Fressinet,L (2654)/Ajaccio 2007/CBM 120 ext (0-1, 36)}) 17... Qd6 18. Qd3 g6
19. Ne4 Qe6 20. Bh6 Nf4 21. Bxf4 Rxf4 $44 {Wang Hao (2624)-Jones,G (2526)/
Liverpool 2007/CBM 120 (1/2-1/2, 104)}) 12... Nxe4 13. Rxe4 Bb7 {It can be
expected that Black will get the usual... Marshall-Attack-like compensation
for the pawn. His strong pair of bishops as well as White's delay in
development make the small material defficit rather insignifiant.} 14. d4 Re8
$5 {A theoretical refinment. By defending the bishop, Black threatens to
capture the d5-pawn with the queen, putting the enemy kingside under serious
pressure.} (14... Bxd5 15. Re1 Qd6 16. b3 $1 Nc6 17. Be3 $6 ({This is
unconsequent. The previous move was useful to restrict the enemy knight, but
could also have been taken advantage of for an active development of the
bishop with} 17. Ba3 b4 18. Bxb4 Nxb4 19. cxb4 Bxf3 20. Qxf3 Qxd4 21. Na3 Bxb4
22. Red1 Qh4 23. Nc4 $14 {With such a stable knight, White has a stable
advantage.}) 17... f5 $44 {[%csl Ge3] Onischuk,V (2469)-Drozdovskij,Y (2567)/
Kharkov 2007 (0-1, 44)}) 15. Bf4 Nc4 ({Once the c1-bishop has been developed
on an active square,} 15... Qxd5 {allows White win some time to complete his
development in adequate way after} 16. Re5 Qd7 17. Nbd2 {The importance of the
bishop's good placement can be seen after} Bd6 $6 18. Rxe8+ Rxe8 19. Bxd6 $14)
({However, the immediate} 15... Bxd5 $5 {comes into consideration.}) 16. Re2
$146 ({The slightly paradoxical} 16. b3 Nb6 17. c4 {allows White retain some
pressure. The d5-pawn will not be easy to win back.} bxc4 18. bxc4 Nxc4 19. Nc3
Nd6 (19... Nb6 20. Qb3 Bxd5 21. Bxc7 $1) 20. Re1 Nb5 21. Rc1 $14 {[%csl Gc7]
Kaplan,S (2466)-Ragger,M (2528)/Yerevan 2007/CBM 120 ext (1/2-1/2, 51)}) 16...
Bxd5 17. Ne5 Bg5 18. Bg3 ({Generally speaking, White would be interested to
exchange these bishops, but his delay in development would leave him in
trouble after} 18. Bxg5 $2 Qxg5 $17 {[%csl Ge5,Gg2]}) 18... Nxe5 19. Rxe5 Rxe5
20. Bxe5 Qd7 {White is close to complete his development and, unlike in the
Marshall Attack, his king is in absolute safety. However, Black's firm control
over the light squares keeps the position balanced.} 21. Na3 (21. Nd2 {would
almost surely lead to a draw after} Bxd2 22. Qxd2 f6 23. Bg3 Re8 {It is
virtually impossible for White to create a queenside passed pawn.}) 21... f6
22. Bg3 Qc6 23. f4 {The first significant weakness. Adams wanted the d2-square
for his queen, but the e4-square will remain chronically weak now.} (23. f3 Re8
$44) 23... Bh6 24. Qd2 g6 (24... f5 $5 25. Nc2 Be4 {[%cal Gg7g6,Gh6f8,Gf8d6]
would have allowed Black retain his pair of bishops.}) 25. Nc2 Bf8 26. f5 $1
$14 {White has managed to get rid of this pawn, opening the way to his passive
bishop. It is hard to claim a clear advantage yet, but it is clear that only
White can play for a win.} Re8 27. fxg6 hxg6 28. Rc1 Re4 29. b3 Qe6 30. Re1 c6
31. Kh2 a5 32. Qd3 f5 33. Be5 a4 34. Qg3 Rxe1 35. Nxe1 Be4 36. Nf3 {[%cal
Gf3g5]} Bxf3 37. Qxf3 axb3 38. axb3 {A curious endgame. I would say that White
is not without chances here, but Carlsen defends with such great confidence
that the final part of the games leaves the sensation that the position is
absolutely equal.} Be7 39. Kg1 Kf7 40. Kf2 Ke8 41. Qe2 Kf7 42. c4 bxc4 43. bxc4
Bh4+ 44. Kf1 Be7 45. Ke1 Bb4+ 46. Kd1 Be7 47. Kd2 Bb4+ 48. Kd3 Be7 49. Qe3 Ke8
50. Qh6 Kd7 51. Qh8 Bd8 52. Qg7+ Be7 53. Kc3 Ke8 54. Qh8+ Kd7 55. Qb8 Bd8 56.
Kb3 Be7 57. Qb6 Ke8 58. Qb8+ Kf7 59. Kc3 Qd7 60. Qh8 Qe6 61. h4 Bf8 62. g3 Be7
63. c5 Bf8 64. Kb4 Be7 65. h5 gxh5 66. Qxh5+ Kf8 67. Qh8+ Kf7 68. Qh1 Ke8 69.
Qf3 Kd7 70. Qd3 Bf8 71. Kc3 Be7 72. Qb1 Ke8 73. Qb7 Bd8 74. Kb4 Be7 75. Qa8+
Kd7 76. Qa7+ Ke8 77. Qa6 Kd7 78. Qa8 Bxc5+ $1 {Bravo Magnus! It is not easy to
spot such chances after having been moving the pieces around for such a long
time.} 79. dxc5 ({The black queen has sufficient mobility along diagonals to
give perpetual check after} 79. Kxc5 Qd5+ 80. Kb6 (80. Kb4 $4 c5+ $1 $19) 80...
Qb3+ 81. Ka7 Qa2+ (81... Qa3+ {is also possible} 82. Kb8 Qf8+) 82. Kb8 Qg8+ 83.
Kb7 Qb3+) 79... Qxe5 80. Qb7+ Qc7 81. Qxc7+ Kxc7 82. Kc4 Kd7 83. Kd3 1/2-1/2

[Event "World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2007.12.06"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Cheparinov, Ivan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2670"]
[Annotator "Friedel,F"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2007.11.24"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Carlsen and Cheparinov already met in the third round of the World Cup in
Khanty-Mansiysk two years ago. The two regular games ended with the score 1-1
then, each of the opponents winning with the black pieces! After that in the
rapid Magnus knocked out Ivan by winning both games. In the two years period
both players constantly grew in strength and now belong to the strongest
grandmasters in the world. High time for a new confrontation!} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3
g6 {The King's Indian is a dangerous weapon in hands of tactical players. It
usually leads to sharp tactical battle, where White gains space advantage, but
where Black often keeps good counterplay possibilities against the white king.
It fits perfectly to Cheparinov's aggressive playing style.} 3. Bg5 {No, thank
you. The young Norwegian, who, by the way plays the King's Indian himself from
time to time, declines the invitation and chooses a solid and quiet set-up,
without big ambitions to fight for the opening advantage. Earlier Carlsen used
to play 3.g3 in this position.} Bg7 4. Nbd2 d6 5. e4 O-O 6. c3 c5 7. dxc5 dxc5
8. Bc4 Nc6 9. O-O Qc7 10. Qe2 h6 11. Bh4 Nh5 12. Rfe1 Bg4 13. Qe3 g5 {A
novelty. Cheparinov gains the bishop pair for the price of weakening his
kingside pawn structure.} 14. Bg3 Nxg3 15. hxg3 b6 16. Nh2 Bh5 17. g4 {So
after all Carlsen couldn't resist the temptation and tries to exploit
opponent's provokative play.} ({The more cautious} 17. Be2 {is answered with}
Bg6 {and again in order to avoid passivity White must take some aggressive
actions connected with f2-f4.}) 17... Bg6 18. g3 Rad8 19. f4 Nd4 {Who said
anything about "a solid and quiet opening set-up"? Well, in reality the
players' style and fighting spirit counts more than any other factors. It is
curious that in spite of wild complications the position remains about equal.
The only difference to the usual equality is that here any mistake can lead to
immediate disaster for either side.} 20. Rac1 b5 21. Bf1 gxf4 22. gxf4 Ne6 ({
I doubt that the cautious} 22... Bh7 {in order to keep the material balance
did cross Cheparinov's mind.}) 23. e5 {Due to the large amount of variations
to calculate, it is difficult to choose which pawn to advance. Carlsen's move
is more cautious, opening fewerdiagonals for black pieces and trying to keep
the queen away from the white king.} ({Advancing the other pawn looks possible
too:} 23. f5 Be5 24. Ndf3 ({worse is} 24. Nhf3 Bf4) 24... Bf4 25. Qf2 Bxc1 26.
Rxc1 Qf4 ({or} 26... Nf4 {after which White is not necessarily forced to take
the bishop, but can choose between moves like 27.e5 or 27.Qh4, with
compensation for the exchange.}) 27. Re1 Ng5 28. Nxg5 Qxg5 29. fxg6 fxg6 30.
Qg3 a6 {with a double-edged position.}) 23... f5 24. exf6 Rxf6 25. f5 Ng5 26.
fxg6 Re6 27. Qf2 Be5 28. Rxe5 (28. Nhf3 {is bad in view of} Bg3) 28... Qxe5 29.
Ndf3 Nxf3+ 30. Nxf3 Qf4 31. Re1 Rxe1 {In such positions the side with the rook
usually aims to exchange pieces, since in endgame the rook with a pawn has
better chances to fight against two minor pieces.} ({Nevertheless it deserved
attention} 31... Qxg4+ 32. Bg2 Rxe1+ 33. Qxe1 {and now interesting is} Rd6 {
with complicated play. White can't activate his minor pieces due to his
vulnerable king.}) 32. Nxe1 Qxf2+ 33. Kxf2 Rd2+ 34. Ke3 {Thanks to the pawn on
g6 White's chances are preferable, but Black should be able to make a draw.
However, Magnus showed a better technique and nicely used the small
inaccuracies made by Cheparinov, achieving a winning position. Then in the end
both players missed the right continuations. The last one to err was
Cheparinov....} Rd1 (34... Rxb2 35. Nd3 Rxa2 36. Nxc5 Rb2 {is a possible
alternative}) 35. Ke2 Ra1 (35... Rb1 36. b3 Rb2+ 37. Ke3 Rxa2 38. Bxb5 $16) 36.
Bg2 c4 (36... Rxa2 $4 37. Bd5+) 37. a3 Rb1 38. Nc2 Rxb2 39. Be4 Kg7 40. Ke3 Rb3
41. Kd2 Kf6 (41... e5) 42. Nd4 Rxa3 43. Nxb5 Ra5 44. Nc7 Kg7 45. Ne6+ Kh8 46.
Ke3 Ra1 47. Kd4 a5 48. Bc6 a4 49. Be8 Rg1 50. g5 a3 51. Bf7 Rxg5 52. Nxg5 hxg5
53. Bxc4 Kg7 54. Kd3 $2 (54. Ke5 Kxg6 55. Ba2 g4 56. Kf4 Kf6 57. Kxg4 Ke5 58.
Kf3 $18) 54... Kxg6 55. Kc2 g4 56. Kb3 (56. Bd3+ Kg5 57. c4 e5 58. c5 g3 59.
Bf1 ({or} 59. Be4 Kf4 60. Bg2 e4 61. c6 e3 62. c7 e2 63. Kd2 a2) 59... e4 60.
c6 e3 61. c7 g2 62. Bxg2 e2 63. Kd2 a2 $11) 56... Kf5 57. Kxa3 {This endgame
is easy to analyze thanks to the available so-called tablebases. Playing it
with no time is a completely different thing, so I will just indicate the
mistakes, without deep analysis.} g3 $2 (57... Ke4 58. Ba6 e5 $11 {Also 57...
Kf4 and 57...e5 are sufficient for a draw.}) 58. Bf1 $2 ({Correct is} 58. Bd5
e5 59. Bg2 {(or 59.Bh1)} e4 60. Kb3 e3 61. Kc2 {winning}) 58... e5 $2 (58...
Kf4 {(or immediately 58...Ke4)} 59. c4 Ke4 60. Kb4 e5 61. Kc3 (61. c5 Kd5 62.
Kb5 e4 63. Bg2 Kd4 64. c6 e3 65. c7 e2 66. c8=Q e1=Q $11) 61... Kf3 62. c5 Kf2
63. Bh3 e4 64. c6 e3 65. c7 e2 66. c8=Q e1=Q+ $11) 59. Kb3 $2 {This move again
allows Black to escape} ({White must start with} 59. Bg2 e4 (59... Kf4 60. c4
$18) 60. Kb3 Ke5 61. Kc4 $18) 59... Kf4 $2 {The last mistake.} (59... Ke4 $1
60. Bg2+ Kd3 $1 {still achieves a draw.}) 60. Bg2 Ke3 61. Kc4 Kf2 62. Be4 (62.
Be4 g2 63. Bxg2 Kxg2 64. Kd5 $18) 1-0

[Event "World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2007.12.07"]
[Round "5.2"]
[White "Cheparinov, Ivan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2670"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "159"]
[EventDate "2007.11.24"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{The second match game between Carlsen and Cheparinov left a strange feeling.
The Bulgarian grandmaster chose a deeply analyzed opening variation, very well
known to his opponent - a rather surprising strategy, especially since this
variation leads to simple positions with visible drawish tendencies. The game
quickly entered a four-rooks endgame with an extra pawn for White, but without
real winning chances for Cheparinov. His further efforts were in vain: such
endgames can hardly be won, no matter of one's efforts and willingness to win.
Thus Carlsen's draw with the black pieces was unexpectedly easy, and he won
the match 1.5-0.5.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 c5 5. g3 cxd4 6. Nxd4
O-O 7. Bg2 d5 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. Qb3 (9. Bd2 Bxc3 10. bxc3 e5 11. Nb3 Nc6 12. O-O
Nb6 13. Be3 Qc7 14. Qc2 Be6 15. Rfd1 Nc4 16. Bc5 Rfd8 17. Qe4 Rac8 18. f4 f5
19. Qf3 b6 20. Bf2 e4 $17 {Onischuk,A (2650)-Carlsen,M (2710)/Biel (blitz) 2007
}) 9... Qa5 10. Bd2 Nc6 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. O-O Bxc3 13. bxc3 Ba6 14. Rfd1 Qc5
15. e4 Bc4 16. Qa4 ({The position is well-known to Carlsen also from the white
side:} 16. Qc2 Nb6 17. Bf4 e5 18. Be3 Qa3 19. Bh3 Rab8 20. Qc1 Qxc1 21. Rdxc1
Bd3 22. f3 Rb7 $11 {Carlsen,M (2698)-Leko,P (2741)/Moscow 2006}) 16... Nb6 17.
Qb4 Qh5 18. Bf4 c5 19. Qa5 ({The Norvegian has pleasant memories with this
position. Less then a month ago he won a nice game against Jakovenko:} 19. Qb2
Rad8 20. Re1 Rd7 21. h3 h6 22. a4 Ba6 23. Qa2 Rfd8 24. a5 Nc4 25. Bf1 e5 26. g4
Qg6 27. Bxc4 exf4 28. Bd5 f3 29. c4 h5 30. Kh2 Qf6 31. Rg1 hxg4 32. Rab1 Bxc4
$1 33. Qxc4 Qf4+ 34. Rg3 Rxd5 $19 {Jakovenko,D (2710)-Carlsen,M (2714)/Moscow
2007}) 19... e5 {Without waiting for some improvements from his opponent,
Magnus is the first one to produce a new move.} (19... Rfc8 20. h3 f6 21. Be3
e5 22. Bxc5 Be6 23. Bxb6 axb6 24. Qxb6 {was slightly better for White in Van
Wely,L (2683) -Karjakin,S (2678)/Wijk aan Zee 2007}) 20. Be3 Be2 21. Re1 Nc4
22. Qa6 (22. Qxc5 Rfc8 23. Qe7 Nxe3 24. fxe3 $17 {is of course not an option
for White}) 22... Nxe3 23. Rxe2 Nxg2 24. Kxg2 Rad8 25. Rae1 Rd7 26. Qb5 Rfd8
27. Qxc5 f6 28. Qc4+ Qf7 29. Qxf7+ Kxf7 {White's extra pawn on c3 is rather
weak and his rooks are passive. Besides, with four rooks it is even more
difficult for White to make progress than with two. Carlsen confidently
handles the last part of the game.} 30. Rb1 Rc8 31. Rc2 Rc4 32. Rb4 Rc5 33. Kf1
a5 34. Ra4 g5 35. Ke2 g4 36. Ra3 Rdc7 37. Rc1 h5 38. Kd3 Rd7+ 39. Ke3 Rdc7 40.
Rb3 Rc4 41. Kd3 Ra4 42. Rc2 Rd7+ 43. Ke3 Rc7 44. Rb5 Ke6 45. Rb6+ Kf7 46. Ra6
Kg6 47. Ra8 Kf7 48. Ra6 Kg6 49. Rd6 Kf7 50. Kd3 Ke7 51. Rd5 Ke6 52. Rd8 Kf7 53.
c4 Ra3+ 54. Kd2 Ra4 55. Kd3 Ra3+ 56. Kd2 Ra4 57. c5 Rxe4 58. Kd3 Ra4 59. Rd6
Ke7 60. Ra6 Rd7+ 61. Kc3 Rdd4 62. Kb2 Rab4+ 63. Kc1 a4 64. Rc3 Rbc4 65. Kc2 Re4
66. Ra7+ Ke6 67. c6 Kd6 68. c7 Kd7 69. Rxc4 Rxc4+ 70. Kd3 Rd4+ 71. Ke3 f5 72.
Ra6 Kxc7 73. Rf6 Re4+ 74. Kd3 Rd4+ 75. Ke3 Re4+ 76. Kd3 Rd4+ 77. Kc3 f4 78. Rf5
Re4 79. Kd3 Rd4+ 80. Kc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2007.12.09"]
[Round "6.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "42"]
[EventDate "2007.11.24"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nxc6 bxc6 $5 {Not a very common
move.} (5... Qf6 {is almost authomatically played here, which is quite curious.
The move itself is not bad, as proven by years and decades of practice.
However, for the taste of certain players, it looks a bit like a premature
commitment, which makes one wonder why the move played by Kamsky has not been
taken too seriously before.}) 6. Bd3 {Just one of the possible moves here.} Qh4
{This is a more active way to attack the f2-pawn, leaving the f6-square
available for the knight at the same time.} 7. Qe2 {The most natural, but not
the only move tried here.} (7. O-O Nf6 8. Qd2 $6 {If we compare with the lines
starting with 5...Qf6, this move leads to a less favourable position for White.
} (8. h3 d6 {[%cal Gc8h3]} 9. Qf3 {looks more active.}) 8... O-O 9. Qf4 Qxf4
10. Bxf4 d6 11. Nd2 Nh5 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bh4 Nf4 14. Nb3 Nxd3 15. cxd3 Bb6 $15 {
Alatortsev,V-Lilienthal,A/Leningrad 1935/[ChessBase] (0-1, 65)}) (7. Qf3 {
places the queen on a slightly exposed square.} Nf6 8. Bf4 {This move allows
Black open the centre with all the comfort.} (8. Nc3 $5 {deserves being
investigated. The consequences of} Ng4 {are not entirely clear after} 9. g3 Ne5
10. Qxf7+ $1 Kxf7 11. gxh4 d5 $5 12. Be2 $1 {[%csl Gf3]}) 8... d5 $1 (8... O-O
9. Bg3 Qg5 10. Bf4 Qh4 11. Bg3 Qg5 12. Bf4 Qh4 {1/2-1/2 Ris,R (2395)-Winants,L
(2504)/Netherlands 2007/CBM 120 ext}) 9. Nd2 O-O 10. O-O Bb6 11. h3 Be6 $11 {
Mullon,J (2318)-Radulov,I (2359)/Clichy 2002/CBM 089 ext (0-1, 36)}) 7... Nf6
8. Be3 ({The attempt to harass the queen with the help of the pawns is rather
time consuming:} 8. h3 O-O 9. g3 Qh5 10. g4 (10. Qxh5 Nxh5 11. Nc3 {Godena,M 
(2558)-Volke,K (2490)/Dresden 2007/CBM 118 (1/2-1/2, 15)} d5 $5 12. exd5 Re8+
13. Kf1 cxd5 14. Nxd5 Bb7 15. c4 Nf6 16. Nxf6+ gxf6 17. Rh2 Rad8 $44) 10... Qh4
$6 (10... Qe5 $5 11. g5 Ne8 12. f4 Qe6 $132 {[%cal Gd7d5,Gf7f6] White's delay
in development prevents him from maintaining his advantage of space.}) 11. Nd2
Ne8 12. Nb3 Be7 13. Nd4 Bc5 14. Nf5 $14 {Motylev,A (2641)-Liang Chong (2531)/
Moscow 2001/CBM 086 (1-0, 53). White has almost completed his development and
stands actively.}) 8... Bxe3 9. Qxe3 O-O 10. Nd2 Re8 $1 (10... d6 {defines the
central structure too soon.} 11. Nf3 (11. h3 Ng4 12. Nf3 Qh5 13. Qd4 c5 14. Qc3
Re8 15. O-O Ne5 16. Nxe5 Qxe5 17. Qxe5 Rxe5 $11 {Van der Wiel,J (2570)-Winants,
L (2495)/Netherlands 1994/EXT 98 (1/2-1/2, 38)}) 11... Qh5 12. O-O Re8 13. Rfe1
Bg4 14. Nd2 Bd7 15. Qg3 Rab8 16. b3 c5 17. Nc4 $14 {Lecroq,M (2578)-Martin
Clemente,J (2569)/ICCF corr 2000/ICCF Telechess CBM 94 (1/2-1/2, 28). White
has an harmonious display of forces and the better structure.}) 11. O-O ({Now,
} 11. Nf3 Qh5 12. O-O {could be met by} d5 $1 $36 {without loss of time.})
11... d6 12. Rae1 $146 ({It is questionable whether this novelty,
concentrating the forces on the kingside in a mechanical way, is really better
than the previously played} 12. Rfe1 Ng4 (12... a5 $5 13. Nf3 Qh5 14. h3 {
[%cal Ga1d1] offers White a better version of the game.}) 13. Qg3 Qxg3 14. hxg3
Rb8 15. b3 Ne5 16. Be2 c5 17. f4 Nc6 18. c3 h6 19. Bf3 Bb7 20. Nc4 $14 {
Chytilek,R (2386)-Timoscenko,G (2513)/Czechia 2001/EXT 2003 (1/2-1/2, 48).
White has consolidated his advantage of space and retains the more flexible
pawn structure.}) 12... a5 {[%csl Ga2]} 13. Qg3 (13. Nf3 Qh5 {[%csl Gf1]
leaves the f1-rook misplaced now.}) 13... Qxg3 14. hxg3 {We have reached the
same structure as in Timoscenko's game, but Black has avoided the losses of
time cause by the knight's jumping around.} a4 $11 {Besdies, the pressure
exerted against the enemy queenside will soon allow him get rid of his main
structural weakness, the a-pawn and open the a-file for the rook.} 15. f3 Be6
16. b3 Nd7 17. Re3 axb3 18. axb3 Ne5 19. Be2 Ra2 20. Rc3 c5 21. b4 cxb4 (21...
cxb4 22. Rxc7 Rc8 23. Rxc8+ Bxc8 24. Rc1 Be6 $11 {[%cal Gg8f8,Gf8e7]}) 1/2-1/2

[Event "World Cup"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2007.12.10"]
[Round "6.2"]
[White "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C43"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2007.11.24"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3 d5 5. dxe5 Be7 6. O-O Bg4 7. h3 Bh5 8.
Re1 Nc6 9. Nc3 $146 (9. Bf4 g5 10. Bh2 g4 11. hxg4 Bxg4 12. Nc3 Nxf2 13. Kxf2
Bc5+ 14. Kf1 Nd4 15. Be2 Nxf3 16. Bxf3 Qh4 17. Qe2 Qxh2 18. Qb5+ c6 19. Qxc5
Bxf3 20. gxf3 Rg8 21. Qf2 Qh3+ {0-1 Schmider,B-Kresovic,V/Germany 1992}) 9...
Bg6 10. Bd2 Nxd2 11. Qxd2 d4 12. Ne4 O-O 13. a3 Qd5 14. Qf4 Rfe8 15. Re2 Bf8
16. Ng3 Bxd3 17. cxd3 Re6 18. Nh5 $1 Rae8 19. Rae1 a5 {Black is ignoring the
threats on the kingside, but perhaps there was really nothing better he could
do.} 20. Qg4 Rg6 21. Nf4 Rxg4 22. Nxd5 Rg6 23. g4 {Carlsen is in time trouble,
Kamsky is playing difficult moves - here threatening to trap the black rook.} (
{After} 23. Nxc7 {White gets two pawns and probably a winning position.} Rc8 (
23... Re7 24. Nb5 Rd7 25. Re4 Rd5 26. Nbxd4 Nxd4 27. Nxd4 Bc5 28. Ne2) 24. Nb5
Rd8 25. Re4 Bc5 26. Rc1 Bb6 27. Rc4 Re6 28. Nfxd4 Nxd4 29. Nxd4 {and White is
two pawns up.}) 23... Rd8 $6 {Carlsen decides to give the exchange and try to
set up a fortress.} 24. Nf4 Rh6 25. g5 Re6 26. Nxe6 fxe6 27. Rc1 Rd5 28. Rc4
Bc5 29. h4 Bb6 30. Kg2 Ne7 31. h5 Rd8 32. Re4 Nf5 33. Nh4 Ne7 34. Kg3 g6 35.
Kg4 Rd5 36. hxg6 hxg6 37. a4 Kf7 38. Rc1 Rd8 39. Rh1 Kg7 40. Ng2 Nf5 41. Nf4
Re8 42. Ree1 c5 43. Rh3 1-0

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2008.01.12"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B25"]
[WhiteElo "2760"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2008.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. g3 Bg7 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O Bg4 7. h3 Bxf3 8. Qxf3
Nf6 9. d3 O-O 10. Qd1 Nd7 11. f4 c4 12. dxc4 Na5 13. Nd5 Nxc4 14. c3 Ndb6 15.
Qe2 Rc8 16. Kh2 e6 17. Nb4 Na4 18. f5 Re8 19. fxe6 fxe6 20. Nd3 Qb6 21. h4 Qa6
22. Rf2 Ne5 23. Nf4 Nc5 24. Qxa6 bxa6 25. Re2 h6 26. Kh1 a5 27. Be3 a4 28. Rd1
Rc6 29. Bd4 g5 30. Nh3 g4 31. Nf4 Rb6 32. Nh5 Bh8 33. Red2 Reb8 34. Bxc5 dxc5
35. Rd8+ Kf7 36. Rxb8 Rxb8 37. Rd2 Nc4 38. Rd7+ Ke8 39. Rxa7 Be5 40. Rxa4 Ne3
0-1

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2008.01.13"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Eljanov, Pavel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D91"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2692"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2008.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bg5 Ne4 6. Bh4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 dxc4 8.
Qa4+ Qd7 9. Qxc4 b6 10. e3 Ba6 11. Qb3 Bxf1 12. Kxf1 O-O 13. Ke2 c5 14. dxc5
Na6 15. Rhd1 Qb7 16. c6 Qxc6 17. Bxe7 Rfe8 18. Ba3 Qxc3 19. Qxc3 Bxc3 20. Rac1
Bb4 21. Bb2 Bf8 22. Nd4 Nc5 23. g4 Re4 24. Kf3 Rae8 25. h3 f6 26. Ba3 Kf7 27.
Rc2 Na6 28. Bxf8 Kxf8 29. Rc6 Kg7 30. Nb5 R4e7 31. Rdd6 Nc5 32. Nc7 Rf8 33. h4
Rff7 34. Nd5 Rd7 35. Rxd7 Nxd7 36. Kg3 Nc5 37. f3 h6 38. Nf4 g5 39. Nh5+ Kg6
40. f4 gxf4+ 41. exf4 Kh7 42. f5 Kg8 43. Kf3 Nd7 44. Ke4 Kf8 45. Rc8+ Ke7 46.
Kd5 b5 47. Rh8 Nb6+ 48. Kc6 Nc4 49. Ra8 Ne5+ 50. Kc5 Nd7+ 51. Kxb5 Kd6 52. Rxa7
Rf8 53. Kb4 Nc5 54. Kc4 1-0

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2008.01.14"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Adams, Michael"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C83"]
[WhiteElo "2726"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2008.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. Nbd2 Be7 10. c3 O-O 11. Bc2 f5 {This variation has been known since the
times of Dr. Tarrasch and has become fashionable in several different periods
of chess history. Some years ago, Korchnoi brought it into the limelight again
by employing it twice against Shirov.} 12. Nd4 ({Now, just as 100 years ago,
the critical line is considered to be} 12. Nb3 Qd7 13. Nbd4 Nxd4 14. Nxd4 c5
15. Nxe6 Qxe6 16. f3 Ng5 17. a4 {More about it, in my opening database from
the CD corresponding to CBM 115.}) 12... Nxd4 {Actually, I do not understand
why this move is almost unanimously played here.} ({I would answer with} 12...
Qd7 {when I do not see anything better for White than} 13. Nxc6 (13. f3 Nxd4
14. cxd4 Nxd2 15. Bxd2 c5 16. dxc5 Bxc5+ 17. Kh1 Bd4 $15) (13. Nxe6 Qxe6 $15 {
[%csl Ge5]}) 13... Qxc6 {, with a transposition to the main line with, say,}
14. Nb3 Qd7 15. Nd4 c5 16. Nxe6 Qxe6) 13. cxd4 c5 (13... Qd7 $5 {Bologan,V 
(2682)-Sokolov,I (2696)/Stepanakert 2005/CBM 110/[Erenburg] (1/2-1/2, 35)}) 14.
dxc5 Bxc5 (14... Nxd2 {Spraggett,K-Mikhalevski,V/Kapuskasing 2004/CBM 101 ext/
[Mikhalevski,V] (1-0, 30)}) 15. Nb3 Bb6 (15... Ba7 {should not have
independent value.} 16. Be3 $6 ({Better is} 16. Nd4 {, when Black cannot take
advantage of the availability of the b6-square with} Qb6 $6 {because of} 17.
Be3 f4 18. Nxe6 Qxe6 19. Bxa7 Rxa7 20. Bb3 Rd7 21. Qd4 $16 {when Black is
hanging. Instead, 16...Bxd4 would transpose to our main game.}) 16... Bxe3 17.
fxe3 Qc7 18. Bxe4 dxe4 19. Qd6 Qxd6 20. exd6 Rfd8 {1/2-1/2 Lein,A-Lutikov,A/
Kiev 1964/URS-ch}) 16. Nd4 {There are not too many relevant games available
from this position.} Bxd4 $5 $146 {Black gives up the pair of bishops for the
sake of rapid development. However, after this exchange, the weakness of the
dark squares will tend to have a permanent character, which makes Carlsen's
novelty quite risky from the strategic point of view.} ({Almost two decades
ago, Adams faced the incorrect sacrifice} 16... Nxf2 $2 17. Rxf2 Qh4 18. Rf4
Qe7 19. Kh1 g5 20. Rf1 Rac8 21. Bxf5 {1-0 Adams,M (2495)-Demarre,J (2190)/
Paris 1989/TD}) (16... Qd7 17. Be3 $14) 17. Qxd4 Rc8 18. Bb3 (18. Bd1 Rc4 $132)
18... Nc5 19. Bd2 $6 {Black should have preserved his bishop from exchange at
any cost.} (19. Bd1 $1 Bf7 (19... Ne4 20. Be2 $14 {[%csl Gc4]}) 20. b3 Re8 21.
Ba3 Ne6 22. Qd2 $14 {The knight is well placed on e6, but the bishop has
problems becoming active. If a wizard could transfer it to b7, Black's
position would be absolutely fine, but here he is struggling still.}) 19...
Nxb3 20. axb3 Rc6 {With opposite-coloured bishops on the board, White's
superiority is of a symbolic nature.} 21. Bb4 Re8 22. Bc5 f4 23. f3 Qg5 24. Rf2
Bf7 25. Bd6 Rec8 26. Re1 Be6 27. Bb4 Rc1 28. Rxc1 Rxc1+ 29. Rf1 Rxf1+ 30. Kxf1
Qf5 31. h4 Qb1+ 32. Be1 h5 33. b4 Qc1 34. Kf2 Qc4 35. Bc3 Qxd4+ 36. Bxd4 Kf7
37. Ke2 Bf5 38. Kf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2008.01.15"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2739"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2008.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a4 b4
9. Nbd2 Na5 10. Ba2 O-O 11. c3 c5 12. cxb4 cxb4 13. Nc4 Rb8 14. Re1 Nc6 15. Ne3
Be6 16. Bxe6 fxe6 17. Nc4 Nd7 18. Ncd2 Nc5 19. Nb3 Nxb3 20. Qxb3 Rxf3 21. gxf3
Nd4 22. Qd1 Qf8 23. Kg2 Qf6 24. Be3 Rf8 25. Bxd4 exd4 26. e5 Qg5+ 27. Kh1 d5
28. Rc1 Qf5 29. Rc7 Bg5 30. Rg1 g6 31. f4 Qxf4 32. Qg4 Qxe5 33. Ra7 Rf5 34. a5
Bh6 35. Qg3 Qe2 36. Qc7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2008.01.17"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C68"]
[WhiteElo "2751"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[EventDate "2008.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Bd6 6. d4 exd4 7. Qxd4 f6 8.
b3 Ne7 9. Ba3 Bg4 10. Bxd6 Bxf3 11. Bc5 Qxd4 12. Bxd4 Rd8 13. Bc5 Bxe4 14. Re1
Rd7 15. Nc3 Bd5 16. Rad1 Kd8 17. Bxe7+ Rxe7 18. Rxe7 Kxe7 19. Nxd5+ cxd5 20.
Rxd5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2008.01.18"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Polgar, Judit"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E37"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2707"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2008.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 Ne4 7. Qc2 c5 8.
dxc5 Nc6 9. cxd5 exd5 10. e3 Qf6 11. f3 Qh4+ 12. g3 Nxg3 13. Qf2 Nf5 14. Qxh4
Nxh4 15. b4 a6 16. Kf2 Ne5 17. Bb2 f6 18. Rd1 Be6 19. Ne2 Bf7 20. Rg1 Nc4 21.
Bc1 g5 22. Nc3 O-O-O 23. e4 dxe4 24. Rxd8+ Rxd8 25. Nxe4 Kc7 26. Nxf6 h6 27. f4
Nd2 28. Be2 Nb3 29. Be3 Nd4 30. Bxd4 Rxd4 31. fxg5 Rf4+ 32. Ke1 hxg5 33. Nh7
Bd5 34. Nxg5 Kc6 35. Rf1 Rxf1+ 36. Bxf1 a5 37. Kd2 axb4 38. axb4 b6 39. cxb6
Kxb6 40. Bd3 Bc6 41. Kc3 Bd7 42. Be4 Bg4 43. Nf7 Bf3 44. Bd3 Bc6 45. Ne5 Bd5
46. Ng6 Ng2 47. Kd4 Bb7 48. h4 Bf3 49. Bf1 Ne1 50. Ne5 Nc2+ 51. Kc3 Be4 52. h5
1-0

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2008.01.19"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2780"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2008.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. h3
Bb7 9. d3 d6 10. a3 Na5 11. Ba2 c5 12. Nc3 Nc6 13. Bd2 Nd4 14. Nxd4 cxd4 15.
Ne2 d5 16. Ng3 dxe4 17. dxe4 Bc8 18. c3 Bc5 19. Qf3 Be6 20. Nf5 Rc8 21. Red1
Re8 22. cxd4 Bxd4 23. Be3 Bxf5 24. Qxf5 g6 25. Qf3 Qb6 26. Rd2 Kg7 27. Bxd4
exd4 28. Re1 Qd6 29. g3 Re7 30. Qd3 Rce8 31. Qxd4 Qxd4 32. Rxd4 Nxe4 33. Kg2 f5
34. Rc1 Nf6 35. Rd6 Re2 36. Rc7+ R8e7 37. Rxe7+ Rxe7 38. Be6 Ne4 39. Rc6 a5 40.
h4 Nd2 41. b3 a4 42. bxa4 bxa4 43. Rb6 Ne4 44. f3 Nc5 45. Bc4 Re3 46. Rc6 Nd3
47. Rc7+ Kh8 48. f4 Nb2 49. Bf7 Rxa3 50. h5 gxh5 51. Kh3 Nd3 52. Kh4 Nf2 53.
Be6 Ne4 54. Bxf5 Nxg3 55. Bxh7 Re3 56. Kg5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2008.01.20"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D46"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2737"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2008.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. Bd3 O-O 8. O-O
dxc4 9. Bxc4 a6 10. a4 c5 11. Rd1 cxd4 12. Ne4 Nxe4 13. Qxe4 Nf6 14. Qxd4 Bc7
15. Bd2 Qxd4 16. Nxd4 Bd7 17. Be2 Rfd8 18. Bf3 e5 19. Nb3 e4 20. Be2 Be5 21.
Ba5 Rdc8 22. Nd4 h6 23. h3 b5 24. axb5 axb5 25. Bf1 h5 26. Bc3 Rxa1 27. Rxa1
Nd5 28. Bxb5 Bxb5 29. Nxb5 Nxc3 30. Nxc3 f5 31. h4 Kf7 32. Kf1 Rb8 33. Ra2 Rb3
34. Nd1 Bf6 35. g3 g5 36. hxg5 Bxg5 37. Nc3 Bf6 38. Ra7+ Ke6 39. Ne2 Be5 40.
Rh7 Rxb2 41. Rxh5 Kf6 42. Rh6+ Kf7 43. Ra6 Rb1+ 44. Kg2 Rb2 45. Ng1 Rd2 46. Nh3
Rd6 47. Ra5 Kf6 48. g4 fxg4 49. Ng5 Kxg5 50. Rxe5+ Kh4 51. Rxe4 Rd1 52. Rd4 Ra1
53. Rd8 Kg5 54. Rh8 Rb1 55. Rh1 Rb8 56. Kg3 Rf8 57. Ra1 Rf3+ 58. Kg2 Rf8 59.
Ra4 Rf7 60. Ra8 Kg6 61. Ra2 Kg5 62. Ra5+ Kg6 63. Rd5 Rf8 64. Kf1 Rf7 65. Kg2
Rf8 66. Rd2 Kg5 67. Re2 Rf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2008.01.22"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Leko, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2753"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2008.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3
d6 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nf1 Bf8 14. Ng3 g6 15. b3
a5 16. Bd2 Rb8 17. Bd3 b4 18. Qc2 d5 19. cxb4 dxe4 20. Nxe4 Bxb4 21. Bxb4 Bxe4
22. Bxa5 Bxd3 23. Qxd3 e4 24. Qc4 exf3 25. Bxc7 Qc8 26. Bxb8 Qxb8 27. Rxe8+
Qxe8 28. a4 fxg2 29. a5 Qe4 30. a6 Nb6 31. a7 Kg7 32. Qc7 Qxd4 33. Re1 Qb4 34.
Re7 Qxb3 35. Kxg2 Qd5+ 36. Kg1 Qd1+ 37. Kg2 Qd5+ 38. Kg1 Qd1+ 39. Kh2 Qf3 40.
Qxb6 Qf4+ 1-0

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2008.01.23"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A58"]
[WhiteElo "2681"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2008.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Both players had suffered losses in the previous round, which usually
generates a delicate psychological situation. Would they agree to a draw soon,
in order to recover properly, or, on the contrary... Well, let's see.} 1. d4
Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 {Not really a peaceful opening.} 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6.
Nc3 Bxa6 7. Nf3 d6 8. g3 Bg7 9. Bg2 Nbd7 10. Rb1 Qa5 {This early development
of the queen is aimed to prevent White from regrouping properly.} 11. Bd2 $5 ({
Actually, a logical move. The enemy queen is put under indirect pressure
immediately. Carlsen had obtained good counterplay after} 11. O-O Nb6 {Now,
the c4-square is impossible to defend with the pawn, because the c3-knight is
hanging.} 12. a3 Nc4 {in his Candidate's match against Aronian, Elista 2007.
The position soon simplified and a draw was agreed.} 13. b4 Qc7 14. Qa4+ Nd7
15. Nb5 Qb8 16. bxc5 Bxb5 17. Qxb5 Qxb5 18. Rxb5 Nxc5 19. Nd2 Nxa3 20. Bxa3
Rxa3 21. Ne4 {1/2-1/2 Aronian,L (2759)-Carlsen,M (2693)/Elista 2007/CBM 119})
11... Nb6 {It does not look like a good idea to cut off the queen's retreat so
soon.} ({It is possible that Carlsen mixed up the move order. The main line
goes} 11... O-O 12. O-O Rfb8 13. b3 (13. Qc2 Nb6 14. b3 Qa3 {is just
transposing. Note that in this line the queen has occupied the a3-square with
the knight on b6, but after the c2-square had been occupied by the white queen.
}) 13... Qa3 14. Qc2 ({Here,} 14. Ne1 {has not been tried, but it should be
less efficient because the queen can retreat to c7 in case of emergency.})
14... Nb6 {Avrukh,B (2588)-Ponomariov,R (2616)/Batumi 1999/CBM 074/[Stohl] 
(0-1, 39)}) 12. b3 Qa3 {Following what must have been a "familiar path".} (
12... Bb7 13. O-O O-O 14. a4 Rad8 15. Qc2 Qa8 16. e4 $16 {Gladyszev,O (2443)
-Kostin,A (2385)/Sochi 2004/CBM 100 ext (1/2-1/2, 36)}) (12... O-O 13. O-O Rfb8
14. a4 $14 {[%csl Ga5]}) 13. O-O ({The attempt to force a draw with} 13. Bc1
Qb4 14. Bd2 {led to active black play after} Ne4 $5 15. Nxe4 Qxe4 16. Nh4 Qd4
$44 {Brunner,N (2435)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2595)/Paris 2007/CBM 119 ext (0-1, 45)
}) 13... O-O 14. Ne1 $1 {This move must have escaped Carlsen's attention.
Indeed, it had been played only once before.} ({The transfer of the bishop to
the other diagonal with} 14. Bc1 Qa5 15. Bb2 {is not too effective, because,
far from neutralising the g7-bishop, it just places his own bishop on
vulnerable squares, in view of the permanent threat of ...c4.} Rab8 16. Re1
Nfd7 17. Rc1 Ne5 18. Ba1 Nxf3+ 19. Bxf3 c4 $44 {[%csl Ga1] Taborov,B (2458)
-Kostiuk,T (2232)/Kiev 2002/EXT 2003 (1-0, 58)}) 14... Bb7 $146 (14... Nfd7 15.
Nc2 Qa5 16. Qe1 Bb7 17. a4 Qa6 18. Qd1 c4 19. Nb4 Qa5 20. Nc6 Bxc6 21. dxc6
Bxc3 22. b4 Qe5 23. cxd7 $16 {Malaniuk,V (2548)-Tirard,H (2399)/Krakow 2001/
EXT 2005 (1-0, 41)}) 15. Nc2 Qa6 16. e4 Ne8 17. a4 Nc7 18. Re1 {White has
completed his development in an acceptable way, while Black's counterplay has
not really started yet.} Rae8 {Since 3 of Black's minor pieces are hitting on
the well defended d5-pawn, it is just logical to prepare the opening of the
centre with ...e6. However, the rook's departure from the queenside will allow
White to get strong initiative on what is traditionally considered "Black's
territory" in the Volga Gambit.} (18... e6 19. a5 (19. Ne3 $16 {[%csl Gd5]})
19... Nd7 (19... Qxa5 $2 20. Ra1 $18) 20. b4 $5 cxb4 21. Nxb4 Qxa5 22. Nc6 Bxc6
(22... Qa6 23. Bf1 $18) 23. dxc6 Bxc3 24. Bxc3 Qxc3 25. Rc1 Qe5 26. cxd7 $36 {
[%csl Rc7,Gd7]}) 19. b4 $1 {It is clear now that something has gone terribly
wrong for Black.} Nd7 20. Nb5 $5 ({White had many ways to obtain a crushing
advantage. Van Wely opts for a dynamic solution, which will yield him a
winning position soon. A more static approach, but equally unpleasant for
Black, would be} 20. b5 Qa5 21. Re3 $1 {After this rook lift, White threatens
to push the enemy queen away with Ne2, for instance} Nb6 22. Ne2 $1 Qxa4 {
(This loses immediately, but if the queen retreats the game would not last too
long either after the gradual but unstoppable advance of the passed pawns)} 23.
Ra3 Qc4 24. Ne3 $19) 20... Rc8 (20... Nxb5 21. axb5 Qxb5 $2 22. bxc5 Qa6 23. c6
$18) 21. Bh3 f5 22. Bg5 Ne5 23. bxc5 Qxa4 24. Nxc7 Rxc7 25. c6 {White has not
only preserved his extra pawn, but has pushed it on to the 6th rank as well!
Black's position is hopeless. In the next phase of the game, Carlsen will
desperately try to fish in muddy waters.} Bc8 26. exf5 Rxf5 $5 {Hoping to get
the d5-pawn some day... which will actually happen in the game...} 27. f4 Nc4
28. Rb4 Qa7+ 29. Kg2 Qc5 30. Rb8 Nb2 31. Qf3 Qxc2+ 32. Re2 Qb1 33. Bxf5 Qxf5
34. g4 Qf7 35. Bxe7 h5 36. Bxd6 hxg4 37. Qe4 Kh7 {On each move, White has a
choice between several completely winning moves, his main concern being to
avoid any form of black counterplay. This is quite tiring, especially since
the position looks a bit unusual.} 38. Bxc7 $6 ({After this (also winning)
move, White will lose the d5-pawn, allowing Black to activate his play in a
still completely losing position. Froma practical point of view, it would have
been better to play} 38. Rexb2 {in order to make the c4-square available for
the queen (for the eventuality of ...Bf5). After} Bxb2 {White can play} 39.
Bxc7 {already.}) 38... Bf5 {The situation has become slightly obscure. In
order to retain his decisive advantage, White has to do some calculation.} 39.
Qe3 $6 ({This move, probably dictated by the natural desire to keep his own
king defended, throws away the biggest part of the advantage. From a practical
point of view,} 39. Rh8+ $1 {would have been the simplest way to a win,
because it would have led to the forced exchange of queens and the unstoppable
advance of the far advanced passed pawns.}) ({In the heat of the fight and
under time pressure it is not easy to spot the other winning move} 39. Qe7 {
, creating the unpleasant threat of Qh4+. The point is that after} Qxd5+ 40.
Kg1 ({But not} 40. Kg3 $4 {because of} Qf3+ {followed by mate. In fact, if you
see this during the game, you do not feel like investigating the consequences
of 39.Qe7 anymore)}) 40... Qd1+ 41. Kf2 Qd4+ 42. Kg3 Qg1+ 43. Kh4 {the king
escapes from checks and is ready to participate in the creation of a mating
net around his counterpart!}) 39... Qxd5+ 40. Kg3 $2 ({After this new
inaccuracy, the game should end in a draw. The paradoxical} 40. Kg1 $5 {
would have retained some advantage for White, because the apparently winning}
Bd4 {(By the way, Black has nothing better)} 41. Rh8+ $1 {followed by Be5(+)
would again force favourable simplifications. It is true that after the
elimination of the d5-pawn things are not the same as after 39.Rh8!+...}) 40...
Nc4 41. Qf2 $2 ({The losing move. It must have been hard for van Wely to
switch from choosing between several absolutely winning moves mode to finding
the only saving move. Anyway, it was essential to keep the third rank defended
with} 41. Qb3 {when after} Qh1 42. Be5 {the game should end in a draw by
perpetual.}) 41... Qd3+ 42. Kg2 Be4+ {Black's attack is decisive now. Unlike
his opponent, Carlsen adapted himself to the new circumstances perfectly.} 43.
Rxe4 Qxe4+ 44. Kf1 Qd3+ 45. Qe2 Nd2+ 46. Ke1 Nf3+ 47. Kf1 Nxh2+ 48. Ke1 Bc3+
49. Kf2 g3+ 0-1

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2008.01.25"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B85"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2799"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2008.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e6 7. a4 Nc6 8. O-O
Be7 9. Be3 O-O 10. f4 Qc7 11. Kh1 Re8 12. Bf3 Rb8 13. Qd2 Bf8 14. Qf2 Bd7 15.
g4 $1 {Carlsen had little to lose by playing aggressively against the world
champion. Some even insist, that 14...Bd7 was not the best move for Black.} e5
16. Nf5 exf4 (16... Be6 17. g5 Nd7 18. Nh6+ gxh6 19. f5 Bc4 20. Rg1 Ne7 (20...
hxg5 21. b3 f6 22. bxc4 $13) 21. gxh6+ Kh8 22. Rg2 d5 23. Rag1 d4 24. Qg3 Ng6
25. fxg6 fxg6 26. Bxd4 Bxh6 27. Nd5 Bxd5 28. exd5 Bg7 29. Bc3 $14 {1/2
Kristiansen,J (2445)-Horvath,J (2540)/Novi Sad 1990 (41)}) 17. Bxf4 {The
defender has done nothing wrong, so it is no surprise that the violent line 17.
Bb6 is not dangerous for him.} (17. Bb6 Qc8 18. g5 Nxe4 19. Nh6+ (19. Bxe4 Bxf5
20. Bxf5 Qxf5 21. Qxf4 Qg6 $17) 19... gxh6 20. Nxe4 hxg5 21. Rg1 (21. Nxg5 Ne5
$17) 21... Ne5 $2 (21... h6 22. h4 Rxe4 23. Bxe4 Bf5 $15) 22. Rxg5+ Bg7 23.
Rag1 Nxf3 24. Rxg7+ Kh8 25. Qxf3 {1-0 Houtsonen,P (2146)-Lehtinen,A (2155)/
Tampere 1999}) 17... Be6 18. Rad1 (18. g5 Nd7 19. Bg2 Nb4 $13) 18... Ne5 19.
Bxe5 {In the higher chess sense such an exchange should not be the best line.
White is giving up the control of the dark squares hoping, that his
magnificent knights will offer chances for a kingside attack.} (19. g5 Nfd7 20.
Bg2 Nb6 $13) 19... dxe5 20. g5 Nd7 21. Nd5 Qc6 (21... Bxd5 22. exd5 e4 23. Bg2
Rbd8 24. d6 Qc5 25. Qf4 $16) (21... Qc5 22. Nfe3 $1 Be7 (22... b5 23. Bh5 g6
24. Bg4 $16) 23. Qg2 $14) 22. Bg2 {The young star was criticised for this
retreat, but otherwise Black would always be able to take the f5-knight at a
suitable moment.} (22. a5 Bxf5 23. exf5 e4 24. Bg2 Re5 25. f6 $14) 22... Qc5
23. Qh4 $1 (23. Qxc5 $6 Nxc5 24. Nc7 Rec8 25. Nxe6 Nxe6 $15) 23... Qxc2 24. Rc1
Qxa4 {Anand likes the idea of indirectly pinning the queen on h4 along the 4th
rank. It is most likely, that Black can hold after the greedy 24...Qxb2, but
that would be quite risky.} (24... Qxb2 25. Rc3 g6 26. Rh3 h5 27. Bf3 (27. gxh6
Kh8 28. Ng7 Bxd5 29. exd5 Be7 30. Qe1 Rf8 $15) 27... Qc2 28. Bxh5 gxh5 29. Qxh5
Qxe4+ 30. Rff3 Qe1+ 31. Kg2 Qd2+ 32. Kg3 Qe1+ 33. Kg2 $11) 25. b3 {In this
charged position each move can be worth its weight in gold. The direct 25.Rc3
was praised as the best move, but Anand would not have had to take on d5 as
suggested by some grandmasters.} (25. Rc3 g6 $1 (25... Bxd5 26. Rh3 h6 27. gxh6
g6 (27... Bxe4 28. Bxe4 g6 29. Bd5 Qb5 (29... Qxh4 30. Nxh4 $18) 30. Ne3 Kh8
31. Rxf7 $16) 28. h7+ Kh8 29. exd5 Qb5 (29... Qxh4 30. Nxh4 g5 $1 31. Rxf7 gxh4
32. Rxd7 Re7 (32... e4 33. Bf1 Bg7 34. Rxh4 e3 $11) 33. Rxe7 Bxe7 34. Be4 Rf8
$11) 30. Ne3 Be7 $11) 26. Rh3 (26. Nfe3 Rec8 27. Ng4 Kh8 28. Rh3 h5 29. gxh6
Qd4 $17) 26... h5 27. gxh6 (27. Bf3 $2 Bxd5 28. exd5 Qxh4 29. Nxh4 e4 $19)
27... Bxf5 28. Nc3 Qd4 29. exf5 Qxh4 30. Rxh4 g5 $15) 25... Qa5 (25... Qxb3 26.
Rc3 Qa4 27. Rh3 h6 28. gxh6 g6 29. Nf6+ Nxf6 30. Qxf6 Kh7 31. Qg7+ Bxg7 32.
hxg7+ Kg8 33. Rh8#) 26. Rc3 (26. b4 Bxb4 27. Ra1 Qc5 28. Rfc1 Qf8 $17) 26... g6
27. Rh3 h5 28. Bf3 {[%mdl 128] This pure aggression is correct since the whole
position cries for the decision on the kingside.} (28. gxh6 Qd8 (28... gxf5 $2
29. Rg3+ Kh7 30. Qg5 $18) 29. h7+ Kh8 30. Qg3 Rc8 $15) 28... Bxd5 29. exd5 Bg7
$1 {Anand knows better, than to let his young opponent roam freely on the
light squares with 29..gxf5?} (29... gxf5 $2 30. Qxh5 Bg7 31. Qh7+ Kf8 32. Qxf5
Re7 33. d6 Re6 34. Rh7 $18) 30. Bxh5 (30. Nxg7 Kxg7 31. Be4 Rf8 $17) 30... gxf5
(30... gxh5 31. Qxh5 Qxd5+ 32. Rff3 (32. Kg1 Qc5+ 33. Rf2 Qc1+ 34. Rf1 Qc5+ $11
) 32... Qd1+ 33. Kg2 Qe2+ 34. Kg1 Qd1+ 35. Kg2 Qe2+ $11) 31. Bxf7+ $5 {A truly
ingenious idea, as Carlsen steps up his attack with a spectacular sacrifice.} (
31. Rxf5 Qxd5+ 32. Rhf3 Rf8 33. Bxf7+ Rxf7 34. Rxf7 Nf8 $17) 31... Kxf7 32. g6+
Kg8 (32... Kxg6 $2 33. Rg1+ Kf7 34. Rxg7+ $1 Kxg7 35. Qg5+ $18) 33. Qh7+ $2 {
Youth mixed with impatience and excitement! White must have been frustrated,
that despite his heroic efforts the chances remain balanced. The necessary 33.
Rxf5 allowed Black to sacrifice the queen in order to avoid perpetual, but
chances would stay about equal.} (33. Rxf5 Qxd5+ (33... Qa1+ $5 34. Kg2 Qb2+
35. Rf2 Qxf2+ 36. Kxf2 (36. Qxf2 Nf6 37. d6 Rbd8 38. Rd3 $13) 36... Nf8 37. Rg3
Rbd8 38. Qe4 $13) 34. Rhf3 Qd1+ (34... Qxf3+ 35. Rxf3 Nf8 36. Qc4+ Ne6 37. Rf7
$11) 35. Rf1 (35. Kg2 $2 Qd2+ 36. Rf2 Qh6 $19) 35... Qd5+ $11) 33... Kf8 34.
Rxf5+ Ke7 (34... Nf6 $2 35. Rxf6+ Bxf6 36. Qf7#) 35. Qxg7+ Kd6 $1 {This moment
was surely pleasant for Anand, suddenly his king looks much safer than White's!
} (35... Kd8 36. Qf7 Qe1+ 37. Rf1 Qe4+ $17) 36. Rf7 (36. Rf6+ Nxf6 37. Qxf6+
Kc5 38. Qf2+ Kb5 $19) 36... Qxd5+ 37. Kg1 Rbd8 38. Rh7 Qd4+ 39. Kg2 (39. Kf1
Qd1+ 40. Kg2 Qg4+ 41. Kf2 Rg8 $19) 39... Qg4+ 40. Kh1 Rg8 {The game is over as
the knight on d7 still holds the Black's position together.} 41. Rf6+ (41.
Rxd7+ Qxd7 42. Qf6+ Qe6 $19) 41... Kc7 (41... Nxf6 42. Qxf6+ Kd5 $19) 42. Qe7
Qe4+ {A real battle of great chess minds. Carlsen deserves lot of credit for
his spirited attack!} 0-1

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2008.01.26"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2799"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2008.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Before this game I had lost to Vishy in a complicated struggle, so for this
game I decided that I should just try and make a draw, (which is not an easy
task anyway) and not lose 3 out of the last four games, winning against van
Wely only by a miracle.} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 {I must admit that I
rather expected the Catalan here, but possibly because I had defended quite
confidently against his Catalan in the Tal he decided to switch this time} c5
4. g3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O Be7 7. d4 (7. Re1 d5 8. cxd5 Nxd5 {hasn't given
White much lately, neither after} 9. d4 ({Nor} 9. e4 Nb4 $1) 9... cxd4 {
As for instance in Aronian-Jakovenko} (9... Nxc3 10. bxc3 Be4 11. Ne5 Bxg2 12.
Kxg2 O-O 13. e4 {Was probably somewhat better for White in Carlsen-Aronian,
Elista 2007.})) 7... cxd4 8. Qxd4 d6 9. Rd1 a6 10. Ng5 {A fairly old line I
think, which is not considered especially dangerous for Black if he's well
prepared. Unfortunately I couldn't remember anything, and so I had to start
thinking from this point.} Bxg2 11. Kxg2 Nc6 {I didn't find a comfortable way
to put this guy on d7, so I came up with this move, which is part of a plan
which turned out to have a reasonably good reputation.} 12. Qf4 O-O 13. Nce4
Ne8 {Retreating is considered to be the normal reaction to Ne4. The black
position is now slightly awkward, but the white knights are not perfectly
placed either.} 14. b3 Ra7 15. Bb2 Rd7 {This move is probably not really
necessary, but I thought that there was no better square for the rook anyway,
and overprotecting the d6-pawn might turn out to be useful at some point. I
had already spent a lot of time here, 45 minutes, but he had also spent some
time, almost 40 minutes, which left me feeling relieved that he was not still
in his preparation. Still, things are not really easy for Black. His
coordination is somewhat worse than it usually is in the hedgehog, and I found
it hard to find constructive waiting moves.} 16. Rac1 {h4 or Nf3 could also be
considered, but the text is quite reasonable as well.} Nc7 {I spent quite some
time on this move, which has the purpose of protecting e6, preparing f5. There
were of course alternatives, the most natural being the more hedgehog-like} (
16... Qa8 17. Nf3 b5 {I rejected it because I wasn't sure whether bxc4 bxc4
would really improve my position. That is why I decided that going for f5 and
g5 was just according to the demands of the position.}) 17. Nf3 f5 18. Nc3 g5 {
Not especially aggressive or anything, just a normal continuation of the plan
starting with Nc7.} 19. Qd2 (19. Qe3 g4 20. Nd2 {Not} (20. Nd4 Bg5 21. Nxc6
Bxe3 22. Nxd8 Bxc1 {winning an exchange.}) 20... Bg5 21. Qxb6 {was another,
computer-like option. I thought that I would have very good counterplay after}
Qa8 22. f3 $8 {and now just 22...Ne5 or even 22...Rb8 23.Qf2 Ne5 gives Black
active piece play and good compensation for a pawn.}) 19... g4 20. Ne1 (20. Nd4
$6 {would be worse, since now} Bg5 21. e3 Ne5 {leaves the knight practically
untouchable on e5. Note that it also makes it more difficult to create active
play for White, since b4 and c5 would be almost impossible to carry out, as
Rxd4 and a knight move to f3 would probably be strong then.}) 20... Bg5 {
An important element in my plan. The weak f3-square will now be a constant
worry for White.} 21. e3 Rff7 {A good prophylactic move, preventing Na4 and c5
and preparing to redeploy the knight with Ne8-f6-e4 without having to worry
about Nd5.} 22. Kg1 Ne8 23. Ne2 {A natural manoeuvre. The diagonal is opened
for his bishop and the knight is transferred to a better square.} Nf6 24. Nf4
Qe8 {I would have liked to play Ne4 immediately, but I rejected it because of
the queen sac:} (24... Ne4 25. Nxe6 $2 Qe8 26. Nxg5 Nxd2 27. Nxf7 {I don't
really understand why though, since, as any engine points out,} Ne4 28. Nh6+
Kf8 {with the point that 29.Nxf5 Qf7 wins for Black.}) 25. Qc3 (25. Bxf6 {
was an option, but at the same time it's hard to see how White can play for an
advantage after giving up this bishop.}) 25... Rg7 {I really wanted to get
that thing to e4. I felt that the position was about equal or maybe slightly
better for White, but I was rather worried that I would blow it before the
time-control, as I only had 17 minutes left here. At the same time I saw that
Kramnik clearly was suffering from a cold and was feeling uncomfortable, which
comforted me a little (thinking about my chances in this game that is!).} 26.
b4 Ne4 27. Qb3 Rge7 28. Qa4 $6 ({Rybka's suggestion of} 28. f3 gxf3 29. Nxf3
Bf6 {really doesn't impress me much, but}) (28. h4 {as suggested by Nigel
Short during my press-conference after the round was probably an improvement
of the white position, and certainly better than the text. After only h4 I can
only repeat my evaluation after my 25th move: equal or slightly better for
White. The knight on e4 is certainly pretty, but the f4-knight is a good piece
as well. It's not easy to take advantage of my weakened king, and not easy to
make any clear progress for either side.}) 28... Ne5 29. Qxa6 $2 (29. c5 {
is well met by} Nc4 $1 {so White should rather admit failure with}) (29. Qb3 {
after gaining two tempi Black is obviously slightly better, but the white
position is certainly playable.}) 29... Ra7 30. Qb5 {Having seen that} (30.
Qxb6 Reb7 31. Qd4 Bf6 {would leave his queen trapped in the centre, Kramnik
was forced to make this move, which he actually accompanied with a draw offer.
I was slightly tempted of course, since I would have been happy with a draw
before the game, but I realised that my position was so much better that I
simply had to decline.}) 30... Qxb5 31. cxb5 Rxa2 32. Rc8+ Kf7 33. Nfd3 Bf6 34.
Nxe5+ (34. Bxe5 dxe5 35. Rc6 Ng5 {is winning for Black.}) 34... dxe5 (34...
Bxe5 {was probably better, but in time-trouble I was reluctant to allow} 35.
Bxe5 dxe5 36. Nd3 {which however is well met by} Kf6 37. Rf8+ Kg7 38. Rd8 (38.
Rb8 Rd7 $19) 38... Nc3 39. Rf1 (39. Nxe5 Nxd1 40. Rxd1 {is better but should
lose as well.}) 39... Rd2 $1 {and wins.}) 35. Rc2 (35. Nd3 {leaves Black with
a pleasant choice between} Nxf2 {and} (35... Ng5 {so White should rather
retreat.})) 35... Rea7 36. Kg2 (36. Kf1 {was better, the king later headed in
this direction anyway.}) 36... Ng5 37. Rd6 $2 {This pseudo-active move makes
matters much worse for White, but Black had a practically winning positional
advantage anyway.} e4 38. Bxf6 Kxf6 39. Kf1 (39. Rxb6 Ra1 40. Re2 Nf3 {loses
at once.}) 39... Ra1 40. Ke2 (40. Rcd2 Rb1 41. Rd1 Rxb4 42. Rxb6 Rb2 {leaves
White defenceless against the threats of Raa2 and Nh3.}) 40... Rb1 {I made
this move with only some 15 or so left on the clock, but I actually even spent
some seconds on Rb1, so I wasn't really worried about losing on time.} 41. Rd1
(41. Rxb6 {leads to mate after the computer-like} {or loses a piece after} Rd7
(41... Raa1 42. Kd2 (42. Ng2 Nf3 $19) 42... Rxe1)) 41... Rxb4 42. Ng2 Rxb5 {
Black is obviously winning now, and White might as well have resigned here. I
understand that Kramnik chose to play on for a while though, as he couldn't
have been especially happy about the way things turned out.} 43. Nf4 Rc5 44.
Rb2 b5 45. Kf1 Rac7 46. Rbb1 (46. Kg2 {allows the exchange of one rook, which
is desirable for Black.} Rc1 47. Rxc1 Rxc1 48. Rxb5 Nf3 49. Ne2 Re1 50. Rb2 Kg5
{and White is completely tied up, he cannot even play h4 due to gxh3 and Re2.
Black will win by playing e5 and h7-h5-h4.}) 46... Rb7 47. Rb4 Rc4 48. Rb2 b4
49. Rdb1 Nf3 50. Kg2 Rd7 $1 {The last good move, forcing the exchange of one
rook. The rest doesn't require any comments.} 51. h3 e5 52. Ne2 Rd2 53. hxg4
fxg4 54. Rxd2 Nxd2 55. Rb2 Nf3 56. Kf1 b3 57. Kg2 Rc2 {I was obviously elated
to win with Black against (a slightly weakened I have to add) Kramnik, I
almost couldn't believe it. After this I again shared the lead, and even
though I couldn't make anything of my slight advantage in the last game and
win the tournament outright, I'm obviously very happy with my shared victory
with Aronian.} 0-1

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2008.01.27"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2735"]
[PlyCount "130"]
[EventDate "2008.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 122"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.01.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bg5 Bg7 4. Nbd2 d6 5. e4 O-O 6. c3 c5 7. dxc5 dxc5 8.
Bc4 Nc6 9. O-O Na5 10. Be2 Be6 11. Re1 a6 12. Qc2 h6 13. Be3 Qc7 14. h3 Bd7 15.
Nf1 e5 16. N3h2 Be6 17. Ng4 Nxg4 18. hxg4 Nc4 19. b3 Nd6 20. Rad1 b5 21. Bc1 c4
22. Ne3 cxb3 23. axb3 Rfc8 24. Nd5 Bxd5 25. Rxd5 Ne8 26. Rd3 Nf6 27. Red1 g5
28. c4 bxc4 29. bxc4 Bf8 30. Rf3 Nd7 31. Rf5 Nc5 32. Rd5 Bg7 33. Be3 Qe7 34.
Bxc5 Rxc5 35. Rf3 Bf8 36. Qa4 Ra7 37. g3 Qe6 38. Rb3 Qc6 39. Qa1 Qc7 40. Kg2 a5
41. Qa4 Rb7 42. Rxc5 Bxc5 43. Qe8+ Bf8 44. Rxb7 Qxb7 45. Qxe5 a4 46. c5 Qc6 47.
Bc4 Qxc5 48. Qxc5 Bxc5 49. f4 Kg7 50. e5 f6 51. exf6+ Kxf6 52. Kf3 Ke7 53. Ke4
Bf2 54. Kf5 Be3 55. Ke4 Bd2 56. fxg5 hxg5 57. Bb5 a3 58. Bc4 Kd6 59. Ba2 Kc5
60. Kd3 Be1 61. Kc2 Kb4 62. Be6 Bxg3 63. Kb1 Bf4 64. Ka2 Bg3 65. Bf5 Bf4
1/2-1/2

[Event "Morelia/Linares 25th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2008.02.15"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2751"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2008.02.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bc4
O-O 9. O-O Be6 10. Bb3 Nc6 11. Qe2 Na5 12. Rfd1 Nxb3 13. cxb3 {Recapturing
with the c-pawn is not desirable, but Carlsen believes in the advantages it
carries. Opening of the c-file invites activity by White's rook, also the
knight move to d5 will gain in impact.} Nd7 (13... Qe8 14. Ne1 (14. Bg5 Nh5 15.
Nd2 f5 16. Bxe7 {1/2 Movsesian,S (2632)-Babula,V (2585)/Czechia 2006}) 14...
Ng4 (14... h6 15. Nc2 Qd7 16. Nb4 Rfc8 17. f3 Bd8 18. Rd3 a5 19. Nbd5 Nxd5 20.
Nxd5 a4 21. bxa4 Rxa4 22. b3 {1-0 Carlsen,M (2675)-Nunn,J (2617)/Amsterdam
2006 (45)}) 15. Nc2 f5 16. f3 Nxe3 17. Nxe3 fxe4 18. Nxe4 Rd8 19. Nd5 Qf7 20.
Qd3 Bxd5 21. Qxd5 Qxd5 22. Rxd5 Kf7 23. Rad1 Ke6 $11 {0-1 Carlsen,M (2698)
-Karjakin,S (2672)/Cap d'Agde 2006 (50)}) 14. Nd2 Qc7 15. Rac1 Rfc8 16. Nd5 Qd8
{Ivanchuk is much too strong to fall for the simple trick of the black rook
being hit by the e3-bishop later in the tactical line.} (16... Qxc1 $2 17.
Nxe7+ Kf8 18. Rxc1 Rxc1+ 19. Nf1 Rxf1+ 20. Kxf1 Kxe7 21. Qc2 Kd8 22. f4 $16)
17. Rxc8 (17. Nxe7+ Qxe7 18. Nc4 Rc6 19. Na5 Rxc1 20. Rxc1 h6 21. Nxb7 Nf6 22.
Na5 Nxe4 $11) 17... Rxc8 18. Nxe7+ Qxe7 19. Nc4 Bxc4 {Black was surely
confident, that he could hold the position even though White will now have
reason to fight for more.} (19... Rc6 20. Na5 Rc7 21. Qd2 Nf8 22. Qb4 Rd7 23.
f3 $14) 20. bxc4 Nc5 21. b3 (21. f3 Ne6 22. g3 Rc6 $14) 21... Rc6 (21... Nxe4
$2 22. Qg4 $18) 22. Qc2 h6 23. g3 Qc7 24. Kg2 (24. Bxc5 Rxc5 25. Qd2 Rc6 26.
Qd5 $14) 24... Nd7 25. Qd3 Nf6 26. a4 Nd7 27. h3 (27. b4 Rxc4 28. Bc5 b5 $11)
27... Kf8 $2 {The king has decided to help with the support of the vulnerable
d6-pawn, but the move has a serious flaw.} (27... Qa5 28. Qe2 Qb4 29. Rd3 Nc5
30. Bxc5 Qxc5 $14) 28. Bc1 $6 {[%mdl 64] The last truly exciting moment of
this game has passed without either playersreally noticing. Carlsen misses a
golden chance to create serious problems with the b-pawn advance.} (28. b4 $5
Rxc4 (28... Nf6 $6 29. b5 Rxc4 30. Bb6 Qc8 31. Qxd6+ Kg8 32. Qe7 Qe6 33. Rd8+
Kh7 34. Qxe6 fxe6 35. bxa6 bxa6 36. a5 Nxe4 37. Ra8 $16) (28... a5 29. c5 axb4
30. cxd6 Qa5 31. Qb3 Ra6 32. Bd2 Qxa4 33. Rc1 $16) 29. Bc5 Rxc5 30. bxc5 Nxc5
31. Qxd6+ Qxd6 32. Rxd6 Nxa4 33. Rd5 f6 (33... Nc3 $2 34. Rxe5 f6 35. Rc5 Nxe4
36. Rc8+ Ke7 37. Rc7+ $16) 34. Rd8+ Ke7 35. Rg8 Kf7 36. Rc8 b6 37. Rc7+ Kg6 (
37... Kf8 38. Rb7 Nc5 (38... b5 39. Kf3 $16) 39. Rxb6 Nxe4 40. Rxa6 $16) 38. f4
exf4 39. gxf4 Nc5 40. Kf3 a5 41. Rc6 $16) 28... Nc5 29. Qf3 Qb6 30. Ba3 Qxb3
31. Qxb3 Nxb3 32. Bxd6+ Kg8 33. Bxe5 Rxc4 34. Rd8+ Kh7 35. Rd7 Rxe4 36. f4 {
White's pieces are active enough to secure draw.} Kg8 (36... Kg6 37. Rxb7 Nc5
38. Rb6+ f6 39. Bd6 Nxa4 40. Rxa6 $11) 37. Rd8+ Kh7 38. Rd7 Kg8 39. Rd8+ Kh7
1/2-1/2

[Event "Morelia/Linares 25th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2008.02.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Shirov, Alexei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B42"]
[WhiteElo "2755"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2008.02.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Ne7 6. O-O Nbc6 7. Nxc6 Nxc6 8.
Be3 Be7 9. Nd2 d5 10. exd5 exd5 11. Nb3 O-O 12. Re1 Re8 13. c3 Bd6 14. Qc2 g6
15. Bc5 Bc7 16. Rxe8+ Qxe8 17. Qd2 Qe5 18. Qh6 Bf5 19. Bxf5 Qxf5 20. Nd4 Qe4
21. f3 Qe8 22. Nxc6 bxc6 23. Bd4 Be5 24. Qd2 Qb8 25. g3 Qd6 26. Re1 Bxd4+ 27.
cxd4 c5 28. Kg2 c4 29. h4 h5 30. g4 hxg4 31. fxg4 Qd7 32. Kg3 Re8 33. Rxe8+
Qxe8 34. h5 Qe4 35. hxg6 fxg6 36. Qf4 Qe1+ 37. Kh3 Qh1+ 38. Kg3 Qe1+ 39. Kh3
1/2-1/2

[Event "Morelia/Linares 25th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2008.02.17"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D43"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2799"]
[Annotator "Anand,V"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2008.02.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5
9. Ne5 h5 10. f3 {A relatively rare move. Ein relative seltener Zug.} h4 11.
Bf2 Bb7 12. Be2 Nbd7 13. Nxd7 Nxd7 14. O-O (14. e5 c5 15. Nxb5 Qa5+ {Possible
since White hasn't castled. Möglich, da Weiß nicht rochiert hat.} 16. Nc3 h3 {
looks rather unpleasant for White. sieht ziemlich unangenehm für Weiß aus.})
14... e5 $1 {Now White was threatening e5 and Ne4. Black has equalized, so
White should look for an improvement earlier. Nun drohte Weiß e5 und Ne4.
Schwarz hat ausgeglichen, daher sollte der Anziehende vorher nach einer
Verbesserung suchen.} 15. a4 a6 16. d5 Rh6 {Inspired by Paco Vallejo's rook
against Topalov from Morelia 2006. Black is not really looking at castling
kingside, and the rook is incredibly useful on the 6th rank. Inspiriert durch
Paco Vallejos Turm gegen Topalov aus dem Turnier Morelia 2006. Die kurze
Rochade hat Schwarz nicht wirklich auf dem Plan, und der Turm ist unglaublich
nützlich auf der 6. Reihe.} 17. dxc6 Bxc6 18. axb5 axb5 19. Rxa8 Qxa8 {The
problem for White is that Black has so much space especially in the kingside
where White needs f4 to get things going. Das Problem für Weiß ist, dass
Schwarz so viel Raum hat, vor allem am Königsflügel, wo Weiß f4 braucht, um
die Dinge in Gang zu bekommen.} 20. Qc1 Rg6 21. Rd1 Bc5 22. Bxc5 Nxc5 23. Qe3
Nb3 $6 (23... Ne6 $1 {The other route to get to d4, but allows White the
possibility of b3 which I hoped to avoid The other route to get to d4, but
allows White the possibility of b3 which I hoped to avoid} 24. b3 (24. Nd5 Kf8
25. b3 cxb3 26. Qxb3 Nd4) 24... b4 $1 (24... cxb3 25. Nxb5 Qa2 {Not a very
human move to make. Kein besonders menschlicher Zug.} 26. Nd6+ Kf8 27. Nf5 (27.
Bc4 Nf4) 27... h3 28. gxh3 b2 29. Qb6 Be8 30. Qb4+ Kg8 31. Ne7+ Kh7 32. Nxg6
Kxg6) 25. Nd5 cxb3 26. Qxb3 Qb7 {and it seems White can't take the b4 pawn:
und es scheint, als könnte Weiß den Bauern b4 nicht nehmen:} 27. Nxb4 (27. Bc4
Nd4 28. Qe3 Qa7 29. Kh1 Qa3 30. Qd2 h3 $1) 27... Nd4 $17) 24. Qb6 (24. f4 $1 {
Shipov suggested this move and it does seem to hold. Shipov suggested this
move and it does seem to hold.} gxf4 (24... exf4 25. Qb6 h3 26. Bh5 Rh6 27.
Bxf7+ Kxf7 28. Qc7+ Ke8 29. Qe5+ Kf8 30. Qf5+ Kg7 31. Qxg5+ Rg6 32. Qe7+ $11)
25. Qh3 Qa7+ (25... Kf8 26. Qxh4 Kg7 $4 27. Rd8 $1) (25... b4 26. Bh5 (26. Nd5
Bxd5 27. exd5 Nd4) 26... Nd4 27. Bxg6 fxg6 28. Rxd4 exd4 29. Qe6+ {seems to be
a draw. scheint remis zu sein.}) 26. Kh1 Nd4 27. Qxh4 Qc7 (27... Qe7 28. Qh8+
Kd7 29. Bh5 $1 (29. Ra1 Qg5 $1 30. Ra7+ Ke6 31. Qc8+ Kf6 32. Qh8+ Rg7 33. Qd8+
Kg6) 29... Qf6 30. Qb8 Rg5 31. Ra1 Rxh5 32. Ra7+ Ke6 33. Qc8+ Kd6 34. Qf8+ Ke6
$11) 28. Bh5 (28. Qh8+ Ke7 29. Qh4+ Rf6 (29... Kf8 30. Qh8+ Rg8 31. Qh6+ {
with enough compensation. mit genug Kompensation.}) 30. Bg4) 28... Rg7 29. Bg4
{followed by Ra1 seems to give White enough play. nebst Ra1 scheint Weiß genug
Spiel zu geben.}) (24. Nd5 Kf8) 24... Nd4 {Now White has little choice but to
enter the endgame. Nun bleibt Weiß kaum etwas anderes, als ins Endspiel
überzugehen.} 25. Rxd4 exd4 26. Nxb5 (26. Qxd4 Qd8 27. Qh8+ (27. Nxb5 Bxb5 28.
Qe5+ Kf8 29. Qxb5 Qb6+ {transposes to the game. führt zur Partie.}) 27... Kd7)
26... Bxb5 27. Qxb5+ Qc6 28. Qe5+ Re6 (28... Qe6 29. Qb8+ Ke7 30. Qa7+ Kf8) 29.
Qxd4 (29. Qb8+ Ke7 30. Qa7+ Kf8 31. Qxd4 Qb6 {comes to the same thing. läuft
auf dasselbe hinaus.}) 29... Qb6 30. Qxb6 Rxb6 31. Bxc4 Rxb2 {Black needs to
keep the king on the first rank. Schwarz muss den König auf der ersten Reihe
halten.} 32. g3 (32. Kf1 Ke7 33. Be2 Kd6 34. Kf2 Kc5 35. Ke3 Rb1 36. g3 (36.
Bd3 Rh1 37. Kf2 f6 38. Bf1 Kd4 $19) 36... Rh1 $17) 32... f6 (32... Ke7 33. gxh4
(33. e5 Rc2 34. Bb3 (34. Bd3 Rc3 35. Be2 Ke6) 34... Re2 $1) 33... gxh4 34. f4
f6 35. e5 Rd2 $1 {This excellent move takes away d5 and d3 from the white
bishop. Dieser hervorragende Zug nimmt dem dem weißen Läufer d5 und d3.} (35...
Rb4 36. exf6+ Kxf6 37. Ba6 Kf5 38. Kg2 $1 Kxf4 39. Bc8 $11) (35... f5 36. Bd3
$1 Ke6 37. Bc4+ $11) 36. Bg8 (36. Kh1 f5 37. Ba6 Rd4 38. Kg2 Rxf4 39. Bc8 Kf7
$19) 36... h3 $1) 33. Be6 Ke7 34. Bg4 (34. Bf5 Kd6 35. gxh4 gxh4 36. f4 Re2 $1
{again the key. wieder der Schlüssel.}) (34. Bh3 Kd6 35. gxh4 gxh4 36. f4 Re2
37. Bg2 Kc5 38. Kf1 Rb2 39. e5 f5 40. Bh3 Rb4 41. Ke2 Rxf4 42. Ke3 Re4+ 43. Kf3
Rxe5 44. Kf4 Re2 45. Kxf5 Kd5 46. Kg4 Ke4 47. Kxh4 Kf4 $1) 34... Re2 $3 (34...
Kd6 35. gxh4 gxh4 36. f4 Rd2 37. Bh3 Kc5 38. e5 Rd4 39. exf6 Rxf4 40. Kg2 {
Once the king escapes from the first rank, its a draw. Wenn der König einmal
von der ersten Reihe wegkommt, ist es remis.} Rxf6 41. Bc8 $11) 35. gxh4 gxh4
36. h3 {Now a fortress is no longer possible, so Black wins. Nun ist eine
Festung nicht länger möglich, also gewinnt Schwarz.} Kd6 37. Kf1 Rb2 38. f4 Kc5
39. e5 Rb4 40. exf6 Rxf4+ 41. Ke2 Kd4 42. Bf3 Rxf6 43. Bb7 Rb6 44. Bc8 (44. Bg2
Rb3) 44... Ke4 45. Bg4 Rb2+ 46. Ke1 Ke3 47. Kf1 Kf4 48. Ke1 Kg3 49. Kf1 Rf2+
50. Ke1 (50. Kg1 Rf7 $1 {wins gewinnt.}) 50... Rf4 51. Bc8 Rf8 52. Bg4 Kg2 53.
Ke2 Re8+ 54. Kd3 Kf2 55. Bf5 Re3+ 56. Kd4 Kf3 57. Bg4+ Kf4 58. Kd5 Re5+ 59. Kd4
Rg5 (59... Rg5 60. Be6 Rg6 61. Bc8 Rd6+ 62. Kc5 Rd2 {Now the king is far
enough. Nun steht der König weit genug weg.} 63. Bg4 Kg3 64. Bf5 Rh2 65. Kd4
Rxh3 {wins. gewinnt.}) 0-1

[Event "Morelia/Linares 25th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2008.02.19"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Leko, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2753"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2008.02.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 b6 7. Bg5 Bb7 8.
e3 d6 9. Ne2 Nbd7 10. Qc2 c5 11. Rd1 cxd4 {Black demonstrates the most
accurate order of moves.} (11... Qc7 12. Nc3 cxd4 13. Rxd4 a6 {- see CBM 121,
game Morozevich-Beliavsky.}) 12. Rxd4 h6 $1 13. Bh4 Qc7 14. Nc3 d5 {This is
now more appropriate than without ...h7-h6 Bg5-h4.} 15. Bg3 (15. cxd5 Nxd5 $1 (
15... Bxd5 $143 16. f3) {as now} 16. Bd3 {doesn't attack the h7-pawn.}) 15...
e5 16. cxd5 Bxd5 $1 $146 {[%mdl 8] This is stronger than} (16... Nxd5 17. Rc4
Qb8 (17... Qd6 $5) 18. Be2 N7f6 19. O-O Ba6 20. Nxd5 Nxd5 21. Bf3 Rd8 22. Rd4
Bxf1 23. Rxd5 Ba6 24. Bxe5 Qc8 25. Rxd8+ Qxd8 26. Bxa8 Qxa8 {1/2-1/2 Bareev,
E-Grischuk,A/Khanty-Mansiysk 2007/CBM 122 (72) - Black survived in this
endgame.}) 17. Be2 Rac8 {Black plays safely but apparently it was quite
possible to take the pawn:} (17... Bxg2 18. Rg1 Bd5 (18... Qb7 $5) 19. Rh4 $44
Rfd8 20. Rxh6 $140 Be4 $1) 18. e4 Bc6 19. f3 Nh5 20. Rd2 Nxg3 21. hxg3 Nf6 $11
22. O-O Qe7 23. Rfd1 Bd7 24. Ba6 Rc7 25. Qd3 Be6 26. Qd6 Bb3 27. Nb5 Qxd6 28.
Rxd6 Bxd1 (28... Rc5 $5 29. R1d2 Rc1+ 30. Kh2 Bc4 $132) 29. Nxc7 Ba4 30. Rd3
Rb8 31. b3 Bd7 32. Nb5 Bxb5 33. Bxb5 Rc8 34. Ba6 Rc1+ 35. Kf2 Kf8 36. Rd8+ Ke7
37. Ra8 Rc7 38. g4 h5 39. gxh5 Nxh5 40. Bc4 Nf4 41. g3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Morelia/Linares 25th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2008.02.20"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2780"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2008.02.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 c6 {Most likely Carlsen's
opening choice came as a surprise to Topalov, although Magnus has already used
this system before.} 6. Bd3 ({The natural looking} 6. c4 {is inaccurate. After}
Nb4 {Black suddenly develops an initiative, threatening to take on d4 followed
by the check on c2. Therefore White must place the knight on a3, after which
Black easily achieves comfortable play:} 7. Be3 Bf5 8. Na3 (8. Nd3 e5 $1 $36)
8... Nd7 $11) ({Besides 6.Bd3, other attempts to fight for the advantage are} 
6. Be2) ({and} 6. Bc4) 6... Nd7 {This is the main idea of Black's setup: to
exchange the exposed knight and achieve a very solid position.} 7. Nxd7 {
In my opinion this is harmless for Black.} ({When he was 13-years old, Carlsen
lost against} 7. O-O {which is actually the strongest continuation:} Nxe5 (7...
g6 {is the alternative}) 8. dxe5 Nb4 (8... g6 $142 $14 {/=}) 9. Be4 Qxd1 10.
Rxd1 f5 11. a3 Na6 12. Bf3 g6 13. Nd2 Be6 14. Be2 Nc7 15. Nf3 Bd5 16. Nd4 Bg7
17. c4 Bf7 18. f4 $14 {Sutovsky,E (2639)-Carlsen,M (2385)/Rethymnon 2003.}) (7.
Nf3 N7f6 8. h3 Nb4 $1 9. Bc4 Bf5 10. Bb3 a5 $1 $11) 7... Bxd7 8. O-O g6 9. Nd2
({Somewhat better is} 9. Re1 Bg7 10. c3 O-O 11. Bg5 {although Black hardly has
any opening problems.}) 9... Bg7 10. Nf3 O-O 11. Re1 ({More cautious is} 11. h3
$11) 11... Bg4 $1 12. c3 c5 $1 {Carlsen's fight for the initiative is
justified: Black leads in development and uses his bishops to create pressure
on White's centre.} 13. Be4 ({Although after} 13. dxc5 {Black has} Nxc3 $1 14.
bxc3 Bxc3 {White is only slightly worse:} 15. Bh6 Bxe1 (15... Re8 $2 16. Re3
$18) (15... Bxa1 $2 16. Qxa1 $18) 16. Qxe1 Qxd3 17. Ne5 (17. Qe5 $2 f6 18. Qxe7
Rf7) 17... Qd4 18. c6 (18. Bxf8 Kxf8 19. Nxg4 Qxg4 $17) 18... bxc6 19. Nxc6 Qf6
20. Nxe7+ Kh8 21. Nd5 Qd4 22. Bxf8 Rxf8 23. Ne3 Be6 24. Rd1 $15 {/=}) 13...
cxd4 14. cxd4 e6 {A dream position for Black, who has perfectly placed pieces
against the isolated pawn.} 15. Qb3 $6 ({After} 15. h3 Bxf3 16. Bxf3 Qb6 17.
Bxd5 exd5 18. Be3 {White has better chances to achieve a draw. For instance:}
Qxb2 19. Qd3 Qb6 20. Rab1 Qc7 21. Rb5 Rfd8 22. Qb3 {regaining the pawn.}) 15...
Bxf3 $1 {Very concrete. Black wins the central pawn.} 16. Bxf3 Bxd4 17. Bxd5
Qxd5 18. Qxd5 exd5 19. Rd1 Bg7 $17 20. Kf1 (20. Rxd5 {does not restore
material equality:} Rfd8 21. Rxd8+ Rxd8 22. Be3 (22. Kf1 Rd1+ 23. Ke2 Rh1 {
is just bad for White}) 22... b6 23. Rb1 Bxb2 {with a healthy pawn up.}) 20...
Rfd8 21. Bg5 Rd7 22. Rd2 h6 23. Be3 d4 24. Rd3 Rc8 25. Bd2 Rc2 {Black is a
pawn up and has more active pieces. Carlsen converts it convincingly into a
full point.} 26. Rb1 Re7 27. a4 f5 28. b3 Rec7 (28... Kf7 29. Rc1 Rxc1+ 30.
Bxc1 Ke6 $17 {/-+}) 29. Be1 Kf7 30. Rd2 Rc1 31. Rxc1 Rxc1 32. Ke2 Rb1 $1 33.
Rd3 Ke6 34. h4 Kd5 $19 35. Bd2 Ke4 36. Rg3 f4 37. Rd3 Be5 38. f3+ Kd5 39. Be1
Bd6 40. Bd2 g5 41. hxg5 hxg5 42. Be1 g4 43. fxg4 Ke4 44. g5 Ke5 0-1

[Event "Morelia/Linares 25th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2008.02.22"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2735"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[Annotator "Radjabov,T"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2008.02.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 {I started with -1 and was still on this score before my game vs Carlsen.
I had ambitions to fight in all games, but I didn't manage to capitalise on my
chances before this win finally came. Ich hatte mit -1 begonnen, und auf
diesem Stand befand ich mich vor meiner Partie gegen Carlsen noch immer. Ich
hatte den Ehrgeiz, in allen Partien zu kämpfen, konnte meine Chancen aber
nicht nutzen, bis endlich dieser Sieg kam.} e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 {
With this move I scored an important win with this move in a match
Azerbaijan-France in the European Team Championship for the bronze medals! Mit
diesem Zug erzielte ich einen wichtigen Sieg in dem Kampf
Aserbaidschan-Frankreich bei der Europäischen Mannschaftsmeisterschaft um die
Bronzemedaillen!} (4. O-O {Of course it's more natural to go 0-0 here, but I
was in a mood to try the d3-system. Selbstverständlich ist die Rochade
natürlicher, aber ich hatte Lust, das d3-System zu versuchen.}) 4... Bc5 5. c3
O-O 6. O-O d5 7. Nbd2 {White plays for a very small plus! Black may choose now
between many options, like ...Bg4 or ...Re8 etc... Carlsen decided to clarify
things in the center by taking on e4. Weiß spielt auf ein ganz kleines Plus!
Schwarz hat nun die Wahl zwischen vielen Möglichkeiten wie ...Bg4 oder ...Re8
usw... Carlsen beschloss, durch das Schlagen auf e4 die Dinge im Zentrum zu
klären.} dxe4 8. Nxe4 (8. dxe4 {also deserves serious attention, but I guess
that my intention was to get my c1 bishop to a more active position. kommt
ebenfalls ernsthaft in Betracht, aber ich schätze, meine Abwicht war, meinen
c1-Läuer auf einen aktiveren Posten zu bringen.}) 8... Nxe4 9. dxe4 Qf6 {
Now Black wants to go for ...Ne7-g6 or ...Bg4. White has to take measures,
also ...Rd8 is threatening and ...Qg6 to follow etc... Nun will Schwarz ...
Ne7-g6 spielen oder ...Bg4. Weiß muss Maßnahmen ergreifen, denn es droht auch .
..Rd8 nebst ...Qg6 usw...} (9... Qxd1 10. Rxd1 $14) 10. Qe2 (10. Qd5 {I didn't
like this so much as I felt Black has a lot of play for the pawn! Two bishops
and White's uncoordinated queenside are worth that investment. Dies gefiel mir
nicht sonderlich, da ich das Gefühl hatte, dass Schwarz eine Menge Spiel für
den Bauern hat! Das Läuferpaar und der unkoordinierte weiße Damenflügel sind
diese Investition wert.} Bd6 11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. Qxc6 Bg4 $44) 10... Bg4 {
Very natural and played almost instantly! Sehr natürlich, und beinahe a tempo
gespielt!} (10... h6 $5 11. Bxc6 (11. Rd1 $6 {Solid but not more! Black is in
time to regroup now! Solide, mehr aber auch nicht! Nun kann Schwarz sich
rechtzeitig umgruppieren!} Ne7 12. b4 (12. Be3 Bxe3 13. Qxe3 Bg4 14. Be2 Ng6
15. g3 b6 16. Ne1 $13) 12... Bb6 $13) (11. Be3 Bxe3 12. Qxe3 Ne7 $11) 11...
bxc6 12. Be3 $14) 11. h3 {What else? If I allow this pin to last, Black will
start to play Ne7-g6-h6 c6, clearly improving his position, meanwhile White
has no targets to attack! Was sonst? Wenn ich nichts gegen diese Fesselung
unternehme, wird Schwarz mit Ne7-g6 und h6, c6 seine Stellung eindeutig
verbessern, wohingegen Weiß keine Ziele hat, die er angreifen kann!} Bxf3 (
11... Bh5 12. g4 Bg6 13. Bg5 Qe6 14. Rfd1 $16) 12. Qxf3 Qxf3 13. gxf3 Ne7 {
Well , very natural Nun, sehr natürlich.} (13... f5 {I thought Black could
play like this after gxf3, to open the f-line and start Rf6-Raf8 and so on.
Ich dachte, dass Schwarz nach gxf3 so spielen könnte, um die f-Linie zu öffnen
und Rf6-Raf8 usw. folgen zu lassen.} 14. b4 {But I think that White is still
better after b4 or Bc4+. Aber ich denke, dass Weiß nach b4 oder Bc4+ trotzdem
besser steht.} (14. Be3 Bxe3 15. fxe3) (14. Bc4+ Kh8 15. Bd5 $14) 14... Bb6 15.
Bc4+ Kh8 16. a4 $14) 14. f4 $5 (14. b4 $5 {Well, it was also possible to start
with this move! I didn't want somehow to allow Bd6 preventing f4 and probably
I was right! Nun, es war auch möglch, mit diesem Zug zu beginnen. Irgendwie
wollte ich Bd6 nicht zulassen, was f4 verhindert, und womöglich hatte ich
Recht!} Bd6 $1 {[%csl Rf4] But after this move I am not sure at all that White
has something real. Aber nach diesem Zug bin ich keinesfalls sicher, dass Weiß
irgendwas Reales hat.} (14... Bb6 15. a4 a5 (15... c6 {Black has to go like
this otherwise White is much better! Schwarz muss so spielen, ansonsten steht
Weiß deutlich besser!} 16. Bc4 (16. Be2 $5 {Looks very strong too! Now a5 is
threatening and Be3 with typical advantage! Sieht ebenfalls sehr stark aus!
Nun droht a5 und Be3 mit typischem Vorteil!} a5 17. Rb1 $1 $14 axb4 18. Rxb4
Nc8 19. Rd1 c5 20. Rb5 $16) 16... a5 17. Rd1 (17. Rb1 $6 {The bishop on c4 is
hanging! Der Läufer auf c4 hängt!} axb4 18. Rxb4 Nc8 19. Rd1 Bc5 {[%csl Rc4]
[%cal Ga8a4] Here is the difference to the Be2 retreat, the bishop on c4 is
hanging! Hier zeigt sich der Unterschied zu dem Rückzug Be2, der Läufer auf c4
hängt!}) 17... Rfd8 18. Be3 $14 (18. Bg5 Kf8 19. Rdb1 $14 (19. Rxd8+ Rxd8 20.
Rb1 $5 f6 21. bxa5 Bxa5 22. Be3 b6 23. Rb3 c5 {and Black is in time to block
somehow. und Schwarz kann rechtzeitig irgendwie blockieren.}))) 16. bxa5 Rxa5 (
16... Bc5 17. Rd1 $16 {[%cal Gd1d7]}) 17. Ba3 c5 18. Rfd1 $16) 15. Be3 a5 16.
a3 Ng6 $13) (14. Bc4 $5 {looks very interesting. It is better than b4, because
now White has no weaknesses on the queenside and he can try to make use of the
bishop pair without fearing any kind of fast counterplay. sieht sehr
interessant aus. Dies ist besser als b4, denn nun hat Weiß keine Schwächen am
Damenflügel, und er kann versuchen, Kapital aus dem Läuferpaar zu schlagen,
ohne irgendein schnelles Gegenspiel befürchten zu müssen.}) 14... c6 (14... Ng6
15. f5 (15. fxe5 c6 16. Ba4 Rad8 {Black is well developed and very active!
Schwarz ist gut entwickelt und sehr aktiv!}) (15. Be3 Bxe3 16. fxe3 $11) 15...
Nf4 (15... Nh4 16. Be2 $16) 16. Bxf4 exf4 17. e5 $5 $14 {Here this move looks
better for White. The idea is that now White is going to play Rad1 and then
Kg2-f3 xf4 and so on. Hier sieht dieser Zug besser für Weiß aus. Die Idee ist,
dass er nun Rad1 spielen wird und dann Kg2-f3 xf4 usw.} (17. Rad1 Rfd8 (17...
c6 18. Ba4 $14) 18. e5 c6 19. Bc4 f3 20. Bb3 Kf8 $13) (17. Kg2 Rfd8 18. Rad1 (
18. e5 c6 19. Bc4 Rd2) 18... g5 $6 (18... f6 19. Kf3 (19. Bd3 $5) 19... Rxd1
20. Rxd1 Bd6 21. Bc4+ Kf8 22. h4 $14 {Better for White, but also hard to
progress. Besser für Weiß, aber ebenfalls schwer, Fortschritte zu machen.}) 19.
e5 $1 (19. Kf3 f6 $1 {The best move! Der beste Zug!} (19... Kf8 20. f6 $16 {
This looks quite strong! Now White is much better! Dies sieht ziemlich stark
aus! Jetzt steht Weiß viel besser!} c6 21. Bc4 Bb6 22. Kg4 h6 23. Kh5 Rxd1 24.
Rxd1 Rd8 25. Rxd8+ Bxd8 26. e5 Bb6 27. f3 $16) (19... c6 20. Ba4 h6 21. f6 $14)
20. h4 h6 21. Bd7 (21. e5 fxe5 22. Rde1 Be7 $11) 21... Kg7 22. Rg1 Bd6 23. Be6
a5 24. a4 {But still, it's hard to make any progress! Aber dennoch, es ist
schwer, irgendwelche Fortschritte zu machen!}) 19... c6 20. Bc4 b5 21. Be2 $16)
17... Rfd8 18. Rad1 $14) 15. Bc4 exf4 16. Bxf4 Ng6 17. Bg3 Rfe8 {All the moves
from both sides are logical. Both are developing their forces.  Alle Züge von
beiden Seiten sind logisch. Beide versuchen, ihre Kräfte zu entwickeln.} 18.
Rfe1 (18. Bd3 {deserved attention! Well, now White wants to go for Rad1 and
Kg2 with f4-e5, with slight and unpleasant pressure. verdiente Aufmerksamkeit!
Nun, jetzt beabsichtigt Weiß Rad1 und Kg2 nebst f4-e5, mit leichtem, aber
unangenehmem Druck.} Rad8 (18... h5 19. Rad1 h4 20. Bh2 Ne5 21. Be2 $14) 19.
Rad1 $14 Ne5 (19... Bd6 20. f4 {and White is pressing! und Weiß drückt!}) 20.
Be2 $14) 18... Rad8 19. Rad1 $1 {Even if objectively White is not better
according to the computer's analysis, practically speaking it was the best.
Now White's play is quite easy and Black has to find defences which are not
all that easy. Selbst wenn Weiß laut Computeranalyse nicht besser steht, war
dies in praktischer Hinsicht das Stärkste. Es spielt sich ziemlich leicht für
ihn, und Schwarz muss Verteidigungen finden, die keinesfalls so einfach sind.}
Rxd1 20. Rxd1 Rxe4 {Carlsen thought for a long time here, but finally took the
pawn. I think it was the right decision if Black could manage to find all the
best moves afterwards. Hier dachte Carlsen lange nach, schließlich aber nahm
er den Bauern. Ich denke, es war die richtige Entscheidung, vorausgesetzt, es
gelänge Schwarz, im Anschluss all die besten Züge zu finden.} 21. Rd8+ Nf8 (
21... Bf8 $6 {is a mistake I think. The bishop and knight are too passive now,
White gets a strong attack and all Black's pawns are very very weak without
the bishop's protection! ist ein Fehler, denke ich. Läufer und Spirnger stehen
jetzt zu passiv, Weiß erhält starken Angriff, und sämtliche schwarzen Bauern
sind ohne den Schutz des Läufers sehr, sehr schwach!} 22. Bd3 Re6 (22... Re1+
23. Kg2 Rd1 $4 24. Kf3 $18) 23. Ra8 $16) 22. Bd3 Re1+ 23. Kg2 a5 (23... g6 $6
24. b4 Bb6 25. Rb8 Re7 (25... Rd1 26. Be4 Rd7 27. a4 f5 28. Bf3) 26. a4 Rd7 27.
Be4 $14 (27. Be2 Bd8 28. b5 Ba5 29. c4 cxb5 30. axb5 Bb4 31. Bf3 b6 32. Ra8 $14
{White keeps up unpleasant pressure on Black's position, combining attacks on
the pawns with bishop manoeuvres all over the board. Weiß behält unangenehmen
Druck auf die schwarze Stellung, wobei er Angriffe auf die Bauern mit
Läufermanövern auf dem ganzen Brett kombiniert.})) 24. Ra8 Rd1 25. Bc4 (25. Be4
{was an interesting alternative! Probably even stronger than the text. My
intention was to put the bishop on c4 attacking f7, but maybe the bishop is
better placed on e4 as the c6-b7 pawns are vulnerable and the b-pawn can't
move to protect a5! Also Bf3 at some tpoint to combine ideas like pushing the
a- and b-pawns and putting pressure on c6; the bishop is well placed on f3 to
support White's play on the queenside. war eine interessante Alternative!
Vermutlich sogar noch stärker als der Text. Meine Absicht war, den Läufer nach
c4 zu stellen und f7 anzugreifen, aber vielleicht steht der Läufer besser auf
e4, da die Bauern c6-b7 anfällig sind und der b-Bauern nicht vorrücken kann,
um a5 zu decken! Eventuell auch Bf3 an irgendeiner Stelle, um Ideen wie das
Vorstoßen von a- und b-Bauern mit Druck auf c6 zu kombinieren; auf f3 ist der
Läufer gut platziert, um das weiße Spiel am Damenflügel zu unterstützen.} g6 $8
{Black has to get rid of the pin! Otherwise it's hard to play vs two bishops
and an active rook on a8. Schwarz muss die Fesselung abschütteln! Ansonsten
ist es schwer, gegen das Läuferpaar und einen aktiven Turm auf a8 zu spielen.}
26. Rxa5 Ne6 (26... Bd6 $6 27. Ra7 $5 (27. Bf3 Rd2 28. Bxd6 Rxd6 29. Ra7 $1 {
Now Black is in trouble! a4-b4 is coming and the bishop provides support from
f3. Jetzt ist Schwarz in Schwierigkeiten! a4-b4 kommt, und der Läufer bietet
Schützenhilfe von f3 aus.}) 27... Bxg3 28. Kxg3 Rd7 29. a4 $16) 27. a4 Kg7 28.
b4 Bd6 29. Bxd6 Rxd6 30. Ra7 $14) 25... Bb6 $2 {Now Carlsen misses White's
strong reply. I was not sure if the position is winning after it, but it was
clear that White is simply much better. Nun übersieht Carlsen die starke weiße
Antwort. Ich war nicht sicher, ob die Stellung danach gewonnen ist, klar war
aber, dass Weiß einfach viel besser steht.} (25... b6 $1 26. a3 {To play b4
and try to attack the b6- and c6-pawns! Zur Vorbereitung von b4 im Versuch,
die Bauern b6 and c6 anzugreifen!} Ra1 $3 27. Ra7 (27. Rc8 a4 $1 28. Rxc6 Rb1
29. Rc7 Ne6 {and it's draw finally. und es endet schließlich remis.} 30. Rc8+
Nf8 $11) 27... Ne6 28. Ra8+ Nf8 29. h4 g6 30. Bf4 h5 $14 {It's unpleasant to
play this position as Black, but it's also hard to make any progress with
White. Still practically speaking White's position looks preferable to me. Es
ist unangenehm, diese Stellung mit Schwarz zu spielen, aber ebenfalls schwer,
mit Weiß irgendwelche Fortschritte zu erzielen. Dennoch, in praktischer
Hinsicht scheint mir die Stellung von Weiß vorzuziehen zu sein.}) 26. Rb8 $1
Rd7 27. Ba6 $1 {Now the b7-pawn is going be taken, Black can't allow this.
Carlsen goes for the best defensive chance. Jetzt droht der Bauer b7 genommen
zu werden. Schwarz darf dies nicht zulassen. Carlsen wählt die beste
Verteidigungschance.} bxa6 (27... Bc7 {In this case Black ends in a hopeless
endgame. After this move Black is totally lost, but I can't put in 20-25 moves
variations to prove that assesment, so I will just put it down as a big
advantage for White.  I will explain how White wins in this way. He is going
for Bxc7 and then Rxb7, he will bring the king to the queenside, exchanging
all pawns leaving only the a-pawn vs the knight. Then his opponent should
normally resign at some point. But ok, if it didn't happen, so don't blame me :
) In diesem Fall landet Schwarz in einem hoffnungslosen Endspiel. Nach diesem
Zug ist Schwarz total verloren, aber ich kann nicht 20- bis 25-zügige
Varianten anführen, um diese Einschätzung zu belegen, daher werde ich es
einfach als großen Vorteil für Weiß abhaken. Ich werde erklären, wie Weiß dann
gewinnt. Er wird Bxc7 und dann Rxb7 spielen, den König zum Damenflügel bringen
und alle Bauern tauschen, wonach nur der a-Bauer gegen den Springer übrig
bleibt. Dann sollte sein Gegner normalerweise irgendwann aufgeben. Aber okay,
wenn dies nicht passiert, schieben Sie es nicht auf mich:)} 28. Bxc7 (28. Rxb7
Bxg3 29. Kxg3 $16) 28... Rxc7 29. Rxb7 Rxb7 30. Bxb7 c5 31. Kf3 Nd7 32. Ke4 Nb6
33. Bc6 $16) 28. Rxb6 f6 (28... f5 $6 {looks interesting, with a possible
Ng6-f4 later. But there is a trick that White can try. sieht interessant aus,
mit einem möglichen Ng6-f4 später. Weiß kann aber einen Trick versuchen.} 29.
Rxc6 $5 (29. Rxa6 $5 Ng6 {f4 is coming on the next move, but... f4 kommt im
nächsten Zug, aber...} 30. h4 f4 31. h5 fxg3 32. hxg6 hxg6 33. Kxg3 Rd2 34. b4
(34. Rxa5) 34... Rd3+ 35. f3 Rxc3 36. Rxa5 $16) 29... Rd2 (29... Ng6 30. Bd6
$18) 30. Rxa6 Ng6 31. h4 f4 32. h5 fxg3 33. hxg6 hxg6 34. Kxg3 $16) 29. Rxa6 (
29. Rxc6 $5 {was very strong I think. war sehr stark, meine ich.} Rd2 30. Rxa6
Rxb2 31. Rxa5 g5 32. a4 $16 {and in this position it's very hard for Black to
keep up his defence. White's a-pawn is too strong. , und in dieser Stellung
ist es für Schwarz sehr schwer, seine Verteidigung aufrechtzuerhalten. Der
weiße a-Bauer ist zu stark.}) 29... Rd2 {Now Black is not even a pawn down. So
he has good chances to hold the game, it seems. But in practice his task was
very hard, I think.  Jetzt hat Schwarz nicht einmal einen Bauern weniger. Also
hat er gute Chancen, die Partie zu halten, scheint es. In der Praxis aber war
seine Aufgabe sehr schwer, glaube ich.} 30. b4 axb4 (30... Rxa2 31. Rxa5 Re2
32. Ra6 Re6 33. c4 {and White is much better here. He has a lot of pressure
and it is hard to defend with Black. und hier steht Weiß deutlich besser. Er
hat starken Druck, und es ist schwer, mit Schwarz zu verteidigen.} Kf7 34. b5
cxb5 35. cxb5 Re1 36. Ra7+ Ke6 (36... Kg6 37. Bd6 Ne6 38. b6 $18) 37. Rxg7 Rb1
38. Rb7 $16) 31. cxb4 Rb2 $6 (31... Ng6 $1 {with the idea f5-f4 somewhere. mit
der Idee f5-f4 irgendwo.} 32. a4 (32. Rxc6 Rxa2 33. b5 Rb2 $14) 32... Ne7 (
32... f5 {is not useful here as White may go for Bc7 or Bb8 and weakening of
the e5 -square is not in Black's plans. ist hier nicht nützlich, da Weiß Bc7
oder Bb8 spielten könnte, und eine Schwächung des e5-Feldes passt nicht in die
schwarzen Pläne.} 33. Bb8 $16) 33. a5 $5 (33. Ra7 Nf5 34. a5 Ra2 35. Ra6 Ra4
36. Rxc6 (36. Rb6 Nxg3 37. fxg3 c5 38. bxc5 Rxa5 39. c6 Rc5 40. Kf3 Rc4 $11)
36... Rxb4 37. a6 Ra4 38. Bb8 $14) 33... Kf7 34. Bf4 Rc2 (34... Rd4 35. Be3
Rxb4 36. Ra7 $1 $18) 35. Bd6 Nd5 36. Ra8 Ke6 37. Bc5 $16 {und White has good
chances to win the game as the position is quite similiar to the game and
hardly savable for Black. und Weiß hat gute Gewinnchancen, denn die Stellung
ist ganz ähnlich der Partie und für Schwarz kaum zu retten.}) (31... f5 32. a4
$16) 32. Bd6 Ne6 $6 (32... Ng6 33. a4 $16 Rc2 34. a5 Kf7 35. Bc5 Nf4+ 36. Kf3
Nd5 37. Rxc6 $18) 33. a4 $18 Rc2 34. a5 (34. Ra8+ Kf7 35. Rc8 {was even
cleaner! war sogar noch sauberer!}) 34... Kf7 35. Bc5 $5 (35. Rb6 $18) 35...
Nf4+ 36. Kf3 Nd5 (36... Nd3 37. Ke3 $1 Nxc5 38. Rxc6 $18) 37. Rb6 $1 {() After
this move White is totally winning. Nach diesem Zug steht Weiß total auf
Gewinn.} (37. Rxc6 $18) 37... Rc4 (37... Kg6 38. a6 Rc3+ 39. Ke2 $18) 38. Rb7+
$18 Kg6 39. a6 Rc3+ 40. Kg2 $5 (40. Ke2 Nf4+ (40... Ra3 41. a7 Nc3+ 42. Kd3
Nb5+ 43. Kc2 h5 44. Kb2 Ra4 45. Rb8 $18) 41. Kd2 Ra3 42. a7 $18) 40... Nf4+ 41.
Kg1 {And the last important move. Und der letzte wichtige Zug.} ({It was still
possible to spoil everything by Es war noch immer möglich, alles zu verderben
mit} 41. Kh2 Rxh3+ 42. Kg1 Ne2+ 43. Kf1 Nf4 $11) 41... Nxh3+ 42. Kh2 Nf4 43.
Be3 {After this move Carlsen resigned. Nach diesem Zug gab Carlsen auf.} (43.
a7 Rh3+ 44. Kg1 Ne2+ 45. Kf1 Nf4 46. Ke1 Nd3+ (46... Ra3 47. Kd2 $18) 47. Kd2
Nxc5 48. a8=Q Nxb7 49. Qxb7 Rh4 50. Kc3 {and White wins the c6-pawn and the
game. und Weiß gewinnt den Bauern c6 und die Partie.}) 1-0

[Event "Morelia/Linares 25th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2008.02.23"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2739"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2008.02.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a3
Bc5 9. c3 {The combination of a2-a3 and c2-c3 does not impress much.} d6 10. d4
Bb6 11. h3 Re8 $1 $146 {This new move shows that Black can save time and
manage without ...h7-h6.} (11... h6 12. Be3 Bb7 13. Nbd2 Re8 14. Bc2 Nb8 15.
dxe5 dxe5 16. Bxb6 cxb6 17. a4 bxa4 18. Bxa4 b5 19. Bb3 Nbd7 $11 {1/2-1/2
Svidler,P-Leko,P/Monte Carlo (rapid) 2006 (46)}) 12. Bg5 {Accepting the
challenge. Other moves can't even pretend to fight for an advantage. On the
other hand this is a highly risky decision and objectively Black is doing more
than fine after it.} h6 13. Bh4 exd4 {Black also must go for complications,
otherwise it is not clear why he allowed the pin of his f6-knight.} (13... Bb7
14. Bc2 $14) 14. cxd4 g5 (14... Bb7 15. Nc3 $14) 15. Bg3 g4 ({Taking on e4
loses:} 15... Rxe4 $2 16. Rxe4 Nxe4 17. Bd5 Qe8 18. Qc2 Nxg3 19. Qg6+ $18) (
15... Nxe4 $2 16. Bd5 $18) 16. hxg4 Bxg4 17. Bh4 (17. d5 Nd4 $36) 17... Nxd4
18. Nc3 {The battle has reached its culminant point: Carlsen sacrificed a
central pawn, considering that the pin of the knight f6 is highly unpleasant
for Black. White's main threat is Nc3-d5. Besides, Black must also reckon with
the advance e4-e5 followed by Ne4.} Bxf3 $5 {In this wild position Levon found
an interesting queen sacrifice. Unfortunately for him he will soon miss an
important detail.} ({After the natural and good} 18... c6 {White still must
prove that he has compensation for the pawn, since} 19. e5 dxe5 20. Ne4 {
doesn't work well in view of} Nxe4 21. Bxd8 Raxd8 22. Rxe4 Nxf3+ 23. gxf3 Rxd1+
24. Bxd1 Bf5 {with advantage for Black}) 19. gxf3 Kh8 $2 ({Now} 19... c6 20. e5
dxe5 21. Ne4 {is already not good for Black, but instead of taking on e5 Black
can play 20...Qc8! and bring the queen to h3 with sufficient activity to hold
the balance.}) ({However, the strongest move is} 19... Kh7 {with a similar
idea from the game. The point is that after} 20. Nd5 Rg8+ 21. Kf1 Ng4 $1 {
the move} 22. Qxd4 {is without check and therefore Black can take the bishop}
Qxh4 {Then after} 23. Nxb6 cxb6 24. fxg4 Qh3+ 25. Ke2 Qxb3 26. f3 Rac8 {
White is fighting for a draw.}) 20. Nd5 Rg8+ 21. Kf1 ({Aronian's idea would
have worked well after} 21. Kh1 $2 Ng4 $1 22. Qxd4+ Bxd4 23. Bxd8 Nxf2+ 24. Kh2
Raxd8 {and it is Black who wins}) 21... Ng4 {The bishop on h4 is hanging,
while taking the queen 22.Bxd8 leads to a nice mate with the knight on h2. But
in fact White has a counter queen sacrifice.} 22. Qxd4+ $1 Bxd4 23. Bxd8 Nh2+ {
Before taking the bishop the knight must run away. Nevertheless he won't have
a long life on h2 either.} 24. Ke2 Raxd8 25. Rad1 $1 $18 {The knight is
trapped on h2 and it turns out that White is simply winning.} Bxb2 26. Rh1 {
Black can't save the knight. Several pawns won't be enough for being a piece
down.} c6 ({Other moves don't help either:} 26... Be5 27. f4 c6 28. fxe5 cxd5
29. Rxh2) ({or} 26... Rg2 27. Ne3 Rdg8 28. Bxf7 R8g7 29. Nxg2 Rxg2 30. Rdg1)
27. Nf4 Be5 28. Nd3 Nxf3 29. Kxf3 Bg7 30. Rh5 {In spite of having three pawns
for the knight, Black is lost. His position contains a lot of weaknesses and
White's pieces are active. The rest is an easy task for Carlsen, who played
very precisely until the end.} d5 (30... c5 31. Bxf7 Rgf8 32. Rf5 {is also
hopeless}) 31. exd5 Rd6 32. Rf5 cxd5 33. Rc1 $1 Rf6 34. Rxf6 Bxf6 35. Rc6 Kg7
36. Nf4 Bg5 37. Nh5+ Kh8 38. Rxa6 d4 39. Ke4 Rg6 40. Ra7 1-0

[Event "Morelia/Linares 25th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2008.02.28"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2751"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2008.02.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 {As we shall soon see, this is not
a prelude to the Berlin variation, but an invitation to transpose to the Open
variation. Usually, Carlsen employs the "normal" move order (3...a6, etc.) but
in Corus Ivanchuk had surprised him with the exchange variation, which he
plays only occasionally. Although the game ended in a draw, Carlsen seems to
have had his reasons to avoid this course of events. Did he feel uncomfortable
about the exchange variation, or did he just want to avoid early
simplifications with an increased probability of a draw?...} 5. d4 a6 6. Bxc6 {
So, whatever Carlsen's thoughts had been, he guessed correctly that Ivanchuk
was not going to allow the Open variation.} dxc6 {Theory is not too
well-settled in this variation. Black's position certainly looks dangerous and
his move order at least provocative, but in practice things have been rather
unclear.} 7. Qe2 Bf5 8. Re1 {A very rare move. Among other things, White
threatens to win material with Qd3. After the present game, people may start
asking themselves why this line was not tried more frequently... Black
certainly needs to find a strong improvement somewhere.} (8. Rd1 Be7 9. dxe5
Qc8 {Black's position looks a bit cramped and his e4-knight unstable. However,
White is not too well developed and Black's good control of the light squares
offers him adequate play. Just compare this with the Berlin variation where he
needs several tempi to get castled artificially...} 10. Nd4 (10. b3 O-O 11. Bb2
Re8 12. Nbd2 Ng5 {In fact, the capture on d2 would be more restrictive,
although it could eventually transpose to the game.} 13. Nxg5 Bxg5 14. Nf3 Be7
15. h3 Bg6 16. c4 a5 17. Bc3 c5 18. Nh2 $13 {1/2-1/2 Savon,V (2420)-Buturin,V 
(2415)/Alushta 1992/EXT 97} Qe6 {With all his pieces well placed, Black has no
problems. The direct attack} 19. f4 a4 20. g4 {is not dangerous because of} f5
$1) (10. Rd4 {Apparently, White is just helping the knight improve its
position with gain of time, but he has some tactical play in mind.} Nc5 11. Bg5
$5 Ne6 12. Bxe7 Nxd4 13. Nxd4 Kxe7 14. Qh5 Rd8 15. Qh4+ Kf8 16. Nd2 c5 17. N4f3
Qe6 $17 {Rausis,I (2551)-Wedberg,T (2473)/Upplands Vasby 2000/CBM 081 (0-1, 47)
. Black has completed his development, maintaining his material advantage.}) (
10. Be3 O-O 11. Nbd2 Nxd2 12. Rxd2 h6 13. Rad1 c5 14. Qc4 b6 15. a3 Qb7 $11 {
In the Berlin variation, this square is usually occupied by the king, not
without some efforts.} 16. Qf4 Be6 17. Nh4 $6 g5 $1 18. Qf3 Qxf3 19. Nxf3 Kg7
20. h3 Kg6 21. Nh2 h5 $15 {Aroshidze,L (2401)-Mastrovasilis,D (2568)/Korinthos
2004/CBM 101 ext (1/2-1/2, 58). With all his pieces well placed, Black has a
favourable form of the Berlin variation. In the absence of queens, the plan of
a kingside expansion is strategically sound.}) 10... Bg6 11. Be3 {Opening
expert Geller tries to improve upon an older game of his opponent.} (11. f3 Nc5
12. b3 O-O 13. Bb2 Ne6 14. Nxe6 Qxe6 {Kupper,J-Kaplan,J (2470)/Lugano 1968/MCD
(0-1, 42). with comfortable play for Black.}) 11... O-O 12. Nd2 Nxd2 13. Rxd2
c5 14. Nb3 b6 {White's manoeuvre has only left the knight passive on b3,
requiring further loss of time. Black was going to play ...b6 and ...c5 anyway!
} 15. Rad1 Qf5 16. Qc4 Qe4 17. Qxe4 Bxe4 18. f3 Bf5 19. Nc1 {The sign that
something had gone wrong. As we know from previous examples, the control of
the d-file has a sterile character, because there are no squares available for
infiltration, while Black can exchange rooks with ...Rd8, whenever he wants.}
Rfd8 20. c3 Be6 21. Kf2 a5 22. Rxd8+ Bxd8 23. g3 Be7 {1/2-1/2 Geller,E (2610)
-Kaplan,J (2460)/Amsterdam 1974/MCL. Black's pressure against the queenside
prevents White from starting active operations on the other wing.}) ({The more
forcing line} 8. g4 Bg6 9. Nxe5 Qxd4 10. Nxg6 hxg6 11. Nc3 f5 12. Bf4 O-O-O 13.
Rad1 Qf6 14. Nxe4 fxe4 15. Rxd8+ Kxd8 16. Qxe4 {was at one time supposed to
offer White the slightly better chances. Indeed, certain endings would favour
him, but the following recent game saw Black drawing without problems.} Bd6 17.
Rd1 Re8 18. g5 Rxe4 19. gxf6 gxf6 20. Bxd6 cxd6 21. Rxd6+ Ke7 22. Rd3 Ke6 {
1/2-1/2 Womacka,M (2423)-Matamoros Franco,C (2544)/Olomouc 2006/CBM 113 ext.
Only Black can be microscopically better here, because of his more compact
kingside structure.}) 8... Bb4 $5 $146 (8... Be7 9. g4 Bg6 10. Nxe5 f5 11. Nc3
(11. gxf5 Bxf5 12. Qf3 $16 {wins two pieces for a rook, because after} Nd6 $2
13. Bg5 $18 {Black is in even bigger trouble, not being able to fre himself
from the pin. For instance} O-O 14. Qb3+ $1 Kh8 15. Bxe7 Qxe7 16. Ng6+ $1 $18)
11... O-O 12. Nxg6 hxg6 13. Qc4+ Kh7 14. Nxe4 fxe4 15. Rxe4 Bh4 16. Be3 $16 {
Georgiev,K (2480)-Piket,J (2550)/Corfu 1991/EXT 97 (0-1, 31). White has won a
pawn, but later went terribly wrong and lost.}) (8... Bd6 9. Qd3 O-O 10. Rxe4
Bxe4 11. Qxe4 exd4 12. Qxd4 Be5 $5 13. Qc4 Qd1+ 14. Qf1 Qxf1+ 15. Kxf1 Rad8 16.
Nbd2 Rfe8 17. Nxe5 Rxe5 $16 {Simmelink,J-Van Wieringen,C/NED-ch28 corr9899
1998/Corr 2000 (1-0, 45). White certainly faces some problems completing his
development, but when this has been accomplished, he will retain good chances
for a win.}) 9. c3 Bd6 {I am not entirely sure whether weakening the d3-square
has improved Black's position that much, but according to Carlsen he was just
improvising, not being able to remember "theory".} 10. Qc2 {It looks logical
to make use of this square that has just become available.} ({However,} 10. Qd3
{does not look bad either.}) 10... Qd7 11. dxe5 Bc5 12. Rxe4 O-O-O $16 {
White has won material, "according to the plan", but he still faces some
problems completing his development and getting out of the pin. Besides,
Ivanchuk had spent a lot of time already.} 13. Nbd2 Qd5 14. Kf1 Rhe8 15. b3 {
According to Carlsen, this might be too slow.} (15. c4 $5 Qd7 16. Nb3 $16 {
[%cal Gc1f4]}) 15... g5 16. Bb2 g4 17. Nd4 Bxd4 $5 {Striving for counterplay.}
({Simplifying with} 17... Bxe4 {would have meant struggling for a draw after}
18. Qxe4 Qxe4 19. Nxe4 Rxe5 20. Nxc5 Rxc5 21. f3 $14) 18. cxd4 c5 19. Rae1 cxd4
20. Qc4 $6 {Offering Black undeserved counter-chances.} (20. Qd1 $16 Bxe4 21.
Rxe4 d3 22. Qxg4+ $16) 20... Bxe4 21. Rxe4 Rxe5 22. Rxg4 Rde8 23. Nf3 Qxc4+ 24.
bxc4 Re2 $132 {Things have become completely irrational now.} 25. Bxd4 Rxa2 26.
Rg7 a5 27. Rxf7 Rc2 28. g4 a4 29. g5 a3 30. Rxh7 a2 31. Rh8 Rxh8 32. Bxh8 Rxc4
33. h3 c5 34. Ne1 Rc1 35. g6 Kd7 36. Bb2 Ke6 37. h4 c4 38. h5 c3 39. Bxc1 a1=Q
40. Nd3 0-1

[Event "Morelia/Linares 25th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2008.02.29"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Shirov, Alexei"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2755"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "159"]
[EventDate "2008.02.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. a4 Rb8 8. c3
d6 9. d4 Bb6 10. Na3 O-O 11. axb5 axb5 12. Nxb5 Bg4 13. Bc2 Bxf3 14. gxf3 Nh5
15. f4 Nxf4 16. Bxf4 exf4 17. Qg4 Qf6 {Shirov bravely repeats the variation
that had led him to defeat against Leko, with the occasion of the recently
played Tal Memorial. Obviously, he had prepared an improvement, but Carlsen 
(who, according to himself, did not expect such a consequent attitude from his
opponent) came up with an over-the-board novelty first.} 18. Ra6 $5 {With so
many unstable black pieces along the 6th rank, this move is quite logical. In
concrete terms, the threat Nxc7 looks (or could become later) annoying.
Black's position in this whole line looks pretty difficult to play. His pieces
are strongly restricted by the enemy centre and there is no obvious pawn break
to be carried out. This explains why, like in the previous game, Shirov did
not manage to come out of the opening with a reasonable position, despite
being familiarized with its subtleties already.} (18. b4 {Leko,P (2755)-Shirov,
A (2739)/Moscow 2007/CBM 122/[Marin] (1-0, 31)}) 18... Ne7 $6 {The same move
he had played against Leko and I believe that the same evaluation applies here:
Black defines his knight's intentions too quickly, releasing the pressure
against the central e5- and d4-squares. Black could look for ways to slightly
improve his position.} ({For the sake of complete similarity, let us take the
same move that I recommended in my notes to the previous game.} 18... g6 $5 {
[%csl Gc2,Gg4][%cal Gh7h5] Restricting the enemy bishop and intending to do
the same with the queen, by means of a further ...h5.} 19. Nxc7 {This is the
critical line, which probably determined Shirov to retreat with his knight..} (
19. b4 h5 20. Qg2 $8 {[%csl Rb5,Rg1][%cal Gf6g5]} Nd8 {[%cal Gd8e6]} 21. d5 $6
c6 $15) (19. Kh1 Nd8 20. d5 Nb7 21. b4 Ra8 $132 {Here, the weakness of the
c3-pawn and Black's excellent control over the dark squares compensate for the
temporary passivity of his knight.}) (19. Na3 h5 20. Qf3 Nd8) 19... Bxc7 20.
Rxc6 Rxb2 21. Bd1 {[%csl Gc7] Theoretically, White has the better bishop, but
it is not easy to activate it. Besides, his rook is somewhat isolated on c6,
while the pressure exerted by the b2-rook could become unpleasant. Besides,
his king is a bit exposed. All these aspects leave the position uncertain.} (
21. Rxc7 Rxc2 $11 {The safer position of Black's king compensates for White's
more flexible structure. Besides, Black has no bad pieces here.}) 21... Bb8 (
21... Bb6 $2 22. e5 $16) 22. Bf3 (22. Kh1 Re8) (22. Be2 $2 {[%cal Ge2c4,Gc4d5]}
Rxe2 $1 23. Qxe2 Qg5+ 24. Kh1 f3 $3 25. Qxf3 Qb5 $19 {[%csl Rc6,Rf1] White's
far from obvious problems of coordination are revealed in this elegant line.})
(22. e5 Qe7 23. exd6 Bxd6 $13 {[%cal Gf8a8] White's pawns are not easy to
advance, but his king could get into danger.} 24. c4 Rd2 {[%csl Gd4]} 25. d5
Ra8 $15) 22... Re8 23. Ra1 h5 24. Qg2 Qh4 $132 {[%cal Ge8e7,Ge7b7]}) 19. Na3 {
[%csl Rb6][%cal Ga3c4]} c6 (19... Ra8 20. Rxa8 Rxa8 21. Nc4 $14) 20. Nc4 Bc7
21. Ra7 {Now, Black's pieces are hanging along the 7th rank already...} Rbc8
22. e5 $1 $16 {Forcing the enemy queen to occupy a passive position and
opening lines for the activation of his own pieces.} dxe5 23. dxe5 Qh6 (23...
Bxe5 $2 {is impossible because... Black had not found the time to play...g6:}
24. Qh5 $18 {[%csl Ge5,Gh7]}) 24. Rd1 Nd5 25. Be4 Rfd8 26. Rd3 {[%cal Gd3h3]}
g6 {More or less forced already, but look at Black's queen!} 27. Bxd5 ({
He could also have tried to increase his pressure slowly with} 27. Ra6 $5 $16)
27... cxd5 28. Rxd5 Rxd5 29. Qxc8+ Kg7 30. Qg4 $6 {Not really a bad move,
since White maintains excellent practical chances.} ({However, as the
following analysis provided by Frederic Friedel proves, White could have
captured the bishop and avoided perpetual check: "} 30. Rxc7 Qg5+ 31. Kf1 Rd1+
32. Ke2 Qg1 33. Rxf7+ $1 Kxf7 34. Nd6+ Kg7 35. Qd7+ Kh6 36. Nf7+ Kg7 37. Qxd1
f3+ 38. Kd2 Qxf2+ 39. Kc1 Qe3+ 40. Qd2 Qa7 {threatening ...f2, ...f1Q and
after Qxf1 Qa1+ with Qxf1+-} (40... Qg1+ 41. Kc2 f2 (41... Kxf7 42. Qd7+ Kg8
43. e6 Qxh2+ 44. Kb1 {and with his king finding safety White can use his
e-pawn to win.}) 42. Ng5 Qxg5 43. Qxg5 f1=Q 44. Qf6+ {wins for White}) (40...
f2 41. Qxe3 f1=Q+ 42. Kc2 Kxf7 {doesn't look at all appealing}) 41. Qg5 (41.
Qh6+ Kg8) 41... Qxf7 42. Kd2 Qa2 43. Qf6+ Kg8 44. Qd8+ Kg7 45. Qe7+ Kg8 46. Qb4
f2 47. Ke2 Qf7 48. Kf1 Qf3 {White has good chances to win."}) 30... Bxe5 31. h4
Bb8 32. Rb7 Rd8 33. Kg2 Kg8 34. Qg5 Qf8 35. Qf6 Re8 36. b4 Re6 37. Qd4 Qc8 38.
Rd7 Qc6+ 39. Qd5 Qxd5+ 40. Rxd5 Rc6 41. Nd2 f3+ 42. Nxf3 Kg7 43. Rd8 Bc7 44.
Rd7 Rxc3 45. Ng5 Kg8 46. Ne4 Rc4 47. Nf6+ Kf8 48. Nxh7+ Ke8 49. Nf6+ Kf8 50.
Nd5 Be5 51. b5 Rxh4 52. b6 Rd4 53. Kf3 Kg7 54. Ke3 Ra4 55. b7 Ra3+ 56. Ke4 Bh2
57. Nc7 Rb3 58. Ne6+ Kf6 59. Nd8 g5 60. Rxf7+ Kg6 61. Rd7 g4 62. Ne6 g3 63.
fxg3 Bxg3 64. Kd5 Rb1 65. Kc6 Rc1+ 66. Nc5 Bb8 67. Rd5 Ba7 68. Kd7 Bb8 69. Ne6
Kf6 70. Rc5 Rb1 71. Nd8 Bh2 72. Rc6+ Ke5 73. Rc1 Rb3 74. Rc2 Bf4 75. Kc6 Kf5
76. Rc5+ Kf6 77. Kd7 Rb1 78. Kc8 Bh2 79. Rc6+ Ke5 $4 {A terrible blunder in a
probably defensible position. The king had crossed this diagonal before, but
the b8-square was not controlled by the enemy king at that moment.} (79... Kf5
80. Ne6 $5 {[%cal Ge6c7]} Rg1 $1 {(Only this rook transfer keeps the game
going.)} 81. Nc7 Rg8+ 82. Kd7 Rg7+ 83. Kd8 Rg8+ 84. Ne8 Rh8) 80. b8=Q+ 1-0

[Event "Morelia/Linares 25th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2008.03.01"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2799"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2008.02.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 Bg5 12. Nc2 Ne7 13. a4 bxa4 14. Ncb4 O-O
15. Qxa4 Nxd5 16. Nxd5 Bd7 17. Qa2 a5 18. Bd3 Bc6 19. O-O Qb8 20. Bc4 Kh8 21.
b3 f5 22. exf5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Morelia/Linares 25th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2008.03.03"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Leko, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2753"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2008.02.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 Bg5 12. Nc2 Ne7 13. h4 Bh6 14. a4 bxa4
15. Ncb4 O-O 16. Qxa4 Nxd5 17. Nxd5 a5 18. Bb5 Be6 19. Bc6 Rb8 20. b4 Bxd5 21.
Bxd5 axb4 22. cxb4 Qb6 23. Rb1 Kh8 24. O-O f5 25. Qa5 fxe4 26. Qxb6 Rxb6 27.
Rb3 Rc8 28. Ra1 g6 29. Ra8 Rxa8 30. Bxa8 Bf8 31. b5 Be7 32. g3 Bd8 33. Bxe4 d5
34. Bxd5 Rd6 35. Bc6 Bb6 36. Rb2 Rd3 37. Kg2 Kg7 38. Be4 Ra3 39. g4 Bd4 40. Rc2
Rb3 41. Rc7+ Kh8 42. Rc8+ Kg7 43. Rc7+ Kh8 44. Rb7 Rb2 45. h5 Rxf2+ 46. Kg3 Rf4
47. h6 Rf8 48. Rc7 Bf2+ 49. Kg2 Be3 50. g5 Rb8 51. Rc3 Bd4 52. Rc6 Kg8 53. Bd5+
Kf8 54. Bc4 Ke7 55. Rc7+ Kd6 56. Rxh7 e4 57. Rg7 Kc5 58. Rc7+ Kd6 59. Rc6+ Ke5
60. Rxg6 Kf5 61. Rd6 Be3 62. h7 1-0

[Event "Morelia/Linares 25th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2008.03.04"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2780"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2008.02.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d3 $5 {This far from popular move has been a
lucky choice for White at the top level recently.} d5 ({The main idea behind
White's previous move is to answer} 4... Bb4 {with} 5. Bd2 {, preventing the
creation of double pawns as frequently happens after 4.g3 Bb4.}) 5. cxd5 Nxd5
6. e4 Nb6 (6... Nf6 {Morozevich,A (2758)-Grischuk,A (2726)/Mexico City MEX
2007/CBM 120/[Marin] (1-0, 42)}) 7. Be2 Be7 8. O-O (8. Be3 {was played in
Spraggett,K (2575)-Lautier,J (2450)/Correze 1989/EXT 97 (0-1, 39) as mentioned
in my notes to the previous game.}) 8... O-O 9. a4 {...a5 is a typical idea in
the Bolseslavsky Sicilian, so why not play a4 here?} Be6 $5 ({Topalov does not
wish to weaken his b5-square. Instead, he ignores the threat of a5, hoping
that the weakness of the b4- and b3-squares will offer him good counterplay.} 
9... a5 {was investigated in the comments to the Morozevich-Grischuk game.})
10. Be3 $146 {technically speaking, this is a novelty, although transpositions
are possible here.} (10. a5 Nd7 11. d4 exd4 12. Nxd4 Nxd4 13. Qxd4 {Now, 13...
c6 is likely to transpose, but Black carelessly allowed the activation of the
enemy queen with} Bf6 $6 14. Qb4 b6 15. Be3 Be7 16. Qb5 $14 {Topel,Z (2085)
-Vasilieva,M (2124)/Chisinau 2005/CBM 106 ext (1-0, 45)}) 10... Nd7 11. d4 {
With reversed colours, this would have been an entirely satisfactory decision,
equalizing completely. Will White's extra tempo offer any chances for an
advantage here? The further course of the game suggests an affirmative answer.}
({However,} 11. a5 {should also be mentioned, when the structure is likely to
suffer radical modifications, leading to very complicated play which is hard
to evaluate.} Nc5 (11... f5 $6 12. exf5 Rxf5 {Ameri,H-Kichinski,R/Livermore
1989/(0-1, 30)} 13. a6 (13. Nd2 $14) 13... b6 14. Nd2 $14 {[%cal Ge2g4] The
dream position of any Sicilian Najdorf player.}) (11... Bc5 $6 12. a6 b6 13.
Qa4 Nb4 14. d4 exd4 15. Nxd4 $14) 12. b4 $5 Nxb4 (12... Nb3 13. Rb1 Nbd4 14. b5
Nxf3+ 15. Bxf3 Nd4 16. Bg4 $14 {Despite the black knight's centralisation,
White's stability on the light squares is likely to tell in the long term.})
13. Nxe5 f6 (13... Nb3 14. Rb1 Nxa5 15. d4 $44 {[%csl Ra5,Rb4,Gd4,Ge4]}) 14.
Rb1 fxe5 15. Rxb4 $13 {The structure is highly assymetrical and the position
remains strategically unbalanced.}) 11... exd4 12. Nxd4 Nxd4 13. Qxd4 c6 14. a5
Nc5 15. Qe5 {Having a strong kingside majority, White rightly avoids the
exchange of queens, retaining chances for an attack.} Nb3 16. Ra4 Bd6 17. Qh5
g6 18. Qh6 {Clouds start gathering around the black king. The strong e5
followed by Rh4 is very strong.} Be5 {[%cal Ge5g7] AIming to expel the enemy
queen as soon as possible from its attacking position.} (18... Nxa5 $2 19. e5
$1 Be7 (19... Bxe5 20. Rh4 $18) 20. Ne4 f6 21. exf6 Bxf6 22. Nxf6+ Rxf6 23. Bg5
$18) (18... Qe7 {parries the threat, but does not relieve the pressure.} 19. h4
(19. e5 Bxe5 20. Rh4 f5) 19... Be5 20. h5 Bg7 21. Qf4 $36) 19. Bg5 $6 {In
combination with the next move, this is hard to understand.} (19. h4 Bg7 20.
Qf4 Qb8 {Now, after having provoked the weakening of Black's kingside, White
can exchange queens already, maintaining the initiative.} 21. Qxb8 Raxb8 22. f4
$36 {[%cal Gh4h5,Gf4f5]}) 19... Qc7 20. Be3 $6 (20. Qh4 $5 {[%cal Gg5f6]})
20... Nxa5 {The logical punishment for the loss of two tempi.} 21. f4 Bg7 22.
Qh4 Bb3 (22... b5 $5 23. Rxa5 (23. Rd4 Nc4) 23... Qxa5 24. f5 Bb3 25. f6 Bh8 {
Black has a huge material advantage, but his bishop is captive on h8. However,
it is not clear how he would generate an effective attack.} 26. Qg5 (26. e5 b4
27. Ne4 Qxe5) (26. Rf3 b4 27. Rh3 h5 28. Bxh5 Qxh5 29. Qf4 Qxh3 30. gxh3 bxc3
31. bxc3 a5 $19) 26... Rad8 27. h4 Qc7 28. h5 Rfe8 {and there seems to be no
danger for Black.}) 23. Rd4 $5 {An interesting psychological trick. Knowing
Topalov's habit of sacrificing the exchange himself, Carlsen probably relied
on the fact that his opponent would not capture on d4. After other moves,
White would just be a pawn down.} Rad8 $6 {After this ultra-cautious move,
White will obtain adequate compensation for his minimal material disadvantage,
in view of the fact that two of Black's minorpieces are far from the kingside.}
(23... Bxd4 $5 24. Bxd4 f5 $1 {It is essential to deprive the bishop of the
stable outpost on f6, although opening the position looks a bit dangerous.} (
24... Qd6 25. Bf6 Rfd8 26. Rf3 $40) 25. exf5 Qd8 $1 26. Qf2 Rxf5 27. Bg4 Rf7 $6
{and it is not easy to continue the attack, for instance} 28. Ne4 Rxf4 $1 29.
Nf6+ Qxf6 $1) 24. e5 $1 $44 Rxd4 25. Bxd4 c5 26. Be3 f6 {Black questions
White's advantage in space at once, but this will lead to an additional
weakening of his kingside.} 27. Nb5 Qd8 28. f5 $5 (28. Bxc5 fxe5 $1) (28. e6 $5
Qe7 (28... Bxe6 29. Bxc5 f5 30. Qf2 Rf7 31. Bxa7 $11 Bxb2 $6 32. Bb6 Qd2 33.
Rd1 Qb4 34. Rb1 $36) 29. f5 gxf5 30. Rf3 $44) 28... fxe5 29. Bg5 {Finally,
this bishop has found an useful job in this game.} Qb6 30. f6 c4+ 31. Kh1 Qxb5
32. fxg7 Rxf1+ 33. Bxf1 {[%csl Rg8][%cal Gg5h6,Gh4e7]} Kxg7 {The safest
continuation, eliminating the dangerous pawn.} (33... Qd5 34. Bh6 Nc6 $8 35.
Be2 Qf7 36. h3 $44 {This looks a bit dangerous for Black, despite his two
extra pawns. In fact, the threat of Bg4 practically forces Black to return one
of the pawns with} c3 37. bxc3 {in order to open the communication between his
own bishop and the kingside, but then White would not risk anything, being
just a pawn down.}) 34. Bd8 Nc6 $4 {An incredible blunder in a position where
it is hard to believe that White should have anything better than a draw by
perpetual.} (34... Qd5 35. Qe7+ Kg8 (35... Kh6 $2 36. Qf8+ Kh5 37. Be2+) 36.
Qe8+ $11) (34... Kg8 35. Qe7 Qd5 $8 $11) 35. Qf6+ Kg8 36. Qe6+ Kf8 37. Bg5 1-0

[Event "Morelia/Linares 25th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2008.03.06"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E17"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2008.02.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. Nc3 O-O 7. Qc2 c5 8. d5
exd5 9. cxd5 Bxd5 $146 {[%mdl 8]} (9... Nxd5 $6 {Compared to the popular line 
(see Radjabov-Leko and Aronian-Anand in this issue), Black has a kind of an
"extra tempo" (his bishop has come to b7 in one go) but that tempo has a
negative value!} 10. Qe4 $1 (10. Ng5 $143 Bxg5 11. Nxd5 Bxd5 12. Bxd5 Nc6 13.
a3 Bxc1 14. Rxc1 Qe7 15. e3 Qe5 16. Rd1 Rad8 17. O-O Ne7 18. e4 Nc6 19. f4 Nd4
20. Qc4 Qe7 $17 {0-1 Tomovic,V-Pirc,V/Zagreb 1949/EXT 2000 (48)}) 10... Nb4 (
10... Nxc3 11. Qxb7 {- had White already castled, Black would have taken on e2
with check!}) (10... f5 11. Qc4 b5 12. Qb3 c4 13. Qxb5 $16 {Knaak}) 11. Qxb7
N8c6 12. Bf4 Nc2+ 13. Kd2 Nxa1 14. Rxa1 Bf6 15. Rd1 Bxc3+ 16. bxc3 Qf6 17. Bh3
d5 18. Bg5 Qg6 19. Ke1 $16 {1-0 Gajewski,G-Hernandez Carmenates,H/Calvia 2006/
EXT 2007 (32)}) (9... Na6 $5 {but in the following game Black failed to
equalize:} 10. Nh4 d6 11. Nf5 Re8 12. O-O Bf8 13. a3 Bc8 14. Rb1 Nc7 15. b4 $14
Bxf5 16. Qxf5 g6 17. Qc2 Nd7 18. Bf4 $14 {1-0 Tregubov,P-Hernandez Carmenates,
H/Merida MEX 2007/The Week in Chess 685 (60)}) 10. Nxd5 Nxd5 11. Nh4 (11. O-O
$5 {[%cal Yf1d1]}) 11... Nb4 12. Qd2 N8c6 13. Nf5 Nd4 $1 {[%mdl 512] This
exchange sacrifice solves Black's problems. Although he gets doubled pawn with
it, his pieces occupy strong squares in the centre.} 14. Nxd4 cxd4 15. Bxa8
Qxa8 16. O-O Qe4 17. a3 (17. f3 Qg6) 17... Nc2 18. Ra2 Rc8 {[%csl Gc2]} 19. b3
Rc3 20. Bb2 Rc6 21. Rd1 Bf6 22. Qd3 (22. Rc1 $145 $1 {(Aronian according to
Schach 4/2008)}) 22... d5 {[%csl Ge4]} 23. Qf3 (23. Bc1 Rc3 24. Qb5 d3 $1 25.
exd3 Qe6 $44 {[%cal Yc2d4]}) 23... h6 24. h4 g5 25. hxg5 hxg5 26. b4 Kg7 27.
Qd3 b5 28. Bc1 (28. Bc1 Rc3 $1 29. Qxe4 (29. Qxb5 d3 $1 30. Rxc2 (30. exd3 Qf3
31. Rf1 Rc8 $19) 30... dxc2 31. Rxd5 a6 $1 32. Rxg5+ $8 Bxg5 33. Qxg5+ Qg6 $15)
29... dxe4 $44) 1/2-1/2

[Event "Morelia/Linares 25th"]
[Site "Morelia/Linares"]
[Date "2008.03.07"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C63"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2735"]
[PlyCount "138"]
[EventDate "2008.02.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.04.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 4. d3 fxe4 5. dxe4 Nf6 6. O-O Bc5 7. Qd3 d6 8.
Qc4 Qe7 9. Nc3 Bd7 10. Nd5 Nxd5 11. exd5 Nd4 12. Nxd4 Bxd4 13. Bxd7+ Qxd7 14.
a4 a6 15. Be3 Bxe3 16. fxe3 O-O-O 17. Rf2 Rdf8 18. Raf1 Qe7 19. Qe4 g6 20. Rf3
Kb8 21. b3 Rxf3 22. Qxf3 Qg5 23. h3 Rc8 24. Kh2 Qh4 25. c4 a5 26. e4 Qh6 27.
Qf2 b6 28. g3 Kb7 29. Kg2 Ra8 30. h4 g5 31. Qe3 Rg8 32. Rf5 Qh5 33. hxg5 Qd1
34. Rf7 Qh5 35. Qf3 Qxg5 36. Rxh7 Qf4 37. Rh5 Rg7 38. Qd3 Qc1 39. Qf3 Qf4 40.
Qxf4 exf4 41. Rh3 fxg3 42. Rxg3 Rh7 43. Kf3 Rf7+ 44. Ke3 Rf1 45. Kd4 Rd1+ 46.
Rd3 Re1 47. Re3 Rd1+ 48. Kc3 Rc1+ 49. Kd2 Rb1 50. e5 dxe5 51. Kc2 Rh1 52. Rxe5
Rh3 53. Re2 Kc8 54. Rd2 Kd7 55. Rd3 Rh2+ 56. Kc3 Rh1 57. Rg3 Rd1 58. Rg7+ Kd6
59. Rg6+ Kd7 60. Rc6 Rc1+ 61. Kb2 Rd1 62. Kc2 Rd4 63. b4 axb4 64. Kb3 Rd1 65.
Kxb4 Rb1+ 66. Kc3 Ra1 67. Kb3 Rb1+ 68. Ka2 Rb4 69. Ka3 Rb1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 17th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2008.03.15"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C80"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2751"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2008.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. Be3 Qd7 10. c3 Nc5 11. Bc2 Bg4 12. Nbd2 Ne6 13. h3 Bh5 14. a4 Rb8 15.
axb5 axb5 16. Bf5 Be7 17. Nb3 O-O 18. Nbd4 Ncxd4 19. cxd4 Bg6 20. Bg4 Ra8 21.
Qd2 h6 22. Nh2 c6 23. Rfc1 Rfc8 24. Rxa8 Rxa8 25. f4 h5 26. Be2 Ra2 27. g4 Be4
28. f5 Nf8 29. Rf1 Ba3 30. Qe1 Rxb2 31. gxh5 Bb4 32. Qf2 Qxf5 33. Qg3 Rb1 34.
Ng4 Rxf1+ 35. Bxf1 Kh7 36. h6 Ng6 37. hxg7 Kxg7 38. Be2 Be7 39. Nh6 Qd7 40. Qf2
Bh4 41. Qf1 b4 42. Bg4 Qe7 43. Nf5+ Bxf5 44. Qxf5 b3 45. Qh5 Qb4 46. Qh6+ Kg8
47. e6 Qe1+ 48. Kg2 Qg3+ 49. Kf1 b2 50. exf7+ Kxf7 51. Qh7+ Kf6 52. Qb7 Qxe3
53. Qxc6+ Kg5 0-1

[Event "Amber-blindfold 17th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2008.03.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E36"]
[WhiteElo "2681"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[EventDate "2008.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 c5 7. dxc5 d4 8.
Qg3 Nc6 9. b4 e5 10. e4 O-O 11. Bd3 b6 12. Nf3 bxc5 13. b5 Nh5 14. Qg5 Qxg5 15.
Bxg5 Na5 16. Rb1 f6 17. Bd2 Nb7 18. h3 g5 19. Ke2 Nd6 20. g4 Ng7 21. a4 Bb7 22.
h4 Nxe4 23. hxg5 Nc3+ 24. Bxc3 e4 25. Bxe4 Bxe4 26. Bd2 Rae8 0-1

[Event "Amber-blindfold 17th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2008.03.17"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2732"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2008.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Bg5
Be6 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. Qd3 Nc6 11. O-O-O Nd4 12. Nxd4 exd4 13. Nd5 Bxd5 14. exd5
O-O 15. Qf3 Be5 16. Bd3 Qf6 17. Qxf6 Bxf6 18. Rhe1 Rfe8 19. Rxe8+ Rxe8 20. f4
g6 21. b4 Kf8 22. Kb2 Ke7 23. Kb3 Rc8 24. g4 Bh4 25. Rf1 Kd7 26. Rf3 Rh8 27.
Rh3 Bf6 28. g5 Bg7 29. Rf3 f5 30. h4 h5 31. Rf1 Re8 32. b5 Kc7 33. bxa6 bxa6
34. Ka4 Re3 35. Ka5 Rh3 36. Kxa6 Rxh4 37. Re1 Kd8 38. Bb5 d3 39. Kb7 Be5 40.
fxe5 Re4 41. Rc1 d2 42. Rd1 Rxe5 43. Rxd2 f4 44. a4 1-0

[Event "Amber-blindfold 17th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2008.03.18"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E06"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[PlyCount "210"]
[EventDate "2008.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. Qc2 c5 7. dxc5 Qa5+ 8.
Nbd2 Nc6 9. a3 dxc4 10. Qxc4 Qxc5 11. O-O Qh5 12. h3 Bd7 13. g4 Qd5 14. g5 Qxc4
15. Nxc4 Nd5 16. e4 Nb6 17. Nxb6 axb6 18. Rd1 Rfd8 19. Be3 Bc5 20. Bf4 Be8 21.
Rxd8 Rxd8 22. b4 Be7 23. Rc1 Rd3 24. b5 Bxa3 25. Ra1 Na7 26. Be3 Nxb5 27. Bf1
Rc3 28. Nd4 Nxd4 29. Bxd4 Rb3 30. Bc4 Rb4 31. Rxa3 Rxc4 32. Ra8 Kf8 33. Bxb6 f6
34. gxf6 gxf6 35. Rb8 Rxe4 36. Rxb7 Bf7 37. f3 Re2 38. Bd4 Kg7 39. Rb2 Re1+ 40.
Kf2 Rd1 41. Be3 Kg6 42. Rb4 h5 43. h4 Ra1 44. Rb6 Ra2+ 45. Kg3 Ra3 46. Bc1 Rd3
47. Ra6 Kf5 48. Ra3 Rd5 49. Be3 e5 50. Rc3 Rd1 51. Rc1 Rd3 52. Kf2 Bd5 53. Rc8
Ra3 54. Rh8 Kg6 55. Rd8 Be6 56. Rd6 Kf7 57. Rd8 Bc4 58. Rd2 Ke6 59. Rc2 Bd5 60.
Re2 Ra1 61. Rb2 Rh1 62. Kg3 Rf1 63. Bf2 Ra1 64. Rb6+ Kf5 65. Be3 Ra2 66. Rb4
Ra3 67. Kf2 Ra2+ 68. Kg3 Rc2 69. Rb6 Bc6 70. Rb1 Re2 71. Bf2 Ke6 72. Re1 Rc2
73. Be3 Bd5 74. Bg1 f5 75. f4 Be4 76. Be3 Rg2+ 77. Kh3 Rg4 78. fxe5 Kxe5 79.
Rg1 f4 80. Bf2 Bf5 81. Re1+ Kd5 82. Kh2 Rg6 83. Rg1 Bg4 84. Re1 Ra6 85. Kg2 Ra2
86. Re8 Bf5 87. Rd8+ Ke6 88. Re8+ Kf7 89. Re1 Kf6 90. Kg1 Bd3 91. Bd4+ Kf5 92.
Re5+ Kg4 93. Rg5+ Kf3 94. Rxh5 Rg2+ 95. Kh1 Be4 96. Rg5 Rd2 97. Bc5 Ke2+ 98.
Kh2 Rc2 99. h5 Rc1 100. Bg1 f3 101. Re5 Kd3 102. Bf2 Rc8 103. Kg3 Rg8+ 104. Kf4
Rf8+ 105. Kg5 Rg8+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 17th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2008.03.20"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B81"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2737"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2008.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e6 7. g4 b5 8. Bg2
Bb7 9. O-O h6 10. Re1 e5 11. Nf5 g6 12. Ne3 Nbd7 13. a4 b4 14. Ncd5 Nxd5 15.
Nxd5 a5 16. c3 bxc3 17. bxc3 Be7 18. Rb1 Bc6 19. Bf1 h5 20. Bb5 Bxb5 21. Rxb5
hxg4 22. hxg4 Bh4 23. Qf3 Nf6 24. Rb7 Qc8 25. g5 Nxd5 26. Qxf7+ Kd8 27. exd5
Qg4+ 28. Kf1 Qh3+ 29. Ke2 Qg4+ 30. Kd3 Qf5+ 31. Qxf5 gxf5 32. Rh1 Kc8 33. Rf7
1-0

[Event "Amber-blindfold 17th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2008.03.21"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2780"]
[PlyCount "129"]
[EventDate "2008.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Bb5 e6 6. O-O Bd6 7. c4 Nge7 8.
Nc3 O-O 9. Re1 f6 10. h3 a6 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Bxc6 bxc6 13. Na4 g5 14. Nc5 Ng6
15. Qa4 Qb6 16. Bd2 Bf5 17. Rac1 h5 18. Re3 g4 19. Rb3 Qc7 20. hxg4 hxg4 21.
Ne1 Qh7 22. Rg3 Rac8 23. Qxa6 Rf7 24. Ned3 Qh4 25. Re3 Qh2+ 26. Kf1 Bxc5 27.
Rxc5 Bxd3+ 28. Rxd3 Re8 29. Be3 Nf4 30. Ke1 Nxg2+ 31. Kd1 Qg1+ 32. Kc2 Ne1+ 33.
Kd2 Nf3+ 34. Kc2 Qf1 35. Ra3 Qxa6 36. Rxa6 g3 37. fxg3 Rxe3 38. Rcxc6 Nxd4+ 39.
Kd2 Rfe7 40. Rxf6 Nf3+ 41. Kd1 d4 42. Rg6+ Kf8 43. Rgf6+ Rf7 44. Rg6 Rc7 45.
Rae6 Re7 46. Ref6+ Ke8 47. Ra6 Rc7 48. Rae6+ Re7 49. Ra6 Rd3+ 50. Kc2 Ne1+ 51.
Kc1 Rc7+ 52. Rac6 Rxc6+ 53. Rxc6 Nf3 54. Re6+ Kd7 55. Re2 Re3 56. Kd1 Rxe2 57.
Kxe2 Ne5 58. a4 Kc6 59. a5 Ng4 60. a6 Ne5 61. b4 Kb6 62. b5 Ka7 63. g4 Nxg4 64.
Kd3 Ne5+ 65. Kxd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 17th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2008.03.22"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2799"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2008.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 c6 6. Be2 Nd7 7. Nf3 N7f6 8.
O-O Bf5 9. Nh4 Bg6 10. c4 Nb6 11. Nc3 e6 12. g3 Be7 13. Be3 Qc7 14. Nxg6 hxg6
15. Qb3 Rd8 16. Rfd1 O-O 17. Rac1 e5 18. d5 Nbd7 19. Bf3 Bc5 20. Bxc5 Nxc5 21.
Qa3 b6 22. b4 e4 23. Be2 Nb7 24. Qxa7 Ra8 25. d6 Rxa7 26. dxc7 Rc8 27. c5 bxc5
28. b5 cxb5 29. Nxb5 Rxa2 30. Bf1 g5 31. Ra1 Rxa1 32. Rxa1 Nd8 33. cxd8=Q+ Rxd8
34. Nc3 e3 35. f3 g4 36. f4 g5 37. fxg5 Nh7 38. Ne4 Re8 39. Bg2 Kg7 40. Kf1 e2+
41. Ke1 Re5 42. Rc1 Nxg5 43. Rxc5 Rxc5 44. Nxc5 f5 45. Kxe2 Kf6 46. Ke3 Nf7 47.
Nd3 1-0

[Event "Amber-blindfold 17th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2008.03.23"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B46"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2760"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2008.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. e5 Qc7 8.
Bf4 Rb8 9. Bd3 Rxb2 10. O-O Ne7 11. Ne4 Ng6 12. Nd6+ Bxd6 13. exd6 Qb8 14. Bxg6
hxg6 15. Be5 Rb5 16. Bxg7 Rh7 17. c4 Rbh5 18. g4 Rxh2 19. Be5 Rh1+ 20. Kg2 Rxf1
21. Qxf1 c5 22. Qd3 f5 23. Rb1 Bb7+ 24. f3 Kf7 25. Qb3 Bxf3+ 26. Kxf3 Rh3+ 27.
Bg3 Rxg3+ 28. Kxg3 Qxd6+ 29. Kf3 Qd4 30. gxf5 gxf5 31. Rd1 Qe4+ 32. Kf2 Ke7 33.
Qe3 Qh4+ 34. Qg3 Qh6 1-0

[Event "Amber-blindfold 17th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2008.03.25"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E17"]
[WhiteElo "2799"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2008.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. Nc3 Ne4 7. Bd2 f5 8. d5
Bf6 9. Qc2 Qe7 10. Rd1 Na6 11. O-O Nb4 12. Qb3 a5 13. Be3 a4 14. Nxa4 exd5 15.
Nd4 dxc4 16. Qxc4 Bxd4 17. Bxd4 Nc6 18. Bxb6 cxb6 19. Nxb6 Rd8 20. Nd5 Ne5 21.
Qb5 Bxd5 22. Rxd5 Nf7 23. Rfd1 Nf6 24. R5d2 g6 25. a4 O-O 26. a5 Rb8 27. Bb7
Nd8 28. Bd5+ Ne6 29. Qc4 Rfc8 30. Qa2 Nxd5 31. Rxd5 Rc7 32. a6 Ra7 33. Rd6 Kf8
34. Qa4 Ke8 35. b4 Ng5 36. Qa1 Nf7 37. Qd4 Qxd6 38. Qe3+ Qe6 39. Qxa7 Rxb4 40.
Qa8+ Ke7 41. a7 Ra4 42. Qb7 Qc6 43. Qb8 d6 44. Rb1 1-0

[Event "Amber-blindfold 17th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2008.03.26"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Leko, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2753"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2008.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a3
Bc5 9. c3 d6 10. h3 Bb6 11. d3 h6 12. Nbd2 Ne7 13. Nf1 Ng6 14. Ng3 Bb7 15. Nf5
Bc8 16. d4 Be6 17. dxe5 Bxb3 18. Qxb3 dxe5 19. Qc2 Re8 20. c4 bxc4 21. Qxc4 Qd7
22. Be3 Qe6 23. Qxe6 Rxe6 24. g3 Rb8 25. Bd2 Nf8 26. Bc3 N8d7 27. Re2 Rbe8 28.
Nd2 Nc5 29. Kg2 Na4 30. Rc1 Rc6 31. Ne3 Nxc3 32. Rxc3 Rxc3 33. bxc3 Ba5 34. Nd1
Rd8 35. Nc4 Rxd1 36. Nxa5 Rd3 37. Nc4 Rxc3 38. Nxe5 Rxa3 39. f3 Ra5 40. Nc6 Rc5
41. Nd4 a5 42. Ra2 Rc4 43. Nf5 a4 44. Ne3 Rc3 45. Kf2 a3 46. Nc2 Nd7 47. Nxa3
Ne5 48. f4 Nd3+ 49. Kg2 Nb4 50. Rb2 c5 51. Nb5 Rd3 52. e5 g5 53. fxg5 hxg5 54.
Nd6 Re3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 17th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2008.03.27"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[PlyCount "165"]
[EventDate "2008.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Be3 Qf6 6. c3 Nge7 7. Nc2 Bb6 8.
Bxb6 axb6 9. Ne3 O-O 10. Bd3 Ne5 11. O-O Qf4 12. g3 Qh6 13. f4 d5 14. exd5 Bh3
15. Re1 Nxd3 16. Qxd3 Rad8 17. c4 b5 18. Nc3 bxc4 19. Qxc4 Qb6 20. Qb3 Qa7 21.
Qa3 Qxa3 22. bxa3 c6 23. dxc6 Nxc6 24. Red1 h5 25. Kf2 g6 26. Ne4 Rxd1 27. Rxd1
Ra8 28. Rd3 Be6 29. Nc5 Bxa2 30. Nxb7 Rb8 31. Rd2 Rxb7 32. Rxa2 Rb3 33. a4 Nb4
34. Ra1 Nd3+ 35. Ke2 Nc5 36. a5 Rb2+ 37. Ke1 Rxh2 38. Ra3 h4 39. gxh4 Rxh4 40.
Nd5 Na6 41. Ke2 Kg7 42. Kd3 Rh3+ 43. Ne3 Rh4 44. Ke4 Rh1 45. Kd5 Rc1 46. Kd4
Nc7 47. Ra4 Nb5+ 48. Kd3 Rc3+ 49. Kd2 Rc6 50. a6 Na7 51. Kd3 Rd6+ 52. Kc4 Rc6+
53. Kd5 Rf6 54. Ng4 Rb6 55. Ne5 Rf6 56. Nd7 Re6 57. Nc5 Rf6 58. Re4 Nb5 59. Re7
Rf5+ 60. Kc6 Nd4+ 61. Kb6 Rf6+ 62. Kb7 Nb5 63. Rd7 Kh6 64. Nd3 Nd6+ 65. Kb8 Nb5
66. Kb7 Nd6+ 67. Rxd6 Rxd6 68. Ne5 Rxa6 69. Kxa6 Kh5 70. Kb5 f5 71. Nxg6 Kxg6
72. Kc5 Kf6 73. Kd6 Kf7 74. Ke5 Ke7 75. Kxf5 Kf7 76. Ke5 Ke7 77. f5 Kf7 78. f6
Kf8 79. Kf5 Kf7 80. Kg5 Kf8 81. Kg6 Kg8 82. f7+ Kf8 83. Kf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-rapid 17th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2008.03.15"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2751"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2008.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c3 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. d4 cxd4 6. cxd4 d6 7. Bc4 Nc6 8. O-O
Be7 9. Bd2 O-O 10. Nc3 dxe5 11. dxe5 Nxc3 12. Bxc3 b6 13. Qe2 Bb7 14. Bd3 Bb4
15. Bxh7+ Kxh7 16. Qe4+ Kg8 17. Bxb4 Nxb4 18. Qxb7 Qd5 19. Qxd5 Nxd5 20. Rfd1
Rac8 21. Rd2 Rc4 22. g3 Rfc8 23. Kg2 Kh7 24. h4 b5 25. Re1 Kg6 26. Ng5 Rc2 27.
Ree2 Rxd2 28. Rxd2 b4 29. Kf3 a5 30. Ne4 a4 31. g4 Kh7 32. Nd6 Rc7 33. Rd4 Kg8
34. Rc4 Rxc4 35. Nxc4 a3 36. Nxa3 bxa3 37. bxa3 Kf8 38. h5 Ne7 39. a4 Nc6 40.
Ke4 g5 41. hxg6 fxg6 42. Kf4 Kf7 43. Kg5 Nxe5 44. a5 Nc6 45. a6 e5 46. f3 Kg7
47. f4 exf4 48. Kxf4 Kf6 49. a3 g5+ 50. Ke4 Ke6 51. Kd3 Kd5 52. Kc3 Kd6 53. Kc4
Na7 54. Kd4 Nb5+ 55. Ke4 Ke6 56. a4 Nc3+ 57. Kd4 Nxa4 58. a7 Nb6 59. Kc5 Na8
60. Kc6 Ke5 61. Kb7 Kd6 62. Kxa8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-rapid 17th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2008.03.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D43"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2681"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2008.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. d4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5
9. Be2 Bb7 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Ne5 Bg7 12. b3 cxb3 13. axb3 O-O 14. Nxd7 Qxd7 15.
e5 Nd5 16. Ne4 Qe7 17. Qc1 a5 18. Rd1 b4 19. Bh5 Rfd8 20. Nd6 f5 21. exf6 Bxf6
22. Nf7 Nc3 23. Re1 Bxd4 24. Nxh6+ Kf8 25. Nf5 Qc5 26. Nxd4 Rxd4 27. Be5 Rf4
28. Bxf4 gxf4 29. Qxf4+ Qf5 30. Qh6+ 1-0

[Event "Amber-rapid 17th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2008.03.17"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2732"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2008.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 c6 6. Be2 Nd7 7. Nf3 N7f6 8.
O-O Bg4 9. h3 Bxf3 10. Bxf3 e6 11. c4 Nb6 12. b3 Be7 13. Bb2 O-O 14. Nd2 a5 15.
a3 Qc7 16. Qe2 Rfe8 17. g3 Rad8 18. Bg2 Nbd7 19. Nf3 Qb6 20. Qc2 Nf8 21. Ne5
Ng6 22. Nd3 h5 23. Rad1 Qc7 24. f4 Bd6 25. Ne5 Ne7 26. c5 Bxe5 27. fxe5 Nfd5
28. Qe2 Nf5 29. Rd3 h4 30. gxh4 b6 31. Be4 bxc5 32. dxc5 Qe7 33. Bxf5 exf5 34.
Rxf5 Qxh4 35. Bc1 Qh7 36. Rdf3 Nc3 37. Qc4 Rd1+ 38. Kh2 Qg6 39. Rg5 Qc2+ 40.
Rg2 1-0

[Event "Amber-rapid 17th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2008.03.18"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2739"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2008.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Bd7 10. b3 Be7 11. Bb2 Kc8 12. Rad1 h6 13. g4 Nh4 14. Nxh4
Bxh4 15. h3 h5 16. f3 Be7 17. Ne4 Be6 18. Ng3 g6 19. Ne2 a5 20. Nf4 a4 21. Nxe6
fxe6 22. Kg2 b5 23. f4 hxg4 24. hxg4 axb3 25. axb3 Rh4 26. Kg3 Ra2 27. Rb1 Kb7
28. Rf2 Rh8 29. Rh2 Rxh2 30. Kxh2 c5 31. Kg3 Kc6 32. c4 bxc4 33. bxc4 Ra4 34.
Rc1 Rb4 35. Rc2 Rb3+ 36. Bc3 Rb1 37. Bd2 Rg1+ 38. Kf3 Bh4 39. g5 Rg3+ 40. Ke4
Rg2 41. Kd3 Bg3 42. Rc3 Bf2 43. Ra3 0-1

[Event "Amber-rapid 17th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2008.03.20"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E17"]
[WhiteElo "2737"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2008.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. Nc3 O-O 7. Qc2 Na6 8. e4
d5 9. cxd5 Nb4 10. Qb1 Ba6 11. Bf1 Bxf1 12. Kxf1 exd5 13. e5 Ne4 14. Nxe4 dxe4
15. Qxe4 f5 16. exf6 Bxf6 17. Bf4 Qd7 18. Kg2 Rae8 19. Be5 c5 20. Rad1 c4 21.
Rd2 Nxa2 22. h4 Nb4 23. Ng5 g6 24. Re2 Nd3 25. Nf3 b5 26. Ra1 Nb4 27. Nh2 a6
28. Ng4 Bg7 29. Ne3 Nd3 30. f4 Nb4 31. Kh2 Qf7 32. Qg2 Rd8 33. Qe4 Rfe8 34. Qg2
Rd7 35. Nc2 Nxc2 36. Rxc2 Qe6 37. Re2 Qb6 38. Bxg7 Rxe2 39. Qxe2 Kxg7 40. Qe5+
Qf6 41. Rxa6 Qxe5 42. dxe5 Rd2+ 43. Kh3 h5 44. Ra7+ Kf8 45. Ra8+ Kf7 46. Ra7+
Kf8 47. Ra8+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-rapid 17th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2008.03.21"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E06"]
[WhiteElo "2780"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[PlyCount "138"]
[EventDate "2008.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Bb4+ 4. Nd2 d5 5. Bg2 O-O 6. Qc2 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8.
Ngf3 Nc6 9. O-O d4 10. Nb3 Be7 11. Rd1 e5 12. e3 Bg4 13. exd4 e4 14. Ng5 Bxd1
15. Qxd1 a5 16. a4 Re8 17. Nxe4 Nxe4 18. Bxe4 Bf6 19. Bd5 Rc8 20. Bd2 Bxd4 21.
Nxd4 Nxd4 22. Bxa5 Qxa5 23. Qxd4 Re1+ 24. Rxe1 Qxe1+ 25. Kg2 Qb4 26. Bxf7+ Kh8
27. Bd5 Qxa4 28. Qg4 Rf8 29. Bxb7 Qb4 30. Bf3 Qxb2 31. c5 Qc3 32. c6 g6 33. h4
Qf6 34. h5 gxh5 35. Qxh5 Rf7 36. Qg4 Rf8 37. Qe4 Rf7 38. Qe3 Kg7 39. Be4 Qe5
40. Qe2 Rc7 41. Qg4+ Kf8 42. Qh4 Qd6 43. Qh5 Qf6 44. Qd5 Kg7 45. g4 h6 46. Kg3
Qc3+ 47. Kg2 Qf6 48. Bf3 Rf7 49. Qd3 Qf4 50. Qc3+ Kh7 51. Qd3+ Kg7 52. Qe2 Qf6
53. Bd5 Re7 54. Qc4 Qe5 55. Qd3 Qf6 56. Qg3 Qd4 57. Bf3 Qc5 58. Qb8 Qc3 59. Bd5
Qc5 60. Qg8+ Kf6 61. Qh8+ Kg6 62. Bf3 Qe5 63. Qg8+ Rg7 64. Qh8 Re7 65. Qf8 Rc7
66. Qd8 Qe7 67. Qg8+ Kf6 68. Qd5 Kg7 69. Be4 Qf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-rapid 17th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2008.03.22"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A20"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2799"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2008.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 c6 3. d4 e4 4. d5 Nf6 5. Bg2 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Qe7 7. Nc3 O-O 8. a3
Bc5 9. e3 d6 10. Nge2 cxd5 11. Nxd5 Nxd5 12. cxd5 Nd7 13. O-O Nf6 14. Bc3 Bg4
15. Bxf6 Qxf6 16. b4 Bb6 17. Bxe4 a5 18. bxa5 Rxa5 19. Bxh7+ Kxh7 20. Qb1+ g6
21. Qxb6 Rfa8 22. Qd4 Qf3 23. Nc3 Re8 24. h3 Bf5 25. Qf6 Kg8 26. Rab1 Rxe3 27.
Rxb7 Bc8 28. Qd8+ Kg7 29. Qxc8 Rxc3 30. Rxf7+ Kxf7 31. Qd7+ Kf6 32. Qd8+ Kf5
33. Qxa5 Rxa3 34. Qb4 Ke5 35. Qd2 Rd3 36. Qg5+ Qf5 37. Re1+ Kxd5 38. Qxf5+ gxf5
39. Kg2 Ra3 40. h4 Kd4 41. h5 d5 42. h6 Ra7 43. Kf3 Rh7 44. Re6 Kc3 45. Rc6+
Kd3 46. Kf4 Rf7 47. Kg5 Ke2 48. Rd6 1-0

[Event "Amber-rapid 17th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2008.03.23"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2760"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2008.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. a3 Bb7 5. Nc3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. e3 g6 8. Bb5+
c6 9. Bd3 Bg7 10. Na4 Nd7 11. e4 Ne7 12. O-O O-O 13. Qe2 c5 14. dxc5 Nxc5 15.
Nxc5 bxc5 16. Bg5 h6 17. Bh4 g5 18. Bg3 Ng6 19. Rfd1 g4 20. Nd2 Qg5 21. Rac1
Rfd8 22. Nc4 Ba6 23. b3 h5 24. Ne5 Bxe5 25. Bxa6 h4 26. Bxe5 Nxe5 27. Kf1 Qf4
28. Rxd8+ Rxd8 29. Qe3 Qxh2 30. Qg5+ Kh7 31. Qxd8 Qh1+ 32. Ke2 Qxc1 33. Qxh4+
Kg7 34. Qg3 Qc2+ 35. Ke1 Qxe4+ 36. Be2 Qb1+ 37. Kd2 Qb2+ 38. Kd1 Qd4+ 39. Kc2
f5 40. a4 a5 41. Qh4 Ng6 42. Qg3 Kf6 43. Bd3 e5 44. f3 Qe3 0-1

[Event "Amber-rapid 17th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2008.03.25"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2799"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[EventDate "2008.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nc4 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. bxc3 g6 7. d4 Bg7 8.
Bd3 O-O 9. O-O Nd7 10. Qf3 Nb6 11. Ne3 c5 12. dxc5 dxc5 13. a4 Bd7 14. a5 Na4
15. Qxb7 Nxc3 16. Bd2 Be6 17. Bxc3 Bxc3 18. Ra4 Qd7 19. Qxd7 Bxd7 20. Ra3 Bb4
21. Raa1 Bc6 22. a6 Rad8 23. Rfc1 Bc3 24. Rab1 Rfe8 25. Bb5 Re6 26. Bc4 Re4 27.
Rd1 Rxd1+ 28. Rxd1 Bd4 29. Bd5 Bxd5 30. Nxd5 Re2 31. c3 Bxf2+ 32. Kf1 Ra2 33.
Rb1 Bh4 34. g3 Bg5 35. h4 Bd2 36. Nf6+ Kg7 37. Ne4 Bh6 38. Rb7 Rxa6 39. Nxc5
Rc6 40. Ne4 Re6 41. Nc5 Re5 42. Nd7 Re3 43. Rxa7 Rxg3 44. Ne5 Kf6 45. Nxf7 Be3
46. Rb7 h5 47. Ke2 Bf4 48. c4 Re3+ 49. Kf1 Rc3 50. Nh8 Rxc4 51. Rb6+ Kf5 52.
Nxg6 Bg3 53. Kg2 Kg4 54. Rb2 Re4 55. Ra2 Bd6 56. Ra5 Re2+ 57. Kf1 Re6 58. Rg5+
Kf3 59. Rf5+ Kg4 60. Rg5+ Kh3 61. Kf2 Rf6+ 62. Ke2 Bg3 63. Ke3 Re6+ 64. Kf3
Rf6+ 65. Ke3 Re6+ 66. Kf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-rapid 17th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2008.03.26"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Leko, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B42"]
[WhiteElo "2753"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2008.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Ne7 6. O-O Nbc6 7. Nb3 Ng6 8.
Nc3 b5 9. Be3 Be7 10. f4 O-O 11. Qh5 d6 12. Rf3 e5 13. f5 Nf4 14. Bxf4 exf4 15.
Rxf4 Ne5 16. Nd5 Bg5 17. Rff1 g6 18. Qh3 Bb7 19. Kh1 Rc8 20. a4 Bxd5 21. exd5
Qb6 22. axb5 axb5 23. Rae1 b4 24. Qg3 Bf6 25. Nd2 Nxd3 26. cxd3 Bxb2 27. Nc4
Qd4 28. Nxb2 Qxb2 29. Qxd6 b3 30. Qe7 Qd4 31. d6 b2 32. Rb1 Qxd3 33. d7 Rc2 34.
h3 Qd5 35. Rg1 Rd2 36. f6 h5 37. Qb4 Rd3 38. Kh2 Qe5+ 39. Kh1 Qd5 40. Kh2 Qe5+
41. Kh1 Rxd7 42. Qxb2 Qg5 43. Rgd1 Rxd1+ 44. Rxd1 Re8 45. Rf1 Qe3 46. Qc2 Qe5
1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-rapid 17th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2008.03.27"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2008.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 123 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Ne5 g6 6. Bb5+ Nbd7 7. O-O Bg7 8.
Nf3 O-O 9. Nc3 Nb8 10. h3 a6 11. Bd3 Nc6 12. a3 Bf5 13. Bxf5 gxf5 14. Ne2 e6
15. Bg5 Qb6 16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17. Rb1 Kh8 18. c3 Rg8 19. Nf4 Qc7 20. Qd2 Be7 21.
Kh1 Bd6 22. Nh5 b5 23. Rg1 Qe7 24. Rbe1 Rac8 25. Re2 Na5 26. Nf4 Nc4 27. Qc1
Qc7 28. Nd3 a5 29. Qe1 Rg7 30. Nfe5 Rcg8 31. f4 Be7 32. g4 Nd6 33. Reg2 fxg4
34. hxg4 f6 35. Nf3 Ne4 36. Qh4 Qc4 37. Nde1 b4 38. axb4 axb4 39. cxb4 Qxb4 40.
g5 fxg5 41. fxg5 Bxg5 42. Nxg5 Rxg5 43. Rxg5 Rxg5 44. Rxg5 Nxg5 45. Qxg5 Qxe1+
46. Kg2 Qe4+ 47. Kg3 Qd3+ 48. Kg2 Qxd4 49. Qd8+ Kg7 50. Qe7+ Kg6 51. Qxe6+ Kg5
52. Qe7+ Kf4 53. Qh4+ Ke3 54. Qe1+ Kd3 55. Qd1+ Ke4 56. Qg4+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Baku FIDE GP"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2008.04.21"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wang, Yue"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C48"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2689"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2008.04.21"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Nc3 d6 6. Na4 Bb6 7. O-O Bd7 8. c3
Ne7 9. Nxb6 axb6 10. Bxd7+ Qxd7 11. Bg5 Ng6 12. Bxf6 gxf6 13. Nd2 f5 14. Nc4 f4
15. Qh5 O-O 16. d4 Rae8 17. Rfe1 f5 18. dxe5 b5 19. Nd2 Nxe5 20. Qh3 fxe4 21.
Qxd7 Nxd7 22. Nxe4 d5 23. Rad1 Re5 24. Nd2 Rfe8 25. Nf3 Rxe1+ 26. Nxe1 Nc5 27.
Kf1 c6 28. Nd3 Nxd3 29. Rxd3 Re5 30. Rd4 Rh5 31. Rxf4 Rxh2 32. Kg1 Rh6 33. f3
Re6 34. Kf2 Kg7 35. Rh4 h6 36. a3 Rd6 37. g3 Rd8 38. Rh1 d4 39. cxd4 Rxd4 40.
Ke3 Rd7 41. Rh4 c5 42. Rh2 Re7+ 43. Kf4 Rd7 44. g4 b4 45. axb4 Rd4+ 46. Ke5
Rxb4 47. Rd2 c4 48. f4 Rb3 49. f5 Rd3 50. Re2 b5 51. Ke6 c3 52. bxc3 Rxc3 53.
Rb2 Rc6+ 54. Kd5 Rc4 55. Rxb5 Rxg4 56. Ke5 Ra4 57. Rb7+ Kf8 58. Rb8+ Kf7 59.
Rb7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Baku FIDE GP"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2008.04.22"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C80"]
[WhiteElo "2746"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2008.04.21"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. Be3 Bc5 10. Qd3 O-O 11. Nc3 Nb4 12. Qe2 Nxc3 13. bxc3 Bxe3 14. Qxe3 Nc6
15. a4 Qe7 16. Rfd1 Rfd8 17. h3 h6 18. Nd4 Nxd4 19. cxd4 c5 20. dxc5 Rac8 21.
axb5 axb5 22. Rd4 Rxc5 23. Rad1 Rdc8 24. Bxd5 Rxc2 25. Bxe6 Qxe6 26. Rd8+ Kh7
27. Rxc8 Qxc8 28. Qd3+ g6 29. Qxb5 Qc5 30. Qxc5 Rxc5 31. Re1 g5 32. e6 fxe6 33.
Rxe6 Rc2 34. f3 Ra2 35. Kh2 Kg7 36. Re4 Kg6 37. h4 Ra6 38. Kh3 Kh5 39. Rc4 Rb6
40. Rc5 Kg6 41. Rc4 Kh5 42. Rc8 Kg6 43. Rc4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Baku FIDE GP"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2008.04.23"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Inarkiev, Ernesto"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2684"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2008.04.21"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bg5 Bg7 4. Nbd2 O-O 5. c3 h6 6. Bh4 d6 7. e4 c5 8. dxc5
dxc5 9. Bc4 Nc6 10. O-O Nh5 11. Qe2 Qc7 12. Rfe1 Na5 13. Bb5 a6 14. Ba4 b5 15.
Bc2 e5 16. Nf1 Nf4 17. Qd1 Nc4 18. Qb1 Bg4 19. Bd1 g5 20. Bg3 Rad8 21. h3 Bh5
22. Bxf4 exf4 23. Be2 Bxf3 24. Bxf3 Nd2 25. Nxd2 Rxd2 26. e5 Bxe5 27. Qf5 f6
28. Rad1 Rfd8 29. Qe6+ Kg7 30. Qxa6 b4 31. Rxd2 Rxd2 32. Rd1 bxc3 33. bxc3
Rxd1+ 34. Bxd1 c4 35. Be2 Bxc3 36. Bxc4 Be5 37. Qe6 Qd8 38. Qf7+ Kh8 39. f3 Bd6
40. a4 Bb4 41. Kh2 Qf8 42. Qg6 Be1 43. Bd3 f5 44. a5 Bg3+ 45. Kh1 Qg7 46. Qe8+
Qg8 47. Qe5+ Qg7 48. Qb8+ Qg8 49. Qb6 Qd5 50. Qxh6+ Kg8 51. Qxg5+ Kf7 52. Qxf5+
Qxf5 53. Bxf5 Bf2 54. g4 fxg3 55. f4 Kf6 56. Be4 Be3 57. a6 1-0

[Event "Baku FIDE GP"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2008.04.24"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E17"]
[WhiteElo "2752"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2008.04.21"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Re1 Na6 8. Ne5
Bxg2 9. Kxg2 c6 {This move is apparently too slow.} (9... Qc8) 10. e4 ({
Here is an example of Black taking the initiative:} 10. Nc3 Qc8 11. Bg5 h6 12.
Bxf6 Bxf6 13. Ne4 Be7 14. Qb3 d6 15. Nd3 Nc7 16. Nc3 b5 17. c5 $6 dxc5 18. Nxc5
e5 19. e3 exd4 20. exd4 Bxc5 21. dxc5 Qf5 22. Ne4 Ne6 23. Qc3 Rad8 $15 {
0-1 Molnar,P-Maiorov,N/Kharkov 2007/CBM 117 ext (63)}) 10... Qc7 11. Nc3 Qb7
12. Nd3 (12. Nf3 b5 13. c5 Ne8 14. Bf4 b4 15. Na4 f5 16. Nd2 fxe4 17. Nxe4 Nac7
18. Be5 Nd5 19. Rc1 Nef6 20. f3 Qc8 21. Nd6 Qa6 22. b3 Bxd6 23. Bxd6 Rf7 24.
Qe2 Qa5 25. Qd2 Ne8 26. Be5 Nec7 27. a3 Nb5 28. axb4 Qxb4 29. Qxb4 Nxb4 30. Re3
Nd5 31. Rd3 Raf8 32. Nb2 Nb4 {1/2-1/2 Brodsky,M-Chernyshov,K/Dagomys RUS 2008/
The Week in Chess 702}) (12. Qf3 Rad8 13. Bf4 d5 14. exd5 cxd5 15. Bg5 h6 16.
Bxf6 Bxf6 17. cxd5 exd5 18. Rad1 Nc7 19. Ng4 Rd6 20. Qf5 Rfd8 21. Rd3 $14 {
1/2-1/2 Greenfeld,A-Rozentalis,E/Panormo 2001/CBM 084 ext (45)}) 12... d5 13.
e5 Nd7 14. cxd5 cxd5 15. h4 Nb4 16. Bg5 {A typical manoeuvre - the exchange of
bishops in order to open up the h-file. Of course, Black avoids that.} Nxd3 17.
Qxd3 Bb4 18. Rec1 a6 19. Ne2 Rfc8 20. h5 h6 21. a3 Bf8 22. Bd2 Rxc1 23. Rxc1
Rc8 24. Rf1 {[%cal Yf2f4,Yf4f5]} b5 25. f4 Qc6 26. Rc1 Qb7 27. Rf1 Qc6 28. Qf3
Qb6 {Start of a wrong plan.} (28... Nb6 $142 29. f5 exf5 30. Qxf5 Qe6 31. Qf3
$14) 29. f5 exf5 30. Bc3 {[%cal Rf3d5]} a5 $2 {Overlooking a tactical blow.} (
30... Qc6 31. g4 $16) 31. Bxa5 $1 {[%mdl 64]} (31. Qxd5 {was not bad either.})
31... Qxa5 32. Qxf5 Qd2 (32... Qd8 33. Qxf7+ Kh7 34. Nf4 $18) 33. Qxf7+ Kh8 34.
Rf2 Rd8 35. Qxd5 {[%cal Re5e6,Re2f4]} Qa5 36. Nf4 Qa8 37. Ng6+ (37. Ng6+ Kh7
38. Qxa8 Rxa8 39. Rf7 $18) 1-0

[Event "Baku FIDE GP"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2008.04.25"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B19"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2726"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2008.04.21"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nf3 Nd7 8. h5
Bh7 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 e6 11. Bf4 Qa5+ 12. Bd2 Bb4 13. c3 Be7 14. c4 Qc7 15.
O-O-O Ngf6 16. Kb1 O-O 17. Ne4 Rad8 18. Nxf6+ Nxf6 19. g4 Nxg4 20. Rhg1 f5 21.
Qe2 Bf6 22. Qxe6+ Kh8 23. Bb4 Rf7 24. Rd2 Qd7 25. Re1 Qxe6 26. Rxe6 Rfd7 27.
Ba5 b6 28. Bc3 Rd6 29. Rxd6 Rxd6 30. Re2 Kg8 31. Kc2 Kf7 32. Ne5+ Nxe5 33. dxe5
Re6 34. f4 Be7 35. Rh2 g6 36. hxg6+ Rxg6 37. Kd2 Bf8 38. Bd4 Rg4 39. Be3 Kg6
40. Ke2 h5 41. Kf3 Be7 42. Bf2 h4 43. Rh1 Kf7 44. Rg1 h3 45. Rh1 Bh4 46. Bxh4
Rxh4 47. Kg3 Rg4+ 48. Kf3 Rh4 49. Kg3 Rg4+ 50. Kf3 Rh4 51. Kg3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Baku FIDE GP"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2008.04.27"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gashimov, Vugar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A31"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2679"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2008.04.21"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. g3 d6 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. Nc3 g6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Bd7 8.
Nxc6 Bxc6 9. e4 Bg7 10. O-O O-O 11. Bg5 h6 12. Be3 Qa5 13. a3 Rfc8 14. b4 Qd8
15. Rc1 b6 16. Qe2 e6 17. Rfd1 Qe7 18. Nb5 Bxb5 19. cxb5 Rxc1 20. Rxc1 Rd8 21.
Rc6 Kh7 22. h3 Ne8 23. Bd2 Bd4 24. a4 e5 25. h4 Nf6 26. Bf3 Qe6 27. Kg2 Rd7 28.
Qc4 Qxc4 29. Rxc4 Kg7 30. Bc1 h5 31. Bg5 Nh7 32. Bd2 Nf6 33. Rc6 Ng4 34. Be1
Nf6 35. a5 d5 36. exd5 Nxd5 37. Bd2 Ne7 38. Bg5 Nxc6 39. bxc6 Rc7 40. Bd8 Rc8
41. c7 e4 42. Bxe4 Be5 43. Bb7 Rxc7 44. Bxc7 Bxc7 45. a6 b5 46. Bc6 Bd6 47.
Bxb5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Baku FIDE GP"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2008.04.28"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B78"]
[WhiteElo "2751"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2008.04.21"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2
O-O 9. Bc4 {The first major crossroads, when White has two main alternatives -
the text-move and} (9. O-O-O {Here the most principled reaction is} d5 {
, the position after} 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bd4 {also arose in Baku:}
Nxc3 $5 (12... e5 {is the most usual move, but this seems to be a plausible
alternative.}) 13. Qxc3 Bh6+ 14. Be3 Bxe3+ 15. Qxe3 Qb6 {, po} 16. Qxb6 ({
The Q swap is too soft, White can try to fight for an advantage only with} 16.
Qc3 {, or}) (16. Qxe7 {, but even here it's far from simple:} Be6 17. Qa3 Rad8
18. Bd3 Rd5 $44 {<=>}) 16... axb6 17. a3 Be6 18. Bd3 Kg7 19. Rhe1 Rfd8 20. Be4
Rxd1+ 21. Rxd1 Rc8 22. a4 f5 23. Bd3 Ra8 24. b3 Kf6 25. Kd2 Bd5 26. c4 Bf7 27.
Kc3 c5 28. Bc2 Be8 29. Ra1 Ke5 30. Re1+ Kd6 31. Rd1+ Kc7 32. Re1 $11 {Bacrot,E
(2705)-Grischuk,A (2716)/Baku/2008/}) 9... Bd7 10. Bb3 ({Radjabov's move
avoids the Chinese Dragon with} 10. O-O-O Rb8 $5 {, which has gained some
popularity lately.} (10... Rc8) ({or} 10... Ne5 {is the main line.})) (10. h4 {
was once considered the most accurate move-order. White first opens the <->h
and plays 0-0-0 only later, when it suits him. However, once} h5 {became the
main response, this nuance lost its meaning - it all boils down to a simple
transposition.}) 10... Rc8 ({White's move order allows} 10... Nxd4 11. Bxd4 b5
12. h4 (12. a4 $5) 12... a5 13. a4 bxa4 14. Nxa4 e5 $132 ({or} 14... Be6 $5 {
with sharp positions. However, the character of the struggle is somewhat
different and White often strives to exploit the <<><. As the Dragon's main
characteristic is opposite-side castling and mutual attacks against the enemy
K, the text-move is more popular.})) 11. h4 ({Another theoretically important
moment.} 11. O-O-O Ne5 ({In the side-line} 11... Nxd4 12. Bxd4 b5 13. Nd5 Nxd5
14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. exd5 {Black's best chance to generate sufficient <=> is the
pawn-sacrifice} a5 16. a3 b4 $1 17. axb4 axb4 18. Qxb4 Kg8 $13) 12. Kb1 {
is an approach, which has caused Black problems. Recently he has shown some
ideas how to solve them:} {Another less committal, but plausible alternative
was chosen by Carlsen 2 rounds later:} Re8 $5 ({The most consistent is} 12...
Nc4 13. Bxc4 Rxc4 14. g4 b5 15. b3 {with the interesting sacrificial idea} b4
$1 (15... Rc5 $2 16. Ne6 fxe6 17. Bxc5 dxc5 18. e5 $16) (15... Rc8 16. Ndxb5
Qa5 17. a4 $14 {/+/-}) 16. bxc4 bxc3 17. Qxc3 Qc7 18. g5 Nh5 19. Kc1 (19. Rd3
Rc8 20. Qd2 Qxc4 21. Nb3 {Haznedaroglu,K (2440)-Sluka,R (2354)/Olomouc/2007/}
Bc3 $44) 19... Rc8 20. Qd3 Be5 21. h4 Rb8 $5 $44 (21... Nf4 22. Bxf4 Bxf4+ 23.
Kb2 Be5 24. c3 Qa5 25. Rb1 Qa4 26. Ka1 a5 27. Rb3 $16 {Socko,B (2630)-Stocek,J
(2572)/Bundesliga/2006/})) 13. h4 (13. Bh6 Bxh6 14. Qxh6 Rxc3 15. bxc3 a5 $1
$36 {and White does best to bail out with} 16. a4 Qb6 17. h4 Bxa4 18. h5 Nc6
19. hxg6 Bxb3 20. gxh7+ Kh8 21. cxb3 Nxd4 22. cxd4 Qxb3+ 23. Ka1 {1/2,
Karjakin,S (2686)-Ivanchuk,V (2729)/Foros/2007/}) 13... h5 14. Bh6 Nc4 15. Bxc4
Rxc4 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Nd5 (17. g4 hxg4 18. h5 Rh8 19. hxg6 fxg6 20. f4 e5 21.
Nde2 Rxh1 22. Rxh1 Nxe4 23. Nxe4 Rxe4 24. fxe5 {looks dangerous, but after}
Rxe5 $13 ({or} 24... Qe8 $5 {White doesn't seem to have any clear road to an
advantage.})) 17... e5 $5 {Once the dark-squared B have been exchanged, Black
can afford even this Najdorf move.} 18. Nxf6 Qxf6 19. Nb3 $1 (19. Ne2 Rc6 {
is harmless, as Black's major pieces are harmoniously placed.} 20. Nc3 Be6 21.
Nd5 Bxd5 22. Qxd5 Qf4 $1 23. Qd2 Qxd2 24. Rxd2 f5 25. Re1 Kf6 26. c3 Ke6 27.
Kc2 fxe4 28. Rxe4 Rec8 29. Kd3 b5 30. a4 a6 $11 {Karjakin,S (2732)-Carlsen,M 
(2765)/Baku/2008/}) 19... Re6 (19... Rc6 $2 20. Na5 $16) (19... Be6 20. Qxd6
Rec8 21. c3 b5 $14 {is a better way to sacrifice a pawn, but even here Black
hardly has full compensation.}) 20. Qa5 (20. Qe3 $142 b6 21. Nc1 $5 $11 {
[%csl Re6][%cal Yc1e2,Ye2c3] /+/=,/\Ne2-c3,צe6 is a better chance to profit
from the misplaced R and fight for an edge.}) 20... Ra4 21. Qc3 Qd8 22. Rd2 Qb6
23. Nc1 Bb5 24. b3 Ra6 25. Rhd1 Qd8 26. g3 Rc6 27. Qe3 Qb6 28. Qxb6 Rxb6 29.
Ka1 f5 $11 {Ponomariov,R (2684)-Tiviakov,S (2599)/FIDE WCh Moscow/2001/}) 11...
h5 12. O-O-O Ne5 13. Bg5 (13. Kb1 Re8 {-11.0-0-0}) (13. Bh6 Nc4 (13... Bxh6
$143 14. Qxh6 Rxc3 {[%csl Rg6] doesn't have a good reputation, contrary to
Karjakin-Ivanchuk above, Black has problems with ><g6, for example in the line}
15. bxc3 Qc7 16. Kb1 a5 17. f4 Nfg4 18. Qg5 a4 19. fxe5 axb3 20. cxb3 Nf2 21.
e6 $1 $16 {/+-}) 14. Bxc4 Rxc4 15. Bxg7 Kxg7 $13 {leads to a similar position,
as in the above note - there we had the extra moves Kb1 and Re8. The main
difference is that after} 16. g4 hxg4 17. h5 Rh8 18. hxg6 fxg6 19. f4 e5 20.
Nde2 (20. fxe5 dxe5 21. Nde2 Rh3 $1 22. Rhf1 Rf3 23. Rh1 Rh3 $11) 20... Rxh1
21. Rxh1 Nxe4 22. Nxe4 Rxe4 23. fxe5 {Black can play even} Rxe2 $1 24. Qxe2 (
24. Qh6+ Kf7 25. Qh7+ Ke6 26. Qxg6+ Kxe5 27. Rh5+ Kf4 28. Qxd6+ Kf3 29. Qd5+
Kf4 30. Qd6+ Kf3 $11) 24... Qg5+ $13 {/=}) 13... Rc5 {[%csl Gc5]} ({Introduced
by Sosonko in 1977, the R on the 5-th rank helps out both in the defence and
the <=>. This quickly became the main line, replacing} 13... Nc4 14. Qe2 Na5
15. Kb1 $36) 14. Kb1 $5 {Useful prophylaxis, Black has learned to deal quite
well with the direct assault} (14. g4 hxg4 15. h5 (15. f4 Nc4 16. Qe2 (16. Qd3
Qc8 $13 (16... b5 $5)) 16... Qc8 17. Bxf6 (17. f5 $6 Nxb2 18. Kxb2 Rxc3 19.
fxg6 Rxb3+ 20. axb3 fxg6 $36 {can be better only for Black.}) 17... Bxf6 18.
Bxc4 (18. Nd5 $6 Rxd5 19. exd5 b5 20. h5 g5 21. fxg5 Bxg5+ 22. Kb1 f5 $17 {
Ivanchuk,V (2740)-Topalov,V (2670)/Belgrade/1995/}) 18... Rxc4 19. Nd5 Re8 20.
e5 Bg7 21. h5 Rc5 $1 $15 {Murariu,A (2347)-Sebe_Vodislav,R (2253)/ROM-chT/2003/
}) 15... Nxh5 16. Nd5 Re8 17. Rxh5 (17. f4 Nc4 18. Qd3 b5 19. f5 Rxd5 20. exd5
Bxd4 21. fxg6 Bxb2+ 22. Kb1 Ng7 $5 $15 23. Bxc4 bxc4 24. Qe4 fxg6 (24... Bf6 $2
25. Rh8+ $1 Kxh8 26. Qh1+ $18) 25. Kxb2 Qb6+ 26. Ka1 Bf5 27. Qxc4 Rc8 $36 {
Brkic,A (2570)-Babic,Z (2034)/Bizovac/2007/}) 17... gxh5 18. Qh2 Rxd5 19. Bxd5
Qb6 $1 20. Qxh5 e6 21. Bb3 gxf3 22. Bh6 Bxh6+ 23. Qxh6 f2 $1 $13 {/\} 24. Qf6
Bc6 25. Nf5 (25. Rh1 $2 f1=Q+ $19) 25... exf5 26. Qg5+ Kf8 27. Qh6+ Kg8 $11)
14... Re8 $1 {Even Black does better to think about the defence first, the
text-move overprotects e7.} ({After} 14... b5 15. g4 hxg4 $6 (15... a5 $142)
16. h5 Nxh5 17. Nd5 Re8 18. Rxh5 gxh5 19. Qh2 Rxd5 20. Bxd5 Qb6 {[%csl Rb5]
Black's Q is limited by the Pb5 and White has} 21. Nf5 $1 $40 {Hakki,I (2428)
-Abu Sufian,S (2276) Asia-ch Calcutta 2001 (7) 1-0}) 15. g4 $6 {Radjabov
confessed after the game he got confused and mixed up the sharp lines. However,
proving an advantage for White is not easy anyway:} (15. Rhe1 Qa5 16. f4 (16.
a3 Qa6 $1 (16... b5 $6 17. Bxf6 $1 exf6 18. Nde2 Rc6 19. Nd5 Qxd2 20. Rxd2 Nc4
21. Bxc4 bxc4 22. Red1 f5 23. exf5 Bxf5 24. Nd4 $14 {[%csl Rc4,Rd6] /+/-,_|_ק,
Anand,V (2725)-Kasparov,G (2795)/PCA WCh New York/1995/}) 17. f4 Nc4 $15) 16...
Nc4 17. Bxc4 Rxc4 18. Bxf6 (18. Nb3 Qa6 19. e5 Ng4 20. exd6 Bxc3 $1 21. bxc3 e6
$44 {|^} 22. f5 gxf5 23. Bf6 f4 24. Be5 Qb5 25. Bxf4 Rec8 26. g3 Rxc3 27. Qe2
Qc6 28. Rd2 e5 $1 $19 {Brooke,R (2187)-Horwitz,D (2241)/corr/2002/}) 18... Bxf6
19. Nd5 Qxd2 20. Nxf6+ exf6 21. Rxd2 f5 $11) ({A better chance is} 15. Bh6 $142
$5 Nc4 (15... Bh8 $6 16. g4 Qa5 17. g5 Nh7 18. f4 Nc4 19. Qd3 Na3+ 20. Kc1 e6 {
Almasi,Z (2631)-Golubev,M (2536)/Bundesliga/2003/} 21. f5 $5 $40) 16. Bxc4 Rxc4
17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. Nd5 $11 {/+/= and we have again reached the position we had
in the note to move 11 with one extra move (White played Bg5-h6 and Black
Rc5xc4).}) 15... hxg4 16. h5 {White again plays the most aggressive move.} (16.
f4 Nc4 17. Qe2 $5 (17. Bxc4 Rxc4 18. Bxf6 Bxf6 19. e5 dxe5 20. fxe5 Bxe5 21.
Nde2 Bxc3 $5 (21... Bd6 22. h5 g5 $15) 22. Nxc3 Rxc3 23. Qxc3 Qc8 $15) {
Black can try to deviate earier with} 17... Na5 $5 (17... Qc8 18. f5 Na3+ (
18... gxf5 $6 19. exf5 Ne5 20. Bxf6 exf6 21. Ne4 Nf3 {Slaby,J (2363)-Mikrut,D 
(2369)/Poraj/2003/} 22. Bxf7+ $1 Kxf7 23. Nxd6+ Kf8 24. Qg2 $16) 19. bxa3 Rxc3
20. fxg6 Rxb3+ 21. axb3 fxg6 22. Qd3 Nh5 23. Rhf1 Be5 24. Ne2 g3 25. Nf4 Nxf4 (
25... Bg4 $2 26. Nxg6 Bxd1 27. Qxd1 g2 28. Rg1 Bg7 29. Qxh5 Qc3 30. e5 dxe5 31.
Bh6 Bxh6 32. Rxg2 {1-0, Motylev,A (2666)-Carlsson,P (2514)/EU-ch Plovdiv/2008/}
) 26. Bxf4 g2 27. Rf2 Rf8 $44) 18. e5 $6 Nxb3 19. Nxb3 Rxc3 20. bxc3 Nh5 21.
Rxd6 Qc8 22. Rxd7 Qxd7 23. Rd1 Qc8 24. Qd3 {Vadla,Z (2240)-Kutuzovic,B (2420)/
Zadar/1997/} Kh7 $1 {[%cal Rf7f6] /\f6-/+}) 16... Nxh5 17. Rxh5 {White burns
his boats.} (17. f4 $142 Nc4 (17... Nc6 $5 18. e5 Qc8 $13 {Rogozenko}) 18. Qd3
b5 19. f5 Qb6 $13 (19... Qc8 $5) {/=/+,/\} 20. Nd5 $6 Rxd5 21. exd5 Qxd4 22.
Qxd4 Bxd4 23. Rxd4 Bxf5 $36) (17. Bh6 e6 $1 $15 {leads nowhere for White.}) (
17. Nd5 Rxd5 $1 (17... Nc4 $5 $15) 18. Bxd5 Qb6 $36 {is excellent for Black
according to Golubev. Here we again see how postponing b5 helps to activate
the Qd8.}) 17... gxh5 18. Qh2 Ng6 {A rather modest move, but it's not the only
one.} ({After} 18... Nxf3 {there is no immediate refutation in sight, but
Black is the one, who risks more:} 19. Nxf3 gxf3 20. Qxh5 e6 21. Nd5 f6 $5 (
21... Qa5 22. Bh6 $1 Rxd5 $8 23. exd5 Bxh6 24. Qxh6 f2 25. c3 Qb5 26. Bc2 {
gives White at least a draw without any risk.}) 22. Bh6 (22. Be3 f2 $5 $13 (
22... Rxd5 23. exd5 e5 {Mainka,R (2450)-Komljenovic,D (2440)/Bad Mergentheim/
1988/} 24. Rg1 $36) (22... Rb5 23. Bh6 (23. Rg1 exd5 24. Rxg7+ Kxg7 25. Bh6+
Kh8 26. Bf4+ Kg7 $11) 23... Re7 24. Rh1 Qe8 25. Nxe7+ Qxe7 26. Qg6 $44)) 22...
Re7 $8 $13) ({Radajbov mentioned the enterprising alternative} 18... Qb6 $5 19.
Qxh5 e6 $15) (18... Qa5 $5 $15 {is also interesting.}) 19. Qxh5 Qa5 $5 $146 {
[%mdl 8]} (19... Rxg5 20. Qxg5 e6 21. Qxg4 Qf6 22. Nce2 $13 (22. Qg3 Qe5 23.
Qxe5 Bxe5 24. Nce2 Kg7 25. Rg1 Kf6 26. c3 Rh8 $36 {Glimbrant,T (2270)-Pavlovic,
M (2495)/Barbera del Valles/1994/})) ({Carlsen's novelty is a safer choice,
than} 19... e6 20. Nf5 $1 Qa5 $1 21. Rxd6 (21. Rh1 Rxf5 22. exf5 Qxf5 23. fxg4
Qe5 $15) 21... Bc6 $13) 20. f4 $1 (20. Qxg6 $2 e6 $19) (20. Nd5 Rxd5 (20... e6
21. Rh1 exd5 22. Qh7+ Kf8 23. Bh6 Bxh6 24. Qxh6+ Ke7 25. Qg5+ f6 $5 (25... Kf8
26. Qh6+ $11) 26. Qxg6 dxe4 $15) 21. Bxd5 e6 22. Qxg4 Ne5 23. Qg3 exd5 24. Bf6
Ng6 25. Bxg7 Kxg7 26. Nf5+ Kf6 $5 27. Rxd5 Qxd5 28. exd5 Bxf5 $15) 20... Rxg5 (
20... Rxc3 21. bxc3 Qxc3 22. Bxf7+ (22. f5 Ne5 {[%cal Rc3h3] /\Qh3} 23. Rh1
Qxd4 24. Qh7+ Kf8 25. Bh6 Ng6 $8 26. Bxg7+ Qxg7 27. fxg6 Rc8 28. Bxf7 Qxh7 29.
Rxh7 e6 30. Rh4 Kg7 31. Rxg4 Rc4 $15) 22... Kxf7 23. f5 $11 {gives White at
least a draw.}) 21. fxg5 e6 22. Nf5 $2 {[%mdl 64] White goes for an ambitious
tactical line, which favours his opponent.} (22. Qxg4 $142 $11 {/=/+ is
perhaps slightly more pleasant for Black, but nothing more than that.}) 22...
exf5 23. Qxg6 Be6 24. Qh5 (24. Bxe6 Rxe6 25. Qxf5 Bxc3 $1 26. bxc3 Qxf5 27.
exf5 Re4 $17 (27... Re5 28. Rg1 Rxf5 29. Rxg4 Kg7 $15)) 24... fxe4 25. Rf1 (25.
Nd5 e3 $1 26. g6 Kf8 27. gxf7 Bxf7 (27... Re7 28. Qg5 Bxd5 29. Rf1 $1 Qd8 $8
30. Qxd5 e2 31. Re1 $13) 28. Rf1 Qe1+ $1 29. Rxe1 Bxh5 30. Rf1+ Bf7 31. Nxe3
Rxe3 32. Rxf7+ Ke8 $17 {[%csl Gg4] o^g4, Carlsen}) 25... Qe5 $1 (25... Bxb3 26.
axb3 Re7 27. Qxg4 $15 {/<=>}) 26. Rxf7 Bxb3 (26... Rf8 $142 $5 $17 {/-+ is
probably even better, as it forces further simplification.}) 27. axb3 g3 28.
Ka2 $6 (28. Rxb7 $5 Rf8 29. Qe2 Rf2 $1 $17 {[%csl Ge4,Gg3] o^} (29... Qxg5 30.
Nxe4 Qe5 31. Rxg7+ Qxg7 32. Qg2 $15)) 28... Rf8 (28... g2 $2 29. Rf2 $1 {/\}
g1=Q 30. Qf7+ Kh7 31. Qh5+ $11) 29. Rxf8+ Kxf8 30. Qg4 e3 31. g6 e2 $2 {
[%mdl 8192]} (31... Ke7 32. Qf3 e2 $1 33. Qxb7+ (33. Qxe2 Qxe2 34. Nxe2 g2 35.
c3 Be5 $19) 33... Kf6 34. Nxe2 Qxe2 35. Qf7+ Kg5 36. Qxg7 g2 37. Qxa7 Kxg6 $19)
(31... Bf6 $5 $19) 32. Qf3+ $2 {[%mdl 8192]} ({Mutual errors are typical for
such a tactically demanding game. Radjabov repays the favour, after} 32. Qd7 $1
Kg8 (32... Qe7 33. Qc8+ Qe8 34. Qf5+ Kg8 35. Qd5+ Kh8 36. Qh1+ Kg8 37. Qd5+ $11
) 33. Qc8+ Bf8 34. Qxb7 Be7 35. Qh1 (35. Nxe2 Qxe2 36. Qd5+ Kg7 37. Qf7+ Kh6
38. g7 g2 39. g8=Q Qa6+ 40. Kb1 Qf1+ $11) 35... Kf8 36. Qh7 Ke8 37. Nxe2 Qa5+
38. Kb1 Qe1+ 39. Ka2 (39. Nc1 g2 40. g7 Qxc1+ 41. Kxc1 g1=Q+ 42. Kd2 Qf2+ $11)
39... Qa5+ $11) 32... Ke8 $19 33. Qf7+ Kd8 34. Qg8+ Kd7 35. Qf7+ Qe7 36. Qf5+ (
36. Nxe2 Qxf7 37. gxf7 g2 $19 {[%cal Yd7e7] /\Ke7}) 36... Kd8 37. Qa5+ b6 38.
Qd5 e1=Q 39. Qa8+ Kd7 40. Qb7+ Ke8 (40... Ke8 41. Qa8+ (41. Qc6+ Kf8 42. Qf3+
Kg8) 41... Qd8 42. Qc6+ Kf8 43. Qf3+ Qf6 $19) 0-1

[Event "Baku FIDE GP"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2008.04.29"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Cheparinov, Ivan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2696"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2008.04.21"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Nb6 7. O-O Be7 8.
a3 O-O 9. b4 Be6 10. d3 f6 11. Rb1 Nd4 12. Nd2 c6 13. e3 Nb5 14. Qc2 Nxc3 15.
Qxc3 Qd7 16. Nb3 Rad8 17. Rd1 Bg4 18. Rd2 Kh8 19. Nc5 Qc8 20. Bb2 Nd5 21. Qc2
Nc7 22. Rc1 Ne6 23. h4 Nxc5 24. bxc5 Qe6 25. d4 exd4 26. Bxd4 Rd7 27. Qe4 Qxe4
28. Bxe4 Re8 29. Bg2 Bf8 30. Rb2 Kg8 31. Rcb1 Ree7 32. Rb4 h5 33. R1b2 Kf7 34.
f3 Be6 35. Kf2 g6 36. Bf1 Bg7 37. Ra4 a6 38. Rab4 f5 39. Bxg7 Kxg7 40. e4 fxe4
41. Rxe4 Bf5 42. Rxe7+ Rxe7 43. Bc4 Kf6 44. Be2 Bc8 45. Rd2 Re5 46. Rc2 a5 47.
Rc3 Rd5 48. Ke3 Re5+ 49. Kf2 Rd5 50. Ke3 Re5+ 51. Kf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Baku FIDE GP"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2008.04.30"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B78"]
[WhiteElo "2732"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2008.04.21"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2
O-O 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. Bb3 Rc8 11. O-O-O Ne5 12. Kb1 Re8 13. h4 h5 14. Bh6 Nc4 15.
Bxc4 Rxc4 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Nd5 e5 18. Nxf6 Qxf6 19. Ne2 Rc6 20. Nc3 Be6 21.
Nd5 Bxd5 22. Qxd5 Qf4 23. Qd2 Qxd2 24. Rxd2 f5 25. Re1 Kf6 26. c3 Ke6 27. Kc2
fxe4 28. Rxe4 Rec8 29. Kd3 b5 30. a4 a6 31. axb5 axb5 32. Rb4 Rc5 33. Re2 Rd5+
34. Kc2 Rc4 35. Kb3 Rxb4+ 36. Kxb4 Kd7 37. b3 Kc6 38. Ra2 Kb6 39. Re2 Rd1 40.
f4 exf4 41. Re6 Kc6 42. Rxg6 Rh1 43. c4 bxc4 44. bxc4 Rxh4 45. Rg5 Rg4 46. Rxh5
Rxg2 47. Rf5 Rf2 48. Kc3 f3 49. Kd4 Rf1 50. Ke3 Ra1 51. Kxf3 Rf1+ 52. Ke4 Rxf5
53. Kxf5 Kc5 54. Ke6 Kxc4 55. Kxd6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Baku FIDE GP"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2008.05.02"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Navara, David"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C92"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2672"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2008.04.21"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3
d6 9. h3 Bb7 10. d4 Re8 11. Nbd2 Bf8 12. d5 Nb8 13. Nf1 Nbd7 14. N3h2 Nc5 15.
Bc2 c6 16. b4 Ncd7 17. dxc6 Bxc6 18. Bg5 Qc7 {This seems to be Navarra's
favourite move in this position.} ({I have examined the availanble material
after} 18... h6 {in the notes to Leko,P (2753)-Adams,M (2726)/Wijk aan Zee NED
2008/CBM 122 (1/2-1/2, 98)}) 19. Bxf6 Nxf6 20. Ng4 Nxg4 ({Deviating from} 20...
Be7 {Almasi,Z (2691)-Navara,D (2656)/Reggio Emilia 2008/CBM 122 (1-0, 58),
which was analyzed in the notes to the aforementioned game.}) 21. hxg4 Bb7 $5
$146 {A new move. Black attacks the c3-pawn, while keeping the e4-pawn under
pressure. These elements are aimed to prevent the transfer of the knight to d5.
} ({Previously, Black has directed his bishop towards e6, in order to
neutralize the white bishop, but did not achieve equality.} 21... Rac8 22. Bb3
Bd7 23. Rc1 Be7 24. Ne3 Bg5 25. Nd5 Qb8 26. Rc2 Rc6 27. g3 Qc8 28. f3 Be6 29.
Qd3 Bd8 30. Kg2 $16 {[%cal Ge1h1] Jansa,V (2482)-Klovans,J (2433)/Arvier 2006/
CBM 114 ext (1-0, 41)}) 22. Re3 {Both pawns are safely defended now, but the
knight's access to e3 is (at least temporarily) blocked.} (22. Qd3 Rac8 23. Re3
Be7 {is similar.}) (22. Qf3 Rac8 23. Bb3 {is aimed to be slightly more tricky,
but Black can react with} d5 $1 (23... Qxc3 $4 24. Qxf7+) (23... Re7 24. Rac1
$16 {[%cal Gf1e3]}) 24. Bxd5 Bxd5 25. exd5 Qxc3 $132 {[%csl Rb4,Gd6]}) 22...
Be7 23. Bb3 Bg5 {After having activated his darl-squared bishop with a
manoeuvre typical for the Sveshnikov Sicilian, Black can live without fearing
the manoeuvre Ne3-d5.} 24. Rf3 Rf8 25. Qe2 Bc8 {Once the main strategic
problem has been solved, Black switches back to the approved plan, the
transfer of his light-squared bishop to e6.} ({Delaying this manoeuvre for too
long would leave him struggling, for instance} 25... a5 26. Rd1 g6 (26... Bc8
$1) 27. Qd3 {[%csl Ge4][%cal Gf1e3]} Kg7 28. Ne3 Bxe3 29. Rxe3 $14) 26. Rd1 Be6
27. Ne3 Bxe3 $1 28. Rxe3 a5 29. Bxe6 fxe6 30. a3 axb4 31. cxb4 Qd7 {Black has
slightly more space and the more compact pawn structure. The weakness of the
backward a3- and d6-pawns is not equivalent, because after the eventiual
elimination of the d6-pawn, Black's entire kingside would become weak. However,
the complete absence of minor pieces makes Black's position entirely viable.}
32. g5 Rac8 33. Red3 Rc6 34. R3d2 Ra6 $5 {Navara does not wish to defend his
b-pawn passively and allows a small tactical trick, leading to an exchange of
pawns that, from strategic point of view, favours White (as mentioned above).}
(34... Rb6) (34... Rb8) 35. a4 $1 Rxa4 36. Rxd6 Qf7 {This is Black's point.
Once his queen has been freed from the defence of the d6-pawn, she can put up
pressure against f2.} 37. Rd8 $6 {After this hurried exchange, White will lose
a pawn without getting to create dangerous threats against the enemy king.} ({
More consistent would have been} 37. Rb1 {, maintaining the pressure. In this
case, Black would have been remained under some pressure because of his weak
e-pawns.}) 37... Rxb4 38. R1d7 Qf4 (38... Rb1+ 39. Kh2 Qf4+ 40. g3 Qxg5 {
would have won a second pawn, but after} 41. Rxf8+ Kxf8 {[%cal Gg5h6,Gh6h1]}
42. Kg2 $1 {White avoids any immediate threats against his own king and is
ready to start his own attack.}) 39. Qa2 Rb1+ $1 $11 {Forcing a draw by
perpetual.} 40. Qxb1 Qxf2+ 41. Kh2 Qh4+ 42. Kg1 Qf2+ 43. Kh2 Qh4+ 44. Kg1 Qf2+
45. Kh2 Qh4+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Baku FIDE GP"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2008.05.03"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2716"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2008.04.21"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 Nb6 8.
Ne5 a5 9. Bg5 g6 10. e3 Bg7 11. Bd3 Be6 12. Be2 Nbd5 13. Bh4 O-O 14. O-O c5 15.
Nb5 Ne4 16. Bf3 cxd4 17. Bxe4 Bxe5 18. Nxd4 Bxd4 19. Qxd4 Nf6 20. Bxb7 Qxd4 21.
exd4 Rab8 22. Bc6 Rfd8 23. Bb5 Bd7 24. Rfe1 Kf8 25. Bg3 Rb7 26. Re5 Bxb5 27.
Rxb5 Rxb5 28. axb5 Rxd4 29. h3 a4 30. Be5 Rb4 31. Bc3 Rxb5 32. Rxa4 Ne8 33. Kf1
f6 34. Rb4 Rd5 35. Ke2 Nd6 36. Rd4 Rb5 37. Rb4 Rd5 38. Rd4 Rb5 39. Rb4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Baku FIDE GP"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2008.05.04"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Adams, Michael"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E37"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2729"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2008.04.21"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 Ne4 7. Qc2 c5 8.
dxc5 Nc6 9. cxd5 exd5 10. e3 Qa5+ {Very modern opening with early imbalance.
Black is ahead in development, but should he wait White would develop his
pieces and use two mighty bishops.} (10... Bf5 11. Bd3 Ne5 (11... Qg5 12. f3
Qh4+ 13. Kf1 Ng3+ 14. hxg3 Bxd3+ 15. Qxd3 Qxh1 16. b4 O-O 17. Bb2 Rfe8 18. Kf2
Qh6 19. Ne2 Ne5 {1/2 Kasimdzhanov,R (2683)-Aronian,L (2750)/Mainz 2007 (35)})
12. Nf3 Nxd3+ 13. Qxd3 Ng3 14. Qb5+ (14. e4 Nxe4 15. O-O O-O 16. Qd4 Qf6 17.
Qxf6 Nxf6 18. Nd4 Bg6 19. Bf4 Rfe8 20. f3 Nd7 21. Bd6 $14 {1/2 Kasimdzhanov,R 
(2682)-Asrian,K (2634)/France 2007 (44)}) 14... Bd7 15. Qxb7 Nxh1 16. c6 Be6
17. c7 Qc8 18. Qc6+ Bd7 19. Qd6 a5 20. Bd2 Ra6 21. Qe5+ Kf8 22. Rc1 f6 23. Qxd5
$16 {1/2 Morozevich,A (2755)-Adams,M (2729)/Moscow 2007 (51)}) (10... Qf6 11.
f3 Qh4+ 12. g3 Nxg3 13. Qf2 Nf5 14. Qxh4 Nxh4 15. b4 a6 16. Kf2 Ne5 17. Bb2 f6
18. Rd1 Be6 19. Ne2 Bf7 20. Rg1 Nc4 21. Bc1 $16 {1-0 Carlsen,M (2733)-Polgar,J
(2707)/Wijk aan Zee 2008 (52)}) 11. b4 $5 Nxb4 12. axb4 Qxa1 13. Bb5+ Kf8 14.
Ne2 a6 15. Bd3 Bd7 16. f3 Ba4 17. Qb2 Qxb2 18. Bxb2 Ng5 19. Nd4 {The very
first move deviating from the games of Kasimdzhanov. White plays with
compensation for the exchange, but no advantage.} (19. Kd2 Rc8 20. Ra1 Bd7 21.
Nf4 Bc6 22. Bf5 Re8 23. Ne2 Ne6 24. h4 h5 25. Be5 Rh6 26. Bd6+ Kg8 27. Bd3 {
1/2 Kasimdzhanov,R (2690)-Karpov,A (2670)/Moscow 2007 (31)}) 19... Bd7 (19...
Ne6 20. Nf5 Bb5 (20... a5 21. b5 Nxc5 22. Bxg7+ Ke8 23. Bxh8 Nxd3+ 24. Kd2 Kd7
$11) 21. Ke2 Bxd3+ 22. Kxd3 f6 $15) 20. Kf2 (20. Nf5 Bxf5 21. Bxf5 Ne6 22. Kf2
Ke7 $15) 20... f6 21. Ra1 Ke7 22. Bc2 $1 {Carlsen is a fighter and he hopes
for more than just equalizing lines.} (22. h4 Nf7 23. e4 Ne5 24. Bc2 dxe4 25.
Bxe4 Nc6) (22. Re1 $11) 22... Rhd8 (22... Nf7 23. Bb3 Bc6 24. Nf5+ Kf8 25. f4
$36) (22... g6 23. Re1 Ne6 24. e4 $14) 23. h4 Nf7 (23... Ne6 24. Nf5+ Kf8 25.
Nd6 Rdb8 $13) 24. Bxh7 Rh8 25. Bc2 Rxh4 26. Bb3 (26. e4 dxe4 27. Bxe4 Rb8) (26.
b5 Ne5 (26... Rxd4 27. exd4 Bxb5 28. Re1+ Kf8 $11) 27. Bc3 g5 $15) 26... Rh5 $2
{[%mdl 2048] Adams shows the ambition of his own, but it comes at the wrong
moment and displaces the rook.} (26... Ne5 $1 27. Bc3 (27. Rd1 a5 $15) 27...
Nc6 28. Bxd5 Nxd4 29. exd4 Bc6 30. Re1+ Kf8 31. Bb3 Rd8 32. d5 Bxd5 33. Rd1
Bxb3 34. Rxd8+ Ke7 $11) 27. Ne2 $1 Bc6 (27... Rah8 28. Nf4 R5h6 29. Nxd5+ Kf8
30. Nb6 Bc6 31. Rd1 Rh1 32. Rd2 $36) 28. Nf4 Rg5 29. b5 $1 Bxb5 30. Nxd5+ Kf8 (
30... Kd8 31. Nb6 Rb8 32. Bxf7 $18) (30... Rxd5 31. Bxd5 Rd8 32. e4 Bc6 33. Ba3
$14) 31. Nc7 Rd8 32. Ne6+ Ke8 $2 {For a bit mysterious reasons Adams makes a
big step in the wrong direction, the natural Ke7 was much better.} (32... Ke7
33. Nxd8 Nxd8 34. g4 $14) 33. Bd4 Bd7 34. Nxd8 Nxd8 35. Rh1 Ke7 {The defender
admitts his mistake, but it is too late.} (35... Ne6 36. f4 Rf5 37. Bxe6 Bxe6
38. Rh8+ Kd7 39. g4 Rd5 40. f5 Bf7 41. Rf8 Be8 42. Rg8 $16) 36. e4 (36. f4 Rg6
37. Bd5 Rh6 $14) 36... Ne6 37. Be3 Re5 38. Rh7 (38. Bd5 Bc6 39. f4 Bxd5 40.
fxe5 Bxe4 41. exf6+ gxf6 $16) 38... Kf8 39. Bc2 Bc6 (39... Nxc5 40. f4 Nxe4+
41. Kf3 $16) 40. f4 Bxe4 $6 {The tempting move in the fight for the best
survival chances, objectively better was to take with the rook.} (40... Rxe4
41. Bxe4 Bxe4 42. Rh8+ Kf7 43. g4 $16) 41. Rh8+ Ke7 42. Rb8 $1 (42. fxe5 Bxc2
43. exf6+ gxf6 44. Rb8 Be4 $16) 42... Nd8 43. fxe5 Bxc2 44. exf6+ gxf6 45. Bd4
f5 46. Be3 $1 {Carlsen plays with technique, that is truly exceptional for
such a young player. White's position is already winning.} (46. Bf6+ Kxf6 47.
Rxd8 Ke5 48. g3 Be4 $16) 46... Kd7 47. Bg5 Ne6 48. Rxb7+ Kc8 (48... Kc6 49.
Rb6+ Kd5 50. Rd6+ Ke5 51. Rd2 $18) 49. Rb2 Be4 50. Be7 $1 (50. Be3 f4 51. Bd4
$16) 50... Nf4 51. Ra2 $1 Kd7 (51... Kb7 52. g3 $18) (51... Nd3+ 52. Kg3 Kb7
53. Bd6 $18) 52. Bd6 Nxg2 53. Rxa6 {With minimal number of pawns White will
win due to the better coordination of his pieces.} f4 54. Ra4 Bc6 55. Ra7+ Ke6
56. Ra6 1-0

[Event "Baku FIDE GP"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2008.05.05"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Bacrot, Etienne"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E13"]
[WhiteElo "2705"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2008.04.21"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.05.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. Bg5 Bb7 6. Nd2 h6 7. Bh4 Nc6 8. a3
Bxc3 9. bxc3 Qe7 {The knight from the square can be relocated later and
Carlsen sees no need to lose time for d6-Nbd7.} 10. e3 g5 11. Bg3 d6 12. h4 {
The first independent move can not achieve much as the second player is
already somewhat ahead in the development.} (12. Be2 O-O-O 13. Rb1 e5 14. d5
Na5 15. e4 Nd7 16. h4 Kb8 17. h5 Nc5 18. Qc2 Bc8 19. Nf1 Rhf8 20. Ne3 Nxe4 21.
Qxe4 f5 22. Qc2 f4 23. O-O e4 24. Qd2 fxg3 25. fxg3 Qe5 $17 {1-0 Pelletier,Y 
(2607)-Perunovic,M (2420)/Plovdiv 2008 (49)}) 12... O-O-O 13. Be2 Nd7 (13...
Na5 $5 14. f3 (14. Bf3 Nd7 15. Bxb7+ Kxb7 16. Qf3+ c6 $11) 14... g4 15. Qc2
Rdg8 16. Bf2 gxf3 17. gxf3 Ng4 18. Bg1 f5 $15) 14. Nb3 f5 15. Qc2 Rhf8 16. f3 (
16. hxg5 hxg5 17. O-O-O Kb8 $13) 16... e5 17. hxg5 hxg5 18. O-O-O {The real
start of the middle game in a fairly even position. White will try to control
the open h-file, Black will hope for action on the queenside.} (18. d5 $5 Ncb8
19. e4 f4 20. Bf2 Na6 $11) 18... Rde8 19. Bd3 (19. d5 Ncb8 20. Bf2 $11) 19...
Qf7 20. Rh6 Ba6 21. Nd2 (21. d5 Ne7 22. Rdh1 $11) 21... exd4 22. exd4 Na5 23.
Rdh1 $1 Re7 (23... Nxc4 $2 24. Qa4 Nxd2 25. Qxa6+ Kb8 26. Kxd2 Qa2+ 27. Bc2 $18
) (23... Bxc4 $6 24. Nxc4 Nxc4 25. Qa4 b5 (25... Re3 26. Rh7 $18) 26. Qxb5 Ncb6
27. c4 $16) 24. Qa4 {Bacrot is not finding courage to play the principal move
Rh7, as he probably feared the strength of enemy's counterplay with two rooks.}
(24. Rh7 Qxh7 (24... Qf6 25. Rxe7 Qxe7 26. Bxf5 Bxc4 27. Qe4 Qxe4 28. fxe4 $16)
25. Rxh7 Rxh7 26. Bxf5 Rh1+ 27. Kb2 Nxc4+ (27... Rg1 28. Bh3 g4 $5 29. fxg4 Re8
30. g5 Nxc4+ (30... Re2 31. Bf4 Nxc4+ 32. Kb3 Na5+ 33. Ka4 $16) 31. Nxc4 Bxc4
32. Bf2 Rf1 33. Bg4 b5 34. Bg3 Kb8 $13) 28. Nxc4 Bxc4 29. Qe4 Rxf5 $1 30. Qxf5
Rg1 31. Qh3 Bf1 32. Qg4 Rxg2+ 33. Kc1 Bc4 34. Qxg5 b5 $13) 24... Re3 25. Rh7
Qe8 26. Qc2 (26. Kc2 $2 Rxd3 27. Kxd3 Nc5+ $19) 26... Nf6 27. R7h6 (27. Bxf5+
$2 Kb8 28. R7h6 Nxc4 $17) 27... Kb7 28. Bf2 Rxd3 $5 {[%mdl 32] Carlsen is
growing into a great follower of Tigran Petrosian in his love for positional
exchange sacrifices.} (28... Re7 29. d5 $11) 29. Qxd3 Nd5 30. Re1 (30. g3 Qa4
$13) 30... Qa4 31. Qc2 Qxa3+ 32. Qb2 Qxb2+ 33. Kxb2 Nxc4+ 34. Nxc4 (34. Kc2 g4
$15) 34... Bxc4 {Black can be satisfied with two pawns and excellent control
of many squares.} 35. Be3 (35. Rh7 Rg8 $15) 35... g4 36. fxg4 $6 (36. Bd2 gxf3
37. gxf3 Rg8 $15) 36... fxg4 37. Rg6 $2 a5 $2 {The upcoming time control has
seriously influenced the quality of play of both players. The mutual blunder
ignores the fact, that Bacrot could have lost the piece.} (37... Re8 $1 38. Bd2
Rxe1 39. Bxe1 Nf4 40. Rxg4 Nd3+ 41. Ka3 Nxe1 $19) 38. Rxg4 a4 39. Rg3 (39. Ka3
b5 40. g3 Nxc3 $17) 39... a3+ 40. Kxa3 $2 (40. Ka1 b5 41. Rf3 Rxf3 42. gxf3
Nxc3 $15) 40... Ra8+ 41. Kb2 Ra2+ 42. Kc1 Nxc3 {The excitement is over; White
will lose the exchange and the ending should be winning for Black.} 43. Bd2 (
43. Bf4 Ne2+ 44. Rxe2 Rxe2 45. Rg7 Kc6 $17) 43... Ne2+ 44. Rxe2 Bxe2 45. Rg7
Ra4 46. Bc3 (46. Be3 b5 47. g4 b4 $17) 46... b5 47. g4 Bf3 (47... b4 48. Bd2
Bc4 $17) 48. g5 b4 49. Bb2 (49. Bd2 Bd5 $17) 49... Ra5 {Magnus is able to stop
the dangerous g-pawn and the white bishop b2 will remain a misserable piece.}
50. Kc2 (50. g6 Be4 51. Rg8 Rg5 $19) 50... Bd5 51. Re7 (51. g6 Bc4 52. Re7 Rg5
53. g7 Rg2+ 54. Kc1 Bd5 $19) 51... Bc4 52. Bc1 Rf5 53. Bd2 Rf2 54. g6 Rg2 55.
g7 Kc6 56. Re8 (56. Kc1 b3 $19) 56... Bf7 57. Rb8 (57. Re7 Bg8 $19) 57... b3+
58. Kc3 Rxg7 59. Kb2 Bc4 60. Kc3 Kd5 {Finally all black pieces can work
together, White is lost.} 61. Rb7 Rg3+ 62. Kb2 Kxd4 (62... Kxd4 63. Rxc7 Rg2
64. Kc1 b2+ $19) 0-1

[Event "Madrid sim"]
[Site "Madrid"]
[Date "2008.05.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Adan Bermudez, Sergio"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2137"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2008.05.24"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 Nf6 7. Nc3 Nd7 8.
Be3 e5 9. Qd2 Qe7 10. Bh6 f6 11. Bxg7 Qxg7 12. a3 Nf8 13. b4 Ne6 14. O-O a5 15.
Na4 cxb4 16. axb4 axb4 17. Qxb4 Qe7 18. Qxe7+ Kxe7 19. Nb6 Rxa1 20. Rxa1 Kd6
21. Kf1 Kc7 22. Rb1 Rd8 23. Na8+ Kb8 24. Nb6 Kc7 25. h4 Nd4 26. Nxd4 Rxd4 27.
Ke2 Be6 28. c3 Rd6 29. Ke3 f5 30. Na4 b5 31. Nc5 f4+ 32. Kf3 Ba2 33. Rb2 Kb6
34. Rxa2 Kxc5 35. Ke2 Kb6 36. Ra8 Re6 37. Rb8+ Kc7 38. Rh8 h5 39. Kd2 c5 40.
Kc2 c4 41. dxc4 bxc4 42. Ra8 Kb6 43. Rd8 g5 44. g3 gxh4 45. gxh4 Rg6 46. Kd2
Rg4 47. Rd5 Rxh4 48. Rxe5 Rh3 49. Rf5 Rd3+ 50. Kc2 Rf3 51. Rxh5 Rxf2+ 52. Kd1
f3 53. Rf5 Kc6 54. Kc1 Kd6 55. Kd1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Madrid sim"]
[Site "Madrid"]
[Date "2008.05.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anton Guijarro, David"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "1988"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2008.05.24"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. g3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4+ 6. Nc3 Ne4 7. Qd3 Bxc3+ 8.
bxc3 Nc5 9. Qf3 d6 10. Bg2 Nbd7 11. Qg4 O-O 12. Bh6 Qf6 13. Bg5 Qg6 14. Qh4 Nf6
15. Bxf6 Qxf6 16. Qxf6 gxf6 17. Nb5 Rd8 18. O-O-O Kf8 19. Rd2 Rb8 20. Rhd1 Ke7
21. Nxd6 Bd7 22. Rd4 h6 23. R1d2 b6 24. Nb5 Bxb5 25. cxb5 Rbc8 26. Bc6 Rxd4 27.
Rxd4 Rd8 28. Rh4 Rh8 29. Kd2 f5 30. Ke3 Kf6 31. a4 Ke5 32. Bf3 Kf6 33. Bc6 Ke5
34. f3 Kf6 35. a5 Ke5 36. a6 Kf6 37. Rc4 Rb8 38. Rxc5 bxc5 39. Bb7 1-0

[Event "Madrid sim"]
[Site "Madrid"]
[Date "2008.05.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Beltran de Heredia Y Alon, Jesus M"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B28"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2130"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2008.05.24"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 a6 3. c3 d5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. d4 Nf6 6. Be3 Bg4 7. Be2 cxd4 8.
cxd4 e6 9. O-O Be7 10. h3 Bh5 11. Nc3 Qd8 12. Qb3 Nc6 13. Rfd1 O-O 14. d5 Na5
15. Qa4 Nxd5 16. Nxd5 exd5 17. Qd4 Bf6 18. Qxd5 Qxd5 19. Rxd5 Bxf3 20. Bxf3 Nc4
21. Bd4 Bxd4 22. Rxd4 Ne5 23. Bxb7 Rab8 24. Bxa6 Rxb2 25. a4 Ra8 26. Bf1 g6 27.
a5 Nc6 28. Rd5 Rb4 29. a6 Nd4 30. a7 Nb3 31. Ra3 Nd4 32. Rd7 Ne6 33. g3 Rb1 34.
Kg2 Rb2 35. Bc4 Nc5 36. Rxf7 1-0

[Event "Madrid sim"]
[Site "Madrid"]
[Date "2008.05.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Boixeda, Pablo"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[PlyCount "33"]
[EventDate "2008.05.24"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Bd2 Qb6 6. Nf3 Bg4 7. Bc4 e6 8.
h3 Bxf3 9. Qxf3 c6 10. O-O-O Qc7 11. Rhe1 Nbd7 12. Bxe6 fxe6 13. Rxe6+ Kd8 14.
Bf4 Qa5 15. d5 h6 16. d6 Rc8 17. Rde1 1-0

[Event "Madrid sim"]
[Site "Madrid"]
[Date "2008.05.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Cabrera, Enrique"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E01"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[PlyCount "29"]
[EventDate "2008.05.24"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 b6 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Bb7 7. O-O Nc6 8. e4
Nf6 9. Nc3 Be7 10. d5 exd5 11. exd5 Nb4 12. Nd4 Nbxd5 13. Nf5 Bf8 14. Re1+ Ne7
15. Bxb7 1-0

[Event "Madrid sim"]
[Site "Madrid"]
[Date "2008.05.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gago Padreny, Ignacio"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2154"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2008.05.24"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Qd2
Nbd7 9. O-O-O Be7 10. f4 b5 11. f5 Bc4 12. g4 Nxg4 13. Rg1 Nxe3 14. Qxe3 Qb6
15. Qxb6 Nxb6 16. Rxg7 Bxf1 17. Rxf1 Bf6 18. Rg3 b4 19. Nd5 Nxd5 20. exd5 a5
21. Nd2 Rc8 22. Ne4 Ke7 23. b3 h5 24. Kd2 h4 25. Rg4 Rh5 26. h3 Rh6 27. Kd3
Rhh8 28. Rg2 Rc7 29. a3 bxa3 30. Ra1 Ra8 31. Rxa3 Bh8 32. c3 f6 33. Rga2 Rb8
34. Rxa5 Rxb3 35. Ra7 Rbb7 36. Rxb7 Rxb7 37. Ra6 Rd7 38. c4 Bg7 39. c5 dxc5 40.
Kc4 Rd8 41. Ra7+ Rd7 42. d6+ Ke8 43. Ra8+ Kf7 44. Kd5 1-0

[Event "Madrid sim"]
[Site "Madrid"]
[Date "2008.05.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Isasa Moreira, Conrado"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A58"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2008.05.24"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bxa6 7. Nf3 d6 8. g3
Bg7 9. Bg2 O-O 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Rb1 Nb6 12. b3 Ra7 13. Re1 Qd7 14. e4 Bb7 15.
a4 Ne8 16. Bb2 Ra8 17. Nb5 Bh6 18. Qc2 Nc7 19. Nxc7 Qxc7 20. a5 Nd7 21. Bc3 Bg7
22. Bxg7 Kxg7 23. Ra1 Kg8 24. Qc3 Rfc8 25. Bh3 h6 26. Nd2 Rcb8 27. Nc4 Bc8 28.
Bxd7 Bxd7 29. Nb6 Ra7 30. b4 cxb4 31. Qxb4 Qd8 32. Kg2 f6 33. Rac1 g5 34. Rc4
Rc7 35. Rec1 Rxc4 36. Qxc4 Rxb6 37. axb6 Qxb6 38. Qc7 Qb5 39. Qc3 Kf7 40. Qf3
Qb2 41. Rc7 Be8 42. Qh5+ Kf8 43. Qxh6+ Kf7 44. Qh7+ 1-0

[Event "Madrid sim"]
[Site "Madrid"]
[Date "2008.05.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Jimenez Capilla, Jose Alfonso"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2029"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2008.05.24"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 Be7 8. Qd2
O-O 9. g3 a6 10. Ne2 b5 11. Bg2 Bb7 12. O-O Rc8 13. c3 Re8 14. Rae1 a5 15. dxc5
Nxc5 16. Nfd4 Nxd4 17. cxd4 Nd7 18. f5 Nb6 19. Qd3 Nc4 20. Bc1 Bg5 21. b3 Bxc1
22. Rxc1 Na3 23. Rxc8 Bxc8 24. f6 Ba6 25. Qd2 Qc7 26. Qg5 g6 27. Qh6 1-0

[Event "Madrid sim"]
[Site "Madrid"]
[Date "2008.05.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Labarta Gonzalez, Ivan B"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B75"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2166"]
[PlyCount "128"]
[EventDate "2008.05.24"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nbd7 8.
Qd2 h5 9. Bc4 a6 10. O-O-O Qc7 11. Bb3 b5 12. Kb1 Bb7 13. Rhe1 Nc5 14. Bg5 Nxb3
15. Nxb3 Rc8 16. h3 h4 17. Qf2 Rh5 18. Bxh4 Nd7 19. Bg3 Bxc3 20. bxc3 Qxc3 21.
Re3 Qb4 22. Rd4 Rc4 23. c3 Qa4 24. Re2 Rxd4 25. cxd4 Nb6 26. d5 Nc4 27. Qa7 Bc8
28. Qc7 Na3+ 29. Kb2 Qc4 30. Qxc4 Nxc4+ 31. Kc3 e5 32. dxe6 fxe6 33. Kb4 Kd7
34. Na5 Rc5 35. h4 Nxa5 36. Kxa5 Kc6 37. Kb4 Rc4+ 38. Kb3 Rc5 39. Bf2 Rc1 40.
Be3 Rh1 41. Rc2+ Kb7 42. Bg5 Rd1 43. Bd8 Rd3+ 44. Kb2 d5 45. e5 Kb8 46. Bc7+
Ka7 47. Bd6 Bb7 48. Bb4 d4 49. Rc7 Kb6 50. Rg7 a5 51. Kc2 Re3 52. Bd2 Ra3 53.
Kb2 b4 54. Rxg6 Bd5 55. h5 Rxa2+ 56. Kc1 Bb3 57. h6 Kb5 58. h7 Ra1+ 59. Kb2
Ra2+ 60. Kc1 Rc2+ 61. Kb1 Rxd2 62. h8=Q Rd1+ 63. Kb2 Rd2+ 64. Kb1 Rd1+ 1-0

[Event "Madrid sim"]
[Site "Madrid"]
[Date "2008.05.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Martinez, Elena"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C66"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2008.05.24"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. O-O Nf6 5. Re1 Bd7 6. d4 exd4 7. Nxd4 Nxd4 8.
Bxd7+ Qxd7 9. Qxd4 Be7 10. Nc3 O-O 11. b3 h6 12. Bb2 c5 13. Qd2 b6 14. Rad1
Rad8 15. Qf4 Nh5 16. Qf3 g6 17. Nd5 Qe6 18. Qc3 f6 19. f4 g5 20. f5 Qe5 21.
Qxe5 fxe5 22. Nxe7+ Kg7 23. Nc6 Rc8 24. Rxd6 Nf6 25. Bxe5 Rce8 26. Red1 Rf7 27.
Re6 Rxe6 28. fxe6 Rb7 29. Rd7+ Rxd7 30. exd7 1-0

[Event "Madrid sim"]
[Site "Madrid"]
[Date "2008.05.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Martinez Villanueva Pelae, Guzman"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "1838"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2008.05.24"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. dxc5 e6 5. Nf3 Bxc5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Nge7 8. Bf4
O-O 9. Nbd2 a6 10. Bg3 b5 11. a4 b4 12. Nb3 Ba7 13. Re1 Bb7 14. Bxh7+ Kxh7 15.
Ng5+ Kg6 16. Qg4 Nxe5 17. Rxe5 f5 18. Qh4 Bc8 19. Nxe6 Bxe6 20. Rxe6+ Rf6 21.
Rxf6+ gxf6 22. Qxb4 Nc6 23. Qd2 d4 24. Qd3 Nb4 25. Qc4 Qb6 26. a5 Qb7 27. Bd6
Nc6 28. Re1 Rd8 29. Re6 Qf7 30. Qe2 Rd7 31. Bf4 Nb4 32. Nc1 Nxc2 33. Nd3 Kg7
34. Rxa6 Qc4 35. Bh6+ Kxh6 36. Rxf6+ Kg5 37. Rg6+ Kxg6 38. Ne5+ Kf6 39. Nxd7+
1-0

[Event "Madrid sim"]
[Site "Madrid"]
[Date "2008.05.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nieto de la Cruz, Julio"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A57"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "1857"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2008.05.24"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. b6 Qxb6 6. Nc3 g6 7. Nf3 d6 8. Nd2
Nbd7 9. e4 Bg7 10. Be2 O-O 11. O-O Qc7 12. a4 Rd8 13. a5 e6 14. Nc4 exd5 15.
exd5 Rb8 16. Bf4 Ne5 17. Bxe5 dxe5 18. d6 Qb7 19. Qc1 e4 20. Rd1 Be6 21. Nb6
Bb3 22. Qf4 Bxd1 23. Rxd1 Qc6 24. Bxa6 Rxb6 25. axb6 Qxb6 26. Bc4 Qxb2 27. Nxe4
Qc2 28. Nxf6+ Bxf6 29. Qf3 Kg7 30. Bb3 Qb2 31. g3 Rb8 32. Bc4 Qe5 33. d7 h5 34.
d8=Q Rxd8 35. Rxd8 Bxd8 36. Qxf7+ 1-0

[Event "Madrid sim"]
[Site "Madrid"]
[Date "2008.05.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Rodrigo Yanguas, Maria"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A81"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "1983"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2008.05.24"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 f5 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 Nf6 5. O-O O-O 6. b3 d6 7. Bb2 Qe8 8. Nbd2
h6 9. Re1 Nbd7 10. e4 fxe4 11. Nxe4 Nxe4 12. Rxe4 Nf6 13. Re1 Qf7 14. c4 Bg4
15. h3 Bd7 16. d5 Rae8 17. Qd2 Nh7 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. Nd4 Ng5 20. f4 Nxh3+ 21.
Kh2 Nxf4 22. Rf1 g5 23. gxf4 gxf4 24. Rae1 e5 25. dxe6 Bxe6 26. Re4 Qh5+ 27.
Kg1 Bg4 28. Rexf4 Rxf4 29. Qxf4 Qg6 30. Qg3 Re5 31. Qf4 Re8 32. Nf5+ Bxf5 33.
Qxf5 Qxf5 34. Rxf5 c6 35. Kf2 Kg6 36. Rf3 Re7 37. Bh3 Kg7 38. Rd3 Rf7+ 39. Ke3
Rf6 40. Bc8 b6 41. Bd7 c5 42. Ke4 Rg6 43. Kd5 Kf7 44. Kc6 Ke7 45. Re3+ Kf8 46.
Kb7 Rg7 47. Kc6 Rg2 48. a4 Rd2 49. Kb7 d5 50. cxd5 Rxd5 51. Be6 Rd6 52. Kxa7
Kg7 53. Bc4 Kf6 54. Kb7 h5 55. Kc7 1-0

[Event "Madrid sim"]
[Site "Madrid"]
[Date "2008.05.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Rubio Mejia, Luis Ignacio"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E17"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2379"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2008.05.24"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. Nc3 Ne4 7. Bd2 f5 8. d5
Bf6 9. Qc2 exd5 10. Nxd5 Nc6 11. O-O O-O 12. Rad1 a5 13. Be3 Qc8 14. Nd4 Nxd4
15. Bxd4 Bxd5 16. cxd5 Bxd4 17. Rxd4 Nc5 18. d6 Ra7 19. dxc7 Rxc7 20. Rfd1 Kh8
21. Qd2 Qe8 22. Rd6 Ne4 23. Bxe4 Qxe4 24. Rxb6 Rc2 25. Qd6 Re8 26. Qd3 Rxe2 27.
Qxe4 fxe4 28. Rxd7 e3 29. fxe3 R2xe3 30. Rbb7 Re1+ 31. Kg2 R1e2+ 32. Kh3 h6 33.
Rxg7 Rxb2 34. Rh7+ Kg8 35. Rbg7+ Kf8 36. Ra7 Kg8 37. Rxh6 Rxa2 38. Rb6 Rf8 39.
Rb5 a4 40. Rb4 Rff2 41. Kg4 Rfb2 42. Rxb2 Rxb2 43. h4 Rb4+ 44. Kh3 Rc4 45. h5
Rb4 46. g4 Rb3+ 47. Kh4 a3 48. h6 Rb6 49. Kh5 Rc6 50. g5 Rc5 51. Rxa3 Rb5 52.
Ra8+ Kh7 53. Ra7+ Kg8 54. Re7 Ra5 55. Kg6 Ra6+ 56. Kf5 Ra5+ 57. Re5 1-0

[Event "Madrid sim"]
[Site "Madrid"]
[Date "2008.05.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sanchez Alarcos Galian, Victor"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C18"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2016"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2008.05.24"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 Qc7 8. Bd3
cxd4 9. Ne2 dxc3 10. Qxg7 Rg8 11. Qxh7 Qxe5 12. Bf4 Qf6 13. Qh6 Ng6 14. Bg5 Rh8
15. Bxf6 Rxh6 16. Bxc3 Nc6 17. f4 Bd7 18. Kf2 O-O-O 19. Bf6 Rg8 20. Bg5 Rhh8
21. h4 Nf8 22. h5 Nh7 23. Bh4 f5 24. Rh3 Rg4 25. Rah1 Be8 26. h6 Rg6 27. c4
Rxh6 28. cxd5 exd5 29. Bg5 Nxg5 30. Rxh6 Rxh6 31. Bxf5+ Bd7 32. Bxd7+ Kxd7 33.
Rxh6 Ne4+ 34. Ke3 Nd6 35. Rh7+ Ne7 36. Nd4 Ke8 37. g4 a5 38. f5 Nc6 39. Ne6 b5
40. Nc7+ Kf8 41. Nxd5 Nc4+ 42. Kf4 Nxa3 1-0

[Event "Madrid sim"]
[Site "Madrid"]
[Date "2008.05.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Savchuk, Olga"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2008.05.24"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O a6 5. Bxc6 bxc6 6. Nxe5 Bb7 7. Nc3 d5 8.
d3 Bd6 9. Nf3 dxe4 10. dxe4 Bc5 11. Qe2 a5 12. Rd1 Qe7 13. e5 Nd5 14. Ne4 O-O
15. Bg5 f6 16. exf6 Nxf6 17. Bxf6 gxf6 18. Qc4+ Kh8 19. Nxc5 Bc8 20. Re1 Qg7
21. Re3 Rg8 22. Nh4 Bf5 23. Rg3 Qf8 24. Nxf5 Rxg3 25. hxg3 Qe8 26. Ne6 Qd7 27.
Re1 h6 28. Re3 1-0

[Event "Madrid sim"]
[Site "Madrid"]
[Date "2008.05.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Tolosana Esteban, Enrique"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E91"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "1948"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2008.05.24"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O c5 8. d5
a6 9. a4 b6 10. Bf4 Nh5 11. Be3 Nhf6 12. Nd2 Ne5 13. h3 Qc7 14. f4 Ned7 15. Bf3
Bb7 16. Qc2 h5 17. Rae1 Rae8 18. g3 Bc8 19. Bg2 Bb7 20. Nf3 Nh7 21. Bf2 Bc8 22.
Qd2 Nb8 23. e5 e6 24. Ne4 exd5 25. Nxd6 Re7 26. cxd5 Rd7 27. Nxc8 Rxc8 28. d6
Qd8 29. h4 f5 30. Rd1 Qe8 31. Rfe1 Kh8 32. e6 Rxd6 33. Qxd6 Bf6 34. Ng5 1-0

[Event "Madrid sim"]
[Site "Madrid"]
[Date "2008.05.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Turino Souzo, Juan Manuel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E65"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2008.05.24"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 d6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O c5 7. Nc3 Na6 8. b3
cxd4 9. Nxd4 Nc5 10. Bb2 Rb8 11. Qd2 a6 12. Rfd1 Bd7 13. Rac1 Ne6 14. Nc2 Qc7
15. Ne3 Bc6 16. Ncd5 Qd8 17. Nxf6+ Bxf6 18. Bxf6 exf6 19. Qxd6 Qxd6 20. Rxd6
Bxg2 21. Kxg2 Rfd8 22. Rcd1 Kf8 23. Rxd8+ Rxd8 24. Rxd8+ Nxd8 25. Kf3 Ke7 26.
Nd5+ Ke6 27. Ke4 Nc6 28. g4 h6 29. e3 f5+ 30. gxf5+ gxf5+ 31. Kf4 Ne5 32. Nc7+
Kf6 33. Ne8+ Ke6 34. Ng7+ Kf6 35. Nxf5 Nd3+ 36. Ke4 Nxf2+ 37. Kf3 Nd3 38. Nxh6
Nc1 39. Ng4+ 1-0

[Event "Madrid sim"]
[Site "Madrid"]
[Date "2008.05.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vazquez Torres, Adrian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B80"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "1983"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2008.05.24"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. g3 e6 7. Bg2 Be7 8. O-O
O-O 9. a4 Qc7 10. a5 Nc6 11. Nb3 Bd7 12. Be3 Rac8 13. f4 Nb4 14. Qd2 d5 15. Bb6
Qb8 16. e5 Ng4 17. h3 Nh6 18. g4 f6 19. exf6 Bxf6 20. g5 d4 21. gxf6 dxc3 22.
Qxd7 Rxf6 23. bxc3 Rf7 24. Qxf7+ Nxf7 25. cxb4 1-0

[Event "Miskolc m"]
[Site "Miskolc"]
[Date "2008.05.28"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Leko, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B78"]
[WhiteElo "2741"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2008.05.28"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "HUN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2
O-O 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Rc8 11. Bb3 Ne5 12. Kb1 Re8 13. h4 h5 14. Bh6 Nc4 15.
Bxc4 Rxc4 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Nd5 e5 18. Nxf6 Qxf6 19. Nb3 Rec8 20. Qxd6 Be6 21.
c3 b5 22. Qd2 a5 23. Qg5 Qxg5 24. hxg5 a4 25. Nd2 R4c7 26. a3 Rd7 27. Kc1 f6
28. gxf6+ Kxf6 29. Nf1 Rxd1+ 30. Kxd1 Rd8+ 31. Ke1 Kg5 32. g3 Rd3 33. Nd2 Bc4
34. Nxc4 bxc4 35. Ke2 Rd6 36. Rh2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Miskolc m"]
[Site "Miskolc"]
[Date "2008.05.28"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Leko, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B18"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2741"]
[PlyCount "35"]
[EventDate "2008.05.28"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "HUN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Nc5 b6 6. Nb3 Nf6 7. Nf3 e6 8. g3
Nbd7 9. Bg2 Rc8 10. O-O Bd6 11. Qe2 Qc7 12. c4 O-O 13. Be3 Rfe8 14. Rac1 Bg4
15. Qc2 Bf5 16. Qe2 Bg4 17. Qc2 Bf5 18. Qe2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Miskolc m"]
[Site "Miskolc"]
[Date "2008.05.29"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Leko, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2741"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[PlyCount "200"]
[EventDate "2008.05.28"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "HUN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 g6 7. d4 cxd4 8.
Nxd4 Bg7 9. h3 O-O 10. Be3 Rc8 11. b3 a6 12. a4 e6 13. Rc1 b6 14. O-O Qb7 15.
Nf3 Rd8 16. e5 Ne8 17. Bf4 Nc6 18. exd6 e5 19. Be3 Rxd6 20. Qe2 Nd4 21. Bxd4
exd4 22. Nd5 Nf6 23. Nxf6+ Bxf6 24. Qd3 Re8 25. Rfe1 Rde6 26. Kf1 Rxe1+ 27.
Rxe1 Rxe1+ 28. Nxe1 Qe7 29. c5 Qxc5 30. Qxa6 Qc1 31. Qc4 Qd1 32. Qc2 Qa1 33.
Ke2 Kg7 34. Nd3 Qa3 35. Qc4 Qa2+ 36. Kd1 Qb1+ 37. Ke2 Qa2+ 38. Kf3 Qb1 39. Ke2
Qa2+ 40. Kd1 Qb1+ 41. Ke2 Qa2+ 42. Kf1 Qb1+ 43. Ne1 h5 44. Qc2 Qa1 45. Ke2 Qa3
46. Nd3 Qe7+ 47. Kf1 Qe4 48. Qc4 Bg5 49. Qb5 Bf6 50. b4 Qe6 51. a5 Qb3 52. axb6
Qb1+ 53. Ke2 Qc2+ 54. Ke1 Qb1+ 55. Kd2 Qa2+ 56. Kd1 Qb1+ 57. Nc1 d3 58. Qxd3
Qxb4 59. Qb3 Qd6+ 60. Nd3 Bd4 61. b7 Ba7 62. Kd2 Bb8 63. g3 Qd7 64. h4 Qd6 65.
Qc3+ Kh7 66. Qc8 Kg7 67. Ke2 Ba7 68. Qc3+ Kh7 69. Qb3 Kg7 70. Kf1 Kg8 71. Qb5
Bb8 72. Kg2 Kg7 73. Qc4 Qd7 74. Qe4 Qb5 75. Ne1 Qd7 76. Nf3 Kg8 77. Nd4 Kg7 78.
Ne2 Kg8 79. Nc3 Kg7 80. Qd5 Qe7 81. Ne4 Ba7 82. Nd6 Bb8 83. Nc4 Qc7 84. Na5 Ba7
85. Nc4 Bb8 86. Nd2 Ba7 87. Ne4 Qe7 88. Qc6 Qe5 89. Qc3 Bd4 90. Qf3 Ba7 91. Ng5
Qc7 92. Qd5 Qe7 93. Nf3 Bb8 94. Qc6 Ba7 95. Qc3+ f6 96. Qb3 Qe2 97. b8=Q Qxf2+
98. Kh3 Qf1+ 99. Kh2 Qf2+ 100. Kh3 Qf1+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Miskolc m"]
[Site "Miskolc"]
[Date "2008.05.29"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Leko, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2741"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2008.05.28"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "HUN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Ne5 g6 6. Bd3 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. c3
Nc6 9. Qe2 Nd7 10. f4 Nf6 11. Be3 Bf5 12. Nd2 Bxd3 13. Qxd3 e6 14. Rae1 Rc8 15.
Bf2 Ne8 16. Ndf3 Nd6 17. Ng5 Qe8 18. Qh3 h6 19. Ngf3 Ne4 20. g4 f6 21. Nd3 f5
22. gxf5 exf5 23. Bh4 b5 24. a3 a5 25. Kh1 b4 26. axb4 axb4 27. Rg1 bxc3 28.
bxc3 Kh7 29. Rg2 Ne7 30. Nc5 Ng8 31. Reg1 Rc6 32. Be1 Ne7 33. Ng5+ Nxg5 34.
fxg5 h5 35. Re2 Qf7 36. Bd2 Ng8 37. Rge1 Rcc8 38. Bf4 Rfe8 39. Qf3 Rxe2 40.
Qxe2 Bf8 41. Qa6 Re8 42. Ne6 Qd7 43. Kg2 Bg7 44. Re3 Qc8 45. Qxc8 Rxc8 46. Nc7
Bf8 47. Nxd5 Kg7 48. Kf3 Kf7 49. Nb6 Rc6 50. Nd7 Bg7 51. Be5 Bf8 52. d5 Rc4 53.
d6 Rc6 54. Nxf8 Kxf8 55. Bf4 Rc8 56. Ke2 Kf7 57. Kd3 Rd8 58. c4 1-0

[Event "Miskolc m"]
[Site "Miskolc"]
[Date "2008.05.31"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Leko, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B76"]
[WhiteElo "2741"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[PlyCount "129"]
[EventDate "2008.05.28"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "HUN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2
O-O 9. O-O-O d5 10. Qe1 e5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. exd5 cxd5 13. Bg5 Be6 14. Bc4 Qc7
15. Bxf6 dxc4 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Nd5 Bxd5 18. Rxd5 Rfe8 19. Qc3 Kg8 20. Qa5 Qe7
21. Re1 Qh4 22. Rdxe5 Rxe5 23. Qxe5 Rd8 24. h3 c3 25. Qxc3 Qg5+ 26. f4 Qxg2 27.
b3 Qf2 28. Re4 Qg2 29. Rc4 Qd5 30. Kb2 Qf5 31. a4 h5 32. Qe3 a6 33. Rc5 Qf6+
34. Qe5 Kg7 35. Qxf6+ Kxf6 36. Rc4 Kf5 37. b4 f6 38. Kc3 g5 39. fxg5 fxg5 40.
Rc7 Rg8 41. Rh7 h4 42. b5 axb5 43. axb5 Kf4 44. Rd7 g4 45. hxg4 h3 46. Rh7 Kxg4
47. Kb4 Kg3 48. c4 Rg6 49. Ka5 Rg5 50. Kb4 Rg6 51. Rxh3+ Kxh3 52. c5 Rg4+ 53.
Ka5 Rc4 54. Kb6 Kg4 55. Kc6 Kf5 56. Kd5 Rc1 57. b6 Rd1+ 58. Kc6 Ke6 59. b7 Rb1
60. Kc7 Kd5 61. c6 Rb2 62. Kd7 Rb6 63. c7 Rxb7 64. Kd8 Rxc7 65. Kxc7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Miskolc m"]
[Site "Miskolc"]
[Date "2008.05.31"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Leko, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A32"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2741"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2008.05.28"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "HUN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 c5 4. Nf3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Qc7 6. Nc3 a6 7. Bg2 Qxc4 8.
O-O Nc6 9. Nb3 d5 10. Bf4 Be7 11. Rc1 Qb4 12. e4 Nxe4 13. Nxe4 dxe4 14. a3 Qb5
15. Bxe4 O-O 16. Qc2 h6 17. Rfd1 e5 18. Be3 Be6 19. Nc5 Bxc5 20. Qxc5 Rfd8 21.
Qxb5 axb5 22. Bb6 Rxd1+ 23. Rxd1 Ra4 24. Bc2 Ra6 25. Bc5 Ra8 26. Be4 f5 27.
Bxc6 bxc6 28. Rd6 Bd5 29. Rd7 Bf3 30. Kf1 Ra4 31. Bb4 c5 32. b3 Ra6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Miskolc m"]
[Site "Miskolc"]
[Date "2008.06.01"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Leko, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D12"]
[WhiteElo "2741"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2008.05.28"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "HUN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nh4 Bg6 7. Nxg6 hxg6 8. Bd2
Nbd7 9. Qc2 Be7 10. Be2 dxc4 11. Bxc4 O-O 12. O-O c5 13. dxc5 Nxc5 14. Rfd1 Rc8
15. Be1 Qc7 16. Be2 Nce4 17. Qa4 Nxc3 18. Bxc3 Nd5 19. Bd4 a6 20. Bf3 Rfd8 21.
Qb3 Bf6 22. g3 b6 23. Be2 Bxd4 24. Rxd4 a5 25. Ba6 Rb8 26. Be2 Rbc8 27. Rc4 Qb8
28. Rac1 Rxc4 29. Qxc4 Ne7 30. Qb5 Kf8 31. b4 Rd5 32. Qa4 axb4 33. Qxb4 Qd6 34.
Qb3 Qd8 35. Rb1 Rd6 36. h4 Kg8 37. Bf3 Nf5 38. Rc1 Ne7 39. Kg2 Rd2 40. Rc4 Nf5
41. Kg1 Qf6 42. Qxb6 Qa1+ 43. Kg2 Qe1 44. Rc8+ Kh7 45. Qb8 Rxf2+ 46. Kh3 Qf1+
47. Kg4 Nh6+ 48. Kf4 Rxf3+ 49. Ke4 f5+ 50. Ke5 Rxe3+ 51. Kd6 Qa6+ 52. Ke7 Qa3+
53. Kd7 Rd3+ 0-1

[Event "Miskolc m"]
[Site "Miskolc"]
[Date "2008.06.01"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Leko, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2741"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2008.05.28"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "HUN"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 124 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.03"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 Be7 7. e3 O-O 8. Bd3
c5 9. O-O cxd4 10. exd4 Nc6 11. Bc2 d5 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. cxd5 Nb4 14. dxe6 Bxf3
15. gxf3 Nxc2 16. Qxc2 Qxd4 17. Rad1 Qh4 18. Qe4 fxe6 19. Qxe6+ Kh8 20. Qg4
Rac8 21. Rd7 Qxg4+ 22. fxg4 Bxc3 23. bxc3 Rxc3 24. Rxa7 Rf4 25. f3 Rcxf3 26.
Rxf3 Rxf3 27. Kg2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Foros Aerosvit 3rd"]
[Site "Foros"]
[Date "2008.06.08"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E97"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2740"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2008.06.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "UKR"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 125"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 {Predicting the opening choice of Ivanchuk is
really difficult. Before the game I had tried to check everything he might
play against d4, but somehow the KID still came as a surprise to me. Die
Eröffnungswahl von Ivanchuk vorherzusagen, ist wirklich schwierig. Vor der
Partie hatte ich versucht, alles, was er gegen d4 spielen könnte, zu checken,
aber irgendwie kam KI trotzdem für mich überraschend.} 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6.
Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. b4 {I have admittedly played a lot of silly
sidelines against the KID, but this time I decided that enough was enough, and
went for the main line. Zugegebenermaßen habe ich gegen KI eine Menge alberner
Nebenvarianten gespielt, aber diesmal entschied ich, irgendwann reicht es, und
wählte das Hauptabspiel.} Nh5 10. Re1 f5 11. Ng5 Nf6 12. f3 {This has become
the main line after a lot of Van Wely-Radjabov games, in which both have had
their successes. Dies ist zum Hauptabspiel avanciert nach vielen
Wely-Radjabov-Partien, in denen beide ihre Erfolge gehabt haben.} Kh8 {
Ivanchuk follows the main line, which came as a surprise to me, as I had
expected him to come up with something original even earlier. Ivanchuk folgt
dem Hauptabspiel, was für mich überraschend kam, denn ich hatte erwartet, dass
er noch früher mit irgendwas Originallem aufwartet.} 13. b5 $6 {For some
reason, I decided against playing the main line, with Ne6 and came up with
this move instead, which clamps down on the black queenside. The move looked
interesting to me during the game, but now I don't like it anymore; it's
probably just too slow. Aus irgendeinem Grund entschied ich mich gegen das
Hauptabspiel mit Ne6 und kam stattdessen auf diesen Zug, welcher den schwarzen
Damenflügel einschnürt. Während der Partie sah mir der Zug interessant aus,
aber jetzt gefällt er mir nicht mehr; wahrscheinlich ist er einfach zu langsam.
} Ne8 {Ivanchuk came up with this interesting move after about half an hour.
Nh5 was also possible, with the same plan of rounding up the e6 pawn with Bf6
and Ng7.  Nach etwa einer halben Stunde verfiel Ivanchuk auf diesen
interessanten Zug. Nh5 war ebenfalls möglich, mit dem gleichen Plan, den
e6-Bauern mit Bf6 und Ng7 einzukreisen.} 14. Be3 $5 (14. c5 $5 {was another
option I considered quite seriously, but I didn't really believe that Black
could not be doing fine after war eine andere Option, die ich recht ernst in
Betracht zog, aber ich konnte nicht wirklich glauben, dass Schwarz nach} dxc5
15. Be3 Bh6 $1 (15... b6 16. Ne6 Bxe6 17. dxe6 {with excellent compensation
mit ausgezeichneter Kompensation}) 16. Nf7+ Rxf7 17. Bxh6 $13 {nicht
ordentlich stehen würde.}) (14. Ne6 Bxe6 15. dxe6 Qc8 16. Be3 Qxe6 17. c5 {
could also be considered, with some compensation. war auch zu überlegen, mit
einiger Kompensation.}) 14... Bf6 (14... f4 15. Bf2 Nxd5 16. Nxd5 Qxg5 17. c5 {
gives White the initiative and quite reasonable compensation. gibt Weiß die
Initiative und ganz vernünftige Kompensation.}) 15. Ne6 Bxe6 16. dxe6 Ng7 $1 {
I think that this is the strongest. Ich denke, das ist am stärksten.} (16... f4
17. Bf2 Ng7 18. c5 {was also possible of course, but here White has the
initiative instead of Black, which is the most important factor here. war
natürlich ebenfalls möglich, aber dann hat Weiß die Initiative und nicht
Schwarz, was hier der wichtigste Faktor ist.}) 17. Bh6 {Clearly the best, as
Black's prospect improves a lot when he doesn't have to play f4, closing the
centre and burying the black bishop. Eindeutig am besten, den die schwarzen
Aussichten verbessern sich deutlich, wenn er nicht f4 spielen muss, was das
Zentrum schließt und den schwarzfeldrigen Läufer begräbt.} Nxe6 {The logical
follow-up. Die logische Folge.} (17... Ng8 18. Bxg7+ Bxg7 19. c5 $1 dxc5 20.
Qb3 {looks good for White, but sieht gut aus für Weiß, aber}) (17... b6 $5 {
was an interesting option, even if hardly stronger than the text. war eine
interessante Möglichkeit, wenngleich kaum stärker als der Text.}) 18. Bxf8 Qxf8
19. c5 $1 {I think this is basically the only move, as the highest priority is
to activate the bishop. Meines Erachtens ist dies im Grunde der einzige Zug,
denn die höchste Prioriät besteht darin, den Läufer zu aktivieren.} Nxc5 {
After this the knight will be slightly sidelined. Nach wird der Springer
leicht im Abseits stehen.} (19... dxc5 {was probably better. I intended to
continue war womöglich besser. Ich wollte fortsetzen mit} 20. Qd7 (20. Bc4 Nd4
$13 {was also possible. was also possible.}) 20... Qc8 (20... Nd4 21. Qxc7 Nc2
22. Qxb7 {is somewhat better for White. ist etwas besser für Weiß.}) 21. Qxc8+
Rxc8 22. Bc4 {with an about equal ending. mit einem etwa ausgeglichenen
Endspiel.}) 20. Bc4 {Now the bishop is activated, and the knight, even if
quite nicely placed on c5, has few active prospects. Nun ist der Läufer
aktiviert, und der Springer, auch wenn er auf c5 ganz nett steht, hat wenig
aktive Aussichten.} Bg5 $1 21. Qe2 $1 Qh6 22. Rad1 {I am just in time the
prevent the further activation of the black bishop. Now that everything has
calmed down we can take stock and say that the position is about equal, as
neither side can actually do much. The knight on c5 stops most of the plans
White might have of attacking the c7-pawn, while it's hard to believe that
Black could really think of mating White here, and advancing the centre with
c6 and d5 doesn't seem very realistic either. Ich komme gerade rechtzeitig, um
die weitere Aktivierung des schwarzen Läufers zu verhindern. Nun, da sich
alles beruhigt hat, können wir Bilanz ziehen und sagen, dass die Stellung
ungefähr gleich ist, da eigentlich keine Seite viel unternehmen kann. Der
Springer auf c5 stoppt die meisten Pläne von Weiß für einen möglichen Angriff
auf den Bauern c7, während es schwer zu glauben ist, dass Schwarz wirklich
daran denken könnte, Weiß mattzusetzen; und das Zentrum mit c6 und d5 in
Bewegung zu setzen, scheint auch nicht besonders realistisch.} Rf8 23. a4 {
I was not quite sure if including a4 and b6 was a good idea, as the a4-pawn
will require constant attention now, but it has to be said that b6 is also
quite a concession here, as it gives up any dream of ever advancing the pawn
centre, and therefore leaves Black with few active possibilities.  Ich war
nicht ganz sicher, ob der Einschub von a4 und b6 eine gute Idee war, denn der
a4-Bauer wird nun ständiger Aufmerksamkeit bedürfen; andererseits ist zu sagen,
dass auch b6 ein ganz schönes Zugeständnis darstellt, da es jeden Traum
aufgibt, jemals das Bauernzentrum vorzurücken und daher Schwarz nur wenige
aktive Möglichkeiten belässt.} b6 24. g3 Qh3 {An annoying move, I am not
allowed to play Kg2, which would improve the harmony in my position.  Ein
lästiger Zug, ich komme nicht zu Kg2, was die Harmonie in meiner Stellung
verbessern würde.} 25. Qg2 Qh6 26. Qe2 Qh3 {It could be that Ivanchuk wanted
to just repeat moves to gain some time, but I actually think he was happy to
repeat moves here since the position is equal and a draw would suit him well.
Es könnte sein, dass Ivanchuk einfach die Züge wiederholen wollte, um etwas
Zeit zu gewinnen, aber eigentlich glaube ich, dass er hier mit der
Zugwiederholung zufrieden war, da die Stellung ausgeglichen ist und ihm ein
Remis gut passen würde.} 27. Kh1 {Well, I didn't rate my chances all that
highly, but I just didn't want to make a draw yet. Nun, ich schätzte meine
Chancen keinesfalls so hoch ein, aber ich wollte einfach noch kein Remis
machen.} Nd7 $6 {I don't really like this move. Better was probably just
Dieser Zug gefällt mir eigentlich nicht. Besser war vermutlich einfach} (27...
Qh6 28. Kg2 Kg7 {with equality. mit Ausgleich.}) 28. Ra1 $1 {I believe that
the rook is a little better placed on a2 than on d1, as it can now support a5,
and also go to c2 in some lines. Ich glaube, der Turm steht auf a2 einen Tick
besser als auch d1, denn jetzt kann er a5 unterstützen und auch in manchen
Abspielen nach c2 gehen.} Qh6 29. Ra2 (29. Nd5 Nxd5 30. Bxd5 Bd2 {is certainly
not something I should allow. ist sicher nichts, was ich zulassen sollte.})
29... Nf6 $6 {This is simply the wrong direction... There was still not much
wrong with the black position after Nc5. Das ist einfach die falsche Richtung..
. Nach Nc5 war an der schwarzen Stellung noch immer nicht viel auszusetzen.}
30. Kg2 Nh5 $6 (30... Nd7) 31. Nd5 Nxd5 32. Bxd5 {Now White is definitely
better. Nun steht Weiß definitiv besser.} Bf4 {This was his idea, but it's
really hard to believe that this could ever work.  Das war seine Idee, aber es
fällt schwer zu glauben, dass dies jemals funktionieren könnte.} 33. Qf2 fxe4
34. Bxe4 Qg5 35. Rc2 d5 $2 {Now the black position is completely ruined. Damit
ist die schwarze Stellung komplett ruiniert.} (35... Rf7 36. Bb7 $1 {intending
Bc8-g4 gives White a clear edge, but certainly nothing decisive. mit der
Absicht Bc8-g4 gibt Weiß ein klares Plus, aber gewiss nichts Entscheidendes.})
36. Bxd5 Bxg3 37. hxg3 Nf4+ 38. Kf1 Nxd5 39. Rce2 $1 {I really don't know what
Ivanchuk missed, as all this seems forced. Anyway, the conclusion is clear:
the black position is falling apart. Ich weiß wirklich nicht, was Ivanchuk
übersehen hat, da all dies forciert erscheint. Jedenfalls, das Fazit ist klar.
Die schwarze Stellung fällt auseinander.} Qf6 (39... Rf5 40. g4 {or oder}) (
39... Re8 40. f4 {doesn't help either. hilft auch nicht.}) 40. Rxe5 Qxf3 {
This loses quickly, but Black was lost anyway. Dies verliert schnell, doch
Schwarz war sowieso verloren.} 41. Qxf3 Rxf3+ 42. Ke2 Rf5 43. Rxf5 gxf5 44. Kd3
c5 45. Re5 Nb4+ 46. Kd2 {Black resigned as his pawns are falling and the
knight as cut off from the game. An interesting game, which unfortunately was
marred by Ivanchuk's self-destruction after move 30. Interestingly, but maybe
not too surprisingly, this game turned out to be the decisive one in the
tournament, as I ended up winning one point ahead of Ivanchuk, who made a
great comeback and ended up on +3. Schwarz gab auf, denn seine Bauern fallen,
und der Springer ist vom Spiel abgeschnitten. Eine interessante Partie, die
leider durch Ivanchuks Selbstzerstörung nach Zug 30 getrübt wurde. Vielleicht
nicht allzu überraschend erwies sich diese Begegnung als die entscheidende des
Turniers, denn ich gewann am Ende einen Punkt vor Ivanchuk, der ein großes
Comeback startete und auf +3 landete.} 1-0

[Event "Foros Aerosvit 3rd"]
[Site "Foros"]
[Date "2008.06.09"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2746"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2008.06.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "UKR"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 125"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qc2 Bb7 6. Bg2 c5 7. d5 exd5 8. cxd5
Nxd5 9. O-O Be7 10. Rd1 Qc8 11. Qf5 Nf6 12. Bg5 Nc6 13. Nc3 d5 14. Qf4 d4 15.
Bxf6 Bxf6 16. Nd5 Bd8 17. e3 Ne7 18. Nxe7 Bxe7 19. exd4 O-O 20. dxc5 bxc5 21.
Rac1 a5 22. b3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Foros Aerosvit 3rd"]
[Site "Foros"]
[Date "2008.06.10"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D43"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2677"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2008.06.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "UKR"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 125"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e3 Nd7 8. Qc2
Qd8 {After this move White keeps a small advantage.} (8... g6 {is more common.}
) 9. Bd3 Be7 10. O-O O-O {This position was examined in CBM 119 (annotations
to Gelfand - Kasimdzhanov) and in CBM 121 (annotations to Delchev - Kosic by
GM L.Ftacnik).} 11. Rad1 dxc4 (11... a6 $5 {is probably more flexible, e.g.}
12. cxd5 (12. e4 dxc4 13. Bxc4 b5 14. Be2 Qb6 15. a3 c5 16. d5 c4 $132 {
0-1 Plachetka,J-Sveshnikov,E/Dubna 1979/EXT 1999 (29)}) 12... exd5 13. Rfe1 Nf6
14. e4 dxe4 15. Bxe4 Nxe4 16. Qxe4 Bd6 17. d5 c5 18. Qd3 Bg4 19. h3 Bh5 20. Re3
b5 21. Rde1 Bf4 22. R3e2 $13 {1-0 Furman,S-Rizzi,D/IECG 2003/Telechess CBM 105
(75)}) 12. Bxc4 b5 13. Be2 $146 (13. Bd3 {is also possible:} Bb7 14. Ne4 (14.
a3 $5 a5 15. a4 b4 16. Ne4 Qb6 17. Rc1 Rac8 $6 18. Nc5 $14 {1-0 Gonzalez
Zamora,J-Mendoza Moreno,J/Merida 2005/EXT 2007 (32)}) 14... Qb6 15. Rc1 Rac8 (
15... Rfd8 $142) 16. Nc5 Nxc5 17. dxc5 Qc7 18. Nd4 Bf6 19. Be4 Rcd8 20. Rfd1 g6
21. b4 Bg7 22. Nb3 f5 23. Bf3 e5 24. e4 Bc8 25. Na5 f4 26. Qb3+ Kh7 27. h3 $14
{1-0 Petrosian,A-Farago,I/Yerevan 1982/MCD (52)}) 13... Bb7 14. Ne4 Qb6 15. Rc1
{White seizes the c5 square preventing ...c6-c5 but that now leads to
simplifications.} Rfd8 {This is definitely more useful than} (15... Rac8 {
as the d-file will open up in a moment.}) 16. Rfd1 (16. Ne1 $5 {[%cal Ye1d3]})
16... Rac8 17. Nc5 Nxc5 18. dxc5 Rxd1+ 19. Rxd1 $1 {[%mdl 512] An interesting
pawn sacrifice, which Black should have probably rejected.} Qxc5 (19... Qc7 $5
{[%cal Yc8d8] with good chances to equalize.}) 20. Qxc5 Bxc5 {[%mdl 4096]} 21.
Rd7 Ba8 22. Ne5 Bb6 (22... f6 23. Ng6 {[%cal Yg6f4,Yf4e6]} (23. Nd3 Bb6 24. Nf4
Rd8 $1 25. Re7 Kf8 26. Ng6+ Kg8) 23... e5 24. Ne7+ Bxe7 25. Rxe7 a5 26. Kf1 $44
) 23. Nxf7 Rc7 24. Ne5 (24. Nxh6+ $5 gxh6 25. Rd8+ Kg7 26. Rxa8 Rd7 27. Bg4 Rd2
28. b3 Rxa2 29. Kf1 $14 {White has a stronger pawn chain and therefore his
bishop is more active.}) 24... Rxd7 25. Nxd7 Bc7 26. Nc5 {White's advantage 
(Black's "bad" a8 bishop) should not be enough to win the game.} Kf7 27. Bg4 e5
28. Bf3 Ke7 29. Kf1 Bb6 30. b4 a5 31. a3 Bxc5 32. bxc5 Bb7 33. Ke2 Ba6 {
Passive defence is probably good enough, too.} 34. Kd2 Kd7 35. Be4 g5 36. Kc3
Bc8 37. g3 Kc7 38. f4 g4 $4 {Putting this pawn on a light square is a terrible
positional mistake.} ({White can't win after} 38... exf4 39. exf4 gxf4 40. gxf4
Bd7 41. f5 Kd8 42. f6 (42. Kd4 Ke7 43. Ke5 Be8) 42... Ke8 43. Bg6+ Kf8 44. Kd4
{and now the simplest} a4) 39. f5 Bd7 40. f6 Kd8 41. Kd3 a4 (41... Ke8 42. Bg6+
Kf8 43. Ke4 Be8 44. Bf5 b4 45. axb4 axb4 46. Kxe5 b3 47. Kd4 $18) 42. Bg6 Be6
43. Kc3 $2 (43. Ke4 {was quite possible:} Kd7 (43... b4 44. Kxe5 Bb3 45. Kd6
$18) 44. Kxe5 Bb3 45. Bf5+ Ke8 46. Kd6 b4 47. axb4 a3 48. Bb1 $18) 43... Kd7 $2
{It was unclear how White was going to win after} (43... Bd5 {e.g.} 44. Kb4 Bf3
45. Ka5 Kd7 46. Bf7 (46. Kb6 Bd5) (46. Bf5+ Ke8 47. Be6 Bd1 48. Kb6 $6 Bb3)
46... Be4 47. Kb6 Bg2) 44. Be4 $22 {Black now loses his ill-fated g4 pawn due
to the zugzwang.} Bf7 (44... Kc7 45. Bf5 $1) (44... h5 45. Bg6) 45. Bf5+ Ke8 (
45... Be6 $4 46. f7) 46. Bxg4 Bd5 47. Bh5+ Kd7 48. Bg6 e4 49. g4 Ke6 50. f7 Ke7
51. h4 Kf8 (51... Bxf7 52. Bxe4) 52. Kd4 Ke7 53. h5 $1 {[%cal Rg4g5]} Bxf7 54.
Bxe4 Be8 55. Bf5 Kf6 56. e4 Kg5 57. Bc8 Kf4 58. e5 {[%cal Re5e6,Rc8d7]} b4 59.
axb4 a3 60. Kc3 Kxe5 61. Kb3 1-0

[Event "Foros Aerosvit 3rd"]
[Site "Foros"]
[Date "2008.06.11"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Eljanov, Pavel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E05"]
[WhiteElo "2687"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "164"]
[EventDate "2008.06.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "UKR"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 125"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. Qxc4
b5 9. Qc2 Bb7 10. Bd2 Bd6 11. Ng5 $5 $146 {By exchanging the light-squared
bishops, White unblocks the e4-square, preparing to win space in the centre.
On the other hand, White slightly neglects his development, but didn't Black
do the same by moving with his dark-squared bishop twice?} Bxg2 12. Kxg2 Nbd7
13. e4 e5 {The logical reaction in the centre.} 14. dxe5 ({White is not
prepared for the method employed by Volokitin against Onischuk in the same
tournament:} 14. f4 $6 exd4 15. e5 Bxe5 16. fxe5 Nxe5 $15 17. Rxf6 $2 d3 $1 $17
) 14... Nxe5 15. f4 Nc4 16. b3 $1 (16. e5 $6 h6 17. exf6 (17. Nf3 $2 Ng4) 17...
hxg5 18. fxg7 Re8 $32) 16... Nxd2 {Exchanging a piece that has jumped around
so many times helps White catch up with Black in development, but there was no
other possibility.} (16... Nb6 $2 17. e5 $18) (16... h6 $2 17. bxc4 hxg5 18. e5
$16) 17. Nxd2 h6 18. Ngf3 Bb4 {So far, Carlsen played in blitz mode, which
makes us think that the novelty did not come as a surprise to him. However, I
am not sure that Black can be that happy with the outcome of the opening.
White is better developed and enjoys an advantage of space in the right half
of the board. He only has to work out some concrete details in order to avoid
problems connected with the undefended squares behind the advanced pawns.} 19.
Rfd1 $6 {Obviously, this is not the way to place rooks in this position, but
Eljanov may have been concerned about the threat ...Ng4-e3.} ({Indeed,} 19.
Rad1 $6 {was not better:} Qe7 (19... Ng4 20. Rfe1 Qe7 21. Re2 Rad8 22. e5 $5
$14) 20. Nd4 (20. Rfe1 Rad8 21. Ne5 Qe6 22. Re2) (20. Ne5 c5 21. Ndf3) 20...
Bxd2 (20... Ng4 21. Qd3 Rad8 22. N2f3 $14 c5 $2 23. Nc6 $18) 21. e5 c5 $1 (
21... Ng4 22. Qxd2 $16) (21... Bb4 22. Nc6 Qc5 23. Qxc5 Bxc5 24. exf6 $44) 22.
exf6 Qxf6 23. Qxc5 Be3 $15) ({Since White's plan is to advance his kingside
pawns, it would have made sense to concentrate rooks on this area of the board
with} 19. Rae1 $5 c5 (19... Qe7 $6 {Playing as in the game makes little sense
for Black now.} 20. Re2 Rad8 21. e5 Nd5 (21... Rfe8 22. Ne4 Nxe4 23. Qxe4 $14 {
[%cal Gf4f5]}) 22. Ne4 $36 {[%cal Gf4f5,Gf3d4]}) 20. Re2 Qb6 {This is a better
way to strive for counterplay.} 21. e5 Nd5 22. Ne4 {[%csl Rd6,Rf6,Rg7][%cal
Gf3h4,Gh4f5]} c4 $5 23. bxc4 $1 Ne3+ 24. Rxe3 Qxe3 25. Rb1 Qa3 (25... Be7 26.
c5 {[%csl Re3][%cal Gb1b3]} Rfc8 27. Rb3 Rxc5 28. Nxc5 Qxc5 29. Qxc5 Bxc5 30.
Rc3 Bb6 31. Rc6 Rb8 32. Kf1 a5 33. Ke2 b4 34. Kd3 $14) 26. c5 Rac8 27. Rb3 Qa4
28. Kh3 $1 $44 {[%cal Gf4f5,Gc5c6,Ge4d6]} (28. c6 $2 Rxc6 $1) (28. f5 $2 Bxc5
$1)) 19... Qe7 20. e5 Nd5 21. Nf1 $11 {Quite sadly, the knight which seemed
designed for the central e4-square has to occupy a defensive position.} Rad8
22. a3 $5 (22. Nd4 c5 23. Nf5 Qb7 $36) 22... Bc5 (22... Bxa3 23. Nd4 c5 24. Nf5
Qb7 25. Kf2 Bb4 26. Qe4 $44) 23. b4 Bb6 24. Rd2 Qd7 25. f5 {This looks less
threatening now without the support of all the pieces.} Rfe8 26. Rad1 c6 $11 {
/~~ Black is well developed and enjoys stability in the centre. White's
attacking prospects are not too realistic.} 27. Rc1 Be3 $5 {An interesting way
of striving for active counterplay.} (27... Rc8 $11) 28. Rxd5 $8 cxd5 29. Nxe3
d4 30. Nf1 $6 {On general grounds, the player with two knights for a rook
should avoid the exchange of the additional pair of rooks.} (30. Rd1 {should
probably have been preferred.} Qb7 31. Nf1 Rxe5 32. Kf2 Red5 $13) 30... Rc8 31.
Qd1 Rxc1 32. Qxc1 Qxf5 $44 {/=/+ Black's play is easier now. White's display
of activity will only bring him trouble.} 33. Qc6 Rc8 34. Qxa6 Rc2+ 35. N1d2 g5
36. Qxh6 g4 37. Nh4 Qxe5 38. Kf2 Ra2 39. h3 d3 40. Qe3 Qxe3+ 41. Kxe3 gxh3 42.
Nhf3 Rxa3 43. Kf2 Ra4 44. Kg1 Rxb4 45. Kh2 Ra4 46. Kxh3 Ra8 47. Nd4 b4 48. Kg4
Re8 49. Kf5 Re2 50. N4b3 Kf8 51. Ne4 Ke7 52. Ke5 Rg2 53. Kf4 Ke6 54. Kf3 Re2
55. Nec5+ Kd5 56. Nxd3 Re8 57. Na5 Rb8 58. Nc1 Kc5 59. Nd3+ Kd5 60. Nc1 Rc8 61.
Ncb3 Ke5 62. Ke2 Rc2+ 63. Kf3 Rc3+ 64. Kg4 Ke4 65. Nb7 Kd3 66. N3a5 Kd4 67. Kf4
Kd5 68. Nd8 Rc8 69. Ndb7 Rc3 70. Nd8 Ra3 71. Ndc6 b3 72. Nxb3 Rxb3 73. Ne5 Rb1
74. g4 Rf1+ 75. Nf3 Ke6 76. Kg3 Ra1 77. Kf4 Ra4+ 78. Kg3 Kd5 79. Nh4 Ke4 80. g5
Ke5 81. Kh3 Kf4 82. g6 Kg5 0-1

[Event "Foros Aerosvit 3rd"]
[Site "Foros"]
[Date "2008.06.12"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Shirov, Alexei"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D43"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2740"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "126"]
[EventDate "2008.06.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "UKR"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 125"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e3 Nd7 8. Rc1
Bd6 9. Bd3 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Qe7 11. O-O O-O 12. Ne4 Bc7 13. Bb3 {A quiet
prophylactical move leading to a slight plus for White, due to his space
advantage.} Rd8 (13... e5 14. d5 cxd5 15. Qxd5 Bb8 (15... Nb6 $2 16. Qc5 $1)
16. Rfd1 Nf6 17. Nxf6+ Qxf6 18. Nd2 a5 19. Ne4 Qg6 20. Nc5 Ra7 21. Nd7 Bxd7 22.
Qxd7 b6 23. Qb5 $16 {1-0 Cebalo,M-Mazuran,M/Pula 1993/EXT 1999 (35)}) 14. Qc2 (
14. Qe2 $5 Rb8 (14... Nf8 15. Ne5 Rb8 (15... Bd7 16. f4 Be8 17. Nc5 $14) 16. f4
f6 17. Nd3 Kh8 18. Ndc5 a5 19. a3 Ra8 20. Qc2 b6 21. Nd3 Bd7 22. Qc4 (22. Ba4
$1 $14) 22... Rac8 23. Ba2 Be8 24. b4 Bg6 25. Nef2 Bd6 26. Rfd1 axb4 27. axb4
Ra8 $132 {1-0 Cebalo,M-Kuczynski,R/Polanica Zdroj 1992/CBM 031 (50)}) (14... a5
15. a3 Nf6 16. Nxf6+ Qxf6 17. Rfd1 Bd7 18. Rc5 Be8 19. Qc2 $1 Qe7 20. Ba2 Bd6
21. Rc3 Rac8 22. h4 g6 23. e4 $14 {1/2-1/2 Bareev,E-Anand,V/Linares 1992/CBM
028/[Dautov] (46)}) 15. h3 Kh8 16. Rfd1 Nf8 17. Ne5 Bd7 18. f4 Be8 19. a3 a5
20. Qc4 f6 21. Nd3 Bf7 22. Nec5 Kg8 23. Rf1 Bd6 24. Qc3 Ra8 25. Rce1 Kh8 26.
Rf3 Bg6 27. Rg3 $14 {0-1 Ribli,Z-Kuczynski,R/Tilburg 1992/CBM 032 (29)}) 14...
a5 $146 {Other moves seen in practice:} (14... Nf8 15. Rfd1 (15. Ne5 f6 16. Nf3
Bd7 17. Nc5 Bc8 {1/2-1/2 Sandstrom,L-Beikert,G/Baden-Baden 1993/TD (17)}) 15...
Rb8 16. a3 (16. Ne5 Bd7 17. a3 Be8 18. Ba2 f6 19. Nd3 Bg6 20. Nec5 Kh8 21. Qc4
Bh7 22. b4 Rd5 23. g3 Qf7 24. Qc2 Rh5 25. Qe2 $14 {1-0 Kumaran,D-Berezin,O/
Halle 1995/CBM 048 ext (35)}) 16... Bd7 17. Nc5 Be8 18. Qe4 (18. Ba2 Kh8 19.
Nd3 b6 20. b4 Rdc8 21. Rd2 Ra8 22. Qb2 a5 23. Rdc2 axb4 24. axb4 f6 25. Rc3 Ra7
26. Ra3 Rxa3 27. Qxa3 Bg6 28. Nfe1 Bd6 $132 {1/2-1/2 Cramling,P-Galliamova,A/
Groningen 1997/CBM 062 ext (41)}) 18... Nh7 (18... Bd6 19. Ne5 Kh8 20. Ned3 $14
{1/2-1/2 Schmidt,W-Kuczynski,R/Cetniewo 1991/CBM 022 ext}) 19. Nd3 (19. Ne5 $5)
19... Ng5 20. Nxg5 Qxg5 21. f4 Qf6 22. Qf3 Kh8 23. Rc3 Rbc8 24. Ba2 Qe7 25. Bb3
Ba5 26. Rc2 Bc7 27. Qe4 Qf6 28. Ne5 Qe7 29. Nd3 Qf6 30. Ba4 (30. Nc5 $142 $14)
30... Qf5 31. Qxf5 (31. Qf3 Qd5) 31... exf5 32. Nc5 Rb8 33. Kf2 Bd6 34. Rdc1 g6
35. b4 Rdc8 36. Bb3 Rc7 37. Bc4 Re7 38. a4 Kg8 {1/2-1/2 Petrosian,T-Dorfman,J/
Moscow 1976/URS-ch (44)}) (14... Rb8 15. a3 Nf8 16. Ne5 Bd7 17. Nc5 Be8 18. Ba2
(18. f4 $5) (18. Qe4 $5) 18... b6 (18... Kh8 19. Qe4 f6 20. Qh4 Bd6 21. Nf3 b6
22. Ne4 c5 23. Nxd6 Qxd6 24. Rfd1 Rbc8 25. Bb3 cxd4 26. Rxc8 Rxc8 27. Nxd4 $14
{1-0 Zarubin,O-Filipenko,A/Severodonetsk 1982/EXT 1999 (48)}) 19. Ncd3 c5 $1
20. dxc5 Bxe5 21. Nxe5 Qxc5 22. Qxc5 bxc5 23. Nc4 {1/2-1/2 Bareev,E-Dreev,A/
Elista 1998/CBM 065}) (14... Nf6 15. Rfd1 (15. Nc5 b6 16. Nd3 Bb7 17. Rfd1 Rac8
18. Qe2 Bb8 19. Rc2 Ne4 20. Rdc1 Bd6 21. a3 c5 22. dxc5 Nxc5 23. Nxc5 Bxc5 24.
Bc4 {1/2-1/2 Haap,J-Remmler,H/Schwaebisch Gmuend 2001/CBM 080 ext}) (15. Nxf6+
$5 Qxf6 16. Rfd1 Bd7 17. Qe4 Re8 18. Ne5 Rad8 19. f4 Bd6 20. Rd2 Bc8 21. g4 g6
22. Rf1 Re7 23. h4 Qg7 24. h5 $36 {1-0 Van Seben,E-Budra,Z/IECG 2001/
R1-2001-0-00006 (39)}) 15... Bd7 16. Nc5 Rab8 17. a3 Be8 18. Ba2 e5 19. Bb1
exd4 20. exd4 g6 21. Re1 Qf8 22. Ba2 Kh7 23. Qd2 Bd6 24. Nd3 Rbc8 25. Nfe5 Bb8
26. Qf4 Qg7 27. Qe3 Nd5 28. Qh3 Rc7 29. Nc5 Re7 30. Qh4 $36 {1-0 Alekseev,
E-Burmakin,V/Sochi 2005/CBM 107 (44)}) 15. a3 Rb8 {This move (you have already
seen it in some games above) is also prophylactical. The idea is that after ...
Nd7-f8(f6) and ...Bc8-d7 Ne4-c5 doesn't attack the b7 pawn. The drawback is
that after the insertion of ...a7-a5 a2-a3 the a5 pawn can be hanging at some
point.} 16. Rfd1 Nf8 17. Ne5 Bd7 18. Nxd7 $6 {A paradoxical decision, which
no-one but Magnus can explain. White exchanges his powerful knight for Black's
passive bishop. He takes into account that the bishop can be activated by
means of ...Bd7-e8, ...f7-f6 and ...Be8-g6; however, that would weaken Black's
pawn structure.} Nxd7 19. g3 Nf6 20. Qc5 Qxc5 21. Nxf6+ gxf6 22. Rxc5 {[%mdl
4096] Equal pawns, opposite-coloured bishops... and now Magnus Carlsen
outplays an outstanding endgame specialist!} Ra8 23. Kg2 Bd6 24. Rc2 f5 25. Bc4
a4 $6 {A tentative but in my opinion - a wrong move! This pawn will be weak on
a light square and need major pieces to defend it!} 26. Be2 Be7 27. Bf3 Ra5 28.
Rc4 Bf6 29. Rdc1 {[%cal Yf3d1] White's plan is to put his bishop to d1 or c2 
(forcing ...Rd8-a8) and then, according to the principle of two weaknesses,
after necessary preparation, open a second front on the kingside (g3-g4). To
prevent such course of events, Black opens up the centre. That creates the
second weakness at once (the f5 pawn) but Black obtains some counterplay
against the white b2 pawn.} e5 30. dxe5 Bxe5 31. Rb4 Rd7 32. Rc2 Kg7 33. Kf1
Bf6 34. Rcc4 Ra8 35. Rf4 Ra5 36. Ke2 $6 (36. Rxa4 Rxa4 37. Rxa4 Bxb2 38. Ra7 c5
39. Be2 $14 {[%cal Ye2c4] was probably more appropriate.}) 36... Rc5 $1 37.
Rfc4 Rxc4 38. Rxc4 Bxb2 39. Rxa4 c5 (39... Bc3 $142 $1 40. Ra7 $140 Rd2+ 41.
Kf1 Rb2 {activating the rook and Black is probably out of danger,}) 40. Kf1 b6
41. Be2 {Correcting the inaccuracy on the 36th move but now the white rook is
far less active.} Bc3 42. Bb5 Rd1+ 43. Kg2 Ba5 44. Rf4 Kg6 45. a4 (45. Bc4 $142
$1 {[%cal Yg3g4]} Rd7 46. Ba2 $1 $36 {[%cal Ra2b1]}) 45... Bc3 {[%cal Rc3e5]}
46. g4 {what else?} fxg4 47. Be8 Be5 (47... h5 48. Bxf7+ Kg5 49. h3 $1) 48.
Bxf7+ Kg5 49. Re4 Kf5 50. Rc4 Rd7 51. Bh5 Rg7 52. a5 (52. h3 $5 gxh3+ 53. Kxh3
{creating connected passed pawns}) 52... bxa5 53. Rxc5 Ra7 54. Rc4 Rg7 55. Rc5
Ra7 56. Rc4 Rg7 57. Rc6 Ra7 58. Bg6+ Kg5 59. Bc2 a4 {[%csl Ga4]} ({Black is
out of danger after} 59... h5 {, too}) 60. Rg6+ Kh5 $2 (60... Kh4 $1 61. Rxh6+
Kg5 62. Re6 Bb8 {and White can't make exploit the dangerous position of the
black king.}) 61. Re6 $2 (61. h3 $1 a3 (61... gxh3+ 62. Kxh3 a3 63. Rg2 $18 {
- the h6 pawn harms Black!}) 62. hxg4+ (62. Rxg4 Rg7 63. Rxg7 Bxg7 64. Bb3 {
is hardly winning}) 62... Kh4 63. Bf5 Bg7 (63... a2 64. Rxh6+ Kg5 65. Rg6+ Kh4
66. f4 Rh7 $8 67. Ra6 a1=Q 68. Rxa1 Bxa1 69. Bxh7 Kxg4 {is a tablebase win for
White - Black can't reach a drawish setup Kf6, Bd6}) 64. Be6 {and White keeps
good winning chances}) 61... Bg7 $4 {[%mdl 8192] A terrible mistake - nothing
unusual after a long defence. Black overlooks a mating idea.} ({After} 61...
Bb8 {White can't win}) 62. Kg3 Ra5 63. Bg6+ Kg5 (63... Kg5 {and Black resigned,
noticing} 64. h4+ (64. f4+ gxf3 65. h4#) 64... gxh3 65. f4#) 1-0

[Event "Foros Aerosvit 3rd"]
[Site "Foros"]
[Date "2008.06.13"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Alekseev, Evgeny V"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E18"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2711"]
[PlyCount "36"]
[EventDate "2008.06.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "UKR"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 125"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. Nc3 Ne4 7. Bd2 d5 8. cxd5
exd5 9. O-O O-O 10. Rc1 Nd7 11. Bf4 Nxc3 12. Rxc3 c5 13. dxc5 bxc5 14. b4 cxb4
15. Rc7 Nc5 16. Nd4 Rc8 17. Rxc8 Qxc8 18. Qb1 a5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Foros Aerosvit 3rd"]
[Site "Foros"]
[Date "2008.06.15"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Nisipeanu, Liviu Dieter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B70"]
[WhiteElo "2684"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2008.06.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "UKR"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 125"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be2 Bg7 7. O-O Nc6 8.
Nb3 O-O 9. Kh1 a6 10. f4 b5 11. Bf3 Bb7 12. a4 {Black's pieces are developed
so harmoniously, that White's chances to get the advantage must be minimal.} (
12. Qe1 Rc8 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 Nd4 15. Nxd4 Bxd4 16. c3 Bg7 17. a4 Qd7 18.
Qd1 Rc4 19. axb5 axb5 20. Qb3 Rfc8 {0-1 Koenig,I-Napolitano,M/Munich 1936 (49)}
) (12. Be3 Nd7 13. Nd4 Na5 14. b3 Rc8 15. Qd2 Nc6 16. Nce2 Qc7 17. Rac1 Nxd4
18. Bxd4 e5 19. Ba1 Nc5 20. f5 Bxe4 21. f6 Bh8 22. Nc3 Bxf3 23. Rxf3 {1-0
Sznapik,A (2440)-Sax,G (2550)/Baile Herculane 1982 (42)}) (12. e5 dxe5 13. Nc5
Qb6 14. Nxb7 Qxb7 15. fxe5 Nd7 16. e6 fxe6 17. Ne4 Rad8 18. Qe1 Nde5 19. Ng5
Qc8 20. Qh4 h6 21. Ne4 Nd4 $19 {0-1 Cherniaev,A (2410)-Serper,G (2560)/St
Petersburg 1994 (27)}) (12. Nd5 e6 13. Nxf6+ Bxf6 14. c3 Qc7 15. Be3 Rad8 16.
Qe2 Nb8 17. Qf2 Nd7 18. Rfd1 Be7 19. Bd4 e5 20. Be3 exf4 21. Bxf4 Ne5 $11 {
1-0 Barua,D (2528)-Bakre,T (2443)/Calicut 2003 (61)}) 12... b4 13. Nd5 Nxd5 {
Both other alternative moves make an equally good impression, the only problem
was the burden of choice.} (13... e6 14. Ne3 Qc7 15. Bd2 a5 $11) (13... Nd7 14.
a5 (14. f5 e6 15. Nf4 Qe7 $15) 14... Rb8 15. Be3 $13) 14. exd5 Na5 15. c3 $5 {
Nisipeanu felt, that his position could become endangered and thus he chooses
somewhat shocking solution.} (15. Qd3 Rc8 16. Nd4 Qb6 17. Rd1 Qc5 18. Nb3 Nxb3
19. Qxb3 a5 20. c3 Ba6 21. cxb4 Qxb4 22. Qxb4 axb4 23. Rb1 b3 $17 {0-1 Boulay,
D-Charbonneau,P/Montreal 1997 (79)}) (15. Nxa5 Qxa5 16. Re1 Bf6 17. Qd3 Rfc8
$15) 15... bxc3 16. bxc3 Rc8 (16... Bxc3 17. Rb1 Rb8 18. Be3 Nc4 19. Bd4 $15)
17. Rb1 Ba8 18. Nd2 $6 {White was playing really slowly at this stage and the
insecurity has kept going till the last move. A much better idea was to crown
his risky concept with the logical move 18.f5!? with chances for full
compensation.} (18. f5 $5 Bxc3 (18... gxf5 19. Nd4 Qd7 20. Qd3 e6 21. Qxa6 $14)
19. Bh6 Bg7 20. Bxg7 Kxg7 21. Qd4+ Kg8 22. fxg6 hxg6 23. Nd2 $44) 18... Nc4 (
18... Bxc3 19. Qe2 Qd7 20. Qxa6 Qxa4 21. Ne4 Qc2 $15) 19. Nxc4 Rxc4 20. Bd2 (
20. Qd3 Qc7 21. Bd2 Rxa4 $15) 20... Qa5 21. Qe1 (21. Qe2 Bxd5 22. Qxe7 Bxf3 23.
Rxf3 Qd5 24. Qe2 Rxa4 $17) 21... Bxd5 22. Be2 Qxa4 $1 {[%mdl 1024] Young
Carlsen is well known for his positive attitude towards exchange sacrifices.
At this moment the trade is nearly forced, but the consequences will be very
pleasant for Black.} (22... Rxa4 23. c4 Bxg2+ 24. Kxg2 $13) 23. Bxc4 Bxc4 24.
Rf2 (24. Rg1 Qc2 $17) 24... e6 25. Be3 (25. Rb4 Qc6 26. Be3 Qd5 $17) 25... Bd5
26. Rfb2 Qe4 27. Qd2 h5 {The optimal spread of the black forces is clearly
favourable for the activity with two bishops.} (27... a5 $17) 28. Bd4 (28. Rb8
$2 Bxc3 $1 $19) 28... Bh6 29. Be3 $138 (29. Rb8 Bxf4 30. Rxf8+ Kxf8 31. Rb8+
Ke7 $19) 29... a5 $1 30. Rb8 $6 {Time trouble is seldom a relief in difficult
positions. Nisipeanu would love to exchange the pieces in order to ease the
pressure from his opponent.} (30. Ra1 Ra8 31. Kg1 e5 $17) 30... Kh7 31. h3 (31.
Rxf8 $2 Qxb1+ $19) 31... Rxb8 32. Rxb8 Bg7 33. Bd4 Bxd4 34. cxd4 a4 $1 {
The true consequence of exchanges is the situation, in which White has no way
of preventing the black pawn from reaching the a2-square.} 35. Kh2 a3 36. Rb4
a2 37. Ra4 Qb1 {White is just able to stop the pawn from promoting, but not
the disaster on the kingside.} (37... Qb1 38. Qc3 Qf1 $19) 0-1

[Event "Foros Aerosvit 3rd"]
[Site "Foros"]
[Date "2008.06.16"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Onischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E05"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2664"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2008.06.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "UKR"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 125"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. Qxc4
b5 9. Qc2 Bb7 10. Bd2 Bd6 11. Be3 Nbd7 12. Nbd2 Qe7 13. Nb3 Be4 14. Qc1 e5 15.
dxe5 Nxe5 16. Nxe5 Bxg2 17. Nc6 Bxc6 18. Qxc6 Ng4 19. Bd4 Qxe2 20. Rfe1 Qd3 21.
h3 Nh6 22. Be5 Bxe5 23. Rxe5 Nf5 24. Rae1 g6 25. Rd5 Qc4 26. Rc5 Qd3 27. Rd5
Qc4 28. Rc5 Qd3 29. Rd5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Foros Aerosvit 3rd"]
[Site "Foros"]
[Date "2008.06.17"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Jakovenko, Dmitrij"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2711"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[PlyCount "31"]
[EventDate "2008.06.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "UKR"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 125"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 e6 4. g3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O Be7 7. b3 O-O 8. Bb2
d6 9. e3 Nbd7 10. d4 Ne4 11. Nxe4 Bxe4 12. Qe2 Qc7 13. Rfd1 Qb7 14. Ne1 Nf6 15.
Rac1 cxd4 16. Bxd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Foros Aerosvit 3rd"]
[Site "Foros"]
[Date "2008.06.18"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Volokitin, Andrei"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D56"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2684"]
[PlyCount "158"]
[EventDate "2008.06.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "UKR"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 125"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 Ne4 8. Bxe7
Qxe7 9. Rc1 c6 10. Bd3 Nxc3 11. Rxc3 Nd7 12. Qc2 dxc4 13. Bxc4 e5 14. Qe4 Re8
15. O-O exd4 16. Qxe7 Rxe7 17. Nxd4 g6 18. Rd1 a6 19. f3 c5 20. Ne2 b5 21. Bd5
Ra7 22. Nf4 Kg7 23. b3 b4 24. Rcd3 a5 25. e4 a4 26. R3d2 axb3 27. Bxb3 Nb6 28.
Rc1 Rec7 29. Rdc2 g5 30. Nd5 Nxd5 31. exd5 Ra5 32. Rc4 Ba6 33. d6 Rd7 34. Rxc5
Rxc5 35. Rxc5 Rxd6 36. Rc7 Rf6 37. Kf2 g4 38. Ke3 Bf1 39. Rc2 gxf3 40. gxf3 Bh3
41. Rc7 Bg2 42. f4 Rf5 43. Rd7 Bc6 44. Rd6 Bh1 45. Rd4 Rh5 46. Rd2 Rh3+ 47. Kd4
Rf3 48. Rd1 Bg2 49. Ke5 Re3+ 50. Kd6 Bh3 51. Kc5 Re2 52. Kxb4 Rxh2 53. a4 Rf2
54. Rd4 h5 55. a5 Bf1 56. Bc4 h4 57. Bxf1 Rxf1 58. f5 h3 59. Rh4 Rh1 60. a6 h2
61. a7 Ra1 62. Rxh2 Rxa7 63. Kc5 Rd7 64. Kc6 Rd3 65. Ra2 Kf6 66. Ra7 Rd8 67.
Kc5 Rd1 68. Kc4 Rd2 69. Kc5 Rf2 70. Kd4 Rxf5 71. Ke3 Rf1 72. Ra5 Kg6 73. Ra8
Kf5 74. Ke2 Rf4 75. Ke3 f6 76. Rb8 Ra4 77. Kf3 Ra3+ 78. Kf2 Kg5 79. Rb4 f5
1/2-1/2

[Event "Foros Aerosvit 3rd"]
[Site "Foros"]
[Date "2008.06.19"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D87"]
[WhiteElo "2732"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2008.06.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "UKR"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 125"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.07.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.07.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8.
Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O Na5 11. Bd3 b6 12. Qd2 e5 13. Bh6 exd4 14. Bxg7 Kxg7
15. cxd4 cxd4 16. Rac1 Bb7 17. f4 Rc8 18. Rxc8 Qxc8 19. f5 Nc6 20. Rf3 Ne5 21.
Rh3 Rh8 22. f6+ Kg8 23. Qh6 Qf8 24. Qxf8+ Kxf8 25. Nxd4 Ke8 26. Bb5+ Kd8 27.
Rc3 a6 28. Ba4 b5 29. Bb3 Re8 30. Nf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM 41st"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2008.07.20"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Pelletier, Yannick"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2569"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2008.07.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qc2 Bb7 6. Bg2 c5 7. d5 exd5 8. cxd5
Nxd5 9. O-O Be7 10. Rd1 Nc6 11. Qf5 Nf6 12. e4 d6 13. e5 Qd7 14. Qxd7+ Nxd7 15.
exd6 Bf6 16. Re1+ Kf8 17. Nc3 Nb4 18. Bg5 Nc2 19. Re7 Bxf3 20. Bxf3 Bxg5 21.
Rxd7 Rd8 22. Rxd8+ Bxd8 23. Rd1 Nd4 24. Bg2 h5 25. a4 a6 26. Bb7 Rh6 27. d7 Rd6
28. Bc8 Nf3+ 29. Kg2 Rxd1 30. Nxd1 Ne1+ 31. Kf1 Nf3 32. h4 Ke7 33. Ne3 g6 34.
Bxa6 Kxd7 35. Ke2 Ne5 36. f4 Ng4 37. Bb5+ Ke7 38. Nd5+ Kd6 39. Bc4 Nh6 40. Ne3
Bf6 41. Bd3 Bd8 42. Kf3 Ng4 43. Nxg4 hxg4+ 44. Kxg4 Ke6 45. Bc4+ Ke7 46. Kf3 f5
47. Ke2 Kf8 48. Kd3 Bf6 49. b3 Bb2 50. Bd5 Ba3 51. Kc4 Bb4 52. Kb5 Ba5 53. Bc4
Ke7 54. Kc6 Kf6 55. Bd3 Kf7 56. h5 gxh5 57. Bxf5 Kf6 58. Be4 Kg7 59. Bf3 Kh6
60. Kb5 Kg6 61. Bd1 Kh6 62. Be2 Kg6 63. Bf3 Kh6 64. Bc6 1-0

[Event "Biel GM 41st"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2008.07.21"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Alekseev, Evgeny V"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2708"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2008.07.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qa4 Bb7 6. Bg2 c5 7. dxc5 bxc5 8. O-O
Be7 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Rd1 Qb6 11. Bf4 Rd8 12. Rd2 d6 13. Rad1 a6 14. Qc2 Qc7 15.
e4 Nh5 16. Be3 Nc6 17. h3 h6 18. Nh2 Rac8 19. Nf1 Nf6 20. f4 d5 21. cxd5 Nd4
22. Qb1 exd5 23. e5 Ne4 24. Nxe4 dxe4 25. Kf2 Nf3 26. Rxd8+ Rxd8 27. Rxd8+ Qxd8
28. Qc1 g5 29. Bxf3 exf3 30. fxg5 hxg5 31. Qd2 Qb6 32. Nh2 Qg6 33. Ng4 c4 34.
Nf6+ Kg7 35. g4 Qd3 36. Ne8+ Kg6 37. Nd6 Ba8 38. b3 Qxd2+ 39. Bxd2 cxb3 40.
axb3 f6 41. Bc3 fxe5 42. Bxe5 a5 43. Nf5 Bd8 44. Bc3 Bb7 45. Nd4 Bf6 46. Ke3
Be5 47. Be1 Bxd4+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM 41st"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2008.07.22"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bacrot, Etienne"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D36"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2691"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2008.07.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. cxd5 exd5 7. e3 Be7 8.
Qc2 Nh5 9. Bxe7 Qxe7 10. O-O-O Nb6 11. h3 Be6 12. Bd3 O-O-O 13. Kb1 Kb8 14. Nd2
g6 15. Nb3 Ng7 16. f3 Bf5 17. Bxf5 Nxf5 18. Rhe1 Nc4 19. Qc1 Qg5 20. g4 Ng7 21.
f4 Qh4 22. e4 Qxh3 23. exd5 cxd5 24. Nc5 Ne6 25. b3 Nxc5 26. dxc5 Na5 27. b4
Nc4 28. Nxd5 Na3+ 29. Ka1 Rhe8 30. c6 bxc6 31. Qxc6 1-0

[Event "Biel GM 41st"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2008.07.24"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Onischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D19"]
[WhiteElo "2670"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2008.07.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 e6 7. Bxc4 Bb4 8. O-O
Nbd7 9. Qe2 Bg4 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 O-O 12. Rd1 e5 13. d5 Bxc3 14. dxc6 e4 15.
Qe2 Be5 16. cxd7 Qe7 17. Ra2 Rfd8 18. b3 Rxd7 19. Rxd7 Qxd7 20. Rd2 Qe7 21. Rd1
h6 22. Qa2 Rd8 23. Rxd8+ Qxd8 24. Qd2 Qe7 25. Qa5 b6 26. Qd2 a5 27. Bb2 Bxb2
28. Qxb2 Kf8 29. Qd4 Qc7 30. Kf1 Ke7 31. Ke2 g5 32. g3 Qc5 33. Qxc5+ bxc5 34.
f4 Ne8 35. g4 Nd6 36. Bd5 Kf6 37. Kf2 Kg6 38. Kg3 f6 39. Be6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM 41st"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2008.07.25"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B81"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2708"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2008.07.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e6 7. g4 b5 8. Bg2
Bb7 9. O-O Nc6 10. Nxc6 Bxc6 11. Re1 Nd7 12. Nd5 Bb7 13. Qd4 Ne5 14. f4 Nc6 15.
Qf2 exd5 16. exd5+ Ne7 17. a4 Kd7 18. Be3 Bxd5 19. Bb6 Qb8 20. Rxe7+ Bxe7 21.
Bxd5 Bh4 22. Qd4 Bf6 23. Qf2 Bh4 24. Qd4 Bf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM 41st"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2008.07.26"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Pelletier, Yannick"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2569"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2008.07.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Bg2 d5 {
I wanted to play for a win. I don't know about Yannick's intentions, but
anyway 7...c6 wasn't satisfactory. Ich wollte auf Gewinn spielen. Ich weiß
nicht, wie es um Yannicks Absichten bestellt war, aber so oder so war 7...c6
jedenfalls nicht zufriedenstellend.} 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Nc3 O-O 10. O-O Bb7 11.
Rc1 Nbd7 {The normal way to treat these positions is to put the knight on a6,
from where it can be transferred to e6 via c7 after having played ...c5. The
text move was played by Leko against van Wely in Dortmund. The knight will
still usually go to e6, in this case via f8.  Die normale Behandlungsweise
dieser Stellungen besteht darin, den Springer nach a6 zu stellen, von wo er
nach ...c5 über c7 nach e6 überführt werden kann. Der Textzug wurde von Leko
gegen van Wely in Dortmund gespielt. Der Springer wird meist trotzdem nach e6
gehen, in diesem Fall über f8.} 12. Bf4 {With the knight on d7 it is better to
put the pawn on c6, because d5 would be weaker than with the knight on a6, and
in addition the c7-square would not be covered in case of an eventual Nb5. Mit
dem Springer auf d7 ist es besser, den Bauern nach c6 zu stellen, denn ohne
den Springer auf a6 wäre d5 schwächer, und außerdem wäre im Fall eines
eventuellen Nb5 das Feld c7 nicht gedeckt.} c6 13. Qc2 Re8 14. Rcd1 {The idea
of this slightly weird-looking move is to play Ne5, when the rook would be
well placed on d1. However, after Black's response, Ne5 will not really have
the desired effect, and White will have to change plans. Still the move cannot
really be called a mistake, as nothing much is happening here anyway, and a
tempo loss isn't that serious. Die Idee dieses etwas seltsam wirkenden Zuges
ist, Ne5 zu spielen, wonach der Turm auf d1 gut stände. Doch nach der
schwarzen Erwiderung wird Ne5 eindeutig nicht den gewünschten Effekt haben,
und Weiß wird umdenken müssen. Trotzdem ist der Zug nicht wirklich als Fehler
zu bezeichnen, da sowieso nicht viel los ist und ein Tempoverlust nicht so
tragisch ausfällt.} Bb4 $1 15. Bd2 (15. Ne5 Nxe5 16. Bxe5 (16. dxe5 Ng4) 16...
Nd7 {fails to impress. vermag nicht zu beeindrucken.}) 15... Rc8 16. Qb2 Qe7
17. Rfe1 Qf8 {A totally unnecessary move, as e4 Bxc3 exd5 will probably never
really be an issue. However, since my opponent had already consumed a lot of
time, and didn't seem to have found a plan, I thought it might be a good idea
to just wait and see. Ein total unnötiger Zug, da e4 Bxc3 exd5 wahrscheinlich
nie wirklich ein Thema sein wird. Aber da mein Gegner bereits eine Menge Zeit
verbraucht hatte und keinen Plan gefunden zu haben schien, hielt ich es für
eine gute Idee, einfach abzuwarten.} 18. Bh3 Rcd8 19. Qc2 h6 $5 ({The normal
Das normale} 19... Ne4 20. Nxe4 dxe4 21. Bxd7 Rxd7 22. Bxb4 Qxb4 23. Ne5 Rxd4
24. Nxc6 Bxc6 25. Qxc6 Red8 26. Rxd4 $1 {is obviously fine for Black, but not
especially interesting. I wanted to keep the pieces on the board! ist
offensichtlich in Ordnung für Schwarz, aber nicht sonderlich interessant. Ich
wollte die Figuren auf dem Brett behalten!}) 20. Nh4 {Probably a good move,
even if this is what I wanted to provoke with my previous move. The knight
looks nice on f5, but it is also a bit loose. Wahrscheinlich ein guter Zug,
auch wenn ich genau dies mit meinem vorigen Zug provozieren wollte. Der
Springer sieht gut aus auf f5, hängt aber auch ein bisschen in der Luft.} c5
21. Nf5 a6 {I felt that I had to cover the b5-square, and this certainly felt
more natural than the computer suggestion of Ba6. Ich spürte, dass ich das
Feld b5 decken musste, und dies fühlte sich gewiss natürlicher an als der
Computervorschlag Ba6.} 22. Qb2 Bxc3 {I decided that it was time to ease the
pressure. Ich beschloss, dass es Zeit war, den Druck zu lindern.} ({Rybka's
suggestion of Rybkas Vorschlag} 22... cxd4 23. Nxd4 Ne5 {with nice piece play
as compensation for the isolated pawn is probably also fine. mit schönem
Figurenspiel als Kompensation für den isolierten Bauern ist wahrscheinlich
auch gut.}) 23. Bxc3 Ne4 24. dxc5 Nxc3 25. Qxc3 bxc5 26. Qa5 Nf6 27. Qb6 $2 {
The critical moment in the game. Pelletier got too excited and missed a simple
tactic, after which the white pieces are suddenly loose, and soon everything
falls apart. Der kritische Moment in der Partie. Pelletier wurde zu aufgeregt
und übersah eine einfache taktische Wendung, wonach die weißen Figuren
plötzlich in der Luft hängen, und bald fällt alles auseinander.} (27. Rc1 Ne4
28. Bg2 Bc8 {or oder}) (27. Bg2 {would have led to a normal position, where
Black has a weak pawn pair in the centre, but should have sufficient dynamic
counterplay, often connected with the ideas of d4 and Ne4. hätte zu einer
normalen Stellung geführt, wo Schwarz ein schwaches Bauernpaar im Zentrum
verfügt, aber genügend dynamisches Gegenspiel haben sollte, oft verbunden mit
den Ideen d4 und Ne4.}) 27... Bc8 $1 28. Kg2 (28. Nxh6+ gxh6 29. Bxc8 Rd6 $1 {
is what Pelletier had missed. ist, was Pelletier übersehen hatte.}) (28. f3 Be6
29. e4 g6 30. g4 {is a slightly better chance according to Rybka, but I will
refrain from taking this varation any further, as I guess neither of us
calculated this, and the position really confuses me. Anyway, Black must be
winning here. ist eine etwas bessere Chance laut Rybka, aber ich werde darauf
verzichten, diese Variante weiter auszuführen, da m.E. keiner von uns dies
berechnet hatte und mich außerdem die Stellung wirklich verwirrt. So oder so,
Schwarz muss hier auf Gewinn stehen.}) 28... Ne4 29. f3 Ng5 (29... Nc3 {
was another interesting possibilty, which I in the end rejected because after
war eine weitere interssante Möglichkeit, welche ich am Ende verwarf, weil ich
nach} 30. Rd3 (30. Rd2 d4 {with ...Nd5 to come is deadly. nebst ...Nd5 ist
tödlich.}) 30... Nxe2 31. Re3 Bxf5 32. R3xe2 Rxe2+ 33. Rxe2 Bd3 {I would
"only" be a pawn up. "nur" einen Bauer mehr hätte.}) 30. g4 h5 {The most
effective. Am effektivsten.} 31. Rc1 g6 $6 (31... Nxh3 {was more accurate. My
choice in the game was based on an oversight. war genauer. Meine Wahl in der
Partie fusst auf einem Versehen..} 32. Kxh3 hxg4+ 33. fxg4 g6 34. Ng3 Qh6+ 35.
Kg2 Bxg4 {would transpose to the game. würde zur Partie führen.}) 32. Ng3 Nxh3
(32... Qh6 {was my intention, but this fails to war meine Absicht, dies
scheitert aber an} 33. Nxh5 (33. Nf5 {is also reasonable. ist ebenfalls
vernünftig.}) 33... Nxh3 34. Nf6+) 33. Kxh3 hxg4+ 34. fxg4 $6 (34. Kg2 {
was a better chance, even if Black is nearly winning anyway. war eine bessere
Chance, auch wenn Schwarz trotzdem nahezu auf Gewinn steht.}) 34... Qh6+ 35.
Kg2 Bxg4 36. Qxc5 {Losing immediately, but it was hard to suggest anything
reasonable anyway. Verliert auf der Stelle, aber es war auch schwer, etwas
Vernünftiges vorzuschlagen.} Re3 $2 (36... Rc8 {is the most obvious move, and
I tried for a while to find a forced win after it. Unfortunately the right
solution ist der offensichtlichste Zug, und ich versuchte eine Weile, danach
einen forcierten Gewinn zu finden. Leider kam mir die richtige Lösung} 37. Qa3
Rxe2+ $1 38. Nxe2 (38. Rxe2 Rxc1 $19) 38... Qh3+ 39. Kf2 Qf3+ 40. Kg1 Qe3+ 41.
Kg2 Bh3+ {with mate never crossed my mind. nebst Matt niemals in den Sinn.})
37. Qd4 {In serious time-trouble Pelletier allows a combination. It has to be
said that White was in serious trouble anyway though. In ernster Zeitnot lässt
Pelletier eine Kombination zu. Dazu ist zu sagen, dass Weiß sowieso in großen
Schwierigkeiten steckte.} (37. Kg1 {is what I considered the best defence,
after which I planned hielt ich für die beste Verteidigung, wonach ich} Rc8 38.
Qa3 Rce8 {which should still give Black a practically winning advantage.
plante, was Schwarz noch immer einen praktisch gewinnbringenden Vorteil geben
sollte.}) 37... Qh3+ 38. Kg1 Rxg3+ 39. hxg3 Qxg3+ 40. Kh1 Bf5 {Pelletier
resigned because of Pelletier gab auf wegen} (40... Bf5 41. Red1 Qg5 $1 {
protecting d8 in case of Qxe4. The decisive Be4 will now follow. , was d8
deckt für den Fall von Qxe4. Das entscheidende Be4 wird nun folgen.}) 0-1

[Event "Biel GM 41st"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2008.07.28"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Alekseev, Evgeny V"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C48"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2708"]
[PlyCount "167"]
[EventDate "2008.07.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Nc3 O-O 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. Nxe5 Qd4 8.
Be3 Qxe5 9. d4 Qe7 10. dxc5 Nxe4 11. Qd4 Bf5 12. O-O-O Rad8 13. Qb4 Qe6 14. Kb1
b5 15. b3 Qe5 16. Nxe4 Bxe4 17. Bd4 Qf5 18. Qc3 f6 19. f3 Bd5 20. Rhe1 Rd7 21.
Bf2 Rfd8 22. Rd4 h5 23. h3 Bf7 24. g4 hxg4 25. hxg4 Qg5 26. Kb2 Rxd4 27. Bxd4
Qd5 28. Rd1 b4 29. Qxb4 Qxf3 30. Rd2 Qxg4 31. Bc3 Qc8 32. Rg2 Bd5 33. Rg1 Qf5
34. Qb7 Kf7 35. Qxc7+ Rd7 36. Qc8 Be4 37. Qh8 Qh7 38. Qc8 Qf5 39. Rf1 Qe6 40.
Qh8 Re7 41. Rd1 Re8 42. Qh2 Bf5 43. Rd2 Re7 44. Qb8 Rd7 45. Rf2 Bg6 46. Rh2 Qe8
47. Qg3 Qe4 48. Rg2 Re7 49. Rd2 Rb7 50. Qh2 Re7 51. Qb8 Bf5 52. a4 Bg6 53. a5
Bf5 54. a6 Bg6 55. Qg3 Bf5 56. Rg2 Bg6 57. Rh2 Bf5 58. Qb8 Bg6 59. Ka3 Bh7 60.
Rd2 Bf5 61. Qh8 Qe3 62. Kb2 Qe4 63. Rf2 Qg4 64. Qh2 Bg6 65. Qd6 Qe6 66. Qxe6+
Kxe6 67. Ba5 Be4 68. c4 g5 69. Bd2 Rg7 70. Re2 f5 71. b4 g4 72. b5 cxb5 73.
cxb5 g3 74. Re1 Kd5 75. Be3 Bd3 76. Rd1 Ke4 77. Rxd3 Kxd3 78. Bg1 f4 79. b6 f3
80. b7 Rg8 81. c6 f2 82. c7 fxg1=Q 83. c8=Q Qd4+ 84. Ka2 0-1

[Event "Biel GM 41st"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2008.07.29"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Bacrot, Etienne"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2691"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2008.07.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 c5 5. g3 cxd4 6. Nxd4 O-O 7. Bg2 d5 8.
cxd5 Nxd5 9. Qb3 Qa5 10. Bd2 Nc6 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. O-O Bxc3 13. bxc3 Ba6 14.
Rfd1 Qc5 15. e4 Bc4 16. Qa4 Nb6 17. Qb4 Qh5 18. Bf4 c5 19. Qb2 Rad8 20. Rxd8
Rxd8 21. f3 f5 22. exf5 Qxf5 23. Re1 Qd5 24. Qa3 Qc6 25. Qxa7 Ra8 26. Qe7 Nd5
27. Qd6 Qxd6 28. Bxd6 Nxc3 29. Bxc5 Rxa2 30. Bf1 Bxf1 31. Kxf1 Kf7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM 41st"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2008.07.30"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B78"]
[WhiteElo "2708"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2008.07.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 Bg7 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nc6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O 8.
Bb3 d6 9. f3 Bd7 10. Qd2 Rc8 11. O-O-O Ne5 12. Kb1 a6 13. h4 h5 14. g4 hxg4 15.
h5 Nxh5 16. Bh6 e6 17. Rdg1 Qf6 18. fxg4 Bxh6 19. Qxh6 Qg7 20. Qe3 Nf6 21. g5
Nh5 22. Nde2 a5 23. Rxh5 gxh5 24. Nf4 Ng4 25. Qh3 Qd4 26. Nce2 Qxe4 27. Qxh5 a4
28. Rh1 Qxh1+ 29. Qxh1 axb3 30. axb3 Bc6 31. Qh4 Be4 32. Nc3 Bf5 33. Nh5 f6 34.
Ng3 Rc7 35. Nxf5 exf5 36. gxf6 Nxf6 37. Qg5+ Kf7 38. Qxf5 Re7 39. b4 Re5 40.
Qf2 Rd8 41. b3 Rd7 42. Kb2 Rde7 43. Qb6 Rd7 44. Qd4 Ke7 45. Qd3 Kf7 46. Nb5 Ke7
47. Nd4 Kf7 48. Qf3 Rh5 49. Nf5 Ke6 50. Nd4+ Kf7 51. Nf5 Ke6 52. Nd4+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM 41st"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2008.07.31"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Onischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2670"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2008.07.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 d6 7. c3 O-O 8. Nbd2
Re8 9. Re1 Bf8 10. Nf1 h6 11. Ng3 b5 12. Bc2 d5 13. d4 dxe4 14. Nxe4 Bf5 15.
Nxf6+ Qxf6 16. Nxe5 Nxe5 17. dxe5 Rxe5 18. Rxe5 Qxe5 19. Be3 Bxc2 20. Qxc2 Rd8
21. Rd1 Rxd1+ 22. Qxd1 Bd6 23. g3 Qe4 24. Bd4 f5 25. a3 Be5 26. Bc5 Qc4 27. Ba7
Bf6 28. Kg2 c6 29. Be3 Qe4+ 30. Kg1 a5 31. Bf4 a4 32. h3 Qd5 33. Qe2 Qe4 34.
Qd1 Qd5 35. Qe2 Qe4 36. Qd1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Mainz Classic rap Prelim"]
[Site "Mainz"]
[Date "2008.08.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B78"]
[WhiteElo "2798"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2008.08.01"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 125 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2
O-O 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. Bb3 Rc8 11. O-O-O Ne5 12. Kb1 a6 13. h4 h5 14. Bh6 Nc4 15.
Bxc4 Rxc4 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Rhe1 Re8 18. Nde2 Qa5 19. Nf4 Rec8 20. Ncd5 Qxd2
21. Rxd2 Nxd5 22. Nxd5 Re8 23. Nb6 Rc7 24. e5 Be6 25. exd6 Rc6 26. Na4 exd6 27.
b3 Rec8 28. Nb2 Rc5 29. Ree2 Re5 30. Nd3 Rxe2 31. Rxe2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Mainz Classic rap Prelim"]
[Site "Mainz"]
[Date "2008.08.01"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B80"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2788"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2008.08.01"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 125 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 d6 6. g3 a6 7. Bg2 Bd7 8. O-O
Nf6 9. Nce2 b5 10. a4 bxa4 11. Rxa4 Be7 12. Nxc6 Bxc6 13. Rc4 Bb5 14. Rd4 e5
15. Rd2 O-O 16. Re1 Qc7 17. Nc3 Bd7 18. Rd3 h6 19. h3 Rfc8 20. f4 Be6 21. Kh2
a5 22. g4 exf4 23. Bxf4 Nd7 24. Re2 Ne5 25. Nd5 Bxd5 26. Rxd5 Qb6 27. c3 a4 28.
Be3 Qc7 29. Bd4 Bg5 30. Rf2 Ng6 31. Rdf5 Rf8 32. Kh1 a3 33. bxa3 Rxa3 34. Rf1
Qe7 35. Qe2 Ne5 36. Qb5 g6 37. Rxe5 dxe5 38. Bc5 Rb3 39. Bxe7 Rxb5 40. Bxf8
Kxf8 41. Rf3 Rb1+ 42. Bf1 Re1 43. Kg2 Bf4 44. Bd3 Rc1 45. Bc4 Rc2+ 46. Kf1 Ke7
47. Bb3 Rb2 48. Bd5 f6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Mainz Classic rap Prelim"]
[Site "Mainz"]
[Date "2008.08.01"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Polgar, Judit"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B78"]
[WhiteElo "2711"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2008.08.01"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 125 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2
O-O 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Rc8 11. Bb3 Ne5 12. g4 b5 13. g5 b4 14. Nce2 Nh5 15.
f4 Nc4 16. Bxc4 Rxc4 17. b3 Rc7 18. Ng3 Rc3 19. Nxh5 gxh5 20. Kb1 Qa5 21. f5
Rfc8 22. f6 e5 23. Nf5 Bxf5 24. exf5 Rxc2 25. Qxc2 Rxc2 26. Kxc2 Qxa2+ 27. Kd3
Bf8 28. Rc1 d5 29. Rhd1 Qb2 30. Bd2 Qxb3+ 31. Ke2 e4 32. Be3 Qb2+ 33. Ke1 Qxh2
34. Rxd5 Qb8 35. Rcd1 b3 36. Rd8 Qb4+ 37. Kf2 b2 38. Rb1 Qa5 39. Ra8 Qxf5+ 40.
Ke1 Qa5+ 41. Kf2 Qc7 42. Rd1 Qh2+ 43. Ke1 Qh1+ 44. Ke2 Qxd1+ 0-1

[Event "Mainz Classic rap Prelim"]
[Site "Mainz"]
[Date "2008.08.02"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2798"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2008.08.01"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 125 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qc2 Bb7 6. Bg2 c5 7. d5 exd5 8. cxd5
Nxd5 9. O-O Be7 10. Rd1 Qc8 11. e4 Nc7 12. Nc3 O-O 13. e5 Ne6 14. Nd5 Bxd5 15.
Rxd5 Nc6 16. Qe4 Qb7 17. a3 Na5 18. Nh4 Nb3 19. Nf5 Rae8 20. Qa4 Nxa1 21. Rxd7
Qb8 22. Nxe7+ Rxe7 23. Rxe7 Qxe5 24. Bf1 Qd5 25. Qd7 Qb3 26. Qxa7 Qd1 27. Be3
Nc2 28. Rd7 Ned4 29. Bxd4 Nxd4 30. Qb7 Nf3+ 31. Kg2 Ne1+ 32. Kg1 Nf3+ 33. Kg2
1/2-1/2

[Event "Mainz Classic rap Prelim"]
[Site "Mainz"]
[Date "2008.08.02"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E17"]
[WhiteElo "2788"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2008.08.01"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 125 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Re1 Na6 8. Ne5
d5 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. Nc3 c5 13. e3 Bxe5 14. dxe5 Nc7
15. Qa4 Qe7 16. f4 Rfd8 17. Rad1 Qe6 18. b4 Bc6 19. Qb3 Rd7 20. bxc5 bxc5 21.
Qa3 Qe7 22. Rd2 Rad8 23. Red1 f6 24. e6 Nxe6 25. Nxd5 Qf7 26. Qa5 f5 27. Ne7+
Qxe7 28. Bxc6 Rxd2 29. Rxd2 Kh7 30. Kf2 Qf6 31. Bd7 c4 32. Bxe6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Mainz Classic rap Prelim"]
[Site "Mainz"]
[Date "2008.08.02"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Polgar, Judit"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2711"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2008.08.01"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 125 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. e3 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bb5+ Bd7 7. Bxd7+ Nbxd7
8. dxc5 Nxc5 9. O-O Bd6 10. Nc3 Nce4 11. Nxd5 Bxh2+ 12. Nxh2 Qxd5 13. Qxd5 Nxd5
14. f3 Nc5 15. e4 Nb4 16. Bd2 Nc6 17. Ng4 Rd8 18. Rfd1 f6 19. Ne3 Kf7 20. Nf5
Nd3 21. Bc3 Rd7 22. Rd2 Rhd8 23. Rad1 b5 24. b4 a5 25. a3 axb4 26. axb4 Nce5
27. Bxe5 fxe5 28. Kf1 g6 29. Ne3 Ke6 30. Nd5 Nxb4 31. Nc7+ Ke7 32. Rxd7+ Rxd7
33. Rxd7+ Kxd7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Mainz Classic rap fin"]
[Site "Mainz"]
[Date "2008.08.03"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B78"]
[WhiteElo "2798"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2008.08.03"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 125 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2
O-O 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. Bb3 Rc8 11. O-O-O Ne5 12. Kb1 a6 13. h4 h5 14. g4 hxg4 15.
h5 Nxh5 16. Rdg1 Qa5 17. Bh6 Rxc3 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. Rxh5 Rxb3 20. Qxa5 Rxb2+
21. Ka1 gxh5 22. f4 Be6 23. Nxe6+ fxe6 24. fxe5 Rb5 25. Qc7 Rxe5 26. Qxe7+ Rf7
27. Qxd6 Rxe4 28. Rh1 Rf5 29. Qe7+ Kg6 30. Qe8+ Kg7 31. Rd1 Rd5 32. Rxd5 exd5
33. Qxh5 b5 34. Qg5+ Kh7 35. Qxd5 Ra4 36. Qg5 Rc4 37. Kb2 Rb4+ 38. Kc1 Ra4 39.
a3 Rc4 40. Kd2 Rd4+ 41. Ke1 Ra4 42. Kf1 Rc4 43. Kg1 Rc6 44. Qd5 Rg6 45. a4 bxa4
46. Qd7+ Kh6 47. Qxa4 Kg5 48. c4 Kf5 49. c5 Ke5 50. Qd7 1-0

[Event "Mainz Classic rap fin"]
[Site "Mainz"]
[Date "2008.08.03"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E05"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2798"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2008.08.03"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 125 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. Qxc4
b5 9. Qc2 Bb7 10. Bf4 Nc6 11. Nc3 Nb4 12. Qc1 Rc8 13. Rd1 Nbd5 14. Nxd5 Bxd5
15. Be3 Ng4 16. Ne1 Bxg2 17. Nxg2 Qd5 18. h3 Nxe3 19. Qxe3 c5 20. Nf4 Qf5 21.
dxc5 Bxc5 22. Qd3 Qf6 23. Qd2 Rfd8 24. Qa5 e5 25. Rxd8+ Rxd8 26. Nd3 Bb6 27.
Qc3 Bd4 28. Qe1 e4 29. Nf4 Bxb2 30. Rd1 Be5 31. Nd5 Qe6 32. Qa5 Rd6 33. Ne3
Rxd1+ 34. Nxd1 h6 35. Kg2 Qc6 36. Ne3 g6 37. Qb4 Kg7 38. Kh2 Bc3 39. Qe7 Bd4
40. Qb4 Qc5 41. Qd2 Bxe3 42. fxe3 b4 43. Kg2 a5 44. Kf2 a4 45. Qb2+ Kg8 46. Qd2
b3 47. axb3 axb3 48. Qd8+ Kg7 49. Qd2 Qb6 50. Qb2+ Qf6+ 0-1

[Event "Mainz Classic rap fin"]
[Site "Mainz"]
[Date "2008.08.03"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2798"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2008.08.03"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 125 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Nxd7 5. O-O Ngf6 6. Qe2 e6 7. b3 Be7 8.
Bb2 O-O 9. c4 a6 10. d4 cxd4 11. Nxd4 Re8 12. Nc3 Rc8 13. Rad1 Qa5 14. Kh1 Qh5
15. Qxh5 Nxh5 16. g3 Nhf6 17. Kg2 Rc7 18. f3 Rec8 19. Rf2 Kf8 20. Rfd2 h5 21.
h4 Ne5 22. Nce2 Ng6 23. Nc2 Ne8 24. Ne3 b5 25. f4 Kg8 26. f5 Nf8 27. Nf4 g6 28.
fxe6 fxe6 29. e5 dxe5 30. Bxe5 Rc6 31. Kf3 Bf6 32. Bxf6 Nxf6 33. Rd8 Rxd8 34.
Rxd8 Kf7 35. Rb8 N8d7 36. Rb7 Rb6 37. Ra7 Rd6 38. c5 Rc6 39. b4 e5 40. Nfd5 Kf8
41. a3 Ke8 42. Nxf6+ Nxf6 43. Rg7 e4+ 44. Ke2 a5 45. Rxg6 Kf7 46. Rg5 axb4 47.
axb4 Ra6 48. c6 Rxc6 49. Rxb5 Rc1 50. Rc5 Rb1 51. b5 Rb3 52. Nc4 Ke6 53. b6 Nd5
54. Rc6+ Ke7 55. Rc5 Ke6 56. Rc6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Mainz Classic rap fin"]
[Site "Mainz"]
[Date "2008.08.03"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E05"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2798"]
[PlyCount "21"]
[EventDate "2008.08.03"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 125 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.09.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.09.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. Qxc4
b5 9. Qc2 Bb7 10. Bg5 Nbd7 11. Bxf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.29"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D16"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2728"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 e6 6. e3 c5 7. Bxc4 Nc6 8. O-O
cxd4 9. exd4 Be7 10. Qe2 O-O 11. Rd1 Nd5 12. Qe4 Nf6 13. Qe2 Nd5 14. Bd3 Ncb4
15. Bb1 Bd7 16. Ne5 Rc8 17. Ne4 f6 18. Nxd7 Qxd7 19. Ra3 f5 20. Nc5 Bxc5 21.
dxc5 Rxc5 22. Be3 Rc6 23. h4 Rd8 24. Kh1 a5 25. Bg5 Re8 26. h5 h6 27. Bd2 Qf7
28. Rg3 Kh7 29. Re1 Rf8 30. Rg6 Nf6 31. Bc3 Nbd5 32. Be5 Nxh5 33. Qxh5 Qxg6 34.
Qf3 Rfc8 35. g4 Rc1 36. gxf5 Rxe1+ 37. Kh2 Qg1+ 0-1

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.29"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2788"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 a6 6. Bb3 O-O 7. h3 d6 8. Bg5
Qe7 9. Nbd2 Nd8 10. Nh4 Ne6 11. Nf5 Qd8 12. Bh4 Nf4 13. Qf3 d5 14. O-O-O dxe4
15. dxe4 Bxf5 16. exf5 Qd3 17. Bc2 Qxf3 18. Nxf3 e4 19. Nd4 Rfe8 20. Bxf6 gxf6
21. Rhe1 Rad8 22. Rxe4 Rxe4 23. Bxe4 c6 24. Kc2 Kf8 25. h4 Re8 26. Bf3 Re5 27.
g3 Nd5 28. Bxd5 Rxd5 29. f4 h5 30. Ne2 Rxf5 31. Rd7 b5 32. Kd3 Bf2 33. b4 Ke8
34. Ke4 Rc5 35. Rd3 Rc4+ 36. Kf3 Be1 37. g4 hxg4+ 38. Kxg4 Kf8 39. h5 Kg7 40.
Kf5 c5 41. h6+ Kxh6 42. Kxf6 Kh5 43. bxc5 Rxc5 44. Kxf7 Kg4 45. Ke6 Rc6+ 46.
Kd5 Rc4 47. Nd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.29"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2742"]
[PlyCount "166"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 a6 4. Bg2 c6 5. O-O b5 6. d3 d5 7. Qc2 Be7 8. b3 Nbd7
9. Bb2 O-O 10. Nbd2 Rb8 11. Rab1 c5 12. e4 bxc4 13. bxc4 d4 14. Ba3 Bb7 15. e5
Ng4 16. h3 Bxf3 17. Rxb8 Qxb8 18. Nxf3 Ngxe5 19. Nxd4 Qd6 20. Nb3 Qxd3 21. Qxd3
Nxd3 22. Rd1 N7e5 23. Na5 Nb4 24. f4 Ned3 25. Be4 Rd8 26. Nb7 Rd4 27. Bxd3 Rxd3
28. Rxd3 Nxd3 29. Kf1 e5 30. fxe5 Kf8 31. e6 fxe6 32. Ke2 Ne5 33. Na5 Ke8 34.
Bb2 Bf6 35. Bxe5 Bxe5 36. g4 Kd7 37. Kf3 Kc7 38. Ke4 Bf6 39. Nb3 Kb6 40. a4 Bc3
41. Kd3 Bb4 42. Ke4 Bc3 43. Kd3 Bf6 44. Ke4 Kc6 45. Nc1 Bb2 46. Nb3 Bc3 47. Kd3
Bf6 48. Ke4 h6 49. Nd2 Kd6 50. Nf3 Bc3 51. Kd3 Bb4 52. Ng1 Kc6 53. Ne2 e5 54.
Ng3 g6 55. Ne4 Kb6 56. Kc2 Kc6 57. Kb3 Kd7 58. Kc2 Ke6 59. Kd3 h5 60. Ng5+ Ke7
61. Ke4 Kf6 62. Nf3 Bc3 63. Kd5 Bd4 64. Ke4 Ke6 65. Nh4 hxg4 66. hxg4 Kf6 67.
Nf3 Bb2 68. Kd5 Bd4 69. Ke4 Bc3 70. g5+ Ke6 71. Nh4 Kf7 72. Kd5 Kg7 73. Nf3 Bb2
74. Nxe5 Bc1 75. Nf3 Kf7 76. Kxc5 Ke6 77. Kb6 Kf5 78. Kxa6 Ke4 79. Nh4 Bxg5 80.
Nxg6 Kf5 81. Nf8 Ke5 82. Kb5 Kd6 83. c5+ Ke7 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.29"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A47"]
[WhiteElo "2723"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 cxd4 5. exd4 b6 6. c3 Bb7 7. Nbd2 Be7 8. h3
O-O 9. Bd3 d6 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Re1 Qc7 12. a4 a6 13. Bh2 Rfe8 14. Qb3 Bf8 15.
Re2 Bc6 16. c4 Qb7 17. Rae1 d5 18. cxd5 Bxd5 19. Bc4 Rac8 20. Bxd5 Qxd5 21.
Qxd5 Nxd5 22. Ne4 Rc6 23. Ne5 Nxe5 24. dxe5 Rec8 25. Bg3 Bb4 26. Rd1 Rc1 27.
Rxc1 Rxc1+ 28. Kh2 h6 29. f3 Ra1 30. Rc2 Kh7 31. Bf2 Rxa4 32. Nd6 Kg6 33. Rc4
f5 34. Rc6 Bd2 35. g3 b5 36. Nb7 Ra2 37. Rxe6+ Kh7 38. Bd4 Be3 39. Bxe3 Rxb2+
40. Kg1 Nxe3 41. Rxa6 Rg2+ 42. Kh1 Rxg3 43. f4 Rxh3+ 44. Kg1 Nd5 45. Nd6 Nxf4
46. Nxf5 Rh5 47. Nd4 Rxe5 48. Rb6 Ne2+ 49. Nxe2 Rxe2 50. Rxb5 Re6 0-1

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.29"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Leko, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E39"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2741"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. Nf3 c5 6. dxc5 Na6 7. c6 bxc6 8. a3
Bxc3+ 9. Qxc3 d5 10. b4 Ne4 11. Qc2 c5 12. b5 Nc7 13. e3 a6 14. a4 Ne8 15. Bd3
N8d6 16. O-O Bb7 17. Bb2 dxc4 18. Bxc4 Nxc4 19. Qxc4 Bd5 20. Qe2 axb5 21. axb5
Qb6 22. Ne5 Nf6 23. Ra6 Qb7 24. f3 Rab8 25. e4 Qxb5 26. Qxb5 Rxb5 27. exd5 Rxb2
28. dxe6 fxe6 29. Rxe6 Re2 30. f4 Rc8 31. Rc1 c4 32. Kf1 Re4 33. g3 c3 34. Rc6
Rxc6 35. Nxc6 Nd5 36. Kf2 Kf7 37. Ne5+ Ke6 38. Nf3 h6 39. Ra1 Rc4 40. Ne5 Rc7
41. Nd3 Kf5 42. Kf3 Ke6 43. Ra6+ Ke7 44. Ra1 Nf6 45. Rc1 Nd5 46. Ke4 Kd6
1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.29"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2788"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Bg2 d5 8. cxd5
exd5 9. Nc3 O-O 10. O-O Bb7 11. Qc2 Nbd7 12. Bf4 c6 13. Rfd1 Re8 14. Ne5 Nf8
15. e4 Ne6 16. Be3 Rc8 17. Qe2 Bb4 18. exd5 cxd5 19. Na4 Ba3 20. Bh3 Rc7 21. f3
Nd7 22. f4 Nf6 23. Bg2 Nf8 24. Bc1 Bd6 25. Bb2 Ne4 26. Bxe4 dxe4 27. Nc3 f6 28.
Nc4 Bb4 29. Nb5 Rd7 30. Ne3 Kh8 31. Qc4 Be7 32. Rac1 a6 33. Nc7 b5 34. Qc2 Bd6
35. Nxe8 Qxe8 36. d5 Ng6 37. Qg2 Rd8 38. Bd4 Bc8 39. Bc5 Bxf4 40. gxf4 Nxf4 41.
Qf1 Qg6+ 42. Kh1 Qg5 43. Be7 Re8 44. Rxc8 Rxc8 45. d6 Nd3 46. d7 Rg8 47. Rxd3
exd3 48. Qxd3 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.29"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grachev, Boris V"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2640"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bd3 a6 8.
O-O Nxd4 9. Bxd4 Bc5 10. Bxc5 Qxc5 11. Kh1 d6 12. f4 e5 13. Nd5 Be6 14. b4 Qc6
15. c4 exf4 16. Nxf6+ gxf6 17. Rxf4 Qb6 18. Qe1 Qd4 19. Rd1 Qe5 20. Qf2 Ke7 21.
Rf1 Rhg8 22. Rxf6 Rg7 23. Qb6 Rag8 24. Qxb7+ Kd8 25. R6f2 Qd4 26. Be2 Bh3 27.
Bf3 Be6 28. c5 Bc4 29. c6 f5 30. Rd1 Qxd1+ 31. Bxd1 Rxb7 32. cxb7 Kd7 33. Ba4+
Bb5 34. Bxb5+ axb5 35. Rxf5 Kc6 36. Rf7 h5 37. Kg1 d5 38. exd5+ Kxd5 39. Rc7
Rb8 40. Rc5+ 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.29"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Ponomariov, Ruslan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2718"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. g3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O Be7 7. Re1 Ne4 8. d4
Nxc3 9. bxc3 Be4 10. Bf1 O-O 11. Nd2 Bb7 12. e4 Nc6 13. d5 Na5 14. Nb3 d6 15.
Nxa5 bxa5 16. Rb1 Rb8 17. Qg4 e5 18. Bh6 Bf6 19. Bd2 Qc7 20. f4 Bc8 21. f5 Bd7
22. Bd3 Rxb1 23. Rxb1 Rb8 24. Qd1 h6 25. h4 Rxb1 26. Qxb1 Qb6 27. Qc1 Kf8 28.
Kg2 Qd8 29. Kh3 g5 30. Qd1 Kg7 31. Qh5 Ba4 32. Bc1 Qe7 33. Qe2 Qd8 34. h5 Qb6
35. Bc2 Bxc2 36. Qxc2 a4 37. Kg4 Qa6 38. Qd3 Kf8 39. Kf3 Ke8 40. g4 Bd8 41. Ke3
Ba5 42. Kd2 f6 43. Kc2 Ke7 44. Qe2 Qb6 45. Ba3 Qb7 46. Qf1 Qa6 47. Kd3 Qb7 48.
Qd1 Qd7 49. Qb1 Bb6 50. Qb5 Kd8 51. Kc2 Kc7 52. Kd3 Kd8 53. Bc1 Kc7 54. Qxd7+
Kxd7 55. Kc2 Ba5 56. Kb2 a6 57. Bd2 Bc7 58. Ka3 Ba5 59. Kxa4 Bc7 60. Kb3 Ba5
1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.29"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D87"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2738"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8.
Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O Qc7 11. Rc1 Rd8 12. Bf4 Qd7 13. d5 Na5 14. Bd3 b5
15. Be3 c4 16. Bc2 e6 17. dxe6 fxe6 18. Qe1 e5 19. a4 bxa4 20. Rd1 Qc7 21.
Rxd8+ Qxd8 22. Bxa4 Be6 23. Bc2 Nb3 24. f4 a5 25. f5 Bf7 26. fxg6 hxg6 27. Nc1
Qd7 28. Qe2 a4 29. Na2 Be6 30. h3 a3 31. Rd1 Qc7 32. Bb1 Rd8 33. Nb4 Rxd1+ 34.
Qxd1 Bf8 35. Nd5 Qa5 36. Ba2 Bc5 37. Bxc5 Qxc5+ 38. Kh2 Na5 39. Qf3 Bxd5 40.
exd5 Qd6 41. Qe4 Kg7 42. Bb1 Qf6 43. Kg1 Qf4 44. Qxg6+ Kf8 45. Qd6+ Kg8 46.
Qd8+ Kg7 47. Qxa5 Qc1+ 48. Kf2 Qb2+ 49. Kg3 Qxb1 50. Qxa3 Qd3+ 51. Kh2 Qxd5 52.
Qa7+ Kg6 53. Qe3 Qd3 54. Qxe5 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.29"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Alekseev, Evgeny V"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2708"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qc2 Bb7 6. Bg2 c5 7. d5 exd5 8. cxd5
Nxd5 9. O-O Be7 10. Rd1 Qc8 11. Bg5 f6 12. Bc1 Nc7 13. e4 Nc6 14. Nc3 O-O 15.
Be3 d6 16. Nh4 g6 17. Nd5 Nxd5 18. exd5 Ne5 19. f4 Nf7 20. Nxg6 Re8 21. Nxe7+
Rxe7 22. Re1 Qd7 23. Bd2 Rae8 24. Rxe7 Rxe7 25. Bc3 Kg7 26. h3 h5 27. Kh2 Nh6
28. Bf3 Qf5 29. Qxf5 Nxf5 30. g4 hxg4 31. hxg4 Re3 32. Rf1 Ba6 33. Rf2 Nd4 34.
Bh1 Bd3 35. g5 Kg6 36. gxf6 Kxf6 37. Bg2 Be4 38. Bxe4 Rxe4 39. Kg3 Kf5 40. Rh2
Re3+ 41. Kf2 Re2+ 42. Kg3 Rxh2 43. Kxh2 Kxf4 0-1

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.29"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2727"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. O-O Be7 7. Nc3 Nb6 8.
a3 O-O 9. d3 Be6 10. Rb1 a5 11. Be3 Nd5 12. Nxd5 Bxd5 13. Qa4 Qc8 14. Rbc1 Rd8
15. Rfe1 f6 16. Bc5 Kh8 17. e4 Bf7 18. Bxe7 Nxe7 19. d4 exd4 20. Nxd4 c6 21.
Red1 Qc7 22. Qc2 Qb6 23. Qc3 Rd7 24. e5 fxe5 25. Nf3 Nd5 26. Qxe5 Re8 27. Qf5
Rde7 28. Rd2 Bg6 29. Qh3 Re2 30. Rxe2 Rxe2 31. Qc8+ Re8 32. Qg4 Qxb2 33. Re1
Rf8 34. h4 Qxa3 35. h5 Bf5 36. Qg5 h6 37. Qh4 Qb4 38. Qh2 Bg4 0-1

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.29"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Eljanov, Pavel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E35"]
[WhiteElo "2716"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 c5 8. Nf3
cxd4 9. Nxd4 Nc6 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. a3 Be7 12. e3 O-O 13. Be2 a5 14. O-O Rb8 15.
Rfd1 Be6 16. Na4 Qd7 17. Rac1 Rfc8 18. Ba6 Re8 19. Nc5 Bxc5 20. Qxc5 Ne4 21.
Qxc6 Qxc6 22. Rxc6 g5 23. Bg3 Rxb2 24. Bd3 Nxg3 25. hxg3 Ra2 26. Rc3 Rb8 27.
Bb1 Rab2 28. Bd3 R8b3 29. Rdc1 a4 30. f4 Ra2 31. f5 Bd7 32. f6 Rxc3 33. Rxc3
Kf8 34. Rc7 Ke8 35. Ra7 Kd8 36. Bg6 fxg6 37. Ra8+ Bc8 38. Rxc8+ Kxc8 39. f7
Ra1+ 40. Kf2 Ra2+ 41. Kf1 Ra1+ 42. Ke2 Ra2+ 43. Ke1 Ra1+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.29"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.29"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karpov, Anatoly"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2651"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Nc3 d5 8. cxd5
Nxd5 9. e4 Bxf1 10. Kxf1 Nf6 11. Bf4 O-O 12. Kg2 Bb4 13. Nb5 a6 14. Nxc7 Ra7
15. a3 Be7 16. d5 Nxe4 17. dxe6 g5 18. Nd5 gxf4 19. Re1 Nf6 20. exf7+ Kxf7 21.
Ng5+ Ke8 22. Nxf6+ Rxf6 23. Qh5+ Kd7 24. Rad1+ Rd6 25. Rxd6+ Bxd6 26. Qf7+ Be7
27. Rd1+ 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.29"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Tkachiev, Vladislav"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2664"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Bc4 Nb6 6. Bb3 d5 7. exd6 Qxd6 8.
O-O Be6 9. Bxe6 Qxe6 10. a4 Qd7 11. a5 Nd5 12. d4 e6 13. a6 b5 14. Ne5 Nxe5 15.
dxe5 Qc6 16. Re1 Rd8 17. Qg4 h5 18. Qh3 Be7 19. Qf3 h4 20. h3 c4 21. Nd2 g6 22.
Qg4 Rh5 23. Nf3 Kf8 24. Bg5 Bxg5 25. Nxg5 Ne7 26. Ne4 Rxe5 27. Qxh4 Rh5 28. Qg3
Kg7 29. Qe3 Rd7 30. Rad1 Rxd1 31. Rxd1 Re5 32. f3 Qxa6 33. Rd7 Nd5 34. Qd4 Qb6
35. Nc5 Kg8 36. Qxe5 Qxc5+ 37. Kh2 a5 38. Rb7 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.29"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Movsesian, Sergei"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2723"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. a4 e6 6. Bf4 dxc4 7. e3 Nd5 8. Bxc4
Nxf4 9. exf4 Be7 10. O-O Nd7 11. a5 O-O 12. Re1 b5 13. axb6 Nxb6 14. Bd3 c5 15.
dxc5 Bxc5 16. Bxh7+ Kxh7 17. Ng5+ Kg6 18. Qg4 f5 19. Qg3 Kf6 20. Nh7+ Kf7 21.
Ng5+ Kf6 22. Rad1 Qe8 23. Re5 Bb4 24. Rde1 Ra7 25. Qe3 Kg6 26. Qxb6 Rb7 27. Qe3
Bd6 28. Nxe6 Bxe5 29. Nxf8+ Qxf8 30. fxe5 Be6 31. Ne2 Qb4 32. Nf4+ Kf7 33. h4
Qxb2 34. Rd1 Qb3 35. Rd3 Qc4 36. Rd6 Re7 37. Kh2 a5 38. Qg3 Kg8 39. Rd8+ 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.29"]
[Round "17"]
[White "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2720"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 Nb6 8.
Ne5 a5 9. Bg5 g6 10. e3 Bg7 11. Bd3 Be6 12. O-O Nfd5 13. Nf3 Nb4 14. Be2 O-O
15. Ne4 Bd5 16. Nc5 Nd7 17. Nd3 Re8 18. Nxb4 axb4 19. Rc1 Qa5 20. Bc4 Bxc4 21.
Rxc4 Nb6 22. Rc1 Qxa4 23. b3 Qa2 24. e4 Nd7 25. Be3 e5 26. d5 Nf6 27. dxc6 bxc6
28. Nd2 Red8 29. Rc4 Rd3 30. Qc2 Qxc2 31. Rxc2 Rc3 32. Rb2 Ng4 33. Bb6 Nf6 34.
f3 Nd7 35. Bf2 Bf8 36. Nc4 Nc5 37. Nxe5 Nxb3 38. Nxc6 Rxc6 39. Rxb3 Ra2 40. f4
Rcc2 41. Rf3 Rxf2 42. R1xf2 Bc5 0-1

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.30"]
[Round "18"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E08"]
[WhiteElo "2728"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Bg2 c6 8. O-O
d5 9. Qc2 O-O 10. Bf4 Nbd7 11. Rd1 Rc8 12. Nc3 Nh5 13. Bc1 Nhf6 14. Bb2 Qc7 15.
e4 dxc4 16. Nd2 b5 17. bxc4 bxc4 18. Na4 c5 19. d5 exd5 20. exd5 Ne5 21. Bxe5
Qxe5 22. Nxc4 Bxc4 23. Qxc4 Bd6 24. Nc3 Rb8 25. Nb5 a6 26. Na3 Rb2 27. Qf1 Rb4
28. Nc4 Qe7 29. a3 Rb3 30. Re1 Qc7 31. Qe2 h6 32. Qc2 Rfb8 33. Rad1 Nd7 34. Qe2
Nb6 35. Ne3 Rxa3 36. Nf5 Qd8 37. Qb2 Qf6 38. Qxf6 gxf6 39. Nxd6 Rd8 40. Nb7 Rc8
41. d6 c4 42. d7 Nxd7 43. Rxd7 c3 44. Nd6 Rb8 45. Rc7 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.30"]
[Round "19"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2788"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Bg5 Bb4+ 5. Nbd2 dxc4 6. Qa4+ Nc6 7. a3 Bxd2+
8. Bxd2 Qd5 9. Qc2 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 Qxd4 11. Bc3 Qg4 12. f3 Qh4+ 13. g3 Qh6 14. e4
Bd7 15. Bxc4 Bc6 16. Qf2 O-O 17. O-O Rfd8 18. Rad1 b6 19. Bd2 Qg6 20. Bf4 Nxe4
21. fxe4 Qxe4 22. Qe2 Rxd1 23. Rxd1 Qh1+ 24. Kf2 Qxh2+ 25. Ke3 Qh3 26. Kd2 Bd5
27. Bd3 h6 28. Kc1 c5 29. Bc2 Qg2 30. Qd3 f5 31. Qe3 Rf8 32. Be5 Qf3 33. Qxf3
Bxf3 34. Rd6 Bd5 35. Kd2 Rf7 36. Ke3 Kh7 37. Ba4 Re7 38. Bd1 Kg6 39. Kf4 Kh7
40. Bh5 g6 41. Be2 g5+ 42. Ke3 Kg6 43. Rd8 Bc6 44. Rg8+ Kh7 45. Rc8 Bd5 46. Bh5
1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.30"]
[Round "20"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D95"]
[WhiteElo "2742"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. Qb3 O-O 7. Be2 e6 8. O-O b6
9. Bd2 Bb7 10. Rfd1 Nbd7 11. Rac1 Qe7 12. Be1 Rfd8 13. h3 dxc4 14. Bxc4 c5 15.
Nb5 Nd5 16. e4 a6 17. Na3 Nb4 18. dxc5 bxc5 19. Nc2 a5 20. Nxb4 cxb4 21. Qc2
Nc5 22. Nd2 Rac8 23. Qb1 Na4 24. Bb3 Nxb2 25. Rxc8 Rxc8 26. Rc1 Rxc1 27. Qxc1
Nd3 28. Qb1 0-1

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.30"]
[Round "21"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2723"]
[PlyCount "188"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. a4 e6 6. Bf4 a5 7. e3 Na6 8. Be2 Be7
9. O-O Nb4 10. Qb3 O-O 11. Na2 Na6 12. h3 Ne4 13. Rac1 f5 14. Nc3 Nd6 15. Ne5
Nb4 16. Rfd1 Bd7 17. Na2 Nxa2 18. Qxa2 Be8 19. Qb3 Ra7 20. f3 Kh8 21. Kh1 Bf6
22. Qc3 Nf7 23. Nd3 g5 24. Bh2 Bg7 25. Nc5 Qe7 26. Qb3 Nd8 27. e4 f4 28. cxd5
exd5 29. Bf1 Bf7 30. Qb6 Ra8 31. Bg1 h5 32. Re1 Qd6 33. Bd3 g4 34. e5 Qe7 35.
e6 Bxe6 36. Re2 gxf3 37. gxf3 Qh4 38. Rh2 Bf5 39. Bf2 Qe7 40. Bxf5 Rxf5 41. Re1
Qf7 42. Rg2 Bf8 43. Reg1 Bxc5 44. Qxc5 Ne6 45. Qd6 Rd8 46. Qa3 Kh7 47. Qd3 Kh6
48. Bh4 Rf8 49. Qe2 Nxd4 50. Qd3 c5 51. Bg5+ Kh7 52. Bxf4 Ne6 53. Be5 d4 54. f4
b6 55. Qe4 Kh6 56. Qc6 Kh7 57. Rg6 Re8 58. R6g2 d3 59. Qe4 c4 60. b3 d2 61.
Rxd2 Nc5 62. Rg7+ Qxg7 63. Qxf5+ Qg6 64. Qxg6+ Kxg6 65. bxc4 Nxa4 66. Rd6+ Kf5
67. Kg2 Re6 68. Rd5 Ke4 69. Rd4+ Ke3 70. Rd5 Ke4 71. Rd4+ Kf5 72. Kf3 Rc6 73.
Bd6 Nc5 74. Rd5+ Kg6 75. Bxc5 bxc5 76. Rg5+ Kh6 77. Rg2 a4 78. Ra2 Ra6 79. Ke4
Kg6 80. Kd5 Kf5 81. Kxc5 Kxf4 82. Kb5 Ra8 83. Rxa4 Rb8+ 84. Kc6 h4 85. c5+ Kg3
86. Ra3+ Kg2 87. Kc7 Rg8 88. c6 Rg3 89. Rxg3+ hxg3 90. Kb7 Kh2 91. c7 g2 92.
c8=Q g1=Q 93. h4 Qb1+ 94. Kc7 Qh7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.30"]
[Round "22"]
[White "Leko, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C90"]
[WhiteElo "2741"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. Re1 d6 7. c3 Na5 8. Bb5
a6 9. Ba4 b5 10. Bc2 c5 11. Nbd2 Nc6 12. Nf1 Be6 13. Ng3 Re8 14. h3 h6 15. Nh2
d5 16. Qf3 d4 17. Nf5 Bxf5 18. Qxf5 c4 19. Rd1 b4 20. Ba4 Qb6 21. dxc4 bxc3 22.
bxc3 dxc3 23. Be3 Nd4 24. Bxd4 exd4 25. e5 Qa5 26. Bxe8 Rxe8 27. Nf3 Ba3 28.
Rxd4 Bb2 29. Rad1 Qc5 30. Rd8 Kf8 31. Rxe8+ Nxe8 32. Rd7 Qxc4 33. e6 Qxe6 34.
Qxe6 fxe6 35. Nd4 e5 36. Nc2 Nf6 37. Ra7 Nd5 38. Rxa6 Ke7 39. Kf1 e4 40. g3 Bc1
41. Ke2 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.30"]
[Round "23"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2788"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Na6 7. e3 Nb4 8. Bxc4
e6 9. O-O Bc2 10. Qe2 Nd7 11. Nxd7 Qxd7 12. a5 Be7 13. Na2 Nxa2 14. Rxa2 Bg6
15. Rd1 O-O 16. e4 Rad8 17. f3 Kh8 18. Bf4 f5 19. exf5 Bxf5 20. Be5 c5 21. Raa1
Qc6 22. Rac1 a6 23. g4 Bg6 24. Bxe6 Qxf3 25. Qxf3 Rxf3 26. d5 Bg5 27. Rc3 Be3+
28. Rxe3 Rxe3 29. Bc7 Re8 30. Kf2 Rd3 31. Rxd3 Bxd3 32. Ke3 Bc4 33. Ke4 Rxe6+
34. dxe6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.30"]
[Round "24"]
[White "Grachev, Boris V"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A46"]
[WhiteElo "2640"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "176"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d6 3. h3 c5 4. dxc5 Qa5+ 5. c3 Qxc5 6. b4 Qc7 7. Bb2 g6 8. e3
Bg7 9. Nbd2 O-O 10. c4 b6 11. Be2 Bb7 12. O-O Nbd7 13. Qb3 Ne4 14. Nxe4 Bxe4
15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. Nd4 a6 17. Rac1 Kg8 18. Rfd1 Bb7 19. Bf3 Bxf3 20. Nxf3 Rac8
21. Qb2 Qb7 22. Qd4 Rc7 23. Rc3 Rfc8 24. Rdc1 Nf6 25. Nd2 Qc6 26. a3 a5 27. e4
axb4 28. axb4 Nd7 29. Nf3 Qa4 30. Rb1 b5 31. Nd2 Ne5 32. c5 Nc6 33. Qe3 dxc5
34. Rxc5 Nxb4 35. Rxc7 Rxc7 36. Qd4 Nc6 37. Qb6 Qa7 38. Qxb5 Kg7 39. Nf3 Qa5
40. Qb2+ Kg8 41. Ra1 Rb7 42. Qxb7 Qxa1+ 43. Kh2 Qf6 44. Qc7 Kg7 45. Kg1 e5 46.
Qb6 Nd4 47. Qxf6+ Kxf6 48. Nd2 Ke6 49. Nf1 Kd6 50. Ne3 Ne6 51. Nc4+ Ke7 52.
Nxe5 Nd4 53. f3 f5 54. exf5 Nxf5 55. Nc4 Kf6 56. Kf2 Nd4 57. Ne3 Ne6 58. Ng4+
Kg7 59. Ne5 Kf6 60. Nd7+ Ke7 61. Nb6 Kf6 62. Nc4 Kf5 63. Ke3 Kf6 64. Nd6 Ke5
65. Nc4+ Kf6 66. h4 Ng7 67. Kf4 Nf5 68. g3 h6 69. Nd2 g5+ 70. hxg5+ hxg5+ 71.
Kg4 Kg6 72. Kh3 Nd4 73. Kg2 Kf5 74. Nc4 Kf6 75. Ne3 Kg6 76. Kf2 Kf6 77. Ng4+
Kf5 78. Ne3+ Kg6 79. Nc4 Kf6 80. Nd2 Kf5 81. Ke3 Nc2+ 82. Kd3 Nb4+ 83. Kc4 Nc2
84. Kd3 Nb4+ 85. Ke2 g4 86. f4 Nd5 87. Nc4 Nxf4+ 88. gxf4 Kxf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.30"]
[Round "25"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ponomariov, Ruslan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2718"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 g6 7. g4 Bg7 8. Bg2
O-O 9. Be3 Nc6 10. O-O Bd7 11. Nde2 b5 12. f4 b4 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 Na5 15.
b3 Bxa1 16. Qxa1 Rc8 17. Nd4 Nb7 18. f5 f6 19. fxg6 hxg6 20. Qe1 a5 21. Qh4 Rf7
22. Qh6 Rg7 23. g5 Nc5 24. Nc6 Bxc6 25. dxc6 f5 26. Bd4 Qf8 27. Re1 e6 28. Rxe6
Nxe6 29. Bd5 Re8 30. c7 Kf7 31. Bxg7 Qg8 32. Bd4 Ke7 33. Bb6 Kd7 34. Qh4 Qg7
35. Qc4 Qc3 36. Bxe6+ Rxe6 37. c8=Q+ 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.30"]
[Round "26"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2738"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Nd4 5. Bg2 Nxf3+ 6. Bxf3 Bb4 7. Qb3 Bc5 8.
O-O O-O 9. d3 h6 10. Bg2 c6 11. Bd2 Re8 12. h3 Rb8 13. Rac1 a6 14. Na4 Ba7 15.
c5 d6 16. cxd6 Qxd6 17. Bb4 Qc7 18. Qa3 Qd8 19. Bd6 Ra8 20. Bc5 Bxc5 21. Nxc5
a5 22. b4 Ra7 23. Nb3 a4 24. Na5 Be6 25. Rfd1 Bd5 26. e4 Be6 27. Nc4 Qd4 28.
Nd2 Qd6 29. Nf3 Qc7 30. d4 exd4 31. Nxd4 Qb6 32. e5 Nd5 33. Nxe6 fxe6 34. Rc4
Rf8 35. Rd2 Raa8 36. Qd3 Rad8 37. Qg6 Nf4 38. Rxf4 Rxf4 39. Rxd8+ Qxd8 40. gxf4
Qd1+ 41. Kh2 Qd4 42. Qxe6+ Kf8 43. Qd6+ 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.30"]
[Round "27"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Alekseev, Evgeny V"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B65"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2708"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. e4 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 Be7 8.
O-O-O O-O 9. f4 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 Qa5 11. Bc4 Bd7 12. e5 dxe5 13. fxe5 Bc6 14. Bd2
Nd7 15. Nd5 Qd8 16. Nxe7+ Qxe7 17. Rhe1 Rfd8 18. Bf1 Nf8 19. Qg4 Ng6 20. Bb4
Rxd1+ 21. Rxd1 Nxe5 22. Qxg7+ Kxg7 23. Bxe7 Ng4 24. Be2 Ne3 25. Rg1 Be4 26. c3
Rc8 27. Bg5 Nd5 28. a3 f6 29. Bd2 Kf7 30. g3 a6 31. a4 Nb4 32. Be3 Nd3+ 33.
Bxd3 Bxd3 34. Rd1 Rd8 35. b3 e5 36. c4 Ke6 37. Kb2 Rd7 38. Bh6 Be4 39. Rxd7
Kxd7 40. Kc3 Ke6 41. b4 Bc6 42. b5 axb5 43. cxb5 Be4 44. Kc4 Kd6 45. Bf8+ Ke6
46. Kc5 f5 47. Bh6 Bf3 48. a5 Be4 49. a6 bxa6 50. bxa6 f4 51. gxf4 exf4 52.
Bxf4 Kd7 53. a7 Kc8 54. Kb6 Bf3 55. h4 Be4 56. h5 Bf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.30"]
[Round "28"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2727"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "140"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 Nd7 6. O-O Bg6 7. Nbd2 Nh6 8. c4
Be7 9. Qb3 Rb8 10. Qc3 O-O 11. c5 f6 12. exf6 Bxf6 13. b4 Nf7 14. Nb3 e5 15.
Be3 Re8 16. Rfe1 e4 17. Nfd2 Nh6 18. Nf1 Nf5 19. Bf4 Rc8 20. Ne3 Nf8 21. Bg4
Nxe3 22. fxe3 Ne6 23. Bd6 h5 24. Bh3 Ra8 25. Na5 Qd7 26. Rf1 b6 27. Nb3 Qb7 28.
a4 Ng5 29. Bf5 Bxf5 30. Rxf5 Qd7 31. Raf1 Nf3+ 32. R1xf3 exf3 33. Rxf3 bxc5 34.
bxc5 Re6 35. Qd3 Rae8 36. Nd2 Qb7 37. h3 Qb4 38. Nf1 Qb7 39. Ng3 Qf7 40. Be5 h4
41. Ne2 Rxe5 42. dxe5 Rxe5 43. Nd4 Qe8 44. a5 Re4 45. Nf5 Qe5 46. Nd4 Qc7 47.
a6 Bxd4 48. exd4 Qe7 49. Rf1 Qg5 50. Rb1 Kh7 51. Rf1 Kh6 52. Rf3 Qg6 53. Kh2
Qe6 54. Qd2+ Kh7 55. Qf2 Qh6 56. Rf5 Qg6 57. Qf3 Rxd4 58. Rh5+ Kg8 59. Rf5 Re4
60. Rf8+ Kh7 61. Ra8 Qg5 62. Qc3 Qf4+ 63. Kh1 Qf1+ 64. Kh2 Re1 65. Qc2+ g6 66.
Rxa7+ Kh6 67. Qd2+ g5 68. Qxe1 Qxe1 69. Rb7 Qe5+ 70. Kh1 Qa1+ 0-1

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.30"]
[Round "29"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Eljanov, Pavel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2716"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qa4+ Nc6 6. e3 O-O 7. a3 Bd6 8. c5
Be7 9. b4 e5 10. dxe5 Ng4 11. Bb2 Ncxe5 12. Nxe5 Nxe5 13. Rd1 Be6 14. Nxd5 Bxd5
15. Bxe5 c6 16. Be2 Bf6 17. Bxf6 Qxf6 18. O-O Qb2 19. Rde1 Rfe8 20. Qa5 Re7 21.
Bd3 Rae8 22. e4 g6 23. Qxa7 b5 24. Qb6 Qxa3 25. Re3 Be6 26. Bxb5 Qxb4 27. Bxc6
Rb8 28. Qxb4 Rxb4 29. Rc3 Rc7 30. Bd5 Rd4 31. Bxe6 fxe6 32. f3 Rd2 33. h4 Kf7
34. Rf2 Rd1+ 35. Kh2 Kf6 36. Kg3 Rc6 37. Ra2 Rb1 38. Ra7 h5 39. Kf4 e5+ 40. Kg3
Rb5 41. Rd3 Rbxc5 42. Rdd7 Rc1 43. Rf7+ Ke6 44. Rg7 Kf6 45. Raf7+ Ke6 46. Rf8
1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.30"]
[Round "30"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2781"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Nbd2 Bb4 6. Qc2 Bb7 7. Bg2 c5 8. dxc5
Bxc5 9. b3 Be7 10. Bb2 d6 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. Rd1 Qc7 13. Ne4 Be7 14. Qd3 Na6 15.
Nxd6+ Bxd6 16. Qxd6 Qxd6 17. Rxd6 Ke7 18. Rd2 Rad8 19. Nh4 Bxg2 20. Nxg2 Nb4
21. Nf4 Rxd2 22. Kxd2 Rd8+ 23. Nd3 e5 24. f3 f5 25. Ke3 Nc2+ 26. Kf2 e4 27.
fxe4 fxe4 28. Nf4 Rd2 29. Nd5+ Ke6 30. Rb1 Ke5 31. Rb2 Rxd5 32. cxd5 Nb4 33. a3
Nxd5 34. Rc2 a5 35. Rc4 g6 36. h4 h5 37. Rc6 Kf5 38. Rd6 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.30"]
[Round "31"]
[White "Karpov, Anatoly"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A12"]
[WhiteElo "2651"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. d4 d5 4. e3 Bg4 5. Nbd2 Nbd7 6. Be2 e6 7. O-O Bd6 8. b3
O-O 9. Bb2 a5 10. h3 Bf5 11. Nh4 Be4 12. Nhf3 Bf5 13. Nh4 Ne4 14. Nxf5 exf5 15.
cxd5 cxd5 16. Rc1 Qe7 17. Bb5 f4 18. Nxe4 dxe4 19. exf4 Bxf4 20. Rc2 Nf6 21. d5
Rad8 22. Bxf6 Qxf6 23. a4 Bd6 24. Bc4 Qe5 25. g3 f5 26. f4 Qf6 27. h4 Rc8 28.
Kg2 g6 29. Qd2 Rc5 30. Qc3 Qxc3 31. Rxc3 Kg7 32. Rc2 Kf6 33. Rfc1 Rfc8 34. Kf2
h6 35. Ke3 R5c7 36. Rh1 Rg8 37. Rch2 Rb8 38. Rf1 b5 39. axb5 a4 40. Rc2 axb3
41. Bxb3 Rxb5 42. Ba4 Rxc2 43. Bxc2 Rb2 44. Kd2 Bb4+ 45. Kc1 Bc3 46. Rd1 e3 47.
Rd3 e2 48. Rxc3 Rxc2+ 0-1

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.30"]
[Round "32"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Tkachiev, Vladislav"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2664"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. c3 d6 8. d3 h6
9. Nbd2 O-O 10. Re1 Bb6 11. Nf1 Ne7 12. Ng3 Ng6 13. h3 Re8 14. a4 Bb7 15. Be3
Bxe3 16. Rxe3 d5 17. axb5 axb5 18. Rxa8 Bxa8 19. Re1 c5 20. exd5 Bxd5 21. Ne4
Nxe4 22. dxe4 Bxb3 23. Qxb3 Qb6 24. g3 Qc6 25. Qc2 Rd8 26. Kg2 c4 27. h4 h5 28.
Qe2 Rd3 29. Ng1 Qd7 30. Qxh5 Rd2 31. Re2 Nf8 32. Rxd2 Qxd2 33. Nf3 Qc1 34. Nxe5
f6 35. Qf7+ Kh7 36. Ng4 Ng6 37. Nxf6+ Kh6 38. Ng4+ Kh7 39. Qf5 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.30"]
[Round "33"]
[White "Movsesian, Sergei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A08"]
[WhiteElo "2723"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. d3 Nc6 3. g3 d5 4. Nd2 Nf6 5. Bg2 e5 6. Ngf3 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. c3
d4 9. Nc4 Qc7 10. cxd4 cxd4 11. a4 Be6 12. b3 a6 13. a5 Bxc4 14. bxc4 Nxa5 15.
Nh4 g6 16. f4 Nc6 17. f5 b5 18. cxb5 axb5 19. Rxa8 Rxa8 20. Bg5 Ne8 21. f6 Bf8
22. Nf5 gxf5 23. exf5 Qd7 24. h3 b4 25. Re1 Rb8 26. Qg4 Kh8 27. Qh5 b3 28. Bxc6
Qxc6 29. Qxf7 Nd6 30. Qe6 Qf3 31. Qxe5 Qxf5 32. Bf4 Qxe5 33. Bxe5 Kg8 34. Bxd4
Kf7 35. Kf2 Nf5 36. Bb2 Bc5+ 37. Kf3 Bd4 38. Rb1 Bxb2 39. Rxb2 Kxf6 40. g4 Nd6
41. Ke3 Ke5 42. h4 Kd5 43. g5 Nf5+ 44. Kd2 Nxh4 45. Kc3 Nf3 46. Rf2 b2 0-1

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2008.08.30"]
[Round "34"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B81"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2720"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2008.08.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "34"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e6 7. g4 d5 8. Bg2
Nxe4 9. Nxe4 dxe4 10. O-O Nd7 11. Bxe4 Be7 12. c3 O-O 13. Qf3 Qc7 14. Bf4 Bd6
15. Bxd6 Qxd6 16. Rad1 Qc7 17. Qg3 Qxg3+ 18. fxg3 Rb8 19. Nb3 b5 20. Rd6 Ne5
21. Na5 h6 22. b3 Re8 23. Rfd1 f5 24. gxf5 exf5 25. Bg2 Nf7 26. Rc6 Ne5 27. Rc5
Rb6 28. c4 Kf8 29. Nc6 Nf7 30. cxb5 axb5 31. Nb4 Be6 32. Bc6 Reb8 33. Re1 Nd8
34. Bd5 Bd7 35. Bf3 Rd6 36. Rd5 Rbb6 37. Red1 Ke7 38. Rxd6 Rxd6 39. Nd5+ Kf8
40. Rc1 Bc6 41. Rd1 Ne6 42. Kf2 Ng5 43. Nf4 Rxd1 44. Bxd1 Ne4+ 45. Ke3 Nxg3 46.
Ne6+ Kg8 47. Kf4 Ne4 48. Kxf5 Nc3 49. Bc2 Nxa2 50. Ke5 Nb4 51. Bg6 Bg2 52. h4
Nc6+ 53. Kd6 b4 54. Kc5 Ne5 55. Bc2 g5 56. hxg5 hxg5 57. Nxg5 Kf8 58. Kxb4 Ke7
59. Kc5 Nd7+ 60. Kb5 Kd6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grand Slam Final 1st"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2008.09.02"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E00"]
[WhiteElo "2737"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2008.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e6 5. g3 {Aronian has had this position
more than once over the past years.} Bb4+ 6. Nd2 {However, this move is new
for his games. It may appear that the knight stands passive on d2, but one may
also think that a tempo is a tempo (since it is obvious that the bishop will
have to retreat in the near future).} ({Previously, Aronian has played} 6. Bd2
Bc5 (6... Be7 7. Bg2 Nc6 8. Bc3 O-O 9. O-O d5 {Aronian,L (2763)-Topalov,V 
(2767)/Sofia 2008/CBM 124/[Marin,M] (0-1, 60)}) 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Bg2 Nc6 9. Nc3 b6
10. Bf4 Bb7 11. O-O O-O 12. Bd6 (12. e4 {Aronian,L (2744)-Leko,P (2749)/
Morelia/Linares 2007/CBM 117/[Mihail Marin] (1/2-1/2, 41)}) 12... Na5 $6 (12...
Ne8 $5) 13. Nxa5 Bxg2 14. Kxg2 bxa5 15. e4 Rc8 16. b3 $14 {Aronian,L (2759)
-Carlsen,M (2693)/Elista 2007/CBM 119 (1-0, 51). Aronian went on to win this
crucial game, the eleventh (!) of a Candidates' match that had started rather
nicely for him, but had become more and more complicated day by day.}) ({
Curiously, he has never played} 6. Nc3 {in this speciffic move order, although
he has had the fianchetto NI with white for a couple of times...}) 6... Nc6 ({
The other way to attack the unprotected knight (a direct consequence of Nd2) is
} 6... Qb6 {Blagojevic,D (2537)-Akopian,V (2678)/Chalkidiki 2002/CBM 092/
[Ribli] (0-1, 39)}) 7. Nc2 Be7 8. Bg2 O-O 9. O-O {This is a good moment to
evaluate the consequences of the apparent loss of tempo cause dby the bishop's
check. If Black had played ...Be7 right away, White would have had his knights
on c3 and d4, which would have largely favoured him. However, even the way it
is, Black still has to find a way to annihilate White's advantage in space as
soon as possible.} Rb8 $5 {A new move.} ({The most natural continuation is} 
9... d5 {, fighting for space in the centre.} 10. cxd5 exd5 (10... Nxd5 11. Nc4
Qc7 12. e4 {This hardly poses any problems.} ({As a "Catalan" player, I would
prefer} 12. N2e3 $5 {with chances to retain the better chances in an almost
symmetrical position.}) 12... Nb6 13. Qe2 Nxc4 14. Qxc4 Bd7 15. Be3 Rfc8 16.
Rfd1 Ne5 17. Qxc7 Rxc7 18. Ne1 Ng4 {1/2-1/2 Remon,A (2395)-Vilela,J (2410)/
Bayamo 1980/EXT 99}) 11. Nb3 Bf5 12. Ncd4 Be4 13. f3 (13. Bh3 $5) 13... Bg6 14.
Nxc6 bxc6 15. Be3 {We can see that White has made very efficient use of the
knights' placement. One has been exchanged to cause a pawn weakness, the other
is ideally placed now to block the weak c5-square.} Re8 16. Rc1 Qd7 17. Qd2
Rab8 18. Nc5 (18. Bc5 Qb7 $5 {[%cal Gg6b1,Gb7b2]}) 18... Bxc5 19. Bxc5 Qe6 20.
Rfe1 $14 {Buhmann,R (2527)-Nikolaidis,I (2502)/Fuerth 2002/CBM 091 (0-1, 47)})
(9... a6 {is a less effective way to prepare ...b5 than in our main game,
because the a8-rook is still exposed to the bishop's pressure.} 10. b3 b5 11.
Nd4 Qb6 12. Nxc6 dxc6 13. Ne4 bxc4 (13... Nxe4 14. Bxe4 $14) 14. bxc4 Rd8 15.
Qc2 Ra7 $6 (15... Rb8 16. c5 $14) 16. Rb1 Qc7 17. c5 {Alburt,L (2535)-Short,N 
(2535)/Foxboro 1985/MCD (1/2-1/2, 33)}) (9... b6 {is not too ambitious and
gives White the time to complete his development and consolidate his advantage
in space.} 10. b3 Bb7 11. Bb2 Qc7 (11... d6 12. e3 Qc7 13. Qe2 a6 14. Rac1 Nb8
15. e4 Nbd7 16. Nd4 Rfe8 17. Rfd1 Rac8 18. b4 Qb8 19. f4 $14 {Zhang Zhong 
(2658)-Rott,G (2191)/Dos Hermanas 2004/CBM 099 ext (1-0, 37)}) 12. e4 d6 13.
Ne3 Rad8 14. Qe2 Qb8 15. f4 Qa8 16. Rad1 Nb8 17. f5 $36 {Birnboin-Varasdy/
Athens 1979 (1-0, 35). In both games, White achieved an active form of the
Hedgehog, although the position remains, as always in this structure, double
edged.}) 10. Ne4 {I have my doubts about this move. With his development
incomplete, White does not seem to be prepared to provoke exchanges.} ({
I believe that} 10. Nb3 $5 {offers better chances to stabilize the position.}
b5 (10... d6 11. Bf4 $14 {[%cal Ga1c1]}) 11. c5 a5 (11... Qc7 12. Bf4 e5 13.
Bg5 $16) 12. Ncd4 Qc7 (12... Nxd4 13. Qxd4 $14 a4 14. Bf4 $1) 13. Bd2 (13. a4
bxa4 14. Nxc6 dxc6 15. Rxa4 Rd8 16. Qc2 Rb5 $132) 13... a4 14. Nxc6 dxc6 15.
Na5 Bd7 16. Qc2 e5 17. b4 Rfd8 18. Rad1 Nd5 19. e4 Nf6 20. Bc3 $14 {Although
the knight seems to be out of play on a5, White's pressure in the centre is
quite unpleasant. In order to fight back on equal terms, Black may well have
to leave the b7-square unattended, or, alternatively, to leave the c6-pawn
insufficiently well defended, allowing some tactical tricks.}) 10... b5 {
Now, White's previous move will be justified.} (10... Nxe4 $5 {looks better,
but Carlsen might have wished to avoid the variation} 11. Bxe4 b5 12. cxb5 Rxb5
13. Bxh7+ Kxh7 14. Qd3+ Rf5 15. g4 {. However, things are not too clear after}
Ba6 16. Qxa6 ({Or} 16. Qh3+ Kg8 17. gxf5 Bxe2 18. Re1 Ba6 $44) 16... Rf6 $44 {
and the weakened position of the kingside, combined with White's delay in
development offer Black good counterplay.}) 11. cxb5 {Again, Aronian strives
for dynamic play, but this time it may well be a matter of taste.} (11. Bf4 $6
{loses a pawn without clear compensation after} e5 12. Bd2 bxc4) ({However,} 
11. Nxf6+ $5 Bxf6 12. c5 {deserves serious attention. White has the more
pleasant position at no risk.} Qc7 13. Bf4 Ne5 14. Nb4 Bb7 (14... Qxc5 15. Nd3
Nxd3 16. Qxd3 $14 e5 17. Be3 Qc7 18. Rac1 Qa5 19. Bc5 Re8 20. Bd6 Rb6 21. Bc7
$16) 15. Bxb7 Qxb7 16. Nd3 Nxd3 17. Qxd3 $14) 11... Rxb5 12. Nd6 {Once the
knight has landed here, it will be Black who will face some problems with the
mobilization of his forces.} Bxd6 (12... Rb8 13. b3 Ba6 14. Ba3 $14) 13. Qxd6
Bb7 14. Na3 (14. b3 Ne7 $11) 14... Rb6 {White has obtained the pair of bishops,
but his blockade on d6 is not too stable. Besides, he still needs time to
complete his development. Aronian decides to cut the Gordian Knott in one move,
but he probably miscalculated some detail.} 15. Be3 $6 {White's compensation
for the sacrificed pawn will only suffice to fight for equality.} ({The more
natural} 15. Nc4 {would have offered better chances to retain the better
chances, for instance} Ra6 16. Bd2 Ne7 17. Qd3 Bxg2 18. Kxg2 Qa8+ 19. f3 d5 20.
Ne5 $14 {. White's queenside majority will prove more dangerous in the long
term, as Black's centre is not easy to advance.}) 15... Rxb2 16. Bc5 Re8 17.
Rab1 ({Aronian might have missed that} 17. Nc4 {can be answered with} Rxe2 $1 (
{but not} 17... Rb5 18. a4 Rb3 19. Qd1 Rc3 20. Nd6 $16) 18. Qd3 Ba6 19. Qxe2 d5
$44) 17... Rxb1 18. Rxb1 Ba6 19. Nb5 Bxb5 20. Rxb5 Qc8 21. a4 h6 {Although
White's position looks active, he has no obvious plan to develop his
initiative. White has a solid position and an extra pawn.} 22. Ba3 Qa6 23. Bb2
Qxa4 24. Bxc6 dxc6 25. Rb4 Qa5 26. Bxf6 gxf6 27. Rg4+ Kh7 28. Qxc6 Rd8 {
A critical moment. White provokes ...f5, but this move will prove useful a
couple of moves later...} 29. Qc2+ $2 (29. Ra4 {would have probably led to a
draw:} Qe1+ (29... Qb6 30. Qc2+ f5 31. e4 $1 fxe4 32. Rxe4 f5 33. Rc4 $44 {
The weakness of Black's kingside compensates for his extra pawn.}) 30. Kg2 Rd1
31. Qc7 Qh1+ ({With the pawn on f6 still,} 31... Kg6 $4 {is impossible because
of} 32. Rg4+ $1 $18 {mating.}) 32. Kh3 Qf1+ 33. Kh4 Qxf2 34. Qxf7+ Kh8 $11 {
and White has a draw by perpetual, but hardly more, since his king is also
exposed.}) 29... f5 30. Ra4 Qe1+ 31. Kg2 Rd1 32. Qc7 Kg6 $1 $17 {Now, this
move is entirely possible and it is only the white king who is any danger.
Carlsen goes on to confidently convert his initiative into a very promising
endgame, which he then wins quite convincingly.} 33. Kf3 Qh1+ 34. Ke3 Ra1 35.
Qc2 Rxa4 36. Qxa4 Qc1+ 37. Kf3 Qc3+ 38. Kg2 a5 39. g4 Qe5 40. gxf5+ Kxf5 41.
Qe8 Kg6 42. Qf8 a4 43. e3 Qe4+ 44. Kg3 Qd3 45. h4 a3 46. Kh2 Qf5 47. Qxa3 Qxf2+
48. Kh3 Qf3+ 49. Kh2 Kh5 50. Qf8 Qf2+ 51. Kh1 Kg4 0-1

[Event "Grand Slam Final 1st"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2008.09.03"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B78"]
[WhiteElo "2781"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2008.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2
O-O 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Rc8 11. Bb3 Ne5 12. Kb1 a6 13. Rhe1 b5 14. Bh6 Bxh6
15. Qxh6 Rxc3 16. bxc3 a5 17. f4 Neg4 18. Qh4 a4 19. Bxf7+ Rxf7 20. e5 Nd5 21.
e6 Nxc3+ 22. Kc1 Bxe6 23. Nxe6 Qa5 24. Qxg4 Nxa2+ 25. Kb2 Qc3+ 26. Kxa2 Qxc2+
27. Ka1 Qc3+ 28. Kb1 Qb3+ 29. Ka1 Qc3+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grand Slam Final 1st"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2008.09.04"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D58"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2777"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2008.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 b6 8. Bd3
Bb7 9. O-O Nbd7 10. Bg3 c5 11. cxd5 Nxd5 12. Nxd5 Bxd5 13. e4 (13. Rc1 {
- see Gelashvili-Lputian in CBM 104.}) (13. Qe2) 13... Bb7 14. Rc1 a6 $5 $146 {
[%cal Rb6b5][%mdl 8] Veselin Topalov deviates from his own game against
Kasimdzhanov.} (14... Nf6 {is usually played, with quite a decent position for
Black:} 15. Qe2 (15. dxc5 Bxc5 16. Qe2 Nh5 17. Be5 a5 18. Rfd1 Qe7 19. a3 Rfd8
20. h3 Nf6 21. Nd2 a4 22. Bb1 Rac8 23. Nf3 Rxd1+ 24. Rxd1 Rd8 {1/2
Kasimdzhanov,R (2690)-Topalov,V (2769)/Vitoria Gasteiz 2007/CBM 121 (46)})
15... Nh5 (15... Rc8 16. dxc5 Rxc5 17. Rxc5 Bxc5 18. Bh4 Qc7 19. Bxf6 gxf6 $13
{0-1 Simeonidis,I (2261)-Kosintseva,N (2480)/Kusadasi 2006/CBM 111 ext (28)})
16. Rfd1 Nxg3 17. hxg3 cxd4 18. Ba6 Bxa6 19. Qxa6 Rc8 $11 ({but not} 19... e5
$2 20. Nxe5 Bf6 21. Nc6 Qe8 22. e5 $16 {1-0 Danner,G (2408)-Upton,T (2250)/
Gothenburg 2005/CBM 109 (48)})) (14... cxd4 $143 15. Bc7 Qe8 16. Nxd4 Nc5 17.
Bb5 Qc8 18. Be5 f6 19. Bf4 $14 {1-0 Banikas,H (2571)-Tassopoulos,M (2271)/
Kallithea Halkidiki GRE 2008/The Week in Chess 714 (24)}) 15. b4 {Hardly a
successful attempt to refute Black's last move.} (15. Re1 b5 16. d5 exd5 (16...
c4 $5 $13) 17. exd5 Bxd5 18. Bh7+ Kxh7 19. Qxd5 Nf6 20. Qxd8 Bxd8 21. Rxc5 Bb6
22. Rc6 Nd5 $11) 15... cxb4 16. Bc7 $6 {White's compensation for the pawn will
now be insufficient.} (16. Rc7 $142 Ra7 $1 {[%cal Yd7f6,Yf6e8]} (16... Rb8 $143
17. Qe2 Nf6 18. Rfc1 $44) 17. Bxa6 (17. Qe2 $143 Nf6 18. Be5 Ne8 19. Rc2 Nd6
20. Rfc1 Nb5 $1 $15) 17... Rxa6 18. Rxb7 Rxa2 19. Qb1 Ra8 20. Rc1 $44) 16...
Qe8 17. Qe2 b5 18. Ba5 Rc8 19. Qb2 Nf6 {[%mdl 32] This game perfectly
illustrates the situation when a "strong pawn centre" is rather weak!} 20. Rxc8
Qxc8 21. Nd2 $2 {After this mistake Black keeps his material advantage but
White had no equality after the best} (21. Re1 Qc3 $1 (21... Qa8 $143 22. Nd2)
22. Qxc3 bxc3 23. Bxc3 Rc8 24. Bd2 b4 $15 {[%csl Gb4,Re4]}) 21... Qc3 $1 22.
Qxc3 bxc3 23. Bxc3 Rc8 24. Ba5 (24. Bb2 Bb4 25. Rd1 Bxd2 26. Rxd2 Bxe4 $19) (
24. Rc1 Bb4 25. Nb1 Bxe4 $19) 24... Bd8 $1 25. Bxd8 (25. Bb4 Bb6 {[%csl Rd4]})
25... Rxd8 26. Rd1 Rxd4 {and Black gradually brings home his extra pawn:} 27.
Nb3 Rd8 28. f3 Kf8 29. Kf2 Nd7 30. Be2 Ke7 31. Na5 Ba8 32. Rc1 Kd6 33. Ke3 Nb6
34. f4 Rc8 35. Rxc8 Nxc8 36. Kd4 Ne7 37. Bf3 Kc7 38. Nb3 Kb6 39. Ke5 $6 {
desperation} Ng6+ 40. Kd6 Nxf4 41. Nc5 (41. Ke7 f5 $1 42. exf5 Bxf3 43. gxf3
exf5 $19) 41... b4 42. h4 a5 43. g3 Nh3 44. Nd7+ Ka7 45. Kc5 f5 46. Kb5 fxe4
47. Bh5 e3 48. Kxa5 g6 49. Bg4 h5 50. Be2 Ng1 51. Bf1 e2 52. Bxe2 Nxe2 53. Nf8
Be4 54. Nxe6 Nxg3 55. Nf4 Kb7 56. Kxb4 Kc6 0-1

[Event "Grand Slam Final 1st"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2008.09.05"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B77"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2744"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2008.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2
Nc6 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Rb8 11. Bb3 Na5 12. Kb1 b5 13. h4 Nc4 14. Bxc4 bxc4
15. Ka1 h5 16. Rb1 Qa5 17. Bh6 Bxh6 18. Qxh6 Rb6 19. g4 hxg4 20. Qe3 Rfb8 21.
h5 g5 22. fxg4 Nxg4 23. Qd2 f6 24. Nf3 Ra6 25. Rhg1 Rb4 26. a3 Be6 27. e5 dxe5
28. Nxg5 Bf5 29. Nge4 Kh7 30. Qe2 Nh6 31. Rg3 Be6 32. Rg6 Nf5 33. Qg4 Nh4 34.
Ng5+ fxg5 35. Qxg5 Nxg6 36. Qxg6+ Kh8 37. Rg1 1-0

[Event "Grand Slam Final 1st"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2008.09.06"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C63"]
[WhiteElo "2798"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2008.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 {I guess, this came as a total surprise for
Vishy Anand as Magnus had never played the Jaenisch as Black.} 4. d3 fxe4 5.
dxe4 Nf6 6. O-O Bc5 7. Bxc6 bxc6 8. Nxe5 O-O 9. Nc3 {Anand deviates from his
game versus Radjabov, probably suspecting deep preparation by Magnus. The move
in the text was played by Carlsen as White, once more versus Radjabov. All
this adds even more interest to this encounter.} (9. Bg5 Qe8 $1 10. Bxf6 Rxf6
11. Nd3 Bd4 12. Nd2 (12. c3 Bb6 13. e5 $5 {This is my suggestion from a
previous CBM, worth being tested in future games.} Rh6 14. Nd2 Ba6 15. c4 d5
16. Rc1 Rd8 17. Qe2 $14 {[%cal Gd3b4]}) 12... Ba6 13. Rb1 $6 (13. c4 c5 14. Rc1
$1 Bb7 15. Qe2 Qg6 16. Kh1 Re8 17. Rce1 d6 18. f3 {and Black still has to
justify the pawn sacrifice.}) 13... d6 14. c4 c5 15. b4 Qf7 16. Kh1 Rf8 17. f4
Bxc4 18. Nxc4 Qxc4 $11 {1/2-1/2 Anand,V (2799)-Radjabov,T (2735)/Morelia/
Linares MEX/ESP 2008/The Week in Chess 694 (22)}) 9... d6 10. Nd3 Bd4 {Black
is hoping to compensate for the lack of a pawn by his pair of bishops and the
opened f-file.} 11. Ne2 (11. Nb4 Bxc3 12. bxc3 c5 13. Nd5 Nxe4 14. f3 Nf6 15.
Bg5 Be6 16. Bxf6 gxf6 $11) 11... Bb6 12. Bg5 ({Black keeps reasonable
compensation also after} 12. Ng3 Ba6) 12... Qe8 13. Bxf6 Rxf6 14. Ng3 Qf7 {
This novelty is the first choice of "Rybka". Even though, I am not sure that
this is a real improvement over Radjabov's choice.} (14... Ba6 15. Kh1 Bxd3 16.
cxd3 Rxf2 17. Rxf2 Bxf2 18. Nf5 Bb6 19. Qg4 (19. Qb3+ Kh8 20. Qc3 Qd7 $11)
19... Qf8 20. Rf1 g6 $11 {1/2-1/2 Carlsen,M (2690)-Radjabov,T (2729)/Monte
Carlo 2007/CBM 117 ext (36)}) 15. b3 {Preparing to meet Bc8-a6 with c2-c4.} Be6
16. Qd2 Rf8 17. Rae1 Rh6 18. Qc3 {Covering the f6-square is important against
the transfer of Black's queen to the h-file.} (18. c4 $2 Qf6 {[%cal Gf6h4]} 19.
h3 Bxh3 $1 20. gxh3 Qh4 21. Re3 Qxh3 22. Rfe1 Bd4 $1 $19 {[%cal Rh6g6,Rg6g3]
White is simply helpless against the threat Rh6-g6-xg3.}) 18... Rf6 $6 (18...
Qe7 $6 {[%cal Ge7h4]} 19. Nf5 Bxf5 20. exf5 Qh4 21. h3 $16) ({Worth
consideration is:} 18... Qd7 $5 {with the idea 19...Bh3!}) 19. Re2 $2 {The
reason for not capturing the Pc6 remains unclear for me.} (19. Qxc6 Bd7 (19...
Bxf2+ 20. Nxf2 Rxf2 21. Nf5 Rxf1+ 22. Rxf1 $16) (19... h5 20. h3 h4 21. Nf5 Bd7
22. Qc3 Bxf5 23. exf5 Rxf5 24. Re2 $14) 20. Qc3 Rxf2 (20... h5 21. Nf5 Bxf5 22.
exf5 Rxf5 23. Re2 $14) 21. Nxf2 Bxf2+ 22. Kh1 Bxe1 23. Qxe1 $16) 19... Bg4 20.
Rd2 $2 {[%mdl 8192] And this is just a tactical oversight.} (20. Ree1 Rxf2 21.
Nxf2 Bxf2+ 22. Kh1 Bxe1 23. Qxe1 Qe7 24. Rxf8+ Qxf8 25. h3 Bd7 26. Kh2 $11) {
[%tqu "En","How can Black win material?","","","b6e3","The rook is trapped.",5]
} 20... Be3 $1 {The rook is trapped.} 21. h3 Bxd2 22. Qxd2 Bc8 23. f4 h5 $1 {
This pawn will kick away the white knight from g3 and the Pe4 will become a
target.} 24. f5 h4 25. Ne2 Re8 $2 (25... d5 $2 26. Ne5 Qh5 27. Ng4 R6f7 28. Ne5
{and the rook can't escape.}) ({But, after the correct} 25... Qe7 $1 26. Nf2 (
26. Qf4 Bxf5 $19) 26... d5 27. Ng4 R6f7 {Black's rook is getting the f7 square.
Meanwhile, White's position in the centre is collapsing.}) 26. Nf2 d5 27. Ng4
Rxe4 28. Nxf6+ Qxf6 29. Nc1 Bxf5 $2 {Allows White to escape with a draw.} ({
After} 29... Re5 $1 30. Nd3 Rxf5 {Black could still be a pawn up. It is
difficult to say whether Black can win this or not but, his advantage is
indisputable.}) 30. Qf2 {[%csl Ra7,Rf5] Double threat.} Bg6 31. Qxa7 Rf4 {
Black does not have more than a draw now.} 32. Rxf4 Qxf4 33. Nd3 Bxd3 34. cxd3
Qc1+ 35. Kh2 Qf4+ 36. Kg1 {Not the best game from both brilliant players.}
1/2-1/2

[Event "Grand Slam Final 1st"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2008.09.08"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D47"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2737"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2008.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 {This second main continuation
has lately been somewhat neglected in the light of all the excitement after} (
5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 ({In Foros 2008, Carlsen was twice successful with} 6. Bxf6
Qxf6 7. e3 {, but his wins had little to do with the opening battle.}) 6...
dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5 {After his loss to Anand in Morelia 2008 (see CBM 123),
Carlsen has avoided this sacrificial line with White (the exception being one
rapid game against Van Wely).}) 5... Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3 Bb7 9.
a3 {Currently a topical sideline.} ({The main moves are 9.e4 and especially} 9.
O-O {and now:} {The older} a6 {still seems a safer choice:} (9... b4 10. Ne4
Nxe4 11. Bxe4 Bd6 12. a3 bxa3 13. b3 Nf6 14. Nd2 Qc7 15. Bf3 Bxh2+ 16. Kh1 Bd6
17. Nc4 Be7 18. Bxa3 O-O 19. Bc5 $5 $146 (19. Bxe7 Qxe7 20. Ra5 Rfd8 21. Kg1 c5
$1 22. Rxc5 Ne4 23. Bxe4 Bxe4 24. Qg4 Bd3 25. Ra1 Rac8 26. Raa5 Rb8 27. Qd1 Be4
28. Qa1 Rb7 $11 {/+/=, Topalov,V (2813)-Kramnik,V (2743)/WCh Elista/2006/})
19... Rfd8 (19... Bxc5 $142 20. dxc5 Rfd8 {/\} 21. Nd6 Nd7 $132) 20. b4 Bxc5
21. bxc5 a5 22. Re1 Ba6 23. Nb6 Rab8 24. Rxa5 Bb5 25. Qa1 Nd5 (25... Bd3 $5 $14
) 26. Ra7 Rb7 27. Rxb7 Qxb7 28. Qa5 {Aronian,L (2737)-Grischuk,A (2728)/Sochi/
2008/} Rb8 $1 $14 (28... Nxb6 29. Qxb5 $16)) 10. e4 c5 11. d5 c4 12. Bc2 Qc7
13. dxe6 fxe6 14. Nd4 Nc5 15. Be3 e5 16. Nf5 (16. Nf3 Be7 17. Ng5 O-O $1 $44 {
Kasimdzhanov,R (2678)-Kasparov,G (2804) Linares 22nd 2005 (9) 0-1 is one of
Kasparov's last contributions to opening theory - see}) {Another option is}
16... g6 $5 (16... Ncxe4 17. Nxe4 Nxe4 18. Qg4 $5 Nf6 19. Qh3 g6 20. Bg5 gxf5
21. Bxf6 Rg8 22. Rfe1 $1 Rxg2+ (22... Qc6 23. Rxe5+ Kf7 24. Be4 Qxf6 25. Rxf5
Bxe4 26. Rxf6+ Kxf6 27. Qh4+ Kf5 28. Qxh7+ Rg6 29. Re1 Rd8 30. Qh5+ Rg5 31.
Qf7+ {1-0, Akopian,V (2700)-Ippolito,D (2397)/Gibraltar op/2007/}) 23. Kf1
Rxf2+ $1 (23... Rg6 $2 24. Rxe5+ Kf7 25. Qxh7+ {1-0, Grigoryan,A (2509)
-Soozankar,A (2253)/Urmia/2008/}) 24. Kxf2 Qb6+ 25. Ke2 Qxf6 26. Bxf5 $13 {
is risky, but probably playable for Black.}) 17. Nh6 (17. Bg5 Ncxe4 18. Nxe4
Nxe4 19. Bxe4 Bxe4 20. Bf6 gxf5 21. Bxh8 Bd6 $44 {|^}) 17... Bg7 18. Qf3 Ne6
19. Qh3 Bc8 20. Qh4 (20. Qg3 $142) 20... Qe7 21. Rfe1 Nd5 22. Qxe7+ Nxe7 23.
Nd5 Bb7 24. Ng4 Nd4 25. Bd1 Nxd5 26. exd5 O-O-O 27. Bg5 Rxd5 $17 {Morozevich,A
(2758)-Anand,V (2792)/WCh Mexico City/2007/}) 9... b4 (9... Bd6 10. O-O O-O 11.
Qc2 h6 12. e4 e5 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Nxe5 Bxe5 15. h3 a6 16. Be3 c5 17. Bxc5 Re8
18. Rad1 Qc7 19. Nd5 Nxd5 20. exd5 Bxb2 21. d6 Qc6 22. f3 Rec8 23. Bh7+ Kh8 24.
Be4 Qxc5+ 25. Qxc5 Rxc5 26. Bxb7 Rd8 27. Rfe1 Be5 28. d7 $16 {[%csl Gd7] o^d7,
Topalov,V (2777)-Ivanchuk,V (2781)/Bilbao/2008/}) (9... a6 10. b4 a5 11. Rb1
axb4 12. axb4 Nd5 13. Nxd5 exd5 14. O-O ({or even} 14. e4 $5) 14... Bd6 15. Qc2
$14 {is somewhat better for White, therefore the text move is the most usual
reaction, considered to be the main line.} (15. e4 $14)) 10. Ne4 {This
continuation brought new life into the whole line.} (10. axb4 Bxb4 11. O-O c5
12. Na2 a5 13. Nxb4 axb4 14. Rxa8 Qxa8 15. dxc5 O-O $11 {is equal and sterile.}
) 10... Nxe4 ({The text move is a more solid alternative, than} 10... c5 11.
Nxf6+ gxf6 12. O-O Qb6 13. axb4 cxd4 14. Nxd4 Bxb4 15. Qa4 $5 (15. Bd2 Rg8 16.
f3 Rg5 17. Bxb4 Qxb4 18. Rf2 Rc5 19. Qd2 Qb6 20. b4 Rc7 21. Nb5 Rcc8 22. Bf1
Ke7 23. Qd4 a6 24. Rd2 Bd5 25. Qxb6 Nxb6 26. Nd4 Bc4 $11 {Moskalenko,V (2520)
-Dreev,A (2650)/Alushta/1994/}) 15... a5 16. Bb5 O-O-O 17. Bc6 Nc5 18. Bxb7+
Kxb7 19. Qc2 e5 20. Nf3 Rc8 21. Bd2 Rhg8 22. Bxb4 Qxb4 23. Qf5 Rg6 24. Rfc1 a4
25. Rc3 Qg4 26. Qxg4 Rxg4 27. Rac1 $14 {Mammen,H-Stuart,A/corr/1996/}) 11. Bxe4
bxa3 {Now Black hardly plays anything else.} ({The popularity of 10.Ne4
started with the following game:} 11... Qc7 12. axb4 $1 Bxb4+ 13. Bd2 Bxd2+ 14.
Nxd2 c5 15. Qc2 Qb6 16. dxc5 Qxc5 17. Qa4 Rb8 18. O-O O-O 19. Qxd7 Rfd8 20.
Bxh7+ Kxh7 $2 (20... Kf8 $1 21. Qa4 Rxd2 $44) 21. Qxf7 Rxd2 22. Ra4 Qg5 23. g3
e5 24. Rh4+ Qxh4 25. gxh4 Rd6 26. h5 Be4 27. Qe7 Rbb6 28. Qxe5 Re6 29. Qf4 {
1-0, Gelfand,B (2670)-Anand,V (2725)/Biel izt/1993/}) 12. O-O {This P
sacrifice in the interests of development replaced the former alternative} (12.
bxa3 Bd6 {Even the attempt to breathe life into the position with} 13. Nd2 $5 {
is hardly sufficient after} (13. O-O O-O 14. Bb2 Rb8 15. Qc2 c5 16. Bxb7 Rxb7
17. dxc5 Bxc5 18. Rfd1 Qe7 19. a4 {1/2, Karpov,A (2735)-Anand,V (2770)/WCh
Lausanne/1998/CBM 063}) (13. Bd2 Rb8 14. O-O (14. Qa4 c5 15. Bxb7 Rxb7 16. dxc5
Bxc5 17. Ba5 Qb8 18. Rd1 O-O {1/2, Karpov,A (2775)-Kramnik,V (2730)/Dortmund/
1995/}) 14... O-O 15. Bb4 c5 16. dxc5 Bxc5 17. Bxb7 Rxb7 18. Nd4 Qb6 19. Bxc5
Qxc5 20. Qd2 Qd5 21. Qc3 h6 22. Rac1 Ne5 23. h3 Rfb8 24. Qc5 Qe4 25. Qc2 Qd5
26. Qa4 Qe4 27. Qc2 Qd5 {1/2, Karpov,A (2770)-Kramnik,V (2775)/Monte Carlo rpd/
1996/}) 13... Qc7 14. Nc4 Be7 15. O-O O-O 16. Rb1 Rab8 $5 (16... Nf6 17. Bf3
Ba6 18. Qc2 Rac8 19. e4 Nd7 20. Be2 c5 21. d5 exd5 22. exd5 Bxc4 23. Bxc4 Nb6
24. Rb3 Bf6 25. Be3 Be5 26. g3 $14 {Beliavsky,A (2654)-Galkin,A (2587)/FIDE
WCh New Delhi/2000/}) 17. Qa4 Nb6 18. Qa5 Ba8 19. Nxb6 axb6 $11 {Beliavsky})
12... Nf6 (12... Bd6 13. b3 (13. b4 Nf6 14. Bd3 a5 $5 15. bxa5 Qxa5 16. Ne5 O-O
17. Nc4 Qc3 18. Bxa3 Bxa3 19. Rb1 Ba6 20. Rb3 Qxc4 21. Rxa3 Qd5 22. Rxa6 Rxa6
23. Bxa6 c5 24. dxc5 {1/2, Tomashevsky,E (2646)-Jakovenko,D (2710)/RUS-ch
Moscow/2007/}) 13... Nf6 {transposes into the 9.0-0 b4 line above.} (13... Qe7
14. Qc2 $14)) (12... axb2 13. Bxb2 Nf6 (13... Be7 $143 14. Qc2 h6 15. Bxc6 Rc8
16. d5 exd5 17. Bxd7+ Qxd7 18. Qb3 d4 19. Rxa7 Bd5 20. Qb6 $16 {Najer,E (2616)
-Potkin,V (2470)/Ubeda/2001/}) 14. Bd3 {-12...Nf6.}) 13. Bd3 axb2 14. Bxb2 a5 {
Introduced into practice by Kramnik, the alternatives were:} (14... Be7 15. Qb1
Rb8 (15... O-O 16. Ba3 $44) 16. Rxa7 Qb6 17. Qa2 O-O 18. Rb1 Ra8 19. Rxa8 Rxa8
20. Qc4 Ba6 21. Qc2 Bxd3 22. Qxd3 Qb5 23. Ne5 Rb8 24. Qxb5 Rxb5 25. Nc4 c5 {
1/2, Ivanchuk,V (2695)-Kramnik,V (2725)/New York rpd/1994/ Black gradually
overcame his problems and fully equalized, nevertheless in Mexico 2007 he
sought a safer alternative.}) (14... Bb4 15. Qb3 $1 a5 16. Ba3 Qb6 (16... Qe7
17. Rfb1 $14) 17. Ne5 O-O 18. Nc4 Qc7 19. Bxb4 axb4 20. Qxb4 Rfd8 21. Ne5 g6
22. Rxa8 Rxa8 23. Rc1 Nd5 24. Qb2 Ra4 25. h3 Rb4 26. Qa3 Qb6 27. Be4 Rb3 28.
Qd6 Qc7 29. Qc5 $16 {1-0 Moiseenko,A (2632)-Huzman,A (2589)/Montreal/2008/})
15. d5 $5 $146 {[%csl Re8][%cal Ga1h8][%mdl 640] A stunning novelty, White
sacrifices another P to open the /^ a1-h8 and create more space for a direct
-> against the K in the [+]. A blow against a heavily protected point is
usually very effective - if not otherwise, than at the very least
psychologically. In the following course of the game Aronian initially defends
quite well, but later practically inexplicably falls to pieces.} (15. Qa4 Bb4
16. Ba3 Nd5 17. e4 (17. Be4 $5 {Marin}) 17... Nb6 18. Qb3 Qe7 19. Rab1 Bxa3 20.
Qxb6 Bb4 21. Ne1 O-O 22. Nc2 Rfd8 {is too tame - White regains the P, but his
|^ evaporates.} 23. Nxb4 axb4 24. Qxb4 Qxb4 25. Rxb4 Ba6 26. Bxa6 $11 {1/2,
Gelfand,B (2733)-Kramnik,V (2769)/WCh Mexico City/2007/}) ({Interesting, but
not quite clear is} 15. e4 $5 Bb4 16. Qc2 Nd7 17. Rfd1 (17. d5 cxd5 18. Bxg7
Rg8 19. Bd4 Rc8 $132) 17... Rc8 18. Qb1 O-O 19. d5 cxd5 20. exd5 Nf6 $2 (20...
Bxd5 $1 21. Bxh7+ Kh8 $13) 21. dxe6 Qe7 22. Ng5 h6 23. Bh7+ Kh8 24. Bxf6 Qxf6
25. Nxf7+ Rxf7 26. exf7 Qxf7 27. Be4 $18 {Moiseenko,A (2632)-Illescas Cordoba,
M (2603)/ESP-chT Cala Mayor/2008/ This game was played only a few days earlier,
than ours.}) ({As yet untested, but plausible altrnatives are} 15. Qb3 $5 Rb8 (
15... Bb4 16. Ba3 {transposes into Moiseenko-Huzman above.}) 16. Bc3 Ba6 17.
Qd1 Bxd3 18. Qxd3 $32) ({or} 15. Ne5 $44) 15... Nxd5 {Black must take the P.} (
15... cxd5 $143 $2 16. Bb5+ Nd7 17. Ne5 Bc8 18. Rc1 (18. Qh5 g6 19. Qf3 $18)
18... Bd6 19. Rxc8 $18) (15... Qxd5 16. Qc2 (16. Qb1 $44) (16. Ne5 $44) 16...
Qc5 17. Qe2 Be7 (17... Qh5 18. Bxf6 gxf6 19. Qb2 $36) 18. Bd4 Qd5 19. Rfd1 $32)
(15... exd5 16. Nd4 $5 {[%csl Rc6][%cal Yd4f5,Yd1a4] /\Nf5,Qa4,><c6} Bb4 (16...
Be7 17. Nf5 {/\} O-O $2 18. Nxg7 $1 Kxg7 19. Qg4+ Kh8 20. Bxf6+ Bxf6 21. Qf5
$18) 17. Nf5 g6 18. Nh6 $44) 16. Ne5 Nf6 {Aronian prevents a Q sortie to h5,
but invests another tempo.} (16... Bb4 17. Qh5 Qc7 18. Rfc1 $44 (18. Nf3 $5 Bc3
19. Bxc3 Nxc3 20. Qc5 Nd5 21. Rfb1 $44)) (16... Nb4 17. Qh5 Qc7 18. Rfd1 $44) (
16... Qc7 $5 $13) 17. Qa4 $32 Bb4 (17... Bd6 $5 {is an attempt to stabilize
the position by returning both extra Ps:} 18. Ng4 $5 $13 (18. Nxc6 Qd7 19. Nxa5
(19. Bb5 O-O 20. Rfc1 Rfc8 $11) 19... Qxa4 20. Rxa4 Bd5 (20... Ke7 21. Bxf6+
Kxf6 (21... gxf6 22. Rb1 Bd5 23. e4 Bc7 24. exd5 Rxa5 25. Rxa5 Bxa5 26. Rb7+
$36) 22. Nxb7 Bxh2+ 23. Kxh2 Rxa4 $14 {/=}) {/\} 21. Bxf6 gxf6 22. e4 Bc6 $11))
18. Nxc6 Bxc6 $8 (18... Qxd3 $2 19. Ne5+ $18) (18... Qd7 $2 19. Bb5 Ba6 20.
Bxa6 Rxa6 21. Nxb4 $18) 19. Qxc6+ Ke7 20. Rfd1 {White has regained one P and
Black's K has remained in the [+]. However, Black's R are finally connected
and this should suffice to gradually contain White's |^.} Rc8 21. Qf3 (21. Qa6
Qd6 22. Qb7+ (22. Qxd6+ Bxd6 23. Rxa5 Ra8 $11) 22... Qc7 {[%cal Yh8d8] /\Rhd8=
only helps Black.}) 21... Qb6 (21... Qc7 22. Ba6 Rcd8 23. Rdc1 Qb8 24. Rc6 $36)
22. Bd4 Qb8 (22... Qc6 $5 23. Qg3 Rhd8 {/\Kf8=} 24. Qxg7 $2 Rxd4 $1 25. exd4
Rg8 $19) 23. Ba6 Rcd8 24. Bb7 $5 {Carlsen wants to keep maximum tension in the
position and spurns immediately simplifying alternatives. However, objectively
even his choice doesn't promise that much.} (24. Rdc1 e5 25. Bc5+ Bxc5 26. Rxc5
Rhe8 27. Rcxa5 Kf8 $11) (24. Rab1 Rd6 $5 {/\} 25. Bc5 Bxc5 26. Rb7+ Nd7 27.
Rxb8 Rxb8 $11) 24... h5 {[%csl Gb7,Gd4,Re7,Gg1] Black starts to crack up.
Perhaps Aronian cherished higher ambitions with his extra P, but White has
suffcient long-term compensation with his ^^ and safer K.} ({Definitely safer
was} 24... e5 $142 $5 25. Bb6 (25. Bb2 Rxd1+ 26. Rxd1 Rd8 27. Rxd8 Kxd8 $11)
25... Rd6 $1 26. Rxd6 Qxd6 27. Bxa5 Bxa5 (27... Rb8 $11) 28. Rxa5 Qb4 29. Rxe5+
$8 (29. Ra1 $2 e4 $17) 29... Kd6 30. Rd5+ Nxd5 31. Qxd5+ Ke7 (31... Kc7 32. Ba6
$11) 32. Qe5+ Kf8 33. Qb8+ Ke7 34. Qe5+ $11) 25. h3 ({The luft is useful, but
more forceful was} 25. Rab1 $5 Ng4 26. g3 f6 27. h3 Ne5 28. Qg2 $44 {/+/=})
25... h4 $6 {Pointless, as the R still can't be activated via h5. Black still
had} (25... e5 $142 $11 {This is similar to 24...e5 and although h3 is more
useful than h5, he should be able to hold the balance.}) 26. Rab1 $36 e5 (26...
Rd6 27. Rdc1 $1 {[%cal Rd4e5] /\Be5+/-}) 27. Rxb4 $1 {[%mdl 64] Time has come
for tactical solutions.} axb4 $2 {This loses by force.} (27... exd4 28. Rbxd4
$16 {or}) (27... Rxd4 28. Rbxd4 exd4 29. exd4 $16 {[%csl Re7] ע leads to a
difficult position due to Black's exposed K, but it was definitely more
resilient.}) 28. Bc5+ Ke6 $8 (28... Ke8 29. Bc6+ Rd7 (29... Nd7 30. Qf5 Qc7 31.
Qg5 $18) 30. Rxd7 $1 Nxd7 31. Qf5 Qc7 32. Qg5 f6 33. Qxg7 $18) 29. Ra1 $1 $18
Rd6 (29... Rd2 30. Ra6+ (30. Ra8 $18) 30... Kd7 31. Bxb4 $1 {/\} e4 32. Qf5+
Kd8 (32... Ke8 33. Re6+ $1) 33. Qa5+ Ke8 34. Qb5+ Rd7 35. Bc6 $18) 30. Bxd6
Kxd6 (30... Qxd6 31. Ra6 $18) 31. Qc6+ Ke7 32. Ra8 {This nets White a decisive
material advantage.} Qd6 33. Qxd6+ (33. Rxh8 $18) 33... Kxd6 34. Rxh8 b3 35.
Ba6 Nd7 (35... e4 36. Rb8) 36. Rxh4 Nc5 (36... Nc5 37. Bc4 $18 (37. Be2 $18))
1-0

[Event "Grand Slam Final 1st"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2008.09.09"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2008.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. Qc2
Nc6 9. a3 Qa5 10. O-O-O Be7 11. h4 Rd8 12. Nd2 a6 $6 {[%cal Yb7b5] An
interesting idea but still it appears too slow.} (12... dxc4 {- see CBM 117,
annotations to Topalov-Kramnik.}) 13. Be2 $2 {Too passive. Two other moves
seen in practice are more logical:} (13. Nb3 $5 Qb6 14. c5 Qa7 15. Bc7 {
and Black didn't manage to consolidate his position in the following game:} Rf8
(15... Rd7 $5 16. Bb6 Qb8 {[%cal Ye7d8,Ye6e5]}) 16. Na4 Ne8 17. Bh2 Bd8 18. Bd3
h6 19. g4 e5 20. g5 h5 21. g6 (21. Bh7+ $1 Kh8 22. Bf5 {[%csl Rd5]} Be6 23.
Bxe6 fxe6 24. Qg6 $18) 21... f5 22. Be2 Nf6 23. Rhg1 $6 Be6 24. Rg5 $2 Ng4 {
0-1 Arnold,J (2320)-Ganaus,H (2340)/Austria 2000/EXT 2001 (53)}) (13. g4 $5
dxc4 (13... b5 14. g5 $1 Nh5 $140 15. cxd5) (13... Nxg4 $5 $13) 14. Nxc4 Rxd1+
15. Qxd1 Qd8 16. Qxd8+ Bxd8 17. Bg2 e5 (17... Nxg4 18. Rd1 $1 Bxh4 19. Bxc6
bxc6 20. Nb6) 18. Nxe5 Nxe5 19. Bxe5 Nxg4 20. Bg3 $16 {1-0 Nielsen,P (2625)
-Glud,J (2486)/Silkeborg 2008/CBM 123 Extra (40)}) 13... b5 $1 {[%mdl 128]
Black now seizes the initiative.} 14. cxd5 (14. cxb5 axb5 15. Bxb5 (15. Nxb5 e5
) 15... Bd7 $40) 14... exd5 15. g4 Be6 16. Nb3 Qb6 17. g5 Ne4 18. Nxe4 dxe4 19.
Rxd8+ Nxd8 20. Kb1 Rc8 21. Qd1 Nc6 22. h5 a5 {Black's attack comes first.} 23.
g6 $6 (23. h6 $142 a4 24. Nd4 Rd8 (24... Nxd4 25. Qxd4) 25. hxg7 Nxd4 (25... b4
26. axb4 Qxb4 27. Nxc6 Rxd1+ 28. Bxd1 {may be difficult to win}) 26. exd4 Rxd4
27. Qc1 {keeping chances for counterplay.}) 23... a4 24. Nd2 (24. Nd4 Nxd4 25.
Qxd4 (25. exd4 Bb3) 25... Qc6 26. Qd2 Rd8 27. Qc2 Qd5 $19) 24... b4 {White's
king is helpless.} 25. gxf7+ Bxf7 26. Nc4 Qb7 27. Qxa4 (27. Nd6 Bxd6 28. Qxd6 (
28. Bxd6 Rd8 $19) 28... bxa3 29. Qxa3 Nb4 $19) 27... bxa3 28. Nxa3 Bxa3 29.
Qxa3 Nb4 30. b3 Nd3 31. Bxd3 exd3 32. Rc1 d2 0-1

[Event "Grand Slam Final 1st"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2008.09.10"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B78"]
[WhiteElo "2777"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2008.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 {One of the theoretical
highlights of year 2008 has undoubtedly been the appearance of the Dragon
Sicilian on the highest level. This happened thanks to efforts of Magnus
Carlsen, who starting with the tournament in Baku (April 2008) fearlessly
implemented the Dragon against 1.e4 in almost all his Black games. The
Norwegian found new ideas and came with a fresh look at many Sicilian Dragon
positions. In this extremely important game (a direct fight for the tournament
victory in the Grand Slam Final) Magnus remains true to his style and goes for
the Dragon again.  On the other side Veselin Topalov shouldn't be invited
twice to challenge his opponents in principled opening variations. The
Bulgarian goes for what represents the most critical variation of the Sicilian
Dragon these days.} 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2 O-O 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Rc8 ({
At this moment "the Chinese Variation" -} 10... Rb8 {is a worthy alternative
to the main 10...Rc8. Its theory's development still has a long way before
coming to sensible conclusions.}) 11. Bb3 Ne5 12. Kb1 {About ten years ago
this strong waiting move, useful in many further complications, started
quickly to gain popularity and meanwhile became White's main weapon against
the Dragon. Black's problem is that all active moves have certain drawbacks.} (
12. g4 b5 $1 {[%csl Rf3]}) 12... a6 {This is one of Magnus' amazing findings
in the Dragon. The modest advance of the a-pawn used to have a very bad
reputation: those players who tried 12...a6 in the past (also including GMs)
were simply swept away in those games. This is explained by the fact that
White starts a direct attack next and the move 12...a6 usually turns out to be
a loss of tempo. Certainly Carlsen analyzed and tested the position a lot and
must have come to the surprising conclusion that Black has sufficient
potential for defence and counterplay.  We'll see that actually the Norwegian
wonderboy might be right - Black's position has indeed many hidden resources.
But there is still a big problem: now even a small inaccuracy in defence from
Black can easily be fatal. Thus in order to play well the resulting positions
both sides (and especially Black) need the precision of a computer.} ({
Practice has shown that White retains better prospects after the more active
moves:} 12... a5 13. a4) (12... b5 13. Ndxb5) (12... Nc4 13. Bxc4 Rxc4 14. g4
b5 {Comparied to 12.g4 b5, here the f3-pawn is not under attack and White can
take on b5:} 15. b3 $1 Rc8 16. Ndxb5 {Theeory has established that Black has
serious problems here.}) ({In the past decade Black's main reply has become
the defensive waiting move:} 12... Re8) 13. h4 ({In the second round of the
same tournament (a week prior to the present game) Ivanchuk against Carlsen
continued} 13. Rhe1 {Surprisingly, this move required from the Ukrainian
around 40 minutes of thinking over the board.  Then after} b5 14. Bh6 Bxh6 15.
Qxh6 {instead of the typical, but rather questionable exchange sacrifice on c3,
Black had the attractive possibility} a5 (15... Rxc3 16. bxc3 a5 17. f4 Neg4
18. Qh4 a4 19. Bxf7+ {In the game the following wild complications lead to a
draw, but there are possibilities to improve:} Rxf7 20. e5 Nd5 21. e6 Nxc3+ 22.
Kc1 ({White has the advantage after} 22. Ka1 $1 Bxe6 23. Nxe6 Qc8 24. Rd4 Nxa2
25. Qh3 $1 Qxc2 26. Qf3) 22... Bxe6 23. Nxe6 Qa5 24. Qxg4 Nxa2+ 25. Kb2 Qc3+
26. Kxa2 Qxc2+ 27. Ka1 Qc3+ 28. Kb1 Qb3+ 29. Ka1 Qc3+ {1/2-1/2 Ivanchuk,V 
(2781)-Carlsen,M (2775)/Bilbao 2008}) 16. Ndxb5 Bxb5 17. Nxb5 a4 18. Bxa4 (18.
Bd5 Qb6 19. Nd4 Rc5 $40) 18... Qa5 19. b3 Rc5 $44) 13... h5 14. g4 hxg4 15. h5
Nxh5 16. Rdg1 {The most critical position of the line 12.Kb1 these days.} Rc5
$146 {Carlsen doesn't wait for Topalov to demonstrate his preparation and
instead comes up with a good novelty. The queen is kept on d8 for defence.} ({
Previously} 16... Qa5 {was played:} 17. Bh6 Bf6 $5 (17... Rxc3 $2 {turned out
to lose right away in the rapid game Anand-Carlsen, Mainz 2008:} 18. Bxg7 Kxg7
19. Rxh5 $1 $18) (17... Rc5 {is the position which could also arise in the
main game, see 17...Qa5 instead of 17...Kh7.} 18. Rh4 Nxf3 19. Nxf3 Bxc3 20.
bxc3 Qxc3 21. Qxc3 Rxc3 22. Bxf8 Kxf8) 18. fxg4 Bxg4 {and now instead of
accepting the positional exchange sacrifice White must disturb the stability
of the black pieces on the kingside with the surprising} 19. Bf4 {which leads
to advantage.} (19. Bxf8 Kxf8 20. Qe3 Rxc3 21. Qxc3 (21. bxc3 $5) 21... Qxc3
22. bxc3 e6 {0-1 Karjakin,S (2727)-Radjabov,T (2744)/Sochi 2008 (52). offered
Black excellent compensation for two exchanges.})) (16... Nc4 17. Bxc4 Rxc4 18.
fxg4 Nf6 19. Nf5 $1 $40) 17. Bh6 ({The immediate} 17. f4 $5 {was an
interesting alternative:} Nc4 18. Bxc4 Rxc4 19. f5 e5 ({After} 19... Nf6 20.
Bh6 $1 {Black probably must play the dubious position by retreating the bishop
to h8, since} ({Not} 20. fxg6 $2 fxg6 $17) 20... Nxe4 21. Nxe4 {wins for White:
} Rxd4 (21... Bxd4 22. f6 $1 $18) 22. Qh2 $18) (19... Qa5 20. Rxg4 Rxc3 (20...
Rfc8 21. Rxh5 $1 Rxc3 (21... gxh5 22. Rg1 $18) 22. bxc3 {is the same}) 21. bxc3
Rc8 22. Rxh5 Rxc3 $1 (22... gxh5 23. Rg1 $18) (22... Qxc3 23. Rh2 $18) 23. Rh2
Qb6+ 24. Kc1 Rxe3 25. Qxe3 Qxd4 $14 (25... Bxd4 26. Qb3 $14)) 20. fxe6 fxe6 21.
Rxg4 Qf6 22. Nde2 $44) 17... Kh7 $1 {Forcing the exchange of bishops on g7
reduces White's attacking potential (apart from gaining more air for the king,
the rook will be able to go to h8 and the pawn on g6 won't be pinned anymore).}
({After other moves Black is in troubles:} 17... Qa5 18. Rh4 $1 Nxf3 19. Nxf3
gxf3 ({Better is to exchange queens with} 19... Bxc3 20. bxc3 Qxc3 21. Qxc3
Rxc3 22. Bxf8 Kxf8 {even if after} 23. Ng5 {There is no question about White's
advantage. E.g.} Kg7 24. Bxf7 Kf6 25. e5+ $1 Kxg5 26. e6 Bxe6 27. Bxe6 Nf6 (
27... Kxh4 28. Rxg4+ Kh3 29. Rc4+ $18) 28. Rh2 $16) 20. Rxg6 $18) (17... b5 18.
Nd5 $16 e6 $140 19. fxg4 Nxg4 20. Rxg4 exd5 21. Nf5 $18) ({The positional
exchange sacrifice is not sufficient here:} 17... Bf6 18. Bxf8 Kxf8 (18... Qxf8
19. Nd5 Bg7 20. fxg4 Bxg4 21. Qg5 $40) 19. fxg4 Bxg4 20. Nd5 {An important
resource. With the queen on a5 (as in Karjakin-Radjabov, see 16...Qa5) White
can't play this.} Bg7 21. Ne3 Bd7 22. Nef5 $36) ({Or} 17... Bh8 18. fxg4 Bxg4
19. Bxf8 Qxf8 (19... Kxf8 20. Qf2 $16) 20. Rh4 $36) 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. f4 ({
Again White had an interesting alternative:} 19. fxg4 {after which Black needs
to play extremely precisely:} Nxg4 (19... Bxg4 $2 20. Rxh5 gxh5 (20... Bxh5 21.
Nf5+ $18) 21. Nf5+ Kf6 22. Qh6+ Ng6 23. Nh4 $18) 20. Nd5 (20. Nf5+ {looks less
attractive to me} Rxf5 $5 (20... Bxf5 21. exf5 Ngf6 22. fxg6 fxg6 23. Qg2 Nf4
24. Qxb7 $13) 21. exf5 Bxf5 $13) 20... Rh8 21. Nf5+ Bxf5 (21... gxf5 $2 22.
Qg5+ $18) 22. exf5 Nhf6 23. Rxh8 Qxh8 24. fxg6 fxg6 {Strangely enough, Black
seems to keep the balance here:} 25. Nf4 ({After} 25. Nxe7 Re5 26. Qxd6 {
a possible variation is} Qf8 27. Be6 Ne4 28. Qd7 Nc5 29. Nxg6+ Kxg6 30. Rxg4+
Kf6 31. Rf4+ Kg5 {with a draw due to the back rank weakness.}) 25... Re5 26.
Ne6+ Kg8 {and the analysis shows that White has little better than repeating
moves. However, for the Black side to evaluate correctly such a position and
find all this over the board is far from easy.} 27. Nf4+ Kg7 28. Ne6+ Kg8 $11)
({With the king on g7 the move} 19. Rh4 $2 {is just bad, since after} Nxf3 ({or
} 19... e6 {[%cal Gd8h4]}) 20. Nxf3 gxf3 {pawn g6 is protected (unlike in the
variation 17...Qa5 18.Rh4).}) 19... Nc4 20. Bxc4 Rxc4 21. f5 e5 $1 (21... Rh8 {
offers White nice compensation for the pawn:} 22. Rxg4 e5 (22... Nf6 23. Rgh4
$16) (22... Qb6 23. Nce2 $16) 23. fxe6 Bxe6 (23... fxe6 24. Rhg1 Rh6 25. e5 $1
$18) 24. Nxe6+ fxe6 25. Qg2 (25. Rhg1 Rh6 26. Qg2 Qe8 {and Black holds somehow}
) 25... Rh6 (25... Qf6 $2 26. e5 $18) 26. Ne2 $44) 22. Nde2 ({Black is doing
fine after} 22. fxe6 fxe6 23. Nde2 (23. Rxg4 $2 e5 24. Nf5+ (24. Rxh5 Rf1+ 25.
Nd1 Bxg4 26. Qh6+ Kf7 $19) 24... Bxf5 25. Rxh5 Bxg4 26. Qh6+ Kf7 27. Qh7+ Ke8
28. Qxg6+ Kd7 29. Qxg4+ Kc6 {and the king successfully escapes}) 23... e5 24.
Qxd6 Qe8 {with at least equal play}) 22... Rh8 {Again the only move to keep
the position alive. Black must cover the h6-square in order to retreat the
knight after the coming Rxg4.} 23. b3 {Before taking on g4 White must drive
his opponent's rook away from the fourth rank.} ({After the immediate} 23. Rxg4
{Black exploitss the pin on the e-pawn:} Bxf5) (23. Qxd6 {leads to a good
endgame for Black:} Bc6 24. Qxe5+ Qf6 25. Qxf6+ Nxf6 26. Rxh8 Kxh8 27. e5 Ne4
$15) 23... Rc6 $2 {Up till now Carlsen has defended very well, but now he
makes a mistake, which is enough to lose such dangerous positions.} ({The only
move was} 23... Rc8 $1 {Protecting once again square h8 was more important
than defending pawn d6.} 24. Rxg4 (24. fxg6 fxg6 25. Qxd6 Qe8 $13) 24... Nf6
25. Rgg1 ({After} 25. Rxh8 Qxh8 26. Rg1 {Black can already consider} Rc6 {
since the plan Ng3 and Rh1 is no longer dangerous due to the possibility to
activate the queen:} 27. Ng3 (27. Qe1 Qh5 28. Rh1 Qg5) 27... Qh6 $13) 25... Qe7
{Black rooks are connected and although White has compensation for the pawn
thanks to the pressure on the open files, the position remains balanced:} 26.
Ng3 Rxh1 27. Rxh1 Rh8 $13 {Thus we can conclude that with the correct 23...Rc8
Black would have kept a playable position.}) 24. Rxg4 {White's main idea is to
pin the knight (Rgh4), then continue Nd5, after which Black will find himself
almost in zugzwang. Therefore Black must retreat the knight, but then White
takes control over the h-file...} Nf6 25. Rgg1 $1 $16 {/+- Suddenly it turns
out that Black cannot defend against Ng3, followed by Rxh8 and Rh1, creating a
decisive attack on the h-file.} (25. Rgh4 $4 {runs into} Nxe4 $1 $19 {[%csl
Rh1,Rh4][%cal Gh8h1,Gd8h4]}) 25... Rxh1 26. Rxh1 Ng4 {A nice way to protect
the h6-square, but the knight on g4 is not stable and therefore it does not
solve Black's defensive task.} (26... Nh5 27. Nd5 $18) 27. Ng3 Kg8 28. Nd5 {
Complete domination. Black's position is hopeless.} Rc5 29. Ne3 {Topalov goes
for a simple position, rightly assessing it as clearly better for White.} ({
Variations like} 29. Qg2 Rxd5 30. fxg6 {also favor White, but 29.Ne3 is more
practical.} (30. Qh3 $2 Rd1+ 31. Rxd1 Nf2) ({After} 30. exd5 Bxf5 31. Nxf5 gxf5
{Black keeps possibilities for counterplay})) 29... Nxe3 (29... Qg5 30. Qxd6
$18) 30. Qxe3 Qf6 31. Qh6 Qg7 32. Qg5 f6 33. Qd2 {Black cannot protect his
weaknesses on the entire board.} Rc6 ({After} 33... g5 {White has two good
solutions:} {the simple} 34. Qxd6 ({or} 34. Nh5 Qe7 35. Qh2 {and wins due to
the threat Nf4, coming with the knight either to g6 or e6.}) 34... Rc6 35. Qd5+
$16) 34. Kb2 $6 {Completely unnecessary.} (34. Qa5 {wins at once:} b6 (34...
Rc8 35. Qd5+ Kf8 36. fxg6 $18) 35. Qxa6 Rc8 (35... gxf5 36. Qa8+ Kf7 37. Nxf5
$18) 36. Qb7 gxf5 37. Qd5+ Kf8 38. Qxd6+ $18) 34... gxf5 ({Carlsen misses the
opportunity} 34... Be8 $1 35. fxg6 ({Now after} 35. Qa5 {Black has} Qc7 36.
Qd5+ Bf7) 35... Bxg6 {and White has no direct win.}) 35. Qa5 Qe7 (35... b6 36.
Qd5+ Kf8 37. Nxf5 $16) 36. Qd5+ Be6 37. Qd1 $1 ({Due to the unfortunate
position of the king on b2} 37. Nxf5 {allows Black a counter-sacrifice} Rxc2+
$1 {and White's advantage is questionable after} (37... Bxd5 38. Nxe7+ Kf8 39.
Nxd5 $18) 38. Ka1 (38. Kxc2 $4 Qc7+ 39. Kb2 Bxd5 $19) 38... Qd7 39. Qd3 Bxf5 $1
(39... Rg2 40. Qh3 $18) 40. Qxc2 (40. exf5 Rc7 $1 $11) 40... Bg6 $13) 37... Qg7
38. exf5 Bf7 (38... Qxg3 39. Rg1 $18) 39. Ne4 Kf8 40. Nxd6 Ke7 ({More stubborn
is} 40... Bg8 {although it would have not changed the result.} {After} 41. Ne4
{the black king is too exposed.}) 41. Nxb7 {The rest is simple - White has a
material advantage and a winning attack.} Qg8 42. Qd2 (42. Rh7 $1 Qxh7 $140 43.
Qd8#) 42... Rb6 43. Rd1 Qc8 44. Nd6 {The technical decision.} (44. Nd8 Qc7 45.
Nxf7 Kxf7 46. Qd5+ Kf8 47. Rg1 $18) 44... Qd7 45. Nxf7 Qxd2 46. Rxd2 Kxf7 47.
c4 Ke7 48. Kc3 1-0

[Event "Grand Slam Final 1st"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2008.09.12"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2744"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2008.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. Nf3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 e6 6. Nd2 Nc6 7. N2f3 Nge7 8.
Bd3 Bd7 9. O-O Ng6 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. c4 Be7 12. Be3 Qb8 13. Bxg6 hxg6 14. Qc2
a5 15. Rfc1 O-O 16. Qe2 Rc8 17. Rc3 Qc7 18. Rac1 Qd8 19. a3 dxc4 20. Rd1 c5 21.
Qxc4 Rab8 22. Rcd3 Rc7 23. R3d2 Qe8 24. Ng5 Ba4 25. Rc1 Bxg5 26. Bxg5 Qb5 27.
Be3 Qxc4 28. Rxc4 Bb3 29. Rc3 a4 30. Bxc5 g5 31. f3 Kh7 32. Kf2 Rb5 33. Bd6 Rd7
34. Rcd3 Kg6 35. Rd4 f6 36. h3 Rd8 37. Kg3 Rd7 38. Kf2 Rd8 39. Re2 Rc8 40. Bb4
Rd5 41. Rxd5 Bxd5 42. Bc3 f5 43. Rd2 Rc4 44. Ke3 g4 45. hxg4 fxg4 46. Rd4 Rxd4
47. Bxd4 Kf5 48. Bc3 gxf3 49. gxf3 g5 50. Bd4 Bb3 51. Bc3 Bd5 52. Bd4 Bb3 53.
Bc3 Bd5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grand Slam Final 1st"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2008.09.13"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D13"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2798"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2008.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 126"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.10.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bf4 a6 7. Rc1 Bf5 8.
Ne5 Rc8 9. f3 g6 10. g4 Be6 11. e3 Bg7 12. h4 h5 13. g5 Nd7 14. Nxc6 Rxc6 15.
Bd3 O-O 16. Kf2 Nb6 17. b3 Qd7 18. Qd2 Bf5 19. Bxf5 Qxf5 20. Ne2 Rfc8 21. Rxc6
Rxc6 22. Rc1 Nd7 23. Kg2 e5 24. Rxc6 bxc6 25. dxe5 Nxe5 26. Nd4 Qc8 27. Ne2 Qf5
28. Nd4 Qc8 29. Ne2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bundesliga 0809"]
[Site "Germany"]
[Date "2008.12.13"]
[Round "8.1"]
[White "Maiwald, Jens Uwe"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A90"]
[WhiteElo "2508"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2008.10.03"]
[EventType "team-tourn"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 127 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.01.08"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.01.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Dresden"]
[BlackTeam "Baden-Baden"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "GER"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GER"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 Bb4+ 3. Bd2 Bxd2+ 4. Qxd2 f5 5. g3 Nf6 6. Bg2 O-O 7. Nf3 d6 8.
O-O Qe7 9. Nc3 c6 10. Rad1 d5 11. Qc2 Nbd7 12. Rfe1 Ne4 13. e3 Nd6 14. c5 Nf7
15. b4 e5 16. dxe5 Nfxe5 17. Nd4 Nf6 18. Na4 Kh8 19. Qb3 Bd7 20. a3 Rae8 21.
Nb2 g5 22. f4 Ng6 23. Nd3 gxf4 24. exf4 Ne4 25. Nf3 Qf6 26. Nde5 Nxe5 27. Nxe5
Bc8 28. Qe3 h5 29. Qd4 Kh7 30. Re3 h4 31. gxh4 Rg8 32. Nf3 Qxd4 33. Rxd4 Rg4
34. Ng5+ Kg6 35. Nh3 Kf6 36. Rf3 Reg8 37. Ng5 Rxh4 38. h3 Rh5 0-1

[Event "Bundesliga 0809"]
[Site "Germany"]
[Date "2008.12.14"]
[Round "9.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Socko, Bartosz"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E97"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2631"]
[PlyCount "182"]
[EventDate "2008.10.03"]
[EventType "team-tourn"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 127 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.01.08"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.01.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Baden-Baden"]
[BlackTeam "Kreuzberg"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "GER"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GER"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5
Ne7 9. b4 a5 10. bxa5 Rxa5 11. a4 b6 12. Bd2 Ra8 13. Ne1 Ne8 14. Nd3 f5 15. f3
f4 16. Nb5 g5 17. a5 c6 18. dxc6 Nxc6 19. axb6 Rxa1 20. Qxa1 Qxb6+ 21. Kh1 Rf7
22. Nb4 Nd4 23. Nd5 Qa6 24. Bd3 Nb3 25. Qb2 Nxd2 26. Ra1 Qc6 27. Qxd2 Be6 28.
Qa5 Rd7 29. Bc2 Qxc4 30. Ba4 Bxd5 31. exd5 e4 32. Na3 Qc7 33. Qxc7 Rxc7 34. Re1
Ra7 35. Bxe8 Rxa3 36. fxe4 g4 37. Bh5 g3 38. hxg3 fxg3 39. Kg1 Ra2 40. Rd1 Be5
41. Kf1 Rf2+ 42. Kg1 Kg7 43. Rf1 Kh6 44. Bg4 Rb2 45. Bf5 Bd4+ 46. Kh1 Rf2 47.
Rd1 Rf4 48. Re1 Be3 49. Bh3 Rxe4 50. Rd1 Bd4 51. Rf1 Bf2 52. Rd1 Kg5 53. Be6
Kf6 54. Bh3 Ke5 55. Be6 Kf4 56. Rb1 Rd4 57. Ra1 Ke3 58. Ra3+ Kd2 59. Bf5 Rh4+
60. Bh3 Re4 61. Ra1 Rd4 62. Bg4 Kc3 63. Rc1+ Kb2 64. Rd1 Rf4 65. Be6 Bd4 66.
Bh3 Kc2 67. Re1 Bc3 68. Rg1 Rf6 69. Be6 Rh6+ 70. Bh3 Rh5 71. Rf1 Rxd5 72. Bf5+
Kd2 73. Bg4 Bd4 74. Rd1+ Kc2 75. Re1 Bf2 76. Bd1+ Kc3 77. Bf3 Ra5 78. Rc1+ Kb2
79. Rd1 Ra4 80. Rd2+ Kc3 81. Rc2+ Kxc2 82. Bd1+ Kd2 83. Bxa4 d5 84. Bc2 h6 85.
Be4 d4 86. Bg6 Ke1 87. Bf5 h5 88. Bg4 h4 89. Bf5 Be3 90. Bg6 Kf2 91. Bf5 Bh6
0-1

[Event "EU-Cup 24th"]
[Site "Kallithea"]
[Date "2008.10.18"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mastrovasilis, Dimitrios"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2572"]
[PlyCount "155"]
[EventDate "2008.10.17"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 127"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Erevan MIKA"]
[BlackTeam "Thessaloniki ES"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ARM"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GRE"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. Be2 O-O 8. O-O
e5 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. dxe5 Nxe5 11. Rd1 Qc7 12. h3 Nxf3+ 13. Bxf3 Bh2+ 14. Kh1
Be5 15. Bd2 Be6 16. Qa4 Qb6 17. Ne2 Rfc8 18. Bc3 Bxc3 19. bxc3 Rc4 20. Qb3 Qc7
21. Rd4 Rc5 22. Rad1 Rc8 23. Kg1 b6 24. Qb1 g6 25. Qb2 Qe5 26. Qb4 Kg7 27. Qa3
Ra5 28. Ra4 Rcc5 29. Rdd4 Bd7 30. Rxa5 Rxa5 31. Qb2 Rb5 32. Rb4 Rc5 33. Qd2 Bf5
34. Nd4 Ne4 35. Qb2 Nd6 36. Be2 Bd7 37. Bd3 Kg8 38. Qd2 Qg5 39. h4 Qe5 40. Ne2
Bf5 41. Rd4 Bxd3 42. Qxd3 Ne4 43. f3 Ng3 44. Nf4 Nf5 45. Rxd5 Qxe3+ 46. Qxe3
Nxe3 47. Rxc5 bxc5 48. Nd3 c4 49. Nb2 f5 50. Kf2 f4 51. g3 Nd5 52. gxf4 Nxc3
53. a3 Nd5 54. Nxc4 Kf7 55. Kg3 Ke6 56. Kg4 Kf6 57. a4 h5+ 58. Kg3 a6 59. a5
Ke6 60. Ne5 Kf5 61. Nd3 Ne7 62. Nb4 Kf6 63. Kf2 Kf5 64. Ke3 Ke6 65. Nxa6 Kd6
66. Nb4 Kc5 67. Nc2 Nf5+ 68. Kf2 Kb5 69. Ne3 Ne7 70. f5 gxf5 71. Kg3 Kxa5 72.
Kf4 Kb5 73. Nxf5 Nd5+ 74. Kg5 Kc4 75. Kxh5 Kd3 76. Kg5 Ke2 77. h5 Kxf3 78. h6
1-0

[Event "EU-Cup 24th"]
[Site "Kallithea"]
[Date "2008.10.19"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Movsesian, Sergei"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D26"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2732"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "152"]
[EventDate "2008.10.17"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 127"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Erevan MIKA"]
[BlackTeam "Sarajevo Bosna"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ARM"]
[BlackTeamCountry "BIH"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. a4 e6 6. Bf4 {This move is rare,
harmless, but quite playable, of course.} c5 {Other options seen in practice:}
(6... Be7) (6... Bb4) (6... a5) (6... dxc4) 7. e3 Nc6 8. Be2 dxc4 (8... Be7
$143 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. O-O O-O 11. cxd5 Nxd5 12. Nxd5 exd5 13. Rc1 Bd6 14. Bxd6
Qxd6 15. Qb3 Rb8 16. Qb6 $14 {1/2 Arbutina,S (2320)-Guzsvany,A (2049)/Senta
2007/CBM 119 ext (54)}) 9. Bxc4 cxd4 10. exd4 Be7 11. O-O {With a
transposition of moves a well-known QGA position has arisen.} O-O 12. Re1 (12.
Qd2 {is another popular option.}) 12... Nb4 (12... b6 $6 13. d5) (12... Nd5 13.
Bg3 Ncb4 14. Ne5 b6 15. Nxd5 exd5 16. Bb3 Bf5 17. Qf3 Be6 18. Rac1 Rc8 19. Rc3
Bg5 20. Bf4 Qf6 21. Bxg5 Qxg5 22. Qe2 Qf4 23. Qd1 Qh6 24. h3 $14 {1-0 Sokolov,
I (2690)-Simutowe,A (2442)/Tripoli 2004/CBM 102 (82)}) (12... Qb6 $5) 13. Ne5 (
13. Qb3 Nc6 $1 {[%cal Rc6d4,Rc6a5]} 14. Qd1 Nb4) 13... Bd7 14. d5 {Leads to
simplifications.} (14. Re3 $5 Rc8 15. Rg3 Re8 16. h4 Bc6 17. h5 Bf8 18. Bh6 Be4
19. Be2 (19. Bg5 $5 Bf5 20. Qe2) 19... Nc2 20. Bg5 Bf5 21. Ng4 Bxg4 22. Qxc2
Bxe2 23. Qxe2 Be7 $2 (23... Bd6 $1) 24. h6 g6 25. Qe5 Rf8 26. Re1 Ne8 27. Bxe7
Qxe7 28. d5 $16 {1-0 Epishin,V (2599)-Velicka,P (2445)/Werther 2002/CBM 087
ext (32)}) 14... exd5 15. Nxd5 Nbxd5 16. Bxd5 Bg4 $1 17. Nxg4 (17. Bxf7+ Rxf7
18. Nxg4 Qxd1 19. Nxf6+ Bxf6 20. Raxd1 Bxb2 $11) 17... Nxd5 18. Nh6+ $5 Kh8 (
18... gxh6 $143 19. Bxh6 Kh8 (19... Bf6 $2 20. Qg4+ Kh8 21. Bxf8 Qxf8 22. Qf3
$18) (19... Nf6 20. Qf3 Ne8 21. Qxb7 $16) 20. Bxf8 Bxf8 21. Qb3 {[%cal Ra1d1]}
Nf6 22. Qxf7 $16) 19. Nf5 Nxf4 20. Rxe7 g6 21. Qxd8 Raxd8 22. Ne3 $14 {[%mdl
4096] /= White's advantage in this endgame is largely symbolic but he
continues fighting.} b5 23. axb5 (23. a5 $6 Nd3) 23... axb5 24. Rb7 Rb8 (24...
Nd3 $5 25. Rxb5 $140 Rb8) 25. Rd7 Kg7 (25... Rbd8 $5 26. Rad1 Rxd7 27. Rxd7 Rc8
28. h4 Kg7 29. Kh2 Ne6 30. Rd5 Rc5 $11) 26. g3 Ne6 27. Raa7 h5 28. h4 Rbd8 29.
Rdb7 Nd4 30. Kg2 Rb8 31. Nd5 Nc6 32. Rxb8 Rxb8 33. Rc7 Nd4 34. Rd7 Ne6 35. Nc3
Nc5 36. Rd5 Na4 37. Nd1 Kf6 38. Kf3 Ke6 39. Ke4 f5+ 40. Kd4 Rc8 41. Re5+ Kf6
42. Ne3 b4 43. Nd5+ Kf7 44. Re7+ Kf8 45. Rb7 Nxb2 46. Rxb4 {The draw is not
yet guaranteed as Black needs to consolidate his position.} Nd1 47. f3 Rd8 48.
Ke5 Nf2 49. Rb3 Kg7 50. Nf4 Re8+ 51. Kd4 (51. Ne6+ Kf7 52. Rb7+ Re7 $11) 51...
Re7 52. Rb6 {Looks formidable but...} Rd7+ 53. Kc4 Kh7 $1 54. Ne6 (54. Rxg6 Nh3
55. Rf6 Nxf4 56. gxf4 Rd1 57. Rxf5 Kh6 $11 {[%cal Rd1h1]}) (54. Nxg6 Rg7 55.
Nf8+ Kg8 56. Ne6 Rxg3 {and Black should not lose.}) 54... Kh6 55. Nf8 Rg7 56.
Kd4 Nh1 57. Ke5 Nxg3 {White has given up a pawn but continues pushing for a
win!} 58. Ne6 Rg8 $2 (58... Ra7 $11) 59. Kf6 $2 {Missing an excellent chance:}
(59. Ng5 $1 Re8+ (59... f4 60. Rb7 Rg7 $4 61. Rb8 Re7+ 62. Kf6 $18) 60. Kf6
Rf8+ 61. Ke6 $1 f4 (61... Re8+ $2 62. Kf7 $18) (61... Kg7 62. Rb7+ Kh8 (62...
Kg8 63. Nh7 Re8+ 64. Kf6) 63. Nh7 $1 Re8+ 64. Kd5 {[%cal Rh7f6]} Rd8+ 65. Ke5
Re8+ (65... Kg8 66. Nf6+ Kf8 67. Ke6) 66. Kf4 Ne2+ 67. Kg5 $18) 62. Rb7 Re8+
63. Kd5 Rd8+ 64. Kc4 Rc8+ 65. Kb3 Rh8 66. Nf7+ Kg7 67. Nxh8+ Kxh8 68. Rb4 {
and White should win this ending.}) 59... f4 $1 {Bringing the knight to
defense.} 60. Ng5 Nf5 61. Nf7+ Kh7 62. Ng5+ Kh6 63. Rb7 Rf8+ 64. Nf7+ Kh7 65.
Kg5 Ng7 66. Nd6 Rd8 67. Ne4 Rd5+ 68. Kf6 (68. Kxf4 $11) 68... Rf5+ 69. Ke7 Ra5
70. Kf7 Nf5 71. Nf6+ Kh6 72. Ng8+ Kh7 73. Nf6+ Kh6 74. Ng8+ Kh7 75. Kf8+ $4 {
[%mdl 8192] Overconfidence is sometimes self-killing!} (75. Nf6+ $11) 75... Kh8
76. Nf6 $2 {A blunder but White is already lost:} (76. Rb8 Ra7 $19) 76... Ra8+
{with decisive material gains.} 0-1

[Event "EU-Cup 24th"]
[Site "Kallithea"]
[Date "2008.10.20"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2751"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2008.10.17"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 127"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Ural Sverdlovskaya"]
[BlackTeam "Erevan MIKA"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"]
[BlackTeamCountry "ARM"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Ke8 10. h3 b6 11. a3 Bb7 12. Bf4 c5 13. Rad1 Bxf3 14. gxf3
c6 15. Be3 Rd8 16. Ne4 Be7 17. f4 f6 18. Rxd8+ Kxd8 19. Ng3 Nh4 20. Rd1+ Kc8
21. Kf1 c4 22. Ke2 Rd8 23. Rd4 Rxd4 24. Bxd4 c5 25. Bc3 fxe5 26. fxe5 Kd7 27.
Ke3 Ke6 28. Ke4 g6 29. a4 a6 30. f4 Nf5 31. Nxf5 gxf5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-Cup 24th"]
[Site "Kallithea"]
[Date "2008.10.21"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A16"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2727"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2008.10.17"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 127"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Erevan MIKA"]
[BlackTeam "Baden-Baden"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ARM"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GER"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Qa4+ Bd7 6. Qh4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 Bg7
8. Rb1 Bc6 9. e4 e6 10. Qxd8+ Kxd8 11. Ng5 Ke8 12. f3 h6 13. Nh3 b6 14. d4 Ba4
15. Nf4 c5 16. Bd2 Ke7 17. d5 g5 18. Nh5 Be5 19. g3 exd5 20. exd5 Bc2 21. Rc1
Bg6 22. f4 Bxh5 23. fxe5 Nd7 24. d6+ Ke6 25. Bh3+ g4 26. Bg2 Rad8 27. O-O Nxe5
28. c4 Rxd6 29. Bc3 f6 30. Bd5+ Kd7 31. Rxf6 Rxf6 32. Bxe5 Rhf8 33. Rd1 Kc8 34.
Bxf6 Rxf6 35. Rf1 Rxf1+ 36. Kxf1 Kd7 37. Ke2 Kd6 38. Bb7 b5 39. cxb5 Bf7 40. a3
Bc4+ 41. Kd2 Bxb5 42. Kc3 Bc6 43. Bc8 Bd7 44. Bb7 Be6 45. Be4 Ke5 46. Bc6 c4
47. Bb7 h5 48. Bc6 Bf7 49. Bg2 Bd5 50. Bf1 Ke4 51. Bg2+ Ke5 52. Bf1 a6 53. a4
a5 54. Bxc4 Bc6 55. Bf7 Bxa4 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-Cup 24th"]
[Site "Kallithea"]
[Date "2008.10.22"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D94"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2008.10.17"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 127"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Saransk"]
[BlackTeam "Erevan MIKA"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"]
[BlackTeamCountry "ARM"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. Bd3 O-O 7. O-O Bg4 8. h3
Bxf3 9. Qxf3 e6 10. Rd1 Nbd7 11. Bd2 Re8 12. Rac1 {This system was examined in
CBM 91, annotations to Hebden - Meenakshi by GM L.Ftacnik.} (12. Be1 {is also
played.}) 12... Rc8 (12... Qe7 13. Qe2 (13. cxd5 exd5 14. Qg3 Rac8 15. Be1 Nf8
16. b4 Ne6 17. Na4 b6 18. Qf3 Qd7 19. Nc3 b5 20. Nb1 Qd6 $11 {1-0 Veresov,
G-Ragozin,V/Moscow 1944/URS-ch (57)}) (13. Qg3 dxc4 14. Bxc4 e5 15. Bb3 Rad8
16. Qh4 Nb6 17. dxe5 Qxe5 18. Qb4 Bf8 19. Qf4 Qxf4 20. exf4 Nfd5 $11 {1/2
Kuzubov,Y (2582)-Zugic,I (2477)/Calvia 2007/CBM 120 ext (56)}) 13... dxc4 (
13... Rad8 14. Bb1 (14. Be1 a6 15. a3 e5 16. dxe5 Nxe5 17. cxd5 Nxd3 18. Rxd3
Nxd5 19. Nxd5 Rxd5 20. Rxd5 cxd5 21. Qc2 d4 {1/2-1/2 Simagin,V-Ignatiev,F/
Moscow 1962/ (29)}) 14... Nf8 15. Be1 Rd7 16. a3 dxc4 17. Qxc4 Nd5 18. Qf1 Bh6
19. Rd3 f5 20. Rcd1 Red8 21. Bd2 Rc7 22. Qe2 {1-0 Lisitsin,G-Ragozin,V/Moscow
1948/ (57)}) 14. Bxc4 e5 15. d5 cxd5 16. Bxd5 e4 $6 (16... Nb6) 17. Bxb7 Rab8
18. Bc6 $6 (18. Nd5 $14) 18... Rxb2 $11 {1/2 Hebden,M (2534)-Meenakshi,S (2266)
/Torquay 2002/CBM 091/[Ftacnik] (43)}) (12... dxc4 13. Bxc4 e5 14. Bb3 exd4 15.
exd4 Nb6 16. Bg5 Qd6 17. Bf4 Qd7 18. Be5 $14 {1-0 Ivanov,S (2528)-Hasangatin,R
(2458)/St Petersburg 1999/CBM 071/[Ftacnik] (44)}) (12... a6 13. Qe2 $6 (13.
Be1) 13... e5 14. dxe5 Nxe5 15. cxd5 Nxd5 16. Nxd5 Qxd5 17. Bb1 Qb5 18. Qxb5
axb5 19. b3 Red8 20. Bb4 Bf8 21. Bc3 Bg7 22. Bb4 Bf8 23. Bc3 Bg7 24. Bb4 {
1/2 Lushenkov,M (2368)-Chuprikov,D (2377)/Sochi 2006/EXT 2007}) 13. Be1 Qe7 14.
Qe2 a6 $1 {[%mdl 32]} (14... e5 {is a typical advance in such positions but
now it was not so good due to} 15. dxe5 Nxe5 (15... Qxe5 16. cxd5 cxd5 (16...
Nxd5 17. Nxd5 cxd5 18. Bb5) 17. Bb5 $14) 16. cxd5 Nxd5 (16... Nxd3 17. Rxd3
cxd5 18. Nxd5 Nxd5 19. Rxc8 Rxc8 20. Rxd5) (16... cxd5 17. Bc2 $1 {[%csl Rd5]
[%cal Yc2b3,Ye2b5]}) 17. Nxd5 cxd5 18. Bb5 Rxc1 19. Rxc1 $14) 15. b3 Rcd8 {
Black decides to wait.} (15... e5 $5 {was now quite appropriate:} 16. dxe5 Nxe5
17. cxd5 cxd5 $11 {Black's acive pieces compensate for his isolated pawn.}) 16.
Qc2 Rc8 17. Bf1 Bf8 18. Qb1 Rcd8 19. g3 {The transfer of this bishop to g2 (to
control the d5 square and therefore prevent ...e6-e5) is quite typical in this
structure.} Bg7 20. Bg2 h5 21. Ne2 h4 $6 {It was probably better to continue
waiting:} (21... Bh6) 22. g4 e5 23. Ba5 $1 Rc8 24. dxe5 Nxe5 25. Bc3 (25. cxd5
$1 Nxd5 (25... cxd5 26. Nf4) 26. e4 Nc7 27. f4 $14 {[%csl Ge4,Gf4,Gg4]}) 25...
dxc4 $6 (25... Red8 $1 26. Ba5 $1 Re8 27. cxd5) 26. bxc4 Qc7 ({After} 26... b5
27. cxb5 cxb5 28. Bb4 {the position opens up and White's bishop pair become
very strong but the text move allows him to fix Black's weakness on b7.}) 27.
c5 $16 {[%csl Rb7,Gc5]} Rcd8 $2 {Loses material without enough counterplay.} (
27... Nd5 28. Bd4 $16) 28. Rxd8 Rxd8 29. Bxe5 Qxe5 30. Qxb7 Rd2 31. Nd4 Ne4 32.
Nxc6 Qb2 33. Ne7+ Kf8 (33... Kh7 34. Qxb2 Bxb2 35. Bxe4 Bxc1 36. c6 $18) 34.
Qa8+ Kxe7 35. Qxe4+ Qe5 36. c6 Rd8 37. c7 Rc8 38. Qb7 Qe6 39. Qxc8 (39. Qxc8
Qxc8 40. Bb7 $18) 1-0

[Event "EU-Cup 24th"]
[Site "Kallithea"]
[Date "2008.10.23"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Huzman, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2590"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2008.10.17"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 127"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Beer Sheva"]
[BlackTeam "Erevan MIKA"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ISR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "ARM"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qc2 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. e4 d5 8. cxd5
Bxf1 9. Kxf1 exd5 10. e5 Ne4 11. Nc3 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Qd7 13. Kg2 Nc6 14. c4 Nd8 {
This line was examined in CBM 120, annotations to Ni Hua - Tomashevsky. Since
then several important games have been played. Some of them saw other plans
for Black:} (14... Rd8 15. Rhd1 O-O 16. Rac1 dxc4 17. Qxc4 Nxd4 18. Be3 c5 19.
Bxd4 cxd4 20. Rxd4 Qe8 21. Rcd1 Rxd4 22. Qxd4 Bc5 23. Qe4 h6 24. Nh4 Qe6 25.
Rd2 Re8 26. f4 a5 (26... f6 27. Rd5 Qc6 28. Nf3 f5 29. Qd3 $14 {1-0 Vescovi,G 
(2609)-Fier,A (2499)/Sao Paulo 2007/CBM 118 ext (77)}) 27. Nf3 g6 28. h4 Bb4
29. Rd5 Qg4 30. Nh2 Qe6 31. h5 f5 32. Qc4 gxh5 33. Nf3 $36 {1/2 Romanov,E 
(2515)-Wang Hao (2643)/Yerevan 2007/CBM 120 ext (41)}) (14... O-O-O 15. Rac1 (
15. Rhc1 Kb7 16. Qb3 g5 $5 17. h3 h5 18. cxd5 Qxd5 19. Qxd5 Rxd5 20. Bxg5 Bxg5
21. Nxg5 f6 22. Nf3 fxe5 23. dxe5 Nxe5 24. Nxe5 Rxe5 25. f4 Re3 26. Rf1 Rg8 27.
Rf3 Re2+ 28. Rf2 Re3 29. Rf3 {1/2 Miton,K (2580)-Socko,B (2627)/Karpacz POL
2008/The Week in Chess 724 (29)}) 15... Kb7 16. Qb3 h5 (16... dxc4 17. Rxc4 Nb8
18. Rhc1 c6 19. Ne1 (19. Ra4 $5 $36) (19. Bb4 $5 $36) 19... Ka8 20. Be3 h5 21.
h3 Qd5+ 22. Kh2 h4 23. g4 f6 $132 {0-1 Miton,K (2609)-Socko,B (2635)/Lublin
2008/CBM 123 (65)}) (16... g5 $5 {-cf. 17.Rhc1}) 17. h3 (17. h4 $142) 17... f6
$6 (17... g5 $1) 18. Rhe1 (18. e6 $1 Qxe6 $140 19. Rhe1 Qf7 20. cxd5 Qxd5 21.
Qxd5 Rxd5 22. Rxc6 Kxc6 23. Rxe7 $16) 18... fxe5 19. dxe5 Qe6 20. c5 Rhf8 $14 {
1-0 Jankovic,A (2532)-Lenic,L (2584)/Sibenik CRO 2008/The Week in Chess 726 
(32)}) 15. cxd5 $146 {[%mdl 8]} (15. Qb3 $5 c6 16. Rhc1 (16. a4 O-O 17. cxd5
cxd5 18. Qb5 Qxb5 19. axb5 Ne6 20. Rhc1 Rfd8 21. Rc6 Kf8 22. Be3 $14 {1/2
Parligras,M (2588)-Grigorov,G (2465)/Bucharest ROU 2008/The Week in Chess 723})
16... Ne6 17. Rab1 O-O 18. cxd5 Qxd5 19. Qxd5 cxd5 20. Rb5 Rfd8 21. a4 Rd7 22.
Kf1 f6 23. Be3 Kf7 24. Ke2 Rb8 25. Ne1 (25. a5 $1) 25... a6 26. Rb3 fxe5 27.
Nd3 exd4 28. Ne5+ Ke8 29. Nxd7 Kxd7 $13 {1/2 Sakaev,K (2634)-Tomashevsky,E 
(2646)/Serpukhov 2007/EXT 2008 (37)}) (15. Be3 c6 16. a4 Ne6 17. Rhc1 O-O 18.
cxd5 cxd5 19. Qb3 Rfc8 20. Ne1 f5 21. Nd3 g5 22. Qb5 Qxb5 23. axb5 Rc7 24. h3
Kf7 $11 {1/2 Atalik,E (2432)-Zhao Xue (2518)/Kallithea GRE 2008/The Week in
Chess 729 (64)}) (15. e6 $5 {The most principled reply.} fxe6 16. Ne5 Qd6 $1 (
16... Qc8 $2 17. Qa4+ b5 18. cxb5 O-O 19. Rhc1 Qb7 20. Qa6 Bd6 21. Ba5 Rc8 22.
Nd3 Rf7 23. Rc3 Kf8 24. Rac1 $16 {1-0 Ni Hua (2681)-Tomashevsky,E (2654)/
Nizhniy Novgorod 2007/CBM 120/[Krasenkow] (35)}) 17. Qa4+ c6 18. c5 bxc5 19.
Bf4 O-O 20. dxc5 Qxc5 21. Nd7 Rxf4 $1 22. Qxf4 Qd6 23. Qxd6 Bxd6 24. Rhc1 Kf7
25. f4 Ke7 $11 {0-1 Kourousis,E (2191)-Tomashevsky,E (2658)/Plovdiv 2008/CBM
124 (32)}) {The text move is a fresh attempt to prevent Black's consolidation.}
15... Qxd5 16. Qa4+ (16. Qxc7 Ne6 (16... Nc6 $143 17. Be3 O-O 18. Rhc1 Rac8 19.
Qb7) 17. Qc3 Rd8 18. Be3 g5 19. h3 f5 $44) 16... c6 (16... b5 $6 17. Qb3 {
serious weakens Black's queenside.}) 17. Rhc1 Kd7 $5 {Very bold. Black wants
to play ...Nd8-e6 at any cost.} (17... O-O 18. Qc4 $14) 18. Bb4 (18. Rc3 $5 Ne6
19. Rac1 Rhc8 20. Be3 g5 $140 21. Kg1 $1 {[%cal Yf3d2]} Qxf3 $2 22. d5 $1 $40)
18... b5 19. Qa3 Bxb4 20. Qxb4 a5 21. Qb3 Ne6 $11 22. Rxc6 $5 {[%mdl 512] An
interesting exchange sacrifice.} Qxc6 23. d5 Qc4 24. dxe6+ Kxe6 $5 (24... fxe6
$6 25. Rd1+ Ke7 26. Qe3 $44 {[%cal Re3g5,Rd1c1]}) 25. Nd4+ $6 (25. Qe3 $5 $44)
25... Kd5 $1 {Steinitz would be delighted! White can't mate this centralized
king and will be glad if he finds a perpetual.} 26. Qf3+ (26. Qa3 $144 $5 Kxd4
(26... Qxd4 $4 27. Qd6+) (26... b4 27. Qf3+ Kxd4 28. Qf4+ {- the black queen
is not protected now!}) 27. Rc1 $1 (27. Rd1+ $143 Ke4 $1) 27... Rac8 (27... Qb4
$6 28. Qe3+ Kd5 29. Qd3+) (27... Rhc8 28. Rxc4+ bxc4 29. Qe3+ Kd5 30. Qf3+ Ke6
31. Qg4+ Ke7 32. Qxg7 $11) 28. Rxc4+ bxc4 {and Black can hardly avoid a
perpetual:} 29. Qd6+ (29. Qe3+ Kd5 30. Qf3+ {is possible, too}) 29... Kc3 (
29... Ke4 30. e6 $1) 30. Qa3+ Kc2 31. Qa4+ Kb2 32. Qxa5 c3 33. Qb4+ Ka1 34. a4
c2 35. Qa3+ Kb1 36. Qb3+ {etc.}) 26... Kxd4 27. Qe3+ $2 {This obvious check is
the decisive mistake.} (27. Re1 $1 {[%cal Re1e4]} Kc5 ({White should survive
after} 27... Rac8 28. Re4+ Kc5 29. Rxc4+ bxc4 30. Qa3+ {, too}) 28. Qe3+ Kd5 (
28... Kc6 29. Rc1) (28... Kb4 29. Qd2+ Ka4 30. Qd1+) (28... Qd4 29. Rc1+ Kd5
30. Qb3+ Kxe5 31. Re1+ Kf6 32. Qf3+ Kg6 (32... Kg5 33. Rd1 $1) 33. Re4 Qf6 34.
Rf4 $11) 29. e6 $1 {and White's attack should be sufficient for a draw.}) 27...
Kd5 28. Rd1+ ({Of course, not} 28. e6 $4 Qe4+) 28... Ke6 29. Rd6+ Ke7 30. Qg5+
Ke8 {The black king has come back home.} 31. e6 Rc8 $1 (31... fxe6 32. Qxg7)
32. exf7+ $2 (32. h4 $1 {, creating a safeheaven for the king, was more
stubborn. Black had the only, absolutely phantastic, way to win (indicated by
GM A.Huzman):} fxe6 $1 (32... Qe4+ 33. Kh2 Qe2 34. Kg2 {gives nothing}) 33.
Qxg7 Rg8 $3 34. Qxh7 {[%cal Yg2h2,Yd6d7]} (34. Qd7+ Kf8 35. Rxe6 Rg7) (34.
Qxg8+ Ke7) 34... Rg4 $3 {[%cal Rc4e4]} 35. Kh3 Rf4 $3 (35... Rc7 36. Qh8+ Kf7
$3 37. Rd8 Qc5 $3 {also wins}) 36. gxf4 Qf1+ 37. Kg4 Qg2+ 38. Kh5 Qf3+ 39. Kg5
Rc5+ $19) {After the text move Black wins without brilliancies although he
must play accurately.} 32... Qxf7 33. Rd3 (33. Qxb5+ Kf8 34. Rd7 Qe6 $19) 33...
Qb7+ 34. Kh3 Rf8 35. Qh5+ Ke7 36. Re3+ Kd8 37. Rd3+ Kc7 38. Rd5 Rce8 39. Rc5+ (
39. Rxb5 Qc8+ 40. g4 Rf6 $19) 39... Kd6 40. Rxb5 Qc8+ 41. Kh4 Qc4+ 42. g4 Qd4
0-1

[Event "Cap d'Agde CCAS Gp-B"]
[Site "Cap d'Agde"]
[Date "2008.10.26"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hou, Yifan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2578"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2008.10.26"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2009"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3 6. Qxc3 b6 7. e3 Bb7 8.
Be2 d6 9. b4 Ne4 10. Qc2 Nd7 11. Bb2 f5 12. O-O Qe7 13. d4 Rf6 14. d5 Rg6 15.
Nd4 Nf8 16. Rad1 Qh4 17. f4 Rh6 18. h3 Ng3 19. Bf3 Nxf1 20. Rxf1 Rg6 21. dxe6
Bxf3 22. Rxf3 Nxe6 23. Nxf5 Qd8 24. Qe4 Rb8 25. g4 Qd7 26. Qd5 Kh8 27. Kh2 Rf8
28. Rf2 c6 29. Qd3 Nc7 30. e4 d5 31. Be5 Qf7 32. cxd5 cxd5 33. Qc2 Ne8 34. exd5
Qxd5 35. Ne7 Qf7 36. Nxg6+ hxg6 37. g5 Qe6 38. Re2 Qf7 39. b5 Kh7 40. h4 Kh8
41. a4 Qd7 42. Qxg6 Qg4 43. Qd3 Rf7 44. Rg2 Qxh4+ 45. Qh3 Qxh3+ 46. Kxh3 Kg8
47. Rd2 g6 48. Rc2 Re7 49. Rc6 Kf7 50. Kg4 Ng7 51. Rf6+ Ke8 52. Rxg6 1-0

[Event "Cap d'Agde CCAS Gp-B"]
[Site "Cap d'Agde"]
[Date "2008.10.26"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Koneru, Humpy"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2618"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2008.10.26"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2009"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qa4+ Nc6 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 Ne4 8.
Bb2 O-O 9. e3 Bd7 10. Qc2 Na5 11. Bd3 c5 12. O-O cxd4 13. exd4 Nf6 14. cxd5
exd5 15. Ne5 h6 16. Rae1 Qb6 17. Bc1 Bb5 18. Bxb5 Qxb5 19. Qf5 Qa6 20. Re3 Nb3
21. g4 Nxc1 22. Rxc1 Rae8 23. Rce1 Qe6 24. Qf4 Qd6 25. h4 Nd7 26. Nd3 Qxf4 27.
Nxf4 Rxe3 28. Rxe3 Nb6 29. Re7 Rc8 30. Rxb7 Rxc3 31. Rxa7 Rc4 32. Ne2 Rc2 33.
Ng3 Nc4 34. Nf5 Nd2 35. Ne7+ Kh7 36. Nxd5 Rc4 37. Rxf7 Rxd4 38. Ne3 Ra4 39. Kg2
Kg8 40. Rc7 Nb3 41. h5 Kf8 42. Rc4 Ra7 43. a4 Na5 44. Rc3 Kf7 45. Nf5 Kf6 46.
Kg3 Rb7 47. Rc5 Ra7 48. Nd4 Rd7 49. Rxa5 Rxd4 50. Rf5+ Ke6 51. a5 Ra4 52. f3
Ke7 53. Kf2 Ra3 54. Ke2 1-0

[Event "Cap d'Agde CCAS Gp-B"]
[Site "Cap d'Agde"]
[Date "2008.10.26"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2704"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2008.10.26"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2009"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. g3 b6 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O e6 6. Nc3 Be7 7. d4 cxd4 8. Qxd4
d6 9. b3 Nbd7 10. Nb5 d5 11. Bf4 O-O 12. Bc7 Qc8 13. Bd6 Qd8 14. cxd5 Bxd5 15.
Bxe7 Qxe7 16. Nc7 Rac8 17. Nxd5 Nxd5 18. Qb2 Qf6 19. Qxf6 N7xf6 20. Rfc1 Nc3
21. Kf1 Rc7 22. Rc2 Rfc8 23. Nd4 Nfd5 24. Bxd5 Nxd5 25. Rxc7 Rxc7 26. Nb5 Rd7
27. Rc1 g5 28. Rc4 Kg7 29. e4 Ne7 30. h3 a6 31. Nc7 Rd1+ 32. Ke2 Ra1 33. Rc2 a5
34. a4 Rh1 35. Na8 Rxh3 36. Nxb6 Rh1 37. Rc5 f5 38. Rc7 Kf8 39. Nc8 Ng6 40.
exf5 exf5 41. Rc5 f4 42. Rxa5 Rb1 43. Rb5 g4 44. gxf4 Nxf4+ 45. Ke3 Ng2+ 46.
Kd3 h5 47. Kc2 Rf1 48. Rf5+ Kg7 49. Rxh5 Rxf2+ 50. Kc3 Rf3+ 51. Kb4 g3 52. a5
Nf4 53. Rg5+ Kf6 54. Rg4 Nd3+ 55. Ka3 Nc5 56. Kb4 Nd3+ 57. Ka3 Nc5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Cap d'Agde CCAS Gp-B"]
[Site "Cap d'Agde"]
[Date "2008.10.27"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Skripchenko, Almira"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A32"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2455"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2008.10.26"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2009"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 6. g3 Qc7 7. Bg2 Qxc4 8.
O-O Nc6 9. Nb3 d5 10. Bf4 Qb4 11. e4 dxe4 12. Re1 Be7 13. Bc7 e3 14. Rxe3 Qg4
15. Bf3 Qh3 16. Bd6 O-O 17. Bxc6 Ng4 18. Bg2 Qxh2+ 19. Kf1 Nxe3+ 20. fxe3 Rd8
21. Bxe7 Rxd1+ 22. Rxd1 h6 23. Kf2 Qh5 24. Rd8+ Kh7 25. Be4+ f5 26. Bg2 e5 27.
Nd5 Qf7 28. Rf8 Qg6 29. Nc7 Rb8 30. Bd5 Qg4 31. Bd6 Qd1 32. Bg8+ Kg6 33. Bxe5
f4 34. Bf7+ Kh7 35. Bg8+ Kg6 36. Nd5 fxg3+ 37. Bxg3 Bf5 38. Ne7+ Kh5 39. Rxf5+
g5 40. Bxb8 Qc2+ 41. Kg3 1-0

[Event "Cap d'Agde CCAS Gp-B"]
[Site "Cap d'Agde"]
[Date "2008.10.28"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Karpov, Anatoly"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E37"]
[WhiteElo "2651"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2008.10.26"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2009"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 Ne4 7. Qc2 c5 8.
dxc5 Nc6 9. e3 Qa5+ 10. Bd2 Nxd2 11. Qxd2 dxc4 12. Qxa5 Nxa5 13. Rc1 b5 14.
cxb6 Bb7 15. bxa7 Ke7 16. Ne2 Rxa7 17. Nc3 Rb8 18. Na2 Bd5 19. Nb4 Nc6 20.
Nxc6+ Bxc6 21. Rxc4 Ba4 22. Rb4 Rxb4 23. axb4 Bb5 24. f3 Ra1+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Cap d'Agde CCAS Gp-B"]
[Site "Cap d'Agde"]
[Date "2008.10.28"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C41"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2751"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2008.10.26"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2009"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Nf3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Re1 c6 8. a4
a5 9. Ba2 exd4 10. Nxd4 Nc5 11. Qf3 Qb6 12. Bg5 Be6 13. Nxe6 Nxe6 14. Qe3 Qxe3
15. Bxe3 Ng4 16. Bd2 Bh4 17. g3 Bf6 18. Kg2 Nc5 19. Bc4 Rfe8 20. f3 Ne5 21. Be2
Ned7 22. b3 Ne6 23. Rac1 Nd4 24. Bf1 Ne5 25. Re3 Ne6 26. Ne2 d5 27. exd5 cxd5
28. Bc3 Nd7 29. Rd1 Bxc3 30. Rxc3 Nf6 31. Kf2 Rac8 32. Rd2 Kf8 33. Bh3 Rxc3 34.
Nxc3 Ng5 35. Bg2 Rc8 36. Nb5 Rc5 37. Re2 Ne6 38. Bh3 Ng5 39. Bf5 g6 40. h4 Nxf3
41. Kxf3 gxf5 42. Nd4 Kg7 43. Nxf5+ Kg6 44. Ne7+ Kg7 45. g4 h6 46. Kf4 h5 47.
gxh5 Nxh5+ 48. Ke5 b6 49. Rd2 f6+ 50. Kd6 d4 51. Nd5 d3 52. c4 Rc8 53. Rxd3 f5
54. Ke5 f4 55. Nxf4 Re8+ 56. Ne6+ Rxe6+ 57. Kxe6 Nf4+ 58. Kd6 Nxd3 59. Kc6 Nc5
60. Kxb6 Nxb3 61. c5 1-0

[Event "Cap d'Agde CCAS Gp-B"]
[Site "Cap d'Agde"]
[Date "2008.10.28"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Feller, Sebastien"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E13"]
[WhiteElo "2526"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2008.10.26"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2009"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. Bg5 Bb7 6. Nd2 h6 7. Bh4 Nc6 8. e3
Ne7 9. f3 Nf5 10. Bf2 c5 11. dxc5 Bxc5 12. e4 Ne3 13. Qb3 O-O 14. e5 Nh5 15.
Nde4 Nf4 16. Nxc5 Nexg2+ 17. Bxg2 Nxg2+ 18. Kf1 Bxf3 19. N3e4 Ne3+ 20. Qxe3
Bxh1 21. Kg1 Bxe4 22. Nxe4 d5 23. exd6 f5 24. Nd2 Qxd6 25. Nf3 Rae8 26. Ne5 f4
27. Qd4 Qc7 28. Qe4 Rd8 29. Nf3 e5 30. Re1 Rfe8 31. b4 Qf7 32. a4 Qd7 33. Nxe5
Qxa4 34. Qxf4 Rf8 35. Qg4 Rde8 36. c5 bxc5 37. Qc4+ Kh7 38. Qd3+ Kg8 39. Qc4+
Kh7 40. Qd3+ Kg8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Cap d'Agde CCAS Trophee KO"]
[Site "Cap d'Agde"]
[Date "2008.10.30"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Bu, Xiangzhi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A39"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2008.10.29"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2009"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. g3 g6 6. Bg2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8.
Nc3 Nxd4 9. Qxd4 d6 10. Qd3 a6 11. Bd2 Rb8 12. Rac1 Bf5 13. e4 Bd7 14. Rfd1 b5
15. b4 bxc4 16. Qxc4 Qb6 17. h3 Rfc8 18. Qe2 h5 19. a3 Bc6 20. Bg5 Qb7 21. Qe3
Nh7 22. Bh6 Bxh6 23. Qxh6 Nf6 24. Qe3 Kg7 25. Nd5 Bxd5 26. exd5 a5 27. bxa5
Rxc1 28. Rxc1 Ra8 29. Qe1 Qa7 30. Rc6 h4 31. Kh2 hxg3+ 32. fxg3 Qxa5 33. Qxe7
Qxa3 34. Rxd6 Qb2 35. Rd8 Rxd8 36. Qxd8 Qe5 37. Qa5 Ne8 38. Qd2 Nd6 39. Bf3 Nf5
40. Qf2 Ne7 41. Qg2 Nf5 42. Qf2 Kh8 43. Bg2 Kg7 44. Bf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Cap d'Agde CCAS Trophee KO"]
[Site "Cap d'Agde"]
[Date "2008.10.30"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bu, Xiangzhi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D19"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2008.10.29"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2009"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 e6 7. Bxc4 Bb4 8. O-O
O-O 9. Qe2 Nbd7 10. e4 Bg6 11. Bd3 Bh5 12. e5 Nd5 13. Nxd5 cxd5 14. Qe3 Be7 15.
Ng5 Bxg5 16. Qxg5 Bg6 17. Be2 Nb8 18. Qxd8 Rxd8 19. a5 Nc6 20. Be3 a6 21. Rfc1
Rac8 22. h4 Nb4 23. Rc3 h6 24. h5 Be4 25. Rac1 Rc6 26. f3 Bh7 27. Rb3 Rxc1+ 28.
Bxc1 Nc6 29. Rxb7 Nxa5 30. Rb6 Rc8 31. Bd2 Nc4 32. Bxc4 dxc4 33. Rxa6 Rb8 34.
Bc3 Bd3 35. Kf2 Rb7 36. g4 Kh7 37. Ke3 g6 38. d5 exd5 39. Ra8 Re7 40. Kf4 gxh5
41. gxh5 Re6 42. Rd8 Bc2 43. Rxd5 Ba4 44. Rc5 Ra6 45. Rc7 Be8 46. Kg4 Rc6 47.
Ra7 Rc8 48. f4 Kg8 49. f5 Rd8 50. e6 Rc8 51. f6 Rb8 52. e7 Kh7 53. Kf4 Rc8 54.
Ra1 Bb5 55. Rg1 1-0

[Event "Cap d'Agde CCAS Trophee KO"]
[Site "Cap d'Agde"]
[Date "2008.10.31"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2008.10.29"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2009"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. d4 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bf4 dxc4 6. e3 a6 7. a4 Bd6 8. Bg3
b6 9. Bxc4 Bb7 10. Bh4 O-O 11. O-O Qb8 12. d5 exd5 13. Nxd5 Nxd5 14. Bxd5 Ne5
15. Rc1 Bxd5 16. Qxd5 c6 17. Qe4 Nxf3+ 18. Qxf3 Bxh2+ 19. Kh1 Be5 20. Rxc6 b5
21. axb5 Qxb5 22. Rd1 Qxb2 23. Qd5 Qe2 24. f4 Qh5 25. g3 Rae8 26. fxe5 Rxe5 27.
Qd6 Rfe8 28. Rf1 g5 29. Qf6 gxh4 30. gxh4 Re4 31. Rg1+ Rg4 32. Rcc1 Rg6 33. e4
a5 34. Rcf1 Rf8 35. Rg2 Rxg2 36. Kxg2 Qg6+ 37. Qxg6+ fxg6 38. Ra1 Ra8 39. Ra4
Kf7 40. Kf3 Ke6 41. Kf4 h6 42. Ke3 Ke5 43. Kf3 Kd6 44. Ke3 Kc5 45. Kd3 Kb5 46.
Rd4 a4 47. Kc2 a3 48. Kb1 Ra4 49. Rd6 Rxe4 50. Rxg6 Rxh4 51. Ka2 Rh3 52. Rf6 h5
53. Rf4 Kc5 54. Ra4 Kb5 55. Rf4 Re3 56. Rf5+ Kb4 57. Rxh5 Re2+ 58. Ka1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Cap d'Agde CCAS Trophee KO"]
[Site "Cap d'Agde"]
[Date "2008.10.31"]
[Round "2.2"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A14"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2008.10.29"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2009"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. b3 c5 7. Bb2 Nc6 8. e3 b6
9. Nc3 Bb7 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Nxd5 Qxd5 12. d4 Rad8 13. Ne5 Qd6 14. Rc1 Nxe5 15.
Bxb7 Qb8 16. Be4 cxd4 17. Bxd4 Bf6 18. Qc2 h6 19. Bb2 Rc8 20. Qe2 Rxc1 21. Rxc1
Rc8 22. Rc2 Rxc2 23. Qxc2 Qd8 24. h4 g5 25. hxg5 hxg5 26. Kg2 Kg7 27. Qe2 Nd7
28. Ba3 Nc5 29. Bf3 Nd3 30. Qd1 a5 31. Qh1 Bc3 32. Qd1 Bf6 33. Kf1 Nb4 34. Qe2
Qc7 35. Bxb4 axb4 36. Kg2 Qd6 37. Be4 Qe5 38. Qc2 Qb2 39. Qxb2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Cap d'Agde CCAS Trophee KO"]
[Site "Cap d'Agde"]
[Date "2008.10.31"]
[Round "2.3"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2008.10.29"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2009"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. g3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O Be7 7. d4 cxd4 8. Qxd4
d6 9. b3 a6 10. Ba3 O-O 11. Rfd1 Ne8 12. Ne4 Bxe4 13. Qxe4 Ra7 14. Rac1 Rc7 15.
Nd4 Qc8 16. Qe3 Nd7 17. Nf5 Nc5 18. Nxe7+ Rxe7 19. Rd2 a5 20. Rcd1 Qc7 21. Bb2
Rd7 22. h4 e5 23. Qf3 Re7 24. Qc6 Qb8 25. e3 h6 26. f4 f5 27. fxe5 dxe5 28. Rd8
Qc7 29. Bd5+ Kh7 30. Qxc7 Rxc7 31. Bxe5 Re7 32. Bd4 g5 33. hxg5 hxg5 34. Kg2
Kg6 35. Rh1 Ne6 36. Bxe6 Rxe6 37. Rb8 f4 38. gxf4 gxf4 39. Rxb6 Rxb6 40. Bxb6
a4 41. Rf1 axb3 42. axb3 Nd6 43. Bc5 1-0

[Event "Cap d'Agde CCAS Trophee KO"]
[Site "Cap d'Agde"]
[Date "2008.10.31"]
[Round "2.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E24"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2008.10.29"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2009"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2008.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Nc6 7. e4 O-O 8. Bd3
cxd4 9. cxd4 Nxd4 10. e5 Qa5+ 11. Kf1 Ne8 12. Bb2 Nc6 13. f4 f6 14. Qh5 h6 15.
Nf3 fxe5 16. Qg6 Nf6 17. fxe5 Ne7 18. Qg3 Nh5 19. Qf2 b6 20. Be4 Rb8 21. g3 Ba6
22. Rc1 Rbc8 23. Bc3 Qxa3 24. Kg2 Rxc4 25. Bb2 Qa4 26. Rxc4 Bxc4 27. Ra1 Qb3
28. Ba3 Rf7 29. Bxe7 Rxe7 30. Rxa7 Bd5 31. Bxd5 Qxd5 32. Qd4 Qxd4 33. Nxd4 Rf7
34. Rb7 g5 35. Nb5 Rf5 36. Rxd7 Rxe5 37. Nc7 Nf6 38. Rd6 Re2+ 39. Kf3 Rxh2 40.
Rxe6 Kf7 41. Rxb6 Rc2 42. Rb7 Rc3+ 43. Ke2 Kg6 44. Ne6 Rxg3 45. Nf8+ Kh5 46.
Rb6 Ng4 47. Ne6 Re3+ 48. Kd2 Kh4 49. Nd4 Ra3 50. Rb1 Ne5 51. Rh1+ Kg4 52. Rg1+
Kh5 53. Rh1+ Kg6 54. Ke2 Ra2+ 55. Ke3 Ra3+ 56. Ke4 Ng4 57. Rb1 Nf6+ 58. Ke5
Ra5+ 59. Ke6 Ra6+ 60. Ke5 Ra5+ 61. Kd6 Ra6+ 62. Ke5 Ra5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Olympiad-38"]
[Site "Dresden"]
[Date "2008.11.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ragger, Markus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2518"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[EventDate "2008.11.13"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 128"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.01.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.01.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Austria"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "AUT"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. a4 Bf8 14. Bd3 c6 15. b3
Qc7 16. Bb2 g6 17. Qc2 Bg7 18. Bf1 Rac8 19. Rad1 bxa4 20. bxa4 d5 21. dxe5 Nxe4
22. Nxe4 dxe4 23. Ng5 Rxe5 24. Bc1 Re7 25. Rxe4 Ne5 26. f4 h6 27. fxe5 hxg5 28.
e6 f5 29. Ree1 Bf6 30. Bc4 Kg7 31. Qd3 Qa5 32. h4 gxh4 33. Qe3 g5 34. Rd7 Rce8
35. Rxe7+ Rxe7 36. Ba3 f4 37. Qd3 c5 38. Re2 f3 39. gxf3 Qc7 40. Qe3 h3 41. f4
Qxf4 42. Qxf4 gxf4 43. Bxc5 Re8 44. Bd4 Bc6 45. Kh2 Kg6 46. Bxa6 Bxa4 47. Bd3+
Kg5 48. Ra2 Bxd4 49. cxd4 Bb3 50. Ra5+ Kf6 51. Rf5+ Ke7 52. d5 Kd6 53. Be4 Re7
54. Bf3 Ra7 55. Kxh3 Rg7 56. Rxf4 Ba2 57. Kh4 Bb3 58. Rb4 Ba2 59. Rg4 Rxg4+ 60.
Kxg4 Bb1 61. Kf4 Bh7 62. Bg2 Bg6 63. Kg5 Be8 64. Kf6 Bh5 65. Be4 Be8 66. Bf3
1-0

[Event "Olympiad-38"]
[Site "Dresden"]
[Date "2008.11.14"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Meier, Georg"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D52"]
[WhiteElo "2558"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2008.11.13"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 128"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.01.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.01.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Germany II"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "GER"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. d4 Nbd7 5. Bg5 c6 6. e3 Qa5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
Qd2 Bb4 9. Rc1 c5 10. a3 Bxc3 11. bxc3 b6 12. c4 Qxd2+ 13. Nxd2 N5f6 14. Be2
Ba6 15. f3 O-O 16. Kf2 h6 17. Bh4 Rfe8 18. Rhd1 cxd4 19. exd4 e5 20. Nb3 Rac8
21. a4 e4 22. Bxf6 Nxf6 23. d5 exf3 24. gxf3 Kf8 25. Bf1 Red8 26. Nd4 Rc5 27.
Nb3 Rc7 28. Nd4 Rc5 29. Nb3 Rc7 30. Nd4 Rc5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Olympiad-38"]
[Site "Dresden"]
[Date "2008.11.15"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Wang, Yue"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E35"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2008.11.13"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 128"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.01.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.01.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "China"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "CHN"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bxf6 Qxf6 8.
Nf3 O-O 9. e3 Bf5 (9... Re8 10. a3 Bxc3+ 11. Qxc3 c6 12. Be2 Bg4 13. O-O Nd7
14. b4 a6 15. a4 Rac8 16. Rfc1 Qd6 17. Qb2 Nb6 18. b5 Bxf3 19. Bxf3 Nc4 20. Qb1
Nd2 21. Qd3 Nxf3+ 22. gxf3 axb5 23. axb5 c5 $11 {1/2 Rychagov,A (2532)
-Belozerov,A (2549)/chessassistantclub.com INT 2004/EXT 2006 (70)}) 10. Bd3 (
10. Qb3 Qb6 11. Be2 c6 12. O-O Bd6 13. Na4 Qxb3 14. axb3 Nd7 15. Rfc1 Rfe8 16.
Nc5 Nxc5 17. dxc5 Bc7 18. Nd4 Bd7 19. b4 a6 $11 {1/2 Petran,P (2485)-Ravia,M/
Ajka 1992/TD (28)}) 10... Bxd3 11. Qxd3 c6 (11... Nd7 12. O-O c6 {may be a
more accurate order of moves.}) 12. O-O (12. Ne5 $5 Re8 (12... Qe6 $1 {[%cal
Yb8d7]}) 13. O-O Bd6 14. f4 Na6 15. a3 Nc7 16. Rf3 a5 17. Kh1 Rad8 18. Rg1 c5
19. Qf1 c4 20. g4 Qe7 21. g5 $40 {1-0 Papadakis,M (2045)-Dobrev,N (2374)/Dos
Hermanas 2003/EXT 2004 (57)}) 12... Nd7 13. a3 (13. Rfc1 a5 14. Na4 Rfb8 15.
Rab1 Bd6 16. Qc2 Qe7 17. Ne1 Rf8 18. Nd3 f5 19. a3 f4 20. exf4 Bxf4 21. Re1 Qg5
22. Nac5 Nxc5 23. Nxc5 Rf7 24. Re2 Bd6 25. Rbe1 Bxc5 26. Qxc5 Qf4 27. g3 Qf6
28. f4 Raf8 29. Re5 Qg6 30. Kh1 Qg4 $14 {1/2 Haik,A (2425)-Pomar Salamanca,A 
(2430)/Buenos Aires 1978/EXT 2000}) 13... Bxc3 (13... Bd6 $5 14. e4 Qg6 15.
Rad1 (15. Nh4 {[%cal Yh4f5]} Qg4 (15... Qh5 16. Qh3) 16. Nf5 dxe4 17. Qxe4 Qxe4
18. Nxe4 Bc7 $11) 15... dxe4 16. Nxe4 Rfe8 17. Rfe1 Nb6 18. Nc5 Qxd3 19. Nxd3
Rad8 20. Kf1 Rxe1+ 21. Rxe1 Kf8 22. h3 f6 23. Nd2 Kf7 24. Nb3 Bf8 25. Rc1 {
1/2 Donner,J (2470)-Smyslov,V (2620)/Amsterdam 1954/EXT 2001}) 14. Qxc3 Nb6 {
[%cal Yb6c8,Yc8d6,Yb6c4,Yc4d6] The Karlsbad structure with only knights on the
board is considered comfortable for Black. The present game doesn't change
that evaluation but sheds light on some niceties.} 15. Ne5 Qf5 16. Rfc1 f6 17.
Nd3 Nc4 18. Nc5 Nd6 {[%csl Gd6]} 19. Qc2 Qxc2 20. Rxc2 Rae8 21. g3 g5 {This
move creates an object of attack for White (h2-h4).} (21... h5 $5 $11) 22. Kg2
Kg7 23. a4 Re7 24. Rh1 Kg6 25. Rc3 h5 26. h4 Rh8 (26... g4 $5 $11 {The
transfer of White's knight to f4 is harmless.}) 27. Rcc1 (27. hxg5 $5 fxg5 28.
Nd3) 27... Rhh7 28. Rh2 Nf5 $6 (28... g4 {was still possible, with a
completely dead position.}) 29. hxg5 fxg5 30. Nd3 g4 {Now the situation is
completely different: the white knight has got the e5-square, and Black's
h5-pawn is weak.} 31. Rch1 Kg5 32. Nf4 Ng7 33. b4 $1 a6 34. b5 axb5 35. axb5
Rh6 36. Ra1 Nf5 37. Ra8 h4 $5 (37... Rg7 $14 {is possible but the text move
gives White a seemingly attractive possibility.}) 38. gxh4+ (38. Rg8+ Rg7 39.
Rxg7+ Nxg7 40. Rxh4 Rxh4 41. gxh4+ Kxh4 42. bxc6 bxc6 43. Ng6+ Kg5 44. Ne5 {
is hardly enough for a victory, e.g. after} Nh5 45. Nxc6 Kf5) 38... Nxh4+ 39.
Rxh4 $5 {A "brilliant move" but Black miraculously holds his ground. Therefore}
(39. Kf1 $142 $14) 39... Kxh4 $1 (39... Rxh4 40. Rg8+ Kf5 41. Ng6 Rhh7 42.
Nxe7+ Rxe7 43. bxc6 bxc6 44. Kg3 $16) 40. Rg8 {[%cal Rf2f3]} (40. bxc6 bxc6 41.
Rg8 Ra7) 40... Rf7 41. f3 (41. bxc6 Rxc6 $1 (41... bxc6 $2 42. f3 $18) 42. Ng6+
Kh5 43. Ne5 Rf5 44. Nxc6 bxc6 $11) 41... Rxf4 42. exf4 {[%mdl 4096]} cxb5 $1 (
42... gxf3+ 43. Kxf3 {[%csl Rh4] should be lost for Black.}) 43. Rxg4+ (43.
fxg4 Ra6 $1 44. f5 (44. Kf3 Ra3+ 45. Ke2 b4) 44... b4 45. Kf3 Ra1 $1 46. Rh8+
Kg5 47. Rh5+ Kf6 48. Rh6+ Kg5 49. Rg6+ Kh4 50. Kf4 Rf1+ 51. Ke5 b5 $1 52. Rb6
Kxg4 53. f6 Kg5 $11) 43... Kh5 44. Rg5+ Kh4 45. Rg7 $1 (45. Rxd5 $6 Rb6 $1)
45... Kh5 46. Rxb7 Ra6 47. Rxb5 Kh4 $1 48. Rb2 (48. Rxd5 Ra2+ 49. Kf1 Kg3 50.
f5 Kxf3 51. Ke1 Ke4 $11) (48. Kf2 Ra2+ 49. Ke3 Ra3+ 50. Ke2 Ra2+ 51. Kd3 Ra3+
52. Kc2 (52. Kd2 Kg3 53. f5 Kxf3 $11) 52... Rxf3 53. Rxd5 Kg4 54. Rd8 Kf5 $1
55. d5 Ke4 56. d6 Kd5 $11) 48... Ra4 49. Rd2 Kh5 {Despite two extra pawns,
White can't strengthen his position.} 50. Kg3 Rb4 51. Rd1 Ra4 52. Kh3 Ra3 53.
Rh1 Rd3 54. Kg3+ Kg6 55. Rh4 Rd2 56. Rg4+ Kf6 57. f5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Olympiad-38"]
[Site "Dresden"]
[Date "2008.11.16"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Adams, Michael"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E18"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2734"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2008.11.13"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 128"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.01.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.01.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "England"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "ENG"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. Nc3 O-O 7. Bf4 d5 8. Ne5
Na6 9. O-O c5 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Nxd5 exd5 12. dxc5 Nxc5 13. Rc1 Bf6 14. Nd3 Ne6
15. Qd2 Qe7 16. Be5 Bxe5 17. Nxe5 Rac8 18. e3 Rc7 19. Nf3 Rfc8 20. Rfd1 h6 21.
Rxc7 Rxc7 22. Ne1 Qf6 23. Qe2 Rd7 24. Qb5 Nc5 25. Qb4 a5 26. Qd2 Ne6 27. Nf3
Rc7 28. Qe2 Rc5 29. h3 g6 30. a3 Bc6 31. Rd2 Ba4 32. Kh2 Bb3 33. Qa6 Qd8 34.
Qd3 Bc4 35. Qc3 Ba2 36. Qd3 Bc4 37. Qc2 Bf1 38. Qd1 Bxg2 39. Kxg2 Qa8 40. Kh2
Qc6 41. Ne5 Qd6 42. b4 axb4 43. axb4 Rc8 44. Rxd5 Qxb4 45. h4 h5 46. Rd7 1-0

[Event "Olympiad-38"]
[Site "Dresden"]
[Date "2008.11.17"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A26"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2731"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2008.11.13"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 128"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.01.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.01.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Azerbaijan"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "AZE"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. a3 g6 5. g3 Bg7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. d3 d6 8. Bg5 h6
9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. O-O Be6 11. b4 Ne7 12. Rc1 c6 13. b5 d5 14. Nd2 Bg7 15. bxc6
bxc6 16. Qa4 f5 17. cxd5 cxd5 18. e3 e4 19. Rfd1 Rc8 20. Nb5 Bd7 21. Rb1 Rb8
22. dxe4 Qe8 23. exd5 Bxb5 24. Qxa7 Be5 25. Qc5 Qd7 26. Nf3 Bd6 27. Qd4 Be2 28.
Rxb8 Rxb8 29. Re1 Bxf3 30. Bxf3 Bxa3 31. e4 fxe4 32. Rxe4 Rb4 33. Qe3 Rxe4
1/2-1/2

[Event "Olympiad-38"]
[Site "Dresden"]
[Date "2008.11.19"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Nyback, Tomi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2634"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2008.11.13"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 128"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.01.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.01.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Finland"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "FIN"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. d4 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. c5 c6 8. Bd3
b6 9. b4 a5 10. a3 Ba6 11. O-O Qc8 12. Qc2 Bxd3 13. Qxd3 Nh5 14. Be5 Qb7 15.
Rfc1 Rfc8 16. h3 Nxe5 17. Nxe5 b5 18. Rcb1 Qc7 19. a4 axb4 20. axb5 bxc3 21.
Nxc6 Nf6 22. Qxc3 Bf8 23. Rxa8 Rxa8 24. Ra1 Ne4 25. Qb2 Re8 26. Ne5 Nxc5 27. b6
Qb7 28. Qb5 Ra8 29. Rxa8 Qxa8 30. dxc5 Qa1+ 31. Kh2 Qxe5+ 32. g3 d4 33. b7 Qf5
34. Qb2 dxe3 35. fxe3 Qxc5 36. b8=Q Qxe3 37. Qc7 h6 38. Qbc2 Qd4 39. Q7c4 1-0

[Event "Olympiad-38"]
[Site "Dresden"]
[Date "2008.11.20"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Rahman, Ziaur"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2510"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2008.11.13"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 128"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.01.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.01.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Bangladesh"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "BAN"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. e4 h6 4. Bxf6 Qxf6 5. c3 d5 6. Nd2 c5 7. Ngf3 Nc6 8.
dxc5 Bxc5 9. Bd3 O-O 10. O-O Bb6 11. Qe2 Qf4 12. Rad1 Bd7 13. Bc2 Rfd8 14. exd5
exd5 15. Qd3 Be6 16. Qh7+ Kf8 17. Nb3 Qf6 18. Nbd4 Nxd4 19. Nxd4 Rac8 20. Rd3
Bxd4 21. Rxd4 Rc4 22. Rfd1 Rxd4 23. Rxd4 Qe5 24. Rd1 d4 25. Qd3 Bxa2 26. cxd4
Qa5 27. h3 Be6 28. Bb3 Bxb3 29. Qxb3 Rxd4 30. Rxd4 Qe1+ 31. Kh2 Qe5+ 32. Kg1
Qe1+ 33. Kh2 Qe5+ 34. Kg1 Qxd4 35. Qxb7 g5 36. g3 Kg7 37. Kg2 a5 38. b3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Olympiad-38"]
[Site "Dresden"]
[Date "2008.11.21"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Navara, David"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C92"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2633"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2008.11.13"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 128"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.01.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.01.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Czech Republic"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "CZE"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 d6 7. c3 O-O 8. Re1
Re8 9. Nbd2 Bf8 10. h3 b5 11. Bc2 Bb7 12. d4 g6 13. d5 Ne7 14. Nf1 Bg7 15. b3
Nxe4 16. Bxe4 f5 17. Bc2 Nxd5 18. b4 Nxc3 19. Bb3+ d5 20. Qc2 Ne4 21. Rxe4 fxe4
22. Ng5 a5 23. bxa5 Rxa5 24. Nxe4 Kh8 25. Bg5 Qc8 26. Nf6 Rd8 27. Ne3 e4 28.
Rc1 h6 29. Nxe4 dxe4 30. Bxd8 Qxd8 31. Qxc7 Qxc7 32. Rxc7 Ba6 33. Nd5 b4 34.
Ra7 Bd4 35. Ra8+ Kh7 36. Nxb4 Rf5 37. Rxa6 Rxf2 38. Rd6 Rd2+ 39. Kf1 e3 40.
Rxd4 Rxd4 41. Nd5 Rd3 42. Ke1 h5 43. Bc4 Rd4 44. Nxe3 Kh6 45. a4 Kg5 46. a5 Kf4
47. Kf2 Rd2+ 48. Be2 Ke4 49. a6 Ra2 50. h4 1-0

[Event "Olympiad-38"]
[Site "Dresden"]
[Date "2008.11.22"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Beliavsky, Alexander G"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C87"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2619"]
[PlyCount "161"]
[EventDate "2008.11.13"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 128"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.01.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.01.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Slovenia"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "SLO"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 d6 7. c3 O-O 8. Re1
Bg4 9. h3 Bh5 10. Nbd2 Nd7 11. Nf1 Nc5 12. Bxc6 bxc6 13. g4 Bg6 14. Ng3 Ne6 15.
Kg2 c5 16. Rh1 f6 17. h4 d5 18. c4 dxe4 19. dxe4 Qxd1 20. Rxd1 Rfd8 21. Be3 Nd4
22. Rd2 Bf7 23. Rc1 Rab8 24. Ne1 a5 25. Nd3 Be6 26. f3 a4 27. Nf5 Bf8 28. Bf2
Nc6 29. Rcc2 Bf7 30. Ne3 Nd4 31. Rc1 Ne6 32. Rcd1 Rd4 33. Kh2 Rbd8 34. Nd5 Rxc4
35. b3 axb3 36. axb3 Rd4 37. Bxd4 Nxd4 38. Kg2 Nxb3 39. Rb2 c6 40. Ne3 c4 41.
Nf2 Nd4 42. Rb7 c3 43. Rd3 c2 44. Nxc2 c5 45. Rd2 Ra8 46. Ne3 c4 47. Nfd1 Ne6
48. Rdb2 h5 49. Rb8 Ra3 50. Rc8 hxg4 51. fxg4 Kh7 52. Rb7 Bg6 53. Rxc4 Nc5 54.
Rbb4 Ra2+ 55. Kg3 Rd2 56. h5 Bf7 57. Rc2 Rd4 58. Rxd4 exd4 59. Nf5 d3 60. Rb2
Nxe4+ 61. Kf4 Nc5 62. Nf2 g6 63. hxg6+ Kxg6 64. Ke3 Be6 65. Nh4+ Kg5 66. Nf3+
Kg6 67. Rb6 Kf7 68. Rc6 Bd7 69. Rc7 Ke8 70. Nd4 Bh6+ 71. Kf3 Ne6 72. Nxe6 Bxe6
73. Nxd3 f5 74. gxf5 Bxf5 75. Ne5 Bf8 76. Ra7 Bd6 77. Nc4 Bh2 78. Ne3 Bd7 79.
Ke4 Bg1 80. Ra8+ Kf7 81. Ra7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Olympiad-38"]
[Site "Dresden"]
[Date "2008.11.23"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Rowson, Jonathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A84"]
[WhiteElo "2596"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2008.11.13"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 128"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.01.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.01.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Scotland"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "SCO"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 e6 4. e3 Bd6 5. b3 f5 6. Be2 Nf6 7. O-O Qe7 8. Bb2 b6
9. Qc1 Bb7 10. Ba3 Nbd7 11. Qb2 c5 12. Nc3 a6 13. Rfd1 O-O 14. cxd5 exd5 15. g3
Rac8 16. Rac1 Kh8 17. Qb1 Ne4 18. dxc5 Nxc3 19. Rxc3 bxc5 20. Bf1 Nf6 21. Bg2
Ne4 22. Rc2 a5 23. Bb2 Rf7 24. Ba1 Re8 25. Qc1 h6 26. Ne1 Kh7 27. Nd3 Rc8 28.
Nf4 Bxf4 29. exf4 Qf8 30. Qa3 d4 31. Qxa5 Rd7 32. Qb5 Qd6 33. Qd3 Ba6 34. Qf3
d3 35. Rcc1 d2 36. Rc2 Qg6 37. Bf1 Bb7 38. Qe3 Re8 39. Be5 Rxe5 40. fxe5 f4 41.
Qe2 Ng5 42. Rc3 Qc6 43. f3 Nxf3+ 44. Kf2 Ng5 45. e6 Ne4+ 46. Qxe4+ Qxe4 47.
exd7 Qd4+ 48. Ke2 Ba6+ 0-1

[Event "Olympiad-38"]
[Site "Dresden"]
[Date "2008.11.25"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Adly, Ahmed"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E52"]
[WhiteElo "2586"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2008.11.13"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 128"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.01.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.01.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Egypt"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "EGY"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 b6 7. O-O Bb7 8. cxd5
exd5 9. Bd2 Nbd7 10. Ne5 Nxe5 11. dxe5 Nd7 12. Qc2 g6 13. f4 Nc5 14. Ne2 Bxd2
15. Qxd2 Nxd3 16. Qxd3 c5 17. Nc3 d4 18. Ne4 Bxe4 19. Qxe4 dxe3 20. Qxe3 Qh4
21. Rad1 Rad8 22. Qf3 Qe7 23. Rf2 Rxd1+ 24. Qxd1 Rd8 25. Rd2 Rxd2 26. Qxd2 Qe6
27. Kf2 Kg7 28. a3 h5 29. Qd3 Qg4 30. g3 Qh3 31. Kg1 Qf5 32. Qe2 a6 33. Kf2 b5
34. Ke3 Qb1 35. Qd2 a5 36. e6 fxe6 37. Qd7+ Kh6 38. Qxb5 Qg1+ 39. Kf3 Qh1+ 40.
Ke3 Qxh2 41. Kf3 Qh1+ 42. Kf2 h4 43. gxh4 Qxh4+ 44. Kf3 Qh3+ 45. Ke4 Qg2+ 46.
Ke3 a4 47. Qxa4 Qxb2 48. Qa8 Qd4+ 49. Kf3 c4 50. Kg4 c3 51. Qf8+ Qg7 52. Qd8
Kh7 53. Qc8 Qf6 54. a4 g5 55. Qd7+ Kg6 56. fxg5 Qf5+ 57. Kh4 c2 58. Qd2 Qe4+
59. Kg3 Qc4 60. Qd8 Kh5 61. Qh8+ Kxg5 62. Qg7+ Kf5 63. Qf7+ Ke5 64. Qg7+ Kd5
65. Qd7+ Ke4 66. Qb7+ Kd3 67. Qf3+ Kd2 0-1

[Event "Gjovik Aker CC Rapid"]
[Site "Gjovik"]
[Date "2009.01.02"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Lie, Kjetil A"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B38"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2539"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2009.01.02"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 128 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Bg7 5. c4 Nc6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Nc3 d6 8. Be2
O-O 9. O-O Nxd4 10. Bxd4 Bd7 11. Qd2 Bc6 12. f3 Nd7 13. Be3 a5 14. b3 Nc5 15.
Rab1 Qb6 16. Rfc1 Rfc8 17. Rc2 Qd8 18. Bf1 h5 19. a3 Kh7 20. Kh1 Be5 21. b4
axb4 22. axb4 Ne6 23. Nd5 Ra3 24. f4 Bg7 25. f5 Nf8 26. Bg5 Bxd5 27. Qxd5 e6
28. fxe6 fxe6 29. Qxb7 Qxg5 30. Qxc8 Qf4 31. Qb7 Kh6 32. g3 Qf3+ 33. Bg2 Qd3
34. Rbc1 Be5 35. c5 h4 36. gxh4 Qe3 37. Qf7 Nh7 38. h5 gxh5 39. Qxe6+ Nf6 40.
Rf1 Ra1 41. Rxa1 Bxa1 42. Qf5 Bd4 43. Qf1 Nxe4 44. Bxe4 Qxe4+ 45. Rg2 dxc5 46.
Qf8+ Kh7 47. Qg8+ Kh6 48. Qg5+ 1-0

[Event "Gjovik Aker CC Rapid"]
[Site "Gjovik"]
[Date "2009.01.02"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2723"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2009.01.02"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 128 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 e6 4. g3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O Be7 7. Re1 Ne4 8. Nxe4
Bxe4 9. d4 O-O 10. Bf4 d6 11. Qd2 Qc8 12. Rad1 Qb7 13. Qe3 d5 14. cxd5 Bxd5 15.
dxc5 Bxc5 16. Qd3 f5 17. a3 Nd7 18. b4 Be7 19. Nh4 Bxh4 20. Bxd5 exd5 21. Qxd5+
Qxd5 22. Rxd5 Nf6 23. Rd4 Bxg3 24. hxg3 Rac8 25. Rc1 Rxc1+ 26. Bxc1 Ne4 27. Bf4
Nf6 28. Bg5 Ne4 29. Bf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gjovik Aker CC Rapid"]
[Site "Gjovik"]
[Date "2009.01.03"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E94"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2699"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2009.01.02"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 128 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. e4 Bg7 4. Nf3 d6 5. d4 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. Be3 Na6 8. O-O
Ng4 9. Bg5 Qe8 10. dxe5 dxe5 11. Qc1 c6 12. Rd1 f6 13. Bd2 f5 14. h3 Nf6 15.
exf5 Bxf5 16. Bh6 Bxh6 17. Qxh6 e4 18. Nh4 Qe5 19. g4 Be6 20. Qe3 Rae8 21. f4
Qc5 22. Ng2 h5 23. Qxc5 Nxc5 24. Ne3 hxg4 25. hxg4 Nfd7 26. Rf1 Re7 27. Kg2 Nd3
28. Kg3 N7c5 29. b3 a6 30. Rad1 b5 31. Bxd3 exd3 32. b4 Bf7 33. Rf3 Rfe8 34.
Kf2 Ne4+ 35. Nxe4 Rxe4 36. Rxd3 bxc4 37. Rd6 R4e6 38. Rd4 Re4 39. Rd6 Rc8 40.
Nd1 Bd5 41. Nc3 Rd4 42. Kg3 Kf7 43. Nxd5 Rxd5 44. Rxd5 cxd5 45. Kf2 c3 0-1

[Event "Gjovik Aker CC Rapid"]
[Site "Gjovik"]
[Date "2009.01.03"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Lie, Kjetil A"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2539"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2009.01.02"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 128 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. Ne5 Be6 6. cxd5 Bxd5 7. Nf3 c5 8.
Nc3 Bc6 9. O-O e6 10. d3 Be7 11. a3 O-O 12. Qc2 Nbd7 13. Rd1 b5 14. b3 Qb6 15.
Bb2 Rac8 16. Rac1 Rfd8 17. Qb1 c4 18. dxc4 bxc4 19. bxc4 Bc5 20. Rf1 Ng4 21. e3
Ndf6 22. Qc2 Bxe3 23. Rcd1 Nxf2 24. Rxf2 Ng4 25. Rdf1 Nxf2 26. Rxf2 Bxf3 27.
Bxf3 Rd2 28. c5 Bxf2+ 0-1

[Event "Gjovik Aker CC Rapid"]
[Site "Gjovik"]
[Date "2009.01.04"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2723"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2009.01.02"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 128 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4
b4 9. d3 d6 10. Nbd2 Be6 11. Bxe6 fxe6 12. Nf1 Qd7 13. Ng3 Nd8 14. c3 bxc3 15.
bxc3 c5 16. d4 exd4 17. cxd4 Nc6 18. Ba3 Rac8 19. dxc5 dxc5 20. Qe2 Nb4 21. Qc4
Rfd8 22. Ne5 Qe8 23. Qxe6+ Kf8 24. Qc4 Bd6 25. Nf3 Bxg3 26. hxg3 Qf7 27. Qe2
Qe6 28. Ng5 Qe5 29. f4 Qd4+ 30. Kh1 Rc6 31. Bxb4 cxb4 32. Rad1 Qb6 33. e5 Nd5
34. e6 Ke7 35. Qh5 1-0

[Event "Gjovik Aker CC Rapid"]
[Site "Gjovik"]
[Date "2009.01.04"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D14"]
[WhiteElo "2699"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "23"]
[EventDate "2009.01.02"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 128 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. d4 d5 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bf4 Bf5 7. e3 e6 8. Bd3
Bxd3 9. Qxd3 Bd6 10. Bxd6 Qxd6 11. O-O O-O 12. Rac1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gjovik Aker CC Blitz"]
[Site "Gjovik"]
[Date "2009.01.04"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C76"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2723"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2009.01.04"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 128 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 g6 5. c3 d6 6. d4 Bd7 7. O-O Bg7 8. dxe5
dxe5 9. Be3 Nf6 10. Nbd2 O-O 11. Re1 Re8 12. h3 Qc8 13. Qe2 Nd8 14. Bxd7 Nxd7
15. Red1 Ne6 16. a4 Nb8 17. Qc4 Nc6 18. b4 Rd8 19. Nb3 Rxd1+ 20. Rxd1 Qe8 21.
Ng5 Rd8 22. Rxd8 Ncxd8 23. Nxe6 Nxe6 24. Na5 b5 25. axb5 axb5 26. Qd5 Nf4 27.
Qd2 h5 28. h4 Ne6 29. g3 Qa8 30. Qd5 Qxd5 31. exd5 Nd8 32. c4 bxc4 33. Nxc4 f6
34. b5 Bf8 35. Ba7 Kf7 36. Bb8 Ke7 37. Bxc7 Nb7 38. Kf1 Kd7 39. b6 e4 40. Ke2
Bc5 41. Nd2 f5 42. Nc4 1-0

[Event "Gjovik Aker CC Blitz"]
[Site "Gjovik"]
[Date "2009.01.04"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2699"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2009.01.04"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 128 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. d4 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e4 b5 6. e5 Nd5 7. a4 e6 8. axb5
Nxc3 9. bxc3 cxb5 10. Ng5 Bb7 11. Qh5 g6 12. Qg4 Bd5 13. h4 h6 14. Ne4 Nd7 15.
h5 g5 16. Be2 a5 17. O-O b4 18. Nd2 Nb6 19. f4 bxc3 20. Nf3 gxf4 21. Bxf4 Kd7
22. Ne1 Kc6 23. Nc2 Bb4 24. Rf2 Qe7 25. Qh3 Rag8 26. Bf1 Rg7 27. Ne3 Kb7 28.
Ng4 Nd7 29. Bc1 Kc6 30. Ne3 Nb6 31. Nxd5 Nxd5 32. Bxc4 Rhg8 33. Bxd5+ exd5 34.
Bxh6 Rg3 35. Qf5 Qe6 36. Qxe6+ fxe6 37. Bf4 R3g4 38. Be3 Kb5 39. h6 Kc4 40. Kf1
Kd3 41. Rf3 Kc4 42. Rh3 Rf8+ 43. Kg1 Rfg8 44. Kh1 Kb3 45. Rf1 a4 46. Bd2 Rxd4
47. Bxc3 Bxc3 48. Rc1 Rc4 49. h7 Rh8 50. g4 a3 51. g5 Kb2 52. Rg1 Bxe5 53. Rg2+
Rc2 0-1

[Event "Gjovik Aker CC Rapid Final"]
[Site "Gjovik"]
[Date "2009.01.05"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2723"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[EventDate "2009.01.05"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 128 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 O-O 6. h3 d6 7. Nbd2 Ne7 8. d4
exd4 9. cxd4 Bb6 10. O-O d5 11. e5 Ne4 12. Bd3 Bf5 13. Qe2 Nc6 14. Rd1 Nxd4 15.
Nxd4 Bxd4 16. Bxe4 dxe4 17. Nb3 c5 18. Be3 Qe7 19. Nxd4 cxd4 20. Bxd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gjovik Aker CC Rapid Final"]
[Site "Gjovik"]
[Date "2009.01.05"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2723"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2009.01.05"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 128 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a4
Bd7 9. Bd2 b4 10. c3 Rb8 11. Bc4 Qc8 12. Re1 O-O 13. d4 Bg4 14. Be3 Na5 15. Bd3
Bxf3 16. Qxf3 Nb3 17. Ra2 Ng4 18. Nd2 bxc3 19. bxc3 Nxe3 20. Qxe3 Bf6 21. Nf3
Re8 22. Rb1 c5 23. dxe5 dxe5 24. Bf1 c4 25. Nd2 Nxd2 26. Rxb8 Qxb8 27. Rxd2 Qb3
28. a5 h6 29. Rd5 Rd8 30. g3 Bg5 31. Qf3 Bf6 32. h4 Qa2 33. Rxd8+ Bxd8 34. Qd1
Bxa5 35. Qd5 Bb6 36. Kh2 Qxf2+ 37. Bg2 a5 38. Qxc4 Qc5 39. Qa4 g6 40. Qb3 h5
41. c4 Kg7 42. Kh3 Qc6 43. Qc3 Qe6+ 44. Kh2 Qe7 45. Qb3 Qb4 46. Qd3 Bd4 47. Qe2
a4 48. g4 a3 49. gxh5 Qb2 50. Qg4 Qd2 51. Kh3 Qe3+ 52. Bf3 Qf4 0-1

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2009.01.17"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B40"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2761"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2009.01.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 d5 4. exd5 exd5 5. d4 Nc6 6. Bg2 Bg4 7. O-O Be7 8.
dxc5 Bxc5 9. Qe1+ Be7 10. Ne5 Be6 11. c4 Nf6 12. Nc3 Rc8 13. cxd5 Nxd5 14. Bh6
({Spectacular, but it looks stronger to insert} 14. Bxd5 $1 Bxd5 {and only
then play} 15. Bh6 {after which Black has some serious problems to solve.})
14... Nxe5 ({Certainly not} 14... gxh6 $2 15. Nxd5 Bxd5 16. Rd1) 15. Rd1 gxh6
16. Qxe5 Bf6 17. Qe2 Bxc3 18. Bxd5 Qe7 19. Qb5+ Qd7 20. Qb3 Rc5 21. Bxe6 Qxe6
22. Qa3 b6 23. bxc3 O-O {After the complications, we reach a heavy piece
ending where the more exposed black king gives White some initiative, but
careful defence enables Radjabov to hold.} 24. Qxa7 Rxc3 25. Rfe1 Qf6 26. Qa4
Rc5 27. Re4 Rf5 28. Rg4+ Kh8 29. Qb4 Rc8 30. Rc4 Re8 31. Re4 Rc8 32. Re2 Rfc5
33. Re4 Rf5 34. Rde1 Rg8 35. Re8 Rfg5 36. R8e4 Rf5 37. R1e2 Qa1+ 38. Kg2 Qf6
39. a4 Qc6 40. Qb2+ Qf6 41. Rb4 Qxb2 42. Rexb2 Ra8 43. Rxb6 Rxa4 44. Rxh6 Kg7
45. Rd6 h6 46. f4 Rfa5 47. Rdd2 Ra6 48. Kh3 R6a5 49. Kh4 Ra6 50. Rbc2 R6a5 51.
Rf2 Ra6 52. Kh5 R4a5+ 53. f5 Rg6 54. g4 Ra3 55. Kh4 Rb6 56. h3 Rbb3 57. Rh2 Rf3
58. Rcf2 Rfe3 59. Rf1 Rab3 60. Rfh1 Rf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2009.01.18"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Stellwagen, Daniel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2612"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2009.01.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Ke8 10. h3 b6 11. Rd1 Bb7 12. Bf4 Rc8 13. g4 Ne7 14. e6
fxe6 15. Ng5 Nd5 16. Nxe6 Nxf4 17. Nxf4 Bd6 18. Ne6 Kf7 19. Ng5+ Kg6 20. Nce4
Be5 21. Nf3 Bxb2 22. Rd7 Bf6 23. Nxf6 Kxf6 24. g5+ Kg6 25. Re1 Rhe8 26. Ne5+
Kxg5 27. Rxg7+ Kf6 28. Rf7+ Ke6 29. Rxh7 Rg8+ 30. Ng4+ Kd5 31. Ree7 c5 32. Rxc7
Rxc7 33. Rxc7 Bc8 34. Rxa7 Bxg4 35. hxg4 Rxg4+ 36. Kf1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2009.01.19"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Movsesian, Sergei"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2751"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2009.01.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4 5. Qb3 Qb6 6. Nc3 e6 7. Nh4 Bh5 8. h3
Nbd7 9. g4 Bg6 10. g5 Ng8 11. Nxg6 hxg6 12. Qc2 Ne7 13. Bd2 Nf5 14. cxd5 cxd5
15. Nb5 Bd6 16. Qa4 a6 17. Rc1 Ke7 18. Nxd6 Nxd6 19. Bd3 Rhc8 20. Ke2 e5 21.
Qb4 e4 22. Bc2 Qxb4 23. Bxb4 a5 24. Bxd6+ Kxd6 25. f3 exf3+ 26. Kxf3 Nf8 27.
Bd3 Ne6 28. h4 Rxc1 29. Rxc1 Rh8 30. Kg4 Re8 31. Bb5 Rg8 32. Rc3 f5+ 33. Kg3
Rf8 34. Bd3 f4+ 35. exf4 Nxf4 36. Kg4 Nxd3 37. Rxd3 Rf2 38. Rb3 Kc6 39. Rc3+
Kd6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2009.01.20"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[PlyCount "129"]
[EventDate "2009.01.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. b3 O-O 8. Be2
b6 9. Bb2 Qe7 10. O-O Bb7 11. Rfe1 Rfe8 12. Rad1 Rad8 13. Bf1 Bb4 14. a3 Bxa3
15. Bxa3 Qxa3 16. cxd5 exd5 17. Ra1 Qd6 18. Rxa7 Qb8 19. Rea1 c5 20. b4 cxd4
21. Nxd4 Rc8 22. Qb3 Ne5 23. h3 g6 24. Be2 Re7 25. R7a2 Nc4 26. Rd1 Nxe3 27.
fxe3 Rxe3 28. Rd3 Qg3 29. Nd1 Qe1+ 30. Bf1 Rxd3 31. Qxd3 Qxb4 32. Qd2 Qd6 33.
Nf3 Ne4 34. Qd4 Rc1 35. Rb2 Qc5 36. Ne3 Ba6 37. Rxb6 Qxd4 38. Nxd4 Bxf1 39.
Nxf1 Nd2 40. Rf6 Rd1 41. Ne2 d4 42. Neg3 h5 43. Rf2 Nb1 44. Rb2 f5 45. Nh1 Nc3
46. Rd2 Ra1 47. h4 Kg7 48. Nhg3 Ra4 49. Nh2 Ne4 50. Rd3 Nxg3 51. Rxg3 d3 52.
Rxd3 Rxh4 53. Rd7+ Kh6 54. Nf3 Re4 55. Rd6 Kg7 56. Kh2 Kh6 57. Nd4 Rh4+ 58. Kg3
Rg4+ 59. Kh3 Kg7 60. g3 Kf7 61. Nf3 Ke7 62. Ra6 f4 63. gxf4 Rxf4 64. Ne5 Re4
65. Nxg6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2009.01.22"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C92"]
[WhiteElo "2779"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2009.01.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {The Spanish, regarded over the past 5-10 yaesr as
one of the most solid ways to play for Black. Several elite players (eg.
Aronian) confidently hide behind its bastions, without any fear at all.} a6 4.
Ba4 ({It ahs been known since time immemorial that the win of the pawn by} 4.
Bxc6 dxc6 5. Nxe5 {is only temporary:} Qd4) 4... Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 {
But now this is necessary, since Bxc6 and Nxe5 was a threat.} 7. Bb3 O-O {
Most modern-day players castle with the pawn still on d7. It is always nice to
threaten a Marshall, even if one actually intends to play another, quieter
line.} 8. c3 {Vassily is not afraid of anything...} d6 {Nor is Magnus, but
even so, he decides not to risk a theoretical duel. Mind you, one cannot
escape from a serious theoretical examination, whatever move one plays here -
the Spanish has been analysed deeply in all its variations..} 9. h3 ({The
classical recipe. From time to time, White chooses the more direct} 9. d4 {
allowing the bishop out to g4.}) 9... a5 {So that's his idea...Excuse my
excessive emotion, but when you are expecting to see the main line, on which
you have commentated innumerable times before, and then you get a fresh move -
well, your eyes light up, the sun shines, and your brain starts to work again.
Actually, the move has been known for a long time. It was first played in 1935
by the Swedish master G Stoltz. At the end of the 1940s it was taken up by the
likes of Bondarevsky, Bolbochan, Rossolimo, etc. But then its popularity waned,
and theory was evidently not convinced of its merits. But lately, it has
become popular again. Black prepares to drive the dangerous Spanish bishop off
the diagonal by means of a5-a4.} 10. d4 {Ivanchuk decides not to prevent his
opponent's plan, but to get on with his own.} ({In a clash between two of the
line's pioneers, the continuation} 10. a4 {was tested. After} b4 11. d4 bxc3
12. Nxc3 Nxd4 13. Nxd4 exd4 14. Qxd4 Rb8 15. Bc4 c6 16. b3 Nd7 17. Bf4 Bf6 18.
Qe3 Ne5 19. Bxe5 Bxe5 20. Rad1 Be6 {Black had excellent play 
(Konstantinopolsky-Bondarevsky, USSR Ch 1948).}) 10... a4 ({The father of the
variation played it differently:} 10... exd4 11. cxd4 a4 12. Bc2 Nb4 13. Nc3
Nxc2 14. Qxc2 c6 15. d5 cxd5 16. exd5 b4 17. Nxa4 Bd7 18. b3 Nxd5 19. Qc4 Bf6
20. Bb2 Bxa4 21. Bxf6 Nxf6 22. bxa4 Rxa4 {and Black had the advantage (Sir G
Thomas-Stoltz, Warsaw 1935).}) 11. Bc2 Bd7 {Introduced into practice by
Smyslov. The bishop develops very modestly. It's main object is not to
obstruct the other pieces, and, of course, also to support the pawn on b5.} 12.
Na3 {It seems that Ivanchuk is well acquainted with the theory, although he
can hardly have prepared for this variation. He spent some time trying to
recall his old knowledge, and then quickly utilises it.} ({The move} 12. Be3 {
allows Black to exchange the strong Spanish bishop, in the style of Stoltz:}
exd4 13. cxd4 Nb4 $1) ({Another move which has been played here is} 12. Nbd2 {
One recent example is} Re8 13. Bd3 Rb8 14. Qe2 Bf8 15. dxe5 Nxe5 16. Nxe5 dxe5
17. Nf3 h6 18. b3 Bc5 19. Be3 Qe7 20. bxa4 bxa4 21. Rab1 Rb6 {and Black
obtained equal chances (G Garcia-Becerra Rivero, USA 2008).}) 12... Rb8 {
Black is prepared for further action on the queenside.} ({Formerly the main
line was considered to be} 12... Qb8 {This queen manoeuvre becmes possible,
thanks to the modest move Bc8-d7. The game Renet-Agdestein, Lyon 1988 continued
} 13. Bd3 exd4 14. cxd4 Nb4 15. Bb1 Qb7 16. Bg5 Rad8 17. Nc2 Na6 18. Ne3 Rfe8
19. Qd3 g6 20. a3 c5 21. e5 dxe5 22. dxe5 Bc6 23. Qc3 Nd5 {and Black won after
a sharp struggle.}) 13. d5 {Apparently a novelty.} ({The last word of theory
here is} 13. Bd3 b4 14. Nc4 bxc3 15. dxe5 Nxe5 16. Nfxe5 dxe5 17. bxc3 Bd6 18.
Bc2 Bc6 19. Bg5 a3 20. Qf3 h6 21. Bc1 Qe7 22. Ne3 Bd7 23. Bb3 Kh8 {1/2-1/2
Yagupov,I (2482)-Zaitsev,I (2417)/Moscow 2000/EXT 2001}) 13... Na7 ({After
some thought, Carlsen retreats the knight deep within its own camp. Of course,
a7 is only a temporary post - Black needs to regroup as quickly as possible
and advance c7-c6. Thus far, White has not yet definitely seized the
initiative. A concrete battle is starting...The clocks times are not
surprising: 1.12 - 1.44. On} 13... Na5 {the reply} 14. b4 $1 {is unpleasant,
eg.} axb3 15. axb3 {and the threat of b3-b4 gives Black some problems.}) ({
The counter-blow} 13... b4 {does not promise equality:} 14. Nc4 $1 Na7 15. cxb4
Rxb4 16. b3 {and White can even attack the queenside successfully.} axb3 17.
axb3 Nc8 18. Ra8) 14. c4 {The whole times Vassily was thinking, I was studying
precisely this move, the sharpest and most aggressive.} Ra8 {An amazingly
quick response, like a table tennis. response. Magnus frees the square b8 for
his queen. But this leads us to ask the question: was 12...Rb8 really a good
move? Wasn't the more usual 12. ..Qb8 better? Amazingly quick...Black had a
number of interesting moves, the consequences of which were not easy to assess.
} ({In the variation} 14... b4 15. Nb1 Qe8 {White obtains the advantage by} 16.
c5 $1) ({Black is simply worse after} 14... bxc4 15. Nxc4 Qe8 16. Be3 Nc8 17.
Rc1 {etc.}) ({It seems to me that the young Norwegian's fighting temperament
is suited by the pawn sacrifice} 14... c6 15. dxc6 Bxc6 16. cxb5 Nxb5 17. Bxa4
Qd7 18. Nxb5 Bxb5 19. Bxb5 Rxb5 20. b3 Qb7 21. Qe2 Rc8 {and a quick central
break with d6-d5 will follow. On the other hand, of course, it is always
easier to sacrifice somebody else's pawns...}) 15. Be3 ({Now Black would answer
} 15. c5 {with} c6 $1 {After} 16. cxd6 Bxd6 17. dxc6 Bxc6 {he has everything
defended, whereas with the queen on e8 (as in the variation above beginning 14.
..b4), the bishop on d6 would be hanging.}) ({whilst after} 15. cxb5 Nxb5 16.
Bxa4 Nc3 $1 17. bxc3 Rxa4 {Black would obtain a definite initiative for the
pawn.}) ({The modest} 15. Bd2 {deserves attention.}) 15... b4 {This is the
drawback of 15. Be3. Black now keeps the c-file closed, on which he has a
backward pawn on c7.} 16. Nb1 c5 {Slamming the door!} 17. a3 ({Note that
exchanging a central pawn for a flank pawn by means of} 17. Bxa4 Nxe4 {would
not be good for White.}) ({However, it was possible to exchange central pawns:
} 17. Nxe5 dxe5 18. d6 {although without great effect:} Re8 19. dxe7 Qxe7 {
with complicated play.}) 17... b3 {The key goes into the lock. Now the
queenside is sealed up for good.} 18. Bd3 {Now all hopes rest on the other
side of the board. Possibly the two sides will prepare the corresponding
breaks f2-f4 and f7-f5.The position looks about equal.} Nxe4 {Lightning from a
clear sky! Carlsen decisively abandons the slow manoeuvering. However, with a
knight on a7, such complications are rarely favourable. Black will regain his
piece, of course, but in the subsequently play, the white army should be
better coordinated.} ({At first, the official site showed Black's move as} 
18... Nxd5 {producing shock the whole chess world over. Admittedly, though,
even the move 18...Nxe4 can hardly be described as the most normal.}) ({
I think that 99 players out of 100 would have played} 18... Nc8 {aiming to put
the knight on b6 and then slowly prepare something on the kingside. The 100th
player is carlsen. True, as far as the rating list is concerned, he is closer
to first. And the rest of us, we ordinary players, follow at a respectful
distance...}) 19. Bxe4 ({vassily does not need much time to take himself in
hand. Weaker is} 19. Nxe5 dxe5 20. Bxe4 Bd6 {and after f7-f5, Black has a good
structure and attacking chances.}) 19... f5 20. Nfd2 ({A surprise in return.
Evidently, Vassily wants to put his queen's knight on d2. I was looking at} 20.
Bd3 e4 21. Nc3 $1 {and in my view, whichever way Black recaptures the piece,
he does not obtain equality. White stands much better in the centre.}) ({
One mystery remains: why did White not play} 20. Nc3 fxe4 21. Nxe4 {By
comparison with the game, his knightis on f3, instead of b1, which is
obviously a significant gain.}) 20... fxe4 21. Qh5 {I would ask you to bear in
mind that I am writing my comments as the game is being played, and before
seeing the next move. I have to make a lot of guesses, based on my own
understanding of the logic of the position.} ({Now it turns out that Ivanchuk
is not planning} 21. Nxe4 {on which one can recommend} Qe8 {and the queen
comes to g6.}) 21... Be8 ({One can well ask what the queen is doing on h5. I
prefer the reply} 21... Qe8 {In the ending, Black puts his bishop on g6 and
his knight on b6, although this can hardly lead to any serious disturbance of
the equality..}) 22. Qe2 Bd7 23. Qh5 Be8 24. Qe2 Bd7 {The players are
evidently worn out by the stress of the game. After the opening, the battle
was very hard and non-standard, and the move 18...Nxe4 was the icing on the
cake.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2009.01.23"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2706"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "158"]
[EventDate "2009.01.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. Bd3 Bg4 6. Nbd2 Nbd7 7. Qc2 e6 8. O-O
dxc4 9. Bxc4 Be7 10. e4 O-O 11. Bd3 $146 (11. Ne5 Bh5 (11... Nxe5 $5 12. dxe5
Nd7 13. h3 Bh5 14. f4 b5 15. g4 Bg6 16. Be2 f6 $132) 12. Nxd7 Qxd7 13. Nb3 a5
14. a4 Bg6 15. f3 Nd5 16. Qe2 Nb4 17. Rd1 b6 $11 {1-0 Bacrot,E (2709)
-Drozdovskij,Y (2558)/Odessa 2007 (rapid)/ (56)}) 11... h6 12. h3 Bh5 $11 13.
e5 $6 {White starts doubtful complications.} Nd5 14. g4 Nb4 (14... Bg6 15. Bxg6
fxg6 16. Qxg6 Nf4 17. Qe4 Nxh3+ 18. Kh2 Nf4 19. Nc4 Nd5 20. Kg2 $13 {[%cal
Gf1h1,Gg4g5]}) 15. Bh7+ Kh8 16. Qb1 f5 $1 17. exf6 Nxf6 18. gxh5 (18. Bg6 Bxg6
19. Qxg6 Nfd5 $17) 18... Nxh7 19. Ne5 Kg8 (19... Bd6 {was an attractive
alternative:} 20. Ng6+ Kg8 21. Nxf8 Qg5+ $1 (21... Qxf8 22. Nc4 Bc7 23. Ne5 $16
) 22. Kh1 Rxf8 $44 23. Ne4 $140 $2 Qxh5 $19) 20. Qg6 Rf6 21. Qg4 Ng5 22. Ndc4 (
22. h4 $2 Rf4 $1 23. Qg3 (23. Qxf4 Nh3+ $19) 23... Rxh4 $19) 22... Nd5 23. h4 (
23. Bxg5 hxg5 24. Qxg5 $2 Rf5 $17) 23... Nf7 24. Kh1 Bf8 25. Be3 Ne7 $4 {
Missing White's reply.} (25... Qe8 $1 $15 {[%csl Rh5][%cal Ga8d8,Gf6f5]}) 26.
Nb6 $1 {A nice and unexpected blow.} Ra7 (26... Qxb6 27. Nd7 $16) 27. Ned7 Rf5
28. Rg1 Nd5 29. Nxd5 (29. Nxf8 {wins quicker:} Qxf8 (29... Kxf8 30. Qxg7+ Ke7
31. Bxh6 $1 Nxb6 (31... Qxb6 32. Qf8+ Kd7 33. Rg7 $18) 32. Bg5+ Rxg5 33. hxg5
$18) 30. Nd7 $18) 29... Rxd5 (29... cxd5 30. Nxf8 Qxf8 31. Rac1 Ra8 32. Rc7 $18
) 30. Nxf8 Qxf8 31. Rg3 Ra8 32. Rag1 Kh8 33. Qxe6 $1 (33. Qxg7+ Qxg7 34. Rxg7
Rf8 35. Kh2 Rxh5 36. Kh3 $16) 33... Rxh5 34. Qg4 g6 (34... Rd5 35. Qxg7+ Qxg7
36. Rxg7 $18) 35. d5 $2 {Throwing it all away.} (35. Qxg6 Rxh4+ 36. Kg2 {
[%cal Gg6f6]} Nd6 37. d5 cxd5 38. Bc5 Rd8 39. Kf1 $18) 35... Ne5 36. Bd4 Qf6 $1
{[%csl Rh4]} 37. Bxe5 Qxe5 38. dxc6 bxc6 39. Rd1 Rg8 40. Qd4 Qxd4 41. Rxd4 g5
42. Rc3 Rf8 43. Kg1 ({After} 43. Rxc6 Rxf2 44. Rxa6 {a safe method to make a
draw is the following:} Rxh4+ ({but not} 44... Rxb2 $4 45. Rd8+ $1 Kg7 46. Rd7+
Kg8 47. Ra8+ {and mate}) 45. Rxh4 gxh4 46. Rxh6+ (46. b4 Rb2 47. a3 Kg7 $11)
46... Kg7 47. Rb6 Kf7 48. a4 Ke7 49. a5 Kd7 50. a6 Kc7 51. Rb7+ (51. a7 Rf1+
52. Kg2 Ra1 $11) 51... Kc8 52. b4 Ra2 53. b5 h3 54. Rh7 Kb8 55. Rxh3 {with a
theoretical draw. For instance:} Ka7 56. Rh7+ (56. Kg1 Kb6) 56... Ka8 57. Kg1
Rb2 58. Rh5 Ka7 59. Kf1 Kb6 $11) 43... Rf6 44. hxg5 Rxg5+ 45. Kf1 Kg7 $11 46.
Rdc4 Ra5 47. a3 Rb5 48. Rc2 Rd6 49. a4 Rb6 50. b4 a5 51. bxa5 Ra6 52. Rg4+ Kf7
53. Rc5 Rd5 54. Rgc4 Rxa5 55. Rxc6 Rd1+ 56. Ke2 Ra1 57. Rf4+ Ke7 58. Rcc4 h5
59. Rb4 Ra2+ 60. Kf3 Ra3+ 61. Kg2 Ke6 62. Rbe4+ Kd6 63. f3 Ra2+ 64. Kh3 Ra1 65.
Rd4+ Ke6 66. Rb4 Rg5 67. Rfe4+ Kf6 68. Rf4+ Ke6 69. Rb6+ Ke7 70. Rb2 Rh1+ 71.
Rh2 Ra1 72. Kh4 Rg8 73. Rd4 Kf6 74. Rf4+ Ke5 75. Rb4 Kf5 76. Kh3 Ra3 77. Rf2
Ra8 78. Rb5+ Kf4 79. Rxh5 Rxf3+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2009.01.24"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A17"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2009.01.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 c5 5. a3 Ba5 6. g3 O-O 7. Bg2 Nc6 8. O-O
d6 9. d3 h6 10. Rb1 Rb8 11. e3 e5 12. Nd5 Nxd5 13. cxd5 Ne7 14. b4 cxb4 15.
axb4 Bc7 16. Qa2 b5 17. e4 Bb6 18. Bb2 Bg4 19. d4 exd4 20. Nxd4 Qd7 21. Rbc1
Ng6 22. Kh1 Rbc8 23. Qb3 Ne5 24. f3 Bh3 25. Bxh3 Qxh3 26. Nf5 Nc4 27. Rfe1 Bf2
28. Red1 g6 29. Qc3 f6 30. Ne7+ Kh7 31. Nxc8 Bxg3 32. Qc2 Rxc8 33. Qg2 Qxg2+
34. Kxg2 Bf4 35. Bd4 Bxc1 36. Rxc1 Kg7 37. Ra1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2009.01.25"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2725"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "31"]
[EventDate "2009.01.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 a6 {The Chebanenko Variation. Frankly
speaking, I cannot understand why he classical players of the early 20th
century could not find this useful move, keeping the possibility of actively
developing the traditional problem child bishop on c8. Nowadays, the move
seems so logical and natural!} 5. a4 {One of many sensible replies. What
hasn't White tried, in an effort to refute the Chebanenko! Yet even the
greatest sceptics have to acknowledge that Black's play has a healthy
positional basis. The text move prevents Black gaining space on the queenside
by b5.} e6 {A solid response. True, the bishop on c8 remains passive after all,
but White has had to pay for this achievement by weakening the square b4.} ({
The drawbacks of} 5... Bf5 6. Qb3 Ra7 7. a5 {were revealed in the game
Gelfand-Morozevich, Astana 200:} e6 (7... dxc4 {is more reliable}) 8. Qb6 $1
Qxb6 9. axb6 Ra8 10. c5 Nbd7 11. e3 Be7 12. Be2 O-O 13. Nd2 e5 14. O-O Rfe8 15.
Nb3 Bf8 16. Bd2 Bc2 17. Na5 {and White's pressure on the queenside was
overwhelming.}) 6. g3 {Magnus heads for a Catalan set-up.} ({The latest tests
show that after} 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. a5 (7. e3 Qa5 $1) 7... h6 8. Bh4 dxc4 9. e3 b5
$1 10. axb6 Nxb6 11. Ne5 c5 {Black successfully equalizes.}) 6... a5 {Securing
a favourable queenside pawn structure. The black pieces will feel comfortable
on the b4 square.} 7. Bg2 Nbd7 ({A rare plan. Usually, Black directs the
knight to b4 via a6, eg.} 7... Na6 8. O-O Be7 9. b3 O-O 10. Bb2 b6 11. Ne5 Nb4
12. e4 Ba6 13. Re1 Rc8 14. Rc1 dxc4 15. Nxc4 Bxc4 16. bxc4 e5 $1 {and Black
took over the dark squares in the centre (Ruck-Rustemov, Warsaw 2005).}) 8. O-O
({A novelty. In most cases, once Nbd7 has bene played, White has to defend the
c4 pawn, but Magnus is ready to sacrifice it.} 8. Nd2 Be7 9. e4 dxe4 10. Ndxe4
O-O 11. O-O Nxe4 12. Nxe4 Nf6 13. Be3 Qc7 14. Qb3 Ng4 15. Bf4 e5 16. dxe5 Nxe5
17. Qc3 f6 18. c5 {and White was better (Pham Hoang - Le Quang, Vietnam 2003).
However, Black's play can easily be strengthened, eg. it would be interseting
to try 9...c5!}) 8... Bb4 ({So this is why the b4 square was left free.} 8...
dxc4 9. e4 Bb4 10. Qe2 Nb6 11. Bf4 {Black will have to suffer for a long time
in a passive position.}) 9. e4 ({A sharp reply! Carlsen opens the centre at
once, exploiting Black's slight lag in development.} 9. Nd2) 9... Bxc3 ({
The most principled. less convincing is} 9... Nxe4 10. Nxe4 dxe4 11. Ng5 {
and now} f5 $2 {is impossible because of} 12. Nxe6) ({Also} 9... O-O {allows
White pressure after} 10. e5) 10. bxc3 Nxe4 ({Worse is} 10... dxe4 11. Ng5 {
and White regains the pawn at once.}) 11. Ba3 $1 {Having said "a", White must
say "b". He needs to create threats, not worrying about the c3 pawn. Carlsen
cuts off the enemy king in the centre.} Ndf6 ({Kamsky does not grab the second
pawn. After} 11... Nxc3 12. Qb3 Ne4 13. Rfe1 {White certainly has very strong
pressure. One cooperative variation runs} b6 $2 14. cxd5 cxd5 15. Nd2 Nxd2 16.
Qxd5 Ra7 17. Rxe6+ $1 {mating.}) 12. Ne5 {White must proceed energetically.}
Nd6 {Kamsky's idea is simple - he closes the a3-f8 diagonal, and so prepares
castling.} 13. cxd5 exd5 14. c4 {Still trying to open central lines at all
cost.} O-O {Kamsky does not even look at taking the pawn. The safety of the
black king is worth all the pawns in the world.} 15. cxd5 Nxd5 {White has
compensation for the pawn.} 16. Bxd5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2009.01.27"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Adams, Michael"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B70"]
[WhiteElo "2712"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2009.01.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Bc4 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8.
Re1 Bg4 9. f3 Bd7 10. Be3 Nc6 11. a4 Ne5 12. Bf1 Rc8 13. a5 a6 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15.
exd5 Nc4 16. Bxc4 Rxc4 17. c3 Re8 18. Nc2 Ra4 19. Bb6 Rxa1 20. Qxa1 Qc8 21. Ne3
e5 22. dxe6 Rxe6 23. Qd1 Qe8 24. Kf2 Qe7 25. g3 Qg5 26. Qd5 Qxd5 27. Nxd5 Rxe1
28. Kxe1 Kf8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2009.01.28"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D81"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2717"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2009.01.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Qb3 dxc4 5. Qxc4 Bg7 6. e4 O-O 7. Be2 Nfd7 8.
Be3 Nb6 9. Qd3 {A relatively new move, first applied by Kramnik against
Dominguez several months ago - see CBM 128.} f5 (9... Nc6 10. Rd1 f5 11. Nf3 f4
12. Bc1 Bg4 13. e5 Qd7 14. Ne4 Rad8 15. Nc5 Qc8 16. Qc3 e6 $6 (16... Nd5 17.
Qb3 b6 18. Ba6 Qb8 19. Ne4 Na5 20. Qa4 c5 $13) 17. h3 Bh5 $6 (17... Bxf3 18.
Bxf3 Nxd4 $1 19. Bxb7 Qb8 20. Be4 Bxe5 21. Nxe6 $13) 18. O-O Nd5 19. Qb3 Na5
20. Qc2 Nc6 21. Ng5 $1 $14 {[%csl Re6] 1/2 Kramnik,V (2772)-Dominguez Perez,L 
(2719)/Dresden 2008/CBM 128/[Krasenkow] (45)}) 10. Rd1 f4 11. Bc1 e5 12. d5 c6
13. Nf3 cxd5 14. Nxd5 Nxd5 15. Qb3 $5 $146 {[%mdl 8]} (15. Qxd5+ Qxd5 16. exd5
Bf5 17. O-O Nd7 18. Rfe1 a6 19. Bd2 Rac8 20. Ng5 Rc2 21. Ne6 Rfc8 22. Nxg7 Kxg7
23. Bc3 Kf6 24. Bf3 b5 $13 {1/2 Jakovenko,D (2737)-Mamedyarov,S (2731)/Elista
RUS 2008/The Week in Chess 737 (57)}) 15... Kh8 (15... Be6 $5 16. exd5 Bf7 17.
Qxb7 Nd7 $44 {S.Zagrebelny Of course, this line needs further analysis.}) 16.
Bc4 Nc6 17. Bxd5 Qe7 (17... Qb6 {doesn't change much:} 18. h3 Nd4 19. Nxd4 exd4
{[%cal Yg7e5]} 20. Bd2 $14 {The black bishop will be strong on e5 but White's
d5 bishop is even stronger!}) 18. h3 (18. Bd2 Bg4 19. Bxc6 bxc6 20. Bb4 c5 21.
Bc3 Rae8 22. h3 Bc8 23. Kd2 Rd8+ 24. Kc1 Rd4 $5 25. Bxd4 exd4 26. Rhe1 Be6 27.
Qa3 Rd8 28. Re2 Qc7 29. e5 Qb6 30. Ng5 Bd5 31. e6 Re8 $44 {1/2 Aleksandrov,A 
(2636)-Zinchenko,Y (2527)/Moscow RUS 2009/The Week in Chess 744 (44)}) 18...
Nb4 (18... Nd4 19. Nxd4 exd4 20. Bd2 a5 21. Rc1 $14 {[%csl Gb3,Gd5][%cal Gc1c7]
}) 19. Bc4 $6 {A tempo was more important than this bishop!} (19. O-O $142 $1
Nxd5 $140 20. exd5 {[%csl Gd5,Re5]} e4 21. Rfe1 Re8 22. d6 Qd8 23. Nh2 $18 {
[%cal Rc1f4,Rd6d7]}) 19... b5 $5 20. Bxb5 $6 (20. Bd2 $1 a5 (20... bxc4 21.
Qxb4 Qxb4 22. Bxb4 Re8 23. O-O $16 {[%csl Re5]}) 21. Bxb4 Qxb4+ 22. Qxb4 axb4
23. Bd5 $14) 20... Nxa2 (20... Be6 $5 21. Bc4 Bxc4 22. Qxc4 Rac8 $44) 21. Bd2 (
21. Qxa2 Qb4+) 21... Rb8 22. Qa4 Qb7 23. O-O Qxb5 24. Qxa2 Qxb2 25. Qxa7 Qb7
$11 {Black has solved all his opening problems. But equal doesn't quite mean
drawn! Several minor inaccuracies - and the Cuban GM loses this game...} 26.
Qc5 Be6 27. Qd6 Bb3 28. Rb1 Qxe4 29. Bc3 Rbd8 (29... Qd5 $11 {R.Sherbakov}) 30.
Qa3 Bc2 $6 {This bishop will be out of play and hanging.} (30... Bd5 $11) 31.
Rb5 Qa4 $6 (31... Qc6 $142 32. Rxe5 $1 (32. Qb2 Rc8 33. Bxe5 Bxe5 34. Rxe5 Qc3
$1) (32. Rc5 Qa4 33. Qb2 Rb8) 32... Ra8 33. Qb2 Be4 34. Nd4 Qb7 35. Rb5 $36 {
- analysis by IM M.Notkin.}) 32. Qb2 Bd3 $2 (32... Be4 33. Bxe5 Qa7 $1 34. Ra1
Qe7 35. Bxg7+ Qxg7 36. Ne5 $16) 33. Rb7 $1 $18 {[%mdl 128] Suddenly White
obtains a killing attack.} Qc2 (33... Bxf1 34. Bxe5 Rd7 35. Bxg7+ Kg8 36. Rxd7
Qxd7 37. Bxf8 $18 {M.Notkin}) (33... Rd7 34. Nxe5 Rxb7 (34... Bxe5 35. Bxe5+
Kg8 36. Rxd7 Qxd7 37. Rc1 $18) 35. Qxb7 Qa6 36. Qe7 {[%cal Re5g6]} Kg8 37. Nd7
Rf7 38. Qd8+ Bf8 39. Nxf8 Rxf8 40. Qd5+ Rf7 41. Ra1 $18) 34. Qb4 Rfe8 35. Re1 (
35. Bxe5 $1 Bxe5 36. Nxe5 Rxe5 37. Qxf4 Rf5 38. Qh6 $18) 35... Be2 36. Nxe5
Bxe5 37. Bxe5+ Rxe5 38. Qxf4 Qf5 39. Qh6 1-0

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2009.01.30"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E37"]
[WhiteElo "2771"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2009.01.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 {This move was first used at the top
levelnby Alekhine. The idea is to force the exchange on c3, without incurring
doubled pawns. The drawback of the move is White's slight deficit in
development. The particular interest of this game is that both players have
used the line successfully in the past, and have contributed to the theory of
the line. So a couple of world experts are meeting!} d5 {The most
straightforwa rd answer. Black tries to open the centre and create
complications, as soon as possible. His king is ready to escape to the
kingside, whereas the white monarch will have to remain uncastled for some
time.} 5. a3 {White carries out the classical idea.} Bxc3+ ({If} 5... Be7 $6 6.
cxd5 exd5 7. Bg5 {we reach an Exchange QGD, with White having the extremely
useful extra move a2-a3.}) 6. Qxc3 Ne4 ({A no less sharp struggle arises after
} 6... c5 7. dxc5 d4 {and now the world's grandmasters are unable to agree on
the best retreat forthe queen - c2 or g3.}) 7. Qc2 c5 {The consistent
follow-up.} 8. dxc5 Nc6 {The only way! The number of pawns does not yet play a
great role. The important thing is to bring the pieces into play as quickly as
possible. Now is an important moment - should White exchange pawns on d5 or
not? The further character of the battle will depend on this decision.} 9. cxd5
{The most aggressive, and also riskiest continuation! White opens the path of
the c8 bishop, but strengthens his extra pawn.} ({Heavy simplifications result
from} 9. e3 Qa5+ 10. Bd2 Nxd2 11. Qxd2 dxc4 12. Qxa5 Nxa5 13. Rc1 b5 14. cxb6
Bb7 {and Black has enough initiative for the pawn. The analyses of the leading
specialists in the line lead to a draw, on practically an empty board.}) 9...
exd5 ({Not} 9... Qxd5 $2 10. Be3 $1) 10. e3 {As can be seen, White has so far
developed only his queen. Black has both knights on good central squares, he
is ready to castle, and his bishop will soon come to f5.His development lead
threatens to assume alarming proportions. But in modern chess, such general
considerations and fierce words do not play a great role. Concrete analysis
determines everything.} Bf5 (10... Qa5+ {is now out of fashion, thanks to the
exchange sacrifice seen inKazimdzhanov-Kar pov, Spain 2007:} 11. b4 $1 Nxb4 12.
axb4 Qxa1 13. Bb5+ Kf8 14. Ne2 {and whatev er the computer might say, humans
know that White's position is much easier to play.}) (10... Qf6 {was tried in
a game Carlsen-Polgar, from Wijk aan Zee 2008, but without success:} 11. f3 $1
Qh4+ 12. g3 Nxg3 13. Qf2 Nf5 14. Qxh4 Nxh4 15. b4 a6 16. Kf2 Ne5 17. Bb2 f6 18.
Rd1 Be6 19. Ne2 Bf7 20. Rg1 Nc4 21. Bc1 g5 22. Nc3 O-O-O 23. e4 $1 {and the
white bishops destroyed Black.}) 11. Bd3 O-O ({As on the previous move,} 11...
Qa5+ {is again met by} 12. b4 Nxb4 13. axb4 Qxa1 14. Ne2 {For example,} Bd7 15.
f3 Ba4 16. Qb2 Qxb2 17. Bxb2 Nf6 18. Nd4 Bd7 19. b5 Rc8 20. Ba3 a6 21. bxa6
bxa6 22. Kd2 Bb5 23. Bxb5+ axb5 24. c6 Kd8 25. Rc1 {and Black could not
contain his opponent's initiative. Drozdovskij-Brodsky Poltava 2008}) 12. Nf3
Qa5+ 13. Nd2 ({Necessary. Now after} 13. b4 Nxb4 14. axb4 Qxa1 15. Nd4 {
(which nobody has played), there follows a nice exchange of tactical blows:}
Ng3 $1 16. Nb3 $1 Qa6 $1 {with, as they say, "a complicated struggle"!}) 13...
Nxd2 14. Bxd2 Bxd3 15. Qxd3 Qxc5 16. Rc1 ({Novelty. Sasha improves on his own
play. In an earlier round at Wijk an Zee, the game Morozevich-Adams went} 16.
Bc3 d4 17. Bxd4 Nxd4 18. Qxd4 Qb5 19. O-O-O Qf5 20. e4 Qg5+ 21. Kb1 Rad8 22. f4
Rxd4 23. fxg5 Rxe4 24. Rd7 Rg4 25. g3 Rxg5 26. Rxb7 a5 {and Black equalized.})
16... Qb6 17. O-O {I like Morozevich's idea. There is harmony in his ranks.
Taking on b2 is clearly not good, since the white rook gets to b7.} Rad8 (17...
d4 {does not equalize. I would then suggest} 18. b4 {After exchanges in the
centre, White retains some initiative.}) 18. f4 {But what is this? The move
looks antipositional, weakening the square e4 and the pawn on e3. But how can
Black exploit this? maybe he can't! Meanwhile, the advance of the pawn to f4
has a concrete idea, namely to eprive the black knight on the e5 square, via
which it can get to c4 after b2-b4. So maybe my first reaction was too
emotional. Probably Sasha doid not invent this idea over the board, but found
it at home, so it needs to be taken seriously.} Rfe8 ({After} 18... d4 19. e4
$1 {the f4-pawn would be doubly useful.}) 19. b4 {Correct. The black knight is
restricted on all sides. White's play looks a bit od, but I have already said
that general cosndierations nowadays play less of a role than specifics. We
will see what transpires... Magnus is thinking hard. He has made all the
obvious moves and now needs to find a plan. One idea for White is Rf3-h3.} h6 (
{My previous note explains this move. I also looked at the direct attempt to
bring the knight to f5:} 19... Ne7 20. Rf3 Qe6 21. f5 (21. Rc7 Qb6 22. Rc1 Qe6)
21... Qe4 22. Qf1 {an then the rook will go to f4, the queen to d3, and a
complicate struggle ensues, which is hard to judge.}) ({The prospect of the
white bishop coming to c3 makes me think alos about} 19... f6 {followed by
Nc6-e7 and Qb6-e6.}) 20. h3 {Giving up on Rh3 as an idea, but making luft and
waiting to see what Black will do.} a6 ({Black also waits. Less beliigerant
grandmasters might play} 20... Ne7 21. Bc3 Nc6 $1 22. Bd2 Ne7 23. Bc3 Nc6 {
and shake hands.}) 21. Rc5 {White returns to the strategy of pressure in the
centre. Black must be tied down to the d5 pawn, reducing his conyrol over d4,
and only then will White seek a target on one flank or other.} a5 {A logical
response. The rook on c5 prevents the natural reply b4-b5, so the b4 pawn
becomes a target for Black.} 22. Rfc1 ({The centre of the battle shifts to the
queenside. Winning a pawn by} 22. Rb5 Qa6 23. bxa5 {allows the counterblow} d4
24. e4 Na7 25. Rb3 (25. a4 Nxb5 26. axb5 Qe6 {hardly offers sufficient
compensation.}) 25... Qxd3 26. Rxd3 Rxe4 27. Rb1 Rd7 {and Black has nothing to
complain about.}) 22... axb4 23. axb4 Re4 {Carlsen counterattacks decisively.
The b4 pawns can not escape the attention it has attracted from the black
pieces. Magnus ignores the threat to the d5 pawn, because he sees the
counter-threat against e3.} 24. Kh2 (24. Rxd5 Rxd5 25. Qxd5 Rxe3 $1 (25... Rxb4
{is also not bad, eg.} 26. Kh2 (26. Bxb4 $4 Qxe3+) 26... Rb1 27. Rc4 Qb3 {
again forcing exchanges.}) 26. Rc5 (26. Bxe3 $4 Qxe3+ 27. Kh1 Qxc1+) 26... Re8
27. Bc3 Rd8 28. Qe4 Qc7 29. b5 Qd6 {equalizes completely.}) 24... Rc4 $1 ({
Yet another cunning move by the Norwegian. This time, the target is the bishop
on d2, which is being x-rayed by the rook on d8. Unfortunately, barring
something remarkable, the next few moves are likely to see a total
simplification of the position. The only hope is Morozevich's unquenchable
fighting spirit! Less convincing is} 24... Nxb4 {because White does not have
to exchange minor pieces. He can play} 25. Qb3 {with an unpleasant pin.} ({or} 
25. Qb1 {I am not sure which is better.})) 25. R1xc4 ({What else can one play,
if all other moves favour Black? For example, after} 25. R5xc4 dxc4 26. Qe2 Qa6
{Black defends the c4 pawn, because of} 27. Rxc4 $2 Rxd2 $1) 25... dxc4 26. Qe2
Nxb4 27. Rxc4 ({Sasha avoids exchanges. And not without reason. After} 27. Bxb4
Qxb4 28. Rxc4 (28. Qxc4 Qxc4 29. Rxc4 b5 $1) 28... Qe7 {the outside passed
b-pawn gives Black grounds to play for a win.}) 27... Nd3 {However, now the
knight will be very strong. With its support, the passed pawn can reach b4 or
b2. For the moment, this is still something of a dream, but grandmasters make
a living by dreaming of the distant future...} 28. Rd4 {Realising the danger,
Sasha hurries to restore the game to drawish channels. The clock times are now
0.19 - 0.49} Rxd4 ({Trying to transfer the knight to e6 can also bring
problems to Black, as White activates his pieces by} 28... Nc5 29. Bc3 {
whilst he can eliminate the e6 outpost at any moment by f4-f5.}) 29. exd4 Qxd4
({A white-square blockade by} 29... Qb5 {fails because of the bad position of
the knight:} 30. Qe4 $1 {and it cannot be brought to d5.}) 30. Qe8+ Kh7 31.
Qxf7 Qe4 ({A last attempt to impose some control. Pushing the b-pawn results
in its loss:} 31... b5 $2 32. Qf5+) 32. f5 {This counterattack saves White.}
Qe5+ ({Now} 32... b5 {is met by} 33. Bc3 {and winning the bishop leads to
perpetual:} Qf4+ 34. Kh1 Qc1+ 35. Kh2 Qxc3 36. Qg6+ Kg8 37. Qe8+ {etc.}) ({
whilst the variation} 32... Nf4 33. Bxf4 Qxf4+ 34. Kg1 Qc1+ 35. Kh2 Qc6 {
gets nowehere because of the blow} 36. f6 $1 Qxf6 37. Qxb7) 33. Kh1 {The only
remaining question is who will give the perpetual check.} Nf2+ 34. Kg1 Ne4 (
34... Nxh3+ 35. gxh3 Qd4+ 36. Kf1 Qxd2 37. Qg6+ Kg8 38. Qe8+ {ends in the same
perpetual.}) 35. Bf4 ({The same idea - deflecting the queen from covering e8.
But it was not yet time for the flashy} 35. Bxh6 $2 {because of} Qd4+ 36. Kh1
Qd1+ 37. Kh2 Qd6+) 35... Qd4+ 36. Kh2 Nf6 37. Bxh6 Qe5+ 38. Kh1 Qe1+ 39. Kh2
Ng4+ 40. hxg4 Qh4+ 41. Kg1 Qe1+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2009.01.31"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Smeets, Jan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B10"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2601"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2009.01.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c6 2. e4 {Since this was a game I needed to win in order to fight for
the first prize, I tried to get Jan on to unfamiliar territory as soon as
possible, avoiding forcing lines.} d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. cxd5 (4. d4 {leads to
the Panov attack.}) 4... Nf6 5. Nc3 Nxd5 6. Nf3 Nc6 {Black has several other
decent options, like exchanging on c3 here or on the next move, but this is
the main line.} 7. Bb5 e6 8. O-O Be7 9. d4 O-O 10. Re1 Bd7 {The main move,
which was also played in the recent game Ivanchuk-Topalov from the Nanjing
tournament. Black prevents the exchange on c6, which could in some lines lead
to a difficult position.} 11. Bd3 {Now the bishop has no function on b5, and
is transferred to the most active diagonal. The somewhat clumsy position of
the bishop on d7 should justify the apparent loss of tempo.} (11. Nxd5 exd5 12.
Bf4 Bf6 13. Ne5 Nxe5 {Led to exchanges and a draw in the aforementioned game,
and was obviously unsuitable}) 11... Rc8 {While preparing for the game I had
read that this move was supposed to be inaccurate, but it actually seems to be
a very decent move.} (11... Ncb4 12. Bb1 {Gives the bishop a good post on c6,
but leaves the e5-square for the white knight, which should give an initiative.
}) 12. Nxd5 {It's not so easy to find another move here, as otherwise Black
would play Ncb4 next. a3 might be on option though.} exd5 13. Ne5 Bf6 {While
this move seems to be quite decent, a simpler way to gain good play is} (13...
Nxe5 14. Rxe5 Bd6 $1 (14... Be6 15. Qh5 g6 16. Qh6 {with Rh5 to come is why
Rc8 was considered dubious.}) 15. Rxd5 Bc6 16. Rg5 (16. Rh5 g6 {Apparently
forces White to give perpetual check with Rxh7.}) 16... g6 {And because of the
misplaced rook on g5 Black should have very decent play here.}) (13... Nxd4 14.
Bxh7+ Kxh7 15. Qxd4 {is better for White, who will set up a healthy blockade
on d4.}) 14. Bf4 {The most natural move, but probably not the best. The more
circumspect} (14. Bd2 $5 {as suggested by the engines, might be a better
chance for a small advantage, as} Nxd4 15. Bc3 {practically forces Rxc3, when
White will enjoy a stable advantage.}) 14... g6 $6 (14... Be6 {I was a bit
afraid of this fearless move during the game, which probably forces me to take
on c6 with equality, as none of the direct attacking attempts connected with
Qh5 seem to work.}) 15. Qb3 {Since 15...Nxd4 16.Qxb7 is good for White, I get
a slight initiative after this. Additionally, Jan had already spent quite a
lot of time, and was heading for time-trouble, which had been his greatest
enemy so far in the tournament.} Na5 (15... Nxd4 16. Qxb7 Be6 $8 17. Qxa7 Nc2
18. Bxc2 Rxc2 19. Qd4 {should not give Black sufficient compensation.}) 16. Qb4
(16. Qxd5 Bc6 $1 {equalises after} (16... Be6 17. Qe4 {is not so good.}) 17.
Qxd8 Rfxd8 18. Bd2 Rxd4 19. Bxa5 Bxe5 20. Rxe5 Rxd3 $11) 16... Be6 {This came
as a surprise to me. I expected} (16... Be7 17. Qd2 Nc6 {which might appear to
lose a tempo, but creates the threat of ...Bb4.} 18. Bh6 Re8 (18... Bb4 19. Qf4
Bxe1 20. Rxe1 $14 {winning the exchange back with a slight advantage.}) 19. Qf4
Nxe5 20. dxe5 {is what I intended then, but Black actually has} Qb6 21. Re2 Qb4
$1 $11 {here. Maybe 18.a3 is a better option, with a slight edge.}) 17. Bh6 Bg7
{This surprised me. With the dark-squared bishops off, Black has very little
counterplay. However, his position is still quite tenable.} (17... Re8 {
would probably still have been a bit better for White:} 18. Bb5 Qb6 19. Bd2 $1
{forcing} Nc6 20. Bxc6 bxc6 21. Rac1 {with a small edge.}) 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. h4
$5 {I thought that with the black knight still on a5, I might have some
attacking chances.} Re8 $6 (19... Qb6 {ought to have been played. White would
still only have a slight edge here:} 20. Qxb6 (20. Qd2 f6 21. Nf3 Nc4 22. Bxc4
Rxc4 23. h5 gxh5 {Without the light-squared bishop the white position didn't
convince me at all.}) 20... axb6 21. Rad1 Nc6 22. a3 {with some slight chances
for a long endgame grind.} Rc7 (22... Nxd4 23. Bxg6 $14) 23. Bb1 $1) 20. h5 f6
(20... gxh5 {is probably the best here, but White certainly has good
compensation and practical chances.}) (20... Qb6 {is now too late:} 21. Qd2 {
with h6+ to come is much better for White.}) 21. Nf3 $6 {I had a difficult
choice here, as} (21. Bb5 {was very tempting. In the end I decided that} Nc6 (
21... fxe5 22. Bxe8 {simply wins:} Rc4 23. h6+ Kg8 24. Qa3 $18) 22. Bxc6 bxc6
23. Nd3 gxh5 {might not be that clear} 24. Nf4 Bf7 25. Rxe8 Qxe8 26. Re1 {
I was probably wrong though, as there are actually too many weaknesses in the
black position.}) 21... b6 {This is weakening, but at least he is preparing ...
Nc6.} (21... Qb6 22. Qd2 gxh5 {is decent for Black according to Rybka. How
Black is going to survive after} 23. Nh4 {though, is beyond me.}) 22. Bb5 $2 {
Very tempting, but giving Black some breathing room.} (22. Nh4 f5 23. Nf3 {
was much better, with a great advantage.}) 22... Re7 23. Re2 Rcc7 $2 {This
just loses.} (23... Nc6 {with the idea of} 24. Qd2 (24. Bxc6 Rxc6 25. Rae1 Qd6
26. Qd2 Rcc7 {is ok for Black.}) 24... Bg4 $1 {would have given good chances
of survival.}) 24. Rae1 Kf7 25. Qd2 {Now White penetrates, and the pressure
quickly becomes too much to handle. It must be said that Jan only had a few
minutes left, just to make matters even worse.} Qf8 (25... Bf5 26. Qh6 g5 27.
Nxg5+ fxg5 28. Qxg5 Be4 29. f3 {is no better.}) 26. Qf4 Bf5 27. g4 Bc8 (27...
Be4 28. Ng5+ Kg8 29. Ne6 {wins an exchange.}) 28. b4 {There were many ways to
win here.} Nb7 29. Bc6 {The d5-pawn is falling, and the same can be said about
the black position.} 1-0

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2009.02.01"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Wang, Yue"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "133"]
[EventDate "2009.01.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 c6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 b6 7. Bd3 Bb7 8. O-O
dxc4 9. Bxc4 c5 10. Rd1 Qc8 11. d5 exd5 12. Nxd5 Bxd5 13. Bxd5 Nxd5 14. Rxd5
Be7 15. e4 O-O 16. Bg5 Re8 17. Rad1 Nf8 18. Qc4 Qe6 19. b3 h6 20. Bf4 Ng6 21.
Bg3 Bf8 22. Nd2 Ne7 23. Rd3 Nc6 24. Qxe6 Rxe6 25. a4 a6 26. f3 b5 27. Bf2 Rc8
28. axb5 axb5 29. Nf1 Nb4 30. Rc3 Ra6 31. Ne3 Ra3 32. Be1 Nc6 33. Rb1 Rca8 34.
Kf1 Nd4 35. Rd3 Ra2 36. b4 R8a3 37. Rbd1 Ne6 38. bxc5 Bxc5 39. Rxa3 Rxa3 40.
Nd5 Rb3 41. h4 b4 42. f4 Rb2 43. f5 Nd4 44. Bxb4 Bxb4 45. Rxd4 Rb1+ 46. Ke2
Rb2+ 47. Kf3 Be1 48. h5 Rf2+ 49. Ke3 Rxg2 50. Ra4 Bh4 51. Ra8+ Kh7 52. Rf8 Bg5+
53. Kf3 Rh2 54. Rxf7 Kg8 55. Ra7 Rxh5 56. e5 Rh3+ 57. Ke4 Rh1 58. e6 Re1+ 59.
Kd4 h5 60. Kc5 Re5 $2 (60... h4 $11) 61. f6 $1 Bxf6 62. Kd6 Rf5 63. Nxf6+ Rxf6
64. Kd7 h4 65. e7 Rf7 66. Kd8 Kh7 67. Ra6 1-0

[Event "Linares 26th"]
[Site "Linares"]
[Date "2009.02.19"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E05"]
[WhiteElo "2750"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2009.02.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. Qxc4
b5 9. Qc2 Bb7 10. Bd2 Be4 11. Qc1 Bb7 {#} 12. a3 {A rare continuation in a
well-known theoretical position. Aronian, who by the way played this variation
before with both colours, is preparing b2-b4, which fights against Black's
main idea in this system: the advance c7-c5.} ({The most frequent continuation
here is} 12. Bf4 {a move played in the past also by Kasparov, or... Aronian
himself.}) 12... Qc8 13. b4 Nbd7 14. Bc3 {A new move.} (14. Bf4) 14... Ne4 15.
Nbd2 Bd5 16. Qc2 Nxd2 17. Bxd2 Qb7 18. Rac1 Rac8 {# White achieved his goal,
but Carlsen reasonably considers that one single weakness (pawn c7) in his
camp is easy to protect and therefore doesn't represent a real problem.} 19. e4
({After} 19. Rfe1 {Black can prevent e2-e4 with the radical} f5 ({or 19...Nf6,
but not} 19... Be4 $2 {in view of} 20. Ng5 Bxc2 21. Bxb7 {and in opposite to
the game White has kept the e-pawn.})) 19... Bxe4 20. Ng5 Bxc2 21. Bxb7 Bd3 22.
Rfe1 {Aronian offers his opponent the possibility to change his mind and
instead of giving up the exchange to return the extra pawn.} (22. Bxc8 Rxc8 23.
Rfe1 Bc4 {leads to the position from the game.}) 22... Bc4 $1 {Carlsen follows
his initial plan.} ({Weaker is} 22... Rb8 23. Rxc7 {with advantage for White})
23. Bxc8 Bxg5 $1 {Just like on move 16, for Black is important to exchange
enemy's knights.} 24. Bxg5 Rxc8 {# White won an exchange, but Black has a pawn
for it and a very good control over light squares. In fact from the practical
point of view the position is even easier to play with Black, since White
doesn't even have targets for attack. After several more moves the players
repeated the position and agreed to a draw:} 25. f3 f6 26. Bf4 Nb6 27. h4 Kf7
28. Kf2 c6 29. Bd6 Bd5 30. Bc5 Na4 31. g4 Ra8 32. Re2 a5 33. Bd6 axb4 34. Bxb4
Nb6 35. Bc5 Na4 36. Bb4 Nb6 37. Bc5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Linares 26th"]
[Site "Linares"]
[Date "2009.02.20"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A33"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2717"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "35"]
[EventDate "2009.02.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. g3 Qb6 7. Ndb5 Ne5 8.
Bf4 Nfg4 {#} 9. Qa4 {This astonishing move was introduced into practice last
year by Aronian, who surprised Leko in Morelia 2008.} g5 {Faced with a new
situation in the above-mentioned game this advance took Leko 80 minutes of
thought. Dominguez spent less than a minute for it. His next moves were played
a tempo as well - a clear sign of good home preparation.} 10. Bxe5 Qxf2+ {
An important novelty! In the game Aronian-Leko, Morelia 2008 Black continued
10... Nxe5.} 11. Kd1 Nxe5 12. Nc7+ Kd8 13. Nxa8 Qd4+ 14. Kc2 Nxc4 15. Kb3 ({
Without preparation Carlsen wasn't ready to test the most principled
continuation} 15. e4 Qd2+ 16. Kb3 Qxb2+ (16... Ne3 {loses:} 17. a3 Qc2+ 18. Ka2
) 17. Kxc4 d5+ ({Not} 17... Qxa1 18. Qa5+ b6 19. Qxg5+ Be7 20. Qe5 {winning}) {
and here White must find} 18. Kd3 $1 (18. exd5 Bg7 {favours Black}) 18... Bg7
19. Ne2 {# This wild position requires a careful analysis in order to tell if
White can emerge out of complications with some advantage. At the first sight
Black has sufficient counterplay to keep the balance. Here is a possible
variation that ends up with a draw by perpetual check:} Bd7 ({worse is} 19...
dxe4+ 20. Ke3 Qxa1 21. Bg2 Qe5 22. Qxa7 Bd7 23. Rc1) 20. Qxa7 Qxa1 (20... Bb5+
21. Ke3 d4+ 22. Kf2 {is again winning for White}) 21. Bg2 Bb5+ 22. Ke3 Qb2 23.
Qb8+ Ke7 24. Qxb7+ Kf8 25. Qc8+ Ke7 26. Qc7+ Ke8 {and White can either repeat
the moves, or try to play for more with 27.Re1.}) 15... Nd2+ 16. Kc2 Nc4 17.
Kb3 Nd2+ 18. Kc2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Linares 26th"]
[Site "Linares"]
[Date "2009.02.21"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Wang, Yue"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D53"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2009.02.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 7. Qc2 dxc4 8.
e3 c5 9. dxc5 Qa5 10. Bxc4 Qxc5 11. Ne4 Qa5+ 12. Ke2 Be7 13. Rhc1 Bd7 14. Qc3
Qxc3 15. Rxc3 Nc6 16. a3 f5 17. Ned2 Bf6 18. Rc2 Ke7 19. Nb3 Rhd8 20. Nc5 Bc8
21. Rac1 Na5 22. Bb5 a6 23. Bd3 b6 24. b4 bxc5 25. bxa5 e5 26. Nd2 e4 27. Bc4
Bd7 28. f3 exf3+ 29. Nxf3 Bc6 30. Bd3 Rxd3 31. Kxd3 Be4+ 32. Kc4 Bxc2 33. Rxc2
Ke6 34. Ne1 Bd8 35. Nd3 Bxa5 36. Nxc5+ Ke5 37. Kd3 Ra7 38. Na4 Rd7+ 39. Ke2 Rc7
40. Rc5+ Rxc5 41. Nxc5 Bc7 42. Nxa6 Bd6 43. Nb4 Ke4 44. h3 Bc5 45. Nc2 g6 46.
a4 Bb6 47. Nb4 g5 48. Nc6 Bxe3 49. a5 Bc5 50. a6 Kf4 51. Kd3 Kg3 52. Kc4 Bb6
53. Kb5 Be3 54. Kc4 Bb6 55. Kb5 Be3 56. Kc4 Bb6 57. Kb5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Linares 26th"]
[Site "Linares"]
[Date "2009.02.22"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D81"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2779"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2009.02.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Qb3 dxc4 5. Qxc4 Be6 6. Qb5+ Bd7 7. Qb3 c5 8.
dxc5 Bg7 9. e4 Nc6 10. Nf3 Qa5 11. Bc4 O-O 12. O-O Qxc5 13. Be3 Qh5 14. Be2 Qa5
15. Rfd1 Rfd8 {#} 16. Nd5 {Perhaps a little too aggressive.} ({After} 16. h3
Rac8 17. Rac1 {White keeps a plus.}) 16... Nxd5 (16... Nxe4 17. Qxb7 Rab8 18.
Nxe7+ $1 Nxe7 19. Qxe4 {is slightly better for White}) 17. exd5 Ne5 18. a4 Ng4
19. Bd4 Bxd4 20. Rxd4 Qb6 21. Qc3 (21. Qxb6 axb6 22. Nd2 Nf6 23. Ne4 Nxe4 24.
Rxe4 Kf8 25. Rb4 Ra5 26. Rxb6 Rxa4 27. Rxa4 Bxa4 28. Rxb7 Rxd5 $11) 21... Rac8
22. Bc4 e5 $1 23. dxe6 Bxe6 24. a5 {#} (24. Rxd8+ Rxd8 25. Bxe6 Qxf2+ 26. Kh1
fxe6 {favours Black}) 24... Qxd4 25. Nxd4 Rxc4 26. Nxe6 {The only move} Rxc3
27. Nxd8 Rb3 (27... Rc7 $5) 28. h3 Ne5 29. Re1 Nc6 30. Nxc6 bxc6 31. Re7 Rxb2
32. Rxa7 Ra2 33. Rc7 Rxa5 34. Rxc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Linares 26th"]
[Site "Linares"]
[Date "2009.02.24"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2009.02.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 Bg5 12. Nc2 Ne7 13. h4 Bh6 14. a4 bxa4
15. Ncb4 O-O 16. Qxa4 Nxd5 17. Nxd5 a5 18. Bb5 Be6 19. Bc6 Rb8 20. b4 Bxd5 21.
Bxd5 axb4 22. cxb4 Qb6 23. O-O Qxb4 24. Qd7 Kh8 25. Ra4 Qb5 26. Qxb5 Rxb5 27.
Bxf7 Bd2 28. Rfa1 Bc3 29. Ra8 Rbb8 30. Rxb8 Rxb8 31. Ra6 g6 32. Rxd6 Bd4 33. h5
gxh5 34. Bxh5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Linares 26th"]
[Site "Linares"]
[Date "2009.02.25"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "153"]
[EventDate "2009.02.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. g4 Nxg4 8. Rg1
Qf6 9. Rxg4 Qxf3 10. Rxg7 Nf6 11. h3 {This move (keeping the h2 pawn and
preventing ...Nf6-g4) was played by Aronian against Morozevich (see CBM 117,
with GM M.Marin's annotations). Below you will see other practical examples.} (
11. Rg5 {is the main theoretical line - see my survey in CBM 127.}) 11... Qf5
$6 $146 {Hardly a good novelty. In the endgame White keeps a small but clear
edge due to his better pawn structure.} (11... e5 $6 12. dxe5 Bxe5 13. Rg5 $1 {
[%cal Rg5e5,Rf1g2]} Nd7 14. cxd5 cxd5 15. Rf5 (15. Bd2 d4 16. Bg2 Qf6 17. exd4
Bxd4 18. O-O-O $16 {1-0 Chytilek,R (2320)-Franta,J/Litomysl 1996/EXT 1998 (25)}
) 15... Qh1 16. Bd2 d4 17. exd4 Bxd4 18. O-O-O O-O 19. Bh6 Re8 20. Rg5+ Kh8 21.
Rxd4 Qxf1+ 22. Rd1 Re1 23. Bg7+ Kg8 24. Be5+ {1-0 Tisdall,J (2492)-Sidselrud,S
(2150)/Norway 2002/EXT 2003}) (11... h6 $5 {, preventing Rg7-g5, looks quite
good for Black:} 12. Bd2 (12. Qe2 $5 Qxe2+ (12... Qf5 $5) 13. Bxe2 Kf8 14. Rg1
dxc4 15. e4 Bb4 16. f3 b5 17. Kf2 a6 18. Bf4 Bb7 19. Rac1 Nd7 20. b3 cxb3 21.
axb3 $44 {1-0 Le Quang,L (2542)-Neelotpal,D (2485)/Cebu City 2007/CBM 120 ext 
(38)}) 12... e5 (12... Bd7 13. Qb3 Ke7 14. c5 Bc7 15. Qxb7 $14 {1-0 Le Quang,L
(2583)-Garnelis,J (2188)/Vung Tau 2008/EXT 2009 (37)}) 13. Rg3 (13. cxd5 exd4
14. exd4 Kf8 15. Rg1 Bf5 16. Qb3 Re8+ 17. Be3 Rg8 $132 {1/2 Siebrecht,S (2451)
-Haba,P (2546)/Kallithea 2008/CBM 127 (37)}) 13... Qh5 14. cxd5 exd4 15. Ne4
Nxe4 16. Qxe4+ Qe5 17. Qxe5+ Bxe5 18. Rf3 cxd5 19. Bb5+ Ke7 20. exd4 Bd6 21.
Kf1 Be6 $11 {1/2 Aronian,L (2744)-Morozevich,A (2741)/Morelia/Linares 2007/CBM
117/[Marin,M] (29)}) (11... Kf8 $5 12. Rg5 (12. Rg1 $143 Rg8 13. Rxg8+ Kxg8 14.
Bd2 dxc4 15. Bxc4 e5 16. dxe5 Bxe5 17. Bf1 Bf5 $17 {0-1 Splichal,S (2167)
-Michenka,J (2351)/Karvina 2003/EXT 2005 (41)}) 12... Qh1 {needs testing}) 12.
Qxf5 exf5 13. cxd5 cxd5 (13... Nxd5 $5 14. Nxd5 cxd5 15. Bd2 $14) 14. Nb5 Bb4+
15. Bd2 Bxd2+ 16. Kxd2 Ke7 17. Bd3 Be6 (17... Bd7 $5) 18. Nc7 $5 {A good idea
- to exchange the theoretically "bad" e6 bishop, in fact, the main defender of
the black pawns, using the opportunity that Black can't recapture with his f7
pawn.} Rag8 19. Nxe6 Kxe6 20. Rxg8 Nxg8 $6 {[%mdl 4096] Too "subtle".} ({
Any beginner would play the simple} 20... Rxg8 {, and he would be right:} 21.
Rc1 Rg2 22. Ke2 Rh2 23. Kf3 $1 (23. Rc7 Rxh3 24. Rxb7 Rh2 {[%cal Rf6g4]}) 23...
Rxh3+ 24. Kg2 Rh5 25. Rc7 Rg5+ 26. Kf3 Ng4 {[%cal Rg4h2] - Black's counterplay
must be strong enough to survive.}) 21. Ke2 (21. Rc1 Ne7 22. Rc7 Rb8 {[%cal
Ye6d6]}) 21... Ne7 22. Kf3 $1 (22. Rc1 Rc8 23. Rxc8 Nxc8 24. Kf3 {was probably
insufficient for the victory. GM M.Carlsen decides to keep rooks on the board.}
) 22... Rc8 23. a4 $1 Rc7 24. a5 h6 25. h4 Kf6 26. h5 Nc8 27. Kf4 Nd6 28. Rg1
Rc8 29. f3 Ke6 {Black is completely passive.} 30. Rg7 Rh8 31. Bc2 $1 {The "two
weaknesses", attacked by the stronger side, should be as far from each other
as possible, then it is more difficult for the defender to hold both;
therefore - h6 and d5, rather than f5.} Rc8 32. Bb3 Rh8 33. Rg1 Rc8 34. Rg7 Rh8
35. Rg2 Rc8 36. Rg1 $22 {The black knight must prevent e3-e4, the rook can't
leave the 8th rank in view of Rg8-h8, and if it leaves the c-file, White plays
Rc1 threatening Rc5 and Rc7; finally, pawn moves create new weaknesses.} Ne8 $1
{The lesser evil.} (36... Rb8 37. Rc1 Rc8 38. Rc5 $1 Rxc5 39. dxc5 Nc4 40. e4
fxe4 41. Bxc4 dxc4 42. Kxe4 $18) (36... Nc4 37. Bxc4 dxc4 (37... Rxc4 38. Rg7)
38. Ra1 {[%cal Ya1a4,Ya4b4]}) (36... b6 37. axb6 axb6 38. Ra1 $16) 37. e4 fxe4
38. fxe4 Nf6 39. e5 $1 Ne4 $1 (39... Nxh5+ 40. Ke3 {[%cal Rg1h1]}) ({The
endgame after} 39... Rg8 40. Rxg8 Nxg8 {is very difficult for Black:} 41. Bd1
Ne7 42. Bg4+ f5 43. Bh3 $22 b6 (43... Nc6 44. Bxf5+ Ke7 45. Bc8 Nxa5 46. Kf5)
44. a6 b5 45. Bf1 b4 (45... Nc6 46. Bxb5 Nxd4 47. Bd3 $22 $16) 46. Bd3 Nc6 47.
Bxf5+ Ke7 48. Ke3 {and White should gradually win.}) 40. Ke3 b6 $6 {Black
unnecessarily opens up the a-file for his opponent. "Don't move pawns on the
side where you are weaker!"} (40... Ng5 $142 $14 41. Rf1 $140 Ne4) 41. axb6
axb6 42. Kd3 (42. Bd1 $5 Rc4 (42... Ra8 43. Bc2 Ng5 44. Rf1) 43. Bg4+ $1 (43.
Rg8 Rb4 $132) 43... f5 (43... Ke7 44. Bf3 Rb4 45. Bxe4 dxe4 46. Rg2 $16) 44.
exf6+ Kxf6 45. Bf3 {[%cal Rg1g6]} Kf5 46. Bxe4+ dxe4 47. Rf1+ Ke6 48. Kxe4 Rc2
49. d5+ Ke7 50. b4 {with a promising rook ending.}) 42... Nf2+ 43. Ke2 Ne4 44.
Ke3 f6 $6 (44... Ng5 $5 {was still possible although White could now invade
along the a-file:} 45. Ra1 f6 $1 46. exf6 Ne4 47. f7 $1 Rf8 48. Ra6 Rxf7 49.
Rxb6+ Nd6 {with good drawing chances (S.Zagrebelny).}) 45. Rg6 Rc1 46. Rxh6 $2
(46. exf6 $1 Re1+ 47. Kd3 Nxf6 48. Bxd5+ Kf5 (48... Kxd5 49. Rxf6 b5 50. Rb6
$18) 49. Bf3 {(I.Ganiev)} Rb1 50. Kc3 (50. Kc2 $143 Rf1 51. Be2 Rf2) 50... Re1
51. Kc4 {and White should gradually win}) 46... Rh1 47. Bc2 Rh3+ $2 {Obvious
but wrong!} (47... Re1+ $1 48. Kd3 (48. Kf4 Rf1+ 49. Kg4 Rg1+) 48... Rh1 {
and White can't make any progress (S.Zagrebelny).}) 48. Kf4 $1 Rh4+ 49. Kf3 {
When a rook and a knight are jumping around your king, you must sometimes
display real acrobacy!} Nd2+ 50. Ke2 $2 {This move seriously complicates
White's task.} (50. Kg3 $142 $1 Rxd4 51. Rxf6+ Kxe5 52. Rf5+ Ke6 53. h6 Rc4 (
53... Ne4+ 54. Bxe4 dxe4 55. h7 Rd8 56. Rh5 Rh8 57. Kf4 $18) 54. h7 Rxc2 55.
Re5+ $1 (55. Rf8 $143 Ne4+ 56. Kg4 Rh2 57. h8=Q Rxh8 58. Rxh8 Kd6) (55. h8=Q
$143 Ne4+ $1 56. Kf4 Rf2+ 57. Ke3 Kxf5) 55... Kxe5 56. h8=Q+ Kd6 57. Qf8+ Kc7
58. Qf7+ Kb8 59. Qxd5 Nf1+ 60. Kh4 {- with his pieces scattered all over the
board, Black can't organize successful defence.}) 50... Rh2+ 51. Kd1 Nc4 52.
Rxf6+ Ke7 53. Bg6 Rd2+ 54. Kc1 (54. Ke1 $5 Rxd4 55. h6 Rh4 (55... Nxe5 $143 56.
Rxb6 Rh4 (56... Nxg6 57. Rxg6 Rh4 58. Rb6) 57. Bf5) 56. Bf5 d4 57. Re6+ (57.
Rc6 d3 $1) 57... Kf7 58. b3 Ne3 59. Rf6+ Ke7 60. Bc8 Rh2 61. Rd6 $16) 54...
Rxd4 55. b3 $1 (55. h6 Rh4 56. Bf5 {is now impossible due to} Rh1+ 57. Kc2 Ne3+
58. Kd3 Nxf5 59. Rxf5 Rxh6 $11) 55... Nxe5 56. Rxb6 Rh4 ({The rook endgame
after} 56... Nxg6 57. hxg6 {should be winning for White.}) 57. Bf5 $1 Nf3 $2 (
57... Rh1+ 58. Kc2 (58. Kd2 Nc4+ $3 59. bxc4 Rxh5 $11 {S.Zagrebelny}) 58... Nf3
{[%cal Rf3d4]} 59. Bg4 ({or} 59. Rb7+ Kf6 60. Bg6 Ne5) 59... Rh2+ 60. Kc3 Ng5 {
and White can hardly win.}) 58. h6 $1 {The pawn finally moves forward!} Nd4 59.
h7 $1 Nxf5 60. Rb8 Nd4 61. Kb2 $1 Kd6 62. h8=Q Rxh8 63. Rxh8 {This is a
technically winning endgame but some work still has to be done.} Kc5 64. Rh5
Nc6 65. Rh4 Nb4 66. Ka3 {White must disorganise Black's defence. First, he
forces the advance of the black d-pawn, then he must try to push his own pawn
at an appropriate moment.} d4 (66... Nc2+ 67. Ka4 d4 68. Rh5+) 67. Rh5+ Nd5 68.
Kb2 Kc6 69. Ka3 Kc5 70. Rh4 Nb4 71. Rh8 Nc6 $2 {This makes White's task much
easier.} (71... Nd5 72. Rd8 $1 $18 {[%cal Ya3b2]}) (71... Nc2+ $142 72. Kb2 Nb4
73. Rc8+ Nc6 ({or} 73... Kd5 74. Ka3) 74. Ka3 Kd5 {It is still difficult for
White to reach victory; e.g.} 75. b4 $2 ({first he must play} 75. Rc7 Kd6 76.
Rh7 {etc.}) {is premature and leads to a draw after} 75... d3 76. Rh8 d2 77.
Rh1 Kc4) 72. Rh5+ Kd6 73. b4 {Now, with the black king cut off, everything is
over.} d3 (73... Ne5 74. Kb3 Kd5 75. b5 $18) 74. Rh3 Ne5 75. Kb3 d2 76. Kc2 Nc6
77. Rh4 1-0

[Event "Linares 26th"]
[Site "Linares"]
[Date "2009.02.26"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2761"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[Annotator "Kritz,L"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2009.02.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 {Italienisch ist ein häufiger Gast in der
heutigen Turnierpraxis.} (3... Nf6 {ist eine gute Alternative.} 4. d3 (4. Ng5 {
verlor einiges an Popularität in der letzten Zeit.} d5 5. exd5 {Schwarz hat
mehrere Möglichkeiten, eine gute Kompensation für den geopferten Bauer zu
erzielen, eine davon ist} Na5 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Be2 h6 9. Nf3 e4 10.
Ne5 Qd4 11. f4 Bc5 $44) 4... Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. Re1 d6 7. a4 Be6 8. a5 a6 $11 {
Weiß hat keinen echten Vorteil.}) 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 (5. d4 {ist eine alte
Variante.} exd4 6. cxd4 Bb4+ 7. Bd2 $1 {Etwas Besseres hat Weiß nicht.} (7. Nc3
Nxe4 8. O-O Bxc3 9. d5 Bf6 10. Re1 Ne7 11. Rxe4 d6 12. Bg5 Bxg5 13. Nxg5 h6 14.
Qe2 hxg5 15. Re1 Be6 16. dxe6 f6 $17 {Schwarz steht einfach viel besser -
seinem Plan c6-d5-Qd6 hat Weiß nichts entgegenzusetzen.}) 7... Bxd2+ 8. Nbxd2
d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Qb3 Na5 (10... Nce7 $6 {Schwarz seinerseits sollte dem
Remis auch nicht ausweichen, denn Weiß kann in dem Fall eine gefährliche
Initiative entwickeln.} 11. O-O O-O 12. Rfe1 c6 13. Ne4 Nb6 14. Bd3 Ned5 15.
Nc5 $36 {Van den Doel - Sokolov (Leeuwarden, 2004)}) 11. Qa4+ Nc6 12. Qb3 $11)
5... a6 6. Bb3 O-O {Schwarz hat eine Menge an Möglichkeiten, das ist mehr oder
weniger Geschmackssache. Mir gefällt der Zug 6....Ba7 besser.} (6... Ba7 $5 7.
Nbd2 O-O 8. h3 (8. Nf1 Ng4 9. d4 exd4 10. cxd4 d5 $1 11. Bxd5 Nxd4 $3 12. Nxd4
c6 $44) 8... d6 9. Nf1 (9. O-O {führt zur Partiestellung.}) 9... d5 $3 {
Mit Tempoverlust, aber trotzdem sehr stark.} 10. Qe2 (10. Ng3 dxe4 11. dxe4
Qxd1+ 12. Bxd1 Be6 $11) 10... Be6 11. Ng3 (11. Ng5 dxe4 $1 12. Nxe6 exd3 13.
Nxd8 dxe2 14. Nxc6 exf1=Q+ 15. Rxf1 bxc6 16. Ba4 Rfd8 17. Bxc6 Rab8 $36) 11...
dxe4 12. dxe4 Bxb3 13. axb3 Ne8 14. Nf5 Nd6 15. g4 Qf6 $11 {Bologan - Malakhov
(Kemer, 2007)}) 7. O-O d6 (7... d5 $6 {Diesen Vorstoß muss man sehr gut
vorbereiten, ansonsten bekommt man Schwierigkeiten mit dem e5-Bauern.} 8. exd5
Nxd5 9. Nbd2 (9. h3 $6 Nb6 10. Re1 h6 11. Nbd2 Qxd3 12. Nxe5 Qg3 13. Qf3 Qxf3
14. Ndxf3 $11 {Kramnik - Krasenkow (Wijk aan Zee, 2003)}) 9... Bg4 10. h3 Bh5
11. Ne4 Ba7 12. Ng3 Bg6 13. Bg5 Qd7 14. Nh4 Na5 15. Nxg6 hxg6 16. Bc2 $14 {
Sanduleac - Daurelle (Creon, 2007)}) 8. h3 h6 9. Re1 Ba7 10. Nbd2 {Es gibt
viele Zugfolgen, die zu dieser Stellung führen. Jetzt ist der entscheidende
Moment, in dem Schwarz einen Plan auswählen muss.} Be6 $1 {Ich denke, das ist
der beste Weg zum Ausgleich.} (10... Re8 11. Nf1 Be6 {ist genau so gut, weil
es nur eine Zugumstellung ist.}) (10... Ne7 11. Nf1 Ng6 12. Ng3 Re8 13. d4 $14
{Hat Weiß es geschafft, das Zentrum d4-e4 aufzubauen, so hat er sich schon mal
einen kleinen Vorteil gesichert. Natürlich ist die Stellung von Schwarz immer
noch in Ordnung, aber es geht hier darum, ob Schwarz einen absoluten Ausgleich
erreicht, oder nicht.}) (10... Nh5 11. Nf1 (11. Nxe5 $2 Nxe5 12. Qxh5 Nxd3 $15)
11... Qf6 12. Be3 Nf4 13. Ng3 g6 14. d4 $14 {Wieder hat Weiß das Zentrum unter
Kontrolle genommen.}) 11. Bc2 (11. Nf1 Re8 12. Ng3 {Zieht Weiß den Läufer
nicht zurück, so wird zu viel abgetauscht und die Stellung sehr vereinfacht.}
d5 (12... Bxb3 13. Qxb3 Rb8 14. Nf5 d5 15. Qc2 Qd7 16. N3h4 Re6 17. Qe2 dxe4
18. dxe4 Rd8 19. Qf3 Qd3 $11 {Hamdouchi - Tkachiev (Cap d'Agde, 2002)}) 13. Bd2
dxe4 14. dxe4 Bxb3 15. Qxb3 Qd7 16. Rad1 Qe6 17. Qxe6 (17. Qxb7 $4 Bb6 $19)
17... Rxe6 18. Be3 Bxe3 19. Rxe3 g6 $11 {Petrosian - Kobalia (Kallithea, 2008)}
) 11... Re8 12. Nh2 (12. Nf1 d5 13. exd5 Qxd5 14. Qe2 Rad8 15. Ng3 Bc5 $1 16.
Nh4 Bf8 $132 {Radjabov - Aronian (Dresden, 2008). Mit der Überführung des
Läufers nach f8 hat Schwarz die Lage seines Königs verbessert und hat die
Möglichkeit, mittels g6 das Feld f5 unter Kontrolle zu nehmen.}) 12... d5 13.
Qf3 dxe4 $146 {Eine ruhigere Fortsetzung. Es ist nicht auszuschließen, dass
Schwarz auch schon auf Konter spielen kann.} (13... d4 $5 14. Ndf1 Qe7 15. Ng3
Rad8 16. c4 b5 17. cxb5 Nb4 18. Bb1 axb5 19. a3 Na6 20. Nf5 Bxf5 21. Qxf5 Nc5
22. Bc2 Nb7 23. Qf3 c5 24. a4 b4 25. Nf1 c4 $1 26. dxc4 Nc5 $44 {Areshchenko -
Azarov (Plovdiv, 2008)}) 14. dxe4 (14. Nxe4 {Je mehr Figuren getauscht sind,
desto einfacher ist die Verteidigung für Schwarz.} Nxe4 15. dxe4 Ne7 16. Rd1
Qc8 17. Ng4 Ng6 $11) 14... Ne7 15. Ndf1 Ng6 16. Be3 (16. Ng3 $6 {Dieser Zug
ist sinnlos, denn der Springer kann demnächst nicht nach f5 gehen.} c6 17. Rd1
(17. Nf5 $4 Bxf5 18. exf5 (18. Qxf5 Nh4 $19) 18... e4 19. Qe2 Nh4 $17) 17...
Qa5 18. Bd2 (18. Bxh6 $4 Nh4 $19) (18. b4 Qc7 19. Ng4 Nxg4 20. hxg4 c5 $15)
18... Rad8 $15) 16... Bxe3 17. Nxe3 c6 $11 {Schwarz hat überhaupt kein Problem.
} 18. Nf5 Bxf5 19. exf5 (19. Qxf5 $4 Nh4 $19) 19... Nf4 20. Rad1 Qc7 21. Ng4
N4h5 (21... Nxg4 {ist ebenfalls möglich, Weiß kann keinen Nutzen aus seiner
augenblicklichen Initiative ziehen. Aber die Partiefortsetzung ist trotzdem
besser.} 22. Qxg4 (22. hxg4 Nd5 $11) 22... Nd5 23. Bb3 Rad8 24. Bxd5 cxd5 25.
f6 g6 26. Qh4 Qb6 $132) 22. Re3 Nxg4 23. hxg4 Nf6 {Der Springer auf f6
verhindert das gesamte weiße Spiel am Königsflügel.} 24. Qg3 Rad8 25. Rde1 Rd2
26. Bb3 Qd8 (26... Rxb2 $2 {Habgier wird bestraft.} 27. g5 $1 hxg5 28. Qxg5 {
Der weiße Angriff ist sehr gefährlich.} Nh7 29. Qh4 Qe7 30. Qh5 Nf6 31. Rxe5
Qxe5 (31... Nxh5 32. Rxe7 Rxe7 33. Rxe7 $16) 32. Rxe5 Rxe5 33. Qxf7+ $16) 27.
g5 (27. Rxe5 $5 {kam ebenfalls ins Betracht.} Rxe5 28. Qxe5 Rxb2 (28... Nxg4
29. Qe8+ Qxe8 30. Rxe8+ Kh7 31. f3 Nf6 32. Rf8 Nd5 33. Rxf7 b5 34. Bxd5 cxd5
35. Ra7 Rxb2 36. Rxa6 $14) 29. Rd1 Rd2 30. Rxd2 Qxd2 31. Qb8+ Kh7 32. Bxf7 Qe1+
33. Kh2 Qe5+ 34. Qxe5 Nxg4+ 35. Kg3 Nxe5 36. Be6 Nd3 $11) 27... hxg5 28. Qxg5
Nd5 29. Qh5 Qf6 30. Rh3 {Weiß kann nur eine Mattdrohung aufstellen, Matt
selbst kann er jedoch nicht geben.} Kf8 31. Qg4 (31. Qh8+ Ke7 32. Qh7 Kd6 $1
$15 {Der schwarze König wird sich auf c7 in Sicherheit fühlen, und die weißen
Figuren haben alle nichts mehr zu tun.}) 31... Kg8 (31... Ke7 $2 {Das wäre zu
frech...} 32. c4 (32. Rxe5+ Qxe5 33. Qg5+ Kd6 34. Qxd2 Qe1+ 35. Qxe1 Rxe1+ 36.
Kh2 Re2 37. Rh7 Rxf2 38. Rxg7 Rxf5 $11) 32... Nb6 33. Rxe5+ Qxe5 34. Qg5+ f6
35. Qxd2 $16) 32. Qh5 Kf8 33. Qg4 Kg8 34. Qh5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Linares 26th"]
[Site "Linares"]
[Date "2009.02.28"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "186"]
[EventDate "2009.02.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. g4 h6 8. Bd2
dxc4 $1 {GM Lars Schandorff extensively deals with this system in his survey 
(CBM 125). And indeed, Black obtains a good position here.} 9. Bxc4 b5 10. Be2
Bb7 11. e4 Be7 12. g5 hxg5 13. Nxg5 b4 {Or else:} (13... Rc8 14. Rg1 Nf8 15. e5
b4 16. Na4 N6d7 17. Ne4 c5 18. Nexc5 Bxc5 19. Nxc5 Nxc5 20. dxc5 Qd4 21. Be3
Qxe5 22. Bb5+ Ke7 23. O-O-O $36 {1-0 Harika,D (2455)-Van den Bersselaar,J 
(2164)/Gibraltar 2008/CBM 122 Extra (26)}) (13... Kf8 14. Rg1 b4 15. Na4 c5 16.
e5 Ne8 17. Nxf7 $1 Kxf7 18. Qg6+ Kf8 19. Qxe6 cxd4 20. Qf5+ Ndf6 21. exf6 Nxf6
22. Nc5 Bd5 23. Rc1 $36 {1-0 Petrosian,T (2616)-Pruess,D (2425)/Las Vegas 2008/
CBM 124 Extra (33)}) (13... Qb6 14. O-O-O Qxd4 15. Be3 Qb4 (15... Qe5 16. f4
Qb8 17. Rhg1 (17. Kb1 $1 $36) 17... Bc5 18. Qd2 Qc7 19. Bxc5 Nxc5 20. e5 b4 $2
(20... Nd5) 21. exf6 bxc3 22. Qd4 $1 gxf6 23. Nh7 cxb2+ 24. Kb1 Nd7 25. Qxd7+
Qxd7 26. Nxf6+ Ke7 27. Nxd7 $18 {1-0 Miedema,R (2208)-Ris,R (2377)/Venlo 2007/
EXT 2009 (39)}) 16. f4 a6 (16... Qa5 17. f5 e5 18. Rhg1 Bc5 19. Bxc5 Nxc5 20.
Kb1 $36 Ncd7 $2 21. Qb3 Rf8 22. Ne6 $1 fxe6 23. Bh5+ Kd8 24. fxe6 Nxh5 25.
Rxd7+ Kc8 26. Qd1 Rh8 27. Qd6 $18 {1-0 Nielsen,P (2653)-Smeets,J (2518)/Warsaw
2005/CBM 108 (33)}) 17. f5 exf5 18. e5 Nxe5 19. Qxf5 Neg4 20. Bxg4 Qxg4 21. Qe5
Nd7 22. Rxd7 Qxd7 23. Rd1 Qg4 24. Qxg7 Rf8 25. Nce4 $44 {1/2 Nyback,T (2575)
-Smeets,J (2525)/Germany 2007/CBM 118 (67)}) (13... c5 $5 {deserves serious
attention:} 14. dxc5 (14. d5 $142 $5 {, which needs practical tests}) 14... b4
$1 {better than} (14... Nxc5 15. Bxb5+ Nfd7 (15... Kf8 16. O-O-O $36) 16. Rg1
a6 17. Be2 (17. e5 axb5 $1 (17... Bxg5 18. Bxg5 Qc7 19. Bxd7+ Qxd7 20. Rd1 Qc7
21. Rd6 Rxh2 {1-0 Czakon,J (2484)-Savchenko,S (2508)/Montpellier 2006/CBM 113
ext (40)}) 18. Nxf7 Qb8 $1 19. Nxh8 Nxe5 $1 $36 {[%csl Re1]} 20. O-O-O $140
Rxa2 $3 21. Nxa2 Be4 22. Qc3 Ned3+ 23. Kb1 Nb4+ 24. Ka1 Nc2+ 25. Kb1 Nd4+ $19)
17... Ne5 18. Rd1 Ncd3+ $6 (18... Qc7 $13) 19. Kf1 Nxf2 $2 (19... Rxh2 20. Be3
Bxg5 21. Rxg5 Qxg5 22. Bxg5 Rxf2+ 23. Kg1 Nf3+ 24. Bxf3 Rxc2 25. Rxd3 Rxb2 $14)
20. Kxf2 Bc5+ 21. Kg2 Qf6 22. Rgf1 Qh6 23. Bf4 Be3 24. Bxe5 Qxg5+ 25. Bg3 {
1-0 Nyback,T (2634)-Kojima,S (2272)/Beijing 2008/CBM 126 Extra}) 15. Na4 Rh4 $1
16. c6 Rc8 $1 17. Bb5 (17. cxd7+ Nxd7) 17... a6 18. cxd7+ Nxd7 19. Bxd7+ Qxd7
20. Qb3 Qb5 21. Nc3 bxc3 22. bxc3 f6 23. Qxb5+ axb5 24. Nf3 Rxe4+ $19 {0-1
Epiney,F (2382)-Bubir,S (2398)/IECG 2007/CBM 125/[Schandorff] (41)}) 14. Na4 c5
$1 {Even now this move is correct. Before the present encounter it had only
been played in a computer-assisted game in a Freestyle event.} (14... Qa5 15.
Rg1 c5 16. e5 cxd4 17. exf6 Bxf6 18. Rc1 (18. a3 $1) 18... Rxh2 $2 (18... Rc8
$1 $13) 19. Qc7 Qxc7 20. Rxc7 Bc8 21. Bxb4 $18 {1-0 Watson,J (2400)-Pozarek,S 
(2185)/Philadelphia 1993/EXT 1999 (43)}) (14... Rc8 15. e5 Nd5 16. Nxe6 fxe6
17. Qg6+ Kf8 18. Rg1 Bf6 19. exf6 Qxf6 20. Qg3 $16 e5 21. dxe5 Qxe5 $2 22. Nc5
$1 Qxg3 23. Nxd7+ Ke8 24. Rxg3 Kxd7 25. Rxg7+ $18 {1-0 Jankovic,A (2525)
-Sriram,J (2408)/Kavala 2006/CBM 113 ext (31)}) (14... Qc7 15. e5 (15. O-O-O $5
) 15... Nd5 16. Rg1 Bxg5 17. Bxg5 Rxh2 18. Bg4 c5 19. Rc1 Kf8 (19... c4 20.
Bxe6 $1) 20. Nxc5 Nxc5 21. Qxc5+ Qxc5 22. Rxc5 $14 {1-0 Nyback,T (2585)-Jaracz,
P (2490)/Dresden 2007/CBM 118 (48)}) 15. Nxc5 (15. dxc5 $6 Rh4 $1 {- see above
13...c5.}) 15... Nxc5 16. dxc5 Rc8 17. Qa4+ (17. Bxb4 Nd7 18. Bb5 O-O 19. Bxd7
Qxd7 20. h4 f6 21. Nf3 Qb5 22. Bc3 Rxc5 23. O-O-O e5 24. Rde1 Rc7 $44 {1/2
"Rybusia"-"Badbishop1"/playchess.com 2007 (64)}) 17... Bc6 18. Bb5 Bxb5 19.
Qxb5+ Qd7 20. Qxd7+ Nxd7 21. Ke2 Rh4 22. Rac1 Rxc5 23. Rxc5 Bxc5 $15 {[%mdl
4096] So, Black has recaptured the sacrificed pawn and obtained a slightly
better endgame due to the weakness of White's h- and a-pawns.} 24. f4 $6 (24.
f3 {was probably more accurate (I.Ganiev).}) 24... e5 $1 25. h3 exf4 26. Nf3
Rh6 $17 {[%csl Ra2,Re4,Rh3]} 27. Bxf4 Re6 (27... Rg6 $5) 28. Nd2 Bd4 29. Rb1 (
29. a3 Bxb2 30. axb4 Bc3 {loses a pawn anyway}) 29... Ra6 30. a3 $5 (30. Kd3 $5
Bf6) 30... bxa3 31. bxa3 Rxa3 32. Nc4 Ra2+ 33. Kd3 Bf2 34. Bd6 {White has
given up a pawn but activated his pieces, and it is not easy for Black to
convert his material advantage.} Nb6 (34... a5 35. Rb7 Nc5+ 36. Bxc5 Bxc5 37.
Ne5 $132) 35. Bb4 Nxc4 36. Kxc4 Bb6 37. Kd5 Rg2 38. Rb3 Rg5+ 39. e5 Bc7 $2 {
Exchanging the bishops is a wrong decision. Rook endgames are famous for their
drawish tendencies, and this one is no exception.} (39... Rg1 $142 $17 {
I.Ganiev}) 40. Bd6 Bxd6 41. Kxd6 Rg6+ 42. Kd5 Rb6 43. Rc3 Kd7 44. Rf3 Ke7 45.
Rc3 Rb7 (45... Rb5+ 46. Kd4 Kd7 47. Rg3 $1 g6 48. Rf3 Ke7 49. Rc3 {doesn't
change much}) 46. Rc6 g6 47. Ra6 {[%csl Ga6]} Kf8 (47... Rc7 48. Ra1 Kd7 49.
Ra6 Kc8 {is senseless due to} 50. e6 fxe6+ 51. Rxe6 Rg7 52. Ke5 {winning the
g6 pawn with a draw.}) 48. Ke4 Kg7 49. Kf4 Re7 50. Ra5 Kh6 51. Kg4 a6 {Black
has no other way to make progress but the resulting ending is theoretically
drawn.} 52. Rxa6 {There is no need for an engine-driver to look for new ways
like} (52. Kf4 {Amazingly, Magnus Carlsen's train finally derails anyway!})
52... Rxe5 53. Rb6 Re3 54. Ra6 f5+ 55. Kh4 Re4+ 56. Kg3 Kg5 57. Ra3 Re2 58. Kf3
Rh2 59. Kg3 Rb2 60. Ra8 (60. Rc3 {was good enough, e.g.} f4+ 61. Kf3 Rh2 62.
Rc5+ Kh4 63. Kxf4 Rf2+ (63... Rxh3 64. Rg5 $1) 64. Ke3 Rf6 (64... Rb2 65. Rc6)
65. Ra5 Kxh3 66. Rg5 Kh4 67. Rg1 g5 68. Rh1+ $11) 60... Rb3+ 61. Kg2 Kf4 62.
Ra4+ Ke3 63. h4 (63. Kg3 $5) 63... Rb6 (63... f4 64. Ra6 $11) 64. Kg3 Rd6 65.
Rf4 Rd1 66. Rf3+ Ke4 67. Rf4+ Ke5 68. Ra4 f4+ 69. Kg2 Rd2+ 70. Kf3 Rd3+ 71. Kg2
Rg3+ 72. Kh2 (72. Kf2 $2 Rh3 73. Ra5+ Kf6 74. Ra6+ Kg7) 72... Kf5 73. Ra6 Re3
74. Ra5+ Re5 75. Ra2 $1 {This is the so-called Vaisser system of defence 
(applied by GM Anatoly Vaisser in one of his games).} Kg4 (75... Re6 76. Rg2 f3
77. Rg5+ Kf4 78. Kg1 Ra6 79. Kf2 {and Black can't make progress.}) 76. Rg2+ $1
Kh5 77. Kh3 {Black can't attack the h4 pawn and protect his g6 pawn at the
same time!} Ra5 78. Rg1 Ra3+ 79. Kh2 Ra6 80. Kh3 Ra5 81. Rg2 Rc5 82. Rg1 f3 {
The last attempt.} 83. Kg3 $6 (83. Rf1 $1 Rf5 (83... Rc3 {doesn't change
anything}) 84. Rf2 Rf4 85. Kg3 Rf8 86. Kh3 {was much simpler}) 83... Rf5 84.
Rf1 $4 {[%mdl 8192] A terrible mistake. Losing concentration at the end of the
game is the main problem for Magnus (see also his game vs Radjabov).} (84. Kf2
$1 {was now the only way to a draw:} Rf6 85. Rh1 Kg4 86. Rg1+ Kxh4 87. Rh1+ Kg4
(87... Kg5 88. Rg1+ Kh6 89. Rh1+ Kg7 90. Rh3) 88. Rg1+ Kf4 89. Rg3 Ke4 90. Rg4+
Ke5 91. Rg5+ Ke6 92. Rg3 $11) 84... f2 $22 {and White must let the black king
forward.} 85. Kh3 Rf3+ 86. Kg2 Kg4 87. h5 {Desperation.} Rg3+ $1 88. Kh2 (88.
Kxf2 Rf3+ 89. Kg2 Rxf1 90. Kxf1 Kxh5 $19) 88... Kf3 $1 89. Ra1 Rg2+ $1 90. Kh1
(90. Kh3 Rg1) 90... Rg5 91. Ra3+ Kf4 92. Ra4+ Kg3 93. Ra3+ Kh4 (93... Kh4 94.
Ra1 Rg1+ 95. Rxg1 fxg1=Q+ 96. Kxg1 Kxh5 $19) 0-1

[Event "Linares 26th"]
[Site "Linares"]
[Date "2009.03.01"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B77"]
[WhiteElo "2717"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2009.02.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2
O-O 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Rb8 11. Bb3 Na5 (11... Ne5 12. f4 Neg4 13. h3 Nxe3 14.
Qxe3 $14) 12. Bh6 {The Chinese Dragon (10...Rb8) is quickly developing and
already has its own theory. Dominguez goes for the latest fashion, where Black
was having troubles lately.} (12. g4 b5 13. Bh6 {is best answered with} Bxh6
14. Qxh6 {transposing to the game.}) (12. Kb1 b5 13. h4 Nc4 14. Bxc4 bxc4 {
is no problem for Black.}) 12... Bxh6 13. Qxh6 b5 14. g4 {Designed to prevent
the quick advance e7-e5. Other moves allow Black to combine conveniently the
advances ...e5 and ...b4.} (14. h4 e5 15. Nde2 b4 {has been tested multiple
times in practice and the assessment is that White has no advantage.}) 14...
Nxb3+ (14... e5 $2 {runs into} 15. Nf5 $1 $16) 15. Nxb3 b4 16. Nd5 Nxd5 17.
exd5 Rb6 $1 {Most likely this game will change the evaluation of the entire
line from better for White into perfectly acceptable for Black. The idea
behind 17...Rb6 is to protect the d6=pawn, then play e7-e5 and recapture with
the f-pawn on e6.} (17... Ba4 18. Nd4 Qa5 19. h4 $16 {1/2-1/2 Kritz,L (2609)
-Jianu,V (2531)/Plovdiv 2008 (51)}) 18. Rhe1 $146 {A logical novelty:
anticipating the advance of the e-pawn White brings his rook to the central
file. Unfortunately for the Cuban Grandmaster he will soon fail to do the same
with his queen, which will remain out of play on h6.} ({The only available
game went} 18. h4 e5 19. dxe6 fxe6 20. Rd3 ({In the event of Khalifman's
suggestion} 20. Qe3 {Black easily equalizes with} Qf6 21. Nc5 (21. Rh3 Qf4 $15)
21... dxc5 22. Rxd7 Ra6 (22... Qxf3 23. Qxf3 Rxf3 24. Rxa7 Rf7 25. Ra5 $14 {/=}
) 23. Qh6 Qf4+ 24. Qxf4 Rxf4 25. Rd8+ Kg7 $11) 20... Bb5 21. Re3 e5 22. h5 g5
23. Qe6+ Kh8 24. Nd2 Bd7 25. Qd5 $13 {1-0 Maslak,K (2521)-Porat,M (2137)/
Pardubice 2008 (55)}) 18... e5 19. dxe6 fxe6 20. Re3 {The course of the game
shows that leaving the queen on h6 is a little too ambitious.} (20. f4 $6 Qf6
21. Rd4 a5 $36) ({The main battlefield is the centre and therefore bringing
back the queen comes into consideration. After} 20. Qd2 {the position would
have remained double-edged. If} Rxf3 $6 {then} 21. Nd4 Rf6 22. g5 Rf7 23. Nxe6
$36) 20... Rf7 {Just in case, Carlsen takes control over the 7th file,
protecting once more the pawn on h7.} 21. Nd2 {Provoking the advance of the
d-pawn, which would weaken dark squares.} d5 {The most natural answer.} ({
However, an interesting possibility was} 21... Ra6 {trying to exploit the
temporary vulnerability of White's king. Dominguez had to find} 22. Kb1 ({
worse is} 22. Ne4 d5 23. Ng5 Re7 24. Kb1 Qa5 25. a3 Qc5 $17) 22... Bc6 (22...
Qa5 23. a3 $13) 23. Rxe6 Bd5 24. Re3 Bxa2+ 25. Kc1 Bd5 26. Ne4 Ra1+ 27. Kd2
Rxd1+ 28. Kxd1 {and White probably keeps the balance.}) 22. Nb3 {White has
achieved his goal, but it turns out that he cannot make full use of the
dark-squared weaknesses in Black's camp. The problem is that he must keep the
knight to protect his king. Moreover, in order to control squares d4 and e5
White needs his queen too.} Qc7 23. Kb1 (23. h4 $5) ({After} 23. Nd4 {Black
attacks the a2-pawn:} Ra6 (23... e5 $2 24. Rde1 $1) 24. Kb1 Qa5 (24... Qc4 $5)
25. a3 Rb6) 23... Rb8 24. Rde1 $6 {[%csl Rd4] Not sensing the danger.
Dominguez wants to create pressure on the e-file, but he loses control over
the d4-square. White has problems in the centre because besides controlling
the dark squares he must also protect the weak pawns c2 and f3. His queen on
h6 is basically doing nothing.} ({Now} 24. Nd4 {is met by} e5 $36) ({Correct
was} 24. Qh4 Rbf8 25. Qf2 Rf4 26. Qe2 {and Black is only marginally better.})
24... Rc8 25. R1e2 (25. Nd4 Rf4 26. Rd3 e5 $19) 25... Qb6 26. h4 {The battle
in the centre is lost and there is no choice left.} (26. Rd2 Rcf8 27. Nd4 Rf4
$17) 26... d4 27. Re5 (27. Rd3 Bb5 $19) 27... d3 $1 28. cxd3 Rxf3 29. d4 $2 (
29. h5 $2 Rxd3 30. Re1 Qf2 31. R5e2 Qxe2 $1 32. Rxe2 Rd1+ 33. Qc1 (33. Nc1 Bb5
$19 {[%cal Gb5d3]}) 33... Rcxc1+ 34. Nxc1 gxh5 35. gxh5 Rd5 $19) ({Again it
was necessary to return with the queen} 29. Qd2 {although after} Bb5 30. R5e3
Rcf8 {There is no question about Black's advantage.}) 29... Bb5 {Including the
bishop in the attack decides immediately.} 30. R2e3 ({Other moves lose quicker:
} 30. Re1 Rxb3 $1 31. axb3 Bd3+ 32. Ka2 Qa6+) ({Or} 30. Rxe6 Qxe6 31. Rxe6 Bd3+
32. Ka1 Rf1+) 30... Bd3+ 31. Ka1 Qxd4 {Nice, but not the most precise.} (31...
Rf2 $1 {wins by force:} 32. Re1 (32. h5 Qxd4 $19) (32. Rxe6 Qxe6 33. Rxe6 Rf1+)
32... Rxb2 $1 33. Kxb2 Rc2+ 34. Ka1 Qc6 $1 {[%cal Gc6c3]} 35. Rc5 (35. Nc5 Qg2
$19) 35... Rxa2+ 36. Kxa2 Qa4+ 37. Kb2 Qa3#) (31... Rf1+ $2 {on the other hand
throws the advantage away} 32. Re1) 32. Rxe6 (32. Nxd4 $2 Rc1#) 32... Rf1+ 33.
Re1 Qxg4 34. Rxf1 Qxe6 35. Nc5 Qe2 36. Rc1 Bf5 $17 {/-+} 37. Qf4 a5 38. h5 Qe7
39. Qc4+ ({With little time both players missed that after} 39. hxg6 $1 {
Black cannot take the knight:} Rxc5 $2 {due to} (39... hxg6 40. Qc4+ {and here}
Be6 {is not as strong as in the game:} 41. Qd4 Qg5 $2 42. Rh1 $1) 40. gxh7+
Kxh7 41. Qh2+ Kg8 (41... Bh3 $8 42. Qxh3+ Kg7 43. Rg1+ Rg5 44. Rh1 {and Black
still needs a lot of precision to defend}) 42. Qg1+ $18 {Therefore instead of
39...Rc5 Black should play 39...hxg6 40.Qc4+ Be6 but then after 41.Qd4 White
still can put up a stubborn resistance, since, in opposition to the game, the
open h-file makes a big difference and 41...Qg5 is not so good due to 42.Rh1
with White's counterplay.}) 39... Be6 40. Qc2 (40. Qd4 Qg5 $19) 40... Qg5 41.
hxg6 hxg6 $19 {The time-trouble is over and Black is completely winning thanks
to the pin on the c-file.} 42. a3 bxa3 43. Qc3 axb2+ (43... Qd5 44. b3 a4 $19)
44. Kxb2 Qd5 45. Rc2 a4 46. Ka1 a3 47. Qe3 Bf7 48. Qc3 g5 49. Qe3 Re8 50. Qc3
Re2 51. Nb3 (51. Rxe2 Qd1+) 51... Rxc2 52. Qxc2 Qe5+ 53. Kb1 Kg7 54. Qd2 Bxb3
0-1

[Event "Linares 26th"]
[Site "Linares"]
[Date "2009.03.02"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wang, Yue"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2739"]
[Annotator "Giri,A"]
[PlyCount "128"]
[EventDate "2009.02.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. Nf3 b5 6. b3 Bg4 7. Bd2 {A rare move,
which was played by Morozevich against Ivanchuk in Corus this year. White
wants to play h3-g4 chasing the bishop or exchanging it after h3 Bxf3.} Nbd7 {
Considering the speed Wang Yue made this move we can conclude that he was
ready for this rare line.} (7... e6 {is more usual.} 8. h3 Bh5 (8... Bxf3 9.
Qxf3 {with the bishop pair, though Black is very solid and not without plusses.
}) 9. g4 Bg6 10. Ne5 {with some initiative.}) 8. h3 Bxf3 9. Qxf3 b4 10. Na4 e5
$1 {The idea behind all of Wang's previous play. He strikes in the centre and
wants to use his lead in development and the white knight on the edge of the
board, which is a bad piece according to a certain Dr.Tarrasch (with whom I
fully agree!).} 11. Rc1 Bd6 12. cxd5 cxd5 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Qd1 O-O $1 15. Be2
{the last five moves were very logical, but now Wang played} a5 {A strong and
not very obvious (for me at least) move. Black protects the b4 and a6 pawns
for the future.} 16. Rc2 {An interesting plan by Magnus. He wants to improve
his bishop before castling.} Qe7 17. Bc1 Rad8 18. Bb2 Ng6 19. O-O {Finally
when all the white pieces are more less well developed (I am not talking about
Tarrasch's knight!) White castles.} Ne4 20. Bd4 Nh4 $1 {Black has an isolated
pawn, but now he shows that he is also not without play.} 21. Bd3 (21. Bb6 {
a computer-like move. White just wants to take everything, but Black has his
own play against White's king.} Qg5 22. Bg4 (22. g4 Rc8 23. Rxc8 {and now
there are a lot of ways to equalise for Black, but I will just give the nicest.
} Nf3+ $5 24. Kg2 (24. Bxf3 Qe5 {with mate, even though Black is a rook and
piece down!}) 24... Nh4+ {A nice perpetual.}) 22... h5 $1 23. Bxd8 Rxd8 24. f4
Qe7 25. Bxh5 Ng3 26. Re1 Nxh5 27. Qxh5 Bxf4 28. Qe2 Bg5 {With compensation for
the exchange. I would prefer to play with Black here, though the position is
far from clear. Those knights on h4 and a4 are not of the same value!}) 21...
Nf5 22. Bb6 Rb8 {By this point White is already not fighting for the advantage.
} 23. Bxe4 {It is not very good to give up your "good" bishop, but it was a
very understandable decision, as the knight on e4 was really scary.} (23. Qe2
$5 {Black's threats look scary, but White can defend. And after all an
isolated pawn is still there. On the other hand Black has some initiative. I
would say the position is equal, but I like Black more, as some players, like
me for example, prefer the initiative. Anyway, it is just a matter of taste.}
Qe5 24. g3 Rfc8 25. Rxc8+ Rxc8 26. Rd1 g6 27. Qf3 h5 {Something like this
could happen after 23.Qe2!? Black's initiative at least fully compensates for
his weaknesses.}) 23... Qxe4 24. Rd2 (24. Qe2 {was safer.} Nh4 25. f3 Qg6 26.
Rd2 Rfe8 {The position is approximately equal, but still Black keeps some sort
of pressure, which compensates for weaknesses on d5 and a5. Only Black can be
better here.}) 24... Rxb6 $1 {The bishop must be killed! Reason: He was
protecting the e3 square. Poor guy...} 25. Nxb6 Qe5 (25... Nxe3 $5 {Would
probably not be so great as it looks.} 26. fxe3 Qxe3+ 27. Rdf2 Qxb6 {an
attempt at winning.} (27... Qg3 28. Re2 Qh2+ 29. Kf2 Qg3+ {draw.}) 28. Kh1 Qe3
29. Qf3 Qe5 30. g3 {and I think White has no problems at all.}) 26. Re1 $2 {
was the first and the last mistake, though White probably made some inaccurate
moves earlier.} (26. g3 $1 {holds the position.} Nxg3 27. Re1 Ne4 {Trying to
play for a win.} (27... Ne2+ $5 28. Kf1 $1 {Black has nothing but a draw here.}
Qh5 29. Kg2 Qg6+ 30. Kf1 Qh5 $11) 28. f4 Qe6 29. Rg2 Bc5 30. Na4 Ba7 31. Qg4 g6
32. Qxe6 fxe6 {with something like equality in this strange sharp ending.})
26... Qh2+ 27. Kf1 Qh1+ 28. Ke2 Qxg2 29. Rxd5 Ng3+ 30. Kd3 Bc7 $1 {Wang Yue is
precise!} 31. fxg3 Bxb6 32. Kc4 {Even such a brilliant move cannot help White.
His king will be in trouble everywhere.} Rb8 $1 {A very strong and nice move -
the b5-square is taken away from White's king!} 33. Kb5 {Everything will lose
here, but this move is a blunder. It is understandable - Magnus was in time
trouble and his position was very difficult.} Bd4+ $6 {Here Wang missed an
opportunity to mate Magnus immediately.} (33... Bd8+ $1 {just mates.} 34. Ka6 {
other moves do not help either.} Bc7 35. Qd4 Qxh3 {The queen is coming back to
c8 and mate is inevitable.}) 34. Kc4 Bf6 35. Qd3 Qxg3 36. Rd1 Qc7+ 37. Rc5 Qb7
38. Qd6 $2 {Magnus had less than a minute and not surprisingly he did not find
the best chance, which was given to him by Wang on move 33...} (38. Qd7 $1 {
To threaten Rc8 with mate at some point later on.} Qe4+ 39. Rd4 Qc2+ 40. Kd5
Qg2+ 41. e4 g6 {mate on c8 was threatened.} 42. Rc8+ Rxc8 43. Qxc8+ Kg7 44. Rd3
{and it is still better for Black, but not that much anymore.}) 38... Qe4+ 39.
Rd4 Qc2+ 40. Kd5 Qg2+ 41. e4 Rd8 42. Qxd8+ Bxd8 43. Rc8 g6 {The ending is easy
for Black, and Wang finishes the game off nicely.} 44. Rxd8+ Kg7 45. Rd3 Qc2
46. Kd4 a4 47. bxa4 Qxa2 48. Kc5 b3 49. Rb8 b2 50. Rdb3 Qxa4 51. Rxb2 Qxe4 52.
R8b3 Kh6 53. Rc3 f5 54. Rbb3 Qe5+ 55. Kc4 Kh5 56. Kd3 Kh4 57. Kd2 f4 58. Rf3 g5
59. Rfd3 Qc5 60. Rbc3 Qf2+ 61. Kd1 Qf1+ 62. Kd2 Qg2+ 63. Kd1 Qe4 64. Kd2 h5 0-1

[Event "Linares 26th"]
[Site "Linares"]
[Date "2009.03.03"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D56"]
[WhiteElo "2779"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "2009.02.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 Ne4 8. Bxe7
Qxe7 9. Rc1 c6 10. Be2 Nxc3 11. Rxc3 dxc4 12. Rxc4 Nd7 13. O-O e5 14. Qc2 exd4
15. Nxd4 Nb6 16. Rc5 Nd7 17. Ra5 Nf6 18. Rc1 Bg4 19. Bf1 Bd7 20. Nf3 Bg4 21.
Nd4 Bd7 22. Nf3 Bg4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Linares 26th"]
[Site "Linares"]
[Date "2009.03.05"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B85"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[Annotator "Giri,A"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2009.02.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 {The Najdorf Defence - or
actually Attack. One of the most popular openings in the world.} 6. Be2 {
A calm reply, which was the favourite move of, among others, Anatoly Karpov.}
e6 {choosing a Scheveningen type of position. Anther popular move is e5.} 7.
O-O Be7 8. a4 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. f4 Qc7 11. Kh1 Re8 12. Bf3 {Now we are at a
very known position, which occured in about 2000 games and was even played in
the famous match Karpov-Kasparov.} Bf8 {One of main moves, the bishop goes
away and Black is preparing e5 at some point.} (12... Rb8 {is another main
move here. One which was played more often.}) 13. Qd2 {The standard manoeuvre:
the queen goes to f2.} ({Another typical queen manoeuver beginning with} 13.
Qe1 {is not dangerous now as after} Nxd4 14. Bxd4 e5 {Black gets good play.})
13... Rb8 (13... Na5 {is other move. Black wants to activate his knight and
bring it to c4.} 14. b3 {not allowing Nc4.} (14. Qf2 {leads to a very sharp
game after} Nc4 15. Bc1 e5 16. Nde2 d5 $1) 14... Bd7 {with a complicated
battle.}) 14. Qf2 e5 {The standard move, which was part of Black's plan,
beginning with the move 12...Bf8.} (14... Na5 $2 {would be a typical blunder}
15. Nxe6 $1 Bxe6 16. Bb6 {winning back the piece, and White is a pawn up.}) 15.
fxe5 $5 $146 {The novelty, which probably was prepared by Magnus.} (15. Nde2 {
is the main move here.} b5 16. axb5 axb5 {with an unclear position.}) 15...
dxe5 (15... Nxe5 {was of course an alternative.} 16. Bg5 (16. Be2 {allows} Neg4
17. Bxg4 Nxg4 18. Qf4 Nxe3 19. Qxe3 Qc5 {and with two bishops Black will not
have any problems I think.}) 16... Nfg4 17. Qg1 Nxf3 $5 {is tricky, but good I
think.} (17... Be6 18. Be2 {keeping the bishop. And the deeper I analyzed this
position, the more I liked it. I think White is better here.}) 18. gxf3 Qc5 $1
{attacking the guy on g5.} 19. Nd5 Re5 20. Bd2 Rxd5 21. exd5 Ne5 {with some
compensation for an exchange. The position is totally unclear.}) 16. Nb3 Nb4 {
The standard move in these positions. But it might not be the best.} (16... Be6
{was a great alternative. I actually prefer this move to the text.} 17. Bb6 (
17. Rad1 Nb4 18. Bb6 Qc8 {now we see the point of ...Be6! Black is totally
fine.}) 17... Qc8 18. Nd5 (18. a5 $5) 18... Bxd5 19. exd5 Nb4 20. c3 e4 21.
cxb4 exf3 22. Qxf3 Qd7 23. Bd4 Qxd5 24. Bxf6 Qxf3 25. Rxf3 gxf6 {with equality.
The line was of course not forced.}) 17. Ba7 {It is useful to force the rook
back to a8 before playing Bb6.} Ra8 18. Bb6 Qe7 (18... Qc6 {is not
satisfactory either.} 19. Na5 Qe6 20. Rad1 {and White keeps a clear advantage.
The bishop on c8 is probably wanting to go back to move 16... and play 16...
Be6!.}) 19. Rad1 {Good move: White develops his rook. Always useful!} Be6 {
The first really inaccurate move.} (19... Bg4 $1 {A very strong move, which
probably keeps equality.} 20. Bxg4 (20. Bc5 Qc7 21. Bxf8 Kxf8 $1 {and Black is
fine.}) 20... Nxg4 21. Qe2 (21. Qg3 Nf6 22. Bc5 Qe6 23. Bxf8 Kxf8 $1 {and
Black has no problems.}) 21... Nf6 22. a5 {with an unclear game, but in my
opinion Black is not worse.}) 20. Nd5 {Yes! Creating a dangerous passed pawn,
which will be really dangerous with the support of the nice bishop on b6.} Bxd5
21. exd5 e4 22. d6 Qe6 $6 {The idea of Grischuk was to exchange queens. He
will succeed, but the resulting endgame is very bad for him.} (22... Qe5 {
was stronger.} 23. d7 Nxd7 24. Rxd7 exf3 25. Qxf3 f6 26. Nd4 Qe4 27. Rxb7 Rac8
28. c3 (28. Qxe4 Rxe4 29. g3 Nxc2 30. Rc1 Re1+ 31. Rxe1 Nxe1 32. Ra7 Nd3 33.
Rxa6 Nxb2 34. a5 Nc4 35. Kg2 Re8 {and even though White's pawn looks dangerous,
Black probably can hold.}) 28... Nd3 29. Ba7 Qxf3 30. gxf3 g6 31. Kg1 {and
White is a pawn up, but Black still has some chances, as White's pieces are
not so well coordinated.}) 23. Nc5 Qf5 24. Be2 Qxf2 25. Rxf2 Nbd5 (25... Nfd5 {
was bad} 26. d7 Reb8 27. Nxb7 $1 Rxb7 28. d8=Q Rxd8 29. Bxd8 Ne3 30. Rd4 {
and White is just an exchange up.}) 26. a5 {This very natural and strong
looking move was a bit inaccurate.} (26. Rxf6 $1 {was the right move} Nxf6 (
26... Nxb6 {and now, just} 27. Rff1 {and Black is hopeless.}) 27. a5 Rec8 28.
b4 $1 {just pushing it, with a big advantage for White.} Rc6 {The only move to
force White to play d7.} 29. d7 Nxd7 30. Rxd7 {and White is almost winning. If
not winning.}) 26... Nxb6 27. axb6 Rab8 $2 {Mistake.} (27... Rec8 $1 {was very
strong and could give Black some chances.} 28. b4 $1 (28. Nxb7 Rxc2 29. g3 {
the only move, otherwise e3 comes.} Nd7 30. b4 Rb2 31. Nc5 Nxb6 32. Nxe4 Rxb4 {
and Black is at least OK.}) 28... Rc6 29. Nxb7 Rxb6 30. d7 Rxb7 31. d8=Q Rxd8
32. Rxd8 Rxb4 33. Kg1 {and White is better, for example:} e3 (33... Rb6 34. Rc8
$1 g6 35. Bc4 {with pressure on f7.}) 34. Rf5 Rb1+ 35. Rf1 Rb2 36. Bd3 {
and Re1-e3 to follow, with advantage for White.}) 28. Rxf6 $1 {Not difficult,
but nice.} gxf6 29. Nd7 {The point is the fork: f6 and b8 are hanging.} f5 30.
c4 {White is simply improving his position. Black cannot save himself anymore.}
a5 (30... Bg7 {does not help.} 31. Nxb8 Rxb8 32. c5 Bf6 33. Bxa6 {and White
wins, just like in the game.}) 31. c5 Bg7 32. Nxb8 Rxb8 33. Ba6 $3 {A
brilliant move, which wins on the spot!} Bf6 34. Bxb7 Rxb7 35. c6 Rxb6 36. Rc1
Bxb2 37. d7 1-0

[Event "Linares 26th"]
[Site "Linares"]
[Date "2009.03.06"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2761"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2009.02.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. O-O Nge7 5. c3 a6 6. Ba4 b5 7. Bc2 Bb7 8. Qe2
Ng6 9. d4 cxd4 10. cxd4 Rc8 11. a3 Be7 12. Nc3 O-O 13. Rd1 Na5 14. g3 Nc4 15.
h4 Nxa3 16. bxa3 Rxc3 17. h5 Qc7 18. Bd3 Nh8 19. Bb2 Rb3 20. Rac1 Qa5 21. d5
Bxa3 22. Bxa3 Rxa3 23. Qe3 f5 24. exf5 Bxd5 25. Ne5 Qd8 26. fxe6 dxe6 27. Bxh7+
Kxh7 28. Qxa3 Rf5 29. Qd3 Kg8 30. Qe2 Nf7 31. Ng6 Kh7 32. Nf4 Ng5 33. Qg4 Qa8
34. Nxd5 Rxd5 35. f4 Rxd1+ 36. Qxd1 Ne4 37. Qd3 Qd5 38. Qxd5 exd5 39. Kg2 a5
40. g4 b4 41. Rc8 b3 42. g5 g6 43. h6 Nd6 44. Rb8 a4 45. Rb4 d4 46. Rxa4 d3 47.
Kf3 $2 (47. Kf1 Nb5 48. Rb4 Nc3 49. Ke1 $18) 47... Nb5 $1 48. Rb4 (48. Ke3 b2
49. Rb4 Nc3 $11 50. Kxd3 (50. Rxb2 Nd1+ 51. Kxd3 Nxb2+ $11) 50... b1=Q+ 51.
Rxb1 Nxb1 $11) 48... Nc3 {The threat 49...d2 must be addressed immediately.}
49. Rb7+ Kg8 50. Rb8+ Kh7 51. Ke3 b2 52. Rb7+ Kg8 53. Rb8+ Kh7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Linares 26th"]
[Site "Linares"]
[Date "2009.03.07"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E60"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2009.02.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.03.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 Nc6 4. Nc3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 e5 8.
Bb5 Bd7 9. Ne2 Bg7 10. Be3 O-O 11. d5 Na5 12. Bd3 b6 13. O-O Nb7 14. c4 c5 15.
dxc6 Bxc6 16. Nc3 Bd7 17. Nd5 Be6 18. Qd2 Rc8 19. Rfc1 f6 20. Kh1 Kh8 21. Rab1
Rf7 22. Qe2 Bf8 23. Bd2 Bd6 24. Bc3 Kg8 25. Qd2 Qf8 26. Be2 Rd8 27. Rd1 Rc8 28.
Rdc1 Rd8 29. Rd1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 18th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2725"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2009.03.14"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.05.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.05.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. c5 g6 6. Bf4 Bg7 7. h3 O-O 8. e3 Bf5
9. Nd2 Nbd7 10. g4 Be6 11. b4 a5 12. b5 Ne4 13. Ndxe4 dxe4 14. Rc1 a4 15. Be2
Bb3 16. axb3 a3 17. Nxe4 e5 18. Bg5 Qa5+ 19. Kf1 h6 20. bxc6 bxc6 21. Bh4 a2
22. Kg2 exd4 23. exd4 Qa3 24. Qd2 Rfe8 25. Nd6 Rxe2 26. Qxe2 Qxb3 27. Rhd1 Qd5+
28. Qe4 Qxe4+ 29. Nxe4 Ra4 30. Ra1 f5 31. gxf5 gxf5 32. Nc3 Rxd4 33. Rxa2 Rxh4
34. Rxd7 1-0

[Event "Amber-blindfold 18th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.15"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2779"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2009.03.14"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.05.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.05.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8.
cxd5 Nxd5 9. Nxd5 exd5 10. a3 Nc6 11. Bd3 Bb6 12. O-O Bg4 13. h3 Bh5 14. b4 Re8
15. Rc1 a6 16. Bxa6 Rxa6 17. b5 Rxa3 18. bxc6 bxc6 19. Rxc6 Ra7 20. Qb3 Bxf3
21. Rxb6 Be2 22. Rb1 Bc4 23. Qc3 Rae7 24. f3 f6 25. Qd4 Qc8 26. e4 dxe4 27. Rc1
e3 28. Qxc4+ Qxc4 29. Rxc4 e2 30. Bg3 e1=Q+ 31. Bxe1 Rxe1+ 32. Kh2 R1e7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 18th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.16"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2009.03.14"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.05.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.05.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. O-O Bd7 5. Re1 Nf6 6. c3 a6 7. Bf1 Bg4 8. d3
e6 9. Nbd2 Be7 10. h3 Bh5 11. g4 Bg6 12. Nh4 Nd7 13. Ng2 h5 14. f4 hxg4 15.
hxg4 Qc7 16. Nf3 O-O-O 17. Ne3 Nb6 18. Nc4 Nxc4 19. dxc4 f5 20. exf5 exf5 21.
g5 Bf7 22. Qc2 g6 23. Qf2 d5 24. cxd5 Bxd5 25. Be3 Bxg5 26. Qg3 Be7 27. Bg2 g5
28. Nxg5 Bxg5 29. Bxd5 Rxd5 30. Qxg5 Qf7 31. Kf2 Rh2+ 32. Kf1 Rd8 33. Qg3 Qc4+
34. Kg1 Rxb2 0-1

[Event "Amber-blindfold 18th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.17"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Leko, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2751"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2009.03.14"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.05.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.05.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. a3 Ne7 6. Nbd2 Bg6 7. Nh4 Nf5 8. Nxg6
hxg6 9. Nf3 c5 10. dxc5 Bxc5 11. b4 Bb6 12. c4 dxc4 13. Qxd8+ Bxd8 14. Bxc4 Nc6
15. Bb2 Nh4 16. Nxh4 Rxh4 17. Bd3 Bb6 18. g3 Rh5 19. f4 O-O-O 20. O-O-O Bd4 21.
h4 Rhh8 22. Rh2 Rd7 23. Bxd4 Nxd4 24. Be4 Rhd8 25. Kb2 Nf5 26. Rc2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 18th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.19"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2750"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2009.03.14"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.05.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.05.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e6 5. g3 Bb4+ 6. Nc3 O-O 7. Bg2 d5 8.
O-O dxc4 9. Nc2 Bxc3 10. bxc3 Qc7 11. Rb1 Nc6 12. Na3 e5 13. Qc2 Rd8 14. Qb2
Rb8 15. Nb5 Qa5 16. Bg5 Bf5 17. Rbd1 Rxd1 18. Rxd1 Rd8 19. Rd6 Qb6 20. Qd2 Rf8
21. Bxf6 Qxb5 22. Bxc6 bxc6 23. Be7 Re8 24. Rd8 c5 25. f3 h6 26. Rxe8+ Qxe8 27.
Qd8 Qxd8 28. Bxd8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 18th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.20"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D97"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2771"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2009.03.14"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.05.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.05.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 O-O 7. e4 a6 8. e5
Nfd7 9. Be3 Nb6 10. Qc5 Bg4 11. Be2 N8d7 12. Qa3 c6 13. h4 h5 14. Qb3 Be6 15.
Qd1 f6 16. Bd3 Qe8 17. Qc2 f5 18. Ng5 Bd5 19. Nxd5 Nxd5 20. Ne6 Rf7 21. Bd2 Nf8
22. Ng5 Rd8 23. O-O-O Bh6 24. Nxf7 Bxd2+ 25. Rxd2 Qxf7 26. Bc4 Ne6 27. Kb1 Qe8
28. f3 Kg7 29. g4 hxg4 30. fxg4 fxg4 31. Qe4 Qf7 32. Rf1 Qg8 33. Bxd5 Rxd5 34.
Qxg4 c5 35. Rg2 g5 36. Rgf2 Rxd4 37. Rf7+ Qxf7 38. Rxf7+ Kxf7 39. Qf5+ Ke8 40.
Qxe6 gxh4 41. Qc8+ Kf7 42. Qf5+ Kg7 43. e6 h3 44. Qxh3 Kf6 45. Qf3+ Kxe6 46.
Qxb7 Rd6 47. Kc2 1-0

[Event "Amber-blindfold 18th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.21"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Wang, Yue"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D44"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2009.03.14"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.05.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.05.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxc4 5. Nc3 c6 6. a4 Bb4 7. e4 Bxc3+ 8.
bxc3 Qa5 9. e5 Ne4 10. Bd2 Qd5 11. a5 c5 12. Qa4+ Bd7 13. Qxc4 Qxc4 14. Bxc4
Bc6 15. Ke2 Nd7 16. Rhc1 Ke7 17. Be3 b5 18. Bd3 c4 19. Bb1 f6 20. exf6+ Nexf6
21. Ne5 Nxe5 22. dxe5 Nd5 23. f3 Nxe3 24. Kxe3 Rad8 25. Bc2 Rd5 26. Be4 Rxe5
27. Kd4 Kf6 28. Rd1 Bd5 29. a6 Rb8 30. Bxd5 Rxd5+ 31. Ke4 Rbd8 32. Rxd5 Rxd5
33. f4 Ke7 34. g4 Kd6 35. f5 exf5+ 36. gxf5 Kc5 37. Rg1 Rd7 38. Rg5 Re7+ 39.
Kf4 Kb6 40. h4 Kxa6 41. h5 h6 42. Rg6+ Ka5 43. Re6 Rd7 44. Ke4 Ka4 45. f6 gxf6
46. Rxf6 Kb3 47. Rxh6 Kxc3 48. Rg6 b4 49. h6 Rh7 0-1

[Event "Amber-blindfold 18th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.22"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A33"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2796"]
[PlyCount "137"]
[EventDate "2009.03.14"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.05.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.05.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nc6 6. a3 Be7 7. e4 O-O 8. Nc2
b6 9. f4 Bb7 10. Bd3 Rc8 11. Qe2 d6 12. O-O Na5 13. Be3 a6 14. Nd4 Qc7 15. Rac1
Qb8 16. b4 Nc6 17. f5 Nxd4 18. Bxd4 Ba8 19. fxe6 fxe6 20. e5 dxe5 21. Bxe5 Qb7
22. Bxf6 Bxf6 23. Qxe6+ Kh8 24. Be4 Qc7 25. Nd5 Bd4+ 26. Kh1 Rxf1+ 27. Rxf1
Qxc4 28. Re1 Rf8 29. Nf4 b5 30. h3 Bf2 31. Qe7 Qc8 32. Ne6 Rg8 33. Ng5 Rf8 34.
Ne6 Rg8 35. Ng5 Rf8 36. Rd1 Re8 37. Nf7+ Kg8 38. Nh6+ Kh8 39. Nf7+ Kg8 40. Nd6
Rxe7 41. Nxc8 Re8 42. Bxa8 Rxc8 43. Bd5+ Kh8 44. Bb7 Rb8 45. Bxa6 g6 46. Rd6
Bg3 47. Rd3 Be5 48. g4 Rb6 49. Bc8 Kg7 50. Kg2 Kf6 51. Kf3 Rb8 52. Bd7 Bb2 53.
Ke4 Rd8 54. Rf3+ Ke7 55. Bxb5 Rd4+ 56. Ke3 Rd6 57. Ke2 Rf6 58. Rb3 Bd4 59. Kd3
Rf3+ 60. Kc4 Rxb3 61. Kxb3 Kd6 62. a4 Bf2 63. Kc4 g5 64. Be8 h6 65. Kb5 Be1 66.
Kb6 Bxb4 67. a5 Bc5+ 68. Kb7 Ke7 69. Bh5 1-0

[Event "Amber-blindfold 18th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.24"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2706"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2009.03.14"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.05.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.05.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. d3 Ne7 6. Qe2 f6 7. Nh4 g6 8. f4
Bg7 9. O-O O-O 10. c4 d6 11. Nc3 Rb8 12. Be3 h6 13. e5 dxe5 14. fxe5 f5 15.
Bxc5 g5 16. Nf3 Ng6 17. d4 Re8 18. Bxa7 Rb7 19. Bc5 g4 20. Ne1 Bf8 21. Nd3 Bxc5
22. Nxc5 Qxd4+ 23. Qf2 Qxf2+ 24. Rxf2 Ra7 25. Re2 Rd8 26. g3 h5 27. a3 f4 28.
gxf4 Nxf4 29. Rc2 Rf7 30. N3e4 Rf5 31. Re1 Kg7 32. Ng3 Rg5 33. Nf1 h4 34. Rd2
Rf8 35. Re4 g3 36. hxg3 hxg3 37. Ne3 Nh3+ 38. Kg2 Nf4+ 39. Kg1 Nh3+ 40. Kg2
Nf4+ 41. Kg1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 18th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.25"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2759"]
[PlyCount "40"]
[EventDate "2009.03.14"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.05.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.05.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. e4 d6 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. Nge2 Ba5 8. O-O
Bb6 9. d5 Nb4 10. Qd2 exd5 11. cxd5 Ng4 12. Bb1 Qh4 13. Qf4 f5 14. exf5 Bxf5
15. h3 Bxf2+ 16. Kh1 Bd7 17. Qg5 Bc5 18. Rxf8+ Rxf8 19. Ng1 Rf1 20. Bxh7+ Kh8
0-1

[Event "Amber-blindfold 18th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.26"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2761"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2009.03.14"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.05.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.05.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. Bb3 d5 7. Nbd2 Be6 8. Qe2
dxe4 9. dxe4 Qe7 10. O-O Bxb3 11. axb3 a6 12. b4 Ba7 13. Nc4 Qe6 14. Na5 Nxa5
15. Rxa5 Nd7 16. Rd1 c6 17. Be3 Bxe3 18. Qxe3 Rfd8 19. h3 f6 20. Raa1 Nf8 21.
Qb6 Rd7 22. Nh4 Rc8 23. Nf5 Rcc7 24. Kh2 h5 25. Qe3 g6 26. Nh4 Kg7 27. Qe2 Qb3
28. g3 Ne6 29. Rg1 Rd6 30. Ra3 Nd4 31. cxd4 Qxb4 32. dxe5 Rd2 33. exf6+ Kf7 34.
Qe3 Qxb2 35. Rg2 Re2 36. Qg5 Qxa3 37. Qxg6+ Kf8 38. Qh6+ Kg8 39. Qg5+ Kf8 40.
Ng6+ Ke8 41. Qe5+ Kd8 42. Nf4 Re1 43. f7 Rxf7 44. Qb8+ Ke7 45. Qxb7+ Ke8 46.
Qc8+ Ke7 47. e5 Rxe5 48. Ng6+ Kf6 49. Nxe5 Kxe5 50. f4+ Kf6 51. Qh8+ Kg6 52.
Qg8+ Rg7 53. f5+ Kf6 54. Qe6+ 1-0

[Event "Amber-rapid 18th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B73"]
[WhiteElo "2725"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2009.03.14"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.05.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.05.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be2 Bg7 7. O-O Nc6 8.
Be3 O-O 9. Qd2 Nxd4 10. Bxd4 Bd7 11. a4 Bc6 12. Bf3 a5 13. Nd5 Nd7 14. Bxg7
Kxg7 15. Rfe1 Rc8 16. Be2 Nc5 17. Bb5 e5 18. Nc3 f5 19. Bxc6 bxc6 20. Rad1 Nb7
21. f4 exf4 22. Qxf4 fxe4 23. Qxe4 Qb6+ 24. Kh1 Rf7 25. b3 Rcf8 26. Ne2 Nc5 27.
Qd4+ Kg8 28. Kg1 d5 29. Rf1 Qa7 30. Rxf7 Rxf7 31. Rf1 Rxf1+ 32. Kxf1 Qe7 33.
Qf4 Ne4 34. Nd4 Qe8 35. Nf3 c5 36. Qc7 g5 37. h3 h5 38. Qe5 Qf7 39. c4 g4 40.
hxg4 hxg4 41. cxd5 Nd2+ 42. Kg1 Nxf3+ 43. gxf3 Qxf3 44. d6 Kf7 45. Qe7+ Kg6 46.
Qe6+ Kg7 47. d7 g3 48. Qe1 Qf6 49. Qxg3+ Kf7 1-0

[Event "Amber-rapid 18th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.15"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E33"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2779"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2009.03.14"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.05.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.05.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6. Bd2 a5 7. a3 Bxc3 8. Bxc3
Qe7 9. e4 e5 10. d5 Nb8 11. c5 Nbd7 12. cxd6 cxd6 13. Nd2 O-O 14. Be2 Nc5 15.
b4 axb4 16. axb4 Rxa1+ 17. Bxa1 Na6 18. Qb3 Bg4 19. f3 Bd7 20. Nc4 Nc7 21. Qe3
Nh5 22. g3 Bb5 23. O-O f5 24. exf5 Nxd5 25. Qb3 Kh8 26. Rd1 Nhf6 27. Bf1 Qc7
28. Rc1 Bxc4 29. Qxc4 Qb6+ 30. Kh1 Ne3 31. Qb5 Qa7 32. Qa5 Qxa5 33. bxa5 Nxf1
34. Rxf1 Rc8 35. Rb1 h5 36. Bb2 Rc5 37. Ba3 Rxa5 38. Bxd6 e4 39. fxe4 Nxe4 40.
Bc7 Rxf5 41. Rxb7 Rf7 42. Rb8+ Kh7 43. Bf4 h4 44. Kg2 hxg3 45. hxg3 Nf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-rapid 18th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.16"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2009.03.14"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.05.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.05.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 c5 6. O-O Nc6 7. c3 cxd4 8. Nxd4
Nxd4 9. cxd4 Ne7 10. Nc3 h6 11. Bb5+ Nc6 12. Bxc6+ bxc6 13. Be3 Be7 14. Na4 O-O
15. Rc1 Qa5 16. Rxc6 Rac8 17. Qc1 Rxc6 18. Qxc6 Bd3 19. Rc1 Bb5 20. Qc7 Qxa4
21. Qxe7 Qxa2 22. Qb4 Bc4 23. h3 a5 24. Qb6 Qb3 25. Qxb3 Bxb3 26. Rc7 Rb8 27.
Bd2 a4 28. Bc3 h5 29. Ra7 Rc8 30. Kh2 h4 31. g3 hxg3+ 32. fxg3 g5 33. g4 Kg7
34. Kg3 Kg6 35. Ra6 Bd1 36. Ra7 Bb3 37. Ra6 Bd1 38. Ra7 Bb3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-rapid 18th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.17"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Leko, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E60"]
[WhiteElo "2751"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2009.03.14"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.05.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.05.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nc3 c5 6. Nf3 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Qc7 8. b3
d5 9. O-O dxc4 10. Ncb5 Qb6 11. bxc4 a6 12. Nc3 Nbd7 13. Ba3 Qa5 14. Qb3 Re8
15. Rfd1 Rb8 16. Nd5 Nxd5 17. cxd5 Nc5 18. Qb4 Qxb4 19. Bxb4 Na4 20. Rac1 Be5
21. e4 Bd6 22. a3 Bd7 23. f4 Rbc8 24. e5 Bxb4 25. axb4 Nb2 26. Rxc8 Rxc8 27.
Rd2 Rc1+ 28. Kf2 Nd1+ 29. Ke2 Nc3+ 30. Ke3 Nd1+ 31. Kd3 Rc3+ 32. Ke2 Ne3 33.
Bf3 Ng4 34. h3 Ne3 35. Rd3 Rxd3 36. Kxd3 Nf5 37. g4 Nxd4 38. Kxd4 b6 39. Be2
Bc8 40. d6 exd6 41. exd6 Kf8 42. Kd5 Bb7+ 43. Ke5 Ke8 44. Bc4 a5 45. bxa5 bxa5
46. Bb5+ Kd8 47. h4 Bc8 48. f5 gxf5 49. gxf5 Bd7 50. Bc4 Ke8 51. Kf6 Kf8 52.
Bd5 a4 53. Bc4 a3 54. Bd5 Bc8 55. Bc4 Bd7 56. h5 h6 57. Bb3 Bc8 58. Bc4 Bd7
1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-rapid 18th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.19"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[PlyCount "196"]
[EventDate "2009.03.14"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.05.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.05.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4
b4 9. d4 d6 10. dxe5 dxe5 11. Qxd8 Rxd8 12. Nbd2 h6 13. Bc4 Bd6 14. Nb3 Bb7 15.
Bd3 Bc8 16. Bc4 Bb7 17. h3 Kf8 18. Bd3 Bc8 19. Be3 Be6 20. Nfd2 Ke8 21. f3 Be7
22. Bc4 Bc8 23. Red1 Bb7 24. Bf2 Nd7 25. Bd3 Nf8 26. Nc4 Ne6 27. Nba5 Nxa5 28.
Nxa5 Bc8 29. Nc6 Rd6 30. Nxe5 Bf6 31. Nc4 Rd8 32. e5 Be7 33. Be4 Rxd1+ 34. Rxd1
Rb8 35. Bc6+ Kf8 36. Ba7 Bb7 37. Bxb8 Bc5+ 38. Kf1 Bxc6 39. b3 Ke8 40. Nb2 Bb6
41. Nc4 Bc5 42. h4 h5 43. Rd2 Ba8 44. Ke1 Bc6 45. Kd1 Bd7 46. Nb2 Be3 47. Re2
Bd4 48. Nd3 a5 49. Re4 Bb6 50. Nb2 Kd8 51. Nc4 Bc5 52. Nxa5 Kc8 53. Bxc7 Kxc7
54. Ke1 Bd4 55. Kf1 Kb6 56. Nc4+ Kc5 57. Nd6 Kd5 58. Nxf7 Be8 59. Nd6 Bg6 60.
Re2 Bc3 61. Ne4 Nf4 62. Nxc3+ bxc3 63. Rf2 Kxe5 64. Ke1 Kd4 65. a5 Kc5 66. Kd1
Kb5 67. g3 Ne6 68. Kc1 Kxa5 69. g4 Nf4 70. gxh5 Bxh5 71. Rf1 Kb4 72. Kb1 Kc5
73. Re1 Nd5 74. Rg1 g6 75. Rg3 Kd4 76. Rg1 Ne3 77. Kc1 Kc5 78. f4 Kd4 79. Rg3
Bg4 80. b4 Bf5 81. b5 Nxc2 82. b6 Nb4 83. Rg2 Nd3+ 84. Kd1 Nc5 85. Kc1 Kc4 86.
Re2 Nb3+ 87. Kd1 Bg4 88. b7 Bxe2+ 89. Kxe2 Nd4+ 90. Kd1 Kd3 91. b8=Q c2+ 92.
Ke1 c1=Q+ 93. Kf2 Qd2+ 94. Kg3 Nf5+ 95. Kh3 Qe3+ 96. Kg2 Qe2+ 97. Kh3 Qf3+ 98.
Kh2 Qf2+ 0-1

[Event "Amber-rapid 18th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.20"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2771"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2009.03.14"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.05.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.05.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8.
cxd5 Nxd5 9. Nxd5 exd5 10. a3 Nc6 11. Bd3 Bb6 12. O-O Bg4 13. h3 Bh5 14. Be2
Re8 15. Rc1 Bg6 16. Bb5 Qf6 17. b4 Be4 18. Ng5 d4 19. Nxe4 Rxe4 20. Qf3 Rae8
21. Bd3 R4e7 22. e4 g5 23. Bg3 Qxf3 24. gxf3 Ne5 25. Bxe5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-rapid 18th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.21"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wang, Yue"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D16"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2739"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2009.03.14"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.05.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.05.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Na6 6. e3 Bg4 7. Bxc4 e6 8. h3
Bh5 9. O-O Nb4 10. Be2 Be7 11. a5 O-O 12. Ne5 Bxe2 13. Qxe2 Nd7 14. Nf3 a6 15.
Rd1 Nd5 16. e4 N5f6 17. Nd2 Qc7 18. Nc4 Rfe8 19. g3 Bb4 20. Bf4 Qd8 21. Kg2 h6
22. Qc2 Nf8 23. Ra4 Be7 24. Nb6 Ng6 25. Nxa8 Nxf4+ 26. gxf4 Qxa8 27. Qe2 Bd8
28. Qf3 Qc8 29. d5 cxd5 30. exd5 exd5 31. Nxd5 Qc2 32. Nxf6+ Bxf6 33. Rb4 Bh4
34. Rxb7 Re6 35. Rb8+ Kh7 36. Rb6 Rg6+ 37. Rxg6 fxg6 38. Rd6 Qxb2 39. f5 1-0

[Event "Amber-rapid 18th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.22"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D55"]
[WhiteElo "2796"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2009.03.14"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.05.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.05.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 7. e3 O-O 8. Rc1
c6 9. Bd3 Nd7 10. O-O a6 11. a3 b5 12. cxd5 cxd5 13. Bb1 Bb7 14. Ne2 e5 15.
dxe5 Nxe5 16. Nxe5 Bxe5 17. Nd4 Qf6 18. Qg4 Rac8 19. Qd7 Rb8 20. Nc6 Bxc6 21.
Rxc6 Rfd8 22. Rxf6 Rxd7 23. Rxa6 Bxb2 24. Rd1 d4 25. h4 Rbd8 26. exd4 Rxd4 27.
Rxd4 Bxd4 28. Be4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-rapid 18th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.24"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D43"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2706"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2009.03.14"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.05.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.05.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e3 Nd7 8. Bd3
dxc4 9. Bxc4 g6 10. O-O Bg7 11. e4 e5 12. d5 Nb6 13. Bb3 Bg4 14. Rc1 O-O 15. h3
Bxf3 16. Qxf3 Qxf3 17. gxf3 Rfd8 18. Rfd1 Bf6 19. dxc6 bxc6 20. Rxd8+ Rxd8 21.
Nd1 Rd6 22. Rc5 Kf8 23. Kf1 h5 24. Ne3 Ke7 25. Ke2 Bg7 26. Nc2 Bh6 27. Ra5 Rd7
28. Rxe5+ Kd6 29. Ra5 Bg7 30. f4 Bxb2 31. e5+ Ke7 32. Nb4 Kf8 33. Nxc6 Bc1 34.
Kf3 Rc7 35. Rc5 Ba3 36. Rc2 Nc8 37. Ke4 Kg7 38. Bxf7 Kxf7 39. Nd8+ Ke8 40. Rxc7
Kxd8 41. Rc3 Bb4 42. Rd3+ Ke7 43. f5 gxf5+ 44. Kxf5 a5 45. f4 Nb6 46. Rg3 Nd5
47. a3 Be1 48. Rd3 Nc3 49. e6 a4 50. Rd7+ Ke8 51. Rd4 Ke7 52. Ke5 Nb5 53. Rxa4
Bc3+ 54. Kd5 Nc7+ 55. Kc4 Bf6 56. Ra7 Kd6 57. f5 Ne8 58. Rd7+ Ke5 59. Rd5+ Ke4
60. a4 Nc7 61. Rd7 Ne8 62. e7 1-0

[Event "Amber-rapid 18th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.25"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D82"]
[WhiteElo "2759"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2009.03.14"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.05.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.05.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bf4 Bg7 5. e3 c5 6. dxc5 Qa5 7. Rc1 Ne4 8. cxd5
Nxc3 9. Qd2 Qxa2 10. bxc3 Qa5 11. Bc4 Nd7 12. Nf3 Nxc5 13. O-O O-O 14. Be5 Bxe5
15. Nxe5 f6 16. Ra1 Qb6 17. d6+ Kg7 18. dxe7 Re8 19. Nf3 Rxe7 20. Rfb1 Qc7 21.
Nd4 Ne4 22. Qd3 Nc5 23. Qd2 Ne4 24. Qd3 Nc5 25. Qc2 Ne4 26. Bd3 Nc5 27. Be2 b6
28. Bf3 Bb7 29. Nb5 Qe5 30. Bxb7 Rxb7 31. c4 Rd7 32. h3 Qe4 33. Qa2 Rad8 34.
Nc3 Qe6 35. Nd5 Ne4 36. Qc2 Rc8 37. Rd1 Qe5 38. Rd4 Nc5 39. Nc3 Qe6 40. Qd1
Rcd8 41. Rxa7 Rxa7 42. Rxd8 Qxc4 43. Ne2 Qf7 44. Qb1 Qb3 45. Qxb3 Nxb3 46. Rb8
Ra1+ 47. Kh2 Nd2 48. Rb7+ Kg8 49. Rb8+ Kf7 50. Rb7+ Kg8 51. Ng3 Rb1 52. h4 h5
53. f4 f5 54. Rd7 Rb2 55. Kh3 b5 56. Rd4 Kf7 57. e4 fxe4 58. Nxe4 Rb3+ 59. g3
Nxe4 60. Rxe4 b4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-rapid 18th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2009.03.26"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2761"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2009.03.14"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 129 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.05.05"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.05.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Bc4 Be7 5. d3 d6 6. O-O Nf6 7. h3 O-O 8. a3
Nd7 9. Nd5 Nb6 10. Ba2 Nxd5 11. Bxd5 Be6 12. Bxe6 fxe6 13. c3 Qd7 14. b4 b5 15.
Be3 a6 16. Qe2 Qe8 17. Rfb1 Qd7 18. Qd1 Rfb8 19. Qb3 a5 20. bxc5 a4 21. Qd1
dxc5 22. c4 bxc4 23. Rxb8+ Rxb8 24. Qxa4 cxd3 25. Rd1 Rd8 26. Qc4 Qd6 27. Ne1
Ra8 28. Nxd3 Nd4 29. Ra1 Rd8 30. Kf1 Kf7 31. a4 Nf5 32. Ke2 Nd4+ 33. Ke1 Nf5
34. Rd1 Nd4 35. a5 Nc6 36. Bxc5 Nxa5 37. Qb4 1-0

[Event "Sofia MTel Masters 5th"]
[Site "Sofia"]
[Date "2009.05.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D43"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2812"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2009.05.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BUL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 131"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e3 Nd7 8. Bd3
dxc4 9. Bxc4 g6 10. O-O Bg7 11. e4 O-O ({Another option is Eine andere
Möglichkeit ist} 11... e5 12. d5 Nb6 {as Karjakin played against me in Nice.
The text usually leads to more complicated play, and therefore it's not
surprising that Topalov chose it. wie Karjakin gegen mich in Nizza spielte.
Der Textzug führt meist zu komplizierterem Spiel, daher ist es nicht
überraschend, dass Topalov ihn wählte.}) 12. e5 Qe7 13. Qe2 b5 {Not the most
usual, Black usually takes a more restrained approach by playing b6 here or on
the next move. The text is probably not bad either however.  Nicht das Übliche,
normalerweise schlägt Schwarz mit b6 hier oder im nächsten Zug eine
zurückhaltendere Gangart ein. Der Text ist aber wahrscheinlich auch nicht
schlecht.} 14. Bd3 Bb7 (14... b4 15. Na4 c5 {was an interesting, but risky
alternative. White should probably continue war eine interessante, aber
riskante Alternative. Weiß sollte darauf wahrscheinlich mit} 16. Rac1 (16. Be4
Rb8 17. Nxc5 Nxc5 18. dxc5 Qxc5 19. Rfc1 Qa5 {is absolutely fine for Black.
ist absolut in Ordnung für Schwarz.}) 16... cxd4 17. Qe4 Rb8 (17... Nb6 18.
Nxb6 Bb7 19. Nxa8 Bxe4 20. Bxe4 {must be better for White, as the knight can
escape via c7. muss besser für Weiß sein, denn der Springer kann über c7
entkommen.}) 18. Rc7 {with the initiative. fortsetzen, mit Initiative.}) 15.
Be4 Rfd8 $6 {I don't think he should have commited the rook this early, as it
might be needed on c8 soon. The immediate ...Rab8 was better. Ich glaube nicht,
dass er den Turm so früh hätte festlegen sollen, da dieser bald auf c8
gebraucht werden könnte. Das sofortige ...Rab8 war besser.} 16. Rac1 (16. Nxb5
Nxe5 $11 {is the tactical justification of Black's last move. ist die
taktische Rechtfertigung des letzten schwarzen Zuges.}) 16... Rab8 17. Rfd1 a6
18. h4 (18. Nb1 $5 {with the obvious idea of Nd2-b3 is a common plan in this
structure. There could follow mit der offensichtlichen Idee Nd2-b3 ist ein
geläufiger Plan in dieser Struktur. Es könnte folgen} Rdc8 19. Nbd2 Ba8 20. Qe3
$1 {A great preparatory move, shown by the engines. Ein großartiger
Vorbereitungszug, angezeigt von den Engines.} (20. Nb3 c5 21. Bxa8 Rxa8 {
with equality is what discouraged me from playing 18.Nb1. mit Ausgleich ist
das, was mich von 18.Nb1 abhielt.}) 20... c5 21. Bxa8 Rxa8 22. Ne4 {and since
22...cxd4 can now be met by Qxd4, White has a clear initative. und da 22...
cxd4 jetzt mit Qxd4 begegnet werden kann, hat Weiß eine klare Initative.})
18... Ba8 19. Rc2 $6 {Probably a little too slow. Vermutlich ein bisschen zu
langsam.} (19. h5 g5 20. Nh2 {with the idea of putting the knight on the
excellent square g4, was more consistent. mit der Idee, den Springer auf das
ausgezeichnete Feld g4 zu stellen, war konsequenter.}) 19... Rdc8 20. Rdc1 Qf8
$1 {A good prophylactic move, which Topalov made immediately. The idea can
clearly be seen in the line Ein guter prophylaktischer Zug, den Topalov sofort
spielte. Die Idee wird deutlich in dem Abspiel} (20... c5 21. Bxa8 Rxa8 22. Ne4
{when the pin on the c-file causes Black problems. , wonach die Fesselung auf
der c-Linie Schwarz Probleme bereitet.}) 21. a4 $6 {I was not sure of what to
do here, and decided to try and disturb his queenside play a little. However,
Ich war nicht sicher, was ich hier tun sollte, und beschloss zu versuchen,
sein Spiel am Damenflügel ein bisschen zu stören.} c5 $6 ({after the simple
Doch nach dem einfachen} 21... b4 22. Nb1 c5 23. Bxa8 Rxa8 24. dxc5 Rxc5 (24...
Nxc5 25. Qc4 $1) 25. Nbd2 Rxc2 26. Rxc2 Rc8 {Black even has a slight
initiative, thanks to the weaknesses on e5 and a4. It's hard to explain why
both players missed this. hat Schwarz sogar eine leichte Initiative dank der
Schwächen auf e5 und a4. Es ist schwer zu erklären, warum beide Spieler dies
übersahen.}) 22. axb5 {Now White is better again. Jetzt steht Weiß wieder
besser.} cxd4 23. Nxd4 Bxe4 $2 {A huge mistake, probably based on a tactical
oversight. Ein Riesenfehler, vermutlich basierend auf einem taktischen
Versehen.} (23... axb5 24. Bxa8 Rxa8 {would have kept White out of c6 for the
time being, and retained decent chances of counterplay after hätte Weiß
zunächst einmal von c6 ferngehalten und ordentliche Gegenspielchancen gewahrt
nach} 25. f4 Qd8 $1 {with ideas of ...Nxe5 and g5. mit Ideen wie ...Nxe5 und
g5.}) 24. Nxe4 Rxc2 25. Rxc2 axb5 (25... Bxe5 {would be desirable, and was
probably my opponent's intention, but it loses material to wäre wünschenswert
und war vermutlich auch die Absicht meines Gegners, doch dies verliert
Material nach} 26. Nc6 (26. Rd2 {is actually even better. ist sogar noch
besser.}) 26... Rxb5 27. Rd2 Qa8 (27... Qe8 {gives White a choice between
lässt Weiß die Wahl zwischen} 28. Nxe5 (28. f4 Bxf4 29. Rxd7 {and even und
sogar}) (28. Qxb5 axb5 29. Nxe5 {also winning material. , ebenfalls mit
Materialgewinn.}) 28... Rxe5 29. Nf6+)) 26. Nc6 Rb6 (26... Nxe5 27. Nxb8 Qxb8 {
loses in the long run. verliert auf lange Sicht.}) 27. f4 {Now Black can
hardly move. Nun kann Schwarz kaum ziehen.} Qa8 (27... Nb8 28. Na7 $1 {is
aesthetically pleasing and more or less decisive. ist etwas fürs Auge und mehr
oder weniger entscheidend.}) 28. Ne7+ Kh7 29. h5 Ra6 {The only active move
Black has. Der einzige aktive Zug, den Schwarz hat.} 30. hxg6+ fxg6 31. Rc7 $1
{A very pleasing move, after which Black is finished. Ein sehr angenehmer Zug,
nach dem Schwarz erledigt ist.} Ra1+ 32. Kf2 $2 {But now there is some
excitement again. Aber nun gibt es wieder ein bisschen Aufregung.} ({I thought
the most natural Ich dachte, das sehr natürliche} 32. Kh2 {would give Black
some unnecessary counterplay after gäbe Schwarz unnötiges Gegenspiel nach} Nxe5
{, but this fails to the simple , aber dies scheitert an dem einfachen} (32...
Qd8 33. Qd3 Qxe7 34. Nf6+ $1) 33. Nf6+ Bxf6 34. Nd5+ Bg7 35. Qxe5 Qf8 36. Rxg7+
Qxg7 37. Nf6+ {when Black is mated or loses the queen. wonach Schwarz
mattgesetzt wird oder die Dame verliert.}) 32... Qd8 33. Qd3 $1 {This is the
trick. Das ist der Trick.} Qxe7 (33... Qxc7 {The rook is taboo due to Der Turm
ist tabu wegen} 34. Ng5+ hxg5 (34... Kh8 35. Nf7+ Kh7 36. Qxg6#) 35. Qxg6+ Kh8
36. Qh5+ {and mates. und Matt.}) 34. Rxd7 (34. Nf6+ {was easily winning as
well. gewann ebenfalls leicht.}) 34... Qh4+ 35. Kf3 Qh5+ (35... Kh8 36. Rxg7
Kxg7 {Otherwise Rg8+ or Rh7+ might follow. Ansonsten könnte Rg8+ oder Rh7+
folgen.} 37. Nf6 Ra7 38. Qd8 {is also completely over. ist ebenfalls komplett
gelaufen.}) 36. Kg3 {Black has no more checks, and his king has no protection.
A great way to start the tournament! Schwarz hat keine Schachs mehr, und sein
König keinen Schutz. Ein toller Einstieg in das Turnier!} 1-0

[Event "Sofia MTel Masters 5th"]
[Site "Sofia"]
[Date "2009.05.14"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2717"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2009.05.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BUL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 131"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 g6 7. g4 Bg7 8. Bg2
O-O 9. Be3 Nc6 10. Qd2 Bd7 11. O-O-O b5 12. f4 Rc8 13. e5 b4 14. Nce2 Nxd4 15.
Bxd4 dxe5 16. fxe5 Qa5 17. a3 Nd5 18. e6 fxe6 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. Bxd5 exd5 21.
Qd4+ Kg8 22. axb4 Qa2 23. Nc3 Qa1+ 24. Kd2 Qxb2 25. Rhf1 Rxf1 26. Rxf1 e6 27.
Rb1 Qa3 28. Rb3 Qa1 29. Rb1 Qa3 30. Rb3 Qa1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sofia MTel Masters 5th"]
[Site "Sofia"]
[Date "2009.05.15"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2746"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2009.05.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BUL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 131"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 e6 4. Qc2 Nf6 5. Nbd2 dxc4 6. Nxc4 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8.
g3 b5 9. Nce5 Qc7 10. Qb3 a6 11. Bg2 Bb7 12. O-O Bd5 13. Qc3 Ne4 14. Qe1 O-O
15. Nd3 Bb6 16. Bf4 Qe7 17. Nd2 Nf6 18. e4 Bb7 19. Be3 Nbd7 20. Nb3 Rac8 21. f3
Rfd8 22. Rd1 Ne8 23. Bxb6 Nxb6 24. Qb4 Qc7 25. Qc5 Nc4 26. Qf2 Nf6 27. Nbc5 Nd7
28. b3 Nce5 29. Rc1 Nxd3 30. Nxd3 Qd6 31. Qe3 b4 32. Rfd1 Rxc1 33. Rxc1 a5 34.
Bf1 Ba6 35. Nc5 Nxc5 36. Qxc5 h6 37. Qxd6 Rxd6 38. Bxa6 Rxa6 39. Kf2 a4 40. Rc4
axb3 41. axb3 Ra2+ 42. Kg1 Ra1+ 43. Kg2 Ra2+ 44. Kh3 Rf2 45. f4 f5 46. Rxb4 g5
47. fxg5 hxg5 48. exf5 exf5 49. g4 Rf3+ 50. Kg2 fxg4 51. h4 Kh7 52. hxg5 Kg6
53. Rxg4 Rxb3 54. Rg3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sofia MTel Masters 5th"]
[Site "Sofia"]
[Date "2009.05.16"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Shirov, Alexei"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D44"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2745"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2009.05.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BUL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 131"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e4 b5 7. e5 h6 8. Bh4 g5
9. Nxg5 hxg5 10. Bxg5 Nbd7 11. exf6 Bb7 12. g3 c5 13. d5 Qb6 14. Bg2 O-O-O 15.
O-O b4 16. Na4 Qb5 17. a3 exd5 18. axb4 cxb4 19. Qg4 {An old move in this
well-known position. Other options:} (19. Qd4) (19. Re1 {- see Topalov-Shirov
in this issue}) (19. Be3 {(the most popular move)}) (19. Bf4 {(introduced
recently, with excellent results for White)}) (19. h4) 19... d4 {Positions
arising in the Botvinnik system are usually crazy and hard to assess. Black
tries to clarify the position a little bit. Otherwise White would eventually
create a strong attack on the black king:} (19... Bd6 20. Be3 Kc7 21. Bd4 (21.
Rfd1 $6 Rdg8 22. Qf5 Rg6 23. Bd4 Rhh6 {0-1 Lhost,G-Roussel,C/Bethune 2005/CBM
107 ext (39)}) 21... Rhe8 (21... Ne5 $5) 22. b3 Nc5 23. Nxc5 Bxc5 24. Qf4+ Kb6
25. Be5 (25. Ra4 $1 a5 26. Rfa1 $16) 25... Rxe5 26. Qxe5 c3 27. Rfe1 Rd6 28. g4
d4 29. Bxb7 Kxb7 30. Qf5 $16 {1/2-1/2 Zhou Jianchao-Zhang Pengxiang/Wuxi 2006/
CBM 113 ext (35)}) (19... Bh6 20. Rfd1 (20. Rfe1 Rdg8 21. h4 Bxg5 22. hxg5 d4
23. Qxd4 Bxg2 24. Kxg2 Rxg5 25. Re4 Qf5 26. Qxc4+ Kd8 27. Re8+ {0-1 Babula,
V-Kanovsky,D/Luhacovice 2003/CBM 094}) 20... Rhg8 (20... Rde8 21. b3 c3 22.
Bxh6 Rxh6 23. Rd4 a5 24. Bxd5 Re6 25. Bxe6 fxe6 26. Rxd7 Kxd7 27. Rd1+ {
1-0 Badjarani,I-Peyrou Olya,M/Iran 1997/EXT 2003}) 21. h4 Bxg5 22. hxg5 Bc6 23.
Rd4 Kb7 24. b3 $16 {0-1 Dias,A-Pelletier,Y/Matinhos 1994/EXT 1997 (52)}) (19...
Rg8 20. h4 Bd6 21. Qd4 Be5 22. Qxa7 Kc7 23. Bh3 Nxf6 24. Rfe1 Ra8 25. Qe3 Ne4
26. Bf4 f6 27. Bxe5+ fxe5 28. Qh6 $36 {1-0 Burgess,G-Adnoy,H/Gausdal 2002/CBM
086 ext (36)}) 20. Bxb7+ Kxb7 (20... Qxb7 21. Qxd4 Bd6 22. Qxd6 Rxh2 23. Kxh2
Rh8+ 24. Bh4 $18 {1-0 Ortiz,E-Stein,J/Monterey Park 2004/EXT 2009 (27)}) 21.
Qe4+ Qc6 22. Qxd4 Bd6 23. Rfe1 Rde8 24. Re3 $5 $146 {[%mdl 8] An attempt at an
improvement. Previous games saw:} (24. Rxe8 Rxe8 25. Be3 Bb8 (25... Nb6 26.
Nxb6 axb6 27. Rd1 Be5 28. Qd2 c3 29. bxc3 bxc3 30. Qa2 Re6 31. Rb1 Qe8 32. Qd5+
Kc7 33. Ra1 Qc6 34. Ra7+ Kb8 35. Qxc6 Rxc6 36. Rxf7 Bxf6 $44 {1/2-1/2 Williams,
L-Wilson,J/Hastings 1995/EXT 1998 (40)}) 26. Qxd7+ Qxd7 27. Nc5+ Kc8 28. Nxd7
Kxd7 29. Ra4 (29. Bd2 $5) 29... Bd6 $5 (29... a5 30. Rxa5 Be5 31. Bc5 b3 32.
Ba3 Ke6 33. f4 Bd4+ 34. Kf1 Rb8 $44 {0-1 Zarubin,O-Andrianov,N/Severodonetsk
1982/EXT 1999 (42)}) 30. Rxa7+ Kc6 31. Ra6+ Kd5 32. Kf1 b3 33. Ra5+ Kc6 34.
Ra6+ {1/2-1/2 Beliavsky,A-Smeets,J/Amsterdam 2007/CBM 120 (35)} (34. Bd4 Bb4
35. Ra1 Rd8 36. Be5 Rd2 $44)) 24... Ne5 $1 (24... Rxe3 $6 25. Bxe3 {is poor
for Black as his rook is on h8 and not on e8 as in the previous variation.})
25. h4 (25. Rc1 $5) 25... Re6 {Sometimes chess is very easy: if you don't know
what to do - centralize your pieces! For White it is more difficult to find a
guiding light.} 26. Bf4 (26. Qd1 $5 Rhe8 $140 27. Qh5) 26... Rhe8 27. Bxe5 Rxe5
28. Rxe5 $6 (28. Rae1 $5 Rxe3 29. Rxe3 Rxe3 30. fxe3 Bf8 31. Qd8 Qxa4 32. Qxf8
Qd1+ $11) 28... Rxe5 29. Qg4 $6 {White decides to advance his h-pawn at any
cost.} (29. Rd1 $142 Bc7 {[%csl Ra4]} 30. b3 cxb3 31. Qxb4+ Rb5 $15) 29... Ra5
30. h5 Rxa4 31. Rxa4 Qxa4 32. h6 Qc6 $1 {Consolidation.} 33. Qh5 $6 (33. h7 $2
c3 34. bxc3 bxc3 35. h8=Q c2 $19) (33. Qg8 $142 $1 {[%cal Rh6h7]} Be5 $1 34.
Qxf7+ Ka6 35. Qe7 Bxf6 36. Qxb4 Qb5 37. Qd6+ Qb6 $17) 33... c3 $6 {Of course,
something like} (33... a5 $3 34. Qxf7+ Ka6 $17 {(with the idea of preventing
Qf7-a2+ after ...c4-c3) can hardly be found by a human. White had little
chances to survive in that case, e.g.} 35. h7 (35. Qg6 c3 36. bxc3 bxc3 37. Qc2
Bf8 38. h7 Qxf6) 35... c3 36. bxc3 bxc3 37. h8=Q c2 38. Qh6 c1=Q+ 39. Qxc1
Qxc1+ 40. Kh2 $1 (40. Kg2 Qc6+ 41. Kg1 Be5) 40... Qc2 41. Kg1 Qb1+ 42. Kh2 Qe4
$1 $17) 34. bxc3 bxc3 35. Qxf7+ Bc7 $6 {This leads to a draw. Black could have
kept winning chances after} (35... Ka6 36. Qa2+ Kb5 37. h7 (37. Qc2 Bb4 $1)
37... c2 38. Qb2+ Bb4 39. Qc1 Ba3 40. Qf1+ Ka4 41. h8=Q c1=Q {etc.}) ({or} 
35... Kb6 36. Qb3+ Ka5 {etc.}) 36. Qb3+ Bb6 37. Qf7+ {Black now can't escape
checks.} Bc7 (37... Qc7 38. Qd5+ Ka6 (38... Kb8 $4 39. f7 Qxg3+ 40. Qg2 Bxf2+
41. Kh1 $18) 39. Qa2+ Ba5 40. Qe6+ $11) (37... Ka6 38. Qa2+ Ba5 39. Qe2+ Kb6
40. Qe3+ Kb7 41. Qe7+ Bc7 42. Qb4+ $11) 38. Qb3+ Bb6 39. Qf7+ Bc7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sofia MTel Masters 5th"]
[Site "Sofia"]
[Date "2009.05.17"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Wang, Yue"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D82"]
[WhiteElo "2738"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2009.05.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BUL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 131"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bf4 Bg7 5. e3 c5 6. dxc5 Qa5 7. Rc1 dxc4 8.
Bxc4 O-O 9. Nge2 Qxc5 10. Qb3 Qa5 11. O-O Nbd7 12. a3 Nb6 13. Bc7 Bd7 14. Nd4
Rac8 15. Bxb6 Qxb6 16. Qxb6 axb6 17. Be2 Rc7 18. Ndb5 Rc6 19. Nd4 Rc7 20. Ndb5
Rc6 21. Rfd1 Rb8 22. Nd4 Rc7 23. Ndb5 Rc6 24. Nd4 Rc7 25. Ndb5 Rc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sofia MTel Masters 5th"]
[Site "Sofia"]
[Date "2009.05.19"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D56"]
[WhiteElo "2812"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2009.05.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BUL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 131"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 Ne4 8. Bxe7
Qxe7 9. Rc1 Nxc3 10. Rxc3 c6 11. Be2 dxc4 12. Bxc4 Nd7 13. O-O e5 14. Bb3 Rd8
15. Re1 exd4 16. exd4 Qd6 17. Rd3 Nf8 18. d5 Bf5 19. Rd2 cxd5 20. Rxd5 Qf6 21.
Qd4 Be6 22. Qxf6 gxf6 23. Rh5 Bxb3 24. axb3 Ng6 25. Rxh6 Rd3 26. h4 Rad8 27.
Rh5 Rxb3 28. Rf5 Kg7 29. h5 Nf8 30. Re4 Nh7 31. Rg4+ Kh6 32. Rc4 Rxb2 33. g4 b5
34. Rd4 Rxd4 35. Nxd4 Rb4 36. Rd5 Ng5 37. Kg2 Ne6 38. Nf5+ Kh7 39. Kg3 Rb3+ 40.
Kh2 Rf3 41. Rd7 Ng5 42. Kg2 Rf4 43. Kg3 Rf3+ 44. Kg2 Rf4 45. Kg3 Rf3+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sofia MTel Masters 5th"]
[Site "Sofia"]
[Date "2009.05.20"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D97"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2717"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2009.05.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BUL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 131"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 O-O 7. e4 Nc6 8.
Be2 e5 9. d5 Nd4 10. Nxd4 exd4 11. Qxd4 c6 12. d6 Nd5 13. Qd3 Nxc3 14. bxc3 Qf6
15. Bb2 Rd8 16. Rd1 Qe6 17. f4 Qxa2 18. Rd2 Qa5 19. Qe3 Bd7 20. Kf2 Re8 21. Ra1
Qd8 22. c4 Bxb2 23. Rxb2 b6 24. Bf3 Qh4+ 25. Kg1 Qf6 26. Qd2 g5 27. g3 gxf4 28.
gxf4 Kh8 29. Kh1 Rg8 30. e5 Qh4 31. Qd4 Rg7 32. Rg2 Rag8 33. e6 Bxe6 34. Rxg7
Rxg7 35. Bxc6 f6 36. d7 Bxd7 37. Bxd7 Re7 38. Be6 Rxe6 39. Qd8+ Kg7 40. Rg1+
Kf7 41. Qg8+ Ke7 42. Rg7+ Kd6 43. Qf8+ 1-0

[Event "Sofia MTel Masters 5th"]
[Site "Sofia"]
[Date "2009.05.21"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B77"]
[WhiteElo "2746"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[Annotator "Kritz,L"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2009.05.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BUL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 131"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 {Der Grund, warum Weiß nicht 3.d4 spielt, ist, dass
er mit dieser Zugfolge die Sweschnikow-Variante vermeidet.} ({Nach} 3. d4 {
kann Weiß Sweschnikow nicht mehr ausweichen.} cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6.
Ndb5 d6 $132 {mit 30-Züge langer Theorie.}) ({Eine vernünftige Alternative ist
} 3. Bb5 $5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 {und Weiß bekommt eine Stellung,
die er relativ risikofrei spielen kann.}) 3... g6 {Die Drachen-Variante wurde
in letzter Zeit zur Spezialität von Magnus Carlsen.} 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6.
Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 ({Nach} 7. Nxc6 bxc6 (7... dxc6 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Bc4 Ke8 10. f3
$14) 8. e5 {muss Schwarz den Bauer opfern:} Nd5 $1 (8... Ng8 9. Bd4 f6 10. f4
Qa5 11. Qe2 $14 {Volokitin - Tiviakov (Copenhagen, 2002)}) 9. Nxd5 cxd5 10.
Qxd5 Rb8 11. Bc4 O-O 12. O-O-O Qc7 $44 {und Schwarz hatte gute Kompensation in
Firman - Efimenko (Lvov, 2001)}) 7... O-O 8. Bb3 d6 {Wohl der beste Zug. Die
Alternativen sind nicht so gut.} ({Ein bekannter Fehler ist} 8... Na5 $2 {Nach}
9. e5 Ne8 10. Bxf7+ $3 Kxf7 (10... Rxf7 11. Ne6 $18) 11. Ne6 $1 $18 {gewinnt
Weiß die Dame oder setzt den gegnerischen König Matt (im Fall von 11....Kxe6)})
({Nicht gut für Schwarz ist auch die Variante} 8... a5 $6 9. O-O a4 10. Nxa4
Nxe4 11. Nb5 Ra6 12. c4 d6 13. Qe2 $14 {Weiß kontrolliert alle wichtigen
Felder im Zentrum, dazu ist der Damenflügel von Schwarz sehr kompromittiert.})
({Kaum zu empfehlen ist} 8... Ng4 $6 9. Qxg4 Nxd4 10. Qd1 Nxb3 11. axb3 {
, denn obwohl Schwarz den weißen Läufer vernichtet, hat er zu viele Schwächen
im eigenen Lager - der König ist anfällig, der Bauer a7 hängt, das Feld d5 und
die d-Linie stehen den weißen Figuren zur Verfügung.} b6 12. Qd2 Bb7 13. Bh6
$14 {Bologan - Wirthensohn (Bern, 1998)}) 9. f3 {Weiß muss sich gegen die
Drohung 9....Ng4 verteidigen.} Bd7 10. Qd2 Nxd4 {Schwarz will nicht warten bis
Weiß lang rochiert und beginnt aktives Spiel am Damenflügel. Dies hat seine
Vor- und Nachteile. Der Hauptvorteil ist, dass Weiß nicht mehr lang rochieren
kann. Der Hauptnachteil ist, dass im Fall weißer kurzer Rochade die schwarzen
Bauern am Damenflügel anfällig werden können.} (10... Rc8 11. O-O-O {führt zur
Hauptstellung der normalen Drachen-Variante.}) (10... Qa5 11. O-O-O Rfc8 12.
Kb1 Ne5 {geht in die Drachen-Variante über.}) ({Auch nach} 10... Ne5 11. O-O-O
{entsteht die Hauptvariante im Drachen.}) 11. Bxd4 b5 12. h4 ({Wenig
verspricht die sofortige Aktion am Damenflügel} 12. a4 bxa4 (12... a6 $2 {
sieht sehr künstlich aus.} 13. O-O Bc6 14. axb5 axb5 15. Na2 Bb7 16. Nb4 $16 {
Kramnik - Van Wely (Wijk aan Zee, 2004) Der Bauer auf b5 ist sehr schwach.}) ({
Dagegen verdient Betrachtung} 12... b4 $5 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. exd5
Qa5 16. Qd4+ Kg8 17. O-O Rac8 18. Rfe1 Rfe8 19. Kh1 Qc5 20. Qh4 e5 $132 {
Mamedov - Guseinov (Kocaeli, 2008)}) 13. Nxa4 (13. Bxa4 Bxa4 14. Rxa4 Qb8 15.
O-O {1/2-1/2 Nijboer - Tiviakov (Hilversum, 2007)}) 13... Be6 $1 14. Bxe6 fxe6
15. O-O Qc7 16. Nc3 Rfc8 $132 {und Schwarz hatte keine Sorgen in Vallejo Pons
- Anand (Leon, 2008)}) (12. O-O $5 {Die kurze Rochade bietet sich an.} b4 $1 {
Nur so! Schwarz muss in diesem Moment sehr aufpassen und nicht auf das logisch
aussehende 12...a5 verfallen.} (12... a5 $6 13. a4 b4 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15. exd5
Bxd4+ 16. Qxd4 Re8 17. Rfe1 $14 {Weiß steht klar besser, weil Schwarz noch
nicht mal ansatzweise etwas Gegenspiel hat.}) 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 Bxd4+ 15.
Qxd4 a5 $1 {Jetzt kann Weiß nicht mehr so gut a4 spielen, daher bekommt
Schwarz gutes Gegenspiel am Damenflügel.} 16. Rfe1 (16. a4 $6 bxa3 17. Rxa3 a4
18. Bxa4 (18. Bc4 Qc7 $132) 18... Bxa4 19. Rxa4 Rxa4 20. Qxa4 Qb6+ 21. Kh1 Qxb2
$15) 16... Re8 (16... a4 17. Bc4 Re8 18. Re3 Rc8 19. Rae1 Qc7 20. b3 $14) 17.
h4 Qc7 18. h5 Rac8 19. h6 Qc5 $11 {Sutovsky - Van Wely (Polanica Zdroj, 1999)})
12... a5 13. a4 ({Verrückte Komplikationen fangen an nach} 13. h5 a4 14. Bd5 e5
$132 {Bologan - Maze (Evry, 2008)}) 13... bxa4 (13... b4 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15. exd5
Bxd4 16. Qxd4 {Im Vergleich zu der Variante 12.0-0!? steht hier der weiße
König immer noch im Zentrum und das gibt Schwarz Gegenchancen. Trotzdem ist
die weiße Stellung etwas angenehmer zu spielen.} e5 $1 17. dxe6 Bxe6 18. O-O-O
$5 (18. Bxe6 Re8 19. O-O-O Rxe6 $132) 18... Bxb3 19. cxb3 Re8 20. Kb1 Re2 21.
h5 $36 {Berg - Smerdon (Liverpool, 2007)}) 14. Bxa4 {Bis jetzt wurde fast
ausschließlich 14.Nxa4 gespielt.} (14. Nxa4 Be6 15. Nb6 ({Nichts bringt} 15.
Bxe6 fxe6 16. b3 Qc7 17. Qc3 Qb7 $132 {Berg - Macieja (Oslo, 2009)}) 15... Ra6
16. Nd5 Bxd5 17. exd5 {denn Schwarz bekommt schnell das Gegenspiel am
Damenflügel:} Qc7 18. Ra4 Rb8 19. h5 (19. Kf2 h5 20. Re1 Ne8 21. Bxg7 Kxg7 22.
Rae4 a4 23. Qd4+ Nf6 24. Rxe7 Qb6 25. Qxb6 Raxb6 26. Bxa4 Rxb2 27. Kg3 Nxd5 $11
{Motylev - Kudrin (Minneapolis, 2005)}) 19... Nxh5 20. Bxg7 Kxg7 21. g4 Nf6 22.
Qh6+ Kg8 23. Rf4 Qc5 24. Rxf6 exf6 25. Kd1 (25. Qxh7+ Kf8 26. Qh8+ Ke7 27. Qxb8
Qe3+ 28. Kf1 Qxf3+ 29. Kg1 Qg3+ 30. Kf1 Qf3+ $11) 25... Rxb3 26. cxb3 Qxd5+ 27.
Kc2 Rc6+ 28. Kb1 Qd3+ 29. Ka2 g5 $15 {Shirov - Ivanchuk (Wijk aan Zee, 1999)})
14... h5 $5 $146 {Schwarz verhindert alle möglichen Angriffsversuche von Weiß.
Das kostet ihn jedoch einen Zug Zeit, was Weiß vielleicht ausnutzen kann, um
seine Initiative zu entwickeln.} (14... Bxa4 15. Rxa4 Qd7 16. O-O Qb7 17. Rfa1
Rfd8 18. b3 e5 19. Be3 d5 $132 {Jenni - Wirthensohn (Pontresina, 2000)}) 15.
O-O Rb8 16. Bxd7 (16. Bb3 Qc7 17. Nd5 $2 Nxd5 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. exd5 Qc5+ 20.
Rf2 a4 21. Bxa4 Bxa4 22. Rxa4 Rxb2 $17) 16... Nxd7 (16... Qxd7 {gleicht wohl
auch aus.} 17. b3 Qc7 (17... Rfc8 18. Rxa5 e5 19. Ba7 Qc7 20. Nd5 Nxd5 21. Qxd5
$14) 18. Ra4 Rfc8 19. Rc4 Qd8 20. Rxc8 Rxc8 $11 {Mit nur einem Turm kann Weiß
keinen starken Druck gegen den Bauern a5 entwickeln.}) 17. b3 Bxd4+ 18. Qxd4
Qb6 {Üblicherweise ist der Damentausch erwünscht für Weiß, aber in dieser
Stellung schafft es Schwarz sehr schnell, seinen schwachen Bauern a5
abzutauschen und er kann versuchen, auf Konter zu spielen.} 19. Qxb6 (19. Qf2
$1 {Das sieht sehr komisch aus, wäre aber die beste Fortsetzung gewesen. Durch
das Nehmen auf b6 bringt Weiß den schwarzen Springer dorthin, wo er den
Vormarsch a4 unterstützen kann.} Qxf2+ 20. Rxf2 (20. Kxf2 $4 Rfc8 $19) 20...
Ra8 21. Nd5 e6 22. Ne3 $14 {Schwarz hat nun eine weitere Schwäche auf d6. Weiß
hat einen kleinen Vorteil.}) 19... Nxb6 20. Nd1 (20. Ne2 Rfc8 21. c4 Nd7 (21...
a4 22. bxa4 Nxc4 23. a5 $14 {Der Bauer kann bei Gelegenheit gefährlich werden.}
) 22. Rxa5 Rxb3 23. Ra7 Ne5 24. Rxe7 Rxc4 $11) 20... Rfc8 21. Ne3 Ra8 $1 {
Schwarz bereitet den Zug 22....a4 vor, wonach seine einzige Schwäche - der
Bauer a5 - abgetauscht wird.} 22. Ra2 a4 23. Rfa1 axb3 24. Rxa8 Nxa8 $1 {
Sehr richtige Entscheidung - ein Paar Türme sollte Schwarz auf dem Brett
lassen, um die Möglichkeit zu haben, den Bauern b3 anzugreifen. Das
Springerendspiel dagegen ist eher zum weißen Vorteil.} (24... Rxa8 $6 25. Rxa8+
Nxa8 26. cxb3 e6 27. Kf2 Kf8 28. Ke2 Ke7 29. Kd3 Kd7 30. g4 $1 $14 {
/\gh-Ng2-Nf4}) 25. cxb3 Nb6 26. Ra7 Rc3 ({Zum selben Ergebnis führt} 26... Kf8
27. Rb7 Rc3 28. Kf2 Rxb3 29. Nc4 Rxf3+ 30. gxf3 Nxc4 $11) 27. Kf2 e6 {Der
sicherste Weg, in ein remisliches Endspiel zu gelangen.} (27... Rxb3 28. Rxe7
Rb2+ 29. Kf1 Rb1+ 30. Ke2 Rb2+ 31. Kd3 $14 {Weiß behält kleine Chancen dank
der besseren Position seiner Figuren, aber bei richtigem Spiel muss Schwarz
Remis machen können.}) 28. Rb7 (28. b4 Rb3 $15) 28... Rxb3 29. Nc4 Rxf3+ 30.
gxf3 Nxc4 31. Rb4 d5 32. exd5 exd5 33. Rb8+ Kg7 34. Rd8 Kf6 35. Rxd5 Ke6 36.
Rb5 Nd6 $11 {Weiß hat keine Chancen auf Gewinn.} 37. Ra5 Nf5 38. Ra6+ Ke5 39.
Ra5+ Ke6 40. Ra6+ Ke5 41. Ra5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sofia MTel Masters 5th"]
[Site "Sofia"]
[Date "2009.05.22"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wang, Yue"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2738"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2009.05.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BUL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 131"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. c5 Bf5 6. Nh4 Bg6 7. Bf4 (7. Qb3 Qc8
8. Nxg6 hxg6 9. e3 Nbd7 10. Bd2 e5 11. f4 exf4 12. exf4 Be7 13. O-O-O Nf8 14.
Bd3 Ne6 15. Ne2 Ng4 16. Rdf1 f5 $11 {1/2-1/2 Sasikiran,K (2694)-Movsesian,S 
(2732)/Dresden 2008 (24)}) 7... Nbd7 8. Nxg6 (8. e3 {should be answered with}
e5 $1 (8... e6 9. h3 Be7 10. Nxg6 hxg6 11. Bd3 Qc8 12. O-O O-O 13. b4 Re8 14.
Bh2 Bd8 15. f4 $14 {1-0 Anand,V (2791)-Wang Yue (2739)/Nice (rapid) 2009 (61)})
9. dxe5 (9. Bg3 Be7 $11 {0-1 Akobian,V (2612)-Lenderman,A (2434)/Ledyard 2009 
(34)}) (9. Bxe5 Nxe5 10. dxe5 Nd7 $132) 9... Nh5 {with good play for Black})
8... hxg6 9. h3 (9. e3 e5 $1) 9... b6 $146 (9... e5 10. dxe5 Ng4 (10... Qc7 11.
b4 Nxe5 12. e3 $14) (10... Nh5 $5 11. Bh2 Bxc5 $13 12. g4 $140 Qb6 13. e3 Qxb2
14. Rc1 d4 $1) 11. e4 Ngxe5 (11... Ndxe5 $2 12. hxg4 Rxh1 13. Bxe5) 12. exd5
Bxc5 13. dxc6 $14) (9... e6 10. e3 Be7 11. Bd3 Qc8 {now the best for White is}
12. O-O $14 {which transposes to the aforementioned game Anand-Wang Yue, see 8.
e3 e6 above.}) 10. cxb6 (10. b4 $2 bxc5 11. bxc5 e5 12. dxe5 Bxc5 $1 13. exf6
Qxf6 {[%csl Rc3,Rf4]} 14. Qc1 (14. Qd2 $2 Bb4) 14... Bd4 (14... Bb4 $2 15. Bd2)
15. Bd2 Bxf2+ 16. Kd1 O-O $17) 10... Qxb6 11. Rb1 e6 12. e3 c5 13. a3 Bd6 (
13... cxd4 $142 14. exd4 Bd6 15. Be3 O-O 16. Bd3 $14 {/=}) (13... Be7 14. dxc5
Nxc5 15. b4 $14) 14. Na4 Qc7 (14... Qa5+ $2 15. b4 cxb4 16. Bxd6 b3+ 17. Bb4
Qxa4 18. Rxb3 $16) 15. Bxd6 Qxd6 16. Nxc5 Nxc5 17. dxc5 Qxc5 18. Qa4+ Ke7 19.
Bd3 a5 20. Ke2 $14 {The king leaves the first rank so that later Black takes
on c1 without check. White has a slight advantage, but with accurate play
Black should be able to neutralize it.} (20. O-O Rhc8 $11) 20... Rhc8 (20... d4
$142 $1 21. Qxd4 (21. exd4 Qh5+ 22. g4 Qd5 $44) 21... Qxd4 22. exd4 Rhd8 23.
Rhc1 Rxd4 $14 {/=}) 21. Rhc1 Qxc1 (21... Qb6 22. Rxc8 Rxc8 23. b4 $14) 22. Rxc1
Rxc1 23. b4 Kf8 $6 (23... e5 24. Kd2 $14 (24. Qb5 $5)) (23... Ne4 24. Bxe4 dxe4
25. b5 $14) 24. bxa5 Kg8 25. a6 $16 Rc7 26. Qf4 Rca7 27. Qd4 Ne4 (27... Rc7 28.
Qb6 Rca7 29. h4 $16) 28. Qb6 e5 $6 (28... Nf6 $142 29. h4 $16) 29. Ke1 Ng5 30.
Bb5 Ne6 31. a4 $18 d4 (31... Kh7 32. a5 Kg8 33. Bc6 Rxa6 34. Bxa8 Rxb6 35. axb6
$18) 32. a5 Rc7 (32... dxe3 33. fxe3 Nf8 (33... g5 34. Ke2 g6 35. Bc6 Rxa6 36.
Bxa8 Rxb6 37. axb6 Nc5 38. Bd5 $18) 34. Bc4 (34. Bc6 Rxa6 35. Bxa8 Rxb6 36.
axb6 Nd7 37. b7 $11 {[%csl Ra8]}) 34... Kh7 35. Qb5 f6 36. Bd5 $18) 33. Bc6 (
33. Bc6 Raa7 34. Bb7 $18) 1-0

[Event "Sofia MTel Masters 5th"]
[Site "Sofia"]
[Date "2009.05.23"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Shirov, Alexei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2745"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2009.05.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BUL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 131"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%mdl 2]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7.
Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 Bg7 11. Bd3 Ne7 12. Nxe7 Qxe7 13. c4 f5
14. O-O O-O 15. Qh5 {This used to be the main variation in the line 10...Bg7.
However, in the past decade 15.Qh5 has been almost completely overshadowed by
15.Qf3.} Rb8 16. exf5 e4 17. Rae1 Bb7 18. Qg4 Rfe8 19. cxb5 d5 20. bxa6 Bc6 21.
b3 {A rare move, which after this game might bring new life into the entire 15.
Qh5 variation. Shirov is not afraid to give his opponent attacking
possibilities. Such a materialistic approach needs to be supported by deep
home analysis.} (21. f3 {is considered to lead to equality after} h5) (21. a7
Rxb2 {is also not problematic for Black.}) 21... Kh8 $146 {Although this plan
didn't work in the present game, it is difficult to believe that White's
queenside pawns are worth more than Black's attacking prospects on the
kingside and the strong pawn centre.} (21... h5 22. Qg3 Kf8 23. Nb1 $6 Be5 24.
f4 Bf6 25. Qf2 $6 Qb4 $1 26. a3 Qd4 $17 {0-1 Koch,J (2453)-San Emeterio
Cabanes,J (2392)/Le Port Marly 2009 (38)}) (21... Bd7 22. a7 Rb7 23. Nc4 $1 Rd8
24. Ne3 exd3 25. Nxd5 Qd6 26. Qg5 $2 (26. Qh4 Bxf5 (26... Bb5 27. f6 $18) 27.
Ne7+ Rxe7 28. Qxe7 $14) 26... f6 27. Qg4 Bc6 $17 {0-1 Fier,A (2526)-Cordova,E 
(2477)/Buenos Aires 2007 (43)}) (21... Qxa3 $2 22. f6 Qf8 23. Be2 $18) 22. Nc2
Be5 23. Be2 d4 ({Not} 23... Rg8 24. Qh5 Rg5 25. Qh6 f6 26. Rd1 {[%cal Gc2d4,
Gc2e3]} Qc5 27. Ne3 Rbg8 28. Rc1 Qb6 29. g3 $16 {/+-}) 24. Bc4 Rg8 25. Qh3 (25.
Qh5 {can lead to the same position as in the game:} Rg7 ({Besides, Black has
an additional possibility} 25... e3 26. g3 Qd6 27. Qh4 Ba8 $44) 26. g3 Rbg8 27.
Qh6 (27. a3 e3 28. Nxe3 dxe3 29. Rxe3 Qf6 $13)) 25... Rg7 ({A reasonable
alternative is} 25... e3 {Then after} 26. g3 Qd6 (26... Qc5 27. Qh4 $16) {
the strongest for White is} 27. Rd1 $1 (27. Bxf7 Rg7 28. Bc4 exf2+ 29. Kxf2 d3
$36) (27. Nxe3 dxe3 28. Rxe3 Bd4 $13) 27... exf2+ 28. Kxf2 Be4 29. Ne1 $1 {
Black has compensation, but it is not clear whether it's enough.}) 26. g3 Rbg8
27. Qh6 {The critical position for the evaluation of 21...Kh8.} Qc7 $2 {
Up till now Carlsen played all logical moves, but now he goes wrong. The point
is that the sacrifices on g3 don't work out for Black and therefore 27...Qc7
is useless. Now Shirov can transfer the knight to d5 with tempo, decisively
improving White's position.} ({After} 27... Ba8 {Black has visible
compensation, especially from the "human" point of view. Nevertheless with
accurate "computer" moves White can defend and remain with slightly better
prospects.} 28. Rd1 (28. a3 {[%cal Gc2b4]} Rg5 $5 (28... e3 29. Nxe3 $1 dxe3
30. Qxe3 Re8 31. f4 Bf6 32. Qxe7 Rxe7 33. Rxe7 Bxe7 34. b4 $18) (28... Qc5 $44)
29. Rd1 (29. Qh3 e3 $40 30. f4 $140 Rg4 31. fxe5 Rh4 $1 $19) (29. f4 exf3 30.
Rf2 (30. Kf2 $2 Rxg3 $19) 30... Qc7 31. Kf1 (31. Kh1 $2 Bxg3 32. Re8 Bf4 33.
Qf6+ R5g7 34. Rxg8+ Kxg8 35. Qxd4 Rg2 $19) 31... Bxg3 32. Re8 Rxe8 (32... Bf4
33. Qf6+ R5g7 34. Rxg8+ Kxg8 35. Qxd4 $16) 33. Qxg5 Bxf2 34. Qf6+ Kg8 35. Qg5+
$11) 29... e3 $40) 28... Qc5 $5 (28... e3 29. Nxe3 $1 dxe3 30. f6 $1 (30. Qxe3
Bxg3 31. hxg3 Rxg3+ 32. Qxg3 Qh4 33. Bd5 $11) 30... Bxf6 31. Qxe3 Qc7 32. Bd5
Qa5 33. Bb7 Bxb7 34. axb7 Qc7 35. Qe4 Rb8 36. Qf5 Rg6 37. Rd7 Qc6 38. Rxf7 Rxb7
39. Rxb7 Qxb7 $14) 29. Rfe1 ({Worse is} 29. Rc1 e3 30. Ne1 Bd6 $44 {[%cal
Gc5f5]}) 29... e3 30. Kf1 $1 {The best defence against the sacrifice on g3.} (
30. Nxe3 dxe3 31. Qxe3 Bxg3 $1 32. Qxc5 Bd6+ 33. Kf1 Bxc5 $15) 30... Rg5 (30...
Bxg3 31. hxg3 Rxg3 32. fxg3 Qxf5+ {doesn't work in view of} 33. Qf4 $18) 31.
Nxe3 dxe3 32. Rd8 $1 e2+ 33. Rxe2 Rxd8 34. Qxg5 Rd1+ 35. Re1 Rxe1+ 36. Kxe1 Qd4
37. Qe3 $14) 28. Nb4 {Immediately exploiting the fact that the b4-square is no
longer controlled by the opponent's queen. As the result Black loses the
e4-pawn and the long diagonal remains closed. Suddenly White is easily winning.
} Ba8 (28... Bxg3 {is answered by the cool} 29. fxg3 Rxg3+ 30. Kh1 {and it's
over for Black.}) 29. Nd5 Qd8 (29... Qd7 30. Rxe4 Qxf5 31. Qh4 d3 32. Re3 $18)
(29... Bxd5 30. Bxd5 e3 {creates no threats at all, since the control over
diagonal a8-h1 secures White's defence against any threats on the g-file.} 31.
Qc6 $18) 30. Rxe4 (30. Rxe4 f6 31. Rxe5 fxe5 32. Nf6 Rf8 33. Nh5 Ra7 34. f6 $18
{[%cal Gh6g7]}) 1-0

[Event "Leon 22nd"]
[Site "Leon"]
[Date "2009.06.06"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wang, Yue"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2738"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "162"]
[EventDate "2009.06.05"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 130 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.02"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Vassily Ivanchuk defenderá su título el domingo en la final ante el vencedor
del encuentro entre dos jugadores del siglo XXI: Magnus Carlsen, noruego,
tercero del ranking mundial, 18 años y según la opinión de muchos de sus más
cualificados colegas futuro campeón mundial, se verá las caras con Wang Yue,
chino de 22 años, recién llegado a la élite mundial donde ha demostrado ser un
rival extremadamente difícil de batir. Carlsen y Wang se enfrentaron por
primera vez -siempre según la megadatabase 2009- en Bakú en abril de 2008 y
desde entonces se han encontrado regularmente en los torneos más importantes
del mundo: Olimpiada, Wijk ann Zee, Linares, Niza y Sofia. En total han jugado
9 veces y el resultado en partidas digamos serias, es decir a ritmo clásico,
el GM chino ha alcanzado dos veces la victoria y una sola vez tuvo que
inclinar su rey. Sin embargo, con menos tiempo en el reloj, Magnus ha ganado
las dos partidas que han disputado hasta ahora.} 1. c4 {Carlsen juega
normalmente líneas muy sólidas con 1.d4 y gusta alcanzar posiciones de
carácter técnico donde juega con una precisión pasmosa para un jugador de su
edad.} Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. Nf3 e6 4. g3 b6 {Wang elige el esquma llamado del
erizo que se producirá después del previsible d4 de las blancas} 5. Bg2 Bb7 6.
O-O Be7 7. d4 cxd4 8. Qxd4 O-O 9. Rd1 Nc6 ({Una continuación menos frecuente
que} 9... d6 {desarrollando el N pop d7 sin acosar a la dama blanca que las
blancas de todos modos deben acabar reagrupando}) 10. Qf4 Qb8 11. e4 d6 12. b3
Rd8 13. Bb2 a6 14. Qe3 {Tenemos una típica posición del sistema erizo: no hay
nada concreto ni directo y la habilidad en el juego de maniobra es el factor
que puede desequilibrar la partida hacia uno u otro bando.} Qa7 15. h3 ({
Una antigua y venerable partida prosiguió} 15. Ne1 Rab8 16. Nc2 Ba8 17. Qe2 Qb7
18. a4 Qc8 19. Rab1 Ne8 20. f4 Bf6 21. h3 Nc7 22. Kh2 Na7 23. Ne3 Ne8 24. Ng4
Be7 25. Rbc1 Nf6 26. f5 Re8 27. Na2 exf5 28. Nxf6+ Bxf6 29. Bxf6 gxf6 30. Rxd6
Qc5 31. Rxf6 Qe5 32. Rh6 Nc6 33. Rh4 Nd4 34. Qh5 Qg7 35. Nc3 Re5 36. Qd1 Ne6
37. exf5 Rxf5 38. Nd5 Rg5 39. Qd3 Rd8 40. Rxh7 Qd4 41. Qxd4 Nxd4 42. Nf6+ Kf8
43. Rh8+ Ke7 44. Rxd8 {1-0 Taimanov,M-Kholmov,R Cto. Soviético,Tbilisi 1966.
Un ejemplo de la riqueza e infinidad de aventuras que pueden provenir de esta
compleja posición.}) 15... Rab8 16. Ba3 Ba8 17. Rac1 Qb7 {Wang prepara la
ruptura temática b5} 18. Nd4 Nxd4 19. Rxd4 Ne8 20. Rcd1 b5 {temática, aunque
en esta ocasión no parece resolver aún todos los problemas de las negras
debido a} 21. cxb5 axb5 22. Bb4 {fijando b5} Bf6 23. R4d2 Rdc8 24. f4 Bxc3 {
Una decisión de mucha responsabilidad.} ({la alternativa era} 24... Qc7 {
apartándose de la mirada del alfil de g2}) 25. Bxc3 b4 {A cambio del alfil de
casillas negras lWang Yue fija la mayoría de peones blancos del flanco de dama}
26. Bb2 Qb6 {Wang fuerza el cambio de damas, una decisión acertada que reduce
el peligro que encierra la presencia del alfil de casillas negras en la gran
diagonal.} 27. Qxb6 Rxb6 28. Bd4 Ra6 29. Bf1 Ra3 30. Bd3 {Las blancas están un
poco mejor debido a la pareja de alfiles y a la posible debilidad del peón de
b4, pero la posición negra tiene buenos recursos defensivosÑ presión sobre
"e4" para forzar el avance e5 o bien el cambio de uno de los alfiles} Nf6 31.
Re1 h6 32. e5 {Carlsen abre la posición para sus alfiles, en especial para
buscar una casilla negra desde donde atacar b4. a cambio cede la casilla d5 a
las piezas negras} dxe5 33. Bxe5 Rd8 $6 {una jugada inesperada que ofrece al
blanco la posibilidad de jugar} ({es mejor jugar} 33... Ra5 {y contra} 34. Bd6
{las negras disponen de} Nd5) 34. Bh7+ Kxh7 35. Rxd8 Rxa2 {las negras han
ganado un peón por la calidad} 36. Ra1 Rxa1+ ({no es consistente} 36... Rg2+
37. Kf1 Bf3 38. Bxf6 gxf6 39. Ra7 Rxg3 40. Rxf7+ Kg6 41. Rg8+ Kxf7 42. Rxg3 {
con un final mucho peor que el de la partida}) 37. Bxa1 Bd5 38. Bxf6 gxf6 39.
Rb8 ({No es suficiente} 39. Rxd5 exd5 40. f5 {por} Kg8 41. Kf2 Kf8 42. Ke3 Ke7
43. Kd4 Kd6 {y las negras llegan a tiempo}) 39... Bxb3 40. Rxb4 Bc2 {las
negras aspiran a construir una fortaleza inexpucnable.} 41. Rb5 Kg6 42. Kf2 h5
43. Ke3 Bf5 44. h4 Bc2 45. Kd4 Ba4 46. Ra5 Bb3 47. Kc5 {la incursión con el
rey hasta la octava fila pone cuestión la idea defensiva del GM chino} e5 48.
fxe5 fxe5 49. Kb4 Bc2 50. Rxe5 f6 51. Rc5 Bb1 52. Kb5 Be4 53. Kb6 Bf3 54. Kc7
Kf7 55. Kd6 Bg4 56. Ra5 Kf8 57. Ra7 Bf5 {y de nuevo las negras ponen una
muralla difícil de franquear} 58. Ra5 Bg4 {Este es una posición que el
ordenador no entiende: su dictamen es que la posición está completamente
perdida, sin embargo Wang va a demostrar que en realidad la evaluación
correcta es la igualdad.} 59. Ra4 Bh3 60. Kc7 Ke7 61. Re4+ Kf8 62. Kd8 Kf7 63.
Re7+ Kf8 64. Ra7 Bg4 65. Kc7 Bh3 66. Kc6 Bg4 67. Kc5 Bh3 68. Kd6 Bg4 69. Rb7
Bh3 70. Rb4 Kf7 71. Re4 Kf8 72. Kc5 Kf7 73. Kd4 Kf8 74. Ke3 Kf7 75. Ra4 Bf5 76.
Ra7+ Kf8 77. Ra4 Kf7 ({por supuesto no} 77... Bg4 $4 {por} 78. Rxg4 {y ganan})
78. Kf3 Bh3 79. Kf4 Bg4 80. Ra5 Kf8 81. Ra7 Kg8 {Y tras intentarlo todo
Carlsen se resigna. Una demostración de habilidad defensiva extraordinaria a
cargo de Wang Yue} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leon 22nd"]
[Site "Leon"]
[Date "2009.06.06"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Wang, Yue"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D82"]
[WhiteElo "2738"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2009.06.05"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 130 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.02"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bf4 Bg7 5. e3 c5 6. dxc5 Qa5 7. Rc1 Ne4 ({
En el reciente torneo de Sofia Wang se enfrentó dos veces a} 7... dxc4 8. Bxc4
O-O 9. Nge2 Qxc5 10. Qb3 Nc6 11. Nb5 Qh5 12. Ng3 Qh4 13. Nc7 e5 14. Bg5 Qxg5
15. h4 Qg4 16. Nxa8 Qd7 {una novedad preparada por Topalov para la última
ronda del torneo} ({pero es} 16... e4 17. Nc7 Na5 18. Qb5 Nxc4 19. Qxc4 Bd7 20.
Nd5 Nxd5 21. Qxd5 Bxb2 22. Rc2 Bc6 23. Qg5 Qxg5 24. hxg5 {y las blancas
consiguieron ventaja en la partida Wang Yue (2738)-Dominguez Perez,L (2717)
Sofia 2009}) 17. Rd1 Qe7 18. Qa3 Nb4 19. O-O Bg4 20. f3 Bh6 21. fxg4 Nxg4 22.
Rxf7 Rxf7 23. Nf1 Kg7 24. Bxf7 Qxf7 25. Qxb4 Qf2+ 26. Kh1 Qxh4+ 27. Kg1 Qf2+
28. Kh1 Qh4+ 29. Kg1 Bxe3+ 30. Nxe3 Qf2+ 31. Kh1 Qh4+ 32. Kg1 Qf2+ 33. Kh1 Qh4+
{El jaque continuo pone fin a esta espectacular partida Wang Yue (2738)
-Topalov,V (2812)/Sofia 2009}) 8. cxd5 Nxc3 9. Qd2 Qxa2 10. Rxc3 $5 {Wang Yue
es un experto en esta variante por lo que no cabe esperar que haya sorprendido
a Carlsen, ambos han jugado hasta aquí a gran velocidad.} ({Petrosian logró su
única victoria en el hístórica final del torneo de candidatos contra Bobby
Fischer jugado en Buenos Aires 1971} 10. bxc3 Qa5 11. Bc4 Nd7 12. Ne2 Ne5 13.
Ba2 Bf5 14. Bxe5 Bxe5 15. Nd4 Qxc5 16. Nxf5 gxf5 17. O-O Qa5 18. Qc2 f4 19. c4
fxe3 20. c5 Qd2 21. Qa4+ Kf8 22. Rcd1 Qe2 23. d6 Qh5 24. f4 e2 25. fxe5 exd1=Q
26. Rxd1 Qxe5 27. Rf1 f6 28. Qb3 Kg7 29. Qf7+ Kh6 30. dxe7 f5 31. Rxf5 Qd4+ 32.
Kh1 {1-0 Petrosian, T-Fischer,R Buenos Aires (m/2)}) 10... Bxc3 11. Qxc3 f6 (
11... Qa1+ 12. Kd2 f6 13. Nf3 O-O 14. Bh6 Rf7 15. Rg1 $1 Na6 16. Bd3 {y las
blancas obtuvieron mejor juego en Lalic,B (2527)-Schaefer,M (2180) Porto San
Giorgio op 2004}) 12. Nf3 (12. Bb5+ Bd7 {no causa problemas al negro} 13. c6
bxc6 14. dxc6 Nxc6 15. Bxc6 Qa1+ 16. Kd2 Bxc6 17. Qxc6+ Kf7 18. Nf3 Qxh1 19.
Ng5+ fxg5 20. Qd5+ Kg7 21. Qe5+ {y todo acaba en tablas en una variante típica
de computadora}) 12... Bd7 13. Be2 Qxd5 14. O-O Nc6 15. b4 a5 16. b5 Nb4 17.
Rd1 {es evidente que las blancas tienen compensación por la calidad, la
posición es de una gran complejidad pero parace más fácil de jugar con blancas
sobre todo al rápido ritmo de este torneo magistral.} Qe4 18. Ne1 ({Es
prometedor} 18. c6 $1 bxc6 19. b6 {creando un amenazador peón pasado} e5 {
y ahora las blancas tienen} 20. Nxe5 fxe5 21. b7 Rb8 22. Bxe5 {con muchas
amenazas}) 18... Nd5 19. Qd2 e6 20. Nc2 ({si} 20. f3 {las negras tienen} Qb4)
20... O-O $2 ({es mejor} 20... Qa4 {para impedir la coordinación de las piezas
blancas} 21. Bd6 Kf7 22. Nd4 Qb4 {con una posición muy tensa pero con
posibilidades para ambos bandos}) {Ahora las piezas blancas consiguen una gran
actividad} 21. Bd6 Rfd8 22. Nd4 Qh4 23. g3 Qh6 {La Q está aquí fuera de juego}
24. Bc4 Re8 25. Nxe6 $1 {un golpe terrible: las blancas conducen
magistralmente la iniciativa} Bxe6 26. Bxd5 Qg7 27. c6 $1 Rad8 28. Bxe6+ Rxe6
29. c7 Rc8 30. Qd5 {y la posición negra se cae a pedazos} Qd7 31. b6 $1 Kf7 32.
Qxb7 Rxd6 {un intento desesperado} 33. Rxd6 Qxd6 34. Qxc8 Qd1+ 35. Kg2 Qd5+ 36.
f3 Qd2+ 37. Kh3 Qd1 38. Qa6 Qd7+ 39. g4 Qd1 40. Qc4+ Kg7 41. Kg3 Qg1+ 42. Kf4
Qxh2+ 43. Ke4 Qe5+ 44. Kd3 Qd6+ 45. Kc2 {y se han acabado los jaques. Un
magnífica partida de Wang Yue que da la sorpresa y cobra ventaja en su
encuentro ante el tercer jugador del mundo.} 1-0

[Event "Leon 22nd"]
[Site "Leon"]
[Date "2009.06.06"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wang, Yue"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E55"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2738"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "45"]
[EventDate "2009.06.05"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 130 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.02"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 {Wang, gran experto en la defensa eslava,
sortprende hoy con una Nimzoindia} 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 c5 6. Nf3 d5 7. O-O {
Un cruce de caminos en esta posición la negras pueden elegir por lo menos una
docena de sistemas defensivos.} dxc4 8. Bxc4 Nbd7 ({Karpov prefería en sus
tiempo} 8... cxd4 9. exd4 b6) 9. Qe2 cxd4 ({Es más precisa} 9... b6 {y sólo
después de} 10. Rd1 cxd4 11. exd4 Bxc3 12. bxc3 Bb7 {con una posición típica
de este sistema Sasikiran,K (2682)-Yu Shaoteng (2504) Subic Bay 2009}) 10. exd4
b6 {finalmente nos encontramos con el clásico peón aislado, uno de los temas
recurrente en los bosques nimzoindios.} 11. d5 {Hemos llegado a la misma
posición de la partida Ivanchuk-Anand jugada en la final de la pasada edición
del Magistral de León: Ivanchuk se impuso en tan solo 16 jugadas.....} Nc5 $2 {
una jugada con fama de perdedora} ({lo más sólido es seguir el juego de Karpov
con} 11... Bxc3 12. dxe6 Bb4 13. exd7 Qxd7 14. a3 Bd6 15. Rd1 Qc7 16. h3 Bb7
17. Be3 Rae8 $11 {con aproximada igualdad en Portisch,L-Karpov,A San Antonio
1972}) 12. Rd1 Qe8 13. Nb5 exd5 14. Nc7 Qc6 $2 ({Anand perdió con} 14... Qe4 $2
15. Rd4 Qg6 16. Nh4 {1-0 Ivanchuk,V (2740)-Anand,V (2803) León 2008}) ({
la triste} 14... Qxe2 15. Bxe2 Rb8 16. Bf4 {es la única posibilidad de
supervivencia a disposición de las negras}) 15. Nxd5 $1 {las blancas ganan
material} Nxd5 16. Bxd5 Ba6 17. Qc2 Qg6 18. Qxg6 hxg6 19. Bxa8 (19. a3 Be2 20.
axb4 Bxd1 21. bxc5 {es otra manera de conseguir gran ventaja}) 19... Rxa8 20.
Bd2 Bxd2 21. Rxd2 Bb7 22. Rad1 Kf8 23. Ne5 {y Wang Yue abandona. Carlsen
empata el match en una partida en la que el GM chino se ha autosorprendido
perdiendose en las variantes de una defensa nueva para él. Un caso es único
puesto que la partida que refuta esta variante se jugó el año pasado aquí en
León. Está claro que Wang Yue no lee nuestros boletines.} 1-0

[Event "Leon 22nd"]
[Site "Leon"]
[Date "2009.06.06"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Wang, Yue"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E05"]
[WhiteElo "2738"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2009.06.05"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 130 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.02"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 {Apertura Catalana} d5 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O
dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. Qxc4 ({La alternativa es} 8. a4) 8... b5 9. Qc2 Bb7 10. Bd2
Bd6 11. Re1 ({Magnus tiene experiencia con esta posición al más alto nivel} 11.
Bg5 Nbd7 12. Nbd2 Rc8 13. Nb3 c5 14. Bxf6 Nxf6 15. Nxc5 Be4 16. Qc3 e5 17. e3
Bxc5 18. dxc5 Qd5 19. Rad1 Qa8 20. Nh4 Bxg2 21. Nxg2 Ne4 22. Qxe5 Rxc5 {
dió como resultado unas tablas después de algunas jugadas en Kramnik,V (2785)
-Carlsen,M (2714) Moscú 2007}) 11... Be4 12. Qc1 Bb7 13. Bg5 Nbd7 14. Nbd2 ({
Gelfand intentó la más directa} 14. e4 {contra el campeón de mundo. Anand hizo
un alarde de técnica defensiva} Be7 15. Nbd2 c5 16. e5 Nd5 17. Ne4 cxd4 18. Qd2
Bxg5 19. Nexg5 h6 20. Ne4 Ne3 $1 21. fxe3 Bxe4 22. exd4 Bd5 23. Nh4 Nb6 24. Be4
Rc8 25. Ng2 Bxe4 {1/2-1/2 Gelfand,B (2737)-Anand,V (2799) Wijk aan Zee 2008})
14... h6 15. Bxf6 Nxf6 16. Nb3 {esta es la idea de Bg5: las blancas cambian en
f6 y luchan por el control de la casilla c5 que es el punto de contacto
temático del juego negro en esta posición} Rc8 17. Nc5 Bxc5 18. Qxc5 Ne4 19.
Qa3 ({Atacar el alfil con} 19. Qa7 {fuerza más o menos la siguiente posición
aparentemente favorable al blanco.} Qd5 20. Nd2 f5 21. Nxe4 fxe4 22. Rac1)
19... c5 20. dxc5 Rxc5 21. Rac1 Rxc1 22. Rxc1 Qb6 23. e3 {ahora la posición
está completamente igualada.} b4 24. Qa4 Rd8 25. Qc2 Rc8 26. Qb1 Rxc1+ 27. Qxc1
Nc5 28. Qd2 Bxf3 $5 {Capablanca dijo que Q+N es mejor que Q+B y aunque la
posición siga siendo equilibrada este cambio no deja de ser un factor de
desequilibrio} 29. Bxf3 a5 30. h4 Qc7 31. h5 Nd7 32. Qd4 Kf8 33. Kg2 Nf6 34. a3
bxa3 35. bxa3 Ke7 36. Qb2 Qc5 37. Qb7+ Kf8 38. Qa8+ Ke7 {Y tablas. El
finalista saldrá de un match de desempate a dos partidas rápidas de .5 minutos
+3 segundos de incremento por jugada. En caso de nuevo empate se recurirá a la
muerte súbita.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leon 22nd"]
[Site "Leon"]
[Date "2009.06.06"]
[Round "1.5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wang, Yue"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2738"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2009.06.05"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 130 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.02"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 Nb6 8.
Ne5 a5 9. f3 Nfd7 10. e4 Nxe5 11. exf5 Nec4 12. Qb3 Nd6 13. Bd3 g6 14. g4 Bg7
15. Be3 Nd7 16. O-O-O Qb6 17. Qxb6 Nxb6 18. fxg6 hxg6 19. h4 Nd5 20. Nxd5 cxd5
21. Kb1 Kd7 22. Rc1 Bh6 23. g5 Bg7 24. Rc5 e6 25. Bf2 b6 26. Rc2 Rac8 27. Rxc8
Rxc8 28. h5 gxh5 29. Rxh5 Rh8 30. Rxh8 Bxh8 31. Kc2 Bg7 32. Be3 Kc6 33. Kc3 b5
34. b3 Kb6 35. Bh7 Kc6 36. Bf4 Nf5 37. Bxf5 exf5 38. Be5 Bf8 39. Kd3 bxa4 40.
bxa4 Kd7 41. Ke3 Bb4 42. f4 Ke6 43. Kf3 Bc3 44. Kg3 Be1+ 45. Kh3 Kd7 46. Bb8
Bc3 47. Be5 Be1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leon 22nd"]
[Site "Leon"]
[Date "2009.06.06"]
[Round "1.6"]
[White "Wang, Yue"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E05"]
[WhiteElo "2738"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2009.06.05"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 130 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.02"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. Qxc4
b5 9. Qc2 Bb7 10. Bd2 Be4 11. Qc1 Bb7 12. Rd1 Qc8 13. Ba5 Nc6 14. Bc3 Rd8 15.
a3 a5 16. e3 Nb8 17. Be1 Nbd7 18. Nbd2 Bd5 19. Nh4 Bxg2 20. Nxg2 a4 21. Qc6 Rb8
22. Rac1 Bd6 23. Ne4 Nxe4 24. Qxe4 Nf6 25. Qf3 e5 26. Nh4 exd4 27. exd4 Qe6 28.
d5 Qe4 29. Bc3 Qxf3 30. Nxf3 Ne4 31. Ba5 Rd7 32. Nd4 Bc5 33. f3 Rxd5 34. fxe4
Rxd4 35. Kg2 Rxd1 36. Rxd1 Bd6 37. Rc1 f6 38. Rc6 b4 39. axb4 Bxb4 40. Bxb4
Rxb4 41. Rxc7 Rxb2+ 42. Kh3 Rb4 43. e5 fxe5 44. Re7 a3 45. Ra7 Rb3 46. Kg4 e4
47. Kf4 e3 48. Kf3 h6 49. h4 e2+ 50. Kxe2 Rxg3 51. Kf2 Rh3 52. Kg2 Rxh4 53.
Rxa3 Rf4 0-1

[Event "Leon 22nd"]
[Site "Leon"]
[Date "2009.06.07"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B76"]
[WhiteElo "2746"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2009.06.05"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 130 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.02"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Vassily Ivanchuk y Magnus Carlsen protagonizan la final del XXII Torneo
Magistral Ciudad de León: el futuro del ajedrez que encarna mejor que nadie el
GM noruego de 18 años, se enfrenta a un jugador, que a sus cuarenta años,
lleva más de veinte maravillando al mundo con sus partidas. Ivanchuk, campeón
en León en 2008 y Campeón del Mundo de Blitz en 2007, es, quizás con Anand, el
mejor jugador del mundo en partidas a ritmos rápidos, con Carlsen se ha
enfrentado doce veces en esta clase de encuentros y el resultado le favorece:
3 victorias, 8 empates y una sola derrota. Carlsen por su parte aventaja al
ucraniano en partidas disputadas a ritmo clásico por cuatro victorias a dos y
diez empates.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7
7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2 O-O {La variante dragon de la siciliana era muy posible en
esta primera partida ya que Carlsen la emplea mucho.} 9. O-O-O {9.Ac4 es la
otra gran posibilidad,evitando la jugada del negro en la partida.} d5 10. exd5
({Le habian jugado anteriormente a Magnus:} 10. Qe1 e5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. exd5
cxd5 13. Bg5 Be6 14. Bc4 Qc7 15. Bxf6 dxc4 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Nd5 Bxd5 18. Rxd5
Rfe8 19. Qc3 Kg8 20. Qa5 Qe7 21. Re1 Qh4 22. Rdxe5 Rxe5 23. Qxe5 Rd8 24. h3 c3
25. Qxc3 Qg5+ 26. f4 Qxg2 27. b3 {Con mucha ventaja de las blancas,aunque
Carlsen aguantó hasta las tablas en 65 jugadas. Leko,P (2741) -Carlsen,M (2765)
Miskolc 2008.}) 10... Nxd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bd4 Bxd4 13. Qxd4 Qb6 14. Na4 Qc7
(14... Qa5 15. b3 Qc7 16. h4 h5 17. Re1 Nb6 18. Nc3 Rd8 19. Qe5 Qd6 20. Kb2 Bf5
21. Ba6 Qxe5 22. Rxe5 Rd2 23. Re2 Rad8 {con clara igualdad 1/2-1/2 Leko,P 
(2747)-Radjabov,T (2751) Elista 2008.}) 15. Bc4 {Novedad.} ({Es interesante la
única partida jugada hasta este momento.} 15. h4 Rb8 16. b3 h5 17. c4 Nf6 18.
Bd3 Rd8 19. Qe3 Be6 20. Bxg6 Bxc4 21. Bc2 Rxd1+ 22. Rxd1 Bd5 23. Qg5+ Kf8 24.
Qh6+ Kg8 25. Re1 Qd6 26. Kb1 Rb7 27. Qg5+ Kf8 28. Nc3 {con clarisima ventaja
de las blancas, que acabaron imponiendo.1-0 Zapata, A (2454)-Clavijo,J (2388)
Fusagasuga 1999}) 15... Rd8 16. Bb3 $5 {Amenazando c4 y poniendo el alfil a
buen recaudo.} (16. Nc5 Rb8 17. Bb3) 16... Bf5 17. g4 {lo más directo y lo
mejor.} (17. Nc5 e5 18. Qh4 Qb6) 17... Nf4 ({volver con el alfil es posible,
pero no agradable.} 17... Be6 18. Nc5 Nf4 19. Nxe6 Nxe6) 18. Qe3 Be6 19. h4 (
19. Bxe6 Nxe6 {No ocasiona mayores problemas a las negras.}) 19... Bxb3 20.
axb3 Ng2 $5 {Casilla que habitualmente ocupa un alfil.La clave es que
inexorablemente se cambiaran damas en f4.} (20... Nd5) 21. Rxd8+ Rxd8 22. Qe4
Qf4+ 23. Qxf4 Nxf4 {Ivanchuk no ha sacado nada de ventaja y dan ganas de jugar
esta variante con las negras.} 24. Nc3 (24. Re1 Ng2 $5 {!de nuevo!} 25. Rxe7
Nxh4 26. Re3 Rd4 {Y aún sufririan las blancas.}) 24... h5 $1 {Intentando fijar
el flanco de rey.} 25. Re1 hxg4 (25... e6 $5) 26. fxg4 Ne6 (26... e6) 27. Ne4 (
27. Re5 {Es un posible intento de crear ciertos problemas al negro.}) 27... Kg7
28. b4 Rh8 29. Ng5 $1 ({No es tan buena} 29. Nc5 Nxc5 30. bxc5 e6 $15) 29...
Nxg5 30. hxg5 e6 31. Re4 (31. Re5 {Es similar.}) 31... Rb8 32. Rc4 Rb5 33. Rxc6
Rxb4 34. c4 a5 35. Kb1 (35. Kc2 a4 36. Kc3 Rb3+ 37. Kc2 Rg3 38. Ra6 Rxg4 39.
Rxa4 {Debe ser igualdad, aunque parece más venenoso por parte de las blancas.})
35... e5 36. Rc5 e4 37. Rxa5 Rxc4 38. Re5 e3 39. Rxe3 Rxg4 40. Re5 f5 41. gxf6+
Kxf6 {El resto es sencillo.} 42. Re8 g5 43. Kc2 Rf4 44. Rf8+ Ke5 45. Rxf4 Kxf4
46. b4 g4 47. b5 Ke5 48. b6 Kd6 49. b7 Kc7 50. b8=Q+ Kxb8 51. Kd3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leon 22nd"]
[Site "Leon"]
[Date "2009.06.07"]
[Round "2.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D36"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2746"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2009.06.05"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 130 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.02"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6 6. e3 Be7 7. Qc2 O-O 8. Bd3
Nbd7 9. Nge2 Re8 10. O-O Nf8 11. Rae1 Be6 12. f3 Rc8 13. Kh1 N6d7 14. Bxe7 Qxe7
({A Kasparov le comieron con torre. Cosa que casi nadie ha repetido....} 14...
Rxe7 15. Nf4 Rc7 16. Qf2 Nf6 17. e4 dxe4 18. fxe4 Rcd7 19. d5 cxd5 20. Bb5 Rc7
21. exd5 Bd7 22. Be2 Rc8 23. Qxa7 b6 24. Qa6 Ne4 25. d6 Nxd6 26. Nfd5 Re5 27.
Qxb6 Nf5 28. Qxd8 Rxd8 29. Bd3 Rxe1 30. Rxe1 Ng6 31. a4 Kf8 32. a5 Nd4 33. Bxg6
hxg6 34. Rd1 Ne6 35. Nb6 Bc6 36. Rxd8+ Nxd8 37. b4 Ne6 38. b5 {1-0 Kasparov,G 
(2750)-Andersson,U (2605) Belfort 1988}) 15. Nf4 (15. Qd2 Nb6 16. b3 Rcd8 17.
a4 Qb4 18. Ne4 Qxd2 19. Nxd2 $11 {Lutz,C (2605)-Jussupow,A (2630)Tilburg 1993})
(15. Ng3 $5 Nb6 16. Qf2 c5 17. a3 a6 18. f4 f6 19. e4 dxe4 20. Ncxe4 cxd4 21.
Nh5 Qf7 22. Qh4 Bc4 23. Nd6 Qd7 24. Rxe8 Bxd3 25. Qg3 Bg6 26. Qb3+ Kh8 27. Nxc8
Qxe8 28. Nd6 Qd7 29. Qxb6 Bxh5 30. Qxd4 Qc6 31. Re1 h6 32. h3 Ng6 33. Re8+ Kh7
34. Qc4 Nxf4 35. Qxc6 bxc6 36. Re7 Kg8 37. Kh2 Nd5 38. Ra7 Be2 39. Nf5 g5 40.
Nxh6+ Kf8 41. Nf5 Ke8 42. Nd4 {1-0 Bareev,E (2709)-Jussupow,A (2628)Frankfurt
2000}) 15... Qd6 16. Qf2 (16. Qd2 Rcd8 17. e4 dxe4 18. Nxe4 Qc7 19. Nh5 f6 20.
Qb4 Bd5 21. Bc4 Re6 22. Bxd5 cxd5 23. Nc3 Nb6 24. Rxe6 Nxe6 25. Re1 Qf7 26. Ng3
Re8 27. Nf5 Nf4 28. Rxe8+ Qxe8 29. Qe7 $11 {1/2-1/2 Sakaev,K (2629)-Asrian,K 
(2572)Dubai 2000}) 16... f6 {!La novedad!} (16... Ng6 17. Nfe2 Qb4 18. Ng3 Nf6
{1/2-1/2 Malgina,T (2342)-Guramishvili,S (2281)St Petersburg 2009}) 17. Nxe6 (
17. h4 $5) 17... Nxe6 18. f4 $1 Ndf8 (18... b5) (18... Rcd8) 19. e4 $5 {
Ahora parece precipitado este avance central.} (19. Kg1 {o}) (19. a3) 19...
dxe4 20. Nxe4 Qd5 $2 ({No, por supuesto} 20... Qxd4 $2 21. Qxd4 Nxd4 22. Nd6
Rxe1 23. Rxe1 Rb8 (23... Rd8 24. Bc4+) 24. Bc4+ Kh8 25. Nf7+ Kg8 26. Nd8+ Kh8
27. Re8 {ganando. Pero}) (20... Qd7 21. f5 Nxd4 22. Bc4+ Kh8 23. Nc5 Qd6 24.
Nxb7 Qb4 {Mantendria a las negras en la partida.}) 21. Rd1 $4 (21. f5 $3 {
era practicamente decisiva} Nxd4 22. Qg3 $1 {La clave.} Rxe4 23. Bxe4) 21... f5
$1 22. Nc3 Qxd4 {Ahora si.} 23. Bxf5 Qxf2 24. Rxf2 Rcd8 {las negras
solucionaron todos sus problemas.} 25. Rxd8 Rxd8 26. g3 Kf7 27. Kg2 Nc5 (27...
Nd4 {Era más activa, pero similar} 28. Rd2 Nfe6) 28. Re2 g6 29. Bc2 a5 $1 {
Solidificando el caballo de c5} 30. a3 Rd4 $1 {impidiendo b4} 31. Bb1 Nfd7 32.
Ba2+ Kf8 33. Kf3 Nf6 34. Re5 Nfd7 35. Re3 Nf6 36. Re5 Nfd7 37. Re2 {No se ve
el posible progreso del blanco} Nf6 38. Re5 Nfd7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leon 22nd"]
[Site "Leon"]
[Date "2009.06.07"]
[Round "2.3"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B76"]
[WhiteElo "2746"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "2009.06.05"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 130 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.02"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 {Magnus insiste con su
Dragón} 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2 O-O 9. O-O-O d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6
12. Bd4 Bxd4 13. Qxd4 Qb6 14. Bc4 {Permitiendo la debilitación de la
estructura de peones a cambio de activar rápidamente sus piezas} ({En la
primera partida de esta final Ivanchuk prefirió} 14. Na4 {que no le reportó
ventaja alguna.}) 14... Qxd4 {después de una larga reflexión} ({En la vieja
partida, el GM Kudrin perdió con un jovencísimo Emil Suitovsky tras} 14... Ne3
15. Rd2 Nxc4 16. Qxc4 Be6 17. Qf4 Rab8 18. b3 Qa5 19. Kb2 Rb4 20. Qe3 Rfb8 21.
h4 Qc7 22. Ne2 c5 23. h5 a5 24. hxg6 hxg6 25. c3 R4b6 26. Nc1 a4 27. g4 axb3
28. a3 Bc4 29. Rdh2 e5 30. Qg5 {1-0 Sutovsky,E (2410)-Kudrin,S (2555)/
Philadelphia 1993/EXT 97}) 15. Rxd4 Nxc3 16. bxc3 Rb8 $1 {Magnus se adelanta a
la torre blanca, con esta maniobra logra defender cómodamente sus puntos
débiles en el flanco de dama} 17. Re1 Rb7 18. Re5 Rc7 19. a4 Kg7 20. a5 Kf6 21.
Rc5 e6 22. h4 h6 23. f4 {Con más espacio Ivanchuk intenta reducir a la
pasividad las piezas negras, pero no se vislumbra un plan que pueda llegar a
quebrar las bien organizadas defensas negras.} h5 24. Kd2 Ke7 25. Ke3 Rd8 26.
g3 Rd6 27. Kd3 ({Siempre se está a tiempo de meter la pata. El intento de
centralizar el rey con} 27. Ke4 $4 {se encuentra con el siguiente mazazo} Rd5
$1 {y las blancas pueden abandonar, como puede comprobarse calculando un par
de sencillas variantes}) 27... Rdd7 28. Kd2 {No hay posible pogreso} Rd6 29.
Ke3 Rdd7 30. Rd3 ({Un intento como} 30. Rxd7+ $2 Bxd7 31. Kd4 Kd6 32. Be2 f6 {
sólo beneficia a las negras}) 30... Rd6 31. Ke4 Rdd7 32. Kf3 Rd6 33. Ke3 Rdd7
34. Bb3 {el alfil se dirige a la casilla a4} Rd6 35. Ba4 Ba6 36. Rd4 Bf1 37.
Kf2 Ba6 38. Kf3 Bb7 39. Ke3 Rd5 $1 {por fin las negras hacen una jugada activa
que modifica la estructura de peones} 40. Rdxd5 exd5 41. a6 Bxa6 $6 ({Las
negras tenían a su disposición} 41... Ba8 $5 42. Kd4 Kd6 43. c4 Re7 {activando
su torre, con perspectivas de alcanzar incluso ventaja}) 42. Rxc6 Rxc6 43. Bxc6
Kd6 44. Be8 Bc4 45. Kd4 a5 $1 46. Ba4 ({desde luego es un suicidio merendarse
el de f7} 46. Bxf7 $4 a4 {y las negras consiguen un Q en pocas jugadas}) 46...
f6 47. Ke3 ({el intento} 47. Bb3 Bxb3 48. cxb3 {no resulta por} f5 ({pero no} 
48... Kc6 49. g4 {y las blancas ganan porque las negras no pueden para f5.}))
47... Ke7 48. Kd2 Ke6 49. Ke3 Ke7 50. Bc6 Kd6 $2 {ahora las negras pierden un
peón} ({Mantiene el equilibrio} 50... Kf7) 51. Be8 Ke6 52. Bxg6 a4 53. Kd2 Be2
54. Kc1 a3 55. Kb1 d4 {el último recurso de contrajuego} 56. cxd4 Kd5 57. c3
Kc4 58. Ka2 Kxc3 59. d5 $1 {La jugada ganadora las blancas logran comer en h5
a cambio del peón d} Bc4+ 60. Kxa3 Bxd5 61. Bxh5 Be4 62. Bf7 Kd4 63. h5 {
y la amenaza Bg6 decide la partida. A Ivanchuk le basta hacer tablas en la
cuarta partida para proclamarse campeón por segunda vez} 1-0

[Event "Leon 22nd"]
[Site "Leon"]
[Date "2009.06.07"]
[Round "2.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A84"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2746"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2009.06.05"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 130 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.02"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c6 4. e3 ({Carlsen obligado a ganar, sin embargo no
acepta la invitación de su rival de jugar el agudo Gambito eslavo que empieza
con} 4. e4) 4... Bd6 5. Bd3 f5 6. Nge2 Nf6 7. Qc2 {Una antigua línea poco
frecuente en nustros días entre los grandes. debemos remontarnos a 1950 para
encontar su de momento de mayor protagonismo en el match por el Campeonato del
Mundo entre Mihail Botvinnik y David Bronstein} O-O 8. f3 Kh8 9. Bd2 a6 {
preparando b5} ({Las negras lograron empatar contra un durísimo rival con} 9...
Qe7 10. O-O dxc4 11. Bxc4 Nbd7 12. Ng3 b5 13. Bd3 b4 14. Na4 c5 15. dxc5 Nxc5
16. Nxc5 Bxc5 17. Rac1 Bb6 18. Kh1 Bb7 19. e4 Rac8 20. Qb3 fxe4 21. Rxc8 {
1/2-1/2 Sargissian,G (2678)-Zhigalko,S (2587)/Moscú 2009}) 10. c5 ({
directamente} 10. O-O-O {se encuentra con} b5 11. c5 Bc7 {con una versión
mejor que la de la patida}) 10... Bc7 11. O-O-O e5 12. dxe5 Bxe5 13. f4 (13.
Bxf5 Bxf5 14. Qxf5 Nbd7 {ofrece juego activo a las negras}) 13... Bc7 14. Nd4
Ne4 15. Nxe4 fxe4 16. Be2 b6 {debilita el flanco de dama pero un juego pasivo
permitiría movilizar los perones blancos del flanco de rey lo que a medio
plazo sería sin duda muy peligroso} 17. cxb6 Bxb6 18. Bb4 Rf6 19. Kb1 a5 20.
Bc3 Ba6 21. g4 $1 {la avalancha de peones es muy peligrosa de todas maneras.
las blancas y disfrutan ya de una peligrosa iniciativa} Bxe2 22. Qxe2 Nd7 23.
g5 Bxd4 $1 24. Bxd4 ({desde luego no} 24. gxf6 Bxc3 25. bxc3 Qxf6 {que ofrece
muy buen juego a las negras}) 24... Rd6 25. h4 Qf8 26. h5 Kg8 27. Qg4 Re8 28.
Rhf1 c5 $2 {un serio error en una posición muy delicada} 29. Be5 $1 {las
negras no pueden capturar en e5} Rde6 30. Bc3 $6 ({dejando pasar la
oportunidad de golpear con} 30. h6 $1) 30... d4 $1 {ahora Ivanchuk consigue
complicar la posición} 31. exd4 e3 32. d5 $6 ({mucho mejor es mantener las
amenazas con} 32. Rfe1) 32... Re4 $1 {la amenaza e2 salva a las negras} 33.
Rfe1 Ne5 $2 ({en la sala de prensa eran mayoría los partidarios de} 33... Qd6 {
que mantiene la tensión y pone máximas las dificultades al bando que tiene
ventaja}) 34. Bxe5 R8xe5 35. Rxe3 $1 {Este golpe acal la posición y potencia
al máximo el peón pasado de las blancas que ya tienen gran ventaja} Rxf4 36.
Qe2 $6 ({Es mucho mejor} 36. Qh3 {impidiendo el jaque en f5}) 36... Qf5+ 37.
Ka1 Rd4 $1 {De nuevo Ivanchuk aprovecha las imprecisiones de su rival.} 38. Re1
Rxe3 39. Qxe3 Rxd5 $1 40. a3 ({no sirve} 40. Qe8+ Qf8 41. Qe6+ Qf7 42. Qc8+ Qf8
{y no vale} 43. Re8 Rd1#) ({la jugada de Rybka} 40. b4 {puede ser muy buena
pero.... ?quién se atreve a jugarla?}) {las negras no acierta en una posición
que está cogida con alfileres} 40... Qd7 $2 41. Qb3 $1 a4 42. Qc4 {la clavada
es terrible} Kf8 {única porque} (42... Kh8 43. Qxd5 Qxd5 44. Re8+ Qg8 45. Rxg8+
Kxg8 46. b3 {y las blancas ganan}) 43. Ka2 ({dejsando escapar una vez más la
victoria que se obtenía con} 43. Rf1+ Ke7 44. Qe4+ Qe6 45. Qf4 $1) 43... Rf5 $1
44. Ka1 $3 {las negras están casi en zugzwang} Rd5 45. Rc1 {!Carlsen no quiere
jugar Rf1!} Ke7 46. g6 hxg6 47. hxg6 Kf6 $1 {a lo Lasker, el rey participa en
el final !aunque haya damas en el tablero!} 48. Qc2 Rf5 49. Rd1 Qc6 50. Rg1 Qd7
(50... Rf4) 51. Rd1 Qc6 52. Rg1 Qd7 53. Qc4 Re5 54. Qh4+ Ke6 55. Qg4+ Ke7 56.
Qh4+ Kd6 $4 {Por alguna razón incomprensible ivanchuk no repite posiciones Ke6.
La jugada de la partida pierde forzado} 57. Rd1+ Rd5 58. Qf4+ $1 Kc6 59. Qxa4+
Kc7 60. Qa7+ Kc6 61. Qa8+ {ganando la torre y la partida. Una partida
emocionanteÑ el Magistral se decidirá en dos partidas rápidas de 5 minutos + 3
segundos de incremento por jugada.} 1-0

[Event "Leon 22nd"]
[Site "Leon"]
[Date "2009.06.07"]
[Round "2.5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D52"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2746"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2009.06.05"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 130 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.02"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. e3 Qa5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
Qd2 Bb4 9. Rc1 h6 10. Bh4 c5 11. a3 Bxc3 12. bxc3 b6 13. c4 Qxd2+ 14. Nxd2 Ne7
15. f3 Nf5 16. Bf2 Ba6 17. Bd3 Ke7 18. O-O Rhd8 19. Rfd1 Rac8 20. a4 Nd6 21.
Bf1 e5 22. d5 f5 23. Rc2 Rb8 24. Bg3 g5 25. Bd3 Re8 26. Re1 Kf7 27. Be2 f4 28.
Bf2 fxe3 29. Bxe3 Nf6 30. a5 Nf5 31. Bf2 Nd4 32. Ra2 b5 33. cxb5 Nxe2+ 34. Rxe2
Rxb5 35. Re1 Nxd5 36. Nc4 Re6 37. Nxe5+ Kg7 38. Rd2 Nf6 39. h4 Rxa5 40. hxg5
hxg5 41. Rc2 c4 42. Nxc4 Rxe1+ 43. Bxe1 Rc5 44. Ne3 Rxc2 45. Nxc2 g4 46. Bf2
gxf3 47. gxf3 Bb7 48. Bxa7 Bxf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leon 22nd"]
[Site "Leon"]
[Date "2009.06.07"]
[Round "2.6"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2746"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "199"]
[EventDate "2009.06.05"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 130 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.02"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 Bg7 11. c3 f5 12. exf5 Bxf5 13. Nc2 O-O 14. Nce3
Be6 15. Bd3 f5 16. Bc2 f4 17. Qh5 Rf7 18. Bxh7+ Kf8 19. Bf5 Qe8 20. Bxe6 Qxe6
21. Qg4 Qh6 22. Nc2 e4 23. Qh3 Qxh3 24. gxh3 Ne5 25. O-O Nd3 26. a4 Rb8 27.
Ncb4 bxa4 28. Rxa4 Nxb2 29. Rxa6 Nc4 30. Rfa1 Be5 31. Nc6 Rb5 32. R6a4 Nd2 33.
Ra8+ Kg7 34. Nce7 Kh7 35. Kh1 Rg7 36. h4 e3 37. fxe3 Ne4 38. R8a2 Nxc3 39. exf4
Nxd5 40. fxe5 Nxe7 41. exd6 Nf5 42. Ra7 Nxd6 43. Rxg7+ Kxg7 44. Kg2 Nf5 45. Kf3
Nxh4+ 46. Ke4 Ng6 47. h4 Nxh4 48. Rf1 Ng6 49. Rf5 Rb4+ 50. Ke3 Ne7 51. Ra5 Kf6
52. Kd3 Ke6 53. Rh5 Nf5 54. Kc3 Rg4 55. Kd3 Ke5 56. Kc3 Rf4 57. Kd3 Kd5 58. Kc3
Rf3+ 59. Kb4 Kc6 60. Rg5 Ne3 61. Rc5+ Kd6 62. Rh5 Nd5+ 63. Kc4 Rf4+ 64. Kd3 Rg4
65. Rf5 Kc5 66. Rh5 Rf4 67. Rg5 Rh4 68. Rf5 Rh3+ 69. Ke2 Kd4 70. Rf8 Nc3+ 71.
Kf2 Ne4+ 72. Kg2 Rg3+ 73. Kh2 Ke3 74. Rf7 Rg8 75. Rf5 Ng5 76. Ra5 Nf3+ 77. Kh3
Ng1+ 78. Kh4 Ne2 79. Rg5 Rh8+ 80. Kg4 Ke4 81. Rg7 Re8 82. Ra7 Rg8+ 83. Kh4 Nd4
84. Kh3 Nf5 85. Ra4+ Kf3 86. Ra3+ Ne3 87. Kh4 Rg1 88. Kh5 Kf4 89. Ra4+ Ke5 90.
Ra5+ Nd5 91. Rb5 Ke4 92. Ra5 Nf6+ 93. Kh6 Ng8+ 94. Kh5 Nf6+ 95. Kh6 Kf4 96.
Ra4+ Kf5 97. Ra5+ Ke6 98. Ra6+ Kf7 99. Ra7+ Kf8 100. Rf7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leon 22nd"]
[Site "Leon"]
[Date "2009.06.07"]
[Round "2.7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A70"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2746"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2009.06.05"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 130 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.02"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. d5 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. Nf3 a6 8. Qe2
Bg4 9. e5 dxe5 10. Qxe5+ Qe7 11. Qxe7+ Bxe7 12. Ne5 Nbd7 13. Nxg4 Nxg4 14. Bf4
Nge5 15. O-O-O Bd6 16. Kb1 f5 17. h3 O-O-O 18. Be2 Nf7 19. Bc1 Rhe8 20. Rhe1
Be5 21. Bf1 Nd6 22. Bg5 Bf6 23. Be3 b5 24. a4 c4 25. axb5 axb5 26. Na2 Kb7 27.
Nb4 Ra8 28. Nc6 Ne4 29. g4 Nb6 30. gxf5 gxf5 31. Bg2 Na4 32. Bd4 Bxd4 33. Nxd4
Kb6 34. d6 Rad8 35. Nxf5 Nxf2 36. Rxe8 Rxe8 37. d7 Rd8 38. Rd6+ Kc7 39. Bc6 Nc5
40. Bxb5 Nxd7 41. Rc6+ Kb8 42. Rxc4 Nxh3 43. Ne7 Ne5 44. Re4 Nf3 45. Nc6+ Kc7
46. Re7+ Rd7 47. Rxd7+ Kxd7 48. Ne5+ Kd6 49. Nxf3 Nf4 50. Kc1 h5 51. Bf1 Kc5
52. Kc2 Kb4 53. Ne5 Nd5 54. Nd3+ Ka5 55. Kb3 h4 56. Bg2 Ne3 57. Bh3 Nd5 58. Kc4
Nb6+ 59. Kd4 Na4 60. b4+ Kb6 61. Bd7 1-0

[Event "Dortmund SuperGM 37th"]
[Site "Dortmund"]
[Date "2009.07.02"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Jakovenko, Dmitrij"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2760"]
[Annotator "Mueller,Karsten"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2009.07.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 131"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Ke8 10. h3 h5 {A lot has been tried at this point: An
dieser Stelle wurde schon sehr viel probiert.} (10... a5 {has been the most
frequently played move, followed by wird am häufigsten gespielt, gefolgt von})
(10... Be7 {and und}) (10... Ne7) 11. Ne2 Be7 12. Bg5 Be6 13. Nf4 Bd5 14. Bxe7
Kxe7 15. Ng5 Nd4 16. Rad1 Ne6 17. Ngxe6 Bxe6 {Objectively speaking, the
position should still be drawish, but in practice White has certainly the
better chances because of his slight strategic initiative.  Objektiv sollte
die Stellung innerhalb der Remisbreite sein, aber in der Praxis hat Weiß
sicher auf grund seiner leichten strategischen Initiative die besseren Chancen.
} 18. h4 a5 19. a3 a4 20. Rfe1 g6 21. f3 Ra5 22. c3 Rb5 23. Re2 Ra8 24. Rd4
Raa5 25. Kf2 Rxe5 26. Rxe5 Rxe5 27. Rxa4 Rb5 28. b4 c5 29. Ra7 cxb4 30. cxb4
Kd7 $2 {Jakovenko wastes valuable time, because his king ends up going to d6
any way. Jakovenko verliert wertvolle Zeit, weil sein König letztlich doch
nach d6 zieht.} (30... Bc4 {intending mit der Idee} 31. Ke3 Kd6 {(Lilov auf
chessbase.com) nebst c7 ist aktiver und remisiert leicht, z.B. (Lilov auf
chessbase.com) and then c7 is more active and draws easily, e.g.} 32. Kd4 (32.
Ra8 c5 33. Rc8 b6 34. Kd2 Kd7 $11) 32... Rf5 33. g3 Bf1 $11 {because denn} 34.
Rxb7 $2 {runs into läuft in} g5 35. hxg5 h4) 31. Ne2 Rb6 32. Ke3 Bc4 33. Nd4
Kd6 34. Ra5 Ra6 $2 {Without the rook Black does not have the counterplay.the
side with the knight is always aiming for complete control, so that the slower
manoeuvres of the knight can be executed. In addition rook endings have a very
high drawing tendencey and the defensive possibility of liquidating to a rook
ending is now lost. Ohne den Turm fehlt Schwarz das Gegenspiel. Die
Springerpartei strebt ja stets nach voller Kontrolle, damit das langsamere
Manövrieren des Speingers durchgeführt werden kann. Außerdem haben
Turmendspiele eine recht hohe Remisbreite und die Verteidigungsmöglichkeit
einer Abwicklung ins Turmendspiel fällt nun weg.} (34... Be6 {offered better
drawing chances, e.g. bot bessere Remischancen, z.B.} 35. Kf4 Kd7 36. Rb5 (36.
Kg5 Rd6) (36. g4 hxg4 37. fxg4 Rd6 38. Nxe6 Kxe6) 36... Rd6 37. Nxe6 Rxe6 38.
a4 (38. Rxb7 Ra6) 38... b6) 35. Rxa6+ bxa6 36. g4 hxg4 $2 {The passed white
h-pawn which comes about now will decide the day, because, for example, it can
be used bring about the advantageous exchange of all the kingside pawns. Der
nun entstehende weiße h-Freibauer wird den Tag entscheiden, weil er unter
anderem dazu genutzt werden kann, die gesamten Königsflügelbauern vorteilhaft
abzutauschen.} (36... Ke5 {was the final chance. In any case, White ought now
to have good winning chances. war die letzte Chance. Allerdings sollte Weiß
nun ohnhin gute Gewinnaussichten haben.}) 37. fxg4 Ke5 (37... c5 38. bxc5+ Kxc5
39. h5 gxh5 40. gxh5 f6 41. h6 Bg8 42. Ne6+ Kc4 43. Nf8 Kb3 44. Kf4 Kxa3 45.
Nd7 Bh7 46. Nxf6 Bg6 47. Kg5 Bb1 48. Nd7 a5 49. Nf8 a4 50. Ng6 $18) 38. Nc6+
Kf6 (38... Kd6 39. h5 $18) 39. Kf4 Ke6 40. h5 gxh5 41. gxh5 Bd3 $6 ({The
attempt to set up a barrier with Der Versuch mittels} 41... f6 {was more
stubborn, but in the long run it diod not help either, because White can
exchange the kingside pawns as in the game: eine Barriere zu errichten war
zäher, hilft aber letzlich ebenfalls nicht, weil Weiß wie in der Partie die
Königsflügelbauern abtauschen kann:} 42. Nd8+ Ke7 43. h6 Bd3 (43... Kf8 44. Kf5
Ke7 45. Ke4 Kf8 46. Kd4 $18) 44. Nb7 $1 {White must transfer the knight to the
kingside at once. An over-hasty penetration by the king Weiß muss den Springer
unverzüglich zum Königsflügel bringen. Das voreilige Eindringen mit dem König}
(44. Ke3 $6 Bf5 45. Nb7 $2 {loses control: verliert die Kontrolle:} Kf7 46. Nc5
Bc8 47. Kd4 f5 $1 (47... Kg6 $2 48. Kd5 Kxh6 (48... f5 49. Kc6 f4 50. Nd3 f3
51. Ne5+ Kxh6 52. Nxf3 $18) 49. Kc6 Bh3 50. Nxa6 f5 51. b5 f4 52. Nc5 Bf5 53.
Kxc7 Bc2 54. Nd7 Kg5 55. Ne5 Kf5 56. b6 Kxe5 57. b7 f3 58. b8=Q $18) (47... c6
$2 48. Ne4 Kg6 49. h7 Kxh7 50. Nxf6+ Kg7 51. Ne8+ Kf8 52. Nc7 Ke7 53. Kc5 Kd7
54. Kb6 $18) 48. Kd5 Kg8 49. Kc6 f4 {and Black's counterplay should be enough
for a draw. und das schwarze Gegenspiel sollte zum Remis reichen.}) 44... Kf7
45. Nc5 Bf1 (45... Bc4 46. h7 Kg7 47. Kf5 $18) 46. h7 Kg7 47. Ne6+ Kxh7 48. Kf5
$18) 42. Ke3 Bf1 (42... Bc4 43. Kd4 Bb3 44. Nb8 $18) 43. h6 Kf6 44. Ne5 Bb5 45.
Kd4 Ba4 ({After Nach} 45... Be8 46. Kc5 {Black is in zugzwang, because ist
Schwarz in Zugzwang, weil} Kxe5 {fails to an} 47. h7 {scheitert.}) 46. h7 Kg7
47. Nxf7 Kxh7 48. Ng5+ Kg6 49. Ne6 {...and Jakovenko resigned because sooner
or later he will lose both pawns. ...und Jakovenko gab auf, weil er früher
oder später beide Bauern verliert.} 1-0

[Event "Dortmund SuperGM 37th"]
[Site "Dortmund"]
[Date "2009.07.03"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Leko, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A32"]
[WhiteElo "2756"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2009.07.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 131"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e6 5. g3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Bg2 Nc6 8.
Bf4 O-O 9. O-O Qb6 10. Nb5 a6 11. Bc7 Qc5 12. Bd6 Bxd6 13. Nxd6 Nd4 14. e3 Qxd6
15. Qxd4 Qxd4 16. exd4 Rb8 17. Nc3 b6 18. Ne4 Nxe4 19. Bxe4 Bb7 20. Bxb7 Rxb7
21. Rac1 Rc8 22. Rc3 d5 23. Rfc1 Rxc4 24. Rxc4 dxc4 25. Rxc4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Dortmund SuperGM 37th"]
[Site "Dortmund"]
[Date "2009.07.04"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E36"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2759"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[EventDate "2009.07.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 131"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 d5 7. Nf3 dxc4 8.
Qxc4 b6 9. Bg5 Ba6 10. Qa4 c5 11. dxc5 bxc5 12. Rd1 Qb6 13. Bxf6 gxf6 14. Rd2
Nc6 15. Qg4+ Kh8 16. Qh4 Kg7 17. Qg4+ Kh8 18. Qh4 Kg7 19. Qg4+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Dortmund SuperGM 37th"]
[Site "Dortmund"]
[Date "2009.07.05"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Bacrot, Etienne"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D44"]
[WhiteElo "2721"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2009.07.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 131"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 b5 8. e5 g5
9. Nxg5 hxg5 10. Bxg5 Nbd7 11. g3 Bb7 12. Bg2 Qb6 13. exf6 c5 14. d5 O-O-O 15.
O-O b4 16. Na4 Qb5 17. a3 exd5 18. axb4 cxb4 19. Be3 Nc5 20. Qg4+ Rd7 21. Qg7
Bxg7 22. fxg7 Rg8 23. Nxc5 Rxg7 24. Bd4 Rc7 25. Nxb7 Rg6 26. Ra5 Qxb7 27. Bxd5
Qb8 28. Be5 Qb6 29. Bxc7 Qxc7 30. Rfa1 a6 31. Rxa6 Rxa6 32. Rxa6 c3 33. bxc3
bxc3 34. Be4 Qc4 35. Bf5+ Kd8 36. Ra1 Qe2 37. Kg2 Qe5 38. Rd1+ Ke7 39. Bb1 f5
40. h3 Kf6 41. Rd3 Qe4+ 42. Kh2 Qe1 43. Rf3 Qxb1 44. Rxc3 Qf1 45. Rf3 Ke5 46.
Rf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Dortmund SuperGM 37th"]
[Site "Dortmund"]
[Date "2009.07.06"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2697"]
[Annotator "Mueller,Karsten"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2009.07.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 131"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 h6 10. h3 Ne7 11. Bf4 Ng6 12. Bg3 Ke8 13. Rad1 Bb4 14. Ne2
h5 15. Ned4 h4 16. Bh2 Nf8 17. Bf4 Bd7 18. Bg5 Be7 19. Rfe1 c5 20. e6 $1 {
[%mdl 32] A strong opening up of the position by Magnus Carlsen in a way
typical for the position. On account of his lead in development and the poor
coordination of the black pieces, he gets dangerous compensation. Eine starke
Stellungsöffnung von Magnus Carlsen in stellungstypischer Manier. Er erhält
aufgrund seines Entwicklungsvorsprungs und der schlechten schwarzen
Koordination gefährliche Kompensation.} (20. Bxe7 $6 Kxe7 21. Nb3 Ne6 {
achieves nothing for White. bringt Weiß nichts ein.}) 20... fxe6 (20... Nxe6 $2
21. Nf5 $16) (20... Bxe6 $2 21. Nb5 $16) 21. Bxe7 Kxe7 22. Nf5+ Kf6 23. Ne3 Be8
24. Ng4+ Ke7 25. Nge5 Bg6 26. Rd5 {A spectacular move. Ein spektakulärer Zug.}
({However, I prefer the alternative Mir gefällt allerdings die Alternative} 26.
Re3 $36 {. noch etwas besser.}) 26... b6 27. Rd2 Bf5 28. Ng5 Kf6 29. f4 Ng6 $2
({The prophylactic Das prophylaktische} 29... Re8 {was safer. war sicherer.})
30. Nd7+ Ke7 31. Nxe6 $2 {After this, White cannot count on any hope of
winning against good defence. Danach kann Weiß gegen gute Verteidigung keine
Gewinnhoffnungen mehr hegen.} (31. Rd5 $1 Rhe8 32. b3 $36 {would have left
Black in a very uncomfortable situation. hätte Schwarz in eine sehr unbequeme
Lage gebracht.}) 31... Bxe6 32. f5 Nf4 33. fxe6 Rhd8 $1 ({It is not necessary
to go in for Es gibt keine Notwendigkeit, sich auf} 33... Nxe6 $6 34. Ne5 Rh6
35. Ng4 Rg6 36. Ne3 Kf7 37. Nf5 {. einzulassen.}) 34. Rf2 g5 35. Kh2 a5 (35...
Nxe6 $2 36. Ne5 $16) 36. a4 Rg8 37. Ne5 Rae8 $1 {[%mdl 256] A strong defensive
move which makes it clear that the e-pawn will fall without one of the white
rooks being able to penetrate. Ein starker Verteidigungszug, der klarstellt,
dass der e-Bauer fallen wird, ohne dass einer der weißen Türme eindringen kann.
} (37... Nxe6 $2 38. Rf7+ Ke8 39. Rh7 $18) (37... Kxe6 $2 38. Ng6+ Kf5 39. Ne7+
$18) 38. Nf3 Nxe6 39. Re5 Kd6 40. Rd2+ Kc6 41. Rde2 Kd6 $2 {Just after the
time control. Naiditsch makes the decisive mistake. Kurz nach der
Zeitkontrolle begeht Naiditsch den entscheidenden Fehler.} ({He should content
himself with the draw after Er sollte sich mit} 41... Kd7 $1 42. Rd2+ Kc6 43.
Rde2 {. und remis zufrieden geben.}) 42. Nxg5 $1 $16 Ng7 43. Rxe8 Rxe8 44. Rxe8
Nxe8 45. Nf3 c4 46. Nxh4 c3 $2 {This deprives Black of many chances for
counterplay and bnreakthrough. In addition, all White has to worry about now
is the weak c2-pawn. Dies nimmt Schwarz viele Gegenspiel und
Durchbruchsmöglichkeiten. Außerdem muss sich Weiß nun nur noch um den
schwachen Bauern c2 kümmern.} (46... Ke5 {offered better practical chances,
but should also lose in the long run, e.g.: bot bessere praktische Chancen,
sollte aber langfristig ebenfalls verlieren, z.B.} 47. Nf3+ (47. Kg3 $6 Ke4 48.
Kf2 b5) 47... Kf4 48. c3 Nd6 49. Nd2 Ke3 (49... c6 50. h4 Kg4 51. g3 b5 52. Kg2
$16) 50. Nb1 Kf4 51. Na3 c6 52. g3+ Ke4 53. h4 b5 54. h5 Kf5 55. g4+ Kg5 56.
Kg2 $16) 47. b3 Kc5 48. Nf5 Kb4 49. g4 Ka3 50. Kg3 Kb2 51. Ne3 {... and it is
obvious that the white passed pawns will decide the day.: ... und es ist klar,
dass die weißen Freibauern den Tag entscheiden werden:} Kc1 52. Kf3 Kd2 53. h4
Ng7 54. h5 Ne6 55. h6 c6 56. Ke4 b5 57. Ke5 Ng5 58. Kf5 Nf7 59. h7 Kxe3 60. g5
1-0

[Event "Dortmund SuperGM 37th"]
[Site "Dortmund"]
[Date "2009.07.08"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Jakovenko, Dmitrij"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2760"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2009.07.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 131"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 Bg5 12. Nc2 Ne7 {This line became the
main alternative for Black to the classical 12...0-0 and 12...Rb8. Its theory
has developed very quickly in the past 4-5 years. Carlsen and even Jakovenko
with the black pieces have used it already.} 13. Ncb4 ({Another possibility is
to include the moves h4/Bh6, which has advantages and drawbacks for White.
Here is the most recent example:} 13. h4 Bh6 14. a4 bxa4 15. Ncb4 O-O 16. Qxa4
Nxd5 17. Nxd5 a5 18. Bb5 (18. Bc4 {offers Black counterplay due to the
weaknesses created on the kingside by the move 13.h4:} Kh8 19. g3 f5 20. exf5
Bxf5 21. O-O Be4 $132) 18... Be6 19. Bc6 Rb8 20. b4 axb4 21. cxb4 Kh8 ({
The main alternative is} 21... Bxd5 22. Bxd5 Qb6) 22. b5 Bxd5 23. Bxd5 Qb6 24.
O-O ({In the event of} 24. Bc6 {Black has the nice transfer of the bishop to a
better diagonal:} Be3 $1 25. O-O (25. fxe3 Qxe3+ 26. Kd1 Qd3+ 27. Ke1 Qe3+ {
is a draw}) 25... Bd4 26. Ra2 f5 27. exf5 Rxf5 28. g3 Rbf8 {and thanks to the
pressure on f2 Black has nothing to fear, Grischuk,A (2719)-Illescas Cordoba,M
(2604)/Dresden 2008}) 24... Qxb5 25. Qxb5 Rxb5 26. Ra6 $146 ({In Bacrot,E 
(2705)-Eljanov,P (2720)/Elista 2008 White took another pawn, but it led to the
same result:} 26. Bxf7 g5 27. hxg5 Bxg5 28. Be6 Rb4 29. Bf5 d5 30. Ra5 dxe4 31.
Rxe5 Bf4 32. Rxe4 Rxe4 33. Bxe4 Rc8 34. Bf3 Rc1 35. Bd1 Kg7 {and White cannot
unpin the bishop without exchanging the rooks, which leads to a completely
drawish position.}) 26... f6 27. Rxd6 Rc5 28. h5 (28. Rd7 Rc1 29. Rxc1 Bxc1 {
looks slightly unpleasant for Black, but he simply waits and the position is a
draw.}) 28... Rc7 29. g3 g6 30. Kg2 Kg7 {With the king on g7 (instead of being
cut on h8) Black doesn't have even the slightest problem to achieve a draw.}
31. Kh3 Bc1 32. f4 exf4 33. gxf4 g5 34. fxg5 Bxg5 35. e5 Re7 36. e6 f5 37. Bc6
Kh6 38. Bf3 {1/2-1/2 Shirov,A-Radjabov,T/Bazna 2009}) 13... O-O 14. a4 bxa4 15.
Qxa4 (15. Rxa4 a5 16. Nxe7+ (16. Bb5 {is a different story here and if Black
wishes, he can force complete equality:} Bd7 17. Nxe7+ (17. Bxd7 axb4 $1) 17...
Bxe7 18. Nc6 (18. Bxd7 axb4 $11) 18... Qe8 19. Qd5 Be6 20. Qd3 Bd7 21. Nxe7+
Qxe7 $11) 16... Qxe7 17. Bc4 Bd7 18. Nd5 Qe8 19. Ra2 Bd8 20. O-O Rc8 21. Bb3
Rb8 $11 {0-1 Smeets,J (2550)-Carlsen,M (2625)/Wijk aan Zee 2006 (44)}) 15...
Nxd5 (15... a5 16. Bb5 Nxd5 17. Nxd5 Be6 18. Bc6 Rb8 19. Ra2 Qc8 20. O-O Bd8
21. b4 Kh8 22. Rd2 Qa6 23. b5 $16 {1-0 Kamsky,G (2690)-Carlsen,M (2570)/Khanty
Mansiysk 2005 (31)}) 16. Nxd5 Bd7 (16... a5 17. Bb5 {leads to the above
mentioned game Kamsky-Carlsen, see 15...a5.}) 17. Qc2 {Keeping the queen in
the centre looks like the optimal decision.} (17. Qa2 a5 18. Bd3 (18. Bc4 a4
19. O-O Rb8 20. Rfd1 Kh8 $14 {/=}) 18... Bc6 19. O-O Qb8 20. Bc4 Kh8 21. b3 f5
22. exf5 {1/2-1/2 Anand,V (2799)-Carlsen,M (2733)/Linares 2008}) (17. Qa5 Qb8
18. b4 Bd8 19. Qa2 a5 20. Bc4 Bc6 $132 {1/2-1/2 Berg,E (2586)-Carlsen,M (2690)/
Faaborg 2007 (60)}) 17... a5 18. Bc4 {I believe this is the critical position
of the line 12...Ne7. Although it is very close to equal, in fact White has a
small plus, since he can play on without any major risk. His plan is to
combine pressure on the d-file with play on the queenside (b2-b4, or pressure
on the a-file first). In each case Black still must find a way to arrange
optimally all his pieces (and first of all to find a job for his dark-squared
bishop, which, being on the diagonal c1-h6, can easily be out of any queenside
action).} Rc8 $146 (18... a4 19. O-O Qa5 20. Nb4 (20. Qe2 Qc5 21. Ra3 Kh8 22.
Rfa1 Rac8 23. Rxa4 $5 Bxa4 24. Rxa4 f5 25. Bd3 Ra8 26. Rxa8 Rxa8 27. g3 $44 {
1-0 Sjugirov,S (2395)-Gladyszev,O (2485)/Lipetsk 2007 (62)}) 20... Qc5 21. Bd5
Ra7 22. Nd3 Qb6 23. Rfd1 Kh8 24. c4 Qb8 25. Qc3 Rc8 26. c5 $5 (26. Bxf7 Bg4 27.
Bd5 Bxd1 28. Rxd1 $13) 26... Bb5 27. c6 $13 {0-1 Korneev,O (2657)-Jakovenko,D 
(2671)/Pamplona 2006 (67)}) (18... Kh8 19. O-O f5 20. exf5 Bxf5 21. Bd3 $14) (
18... Qb8 19. O-O Rc8 20. Qe2 Qb7 21. b3 Be6 22. Ra2 Bd8 23. Rfa1 Kf8 24. h3
Qc6 25. Bb5 Qb7 26. Bc4 Qc6 27. Bb5 $14 {1/2-1/2 Lukin,A (2423)-Shariyazdanov,
A (2594)/St Petersburg 2001}) (18... Bc6 19. O-O Qb8 20. Ra3 Qb7 21. Rfa1 (21.
b3 $5) 21... a4 22. Re1 Ra5 23. Qe2 Bd8 24. Raa1 g6 25. Kh1 Kg7 26. Rad1 a3 27.
b4 $14 {1/2-1/2 Korneev,O (2613)-Cherniaev,A (2504)/Catalan Bay 2003 (45)}) (
18... Rb8 19. Qe2 a4 20. O-O Qc8 21. Nb4 Bd8 22. Rfd1 Bb6 23. Nd5 Qd8 24. Nxb6
Rxb6 {1/2-1/2 Illescas Cordoba,M (2598)-San Segundo Carrillo,P (2536)/Ayamonte
2007}) 19. Qe2 Kh8 20. O-O f5 21. exf5 Bxf5 22. Bd3 $1 Be6 (22... e4 $2 23.
Bxe4 Re8 24. f3 $16) 23. Be4 Rb8 24. Qc2 Bg8 ({Perhaps Black must accept an
inferior position by playing immediately} 24... Bxd5 25. Bxd5 Qb6 26. b3 Qc5
$14 {since now after} 27. Be4 {he has} d5 $1 28. Bxh7 e4 29. Bg6 Rb6 30. Bh5
Bf6 $44 {But instead of 27.Be4 better is 27.Rad1, with advantage for White.})
25. b3 $1 $14 {Jakovenko shows that although Carlsen completed his plan (f7-f5)
, he is still far from complete equality. White is slowly improving, while
Black doesn't have any counterplay. Exchanging on d5 would lose completely
Black's control over the light squares and protecting h7 will involve creating
further weaknesses.} (25. Rfd1 Bxd5 $1 26. Rxd5 ({or} 26. Bxd5 Qb6 $11) 26...
Qb6 $11 {[%csl Rb2,Rf2][%cal Gf8f2,Gg5e3] and Black equalizes in view of the
double attack (Rxf2 followed by Ae3 is also a threat).}) 25... Rb5 26. c4 Rb8
27. Nc3 $2 {Letting it slip away. Jakovenko plans 28.Bd5, but he misses that
Black can avoid the exchange of light-squared bishops.} ({After the correct} 
27. Rfd1 {Black starts to have real problems, since it is not clear what to do.
The queen from d8 cannot move because it must protect the pawn on a5, the
bishop on g8 must protect h7. The rooks and the bishop on g5 don't have any
meaningful moves either. White can play next Rd3 and then either double on the
d-file or play Rh3 or Qc3. In any case after 27.Rfd1 Carlsen's position would
have been quite unpleasant. For instance} Bxd5 28. Rxd5 Qb6 {loses a pawn after
} 29. Rb5 Qd4 30. Rd1) 27... Qb6 $1 {Immediately exploiting the drawback of
White's previous move.} 28. Rab1 h6 $1 29. Bd5 Bh7 {The point. White cannot
exchange the bishops. As the result of 27.Nc3 Black has succeeded in
relocating his queen.} 30. Be4 Bg8 31. g3 (31. Nd5 Qc5 {is a different story
now. The queen is much better placed on c5 than on d8. Additionally, Black has
the plan Bd8-b6, equalizing completely.}) 31... Qc5 32. Kg2 Bd8 {Now the
position is equal.} 33. Rbd1 Qb4 34. Rb1 Bb6 35. Nd5 Bxd5 36. Bxd5 Bd4 {
White's only chance to set at least some problems is to place the queen on e4
and the bishop on c2 or d3, but he doesn't have time to achieve a good version
of such a rearrangement.} 37. Be4 Qc3 {Black understandably wants to force the
exchange of queens, but Jakovenko finds a way to avoid it.} (37... Rf6 $11) 38.
Qe2 $1 (38. Qxc3 Bxc3 $11) 38... Rf6 $1 (38... Rxb3 {requres from Black after}
39. Qg4 Rxb1 40. Qg6 {to find some computer-study-like ways to save himself,
which is of course completely unnecessary for him.}) 39. Bd3 Qb4 $1 {A clever
decision. Carlsen realized that the plan with Qc3 led Black nowhere and he
rightly brings the queen back.} (39... Rxb3 $2 40. Rxb3 Qxb3 41. Qe4 g6 42. Rb1
$36) 40. h4 (40. Qe4 Qb7 $11) (40. f3 Qb7 $11) 40... Qb7+ 41. Be4 Qf7 $11 42.
Bd5 Qg6 43. Be4 (43. h5 Qg5 $132 {[%csl Rf2,Rh5][%cal Gb8f8]}) 43... Qf7 44.
Bd5 Qg6 45. Be4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Dortmund SuperGM 37th"]
[Site "Dortmund"]
[Date "2009.07.09"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Leko, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2756"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "2009.07.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 131"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4
b4 9. d4 d6 10. dxe5 dxe5 11. Qxd8 Rxd8 12. Nbd2 Bd6 13. a5 h6 14. Bc4 Re8 15.
Nb3 Be6 16. Bd3 Red8 17. Bf1 Kf8 18. Nfd2 Nd7 19. Nc4 Nc5 20. Nxc5 Bxc5 21. c3
f6 22. Be3 Bxe3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Dortmund SuperGM 37th"]
[Site "Dortmund"]
[Date "2009.07.10"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2759"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2009.07.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 131"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 {Again no Catalan from Kramnik, just as in
the previous rounds.} Be7 5. Bf4 {Kramnik plays this slightly more often than
the other bishop move, Carlsen with White also alternates between the two main
lines.} ({Currently the theoretical reputation of the solid line} 5. Bg5 h6 6.
Bh4 O-O 7. e3 b6 {remains intact. Although in a recent high-level game White
was successful, this was not due to the opening itself:} 8. Be2 Bb7 9. Bxf6
Bxf6 10. cxd5 exd5 11. b4 c5 12. bxc5 bxc5 13. Rb1 Bc6 14. O-O Nd7 15. Bb5 Qc7
16. Qd3 Rfc8 17. Rfd1 Rab8 18. a4 cxd4 19. exd4 Ba8 $6 (19... Bxb5 $142 $11 {
Gelfand} 20. Nxb5 $140 Qa5 $1 21. Qf5 Qxa4 22. Qxd7 a6 23. Ne5 Bxe5 24. dxe5
Rd8 25. Qc6 Rxb5 26. e6 $1 $11) 20. Qf5 Qxc3 (20... Rd8 $5 21. Rbc1 $14) 21.
Qxd7 Qc7 22. Qf5 Rb6 23. Ne5 $36 {Grischuk,A (2748)-Gelfand,B (2733)/Nalchik/
2009/ Krasenkow's notes in CBM 130 show that White's minor pieces are stronger
than Black's bishop pair, especially the ץa8.}) 5... O-O 6. e3 c5 ({The last
time Kramnik had to face this line with Black, he opted for} 6... Nbd7 7. a3 ({
More ambitious is} 7. c5 {, but even here Black can hold his own:} Nh5 (7... c6
8. Bd3 b6 9. b4 a5 10. a3 Ba6 11. O-O Qc8 12. h3 Qb7 13. Rb1 Bxd3 (13... axb4
14. axb4 Rfc8 15. Bxa6 Qxa6 16. Qc2 Bd8 17. Rb2 Qb7 18. Ne1 Bc7 19. Nd3 Ne8 20.
Rc1 b5 21. Nb1 f6 22. Bxc7 Nxc7 23. Nd2 Ra6 24. e4 Nf8 25. e5 f5 26. Nb3 Ne8
27. Na5 Qf7 28. Qd2 h6 29. h4 $14 {(),Cheparinov,I (2679)-L'Ami,E (2603)/EU-ch
Budva/2009/}) 14. Qxd3 axb4 15. axb4 Ra3 16. Qc2 Rfa8 17. Rfc1 b5 18. Nd2 Bd8
19. Nb3 Ne4 $1 20. Nxe4 dxe4 21. Qxe4 Nf6 22. Qf3 Nd5 $132 {/=/+,Lysyj,I (2593)
-Zvjaginsev,V (2677)/Moscow op/2008/}) 8. Bd3 Nxf4 9. exf4 b6 (9... c6 10. O-O
b6 11. b4 bxc5 12. bxc5 Qa5 13. Qc2 h6 14. Rfb1 Ba6 15. Bxa6 Qxa6 16. Ne2 Rfb8
17. Ne1 Bf6 18. Nd3 Qa5 19. g3 Bd8 20. Kg2 Bc7 21. Ng1 Rxb1 22. Rxb1 Rb8 23.
Rxb8+ Nxb8 24. Nf3 Nd7 25. h4 Qb5 26. Nde5 {Sargissian,G (2678)-Ehlvest,J 
(2595)/Moscow Aeroflot op/2009/} Bxe5 $11) 10. b4 a5 11. a3 c6 12. O-O Qc7 13.
g3 Ba6 14. Re1 Bf6 15. Ne5 Bxe5 16. fxe5 Bxd3 17. Qxd3 Ra7 18. Reb1 b5 19. a4
axb4 20. Rxb4 f6 21. exf6 Nxf6 22. Qe2 Re8 23. Re1 bxa4 24. Rxa4 Rxa4 25. Nxa4
Qa5 26. Nb6 e5 $1 $11 {Krasenkow,M (2620)-Riazantsev,A (2634)/Metz op/2009/})
7... c5 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. Nxd5 exd5 10. dxc5 Nxc5 11. Be5 Bf5 $5 (11... Bf6 {
is played more often, but Kramnik's choice is no less natural.}) 12. Be2 Bf6
13. Bxf6 Qxf6 14. Nd4 Ne6 15. Nxf5 Qxf5 16. O-O Rfd8 17. Bg4 Qe5 18. Qb3 Nc5
19. Qb5 b6 20. Rfd1 Rd6 21. Rd4 a6 22. Qb4 h5 23. Bh3 Rad8 24. g3 g5 $5 25.
Rad1 g4 26. Bg2 Ne6 27. R4d3 d4 28. exd4 Rxd4 29. Rxd4 Rxd4 $11 {1/2,Anand,V 
(2783)-Kramnik,V (2772)/WCh Bonn/ 2008/}) 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. a3 Nc6 9. Qc2 {
Aims for a more complex struggle.} ({The other topical continuation is} 9. cxd5
Nxd5 10. Nxd5 exd5 11. Bd3 Bb6 12. O-O {, here Black has to make an important
choice:} {More enterprising is} d4 (12... Bg4 13. h3 Bh5 14. b4 Re8 15. Rc1 a6
16. Bxa6 Rxa6 17. b5 Rxa3 18. bxc6 bxc6 19. Rxc6 Ra7 20. Rd6 Rd7 21. Qxd5 Rxd6
22. Qxd6 Qxd6 23. Bxd6 $11 {/+/= leads to an _|_, in which White has at best
only practical winning chances. Although he can push on without risk,
ultimately he was successful only in the Leko-Kramnik game from WCh 2004.} Rd8
$5 (23... Bxf3 24. gxf3 Bd8 25. Rb1 Bf6 26. Kg2 g6 27. f4 Kg7 28. Rb7 Re6 29.
Rd7 Re8 30. Ra7 Re6 31. Bc5 Rc6 32. Ra5 $14 {Leko,P (2741)-Kramnik,V (2770)/
WCh Brissago/2004/}) 24. Bg3 Bc5 25. Rc1 Bf8 26. Nd4 Bg6 27. Rc7 h6 28. h4 Re8
29. Nb5 Rb8 30. Nc3 Re8 31. Kh2 Bf5 32. Nb5 Rc8 33. Ra7 Bc5 34. Ra1 Rd8 {
<=>^^,Karpov,A (2687)-Anand,V (2755)/Moscow rpd/2002/}) 13. e4 Bg4 14. h3 Qf6 (
14... Bh5 $5 15. g4 Bg6 16. Nd2 f6 $13 {is also playable}) 15. Bh2 (15. Bg3 Bh5
$1 16. Re1 Rfe8 17. Rc1 Bxf3 18. Qxf3 Ne5 19. Qxf6 gxf6 20. Bxe5 fxe5 21. g3
Rac8 22. Kg2 Kg7 23. Kf3 Kf6 24. h4 Rg8 25. Ke2 Ke7 $11 {Christiansen,L (2524)
-Onischuk,A (2638)/Minneapolis/2005/}) (15. hxg4 Qxf4 16. g5 Nd8 17. g3 Qg4 18.
Kg2 Ne6 19. Rh1 Nf4+ 20. Kf1 Nh3 21. Qd2 Bd8 22. e5 g6 23. Be2 {Beliavsky,A 
(2641)-Meier,G (2560)/EU-ch Plovdiv/2008/} Nxg5 24. Kg2 Qe4 25. Rae1 Rc8 26.
Bd1 Qc6 27. Qxd4 Ne6 28. Qg4 $13 {Beliavsky}) 15... Bxf3 {Here the swap is
more justified, as the B on h2 is placed worse, than on g3.} 16. Qxf3 Qxf3 17.
gxf3 Na5 18. Rac1 Nb3 19. Rc2 Rac8 20. Rd1 Nc5 21. Bb5 Rfd8 22. Kg2 Ne6 23.
Rxc8 Rxc8 24. f4 Rc2 25. f5 Nc5 26. Rxd4 g6 27. Be5 Rxb2 28. Bc4 Rc2 29. Bd5
Kf8 30. Bg3 Ke7 31. Bh4+ f6 32. fxg6 hxg6 33. e5 g5 34. exf6+ Kxf6 35. Bg3 Ne6
36. Rc4 Nf4+ $11 {1/2,Portisch,L (2512)-Beliavsky,A (2648)/Bazna/2007/}) ({
Too sterile is} 9. Be2 dxc4 10. Bxc4 {due to} Nh5 $1 11. Qxd8 (11. Bg5 Be7 12.
Bxe7 Qxe7 13. O-O Rd8 14. Qe2 Bd7 15. e4 Nf4 16. Qe3 Ng6 17. e5 Nh4 $1 18. Nxh4
Qxh4 $11 {Nikolic,P (2600)-Georgiev,K (2535)/Dubai olm/1986/}) 11... Rxd8 12.
Bc7 Rd7 13. Be5 Nxe5 14. Nxe5 Rd8 15. O-O Nf6 16. Rfd1 Bd7 17. Nxd7 Rxd7 18.
Rxd7 Nxd7 19. Rd1 Nf6 20. Kf1 $11 {1/2,Topalov,V (2750)-Gelfand,B (2665)/
Vienna/1996/}) ({After} 9. b4 {White must reckon with the sharp sacrifice} Nxb4
$5 (9... Be7 $132 {is fully playable as well.}) 10. axb4 Bxb4 11. Qb3 a5 12.
O-O-O Bd7 13. Ne5 (13. Rd4 $2 Qe7 14. Be5 Rfc8 15. Kb1 b5 16. Nxb5 a4 17. Qa2
Bxb5 18. Bxf6 gxf6 19. cxb5 Rc3 20. Rd3 Rac8 $19 {->,Epishin,V (2606)-Short,N 
(2673)/Malmo/2002/}) (13. Kb1 $5 $13) 13... Rc8 14. Nxd7 (14. Kb1 $5) 14...
Qxd7 15. Qc2 Bxc3 16. Qxc3 Ne4 17. Qb2 b5 18. f3 Nd6 19. Bxd6 Qxd6 20. Qxb5
Qa3+ 21. Qb2 Qxe3+ $44 {|^, Denayer,W (2255)-Shishkin,V (2135)/corr/2007/})
9... Qa5 10. Rd1 {The attention has again focused upon this older move.} ({
Black has found means to disarm the sharp attempt} 10. O-O-O Be7 11. h4 (11. g4
dxc4 12. Bxc4 e5 13. g5 exf4 14. gxf6 Bxf6 15. Nd5 Ne7 $1 $132 {and the
defence holds.}) 11... Rd8 12. Nd2 dxc4 (12... a6 $6 13. g4 $1 dxc4 14. Nxc4
Rxd1+ 15. Qxd1 Qd8 16. Qxd8+ Bxd8 17. Bg2 e5 18. Nxe5 Nxe5 19. Bxe5 Nxg4 20.
Bg3 Kf8 21. Rd1 Ke8 22. Na4 $16 {1-0 Nielsen,P (2625)-Glud,J (2486)/Silkeborg
2008/CBM 123 Extra (40)}) 13. Nxc4 Rxd1+ 14. Qxd1 Qd8 15. Qxd8+ Nxd8 (15...
Bxd8 16. Be2 Nd5 17. Nxd5 exd5 18. Nd6 Bc7 19. Rd1 Bxd6 20. Bxd6 $14 {Peng,Z 
(2400)-Maric,A (2460)/Groningen/1997/}) 16. Be2 Bd7 17. e4 Bc6 18. f3 Nh5 19.
Bc7 Rc8 20. Be5 Bf6 21. Nd6 Ra8 (21... Rc7 $5 {Kramnik}) 22. Bxf6 Nxf6 23. Rd1
Kf8 24. Kd2 Ne8 25. Nc4 f6 26. Ke3 b6 27. f4 Nf7 28. g4 h6 $14 {/=,Topalov,V 
(2783)-Kramnik,V (2766)/Wijk aan Zee/2007/ In the resulting _|_ White has
slight edge due to his space advantage, but the position is symmetrical and in
the course of the game Black neutralized any winning attempts with careful
defence.}) ({Some years ago Black faced a few problems after} 10. Nd2 {However,
then Anand and Nielsen came up with the convincing} Bb4 (10... Be7 11. Bg3 Bd7
12. Be2 Rfc8 13. O-O (13. Rd1 Qd8 14. cxd5 Nxd5 15. Nxd5 exd5 16. Qb1 d4 17.
O-O $5 $36 {is Agrest's untested suggestion, which also deserves attention.})
13... Qd8 14. b4 $14 {()}) 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Bd3 Nh5 $1 13. Bg3 (13. Nb3 Bxc3+
14. bxc3 Qd8 $11) (13. Bxh7+ Kh8 14. Bd3 Nxf4 15. exf4 Re8+ $36) 13... h6 (
13... d4 $5 14. Nb3 Bxc3+ 15. bxc3 Qxc3+ 16. Qxc3 dxc3 17. Rc1 Nxg3 18. hxg3 h6
19. Rxc3 Be6 20. Nc5 Ne5 {Jankovic,A (2532)-Saravanan,V (2405)/Kalamaria/2008/
is also good enough, here White should have played the modest} 21. Nxe6 Nxd3+
22. Rxd3 fxe6 23. Ke2 $11) 14. O-O Bxc3 15. Nb3 Qb6 16. Qxc3 Nxg3 17. hxg3 Rd8
18. Nc5 d4 19. exd4 Nxd4 20. Rfe1 Be6 21. Nxe6 Nxe6 22. Rac1 Rd6 23. b4 Rad8
24. Be4 Ng5 25. Bb1 Rc6 26. Qb2 Rxc1 27. Qxc1 g6 28. Qc3 Qd4 29. Qxd4 $11 {
1/2,Gelfand,B (2727)-Nielsen,P (2646)/Turin olm/2006/}) 10... Be7 {The
standard reaction, tested already in the Karpov-Korchnoi matches.} (10... Re8
$6 11. Nd2 e5 12. Bg5 Nd4 13. Qb1 Bf5 14. Bd3 e4 15. Bc2 (15. Bf1 $5 {is risky,
but objectively even stronger.}) 15... Nxc2+ 16. Qxc2 Qa6 17. Bxf6 Qxf6 18. Nb3
Bd6 19. Rxd5 $16 {Kortschnoj,V (2665)-Karpov,A (2725)/WCh Baguio City/1978/})
11. Be2 {Currently White's main try.} ({The older continuation} 11. Nd2 e5 12.
Bg5 d4 13. Nb3 {doesn't promise too much and Black even has a choice:} Qd8 (
13... Qb6 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15. Nd5 Qd8 16. Bd3 g6 17. exd4 Nxd4 18. Nxd4 exd4 19.
Nxf6+ (19. O-O Bg7 $1 20. Rde1 Be6 21. Nf4 Bd7 22. Be4 Rb8 23. Nd3 Qc7 24. b3
Rfe8 25. Qd2 a5 $132 {Gelfand,B (2691)-Kramnik,V (2751)/Dos Hermanas/1999/})
19... Qxf6 20. O-O Bg4 21. f3 Be6 22. f4 Bd7 23. Be4 Bc6 24. Bd5 Rfe8 25. Qd3
Bxd5 26. cxd5 Rac8 27. g3 Kf8 28. Rf2 Re3 29. Qxd4 Qxd4 30. Rxd4 Ke7 $44 {
Hansen,C (2505)-Jussupow,A (2590)/Reykjavik/1985/}) 14. Be2 a5 15. Na4 g6 16.
Bxf6 Bxf6 17. O-O (17. c5 Be6 18. e4 Qe8 19. Nb6 a4 20. Nd2 Ra5 21. Bd3 Be7 22.
Nxa4 $2 (22. Ndc4 $142) 22... Nb8 23. b3 Bxb3 24. Nxb3 Rxa4 25. Ra1 Qc6 26. O-O
Nd7 27. Qe2 Nxc5 28. Rfc1 Ra7 29. Nxc5 Bxc5 $17 {Alterman,B (2615)-Kasparov,G 
(2825)/Tel Aviv sim/1998/}) 17... Qc7 (17... Bg7 $5 18. c5 Qh4 19. e4 Be6 20.
Bd3 f5 $13 {Shneider,A (2495)-Kruppa,Y (2440)/Podolsk/1989/}) 18. c5 Be6 19. e4
Ne7 20. Nd2 Bg5 21. Nf3 Bh6 22. Bc4 Bg4 23. Rd3 Kh8 24. h3 f5 25. Rb3 d3 $1 26.
Qxd3 Rad8 $44 {Ftacnik,L (2590)-Kotronias,V (2550)/Thessaloniki olm/1988/})
11... dxc4 ({Inferior is} 11... Ne4 12. cxd5 Nxc3 13. Qxc3 $5 (13. bxc3 exd5
14. O-O Be6 15. a4 Rac8 16. Rb1 Bf6 17. Rxb7 d4 18. exd4 Nxd4 19. Nxd4 Bxd4 20.
Rb5 Qxc3 21. Qxc3 Rxc3 22. Rd1 Rc2 23. Rxd4 Rxe2 $11 {Vorobiov,E (2572)
-Mikhalevski,A (2441)/Pardubice/2007/}) 13... Qxc3+ 14. bxc3 exd5 15. Rxd5 Bxa3
16. Nd4 a5 (16... Be7 17. Kd2 Rd8 18. Bf3 $14 Nxd4 $2 19. cxd4 Bb4+ 20. Kd3
Rxd5 21. Bxd5 Kf8 22. Rc1 Ba5 23. e4 Ke7 24. Bc7 $18 {Nyback,T (2655)-Dobrev,N
(2366)/FRA-chT Chalons en Champagne/2009/}) 17. Rb5 a4 18. Kd2 Be7 19. Ra1 Ra7
20. Bg5 f6 21. Bf4 Rd8 22. Bc7 Re8 23. Bb6 Ra8 24. Bc4+ Kf8 25. Ne6+ Bxe6 26.
Bxe6 Bd6 27. Bd5 Re7 28. Kc2 Rd7 29. Be6 Re7 30. Bd5 Rd7 31. f4 $36 {[%csl Gb6,
Gd5] ^^,Sokolov,I (2657)-Meier,G (2608)/EU-ch Budva/2009/}) ({However, a
possibly viable idea is} 11... e5 $5 12. Nxe5 (12. Bxe5 $5 dxc4 13. Bxf6 Bxf6
14. Bxc4 Bf5 15. Qb3 $14) 12... Nxe5 13. Bxe5 dxc4 14. Bd4 Bf5 15. Qc1 Rac8 16.
O-O Rfd8 17. Rd2 Ne4 18. Nxe4 Bxe4 19. f3 Bf5 20. Rfd1 b5 21. Bc3 Qc7 22. Rxd8+
Rxd8 23. Rxd8+ Qxd8 24. Bd4 a6 25. Qc3 Bf8 26. e4 Be6 27. f4 f6 $11 {
Mamedyarov,S (2646)-Nielsen,P (2668)/ESP-chT Sant Lluis/2005/}) 12. Bxc4 $32 {
White had to invest a tempo with his B, but Black still has some problems with
his << development.} Nh5 {A rare move.} ({However, even the more usual
reaction isn't quite ideal:} 12... e5 13. Bg3 Bg4 14. O-O Rac8 15. Nd5 (15. Rc1
$5 a6 16. Ng5 Bh5 17. Nd5 Bg6 18. Nxe7+ Nxe7 19. Qb3 b5 20. Be6 Rxc1 21. Rxc1
Ne4 22. Nxe4 Bxe4 23. f3 Bb7 24. Bh3 Bd5 25. Qc3 Qxc3 26. Rxc3 f6 27. e4 $16 {
Rychagov,A (2575)-Aveskulov,V (2495)/Saratov/2006/}) 15... b5 (15... Nxd5 16.
Rxd5 (16. Bxd5 $142 $1 $14) 16... Qc7 17. Qe4 Be6 18. Rd2 Bxc4 19. Qxc4 Bf6 20.
Rfd1 Rfd8 21. h3 {Werner,D (2376)-Porat,D (2199)/Budapest/2005/} Qe7 $11) 16.
Ba2 Nxd5 17. Bxd5 Nd4 18. Qb1 b4 19. Qe4 Bxf3 20. gxf3 Ne2+ 21. Kg2 Nxg3 $2 (
21... bxa3 22. Qxe5 $14) 22. hxg3 bxa3 23. Rh1 g6 24. Rxh7 $1 Kxh7 25. Qxe5 Kg8
26. Rh1 {1-0,Mamedyarov,S (2646)-Moradiabadi,E (2485)/Abu Dhabi op/2005/}) 13.
O-O (13. Bd3 g6 14. Bh6 Rd8 15. O-O Bd7 16. Be2 a6 17. Nd2 Nf6 18. Bf4 e5 19.
Bg5 Be6 20. h3 Rac8 21. Bxf6 Bxf6 22. Bg4 {Vallejo Pons,F (2702)-Short,N (2663)
/Wijk aan Zee/2009/} Nd4 $5 $132 {/\} 23. exd4 Bxg4 24. hxg4 exd4 25. Nde4 Bg7
26. Qa4 Qe5 27. f4 Qe7 28. f5 dxc3 29. f6 Qc7 $1 30. fxg7 c2 31. Rxd8+ Qxd8 32.
Nc3 Qd2 $17) ({White can aspire for a minimal advantage with} 13. Bd6 Bxd6 14.
Rxd6 Nf6 15. Qd2 $5 (15. Rd2 Rd8 16. Rxd8+ Qxd8 17. O-O Bd7 18. Rd1 Qe7 19. h3
Rd8 20. Rd2 Be8 21. Rxd8 Qxd8 22. Qd2 Qxd2 23. Nxd2 Kf8 24. f4 Ke7 $11 {
Mecking,H (2567)-Short,N (2663)/Wijk aan Zee/2009/}) 15... Rd8 16. Rxd8+ Qxd8
17. Qxd8+ Nxd8 18. Ke2 Kf8 19. e4 Bd7 20. e5 Ne8 21. Rd1 Ke7 22. Ng5 Rc8 23.
Ba2 h6 24. Nge4 b6 25. f4 Nb7 26. Nd2 Nc5 27. Nc4 Bc6 28. g3 $14 {(),Eljanov,P
(2693)-Chadaev,N (2557)/RUS-chT Dagomys/2009/}) 13... Nxf4 14. exf4 g6 {
Frees g7 for the Be7.} ({Another purpose for the text-move can be seen from
the following example:} 14... Rd8 $6 15. Rxd8+ Qxd8 16. Rd1 Bd7 17. f5 $1 Qc8 (
17... exf5 18. Qb3 $40) 18. Qd3 Be8 19. fxe6 fxe6 20. Nd5 Qd8 21. Qe2 $18 {
Gupta,A (2569)-Kjartansson,G (2365)/Reykjavik/2009/}) 15. g3 {White makes a
useful move and waits to see, how Black intends to unravel his <<forces.} Rd8
$146 {[%mdl 8] A reasonable novelty.} (15... Bf6 16. Rd3 Qf5 (16... Bg7 $142)
17. Re1 (17. Nb5 $1) 17... Na5 18. Ba2 Bd7 $2 (18... b6 19. Ne4 Ba6 $14) 19.
Nh4 $1 Bxh4 20. Re5 Qg4 21. Rxd7 Nc6 22. Rb5 Bf6 23. Kg2 $1 $18 {Epishin,V 
(2600)-Atalik,S (2561)/Bratto /2005/}) ({Atalik suggests the interesting} 15...
a6 $5 16. Be2 $5 (16. Ne4 b5 17. Be2 Bb7 18. Rd7 Qb6 19. Qc3 Rac8 20. Nf6+ Bxf6
21. Qxf6 Nb8 22. Rd2 Qc6 23. Rfd1 Qe4 $132 {Atalik}) (16. Bd3 Rd8 $11) (16. Ba2
Rd8 $132 {and compared with the game, the extra a6 move is useful for Black.} (
16... b5 $6 17. f5 $1 gxf5 18. Nd5 exd5 19. Bxd5 $36)) 16... Rd8 (16... b5 17.
Nxb5 axb5 18. Qxc6 b4 19. axb4 $14) (16... Bf6 17. Ne4 Bg7 18. Nd6 $36) 17.
Rxd8+ Qxd8 18. Rd1 Bd7 {is similar to the game - White has a slight initiative,
but Black retains chances to eventually achieve full equality.} (18... Qc7 19.
Ne4 Bd7 20. Ne5 $36)) 16. Rxd8+ Qxd8 (16... Bxd8 $6 17. Rd1 Bf6 18. Ne4 Bg7 19.
Nd6 $16 {Atalik}) 17. Rd1 Bd7 {Seemingly risky, but White has no immediate
forcing way to exploit the pin on the <->d.} 18. f5 {[%mdl 512] An interesting
pawn sacrifice, but for the time being Carlsen finds the way to hold the
balance.} ({Possibly more promising was Shipov's suggestion} 18. Ng5 $5 Qc8
$142 (18... Rc8 $2 19. Nxf7 $1 Kxf7 20. f5 gxf5 21. Qxf5+ Kg7 22. Qg4+ Kf7 23.
Qe4 $1 Kg7 24. Rxd7 Qxd7 25. Bxe6 {/\Qg4+-}) (18... Qe8 19. Nb5 Rd8 20. Nc7 (
20. Nd6 Bxd6 21. Rxd6 Qe7 $14) 20... Qf8 21. Rxd7 $1 Rxd7 22. Ncxe6 Qh6 23. Kg2
$1 $40) 19. h4 $36) 18... gxf5 (18... exf5 $6 19. Qb3 Rb8 (19... Qe8 20. Bxf7+
Qxf7 21. Qxb7 Rb8 22. Qxd7 $18) 20. Bxf7+ Kg7 21. Kg2 $5 (21. Be6 Bxe6 22. Qxe6
Qg8 $14) 21... Qc8 22. Ne2 {[%csl Re6][%cal Ye2f4] /\Nf4|^,><e6}) 19. Qd2 Qb6
$5 {This tricky move is not forced.} (19... Be8 20. Qh6 Qa5 (20... Qb6 {
-19...Qb6!?}) 21. Nd5 $5 (21. Ng5 Qe5 $1 22. Qxh7+ Kf8 23. Nf3 Qg7 $11) 21...
exd5 22. Rxd5 Qa4 $1 (22... Qc7 23. Rxf5 $40 Qd7 24. Rf4 Bd6 25. Qg5+ Kf8 $8
26. Re4 $1 {[%cal Rg5h6,Rh2h3] /\Qh6,h3+-}) {and it seems that White doesn't
have more than a perpetual with} 23. Ng5 Bxg5 24. Qxg5+ Kf8 $8 (24... Kh8 $2
25. Qxf5 $18 Qxc4 26. Qf6+ Kg8 27. Rg5+ Kf8 28. Qd6+ Ne7 29. Qh6#) 25. Qh6+ Kg8
26. Qg5+ $11) (19... Bc8 20. Qf4 $5 (20. Qh6 Qf8) 20... Bd7 (20... Qf8 21. Bb5
$32) 21. Qd2 (21. Qh6 a6 $5 {[%cal Ya8c8,Yc8c7,Yd8f8] /\Rc8-c7, Qf8}) 21... Bc8
$11) 20. Qh6 {White avoids the traps.} (20. Qxd7 $2 Rd8 $19) (20. Na4 $6 Ne5 $1
(20... Nd4 $1 {can lead to the same position}) 21. Nxb6 (21. Nxe5 Bxa4 $17)
21... Nxf3+ 22. Kf1 (22. Kg2 $2 Nxd2 23. Nxa8 Bc6+ $19) 22... Nxd2+ 23. Rxd2
axb6 24. Rxd7 Bf6 $15 {/=}) 20... Be8 (20... Rd8 21. Ng5 (21. Rxd7 $6 Rxd7 22.
Bxe6 Nd4 $1 23. Bxf7+ Kh8 $15) 21... Bxg5 $8 22. Qxg5+ Kf8 23. Qf6 Bc8 (23...
Qxb2 $4 24. Qh8+ Ke7 25. Nd5+ $18) 24. Rxd8+ Qxd8 25. Qh8+ Ke7 26. Qxh7 Qd4
$132 {is also possible, but the text-move is more solid.}) 21. Ng5 Bxg5 $8 22.
Qxg5+ Kf8 (22... Kh8 $2 23. Rd6 {[%cal Rd6e6,Rg5f6] ->,/\Qf6,Re6} Qc7 24. Qf6+
Kg8 25. Rxe6 Qd8 $8 26. Qxf5 (26. Rd6 $16) 26... fxe6 27. Qxe6+ Bf7 (27... Kg7
28. Qg8+ Kh6 29. Qf8+ Kg6 30. Nd5 $18) 28. Qxf7+ Kh8 29. Qxb7 Na5 30. Qb5 $16)
23. Qh6+ {White repeats moves to gain time before the control.} (23. Rd6 {
-25.Rd6}) 23... Kg8 24. Qg5+ Kf8 25. Rd6 Qc7 $2 {[%mdl 8256] A serious error,
which White exploits with a decisive piece of tactics.} (25... Rd8 26. Rxe6 $5
Qd4 $142 $1 (26... fxe6 $2 27. Qh6+ Kg8 (27... Ke7 $2 28. Qxe6+ Kf8 29. Qf6+)
28. Qxe6+ Kg7 29. Qg8+ Kf6 30. Qf8+ Ke5 (30... Kg6 31. Ne2 $1 $18) (30... Kg5
31. Ne4+ fxe4 32. h4+ Kg6 33. Qg8+ Kf5 34. Qg5#) 31. Nb5 $1 {[%cal Rf8g7] /
\Qg7+-}) 27. Rf6 (27. Qh6+ Kg8 28. Rf6 Qxc4 29. Qg5+ {-27.Rf6}) 27... Qxc4 28.
Rxc6 Qd4 29. Rc4 Qd2 30. Qxf5 Bc6 31. Rxc6 $5 (31. Ne4 Qd1+ 32. Kg2 Qd5 33.
Qxd5 Bxd5 34. Rd4 f5 35. f3 fxe4 36. fxe4 Bxe4+ 37. Rxe4 Rd2+ $11) 31... bxc6
32. Qxh7 Rd6 $14 {White is somewhat better (safer K), but the result of the
game is far from decided.}) (25... Qc5 $5 {is safer and holds the balance:} 26.
Ne4 $5 (26. Qh6+ Kg8 (26... Ke7 $2 27. Nd5+ $1 exd5 (27... Kxd6 28. Qf8+ $18)
28. Rxd5 $18 {/\} Qxc4 29. Qd6#) 27. Rxe6 fxe6 (27... Qxc4 28. Qg5+ $11) 28.
Bxe6+ Bf7 29. Nd5 Bxe6 30. Qxe6+ Kg7 $11) 26... Qxc4 27. Nf6 Ke7 $8 28. Rd1 (
28. Ne4+ Kf8 $11) 28... Nd4 $8 29. Nxe8+ Kxe8 $1 (29... Kf8 30. Qg7+ Kxe8 31.
Rxd4 Qc1+ 32. Kg2 Rc8 33. Rh4 $36) 30. Qg8+ Ke7 31. Qxa8 Ne2+ $5 (31... Qd5 32.
Rxd4 Qxd4 33. Qxb7+ Kf6 34. Kg2 $11 {/+/=}) 32. Kg2 Qe4+ 33. f3 Nf4+ 34. gxf4
Qe2+ 35. Kg3 Qxd1 36. Qxb7+ Qd7 $11) (25... Qxb2 $2 26. Qf6 Qc1+ (26... Kg8 27.
Rxe6 $18) 27. Rd1 Qxa3 28. Bxe6 Kg8 29. Bxf5 Qf8 30. Ne4 $18 {->}) 26. Qh6+ Ke7
$8 (26... Kg8 27. Rxe6 $1 fxe6 28. Bxe6+ Bf7 29. Nd5 $18 {[%cal Rd5f6] /\Nf6})
27. Qh4+ {White again repeats moves, here he wants to accurately calculate the
winning line.} (27. Nb5 $1 {-29.Nb5!}) 27... Kf8 (27... Kxd6 28. Nb5+ Kd7 29.
Nxc7 $18 (29. Bxe6+ $5 fxe6 30. Qxh7+ $18)) 28. Qh6+ Ke7 29. Nb5 $1 Qa5 (29...
Qxd6 30. Nxd6 Kxd6 31. Qxh7 Ne5 {was more resilient, but equally hopeless in
the long run - the o^h2 will decide after} 32. Be2 $18 {[%csl Gh2]}) (29... Qc8
30. Qxh7 Nd8 (30... Kf8 31. Qh6+ Ke7 32. Qg5+ Kf8 33. Nd4 $1 Nxd4 34. Rxd4 $18)
31. Qh4+ f6 32. Rd1 Qc5 33. Nd4 $1 Bf7 34. Re1 {and White's -> will eventually
break thorugh. A nice sample line is} Kd7 35. Bb5+ Ke7 $2 36. Nxf5+ $1 Qxf5 37.
Qb4+ Qc5 38. Qxc5#) 30. b4 ({Similar is} 30. Rxe6+ $1 fxe6 31. Qxe6+ Kd8 32. b4
$18) 30... Nxb4 {The only reasonable way to postpone mate, but even now the ->
breaks through.} (30... Qb6 31. Rxe6+ $1 fxe6 32. Qxe6+ Kd8 (32... Kf8 33. Qh6+
Ke7 34. Qd6#) 33. Qd6+ Bd7 34. Be6 Nb8 35. Qf8+ Be8 36. Qf6#) 31. Rxe6+ $1 (31.
axb4 $2 Qa1+ 32. Kg2 Bxb5 33. Rxe6+ fxe6 34. Qxe6+ Kd8 35. Bxb5 Qd4 36. Qe8+
Kc7 37. Qxa8 Qd5+ $13) 31... fxe6 32. Qxe6+ Kd8 33. Qf6+ {An important move,
protecting the a1-square.} Kc8 34. Qxf5+ $5 {Before taking the N, White grabs
a P.} (34. axb4 $18) 34... Kd8 (34... Bd7 35. Nd6+ $18) (34... Kb8 35. Qe5+ $18
) 35. Qf6+ Kc8 36. axb4 $1 {Now Black faces a quick mate, or immense material
losses.} (36. axb4 Qd8 (36... Qxb4 37. Be6+ Bd7 38. Qh8+ {mates immediately.})
37. Be6+ Bd7 38. Qc3+ Kb8 39. Qe5+ Kc8 40. Qc5+ Kb8 41. Bxd7 b6 42. Qd6+ Kb7
43. Bc6+ $18) 1-0

[Event "Dortmund SuperGM 37th"]
[Site "Dortmund"]
[Date "2009.07.11"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2697"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2009.07.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 131"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 Bg5 12. Nc2 O-O 13. a4 bxa4 14. Rxa4 a5
15. Bc4 Bd7 16. O-O Ne7 17. Ra2 Nxd5 18. Bxd5 Rc8 19. Qd3 Qb6 20. Rfa1 Kh8 21.
Rxa5 f5 22. Qa6 Qxb2 23. R5a2 Qxc3 24. Qxd6 Bb5 25. Be6 Rfd8 26. Qa3 Qxa3 27.
Nxa3 Rc1+ 28. Rxc1 Bxc1 29. h4 Bd3 30. exf5 Ra8 31. Nb1 Rxa2 32. Bxa2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Dortmund SuperGM 37th"]
[Site "Dortmund"]
[Date "2009.07.12"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bacrot, Etienne"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2721"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2009.07.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 131"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 d5 7. e3 b6 8. Nf3
Bb7 9. b3 Nbd7 10. Be2 c5 11. O-O Rc8 12. a4 dxc4 13. bxc4 Qc7 14. Rd1 Rfd8 15.
Bb2 cxd4 16. exd4 Qf4 17. Qe3 Qxe3 18. fxe3 a5 19. Nd2 Ne4 20. Nxe4 Bxe4 21.
Rdc1 Nc5 22. Ra3 Bc6 23. Bc3 Nxa4 24. Be1 Be8 25. Rb1 e5 26. Bh4 f6 27. dxe5 b5
28. cxb5 Nc3 29. Rb2 Nxe2+ 30. Rxe2 Rd1+ 31. Re1 Rcc1 32. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 33. Kf2 g5
34. Bg3 Bxb5 35. e4 fxe5 36. Rxa5 Rb1 37. Bxe5 Bc6 38. Bc3 Rb5 39. Rxb5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Nanjing Pearl Spring 2nd"]
[Site "Nanjing"]
[Date "2009.09.28"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Leko, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2762"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2009.09.28"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 $1 {The Scotch. Judging by the time spent by my
opponent in the opening, as well as the position that arose, a good opening
choice for this game! Schottisch. Nach der Bedenkzeit zu urteilen, die mein
Gegner in der Eröffnung verbrauchte, sowie der Stellung, die sich ergab, eine
gute Wahl für diese Partie!} exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Be3 Qf6 6. c3 Nge7 7. Bc4 Ne5
8. Be2 Qg6 9. O-O d6 10. f4 $5 {An old move, seldom seen nowadays. Ein alter
Zug, heutzutage selten gesehen.} Qxe4 11. Bf2 Bxd4 {For those who want to know
why this and the next move are almost exclusively played here, I refer to
other sources :)  Für diejenigen, die wissen wollen, wieso dieser und der
nächste Zug an dieser Stelle fast ausschließlich gespielt werden, verweise ich
auf andere Quellen :)} 12. cxd4 N5g6 13. g3 {This move was introduced by
Morozevich against Kramnik, Monaco 2001. Dieser Zug wurde von Morozevich gegen
Kramnik in die Praxis eingeführt, Monaco 2001.} ({Earlier games mostly saw In
früheren Partien geschah überwiegend} 13. Nc3 Qxf4 14. Nb5 O-O 15. Nxc7 Rb8 {
after which Black seldom had any problems. The text is the start of a more
positional plan, aiming to clamp down on the black position with d5 and play
for long-term compensation with the bishop pair. , wonach Schwarz selten
irgendwelche Probleme hatte. Der Text ist der Auftakt zu einem positionelleren
Plan, der darauf abzielt, mit d5 die schwarze Stellung einzuengen und auf
langfristige Kompensation mit dem Läuferpaar zu spielen.}) 13... O-O $6 {
An inaccurate move. Leko explained afterwards that since he had already spent
quite a lot of time in the opening, he made this reflex move quicky, without
realizing that it would give him a difficult position. Ein ungenauer Zug. Leko
erklärte hinterher, dass er, da er bereits eine Menge Zeit in der Eröffnung
verbraucht hatte, schnell diesen Reflexzug machte, ohne zu realisieren, dass
er ihm eine schwierige Stellung einbringen würde.} (13... Bh3 14. Bf3 Qf5 15.
Re1 d5 16. Qb3 {Is the critical continuation. Now both ist die kritische
Fortsetzung. Möglich sind nun sowohl} O-O 17. Nc3 Bg4 18. Bxd5 {with a draw in
Nakamura-Grischuk, played slightly later at the ECC in Ohrid, or the
challenging 16... 0-0-0!? are possible. mit Remis in Nakamura-Grischuk,
gespielt kurz darauf beim Europa-Cup in Ohrid, oder das anspruchsvollere 16...
0-0-0!?.}) 14. Nc3 Qf5 15. d5 {This is the position I was aiming for. I do not
claim a real advantage for White here, but I think that it is much easier to
play White here, as he has a lot of space, while Black is cramped, and finds
it more difficult to find a way to arrange his pieces. Dies ist die Stellung,
die ich angestrebt hatte. Ich beanspruche keinen wirklichen Vorteil für Weiß
hier, aber ich denke, dass es hier wesentlich einfacher ist, Weiß zu spielen,
da er eine Menge Raum hat, während Schwarz beengt steht und es ihm schwerer
fällt, einen Weg zu finden, seine Figuren zu arrangieren.} a6 (15... Bd7 {
was played a few days later in Ganguly-Acs, but that game didn't shake the
evaluation of the position: Black was suffering in that game as well. geschah
ein paar Tage später in Ganguly-Acs, aber diese Partie konnte die Einschätzung
der Stellung nicht erschüttern: Auch in jener Partie hatte Schwarz zu leiden.})
16. Re1 Kh8 $5 {An interesting idea. The knight is seeking greener pastures
via the f6-square. Eine interessante Idee. Der Springer strebt über das Feld
f6 zu grüneren Weiden.} (16... b5 17. a3 {is hardly a solution to the problems,
as Black can never play ...Bb7 due to Bg4 Qf6 Bd4, trapping the black queen.
ist kaum eine Lösung der Probleme, da Schwarz nie ...Bb7 spielen kann wegen
Bg4 Qf6 Bd4 und die schwarze Dame ist gefangen.}) 17. Rc1 Bd7 18. Bf3 {A very
useful move, preparing Ne2-d4, where the knight will occupy a dominant
position. Ein sehr nützlicher Zug, Ne2-d4 wird vorbereitet, wo der Springer
eine dominante Stellung einnehmen wird.} Rac8 19. Qb3 b5 20. Ne2 Qh3 21. Nd4
Bg4 $2 (21... Ng8 $1 {would have been a better choice, as Leko pointed out
after the game. Black intends to play ...Nf6 without having to worry about Rc6,
which was very strong in the game. wäre eine bessere Wahl gewesen, wie Leko
nach der Partie hervorhob. Schwarz beabsichtig, ...Nf6 zu spielen, ohne sich
wegen Rc6 sorgen zu müssen, was in der Partie sehr stark war.} 22. Nc6 Nf6 23.
Bg2 Qf5 {and Black is definitely in the game. und Schwarz ist definitiv in der
Partie.} (23... Qh5 24. Bd4 $16 {is weaker. ist schwächer.})) 22. Bg2 Qh5 23.
h4 $1 {The key move. Now all the black pieces on the kingside look rather
stupid, while the black queenside pawns are ripe for harvest. Der Schlüsselzug.
Nun wirken alle schwarzen Figuren am Königsflügel ziemlich dämlich, während
die schwarzen Damenflügelbauern reif zur Ernte sind} Ng8 $6 {Leko was already
short on time, and desperately wanted to create counterplay. He missed my next
move, having only counted on 24.Qa3.  Leko war bereits knapp and Zeit und
wollte unbedingt Gegenspiel aufziehen. Er übersah meinen nächsten Zug, da er
nur mit 24.Qa3 gerechnet hatte.} 24. Rc6 $1 (24. Qa3 Nf6 25. Qxa6 Nxd5 26. Qxb5
c5 {when Black is doing very well. It has to be said that Black had a very
difficult position after other moves as well, as there is no simple way of
stopping Rc3 and Rec1, and c7 will drop. , wonach Schwarz sehr gut steht. Zu
sagen ist, dass Schwarz auch nach anderen Zügen eine sehr schwierige Stellung
hätte, da es keine einfache Möglichkeit gibt, Rc3 und Rec1 zu stoppen, wonach
c7 fallen wird.}) 24... Nf6 25. Rxa6 {Now b5 is also dropping, and White
should be winning. My only worry was that the rook would remain out of play on
a6, while black occupies the e-file. However, this is far-fetched, especially
as Black might have problems with the back rank in some lines. Nun fällt auch
noch b5, und Weiß sollte gewinnen. Meine einzige Sorge war, dass der Turm auf
a6 aus dem Spiel bleiben würde, während Schwarz die e-Linie besetzt. Dies ist
jedoch weit hergeholt, vor allem, da Schwarz in manchen Abspielen Probleme mit
der Grundreihe hat.} Bd7 (25... Rfe8 26. Rxe8+ Rxe8 27. Ra7 $1 {is hopeless
for Black. ist hoffnunglos für Schwarz.}) 26. Nxb5 Rb8 27. a4 Ng4 28. Bf3 Qh6 (
28... Qf5 29. Be4 (29. Ra7 Nxf4 (29... Rfe8 30. Rxe8+ Rxe8 31. Nd4 $1 Qb1+ 32.
Qd1) 30. gxf4 Nxf2 31. Kxf2 Qxf4 {is better for White, but gives some
counterplay. ist besser für Weiß, gibt aber etwas Gegenspiel.}) 29... Qh5 30.
Ra7 {looks like plain sailing for White. scheint für Weiß glatt zu laufen.})
29. Qc4 {I spent quite a bit of time around here, trying to allow as little
counterplay as possible. With this move I prevent ...Nxf2 Kxf2 Nxf4, while...
Hier etwa verbrauchte ich einiges an Zeit bei dem Versuch, so wenig Gegenspiel
wie möglich zu erlauben. Mit diesem Zug verhindere ich ...Nxf2 Kxf2 Nxf4,
während...} Nxh4 {Desperation, but what else? Verzweiflung, aber was sonst?} (
29... Nxf2 30. Kxf2 Nxh4 {is met by wird pariert mit} 31. Rh1 $1 (31. gxh4 $4
Qxh4+ 32. Kf1 Bh3+ {and Black wins, is not such a good idea. und Schwarz
gewinnt ist keine so gute Ideee.})) 30. Bxg4 Bxg4 31. gxh4 Bf3 32. f5 {Now
White is easily winning, and the only thing remaining was the pleasant task of
making it to move 40 without blundering anything. Nun gewinnt Weiß leicht, und
das Einzige, was noch blieb, war die angenehme Aufgabe, es bist zum 40. Zug zu
schaffen, ohne etwas einzustellen.} Qh5 33. Qf4 Bxd5 34. Nxc7 Bb7 35. Rb6 f6
36. Bd4 Qf7 37. Ne6 Rg8 38. Kf2 Rbc8 39. Bc3 Bd5 40. a5 Rc4 41. Nd4 Ba8 42.
Qxd6 Qh5 43. Qf4 Rcc8 44. Rbe6 {And Black finally resigned. My first win in a
classical game against Leko! Und Schwarz gab endlich auf. Mein erster Sieg in
einer klassischen Partie gegen Leko!} 1-0

[Event "Nanjing Pearl Spring 2nd"]
[Site "Nanjing"]
[Date "2009.09.29"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E90"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2813"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2009.09.28"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. h3 Na6 7. Be3 {In my
opinion, this move is less accurate than} (7. Bg5) 7... e5 8. d5 c6 9. g4 Nc5
10. Nd2 a5 11. a3 Nfd7 (11... a4 {was possible right now as it was hardly
favourable for White to capture this pawn at the price of exchanging his
dark-squared bishop and weakening the dark squares in his camp (especially
after g2-g4):} 12. Bxc5 dxc5 13. dxc6 $6 (13. Nxa4 $142 Qa5 14. Nc3 Bh6 $44)
13... bxc6 14. Nxa4 Bh6 15. Nc3 Rb8 16. Rb1 Qa5 17. Bd3 Rd8 18. Qc2 Be6 19. Nf3
Bf4 $17 {0-1 Muse,M (2474)-Levacic,P (2336)/Medulin 2002/CBM 090 ext (42)}) 12.
Rg1 {A surprising decision. White allows ...a5-a4.} ({In the event of} 12. b4
axb4 13. axb4 Rxa1 14. Qxa1 Na6 15. Qa3 c5 16. bxc5 Naxc5 {breaking up Black's
queenside defence is not an easy task.}) 12... a4 {White's queenside is now
paralysed but he's got a plan: long castling followed by a kingside pawn
attack.} 13. Qc2 Nb6 14. O-O-O Bd7 15. Kb1 cxd5 $2 {What looks like a small
inaccuracy turns out to be a grave positional error.} (15... Rc8 $142) 16. cxd5
(16. exd5 f5 $132) 16... Rc8 17. Bb5 $1 {[%mdl 32] That's the point. White
trades bishops, weakening the light squares in Black's camp and his a4-pawn.}
Bxb5 18. Nxb5 Qd7 19. Nc3 Bf6 (19... Rc7 20. h4 Rfc8 21. h5 {, and Black can't
make further progress.}) 20. g5 Bd8 {This bishop is aiming for a5 but where
can the b6-knight be moved to?} 21. h4 Na8 (21... Nb3 22. Nxb3 axb3 23. Qxb3
Nc4 {(S.Zagrebelny)} 24. Nb5 Nxe3 25. fxe3 {hardly gives Black any real
compensation for the missing pawn.}) 22. Bxc5 Rxc5 23. Qxa4 $16 {/+- White has
won a pawn and his pieces are also better positioned. The rest is a matter of
technique.} Qc8 24. Rc1 Nb6 25. Qd1 Qh3 26. Qf3 Qd7 (26... Qxh4 $4 27. Rg4 $18
{[%cal Rc1h1]}) (26... Qxf3 27. Nxf3 f5 {was relatively better.}) 27. Qd3 Kg7
28. Rc2 f6 {The last attempt to create counterplay.} 29. gxf6+ Rxf6 30. h5 $1 {
White has accurately calculated the consequences of this move.} Rxf2 31. hxg6
h6 (31... hxg6 32. Rxg6+ Kxg6 33. Qg3+ Bg5 34. Qxf2 $18) 32. Nd1 $1 {It is
essential for White to swap his passive c2 rook for Black's most active piece
- the Rf2.} (32. Nf3 $1 {was equally good, with the same idea.}) 32... Rxc2 (
32... Rf8 33. Ne3 $18) (32... Rf6 33. Rxc5 dxc5 34. Ne3 Rxg6 35. Nf5+ Kh7 36.
Rxg6 Kxg6 37. Nf3 $18 {->}) 33. Nxf2 $1 (33. Qxc2 $143 Rh2 34. Ne3 $140 Bg5)
33... Rc8 34. Ng4 Bg5 35. Nf3 Nc4 36. Nxg5 hxg5 37. Ne3 (37. Qh3 $1 {(pointed
out by many commentators) was winning on the spot:} Rh8 38. Qxh8+ Kxh8 39. Rh1+
$18) 37... Nxe3 38. Qxe3 Qa4 39. Qxg5 Qxe4+ 40. Ka1 Re8 (40... Rc7 41. Qd8 $18)
41. Rc1 $1 (41. Rc1 Qf4 42. Rc7+ Kg8 43. Qh5 $18) 1-0

[Event "Nanjing Pearl Spring 2nd"]
[Site "Nanjing"]
[Date "2009.09.30"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Wang, Yue"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D83"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2009.09.28"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bf4 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. Rc1 Be6 $5 {A rare but
playable move, instead of the normal continuations} (6... c5) (6... c6) (6...
dxc4) 7. c5 $6 {This is probably too ambitious. White will hardly be able to
hold this structure.} (7. Nf3 dxc4 {leads to a popular D92 line}) (7. Qb3 {
is the main alternative to the text move:} b6 8. Nf3 c5 $5 (8... c6 $143 9. Ng5
dxc4 10. Bxc4 Bxc4 11. Qxc4 Nd5 12. Nxd5 cxd5 13. Qb3 e6 14. O-O Nd7 15. Nf3
Nf6 16. Qa4 $14 {1-0 Farago,I (2510)-Groszpeter,A (2375)/Budapest 1979/MCD (58)
}) (8... Nc6 $6 9. Qa4 $1 (9. cxd5 $143 Nxd5 10. Nxd5 Bxd5 11. Qa4 e5 $1 12.
Bg5 f6 $13 {0-1 Soln,P (2280)-Jelen,I (2400)/Vrhnika 1995/EXT 1998 (33)}) 9...
Na5 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Nxd5 Qxd5 12. b4 Bd7 13. Qa3 Nc6 14. Bc4 $16) 9. dxc5 (9.
Rd1 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Bxc4 11. Qxc4 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Qc8 13. Qe2 Nc6 $11 {1/2 Bhat,V 
(2481)-Kudrin,S (2566)/Tulsa 2008/CBM 123 Extra (19)}) (9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. Nxd5
Bxd5 11. Bc4 Bxf3 $1 12. gxf3 Nc6 $132) 9... Nbd7 $5 10. c6 (10. cxb6 Nc5 11.
Qb4 axb6 $44) 10... Nc5 11. Qd1 (11. c7 Qc8 12. Qb4 dxc4 13. Bxc4 Nh5 $132) (
11. Qb4 Rc8 $132) 11... dxc4 12. Qxd8 Rfxd8 13. Nd4 Nd5 14. Nxe6 Nxe6 15. Nxd5
Rxd5 16. Rxc4 Bxb2 $10 {Vainerman,I (2385)-Serebro,A/USSR 1987/Inf 45}) 7... c6
(7... Nh5 $5 8. Bg5 b6 9. b4 a5 10. a3 axb4 11. axb4 bxc5 12. bxc5 h6 13. Bh4
f5 14. Bd3 Nf6 15. Bxf6 Bxf6 16. f4 c6 17. Nf3 Nd7 $13 {1/2 Van der Werf,M 
(2389)-Negi,P (2526)/Wijk aan Zee 2008/CBM 122 (56)}) 8. Bd3 (8. h3 b6 9. b4
Ne4 10. Nf3 a5 11. Na4 Nd7 $2 (11... b5 $142 12. Nb6 Ra7 $13) 12. b5 $1 bxc5 $2
(12... cxb5 13. Bxb5 bxc5 14. dxc5 $16) 13. bxc6 g5 14. Nxg5 Nxg5 15. Bxg5 Nf6
16. Nxc5 Qd6 17. Bb5 {1-0 Timoscenko,G (2494)-Michalik,P (2330)/Banska
Stiavnica 2006/CBM 113 ext}) 8... Bg4 $5 {Black starts preparing ...e7-e5.} (
8... b6 9. b4 a5 {is another plan.}) 9. Qc2 (9. Nge2 {looks more logical.})
9... Nfd7 $5 10. Bxb8 $6 (10. h3 e5 $1 11. Bxe5 (11. dxe5 Be6 12. Nf3 Nxc5 $11)
11... Nxe5 12. hxg4 (12. dxe5 Be6 13. f4 Nd7 14. Nce2 f6 15. f5 $1 gxf5 16. Nd4
Re8 $44) 12... Nxg4 13. Be2 $11 {S.Zagrebelny}) 10... Nxb8 $1 (10... Rxb8 11.
h3 Be6 $11) 11. h3 Bc8 12. f4 (12. Nf3 Nd7 {[%cal Ye7e5]}) 12... b6 13. Na4 (
13. b4 a5 14. a3 axb4 15. axb4 Na6 $1 16. Bxa6 (16. Rb1 bxc5 17. bxc5 Qa5 $17 {
[%cal Ra6c5,Ra6b4]}) (16. Qb2 bxc5 17. bxc5 Qa5 18. Ra1 Nxc5 $1 19. Rxa5 Nxd3+
20. Kd2 Nxb2 21. Rxa8 Nc4+ $17) 16... Bxa6 17. Nf3 bxc5 18. bxc5 f6 $15 {
[%cal Ye7e5]}) 13... e5 $1 {[%mdl 512] In Kasparov's style! Black opens up the
position against the opponent's uncastled king.} 14. dxe5 (14. fxe5 f6 15. e6
Re8 $15 {[%csl Re3]}) 14... f6 15. exf6 Qxf6 16. Nf3 (16. cxb6 $5 axb6 17. a3 (
17. Nxb6 Rxa2) (17. Nf3 b5 18. Nc3 Qe7 19. Kf2 Na6 $36) 17... b5 18. Nb6 Ra7
19. Nxc8 Rxc8 $36 {[%cal Ya7e7,Yc8e8]}) 16... Qe7 17. Kf2 b5 18. Nc3 Na6 19.
Qd2 (19. Nd1 Nb4 20. Qd2 Nxd3+ 21. Qxd3 Bf5 22. Qd2 Be4 {[%cal Rg6g5]} 23. h4
Rae8 $17) (19. Bxb5 Bf5 $1 $17) 19... Nxc5 $17 {Black has recaptured the pawn
and has a lot of advantages: a bishop pair, weakness of the white king and the
e3-pawn.} 20. Bb1 Kh8 (20... Bb7 {[%cal Ya8e8]}) (20... Bd7) 21. b4 $6 {
[%csl Rc4] Additionally weakening the c4-square.} (21. Ne2 $5 {[%cal Ye2d4]})
21... Nb7 22. Ne2 Nd6 $1 23. Ned4 (23. Rxc6 Nc4 24. Qd3 a5 $1 $17 {[%csl Rc6]})
23... Nc4 24. Qd3 Bd7 25. h4 {This counterattack is White's only chance.} Rae8
26. Rce1 (26. h5 Nxe3 27. hxg6 Rxf4 28. Rxh7+ Kg8 $17 {S.Zagrebelny}) 26...
Qxb4 27. h5 Nd6 (27... Bf5 $5 28. Qb3 Qd6 $17) 28. hxg6 Ne4+ 29. Kg1 h6 30. Rc1
Qb2 31. Qc2 Qa3 ({Simpler is} 31... Qxc2 32. Bxc2 Ng3 33. Rh4 c5 {with an
overwhelming position.}) 32. Nb3 c5 33. Re1 Bf5 34. Nh4 c4 35. Nxf5 Rxf5 36.
Nd2 Rxf4 $1 37. Qd1 $1 (37. exf4 $4 Bd4+ $19) 37... Rf6 (37... Rff8 $5 {
was probably a bit more accurate:} 38. Nxe4 dxe4 39. Qd7 (39. Rh5 a6) 39... Re7
40. Qxb5 Qc3 41. Re2 Qf6 $19) 38. Nxe4 dxe4 39. Qd7 {The white queen (not
exchanged by Black on move 31) becomes extremely active.} Qe7 $6 (39... Re7 $1
40. Qxb5 Qc3 41. Qb8+ Rf8 42. Qg3 Qd2 {S.Zagrebelny} 43. Rf1 Rxf1+ 44. Kxf1 Re8
{[%cal Rd2d1]} 45. Kg1 Be5 $1 $19) 40. Qxb5 Qe6 $2 {The 40th move!} (40... Rxg6
{was still winning a pawn and eventually the game as} 41. Qxc4 $2 {led to a
mating attack for Black:} Rxg2+ 42. Kxg2 Qg5+ 43. Kf2 (43. Kh3 Be5 44. Rhg1
Qh5+ 45. Kg2 Qf3#) 43... Rf8+ 44. Ke2 Qg2+ 45. Kd1 Rd8+ $19 {S.Zagrebelny}) 41.
Rh4 {White now keeps the material balance and equalizes.} Rf5 42. Qa4 {[%cal
Rh4e4,Ra4a7]} Ref8 43. Rxe4 Qxg6 44. Re8 Rxe8 45. Bxf5 Qf7 46. Qd7 Qxd7 47.
Bxd7 Rd8 48. Rd1 c3 49. Ba4 Rxd1+ 50. Bxd1 Be5 51. Kf1 Kg7 52. Ke2 h5 53. Kd3
h4 54. Bf3 Kf6 55. Kc2 Ke6 56. Kd3 Kf6 57. Kc2 Ke6 58. Kd3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Nanjing Pearl Spring 2nd"]
[Site "Nanjing"]
[Date "2009.10.01"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Jakovenko, Dmitrij"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2742"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "126"]
[EventDate "2009.09.28"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O
O-O 9. Be3 Be6 10. Qd2 Nbd7 11. a4 Nb6 12. a5 Nc4 13. Bxc4 Bxc4 14. Rfd1 Rc8
15. f3 {Jakovenko is not rushing the issue and intentionally sidesteps the
main move with the transfer of the knight from b3. Presumably he was not too
happy about the possibility of his opponent's counterplay with the ...d6-d5
advance.} (15. Nc1 d5 $5 {The quiet continuation is fine as well, but White
tends to play for an advantage.} (15... Qc7 16. Nd3 (16. Bb6 Qc6 17. f3 h6 (
17... Rfe8 18. N1a2 Bxa2 19. Rxa2 h6 20. Raa1 Qc4 21. Ra4 Qc6 22. Qd3 $14 {
1-0 Barbulescu,D (2465)-Womacka,M (2375)/Eforie Nord 1984 (67)}) 18. Nd3 Bxd3
19. Qxd3 Qc4 20. Be3 Rc6 21. Qxc4 Rxc4 22. Kf1 {1/2-1/2 Karpov,A (2710)
-Ostermeyer,P (2450)/Hannover 1983 (80)}) (16. N1e2 Bxe2 17. Qxe2 Qc4 18. Qf3
h6 19. Ra4 Qe6 20. Rb4 Rc7 21. Qe2 Rfc8 22. Qd3 Rd7 23. Nd5 Bd8 24. Qb3 Bxa5
25. Rxb7 Rxb7 26. Qxb7 Rxc2 27. Nxf6+ gxf6 28. b4 Rc7 29. Qb8+ Rc8 30. Qb7 Rc7
31. Qxa6 Bxb4 {1-0 Tal,M (2610)-Rodriguez,R (2415)/Moscow 1982 (41)}) (16. f3
Be6 17. Bb6 Qb8 18. N1a2 Nd7 19. Be3 f5 20. exf5 Rxf5 21. Nb4 Nf6 22. Nbd5 Bf8
23. Qd3 Rc6 24. Nxf6+ Rxf6 25. Nd5 $14 {0-1 Cernousek,L (2242)-Efimenko,Z 
(2439)/Balatonlelle 2001 (42)}) 16... Bxd3 (16... d5 17. Bb6 Qb8 18. exd5 Nxd5
19. Nxd5 Bxd5 20. Nxe5 Qxe5 21. Qxd5 Qxd5 22. Rxd5 Rxc2 23. Rd7 Bf6 24. Rxb7
Rxb2 25. Rd1 Bd4 26. Ra7 {1/2-1/2 Czarnota,P (2497)-Heberla,B (2487)/Krakow
2006}) 17. Qxd3 h6 18. Qe2 Qc4 19. Qf3 Rfe8 20. Ra4 Qc7 21. Qe2 Qd7 22. Rb4 Rc6
23. Nd5 Nxd5 24. Rxd5 $14 {1/2-1/2 Oral,T (2538)-Vokac,M (2451)/Czechia 2009 
(45)}) 16. Bb6 Qe8 17. exd5 Bb4 18. N1a2 $2 (18. d6 Qd7 19. Nd3 Qxd6 $11) 18...
Bxa2 19. Rxa2 Bxc3 20. bxc3 Ne4 21. Qd3 Nxc3 22. Raa1 Nxd1 23. Rxd1 Qd7 {
0-1 Ivanov,O (2461)-Luzhinsky,V (2298)/Alushta 2009 (35)}) 15... Rc6 16. Kh1 {
Black was ready to employ tactics and push the d-pawn at a suitable moment.} (
16. Nc1 d5 $1 17. exd5 Nxd5 18. Nxd5 Bxd5 19. Nd3 Qd6 20. b3 $11) 16... Qc8 17.
Rac1 Rd8 18. Nd5 {The waiting game is over. Jakovenko is forced to close the
centre in order to prevent the activity of the enemy pieces.} Bxd5 (18... Nxd5
$2 19. exd5 Rc7 20. Bb6 $14) 19. exd5 Rc4 20. Qd3 e4 $1 {Just in time Carlsen
opens the new front along the e-file.} 21. fxe4 (21. Qe2 exf3 22. Qxf3 Rxc2 23.
Bg5 Qc4 $15) 21... Rxe4 22. c4 Re8 23. Bg1 {White has not sensed the
imperative necessity to react actively against the mounting concentration of
black pieces.} (23. Nd2 Rh4 (23... Rg4 24. b4 Nd7 25. Nf3 $11) 24. Bd4 Nh5 (
24... Qg4 25. Bxf6 Bxf6 26. Nf3 Rh5 27. Re1 Rf8 28. Rc2 $14) 25. Nf3 Rg4 26.
Qc2 Bf6 $11) 23... Bf8 24. Nd4 $6 (24. Rf1 Qg4 25. h3 Qg5 26. Nd4 $11) 24... g6
25. Rf1 (25. b4 Bh6 $1 26. Rc2 Be3 27. Bxe3 Rxe3 28. Qf1 Qg4 $15) 25... Bh6 26.
Qf3 (26. Rcd1 Ng4 $17) (26. Rc2 Ng4 $17) 26... Rf4 {Quite conciously Black is
avoiding the immediate draw after the simple exchange of pieces.} (26... Bxc1
27. Qxf6 Bxb2 28. Qxf7+ Kh8 29. Qf6+ $11) 27. Qd3 Ng4 (27... Rxf1 28. Rxf1 Nd7
29. Nf3 Nc5 30. Qc2 Ne4 31. Bb6 f5 32. Kg1 $11) 28. Nf3 $2 {White is not
objecting to the opponent's control of the e file. The exchange of the rooks
was still keeping the position fairly even.} (28. Rxf4 Bxf4 29. Rf1 Be3 30. b3
$11) 28... Rfe4 29. Rc3 (29. Rc2 f5 $17) 29... Ne3 (29... Be3 $1 30. b4 Bxg1
31. Kxg1 Ne3 32. Re1 Qg4 33. Re2 Kf8 $17) 30. Re1 Qg4 31. Re2 Qh5 32. Bxe3 Rxe3
33. Rxe3 Bxe3 $2 {The role of the favourite is really difficult and sometimes
forces players to take extreme risks. Naturally a better solution was to take
on e3 with the rook.} (33... Rxe3 $1 34. Qd1 (34. Qc2 Rxc3 35. Qxc3 Qf5 $17)
34... Rxc3 35. bxc3 Bg7 36. h3 Qf5 $15) 34. Qe2 Qh6 35. c5 $1 dxc5 36. d6 Re6
$1 37. d7 Bg5 38. Qd1 $2 {The tables have turned and Jakovenko had a chance to
become the master of the situation after the exchange of minor pieces.} (38.
Nxg5 $1 Qxg5 39. Qd1 Qd8 40. Kg1 (40. Rxc5 $2 Qxd7 $19) 40... Re7 41. Rd3 $14)
38... Bd8 39. Rxc5 Qf8 40. Rd5 $6 {The last move before the time control is
often critical. Carlsen will get a chance to activate his major pieces.} (40.
Rc8 $2 Rd6 $1 $17) (40. Qd4 Rd6 41. Rd5 Rxd5 42. Qxd5 Qb4 43. b3 (43. h3 Qxb2
44. Ne5 Qc1+ 45. Kh2 Qf4+ 46. Kg1 Kg7 $15) 43... Qxa5 44. Qxb7 Qa1+ 45. Ng1 $11
) 40... Qb4 41. b3 (41. Qc1 Re2 42. Rc5 Qa4 (42... Qg4 43. Qf1 Rxb2 44. Ne5 Qf5
45. Qxf5 gxf5 46. Kg1 Kf8 47. Rc8 Ke7 48. Nxf7 Kxd7 49. Rxd8+ Ke7 $11) 43. Ng1
Re4 44. Rd5 $15) 41... Re3 42. Nd2 Qc3 43. Nf3 (43. Qb1 f5 44. Qf1 Re5 $15)
43... Qb4 {Blinded by the heat of the fight both players are mysteriously
ignoring the possibility to eliminate the b3-pawn.} (43... Qxb3 $1 44. Kg1
Qxd1+ 45. Rxd1 Kf8 46. Rb1 Ke7 47. Rxb7 Re6 $17) 44. Nd2 Qf4 45. Nf3 (45. Kg1
Qh4 46. Nf3 Qb4 47. Nd2 Qh4 $11) 45... Rc3 46. Qe2 (46. Nd2 f5 47. h3 Kf7 $15)
46... Qe3 47. Qxe3 Rxe3 48. Rd4 {Yet another phase of the game is over and
White has found himself in an unpleasant position despite the threatening
d7-pawn.} (48. Kg1 f6 (48... Rxb3 49. Re5 $1 Kg7 50. Re8 Bxa5 51. d8=Q Bxd8 52.
Rxd8 a5 $11) 49. Rd4 Kf7 50. Rb4 Ke7 51. Rxb7 Bxa5 52. Nd4 Rc3 53. Kf2 h5 54.
b4 Bd8 55. b5 axb5 56. Nxb5 $15) 48... Kf8 (48... Rxb3 49. Re4 Rb1+ 50. Ng1
Bxa5 51. Re8+ Kg7 52. d8=Q Bxd8 53. Rxd8 h5 (53... a5 54. Ra8 Ra1 55. Rb8 $11)
54. Ra8 g5 $17) 49. Rb4 $2 {There was no easy solution to White's problems,
but the chosen path is worse than the alternative.} (49. Kg1 Ke7 50. b4 f5 51.
Ng5 (51. Kf2 Re4 52. Rxe4+ fxe4 53. Nd4 Kxd7 54. Ke3 Be7 55. b5 Bb4 56. bxa6
bxa6 57. Nb3 Kc6 $17) 51... b6 52. Nxh7 bxa5 53. bxa5 Bxa5 54. Nf8 Kxf8 55.
d8=Q+ Bxd8 56. Rxd8+ Kg7 $15) 49... Rd3 $1 50. Rxb7 Rd1+ 51. Ng1 Bxa5 52. g4 {
One more level of uncertainty is gone. White will be struggling in the endgame
without the a-pawn.} (52. b4 Bd8 53. g3 (53. Ra7 $6 Bb6 54. d8=Q+ Bxd8 55. Rxa6
Bg5 $1 56. Ra3 Re1 $19) 53... Ke7 $17) 52... Ke7 53. Kg2 Rxd7 54. Rxd7+ Kxd7
55. Kf3 (55. Nf3 Bd8 56. Kf2 Kd6 $17) 55... Kd6 56. Ke4 Kc5 57. Kd3 Kd5 58. Nf3
Bd8 59. h3 h6 60. h4 $2 {White's position is objectively hopeless, but Carlsen
would have to work hard on converting his advantage to the full point.
Exposing the pawn by moving to a square of the same colour as the bishop will
significantly shorten the defender's suffering.} (60. Ke3 Bb6+ 61. Kf4 Bf2 $17)
(60. Nd4 Bb6 61. Nf3 Bc5 62. Ne1 Ke5 63. Ng2 Ba7 64. Kd2 (64. b4 Bb6 65. Ne1
Kf4 66. Ke2 Kg3 67. Nd3 Kxh3 68. Kf3 Bd8 69. Nc5 g5 70. Nxa6 f5 $19) 64... Ke4
65. Ke2 Bd4 66. Ne1 Kf4 67. Nf3 Bb6 68. Nd2 Kg3 69. Ne4+ Kxh3 70. Kf3 Bc7 71.
Nf6 (71. Nc5 a5 72. Nd7 Kh4 73. Nf6 Bd8 74. Nd5 h5 $19) 71... Kh4 72. Ne4 (72.
Nd5 Be5 73. Nb4 Bd6 74. Nd5 Kg5 $19) 72... g5 73. Nf6 Bd8 74. Nd5 h5 $19) 60...
h5 $1 61. gxh5 (61. g5 Bb6 62. Nd2 Bf2 63. Nf3 Ba7 64. Nd2 Ke5 $19) 61... gxh5
62. Ke3 Kc5 63. Kd3 (63. Ke4 Kb4 64. Ne5 Bxh4 65. Nxf7 Kxb3 66. Nd6 Bf6 67. Nb7
Kb4 $19) 63... Kb4 {Zugzwang is a sufficient reason for abandoning the
resistance.} (63... Kb4 64. Kc2 Bf6 $1 $19) 0-1

[Event "Nanjing Pearl Spring 2nd"]
[Site "Nanjing"]
[Date "2009.10.02"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2757"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2009.09.28"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. O-O Nge7 5. c3 a6 6. Ba4 b5 7. Bc2 Bb7 8. Qe2
d5 9. e5 d4 10. Be4 Qb6 {The queen move aspires to improve on the undesirable
score, that used to be achieved by the seemingly more logical knight move.} (
10... Nd5 11. d3 Be7 (11... dxc3 12. Nxc3 (12. bxc3 Be7 13. c4 Nb6 14. a3 Na4
15. Bd2 O-O 16. Nc3 Nxc3 17. Bxc3 Qd7 18. Rfb1 $14 {1/2-1/2 Svidler,P (2713)
-Grischuk,A (2701)/Togliatti 2003 (41)}) 12... Nxc3 (12... Be7 13. Rd1 O-O 14.
d4 Nxc3 15. bxc3 cxd4 16. cxd4 Na5 17. Bxb7 Nxb7 18. h4 Na5 19. Bg5 $11 {
1/2-1/2 Rublevsky,S (2645)-Eljanov,P (2639)/Saint Vincent 2005 (72)}) (12...
Qd7 13. Rd1 Be7 14. d4 Nxd4 15. Nxd4 cxd4 16. Nxd5 exd5 17. Rxd4 O-O 18. Bd3
Rfe8 19. Bd2 g6 20. Rg4 $11 {1/2-1/2 Rublevsky,S (2644)-Moiseenko,A (2597)/
Moscow 2003 (42)}) 13. bxc3 Be7 14. d4 cxd4 15. cxd4 Qd7 (15... Rb8 16. Rd1 Nb4
17. Bd2 Nd5 18. Qd3 g6 19. Bh6 $11 {0-1 Hracek,Z (2613)-Krasenkow,M (2661)/
Ostrava 2007 (47)}) 16. a4 bxa4 17. Rxa4 O-O 18. Bd2 a5 19. Rfa1 h6 20. h4 Ba6
21. Qe3 $11 {1-0 Morozevich,A (2742)-Van Wely,L (2697)/Monte Carlo 2002 (81)})
12. c4 $1 {The key idea indicating, that the central location of the knight
has also darker sides.} bxc4 (12... Nb6 13. Bf4 b4 (13... Qd7 14. Na3 b4 15.
Nc2 O-O-O 16. a3 a5 17. axb4 axb4 18. Ng5 Rdf8 19. Qh5 Qe8 20. Bf3 $16 {
1-0 Gaehler,M (2223)-Martinovic,S (2400)/Szeged 2007 (45)}) 14. Nbd2 Kd7 15.
Nb3 a5 16. a3 a4 17. axb4 axb3 18. b5 Qc7 19. bxc6+ Bxc6 20. Nd2 $16 {1-0
Burnett,R (2437)-Nguyen Anh Dung (2496)/Budapest 2000 (52)}) 13. dxc4 Nb6 14.
Ne1 Qc7 (14... Rb8 15. Nd2 Qc7 16. Nd3 a5 17. f4 Nb4 18. Nxb4 axb4 19. a4 Bxe4
20. Nxe4 O-O $14 {1-0 Fedorchuk,S (2592)-Ejsmont,K (2348)/Ustron 2006 (40)})
15. Nd2 (15. b3 Nd7 16. f4 O-O-O 17. Nd3 Rdg8 18. Nd2 h6 19. Bf3 g5 20. Ne4 Nb4
21. Nxb4 cxb4 $11 {1-0 Tolstikh,N (2405)-Michalek,J (2300)/Pardubice 1995 (32)}
) 15... Nd7 16. Nd3 Nb4 17. Nf3 Bxe4 18. Qxe4 Qc6 19. Qe2 Nxd3 20. Qxd3 $11 {
1-0 Gu Xiaobing (2339)-Yu,L (2328)/Lishui 2009 (71)}) 11. d3 (11. cxd4 Nxd4 12.
Nxd4 cxd4 13. d3 Bxe4 14. Qxe4 Rc8 15. Nd2 Nc6 16. Nf3 Be7 17. Qg4 Kf8 18. Bd2
$16 {1-0 Cabrilo,G (2484)-Andrijevic,M (2402)/Sozina 2004 (47)}) 11... Rd8 12.
a4 Nd5 {Once again this logical move might not be the most promising. In the
future players may explore the intricacies of the dynamic solution with the
exchange on the c3-square.} (12... dxc3 $5 13. Nxc3 (13. bxc3 b4 14. Re1 (14.
Nbd2 Nd5 $11) 14... b3 15. Nbd2 Na5 $13) 13... b4 14. a5 Qc7 15. Na4 Nxa5 16.
Qc2 c4 17. Bxb7 b3 18. Qb1 Nxb7 19. dxc4 Qxc4 20. Be3 $14) 13. axb5 axb5 14.
cxd4 (14. Bd2 Be7 15. Na3 O-O 16. c4 bxc4 17. Nxc4 Qc7 18. Ng5 $14) 14... cxd4
(14... Nxd4 15. Nxd4 cxd4 16. Bd2 (16. Nd2 Be7 17. Nb3 O-O 18. Bd2 Nb4 19. Rfc1
$14) 16... Rc8 17. Ba5 Qc6 18. Nd2 Qc2 19. Qg4 $14) 15. Nbd2 Nf4 (15... Be7 16.
Nb3 h6 17. Bd2 b4 18. Rfc1 O-O 19. g3 $14) 16. Qd1 Nb4 $2 {[%mdl 32] Radjabov
neglects one of the main principles of strategy and jumps right into the
conflict zone before finishing his own development.} (16... Nd5 17. Nb3 Be7 18.
Bd2 Ndb4 (18... b4 19. Qe2 h6 $14) 19. Qe2 O-O 20. Ng5 (20. Rfc1 h6 21. g3 $14)
20... g6 21. Nxh7 Kxh7 22. Qh5+ Kg8 23. Bxg6 fxg6 24. Qxg6+ $11 {1/2-1/2 Pahud,
C (2185)-Carron,J (2300)/Lausanne 2003 (29)}) (16... Ng6 17. Bxg6 (17. Re1 Bb4
18. Qb3 Nge7 $11) 17... hxg6 18. Ne4 Be7 19. Bg5 O-O 20. Qe2 $14) 17. Nb3 $1
Bxe4 18. dxe4 Nfd3 (18... Ng6 19. Nfxd4 Nc6 20. Be3 Ncxe5 21. Ra5 $16) 19. Bg5
Rc8 {The necessity of the rook retreat does not bode well for Black's strategy.
} (19... Be7 20. Bxe7 Kxe7 21. Qd2 Ke8 (21... h6 22. Nc1 $18) 22. Ra3 $16) 20.
Nfxd4 Nxb2 (20... h6 21. Bd2 Nxb2 22. Qg4 $16) 21. Qe2 (21. Qh5 Nc4 22. Rfd1 h6
(22... Nxe5 23. Ra5 Nbc6 24. Rxb5 Qa6 25. Ra1 Ba3 26. Nc5 $18) (22... Na6) 23.
Qh3 Na6 24. Be3 $14) 21... Nc4 22. Rfc1 Bc5 {It is not a big surprise, that
despite the seemingly firm build up on the queenside the black pieces actually
suffer from shaky legs.} (22... Be7 23. Nxb5 $1 Qxb5 (23... Bxg5 24. Rxc4 $18)
24. Bxe7 Kxe7 25. Ra7+ Ke8 26. Ra5 $1 Qb6 27. Rxc4 $16) 23. Nxb5 (23. Nxc5 $1
Qxc5 24. Be3 Nc6 (24... Qxe5 25. Rcb1 Qd6 (25... Nxe3 26. fxe3 $18) 26. Nxb5
Qd3 27. Qg4 Nxe3 28. Qxg7 Rf8 29. Rxb4 Nc2 30. Nc7+ Kd7 31. Nxe6 $18) 25. Nxb5
Qxb5 26. Qxc4 Qxc4 27. Rxc4 O-O 28. Rac1 $16) 23... O-O $2 {Radjabov does not
usually excel in the defence. This might be the reason why he missed the most
stubborn way to resist Carlsen's activity after his relatively soft move.} (
23... Qxb5 24. Ra5 $1 Qxa5 25. Nxa5 Nxa5 26. Qb5+ Nac6 27. Rxc5 $18) (23...
Bxf2+ $1 24. Qxf2 Qxb5 25. Nc5 $5 (25. Qd4 O-O 26. Be7 Rfe8 27. Bxb4 Qxb4 28.
Na5 Qxa5 29. Rxa5 Nxa5 30. Rxc8 Rxc8 $16) (25. Qe2 O-O 26. Nd4 Qxe5 $1 (26...
Qc5 27. Be3 Rfd8 28. Nf5 Qf8 29. Rxc4 exf5 30. exf5 $16) 27. Rxc4 Rxc4 28. Qxc4
Qxg5 29. Qxb4 Qe3+ 30. Kh1 Qxe4 $16) 25... O-O $1 (25... h6 26. Be7 $3 Nxe5 (
26... Kxe7 27. Ra7+ Kd8 28. Rxc4 $18) 27. Bd6 Nc4 28. Nxe6 fxe6 29. Ra7 Qb6 30.
Bxb4 $18) 26. Be7 Rfe8 27. Bd6 Nxd6 28. exd6 Nd3 $1 29. Nxd3 Qxd3 30. e5 (30.
Rd1 Ra8 $1 31. e5 Rxa1 32. Rxa1 Qc3 $14) 30... Rxc1+ 31. Rxc1 f6 $14 {Black
would have kept excellent chances to hold the game.}) 24. Nxc5 Nxe5 (24... Rxc5
25. Be7 Qxb5 26. Bxc5 Qxc5 27. Qxc4 $18) 25. Be7 {The catastrophe is complete,
Radjabov will lose loads of material and every right to continue with his
resistance.} (25. Be7 Rfe8 26. Nd6 Rxc5 (26... Rxe7 27. Nxc8 $18) 27. Rxc5 Qxc5
28. Nxe8 Qxe7 29. Ra8 $18) 1-0

[Event "Nanjing Pearl Spring 2nd"]
[Site "Nanjing"]
[Date "2009.10.04"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Leko, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D72"]
[WhiteElo "2762"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[PlyCount "128"]
[EventDate "2009.09.28"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nb6 7. Ne2 c5 8. d5
e6 9. O-O O-O 10. Nbc3 Na6 11. Nf4 e5 12. Nd3 Nc4 13. Qe2 Qa5 14. a3 Bd7 15.
Bg5 Rfc8 16. Be7 Qb6 17. d6 Be6 18. Nd5 Bxd5 19. d7 Be6 20. dxc8=Q+ Rxc8 21. b4
cxb4 22. axb4 Bf8 23. Bxf8 Rxf8 24. Rfc1 Rd8 25. Bf1 Rd4 26. Rd1 Nxb4 27. Nxb4
Rxd1 28. Qxd1 Qxb4 29. Qa4 Qxa4 30. Rxa4 Nd6 31. Rxa7 Nxe4 32. Rxb7 Kg7 33. Rb5
Kf6 34. f3 Nd6 35. Rb6 Ke7 36. Kf2 h5 37. Bd3 Nf5 38. Ra6 Nd6 39. Ke3 Nc4+ 40.
Kf2 Nd6 41. Bb1 Nf5 42. Ba2 Bxa2 43. Rxa2 g5 44. Ra4 h4 45. g4 Nd6 46. Ke3 Ke6
47. Ra6 Kd5 48. Kd3 f6 49. Ra5+ Ke6 50. h3 Nb7 51. Ra6+ Nd6 52. Kc3 Kd5 53.
Ra5+ Ke6 54. Kb4 e4 55. fxe4 Nxe4 56. Rf5 Nd6 57. Rf1 f5 58. Kc3 fxg4 59. hxg4
Ne4+ 60. Kd4 Nf6 61. Re1+ Kf7 62. Rg1 h3 63. Rh1 Nxg4 64. Rxh3 Kg6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Nanjing Pearl Spring 2nd"]
[Site "Nanjing"]
[Date "2009.10.05"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2813"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2009.09.28"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 Bg7 11. Bd3 Ne7 12. Nxe7 Qxe7 13. O-O O-O 14. c4 f5
15. Qh5 Rb8 16. exf5 e4 17. Rae1 Bb7 18. Qg4 Rfe8 19. cxb5 d5 20. bxa6 Bc6 21.
Rc1 {After Shirov's success in this variation versus Carlsen (Sofia 2009),
Topalov decides to try a rare continuation too. But the Norwegian came well
prepared and shows how to neutralize White's last move.} (21. b3 Kh8 $146 22.
Nc2 Be5 23. Be2 d4 24. Bc4 Rg8 25. Qh3 Rg7 26. g3 Rbg8 27. Qh6 Qc7 $2 (27...
Ba8 $44) 28. Nb4 Ba8 29. Nd5 $18 {1-0 Shirov,A (2745)-Carlsen,M (2770)/Sofia
2009 (30)}) 21... exd3 $1 $146 {This novelty practically leads to a draw by
force.} (21... Ba8 $2 {allows} 22. Rc7 {with a large advantage for White in
all variations:} Qe5 (22... Qxc7 $2 23. f6 {with mate}) 23. Bb5 Rf8 (23... Re7
24. f6 Qxf6 25. Rc8+ Rxc8 26. Qxc8+ Bf8 27. Qxa8 Qxb2 28. Qxd5 Qxa3 29. Qg5+
Kh8 30. Rd1 $18) (23... Red8 24. a7 Rb6 25. Rc8 $1 Rbd6 (25... Rxc8 26. f6 Qxf6
27. Qxc8+ Bf8 28. Qxa8 $18) 26. Rfc1 $18) (23... Rec8 24. Rxc8+ Rxc8 25. f6 $18
) 24. Rfc1 Qxb2 (24... d4 25. R1c5 Qf6 26. a7 Rbd8 27. Bc6 $18) 25. a7 Rbd8 26.
R7c2 Qf6 27. Bc6 $16 {/+-}) (21... Bd7 22. Be2 Rxb2 23. Rc7 Qd6 {1-0 Koeller,O
(2290)-Schelle,A (2150)/Aschach 1998 (28)} 24. Rxd7 Qxd7 25. Bb5 Rxb5 26. Nxb5
d4 27. Nc7 Rc8 28. Nd5 $18) 22. Rxc6 {[%cal Gf5f6]} Qe2 (22... Kh8 23. Qf3 $5 (
23. b3 $2 Qxa3) 23... Bxb2 24. Nb1 Qe4 (24... Qd7 25. Rc5 Rb5 26. Rxb5 Qxb5 27.
Nd2 $16) (24... Qe2 25. Qxd5 Rbd8 26. Rd6 $18) 25. Qxe4 dxe4 26. Nd2 $16) 23.
h3 (23. f3 $4 d2 $19) (23. Qg3 $4 d2 $19) (23. Qxe2 $2 dxe2 24. Re1 Rxb2 $17)
23... Rxb2 24. f6 Qxg4 25. hxg4 Rxa2 (25... Bf8 26. Nb1 Rxa2 {is the same as
the game}) 26. Nb1 (26. Nb5 $2 d2 $19 {[%cal Ge8e1]}) (26. fxg7 Rxa3 $11) 26...
Bf8 27. Rc3 (27. Rd1 {makes little sense, since White does not threaten to
take the pawn due to the check on e1. Therefore Black can continue with the
simple} h6 {and after for instance} 28. g3 {-} Rc2 $11 {[%cal Gf8c5]}) 27...
Rxa6 ({Also possible is} 27... d2 28. Rd3 Bb4 29. Rxd5 Rxa6 30. Nxd2 Bxd2 31.
Rxd2 Rxf6 $14) 28. Rxd3 Rxf6 {After more or less forced sequence of moves the
players have achieved a position, which with elementary accuracy from Black is
a draw.} 29. Rxd5 ({Or} 29. Nc3 Bc5 $11 {with the idea to take on f2 followed
by a check on e1.}) 29... Bb4 $1 {The most White can achieve now is 4-rooks
endgame 3 versus 2 on the kingside. All Black has to do is to be ready to
exchange the minor pieces as soon as the white knight moves from b1.} 30. g3
Re2 31. Kg2 Be1 32. Rf5 Rxf5 33. gxf5 Bb4 34. Rc1 h5 35. Rc4 ({Also after} 35.
Kf3 Rb2 36. Ke3 Kg7 {Black is completely out of danger.}) 35... Rb2 36. Nc3
Bxc3 37. Rxc3 Rb5 38. Rf3 Kg7 39. Kh3 Kh6 40. Kh4 Rb1 41. Kh3 Rb5 42. Kh4 Rb1
43. Kh3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Nanjing Pearl Spring 2nd"]
[Site "Nanjing"]
[Date "2009.10.06"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wang, Yue"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "137"]
[EventDate "2009.09.28"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 Qc7 8.
g3 e5 9. dxe5 Nxe5 10. Bf4 Nfd7 11. Bg2 g5 12. Ne3 gxf4 13. Nxf5 O-O-O 14. Qc2
Ng6 {A fashionable theoretical variation, where lately Black was facing
troubles. However, the Chinese GM had prepared an important novelty for this
game.} 15. O-O Kb8 (15... fxg3 16. hxg3 h5 17. Rfc1 Kb8 (17... h4 18. Nb5 Qb6
19. Nbd6+ Bxd6 20. Nxd6+ Kb8 21. a5 Qc7 22. Nxb7 $1 Qxb7 23. Bxc6 Rc8 (23...
Qb4 24. Ra4 $18) (23... Qc7 24. Qb3+ $18) 24. Bxb7 Rxc2 25. Rxc2 Kxb7 26. Rac1
$16) 18. b4 h4 (18... Bxb4 $2 19. Nd5 $18) 19. Nb5 $1 $16 {1-0 Kasimdzhanov,R 
(2690)-Predojevic,B (2645)/Germany 2007 (29)}) 16. Rfc1 a5 17. b4 $5 {The
critical move, introduced in practice by the Vietnamese GM Nguyen. Quiet
continuations didn't set problems for Black.} (17. Nd5 Qe5 18. Nxf4 Nxf4 19.
gxf4 Qxf4 20. e3 Qc7 21. Rd1 Bb4 22. Rd4 Ne5 23. h3 Rhe8 24. Kh1 Rxd4 25. Nxd4
Ng6 26. Nf5 Rd8 27. Rd1 Rxd1+ 28. Qxd1 $11 {1/2-1/2 Banikas,H (2600)-Bratanov,
Z (2440)/Plovdiv 2008 (39)}) (17. Rab1 Qb6 18. Ne4 Nde5 19. Rd1 Bb4 20. Rxd8+
Rxd8 21. Rd1 $11 {1/2-1/2 Gladyszev,O (2473)-Bratanov,Z (2446)/Val Thorens
2008 (63)}) 17... axb4 (17... Bxb4 {proved to be not enough:} 18. Nd5 $1 Qe5
19. Nxb4 axb4 20. Rab1 Qa5 (20... c5 21. e3 fxg3 (21... fxe3 22. f4 $1 $16) 22.
hxg3 Rc8 (22... h5 23. f4 Qe6 24. Rxb4 $18) 23. Rd1 $16) (20... Ne7 21. Qc4 (
21. Rxb4 Qxf5 22. Qb2 Nc5 23. Rxf4 Qe6 24. Rfc4 $40) 21... Nxf5 (21... Qxf5 22.
Qxb4 $18) 22. Qxb4 $18) 21. Nd6 Nde5 22. Nc4 Nxc4 23. Qxc4 $14 {1-0 Caruana,F 
(2649)-Ni Hua (2724)/Dagomys 2009 (52)}) 18. Nb5 Qe5 19. Nbd4 Bc5 20. Nb3 h5 $1
$146 {[%mdl 8]} (20... fxg3 21. hxg3 h5 22. Rab1 Ba7 23. e3 {was met in Nguyen,
N (2551)-Predojevic,B (2641)/Moscow 2008. Wang Yue discovered that without the
exchange of pawns on g3 White won't have the move e2-e3, which makes a big
difference - the bishop remains powerful on the diagonal a7-g1. The
aforementioned game continued:} h4 (23... Ne7 $142 {was more careful.}) 24.
Nbd4 Bxd4 25. Nxd4 c5 26. Rxb4 $1 cxb4 27. Nc6+ $18 {and White won.}) 21. Rab1
{Carlsen plays similarly to the aforementioned game; however, things are
different now.} ({Correct is} 21. a5 {but it must have been very difficult to
accept that objectively already at this point White should be looking for
salvation.} {After} fxg3 ({or} 21... h4 22. g4 Bxf2+ (22... f3 23. Bxf3 Bxf2+
24. Kh1 $1) 23. Kxf2 ({Even here} 23. Kh1 $5 {deserves attention}) 23... f3 24.
Bxf3 (24. exf3 h3 $40) 24... Qxh2+ 25. Kf1 Nde5 26. a6 Nxf3 27. exf3 Qh1+ 28.
Kf2 Qh2+ 29. Kf1 $11) 22. hxg3 h4 ({No time for} 22... Ba7 23. a6 $18) 23. Nxc5
Nxc5 24. f4 (24. Qxc5 $4 Rd1+ $19) 24... b3 (24... Qc3 $2 25. Qb1) 25. fxe5
bxc2 26. Rxc2 Nb3 27. Rb1 {a sharp endgames arises, with equal chances.}) ({
Weaker is} 21. Nxc5 Nxc5 $17 22. Qxc5 $2 Rd1+ $19) 21... Ba7 {Here we are.
White can't close the diagonal a7-g1 by playing 22.e3, as in the game
Nguyen-Predojevic. In a position with opposite castled kings such an
apparently small detail can completely change the evaluation: now Black is
better!} 22. Bxc6 {The best practical decision, which fully paid off.} ({After
} 22. a5 fxg3 23. hxg3 h4 {Black's attack is faster:} 24. a6 hxg3 25. axb7
gxf2+ 26. Kf1 Qh2 $19 {Notice the huge role of the Ba7 in Black's attack.})
22... fxg3 23. hxg3 Rc8 $2 ({Black achieves a large advantage with} 23... Ne7
$1 24. Nbd4 (24. Nxe7 Qxg3+ 25. Bg2 Qxf2+ 26. Kh2 Qh4+ 27. Bh3 Qxe7 $19) 24...
Bxd4 25. Rxb4 Nxc6 26. Qxc6 Bb6 $1 {and White has a difficult choice between}
27. Qd6+ ({or} 27. Qf3 Rhe8) (27. Rxb6 {loses:} Nxb6 28. Qxb6 Qxf5 29. Qc7+ Ka7
30. Rc5 Rd1+ 31. Kg2 Qe4+ $19) 27... Qxd6 28. Nxd6 Rhg8 {in both cases keeping
only some practical chances to escape.}) 24. Qd3 {Now it is already time for
Black to play accurately in order to keep the balance.} bxc6 $6 {After this
inaccuracy White seizes the initiative.} (24... Nc5 $142 25. Nxc5 Bxc5 26. Bxb7
(26. Bg2 h4 27. Qb5 Rc7 28. Bxb7 Bxf2+ 29. Kxf2 hxg3+ 30. Nxg3 Qxb5 31. axb5
Rxc1 32. Rxc1 Kxb7 $11) 26... Kxb7 27. Qb5+ Ka8 (27... Bb6 $2 28. Rxc8 Rxc8 (
28... Qxb5 $2 29. Nd6+) 29. Qxe5 Nxe5 30. Nd6+ Kb8 31. Nxc8 Kxc8 32. Rxb4 $18)
28. Qa6+ Kb8 29. Qb5+ Ka8 $11) 25. Qxd7 Rc7 (25... Rhd8 26. Qxf7 Rf8 27. Qxg6
Rxf5 28. Nd4 $1 $18) 26. Qd3 h4 27. Nbd4 hxg3 $6 (27... c5 $142 28. Nf3 Qe8 29.
N3xh4 Qxa4 $14) 28. Rxb4+ Ka8 29. Nxg3 {Black must struggle hard in order to
save such a position. He is a pawn down and the attack on the kingside is
illusory. His only chance to escape is connected with reduced material. Notice
that the advance of the c-pawn almost never works due to the check with the
queen on the long diagonal.} Rd8 (29... Nf4 30. Qf3 Nh3+ 31. Kg2 Ng5 32. Qg4
$16) (29... Ne7 $142 30. e3 Nd5 31. Rbc4 Rg8 $14 {/+/-}) 30. e3 $16 Nh4 (30...
c5 31. Rbb1 $16 cxd4 $2 32. Rxc7 Qxc7 33. Qe4+) 31. Kf1 $1 Qa5 $2 {Both
opponents were in time-trouble and are missing tactics.} 32. Rcb1 (32. Rxc6 {
wins an important pawn:} Rxd4 (32... Rxc6 33. Nxc6 Rxd3 34. Nxa5 $18) 33. Rxd4
Rxc6 34. Rxh4 $18) 32... Nf3 33. Nb3 Qd5 34. Qxd5 cxd5 35. Rd1 Rc2 36. Rf4 Ne5
37. Nd4 Rc4 38. Nde2 Rxf4 39. Nxf4 d4 40. Nge2 Nc6 41. e4 {The mutual
time-trouble is over. White is a pawn up and his chances to win are about
equal to Black's chances to draw.} Rb8 42. Nd5 Rb2 (42... Rb3 $142) 43. Nef4
Kb7 44. Nd3 Rb3 45. Ke2 Ra3 46. f4 $5 {Again an impressive practical decison:
Carlsen returns the extra pawn in order to activate all his forces.} (46. Rb1+
Kc8 47. Rc1 Kb7 48. Rc4 {protects the pawn, but after} Ra2+ 49. Kd1 Ra3 {
it is difficult for White to make further progress:} 50. Kc2 (50. N3f4 d3 $132
{[%cal Gc6e5,Ga7f2] /=}) (50. N5f4 $5) (50. Nc1 $5) 50... Rxd3 $1 51. Rxc6 (51.
Kxd3 $2 Ne5+) 51... Rf3 52. Rf6 d3+ 53. Kd2 Rxf6 54. Nxf6 Bxf2 {and Black
escapes.}) 46... Rxa4 47. Rb1+ Kc8 48. Rc1 Kb7 49. e5 Ra3 50. Rh1 Ra5 51. Nf6
Bb8 52. Rb1+ Kc8 53. Rc1 Kb7 54. Ne4 Ra3 55. Rh1 Bxe5 56. fxe5 Nxe5 57. Nd6+
Ka6 {This endgame is a draw, but two knights and the rook can create a lot of
threats. The next variations are based on Karsten Müller's analysis in the
online edition of ChessBase Magazine.} 58. Nb4+ (58. Nxe5 $2 Re3+ 59. Kd2 Rxe5
60. Ra1+ Ra5 $11) 58... Kb6 59. Rc1 Re3+ $2 (59... Ra5 60. Rb1 Kc7 $11) 60. Kd1
Rb3 $6 ({Karsten Müller: From a practical point of view} 60... Ka5 $1 61. Nd5
Re1+ 62. Kxe1 Nd3+ 63. Kd2 Nxc1 64. Kxc1 f5 65. Nf4 {really had to be
preferred. However the position is lost, although White himself does not have
a pawn and two knights on their own are not enough to deliver mate, because
the pawn on f5 is safely blockaded behind or on the so-called Troitzky Line
a4-b6-c5-d4-e4-f5. This does not actually take into account the 50 move rule,
but the present position can be won within the 50 moves. Nor does the d-pawn
which is still there affect this evaluation, because Black may be able to
cross the Troitzky Line with it, but he cannot hang on to it in the long run.})
61. Nd5+ Ka7 62. Ra1+ Kb8 63. Kc2 Rh3 64. Rb1+ Ka7 65. Rb7+ Ka6 66. Rb6+ Ka5
67. Rb5+ Ka4 (67... Ka6 $6 68. Nc7+ Ka7 69. Rb7#) 68. Nb6+ Ka3 69. Rxe5 {
The presence of rooks make makes White's position rather easily winning.} 1-0

[Event "Nanjing Pearl Spring 2nd"]
[Site "Nanjing"]
[Date "2009.10.08"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D87"]
[WhiteElo "2757"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2009.09.28"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8.
Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O Qc7 11. Rc1 Rd8 12. h3 {A relatively rare move, Did
White want to avoid} (12. Bf4 Be5 $5 {?}) 12... a6 (12... b6 {is usually
played. Other options are}) (12... e6 {and}) (12... Na5) 13. Bf4 $146 {Or else:
} (13. f4 b5 14. Bb3 (14. Bd3 e6 15. f5 exf5 16. exf5 c4 17. Bb1 Re8 18. Bf4
Qd8 19. fxg6 hxg6 20. Ng3 Bb7 21. Qg4 b4 $132 {0-1 Gontcharov,V (2359)-Valdes,
L (2365)/Dos Hermanas 2004/CBM 099 ext (45)}) 14... Na5 15. f5 Nxb3 16. Qxb3
gxf5 17. exf5 Bb7 18. Rf4 Bd5 19. Qc2 Kh8 $13 {1-0 Alexandrova,O (2400)-Sulypa,
A (2449)/Alushta 2000/CBM 075 ext (39)}) (13. Bb3 b5 (13... Na5 $143 14. Bf4
Qd7 15. dxc5 Nxb3 16. axb3 a5 17. Qc2 Qb5 18. Be3 a4 19. bxa4 Rxa4 20. Rfd1 Re8
21. Nd4 $14 {1/2 Gligoric,S (2575)-Hort,V (2600)/Siegen 1970/EXT 2002 (25)})
14. Qe1 e6 15. f4 c4 16. Bc2 f5 $1 17. g4 Ne7 18. Ng3 a5 $132 {0-1 Berta,K 
(2205)-Feher,G (2445)/Budapest 1998/EXT 2002 (49)}) 13... Qa5 $1 ({Now} 13...
Be5 {is rather senseless due to} 14. Bxe5 Nxe5 15. Bb3 Bxh3 $6 (15... Ng4 {
is impossible!}) 16. f4) (13... Qd7 14. dxc5 $5) 14. Qb3 e6 15. a4 {White
finds nothing better than this pawn sacrifice, with the hope of being able to
use his development advantage. However, Black equalizes without any problems.}
(15. d5 b5 $1 {(without 12.h3 a6 this would be impossible)} 16. dxc6 bxc4 17.
Qxc4 e5 {[%cal Rc8e6]} 18. Be3 Be6 19. Qxc5 Qxc5 20. Bxc5 Rdc8 $44) 15... cxd4
16. cxd4 Nxd4 17. Nxd4 Rxd4 18. Be3 $5 Rd6 {Black doesn't dare to take the
second pawn:} (18... Rxe4 19. Qd3 (19. Rfd1 Bf6) (19. Bb6 Qg5) 19... Rh4 (19...
Re5 $6 20. Rfd1 Bf6 21. Bd4) 20. Rfd1 ({White can force a draw by means of} 20.
Bd2 Qb6 21. Be3 Qa5 ({but not} 21... Bd4 $6 22. a5 Qa7 $2 23. g3 $1 Bxe3 24.
fxe3 $18 {[%cal Rd3d8,Rd8f6,Rg3h4]})) 20... Bf6 21. Bb3 $44 {[%csl Ra8,Gc1,Rc8,
Gd1,Rh4]}) 19. Rfd1 Rxd1+ 20. Rxd1 b5 $1 {The simplest. Black gives the pawn
back liquidating into a drawish endgame.} 21. axb5 axb5 22. Qxb5 Qxb5 23. Rd8+
Bf8 24. Bxb5 Bb7 25. Rxa8 Bxa8 26. f3 f5 27. Bd3 fxe4 28. Bxe4 Bxe4 29. fxe4
Kf7 30. Kf1 h5 31. Kg1 Bd6 32. Kf1 Bf8 33. Kg1 Bd6 34. Kf1 Bf8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Nanjing Pearl Spring 2nd"]
[Site "Nanjing"]
[Date "2009.10.09"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Jakovenko, Dmitrij"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2742"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2009.09.28"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bf4 c6 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. Bxd6 Qxd6 8.
e3 Ne7 {A detailed review of this line is given in annotations to Onischuk -
Kovacs in this issue.} 9. Bd3 b6 10. Nf3 Ba6 11. O-O Bxd3 12. Qxd3 Nd7 (12...
O-O $142 13. e4 dxe4 14. Nxe4 Qd5) 13. e4 $1 {[%mdl 32] This is now extremely
effective.} O-O ({The point is that after} 13... dxe4 14. Nxe4 Qd5 {(or
elswhere)} (14... Qe6 15. Qa3 O-O $2 16. Nfg5 $18) 15. Qa3 $1 {Black will not
be able to castle! Therefore Dmitry Jakovenko decides to let the e4-pawn move
forward.}) 14. e5 $14 {White now has an edge due to his space advantage.} Qe6
15. Rae1 Rfe8 (15... f6 $5) 16. Nh4 $1 {[%cal Yf2f4,Yf4f5]} Ng6 (16... f5 $5 {
It would take White a lot of time to prepare g2-g4.}) 17. Nxg6 Qxg6 18. Qd2 Nf8
(18... f5 {[%cal Yd7f8]}) 19. f4 Qf5 $2 (19... f5 {was possible here, too.
Instead, Black blocks White's f-pawn with his queen, which proves ineffective.}
) 20. Nd1 f6 21. Ne3 Qd7 22. Qd3 {[%cal Re3f5,Rf5d6]} fxe5 {Black finds a way
to parry White's threat but White now obtains a crushing pawn avalanche. One
of Philidor's model games had a similar course.} 23. dxe5 Ne6 24. f5 Nc5 25.
Qd4 {[%cal Ye5e6,Ye3g4,Yf5f6]} Ne4 {Desperation, rather than a blunder. White
now wins a pawn and then converts his material advantage.} 26. Nxd5 $1 {
[%mdl 64]} Qxd5 (26... cxd5 27. Rxe4 $18) 27. Qxe4 Rad8 28. e6 (28. f6 $5)
28... Qxe4 29. Rxe4 Rd6 (29... Rd2 30. b4 $1 (30. g4 $143 Rxb2 31. g5 Rb5 32.
h4 Kf8 33. f6 Rd5) 30... Rxa2 31. Rc1 Rc8 32. Rec4 $18) 30. g4 Kf8 31. g5 Ke7
32. Kg2 Rd5 33. Kg3 Kd6 34. h4 c5 35. f6 gxf6 36. gxf6 Rd3+ 37. Kh2 Rd2+ 38.
Kh1 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.05"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E36"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2009.11.05"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 d5 7. cxd5 Ne4 8.
Qc2 exd5 9. Bf4 {This line was examined in CBM 132, annotations to Morozevich
- Alekseev.} Nc6 ({Everyone (apparently except Vladimir Kramnik) would like to
see what Magnus Carlsen had prepared against} 9... Bf5 10. Qxc7 Qxc7 11. Bxc7
Rc8 12. Bf4 Nc6 $1 (12... Rc2 $143 $6 13. f3 Nf6 14. g4 Bg6 15. h4 Rxb2 16. h5
Bc2 17. e3 Ba4 18. Rh2 $1 $16 {1-0 Morozevich,A (2751)-Alekseev,E (2714)/Biel
2009/CBM 132/[Krasenkow] (34)}) {Was it an improvement on the following game
between two top female players? :} 13. f3 (13. Rd1 $143 Na5 14. g4 Bd7 15. f3
Nf6 16. Nh3 Ba4 17. Rd3 Rc2 $36 {0-1 Wiley,T (2287)-Balogh,C (2595)/Arinsal
2009/CBM 131 Extra (21)}) 13... Nf6 14. g4 Bc2 (14... Bd7 $6 15. e3 Na5 16. Bd3
$16) (14... Nxd4 $5 15. Rd1 $1 Ne6 16. gxf5 Nxf4 17. e3 N4h5 18. Ne2 Rc2 19.
Rd2 Rac8 20. Nc3 $1 {consolidating his position and keeping some positional
advantage.}) (14... Bg6 $5 {[%cal Yc6a5,Ya5b3] looks, however, very strong})
15. e3 Na5 16. b4 (16. Kf2 $5 Bg6 17. Re1 Rc2+ 18. Re2 Rac8 19. Kg3 $5) 16...
Nb3 17. Ra2 Nc1 18. Rb2 Nxg4 $1 19. e4 $5 (19. h4 Nf6 $36) 19... Nd3+ 20. Bxd3
Bxd3 21. Kd2 $4 (21. e5 Rc4 $1 $36) 21... Nf2 22. Be3 Bf1 $1 23. Bxf2 Bg2 $19 {
0-1 Zhu Chen (2488)-Xu Yuhua (2485)/Nanjing CHN 2009/The Week in Chess 779 (40)
}) 10. e3 Re8 $146 {[%mdl 8]} ({Kramnik doesn't repeat a promising line played
by Vishy Anand:} 10... g5 $5 11. Bg3 f5 12. O-O-O (12. Nf3 $5 f4 13. exf4 g4
14. Ne5 Nxd4 $13) 12... f4 13. f3 Nd6 $6 (13... fxg3 $1 14. fxe4 Rf2 $36) 14.
exf4 gxf4 15. Bf2 Bf5 16. Qc5 Ne7 17. Ne2 Bg6 $13 {0-1 Karpov,A (2619)-Anand,V
(2788)/Corsica FRA 2009/The Week in Chess 782 (32)}) {In the game Black gets a
good position, too; it is unclear why Carlsen played such a line, which looks
rather risky for White.} 11. Nf3 g5 $1 12. Bg3 g4 13. Ne5 Nxe5 14. Bxe5 (14.
dxe5 $5 Bf5 15. Bd3 Bg6 (15... c5 16. f3 gxf3 17. gxf3 c4 18. Bxe4 dxe4 19. Rg1
$13) 16. Bxe4 (16. Bf4 c5 $1) 16... Bxe4 17. Qe2 Qg5 $11) 14... c5 15. Bd3 Bf5
(15... Qa5+ $2 {is premature as after} 16. b4 $1 cxb4 17. O-O bxa3 18. f3 {
White completes his development and obtains a strong attack.}) 16. Qe2 (16. O-O
c4 17. Bxe4 Bxe4 {[%cal Ye8e6,Ye6b6,Ye6h6] is favourable for Black (M.Notkin).}
) ({Or} 16. Bxe4 Bxe4 17. Qxc5 Bxg2 18. Rg1 Bf3 $17 {[%csl Re1]}) 16... f6 17.
Bxe4 (17. Bf4 $2 Qa5+ 18. Kf1 cxd4 $19) (17. f3 {leads to a bad endgame for
White:} gxf3 18. Qxf3 c4 $1 19. Bxe4 (19. Qxf5 cxd3 $19 {[%csl Gd3,Ge4]}) 19...
Bxe4 20. Qxf6 Qxf6 21. Bxf6 Re6 $17 {[%csl Rb2][%cal Ye6b6] according to IM
Maxim Notkin.}) 17... Bxe4 18. Bg3 Qa5+ 19. Qd2 Qxd2+ {A disputable decision.
White's drawing chances are more realistic in the endgame, due to the
opposite-coloured bishops, but Kramnik rejected} (19... Qa6 {in view of} 20. f3
(20. Qe2 $2 Qxe2+ 21. Kxe2 cxd4) 20... gxf3 21. gxf3 Bxf3 22. Rf1 {e.g.} Bh5 (
22... Bg4 23. Rf4 Bh5 24. Kf2) 23. Rf5 $5 (23. Rf4 cxd4 24. Rxd4 Rac8 $5 $40)
23... Rxe3+ $5 (23... Bg6 24. Rxd5) 24. Qxe3 Re8 25. Be5 $1 (25. Qxe8+ Bxe8 {
[%cal Ra6e6]} 26. Rf2 cxd4 {looks very bad for White}) 25... cxd4 26. Qg3+ Bg6
27. O-O-O $1 fxe5 ({or} 27... Qe2 28. Bxd4 Qe4 29. Qd3 $1 Bxf5 30. Qxe4 Bxe4
31. Kd2) 28. Rxe5 Rc8+ 29. Kd2 {, and White holds on, keeping chances to
survive.}) 20. Kxd2 {[%mdl 4096]} c4 {[%cal Ye8e6,Ye6b6]} ({After} 20... cxd4
21. exd4 Bxg2 22. Rhe1 {M.Notkin} Be4 23. Rac1 {White activates his rooks and
creates sufficient counterplay; of course, the exchange of all rooks will lead
to a dead draw.}) 21. f3 $1 {White must urgently create counterplay; otherwise
Black's queenside pawn advantage will decide the game.} gxf3 22. gxf3 Bg6 (
22... Bxf3 $6 23. Rhf1 $11) 23. h4 {[%cal Yh4h5]} Bh5 24. Ke2 Re6 25. Be1 Kf7
26. Kf2 Rae8 27. Bd2 Rb6 28. Bc3 Rb3 {[%cal Yb7b5,Ya7a5,Yb5b4] Black's plan is
double-edged as his rook can find itself out of play.} 29. a4 $1 {Preventing
29...b5} b6 {[%cal Ya7a6,Yb6b5]} 30. Rhe1 {[%cal Ye3e4]} Bg6 (30... a6 31. e4
b5 32. axb5 axb5 33. Ra7+ Re7 34. Ra3 Rxa3 35. bxa3 $11) 31. e4 $1 {Still!}
dxe4 32. d5 a6 $2 (32... exf3 $142 33. Rxe8 Kxe8 34. Kxf3 $11) 33. fxe4 $2 {
Missing an excellent chance:} (33. h5 $142 $1 Bxh5 ({or} 33... Bf5 34. Re3 $1 {
[%cal Ya1e1,Yf3e4]}) 34. Rxe4 Rxe4 35. fxe4 {[%csl Rb3] and the initiative
passes to White - see annotation to move 28!}) 33... Bxe4 34. d6 f5 35. Rg1 Ke6
36. Rg7 Kxd6 37. Rxh7 {White's passed h5 pawn should guarantee him a draw.} Bd3
38. Kf3 Re4 39. h5 Rh4 40. Rg1 Be4+ 41. Ke3 Rh3+ 42. Kf4 Rf3+ 43. Kg5 b5 44.
axb5 axb5 45. Kf6 (45. Ra1 $5 Rfxc3 46. bxc3 Rxc3 {doesn't change much.}) 45...
Rbxc3 46. bxc3 Rxc3 47. Rg8 Rh3 48. Rc8 c3 49. Rhc7 (49. Rhh8 $5 Bc6 50. Rh6 $1
{[%cal Rf6f5] was simpler, with a forced draw::} Kd7 51. Rhh8 Kd6 52. Rh6 {as}
Bd7 $2 {doesn't work due to} 53. Kf7+ Ke5 54. Rc5+ Kd4 55. Rc7 {, and White
wins a piece (M.Notkin).}) 49... c2 50. Kg5 Rh2 (50... Rh1 51. Rxc2 Bxc2 52.
Rxc2 $11) 51. Rc3 $6 (51. Rc5 $1 b4 52. Rc4 b3 53. Kf6 Kd5 54. R8c5+ Kd6 55.
Rc8 $11 {M.Notkin}) 51... Ke6 (51... Ke5 $142 {but White apparently has a draw
anyway. In many variations he achieves the endgame R vs. R+B:} 52. R3c5+ Kd4
53. Rxb5 Rg2+ (53... Bd3 54. Rb4+ Ke3 55. Rb3 Rg2+ 56. Kf6 f4 {is just a
transposition of moves}) 54. Kf6 (54. Kf4 $4 Rg4#) 54... f4 55. Rb4+ Ke3 56.
Rb3+ Bd3 (56... Kd2 $143 57. Ke5) 57. Rcc3 Rd2 (57... Ke2 58. Rb2 Kd2 59.
Rbxc2+ Bxc2 60. Rf3 Rg4 61. Ke5 $11) 58. h6 Ke2 $1 (58... f3 59. h7 f2 60. h8=Q
f1=Q+ 61. Ke7 $11) 59. Kg5 $1 f3 60. h7 f2 (60... Bxh7 61. Re3+ Kd1 62. Rxf3 $1
$11) 61. h8=Q f1=Q 62. Qe5+ Kd1 63. Rxc2 $3 {Parrying mating threats!} Qg2+ 64.
Kh4 $1 Qh1+ (64... Qf2+ 65. Qg3 $5 {forcing the exchange of queens}) 65. Kg5 $1
Qg2+ 66. Kh4 Bxc2 67. Qa1+ Ke2 68. Qe5+ Be4 (68... Kf1 69. Qf4+ Kg1 70. Rg3)
69. Rg3 $11) 52. Re8+ Kf7 53. Rb8 Rg2+ (53... Rh1 54. Rc7+ Ke6 55. Rb6+ Kd5 56.
Rxb5+ Kd4 57. Rbc5 $11 {M.Notkin}) 54. Kf4 Ke6 55. Re8+ Kd7 56. Rb8 Ke6 (56...
Rf2+ $5 {is very hard to assess but apparently White holds his ground after}
57. Kg5 $5 (57. Ke5 $143 Rf3 58. Rc5 Re3 59. Kf4 Re2) 57... Rf3 58. Rc5 Rf1 59.
Rbc8 {etc.}) 57. Re8+ Kf6 58. Rf8+ Ke6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.06"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E25"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2009.11.05"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
dxc5 Qa5 9. e4 Nf6 10. Be3 O-O 11. Qb3 Na6 12. Nh3 Nd7 13. Bxa6 Qxa6 14. c4 Ne5
15. Rc1 Bd7 16. Qc3 f6 17. O-O Ba4 18. Nf4 Rfd8 19. Bd4 Ng6 20. Nxg6 hxg6 21.
e5 f5 22. h4 Rd7 23. Rf2 Rad8 24. Rd2 Qc6 25. Kh2 Qc7 26. Qe3 Kf7 27. Kg3 Rh8
28. Qf4 Qd8 29. Rb1 Bc6 30. Rbb2 Qa5 31. Be3 Rxd2 32. Rxd2 Qxa3 33. Qd4 Rc8 34.
Rd1 Qa5 35. Ra1 Qd8 36. Qxd8 Rxd8 37. Rxa7 Rd3 38. Bg5 Rd4 39. Be3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.07"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D91"]
[WhiteElo "2758"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2009.11.05"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Ne4 5. Bh4 c5 6. cxd5 Nxc3 7. bxc3 Qxd5 8.
e3 Bg7 9. Nf3 cxd4 10. cxd4 Nc6 11. Be2 O-O 12. O-O Bf5 13. Nd2 e5 14. Bf3 Qd6
15. Nc4 Qb4 16. Bxc6 Qxc4 17. Bxb7 Rab8 18. Qf3 exd4 19. Bd5 Qb4 20. e4 Be6 21.
Rad1 Qc3 22. Qf4 Bxd5 23. exd5 Qc5 24. Bf6 Bxf6 25. Qxf6 Qxd5 26. Qxd4 Qxa2 27.
Ra1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.08"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D47"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2009.11.05"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3
Bd6 9. Nd2 $5 {This had been played only once before.} Bb7 10. Nce4 $146 (10.
O-O {Volkov,S (2633)-Romanov,E (2547)/Dagomys 2008/CBM 124 (0-1, 46)}) 10...
Be7 11. Nxf6+ Nxf6 12. O-O O-O 13. Nb3 {White seems to have established some
control over the c5-square, but is underdeveloped, justifying Black's next
move.} c5 $1 14. dxc5 Qd5 15. f3 Rfd8 16. Be2 Qe5 17. Qe1 Bd5 18. Qc3 Qxc3 19.
bxc3 Bxb3 20. axb3 Nd5 21. b4 Nxc3 22. Kf2 a5 {Black has retrieved the pawn
and even has some initiative.} 23. Rxa5 Rxa5 24. bxa5 Bxc5 25. Bb2 Nxe2 26.
Kxe2 Bb4 27. Ra1 $1 {An elegant way to stay out of troubles.} Rd2+ 28. Kf1 Rxb2
29. a6 Bc5 30. Rc1 g6 31. Rxc5 Ra2 32. Rxb5 Rxa6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.10"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2009.11.05"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. e3 d6 5. h3 O-O 6. Be2 b6 7. a4 c5 8. c3 Ba6
9. O-O Qc8 10. Re1 Qb7 11. Bb5 Bxb5 12. axb5 a6 13. Qe2 axb5 14. Rxa8 Qxa8 15.
Qxb5 Na6 16. Bh2 Qb7 17. Nbd2 Nc7 18. Qb3 Ne6 19. Ra1 Rb8 20. Ra3 b5 21. Qa2
Qd5 22. Qa1 Ne4 23. Qa2 Qxa2 24. Rxa2 Nxd2 25. Nxd2 b4 26. Kf1 bxc3 27. bxc3
cxd4 28. cxd4 Nc7 29. Ra5 f5 30. g4 Rb5 31. Rxb5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.11"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D43"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2788"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2009.11.05"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. Bg5 Bb4 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 h6 8.
Bxf6 Qxf6 9. e3 b5 10. a4 c6 11. Ne5 a6 12. g4 Bb7 13. Bg2 Qe7 14. O-O O-O 15.
f4 Nd7 16. Nxc6 Qd6 17. Ne7+ Qxe7 18. Bxb7 Ra7 19. Bg2 Nb6 20. axb5 axb5 21.
Rxa7 Qxa7 22. Qa1 Qe7 23. e4 Ra8 24. Qb2 Ra5 25. e5 Qh4 26. Qe2 Ra3 27. f5 Rxc3
28. fxe6 fxe6 29. Qe4 Qd8 30. Qg6 Qxd4+ 31. Kh1 Re3 32. Qxe6+ Kh7 33. Qf5+ Kh8
34. Qf8+ Kh7 35. Qf5+ Kh8 36. Qf8+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.12"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2754"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2009.11.05"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. O-O Nge7 5. c3 a6 6. Ba4 b5 7. Bc2 d5 8. a4 b4
9. d4 cxd4 10. cxd4 dxe4 11. Bxe4 Nd5 12. Nbd2 Bb7 13. Nb3 Be7 14. Nc5 Bxc5 15.
dxc5 O-O 16. Qc2 Nf6 17. Rd1 Qc7 18. Bd3 h6 19. b3 Na5 20. Bb2 Bxf3 21. gxf3
Qf4 22. Be2 Rfc8 23. Rac1 Nb7 24. c6 Na5 25. c7 Nd5 26. Qe4 Qxe4 27. fxe4 Nxc7
28. Be5 Ne8 29. Rxc8 Rxc8 30. Bxa6 Ra8 31. Be2 Nxb3 32. Rb1 Na5 33. Bb5 b3 34.
Bc3 Nd6 35. f3 Ndc4 36. Kf2 f6 37. Ke2 Na3 38. Rb2 N3c4 39. Rb1 Na3 40. Rb2
1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.13"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ponomariov, Ruslan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B80"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2739"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2009.11.05"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. f3 b5 8. Qd2
Nbd7 9. g4 h6 10. O-O-O Ne5 $5 {The knight move is equally revolutionary as
Topalov's pet idea of 10...b5-b4. Black is moving the knight, that is already
developed and prepares real counterplay.} 11. Qe1 $146 {White has yet to find
an idea, that would put the daring concept of the opponent under pressure.
Carlsen comes with a new move, but it's merit might be modest.} (11. g5 hxg5
12. Bxg5 Bb7 13. Rg1 Qa5 14. a3 Rc8 15. Kb1 Rxc3 16. Qxc3 Qxc3 17. bxc3 Rxh2
18. Bf4 Rh5 19. Rg5 Rxg5 20. Bxg5 $11 {0-1 Motylev,A (2651)-Grischuk,A (2704)/
Moscow 2004 (34)}) (11. a3 Bb7 12. Kb1 (12. h4 Rc8 13. Rg1 Qa5 (13... g6 14. g5
hxg5 15. hxg5 Nfd7 16. f4 Nc4 17. Bxc4 Rxc4 18. f5 Nc5 19. fxe6 Nxe6 20. Nxe6
fxe6 21. Bd4 $16 {1-0 Bologan,V (2669)-Dobrov,V (2487)/chessassistantclub.com
INT 2004 (30)}) 14. g5 hxg5 15. hxg5 Nfd7 16. g6 Nxg6 17. Nxe6 fxe6 18. Rxg6
Kf7 19. Rg3 Nf6 20. Bd3 e5 21. Qf2 Rxc3 22. Bb6 Qa4 23. bxc3 Qxa3+ 24. Kd2 $11
{1/2-1/2 Shirov,A (2714)-Guliyev,N (2526)/Port Barcares 2005 (42)}) 12... Rc8
13. Be2 Nfd7 14. f4 Nc4 15. Bxc4 Rxc4 16. Rhe1 Be7 17. Bf2 O-O 18. h4 Nc5 19.
g5 h5 20. b3 Rxc3 21. Qxc3 Nxe4 22. Qe3 Qa5 $17 {0-1 Grischuk,A (2719)-Belov,V
(2543)/playchess.com INT 2004 (54)}) (11. Bd3 Bb7 12. Rhe1 (12. a3 d5 13. exd5
Nxd5 14. Nxd5 Bxd5 15. Bf4 Nxf3 16. Nxf3 Bxf3 17. Qe3 Bxh1 18. Be4 Bxe4 19.
Rxd8+ Rxd8 20. Qxe4 Rd5 $15 {0-1 Erenburg,S (2585)-Volokitin,A (2662)/Mainz
2006 (74)}) 12... b4 13. Nce2 d5 14. exd5 Nxd5 15. Kb1 Bc5 16. Bg1 Qb6 17. f4
Nxg4 18. Nxe6 fxe6 19. Bg6+ Kd7 20. Bxc5 Qxc5 21. Nd4 Kc8 $17 {0-1 Landa,K 
(2600)-Najer,E (2653)/Sochi 2006 (29)}) (11. f4 Nexg4 12. Bg1 b4 13. Na4 Nxe4
14. Qe1 d5 15. f5 Bd6 16. fxe6 Bxe6 17. Nb6 Qxb6 18. Nxe6 Qa5 19. Nxg7+ Kf8 $17
{1-0 Azarov,S (2544)-Najer,E (2608)/playchess.com INT 2004 (26)}) 11... Qc7 (
11... Bb7 12. a3 Qc7 $14) 12. h4 {Careful players would surely consider the
modest a3 idea, that complicates Black's counterplay for some time.} (12. a3
Bb7 $14) 12... b4 13. Nce2 (13. Na4 Qb7 14. b3 Bd7 $13) 13... Nc4 (13... d5 14.
Bf4 (14. g5 hxg5 15. exd5 Nxd5 16. Bxg5 Bb7 $11) 14... Bb7 15. Kb1 dxe4 16.
fxe4 Bd6 17. Rg1 Rd8 $15) 14. Nf4 (14. Bf2 e5 (14... d5 15. exd5 Nxd5 16. Ng3
$14) 15. Nf5 Bxf5 16. gxf5 a5 $13) 14... Nxe3 (14... e5 15. Nd5 Nxd5 16. exd5
exd4 17. Bxd4+ Be7 18. Bxg7 Rg8 19. Bxh6 $14) 15. Qxe3 Qb6 {Ponomariov has an
ambition of his own and the queen moves hopes to complicate opponent's life
with pressure along the dark squares.} (15... Bd7 16. Be2 e5 17. Nd5 Nxd5 18.
exd5 Be7 19. Nf5 Bxf5 20. gxf5 Bf6 $11) (15... Be7 16. Nd3 a5 17. Bh3 Nd7 18.
g5 $14) 16. Bc4 $1 Qc5 $2 {Your humble annotator is amazed by the level of
neglect both players will display when dealing with hidden issue of time.
Black is repeatedly playing with the queen in a situation, when his general
development could use some attention.} (16... e5 17. Bxf7+ Kxf7 18. Qb3+ Ke8
19. Ng6 exd4 (19... Rh7 20. Ne6 Be7 21. g5 $18) 20. Nxh8 Ra7 21. Ng6 $16) (
16... Be7 17. g5 $18) (16... Nd7 $1 17. Qe2 (17. Nfxe6 fxe6 18. Bxe6 Bb7 19.
Qb3 O-O-O $13) 17... Ne5 18. Bb3 Bd7 $14) 17. Qb3 $1 d5 (17... Ra7 18. Bxe6
fxe6 19. Nfxe6 Bxe6 20. Nxe6 Qb5 21. Nf4 $16) 18. exd5 Bd6 19. Nfxe6 $1 {
[%mdl 128] In higher sense an obvious move. Carlsen has to use his initiative
and the sacrifice of a piece for three pawns destroys the e6 stronghold in
Scheveningen/Najdorf Sicilian. What is more it creates a dangerous intruder of
his own on the same most critical square!} (19. Ndxe6 fxe6 20. Nd3 Qa5 21. dxe6
Bb7 $13) 19... fxe6 20. dxe6 Be7 (20... Kf8 21. Nf5 Be7 22. Nxe7 Qxe7 23. g5
Nh5 24. Qe3 $18) 21. Qd3 (21. Nf5 O-O (21... Bb7 22. Nxg7+ Kf8 23. Nf5 $18) 22.
Nxe7+ Qxe7 23. g5 Ne8 24. gxh6 Kh8 $16) 21... O-O 22. Bb3 $2 {The next moves
by both players are strange crimes against the logic of attack and defence.
White's advantage is based partly on the fact, that Black is badly behind in
mobilizing his pieces. Peaceful retreat of the bishop throws away the lion
share of the winning advantage!} (22. g5 $1 Nh5 (22... hxg5 23. hxg5 Qxg5+ 24.
Kb1 Nh5 25. Nc6 $18) 23. gxh6 Nf4 24. Qe4 Qxc4 25. hxg7 Rd8 26. Qxf4 Bxe6 27.
Qh6 Qxa2 28. Qh8+ Kf7 29. Qh7 Kf6 30. g8=N+ Rxg8 31. Rhe1 $18) 22... Rd8 $2 {
Ponomariov was probably programmed to be beaten badly on the given day. An
independent chess mind would otherwise surely concentrate on a developing move
with the bishop, that would more or less complete the development and nearly
equalize the chances.} (22... Bb7 $1 23. g5 (23. Nf5 Rad8 24. Qe2 (24. Qxd8 $2
Rxd8 25. Rxd8+ Kh7 26. Nxe7 Bxf3 $17) 24... Kh7 $11) 23... Nh5 24. gxh6 Nf4 25.
Qe3 gxh6 26. Rhg1+ Kh8 27. Rg4 Qc7 $11) 23. g5 $1 Nh7 (23... hxg5 24. Qg6 g4
25. Nf5 Rxd1+ 26. Rxd1 Bf8 27. e7+ Kh8 28. exf8=Q+ Qxf8 29. Rd8 $18) (23... Kh8
24. gxf6 Bxf6 25. Qf5 Qb6 26. Bd5 $18) 24. gxh6 Qh5 (24... Qxd4 25. Qxd4 Rxd4
26. Rxd4 gxh6 27. Rg1+ Kf8 28. Rf4+ $18) (24... gxh6 25. Rhg1+ Kh8 26. Qg6 Qe5
27. Nf5 Rxd1+ 28. Kxd1 Bb7 29. Nxe7 $18) 25. Qe4 $1 Qxh6+ 26. Kb1 Ra7 {The
pieces of the defender are badly scatered on the board with no common purpose.
The final execution of White's attack will be brutal and impressive.} (26...
Rxd4 27. Rxd4 Rb8 28. Qe5 Ra8 29. Qd5 Rb8 30. Qd8+ $1 Nf8 (30... Bxd8 31. Rxd8+
Nf8 32. e7+ $18) 31. Qxe7 $18) 27. Nf5 Rxd1+ 28. Rxd1 Qf6 29. Rd7 $1 {Chess
beauty on the highest level and a modern form of small combination!} Bxd7 30.
exd7+ Kf8 {The choice for the defender is not always so deeply rotten as in
this moment. At least both ways of going down have undeniable charm...} (30...
Kh8 31. Nxe7 Rxd7 32. Qa8+ Nf8 33. Qxf8+ $1 Qxf8 34. Ng6+ Kh7 35. Nxf8+ $18)
31. Qd5 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.14"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Leko, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2752"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2009.11.05"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.11.19"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 {Marin,M} c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Ng4 {
Modern chess sometimes sports most illogical ideas. Black is moving the only
developed piece with a tall ambition to spoil the planned English attack set
up of the opponent.} 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Bg3 Bg7 10. h3 Nf6 11. Qf3 Qb6 12.
O-O-O Nc6 13. Nxc6 Qxc6 14. Be2 Qc5 15. Rhe1 {White is still looking for the
way of "refuting" Black's provocative concept. The general mobilaization of
the pieces towards the center can hardly spoil anything.} g4 {Marin,M: 'Played
partly in accordance with Nimzovitsch' postulate that any mobile pawn
formation that does not advance is likely to become a weakness. However, in
this case it would be desirable to play ...h5 and ...g4, since the operation
carried out in the game leaves the kingside weakened anyway.'} (15... Nd7 16.
Nd5 Ne5 17. Qb3 b5 18. f4 Nc4 19. Bxc4 bxc4 20. Qf3 $16 {1-0 Rytshagov,M (2490)
-Kulaots,K (2510)/Estonia 2003 (30)}) (15... Be6 16. e5 dxe5 17. Bd3 e4 18.
Nxe4 Nxe4 19. Qxe4 O-O-O 20. a3 Rd5 21. Qb4 Rhd8 22. Qxc5+ Rxc5 $11 {1/2-1/2
Lutz,C (2640)-Polgar,J (2715)/Budapest 2003 (25)}) 16. hxg4 Bxg4 17. Qd3 Be6 {
Carlsen must take care about his pieces, as the careless exchange of the
bishops would seriously enhance White's chances.} (17... Bxe2 $6 18. Nxe2 Ng4
19. Qf3 Rg8 20. Kb1 Bf6 21. c3 $16) 18. e5 {'!' Marin,M.} (18. Bf3 Ng4 19. Nd5
Ne5 20. Qb3 Nxf3 21. gxf3 (21. Qxf3 h5 $14) 21... b5 22. Bh4 Ra7 23. Rg1 $14)
18... dxe5 19. Bf3 e4 $1 {A fine defensive move and a true proverbial spanner
in the works of otherwise perfectly coordinated Leko's forces.} (19... O-O 20.
Rxe5 Qb6 21. Na4 Qb4 22. Nc5 Bxa2 23. Bxb7 $16) 20. Nxe4 Nxe4 21. Rxe4 (21.
Bxe4 O-O 22. c3 Rac8 23. Kb1 $14) 21... O-O {Marin,M: 'The black king's
position looks unsafe, but in fact his bishops are targetting the enemy king,
while the white bishop concentrate on an almost empty wing. '} 22. Qe3 {
The Hungarian super grandmaster is a perfectionist in the openings, but not
your typical courageous attacker in most positions. Yet even he must have been
intrigued by the dangerous exchange sacrifice on e6 with very interesting
chances.} (22. Rxe6 $5 {Marin,M: 'deserves serious attention, but does not
seem to be in Leko's cautious style.'} fxe6 23. Qb3 Kh8 24. Qxe6 Rac8 25. Be4 (
25. c3 Bxc3 26. Qxh6+ Kg8 27. Bd5+ Qxd5 28. Qxf8+ Kxf8 29. Rxd5 Be5+ 30. Kb1
Bxg3 31. fxg3 Kf7 $11) 25... Qg5+ 26. Kb1 Rcd8 $13) 22... Rac8 23. Qxc5 (23. c3
Qxe3+ 24. Rxe3 b5 25. a3 $14) 23... Rxc5 24. Bg4 $6 {The meek exchange of the
bishops is kissing all chances of playing for an advantage good bye. It must
have been preferable to keep the active pair of bishops shooting against
Black's queenside.} (24. Ra4 Rb5 25. c3 Bf6 $14) 24... Bxg4 25. Rxg4 f5 26. Rb4
(26. Rg6 f4 27. Bh4 Rfc8 28. c3 Kf7 29. Rb6 Rh5 30. g3 Rc7 $11) 26... b5 27. a4
Rfc8 {Carlsen has made his name as one of the players with best technique in
the world. The position is objectively equal, but he is doing his best to put
pressure on his opponent.} (27... Kf7 28. c3 Be5 $11) 28. c3 Rc4 29. Rxc4 Rxc4
30. axb5 axb5 31. Rd8+ (31. Rd5 f4 32. Bh2 b4 33. Kd2 bxc3+ 34. bxc3 $11) 31...
Kh7 $1 {It takes an open mind to admit, that sometimes even the passive
looking retreat can be stronger than automatic centralization.} (31... Kf7 32.
Rd5 $1 b4 33. Rxf5+ Kg6 34. Rf4 Rxf4 35. Bxf4 bxc3 36. b4 Kf5 37. Be3 h5 38.
Kc2 Ke4 39. b5 Kd5 40. Kd3 $14) 32. Rd7 Rg4 $1 33. Bb8 (33. Rxe7 f4 34. Bh2 Rh4
35. Bg1 Rg4 36. f3 Rxg2 37. Bd4 h5 38. Rf7 Kg8 39. Rf5 Bxd4 40. cxd4 $11) 33...
Rxg2 34. Rxe7 Kg6 35. Bg3 (35. Re6+ Kf7 36. Rb6 Rxf2 37. Rxb5 Kg6 38. Rb6+ Kg5
39. Rb7 Bf6 $15) 35... h5 36. Kd1 $2 {[%mdl 4096] On the highest chess level
there is only one true way to win the game - put pressure against your
opponent! The best and brighest are sometimes crumbling under the unpleasant
strain.} (36. Rb7 f4 (36... Bh6+ 37. Kd1 f4 38. Rb6+ Kh7 39. Rb7+ $11) 37. Bxf4
Rxf2 38. Rb6+ Bf6 39. Bg3 Rf5 40. Bh4 Rf4 41. Bg3 $11) 36... Bf6 37. Re6 Kf7
38. Re3 $2 {Bad as Leko's position has become it might not have been beyond
hope. This nervous move is surely a losing mistake.} (38. Re2 $1 h4 39. Bc7 h3
$17) 38... h4 39. Bc7 Rxf2 40. b3 Rf1+ (40... f4 41. Rd3 Ke6 42. Ke1 Rc2 43.
Bxf4 Rxc3 $19) 41. Ke2 Rc1 42. c4 {The good advice became a commodity, that
White can not value enough. Parting with the second pawn looks like an act of
a pure desperation...} (42. Kd2 Bg5 43. Kxc1 Bxe3+ $19) (42. Ba5 Kg6 43. Rf3
Ra1 44. Bb6 Ra3 45. c4 h3 $19) 42... bxc4 43. bxc4 Rxc4 44. Bb8 Rc2+ 45. Kf1
Kg6 46. Re2 Rc8 47. Bd6 Rc6 48. Be7 {We all know, that the rook endgame with
f- and h-pawn might be defendable for the weaker side. Unfortunately not in
the case, when the king is cut on the first rank.} (48. Bb8 h3 49. Kf2 Kg5 $19)
48... Bxe7 49. Rxe7 Rc2 $1 50. Re3 Kg5 51. Kg1 Kg4 52. Ra3 f4 53. Ra8 Rd2 54.
Ra7 Kg3 55. Rg7+ Kf3 56. Ra7 Rd1+ 57. Kh2 Ke2 58. Kh3 f3 59. Ra2+ (59. Re7+ Kf1
60. Kxh4 f2 $19) 59... Rd2 {White has decided, that admitting defeat is not
going to hurt him at all.} (59... Rd2 60. Ra8 f2 61. Re8+ Kf1 62. Kh2 Re2 63.
Ra8 Re4 64. Kh3 Ke2 65. Ra2+ Kf3 66. Ra3+ Re3 67. Ra1 f1=Q+ 68. Rxf1+ Ke2+ $19)
0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.16"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A46"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. Nd2 h6 4. Bh4 c5 5. e3 cxd4 6. exd4 b6 7. Ngf3 Bb7 8.
Bd3 Be7 9. O-O d6 10. Re1 Nbd7 11. a4 a6 12. c3 O-O 13. Nc4 Qc7 14. Ne3 Rfe8
15. Bc2 Bf8 16. Qe2 Bc6 17. Bd3 Qb7 18. Nc2 e5 19. dxe5 dxe5 20. Bf5 g6 21. Bh3
g5 22. Bxd7 Nxd7 23. Bg3 f5 24. Nxe5 f4 25. Bxf4 gxf4 26. Qg4+ Bg7 27. Nxc6
Qxc6 28. Nd4 Qb7 29. Nf5 Nf6 30. Qg6 Kf8 31. Rxe8+ Nxe8 32. Nxh6 Nf6 33. Nf5
Qf7 34. Qg5 Qd7 35. Qxf4 Re8 36. Qb4+ Kg8 37. Nxg7 Kxg7 38. Qxb6 Qd2 39. h3 Re2
40. Qxa6 Qxb2 41. Rd1 Qc2 42. Rd4 Re1+ 43. Kh2 Qxf2 44. Qa7+ Kh6 45. Qc7 Qg1+
46. Kg3 Re3+ 47. Kh4 Qf2+ 48. g3 Rf3 49. Qe5 Rf5 50. Rf4 Rxe5 51. Rxf2 Rh5# 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 g6 6. Nb5 Qb6 7. c4 c6 8. Nc3
Bg7 9. Be2 O-O 10. O-O Bg4 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Bxf3 Rd8 13. d5 cxd5 14. cxd5 Na6
15. Qe2 Nb4 16. Rd1 Rac8 17. a3 Qa6 18. Qxa6 Nxa6 19. Nb5 Nc7 20. Nxa7 Ra8 21.
d6 Rxd6 22. Bf4 Rxa7 23. Bxd6 exd6 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.16"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Gashimov, Vugar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B35"]
[WhiteElo "2758"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "144"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 g6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O 8.
Bb3 d6 9. h3 Bd7 10. O-O Qa5 11. Re1 Rfe8 12. Qe2 Rac8 13. Rad1 Nxd4 14. Bxd4
Bc6 15. Nd5 Nd7 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Qe3 Nc5 18. Qd4+ e5 19. Qe3 Nxb3 20. axb3
Bxd5 21. Rxd5 Qa2 22. Qc1 Rc6 23. b4 b6 24. c3 a5 25. b5 Rc5 26. Red1 Qc4 27.
Rxd6 Rxb5 28. Qg5 Rc5 29. Qf6+ Kg8 30. Rd8 Rc8 31. Rxe8+ Rxe8 32. Qxb6 Qxe4 33.
Qxa5 Qc2 34. Qa1 Kg7 35. b4 Rc8 36. Rc1 Qb3 37. c4 Qxb4 38. Qxe5+ Kg8 39. c5
Qb5 40. Qd5 Kg7 41. Qd6 Qc6 42. Qd4+ Kg8 43. h4 h5 44. Kh2 Qc7+ 45. g3 Qc6 46.
Rc3 Re8 47. Re3 Rc8 48. Re5 Qc7 49. Rd5 Re8 50. Rd6 Rc8 51. c6 Qa5 52. Qf6 Qf5
53. Rd8+ Rxd8 54. Qxd8+ Kh7 55. Qd4 Qc2 56. Qf6 Qc4 57. Qd6 Qc2 58. Kg1 Qb1+
59. Kh2 Qc2 60. Qf6 Qc4 61. Kg2 Qd5+ 62. Qf3 Qc4 63. Kg1 Qc1+ 64. Kh2 Qc4 65.
Qf6 Kg8 66. Qd8+ Kg7 67. c7 Qc5 68. Kg2 Qc6+ 69. Kf1 Qc1+ 70. Ke2 Qc2+ 71. Ke3
Qc3+ 72. Ke4 Qc6+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.16"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kosteniuk, Alexandra"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C43"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2517"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3 d5 5. dxe5 Nc5 6. Be2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8.
Be3 Nc6 9. Nc3 Be6 10. Bb5 Nd7 11. Bf4 a6 12. Bxc6 bxc6 13. Nd4 Nb8 14. Qd3 Qd7
15. Qg3 Re8 16. Bh6 Bf8 17. Na4 Kh8 18. Be3 Qe7 19. f4 Bc8 20. Nb3 Nd7 21. Nac5
a5 22. a4 Ba6 23. Rfe1 Bc4 24. Nxd7 Qxd7 25. Nc5 Qf5 26. b3 Ba6 27. Qf2 Bc8 28.
Bd4 h6 29. h3 Qg6 30. Kh2 Bf5 31. g4 Bxc5 32. Bxc5 Be4 33. f5 Qg5 34. Be3 Qe7
35. Bf4 Qb4 36. Re3 Qc5 37. Rc1 Rab8 38. h4 Rb4 39. f6 g6 40. c4 Reb8 41. Bxh6
Rxb3 42. Rce1 Rb2 43. R1e2 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.16"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Bareev, Evgeny"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2634"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. e3 a6 5. b3 Bf5 6. Bd3 Bg6 7. O-O e6 8. Nc3
Nbd7 9. Bb2 Bd6 10. Qc2 Bh5 11. Be2 O-O 12. h3 Qe7 13. Rad1 Rad8 14. Rfe1 Bb4
15. Qc1 Ne4 16. Nd2 Bxe2 17. Rxe2 f5 18. f4 g5 19. Nf3 Ng3 20. Rf2 g4 21. Ne5
Nxe5 22. dxe5 Qh4 23. Kh2 dxc4 24. bxc4 Rxd1 25. Qxd1 Rd8 26. Qc2 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.16"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E27"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Nh5 7. Nh3 f5 8.
Bg5 Qe8 9. g4 fxg4 10. fxg4 Nf6 11. Qd3 d6 12. Nf2 e5 13. Bg2 Nc6 14. Bxf6 Rxf6
15. O-O Kh8 16. Ne4 Rg6 17. h3 Bd7 18. Rf2 Nd8 19. d5 b6 20. Raf1 Nb7 21. Qe3
Kg8 22. Ng5 Nc5 23. Ne6 Bxe6 24. dxe6 c6 25. e7 Ne6 26. Rf8+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.16"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2754"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 b6 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O e6 6. Nc3 Be7 7. Re1 d6 8. e4 a6
9. d4 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Qc7 11. Be3 Nbd7 12. Rc1 O-O 13. f4 Rac8 14. g4 Nc5 15. Bf2
g6 16. g5 Nh5 17. Be3 e5 18. Nde2 exf4 19. Bxf4 Nxf4 20. Nxf4 Ne6 21. Ncd5 Bxd5
22. cxd5 Nxf4 23. Rxc7 Rxc7 24. h4 f6 25. Qg4 fxg5 26. hxg5 Rc2 27. Bf1 Rxb2
28. Rc1 b5 29. Rc7 Bd8 30. Rc8 Rb1 31. Rxd8 Rxd8 32. Qxf4 Rf8 33. Qxd6 Rbxf1+
34. Kg2 R1f2+ 35. Kg3 Rxa2 36. Qe6+ Kg7 37. d6 Ra3+ 38. Kg4 Raf3 39. Qe5+ Kg8
40. d7 Rd3 41. Qe6+ Kg7 42. Qe7+ Kg8 43. Qe6+ Kg7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.16"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ponomariov, Ruslan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2739"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nb3 Bb6 6. Qe2 d6 7. Be3 Nf6 8.
Nc3 O-O 9. O-O-O Bxe3+ 10. Qxe3 a5 11. Nd4 Qe7 12. Bb5 Nxd4 13. Qxd4 Qe5 14. f3
Be6 15. Qxe5 dxe5 16. Na4 Rad8 17. Nc5 Bc8 18. a4 g6 19. Nd3 c6 20. Bc4 Rfe8
21. c3 Kf8 22. Kc2 Nd7 23. b4 axb4 24. cxb4 Nb6 25. Bb3 Rd4 26. Kc3 Be6 27.
Bxe6 Rxe6 28. Nc5 Red6 29. Rxd4 exd4+ 30. Kd3 Rd8 31. Nxb7 Rb8 32. Nc5 Ke7 33.
Rb1 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.16"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "150"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. c3 d5 5. Qe2 Nge7 6. exd5 Nxd5 7. O-O Bd7 8.
d4 cxd4 9. cxd4 Be7 10. Nc3 O-O 11. Bd3 Rc8 12. Bd2 Bf6 13. Qe4 g6 14. Rad1
Nce7 15. Ne5 Bc6 16. Qg4 Nf5 17. Rfe1 Nxc3 18. bxc3 Bg7 19. Bxf5 exf5 20. Nxc6
Rxc6 21. Qf3 Qd7 22. Bf4 Rfc8 23. Rd3 Ra6 24. h4 Rxa2 25. h5 Ra6 26. d5 Ra4 27.
d6 Bf6 28. g3 Rac4 29. Be5 Re8 30. Qd5 Re4 31. Rxe4 fxe4 32. Bxf6 exd3 33. Qxd3
Re6 34. Be7 gxh5 35. Qd5 Rxe7 36. Qg5+ Kf8 37. dxe7+ Qxe7 38. Qxh5 Qe1+ 39. Kg2
Qxc3 40. Qxh7 Qc6+ 41. Kg1 Qd5 42. Qh8+ Ke7 43. Qh4+ Ke6 44. Qg4+ Kd6 45. Qb4+
Kc7 46. Qc3+ Kd7 47. Qa1 a5 48. Qa4+ Kd6 49. Qf4+ Kc6 50. Qc1+ Qc5 51. Qf4 Qd5
52. Qc1+ Kb5 53. Qb2+ Ka6 54. Qe2+ b5 55. Qe7 a4 56. Qb4 Kb6 57. Kh2 Qc5 58.
Qf4 Qc4 59. Qd6+ Ka5 60. Kg1 Qc3 61. Qd8+ Kb4 62. Qf8+ Kb3 63. Qxf7+ Kb2 64.
Qd7 Qb4 65. Qg7+ Ka2 66. g4 a3 67. g5 Qg4+ 68. Kh2 b4 69. g6 Qh4+ 70. Kg2 Qg4+
71. Kh2 Kb1 72. Qf7 a2 73. Qb3+ Ka1 74. Qf7 Kb2 75. Qf6+ Kb1 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.16"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2719"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Be3 c5 8.
Qd2 Qa5 9. Rc1 O-O 10. Nf3 e6 11. Be2 Rd8 12. Bg5 Re8 13. O-O Nc6 14. Rfd1 cxd4
15. cxd4 Qxd2 16. Rxd2 Bd7 17. Rb1 b6 18. Ba6 e5 19. dxe5 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.16"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Tkachiev, Vladislav"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D20"]
[WhiteElo "2642"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e3 e5 4. Bxc4 exd4 5. exd4 Nf6 6. Nf3 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8.
h3 Nbd7 9. Nc3 Nb6 10. Bb3 c6 11. Re1 Nbd5 12. Ne5 Be6 13. Bg5 Re8 14. Na4 h6
15. Bh4 Bb4 16. Rf1 Nf4 17. a3 Qxd4 18. Qxd4 Ne2+ 19. Kh1 Nxd4 20. Bxe6 Rxe6
21. axb4 Rxe5 22. Nb6 Rae8 23. Bxf6 gxf6 24. Nd7 Rf5 25. Rxa7 Re2 26. Rxb7 Rxb2
27. f4 Kg7 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.16"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D27"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2719"]
[PlyCount "129"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 a6 6. O-O c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8.
Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nbd2 Ke7 10. Be2 Bd7 11. Rd1 Rd8 12. Nb3 Ba7 13. Ne5 Nc6 14. Nxd7
Rxd7 15. Rxd7+ Nxd7 16. Bd2 Nc5 17. Na5 Nxa5 18. Bxa5 Rc8 19. Rc1 Kd7 20. Bf3
b6 21. Bc3 g6 22. Bd4 Bb8 23. Be2 e5 24. Bc3 Bd6 25. Rd1 Ke7 26. Be1 b5 27. Rc1
Kd7 28. Bb4 Nb7 29. Rd1 Ke7 30. Bc3 Nc5 31. Bd2 Na4 32. Rc1 Rxc1+ 33. Bxc1 e4
34. Bd1 Be5 35. Bxa4 bxa4 36. Kf1 Kd6 37. h3 Kd5 38. Ke2 Kc4 39. Kd2 f5 40. Kc2
h5 41. Bd2 Bd6 42. Bc3 Bc7 43. Bd2 Bd8 44. Bc3 Bh4 45. Be1 Be7 46. Ba5 Bd6 47.
b3+ axb3+ 48. axb3+ Kd5 49. Bd8 Bb4 50. Kd1 Kc5 51. Be7+ Kb5 52. Bf6 a5 53. Bd8
Bc3 54. Be7 Bb4 55. Bf6 Bc5 56. Kc2 Bb4 57. f3 Bc5 58. fxe4 fxe4 59. Kd2 Kb4
60. Bc3+ Kxb3 61. Bxa5 Bb4+ 62. Bxb4 Kxb4 63. Kc2 Kc4 64. h4 Kb4 65. Kb2
1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.16"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2723"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Ne2 d6 5. c3 Nf6 6. d4 O-O 7. O-O Nc6 8. h3 e5
9. Be3 cxd4 10. cxd4 exd4 11. Nxd4 Ne5 12. Nc3 Nc4 13. Bc1 Qb6 14. b3 Nxe4 15.
Nxe4 Qxd4 16. Qxd4 Bxd4 17. Rb1 d5 18. Rd1 dxe4 19. Rxd4 Ne5 20. Bh6 Re8 21.
Bxe4 Bf5 22. Kh1 Rad8 23. Ra4 b5 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.16"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karpov, Anatoly"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2619"]
[PlyCount "148"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 c5 5. d5 O-O 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 Re8 8. e4
d6 9. Ne2 Qa5 10. Bd2 Nbd7 11. Ng3 Nb6 12. Be2 Bd7 13. a4 h6 14. O-O Nxa4 15.
Bd3 a6 16. f4 exd5 17. cxd5 b5 18. Bc2 Qb6 19. Kh1 Nb2 20. Qf3 Nc4 21. Bc1 a5
22. Bd3 a4 23. h3 a3 24. Ra2 Ra4 25. Kh2 Qb7 26. Bxc4 bxc4 27. Rxa3 Rxa3 28.
Bxa3 Ba4 29. Bc1 Bc2 30. e5 dxe5 31. fxe5 Rxe5 32. Bxh6 Qxd5 33. Qf2 Ne4 34.
Qxc2 Nxg3 35. Rd1 Qe4 36. Qf2 Nf5 37. Bf4 Rd5 38. Re1 Qd3 39. Re8+ Kh7 40. Qe1
Qc2 41. Rf8 Rd1 42. Qe8 Nh6 43. Rh8+ Kg6 44. Qc6+ f6 45. Bxh6 gxh6 46. Qe8+ Kf5
47. Rxh6 Rd6 48. Rh5+ Kf4 49. Rh4+ Kf5 50. Qe3 Qd3 51. Qf4+ Ke6 52. Rh6 Qxc3
53. Qg4+ Kd5 54. Rh5+ Kc6 55. Qe4+ Kb6 56. Qe8 Qd4 57. Qb8+ Ka5 58. Rf5 c3 59.
Rf1 c2 60. Qb3 Qe5+ 61. Kh1 Rd1 62. Rxd1 cxd1=Q+ 63. Qxd1 c4 64. h4 c3 65. h5
Qe3 66. Qb3 Qd2 67. Qa3+ Kb5 68. Qb3+ Kc5 69. Qa3+ Kd5 70. Qa5+ Ke4 71. Qb4+
Qd4 72. Qb1+ Qd3 73. Qb4+ Ke3 74. h6 c2 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.17"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C68"]
[WhiteElo "2689"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "128"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Ne7 6. Nxe5 Qd4 7. Qh5 g6 8.
Nf3 Qxe4 9. Qa5 Bg4 10. Re1 Qd5 11. Qxd5 cxd5 12. Ne5 Be6 13. d4 Nf5 14. c3 Bg7
15. Nd2 O-O 16. Ndf3 Nd6 17. Bf4 Rac8 18. Nd3 Ne4 19. Ng5 Nxg5 20. Bxg5 b6 21.
Nf4 Rce8 22. Nxe6 Rxe6 23. Bf4 Rc8 24. f3 c5 25. dxc5 bxc5 26. Rad1 a5 27. Kf2
d4 28. c4 a4 29. b3 Ra8 30. Rxe6 fxe6 31. Bd6 Bf8 32. Bxf8 Kxf8 33. Rd2 Ke7 34.
Ke2 Kd6 35. Kd3 axb3 36. axb3 Ra1 37. Rb2 Rd1+ 38. Ke4 Rc1 39. Kd3 Rc3+ 40. Kd2
g5 41. Rb1 h5 42. h3 Ke5 43. Re1+ Kf5 44. g4+ hxg4 45. fxg4+ Kf6 46. Rf1+ Ke7
47. Rh1 Rxb3 48. h4 gxh4 49. Rxh4 Kd6 50. Rh5 Rg3 51. Rg5 e5 52. Rg6+ Ke7 53.
Rc6 Rxg4 54. Rxc5 Ke6 55. Rc8 Rg2+ 56. Kd3 Rg3+ 57. Kd2 Rc3 58. Rc6+ Kf5 59.
Rc8 Ke4 60. Ke2 Rc2+ 61. Kd1 d3 62. c5 Ke3 63. c6 e4 64. c7 Rc3 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.17"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2758"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "136"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bg5 Bg7 4. Nbd2 c5 5. c3 O-O 6. e3 d6 7. Bd3 cxd4 8.
cxd4 Nc6 9. O-O Nb4 10. Be2 Bf5 11. Qb3 a5 12. Rac1 Be6 13. Bc4 Bxc4 14. Rxc4
b5 15. Rcc1 Qd7 16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17. a3 Na6 18. Ne4 Bg7 19. Rc2 a4 20. Qd5 Ra7 21.
Rfc1 Nc7 22. Qc6 Qxc6 23. Rxc6 Nd5 24. Nc3 Nxc3 25. bxc3 Rb8 26. Kf1 Bf8 27. d5
e6 28. Ke2 Rab7 29. Kd3 exd5 30. Nd4 Be7 31. Rb1 Bf6 32. Nc2 Re8 33. Nb4 Re5
34. f4 Rh5 35. h3 Kg7 36. Rxd6 Be7 37. Rc6 g5 38. Rf1 gxf4 39. Rxf4 Rg5 40. g4
Re5 41. Rf5 Re6 42. Rc8 Rd7 43. Nc2 Bf6 44. Nd4 Bxd4 45. cxd4 Rde7 46. Rf3 Rb6
47. Kc3 b4+ 48. axb4 Reb7 49. Rc5 Rxb4 50. Rxd5 Rb3+ 51. Kd2 Ra7 52. Rf1 a3 53.
Rc5 a2 54. Rcc1 Raa3 55. Ra1 Rd3+ 56. Kc2 Rxe3 57. Rfd1 Rxh3 58. d5 Rh2+ 59.
Rd2 Rxd2+ 60. Kxd2 Kf6 61. Kc2 Ke5 62. Kb2 Ra4 63. Re1+ Kxd5 64. Ka1 Rxg4 65.
Kxa2 Rb4 66. Rh1 f5 67. Rxh7 Ke4 68. Ka3 Rb6 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.17"]
[Round "17"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2788"]
[PlyCount "137"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. a3 b6 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
Nxd5 exd5 9. e3 c5 10. Bd3 Nc6 11. Qc2 h6 12. dxc5 bxc5 13. O-O c4 14. Be2 Be6
15. Rfd1 Qb6 16. Rab1 Rac8 17. h3 Bf6 18. b3 c3 19. b4 Rfd8 20. b5 Ne7 21. Nd4
Bxd4 22. Rxd4 Nf5 23. Rd3 d4 24. g4 Ne7 25. exd4 Nd5 26. Bg3 f6 27. Bf3 Qa5 28.
Rb3 Bf7 29. Be4 Qa4 30. Rf3 Qa5 31. Kh2 Rc4 32. Rd3 Qa4 33. h4 Rxd4 34. Rxd4
Qxd4 35. Rb1 Re8 36. Bf3 Qc5 37. Qd3 Nb6 38. Rc1 Na4 39. Bc6 Rc8 40. Qd7 Rf8
41. Qd6 Qxd6 42. Bxd6 Rd8 43. Bb4 Rd3 44. b6 Nxb6 45. Rxc3 Rxc3 46. Bxc3 Bd5
47. Bb5 Bc4 48. Bc6 Bd5 49. Bxd5+ Nxd5 50. Bd4 a6 51. Kg3 Kf7 52. Kf3 g6 53.
Ke4 Ke6 54. Kd3 f5 55. gxf5+ Kxf5 56. Kc4 Nf4 57. Kb4 Ng2 58. Ka5 Nxh4 59. Kxa6
Nf3 60. Bb6 Nd2 61. a4 Nc4 62. Kb5 Nd6+ 63. Kc6 Nc4 64. Kc5 Nd2 65. Kd5 Nb3 66.
Kc4 Nd2+ 67. Kb4 h5 68. a5 Ke6 69. a6 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.17"]
[Round "18"]
[White "Polgar, Judit"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B53"]
[WhiteElo "2680"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 a6 5. Be3 Nc6 6. Qb6 Qxb6 7. Bxb6 Nf6 8.
Nc3 Bg4 9. Be2 g6 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Bxf3 Rc8 12. O-O-O Bh6+ 13. Kb1 Nd7 14. Na4
Nce5 15. Be2 Nxb6 16. Nxb6 Rc6 17. Nd5 Bg7 18. f4 Nd7 19. Rhe1 e6 20. Ne3 Ke7
21. c3 b5 22. Bf3 Rb6 23. a3 a5 24. Re2 Rc8 25. Nc2 Nc5 26. Red2 Na4 27. Rd3 h5
28. R1d2 h4 29. Rf2 Nc5 30. Rd1 Bh6 31. f5 Nd7 32. Bg4 Ne5 33. Be2 gxf5 34.
exf5 Rg8 35. Rd4 Bg5 36. Re4 Bf6 37. Bf1 d5 38. Re1 Nc4 39. Rd1 Rg3 40. fxe6
fxe6 41. Re2 Kd7 42. Rf2 Ke7 43. Re2 Rd6 44. Rf2 Rd8 45. Be2 Rdg8 46. Bf1 R8g5
47. Ka2 Re5 48. Nd4 Ne3 49. Nc6+ Kd6 50. Nxe5 Nxd1 51. Ng4 Nxf2 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.17"]
[Round "19"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D14"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "126"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Bf4 Nc6 7. Rc1 Bf5 8. e3
e6 9. Be2 Be7 10. Ne5 Nxe5 11. Bxe5 O-O 12. O-O Nd7 13. Bg3 Rc8 14. a3 b5 15.
Na2 Qa5 16. Qe1 Qxe1 17. Rfxe1 Nb6 18. Nb4 Nc4 19. Bxc4 bxc4 20. Nxa6 Ra8 21.
Nb4 Bxb4 22. axb4 Ra2 23. f3 Bd3 24. Ra1 Rxb2 25. Bd6 Rc8 26. Rec1 h5 27. Bc5
Rb8 28. h4 Re2 29. Re1 Rxe1+ 30. Rxe1 Ra8 31. b5 Ra2 32. Rc1 Rb2 33. b6 Kh7 34.
Kh2 g5 35. hxg5 Kg6 36. Kg3 Kxg5 37. Be7+ f6 38. Bc5 h4+ 39. Kh2 e5 40. Rc3 e4
41. f4+ Kg4 42. Rc1 h3 43. Rg1 c3 44. Ba3 Rxb6 45. gxh3+ Kf3 46. Rg3+ Kf2 47.
Bc1 Rb1 48. Rg2+ Kf3 49. Rg1 Ke2 50. h4 Rb7 51. Rg2+ Kd1 52. Rg1+ Kc2 53. Re1
Be2 54. Ba3 Kd2 55. Rh1 Kxe3 56. Bc1+ Kxd4 57. Kg3 Rg7+ 58. Kf2 Bf3 59. Rh2 Rh7
60. f5 Kd3 61. Kg3 d4 62. Kf4 Bd1 63. Rh3+ e3 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.17"]
[Round "20"]
[White "Jakovenko, Dmitrij"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D22"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 a6 4. e3 b5 5. b3 cxb3 6. Qxb3 e6 7. a4 b4 8. a5 Nf6
9. Bd2 c5 10. dxc5 Nc6 11. Bd3 Bxc5 12. O-O O-O 13. Rc1 Nxa5 14. Qc2 Be7 15.
Nd4 Bd7 16. Qa2 Nb7 17. Be2 Qb6 18. Bf3 a5 19. Nc6 Bd6 20. Qb2 Nc5 21. Ne5 Bxe5
22. Qxe5 Nd3 23. Qg5 Nxc1 24. Bxc1 Rac8 25. Bb2 Qc5 26. h4 Qxg5 27. hxg5 Nd5
28. Rxa5 Rc2 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.17"]
[Round "21"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Leko, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2752"]
[PlyCount "175"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Be3 e6 5. Nd2 Qb6 6. Qc1 Ne7 7. c4 Bg6 8. c5 Qc7
9. f4 Nf5 10. Bf2 h5 11. Ngf3 a5 12. Be2 b6 13. cxb6 Qxb6 14. O-O Nd7 15. Nb3
a4 16. Nbd2 Be7 17. Bd1 O-O 18. Bc2 c5 19. b3 a3 20. Qe1 Qb4 21. Rc1 Rfc8 22.
Nb1 cxd4 23. Bxf5 Bxf5 24. Nxd4 Qxe1 25. Rfxe1 Be4 26. Nc6 Bf8 27. Nd2 Bd3 28.
Rc3 Bb4 29. Nxb4 Rxc3 30. Bd4 Rc2 31. Nxc2 Bxc2 32. Rc1 Bf5 33. Rc3 Kh7 34. Kf2
f6 35. b4 fxe5 36. fxe5 Kg6 37. b5 Rb8 38. Rb3 Bc2 39. Rb4 Bd3 40. b6 Ba6 41.
Ke3 Kf5 42. h3 Nxe5 43. Ra4 Nc4+ 44. Nxc4 Bxc4 45. Rxa3 e5 46. Bc5 d4+ 47. Kd2
Ke6 48. Ra5 Kd7 49. a3 Kc6 50. Bb4 Bf1 51. Rxe5 Bxg2 52. Bc5 Bxh3 53. Rxh5 Ra8
54. Bxd4 Rxa3 55. Rc5+ Kd7 56. Rc7+ Kd8 57. Bxg7 Bg2 58. Bf6+ Ke8 59. b7 Bxb7
60. Rxb7 Ra6 61. Bd4 Rd6 62. Kd3 Rd7 63. Rb6 Kd8 64. Ke4 Kc7 65. Re6 Kd8 66.
Be5 Kc8 67. Rb6 Rb7 68. Rh6 Rd7 69. Bd6 Rb7 70. Kd5 Rd7 71. Rh8+ Kb7 72. Rb8+
Ka7 73. Rb1 Rb7 74. Bc5+ Kb8 75. Rh1 Kc8 76. Bd6 Rd7 77. Ke6 Rg7 78. Rb1 Rg6+
79. Kd5 Kd7 80. Rb7+ Ke8 81. Kc6 Re6 82. Rh7 Re1 83. Kd5 Kd8 84. Bg3 Rd1+ 85.
Ke6 Kc8 86. Rc7+ Kd8 87. Rc2 Rd3 88. Bh4+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.17"]
[Round "22"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D07"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2739"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 dxc4 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 exf6 7. e3 Bd6 8.
Bxc4 O-O 9. Qc2 Ne7 10. O-O c6 11. h3 Bf5 12. e4 Bg6 13. a4 a5 14. Rad1 Qb6 15.
Rfe1 Rad8 16. Ba2 Bb4 17. Qb3 Qc7 18. e5 Nd5 19. Rc1 Nf4 20. exf6 Nd3 21. Nd5
Rxd5 22. Qxd5 Bxe1 23. fxg7 Bxf2+ 24. Kf1 Rd8 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.17"]
[Round "23"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. g3 b6 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O e6 6. Nc3 Be7 7. d4 cxd4 8. Qxd4
d6 9. Bg5 a6 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. Qf4 Bxf3 12. exf3 Ra7 13. Rad1 Be7 14. Qe3 O-O
15. f4 g6 16. h4 Nd7 17. Ne4 Nf6 18. Ng5 Rc7 19. Bh3 h6 20. Nxf7 Kxf7 21. Bxe6+
Kg7 22. Qxb6 d5 23. Bxd5 Qd6 24. Qa5 Qc5 25. Qxa6 Ra7 26. Qe6 Rxa2 27. Rfe1 Bd8
28. Qe5 Re8 29. Qc3 $2 {Throwing away the game.} Ba5 30. Rxe8 (30. Qxf6+ Kxf6
31. Rxe8 Rxb2 {also loses for White.}) 30... Bxc3 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.17"]
[Round "24"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gashimov, Vugar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2758"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 b6 3. d4 e6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Bg2 Bb7 8. Nc3
O-O 9. O-O Re8 10. Qc2 d5 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Bf4 Na6 13. a3 c5 14. Rfd1 Nc7 15.
dxc5 bxc5 16. Nh4 Ne6 17. Be5 Qc8 18. Nf5 d4 19. Nxe7+ Rxe7 20. Bxf6 gxf6 21.
Bxb7 Qxb7 22. Ne4 d3 23. Qxd3 Rd8 24. Nxf6+ Kg7 25. Qf5 Rxd1+ 26. Rxd1 Qxb3 27.
Rd5 h6 28. Qh7+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.17"]
[Round "25"]
[White "Kosteniuk, Alexandra"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B67"]
[WhiteElo "2517"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qc7 8. Bxf6
gxf6 9. Qd2 Nc6 10. O-O-O Bd7 11. Be2 h5 12. Kb1 Be7 13. Rhf1 Nxd4 14. Qxd4 Qc5
15. Qd2 b5 16. Bf3 b4 17. Ne2 Rc8 18. Nc1 a5 19. Nd3 Qd4 20. Qe2 Bb5 21. Bxh5
a4 22. Bf3 Rxh2 23. Qf2 Qc4 24. b3 Qc3 25. Qd2 axb3 26. cxb3 Qd4 27. Rfe1 Rc3
28. Nf2 Qxd2 29. Rxd2 Bd8 30. Ng4 Rh8 31. Rxd6 Bd3+ 32. Kb2 Bc7 33. Rd4 Bxf4
34. Nxf6+ Ke7 35. e5 Bxe5 36. Ng8+ Kf8 37. Rd8+ Kg7 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.17"]
[Round "26"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bareev, Evgeny"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2634"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Be3 e6 5. Nd2 Nd7 6. Ngf3 f6 7. Be2 Ne7 8. O-O
Qc7 9. c4 fxe5 10. dxe5 Nxe5 11. Nxe5 Qxe5 12. Nf3 Qd6 13. Qb3 b6 14. Rac1 Bg4
15. cxd5 exd5 16. Rfe1 Bxf3 17. Bxf3 O-O-O 18. Bxb6 axb6 19. Qxb6 h6 20. Rxe7
Bxe7 21. Rxc6+ Kd7 22. Rxd6+ Bxd6 23. Bxd5 Rc8 24. g3 h5 25. Qb5+ Kd8 26. Bc6
1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.17"]
[Round "27"]
[White "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D20"]
[WhiteElo "2750"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 c5 4. d5 Nf6 5. Nc3 b5 6. Bf4 Qa5 7. a4 Nxe4 8. Nge2
Nd6 9. axb5 Qb6 10. Ng3 Nd7 11. Bxd6 exd6 12. Qe2+ Kd8 13. Qxc4 h5 14. Be2 h4
15. Nge4 Ne5 16. Qa4 h3 17. g3 c4 18. O-O Be7 19. Nd2 Bd7 20. Nxc4 Nxc4 21.
Qxc4 Bf6 22. Ra6 Qd4 23. b6 Ke7 24. Re1 Rhe8 25. b7 Rab8 26. Qc7 Be5 27. Bb5
Kf6 28. Ne4+ Kg6 29. Bxd7 Bxg3 30. Bxe8 Rxe8 31. Rxd6+ f6 32. Rxf6+ Kh5 33.
Qxg3 Rxe4 34. Qg6+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.17"]
[Round "28"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B40"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2754"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. b3 a6 4. Bb2 d5 5. exd5 exd5 6. d4 Nf6 7. Be2 Nc6 8. O-O
cxd4 9. Nxd4 Bc5 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. c4 O-O 12. cxd5 cxd5 13. Bf3 Be6 14. Nc3 Rc8
15. Rc1 d4 16. Ne2 d3 17. Bxf6 dxe2 18. Bxd8 exd1=Q 19. Rfxd1 Bxf2+ 20. Kxf2
Rxc1 21. Rxc1 Rxd8 22. Ke3 g5 23. Rc5 h6 24. Bb7 Rb8 25. Bxa6 Ra8 26. Rc6 Bd5
27. Rxh6 Kg7 28. Rd6 Bxg2 29. a4 f5 30. a5 Rh8 31. Bd3 f4+ 32. Kd4 f3 33. Rg6+
Kf7 34. Rxg5 Rd8+ 35. Rd5 Rxd5+ 36. Kxd5 f2+ 37. Kd6 f1=Q 38. Bxf1 Bxf1 39. b4
Ke8 40. h4 Be2 41. Kc7 Ke7 42. Kb6 Kd7 43. b5 Kc8 44. Kc5 Kb7 45. b6 Bf3 46.
Kd4 Ka6 47. Ke3 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.18"]
[Round "29"]
[White "Ponomariov, Ruslan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E05"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. Qxc4
b5 9. Qc2 Bb7 10. Bd2 Bd6 11. Ng5 Bxg2 12. Kxg2 Qc8 13. e4 Qb7 14. f3 Nc6 15.
Be3 h6 16. Nh3 e5 17. dxe5 Nxe5 18. Nd2 c5 19. Nf2 Rfd8 20. Nb3 c4 21. Nd4 Bf8
22. Rad1 b4 23. Nf5 b3 24. Qc3 Re8 25. a3 Nxf3 26. Kxf3 Nxe4 27. Nxe4 Qxe4+ 28.
Ke2 Rad8 29. Rf4 Qg2+ 30. Rf2 Qe4 31. Rf4 Qg2+ 32. Rf2 Qe4 33. Rd4 Rxd4 34.
Qxd4 Qxd4 35. Nxd4 c3 36. bxc3 b2 37. Rf1 Bxa3 38. Kd3 a5 39. Rb1 Rb8 40. Nc6
Ra8 41. c4 Ra6 42. Nd4 Rd6 43. Ke4 Rd8 44. Nb5 Re8+ 45. Kd3 Rd8+ 46. Bd4 Bc5
47. Rxb2 f6 48. Ra2 Bb4 49. Nc3 Ra8 50. Nd5 Bf8 51. c5 Kf7 52. Kc4 a4 53. Nb6
1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.18"]
[Round "30"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "177"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 b6 7. Bg5 Bb7 8.
Nf3 d6 9. Nd2 Nbd7 10. f3 h6 11. Bh4 c5 12. e4 Re8 13. Bd3 e5 14. d5 Nf8 15.
Bf2 N6d7 16. Nf1 Ng6 17. g3 Qf6 18. Be2 Ne7 19. h4 Qg6 20. h5 Qg5 21. g4 Nc8
22. Bh4 Qf4 23. Ne3 g5 24. hxg6 fxg6 25. Bf2 Ne7 26. Ng2 Qf8 27. Be3 g5 28. Bd2
Nf6 29. Ne3 Bc8 30. Nf5 Nxf5 31. gxf5 Re7 32. O-O-O Rh7 33. Rdg1 Kh8 34. Be3
Bd7 35. b4 Qe7 36. Kd2 Rc8 37. bxc5 bxc5 38. Rb1 Be8 39. Rb2 g4 40. Rbb1 Bh5
41. Bf2 Rg8 42. Bh4 gxf3 43. Bxf3 Bxf3 44. Qxf3 Qf7 45. Rbg1 Rhg7 46. Rxg7 Rxg7
47. Bf2 Kh7 48. Bh4 Rg8 49. Rb1 Rg7 50. Kc2 Ng4 51. f6 Rg6 52. Qe2 Qd7 53. Qf3
Qf7 54. Rb8 Nxf6 55. Qf5 Kg7 56. Qc8 Rg2+ 57. Kb3 Qh5 58. Rb7+ Kg6 59. Qf5+
Qxf5 60. exf5+ Kxf5 61. Rxa7 Ne4 62. Rf7+ Kg6 63. Rd7 Rg4 64. Be7 Nd2+ 65. Ka4
Nxc4 66. Kb5 Nxa3+ 67. Kc6 Nc4 68. Bxd6 Nxd6 69. Rxd6+ Kg5 70. Kxc5 h5 71. Re6
Kf5 72. Rh6 h4 73. d6 Rd4 74. Kc6 Kg5 75. Re6 e4 76. d7 h3 77. Rd6 Rxd6+ 78.
Kxd6 h2 79. d8=Q+ Kg4 80. Qh8 Kg3 81. Ke5 e3 82. Qg7+ Kf3 83. Qb7+ Kf2 84. Qh1
e2 85. Qxh2+ Kf1 86. Qh3+ Kf2 87. Qh4+ Kf1 88. Qf4+ Kg2 89. Qe3 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.18"]
[Round "31"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E60"]
[WhiteElo "2719"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 Nc6 4. d5 Ne5 5. e4 d6 6. Ne2 Bg7 7. Nec3 O-O 8. Be2
e6 9. O-O exd5 10. cxd5 c6 11. dxc6 bxc6 12. Be3 Re8 13. Nd2 d5 14. Nb3 dxe4
15. Qxd8 Rxd8 16. fxe4 Bg4 17. Bg5 Bxe2 18. Nxe2 Rd6 19. Nc5 Nfd7 20. Nxd7 Nxd7
21. Rab1 Re8 22. Ng3 Bd4+ 23. Kh1 Nc5 24. Rbd1 Nxe4 25. Nxe4 Rxe4 26. h3 Rd5
27. Bh6 Bxb2 28. Rb1 Re2 29. Rf6 Bxf6 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.18"]
[Round "32"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Tkachiev, Vladislav"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2642"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nb3 Bb6 6. Qe2 d6 7. Be3 Nf6 8.
Nc3 Qe7 9. O-O-O Be6 10. f3 O-O-O 11. Bxb6 axb6 12. Nd4 Kb8 13. Qe3 Rhe8 14.
Bb5 Bd7 15. Nde2 Qe5 16. Qf4 Qxf4+ 17. Nxf4 Ne5 18. Bxd7 Rxd7 19. b3 c6 20. a4
Kc7 21. h4 Ng6 22. Nfe2 h5 23. Kb2 Red8 24. Ng3 Nf4 25. Nce2 Nxe2 26. Nxe2 Re8
27. Nf4 g6 28. Rd4 Red8 29. Rhd1 Re8 30. Rc4 Kb8 31. Rd2 Red8 32. Rcd4 Kc7 33.
b4 Re8 34. b5 Rc8 35. Nd3 c5 36. Rc4 d5 37. exd5 Rxd5 38. Rf4 Rd6 39. Re2 Rf8
40. Ne5 Re6 41. Nxg6 Rxe2 42. Nxf8 Nd5 43. Rxf7+ Kc8 44. g4 hxg4 45. fxg4 Ne3
46. Nd7 Rxc2+ 47. Kb1 Rg2 48. Nxb6+ Kb8 49. a5 c4 50. a6 bxa6 51. bxa6 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.18"]
[Round "33"]
[White "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2719"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Bc1 Nf6 8.
Be3 e5 9. Nb3 Be6 10. f3 h5 11. Qd2 Nbd7 12. Nd5 Bxd5 13. exd5 g6 14. O-O-O Nb6
15. Qa5 Bh6 16. Bxh6 Rxh6 17. Kb1 Kf8 18. h4 Rc8 19. Qb4 Kg7 20. c4 Rh8 21. Be2
Re8 22. g3 Qc7 23. Rc1 e4 24. f4 e3 25. Qc3 Na4 26. Qb4 Nc5 27. Nxc5 Qxc5 28.
Qc3 b5 29. b4 Qa7 30. g4 hxg4 31. h5 Qe7 32. c5 Rh8 33. Bxg4 Rc7 34. Bf3 Rcc8
35. c6 gxh5 36. Rce1 Rce8 37. Rhg1+ Kf8 38. c7 Rc8 39. Rc1 Rh6 40. Rge1 Ng4 41.
Bxg4 hxg4 42. Rxe3 Qf6 43. Qc2 Qxf4 44. Re4 Qf3 45. Ree1 Qf4 46. a3 Rh2 47. Re2
Rxe2 48. Qxe2 Qf5+ 49. Kb2 Qxd5 50. Qxg4 Qe5+ 51. Kb1 Qe6 52. Qh4 Qb3+ 53. Ka1
Qxa3+ 54. Kb1 Qb3+ 55. Ka1 Qa3+ 56. Kb1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.18"]
[Round "34"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2723"]
[PlyCount "139"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. a4 e6 6. Bg5 Be7 7. e3 a5 8. Be2 O-O
9. O-O Na6 10. Qb3 Nb4 11. Na2 Nxa2 12. Qxa2 h6 13. Bf4 b6 14. Rac1 Bb7 15.
Rfd1 Nd7 16. h3 Rc8 17. cxd5 exd5 18. Qb1 Bb4 19. Qf5 Re8 20. Bd3 g6 21. Qg4
Bf8 22. Ne5 Nxe5 23. Bxe5 Bg7 24. f4 c5 25. f5 Qg5 26. Qxg5 hxg5 27. f6 Bf8 28.
Kf2 Re6 29. Be2 Rd8 30. Bg4 Rc6 31. Bf3 Rcc8 32. Kg3 Bd6 33. Bxd6 Rxd6 34. dxc5
bxc5 35. e4 Rxf6 36. exd5 Rd6 37. Rc3 f5 38. Rdc1 Bxd5 39. Rd3 f4+ 40. Kf2 Bxf3
41. Rxd6 Be4 42. Rd7 Rb8 43. Rxc5 Rxb2+ 44. Ke1 Rb8 45. Rxg5 Bf5 46. Ra7 Rb4
47. Rxa5 Kh7 48. Kf2 Kh6 49. Rgxf5 gxf5 50. Rxf5 Kg6 51. Ra5 Rb3 52. Rb5 Ra3
53. a5 Kf6 54. h4 Kg6 55. h5+ Kh6 56. Rf5 Kh7 57. Rxf4 Rxa5 58. g4 Kh6 59. Rf6+
Kg5 60. Rg6+ Kf4 61. h6 Ra2+ 62. Ke1 Rh2 63. g5 Ke3 64. Kf1 Kf3 65. Ke1 Ke3 66.
Kd1 Kd3 67. Rd6+ Ke4 68. Rd7 Rh5 69. h7 Kf4 70. g6 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.18"]
[Round "35"]
[White "Karpov, Anatoly"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D72"]
[WhiteElo "2619"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nb6 7. Ne2 c5 8. d5
e6 9. O-O O-O 10. Nec3 Na6 11. a4 Nb4 12. Be3 Bd4 13. Bxd4 cxd4 14. Nb5 e5 15.
a5 Bd7 16. N1a3 Nc8 17. Qa4 Na6 18. Rfc1 Nd6 19. Qb3 Nxb5 20. Nxb5 b6 21. Nd6
Nc5 22. Qa3 Qf6 23. Nc4 Bb5 24. b4 Nb7 25. axb6 axb6 26. Qxa8 Rxa8 27. Rxa8+
Kg7 28. Rb8 Nd6 29. Nb2 d3 30. Rd1 Qe7 31. Nxd3 Qc7 32. Ra8 Qc2 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.18"]
[Round "36"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2689"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nb3 Bb6 6. Qe2 d6 7. Be3 Nf6 8.
Nc3 O-O 9. O-O-O Re8 10. f3 Be6 11. Bxb6 axb6 12. Qd2 Bxb3 13. cxb3 Qe7 14. Bb5
Qe5 15. Kb1 Red8 16. a3 Ne7 17. f4 Qe6 18. e5 Nh5 19. g3 g6 20. Bc4 Qf5+ 21.
Bd3 Qe6 22. Nb5 Qxb3 23. exd6 cxd6 24. Rhe1 Nc6 25. Qc2 Qxc2+ 26. Bxc2 d5 27.
Nc7 Ra5 28. Re8+ Rxe8 29. Nxe8 d4 30. Nd6 Nf6 31. Bb3 Kg7 32. Nxb7 Rh5 33. Nd6
Rxh2 34. Rc1 Na5 35. Bxf7 Ne4 36. Nxe4 Kxf7 37. b4 Nb3 38. Rc6 d3 39. Rd6 d2
40. Kc2 Na1+ 41. Kc3 Rg2 42. Rxd2 Rg1 43. Kb2 Ke6 44. Rd3 Kf5 45. Nd6+ Kg4 46.
a4 h5 47. a5 bxa5 48. bxa5 Re1 49. a6 Re7 50. Kxa1 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.18"]
[Round "37"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A33"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2758"]
[PlyCount "147"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. Nf3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nc6 6. a3 Be7 7. g3 Qb6 8. Nf3
O-O 9. Bg2 Rd8 10. O-O d5 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Na4 Qa6 13. Be3 Bg4 14. Bc5 Re8 15.
Bxe7 Rxe7 16. e3 Ne5 17. Nc3 Rd8 18. Rc1 Ree8 19. Kh1 Ne4 20. Nxd5 Qe6 21. Nc7
Rxd1 22. Nxe6 Rxf1+ 23. Rxf1 Bxf3 24. Nd4 Bxg2+ 25. Kxg2 Rc8 26. Rd1 g6 27. f3
Nf6 28. Kf2 Nc4 29. Rc1 Nd6 30. Rd1 Nf5 31. Ne2 Rc2 32. e4 Ne7 33. b3 Nc6 34.
Ke3 Rb2 35. Rd3 Rc2 36. h4 Ne5 37. Rc3 Rxc3+ 38. Nxc3 Kf8 39. Nb5 Nc6 40. Nd6
b6 41. g4 Ke7 42. Nb5 Nd7 43. b4 a5 44. bxa5 bxa5 45. f4 h5 46. gxh5 gxh5 47.
e5 Nc5 48. Nd6 Ke6 49. Ne8 Ne7 50. Ng7+ Kd5 51. Nxh5 Nf5+ 52. Kf3 Nxh4+ 53. Kg4
Ng2 54. Nf6+ Ke6 55. Nh7 Ne3+ 56. Kf3 Nc4 57. Ng5+ Ke7 58. Ke2 Nxa3 59. f5 a4
60. e6 f6 61. Nf3 Nb5 62. Kd2 a3 63. Kc2 Ne4 64. Kb3 Ned6 65. Nh4 Nd4+ 66. Kxa3
N4xf5 67. Ng6+ Ke8 68. Nf4 Ng7 69. Kb4 f5 70. Kc5 Ke7 71. Kd5 Nb5 72. Ke5 Nc7
73. Ng6+ Ke8 74. Nh4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.18"]
[Round "38"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2788"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bf4 Nf6 6. e3 Bf5 7. h3 c6 8. Nf3
Nbd7 9. g4 Be4 10. Bg2 O-O 11. O-O Re8 12. Nxe4 Nxe4 13. Nd2 Nxd2 14. Qxd2 Nf8
15. b4 Ng6 16. Bg3 Bd6 17. Bxd6 Qxd6 18. Rab1 a6 19. a4 Nh4 20. b5 axb5 21.
axb5 Qg6 22. bxc6 bxc6 23. Rfc1 h5 24. Qc2 Qg5 25. Qxc6 Nxg2 26. Kxg2 hxg4 27.
h4 Qf5 28. Qd6 Qf3+ 29. Kg1 Ra2 30. Rf1 Rxe3 31. Qd8+ Kh7 32. Qg5 g3 33. Qxe3
gxf2+ 34. Qxf2 Rxf2 35. Rxf2 Qg4+ 36. Rg2 Qxd4+ 37. Kh1 Qe4 38. Rf1 f5 39. Kg1
d4 40. Rgf2 d3 41. h5 Qg4+ 42. Rg2 Qd4+ 43. Kh1 d2 44. Rgg1 f4 45. Kg2 Qe3 46.
Rh1 Qg3# 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.18"]
[Round "39"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Polgar, Judit"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B40"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2680"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. b3 Nc6 4. Bb2 d6 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Nf6 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8.
Bd3 Be7 9. O-O e5 10. c4 O-O 11. Nc3 Be6 12. Na4 Nd7 13. Qe2 c5 14. Nc3 Nb8 15.
Nd5 Nc6 16. f4 Bxd5 17. exd5 Nd4 18. Bxd4 exd4 19. Rae1 Bf6 20. g3 Re8 21.
Qxe8+ Qxe8 22. Rxe8+ Rxe8 23. Kf2 Re3 24. Re1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.18"]
[Round "40"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D80"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Bg7 5. Bxf6 Bxf6 6. cxd5 c6 7. e4 O-O 8.
Bc4 cxd5 9. exd5 Qb6 10. Nge2 Qxb2 11. Rb1 Qa3 12. O-O Nd7 13. Qd2 Nb6 14. Bb3
Qa5 15. Ng3 Bd7 16. Nge4 Rac8 17. Rfc1 Bf5 18. Qe3 Bg7 19. d6 exd6 20. Nxd6
Bxb1 21. Nxc8 Rxc8 22. Nxb1 Rxc1+ 23. Qxc1 Bxd4 24. Nd2 Qc5 25. Qe1 Kg7 26. g3
Qf5 27. Qe2 Nd5 28. Qf3 Nc3 29. Qxf5 gxf5 30. Kf1 b5 31. Nf3 Bc5 32. Ne5 a5 33.
Nd3 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.18"]
[Round "41"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Jakovenko, Dmitrij"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "126"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nb3 Bb6 6. Qe2 d6 7. Be3 Nf6 8.
Nc3 Be6 9. O-O-O O-O 10. f3 Re8 11. Bxb6 axb6 12. Qd2 Nd7 13. Bb5 Nc5 14. Nd4
Bd7 15. Kb1 Nxd4 16. Qxd4 Bxb5 17. Nxb5 Qd7 18. c4 Ra4 19. Rhe1 Ne6 20. Qc3 Qc6
21. b3 Ra5 22. a4 Raa8 23. Rd5 h6 24. g3 Red8 25. h4 Qe8 26. Rdd1 Qe7 27. Nd4
Nxd4 28. Rxd4 Qe6 29. g4 Qf6 30. h5 Re8 31. Kb2 Re6 32. Rd5 Qh4 33. Re2 Rae8
34. Qe1 Qf6+ 35. Qc3 Qh4 36. Qe1 Qh3 37. Rd3 c6 38. Red2 d5 39. cxd5 cxd5 40.
e5 Rxe5 41. Qd1 Re1 42. Qc2 Qg3 43. Qc3 Rf1 44. Rc2 Qf4 45. Rxd5 Rxf3 46. Qd4
Qg3 47. Rd8 Rxb3+ 48. Ka2 Ra3+ 49. Kb2 Qb3+ 50. Kc1 Rxd8 51. Qxd8+ Kh7 52. Qc8
Ra1+ 53. Kd2 Qd5+ 54. Kc3 Qe5+ 55. Kb3 Rb1+ 56. Kc4 Qe4+ 57. Kc3 Qb4+ 58. Kd3
Rd1+ 59. Ke3 Qd4+ 60. Kf3 Qd3+ 61. Kg2 Qf1+ 62. Kg3 Rd3+ 63. Kh2 Rh3# 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 4th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2009.11.18"]
[Round "42"]
[White "Leko, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2752"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2009.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "42"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4
g5 9. Bg3 Bg7 10. h3 Ne5 11. f3 Nbc6 12. Bf2 e6 13. Qd2 Na5 14. b3 Bd7 15.
O-O-O b5 16. Kb1 Rc8 17. Nce2 Nac4 18. bxc4 Nxc4 19. Qb4 a5 20. Qb3 b4 21. Kc1
O-O 22. Ng3 Na3 23. Bd3 Rc3 24. Qb2 Ba4 25. Rd2 Qc7 26. Nge2 Rxd3 27. Rxd3 Bxc2
28. Rc3 bxc3 29. Qxa3 Rb8 30. Nxc2 Qb7 31. Kd1 Qb1+ 32. Nc1 d5 33. exd5 Rd8 34.
Qb3 Rxd5+ 35. Ke2 Rd2+ 36. Ke3 Qxc2 37. Qxc2 Rxc2 38. Rd1 a4 39. g4 Kh7 40. Be1
f5 41. Kd3 Rh2 42. gxf5 exf5 43. Bxc3 Bxc3 44. Kxc3 Rxh3 45. Rd3 h5 46. Kd4
1/2-1/2

[Event "Oslo BNbank Gp-A"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2009.11.28"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hansen, Pal Andreas"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A58"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2072"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2009.11.28"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "9"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 b5 3. cxb5 a6 4. bxa6 c5 5. d5 Bxa6 6. g3 d6 7. Bg2 Nbd7 8. b3
g6 9. Bb2 Bg7 10. Nh3 O-O 11. O-O Nb6 12. Nf4 Qd7 13. Re1 Rfb8 14. Nd2 Rb7 15.
e4 g5 16. Ne2 Na4 17. Bxf6 Bxf6 18. bxa4 Bxa1 19. Qxa1 Rab8 20. Nc3 c4 21. Qc1
Rb2 22. e5 Qf5 23. exd6 Rc2 24. Qd1 Rxc3 25. dxe7 Re8 26. d6 Bc8 27. Bc6 Bd7
28. Bxd7 Qxd7 29. Ne4 1-0

[Event "Oslo BNbank Gp-A"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2009.11.28"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Cmilyte, Viktorija"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E62"]
[WhiteElo "2480"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2009.11.28"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "9"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O Nc6 7. Nc3 Rb8 8. h3
Re8 9. e4 e5 10. dxe5 dxe5 11. Be3 Be6 12. b3 Qc8 13. Kh2 Rd8 14. Qe2 Nd4 15.
Bxd4 exd4 16. Nd5 Re8 17. Nxf6+ Bxf6 18. e5 Bd7 19. Qd2 Bg7 20. Qxd4 Bc6 21.
Rae1 Qd8 22. Qf4 Qe7 23. Qe3 Rbd8 24. Rd1 a6 25. Rfe1 Rxd1 26. Rxd1 Bxf3 27.
Bxf3 c6 28. Bg4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Oslo BNbank Gp-A"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2009.11.28"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Socko, Monika"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2457"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2009.11.28"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "9"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. e5 d5 7. Bb5 Ne4 8. cxd4
Bb6 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Be3 Bg4 11. Qc2 Nb4 12. Qb3 c6 13. Be2 a5 14. a3 Na6 15. Na4
Bc7 16. Qxb7 Qd7 17. Qb3 c5 18. Bxa6 Rxa6 19. dxc5 Rb8 20. Nb6 Bxb6 21. cxb6
Bxf3 22. gxf3 d4 23. Qd1 Qh3 24. fxe4 dxe3 25. Qe2 exf2+ 26. Qxf2 Raxb6 27.
O-O-O Rxb2 28. Qxb2 Qe3+ 0-1

[Event "Oslo BNbank Gp-A"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2009.11.28"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Hansen, Pal Andreas"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D80"]
[WhiteElo "2072"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "40"]
[EventDate "2009.11.28"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "9"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Bg7 5. e3 c5 6. Nf3 O-O 7. Be2 cxd4 8. Nxd4
dxc4 9. O-O Qa5 10. Bh4 Nc6 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bxc4 Rb8 13. Bb3 Ba6 14. Bg3 Bxf1
15. Bxb8 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 Rxb8 17. Qf3 Rxb3 18. Rd1 Rxb2 19. Qxc6 Qg5+ 20. Kh1 Ng4
0-1

[Event "Oslo BNbank Gp-A"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2009.11.28"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Cmilyte, Viktorija"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A88"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2480"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2009.11.28"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "9"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. O-O O-O 6. c4 d6 7. Nc3 c6 8. d5 e5
9. dxe6 Bxe6 10. b3 Na6 11. Ng5 Qe7 12. Nxe6 Qxe6 13. Bb2 Rad8 14. e3 Nc5 15.
Qc2 Rfe8 16. Rad1 Ng4 17. Rfe1 Qf7 18. h3 Nf6 19. b4 Nce4 20. Nxe4 Nxe4 21.
Bxg7 Qxg7 22. b5 Qe5 23. bxc6 bxc6 24. Rd4 Rd7 25. Red1 h5 26. h4 Kh7 27. Qa4
Qc5 28. Rd5 Qb6 29. c5 Nxc5 30. Rxc5 Qxc5 31. Bxc6 1-0

[Event "Oslo BNbank KO"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2009.11.28"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hammer, Jon Ludvig"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2588"]
[PlyCount "213"]
[EventDate "2009.11.28"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Nbd2 d5 4. e3 Bg7 5. b4 O-O 6. Bb2 c6 7. c4 Bf5 8. a4
Nbd7 9. Be2 Ne4 10. O-O Re8 11. Nxe4 Bxe4 12. Nd2 Bf5 13. Qb3 e5 14. cxd5 exd4
15. Nc4 d3 16. Bf3 Bxb2 17. Qxb2 Nb6 18. Nxb6 Qxb6 19. a5 Qb5 20. a6 cxd5 21.
Ra5 Qb6 22. axb7 Rab8 23. Bxd5 Be4 24. Qd2 Bxd5 25. Rxd5 Qxb7 26. Rd4 Red8 27.
Qxd3 Rxd4 28. Qxd4 Qxb4 29. Qxa7 h5 30. h3 Qb6 31. Qa4 Qb5 32. Qf4 Qb4 33. Qg3
Rd8 34. Kh2 Qd6 35. Qxd6 Rxd6 36. Kg3 Kg7 37. Rc1 Rd2 38. Rc7 Kf6 39. Kf3 Ra2
40. Rc6+ Kg7 41. g3 Rb2 42. Rc4 Ra2 43. e4 Rb2 44. h4 Ra2 45. Ke3 Rb2 46. Rc7
Ra2 47. f3 Ra5 48. Kf4 Ra3 49. Rd7 Kf8 50. Rd5 Kg7 51. g4 hxg4 52. Kxg4 Ra1 53.
h5 gxh5+ 54. Rxh5 f6 55. Rb5 Rg1+ 56. Kf4 Rf1 57. Rb2 Kg6 58. Rg2+ Kf7 59. Rg3
Ke6 60. Rh3 Rf2 61. Rh6 Kf7 62. Kg4 Rf1 63. f4 Ra1 64. Rh3 Ra4 65. Re3 Ke6 66.
Kf3 Ra1 67. Rb3 Rf1+ 68. Kg3 Re1 69. Rb6+ Kf7 70. Kf3 Ke7 71. Rb7+ Kd6 72. f5
Rf1+ 73. Ke2 Ra1 74. Rb5 Ra3 75. Kf2 Rc3 76. Rd5+ Ke7 77. Ke2 Ra3 78. Rd3 Ra1
79. Rb3 Kd6 80. Ke3 Re1+ 81. Kd4 Rd1+ 82. Rd3 Ra1 83. Ke3+ Ke7 84. Rb3 Re1+ 85.
Kf3 Rf1+ 86. Ke2 Ra1 87. Rb6 Ra3 88. Kd2 Rf3 89. Re6+ Kf7 90. Rd6 Ke7 91. Rd3
Rf2+ 92. Kc3 Re2 93. Kd4 Ra2 94. Rc3 Rd2+ 95. Ke3 Rd1 96. Rc7+ Kd6 97. Rf7 Re1+
98. Kf3 Rf1+ 99. Ke2 Ra1 100. Rxf6+ Ke5 101. Re6+ Kd4 102. f6 Ra7 103. Kf3 Rh7
104. Kg4 Rh1 105. Kf5 Rf1+ 106. Kg6 Rg1+ 107. Kf7 1-0

[Event "Oslo BNbank KO"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2009.11.28"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Hammer, Jon Ludvig"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C68"]
[WhiteElo "2588"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2009.11.28"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Ne7 6. Nxe5 Qd4 7. Qh5 g6 8.
Nf3 Qxe4 9. Qa5 Bg4 10. Re1 Qd5 11. Qxc7 Bxf3 12. gxf3 Qxf3 13. Nc3 Qg4+ 14.
Kh1 Qf3+ 15. Kg1 Qg4+ 16. Qg3 Qxg3+ 17. hxg3 Kd7 18. d3 Nd5 19. Ne4 f5 20. Ng5
Bb4 21. c3 Nxc3 22. a3 Rhe8 23. Rxe8 Rxe8 24. Kf1 Nd5 25. axb4 Nxb4 26. Nxh7
Rh8 27. Ra4 Rxh7 28. Rxb4 Rh1+ 29. Ke2 Rxc1 30. Rxb7+ Ke6 31. Kd2 Rf1 32. Ke2
Rc1 33. Kd2 Rf1 34. Rb6 Kd6 35. Ke2 Rb1 36. Rxa6 Rxb2+ 37. Ke3 g5 38. Ra5 Rb5
39. Ra8 Re5+ 40. Kd2 g4 41. Rd8+ Ke7 42. Rc8 Kd6 43. Rf8 Ke7 44. Rc8 Kd6
1/2-1/2

[Event "Oslo BNbank KO"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2009.11.28"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hammer, Jon Ludvig"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2588"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2009.11.28"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. d4 g6 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Be3 O-O 8.
Nf3 c5 9. Be2 Nc6 10. O-O Bg4 11. d5 Bxf3 12. Bxf3 Ne5 13. Be2 Nd7 14. Rb1 b6
15. Qc2 Qc7 16. f4 Bh6 17. Rbd1 Rae8 18. Bb5 Rd8 19. Qe2 Nf6 20. Qf3 e5 21.
dxe6 fxe6 22. Bc4 Qc6 23. Rxd8 Rxd8 24. f5 Bxe3+ 25. Qxe3 Qxe4 26. Qxe4 Nxe4
27. fxe6 Kg7 28. e7 Rb8 29. Rf7+ Kh6 30. Rf8 1-0

[Event "Oslo BNbank KO"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2009.11.28"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Berg, Emanuel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2594"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2009.11.28"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Ke8 10. h3 b6 11. a3 Bb7 12. Bf4 Rc8 13. Rfe1 c5 14. Nd2
Nd4 15. Rac1 Be7 16. Nce4 Rd8 17. Bh2 Kd7 18. c3 Ne6 19. f4 g6 20. g4 Kc8 21.
Nf3 c4 22. f5 gxf5 23. gxf5 Rhg8+ 24. Kf1 Nc5 25. Nxc5 Bxc5 26. Nd4 Bg2+ 27.
Kf2 Bxh3 28. Kf3 Bxd4 29. cxd4 Bxf5 30. Rxc4 Be6 31. Rc2 Rxd4 32. Rg1 Rgd8 33.
Rg7 Rd2 34. Rxd2 Rxd2 35. Rxh7 Rxb2 36. Ke4 Ra2 37. Rh8+ Kb7 38. Bf4 Rxa3 39.
Rh2 Ra4+ 40. Ke3 a5 41. Rb2 Rc4 42. Bh2 c5 43. Kd3 Kc6 44. Rf2 a4 45. Rb2 b5
0-1

[Event "Oslo BNbank KO"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2009.11.28"]
[Round "2.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Berg, Emanuel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2594"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2009.11.28"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 Rb8 8. a3 c4
9. g4 b5 10. Ne2 Nb6 11. h4 Na4 12. Ra2 Qa5+ 13. c3 Nb6 14. Ra1 Na4 15. Rb1 Qb6
16. Bh3 a5 17. O-O Nxb2 18. Rxb2 Bxa3 19. Rb1 b4 20. f5 b3 21. fxe6 fxe6 22.
Ng5 h6 23. Nf7 Rf8 24. Nd6+ Bxd6 25. exd6 Rxf1+ 26. Qxf1 a4 27. Nf4 Ne5 28. Qf2
Nf7 29. Rf1 Rb7 30. g5 b2 31. d7+ Rxd7 32. Nxd5 Rxd5 33. Qxf7+ Kd8 34. Qxg7
b1=Q 35. gxh6 Qxf1+ 36. Bxf1 Rd7 37. Qg8+ Kc7 38. h7 a3 39. h8=Q Bb7 40. Bf4+
Kc6 41. Qxe6+ Kb5 42. Qxd7+ 1-0

[Event "Oslo BNbank KO"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2009.11.28"]
[Round "2.3"]
[White "Berg, Emanuel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2594"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "200"]
[EventDate "2009.11.28"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. O-O Nd4 6. Nxd4 Bxd4 7. c3 Bb6 8.
Nd2 c6 9. Ba4 d6 10. Nc4 Bc7 11. Ne3 O-O 12. Qf3 d5 13. Bc2 Re8 14. Re1 h6 15.
h3 a5 16. a4 Bb6 17. Nf5 Bxf5 18. Qxf5 dxe4 19. dxe4 Qe7 20. Bb3 Kf8 21. Bc4
Rad8 22. b3 Bc5 23. Ra2 Rd6 24. Qf3 Red8 25. g3 Nd7 26. Be3 Bxe3 27. Qxe3 Nf6
28. Qa7 Rd1 29. Rae2 Qc7 30. Qc5+ Kg8 31. Kg2 g6 32. Qe3 Kg7 33. Qc5 Rxe1 34.
Rxe1 Rd2 35. Qe3 Qd8 36. Re2 Rxe2 37. Bxe2 Qd6 38. Bc4 Nd7 39. Qf3 Nf6 40. Qe3
Nd7 41. h4 Qc5 42. Qf3 Nf6 43. Qd3 Ng4 44. Qf3 Nf6 45. Qd3 Ng4 46. Qe2 Nf6 47.
Kf3 b5 48. axb5 cxb5 49. Bxb5 Qxc3+ 50. Qe3 Qc2 51. Qd3 Qc1 52. Kg2 Qc5 53. Bc4
Qb4 54. Kf3 a4 55. bxa4 Qxa4 56. Bb3 Qc6 57. Bc4 Qc5 58. Ba2 g5 59. hxg5 hxg5
60. Qb3 Qe7 61. Qd3 g4+ 62. Kg2 Qb4 63. Bd5 Qd4 64. Qxd4 exd4 65. Bc6 Kf8 66.
e5 Ng8 67. Bd7 Nh6 68. Kf1 Ke7 69. Bc8 Kd8 70. Ba6 Ke7 71. Bc4 f6 72. exf6+
Kxf6 73. Ke2 Ke5 74. Kd3 Nf5 75. Bb5 Nd6 76. Bd7 Ne4 77. Ke2 Nf6 78. Bc8 Ke4
79. Bb7+ Ke5 80. Kd3 Nh7 81. Ba6 Ng5 82. Bc8 Ne4 83. Ke2 Nf6 84. Kd2 Ne4+ 85.
Ke1 Nf6 86. Bb7 d3 87. Bc8 Kd4 88. Kd1 Kc3 89. Bf5 d2 90. Be6 Ne4 91. Ke2 Nxf2
92. Bb3 Kxb3 93. Kxd2 Kc4 94. Ke3 Nh3 95. Ke4 Kc3 96. Ke3 Kc4 97. Ke4 Kc5 98.
Ke5 Nf2 99. Kf4 Kd4 100. Kf5 Ke3 0-1

[Event "Oslo BNbank KO"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2009.11.28"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2715"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2009.11.28"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 Bb4 4. Bg2 O-O 5. e4 Bxc3 6. bxc3 c6 7. Ne2 d5 8.
cxd5 cxd5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. O-O Nc6 11. Rb1 Nb6 12. d4 Bf5 13. Rb3 Be6 14. d5
Bxd5 15. Bxd5 Nxd5 16. Ba3 Re8 17. Rxb7 Qc8 18. Rb5 Nb6 19. Rc5 Qe6 20. Qb3
Rad8 21. Qxe6 Rxe6 22. Bc1 f6 23. Be3 Rd7 24. Rb1 Kf7 25. Rcb5 Nc4 26. Bc5 Nd8
27. R1b4 Nd2 28. Kg2 Rc6 29. Be3 Nc4 30. Rb8 Ne6 31. Bc1 Rcc7 32. Ra8 Rd1 33.
Ra4 a5 34. Be3 Nxe3+ 35. fxe3 Rd2 36. Kf1 Rb7 37. Ke1 Rbb2 38. Ra7+ Kg6 39. Nc1
Rxh2 40. Rh4 Rhg2 41. Rh1 Rxg3 42. Rxa5 Rxe3+ 43. Kd1 Rxc3 44. Ra4 Nf4 45. Ra7
Ng2 46. Rg1 Kf5 0-1

[Event "Oslo BNbank KO"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2009.11.28"]
[Round "3.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2715"]
[PlyCount "152"]
[EventDate "2009.11.28"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 b6 7. Bg5 Bb7 8.
Nf3 d6 9. Nd2 Nbd7 10. f3 h6 11. Bh4 c5 12. e4 Rc8 13. Bd3 Re8 14. O-O Rc7 15.
Rad1 Qc8 16. d5 e5 17. Rfe1 Nh5 18. Nf1 Nf8 19. Ne3 Ng6 20. Bf2 Qd8 21. Bf1 Bc8
22. b4 Bd7 23. bxc5 Rxc5 24. Nf5 Rc7 25. Nxd6 Rf8 26. c5 bxc5 27. Rc1 Nhf4 28.
Qa5 c4 29. Rxc4 Qg5 30. Kh1 Rxc4 31. Nxc4 f5 32. exf5 Bxf5 33. d6 Bd3 34. Bg3
Bxf1 35. Rxf1 Ne2 36. Bxe5 Ngf4 37. Bxf4 Qxf4 38. Qd5+ Kh8 39. d7 Qh4 40. Qd6
Rd8 41. Rd1 Nc3 42. Ne5 Kg8 43. Qe6+ Kh7 44. Qg6+ Kg8 45. Qe8+ Kh7 46. Qxd8
Qxd8 47. Nc6 Qb6 48. d8=Q Nxd1 49. Qxb6 axb6 50. Kg1 Nc3 51. Nd4 Kg6 52. Kf2
Kf6 53. Ke3 Ke5 54. Kd3 Nd5 55. Ne2 Kd6 56. Kd4 Nc7 57. Nc3 Ne6+ 58. Ke4 g6 59.
Nb5+ Kc5 60. Ke5 Kxb5 61. Kxe6 Ka4 62. Kf6 Kxa3 63. Kxg6 b5 64. f4 b4 65. f5 b3
66. f6 b2 67. f7 b1=Q+ 68. Kxh6 Qf5 69. Kg7 Qg5+ 70. Kh7 Qf6 71. Kg8 Qg6+ 72.
Kf8 Kb4 73. h4 Kc5 74. h5 Qxh5 75. g4 Qxg4 76. Ke7 Qg7 0-1

[Event "Oslo BNbank KO"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2009.11.28"]
[Round "3.3"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2715"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2009.11.28"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Nf3 c5 8.
Rb1 O-O 9. Be2 b6 10. O-O Bb7 11. d5 Bxc3 12. Bc4 Bg7 13. e5 Ba6 14. Qd3 Bxc4
15. Qxc4 Nd7 16. Re1 a6 17. Qh4 e6 18. Bg5 Qc7 19. d6 Qc6 20. Bh6 f6 21. exf6
Rxf6 22. Ng5 Nf8 23. d7 Bxh6 24. Qxh6 Qxd7 25. Ne4 Rf7 26. Rxb6 c4 27. Qe3 Qd3
28. Qc1 Rd8 29. Rxa6 Qd4 30. Rc6 Qa7 31. Qxc4 Rd4 32. Qc2 Ra4 33. Re2 Qd4 34.
h3 Qa1+ 35. Kh2 Qe5+ 36. Ng3 Qf4 37. Rc8 Kg7 38. Qc3+ Kh6 39. f3 g5 40. Rxf8
1-0

[Event "Oslo BNbank KO"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2009.11.28"]
[Round "3.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2715"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2009.11.28"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 133 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.01.05"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 Ne4 7. Qc2 f5 8.
Nh3 b6 9. f3 Nf6 10. e3 Bb7 11. Be2 d6 12. O-O Qe7 13. b4 a5 14. Bb2 Nbd7 15.
Nf2 axb4 16. axb4 c5 17. dxc5 dxc5 18. b5 Rfd8 19. Rfd1 Ne8 20. Rxa8 Rxa8 21.
e4 fxe4 22. Nxe4 Ndf6 23. Nf2 Rd8 24. Re1 Qf7 25. Bf1 Nd6 26. Nd3 Nf5 27. Ne5
Qc7 28. Qe2 Nd4 29. Bxd4 Rxd4 30. Ra1 Rd8 31. Nc6 Bxc6 32. Qxe6+ Kf8 33. bxc6
Re8 34. Qf5 Qxc6 35. Qf4 Qd7 36. Rb1 Qe6 37. h3 Kg8 38. Bd3 Rd8 39. Bf5 Qd6 40.
Qe3 Re8 41. Qf2 g6 42. Bc2 Nh5 43. Rd1 Qe5 44. Be4 Ng3 45. Bd5+ Kg7 46. Qd2
Ne2+ 47. Kh1 Ng3+ 48. Kg1 Ne2+ 49. Kf1 Qh2 50. Kf2 Qg3+ 51. Kf1 Qh2 52. Be6 Nd4
53. Bd7 Re2 54. Qxe2 Nxe2 55. Kxe2 Qxg2+ 56. Ke3 Qc2 57. Rd6 Qc3+ 58. Ke4 Qxc4+
59. Ke5 Qc3+ 60. Kd5 Qxf3+ 0-1

[Event "London Classic"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2009.12.08"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2009.12.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 134"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 {The English opening, obviously a fitting choice for the first round in
London, especially as it is exactly the same pawn as I picked in the drawing
of lots (n.1 obviously) Besides, I felt that chances were rather low that I
would get a worse position with the text than I got with 1.d4 against him in
Moscow Die englische Eröffnung, offensichtlich eine passende Wahl für erste
Runde in London, vor allem, da er genau derselbe Bauer ist, den ich bei der
Auslosung ergirff (Nr. 1 offensichtlich). Außerdem hatte ich das Gefühl, dass
die Chancen recht schlecht stünden, dass ich mit dem Textzug eine schlechtere
Stellung gegen ihn erhalten würde, als es mit 1.d4 gegen ihn in Moskau der
Fall war.} Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 {This has been Kramnik's choice
lately, and was what I expected. So far, White has (not surprisingly) not been
able to prove that having an extra tempo in the Dragon gives the first player
an advantage.  Die war Kramniks Vorliebe in letzter Zeit, und auch was ich
erwartet hatte. Bislang ist Weiß (wenig überraschend) nicht in der Lage
gewesen zu beweisen, dass das Innehaben eines Mehrtempos im Drachen dem
Anziehenen Vorteil gibt.} 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Nb6 7. O-O Be7 8. a3 {Other
moves here include Andere Züge hier sind unter anderem} (8. Rb1 {which can me
met by the sane , worauf das vernünftige} a5 {after which White has not been
able to gain an advantage, or the insane folgen kann, wonach Weiß bisher
keinen Vorteil herausholfen konnte, oder auch das verrückte} (8... g5)) (8. d3
{leading to more or less normal play. , was zu mehr oder weniger normalem
Spiel führt.}) 8... O-O 9. b4 Be6 10. Rb1 (10. b5 Nd4 11. Nxe5 $4 Bb3 {is a
well known trap, and not the best way to start the tournament! ist eine
bekannte Falle und nicht der beste Weg, das Turnier zu starten.}) 10... f6 11.
d3 a5 {This move, which Kramnik played very quickly, has recently been
overtaken by the immediate 11...Nd4 as the main move. The text complicates
play a bit: Black will gain an outpost on b3 for his bishop after an eventual
a4, as well as some pressure against a3, but on the other hand the c7-pawn is
now backward.  Dieser Zug, welchen Kramnik sehr schnell spielte, wurde als
Hauptzug in letzter Zeit von dem sofortigen 11...Nd4 abgelöst. Der Text
kompliziert das Spiel ein wenig: Schwarz wird nach eventuellem a4 den
Vorposten b3 für seinen Läufer erhalten und auch etwas Druck gegen a3, aber
andererseits ist jetzt der c7-Bauer rückständig.} 12. b5 Nd4 13. Nd2 Qc8 (13...
Bd5 {is the other main line here, while ist das andere Hauptabspiel hier,
während}) (13... Nd5 $4 14. Bxd5 Bxd5 15. e3 {is a well known trap: Black
loses a piece by force. eine bekannte Falle darstellt: Schwarz verliert
forciert eine Figur.}) 14. e3 Nf5 15. Qc2 {Here or on the next move ( I was
more or less out of book here) I considered playing a4 myself, which however
has the drawback of giving up the b4 square, where a black bishop might
eventually sit comfortably. Hier oder im nächsten Zug (ich war hier mehr oder
weniger aus dem Buch) überlegte ich, selber a4 zu spielen, was aber den
Nachteil hat, das b4-Feld preiszugeben, wo es sich eventuell ein schwarzer
Läufer bequem machen könnte.} Rd8 16. Bb2 a4 17. Rfc1 {Quite logically, White
is piling up the pressure in the c-file. Recht logisch, Weiß verstärkt den
Druck in der c-Linie.} Nd6 18. Nde4 Ne8 $1 {Even though this unlucky knight
ended up staying here for the rest of the game, I think this is a good move,
as the knight is protecting c7, while the white pieces are stepping on each
other's toes.  Obwohl dieser Unglücksspringer letztlich den Rest der Partie
hier stehen blieb, denke ich, es ist ein guter Zug, denn der Springer deckt c7,
während sich die weißen Figuren gegenseitig auf die Zehen treten.} 19. Qe2 $1 {
I liked this move. I bring the queen a bit closer to the kingside and increase
my influence over some light squares which will be important in the likely
event of White playing f4. Perhaps even more importantly though, it was hard
to find another useful move. Dieser Zug gefiel mir. Ich bringe die Dame ein
wenig näher an den Königsflügel und verstärke meinen Einfluss auf einige weiße
Felder im Zentrum, was wichtig sein wird in dem wahrscheinlichen Fall, dass
Weiß f4 spielt. Aber vielleicht wichtiger noch, es war schwer, einen anderen
nützlichen Zug zu finden.} (19. Ne2 $6 Bb3 {is awkward, since c7 is now
protected. ist lästig, da c7 jetzt gedeckt ist.} 20. Qc3 Qd7 $1 {winning a
pawn. mit Bauerngewinn.}) 19... Bf8 (19... Bh3 20. Bf3 {should be an
improvement of the position for White, as Black will now have to reckon with
g4. sollte für Weiß eine Verbesserung der Stellung sein, da Schwarz jetzt mit
g4 zu rechnen haben wird.}) 20. f4 {I felt that there was no other plan here.
20.f4 increases my central control, but does at the same time weaken my
position a bit. Ich fühlte, dass es hier keinen anderen Plan gab. 20.f4
verstärkt meine Zentrumskontrolle, schwächt aber gleichzeitig auch ein wenig
meine Stellung.} exf4 21. gxf4 Qd7 {Consistent, as it more or less forces my
next move.  Konsequent, da es meinen nächsten Zug mehr oder weniger erzwingt.}
22. d4 {I was aiming for this position, believing that I would have good
chances because of the dynamic possibilities connected with Nc5. I think
Kramnik was not too unhappy with it either, as yet another weakness is created
in my position. Diese Stellung hatte ich angestrebt in der Annahme, dass ich
gute Chancen hätte aufgrund der dynamischen Möglichkeiten in Verbindung mit
Nc5. Ich denke, Kramnik war ebenfalls nicht all unzufrieden damit, da in
meiner Position eine weitere Schwäche geschaffen wird.} c6 {This was more or
less the only move I considered, as I thought that Black had to something to
prevent b7 from collapsing completely. Dies war mehr oder minder der einzige
Zug, den ich in Betracht zog, denn ich dachte, dass Schwarz etwas tun müsste,
damit b7 nicht komplett kollabiert.} (22... Bc4 $5 23. Qf2 Bd3 {was actually
quite good, but Kramnik probably (if so, probably quite correctly) decided
that there was no reason to start concrete war tatsächlich recht gut, aber
womöglich entschied Kramnik (wenn, wahrscheinlich auch ganz korrekt), dass es
keinen Grund gab, zu Konkretem überzugehen.} 24. Nc5 $1 {looked strong to me
during the game, but Black is probably fine here after Schien mir während der
Partie stark zu sein, aber hier steht Schwarz wahrscheinlich ordentlich nach}
Bxc5 25. dxc5 Nc4 $1 (25... Bxb1 26. Rxb1 {gives White excellent compensation
for the exchange, as Black cannot play gibt Weiß ausgezeichnete Kompensation
für die Qualität, da Schwarz nicht} Nc4 {due to spielen kann wegen} 27. Bd5+)
26. Bxb7 Qg4+ 27. Qg2 Qxg2+ 28. Bxg2 Rab8 {and Black is absolutely fine. und
Schwarz steht absolut ordentlich.}) 23. Nc5 Bxc5 24. dxc5 Nc4 25. Rd1 Qc7 $6 {
The most solid move. This move also has some downsides though, as it doesn't
address the capture of c5 which would leave the passive knight on e8 an
excellent square on d6, as well as taking away the c7-square from the very
same knight. Der solideste Zug. Er hat allerdings auch ein paar Schattenseiten,
denn er verzichtet auf das Schlagen auf c5, wonach der passive Springer auf e8
ein ausgezeichnetes Feld auf d6 bekäme, und außerdem wird genau diesem
Springer das Feld c7 genommen.} (25... Nd2 {It took me a little time to refute
this crazy-looking move over the board, but fortunately it's not very hard:
Ich brauchte ein bisschen, um diesen verrückt aussehenden Zug am Brett zu
widerlegen, aber glücklicherweise ist es nicht sehr schwer:} 26. bxc6 bxc6 27.
Ne4 Nxb1 (27... Bg4 28. Qxd2 $1) 28. Rxd7 Rxd7 29. Nd6 $1 (29. Qe1 Rb8 30. Qxb1
Rdb7 {is not at all clear ist keineswegs klar}) 29... Nxd6 30. Bxc6 {with
decisive gains of material. mit entscheidendem Materialgewinn.}) (25... Qe7 {
Attacking c5 looked very risky to me during the game, but is probably possible:
Das Angreifen von c5 schien mir während der Partie sehr riskant zu sein, aber
es ist wahrscheinlich möglich:} 26. bxc6 bxc6 27. Bxc6 Rxd1+ (27... Rac8 28.
Rxd8 Qxd8 29. Bxa4 Rxc5 30. Ne4 Rc8 {should be a draw as well, as Black is
very active. sollte ebenfalls remis sein, da Schwarz sehr aktiv steht.}) 28.
Rxd1 Rc8 29. Nd5 Qxc5 30. Bd4 {I stopped my calculations here during the game,
thinking that White is winning material. However it turns out that after Hier
brach ich während der Partie meine Berechnungen ab, da ich meinte, dass Weiß
Material gewinnt. Es stellt sich jedoch heraus, dass nach} Qd6 31. Qxc4 Kh8 {
and surprisingly White has no way of remaining material up Weiß
überraschenderweise keinen Weg hat, das Mehrmaterial zu behaupten.} 32. Qxa4
Bxd5 33. Bxd5 Qxd5 {and due to White's weakened king and offside queen, Black
should not lose. und aufgrund des geschwächten weißen Königs und der abseits
stehenden Dame sollte Schwarz nicht verlieren.}) 26. Bc1 $1 {Bad bishops
protect good (potentially at least) pawns, and I need this one to protect e3
and a3! Additionally, the knight might now turn out to be exposed on c4, as
both Rd4 and Rb4 are in the air. However, I still don't think that White has
any real advantage, especially in a practical game, as White is still a bit
exposed. Schlechte Läufer decken gute (potentiell zumindest) Bauern, und
diesen brauche ich, um e3 und a3 zu beschützen! Außerdem könnte sich der
Springer auf c4 jetzt als exponiert erweisen, da sowohl Rd4 als auch Rb4 in
der Luft liegen. Ich glaube aber trotzdem nicht, dass Weiß irgendeinen realen
Vorteil hat, vor allem in einer praktischen Partie, da er noch immer ein
bisschen exponiert steht.} Na5 {Black needs to relocate this knight in order
to create counterplay.  Schwarz muss seinen Springer umsiedeln, um Gegenspiel
aufzuziehen.} 27. bxc6 bxc6 28. Nxa4 $6 {I was very happy to discover that
this move does not lose any material, even though it looks a bit loose. Ich
war sehr glücklich zu entdecken, dass dieser Zug kein Material verliert,
obwohl es ein bisschen locker wirkt.} (28. Rb4 {was another move I considered,
but I did not like war ein weiterer Zug, an dem ich überlegte, aber mir
missfiel} Nb3 (28... Bb3 29. Rxd8 Rxd8 30. Bf1 {and a4 is falling, without any
real compensation und a4 fällt, ohne wirkliche Kompensation}) 29. Nxa4 Nxc1 30.
Rxc1 f5 {when Black has some counterplay. However, White is probably still a
bit better, and I should probably have gone for this. , wonach Schwarz etwas
Gegenspiel hat. Trotzdem, Weiß steht vermutlich dennoch ein bisschen besser,
und ich hätte wahrscheinlich so spielen sollen.}) 28... Rxd1+ (28... Nb3 29.
Nb6 {looked good for White to me due to sah mir gut aus für Weiß wegen} (29.
Rxd8 Rxd8 30. Bb2 {is Rybka's first choice, but looks too risky to me ist
Rybkas erste Wahl, scheint mir aber riskant}) 29... Nxc1 (29... Ra5 {is what I
missed; now Black has good counterplay ist, was ich übersah, nun hat Schwarz
gutes Gegenspiel}) 30. Rbxc1 Rxd1+ 31. Qxd1 Rxa3 32. Qd4 {with some kind of
domination, though Black still retains some drawing chances. mit einer Art von
Dominanz, obwohl Schwarz noch immer einige Remischancen wahrt.}) 29. Qxd1 Rd8
30. Qc2 Qf7 31. Nc3 (31. Nb6 {was my original intention, but I eventually
rejected it because of war meine ursprüngliche Absicht, aber am Ende verwarf
ich dies wegen} Bb3 32. Qc3 Rd1+ 33. Kf2 Qh5 34. Rxb3 Nxb3 35. Qxb3+ Kh8 {
when it seemed to me that Black had too much activity. , wonach mir schien,
dass Schwarz zu viel Aktivität hätte.}) 31... Qh5 32. Ne2 {I was very happy
with my position here, thinking that I was on my way to consolidation Hier war
ich sehr zufrieden mit meiner Stellung, da ich glaubte, auf dem Weg zur
Konsolidierung zu sein.} Bf5 $2 {Perhaps his only real mistake in this game.
Vielleicht sein einziger wirklicher Fehler in dieser Partie.} ({He could have
retained dynamic equality with the amazing Er hätte dynamisches Gleichgewicht
wahren können mit dem verblüffenden} 32... Kf8 $3 {with the idea of ...Bb3
next. The point, which we probably both missed, is that White cannot play mit
der Idee ...Bb3 als nächstes. Die Pointe, die wir wahrscheinlich beide
übersahen, ist, dass Weiß nicht} 33. Nd4 {because of spielen kann wegen} Rxd4
34. exd4 Bf5 {and Black is at least not worse, as und Schwarz steht zumindest
nicht schlechter, denn} 35. Be4 {fails to scheitert an} Qg6+ 36. Qg2 Qxg2+ $1)
(32... Bg4 33. Ng3 Rd1+ 34. Qxd1 {is probably why he decided to play ...Bf5.
ist wahrscheinlich der Grund, weshalb er sich für ...Bf5 entschied.}) 33. e4
Bg4 34. Ng3 {Now however Black has nothing. Nun allerdings hat Schwarz gar
nichts.} Qf7 ({Kramnik had probably been hoping that Kramnik hatte womöglich
gehofft, dass} 34... Rd1+ {would be good here, but this is easily refuted by
the calm hier gut sein würde, aber dies wird einfach widerlegt durch das ruhige
} 35. Bf1 (35. Qxd1 $4 Qxc5+)) 35. Bf1 $1 Be6 36. Qc3 Ra8 37. Rb4 {Now White
is in complete control, with a positional as well as a material advantage. The
knight on e8 still has no prospects. Nun hat Weiß vollständig die Kontrolle,
bei positionellem wie auch materiellem Vorteil. Der Springer auf e8 hat noch
immer keine Perspektiven.} Qd7 38. f5 Bf7 39. Bf4 Qd1 40. Kf2 Nb3 {Desperation,
but it was either this or losing slowly without counterplay. Verzweiflung,
aber es hieß, entweder dies oder langsam verlieren ohne Gegenspiel.} 41. Be2
Qb1 42. Bc4 Rxa3 43. Ne2 {Black resigned as he is completely tied up and
defenceless against threats like Rb8 and Bxf7+. Schwarz gab auf, denn er ist
vollständig gebunden und wehrlos gegen Drohungen wie Rb8 und Bxf7+.} (43. Bxf7+
Kxf7 44. Qc4+ Kf8 45. Rb8 Ra2+ 46. Ne2 Rxe2+ 47. Qxe2 {would have won even
quicker, but would not have led to such a nice final position :-) hätte sogar
noch schneller gewonnen, dafür aber nicht zu einer schönen Schlussstellung
geführt :-)}) 1-0

[Event "London Classic"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2009.12.11"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "McShane, Luke J"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E94"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2615"]
[Annotator "McShane,L"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2009.12.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 134"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Na6 8. Re1
Qe8 9. Bf1 c6 10. Rb1 Bg4 11. d5 c5 {The pawn structure produces a complicated
positional battle. The pawn on c5 makes White's queenside attack less
'automatic' than in the main lines of the King's Indian, but Black's
counterplay on the kingside is necessarily slower.} 12. Be2 Kh8 13. a3 Bd7 14.
b4 b6 15. Bg5 Ng8 16. Nb5 f6 17. Bh4 (17. Nxd6 $2 {just blunders a piece to}
Qe7) 17... Qe7 18. Nd2 ({Over the next few moves} 18. Qa4 {can be met by} Nc7)
18... Nh6 {[%cal Yh6g4] Preventing the positional threat of Be2-g4, and f7 is
a useful square to cover d6.} 19. Nf1 Rfc8 20. Ne3 Nc7 21. bxc5 Nxb5 {In
hindsight, I wonder whether this was a bad decision. I thought Black's rooks
would be quite strong on the c-file. However, they lack entry points and White
can continue preparing an assault on the queenside pawns.} (21... bxc5 {
was a solid alternative, with a tense position.}) 22. cxb5 Rxc5 23. f3 (23. a4
{would allow Black an interesting possibility:} g5 24. Bg3 f5 25. exf5 Nxf5 {
and with the Ne3 about to be exchanged, the rook on c5 becomes much more
useful than it was in the game.}) 23... Rac8 24. Bd3 $1 {A strong move, after
which I understood that Black is going to face difficulties. There are three
ideas behind this move. Firstly, it is harder to achieve .. 6-g5 and ...f6-f5.
Secondly (although it never materialised in the game) the maneouvre
Ne3-c2-b4-c6 becomes possible. Finally the rooks are restricted on the c-file.}
Qf8 25. Bf2 f5 26. a4 R5c7 27. h3 ({If I remember correctly, I wanted to
maintain the tension on f5/e4 to keep the possibility of answering} 27. Nc2 {
with} g5 28. Nb4 g4 {with counterplay.}) 27... Bf6 28. Qd2 $1 {The knight is
still useful on e3.} (28. Nc2 fxe4 29. fxe4 g5 30. Ne3 (30. Be3 g4 31. Qd2 Nf7
32. Rf1 Bh4 33. hxg4 Bxg4 {looks unclear}) 30... g4 $5 31. hxg4 Qg7 32. Nf5
Bxf5 33. gxf5 Ng4 {is a pawn sacrifice I considered during the game. All
Black's pieces are active and White has no pressure left on the queenside.})
28... Bg5 (28... f4 29. Nc2 g5 30. Nb4 Ng8 31. Nc6 (31. a5 $5) 31... h5 32. a5
{isn't totally clear, but White's attack seems to be ahead.}) 29. a5 fxe4 30.
fxe4 Nf7 {It wasn't easy to decide whether to leave a weakness on a7 or b6.} (
30... bxa5 31. Qxa5 {is also unpleasant as the a7-pawn is very weak.} Qe7 {
aims to exchange the dangerous bishop with ...Bg5-h4 but White maintains a
little pressure. Still, maybe this was better than the way I played.}) 31. axb6
axb6 32. Qe2 Rb7 33. Nc4 Qd8 {Naturally, I wasn't delighted by this grim
defence of the b-pawn, but there is nothing better.} 34. Rf1 Kg7 35. Kh1 (35.
Bxb6 {would be too eager} Rxb6 36. Qf2 ({Or} 36. Rxf7+ Kxf7 37. Qf2+ Kg7 38.
Nxb6 Bh4 (38... Rc3 {[%cal Yg5e3]} 39. Nxd7 Rxd3 40. Qf8+ Qxf8 41. Nxf8 Kxf8
42. b6 {looks drawn too}) 39. Qe3 Bg5 {promises at least a draw}) 36... Rxb5
37. Qxf7+ Kh6 38. Nxd6 Qb6+ 39. Kh1 Rxb1 40. Nxc8 (40. Qxd7 Rxf1+ 41. Bxf1 Rf8
42. Nf7+ Rxf7 43. Qxf7 Qf6 (43... Bf4 $5) 44. Qxf6 Bxf6 {is very similar})
40... Rxf1+ 41. Bxf1 Bxc8 42. Qf8+ Kh5 43. Qxc8 Qf2 {must be drawn.}) 35... Be8
36. Qb2 Nh6 37. Bxb6 $1 {I must admit that I hadn't seen this move was
possible right here. Under time pressure my last few moves had to be made
rather quickly.} Qe7 $1 {A good fighting decision. Clearly with an extra pawn
White is doing very well, but the bishop is rather awkward to extricate from
b6 so Black will continue to have fighting chances.} (37... Rxb6 38. Qf2 Bxb5
39. Nxb6 $1 (39. Qxb6 Bxc4 40. Qxd8 Bxd8 41. Rb7+ Kg8 42. Rc1 Bxd3 43. Rxc8 Nf7
44. Rd7 {looked decisive to me during the game, but Black can keep the game
going with} Kf8 $1 45. Rdxd8+ Nxd8 46. Rxd8+ Ke7 {and it is not at all obvious
that White will be able to win.}) 39... Bxd3 40. Nxc8 Bxf1 41. Qa7+ Kh8 42. Rb7
Qf8 (42... Qg8 43. Nxd6 {[%cal Yb7b8] is also hopeless}) 43. Nxd6 {[%cal Yd6f7,
Yb7b8,Ya7g1] and Black's position is hopeless.}) 38. Qf2 Rcb8 {[%csl Rb5][%cal
Yb8b5] Somehow these miserable rooks are pulling their weight much more on the
b-file than they ever were on the c-file!} 39. Rb3 Ng8 40. Be2 $6 {Black's
potential counterplay with ...Nf6-h5 was the reason for this maneouvre, but
the bishop was already doing a useful job supporting the b5-pawn.} (40. Ra1 {
was probably stronger.} Nf6 41. Ra6 (41. Ba7 Rc8 {a reasonable defence} (41...
Ra8 $5 {leads to similar lines to those with 41...Rc8} 42. b6 Nd7 43. Rbb1 (43.
Na5 Rbxa7 44. bxa7 Nc5 45. Rba3 Rxa7 46. Nc6 Rxa3 47. Rxa3 Qf6) 43... Nc5) (
41... Rxb5 $2 42. Bxb8 Rxb3 43. Bxd6 $18) 42. Ne3 {[%csl Rg7][%cal Ye3f5,Yf2a7,
Ya1a7] intends b6 and Bd3-a6 but it's not so easy, e.g.} Ra8 43. b6 Nd7 44.
Rbb1 (44. Ba6 Rbxa7 45. bxa7 Nc5 46. Rba3 Rxa7 {with clear compensation for
the exchange}) 44... Nc5 45. Bc2 Rbxa7 46. bxa7 Rxa7 47. Rxa7 Qxa7 {and again
it will certainly be hard for White to win despite the extra exchange.}) 41...
Rc8 $5 {[%csl Rc4][%cal Yf6e4]} (41... Nh5 {is another way to fish for
counterplay but I don't entirely trust it}) 42. Qe1 {[%cal Ye1e4]} Rcb8 {
and it still isn't totally obvious how White should improve his position.})
40... Nf6 41. Bf3 {Now we had passed move 40 I had a while to try to figure
out how to defend.} Rxb6 $5 {This was certainly a good practical try, but
since I can't see any real improvement for Black in the game, it might have
been better to keep grovelling.} (41... Nd7 42. Ba7 Ra8 43. b6 {this looks
very bad but the bishop is still quite awkward on a7 so Black has good chances
to sacrifice an exchange, for example.} Nc5 44. Rbb1 (44. Ra3 $6 Bb5 45. Qc2 (
45. Rc3 Na4 $1 46. Rc2 Qd8 {and the b6-pawn seems to drop off in a couple of
moves}) 45... Bxc4 46. Qxc4 Rxb6 47. Rfa1 {and now Black has a few different
approaches to try to save the position, although it isn't an easy choice.} Rb7
(47... Rxa7 48. Rxa7 Rb1+ $5 (48... Rb7) 49. Rxb1 (49. Kh2 Rxa1 50. Rxe7+ Bxe7
{yet again gives good drawing chances}) 49... Qxa7 {etc.}) 48. Bxc5 Rc8 49.
Bxd6 Rxc4 50. Bxe7 Bxe7 51. Ra7 Rxa7 52. Rxa7 Kf6 {with some chances to hold})
44... h5 {and it still isn't obvious how White should move forward.} (44...
Rbxa7 $2 45. bxa7 Rxa7 46. Rb6 {causes a big problem just here, because} Rd7
47. Nxd6 Rxd6 48. Qxc5 {wins}) 45. Na5 {it might be better to delay this} Rbxa7
46. bxa7 Qxa7 47. Nc4 Qc7 {with a resilient position.}) 42. Nxb6 Qc7 43. h4 $1
{Undermining the defence of f6.} (43. Na4 Rxb5 44. Rxb5 Bxb5 45. Ra1 {is
exactly what I was hoping for. Black's active minor pieces offer good
compensation. In practice it would be extremely difficult for White to win.})
43... Bh6 $1 (43... Bf4 44. g3 Rxb6 (44... Bxg3 {I didn't consider, but} 45.
Qxg3 Qxb6 46. Be2 {and White's b-pawn combined with pressure on the f-file is
likely to be decisive.}) 45. gxf4 exf4 46. Be2 {should win quite easily for
White}) 44. Na4 $1 {Keeping the e2-b5 diagonal open...} (44. Be2 Bf4 $1 {
is the nice point of Bg5-h6. Opening the f-file removes the e-pawn's defence,
so Black is threatening Nf6xe4.}) (44. Nc4 Rxb5 $1 {offers Black nice
compensation again.} (44... Qxc4 $2 45. Be2 $1 Qxb3 46. Qxf6+ Kg8 47. Qe6+ Kg7
48. Qxd6 Bf4 49. Qc7+ $1 $16)) 44... Rxb5 45. Be2 $1 (45. Rxb5 Bxb5 46. Be2 Bf4
$1 {is a key resource as usual. I saw that after} 47. Bxb5 Nxe4 48. Qe1 (48.
Qb6 $2 {loses material} Ng3+ 49. Kg1 Qxb6+ 50. Nxb6 Be3+ 51. Kh2 Nxf1+ 52. Bxf1
Bxb6 $11) 48... Ng3+ (48... Qe7 $5 {isn't a bad idea either}) 49. Kg1 Nxf1 (
49... Qa7+ $5 50. Rf2 Be3 {also gives practical chances}) 50. Kxf1 {and Black
has reasonable compensation for the piece. White's king is never going to be
safe. In fact} Qf7 $5 {[%csl Rd5][%cal Yf4g3] wins a second pawn immediately,
though White can try to win the endgame after} 51. Qe4 Bg3+ 52. Qf3 Qxf3+ 53.
gxf3 Bxh4) 45... Rxb3 46. Qxf6+ Kg8 47. Nc5 $1 {A crucial (and very pretty)
tactical shot. It didn't quite knock me off my chair as I had seen it
somewhere betwen playing 41...Rxb6 and here (I forget exactly where) but my
moves had been forced up to here. Now I faced a difficult decision about where
to place the rook.} (47. Bg4 Bg7 48. Qe6+ Bf7 {and the defence holds. White
must play} 49. Qxf7+ Qxf7 50. Be6 Qxe6 51. dxe6 Rb8 {with a probable draw})
47... Rg3 $5 {I arrived at this odd looking move by the need to prevent the
Be2-g4-e6 idea, as well as the ideas with Qf6-d8-g5.} (47... Rc3 {is the
obvious candidate, hitting the knight, but it's not good enough.} 48. Ne6 (48.
Bg4 {also seems to be good enough as after} Bg7 49. Ne6 Bxf6 50. Nxc7 Rxc7 51.
Rxf6 {the d-pawn is falling.} g5 $5 (51... h5 52. Be2 $1 Rd7 53. Bb5 Rf7 54.
Rxg6+ Kh7 55. Bxe8 Kxg6 56. Bxf7+ Kxf7 {is a hopeless pawn ending for Black}) (
51... Bd7 52. Bf3 Ra7 53. Rxd6 Kf7 $16 {may be toughest}) 52. Rxd6 Bg6 53. Rc6
$18) 48... Qf7 49. Qd8 Qd7 50. Qg5 $1 Bg7 (50... Qxe6 51. Qxh6 Qe7 52. Bg4 Bf7
53. Be6 $1 Bxe6 54. dxe6 {[%cal Yf1f7] and Black can resign}) 51. Nxg7 Qxg7 (
51... Kxg7 52. Qf6+ $18) 52. Qd8 (52. Bg4 Rc7 53. Qd8 Qe7 54. Qxe7 Rxe7 55. Rf6
{should also win.}) 52... Qd7 53. Qf6 Bf7 (53... h5 54. Qf8+ Kh7 55. Rf6 {
should also win}) 54. Bg4 Qe8 55. Qxd6 {White wins.}) (47... Rb2 {was
interesting but also insufficient.} 48. Bg4 $1 (48. Ne6 Qf7 49. Qd8 Qd7 50. Qg5
Bg7 51. Nxg7 (51. Bg4 h6 $1 {is OK for Black}) 51... Qxg7 52. Bg4 (52. Qd8 $6
Qd7 53. Qf6 h5 {seems to be fine.}) 52... Rb8 {and with d8 covered, nothing
disastrous is happening immediately. After} 53. Be6+ Kh8 {White still has a
positional advantage and practical chances but there's no concrete follow-up.
Black will continue with h6 and Kh7.}) 48... Bg7 49. Ne6 Qf7 50. Nxg7 Qxf6 (
50... Qxg7 $2 51. Be6+ Kh8 52. Qd8 {wins}) 51. Rxf6 Kxg7 52. Rxd6 $16 {and
White should probably win this endgame.}) ({Hopeless is} 47... Qxc5 $4 48. Qe6+
Kg7 49. Qe7+ Kg8 50. Qxe8+ Kg7 51. Rf7#) (47... dxc5 $4 {is no better} 48. Bc4
$1 {[%cal Yd5d6] with too many threats.}) 48. Ne6 (48. h5 $5 {is a odd looking
move pointed out by the engines but it clears the h4-square for the queen.} Bf4
49. Ne6 Qf7 50. Qd8 Qd7 51. Qh4 g5 {other moves just lose a bit more slowly}
52. Qxg3 $1 Bxg3 53. Rf8#) 48... Qf7 49. Qxf7+ (49. Qd8 Qd7 {leads nowhere.})
49... Bxf7 50. Rb1 $1 {Even without queens, the attack goes on.} Be8 (50...
Bxe6 51. dxe6 {and the pawn cannot actually be stopped.} Kf8 52. Rb7 $18 {
[%cal Ye2b5,Ye6e7]}) 51. Bf3 {This is the downside to the rook being on g3.
It's immobilised by the bishop and can't contribute to the defence.} Kf7 52.
Rb7+ Kf6 53. Rxh7 Bf4 {This position was likely to arise after 47...Rg3 and I
retained hopes of saving the game here. The rook is trapped on g3 but ...g6-g5
may extricate it at some point and White's winning plan isn't totally obvious.
Unfortunately Magnus found an elegant way to finish things off.} (53... Be3 54.
Kh2 Bf2 55. Rb7 {also wins.}) 54. Nxf4 (54. Ng5 Rxg5 $1 (54... Bxg5 55. hxg5+
Rxg5 56. g4) 55. hxg5+ Bxg5) 54... exf4 55. e5+ $1 dxe5 (55... Kxe5 56. Re7+
$18) 56. d6 {There's no way to stop this pawn.} e4 (56... g5 57. hxg5+ Kxg5 58.
d7 Bxd7 59. Rxd7 Kf5 {If Black could achieve ...e5-e4 here it might be
difficult for White to win the game. But after} 60. Rf7+ Ke6 61. Rf8 {[%cal
Yf8e8] as Magnus pointed out, Black will never get e5-e4 in, so White will
gradually bring up his king and win the pawns.}) (56... Kf5 $5 {is tricky} 57.
Rf7+ $1 {is the way to win.} (57. d7 $2 Bxd7 58. Rxd7 e4 59. Rd5+ Ke6 60. Bxe4
Re3 61. Rg5 Rxe4 62. Rxg6+ Kf5 {and Black should hold}) 57... Bxf7 (57... Ke6
58. Re7+ $18) 58. d7 e4 59. Be2 f3 (59... Re3 60. d8=Q Rxe2 61. Qg5+ Ke6 62.
Qg4+ $18) 60. gxf3 exf3 61. Bd3+ Ke5 62. d8=Q $18) (56... Ke6 $2 57. Re7+ $18)
57. Bxe4 Re3 58. Bd5 $1 Kf5 (58... Re5 59. d7 $1 Bxd7 60. Rf7# {would have
been a pretty finale.}) 59. Kh2 (59. d7 Bxd7 60. Rxd7 Kg4 61. Rd6 {was also
sufficient.}) 59... Re5 60. Bf3 Kf6 61. d7 1-0

[Event "London Classic"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2009.12.10"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Howell, David"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2597"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "157"]
[EventDate "2009.12.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 134"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 e6 6. Be3 {This move is
supposed to force Black to exchange pawns on d4.} Be7 $5 {In most of the games
Black automatically takes on d4, but Carlsen shows that the rare 6...Be7 is a
reasonable option as well. Especially since he declared later on "I was well
prepared in this variation".} 7. dxc5 Qxd1+ 8. Kxd1 O-O 9. Nbd2 Ng4 {This
position has occurred only three times in praxis.} 10. Nb3 $146 {Faced with a
rare variation and a well prepared opponent, Howell understandably tries to
play as safe as possible. However, thanks to the bishop pair (there will be an
exchange on e3 sooner or later) now Black can fight for advantage in a quiet
and pleasant position.} ({The most principled continuation is} 10. b4 {which
was played in previous games and which is probably the only way to test the
viability of 6...Be7. Then after} a5 ({The exchange on e3 is premature:} 10...
Nxe3+ 11. fxe3 a5 12. Nd4 Rd8 13. Kc2 axb4 14. cxb4 Bf6 (14... e5 15. N4b3 Bf5+
16. e4) 15. Bb5 Bxd4 16. exd4 Rxd4 17. Nc4 e5 18. Kc3 $16 {1-0 Murariu,A (2430)
-Doncea,V (2380)/Baile Tusnad 2005 (33)}) {White can continue} 11. Kc2 {
In order to evaluate precisely this complicated position practical examples
are needed. In most cases Black wins back the pawn, but in return White gains
more space on the queenside. The following variations show that in spite of
his exposed king, there are hopes for White to achieve some advantage:} (11.
Nd4 Rd8 $5 (11... axb4 12. cxb4 Rd8 13. Kc2 Bf6 (13... e5 $44) 14. N2b3 e5 15.
Nb5 Nc6 16. a3 Bf5+ 17. Kc3 e4+ 18. N3d4 Nxd4 (18... b6 $142 $44) 19. Nxd4 Rac8
20. Bb5 b6 21. c6 Bxd4+ 22. Bxd4 Bd7 23. Bxb6 Bxc6 24. Bc4 $16 {0-1 Seret,J 
(2455)-Adorjan,A (2565)/Luzern 1985 (77)}) 12. Kc2 $140 e5 $36 13. N4b3 Bf5+ {
Now the advantage of postponing exchanges both on b4 and on e3 become clear.
White doesn't have e3-e4 (as in case of an earlier exchange on e3), nor can he
play} 14. Kb2 {in view of} a4 15. Na5 Nxe3 {winning a piece.}) (11. Bc4 axb4
12. cxb4 Nc6 $44 13. b5 Nb4 14. Ne4 Nxe3+ 15. fxe3 Ra3 16. Re1 Rd8+ 17. Kc1 f5
18. Ned2 Rc3+ 19. Kb2 Bf6 20. Nd4 Rxe3 21. Rxe3 Rxd4 22. Kb3 Rxd2 23. Rc1 Rb2+
24. Ka4 Nxa2 $19 (24... Nc2 25. Bxe6+ Kf8 $2 26. Re2 Rxa2+ $4 27. Bxa2 {
1-0 Van de Oudeweetering,A (2369)-Pavlovic,M (2545)/Amsterdam 2004 (36)})) (11.
a3 $5) 11... axb4 12. cxb4 Bf6 (12... Nc6 13. Kb3 Nxe3 14. fxe3 b6 15. Bb5 Na7
16. Be2 bxc5 17. b5 Bb7 18. a4 $14) (12... Bd7 13. Bc4 Ba4+ 14. Bb3 Nc6 15. a3
Bf6 $13) 13. Rb1 ({also deserves attention} 13. Bd4 Bxd4 14. Nxd4 Nxf2 15. Rg1
e5 16. Nb5 Nc6 17. Kb3 $13) 13... Rxa2+ (13... e5 14. Ne4 Rxa2+ 15. Kb3 Be6+
16. Bc4 Bxc4+ 17. Kxc4 Nxe3+ 18. fxe3 Rxg2 19. Rhg1 $44) 14. Kb3 Ra8 15. Ne4
Be7 16. Bb5 $13 {/+/=}) 10... Nxe3+ 11. fxe3 Nd7 12. c6 {This way White at
least breaks up his opponent's pawn structure.} bxc6 13. Na5 Bc5 $5 {An
interesting approach from Carlsen: he doesn't even try to defend his c-pawn.
Instead he activates the pieces.} (13... c5 {with an equal position is of
course possible as well.}) 14. Nd4 Nf6 {It turns out that taking the pawn on
c6 leads only to a temporary material advantage for White: thanks to the
activity of his pieces Black will regain the pawn in all variations.} 15. Bc4 (
15. Naxc6 Ng4 16. Ke2 (16. Kd2 e5 17. Nc2 Bb7 18. Na5 Rad8+ $17) 16... Bd7 $44
{/-/+}) 15... Ng4 16. Ke2 e5 17. Nc2 (17. Ndxc6 Nxe3 $17) 17... Bf5 18. h3 Nf6
19. Nb4 Be4 20. Nbxc6 Rfe8 {Black's advantage is minimal, since regaining the
pawn will lead to further simplifications.} 21. Rhg1 Bb6 22. b4 Rac8 23. b5 (
23. Bb5 Nd5 $17 {[%csl Rc3,Re3]}) 23... Bxa5 24. Nxa5 Rc5 {White has succeeded
in exchanging a knight for his opponent's bishop, but he is still on the
defensive due to the lack of coordination between his pieces and multiple pawn
weaknesses.} 25. a4 $1 Rec8 26. Bd3 ({There is no time to bring the rook to
the d-file:} 26. Rgd1 Bxg2) ({or} 26. Rad1 Bc2) 26... Bxd3+ (26... Rxc3 27.
Bxe4 Nxe4 28. Nc6 $132) 27. Kxd3 Rxc3+ 28. Ke2 Rc2+ (28... e4 29. Rgd1 Rc2+ 30.
Rd2 {favours White again.}) 29. Kf3 e4+ 30. Kf4 R8c5 31. Nc6 {Finally bringing
the knight back into the game. Black can't create decisive threats against the
white king, which means that the position should be close to equal.} g5+ 32.
Kg3 R5c3 33. Ne7+ (33. Nxa7 Rxe3+ 34. Kh2 g4 {threatening Qxh3 mate looks
scary for White, but the computer shows that it is a draw after} 35. Kh1 gxh3
36. b6 Ng4 37. b7 Nf2+ 38. Kh2 Ng4+ 39. Kh1 $11) 33... Kf8 $1 (33... Kg7 34.
Nf5+ Kg6 35. Ne7+ Kh5 {exposes unnecessarily the king. For instance:} 36. Rae1
({not} 36. Raf1 Rxe3+ 37. Kh2 Rf3 $1) 36... Ra3 $140 37. Kh2 {[%cal Ge1f1]}
Rxa4 38. Ref1 $132) 34. Nf5 Nd5 35. Rge1 $2 {A blunder in time trouble.} (35.
Rad1 {would have allowed White to escape:} Rd3 36. Rc1 Nxe3 37. Nxe3 Rxe3+ 38.
Kg4 Rf2 (38... Rxc1 39. Rxc1 $11) 39. Kxg5 ({but not} 39. Rc7 h6 $1 {[%cal
Gf2f4,Gf4h4]} 40. Kh5 Kg7 41. h4 ({or} 41. g3 Rh2 42. Rxa7 Rf3 43. b6 Rxh3+ 44.
Kg4 Rh2 $19) 41... Rg3 {and Black wins, since} 42. Rxa7 {runs into mate after}
g4 {[%cal Gf2f5]}) 39... Ra3 (39... Rg3+ 40. Kh4 Rgxg2 41. Rxg2 Rxg2 42. Re1 f5
43. Rf1 $11) 40. Rc4 e3 (40... f5 $2 41. Kf6) 41. Rf4 {and White will achieve
a draw, although accurate defence is still required.}) 35... Nf4 $19 36. Rg1
Ne2+ 37. Kg4 Nxg1 38. Rxg1 f6 {Of course this should be winning for Black, but
things are not trivial due to White's excellent knight on f5 and his active
king.} 39. h4 gxh4 40. Kxh4 Ra3 41. g4 Rxa4 42. Rd1 Raa2 43. Rd7 Rh2+ 44. Kg3
Rhg2+ 45. Kh3 Rgf2 46. Nd4 Kg8 $6 {Starting with this moment Carlsen loses the
thread, missing even a forced win later on.} ({After} 46... Ra3 47. Kg3 (47.
Nf5 Rf3+ 48. Kh4 Ra2 $19) 47... Rf1 48. Kg2 (48. Nf5 Rf3+ 49. Kh2 Ra2+ 50. Kg1
h5 $19) 48... Re1 49. Kf2 Rh1 50. Kg2 (50. Nf5 h5 51. Kg2 (51. gxh5 Rxh5 52.
Nd6 Rh2+ 53. Kg3 Rd2 $19) 51... Rc1 52. gxh5 Rc5 53. Nd6 Rg5+ 54. Kh2 Rxe3 $19)
50... Raa1 {Black would have kept excellent winning chances, since} 51. Rxa7
Rxa7 52. Kxh1 Ra3 {is lost for White.}) 47. Re7 Kf8 48. Rc7 ({White correctly
prefers to keep his opponent's king cut off rather than release it after} 48.
Rxe4 Kf7 {when it is much easier for Black to play than in the game.}) 48...
Ke8 49. Kg3 Rf1 50. Rxh7 Ra3 51. Kg2 $2 {Both players became visibly tired.
Bringing back the king is a bad mistake, which, however, remained unpunished.}
({The active king after} 51. Nf5 Rf3+ 52. Kh4 {would have been enough for
successful defence:} ({Again going back is hopeless:} 52. Kg2 $2 Ra2+ 53. Kg1
Rff2 54. Rxa7 Rg2+ 55. Kf1 Raf2+ 56. Ke1 Rb2 57. Kf1 Rgd2 $19) 52... Ra2 53.
Nd6+ Kd8 (53... Kf8 54. Rf7+ Kg8 55. Kh5 Rd2 56. Rd7) 54. Nb7+ Kc8 55. Nd6+ Kb8
56. Rb7+ Ka8 57. Kh5 Rxe3 58. Re7 $11) 51... Rd1 52. Nf5 (52. Nc6 Rxe3 53. Kf2
Rf3+ 54. Ke2 Rd7 $19) (52. Rh3 Rd2+ $19) 52... Rd7 $2 (52... Ra2+ {wins by
force, since after} 53. Kg3 Rg1+ 54. Kf4 Rf2+ 55. Kxe4 Rxg4+ 56. Kd5 Rxf5+ 57.
Ke6 {Black simply gives a check on e5} Re5+ $19) 53. Rh8+ Kf7 54. Kg3 Rb3 55.
Kf4 {The king is back into play and Black is not able to win anymore.} Rb1 (
55... Rb4 56. Rh7+ Ke6 57. Rh6 $132 {[%cal Gg4g5]}) 56. Kxe4 Rf1 57. Rh7+ Ke6
58. Rh8 Rc7 59. Nd4+ Kd6 $11 60. Rd8+ Rd7 61. Rc8 Rg7 62. Rd8+ Rd7 63. Rc8 Re7+
64. Kd3 Rc7 65. Rd8+ Rd7 66. Rg8 Rg1 67. Ke2 Kc5 68. Kf2 Rb1 69. Rf8 Rd6 70.
Rf7 Rb2+ 71. Kf3 Ra2 72. Ke4 Kb6 73. Rf8 Rg2 74. Kf3 Rh2 75. Rb8+ Kc7 76. Ra8
Kb7 77. Rf8 Rh7 78. Kf4 Rh1 79. Kf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2009.12.12"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2715"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2009.12.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 134"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Nh4 Bc8 7. e3 e5 8. Bxc4
exd4 9. exd4 Be7 10. O-O O-O 11. Re1 Nd5 12. Nf3 Be6 13. Qb3 Na6 14. Bd2 Nab4
15. Ne4 Bf5 16. Ne5 a5 17. Nc5 Bxc5 18. dxc5 Qc7 19. Bxb4 Nxb4 20. Qf3 Be6 21.
Bxe6 fxe6 22. Qb3 Qe7 23. Nf3 Nd5 24. Rac1 Rf4 25. Ne5 Raf8 26. Nd3 Rd4 27. Rc4
Rxc4 28. Qxc4 Qf6 29. g3 Rd8 30. Kg2 Qf5 31. Nc1 Rf8 32. Qe2 Nc7 33. Nd3 Rd8
34. Ne5 Rd5 35. Kg1 Rxc5 36. Nc4 Qf8 37. Rd1 Rd5 38. Rxd5 exd5 39. Qe5 dxc4 40.
Qxc7 Qb4 41. Qc8+ Kf7 42. Qf5+ Ke7 43. Qe5+ Kf7 44. Qf5+ Ke7 45. Qe5+ Kf7
1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2009.12.13"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Ni, Hua"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2665"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2009.12.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 134"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 {The knight move has the reputation of being a
fighting line, but Black is falling behind in development.} 4. d4 a6 5. Bxd7+
Bxd7 6. dxc5 dxc5 7. Nc3 e6 8. Bf4 {Ni Hua is clearly ahead in creating the
play, but Black has no real weaknesses.} (8. Ne5 Ne7 (8... Qc7 9. Qxd7+ (9.
Nxd7 Rd8 (9... O-O-O $5 10. Qf3 Rxd7 11. Bf4 Bd6 $11) 10. Qf3 Rxd7 11. Bf4 Qc6
12. O-O Nf6 13. Rfd1 Be7 14. Rxd7 Nxd7 15. Qg3 O-O 16. Rd1 Rc8 17. Bd6 $14 {
1/2-1/2 Unzicker,W (2535)-Najdorf,M (2520)/Nice 1974 (39)}) 9... Qxd7 10. Nxd7
Kxd7 11. Bf4 Kc6 12. O-O-O Nf6 13. f3 Be7 14. Ne2 Rad8 15. Rxd8 Rxd8 16. Rd1
Nd7 17. b3 h5 18. c3 g5 19. Be3 Rg8 {0-1 Romero Holmes,A (2544)-Bologan,V 
(2673)/Pamplona 2003 (61)}) 9. Qh5 Ng6 10. Nxg6 fxg6 11. Qe5 Qf6 12. Bf4 Be7 {
1/2-1/2 Zvjaginsev,V (2650)-Bu Xiangzhi (2620)/Moscow 2004}) 8... Ne7 9. Ne5 (
9. Qe2 Ng6 10. Bg3 Be7 11. h4 h5 12. O-O-O b5 13. e5 b4 14. Ne4 Qa5 15. Kb1 Qb5
16. Rd3 c4 17. Nd6+ Bxd6 18. Rxd6 b3 19. Nd4 {1/2-1/2 Hracek,Z (2595)-Lutz,C 
(2596)/Mallorca 2004}) 9... Ng6 {The defender has no time for niceties as
White is ready to strike.} (9... Bb5 $2 10. Qh5 g6 11. Qf3 Nc6 12. Nxc6 Bxc6
13. Be5 Rg8 14. Rd1 Qg5 15. Bf6 Qh5 16. g4 Qh6 17. g5 (17. Nd5 exd5 18. exd5
Ba4 19. d6 Bxd6 20. Rxd6 $18) 17... Qh4 18. Qg3 Qxg3 19. hxg3 $16 {1/2-1/2
Adams,M (2729)-Bu Xiangzhi (2708)/Yerevan 2008 (64)}) 10. Qh5 (10. Bg5 Qc7 11.
Nxd7 Qxd7 12. Qxd7+ Kxd7 13. Be3 Bd6 14. g3 Kc6 15. O-O-O Rad8 16. Rhe1 b5 17.
Nb1 Bc7 18. Nd2 {1/2-1/2 Riff,J (2428)-Cossin,S (2395)/Rosny sous Bois 2004 
(39)}) 10... Bc6 {Carlsen must play well to keep his chances for equality
alive. A good alternative seem to be the queen foray to h4.} (10... Nxe5 11.
Bxe5 Bc6 12. O-O Qa5 13. Rad1 c4 14. Qg5 Qc5 15. Rfe1 f6 16. Bxf6 Qxg5 17. Bxg5
Bb4 18. a3 Bxc3 19. bxc3 h6 20. Bf4 $16 {1-0 Brkic,A (2544)-Feletar,D (2377)/
Sibenik 2009 (52)}) (10... Qh4 $5 11. Qxh4 Nxh4 12. O-O Rd8 13. Nxd7 Rxd7 14.
Be3 $14) 11. Bg3 (11. Nxg6 fxg6 12. Qg4 Qf6) (11. Nxc6 Nxf4 12. Nxd8 Nxh5 13.
Nxb7 Rb8 14. Na5 Rxb2 15. O-O-O Rb8 $14) 11... Nxe5 (11... Be7 12. Nxc6 bxc6
13. f4 Qb8 14. O-O-O Nxf4 15. Qg4 g5 16. h4 $14) 12. Bxe5 c4 13. O-O (13. f4 $5
b5 14. a3 Qd7 15. Rf1 O-O-O 16. Rd1 Qb7 17. Rxd8+ Kxd8 18. Rf2 $14) 13... Qa5
14. Qg5 h6 15. Qg3 {White is losing momentum and opts for the second best move.
More challenging for the opponent would have been the retreat to f4.} (15. Qf4
$5 h5 (15... f6 16. Bxf6 (16. Bc7 Qg5 17. Qf3 Bb4 $11) 16... gxf6 17. Qxf6 Rh7
18. Qxe6+ Re7 19. Qg6+ $16) 16. Rad1 f6 17. Bc7 Qg5 $11) 15... f6 16. Qg6+ (16.
Bc7 Qg5 17. Qf3 Bb4 18. Qe2 Kf7 $11) 16... Ke7 17. Bf4 (17. Bd4 Qg5 18. Qxg5
hxg5 19. Rad1 $11) 17... Be8 18. Qg3 Kf7 19. Rad1 Bc6 20. Rd2 e5 $1 {Carlsen
has a very good feel for the position and is ready to fight for the advantage
at the first suitable moment.} (20... Be7 21. Rfd1 Rac8 22. Bd6 Bxd6 23. Rxd6
Rhd8 $11) 21. Be3 Bb4 22. f4 Rhe8 23. f5 Bc5 {Not even the player heading for
the top spot in the rating list has found the courage to play provocative
solution of grabbing the pawn on c3.} (23... Bxc3 $5 24. bxc3 Qxc3 25. Qg6+ Kg8
26. Bxh6 Re7 27. Qg4 Qb2 $15) 24. Rfd1 Rad8 25. Rxd8 Bxe3+ (25... Rxd8 $4 26.
Qg6+ Kg8 27. Rxd8+ Qxd8 28. Bxc5 $18) 26. Qxe3 Rxd8 27. Rxd8 Qxd8 28. Kf2 Qd6 {
[%mdl 4096] For most mortals the chances would seem fairly even, but Magnus is
envisaging a pawn advance on the queenside.} (28... Qd4 29. Kf3 (29. Qxd4 exd4
30. Ne2 Bxe4 31. Nxd4 Ke7 $15) 29... Qd6 $11) 29. a3 a5 30. Kf3 (30. Ke2 Qd4
31. Kf3 $11) 30... Kg8 (30... b5 31. Qe2 (31. Qa7+ $2 Kg8 32. Qxa5 Qd2 $17)
31... Qd4 32. Qe3 Qd7 33. Ke2 b4 $15) 31. g3 $2 {Ni Hua can not afford waiting
tactics as Black is making progress with his plan.} (31. Ke2 $1 Kf8 (31... b5
32. Qb6 $14) 32. Qb6 Qd4 33. Qxa5 Bxe4 34. Qa8+ Kf7 35. Qc8 $15) 31... b5 $1
32. Ke2 (32. Qb6 $4 Bxe4+ $19) 32... b4 33. axb4 axb4 34. Nd1 {The choice of
retreats for the knight was not exactly encouraging; White probably played the
best move.} (34. Nd5 $2 Bxd5 35. Qd2 c3 36. bxc3 Bc4+ $19) (34. Na2 $5 Bb7 35.
c3 Qa6 36. Nxb4 Qa1 37. Nd5 Qh1 $17) 34... Ba4 (34... Qd4 35. c3 Qxe4 (35...
bxc3 36. Nxc3 Qd6 37. Qd2 $11) 36. Qxe4 Bxe4 37. cxb4 Bxf5 38. b5 Kf7 39. b6
Be4 40. Ne3 Ke6 41. Nxc4 $11) 35. b3 $2 {The opening of the position is
certainly in Black's favour as his bishop is stronger than the knight.} (35.
Qd2 $1 Qd4 36. Qxd4 exd4 37. Kd2 Bb5 38. c3 dxc3+ 39. bxc3 b3 40. Ke3 Be8 41.
Kd4 Bf7 $15) 35... cxb3 36. cxb3 Qa6+ (36... Bb5+ 37. Ke1 Qc6 38. Kd2 Qa8 39.
Qc5 Qa2+ $17) 37. Kd2 Bb5 38. Qc5 Qa2+ 39. Qc2 $6 {The last move before the
time control deserves some criticism, since White will not be able to stop the
pesky enemy pieces.} (39. Kc1 Qe2 (39... Be2 40. Ne3 Kh7 41. Nd5 Qa1+ 42. Kc2
Qd1+ (42... Bd1+ 43. Kd3 Bxb3 44. Qxb4 Qf1+ $17)) 40. Qxb4 Bd3 41. Qd2 Qxe4 42.
g4 Bf1 $17) 39... Qa7 $1 40. Qc8+ Kh7 41. Kc1 Qa1+ 42. Kc2 Qd4 {The triumph of
Black's strategy, the white position will fall apart.} 0-1

[Event "London Classic"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2009.12.14"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Adams, Michael"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E46"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2698"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "122"]
[EventDate "2009.12.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 134"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Nge2 d5 6. cxd5 exd5 7. g3 Re8 8.
Bg2 Bf8 ({The immediate} 8... c6 {is more popular here.}) 9. O-O Na6 $5 {
A curious concept.} (9... c6) 10. a3 (10. h3 $5 c6 11. g4 h6 12. Ng3 Nc7 13. f4
g6 14. Qf3 b5 15. a3 a5 16. g5 Nh7 17. h4 hxg5 18. fxg5 Be6 19. Nce2 Qd7 20.
Qf2 Bg7 21. Bd2 Bg4 22. Nf4 Ne6 $132 {1-0 Kohlweyer,B (2443)-Chuchelov,V (2539)
/Belgium 2001/CBM 081 ext (55)}) 10... c6 11. f3 (11. b3 $6 Bf5 (11... Nc7 12.
Ra2 Bf5 13. f3 h6 14. Nf4 c5 $1 15. Nce2 b6 16. g4 Bh7 17. Ng3 Nb5 $36 {
0-1 Lerner,K (2525)-Garcia Gonzales,G (2515)/Jurmala 1983/MCD (40)}) 12. Ra2
Qd7 13. f3 h5 14. Nf4 Bd6 15. Nxh5 Nxh5 16. g4 Bg6 17. gxh5 Bxh5 $17 {1/2
Panczyk,K (2365)-Volzhin,A (2530)/Wisla 1998/EXT 2000 (22)}) (11. h3 Nc7 12. g4
Bd6 13. f4 Bxg4 $6 (13... h6 $15) 14. hxg4 Nxg4 15. Rf3 Qh4 16. Bh3 Re6 17.
Bxg4 Rg6 18. Rg3 Rxg4 19. Kg2 $14 {1-0 Tatai,S (2435)-Ivkov,B (2475)/
Torremolinos 1983/MCD (60)}) (11. Nf4 Nc7 12. b4 a6 13. Ra2 (13. f3 $6 Nb5 $1
14. Nxb5 axb5 15. Bd2 Nd7 16. e4 dxe4 17. fxe4 Nf6 18. Bc3 Nxe4 $19 {1-0
Straeter,T (2345)-Ernst,S (2512)/Germany 2006/EXT 2007 (58)}) 13... Bf5 14. f3
Nb5 15. Nxb5 axb5 $15 {0-1 Maksimovic,S (2225)-Prudnikova,S (2405)/Belgrade
1995/EXT 1997 (48)}) 11... c5 $5 {A standard reaction to f2-f3.} 12. g4 h6 (
12... Nc7 $5 13. b3 $6 (13. g5 $142 Nd7 14. f4 Nb6 15. dxc5 Bxc5 16. Qd3 Nc4
17. Nd4 $13) 13... a5 14. Ng3 h6 15. Ra2 b5 16. Kh1 c4 $17 {0-1 Moutousis,K 
(2475)-Mastrovasilis,A (2315)/Panormo 1998/CBM 067 ext (46)}) 13. h3 b6 14. Ng3
Bb7 15. f4 Rc8 $15 {Black has good development; White's attacking chances are
slim.} 16. g5 hxg5 $1 (16... Ne4 17. Ncxe4 dxe4 18. gxh6 g6 (18... cxd4 19.
exd4 gxh6 20. f5 $36) 19. h7+ $5 (19. f5 Bxh6) 19... Kxh7 20. f5 Bg7 $13) 17.
fxg5 Ne4 $1 (17... cxd4 $2 18. exd4 Ne4 19. Ncxe4 dxe4 20. Rxf7 $1 Kxf7 21. g6+
$1 $18 {->}) 18. Ncxe4 dxe4 19. Qg4 (19. Rxf7 {now doesn't work as the c1
bishop is not in the attack.}) 19... g6 20. Nxe4 (20. Bxe4 $5 Bd5 $5 $36) 20...
Bxe4 21. Bxe4 cxd4 $1 {[%cal Ra6c5][%mdl 512]} 22. Bb7 {Obvious but probably
wrong!} (22. Qf3 $142 $5 Qd7 (22... Qxg5+ 23. Kh1 Rxe4 $1 24. Qxe4 d3 $1 25.
Qxd3 Nc5 $15) 23. b4 $15 {[%cal Yc1b2]} (23. Bd5 $143 Re7 24. exd4 Bg7 $17))
22... Rc2 $1 23. Bxa6 (23. Qf4 Qd7 $1 24. Bxa6 dxe3 (24... Qxh3 $2 25. Qxf7+
Kh8 26. Rf2 Qg4+ 27. Kf1 Qd1+ $11) 25. Qg4 $5 {(recommended by IM Ivan
Smikovsky)} (25. Bc4 Rxc4 26. Qxc4 e2 27. Re1 Qxh3 $19) {doesn't help due to}
25... Qd5 $1 26. Be2 (26. Qf3 Qxf3 27. Rxf3 e2 28. Be3 Bc5 $1 $19) 26... Bc5
$19 {[%cal Ye8e5,Ye5f5] White is nearly in zugzwang!}) 23... Qc7 $17 {Despite
White's extra piece, Black is dominating the board.} 24. Qf4 Bd6 25. Qf3 (25.
Qg4 $142 dxe3 26. Be2 Bg3 $1 $17 {I.Smikovsky} (26... Re5 $143 27. h4)) 25...
Bc5 (25... dxe3 $1 26. Be2 Re5 27. h4 (27. Qg4 Rxe2 $1) 27... Rf5 28. Qa8+ Bf8
29. Rxf5 Rxe2 $1 30. Bxe3 gxf5 $19 {I.Smikovsky}) 26. Qf4 Bd6 27. Qf3 Bc5 $2 (
27... dxe3) 28. Qf4 Qxf4 29. Rxf4 dxe3 30. Kf1 e2+ 31. Ke1 Rd8 32. Bxe2 Re8 33.
Bd2 Rxd2 34. Kxd2 Be3+ 35. Kc2 Bxf4 36. Bc4 Bxg5 {Black finally has won a pawn
but the opposite-coloured bishops eventually enable White to save the game.}
37. Rg1 Re5 38. h4 $1 Bxh4 39. Rxg6+ Kf8 40. Rd6 Re7 41. Bb5 Rc7+ 42. Rc6 Re7
43. Rd6 Re5 44. Bc4 Rf5 45. b4 Ke7 46. Rd5 Rf2+ 47. Rd2 Rf4 48. Bb5 Ke6 49.
Re2+ Kf6 50. Rd2 Ke6 51. Re2+ Kf6 52. Rd2 Bf2 53. Rd7 a5 54. bxa5 bxa5 55. a4
Bc5 56. Rd5 Bb4 57. Kd3 Ke6 58. Rd4 Rf3+ 59. Ke2 Ra3 60. Bc4+ Ke5 61. Rd3 Rxd3
1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2009.12.15"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Short, Nigel D"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B76"]
[WhiteElo "2707"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[Annotator "Schulz,Andre"]
[PlyCount "141"]
[EventDate "2009.12.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 134"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 {Diese Partie wurde in der
letzten Runde des Turniers gespielt. Carlsen führte mit einem Punkt Vorsprung,
musste aber damit rechnen, dass Kramnik ihn evtl. noch überholen würde, da mit
einer 3-Punkte-Regel gespielt wurde (3 Punkt für einen Sieg, 2 Punkt für ein
Remis). In dieser Situation griff Carlsen wieder einmal zur Drachenvariante,
nachdem er zuvor häufiger die Najdorf-Variante gespielt hatte.} 6. Be3 {
Short spielt gegen den Drachen verschiedene Variante mit langer oder kurzer
Rochade.} Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2 O-O 9. O-O-O ({In dem anderen großen Bereich
nach} 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Rc8 11. Bb3 Ne5 12. Kb1 $5 (12. h4 h5) 12... Re8 13.
h4 h5 {entsteht die kritische Variante nach} 14. g4 hxg4 15. h5 Nxh5 16. Bh6 {
und nun ist noch kein völlig befriediegender Weg zum Augleich für Schwarz
gefunden worden. Aber vielleicht hat Magnus Carlsen ja etwas in petto. Einige
wichtige Partien aus dem vergangenen Jahr (2009):} e6 (16... Kh7 17. Bxg7 Kxg7
18. fxg4 Bxg4 19. Nf5+ Bxf5 20. exf5 Rh8 21. fxg6 Nxg6 22. Ne4 Nf6 (22... d5
$11) 23. Rdf1 Rxh1 24. Rxh1 d5 25. Nxf6 Kxf6 26. Qf2+ Kg7 27. Rf1 f6 28. Qf5
Rc6 29. Rg1 Qe8 30. Bxd5 Rc5 31. Qe6 Rb5 32. c4 Rb6 33. Qh3 e6 34. Bf3 Qd8 35.
Qg2 {1-0 Radjabov,T (2751)-Kasimdzhanov,R (2672)/Elista 2008/CBM 128/[Radjabov]
}) 17. Rdg1 g3 (17... Qf6 18. fxg4 Bxh6 19. Qxh6 Qg7 20. Qe3 Nf6 21. g5 Nh5 22.
Ndb5 Bxb5 23. Nxb5 Red8 24. Qxa7 Nf3 25. Rg2 Qe5 26. Qe3 Ne1 27. Rxe1 Qxb5 28.
c3 Qe5 29. a3 b5 30. Ka2 Kg7 31. Rf1 Rc7 32. Qf3 Ra8 33. Rh1 Rh8 34. Rd1 Rd8
35. Rh1 Rh8 36. Rd1 Rd8 37. Rh1 {1/2-1/2 Dominguez Perez,L (2719)-Smerdon,D 
(2525)/Khanty Mansiysk 2009/EXT 2010}) 18. Rxh5 gxh5 19. Rxg3 Ng6 20. Nf5 Bf6 (
20... h4) 21. Nxd6 {1-0 Vachier Lagrave,M (2703)-Kasimdzhanov,R (2672)/San
Sebastian 2009/CBM 132/[Stohl] (46)}) 9... d5 10. Kb1 {Ein pfiffiger Wartezug
mit einer versteckten taktischen Pointe.} ({Nach} 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6
12. Bd4 {hatte Schwarz zuletzt nach} Nxc3 ({Carlsen und Radjabov spielen gerne
} 12... Bxd4 13. Qxd4 Qb6 14. Na4 (14. Bc4 Qxd4 (14... Ne3 $5) 15. Rxd4 Nxc3
16. bxc3 {1-0 Ivanchuk,V (2746)-Carlsen,M (2770)/Leon 2009/CBM 130 Extra (63)})
14... Qc7 15. Bc4 Rd8 16. Bb3 Bf5 17. g4 Nf4 18. Qe3 Be6 {1/2-1/2 Ivanchuk,V 
(2746)-Carlsen,M (2770)/Leon 2009/CBM 130 Extra (51)}) 13. Qxc3 Bh6+ 14. Be3
Bxe3+ 15. Qxe3 Qb6 16. Qxe7 Be6 17. Qa3 Rad8 {nicht allzuviele Sorgen:} 18. Bd3
Rd5 19. Rhe1 Ra5 20. Qc3 Rxa2 21. b3 Ra5 22. Bc4 Bxc4 23. Qxc4 Rc5 24. Qd4 Qb5
25. Kb2 a5 26. Ra1 Rd5 27. Qf4 Rf5 28. Qe4 Rd8 29. Rad1 Rfd5 30. Rxd5 cxd5 31.
Qd4 Qb4 32. Rd1 Qd6 33. h4 Qe6 34. g4 a4 35. Qxa4 Qf6+ 36. Qd4 Qxh4 37. b4 {
1/2-1/2 Alekseev,E (2714)-Caruana,F (2670)/Biel 2009/CBM 132 (52)} (37. Qe5
$142 $16)) ({Eine andere Alternative ist} 10. Qe1 e5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. exd5
cxd5 13. Bg5 Be6 14. Bc4 Qc7 15. Bxf6 dxc4 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Nd5 Bxd5 18. Rxd5
Rfe8 19. Qc3 Kg8 {1/2-1/2 Leko,P (2741)-Carlsen,M (2765)/Miskolc 2008/CBM 124
Extra (65)}) 10... Nxd4 ({Die Alternativen} 10... Rb8) ({oder} 10... e6 {
konnten aus schwarzer Sicht bisher nicht befriedigen.}) 11. e5 {Dieser
pfiffige Zwischenzug, seinerzeit von Vadim Milov entdeckt, ist die taktische
Rechtfertigung für 10.Kb1} ({Nach} 11. Bxd4 dxe4 12. Nxe4 Nxe4 13. fxe4 Bxd4
14. Qxd4 Bg4 {hätte Weiß weniger als gar nichts.}) 11... Nf5 ({Schlecht ist} 
11... Nd7 12. Bxd4 Nxe5 13. Qe3 Nc6 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. Nxd5 Qa5 (15... Be6 16.
Qc3+ f6 17. Bc4 Qa5 18. b4 $1 Nxb4 19. Rhe1 Bxd5 20. Rxd5 $18 {1-0 Agamaliev,G
(2490)-Antonio,V (2107)/Abu Dhabi 2009/CB35_2009 (30)}) 16. b4 Qa4 (16... Nxb4
17. Qc3+ $18) 17. b5 Rb8 18. Ka1 (18. Qb3 Qxb3+ 19. axb3 {1-0 Laznicka,V (2437)
-Simacek,P (2442)/Cartak 2003/CBM 097 ext (74)}) 18... Na5 19. Qc3+ f6 20. Rd4
$18) ({oder auch} 11... Nxf3 12. gxf3 Nd7 13. Nxd5 Bxe5 (13... e6 $2 14. Bg5 f6
15. exf6 Nxf6 16. Nxf6+ Bxf6 17. h4 Kf7 18. Bc4 Qb6 19. Bb3 {1-0 Caruana,F 
(2549)-Hubregtse,S/Vlissingen 2007/CBM 119 ext}) 14. Bh6 $40) 12. exf6 exf6 $5
({Häufiger sah man bisher die folgende Abwicklung:} 12... Bxf6 13. Nxd5 Qxd5
14. Qxd5 Nxe3 15. Qd2 Nxd1 16. Qxd1 Be6 {mit einer remisträchtigen Position,
in der aber nur Weiß auf Gewinn spielen kann.}) 13. Bc5 ({Nach} 13. Nxd5 Nxe3
14. Qxe3 Be6 {hat Schwarz ein spielbare Position mit guten Angriffsaussichten
dank des Läuferpaares.}) 13... d4 {Das ist die Pointe. Schwarz opfert 
(vorübergehend) die Qualität.} (13... Re8 $2 14. Nxd5 $16) 14. Bxf8 Qxf8 15.
Nb5 Ne3 {Nun hat Weiß zwei Rückzugsfelder für den angegriffenen Turm zur
Auswahl.} 16. Rc1 ({Oder:} 16. Re1 f5 17. f4 (17. Nxd4 f4 $11 {1/2-1/2
Akshayraj,K (2400)-Ganguly,S (2603)/Mangalore 2008/CB01_2009 (25)}) 17... Qc5
18. c3 Nxf1 19. Re8+ Bf8 20. Qxd4 Qxb5 21. Qd8 Nd2+ 22. Kc2 Qa4+ 23. Kc1 Qxe8
24. Qxe8 Ne4 25. Rd1 Nf6 26. Qe5 Nd7 27. Qe8 Nf6 28. Qd8 Ne4 29. Rd7 Bxd7 30.
Qxa8 Bc6 31. Qxa7 Nc5 32. g3 Nd3+ 33. Kb1 Be4 34. Ka1 Bc5 35. Qb8+ Kg7 36. Qd8
Bg1 37. h4 h5 38. a4 Bf2 39. a5 Bxg3 40. Qd4+ {1/2-1/2 Nisipeanu,L (2675)
-Radjabov,T (2756)/Bazna 2009/Mega2009 Update 25}) 16... Bh6 ({Der ältere Zug
ist} 16... f5 {und nun} 17. Nxd4 f4 18. c3 {vielleicht einfacher als} (18. g3
Qc5 19. Nb3 Qb6 20. gxf4 Bf5 21. Bd3 Rd8 22. Qa5 Qf6 23. Qe5 Qb6 24. Qb5 Qf6
25. Nc5 b6 26. Ne4 $16 {1/2-1/2 Barnett,J-Dahlstroem,R/ICCF email 2004/Corr
2006 (61)}) 18... Qd6 19. Bd3 Bxd4 20. cxd4 Be6 ({zu prüfen wäre noch} 20...
Qxd4 $5 21. Qc3 Qd5 $5 (21... Qxc3 22. Rxc3 Nxg2 23. Rc7 $16)) 21. Be4 $16 {
1-0 Smeets,J (2632)-Jones,G (2554)/London 2009/CB34_2009 (41)}) 17. Qxd4 Nf5
18. Qc3 ({In der Stammpartie von 16...Lh6 geschah:} 18. Qf2 $6 Be3 19. Qe1 Bxc1
20. Qxc1 Qc5 21. Nc3 Be6 22. Bd3 Rd8 23. g4 Nd4 $36 {0-1 Thomsen,J (2234)
-Moreira,J (2286)/ICCF email 2007/Corr 2008 (67)}) ({Nach} 18. Qxf6 {folgt} Be6
$1 {mit komplizierter Stellung, die Schwarz aber einige Kompemnsation für die
Qualität bietet. Zur Illustration eine effektvolle Computervariante:} (18...
Bg7 19. Qg5 Bh6 {führt zum Remis durch Stellungswiederholung.}) 19. Re1 (19.
Rd1 Ne3 20. Bd3 Nxd1 21. Rxd1 Bg7 22. Qh4 Rd8 23. a3 a6 24. Nc7 Bf5 $15) 19...
Bg7 20. Qg5 Bxb2 $1 21. Rxe6 (21. Kxb2 Qb4+ $19) 21... Qb4 $1 22. Re4 $8 Bd4+
23. Kc1 Qb2+ 24. Kd1 Bf6 25. Qc1 Rd8+ 26. Nd4 (26. Bd3 Qxb5 $17) 26... Rxd4+ (
26... Qxa2 27. c3 Nxd4 28. cxd4 Bxd4 29. Qd2 Qb3+ 30. Ke2 Qb5+ 31. Qd3 Qb2+ 32.
Qd2 $11) 27. Bd3 (27. Rxd4 Qxd4+ 28. Bd3 Ne3+ 29. Ke2 Nxg2 30. Be4 Be5 31. Qd2
Nf4+ 32. Kd1 Qa1+ 33. Qc1 Qxa2 $19) 27... Rxd3+ ({Die Alternative ist} 27...
Qxa2 28. Rxd4 Nxd4 29. Re1 Kg7 {mit einer leicht besseren Position, die für
Schwarz vielleicht einfacher zu spielen ist.}) 28. cxd3 Qxg2 29. Rhe1 Qxf3+ 30.
R1e2 Qxd3+ 31. Qd2 Qb1+ 32. Qc1 Qb6 $15 {mit einer komplizierten und materiell
ungleichem Position, in der die schwarzen Chancen angesichts des frei
stehenden weißen Königs vielleicht besser sind.}) 18... Bxc1 19. Kxc1 $11 {
Schwarz hat mit Leichtigkeit ausgeglichen.} Bd7 20. Bd3 {Kurz zuvor, bei der
Mannschaftseuropameisterschaft, endete an dieser Stelle die Partie
Smeets-Radjabov mit Remis. Carlsen spielt weiter.} Rc8 21. Qd2 ({Auf} 21. Qxf6
{käme} Qh6+ 22. Kb1 Bxb5 23. Bxb5 Qd2 24. Rc1 Ne3 $15) 21... Bxb5 22. Bxb5 Qc5
23. Bd3 Ne3 {Die Initiative ist hier schon etwas an Schwarz über gegangen.} 24.
Re1 Re8 25. Qf2 {Mit der Idee 26.Le4} f5 26. f4 Qd4 27. g3 Re6 {mit einer
kleinen Drohung.} 28. Qd2 ({Auf z.B.:} 28. a3 $2 {käme nämlich} Nc4 $1 {und}
29. Qxd4 Rxe1#) 28... Ng4 29. h3 (29. Rxe6 fxe6 {würde die schwarze
Bauernstellung reparieren.}) 29... Rxe1+ 30. Qxe1 Nf2 31. Bf1 Ne4 32. Bg2 b6
33. c3 (33. Bxe4 fxe4 {mit einem schwarzen Freibauern war natürlich keine
Option.}) 33... Qd3 34. g4 Ng3 {droht Matt bzw. Damengewinn nach Se2} 35. b3
Ne2+ (35... Kf8 $5) (35... h5 $5) 36. Kb2 Kf8 ({Vermeidet} 36... Nxf4 37. Qe8+
Kg7 38. Qe5+ Kg8 39. Qe8+ {mit Remis durch Dauerschach.} (39. Qxf4 Qe2+ 40. Ka3
Qxg2 41. Qb8+ Kg7 42. Qe5+)) 37. Bc6 fxg4 38. hxg4 h5 $1 {Schwarz bildet einen
Freibauern und nimmt dafür eine Verschlechterung seines Königsschutzes in Kauf.
} ({Natürlich nicht} 38... Nxf4 $2 39. Qe8+ Kg7 40. Qe5+ Kg8 41. Qxf4 $18) 39.
gxh5 gxh5 40. a4 a6 41. f5 $1 h4 42. Bg2 Ng3 (42... h3 $2 43. Bxh3 Qxh3 44.
Qxe2 Qxf5 45. Qe3 $14) 43. f6 {Das war die Idee. Der f-Bauer schnürt den
schwarzen König ein und bietet der weißen Dame ggf. ein paar schöne
Stützpunkte.} Qd6 ({Zu berechnen war hier der mögliche Übergang ins
Leichtfigurenendspiel, der Schwarz aber nichts einbringt:} 43... Qe2+ 44. Qxe2
Nxe2 45. Bf1 Ng3 46. Bxa6 h3 47. Bb7 Ke8 (47... h2 48. b4 h1=Q $2 (48... Ke8)
49. Bxh1 Nxh1 50. a5 bxa5 51. bxa5 $18 {Und der Bauer läuft durch.}) 48. b4 Kd7
49. a5 bxa5 50. bxa5 h2 51. a6 Kc7 52. c4 h1=Q 53. Bxh1 Nxh1 54. c5 Nf2 55. Kc3
Ne4+ 56. Kd4 Nxf6 57. Ke5 Ng4+ 58. Kf5 Nh6+ 59. Kf6 Kc6 60. a7 Kb7 61. c6+ Kxa7
62. Ke7 Kb6 63. Kd7 Ng4 64. c7 Ne5+ 65. Kd8 Nc6+ 66. Ke8 Kxc7 67. Kxf7 $11) 44.
Qf2 Kg8 45. b4 a5 ({Der direkte Weg nach vorne führt nicht zum Erfolg:} 45...
Kh7 46. Be4+ (46. Bb7 $5 a5 47. b5 Kg6 48. Bc6 $11 {mit der Idee:} Qxf6 49.
Qxb6) 46... Nxe4 (46... Kh6 47. Bc2 Kg5 48. Qe3+ Qf4 49. Qxb6 h3 50. Qg1 Kh4
51. Qh2 Nh5 52. Qxf4+ Nxf4 53. Be4 Ne6 (53... Nh5 $2 54. b5)) 47. Qxh4+ Kg6 48.
Qxe4+ Kxf6 49. Qe2 $11) 46. bxa5 (46. b5 $5 Kh7 47. Be4+ Kh6 48. Qe3+ Kh5 49.
Bf3+ Kg6 50. Bc6 $11) 46... bxa5 47. Kc2 Kh7 48. c4 (48. Be4+ Kh6 (48... Nxe4
$2 49. Qxh4+ Kg8 50. Qg4+ $1 $18) 49. Bd3 Kg5 {Und der f-Bauer fällt.}) 48...
Qa3 (48... Kh6 49. c5 Qe6 50. Kb2 Qe5+ $11 (50... Kg5 51. Qd2+ Kxf6 52. Qh6+
Ke5 53. Qxh4)) 49. Be4+ Kg8 $1 (49... Nxe4 50. Qxh4+ Kg6 (50... Kg8 51. Qg4+
Ng5 (51... Kh7 52. Qg7#) (51... Kf8 52. Qc8#) 52. Qxg5+ Kf8 53. Qg7+ $18) 51.
Qxe4+ Kxf6 52. Qd4+ Kf5 53. c5 Qa2+ $11) 50. Qf4 Qxa4+ 51. Kd2 Nxe4+ 52. Qxe4
Qa2+ 53. Kc3 (53. Ke3 {ändert nichts:} Qb3+ 54. Kf2 Qb6+ 55. Kg2 Qxf6 56. Qa8+
Kh7 57. Qxa5 {und auch hier muss Weiß ums Remis kämpfen.}) 53... Qa1+ 54. Kb3
Qd1+ $2 ({Folgerichtiger scheint} 54... Qxf6 {mit weiterhin schwer zu
bewertender Situation:} 55. c5 (55. Qg4+ Kh7 56. Qh5+ Kg7 57. Qg4+ ({Nach} 57.
Qxa5 h3 58. Qc7 Qf2 59. Qe5+ Kg6 60. c5 h2 $19 {gewinnt Schwarz.}) 57... Kh6
58. c5 Qf2 59. c6 Qb6+ 60. Ka3 Qxc6 61. Qxh4+ Kg6 {und mit zwei Bauern im
Damenendspiel sollte Schwarz gewinnen.}) 55... Qg5 (55... Qf2 56. c6 Qg3+ 57.
Kc4 h3 58. Qd3 Qg4+ 59. Qd4 Qe2+ 60. Kc5 (60. Qd3 $2 Qe6+ 61. Kb5 Qe5+ 62. Kb6
h2 63. Qf3 Qb8+ 64. Kxa5 f5 $19 {Weiß ist in einer Art Zugzwangstellung.})
60... h2 61. c7 Qe7+ 62. Qd6 Qg5+ 63. Kb6 Qg1+ 64. Ka6 h1=Q 65. c8=Q+ Kh7 66.
Qf5+ Qg6 67. Qfxg6+ fxg6 68. Kxa5 $11 {ist theoretisch Remis (Tablebases)}) 56.
c6 h3 57. Qc4 (57. c7 Qg3+ 58. Ka2 Qxc7 59. Qg4+ Kf8 60. Qxh3 $19) 57... Qg3+
58. Ka2 Qc7 59. Qg4+ Kf8 60. Qxh3 Qxc6 $19) 55. Kb2 Qh5 56. c5 h3 {Die
schwarze Idee war es wohl, den h-Bauern nach vorne zu treiben. Nur: der weiße
c-Bauer ist ungebremst noch stärker, da er mit Matt umwandelt.} 57. c6 a4 $1 {
Schwarz zieht die Reißleine. Mit dem Stützpunkt auf b3 ist das Dauerschach
gesichert.} (57... h2 58. c7 h1=Q 59. c8=Q#) 58. Ka2 Qd1 59. Qe8+ Kh7 60. Qxf7+
Kh6 61. c7 Qc2+ 62. Ka3 h2 63. Qg7+ Kh5 64. Qh8+ Kg6 65. Qg8+ Kxf6 66. c8=Q
Qxc8 67. Qxc8 h1=Q 68. Qa6+ Ke5 69. Qb5+ Qd5 70. Kxa4 Qxb5+ 71. Kxb5 {Und
diese Position ist für jeden ersichtlich nun wirklich remis. Short und Carlsen
boten den Zuschauern in London bis zum Schluss einen spannenden Kampf mit
Gewinnchancen für beide Seiten.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2010.01.16"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Tiviakov, Sergei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2662"]
[BlackElo "2810"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2010.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Qe2 Bd6 6. c3 O-O 7. d3 Re8 8. Bg5
b5 9. Bb3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. Nbd2 Nc6 12. Nf1 Be7 13. Ne3 d6 14. O-O Be6 15.
Bxf6 Bxf6 16. Bb3 Rb8 17. Rfd1 Qd7 18. Bd5 Bd8 19. a4 bxa4 20. Qc2 Na5 21. Qxa4
Qxa4 22. Rxa4 Rxb2 23. Nd2 Bc7 24. Ndc4 Rb5 25. Bxe6 fxe6 26. Nxd6 Bxd6 27. c4
Rb6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2010.01.17"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Smeets, Jan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D44"]
[WhiteElo "2810"]
[BlackElo "2657"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2010.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e4 b5 7. e5 h6 8. Bh4 g5
9. Nxg5 hxg5 10. Bxg5 Nbd7 11. exf6 Bb7 12. g3 c5 13. d5 Qb6 14. Bg2 O-O-O 15.
O-O b4 16. Na4 Qb5 17. a3 Nb8 18. axb4 cxb4 19. Qd4 Nc6 20. Nb6+ $5 {A new
idea in this well-known position but the "old" queen sacrifice} (20. dxc6 Rxd4
21. cxb7+ {is quite dangerous for Black, too.}) 20... axb6 21. dxc6 Bxc6 22.
Bxc6 (22. Qg4 $6 Bxg2 23. Kxg2 Qc6+ 24. f3 Kb7 {, and White must fight for
survival:} 25. h4 (25. Rfd1 Rd5 26. h4 Bd6 27. Rd4 Rc8 28. Rh1 $6 Be5 $1 29.
Rxd5 Qxd5 $17 {0-1 Swayams,M (2340)-Arun Prasad,S (2567)/New Delhi IND 2010/
The Week in Chess 794 (45)}) 25... c3 26. bxc3 bxc3 27. Ra4 b5 28. Ra5 Rd5 29.
Be3 Bc5 30. Qg7 Bxe3 31. Qxh8 c2 32. Qf8 Rd7 33. Ra8 Qc4 34. Qb8+ Kc6 35. Ra6+
Kd5 36. Raa1 Kc6 37. Qa8+ {1/2 Massimini Gerbino,M (2450)-Sanner,Z (2376)/IECG
2004/Telechess CBM 105}) 22... Qxc6 23. Qg4 Bc5 $146 (23... Kb7 24. Rfd1 (24.
b3 $6 c3 25. Qe2 Bh6 26. Bxh6 Rxh6 27. Qa6+ Kc7 28. Rfd1 Rhh8 29. Rxd8 Rxd8 $17
{[%csl Gc3] 1/2 Hebden,M (2468)-Arun Prasad,S (2556)/Edinburgh 2009/CBM 131
Extra (53)}) 24... Bd6 25. h4 Be5 26. Qe2 Bd4 27. Be3 Bxf6 28. Rdc1 Rc8 $2 (
28... Rxh4 $1 29. gxh4 Rg8+ 30. Bg5 Bxg5 31. Qg4 Qd5 32. Rd1 (32. Rxc4 Rg7 33.
Kf1 Qd3+ 34. Qe2 Qh3+ 35. Ke1 Be3 $1 36. Qc2 $1 f5 $132) 32... Bc1 $3 33. Qxg8
Qxd1+ 34. Kg2 Kc6 $1 $132) 29. Rxc4 Qxc4 30. Qf3+ Qd5 31. Qxf6 $16 {1-0
Marchand,J (2100)-Kleinsorgen,H (2084)/IECG 2004/Telechess CBM 119 (45)}) 24.
Ra7 Rd7 25. Rxd7 Kxd7 26. h4 Kc7 27. h5 e5 28. h6 Bd4 29. Qe2 b3 30. Be3 Qd5 $2
{This move leads to an unpleasant pin.} (30... c3 $5 31. bxc3 Bxe3 32. Qxe3
Qxf6 $132) (30... Bxe3 31. Qxe3 Qxf6 32. Rc1 Kd7 $5 $11 {S.Zagrebelny}) 31. Rd1
Kc6 (31... Qc5 32. Qh5 $1 Rf8 (32... Rh7 33. Qg4 $1 Bxe3 34. Qd7+ Kb8 35. Qe8+
Kb7 36. Rd8 Bxf2+ 37. Kf1 $18) 33. Re1 $1 $16) 32. Qg4 b5 33. Bxd4 exd4 34.
Rxd4 $40 {[%csl Rc6][%mdl 128]} Qe5 35. Qd7+ Kc5 36. Qa7+ Kc6 37. Qd7+ Kc5 38.
Rf4 $2 (38. Rd1 $18 {G.Kasparov} Rxh6 $140 39. Qc8+ Kb6 (39... Kb4 40. Qf8+)
40. Ra1) 38... Qxb2 $4 (38... Kb6 $1 {[%cal Rc4c3]} 39. Rf5 Qe1+ 40. Kg2 Qe4+
41. Rf3 c3 (41... Rxh6 $11) 42. Qd6+ Kb7 43. Qe7+ Qxe7 44. fxe7 c2 45. Rc3 b4
46. Rc4 Kb6 47. h7 Kb5 48. Rc7 Kb6 $11 {S.Zagrebelny}) 39. Rf5+ Kb4 40. Qxb5+
Kc3 41. Rf3+ 1-0

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2010.01.18"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D36"]
[WhiteElo "2641"]
[BlackElo "2810"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2010.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. d4 Nbd7 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be7 7. e3 c6 8.
Qc2 O-O 9. Bd3 Re8 10. h3 Ne4 $6 {A pawn sacrifice for the bishop pair is
quite popular in modern chess - maybe the influence of Rybka? But this one is
too odd. White gets a strong centre and a solid position.} 11. Bxe4 dxe4 12.
Nxe4 Qa5+ 13. Kf1 Bf8 {A logical but too passive move.} (13... Qf5 14. Bxe7
Rxe7 15. Nfd2 Nb6 16. Rc1 Nd5 17. Kg1 Nb4 18. Qb3 a5 19. Nd6 Qd3 20. Nxc8 Rxc8
21. Nc4 Qxb3 22. axb3 b5 23. Nd6 Rd8 24. Nf5 Re6 25. g4 $16 {1/2 Van Wely,L 
(2655)-Piket,J (2630)/Groningen 1997/CBM 063/[ChessBase] (52)}) (13... Nf8 $6 {
has been seen in practice, too:} 14. Bxe7 Rxe7 15. Kg1 $1 Qf5 16. Nfd2 $16 {
1/2 Vybiral,Z (2206)-Vevera,R (1966)/Klatovy 2005/CBM 107 ext (27)}) 14. Bf4 $2
{White wrongly ignores the pin, after which Black obtains excellent
counterplay.} (14. Kg1 Qf5 $1 (14... Nb6 15. Nc5 Nd5 16. a3 h6 17. Bh4 $16 {
1-0 Vybiral,Z (2245)-Lacina,A (2250)/Prague 2001/EXT 2003 (55)}) 15. Nfd2 Bb4
16. g4 Qg6 17. f4 Bxd2 18. f5 Qxg5 19. Nxg5 Bxe3+ 20. Kg2 Bxg5 $13) (14. Nc3 $1
{is good enough to keep a clear advantage.} Nb6 (14... b5 15. Kg1 Nb6 {1-0
Videki,S (2385)-Robert,A (2225)/Biel 1990/EXT 1997 (37)} 16. Ne4 $1 Bf5 $140
17. Nf6+ $1 $18) (14... Bd6 15. e4 Nf8 16. g3 f6 17. Be3 Be6 18. a3 Rad8 19.
Kg2 Bb8 20. b4 $16 {1-0 Sedlacek,O (2445)-McLeod,S/ICCF Email 2002/ICCF
Telechess CBM 100 (53)}) (14... Bb4 15. e4 Nb6 16. Kg1 Be6 17. a3 Bd6 18. e5
Bc7 19. Bd2 h6 20. Kh2 Rad8 21. Rhe1 $16 {1-0 Klein,E-Sarabia Utrilla,J/ICCF
WS 2006/ICCF CBM 132 (55)}) 15. g4 (15. Bf4 $5 Nd5 (15... Bf5 16. e4 Bxe4 17.
Nxe4 Qf5 18. Nfg5 Kh8 19. Nf6 $1 {1-0 Khenkin,I (2609)-Glaser,S (1946)/Bad
Homburg 2008/CBM 124 Extra}) 16. Nxd5 Qxd5 $16) 15... h6 16. Bh4 Nc4 17. e4 b5
18. Kg2 Bb7 19. Rhe1 $16 {1-0 Lazarev,V (2445)-Mai,I (2185)/Meisdorf 1996/EXT
1997 (48)}) 14... Qf5 15. Nfd2 Nb6 $1 {Even stronger than} (15... c5 $5 16. g4
Qg6 (16... Qd5 17. Qb3 Qxb3 18. axb3 cxd4 19. exd4 Nb6 $44) 17. Rc1 (17. d5 $6
b5 $1 $36) 17... cxd4 18. exd4 Nb6 $44) 16. Rc1 (16. Qb1 Nd5 17. g4 Qg6 18. Be5
f6 19. Bd6 f5 20. Bxf8 fxe4 21. Ba3 b6 $40 {[%cal Yc8a6,Ya6d3,Ya6e2]}) 16...
Nd5 17. g4 Qg6 18. Nd6 (18. Be5 f6 (18... Nb4 19. Qb1 f6 20. Bg3 Be6 21. b3)
19. Bd6 (19. Bg3 h5 $1 $36) 19... Bxd6 20. Nxd6 Qxc2 21. Rxc2 Rxe3 $1 22. Rxc6
Rd3 23. Rxc8+ Rxc8 24. Nxc8 Rxd2 25. Kg2 Rxb2 $15) 18... Rd8 $1 19. Qxg6 $2 (
19. Nxc8 $142 Nxf4 20. exf4 Qxc2 (20... Rxd4 21. f5 Qh6 22. Nb3) 21. Rxc2 {
[%csl Gc2]} Rxd4 22. Nxa7 Rxa7 23. b3 {and White should not lose.}) 19... hxg6
(19... fxg6 $1 {was even stronger, according to V.Yemelin. Black could have
made use of the f-file.}) 20. Nxc8 Nxf4 $1 21. exf4 Rxd4 22. Nb3 Rb4 $1 $17 23.
Kg2 (23. Nxa7 $2 Rxa7 {is bad for White; therefore Black keeps a queenside
pawn advantage, in addition to the advantage of his bishop over the white
knight in this open position; meanwhile, White's f4 pawn is doomed anyway.})
23... Rxc8 24. Rhd1 Rxf4 25. Rd7 Rb4 26. Rc2 Re8 27. Rcd2 Be7 $5 {Black
concludes that White's invasion to the 7th rank is not too dangerous as the g7
pawn will be safely protected.} (27... Re5 $5 {[%csl Rb3] was also possible:}
28. Rc7 (28. Rd8 f5) 28... Rd5 29. Rxd5 (29. Re2 f5 30. g5 f4 $1 31. h4 f3+ 32.
Kxf3 Rf5+ 33. Kg2 Rxh4 34. Rxb7 Rxg5+ 35. Kf3 Rh3+ $17) 29... cxd5 30. Rd7 Rb5
$17 {[%cal Ya7a5]}) 28. Rc7 Bf6 29. Rdd7 b6 $1 (29... Re2 30. Nc1 $1 Rc2 31.
Nd3 Rd4 32. Rxb7 Rd2 33. Nc5 Rxd7 34. Nxd7 Bxb2 35. Nc5 $132 {[%cal Rc5e4]}) (
29... a6 30. Rxb7 (30. Rxf7 b6 {[%cal Yc6c5]}) 30... Rxb7 31. Rxb7 Re2 32. g5
$1 Bxb2 (32... Bxg5 33. Nd4 $132) 33. Rb6 $132) 30. Rxa7 g5 $1 31. Rd2 (31.
Rxf7 Re2 32. Nc1 $1 Rd2 33. Rfd7 Rxd7 34. Rxd7 Rxb2 35. Nd3 Re2 $17 {[%cal
Yc6c5]}) 31... c5 32. Ra6 (32. Rb7 c4 33. Nd4 Rd8 34. a3 Ra4 $19) (32. Rc2 c4
$140 ({but what will White do after, say,} 32... g6 {?}) 33. Nd2 b5 34. Rb7 $1)
32... c4 $6 {Black unnecessarily forces the game.} (32... Kh7 $5) 33. Nd4 Bxd4
(33... Rd8 $5 {but after} 34. a3 $1 {[%csl Rb4]} Rb5 35. Nxb5 Rxd2 36. Rxb6
Rxb2 37. a4 Ra2 38. Rc6 (38. Ra6 $143 $6 Be5) 38... Rxa4 39. Nd6 c3 40. Kf3 {
Black's victory is doubtful.}) 34. Rxd4 Rxb2 {[%mdl 4096]} 35. Rd7 (35. Rxc4
Ree2 36. Kg3 Rxf2 37. Rxb6 Rg2+ 38. Kf3 Rbf2+ 39. Ke4 (39. Ke3 Rxa2) 39... Rf4+
40. Kd5 Rxc4 41. Kxc4 Rxa2 42. Rb3 Rd2 {should be lost for White.}) 35... c3
36. Raa7 Rf8 37. Rdc7 (37. Rac7 $143 c2 38. a4 Ra2 39. Re7 b5 $1 40. axb5 Ra7
$3 41. b6 c1=Q 42. bxa7 Qf4 {and Black should win, e.g.} 43. Rb7 g6 44. Rb6 Kg7
45. Rbb7 Rc8 46. Rbd7 Qf6 47. Rb7 Qc6+ 48. Kg3 Qd6+ 49. Kg2 Qd5+ 50. Kg3 (50.
Kh2 Qf3) 50... Rc3+ 51. Kh2 Ra3 $19) 37... c2 38. Kg3 $2 {A big mistake as the
a2-pawn will now be lost.} (38. a4 $1 g6 39. a5 (39. Kh2 Rb8 40. Kg2 Ra2 $1 $19
{[%cal Yb6b5]}) 39... bxa5 40. Rxa5 Rd8 41. Rxg5 ({but not} 41. Raa7 $2 Rd1 42.
Ra8+ Kg7 43. Rac8 Rd2 $19 {[%cal Rd2f2]}) 41... Rd2 {[%cal Rd2f2]} 42. Kg3 $1 {
and there is apparently no win for Black, e.g.} Kg7 (42... Rxf2 43. Rb5 $1 Rg2+
44. Kf3 Ra2 45. Ra5 Rxa5 46. Kxg2 Ra2 47. Kf3 Kg7 48. g5 $1 $11) (42... Rb3+
43. Kg2 (43. f3 Rdd3 44. Rxc2 Rxf3+ 45. Kg2 Rxh3 $17) 43... Kg7 44. h4 $1) 43.
Rgc5 (43. h4 $5 Rxf2 44. h5 Kf6 45. Rgc5 gxh5 46. gxh5 Kg7 47. R5c6 {etc.})
43... Rxf2 44. Rb7 (44. h4 $5) 44... Ra2 45. Ra7 Rg2+ $1 46. Kf3 Rxa7 47. Kxg2
Ra2 48. Kf3 Kf6 {- that's why Black has played 42...Kg7 but...} 49. h4 $1 {
[%cal Yh4h5] with sufficient counterplay} ({not, however,} 49. g5+ $2 Ke6 50.
Ke3 Kd6 51. Rc8 Kd5 52. Kd2 Ra3 53. Rc7 Rxh3 54. Rxf7 Rh2+ 55. Kc1 Rg2 56. Rf6
Rxg5 57. Kxc2 Ke5 $19 {_|_})) 38... Rd8 39. Rxf7 $2 (39. Kg2 {was much more
stubborn:} Kh7 40. Rc3 Rd2 41. Rxf7 Kg8 $1 42. Rff3 (42. Ra7 Rxf2+ 43. Kg3 Rd2
44. Rc8+ Kh7 45. Kf3 b5 $19 {V.Yemelin}) (42. Rf5 $2 Rd1) 42... Rxa2 43. Rc8+
Kh7 44. Rf7 Rd8 (44... Ra8 $5) 45. Rc3 (45. Rcc7 Ra7 $3 46. Rxg7+ Kh6 47. Rge7
Rd6 $19) 45... Rd1 46. Rfc7 Rd2 {[%cal Rd2f2]} 47. Rf7 Kg8 $1 48. Rff3 b5 $1
49. Rc8+ Kh7 50. Rf7 Ra8 $1 ({not} 50... Rd8 51. Rcc7 Ra7 $2 {now, due to} 52.
Rxa7 $1 c1=Q 53. Rxg7+ Kh6 54. Rgc7 $1 Qd2 55. Ra6+ Rd6 56. Rd7 $3 Qd5+ 57. Kg1
) 51. Rcc7 Kh8 $1 {etc.} 52. Rxg7 $140 c1=Q) 39... Rd3+ 40. Kg2 c1=Q {The
black king escapes to d8.} 0-1

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2010.01.19"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Short, Nigel D"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2810"]
[BlackElo "2696"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2010.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Bg4 4. Nf3 ({Carlsen does not feel prepared for the
unclear complications arising after} 4. f3 Bf5 5. Bb5+ Nbd7 6. c4 e6 {, see
for instance Finkel,A (2467)-Gershon,A (2502)/Ramat Aviv/Modiin 2000/CBM 081/
[Finkel,A] (1-0, 34)}) 4... Nxd5 5. h3 {After this move, the queen will get on
an active position, although in some lines it will also stand in the way of
its own bishops.} (5. Be2 {looks more flexible, but also less ambitious, see
for instance Anand,V (2720)-Kamsky,G (2695)/Sanghi Nagar 1994/CBM 042/[Ftacnik]
(0-1, 75)}) 5... Bxf3 6. Qxf3 c6 7. Be2 {Definitely, this does not look like a
harmonious way of developing, with the bishop behind the queen. However, the
alternatives tend to offer less.} (7. Bd3 g6 8. O-O Bg7 {more or less forces
the passive} 9. c3 {, when Black's position is relatively safe after} O-O) (7.
Bc4 g6 {leaves the d5-knight stable, at least temporarily.}) (7. c3 {
consolidates the centre, but delays the development.} Nd7 (7... g6 {also looks
OK}) 8. Nd2 e5 $132 {Szabo,K (2489)-Varga,Z (2481)/Budapest 2009/CBM 132 Extra
(0-1, 51)}) 7... g6 8. O-O Bg7 9. Rd1 {This active way of defending the
d4-pawn would not have been possible with the bishop on d3...} O-O 10. c4 {
...while this move would been physically prevented by Bc4.} Nc7 $1 $146 {
The only way to make the pressure against the d4-pawn effective. Among others,
Black intends to break up the centre with a well timed ...e5. In the event of
a pawn exchange, this would lead to a structure which has been discussed in
the notes to the game Caruana-Tiviakov from the same tournament.} (10... Nb6 $6
{allows the natural development with} 11. Nc3 $1 e5 ({With the knight on b6,} 
11... Bxd4 $2 {leads to trouble:} 12. c5 $1 Nc8 13. Bh6 Re8 14. Bc4 $18) 12. d5
$16 {Cayford,T-Hickmann,H/USA-ch1 sf corr 1972/Corr Nr. 1 (1-0, 20)}) 11. Qe4
$1 {Although moving with the queen for the second time before having even
touched the queenside pieces looks unnatural, this is the best way to restore
the coordination: the e2-bishop enjoys maximum mobility now. In concrete terms,
White not only defends d4, but also prevents ...e5. The deviation from the
natural way of developing is enabled by White's significant space advantage
and mighty bishop pair.} ({The generally desirable} 11. Nc3 {is less effective
than in the aforementioned game.} Bxd4 12. Bh6 e5 $5 13. Bxf8 Qxf8 $44 {
[%cal Gc7e6,Gb8d7] Black is in total control of the dark squares and has
excellent compensation for the exchange.}) (11. Be3 {has the abstract defect
of developing the bishop before the knight, leaving the b2-square vulnerable:}
e5 12. d5 (12. dxe5 Qe7 13. Nc3 Nd7 {looks OK for Black.}) 12... e4 $1 (12...
cxd5 13. cxd5 e4 14. Qxe4 Bxb2 15. d6 Bxa1 16. Qxb7 $16) 13. Qxe4 Bxb2 14. dxc6
Nxc6 15. Rxd8 Raxd8 16. Na3 {The only way to keep fighting for the initiative.}
Bxa1 17. Qb1 $1 Be5 18. Qxb7 Nd4 19. Bf1 Nce6 $13) 11... f5 $5 {This
extravagant idea is the only way to dislodge the queen from its central
location while maintaining the pressure against the d4-pawn. However, this
specific way of carrying it out may be inaccurate.} ({After} 11... Ne6 $6 12.
Be3 {it is already impossible to play ...f5-f4 under favourable circumstances:}
Qc8 (12... Qd6 13. Nc3) 13. Nc3 f5 14. Qd3 f4 15. Bg4 h5 (15... fxe3 16. Qxe3
Rf5 17. d5) 16. Bxe6+ Qxe6 17. d5 $36) ({Black should probably have inserted
the developing moves} 11... Nd7 12. Nc3 {The difference is that in some lines
the queen's transfer to b3 is prevented.} f5 13. Qe3 (13. Qh4 Ne6 14. d5 Bf6
15. Qg3 Nd4 $13) 13... Qe8 {[%cal Ge7e5]} 14. f4 {(The same idea as in the
game)} Rd8 15. Qf2 (15. b3 c5 $132) 15... Nf6 16. Be3 b5 $132 {[%csl Gd5,Ge4]
[%cal Gb5c4,Gb5b4]}) 12. Qe3 {White has to obstruct his other bishop.} (12. Qh4
{fails to keep the d4-square well defended:} Ne6 13. d5 (13. Bh6 $2 Nxd4 $17) (
13. Be3 Bf6) (13. Nc3 Bf6 14. Qg3 Nxd4) 13... Bf6 14. Qg3 Nd4 $132) 12... Kh8 {
There was no absolute need for this prophylactic move.} (12... Nd7 {looks
better. White can deviate from the aforementioned line with} 13. Qb3 Rb8 14.
Nc3 $14 {followed by Bf4 and, possibly, c5.}) 13. Nc3 ({Here, too} 13. Qb3 $5 {
comes into consideration, especially since Black does not have ...Rb8 at his
disposal.}) 13... Nd7 14. b3 {White is just a few steps away from restoring
the absolute harmony of his position with Bb2, Rd2, Rad1.} (14. d5 {is
premature:} Qe8 15. Qg3 e5 16. Bg5 ({After} 16. d6 Ne6 {[%csl Gc5] White
cannot connect his pawns with c5.}) 16... Qf7 $13 {White's central pawn looks
threatening, but the force of Black's duo should not be underestimated.}) 14...
Qe8 15. f4 $1 {Short may have underestimated this move during the planning of
the previous phase of the game. Suddenly, Black is left without adequate
counterplay.} (15. Bb2 e5 16. d5 e4 $132) (15. Ba3 Rf7 16. Rd2 e5 $132) 15...
Qf7 16. Bb2 Rad8 17. Bf3 Bf6 18. Rd2 Qg7 19. Rad1 g5 {The only way to question
White's strategic supremacy, but this creates new weaknesses as well.} 20. Ne2
$1 {[%cal Ge2g3]} Rg8 21. Kf1 $5 {Preventively evacuating the dark squares.
The king would have been less safe on h1 because of the possible ...g4.} h6 22.
Ng3 Qg6 23. Qd3 $6 {Allowing Black unexpected counterplay.} (23. Nh5 g4 24.
hxg4 fxg4 25. Nxf6 $16) 23... gxf4 24. Nh5 Nc5 25. Qc2 Ne4 26. Re2 (26. Bxe4
Qxh5 27. Bxf5 f3 $132) 26... Ng3+ 27. Nxg3 fxg3 $13 {White retains the more
compact position, but is a pawn down and his king may become vulnerable.} 28.
d5 cxd5 29. cxd5 Bxb2 30. Qxb2+ Qg7 31. Qc1 Rd7 32. Rde1 Rf8 33. Re5 Nb5 34.
Qc5 Nd6 35. Qxa7 Ne4 36. Qd4 e6 37. Rd1 exd5 38. Rxd5 Rxd5 39. Qxg7+ Kxg7 40.
Rxd5 Kf6 41. Bxe4 fxe4 42. Ke2 Ke6 43. Rd4 Rf2+ 44. Ke3 Rxg2 45. Rxe4+ Kd5 46.
Rd4+ Ke5 47. Re4+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2010.01.21"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2708"]
[BlackElo "2810"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2010.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Bxc6 {This line is considered as
pretty harmless for Black and appears very rarely at the top level.} dxc6 6. d3
Bd6 7. Nbd2 Be6 8. O-O O-O 9. b3 Nd7 10. Bb2 b5 ({To my mind the plan with} 
10... c5 11. Nc4 f6 {is more sound for Black. Later on he can perform the
manoeuvre Nd7-b8-c6. The position is approximately equal.}) 11. d4 f6 12. h3 c5
$6 {This decision is also hard to approve. White is eager to push his pawn to
d5 to seize space, and Black is assisting this.} (12... Qe8 {is a logical move,
setting free the d8-square for the rook. Black gets sufficient compensation
for the structural defects. For instance:} 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Nxe5 fxe5 15. Qe2
Qg6 $132) 13. d5 {Now White has a small, but stable advantage.} Bf7 14. a4 (14.
c4 {is also good.}) 14... Nb6 15. c4 c6 $1 {Black must play this, the only
real chance for any counterplay.} 16. Nh4 {Going for a kingside attack.} ({
White could adopt a more positional plan as well:} 16. Qc2 cxd5 (16... Qc7 17.
Rfc1 $14 {[%cal Gd2f1,Gf1e3]}) 17. cxd5 Qc7 18. Rfc1 $14 {[%cal Gf3e1,Ge1d3]})
16... Re8 {I don't think Black should let the knight be established on f5 so
easily.} (16... g6 17. Qg4 cxd5 $1 18. cxd5 Qd7 19. Nf5 Bxd5 (19... h5 20. Nh6+
Kg7 21. Qxd7 Nxd7 22. Nxf7 Kxf7 23. Rfc1 $14) 20. a5 Be6 21. axb6 Kh8 22. Qf3
gxf5 23. exf5 Bxf5 24. Rfd1 Qe6 {and Black survives.}) 17. Nf5 Bf8 18. Qg4 (18.
Ne3 $14 {with the idea to forward the knight to d5.}) 18... Kh8 19. f4 ({
An attempt to use the a-file doesn't yield White much:} 19. axb5 axb5 20. Rxa8
Qxa8 21. Ra1 Qb7 22. dxc6 Qxc6 23. Ra7 Bg6 24. Nh4 bxc4 25. bxc4 Nc8 26. Nxg6+
hxg6 {Black is just in time to save the Pg6 and he will be only slightly worse.
}) 19... exf4 20. Qxf4 $6 {This gives Carlsen a chance to come back into the
game.} (20. Rxf4 $1 {White's initiative is very dangerous. Here one sample
spectacular line:} bxc4 21. bxc4 cxd5 22. cxd5 (22. exd5 Bg6 {followed by the
manoeuvre Nb6-d7-e5 with mutual chances.}) 22... Rb8 23. Bc3 (23. Nh6 $2 Bg6
24. Qxg6 hxg6 25. Nf7+ Kg8 26. Nxd8 Rexd8 $11) 23... Qd7 $1 {The only chance
for counterplay.} 24. a5 Na4 25. Bxf6 $1 gxf6 26. Qh4 Bg6 27. Qxf6+ Kg8 28. Rg4
c4 $1 29. Nxc4 Rxe4 $1 30. Rxg6+ $1 hxg6 31. Qxg6+ Kh8 32. Ncd6 Bxd6 33. Nxd6
Re7 34. Rf1 Rg7 35. Qh5+ Kg8 36. Nf5 Rxg2+ $1 37. Kxg2 Qxd5+ 38. Rf3 Rb2+ 39.
Kg3 Qe5+ 40. Kh4 Rb4+ 41. Kg5 Nc5 42. Qg6+ Kf8 43. Qd6+ Qxd6 44. Nxd6+ Ke7 45.
Nf5+ Kf7 {and Black should survive the endgame with a pawn down, thanks to the
very reduced amount of material. Long variations like this normally have
improvements along the way, but, undoubtedly, White should have recaptured
with the rook.}) 20... bxc4 21. bxc4 cxd5 22. cxd5 Qb8 $1 {[%csl Rb2,Rf4] This
is the main drawback of 20.Qxf4.} 23. Qh4 $5 (23. Bc3 Qxf4 24. Rxf4 {is
already very little for White, so Nakamura is looking for more.}) 23... Nxd5
24. Rab1 Qb4 $1 (24... Nb4 25. Nh6 (25. Bxf6 gxf6 26. Qxf6+ Kg8 27. Rb3 Bg6 28.
Rg3 Ra7 29. Rxg6+ hxg6 30. Qxg6+ Kh8 31. Nc4 Nd3 32. Ncd6 Bxd6 33. Nxd6 Rf8 34.
Qh6+ Kg8 35. Qg5+ Kh8 36. Qh6+ Kg8 {White has no more than a perpetual check.})
25... Ba2 26. Rxf6 Ra7 (26... Qd8 27. Qg5 gxf6 28. Bxf6+ Qxf6 29. Qxf6+ Bg7 30.
Qh4 Bxb1 31. Nxb1 {with mutual chances, but a queen + knight is well-known as
a dangerous duo, so Black has to be very careful.}) 27. Nf5 Kg8 28. Qg5 Bxb1
29. Nh6+ Kh8 30. Rf7 Rxf7 31. Nxf7+ Kg8 32. Nh6+ {with perpetual check.}) 25.
Bc1 (25. Bxf6 $2 Qxd2 26. Rbd1 Qe2 27. Nxg7 Nxf6 28. Nxe8 Nxe8 29. Rd7 Nd6 30.
Rxd6 Qe3+ 31. Kh1 Bg8 $17) 25... Qxa4 26. exd5 Qxh4 27. Nxh4 Bxd5 {The
resulting position is approximately balanced. In an endgame like position
normally three pawns overcome a knight, but here Black's pawns are not
connected and he has to be careful not to lose all of them. On the other hand,
White's knights don't have good outposts. With correct play this position
should end in a draw.} 28. Ba3 Re3 29. Ra1 Rd3 30. Rfd1 {A somewhat strange
move, the immediate 30.Nhf3 was called for.} a5 31. Nhf3 a4 32. Rdc1 Kg8 $6 (
32... g6 $1 {[%cal Gf8h6] was a nice idea. Black is at least not worse.}) 33.
Kf2 (33. Bxc5 Bxc5+ 34. Rxc5 a3 35. Kf2 Bf7 {with sufficient compensation for
the piece. A similar position arose in the game later.}) 33... c4 (33... Rc8 $2
34. Ke2 $1 $16 {[%csl Rd3]}) 34. Bxf8 Kxf8 35. Nxc4 Rb3 {Black has lost a pawn,
but the position remains playable for him with strong tendencies for a
peaceful result. White really can't get rid of the annoying a-pawn.} 36. Nfd2
Rb4 37. Ra3 Rc8 38. Rac3 Be6 39. Na3 Rd8 40. Nf3 Rb3 $1 {This exchange will
take the passed pawn closer to the promotion square.} 41. Rxb3 axb3 $11 42. Rc6
Bd5 43. Rb6 Rc8 {White's pieces lack harmony, he can't win this.} 44. Nb5 Rc2+
45. Kg3 h5 $1 46. Nbd4 Ra2 47. Ne6+ Kf7 48. Nf4 Be4 49. Rb4 (49. Rxb3 g5 50.
Nxh5 (50. Nd3 h4+ 51. Nxh4 gxh4+ 52. Kxh4 $11) 50... Kg6 {trapping the knight
with an inevitable draw.}) 49... h4+ 50. Kg4 b2 51. Nd2 Ba8 52. Nc4 (52. Nd3 $4
b1=Q 53. Nxb1 Rxg2+ 54. Kf4 (54. Kxh4 $2 Bf3 $1 $19 {[%csl Rh4][%cal Rg7g5]})
54... Rg3 55. Rd4 g5+ 56. Kf5 Rf3+ 57. Kg4 Kg6 58. Nf4+ gxf4 {and suddenly
Black is winning.}) 52... g5 53. Rxb2 {White has to give up the extra piece;
the draw is inevitable.} (53. Nd3 $4 Ra4 $1 $19) 53... Rxb2 54. Nxb2 gxf4 55.
Kxf4 Bxg2 56. Kg4 f5+ 57. Kxf5 Bxh3+ 58. Kg5 Be6 59. Kxh4 {A great fighting
game!} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2010.01.22"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B77"]
[WhiteElo "2790"]
[BlackElo "2810"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[EventDate "2010.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2
O-O 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. Bb3 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 b5 12. a4 b4 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 Bxd4
15. Qxd4 Qa5 16. O-O Rac8 17. Rfe1 Rfe8 18. Kh1 Qc5 19. Qh4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2010.01.23"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D10"]
[WhiteElo "2810"]
[BlackElo "2749"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2010.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{As was true of another young player yesterday, Carlsen opted to take a rest
against his opponent - World Champion Anand. Reinvigorated today, the
Norwegian brought his A-game to the A section, in a demolition worthy of the
world's top-ranked, A-grade player.} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5.
Qc2 g6 6. Bd3 Be6 $146 {leaving well-tested lines early.} 7. b3 Bg7 8. Nge2 c5
9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. Nxd5 Bxd5 11. e4 Be6 12. Qxc5 Nc6 13. Be3 Rc8 14. Qa3 O-O 15.
Rd1 Nxd4 (15... a5 {with the idea of providing an outpost for the knight,
facilitating an exchange for White's light-squared bishop, may have been
better.}) 16. Bxd4 Bxd4 17. Bb1 Bc5 18. b4 Qxd1+ {with this move, things go
from bad to worse.} (18... Bxf2+ {was to be much preferred.}) 19. Kxd1 Bxf2 20.
Nf4 Bc4 21. Bd3 Rfd8 22. Ke2 Bxd3+ 23. Kxf2 Rc2+ 24. Kf3 Bc4 25. Rc1 Rxa2 26.
Qc3 b5 27. Ra1 Rdd2 28. Rxa2 Rxa2 29. h4 h5 30. g4 hxg4+ 31. Kxg4 f6 32. e5 Kf7
33. exf6 exf6 34. Qe3 Rc2 35. Qa7+ {With Black's position in tatters, Ivanchuk
mericfully put himself out of his own misery.} 1-0

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2010.01.24"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Shirov, Alexei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2723"]
[BlackElo "2810"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2010.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 {This is the continuation
of the theoretical duel between the same players initiated at Sofia 2009.} 6.
Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 Bg7 11. Bd3 Ne7 12. Nxe7 Qxe7
13. c4 f5 14. O-O O-O 15. Qh5 Rb8 16. exf5 e4 17. Rae1 Bb7 18. Qg4 Rfe8 19.
cxb5 d5 20. bxa6 Bc6 21. b3 Kh8 22. Nc2 Bc3 $5 $146 {The bishop occupies a
dominating position and this will be characteristic for Black's position in
general. Despite his huge material advantage, White will have little breathing
space at his disposal and will find no active plan at all.} ({In the previous
game, Shirov,A (2745)-Carlsen,M (2770)/Sofia 2009/CBM 131/[Rogozenco] (1-0, 30)
,} 22... Be5 {was played. It should be mentioned that in the Sofia game, the
novelty also belonged to Carlsen: 21...Kh8 instead of the previously played 21.
..Bd7.}) 23. Qh3 Qf6 24. Be2 d4 {Black is not interested in trading his active
bishop for the passive white rooks.} 25. Bc4 Rg8 26. g3 Rbe8 27. Rd1 e3 {
All the pieces were placed on the best squares and time has come for pawn
breaks.} 28. fxe3 dxe3 29. Be2 Re4 30. Qg2 Re7 {White has no reasonable way to
avoid the repetition.} 31. Qh3 Re4 32. Qg2 Re7 33. Qh3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2010.01.26"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2810"]
[BlackElo "2788"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2010.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 {In the end of the press conference after
his win over Nakamura, just the day before, Kramnik complained that he had
been Black in his last three games against Carlsen and the situation would
repeat itself in Wijk aan Zee. As if this were enough, Carlsen decides to
force the former World Champion to fight against one of his trademark openings,
the Catalan.} dxc4 {There is not much to be said about this move, but I would
like to insert here two games that bear some similarity with two types of
structures featured in the main game.} (4... dxc4 5. Bg2 c5 6. O-O Nc6 7. Ne5
Bd7 8. Na3 cxd4 9. Naxc4 Bc5 10. Qb3 O-O 11. Qxb7 Nxe5 12. Nxe5 Rb8 13. Qf3 Bd6
14. Nc6 Bxc6 15. Qxc6 e5 16. Rb1 Rb6 17. Qa4 Qb8 18. Bg5 Be7 19. b4 Bxb4 20.
Bxf6 gxf6 21. Qd7 Qc8 22. Qxa7 Rb8 23. Qa4 Bc3 24. Rxb8 Qxb8 25. Be4 Qc7 26.
Qa6 Kg7 27. Qd3 Rb8 28. Bxh7 Rb2 29. Be4 Rxa2 30. h4 {Kasparov,G (2795)-Comp
Deep Blue/Philadelphia 1996/CBM 050 ext (1-0, 73). Carlsen may have been
inspired by this game when heading for the position after, say 25 moves.
However, there is an important difference: Carlsen's knight will be passive on
a4, failing to contribute to the fight for the critical squares in any way.}) (
4... Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Be7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O c6 8. Qc2 Nbd7 9. Bf4 Nh5 10. Bc1 Nhf6
11. b3 b6 12. Rd1 Ba6 13. Nbd2 Rc8 14. e4 Bb7 15. Bb2 Qc7 16. Rac1 Qb8 17. e5
Ne8 18. h4 h6 19. Nf1 c5 20. Qe2 dxc4 21. d5 $1 {The same type of sacrificial
break as Carlsen's 17.d5!! True, in this game Black's kingside has not been
weakened previously, but after the inevitable structural modifications White
will be left with a dangerous majority on this wing.} Bxd5 22. Rxd5 exd5 23.
Bh3 Rd8 24. Ne3 Nc7 25. Nf5 Rfe8 26. Nxg7 $40 {Marin,M (2515)-Horvath,J (2535)/
Odorheiu Secuiesc 1993/CBM 036 (1-0, 53)}) 5. Bg2 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 a5 7. Nc3 $5 {
This natural developing move was first met in a top level game during the Tal
Memorial 2009.} (7. Qc2 Bxd2+ (7... Ra6 $5 {Marin,M (2551)-Kortschnoj,V (2611)/
Reggio Emilia 2008/CBM 122/[Marin,M] (1/2, 58)}) 8. Qxd2 $5 {Kramnik,V (2743)
-Topalov,V (2813)/Elista 2006/CBM 115/[Marin,M] (1-0, 75)}) (7. O-O $5 O-O 8.
Bg5 {Ivanchuk,V (2740)-Alekseev,E (2711)/Foros 2008/CBM 125/[Marin,M] (1-0, 53)
}) 7... O-O 8. a3 ({Deviating from} 8. Bg5 {Gelfand,B (2758)-Kramnik,V (2772)/
Moscow 2009/CBM 133/[Marin,M] (1/2, 81)}) 8... Be7 $146 {White is allowed to
retrieve the pawn, in the hope that the time spent by the queen moving around
will allow adequate queenside counterplay.} ({After} 8... Bxc3 {Black can keep
his extra pawn, for a while at least, but White's centre would be strengthened.
It is hard to draw any conclusion from the only game played so far:} 9. bxc3 b5
10. Ne5 Ra6 11. O-O Nfd7 12. a4 c6 13. Nxc6 Rxc6 14. Bxc6 Nxc6 15. axb5 Ne7 16.
Qa4 $16 {Scarella,E (2348)-Del Cuadro,N (2186)/Villa Ballester 2004/CBM 101
ext (1-0, 29)}) 9. Qa4 ({We can see the fruits of the apparent loss of time ...
Bb4+ and ...Be7: with the bishop on d2,} 9. Ne5 {leaves the d4-pawn hanging.})
9... c6 10. Qxc4 b5 11. Qb3 $6 {A slightly strange move. The queen is rather
passive on this square.} ({I believe that} 11. Qd3 $1 {is crucial for the
evaluation of the whole variation. White keeps an eye on the h7-square and
enables Ne4, which would clear the c-file for the rook and the e1-a5 diagonal
for the bishop.} Nbd7 ({Carlsen may have been worried about} 11... Ba6 {
, but after} 12. Ne4 b4 13. Nxf6+ Bxf6 14. Qe4 $14 {the queen is quite active
in the centre, defending the e2-pawn at the same time (thus allowing castling).
}) 12. Ne4 Bb7 ({In the event of} 12... Ba6 13. b4 $1 $16 {[%csl Ga6,Gc6] we
can notice that Bd2 may be useful. In this line, the manoeuvre of the black
dark-squared bishop can be considered a mere loss of time.}) (12... Nd5 13. Rc1
Bb7 14. O-O {[%cal Ge4c5]} Qb6 15. Nfg5 $16 {[%csl Gd3]}) 13. Nxf6+ Bxf6 {
Apart from castling, with just a more pleasant position for White, he can try
the sharp attack} 14. h4 $5 e5 (14... h6 $6 15. g4 $40) 15. Ng5 g6 16. Nxh7
Kxh7 17. h5 $40) 11... Ba6 12. Bg5 {We can feel the effects of the uninspired
queen retreat to b3. White has to spend some time to defend the e2-pawn before
castling.} Nbd7 13. Bxf6 gxf6 $6 {In certain lines of the Catalan, this way of
capturing is necessary in order to avoid the minor pieces being diverted from
the control of the c5-square, in order to keep the threat of ...c5 alive. In
our game, Carlsen will find a brilliant way to take advantage of the kingside
weaknesses.} ({Besides, there would be nothing wrong with the natural} 13...
Bxf6 14. Ne4 Be7 15. O-O b4 $132) 14. Qc2 b4 15. Na4 Rc8 16. O-O c5 {When
playing his 13th move, Kramnik may have evaluated this position as being in
his favour. Indeed, the white queen will be in some trouble after the
apparently inevitable opening of the c-file, while the e2-pawn would be
hanging.} 17. d5 $3 {This brilliant pawn sacrifice changes the course of the
game radically. White provokes the weakening of the f5-square and ensures a
safe life for his queen. Suddenly, it appears that several black pieces (his
knight and a6-bishop, for instance) are far from optimally placed.} exd5 18.
Bh3 $6 {This is too slow and offers Black the few tempi he needs in order to
organise his position. When both sides' regroupings will have come to an end,
the passivity of the a4-knight will become an important factor.} ({Several
commentators gave recommended} 18. Rfd1 $1 {In fact, it is quite logical.
Black completes his development (the a1-rook is developed in view of the
permanent threat of axb4) and starts fighting for the light squares in the
centre.} d4 (18... Bb7 19. Nh4 $16 {retrieves the pawn with huge strategic
advantage.}) 19. Qf5 $40 {Black faces the strong (and, apparently, inevitable)
threat of Nxd4, followed by either Be4 with a mating attack, or Rxd4 with a
deadly pin along the d-file.}) 18... Bb5 19. axb4 axb4 20. Rfd1 d4 21. Bf5 Ne5
$1 {Black activates his position without hanging on to his material advantage.}
22. Bxh7+ (22. Bxc8 Qxc8 {would lead to a similar position as in the game,
with the difference that the h7-pawn is still on board, defending the black
king.}) 22... Kg7 23. Nxe5 fxe5 24. Bf5 {With the knight on c4, White would
have a dream position, but the way it is the situation remains very
complicated. In the next phase of the game, Kramnik will keep activating his
pieces, even if this will cost him a significant amount of material.} Rc6 25.
Qe4 Rh8 26. Qxe5+ Bf6 27. Qe4 Re8 28. Qg4+ Kf8 29. Be4 c4 $1 $44 {Finally
shattering any dreams of blockade with b3 and Nb2-c4.} 30. Bxc6 Bxc6 {Black's
bishops and his mobile mass of pawns offer Black excellent compensation. In
mutual time trouble, Carlsen will go down relatively quickly.} 31. Qh5 Re5 32.
Qh6+ Ke7 33. e4 $5 {An attempt to get some counterplay.} (33. Qd2 {is
ineffective because of} c3 34. bxc3 Qd5 35. f3 dxc3 $36) 33... d3 $1 {Not
letting himself be distracted from the main plan, consisting of advancing the
pawns.} (33... Rxe4 34. Nc5 $16) (33... Bxe4 34. Qd2 $16) 34. Qe3 Bxe4 35. Nb6
$2 {A blunder in an unpleasant position.} Bb7 $19 {winning the knight. The
centralisation of the e5-rook is impressive.} 36. Qf4 Qxb6 37. Qxc4 Re2 38. Rf1
0-1

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2010.01.27"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2720"]
[BlackElo "2810"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2010.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 $5 {The French Defence. In my younger years I used to consider it at
best a second-rate opening, and I once even lost a bet with one of my friends,
and as a result had to play 1... e6 in all my games with Black in a Super-GM
tournament. Fortunately my friend was greedy, and took money instead. I
believe that both 1...c5 and 1...e5! are better choices, but since I
desperately wanted to win this game (I was trailing the leaders Kramnik and
Shirov by 1 point at this stage) I decided to try something new.  Die
Französische Verteidigung. In meinen jüngeren Jahren pflegte ich sie als
bestenfalls zweitklassige Eröffnung zu betrachten, und einmal verlor ich sogar
eine Wette mit einem meiner besten Freunde, wodurch ich in all meinen Partien
mit Schwarz in einem Super-GM-Turnier 1...e6 spielen musste. Zum Glück war
mein Freund gierig und nahm lieber Geld. Ich glaube, dass sowohl 1...c5 als
auch 1...e5! bessere Züge sind, aber da ich diese Partie unbedingt gewinnen
wollte (zu diesem Zeitpunkt lag ich einen Punkt hinter den führenden Kramnik
und Shirov zurück), beschloss ich, etwas Neues zu versuchen.} 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3
Nf6 {The other main move here is 3...Bb4, which is rather more controversial.
Some think it gives Black good counterplay, while others regard it as a simple
positional mistake to give up the bishop too early.  Der andere Hauptzug hier
lautet 3...Bb4, was deutlich kontroverser ist. Manche denken, dass er Schwarz
gutes Gegenspiel gibt, während andere es für einen simplen positionellen
Fehler halten, den Läufer zu früh herzugeben.} 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6
7. Be3 Be7 {Other options here are the relatively slow 7...a6, or the more
concrete 7...cxd4 followed by ...Qb6 or 7...Qb6 immediately, both of which are
rated quite highly by Wesley So and his Rybka (see the previous issue of NiC).
Andere Optionen hier sind das relativ langsame 7...a6 oder das konkretere 7...
cxd4 nebst ...Qb6 bzw. 7...Qb6 sofort, was beides von Wesley So und seinem
Rybka recht hoch geschätzt wird (siehe vorige Ausgabe von NiC).} 8. Qd2 O-O 9.
Be2 a6 10. O-O b5 11. Kh1 $5 {An interesting, quite unusual move. 11.a3 or 11.
Nd1 are the most usual moves here. The text is actually a quite cunning
waiting move, as ...b4 and a5-Ba6 (the normal reply to Nd1) can now be met by
Na4, while ...Bb7 (one of several possible replies to a3) can be met by Nd1.
Then Black will probably have to play ...b4 and a5-Ba6 anyway, but with a
tempo less. Therefore I decided to be more flexible, and make a more or less
useful waiting move. Ein interessanter, recht ungewöhnlicher Zug. 11.a3 oder
11.Nd1 sind die üblichsten Züge hier. Der Text ist eigentlich ein ziemlich
schlauer Wartezug, denn auf ...b4 und a5-Ba6 (die normale Erwiderung auf Nd1)
kann nun Na4 folgen, während ...Bb7 (eine von mehreren möglichen Antworten auf
a3) mit Nd1 begegnet werden kann. Anschließend wird Schwarz wahrscheinlich
trotzdem ...b4 und a5-Ba6 spielen müssen, allerdings mit einem Tempo weniger.
Daher beschloss ich, flexibler zu sein und einen halbwegs nützlichen Wartezug
zu machen.} Qc7 12. a3 Bb7 13. Rad1 Rac8 14. Qe1 {A typical manoeuvre. White
intends to gradually start an attack on the kingside. Therefore I decided to
start counterplay in the centre immediately. Ein typisches Manöver. Weiß
beabsichtigt, allmählich einen Angriff am Königsflügel zu starten. Der
beschloss ich, sofort Gegenspiel im Zentrum einzuleiten.} cxd4 15. Nxd4 Nxd4
16. Bxd4 Bc5 17. Qh4 $2 {While this move might objectively speaking not
deserve a question mark, it was definitely a turning point in the game, as
after my reply, Karjakin became very uncomfortable with his position. Dieser
Zug verdient womöglich objektiv gesehen kein Fragezeichen, doch war er
definitiv ein Wendepunkt in der Partie, denn nach meiner Antwort wurde
Karjakin seine Stellung sehr unbehaglich.} (17. Qf2 {or something similar was
required, as the queen needs to have more influence in the centre after I play
...f6, which is bound to happen sooner or later. oder etwas Ähnliches war
erforderlich, denn die Dame braucht mehr Einfluss im Zentrum, nachdem ich ...
f6 spiele, was früher oder später geschehen wird.}) 17... Bxd4 18. Rxd4 f6 $1
19. Bd3 {This one probably doesn't help much either, but since it was part of
the plan with Qh4, I will not attach any mark to it. Dieser Zug hilft
wahrscheinlich auch nicht besonders, aber da er Bestandteil des Plans mit Qh4
war, werde ich ihm kein Kommentarzeichen geben.} h6 20. exf6 (20. Qg4 Qb6 $1 {
would not help White. würde Weiß nicht helfen.}) (20. f5 fxe5 21. Rg4 Nf6 {
stops any illusions of a white attack. stoppt jegliche Illusionen eines weißen
Angriff.}) 20... Rxf6 {Now it is clear that something has gone wrong for White.
The rook on d4 is exposed, f4 is weak, and he will be facing tactical problems
with ...e5 quite soon. The "bad" bishop on b7 is certainly no worse than the
white knight, which has dominated it in so many textbook games.  Nun wird klar,
dass für Weiß etwas schief gelaufen ist. Der Turm auf d4 steht exponiert, f4
ist schwach, und recht bald wird er sich taktischen Problemen mit ...e5
gegenübersehen. Der "schlechte" Läufer auf b7 ist gewiss nicht schwächer als
der weiße Springer, welcher ihn in so vielen Lehrbuchpartien dominiert hat.}
21. f5 (21. Rg1 Rcf8 22. Ne2 e5 23. fxe5 Nxe5 {would not have been much of a
relief; the black pieces are just much more active than their white
counterparts here. wäre keine große Erleichterung gewesen; die schwarzen
Figuren sind hier einfach wesentlich aktiver als ihre weißen Gegenüber.}) (21.
Qg3 Rcf8 22. Rf3 Nb8 $1 {leaves White on brink of disaster. bringt Weiß an den
Rand einer Katastrophe.}) 21... Rcf8 22. Rg1 Nc5 $1 {The most energetic. Am
energischsten.} ({The tempting Das verlockende} 22... e5 23. Nxd5 Bxd5 24. Rxd5
Nb6 {trapping the rook, gives White very good drawing chances after mit
Turmfang gibt Weiß sehr gute Remischancen nach} 25. Qe4 Nxd5 26. Qxd5+ Kh8 27.
Re1 {.}) 23. fxe6 Nxe6 24. Rg4 $6 (24. Nxd5 Bxd5 25. Rxd5 Nf4 26. Rd4 Qc5 {
forces White to give up the exchange with Rxf4, as zwingt Weiß zur Hergabe der
Qualität mit Rxf4, da} 27. c3 Nxd3 28. Rxd3 Qxg1+ 29. Kxg1 Rf1# {is mate. That
being said, it would probably have been a better try. Matt ist. Davon
abgesehen wäre es womöglich ein besserer Versuch gewesen.}) 24... Nf4 25. Qg3
Qe7 $1 {The last key move, after which Black is completely winning. The point
is to control e2, leaving the white knight without a good square after ...d4
next. The tactical justification, based on a slightly surprising queen sac, is:
Der letzte Schlüsselzug, nach dem Schwarz komplett auf Gewinn steht. Der
springende Punkt ist, e2 zu konrollieren, wodurch der weiße Springer nach
folgendem ...d4 kein gutes Feld bleibt. Die taktische Rechtfertigung,
basierend auf einem leicht überraschenden Damenopfer, ist:} 26. Rxf4 {After
this Black will only have to make a couple of more good moves to win the game,
but White was probably lost in any case. Danach wird Schwarz nur noch ein paar
gute Züge machen müssen, um die Partie zu gewinnen, aber Weiß war
wahrscheinlich in jedem Fall verloren.} (26. h3 d4 27. Re1 (27. Ne2 Nxe2 28.
Bxe2 Bc8 $1 {wins an exchange, while gewinnt eine Qualität, während}) ({nach} 
27. Nd1 Bc8 28. Re1 Qf7 29. Rh4 Bb7 30. Rg1 Nxg2 $1 (30... g5 {is also very
good of course ist natürlich auch sehr gut}) 31. Rxg2 Rf3 32. Qg4 Re8 {leaves
the uncoordinated white forces defenceless against the threat of ...Re1. die
unkoordinierten weißen Kräfte wehrlos gegen die Drohung ...Re1 sind.}) 27...
Qxe1+ $1 28. Qxe1 Nxd3 {and Black will be material up in every line. und in
jedem Abspiel bleibt Schwarz materiell im Vorteil.}) 26... Rxf4 27. Ne2 (27.
Qg6 R8f6 28. Qh7+ Kf7 {is obviously not dangerous. ist offensichtlich nicht
gefährlich.}) 27... Rf1 (27... Rh4 {with the idea of 28.Qg6 Rxh2+, mating was
tempting, but I could not refute the considerably stronger 28.c3. mit der Idee
28.Qg6 Rxh2+ und Matt war verlockend, aber ich konnte das wesentlich stärkere
28.c3 nicht widerlegen.}) 28. Nd4 {Now Black can force a queen exchange, but
Nun kann Schwarz einen Damentausch forcieren, aber} (28. h3 Rxg1+ 29. Kxg1 Qc5+
30. Kh2 d4 $1 {finally activating the bishop, was hardly much stronger. ,
wonach endlich der Läufer aktiviert wird, war kaum wesentlich stärker.}) 28...
Rxg1+ 29. Kxg1 Re8 {With queens on the board White could perhaps have hoped to
resist, but without queens the extra exchange is bound to count, even though
the knight on d4 is holding the position together for the moment. Mit Damen
auf dem Brett hätte Weiß vielleicht noch hoffen können, Widerstand zu leisten,
ohne Damen aber muss die Mehrqualität ins Gewicht fallen, obwohl der Springer
auf d4 die Stellung im Moment zusammenhält.} 30. h4 Qe1+ 31. Kh2 Qxg3+ 32. Kxg3
Kf7 33. Kf2 Kf6 34. g3 Bc8 35. c3 Bg4 36. Bc2 g5 37. hxg5+ hxg5 38. Bb3 Ke5 39.
Bc2 Rf8+ 40. Kg2 Bd7 41. Nf3+ Kf6 42. Bb3 g4 43. Nd4 Ke5 {Now the white king
is cut off, and the undermining a5+b4 cannot be prevented. Nun ist der weiße
König abgeschnitten, und das unterminierende a5+b4 ist nicht zu verhindern.}
44. Bc2 a5 45. Bd1 Ke4 {My best game in Corus 2010! Meine beste Partie beim
Corus 2010!} 0-1

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2010.01.29"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D97"]
[WhiteElo "2810"]
[BlackElo "2712"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2010.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 O-O 7. e4 a6 8. e5
b5 9. Qb3 Nfd7 10. Ng5 $5 {A very rare move. However, in the hands of Magnus
almost every sensible continuation is strong.} Nb6 11. Be3 Nc6 12. Rd1 Bf5 {
Other options are still to be explored.} (12... h6 13. Nge4 $5) (12... Na5 13.
Qb4 Nac4 14. Bc1 Bf5 15. Bxc4 Nxc4 16. O-O $2 (16. Nge4 $5) 16... Bc2 17. e6
Bxd1 18. exf7+ Kh8 19. Rxd1 Qd7 $17 {0-1 Hanley,C (2429)-Poobalasingam,P (2312)
/Hinckley Island ENG 2010/The Week in Chess 798 (26)}) 13. Be2 (13. e6 $6 f6
14. Nf7 Qc8 15. d5 Na5 16. Qb4 Nac4 17. Bxc4 Nxc4 18. Qxe7 Nxe3 19. fxe3 Re8
20. Qc5 Bxe6 $1 21. dxe6 Qxe6 $17) 13... Na5 14. Qb4 Nac4 15. O-O f6 (15...
Nxe3 16. fxe3 Bh6 17. e4 $1) (15... c6 $5) 16. Nf3 (16. Nge4 $5 Qe8 $5 $13)
16... Nxe3 17. fxe3 fxe5 $6 (17... Nd5 18. Nxd5 Qxd5 19. Qxe7 Qxa2 $13) 18.
dxe5 Qe8 19. Qc5 Rc8 20. a4 (20. Nd4 $5 $36) 20... Nxa4 (20... Bc2 $6 21. Rde1
Nxa4 22. Nxa4 Bxa4 23. Nd4 {[%csl Ra4]}) 21. Nxa4 bxa4 22. Nd4 (22. Bxa6 Rb8
23. Bc4+ e6 24. Ng5 $5 h6 25. Rxf5 Rxf5 26. Bxe6+ Kh8 27. Bxf5 hxg5 28. Be4
Qxe5 $11) (22. g4 $1 Be6 23. Nd4 Rxf1+ 24. Rxf1 Bd7 25. Bxa6 Rb8 26. Rf2 $14)
22... Rb8 23. g4 (23. Rd2 Bh6 24. Nxf5 Rxf5 25. Rxf5 gxf5 26. Bxa6 e6 $11)
23... Be4 (23... Bd7 $6 24. Rxf8+ Bxf8 $8 25. e6) 24. Ne6 Rxf1+ 25. Bxf1 c6 26.
Ng5 (26. Bc4 $142 Bd5 $1 27. Bxd5 cxd5 28. Rxd5 h6 $11) 26... Bd5 27. e4 Bb3
28. Bc4+ e6 $1 29. Nxe6 (29. Rf1 Bxc4 30. Qxc4 Bxe5) 29... Bxc4 30. Qxc4 Kh8 $4
$138 {Black finally succumbs to pressure.} (30... Bxe5 $1 {, and the
discovered check proves harmless:} 31. Ng5+ (31. Nc5+ Qf7 32. Qxf7+ Kxf7 33.
Nd7 Re8) (31. Rf1 Qe7 $1 32. Nd8+ Kh8 33. Nxc6 (33. Nf7+ Kg7 34. Nxe5 Qxe5)
33... Bxh2+ $1 34. Kxh2 Qh4+) 31... Kh8 32. Nf7+ Kg7 {, and it is now Black
who will play for a win.}) 31. Nxg7 Kxg7 32. e6 $18 {[%csl Ge6]} Rb7 33. Qc3+
Kg8 34. Rd6 Re7 35. Rxc6 Qf8 36. Rc8 Re8 37. Rxe8 Qxe8 38. Qf6 Qc8 39. Kg2 Qc2+
40. Kh3 Qc5 41. Kh4 Qb4 42. Qf7+ Kh8 43. e7 Qe1+ 44. Kg5 Qe3+ 45. Qf4 1-0

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2010.01.30"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Leko, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2810"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2010.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4
g5 9. Bg3 Bg7 10. h3 Nf6 11. Qf3 Qb6 12. O-O-O O-O 13. Bc4 Nc6 14. Nxc6 Qxc6
15. Bb3 Be6 16. e5 Qxf3 17. gxf3 dxe5 18. Bxe6 fxe6 19. Bxe5 Nd5 20. Bxg7 Kxg7
21. Nxd5 exd5 22. Rxd5 Rxf3 23. h4 gxh4 24. Rxh4 Rxf2 25. Rd7 Re2 26. Rxb7 Rc8
27. Kd1 Rcxc2 28. Rxe7+ Rxe7 29. Kxc2 Re5 30. b4 a5 31. bxa5 Rxa5 32. a4 h5 33.
Kb3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2010.01.31"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2810"]
[BlackElo "2675"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2010.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 g6 7. Nbd2 Bg7 8. Nf1
O-O 9. Bg5 d5 $1 {It's strange that this move hasn't appeaed at the top level
so far. Objectively speaking, Black doesn't have have problems in this line
anyway, but the move in the text seems to give Black some chances for evne
more than equality.} (9... h6 10. Bh4 Ne7 (10... b5 11. Bb3 Na5 12. Bc2 c5 13.
Ne3 Be6 14. O-O Qd7 15. a3 Ng4 16. Nxg4 Bxg4 17. h3 Be6 $11 {1-0 Tiviakov,S 
(2648)-Eljanov,P (2701)/Montreal 2007/CBM 119 (39)}) 11. Ne3 c6 12. O-O Qc7 13.
Bb3 b5 14. a4 Bb7 15. Qd2 Kh7 16. axb5 axb5 17. Rxa8 Bxa8 18. Ra1 Bb7 $11 {
0-1 Papp,G (2509)-Almasi,Z (2668)/Nyiregyhaza 2008/CBM 126 (40)}) 10. Qe2 Qd6
11. Bxf6 {I don't see any reason to give up the bishop.} (11. Ng3 $11 {
Objectively, the knight is out of place on g3. Still, this is the way to
complete the development without any concession.}) 11... Bxf6 12. Ne3 ({
White can't win a pawn like this:} 12. exd5 Qxd5 13. Ne3 Qd6 14. Nc4 Qe6 15.
Bxc6 Qxc6 16. Ncxe5 Bxe5 17. Nxe5 Qxg2 $15) 12... Ne7 {Black is already
slightly better.} 13. Bb3 c6 14. h4 $6 {White doesn't have any grounds for
this kind of attack.} (14. O-O {is clearly safer.}) 14... Be6 15. Ng5 (15. h5 {
is just a punch in the air. Black can start the queenside offensive by} a5 $15)
15... Bd7 16. Rd1 Rad8 17. Qf3 $5 {Magnus is consequent. Objectively, this
idea leads to a worse position for White, but at least Black has to find some
precise moves here.} (17. Nf3 $15 {would clearly indicate that all White's
previous play was false.}) 17... h6 18. Nc4 $1 {This is the point.} dxc4 19.
dxc4 Nd5 $8 20. Nh3 h5 $1 {[%cal Gd7g4] Caruana finds the best way to parry
white's attacking attempts.} (20... Bxh4 $6 21. cxd5 Kg7 22. Nf4 $5 exf4 23.
Rxh4 g5 24. Rh1 f5 25. exf5 Bxf5 26. dxc6 Rfe8+ 27. Kf1 Qxc6 28. Qxc6 Rxd1+ 29.
Bxd1 bxc6 {is also slightly better for Black, but is quite messy on the way.})
21. Qg3 Bg4 22. Rd2 (22. f3 $4 Qe7 $1 $19 {[%cal Gf6h4]}) {[%tqu "En","How
should Black continue?","","","f6h4","Nice counterblow, simplifying to a
better ending.",10,"d6e7","",0]} 22... Bxh4 $1 {Nice counterblow, simplifying
to a better ending.} (22... Qe7 $2 23. cxd5 cxd5 24. Bxd5 Bxh4 25. Qe3 $13) 23.
Qxh4 Qf6 24. Qxf6 Nxf6 25. Ng5 c5 {[%csl Yb3] Black is clearly better, as he
is practically a pawn up.} 26. f3 Bc8 27. Ba4 Kg7 28. Rxd8 Rxd8 29. b4 $2 {
Looks like a nervous slip of the finger.} ({For example:} 29. g3 $17 {was the
normal way to continue.}) 29... Rd3 $19 {Now White just loses a pawn without
any compensation.} 30. bxc5 {Funny tripled pawns, which are going to be eaten
one by one.} Rxc3 31. Kd2 Rxc4 32. Bb3 Rxc5 33. Nxf7 a5 34. Rc1 (34. Nd6 {
is an suggestion by the chess engine, but with precise play Black should win
this.}) 34... Rxc1 35. Kxc1 a4 36. Bc4 b5 37. Nd6 bxc4 38. Nxc8 h4 39. Nb6 Nh5
40. Nxc4 Kf6 $2 {It wasn't an easy choice for Caruana, especially in time
trouble. The difference between the two lines is rather subtle, but important!}
(40... Nf4 $1 41. Nxe5 Nxg2 42. Ng4 (42. Kd2 Kf6 43. Ng4+ {would be just a
transposition.}) 42... Ne1 43. Nh2 Kf6 44. Kd2 Ng2 45. Ng4+ Kg5 {Here the
white knight must guard the h-pawn, and doesn't have time to go for the a-pawn.
} 46. Ke2 h3 47. Kf2 Kh4 $1 48. Nh2 (48. e5 Nf4 $19) 48... Nf4 49. Ke3 g5 50.
Nf1 Ng6 $1 51. Kf2 Ne5 52. Ke3 Nc6 53. a3 Ne5 $19 {[%csl Ra3][%cal Ge5c4]}) 41.
Kd2 Nf4 42. Ke3 (42. Ne3 $2 {falls to a typical tactical trick:} Kg5 43. Ke1
Nxg2+ $1 44. Nxg2 h3 45. Kf2 h2 $19) 42... Nxg2+ 43. Kf2 Nf4 44. Nb2 {The
exchange of a-pawns is in favour of the defending side.} a3 45. Nc4 Nd3+ 46.
Kg2 Kg5 (46... Nb4 47. Nxa3 Nxa2 48. Nb5 Nb4 49. Kh3 g5 50. Nd6 Nd3 51. Nc4 {
Black can torture his opponent for a long time, but I don't really see a
constructive winning plan.}) 47. Nxa3 Kf4 48. Nc2 {Now it's a clear draw,
since the a-pawn gives White counterplay.} Nb2 49. Nb4 h3+ 50. Kxh3 Kxf3 51.
Kh4 Kf4 52. Nd5+ Kxe4 53. Ne7 Kf3 54. Nxg6 e4 55. Ne5+ Kf4 56. Ng4 Na4 {
A somewhat lucky escape for the World number one, which yielded him another
victory in an elite tournament!} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 19th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2010.03.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2813"]
[BlackElo "2748"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2010.03.13"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. a3 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 d5 4. e3 Bg4 5. h3 Bh5 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. Bb5
Rc8 9. g4 Bg6 10. Qa4 Nd7 11. b4 e6 12. Bb2 Be7 13. Bxc6 bxc6 14. Qxa7 c5 15.
Qa6 O-O 16. Qe2 c4 17. e4 d4 18. Nb5 e5 19. h4 Qb6 20. a4 Qb7 21. Ng5 h6 22. h5
hxg5 23. hxg6 fxg6 24. f3 Bxb4 25. Ba3 Bxa3 26. Rxa3 Qb6 27. Qh2 Qc5 28. Qh7+
Kf7 29. Ra1 Nf6 30. Qh2 Ra8 31. d3 Qxb5 0-1

[Event "Amber-blindfold 19th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2010.03.14"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E99"]
[WhiteElo "2782"]
[BlackElo "2813"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2010.03.13"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. d4 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5
Ne7 9. Ne1 Nd7 10. Nd3 f5 11. Bd2 Nf6 12. f3 Kh8 13. g4 c6 14. Kg2 b5 15. b3 a5
16. Nf2 b4 17. Na4 Bb7 18. Rc1 fxe4 19. fxe4 cxd5 20. exd5 Nexd5 21. cxd5 Nxd5
22. Kg1 e4 23. Nxe4 Bd4+ 24. Rf2 Rxf2 25. Nxf2 Qh4 26. Qe1 Rf8 27. Bf3 Rxf3 28.
Qe4 Qxf2+ 0-1

[Event "Amber-blindfold 19th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2010.03.15"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B74"]
[WhiteElo "2750"]
[BlackElo "2813"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2010.03.13"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8.
Be3 Nc6 9. Nb3 a6 10. f4 b5 11. Bf3 Bb7 12. e5 dxe5 13. fxe5 Nd7 14. e6 fxe6
15. Bg4 Rxf1+ 16. Qxf1 Nce5 17. Bxe6+ Kh8 18. Rd1 Qc7 19. Qf4 Rf8 20. Qg3 (20.
Rxd7 Qc6 21. Rxb7 Rxf4 22. Bd5 ({Both players missed} 22. Rb6 Nf3+ 23. gxf3
Qxf3 24. Bxf4 Qxf4) 22... Qf6 {wins for Black.}) 20... Nf6 21. Nc5 Nh5 22. Qe1
Bxg2 23. Kxg2 Nf3 24. Qh1 Nf4+ $2 (24... Nh4+ $1 25. Kh3 Rf3+ {would have been
deadly.}) 25. Kf2 Nd4 (25... Nd4 26. Nd7 $1 {with a drawish position, but
Carlsen though Black could have gone on playing for a win:} Nh3+ 27. Kg2 Qc6+
28. Bd5 Qxd7 29. Rxd4 e6 {unclear.}) 0-1

[Event "Amber-blindfold 19th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2010.03.16"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Smeets, Jan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2813"]
[BlackElo "2651"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2010.03.13"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. g3 d5 2. Nf3 c6 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. O-O Bf5 5. c4 e6 6. d3 Bd6 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Nc3
O-O 9. Nh4 Be6 10. e4 Na6 11. Qe2 Re8 12. h3 Be5 13. f4 Bxc3 14. bxc3 dxe4 15.
dxe4 Bd5 16. e5 Bxg2 17. Kxg2 Qd5+ 18. Nf3 Rad8 19. c4 Qe4 20. Re1 Qxe2+ 21.
Rxe2 Nd7 22. Be3 f6 23. Bxa7 fxe5 24. Nxe5 Nxe5 25. fxe5 Kf7 26. Rb1 Rd7 27.
Bf2 Ke6 28. g4 Rf8 29. Be3 Rff7 30. a4 Rd3 31. a5 Rc3 32. Rd1 Rxc4 33. Bg5 Rd7
34. Rxd7 Kxd7 35. e6+ Ke8 36. Rd2 1-0

[Event "Amber-blindfold 19th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2010.03.18"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2725"]
[BlackElo "2813"]
[PlyCount "128"]
[EventDate "2010.03.13"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. O-O Be7 6. c3 a6 7. Ba4 O-O 8. Nbd2
Nd7 9. Bc2 Nb6 10. d4 exd4 11. Nxd4 Nxd4 12. cxd4 f5 13. Bb3+ Kh8 14. e5 f4 15.
exd6 Qxd6 16. Re1 f3 17. Nxf3 Bg4 18. Re3 Bh4 19. Qd3 Bxf3 20. Rxf3 Rxf3 21.
gxf3 Re8 22. Be3 Nd5 23. Kh1 Nxe3 24. fxe3 Bf2 25. Bc2 g6 26. Rf1 Bxe3 27. Re1
Qf4 28. Qe2 Re7 29. d5 Re5 30. Be4 Bc5 31. Qc2 Bd6 32. Re2 Kg7 33. Rg2 Rh5 34.
Bxg6 Rxh2+ 35. Rxh2 Qxf3+ 36. Kg1 Bxh2+ 37. Kxh2 Qf4+ 38. Kg2 hxg6 39. Qc3+ Kf8
40. Qb3 b5 41. Qa3+ Qd6 42. Qd3 Qf6 43. Qc2 Qg5+ 44. Kh2 Qe5+ 45. Kg1 Qg5+ 46.
Kh2 Qe5+ 47. Kg1 g5 48. Qg6 a5 49. Qa6 Qd4+ 50. Kf1 Qb6 51. Qc8+ Ke7 52. Ke2
Qd6 53. Qa8 a4 54. b3 Qh2+ 55. Kd3 Qxa2 56. d6+ Kd7 57. dxc7 Qxb3+ 58. Ke4 Qe6+
59. Kf3 Qf5+ 60. Ke3 Qc5+ 61. Ke4 Kxc7 62. Qa5+ Kb7 63. Qd2 Qc4+ 64. Kf5 Qf4+
0-1

[Event "Amber-blindfold 19th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2010.03.19"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C48"]
[WhiteElo "2813"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2010.03.13"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Bb5 Nd4 5. Bc4 d6 6. Nxd4 exd4 7. Nd5 Nd7 8.
d3 c6 9. Nf4 g6 10. a3 Bg7 11. O-O O-O 12. Ba2 Nc5 13. Bd2 Qh4 14. Ne2 Be6 15.
Ng3 Bxa2 16. Rxa2 d5 17. exd5 cxd5 18. a4 Rac8 19. f4 f5 20. Qf3 Qd8 21. b4 Ne6
22. Ne2 Qd7 23. Qf2 Rc7 24. Kh1 Rfc8 25. Rc1 Qd6 26. Ng1 Bh6 27. g3 Bg7 28. Nf3
Bf6 29. Qg2 Kf7 30. Rb2 Kg8 31. Be1 Qd7 32. b5 Nc5 33. Ra1 Ne6 34. Bb4 a6 35.
Re1 axb5 36. axb5 b6 37. Ne5 Qxb5 38. Nxg6 hxg6 39. Rxe6 Rc6 40. Re2 Kh7 41. g4
fxg4 42. Qxg4 Qa4 43. f5 Bg7 44. Rb1 gxf5 45. Qxf5+ Kh8 46. Rg2 Rxc2 47. Qh5+
Kg8 48. Rxg7+ Kxg7 49. Rg1+ Kf6 50. Qg6+ Ke5 51. Bd6# 1-0

[Event "Amber-blindfold 19th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2010.03.20"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Gashimov, Vugar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2740"]
[BlackElo "2813"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2010.03.13"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Ke8 10. Ne2 c5 11. Nf4 b6 12. Nd5 Kd7 13. Ng5 Kc6 14. c4
Be6 15. Rd1 Nd4 16. Be3 Bxd5 17. cxd5+ Kxd5 18. Rac1 Be7 19. Nf3 Bd8 20. Bxd4
cxd4 21. Rxd4+ Ke6 22. Rc6+ Ke7 23. Rd5 Re8 24. Nd4 Kf8 25. g3 g6 26. Kg2 Re7
27. f4 Ke8 28. f5 gxf5 29. Rh6 c6 30. Nxc6 Re6 31. Rxe6+ fxe6 32. Rd6 Bc7 33.
Rxe6+ Kd7 34. Rh6 Re8 35. Kf3 Re6 36. Rxe6 Kxe6 37. Kf4 a5 38. Nd4+ Kd5 39. Nf3
Ke6 40. Kg5 Bd8+ 41. Kh6 Kd5 42. Kxh7 Ke4 43. Kg6 1-0

[Event "Amber-blindfold 19th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2010.03.21"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D24"]
[WhiteElo "2813"]
[BlackElo "2790"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2010.03.13"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e4 Bb4 6. Bxc4 Nxe4 7. O-O Nxc3 8.
bxc3 Be7 9. Ne5 O-O 10. Qg4 Nc6 11. Bh6 Bf6 12. Rad1 Ne7 13. Bc1 c5 14. Ba3 Qc7
15. Qh5 Bxe5 16. dxe5 b6 17. Bd3 Ng6 18. Bc1 Bb7 19. Bg5 h6 20. Bc1 Nxe5 21.
Rfe1 f6 22. f4 Nxd3 23. Rxd3 Rad8 24. Rg3 Rd5 25. Qxh6 Qd7 26. h3 Rf7 27. Kh2
Rd1 28. Rxd1 Qxd1 29. f5 e5 30. Be3 Qe2 31. Qg6 Bxg2 32. Rxg2 Qxe3 33. h4 Qf4+
34. Kh3 e4 35. h5 e3 36. h6 Re7 37. Qh5 e2 38. Rxe2 Qf1+ 39. Rg2 Qh1+ 0-1

[Event "Amber-blindfold 19th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2010.03.23"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E05"]
[WhiteElo "2713"]
[BlackElo "2813"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2010.03.13"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. Qxc4
b5 9. Qc2 Bb7 10. Bd2 Be4 11. Qc1 Bb7 12. Bf4 Nd5 13. Nc3 Nxf4 14. Qxf4 Qd6 15.
Ne5 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 Nd7 17. Nxd7 Qxd7 18. Rfd1 Rac8 19. Qf3 Rfd8 20. Rac1 h6 21.
e3 b4 22. Ne4 Qa4 23. Ra1 Rd5 24. b3 Qa5 25. Nd2 Rcd8 26. Nc4 Qb5 27. Rac1 Bf6
28. Re1 a5 29. Re2 c5 30. dxc5 Qxc5 31. Rec2 Bc3 32. Nb2 Rd2 33. Qe4 Qb5 34.
Nc4 R2d5 35. h4 h5 36. a4 Qc5 37. Rb1 g6 38. Rcc1 Kg7 39. Qf3 Rd3 40. Rd1 Bf6
41. Rxd3 Rxd3 42. Qe4 Rc3 43. Kg1 Qc7 44. Kg2 Qd8 45. Qf3 Rd3 46. Qe4 Rc3 47.
Qf3 Qc7 48. Qe4 Qc5 49. Kg1 Qc7 50. Kg2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 19th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2010.03.24"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ponomariov, Ruslan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2813"]
[BlackElo "2737"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2010.03.13"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Bc5 6. c3 O-O 7. d3 b5 8. Bb3
d6 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bh4 Be6 11. Nbd2 g5 12. Bg3 Bb6 13. Re1 Nd7 14. Nf1 Qf6 15.
Ne3 Bxe3 16. Rxe3 Ne7 17. Bc2 Ng6 18. d4 Nb6 19. b3 h5 20. h3 h4 21. Bh2 g4 22.
hxg4 Bxg4 23. Qd2 Kg7 24. Rf1 Rh8 25. Ne1 c5 26. f3 Be6 27. f4 exf4 28. Ref3 h3
29. Bxf4 hxg2 30. Qxg2 Qh4 31. Bg5 Qh5 32. Bf6+ Kh7 33. Kf2 Kg8 34. Bxh8 Qxh8
35. e5 Qh4+ 36. Kg1 Kh8 37. Rg3 Rg8 38. Bxg6 Nd5 39. Nf3 Qh6 40. Bb1 Qe3+ 41.
Kh1 1-0

[Event "Amber-blindfold 19th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2010.03.25"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E70"]
[WhiteElo "2756"]
[BlackElo "2813"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2010.03.13"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Bg5 O-O 6. Qd2 Na6 7. Bd3 e5 8. d5
Qe8 9. Nge2 Nh5 10. f3 f5 11. O-O-O Nc5 12. Bc2 Bd7 13. Rde1 fxe4 14. Nxe4 Nxe4
15. fxe4 b5 16. cxb5 Rf2 17. Rhg1 Nf4 18. Qe3 Rxg2 19. Nxf4 exf4 20. Bxf4 Rxg1
21. Rxg1 Qe7 22. Bd3 Rf8 23. Rf1 Qh4 24. Bg3 Rxf1+ 25. Bxf1 Qxe4 26. Qxe4 1-0

[Event "Amber-rapid 19th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2010.03.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B97"]
[WhiteElo "2748"]
[BlackElo "2813"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2010.03.13"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Bc1 Nf6 8.
Bg5 e6 9. f4 Qb6 10. Qd2 Qxb2 11. Rb1 Qa3 12. f5 Nc6 13. fxe6 fxe6 14. Nxc6
bxc6 15. Be2 Be7 16. O-O O-O 17. Kh1 Ra7 18. Qe3 Rd7 19. Rb8 Kh8 20. e5 dxe5
21. Ne4 Qxe3 22. Bxe3 Rdd8 23. Bc5 Bxc5 24. Nxc5 Kg8 25. Bc4 Kf7 26. Rb6 Rd4
27. Bxe6+ Ke7 28. Rxc6 Nd7 29. Re1 Nxc5 30. Bxc8 Re4 31. Rc1 Rc4 32. Bxa6 Rc3
33. Bb5 Ne4 34. a4 Rxc6 35. Bxc6 Nc3 36. a5 Kd6 37. Bb7 Kc7 38. a6 e4 39. Re1
Kb6 40. Kg1 Rf5 41. Bxe4 Nxe4 42. Rxe4 Kxa6 43. Re7 Rg5 44. Kf2 Kb6 45. Kf3 h5
46. h4 Rf5+ 47. Ke4 Rc5 48. g3 Rc4+ 49. Kf5 g6+ 1-0

[Event "Amber-rapid 19th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2010.03.14"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C48"]
[WhiteElo "2813"]
[BlackElo "2782"]
[PlyCount "135"]
[EventDate "2010.03.13"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bd6 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 Re8 7. Re1 a6 8. Bc4
Na5 9. a3 Nxc4 10. dxc4 h6 11. h3 Bc5 12. Be3 Bxe3 13. Rxe3 d6 14. Qd2 Be6 15.
b3 Nd7 16. Rd1 Rf8 17. Qe2 b6 18. Ne1 Nc5 19. Nd3 Nxd3 20. cxd3 b5 21. d4 exd4
22. Rxd4 bxc4 23. bxc4 Qf6 24. Rd1 Rab8 25. Nd5 Bxd5 26. cxd5 Rb2 27. Qf3 Qxf3
28. Rxf3 Re2 29. Rd4 Rc2 30. Ra4 Ra8 31. g4 c5 32. dxc6 Rxc6 33. Rb4 Rac8 34.
Rd3 Rc3 35. Rbd4 R8c4 36. Rxc4 Rxd3 37. Ra4 Rxh3 38. Rxa6 g6 39. Kg2 Rd3 40. a4
Ra3 41. f3 Kg7 42. Kg3 Ra2 43. a5 Ra3 44. Ra8 Kf6 45. a6 Ke7 46. a7 Ra2 47. f4
Ra3+ 48. Kf2 Kf6 49. Ke2 Kg7 50. Kd2 h5 51. g5 h4 52. Ke2 h3 53. Kf2 Ra2+ 54.
Kg1 Rg2+ 55. Kh1 Ra2 56. f5 Kh7 57. f6 h2 58. Rf8 Rxa7 59. Kxh2 Rb7 60. Kg3 Ra7
61. Kf4 Rb7 62. Ke3 Ra7 63. Kd4 Rc7 64. Re8 Ra7 65. Kd5 Ra5+ 66. Kxd6 Ra6+ 67.
Ke7 Ra7+ 68. Kf8 1-0

[Event "Amber-rapid 19th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2010.03.15"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D97"]
[WhiteElo "2813"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2010.03.13"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 O-O 7. e4 a6 8. e5
Nfd7 9. Be3 b5 10. Qd5 Nb6 11. Qe4 Bf5 12. Qh4 f6 13. g4 Be6 14. Bg2 Nc6 15.
O-O Kh8 16. Rad1 Nd5 17. Ne4 Bg8 18. Nc5 Ncb4 19. a3 Nxe3 20. fxe3 Nd5 21. Rfe1
c6 22. Nd3 g5 23. Qg3 h6 24. h4 Bh7 25. hxg5 fxg5 26. Nc5 Qc8 27. Rc1 e6 28.
Nd2 Ra7 29. Nde4 Re7 30. Nd6 Qa8 31. Rf1 a5 32. Rxf8+ Qxf8 33. Ncb7 Qa8 34.
Rxc6 1-0

[Event "Amber-rapid 19th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2010.03.16"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Smeets, Jan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2651"]
[BlackElo "2813"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2010.03.13"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 c5 13. Nf1 cxd4 14. cxd4 exd4
15. Nxd4 Re8 16. Nf5 Bf8 17. Nxd6 Bxd6 18. Qxd6 Rc8 19. Bb3 Nxe4 20. Qf4 Nef6
21. Rxe8+ Qxe8 22. Be3 Nd5 23. Qd4 N7f6 24. Bd2 Qe4 25. Qxe4 Nxe4 26. Rc1 Rxc1
27. Bxc1 Nc5 28. Bc2 Nb4 29. Be3 Nxc2 30. Bxc5 Ne1 31. Ne3 Nd3 32. b4 a5 33. a3
Nxc5 34. bxc5 b4 35. axb4 axb4 36. Kf1 b3 37. Nd1 Kf8 38. g3 g5 39. Ke2 Bg2 40.
h4 gxh4 41. gxh4 Kg7 42. Kd3 Kg6 43. Kc4 Kh5 44. Kxb3 Kxh4 45. Ne3 Bb7 46. Kc4
h5 47. Kd4 Kg5 48. Ke5 h4 49. f4+ Kg6 50. Ng4 h3 51. Nh2 f6+ 52. Ke6 Bg2 53.
Ng4 Kh5 54. Nf2 h2 55. Kxf6 Kh4 56. Ke5 Kg3 0-1

[Event "Amber-rapid 19th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2010.03.18"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2813"]
[BlackElo "2725"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2010.03.13"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nc3 Nb6 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. a3 Be7 8. b4
Be6 9. O-O O-O 10. Rb1 f6 11. d3 Nd4 12. Nd2 c6 13. e3 Nb5 14. Nxb5 cxb5 15.
Nb3 Qd7 16. Na5 Nd5 17. Bb2 Rac8 18. d4 b6 19. Nb3 Nc3 20. Bxc3 Rxc3 21. Rb2 a5
22. d5 Bg4 23. Qd2 axb4 24. axb4 Bxb4 25. Nd4 Rb3 26. Qc2 Rxb2 27. Qxb2 exd4
28. Qxb4 Be2 29. Ra1 dxe3 30. fxe3 Bc4 31. h3 Qc7 32. d6 Qc5 33. Qd2 Qe5 34.
Ra7 Qxg3 35. Qd4 Rd8 36. d7 Kf7 37. Qxb6 Bd5 38. Ra2 Rxd7 39. Qxb5 Qxe3+ 40.
Rf2 Be6 41. Qh5+ Kf8 42. Qxh7 Rd1+ 43. Bf1 Qg3+ 44. Rg2 Rxf1+ 45. Kxf1 Bxh3 46.
Qh8+ Ke7 0-1

[Event "Amber-rapid 19th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2010.03.19"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E94"]
[WhiteElo "2750"]
[BlackElo "2813"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2010.03.13"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. Be3 c6 8. d5 Na6
9. O-O Ng4 10. Bg5 f6 11. Bh4 c5 12. Ne1 h5 13. a3 Qe7 14. Nd3 b6 15. h3 Nh6
16. f4 g5 17. fxg5 fxg5 18. Rxf8+ Bxf8 19. Bf2 g4 20. h4 Nf7 21. g3 Bh6 22. b4
Bd7 23. bxc5 Nxc5 24. Nxc5 dxc5 25. a4 Rf8 26. a5 Qf6 27. Qe1 Nd6 28. Ra2 Bc1
29. axb6 axb6 30. Bxc5 bxc5 31. Qxc1 Qf2+ 32. Kh1 Qxg3 33. Qg5+ Kf7 34. Ra7
Qh3+ 35. Kg1 Qg3+ 36. Kh1 Ke8 37. Qg6+ Rf7 38. Qg8+ Ke7 39. Qg5+ Kf8 40. Ra8+
Nc8 41. Rxc8+ Bxc8 42. Qd8+ Kg7 43. Qg5+ Kh7 44. Qxh5+ Kg8 45. Qg5+ Rg7 46.
Qd8+ Kh7 47. Qxc8 Rf7 48. Qxg4 Rf1+ 49. Bxf1 Qxg4 50. d6 Qf3+ 0-1

[Event "Amber-rapid 19th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2010.03.20"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gashimov, Vugar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2813"]
[BlackElo "2740"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2010.03.13"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 d5 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 a6 5. a4 e6 6. Bg5 Bb4 7. e3 Qa5 8. Bxf6
Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 Qxc3+ 10. Nd2 gxf6 11. Be2 Qa5 12. e4 dxe4 13. O-O Qd8 14. Nxe4
f5 15. Ng3 Nd7 16. d5 cxd5 17. cxd5 Nf6 18. dxe6 Bxe6 19. Qb1 f4 20. Nf5 O-O
21. Bf3 Rb8 22. Rd1 Qa5 23. Ne7+ Kg7 24. Qb2 Rfe8 25. Re1 Qc5 26. Nd5 Bxd5 27.
Re5 Rxe5 28. Qxe5 Rc8 29. Qg5+ Kf8 30. Qxf6 Qc1+ 31. Bd1 Qc3 32. Qxc3 Rxc3 33.
Bf3 Bxf3 34. gxf3 Rxf3 35. Rb1 Ra3 36. Rxb7 f3 37. h3 Rxa4 38. Kh2 a5 39. Kg3
Ra1 40. Kxf3 a4 41. Ra7 a3 42. Kf4 Kg7 43. Kf5 a2 44. f4 Rh1 45. Rxa2 Rxh3 46.
Rg2+ Kf8 47. Ra2 Rh6 48. Kg4 Rg6+ 49. Kf3 Kg7 50. Ra5 h6 51. Rb5 Rd6 52. Kg4
Kg6 53. Ra5 Rd4 54. Rb5 h5+ 55. Rxh5 Rxf4+ 56. Kxf4 Kxh5 57. Kf5 f6 58. Kxf6
1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-rapid 19th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2010.03.21"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E97"]
[WhiteElo "2790"]
[BlackElo "2813"]
[PlyCount "180"]
[EventDate "2010.03.13"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5
Ne7 9. b4 a5 10. Ba3 Nd7 11. bxa5 Rxa5 12. Bb4 Ra8 13. a4 Bh6 14. a5 f5 15. Bd3
Kh8 16. Re1 Nf6 17. c5 fxe4 18. cxd6 cxd6 19. Nxe4 Nxe4 20. Bxe4 Bf5 21. Rb1
Qd7 22. h3 Rac8 23. Qb3 Rf7 24. Bc3 Bxe4 25. Rxe4 Qf5 26. Rbe1 Rc5 27. Bxe5+
dxe5 28. Rxe5 Qf6 29. Re6 Qf4 30. Rxe7 Rxe7 31. Rxe7 Rc1+ 32. Ne1 Bf8 33. Qb2+
Kg8 34. Re8 Rd1 35. Qxb7 Qf7 36. Qc8 Kg7 37. Qc3+ Kg8 38. Re5 Qf4 39. Qb3 Bc5
40. d6+ Kg7 41. Re7+ Kh6 42. Qc2 Rc1 43. Re4 Rxc2 44. Rxf4 Rc1 45. Kf1 Bxd6 46.
Ra4 Bc5 47. Ke2 Ba7 48. Ra2 Kg5 49. Nd3 Rc4 50. Rb2 Ra4 51. Rb5+ Kf6 52. Nb4
Ke6 53. f4 Kd6 54. g4 Ra3 55. Nd3 Ra2+ 56. Kf3 Ra3 57. Ke2 Ra2+ 58. Ke1 Bd4 59.
f5 gxf5 60. Rxf5 Rxa5 61. Rxa5 Bc3+ 62. Ke2 Bxa5 63. Kf3 Ke6 64. Ke4 Kf6 65. h4
Bc7 66. Nf4 Ba5 67. g5+ Kf7 68. Kf5 Bd2 69. Nd5 Kg7 70. h5 Kf7 71. Nf6 Kg7 72.
Ne4 Bc1 73. Nf6 Bd2 74. Ne8+ Kg8 75. Kf6 Bf4 76. Kf5 Bc1 77. Nc7 Kf7 78. Nd5
Kg7 79. Nc3 Be3 80. Ne4 Bc1 81. h6+ Kh8 82. Ke6 Kg8 83. Ke7 Bxg5+ 84. Nxg5 Kh8
85. Kf6 Kg8 86. Nf7 Kf8 87. Ne5 Kg8 88. Ke7 Kh8 89. Ke6 Kg8 90. Nf7 Kf8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-rapid 19th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2010.03.23"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2813"]
[BlackElo "2713"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2010.03.13"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O
O-O 9. Kh1 Nc6 10. f4 b5 11. Be3 Bb7 12. a4 Nb4 13. Qd2 d5 14. fxe5 Nxe4 15.
Nxe4 dxe4 16. Nd4 Nd5 17. Nf5 Qc7 18. Bd4 e3 19. Qe1 Bc5 20. Bxc5 Qxc5 21. Bd3
Bc8 22. Nd6 Qd4 23. axb5 Be6 24. bxa6 Qxe5 25. Qh4 f5 26. Nc4 Qf6 27. Qh3 f4
28. Qxh7+ Kf7 29. Qe4 Kg8 30. Ra5 Rfd8 31. Nxe3 Nxe3 32. Rxf4 Nf5 33. Raxf5
Bxf5 34. Rxf5 Qh6 35. h3 Ra7 36. Qc4+ Kh8 37. Qc5 g6 38. Rf6 Rg7 39. Rf8+ Rxf8
40. Qxf8+ Kh7 41. Kh2 Qe3 42. Qd6 Qg5 43. b4 Re7 44. b5 Re5 45. Qxg6+ Qxg6 46.
Bxg6+ Kxg6 47. a7 1-0

[Event "Amber-rapid 19th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2010.03.24"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Ponomariov, Ruslan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D87"]
[WhiteElo "2737"]
[BlackElo "2813"]
[PlyCount "200"]
[EventDate "2010.03.13"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8.
Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O Qc7 11. Rb1 Rd8 12. Bf4 Be5 13. Bxe5 Nxe5 14. Bb3
Ng4 15. Ng3 Qf4 16. h3 Nf6 17. e5 Nd5 18. Ne2 Qe4 19. Ng3 Qf4 20. dxc5 Be6 21.
Qd4 b6 22. Ne2 Qf5 23. cxb6 Nxb6 24. Qf4 Rac8 25. Qxf5 Bxf5 26. Rbd1 Bd3 27.
Rfe1 a5 28. Nf4 Bc4 29. Rxd8+ Rxd8 30. Re4 Bxb3 31. axb3 Rd1+ 32. Kh2 Rb1 33.
c4 Rxb3 34. c5 Nd7 35. c6 Nb6 36. Rd4 Rc3 37. Nd5 Nxd5 38. Rxd5 Rxc6 39. Rxa5
Rc4 40. Kg3 e6 41. f4 h6 42. Kf3 Rc3+ 43. Kf2 g5 44. fxg5 hxg5 45. Ra4 Kg7 46.
Rg4 Kh6 47. g3 Kh5 48. Ra4 Kg6 49. Ra5 Rd3 50. h4 gxh4 51. gxh4 Rd7 52. Ke3 Rb7
53. Kf4 Rb4+ 54. Kg3 Kf5 55. Ra7 Rg4+ 56. Kf3 Rg7 57. Ra5 Rg1 58. Rb5 Ra1 59.
Rc5 Ra3+ 60. Kf2 Ke4 61. h5 Ra8 62. Kg3 Kf5 63. Kh4 Ra4+ 64. Kg3 Rg4+ 65. Kf3
Rf4+ 66. Kg3 Kg5 67. h6 Rg4+ 68. Kf3 Rh4 69. Rc7 Kg6 70. Rc8 Rxh6 71. Kg4 Rh1
72. Rg8+ Kh7 73. Ra8 Rf1 74. Ra2 Kg6 75. Rg2 Rf5 76. Re2 Kg7 77. Kg3 Kf8 78.
Re4 Ke7 79. Kg4 Kd7 80. Rd4+ Kc6 81. Rd6+ Kc7 82. Rd1 Rxe5 83. Rf1 f5+ 84. Kg5
Kd6 85. Kf6 Re4 86. Rd1+ Kc5 87. Rd8 f4 88. Kg5 e5 89. Kg4 Re3 90. Rd1 Kc4 91.
Rd2 f3 92. Kg3 e4 93. Kf2 Rd3 94. Ra2 Kd4 95. Ra4+ Ke5 96. Kg3 Rd2 97. Ra5+ Kd4
98. Ra4+ Ke3 99. Ra3+ Ke2 100. Kf4 f2 0-1

[Event "Amber-rapid 19th"]
[Site "Nice"]
[Date "2010.03.25"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2813"]
[BlackElo "2756"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2010.03.13"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 135 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.05.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. Rc1 c6 8.
Qc2 h6 9. Bh4 g5 10. Bg3 Ne4 11. Nd2 Ndf6 12. e3 Nxg3 13. hxg3 Qe7 14. Bd3 Be6
15. a3 Bd6 16. Na4 Rd8 17. Nc5 Bc8 18. b4 Ng4 19. Nf1 h5 20. Bf5 Bxf5 21. Qxf5
Rh6 22. Rc2 a5 23. f3 Nf6 24. Qxg5 Rg6 25. Qf5 axb4 26. axb4 Ra8 27. g4 Ra1+
28. Ke2 Bxc5 29. bxc5 hxg4 30. Rh8+ Ng8 31. f4 Kf8 32. Ng3 Re6 33. Qxg4 Rg6 34.
Qc8+ Qe8 35. Qxe8+ Kxe8 36. Kf3 Kd7 37. Rb2 Kc7 38. Rh7 Nh6 39. Nf5 Rf1+ 40.
Rf2 Rxf2+ 41. Kxf2 1-0

[Event "Bazna Kings 4th"]
[Site "Medias"]
[Date "2010.06.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ponomariov, Ruslan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E05"]
[WhiteElo "2813"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2010.06.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ROU"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 137"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 {When asked to make few comments about the present game, Ponomariov
started with the following: "It was very difficult to concentrate on chess in
this game because it was very hot in the playing hall". Indeed, the Ukrainian
was visibly disturbed by the high temperature and looked really happy that he
got out of the playing area to reach some cooler places.} Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3
d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. a4 Bd7 9. Qxc4 Bc6 10. Bg5 h6
11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. Nc3 Bxf3 13. Bxf3 c6 14. Rad1 a5 15. e4 Nd7 16. e5 Be7 17.
Be4 Qb6 18. f4 {White's aggressive plan looks strong, but it is far from
simple to break through. His main problem is the weak pawn on d4. Notice that
due to the pin on the a7-g1 diagonal White does not threat to advance f4-f5
yet. Actually a closer look will reveal some weak dark squares in White's
position.} Rad8 19. Qe2 {Carlsen: "I was very happy with my position here".
However, after Ponomariov's strong answer it seems that Black faces no
particular problems.} (19. f5 $2 {runs into} Nxe5) 19... Nb8 $1 {Opens the
d-file for the rook and transfers the knight to a better position. Actually
with this move backwards the knight is heading for square d5.} 20. Qf2 (20. f5
{The mentioned by Carlsen 20.f5 is an interesting, but of course risky pawn
sacrifice.}) 20... Na6 21. Kh1 ({Again} 21. f5 {is premature due to the very
strong answer} f6 $1 {and Black's pieces are better placed for the opening of
the position.}) 21... f5 $1 22. Bb1 ({Both players agreed that better was} 22.
Bf3 {preventing 22...h5 and preparing 23.g4.}) 22... h5 $1 23. h3 g6 24. Ba2
Nc7 {Right in time to protect everything.} 25. g4 {Black is very solid and has
no troubles at all to face this advance.} hxg4 26. hxg4 Kf7 27. Kg2 Rh8 28. g5
$1 {A common quality for many strong players is to feel the danger and switch
from their initial aggressive intentions to a more realistic approach. The
position started to become dangerous for White and Carlsen rightly leaves
aside his ambitions, trying to keep the balance now.} Rh7 29. Rh1 Rxh1 30. Kxh1
Rh8+ 31. Kg2 Qa6 {"I was happy that we passed the limit of 30 moves and I
could finally offer a draw" said Ponomariov immediately after the game.}
1/2-1/2

[Event "Bazna Kings 4th"]
[Site "Medias"]
[Date "2010.06.15"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "2740"]
[BlackElo "2813"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "147"]
[EventDate "2010.06.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ROU"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 137"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. Nge2 a6 6. a4 e6 7. O-O d5 8. exd5
exd5 9. Ba2 Bg4 10. f3 ({The less committing} 10. h3 {was also possible, since
the natural answer} Bh5 {drives the bishop away from the potential weakness on
d5. White can consider then} 11. g4 Bg6 12. d3 {and it is not simple for Black
to exploit weaknesses on opponent's kingside, while his center remains shaky.})
(10. d3 Bd6 11. h3) 10... Be6 11. d3 Nc6 12. Nf4 Qd7 13. Bd2 Be7 14. Nce2 O-O
15. c3 {Black has a pleasant position and Carlsen tries to expand on the
queenside.} b5 16. Bb1 Rab8 ({The immediate} 16... b4 {deserved attention,
avoiding the exchange of a-pawns.}) 17. axb5 axb5 18. Bc2 Bd6 19. Qe1 {
Radjabov chooses the waiting strategy. A reasonable approach, since White's
only problem are the weaknesses created by the move 10.f3 and he is able to
cover them.} ({There was nothing wrong with} 19. d4) 19... Rfe8 20. Qf2 Qc7 21.
Kh1 b4 22. d4 {Carlsen: "A very good move". Radjabov rightly calculated that
in the following tactical complications White keeps the balance.} bxc3 23. bxc3
cxd4 24. cxd4 Nxd4 25. Bxh7+ {Forced. Other moves leave Black with an extra
pawn.} (25. Qxd4 $2 Qxc2) (25. Nxd4 $2 Bxf4) (25. Nxe6 $2 Nxe6) 25... Nxh7 26.
Qxd4 Be5 27. Nxe6 Rxe6 28. Bf4 Bxd4 29. Bxc7 Bxa1 30. Bxb8 Rxe2 31. Rxa1 {
The endgame should of course be a draw, but the passed d-pawn leaves Black
with possibilities to play on. Although in the next part Carlsen improved the
position as much as possible, White's defensive resources are always
sufficient.} Ng5 32. Kg1 Ne6 33. Rd1 d4 34. Kf1 Rb2 35. Be5 Rb5 36. Bg3 Kh7 37.
Bf2 Kg6 38. Ke1 Rb4 39. h4 Kf5 40. g3 Ke5 41. Ke2 Kd5 42. Rd2 Ra4 43. Rb2 Nc5
44. Rd2 Nb3 45. Rc2 Ra7 46. h5 f6 47. Rb2 Re7+ 48. Kd3 Nc5+ 49. Kd2 Ra7 50. Ke2
Ra4 51. Rd2 Nd7 52. Be3 Ne5 53. g4 Nf7 54. Bf4 Nd8 55. Rb2 Ne6 56. Bd2 Ra1 57.
Rb5+ Kc4 58. Ra5 {A somewhat risky move, requiring precise calculation.} ({
The simplest way was pointed out by Carlsen:} 58. Rb6 Nc5 59. h6 gxh6 60. Rxf6
$11) 58... Nf4+ 59. Kf2 Rxa5 60. Bxa5 Kd3 61. Kg3 Ne2+ 62. Kf2 Nf4 63. Kg3 Ke3
64. g5 $1 {A precise move, which secures the draw. After other continuations
White is in troubles.} fxg5 65. Kg4 d3 66. Kxg5 Kxf3 67. h6 Ne6+ 68. Kg6 gxh6
69. Kxh6 Ke2 70. Kg6 Nd4 71. Kf6 Nc6 72. Bc3 Ne5 73. Kxe5 d2 74. Bxd2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bazna Kings 4th"]
[Site "Medias"]
[Date "2010.06.16"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D43"]
[WhiteElo "2813"]
[BlackElo "2741"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2010.06.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ROU"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 137"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 (6. Bh4 {leads to the
very sharp Moscow Variation, where these days the home preparation and good
memory are much more important than anything else. Carlsen's move is more
quiet, leading to a strategical battle.}) 6... Qxf6 7. e3 Nd7 8. Bd3 dxc4 9.
Bxc4 Bd6 ({A much more popular continuation is} 9... g6 {- a move which
Gelfand played many times before.}) 10. Ne4 ({In case of} 10. O-O {with the
idea 11.Ne4 Black plays} Qe7) 10... Bb4+ 11. Nfd2 Qe7 12. O-O O-O {Black has
the bishop pair, but he still must complete development and find good squares
for his bishops. The position is typical for the Moscow Variation, where in
order to fight for advantage White must try to make use of his lead in
development. But this is a difficult task, since Black is very solid and has
no weaknesses.} 13. f4 $5 {Like in the first round, Carlsen shows aggression
by advancing the f-pawn. On the other hand in the present situation f2-f4 is
mainly designed to prevent e6-e5.} c5 $1 {Rightly starting to open the files
as soon as possible.} 14. Nf3 ({After} 14. a3 {Black equalizes with} Bxd2 15.
Qxd2 Rd8 16. Rad1 Nb6) 14... Nb6 15. Bb3 cxd4 ({Much more logical than} 15...
c4 {which is suggested by computer engines. With the bishop pair Black should
aim for opening of the position.}) 16. Nxd4 Bd7 17. Qh5 {Aggressive, but as
mentioned before Black is very solid and a direct attack can hardly succeed
against a good defence.} ({Some chances to get an opening advantage remained
after} 17. a3 Bc5 18. Nxc5 Qxc5 19. Rc1 Qd6 20. Qf3) 17... Rac8 $1 {Gelfand's
moves are very accurate and destroy White's attacking dreams.} 18. Rf3 Nc4 $1
19. Rg3 Kh8 {A cool answer, showing that White gets nowhere with his attacking
intentions.} 20. Rf1 {Clearly overestimating White's position.} ({Also after} 
20. a3 Bc5 {it is Black who fights for advantage.}) 20... Nd6 $1 {Again the
best move, at least from the practical point of view.} (20... Nxb2 {is a kind
of move White was hoping for. Even if there is no refutation, White gets time
to try developing his attack.}) 21. Nxd6 Bxd6 22. Nf3 Rc5 $1 23. Rg5 (23. Qg4 {
is answered with} f5 24. Qg6 Rf6 25. Qh5 Be8 {with advantage for Black.}) 23...
Rfc8 24. Rxc5 Rxc5 25. Qh4 Qxh4 26. Nxh4 {Something went clearly wrong for
White. Thanks to his bishop pair Black has an obvious advantage in endgame.}
Be7 27. Nf3 a5 28. Rd1 Be8 29. Nd4 a4 30. Bc2 g6 31. Kf2 e5 {A tempting move.}
({However, as a possible improvement Gelfand suggested to bring first his king
with} 31... Kg7) 32. fxe5 Rxe5 33. Rd3 Rc5 34. Rc3 Rxc3 35. bxc3 {Gelfand:
"With my king in the center Black would have been winning". The problem for
Black is that he cannot prevent White from playing Be4 and attack immediately
opponent's pawn weaknesses on the queenside.} Kg7 (35... f5 36. e4 {also
allows White to escape.}) (35... Bd7 36. Be4 Bc8 37. Bc2 a3 38. Kf3 {doesn't
look particularly attractive for Black wither. The white king comes first to
the center via e4 and d5.}) 36. Be4 f5 37. Bxb7 Bf7 38. a3 $1 {This important
resource allows White to achieve the draw.} Bxa3 39. Bc6 Bb2 (39... Bb3 40.
Nxb3 axb3 41. Ba4 b2 42. Bc2 $11) 40. Bxa4 Bxc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bazna Kings 4th"]
[Site "Medias"]
[Date "2010.06.17"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wang, Yue"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C36"]
[WhiteElo "2813"]
[BlackElo "2752"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2010.06.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ROU"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 137"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. f4 {A big surprise: the King's Gambit is extremely rare on the top
level nowadays. "Things weren't going so well in the tournament I thought I
just try it and see how it goes" said Magnus after the game.} d5 ({Carlsen
himself played once with Black} 2... exf4 3. Nf3 g5) 3. exd5 exf4 4. Nf3 Nf6 5.
Bc4 Nxd5 6. O-O Be7 7. Bxd5 Qxd5 8. Nc3 Qd8 9. d4 O-O 10. Bxf4 Bf5 11. Qe2 {
There is almost no theory here. The impression is that White can hope for an
edge thanks to his lead in development and somewhat better control in the
center, but Black has the bishop pair and should be able to hold equality.} Bd6
{A new and somewhat unexpected move, since Black is giving up the bishop pair
and leaves the queenside undeveloped yet.} ({Previously Black played} 11... Nc6
) ({Another move to consider is} 11... c6) 12. Bxd6 Qxd6 13. Nb5 Qd8 14. c4 a6
({More natural looks} 14... c6 15. Nc3 Nd7) 15. Nc3 Nd7 16. Rad1 Bg6 17. Qf2
Re8 18. h3 {White is slightly better, but since Black has no weaknesses it is
far from easy to break through.} Rc8 {What could be possibly be the purpose of
this move? It does not prepare the advance c5 and Black doesn't need to
protect the pawn c7 either. So the only explanation I find is that the Chinese
Grandmaster wanted just to wait and see how his opponent is going to make
progress.} 19. Rfe1 Rxe1+ 20. Rxe1 c6 21. d5 {Sooner or later White must make
this move.} Nf6 22. Qd4 cxd5 23. Nxd5 Nxd5 24. cxd5 Qd6 25. Ne5 {White's plan
is to play at some moment Nc4 and then advance the d-pawn. If Black prevents
it by playing b7-b5, then the weakness of square c6 is unpleasant. Therefore a
good defensive plan is needed and Wang Yue fails to find it.} Re8 ({There was
a reasonable way to force matters with} 25... f6 26. Nxg6 (26. Nc4 $2 {is a
blunder in view of} Qb4 27. Rc1 b5 {and Black wins.}) (26. Nf3 {is also bad:}
Bf7 27. Rd1 Rd8 {and White loses the d5-pawn}) 26... hxg6 27. Re6 Qc5 ({Perhaps
} 27... Rc1+ 28. Kf2 Rc2+ 29. Kf3 Qd7 {is also acceptable.}) 28. Qxc5 Rxc5 29.
d6 Rd5 {and the endgame should be a draw. For instance:} 30. Kf2 ({or} 30. h4
b5 31. Kf2 Kf7 32. Re7+ Kf8 33. Rd7 Rd2+ 34. Ke3 Rxg2 35. Ra7 Ke8) 30... g5 31.
Ke3 (31. g4 b5 32. Ke3 Kf7 33. Re7+ Kf8 34. Rd7 g6 35. Ke4 Rd2) 31... f5 32.
Re7 Rxd6 33. Rxb7 Kh7 34. a4 Kg6 35. a5 f4+ 36. Ke4 Re6+ 37. Kf3 (37. Kd3 Re3+
38. Kd4 Re2 39. Rb6+ Kf5) 37... Kf5) (25... Bf5 $5) (25... Qc5 $2 {loses due to
} 26. Qxc5 Rxc5 27. d6 Rd5 28. d7 {winning.}) 26. Re3 Rd8 (26... b5 27. Nc4 $1
Qd8 28. Rxe8+ Qxe8 29. Ne5 {is the kind of position White is aiming for.}) 27.
Nc4 Qf6 28. Re5 $1 h6 $2 {This allows White to advance the pawn.} ({After} 
28... b5 29. Na5 (29. Qe3 h6) 29... h6 {Black should be able to hold the
position.}) 29. d6 $1 Bf5 (29... b5 30. d7 $1 Kh7 31. Nb6 {is also unpleasant.}
) 30. Nb6 $1 Be6 (30... Rxd6 31. Nd5 {forces Black to give up the exchange}) (
30... Qxd6 $2 {loses right away due to} 31. Rd5) 31. d7 Kh8 32. a4 {Black is
almost paralyzed and will soon end up in a sort of zugzwang.} g6 33. Qc3 Kg7
34. a5 h5 35. h4 {Here the Chinese player decided to give up the exchange and
go for a position where he said "I think I have chances to draw".} Rxd7 (35...
Bxd7 $2 36. Rd5 {loses the bishop}) (35... Qxh4 $2 36. Rxe6+) ({Black could
still wait with} 35... Kg8 {but then} 36. Rc5 ({or first} 36. g3) 36... Qxc3 (
36... Qxh4 37. Rc8) 37. Rxc3 Kf8 38. Rc7 {and White wins.}) 36. Nxd7 Bxd7 37.
Qd4 Bc6 38. b4 Bb5 39. Kh2 Ba4 40. Rd5 Bc6 41. Qxf6+ Kxf6 42. Rc5 Ke6 43. Kg3
f6 44. Kf2 Bd5 45. g3 g5 $2 {This loses by force, but on the other hand the
position must be lost anyway. White brings the king to d4, then attacks with
the rook the pawn f6, forcing Black to play Ke6, then White goes with the king
to b6 and takes with the rook on b7, winning.} 46. g4 $1 {This way White
creates a passed h-pawn, which decides quickly.} hxg4 47. h5 Be4 48. Rc7 f5 49.
h6 f4 50. h7 g3+ 51. Ke1 f3 52. h8=Q f2+ 53. Ke2 Bd3+ 54. Ke3 1-0

[Event "Bazna Kings 4th"]
[Site "Medias"]
[Date "2010.06.19"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Nisipeanu, Liviu Dieter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B76"]
[WhiteElo "2672"]
[BlackElo "2813"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2010.06.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ROU"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 137"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2
O-O 9. O-O-O d5 {This is one of the most critical positions of the Sicilian
Dragon. White hopes that after possible simplifications a better control in
the center will secure him an edge.} 10. Kb1 {Schulz,A: 'Ein nützlicher
Wartezug mit einer giftigen Pointe.'} Rb8 {Black prepares himself for an
eventual exchange on c6, which would open the b-file and will leave the rook
ideally placed on b8.} ({The main line goes} 10... Nxd4 11. e5 $1 {which
happened for instance in the game Nisipeanu-Radjabov, Kings Tournament 2009.})
11. Ndb5 {It is very likely that after the present game the White players will
look for advantage in other lines, perhaps after moves like} (11. Be2) ({or} 
11. h4 h5 12. Be2) 11... a6 12. Na7 {The knight on a7 looks somewhat misplaced,
but all this is theory and up to the present game it was considered that
White's prospects are slightly preferable.} e6 13. g4 ({The alternative is} 13.
exd5 {but it seems that both} exd5 {and 13...Nxd5 offer Black a reasonable
game.}) 13... Re8 $1 {Just like on move 10, Black makes another "mysterious
rook move". This continuation came unexpected for Nisipeanu, who started to
use lots of time. Black's idea is to place ideally his pieces for the opening
of the position. And indeed it is far from easy for White to find a good plan.}
({The usual continuation is} 13... Qc7) 14. g5 Nh5 {Strictly speaking, only
this move is new, but already 13...Re8 is almost unexplored. The first
critical moment.} ({In a blitz game between two GMs Black played once the very
weak} 14... Nd7 {and after} 15. exd5 exd5 16. Nxd5 Nde5 17. Bb6 Qd7 18. f4 Nf3
19. Qf2 Nfd4 20. Bc4 {Black could already resign in Balogh,C (2616)-Fier,A 
(2581)/Beijing (blitz) 2008.}) 15. Bf2 {This apparently logical continuation
removing the bishop from the e-file has a serious drawback - it leaves the
problem of the knight on a7.} ({Since his main concern should be the stuck
knight, White had to consider} 15. Nxc8 d4 ({weaker is} 15... Rxc8 16. exd5
exd5 17. Nxd5) 16. Bf2 Rxc8 17. Ne2 {and although Black solved all opening
problems, White has a normal position.}) 15... Bd7 $1 16. exd5 exd5 {The
second critical moment and practically the decisive moment of the game.
Unfortunately for Nisipeanu, he was still thinking that White is better and
didn't realize the danger of the position.} 17. Qxd5 $2 ({Necessary was} 17.
Nxd5 Be6 18. c4 {and at least White is not falling apart:} ({not} 18. Nxc6 bxc6
19. Nb6 Bd5 $1) 18... Bf5+ 19. Ka1 ({Again the alternative} 19. Bd3 {is bad,
because of the simple} Bxd3+ 20. Qxd3 Qxg5) 19... Ra8 20. Nxc6 bxc6 21. Nc3 {
even if after for instance} Qa5 {Black has a more pleasant play.}) 17... Ne5
18. Qb3 {Losing the g5-pawn is fatal for White.} ({More stubborn was} 18. h4
Be6 19. Qc5 Nd7 20. Qb4) 18... Qxg5 {[%eval -32767,0] The material became
equal, but White remained with the knight on a7. Besides, his kingside pawn
structure is horrible. So basically the game is over.} 19. Ne4 Qf4 20. Be2 Be6
21. Qa3 Nc4 22. Bxc4 Bxc4 23. Nd6 Bf8 24. Rd4 Qe5 (24... Qg5 {with the idea}
25. Rxc4 Qg2 $1 {was also strong.}) 25. Rxc4 Bxd6 ({Even quicker was} 25... Qe2
26. Qc3 ({or} 26. Qd3 Qxf2 27. Nxe8 Rxe8 28. Rd4 Nf4 29. Qd2 Ne2) 26... Bxd6
27. Bd4 Bxh2) 26. Qd3 Bf8 $1 {On top of all, Nisipeanu was in severe time
trouble.} 27. a4 Rbd8 28. Qb3 Qd5 29. Rc3 Qd2 30. Be3 ({The last chance for a
longer resistance was} 30. Rc7) 30... Qe2 31. Bb6 Rd1+ ({White resigned in
view of} 31... Rd1+ 32. Rxd1 Qxd1+ 33. Ka2 Re1 34. Qc4 Qa1+ 35. Kb3 Rb1) 0-1

[Event "Bazna Kings 4th"]
[Site "Medias"]
[Date "2010.06.20"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Ponomariov, Ruslan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E81"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2813"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2010.06.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ROU"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 137"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 {Ruslan had no reasons to avoid
the Samisch Variation.} O-O 6. Nge2 Nbd7 ({In the third round against
Ponomariov Radjabov played} 6... e5 {but failed to equalize.}) 7. Be3 c5 8. d5
Ne5 9. Ng3 h5 10. Be2 h4 11. Nf1 e6 12. Nd2 exd5 13. cxd5 Bd7 14. O-O b5 {
Otherwise it is not easy for Black to get counterplay. However, after this
pawn sac Black does not get sufficient compensation.} 15. Nxb5 Bxb5 16. Bxb5
Rb8 17. a4 Nh5 ({After} 17... a6 18. Bxa6 Rxb2 19. Rb1 {White exchanges
Black's most active piece and remains with a a healthy extra pawn.}) 18. f4 $1
Nd7 19. Qg4 a6 {The first critical moment of the game.} 20. Bxa6 ({The
simplest practical solution was} 20. Bxd7 Nf6 21. Qxh4 Qxd7 22. f5 Rxb2 23. Bg5
{with large advantage for White.}) ({Also good is} 20. Bc6) 20... Rxb2 21. Rab1
Rxd2 $1 {Magnus felt that this exchange sac is Black's only chance to
complicate matters.} 22. Bxd2 Bd4+ {The second critical position.} 23. Rf2 $2 {
This is actually just a blunder.} ({After} 23. Kh1 {Black has many tricks, but
White is able to defend and keep the advantage. Few variations are:} Ndf6 24.
Qf3 {It is also possible to take the pawn.} (24. Qxh4 Nxe4 25. Be1 $1 {and
White is better. If} Kg7 {then} 26. g4) 24... Ng3+ ({doesn't work:} 24... Nxe4
25. Qxe4 Ng3+ 26. hxg3 hxg3 27. f5 $18) 25. hxg3 hxg3 26. Be1 Nxe4 27. Bxg3
Nxg3+ 28. Qxg3 Kg7 29. Rf2 $1 {and although Black still keeps the initiative,
it is hardly sufficient to compensate for the missing material.}) 23... Bxf2+
24. Kxf2 Ndf6 25. Qf3 Qe8 $1 {As Ponomariov admitted after the game, he missed
this double attack. Black wins back the pawn and remains with a better
position.} 26. e5 Qxa4 27. exf6 Qxa6 28. Bc3 Qc8 ({Black had a tactical
solution to win White's weak pawns:} 28... Qc4 29. f5 Nxf6 $1 30. Kg1 (30. Bxf6
{runs into} Qc2+) 30... Ne4 {and White is in troubles.}) 29. Kg1 ({The last
chance for White was} 29. f5 $1 Qxf5 30. Qxf5 gxf5 31. Rb6 Rd8 32. Kf3 Rd7 33.
Rb8+ Kh7 34. g4 hxg3 35. hxg3 {and the activity of white pieces would have
secured good chances to escape with a draw.}) 29... Qf5 30. Rf1 Re8 31. Ba1 Ra8
32. Qe3 Kh7 33. Bb2 Rb8 34. Bc1 Rb1 {After Black activated the rook he is
winning.} 35. Qe8 Qxd5 36. f5 gxf5 37. Qe3 Qd4 38. Qxd4 cxd4 39. Bg5 Rxf1+ 40.
Kxf1 h3 $1 41. gxh3 (41. g3 Kg6 {changes nothing, of course.}) 41... Kg6 42.
Bh4 Nf4 43. Bg3 Kg5 44. Bf2 Ne6 45. Ke2 f4 46. Kf3 d3 47. h4+ Kf5 48. Bb6 Nc5
49. h5 d2 50. Ke2 Ne4 0-1

[Event "Bazna Kings 4th"]
[Site "Medias"]
[Date "2010.06.21"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B35"]
[WhiteElo "2813"]
[BlackElo "2740"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2010.06.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ROU"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 137"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 {This was my best game in the tournament. After an interesting tactical
skirmish in the middlegame I kept the pressure on in the endgame, and it paid
off, as it often does :) Dies war meine beste Partie im Turnier. Nach einem
interessanten taktischen Scharmützel im Mittelspiel hielt ich den Druck im
Endspiel aufrecht, und es zahlte sich aus, wie so oft :)} c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3
g6 {Not really surprising, as Radjabov has frequently used the Dragon over the
past few years. Nicht wirklich überaschend, denn Radjabov hat den Drachen im
Lauf der letzten Jahre häufig angewendet.} 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7.
Bc4 Qa5 {This one, however, was rather unexpected. He refuses to transpose to
the Dragon after all. Das kam aber schon recht unerwartet. Er weigert sich
doch noch, in den Drachen überzugehen.} 8. O-O O-O 9. Bb3 d6 10. h3 Bd7 11. Re1
{The other main line here is 11.f4. Das andere Hauptabspiel hier ist 11.f4.}
Rfc8 12. Qe2 {Not the most usual move, but I recalled the game Akopian-Bacrot
from last year, where White was held convincingly and thought it would make
sense to deviate early on. Nicht der üblichste Zug, aber ich erinnerte mich an
die Partie Akopian-Bacrot aus dem letzten Jahr, wo Weiß überzeugend auf
Distanz gehalten wurde, und hielt es für sinnvoll, frühzeitig abzuweichen.} Qh5
{A normal manoeuvre in this line. After the queen swap Black would obviously
be fine with his extremely solid structure. Ein normales Manöver in diesem
Abspiel. Nach dem Damentausch stünde Schwarz mit seiner extrem soliden
Struktur offensichtlich gut.} 13. Nf3 h6 {This, in connection with his next
move, is also a well established plan. Dies, in Verbindung mit seinem nächsten
Zug, ist ebenfalls ein wohl etablierter Plan.} 14. Rad1 g5 15. Nd5 {There
really wasn't much else to do, as Black's plan of... g5-g4 had to be countered
somehow, and Nd4 clearly wasn't an option. Etwas anderes gab es eigentlich
nicht, denn der schwarze Plan ...g5-g4 musste irgendwie gekontert werden, und
Nd4 war eindeutig keine Möglichkeit.} Nxd5 (15... g4 {is now well met by 16.
Nh2. wird jetzt gut mit 16.Nh2 beantwortet.}) (15... Nxe4 16. Bd4 $1 {is also
inadvisable. ist ebenfalls nicht ratsam.}) (15... Qg6 {also deserves to be
mentioned, not for its merits, but for the refutation: 16.Ne5! ist verdient es
ebenfalls, erwähnt zu werden, nicht wegen der Güte des Zuges, sondern wegen
der Widerlegung: 16.Ne5!}) 16. Bxd5 $1 {Clearly the best practical decision. I
checked it for a while to make sure, that I am not worse in any of the main
lines. The move does not lead to an advantage for White, but it is much more
challenging for Black than Eindeutig die beste praktische Entscheidung. Ich
prüfte sie eine zeitlang, um sicherzugehen, dass ich in keinem der
Hauptabspiele schlechter stand. Der Zug führt zwar nicht zu einem Vorteil für
Weiß, stellt Schwarz aber vor wesentlich größere Aufgaben als} (16. exd5 Ne5
17. Nxe5 Qxe2 18. Rxe2 Bxe5 {which was actually played in an earlier game
Bologan-Malakhov. In fact, Black might even have a slight initiative here, as
he has a clear plan of pushing the queenside pawns, and 19.Bd4 can even be met
by 19... f6!? , was übrigens in einer früheren Partie Bologan-Malakhov
gespielt. Tatsächlich könnte Schwarz hier sogar eine leichte Initiative haben,
da er den klaren Plan besitzt, die Damenflügelbauern vorzustoßen, und 19.Bd4
kann sogar mit 19... f6!? beantwortet werden.}) 16... Bxb2 {Clearly the best
move, but as he spent quite a bit of time on it, his first real think in the
game, I felt quite good about my chances nevertheless. Klar der beste Zug,
aber da er dafür doch ein bisschen Zeit verbrauchte, sein erstes wirkliches
Nachdenken in der Partie, hatte ich trotzdem ein ganz gutes Gefühl bezüglich
meiner Chancen.} (16... e6 17. Bxc6 (17. Bb3 Bxb2 18. Rxd6 Be8 {is probably
okay for Black. ist wohl okay für Schwarz.}) 17... Bxc6 18. Bd4 e5 (18... Bf8
19. c4 $14) 19. Bc3 {should leave White with some advantage, as the many
weaknesses in the black position should be worth the price of giving Black the
bishop pair. sollte Weiß einigen Vorteil überlassen, denn die vielen Schwächen
in der schwarzen Stellung sollten den Preis wert sein, Schwarz das Läuferpaar
zu geben.}) 17. Rb1 (17. Qb5 {is harmless, as Black has the pleasant choice of
ist harmlos, denn Schwarz hat die angenehme Wahl zwischen} Be5 (17... Bf6 18.
Qxb7 Be8 {is the other decent option, when Black should have a good game due
to my relatively misplaced queen. ist die andere anständige Möglichkeit,
wonach Schwarz gutes Spiel haben sollte aufgrund meiner relativ deplatzierten
Dame.}) 18. Qxb7 Bxh3 19. gxh3 Qxf3 20. Bxc6 Qxh3 21. Qd7 g4 22. f4 $1 {
with a perpetual. mit Dauerschach.}) 17... Bc3 $1 {Once again the sharpest
move is also the best. Einmal mehr ist der schärfste Zug auch der beste.} (
17... Bf6 18. Rxb7 Be8 19. Qa6 {gives White the initative due to the neat
trick gibt Weiß die Initative wegen des feinen Tricks} e6 20. Rxa7 $1 (20. Bb3
{is probably better for White as well. ist wahrscheinlich auch besser für Weiß.
}) 20... Nxa7 21. Bxa8 Rxa8 22. Bxa7) 18. Rxb7 Bxh3 (18... Bxe1 {was the
obvious alternative, and naturally what I had calculated the most, as it at
least temporarily wins an exchange. In the end, it should probably lead to a
draw. war die offensichtliche Alternative und natürlich das, was ich am
meisten berechnet hatte, da es zumindest vorübergehend eine Qualität gewinnt.
Letztendlich sollte es wohl zu einem Remis führen.} 19. Rxd7 Bc3 20. Qb5 a6 {
A useful zwischenzug Ein nützlicher Zwischenzug} (20... Ne5 {gives White the
extra option of gibt Weiß die zusätzliche Möglichkeit zu} 21. Rxe7 Rab8 22. Qf1
$1 {retaining my active rook and clearly better chances , was meinen aktiven
Turm und klar bessere Chancen behauptet.}) 21. Qb6 Ne5 22. Rxe7 Rab8 23. Rb7
Rxb7 24. Qxb7 Rf8 25. Qc7 {and here I concluded that White would at least not
be worse after 25... Nxf3+ 26. gxf3 Be5 27.Kg2. In fact, White might be a bit
better here, as my bishops are really powerful. und hier folgerte ich, dass
Weiß nach 25... Nxf3+ 26. gxf3 Be5 27.Kg2 zumindest nicht schlechter stehen
würde. Tatsächlich könnte er hier ein bisschen besser stehen, denn meine
Läufer sind wirklich kraftvoll.} g4 $1 {However, as pointed out by the engines,
ruins things a bit. allerdings, wie von den Engines angezeigt, ruiniert die
Sache ein bisschen.} 26. hxg4 Qxg4 27. Kf1 (27. Nh2 Qd1+ 28. Nf1 Qg4 {leads to
the same result führt zu dem gleichen Resultat.}) 27... Bb4 $1 28. c3 Nxf3 29.
gxf3 Qxf3 {and as often happens in chess, perpetual check is the logical
result in the end. und wie es so oft im Schach geschieht, ist am Ende
Dauerschach das logische Resultat.}) 19. Nxg5 {I spent quite a bit of time on
this one, as I really wanted to make the tempting Hierfür verbrauchte ich
ziemlich viel Zeit, denn ich wollte unbedingt das verlockende} (19. gxh3 Bxe1
20. e5 {work. Unfortunately, it leads nowhere after the simple zum
Funktionieren bringen. Leider führt dies zu nichts nach dem einfachen} Nxe5 (
20... e6 21. Bxe6 {was my main point, which would lead to an elegant draw: war
meine Hauptpointe, was zu einem eleganten Remis führen würde:} Nxe5 $8 (21...
fxe6 22. Qd3 {and wins. und gewinnt.}) 22. Nxe5 Qxe2 23. Bxf7+ Kh8 {The only
move that doesn't lose immediately, but enough to force me to give perpetual
check Der einzige Zug, der nicht sofort verliert, aber genau, um mich zu
ewigem Schach zu zwingen.} 24. Ng6+ Kh7 $8 (24... Kg7 25. Bd4+ Qe5 26. Nxe5
dxe5 27. Bxe5+ Kf8 28. Be6 {and the white attacking forces are way too strong:
und die weißen Angriffskräfte sind viel zu stark:} Rxc2 29. Bd6+ Ke8 30. Rg7
Bxf2+ 31. Kf1 {and mates! nebst Matt!}) 25. Be8+ Kg8 $8 26. Bf7+ $11) 21. Rxe7
Bc3 $1 {and White has already run out of steam. und Weiß ist bereits der Dampf
ausgegangen.}) 19... Qxe2 20. Rxe2 {I still had hopes of retaining an
initiative here, but following his next move, made after a considerable amount
of thought, those hopes were more or less dashed. In general, I felt that we
both handled the complications that started on move 16 very well. Hier hatte
ich noch immer Hoffnungen, eine Initiative zu behaupten, aber nach seinem
nächsten Zug, gespielt nach beträchtlichem Nachdenken, waren diese Hoffnungen
mehr oder weniger dahin. Allgemein hatte ich das Gefühl, dass wir beide die im
16. Zug begonnenen Komplikationen sehr gut bewältigt hatten.} Bg4 $1 (20...
hxg5 21. gxh3 Bf6 22. f4 Nd4 23. Rf2 $5 {is what I was counting on. Even
though Black should still make a draw here, White has some chances as ist,
worauf ich gezählt hatte. Obwohl Schwarz hier noch immer Remis machen sollte,
hat Weiß einige Chancen, denn} (23. Rg2 {also forces some accurate play from
Black: verlangt Schwarz ebenfalls genaues Spiel ab:} Nxc2 24. Bd2 e6 25. Bb3
Nd4 26. fxg5 Bd8 $1 (26... Be5 27. g6 f6 28. h4 {is not a good idea for Black.
ist keine gute Idee für Schwarz.}) 27. g6 Rc7 28. Rxc7 Bxc7 29. gxf7+ Kxf7 {
and Black is relatively safe. und Schwarz steht relativ sicher.}) 23... Nxc2
24. fxg5 Nxe3 25. gxf6 Nxd5 26. exd5 {does not seem to be a 100% draw yet,
although a few more good moves will probably do the job for Black. scheint
noch kein 100-prozentiges Remis zu sein, obwohl ein paar gute Züge die Sache
für Schwarz wahrscheinlich klarmachen werden.}) 21. Nf3 {Retreating is the
only way to continue the fight, though with limited hope of success. Der
Rückzug ist der einzige Weg, den Kampf fortzusetzen, wenngleich mit begrenzten
Hoffnungen auf Erfolg.} (21. Nxf7 {is why I thought that 20...Bg4 wouldn't
work ist der Grund, weshalb ich dachte, dass 20...Bg4 nicht funktionieren
würde.} Bxe2 22. Ne5+ {and now every move but one would lead to the complete
collapse of the black position. Check for yourselves! und jetzt würde jeder
Zug außer einem zum kompletten Zusammenbruch der schwarzen Stellung führen.
Überlegen Sie selbst!} (22. Nxd6+ Kh8 23. Nxc8 Rxc8 {is obviously not a very
bright winning attempt ist offensichtlich kein besonders intelligenter
Gewinnversuch}) 22... Kh8 $1 {is once again the only move, and once again
entirely sufficient. I had missed this little detail in my preliminary
calculations. ist einmal mehr der einzige Zug, und einmal mehr völlig
ausreichend. Dieses kleine Detail hatte ich in meinen Vorausberechnungen
übersehen.} 23. Nxc6 e6 {This is the (relatively obvious) point, which would
not have been possible after any other king move. Now White is lucky to have a
bailout with Das ist die (relativ offensichtliche) Pointe, die nach jedem
anderen Königszug nicht möglich gewesen werde. Nun kann Weiß sich glücklich
schätzen, einen Rettungsanker zu haben mit} 24. Ne7 exd5 25. Ng6+ $11) 21... e6
22. Bxc6 Rxc6 23. Bxh6 Bxf3 24. gxf3 Ra6 {A very reasonable approach, steering
the game towards a rook ending that is almost certainly drawn. Eine sehr
vernünftige Herangehensweise, die Partie wird in Richtung eines Turmendspiels
gesteuert, das fast sicher remis ist.} (24... a5 {preparing ...Rac8 would also
have been a decent idea, as zur Vorbereitung von ...Rac8 wäre ebenfalls eine
vernünftige Idee gewesen, denn} 25. f4 Bg7 {looks like slightly improved
version of the game. wirkt wie eine leicht verbesserte Version der Partie.})
25. Rc7 Bg7 26. Bxg7 Kxg7 {On the other hand, I felt obliged to try at least a
little with my extra pawn and therefore nominal advantage. I was encouraged by
the fact that he had spent quite a bit of time on the preceding complication,
and had about 15 min left here. Even though that is not really time trouble,
it is not completely comfortable either if the position is just a little
complicated. Additionally, Gelfand looked set to beat Nisipeanu already, and
the prospect of a one-point lead instead of half a point was in no way
discouraging. Andererseits fühlte ich mich verpflichtet, mit meinem Mehrbauern
und ergo nominalem Vorteil es zumindest zu versuchen. Ermutigt wurde ich dabei
durch die Tatsache, dass er über der vorangegangenen Komplikation ziemlich
viel Zeit verbraucht und hier etwa noch 15 Minuten hatte. Auch wenn dies noch
keine richtige Zeitnot ist, ist es auch nicht völlig bequem, wenn die Stellung
nur ein bisschen kompliziert ist. Außerdem sah es bereits so aus, als würde
Gelfand Nisipeanu schlagen, und die Aussicht auf einen ganzen Punkt Vorsprung
statt eines halben war keineswegs demotivierend.} 27. c3 $5 {It might look
weird to move the pawn one square instead of two, but I thought I was being
quite clever as I would probably play f4 at some point anyway. Then it might
be a good thing that once the c-pawn is captured in some lines, the e4-f4 pawn
pair will not be in danger as well. Es mag seltsam wirken, den Bauern ein Feld
zu bewegen anstatt zwei, aber ich hielt mich für ziemlich clever, denn an
irgendeiner Stelle würde ich wahrscheinlich sowieso f4 spielen. Dann könnte es
eine gute Sache sein, dass, wenn der c-Bauer in einigen Varianten geschlagen
wird, das Bauernpaar e4-f4 nicht ebenfalls in Gefahr ist.} Rb8 28. f4 {The
only way to play for a win is to create some threats to his king at some point.
The text prepares Re3-g3, as well as e4-e5. Der einzige Weg, auf Gewinn zu
spielen, besteht darin, an irgendeinem Punkt ein paar Drohungen gegen seinen
König aufzustellen. Der Textzug bereitet Re3-g3 vor wie auch e4-e5.} Rbb6 {
Preparing a rook exchange with ...Rc6, when it would be a 100% certain draw.
Bereitet einen Turmtausch mit ...Rc6 vor, wonach es ein 100% sicheres Remis
wäre.} (28... Rb1+ 29. Kg2 Ra1 30. Rb2 Rb6 31. Rd2 Ra6 32. Rd3 {would be very
similar to the game. wäre ganz ähnlich der Partie.}) 29. Rd7 {The only way to
continue playing for a win. Der einzige Weg, weiter auf Gewinn zu spielen.} Rc6
30. Re3 Rxa2 31. e5 dxe5 32. fxe5 Rc5 $6 {Falling right in with my plans.
Fällt direkt auf meine Pläne herein.} (32... Kg6 $1 33. Rf3 Rc5 34. Rfxf7 Rxe5
35. Rxa7 Rxa7 36. Rxa7 Rc5 37. Ra3 Kf5 {would have brought the game to its
logical conclusion. hätte die Partie zu ihrem logischen Abschluss gebracht.})
33. Rg3+ $1 {Now Black is forced to the eight rank, Nun wird Schwarz auf die
achte Reihe gezwungen,} Kf8 ({as denn} 33... Kh6 $4 34. Rd8 Kh7 35. Rd4 {
would have been an inglorious end for Black. wäre ein unrühmliches Ende für
Schwarz gewesen.}) 34. Rf3 Rxe5 35. Rfxf7+ Ke8 {However, it's still a draw.
Trotzdem, es ist immer noch Remis.} 36. Rfe7+ Kf8 37. Rh7 Kg8 38. Rdg7+ Kf8 39.
Rb7 Kg8 $6 {Now Black's task is very complicated indeed. Jetzt ist die Aufgabe
von Schwarz tatsächlich sehr kompliziert.} (39... Rg5+ 40. Kf1 Kg8 41. Rxa7 (
41. Rhe7 Rf5 $1) 41... Rxa7 42. Rxa7 Rc5 43. Ra3 Kf7 44. Ke2 Kf6 45. Kd3 Rd5+ {
was still a relatively straightforward draw. war noch immer ein relativ
geradliniges Remis.}) 40. Rhg7+ Kh8 41. Rge7 Rg5+ 42. Kf1 Rc2 43. Rbc7 a5 $2 {
This seems to me to be the decisive mistake. Dies scheint mir der
entscheidende Fehler zu sein.} ({He could probably still have held the
position with Er hätte die Stellung wahrscheinlich immer noch halten können mit
} 43... Rg6 $1 44. Re8+ Rg8 45. Rxe6 Rf8 {which is the big difference compared
to the game , was der große Unterschied verglichen mit der Partie ist.} 46. Re2
Rc1+ 47. Kg2 Rg8+ 48. Kf3 Rg7 {It is hard to say whether this is winning for
White or not, but my feeling is that it is closer to a draw than a win for
White. Es ist schwer zu sagen, ob dies für Weiß gewonnen ist oder nicht, aber
mein Gefühl sagt, dass es einem Remis näher ist als einem Gewinn für Weiß.})
44. Rxe6 a4 45. Ra6 Rg4 (45... Rg7 {is probably what he had been counting on,
but after the accurate ist wahrscinlich, worauf er sich verlassen hatte, aber
nach dem genauen} 46. Rh6+ $1 Kg8 47. Rc8+ Kf7 48. Ra6 {now Black is still in
a real bind, as the g7-rook cannot move due to Rc7+ and Ra8 with mate. ist
Schwarz jetzt noch immer richtig gebunden, da der g7-Turm wegen Rc7+ und Ra8
mit Matt nicht ziehen kann.} Ra2 49. c4 a3 50. c5 Ra1+ 51. Ke2 a2 52. Kf3 {
and White should win. und Weiß sollte gewinnen.}) 46. c4 {This pawn naturally
cannot be taken by either rook due to the check on a8. Dieser Bauer ist
natürlich von keinem der beiden Türme zu nehmen wegen des Schachs auf a8.} Rg7
47. Rxg7 Kxg7 48. Rxa4 {This is a technical win. Dies ist ein technischer
Gewinn.} Kf6 49. Kg2 Ke5 50. Ra5+ $1 {My only problem was the passive rook on
a4. Now it will be activated either in front of, or the other side of the
c4-pawn. Mein einziges Problem war der passive Turm auf a4. Nun wird er
aktiviert, entweder vor dem oder auf der anderen Seite des c4-Bauern.} Ke6 (
50... Kf4 51. Rc5 $18) (50... Kd4 51. Rd5+ $1 Kxc4 52. Rd8 {cuts off the king
and wins easily: schneidet den König ab und gewinnt leicht:} Ra2 53. Kg3 Ra7
54. f4 Rg7+ 55. Kf3 Rf7 56. Kg4 Rg7+ 57. Kf5 $18) 51. Rc5 Kd6 52. Rd5+ Ke6 53.
Rd4 Ke5 54. Rh4 Rc3 55. c5 {Exploiting the opportunity to advance the pawn.
The pawn endings are always won. Nutzt die Gelegenheit, den Bauern vorzurücken.
Die Bauernendspiele sind immer gewonnen.} Kf5 56. Rh8 $1 {The most accurate.
Am genauesten.} Kf4 57. Rc8 Ke5 58. c6 Kd6 59. f3 {Preparing Kg3 and Kg4
followed by f4 and so forth. Bereitet Kg3 und Kg4 vor, gefolgt von f4 und so
weiter..} Rc5 60. Kg3 Rg5+ 61. Kh4 Rg1 62. f4 Ke7 63. c7 Rc1 {Sets a final
trap. Stellt eine letzte Falle.} (63... Kd7 64. Rd8+ Kxc7 65. Rd2 {wins easily.
gewinnt leicht.}) 64. Kg5 (64. Rh8 {or Rg8 was not to be recommended! oder Rg8
war nicht zu empfehlen!}) 1-0

[Event "Bazna Kings 4th"]
[Site "Medias"]
[Date "2010.06.22"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2741"]
[BlackElo "2813"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2010.06.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ROU"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 137"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 {Magnus shows a mature approach: considering the
tournament situation, the Norwegian chooses the solid Queen's Gambit Accepted.}
4. Bf4 Nf6 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 {One of the main moves. Nevertheless the main
theoretical direction is 6...c5.} 7. c5 c6 8. Bd3 b6 9. b4 a5 10. b5 Bb7 ({
After} 10... cxb5 11. c6 {White gets a strong passed pawn. In this concrete
situation Black can use the fact that the white king is on e1 and continue} Bb4
12. Rc1 Ne4 {but still the strong c-pawn should secure White better chances
after} 13. Bxe4 dxe4 14. Nd2) 11. cxb6 Qxb6 12. O-O Rfc8 13. bxc6 Bxc6 14. Rb1
Qd8 15. Qe2 Ne4 16. Rfc1 {It seems that the game will reach a draw without any
complications.} Ndf6 {This move invites Gelfand to start a forced play.} (16...
Bb4 {was objectively better, with equality.}) 17. Ba6 Ba3 (17... Bb7 18. Bxb7
Nxc3 19. Qc2 {favours White.}) ({A possible alternative to the game was} 17...
Nxc3 18. Rxc3 Bb7 19. Rxc8 Bxc8 20. Bd3 Bd7 {and Black is only slightly worse.}
) 18. Rc2 Rxa6 19. Qxa6 Ba4 20. Nxa4 Rxc2 {After a more or less forced
sequence of moves we reach the critical position where in spite of multiple
attractive possibilities, there is no clear way for White to achieve advantage.
} 21. h3 ({The alternatives were:} 21. Qd3 Rc1+ 22. Rxc1 Bxc1 {with a small
plus for White}) ({Or} 21. Ne1 Rc8 22. Nb6 Rc3 23. Qxa5 Bf8 {and Black has
compensation due to the lack of coordination between white pieces.}) 21... Bf8
22. Nc5 h6 (22... Rxf2 {loses due to} 23. Nxe6 fxe6 24. Qxe6+ Kh8 25. Rb8) 23.
Qa7 (23. a4 Qe7 24. Qxa5 Nxc5 25. dxc5 Qxc5 26. Qxc5 Bxc5 {is also not
problematic for Black.}) 23... Bxc5 $1 ({Both players came to the conclusion
that after} 23... Nxc5 24. Rb8 Qd7 25. Qa8 Qe7 ({Not} 25... Nce4 $2 26. Rxf8+
Kh7 27. Ne5) 26. dxc5 Qxc5 27. Ne5 {White's initiative is worth more than a
pawn.}) 24. dxc5 Rxc5 25. Rb8 Rc8 26. Bc7 ({Here White had a nice way to make
a draw, which was objectively the best continuation:} 26. Ne5 Rxb8 27. Qxf7+
Kh8 ({or} 27... Kh7 28. Qg6+) 28. Ng6+ Kh7 29. Bxb8 Qxb8 30. Nf8+ Kh8 31. Ng6+
Kh7 $11) 26... Qe8 27. Rxc8 Qxc8 28. Bxa5 (28. Qxa5 Ne8 {is also slightly
better for Black}) 28... Qc1+ 29. Be1 Nd2 $1 ({Gelfand considered only} 29...
Ng5 {which is equal after} 30. Qb8+ Kh7 31. Nxg5+ hxg5 32. Qb4) 30. Nxd2 Qxe1+
31. Nf1 Ne4 32. Qb8+ Kh7 33. Qb2 ({In fact Carlsen could have continued the
game with} 33. Qb2 Qd1 {and White still must play accurately before reaching
the draw. But Carlsen didn't think that Black has any advantage and therefore
after a relatively long thought he accepted the draw offer.}) 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bazna Kings 4th"]
[Site "Medias"]
[Date "2010.06.24"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nisipeanu, Liviu Dieter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C63"]
[WhiteElo "2813"]
[BlackElo "2672"]
[Annotator "Nisipeanu,LD"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2010.06.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ROU"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 137"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {I was rather expecting the Scotch, or even more so
the move 1.d4!} f5 {The first time that I have used the Schliemann Defence in
a tournament game. I was hoping that Magnus would be a little surprised by it.}
4. Nc3 {Quickly played, so obviously he had something prepared, probably
because Radjabov plays this from time to time.} fxe4 5. Nxe4 d5 {Radjabov
aways plays 5...Nf6, so around here I was pretty sure, that Magnus was playing
according to 'general knowledge'.} 6. Nxe5 dxe4 7. Nxc6 Qg5 8. Qe2 Nf6 9. f4 {
Here, or on the next move, White can take on a7, but without heavy analysis it
is hardly possible, even for the worlds number one, to find his way in the
wild complications there.} Qxf4 10. Ne5+ (10. d4 {allows Black the extra
option of 10...Qd6.}) 10... c6 11. d4 Qh4+ 12. g3 Qh3 13. Bc4 Be6 {This is
considered to be the main line, at least in games between human opponents. As
explained in various sources, the evaluation of this line depends of the
strenght or weakness of Black's e4-pawn.} 14. Bg5 (14. Bf4 O-O-O 15. O-O-O Bd6
{is another possibilty, leading to complex play.}) 14... O-O-O 15. O-O-O Bd6
16. Rhf1 {The most natural continuation} (16. Qf1 {is considered to be the
main line, but in his excellent book 'The Ruy Lopez Revisited' Ivan Sokolov
showed a quite convincing way for Black to deal with it:} Rhf8 17. Nf7 Rd7 18.
Qxh3 Bxh3 19. Bxf6 gxf6 20. Nxd6+ Rxd6 {followed by f5 and then h5-h4.}) 16...
Rhe8 {For this move I spent a lot of time, but since I had blitzed out the
previous once, I could afford it. The moment is indeed critical, since the
subsequent endgame is not easy to evaluate.} ({After} 16... Rhf8 {I was afraid
of} 17. g4 $5 Bxc4 18. Qxc4 {with initiative to White.}) 17. Bxf6 {The
critical continuation.} (17. Bxe6+ Qxe6 18. Bxf6 gxf6 19. Nc4 Bc7 20. Kb1 f5
21. Ne3 Rf8 {seems fine for Black.}) 17... gxf6 18. Rxf6 Bxe5 19. Rxe6 ({
The alternative} 19. Bxe6+ Rxe6 20. dxe5 Rxd1+ 21. Kxd1 Rxe5 22. Rf8+ Kc7 23.
Rf7+ {was scary to meet over the board, but after} Kc8 24. Qf2 Rd5+ 25. Ke1 Qg4
26. Rf8+ Kc7 27. Qf4+ Qxf4 28. Rxf4 e3 {Black had just enough play for a draw
in Popelka-Voetter correspondence 2007.}) 19... Rxe6 20. Bxe6+ Qxe6 21. dxe5
Qh6+ $1 {Only after seeing this move could I really decide on 16...Rhe8.} (
21... Rxd1+ 22. Kxd1 Qd5+ 23. Ke1 Qxe5 24. Qg4+ {is probably bad for Black,
since the pawn ending after} Kc7 25. Qf4 Qxf4 26. gxf4 Kd6 27. Ke2 Ke6 28. Ke3
Kf5 29. b4 {is winning for White.}) 22. Rd2 {Again the best try. Magnus was
taking a lot of time with his moves, probably in order to put as many problems
as possible for Black.} (22. Kb1 Rxd1+ 23. Qxd1 e3 $1 {passed pawns must be
pushed!} (23... Qxh2 $2 24. e6 {is embarrassing.}) 24. b3 Qxh2 25. e6 Qd2 {
leeds to a draw.}) 22... Rxd2 23. Qxd2 e3 24. Qe2 (24. Qd6 $4 e2+ {is
something you hope for in a bullet game.}) 24... Qg5 25. Kd1 (25. e6 Qe5 $11)
25... Kc7 $1 {I am proud to say that I calculated this move before I played 21.
..Qh6.} (25... Qxe5 26. Qg4+ Kd8 (26... Kc7 $2 27. Qf4 Kd6 28. Ke2 $18) 27.
Qg8+ Kc7 28. Qxh7+ Kb6 29. Ke2 {is clearly better for White.}) 26. Qd3 Qh5+ 27.
Kc1 Qh6 $5 {Seeing that Carlsen was in a slight time trouble, I tried to tempt
him into a complicated pawn ending, where precision is required from both
sides. Since going for this ending was the only winning try in the position
for White, I was silently hoping that Magnus would go for it.} (27... Qxe5 28.
Qxh7+ Kb6 29. Qf7 Qe4 {is most likely enough for a draw.}) 28. Kd1 (28. Qd6+
Qxd6 29. exd6+ Kxd6 30. Kd1 Ke5 31. Ke2 Ke4 {was the critical line and it
seems to be a draw with correct play from both sides. Here are some sample
lines:} 32. b4 (32. c3 c5 33. c4 a6 34. b3 (34. a4 $2 a5 35. b3 b6 36. g4 Kf4
37. h3 h6 $19) 34... b5 35. cxb5 $1 axb5 36. a4 c4 37. a5 cxb3 38. a6 b2 39. a7
b1=Q 40. a8=Q+ $11) 32... b6 33. a4 (33. c3 b5 34. g4 Kf4 35. g5 Kxg5 36. Kxe3
Kg4 37. Kd4 Kh3 38. Kc5 Kxh2 39. Kxc6 a6 40. Kd5 h5 41. c4 bxc4 42. Kxc4 h4 43.
a4 $11) 33... c5 34. bxc5 bxc5 35. c3 c4 36. g4 Kf4 37. g5 a5 38. h4 Kg4 39.
Kxe3 Kxh4 40. Kf4 Kh3 41. Kf3 $1 $11 {After seeing all this lines, it seems
that it is rather White who has to be careful and Magnus was absolutely right
to avoid this pawn ending.}) 28... Qh5+ 29. Ke1 Qxh2 $1 30. Qd6+ (30. Qxe3 Qxc2
$11) 30... Kc8 (30... Kb6 $2 {was the last possibility to go wrong:} 31. Qd8+
Ka6 32. Qd3+ b5 33. Qxe3 Qxc2 34. Qe2 {and Black is suffering for a draw.}) 31.
Qf8+ Kc7 32. Qe7+ Kc8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bazna Kings 4th"]
[Site "Medias"]
[Date "2010.06.25"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Wang, Yue"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2752"]
[BlackElo "2813"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2010.06.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ROU"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 137"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bd2 Bg7 6. e4 Nb6 7. Be3 O-O 8.
Bb5 {The chess of 21st century. The classic masters of the past would have
hardly thought to place the bishop to b5 like this. Indeed, the move 8.Bb5
appeared in practice only in 2001 and since then it became amazingly popular.
White's idea is to prevent Black from placing the knight to c6. A move like 8..
.a6 weakens a bit the knight from b6. However, fashion comes and goes: in my
opinion this sortie of the bishop looks somewhat artificial. Wang Yue
certainly has a different opinion though, as he played 8.Bb5 before.} Be6 ({
Here is a possible variation where White is using the drawbacks of the advance
8...a6:} 8... a6 9. Be2 Nc6 10. d5 Ne5 11. Bd4 c5 12. Bxc5 Nec4 13. Qb3 {
and with the pawn on a7 Black would have taken on b2 followed by Na4. Here is
doesn't work:} Nxb2 14. Bxb6 Bxc3+ 15. Kf1 $1 Qd6 16. Rb1 {and Black is in
troubles.}) 9. Nge2 c6 {A logical novelty. Before placing the knight to c4
Black tries to win a tempo.} ({After the immediate} 9... Nc4 {White can either
take on c4, which is a slightly more favorable version for White than the game
(since the black pawn is on c7 instead of c6), or another possibility is} 10.
Bc1 c6 11. Ba4 {as in the game Bosch,J (2444)-Nijboer,F (2556)/Leeuwarden 2002.
}) ({In case of} 9... Bc4 {White can continue} 10. O-O Bxb5 11. Nxb5 {with
some edge.}) 10. Bd3 Nc4 11. Bxc4 Bxc4 12. O-O Nd7 13. Qd2 Qa5 14. Rfd1 Rad8 {
Black has two bishops and can create pressure on d4. The position is close to
equal, but it is rather White who should play accurately. The Chinese
Grandmaster failed to do so.} 15. Bh6 {An obvious desire to exchange "the
monster" from g7, especially because Black enjoys the bishop pair.} (15. b3 Ba6
16. Bh6 {was a possible alternative: with the white pawn on b3 the entire plan
with Nb6 (which happened in the game) loses its attractiveness.}) 15... Bxe2
16. Nxe2 $6 {The start of all White's problems.} ({Why not the simple} 16. Bxg7
{exchanging the dark-squared bishops? White has little to fear after that.
Here are few sample variations:} Bxd1 (16... Kxg7 17. Qxe2 $11) 17. Bxf8 Nxf8
18. Rxd1 Ne6 19. d5 Nc7 (19... cxd5 20. Nxd5 Qxd2 21. Rxd2 Kg7 22. Rc2 Nf4 23.
Ne3 $11) 20. h4 cxd5 21. exd5 h5 22. Qg5 $11) 16... Qxd2 17. Bxd2 Nb6 18. Bc3
Rd7 {The endgame is quite unpleasant for White. Black's plan is to double
rooks on the d-file and then use the pin of the d4-pawn by playing e7-e5.
Apart from that Black can also disturb opponent's pawn center with f7-f5.} 19.
b3 f5 20. f3 Rfd8 {The threat is 21...e5.} 21. Re1 fxe4 22. fxe4 e5 $1 {
Still! A very energetic play by Carlsen.} 23. dxe5 Rd3 {Black plans Nd7xe5.}
24. g3 $6 {It only weakens further White's position.} ({White can try a move
like} 24. Bb2 {in order to meet 24...Nd7 with 25.Nf4. If} Rd2 (24... g5 $5) 25.
Bc3 Rc2 26. Rac1 Rxa2 27. Ra1 Rxa1 28. Rxa1 Ra8 29. Bd4 Nd7 30. Rxa7 Rxa7 31.
Bxa7 {White should be able to escape, since Black cannot lock the bishop yet
with 31. ..b6 or 31...c5 in view of 32.e6.}) 24... Nd7 25. e6 Bxc3 26. Nxc3 Ne5
27. Red1 Kf8 {Now the position is already difficult for White. At least from
the practical point of view Black's chances to win are probably higher than
White's chances to draw.} 28. Rac1 Ke7 29. Rxd3 Rxd3 30. Rc2 Nf3+ 31. Kf1 Nd4
32. Rc1 Kxe6 33. Rd1 Rxc3 34. Rxd4 Rc2 35. a4 (35. Ra4 a6 36. h4 Ke5 {is a
zugzwang for White: the rook must protect both a2 and e4, the king must
control g2 and e2. The outcome is clear, Black wins.}) 35... Rxh2 36. a5 Rh5
37. b4 Rh2 38. a6 b5 39. e5 Ra2 40. Rd6+ Kxe5 41. Rxc6 Kf5 42. Rc7 Rxa6 43.
Rxh7 Kg4 44. Kf2 Ra2+ 45. Ke3 g5 46. Rg7 Rb2 47. Rxa7 Kxg3 0-1

[Event "Arctic Stars Prelim"]
[Site "Kristiansund"]
[Date "2010.08.28"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Polgar, Judit"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2682"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2010.08.28"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 138 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Ke8 10. h3 b6 11. Rd1 Bb7 12. Bf4 Rc8 13. a4 Ne7 14. a5 c5
15. Nb5 a6 16. Nd6+ cxd6 17. exd6 Nd5 18. c4 Nxf4 19. d7+ Kd8 20. Ne5 Be7 21.
axb6 Ne2+ 22. Kf1 Nd4 23. dxc8=Q+ Kxc8 24. b4 f6 25. Nd3 cxb4 26. c5 Nc6 27.
Rac1 Rd8 28. Ke1 Rd5 29. Rc4 a5 30. Re4 Ne5 31. Ke2 Rxd3 32. Rxe5 Rxd1 33. Rxe7
Rd7 34. Re8+ Rd8 35. Re7 b3 0-1

[Event "Arctic Stars Prelim"]
[Site "Kristiansund"]
[Date "2010.08.28"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hammer, Jon Ludvig"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D42"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2636"]
[PlyCount "145"]
[EventDate "2010.08.28"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 138 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nf3 c5 6. e3 Nc6 7. Bd3 Be7 8. O-O
O-O 9. Be4 Nf6 10. Bxc6 cxd4 11. Nxd4 bxc6 12. Nxc6 Qc7 13. Nxe7+ Qxe7 14. e4
Ba6 15. e5 Nd5 16. Nxd5 exd5 17. Re1 Rfd8 18. Qd4 Rab8 19. Bd2 Qb7 20. Bc3 Qb6
21. e6 Qxd4 22. Bxd4 Rb7 23. Rac1 fxe6 24. Rxe6 Bd3 25. f3 a5 26. Re3 Bg6 27.
Ra3 Rb4 28. Bc3 Rc4 29. Rxa5 d4 30. Rd1 Rd7 31. Rb5 h6 32. Ba5 Rc2 33. h4 d3
34. a4 Re7 35. h5 Be8 36. Rb8 Ree2 37. Rxd3 Rxg2+ 38. Kf1 Rh2 39. Rd2 Rhxd2 40.
Bxd2 Kf7 41. Bc3 Bxa4 42. Rb7+ Ke6 43. Rxg7 Bb5+ 44. Kg1 Be8 45. Rh7 Kf5 46.
Rxh6 Kg5 47. Re6 Bxh5 48. Re5+ Kh6 49. f4 Kg6 50. f5+ Kf7 51. f6 Bg6 52. Re7+
Kf8 53. Rc7 Ke8 54. b4 Kd8 55. Rc5 Kd7 56. b5 Kd6 57. Bb4 Rb2 58. Ba3 Ra2 59.
Rc3+ Ke6 60. b6 Ra1+ 61. Kf2 Be4 62. Be7 Bh1 63. Re3+ Kf7 64. Rb3 Bb7 65. Ke3
Ra5 66. Rc3 Rb5 67. Rc7 Bh1 68. Bd8+ Ke8 69. f7+ Kf8 70. Bf6 Bd5 71. Bd4 Bxf7
72. b7 Be8 73. Ba7 1-0

[Event "Arctic Stars Prelim"]
[Site "Kristiansund"]
[Date "2010.08.28"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B77"]
[WhiteElo "2800"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2010.08.28"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 138 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2
Nc6 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. Bb3 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 b5 12. a4 b4 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. Bxg7 Kxg7
15. exd5 a5 16. h4 e5 17. dxe6 Bxe6 18. O-O-O Bxb3 19. cxb3 Re8 20. h5 Qf6 21.
Kb1 gxh5 22. g4 h4 23. g5 Qf5+ 24. Ka2 h3 25. Rh2 Kg8 26. Rdh1 Rac8 27. Qxd6
Rc2 28. Rxc2 Qxc2 29. Rxh3 Re1 30. Qd8+ Kg7 31. Qf6+ Kg8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Arctic Stars Prelim"]
[Site "Kristiansund"]
[Date "2010.08.29"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Polgar, Judit"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B40"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2682"]
[PlyCount "215"]
[EventDate "2010.08.28"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 138 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. b3 b6 4. Bd3 Bb7 5. O-O Ne7 6. Re1 Ng6 7. Bb2 Nc6 8. Na3
Nd4 9. Nc4 Nxf3+ 10. Qxf3 Qc7 11. a4 Be7 12. Qg3 Qxg3 13. hxg3 O-O 14. a5 b5
15. a6 Bc6 16. Na5 Rab8 17. e5 Rb6 18. Nxc6 dxc6 19. Be4 Rd8 20. Bc3 b4 21. Bb2
Nf8 22. Red1 Nd7 23. d4 Kf8 24. Kf1 Nb8 25. dxc5 Rxd1+ 26. Rxd1 Rxa6 27. Rd4
Ra2 28. Rxb4 Na6 29. Ra4 Rxa4 30. bxa4 Nb8 31. Bd4 h5 32. Ke2 Ke8 33. Kd3 Kd7
34. Kc4 g6 35. f4 Kc7 36. Bf3 Kd7 37. g4 hxg4 38. Bxg4 Bf8 39. Bf3 Bh6 40. g3
Kc7 41. Be2 Nd7 42. Bd3 Kb7 43. Kb4 Bf8 44. a5 Kc7 45. a6 Bh6 46. Kc4 Nb8 47.
Kb3 Nd7 48. Kb4 Bf8 49. Bc4 Bh6 50. c3 Nb8 51. Be2 Nd7 52. Kc4 Nb8 53. Kb3 Nd7
54. Kb4 Kc8 55. f5 gxf5 56. Bh5 Nb8 57. Ka5 Bg5 58. Bxf7 Bd8+ 59. Ka4 Kd7 60.
Bh5 Nxa6 61. Kb3 Nc7 62. Bf3 Nd5 63. Kc4 Bg5 64. Kb3 Bd2 65. Kc2 Be1 66. c4
Nb4+ 67. Kb3 Na6 68. g4 fxg4 69. Bxg4 Bb4 70. Bf3 Bxc5 71. Bc3 Be7 72. Bd4 Bc5
73. Bc3 Bb6 74. Kc2 Bf2 75. Kb3 Nc5+ 76. Kc2 Kc7 77. Ba5+ Kd7 78. Bb4 Na6 79.
Bc3 c5 80. Kd3 Nb8 81. Bd1 Nc6 82. Ba4 Kc7 83. Ke4 Bd4 84. Bd2 a6 85. Be1 Kb6
86. Bg3 Bc3 87. Bf4 Kc7 88. Bg3 Nb8 89. Bf2 Bb4 90. Kf4 Nd7 91. Kg5 Bd2+ 92.
Kh5 Bf4 93. Bb3 Bxe5 94. Kg4 Nf6+ 95. Kf3 Bd4 96. Be1 Kb6 97. Bc2 e5 98. Bh4
Ne8 99. Ke4 Kc7 100. Kd5 Nd6 101. Be7 Nc8 102. Bxc5 Bxc5 103. Kxc5 Nb6 104. Bd1
Nd7+ 105. Kd5 a5 106. c5 e4 107. Kxe4 Nxc5+ 108. Kd5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Arctic Stars Prelim"]
[Site "Kristiansund"]
[Date "2010.08.29"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Hammer, Jon Ludvig"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A31"]
[WhiteElo "2636"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2010.08.28"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 138 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nf3 cxd4 4. Nxd4 b6 5. Nc3 Bb7 6. f3 e6 7. e4 d6 8. Be2
a6 9. O-O Be7 10. Be3 O-O 11. Qc2 Qc7 12. Rfc1 Rc8 13. Bf2 Nbd7 14. a4 Rab8 15.
Qd1 Qd8 16. Kh1 Bf8 17. Bf1 g6 18. Rab1 Ne5 19. b3 Bg7 20. Bg3 h5 21. Qd2 h4
22. Bf4 Rc5 23. Re1 Nh5 24. Be3 Ng3+ 25. Kg1 Nxf1 26. Rxf1 h3 27. Nde2 hxg2 28.
Kxg2 Rc6 29. Rbd1 Ba8 30. Bg5 Qf8 31. h4 Re8 32. Ng3 f6 33. Be3 Qf7 34. Bh6 Bh8
35. Be3 f5 36. Bg5 Qh7 37. Rf2 Nf7 38. Rh1 Rcc8 39. Nce2 Be5 40. Bf4 fxe4 41.
Nxe4 Bxe4 42. fxe4 g5 43. hxg5 Qxe4+ 44. Kg1 Rf8 45. Ng3 Qd4 46. Qc2 Nxg5 47.
Qg6+ Bg7 48. Qxg5 Rf7 49. Qg6 Rcc7 50. Kg2 Rxf4 51. Qh7+ Kf7 52. Rxf4+ Qxf4 53.
Rf1 Qxf1+ 54. Kxf1 Rc5 55. Ne4 1-0

[Event "Arctic Stars Prelim"]
[Site "Kristiansund"]
[Date "2010.08.29"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2800"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2010.08.28"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 138 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nf6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. d4 O-O 8.
Nc3 a6 9. Be2 d6 10. Nf3 Re8 11. Bf4 Bf8 12. Qd2 h6 13. h3 Bf5 14. d5 Ne7 15.
a4 Qd7 16. Bf1 Ng6 17. Be3 Ne4 18. Nxe4 Bxe4 19. Nh2 Nh4 20. f3 Bh7 21. Bf2 Ng6
22. a5 Rxe1 23. Rxe1 Re8 24. Rxe8 Qxe8 25. Qb4 Qc8 26. Bd3 Ne7 27. Bxh7+ Kxh7
28. Nf1 Kg8 29. Ne3 c6 30. dxc6 Nxc6 31. Qd2 Qd8 32. Be1 b6 33. axb6 Qxb6 34.
b3 a5 35. Bf2 Qa6 36. Bg3 Nb4 37. Kh2 Qc6 38. c3 Na6 39. Nc4 a4 40. Qa2 axb3
1/2-1/2

[Event "Arctic Stars Final"]
[Site "Kristiansund"]
[Date "2010.08.30"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D78"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2800"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2010.08.30"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 138 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 c6 6. O-O d5 7. Nbd2 Bf5 8. b3
Ne4 9. Bb2 Na6 $5 {A rare continuation that had never been played by a top
player until now.} 10. Nh4 Nxd2 11. Qxd2 Be6 12. Rac1 Qd7 13. Nf3 Rfd8 14. Rfd1
Nc7 15. Qa5 Ne8 16. e3 Bg4 17. Rd2 Bxf3 18. Bxf3 e6 19. Rdc2 Nd6 20. a4 f5 21.
Qe1 a5 $2 {#Anand was severely critical of this move after which "Black just
loses a pawn".} 22. Bc3 $6 {Fortunately for Black, the Norwegian's reply is
not decisive (yet).} ({Black would indeed lose a pawn by force if play had
continued with} 22. cxd5 $1 exd5 ({If} 22... cxd5 $2 23. Rc7 Qe8 24. Ba3 Bf8
25. Bxd6 Bxd6 26. Rxb7) 23. Rc5 {And the a5 pawn falls. For example} Qc7 {
is unplayable due to} 24. Bxd5+ $1) 22... dxc4 23. Bxa5 cxb3 24. Rb2 Rdc8 25.
Rxb3 Bf8 26. Rcb1 Ra7 27. Kg2 Nc4 28. Bb4 Bxb4 29. Rxb4 Nd6 30. Qc3 Rca8 31.
Qc2 Ra6 32. h4 {White already starts softening up the opponent's kingside.} h5
{#} 33. e4 $1 R8a7 34. exf5 Nxf5 ({Anand could not retake with the pawn with} 
34... exf5 $2 {because of} 35. d5 $1 {and things go downhill very quickly.})
35. Re1 Ra5 36. Qb3 Kf7 37. Re4 $6 Ne7 (37... b5 {would have been better.} 38.
axb5 cxb5) 38. Qc2 Nd5 39. Rc4 Ra8 40. Re5 $1 Ne7 {#} 41. Bxh5 $1 {The bishop
is untouchable.} Rxe5 (41... gxh5 $2 42. Qh7+ Kf6 (42... Ke8 43. Qxh5+ Kf8 44.
Rxa5) 43. Rg5 {Threatening Qg7 mate.} Rxg5 44. hxg5+ Kxg5 45. Qg7+ Kf5 46. Qf7+
Kg5 47. Rc5+ {and Black loses the queen or is mated.}) 42. dxe5 Qd5+ 43. Bf3
Qxe5 44. Re4 Qd6 45. h5 $1 Rf8 46. Qb2 b5 47. axb5 cxb5 48. Qxb5 Nf5 49. Qb7+
Kf6 50. Qh7 gxh5 51. Bxh5 Qd5 52. Bf3 Qd2 53. g4 Ng7 {#} 54. g5+ $1 ({After} 
54. g5+ $1 Qxg5+ 55. Rg4 {ends it.}) 1-0

[Event "Arctic Stars Final"]
[Site "Kristiansund"]
[Date "2010.08.30"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2800"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2010.08.30"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 138 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. h3
d6 9. c3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. a4 Bf8 14. Bd3 c6 15. b4
Nb6 16. axb5 axb5 17. Rxa8 Bxa8 18. Nb3 Bb7 19. dxe5 dxe5 20. Be3 Bc8 21. Qc2
Qc7 22. Na5 Bd7 23. Rc1 h6 24. Nd2 Na4 25. Ndb3 Rb8 26. Ra1 c5 27. bxc5 Nxc5
28. Nxc5 1/2-1/2

[Event "New York RAW World CC"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2010.09.10"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "The World"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E62"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2010.09.10"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 138 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 (2... e6) 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. Nc3 Nc6 7. O-O
e5 8. d5 Ne7 9. e4 c6 {Nakamuras Vorschlag} ({Die Hauptzüge sind} 9... Ne8) (
9... Nd7) 10. a4 (10. b3 cxd5 11. cxd5 Bg4 12. a4 Rc8 13. Bb2 Rxc3 14. Bxc3
Nxe4 15. Bb2 Qd7 16. Qd3 Nc5 17. Qc4 Bxf3 18. Bxf3 e4 19. Bxg7 exf3 20. Qc3 Qh3
21. Qxf3 Kxg7 $19 {Baramidze,D (2548)-Zude,E (2397)/Saarbruecken 2009/CBM 128
Extra (1/2-1/2 , 59)}) 10... Bg4 11. a5 cxd5 $2 ({Besser} 11... Qd7) 12. cxd5
Qd7 13. Be3 Rfc8 {Hier brach laut Mark Crowther von TWIC auf der
Wettkampfseite der Kommentar zusammen. Anscheinend hatten die Veranstalter das
weltweite Interesse unterschätzt.} 14. Qa4 Ne8 15. Nd2 Qd8 16. Qb4 Nc7 17. Nc4
Na6 18. Qxb7 Rxc4 19. Qxa6 Rb4 {Video und Audio waren nun wieder online.} 20.
f3 Bc8 21. Qe2 f5 {Kasparov hielt diese Position schon für verloren.} 22. Qd2
Ba6 23. Rfc1 Qb8 24. Na4 Rb3 25. Rc3 Rb4 26. Rca3 f4 27. Bf2 Bh6 {Hier nutzte
Magnus Carlsen erstmals die Option für zwei zusätzliche Minuten Bedenkzeit.}
28. Nb6 $5 ({Viel sicherer ist laut Kasparov} 28. g4) 28... fxg3 29. Qxb4 gxf2+
30. Kxf2 Bc8 $2 {Kasparov expected a second time out. Magnus looked worried
but in fact he was relieved.} (30... Bf4 {hatte Carlsen erwartet.}) ({Polgar
hatte} 30... axb6 {vorgeschlagen.}) 31. Rb3 axb6 32. Qxb6 Qa7 33. a6 Kf7 34.
Qxa7 Rxa7 35. Rb6 {"Das wars" (Kasparov)} Ke8 36. Rxd6 Bf8 37. Rb6 Nxd5 38. Rb8
$1 (38. exd5 $2 Bc5+) 38... Bc5+ 39. Kg3 Ne7 40. Bh3 Kd8 41. Bxc8 {Liv Tyler
wurde hier interviewed. Sie kann Schach spielen und hat ein Star Wars - und
ein Herr der Ringe-Schachspiel. Sie meinte, Carlsen sähe fantastisch aus.} Nxc8
42. Rc1 Rc7 43. Rxc5 $1 Rxc5 44. a7 {Aufgabe. Plgar meinte, es wären zuviele
Köche in der Küche gewesen.} 1-0

[Event "Olympiad-39"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2010.09.22"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Galego, Luis"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2500"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2010.09.21"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 139"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Portugal"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "POR"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Bxd2+ 5. Qxd2 d5 6. g3 O-O 7. Bg2 Nbd7 8.
Qc2 c6 9. Nbd2 Qe7 10. O-O e5 11. cxd5 Nxd5 12. e4 {White's plan is to play
his center majority against black's queenside majority.} N5f6 $6 ({The usual
move is} 12... N5b6) 13. Rfe1 exd4 14. e5 Nd5 15. Nxd4 N7b6 16. f4 $1 Nb4 17.
Qe4 {White has achieved what he wanted and is clearly to be favored.} Rd8 18.
N2f3 Bg4 19. Rad1 Bxf3 $2 {Why play this without being forced to?} 20. Bxf3 Qc5
{#} ({Black would still be in big trouble after} 20... Nxa2 21. f5 $1 Nd5 22.
f6 $1 {and his position would collapse after} gxf6 $6 23. Nf5 $1 Qf8 24. Qh4 b6
25. Bxd5 Rxd5 26. Nh6+ Kh8 (26... Kg7 27. Qxf6#) 27. Qxf6+ Qg7 28. Nxf7+ Kg8
29. Qxc6) 21. e6 $1 fxe6 22. Kh1 Qd5 23. Qe3 Qxa2 24. Nxe6 Rxd1 25. Rxd1 {
The threat of Qe5 is very tough to meet.} Qxb2 $2 26. Nd8 $1 {This lovely move
wins by force.} Qf6 27. Qe8+ Qf8 28. Qe6+ Kh8 29. Nf7+ Kg8 {#} 30. Rd8 $1 Rxd8
31. Nxd8+ Kh8 32. Nf7+ Kg8 33. Ng5+ Kh8 34. Qe4 g6 35. Qd4+ Qg7 36. Qxb4 $2 {
Winning a piece and no doubt the game, but he had a stronger continuation all
the same.} (36. Qd8+ Qg8 37. Qf6+ Qg7 38. Nf7+ Kg8 39. Nh6+ $1 {Undoubtedly
the move that Carlsen missed.} Qxh6 40. Bg4 $1 {and the threat of Be6 is
unstoppable.}) 36... h6 37. Ne4 Nd5 38. Qa3 b5 39. Qc5 b4 40. Qxc6 Qa1+ 41. Kg2
Ne3+ 42. Kf2 Qd4 43. Qe8+ Kg7 44. Qe7+ 1-0

[Event "Olympiad-39"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2010.09.24"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Jobava, Baadur"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E24"]
[WhiteElo "2710"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2010.09.21"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 139"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Georgia"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "GEO"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 Nc6 {A rare continuation 
(with the idea of ...e6-e5), to which White replies with a genuine novelty on
move 6!} 6. e4 $5 $146 {[%mdl 8] Practice had seen:} (6. Bg5 e5 $5 7. e3 h6 8.
Bh4 Qe7 9. Nf3 d6 10. Be2 g5 11. Bg3 Ne4 12. Rc1 f5 {(..) 1/2 Stahlberg,
G-Porat,Y/Warsaw 1935/EXT 2004}) (6. Nf3 d6 $5 7. Nd2 e5 8. e4 $6 exd4 9. cxd4
Nxd4 10. Bb2 Ne6 11. Bd3 b6 12. O-O Bb7 13. Re1 O-O $15 {1/2 Kuzminykh,
E-Bronstein,D/Leningrad 1970/EXT 2001 (25)}) (6. e3 $5 e5 7. Bd3 O-O {leads to
a position from the 5...0-0 system}) (6. f3 e5 (6... d6 7. e4 O-O {leads to
the 5...0-0 system}) (6... b6 7. e4 Ba6 {leads to a popular position from the
5...b6 system (6.f3 Ba6 7.e4 Nc6).}) 7. e4 d6 8. Be3 b6 9. Bd3 Na5 10. Ne2 Ba6
11. Ng3 h6 (11... O-O $142 {- 5...0-0}) 12. O-O Qd7 13. Qe2 O-O-O $6 14. Nf5 $1
Rh7 15. c5 $1 $16 {1-0 Lazarev,E-Romantchouk,J/Ternopol 1964/EXT 1999 (22)})
6... Nxe4 7. Qg4 f5 (7... Nf6 8. Qxg7 Rg8 9. Qh6 e5 $5 {needs testing.}) 8.
Qxg7 Qf6 9. Qxf6 Nxf6 {This position presents a typical positional conflict:
White has a bishop pair with an asymmetrical pawn structure (which should
favour him) but his own pawn chain is damaged (doubled pawns). Such positions
are very hard to evaluate; usually the better player prevails.} 10. Nf3 b6 11.
d5 $5 {A curious pawn sacrifice, which Black, however, rejects.} Na5 (11...
exd5 12. cxd5 Nxd5 13. Bd3 $5 (13. Bc4 Nce7) 13... O-O 14. Bc4 Nce7 15. Bg5 Kg7
16. O-O-O $44) 12. Nd4 Kf7 13. dxe6+ dxe6 14. Bf4 Ba6 {Black keeps the tension.
He had a good chance to simplify the game:} (14... e5 $1 15. Bxe5 Re8 16. f4
Ng4 17. O-O-O (17. Be2 Nxe5 18. fxe5 Rxe5 19. O-O c5 $1 20. Bf3 Rb8 21. Nb5 Kf6
22. Nxa7 Bb7 $15) (17. Nf3 Nc6 $15) 17... Nf2 $1 (17... Nxe5 18. fxe5 Rxe5 19.
Bd3 $36 {[%csl Rf7]}) 18. Be2 Nxh1 19. Bh5+ Kf8 20. Rxh1 Bd7 $1 (20... Re7 $143
21. Bf3 Bb7 22. Bxb7 Nxb7 23. Nxf5 $44) 21. Bxe8 Rxe8 $15 {/=}) 15. Nf3 Ne4 16.
Ne5+ Kf6 17. f3 (17. h4 $5 Nxc3 18. Rh3 Ne4 19. Re3 $44 {[%cal Yg2g4]}) 17...
Nd6 18. O-O-O Rhd8 $6 {Again avoiding drawish lines like} (18... Naxc4 19. Nxc4
(19. Rxd6 Nxe5 $1 20. Bxe5+ Kxe5 21. Rc6 Bxf1 22. Rxf1 Kf6 23. Re1 Rae8 24.
Rxc7 Re7 25. Rc6 h5 $11) 19... Bxc4 (19... Nxc4 20. Rd4 e5 21. Bxc4 Bxc4 22.
Rxc4 exf4 $11) 20. Rxd6 $1 Bxf1 21. Rd7 Bb5 22. Rxc7 Rac8 $11) (18... Ndxc4 $6
19. Bxc4 Nxc4 20. Rhe1 Nd6 21. Nc6 $44) (18... Bxc4 $6 19. Rxd6 cxd6 20. Nxc4
Nxc4 21. Bxc4 Rac8 22. Bb3 Rxc3+ 23. Kb2 Rd3 24. Rc1 $132) ({To complicate the
game,} 18... Rhg8 $5 {was probably more appropriate; if} 19. h4 {then} Bxc4 {
gains in strength.}) ({Or the mysterious} 18... Rac8 $5 19. c5 Bxf1 20. Rhxf1
Nb3+ 21. Kc2 Nxc5 22. Rfe1 $44) 19. h4 $1 {[%mdl 160] Now White obtains
pressure on the kingside.} Nf7 20. Nd7+ Kg7 (20... Ke7 $2 21. Bg5+ $1 Nxg5 22.
hxg5 $16) 21. Rh3 $1 (21. g4 $5 Bxc4 22. Bh3 $36) 21... Kh8 $1 22. Bg5 $6 (22.
Bxc7 $142 Rdc8 23. Bf4 Nxc4 24. Rd4 $1 $16 {[%cal Yh3g3]} (24. Rg3 e5 $1 25.
Nxe5 Nfxe5 26. Bxe5+ Nxe5 27. Bxa6 Rxc3+ $11) 24... e5 $140 $2 25. Bxc4 $1 Bxc4
26. Nxe5 $18) 22... Nxg5 23. hxg5 Kg7 (23... Bxc4 24. g6 (24. Nf6 Rxd1+ 25.
Kxd1 Kg7 26. Rxh7+ Kg6) (24. Bxc4 $5 Nxc4 25. f4 Kg7 26. Rh6 $16 {-23...Kg7})
24... h6 $1 25. Bxc4 Nxc4 26. Rxh6+ Kg7 27. Rh7+ Kxg6 28. Rdh1 $40) 24. Rh6 $1
Bxc4 25. Bxc4 Nxc4 26. Rdh1 (26. f4 $5) 26... Rh8 27. f4 $6 (27. Rxe6 Rae8 28.
Rc6 Re7 (28... Nxa3 29. Nf6 $16 Re7 $140 30. Nd5 Rd7 31. Nxc7 $18 {[%cal Rc1b2]
}) 29. Nf6 Ne5 30. Nh5+ Kf8 31. Rf6+ $1 Rf7 32. Rh6 $16 {[%cal Yh5f4]}) 27...
c5 $6 (27... Rad8 $142 28. Nf6 c5 (28... Rd3 $2 29. Rxh7+ Rxh7 30. Rxh7+ Kg6
31. Rh6+ Kf7 32. Nh5 {[%cal Rg5g6]} Rxc3+ 33. Kb1 Rb3+ 34. Kc2 $18) 29. Rxh7+
$140 ({maybe it is better not to hurry:} 29. a4) 29... Rxh7 30. Rxh7+ Kg6 31.
Rh6+ Kf7 32. Nh5 Rg8 $1 {- Black holds on.}) 28. Rxe6 Rae8 29. Rxh7+ (29. Rxe8
$5 {was also good:} Rxe8 30. Nf6 Re3 (30... Rh8 31. Rh6 {etc.}) 31. Rxh7+ Kg6
32. Rh6+ Kf7 33. Nh5 Kg8 34. Rg6+ (34. g6 Re1+ 35. Kc2 Re6 $1 {-that's the
point!}) 34... Kf8 35. Rf6+ Kg8 (35... Ke7 36. g6) 36. g6 {[%cal Rg6g7]} Re1+
$8 37. Kc2 Rh1 38. Ng3 Ne3+ 39. Kd3 Nd5 40. Rc6 $1 Rd1+ 41. Kc4 Ne3+ 42. Kb5
$18) 29... Rxh7 30. Rxe8 {[%mdl 4096]} Kf7 (30... Nxa3 31. Ne5 {[%cal Yg2g4]})
(30... Rh1+ 31. Kc2 Nxa3+ 32. Kb3 Nb1 33. Re7+ $18) 31. Ra8 Rh1+ 32. Kc2 a5 (
32... Nxa3+ 33. Kb3 Nb5 34. Ne5+ Kg7 (34... Ke7 35. g6 Kf6 36. Rf8+ Kg7 37.
Rf7+ Kh8 38. g4 $1 $18) 35. g4 $1 fxg4 36. f5 {, and White's connected passed
pawns decide the game.}) (32... Ke6 33. Ne5 $1 Nxe5 34. Re8+ $18 {e.g.} Kd5 35.
Rxe5+ Kc4 36. g4 $1 fxg4 37. g6 Rh8 38. g7 Rg8 39. Rg5 b5 40. Kd2 a5 41. Rxg4
Kd5 42. Kd3 $18 {_|_}) 33. Ra7 (33. Kd3 $142 $1 b5 (33... Nb2+ 34. Ke2 Nc4 35.
Rf8+ Ke7 36. g6 $18) 34. Ra7) 33... Nxa3+ 34. Kd2 $1 Rh2 $2 (34... Nb5 35. Rb7
Nd6 {was the last chance. A possible line:} 36. Ne5+ Kg8 37. Rxb6 Ne4+ 38. Kd3
Rd1+ (38... Rc1 39. Kc4 {[%cal Yc4d5,Yd5e6]} a4 40. Rb8+ Kg7 41. Rb7+ Kg8 42.
Ra7 Nxc3 43. g3 $22 Kf8 (43... a3 44. Nd3 Rc2 45. Kb3) 44. Ng6+ Ke8 45. Nh4
Ne4+ 46. Kd5 Nxg3 47. Rxa4 $18) (38... a4 39. Kc4) 39. Kc4 Nd6+ 40. Kxc5 Ne4+
41. Kb5 Nxc3+ (41... Rb1+ 42. Kxa5 Rxb6 43. Kxb6 Nxc3 44. Kc6 $18) 42. Kc6 Ne2
43. Rb8+ Kg7 44. Rb7+ Kg8 45. Ng6 Rd4 46. Ne7+ Kf8 47. g6 Rb4 48. Ra7 Nxf4 49.
g3 $1 Ne6 50. Nd5 {, and White should win.}) 35. Nxb6+ Kg6 36. Rxa5 Rxg2+ 37.
Kd1 Nb1 (37... Nc2 38. Nd5) 38. Rxc5 {, and White converted his material
advantage without major problems:} Nd2 39. Nd5 Ne4 40. Rc6+ Kf7 41. Ne3 Rg3 42.
Ke2 Ke8 43. Re6+ Kf7 44. Re5 Nxc3+ 45. Kf2 Rh3 46. Rxf5+ Kg6 47. Rf6+ Kg7 48.
Nf5+ Kg8 49. Kg2 Rd3 50. Rd6 Ne2 51. Rg6+ Kh8 52. Rh6+ Kg8 53. Ne7+ Kf7 54. Ng6
Kg7 55. Kf2 Nc3 56. Ne7 Ne4+ 57. Ke2 Ra3 58. Nf5+ Kg8 59. Re6 Nc3+ 60. Kf3 Nd5+
61. Kg4 Ra1 62. Re5 Rg1+ 63. Kf3 Rf1+ 64. Kg2 1-0

[Event "Olympiad-39"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2010.09.25"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vallejo Pons, Francisco"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2697"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2010.09.21"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 139"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Spain"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "ESP"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 a6 3. Nge2 d6 4. g3 Nc6 5. Bg2 g6 6. d3 Bg7 7. Be3 Nf6 8. h3
Bd7 9. Qd2 b5 10. Bh6 Bxh6 11. Qxh6 Nd4 12. Nxd4 cxd4 13. Ne2 e5 14. O-O Ng8
15. Qd2 {#It is hard to understand black's plan here. In terms of development
he is now behind two tempi (white's queen is developed and he has castled
already), and though one might argue the bad bishop has been exchanged off,
the bishop also helps keep the king safe around the dark squares.} Ne7 16. f4
O-O 17. g4 f6 18. Rf2 Nc6 19. Raf1 Qa5 20. c3 Qxa2 21. g5 fxg5 22. f5 Qf7 23.
cxd4 {#} Rae8 $6 ({Not} 23... exd4 {because of} 24. Qxg5 Qf6 25. Qg3 g5 ({Or} 
25... Qe5 26. Nf4 Rf7 27. Qh4) 26. h4 g4 27. Qxg4+ Kh8 28. Qg5 Qxg5 29. hxg5
Rg8 30. e5 $1 dxe5 31. g6 $1 hxg6 32. f6 Ra7 33. Bd5 {Threatening Rh2.}) ({
Instead} 23... Qf6 {was better.} 24. dxe5 dxe5 25. Nc3 Ne7 26. d4 exd4 27. fxg6
(27. e5 Qxe5 28. Bxa8 Bxf5 29. Re1 dxc3 30. Rxe5 cxd2 31. Rxd2 Rxa8 32. Rxe7)
27... Qxg6 28. Qxd4 Bc6 {with a balanced position.}) 24. d5 Nd4 25. Nxd4 exd4
26. f6 g4 27. hxg4 Bxg4 28. Qf4 h5 29. Qxd6 1-0

[Event "Olympiad-39"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2010.09.27"]
[Round "6.1"]
[White "Adams, Michael"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2728"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2010.09.21"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 139"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "England"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ENG"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. e5 Nh5 {#Avoiding question marks, or any other form of
punctuation to evaluate this opening, suffice it to say that the only games of
grandmasters on record, of which there are four, were played by notorious
opening mavericks: Morozevich, Miles, Hodgson, and Hillarp Persson.} 4. Be2 d6
{Both Morozevich and Miles preferred to fianchetto their knight with 4...Ng7
here.} 5. Nf3 Nc6 {Other than the oddly placed knight on h5, the structure and
pieces are identical to an Alekhine defense.} 6. exd6 exd6 7. d5 Ne7 8. c4 Bg7
9. Nc3 O-O 10. O-O Bg4 11. Re1 Re8 12. h3 Bxf3 13. Bxf3 Nf6 14. Bf4 Nd7 15. Rc1
Ne5 16. b3 a6 17. g3 Nf5 18. Bg2 g5 19. Bxe5 Bxe5 20. Ne4 Ng7 21. Qd2 h6 {
#Black is still struggling to find a good plan and while his bishop looks
strong on e5, it won't be able to stay there for long, while the knight on g7
is still seeking a suitable home.} 22. f4 gxf4 23. gxf4 Bf6 24. Kh2 Nh5 (24...
Bh4 25. Rg1 f5 26. Ng3 Bxg3+ 27. Kxg3 Nh5+ 28. Kh2 Kf7) 25. Rg1 Kh7 $6 {
This imprecision could lead to serious trouble due to the myriad of threats
that can be combined on the b1-h7 diagonal.} 26. Rcf1 Rg8 27. Qe2 Ng7 28. Qd3
$6 {Not the most precise.} (28. Nxf6+ $1 {was white's strongest continuation.}
Qxf6 29. Be4+ Kh8 30. Bb1 Qd4 31. Qg4 {Threatening Qh4.} Qf6 (31... Qb2+ 32.
Kh1 Qf6 33. Qf3 Qd4 (33... h5 {With the idea of protecting h7 with Qh6.} 34.
Rg5 Qh6 35. Rfg1 {and black is lost.}) 34. Rd1 Qb2 35. Rg2 Qf6 36. Qe4) 32. Qf3
Ne8 33. Qd3 $18) 28... Kh8 29. Bf3 {#} b5 ({The engines initially suggest} 
29... Bh4 {as an improvement, but deeper analysis shows that it still loses
after} 30. Qd4 Qe7 {#} (30... Kh7 31. Ng5+ $1 hxg5 32. fxg5 Bxg5 33. Be4+ f5
34. Bxf5+ Nxf5 35. Rxf5 Rg6 36. Qg4) 31. Rg4 $1 f5 32. Rg6 $1 Kh7 33. Rfg1 Rae8
(33... fxe4 34. Bxe4) 34. c5 $1 {The knight cannot be touched, and as a result,
black is now overwhelmed.} dxc5 (34... fxe4 35. Bxe4 {leads to mate.} Qxe4 36.
Rxg7+) 35. Qb2 Ref8 36. d6 $1 cxd6 37. Qg2 Qf7 38. Nxd6 {This is the point of
the double pawn push. Without it, black could still defend against the Qb2-Qg2
maneuver, which threatens Rxh6+ followed by mate. Now the queen can no longer
help and the fort collapses.}) 30. Bd1 bxc4 31. bxc4 Bh4 32. Bc2 f5 33. Rg6 Kh7
34. Rfg1 Qe7 {#} 35. Ng3 $2 (35. c5 $1 {was more expeditious.} Rad8 (35... fxe4
36. Qxe4 Qxe4 37. Bxe4) 36. Qe2 Qf8 37. cxd6 cxd6 38. Nc5 $1 dxc5 39. Qxa6 $18)
35... Bxg3+ $6 (35... Raf8 {would resist longer but still looks grim after} 36.
Qd4 Bxg3+ 37. R1xg3 Qf7 38. Qg1 Nh5 39. Rxg8 Rxg8 40. Rxg8 Qxg8 41. Bxf5+ Kh8
42. Bg4 Nf6 (42... Nxf4 43. Qd4+)) 36. Qxg3 Qf7 (36... Nh5 {loses after} 37.
Qf3 Rxg6 38. Bxf5 Rag8 39. Rxg6 Rxg6 40. Qxh5) 37. Bd1 Rae8 38. Rxh6+ 1-0

[Event "Olympiad-39"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2010.09.28"]
[Round "7.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sulskis, Sarunas"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2544"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2010.09.21"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 139"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Lithuania"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "LTU"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8.
c4 Ba6 9. b3 O-O-O 10. g3 Qb4+ 11. Bd2 Qb6 12. Qe4 f5 13. Qxf5 Qd4 14. cxd5
Bxf1 15. Bc3 Bb4 16. Kxf1 Bxc3 17. Nxc3 Qxc3 18. Rd1 Rhf8 19. Qe4 Rde8 20. e6
Kb8 21. Rd3 Qc2 22. Qb4+ Ka8 23. Rd2 Qf5 24. dxc6 Rb8 25. Qc3 Qe4 26. Rg1 dxe6
27. Re2 Qg4 28. Qe3 Qh3+ 29. Rg2 Rbd8 30. Re1 Rd6 31. Qc3 Qg4 32. f4 Rfd8 33.
Rge2 Rd3 34. Qb4 Qf3+ 35. Kg1 Qxc6 36. Rxe6 R3d6 37. Rxd6 cxd6 38. Qe4 d5 39.
Qxh7 Qc3 40. Re2 d4 41. Qe4+ Kb8 42. Qe5+ Ka8 43. Kf2 Qc8 44. Qe4+ Kb8 45. Rc2
Qh3 46. Qe5+ Ka8 47. Kg1 Qh7 48. Qc7 Rh8 49. Qc6+ Kb8 50. Qb5+ Ka8 51. Qd5+ Kb8
52. f5 Qh5 53. Qe5+ Ka8 54. Qe4+ Kb8 55. Qf4+ Ka8 56. g4 Qh4 57. Qxd4 Qe1+ 58.
Kg2 Re8 59. Qf2 1-0

[Event "Olympiad-39"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2010.09.29"]
[Round "8.1"]
[White "Flores, Diego"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A37"]
[WhiteElo "2615"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2010.09.21"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 139"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Argentina"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ARG"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. c4 g6 2. Nc3 c5 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6. O-O Nh6 7. b3 O-O 8. Bb2
Rb8 9. e3 Nf5 10. d3 a6 11. Qe2 b5 12. Nd5 e6 13. Bxg7 Nxg7 14. Nc3 b4 15. Ne4
f5 $1 16. Ned2 e5 $1 {#In yesterday's report, it was mentioned that avoiding
Elo loss in this Olympiad was not obvious, but truthfully, if Magnus continues
his revenge warpath, he may even gain a few by the end of the event.} 17. a3
bxa3 18. Rxa3 Nb4 19. Rc1 Bb7 20. Ne1 Bxg2 21. Kxg2 Rb6 22. Nc2 Qa8+ 23. f3 $2
{A mistake that further weakens the kingside. Kg1 was safer.} Nc6 24. Rf1 Qb7
25. Kg1 Ne6 26. f4 exf4 27. gxf4 Qg7 28. Raa1 Re8 29. Ra2 Qc3 30. Ne1 Nb4 31.
Nb1 Qg7 32. Ra3 d5 33. cxd5 Nxd5 34. Ng2 {#} Nd4 $1 35. Qf2 {White loses a
pawn.} (35. Qb2 $2 {loses to} Nf3+ 36. Rxf3 Qxb2) (35. Qa2 {runs into} Nxe3)
35... Nxb3 36. Qa2 Qb7 37. Qc2 Nxe3 38. Nxe3 Rxe3 39. Nc3 Nd4 40. Qa2+ Kg7 41.
Qd5 Rxd3 42. Qe5+ Kh6 43. Qxc5 Rb2 0-1

[Event "Olympiad-39"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2010.09.30"]
[Round "9.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sedlak, Nikola"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C13"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2550"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2010.09.21"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 139"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Serbia"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "YUG"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Be7 6. Bxf6 gxf6 7. Nf3 f5 8.
Nc3 a6 9. g3 b5 10. Bg2 Bb7 11. O-O O-O 12. Re1 c5 13. d5 b4 14. Ne2 Bxd5 15.
Nf4 Be4 16. Qc1 Bf6 17. h4 Bxf3 18. Bxf3 Ra7 19. Nh5 Bg7 20. c3 bxc3 21. bxc3
Nd7 22. Qe3 Ne5 23. Be2 Nd7 24. Rab1 h6 25. Bd3 Nf6 26. Nxg7 Kxg7 27. Qxc5 Rc7
28. Qe5 Rc6 29. Bf1 Qc7 30. Qxc7 Rxc7 31. Rb3 Ne4 32. Rc1 a5 33. c4 Rfc8 34.
Rc2 Rc5 35. Rb6 Kf6 36. Rcb2 Ke7 37. Ra6 Nd6 38. Rbb6 Nxc4 39. Rb7+ R8c7 40.
Rxc7+ Rxc7 41. Bxc4 Rxc4 42. Rxa5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Olympiad-39"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2010.10.01"]
[Round "10.1"]
[White "Sjugirov, Sanan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2627"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2010.09.21"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 139"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Russia IV"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 Bb4+ 6. Nbd2 Nd7 7. O-O Ba5 8. Nb3
Bc7 9. Ne1 f6 10. Bh5+ g6 11. Be2 g5 12. Bd3 Bg6 13. exf6 Qxf6 14. Qg4 h6 15.
f4 Bxd3 16. Nxd3 O-O-O 17. Bd2 Qg6 18. fxg5 Ngf6 19. Rxf6 Bxh2+ 20. Kh1 Nxf6
21. Qxe6+ Kb8 22. gxf6 Bc7 23. Ne5 Qxc2 24. f7 Rhf8 25. Bb4 1-0

[Event "Grand Slam Final 3rd"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2010.10.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2780"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2010.10.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 139"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qa4 {About 40 years ago, when
Black's 4-th move was still regarded as only an experiment, this Q-sortie was
considered to be the strongest reaction and almost refutation of 4...Ba6.
Nowadays things have changed a lot, White tries to build up some pressure
without too much risk.} ({The main move is} 5. b3 {, with heavily analysed
theory after} Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Nc3 ({and especially} 7. Bg2 {often going on
far beyond the opening and even middlegame.})) ({The sharp alternative,
connected with a P-sacrifice, is} 5. Qc2 $5 Bb7 6. Bg2 c5 7. d5 exd5 8. cxd5
Nxd5 9. O-O {This line has quickly developed in the past 5 years and is still
highly topical. However, it hardly suits Kramnik's style, so the ex-champion
adopts the more restrained old move. Lately it has become fasionable again and
it occurred in quite a few high-level games.}) 5... Bb7 (5... c5 6. Bg2 ({
The usual reaction, as} 6. d5 exd5 7. cxd5 Bb7 {is a rather inferior version
of the aforementioned P-sacrifice.}) 6... Bb7 {is only a transposition.}) ({
Interesting and less explored is} 5... c6 6. Nc3 (6. Bg2 {is too soft due to}
b5 $1 7. cxb5 cxb5 8. Qd1 Nc6 9. O-O Rc8 10. Nbd2 Be7 11. Nb3 b4 12. Re1 d5 13.
Bg5 h6 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15. e3 O-O 16. Nc5 Bb5 17. Bf1 Bxf1 18. Rxf1 e5 (18... Be7
$11) 19. dxe5 Nxe5 20. Nxe5 Rxc5 21. Nd3 Rc4 $132 {Smejkal,J-Kavalek,L/CS-ch
Luhacovice/1968/}) 6... b5 $5 ({This positional sacrifice in the spirit of the
Volga/Benko gambit is the main point, otherwise Black risks getting under
positional pressure. An old example is} 6... d5 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Ne5 Bb7 9. Bg5
Be7 10. Bg2 O-O 11. O-O h6 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. f4 a5 14. Rad1 Qc8 15. e4 b5 16.
Qc2 Na6 17. Rc1 Nc7 18. Rfd1 Qe6 19. Nxd5 $1 Nxd5 20. exd5 cxd5 21. Qc7 Ra7 22.
Qc5 $16 {Furman,S-Keres,P/URS-ch Moscow/1948/}) 7. cxb5 cxb5 8. Nxb5 Qb6 9. Nc3
Bb4 10. Bg2 O-O 11. O-O Bxc3 (11... Rc8 12. Bd2 Nc6 13. Qd1 d5 14. Na4 Qb5 15.
Bxb4 Qxb4 16. Nc5 Qa5 17. Rc1 Rab8 18. b3 Ne4 19. Qe1 Nxc5 20. Qxa5 Nxa5 21.
Rxc5 Nb7 $1 $11 {1/2 Appolonov,S-Berzinsh,R/Alma-Ata 1991/TD (35)}) 12. bxc3
Bxe2 13. Re1 Bb5 14. Qb3 d5 (14... Bc6 15. c4 Na6 16. Bf4 Be4 17. Be5 d5 18.
Bxf6 gxf6 19. Qe3 Nb4 20. Qh6 $40 Qd8 21. Nh4 Bxg2 22. Nxg2 Kh8 23. Nf4 Rg8 24.
Rab1 Nc2 $2 25. Nxe6 $1 {1-0,Skembris,S (2545)-Timman,J (2620)/Corfu m/1993/})
15. Ne5 Nbd7 16. Be3 Rab8 17. Rab1 $6 (17. a4 Ba6 18. Qa3 $13) 17... Qa6 18.
Qd1 Nxe5 19. dxe5 Nd7 20. Bd4 Bc4 21. Qd2 h6 $15 {Leriche,E (2319)-Gervasio,R 
(2310)/FRA-chT2/2004/}) 6. Bg2 c5 7. dxc5 {White tries to keep more tension in
the position. Nikolic's favourite is} (7. O-O cxd4 8. Nxd4 Bxg2 9. Kxg2 Qc7 10.
Rd1 a6 11. Nc3 Qb7+ (11... Be7 12. f3 O-O 13. Bf4 Qb7 14. e4 d6 15. Nde2 Rd8
16. Rd2 Nc6 17. Rad1 Ne8 18. a3 Rdc8 19. h4 h6 20. h5 Na5 21. b3 Qc7 22. e5 Rd8
23. exd6 Bxd6 24. Ne4 Bxf4 25. Nxf4 Rxd2+ 26. Rxd2 Nc6 27. b4 Ne5 28. c5 Nf6 $5
$132 {Browne,W-Andersson,U/Buenos Aires/1978/}) 12. f3 Be7 13. Bg5 h6 (13...
Nc6 14. Bxf6 $142 $5 (14. Nxc6 Qxc6 15. Bxf6 Bxf6 16. Qxc6 dxc6 17. Ne4 Ke7 18.
Nxf6 Kxf6 19. Rd6 Rhd8 20. Rad1 (20. Rxc6 Rd2 $44 {<=>}) 20... Ke7 21. Rxd8
Rxd8 22. Rxd8 Kxd8 {1/2,Nikolic,P (2630)-Psakhis,L (2565)/ECC Eupen/1997/})
14... gxf6 (14... Bxf6 15. Ne4 Be7 16. Nxc6 Qxc6 17. Qxc6 dxc6 18. Nd6+ $36)
15. Nxc6 Qxc6 (15... dxc6 16. Ne4 $1 $36 (16. Rd3 O-O 17. Rad1 Rfd8 18. Rxd8+
Rxd8 19. Rxd8+ Bxd8 20. Qd1 Be7 21. Qd4 Qc7 22. Ne4 Qd8 23. Qxd8+ Bxd8 24. g4
Be7 25. f4 Kf8 26. f5 $14 {Molina,R (2322)-Bittencourt,J (2448)/BRA-ch Rio de
Janeiro/2007/})) 16. Rd3 (16. Qxc6 dxc6 17. Rd3 $14) 16... Qxa4 17. Nxa4 b5 18.
cxb5 axb5 19. Nb6 Ra7 {Chetverik,M (2289)-Gerstner,B (2144)/Bad Wiessee/2006/}
20. Rb3 $14) 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15. Ne4 Be7 16. Rd3 (16. Qb3 Qc7 17. Rac1 O-O 18. f4
Nc6 19. Nf3 Rfd8 20. Qe3 Rac8 21. g4 d5 22. cxd5 exd5 23. Ng3 (23. Nd4 Qb7 $11)
23... Bc5 24. Qd2 a5 25. a3 Qe7 26. Qd3 Qf6 27. Qd2 Qe6 28. f5 Qe7 $15 {
Nikolic,P (2659)-Karpov,A (2696)/Monte Carlo blindfold rpd/2000/}) 16... O-O
17. Rad1 Rc8 18. Qb3 Ra7 19. e3 Qc7 20. a3 {Hoefer,H (1960)-Skrzynski,I (1713)/
corr/2000/} Nc6 $11 {<=>}) 7... bxc5 {An important moment, which defines the
character of the ensuing struggle. Taking towards the [+] is natural, but
equally logical is the even more often played developing move} (7... Bxc5 8.
Nc3 O-O 9. O-O Be7 (9... Ne4 10. Qc2 Nxc3 11. Qxc3 d5 12. Rd1 Nd7 13. Bg5 {
Die korrekte Verteidigung bestand in} Be7 $5 (13... Qe8 14. cxd5 Bxd5 15. b4
Be7 16. Bxe7 Qxe7 17. Rac1 Rfd8 18. Nd4 Nf6 19. b5 Bxg2 20. Kxg2 Rd5 21. Nc6
Qd7 22. Qc2 Qb7 23. a4 h6 24. e4 Rc5 25. Qd3 $36 {Dautov,R (2606)-Polgar,J 
(2656)/Istanbul olm/2000/}) 14. Bxe7 Qxe7 15. cxd5 Bxd5 16. Rac1 Nc5 17. Ne5 $1
(17. b4 Na4 $1 18. Qc2 b5 19. a3 a5 $11 {Dautov}) 17... Bxg2 18. Kxg2 a5 19.
Qf3 Rac8 20. h4 (20. Nc4 $5 Qc7 21. Qf4 $14) 20... f6 21. Nc4 Qc7 22. Nd6 Rcd8
23. Nb5 Qe5 24. Nc3 f5 25. Qc6 Qb8 26. Rxd8 Rxd8 27. Rd1 Rxd1 28. Nxd1 Qb7 29.
Qxb7 Nxb7 30. Kf3 Nd6 31. Kf4 Kf7 32. Ke5 Ke7 33. Ne3 {Nikolic,P (2652)
-Istratescu,A (2561)/EU-ch Ohrid/2001/} b5 $5 {/\Nf7,Kd6=}) 10. Rd1 Na6 11. Bf4
Nc5 12. Qc2 Qc8 {A more recent attempt is} 13. Rd4 $5 (13. Rac1 Nce4 14. Nd4
Nxc3 15. Qxc3 a6 (15... Bxg2 16. Kxg2 a6 17. Qf3 Ra7 18. a4 Qb7 19. Qxb7 Rxb7
20. f3 Rc8 21. e4 d6 22. Ne2 Ne8 23. h4 Kf8 24. b3 Rc6 25. Rd3 Bf6 26. Rcd1 Be7
27. h5 $14 {(),Ftacnik,L (2596)-Sax,G (2568)/ECC Saint Vincent/2005/}) 16. Qb3
Bxg2 17. Kxg2 Qb7+ 18. Qf3 Ne4 $5 ({More enterprising than} 18... Ra7 19. Qxb7
Rxb7 20. f3 Rc8 21. e4 d6 22. Ne2 Ne8 23. b3 h5 24. h4 g6 25. Rd2 Rbc7 26. Rd3
Rc5 27. a4 R5c6 28. Rcd1 Rc5 29. Kf1 Bf8 30. Nc3 Rb8 31. R1d2 Rb7 32. Ke2 $14 {
Piket,J (2633)-Chuchelov,V (2518)/NED-chT/2000/ Similar to Ftacnik-Sax above,
Black must patiently defend a slightly worse _|_.}) 19. Nb3 f5 20. Nd2 (20. Kg1
Bf6 $132) 20... g5 $1 21. Nxe4 fxe4 22. Qg4 h5 23. Qxh5 gxf4 24. Qg6+ Kh8 25.
Qh6+ Kg8 {1/2,Van Wely,L (2654)-Chuchelov,V (2603)/Bundesliga 2003/}) 13... d5
14. cxd5 (14. Rc1 Nce4 15. Nxe4 dxe4 16. Ne5 g5 $5 (16... Rd8 17. Rxd8+ Qxd8
18. Rd1 Qe8 19. Be3 h6 20. a3 Rc8 21. b4 Rc7 22. h4 Qc8 23. Qb3 Ba6 24. Rd4 Ne8
25. Bxe4 Bf6 {Timman,J (2591)-Jackova,J (2388)/Marianske Lazne /2009/} 26. Qd3
$5 Bxc4 27. Rxc4 Bxe5 $11 {/+/=}) 17. Be3 $5 (17. Bxg5 Qc5 18. Bxf6 Bxf6 19.
Rd7 Bc8 20. Ng4 Bg5 21. b4 $5 (21. Rdd1 f5 22. b4 Qxb4 23. Rb1 Qc5 24. Rb5 Qc7
25. h4 (25. f4 $2 exf3 26. Bxf3 Ba6 27. Re5 Rad8 28. Rxd8 Rxd8 29. Kg2 Bc8 30.
h4 Be7 $19 {Koneru,H (2600)-Zhao Xue (2462)/Ulan Bator/2010/}) 25... Be7 26.
Bxe4 Rb8 27. Bxf5 exf5 28. Nh6+ Kh8 29. Nxf5 Bf6 $15 {/~~}) 21... Qf5 22. Bxe4
Qxg4 23. Rd4 f5 24. h3 Qxe4 25. Rxe4 Bxc1 26. Qxc1 (26. Rd4 Bg5 $13) 26... fxe4
27. Qg5+ Kh8 $11) 17... Qc7 18. f4 exf3 (18... Bc5 19. Qc3 gxf4 20. gxf4 Bxd4
21. Bxd4 $44 {->,Turov,M (2628)-Filip,L (2470)/Rethymnon/2010/}) 19. Nxf3 h6 $5
$13 {/=/+} (19... e5 20. Qf5 $1 exd4 21. Qxg5+ Kh8 22. Bxd4 Qd8 23. Rd1 $44) (
19... Bc5 $5)) 14... Nxd5 15. Bg5 Bxg5 16. Nxg5 Nf6 17. Bxb7 Qxb7 18. b4 h6 19.
Nf3 (19. Nxf7 Qxf7 20. bxc5 Rac8 $132) 19... Ncd7 20. Nb5 Rfc8 21. Qd2 Rc6 22.
Rd1 a6 23. Nd6 Qc7 24. e4 e5 25. Rd3 Rc2 26. Qe1 a5 $132 {Aronian,L (2752)
-Leko,P (2740)/Wijk aan Zee/2006/}) 8. O-O Be7 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Rd1 Qb6 ({
After the main alternative} 10... d6 11. Bf4 Qb6 {White faces a choice:} 12.
Rab1 $5 {is a more recent idea, here Black is still searching for a reliable
road to equality:} ({The older move} 12. Rd2 {is more or less harmless and
even gives Black more satisfactory options:} h6 (12... Nc6 13. Bxd6 Bxd6 14.
Rxd6 Qxb2 15. Rb1 Qxc3 16. Rxb7 Nd4 17. Qd1 Nxf3+ 18. Bxf3 Qxc4 19. a4 $44 {
gives White compensation, but no advantage.}) 13. Rad1 e5 14. Be3 Nc6 15. Qb5
Qc7 16. Qb3 a6 17. Nh4 Rfb8 18. Bxc6 Qxc6 19. f3 e4 {Onischuk,A (2664)-Eljanov,
P (2687)/Foros/2008/} 20. Nf5 Bf8 21. Rxd6 $44) (12. Qb3 Rd8 13. Qxb6 axb6 14.
Nb5 Ne8 15. a3 h6 16. Rac1 Nc6 17. Ne1 Na5 18. Bd2 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 Nc6 $11 {
Vallejo Pons,F (2686)-Anand,V (2786)/Linares/2005/}) 12... Bc6 (12... Na6 13.
a3 (13. Nb5 Rfd8 $5 (13... d5 14. Ne5 d4 15. Bxb7 Qxb7 16. e3 dxe3 17. Bxe3 $14
{Pelletier,Y (2525)-Alterman,B (2600)/Elista olm/1998/}) (13... Ne8 14. a3 Be4
15. Rbc1 Rd8 16. b4 Bc6 17. bxc5 Nxc5 18. Qxa7 Qxa7 19. Nxa7 Ba4 20. Re1 Nf6
21. Nd4 Rd7 22. Nac6 $16 {Zhigalko,S (2640)-Franco Alonso,A (2490)/ECC Plovdiv/
2010/}) 14. Bd2 Nb4 15. a3 Bc6 16. Bxb4 (16. axb4 a6 17. Qa5 Qxa5 18. bxa5 axb5
19. b4 $13) 16... cxb4 17. Qxb4 Be4 18. Rbc1 Rab8 $11) 13... Rac8 14. Qc2 Rfd8
15. e4 Nd7 (15... Bc6 16. Qe2 h6 17. Nd5 $1 Nxd5 (17... exd5 18. exd5 Ba4 19.
b3 Bxb3 20. Rdc1 $16 {[%cal Rf3d2,Re2e7] /\Nd2}) 18. exd5 Bd7 19. dxe6 Bxe6 20.
Nd2 Bf8 21. Qd3 Qc7 (21... Nc7 $142) 22. Ne4 Bg4 23. f3 Bh5 24. Bh3 $16 {
Giri,A (2677)-Infante,M (2276)/Khanty-Mansiysk olm/2010/}) (15... h6 16. Qe2
Nb8 {Nikolic,P (2629)-Volke,K (2455)/Bundesliga/1999/} 17. b4 $14) 16. Qe2 h6
17. h4 (17. Nb5 Nf8 18. Qe1 Rd7 19. Rd3 Nc7 20. Nc3 Ng6 21. Be3 Qa6 22. Bf1 Ne8
23. Rdd1 Bf6 $11 {Ikonnikov,V (2527)-Volke,K (2450)/Vlissingen/2002/}) 17...
Ba8 18. g4 $5 Nf8 19. g5 h5 20. Bg3 g6 21. Rd2 Nb8 22. Qd1 a6 23. Rd3 e5 24.
Nd5 Qa7 25. Qd2 Nc6 26. Rd1 Nd4 27. Nxd4 cxd4 28. f4 $14 {Van Wely,L (2668)
-Leko,P (2736)/Monte Carlo blindfold rpd/2003/}) (12... Nbd7 13. b4 cxb4 14.
Qxb4 $1 $36 (14. Rxb4 Bc6 15. Qa3 Qc5 16. Be3 Qh5 17. h3 Bxf3 18. Bxf3 Qxh3 19.
Bg2 Qh5 20. Bf3 Qh3 21. Bg2 Qh5 22. Bf3 {1/2,Lautier,J (2666)-Gelfand,B (2700)/
Enghien les Bains/2003/})) 13. Qa3 (13. Qc2 Rd8 14. e4 Qb7 $132) 13... Rd8 14.
b4 cxb4 15. Rxb4 Qa6 16. Rb3 $5 (16. Qb2 Qc8 17. Nb5 Na6 18. Ra4 Qb7 19. Qb1
Nc5 20. Rb4 Be4 $36 {Lysyj,I (2638)-Carron,J (2394)/Zürich /2010/}) 16... Qxa3
17. Rxa3 h6 18. h4 Nh5 19. Be3 a6 20. g4 Nf6 21. g5 hxg5 22. hxg5 Ne8 23. g6
Rc8 24. gxf7+ Kxf7 25. c5 Nd7 26. cxd6 Bxd6 27. Rb3 $14 {Dronov,A (2617)
-Mikeshin,S (2591)/corr/2007/}) 11. Bf4 Rd8 {Carlsen keeps his P on d7 and
makes a useful move.} (11... d6 {-10...d6 transposes into the lines from the
previous note.}) (11... Qxb2 $4 12. Rab1 Qxc3 13. Rxb7 $18 {[%csl Rc3][%cal
Rd1c1,Rf4d2,Rf4e5] /\Rc1,Be5,Bd2}) 12. Rab1 {Kramnik doesn't insist on
occupying the <->d with his R and adopts a similar set-up, as we have already
mentioned above. His R supports the future b4 advance.} (12. Rd2 d6 (12... d5
$6 13. cxd5 exd5 14. Ne5 Na6 15. Rad1 Nc7 16. e4 Ne6 17. Nxd5 Bxd5 18. exd5
Nxf4 19. Qxf4 Bd6 20. Qf5 $16 {Lautier,J (2672)-Macieja,B (2593)/ECC Saint
Vincent/2005/}) 13. Rad1 h6 $142 (13... Ne8 14. Nb5 (14. e4 Bc6 15. Qc2 Qb7 16.
Qb3 $6 Qxb3 17. axb3 f6 $1 18. Ne1 Nd7 19. Ra1 Rdb8 20. Ra3 Rb7 21. e5 Nxe5 22.
Bxe5 Bxg2 23. Bxd6 Nxd6 24. Kxg2 Nf5 $15 {Gustafsson,J (2603)-Leko,P (2741)/
Dortmund/2008/}) 14... Na6 15. Bg5 $1 $146 Bxg5 16. Nxg5 Bxg2 17. Kxg2 Nac7 18.
Qc2 g6 19. Nc3 Nf6 20. Qd3 Nce8 21. Qf3 Rab8 22. Nce4 Qb7 23. b3 Nxe4 24. Nxe4
Qc7 25. Qf4 e5 26. Qh4 $16 {Kramnik,V (2790)-Karjakin,S (2725)/Nice blindfold
rpd/2010/}) (13... a6 14. Ng5 $5 Bxg2 15. Kxg2 e5 16. Be3 Qb7+ 17. f3 $1 (17.
Kg1 h6 18. Nf3 Nc6 19. Nd5 Nxd5 20. Rxd5 Nb4 21. R5d2 Nc6 22. Rd5 Nb4 23. R5d2
Nc6 {1/2,Leko,P (2751)-Bacrot,E (2728)/Nalchik/2009/}) 17... Ng4 18. Bxc5 Nd7
19. Bg1 Bxg5 20. Rxd6 Ngf6 21. h4 Bh6 22. b3 $16 {Sargissian,G (2675)-Zhigalko,
A (2587)/EU-ch Rijeka/2010/}) 14. Qb5 Ne8 15. e4 g5 16. Be3 Nd7 17. h4 g4 18.
Ne1 Kg7 $5 (18... Qxb5 19. cxb5 $5 (19. Nxb5 Ne5 20. b3 a6 $11) 19... Bf8 20.
Nc2 Ne5 21. Na3 Rdc8 22. Bf4 Bg7 23. Bxe5 Bxe5 24. Nc4 Bd4 25. Ne2 e5 26. a4
Kf8 27. Rc2 {Navara,D (2722)-Leko,P (2724)/Khanty-Mansiysk olm/2010/} Rab8 {
Navara,/\} 28. Na5 Ba8 $13 {/+/=}) 19. Bf4 Bc6 20. Qxb6 axb6 21. Nc2 (21. e5
Bxg2 22. exd6 Bf6 23. Nxg2 Bxc3 24. bxc3 e5 25. Be3 Ra4 $36) 21... Ne5 22. Ne3
Nf3+ 23. Bxf3 gxf3 24. h5 Bf6 25. Ng4 Bxc3 26. bxc3 Bxe4 27. Bxh6+ Kh7 28. Bg5
Rd7 29. Bf4 f6 {Wang Yue (2732)-Bacrot,E (2716)/Nanjing/2010/} 30. Bxd6 Rad8
31. Bf4 Rxd2 32. Rxd2 Rxd2 33. Bxd2 Bd3 $11) 12... h6 (12... Na6 13. a3 (13. e4
$14 {/\} Nxe4 $2 14. Ne5 $36) 13... Bc6 14. Qc2 Qb7 15. e4 (15. Bd6 $5) 15...
d6 16. Ne1 Rac8 17. e5 dxe5 18. Bxe5 Nb8 $11 {Kantorik,M (2390)-Stefansson,H 
(2588)/Sarajevo/2010/}) (12... d5 13. cxd5 exd5 14. Ne5 $14 {is still risky
for Black, although here it's more justified than with White's R on d2.}) 13.
Qb5 $146 {[%mdl 8] This novelty doesn't seem too enterprising.} ({More logical
seems to be} 13. a3 {[%cal Yb2b4] /\b4 , but Kramnik already played this
earlier and Carlsen was undoubtedly prepared. However, we can only guess what
exactly he had on his mind.} a5 (13... Nc6 14. Nb5 a6 15. Nd6 $14) ({A
probably playable alternative is} 13... Bc6 $5 14. Qc2 a5 15. e4 d6 $132) 14.
Qb5 Qxb5 15. cxb5 (15. Nxb5 $5 {seems more promising.}) 15... d5 16. Ne5 g5 17.
Be3 Nbd7 $132 18. Nc6 Bxc6 19. bxc6 Ne5 20. Na4 Nxc6 21. Bxc5 Bxc5 22. Nxc5
Rab8 23. e4 dxe4 24. Rxd8+ Rxd8 25. Nxe4 Nxe4 26. Bxe4 Nd4 27. Kg2 Nb3 $11 {
Kramnik,V (2759)-Bacrot,E (2721)/Dortmund/2009/}) 13... Bc6 {Contrary to the
previous note, here Black can force his opponent to swap the L. However, he
had other plausible and possibly stronger moves at his disposal:} (13... d5 $5
{seems more to the point now,} 14. cxd5 (14. Nd2 Qxb5 15. Nxb5 Nc6 16. cxd5
Nxd5 $11) 14... Nxd5 (14... exd5 15. Nh4 $1 {[%csl Rd5] ><d5}) 15. Ne5 (15. Qc4
Nd7 $5 $11) 15... g5 16. Bd2 Nc6 $13 {leads to a complex position, in which
Black's piece-play compensates his shaky P-structure.}) (13... Nc6 14. Ne5 (14.
Qxb6 axb6 15. Bc7 Rdc8 16. Bxb6 $2 Ra6 $17) 14... g5 $5 (14... d5 15. cxd5 Qxb5
16. Nxb5 Nxd5 17. Nc7 $1 Nxf4 18. gxf4 $14) 15. Qxb6 (15. Nxc6 Bxc6 16. Bxc6
dxc6 17. Qxb6 axb6 18. Bc7 Rxd1+ 19. Rxd1 b5 $11) 15... axb6 16. Nxc6 Bxc6 17.
Bc7 Rdc8 18. Bd6 Kf8 {and Black should gradually equalize.}) 14. Qxb6 (14. Qb3
d6 $11) 14... axb6 15. b3 (15. Bc7 $5 Rc8 16. Bxb8 (16. Bxb6 $2 Ra6 17. Bxc5
Bxc5 18. b4 Ra3 $19) 16... Rcxb8 (16... Raxb8 17. Ne5 Bxg2 18. Kxg2 d6 19. Nf3
{can be very similar to the game.}) 17. Ne5 Bxg2 18. Kxg2 d5 19. a3 {[%csl Rb6,
Rc5] is an interesting try to stabilize Black's <<P on the dark squares. Black
should probably refrain from} dxc4 (19... d4 $5 20. Nb5 $13 {/+/=}) 20. Nb5 c3
(20... Ra4 21. Rbc1) 21. bxc3 $36 (21. Nxc3 Rb7 22. Nb5 Ra5 23. Nd6 Bxd6 24.
Rxd6 b5 {and Black gradually consolidates.})) (15. Bxb8 Rdxb8 {-15.Bc7 leads
to the same position as the line above with one move less.}) 15... g5 $6 {
Provocative and positionally risky.} ({Carlsen was probably getting ambitious,
as much simpler is} 15... Ne4 $142 $1 16. Nxe4 Bxe4 17. Rb2 Nc6 $11 (17... d5
$11 {and Black has no problems whatsoever.})) ({Even} 15... d6 {is a more
solid choice.}) 16. Bxb8 $5 {[%mdl 32]} ({Even here Kramnik could play} 16. Bc7
Rc8 17. Bxb8 {, but he prefers the direct swap. In the long run White's main
strategic aim is to achieve a position with a strong N against a passive B.} (
17. Bd6 Kf8 18. a4 Bxd6 19. Rxd6 Ke7 20. Rbd1 Ne8 21. R6d3 d6 $11)) 16... Raxb8
(16... Rdxb8 $5 17. Ne5 Bxg2 18. Kxg2 d5 {deserves attention, leading to a
position from the note to White's 15-th move, only with the extra moves b3 and
g5. It's not so easy to exploit this with White, as} 19. cxd5 (19. a4 Bd6 20.
Nf3 g4 {/\ Be5<=>}) 19... Nxd5 (19... exd5 20. a4 $1 d4 21. Nb5 $36) 20. Nxd5
exd5 21. a4 (21. Rxd5 Rxa2 22. e4 Re8 $11) 21... d4 22. e3 dxe3 23. fxe3 b5 24.
Rd7 Bf8 $132 {is not too impressive.}) 17. Ne5 Bxg2 18. Kxg2 Rbc8 {[%cal Yd7d6,
Yd7d5] /\d6,d5} 19. e4 {Black had to loses a tempo to cover the c6-square,
enabling White to prevent the immediate d5.} ({He needn't worry unduly about} 
19. Na4 d6 20. Nxb6 Rb8 $5 (20... dxe5 21. Nxc8 Rxc8 $11) 21. Nc6 (21. Nd5 Nxd5
22. Nc6 Nb4 $15) 21... Rxb6 22. Nxd8 Bxd8 23. b4 cxb4 24. c5 Rb8 25. cxd6 Nd5
$11) 19... d6 20. Nd3 ({More accurate is} 20. Nf3 $1 g4 21. Ne1 h5 22. Rd2 $14
({or} 22. f4 $5 $14 {and White retains some pressure.})) 20... Kf8 $6 ({
Black should have used his chance to play the active} 20... d5 $142 21. e5 Ne8
22. Nb5 $5 $13) 21. h3 (21. Nb2 $5 $14 {/\Nba4,Nb5+/=}) 21... Nd7 ({Black
still could have gained space with} 21... d5 $142 $5) 22. f4 $1 {[%csl Rg5,Rh6]
Another drawback of Black's 15-th move is he loosened his >>.} Nb8 {[%cal
Yb8c6,Yc6d4,Ye7f6] /\Nc6-d4,Bf6 This plan is too slow and doesn't achieve the
desired result.} (22... Ra8 $142 23. Rd2 $14) 23. Na4 {Forces the N back.} (23.
Nb5 Na6 $5 {/\Nc7+/=} (23... Nc6 24. Nb2 {[%csl Rb6,Rd6] /\Na4,Rd2,Rbd1,><b6,d6
}) (23... d5 24. exd5 exd5 25. Ne5 $36)) 23... Nd7 $8 24. Nf2 $36 Ra8 25. Rd2
Ra5 {[%cal Yb6b5] /\b5 Black finds a way to chase away the nagging Na4} (25...
Rxa4 $2 26. bxa4 {[%cal Rf2d1,Rd1c3] /\Nd1-c3} Ra8 27. e5 $18) 26. Nc3 Nb8 (
26... Bf6 27. Nb5 d5 28. exd5 exd5 29. Rxd5 $5 Rxa2 30. Rbd1 $16) 27. Rbd1 (27.
a4 Nc6 28. Nb5 {stops Black's idea from the game, but allows} Na7 $14) 27...
Nc6 28. Nb5 gxf4 (28... Nd4 29. Nxd4 cxd4 30. a4 $1 (30. Rxd4 gxf4 31. gxf4
Rxa2 32. e5 Bh4 $11) 30... Bf6 31. Ng4 Bg7 32. Nh2 $14 {[%cal Yh2f3,Yf3e1,
Ye1d3,Yd3b4] /+/-,/\Nf3 will force Black to play e5, killing his B. White can
then proceed to transfer his N to the dominant square d5 (Ne1-d3-b4) and
prepare either b4, or opening the >>.}) 29. gxf4 d5 $5 {Although this doesn't
solve Black's problems, one can understand Carlsen's liberating attempt.} (
29... Nd4 {is similar to 28...Nd4 and might be safer , but it offers little or
no active <=>.}) 30. exd5 exd5 31. cxd5 Rxb5 (31... Nd4 $5 32. Nxd4 cxd4 33.
Rxd4 Rxa2 34. R4d2 Rxd2 35. Rxd2 f5 $1 36. Nd1 Bc5 37. Kf3 Kf7 $16 {/+/=}) 32.
dxc6 Rc8 33. Ng4 Rxc6 (33... c4 34. bxc4 Ra5 35. Ne5 $16) 34. Ne5 $36 {[%csl
Rb5,Ge5] White has achieved his strategic aim and his N dominates in the [+].
This together with the misplaced Rb5 and vulnerable K makes the defence very
difficult.} Re6 35. Kf3 (35. Nd7+ Ke8 36. f5 Re4 (36... Rc6 37. Ne5 Rc7 (37...
Rf6 38. Nc4 $1 {[%cal Rd1e1] /\Re1+-->}) 38. Re2 $40) 37. f6 Rd4 $1 38. Rxd4
cxd4 39. Rxd4 Bd8 $14 {[%csl Rd7,Rf6] ><f6,Nd7}) 35... Ra5 $2 $138 (35... Rb4
$142 36. Rd5 $5 {/\} (36. Rd7 b5 $5 $14 {/\c4<=>}) (36. Rg2 $6 Bf6 $11 {/\} 37.
Nd7+ Ke7 38. f5 Ree4) 36... Bf6 37. Nc4 $16) 36. Rg2 {[%cal Gg1g8,Re5d7]
-><->g,/\Nd7} (36. Rg1 f5 (36... f6 37. Rg6 $18) 37. a4 $1 $18) 36... f6 (36...
Bf6 37. Nd7+ Ke7 38. f5 $18 {wins an exchange, as here the R can't go to e4.})
(36... f5 37. Rd7 {[%cal Rd7b7] /\Rb7+-}) 37. Nc4 $1 {Again the strategic
approach, Kramnik is in no hurry to win material and tightens the screws.} (37.
Rg6 Rxa2 38. Rdg1 Rxe5 39. fxe5 fxe5 40. Rxb6 $18) 37... Ra7 (37... Ra8 38. f5
Rc6 39. a4 $1 $18 {is similar.}) 38. f5 Rc6 39. a4 $1 $18 {[%csl Rb6,Rc5,Re7,
Rf6,Rh6] All Black's P are vulnerable and his miserable B has no moves.} Rb7 (
39... Ke8 40. Rg7 Rac7 41. Rh7 Bf8 42. Re1+ (42. Rxc7 Rxc7 43. Nxb6 $18) 42...
Kd8 43. Rxc7 Kxc7 44. Re8 Bd6 45. Ke4 $18) 40. Rg6 h5 (40... b5 41. Na5 $18)
41. Rdg1 {[%cal Rg6g8,Rg1g7]} Ke8 (41... Kf7 42. Ne5+ $18) 42. Ne5 $1 {The N
joins the -> and wraps up the game.} Rc8 43. Rg8+ Bf8 44. Ng6 Rf7 45. Rd1 $22 {
The most clinical solution.} ({After} 45. Rd1 Ra8 46. Rd6 Rb8 47. Rh8 {Black
is fully paralysed and can't avoid heavy material losses.}) 1-0

[Event "Grand Slam Final 3rd"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2010.10.10"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C66"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2800"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2010.10.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 139"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 {Carlsen is ready to play a rich position
without claiming an opening advantage. The modest move 4.d3 is helping to
avoid the unbeatable Berlin Defence.} d6 5. O-O Be7 6. c3 O-O 7. Nbd2 Bd7 8.
Re1 Re8 9. Nf1 Bf8 10. Ba4 h6 11. Ng3 Ne7 {The theory in this new territory is
just being created. It is worth noticing that both GMs are helping themselves
with analogous motifs from the Ruy Lopez.} (11... Rb8 12. d4 b5 13. Bb3 Na5 14.
Bc2 c5 15. b3 Nc6 16. d5 Ne7 17. h3 g6 18. Be3 Bg7 19. Qd2 Kh7 20. Nh2 b4 21.
c4 Nfg8 22. f4 $11 {1-0 Vachier Lagrave,M (2684)-Marcelin,C (2495)/Challons
2009 (33)}) (11... g6 12. h3 (12. d4 Bg7 13. d5 Ne7 14. c4 c6 15. Bd2 Rb8 16.
dxc6 Nxc6 17. Bc3 Qc7 18. Nd2 a6 19. Bxc6 Bxc6 20. a4 b5 21. axb5 axb5 22. cxb5
Rxb5 $17 {0-1 Mullon,J (2458)-Postny,E (2648)/Nancy 2010 (55)}) 12... Na5 (
12... Bg7 13. d4 Rb8 (13... a6 14. a3 b5 15. Bc2 a5 16. Be3 a4 17. Qd2 Kh7 18.
Rad1 Qe7 19. Qe2 Na5 20. Nd2 c5 21. f4 cxd4 22. cxd4 exd4 23. Bxd4 Nh5 24. Bxg7
Nxg3 25. Qf2 Kxg7 26. Qxg3 Rac8 $11 {1-0 De la Villa Garcia,J (2470)-De Souza
Haro,P/San Sebastian 1994 (57)}) 14. Bc2 a6 15. Be3 Kh7 16. Qd2 b5 17. Nh2 d5
18. f3 Be6 19. Qf2 exd4 20. cxd4 Nb4 21. e5 $14 {0-1 Shanava,K (2522)-Beinoras,
M (2426)/Pardubice 2008 (39)}) 13. Bc2 c5 14. d4 cxd4 15. cxd4 Nc6 16. b3 Rc8
17. Bb2 Nb4 18. Bb1 Nc6 19. Qd2 Qb6 20. d5 Nb4 21. Bc3 a5 22. Re3 Rc5 23. a3
Na6 24. b4 $14 {1/2-1/2 Popovic,P (2474)-Nyback,T (2565)/Germany 2008 (49)}) (
11... a6 12. d4 b5 13. Bc2 g6 14. h3 Bg7 {1/2-1/2 Rubinetti,J (2415)-Van
Riemsdijk,H (2390)/San Pedro de Jujuy 1981}) 12. Bb3 Ng6 13. d4 c5 {It seems,
that this active advance in the centre is a new move, so far Black has tried
only the more modest 13...c6.} (13... c6 14. dxe5 dxe5 15. Nf5 Nxe4 16. Nxh6+
gxh6 17. Rxe4 Be6 18. Qxd8 Raxd8 19. Bxe6 Rxe6 20. Re1 c5 21. a4 Red6 22. Kf1
Bg7 23. g4 Rd3 24. Kg2 $11 {1/2-1/2 Khairullin,I (2544)-Aleksandrov,A (2618)/
Moscow 2008 (40)}) 14. h3 Qc7 15. a4 a6 (15... exd4 16. cxd4 c4 17. Bc2 Qb6 18.
a5 Qa6 19. Bd2 $14) 16. a5 cxd4 17. cxd4 exd4 18. Nxd4 d5 $1 {Anand has
decided to open up the centre in a situation in which all his pieces are
already developed.} 19. exd5 (19. Nh5 Nxh5 20. Qxh5 Bc5 $1 (20... Re5 21. Qf3
$14) 21. Qxd5 Bxh3 22. gxh3 Rad8 23. Qxf7+ (23. Qh5 Rxd4 24. Qxg6 Rd3 25. Bxf7+
Qxf7 26. Qxf7+ Kxf7 $11) 23... Qxf7 24. Bxf7+ Kxf7 25. Nf5 Bb4 26. Re3 Rd1+ 27.
Kg2 Nf4+ 28. Kh2 Re5 $11) 19... Rxe1+ 20. Qxe1 Re8 {Nearly all very strong
players simply love piece activity. Black did not have any problem with
eliminating the dangers after the modest 20...Ne7. The move in the game is
somewhat more ambitious.} (20... Ne7 21. Bd2 Nexd5 22. Rc1 Re8 23. Qxe8 Qxc1+
24. Bxc1 Bxe8 $11) 21. Qc3 Qxc3 22. bxc3 Re1+ 23. Kh2 Bd6 {The current World
Champion would love to beat his young rival, but with the help of the
interesting move 23...Ne5!? he could have only forced the repetition of moves.}
(23... Ne5 $5 24. Nf3 (24. f3 Nd3 25. Bb2 Re3 26. Ba3 Nc5 $15) (24. Bb2 Neg4+
25. hxg4 Nxg4+ 26. Kh3 Nxf2+ 27. Kh2 (27. Kh4 Be7+ 28. Kh5 Bg4#) 27... Ng4+ 28.
Kh3 Rxa1 29. Bxa1 Ne3+ 30. Ne6 (30. Kh2 Bd6 $17) 30... Bd6 31. Ne4 Ba3 $15)
24... Nfg4+ 25. hxg4 Nxg4+ 26. Kh3 Nxf2+ 27. Kh2 Ng4+ $11) 24. Nc2 (24. Bb2
Rxa1 25. Bxa1 Ne4 26. Bc2 Nxf2 27. c4 Be5 28. Nb3 Bxa1 29. Nxa1 Ne5 $11) 24...
Rf1 25. Be3 Rxa1 26. Nxa1 Be5 {More play could have been kept in the position
after the logical move 26...Ne7.} (26... Ne7 27. c4 Nf5 28. Bb6 Nxg3 29. fxg3
Be5 30. Nc2 Ne4 31. Kg1 Bxg3 $11) 27. Bd4 (27. Nc2 Bxc3 28. Bb6 Nf4 29. Ne3 $11
) 27... Bxd4 28. cxd4 Ne7 29. Nc2 (29. d6 Nc8 30. Nc2 Nxd6 31. Ne3 $11) 29...
Nfxd5 30. Ne4 b6 {It is quite easy to guess why Anand was not eager to fix the
pawns of the queenside on the light squares. Seemingly the logical exchange on
b6 is unfortunately marred by a serious problem.} (30... b5 31. Nc5 Bc8 32. g3
Kf8 $11) 31. Ne3 $1 (31. axb6 Nxb6 32. Nc5 Bb5 $11) 31... Nxe3 (31... Bc6 32.
Nxd5 Nxd5 33. Bxd5 Bxd5 34. Nc3 Bc6 35. axb6 $18) 32. axb6 $1 N3f5 {A
sufficient defence was also tied in with the knight check on f1, but the
defender would have suffered in a slightly worse position.} (32... Nf1+ $5 33.
Kg1 Bc6 34. Nd6 Nd2 35. Bxf7+ Kf8 36. Be6 a5 37. b7 Bxb7 38. Nxb7 a4 $11) 33.
Nc5 $2 {[%mdl 64] Carlsen is also only human and thus fallible. His natural
right to err is used at a very unfortunate moment, since with the witty 33.d5!
serious problems were rather awaiting Black. Bad form is often manifested by
erroneous decisions in critical moments.} (33. d5 $1 Bc8 (33... Nc6 34. dxc6
Bxc6 35. Nc5 Nd6 36. Nxa6 $16) 34. g4 Nd4 35. Nd6 Bb7 36. Nxb7 Nc8 37. Ba2 (37.
Bc4 Nxb6 38. Bxa6 Nxd5 $11) 37... Nxb6 38. d6 Kf8 39. Kg3 Ke8 $11) 33... Nxd4 (
33... Bc6 34. b7 Bxb7 35. Nxb7 Nxd4 36. Bc4 Nb5 37. Nc5 $11) 34. b7 (34. Nxd7
Nxb3 35. b7 Nc6 36. b8=Q+ Nxb8 37. Nxb8 a5 $19) 34... Nec6 35. Ba4 Be8 $1 {
White must have missed the fact that the plan of recovering the piece thanks
to the mighty b7-pawn will fail due to the trapped knight on the b8-square!} (
35... Bf5 36. Nxa6 Bd7 37. Nc5 Be6 38. Na6 $11) 36. Nxa6 (36. b8=Q Nxb8 37.
Bxe8 Kf8 38. Ba4 Ke7 $17) 36... Kf8 37. Kg3 (37. Bxc6 Nxc6 38. b8=Q Nxb8 39.
Nxb8 Bb5 40. Kg3 Ke7 41. Kf4 Kd6 42. g4 Kc7 $19) 37... Ke7 38. Kf4 Ne6+ {
Black could already enjoy the choice of punishment for his unfortunate enemy.
It his difficult to find fault with the conservative and careful approach from
the game.} (38... Nb8 39. Nxb8 Bxa4 40. Ke3 Bc6 41. Kxd4 Bxb7 $19) 39. Ke3 Ned8
40. Bxc6 Nxc6 41. h4 (41. b8=Q Nxb8 42. Nxb8 Bb5 43. Kd4 Kd6 44. g3 Bf1 45. h4
Kc7 $19) 41... Kd6 42. g4 Bd7 43. g5 hxg5 44. hxg5 g6 45. f4 Be6 {After fixing
the pawns on the kingside Black is ready to force the win with the spare
bishop.} (45... Be6 46. Kd3 Bd5 47. Ke3 Nb8 48. Nxb8 Bxb7 49. Kd4 Kc7 50. Ke5
Kxb8 51. Kf6 Bd5 52. f5 Be4 53. fxg6 fxg6 $19) 0-1

[Event "Grand Slam Final 3rd"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2010.10.11"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Shirov, Alexei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2749"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "349"]
[EventDate "2010.10.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 139"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 {The well-known Breyer defense. Carlsen already
played it twice this year, but in rapid games only (against Smeets and Anand).}
11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 ({Magnus tried the rarer} 12... c5 $5 {against Smeets.
}) 13. a4 Bf8 14. Bd3 c6 15. b4 $5 {The most fashionable move over the last
months.} (15. b3 {and 15.Nf1 are the two other common options.}) 15... Nb6 16.
axb5 cxb5 $5 {Played only once, but convincingly, by German player Baramidze!
And not against anybody: against Shirov himself! This leads to a totally
different kind of position in comparison to the other capture. Instead of
trying to hold a rather "passive" draw, Black tries to put up pressure on the
king-side. Typical Magnus!} (16... axb5 17. Rxa8 Bxa8 (17... Qxa8 18. Nb3 {
is also possible.}) 18. Nb3 Bb7 19. dxe5 dxe5 20. Be3 Bc8 21. Qc2 Qc7 22. Na5
Bd7 23. Rc1 h6 24. Nd2 Na4 25. Ndb3 Rb8 26. Ra1 c5 27. bxc5 Nxc5 28. Nxc5 {
1/2-1/2 Anand-Carlsen, Kristiansund (NOR) 2010}) 17. d5 Rc8 18. Bb2 $146 {
Shirov's improvement.} (18. Qb3 Qc7 19. Bb2 Nh5 20. Rac1 f5 (20... Nf4 $5 21.
Bf1 f5 {is also to check.}) 21. c4 fxe4 22. cxb5 Qd7 23. Nxe4 Bxd5 24. Qd1 Rxc1
25. Bxc1 axb5 26. Nfg5 Bxe4 27. Nxe4 Nf4 28. Bxf4 exf4 29. Ng5 Rxe1+ 30. Qxe1
Qe7 31. Ne6 Kf7 $4 (31... g6 {should hold a draw.}) 32. Bxh7 Qf6 33. h4 Qe5 34.
Ng5+ Ke8 35. Qc1 Nc4 36. Nf3 Qf6 37. Bg8 d5 38. Bxd5 Qb2 39. Bc6+ Kd8 40. Qd1+
Nd6 41. Nd4 Qxb4 42. Bxb5 Qc3 {1-0 Shirov,A (2730)-Baramidze,D (2532)/GER 2010}
) 18... Nh5 19. Bf1 f5 20. Nxe5 {The point of leaving White's queen on d1!} (
20. exf5 Nf4 {should be OK for Black without huge problems.}) 20... Rxe5 21. c4
$1 (21. Qxh5 fxe4 {would be fine for Black.}) 21... Nf6 $1 22. Bxe5 (22. c5
fxe4 (22... Rxd5 23. exd5 dxc5 24. bxc5 Bxc5 {looks risky for Black, somehow!})
23. Bxe5 dxe5 24. d6 {comes back into the game.}) 22... dxe5 23. c5 fxe4 24. d6
$1 {A totally messy position. But what else to expect in a game between Shirov
and Carlsen?!} (24. cxb6 Bxb4 {is definitely fine for Black.}) 24... Na4 $5 {
Interesting, brave, and clever option, while everybody was expecting a capture
on d6! Instead, Black wants to sac a piece on c5!} (24... Bxd6 25. cxd6 Qxd6
26. Qb3+ Kh8 27. Rad1 {should be better for White, with an easy play.}) 25. Nc4
$6 {A funny move, which seems like a mistake.} (25. Rxa4 bxa4 26. Nc4 (26. Qxa4
Bxd6 27. cxd6 Qxd6 {should hold a draw easily.}) 26... Qe8 $8 {followed by ...
Rd8, and sooner or later, Black will sac a piece and equalize (yes, yes, I'm
for sure right: the engine agrees with me, not to say that I agree with the
engine!).}) (25. Bc4+ {should be best:} Kh8 26. Be6 Rxc5 $1 27. bxc5 Nxc5 {
and again, I will not push more the analysis of this crazy position too much,
as it would become unreadable! But for instance, it could go on with} 28. Bf5
Bxd6 (28... Qxd6 29. Qc2 Qc6 30. Nb3 e3 31. f3 Nxb3 32. Qxb3 Bc5 33. Rac1 e4
34. fxe4 Nxe4 35. Bxe4 Qxe4 36. Re2 {here White is for sure better, but I
would be surprised if there were no draw!}) 29. Qc2 Qa8 30. Nb3 Nd3 31. Red1 {
after what White should have better chances. I must admit that this position
is too complicated for my small mind!}) (25. Rc1 Bxd6 26. cxd6 Rxc1 27. Qxc1
Qxd6 {should be an improvement (for Black) to 24...Bxd6.}) 25... Nxc5 $1 26.
bxc5 Rxc5 27. Qb3 Bd5 28. Qb4 Rxc4 (28... Rc6 $5 {should be stronger, but after
} 29. Nxe5 (29. Ne3 Qxd6 30. Qxd6 Bxd6 31. Rec1 Rb6 32. Rc8+ Kf7 33. Nxd5 Nxd5
{and only Black can try to go for a win.}) 29... Rxd6 30. Red1 {the position
should be likely a draw, thought Black should keep better chances.}) 29. Bxc4
bxc4 30. Rxa6 {Now White should be able to keep the balance.} Qc8 31. Qa5 c3
32. d7 Qxd7 33. Qxc3 Qb7 34. Rea1 Qb8 35. Ra7 h6 36. Rc7 Qb6 37. Qxe5 Bd6 38.
Rc8+ Kf7 39. Qc3 Qb7 40. Rca8 Qxa8 $5 41. Rxa8 Bxa8 {Ok, from here, there
might be few moves too much according to my poor endgame level. Still, it is
very impressive to see Magnus's determination in winning games, even though it
is pretty understandable after his difficult start.} 42. Qd4 Bd5 43. Qa7+ Be7
44. Qc7 h5 45. Qe5 g6 46. Kh2 Be6 47. Kg1 Bf5 48. Kf1 Ne8 49. Kg1 Ng7 50. Qd5+
Ne6 51. Qb7 h4 52. Kh2 Nf4 53. Kg1 Nd3 54. Kf1 Nc5 55. Qd5+ Be6 56. Qe5 Bf5 57.
Qd5+ Ne6 58. Qb7 Kf8 59. Qa8+ Bd8 60. Qa7 Bf6 61. Qb7 Kg8 62. Qa7 Bg5 63. Ke2
Nf4+ 64. Kf1 Nh5 65. Ke2 Kf8 66. Kf1 Bf6 67. Qc7 Ng7 68. Qa7 Ne6 69. Qb7 Nd8
70. Qa7 Nf7 71. Kg1 Kg7 72. Kf1 Be5 73. Qe7 g5 74. Kg1 Bf6 75. Qb7 Kg6 76. Qd5
Ne5 77. Qg8+ Bg7 78. Qe8+ Kh6 79. Qe7 Nd3 80. Kf1 Nf4 81. Qd6+ Bg6 82. Qe7 Nd5
83. Qe6 Nf6 84. Kg1 Be8 85. Qf5 Bd7 86. Qe5 Kg6 87. Kf1 Bf8 88. Kg1 Ba3 89. Qc7
Bb4 90. Qe5 Bd2 91. Qd4 Bf4 92. Qb6 Be8 93. Kf1 Bf7 94. Kg1 Kf5 95. Qa7 Be6 96.
Kf1 Kg6 97. Qb6 Bd7 98. Kg1 Ba4 99. Qe6 Bb5 100. Qb6 Bc4 101. Qd4 Be6 102. Kf1
Bf5 103. Kg1 g4 104. hxg4 Bxg4 105. Qc3 Bf5 106. Qb3 Bg5 107. Kf1 Kh6 108. Kg1
Kg6 109. Kf1 Bd7 110. Kg1 Be8 111. Qc3 Bf7 112. Qe5 Bd5 113. Qc3 Be6 114. Qe5
Bd7 115. Qc3 Bf5 116. Qb3 Nh5 117. Qg8+ Ng7 118. Qb3 Ne6 119. Kh2 Bf6 120. Kg1
Bg7 121. Kf1 Ng5 122. Qb6+ Bf6 123. Kg1 h3 124. gxh3 Bxh3 125. Qd6 Bf5 126. Kg2
Nf3 127. Qd5 Kg5 128. Qg8+ Bg6 129. Qd5+ Be5 130. Qd8+ Kh5 131. Qd5 Bf5 132.
Qf7+ Kg4 133. Qg8+ Ng5 134. Qc4 Bf4 135. Qg8 Be6 136. Qg7 Bf7 137. Qd4 Kf5 138.
Qc5+ Be5 139. Qf8 Kg6 140. Qc5 Bf6 141. Qd6 Bc4 142. Qc6 Be6 143. Qd6 Bg4 144.
Qd5 Bf3+ 145. Kf1 Nf7 146. Kg1 Ne5 147. Qg8+ Kf5 148. Qc8+ Kg5 149. Qg8+ Ng6
150. Qd5+ Kh6 151. Qe6 Be5 152. Qf5 Bf4 153. Qf6 Bg5 154. Qe6 Kg7 155. Qd7+ Ne7
156. Qe6 Bf6 157. Kf1 Kg6 158. Kg1 Nf5 159. Qg8+ Kh5 160. Qf7+ Kg5 161. Qg8+
Kf4 162. Qb8+ Kg4 163. Qg8+ Bg5 164. Qc8 Bf6 165. Qg8+ Kf4 166. Qb8+ Be5 167.
Qb4 Nd4 168. Qf8+ Kg5 169. Qg8+ Kh6 170. Qf8+ Bg7 171. Qd6+ Kh5 172. Qh2+ Kg5
173. Qg3+ Bg4 174. Qe3+ Kf5 {Now the game is drawn according to the 50-moves
rule. The transmission shows 175.Qd2 as a last move. Either a mistake, or some
fun from Shirov, aiming to claim a draw in the event of 175...Nf3+.} 175. Qd2
1/2-1/2

[Event "Grand Slam Final 3rd"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2010.10.13"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2780"]
[Annotator "Kramnik,V"]
[PlyCount "138"]
[EventDate "2010.10.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 139"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Nb6 7. O-O Be7 8.
d3 O-O 9. Be3 Re8 (9... Be6 {is more common. ist geläufiger.}) 10. Rc1 Bf8 11.
Ne4 Nd4 12. Bg5 (12. Nc5 {is the most popular move here. ist der beliebteste
Zug an dieser Stelle.}) 12... f6 13. Nxd4 exd4 14. Bd2 Be6 (14... c6 15. b4 Be6
) 15. b4 (15. Nc5 Bxc5 16. Rxc5 c6 $11 {/\ Bd5}) 15... Bd5 (15... Bxa2 $6 16.
Nc5 $14 Bd5 17. Nxb7 Qd7 18. Nc5 Bxc5 19. Rxc5) 16. a4 c6 (16... f5 {is enough
for equality probably as well. reicht wahrscheinlich auch zum Ausgleich.} 17.
Ng5 (17. Nc5 Bxg2 18. Kxg2 Qd5+ 19. Kg1 a5 $1) 17... Bxg2 18. Kxg2 Qd5+ 19. Nf3
c5 (19... Bd6) 20. bxc5 Bxc5 21. Rb1 Nd7 22. Qb3 Qxb3 23. Rxb3 b6 24. Re1 a5)
17. a5 (17. Re1 f5 (17... a6) 18. Nc5 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 Qd5+ 20. Kg1 a5 21. bxa5
Bxc5 22. axb6 Bxb6 23. Rb1 Ra6 $11) 17... Nc8 (17... Nd7 18. b5 $1 cxb5 $140
19. Nd6 $1) 18. Re1 $6 (18. a6 {is risky, but had to be played, at least it is
the logical continuation of White's previous move. ist riskant, musste aber
gespielt werden, zumindest ist es die logische Fortsetzung des vorigen weißen
Zuges.} b5 (18... bxa6) 19. e3 $13) 18... a6 $1 {Now Black takes the
initiative, transfering his knight to b5, blocking White's play on the
queenside. Nun ergreift Schwarz die Initiative, indem er seinen Springer nach
b5 überführt, was das weiße Spiel am Damenflügel blockiert.} 19. Nc5 (19. Qc2
Na7 $1) 19... Bxg2 20. Kxg2 Qd5+ 21. Kg1 Nd6 22. Qb3 Qxb3 23. Nxb3 Nb5 24. Kf1
Rad8 25. Rc4 Rd5 26. Bc1 Red8 27. Bb2 Kf7 28. Kg2 (28. Nd2 Nc7 $1 {White
should not allow this manoeuvre. Weiß sollte dieses Manöver nicht zulassen.}
29. Rb1 Ne6 {/\ Rb5 sometimes. /\ Rb5 gelegentlich.}) 28... h5 {Black is in
full control of the position, but it is very difficult to break through.
Schwarz hat die Stellung fest im Griff, allerdings ist es sehr schwer
durchzubrechen.} 29. h3 g5 30. g4 Kg6 31. Rf1 Be7 {No need to hurry. Kein
Grund zur Eile.} (31... f5 $6 32. gxf5+ Kxf5 33. e4+ $1 dxe3 34. fxe3+ Kg6 35.
Re4 Rxd3 36. Re6+ Kh7 37. Rf7+ Kg8 38. Rxb7) 32. f4 (32. Rh1 $15 {Probably it
was safer just to stay, although Black can slowly try to improve his position.
Vermutlich war es sicherer, einfach auf der Stelle zu treten, obwohl Schwarz
langsam versuchen kann, seine Stellung zu verbessern.} f5 33. gxf5+ Kxf5 34.
Rg1 Ke6) 32... hxg4 33. hxg4 gxf4 34. Rxf4 Bd6 {Now Black has some chances due
to the better mobility of his remaining pieces. Nun hat Schwarz aufgrund der
besseren Mobilität seiner verbleibenden Figuren ein paar Chancen.} 35. Rf3 Rg5
{Tempting, but the computer prefers Verlockend, aber der Computer bevorzugt} (
35... Re8 36. Kf1 Be5 37. Rh3 Rd7 $15) 36. Bxd4 {A very strange decision. Eine
sehr seltsame Entscheidung.} ({After Nach} 36. Nxd4 $142 Rxg4+ 37. Kf2 {
White should hold without much trouble: sollte sich Weiß ohne große Mühe
halten:} Nxd4 38. Bxd4 f5 39. Bc3) 36... Rxg4+ 37. Kf2 Nxd4 38. Nxd4 Rh8 {
It's getting hot for White. Langsam wird es heiß für Weiß.} 39. e4 Rh2+ 40. Ke3
Rb2 $6 {Again the most tempting, but probably not the best. Wieder am
verlockendsten, aber womöglich nicht am besten.} (40... Rgg2 $1 41. Nf5 Be5 42.
d4 Bb8 $17) 41. Nc2 $6 (41. Rc2 $1 Rxb4 42. Nf5 Be5 43. Rf1 {and strangely
enough, the computer claims that White is ok here. und seltsamerweise
behauptet der Computer, dass die weiße Stellung hier okay ist.}) 41... Rg5 $1 {
White is in serious trouble now. Jetzt ist Weiß in ernsthaften Schwierigkeiten.
} (41... Rg2 42. Rf2) 42. d4 Rb5 {Logical and good enough, but there was an
even better move: Logisch und gut genug, aber es gab einen noch besseren Zug:}
(42... Rg4 $1 {This strange, but very strong possibility did not cross my mind,
but seems to be just winning; White is losing his e-pawn: Diese seltsame, aber
sehr starke Möglichkeit kam mir nicht in den Sinn, scheint aber einfach zu
gewinnen; Weiß verliert seinen e-Bauern:} 43. Kd2 (43. Rc3 Rg2 44. Kd3 Bxb4)
43... Rb1 44. Kd3 Rb3+ 45. Rc3 Rxc3+ 46. Kxc3 Rxe4 $19) 43. Kd3 Bxb4 44. Rxb4
R5xb4 45. Nxb4 Rb3+ 46. Ke2 Rxb4 {On playing Rxb4, I thought this should be a
winning rook endgame, but in fact things are not so simple. Bei Rxb4 dachte
ich, dies sollte ein gewonnenes Turmendspiel sein, tatsächlich aber ist die
Sache nicht so einfach.} 47. Rg3+ {There is no need to push Black's king where
it goes anyway. Es ist nicht nötig, den schwarzen König dahin zu treiben,
wohin er sowieso geht.} (47. Rd3 $142 Rb5 48. Ra3) 47... Kf7 48. Rd3 Ke6 49.
Ke3 Rb5 50. Ra3 c5 $1 (50... f5 {was suggested as an improvement by various
commentators, but does not seem to be true: wurde von verschiedenenen
Kommentatoren als Verbesserung vorgeschlagen, aber dies scheint nicht zu
stimmen:} 51. exf5+ Rxf5 52. Ra4 Rb5 (52... Kd6 53. Kd3 Rb5 54. Kc4) 53. Kd3
Kd5 54. Kc3 {and I could not see how to proceed now, seems to be just a draw.
und jetzt konnte ich nicht sehen, wie es weitergehen soll, scheint einfach
remis zu sein.} Rb1 55. Kc2 Rb5 56. Kc3 Kd6) 51. dxc5 Rxc5 $2 {Just an
automatic reply and in fact a very serious mistake, missing the victory:
Einfach ein automatischer Reflex und tatsächlich ein ganz schwerer Fehler, der
den Sieg ausslässt:} (51... Ke5 $1 {After this move it seems to me that Black
is winning in all lines. Nach diesem Zug scheint mir, dass Schwarz in allen
Abspielen gewinnt.} 52. Rc3 (52. Ra4 $145 $5 {(Mueller,Karsten)}) 52... Rxa5
53. Kd3 (53. c6 bxc6 54. Rxc6 Ra3+ 55. Kd2 Ra4 56. Kc2 a5 {similar to the main
variation ähnlich der Hauptvariante.}) 53... Rb5 54. c6 bxc6 55. Rxc6 Rb3+ 56.
Kc4 Ra3 57. Kb4 Ra1 58. Kb3 a5 59. Kc2 a4 60. Ra6 a3 61. Ra4 a2 62. Kb2 Re1 63.
Kxa2 Rxe4 {winning, the white king is too far away. mit Gewinn, der weiße
König ist zu weit weg.}) 52. Kf4 {I thought I would be able to kick the king
away from f4 and get mine to e5 somehow, but it is not realisable in fact. Ich
dachte, ich würde irgendwie in der Lage sein, den König von f4 zu vertreiben
und meinen nach e5 zu bringen, tatsächlich aber ist das nicht machbar.} Rh5 53.
Rb3 Rb5 (53... Rh4+ 54. Kg3 Rxe4 55. Rxb7 {should be drawish. sollte remislich
sein.}) 54. Ra3 Kd6 55. Ra1 Kc6 56. Ke3 (56. Ra2 {was actually even simpler.
war sogar noch einfacher.}) 56... f5 {This seems to be Black's best chance
here, but it's not enough anyway. Dies scheint hier die beste Chance für
Schwarz zu sein, aber es reicht trotzdem nicht.} 57. exf5 Rxf5 58. Kd3 Rf3+ 59.
Kc4 Rf4+ 60. Kc3 (60. Kb3 $2 {loses after verliert nach} Kb5 61. Kc3 Ra4 62.
Rb1+ Kc6) 60... Kc5 61. Rh1 $1 Rf3+ 62. Kc2 $1 (62. Kb2 Kb4 63. Rh7 Rb3+ 64.
Kc2 Ka4) 62... Ra3 63. Rh7 Kc6 64. Rh6+ Kc7 65. Rh7+ Kb8 66. Rh8+ Ka7 67. Rh5
Re3 68. Kb2 Kb8 69. Rc5 Re6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grand Slam Final 3rd"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2010.10.14"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Shirov, Alexei"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2749"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "129"]
[EventDate "2010.10.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 139"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. a4 Rb8 8. axb5
axb5 9. c3 d6 10. d4 Bb6 11. h3 O-O 12. Re1 h6 13. Na3 exd4 {The development
of the knight to the a3-square is rather unpleasant for Black, since the
defence of the b5-pawn requires some compromises.} (13... Re8 14. Nxb5 (14. d5
Ne7 15. Bc2 Ng6 16. b4 Bd7 17. Bd3 Nh5 18. Be3 Bxe3 19. fxe3 c6 20. Qc2 Nf6 21.
dxc6 Bxc6 22. Nb1 Qb6 $17 {1/2-1/2 Wieczorek,O (2316)-Debashish,D (2411)/
Chotowa 2010 (39)}) (14. dxe5 Nxe5 15. Nd4 c6 16. Bf4 Bd7 17. Nac2 Qc7 18. Ra6
Ng6 19. Qf3 Nxf4 20. Qxf4 Ra8 21. Rxa8 Rxa8 22. Nf5 Bxf5 23. exf5 $11 {0-1
Garcia Correa,J (2194)-Fenollar Jorda,M (2251)/Dos Hermanas 2004 (75)}) 14...
exd4 15. cxd4 Ba5 16. Nc3 Bxc3 17. bxc3 Nxe4 18. Bd5 Nxc3 19. Bxc6 Nxd1 20.
Rxe8+ Qxe8 21. Bxe8 Bb7 22. Bd7 {1-0 Houard,Y (2123)-Goldsztejn,G (2374)/Saint
Affrique 2008 (34)}) (13... Ba7 14. Nxb5 Rxb5 15. Ba4 Ra5 16. b4 Nxb4 17. cxb4
Ra6 18. b5 Rb6 19. dxe5 dxe5 20. Ba3 Re8 21. Bc5 Rb7 22. b6 Bxb6 23. Bxb6 Rxb6
24. Bxe8 Qxe8 25. Ra5 $16 {1-0 Wieczorek,O (2125)-Golinski,D (1828)/Wroclaw
2007 (64)}) 14. cxd4 Na5 (14... Ba5 15. Re3 d5 16. Ne5 (16. e5 $1 Ne4 17. Qe2
$16) 16... Nxe5 17. dxe5 Nxe4 18. Bxd5 Be6 19. Rd3 Bxd5 20. Rxd5 Qh4 21. Qf3
Bb6 22. Be3 c6 23. Rd7 Ng5 24. Bxg5 Qxg5 25. Re1 Rbe8 26. Qxc6 Qf5 $11 {
0-1 Dimitrijevic,A (2369)-Fontaine,R (2529)/Novi Sad 2003 (32)}) (14... d5 15.
exd5 (15. e5 Ne4 16. Be3 Na5 17. Bc2 b4 18. Nb1 f5 19. Bd2 Qe7 20. Ra4 Nc6 21.
Bb3 Be6 22. Be3 g5 23. Qc1 Qd7 24. Nbd2 f4 25. Nxe4 dxe4 26. d5 fxe3 27. dxe6 {
1/2-1/2 Luque,W (2077)-Salas Arros,C (2412)/Callao 2007 (32)} exf2+ 28. Kh2 Qe7
29. Rxe4 Nd4 $19) 15... Nxd5 16. Nxb5 Bf5 (16... Ba5 17. Na7 $16) 17. Ra4 $16)
15. Bc2 b4 16. Nb5 $5 $146 {The knights of both players are currently the main
heroes of the opening. The location of the knight on b5 seems to be rather
shaky.} (16. Nb1 c5 17. dxc5 dxc5 18. Bf4 Qxd1 19. Rxd1 {1/2-1/2 Istratescu,A 
(2602)-Sofronie,I (2436)/Niort 2004}) 16... Ba6 (16... c6 $2 17. Nxd6 Qxd6 18.
e5 $16) 17. Na7 (17. Bd3 Ra8 18. Bf4 Qd7 (18... d5 19. e5 Nh5 20. Bc1 $14) 19.
Qe2 Rfe8 $11) 17... Bb7 (17... Bxa7 18. Rxa5 Qc8 19. e5 $16) 18. d5 Ra8 19. Nb5
{The biggest crisis is over, since the knight has got the retreat route via
the d4-square.} Nc4 (19... Re8 20. Nbd4 Nc4 21. Rxa8 Qxa8 22. b3 Ne5 $11) 20.
Rxa8 Qxa8 21. Nbd4 {[%mdl 128] Carlsen will now concentrate on the clear and
very dangerous plan of transferring the pieces to the kingside for the direct
attack.} (21. Qe2 Qa2 22. Bd3 Ne5 23. Nxe5 dxe5 24. Bc4 Qa5 25. b3 $14) 21...
Qa7 22. b3 Ne5 23. Bb2 Nxf3+ (23... Qa2 24. Qc1 Nxf3+ 25. Nxf3 (25. gxf3 $5)
25... Nd7 26. Nd4 $14) 24. gxf3 Qa2 25. Qc1 Bxd4 {Shirov has clearly realised,
that the position has become very dangerous for him. The half open g-file will
be an ideal ramp for maximizing White's pressure.} (25... Nd7 26. Kh1 Ne5 27.
Rg1 $16) 26. Bxd4 Nd7 27. Kh1 $1 f6 28. Rg1 Rf7 (28... Ne5 29. Qxh6 Rf7 30. Bd1
Ba6 31. Qe3 $16) 29. Qd2 $1 {White is now threatening to trap the queen and
after its retreat the liquidation of the h6-pawn.} (29. Bd1 Qa5 30. Qxh6 c5 31.
dxc6 Bxc6 32. Qf4 $16) 29... Qa8 (29... Ne5 30. Ra1 Nxf3 31. Qd1 $18) 30. Qxh6
Ne5 31. Bd1 Qe8 32. Qe3 {The immediate advance of the pawn centre was a bit
more radical, but Carlsen is taking into account his form and plays more
cautiously.} (32. f4 Nd7 33. Qg6 c5 34. Bb2 Re7 35. Qf5 $16) 32... c5 33. Bb2 (
33. dxc6 Qe6 $1 34. Kh2 Nxc6 35. Bb6 $1 d5 36. exd5 Qxd5 37. f4 Ne7 38. Bg4 $16
) 33... Re7 $2 {Shirov has been clearly aware of the fact, that his position
is in basically lost. Much better was to try for the counterplay with the
advance of the c-pawn.} (33... c4 $5 34. Bd4 cxb3 35. Qxb3 Qb5 36. Kh2 $16) 34.
f4 $1 Nd7 35. Qg3 Qf7 36. Bf3 (36. Bg4 Nf8 37. f3 $16) 36... Ba6 37. Bg4 Nf8
38. Bf5 c4 39. bxc4 Bxc4 40. Qh4 {An objectively stronger solution was not to
part with the d5-pawn, but the direct attack does not spoil the game.} (40. Kh2
$5 Rc7 41. Qh4 Be2 42. Bxf6 Qh5 43. Qxh5 Bxh5 44. e5 $18) 40... Bxd5 41. f3 $1
(41. exd5 Qxd5+ 42. Kh2 Qxf5 $15) 41... Be6 42. Bxf6 Bxf5 (42... Rd7 43. Rxg7+
Qxg7 44. Bxg7 $18) 43. exf5 $1 {Several forceful and logical moves have
decided the game even though White had to accept a somewhat curious pawn
structure.} (43. Bxe7 $6 Ng6 44. Qh5 Nxe7 45. Qxf7+ Kxf7 46. exf5 $16) (43.
Rxg7+ Qxg7 44. Bxg7 Rxg7 45. exf5 b3 46. Qd8 $18) 43... Rc7 44. Rxg7+ Qxg7 45.
Bxg7 Rxg7 46. f6 {The most exact solution lay in the immediate attack on the
black pawns with the white queen.} (46. Qe1 $1 Rf7 (46... Rb7 47. Qe4 $18) 47.
Qxb4 Rxf5 48. Qxd6 $18) (46. Qf6 Rf7 47. Qxd6 Rxf5 48. Kh2 $18) 46... Rd7 47.
Qe1 d5 (47... b3 48. Qc3 $18) 48. Qxb4 d4 49. Qc4+ Kh7 50. Qd3+ Kg8 51. f5 {
After blockading the advance of the d-pawn Carlsen will enlist his own king
for the active service.} Kf7 52. Kg2 Kxf6 53. Kg3 Kg7 54. h4 Nh7 55. Kf2 (55.
h5 Nf6 56. Qd2 Ng8 57. Qe2 d3 58. Qe6 $18) 55... Nf6 56. Qd2 $1 Nh7 {The
knight is forced to remain extremely passive, otherwise White wins in a direct
attack.} (56... d3 57. Qg5+ Kf7 58. Qg6+ Ke7 59. Qg7+ Ke8 60. Qxf6 d2 61. Qe6+
Kd8 62. Qxd7+ Kxd7 63. Ke2 $18) 57. Ke1 d3 58. Qg2+ Kh8 59. Kd2 Nf8 60. Qg5 Kh7
(60... Nh7 61. Qe3 Nf8 62. h5 $18) 61. h5 Kh8 62. f6 Kh7 63. f4 Kh8 64. h6 Kh7
65. f5 {A charming and original zugzwang position. Black has no moves, thus he
admitted his defeat.} (65. f5 Kh8 66. Qg7+ Rxg7 67. fxg7+ Kg8 68. gxf8=Q+ Kxf8
69. Kxd3 $18) 1-0

[Event "Grand Slam Final 3rd"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2010.10.15"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2800"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2010.10.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 139"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. a4 Bf8 14. Bd3 c6 15. b4
Nb6 16. axb5 cxb5 {Nice to see Magnus playing the same line again!} 17. d5 Rc8
18. Ra3 $146 (18. Bb2 {was Shirov move in round 3.}) 18... Nh5 19. Nf1 g6 $1
20. N1h2 {Probably the first unprecise move.} Bg7 21. Bg5 $6 Qd7 22. Be3 $6 {
Somehow, White's 2-3 last moves were just bad.} Nc4 $6 ({Both} 22... Nxd5 23.
exd5 e4 {and}) (22... Na4 {followed by ...f5 are given near by winning for
Black by the engine!}) 23. Bxc4 Rxc4 24. Nd2 Rc7 25. Nhf1 Nf4 {Also here,
Black is doing very fine.} 26. Bb6 Rcc8 27. Ne3 f5 28. f3 Rf8 29. Kh2 Rf7 $2 (
29... Nd3 30. Rf1 Bh6 {would make White's task much harder, for instance:} 31.
Qb1 Nf4 32. c4 $5 Ne2 $1 (32... bxc4 $6 33. Nexc4 Ne2 34. Be3 {is OK for White.
}) 33. c5 Bf4+ 34. Kh1 Ng3+ 35. Kg1 Nxf1 36. Ndxf1 {and White keep some
chances.}) 30. c4 $1 {Now White espaces. I think that Carlsen underestimated
his position and didn't believe he should try something too rough, or he
overestimated and thought he has enough time for preparing his attack with
moves like 29...Rf7.} bxc4 31. Nexc4 fxe4 32. fxe4 Rcf8 33. Be3 Bh6 34. Rf1 Bg7
35. Qa4 Qe7 36. b5 axb5 37. Qxb5 Bc8 38. Qb6 Qg5 39. Rf2 Qh4 40. Bxf4 ({
The defensive} 40. Nf3 $5 Qh5 41. Ng1 {could be a much better try, as Black
has huge problems with the d6-pawn, but just leads to a weird draw by force:}
Qh4 $8 42. Nxd6 Bxh3 $8 43. gxh3 Nxd5 $8 44. Qb3 Rxf2+ 45. Bxf2 Rxf2+ 46. Kh1
Qf4 47. Qxd5+ Kh8 48. Ra8+ Bf8 49. Rxf8+ Qxf8 50. Qxe5+ Qg7 $8 51. Qe8+ Qg8 52.
Qa4 Qa2 $8 {and draw.}) 40... Rxf4 (40... exf4 $5 {holds thanks to the trick}
41. Nxd6 Qg3+ $3 42. Rxg3 fxg3+ 43. Kxg3 Be5+ 44. Kh4 Rxf2 45. Nxc8 Bf6+ 46.
Kg3 Be5+ {and draw!}) 41. Rxf4 Qxf4+ 42. Kg1 Bh6 43. Rf3 Qg5 44. Qc6 Rxf3 45.
Nxf3 Qc1+ 46. Kf2 Bd7 47. Qxd7 Qxc4 48. Qe6+ Kg7 49. Qe7+ Kg8 50. Qe6+ Kg7
1/2-1/2

[Event "Nanjing Pearl Spring 3rd"]
[Site "Nanjing"]
[Date "2010.10.20"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bacrot, Etienne"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2716"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2010.10.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 139"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "40/7200:20/3600:900+30"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nb3 Bb6 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. Qe2 O-O {
A rare move, but once played by Anand! To be honest, I just don't like this
line for Black.} (7... d6 {is more common.}) 8. Bg5 h6 9. Bh4 $1 $146 (9. h4 d6
10. f3 hxg5 11. hxg5 Ng4 12. fxg4 Qxg5 13. Qf3 Bxg4 14. Qg3 Ne5 15. Be2 f5 16.
exf5 Qxf5 17. O-O-O Bxe2 18. Nxe2 Qf2 19. Qh2 Qxe2 20. Qh8+ Kf7 21. Rdf1+ Bf2
22. Qh7 Ke6 23. Kb1 Qg4 {0-1 Rublevsky,S (2649)-Anand,V (2781)/Bastia 2004})
9... a5 10. a4 Nd4 {Not forced, but attractive. But I am not sure that other
continuations are easier to play.} ({I checked the following line briefly:} 
10... Re8 11. O-O-O d6 12. f3 $5 Be6 13. g4 Bxb3 (13... Ne5 14. Nd4 $16) 14.
cxb3 Nd4 15. Qg2 $5 Nxb3+ 16. Kb1 Nd4 17. Bc4 c6 18. g5 hxg5 19. Bxg5 {nad and
Black will face a decisive attack.}) 11. Qd3 Nxb3 12. cxb3 Re8 13. O-O-O {
From there Etienne started to spend a lot of time for each move. But here I
already prefer White even if Black's position shouldn't be a desaster at all.}
d6 14. Qc2 $1 {White wants to go Bc4, and at the same time allow some
combinations with e5.} Bd7 $6 {I guess the idea for this move is to wait for
Bc4 and go ...Be6, without playing ...c6, weaknessing the d6-pawn. That's why
15.Kb1!? could be clever. But it looks like 15.Bc4 is almost winning by force.}
(14... c6 15. Bc4 Qe7 {ought to be a better defense. Somehow, I feel like
White should be at least slightly better. But things are far from easy, for
instance:} 16. Rhe1 Be6 17. Nd5 $5 (17. f3 Bxc4 18. bxc4 Qe6 {followed by ...
Nd7, and Black should have no problem.}) 17... cxd5 18. exd5 g5 $1 19. Bg3 Nxd5
20. Rxd5 Bc5 21. Rxc5 dxc5 22. Rxe6 fxe6 23. Qg6+ Qg7 24. Bxe6+ Rxe6 25. Qxe6+
Kh7 $11) 15. Bc4 Be6 16. Rhe1 Qe7 17. e5 $1 dxe5 18. Rxe5 {White is
threatening Nd5. From now Etienne play kind of all best defensive moves. But
it is not enough to hold this tough position against Carlsen.} Qf8 $8 19. Bxf6
gxf6 20. Re2 $16 Qg7 21. Bxe6 $1 Rxe6 22. Rxe6 fxe6 23. Rd3 Kh8 24. Rg3 Qh7 25.
Qd2 Bc5 $8 26. Ne4 Be7 27. Rh3 Kg7 (27... Rd8 28. Rxh6 Rxd2 29. Rxh7+ Kxh7 30.
Kxd2 $18) 28. Qd7 $18 Kf7 29. Ng5+ $5 (29. Nxf6 $5 Kxf6 30. Rf3+ $18) 29...
fxg5 30. Rf3+ Kg8 31. Qxe6+ Kh8 32. Rf7 Bd6 33. Rxh7+ Kxh7 34. Qf7+ Kh8 35. g3
Ra6 36. Kb1 Bb4 37. f4 gxf4 38. gxf4 1-0

[Event "Nanjing Pearl Spring 3rd"]
[Site "Nanjing"]
[Date "2010.10.21"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2800"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[Annotator "Giri,A"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2010.10.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 139"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 {After the World Championship, Anand seems to be listening to Fischer,
who a long time ago anounced that the best move was 1.e4!} e5 {No Dragons, no
Najdorfs, Carlsen is still faithful to the Breyer Defense, that remained
uncracked since his last tournament in Bilbao.} 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6
5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Nb8 {As promised: Breyer. Since
my early childhood I always liked this knight maneuvre. Nowadays this
variation is pretty popular and with Carlsen fighting for the black side, I am
afraid the popularity of the line will only increase.} 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7
12. Bc2 Re8 ({the rare} 12... c5 {was tried by Carlsen once in a rapid game
against Jan Smeets. He managed to win the game, but I doubt that the opening
had something to do with the result.}) 13. a4 ({Earlier the main move was} 13.
Nf1 {having in mind the typical Spanish maneuvre. However, nowadays not
everybody is convinced that this is the way to play.} Bf8 14. Ng3 g6) 13... Bf8
14. Bd3 c6 15. b4 ({Statistically the main move is} 15. b3 {and it was
successfully played by Anand a few times last year. However objectively it's
hard for White to prove his advantage.}) 15... Nb6 {Forcing White to take on
b5 (or play a5, which is considered to be an achievement for Black),
underlining the disadvantage of White's last move.} 16. axb5 {#So far Magnus
has already had the position three times, two of them against Vishy.} axb5 {
The main move, but sort of a surprise!} (16... cxb5 17. d5 Rc8 {was discussed
in Shirov-Carlsen and Anand-Carlsen in Bilbao. In fact it seemed that both
times Carlsen had no opening problems. I think this time he decided to fight
his curiousity and go for the solid axb5.}) 17. Rxa8 Qxa8 $5 {finally a real
surprise} (17... Bxa8 {was played in yet another Anand-Carlsen in Arctic rapid
2010.}) 18. Nb3 Nc4 $146 {A new move, with the idea to take back on e5 with a
piece and thus keeping the options of d5 and c5.} 19. dxe5 {Good move - it's
hard to see what else White could do.} Nxe5 20. Nxe5 Rxe5 {Black did take on
e5 with piece, and he did keep option of d5 and c5, but still I have the
feeling he may be slightly under pressure.} 21. f3 Re8 22. Be3 Bc8 {both sides
are simply trying to improve their pieces.} 23. Bf2 Be6 24. Nd4 Bd7 25. Qd2 Qb8
26. Bf1 h6 27. Ra1 Qb7 28. Ra5 {Here it seemed as if White was about to get
something real with Qa2 in the air, but Black is just in time with the
counterstrike.} ({White could have tried} 28. Nb3 $5 {Now Black has to prevent
Ra7} Ra8 {and the key move} (28... Qb8 $5 {with the idea} 29. Ra7 c5) 29. Ra5
$5 {White intends Qa2, and then to take on a5 with the pawn, which leads to a
strategically very complicated position, but I believe Black should be able to
hold the a-pawn, e.g.} Rxa5 30. bxa5 $5 Qa6 31. Bb6 Be8 $1 {or any other
bishop move, intending Nd7, should be fine for Black. So all in all I believe
Black should always have enough counterplay in this line.}) 28... d5 $1 (28...
Ra8 29. Qa2 Rxa5 30. bxa5 Qa6 31. c4) 29. exd5 Nxd5 30. Nb3 Be6 31. Nc5 Bxc5
32. Bxc5 {Here, too, it seemed to me that White has the advantage, but in fact
Black is very solid and with strong play Carlsen easily managed to equalize.}
Rd8 33. Ra1 Qb8 34. Rd1 Qg3 $1 {It's always nice to annoy the king of World
Champion, at least a little bit.} 35. Bf2 Qe5 36. c4 bxc4 37. Bxc4 Rd7 38. Bxd5
{Black equalized, so it's time to fix the result.} Rxd5 39. Qe1 Qxe1+ 40. Rxe1
Rd2 41. Bc5 Kh7 42. Rf1 $1 {A strong "Sofia rule" plan.} Bc4 43. Rf2 Rxf2 44.
Kxf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Nanjing Pearl Spring 3rd"]
[Site "Nanjing"]
[Date "2010.10.22"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wang, Yue"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C43"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2732"]
[Annotator "Giri,A"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2010.10.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 139"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 {Everybody still remembers the King's Gambit game that Carlsen won,
and I think there is no doubt Magnus wants to keep his 100% score there, so...}
2. Nf3 $1 Nf6 {Wang has a very solid repertoire and Petroff is an essential
part of it.} 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3 d5 5. Nxe5 Nd7 6. Nxd7 Bxd7 7. O-O Bd6 (7... Qh4
$5 {has lost its popularity nowadays, though my Dutch teammate Jan Smeets (I
am still in Olympiad mode...) tried it against Tiviakov in Corus 2010.}) 8. Qh5
$5 {Interesting try, that took the Chinese super-GM by surprise. Strangely,
though, since the move is relatively well known...} ({Statistically the main
move} 8. c4 {is normally chosen in order to force a draw}) 8... Nf6 {The
d-pawn was attacked, but now} 9. Re1+ {The point. Now Black has a choice} Kf8 {
Strange looking, but main. Black trusts his better development and hopes it
will compensate for the uncomfortable position of the king. After this game
though, I think this trust may be weakened.} (9... Be7 {is more solid, but
still, life is not so easy after let's say} 10. Qe2 Be6 11. Nd2 O-O 12. Nf3 Re8
13. Ne5 Nd7 14. f4 Nxe5 15. dxe5 {and Tiviakov got some (practical) advantage
against Socko this year. In the game Black managed to escape.}) 10. Qe2 $1 (10.
Qh4 {is played more often, but Black has a simple way to equalize:} Ng4 $1 {
and White has to change the queens. The arising endgame is deadly equal.})
10... Ng4 {Perhaps this logical move, which was also considered to be main, is
a bit over-optimistic after all..} ({The solid} 10... c6 $5 {deserves
attention and should be studied by those who are interested. Still after the
critical} 11. Nd2 Qc7 12. Nf3 Bg4 13. Qe3 $1 Bxf3 14. Qxf3 Bxh2+ 15. Kf1 Bd6
16. Bg5 {played twice by Sutovsky - maybe not without reason... Life isn't
that simple.}) 11. h3 Qh4 12. Qf3 Bh2+ (12... Nf6 {is main and more solid, but
I believe after} 13. Nc3 c6 14. Ne2 {Black has no attack, but a little bit
uncomfortable king, so White should be slightly better with no risk.}) 13. Kf1
Nxf2 {The whole operation is conducted in the spirit of the position, with the
white queenside still undevelopped, but in fact the black pieces are also not
perfect with the rook on h8 and the king on f8, eager to swap places.} 14. Qxf2
Bg3 15. Qd2 Qf6+ 16. Kg1 Bxe1 17. Qxe1 Qxd4+ 18. Kh2 Re8 19. Qg3 Qe5 {Leads to
a lost endgame, which though at first sight seems interesting for Black.
However there was already no way back, because if White develops, the position
is just lost for Black.} 20. Qxe5 Rxe5 21. Bf4 $1 {I was about to write
"fearless Magnus", but I think "well prepared Magnus" is more appropriate here.
} Re1 22. Bxc7 {Here I first thought that the computer doesn't understand that
his queenside is stuck, but then I realized that in fact the threat is Ba5-d2
followed by Be2 kicking out or winning the rook.} a6 {Only try. Black wants to
change the potentially dangerous d3 bishop, but White has a logical antidote:}
23. Ba5 Rd1 24. a4 $1 {Now there is nothing Black can do against Bd2, followed
by Be2, or} Ke7 25. Bd2 Rc8 26. c3 $1 {With idea Bc2! Now Black is clearly
lost and the rest is easy.} d4 27. c4 g6 28. Be2 Bxa4 29. Bb4+ Ke6 30. Bxd1
Bxd1 31. Nd2 Be2 32. b3 f5 33. Kg3 Rd8 34. Kf2 d3 35. Bc3 Kf7 36. Nf3 f4 37.
Ng5+ Kg8 38. Ne6 1-0

[Event "Nanjing Pearl Spring 3rd"]
[Site "Nanjing"]
[Date "2010.10.23"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Gashimov, Vugar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2719"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[Annotator "Giri,A"]
[PlyCount "150"]
[EventDate "2010.10.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 139"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Nb8 {Breyer - no surprises. Magnus sticks to his main weapon.} 10. d4
Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nf1 Bf8 14. Bg5 $5 {Interesting try, that
was already employed by Gashimov earlier a few times. So not a surprise for
Magnus. To be honest I always found this move to look a bit artificial, but ok,
it's hard to find any advantage in the main lines. So why not.} h6 15. Bh4 Be7
{Black wants to neutralise the psychological pressure (bishop h4-queen d8) and
to one day exchange the bishop on h4 for the passive one on e7 (f8).} 16. Ng3
$5 {A new try by Gashimov. At the Olympiad in Khanty, Kasimdzhanov tried 16.
a4 and Vachier Lagrave 16.Bg3.} g6 {A solid and logical move. Black is
covering f6 and preparing ...Kg7 followed by ...Nh7.} (16... g5 {is obviously
too risky without preparation - and probably also with it. White has
compensation after all three possibilities and it wasn't a surprise that
Magnus decided to play it safe.} 17. Nf5 $5 (17. Nxg5 $5) (17. Bxg5 $5)) 17.
Qd2 Kg7 18. Rad1 {Simply centralizing - why not?} Nh7 {as promissed black
exchanges the bishop.} 19. Bxe7 Qxe7 20. dxe5 {It is logical to take now,
since Black can't recapture with the pawn due to the hanging knight on d7.} ({
The favourite Kasparov method:} 20. h4 $5 {deserves some attention, though I
don't think the pawn alone can trouble black king so much. For example} Nhf6 (
20... h5 {is weakening the g5 square for later.}) 21. h5 {and White is sort of
having some pressure on g6, but I think without the dark squared bishop it is
really hard to create any attack.}) 20... Nxe5 21. Nd4 Qg5 $5 {Carlsen chooses
the most logical way to defend against Nf5+. But it allows a tactical blow,
which should have not lead to any advantage, had Magnus reacted correctly.} (
21... Nc4 $5 {Was a recipe for those who don't want to calculate any lines.}
22. Qe2 Qg5 {and Black is fine.}) 22. Ngf5+ $1 gxf5 23. f4 Nc4 $2 {It's a bit
surprising to me that Magnus didn't play the best continuation, since this one
leads to a distasteful position for Black in many ways. True it wasn't easy to
calculate all the lines after ...Nf3+!, but I can tell you that a player like
Magnus could have easily done it.} (23... Nf3+ $1 24. Nxf3 Qh5 {Now White has
several ways to continue, and even though it looks promising, objectively
Black is not even any worse.} 25. Qd4+ (25. Nd4 $5 Bxe4 (25... fxe4 26. Re3)
26. c4 $5 Nf6 27. cxb5 Kh7) 25... Nf6 $1 26. e5 Bxf3 27. exf6+ Kh8 28. Rxe8+
Rxe8) 24. fxg5 Nxd2 25. Nxf5+ (25. gxh6+ $5 Kg8 26. Rxd2 fxe4 27. Rf2 {was
also quite promising, but the way Gashimov played is the most human, and it is
also pretty good.}) 25... Kf8 26. Rxd2 hxg5 27. e5 $5 (27. Rf2 $5 {was also
possible, keeping e5 for later.}) 27... Nf6 $1 {Magnus is doing his best in
this difficult position, but Gashimov keeps on playing forcefully.} 28. Rf1 $1
Rxe5 29. Nxd6 $1 Rd8 30. Rxf6 cxd6 {Now we get a static endgame that is
extremely unpleasant for Black. The problem is that basically whatever White
does he always keeps up the pressure and has the better position.} 31. Bb3 Rd7
32. Kf2 d5 33. Rf3 Kg7 34. Rfd3 Rd6 35. Bd1 Bc8 36. Bf3 Be6 {Both players are
manoeuvring...} 37. Rd4 Kf6 38. a4 $1 {Now it's time for White to touch the
b-pawn.} bxa4 $1 {better a then b.} 39. Rxa4 Rb6 40. Be2 Bc8 41. Ra2 Bb7 42.
Ra4 Re4 43. Ra3 Re5 44. b4 Rc6 45. Rd4 Kg7 46. Bf3 Rf6 47. Rd3 Rf4 48. Ra5 Rc4
{Magnus seems to be active, but Gashimov again finds a good reply:} 49. Rc5 $1
{Not reacting to any provocations. Taking the pawn would probably lead to a
drawn rook endgame.} (49. Bxd5 $2 Bxd5 50. Raxd5 Rxd5 51. Rxd5 Rxc3 52. Rxg5+
Kf8 53. Ra5 Rc4 $1 54. Ra4 a5 $1 {Liquidating to a drawn rook ending (White
can press here of course).}) 49... Rxc5 50. bxc5 Re6 (50... Re7 {immediately
seems more precise to me.}) 51. Rd2 $1 {Transfering the rook and again wisely
not taking the pawn.} (51. Bxd5 $2 Bxd5 52. Rxd5 Kf6 {and Black seems to be
doing fine.}) 51... Re7 52. Rb2 (52. Bxd5 {Now was maybe the best chance.} Bxd5
53. Rxd5 Kf6 54. c6 Rc7 55. Rc5 {with good winning chances, which also means
good drawing ons. Black's problem here is that he can't just come over with
king and take on c6, since after that White will go g3 and h4, creating a
second passed pawn. However all of these things depend on tempos... Ah, those
rook endgames!}) 52... Bc8 53. Bxd5 {White has finally won a pawn, but now
under favourable conditions. Gashimov's patience was rewarded!} Re5 54. c4 Be6
$1 {Magnus is doing all he can and I am still not sure about the final
evaluation of this position!} 55. c6 $5 (55. Rd2 Kf6 56. c6 Ke7 {is also not
easy for White.}) 55... Bxd5 56. cxd5 Rxd5 57. Rc2 Rd8 58. c7 (58. Ra2 Rd3 $1
59. Rxa6 Rc3 {and it seems that Black is holding.}) 58... Rc8 59. Ke3 Kf6 60.
g3 a5 61. Kd4 Ke6 $1 {Now Black is just in time in all the lines. These guys
with 2800 are very often lucky. So in the end it's hard to come to a
conclusion about the endgame. Both players played quite well. Black always
seemed to be on the edge, but it was never easy and clear.} 62. h4 gxh4 63.
gxh4 a4 64. h5 a3 65. h6 a2 66. Rxa2 Rxc7 67. Ra6+ Kf5 68. h7 Rc8 69. Rh6 Rh8
70. Rh1 Kg6 71. Ke5 {Setting a trap, though at top GM level it is not really
setting a trap, but more like making a joke.} Re8+ (71... Rxh7 $4 72. Rg1+ {
and this unique position is won!}) 72. Kf4 Kg7 73. Kf5 Rh8 74. Rg1+ Kf8 75. Rh1
Kg7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Nanjing Pearl Spring 3rd"]
[Site "Nanjing"]
[Date "2010.10.24"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2803"]
[Annotator "Moradiabadi,E"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2010.10.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 139"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{A fine game in "Magnusian style!" The world number one is not seeking a deep
theoretical surprise, rather he chooses to simply outplay his opponent in a
position in which Topalov is even less experienced than he is!} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3
Nc6 3. Bb5 {No more Scotch! After a fine and impressive game against Bacrot
one could expect to see another Scotch, however, I believe that Carlsen is
more interested in avoiding any special preparation and wants to bring the
game as quickly as possible to the phase one might call "fight at the board"!}
a6 {The Berlin is what one might have expected from Topalov.} 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O
Be7 6. d3 $5 {The right decision in my opinion. Carlsen tries to pospone d4 in
order to choose his setup according to black's. There aren't many theoretical
surveys in this position, though statistics show us that black may be safe
here.} b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a4 Rb8 9. axb5 axb5 10. Nbd2 {An odd though successful
choice first played by Daniel King.} O-O 11. Re1 Bd7 $146 (11... Be6 12. Bxe6
fxe6 13. c3 Qd7 14. d4 exd4 15. cxd4 Ra8 16. Rxa8 Rxa8 17. Nb3 Nd8 {1-0 King,D
(2506) -Krasenkow,M (2643)/Germany 1999/GER-chT (71)}) 12. c3 Ra8 13. Rxa8 Qxa8
14. d4 h6 15. Nf1 Re8 16. Ng3 Qc8 17. Nh4 {Carlsen starts his fight for the
initiative.} Bf8 $6 {An inaccuracy. The bishop on b3 is well-placed and
black's last move offers white the bishop pair with no genuine counter play.} (
17... Na5 18. Bc2 (18. Ba2 Nc4 $5 19. b3 (19. Bxc4 bxc4 20. dxe5 (20. Qe2 exd4
21. cxd4 $2 Nxe4 $1 {and Black would win}) 20... dxe5 21. Nhf5 Bf8 22. Qf3 Qa6)
19... Qa8 20. Qe2 Nb6 (20... Nd5 $2 21. Nhf5 Nxc3 22. Qg4 Bxf5 23. Nxf5 Bg5 24.
Bxg5 hxg5 25. Qxg5 g6 26. Nh6+ Kg7 27. Ng4 {would give White a decisive
winning attack.}) 21. Nhf5 Bf8 22. Bb1 {A rich position in which black is not
at all worse.}) 18... g6 $5) 18. Ng6 $1 Na5 19. Nxf8 Rxf8 20. Bc2 Re8 21. f4 $1
{Of course Magnus does not hesitate and goes straight for the king. Having a
strong pair of bishops and a rock solid center, who could resist the
temptation?} Bg4 22. Qd3 exf4 $2 {Not at any cost! It is understandable that
in a diffiicult position Topalov would seek activity but in my opinion it only
worsens the situation.} (22... Qb8 {was preferable though the position remains
worse.}) 23. Bxf4 Nc4 24. Bc1 $1 {A cool retreat.} c5 {The final mistake in my
opinion, and Black is helpless now.} 25. Rf1 cxd4 26. cxd4 Qd8 27. h3 Be6 28.
b3 Qa5 29. Kh2 {Magnus does not need to complicate things. With his last move
he has prepared the final blow!} Nh7 30. e5 g6 31. d5 Nxe5 32. dxe6 $1 (32.
dxe6 Nxd3 33. exf7+ Kf8 34. Bxh6+ Ke7 35. fxe8=Q+ Kxe8 36. Bxd3 {and not only
does g6 fall, but the knight on h7 is lost as well. Ex:} Qc7 37. Bxg6+ Kd8 38.
Rf7 $18) 1-0

[Event "Nanjing Pearl Spring 3rd"]
[Site "Nanjing"]
[Date "2010.10.26"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Bacrot, Etienne"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2716"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[Annotator "Moradiabadi,E"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2010.10.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 139"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{This was the most exciting game of the day. The battle between the leader and
his closest rival was on its way to being Bacrot's 4th consecutive win, but
Carlsen, in spite of early mistakes, remained tough. This may have discouraged
Bacrot, whose inaccuracies made his task more difficult and in the end he
prematurely accepted the draw.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Nbd2
{An odd choice by Bacrot, but he has proved he knows what he is doing in this
event. His games against Anand and Wang Yue are testimony of this.} d5 6. Bg2
Bd6 {A risky decision by Carlsen. The upcoming e4 would cause the bishop on d6
some discomfort due to the fork threat of e5.} 7. b3 O-O 8. O-O c5 9. e4 dxe4 {
The retreat of the bishop to e7 has been played quite a few times which may be
considered one reason why ...Bd6 is inaccurate. Carlsen wants to prove that he
stands on solid ground!} 10. Ng5 Nc6 11. dxc5 $1 {Accurate play by Bacrot. He
does not fall into such traps.} (11. Ndxe4 {is a mistake due to} Nxd4 {and
black is ready to offer his rook for white's light-squared bishop.}) 11... Bxc5
12. Ndxe4 Qxd1 13. Rxd1 {White has achieved a lot of advantages within just 13
moves. From now on, the world number one has to defend a worse position with
no hopes to win.} Rad8 14. Rxd8 Rxd8 15. Nxc5 Rd1+ 16. Bf1 bxc5 17. Bb2 Rxa1
18. Bxa1 {The bishop pair seems to be the main theme in today's game. We
should add that although the better pawn structure also offers Bacrot good
winning chances, one should not forget that the c5-a7 set up is the best way
to stop White's threats and is Black's main hope to hold.} Nd7 19. f4 Bb7 20.
Kf2 Nd8 21. Bd3 f5 22. Nf3 Nf7 23. a3 g6 24. Be2 Kf8 25. b4 Ke7 26. Ke3 Bxf3 $1
27. Bxf3 {A paradoxical but correct decision. Though the position is still
much better for White, his light squared bishop has few targets to attack now.
As a result this should provoke White to push his pawns on both sides which
would favor the bishops but in the meantime it would also reduce the material
on the board.} Kd6 28. Bg7 Kc7 29. Kd2 Nd6 30. Kd3 Nc8 31. Kc3 Ncb6 32. Bd1 Nc8
33. Bf3 Nd6 34. Kd3 Nc8 35. h4 Nd6 36. Bc3 Nf7 37. h5 Kd6 {White is much
better here, however I personally cannot see a direct plan for white to
penetrate in black's fortress. I would like to leave the rest to ChessBase's
endgame expert GM Karsten Muller.} 38. Ke3 Kc7 39. Bg7 Nd6 40. hxg6 hxg6 41.
Kd3 Nf7 42. Bc3 Kd6 43. Ke3 g5 44. Bh5 gxf4+ 45. gxf4 Nd8 46. Be2 Kc7 47. Kd3
Kd6 48. Ke3 Kc7 {Though White's advantage has shrunk, he could still push with
no risk of losing.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Nanjing Pearl Spring 3rd"]
[Site "Nanjing"]
[Date "2010.10.27"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2800"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "136"]
[EventDate "2010.10.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 139"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O ({Anand has started playing the Berlin
more regularly only recently. In Bilbao Carlsen (after losing to Kramnik in
round 1) didn't feel confronting the famous endgame and opted for the quiet} 4.
d3 d6 5. O-O Be7 6. c3 O-O 7. Nbd2 Bd7 8. Re1 Re8 9. Nf1 Bf8 10. Ba4 h6 11. Ng3
Ne7 12. Bb3 Ng6 13. d4 c5 14. h3 Qc7 15. a4 a6 16. a5 cxd4 17. cxd4 exd4 18.
Nxd4 d5 $1 19. exd5 Rxe1+ 20. Qxe1 Re8 (20... Ne7 21. Bd2 Nexd5 22. Rc1 Re8 $1
$11) 21. Qc3 Qxc3 22. bxc3 Re1+ 23. Kh2 Bd6 (23... Ne5 24. Nc2 Neg4+ $11) 24.
Nc2 Rf1 25. Be3 Rxa1 26. Nxa1 Be5 27. Bd4 Bxd4 28. cxd4 Ne7 $11 {Carlsen,M 
(2826)-Anand,V (2800)/Bilbao/2010/ Is he now going to face the challenge?})
4... Nxe4 5. Re1 {Having a comfortable lead in the tournament at this point,
White doesn't want to bang his head against the (Berlin) Wall.} ({Getting an
edge after} 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Ke8 {
is no mean task:} {The most usual continuation is} 10. h3 (10. Ne2 Ne7 (10...
Be7 11. Rd1 Nh4 12. Nxh4 Bxh4 13. Be3 a5 14. a4 Bd7 15. h3 h5 16. f3 Rd8 17. g4
hxg4 18. hxg4 Bc8 19. Kg2 Rxd1 20. Rxd1 Be7 21. Bd2 b6 22. Bf4 Bd8 23. b3 Be6
24. Nd4 Bd7 25. c4 Rh7 26. Rd3 c5 27. Nb5 Be6 $14 {/=,Inarkiev,E (2669)
-Jakovenko,D (2725)/Astrakhan/2010/ and Black is still pretty solid.}) 11. h3
Ng6 12. b3 h6 13. Bb2 c5 14. Rad1 Be6 15. Nc3 Be7 16. Nd5 Bd8 17. c4 a5 18. a4
c6 19. Nc3 Be7 20. Ne4 Rd8 21. Rfe1 Rxd1 22. Rxd1 Nf4 23. Ba3 b6 24. Nd6+ Kf8
25. Kf1 g5 26. Bc1 Kg7 27. Bxf4 gxf4 28. Nd2 (28. Ke2 $5) 28... Bxd6 $1 29.
exd6 Rd8 30. Ne4 {Efimenko,Z (2683)-Malakhov,V (2725)/Khanty-Mansiysk olm/2010/
Here} Bf5 $1 31. f3 f6 32. Kf2 Kf7 33. Rd2 Ke6 34. Re2 Kf7 $11 {would have
drawn the game and won the critical match between the best teams of the
olympiad.}) {and} 10... Be7 {to mention just the main ones, played by the
elite GM's.} ({Carlsen himself with Black prefers the rather rare} 10... b6 11.
Rd1 (11. a3 Bb7 12. Bf4 c5 13. Rad1 Bxf3 14. gxf3 c6 15. Be3 Rd8 16. Ne4 Be7
17. f4 f6 18. Rxd8+ Kxd8 19. Ng3 Nh4 20. Rd1+ Kc8 21. Kf1 c4 22. Ke2 Rd8 23.
Rd4 Rxd4 24. Bxd4 c5 25. Bc3 fxe5 26. fxe5 Kd7 27. Ke3 Ke6 28. Ke4 g6 29. a4 a6
30. f4 Nf5 $11 {Radjabov,T (2751)-Carlsen,M (2786)/ECC Kallithea/2008/}) 11...
Bb7 12. Bf4 Rc8 13. a4 Ne7 (13... c5 14. a5 Bxf3 15. gxf3 Nd4 16. axb6 axb6 17.
Nd5 c6 18. Nxb6 Rb8 {Saric,I (2567)-Efimenko,Z (2683)/Khanty-Mansiysk olm/2010/
} 19. Nd7 $1 $36) 14. a5 c5 15. Nb5 (15. axb6 axb6 16. Nb5 $36) 15... a6 16.
Nd6+ cxd6 17. exd6 Nd5 18. c4 Nxf4 19. d7+ Kd8 20. Ne5 Be7 21. axb6 Ne2+ 22.
Kf1 Nd4 23. dxc8=Q+ Kxc8 {Polgar,J (2682)-Carlsen,M (2826)/Kristiansund rpd/
2010/} 24. Re1 Rf8 $1 25. Ng6 $13) ({However, Anand recently played} 10... h5
11. b3 Be7 12. Bb2 Be6 13. Rad1 a5 14. a4 b6 15. Ne4 c5 16. c4 Rd8 17. Rxd8+
Kxd8 18. Rd1+ Kc8 19. Kf1 Rd8 20. Rxd8+ Kxd8 21. Ke2 Ke8 22. Kd3 Bd8 23. Bc1 f6
$5 24. g4 hxg4 25. hxg4 Nd4 $11 {Shirov,A (2749)-Anand,V (2800)/Bilbao/2010/})
({Here Black has quite a number of moves, which have been tested extensively
in the past decade:} 10... Ne7) (10... a5)) 5... Nd6 ({Definitely the main
move this time. Two months earlier, Anand was probably surprised by Carlsen's
5-th move and went for the slightly dubious} 5... Nf6 $6 6. Nxe5 Be7 (6... Nxe5
7. d4 $1 $36) 7. d4 O-O 8. Nc3 a6 9. Be2 (9. Ba4 $5) 9... d6 10. Nf3 (10. Nxc6
bxc6 11. h3 $14) 10... Re8 11. Bf4 Bf8 12. Qd2 h6 13. h3 Bf5 14. d5 Ne7 15. a4
Qd7 16. Bf1 Ng6 17. Be3 Ne4 18. Nxe4 Bxe4 19. Nh2 Nh4 20. f3 Bh7 21. Bf2 Ng6
22. a5 Rxe1 23. Rxe1 Re8 24. Rxe8 Qxe8 25. Qb4 Qc8 {Carlsen,M (2826)-Anand,V 
(2800)/Kristiansund rpd/2010/}) 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 {The more contemporary
approach, leaving the Pd2 free to join the fray.} (7. Bd3 {was tested already
in the first World Championship match in 1886! After} O-O 8. Nc3 Nxe5 9. Rxe5
c6 10. b3 {already Zuketort found the best defence} Ne8 $1 11. Qf3 (11. Bb2 d5
12. Qh5 Nf6 13. Qh4 h6 14. Rae1 Bd6 15. R5e2 Be6 16. Nd1 Nd7 17. Qh5 Nf6 18.
Qh4 Nd7 19. Qh5 Nf6 {1/2,Torre,E (2535)-Gelfand,B (2680)/Moscow olm/1994/})
11... d5 12. Bb2 Bf6 13. Re2 Nc7 ({Less harmonious is} 13... Nd6 14. Ba3 Be7
15. Qf4 Be6 16. Rae1 Qd7 17. Re5 b6 $6 18. R1e3 Rfe8 {Ni Hua (2629)-Karjakin,S
(2645)/Tiayuan/2005/} 19. Rh5 f5 20. Rg3 Nf7 21. Bxe7 Qxe7 22. h3 Qf6 23. Bxf5
g6 24. Qf3 $1 $16) 14. Na4 (14. Ba3 Re8 15. Rae1 Ne6 16. Na4 Bd7 17. Nc5 Nxc5
18. Rxe8+ Bxe8 19. Bxc5 b6 20. Ba3 Bd7 21. Qg3 c5 22. c3 Be6 23. Bb2 Qd7 24.
Bc2 Re8 25. h3 b5 26. d4 cxd4 27. cxd4 Rc8 28. Bd3 Bf5 {Steinitz,W-Zukertort,J/
WCh USA/1886/}) 14... Bxb2 15. Nxb2 Ne6 16. c3 Qd6 17. Rae1 Bd7 18. Bb1 Rae8
19. d4 Nf4 20. Re3 g6 $11 {Shirov,A (2710)-Ivanchuk,V (2700)/Monte Carlo
blindfold rpd/1995/}) ({Harmless is} 7. Ba4 Nxe5 8. Rxe5 O-O 9. d4 Nc4 $1 10.
Re1 d5 11. Nd2 Nb6 12. Bb3 Bd6 13. Qh5 Re8 14. Nf3 Rxe1+ 15. Nxe1 c6 16. c3 g6
17. Qf3 Bf5 18. Bf4 Nc8 19. Qg3 Bxf4 20. Qxf4 Qd6 21. Qxd6 Nxd6 22. f3 h5 23.
Kf2 a5 24. Rc1 {1/2,Ye Jiangchuan (2670)-Ivanchuk,V (2719)/Shenyang/2000/})
7... Nf5 {From the 3 plausible options Anand chooses the least usual one.} (
7... Nxe5 8. Rxe5 O-O 9. Nc3 {Two rounds later the World Champion went for} Ne8
(9... c6 10. d4 Ne8 11. d5 d6 12. Re1 Nf6 13. Bf4 Bg4 14. Qd2 Qd7 15. Bc4 Rfe8
16. h3 Bh5 17. a4 Bf8 18. a5 Bg6 {Meier,G (2659)-Onischuk,A (2688)/Lubbock/
2010/} 19. a6 $5 $36) (9... Bf6 10. Re1 c6 (10... Re8 11. Rxe8+ Nxe8 12. Nd5
Bh4 13. g3 {1/2 Vallejo Pons,F (2697)-Ponomariov,R (2734)/Sestao 2010/The Week
in Chess 825} c6 14. gxh4 cxd5 15. Qg4 $13 {/+/=}) 11. d4 Nf5 12. d5 d6 13. Ne4
(13. Bf4 Bxc3 14. bxc3 Qf6 15. c4 c5 16. Bd3 Nd4 17. Be3 h6 18. Qh5 Bd7 19. c3
Nf5 20. Bd2 Nh4 21. Re3 Rfe8 22. Rae1 {Fedorov,A (2611)-Sturua,Z (2514)/Dubai/
2009/} Ng6 $11) 13... Be5 14. c3 Qb6 15. Bc4 Bd7 16. a4 cxd5 17. a5 Qc7 18.
Bxd5 Bc6 19. Bxc6 Qxc6 20. a6 Rfe8 21. axb7 Qxb7 22. g3 $14 {Jansa,V (2521)
-Bindrich,F (2401)/CZE-chT/2006/}) 10. Nd5 (10. d4 Bf6 11. Re1 d5 $11) 10...
Bd6 11. Re1 c6 12. Ne3 Bc7 13. c4 $146 ({This novelty leads nowhere, but also} 
13. Nf5 d5 14. Ne7+ Kh8 15. Nxc8 Rxc8 {isn't much - in a symmetrical and
relatively closed position with only one open <-> the ^^ doesn't promise White
a tangible pull.} 16. d3 Nf6 17. Qf3 Qd6 18. g3 Rce8 19. Bd2 Kg8 20. Bh3 Qc5
$11 {Vallejo Pons,F (2696)-Hansen,S (2552)/EU-chT Novi Sad/2009/}) 13... Nf6
14. b3 d5 15. cxd5 cxd5 (15... Nxd5 16. Ba3 Bd6 $11) 16. Qf3 Be6 17. Ba3 Re8
18. Bb5 Bd7 19. Bxd7 Qxd7 20. Bb2 Be5 21. Bxe5 Rxe5 22. Nc2 Rae8 23. Rxe5 Rxe5
24. Qc3 Re8 25. Qd4 b6 26. f3 Rd8 27. Ne3 Ne8 28. f4 Nc7 29. f5 Ne8 $1 30. Re1
Nf6 $11 {Gashimov,V (2719)-Anand,V (2800)/Nanjing/2010/}) ({Another safe line
is} 7... O-O 8. d4 (8. Nc3 Nxe5 9. Rxe5 {-7...Ne5}) 8... Nf5 9. c3 (9. Nf3 d5 {
transposes into our game.}) 9... Nxe5 10. Rxe5 (10. dxe5 d6 $11) 10... d6 (
10... g6 11. Nd2 d5 12. Nf3 c6 13. Re1 Bd6 14. Bg5 f6 15. Bd2 Ng7 16. Bd3 Be6
17. Bh6 Qd7 18. Nh4 Rae8 19. Qc2 Bf7 20. g3 b6 $11 {Al Modiahki,M (2556)
-Aronian,L (2737)/Sochi/2008/}) 11. Re1 d5 $1 (11... c6 12. Nd2 (12. d5 $5 Bf6
13. Na3 $13 {is the only attempt to bring some imbalance into the position.})
12... d5 13. Nf3 Nh4 14. Nxh4 Bxh4 15. Bd3 Bf6 16. Bf4 Be6 17. Qf3 Qd7 18. Be5
Bxe5 19. Rxe5 f6 20. Re3 Rae8 21. Rae1 Bf7 {Ragger,M (2528)-Aronian,L (2741)/
Heraklio EU-chT/2007/}) 12. Bf4 (12. Nd2 Nh4 13. Nf3 Bg4 14. Be2 Re8 15. Nxh4
Bxe2 16. Qxe2 Bxh4 $11 {Neubauer,M (2453)-Sargissian,G (2673)/EU-chT Heraklio/
2007/}) 12... Bd6 $11 (12... Nh4 $11)) 8. Nf3 $5 {[%mdl 2080] Carlsen
indicates he wants to keep more pieces on the board and attempts to develop a
pull without any risk. Glancing ahead, he will be surprisingly successful in
the positional manoeuvring struggle.} (8. c3 Nxe5 9. Rxe5 d6 10. Re1 O-O 11. d4
d5 $11 {once again transposes into the 7...0-0 line from the previous note.})
8... O-O (8... Ncd4 9. c3 Nxf3+ 10. Qxf3 Nh4 11. Qe4 Ng6 12. c4 O-O 13. d4 d6
14. Nc3 c6 15. f4 $6 (15. Qc2 $11 {/+/=}) 15... Bf6 16. Be3 Re8 17. Qd3 d5 18.
cxd5 cxd5 19. Kh1 Ne7 20. Bg1 Be6 21. Rac1 g6 $15 {Llaneza Vega,M (2514)
-Pashikian,A (2652)/EU-ch Rijeka/2010/}) 9. d4 d5 10. c3 (10. g3 {It seems
worth forcing c3 after all and after} Bf6 $5 (10... Re8 11. Nc3 Be6 12. Ne2 g5
13. c3 Ng7 14. Bg2 f6 (14... h6 $142) 15. Nd2 Qd7 16. Nf1 Bf8 17. h4 $1 gxh4
18. Nf4 Bf7 19. Rxe8 Rxe8 20. Ne3 hxg3 21. fxg3 $16 {[%csl Rd5] ><d5,Baklan,V 
(2654)-Buhmann,R (2591)/AUT-chT/2010/}) (10... Bd6 11. Nc3 Nfe7 12. Nb5 Bf5 13.
Nxd6 Qxd6 14. Nh4 Be6 15. c3 Qd7 16. Bg2 Ng6 17. Nxg6 hxg6 18. Bf4 Rfe8 19. h4
Re7 20. Qa4 Rae8 21. Qb5 $36 {Baklan,V (2654)-Grandelius,N (2515)/Reykjavik/
2010/}) 11. c3 Re8 $11 {the tension should gradually dissipate.}) (10. Bf4 Bd6
11. Qd2 (11. Bxd6 Nxd6 12. c3 Ne7 {1/2,Jovanovic,Z (2535)-Brkic,A (2544)/
CRO-chT Sibenik/2009/}) 11... Bxf4 12. Qxf4 Qd6 13. Qd2 Qf6 14. c3 Nd6 15. Ne5
Ne4 16. Qe3 Nxe5 17. dxe5 Qb6 18. Qxb6 axb6 19. c4 {Sprenger,J (2511)-Pliester,
L (2383)/NED-chT/2009/} Nc5 20. Nc3 dxc4 21. Bxc4 Be6 $11) 10... Bd6 {The most
natural, but not the only and perhaps not even the best move.} (10... g6 11.
Bf4 Bd6 12. Bxd6 Qxd6 13. Nbd2 Be6 14. Qb3 Rab8 15. Qa4 Bd7 16. Qc2 a5 17. Nb3
b6 18. Qd2 Rbe8 19. Rxe8 Rxe8 20. Re1 Re7 21. Nc1 f6 22. Bd3 g5 23. Re2 h5 24.
Qc2 Rxe2 25. Nxe2 Nce7 $11 {Kovacevic,A (2582)-Hammer,J (2633)/Khanty-Mansiysk
olm/2010/}) (10... Nh4 11. Nxh4 Bxh4 12. Nd2 Bf6 13. Bd3 Ne7 14. Nf3 Bf5 15.
Bg5 Bxg5 16. Nxg5 Bxd3 17. Qxd3 {1/2,Luther,T (2545)-Buhmann,R (2563)/
Khanty-Mansiysk olm/2010/} Ng6 18. Qf5 c6 {/\Qc8=}) 11. Bd3 (11. Nbd2 Qf6 $1
12. Bd3 h6 13. Nf1 Be6 14. Bd2 Rae8 15. Qc2 Nfe7 16. b4 Ng6 17. Ng3 Bg4 18.
Rxe8 Rxe8 19. Re1 Rf8 $5 20. Be2 Nf4 $11 {Nijboer,F (2562)-Meier,G (2663)/
EU-ch Rijeka/2010/ was already very comfortable for Black.}) 11... Nce7 (11...
Re8 12. Rxe8+ Qxe8 13. Qc2 g6 14. Nbd2 Qd8 15. Nf1 Nh4 16. Nxh4 Qxh4 17. Bd2
Be6 $11 {Kreisl,R (2380)-Jovanic,O (2552)/Zadar/2009/} 18. Re1 $11 {/+/=}) 12.
Nbd2 (12. g4 $6 Nh6 {is too wild, but apart from the text-move}) (12. Qc2 g6
13. Nbd2 {is interesting as well.}) 12... c6 $146 (12... Ng6 13. Nf1 Nfh4 14.
g3 $1 (14. Ne5 f6 15. Nxg6 Nxg6 16. Ng3 f5 $1 17. Qh5 Qf6 18. Qf3 Qf7 19. Ne2
Nh4 20. Qh3 Ng6 21. Qf3 f4 22. Bxg6 hxg6 23. g3 g5 24. g4 c6 $17 {McEwan,K 
(2142)-Cox,J (2378)/BCF-chT/2010/}) 14... Nxf3+ 15. Qxf3 c6 16. Ne3 Re8 (16...
f5 17. Ng2 $14) 17. Bd2 $14 {[%cal Yb2b3,Yc3c4,Yh2h5,Ye3f5] /+/=,/\Nf5,h4-h5,
b3,c4 is a better version of the game position and White still has a nagging
pull.}) 13. Nf1 {Structurally the position is symmetrical like an exchange
French, or Petroff. Therefore getting anything tangible requires extra effort,
on the other hand Anand perhaps enjoyed a false sense of security of the
"nothing cah happen here" type. In fact it's still Black who has to tread with
some care.} Ng6 14. Qc2 (14. g3 $5 h6 15. h4 {deserves attention - this, just
as the alternative on move 12, prevents the simplifying Nh4.}) 14... Nfh4 15.
Nxh4 Qxh4 16. g3 Qd8 {Seems unnecessarily passive.} (16... Qf6 $142 $5 17. Ne3
Re8 {is solid, for example} 18. Qe2 Bd7 19. Qh5 Nf8 20. Bd2 g6 21. Ng4 Bxg4 22.
Qxg4 h5 $11 {and as in Vallejo-Hansen above, the ^^ have no direct targets and
Black should hold the balance.}) 17. Ne3 Re8 18. Bd2 Nf8 19. Nf5 {[%csl Gf5]}
Bc7 (19... Bxf5 20. Rxe8 Qxe8 21. Bxf5 g6 22. Re1 Qd8 23. Bh3 $14 {is already
more unpleasant than the line above, so Black decides to suffer the intruder
on f5. Objectively both moves are roughly equivalent and White already has
some pressure.}) 20. Rxe8 Qxe8 21. Re1 Be6 22. Qc1 (22. f4 {[%cal Rf5g7,Rf4f5]
/\Ng7,f5} Qd8 23. Ne3 $14) (22. Qd1 $14) 22... f6 (22... Qd7 $2 23. Nxg7 $1 {/\
} Kxg7 24. Bh6+ Kh8 25. Qg5 f5 26. Qf6+ Kg8 27. Rxe6 $1 Nxe6 28. Bxf5 Re8 29.
Bxe6+ $18) (22... Qd8 $5 $14 {postpones weakening the >>, now} 23. Bg5 f6 {
wins a tempo.}) 23. Qd1 (23. Nxg7 $2 Kxg7 24. Bh6+ Kf7 25. Qd1 Kg8 $17 {
is too inconcrete.}) 23... Qd7 24. Qf3 Re8 25. h4 Bf7 {With hindsight one can
recommend the immediate swap} (25... Bxf5 $142 26. Bxf5 Rxe1+ 27. Bxe1 Qe8 {
, although even here White can definitely continue probing after} 28. Bd2 $14 (
28. Qe3 $5)) 26. Rf1 $1 {An excellent move, avoiding simplification is more
important than the <->e, on which Black has no points of entry anyway.} Bg6 ({
After some thought Anand discarded} 26... h5 27. g4 $1 hxg4 28. Qxg4 $36 {
and decides to eliminate the Nf5 after all.}) 27. h5 Bxf5 28. Bxf5 Qf7 29. Kg2
(29. Bd3 g6 {tranposes, as} 30. g4 $6 Ne6 31. Re1 Re7 {allows Black <=> in
connection with Ng5.}) 29... g6 30. Bd3 f5 31. Rh1 {Now Black will have a
tactical defence, so this was the right time for} (31. g4 $142 $1 $36) 31...
Ne6 32. hxg6 (32. g4 Bf4 (32... fxg4 $5 33. Qxg4 Rf8 34. f3 g5 35. Re1 Nf4+ 36.
Bxf4 Qxf4 37. Re7 Qxg4+ 38. fxg4 Rf7 39. Rxf7 Kxf7 40. Bxh7 Bf4 $11) 33. hxg6 {
-32.hg6}) 32... hxg6 33. g4 (33. Be3 Qf6 {/\Ng5}) 33... Bf4 $1 (33... f4 34.
Qh3 $36) 34. Be3 (34. gxf5 Bxd2 35. fxe6 Qxf3+ 36. Kxf3 Rxe6 $11) (34. Bxf4 $6
fxg4 35. Rh8+ $8 Kxh8 36. Be5+ Kg8 37. Qxg4 Nf8 38. f4 Qh7 $15) 34... fxg4 $6 {
After this slip White retains a pull.} (34... Bxe3 $142 {/\} 35. fxe3 (35. Qxe3
$2 fxg4 36. Qh6 Qf3+ 37. Kg1 Ng7 $1 $19) 35... Ng5 36. Qf4 fxg4 $1 37. Rh6 (37.
Qxg5 $4 Qf3+ 38. Kg1 Qg3+ 39. Kf1 Rf8+ 40. Ke2 Qg2+ $19) (37. Qxg4 Rxe3 38. Rh6
Qf3+ 39. Qxf3 Nxf3 $11) 37... Qxf4 38. exf4 Re3 39. Bf1 Ne6 40. Rxg6+ Kf7 41.
Rxg4 Re1 $11) 35. Qxg4 Kg7 36. Rh5 $1 {[%cal Rh5f5] Due to the threat Rf5
Black can't maintain his blockade on f4} Bxe3 (36... Kf6 37. Qh4+ g5 38. Qg4
$16 (38. Qh3 $16)) 37. fxe3 Nf8 ({More active was} 37... Rf8 $5 38. Rf5 Qe7 39.
Re5 Qf6 40. Qg3 $14 (40. Qxg6+ Qxg6+ 41. Bxg6 Nxd4 $11)) 38. Rh3 (38. Qg5 Qf6
39. Qh6+ Kg8 40. Rh3 Re7 41. Rf3 Qg7 $14) 38... Kg8 $6 $138 {Now Black's
coordination gets disrupted even more.} (38... Qf6 $142 39. Rf3 Qd6 40. Qh4 Re6
$5 41. Rh3 Rf6 42. e4 Qf4 (42... dxe4 $2 43. Bc4 $18) 43. Qxf4 Rxf4 $14) 39.
Rf3 Qe6 40. Qf4 (40. Qg3 $16 {[%cal Yd3c2,Ye3e4,Rd3f5] /\Bf5,Bc2,e4|^}) 40...
Kg7 ({Not ideal, somewhat better and more resilient was} 40... Qe7 $16) 41. b3
$6 {[%cal Yc3c4] /\c4} ({Strategically sound, but} 41. Rh3 $142 Qf6 42. Qh6+
Kg8 43. Bxg6 $1 $16 {/+- wins a healthy P.}) 41... Qe7 (41... b5 $6 42. Rh3)
42. c4 Rd8 43. Rh3 (43. c5 $1 {()}) 43... Rd6 44. Qh6+ Kg8 (44... Kf7 $142 45.
cxd5 cxd5 46. Rf3+ Kg8 (46... Rf6 $2 47. Qg5 Rxf3 48. Qxd5+ $18) 47. e4 g5 $1
48. Qh5 Kg7 49. exd5 (49. e5 $2 Rh6 50. Qg4 Ne6 $36) 49... Ng6 (49... Rh6 50.
d6 $1 Rxd6 51. Rg3 Rd5 52. Rh3 $16) 50. Kf2 $14 {/+/-}) 45. cxd5 cxd5 46. e4 $1
$16 {This break wins more space and gives White a permanent strategic
advantage due to his superior P-structure.} Qg7 47. Qe3 Qe7 (47... dxe4 $2 48.
Bc4+ Ne6 49. Qxe4 $18) 48. e5 {[%csl Rd5,Ge5,Rg6]} Rc6 49. Qh6 Qg7 50. Qh4 a6 (
50... Ne6 51. Qg4 {[%cal Yg2f2,Yf2e3] /\Kf2-e3 forces the N back sooner or
later anyway.}) 51. Rf3 Qd7 {Black must temporize.} (51... g5 52. Qh5 Ng6 53.
Bxg6 Qxg6 54. Qxg6+ Rxg6 55. Kg3 $18) 52. b4 $5 b5 53. a3 Qc7 54. Kg3 Kg7 55.
Bb1 $1 {Getting ready to target ><d5.} Nh7 56. Ba2 $6 (56. Kg2 $142 $1) 56...
Qd7 $6 ({The only chance was} 56... Rc1 $1 57. Bxd5 Ng5 $14 {/<=> , but after
about 5 hours of play it's very difficult to find such computer-like ideas.})
57. Bb3 Rc1 58. Kh2 Rb1 59. Bc2 Rb2 60. Rc3 $18 {[%csl Rb2] Now the Rb2 is cut
off and White is virtually winning...} Qf7 61. Kg3 (61. e6 $1 Qxe6 62. Rc7+ Kf8
63. Qh6+ (63. Qxh7 Qe2+ 64. Kg3 Rb3+ $1 65. Bxb3 Qe3+ 66. Kg4 Qe4+ 67. Kg5 Qf5+
$11 68. Kh6 $4 Qh5#) 63... Ke8 64. Qxh7 $18 {and now there is no perpetual, as
Black's K doesn't control g7 anymore.}) 61... Nf8 62. Rf3 Qe6 63. Qd8 $2 (63.
Rf6 Qe8 (63... Qg8 64. Rf2 Nh7 (64... Qe6 65. Rh2 Kf7 66. Qh8 Ke7 67. Qg7+ $18
{/\} Qf7 68. Qxf7+ Kxf7 69. Bxg6+) 65. Qe7+ Kh8 66. Qd6 $18) 64. Rf2 Ra2 (64...
Qe6 65. Rh2 $18 {-63...Qg8}) 65. Qf6+ Kg8 66. Qd6 $5 (66. Bb3 Rxa3 67. Rf3 Rxb3
68. Rxb3 Ne6 69. Kf2 $1 $18) 66... Rxa3+ 67. Kh2 Ne6 (67... Rc3 68. Bb3 $1 $18)
68. Rf6 Ra2 69. Rxe6 Rxc2+ 70. Kg3 Rc3+ 71. Kh4 g5+ 72. Kxg5 Rg3+ 73. Kf4 Rf3+
74. Kg4 $1 (74. Kg5 $2 Rf5+ 75. Kxf5 Qh5+ $11) (74. Kxf3 $2 Qh5+) 74... Qf8 (
74... Qf7 75. Qd8+ Kh7 76. Qh4+ Kg8 77. Qg5+ Kf8 78. Qh6+) 75. Qxf8+ Rxf8 76.
Rxa6 $18) 63... Nd7 64. Rf2 $2 (64. Bd3 $5 Rb3 65. Be2 $16 {still keeps
White's winning chances alive.}) 64... Ra2 {Now Black has enough <=>, as
White's K is vulnerable as well.} 65. Kh2 (65. Rh2 $2 Rxa3+ 66. Kf2 Qf7+ 67.
Ke1 Ra1+ 68. Bd1 Nf8 $17) 65... Qg4 $11 (65... Nxe5 66. dxe5 (66. Qf8+ Kh7 67.
dxe5 Qxe5+ 68. Kh3 Rxa3+ 69. Rf3 Qh5+ 70. Kg2 Qg5+ $11) 66... Qxe5+ 67. Kh1 (
67. Kg2 Rxc2 68. Qf8+ Kh7 69. Rxc2 Qe4+ 70. Kf1 Qxc2 71. Qe7+ $11 {and already
White has to give a perpetual.}) 67... Qh5+ 68. Kg2 Qg4+ $11) 66. Qe7+ Kh6 67.
Qd8 (67. Qe8 Qh4+ $11 {is the same.}) (67. e6 $4 Rxa3 $19) 67... Qh5+ 68. Kg2
Qg4+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Nanjing Pearl Spring 3rd"]
[Site "Nanjing"]
[Date "2010.10.28"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Wang, Yue"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E00"]
[WhiteElo "2732"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2010.10.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 139"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "40/7200:20/3600:900+30"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Bxd2+ 5. Qxd2 d5 {This line is secondary
but known as very solid for Black.} 6. Bg2 c6 7. Nf3 Nbd7 8. O-O b6 9. Rc1 O-O
10. cxd5 cxd5 11. Nc3 Ba6 12. a4 Rc8 (12... Bc4 13. Nb5 Qe7 14. Na3 Ne4 15. Qd1
Ba6 16. Nb5 Bxb5 17. axb5 Qb4 18. Qa4 Qxa4 19. Rxa4 Nd6 20. Rc7 Rfd8 21. Raxa7
Rxa7 22. Rxa7 Nxb5 23. Ra1 Kf8 24. e3 Rc8 25. Bf1 Nd6 26. Bd3 {1/2-1/2
Portisch,L (2635)-Spassky,B (2560)/Reykjavik 1988}) 13. Nb5 Ne4 14. Qf4 Qe7 15.
Rc7 Bxb5 16. axb5 Nd6 17. Qc1 Rxc7 18. Qxc7 Rc8 19. Qxa7 Qd8 20. Qa4 h6 21. Qb4
Qf8 {White is up a pawn but it is very hard to improve something. Still, the
next moves seems not to be accurate, giving Black a chance to draw at once.}
22. b3 $6 ({Something like} 22. e3 $5 {followed by Qb3 should be normal,
though we trust Magnus should draw this! Probably Wang Yue was also not
eagering to go desperately for a win, as he suffered a little bit in his last
games.}) 22... Ne4 23. Qxf8+ Kxf8 24. Ne5 Nxe5 25. Bxe4 dxe4 26. dxe5 Rc5 27.
Ra8+ Ke7 28. Ra7+ Kf8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Nanjing Pearl Spring 3rd"]
[Site "Nanjing"]
[Date "2010.10.29"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E00"]
[WhiteElo "2803"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2010.10.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 139"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "40/7200:20/3600:900+30"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Bxd2+ 5. Qxd2 d5 6. Bg2 c6 7. Nf3 Nbd7 8.
O-O b6 9. Rc1 O-O 10. b4 $5 (10. cxd5 cxd5 11. Nc3 Ba6 12. a4 Rc8 13. Nb5 Ne4
14. Qf4 Qe7 15. Rc7 Bxb5 16. axb5 Nd6 17. Qc1 Rxc7 18. Qxc7 Rc8 19. Qxa7 Qd8
20. Qa4 h6 21. Qb4 Qf8 22. b3 Ne4 23. Qxf8+ Kxf8 24. Ne5 Nxe5 25. Bxe4 dxe4 26.
dxe5 Rc5 27. Ra8+ Ke7 28. Ra7+ Kf8 {1/2-1/2 Wang,Y (2732)-Carlsen,M (2826)/
Nanjing/China 2010}) 10... Bb7 11. Qb2 Rb8 $146 12. Nbd2 Qe7 13. e3 Rfc8 14.
Rc2 c5 15. bxc5 bxc5 16. Qa3 Rc6 17. Rac1 Ra6 18. Qd3 h6 19. Qe2 dxc4 20. Qxc4
cxd4 (20... Rc8 $5 {might be a better try to equalize.}) 21. Nxd4 Rb6 22. Bxb7
R8xb7 {Things have been going fine for Topalov who enjoys a small plus. But
suddenly the situation will change hardly!} 23. Kg2 (23. Qf1 $5 {is given best
by several engines, with ideas line:} Rb2 24. Rc8+ Kh7 $2 25. Qd3+ (25. Nc4
Rxa2 26. Rb1 $1 $18) 25... g6 26. Nc6 $18) (23. N2b3 $5 {would also be quite
logical.}) 23... Ne5 24. Qc5 $2 {The real mistake, although White's avdantage
are more or less disappeared with 23.Kg2. It is clear that Topalov is out of
form and is playing much under his real level.} Qxc5 25. Rxc5 Rb2 {Now Black
is better.} 26. R1c2 Nd3 $1 27. Rc8+ Kh7 28. N4f3 a5 {This pawn is supposed to
bring the victory later, so it's quite logical to push it! Still, this doesn't
look like a real winning plan, while it looks like Black had a much stronger
possibility right now.} (28... Ng4 $1 29. Nb3 Rxc2 (29... Rb8 $5 {is a funny
possibility, probably about equivalent to 29...Rxc2, but I quote it simply
because I love this move!}) 30. Rxc2 Rb4 $5 31. h3 Ngxf2 32. Rxf2 Nxf2 33. Kxf2
Ra4 {is another idea - more direct let's say. This should be winning for Black.
Very often, two knights "alone" are a bad sign for the endgame.}) 29. h3 a4 30.
a3 g5 31. Rxb2 $6 ({After} 31. g4 {I feel like Black should be slightly better,
but all engines insist with a 0.00 evaluation. After playing a match against
Rybka and not winning a single game (no, I'm joking, I didn't play but just
guessed the result), I believe White should be able to draw...}) 31... Rxb2 32.
Rc3 $4 {Woah! An hallucination, I guess.} Nxf2 33. Rc7 (33. Kxf2 Ne4+ $19)
33... N2e4 0-1

[Event "Nanjing Pearl Spring 3rd"]
[Site "Nanjing"]
[Date "2010.10.30"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gashimov, Vugar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C49"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2719"]
[PlyCount "142"]
[EventDate "2010.10.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 139"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Bb5 Bb4 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 Bxc3 7. bxc3 d6 8.
Re1 Bd7 9. Rb1 a6 10. Bxc6 Bxc6 11. Bg5 h6 12. Bh4 b6 13. Nd2 g5 14. Bg3 Ne8
15. d4 f6 16. c4 Ng7 17. c3 Qe8 18. f3 Qg6 19. Nf1 g4 20. fxg4 Bxe4 21. Rb2
Rae8 22. Rf2 exd4 23. cxd4 h5 24. gxh5 Nxh5 25. Re3 Bc6 26. Rc3 Re4 27. c5 bxc5
28. dxc5 d5 29. Bxc7 d4 30. Rd3 Rg4 31. Ng3 Re8 32. Rxd4 Rxd4 33. Qxd4 Nxg3 34.
Bxg3 Re1+ 35. Rf1 Rxf1+ 36. Kxf1 Qb1+ 37. Be1 Bb5+ 38. Kf2 Qxa2+ 39. Kg3 Kf7
40. Bc3 Qe6 41. Qf4 Bc6 42. h4 a5 43. Qc7+ Bd7 44. Qf4 a4 45. h5 a3 46. Kh2 a2
47. Qh4 Qe7 48. Qf2 Qe6 49. Qc2 Qf5 50. Qxf5 Bxf5 51. c6 Be4 52. c7 Bf5 53. Kg3
Bc8 54. Kf4 Bb7 55. Ba1 Bc8 56. g3 Bb7 57. g4 Ba6 58. Kg3 Bc8 59. Kh4 Ba6 60.
Bb2 Bb7 61. h6 Kg6 62. h7 Kxh7 63. Kh5 Bc8 64. Bxf6 Kg8 65. Ba1 Kf7 66. g5 Ke8
67. g6 Be6 68. g7 Kd7 69. Be5 a1=B 70. Bxa1 Kxc7 71. g8=Q Bxg8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.16"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2741"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[PlyCount "154"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 a6 6. Nbd2 Ba7 7. Bb3 d6 8. h3
Be6 9. Bc2 O-O 10. O-O d5 11. Re1 dxe4 12. dxe4 Qe7 13. Nf1 Rad8 14. Qe2 Ne8
15. Ne3 f6 16. a4 Qf7 17. b4 Bxe3 18. Qxe3 Nd6 19. Qc5 Nb8 20. b5 b6 21. Qb4 a5
22. Qb1 Nd7 23. Ba3 Rfe8 24. Nd2 Nb7 25. Nf1 Ndc5 26. Ne3 Rd2 27. Bc1 Rd7 28.
Nf5 Red8 29. Be3 Kh8 30. Kh2 Bc4 31. f4 exf4 32. Bxf4 Nd3 33. Rf1 Nxf4 34. Rxf4
Qe6 35. Qe1 Qe5 36. Qg3 Nc5 37. Ne3 Be6 38. Rf2 Qxg3+ 39. Kxg3 Kg8 40. Kf3 Rd2
41. Re2 Kf7 42. Kf2 Bb3 43. Bxb3+ Nxb3 44. Ra3 Nc1 45. Rxd2 Rxd2+ 46. Kf3 Ke6
47. Nf5 g6 48. Nd4+ Kd6 49. Ra1 Rd3+ 50. Kf2 Rxc3 51. Nc6 Nd3+ 52. Ke2 Nc5 53.
Rd1+ Ke6 54. Rd4 Ra3 55. Nd8+ Ke7 56. Nc6+ Kf7 57. Nd8+ Ke8 58. Nc6 Rxa4 59.
Rd8+ Kf7 60. Rc8 Ne6 61. Ke3 Rc4 62. Rh8 Kg7 63. Re8 Nc5 64. e5 fxe5 65. Re7+
Kf6 66. Rxc7 Rc3+ 67. Kd2 Rg3 68. Rxh7 Rxg2+ 69. Kc3 Ne4+ 70. Kd3 Nd6 71. Rd7
Rg3+ 72. Kd2 Nxb5 73. Rb7 Nd6 74. Rd7 Ne4+ 75. Ke2 Rxh3 76. Rb7 Rb3 77. Nxa5
Nc5 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ponomariov, Ruslan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C06"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2744"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. c3 c5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. Ngf3 f6 8. exf6
Nxf6 9. O-O cxd4 10. cxd4 Bd6 11. Re1 O-O 12. Nf1 Qb6 13. Rb1 Nb4 14. a3 Nxd3
15. Qxd3 Bd7 16. Ng3 Bb5 17. Qd1 Rae8 18. Ne5 Bxe5 19. Rxe5 Nd7 20. Rg5 e5 21.
Be3 h6 22. Rh5 Qg6 23. Rc1 Bc6 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.16"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 b6 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O c5 6. Nc3 d6 7. b3 Be7 8. Bb2
O-O 9. e3 Nbd7 10. d4 Ne4 11. Qe2 Nxc3 12. Bxc3 Be4 13. Rfd1 Qc7 14. Ne1 Bxg2
15. Nxg2 cxd4 16. exd4 d5 17. Rac1 Nf6 18. Nf4 Rad8 19. c5 a5 20. Be1 bxc5 21.
dxc5 Ne4 22. Qb5 Ra8 23. c6 Rfb8 24. Qe2 Bd6 25. Nh5 Rb6 26. f3 Nf6 27. Nxf6+
gxf6 28. Qc2 Raa6 29. Qe2 Rxc6 30. Bd2 Rxc1 31. Rxc1 Rc6 32. Rxc6 Qxc6 33. Qd3
a4 34. Kg2 Kg7 35. g4 axb3 36. Qxb3 Qa6 37. Kf2 d4 38. a4 Bxh2 39. Qb5 Qd6 40.
Ke2 Qg3 41. Qc6 Qg2+ 42. Kd3 Bg1 43. a5 Qf1+ 44. Kc2 Qe2 45. Qe4 Qc4+ 46. Kd1
Qb3+ 47. Ke2 Be3 48. Bxe3 dxe3 49. Qxe3 Qb5+ 50. Kf2 Qxa5 51. Qd3 Qe5 52. Kg2
f5 53. gxf5 Qxf5 54. Qd4+ Qf6 55. Qc4 h5 56. Qe2 Qf4 57. Qb2+ Kg6 58. Qc2+ Qf5
59. Qe2 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.16"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Movsesian, Sergei"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2721"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Nge2 c6 5. g3 b5 6. Bg2 Be7 7. O-O Bb7 8. a3
Nbd7 9. h3 h5 10. Be3 a5 11. Qd2 b4 12. Nd1 O-O 13. axb4 axb4 14. Rxa8 Qxa8 15.
b3 Re8 16. dxe5 dxe5 17. f3 Rd8 18. Nf2 Nc5 19. Qxb4 Nfd7 20. Qc3 Ba6 21. Ra1
Qb7 22. Nc1 h4 23. g4 Ne6 24. Qa5 Ra8 25. Bf1 Nb8 26. Bc4 Qc8 27. Ncd3 Nd4 28.
Bxd4 exd4 29. Kg2 Ra7 30. Qh5 Bd8 31. Ne5 Bxc4 32. Rxa7 Be6 33. Nxf7 Bf6 34.
Qh8# 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.16"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C68"]
[WhiteElo "2703"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[PlyCount "149"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Qf6 6. d4 exd4 7. Bg5 Qd6 8.
Nxd4 Be7 9. Bxe7 Nxe7 10. Nc3 Bd7 11. Nb3 O-O-O 12. Qh5 Ng6 13. Rad1 Qe5 14.
Qxe5 Nxe5 15. Nc5 Rhe8 16. b3 a5 17. f3 b6 18. Nxd7 Rxd7 19. Kf2 Rde7 20. Rd2
Kb7 21. Rfd1 c5 22. Nd5 Rd7 23. Ne3 Rxd2+ 24. Rxd2 Nc6 25. Rd7 Ne5 26. Rd5 Nc6
27. c3 a4 28. Nc4 axb3 29. axb3 Ne7 30. Rd7 Kc8 31. Rd2 f6 32. g4 Kb7 33. h4
Kc6 34. h5 Ra8 35. e5 b5 36. exf6 gxf6 37. Ne3 Ra3 38. Rb2 Kd6 39. f4 Ke6 40.
Kf3 c6 41. g5 f5 42. Nc2 Ra8 43. Ne1 Nd5 44. c4 bxc4 45. bxc4 Ra3+ 46. Kf2 Nxf4
47. Rb7 Nh3+ 48. Ke2 Nxg5 49. Nd3 Ra2+ 50. Ke3 Rh2 51. Nxc5+ Kd6 52. Nd3 Rh3+
53. Ke2 Rh4 54. Rg7 Ne6 55. Rxh7 Rxc4 56. h6 Rh4 57. Ne1 Ng5 58. Rg7 Ne6 59.
Rh7 Rh2+ 60. Kd3 Rh3+ 61. Ke2 c5 62. Rh8 Ng5 63. Nd3 c4 64. Nf4 Rh2+ 65. Ke3 c3
66. Rd8+ Ke7 67. Rc8 Ne4 68. h7 c2 69. Rxc2 Rxc2 70. h8=Q Rc6 71. Qe5+ Kd8 72.
Ne6+ Kd7 73. Nd4 Rc5 74. Qe6+ Kc7 75. Nxf5 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.16"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B20"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2741"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Ne2 d6 3. c4 e5 4. Nbc3 g6 5. h4 Nf6 6. d3 h6 7. g3 Bg7 8. Bh3 Be6
9. f3 Qc8 10. Bxe6 fxe6 11. g4 Nc6 12. Be3 Nd4 13. Rh3 Qd7 14. Qd2 O-O-O 15. b4
Kb8 16. Rb1 Qf7 17. Nb5 Rhf8 18. bxc5 dxc5 19. Bxd4 cxd4 20. c5 Nxg4 21. Qa5 a6
22. c6 axb5 23. Rxb5 Ne3 24. Rg3 Rc8 25. Rxb7+ Qxb7 26. cxb7 Kxb7 27. Rxg6 Bf6
28. Rxf6 Rxf6 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.16"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C68"]
[WhiteElo "2709"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Ne7 6. Nxe5 Qd4 7. Qh5 g6 8.
Qg5 Bg7 9. Nd3 f5 10. e5 c5 11. b3 Qg4 12. Qxg4 fxg4 13. Nxc5 b6 14. Nd3 Bf5
15. Bb2 Bxd3 16. cxd3 O-O-O 17. Na3 Rxd3 18. Rac1 b5 19. Nc2 Rxd2 20. Bc3 Re2
21. Nd4 Rxa2 22. Ne6 Rg8 23. Ra1 Rxa1 24. Rxa1 Kb7 25. Nc5+ Kc6 26. b4 Ra8 27.
Rxa6+ Rxa6 28. Nxa6 Nd5 29. Bd4 Bf8 30. e6 Nxb4 31. Nb8+ Kd5 32. Nd7 Bd6 33.
Bc5 Kxe6 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.16"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8.
c4 Ba6 9. b3 g6 10. g3 Bg7 11. Bb2 O-O 12. Bg2 Rae8 13. O-O Bxe5 14. Qxe5 Qxe5
15. Bxe5 Rxe5 16. cxd5 Bxf1 17. Kxf1 cxd5 18. f4 Re3 19. Bxd5 Rd3 20. Bf3 Re8
21. Kf2 c6 22. Be2 Rde3 23. Bd1 Rd3 24. Be2 Rde3 25. Bd1 Rd3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.16"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2760"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. a4 Bf8 14. Bd3 c6 15. b3
Qc7 16. Qc2 Rac8 17. Bb2 Nh5 18. Bf1 Nf4 19. b4 Nb6 20. axb5 cxb5 21. dxe5 dxe5
22. Qb1 Rcd8 23. g3 Ne6 24. h4 Na4 25. Ra3 Rd7 26. Ba1 Red8 27. Qa2 Nb6 28. Bh3
Rd6 29. Qc2 Nd4 30. Qb1 Nxf3+ 31. Nxf3 Rd3 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.16"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B38"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2660"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Ne2 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. c4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Nc3 O-O 8.
Be2 d6 9. O-O Nxd4 10. Bxd4 Bd7 11. Qd2 Bc6 12. f3 a5 13. b3 Nd7 14. Be3 Nc5
15. Rab1 Qb6 16. Rfc1 Rfc8 17. Kh1 h5 18. Rc2 Qd8 19. Bf1 Qf8 20. a3 Kh7 21.
Qe1 Ne6 22. Qf2 f5 23. exf5 Qxf5 24. Rd1 Nf4 25. b4 axb4 26. axb4 Ra3 27. Bd4
Bxd4 28. Rxd4 Ra1 29. Rcd2 b6 30. Rd1 Rca8 31. Qe3 Ne6 32. R4d2 Qf6 33. Kg1 Ng7
34. Ne2 Nf5 35. Qxb6 Ba4 36. Rxa1 Qxa1 37. Ng3 Nxg3 38. hxg3 Qf6 39. Ra2 h4 40.
gxh4 Qxh4 41. b5 Qf4 42. Qf2 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.16"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2722"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Nb6 7. O-O Be7 8.
a3 O-O 9. b4 Re8 10. d3 Bf8 11. Bb2 Nd4 12. Nd2 c6 13. e3 Nf5 14. Qc2 Nd6 15.
Rad1 Bg4 16. Bf3 Bxf3 17. Nxf3 a5 18. Qb3 Qd7 19. bxa5 Nbc8 20. d4 e4 21. Ne5
Qe6 22. Qxe6 Rxe6 23. Nd7 Nc4 24. Bc1 Rxa5 25. d5 cxd5 26. Nxd5 Rd6 27. Nxf8
Raxd5 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.16"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grachev, Boris V"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B40"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2654"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. b3 b6 4. Bd3 Bb7 5. O-O d6 6. c3 Nf6 7. Re1 Be7 8. Bc2
Nc6 9. a3 Ne5 10. d4 cxd4 11. cxd4 Nxf3+ 12. Qxf3 Rc8 13. Bd3 O-O 14. Bb2 d5
15. e5 Ne4 16. Qe2 f6 17. f3 Ng5 18. Nd2 fxe5 19. Qxe5 Bd6 20. Qe2 Qf6 21. Nf1
Rce8 22. Rac1 Nf7 23. Ne3 h5 24. g3 e5 25. Nf5 e4 26. fxe4 dxe4 27. Nxd6 Nxd6
28. Bc4+ Nxc4 29. bxc4 e3 30. d5 Qf2+ 31. Kh1 b5 32. Qxf2 Rxf2 33. Bd4 bxc4 34.
Rxe3 Bxd5+ 35. Kg1 Rg2+ 36. Kf1 Rf8+ 37. Ke1 Rg1+ 38. Kd2 Rf2+ 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.16"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2744"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[PlyCount "145"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 e6 4. g3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O d6 7. Re1 a6 8. e4 Be7
9. d4 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Qc7 11. Bg5 O-O 12. Rc1 Re8 13. Qd2 Nbd7 14. b3 Bf8 15. h3
Rac8 16. Be3 Qb8 17. g4 Qa8 18. f3 g6 19. h4 Qb8 20. Qf2 Ne5 21. Red1 Bg7 22.
h5 d5 23. Bf4 dxe4 24. Qg3 Nfd7 25. Nxe4 Bxe4 26. fxe4 b5 27. h6 Bh8 28. Nxb5
axb5 29. Rxd7 Qb6+ 30. Be3 Qc6 31. Rdd1 bxc4 32. bxc4 Qa4 33. c5 Nc4 34. Bf2
Qxa2 35. Qf4 Be5 36. Qf3 Qa4 37. Bf1 Na5 38. Kg2 Nc6 39. Rc4 Qa2 40. Kg1 Rcd8
41. Rcc1 Nd4 42. Qe3 Qa4 43. c6 Nxc6 44. Rxd8 Rxd8 45. Qc5 Nd4 46. Qe7 Re8 47.
Rc4 Rxe7 48. Rxa4 Nc6 49. Ra8+ Nb8 50. Bc5 Rb7 51. Kf2 f6 52. Bc4 Kf7 53. Ke3
Nd7 54. Ba3 Rc7 55. Bb5 g5 56. Ke2 Nc5 57. Be8+ Ke7 58. Bg6 Kd6 59. Rd8+ Kc6
60. Be8+ Kb6 61. Bxc5+ Kxc5 62. Rd7 Rxd7 63. Bxd7 Kd6 64. Be8 Ke7 65. Bb5 Bd6
66. Kf3 Kf7 67. Bd7 Bf8 68. Bb5 Bc5 69. Bc4 Ke7 70. Bb3 Kd6 71. Ba2 Ke5 72. Bb3
Bf8 73. Bc4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.16"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Andreikin, Dmitry"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B42"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2683"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Bc5 6. c3 Qf6 7. Be3 d6 8. O-O
Ne7 9. Nd2 O-O 10. f4 Nbc6 11. N2b3 Ba7 12. Kh1 e5 13. fxe5 Qxe5 14. Bf4 Qf6
15. Qd2 Ng6 16. Bg3 Qd8 17. Nxc6 bxc6 18. Bc4 Bb8 19. Rad1 Bg4 20. Rde1 h5 21.
h3 d5 22. Bxb8 dxc4 23. Qxd8 Rxd8 24. Na5 Bxh3 25. Bc7 Rd7 26. gxh3 Rxc7 27.
Nxc4 Re8 28. Rf5 Rce7 29. Rxh5 Rxe4 30. Rxe4 Rxe4 31. Rc5 Nh4 32. Rxc6 Re2 33.
Kg1 f5 34. Rxa6 f4 35. Kf1 Rh2 36. Ra8+ Kf7 37. a4 Nf5 38. a5 Ke6 39. a6 f3 40.
Re8+ Kd7 41. Rf8 Ng3+ 42. Ke1 Re2+ 43. Kd1 Rf2 44. a7 Rf1+ 45. Kc2 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.17"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2763"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb7 6. Bg2 Bb4+ 7. Bd2 c5 8. Bxb4
cxb4 9. a3 Na6 10. O-O O-O 11. Qd2 Qe7 12. axb4 Nxb4 13. Nc3 Ne4 14. Nxe4 Bxe4
15. Ne5 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 a5 17. e4 d6 18. Nf3 Rac8 19. h4 Qb7 20. d5 Rfe8 21. Nd4
Na6 22. h5 h6 23. Rh1 Nc5 24. Rh4 exd5 25. exd5 Re5 26. Nf3 Nxb3 27. Qf4 Nxa1
28. Rg4 Qd7 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.17"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Savchenko, Boris"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B37"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2632"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Ne2 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. c4 Bg7 6. Nc2 Nf6 7. Nc3 d6 8. Be2
O-O 9. O-O Be6 10. Be3 Qa5 11. Rb1 Rfc8 12. f4 Nd7 13. Nd5 Qxa2 14. b4 Qa4 15.
Qd2 Nf6 16. Nc3 Nxe4 17. Nxe4 Bf5 18. Bd3 a5 19. b5 Nb4 20. Nxb4 axb4 21. Rxb4
Qa3 22. Rbb1 Ra4 23. Rfc1 d5 24. Nf2 Bxd3 25. Qxd3 dxc4 26. Qxa3 Rxa3 27. Bb6
f5 28. Kf1 e5 29. fxe5 Bxe5 30. h3 Kf7 31. Rc2 Rb3 32. Rd1 Rxb5 33. Bd4 Bg3 34.
Be3 Re5 35. Bb6 Rc6 36. Rd7+ Re7 37. Rxe7+ Kxe7 38. Ba5 b5 39. Rb2 c3 40. Rc2
Be5 41. Nd1 Kf7 42. Ke2 Rc4 43. Bxc3 b4 44. Kd3 Rxc3+ 45. Nxc3 Bxc3 46. Ra2 h5
47. Ra6 Kg7 48. Kc4 Kh6 49. Rb6 Kg5 50. Kd3 Be1 51. Kd4 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.17"]
[Round "17"]
[White "Eljanov, Pavel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2742"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. e4 d6 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 e5 8. Bd3
b6 9. Ne2 Ba6 10. O-O Nfd7 11. f4 Nc6 12. Rf3 Na5 13. fxe5 dxe5 14. Ng3 Bxc4
15. Nf5 Kh8 16. Rh3 Bxd3 17. Qxd3 Nb3 18. Qg3 Qf6 19. Bg5 Qg6 20. Ne7 Qxe4 21.
Re1 Qc2 22. dxe5 Rae8 23. Qh4 Ndc5 24. Rf1 Ne6 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.17"]
[Round "18"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B45"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2720"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Ne2 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Ndb5 Bb4 7. a3 Bxc3+ 8.
Nxc3 d5 9. Bd3 d4 10. Ne2 e5 11. O-O O-O 12. h3 Re8 13. Ng3 Nd7 14. Qh5 Nf8 15.
f4 exf4 16. Bxf4 Ng6 17. Bd2 Nce5 18. Nf5 f6 19. Rf2 Bxf5 20. exf5 Nxd3 21.
cxd3 Ne5 22. Rf4 Qd7 23. Rh4 h6 24. Rf1 Rac8 25. Rff4 Rc2 26. Rxd4 Qc6 27. Qd1
Rxb2 28. Rhe4 Qb6 29. Kh2 Rc8 30. Rb4 Qd6 31. Bf4 Rxb4 32. Bxe5 fxe5 33. axb4
Rc3 34. Qh5 Rxd3 35. Qe8+ Kh7 36. Rxe5 Rd5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.17"]
[Round "19"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2771"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. O-O Be7 7. Nc3 Nb6 8.
a3 O-O 9. b4 Re8 10. Bb2 Bf8 11. d3 Nd4 12. e3 Nxf3+ 13. Bxf3 a5 14. b5 a4 15.
Qe2 Bf5 16. Rfd1 Qc8 17. Rac1 Ra5 18. h4 h6 19. Kh2 Be6 20. Rg1 Rd8 21. g4 Be7
22. g5 hxg5 23. hxg5 Bf5 24. Be4 Qe6 25. Rg3 Bxe4 26. Nxe4 Rxb5 27. Kg2 Kf8 28.
Rxc7 Nd5 29. Rc4 Nb6 30. Rc1 Rb3 31. Qh5 Ke8 32. Ba1 Kd7 33. Nc5+ Bxc5 34. Rxc5
Rxd3 35. Bxe5 Rc8 36. Rxc8 Nxc8 37. Bxg7 Rxa3 38. Rf3 Nd6 39. Bf8 Rd3 40. Bxd6
Rxd6 41. Rxf7+ Kc6 42. Qf3+ Qd5 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.17"]
[Round "20"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2741"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 a6 8. Qd2 b5
9. a3 g5 10. fxg5 cxd4 11. Nxd4 Ncxe5 12. Bd3 Bb7 13. O-O Bg7 14. Nce2 Ng4 15.
Kh1 Nxe3 16. Qxe3 Qe7 17. Ng3 Be5 18. c3 Rg8 19. h4 h6 20. Ngf5 exf5 21. Nxf5
Qc5 22. Qxc5 Nxc5 23. Nxh6 Rh8 24. Bc2 f6 25. Rae1 Rxh6 26. gxh6 Ne4 27. Kg1
Ke7 28. Rf5 Rh8 29. Rh5 Kf7 30. g4 Bf4 31. Bb3 Nd2 32. Bd1 Rxh6 33. Rxh6 Bxh6
34. Bc2 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.17"]
[Round "21"]
[White "Ponomariov, Ruslan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A47"]
[WhiteElo "2744"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 e6 3. e3 c5 4. c3 b6 5. Nd2 Bb7 6. Ngf3 cxd4 7. cxd4 Be7 8. h3
O-O 9. Bd3 Nc6 10. a3 Rc8 11. O-O d6 12. Qe2 Qd7 13. e4 Rfd8 14. Be3 Qe8 15.
Rfe1 Na5 16. b4 Nc6 17. Ba6 Bxa6 18. Qxa6 Qd7 19. Qd3 Qb7 20. Nf1 d5 21. e5 Ne4
22. N3h2 f5 23. f3 Ng5 24. Rac1 b5 25. Ng3 a5 26. bxa5 Nxa5 27. Ne2 Nc4 28. Rc3
Qa6 29. Bc1 b4 30. axb4 Nf7 31. Rb3 Rb8 32. Nf4 Bxb4 33. Rd1 Be7 34. Nf1 Rdc8
35. Qb1 Rxb3 36. Qxb3 Nd8 37. Ne3 Nc6 38. Qd3 Nb4 39. Qb3 Kf7 40. g4 g5 41. Nd3
Nxe3 42. Bxe3 Nxd3 43. Qxd3 Qxd3 44. Rxd3 f4 45. Bf2 Bb4 46. Rb3 Rc4 47. Kf1
Ke7 48. Ke2 Kd7 49. Kd3 Kc6 50. h4 h6 51. hxg5 hxg5 52. Rb1 Rc3+ 53. Ke2 Rc2+
54. Kf1 Kb5 55. Be1 Rc4 56. Bf2 Ka4 57. Ra1+ Ba3 58. Rb1 Bb4 59. Ra1+ Kb5 60.
Rb1 Kc6 61. Ke2 Rc2+ 62. Kf1 Kb5 63. Be1 Rc4 64. Bf2 Rc3 65. Be1 Rc4 66. Bf2
1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.17"]
[Round "22"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 a6 5. a4 Bg7 6. h3 O-O 7. Nf3 Nc6 8. Be2 e5
9. d5 Ne7 10. a5 Ne8 11. h4 f5 12. h5 Nf6 13. hxg6 Nxg6 14. Ng5 Qe7 15. Qd3
fxe4 16. Ncxe4 Nxe4 17. Nxe4 Nf4 18. Bxf4 exf4 19. g4 fxg3 20. Nxg3 Bxb2 21.
Ra4 Be5 22. Kd1 Rf7 23. Rah4 Bd7 24. Bg4 Bxg3 25. Qxg3 Rg7 26. Rxh7 Rxh7 27.
Be6+ Kh8 28. Rxh7+ Kxh7 29. Qh3+ Kg6 30. Qf5+ Kg7 31. Qg4+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.17"]
[Round "23"]
[White "Movsesian, Sergei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2721"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 d6 7. c3 O-O 8. h3
Re8 9. Re1 h6 10. Nbd2 Bf8 11. Nf1 Bd7 12. Bc2 Ne7 13. Nh4 g6 14. Qf3 Nc6 15.
Ne3 Bg7 16. Bd2 Be6 17. Bb3 Bxb3 18. axb3 a5 19. Ng4 Nxg4 20. Qxg4 Qc8 21. Qg3
Qe6 22. Ra3 Ra6 23. f4 exf4 24. Bxf4 Ne7 25. Nf3 Rb6 26. d4 Rb5 27. e5 d5 28.
Nd2 c6 29. Rea1 b6 30. Rf1 Nf5 31. Qd3 Ne7 32. Raa1 Qf5 33. Qe2 Qe6 34. Rf2 Kh7
35. Raf1 Ng8 36. Qd1 Re7 37. Nb1 f6 38. Na3 fxe5 39. Bxe5 Bxe5 40. dxe5 Rc5 41.
b4 axb4 42. cxb4 Rc4 43. Nxc4 dxc4 44. Qd6 Qxe5 45. Rf7+ Kh8 46. Qxg6 Rxf7 47.
Rxf7 Qe1+ 48. Kh2 Qe5+ 49. Qg3 Qxb2 50. Rf8 Qg7 51. Qf4 c3 52. Rc8 c5 53. bxc5
b5 54. c6 c2 55. c7 b4 56. Rb8 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.17"]
[Round "24"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2703"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Nbd2 d5 4. b4 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. Bb2 Bf5 7. c4 c6 8. Be2
Nbd7 9. O-O dxc4 10. Nxc4 Nb6 11. Na5 Rb8 12. a3 Nbd5 13. Rc1 Ne4 14. Nd2 Nxd2
15. Qxd2 Qd7 16. Rfe1 Rbc8 17. Bf1 Nf6 18. f3 e5 19. e4 Be6 20. Red1 Rfd8 21.
Qe1 exd4 22. Bxd4 Qc7 23. Qg3 c5 24. Qxc7 Rxc7 25. Bxc5 Rdc8 26. Be3 Nd7 27.
Nxb7 Bd4 28. Rxd4 Rxc1 29. Bxc1 Rxc1 30. Na5 Nb6 31. Kf2 Ra1 32. Rd3 Kg7 33.
Rc3 Na4 34. Re3 Nb2 35. Be2 Ra2 36. Kg3 g5 37. b5 h5 38. h4 Kh6 39. hxg5+ Kxg5
40. f4+ Kh6 41. f5 Bd7 42. Nc6 Kg5 43. Nxa7 h4+ 44. Kh2 Na4 45. Nc6 Kf4 46.
Rf3+ Kg5 47. Bc4 Rc2 48. Bb3 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.17"]
[Round "25"]
[White "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2741"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb7 6. Bg2 Bb4+ 7. Bd2 c5 8. O-O
O-O 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Nc3 Na6 11. Bf4 d5 12. cxd5 Nxd5 13. Nxd5 Bxd5 14. Rc1 Nb4
15. a3 Nc6 16. b4 Be7 17. Qd3 f5 18. Rfd1 Qe8 19. Qa6 Rd8 20. b5 Na5 21. Qxa7
Nc4 22. Ne5 Ra8 23. Qd7 Nxe5 24. Qxe8 Rfxe8 25. Bxe5 Bxg2 26. Kxg2 Bxa3 27. Rc6
Bf8 28. Rxb6 Ra2 29. Kf1 Ra4 30. Rb7 Re4 31. f4 Rb4 32. Rdd7 Rb1+ 33. Kg2 Rc8
34. Bxg7 Rc2 35. Rd8 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.17"]
[Round "26"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D18"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2709"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 e6 7. Bxc4 Nbd7 8. a5
Bb4 9. Qa4 Qe7 10. O-O O-O 11. Be2 Ne4 12. Qb3 Rab8 13. Rd1 Bd6 14. Nxe4 Bxe4
15. Nd2 Bg6 16. Nc4 Bc7 17. Bd2 Rfd8 18. Bb4 Qg5 19. Bf3 a6 20. h3 Nf6 21. Bc5
Rd7 22. Bb6 Bxb6 23. Qxb6 Nd5 24. Qc5 h6 25. b4 Rdd8 26. Rd2 Bh7 27. Re1 Bg6
28. Kh2 Qf6 29. Ne5 Bh7 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.17"]
[Round "27"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E43"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. e3 Bb7 6. Bd3 O-O 7. Qc2 c5 8. Bd2
cxd4 9. Nxd4 Nc6 10. Nxc6 Bxc6 11. e4 Qb8 12. h3 Bc5 13. O-O Qe5 14. Rae1 Rac8
15. Kh1 Qh5 16. Be3 Bxe3 17. Rxe3 Ng4 18. Qd1 Nf6 19. e5 Qg5 20. Ne4 Nxe4 21.
Bxe4 Rfd8 22. f4 Qe7 23. f5 exf5 24. Bxf5 Qg5 25. Qe2 Bxg2+ 26. Qxg2 Qxe3 27.
Bxh7+ Kxh7 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.17"]
[Round "28"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2760"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8.
c4 Nb6 9. Nc3 Qe6 10. Qe4 Ba6 11. b3 Bb4 12. Bd2 Bxc3 13. Bxc3 d5 14. Qh4 dxc4
15. Rc1 Qg6 16. Bb4 f6 17. Qh3 Bc8 18. Qf3 Nd5 19. Rxc4 Qb1+ 20. Qd1 Qxd1+ 21.
Kxd1 Ba6 22. Rg4 Bxf1 23. Rxf1 f5 24. Rd4 O-O-O 25. Bd2 Rhe8 26. Re1 Kb7 27.
Kc2 c5 28. Rc4 Kb6 29. Rh4 h6 30. Rc4 Re6 31. Re2 Ne7 32. Be3 Rd5 33. f4 a5 34.
Rd2 Rc6 35. Ra4 Kb5 36. g3 Rxd2+ 37. Bxd2 Ra6 38. Rc4 Nd5 39. Kd3 Nb4+ 40. Bxb4
axb4 41. Rc2 Ra8 42. h3 h5 43. Ke3 Kc6 44. Kf3 g6 45. g4 hxg4+ 46. hxg4 Rh8 47.
Kg3 Kd5 48. Re2 Ke6 49. Rc2 Kd5 50. gxf5 gxf5 51. Rh2 Ra8 52. Kf3 c4 53. Rd2+
Kc5 54. bxc4 Kxc4 55. e6 Re8 56. Re2 Kd5 57. Re5+ Kd6 58. Rxf5 Rxe6 59. Rb5 c5
60. Rb6+ Kd5 61. Rxe6 Kxe6 62. Ke4 c4 63. Kd4 b3 64. axb3 cxb3 65. f5+ Kxf5 66.
Kc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.18"]
[Round "29"]
[White "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2660"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. g3 d5 2. Bg2 Nf6 3. d3 c6 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. O-O Nbd7 6. Nbd2 e6 7. e4 Be7 8. Re1
O-O 9. h3 Bh5 10. Qe2 a5 11. a4 Qb6 12. g4 Bg6 13. Nh4 dxe4 14. Nxg6 hxg6 15.
Nxe4 Nxe4 16. Bxe4 Nf6 17. Bg2 Rad8 18. c3 c5 19. Bf4 Nd5 20. Be5 Bf6 21. Bg3
g5 22. Be4 Rd7 23. Rab1 Rfd8 24. Ra1 g6 25. Rad1 Bg7 26. h4 gxh4 27. Bxh4 Rc8
28. Bg3 Qb3 29. Bxg6 Qxa4 30. g5 Rcd8 31. Be4 Ne7 32. Qh5 Nf5 33. g6 Nxg3 34.
fxg3 f5 35. Rf1 Rd5 36. Bxd5 Rxd5 37. Rde1 Qd7 38. g4 f4 39. Qh7+ Kf8 40. Rxf4+
1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.18"]
[Round "30"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2722"]
[PlyCount "197"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a4
Bd7 9. Nc3 Na5 10. Ba2 b4 11. Ne2 c5 12. Nd2 Be6 13. f4 Bxa2 14. Rxa2 O-O 15.
Nf3 Nc6 16. Ng3 exf4 17. Bxf4 d5 18. e5 Ne8 19. Nf5 Nc7 20. Ra1 Ne6 21. Bg3 Qd7
22. Kh1 Rae8 23. c3 f6 24. Nxe7+ Qxe7 25. Bh4 g5 26. exf6 Rxf6 27. Bg3 Rf5 28.
Re1 Qf6 29. cxb4 Nxb4 30. Ne5 Nf4 31. Nd7 Rxe1+ 32. Qxe1 Qe6 33. Nxc5 Qxe1+ 34.
Rxe1 Nfxd3 35. Nxd3 Nxd3 36. Ra1 Nxb2 37. Kg1 Nc4 38. Bf2 Kf7 39. Rb1 Rf6 40.
Rb7+ Kg6 41. Bd4 Rf4 42. Bf2 Nd2 43. Rb6+ Rf6 44. Rb7 Rc6 45. Be3 Ne4 46. h3 h5
47. Kf1 g4 48. hxg4 hxg4 49. a5 Kf5 50. Rf7+ Ke6 51. Rg7 Rc3 52. Bf4 Ra3 53.
Rxg4 Kf5 54. Rh4 Rxa5 55. Be3 Ra2 56. g4+ Ke6 57. Rh6+ Kf7 58. Rb6 a5 59. g5
Ng3+ 60. Kg1 Nf5 61. Bf4 Kg7 62. Be5+ Kh7 63. g6+ Kh6 64. g7+ Kh7 65. Rb8 Nxg7
66. Rb7 Kg6 67. Rxg7+ Kf5 68. Bd6 d4 69. Kf1 Ke4 70. Ke1 a4 71. Rg3 d3 72. Kd1
a3 73. Rg4+ Kf3 74. Ra4 Ra1+ 75. Kd2 a2 76. Be5 Rh1 77. Kxd3 Rd1+ 78. Kc2 Rd5
79. Bc3 Rd8 80. Rxa2 Ke4 81. Ra4+ Kf5 82. Bd4 Rd7 83. Kd3 Rd8 84. Ra5+ Kf4 85.
Ra6 Kg5 86. Ke4 Rb8 87. Ra7 Rb4 88. Rg7+ Kh4 89. Rg8 Ra4 90. Ke5 Kh3 91. Be3
Rb4 92. Kf5 Ra4 93. Bf4 Ra3 94. Bd6 Ra4 95. Rg3+ Kh4 96. Rg2 Kh5 97. Rg8 Kh6
98. Be5 Ra7 99. Rg1 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.18"]
[Round "31"]
[White "Grachev, Boris V"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2654"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[PlyCount "15"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. e3 O-O 5. Be2 d6 6. h3 c5 7. c3 b6 8. O-O 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.18"]
[Round "32"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2744"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Nbd2 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Bd3 O-O 6. O-O Nc6 7. c3 e5 8. Re1
h6 9. Nf1 Nh5 10. Ne3 Nf6 11. Bc2 Re8 12. d5 Ne7 13. c4 Nh7 14. Nh4 Bf6 15. Nf3
Bg7 16. g4 Bf6 17. h4 Bd7 18. Kg2 Qc8 19. Kg3 Bg7 20. Rg1 Nf6 21. Nh2 Rf8 22.
Kg2 Nh7 23. Kh1 Kh8 24. Bd2 a6 25. Rg2 c5 26. a4 b5 27. axb5 axb5 28. Rxa8 Qxa8
29. b4 Qa7 30. Rg1 Rb8 31. Qa1 Qc7 32. Qa3 Nf6 33. bxc5 dxc5 34. cxb5 Bxb5 35.
Rb1 Nc8 36. Bd3 Bxd3 37. Rxb8 Qxb8 38. Qxd3 Nd6 39. f3 Nd7 40. Nhf1 Qb2 41. Kg2
Kh7 42. Qa6 Nb6 43. Qd3 c4 44. Qc3 Qb5 45. Qb4 c3 46. Bxc3 Qe2+ 47. Kg3 Nbc4
48. Nxc4 Nxc4 49. Qb1 Bf8 50. Qe1 Qd3 51. Ba1 Bc5 52. g5 h5 53. Qc1 Qe2 54.
Bxe5 Bf2+ 55. Kf4 Bxh4 56. Bf6 Qd3 57. Qa1 Qc2 58. Qa8 Qc1+ 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.18"]
[Round "33"]
[White "Andreikin, Dmitry"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A37"]
[WhiteElo "2683"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 Nc6 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O Nh6 7. a3 O-O 8. Rb1
b6 9. d3 Bb7 10. Bd2 Nf5 11. b4 Qd7 12. Qa4 Rfd8 13. Rfc1 Rac8 14. Nd5 Ba8 15.
Qd1 e6 16. Nc3 Ncd4 17. e3 Nxf3+ 18. Bxf3 Bxf3 19. Qxf3 Ne7 20. Be1 Nc6 21. Qe2
Qb7 22. f4 Ne7 23. Qg2 Qd7 24. g4 d5 25. cxd5 exd5 26. bxc5 d4 27. exd4 Bxd4+
28. Kh1 Rxc5 29. Ne4 Rxc1 30. Rxc1 Nd5 31. Qf3 Rc8 32. Rc4 Bg7 33. Bh4 b5 34.
Rxc8+ Qxc8 35. f5 Qc1+ 36. Kg2 Nf4+ 37. Kg3 Be5 38. Nf6+ Kg7 39. Ne8+ Kf8 40.
Bf6 Qe1+ 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.18"]
[Round "34"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2763"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Ne2 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bd3 a6 8.
O-O Nxd4 9. Bxd4 Bc5 10. Bxc5 Qxc5 11. Kh1 d6 12. Qe1 e5 13. Na4 Qc6 14. Qb4
Be6 15. c4 Nxe4 16. Bxe4 Qxe4 17. Qxd6 Rd8 18. Qa3 Qxc4 19. Rfd1 Rxd1+ 20. Rxd1
f6 21. Qd6 Kf7 22. Nc5 Re8 23. h3 Qxa2 24. Nxb7 Kg8 25. Qc6 Rf8 26. Nc5 Bf7 27.
Qb7 a5 28. Qb6 h5 29. Kh2 a4 30. Qb4 Qc4 31. Qxc4 Bxc4 32. Ra1 Bb3 33. Ra3 Rb8
34. Nxa4 Bxa4 35. Rxa4 Rxb2 36. f4 Kf7 37. Ra7+ Kg6 38. fxe5 fxe5 39. Kg3 Rb3+
40. Kf2 h4 41. Ra4 Kh5 42. Ra5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.18"]
[Round "35"]
[White "Savchenko, Boris"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2632"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. e5 Nh5 4. Be2 d6 5. exd6 Qxd6 6. Bxh5 gxh5 7. Nc3 Rg8 8.
g3 Bg4 9. f3 Bf5 10. Bf4 Qb6 11. Nge2 Nc6 12. Nd5 Qa5+ 13. Nec3 Rc8 14. a3 Bg7
15. b4 Qa6 16. b5 Qa5 17. bxc6 bxc6 18. Nb4 c5 19. Nbd5 cxd4 20. Qe2 Be6 21.
Bxc7 Qc5 22. Be5 Bxd5 23. Nxd5 Qxd5 24. Bxg7 Rxg7 25. O-O Rg6 26. Rad1 Rc3 27.
Rfe1 Re6 28. Qd2 Rxe1+ 29. Rxe1 e6 30. f4 h4 31. Re5 Qc4 32. gxh4 Rxc2 33. Qa5
Rc1+ 34. Re1 d3 35. Kf2 Qxf4+ 36. Kg2 Rc2+ 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.18"]
[Round "36"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Eljanov, Pavel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2742"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. a3 e5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. g3 Bg7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O d6 8. b4
Nd4 9. Bb2 c6 10. d3 Re8 11. Nd2 Be6 12. e3 Nf5 13. Ne2 Nd7 14. e4 Ne7 15. f4
f5 16. Kh1 Kh8 17. Qc2 Qc7 18. Rae1 a5 19. Nf3 axb4 20. axb4 fxe4 21. dxe4 Rf8
22. c5 dxc5 23. bxc5 Ra5 24. fxe5 Rxc5 25. Qd2 Nxe5 26. Nxe5 Rxf1+ 27. Rxf1
Bxe5 28. Qf4 Bc4 29. Rc1 b6 30. Rxc4 Qd6 31. Rxc5 Qd1+ 32. Qf1 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.18"]
[Round "37"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B02"]
[WhiteElo "2720"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. exd5 Nxd5 5. Bc4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. O-O c5 8.
Re1 O-O 9. Ng5 Nc6 10. Ba3 Qa5 11. Qc1 e6 12. Ne4 b6 13. Bb2 Ba6 14. Bxa6 Qxa6
15. a4 Rfd8 16. d3 c4 17. d4 Ne7 18. Qe3 Nd5 19. Qg3 Rac8 20. Bc1 Rd7 21. Bg5
Qa5 22. Reb1 f5 23. Rb5 Qa6 24. Nd2 Qb7 25. Rbb1 Qc6 26. Bf4 Re8 27. Re1 a6 28.
h4 b5 29. axb5 axb5 30. Be5 Bxe5 31. Rxe5 Qd6 32. Rae1 Rde7 33. h5 Rg7 34. h6
Rge7 35. Rb1 Qa6 36. Rbe1 Qa3 37. Qg5 Nxc3 38. Nb1 Nxb1 39. Rxb1 b4 40. d5 b3
41. cxb3 c3 42. dxe6 c2 43. Rc1 Rc7 44. Ree1 Qb2 45. Kh2 Qxb3 46. Qf6 Qc3 47.
Qxc3 Rxc3 48. Re2 Rec8 49. e7 Kf7 50. e8=Q+ Rxe8 51. Rexc2 Rxc2 52. Rxc2 g5 53.
Rc7+ Kg6 54. Rc6+ Kh5 55. Kg3 Rg8 56. Rf6 f4+ 57. Kf3 Rg6 58. Rf7 Kxh6 59. Kg4
Rb6 60. Rf5 Rb2 61. Rxg5 Rxf2 62. Rh5+ Kg6 63. Rg5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2010.11.18"]
[Round "38"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2771"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2011"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.11.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. a3 Nf6 2. f4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 b6 6. d3 d5 7. O-O Bb7 8. Qe1 c5
9. Nbd2 Nc6 10. e4 dxe4 11. dxe4 Nd4 12. Nxd4 Qxd4+ 13. Kh1 Rfd8 14. e5 Bxg2+
15. Kxg2 Qd5+ 16. Nf3 Ne8 17. Be3 Nc7 18. Rd1 Qc6 19. Qe2 Ne6 20. Bf2 b5 21. c3
a5 22. Kg1 c4 23. Rfe1 h5 24. Rd2 Rxd2 25. Nxd2 Rd8 26. Qe4 Qd5 27. Qxd5 Rxd5
28. Ne4 a4 29. Kg2 Kf8 30. Kf3 Rd3+ 31. Be3 f6 32. Nf2 Rd7 33. Ke4 f5+ 34. Kf3
Nc7 35. Bc5 Rd2 36. Re2 Rxe2 37. Kxe2 Nd5 38. Nd1 Ke8 39. Ne3 Nxe3 40. Kxe3 Kd7
41. Kd4 e6 42. h4 Kc6 43. Be7 Bh6 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 2nd"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2010.12.08"]
[Round "1"]
[White "McShane, Luke J"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A37"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[Annotator "McShane,L"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2010.12.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 140"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6. O-O Nh6 7. d4 $5 {With
this interesting idea, White voluntarily gives up the bishop pair in order to
increase his lead in development.} (7. b3 {was played in Flores-Carlsen at the
Khanty Mansiysk-Olympiad in 2010}) 7... cxd4 8. Bxh6 Bxh6 9. Nxd4 Ne5 {[%csl
Gc8,Gg2,Gh6][%cal Yg2a8] An ambitious decision, refusing to simplify the
position.} 10. Qb3 O-O 11. Rfd1 {[%csl Rd8,Rh6][%cal Yc4c5,Yd4f5,Yd1d8] The
position is calm on the surface, but the situation is tense. Black's queenside
is under pressure, but if Black can catch up in development then his pair of
bishops will give him an advantage, so it's important for White to keep up the
momentum and create threats. This move creates the idea of c4-c5, and if d6xc5
then Nd4-f5 with a discovered attack.} Nd7 12. Qa3 a5 13. b4 $5 {[%csl Ga3]
[%cal Ya3a8,Yc4c5] A brave decision which took some time. I wanted to seize
the initiative before my opponent had a chance to unravel his queenside. The
immediate threat is to advance c4-c5 which would break through the queenside
defences.} Ra6 {[%csl Ga6][%cal Ya5b4,Yb7a6]} (13... Nb6 {was the critical
response, hitting c4 and protecting the rook on a8 so that axb4 becomes
possible. Now after} 14. c5 Nc4 15. Qb3 Nd2 $5 {is a surprising shot. During
the game I thought White had good chances in the tactical melee which arises
after 16.Qd5!?, but perhaps} 16. Qa4 {is the correct follow up after all.}) 14.
b5 Ra8 {It's not obvious who has gained from the pawn's advance to b5. If
White can break through, the advanced pawn will be an asset, but if Black can
get a grip on c5 then the c4-pawn will be a long term weakness.} 15. e3 a4 16.
Rab1 Bg7 17. Ne4 {[%cal Yc4c5] White is threatening c4-c5 again, which would
open the floodgates for the rest of my pieces. It's correct to prevent that,
but I had foreseen the nice maneouvre with the other knight.} Qb6 18. Nc6 $1 {
[%csl Gc6,Gd5,Re7][%cal Yc6e7,Yc6b4,Yb4d5]} Re8 ({Capturing the knight wasn't
a great option:} 18... bxc6 19. bxc6 Qc7 (19... Qxc6 20. Nf6+ {wins the queen.}
) 20. cxd7 Bxd7 21. c5 {and White will probably pick up a pawn.}) 19. Nb4 {
[%csl Rb6,Gd5,Ge4][%cal Yb4d5,Yc4c5] Heading for a nice square on d5.} f5 {
Certainly ugly, but both of us thought this was a necessary evil. Perhaps
though, moving the queen away was the best bet.} 20. Nc3 $6 (20. Nd5 $1 Qd8 21.
Ng5 $1 {was the strongest continuation, threatening to hop into the hole on e6.
After} Nc5 22. b6 {threatens a fork on c7. If both the rooks flee then} Rf8 23.
Nc7 Rb8 24. Rb5 $1 {is incisive, and Black has no good answer to Rxc5.}) 20...
Qc5 $2 (20... e6 $1 {was the best defence. I was looking at some ideas with}
21. Na6 $5 {but the position remains messy. Retreating the knight to d3 should
preserve an edge though.}) 21. Nxa4 Qa7 22. Na6 $3 {[%csl Ga6,Ra7,Gg2][%cal
Yg2a8,Yb5b6,Ya6c7] Certainly Magnus missed the force of this knight sacrifice.
The threat is Na6-c7 and taking the knight comes with its own problems.} bxa6 (
22... Rf8 23. c5 $1 Nxc5 24. N4xc5 dxc5 25. Qxc5 {and the knight still can't
be taken:} bxa6 26. b6 Qb8 27. Qd5+ $18) 23. b6 Nxb6 24. Rxb6 $1 (24. Nxb6 Rb8
{is less convincing.}) 24... Rb8 25. c5 $1 Be6 {Black faced an unappealing
choice.} ({The alternative was} 25... dxc5 26. Qxc5 Rxb6 27. Nxb6 Be6 28. Qc6
Bf7 29. Bd5 {and Black is in huge trouble.} e6 $2 {allows a pretty finish:} 30.
Nc8 Qb8 31. Bxe6 $1 Rxe6 32. Rd8+ Bf8 33. Ne7+ $1 Kg7 34. Rxb8 Rxc6 35. Nxc6 {
with an easy win.}) 26. Rdb1 dxc5 27. Rb7 Rxb7 28. Rxb7 Qa8 29. Nxc5 Qc8 (29...
Bf7 30. Rxe7 $1 {is winning comfortably, as a6 will also drop off after the
exchange of rooks.} Qb8 31. Rxe8+ Qxe8 32. Qxa6 {etc.}) 30. Qxa6 Bf7 (30...
Qxc5 31. Qxe6+ Kh8 32. Bc6 {[%csl Re7] wins the e7-pawn as well.}) 31. Bc6 Rd8
32. Nd7 $1 {[%csl Gd7][%cal Yb7c7,Ya6b6,Yb7b8] The neatest way to finish. The
threat is simply to play Qb6 followed by Rc7 or Rb8 to trap the queen, and
there is no good response.} Rxd7 (32... Be6 33. Qb6 Rxd7 34. Rb8 $1 {wins with
a pin.}) 33. Bxd7 Qc1+ 34. Qf1 Qxf1+ 35. Kxf1 Bc4+ 36. Kg1 Bxa2 37. Ba4 $1 {
[%cal Ya4b3] Forcing off a pair of bishops makes the technical task much
simpler.} e5 38. f3 $1 {A final accurate move. After exchanging bishops, White
will play e3-e4 to fix a weakness on e5 before advancing the king.} Bh6 39.
Bb3+ 1-0

[Event "London Classic 2nd"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2010.12.09"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Adams, Michael"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2723"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2010.12.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 140"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bc5 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O O-O 7. d3 a6 {
In this line, Black usually plays ...h6 in the move range from 7 to 9. In
doing so, he aims to prevent both Bg5 and Ng5, which can be annoying under
certain circumstances. It is worth mentioning that in his days of glory,
Karpov himself used to play ...h6 at an early stage when employing this system
of development.} 8. a3 {For the time being, it is best to keep developing,
keepning both aforementioned threats in reserve.} (8. Bg5 {does not lead
anywhere after} h6 9. Bxf6 Qxf6 10. Ne4 Qe7 11. Nxc5 dxc5 {Gulko,B (2620)
-Waitzkin,J (2440)/Modesto 1995/CBM 051/[Ribli] (1/2, 34)}) 8... Ba7 9. b4 Be6
{Black keeps refraining from ...h6.} ({White's play in the following game,
which I had extensively annotated for my English Opening CD published by
ChessBase, bears some similarity with Carlsen's later play:} 9... h6 10. e3 Be6
11. Re1 Qd7 12. Rb1 Rad8 (12... e4 13. dxe4 Bxc4 14. Nd2 Bd3 15. Rb3 {/\Nd5})
13. Qc2 Ne7 {'This is a standard maneovre: the knight is going to g6, like in
a Ruy Lopez (with reversed colours, of course) creating threats on the
kingside and making play in the centre possible with c6, d5. There is a future
hope for Ba7 too: the diagonal b8-h2 might become available. '} (13... e4 $2
14. Nxe4 $16) 14. a4 Bh3 15. Bh1 Ng4 16. a5 f5 $6 {'Black is impatient to
launch an attack against the white king, but neglects the defence on the other
wing.'} ({After} 16... c6 $142 {it would have been more difficult for White to
make progress. For instance, after} 17. b5 axb5 18. cxb5 f5 19. a6 bxa6 20.
bxa6 {the far advanced pawn is fully compensated for by Black's domination in
the centre.}) 17. b5 $36 {Portisch,L (2595)-Garcia Palermo,C (2440)/Reggio
Emilia 1992/EXT 2000 (1-0, 60)}) 10. Nd2 $146 {A new move, the point of which
I fail to understand. White not only gives up the possibility of Ng5, thus
allowing Black to save a tempo (...h6), but also allows an immediate opening
of the centre.} (10. Bb2 Qd7 (10... Ne7 11. Ng5 Bc8 12. e3 h6 13. Nf3 {
Spiridonov,N (2400)-Therkildsen,T (2145)/Nice 2000/EXT 2001 (1-0, 21)}) ({
With the knight on f3,} 10... d5 $6 {loses a pawn to} 11. cxd5 Nxd5 12. Nxd5
Bxd5 13. e4 {, but under the given circumstances, 11.Ng5 also looks unpleasant
for Black.}) 11. Rc1 Rac8 (11... Bh3 12. Nd5 Nxd5 13. Bxh3 Qxh3 14. cxd5 Ne7
15. e4 Rac8 16. d4) 12. e3 {White has played his usual moves in this line and
Black may have to finally transpose to the main lines with 12...h6, preparing .
..Bh3 and/or ...Nh7.} Bh3 {offers White pleasant play on the light squares:}
13. Bxh3 Qxh3 14. Ng5 Qh6 (14... Qd7 {is a bit passive and can be met by} 15.
Qf3 $5) ({The queen is exposed after} 14... Qf5 15. Nge4) 15. Nge4 Nxe4 16.
dxe4 $14 {The a7-bishop is passive, there is no kingside attack available and
the control over the d5-square offers White a pleasant domination.}) ({If
White intends to carry out the game plan, he can start with} 10. Rb1 {, when}
d5 {remains unappealing for Black because of} 11. Ng5 $1) 10... Rb8 {By
defending the b7-pawn, Black intends to prepare the thematic transfer of his
queen's knight to g6.} ({Black probably had better chances to get even chances
with the ambitious} 10... d5 {, for instance} 11. cxd5 Nxd5 12. Bb2 Nxc3 13.
Bxc3 Bd5 14. Bxd5 Qxd5 15. Qb3 Rad8 {White will prepare his queenside attack
with a4 and b5, but Black's control over the d4-square (the bishop is better
placed than on e7, as in the Reversed Dragon 4...d5) offers him good
counterchances.}) 11. Rb1 {White anticipates the opponent's plan and prepares
a massive queenside attack, in a similar way as Portisch did in the
aforementioned game.} ({The bishop would obviously stand in the way after} 11.
Bb2) 11... Ne7 12. a4 Qd7 13. b5 Bh3 14. Ba3 {We see that Carlsen's plans for
the bishop were more ambitious than the stereotypical Bb2. The pressure along
the a3-f8 diagonal is quite annoying.} (14. e3 $5 h6 15. Ba3 {may have been a
more restrictive move order.}) 14... h6 {Finally, Black plays this move anyway.
There was no threat on g5 anymore, but in order to get a kingside attack
started, ...Nh7 followed by ...f5 is necessary.} (14... Bd4 {comes into
account.} 15. Nce4 (15. Qb3 {takes the queen away from the kingside, offering
Black chances for counterplay:} Bxg2 16. Kxg2 axb5 17. axb5 Ng4) 15... Nxe4 {
Since the h7-squeare is not available, the knight does not have good retreats.}
(15... Ne8 $2 16. Bxh3 Qxh3 17. bxa6 $18) (15... Nh5 $2 16. e3 $18) (15... Bxg2
16. Nxf6+ gxf6 17. Kxg2 $16) 16. dxe4 $14 {We have reached a familiar
structure, which tends to favour White. The bishop is not stable on d4 and is
likely to cause more losses of time.}) 15. e3 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 Bc5 {A radical way
of neutralising the enemy bishop and avoiding problems with his own. Possibly,
the weakening of the pawn structure is too high a price to pay.} ({Black had
no time for} 16... Nh7 $6 {because of} 17. a5 {, threatening to trap the
bishop with b6.} Bc5 (17... Rbc8 18. Qa4 {also offers White a strong queenside
initiative.}) 18. Bxc5 dxc5 {is even less appealing now because of} 19. Nde4 {
and Black cannot defend c5 under favourable circumstances.}) ({Against a
neutral move such as} 16... Rfe8 {, White can carry out a familiar plan:} 17.
Nde4 Nxe4 (17... Nh7 $6 18. c5 $1 d5 19. b6 $1 {opens the position to White's
favour.}) 18. dxe4 $14) 17. Bxc5 dxc5 18. Nf3 {The plan chosen by Carlsen,
based on e3-e4, does not look too natural.} ({The maneuvre} 18. Nde4 Nxe4 19.
dxe4 {would once again led to a more pleasant position for White, at no risk.}
Qe6 (19... Qxd1 $6 20. Rfxd1 {leaves Black with problems keeping the b- and
d-file defended at the same time.} axb5 {hardly is a solution because of} 21.
Nxb5 $1 c6 22. Na7 $1 {The knight is not in danger here, because White
threatens to eliminate the b7-pawn with Rd7xb7, after which the knight is
likely to escape via c6 (after grabbing another pawn)} b6 23. Rd7 $16 {Black
loses most of his queenside pawns.} Rfe8 $6 24. a5 $1 $18) 20. Qe2 axb5 21.
axb5 $14 {White's knight is more active and he also disposes over more space.
The permanent threat of Nd5 keeps the black knight immobile on e7. The attempt
to generate counterplay with} f5 $6 {only offers White the e4-square.} 22. exf5
Nxf5 23. b6 c6 (23... cxb6 24. Nd5 $16) 24. Ne4 Qg6 25. Kh1 Nh4 26. Nd2 Nf5 27.
Nb3 $16) 18... Qe6 19. e4 {Even though Black's knights cannot reach d4 very
quickly, the weakness of this square restricts White's active possibilities.
White probably thought that he would be able to play Nd5, underestimating
Black's answer.} c6 $1 20. Qb3 Rbd8 21. bxa6 bxa6 22. Qc2 Ng6 {[%cal Gg6f4]}
23. Ng1 Rb8 24. a5 Nd7 25. Na4 Qd6 26. Ne2 Qc7 27. Qc3 Rfd8 {Black is well
regrouped and White is too busy keeping his d3- and a5-pawns defended to be
able to take advantage of the chronic weakness of the c5-square.} 28. Rxb8 {
Giving up the control of the b-file for the sake of a kingside attack is a
double-edged decision.} Rxb8 29. f4 exf4 (29... Rb7 $5 {[%cal Gc7b8] Seirawan})
30. gxf4 Qd6 31. Kh1 {Somehow, White's position looks too chaotic to make the
prospectes of an attack realistic. Black is well regrouped and has easy play.}
Rb4 32. Qc2 Nh4 ({There is no obvious refutation of the pawn grabbing} 32...
Qc7 33. Nac3 Qxa5 34. Rg1 Kh7 35. Qd1 Rb2 36. Qf1 Ngf8 37. Qg2 g6 38. f5 Ne5
39. Qg3 Qc7 {The weakness of the d4-square results in an almost absolute
stability of the knight on e5, allowing Black to keep his position together.
In the long run, the a-pawn may well decide the game.}) 33. Nac3 Qg6 34. Ng3
Nf6 35. e5 Nh5 36. Nxh5 Qxh5 37. Ne4 {White has somehow managed to regroup
properly, but his king is vulnerable, which should allow Black to keep the
balance even.} Kh8 $2 {Defending against a non-exisent (yet) threat, while the
c5-pawn was in danger already. Instead, Black should have prepared ...Qh3, in
order to cause White some problems with his own king.} (37... Nf5 $5 38. Qg2 (
38. Qf2 $2 Qh3 {/\...Rb2, /\ ...Qxd3} 39. Rd1 Rb2 $1 40. Qxb2 Qf3+ 41. Kg1
Qxd1+ 42. Kf2 Qxd3 $19) 38... Qh4 $132 {[%cal Gf5e3]}) (37... Qf5 $5 $132 38.
Nxc5 $2 (38. Qe2 $142 Qh3 $132) 38... Qh3 $17 39. Re1 (39. Qf2 $2 Rb2 $1) (39.
Rf2 $2 Qe3 $19) 39... Qf3+ 40. Kg1 Qxf4 $17) 38. Qf2 Nf5 39. Nxc5 $16 {Now it
is practically over. The d3-pawn is defended by the knight and White can
easily parry Black's one-move threats.} Qh3 {[%cal Gf5g3]} 40. Re1 Nh4 41. Qg3
Qxg3 42. hxg3 Nf3 43. Rf1 Nd4 44. Kg2 Ne6 45. Nxa6 Ra4 46. f5 Ng5 47. Nc7 Kg8 (
47... Rxa5 48. e6 Re5 49. d4 Re2+ 50. Rf2 Re1 51. d5 $18) 48. a6 Kf8 49. Kf2
1-0

[Event "London Classic 2nd"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2010.12.10"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2804"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[PlyCount "153"]
[EventDate "2010.12.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 140"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. a4 Bf8 14. Bd3 c6 15. b4
Rc8 16. axb5 cxb5 17. Bb2 d5 18. exd5 exd4 19. Rxe8 Qxe8 20. c4 bxc4 21. Nxc4
Nxd5 22. Nxd4 Nxb4 23. Nf5 Nxd3 24. Qxd3 Be4 25. Qd4 Bxf5 26. Nd6 Qd8 27. Nxf5
f6 28. Rd1 Rc2 29. Nh6+ gxh6 30. Qg4+ Bg7 31. Qe6+ Kh8 32. Rxd7 Qf8 33. Ba3 Qg8
34. Qxa6 Qe8 35. Qa7 Qg8 36. Be7 Rc8 37. Qa6 Qe8 38. Ra7 Kg8 39. Qe6+ Kh8 40.
Qa6 Kg8 41. Qe6+ Kh8 42. Kh2 Rc6 43. Qb3 Rc8 44. Bd6 Qg6 45. Qb7 Rd8 46. Bg3
Rg8 47. h4 Qf5 48. Qc7 Qd5 49. Ra5 Qe4 50. Qd7 Qc4 51. Qf5 Qc8 52. Qf3 Qd7 53.
Bf4 Qf7 54. g3 Re8 55. Be3 Rg8 56. Ra6 Re8 57. Ra7 Re7 58. Qa8+ Qf8 59. Ra6 Re8
60. Qc6 Rc8 61. Qf3 Qf7 62. Ra7 Qe6 63. Qb7 Qg8 64. Bf4 Rd8 65. Qa6 Re8 66. Rc7
Ra8 67. Qc6 Re8 68. Be3 Rb8 69. Bd4 Qf8 70. Qc3 Re8 71. Rc6 Qf7 72. Bxf6 Rf8
73. Bxg7+ Qxg7 74. Qe3 Qb2 75. Kg2 Qb7 76. Qxh6 Qf7 77. Rc2 1-0

[Event "London Classic 2nd"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2010.12.11"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A21"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2741"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2010.12.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 140"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d6 4. Nc3 g6 5. e3 {After a less than perfect start
it seemed appropriate not to discuss topical theory today, even in the Dutch
Defence. Nach einem weniger als perfekten Start schien es angemessen, heute
keine aktuelle Theorie zu diskutieren, nicht einmal in der holländischen
Verteidigung.} Bg7 6. Nge2 O-O 7. O-O e5 8. b3 Nbd7 (8... Nc6 {would lead to a
well-known position from the closed Sicilian, with White a tempo up obviously.
Whether the extra tempo actually makes a difference is, of course, an entirely
different matter. würde zu einer bekannten Stellung aus dem Geschlossenen
Sizilianer führen, wobei Weiß offensichtlich ein Tempo mehr hat. Ob das
Extratempo tatsächlich einen Unterschied macht, ist, natürlich, eine ganz
andere Frage.}) 9. d3 {I thought it would be sensible to postpone the
devolopment of the bishop, and for that purpose I also prepared another
waiting move, Qd2. I thought that d4 here or during the next few moves would
be wrong, as Black can simply answer e4. I would then have to play f3 and
later try to get e4 in, but it seemed to me that Black is always ready for
this Ich hielt es für vernünftig, die Entwicklung des Läufers zu verzögern,
und zu diesem Zweck bereitete ich auch noch einen weiteren Wartezug vor, Qd2.
Die Fortsetzung d4 hier oder in den nächsten paar Zügen hielt ich für falsch,
da Schwarz einfach e4 antworten kann. Darauf würde ich f3 spielen und später
versuchen müssen, e4 durchzusetzen, aber mir schien, dass Schwarz immer dafür
gewappet ist.} c6 10. Ba3 Qc7 (10... Qe7 {is also possible, but it makes sense
not to put the queen in the line of fire of the white bishop. ist ebenfalls
möglich, aber es ist sinnvoll, die Dame nicht in die Schusslinie des weißen
Läufers zu stellen.}) 11. Qd2 Re8 {White is well prepared for a pawn storm on
the kingside, as g5 can always be met with f4. Therefore, putting this rook on
e8, and later the other one on d8, makes perfect sense. Für einen Bauernsturm
am Königsflügel ist Weiß gut gewappnet, da g5 immer mit f4 beantwortet werden
kann. Daher ist das Platzieren dieses Turmes auf e8 und später die des anderen
auf d8 absolut sinnvoll.} 12. Rae1 {I was very unsure of where to put the rook.
Basically, White has three ways of breaking in the centre, d4, e4 and f4. As I
said, I felt that d4 is usually not very good.  Clearly, the rook would be
better placed on the d-file if I'm going to play e4, but I think Black is well
prepared for this: Ich war sehr unsicher, wo ich den Turm hinstellen sollte.
Im Grunde hat Weiß drei Möglichkeiten, im Zentrum durchzubrechen, d4, e4 und
f4. Dabei schien mir, wie gesagt, dass d4 meist nicht sehr gut ist.  Wenn ich
e4 spielen will, stünde der Turm eindeutig besser in der d-Linie, aber ich
denke, dass Schwarz dafür gut gewappnet ist.} (12. Rad1 Nc5 13. e4 (13. d4 Nce4
14. Nxe4 Nxe4 15. Qc2 Nf6 $1 16. d5 c5 {looks excellent for Black sieht
ausgezeichnet aus für Schwarz.}) 13... a5 (13... f4 $5 {with the idea of mit
der Idee} 14. gxf4 Bh6 15. d4 Ne6 $1 16. dxe5 dxe5 17. Bd6 Qf7 18. Bxe5 Nh5 {
also might be interesting könnte ebenfalls interessant sein.}) 14. exf5 {
The idea behind my previous move. Maybe h3, which would be very useful in the
following line would be more prudent, but then the f4!? idea becomes even more
tempting for Black. Die Idee hinter meinem vorigen Zug. Womöglich ist h3, was
in dem folgenden Abspiel sehr nützlich wäre, klüger, aber dann wird die Idee
f4!? noch verlockender für Schwarz.} Bxf5 15. d4 Nd3 16. h3 h5 {and Black is
just too active. und Schwarz ist einfach zu aktiv.}) 12... Nc5 13. h3 {I was
very happy with this prophylactic move. Mit diesem prophylaktischen Zug war
ich sehr zufrieden.} ({The problem with the immediate Das Problem bei dem
sofortigen} 13. f4 {is ist} e4 14. Bxc5 dxc5 15. dxe4 fxe4 16. h3 h5 {when the
Pe4 cannot be won, and White is stuck with a relatively passive position due
to the cramping effect of that very same pawn. With the pawn already on h3, it
all would be very different, as White would then have g4, followed be either
Ng3 or g5, rounding up the e4-pawn. , wonach der Pe4 nicht erobert werden kann,
und Weiß aufgrund der einengenden Wirkung eben jenes Bauern eine relativ
passive Stellung am Hals hat. Mit dem Bauern bereits auf h3 wäre alles ganz
anders, da Weiß dann g4 hätte, gefolgt von entweder Ng3 oder g5, mit
Einkreisung des e4-Bauern.}) 13... e4 {My opponent decides to simplify the
position a bit, possibly due the fact that he had already spent quite a bit of
time. Mein Gegner beschließt, die Stellung ein wenig zu vereinfachen,
womöglich aufgrund der Tatsache, dass er bereits einiges an Zeit verbraucht
hatte.} ({Mobilising the rest of his army with Das Mobilisieren seiner
restlichen Armee mit} 13... Bd7 14. f4 a5 {was obviously quite reasonable as
well, and Black is quite ok. war offenbar ebenfalls ganz vernünftig, und
Schwarz steht recht ordentlich.}) 14. dxe4 (14. Bxc5 dxc5 15. dxe4 fxe4 16. g4
{looks much less convincing now that the white pawn is not on f4, but even
here Black has to act quickly because Ng3 is coming. wirkt weit weniger
überzeugend jetzt, da der weiße Bauer nicht auf f4 steht, doch selbst hier
muss Schwarz schnell handeln, da Ng3 kommt.} Qe5 (16... Bxg4 17. hxg4 Nxg4 18.
Ng3 Qe7 {is something I didn't see at all during the game, and is probably
worse due to ist etwas, was ich während der Partie überhaupt nicht sah, und
vermutlich auch schlechter wegen} 19. Bh3 Ne5 20. Qc2 Nf3+ 21. Kg2 Nxe1+ 22.
Rxe1 Bxc3 23. Qxc3 {and White must be better. und Weiß muss besser stehen.})
17. Rd1 (17. Ng3 Nxg4) 17... h5 18. gxh5 Qxh5 {and I thought that Black must
be doing quite well. True, the engines point out und ich dachte, dass Schwarz
recht gut stehen muss. Schön, die Engines weisen auf} 19. Qd6 {when Bxh3 is
met by Nf4, but the follow up with Qh2 somehow fails to convince me... hin,
worauf Bxh3 mit Nf4 beantwortet wird, aber die anschließende Fortsetzung mit
Qh2 kann mich irgendwie nicht überzeugen...} (19. Ng3 Qh4)) 14... Nfxe4 (14...
fxe4 15. Rd1 Bf8 16. g4 {is clearly not to be recommended for Black. ist
eindeutig nicht zu empfehlen für Schwarz.}) 15. Qc2 (15. Nxe4 Nxe4 16. Bxe4
fxe4 17. Bxd6 Qf7 18. Kh2 g5 {gives plenty of compensation for the pawn, and
is not something to enter when there is a very reasonable alternative. gibt
jede Menge Kompensation für den Bauern und ist nichts, worauf man sich
einlassen sollte, wenn es eine sehr vernünftige Alternative gibt.}) 15... Nxc3
16. Nxc3 Be6 17. Rd1 Rad8 {Now we have reached a type of position which is
quite typical for the Leningrad Dutch. It looks a little better for White, who
has no real weaknesses and a harmonious enough position, but in reality it's
probably closer to equal, as Black has enough influence in the centre, and his
only weakness on d6 can be easily defended.  Damit haben wir einen
Stellungstyp erreicht, der für den holländischen Leningrader ziemlich
charakteristisch ist. Es sieht ein bisschen besser aus für Weiß, der keine
echten Schwächen hat und harmonisch genug steht, in Wirklichkeit aber ist es
vermutlich eher ausgeglichen, da Schwarz genügend Einfluss im Zentrum hat und
sich seine einzige Schwäche auf d6 leicht verteidigen lässt.} 18. Bb2 Bf7 19.
Rd2 {While the d6-pawn is certainly not falling any time soon, piling up the
rooks on the d-file to keep Black on his toes certainly can't hurt. Obwohl der
d6-Bauer in nächster Zeit bestimmt nicht fallen wird, kann das Verdoppeln der
Türme in der d-Linie, um Schwarz auf Trab zu halten, gewiss nicht schaden.} a5
20. Rfd1 Be5 21. Ne2 a4 {Hikaru, true to his style, decides to sharpen the
game a bit. With a weakness on b3 I would certainly not have anything real, so
in a sense my next move is forced. Hikaru, seinem Stil treu, beschließt, die
Partie ein wenig zu verschärfen. Mit einer Schwäche auf b3 hätte ich sicher
nichts Reales, daher ist mein nächster Zug gewissermaßen erzwungen.} (21... Qb6
22. Bc3) 22. b4 Nd7 (22... Bxb2 23. Qxb2 Ne4 24. Bxe4 fxe4 (24... Rxe4 25. c5
d5 26. Nc3 {wins a pawn. gewinnt einen Bauern.}) 25. Qc2 {seems to leave Black
with more weaknesses than White, and Black is not active enough to exploit the
absence of my g2-bishop scheint bei Schwarz mehr Schwächen zu hinterlassen als
bei Weiß, und Schwarz steht nicht aktiv genug, um die Abwesenheit meines
g2-Läufers ausnutzen.}) 23. Bd4 Nb6 {An interesting point, as White has three
different options. Ein interessanter Punkt, denn Weiß hat drei verschiedene
Optionen.} 24. Bxb6 (24. Bxe5 dxe5 25. Rxd8 Rxd8 26. Rxd8+ Qxd8 27. c5 Nc4 28.
Qxa4 Qd2 {clearly isn't worth going for, misplacing the queen and activating
the black pieces is too high a price for the a-pawn. lohnt eindeutig keinen
Versuch; das Deplatzieren der Dame und Aktivieren der schwarzen Figuren ist
ein zu hoher Preis für den a-Bauern.}) (24. c5 {however, is rather more
demanding for Black, and something I considered very seriously dagegen ist
deutlich anspruchsvoller für Schwarz, und etwas, was ich sehr ernsthaft erwog.}
dxc5 25. bxc5 Nc4 26. Rd3 Bxd4 27. exd4 {Now Black will have to act quickly,
as if the black knight gets kicked from c4 or White gets in d5, Black will be
in serious trouble Nun wird Schwarz schnell handeln müssen, denn wenn sein
Springer von c4 vertrieben wird oder Weiß zu d5 kommt, wird er ernsthaft in
der Klemme sitzen.} (27. Rxd4 Qa5 $1 {is very much ok for Black ist vollauf
okay für Schwarz.}) 27... a3 $1 (27... Qa5 {is also quite interesting, as Rc3
can now be met with Rxe2. However White will now have time to get in a3 and
deny the black knight the b2-square. ist ebenfalls recht interessant, da auf
Rc3 nun Rxe2 folgen kann. Doch Weiß wird jetzt Zeit haben, zu a3 zu kommen und
dem schwarzen Springer das b2-Feld zu verwehren.} 28. Rb1 Re7 29. a3 $1 Rde8
30. Bf1 {and White is very close to achieving something real. und Weiß steht
dicht davor, etwas Reales zu erreichen.}) 28. Rb1 (28. d5 Nb2) 28... Ra8 $1 {
The only move as otherwise Rc3 would be very unpleasant. Now however, Black
seems to have enough counterplay with precise play. Der einzige Zug, denn
andernfalls wäre Rc3 sehr unangenehm. Jetzt dagegen scheint Schwarz bei
genauem Vorgehen genug Gegenspiel zu haben.} 29. d5 Nb2 30. Rd4 {I stopped
around here, as I could not really figure out what was going on, and the game
continuation looked quite good. Additionally this is the kind of messy
position my opponent is considered to excel in. However, the position is quite
dangerous for Black if White can coordinate his pieces. Hier irgendwo stoppte
ich, da mir nicht wirklich klar wurde, was los war, und die Partiefortsetzung
ganz gut aussah. Außerdem ist diese Art von undurchsichtiger Stellung genau
das, worin mein Gegner als überragend gilt. Allerdings ist die Position
ziemlich gefährlich für Schwarz, wenn Weiß seine Figuren koordinieren kann.}
Re5 $1 (30... Rad8 31. d6 Qa5 32. Nc1 $8 Re1+ 33. Kh2 {with Nb3 to come looks
good for White. nebst Nb3 sieht gut aus für Weiß.}) (30... Qe5 31. dxc6 $1) (
30... cxd5 31. Bxd5 Bxd5 32. Rxd5 Qf7 33. Nf4 Rad8 34. Qb3 {looks promising
for White. wirkt aussichtsreich für Weiß.}) 31. Nf4 (31. Nc3 Qa5 32. dxc6 bxc6
33. Bxc6 Qxc5 34. Bxa8 Qxd4 $15) 31... Qa5 32. Kh2 Rae8 33. h4 {with a
complicated position, but it's probably easier to play for White. mit
komplizierter Stellung, die allerdings wohl für Weiß leichter zu spielen ist.})
24... Qxb6 25. Rb1 {Now the game has changed character a bit. Black has gained
a serious asset, the bishop pair, but in return my bishop has become quite a
bit stronger, especially in connection with b5 at some point. Additionally,
while I always have watch out for Bxg3 if the knight moves, the white king
will almost certainly be the safer one when the position inevitably opens up.
Nun hat die Partie einen etwas anderen Charakter angenommen. Schwarz hat einen
ernsten Trumpf erobert, das Läuferpaar, aber dafür ist mein Läufer ein ganzes
Stück stärker geworfen, vor allem in Verbindung mit b5 an irgendeinem Punkt.
Außerdem muss ich zwar Bxg3 aufpassen, wenn der Springer zieht, doch wird der
weiße König von Weiß fast garantiert der sicherere sein, wenn sich die
Stellung unweigerlich öffnet.} Qc7 (25... a3 {was a sharper, but not very good
try: war ein schärferer, aber nicht besonders guter Versuch:} 26. Nd4 {,
otherwise Bb2 might be unpleasant , ansonsten könnte Bb2 unangenehm sein} d5 {
, the point, now that the knight has been lured to d4 , die Pointe, jetzt, da
der Springer nach d4 gelockt wurde.} 27. c5 Qc7 28. b5 {and White is clearly
on top. und Weiß ist klar obenauf.}) 26. Nd4 Rc8 $1 {A nice prophylactic move.
Ein hübscher prophylaktischer Zug.} (26... Qe7 {immediately would be
considerably weaker due to b5, when the white squares in the black camp are
really soft. sofort wäre beträchtlich schwächer wegen b5, wonach die weißen
Felder im schwarzen Lager wirklich weich sind.}) 27. Rc1 {Now I'm threathening
to take the a4-pawn. Nun drohe ich, den a4-Bauern zu nehmen.} Qe7 28. Rd3 {
Qxa4 obviously failed to Bxg3. Qxa4 scheiterte offensichtlich an Bxg3.} c5 $1 {
It turned out that that there was also another idea connected with Rc8. It is
also essentially the only move, as Es stellte sich heraus, dass mit Rc8 auch
noch eine andere Idee verbunden war. Es ist auch im Kern der einzige Zug, denn}
(28... Ra8 29. b5 {leaves Black under serious positional pressure. belässt
Schwarz unter ernstem positionellen Druck.}) 29. bxc5 Rxc5 30. Qxa4 Rec8 $6 {
The most obvious move, which my opponent played very quickly. However, now
White retains some pressure without any risk. Der offensichtlichste Zug,
welchen mein Gegner sehr schnell spielte. Nun aber behält Weiß einigen Druck
ohne jedes Risiko.} (30... d5 {was more interesting. war interessanter.} 31.
Ne2 (31. Nf3 b5 $1) 31... dxc4 32. Rd7 Ra5 $1 33. Qd1 Qf6 34. Bxb7 Ra7 35. Bf3
Rxd7 36. Qxd7 Rd8 37. Qb5 Rd2 {and Black should not lose. und Schwarz sollte
nicht verlieren.}) 31. Rb1 $1 (31. Rb3 {looks tempting, but after wirkt
verlockend, aber nach} Rxc4 32. Rxc4 Rxc4 33. Qa8+ Qf8 {it's just a draw. ist
es einfach remis.}) 31... Rxc4 32. Qd1 {Now Black has some problems as White
is once again well coordinated, and b7 and d6 are weak. Hikaru was also
getting seriously short on time. Nun hat Schwarz einige Probleme, da Weiß
wieder gut koordiniert ist und b7 sowie d6 schwach sind. Außerdem wurde bei
Hikaru die Zeit ernstlich knapp.} b6 ({Exchanging with Abtauschen mit} 32...
Bxd4 33. Rxd4 Rxd4 34. Qxd4 Qe5 35. Qb6 Bxa2 36. Qxb7 Be6 37. Rd1 {doesn't
really solve all Black's problems either as he will inevitably lose the
d6-pawn. löst nicht wirklich alle Probleme, da er unweigerlich den d6-Bauern
verlieren wird.}) 33. Nb5 R4c5 $6 (33... Rd8 {was indicated by Hikaru after
the game as stronger. wurde von Hikaru nach der Partie als stärker angegeben.}
34. f4 (34. a4 Rc5 35. f4 Bc4 $1 36. fxe5 Bxd3 37. Qxd3 dxe5 38. Qe2 Qd7 {
must be fine for Black. muss ordentlich sein für Schwarz.}) 34... Bf6 35. Nxd6
Rc3 36. Rxb6 Qc7 37. Rxc3 Qxb6 {This is probably the strongest. Dies ist
vermutlich am stärksten.} (37... Qxc3 {is what we looked at after the game,
but here White keeps serious pressure with ist, was wir nach der Partie
betrachteten, aber hier behält Weiß ernsten Druck mit} 38. Qe2 Bd4 $1 39. exd4
Qxd4+ 40. Qf2 Rxd6 41. Rxd6 Qxd6 42. Qf3 $1 {and White will keep the extra
pawn with winning chances und Weiß wird den Extrabauer behaupten, mit
Gewinnchancen} (42. Qa7 g5 {gives Black counterplay gibt Schwarz Gegenspiel.}))
38. Rd3 Bxa2 39. Qd2 Be6 40. Nb5 Rxd3 41. Qxd3 {and while White can certainly
try, is unlikely that it's enough to win. und während Weiß es sicher versuchen
kann, ist unwahrscheinlich, dass es zum Gewinn reicht.}) 34. Nxd6 {I have to
take, as Ich muss nehmen, denn} (34. Rd2 Rd8 {followed by d5 is just too
little. nebst d5 ist einfach zu wenig.}) 34... Bxd6 35. Rxd6 Bxa2 36. Ra1 {
Now White will win a pawn. Nun wird Weiß einen Bauern gewinnen.} Rc1 (36... Bf7
37. Rxb6 {also leaves Black with the cheerless task of defending a pawn down,
although with real chances of success. beschert Schwarz ebenfalls die
freudlose Aufgabe, sich mit Minusbauern zu verteidigen, allerdings mit realen
Chancen auf Erfolg.}) 37. Rxc1 Rxc1 38. Rxg6+ {Without this interpolation 
(which Hikaru had missed when he went for the line with R4c5) it would
obviously just have been a draw. Black still has drawing chances, but it's
very difficult now. Ohne diese Einschaltung (welche Hikaru übersehen hatte,
als er das Abspiel mit R4c5 einschlug) wäre es offensichtlich einfach remis.
Schwarz hat noch immer Remischancen, aber jetzt ist es sehr schwierig.} hxg6
39. Qxc1 Qd6 40. h4 Bf7 $6 {After this typical 40th move inaccuracy Black is
probably lost. Nach dieser typischen Ungenauigkeit im 40. Zug ist Schwarz
wahrscheinlich verloren.} (40... Be6 {was considerably more tenacious. Hikaru
feared that an endgame after Qc6 would be lost here, but I am still not sure
about that. I would probably have gone for e4 here, which is met by war
erheblich hartnäckiger. Hikaru fürchtete, dass ein Endspiel nach Qc6 an dieser
Stelle verloren wäre, aber ich bin da noch immer nicht so sicher. Ich hätte
hier vermutlich e4 gewählt, was mit} 41. e4 fxe4 42. Bxe4 Bf7 {and it might
still be within the drawing range. beantwortet wird, und es könnte noch immer
innerhalb der Remisbreite sein.}) 41. h5 $1 Kh7 (41... Qc5 {is the move I had
to calculate while making my last move. However, since the Black passer will
now be on c5, where it's considerably easier to approach for the white king,
White must be winning now. ist der Zug, den ich bei meinem letzten Zug
berechnen musste. Doch da der schwarze Freibauer jetzt auf c5 steht, wo der
weiße König beträchlich leichter an ihn herankommt, muss Weiß jetzt auf Gewinn
stehen.} 42. Qxc5 bxc5 43. hxg6 Bxg6 44. Kf1 Kf7 45. Ke2 Ke7 46. f4 Kd6 47. Kd3
Bf7 48. e4 fxe4+ 49. Bxe4 {and White wins.}) 42. hxg6+ Kxg6 43. Qc2 b5 (43...
Kf6 44. Qb2+ Kg6 45. Bf3 {can hardly be held either, as the black king is too
weak for him to create any real counterplay. ist auch kaum zu halten, da der
schwarze König zu schwach steht, als dass er reales Gegenspiel aufziehen
könnte.}) 44. g4 Qe5 (44... b4 45. Qxf5+ Kg7 46. Qg5+ Kf8 47. Be4 b3 48. Qf5 b2
49. g5 {and Black's pawn will not go any further, as Kg7 with the idea of Bg6
is met by Qh7+. und der schwarze Bauer kommt nicht mehr weiter, da Kg7 mit der
Idee Bg6 durch Qh7+ beanwortet wird.}) 45. gxf5+ Kg7 46. Qe4 $1 {Without this
move, which kicks the black queen from its dominating position, it would not
have been easy to win. It's not immediately apparent that the bishop ending is
won, but, as becomes clear in the game, the black pawn can be stopped. Ohne
diesen Zug, welcher die schwarze Dame aus ihrer dominierenden Stellung kickt,
wäre es nicht einfach gewesen zu gewinnen. Es springt nicht sofort ins Auge,
dass das Läuferendspiel gewonnen ist, aber, wie in der Partie klar wird, der
schwarze Bauer kann gestoppt werden.} Qd6 47. Qh4 Bc4 (47... b4 48. f6+ {
was the point of my previous move. Black has to take on f6, after which it's
obviously plain sailing. war die Pointe meines vorigen Zuges. Schwarz muss auf
f6 nehmen, wonach die Sache offensichtlich klar ist.}) 48. Bf3 Qf6 (48... Qe5 {
was the last try. war der letzte Versuch.} 49. Qg5+ Kf8 50. Qh6+ Ke7 51. e4 {
and White will gradually win. Importantly, und Weiß wird allmählich gewinnen.
Wichtig ist, dass} b4 52. Qb6 $1 b3 53. Qb4+ Kd8 54. Qxc4 Qa1+ 55. Kg2 b2 56.
Qd5+ Kc7 57. Qc5+ {wins for White, for instance für Weiß gewinnt, zum Beispiel}
Kd7 58. f6 $1 {with Bg4 to come. und es kommt Bg4.}) 49. Qxf6+ Kxf6 50. Be4 {
The endgame is easily winning, thanks to a little trick. Das Endspiel ist
leicht gewonnen, dank eines kleinen Tricks.} Ba2 51. f4 b4 52. Kf2 b3 53. Bd5
$1 Kxf5 54. Kf3 {And there are no chances left for Black. Und es gibt keine
Chancen mehr für Schwarz.} Kf6 55. e4 Kg6 56. Ke3 Kh5 57. Kd4 Kg4 58. f5 Kg5
59. Ke5 1-0

[Event "London Classic 2nd"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2010.12.12"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Howell, David"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B81"]
[WhiteElo "2611"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2010.12.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 140"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e6 7. g4 Be7 8. Bg2
Nfd7 9. Be3 Nc6 10. Qd2 {The move of the white queen makes a very sound
impression, even though earlier the alternative 10.Qe2 was all the rage. White
has enough control on the light squares, so control of the black ones must
become a priority.} (10. Qe2 Nxd4 (10... O-O 11. O-O-O (11. O-O Qc7 12. Rfd1
Nce5 13. Bc1 Re8 14. a4 Bf8 15. Qd2 b6 16. b3 Bb7 17. Bb2 Rad8 18. Qf4 Ng6 19.
Qg3 Be7 $11 {0-1 Lopez Martinez,J (2505)-Grigoriants,S (2539)/Stepanakert 2005
(49)}) 11... Nxd4 12. Bxd4 b5 (12... Rb8 13. e5 (13. Ba7 Ra8 14. Be3 Rb8 15. f4
b5 16. g5 b4 17. Na4 Qa5 18. b3 Nc5 19. Bxc5 dxc5 20. e5 Qb5 21. Qe3 c4 22. Kb1
Bb7 23. Bxb7 Qxb7 24. h4 {1/2-1/2 Movsesian,S (2718)-Wojtaszek,R (2637)/Warsaw
2009 (40)}) 13... d5 {0-1 Dominguez Perez,L (2719)-Morozevich,A (2750)/Moscow
2009}) (12... Qc7 13. f4 Rb8 14. Ba7 Ra8 15. Bd4 Re8 16. g5 b5 17. a3 Rb8 18.
h4 b4 19. axb4 Rxb4 20. h5 Qa5 21. Nb1 e5 22. Bc3 Nc5 23. g6 Be6 24. Qd2 Rc8
25. f5 $2 {0-1 Sandipan,C (2585)-Morozevich,A (2751)/Zuerich 2009 (76)} Qa2 $19
) 13. e5 d5 14. f4 (14. Nxd5 exd5 15. Bxd5 Rb8 16. Ba7 Rb7 17. Bxb7 Bxb7 18.
Rhe1 Qc7 19. Kb1 Nc5 20. Bxc5 Qxc5 21. f4 Bd5 22. Qe3 Qc6 $15 {0-1 Movsesian,S
(2716)-Ponomariov,R (2727)/San Sebastian 2009 (51)}) 14... Bb7 15. Qe3 b4 16.
Ne2 a5 17. Kb1 a4 18. f5 b3 19. cxb3 axb3 {1/2-1/2 Vuckovic,B (2572)-Zivkovic,
V (2413)/Banja Vrucica 2009 (52)}) (10... Qc7 11. O-O-O Rb8 12. f4 O-O 13. g5
Nxd4 14. Rxd4 b5 15. Kb1 Nb6 16. Rf1 e5 17. Rd3 Be6 18. f5 Bc4 19. f6 Bd8 20.
Qh5 {1-0 Pirttimaki,T (2244)-Mavritchev,J/Helsinki 2002 (27)}) 11. Bxd4 O-O 12.
O-O b5 13. e5 d5 14. a3 Qc7 15. f4 Bc5 16. Qe3 Bxd4 17. Qxd4 Bb7 18. Rae1 Rac8
19. Rf2 Qb6 20. Qxb6 Nxb6 $11 {0-1 Hou,Y (2590)-Wang Hao (2696)/Xinghua
Jiangsu 2009 (59)}) (10. Nce2 h5 11. gxh5 Qa5+ 12. c3 Qxh5 13. Qd2 Nde5 14. b3
Nxd4 15. Nxd4 g5 16. Rg1 Bd7 17. f3 b5 18. O-O-O Rc8 19. Kb2 $11 {1-0
Ljubojevic,L (2615)-Ivanovic,B (2440)/Zagreb 1977 (43)}) 10... O-O {The
downside of the 10.Qd2 move is the vulnerability of the c4-square. Fortunately
Black can even wait before he starts thinking about exploiting it.} (10... Nde5
11. b3 (11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. b3 Ng6 $13) 11... Nxd4 (11... Bd7 12. f4 Bh4+ 13. Bf2
Nxd4 14. Qxd4 Bxf2+ 15. Qxf2 Qa5 16. Qd2 Ng6 17. O-O-O O-O 18. Na4 Qxd2+ 19.
Rxd2 Bxa4 20. bxa4 Nxf4 21. Rg1 Rac8 {0-1 Di Natale,R-Salgado,C/Villa
Ballester 2003 (50)}) 12. Bxd4 (12. Qxd4 Nc6 13. Qd2 b5 $13) 12... O-O 13.
O-O-O (13. f4 Bh4+ $11) 13... b5 (13... Nc6 14. Be3 b5 15. f4 Bd7 $13) 14. Ne2
Bb7 15. f4 Ng6 (15... Nc6 16. Bb2 (16. Be3 a5 $132) 16... a5 17. h4 a4 18. h5
Qa5 $11) 16. Rhf1 (16. f5 $2 Nh4 $1 $17) 16... e5 17. Be3 (17. fxe5 dxe5 18.
Be3 Qxd2+ 19. Rxd2 Rad8 $11) 17... exf4 (17... a5 $5 18. f5 Nh4 19. Bh1 a4 $13)
18. Nxf4 Ne5 (18... Rc8 19. Kb1 Nxf4 20. Bxf4 Qc7 21. Rf2 $14) 19. Kb1 Rc8 20.
Nd5 {1/2-1/2 Dominguez Perez,L (2717)-Topalov,V (2812)/Sofia 2009/[Ftacnik] 
(43)}) 11. O-O Nde5 12. b3 Nxd4 13. Bxd4 Ng6 {Carlsen was clearly the
favourite in this game and his knight retreat reveals his honest ambitions.
From g6 the knight eyes the weak spots f4 and h4.} (13... b5 14. a4 bxa4 15.
Nxa4 Bb7 16. Nb6 Rb8 17. Bxe5 {1/2-1/2 Svidler,P (2731)-Ivanisevic,I (2613)/
Khanty Mansiysk 2010}) 14. Be3 (14. f4 $6 Nxf4 15. Rxf4 e5 $15) (14. Na4 Bg5
15. Qb4 a5 16. Qb5 Bd7 $11) 14... Qc7 15. Ne2 (15. Na4 b5 16. Nb6 Rb8 17. Nxc8
Rfxc8 18. Rac1 b4 $15) 15... b5 16. c4 $1 {Howell is a up and coming player
from England with an active approach to the game. He may not get very far on
the kingside, but is smart enough to play also on the opposite flank.} bxc4 (
16... Bb7 17. Rac1 Qd7 18. Nf4 Rac8 $11) 17. Rac1 Bb7 18. Rxc4 Qd7 19. Rfc1
Rac8 20. Bb6 {Quite naturally the position is about equal and White is working
on forcing the exchanges of majory pieces along the c-file.} (20. Nd4 h6 21.
Qa5 Rxc4 22. Rxc4 Rc8 $11) 20... Rxc4 21. Rxc4 Rc8 22. Qc2 Rxc4 23. Qxc4 (23.
bxc4 $2 Qc6 $15) 23... Qe8 $5 {Black knows very well that he can not exchange
queens and hope for the advantage.} 24. a4 (24. Qc7 Qa8 25. Ng3 h6 26. Bd4 Bc6
$11) 24... Qa8 25. f4 $6 {White is less experienced than his opponent who is
sitting on the top of world rating list. Exposing the structure and his own
king on the kingside brings no benefit and is dangerous.} (25. Ba5 Bc6 26. Qd3
h6 27. Bd2 $11) 25... h6 26. Bf2 Bh4 27. Be3 (27. Bxh4 Nxh4 28. Bh1 Qd8 29. b4
Ng6 $15) 27... Bf6 28. Qd3 (28. Ng3 Nh4 29. Bh1 d5 30. Qd3 (30. exd5 Bxd5 31.
Bxd5 exd5 32. Qe2 d4 $17) 30... dxe4 31. Bxe4 Bxe4 32. Nxe4 Be7 33. Bf2 Qb7 $15
) 28... Bc6 29. Ng3 (29. g5 hxg5 30. fxg5 Be5 $15) 29... Be7 {The positions
has become more pleasant for Black, but making progress is another story.} 30.
Nh5 Bf8 31. Bf2 Qb7 32. Qc4 (32. Kh2 e5 (32... Ne7 33. Bd4 d5 34. Qc3 f6 35. g5
$13) 33. f5 Nf4 34. Nxf4 exf4 35. Be1 Be7 36. Bd2 Bg5 37. Qf3 Qb6 38. Bxf4
Bxf4+ 39. Qxf4 Qxb3 40. Qxd6 Qxa4 41. f6 $11) 32... Ne7 33. Qd3 d5 $5 {Both
players have understood, that the position will have to be opened at some
stage.} 34. e5 (34. exd5 Bxd5 35. Bxd5 Nxd5 $15) 34... d4 (34... Bd7 35. Bf1
Nc6 36. Be2 $11) 35. Bf1 (35. Bxc6 Nxc6 36. Ng3 a5 37. Ne4 Qd7 $15) 35... Bd5
36. Qxa6 $6 {Howell must have been excited by the prospect of eliminating all
the queenside pawns. His choice of move keepis the flame of battle burning.} (
36. Bxd4 $1 Bxb3 37. Qxa6 Qb4 38. Bf2 Bxa4 39. Qc4 $11) 36... Qxb3 37. Qd3 (37.
Bxd4 Nc6 38. Bb6 Be7 $17) 37... Qxa4 38. Qxd4 Qa8 39. Qa7 Qc8 40. Qc5 (40. Qa3
Ng6 41. Qb2 Be7 42. Bg2 $15) 40... Nc6 41. Qc3 Qa8 42. g5 $2 {[%mdl 256] White
had to think hard about the best way of defending his exposed pawn structure.
He decides to lash out into counterplay, but does it at the wrong moment.} (42.
Bc4 Nb4 43. Bxd5 Qxd5 44. Kh2 Nd3 $15) (42. Bd3 Bb4 43. Qb2 Be7 $15) 42... Qa4
$1 (42... hxg5 43. fxg5 Qa2 44. Nf4 Bb4 45. Qg3 Nxe5 $17) 43. Qg3 (43. gxh6 Qe4
44. Ng3 Qxf4 45. hxg7 Bxg7 $17) 43... Qd1 {Two precise moves have managed to
prove that White has lost the battle. The hanging knight on h5 can not be
sensibly defended.} 44. Nf6+ (44. Qh4 Bc4 45. Ng3 Nd4 46. Qg4 Nf3+ 47. Kg2 Bd5
$19) 44... gxf6 45. gxf6+ Kh8 46. Qd3 {After the act of desperation, reality
refuses to run away. Due to the pin along the first rank White has to swap the
queens.} Qxd3 47. Bxd3 Nb4 48. Bb1 (48. Bf1 Kh7 49. Be3 Kg6 $19) 48... Ba2 49.
Be4 Nd5 50. f5 {The game is clearly over. White can not even dream about
holding the game with only a pawn for the piece.} (50. Bg3 Bc5+ 51. Kg2 Bc4 52.
Kf3 Nc3 53. Bc2 h5 $19) 50... Nf4 51. Kh2 exf5 52. Bxf5 Be6 53. Bg4 (53. Bb1
Nxh3 $19) 53... Bxg4 54. hxg4 Ne6 55. Kg3 Bc5 0-1

[Event "London Classic 2nd"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2010.12.14"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "171"]
[EventDate "2010.12.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 140"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bf4 {Quite a harmless continuation.}
(5. cxd5 exd5 6. Qb3 $1 {is more aggressive.}) 5... Bd6 (5... Bb4 {is more in
the spirit of the Chigorin Defence - see e.g. Graf-Rabiega in CBM 129 
(annotations by GM R.Dautov)}) (5... Nf6) (5... Bxf3) (5... dxc4 {have been
seen in grandmaster practice, too.}) 6. Bg3 (6. Bxd6 Qxd6 7. cxd5 exd5 8. e3
Nf6 9. Be2 O-O 10. O-O Bxf3 11. Bxf3 Ne7 12. Qc2 c6 13. g3 g6 14. Bg2 h5 15.
Na4 b6 16. b3 Rac8 17. Rac1 h4 $132 {1/2 Abramovic,B (2516)-Miladinovic,I 
(2605)/Herceg Novi 2007/CBM 120 ext (40)}) 6... Nf6 (6... Bxg3 7. hxg3 Nf6 8.
e3 Qe7 9. Qb3 Qb4 10. Qxb4 Nxb4 11. Rc1 Bxf3 12. gxf3 O-O-O 13. c5 e5 14. dxe5
Nd7 15. a3 Nc6 16. Bh3 Ncxe5 17. Ke2 $14 {1/2 Janowski,D-Taubenhaus,J/Paris
1905/HCL (49)}) (6... Nge7 7. e3 a6 8. Rc1 Qd7 9. a3 Rd8 10. Bd3 Bxg3 11. hxg3
e5 12. cxd5 Nxd5 13. Be4 Nf6 14. Bxc6 Qxc6 15. Ne2 Qe4 16. Nxe5 Qxg2 17. Rf1
Bxe2 18. Qxe2 c6 19. Qf3 Qxf3 20. Nxf3 Ke7 {1/2 Baumbach,F (2315)-Marszalek,R 
(2310)/Warsaw 1988/EXT 1997}) (6... Bxf3 7. gxf3 dxc4 8. e3 Nge7 9. Bxc4 O-O
10. Qc2 Nb4 11. Qb3 Nec6 12. Be2 Qd7 13. Rc1 Na5 14. Qd1 f5 15. Bxd6 Qxd6 16.
a3 Nd5 17. Nxd5 exd5 18. Qc2 Qe6 $11 {1/2 Ftacnik,L (2559)-Markos,J (2571)/
Prievidza 2009/CBM 130 (33)}) 7. e3 O-O 8. a3 (8. cxd5 Nxd5 $5 (8... exd5 9.
Bh4 Be7 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 $14 Ne4 $2 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Nxd5 Qd6 14. Bd3 f5
15. Nc3 $16 {1-0 Sokolov,I (2663)-Mann,C (2455)/Germany 2005/CBM 107 (23)}) 9.
Be2 Nce7 10. O-O Nxc3 11. bxc3 c5 12. Qa4 Nd5 13. Rac1 Bxg3 14. hxg3 Qc7 15.
Bd3 Bxf3 16. gxf3 Nxe3 17. fxe3 Qxg3+ 18. Kh1 Qh3+ {1/2 Shchekachev,A (2539)
-Bosiocic,M (2571)/Sibenik 2009/EXT 2010}) 8... Ne7 $146 {A second-rate
novelty.} (8... Ne4 9. Rc1 f5 10. cxd5 Nxc3 11. Rxc3 exd5 12. Qb3 Bxf3 13. Bxd6
Qxd6 14. gxf3 Rae8 15. Kd2 Nd8 16. f4 c6 17. Kc1 Qe7 18. h4 Nf7 {1/2 Legemaat,
G (2390)-De Waard,J (2380)/ICCF Email Master Norm 0/ICCF CBM 120}) 9. Qb3 b6
10. Ne5 c5 $5 {White is behind in development (Bf1, Rh1) so Black opens up the
position, however, rather unsuccessfully.} 11. Nxg4 Nxg4 12. Rd1 $1 Bxg3 13.
hxg3 Nf6 14. cxd5 exd5 15. Be2 Qd6 16. Qc2 h6 17. O-O $14 {A position with
potential "hanging pawns" on c5 and d5 has arisen. Since two pairs of pieces
have been exchanged, it is rather favorable for the opponent, i.e. White.} c4 {
And this structure is not so good either as White undermines it at once.} 18.
b3 $1 Qxa3 (18... cxb3 19. Qxb3 $14 {[%csl Rd5]}) 19. bxc4 dxc4 $6 (19... Qd6
$142 20. Ra1 $36 {[%cal Yf1b1]}) 20. Bf3 $1 Rab8 21. Ra1 Qd6 22. Nb5 Qd7 23.
Qxc4 a5 24. e4 $16 {[%csl Gd4,Ge4] Black's queenside pawns are blocked, and
White's central pawns are mobile and strong.} Rfc8 25. Qe2 Rc6 26. Rab1 Rd8 27.
Rfd1 Rdc8 28. d5 Rc2 29. Qe3 R2c5 30. Nd4 Re8 (30... b5 $2 31. Nc6) 31. Qd3 Qd6
32. Qa6 Rb8 33. Nb3 Rc2 34. Nd4 Rc5 35. Nb3 Rc2 36. Qd3 $5 {White continues
manoeuvring in order to exhaust his opponent.} (36. Nxa5 {was possible, too:}
Qc5 37. Rf1 Ra2 {, and now the simplest course is} 38. Nb3 $1 Qxf2+ 39. Rxf2
Rxa6 40. Nd4 $16) 36... Rcc8 37. Nd2 Ng6 38. Be2 $1 {[%cal Yf2f4]} Qc5 39. Rb5
Qc3 40. f4 a4 41. e5 Nd7 42. Qxc3 Rxc3 43. Ne4 {[%csl Gd5,Ge4,Ge5]} Rc7 44. Ra1
Ra7 45. d6 Ngf8 46. Nc3 Nc5 47. Nd5 Ra5 48. Rxb6 Rxb6 49. Nxb6 $18 {[%mdl 4096]
} Nfe6 50. Bc4 Kf8 51. f5 Nd8 52. Rf1 Ncb7 53. Re1 a3 54. e6 {Just grabbing a
piece, although it is not so easy to convert it.} (54. d7 $6 a2 55. Bxa2 Rxa2
56. e6 Nc6 57. e7+ Nxe7 58. Nc8 Rd2 59. Rxe7 f6 {leads to a curious positional
draw}) (54. Ba2 $1 {(A.Korotylev) was the simplest way to get a decisive
advantage.}) 54... fxe6 55. fxe6 Nxd6 56. e7+ Ke8 57. exd8=R+ Kxd8 58. Rd1 Kc7
59. Ba2 Rg5 60. Nd5+ Kc6 61. Nc3 Rc5 $5 {A curious psychological decision.
Black offers White the chance to further simplify the game. White gladly
accepts the offer and then fails to overcome unexpected technical problems!}
62. Rxd6+ ({White should, of course, win after} 62. Rd3 Ra5 63. Kf2 {etc. but
why not "shorten the journey"?}) 62... Kxd6 63. Ne4+ Kc6 64. Nxc5 Kxc5 65. Kf2
Kd4 66. Kf3 Kd3 67. g4 Kd2 (67... g5 68. Bf7 Kd4 69. Ke2 Ke4 70. g3 Kd4 71. Kd2
Ke4 72. Kc3 Kf3 73. Bh5 $18) 68. Be6 Kd3 (68... Ke1 $144 69. Bc4 Kd2 70. g5)
69. Kg3 $4 {A strange move, after which, apparently, White can't win anymore!}
(69. g5 $1 hxg5 (69... Kd4 70. Kf4 $18) (69... Kd2 70. g6 $18) 70. Kg4 Ke3 71.
g3 $1 {indicated by GM A.Khalifman} ({but not} 71. Kxg5 Kf2 72. g4 Kg3 73. Bd5
Kh3 74. Kf5 g6+ $1 {- with his pawn on g4 and Black's on g6 White can't win, e.
g.} 75. Kf4 (75. Kg5 Kg3 76. Be6 Kf3 $1) 75... Kh4 76. g5 Kh5 $1 {not allowing
the white king to f6}) 71... Ke4 (71... Kf2 72. Bd5 Ke3 73. Kxg5 Kf2 74. Kf4 $1
Ke2 75. g4 $18) 72. Kxg5 Kf3 73. Kh4 $1 {White manages to keep his pawn on g3
and wins, e.g.} Kf2 74. Kg4 Ke3 (74... Kg2 75. Kf4 Kh2 76. g4 Kh3 77. g5+ Kh4
78. Kf5 Kh5 79. Ba2 Kh4 80. Bb3 Kh5 81. Be6 Kh4 82. Kg6 $22 $18) 75. Bf7 Ke4
76. Ba2 Ke3 77. Bb1 $22 g6 (77... Kf2 78. Kf4 {[%cal Yg3g4]} Kg2 79. g4 Kh3 80.
g5 Kh4 81. Kf5 Kh5 82. Ba2 Kh4 83. Bb3 Kh5 84. Be6 $18) 78. Ba2 Ke4 79. Bb3 $1
Ke3 80. Bf7 $22 Kf2 (80... Kd4 81. Kf4) 81. Kf4 Kg2 82. Be6 $1 (82. g4 $4 Kh3
$11) 82... Kh2 (82... Kf2 83. g4) 83. Kf3 Kh1 (83... g5 84. Ba2 Kh3 85. Bd5 Kh2
86. Kg4 $18) 84. g4 Kh2 85. g5 $18 {[%cal Yf3f4,Yf4e5,Ye5f6] - the white pawn
can only move forward if this king manoeuvre is guaranteed or if the black
pawn can't move to g6. It is far from easy to find all this over the board!})
69... Ke3 70. Kh4 $2 (70. g5 {was the last chance but Black can probably
survive in a study-like manner:} Ke4 (70... Ke2 71. Ba2 Kf1 $2 72. g6) (70...
hxg5 $2 71. Kg4 {- see the above annotation}) 71. Kg4 Ke3 72. Ba2 $5 (72. Bf7
Ke4 73. Ba2 Ke3 74. Bb1 Kf2 75. g3 Ke3 76. g6 h5+ $1 {doesn't change much})
72... Ke4 73. g3 (73. Bb1+ Ke3 74. g6 Kf2 $1 75. Kf5 Kxg2 76. Ke6 h5 $11) 73...
Ke3 $1 (73... Ke5 74. Bb1 Kd4 75. Kf5 hxg5 76. Kxg5 Ke3 77. Kg4 $1 {etc. - see
above}) 74. Bb1 Kf2 $1 75. g6 (75. Kf4 h5 $1 76. Ba2 Kg2 77. Bd5+ Kh3 78. Kf3
Kh2 79. g4 h4 $1 80. Kf2 Kh3 81. Be6 g6 82. Kf3 Kh2 $11) 75... h5+ $1 76. Kxh5
Ke3 $3 77. Kg5 Kd4 78. Kf5 Kd5 $11 {[%cal Yd5d6,Yd6e7,Ye7f8] - Black reaches a
well-known theoretical fortress.}) 70... Kf2 71. Bd5 g6 72. Kh3 g5 $1 {This
move is now timely. The white king can't come out, and the position is drawn.}
73. Kh2 Kf1 74. Be6 Kf2 75. Bc4 Ke3 76. Kg3 Kd4 77. Be6 Ke3 78. Kh2 Kf2 79. Bc4
Ke3 80. Kg1 Kf4 81. Be6 Ke5 82. Bb3 Kf4 83. Be6 Ke5 84. Bb3 Kf4 85. Be6 Ke5 86.
Bb3 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 2nd"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2010.12.15"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Short, Nigel D"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C10"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2680"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2010.12.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 140"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Be7 6. Bc4 {This is a
somewhat unusual square for the bishop. Normally, 6.Bd3 follows automatically.}
Ngf6 {Nigel must be familiar with the position, as once he was on the white
side, even though the game ended in a quick draw.} 7. Nxf6+ (7. Qe2 O-O 8.
Nxf6+ Bxf6 9. Be3 c5 10. O-O-O Qa5 11. Qd2 Qxd2+ 12. Rxd2 Nb6 13. Be2 {1/2-1/2
Short,N (2615)-Spassky,B (2620)/Solingen 1986/TD}) 7... Nxf6 8. O-O O-O 9. Ne5
{This move is directed to preventing the fianchetto by b7-b6, followed by
Bc8-b7.} (9. Qe2 b6 10. Bg5 Bb7 11. Rad1 Nd5 {has appeared in practice
numerous times. Black has very little to worry about.}) 9... c5 10. dxc5 Qxd1
$6 {I don't think Black should give up the fight over the d-file.} (10... Bxc5
{Here White can avoid the exchange of queens, but it shouldn't be a source of
worry for Black.} 11. Qe2 Nd5 $1 (11... Qc7 12. Bf4 $36) 12. Rd1 Qc7 13. Bxd5
exd5 14. Rxd5 Be6 15. Rd1 Rae8 $44) 11. Rxd1 Bxc5 12. Be2 $1 $14 {The bishop
will be ready to go to f3, pressing on Black's queenside.} Ne4 {[%csl Rf2]} 13.
Nd3 Be7 14. Be3 h6 $2 {Under normal circumstances this would be a useful move,
but here it's a loss of a vital tempi. In fact, this is already the last
critical moment in the game.} (14... Bd7 $2 15. Bf3 f5 (15... Bc6 $2 16. Ne5 f5
17. Nxc6 bxc6 18. Bxe4 fxe4 19. Rd4 $18) 16. Bxe4 fxe4 17. Nc5 Bxc5 18. Rxd7
$16) (14... f6 $2 15. a4 e5 16. Bf3 Bf5 17. a5 a6 18. Ra4 Nd6 19. Bd5+ Kh8 20.
c4 $16) (14... b6 $1 {was called for.} 15. Ne5 (15. a4 Bb7 16. a5 Rfc8 17. axb6
axb6 18. Rxa8 Bxa8 $14) 15... Bd6 16. Nc4 (16. Bf3 Bxe5 17. Bxe4 Rb8 {is not
much for White.}) 16... Bc7 17. Na3 (17. Bf3 Bb7 18. Rd7 Rac8 $11) 17... Be5
18. Bd4 Bxd4 19. Rxd4 Bb7 20. Rad1 $14 {After 14...b6 in all lines Black's
position is slightly worse, but with accurate defence he should be able to
hold.}) 15. a4 $1 {From now on Black won't be able to complete his development
without losing material.} a5 (15... b6 16. a5 {is no longer satisfactory for
Black.}) 16. g3 {A somewhat surprising quiet move, which doesn't spoil
anything, though. Black doesn't have a useful move.} (16. Ne5 {was far more
obvious with the same idea which Magnus realised one move later.}) 16... Rd8
17. Ne5 Nf6 18. Nc4 Rxd1+ (18... Nd5 19. Nb6 Nxb6 20. Bxb6 {and Black is
paralysed.}) 19. Rxd1 Nd5 20. Nb6 Nxe3 21. fxe3 Rb8 {The elimination of the
bishop didn't make Black's life easier. His queenside pieces are still stuck.}
22. Kf2 e5 ({The alternatives lead to a very similar position:} 22... f6 23.
Rd4 {[%csl Rc8][%cal Gd4c4]} e5 24. Rd5) (22... g6 23. Rd4 e5 24. Rd5) 23. Rd5
Be6 24. Rxa5 $18 Rd8 25. Bd3 {Black had to give up the important pawn in order
to complete his development. Now the game enters into the technical phase,
where White's pawn majority on the queenside, three against one, decides
matters.} Bf6 26. e4 $1 {Killing Black's hopes of opening some diagonals.} Rd4
27. Rb5 (27. Ra7 Rb4 28. Rxb7 Rxb2 29. a5 {was even easier.}) 27... g6 28. a5
Kg7 29. Ke2 Bg4+ 30. Kf2 Be6 31. Kf3 h5 32. Nd5 Bd8 33. b4 {Slowly, but surely,
White's pawns march forward.} Bc8 34. Ke2 Bg4+ 35. Ke1 f5 36. Rxb7+ Kh6 37. Ne3
Bf3 38. a6 fxe4 39. Be2 Bg5 40. a7 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 73rd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2011.01.15"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2814"]
[BlackElo "2805"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2011.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 141"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8.
c4 Ba6 9. Nd2 g6 10. b3 Bg7 11. Bb2 Nb4 12. O-O-O Nxa2+ 13. Kb1 Nb4 14. Ne4 O-O
15. Qf3 Rfe8 16. Nf6+ Bxf6 17. exf6 Qc5 18. h4 d5 19. Qf4 dxc4 20. bxc4 Rab8
21. Qh6 Qf8 22. Qxf8+ Kxf8 23. h5 Bc8 24. hxg6 fxg6 25. Rxh7 Bf5+ 26. Ka1 Nc2+
27. Ka2 Nb4+ 28. Ka1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 73rd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2011.01.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Shirov, Alexei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2722"]
[BlackElo "2814"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2011.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 141"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8.
c4 Ba6 9. b3 g6 10. Ba3 Qg5 11. g3 Bxa3 12. Nxa3 O-O-O 13. Qe4 Qe7 14. Nc2 f5
15. Qd4 Nb4 16. Nxb4 Qxb4+ 17. Qd2 Qc5 18. f4 d6 19. b4 Qb6 20. c5 Qb7 21. Bxa6
Qxa6 22. cxd6 cxd6 23. exd6 Rhe8+ 24. Kf2 Rxd6 25. Qxd6 Qe2+ 26. Kg1 Qe3+ 27.
Kg2 Qe2+ 28. Kg1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 73rd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2011.01.17"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D76"]
[WhiteElo "2814"]
[BlackElo "2686"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "2011.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 141"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Nf3 Nb6 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. e3
O-O 9. O-O Re8 10. Re1 a5 11. Qd2 $6 {A very strange move. I still believe
that it was a "lapsus manus": Carlsen intended to play the theoretical} (11.
Qe2) 11... e5 12. d5 Nb4 13. e4 c6 14. a3 cxd5 $1 {Quite an obvious refutation
of White's play.} 15. axb4 axb4 16. Rxa8 bxc3 17. bxc3 Nxa8 18. exd5 $6 (18.
Qxd5 $142 Nb6 (18... Qxd5 19. exd5 Nb6 20. Nd2 {[%cal Yc3c4]}) 19. Qa5 {
although Black, controlling the crucial c4-square, keeps a small edge after}
Qf6 20. Bg5 Qc6 {[%csl Gc4]}) 18... Nb6 {[%csl Rd5]} 19. Rd1 $6 (19. d6 Re6 (
19... Nc4 $5)) (19. c4 $5 Nxc4 20. Qb4 Nd6 21. Be3 {getting some activity for
the missing pawn although Black is obviously better.}) 19... e4 20. Ng5 $4 {
[%mdl 8192] Just blundering a piece in a poor position.} (20. Ne1 Bg4 21. f3 e3
22. Qe2 Bd7 23. Bxe3 (23. c4 Nxc4 $1 24. Qxc4 e2 25. Rd2 Qb6+ 26. Kh1 Qf2 $19)
23... Ba4 {[%cal Yb6d5]} 24. Rd2 Bxc3 $19) (20. Nh4 h6 $19 {[%cal Rg6g5]}) ({
It was relatively better (but hopeless enough) just to give up the d5-pawn:} 
20. Nd4 Qxd5 $19) 20... e3 21. Qb2 Qxg5 22. Bxe3 (22. Qxb6 e2 23. Re1 Qxc1 24.
Rxc1 e1=Q+ 25. Rxe1 Rxe1+ 26. Bf1 Bh3 $19) 22... Qg4 (22... Qg4 23. f3 Nc4) 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel-A 73rd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2011.01.18"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Ponomariov, Ruslan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2744"]
[BlackElo "2814"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2011.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 141"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 b6 3. g3 c5 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O e6 6. Nc3 d6 7. d4 cxd4 8. Nxd4
Bxg2 9. Kxg2 Qc7 10. Bg5 Nbd7 11. Qa4 Be7 12. Rfd1 O-O 13. Nc6 Bd8 14. b4 Rc8
15. b5 Ne5 16. Bf4 Be7 17. c5 Nxc6 18. cxd6 Qb7 19. bxc6 Rxc6 20. dxe7 Rxc3+
21. Kg1 Re8 22. Be5 b5 23. Rab1 Rc5 24. Bd4 Rd5 25. Qxa7 Qxe7 26. Qxe7 Rxe7 27.
Bc3 h6 28. Rxd5 Nxd5 29. Bd4 b4 30. e4 Nc3 31. Rxb4 Nxa2 32. Rc4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 73rd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2011.01.20"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "L'Ami, Erwin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2814"]
[BlackElo "2628"]
[PlyCount "187"]
[EventDate "2011.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 141"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 g6 7. O-O Bg7 8. Re1
O-O 9. Nbd2 Kh8 10. Nf1 Ng8 11. Bg5 f6 12. Bh4 Qe8 13. d4 Bd7 14. d5 Nd8 15.
Bxd7 Qxd7 16. N3d2 Nf7 17. f3 f5 18. c4 a5 19. Bf2 Nf6 20. c5 fxe4 21. Nxe4
dxc5 22. Nxc5 Qxd5 23. Qxd5 Nxd5 24. Rad1 c6 25. Ne3 Rfd8 26. a4 Nxe3 27. Bxe3
b5 28. b3 bxa4 29. bxa4 Rd5 30. Ne6 Bf8 31. Nc7 Rxd1 32. Rxd1 Rd8 33. Rc1 Rd3
34. Bb6 Bb4 35. Rxc6 Ra3 36. Ne6 h5 37. f4 Rxa4 38. fxe5 Ra1+ 39. Kf2 Re1 40.
Bd4 Kg8 41. Rc8+ Kh7 42. Nf8+ Kh6 43. Nd7 Rd1 44. Be3+ Kg7 45. Rc7 a4 46. e6
Nd6 47. h4 a3 48. Ra7 g5 49. hxg5 Kg6 50. e7 a2 51. Nf8+ Kf5 52. Rxa2 Ne4+ 53.
Kf3 Rf1+ 54. Ke2 Ng3+ 55. Kd3 Bxe7 56. Ra5+ Kg4 57. Ra4+ Kf5 58. Ra5+ Kg4 59.
Ne6 Rd1+ 60. Kc2 Rd7 61. g6 Nf1 62. Bc1 Bf6 63. g7 Bxg7 64. Rg5+ Kh4 65. Nxg7
Ne3+ 66. Bxe3 Rd2+ 67. Kc1 Rd1+ 68. Kb2 Rd2+ 69. Kc3 Rd3+ 70. Kc4 Rxe3 71.
Rxh5+ Kg4 72. Rh2 Re7 73. Nh5 Re5 74. Nf6+ Kg3 75. Rh7 Kxg2 76. Kd4 Re1 77. Ng4
Kg3 78. Ne3 Ra1 79. Rg7+ Kf4 80. Rf7+ Kg3 81. Nc2 Ra4+ 82. Ke3 Kg4 83. Nd4 Kg5
84. Ke4 Kg6 85. Rf1 Ra5 86. Nc6 Ra4+ 87. Ke5 Kg5 88. Rg1+ Rg4 89. Ra1 Rg3 90.
Re1 Rg2 91. Ne7 Kg4 92. Nf5 Ra2 93. Rg1+ Kf3 94. Nh4+ 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 73rd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2011.01.21"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Smeets, Jan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2662"]
[BlackElo "2814"]
[Annotator "Kritz,L"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2011.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 141"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Bd7 10. h3 b6 {Das sieht schon wirklich gefährlich aus.
Das Feld g5 sollte man unter Kontrolle nehmen oder man hat wirklich alles bis
ins kleinste Details analysiert, was nach Rd1-Ng5 passiert.} 11. b3 (11. Rd1 $5
{Der direkteste Versuch, die Abwesenheit des Bauern auf h6 auszunutzen.} Kc8
12. g4 Ne7 13. Ng5 $1 f5 $1 14. e6 Be8 15. Nf7 Bxf7 16. exf7 Ng6 $1 17. gxf5
Nh4 18. Ne4 Be7 19. Rd3 Rf8 $13 {Navara - Hammer (Wijk aan Zee, 2011)}) 11...
Kc8 12. Bb2 h5 $5 {Wenn das geht, dann hat Schwarz einfach Zeit an h6 gespart
und steht sehr gut.} (12... Be7 13. g4 Nh4 14. Nxh4 Bxh4 15. f4 f5 16. exf6
gxf6 17. f5 $14 {Womacka - Harikrishna (Catalan Bay, 2004)}) 13. g3 {Das ist
natürlich kein Versuch, den schwarzen Aufbau zu widerlegen.} (13. Ng5 Be7 $1 {
Es entstehen einige hübsche Varianten.} 14. Nxf7 (14. Nce4 Be8 15. Rad1 Kb7)
14... Rf8 15. Rfe1 Be6 16. Nd6+ cxd6 17. exd6 Bh4 $1 18. Rxe6 (18. g3 Kd7 19.
gxh4 Nxh4 $11) 18... Bxf2+ 19. Kh2 $1 (19. Kh1 Kd7 20. Re5 Bd4 21. Ree1 Rae8
$15) 19... Bg3+ 20. Kg1 Bf2+ $11) 13... Be7 {Schwarz hat das Maximum erreicht,
was er in der Berliner Mauer erreichen kann.} 14. Rad1 a5 15. a4 {Es ist gut
für Schwarz, die Züge a5 und a4 einzuschließen, denn die weißen Bauern
c2-b3-a4 können später Angriffsziele des schwarzen weißfeldrigen Läeufers
werden. Doch Weiß muss a4 spielen, weil er nicht damit leben kann, dass
Schwarz jeder Zeit selbst a4 spielt.} Re8 16. Rd3 $2 {Es stellt sich heraus,
dass der Turm auf d3 sehr unglücklich steht. Ein prophylaktischer Zug wie Kh2
wäre besser gewesen.} (16. Kh2 $5 c5 17. Nd5 c4 18. Nxe7+ (18. g4 hxg4 19. hxg4
Nh6 20. g5 Nf5 21. Nxe7+ Rxe7 $15) 18... Rxe7 19. Rd2 Kb7 $11) 16... c5 {
Das ist ein Standardzug - man gibt das Feld d5 auf, bringt aber den Läufer
nach c6. Der Springer auf d5 steht schön, macht aber wenig.} 17. Nd5 c4 $1 {
Wenn ein solcher Zug in der Berliner Mauer gespielt wird, dann muss Weiß
sofort gewinnen oder er wird schlechter stehen. Sofort gewinnen kann er hier
nicht, also...} 18. Rc3 (18. Nxe7+ Nxe7 {Nun hängt der Bauer auf h3 auch noch.}
19. Rd2 (19. bxc4 Bxa4 $17) 19... cxb3 20. cxb3 Bxh3 $19) 18... Bc5 $1 {
Das war die Idee! Der Bauer c7 ist indirekt verteidigt, der andere auf g3
hängt! Schwarz hat großen Vorteil.} 19. Kh2 (19. Rxc4 Bc6 $1 {Man muss sehr
genau spielen!} (19... Nxg3 $2 20. Rd1 $1 {Es droht Rxc5 oder Ba3} Nf5 21. Ba3
Bxa3 22. Nxc7 $3 $18 {Nicht mit dem Turm - das ist die Idee.}) 20. Rd1 Rd8 21.
Rf4 Nxg3 $17) 19... Bc6 {Auch 19...cxb3 führt zum Vorteil.} (19... cxb3 20.
cxb3 Bc6 $15) 20. bxc4 Bxa4 $17 {Diese Stellung ist fast verloren für Weiß.
Schwarz hat das Läuferpaar, die bessere Bauernstruktur, einen entfernten
Freibauern und aktiv stehende Figuren. Und das nach nur 20 Zügen!} 21. Ra1 Bc6
22. Rf1 $2 {Man sieht, dass der Weißspieler die Partie schon psychologisch
aufgegeben hat.} a4 {Schwarz hat keine Schwiriegkeiten mit der Verwertung
seines Vorteils.} 23. Ba3 Ra5 24. g4 hxg4 25. hxg4 Ne7 (25... Nd4 $1 {würde
noch einfacher gewinnen.} 26. Bxc5 Rh8+ 27. Kg2 (27. Kg3 Ne2+ 28. Kg2 Rxc5 29.
Re3 Rxc4 30. Ne7+ Kb7 31. Nxc6 Rxg4#) 27... Rxc5 $3 28. Nxd4 (28. Ne7+ Kb7 29.
Nxc6 Nxc6 30. Re1 Ra8 31. Ree3 Raa5 $19) 28... Bxd5+ 29. Kg3 Rxc4 $19) 26. Nb4
{Das Nehmen auf e7 sieht auch nicht gut aus.} (26. Nxe7+ Bxe7 27. Ra1 Bxa3 28.
Raxa3 Rc5 $17) 26... Bb7 27. Kg3 Ng6 $19 {Alle schwarzen Figuren greifen an,
alle weißen sind am Verteidigen.} 28. Re1 Bxf3 {Einfachste Entscheidung.} 29.
Rxf3 Rxe5 30. Rd1 Re4 31. Rxf7 Rxg4+ 32. Kxg4 Ne5+ 33. Kg3 Nxf7 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel-A 73rd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2011.01.22"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B80"]
[WhiteElo "2814"]
[BlackElo "2810"]
[PlyCount "36"]
[EventDate "2011.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 141"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. g3 e6 7. Bg2 Be7 8. O-O
O-O 9. Nce2 Qc7 10. b3 e5 11. Nf5 Bxf5 12. exf5 d5 13. Bxd5 Rd8 14. c4 Nxd5 15.
cxd5 Qa5 16. Qd2 Qxd2 17. Bxd2 Rxd5 18. Be3 Nc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 73rd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2011.01.23"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2814"]
[BlackElo "2751"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2011.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 141"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Be3
{A tricky move order.} ({After one sees the game, a legitimate question is if
White can't play} 8. g4 {immediately. This is also nothing new, as Black
hasn't castled yet, he can afford to play} h6 $1 {After} 9. f4 exf4 10. Bxf4
Nc6 11. h3 Be6 12. Qd2 d5 13. O-O-O dxe4 14. Qe3 Qc8 15. Nxe4 Nxe4 16. Qxe4 {
Black has opened the [+] for his <=>, so} O-O {is already appropriate.} 17. Kb1
f5 18. Qe3 Nb4 19. Bd3 fxg4 20. Be4 Bf5 21. Nd4 Bxe4 22. Qxe4 Qc4 23. b3 Qf7
24. Ne6 {Shirov,A (2700)-Van Wely,L (2655)/Tilburg/1997/} {should have led to
a balanced _|_ after} Qf5 $1 $11) ({For the standard} 8. O-O {see the notes to
Ponomariov-Anand, Wijk aan Zee 2011.}) 8... O-O (8... b5 $6 {prematurely
weakens the << and} 9. a4 $1 b4 10. Nd5 $16 {causes serious problems.}) ({
However,} 8... Be6 $142 $1 {is safer than the text move, as now} 9. g4 (9. O-O
O-O {-8.0-0}) {allows [+]<=> with} 9... d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxd5 Bxd5 12. O-O
Nc6 (12... O-O 13. Nc5 (13. c4 Bc6 14. Qxd8 Bxd8 15. Nc5 {Peresipkin,V-Bukhman,
E/Kaliningrad /1972/} a5 $5 {[%cal Yb7b6,Yb8d7] /\b6,Nd7=}) 13... Bc6 14. Qxd8
Rxd8 15. Rfd1 Re8 (15... Nd7 16. Nxd7 Rxd7 17. Rxd7 Bxd7 18. Bf3 Rc8 19. c3 Bc6
20. Bxc6 Rxc6 $11) 16. c4 a5 17. Rac1 b6 18. Nd3 Nd7 19. a3 Bf8 20. Rb1 Nc5 $11
{Firman,N (2551)-Yilmaz,M (2477)/Kharkov/2011/}) 13. c3 (13. Nc5 Bxc5 14. Bxc5
h5 $13) 13... O-O 14. Qc2 $6 (14. Nc5 $13) 14... Qc7 15. Rad1 Be6 16. f3 Rad8
17. Bd3 g6 $15 {[%csl Rf3,Rg4] ׻, Ninclaus,W-Baert,J/Gent/2010/}) 9. g4 $1 Be6
{Around here the surprised Nakamura started thinking.} (9... Nc6 10. g5 Nxe4
11. Nxe4 d5 12. Ng3 d4 13. Bd2 a5 14. h4 a4 15. Nc1 Be6 16. Bd3 Bb4 17. a3
Bxd2+ 18. Qxd2 f5 19. gxf6 Qxf6 20. Be4 Bg4 21. Nd3 Bf3 22. Bxf3 Qxf3 23. Qe2
$18 {Yemelin,V (2530)-Nevostrujev,V (2490)/Kazan/2005/}) (9... a5 10. g5 Nfd7
11. h4 a4 12. Nd2 Nb6 13. Bxb6 $1 Qxb6 14. Nd5 Qd8 15. Nc4 Nc6 16. c3 b5 17.
Nce3 Rb8 18. Rg1 Kh8 19. a3 f6 20. Bg4 fxg5 21. Bxc8 Rxc8 22. Qg4 Rf4 23. Nxf4
exf4 24. Nd5 Ne5 25. Qe6 Nf3+ 26. Ke2 Nxg1+ 27. Rxg1 $18 {[%csl Gd5] Yemelin,V
(2522)-Loginov,V (2499)/St Petersburg/2001/}) ({There is hardly anything
better than the natural text move.} 9... h6 $6 {is suicidal:} 10. h4 $1 $40)
10. g5 Nfd7 ({Dolmatov has had excellent results with this line and his games
are very instructive, e.g.} 10... Ne8 11. Qd2 Nd7 12. f4 g6 13. O-O-O Ng7 14.
h4 Rc8 15. Kb1 f5 16. h5 $40 gxh5 17. Bxh5 fxe4 18. Qh2 Rxc3 19. bxc3 Bf5 20.
Bg4 $1 Bxg4 21. Qxh7+ Kf7 22. Rdf1 Bf3 23. Rh6 Rg8 24. fxe5 Nxe5 25. Qxe4 Ke8
26. Rxf3 Nxf3 27. Qxf3 Bxg5 28. Qd5 $1 {1-0,Dolmatov,S (2600)-Zakharov,A (2426)
/Linares/2000/ See the notes by Ftacnik in CBM 75.}) 11. h4 $5 {This extremely
aggressive move order might be in fact more testing than the more usual
continuation} (11. Qd2 {and now:} a5 $142 $5 (11... Nb6 12. O-O-O N8d7 {
is rather slow, after} 13. Kb1 Rc8 14. h4 Nc4 15. Bxc4 Rxc4 {White has a
pleasant choice of attacking continuations:} 16. f3 {[%cal Yc3d5] /\Nd5} (16.
h5 $5 f5 17. exf5 Rxf5 18. Nd5 (18. g6 $14) 18... Bxg5 19. Bxg5 Rxg5 20. Ne3
Rc6 21. Na5 Rb6 22. Nac4 $36) (16. f4 exf4 17. Bxf4 Ne5 18. Nd4 Qc8 19. Nd5 (
19. h5 $142 $36 {is similar to Carlsen's set-up} Rb4 $2 {runs into} 20. Nf5 $1
Bxf5 21. Nd5 $18) 19... Bxd5 20. exd5 $14 (20. Nf5 $6 Re8 21. Qxd5 Bf8 $132 {
Stellwagen,D (2585)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2573)/Wijk aan Zee B /2007/})) 16... Qc7
(16... f5 17. Nd5 $1 {/\} fxe4 18. Na5 $16) 17. h5 b5 (17... Rc8 18. g6 fxg6
19. hxg6 hxg6 20. Nd5 Qd8 21. c3 R4c6 22. Rdg1 Nf8 23. f4 exf4 24. Nxf4 $40 {
Rogers,I (2575)-Huebner,R (2595)/Wellington/1988/}) 18. g6 Nf6 (18... b4 $5 19.
Nd5 Bxd5 20. Qxd5 Nf6 $14) 19. Rdg1 b4 20. Na4 $1 (20. Bh6 bxc3 21. gxh7+ Nxh7
$8 22. Rxg7+ (22. Qg2 Bg5 23. Bxg5 f6 $13) 22... Kh8 23. Qg2 Bf6 24. Rg1 Qd8 {
Williams,B-Frost,L/corr/1997/} 25. Rg3 Rc8 26. Bxf8 Qxf8 $13) 20... Rc6 21. Bh6
Ne8 22. Bxg7 (22. gxh7+ Kxh7 23. Bxg7 Nxg7 24. h6 Ne8 25. Qg2 d5 $1 {/\} 26.
Qg7+ Nxg7 27. hxg7+ Bh3 28. Rxh3+ Rh6 $19) 22... Kxg7 23. h6+ Kg8 24. g7 $16 {
Hellers,F (2520)-Gavrikov,V (2580)/Brocco/1990/}) 12. f4 (12. a4 Nc6 {[%cal
Yc6b4] The outpost on b4 guarantees Black at least reasonable <=>, Carlsen at
his post-game press-conference admitted he was worried about a5 motifs and
wanted to avoid such situations.} (12... Na6 {is also possible, only after} 13.
Nd5 {Black should play} Nb4 $1 $132 (13... Bxd5 $6 14. exd5 Nac5 15. Nxc5 Nxc5
16. h4 Qc8 17. Bb5 Bd8 18. Qe2 Bb6 19. O-O-O Nb3+ 20. Kb1 Nd4 21. Bxd4 Bxd4 22.
c3 Bc5 23. Bd3 f5 24. gxf6 Rxf6 25. Qe4 Rh6 26. f4 $36 {[%csl Rc5,Gd3] ^-->,
Dolmatov,S (2565)-Ljubojevic,L (2610)/Madrid/1988/ Another model Dolmatov game,
in which White's attack suceeded because of his better B and despite the
simplification.})) 13. f4 (13. h4 Nc5 (13... Nb4 14. O-O-O Rc8 15. Kb1 Nb6 16.
Na1 f5 17. gxf6 Rxf6 18. Rhg1 Nc4 19. Bxc4 Bxc4 20. h5 Qf8 $13 {Mertens,M 
(2454)-Tiemann,H (2492)/corr/2006/}) 14. Nxc5 dxc5 15. Qxd8 Raxd8 16. Nb5 Nd4
17. Nxd4 cxd4 18. Bd2 b6 19. Bd3 Rc8 20. Ke2 f5 $15 {Vogt,L (2480)-Balashov,Y 
(2545)/Halle /1976/}) (13. Nd5 Nb4 $1 14. Nxa5 $2 Bxd5 15. Qxb4 Be6 16. Bd2 d5
17. Qb5 dxe4 18. Bc4 Bxg5 19. Bb4 e3 $19 {->,Antal,G (2473)-Vajda,L (2537)/
Budapest/2003/}) (13. O-O-O Nb4 14. Kb1 f5 $5 15. gxf6 Nxf6 16. Rhg1 Rc8 17.
Bh6 Rf7 18. Bf3 Qd7 19. Rg3 d5 $1 $15 {Sheretyuk,A (2426)-Ljubicic,L (2516)/
corr/2008/}) 13... f5 (13... Nb4 14. f5 Bxb3 15. cxb3 d5 16. exd5 $14 (16. Nxd5
Nxd5 17. Qxd5 Bxg5 18. Bxg5 Qxg5 19. Qxd7 Qh4+ $11)) (13... exf4 $5 14. Bxf4
Bxb3 15. cxb3 Nc5 16. Bc4 Ne5 17. Bxe5 dxe5 18. h4 Qxd2+ 19. Kxd2 Ne6 $11) 14.
exf5 (14. gxf6 $5 Bxf6 15. O-O-O) 14... Bxf5 15. fxe5 dxe5 (15... Ndxe5 16.
O-O-O Nb4 17. Nd4 Bh3 $13) 16. O-O-O Nb4 17. Rhf1 Be6 18. Rxf8+ Qxf8 19. Rf1
Qc8 20. Bb5 Qc7 21. Bxd7 {1/2,Khalifman,A (2628)-Gelfand,B (2713)/FIDE WCh Las
Vegas/1999/} Qxd7 $11) (12. Bb5 Na6 13. O-O-O {Sadvakasov,D (2509)-Ashley,M 
(2482)/Los Angeles/2000/} Nc7 $132) 12... a4 13. f5 axb3 14. fxe6 fxe6 15. cxb3
Nc6 16. h4 (16. Bc4 Nd4 $1 17. O-O-O Nb6 $132) 16... Nc5 17. Bc4 Na5 (17... Qc8
$5) 18. Bxc5 Nxc4 19. bxc4 dxc5 20. O-O-O Qxd2+ {Even despite the seemingly
miserable Be7 White doesn't have an advantage, as his >> is vulnerable and
Black's R are active.} 21. Kxd2 (21. Rxd2 Rad8 22. Rxd8 Rxd8 23. b3 Kf7 24. Ne2
Kg6 $132 {[%csl Rg5,Rh4] Stefan,C (2111)-Zirek,M (2137)/corr/2002/}) 21...
Rad8+ 22. Ke2 Rd4 23. Rhf1 Rfd8 24. b3 h6 $11 25. gxh6 gxh6 26. h5 Bg5 $11 {
Dolmatov,S (2550)-Gelfand,B (2585)/Klaipeda/1988/}) 11... Nb6 $6 (11... Nc6
$142 $5 {White can maybe avoid this with} 12. f4 {, but} (12. Qd2 a5 $132 (
12... Rc8 13. Nd5 f5 $6 14. f3 Kh8 15. O-O-O f4 16. Bf2 Re8 17. Nxe7 Nxe7 18.
Qxd6 $16 {Romanishin,O-Marjanovic,S/Yerevan /1971/}) {, now} 13. a4 {only
transposes to the above note.} (13. f4 a4 14. f5 axb3 15. fxe6 fxe6 16. cxb3
Nc5 $13 {/\} 17. O-O-O $2 Rxa2)) 12... f5 {is far from clear.}) (11... a5 12.
f4 exf4 (12... a4 13. f5 $36 {is a better version of the above line, as White
has already played the useful h4.}) 13. Bxf4 Ne5 14. Nd4 Nbc6 15. Qd2 $5 $14 (
15. Ndb5 f5 16. Nd5 fxe4 17. Nbc7 Bxd5 18. Qxd5+ Kh8 19. Ne6 Qb6 20. Nxf8 Rxf8
21. Bxe5 Qf2+ 22. Kd1 dxe5 23. Rf1 {Delchev,A (2583)-Colovic,A (2385)/Subotica/
2003/} Qxf1+ 24. Bxf1 Rxf1+ 25. Ke2 Rxa1 26. Qd7 Nd4+ 27. Kf2 e3+ 28. Kg2 (28.
Kxe3 Rf1) 28... Bf8 29. Qc8 (29. Qf7 $2 Ne6 $1 30. Qxe6 e2 31. Qf7 Rf1) 29...
Kg8 30. Qc4+ $11)) (11... b5 {allows White to profit from his Q on d1 with} 12.
Bg4 (12. Nd5 $5) 12... Nc5 13. Bxe6 fxe6 14. g6 h6 15. Qg4 Qc8 16. O-O-O Na4
17. Ne2 Nc6 18. Kb1 Rf6 19. Rh3 d5 20. Qh5 Bf8 21. Rf3 Rxf3 22. Qxf3 d4 23.
Bxh6 $40 {Smagin,S (2535)-Gallagher,J (2445)/Hastings/1990/}) 12. Qd2 ({
Carlsen didn't like the immediate} 12. f4 exf4 13. Bxf4 {due to} d5 $1 (13...
Nc6 14. Nd5 $1 Bxd5 15. exd5 Ne5 16. Qd4 Rc8 17. O-O-O Nbc4 18. Nd2 b5 19. Nxc4
Nxc4 20. Bd3 Re8 21. Kb1 Ne5 22. Bxe5 dxe5 23. Qg4 e4 24. Bxe4 Rc4 25. Qg2 Bd6
26. Bd3 $16 {Dolmatov,S (2600)-Ye Jiangchuan (2593)/Shenyang/1999/}) 14. Nd4
Nc6 15. e5 Nd7 16. Nf3 Qb6 17. Nxd5 Qa5+ 18. Nc3 Ndxe5 $36 {Tseitlin,M (2540)
-Degraeve,J (2515)/Budapest/1996/}) (12. Nd5 Nxd5 (12... N8d7 13. Qd3 Bxd5 14.
exd5 Rc8 15. Nd2 f5 16. gxf6 Nxf6 17. c4 Na4 18. Qa3 b5 19. cxb5 axb5 20. Bxb5
Nb6 $13 {Milos,G (2620)-Mekhitarian,K (2280)/Guarulhos/2005/}) 13. exd5 Bf5 14.
Bd3 Qd7 15. Rg1 a5 16. a4 Na6 17. c3 Nc7 $132 {Schmidt Schaeffer,S (2275)
-Gallagher,J (2500)/SIU-chT/1993/}) 12... N8d7 (12... a5 $5 13. f4 (13. a4 Nc6
{Smagin,S (2355)-Rashkovsky,N (2470)/Moscow/1984/} 14. O-O-O Nb4 15. f4 $5 {
is a suggestion by Shipov, who likes White's chances.}) 13... a4 (13... exf4
14. Bxf4 Nc6 15. Nd4 Ne5 16. b3 (16. O-O-O $14 {is better, later White can
kick the N away after it occupies c4.}) 16... a4 17. h5 axb3 18. cxb3 Nbd7 19.
g6 Bh4+ 20. Kd1 Nc5 21. Kc2 Bf6 22. h6 Nxg6 23. hxg7 Re8 24. Be3 Bxg7 25. Bb5
Bg4 26. Qg2 h5 27. Bc4 b5 28. Bxb5 Qa5 29. a4 Rac8 30. Bc4 Nxb3 31. Qf1 Ne5 32.
Nxb3 Nxc4 33. Bd4 Ne3+ {0-1 Yevseev,D (2589)-Rashkovsky,N (2510)/Krasnoyarsk
2003/CBM 098}) 14. f5 Nc4 15. Bxc4 (15. Qc1 $6 Nxe3 16. Qxe3 d5 $1 $15) 15...
Bxc4 16. Nc1 {[%csl Gf5,Gg5,Gh4][%cal Yb2b3,Yc3d5] is probably the critical
position. White's >>() in connection with ides like b3 and Nd5 could give him
an edge, if he manages to consolidate, but this is not so simple after} Nc6 {/\
} 17. b3 axb3 18. cxb3 d5 $1 19. exd5 Nd4 $1 $44) 13. f4 $5 $146 {[%mdl 8] A
promising novelty.} ({Previously White played almost exclusively} 13. O-O-O {
, but Carlsen wanted to gain access to the d4 square and once and for all stop
the} a5 $5 {ideas.} (13... Rc8 14. Kb1 $36 {leads to a position we have
already considered above in the note to 11.h4!?}) 14. Kb1 a4 15. Nc1 Rc8 (15...
Qc8 16. a3 Nc4 17. Bxc4 Qxc4 18. N1a2 f5 19. gxf6 Nxf6 20. f3 Rf7 21. Nb4 $14 {
Horvath,A (2464)-Flumbort,A (2436)/Budapest/2002/}) (15... f5 $5) 16. a3 f5 17.
Nd5 (17. f3 $5 {[%cal Yc1a2,Ya2b4] /\N1a2-b4+/=}) 17... Bxd5 18. exd5 Nc4 $11 {
Andersen,M (2020)-Flumbort,A (2499)/Gausdal/2008/}) (13. h5 Rc8 (13... a5 $142
$1) 14. O-O-O Qc7 15. g6 Rfd8 16. Rdg1 d5 {Maslik,W-Kammel,H/corr/1986/} 17.
gxh7+ Kh8 18. Bh6 $1 $18) 13... exf4 14. Bxf4 Ne5 15. O-O-O $14 {Ponomariov,R 
(2723)-Karjakin,S (2678) Corus Wijk aan Zee 2007 (9) 1-0 Now the position
resembles games from the 6.Be3 e5 line, in which White has been able to play
f4 in one go. One possible model example from White's point of view is} Rc8 (
15... Nbc4 16. Bxc4 $5 (16. Qd4 Rc8 17. Kb1 f6 $5 $132) 16... Nxc4 17. Qd3 $14
{[%cal Yb3d4,Yd4f5,Yc3d5] /\Nd4-f5,Nd5}) 16. Kb1 Qc7 {I think Black shouldn't
have hesitated so long with the N sortie. Here} (16... Nbc4 17. Bxc4 Nxc4 18.
Qd3 f6 19. Nd4 Bg4 20. Rdg1 fxg5 21. Bxg5 h5 $5 $14 {deserves attention.}) 17.
h5 (17. Nd4 Nbc4 18. Bxc4 Nxc4 19. Qd3 Qb6 {forces the N to return, or a
weakening of the << with} 20. b3 {[%csl Ra3,Rb2]}) (17. Ka1 $5 $14) 17... Rfe8
$6 ({Again Black should have considered} 17... Nbc4 $5 18. Bxc4 (18. Qd4 $5
Na3+ 19. Kc1) 18... Nxc4 19. Qd3 (19. Qg2 $2 Nxb2) 19... Na3+ 20. Kc1 Qc4 $132)
18. Ka1 $1 {A nice prophylactic move, designed to take the sting out of the
line} (18. Nd4 Nbc4 19. Qe1 Qb6 20. Bc1 $2 Na3+ 21. Ka1 Qxd4 $1 $17) 18... Bf8
(18... Nbc4 19. Bxc4 Nxc4 20. Qd3 $14 {is less effective now, but still seems
preferable to the text move.}) 19. Nd4 $36 {[%mdl 128] White finally activates
his N and his |^ inexorably grows, culminating in a combinational atttack.} Qc5
({In the post-mortem Nakamura suggested} 19... g6 $5 {/\Bg7 , but this fails to
} 20. hxg6 (20. h6) 20... hxg6 (20... fxg6 21. Bxe5 dxe5 22. Nxe6 Rxe6 23. Nd5
$18) 21. Bxe5 (21. Nxe6 Rxe6 22. Be3 Bg7 (22... Nbc4 23. Bxc4 Nxc4 24. Bd4 Bg7
25. Qh2 $18) 23. Bd4 $40) 21... dxe5 22. Nxe6 Rxe6 (22... fxe6 23. Qe3 $18 {
[%cal Re3h3,Re2g4,Rd1f1,Rf1f6] ><e6,g6,/\Qh3,Bg4,Rdf1-f6}) 23. Bg4 Rd6 24. Qh2
Rxd1+ 25. Nxd1 $18) (19... Nbc4 20. Bxc4 Nxc4 21. Qd3 Qb6 22. Bc1 $1 $36 {
/\g6-> protects everything important and White is ready to roll.}) 20. g6 $1
$40 Nec4 (20... fxg6 21. hxg6 Nxg6 (21... h6 22. Nxe6 Rxe6 23. Bxe5 dxe5 (23...
Rxe5 24. Qf4 Qc7 25. Bg4 Rb8 26. Rdf1 $18) 24. Bg4 Rxg6 (24... Rd6 25. Bxc8
Rxd2 26. Be6+ Kh8 27. Rxd2 $18 {[%csl Rh8] עh8}) 25. Bxc8 $16) 22. Nxe6 Rxe6
23. Bg4 Nxf4 24. Qxf4 Rf6 25. Qh2 $16) 21. Bxc4 Nxc4 22. Qd3 {Here Carlsen
considered Black's position beyond saving - in a practical game it's certainly
almost impossible to defend and Nakamura quckly went down in flames.} fxg6 ({
Slightly more resilient was} 22... h6 $5 {, but after} 23. Qg3 $16 {White is
still clearly on top.}) (22... b5 23. gxh7+ Kh8 24. h6 g6 25. Nxe6 Rxe6 (25...
fxe6 26. e5 $1 $18) 26. Nd5 $16 {/+-}) 23. hxg6 (23. Nxe6 Rxe6 24. Qh3 Rce8 25.
hxg6 h6 26. Nd5 {[%cal Rh3f5,Rf5f7] /\Qf5-f7} Rxg6 27. Qf5 Ree6 28. Rdf1 {
[%cal Rf5f8,Rf4h6]} Ref6 29. Nxf6+ Rxf6 $16 {is promising, but Carlsen already
wants more and sees no need to force matters.}) 23... h6 24. Qg3 Qb6 (24...
Nxb2 25. Kxb2 Qb4+ 26. Nb3 d5 27. exd5 Qa3+ 28. Kb1 $19 {is just desperation.})
25. Bc1 Qa5 $6 {[%cal Yc8c3,Yc4b2] Black toys with ideas as Nb2 and Rc3, but
his Q goes offside.} (25... Ne5 26. Nd5 Bxd5 27. exd5 $40 {gives him an extra
tempo in comparison with the game, but White's attack is still very strong.})
26. Rdf1 $1 {Carlsen refrains from} (26. Nxe6 Rxe6 27. Nd5 $16 {and calmly
piles up the pressure.}) 26... Ne5 {[%cal Rc8c3] /\Rc3} (26... Nxb2 27. Nxe6
Qxc3 (27... Rxc3 28. Qf2 $18) 28. Qxc3 Rxc3 29. Kxb2 $18) (26... Qe5 27. Qf2 $1
Qc5 (27... Rc7 28. Nxe6 Qxe6 29. Nd5 Rd7 30. Bxh6 $18) (27... Re7 28. Rh4 $5
$18 (28. Nxe6 Qxe6 29. Nd5 $18 {[%cal Rc1h6] /\Bh6})) 28. Rhg1 $1 {[%cal Rc1h6]
/\Bh6,g7+-}) 27. Nd5 Bxd5 28. exd5 $18 {[%csl Rh6][%cal Rd4f5] /\Nf5,><h6} Qxd5
(28... Qa4 29. Bxh6 $5 gxh6 30. g7 Bxg7 31. Rf4 $1 (31. Nf5 $6 Qg4) 31... Qd7
32. Nf5 h5 33. Nh6+ Kh7 34. Rxh5 Ng6 (34... Bxh6 35. Rxh6+ Kxh6 36. Rh4#) 35.
Rf7 Rxc2 36. a3 Ree2 37. Nf5+ Kg8 38. Rxg7+ Qxg7 39. Nxg7 Rg2 (39... Kxg7 40.
Rg5 $18) 40. Qxd6 Rxb2 41. Qd8+ Kxg7 42. Qc7+ Kg8 43. Rf5 $18) 29. Bxh6 $1 {
[%mdl 64] With all forces aiming at Black's K, the tactics logically work in
White's favour.} gxh6 (29... Qxd4 30. Be3 $18 {[%cal Rh1h8,Re3d4] /\Bd4,Rh8}) (
29... Qe4 30. Bc1 (30. Nf5 $18) 30... Qxg6 (30... Nxg6 31. Qh3 $18) 31. Qh3 Nf7
32. Rfg1 Qe4 33. Nf5 $18) 30. g7 Be7 (30... Bxg7 31. Nf5 Rc7 32. Nxh6+ Kh7 33.
Ng4+ Kg8 34. Nf6+ $18) 31. Rxh6 Nf7 32. Qg6 $1 (32. Rh8+ $2 Nxh8 33. gxh8=Q+
Kxh8 {and as h1 is protected, White has only a perpetual.}) 32... Nxh6 33. Qxh6
Bf6 34. Qh8+ (34. Qxf6 Qh5 35. Ne6 Kh7 36. Nf4 Qh6 37. Qf5+ Kg8 38. Nh5 $18 {
wins as well, but the text move is more forceful.}) 34... Kf7 35. g8=Q+ Rxg8
36. Qxf6+ Ke8 37. Re1+ (37. Re1+ Kd7 38. Qe7#) 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 73rd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2011.01.25"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2715"]
[BlackElo "2814"]
[Annotator "Moradiabadi,E"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2011.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 141"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{A nice game by both parties in which once again the world number one proved
the "Berlin Wall" continues to stand strong!} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4.
O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Bd7 {#This
move has become popular over the last year.} 10. h3 b6 11. Bf4 Kc8 12. Rad1 h6
{#By a curious transposition, we have reached a famous typical position, which
has been examined several times before, even by Carlsen!} 13. Bh2 {White's
bishop clears the way for the pawn's majority march!} (13. Rd3 Be6 14. Rfd1 Kb7
15. b3 g5 16. Bc1 c5 17. Nd5 Ne7 18. Nxe7 Bxe7 19. c4 Rag8 20. Nd2 g4 21. hxg4
Rxg4 22. Nf1 Rhg8 23. Rg3 h5 24. Re1 a6 25. Rxg4 hxg4 26. Rd1 Kc6 27. Bf4 Rd8
28. Rxd8 Bxd8 29. Ne3 b5 30. Kf1 bxc4 31. bxc4 Kb6 32. Ke2 Ka5 33. Kd3 c6 34.
f3 gxf3 35. gxf3 Ka4 36. Bh6 Ka3 37. f4 Kxa2 38. Kc2 f5 39. Bf8 Bb6 40. Be7 a5
41. Bh4 a4 42. Be1 Bd8 43. Nd1 Ka3 44. Nb2 Be7 45. Bc3 Bf8 46. Nd3 {1-0 Anand,
V (2786)-Topalov,V (2757)/Monte Carlo 2005/CBM 105 ext}) (13. a3 Be6 14. g4 Ne7
15. Nd4 Bc4 16. Rfe1 c5 17. Nf5 Nc6 18. Nd5 Bxd5 19. Rxd5 g6 20. e6 gxf5 21.
exf7 Bd6 22. Bxh6 Kb7 23. Bg7 Rh7 24. Rxd6 Rxg7 25. Rxc6 fxg4 26. Rxb6+ cxb6
27. Re7+ Kc6 28. f8=Q Rxf8 29. Rxg7 gxh3 30. Rh7 Rd8 31. Rxh3 Rd1+ 32. Kg2 Rc1
33. Rc3 {1-0 Carlsen,M (2548)-Nielsen,P (2653)/Warsaw 2005/CBM 108 (49)}) 13...
a5 14. g4 Ne7 15. Nd4 h5 16. e6 $5 {A typical temporary pawn sacrifice which
seems just sufficient for "compensation" in this particular position, however
one should not forget about the practical difficulties Black has to face.} fxe6
17. Rfe1 hxg4 18. hxg4 Rh6 19. g5 Rh5 20. Nxe6 Bxe6 21. Rxe6 Rxg5+ {Black is
totally safe now.} 22. Kf1 Rf5 23. a4 Rb8 24. Rd3 Rf7 25. Kg2 b5 26. axb5 cxb5
27. Ra6 b4 28. Nd5 Nxd5 29. Rxd5 b3 30. c3 Ba3 31. Re6 Re7 32. Rxe7 Bxe7 33.
Rxa5 Kd7 34. Be5 Bd6 35. Bd4 Bf4 36. Kf3 Bc1 37. c4 g5 38. Ke4 Rf8 39. Rd5+ Kc6
40. Rc5+ Kd7 41. Rd5+ Kc6 42. Rc5+ Kd7 {A neat draw!} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 73rd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2011.01.26"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2814"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[Annotator "Nepomniachtchi,I"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[EventDate "2011.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 141"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{In advance of a game with a strong opponent, one usually prepares especially
hard. Alas, though, in this instance, a difficult defeat that I had suffered
against Smeets the previous day had its effect on me. I decided it was better
just to keep a clear head, especially as Magnus usually manages to surprise
his opponents in the opening, in virtually every game.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3.
d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. Kh1 Nc6 10. f4
b5 11. Be3 Bb7 12. a4 exf4 $5 ({Magnus has played this slightly unusual
move-order before. The game Carlsen-Dominguez, 2010, continued} 12... Nb4 13.
Qd2 d5 14. fxe5 Nxe4 15. Nxe4 dxe4 16. Nd4 Nd5 17. Nf5 $14 {and White managed
to win.}) 13. Rxf4 Ne5 {By means of a series of small threats, Black has
managed to equalise.} 14. Qd4 Nc6 15. Qd2 {White has improved the position of
his queen, however, he is not able to strengthen the centre.} Ne5 16. Qd4 Nc6
17. Qd2 Ne5 18. axb5 ({Carlsen had used a lot of time on his last few moves,
and I understood that he was hardly likely to take the repetition of moves,
especially as the tournament situation required him to play for a win.
Naturally, White has many ways to continue the fight, but all involve some
degree of commitment, and even risk. Here is one sample line:} 18. Nd4 Ng6 (
18... b4 19. Nd5 Bxd5 20. exd5 Nxd5) 19. Rff1 Nh4 $5 ({после} 19... b4 20. Nd5
Nxe4 21. Nxe7+ Qxe7 22. Qxb4 Nh4 23. Nf5 Nxf5 24. Rxf5 Ng3+ 25. hxg3 Qxe3 26.
Bd3 g6 27. Rff1 {Chances are about equal, although White's position is
slightly more pleasant}) 20. Nf3 Nxe4 21. Nxe4 Bxe4 22. Nxh4 Bxh4 {and Black
is fine.}) 18... axb5 19. Re1 $5 ({A prophylactic decision, based on an
oversight. Of course, one can hardly recommend} 19. Rxa8 Qxa8 {and Black has
excellent piece play.}) ({However, the more natural move} 19. Rd1 {hardly
offers more than equality.} Ng6 20. Rff1 Nxe4 21. Nxe4 Bxe4 22. Bxb5 Nh4 {
Now White does not manage to obtain a harmonious setup, with the rook on e2,
which it seems to me, was the idea of 19 Re1.} 23. Rf2 Nf5 24. Bd3 Bxd3 25.
Qxd3 Nxe3 26. Qxe3 Bf6 27. c3 Re8 {with equal play.}) 19... Ng6 20. Rff1 b4 21.
Nd5 Nxe4 ({I could not refrain from this concrete and very tempting
continuation. After the quiet} 21... Nxd5 22. exd5 Bf6 {Black has a solid
position, but it is very hard to achieve anything more.}) 22. Nxe7+ (22. Qd4 $6
Bh4 23. Rd1 Re8 {gives Black a serious initiative.}) 22... Qxe7 23. Qxb4 Nh4 {
Now accuracy is required of White; the black bishop, controlling the long
diagonal, is causing a lot of trouble.} 24. Bf3 Nxf3 25. gxf3 (25. Rxf3 {
gives the black knight a wonderful outpost, so White is forced to spoil his
structure.}) 25... Qd7 $1 {Magnus obviously overlooked this move when playing
19 Re1.} 26. Bf4 $1 ({The only move. Other defences against the threat of Ng3+
fail:} 26. Kg1 Ra4 27. Qb6 Ba6 $1 28. fxe4 Qg4+ 29. Kf2 f5 $19) 26... Ra4 27.
Qb6 Nf6 ({After a 30-minute think, I decided to go for simplifications. At the
board, I could not decide on the computer line} 27... g5 28. c4 Rxc4 29. Na5) (
27... Nf2+ 28. Qxf2 Rxf4 29. Nd4 {leads to equality; the white knight is too
strong.}) 28. Qxd6 Qg4 29. Nd4 Rxd4 30. Qxd4 Bxf3+ 31. Rxf3 Qxf3+ 32. Kg1 Qg4+
33. Kh1 Qc8 {The best practical chance - with White's king so weak, his passed
pawns are not dangerous.} 34. Qf2 ({Premature is} 34. c4 Rd8 35. Qb6 {(with
the idea of Bd6 and c5) because of} Ne4 $1 {and it is difficult for White to
coordinate his forces.}) 34... Qb7+ 35. Kg1 ({White's activity after} 35. Qg2
Qxb2 36. Be5 Qb6 37. Rf1 Nh5 {(or 37...Ne8) does not fully compensate for the
pawn.}) 35... Ne4 ({Taking control of d4 does not work; after} 35... Rd8 $2 36.
Bg5 {White will probably save the game.}) 36. Qd4 Re8 37. Re2 $6 ({Slight
time-trouble starts to have its effect. In a very uncomfortable position,
Magnus decides to play very solidly. It seems that it was better to forget
prophylaxis and push the pawns:} 37. b4 {or 37.c4. Even then, the simple plan
h6, Re6, f5 etc. gives me a very promising position, but even so, White's
chances are improved by his pawns being closer to the 8th rank.}) 37... h6 $1
38. h3 ({It is hard to decide on} 38. Rg2 g5 39. h4 f6 {, but White should
have changed the character of the position.}) 38... Re6 39. Kh2 {The variation
given in the previous note still applies here.} f5 $6 ({A small inaccuracy;
better was} 39... Kh7) 40. b4 $6 ({Carlsen misses a surprsing possibility. It
was necessary to disturb Black's optimal setup by} 40. Qc4 $1 Qf7 (40... Kf7 {
looks somehow unscientific}) 41. Qd5 g5 42. Bb8 {In any event, this way White
can reach an endgame, where he retains definite chances of saving the game:}
Re7 43. Qxf7+ Kxf7 44. Kg2 Kf6 {and although the white pawns are much slower,
I am unable to give a definitive assessment of this position.}) 40... Kh7 {
Now Black just needs not to blow his advantage. White has no counterplay, and
will soon be unable to defend all his weaknesses.} 41. Re3 Rg6 (41... g5 {
is strong:} 42. Be5 Re7 {but I did not want to weaken my king without absolute
necessity.}) 42. Re2 Qb5 43. Re1 {White's play does not look logical, but
adequate alternatives are hard to see.} Rc6 $6 ({I was afraid of selling
myself too cheaply, and not without good reason. After} 43... Qa6 $1 $19 {
White is in complete zugzwang, and in order to continue the fight, he has to
give up a pawn. The text move does not throw away the win, but significantly
complicates Black's task.}) 44. Rxe4 fxe4 45. Qxe4+ Rg6 46. Bg3 Qd7 $1 {
The main thing is not to allow the white queen to the key square d3, from
where it simultaneously pins the black rook, defends his bishop and supports
the advance of the pawns.} 47. h4 h5 (47... Qd2+ 48. Kh1 $1 h5 49. Qf5 Qd1+ 50.
Kh2 Qg4 51. Qxg4 Rxg4 52. c3 Rc4 53. Be1 Kg6 {, probably wins, but I did not
want to leave White with both of his passed pawns.}) 48. c4 ({Desperation.
After} 48. Qe2 Qf5 {the activation of the rooks decides the game, so more
tenacious was}) (48. Qf3 $1 {, and Black has to go into the above variation:}
Qg4 49. Qxg4 Rxg4 50. c3 Rc4 {and so on.}) 48... Qd2+ 49. Kh3 Qc3 50. Qf4 Qxb4
({To my shame, I did not play} 50... Qd3 $1 {because of} 51. b5 Rf6 52. Qe5 Rf5
53. Qb2 (53. Qe6 Rf2 $1) 53... Qxc4 54. b6 {. But this is easily winning
according to the computer: "1. -+ (-5.36): 54...Rb5 55.Qf2 Qe4" etc.}) 51. Qf5
Qxc4 52. Qxh5+ Rh6 {The realisation of the extra exchange does not cause any
problems. The white pawn on h4 will be lost as soon as the queens come off.}
53. Qf3 Qe6+ 54. Kh2 Rf6 55. Qd3+ Rf5 56. Qc2 Qd5 57. Bf2 Kh6 58. Be3+ Kg6 59.
Bf2 Kf6 60. Bg3 Rf1 61. Bf2 Rd1 62. Qc3+ Qe5+ 63. Qxe5+ Kxe5 64. h5 Kf6 {
White cannot even get the ending with rook and h-pawn against bishop, in which
the stronger side only wins with some difficulty.} 65. Bh4+ Kf5 66. Be7 Rd7 {
White resigns} 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel-A 73rd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2011.01.28"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E00"]
[WhiteElo "2784"]
[BlackElo "2814"]
[Annotator "Moradiabadi/Mueller,Kar"]
[PlyCount "170"]
[EventDate "2011.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 141"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 {Müller,Karsten} Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Bxd2+ {Carlsen stays
faithful to his game against Topalov, in which this line brought him a fine
victory.} 5. Qxd2 d5 6. Bg2 Nbd7 7. Nf3 c6 8. O-O b6 9. Rc1 O-O (9... Bb7 10.
Ne5 Nxe5 11. dxe5 Nd7 12. f4 O-O 13. cxd5 cxd5 14. Na3 a5 15. Nb5 Nc5 16. Rc2
f6 17. Qe3 fxe5 18. Qxe5 Rf5 19. Qd6 $1 $14 {1-0 Grischuk,A (2760)-Eljanov,P 
(2755)/Moscow 2010/CBM 139 (60)}) 10. cxd5 cxd5 11. Na3 Bb7 $146 12. Nb5 a6 13.
Nd6 Qb8 (13... Ne4 14. Nxb7 Nxd2 (14... Qb8 $2 15. Qf4 $16) 15. Nxd8 Nxf3+ 16.
Bxf3 Rfxd8 17. Rc7 Nf6 18. Rac1 $14) 14. Qb4 a5 15. Qa3 Ba6 16. Ne5 b5 17. Qxa5
$2 {Probably a miscalculation which turns the tables in Black's favour.} (17.
Rc6 b4 18. Qe3 Bb7 19. Nxd7 Nxd7 20. Nxb7 Qxb7 21. Rac1 Rfc8 22. R6c2 Rxc2 23.
Rxc2 Rc8 $11) 17... Qxd6 18. Rc6 Qb8 19. Rxa6 Rxa6 20. Qxa6 Nxe5 21. dxe5 Qxe5
22. Qxb5 Rb8 23. Qd3 Rxb2 {Since White's 17th move the moves have been more or
less forced.} 24. Qe3 {A good practical choice.} Qxe3 25. fxe3 Rxe2 26. a4 Rc2
27. a5 Rc7 28. a6 Ra7 29. Bf1 Kf8 30. Rb1 Ke7 31. Rb7+ Rxb7 32. axb7 Nd7 33.
Kf2 Kd6 34. Bb5 Nb8 35. Be8 Ke7 36. Bb5 f6 37. Kf3 Kd6 38. Be8 Kc7 39. Bf7 Kxb7
40. Bxe6 Kc6 41. Bg8 h6 {Kramnik has managed to increases his chances in this
ending where he is a pawn down.} 42. Kg4 $6 {But he goes astray now} (42. h4
Nd7 43. Kf4 Ne5 44. h5 {And it is more or less a fortress!}) 42... Nd7 43. Kf5
Ne5 44. h3 $6 {Müller,Karsten: 'In what follows Kramnik places both kingside
pawns on light squares." "Kramnik stellt seine Bauern im folgenden ungünstig
auf."} ({Müller,Karsten: By means of Mittels} 44. h4 $1 Kd6 45. h5 {Kramnik
could have drawn relatively easily. konnte Kramnik recht leicht remisieren.})
44... Kc5 45. g4 $6 {Pawns should not have been placed on white squares.} Kd6
$1 {A nice retreat!} 46. Bh7 Ke7 47. Bg8 g6+ 48. Kf4 Nf7 49. Bh7 g5+ {'!?'
Müller,Karsten.} (49... Nh8 {Müller,Karsten} 50. Bg8 Kd6 51. h4 $11) 50. Kg3 ({
Müller,Karsten: Unfortunately active defence with Unglücklicherweise ist
aktive Verteidigung mittels} 50. Kf5 $4 {'is impossible due to' wegen} Nd6+ 51.
Kg6 Nc4 $19 52. Kxh6 Nxe3 $19 {nicht spielbar.}) 50... Nd6 51. Bg8 Ne4+ {
Just in time!} 52. Kg2 Kd6 {Müller,Karsten: 'Magnus starts his long march.' 
Magnus schickt seinen König auf eine lange Reise.'} 53. Kf3 Kc5 54. Bh7 Nc3 55.
Bd3 Kb4 $17 56. Ba6 Kb3 57. Bb7 {'?' Müller,Karsten: 'Now the king will reach
d2 which seals White's fate.' 'Nun gelangt der König nach d2, was das weiße
Schicksal besiegelt.'} (57. Bd3 {Müller,Karsten:} Kb2 58. Kf2 Kc1 59. Ke1 {
was Kramnik's last chance to fight. It looks as if White can still defend. war
Kramniks letzte Chance. Es sieht so aus, als könne sich Weiß noch halten.})
57... Kc2 58. Ba6 (58. e4 $6 {Müller,Karsten} d4 $19) 58... Kd1 {Müller,
Karsten: 'Magnus' mighty king.  In the duel knight against bishop the knight
usually wants to have control. But even then it is often quite difficult to
win. Magnus Carlsen had to use all his creativity to beat Kramnik. After
looking at my original analysis, which starts at this point, Kramnik remarked:
"I had made two childish blunders and was totally lost already."  Magnus
mächtiger König Im Duell Springer gegen Läufer will die Springerpartei in
aller Regel die Kontrolle erlangen. Doch selbst dann ist der Gewinn oft nicht
leicht. So musste Magnus Carlsen all seine Kreativität und seinen König
einsetzen, um sich durchzusetzen. Nachdem Kramnik meine ursprüngliche Analyse
gesehen hatte, die im diesem Moment einsetzte, bemerkte er:"Ich hatte schon
zwei riesige Böcke geschossen und war bereits völlig verloren".} 59. Bb7 {
'?!' Müller,Karsten.} (59. Bc8 {(Müller,Karsten) was more tenacious as now no
direct zugzwang can be forced. But Black will win in any case: war viel zäher,
weil nun kein direkter Zugzwang hergestellt werden kann. Aber Schwarz kann
dennoch gewinnen:} Kd2 60. Bb7 Kc1 {A triangulation to break this setup. Ein
Dreicksmanöver, um diese Aufstellung zu durchbrechen.} 61. Bc8 Kd1 62. Bf5 (62.
Ba6 Ke1 {Zugzwang} 63. Bd3 Kd2 64. Ba6 Nd1 65. e4 d4 $19) 62... Ke1 63. Be6 Kf1
64. Bg8 Kg1 65. Kg3 Ne4+ 66. Kf3 Kh2 67. Bxd5 Nc3 $1 {Black must win a tempo.
Schwarz muss ein Tempo gewinnen.} ({After Denn nach} 67... Nd6 $2 68. h4 gxh4
69. Kf2) ({or after bzw nach} 67... Nc5 $2 68. Bc4 Kxh3 69. Bf1+ Kh4 70. Be2 h5
71. gxh5 Kxh5 {Black has good drawing chances. hat Schwarz gute Remischancen.})
68. Bc4 Nb1 $3 {The point. The knight will either sacrifice itself on d2 or
return with gain of time. Die Pointe. Der Springer wird sich entweder auf d2
opfern oder mit Tempo zurückkehren.} (68... Kxh3 $2 {is met by wird mit} 69.
Bf1+ Kh4 70. Bd3 {beantwortet..}) 69. Ke2 Kxh3 70. Bd3 (70. Be6 Nc3+ 71. Kf3
Na4 72. Bc4 Kh4 73. Bf1 Nb6 74. Be2 Nd5 75. Bd1 Nc3 76. Bc2 Nb5 77. Ba4 Nd6 78.
Bb3 f5 $19) 70... Nc3+ 71. Kf3 Kh4 72. Bf1 ({If White stays on the b1-h7
diagonal with Wenn Weiß mit} 72. Bc2 {(Knaak) then the following knight
manovers win. Black's king also has to move from time to time to bring White
in zugzwang: auf der Diagonale b1-h7 bleibt, dann gewinnt der folgende
Springertanz, wobei der König sich immer mal wieder einschalten muss, um
Zugzwänge herbeizuführen:} Nb5 73. Bf5 (73. Bh7 Nd6 74. Bg6 Nc4 $19) 73... Nd6
74. Be6 Kh3 75. Bb3 (75. Ba2 Nc8 76. Bc4 Ne7 77. Be6 Nc6 78. Ke4 Ne5 79. Kf5
Nxg4 80. Kg6 Kh4 81. e4 Ne3 $19) 75... Nb7 76. Bd1 Nc5 77. Be2 Kh4 78. Bb5 Nb3
79. Be2 Nd2+ 80. Kf2 Ne4+ 81. Kg2 Nc3 82. Bf3 Na2 83. Be2 Nc1 84. Bd1 Nd3 85.
Kf3 Ne5+ $19) 72... Nb1 73. Bd3 Nd2+ 74. Ke2 Kxg4 75. Kxd2 Kh3 76. Be2 g4 77.
Ke1 h5 78. Kf1 Kh2 $19) 59... Kd2 {'!!' Müller,Karsten: 'Magnus Carlsen puts
Kramnik in zugzwang. Now his king will reach the white kingside pawns.' 
'Magnus Carlsen bringt Kramnik in tödlichen Zugzwang. Nun wird der schwarze
König seinen langen Marsch in Richtung des Bauern h3 fortsetzen können.'} 60.
Bc6 (60. Ba6 $6 {(Müller,Karsten): is refuted by läuft in} Nd1 61. e4 d4 $19)
60... Ke1 61. Bb7 Kf1 62. Ba8 Kg1 63. Kg3 Ne4+ 64. Kf3 Nd2+ 65. Kg3 (65. Ke2 {
Müller,Karsten} Nc4 66. Bxd5 Ne5 67. Be4 Kh2 68. Kf2 Kxh3 69. Bf5 Kh4 $19)
65... Nf1+ 66. Kf3 Nd2+ 67. Kg3 Nc4 68. Bxd5 Nxe3 69. Bb7 Nf1+ 70. Kf3 Kh2 71.
Kf2 (71. h4 {Müller,Karsten} Kh3 72. hxg5 fxg5 73. Bc8 Nh2+ 74. Kf2 Nxg4+ 75.
Kf3 h5 $19) 71... Nd2 72. Bg2 Nc4 73. Bf1 Ne5 74. Ke3 Kg1 75. Be2 (75. Ke2 {
Müller,Karsten} Nd3 76. Kxd3 Kxf1 $19) 75... Kg2 76. Ke4 Kxh3 77. Kf5 Kh4 78.
Bd1 Nc4 {'!' Müller,Karsten.} 79. Ke4 ({After Nach} 79. Kxf6 {Müller,Karsten}
Ne3 80. Be2 Nxg4+ 81. Kg6 h5 82. Bd1 Ne3 83. Bxh5 Ng4 $19 {White is in
zugzwang. A tragicomical picture. ist Weiß in tödlichem Zugzwang.}) 79... Nd6+
80. Kd5 (80. Kf3 {Müller,Karsten} h5 81. gxh5 Kxh5 82. Kg3+ Kg6 $19) 80... f5 {
'!' Müller,Karsten: : 'The final point. A very impressive endgame performance
by Magnus Carlsen!'  'Die letzte Pointe. Ein von Magnus Carlsen sehr
beeindruckend geführtes Endspiel!'} 81. Kxd6 {Müller,Karsten} fxg4 82. Ke5 g3
83. Bf3 Kh3 84. Kf5 g2 85. Bxg2+ Kxg2 $19 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel-A 73rd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2011.01.29"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wang, Hao"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2814"]
[BlackElo "2731"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2011.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 141"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Be3 e6 5. Nd2 Nd7 6. Ngf3 Bg6 7. Be2 Ne7 {
I know that some of the Caro-Kann specialists prefer to develop the knight on
h6, with little concern about spoiling the pawn structure. Perhaps, it's a
matter of taste, but, in practice Black achieve results superior to the move
in the text. Here is the latest example:} (7... Nh6 8. O-O Be7 9. Bxh6 gxh6 10.
Nb3 O-O 11. Qd2 Kg7 12. c3 f6 13. Qe3 Qc7 14. c4 Rae8 $132 {0-1 Edouard,R 
(2634)-Zhigalko,A (2566)/Moscow RUS 2011/The Week in Chess 850 (36)}) 8. Nh4 $1
{The best way to fight for an advantage.} c5 ({Black can also save his bishop
by} 8... Nf5 9. Nxf5 Bxf5 10. g4 Bg6 11. h4 h6 12. h5 Bh7 {This position
appeared in a couple of games. I believe that here Black's chances to equalise
are higher than after the choice of Wang Hao.}) 9. c3 Nc6 10. Nxg6 hxg6 11. Nf3
({Another possible idea for White is} 11. a3 Rc8 (11... a5 12. a4 $14 {[%csl
Yb5]}) 12. b4 cxd4 13. cxd4 {gaining space on the queenside.}) 11... Rc8 $6 {
This standard move can't be so bad, but, I believe that Black's play should be
more concrete.} (11... Be7 12. O-O O-O 13. Bd3 Qb6 14. Qe2 Rfc8 15. h4 cxd4 16.
cxd4 Nb4 17. Bb1 Qa6 18. Qd1 $1 $14 {1-0 Svidler,P (2735)-Macieja,B (2613)/
Germany 2004/EXT 2005 (61)}) (11... cxd4 12. cxd4 Qa5+ 13. Kf1 {This is just a
temporary inconvenience for the king. After g2-g3 he will find a safe shelter
on g2. Later on White will start the plan that was realized in current game.
The evaluation clearly favours White.}) (11... Qb6 $1 {If Black wants to
continue to play this line, he has to be more active.} 12. O-O $5 (12. Qc2 cxd4
13. cxd4 Qa5+ 14. Kf1 Rc8 $132 {The queen on c2 is vulnerable.}) 12... Qxb2 {
Risky, but principled.} 13. Rb1 Qxc3 $2 (13... Qxa2 14. Rxb7 {White's
compensation is obvious, but the objective evaluation is unclear to me. This
position is worth being checked in practice. Here is a sample line:} c4 {
It is recommended for Black to close the centre.} 15. Ng5 Nd8 16. Bg4 $5 {
A very interesting rook sacrifice.} (16. Rb1 Be7 17. Bg4 $44) 16... Nxb7 17.
Qf3 f5 (17... Nf6 18. exf6 Nd8 19. Re1 $1 $44) 18. Nxe6 Rc8 19. Bxf5 gxf5 20.
Qxf5 Nb6 21. Bg5 Be7 22. Nxg7+ Kd8 {White has a perpetual check, but not more
than that.}) 14. Rxb7 cxd4 (14... c4 15. Rc7 $18 {[%csl Rc6,Rd7][%cal Gd1a4]
Black's knight doesn't have a good square in view of the threat Qd1-a4.}) 15.
Bd2 Qa3 16. Bb5 Rc8 17. Qb1 $1 Be7 18. Rc1 $18) 12. O-O a6 {This plan is
obviously slow. On the other hand, it's very hard to suggest an alternative
idea. Due to doubled pawns on the kingside, Black can, in no way, realise the .
..f7-f6 advance.} 13. g3 Be7 14. h4 b5 (14... Qb6 15. Rb1 {and Black has no
good way to develop his initiative on the queenside.}) 15. a4 $1 {It is useful
for White to open the a-file.} Qb6 16. axb5 axb5 17. Kg2 c4 {It should be
noted, that castling is unsatisfactory for Black at any moment. In such a case
White simply plays Rh1 followed by h4-h5 with an irresistible attack.} 18. Ng5
Qd8 19. Bg4 {Now some sacrifices on e6 or f7 are in the offing, therefore,
Black's next more is practically forced.} Bxg5 20. Bxg5 Qc7 21. Rh1 {White's
plan is incredibly prosaic, and there is nothing Black can do about it. His
counterplay on the queenside is way too slow.} Nb6 22. h5 {Black is lost,
where did he go that astray? I guess, the whole conception was wrong and the
plan on the queenside too slow as well.} gxh5 23. Bxh5 Na4 {This allows a
spectacular finish, but the position is lost anyway.} (23... g6 24. Bg4 {
is not a relief for Black. Either the penetration along the h-line, or the
manouevre Qd1-Qf3-Qf6 will be decisive.}) (23... Rf8 24. Qc2 g6 (24... Kd7 25.
Qh7 $18) 25. Bg4 Ne7 26. Rh7 Nf5 {and here White has several winning ideas,}
27. Qc1 Qb7 28. Bd1 $18 {followed by Qc1-f4 and g3-g4 is just one good example.
}) {[%tqu "En","Find the forced win for White.","","","h5f7","",10]} 24. Bxf7+
$1 Kxf7 25. Qf3+ Kg8 (25... Kg6 26. Bf6 $1 $18 {[%cal Rf3g4]}) 26. Rxh8+ Kxh8
27. Rh1+ Kg8 28. Qh5 Rf8 (28... Ne7 29. Bxe7 Qxe7 30. Qh8+ Kf7 31. Qxc8 $18)
29. Bf6 $1 (29. Bf6 Qd7 30. Qg6 $1 $18 {[%cal Rh1h7]}) 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 73rd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2011.01.30"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D07"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2814"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[EventDate "2011.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 141"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c4 Bg4 4. cxd5 Bxf3 5. gxf3 Qxd5 6. e3 e5 7. Nc3 Bb4 8.
Bd2 Bxc3 9. bxc3 Nge7 10. c4 Qd6 11. d5 Nb8 12. Rb1 b6 13. Bb4 c5 14. dxc6 Qxc6
15. Bd3 Qe6 16. c5 Nbc6 17. cxb6 Nxb4 18. Rxb4 axb6 19. Qb3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 20th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2011.03.12"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E48"]
[WhiteElo "2774"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2011.03.12"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 142"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 c5 6. Nge2 d5 7. cxd5 cxd4 8.
exd4 Nxd5 9. O-O Nc6 10. Bc2 Nf6 11. Bg5 Be7 12. a3 Qa5 13. Qd2 h6 14. Bh4 Rd8
15. Rfd1 Bd7 16. b4 Qh5 17. Bxf6 Bxf6 18. Ne4 Be7 19. Nf4 Qb5 20. d5 Ne5 21.
Bb3 Rac8 22. Qe1 Qb6 23. dxe6 Bxe6 24. Nxe6 fxe6 25. Ng5 Bxg5 26. Qxe5 Kh8 27.
Rxd8+ Rxd8 28. Rf1 a5 29. Qe4 axb4 30. Bc2 Kg8 31. axb4 Bf6 32. Bb3 Rd4 33. Qg6
Kf8 34. b5 Rd6 35. Qh5 Rd3 36. Bc4 Rd4 37. Qe2 Qc5 38. Bxe6 Qe5 39. Qxe5 Bxe5
40. g3 Rb4 41. Rd1 Rxb5 42. Rd7 Rb6 43. Bf5 Ke8 44. Rc7 Kd8 45. Rd7+ Ke8 46.
Rc7 Kd8 47. Rf7 Ke8 48. Bg6 Kd8 49. Be4 Ke8 50. Rxb7 Rxb7 51. Bxb7 Kf8 52. Kg2
g5 53. Kf3 Kg7 54. Kg4 Bc7 55. h4 Bb6 56. f3 Bf2 57. hxg5 hxg5 58. Kxg5 Bxg3
59. f4 Bxf4+ 60. Kxf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 20th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2011.03.13"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gashimov, Vugar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D70"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2746"]
[PlyCount "169"]
[EventDate "2011.03.12"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 142"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. d4 d5 4. e3 g6 5. Nbd2 Bg7 6. Bd3 O-O 7. O-O Na6 8. Qe2
Nc7 9. b3 c5 10. Bb2 cxd4 11. Bxd4 Ne6 12. Bb2 Nc5 13. Bc2 b6 14. Rfd1 Ba6 15.
b4 Ncd7 16. Bd3 Bb7 17. Rac1 Rc8 18. Nb3 e6 19. c5 bxc5 20. bxc5 Nb8 21. Nfd4
Nc6 22. Nxc6 Bxc6 23. Ba6 Ra8 24. Be5 Ne4 25. Bxg7 Kxg7 26. f3 Nf6 27. Nd4 Qc7
28. Bb5 Bxb5 29. Nxb5 Qe7 30. e4 Rfd8 31. Nd6 Ne8 32. Nxe8+ Qxe8 33. exd5 Rxd5
34. Rxd5 exd5 35. Qxe8 Rxe8 36. c6 Kf6 37. c7 Rc8 38. Kf2 Ke5 39. Ke3 Kd6 40.
Kd4 Rxc7 41. Rxc7 Kxc7 42. Kxd5 Kb6 43. Ke5 Kb5 44. Kf6 Kb4 45. f4 Ka3 46. Kxf7
Kxa2 47. g4 a5 48. f5 gxf5 49. gxf5 a4 50. f6 a3 51. Kg8 Kb3 52. f7 a2 53. f8=Q
a1=Q 54. Qf3+ Kc4 55. Qf4+ Kd5 56. Kxh7 Qa7+ 57. Kg6 Qa6+ 58. Qf6 Qe2 59. h4
Kc5 60. h5 Qe8+ 61. Kh6 Kd5 62. Kg5 Qg8+ 63. Kf4 Qb8+ 64. Kg4 Qb4+ 65. Kg5 Qd2+
66. Kg6 Kc4 67. h6 Qg2+ 68. Kf7 Qb7+ 69. Kg8 Qb8+ 70. Qf8 Qg3+ 71. Kh8 Qe5+ 72.
Qg7 Qe4 73. h7 Kd3 74. Qd7+ Ke2 75. Kg8 Qg6+ 76. Kf8 Qh6+ 77. Qg7 Qf4+ 78. Qf7
Qh6+ 79. Ke7 Qh4+ 80. Ke8 Qa4+ 81. Kf8 Qd4 82. Qh5+ Kf2 83. h8=Q Qd6+ 84. Kf7
Qd7+ 85. Kg6 1-0

[Event "Amber-blindfold 20th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2011.03.14"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2808"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2011.03.12"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 142"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb7 6. Bg2 Bb4+ 7. Bd2 c5 8. O-O
O-O 9. Bc3 Na6 10. Bb2 cxd4 11. Nxd4 Bxg2 12. Kxg2 Qc7 13. Nf3 Be7 14. Nc3 Nc5
15. Qd4 Qb7 16. Rfd1 Rfd8 17. Rac1 Rac8 18. Kg1 d6 19. Qe3 a6 20. Nd4 Bf8 21.
Qf3 Qxf3 22. Nxf3 Rb8 23. Nd4 Rdc8 24. f3 g6 25. Kf2 Bh6 26. e3 Bg7 27. Ke2 Kf8
28. Rd2 Ne8 29. Rcd1 Be5 30. g4 Rb7 31. g5 Bg7 32. Ba3 Kg8 33. h4 h5 34. Rc1
Rbc7 35. Rcd1 Rb7 36. Rc1 Rbc7 37. Rcd1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 20th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2011.03.15"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D76"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2011.03.12"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 142"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Nb6 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. e3
O-O 9. O-O Re8 10. b3 e5 11. Nxe5 Nxe5 12. dxe5 Qxd1 13. Rxd1 Bxe5 14. Bb2 c6
15. Rd2 Bf5 16. Rad1 Bf6 17. h3 h5 18. Kh2 Be5 19. Kg1 Bf6 20. Bf1 Kf8 21. Kg2
Rad8 22. Ba3+ Kg8 23. Rxd8 Rxd8 24. Rxd8+ Bxd8 25. e4 Be6 26. Ne2 Nc8 27. Nf4
Bd7 28. Nd3 Be7 29. Bc5 Kf8 30. f4 b6 31. Be3 Nd6 32. Ne5 Be8 33. Bd3 c5 34.
Kf3 f6 35. Nc4 Bc6 36. Nxd6 Bxd6 37. Bd2 b5 38. Bc3 Kf7 39. Ke3 a6 40. Be2 Bd7
41. h4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 20th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2011.03.17"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B41"]
[WhiteElo "2779"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2011.03.12"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 142"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 6. e4 Qc7 7. a3 b6 8. Be3
Bb7 9. f3 Be7 10. Be2 O-O 11. Rc1 Rd8 12. O-O Bd6 13. Kh1 Nc6 14. Ndb5 axb5 15.
Nxb5 Bxh2 16. Nxc7 Bxc7 17. c5 bxc5 18. Rxc5 d5 19. Rxc6 Bxc6 20. Qc1 Be5 21.
f4 Bxb2 22. Qxb2 Nxe4 23. Rc1 Rab8 24. Qe5 Be8 25. Bd3 Rb3 26. Bd4 f6 27. Qxe6+
Bf7 28. Qa6 h5 29. Rc7 1-0

[Event "Amber-blindfold 20th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2011.03.18"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2011.03.12"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 142"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 a6 8. Qd2 b5
9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Bd3 Qb6 11. Bf2 b4 12. Na4 Bxf2+ 13. Qxf2 Qxf2+ 14. Kxf2 a5
15. Rac1 Ba6 16. Bxa6 Rxa6 17. c4 bxc3 18. Rxc3 Ke7 19. Rhc1 Nb4 20. Rb3 Rc6
21. Rxc6 Nxc6 22. Rb7 Kd8 23. Ng5 Kc8 24. Nxf7 Kxb7 25. Nxh8 Nd8 26. Ke3 Kc6
27. Kd4 Kb5 28. Nc3+ Kb4 29. Nxd5+ exd5 30. Kxd5 Nc5 31. f5 Kb5 32. e6 Nc6 33.
g4 Kb6 34. Nf7 Ne7+ 35. Kd6 Nc8+ 36. Kd5 Ne7+ 37. Kd6 Nc8+ 38. Ke5 Ne7 39. g5
Nc6+ 40. Kd6 Nd4 41. Ke5 Nc6+ 42. Kd6 Nd4 43. Ke5 Nc6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 20th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2011.03.19"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2785"]
[PlyCount "181"]
[EventDate "2011.03.12"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 142"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. O-O O-O 8. c4
c6 9. Qc2 Na6 10. a3 Bg4 11. Ne5 Bf5 12. Nc3 Bxe5 13. dxe5 Nac5 14. cxd5 Nxd3
15. Qxd3 Nxc3 16. Qxf5 Nxd5 17. Bd2 Qb6 18. Qc2 Rae8 19. Rae1 Re6 20. Re4 f6
21. exf6 Rexf6 22. Bc1 h6 23. Qe2 Kh8 24. h3 Qb3 25. f3 Rg6 26. Kh1 Rd6 27. Re1
Nf6 28. Re3 Qd5 29. Re5 Qd4 30. Re7 Rd7 31. Be3 Qa4 32. Rxd7 Nxd7 33. Qd2 Nf6
34. Bc5 Rf7 35. Qd3 b6 36. Be7 Ng8 37. Bb4 c5 38. Bc3 Qc6 39. Qc4 Qd7 40. Re6
b5 41. Qg4 Re7 42. Rg6 Qxg4 43. Rxg4 Kh7 44. Re4 Rb7 45. Re5 b4 46. axb4 cxb4
47. Bd4 Ne7 48. Re6 a5 49. Ra6 Rd7 50. Bc5 Ng6 51. Rxa5 Rd1+ 52. Kh2 Rd2 53.
Ra7 Nh4 54. Kg3 Nf5+ 55. Kf4 Rxg2 56. Rb7 Nh4 57. Bd4 Ng6+ 58. Ke3 Nh4 59. Ke4
Re2+ 60. Kd3 Rg2 61. Ke4 Re2+ 62. Kd5 Nf5 63. Be5 Kg6 64. f4 Rd2+ 65. Ke6 Rd8
66. Rxb4 Re8+ 67. Kd7 Re7+ 68. Kc6 Kh5 69. Rb7 Re8 70. b4 g5 71. Rf7 Ne3 72. b5
Nc4 73. Bc7 Kg6 74. Rd7 Re3 75. Kc5 Rc3 76. Kb4 Rc1 77. fxg5 hxg5 78. Rd4 Ne3
79. Rd6+ Kf5 80. b6 Rb1+ 81. Kc5 g4 82. hxg4+ Nxg4 83. Rd5+ Ke6 84. Rd6+ Kf5
85. Rd4 Nf6 86. Kc6 Rc1+ 87. Kb7 Ke6 88. Rd6+ Ke7 89. Kc8 Ne8 90. Rd7+ Ke6 91.
b7 1-0

[Event "Amber-blindfold 20th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2011.03.20"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2011.03.12"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 142"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. a4 Bf8 14. Bd3 c6 15.
Nf1 c5 16. axb5 axb5 17. Rxa8 Qxa8 18. dxe5 Nxe5 19. Bxb5 Bxe4 20. Rxe4 Qxe4
21. Bxe8 Nxf3+ 22. Qxf3 Qxe8 23. c4 Qe5 24. b3 d5 25. cxd5 Qxd5 26. Qxd5
1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 20th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2011.03.22"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2817"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2011.03.12"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 142"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bb5+ Bd7 6. Bc4 Nc6 7. O-O Na5 8. d3
Nxc4 9. dxc4 Bxc3 10. bxc3 Bc6 11. e5 Qc7 12. Qd3 f5 13. Ng5 h6 14. Qh3 dxe5
15. Be3 e4 16. Ne6 Qc8 17. Nxc5 Nf6 18. Bd4 Kf7 19. Rae1 a5 20. Re2 b5 21. Nb3
bxc4 22. Nd2 Bd5 23. Rfe1 Qd8 24. Qh4 e6 25. Rb1 Qe7 26. Nxc4 Nd7 27. Qxe7+
Kxe7 28. Ne3 Rhb8 29. Rxb8 Rxb8 30. c4 Bc6 31. Rd2 e5 32. Bxe5 Nxe5 33. fxe5 f4
34. Nd5+ Bxd5 35. Rxd5 Rb1+ 36. Kf2 Rb2 37. Rd4 Rxc2+ 38. Kf1 f3 39. gxf3 exf3
40. Rd6 g5 41. Rxh6 Rxa2 42. h3 a4 43. Rf6 Ra1+ 44. Kf2 a3 45. Ra6 a2 0-1

[Event "Amber-blindfold 20th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2011.03.23"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2747"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2011.03.12"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 142"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb7 6. Bg2 Bb4+ 7. Bd2 c5 8. Bxb4
cxb4 9. O-O O-O 10. Qd3 d6 11. Nbd2 Qc7 12. e4 e5 13. Ne1 Nc6 14. Nc2 exd4 15.
Rfe1 Nd7 16. Nxd4 Nde5 17. Qe3 Nxd4 18. Qxd4 Qc5 19. Qe3 a5 20. Nf1 a4 21. Red1
Rfd8 22. Qd2 Ng4 23. Rab1 h6 24. Qe2 Nf6 25. e5 Bxg2 26. exf6 Bxf1 27. Qxf1
axb3 28. axb3 d5 29. fxg7 dxc4 30. Rxd8+ Rxd8 31. Qxc4 Rd4 32. Qe2 Qd5 33. Re1
1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-blindfold 20th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2011.03.24"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E60"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2733"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2011.03.12"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 142"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 c5 6. Nc3 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Qc7 (7...
Nc6 8. O-O {leads to the classic A39 system.}) 8. Ncb5 {White usually plays} (
8. b3) (8. Nd5) ({or} 8. Qd3) (8. Ndb5 $5 {looks more logical than the text
move, e.g.} Qxc4 9. b3 Qc5 10. Be3 Qb4 11. a3 Qa5 12. b4 Qd8 13. Nxa7 Ng4 14.
Bd4 Bxd4 15. Qxd4 Nc6 16. Qxg4 Rxa7 17. Qf4 e5 18. Qc4 $14 {0-1 Tregubov,P 
(2607)-Kurnosov,I (2549)/Kazan 2005/CBM 109 (34)}) 8... Qxc4 9. b3 (9. Bd2 Nc6
10. Rc1 Qxa2 11. Ra1 Qc4 12. Rc1 Qa2 13. Ra1 Qc4 {1/2 Edzgveradze,N (2295)
-Kovchan,A (2369)/Alushta 1999/EXT 2000}) 9... Qc5 10. Ba3 Qb6 11. Bxe7 Re8 12.
Nd6 $6 {Too aggressive.} (12. Ba3 $2 a6 13. Nd6 Qa5+) (12. Rc1 Rxe7 13. Rxc8+
Re8 14. Rxe8+ Nxe8 15. e3 Nc6 $11) (12. Bd6 a6 13. Bc7 Qc5 14. Bd6 Qb6 $11)
12... Rxe7 13. Nxc8 Qb4+ 14. Kf1 (14. Qd2 Qxd2+ 15. Kxd2 Ne4+ 16. Ke1 Re8 17.
Rd1 Na6 $1 18. Bxe4 Rxe4 19. Nb5 Rxc8 20. Nd6 Ree8 21. Nxe8 Rxe8 22. Rxd7 Nc5
23. Rc7 Bf8 $17) 14... Re4 $3 {[%mdl 64]} 15. Nc2 (15. Bxe4 Nxe4 16. e3 Nc6 17.
Nxc6 bxc6 18. Rc1 Rxc8 19. Qxd7 Qb8 $17) (15. e3 $144 Nc6 $1 16. Bxe4 Nxe4)
15... Qf8 16. Nd6 $6 (16. Bxe4 $142 Nxe4 17. Qd5 $1 Qxc8 18. Qxe4 Bxa1 19. Nxa1
d5 $1 20. Qxd5 Qh3+ 21. Qg2 Qd7 22. Qf3 Nc6 23. Kg2 Qd2 $15) 16... Re6 17. Nxb7
(17. Nb5 Nc6 $15 {[%csl Rf1]}) 17... Nc6 {The b7-knight will not come out
anymore!} 18. Rc1 Rb8 19. Nd4 (19. Bxc6 dxc6 20. Na5 $2 Rd8 21. Qe1 Nd5 {
[%cal Rg7c3]} 22. Na1 $8 Nb4 $19) 19... Rxb7 20. Nxe6 fxe6 $17 21. Bxc6 (21.
Qd2 $5) 21... dxc6 22. Qd4 Rf7 $2 (22... Nd5 $17) 23. Kg2 $2 (23. Rxc6 Nd5 24.
Qc5 Qxc5 25. Rxc5 Bd4 26. Rc8+ Kg7 27. f3 $15) 23... Nd5 24. Qc5 Qxc5 25. Rxc5
Bd4 26. Rxc6 Rxf2+ 27. Kh3 Rxe2 $19 28. Rf1 h5 29. Rfc1 Kg7 30. R1c2 Rxc2 31.
Rxc2 e5 32. Rc6 Nb4 33. Rc7+ Kf6 34. a3 Nd5 35. Rc6+ Kf5 36. Kg2 e4 37. Kf1 e3
38. Ke1 Ke4 39. Rd6 g5 40. b4 Nc3 41. Rg6 g4 42. Rh6 Kd3 43. Rxh5 Ne4 44. Rd5
Nd2 0-1

[Event "Amber-rapid 20th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2011.03.12"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2011.03.12"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 142"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. Qc2 e6 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Bd2 {White is
finding it difficult to get some advantage against his opponent's flexible
setup. The most popular move is still 7.b3.} (7. b3 c5 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Bd3 Bd6
10. O-O O-O 11. e4 cxd4 12. Nxd5 h6 13. Bb2 Nxd5 14. exd5 Nf6 15. Nxd4 Nxd5 16.
Nf5 Bxf5 17. Bxf5 $14 {1/2-1/2 Grigorov,G (2479)-Georgiev,V (2582)/Bansko 2010
(102)}) 7... dxc4 8. a4 c5 9. Bxc4 cxd4 10. exd4 Nb6 {Nakamura plays the line
also with the white pieces and is well aware of the fact that Black has some
work to do before he can claim equality.} (10... Be7 11. O-O O-O 12. Rac1 (12.
Rad1 Nb6 13. Bb3 Bd7 14. Bg5 Bc6 15. Ne5 Nbd5 16. Qe2 Qd6 17. Rd3 $14 {1/2-1/2
Schlosser,P (2534)-Gustafsson,J (2566)/Austria 2003}) 12... Nb6 13. Bd3 Nbd5 (
13... h6 14. Qb3 Nbd5 15. Nxd5 Nxd5 16. Bc4 Bd7 17. Bxd5 exd5 18. Ne5 {The
pressure of white pieces is pretty unpleasant despite the symmetrical pawn
structure.} Bf6 19. Ba5 $1 Qe8 20. Bb4 Bxa4 21. Qa3 Bxe5 22. dxe5 Bb5 23. Rfe1
$16 {1/2-1/2 Nakamura,H (2715)-Ni Hua (2665)/London 2009 (46)}) 14. Nxd5 Qxd5
15. Bg5 h6 16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17. Bh7+ Kh8 18. Be4 Qa5 19. Ne5 Bxe5 20. dxe5 Bd7 21.
Qc7 Qxc7 22. Rxc7 Bxa4 $14 {1/2-1/2 Schlosser,P (2557)-Buhmann,R (2591)/
Austria 2010 (30)}) 11. Bd3 $146 {Carlsen comes up with a new move and it can
well be called a fresh concept. The bishop from the d3-square is eying the
h7-pawn.} (11. Bb3 Be7 12. O-O O-O 13. Rac1 Bd7 14. Ne5 Rc8 15. Qd3 Bc6 16.
Nxc6 Rxc6 17. a5 Na8 (17... Rd6 18. Ne2 Nbd5 19. Rc2 Qb8 20. Rfc1 $14 {1/2-1/2
Meier,G (2659)-Acs,P (2601)/Germany 2010 (59)}) 18. Rfd1 Rc8 19. d5 Nc7 20. Qg3
Nfxd5 21. Nxd5 Nxd5 22. Rxc8 Qxc8 23. Bxd5 exd5 24. Bc3 f6 25. Rxd5 Rd8 $11 {
1/2-1/2 Gervasio,R (2369)-Velikov,P (2492)/Clichy 1999 (66)}) 11... Nbd5 12.
Nxd5 Nxd5 {Recapturing with the black queen is not easy to punish, but White
would have kept some edge.} (12... exd5 13. O-O Be7 14. Rfe1 O-O 15. Rac1 $16)
(12... Qxd5 $5 13. O-O Bd7 14. Bc4 Qh5 15. Ne5 Bd6 16. f4 Ng4 17. h3 Nxe5 18.
fxe5 $14) 13. O-O Nb4 $6 {The golden rule of caution with active plans when
behind in development has been violated a thousand times - even by very strong
players. Can Black afford to exchange one of the white bishops?} (13... Bd6 14.
Be4 (14. Rac1 Nf4 15. Bc4 O-O 16. Rfe1 (16. g3 b5 $1 $13) 16... b5 $1 17. axb5
Bb7 $11) 14... Nf6 15. Rfc1 Nxe4 16. Qxe4 O-O 17. a5 f6 $14) 14. Bxb4 Bxb4 15.
Bxh7 $1 g6 (15... Bd6 16. Bd3 Bd7 (16... Bxh2+ $2 17. Nxh2 Qh4 18. Qc7 $18) 17.
Qe2 Rc8 18. h3 $16) 16. Bxg6 fxg6 17. Qxg6+ Kf8 {The American chess star is
very confident. Not every player would dare to play such a dangerous position
against the top player of the FIDE rating list.} (17... Kd7 18. Qg7+ Kd6 19.
Rfc1 $18) 18. Ne5 Qe7 {White is much better, so the defender has to play with
caution in order to keep some counterplay.} (18... Qe8 19. Qf6+ Kg8 20. Qg5+
Kf8 (20... Kh7 21. Rfc1 Rg8 22. Rc7+ Bd7 23. Qh4+ $18) 21. Ng6+ Kg7 22. Nxh8+
Kxh8 23. Rfc1 $18) 19. Rac1 Qh7 (19... Rg8 20. Qh5 Qg7 21. g3 Bd6 22. Rfd1 Ke7
23. Rd3 $16) 20. Qg3 {It would be more difficult to find the courage for the
transition into a promising endgame.} (20. h4 $5 Qxg6 21. Nxg6+ Kg8 22. Nxh8
Kxh8 23. Rc7 Bd6 24. Rfc1 Bxc7 25. Rxc7 b5 26. a5 $16) 20... Ke8 21. d5 $1 {
[%mdl 128] Carlsen has a clear goal - to attack the black king. The defender's
pieces are poorly coordinated.} Bd6 (21... exd5 22. Ng6 Be6 23. Qe5 Qxg6 24.
Qxh8+ Qg8 25. Qe5 $18) 22. Rfe1 Bd7 (22... Qg8 23. Qf3 Qh7 24. h3 $16) 23. h3 {
The white queen deserves a better future than serving as a passive defender of
the kingside.} Bxe5 (23... Rf8 24. dxe6 Bc6 (24... Bxe6 25. Qe3 Be7 26. Nf3 Bd7
27. Rc7 $18) 25. Rxc6 $1 bxc6 26. Qc3 Rc8 27. Nd7 $18) 24. Rxe5 Rg8 25. Qe3 Rg6
(25... Qg6 26. g4 Rc8 27. Rxc8+ Bxc8 28. dxe6 $18) 26. dxe6 Bc6 (26... Bc8 27.
Rd1 Qg7 28. Qe4 $18) 27. Rxc6 $1 {Excellent chess understanding has enabled
White to destroy the dangerous bishop without hesitation. Black will go under
due to the lack of piece coordination.} bxc6 28. Qe4 Qg7 (28... Rc8 29. Rg5 $1
Rg7 30. Qxh7 Rxh7 31. Rg8+ Ke7 32. Rxc8 $18) (28... Ke7 29. Qxc6 Rxg2+ 30. Qxg2
(30. Kxg2 Qg7+ 31. Kf1 Qxe5 32. Qxa8 $18) 30... Rg8 31. Rg5 Qb1+ 32. Kh2 Rxg5
33. Qxg5+ Kxe6 34. b4 $18) 29. Qxc6+ Ke7 30. Qc5+ Ke8 31. Qc6+ Ke7 32. Re3 $1 {
The rook retreats to a safe square, but still keeps the mobility along the 3rd
rank.} Ra7 (32... Rg8 33. Qc5+ Ke8 34. Rb3 Rxe6 35. Rb8+ Kf7 36. Rb7+ $18) (
32... Rd8 33. Qb7+ Ke8 34. e7 Rxg2+ 35. Qxg2 Qxg2+ 36. Kxg2 $18) 33. Qc5+ (33.
Qb6 $1) 33... Ke8 34. Qc6+ Ke7 35. Qb6 $1 {The white queen dominates the rook
on a7, so it makes sense to sacrifice the important g2-pawn.} Rxg2+ 36. Kf1
Rg1+ 37. Ke2 Ra8 38. Qb7+ Kd6 (38... Kf8 39. Qxa8+ $18) (38... Kf6 39. Qxa8 $18
) 39. Rd3+ Kxe6 (39... Kc5 40. b4+ Kc4 41. Qe4+ Qd4 42. Qxd4#) (39... Ke5 40.
Qxa8 $18) 40. Qc6+ {The black king ends its life in the centre hunted by the
two unrestrained white major pieces.} (40. Qc6+ Kf5 41. Rd5+ Qe5+ 42. Rxe5+
Kxe5 43. Qxa8 $18) 1-0

[Event "Amber-rapid 20th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2011.03.13"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Gashimov, Vugar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C13"]
[WhiteElo "2746"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2011.03.12"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 142"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Be7 6. Bxf6 gxf6 7. Nf3 f5 8.
Ng3 c5 9. Bb5+ Bd7 10. Bxd7+ Qxd7 11. d5 exd5 12. Ne5 Qe6 13. f4 Nd7 14. O-O
O-O-O 15. Qh5 Nxe5 16. fxe5 Qxe5 17. Rae1 Qd4+ 18. Kh1 Qh4 19. Rxf5 Qxh5 20.
Nxh5 Rd7 21. Rxf7 Bd8 22. Rf5 b6 23. Nf4 d4 24. b3 Bc7 25. Nd3 Rg8 26. g3 Rg6
27. Kg2 Rc6 28. Re2 c4 29. bxc4 Rxc4 30. Rh5 Ra4 31. Nc1 Kb7 32. Rd2 a6 33. Rh4
Bd8 34. Rh5 b5 35. Nb3 Bb6 36. c3 d3 37. Nc1 Ba5 38. Rxd3 Rxd3 39. Nxd3 Rxa2+
40. Kf3 Bxc3 41. Rxh7+ Kc6 42. g4 b4 43. g5 b3 44. g6 Rd2 45. Ke3 Rg2 46. Rh6
Bd2+ 47. Kf3 Bxh6 48. Kxg2 a5 49. Nb2 Kb5 0-1

[Event "Amber-rapid 20th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2011.03.14"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D78"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2808"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2011.03.12"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 142"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 c6 6. O-O d5 7. Qa4 {A rare
move, which Black meets with a novelty.} a6 $146 {[%cal Yb7b5][%mdl 8] Very
logical.} (7... Nbd7 8. cxd5 Nb6 9. Qa3 cxd5 10. Nc3 Bf5 $1 (10... Nc4 11. Qb4
e6 12. Bf4 Re8 13. Ne5 Bf8 14. Qb3 $14 {1-0 Portisch,L (2645)-Ivkov,B (2535)/
Petropolis 1973/IZT (37)}) 11. b3 Ne4 12. Nd1 a5 13. Bf4 Nc8 14. Rc1 Ncd6 $11 {
0-1 Oll,L (2615)-Norwood,D (2545)/London 1994/EXT 2000 (42)}) (7... Nfd7 $5 8.
Qc2 $1 (8. Na3 Nb6 9. Qc2 Bf5 10. Qc3 Be4 11. c5 N6d7 12. Bf4 b6 $15 {0-1
Grigorian,K (2485)-Sveshnikov,E/Moscow 1973/URS-ch (27)}) (8. cxd5 cxd5 9. Nc3
Nb6 10. Qd1 Nc6 11. Bf4 Bf5 $11 {1/2 Pigusov,E (2520)-Huzman,A (2500)/
Sverdlovsk 1987/TD (17)}) 8... Nb6 (8... dxc4 $5 9. Qxc4 e5) 9. c5 N6d7 10. Bf4
Re8 11. Nbd2 e5 12. dxe5 Nxe5 13. Nxe5 Bxe5 14. Bxe5 Rxe5 15. e4 dxe4 16. Qc3
Qe7 17. Nxe4 $14 {1/2 Sargissian,G (2673)-Volokitin,A (2678)/Germany 2008/CBM
123 (27)}) (7... Bf5 $5 8. Nc3 Nbd7 9. cxd5 Nb6 10. Qb3 Nfxd5 11. Rd1 Qd6 12.
Bd2 Nxc3 13. Bxc3 Qe6 14. d5 cxd5 15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. Nd4 Qf6 17. Nxf5+ Qxf5 18.
a4 Rfd8 19. a5 Nc4 20. Qxb7 e6 $11 {1/2 Carlsen,M (2690)-Svidler,P (2728)/
Morelia/Linares 2007/CBM 117/[Marin,M] (29)}) 8. Bf4 (8. c5 $5 {is principled,
e.g.} b6 9. cxb6 Qxb6 10. Qa3 $5 {[%cal Yb1c3,Yc3a4]}) 8... Be6 (8... b5 $5) 9.
cxd5 {Harmless.} (9. c5 $5) 9... cxd5 $6 {This doesn't fit in with 8...Be6.} (
9... Nxd5 $142 $1 $11 10. Bd2 $140 c5 $1) 10. Qb3 Ra7 11. Ne5 (11. Nc3 Nc6 12.
Rac1 Na5 13. Qb4 Nc6 14. Qa3 $140 Ne4 15. Rfd1 Qb6 $132) 11... Ne4 $6 (11...
Nfd7 12. Nxd7 Qxd7 13. e3 $14 {[%cal Yb1c3]}) (11... Nh5 $5 12. Bd2 Bxe5 $1 {
Korchnoi's idea, typical for this kind of position.} (12... Nc6 $5 13. Nxc6
bxc6 14. e3 Nf6) 13. dxe5 Nc6 14. Bh6 d4 15. Qa3 Ng7 $132 {[%cal Ye6d5]}) 12.
Rd1 Nd7 13. Nc3 {[%csl Rd5]} Nxc3 14. Qxc3 (14. bxc3 $5 Nf6 15. a4 $14 {
[%csl Ra7,Rb7][%cal Gb1b7]}) 14... Ra8 (14... Nxe5 15. dxe5 b5 16. Qd4 Rd7 17.
Rdc1 $16) 15. Qb3 $16 a5 {A desperate attempt to break away.} (15... Nb6 16.
Rac1 $16 {[%csl Rb6]}) 16. Bxd5 a4 17. Qxb7 Rb8 18. Nxf7 $6 {There was no need
to go for a position with a material imbalancel. White could have kept his
material advantage by means of} (18. Qc6 Bxd5 (18... Rb6 19. Bxe6 $1 Rxc6 20.
Nxc6 Qe8 21. Bc4 $16 e5 $140 22. Bg5 $1) (18... Nxe5 19. dxe5 Rb6 20. Qc4 $16)
19. Qxd5 Nxe5 20. Qxd8 Rfxd8 21. dxe5 $16) 18... Rxb7 19. Nxd8 Bxd5 20. Nxb7
Bxb7 21. Rac1 (21. Rdc1 $5 Bd5 22. Rc7 Rd8 23. e3) 21... Bd5 22. Rc7 Rd8 23. a3
Kf7 24. Rd2 Nf6 25. f3 Bb3 26. Be5 $2 {[%mdl 8192] This blunder lets White's
advantage slip but it was very difficult to convert it after, say,} (26. Rc5
Nd5 27. Be5 Bh6 28. Rd3) 26... Ne8 $1 27. Rc5 Bxe5 28. Rxe5 Nd6 29. Rc5 Nc4 30.
Rd3 Nxb2 31. Re3 Rxd4 32. Rc7 Be6 {Black is materially better now but White's
counterplay should be enough for him to hold his ground.} 33. Ra7 (33. Rc6 $5
Bd7 34. Rc7) 33... g5 (33... Nd1 $5 34. Re5 Nc3 $15) 34. Rc3 Rc4 35. Re3 Rc2
36. Re4 Rc3 37. h4 h6 38. hxg5 hxg5 39. Ra6 Ba2 40. Ra7 Be6 41. Ra6 Bc4 42. Rc6
Rxa3 43. Rcxc4 Nxc4 44. Rxc4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Amber-rapid 20th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2011.03.15"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A90"]
[WhiteElo "2690"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "140"]
[EventDate "2011.03.12"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 142"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 Bb4+ 3. Bd2 Bxd2+ 4. Qxd2 f5 {An unusual way of transposing
from an accelerated Bogo-Indian to a Dutch Defence. Had White captured with
the knight on d2, Black would have had better possibilities of setting up the
Dutch dark-squared plan with ...Nc6 and ...e5, because White would have had no
pressure in the centre at all.} 5. g3 Nf6 6. Bg2 O-O 7. Nf3 d6 8. O-O Qe7 9.
Nc3 c6 $5 {A relatively new plan. Instead of playing on the dark squares,
Black transposes to a Stonewall, which may seem paradoxical given the fact
that the dark-squared bishops have been exchanged. The subtlety justifying
such an approach is that White has developed his queen's knight on a square
far away from Black's main weakness, e5. Of course, he can initiate the
typical manoeuvre e3, Ne2-f4-d3, but this is time consuming, allowing Black
catching up in development. I was surprised to notice how important a single
tempo can be in what looks like a "slow" position. More about it later.} ({
It has long been established that Black's slight delay in development makes
the plan of opening the centre quite risky. Here is a classic example:} 9...
Nc6 10. Rfe1 e5 11. Nd5 Qd8 12. dxe5 dxe5 13. Rad1 e4 14. Ng5 $36 {Botvinnik,
M-Ilyin Zhenevsky,A/Leningrad 1930/EXT 99 (1-0, 39)}) 10. Rfe1 ({Carlsen had
played this line before:} 10. Rad1 d5 11. Qc2 Nbd7 12. Rfe1 ({As proved by the
main game, defending the pawn with} 12. b3 {may allow a later freeing
operation based on ...dxc4, bxc4 ...c5.} b6 13. cxd5 {After b2-b3, which
prevents the actication of the queen with Qa4, this does not look too scary.}
cxd5 14. Qb2 Ba6 {Since the white queen has no access to the a-file the
bishops stands well here. One may ask, why should this bishop be "worse" than
its rival?} 15. Rd2 Rac8 16. Rc1 Rc7 17. Rdc2 Rfc8 18. Nd1 Qd6 $11 {Haik,A 
(2475)-Ivkov,B (2525)/Cannes 1986/MCL (1/2, 41). Black has no problems at all.}
) 12... Ne4 (12... dxc4 $6 {offers White a strong initiative after} 13. e4 f4
14. Ne2 $14 {To be compared with the similar line given in a later note, in
which the queen rook would be on a1 still.}) 13. e3 Nd6 14. c5 Nf7 {Black is
ready to open the centre with ...e5. Although this will leave White with the
control of d4, the kingside initiative should not be neglected.} 15. b4 e5 16.
dxe5 Nfxe5 17. Nd4 Nf6 18. Na4 Kh8 19. Qb3 Bd7 20. a3 Rae8 21. Nb2 g5 22. f4
Ng6 23. Nd3 gxf4 24. exf4 Ne4 25. Nf3 Qf6 26. Nde5 Nxe5 27. Nxe5 Bc8 28. Qe3 h5
$132 {Maiwald,J (2508)-Carlsen,M (2786)/Germany 2008/CBM 127 Extra (0-1, 38).
It is curious that computers give White a clear advantage in this position. I
would be rather worried by Black's attack, without seeing a clear queenside
plan to compensate for it.}) (10. Rae1 d5 11. Ne5 Nbd7 12. f4 {This brutal way
of occupying the e5-square is not too promising.} Ne4 13. Nxe4 dxe4 14. Nxd7
Bxd7 15. c5 Be8 {The position has been stabilised, Black development is
entirely satisfactory and once again one would ask: whose bishop is better?}
16. e3 Bh5 17. h3 Rad8 18. Qf2 g5 {Displaying some ambitions already.} 19. fxg5
Qxg5 (19... e5 $5 20. dxe5 Qxc5 $132) 20. Qf4 Qg7 21. Rf2 Bg6 22. Ref1 Rfe8 23.
Qg5 Qe7 24. Qxe7 Rxe7 25. g4 fxg4 26. hxg4 e5 $132 {Gyimesi,Z (2592)-Glek,I 
(2512)/Germany 2009/CBM 128 Extra (1-0, 39). Black later lost only as a
consequence of an endgame blunder.}) 10... d5 11. e3 {Preparing Ne2-f4-d3.} (
11. Qc2 Ne4 (11... Nbd7 $5) 12. Rab1 (12. e3 Bd7 $6 {This is too slow,
allowing White to regroup in time. He should have chosen Carlsen's plan from
the previous game.} 13. Ne2 Be8 14. Nf4 Nd7 15. Nd3 Ndf6 16. Nfe5 $16 {
Kharitonov,A (2585)-Ovetchkin,R (2475)/Moscow 1998/CBM 063/[Tyomkin,D] (1-0,
44). White is in complete control of the position.}) 12... Nd7 13. b4 $6 {
This attacking move only creates weaknesses.} Nd6 $1 14. cxd5 $6 (14. c5 $5)
14... cxd5 15. Ne5 Kh8 $1 (15... Nxe5 16. dxe5 Nc4 $2 17. Nxd5 $1 $18) 16. f4 (
16. Bxd5 exd5 17. Nxd5 Qd8 18. Nc7 Nb6 19. Nxa8 Nxa8 $132) 16... Nxe5 17. dxe5
Nc4 18. Qd3 Bd7 19. e4 {This not only fails to shake Black's stability, but
also clears an important diagonal for the "bad" bishop.} fxe4 20. Nxe4 Be8 21.
Nc5 Bg6 22. Be4 $8 b6 (22... Nxe5 23. fxe5 dxe4 $15) 23. Bxg6 bxc5 24. Bxh7 g5
$132 {Nikolaidis,K (2308)-Glek,I (2553)/Korinthos 2000/EXT 2001 (0-1, 36)})
11... Nbd7 12. b3 $146 {This kind of queenside tension offers Black additional
ideas for counterplay.} ({Quite possibly, Giri did not like} 12. Qc2 {because
of} dxc4 $5 $146 (12... b6 $6 13. cxd5 $1 {With the d1-a4 diagonal open, this
move is strong.} cxd5 14. Rac1 Bb7 15. Qa4 a6 16. Ne2 Rfc8 17. Nf4 Ne4 18. Nd3
g5 19. Nfe5 Ndf6 20. Qb3 Qd6 21. Red1 g4 22. Nf4 $16 {with complete domination
on dark squares, Krizsany,L (2430)-Hardicsay,P (2395)/Hungary 1996/EXT 2000 
(1-0, 32)}) 13. e4 ({The attempt to retrieve the pawn releases the pressure in
the centre, allowing Black adequate counterplay:} 13. Nd2 Nb6 14. Bf1 e5 15.
Nxc4 Nxc4 16. Bxc4+ Be6 17. Bxe6+ Qxe6 18. dxe5 Qxe5 19. Qb3+ Rf7 20. Rad1 Re8
$11) 13... f4 $5 14. Ne2 (14. gxf4 Nh5 $36) 14... fxg3 15. hxg3 b5 16. b3 {
White has obvious compensation for the pawn, but apparently not more than that.
We have to continue the line for many more moves in order to illustrate one
possible difference if compared to the position with the extra tempo Rad1
mentioned above.} Ba6 17. bxc4 bxc4 18. Nf4 e5 19. dxe5 Nxe5 20. Nxe5 Qxe5 21.
Bf1 Kh8 22. Bxc4 Bxc4 23. Qxc4 {White has retrieved the pawn and has the more
compact structure. Black should hurry with his counterplay.} Ng4 $1 24. Qxc6
Nxf2 $1 25. Kxf2 {In the aforementioned line, White would win with 25.Rd5!,
which is not available now.} g5 26. Qd5 Qg7 $13) (12. Qe2 Ne4 {leaves White
without the possibility of continuing his knight maneouvre.}) 12... b6 13. Ne2
Bb7 14. Nf4 {White has completed his regrouping, but Black has a harmonious
dveelopment and can open play to his favour.} dxc4 $5 (14... Ne4 15. Qb2 c5
$132 {is another possible continuation.}) 15. bxc4 c5 $132 16. Ng5 $6 {This
over-optimistic move hands over the initiative.} Bxg2 17. Kxg2 e5 18. Nfe6 (18.
dxe5 Nxe5 $15 {[%cal Ge7b7]}) 18... Ne4 $1 19. Nxe4 Qxe6 20. Ng5 $6 {Losing a
pawn without compensation.} (20. d5 Qh6 21. Nc3 e4 $15 {The weakness of the
f3-square is more important than that of the e6-square for two main reasons.
First, a knight on f3 would be closer to the king. Secondly, the e6-knight can
be removed with an exchange sacrifice.} 22. Ne2 Ne5 23. Qc3 Rae8 24. Nf4 g5 25.
Ne6 Rxe6 26. dxe6 Qxe6 {The c4-pawn is in danger and the kingside attack
remains a permanent danger.}) 20... Qxc4 21. dxc5 (21. dxe5 Nxe5 22. Rac1 Rad8
$1 $19) 21... Nxc5 22. Rec1 Qd3 $17 {Black has parried any infiltration of
White's pieces and converting the pawn remains a matter of technique.} 23. Qxd3
Nxd3 24. Rc7 h6 25. Nf3 Rf7 26. Rc3 Rd7 27. a4 Rad8 28. Rb1 Rd5 29. Rc7 R8d7
30. Rxd7 Rxd7 31. Rb5 Rd6 32. a5 e4 33. Nd4 g6 34. Rb1 Kf7 35. h3 Ke7 36. Nb5
Rd5 37. axb6 axb6 38. Nd4 Rd6 39. Nb5 Rf6 40. f3 exf3+ 41. Kxf3 Ne5+ 42. Ke2
Nd7 43. Nd4 Rd6 44. g4 fxg4 45. hxg4 Ne5 46. Nb5 Rf6 47. Rb4 Rf2+ 48. Kxf2 Nd3+
49. Kf3 Nxb4 50. Kf4 Kf6 51. Nc3 Nd3+ 52. Ke4 Nc5+ 53. Kf4 g5+ 54. Kf3 Ke5 55.
Nb5 Ne4 56. Na7 Nd2+ 57. Ke2 Nc4 58. Nc6+ Ke4 59. Ne7 Nxe3 60. Nc8 Nxg4 61.
Nxb6 Ne5 62. Kf2 h5 63. Kg3 h4+ 64. Kh3 Kf3 65. Nc8 Nd3 66. Nd6 Nf4+ 67. Kh2 g4
68. Nf5 g3+ 69. Kh1 g2+ 70. Kh2 Kf2 0-1

[Event "Amber-rapid 20th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2011.03.17"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C17"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2779"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2011.03.12"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 142"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. Qg4 Ne7 6. Qxg7 Rg8 7. Qxh7 Qa5 8. Bd2
cxd4 9. Nb1 Nbc6 10. Nf3 Bd7 11. a3 O-O-O 12. c3 dxc3 13. Nxc3 d4 14. Nb5 Bxd2+
15. Nxd2 Nf5 16. Rc1 Kb8 17. b4 Qa6 18. Qh3 Nxe5 19. Nxd4 Qd6 20. N4b3 Bc6 21.
Rg1 Bd5 22. Qc3 Bxb3 23. Nxb3 Nh4 24. Be2 Nxg2+ 25. Kf1 Nf4 26. Qe3 Rxg1+ 27.
Kxg1 Qd5 28. Bg4 Qg2# 0-1

[Event "Amber-rapid 20th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2011.03.18"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[Annotator "Moradiabadi,E"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2011.03.12"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 142"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 $5 {A typical choice
from Carlsen. He does not go into the usual forced lines of Spanish. On the
other hand, he prepares to put long term pressure on his opponent.} b5 7. Bb3
d6 8. a4 b4 9. Nbd2 O-O 10. Re1 Na5 11. Ba2 c5 12. c3 Rb8 13. d4 cxd4 $6 {
Not a novelty but there is no much debate about this move. It seems quite
dubious to me. I believe that Karjakin had to keep the tension for a while and
had to go for the usual ...Qc7.} (13... Qc7 14. dxe5 dxe5 15. Nc4 Rd8 16. Qe2 {
and Black is just fine after b3:} b3 (16... Nxc4 17. Bxc4 bxc3 {is also ok for
Black}) 17. Nxa5 Qxa5 18. Bb1 c4 $1 19. Qxc4 Bc5 20. h3 {1/2-1/2 (45)
Cheparinov,I (2696)-Aronian,L (2763)/Sofia 2008/CBM 124 (45). And Black has
enough compensation for the sacrificed pawn.}) 14. cxd4 Qc7 15. Nb3 Nxb3 16.
Bxb3 Bg4 $6 {This does not create any real pressure on d4.} 17. Bg5 (17. h3
Bxf3 18. Qxf3 exd4 19. Bf4 {and White is just better, Carlsen's choice is also
good enough.}) 17... exd4 18. Qxd4 Bxf3 19. gxf3 {[%csl Gb3,Gg5]} Nh5 20. Rac1
Qd7 21. Bxe7 $5 {A risky decision. White drops Qd2 (which could have brought
him a slight but stable advantage) for a drastic sequence.} Qxe7 22. e5 Qg5+ $2
(22... dxe5 23. Rxe5 Qf6 {was Black's only chance.}) 23. Qg4 Qxg4+ 24. fxg4 Nf4
25. Rc6 $1 {White's initiative is decisive.} dxe5 26. Rxa6 Nd3 27. Re3 Nxb2 $2
(27... Rbd8 28. a5 Nxb2 29. Ra7 Nd3 30. Rc7 {[%csl Gc5]} Nf4 31. a6 Ne6 32. Re7
Nd4 33. a7 $16) 28. a5 e4 29. Rxe4 Nd3 30. Rc6 Ra8 31. a6 {A blunder? No!} h5 (
31... Rxa6 32. Rxa6 Nc5 33. Bxf7+ Kxf7 (33... Kh8 34. Rae6 Nxe4 35. Rxe4 $18)
34. Ra7+ $18) 32. g5 Rfc8 33. Rxc8+ Rxc8 34. g6 1-0

[Event "Amber-rapid 20th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2011.03.19"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2785"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2011.03.12"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 142"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 b6 3. g3 c5 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O e6 6. Nc3 a6 7. b3 Be7 8. Bb2
O-O 9. e3 d6 10. d4 Ne4 11. d5 Nxc3 12. Bxc3 exd5 13. Ne1 Bf6 14. Bxf6 Qxf6 15.
Rc1 Qf5 16. Nd3 Nd7 17. Nf4 Nf6 18. Re1 Rfe8 19. h3 Re5 20. g4 Qd7 21. Nxd5
Bxd5 22. cxd5 Qe7 23. Qd3 g5 24. Kf1 Nd7 25. a4 Rf8 26. Qxa6 f5 27. Qb7 fxg4
28. hxg4 Rxe3 29. Qa6 Qf6 30. Re2 Ne5 31. Rce1 0-1

[Event "Amber-rapid 20th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2011.03.20"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2011.03.12"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 142"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 Nc6 4. Nf3 g6 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. O-O a6 7. Bxc6 Bxc6 8. d3
Bg7 9. Qe1 Qd7 10. a4 f5 11. Nd5 fxe4 12. dxe4 Rb8 13. Ng5 Bxd5 14. exd5 Qf5
15. Ne6 Bf6 16. Qe2 h5 17. Ra3 Nh6 18. Rg3 Kd7 19. Rg5 Bxg5 20. fxg5 Qxd5 21.
Nf4 Qd4+ 22. Be3 Qe4 23. gxh6 Rxh6 24. Nd5 Rhh8 25. Qd2 Rhf8 26. Re1 Rf5 27.
Nb6+ Kc6 28. Bxc5 Rbf8 29. Bd4 1-0

[Event "Amber-rapid 20th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2011.03.22"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C86"]
[WhiteElo "2817"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2011.03.12"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 142"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 {After my 100% record with the French Defence was ruined against
Karjakin, (to be fair I was not even close to retaining it) I had to play
something else.} 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 {Declaring my readiness to suffer in a
slightly worse ending against the World Champion.} 4. Qe2 {A surprise; Anand
avoids the Berlin endgame from time to time, but usually with 4.d3.} a6 {
For whatever reason I suddenly got very creative here, and started considering
several reasonable and unreasonable options like ...Qe7, ...Bd6 and ,,,g6.
After a while I came to my senses and played a normal move.} 5. Ba4 Be7 {
Most sensible people play ...b5 first here, and indeed it makes sense not to
give White the option of retreating the bishop to c2.} 6. c3 d6 7. O-O O-O 8.
d4 Bd7 9. d5 Nb8 10. Bxd7 Nbxd7 11. c4 {Black should be a little bit worse
here. However, as my position seemed a whole lot sounder than it did at this
point in the blindfold game, (notably, no tripled pawns) I was not that
worried.} g6 (11... a5 {here or on one of the next few moves makes little
sense to me, as White will soon play b4 anyway, and I will have given up the
b5-square and possibly the a-file for very little.}) 12. Nc3 Nh5 13. Rb1 Ng7
14. b4 {I was playing way too quickly around here to consider subtleties like
the possibility of playing c5 here, which closes the position and makes it
hard to create anything serious on the queenside for White in the near future.
However, when I hit upon this idea a few moves later I also remembered a game
Anand-Short with the same structure, which Anand won in good style so I did
not really regret choosing another plan.} (14. Ne1 {followed by Nd3 is
desirable strategically, but it allows} Bg5 {and after exchanging the
dark-squared bishops Black must be fine.}) 14... f5 15. Be3 Rb8 (15... Nf6 16.
Rfd1 {with c4-c5 to come looks very pleasant for White as I don't really want
to take on e4. Thus, the knight is better placed on d7.}) 16. Rfd1 {
Considering what happened in the game, it might be suggested that the rook
should have been put on c1 instead. The rook would be very useful on d1 if the
centre was to be opened, but as soon as I close the position with f4, the rook
is naturally not doing much here.} (16. c5 dxc5 17. bxc5 f4 {works out well
for Black.}) 16... Qe8 17. a4 f4 {There isn't really much else for Black to do
here. Without the light-squared bishops White will never be mated on the
kingside of course, but at least I will manage to create some counterplay and
not give White a free hand on the kingside.} 18. Bd2 g5 19. h3 (19. Ne1 Qg6 20.
f3 h5 21. Nd3 g4 {was another option for White. White is clearly at least ok
here, but as long as White is not breaking through on the queenside any time
soon Black certainly has chances.}) 19... h5 20. Nh2 Qg6 21. f3 Ne8 $1 {
It is important to put this knight on f6 (it was just an obstruction on g7)
rather than the other knight, which has a very useful defensive function on d7.
} 22. Rdc1 Nef6 23. Kf1 $2 {The critical moment, where Anand chooses the wrong
defensive plan.} (23. Nd1 {with the intention of putting this knight on f2 and
stopping g4 would be one move too late:} g4 24. hxg4 hxg4 25. Nxg4 Nxg4 26.
fxg4 Bh4 $1 {followed by ...Nf6 with a very strong initative.}) (23. Kh1 g4 24.
Rg1 {would have been better, as Black is not breaking through any time soon,
and White might even have ideas of playing g3 some day. On the other hand,
White is clearly not going to do any serious damage on the queenside either,
with the knight on h2 and rook on g1.}) 23... Kf7 24. Ke1 $6 {The continuation
of a bad plan. White has not enough time to protect everything after Black
invades on the g-file.} g4 25. Kd1 gxh3 26. gxh3 Rg8 27. Kc2 Qg2 28. Rh1 Qxe2
29. Nxe2 Rg2 30. Kd3 Nb6 {Now White is losing a pawn by force.} 31. Rbg1 Rbg8
32. Rxg2 (32. Ng4 Rxg1 33. Nh6+ Kg6 {just doesn't work.}) 32... Rxg2 33. a5 (
33. Nc3 Nxc4 {is no better.}) 33... Nxc4 34. Bc1 b5 35. axb6 Nxb6 36. Nf1 Nh7 {
Intending ...Bh4 followed by ...Ng5, and} 37. h4 (37. Rg1 Rf2 {doesn't help.})
37... Nf8 38. Bd2 Ng6 39. Be1 Na4 {White is almost in complete zugzwang. As is
easy to see, neither of his knights can move, and after} 40. Rg1 (40. Kd2 Nb2 {
his king is stalemated too.}) 40... Rxg1 41. Nxg1 Bxh4 {Black does not have an
immediate breakthrough, but with two extra pawns the game is obviously decided.
} 42. Bd2 Ke7 43. Nh3 Kd7 {...c7-c6 is next, and White has no chances of
saving the game. A nice, smooth win, even if it was not Anand's finest hour.}
0-1

[Event "Amber-rapid 20th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2011.03.23"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2747"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2011.03.12"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 142"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. Nf3 a6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4
g5 9. Bg3 Bg7 10. Qd2 {The natural move of the queen is by no means a sideline,
but it has some catching to do to the two main alternatives.} (10. h3) (10. Be2
) 10... Nc6 11. Nb3 Be6 12. h4 gxh4 13. Bxh4 Qb6 {Grischuk might have been a
bit surprised by the twist in the opening. Black's main defence could well be
tied to the rook move 13...Rc8, even though the move order is probably not so
important here.} (13... Rc8 14. O-O-O (14. f3 Nge5 15. Bf2 h5 16. Be3 Na5 17.
Qf2 Nac4 18. Bxc4 Nxc4 19. Bd4 Bxd4 20. Qxd4 Kd7 21. Na4 Kc7 22. O-O-O Qg8 $11
{1/2-1/2 Zezulkin,J (2465)-Kempinski,R (2530)/Koszalin 1997 (36)}) 14... Nb4 (
14... b5 15. Nd5 Nge5 16. c3 (16. f4 $2 Nc4 17. Bxc4 bxc4 18. Na1 Bxd5 19. exd5
c3) 16... Nc4 17. Bxc4 $2 (17. Qc2 Bxd5 18. exd5 (18. Rxd5) 18... Nb4 19. Qf5
Nxa2+ 20. Kb1 Nxb2) (17. Qe1 $13) 17... bxc4 18. Nd4 Bxd5 $2 (18... Bxd4 $1 19.
cxd4 Bxd5 20. exd5 c3 21. bxc3 (21. Qc2 cxb2+ (21... Nb4 22. Qa4+) 22. Kxb2 (
22. Kb1 Nxd4 23. Qa4+ Nb5) 22... Nb4 (22... Nxd4 23. Qa4+ Nb5 24. Rhe1 Rc7 $13)
23. Qa4+ Kf8 24. Qb3 Rb8 25. Ka1) 21... Nb4 22. Rh3 Nxd5 $15) 19. exd5 (19. Nf5
Bxe4 20. Nxg7+ Kf8 21. Qf4 Kxg7 22. Qxe4 Ne5 $15) 19... Nxd4 (19... Bxd4 20.
dxc6 $1 Be5 21. f4 Bg7 22. Rhe1 $16) 20. cxd4 c3 21. bxc3 Qa5 22. Rh3 $14 {
1/2-1/2 Hennigan,M (2415)-Hodgson,J (2625)/Dundee 1993 (50)}) 15. Kb1 Qb6 16.
f3 a5 $2 (16... Ne5 17. Bf2 $16) (16... Ne3 $1 17. Bf2 $8 Rxc3 $1 (17... Nxf1
18. Rhxf1 $14) 18. bxc3 Nxd1 19. Bxb6 Nxc3+ 20. Kc1 $8 Nbxa2+ 21. Kb2 Nxe4+ 22.
Qd4 $8 Bxd4+ 23. Bxd4 Ng3 24. Bxh8 Nxh1 25. Kxa2 Ng3 26. Bd3 f6 $1 27. Bh7 Nf5
$1 28. Bxf5 Bxf5 $10 {Shirov}) 17. fxg4 Rxc3 18. bxc3 Nxa2 19. Bf2 $1 $18 (19.
Kxa2 $2 a4 20. Rb1 axb3+ 21. cxb3 O-O $40) 19... Qc6 20. Kxa2 a4 21. Bd4 axb3+
22. cxb3 Qa4+ 23. Kb1 Qxb3+ 24. Kc1 $18 {1-0 Shirov,A (2670)-Oll,L (2585)/Wijk
aan Zee 1993 (33)}) 14. O-O-O Rc8 (14... h5 15. Kb1 Nce5 16. Nd4 Rc8 17. Rh3 (
17. f3 Bh6 18. f4 Ng6 19. Bg5 $14) 17... Ng6 18. Nxe6 fxe6 19. Qg5 {0-1 Szuk,B
(2315)-Tzoumbas,A (2215)/Szombathely 1993 (35)} Rh6 $19) 15. Kb1 (15. f3 Bxc3
$5 16. Qxc3 Nce5 17. Qd4 Qxd4 18. Nxd4 Ne3 19. Re1 Nxf1 20. Rexf1 Bd7 21. b3 f6
22. Kd2 Kf7 23. Bf2 $11 {1/2-1/2 Leko,P (2555)-Topalov,V (2645)/Cap d'Agde
1994 (54)}) 15... h5 $2 {For better or worse this idea of opening the c1-h6
diagonal is flawed. Black had to find the courage for the principled solution
with the elimination of the dangerous c3-knight.} (15... Bxc3 $5 16. Qxc3 Rg8
17. Qd2 Nb4 18. Rc1 a5 19. a4 Ne5 $13) 16. Nd5 $1 Bxd5 (16... Qa7 $2 17. f3
Nge5 18. Bf2 $16) 17. exd5 Nce5 18. Re1 (18. Be2 Bf6 (18... Bh6 19. Qe1 Bg7 20.
c3 $16) 19. Bxg4 Nxg4 20. f3 Bxh4 21. Rxh4 Ne5 22. Re1 $16) 18... Ng6 19. f3 {
[%mdl 128] The black king is stuck in the centre and will duly become an
target for White's attack.} Bh6 (19... Bf6 20. Bg5 Bxg5 21. Qxg5 N4e5 22. c3
$16) 20. Qe2 N4e5 (20... Ne3 21. Bf2 Rxc2 22. Qxc2 Nxc2 23. Bxb6 Nxe1 24. Bf2
Nxg2 25. Bxg2 $16) 21. Bf2 Qc7 22. Qe4 {The second player is definitely soft
on the light squares and will sorely miss his absent bishop.} (22. c3 Qd7 23.
Nd4 $16) 22... Bg7 23. Bd4 (23. Nd4 Bf6 24. Nf5 $16) 23... Bf6 (23... h4 24. c3
Bh6 25. Bf2 $16) 24. Be2 Nd7 (24... Bh4 25. Rxh4 Nxh4 26. Qxh4 Qxc2+ 27. Ka1
Qf5 28. Bc3 $18) 25. Bd3 Be5 (25... Bxd4 26. Qxd4 Rg8 27. Rxh5 $18) 26. Qf5 {
Objectively strongest was to start advancing the kingside pawns as that would
help to break up Grischuk's central setup.} (26. g3 $1 Nf6 (26... Bxg3 $2 27.
Bxh8 Bxe1 28. Rxe1 $18) 27. Qe2 h4 28. Bxg6 fxg6 29. f4 Bxd4 30. Nxd4 Nxd5 31.
Qe6 Qc4 32. Qxd6 $16) 26... Nf4 27. Bxe5 dxe5 (27... Nxd3 $6 28. cxd3 dxe5 29.
Rc1 Qb8 30. Rxc8+ Qxc8 31. Rc1 Qb8 32. d4 $18) 28. g3 Nxd3 (28... Nxd5 29. Rxh5
Rxh5 30. Qxh5 e6 31. a3 $16) 29. Qxd3 Qc4 (29... Nf6 30. Qf5 h4 31. Rxh4 Rxh4
32. gxh4 Nxd5 33. Rxe5 e6 34. h5 $16) 30. Qd2 b6 (30... Qc7 31. f4 $16) 31. Rh4
Qc7 32. f4 {The misery for Black continues in a new form. Carlsen has safely
secured his queenside and is now ready to use all his forces in the attack.} f6
(32... exf4 $2 33. d6 $18) 33. g4 (33. Qe2 $5 a5 34. Rxh5 Rg8 35. fxe5 Nxe5 (
35... Qc4 36. e6 Ne5 37. Qf2 $18) 36. Nd4 Qc5 37. Rxe5 fxe5 38. Qh5+ Kd7 39.
Qf5+ Ke8 40. d6 $1 $18) 33... a5 34. Rxh5 Rg8 (34... Rxh5 35. gxh5 a4 36. Nc1
Qc4 37. Nd3 Qxd5 38. h6 $18) 35. g5 $1 {The opening of the position is still
the main goal. Good chess play can be both simple and attractive.} a4 36. Nc1
a3 (36... fxg5 37. fxe5 Nxe5 38. Rh7 a3 39. Nd3 Nxd3 40. Qxd3 $18) 37. gxf6
exf6 (37... axb2 38. Kxb2 Rg2 39. Rh8+ Nf8 40. Ne2 $18) 38. fxe5 fxe5 (38...
Nxe5 39. Nd3 $18) 39. Nd3 {The only cover for the black king is now the poor,
hopelessly weak pawn e5.} axb2 40. Nxe5 Nxe5 41. d6 (41. Rhxe5+ Kd8 42. Qf2 $18
) 41... Qd7 42. Qd5 Kf8 43. Qxe5 Rc5 44. Rf1+ {Testing Carlsen's attacking
prowess is appealing for fans, but a hard task for any brave player
undertaking the challenge.} 1-0

[Event "Amber-rapid 20th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2011.03.24"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A59"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2011.03.12"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "MNC"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 142"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.05.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bxa6 7. e4 Bxf1 8.
Kxf1 d6 9. g3 Bg7 10. Kg2 Nbd7 11. f4 O-O 12. Nf3 Ne8 13. Re1 Nc7 14. Bd2 Nb6
15. Qe2 Qd7 16. b3 f5 17. a4 fxe4 18. Qxe4 Qf5 19. Qxf5 gxf5 20. Rxe7 Nbxd5 21.
Rd7 Nxc3 22. Rxg7+ Kxg7 23. Bxc3+ Kf7 24. Rd1 Ke7 25. b4 Rxa4 26. bxc5 dxc5 27.
Be5 Nb5 28. Rb1 Rb4 29. Ra1 c4 30. Ra6 Rc8 31. Rb6 c3 32. Rb7+ Ke6 33. Bxc3
Rxc3 34. Rxb5 Rxb5 35. Nd4+ Kd5 36. Nxb5 Rc5 37. Na3 Ra5 38. Nb1 Ra2+ 39. Kh3
Kd4 40. Kh4 Rxh2+ 41. Kg5 Rb2 42. Na3 Rb3 43. Nc2+ Ke4 44. Kh4 h6 45. Kh3 Rb2
46. Ne1 Rb1 47. Nc2 Kd3 0-1

[Event "Bazna Kings 5th"]
[Site "Medias"]
[Date "2011.06.11"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2011.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ROU"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 143"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 {The Queen's Gambit Declined became fashionable
again on the very top level thanks to the Candidates matches in Kazan, where
Black was able to neutralise White's opening advantage. Carlsen was happy that
he found a way to break through this rock solid classical opening.} 4. cxd5
exd5 5. Bf4 c6 6. Qc2 {This is a popular move order: White prevents his
opponent from developing the bishop on f5. Recently Nakamura himself played
this move against Ponomariov.} Bg4 {[%cal Gg4h5,Gh5g6] A rare move. Black
insists on transferring the bishop to the diagonal b1-h7. Magnus Carlsen
admitted after the game that the move was new to him.} (6... Bd6 7. Bxd6 Qxd6
8. e3 Qg6 9. Qxg6 hxg6 10. b4 a6 11. f3 Nd7 12. Bd3 Ne7 13. Nge2 g5 14. Kf2 Nf6
15. g4 Kd8 16. Kg3 Bd7 17. a4 Nc8 18. h3 Re8 19. Kf2 Nd6 20. a5 Re7 21. Rac1
Nfe8 22. Ng3 g6 23. h4 {and the American converted his advantage into a full
point in the game Nakamura,H (2774)-Ponomariov,R (2754)/Saint Louis 2011}) 7.
e3 Bh5 8. Bd3 Bg6 9. Bxg6 $1 {An important change of structure for the
strategy of White, who will be able to open the h-file later on. From this
point of view the similarity with the aforementioned game is amazing.} hxg6 10.
O-O-O Nf6 11. f3 $1 {[%cal Ge3e4] #} Nbd7 12. Nge2 ({The immediate} 12. e4 {
runs into} Nh5 {and White can't keep the bishop} 13. Be3 {due to} Ng3 $1) 12...
b5 {Nakamura's desire to postpone short castling is understandable, since then
at some moment White will start advancing the h-pawn. However, Black's problem
is that sooner or later he will have to hide the king anyway, since White's
play in the centre is simple and clear.} 13. e4 b4 14. Na4 dxe4 15. fxe4 Qa5
16. Kb1 ({Carlsen wasn't satisfied with the alternative} 16. e5 Nd5 17. e6 fxe6
18. Qxc6 Kf7 19. Qxd7 Rhd8 {where} 20. Qc6 {runs into} Rac8) 16... O-O {
So finally Black could not avoid the inevitable castling..} 17. h4 $1 {And the
reaction is very natural: White plans e4-e5 followed by h4-h5.} Rfe8 18. e5 Nd5
19. h5 g5 {The position is highly complicated, but Carlsen rightly felt that
White's attacking prospetcs should be higher.} 20. h6 g6 21. Bc1 {[%csl Ra4,
Gc5] Black has a much weaker king and a worse pawn structure. White's only
problem is his badly placed knight on a4.} ({The variation preferred by the
computer} 21. e6 gxf4 22. exd7 Red8 23. Qxc6 Ne3 24. Nc5 Nxd1 25. Rxd1 {
with advantage for White would always appear unclear for a human in a
practical game.}) 21... N7b6 {A bad decision, allowing White to place the
knight on c5.} (21... N5b6 {was preferable, after which Black can still fight
on, although his position remains worse anyway.}) 22. Nc5 Bxc5 23. dxc5 b3 (
23... Nd7 24. e6 $1 Rxe6 25. Nd4 {with the idea} Ree8 26. Nxc6 Qxc5 27. Qxc5
Nxc5 28. Rxd5 {wins a piece for White.}) 24. Qxb3 Qxc5 25. Nd4 Rxe5 26. Nf3 Re2
$2 {The second mistake, after which it is hardly possible to save Black's
position any longer. The rook is seemingly active, but in many variations it
is unstable and it needs protection on e2.} (26... Rf5 {was the right way to
put up resistance. It must be said that Nakamura was already starting to
experience problems with time.}) 27. Nxg5 Qe7 28. Qd3 $1 {[%csl Rg6][%cal
Gg5f7,Gd1f1]} Rf8 29. Rdf1 f5 (29... f6 30. Re1 $1 Rxe1 31. Rxe1 Qxe1 32. Qxg6+
{and mate}) 30. g4 Na4 31. Qd4 (31. gxf5 {wins quicker, but Magnus admitted
that he missed something after Black's answer.}) 31... Qe5 $1 {Being short of
time Nakamura finds interesting tactical ideas. Unfortunately for him Black's
position is just too bad and White still has ways to keep the decisive
advantage.} 32. Qxe5 $1 (32. Qxa4 {suddently runs into} Nc3+ $1 33. bxc3 Rb8+ {
and White must give up his queen:} 34. Qb4 Rxb4+ 35. cxb4 Qd5 $1 {The move
missed by Carlsen when he played 31.Qd4. Black is not worse.}) 32... Rxe5 33.
gxf5 gxf5 34. Nf3 {[%csl Rg8][%cal Gf1g1,Gg1g7,Gf3g5] Even in an endgame the
vulnerability of his king is fatal for Black.} Re7 ({Or} 34... Re6 35. h7+ Kh8
36. Bh6 Rb8 37. Rfg1 {winning}) 35. Rfg1+ Kh7 (35... Kh8 36. Nh4) 36. Rg7+ $1
Kh8 (36... Rxg7 37. hxg7+ Kxg7 38. Bh6+) 37. Rhg1 Rfe8 38. Nh4 Rxg7 {and
without awaiting the opponent's answer Nakamura resigned. Both 39.hxg7+ and 39.
Rxg7 win easily for White.} 1-0

[Event "Bazna Kings 5th"]
[Site "Medias"]
[Date "2011.06.12"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2011.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ROU"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 143"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 (4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7.
dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 {leads to the Berlin Defence, with a lot of games on
the highest level. In spite of White's efforts, in recent years this opening
variation has proved to be very solid for Black.}) 4... d6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1
O-O 7. c3 a6 8. Ba4 b5 9. Bc2 d5 10. Nbd2 ({Black should worry neither about} 
10. d4 Nxe4 11. Nxe5 Nxe5 12. dxe5 f5) ({nor} 10. exd5 Qxd5) 10... dxe4 11.
dxe4 Be6 {The structure is almost similar and there are few fighting resources.
Ivanchuk goes for an interesting plan to exchange the light-squared bishops.}
12. Bb3 {[%csl Gc1,Re7] White's long-term idea is to prove the superiority of
his dark-squared bishop. But with accurate play Carlsen has no difficulties
neutralising it.} Bxb3 ({Carlsen felt that} 12... Qd7 13. Bxe6 Qxe6 14. Qb3
Qxb3 15. Nxb3 {might be better for White.}) 13. axb3 Qd3 14. b4 {An important
move in White's plan: to free the square b3 for the knight and blockade the
weakness on a6. But Black has some pressure in the centre and a lead in
development, which will allow him to play at some moment a6-a5.} Rfd8 15. Qb3
Qd7 ({As pointed out by Magnus, his original intention} 15... Nd7 {runs into
the strong} 16. Qd5 {when the only move is the somewhat ugly-looking retreat.}
Ndb8 {Then after} 17. Qxd3 Rxd3 18. Kf1 {White can claim an edge in the
endgame.}) 16. Qc2 Qe6 17. Qb3 (17. Nb3 {is answered by} Qc4 {(threatening to
take on b4 with the knight)} 18. Nfd2 (18. Re2 $2 {allows a lovely combination:
} Nxb4 $1 19. cxb4 Qxc2 20. Rxc2 Rd1+ 21. Ne1 Rxe1#) 18... Qe6 19. Nf1 Qc4 {
and White is getting nowhere.}) 17... Qd7 18. Qc2 Qe6 {By playing 19.Qb3
Ivanchuk could repeat the position and make a quicker draw, but he keeps on
playing. However, the position is just equal.} 19. h3 a5 20. bxa5 Rxa5 21. Rxa5
Nxa5 22. b4 Nb7 23. Qb3 Qxb3 24. Nxb3 Nd7 25. Be3 Nd6 (25... Ra8 $11) 26. Nfd2
(26. Na5 Nxe4 27. Nc6 Re8 28. Bd4 exd4 29. Rxe4 {doesn't work in view of} dxc3
$1 {(Ivanchuk) .}) 26... Ra8 27. Kf1 f6 28. Ke2 Kf7 29. Kd3 Ke6 30. f3 Ra2 31.
Ra1 Rxa1 32. Nxa1 Nb7 33. Nab3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bazna Kings 5th"]
[Site "Medias"]
[Date "2011.06.13"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2744"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2011.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ROU"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 143"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 {After the first round loss in the King's Indian Radjabov decides the
change openings in favour of the solid Queen's Gambit Declined.} 2. Nc3 d5 3.
d4 Be7 4. Nf3 {Carlsen also changes the variation he used in the first round.}
({Against Nakamura Magnus played} 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bf4) 4... Nf6 5. Bf4 O-O 6.
e3 Nbd7 7. a3 c5 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. Nxd5 exd5 10. dxc5 Nxc5 11. Be5 Bf6 12. Bxf6 (
{One month ago Kramnik didn't achieve much against Radjabov either:} 12. Be2
Bxe5 13. Nxe5 Be6 14. Nf3 Qb6 15. Qd4 Rfc8 16. O-O Nb3 17. Qxb6 axb6 18. Rab1
Bf5 19. Rbd1 Rc2 20. Rxd5 Rxb2 21. Re1 Be6 22. Rb5 Rxa3 23. Rxb6 Raa2 24. Rxb7
g5 25. Bf1 h6 26. Nd4 Nxd4 27. Rxb2 Rxb2 28. exd4 {1/2-1/2 Kramnik,V (2788)
-Radjabov,T (2744)/Kazan 2011.}) 12... Qxf6 13. Qd4 Qe7 {Possibly this caught
Magnus a bit by surprise.} ({More often Black continues} 13... Qd6) 14. Qf4 Qe4
15. Qxe4 dxe4 16. Nd4 {White's dominating knight looks very strong, but Black
will quickly develop pieces and then either exchange White's knight, or drive
it away from d4. Radjabov shows that Black can achieve a draw without many
difficulties.} Be6 {A new move. Radjabov prepares to exchange knights via b3.}
(16... Bd7 17. Bc4 Rac8 {has been played before.}) 17. Be2 Rfd8 18. O-O Nb3 $1
19. Nxe6 fxe6 20. Rad1 Kf7 {White cannot exploit the isolated doubled pawns,
which means that the better pawn structure is not an important factor in the
evaluation of the position. What matters is that the knight on b3 is very
annoying for White, while the black king is more active.} 21. f4 $5 {An
interesting attempt to gain more space and change the pawn structure.} ({
The alternative was} 21. Rxd8 Rxd8 22. Rd1) 21... Kf6 22. Kf2 ({Radjabov was
concerned about} 22. g4 {but Black has sufficient counterplay after} Rac8 23.
g5+ Ke7 24. f5 Rxd1 25. Bxd1 Nd2) 22... Nd2 23. Rfe1 Rac8 24. Rc1 Nb3 25. Rc4
Rxc4 26. Bxc4 Nc5 27. Ke2 (27. b4 Nd3+) 27... b5 $5 28. Ba2 ({After} 28. Bxb5
Rb8 29. a4 a6 {it is rather White who must play precisely to achieve a draw.})
28... Nd3 {Black's domination forces White to play accurately to maintain the
balance.} 29. Rd1 (29. Rb1 Rc8 30. Kd2 Rd8 31. Ke2 {was a reasonable
alternative} ({but not} 31. Kc3 Rc8+ 32. Kd4 Nc1 $1 33. Ra1 Nxa2 34. Rxa2 Rc4#
{with a sudden mate})) 29... Rc8 30. Bb1 Nxb2 31. Rd7 Na4 32. Bxe4 ({Ater the
game both players established that after} 32. Kd2 a5 33. g4 Nc5 34. Ra7 b4 35.
axb4 axb4 36. g5+ Kg6 {Black has strong counterplay.}) 32... Nc5 33. Rd4 Nxe4
34. Rxe4 Rc2+ 35. Kf3 Ra2 36. Rb4 a6 37. Rb3 Ke7 38. Rd3 Rb2 39. h3 a5 40. g4
a4 41. Ke4 b4 42. Rd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bazna Kings 5th"]
[Site "Medias"]
[Date "2011.06.14"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2011.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ROU"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 143"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 {Magnus Carlsen can play almost any opening. For instance in their
last classical game in 2010 the Norwegian surprised the Russian GM with the
French Defence (which Carlsen had never played before).} 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4.
Nf3 e6 5. Be2 Ne7 6. O-O c5 7. c4 {In the Advanced Variation of the Caro-Kann
both sides actively fight for the centre right from the early moves.} Nbc6 8.
dxc5 (8. Na3 {was played by Karjakin in a blitz game before.}) 8... d4 9. Bd3
Bxd3 10. Qxd3 Ng6 11. Qe4 Bxc5 12. a3 {Possibly Karjakin mixed up something,
as he admitted after the game that the immediate 12.Nbd2 is better. This is
actually the move played recently by Karjakin's second in Romania Alexander
Motylev:} (12. Nbd2 Qc7 (12... O-O {is preferable:} 13. Nb3 Qb6 {as played by
Karpov in 2002.}) 13. Nb3 Be7 14. Re1 Rd8 15. Bd2 O-O 16. h4 h5 17. Rad1 a6 18.
Nc1 b5 19. cxb5 axb5 20. Nd3 Rd5 21. Rc1 Rc8 22. g4 hxg4 23. Qxg4 Kh8 24. Kh1
Qb7 25. Rg1 Bf8 26. Qh5+ Kg8 27. Ng5 Be7 28. Qh7+ Kf8 29. Nxe6+ Ke8 30. Nxg7+
Kd7 31. e6+ Kd6 32. exf7 Nce5 33. Rxg6+ {1-0 Motylev,A (2677) -Maletin,P (2584)
/Olginka 2011}) 12... a5 13. Nbd2 Bb6 $1 {Very strong, pointing out the
vulnerability of pawn on e5 (the idea is to play ...Bc7 at some point). Now
due to the inclusion of the moves a3/a5 White does not have time for 13.Nb3,
which is answered by 13...a4.} (13... Qb6 {is also strong, highlighting
another drawback of the move 12.a3 - the weakness of the b3-square: White is
unable to place the knight on b3 now.}) 14. Rb1 a4 ({After} 14... Bc7 15. Nb3 {
White exchanges the pawn on e5 for the d4-pawn.}) 15. b4 axb3 16. Rxb3 (16.
Nxb3 Ra4 $1) 16... O-O 17. c5 (17. h4 $5) 17... Bxc5 18. Rxb7 Qd5 $1 19. Qxd5
exd5 20. Nb3 $1 ({Karjakin missed at the beginning that after} 20. Rb5 Ra5 21.
Rxa5 Nxa5 22. Bb2 {Black has a very strong move} Nf4 {and White's position
becomes highly unpleasant.}) 20... Bxa3 21. Bxa3 Rxa3 22. Nbxd4 Ngxe5 (22...
Nxd4 23. Nxd4 Nxe5 24. Rb5 Rd8 25. f4 Ng6 26. Nc6 Rc8 27. f5 Rxc6 28. fxg6 hxg6
29. Rxd5 Ra2 30. Rg5 {is also a draw.}) 23. Nxc6 Nxc6 24. Rc7 {Black is a pawn
up, but the rook on c7 is very active and Carlsen's knight doesn't have a
stable square. All this means that Black cannot convert his extra pawn.} Rc3
25. Re1 $1 {Threatening 26.Ne5.} ({After} 25. Ne5 {Black has} Nd4 $1 26. Rxc3
Ne2+ 27. Kh1 Nxc3 {and after the exchange of White's active rook Black gets
real chances to win.}) 25... Rc4 26. Rd7 Nb4 27. g3 {Black is not able to
improve the position.} h6 28. Ree7 Nc6 29. Re1 Rc5 30. Kg2 Nb4 31. Ree7 Nc6 32.
Re1 Rb8 33. h4 Rc8 34. Rb1 d4 35. Nxd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bazna Kings 5th"]
[Site "Medias"]
[Date "2011.06.15"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nisipeanu, Liviu Dieter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D27"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2659"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2011.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ROU"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 143"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e3 Nf6 4. Bxc4 e6 5. Nf3 c5 6. O-O a6 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8.
Qxd8+ Kxd8 {Magnus Carlsen has played this line before and it shouldn't have
come as a surprise for Nisipeanu. Even if White's next move is out of fashion,
it soon transposed to the main line.} 9. Be2 ({Usually White starts with} 9.
Nbd2 {then after} Ke7 10. Be2 {we have a transposition to the game.}) 9... Ke7
10. Nbd2 Bd7 11. Nb3 {Possibly the critical position of the game.} Bd6 $6 (
11... Bb6 {or even 11...Ba7 must be played.}) 12. Na5 $1 {A nasty surprise for
Black. Although Nisipeanu spent a lot of time here, Black is not able to avoid
the exchange of one of his bishops for a knight, which will secure White a
pleasant, long-lasting advantage.} Ra7 ({The main alternative was} 12... b5 13.
Nb7 Bb4 {with the idea 14.a3 Bc6. But perhaps White can play} 14. Bd2 Bxd2 15.
Nxd2 {when the weakened square c5 and the exposed queenside pawns should
secure White somewhat better chances. And there is an additional way. Instead
of 13.Nb7 the simple 13.Bd2 preparing next Nb7 might be even more unpleasant
for Black.}) 13. Nc4 Bb5 (13... Bc7 14. b3 {followed by a check from a3 looks
horrible for Black.}) 14. b3 $1 Rd8 15. Bb2 Bxc4 ({After} 15... Nc6 16. Rfd1
Raa8 17. Rxd6 Rxd6 18. Nxd6 Kxd6 {Magnus was going to keep the bishop pair with
} 19. Bd1 $1) 16. Bxc4 Nc6 17. Rfd1 Raa8 18. h3 {Black's position is worse
than it looks. White's bishop pair together with the lack of any counterplay
makes it difficult to defend it especially in a practical game and especially
with little time. White's plan is to advance the kingside pawns, gaining more
space and trying to create a weakness in Black's pawn formation. Possibly
disappointed by the course of the game Nisipeanu fails to put up his usual
tough resistance.} g6 {This somewhat strange-looking move is meant to prepare
Nf6-d5. But on d5 the knight won't be doing much anyway, while the weaknesses
created by 18...g6 will soon be fatal.} (18... h5 {was preferable, stopping at
least for a while g2-g4.}) 19. g4 h6 (19... h5 {is answered by} 20. g5) 20. Bf1
Rac8 21. Rac1 Nd5 22. h4 Ke8 ({Something like} 22... Ncb4 {was called for,
trying some counterplay as quickly as possible.}) 23. g5 hxg5 {After this
inaccuracy the position becomes really difficult.} ({Black must try to keep
the kingside closed and} 23... h5 {was necessary.}) 24. hxg5 Be7 25. Kg2 Nb6
26. Bd3 $1 Nb4 27. Be4 Nxa2 28. Rxd8+ Kxd8 29. Rh1 {Black is temporarily a
pawn up, but his position is lost. The bishop pair dominates the board, the
rook is going to come to h7 and the knight to e5. Black just can't stand such
pressure.} Nd5 30. Ne5 f5 31. Bxd5 ({Black resigned due to} 31. Bxd5 exd5 32.
Rh8+ Kc7 33. Rh7 Kd8 34. Bd4 {and big material losses are unavoidable.}) 1-0

[Event "Bazna Kings 5th"]
[Site "Medias"]
[Date "2011.06.17"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2774"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2011.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ROU"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 143"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3
d6 9. h3 Nb8 {The knight goes to d7 freeing the path for the c-pawn.} 10. d4
Nbd7 {With plenty of strategical ideas for both sides the Breyer Variation of
the Ruy Lopez is a classical opening line, which Magnus Carlsen had played
many times before.} 11. c4 {Nakamura certainly relied on the surprise factor
of this move.} ({In the vast majority of games White plays here} 11. Nbd2)
11... c6 12. Nc3 {"I was very happy when I saw this move, as now I can
conveniently close the position", said Carlsen after the game.} (12. a3 {
would have kept somewhat more tension in the position.}) 12... b4 13. Na4 c5
14. d5 {In this close position the main battlefield is going to be the
kingside.} Re8 $5 {[%csl Ra4,Rf4][%cal Gd7f8,Gf8g6] A somewhat unexpected move
in such positions. Usually in this structure Black is trying to prepare ...
f7-f5 and therefore he needs the rook on f8 for that. However, Carlsen had
another plan in mind - he wanted to transfer the knight to g6.} 15. Bc2 Nf8 16.
a3 a5 17. b3 {The knight from a4 is coming to d3.} Ng6 18. Nb2 Bd7 {[%cal
Gb2d3,Gf3h2,Yh2g4,Yh2f1]} 19. Nh2 {Now Nakamura improves the position of the
other knight.} h6 {And Carlsen is doing the same - the knight from f6 needs a
square in order to prepare the favourable (for Black) exchange of the
dark-squared bishops via g5.} 20. Nf1 Nh7 21. Ne3 Bg5 22. axb4 axb4 23. Rxa8
Qxa8 24. Nf5 Bxc1 25. Qxc1 Bxf5 {Continuing to exchanges pieces. Black wasn't
obliged to hurry and could keep a comfortable position with 25...Qa6 - a move
which Magnus, as he admitted, would have normally played, had he not been
feeling tired.} 26. exf5 Ngf8 {Already around here Carlsen saw the possible
repetition of moves and he just went for it without second thought.} 27. Nd1
Nf6 28. f3 Qa2 29. g4 Ra8 30. Nf2 Qa3 {White cannot really avoid the
repetition. At this moment both sides must have been happy with the outcome.}
31. Qb1 (31. Qd2 {allows Black to improve with} Qb2) ({while the only
reasonable attempt} 31. h4 {can bring White nothing but troubles in the
resulting endgame mentioned by Carlsen:} Qxc1 32. Rxc1 g5 33. fxg6 Nxg6 34.
Bxg6 fxg6 35. g5 hxg5 36. hxg5 Nh5 37. Ne4 Ra6 {and with his rook on the open
file only Black can play for a win.}) 31... Qa2 32. Qc1 Qa3 33. Qb1 Qa2 34. Qc1
1/2-1/2

[Event "Bazna Kings 5th"]
[Site "Medias"]
[Date "2011.06.18"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "143"]
[EventDate "2011.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ROU"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 143"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Qc2 c5 8.
dxc5 h6 9. Bd2 {This variation is naturally not especially dangerous for Black.
However, as the game shows, White has some chances for a small, stable edge.}
O-O 10. e3 Bxc5 11. Rc1 Qe7 12. Be2 a6 13. Qd3 {An important move; Black
should not be allowed to play ...b5 and ...Bb7 with easy play. Qb3 with the
same idea was also possible, but I felt that the queen would be better on d3.}
Nb6 14. O-O Bg4 {Frankly, I didn't understand why he wanted to provoke Nd4, as
in general exchanges favour White here.} (14... Be6 {was perfectly sensible.})
15. Nd4 Bd7 {I don't think it was necessary to withdraw the bishop immediately
as after} (15... Rac8 16. Bxg4 (16. b3 {is probably more accurate, but should
hardly trouble Black much either}) 16... Nxg4 17. Nf3 Ne5 18. Nxe5 Qxe5 {
Black is fine:} 19. b3 d4 20. f4 dxe3 $1 21. fxe5 exd2+ 22. Kh1 dxc1=Q 23. Rxc1
Rfd8 24. Qf3 Bd4 25. Ne2 Rxc1+ 26. Nxc1 Bxe5 $11) 16. Bf3 Rfe8 17. b3 Ba3 (
17... Ne4 18. Nxd5 {just loses a pawn.}) 18. Rc2 Rac8 (18... Ne4 19. Nce2 {
does not change too much.}) 19. Nce2 {Now White is definitely better. However,
it is still difficult to make any substantial progress.} Rxc2 20. Qxc2 Be6 {
Very sensible, as Ba5 was an annoying threat. The text gives the knight a
square on d7.} 21. Bc1 Rc8 (21... Bd6 {would be desirable, but gives White
some time to regroup:} 22. Bb2 Rc8 23. Qb1 Nbd7 24. Nf4 Ne5 25. Be2 {with a
very pleasant position.}) 22. Bxa3 Qxa3 23. Qd2 Bg4 $1 {An important move.
After the bishops are gone, White will not have too many resources left, and
the temporary lack of coordination in the black camp (the knights on b6 and g4
are loose, and even the rook might be hanging in some lines) cannot be
exploited.} (23... Nbd7 24. Nf4 Qe7 25. Rc1 Rxc1+ 26. Qxc1 Ne5 27. Be2 {
would give White the kind of position he's aiming for.}) 24. Bxg4 Nxg4 25. Nf5
Nf6 26. h3 {I spent a lot of time on this and the next few moves, looking for
a way to increase my advantage, but everywhere Black defends easily enough.}
Kh7 27. Qd4 Nbd7 28. Qf4 Nf8 {The most natural.} (28... Qxa2 29. Ned4 Qa3 {
looks risky, but is probably also playable:} 30. g4 (30. Nd6 Rc1 31. Rxc1 Qxc1+
32. Kh2 Qc7 $11) (30. Nxg7 Kxg7 31. Nf5+ Kg6 32. b4 Qc3 {leads nowhere}) 30...
Rc1 31. Rxc1 Qxc1+ 32. Kg2 g5 33. Qd6 Qc5 {and Black is ok.}) 29. Neg3 (29.
Nxh6 $2 {was tempting, but doesn't quite work:} Ne6 30. Qf5+ (30. Qh4 g5 31.
Qg3 Ne4 $1 (31... Kxh6 32. f4 {is actually quite dangerous}) 32. Qf3 Kxh6 33.
Qxf7 Qd6 34. Ng3 Ng7 35. Nxe4 dxe4 36. Qxb7 Rc6 {and only Black can be better})
30... Kxh6 31. g4 Qb2 32. Ng3 g5 $1 (32... g6 {is what I calculated, and is
also quite sufficient:} 33. g5+ Kg7 (33... Nxg5 34. Qxc8) 34. gxf6+ Qxf6 35.
Qxd5 Rc2 $11) 33. f4 Rc1 {and White is busted} (33... gxf4 34. g5+ Nxg5 35.
Qxf4 Rc1 36. h4 Rxf1+ 37. Kxf1 {might be enough for a draw})) (29. Ned4 Ng6 30.
Qd6 Qxd6 31. Nxd6 Rc7 {and it's unclear what the knight is doing on d6.}) 29...
Ng6 (29... Ne6 {was possibly even more precise. It looks weird to give the
white queen such a nice post on e5 for free, but after the cool} 30. Qe5 Rc6 $1
{White has nothing} 31. Nxg7 Nxg7 {shows the point of ...Rc6.}) 30. Qd4 Qc5 {
The only move (the threath of Nxg7 was very unpleasant). Now White has to
exchange queens.} 31. f3 Qxd4 32. Nxd4 Ne5 33. Rd1 g6 34. Kf2 Kg7 35. Nge2 Kf8
36. g4 {White is still a little better here, but since the only black weakness
is well defended and Black is active enough, there are no real winning chances.
} Nc6 37. Rc1 Ke7 (37... Ne7 {was quite possible. Short on time, I was
intending to repeat moves once, and then think about whether to exchange rooks
or knights. I would probably have chosen the first option.}) 38. h4 Kd6 39. h5
{There is not really anything else. In order to have any chances for a win, I
need to create a weakness on the kingside, and there h6 is the target.} Ne7 (
39... gxh5 40. Nf5+ $1 (40. gxh5 Nxh5 41. Rh1 Nxd4 42. Nxd4 Ng7 43. Rxh6+ Ne6
$11) 40... Kd7 41. gxh5 Nxh5 42. Rh1 Nf6 43. Rxh6 {would be unpleasant for
Black.}) 40. Rh1 gxh5 41. gxh5 Rg8 {Since the exchange of queens Ivanchuk had
been playing more or less at blitz speed, and I was wondering whether he
considered the position an easy draw, or was simply not in the mood for a
painstaking defence. Anyway, White certainly has something to play for here,
even though there is no doubt that Black should hold with sensible play.} 42.
Ng3 Rg5 43. b4 (43. f4 Rg8 44. Kf3 Kd7 {leads nowhere. I thought it would be
useful to postpone f4, as one of my knights or even the rook might want to use
that square.}) 43... Kd7 44. Rh4 Ne8 45. Rf4 Nd6 46. a4 b6 {This was not
necessary.} (46... Re5 {was quite ok. I don't see any serious was to play for
a win here} 47. Rg4 Nef5 $1) 47. a5 {Naturally, I should not let the
opportunity to create a potential weakness on a6 go, even though my own pawn
on a5 might also be weak in some lines.} bxa5 48. bxa5 f5 $6 {I thought this
was a serious inaccuracy during the game. There is no real need to leave this
pawn as a target for both my knights. Staying put with ...Re5 was probably
still fine.} 49. Rh4 Nc4 $2 (49... Rg8 50. Nge2 Rb8 51. Rh1 Rb2 52. Kg3 Ra2 53.
Nf4 Rxa5 54. Ng6 {gives White a serious initative, as the king suddenly has a
square on f4, and the black king might start to feel uncomfortable after a
timely Ne5.}) 50. f4 Rg4 51. Rh3 {An ugly move, but I didn't want to allow} (
51. Rh1 Nxe3 52. Kf3 Rg8 53. Rb1 Nc4 {which did not look clear to me at the
board. Probably though, the position after} 54. Rb7+ Kd6 55. Ndxf5+ Nxf5 56.
Nxf5+ Kc5 57. Rc7+ $1 Kb4 58. Ne7 {still offers winning chances, but it looked
really messy.}) 51... Nd6 52. Rh1 Rg8 (52... Ne4+ 53. Nxe4 dxe4 54. Rb1 {
just helps White, who is dominating.}) 53. Rb1 Ra8 54. Kf3 Kc7 55. Ne6+ {
Once again, I was a little short of time, and wanted to repeat moves before
going for Rb6.} (55. Rb6 {wins, as the following instructive variation shows:}
Kd7 (55... Nec8 56. Ne6+ Kd7 57. Nc5+ Kc7 58. Rxa6 Rb8 59. Ne2 $18) 56. Nb3 Kc7
57. Nc5 Nc6 58. Nxa6+ Kd7 59. Nc5+ Kc7 60. Ne6+ Kd7 61. a6 $1 Kxe6 62. Rxc6 Kd7
63. Rc5 Rxa6 64. Ne2 $1 {and with Nd4 and Rxd5 to come, White should win.})
55... Kc8 {I was a little upset that I allowed him this extra option, but
White is still winning.} 56. Nc5 Rb8 (56... Nc6 57. Rb6 Kc7 {would transpose
to the variations after 55.Rb6, and}) (56... Nc4 57. Rb7 {loses trivially.})
57. Rxb8+ Kxb8 58. Nxa6+ Kb7 59. Nb4 {White is winning here, as Black doesn't
have enough time to gobble up the a-pawn.} Nc4 60. a6+ Kb6 61. Ke2 Nd6 62. Kd3
Nb5 63. Ne2 Ka5 (63... Nc7 64. Nd4 Nxa6 65. Nxa6 Kxa6 66. Ne2 {with Kd4 and an
easy win to come.}) 64. Nc3 Nc7 65. Nbxd5 $1 {A nice finishing touch. The king
invasion is completely decisive, even a knight down!} Nexd5 66. Nxd5 Nxd5 67.
a7 Nc7 68. Kd4 Kb6 69. Ke5 Kxa7 70. Kxf5 Nd5 71. Kg6 Nxe3 72. Kxh6 {Black is
several tempi short here, so he resigned. I am happy with the way I conducted
this endgame, although some of Ivanchuk's decisions and especially his time
management left something to be desired.} 1-0

[Event "Bazna Kings 5th"]
[Site "Medias"]
[Date "2011.06.19"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2744"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2011.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ROU"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 143"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. d4 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 b6 {This continuation
is less popular than 6...c5 and 6...Nbd7.} 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Nxd5 Qxd5 9. Bd3
Qa5+ 10. Ke2 (10. Nd2 Ba6 {is equal.}) 10... Ba6 11. a3 c5 12. b4 Bxd3+ 13.
Qxd3 Qa4 (13... cxb4 14. axb4 Qd5 (14... Qxb4 $2 15. Rhb1) 15. b5 {gives White
an advantage.}) 14. bxc5 (14. Rhc1 {has been played before. Then Black keeps
equal chances with 14...Nd7, but not} cxb4 $2 15. axb4 Qxb4 $2 16. Rcb1 {
and White traps the queen.}) ({At the press conference Radjabov revealed that
during the game he was calculating sharp variations starting with} 14. h4 Nd7
15. Ng5 Nf6 16. Be5 c4 17. Qb1 g6 18. h5 Nd5 19. hxg6 {when Black should
continue} f6 {and now probably the strongest move for White is} (19... Nc3+ {
can lead to a nice mate:} 20. Kf1 Nxb1 21. gxh7#) 20. Kf1 {defending from the
fork on c3. My computer says the position is .... equal. Here is why:} fxe5 21.
Nf7 Bf6 22. Qe4 Bg7 23. Nh6+ Kh8 24. Nf7+ Kg8 {with a draw by repetition. When
seeing such variations one can hardly avoid thinking about the draw death for
chess.}) 14... bxc5 15. Rhc1 Nd7 16. Qc4 Qa5 {Carlsen keeps the queens on,
trying to exploit the fact that the opponent's king is in the centre. But the
position is very close to equal anyway.} (16... Qxc4+ 17. Rxc4 Nb6 18. Rc2 Rfc8
19. dxc5 Rxc5 20. Rxc5 Bxc5 {is equal.}) 17. dxc5 ({After} 17. Qc3 Qa6+ 18. Qc4
{Black might consider} Qc6) 17... Nxc5 18. Nd4 Rac8 19. Qb5 ({Another
possibility was} 19. Kf1 Rfd8 {and only now} 20. Qb5 {when Black cannot avoid
the exchange of queens, with an equal endgame.}) 19... Qd8 (19... Qxb5+ 20.
Nxb5 a6 {would be just bad in view of} 21. Na7 Ra8 22. Nc6 Bf6 23. Rab1 {
and White is clearly better.}) 20. Nc6 Qd7 21. Nxe7+ Qxe7 22. Be5 (22. Rc4 {
is somewhat better, preparing to double the rooks on the c-file.}) 22... Ne4 $1
23. f3 (23. Qb4 Qh4 24. Bg3 Qg4+ 25. Kf1 {is also about equal.}) 23... Qg5 24.
fxe4 {Black has many ways to force a draw.} Rcd8 (24... f6 25. Rxc8 Rxc8 26.
Qd7 Qxg2+ 27. Ke1 Qg1+ 28. Ke2 Qg2+ $11) (24... Qxg2+ 25. Ke1 (25. Kd3 $2 Rfd8+
26. Bd4 Rb8 {leads to troubles for White.}) 25... Qg1+ 26. Kd2 Rfd8+ 27. Bd4
Rxd4+ 28. exd4 Qf2+ 29. Qe2 Qxd4+ 30. Qd3 Qf2+ 31. Kd1 Qg1+ $11) (24... Rxc1
25. Rxc1 f6 26. Qd7 Qxe5 27. Rc7 f5 28. exf5 Rxf5 29. Rc8+ Rf8 30. Rxf8+ Kxf8
$11) 25. Qb2 Qxg2+ 26. Ke1 Qg1+ 27. Ke2 Qg2+ 28. Ke1 Qg1+ ({Both players came
to the conclusion that} 28... Qxe4 {does not offer Black real winning chances.}
) 29. Ke2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bazna Kings 5th"]
[Site "Medias"]
[Date "2011.06.20"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Nisipeanu, Liviu Dieter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2659"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2011.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ROU"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 143"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 {In the 6th round Nakamura played 11.c4
here against Carlsen. Nisipeanu chooses the main move.} Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. a4
Bf8 14. Bd3 c6 15. b3 g6 16. Bb2 (16. Ba3 $5) 16... exd4 {A rare continuation,
which was quite unexpected for Nisipeanu.} ({Instead, one of the main moves is
} 16... Nh5 {Here is a game played by Viorel Iordachescu, who was Nisipeanu's
second at the Kings' Tournament:} 17. Qc2 Nf4 18. Bf1 Bg7 19. Rad1 Qb6 20. b4
d5 {with complications that led later to a draw in Iordachescu, V (2640)
-Avrukh,B (2601)/Mulhouse 2011.}) 17. cxd4 d5 18. Ne5 {This new move is the
result of 20 minutes of thought.} ({In the previous games White always
advanced the e-pawn:} 18. e5 Nh5 {"with a normal position for Black" (Carlsen)}
) 18... Bb4 {Still played a tempo by Carlsen.} (18... Nxe5 19. dxe5 {looks
risky for Black, even if the consequences of} dxe4 {are not entirely clear.})
19. Nxd7 Qxd7 20. e5 Nh5 {[%csl Rc5,Rf4] White has several attractive ideas.
He would be happy to exchange the dark-squared bishops in order to exploit the
weak square c5, but that is not easy to achieve.} 21. Bf1 ({The main
alternatives were} 21. Ba3 Bc3 (21... Nf4 $5) 22. Rc1 ({The exchange sacrifice
is probably not enough:} 22. Bc5 Bxa1 23. Qxa1 Nf4 24. Bf1 Ne6 25. Bd6 a5 {
with the idea Ba6}) 22... Bxd4 23. Nf3 Bb6 24. Qd2 {with positional
compensation for the sacrificed pawn.}) (21. Qc2 Nf4 22. Bc3 c5 $5) 21... Nf4
22. Re3 c5 {Magnus Carlsen felt that Black should quickly start counterplay in
the centre in order to prevent White's plan with Nf3-h2-g4.} ({In the event of
} 22... Ne6 23. Nf3 c5 {White can ignore Black's intentions and continue} 24.
Nh2 {and if} h5 {then} ({Better is probably} 24... c4 25. Ng4 Be7) 25. Rg3 {
with good attacking prospects.}) 23. dxc5 (23. Nf3 {is already too slow:} c4
24. Nh2 h5 25. Rg3 Rac8 {with sufficient counterplay for Black.}) 23... d4 (
23... Bxc5 $2 24. Ne4 Be7 25. Nd6 Bxd6 26. exd6 {looks terrible for Black due
to the "monster-bishop" on b2.}) 24. Ne4 {The most natural move.} (24. Nf3 Bxc5
) (24. Re4 {doesn't work:} Bxd2 $1 25. Rxd4 Nxh3+ 26. gxh3 Qc6 {and Black wins.
}) 24... Bxe4 25. Rxe4 Ne6 26. Rxd4 {A good practical decision from Nisipeanu,
since he saw no way to set any real problems for Black. After the exchange sac
White is out of risk and the draw becomes the most likely result.} ({After} 26.
Bxd4 Rad8 27. Be3 Qxd1 28. Rxd1 Rxd1 29. Rxb4 Nc7 {only White can be worse.}) (
26. axb5 {brings White nothing either:} axb5 27. Rxa8 (27. Qd3 Rxa1 28. Bxa1
Rd8 29. Qxb5 Qxb5 30. Bxb5 d3 31. Bxd3 Rxd3 32. Rxb4 Rd1+ 33. Kh2 Rxa1 34. Rb8+
Kg7 35. b4 Re1 {is again risky rather for White}) 27... Rxa8 28. Qd3 Bxc5 29.
Qxb5 Qxb5 30. Bxb5 Ra2 {with counterplay}) 26... Nxd4 27. Qxd4 Qxd4 28. Bxd4
Rad8 29. Be3 Rxe5 30. axb5 axb5 31. Rc1 {[%csl Gc5]} Rxe3 {Forcing the draw.} (
31... Rc8 32. c6 Kf8 33. g3 {is also about equal: the strong extra pawn on c6
together with the bishop pair secure White good compensation for the exchange.}
) 32. fxe3 ({After} 32. fxe3 Bd2 33. Rc2 Bxe3+ 34. Kh2 Rd5 {the draw becomes
obvious.}) 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bazna Kings 5th"]
[Site "Medias"]
[Date "2011.06.21"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E43"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2011.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ROU"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 143"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. e3 {This transposes to the
classical Rubinstein Variation.} ({Somewhat more active, but also more risky is
} 5. Bg5) 5... Bb7 6. Bd3 O-O 7. O-O c5 8. Na4 {The knight goes on the rim in
order to underline the exposed position of the bishop on b4 and threaten a2-a3.
} cxd4 9. exd4 Re8 10. a3 Bf8 11. Bf4 d6 12. Re1 Nbd7 13. Rc1 e5 $1 {A strong
novelty, that helps Black to equalise.} ({After} 13... g6 {White is slightly
better by bringing back the knight} 14. Nc3) 14. dxe5 Bxf3 (14... dxe5 15. Nxe5
) 15. Qxf3 Nxe5 16. Bxe5 ({After} 16. Qh3 Nxd3 17. Qxd3 Rxe1+ 18. Rxe1 d5 19.
Rd1 {Black exploits the unprotected position of the knight on a4 and frees
himself from the pin along the d-file with} Qe8 $1 {with complete equality.})
16... dxe5 17. Nc3 g6 ({After} 17... Qc7 {Carlsen intended to fight for the
d5-square by means of} 18. g4 $5) 18. Be4 {This brings White nowhere and soon
he will even have to play carefully to keep the balance.} (18. Rcd1 {was
better, although after} Qe7 {Black hardly has any problems.}) 18... Nxe4 19.
Qxe4 Rc8 $1 (19... Qc8 {allows White to keep some pressure after} 20. Nd5) ({
Black would like to play} 19... f5 {but then after} 20. Qd5+ Qxd5 21. Nxd5 {
he would suddenly have problems with defending against forks on c7 and f6
without giving up his e5-pawn.}) 20. b4 (20. Nd5 f5 $11) 20... Qd4 $1 {Now it
is White who must play accurately, since potentially his pawns are weaker and
in an endgame the bishop can be stronger than the knight.} 21. Qxd4 (21. Nd5
Qxe4 22. Rxe4 f5 23. Re2 Kf7 24. f3 Rc6 25. Kf2 Rec8 26. Rxe5 Rxc4 {is the
kind of position White would like to avoid.}) 21... exd4 22. Rxe8 Rxe8 23. Nd5
Re2 24. Kf1 Ra2 25. Rd1 (25. c5 {leads to unpleasant defence after} bxc5 26.
bxc5 d3 27. c6 (27. Ne3 $2 Bxc5) 27... Rc2 28. Rd1 Rxc6 29. Rxd3 Rc1+ 30. Ke2
Rc2+) 25... Rxa3 26. Rxd4 Ra4 (26... Kg7 $5 {deserved attention, without
fearing} 27. g4 a5 28. bxa5 bxa5 29. g5 {due to} a4 30. Nf6 Ra1+ 31. Ke2 Rg1
32. Ne8+ Kh8 {and White is in trouble.}) 27. Nf6+ Kg7 28. Ne8+ Kg8 ({Black
could try to play for more with} 28... Kh8 {although after} 29. b5 ({but not} 
29. Rd7 Bxb4 {threatening Ra1-e1, ><e8}) 29... Bc5 30. Rd7 $1 Ra1+ 31. Ke2 Ra2+
32. Kd3 Rxf2 33. Rxa7 {White's counterplay should not be underestimated:} Kg8 (
33... Rxg2 34. Rxf7 Rxh2 35. Nf6 $1 {with a sort of domination}) 34. Ra6 h5 35.
Nc7 Rxg2 36. Nd5 Rxh2 37. Nxb6 h4 38. Nd7 {and Black is risking as much as
White.}) 29. Nf6+ Kg7 30. Ne8+ Kg8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel Accentus"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2011.07.18"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Pelletier, Yannick"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2590"]
[BlackElo "2821"]
[PlyCount "175"]
[EventDate "2011.07.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 144"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Nf3 c5 8.
Rb1 O-O 9. Be2 b6 10. O-O Bb7 11. d5 Bxc3 12. Bc4 Bg7 13. Qd3 Qc8 14. Bg5 Re8
15. e5 e6 16. dxe6 fxe6 17. Rbd1 Bxf3 18. Qxf3 Nc6 19. Bb5 Nxe5 20. Qe4 Nf7 21.
Bh4 Bd4 22. Rxd4 cxd4 23. Bxe8 Qxe8 24. Qxd4 Rc8 25. Re1 e5 26. Qg4 Rc2 27. h3
Qc6 28. Bg3 Rxa2 29. Bxe5 Nxe5 30. Rxe5 Ra4 31. Qd1 Rf4 32. Qb3+ Rf7 33. Re7
Qc1+ 34. Kh2 Qf4+ 35. Kh1 Kf8 36. Re2 Kg7 37. Qd5 a5 38. f3 Rc7 39. Re1 Rc1 40.
Rxc1 Qxc1+ 41. Kh2 Qc7+ 42. Kh1 Kf6 43. Qd4+ Ke6 44. Qg4+ Kd6 45. Qd4+ Kc6 46.
Qe4+ Kb5 47. Qe2+ Qc4 48. Qe8+ Qc6 49. Qe2+ Kc5 50. Qe3+ Kb4 51. Qe1+ Kc4 52.
Qe2+ Kc3 53. Qe3+ Kb2 54. Qd2+ Kb1 55. Qd3+ Qc2 56. Qb5+ Ka1 57. Kh2 Qc7+ 58.
Kh1 Qc1+ 59. Kh2 Qf4+ 60. Kh1 Qd4 61. Qf1+ Kb2 62. Qe2+ Kc1 63. Qe4 Qc3 64. f4
b5 65. Qe5 Qc4 66. Qa1+ Kc2 67. Qxa5 b4 68. Qa4+ Kb2 69. f5 gxf5 70. Kh2 h5 71.
Qd7 Qf4+ 72. Kh1 b3 73. Qd3 Qf2 74. Qd5 h4 75. Kh2 Qf4+ 76. Kh1 Kc2 77. Qc5+
Kb1 78. Qb5 b2 79. Qd3+ Ka2 80. Qa6+ Kb3 81. Qb5+ Ka3 82. Qa5+ Qa4 83. Qc5+ Ka2
84. Qd5+ Ka1 85. Qe5 Qe4 86. Qa5+ Kb1 87. Qc3 f4 88. Qd2 0-1

[Event "Biel Accentus"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2011.07.19"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Shirov, Alexei"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D48"]
[WhiteElo "2821"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2011.07.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 144"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3
Bb7 9. O-O a6 10. e4 c5 11. d5 c4 12. Bc2 Qc7 13. Nd4 e5 14. Nf5 g6 15. Nh6 Nh5
16. g3 Bc5 17. Qf3 Rf8 18. Bd2 Bd4 19. b4 cxb3 20. Bxb3 Qd6 21. Rac1 Ng7 22. a4
f5 23. axb5 f4 24. Ne2 Bb6 25. bxa6 Bxa6 26. Bc4 g5 27. Bxa6 Rxa6 28. Rc8+ Bd8
29. Nf5 Nxf5 30. exf5 Nf6 31. Qd3 Ra7 32. Qb5+ Qd7 33. Rxd8+ 1-0

[Event "Biel Accentus"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2011.07.20"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D80"]
[WhiteElo "2694"]
[BlackElo "2821"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2011.07.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 144"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Ne4 5. Nxe4 dxe4 6. Qd2 Bg7 7. e3 c5 8. d5
Nd7 9. Ne2 Ne5 10. Nc3 f5 11. Be2 Nf7 12. Bh4 O-O 13. f3 exf3 14. gxf3 Qd6 15.
Bg3 e5 16. O-O-O Bd7 17. Kb1 a6 18. e4 f4 19. Bf2 Rab8 20. h4 b5 21. Rc1 Rfc8
22. Ka1 Bf8 23. Nd1 a5 24. cxb5 Bxb5 25. Bxb5 Rxb5 26. Nc3 Rb4 27. Rc2 c4 28.
Rhc1 a4 29. a3 Rb3 30. Qe2 Qa6 31. Nb1 Nd6 32. Nd2 Nb5 33. d6 Nxd6 34. Qf1 Rb7
35. Qh3 Re8 36. h5 g5 37. Bc5 Rc7 38. Bxd6 Qxd6 39. Rxc4 Rxc4 40. Nxc4 Qe6 41.
Qg2 Be7 42. Nd2 Kg7 43. Nb1 Kh6 44. Rc7 Rc8 45. Rxc8 Qxc8 46. Qg4 Qc4 47. Qf5
Bc5 48. Qxe5 Bd4 49. Qd6+ Kxh5 50. Qd7 Kg6 51. Qf5+ Kh6 52. Qh3+ Kg7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel Accentus"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2011.07.22"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2821"]
[BlackElo "2711"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2011.07.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 144"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. Bd3 Qh4 7. Qe2 Ne7
$146 {Black has developed the queen to an active square and made castling for
White more complicated. The knight move to e7 is a novelty, Black players have
usually fared well after the natural move 7...Nf6.} (7... Nf6 8. h3 (8. Be3
Bxe3 9. Qxe3 O-O 10. Nd2 Re8 11. O-O d6 12. Rae1 a5 13. Qg3 Qxg3 14. hxg3 a4
15. f3 Be6 16. b3 Nd7 17. Re3 axb3 18. axb3 Ne5 19. Be2 Ra2 20. Rc3 c5 21. b4
cxb4 {1/2-1/2 Carlsen,M (2714)-Kamsky,G (2714)/Khanty Mansiysk 2007/}) 8... d5
(8... O-O 9. g3 Qh5 10. g4 Qh4 11. Nd2 Ne8 12. Nb3 (12. Nf3 Qe7 13. Bd2 Rb8 14.
b3 d6 15. Bc3 Bb4 16. Bxb4 Rxb4 17. e5 c5 18. exd6 Qf6 19. d7 Bxd7 20. Ne5 $14
{1-0 Kovchan,A (2554)-Annaberdiev,M (2459)/Konya 2011/ (61)}) 12... Be7 13. Nd4
Bc5 14. Nf5 Qd8 15. Bd2 Nd6 16. O-O-O Nxf5 17. gxf5 Qh4 18. Rh2 Bd4 19. Rg1 Be5
20. Rhg2 $16 {1-0 Motylev,A (2641)-Liang Chong (2531)/Moscow 2001/ (53)}) 9. g3
(9. exd5+ Kd8 10. O-O Bxh3 11. dxc6 Re8 12. Qd2 Bxg2 13. Kxg2 Qg4+ $11) 9...
Qh5 10. Qxh5 Nxh5 11. Nc3 (11. e5 Bd4 12. g4 Nf4 13. Bxf4 Bxb2 14. Kd2 Bxa1 15.
Nc3 Bxc3+ 16. Kxc3 c5 $17 {0-1 Nataf,I (2534)-Fressinet,L (2673)/Pau 2008/ (32)
}) 11... Nf6 12. Bf4 Bb4 13. exd5 Nxd5 14. Bd2 Nxc3 15. Bxc3 Bxc3+ 16. bxc3 Be6
17. f4 O-O 18. Kf2 Rab8 19. f5 Bd7 $14 {0-1 Ivanchuk,V (2739)-Malakhov,V (2706)
/Warsaw 2009/ (68)}) 8. Nc3 O-O 9. Be3 Bb6 10. O-O {Carlsen is a courageous
player, but he decided to abstain from castling long due to the semi-open
b-file. He correctly guessed, that the attack against the black king was
unlikely to succeed.} (10. O-O-O d5 $132) 10... d5 11. exd5 Nxd5 (11... cxd5
12. g3 Qf6 13. Qh5 $14) 12. Bd2 Bd4 {In the new era of chess and computers the
top players have to live with the fact, that achieving an advantage from the
opening is a rare feat. The remaining ambition is a bit more modest - to build
up a position, that can be full of life.} (12... Bg4 13. Qe4 Rae8 14. Qc4 Qh5
$14) (12... Nb4 $5 13. Qe4 (13. Be4 $2 Ba6 $17) 13... Qxe4 14. Bxe4 Rd8 15. Bf4
Nd5 16. Rad1 Be6 $11) 13. Rae1 Nb4 $1 (13... Nxc3 14. bxc3 Bb6 15. Qe8 $1 Rb8
16. Qxc6 Bb7 17. Qc4 $14) 14. Qe4 (14. Ne4 $2 Bg4 15. g3 Qh5 $19) 14... Qxe4
15. Bxe4 Ba6 16. Ne2 {The passive retreat of the knight is certainly far from
what White is dreaming about, but Black has problems with the coordination of
his pieces as well.} Bc5 17. a3 (17. Bxb4 Bxb4 18. c3 Be7 19. Bxc6 Rad8 20. b4
Bc4 $11) 17... Nd5 (17... Rae8 18. Nf4 (18. axb4 Rxe4 19. bxc5 Bxe2 20. f3 Re6
21. Rf2 Rfe8 (21... Bc4 22. Ra1 $16) 22. Bf4 $14) 18... Nd5 19. Bd3 Bxd3 20.
Nxd3 $14) 18. b4 Bd6 {Caruana is playing sensible moves and does not try to
solve the position with the help of tactics.} (18... Rfe8 19. Bf3 (19. Bd3 Bxd3
20. cxd3 Bd6 $11) 19... Bd6 20. Nd4 Bxf1 21. Rxf1 $14) 19. Nd4 $5 {[%mdl 1024]
Sporting the best rating in the world does not come cheap, Carlsen has to try
for a win even against the very good opponents. Breaking the balance with the
help of an exchange sacrifice fuels the tension in the position.} (19. g3 Be5
20. Kg2 f5 21. Bd3 Bxd3 22. cxd3 Rfe8 $11) 19... Bxf1 20. Kxf1 Nb6 (20... Rae8
21. Nxc6 Nf6 22. Bf3 Rxe1+ 23. Bxe1 a6 $11) 21. Nxc6 Rfe8 22. a4 {The danger
for Black does not seem to be great, but White's active approach is calling
for exact solutions.} (22. h3 g6 $11) 22... Kf8 (22... Nxa4 $6 23. Ne7+ Rxe7
24. Bxa8 Rxe1+ 25. Kxe1 $16) 23. a5 Nc4 24. Bc1 (24. Bc3 Bf4 25. Re2 Bd2 $1 26.
Bd4 Bxb4 27. Bxh7 (27. Nxb4 Rxe4 $17) 27... Rxe2 28. Kxe2 Bxa5 $15) 24... a6 {
The defender is choosing a passive move, that does not spoil anything. He
could have found the courage for the speedier clarification of the position
with the help of the active move 24...f5!} (24... f5 $1 25. Bxf5 Rxe1+ 26. Kxe1
Re8+ 27. Kf1 Ne5 28. Be4 Nxc6 29. Bxc6 Rd8 (29... Bxb4 $2 30. Bxe8 Kxe8 31. a6
$16) 30. Bd2 Be7 31. Bc3 Rd1+ 32. Ke2 Rb1 $11) 25. f4 $6 (25. g3 f5 26. Bxf5 (
26. Bd5 Rxe1+ 27. Kxe1 Re8+ 28. Kf1 Ne5 29. c3 Nxc6 30. Bxc6 $11) 26... Rxe1+
27. Kxe1 Re8+ 28. Kf1 Ne5 29. Be4 Nxc6 30. Bxc6 Bxb4 31. Bxe8 Kxe8 $11) 25...
Re6 $2 {A small comedy of errors on the highest level. The shocking and well
disguised move of the black knight to e3 would have clearly shown the gap in
White's concept.} (25... Ne3+ $1 26. Rxe3 (26. Bxe3 $2 Rxe4 $19) 26... Bxf4 27.
Rf3 Bxc1 28. Bd5 f6 29. Nd4 Rab8 $15) 26. Bd5 $1 Rf6 (26... Rxe1+ 27. Kxe1
Bxb4+ 28. Nxb4 Re8+ 29. Kf2 Nxa5 30. Nxa6 $18) 27. Re4 {A truly tragic finish
of the game for Caruana. One serious mistake and the battle was immediately
over.} 1-0

[Event "Biel Accentus"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2011.07.23"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2722"]
[BlackElo "2821"]
[PlyCount "191"]
[EventDate "2011.07.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 144"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Bc4 Be7 5. d3 d6 6. Nd2 Bg5 7. Nf1 Bxc1 8.
Rxc1 Nge7 9. Ne3 O-O 10. O-O Ng6 11. Ncd5 Be6 12. c3 Na5 13. Nf5 Kh8 14. g3 Qd7
15. Nde3 Ne7 16. Nxe7 Nxc4 17. dxc4 Qxe7 18. Qd3 Rad8 19. Rcd1 b6 20. Rd2 Rd7
21. b3 Re8 22. Kg2 Qg5 23. Rfd1 Kg8 24. Qe2 Red8 25. Qf3 Qe7 26. h4 Qf8 27. h5
Qe7 28. h6 g6 29. Nd5 Bxd5 30. Rxd5 Qg5 31. Rh1 Kf8 32. Qd3 Qf6 33. Qe3 Qe6 34.
Rf1 f6 35. b4 Ke8 36. Rfd1 Kf7 37. a4 Ke7 38. a5 Rc8 39. b5 Qg4 40. axb6 axb6
41. Ra1 Rb8 42. f3 Qe6 43. Qd2 Kf7 44. Rd1 Ke7 45. Ra1 Kf7 46. Ra6 Qe7 47. Qe3
Qe6 48. Qc1 g5 49. Qh1 Kg6 50. g4 Kf7 51. Kf2 Ke7 52. Qf1 Kf7 53. Ke3 Kg6 54.
Qh1 Kf7 55. Kd3 Ke7 56. Kc2 Qg8 57. Qa1 Qf8 58. Rd1 Rdb7 59. Rh1 Kf7 60. Kb3
Qe7 61. Qa2 Qd7 62. Ra1 Qe7 63. Qd2 Kg6 64. Qh2 Kf7 65. R1a2 Qd7 66. Qh5+ Kf8
67. Qh1 Kf7 68. Qd1 Kg6 69. Rd2 Rd8 70. Qh1 Kf7 71. Rda2 Rdb8 72. Ra1 Qe7 73.
R6a2 Rd7 74. Qd1 Kg6 75. Qh1 Kf7 76. Qb1 Rdb7 77. Qd3 Kg6 78. f4 gxf4 79. Qh3
Kf7 80. Ra8 Qe6 81. Qh5+ Kf8 82. Qf5 Qxf5 83. gxf5 Rxa8 84. Rxa8+ Kf7 85. Kc2
Re7 86. Kd3 Re8 87. Ra7+ Kg8 88. Rg7+ Kf8 89. Rxh7 Kg8 90. Ra7 Kh8 91. h7 Rb8
92. Ke2 Rd8 93. Kf3 Rc8 94. Kg4 Rd8 95. Kh5 f3 96. Kg6 1-0

[Event "Biel Accentus"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2011.07.25"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Pelletier, Yannick"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C10"]
[WhiteElo "2821"]
[BlackElo "2590"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2011.07.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 144"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. g3 Be7 6. Bg2 Ngf6 7. Nc3 O-O 8.
Nf3 Nd5 9. Qd3 Nb4 10. Qd2 c5 11. O-O cxd4 12. Nxd4 Nb6 13. a3 e5 14. axb4 exd4
15. Nb5 Bf6 16. Rd1 Bg4 17. f3 Bf5 18. g4 a6 19. Nxd4 Bxd4+ 20. Qxd4 Bxc2 21.
Qxd8 Raxd8 22. Rxd8 Rxd8 23. f4 Rd7 24. b5 Rd1+ 25. Kf2 axb5 26. Bxb7 f5 27.
Bf3 Rd8 28. Ra5 fxg4 29. Bxg4 Bd3 30. Be6+ Kh8 31. b3 h6 32. Bb2 Nd5 33. Ra7
Nf6 34. Rf7 Rd6 35. f5 Bc2 36. Rf8+ Kh7 37. Bxf6 gxf6 38. Rxf6 Rd2+ 39. Ke3
Rd3+ 40. Ke2 h5 41. Rf7+ Kh6 42. Rc7 1-0

[Event "Biel Accentus"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2011.07.26"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Shirov, Alexei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2821"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2011.07.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 144"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{I decided to annotate this game as it was quite typical for the Biel
tournament: Interesting, fighting, and far from faultless.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 {After thinking for a few minutes Shirov decided that he
didn't feel like playing the Berlin endgame that day.} Bc5 {I played d6
against Ivanchuk in Bazna and got a decent position, but a little change never
hurts.} 5. c3 O-O 6. Bg5 {As far as I could remember not much had happened in
this line since Anand-Topalov, San Luis 2005, where Topalov played h6 and g5
and got a good position. However, I was not particularily interested in
finding out what Shirov had prepared there.} h6 7. Bh4 Be7 {Once the white
bishop is on h4 this loss of tempo is considered to be justified.} 8. Nbd2 (8.
Bxc6 {It is important to note that this doesn't win a pawn due to the standard
trick} bxc6 (8... dxc6 9. Bg3 {is trickier, but probably also quite playable:}
Bg4 $1 10. Bxe5 Nd7 11. Bg3 Nc5) 9. Nxe5 Nxe4 $1) 8... d6 9. Nf1 Nb8 {Another
loss of tempo, but since White has spent a few tempi with the knight, and
because of the closed nature of the position, I felt that I could afford to
take such liberties. For those interested in alternatives, I refer you to my
engine and it's top choices of: 9...Rb8 and 9...a5.} 10. Ne3 Ng4 (10... Nbd7 {
was my first intention, not in connection with the usual plan of ...Re8, ...
Bf8 and so on, but rather "trapping" the white bishop with ...Nb6. However, I
was not sure about what to do after} 11. Ba4 $1 (11. O-O Nb6 $1 12. Bxf6 Bxf6
13. d4 c6 {with a perfectly satisfactory position.}) (11. Nf5 {might look
tempting, but after} Nb6 12. g4 (12. Nxe7+ Qxe7 13. O-O Bg4 14. h3 Bh5 {
with comfortable equality}) 12... Bxf5 13. gxf5 d5 {Black takes over the
initiative. e.g.} 14. Nxe5 c6 15. Ba4 Nxe4 $17)) 11. Bg3 {I was sort of
expecting this. Exchanging on e7 would have led to dull equality, which was
not Shirov's plan} Nxe3 12. fxe3 Nd7 13. d4 {Somewhat suprisingly, this was
the last chance for White to castle kingside comfortably in this game. However,
his desire to play this move before I can play ...Nf6 is perfectly
understandable, since Black would have fairly easy play after that:} (13. O-O
Nf6 14. Qc2 $6 (14. Bc4 Be6 $11 {Is better}) 14... a6 15. Ba4 b5 16. Bb3 Bb7 {
Black is intending c5, and White already has to be a little careful, as Nh4 is
met by ...Nxe4.}) 13... Nf6 $5 {This move, starting some concrete play, is
maybe not completely sound, but looked too interesting not to go for.} (13...
Bf6 14. O-O Qe7 {with a solid position was quite reasonable as well.}) 14. Bd3
Ng4 {The logical follow-up.} 15. Qe2 Bg5 16. dxe5 {I was a little surprised to
see this, as in the resulting positions only Black can be better.} (16. h3 {
This move, which forces Black to take on e3 and leave his knight stranded was
the critical option. In view of that, one might argue that Black is not really
threatening anything. However, as castling either way runs into a bishop check
on e3, and White doesn't have too many other useful moves, it makes sense to
force the issue.} Nxe3 17. dxe5 (17. h4 Bf4 18. Bf2 exd4 19. cxd4 Nf5 $1) 17...
dxe5 18. h4 Bf4 (18... Nxg2+ 19. Qxg2 Qxd3 20. hxg5 Bg4 21. Nxe5 Qe3+ 22. Kf1
f5 23. gxh6 fxe4+ 24. Bf2 {leaves Black powerless}) 19. Bf2 Nxg2+ (19... Ng4
20. g3 {wins a piece under much better circumstances for White}) 20. Kf1 Qf6
21. Kxg2 Qg6+ 22. Kf1 Bg4 23. Rg1 Qh5 24. Rxg4 (24. Nd4 f5 $1 {with a
dangerous attack} (24... Bxe2+ 25. Bxe2)) 24... Qxg4 25. Ke1 $1 {and with the
king running to safety, White should have the better long-term prospects.})
16... dxe5 17. Bxe5 (17. h3 Nxe3 18. h4 {would have transposed to the
variations after 16.h3.}) 17... Bh4+ {It's useful to weaken White's light
squares on the kingside and possibly give my light-squared bishop a nice
foothold on g4 or h3.} (17... Bxe3 18. Bd4 {did not look too appealing.}) 18.
g3 Nxe5 19. Nxe5 Bf6 20. Nf3 Qe7 21. O-O-O (21. O-O Bg4 {is very comfortable
for Black. With the weakening g3 the white king might not feel particularily
comfortable in the future.}) 21... c6 $6 (21... Bg4 {is not that appealing as
White can immediately challenge my bishop with} 22. h3 {This is the key
difference between long and short castling} Bxf3 23. Qxf3 {and with the bishop
coming to c4, White can look to the future with confidence.}) (21... a6 {
however, was very interesting. Unfortunately I didn't notice this idea until
the next move, when I had already wasted a move on c6} 22. Bc2 {The best} (22.
Nd4 c5 23. Nf5 Bxf5 24. exf5 b5 {is the key idea. White cannot activate his
bishop, and Black has an easy attack on the queenside}) 22... Rb8 $1 {and
Black has the initiative.} (22... b5 $2 23. e5 Bxe5 24. Qd3 g6 25. Qe4 $18))
22. Nd4 a6 {Even with the loss of a tempo, this is best.} (22... g6 {was my
intention, but then I noticed} 23. Rhf1 Bg7 24. Bc4 {and due to a little trick
White manages to activate his bishop, which is what I should avoid at any cost}
Qxe4 25. Rf4 Qe7 26. Rdf1 {and it's clear that Black has wasted too much time.}
) 23. Rhf1 c5 24. Nf5 Bxf5 25. Rxf5 b5 26. Bc2 c4 {I've managed to execute my
plan, and his bishop will now remain passive for a long time. On the other
hand, White has activated his rooks, and is after all a pawn up, so the
position is probably balanced.} 27. Rfd5 Be5 {In combination with my next move
the move makes a slightly akward impression. However, I felt that it was very
important to cover the d6-square, to keep my queen from being constantly
harassed by Rd7, Rd6 and so on.} 28. Qh5 Rae8 29. a3 Qa7 {Utilising a simple
tactical trick to put my queen on the excellent b8-square, where it supports
the a5-b4 break. I was very optimistic at this point, but his next move
dispelled my illusions. It is worth while to mention that if my pawn were
still on h7 my prospects would be drastically improved, as I would be able to
kick his queen away with g6.} (29... Bxc3 30. bxc3 Qxa3+ 31. Kd2 b4 32. cxb4
Qxb4+ 33. Ke2 Qb2 34. Kd2 Qb4+ {with a draw did not really tempt me,
especially as I only saw it after I had played ...Qa7.}) 30. Kd2 {I had simply
missed this idea. By transferring the king to e2 White takes the sting out of
the a5-b4 idea.} (30. Rxe5 $2 Qxe3+ 31. Kb1 g6 32. Rxe8 gxh5 33. Re5 Qe2 {
and White has a difficult defensive task ahead was obviously not what my
opponent was aiming for.}) 30... Qb8 31. Ke2 Re6 32. Qh4 Qb6 33. Rd8 Ree8 34.
Rxe8 Rxe8 35. Rd5 Qc7 36. a4 {A committal move, but far from a bad one. White
could just have stayed put of course, when it's hard for either side to
undertake any active operations.} Qb6 37. axb5 axb5 38. Qh5 (38. Rd7 {
immediately was the best move as far I could see. It's hard to find a
convenient way for Black to avoid the exchange of rooks, when there will not
be much left to fight for} Qe6 39. Rd8 Kh7 40. Rxe8 Qxe8 $11) 38... Qb8 39. Rd7
$6 {This was not necessary at all. Shirov was probably induced into it by the
fact that we were both short on time here, but my next move is pretty obvious
as with the white queen misplaced on the kingside the b4-break will grow
considerably in strength.} g6 40. Qf3 (40. Qxh6 b4 {looks pretty dangerous for
White, and not really worth the risk, since the text keeps White well within
the drawing zone.}) 40... Rf8 {Now there is no way to stop b4.} 41. Kf2 (41.
Rd5 b4 42. cxb4 Qxb4 $1 43. Rxe5 Qxb2 {[%cal Rb2e5,Rb2c2]}) 41... b4 42. Qe2
bxc3 43. bxc3 Qc8 (43... Qb2 {was an interesting attempt} 44. Bd3 Qa1 {
unfortunately I missed this cunning idea} (44... Qb5 45. Rd5 cxd3 46. Rxb5 dxe2
47. Rxe5 Rc8 $11) 45. Bxc4 Qh1 46. Qg4 $1 Qxh2+ 47. Kf3 {and there is no win
for Black:} Qh1+ (47... Kg7 48. Rxf7+ Rxf7+ 49. Bxf7 Kxf7 50. Qd7+) 48. Kf2 Rb8
49. Bxf7+ Kf8 50. Bb3 Qh2+ 51. Kf1 $11) 44. Qd2 Bxc3 45. Qd5 Qa6 {I saw that
this would lead to a draw more or less by force, but there was nothing better
anyway.} (45... Bg7 46. e5 c3 47. Kg2 {and White is too active for Black to
hope for anything real.}) 46. e5 $2 (46. Bd1 $1 {was the last chance to
maintain equality} Qf6+ 47. Kg2 Rb8 (47... Rc8 48. Be2 Qe6 49. Rd8+ Rxd8 50.
Qxd8+ Kg7 51. Qd5 $11) 48. Qxc4 Rb2+ 49. Be2 Be1 50. Kh3 {and Black has
nothing as} Qf2 $2 {even loses:} 51. Rd8+ Kh7 52. Qd4 $18) 46... Qa2 47. Qe4
Bxe5 {Now it's very difficult for White.} 48. h4 Re8 49. Kg2 h5 $1 {I came to
this move by elimination after a long period of thought.} (49... Re6 $2 {
is what I mainly calculated, and rejected for the wrong reasons.} 50. Rd8+ Kg7
51. Ra8 $1 (51. Rd7 h5 52. g4 hxg4 53. h5 Kh6 (53... Bd6 54. Qxe6 Qxc2+ {
actually wins by force, but since there was a serious flaw in my calculations
even earlier in this line, let's focus on what I actually saw...}) 54. Rxf7
Kxh5 55. Rh7+ (55. Rf5+ Kh4 {and the king march might actually end victoriously
}) 55... Kg5 56. Rg7 $1 Bxg7 57. Qf4+ Kh5 58. Qh2+ $11) 51... Qb2 52. Qxc4 $15)
(49... Qa8 {is another option I considered, but I didn't like} 50. Rb7 {
when my queen is clearly misplaced.}) 50. Kh3 {Now the rest is fairly easy.} ({
The key move I had to calculate was} 50. g4 hxg4 51. h5 Qa8 52. hxg6 fxg6 $1
53. Rb7 (53. Rd5 Bg7 54. Qxc4 Rc8 {and the pins work out in Black's favour} 55.
Qb3 Rxc2+ 56. Kg1 Qa2 $19) 53... Kf8 $1 {with ...Re7 to come, and Black is
winning.}) 50... c3 51. Rd5 Qa6 {The cleanest way.} 52. Bd3 (52. Rxe5 Qf1+ 53.
Kh2 Rxe5 54. Qxe5 Qf2+ 55. Kh3 Qxc2 {is easily winning for Black, of course.})
52... Qc8+ 53. Kg2 Bg7 (53... Bxg3 {was eminently playable of course, but in
the interest of king safety I did not want to remove the bishop from the long
diagonal. Besides, I had not seen his next move, and thought he would resign
after the text.}) 54. Rc5 Qd7 55. Qc4 (55. Qd5 Qxd5+ 56. Rxd5 Rxe3 {would have
prolonged the fight, but not by any means changed the result.}) 55... Rxe3 56.
Rc7 (56. Bxg6 Be5 57. Rd5 Qe6 {is also quite simple} (57... Rxg3+ 58. Kf2 Qa7+
{wins immediately, but such "long" moves are hard to spot.})) 56... Rxg3+ 57.
Kxg3 (57. Kf2 Bd4+ {would not have any other impact than preventing White from
transposing to the game as Kxg3 Qg4+ etc mates.}) 57... Be5+ 58. Kf2 Qxc7 59.
Qxc7 Bxc7 60. Kf3 {Shirov made the time-control with 1 second left, but
understandably decided not to continue the fight.} 0-1

[Event "Biel Accentus"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2011.07.27"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D39"]
[WhiteElo "2821"]
[BlackElo "2694"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2011.07.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 144"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e4 Bb4 6. Bg5 c5 7. Bxc4 cxd4 8.
Nxd4 Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 Qa5 10. Bxf6 Qxc3+ 11. Kf1 gxf6 12. Rc1 Qa5 13. g3 Bd7 14.
Kg2 Nc6 15. Bb5 Rd8 16. Bxc6 Bxc6 17. Nxc6 bxc6 18. Qf3 Qe5 19. Rxc6 O-O 20.
Re1 Rd7 21. Qe3 Rb8 22. Rec1 Rd4 23. R1c4 Rb4 24. Qxd4 Qxd4 25. Rxd4 Rxd4 26.
Ra6 Rxe4 27. Rxa7 f5 28. a4 Kg7 29. Kf3 e5 30. a5 Ra4 31. a6 Ra3+ 32. Ke2 Ra2+
33. Ke3 Ra3+ 34. Kd2 Ra2+ 35. Ke3 Ra3+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel Accentus"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2011.07.28"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D79"]
[WhiteElo "2821"]
[BlackElo "2722"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2011.07.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 144"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nf3 c6 6. Nc3 d5 7. cxd5 cxd5 8. Ne5
e6 9. O-O Nfd7 10. f4 Nc6 11. Be3 Nb6 12. Bf2 Bd7 13. e4 Ne7 14. Nxd7 Qxd7 15.
e5 Rac8 16. Qe2 Rc4 17. Rfc1 Rfc8 18. Bf1 R4c7 19. Qe1 a6 20. b3 Bf8 21. Qd2
Nc6 22. a3 f5 23. Kg2 Qg7 24. Be3 Be7 25. Bd3 Na5 26. Qb2 g5 27. Ne2 g4 28. Rh1
h5 29. h3 Kf7 30. Rh2 h4 31. Bd2 Nc6 32. Rah1 Rh8 33. hxg4 Qxg4 34. Rh3 Rcc8
35. Ng1 Qg7 36. Nf3 hxg3 37. b4 Rxh3 38. Rxh3 Rh8 39. Rxh8 Qxh8 40. b5 axb5 41.
Bxb5 Qc8 42. a4 Nc4 43. Bxc4 dxc4 44. Qc1 Nb4 45. Bxb4 Bxb4 46. d5 Qc5 47.
dxe6+ Kxe6 48. Kxg3 Qd5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel Accentus"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2011.07.29"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C41"]
[WhiteElo "2711"]
[BlackElo "2821"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2011.07.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 144"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Nf3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. a4 a6 8. a5
h6 9. Re1 exd4 10. Nxd4 Ne5 11. Bf1 c5 12. Nb3 Be6 13. Bf4 Rc8 14. h3 Re8 15.
Bxe5 dxe5 16. Nd2 c4 17. Ra4 Bc5 18. Nxc4 Bd4 19. Qf3 Rc5 20. Nd1 Qc7 21. Nde3
Bxe3 22. Nxe3 Rxa5 23. Rb4 Rd8 24. Rd1 Rxd1 25. Qxd1 Rc5 26. Ra4 Rc6 27. Bd3
Rd6 28. Qe1 b5 29. Ra3 g6 30. b4 Rc6 31. Qa1 Qd6 32. Kh2 h5 33. Rc3 Rxc3 34.
Qxc3 h4 35. Nf1 Nh5 36. Nd2 g5 37. Nf3 f6 38. g3 hxg3+ 39. fxg3 Ng7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Botvinnik Memorial"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2011.09.02"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2807"]
[BlackElo "2823"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2011.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "23"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 144"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 b5 6. cxb5 Bxb5 7. Bg2 d5 8. O-O
Nbd7 9. Nc3 Ba6 10. Ne5 {Alternatives seen in practice in this well-known
position:} (10. Re1) (10. Bb2) (10. Na4) (10. a3) (10. Rb1) 10... Bd6 (10...
Nxe5 $2 11. dxe5 Nd7 (11... Bb4 12. exf6 Bxc3 13. fxg7 Bxg7 14. Rb1 O-O 15. Ba3
Re8 16. Rc1 $16 {[%csl Ra7,Rc7] B.Avrukh}) 12. Nxd5 $1 exd5 (12... Rc8 13. Nc3
Nxe5 14. Qc2 $16 {1-0 Cernousek,L (2405)-Ftacnik,L (2553)/Slovakia 2008/EXT
2009 (36)}) 13. Qxd5 {[%cal Rd5a8,Re5e6]} Nb6 14. Qc6+ (14. Qa5 $5) 14... Qd7
15. Rd1 (15. Bg5 $5 Be7 $1 16. Rfd1 Qxc6 17. Bxc6+ Kf8) 15... Qxc6 16. Bxc6+
Ke7 17. Bxa8 Nxa8 18. Bg5+ f6 19. exf6+ gxf6 20. Bf4 $16 {1-0 Kiss,P (2380)
-Menacher,M (2334)/Balatonlelle 2005/EXT 2008 (29)}) (10... Bb7 $6 11. Bf4 {
[%csl Rc7][%cal Ya1c1,Yc3b5] B.Avrukh}) (10... c5 11. Bf4 (11. Bg5 Rc8 12. Nxd7
Qxd7 13. Bxf6 gxf6 14. Rc1 c4 15. e4 $5 cxb3 16. Qxb3 Bc4 17. Qb2 Bh6 18. Rcd1
Bxf1 19. Bxf1 $44 {1-0 Malakhatko,V (2610)-Cori Tello,D (2262)/Palau 2009/CBM
130 Extra (38)}) 11... Rc8 12. Na4 Nxe5 (12... Bb5 13. Nxc5 Nxc5 14. dxc5 Bxc5
15. b4 Bd6 16. a4 $14 {1-0 Onischuk,A (2653)-Mateo,R (2453)/Mallorca 2004/CBM
104 (102)}) 13. Bxe5 Nd7 14. Bf4 c4 15. Qd2 Be7 16. Rfc1 O-O 17. b4 Bb5 18. Nc5
$14 {1/2 Sriram,J (2431)-Bakre,T (2491)/Visakhapatnam 2004/CBM 103 ext (53)})
11. Bf4 (11. Nc6 $5 Qc8 12. a3 $1 {is more energetic:} O-O (12... Qb7 13. Na5
Qb6 14. b4 $16 {B.Avrukh}) (12... Nb8 13. Nb4 Bb7 14. Bb2 O-O 15. Nd3 Nbd7 16.
Rc1 Qb8 17. Na4 a5 18. Qc2 $14 {1/2 Lalic,B (2522)-Agrest,E (2563)/Stockholm
2002/CBM 085 ext}) 13. Bg5 (13. Bf4 $5 Qe8 14. Nb4 $1 Bb7 15. Nd3 $14 {B.Avrukh
}) 13... Qe8 (13... Qb7 14. Na5 Qb6 15. b4 h6 16. Bxf6 Nxf6 17. Re1 $16 Rad8 $2
18. Na4 Qb5 19. e4 $1 $18 {1-0 Perez Rodriguez,L (2391)-Mateo,R (2444)/Havana
2003/CBM 094 ext (27)}) 14. Qd2 Nb6 15. Na5 (15. Nb4 $1 $16 {B.Avrukh}) 15...
c5 16. dxc5 Bxc5 17. Bxf6 gxf6 18. Rfc1 $16 {1/2 Beliavsky,A (2665)-Topalov,V 
(2725)/Madrid 1997/CBM 059/[Avrukh,B] (58)}) {The whole line therefore looks
rather dubious for Black.} 11... O-O (11... Bxe5 12. dxe5 Nh5 13. Be3 Nxe5 14.
Qd4 Qd6 15. Qa4+ Qc6 16. Qb4 $40 {[%csl Re8]}) 12. Rc1 Bxe5 13. dxe5 Nh5 $146 {
[%mdl 8] Improving on the earlier blitz game:} (13... Ng4 $2 14. Nxd5 $1 exd5
15. Qxd5 {[%cal Rh2h3,Rd5a8]} Nb6 16. Qa5 Bxe2 17. Rfe1 Bd3 18. Red1 (18. h3
$18) 18... Qd4 19. Rd2 Rad8 20. h3 Nxf2 21. Rxf2 Be4 22. Qxa7 Bxg2 23. Kxg2
Qe4+ 24. Kh2 $16 {0-1 Karpov,A (2670)-Carlsen,M (2714)/Moscow 2007/EXT 2008 
(92)}) 14. Na4 (14. Be3 $5 Nxe5 15. Na4 $44 {[%cal Ya4c5]}) 14... Nxf4 15. gxf4
Bb5 16. Nc5 Nxc5 17. Rxc5 c6 18. Qd2 (18. a4 Qb6 $1 19. Qc2 $2 Bc4) 18... Qb6
19. Rfc1 a5 $1 20. e4 {White hurries up to create a kingside attack. It turns
out that his c5-rook is vulnerable:} (20. a4 Bc4 $1) 20... a4 {[%csl Gb5] The
b5-bishop is now secure.} 21. f5 axb3 22. f6 $4 {[%mdl 8192]} (22. axb3 Kh8 $1
$14) 22... Qxc5 $1 $19 23. a4 {Desperation.} (23. Rxc5 bxa2 24. Qg5 a1=Q+ 25.
Rc1 Qxc1+ 26. Qxc1 h6 $1 {, and Black's material advantage should be
sufficient for a win.}) 23... Qxc1+ 24. Qxc1 b2 25. Qxb2 Rxa4 26. Qc1 gxf6 (
26... h6 $5 $19) 27. h4 (27. exf6 Kh8 {[%cal Yf8g8]}) 27... Rfa8 28. Kh2 dxe4
29. exf6 Kh8 30. Qf4 e3 31. Qxe3 Rxh4+ 32. Kg3 Rh5 (32... Rha4 $19) 33. Kg4 Rf5
34. Be4 Rg8+ 35. Kh4 Rxf6 $4 {[%mdl 8192] Black finally returns the favour.} (
35... Rfg5 36. Qxg5 Rxg5 37. Kxg5 c5 38. Bc2 (38. Kh6 Ba4 {[%cal Yc5c4,Yc4c3,
Yc3c2]}) (38. Kf4 h5 $1 39. Kg5 Ba4) 38... Be2 $19 {[%cal Yc5c4,Ye2d3]}) 36.
Qc3 Kg7 37. Qg3+ Rg6 38. Qe5+ $1 Rf6 39. Qg5+ Rg6 40. Qe5+ Kf8 {Black can't
avoid the perpetual!} (40... f6 41. Qc7+ Kh6 (41... Kh8 42. Bxg6 hxg6 43. Qe7)
42. Qf4+) 41. Qb8+ Ke7 42. Qc7+ Kf6 43. Qf4+ Kg7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Botvinnik Memorial"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2011.09.02"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E36"]
[WhiteElo "2823"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2011.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "23"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 144"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 d5 7. e3 b6 8.
cxd5 Nxd5 9. Qc2 Ba6 10. Bxa6 Nxa6 11. e4 Ne7 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Qc6
e5 15. Qb5 exd4 16. Qxa6 Qxe4+ 17. Kf1 Rfe8 18. Rd1 b5 19. Qxb5 Rab8 20. Qd3
Rxb2 21. Qxe4 Rxe4 22. g3 c5 23. Kg2 c4 24. Nf3 d3 25. Rd2 Rb3 26. a4 g5 27.
Rc1 a5 28. Rdd1 Rb2 29. Rd2 Rxd2 30. Nxd2 Re2 31. Nb1 Rc2 32. Rd1 c3 33. Kf3 d2
34. Ke4 Rc1 35. Nxc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Botvinnik Memorial"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2011.09.02"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C48"]
[WhiteElo "2817"]
[BlackElo "2823"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2011.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "23"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 144"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. Nbd2 Bb6 8. Nc4
Ne7 9. Nxb6 axb6 10. Ba4 Ng6 11. h3 Nh5 12. Bg5 f6 13. Be3 Nhf4 14. Bb3+ Kh8
15. Bxf4 Nxf4 16. Nh4 f5 17. Nxf5 Qg5 18. Qg4 Qf6 19. Qh4 Qxh4 20. Nxh4 Nxd3
21. Nf3 Rf6 22. Rad1 Nxb2 23. Rd2 Na4 24. Nxe5 Be6 25. Ng4 Bxg4 26. hxg4 Nxc3
27. Re1 h6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Botvinnik Memorial"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2011.09.03"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A36"]
[WhiteElo "2823"]
[BlackElo "2807"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "170"]
[EventDate "2011.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "23"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 144"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 g6 2. Nc3 c5 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 Nc6 {In this symmetrical line White
doesn't really aim for an opening advantage, he is just heading for a
long-term positional fight.} 5. a3 d6 6. Rb1 {[%cal Gb2b4]} a5 {Preventing the
expansion b2-b4.} 7. e3 e5 {This move is Black's main choice. It is directed
against the advance d2-d4, but has a clear downside - it weakens the d5 square.
} ({In the event of} 7... Nf6 {White continues in the same style:} 8. Nge2 O-O
9. d3 {achieving a flexible position.}) 8. Nge2 Nge7 9. O-O O-O 10. d3 Rb8 11.
Bd2 Be6 {Now Black is threatening ...d6-d5, so White must react accordingly.} (
11... Bf5 {makes less sense. White just shouldn't reply with e3-e4, blocking
his light-squared bishop.} {After} 12. Qc2 Qd7 13. Nb5 {[%cal Ge2c3] he has
fine play on the light squares.}) 12. Nd5 {The main continuation.} (12. Qb3 f5
13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. cxd5 Bf7 15. Qc2 Ne7 16. e4 b5 $11 {0-1 Gurevich,M (2641)
-Lautier,J (2675)/Moscow 2002/CBM 090 (41)}) 12... b5 (12... f5 $6 13. Nec3 Kh8
14. b4 {is the kind of position that White is striving for. His play on the
queenside is more effective than Black's attempts on the opposite flank.}) 13.
cxb5 Rxb5 (13... Bxd5 14. Bxd5 Nxd5 15. bxc6 Qb6 16. Qa4 {[%csl Ra5]} Ra8 17.
Nc3 Ne7 18. e4 Qxc6 (18... Nxc6 $4 {falls into a fork:} 19. Nd5 Qb7 20. Qxc6 $1
Qxc6 21. Ne7+ $18) 19. Qc4 {keeping a slight pressure.}) 14. Qa4 Qb8 15. Nc7 $5
{Only this move is a novelty!} (15. Nxe7+ Nxe7 16. Nc3 Rxb2 17. Qxa5 Bf5 18.
Rxb2 Qxb2 19. Ne4 Bxe4 20. Bxe4 d5 21. Bf3 Rc8 $11 {1/2-1/2 Sehner,N-Teipelke,
H/Germany 1991/Corr 2000 (35)}) 15... Qxc7 $5 {Aronian goes for an exchange
sacrifice. It wasn't necessary, as Black could equalise after the obvious 15...
Rxb2.} (15... Rxb2 16. Nxe6 fxe6 (16... Rxb1 $6 17. Nxf8 Bxf8 18. Bxc6 Nxc6 19.
Qxc6 Rb2 20. Rd1 Qb3 21. Nc3 Rxd2 22. Rxd2 Qxc3 23. Re2 Qxa3 24. Qd5 $16 {
[%cal Ge2a2]}) 17. Nc3 d5 18. Rfc1 e4 19. Rxb2 Qxb2 20. Rc2 Qa1+ 21. Rc1 Qb2
$11) 16. Qxb5 Rb8 17. Qa4 Bb3 18. Qh4 Bc2 19. Qc4 Bb3 ({In the event of} 19...
Bxb1 20. Rxb1 {White has a stable advantage thanks to pair of bishops and
control over the light squares.}) 20. Qc1 {Carlsen has grounds not to repeat
moves, but to play for a win.} Qb6 21. Re1 d5 {Black's superiority in space
yields him a certain compensation for the exchange.} 22. Nc3 Rd8 $6 (22... a4
$1 {It is useful to fix the queenside..} 23. e4 d4 24. Nd5 Nxd5 25. exd5 Ne7
$44) 23. e4 $1 d4 24. Nd5 Nxd5 25. exd5 Rxd5 $6 {Another exchange sacrifice!
It worked fine in the current game, but, frankly speaking, is too brave to be
true.} (25... Bxd5 $6 26. Bxd5 Rxd5 27. Qc4 Rd7 28. b4 $16) (25... Ne7 {
was a worthy alternative.} 26. Bg5 f6 27. Rxe5 $1 Qc7 (27... fxe5 $2 28. Bxe7
Rc8 29. Bh3 $18) 28. d6 Qxd6 29. Qxc5 Qxe5 (29... Qxc5 30. Rxc5 fxg5 31. Rxa5
$14) 30. Qxe5 fxe5 31. Bxe7 $14) 26. Bh6 Bf6 $6 {Levon is logical. It would
not be natural to retreat with the rook, even though it was objectively better.
} (26... Rd7 27. Bxg7 Kxg7 28. Bxc6 Qxc6 29. Rxe5 Qf3 30. Qxc5 Bd5 31. Rxd5
Rxd5 {with sufficient compensation for the pawn.}) 27. Bxd5 Bxd5 28. Qd1 $2 {
Here and on the next few moves Magnus rejects the idea of opening lines by the
slightly risky move f2-f4.} (28. f4 e4 (28... Qb5 29. Qc2 $18 {[%csl Rc5,Re5]
[%cal Gb1c1]}) 29. dxe4 Bb3 30. e5 Be7 31. f5 $16) 28... Be7 29. h4 ({Again} 
29. f4 {, though less effective than on the previous move, but still was
called for.}) 29... Qb7 30. Kh2 ({Once again, it was necessary to play more
actively:} 30. f4 f6 31. Kh2 {Later on White will take out his major pieces,
to bring the queen on f2, double the rooks on the e-file, etc.}) 30... f6 {
Stabilising the central pawn chain.} 31. Qe2 Nd8 $1 32. Bd2 $2 {Here it was
the last moment when Magnus could stir up complications and try to make use of
his extra material.} (32. b3 Bxb3 (32... Nf7 33. Bd2 Bf3 34. Qf1 $13 {Compared
to the continuation in the game, here White has certain prospects on the
queenside.}) 33. h5 {White can harass the opponents' king. Here is a sample
line:} a4 34. hxg6 hxg6 35. Qg4 Kh7 36. Qh3 Kg8 37. f4 Qf3 38. fxe5 Be6 39. Qg2
Qh5+ 40. Kg1 Qxh6 41. exf6 Bxf6 42. Rb6 $16 {[%csl Re6,Rf6]}) 32... Bf3 33. Qf1
a4 {After a series of passive moves Magnus found himself in a miserable
position. White can't open a single line for his major pieces.} 34. Qh3 h5 35.
Ba5 Nf7 36. Qe6 $2 {Typical time-trouble reflex.} (36. Bd2 $17) 36... Bd5 {
The activity of queen was imaginary, it has to retreat.} 37. Qh3 (37. Qb6 Qd7 {
[%cal Gd7f5] and White can't cover the holes near his king.}) 37... Qb5 38. Bc7
Qxd3 $19 39. g4 $1 {The best practical chance.} Qd2 40. Kg1 Be6 (40... hxg4 41.
Qxg4 Qh6 {and White is defenseless against tche threats f5 or Ng5!}) 41. Qg2
hxg4 {Black has already too many pawns and is dominating.} 42. Rbc1 Kg7 {
Instead, the pawn on b2 could be comfortably captured.} 43. Bb6 c4 $6 (43... f5
$19 {[%cal Gf5f4]}) 44. Qc6 g3 $5 45. fxg3 Bh3 46. Qf3 $6 {Believe me, I am
not harsh in my evaluations, one has to bear in mind that both players are in
time trouble from the very beginning!} (46. Qh1 $1 Bg4 47. Qg2 Qd3 {This way
White could keep the Pb2 alive, but Black retains the initiative.}) 46... Qxb2
47. Ba7 Qb3 {47...c3 was, naturally, more convincing. The move in the text is
typical for time trouble, when a side having an advantage tries to reduce the
material as much as possible, so as not to give the opponent unnecessary
practical chances. This often leads to the opposite effect.} 48. Qxb3 cxb3 49.
Bxd4 Bxa3 50. Ra1 Bb4 51. Reb1 exd4 (51... Bf5 52. Rxa4 Bxb1 53. Rxb4 exd4 54.
Rxb3 Bc2 $19) 52. Rxa4 Bc5 53. Ra5 Bb6 54. Rb5 Bc7 55. R5xb3 Be5 {The position
remains winning for Black, but now he has to work at it for some time.} 56. Kf2
Nd6 57. Kf3 Be6 58. Ra3 Bd5+ 59. Ke2 Nb5 60. Ra5 Nc3+ 61. Kf2 d3 62. Rxd5 Nxd5
63. Rb7+ Bc7 64. Kf3 Kh6 65. Rb3 Bxg3 $1 {A neat tactical trick, winning an
important pawn.} 66. Rxd3 (66. Kxg3 d2 67. Rd3 Nc3 68. Rxd2 Ne4+ $19) 66... Nf4
67. Rd8 Nh5 {Now Black's win is just a matter of time.} 68. Kg4 f5+ 69. Kh3 Be5
70. Ra8 Bf6 71. Ra6 Kg7 72. Ra7+ Kf8 73. Rb7 Be7 74. Ra7 Kf7 75. Ra6 Nf6 76.
Kg3 Ne4+ 77. Kh3 Bc5 78. Rc6 Bd6 79. Ra6 Kg7 80. Ra8 Be5 81. Ra7+ Kh6 82. Rb7
Nf6 83. Re7 Ng4 84. Ra7 Bf6 85. Rf7 Kh5 {There were many mistakes along the
way. However, in conditions of rapid chess, where the time trouble starts from
the very beginning, you can't demand too much even from elite players.} (85...
Kh5 86. Rh7+ Nh6 $19 {[%csl Rh4]}) 0-1

[Event "Moscow Botvinnik Memorial"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2011.09.03"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A40"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2823"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2011.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "23"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 144"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 b5 $6 2. e4 $1 {The most energetic way to meet Black's extravagant move.
Carlsen may have underestimated Kramnik's readiness to switch to dynamic play
at such an early stage of the game.} Bb7 $6 ({It almost looks safer to avoid
the pawn exchange with} 2... a6 3. d4 Bb7 4. Bd3 {, transposing to 1.e4 a6, as
experimented in the famous game Karpov,A (2725)-Miles,A (2545) Skara 1980
EU-chT [ChessBase] (0-1, 46)}) 3. Bxb5 Bxe4 {Generally speaking, the exchange
of a knight pawn for a central one should favour Black. However, the bishop is
exposed in the centre and the time invested in this operation (two tempi, ...
Bxe4-b7) is too high a price to pay. At the same time, the b5-bishop is active.
For instance, it prevents an early occupation of the centre with ...d5.} 4. O-O
Nf6 5. d4 e6 ({Playing for the centre with} 5... c6 6. Ba4 d5 {would leave
Black desperately underdeveloped:} 7. Ne5 Qb6 8. c4 $16) 6. c4 Be7 7. Nc3 Bb7 {
White is better developed and has been the first to occupy the centre. We have
actually got a reversed Sokolsky (1.b4 e5 2.Bb2 Bxb4 3.Bxe5) with an extra
tempo for White, in what is a questionable position anyway.} 8. d5 {There is
no reason to refrain from this new territorial gain.} ({The slow manoeuvre} 8.
Ba4 O-O 9. Bc2 {is relatively popular, but it contradicts Steinitz' teaching
according to which the player having an advantage is bound to attack! Black
gets a reasonable Hedgehog-type of position after} d6 10. b3 Nbd7 11. Bb2 c5 {
, for instance:} 12. dxc5 Nxc5 13. Qe2 Qb6 (13... a6 14. Rad1 Qc7 15. Rfe1 Rfe8
16. Nd4 Rac8 {1/2 (22) Timoscenko,G (2536)-Tomescu,V (2453)/Padova 1999/CBM
073 ext}) 14. Rad1 Rfd8 15. Rfe1 a5 16. Ng5 h6 17. Nge4 Ncxe4 18. Nxe4 Nxe4 19.
Bxe4 Bxe4 20. Qxe4 a4 $132 {1/2 (38) Iskusnyh,S (2440)-Zhelnin,V (2475)/Orel
1997/EXT 1999}) 8... O-O 9. Bf4 $5 $146 {It is strange that such a natural
developing move is new.} ({Here, too, White usually retreats with his other
bishop, as if fearing ...c6 (or what else?) True, this also is enough for an
advantage, which speaks against the system of development chosen by Black.} 9.
Ba4 Na6 (9... Bb4 10. Bg5 Bxc3 11. bxc3 h6 {Speelman,J (2530)-Hodgson,J/London
1985/EXT 2007 (1-0, 27)} 12. Bxf6 $5 Qxf6 13. Re1 $32 {It is not clear how
Black could develop. Among other things, the d7-pawn needs protection.}) 10.
Re1 (10. a3 Nc5 11. Bc2 a5 12. Be3 exd5 13. cxd5 $14 {Wojtkiewicz,A (2560)
-Bronstein,D (2400)/Reykjavik 1994/CBM 039 ext (1-0, 44)}) 10... Bb4 11. Bg5
Nc5 12. Bc2 Bxc3 13. bxc3 d6 14. Bh4 h6 15. Nd4 exd5 16. Nf5 $16 {Eingorn,V 
(2475)-Semeniuk,A/Soviet Union 1984/EXT 2000 (1-0, 40)}) 9... Na6 (9... c6 $2 {
is not a threat at all:} 10. d6 $1 cxb5 11. dxe7 Qxe7 12. Bd6 Bxf3 13. gxf3 $18
) 10. Re1 Qc8 {Avoiding the pin created by Bg5 after ...Bb4. However, the last
move takes the queen too far from the kingside.} 11. Nd4 Bb4 12. Bg5 $1 Ne8 (
12... Bxc3 13. Bxf6 Bxe1 (13... gxf6 14. bxc3 Nc5 15. Re3 $40) 14. Qg4 g6 15.
Qf4 {[%cal Gf4h6]} Bxf2+ 16. Kxf2 Nc5 {hoping for a fork on d3 or e4.} 17. Kg1
$1 $18 {Black has exhausted his defensive resources and can resign.}) 13. Re3 {
The logical continuation, building up a decisive kingside attack.} ({The
continuation suggested by the computer,} 13. Qa4 $5 Bxc3 14. Bxd7 $16 {looks
good enough, but in a rapid game players usually play according to known
patterns and rarely notice such "incidental" possibilities.}) 13... c6 {
Finally, but... too late. While Black will eliminate the central white pawns,
his king will get into deadly trouble.} 14. Bxa6 Bxa6 15. Qh5 f6 (15... Bxc4
16. Rh3 h6 17. Bxh6 $40) 16. Rh3 $1 {Most of Black's pieces (the queen, the
queen's rook, the bishops) are completely out of play and cannot contribute to
the defence. Although White's attack implies a piece sacrifice, he will enjoy
material superiority on the critical area of the board.} fxg5 17. Qxh7+ Kf7 18.
Qh5+ Kg8 (18... Ke7 19. Qxg5+ Kf7 20. Qh5+ Ke7 21. Qh4+ Nf6 (21... Rf6 22. Ne4
$18) (21... Kf7 22. dxe6+ dxe6 23. Ne4 $18) 22. dxe6 dxe6 23. Re1 Kf7 24. Nf3
$18) 19. Qh7+ Kf7 20. Ne4 Bxc4 21. Qh5+ Ke7 (21... Kg8 22. Nxg5 $18) (21... g6
22. Qh7+ Ng7 23. Rf3+ $18) 22. Qxg5+ Kf7 23. Qh5+ Ke7 24. Qg5+ Kf7 25. dxe6+
dxe6 26. Nf3 $1 {[%csl Yc4][%cal Gf3e5] An elegant regrouping move.} Kg8 27.
Qh4 {Threatening Ng5 (either of them) followed by Qh8 mate.} Rxf3 28. Qh7+ (28.
Qh7+ Kf8 29. Rxf3+ Ke7 30. Qh4+) 1-0

[Event "Moscow Botvinnik Memorial"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2011.09.03"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2823"]
[BlackElo "2817"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[EventDate "2011.09.02"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "23"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 144"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.09.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 {Avoiding the famous "Berlin" endgame
that arises after 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8 Kxd8.} Bc5
5. O-O Nd4 6. Ba4 {Normally, White takes on d4, as later on he can win a tempo
by atacking the black bishop. Here is the most recent example:} (6. Nxd4 Bxd4
7. Nd2 c6 8. Ba4 d6 9. Bb3 O-O 10. c3 Bb6 11. Nc4 Bc7 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bh4 g5 14.
Bg3 Bg4 15. f3 Be6 16. Re1 (16. Ne3 $5 Nh5 17. Bf2 Nf4 18. d4 {is, perhaps,
more promising.}) 16... Nh5 17. Bf2 Nf4 $11 {1/2-1/2 Ponomariov,R (2764)
-Kramnik,V (2781)/Dortmund 2011/CB30_2011 (50)}) 6... Nxf3+ (6... Qe7 7. c3
Nxf3+ 8. Qxf3 c6 9. Bg5 d6 10. Nd2 h6 11. Bxf6 Qxf6 12. Qxf6 gxf6 13. b4 Bb6
14. Nc4 Ke7 $11 {1/2-1/2 Rozentalis,E (2563)-Adams,M (2745)/Bled 2002/EXT 2003
(26)}) 7. Qxf3 O-O 8. Qg3 (8. Nc3 c6 9. Bb3 d6 (9... b5 10. h3 a5 11. a4 b4 12.
Ne2 d5 13. Bg5 Be6 14. Ng3 $14) 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bxf6 Qxf6 12. Qxf6 gxf6 {
Black is not worse in this endgame. The damaged pawn structure is well
compensated for by the pair of strong bishops.}) 8... d6 9. Bg5 {Carlsen
doesn't wish to develop the knight so far, keeping in mind both options Nc3
and Nd2.} c6 10. Bb3 Nh5 $1 (10... Be6 11. Nd2 a5 12. a4 Re8 13. Kh1 $36 {
[%cal Gf2f4]}) 11. Qh4 Nf6 {Black doesn't mind repeating moves. Meanwhile, the
next move is ...h7-h6. This way he gets rid of the unpleasant pin.} 12. Nc3 {
Of course, the game doesn't end so soon by the boring repetition of moves.
Objectively, the position is equal anyway. The whole opening line can be
considered as harmless for Black.} (12. Kh1 h6 13. Bd2 ({The piece sacrifice
doesn't work:} 13. f4 $4 hxg5 14. fxg5 Ng4 $19) 13... a5 14. Nc3 {would lead
to the same position as in the game.}) 12... h6 13. Bd2 a5 14. Kh1 Bd4 15. f4
Ng4 {Anand correctly offers the queen swap, otherwise he might come under
attack.} (15... b5 $6 16. a4 $1 (16. f5 a4 17. Bxh6 $1 gxh6 18. Qxh6 Be3 $1 (
18... axb3 $2 19. Rf3 $18 {[%csl Rg8][%cal Gf3g3]}) 19. Qxe3 axb3 20. Rf3 Nh7
21. Qh6 Qf6 22. Qh5 Kh8 23. Rh3 Qg7 24. Rg3 Qf6 $11) 16... b4 17. Ne2 Bxb2 18.
Rab1 Bg4 19. Rxb2 Bxe2 20. Re1 Bh5 21. f5 $16 {[%csl Rh5][%cal Gh2h3,Gg2g4]}) (
15... Bxc3 $2 {This concrete attempt to trap White's light-squared bishop
doesn't work.} 16. Bxc3 $1 (16. bxc3 $2 Nd7 $1 (16... a4 $2 17. fxe5 dxe5 18.
Bxh6 $1 axb3 19. Bxg7 $1 Nh7 20. Bf6 Nxf6 21. Qg5+ $1 Kh7 22. Rxf6 Qxf6 23.
Qxf6 $18) 17. Qg3 (17. Qxd8 Rxd8 18. fxe5 Nxe5 {[%cal Ga5a4]} 19. a4 Be6 $11)
17... a4 18. fxe5 Nxe5 19. d4 (19. Bxh6 $2 Ng4 $17) 19... axb3 20. dxe5 Kh7 21.
cxb3 dxe5 $11) 16... a4 17. fxe5 dxe5 18. Bc4 b5 19. Bxe5 bxc4 20. Rxf6 $1 $16)
16. Qxd8 {It was possible to avoid the exchange of queens, even though White
can't claim an advantage in any case.} (16. Qg3 Bxc3 17. bxc3 a4 {No, White
doesn't lose a piece as it seems at first glance.} (17... exf4 18. Bxf4 a4 19.
Bxd6 axb3 20. Bxf8 b2 21. Rab1 Kxf8 22. h3 Nf6 23. Rxb2 {An engine evaluates
this position as equal. I would prefer White.}) 18. f5 h5 (18... axb3 $2 19.
Qxg4 {[%csl Rh6]} b2 20. Rab1 Qf6 21. Rxb2 $16) 19. Bc4 b5 20. h3 Nf6 21. Bh6
Ng4 22. Bd2 Nf6 $11) 16... Rxd8 17. fxe5 Nxe5 18. a4 Be6 {Neutralising White's
pressure on the Pf7. The position is completely equal.} 19. Bxe6 fxe6 20. Ne2
Bb6 21. Nf4 Re8 22. h3 Nd7 23. Rf3 Ne5 24. Rff1 Nd7 {Again, Black is ready to
repeat moves, but Magnus is still searching for more...} 25. g4 d5 26. Rae1 e5
27. Nh5 dxe4 {I would prefer 27...Rf8, not getting the isolated pawn. However,
it doesn't change the evaluation of the position as equal.} 28. Rxe4 Rf8 29.
Ree1 $4 {[%mdl 8192] Just a blunder. For Magnus it was definitely not his day.}
(29. Rxf8+ Rxf8 30. Ng3 Rf2 31. Re2 $11) {[%tqu "En","White's last move was a
grave mistake. Why?","","","g7g6","",5]} 29... g6 $1 30. Ng3 $8 Bf2 {That's it.
Black wins an exchange for nothing.} 31. Rxf2 Rxf2 32. Ne4 Rf7 33. Kg2 (33.
Bxh6 Rh7 $19 {[%csl Rh3][%cal Gh7h3]}) 33... g5 34. Nd6 Rf6 35. Nxb7 Rb8 36.
Nxa5 Rxb2 {After Black activated his second rook it's clear that White had no
chance to biuld any fortress.} 37. Rc1 Ra2 38. Nc4 Rxa4 39. Rb1 e4 40. Nb2 (40.
Bc3 Re6 41. Rb7 Ra2 42. Bb2 exd3 43. cxd3 Ne5 $1 $19) 40... Ra2 41. dxe4 Nc5
42. e5 Re6 43. Kf3 Rxe5 44. Be3 Nd7 45. Nc4 Rb5 46. Rd1 Rd5 47. Rc1 Ra4 48. Nd2
Ne5+ 49. Ke2 Nc4 {In the technical part of the game Anand is convincing as
usual.} 50. Nf1 Ra3 51. c3 Kh7 52. Bd4 c5 53. Be3 Kg6 54. Rc2 Ra1 55. Bc1 Rd7
56. Ng3 Ra6 57. Kf2 Rd3 58. Kg2 Re6 59. h4 gxh4 60. Nh5 Ne3+ (60... Kh7 61. Nf4
Rg3+ $19) 61. Bxe3 {A funny position when Black gets into a fork no matter
which rook he captures with, but the forthcoming rook endgame is easily won
for him.} Rexe3 62. Nf4+ Kg5 63. Nxd3 Rxd3 64. c4 Rg3+ 65. Kh2 Rxg4 66. Kh3 Rf4
{[%cal Gg5f5,Gf5e5,Ge5d4]} 0-1

[Event "Grand Slam Final 4th"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao"]
[Date "2011.09.26"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2817"]
[BlackElo "2823"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2011.09.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 145"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.11.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.11.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 h6 10. h3 Ne7 11. Be3 Ke8 12. Rad1 Bd7 13. a3 Rd8 14. Rfe1
a6 15. Ne4 Bf5 16. Nc5 Rxd1 17. Rxd1 Bc8 18. Nd3 Ng6 19. Nf4 Nxf4 20. Bxf4 Be7
21. Nd4 Bc5 22. Be3 Bxd4 23. Rxd4 Ke7 24. f3 Rd8 25. Rxd8 Kxd8 26. g4 h5 27.
Kf2 g6 28. Bg5+ Ke8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grand Slam Final 4th"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao"]
[Date "2011.09.27"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2823"]
[BlackElo "2807"]
[Annotator "Moradiabadi,E"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2011.09.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 145"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.11.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.11.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{In this technical battle in one of the few 2800+ encounters... one can see
many rich positional ideas. It is one of those few draws which I do not feel
unhappy about commenting on!} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O
Be7 {A Marshall?} 6. d3 {No! Carlsen has never been a fond of theoretical
battles in the Ruy Lopez.} d6 7. c3 O-O 8. Nbd2 b5 9. Bc2 d5 10. Re1 dxe4 11.
dxe4 {This position is familiar to Carlsen, as he faced it against Ivanchuk
not long ago!} Be6 12. h3 {A very rare choice, which is not so surprising from
Carlsen's point of view.} (12. Bb3 Bxb3 13. axb3 Qd3 14. b4 Rfd8 15. Qb3 Qd7
16. Qc2 Qe6 17. Qb3 Qd7 18. Qc2 Qe6 19. h3 a5 20. bxa5 Rxa5 21. Rxa5 Nxa5 22.
b4 Nb7 23. Qb3 Qxb3 24. Nxb3 Nd7 25. Be3 Nd6 26. Nfd2 Ra8 27. Kf1 f6 28. Ke2
Kf7 29. Kd3 Ke6 30. f3 Ra2 31. Ra1 Rxa1 32. Nxa1 Nb7 33. Nab3 {1/2-1/2 (33)
Ivanchuk,V (2776)-Carlsen,M (2815) Medias 2011}) 12... Nd7 (12... h6 {Well Mr.
Aronian, a very old game has been followed so far... Botvinnik played it!} 13.
Nh2 Nh7 14. Ng4 Bg5 15. Qe2 Qd6 16. Ne3 Rfd8 17. Nf3 Bxe3 18. Qxe3 Qe7 {
0-1 (60) Smyslov,V-Botvinnik,M Leningrad/Moscow 1941. White has a slight edge
even though Smyslov threw the game away.}) 13. Nf1 Nc5 (13... Nb6 {covering
the d5-square is an alternative.} 14. Qe2 Qc8 15. Ne3 Rd8 16. Nh2 Bf8 17. Nf5 {
is what I would personally not like to face in a practical game. Aronian's
choice is ok, though it does have an obvious drawback: Black loses control
over the d5-square.}) 14. Ne3 Qxd1 15. Rxd1 f6 16. Nd5 {There we are. As
always, Carlsen has managed to get a slight but riskless edge.} Bd6 17. Be3 Nb7
18. b4 $5 {Fixing the target on b5 and creating a target!} Ne7 (18... a5 $6 {
is premature as a result of} 19. a4 axb4 20. axb5 Bxd5 21. exd5 Rxa1 22. Rxa1
Ne7 23. cxb4 Bxb4 24. Bb3 Bd6 25. g4 $1 {after which White has a slight but
long-lasting advantage is out of the question.}) 19. a4 c6 $6 {This is a
serious inaccuracy which hands the initiative to White.} (19... Nxd5 20. exd5
Bf7 $1 {keeping the pawn on d5 under attack, gives Black adequate play.} 21.
axb5 axb5 22. Bd3 Bxd5 23. Bxb5 Rxa1 24. Rxa1 c5 {is very close to a draw.})
20. Nb6 {Carlsen grabs the initiative.} Rab8 21. Nd2 (21. Nh4 $5 g6 (21... Rfd8
22. Nf5 Nxf5 23. exf5 Bf7 24. axb5 axb5 25. Ra7 {is clearly better for White.})
22. axb5 axb5 23. Ra7 Rfd8 24. Nf3 Kf8 {and White keeps the pressure.}) (21.
axb5 axb5 22. Ra7 Rfd8 23. Ne1 {is another alternative, though I cannot say
how either side would improve its position.}) 21... c5 22. axb5 axb5 23. c4 $5
{Carlsen tries to complicate things.} cxb4 $6 (23... Nc8 24. Nd5 cxb4 25. cxb5
Bxd5 26. exd5 {does not solve Black's problem.}) 24. cxb5 Bc5 25. Bb3 Bxb3 26.
Nxb3 Bxe3 27. fxe3 Na5 28. Rxa5 Rxb6 29. Rd7 Nc8 30. Nc5 h5 {This move will
become valuable in the more or less forced resulting rook ending.} 31. Rd3 Re8
32. Na4 Rb8 33. Rb3 {Carlsen wins a pawn but Dr. Tarrasch believes that all
rook endings are drawn!} Nb6 34. Rxb4 Rec8 35. Nxb6 Rxb6 36. Ra6 Rc1+ 37. Kf2
Rc2+ 38. Kg3 Rxa6 39. bxa6 Ra2 $1 {The rooks have to be behind the pawns,
whether ours or our enemy's!} 40. Rb6 Kf7 41. Rb7+ Kg6 42. a7 {Now we are in
Dr. Müller's territory. White needs to bring his king to the queenside.
Black's rook is well placed and thanks to White's weakened pawn chain he can
create some counterplay on the kingside which may enable his king to become
active.} Kh6 43. Kh2 g6 $1 (43... h4 $2 44. Kg1 g6 45. Kf1 f5 46. Ke1 Kg5 47.
Rf7 (47. Kd1 f4 $11 {gives Black enough play to make a draw.}) 47... fxe4 48.
Kd1 Kh5 49. Kc1 g5 50. Kb1 {is winning for White. Therefore Black has to be on
time with his king and to activate it in the least amount of time.}) 44. Kg1
Kg5 $1 {Aronian uses the h4-square for his king.} 45. Rh7 (45. Rf7 f5 46. Kf1
fxe4 47. g3 h4 48. g4 Kh6 49. Ke1 g5 50. Kd1 Kg6 {just in time!} 51. Rb7 Kf6
52. Kc1 Ke6 53. Kb1 Ra5 54. Kb2 Kd6 55. Kb3 (55. Kc3 Kc6 56. Re7 Ra1 57. Rxe5
Rxa7 58. Rxg5 Rd7 {Is a draw}) 55... Kc6 56. Re7 (56. Kb4 Ra2 57. Rg7 Ra1 (
57... Ra6 {is also possible!} 58. Rg6+ Kd5 59. Rxa6) 58. Rxg5 Rxa7 59. Rxe5 Ra2
60. Rh5 Re2 61. Kc4 Rxe3 62. Rh6+ Kd7 63. Rxh4 Ra3 {and Black manages to make
a draw thanks to White's badly placed rook on h4.}) 56... Kb6 57. Kc3 Kc6 58.
Rxe5 Rxa7 59. Rxg5 Rd7 {transposes. Obviously there are still a lot moves to
analyse in this position but I hardly believe that White has many ways to
improve his position.}) 45... f5 46. g3 {Equivalent to a draw offer.} (46. Rf7
fxe4 47. Kh2 h4 48. Kg1 Kh6 49. Kf1 g5 50. Ke1 Kg6 51. Rc7 Kf6 52. Kd1 Ke6 53.
Kc1 Kd6 54. Rg7 Kc6 55. Kb1 Ra5 56. Kb2 Kb6 57. Kb3 Rb5+ 58. Kc2 Rc5+ 59. Kd2
Ra5 60. Ke2 Ra2+ 61. Kf1 Ra1+ 62. Kf2 Ra2+ 63. Kg1 Ra1+ 64. Kh2 Kc5 65. Rxg5
Kc4 $1 {Thanks to his active king Black is in the safe zone.}) 46... Kf6 47.
Kf1 fxe4 48. Ke1 Ke6 49. Rg7 Kd5 50. g4 hxg4 51. hxg4 Kc4 52. Rd7 g5 53. Kd1
Kc3 54. Ke1 Kc4 55. Kd1 Kc3 56. Ke1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grand Slam Final 4th"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao"]
[Date "2011.09.28"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Vallejo Pons, Francisco"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2716"]
[BlackElo "2823"]
[Annotator "Moradiabadi,E"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2011.09.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 145"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.11.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.11.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 g6 2. e4 {The game transposes into a Pirc Defence.} Bg7 3. d4 d6 4. Bc4
Nf6 5. Qe2 O-O 6. O-O Bg4 7. Rd1 {A rare choice by Vallejo.} Nc6 8. Bb5 $6 {
Loss of tempo?!} (8. h3 Bxf3 9. Qxf3 Nd7 (9... e5 10. c3 Qe8 11. Bg5 Nd7 12.
Qe3 Kh8 13. Na3 a6 14. Bd5 Nb6 15. Bxc6 Qxc6 16. d5 Qa4 17. Be7 f5 18. Bxf8
Rxf8 19. c4 Nd7 20. Qb3 Qxb3 21. axb3 Nc5 22. b4 Nb3 23. Ra2 fxe4 24. Nb1 Bh6
25. Ra3 Nd4 26. Nc3 e3 27. fxe3 Nc2 28. Rd3 Nxe3 29. Ra1 Nxc4 30. b3 Nd2 31.
Rd1 Nxb3 32. Rf1 Rf5 33. Ne2 Rxf1+ 34. Kxf1 Nd2+ 35. Kf2 Ne4+ 36. Kf3 Nf6 37.
Nc3 Nd7 38. Ne4 Nb6 39. Nf6 Bg5 40. Ne4 Bd8 41. g4 Bh4 42. Rd1 h6 {1/2-1/2 (42)
Timman,J (2635)-Delemarre,J (2235) Wijk aan Zee 1995}) 10. c3 e5 11. Be3 a6 12.
Na3 exd4 13. cxd4 Qh4 14. Rac1 Nf6 15. Bd3 Rfe8 16. Rc4 Nd7 17. Bb1 Rad8 18. b4
Nb6 19. Rcc1 d5 20. e5 Qe7 21. Nc2 Nc4 22. a3 b5 23. Ba2 Nb8 24. Re1 c6 25. Qg3
Qf8 26. h4 Nd7 27. h5 Ra8 28. Rcd1 a5 29. Bc1 Qe7 30. Bb1 Qe6 31. hxg6 fxg6 32.
Rd3 axb4 33. Nxb4 c5 34. Nc2 Qc6 35. f4 Qb6 36. Qf3 Rad8 37. Ne3 Nxe3 38. dxc5
Nxc5 39. Bxe3 Qa5 40. Bd2 Qb6 41. Qf2 Re6 42. Rh3 {1-0 (42) Aronian,L (2773)
-Docx,S (2384) Ohrid 2009}) 8... Nd7 {Carlsen follows the classical system
which was introduced by Geller into the King's Indian Defence.} 9. c3 e5 10.
Bxc6 {A novelty!} (10. d5 Ne7 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 f5 13. Bg5 {saw a promising
position for Black in 1/2-1/2 (20) Kovacevic,V (2480)-Jansa,V Sombor 1976.})
10... bxc6 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 exd4 13. cxd4 c5 {Carlsen opens up the eye of
his "Dragon" bishop on g7.} 14. Be3 Rb8 15. Qe2 Rb4 (15... f5 $6 {is not to
Carlsen's taste as it leads to a complicated game in which Black's king
becomes vulnerable.} 16. exf5 gxf5 17. dxc5 $1 Bxb2 18. cxd6 cxd6 (18... Bxa1
$4 19. Qc4+ {is winning for White}) 19. Bd4 $1 Bxa1 20. Bxa1 {and only a
computer can save Black's king!}) 16. a3 Rb3 17. Ra2 $5 {Very original!} Qb8
18. Qc2 a5 (18... Re8 {is for sure a strong "alternative".}) 19. dxc5 Nxc5 20.
Bxc5 dxc5 21. Qxc5 {Black has no worries if he wants to draw, but Carlsen is
hoping to get more out of the position.} Rd8 22. Nc3 Rxd1+ 23. Nxd1 Qd8 24. Ra1
Qd2 {Carlsen's persistence has proved good enough, and Black now has a
dangerous initiative which is developing by the moment.} 25. Rc1 $4 {A
dramatic blunder by Vallejo which could put an end to the Brazilian stage of
his tournament!} Qe1+ 26. Kh2 Qxe4 $4 {In order to make it even more dramatic,
Carlsen decides to return the gift!} (26... Rd3 27. Ne3 Qxf2 28. Ng4 Qg3+ 29.
Kh1 h5 {is simply winning for Black.} 30. Nh2 Rd2 31. Qg1 Bd4 32. Qf1 Rf2 33.
Qg1 {and Black has a singular "windmill" against White's queen of all pieces,
instead of the usual king. The queen cannot leave the protection of g2.} Rxb2
34. Qf1 Rf2) 27. Qc2 Be5+ 28. g3 Rd3 $6 {Carlsen is losing the thread.} ({
He could keep his still dangerous initiative with} 28... Qf3 $1) 29. Ne3 h5 30.
Nc4 Qd5 $4 {Simply losing a piece! I do not remember when I last saw such
blunders from Carlsen, but in this game he produced a couple of them!} ({After
} 30... Bf6 31. Rd1 Rd4 32. Qxe4 Rxe4 33. Nxa5 Bxb2 {White's chances to draw
are higher than Black's chances to win.}) 31. Nxe5 Rd2 32. Qc5 {I suppose that
this is probably what Carlsen missed.} Qxc5 33. Rxc5 Rxf2+ 34. Kg1 Rxb2 35.
Rxc7 Rb3 36. Kg2 Rxa3 37. Nxf7 a4 38. Ra7 Ra1 39. Ne5 g5 40. g4 hxg4 41. hxg4
a3 42. Nf3 {A painful defeat for the world No. 1. He played fairly well and
managed to outplay his opponent step by step, but then threw it all away at
two points! It is very hard to explain except to say that... everyone has his
bad days... even Carlsen!} 1-0

[Event "Grand Slam Final 4th"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao"]
[Date "2011.09.30"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D55"]
[WhiteElo "2823"]
[BlackElo "2753"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2011.09.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 145"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.11.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.11.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 7. e3 O-O 8. Rc1
c6 9. Bd3 Nd7 10. O-O dxc4 11. Bxc4 e5 12. Bb3 exd4 13. exd4 Nb6 14. h3 Re8 15.
Re1 Rxe1+ 16. Qxe1 Bf5 17. Ne5 Nd5 18. Nxd5 cxd5 19. g4 Be6 20. f4 Qb6 21. Rd1
Bxe5 22. Qxe5 Re8 23. f5 f6 24. Qf4 Bf7 25. Qf2 Qb4 26. Kg2 Re4 27. Rd2 Qd6 28.
Bd1 Kf8 29. Bf3 Re7 30. Re2 Rxe2 31. Qxe2 Be8 32. Qe3 Bc6 33. a3 Qe7 34. Qc3 a6
35. b4 Ke8 36. a4 Qd7 37. a5 Qd6 38. Qc5 Qf4 39. Bxd5 Qd2+ 40. Kf3 Qd3+ 41. Kf2
Qd2+ 42. Kf3 Qd3+ 43. Kf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grand Slam Final 4th"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao"]
[Date "2011.10.01"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2823"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2011.09.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 145"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.11.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.11.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 Be7 8. a3
O-O 9. Qd2 b6 10. g3 (10. Bd3 f6 11. exf6 Nxf6 12. Bb5 Qc7 13. Bxc6 Qxc6 14.
Ne5 Qe8 15. Qe2 Nd7 16. Nxd7 Bxd7 17. O-O Qg6 18. a4 c4 19. Rf3 a6 20. a5 b5
21. Nd1 b4 22. Nf2 Bb5 23. Rg3 Qf5 24. Qg4 Rf7 25. Qd1 c3 26. Ng4 Kh8 27. Ne5
Rff8 28. b3 Bf6 29. Ng4 Be8 30. Nxf6 gxf6 31. Qg4 Bg6 32. Qxf5 Bxf5 33. Ra2 h5
34. Bf2 Kh7 35. Re3 Rf7 36. Bh4 Rg8 37. g3 Be4 38. Re2 Kg6 39. Ra4 Rb7 40. h3
Re8 41. Ra1 e5 42. fxe5 fxe5 43. dxe5 Rxe5 44. Rf1 Rf5 45. Rxf5 Bxf5 46. Bd8 d4
47. g4 hxg4 48. hxg4 Bxc2 49. Rxc2 d3 {0-1 (49) Macieja,B (2470)-Morozevich,A 
(2590)/St Petersburg 1997/CBM 062}) 10... Kh8 11. h4 f6 12. exf6 Nxf6 13. Bh3
Bd7 14. Rd1 cxd4 15. Nxd4 e5 16. Nxc6 Bxc6 17. fxe5 d4 18. exf6 Bxf6 19. O-O
dxc3 20. Qxd8 Raxd8 21. Rxd8 Rxd8 22. b3 {From here on the Norwegian GM
proceeds to outplay the tournament leader in this double-bishops ending.
Typical Carlsen.} Re8 23. Bf2 Be4 24. Re1 Re7 25. Rc1 h5 26. Bg2 Bf5 27. Bf3 g6
28. a4 Kh7 29. b4 g5 30. a5 g4 31. axb6 axb6 32. Bc6 Re2 33. Bxb6 Be5 34. b5
Kg7 35. Ba5 Rxc2 36. Rxc2 Bxc2 37. Kf2 $2 (37. b6 {would have probably held
the position.}) 37... Bd3 38. Ke3 Bg6 39. Be4 $2 ({Once again White could have
tried to defend with} 39. b6) 39... c2 40. Bd2 Bxg3 41. Bxg6 Kxg6 42. Kd3 Bf2
43. Kxc2 g3 44. Bf4 g2 45. Bh2 Kf5 {Nicely played by the amazing Magnus. A
game to study.} 0-1

[Event "Grand Slam Final 4th"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao"]
[Date "2011.10.06"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2823"]
[BlackElo "2817"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2011.09.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 145"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.11.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.11.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. Qc2 Bb7 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. Qxc3 O-O 8.
Bg5 d6 9. Nd2 Nbd7 10. f3 h6 11. Bh4 Rc8 12. e4 c5 13. Bd3 d5 14. exd5 exd5 15.
O-O dxc4 16. Bxc4 $146 {Both a novelty and the computer's first choice!} (16.
Nxc4 cxd4 17. Qxd4 Nc5 {was just equal in Van Wely-Leko (2008).}) 16... cxd4
17. Qxd4 Nc5 18. Bxf6 Qxf6 19. Qxf6 gxf6 20. Rfd1 (20. Rfe1 {is no improvement
after} Rfd8 21. Nf1 Na4 22. b3 Nb2 23. Re7 Nxc4 24. Rxb7 Nd2) 20... Na4 $1 21.
Rab1 Rfd8 22. Bb5 Bc6 23. Be2 Bd5 24. Nf1 Be6 25. Ne3 f5 (25... Bb3 {is a
different route with the same destination.} 26. Rd3 (26. Rxd8+ Rxd8) 26... Rxd3
27. Bxd3 Ba2 28. Ra1 Be6) 26. g3 Kg7 27. Kf2 Kf6 28. Ba6 Rb8 29. b4 Nc3 30.
Rxd8 Rxd8 31. Rc1 Nd5 32. Ng2 (32. Rd1 Ke7 33. Nxd5+ Rxd5 34. Rxd5 Bxd5 {
should just be a draw, as Black has not enough weaknesses.}) (32. Nxd5+ Rxd5
33. Ke3 Rd7 {should also be nothing special, though White stands a little bit
better.}) 32... Rd7 33. Rc2 Rc7 34. Ne3 Rxc2+ 35. Nxc2 f4 36. Nd4 Bd7 37. Ke2
fxg3 38. hxg3 Ne7 39. Ke3 Nf5+ 40. Nxf5 Kxf5 41. Kd4 Ke6 42. Bc4+ Ke7 43. f4 f6
44. Bd5 Kd6 45. Bf3 Be6 46. Ba8 Bf5 47. Bf3 Be6 48. Ba8 Bf5 49. Bf3 Be6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grand Slam Final 4th"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao"]
[Date "2011.10.07"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D55"]
[WhiteElo "2807"]
[BlackElo "2823"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2011.09.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 145"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.11.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.11.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. d4 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 h6 7. Bxf6 Bxf6 8. Rc1
c6 9. h4 {Only played once in over a thousand known games, but what a
reference!} c5 $5 {Grünfeld-like! Only Black's g7-pawn destroys the illusion.
Of course, it is normal to react in the centre when you are attacked on the
kingside. Otherwise White is going to play g4 next, which is very unclear,
though I will not try to guess Aronian's preparation!} (9... Nd7 10. g4 g6 11.
cxd5 exd5 12. h5 g5 13. Bd3 Bg7 14. Bf5 Re8 15. Kf1 Nb6 16. Nd2 Bxf5 17. gxf5
Nc8 18. Ne2 Bf8 19. Kg2 Bd6 20. Nf1 Qf6 21. Qd3 Bc7 22. f3 Nd6 23. Neg3 Rad8
24. b3 g4 25. f4 Kh8 26. Rc2 Re7 27. Kg1 Rde8 28. Rhh2 Bb6 29. Kh1 Bc7 30. Rhg2
Rg8 31. Kg1 Bb6 32. Kh1 Ne4 33. Kg1 Nd6 34. Kh1 a6 35. Rh2 Ba7 36. Rhg2 Ne4 37.
a4 Bb6 38. Nxe4 dxe4 39. Qc3 Qxf5 40. d5+ Kh7 41. Qb4 Bd8 42. dxc6 Qxh5+ 43.
Rh2 Qa5 44. Qxa5 Bxa5 45. Ng3 Re6 46. cxb7 Rb8 47. b4 Bb6 48. a5 Bxe3 49. Rc7
Rf6 50. Rhc2 Rxf4 51. b5 Rf6 52. Kg2 axb5 53. Nxe4 Re6 54. Nc5 Bxc5 55. R2xc5
b4 56. Rb5 Kg6 57. Rc8 {1-0 (57) Botvinnik,M-Ragozin,V Moscow 1944}) 10. dxc5
Na6 11. cxd5 Nxc5 12. Bc4 (12. Qd2 {should be the only move to try something,
but it really looks like a "good Grünfeld" to me: not even the kingside is
weakened with a move such as ...g6. For example:} Bxc3 (12... a6 $5) 13. Qxc3
Ne4 14. Qb4 Qxd5 15. Rd1 (15. Bc4 Qd6) 15... a5 $1 {is drawish.}) 12... exd5
13. Nxd5 (13. Bxd5 Bf5 14. O-O Bd3 15. Re1 Bxc3 16. Rxc3 Qxd5 17. b4 Ne4 18.
Rxd3 Qxa2 $11) 13... Bxb2 14. Rc2 b5 15. Be2 Na4 16. Rc7 $6 {Aronian continues
creatively, but Black has a brillant refutation.} (16. O-O a6 {and Black is
more than fine.}) 16... Be6 17. Ne7+ Kh8 18. Qc2 Bc3+ $8 19. Rxc3 Qa5 $1 {
Maybe the move Aronian overlooked! The next moves are just forced.} (19... Nxc3
$4 20. Ng5 {wins for White!}) 20. Ng5 Qxc3+ 21. Qxc3 Nxc3 22. Nxe6 fxe6 23.
Ng6+ Kg8 24. Nxf8 Rxf8 25. Bg4 e5 26. O-O {I believe Black has decent chances
here, but the next move allows huge drawing simplifications.} b4 $6 ({After} 
26... a5 {Black probably doesn't have enough to win, though objectively it
will not be fun for White.}) 27. a3 {Now the position is completely equal.} Rb8
28. axb4 Rxb4 29. Rc1 Rb1 30. Rxb1 Nxb1 31. Kf1 Nc3 32. Ke1 Kf7 33. Bf5 Nb5 34.
Kd2 Nd6 35. Bc2 Ke6 36. Bb3+ Kf5 37. f3 Kf6 38. g4 g5 39. hxg5+ hxg5 40. Kc3 a5
41. Bc2 Ke6 42. Bb3+ Ke7 43. Bc2 Kd7 44. Bd1 Kc6 45. f4 Kc5 46. fxg5 Ne4+ 47.
Kb3 Nxg5 48. Ka4 Kc4 49. Bc2 Kc3 50. Bf5 e4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grand Slam Final 4th"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao"]
[Date "2011.10.08"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vallejo Pons, Francisco"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D12"]
[WhiteElo "2823"]
[BlackElo "2716"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2011.09.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 145"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.11.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.11.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nh4 Be4 7. f3 Bg6 8. Qb3
Qb6 9. Nxg6 hxg6 10. Bd2 Bd6 11. h3 Nbd7 12. O-O-O Qxb3 13. axb3 a6 14. Kc2 Nh5
15. Bd3 Ng3 16. Rhe1 O-O-O 17. e4 $146 {Some other moves were played before
without achieving anything.} dxe4 18. fxe4 c5 19. d5 Rde8 20. Na2 $1 {An
important idea. White wants to play b4, exchange the b3 pawn for c5, and push
b4 again. Of course it is not easy to manage in good conditions. According to
the engine, White never succeeds if Black plays correctly, but from a human
point of view, I believe it should be definitely easier to play for White.}
exd5 {I'm not sure whether not taking could bring Black something or not!} ({
However, after} 20... Ne5 21. b4 f5 {the engine found an impressive draw:} 22.
bxc5 Bxc5 (22... Nxd3 23. Kxd3 fxe4+ 24. Kc2 Bxc5 25. Bf4 Nh5 26. d6 Kd7 27.
Be5 {followed by b4 is bad for Black.}) 23. exf5 $8 exd5 24. Rxe5 {The rest is
simply fine for Black.} Rxe5 25. Bf4 dxc4 $1 26. Bxe5 (26. Bxc4 $6 Nxf5 $1)
26... cxd3+ 27. Rxd3 Nxf5 28. Rc3 b6 29. b4 Re8 30. Bh2 Nd4+ 31. Kd3 (31. Kb1
Re1+ 32. Kb2 Re2+ 33. Ka1 Rxg2 34. Be5 Rg1+ 35. Kb2 Rg2+ $11) 31... Rd8 {
and Black simply gets a draw by a miracle.}) 21. exd5 Nf5 (21... Ne5 22. b4 f6
$1 {might be enough for equality:} 23. bxc5 {(of course White has no
obligation to take so fast, but what else?)} (23. Re3 $6 Nf5 {is very good for
Black.}) 23... Bxc5 24. Bf4 (24. b4 $2 Bf2 $15) 24... Bf2 25. Bxg3 Bxg3 26. Re2
Nxd3 27. Rxe8+ Rxe8 28. Rxd3 Bd6 {followed by ...Kd7, ...b6.}) 22. b4 Nd4+ (
22... Nh4 23. bxc5 (23. Bf1 Nf5 24. bxc5 Nxc5 25. b4 Ne4 {is very good for
Black.}) 23... Nxc5 24. Rxe8+ Rxe8 25. Rf1 Nxd3 26. Kxd3 f6 27. g4 g5 {and
Black is just fine: White's pawn are not bringing anything special. Black will
just put his king on d7, bishop on e5, some ...Rh8 move or whatever, and I
think White cannot make progress at all. Once again, it is very tough, over
the board, to leave White two beautiful central pawns like this.}) 23. Kb1 Nb3
{Maybe not the most accurate, but still fine.} (23... cxb4 $5 24. Nxb4 (24.
Bxb4 Bxb4 25. Nxb4 Rxe1 26. Rxe1 Kc7 $11) 24... Nc5 25. Bc3 Rxe1 26. Rxe1 Rh4
$1 {and, since Black seems to manage to keep control over the dark squares, I
believe the position is equal again.}) 24. Bc3 cxb4 25. Nxb4 Be5 26. Na2 Bxc3
27. Nxc3 (27. Rxe8+ {to try to be clever (check comments of the further moves)
would not make sense because of} Rxe8 28. Nxc3 Re3 {and the initiative goes to
the black side.}) 27... Ndc5 $6 {Problems started from here. Actually, while
analysing the game, I noticed that taking the opponent's rook first very
frequently made a great difference.} (27... Rxe1 $1 28. Rxe1 Ndc5 {might have
been even more precise, since} 29. Bc2 $2 {is bad due to} Nd2+ $17) 28. Rxe8+
Rxe8 29. Bc2 Re3 30. Ka2 $6 (30. Bxb3 $1 Nxb3 31. Kc2 Nc5 32. b4 Nd7 33. Rd3 {
and, though Black should hold, the position is very unpleasant to play.}) 30...
Na5 31. Rd4 Rg3 32. Ne4 Rxg2 $4 {After having so many possible options each
move, Black entered time trouble and eventually blundered. Maybe a bit of luck
for Magnus, but I would say he also chose the position well: unusual enough to
make his opponent spend a lot of time.} (32... Nxe4 33. Bxe4 Nb3 $1 34. Rd1 Re3
$1 35. Bc2 Nc5 36. b4 Nd7 {is simply fine for Black: White doesn't have enough
pieces for central pawns to achieve anything big.} (36... Ne4 $5)) 33. Rd2 $1
$18 {Nice trick! Maybe some unconcious payback for their first game? :)} Rxd2
34. Nxd2 {Black loses a piece!} b5 35. b4 Nab7 36. bxc5 Nxc5 37. Ne4 Nb7 38. c5
f5 39. c6 fxe4 40. cxb7+ Kxb7 41. Bxe4 Kc7 42. Kb3 a5 43. Kc3 a4 44. Bc2 g5 45.
Kd4 Kd6 46. Bd1 1-0

[Event "Grand Slam Final 4th"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao"]
[Date "2011.10.10"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E21"]
[WhiteElo "2823"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2011.09.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 145"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.11.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.11.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%mdl 2]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. Qc2 {This apparently
came as a suprise to Ivanchuk, even though I played it against Anand in round
6. It might have something to do with the fact that I achieved very little in
that game.} Bb7 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. Qxc3 {All of the three main moves here, d6, 0-0
and Ne4, were tried against me in Bilbao. Regrettably, I did not show the same
versatility, only employing two of the three possible setups from this
position (no e3, Be2 and so on).} Ne4 8. Qc2 f5 9. g3 Nf6 {A case could be
made for including 9... 0-0 10.Bg2 before making this move, which will anyway
be necessary because of Ng5 or Nd2.} 10. Bh3 {Suddenly experiencing a burst of
creativity, I decided to try and exploit the extra opportunity. The main idea
behind this move is to be able to drive away the black bishop from e4 after ...
Be4 Q somewhere, without exchanging bishops.} O-O 11. O-O a5 {A far from
obvious move, which Ivanchuk made immediately.} (11... Qe8 12. d5 {is similar
to the game.}) (11... Be4 12. Qc3 Qe8 {was quite interesting however. Now Nd2
is bad due to ...Qh5, so I was going to continue playing creatively with} 13.
Rd1 Qh5 14. Bf1 {with good chances of fighting for an advantage.}) 12. Rd1 Qe8
13. d5 Na6 14. Bf4 (14. dxe6 dxe6 15. Bf4 {looks a little bit better for White,
but I was looking for something more interesting.}) 14... exd5 $2 {After this
move Black is in serious trouble.} (14... d6 {looked much more logical to me}
15. dxe6 (15. Ng5 Nc5 16. b4 h6 17. bxc5 hxg5 18. Bxg5 Ne4 {Is not that clear})
15... Be4 16. Qc3 Nc5 (16... Qh5 17. Bf1 Nc5 18. Nd4 {just transposes}) 17. Nd4
Qh5 (17... Nxe6 18. Nxe6 Qxe6 19. f3 Bb7 20. e4 $16) 18. Bf1 Rfe8 19. f3 Bb7
20. b4 Nxe6 21. Nxe6 Rxe6 22. c5 dxc5 23. bxc5 Qf7 {and Black is more or less
ok.}) (14... Qh5 15. Bg2 exd5 16. Nd4 g5 {was given as interesting by online
commentators. My decision to not delve deeper into it should be attributed to
laziness, not arrogance.}) 15. Bxf5 dxc4 (15... Ne4 16. Bh3 {looks pretty cool
for White too.}) 16. Ng5 $1 {The point. Now all kinds of tricks are possible.}
Qh5 {More or less forced. Black can hardly afford to give up the h7-pawn, and}
(16... h6 17. Bxd7 Qe7 (17... Qh5 18. g4 Qh4 19. Qxc4+ Kh8 20. Nf7+ Rxf7 21.
Qxf7 $18) 18. Qxc4+ Kh8 19. Qe6 $1 {is pretty straightforward.}) 17. Rxd7 {
This move was so tempting that I hardly looked at others.} ({With a slightly
cooler head, I might have come close to considering} 17. Rd4 $1 Rae8 18. Bd2 {
when Rh4 next will be hard to meet.}) 17... Kh8 {I quickly realised that this
was the only move, but I thought there should still be some relatively easy
way to win here.} (17... Nxd7 18. Bxh7+ Kh8 19. Bg6 Qg4 (19... Qh6 20. Nf7+
Rxf7 21. Bxh6) 20. h3 {loses trivially.}) 18. Re7 $6 {Objetively speaking, a
mistake. Unfortunately, I was not able to coolly give up the exchange without
finding a forced win.} (18. Rad1 $1 Nxd7 19. Rxd7 Nc5 {What else?} 20. Rxc7
Rad8 21. f3 {and White is dominating.}) 18... Nd5 19. Bg4 $6 {Another step in
the wrong direction.} (19. Re5 Nxf4 20. gxf4 {would still retain a clear
advantage.}) 19... Qg6 20. Nf7+ Kg8 21. Bf5 Qxf5 $1 {A nasty suprise.} (21...
Qh5 $145 22. g4 Qh4 23. Bg3 $1 Qxe7 24. Bxh7+ Kxf7 25. Qg6#) 22. Qxf5 Nxe7 23.
Nh6+ gxh6 24. Qg4+ Ng6 25. Bxh6 {Fortunately, White can still fight for an
advantage here, and with the open black king White certainly has the easier
game.} Rf7 26. Rd1 Re8 (26... c3 {would have been an interesting try, but it's
probably no better than the game continuation} 27. h4 $1 (27. bxc3 Nc5 {
is fine for Black}) 27... c2 28. Rd7 Nc5 29. Rxf7 Kxf7 30. Qc4+ Ke7 31. Qxc2 {
and White is clearly on top.}) 27. h4 Nc5 28. h5 Bc8 29. Qxc4 Ne5 30. Qh4 {
By now Ivanchuk had got really short on time, which was not making his job any
easier.} Nc6 $2 {After this Black can hardly defend.} ({The best chance was} 
30... Ne6 31. f4 (31. Rd5 Rf5 $1 {is the key}) 31... Nd7 32. e4 Kh8 {when
there is still all to play for.}) 31. Rd5 Ne6 32. Qc4 (32. Qa4 {would have
been even stronger, but for some reason I did not consider this move at all.
My idea with the text was to win the e5-square for my rook.}) 32... Ncd8 $2 (
32... Ne7 {would have held out much longer, but after} 33. Re5 Nf5 34. Qg4+
Nfg7 35. Qe4 {Black is pretty tied up, and White should win gradually.}) 33.
Qg4+ {Surprisingly the fact that the c8-bishop is unprotected becomes the
decisive factor.} Ng7 {Ivanchuk was visibly shocked when I captured his bishop,
but} (33... Kh8 34. Bd2 $1 {would have been equally bad.}) 34. Qxc8 1-0

[Event "Grand Slam Final 4th"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao"]
[Date "2011.10.11"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D59"]
[WhiteElo "2753"]
[BlackElo "2823"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2011.09.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 145"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.11.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.11.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 b6 8. cxd5
Nxd5 9. Bxe7 Qxe7 10. Nxd5 exd5 11. Qb3 Be6 12. Rc1 Rc8 13. Bd3 c5 14. Qa3 Kf8
15. dxc5 bxc5 16. Bb5 Nd7 17. Bxd7 Bxd7 18. O-O a5 19. Rfd1 Be6 20. Rc3 a4 21.
h3 Rab8 22. Rd2 Rb4 23. Rdc2 c4 24. b3 axb3 25. axb3 Rbb8 26. Qxe7+ Kxe7 27.
bxc4 Rxc4 28. Nd2 Rxc3 29. Rxc3 d4 30. exd4 Rb4 31. Rd3 Kd6 32. Nf3 Bd5 33. Kh2
Be4 34. Ra3 f6 35. Ra6+ Ke7 36. Ra7+ Kf8 37. Rd7 Bc6 38. Rd6 Bxf3 39. gxf3 Ke7
40. Rd5 Ke6 41. Rd8 Ke7 42. Rd5 Ke6 43. Rd8 Ke7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grand Slam Final playoff 4th"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao"]
[Date "2011.10.11"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2823"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[PlyCount "157"]
[EventDate "2011.10.11"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 145"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.11.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.11.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. Qc2 Bb7 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. Qxc3 d6 8. g3
Nbd7 9. Bg2 a5 10. b3 O-O 11. O-O Qb8 12. Re1 Re8 13. Bb2 Be4 14. Bf1 e5 15.
Nd2 exd4 16. Qxd4 Bc6 17. e4 b5 18. cxb5 Bxb5 19. Bg2 Ne5 20. Rad1 Nd3 21. Re3
Nxb2 22. Qxb2 Ng4 23. Rc3 Qb6 24. Nc4 Bxc4 25. Rxc4 Rab8 26. Rc3 Re7 27. Qc2 g6
28. h3 Nf6 29. Kh2 h5 30. f4 Qb5 31. Rd4 Qb6 32. Qd3 Rbe8 33. e5 dxe5 34. fxe5
Nh7 35. Rc6 Qa7 36. Qc4 Nf8 37. Ra6 Qb8 38. Ra8 Qb6 39. Ra6 Qb8 40. Bc6 Rxe5
41. Bxe8 Qxe8 42. Rd2 Ne6 43. Rf2 Qd7 44. Qc3 Nd4 45. Raf6 Rf5 46. R6xf5 Nxf5
47. Rd2 Qe7 48. Rf2 Qxa3 49. g4 Qd6+ 50. Kg2 Nh4+ 51. Kg1 hxg4 52. hxg4 Qd1+
53. Kh2 Qxg4 54. Qg3 Qxg3+ 55. Kxg3 Nf5+ 56. Kf4 Nd4 57. Rb2 Ne6+ 58. Ke5 Kg7
59. Ra2 g5 60. Rxa5 Kg6 61. Ra8 Kg7 62. b4 Nf4 63. Kf5 Ne6 64. Rc8 g4 65. Kxg4
Kf6 66. Kf3 Ke5 67. Ke3 Kd5 68. Kd3 f5 69. Rh8 Nf4+ 70. Ke3 Ke5 71. b5 Ne6 72.
Kd3 Kd5 73. Kc3 Kc5 74. Re8 Nf4 75. Re5+ Nd5+ 76. Kd3 c6 77. bxc6 Kxc6 78. Rxf5
Kd6 79. Ke4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grand Slam Final playoff 4th"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao"]
[Date "2011.10.11"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2823"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2011.10.11"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 145"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.11.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2011.11.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Be3 Qe7 6. Bxc6 bxc6 7. Bxc5 Qxc5
8. Nc3 O-O 9. O-O Rb8 10. Qd2 Qe7 11. b3 c5 12. h3 d6 13. Nh2 Nh5 14. Nd5 Qd8
15. Rae1 Be6 16. Nc3 f5 17. exf5 Bxf5 18. f3 Bg6 19. Rf2 Qh4 20. Nd5 Rf7 21.
Qc3 c6 22. Ne3 Nf4 23. Qd2 Rbf8 24. Nd1 h5 25. Nc3 Bf5 26. Ne2 Ne6 27. Qe3 Rf6
28. Kh1 Rg6 29. Rg1 Nc7 30. Rgf1 Nd5 31. Qd2 Rgf6 32. Nc3 Nf4 33. Ne4 Rg6 34.
Rg1 Qd8 35. Nf1 Qe7 36. Nfg3 d5 37. Nxf5 Rxf5 38. Nc3 Qh4 39. Kh2 Qg3+ 0-1

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 6th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2011.11.16"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2011.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 146"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qa4 Be7 6. Bg2 c6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. O-O
d5 9. Ne5 Qe8 {This line was examined in CBM 93, annotations to Kalinitschew -
Graf by GM A.Finkel. As that game was played many years ago, a lot of new
material has appeared since then.} 10. b3 (10. cxd5 {is White's most popular
option but Black has no problems after the exchange of queens. Here is a
relatively recent example:} cxd5 11. Qxe8 Rxe8 12. Bf4 Nbd7 13. Nxd7 Nxd7 14.
Rfc1 Rac8 15. a4 g5 16. Bd2 Bb4 17. e4 dxe4 18. Bxg5 Bxc3 19. bxc3 Bd3 20. a5
f6 21. Bf4 Nf8 22. f3 exf3 23. Bxf3 Ng6 24. Bd6 Red8 25. Bb4 Rc7 26. Ra3 Ne7
27. c4 Bg6 28. axb6 axb6 29. Ra6 Nc8 30. d5 exd5 31. c5 Rdd7 32. Ra8 bxc5 33.
Rxc5 Rxc5 34. Bxc5 Rc7 35. Bd4 Be4 $11 {1/2 Socko,B (2641)-Markus,R (2567)/
Dresden 2007/CBM 118 (50)}) (10. Qb3 {was played by GM Sh.Mamedyarov in a
rapid game. He won with the help of his opponent:} Nfd7 11. cxd5 Nxe5 12. dxe5
cxd5 13. Rd1 Nd7 (13... Nc6 $1 $36) 14. e4 dxe4 15. Nxe4 Nxe5 16. Bf4 Nc4 17.
Nd6 Nxd6 18. Bxa8 Nb7 19. Bxb7 Bxb7 20. Rac1 Qa8 21. Rd7 Bf6 22. Qd3 $13 {
1-0 Mamedyarov,S (2742)-Ibanez Aullana,J (2301)/Villarrobledo 2008/CBM 126
Extra (29)}) 10... b5 (10... Ne4 $5 11. Nxe4 Bb5 12. cxb5 cxb5 13. Qa3 Bxa3 14.
Bxa3 f6 $1 15. Nd6 Qd8 16. Bh3 $5 fxe5 17. Bxe6+ Kh8 18. dxe5 $44) 11. Qa5 Bd8
(11... bxc4 $5 12. bxc4 Qd8 13. Qa4 Nfd7 $1) 12. Qa3 Be7 13. c5 {In this
structure White keeps some pressure. His c5-pawn can't be undermined as
Black's pawn is already on b5, and preparing ...e6-e5 is not easy for Black
either.} Bb7 14. Qb2 a5 15. Nd3 b4 16. Na4 Nbd7 17. a3 $146 (17. Bf4 Ba6 18.
Rfd1 Qd8 (18... Nh5 $5) 19. a3 bxa3 20. Qxa3 Nh5 21. Bd6 Bxd6 22. cxd6 Bxd3 23.
Rxd3 Nhf6 24. Rc1 Nb8 25. Rdc3 Ne8 26. Rxc6 $6 Nxc6 27. Rxc6 Nf6 28. Nc5 Rb8
29. d7 Ra8 $13 {1-0 Beliavsky,A-Antoshin,V/Soviet Union 1978/EXT 2010 (42)})
17... Ba6 18. Rd1 Bxd3 19. Rxd3 Ne4 {[%cal Yf7f5]} (19... bxa3 $5 20. Rxa3 (20.
Qxa3 e5) 20... e5 21. dxe5 Ng4) 20. f3 (20. Bxe4 dxe4 21. Rd1 f5 22. Qc2 bxa3
23. Rxa3 Qh5 $132) 20... Nef6 {After provoking the weakening f2-f3, ...e6-e5
can be more effective.} 21. Rd1 e5 22. e3 (22. dxe5 Nxc5 $1 23. exf6 $2 Bxf6
24. Qb1 Nxa4 25. bxa4 Qxe2) 22... bxa3 23. Qc2 Bd8 {[%cal Yd8c7] A standard
manoeuvre. The bishop protects the crucial a5-pawn and b6-square, as well as
aiming at White's kingside.} 24. Bxa3 Rb8 25. Re1 Qe6 26. Nb2 Re8 27. Nd3 Bc7
28. Bb2 e4 29. Nf2 exf3 30. Bxf3 Ne4 31. Nxe4 dxe4 32. Bd1 Nf6 {[%csl Gd5]} 33.
Bc3 Nd5 34. Bxa5 {This pawn is not important anymore as Black has an excellent
kingside counterplay, and White's b3 pawn can't move forward.} Ra8 35. Qd2 Qg6
{[%cal Yh7h5]} 36. Kh1 $6 (36. Ra4 $142 Rxa5 37. Rxa5 h5 $1 $44) 36... Qh6 37.
b4 $6 (37. Kg1 Rxa5 38. Rxa5 Bxa5 39. Qxa5 Nxe3 40. Qd2 Nf5 41. Qxh6 gxh6 (
41... Nxh6 42. b4 $13 {[%cal Yd4d5]}) 42. Bc2 Nxd4 43. Rxe4 Rxe4 44. Bxe4 Nxb3
45. Bxc6 Nxc5 $11) 37... Bxg3 38. Rg1 Bh4 39. Bb3 Bg5 $6 (39... Qxe3 $142 {
although the position after} 40. Qxe3 Nxe3 41. b5 (41. d5 Nxd5 42. b5 Bf6 43.
Ra2 Reb8 44. b6 Bd4) 41... Bf6 $1 (41... cxb5 42. d5 $44 {[%csl Gc5,Gd5]}) 42.
bxc6 Bxd4 43. Ra2 {[%csl Gc6] was not easy to evaluate. GM Magnus Carlsen
prefers a simpler course but White obtains passed pawns anyway, with parity of
material.}) 40. Bxd5 Bxe3 41. Bxf7+ Kxf7 42. Qa2+ Qe6 43. Rgf1+ Kg8 44. Qxe6+
Rxe6 45. Rad1 Bg5 46. d5 cxd5 47. Rxd5 Bf6 48. Rd6 Rxd6 $2 (48... Kf7 $142 {
Still, White keeps winning chances after} 49. Rxe6 Kxe6 50. Rc1 Bg5 51. Rc2)
49. cxd6 {[%mdl 4096]} Bd8 (49... e3 50. Re1 ({but not} 50. Rxf6 gxf6 51. Kg2
Kf7 52. d7 Ke7 53. d8=Q+ Rxd8 54. Bxd8+ Kxd8 55. Kf3 Kc7 56. Kxe3 Kc6 57. Ke4
Kb5 58. Kf5 Kxb4 59. Kxf6 Kc5 60. Kg7 h5 $11) 50... Kf7 51. Rxe3 {, and White
should win.}) 50. Rf5 $2 {Missing the victorious} (50. Bc7 $1 e3 51. b5 Bh4 52.
d7 e2 53. Rg1 $1 (53. Rc1 $2 Rf8 $1 54. Kg2 Kf7 55. Kf3 (55. b6 Ke6 56. b7 Kxd7
) 55... Ke6+ 56. Kxe2 Kxd7 $11) 53... e1=Q (53... Bf2 54. Rc1) (53... Rf8 54.
b6 Rf1 55. Bg3) 54. Rxe1 Bxe1 55. d8=Q+ Rxd8 56. Bxd8 Kf7 57. b6 Bc3 58. b7 Be5
59. Bh4 Bb8 60. Bg3 Ba7 61. b8=Q Bxb8 62. Bxb8 $18 {Not an easy line to find!})
50... Bxa5 51. bxa5 Rd8 $1 52. Rd5 (52. a6 Rxd6 53. Ra5 Rd8 54. a7 Ra8 55. Kg2
Kf7 56. Kf2 Ke6 57. Ke3 Kd6 58. Kxe4 Kc6 59. Ke5 Kb6 60. Ra1 Rxa7 61. Rxa7 Kxa7
62. Ke6 Kb6 63. Kf7 g5 $11) 52... Kf7 53. a6 Ke6 54. Rd4 Kd7 55. Rb4 e3 56. Kg2
Rf8 57. a7 e2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 6th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2011.11.17"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D12"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2744"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2011.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 146"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 {No QGD today. Kein Abgelehntes Damengambit heute.} 3. Nf3
Nf6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nh4 Bg6 {But admittedly, this line is pretty solid
too. Doch auch dieses Abspiel ist zugegebenermaßen ziemlich solide.} 7. Nxg6
hxg6 8. Bd3 Nbd7 9. O-O Bd6 10. h3 {All very logical, but seldom played.
Probably because most sensible people don't want to come under the kind of
onslaught that happened in the game. Alles sehr logisch, aber selten gespielt.
Vermutlich, weil sich die meisten vernünftigen Menschen nicht der Art von
Überfall aussetzen wollen, zu dem es in der Partie kam.} dxc4 11. Bxc4 Nb6 12.
Bb3 {I thought about this one for a while. Just a waste of time really, as I
realised pretty early on that I wanted to put my bishop on b3 here, and that I
most likely was not going to change my mind. Darüber dachte ich eine Weile
nach. Eigentlich reine Zeitverschwendung, da mir ziemlich früh klar wurde,
dass ich hier meinen Läufer auf b3 stellen wollte und ich es mir
höchstwahrscheinlich nicht anders überlegen würde.} e5 13. Qc2 {Now Black will
not be able to castle kingside, and he's more or less forced to either castle
queenside and play for an attack, or put the king on f8, and accept a passive
position. Nun wird Schwarz nicht kurz rochieren können, und er ist mehr oder
minder gezwungen, entweder lang zu rochieren und auf Angriff zu spielen, oder
den König nach f8 zu stellen und eine passive Stellung in Kauf zu nehmen.} (13.
dxe5 Bxe5 14. Qf3 {is a more solid option. ist eine solidere Möglichkeit.} O-O
15. Rd1 Qe7 16. Bd2 {with a more or less typical position, where White has the
bishop pair, which would be enough for some people to claim a slight advantage.
mit einer mehr oder minder typischen Stellung, wo Weiß das Läuferpaar hat, was
manchen Leuten genügen würde, auf leichten Vorteil zu pochen.}) (13. Qf3 {
is no good due to ist nicht gut wegen} Qe7 {mit nachfolgendem ...e4. with e4
to come.}) 13... Qe7 (13... exd4 14. exd4 Bc7 15. Bg5 $1 Kf8 (15... Qd6 16. f4
Qxd4+ 17. Rf2 {looks promising for White wirkt vielversprechend für Weiß.}) 16.
Qd3 Qd6 17. f4 Nbd5 18. Rae1 {and White must be better. und Weiß muss besser
stehen.}) 14. Bd2 {Not an impressive move by any means, but it was not easy to
find something more useful here. Keineswegs ein beeindruckender Zug, aber es
war nicht einfach, hier etwas Nützlicheres zu finden.} (14. f4 exd4 15. exd4
O-O-O 16. f5 Bc7 17. fxg6 fxg6 18. Qxg6 Rxd4 {did not impress me at all; now
White will have to bail out with beeindruckte mich keineswegs; nun wird Weiß
die Reißleine ziehen müssen mit} 19. Qf7 Qxf7 (19... Qe5 20. Qe6+) 20. Bxf7 {
and hope for equality. und auf Ausgleich hoffen.}) 14... O-O-O $1 15. d5 {
To me, this seemed like the only logical move. Für mich schien dies der einzig
logische Zug zu sein.} (15. Nb5 Bb8 16. a4 {Too difficult. Zu schwierig.})
15... e4 {Clearly the only decent move. Eindeutig der einzig vernünftige Zug.}
(15... c5 16. e4 {is positional capitulation. ist positionelle Kapitulation.})
16. dxc6 Qe5 (16... Rxh3 17. gxh3 Qe5 18. f4 exf3 19. Rxf3 Qh2+ 20. Kf1 {
does not by any means lead to mate. führt keineswegs zum Matt.}) 17. f4 exf3
18. Rxf3 Ng4 {I had missed this elegant little move when I played 14.Bd2.
Diesen eleganten kleinen Zug hatte ich bei 14.Bd2 übersehen.} (18... Qh2+ 19.
Kf2 Bb4 {is what I was considering at first. One amusing continuation would be
ist, woran ich zuerst überlegte. Eine amüsante Fortsetzung wäre} 20. Bxf7 (20.
Be1 Rhe8 21. Rxf6 gxf6 22. Bxf7 Re5 23. Bxg6 Bc5 $13) 20... Rxd2+ 21. Qxd2 Bxc3
$1 {I had only looked at ...Ne4 Ich hatte nur ...Ne4 betrachtet.} (21... Ne4+
22. Nxe4 Bxd2 23. cxb7+ Kb8 24. Nxd2 Qd6 25. Nc4 Nxc4 26. Bxc4 {and White can
play for a win without risk und Weiß kann ohne Risiko auf Gewinn spielen.}) 22.
Qd3 Rd8 $1 23. cxb7+ Kxb7 24. Qxd8 Ne4+ 25. Ke2 Qxg2+ 26. Kd3 Nc5+ 27. Kxc3
Nba4+ 28. Kb4 Qxb2+ 29. Bb3 Qc3+ 30. Ka3 Qb2+ {with a draw by perpetual check.
mit Remis durch Dauerschach.}) 19. cxb7+ Kb8 20. hxg4 Rh1+ 21. Kf2 Rxa1 22. Ne2
{I was pretty sure that I did not have an advantage here, objectively speaking,
but I was fascinated by unusual nature of the position, so I was nevertheless
pretty excited. Ich war ziemlich sicher, dass ich hier objektiv gesehen keinen
Vorteil hatte, doch mich faszinierte die ungewöhnlich Natur der Stellung,
daher war ich trotzdem ziemlich aufgeregt.} Bc5 {Clearly the most natural move.
Eindeutig der natürlichste Zug.} (22... Rd7 {was also possible, with the point
that the tempting war ebenfalls möglich, mit der Pointe, dass das verlockende}
23. Nd4 {is well met by gut mit} Qh2 {beantwortet wird.}) 23. Bc3 {I thought
for a long time here, trying to figure out how to arrange my pieces. Actually
I considered just about every move; both captures on f7, Nd4 and even Bc1,
shutting out the rook on a1. Hier dachte ich lange nach und versuchte zu
ergründen, wie ich meine Figuren aufstellen sollte. Tatsächlich erwog ich so
ungefähr jeden Zug; beide Schlagweisen auf f7, Nd4 und sogar Bc1, um den Turm
auf a1 auszuschließen.} (23. Rxf7 Rxd2 24. Qxd2 Bxe3+ 25. Qxe3 Rf1+ 26. Kxf1
Qxe3 {should be a draw, the white king is too exposed sollte remis sein, der
weiße König ist zu exponiert}) (23. Nd4 Rxd4 {More or less forced, Mehr oder
minder erzwungen,} (23... Bxd4 24. exd4 Qxd4+ 25. Be3 Qb4 26. Rxf7 Qe1+ 27. Kf3
Qf1+ 28. Ke4 $1 Re8+ 29. Kd4 Rd1+ (29... Rd8+ 30. Kc5 Nd7+ 31. Kb4 Qe1+ 32. Bd2
$18) 30. Qxd1 Qxf7 $1 31. Bxf7 Rd8+ 32. Kc5 Rxd1 33. Kc6 {and White is winning
und Weiß gewinnt}) 24. exd4 Bxd4+ 25. Be3 Bxe3+ 26. Rxe3 Qf4+ 27. Rf3 Qd4+ 28.
Re3 $11 {I saw thus far, but I didn't want to settle for a draw like this So
weit sah ich, wollte mich aber nicht auf diese Weise mit einem Remis begnügen})
(23. Bxf7 Qe7 {and here I just could not find a decent move for White. und
hier konnte ich einfach keinen ordentlichen Zug für Weiß finden.}) 23... Qe7
24. g5 $1 {The point of my previous move. Die Pointe meines vorigen Zuges.}
Rdd1 ({For Bei} 24... Qxg5 25. Qe4 {White is perfectly centralised. Here I
looked at ist Weiß perfekt zentralisiert. Hier betrachtete ich} f5 26. Qf4+ $1
Qxf4 27. Nxf4 Kxb7 28. Ne6 Rc8 29. Rg3 {and even though Black is currently a
full exchange up, it is clear that only White can play for a win , und obwohl
Schwarz aktuell eine volle Qualität mehr hat, ist klar, dass nur Weiß auf
Gewinn spielen kann}) (24... Rd7 {was once again interesting. war wiederum
interessant.} 25. Bxf7 (25. Bxg7 Qxg5 26. Qe4 f5 {is no good, since there is
no Qf4 due to the fact that the bishop is hanging taugt nichts, da es wegen
der Tatsache, dass der Läufer hängt, kein Qf4 gibt.}) 25... Bxe3+ 26. Rxe3
Qxf7+ 27. Rf3 Qe7 28. Qxg6 Na4 $1 {and Black is doing quite well according to
the comp. und laut dem Computer fährt Schwarz ganz gut.}) 25. Ng3 {The only
move. Der einzige Zug.} Bd6 26. Qe2 {Once again, the only move, but I spent
some time around here, just to make sure that I was not walking into something
really embarrassing. Wiederum der einzige Zug, aber an dieser Stelle
verbrauchte ich etwas Zeit, nur um sicherzugehen, dass ich nicht in etwas
wirklich Peinliches hineinlief.} (26. Ne4 {would have been an excellent move,
were it not for wäre ein ausgezeichneter Zug gewesen, gäbe es da nicht} Rac1
27. Qe2 Rf1+ {and Black wins. und Schwarz gewinnt.}) 26... Rg1 $2 {This is too
optimistic. Das ist zu optimistisch.} ({Gelfand should have been content with
Gelfand hätte sich begnügen sollen mit} 26... Bxg3+ 27. Rxg3 Rf1+ 28. Qxf1
Rxf1+ 29. Kxf1 Nd7 $1 {and now, with the knight coming to e5 or c5, Black
should be ok. , und jetzt, wo der Springer nach e5 oder c5 kommt, sollte
Schwarz ordentlich stehen.} 30. Bxg7 (30. Rf3 Ne5 31. Bd5 Nxf3 32. Bxf3 Qxe3
33. Bxg7 Qxg5 {keeps the b7-pawn, but is most probably playing for a loss
rather than a win hält den b7-Bauern, ist aber wahrscheinlich eher Spiel auf
Verlust als auf Gewinn.}) 30... Nc5 31. Bc2 Ne4 32. Bxe4 Qxe4 33. a3 $11) 27.
Qd3 $2 {Very logical, preparing Ne4, but there was the much stronger Sehr
logisch, bereitet Ne4 vor, doch es gab das wesentlich stärkere} (27. Qb5 {
I rejected this move mainly because I could not see what my next move would be.
However, looking at the position once more, it seems even harder to find a
move for Black. Ich verwarf diesen Zug hauptsächlich, weil ich nicht sehen
konnte, was mein nächster Zug sein würde. Doch wenn man die Stellung erneut
betrachtet, scheint es sogar noch schwerer zu sein, einen Zug für Schwarz zu
finden.}) 27... Bc7 28. Ne4 Raf1+ $6 {Gelfand, who was in slight time-trouble,
wanted to clarify the situation a bit, but exchanging rooks does not help
Black. Gelfand, der in leichter Zeitnot war, wollte die Situation ein wenig
klären, doch der Turmtausch hilft Schwarz nicht.} 29. Ke2 Rxf3 30. gxf3 {
With two very powerful bishops, and a strong knight on e4, White is really
controlling a lot of squares now. Mit zwei sehr mächtigen Läufern und einem
starken Springer auf e4 kontrolliert Weiß jetzt wirklich eine Menge Felder.} f5
(30... Be5 31. Bxf7 $1 Bxc3 32. bxc3 {keeps an edge for White, as the bishop
obviously cannot be captured. wahrt ein Plus für Weiß, da der Läufer
offensichtlich nicht zu schlagen ist.}) (30... Rg2+ 31. Kf1 (31. Kd1 Rg1+ 32.
Kc2 Rg2+ {and White is getting nowhere und Weiß erreicht nichts}) 31... Rh2 {
was a very logical option, as the white king is now stuck on the first rank.
war eine sehr logische Option, da der weiße König jetzt auf der ersten Reihe
festhängt.} 32. f4 f5 (32... Qf8 33. Nf2 Qh8 34. Bxf7 Qh4 35. Be1 {is a much
more comfortable version for White. ist eine wesentlich bequemere Version für
Weiß.}) 33. gxf6 gxf6 34. Bxf6 (34. Nxf6 Rh3 {with Rxe3 or Bxf4 to come nebst
Rxe3 oder Bxf4.}) 34... Qh7 35. Nf2 Nd7 36. Bd4 Qh4 {and Black obtains
counterplay, which White can nevertheless contain with a few precise moves und
Schwarz erlangt Gegenspiel, welches Weiß nichtsdestotrotz mit ein paar
präzisen Zügen im Zaum halten kann.} 37. Qe2 Qg3 38. Bd5 Nb6 39. Bc6 Nc4 40. b3
Na5 (40... Nd6 41. Qf3 Qh4 42. Kg1 {and White is clearly on top. und Weiß ist
klar obenauf.}) 41. Bd5 Nxb7 42. Qf3 Qxf3 43. Bxf3 {and White should have some
winning chances. und Weiß sollte einige Gewinnchancen haben.}) 31. gxf6 gxf6
32. Bxf6 Qh7 33. Qb5 $1 {By now, I had got quite used to playing with an
exposed king, so making the decision to make room for the king on d3 was an
easy one. Mittlerweile hatte ich mich ziemlich daran gewöhnt, mit exponiertem
König zu spielen, daher fiel die Entscheidung, dem König auf d3 Platz zu
machen, leicht.} Rg2+ $2 (33... Nd7 34. Bd4 Qh3 35. Kd2 $1 Qg2+ 36. Kc3 Rc1+
37. Kb4 {and White is comfortably running away und Weiß läuft bequem davon}) (
33... a6 {with the idea of 34.Qxa6 Qh1 with counterplay, was probably the best
chance. mit der Idee 34.Qxa6 Qh1 mit Gegenspiel war vermutlich die beste
Chance.} 34. Qe8+ Kxb7 35. Nc5+ Ka7 36. Qc6 Qh2+ 37. Kd3 Qd6+ 38. Qxd6 Bxd6 {
and Black fights on in a difficult endgame. und Schwarz kämpft in einem
schwierigen Endspiel weiter.}) 34. Kd3 Qd7+ (34... Nd7 35. Be6 $1 {wins on the
spot. gewinnt auf der Stelle.}) 35. Qxd7 Nxd7 36. Bd5 {Surprisingly, the
"doomed" pawn on b7 is now the decisive factor. Überraschenderweise ist der
"todgeweihte" Bauer auf b7 jetzt der entscheidende Faktor.} Be5 (36... Nxf6 37.
Nxf6 a5 38. Nd7+ Ka7 39. e4 Rxb2 40. e5 {and White should win without any
trouble. und Weiß sollte ohne jede Mühe gewinnen.}) 37. f4 {A blunder, which
won the game immediately. Ein Übersehen, welches die Partie sofort gewann.} (
37. Bxe5+ Nxe5+ 38. Kd4 $1 Nd7 (38... Nxf3+ 39. Kc3 {and Nc5 next will decide ,
und Nc5 als nächstes entscheidet.}) 39. Bc6 Rg1 40. Nf2 {and White should win
easily. und Weiß sollte leicht gewinnen.}) 37... Bc7 $2 (37... Bxf6 38. Nxf6
Nc5+ 39. Kd4 Rc2 {would have enabled Black to fight on. I saw thus far, but
thought that b4 would win easily, as I simply did not realise that Black could
capture on b7 hätte Schwarz ermöglicht weiterzukämpfen. Ich sah so weit,
dachte aber, dass b4 leicht gewinnen würde, da ich einfach nicht begriff, dass
Schwarz auf b7 nehmen kann.} 40. b4 Nxb7 41. Nd7+ Kc7 42. Nf8 {and White keeps
a huge edge. Whether it's enough to win or not, is not clear, though. und Weiß
behält ein riesiges Plus. Ob es zum Gewinn reicht oder nicht, ist allerdings
nicht klar.}) 38. Bc6 {And Boris resigned, as the white knight is inevitably
going ro reach either d7 or a6 via c5 or f6. Certainly one of the most
interesting games I have played in recent times! Und Boris gab auf, denn der
weiße Springer erreicht unweigerlich entweder d7 oder a6 über c5 bzw. f6.
Sicher eine der interessantesten Partien, die ich in letzter Zeit gespielt
habe!} 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 6th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2011.11.18"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A20"]
[WhiteElo "2800"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,A"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2011.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 146"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "6000+30"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 h6 {This waiting move is not unknown. Black is
waiting for White to define the positions of some of his pieces before
defining his own.} 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. e4 Nc6 (5... Bxc3 {right away is far more
popular, and has been the choice of several top-GMs. Magnus has a completely
different idea.}) 6. Nge2 Bc5 {The bishop returns to c5 now that the dark
squares have been weakened.} 7. d3 d6 8. h3 (8. O-O Bg4 {might be
uncomfortable as another defender of the dark squares will be traded off.})
8... Nh7 $5 {[%csl Rd4][%cal Gh7g5,Gg5e6,Rh7f8,Rf8e6,Re6d4] Already quite
original play. Black is targeting the weakness left on h3 after an eventual
0-0, gaining a tempo in a long but useful manoeuvre. He also prepares a
potential f5, though it does not happen in this game.} (8... O-O 9. O-O Be6 {
was also perfectly possible.}) 9. a3 a6 10. O-O Ng5 11. Kh2 Ne6 {The N lands
in e6, cementing the control over d4 and becoming quite useful overall.} 12. f4
Bd7 13. b4 Ba7 14. Nd5 Ned4 15. Nec3 {The position is very messy. White has
more space everywhere but has a glaring weakness in d4. His king is safe for
now, but the more he expands on the kingside the more vulnerable he becomes.
Magnus tries to lure him into doing precisely that.} Be6 16. f5 Bd7 17. Rb1 Nb8
$5 {with the simple idea of playing c6. Black's pieces do seem awkward, but he
has great control over the dark squares since he provoked f5.} 18. c5 (18. Qg4
Kf8 $1 {is very unclear. Notice how it is difficult for White to develop any
sort of kingside initiative.}) 18... dxc5 19. bxc5 Bc8 {It seems like Black is
playing completely aimlessly, but it's actually not so simple. If White's
initiative doesn't take off NOW he will be pushed back in a few moves. The
c5-pawn is quite vulnerable, his B on g2 is not participating in the game just
yet and his structure is not great, not to mention he still has no control
over d4. Kramnik MUST use these next few moves.} 20. Qh5 (20. Qg4 $1 Kf8 {
and again it is unclear why the Q is on g4, however there is a subtle point
this time around.} (20... g5 {is a much stronger move.} 21. Qh5 c6 $1 22. Bxg5
Qxg5 23. Nc7+ $1 (23. Qxg5 hxg5 24. Nc7+ Kd8 25. Nxa8 Bxc5 26. Nb6 Bxb6 27.
Rxb6 Nb5 $1 {traps the rook on b6.}) 23... Ke7 $1 (23... Kd8 $2 24. Qxf7 Rg8
25. g4 {and the presence of the queens clearly favours White.}) 24. Qxg5+ hxg5
25. Nxa8 Bxc5 26. Na4 $44 {is plenty of compensation for Black because of his
strong hold on the dark squares, but White is up the exchange.}) (20... g6 $2
21. Rxb7 h5 22. Qg5 Qxg5 (22... Bxb7 23. Nf6+ Ke7 24. fxg6 $18) 23. Nxc7+ Kd7
24. Nxa8+ Bxb7 25. Bxg5 Bxa8 26. fxg6 $18) 21. Qh5 Nd7 $2 (21... f6 22. Nxf6 $1
$18 Qxf6 (22... gxf6 23. Bxh6+ Rxh6 24. Qxh6+ Kg8 25. Nd5 Nd7 26. Qg6+ Kh8 27.
Qh5+ Kg8 28. g4 {The idea of g5 is unstoppable, and the attack irresistible.}
c6 29. g5 $1 {A great piece sacrifice to finish Black off quickly.} cxd5 30.
exd5 Qf8 31. d6 $18 {and the passive bishop jumps into action with deadly
consequences.}) 23. Nd5 Qf7 (23... Qd8 24. f6 {is clearly crushing.}) 24. Qxf7+
Kxf7 25. Nxc7 Bxc5 26. Nxa8 $18 {and the N should make it back. Black still
has some dark square control but an exchange and a pawn is an exchange and a
pawn.}) (21... Nbc6 22. f6 g6 23. Bxh6+ Ke8 24. Qxg6 {Anyways!} fxg6 25. f7+
Kd7 26. f8=Q Rxf8 27. Rxf8 Qxf8 28. Bxf8 Ne6 29. Rf1 $1 $16 {and White has an
extra pawn; although his bishop on g2 is relatively out of play, Black's
pieces aren't that great either. Black might have some compensation but White
holds the advantage.}) (21... Bxc5 22. f6 g6 23. Qxe5 {[%csl Rc7,Rd4][%cal
Ge5c7,Gc1e3,Ge3d4] is a big disadvantage of not being developed. With the
centre being ripped open like this (Black will soon lose control over d4) his
position becomes hopeless.}) 22. f6 {and now g6 is not possible since Bxh6 is
check.} g6 23. Bxh6+ Ke8 {and now Black would be ok after Qg5 Nxc5, but the
bombshell is...} 24. Qxg6 $1 {and White should be just winning.}) 20... Nd7 21.
Na4 (21. f6 $2 g6 {is just pointless now.}) (21. Bg5 Qxg5 22. Qxg5 hxg5 23.
Nxc7+ Kd8 24. Nxa8 Bxc5 {gives Black a fantastic position for the sacrificed
material. That is assuming that the N on a8 ever gets out without too many
losses.}) 21... c6 $5 {The start of fantastic complications.} (21... Nf6 22.
Qh4 Nxd5 23. Qxd8+ Kxd8 24. exd5 Bd7 $13 {looks quite good for Black, though
White is not without chances in this position. Maybe a strange dynamic
equality.}) 22. Ndb6 (22. Bg5 {was another possibility, but Black should come
out on top after barely sacrificing the exchange.}) 22... Nxc5 {You could say
this is the critical point: if White takes on a8 Magnus will take the N on a4
and it is hard to believe the a8-N will ever be retrieved. Kramnik proves it
is not as easy as that.} 23. f6 g5 {Forced.} 24. Bxg5 $5 (24. Nxc8 Qxc8 $8 25.
Nxc5 Bxc5 26. h4 $5 {is very messy, but was probably better than the game
continuation.} Rg8 (26... gxh4 $6 27. Qxe5+ Ne6 28. Bh3 hxg3+ 29. Kg2 {and
it's hard to find a good move for Black.}) 27. Bh3 Ne6 28. Bb2 Bd6 {and White
has a lot of play for his pawn. Notice how important it is to have activated
the white squared bishop in these lines. That's why I think this idea of 24.
Nxc8 and an eventual h4 is stronger.}) 24... Nxa4 25. Nxa8 (25. Nxa4 $6 b5 26.
Nc3 Be6 {looks quite good for Black.}) 25... b5 26. Be3 Bb8 27. g4 {...with
the idea of g5-g6. There are tons of possibilities for Black, let's look at
some of them.} Rg8 $1 {Personally I think this move is best. It calmly gives
away a pawn, but controls the important g6-square, which means Magnus doesn't
have to worry about the kingside being blasted open any time soon.} (27... c5
$5 28. g5 Be6 29. g6 fxg6 30. Qxg6+ Bf7 31. Qg7 Rg8 32. Qxh6 Bd6 33. Bxd4 exd4+
34. e5 Bxe5+ 35. Kh1 Rxg2 36. Kxg2 Qxa8+ 37. Kg1 $11 {With both kings so
exposed, it is impossible to believe one side will win this. A perpetual is
the most likely outcome.}) (27... Be6 {trying to immediately trap the N on a8,
quick action must be taken.} 28. g5 Ba7 29. g6 Qxa8 30. g7 Rg8 31. Qxh6 $13 {
Black will never rid himself of the strong passed pawns, but he dominates the
rest of the board. I would prefer to be White but anything can happen.}) (27...
Nc5 {bringing the N back into action!} 28. g5 Be6 29. g6 $2 (29. gxh6 $1 Nd7
30. Qg5 Nf8 {is again very difficult to asess.}) 29... fxg6 30. Qxg6+ Bf7 31.
Qg7 Rg8 32. Qxh6 Nce6 $1 {and since the N is so active in this line, Black
should be better. The centre is held nicely and the N on a8 is doomed.}) 28.
Qxh6 Be6 29. Rbc1 Kd7 $1 {Protects the rook on g8, the pawn on c6, threatens ..
.Bxg4 and puts the K on a safer square!} 30. Bxd4 exd4+ 31. e5 Nc3 32. Rxc3 {
Absolutely forced.} (32. Qf4 $2 Ba7 {and White is lost, as pointed out by Vlad
during the postmortem.}) 32... Bxe5+ 33. Kh1 dxc3 34. Qe3 {Again, Black has
options. 34...Bd6, Kd6 and the move played in the game all come to mind.} Qb8 (
34... Bd6 35. Qa7+ (35. Nb6+ Kc7 36. Na4 $1 {a fantastic resource!} bxa4 $4 (
36... Kb8 37. Nxc3 Bc7 {and White's square weaknesses are starting to tell,
since Black's king is rather safe. The game is still complex though.}) 37. Qa7+
Kc8 38. Qa8+ Bb8 39. Qxa6+ Kd7 40. Qxc6#) 35... Ke8 36. Qxa6 Kf8 37. Qxc6 Rh8 {
[%cal Gh8h1] looks dangerous for White.}) (34... Kd6 $5 {Getting away from
potential checks on a7 and defending the bishop. However the king might be a
little over exposed.} 35. d4 Bxf6 36. Qxc3 Ke7 37. Qxc6 Bxd4 38. Nc7 Qd7 39.
Qxd7+ $11) 35. Qc5 $6 {Easy to attach a ?! when using an engine to analyse,
but truth be told this move looks like the most obvious way to a draw.} (35. d4
$5 Bd6 36. d5 cxd5 37. Nb6+ Kd8 (37... Kc6 $2 38. Nxd5 Bxd5 39. Qxc3+ $18) 38.
Nxd5 Bxd5 39. Bxd5 $13 {with a very murky position. Any queen trade will
transpose the game into an opposite coloured bishop endgame in which the
chances for a draw are high.}) 35... Qd6 36. Qa7+ Kd8 37. Qxa6 (37. Nb6 Rg6 {
Black is simply threatening Rxf6, with a decisive advantage, so White has to
do something quickly. It seems like he doesn't have enough resources.} 38. Qa8+
Qb8 39. Qxc6 Rxf6 40. Rxf6 Bxf6 41. Nd5 Bg7 $1 (41... Bd4 42. Nb4 $1 {The only
fighting chance.} (42. Nxc3 $2 Qg3 $19 {and the attack is decisive.}) 42... Qb6
(42... Qg3 43. Qa8+ Ke7 $2 44. Nc6+ $18) 43. Qa8+ Ke7 44. Nc6+ Kd7 45. Nxd4
Qxd4 46. Qxa6 Qxd3 $15 {and Black's king is too vulnerable to try to win, but
obviously he is the only one with chances.}) 42. Nxc3 Qe5 43. Qb6+ Qc7 {
Forcing the exchange of queens.} 44. Qxc7+ Kxc7 {and Black is down a pawn, but
he has dominating bishops and an active king, not to mention a soon to be
passed pawn on the queenside. This looks very difficult to hold for White.})
37... Bd4 $1 {A nice move, which cuts off the coordination between the N and
the Q, as well as creating Black's own threats on the K-side.} 38. Qa5+ Kc8 39.
Qa6+ Kd8 40. Qa5+ Kc8 41. Qa6+ {And... surprise! Magnus claims three-fold
repetition in a position computers claim he is winning! A small explanation is
required. A wild game and you cannot blame the players for being exhausted
after so much calculation.} (41. Qa6+ Kb8 42. Nb6 {The problem is that in this
situation neither of the players considered the move ...Bc8. It does seem
quite strange, but it beautifully prevents all of White's counterplay, leaving
Black with a dominating position.} Bc8 {Note that without this move, the game
would simply end in a perpetual.} 43. Qa8+ (43. Nxc8 Rxc8 44. a4 b4 45. Qc4 Qc5
{and computers think Magnus is winning, but that's not so obvious at a first
glance.}) 43... Kc7 44. Nxc8 (44. Qa7+ Bb7 {is the point} 45. Nd5+ Qxd5 {
and Black wins.}) 44... Rxc8 45. Qa5+ Kb8 {White has now exhausted his
resources. His position will collapse since he must now shift the focus on to
protecting against the c-pawn.}) 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 6th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2011.11.19"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2763"]
[Annotator "RR"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2011.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 146"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qc2 Bb7 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. Qxc3 O-O 8.
Bg5 d6 9. Nd2 Nbd7 10. f3 Rc8 11. e4 h6 12. Bh4 c5 13. Bd3 cxd4 14. Qxd4 Nc5
15. Be2 e5 16. Qf2 Ne6 17. O-O g5 18. Bg3 Nd4 19. Rfd1 Nh5 20. Bd3 Nf4 21. Qf1
Qf6 22. Bf2 Nde6 23. Bc2 Qg6 24. g3 Nh5 25. Qe2 g4 26. fxg4 Nf6 27. h3 Ng5 28.
Kh2 d5 29. Be3 d4 30. Bxg5 hxg5 31. Rf1 Kg7 32. Rf5 Rh8 33. Kg2 Nd7 34. Nf3 f6
35. h4 Qh6 36. Rf1 Rh7 37. b4 Kh8 38. Rh1 gxh4 39. Rxh4 $2 (39. Nxh4 Qe3 40.
Qxe3 $18) 39... Qe3 $16 40. Qxe3 dxe3 41. Bd3 Ba6 42. Rxh7+ Kxh7 43. g5 Bxc4
44. Bxc4 Rxc4 45. gxf6 e2 46. Kf2 Rxe4 47. f7 Kg7 48. Ke1 Kf8 49. Ng5 Rg4 50.
Nh7+ Ke7 51. Rg5 Rxg5 52. Nxg5 a5 53. b5 Kf6 54. Ne4+ Kxf7 55. Kxe2 Ke6 56. g4
Kd5 57. Kd3 Nf8 58. g5 Ne6 59. Ke3 Kc4 60. g6 a4 61. Nd2+ Kd5 62. Nb1 Nd4 63.
Kd3 Ke6 64. Nc3 Kf6 65. Ke4 Nc2 66. Nb1 Nd4 67. Nc3 Nc2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 6th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2011.11.20"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D82"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,A"]
[PlyCount "147"]
[EventDate "2011.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 146"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "6000+30"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bf4 Bg7 5. e3 c5 6. dxc5 Qa5 7. Qb3 {Following
Ivanchuk's success with the strange 4.e3 followed by 5.Qb3 against Svidler, he
decides to take on another sideline. 7.Rc1 is by far the main choice.} Na6 {
Attempting to take back on c5 with the N is very logical. This gives White the
option to retain one of his pawns, but at a great cost.} 8. cxd5 Nxc5 9. Qb5+
Qxb5 10. Bxb5+ Bd7 $44 {White now has his extra pawn on d5, which isn't going
to fall any time soon. However you can't stop evaluating there. The pawn IS
weak is Black holds e4 under control, which means it can't be reinforced
easily. Furthermore Black is ahead on development, and his B on g7 can easily
begin pounding on the queenside with the help of a b5 push.} 11. Rd1 Nh5 12.
Bxd7+ Kxd7 13. Bg3 (13. Nf3 {doesn't look pleasant but maybe it was more
important to develop than to keep the pawn structure.} Nxf4 14. exf4 {[%cal
Gf3e5]} Bxc3+ $5 15. bxc3 f6 16. O-O Ne4 $44 {and Black is down a pawn but not
worse.}) (13. Nge2 Nxf4 14. exf4 (14. Nxf4 b5 $1 15. Rd2 (15. Nxb5 Rhb8 16. Nd4
Rxb2 $15) 15... b4 16. Nd1 b3 {with plentiful compensation.})) 13... b5 {
White's pieces on the kingside are too far away from the queenside action, and
it's hard to believe that White can keep all his pawns alive. White should be
thinking about equality.} 14. d6 e6 {Black's superior development, awesome
blockade of the weak d6-pawn and queenside adctivity give him more than enough
compensation for the pawn.} 15. Nf3 b4 16. Nb5 Nxg3 17. hxg3 Rab8 18. Nbd4 h5
19. Rh4 f5 {Black is using his structure to try to push the white pieces back.
He is in no hurry to regain material as he knows that the d6-pawn is just
doomed.} 20. Ne2 e5 21. Rc4 Rhc8 22. Kf1 Ne4 23. Rc7+ {The pawn was going to
fall anyway, at least this way Ivanchuk gets rid of some active pieces.} Rxc7
24. dxc7+ Kxc7 25. Nd2 Nxd2+ 26. Rxd2 {Black has finally regained his material,
and it is obvious that he has emerged on top. The B is considerably better
than the N, which at the moment lacks any good squares. Not to mention, the
structure favors Black and White's K will be out of play for a few more moves
at the very least. White is forced to be passive.} a5 27. b3 a4 28. bxa4 Ra8
29. Nc1 e4 30. Ne2 Rxa4 31. Nf4 {The N has gained f4, since the e-pawn was
pushed to increase the Bs scope. This isn't a particular big gain, though,
since g5 is still in the fray.} (31. Nd4 Kb6 32. Ke1 Be5 $15 {poses the strong
threat of ...Kc5 and ...Bxd4.}) 31... Bc3 32. Rc2 Kd6 33. Ke2 (33. Nxg6 $4 b3
34. Rxc3 bxa2 35. Rc1 Rb4 $1 $19) 33... g5 34. Nxh5 Kd5 {Black finds himself
down a pawn again, but again the compensation is very obvious. The N on h5 is
out of play and he has pressure on the weak a2, not to mention that White
can't make use of his majority. The only rub in the position is that it isn't
clear how to break through.} 35. f3 g4 (35... Kc4 36. g4 {creates very
unnecessary complications, it is much better to lock down the pawn structure
at once.}) 36. Nf4+ Kc4 37. Ne6 Ra6 38. Nf4 (38. Nd4 exf3+ 39. gxf3 Rh6 {
looked very troubling for White, as now he doesn't control h3, which means his
g3-pawn is a prime target.} 40. fxg4 (40. Nxf5 $2 Rh2+ 41. Kd1 Rh1+ 42. Ke2
Re1+ 43. Kf2 Kd3 {and the rook is history.}) 40... fxg4 41. Kf1 Kd3 $17 {
with a strong initiative against the dangerously corralled king.}) 38... Rh6
39. fxg4 fxg4 40. Rc1 (40. Kf2 {was the best way of holding the fortress, but
it still seems like Black can create dangerous threats.} Rd6 41. Kf1 Kb5 42. a3
bxa3 43. Rxc3 a2 44. Rc1 Kb4 {Black will soon pick up the rook. All that is
left to be seen is if Black can penetrate the N and K defense.} 45. Ra1 Kb3 46.
Rxa2 Kxa2 47. Nh5 Kb2 48. Nf4 Kc2 49. Ke2 Rd2+ 50. Ke1 {However I personally
don't see how.}) 40... Ra6 (40... Rd6 41. Rc2 Kb5 42. a3 bxa3 43. Rxc3 a2 44.
Ra3 Ra6 45. Rxa2 Rxa2+ {leads to the same kind of ending as before. Which I
think is a draw.}) 41. Rc2 Rh6 42. Rc1 Rd6 43. Rc2 Ra6 44. Kf2 Rh6 45. Ke2 Rh1
46. Ng6 Re1+ (46... b3 47. Ne5+ Kd5 48. Rxc3 bxa2 49. Ra3 a1=Q 50. Rxa1 Rxa1
51. Nxg4 {is quite definitely drawn.}) 47. Kf2 Ra1 48. Nf4 Rb1 49. Ne6 Rd1 50.
Nf4 Rd6 51. Ke2 Rc6 $2 {After much shuffling, I think this is where Magnus
missed some serious winning chances.} (51... Kb5 52. a3 (52. Kf2 Ka4 53. Kf1 $1
(53. Ne2 $2 Rd2 $19) 53... Rd2 $6 (53... Ka3 54. Ke2 Bb2 55. Rc4 Bc3 56. Rxe4
Rd2+ 57. Kf1 Kxa2 {And it may be that this is still a draw after Rc4! but it
is not easy. White has had to find a lot of exact moves.}) 54. Rxd2 Bxd2 55.
Ke2 Bc3 56. Kd1 Ka3 57. Kc2 Kxa2 58. Nd5 $11) 52... bxa3 53. Rxc3 a2 54. Rc1
Kb4 {We simply get to the same endgame we have seen previously. However at
this point Black had to try to enter this endgame.}) 52. Rc1 Kb5 53. Nd5 Rc5
54. Nf4 Rc6 55. Nd5 Rc5 56. Nf4 Ka4 57. Ne6 {As opposed to the other line, the
N comes back quickly into the game, and Black doesn't even win the exchange.}
Rd5 58. Rc2 Ka3 59. Nd4 Rc5 60. Nb3 Rd5 61. Nd4 Bxd4 62. Rd2 {Black must
surrender the exchange or he will stand much worse if not just lost after exd4.
} Bc3 $11 63. Rxd5 Kxa2 64. Kd1 b3 65. Rb5 Kb2 66. Rb8 Bf6 67. Kd2 Bc3+ 68. Kd1
Bf6 69. Rf8 Bc3 70. Re8 Ka2 71. Ra8+ Kb1 72. Ra4 b2 73. Ra6 Ba5 {Because Black
is Magnus. He plays cool moves.} 74. Rxa5 {Obviously Black had run out of ways
to try to make progress, and there was no way that White was going to have
time to pick up any pawns. Magnus had been pushing for the entire game, and he
might have had chances, but was unable to finish it off at the end.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 6th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2011.11.22"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D87"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2755"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2011.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 146"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8.
Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O b6 $5 {Usually this move is played after} (10... Na5
11. Bd3) {However, the knight does not have go to a5!} 11. dxc5 (11. Rb1 {
[%csl Rb1]} cxd4 12. cxd4 Bb7 13. Qd2 Rc8 14. Rfc1 Qd6 15. Bb5 Rfd8 16. d5 Ne5
17. Nd4 Ng4 18. Bf4 Be5 $11 {1/2 Erdos,V (2592)-Przezdziecka,M (2278)/Warsaw
2010/CBM 137 Extra (35)}) (11. Rc1 Bb7 12. d5 (12. f3 Rc8 13. Qd2 Na5 14. Bb5
a6 15. Bd3 b5 16. d5 e6 17. dxe6 fxe6 18. Rfd1 Qe7 19. Bg5 Bf6 20. Bxf6 Qxf6
21. Qe3 e5 22. Bc2 Rf7 23. Bb3 c4 24. Bc2 Rd8 25. Rxd8+ Qxd8 26. Rd1 Rd7 27.
Rxd7 Qxd7 28. Qb6 {1/2 Lalic,B (2495)-Romanishin,O (2570)/Sarajevo 1988/CBM 008
}) (12. Bb5 Na5 13. d5 e6 14. c4 Qe7 15. Nf4 exd5 16. exd5 Rad8 17. Re1 Qf6 18.
Qd2 Qf5 $1 19. Qe2 Bc8 $1 $11 {[%cal Yc8d7] 1-0 Knaak,R (2490)-Jansa,V (2445)/
Bratislava 1983/MCD (26)}) 12... Ne5 13. Bb3 (13. Bb5 a6 $1 (13... e6 14. c4
Ng4 15. Bf4 e5 16. Bd2 Qh4 17. h3 Nf6 18. f3 Bh6 19. Rc3 Ne8 20. Bxh6 Qxh6 21.
Bxe8 Rfxe8 22. a4 $16 {1-0 Portisch,L (2600)-Schmidt,W (2450)/Indonesia 1983/
MCD (44)}) 14. Ba4 Nc4 15. Bf4 Nb2 16. Qc2 Nxa4 17. Qxa4 e6 $132 18. dxe6 $140
Qd3 $1) 13... c4 14. Bc2 e6 $1 15. dxe6 Nd3 $1 (15... fxe6 16. Nd4 Qe7 17. f4
Nc6 18. e5 Nxd4 19. Bxd4 b5 20. Rb1 Bc6 21. Qg4 Rad8 22. h4 $14 {1/2 Zilka,S 
(2479)-Petr,M (2462)/Czechia 2010/CBM 139 Extra (68)}) 16. Bxd3 Qxd3 17. exf7+
Rxf7 18. Ng3 Bxe4 19. Qa4 Qd5 20. Nxe4 Qxe4 21. Rfe1 Qd5 $11 {1/2 Polugaevsky,
L (2625)-Miles,A (2560)/Wijk aan Zee 1979/MCD (28)}) (11. Qd2 Bb7 12. Rac1 Rc8
(12... Qd7 13. Rfd1 Rfd8 {1/2 Despotovic,M (2355)-Simic,R (2485)/Belgrade 1988/
TD (39)} 14. Bh6 $5) (12... e6 13. Rfd1 Rc8 14. Bb5 cxd4 15. cxd4 Ne7 16. Rxc8
Nxc8 $11 {[%cal Yc8d6] 0-1 Vakhidov,J (2392)-Kasimdzhanov,R (2678)/Tashkent
UZB 2011/The Week in Chess 888 (57)}) 13. Rfd1 (13. h4 Qd7 (13... Na5 14. Bd3
e5 $1 15. Bg5 Qd7 $11) 14. h5 Na5 15. Bd3 cxd4 16. cxd4 Rxc1 17. Rxc1 Rc8 18.
h6 Rxc1+ 19. Qxc1 Bf8 20. Nc3 Qc8 21. d5 Nc4 22. Bd4 Nd6 23. Qf4 f6 24. e5 fxe5
25. Bxe5 Nf7 26. Bxg6 Nxe5 27. Bf5 Ng6 28. Bxc8 Nxf4 29. Bxb7 Bxh6 $11 {
1/2 Lputian Smbat G (2540)-Romanishin Oleg M (2555)/Lvov 1987 (31)}) 13... cxd4
14. cxd4 Qd6 (14... e6 15. Bh6 Qh4 $5 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Qe3 (17. d5 Ne5 18. Qd4
Qf6 19. Bb3 exd5 20. Rxc8 Rxc8 21. exd5 Ba6 22. Nc3 Nd7 23. Ne4 Qxd4 24. Rxd4
Rc1+ 25. Rd1 Rxd1+ 26. Bxd1 Bc4 $17 {0-1 Enchev,I (2435)-Grigorov,G (2497)/
Albena BUL 2011/The Week in Chess 867 (33)}) 17... Rfd8 18. Bb5 Qf6 19. Bxc6
Rxc6 20. Rxc6 Bxc6 $11 21. d5 $6 exd5 22. e5 Qe7 23. Nd4 Bd7 24. f4 Rc8 {
0-1 Meyer,M (2348)-Petr,M (2468)/Munich GER 2010/The Week in Chess 840 (52)})
15. d5 (15. Bf4 {1-0 Zhukova,N (2499)-Nebolsina,V (2310)/Moscow 2010/CBM 138
Extra (39)} e5 $11) (15. Bh6 Qb4 $1 16. Qxb4 Nxb4 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. a3 Nc6 19.
d5 Ne5 20. Bb5 Rxc1 21. Rxc1 Rc8 22. Rxc8 Bxc8 23. Nd4 g5 24. f3 {1/2 Stella,A
(2310)-Codenotti,M (2169)/Bratto 2010/CBM 138 Extra}) (15. e5 $5 Qd7 16. e6 $5
fxe6 17. Nf4 {1-0 Noori,A (2135)-Aghamohammadi,M/Iran 2000/EXT 2003 (28)} Nd8
$13 {A.Giri}) 15... Na5 16. Bb5 Rxc1 17. Rxc1 Rc8 (17... e6 $1 18. Bf4 Be5 19.
Bxe5 Qxe5 20. Nc3 Rc8 $1 $132 {A.Giri}) (17... f5 $5 {A.Giri}) 18. h3 (18.
Rxc8+ Bxc8 19. Nd4 $1 $14 {A.Giri}) 18... Rxc1+ 19. Qxc1 e6 20. Nf4 exd5 21.
Nxd5 f5 22. f3 fxe4 23. fxe4 Qe5 $11 {1/2 Topalov,V (2805)-Anand,V (2787)/
Sofia 2010/CBM 136/[Giri,Anish] (60)}) 11... Qc7 {A typical idea. After cxb6
axb6 White's queenside pawn majority will be nearly useless.} (11... Ne5 12.
Qxd8 Rxd8 13. Bd5 Rb8 (13... Ba6 $142) 14. c6 $16 {1-0 Kanep,M (2523)-Novik,M 
(2468)/Finland 2008/EXT 2009 (26)}) 12. f4 $146 {This move doesn't look
dangerous before Black has played ...e7-e6.} (12. cxb6 axb6 13. Rb1 Rb8 14. Bb5
Ne5 15. f4 Ng4 16. Qc1 Bb7 17. h3 Nxe3 18. Qxe3 Rfc8 19. e5 Bd5 20. c4 Ba8 21.
Nc3 Qb7 22. Qe2 e6 23. Rbd1 Rd8 24. Ba4 Rbc8 $44 {0-1 Ju,W (2500)-Gao Rui 
(2464)/Hefei 2010/CBM 136 Extra (38)}) (12. Qd2 $6 Rd8 13. Qb2 bxc5 14. Qa3 Ne5
15. Bd5 Rb8 16. Qxc5 Qxc5 17. Bxc5 Ba6 18. c4 e6 $19 {1/2 Zhukova,N (2499)
-Nebolsina,V (2310)/Moscow 2010/CBM 138 Extra (54)}) (12. Nd4 Ne5 (12... Bb7
13. cxb6 axb6 14. Nb5 Qe5 15. Bd5 e6 16. Bd4 Qf4 17. g3 Qh6 18. Bxc6 Bxc6 19.
Qe2 $16 {1-0 Christiansen,L (2485)-Jansa,V (2480)/Luzern 1982/EXT 1997 (40)})
13. Nb5 (13. Be2 Bb7 14. cxb6 axb6 15. Nb5 Qc6 16. f3 Nc4 $6 (16... Rfc8 17.
Qb3 Nd7 {[%cal Yd7c5,Yc5a4] R.Simic}) 17. Bxc4 Qxc4 18. Qb3 $14 {1-0 Portisch,
L (2635)-Ftacnik,L (2545)/Wijk aan Zee 1985/MCL (72)}) 13... Qb8 14. Be2 (14.
Bf4 bxc5 15. Rb1 a6 16. Nd4 Qd6 17. Bd5 Ra7 18. Nc6 Rc7 19. Na5 Rd7 20. Nc4 Qc7
21. Nb6 Rd6 $13 {0-1 Paunovic,D (2320)-Jansa,V (2440)/Vrnjacka Banja 1983/MCD 
(83)}) 14... bxc5 15. f4 Ng4 16. Bxc5 a6 17. Na3 Qc7 18. Bd4 e5 19. fxe5 Nxe5
$44 {1/2 Aronian,L (2808)-Grischuk,A (2747)/Kazan 2011/CBM 143/[Caruana] (70)})
12... bxc5 13. Rb1 Rd8 (13... Bg4 $6 14. h3 Bxe2 15. Qxe2 Bxc3 16. f5 $44) 14.
Qa4 (14. Qe1 Bb7 {[%cal Rc6a5]} 15. Rb5 Na5 16. Rxc5 Qb6 17. Bxf7+ $5 Kxf7 18.
Rf5+ gxf5 19. Bxb6 axb6 $13) (14. Qc2 $5) 14... Na5 15. Bd5 Bd7 $1 16. Qa3 Rac8
17. f5 e6 $1 18. Bf4 Be5 19. fxe6 fxe6 20. Bb3 Nxb3 21. axb3 Rf8 {Black has
comfortably consolidated his position and has no problems.} 22. Qc1 (22. Bxe5
Qxe5 23. Qxa7 Bc6 $44) 22... c4 23. b4 Qb6+ 24. Kh1 Bg7 25. e5 (25. Ra1 $142
$132) 25... Bc6 26. Nd4 Bd5 {[%csl Gd5]} 27. Ra1 Qb7 28. Qc2 Rc7 29. Bg3 Rcf7
30. Rxf7 Qxf7 31. Qe2 g5 32. h3 h5 33. Kg1 h4 34. Bh2 Qg6 35. Rd1 $11 g4 $5 {
[%mdl 512] Black is playing for a win but it is a double-edged sacrifice.} 36.
hxg4 Qg5 {[%cal Yg7h6]} 37. Nf5 $1 exf5 $6 (37... h3 $1 {was correct. White
had to find the best defense} 38. Rd4 $1 {[%cal Rh2f4]} (38. gxh3 $4 Rxf5) {
with a logical draw after} 38... Qc1+ 39. Rd1 Qg5 $11) 38. Rxd5 fxg4 39. Kh1 h3
40. gxh3 gxh3 41. Rd4 $6 (41. Rd1 $142 $1 {[%cal Yd1g1,Ye2e4] , and White
seizes the initiative.}) 41... Qc1+ 42. Rd1 Qxc3 43. e6 Qb2 $1 44. Qe4 Qg2+ 45.
Qxg2 hxg2+ 46. Kxg2 Re8 47. Rd6 Bf8 48. Rc6 Bxb4 49. Rxc4 a5 50. Rc6 Kg7 51.
Kf3 Kf6 52. Ke4 Rxe6+ 53. Be5+ Kf7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 6th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2011.11.23"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2811"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2011.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 146"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Be3 c5 8.
Qd2 cxd4 9. cxd4 Nc6 10. Rd1 O-O 11. Nf3 Bg4 12. Be2 Rc8 13. O-O Qa5 14. h3
Bxf3 15. Bxf3 Qxd2 16. Rxd2 Na5 17. e5 Nc4 18. Rd3 Nxe3 19. fxe3 Rc7 20. Be4
Rfc8 21. Rb3 b6 22. Kf2 f6 23. exf6 Bxf6 24. Ke2 Kg7 25. Rd1 Rc3 26. Rd3 Rc2+
27. Rd2 R2c3 28. Rd3 Rc2+ 29. Rd2 R2c3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 6th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2011.11.24"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2730"]
[Annotator "RR"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2011.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 146"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. c4 Nc6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 g6 8.
Nc3 Bg7 9. Be3 Nf6 10. h3 O-O 11. O-O a6 12. a4 Rfc8 13. b3 e6 14. Rc1 d5 15.
Nxc6 bxc6 16. e5 Ne8 17. f4 a5 18. Ne4 Bf8 19. Rf3 Qd8 20. Nc5 Rcb8 21. Bf2 Nc7
22. Qe2 Rb4 23. Kh2 Be7 24. Rc2 Qf8 25. Nd7 Qd8 26. Nc5 Qf8 27. cxd5 Nxd5 28.
g3 Qc8 29. Be1 Rb6 30. Rc4 Rab8 31. Qd1 Bxc5 32. Rxc5 Qf8 33. Qc2 Nb4 34. Bxb4
Rxb4 35. Rxa5 Qd8 36. Rc5 Rxb3 $1 (36... Rd4 $2) 37. Rxb3 Rxb3 38. Qxb3 Qd2+
39. Kh1 Qe1+ 40. Kg2 Qe2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 6th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2011.11.25"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2758"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2011.11.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 146"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qc2 Bb4+ $5 {An interesting
transposition to the Catalan, avoiding the dangerous lines with ...c5 and
d4-d5.} 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Bg2 c6 8. O-O (8. c5 $5 {has scored quite well in
practice and is logical, too, from the structural point of view.} O-O 9. Na3
Bb7 (9... d5 10. cxd6 Qxd6 11. O-O {[%cal Ga6e2,Gd2f4]} Rc8 12. Rfe1 Bb7 13.
Nc4 $16 {Shulman,Y (2632)-Friedel,J (2516)/Ledyard 2009/CBM 129 Extra (1-0, 31)
}) 10. b4 a5 11. Nc4 Nd5 12. Rb1 axb4 13. Nxb6 Nxb6 14. Rxb4 Ra6 15. Qb3 d5 16.
Rxb6 Rxb6 17. cxb6 c5 18. O-O c4 19. Qb2 Nc6 20. a4 $16 {Topalov,V (2791)
-Zhigalko,S (2592)/Dresden 2008/CBM 128 (1-0, 40)}) 8... d5 9. Ne5 Nfd7 ({
Delaying this knight retreat offers White additional possibilities:} 9... O-O
10. Rd1 Nfd7 (10... Qc8 11. Nc3 Nbd7 12. Rac1 Nxe5 13. dxe5 Nd7 14. cxd5 cxd5
15. Bf4 g5 16. Bxd5 $1 {Ponomariov,R (2734)-Kramnik,V (2790) Dortmund 2010 CBM
138 [Ponomariov] (1-0, 36)}) 11. cxd5 cxd5 12. e4 $1 {This is the difference!
The e-pawn is not pinned any more.} (12. Bf4 Nxe5 13. dxe5 {transposes}) 12...
Nf6 (12... Nxe5 13. exd5 $1 $36 {Dzagnidze,N (2551)-Skripchenko,A (2460)
Antakya 2010 CBM 140 [Marin,M] (0-1, 29)}) 13. Nc3 Bb7 14. exd5 Nxd5 15. Rac1 (
15. Qb3 Nd7 16. Nxd5 exd5 17. Bxd5 Bxd5 18. Qxd5 Nxe5 19. Qxe5 Bf6 20. Qf5 Qxd4
21. Bc3 Qc5 22. Qxc5 bxc5 23. Bxf6 gxf6 24. Rac1 Rab8 25. b3 $16 {Llanes
Hurtado,M (2446)-Guliev,L (2454) Santa Cruz de la Palma 2007 (1-0, 45)}) 15...
a6 16. Qb3 Nxc3 17. Bxc3 Bxg2 18. Kxg2 Qd5+ 19. Qxd5 exd5 20. Bd2 $16 {Gupta,A
(2590)-Zeng,C (2377) Chennai 2011 (1-0, 45)}) 10. cxd5 cxd5 11. Bf4 Nxe5 12.
dxe5 O-O 13. Rd1 {This position has proven quite viable for Black. It is quite
possible that Nakamura did not expect this course of events at all, since the
novelty he produced one move later hardly changes the evaluation.} Bb7 (13...
Qd7 {is also playable.} 14. Nc3 Rc8 (14... Nc6 $2 15. Bxd5 $1 exd5 16. Nxd5 $16
{Bogdanovski,V (2435)-Mitkov,N (2492)/Gevgelija 2002/CBM 087 ext (1-0, 41)})
15. Rac1 Bb7 (15... Nc6 16. Qa4 Bb7 17. h4 a6 18. Nxd5 exd5 19. Bxd5 {Banusz,T
(2517)-Bokros,A (2479)/Szentgotthard 2010/CBM 135 (1/2, 62)} Bf8 $5) 16. h4 Nc6
17. Qd2 Rd8 18. e3 Rac8 19. Qe2 Qe8 20. h5 h6 21. Qg4 Kh8 $11 {Prudnikova,S 
(2407)-Ioseliani,N (2491)/Bled 2002/EXT 2003 (1/2, 43)}) ({But} 13... g5 $6 {
is obviously premature, since the e5-pawn is not attacked yet.} 14. Be3 Nd7 15.
Bd4 Rc8 16. Nc3 Qc7 17. e4 $36 {Koneru,H (2603)-Thejkumar,M (2414)/Mumbai 2008/
CBM 124 Extra (1-0, 27)}) 14. Nd2 $146 {Not that great a square for the knight.
} ({Black did not face big problems after} 14. Nc3 {either:} Nc6 15. h4 (15.
Nxd5 $6 exd5 16. Bxd5 Qe8 17. Qe4 Rd8 18. Rac1 Ba8 $17 {Feller,S (2424)-Palac,
M (2582)/Cap d'Agde 2006/EXT 2007 (0-1, 45)}) 15... Rc8 {The most logical
developing move.} (15... h6 {An unnecessary weakening.} 16. e4 d4 17. Qe2 Qb8
18. Nb5 Rd8 19. Qg4 Kf8 $6 (19... g6 20. Rac1 Nxe5 $13) 20. Rac1 a6 (20... Nxe5
$6 21. Qh5 $1 Bf6 22. Nc7 $16) 21. Nd6 $16 {Razuvaev,Y (2560)-Nikolenko,O 
(2475)/Pardubice 1993/TD (1-0, 34)}) 16. Rac1 (16. e4 d4 17. Qe2 Qe8 18. Nb5
Bc5 19. a3 Rd8 20. b4 Be7 21. Qb2 d3 22. Bg5 $13 {Rahman,Z (2538)-Roktim,B 
(2389)/Dhaka 2005/CBM 105 ext (1/2, 64)}) 16... a6 17. Qb1 Qe8 18. Rc2 (18. Na4
Bd8 19. b3 Bc7 20. Be3 Nxe5 21. Bxb6 Bxb6 {1/2 Damljanovic,B (2585)-Roiz,M 
(2605)/Valjevo 2007/CBM 119}) 18... b5 19. a3 b4 20. axb4 Nxb4 21. Rcc1 Bc5 22.
Na2 Nxa2 23. Qxa2 Qb5 24. e3 a5 $36 {Lastin,A (2590)-Tkachiev,V (2605)/Sochi
2005/CBM 107 (1/2, 42)}) 14... Nc6 (14... Na6 $5 15. e4 Rc8 16. Qb1 Nb4 17.
exd5 Bxd5 18. Be4 Bxe4 19. Nxe4 Qe8 20. Nc3 (20. Nd6 $13) 20... Qc6 21. a3 Na6
22. Ne4 Nc5 23. Nxc5 Bxc5 $11 {Iskusnyh,S (2455)-Lastin,A (2611)/Samara 2011/ 
(1/2, 35)}) 15. Nf3 $6 {Underestimating the force of the next move.} (15. h4
$142 {Carlsen} Rc8 $36) 15... g5 $1 {I cannot help remembering another
occasion in which a plan based on ...g7-g5 yielded Carlsen a great win. It was
the Hedgehog from Kramnik,V (2799)-Carlsen,M (2733) Wijk aan Zee 2008 CBM 122 
[Marin,M] (0-1, 57)} 16. Be3 g4 {Well, here everything is simpler: Black wins
a pawn. However, one should also pay attention to his stability in the centre,
ensured precisely by the far advanced pawn.} 17. Nd4 Nxe5 $15 18. Bh6 Re8 19.
e4 Bc5 20. Nb3 Rc8 21. Nxc5 Rxc5 22. Qa4 Bc6 23. Qd4 Qf6 $17 24. Bf4 dxe4 25.
Bxe4 Nf3+ $3 {If my endgame analysis is correct, this is a brilliant move,
leading almost by force to a won position, despite the presence of
opposite-coloured bishops..} (25... Bxe4 26. Qxe4 Nf3+ 27. Kg2 h5 $17 {would
have been a reasonable alternative.}) 26. Bxf3 Qxd4 27. Rxd4 Bxf3 28. Rd7 Rd5
29. Rxd5 (29. Rxa7 Red8 $19) 29... exd5 30. Be3 Re4 31. Re1 d4 32. Bd2 Rxe1+ {
(!) The same comment applies to this move.} (32... Be2 $17) 33. Bxe1 Be2 $1 {
Caging the enemy king.} 34. f4 {White cannot do without this freeing move,
which allows Black to create a second far advanced passed pawn.} (34. Bd2 Kg7
35. Kg2 Kg6 36. h3 h5 37. hxg4 hxg4 38. Bf4 (38. f4 gxf3+ 39. Kf2 Kf5 40. Bf4
Ke4 41. Bb8 a6 42. Ba7 b5 43. Bb8 Bc4 44. a3 Bd5 45. Bf4 Kd3 46. Be5 Kc4 47.
Bf6 d3 48. Ke3 Be4 $19) 38... Kf5 39. Bh6 Ke4 40. Bg7 b5 41. Bf6 a6 42. Bg7 Bc4
{Just as in the game, it is important to clear the way for the king. With the
actual structure, the space for invasion is too narrow.} 43. a3 (43. b3 Bd3 44.
Bf6 Bb1 45. a3 Bc2 46. b4 Bd3 47. Bg7 Be2 48. Bf6 Kd3 49. Bg7 Kc4 $19) 43...
Be2 44. Bf6 Kd3 45. Be5 Kc4 46. Bf6 d3 47. Bc3 Kb3 $19) 34... gxf3 35. Bf2 d3
36. Be1 Kg7 37. Kf2 Kf6 38. Ke3 Kf5 39. h3 {Another important decision.} ({
Keeping the pawn on h2 would not save him, either:} 39. Bc3 Kg4 40. Kf2 Kh3 41.
Kg1 Bd1 42. Bd2 ({The attempt to keep the bishop prisoner with} 42. b3 {
fails to} Bc2 43. Kf2 Bb1 44. a3 Ba2 45. b4 Bd5 {The bishop is right in time
to defend f3.} 46. Kg1 b5 47. Bd2 Be4 {We will see a lot of this setup, with
two pawns close to the promotion square and defended by the bishop.} 48. Bc3
Kg4 $19) 42... Ba4 (42... Bc2 {is less effective now:} 43. Kf2 Bb1 $6 44. a3
Kxh2 45. Kxf3 {White cannot be sure of a draw at all, but Black's winning plan
is less obvious here.}) 43. Bc3 Bc6 44. Bd2 Bd5 45. b3 a5 46. Be1 (46. Be3 b5
47. Bd2 b4 48. Be3 Bxb3 $1) 46... Bc6 (46... a4 $6 47. bxa4 Bxa2 48. a5 b5 49.
a6 Bd5 50. a7 Kg4 51. Kf2 {White can hold all the enemy pawns, while the black
bishop is partly restricted.}) 47. Bd2 a4 $1 {Weakening the light squares in
order to prepare the king's invasion.} 48. bxa4 Bxa4 49. Kf2 Bc6 50. Kg1 b5 51.
Be3 Bd5 52. a3 Be4 53. Bd2 Kg4 54. Kf2 Kf5 55. h3 Ke6 56. Be3 Kd5 57. Ke1 Kc4
58. Kd2 Kb3 59. Bc5 h5 $22 $19 60. Kd1 b4 $1 {><b4} 61. axb4 Kc3 $19) 39... h5
40. Bd2 Bf1 41. Be1 ({Here is another possible ending with the same familiar
winning method:} 41. h4 Kg4 42. Kf2 (42. Be1 Be2 {/\...f5-f4}) 42... Be2 43.
Bf4 Bd1 44. Ke3 Bc2 45. Kf2 Bb1 46. a3 Ba2 47. Bc1 Bd5 48. Bf4 b5 49. Bd2 a6
50. Bc3 Be4 51. Bd2 Kf5 52. Ke3 Ke6 53. b3 {Hoping to create a barrier, but it
will not last for long.} Kf5 54. a4 Kg4 55. axb5 axb5 56. Kf2 Bd5 57. b4 Be4 {
A familiar setup.} 58. Be3 Kf5 {Now, everything is ready for the invasion.} 59.
Bf4 Ke6 60. Bd2 Kd5 61. Ke3 Kc4 62. Kf2 Kb3 63. Ke3 Kc2 64. Be1 f2 $19) 41...
Bxh3 42. Kxd3 ({The most fantastic win arises after} 42. Kxf3 Bg4+ 43. Ke3 Be2
44. Bc3 Kg4 45. Be1 f6 {Playing for zugzwang.} 46. Bf2 f5 47. b3 (47. Be1 f4+
48. gxf4 h4 49. f5 h3 50. f6 h2 51. f7 h1=Q 52. f8=Q Qxe1 $19) 47... b5 (47...
f4+ 48. gxf4 h4 49. f5 $1) 48. a3 a6 49. b4 {The tempi have been exhausted,
but now the queenside configuration is lethal for the white king.} f4+ $1 50.
gxf4 h4 51. f5 h3 52. f6 d2 $1 53. Kxd2 (53. Kxe2 h2 54. f7 d1=Q+ $1) 53... h2
(53... Bc4 54. Bg1 Kg3 55. Bb6 h2 56. Bc7+ Kg2 57. Bxh2 Kxh2 58. Kc3 $11) 54.
f7 h1=Q 55. f8=Q Qd1+ 56. Kc3 Qd3+ 57. Kb2 Qd2+ $19 {with mate to follow soon.
Quite an unexpected finish!!}) 42... Bf1+ 43. Ke3 Kg4 44. Kf2 Bb5 45. Bc3 Bc6
46. Be5 b5 47. Bb8 a6 48. Bc7 f5 49. b3 Bd5 50. Bd6 f4 51. gxf4 (51. Bxf4 h4
$19) 51... h4 52. f5 Kxf5 53. Ke3 Kg4 54. Kf2 h3 55. Ke3 Be4 56. Kf2 Bb1 {
The already known plan of widening the area for infiltration.} 57. a3 Ba2 58.
b4 Bf7 $1 ({Black's plan is familiar to us: with two pawns close to promoting
and sustained by the bishop, Black keeps both white pieces busy and can
quietly march in with the king.} 58... Bf7 59. Bc7 Bh5 60. Bb8 Kf5 61. Bc7 Ke4
62. Bd6 Kd3 63. Bb8 (63. Kg3 $2 h2) ({The black bishop's placement is
explained by the following variation:} 63. Bh2 Kc2 64. Kg3 Bg4 65. Bg1 Kb3 {
Once again this setup. Black's kingside group remains untouchable. The bishop
on g2 would be less effective, because Black could not re-activate it if
necessary. Besides, Nakamura has kept the f1-square defended, so there was no
way to get it there.}) 63... Kc3 64. Kg1 Kb3 65. Bc7 Kxa3 66. Ba5 Bg4 $22 $19)
0-1

[Event "London Classic 3rd"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2011.12.03"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Howell, David"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2633"]
[Annotator "RR"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2011.12.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 146"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 O-O 6. O-O Re8 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4
Bf8 9. Nbd2 d6 10. d4 exd4 11. Nxd4 Bd7 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Bd3 Be7 14. f4 Qb8
15. Bxf6 Bxf6 16. e5 dxe5 17. Ne4 Qxb2 18. f5 Red8 19. Bc4 Be8 20. Qh5 Rd6 21.
Rab1 Qc2 22. Qg4 Kf8 23. h3 Rad8 24. Kh2 Qa4 25. Rb4 Qa3 26. Rb7 R6d7 27. Qf3
Qa4 28. Qe2 Re7 $2 (28... Qa5 29. Qh5 Rd6 $11) 29. Nxf6 $18 gxf6 30. Qe3 Red7
31. Qc5+ Rd6 32. Rxc7 Qc2 {[%tqu "En","","","","c7c8","",10]} 33. Rc8 $3 R8d7
34. Be6 $1 Ke7 35. Bxd7 Bxd7 36. Rh8 Qd3 37. Rf3 Qd5 38. Qxa7 e4 39. Qb8 $6 (
39. Rf1 Qe5+ 40. Kh1 $18) 39... Qe5+ $16 40. Rg3 1-0

[Event "London Classic 3rd"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2011.12.04"]
[Round "2"]
[White "McShane, Luke J"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2671"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[Annotator "Saunders,J"]
[PlyCount "166"]
[EventDate "2011.12.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 146"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. c3 d6 8. a4
Rb8 9. d4 Bb6 10. axb5 axb5 11. Qd3 {This line for Black is unappealing for
the materialists amongst us as in involves giving up the b-pawn.} O-O 12. Bg5
h6 13. Bxf6 Qxf6 14. Qxb5 Na7 {And it involves putting the knight on what
looks like a revolting square. It reminds me of Muhammed Ali and his
'rope-a-dope' tactics. We know the guy is good at what he does but the tactic
doesn't look too smart for all that.} 15. Qa4 Qg6 16. Re1 Bh3 17. g3 Qf6 18.
Nbd2 {Black has succeeded in weakening some squares around the kingside and he
has the two bishops. But give me Luke's extra pawn any day.} Rbd8 19. Qc4 g5
20. Qd3 Bg4 21. Nc4 Nc6 {[diag]} 22. Nxb6 ({If you downloaded the game within
12 hours of the game being played, you might find your copy of the game score
says} 22. Re3 {here. It's wrong, so please amend to what you see here. Some
gremlin crept into our broadcasting system yesterday and garbled the score. It
was only when I looked at the score critically today, with my favourite engine,
switched on that the error made itself apparent. I checked with the arbiters
and they told me the score was as given in the text.}) 22... cxb6 23. Re3 {
Magnus is doing his best to probe various weaknesses in Luke's position but
he's not really getting anywhere. A pawn is still a pawn and Luke is better.}
Kg7 24. Kg2 h5 25. h3 Bd7 26. Ba4 Ra8 27. Bxc6 Bxc6 28. Rxa8 Rxa8 29. Qc4 Rc8
30. Qa6 Rb8 31. d5 Bd7 32. h4 {Luke can't stop the black pawn coming to g4 but
he doesn't want to have to exchange the h-pawn when it arrives and risk
opening the h-file.} g4 33. Nd2 Qd8 34. Qa3 Qc7 35. Re1 b5 36. Ra1 b4 {Magnus
is getting desperate and trying to bluff his opponent.} 37. cxb4 Bb5 38. Qe3 f6
39. Qc3 (39. Ra7 Rb7 40. Rxb7 Qxb7 41. Qc3 {is possible but there are vague
chances of Black coming round the back of the white position with his queen
and perhaps establishing the bishop on f3.}) 39... Qb7 40. b3 Kg6 41. Rc1 Qb6
42. Kg1 Be2 43. Qc6 Qd8 ({Not falling for the devilish trap:} 43... Qxb4 $4 44.
Qd7 $1 {when} Qxd2 {loses to} 45. Qf5+ Kh6 46. Qxf6+ Kh7 {and now the white
rook enters the game with check:} 47. Rc7+ {and it's all over.}) 44. Nc4 Rxb4
45. Nxd6 Rb6 46. Qc2 Qxd6 47. Qxe2 Rxb3 48. Rd1 {The black queen cannot move
or the d-pawn would advance.} Rb4 49. Qc2 Rb8 50. Qc3 Ra8 51. Qc6 Rd8 (51...
Qxc6 52. dxc6 Rc8 53. Rc1 Kf7 54. f3 {and White can soon engineer a passed
pawn on the other flank.}) 52. Rb1 Qd7 53. Kg2 Qd6 54. Rb3 Qd7 55. Rb1 {
White gains time with repetitions.} Qd6 56. Rb3 Qd7 57. Qa6 ({Luke hesitates
but in truth it is very, very hard to come up with anything concrete here and
actually very easy for White to mess it up, e.g.} 57. Rb6 $6 Qxc6 58. dxc6 (58.
Rxc6 Ra8 {and the rook can menace the e-pawn and police the advance of the
d-pawn from d4}) 58... Rd1 {and Black can mount an ideal defence, cutting off
the king and preparing to play Rc1 and keep tabs on the c-pawn.}) 57... Qc8 58.
Qd3 Qc5 59. Rc3 Qb4 60. Rc4 {[diag] Time control reached but this is probably
an error.} Qe1 $1 {With seconds left on his clock, Magnus follows his
instincts. He cuts off his opponent's king and prepares to invade with his
rook via the a- or b-files.} 61. Qc3 Qxc3 62. Rxc3 Ra8 {Again, Magnus is
contemplating active defence behind the d-pawn, and also threatening the
e-pawn from the flank.} 63. Rd3 Kf7 64. f3 ({What to do? If} 64. Kf1 {Magnus
replies} Ra2 {to keep the king cut off}) ({if} 64. Rd2 {, Magnus can play} Ra3
{to stop f2-f3 and also keep the king at bay. Meanwhile the black king is near
enough to stop the advance of the d-pawn.}) 64... Ra2+ 65. Kf1 Ra1+ 66. Kf2
Ra2+ 67. Kf1 (67. Ke3 Rg2 {also leads nowhere.}) 67... Ra1+ 68. Ke2 Ra2+ 69.
Rd2 gxf3+ 70. Ke1 Ra4 71. d6 Rxe4+ 72. Kf2 {[diag]} Ke8 ({Is Luke in danger of
losing? No. Magnus doesn't fall for} 72... Re2+ $4 73. Rxe2 fxe2 {which looks
like a Black win until White bangs down} 74. g4 $3 {and White wins after all
with two passed pawns. The black king cannot intercept them both.}) 73. Kxf3
Ra4 74. d7+ Kd8 75. Rd6 {"Oh no!" IM Lawrence Trent in the commentary room
couldn't disguise his partisan sympathies and kept chanting this like the
chorus of a Greek tragedy. In truth it's a dead draw and the players could
stop now.} f5 76. Re6 Ra3+ 77. Kf2 e4 78. Rd6 Rf3+ 79. Kg2 f4 80. gxf4 Rxf4 81.
Kg3 Rf3+ 82. Kg2 Rf4 83. Kg3 Rf3+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 3rd"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2011.12.05"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2758"]
[Annotator "Saunders,J"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2011.12.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 146"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 ({Anyone hoping for something brash like} 
4. Ng5 {or 4 d4 would have been disappointed. Magnus is not trying to provoke
a slugging match because his opponent would love that. He is going to play it
nice and slow. His style reminds me of those weird cycling races where they
start by pootling round the track like old grannies doing their shopping, and
only start pedalling furiously during the last couple of laps.}) 4... Bc5 5. c3
d6 6. Bb3 a6 7. Nbd2 Ba7 {Beginners are always told by their coaches not to
move a piece twice in the opening unless they have to. And yet Magnus and
Hikaru have both done it already. But they know what they are doing, just as
the ancients who developed this line did when they called it the Giuoco Piano
- 'quiet game'.} 8. Nf1 h6 9. Ng3 O-O 10. O-O Be6 11. h3 Qd7 ({Perhaps Hikaru
would have been better off trying to provoke something a bit sharper with} 
11... d5 {here. As played, Magnus gradually works his way towards the sort of
manoeuvring position he favours.}) 12. Be3 {"I was pretty happy to get in Be3"
(Carlsen)} Ne7 13. Nh4 Ng6 ({When you've played h3, you always have to make
sure you are in control if your opponent plays} 13... Bxh3 {. In this case,
White's plan is to continue} 14. Bxa7 Rxa7 15. gxh3 Qxh3 16. Ng2 $1 (16. Nf3 $2
{loses to} Ng6 $1) 16... Ng4 17. Re1 Qh2+ 18. Kf1 Qh3 {and now} 19. f3 $1 {
secures White a winning advantage. Both players had foreseen this. However,
the move played is also a little suspect as it cedes White a tiny plus. And a
tiny plus is sometimes all Magnus Carlsen needs to work on.}) 14. Nhf5 Ne7 15.
Nxe7+ Qxe7 16. Bxa7 Rxa7 17. f4 c5 {"I think it's easier to play for White" 
(Carlsen). Nakamura later admitted he spent too much time thinking around
moves 14 and 15 - a sign that he wasn't in his comfort zone.} 18. Bc2 $5 ({
Magnus said he was thinking about} 18. a4 {instead, while Vlad Kramnik
expressed surprise that he should have retreated his bishop from b3. My
analysis engine is a little surprised too. Perhaps it is these small, filigree
differences between Magnus and the other top players which define his unique
style.}) 18... b5 19. Qd2 Rb7 20. a3 a5 21. Rf2 {"I think this position should
be fine. I'm a little confused as to what happened" (Nakamura). Incidentally,
it was very good of Hikaru to come to the commentary room after his defeat,
and honest of him to make such a candid confession.} b4 22. axb4 axb4 23. Raf1
bxc3 24. bxc3 exf4 25. Rxf4 Nh7 26. d4 cxd4 27. cxd4 Qg5 28. Kh2 Nf6 29. Bd1
Rfb8 ({"I guess it's losing. It's a little bit strange," said a bemused
Nakamura in the commentary, still unable to understand quite why he lost. He
had seen the exchange sacrifice coming but wasn't concerned about it during
the game. It would be no consolation but chess engines don't seem to
understand this position either. Nakamura wondered about} 29... Ra8 {so that if
} 30. h4 {Black can play} Qa5 {and offer a queen exchange.}) (29... Ng4+ $5 {
was another Nakamura suggestion in the commentary room.}) 30. h4 Qg6 {[diag]}
31. Rxf6 $1 {Not conclusive by any means but it complicates the game and gives
Magnus the sort of game he likes to play. For the exchange, White has weakened
the black pawns and he will have some dangerous piece play against Nakamura's
king and queen. Meanwhile the two black rooks are some way from reaching posts
where they can threaten retribution.} gxf6 32. Qf4 (32. d5 Bd7 33. Qc3 {
is what Deep Rybka advocates here but 'Deep Carlsen' has other ideas.}) 32...
Rb2 ({Nakamura's instincts are to be active but with hindsight one wonders
whether he might have been better off digging in with a move like} 32... Rd8)
33. Bh5 Qg7 34. Bf3 Ra8 $2 ({Hikaru starts to wilt under pressure of clock and
position.} 34... Rd8 35. Nh5 Qg6 36. d5 Bc8 37. Nxf6+ {is good for White but
Black is still in the game.}) 35. d5 Bc8 36. Nh5 Qf8 (36... Qg6 37. Qxd6 {
is also very difficult for Black.}) 37. Nxf6+ Kh8 {[diag] If you count the
material, Black is still OK but the black king is very weak while its opposite
number is rock solid. And White has piece which is not doing much which he can
deploy very effectively.} 38. Rc1 $1 {It seems a little ironic, because White
only has one rook to his opponent's two, but the c1 rook packs the more
powerful punch. It's coming to c7, to threaten Rxf7 followed by Qxh6+ and mate,
or Rc6 and simply Rxd6.} Kg7 ({If, for example, the a8 rook moves forward with
} 38... Ra6 {, then White plays} 39. Rxc8 $1 {followed by 40 Qxh6 mate.}) 39.
e5 $1 {Opening the long diagonal but also giving his bishop the use of the e4
square. The black pieces find themselves out of play and the end is in sight.}
dxe5 40. Nh5+ (40. Qxe5 {wins in much the same way.}) 40... Kh7 41. Be4+ (41.
Be4+ Kg8 42. Qg3+ Kh8 43. Qxe5+ f6 44. Qxb2 {is crushing.}) 1-0

[Event "London Classic 3rd"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2011.12.06"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2800"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2011.12.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 146"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 c5 5. g3 cxd4 6. Nxd4 O-O 7. Bg2 d5 8.
cxd5 Nxd5 9. Qb3 Qb6 10. Bxd5 exd5 11. Be3 Bxc3+ 12. Qxc3 Qa6 13. Qd3 Qxd3 14.
exd3 Bd7 15. Kd2 Nc6 16. Nxc6 Bxc6 17. Bd4 Rfe8 18. g4 Re6 19. Rae1 Bd7 20.
Rxe6 Bxe6 21. g5 a6 22. h4 Re8 23. h5 Bg4 24. h6 gxh6 25. gxh6 Re6 26. Be3 Kf8
27. Kc3 Rg6 28. Kd4 Bd7 29. Re1 Bc6 30. Kc5 Ke8 31. f4 Bd7 32. Bd4+ Re6 33.
Rxe6+ Bxe6 34. Kb6 Bf5 35. Kxb7 Bxd3 36. Kc6 Ke7 37. Kxd5 Bb1 38. a3 Ba2+ 39.
Ke4 Bb3 40. Kf5 Be6+ 41. Ke5 f6+ 42. Ke4 Bb3 43. Bc5+ Ke6 44. Kd4 a5 45. a4
Bxa4 46. Bb6 Kf5 47. Bxa5 Kxf4 48. Bd2+ Kg4 49. b4 f5 50. Ke5 Bb5 51. Bf4 Bd3
52. Be3 Bb5 53. Bf4 Bd3 54. Be3 Bb5 55. Bf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 3rd"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2011.12.08"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2011.12.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 146"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 h6 7. Qb3 Ra7 8. cxd5
cxd5 9. Bd2 e6 10. Ne5 Be7 11. Rc1 O-O 12. O-O Nfd7 13. Nxd7 Nxd7 14. a4 Nb8
15. e4 dxe4 16. d5 Nd7 17. Be3 Bc5 18. Nxe4 Bxe3 19. Qxe3 Qb6 20. Ng3 Qxe3 21.
fxe3 Bg6 22. dxe6 fxe6 23. Rfd1 Nf6 24. Rd6 Bf7 25. Bf3 a5 26. Rb6 Be8 27. Rxe6
Bxa4 28. Re7 Re8 29. Nf5 Rxe7 30. Nxe7+ Kf8 31. Nc8 Ra6 32. Bxb7 Re6 33. e4 Bd7
34. Rc5 Nxe4 35. Rxa5 Bxc8 36. Bxc8 Rc6 37. Rf5+ Nf6 38. Bb7 Rb6 39. Bf3 Rxb2
1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 3rd"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2011.12.10"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Adams, Michael"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E21"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2734"]
[Annotator "RR"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2011.12.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 146"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. Qc2 Bb7 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. Qxc3 d5 8.
cxd5 Qxd5 9. e3 Nbd7 10. b4 O-O 11. Bb2 a5 12. Bd3 axb4 13. axb4 Rxa1+ 14. Bxa1
Qa2 15. O-O Nd5 16. Qe1 c5 17. dxc5 bxc5 18. b5 Ra8 19. Qc1 h6 20. h3 Qa3 21.
Qd2 Qb4 22. Qc2 Qa4 23. Qb2 f6 24. Rc1 Nb4 25. Be2 Bxf3 26. gxf3 Nd5 27. f4
N7b6 28. Bg4 Kf7 29. Qb1 Qa3 30. Rd1 f5 31. Bf3 Ra4 32. Be5 Qb4 33. Qd3 Ra3 34.
Qf1 g6 35. h4 Nc4 $2 (35... Rb3 36. h5 g5 $16) 36. Rxd5 $18 Nxe5 37. Rxe5 Qc3
38. Kg2 1-0

[Event "London Classic 3rd"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2011.12.11"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D58"]
[WhiteElo "2811"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2011.12.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 146"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 b6 8. Be2
Bb7 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. cxd5 exd5 11. b4 c5 12. bxc5 bxc5 13. Rb1 Bc6 14. O-O Nd7
15. Bb5 Qc7 16. Qc2 Rab8 17. Rfc1 Bxb5 18. Nxb5 Qc6 19. Nc3 cxd4 20. Nxd4 Bxd4
21. exd4 Rxb1 22. Nxb1 Qxc2 23. Rxc2 Rb8 24. Nd2 Nf8 25. g3 Ne6 26. Nb3 Rb4 27.
Rc6 Ra4 28. Nc5 Rc4 29. Rd6 Nxc5 30. dxc5 Rxc5 31. Ra6 Rc7 32. Rd6 Rc5 33. Ra6
Rc7 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 3rd"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2011.12.12"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Short, Nigel D"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C50"]
[WhiteElo "2698"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[PlyCount "153"]
[EventDate "2011.12.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 146"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.01.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. Be3 Bb6 7. Bb3 Be6 8. O-O
O-O 9. h3 Re8 10. Bxb6 axb6 11. Ne2 h6 12. Ng3 d5 13. c3 b5 14. Re1 d4 15. Qc2
dxc3 16. bxc3 Qd7 17. Rad1 Na5 18. d4 exd4 19. cxd4 Nxb3 20. axb3 c6 21. d5
cxd5 22. e5 Nh7 23. Nd4 f6 24. Qd3 fxe5 25. Nxe6 Qxe6 26. Qxd5 Nf6 27. Qxb5 Ra6
28. Qxb7 Rb6 29. Qc7 Rxb3 30. Rd6 Qf7 31. Qc5 e4 32. Rc6 Rd3 33. Rc8 Rxc8 34.
Qxc8+ Kh7 35. Qf5+ Qg6 36. Qxg6+ Kxg6 37. Nxe4 Nxe4 38. Rxe4 Rd2 39. Re5 Kf6
40. Rh5 Kg6 41. g4 Ra2 42. Kg2 Kh7 43. Rf5 Ra3 44. f3 Kg8 45. Kg3 Ra1 46. Rc5
Ra4 47. h4 Kf7 48. Rc7+ Kg8 49. g5 hxg5 50. hxg5 g6 51. Re7 Kf8 52. Re4 Ra5 53.
Kg4 Kf7 54. Rb4 Kg7 55. Rb7+ Kg8 56. Rb3 Kf7 57. f4 Ra4 58. Kf3 Kg7 59. Rb7+
Kf8 60. Rd7 Rb4 61. Ke3 Ra4 62. Rd4 Ra7 63. Rd6 Kg7 64. Ke4 Re7+ 65. Kd5 Rf7
66. Ke5 Rf5+ 67. Ke4 Rf7 68. Rc6 Re7+ 69. Kd5 Rf7 70. Rc4 Rf5+ 71. Ke4 Rf7 72.
Ke5 Rf5+ 73. Ke6 Kg8 74. Rc8+ Kg7 75. Rc7+ Kg8 76. Rc8+ Kg7 77. Rc7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 74th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2012.01.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gashimov, Vugar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2761"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "133"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 147"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{I decided to annotate the game against Gashimov from the first round. The
games against Aronian and Topalov that I won (I've yet to annotate a game I
haven't won, for different reasons) were arguably more interesting, but I like
this one better.} 1. Nf3 {I had asked my father to name a letter from a-h
before the game, and since the other moves to the f-file are not particularily
inviting, it had to be this one.} Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 e6 4. g3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6.
O-O Be7 7. d4 cxd4 8. Qxd4 d6 9. Bg5 {I had sort of expected him to go for the
hegdehog, and I was curious to see what he would do against the good old
Andersson-line, where White frequently manages to get a small but stable
advantage.} a6 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. Qf4 O-O 12. Rfd1 Be7 13. Ne4 {This is the
point, Black has to give up his light-squared bishop.} Bxe4 14. Qxe4 Ra7 15.
Nd4 Rc7 16. Rd2 {This has all been seen many times before, but here I suddenly
got the idea that I might be able to defer playing b3 until later. Probably,
it shouldn't make a lot of difference, though.} Rc5 (16... Rxc4 17. Nxe6 Rxe4
18. Nxd8 Rc4 19. Nb7 {is obviously very good for White, as d6 is dropping.})
17. Rad1 Qc7 18. b3 Kh8 (18... b5 {was a way to try and exploit the fact that
White hasn't got in a4 yet} 19. cxb5 axb5 20. b4 Rc4 21. a3 d5 22. Qe3 {
and thanks to some tactical tricks, most notably} Qb6 23. Bxd5 {White keeps
the initative.}) 19. Qb1 {Now however, we get a typical position. White will
try to expand on the queenside, and ideally put a knight on c6.} Nd7 20. e3 Qc8
21. Rc2 Rc7 22. a4 Rd8 23. Qa2 {Now White has completed his plan (which I
would have been quite proud of finding incidentically, had it not been played
by Andersson 30 years ago) , and if I could get in b4-b5 now, I would have a
serious advantage.} Ne5 {Stopping b4, but nevertheless not solving his
problems.} 24. h3 $6 (24. a5 {was quite strong here. I naturally considered
this, but I thought that Black could reply} bxa5 25. Qxa5 d5 {with an
excellent game. However, the simple} 26. Rdc1 {leaves White well on top,
thanks to the trick} Rc5 27. cxd5 $1 {which is what I missed (after other
moves Black is more than fine).}) 24... Bf6 {Now however, we resume the
unhurried manoeuvring.} 25. Rcd2 Rc5 26. f4 {I was very uncertain about this
one, but I thought it was worth chasing the knight to a bad square, even at
the cost of weakening my own position slightly.} Ng6 (26... Nd7 {would be
desirable, but fails to} 27. Nc6 Rxc6 28. Bxc6 Qxc6 29. Rxd6 Qf3 30. Qf2 Qb7
31. Qg2 Qc7 32. Qd2 {and the pin on the d-file is Black's downfall.}) 27. Rd3 {
I thought the queen might find some useful work on the second rank.} h6 {
Eventually, this led to an ugly weakening on the dark squares, but that was
rather hard to foresee at this point, and the black king needs an escape hole,
just in case.} 28. Qd2 e5 {Gashimov decided not to wait any longer, and try to
free his game. This break is made possible by the fact that I have weakened my
position with f4, giving Black some counterchances.} 29. Nc2 $1 {Much stronger
than} (29. Ne2 b5 {with adequate counterplay for Black.}) 29... b5 30. axb5
axb5 31. Na3 {This is what I had been counting on, I reckoned that White would
have a huge advantage with the knight coming to c4. However, around this point
I realised that it wasn't all that simple.} bxc4 32. Nxc4 d5 {The point,
otherwise the d6-pawn falls and Black has a miserable position.} 33. Bxd5 {
After some thought I settled on this, which at least gives White a lasting
advantage with no risk.} (33. Nb6 Qe6 {with the point of} 34. Nxd5 (34. Rxd5
Rcxd5 35. Nxd5 Ne7 {also leaves White with very few winning chances, as Black
gets to exchange his bad knight}) 34... e4 {is what I had missed. Surprisingly,
at least to me, Black wins material.}) 33... Qxh3 34. Qg2 Qxg2+ {Black has to
exchange queens to save his f7-pawn.} 35. Kxg2 exf4 36. exf4 {Material is
sharply reduced, and there are opposite-coloured bishops on the board, but as
it's often been shown in practice, that doesn't always guarantee a draw. Here,
White has some concrete advantages: His minor pieces are more much active than
their black counterparts, and the passed b-pawn is potentially very dangerous.
Additionally, the f7-pawn needs protection.} Rc7 37. Ne3 Rcd7 38. Ng4 {I was
very happy to find this manoeuvre.} (38. b4 Ne7 39. b5 Rd6 {leads nowhere, as
I don't want to move the bishop and exchange rooks.}) 38... Bb2 $2 {A serious
inaccuracy.} (38... Bc3 {was much better. Paradoxically, the bishop is less
exposed here than on b2, as is apparent in the game} 39. Nf2 f5 {and Black
keeps excellent drawing chances, as is apparent in the line} 40. Be6 Rxd3 41.
Rxd3 Rxd3 42. Nxd3 {and the bishop is not hanging, so that Black can safely
protect the pawn with ...Ne7.}) (38... Ne7 {might be tempting, but leads to a
very unfortunate transformation for Black} 39. Nxf6 gxf6 40. Bc4 Rxd3 41. Rxd3
Rxd3 42. Bxd3 {and with a passed pawn and the stronger miner piece, White
should win despite material equality.}) 39. Nf2 f6 {An ugly move, but probably
not a bad one.} (39... Rb8 40. Bc4 {also leaves Black with an unpleasant
position.}) 40. Be4 Nf8 {Absolutely forced;} (40... Rxd3 41. Rxd3 Rxd3 42. Nxd3
{leaves two black pieces hanging.}) 41. b4 {Finally, the time has come to
advance this pawn.} Rxd3 42. Nxd3 Bc3 43. Rc1 Bd4 (43... Rd4 44. Kf3 Bxb4 45.
Nxb4 Rxb4 46. Rc8 {costs Black the knight on f8.}) 44. Nc5 Be3 {I was happy to
see this one, as I was sure that the plan involving putting a rook on the
second rank would lead nowhere.} (44... g6 {would also not have solved Black's
problems, due to the clever} 45. Rd1 f5 46. Nb7 $1 (46. Bf3 Bf6 {is naturally
harmless}) 46... Rd7 47. Bc6 Rc7 48. b5 Bb6 49. Nd6 {and, mainly due to the
passive positions of his pieces, Black still has a very difficult position.})
45. Rc3 Rd2+ 46. Kf3 Bd4 47. Rc4 g6 {Preparing to weave a mating net, but
White has a simple answer.} 48. Nd3 {Now the threat is parried, and White can
launch a counterattack.} Bg1 49. Rc8 $2 {A mistake, which seriously
complicates my task.} (49. Rc1 {was correct, with the idea of forcing the
black bishop to d4, a square the knight needs.} Bd4 50. f5 {I rejected this
because of} gxf5 51. Bxf5 Ne6 {activating the black knight, and failing to
spot the simple} 52. Ke4 Re2+ 53. Kd5 {and White wins a piece.}) 49... Kg7 50.
Rc7+ Kg8 51. f5 {This was my point, as now Black cannot play ...gxf5 Bxf5 Ne6
due to the check on e6. However, Black has another trick, which I failed to
spot.} g5 $2 {Now the black knight is left completely paralysed.} (51... h5 $3
{would most probably have saved the day} 52. fxg6 Ne6 53. Rd7 Nd4+ (53... Ng5+
54. Kf4 {is simple; the white king does not get mated here}) 54. Kf4 {I
finished calculating here, thinking that White is easily winning, but Black
continues with} Ne2+ {This one escaped my line of vision. Now White has
nothing better than} 55. Kf5 Nxg3+ 56. Kf4 Nxe4 57. Kxe4 h4 58. Kf5 h3 59. Kxf6
Bb6 {and miraculously, Black makes a draw.}) 52. g4 {A very important move,
now the white king will never get in trouble, and I can now calmly go about
converting my advantage.} Bh2 53. Rb7 Rc2 54. Nc5 Rc3+ 55. Ke2 h5 {Desperation,
but what else to do? Bd5 followed by Ne6 is a threat, and the otherwise
desirable} (55... Bd6 {runs into a nasty fork:} 56. Bd5+ Kh8 57. Ne4) 56. gxh5
g4 57. Ne6 Rc8 58. b5 {My first priority was to keep the black knight passive,
and so winning a second pawn with} (58. Rg7+ Kh8 59. Rxg4 Nd7 {was not very
tempting.}) 58... Rb8 {The best try, but the endgame is easily winning for
White.} 59. Rxb8 Bxb8 60. Bd5 {Very accurate. Now ...Nd7 is naturally not
possible due to Nc5+.} Ba7 {He needs to prevent b6, but now I can simply march
with the king to g3 and pick up the pawn.} (60... Nxe6 61. fxe6 Kf8 62. h6 f5
63. h7 Be5 64. b6 {leaves Black with too many passed pawns to handle.}) 61. Kf1
Be3 62. Kg2 Kf7 63. Nxf8+ {The end of a long and interesting journey for this
knight. Finally the time has come to exchange the unfortunate knight on f8.
The two passed pawns are too far apart for Black to deal with both.} Kxf8 64.
Kg3 Ke7 (64... Kg7 65. Kxg4 Kh6 66. Bf7 {followed by a king march to the
queenside, is also quite elementary.}) 65. Kxg4 Kd6 66. Kf3 {Since Black has
to let one of my pawns advance to the sixth rank, the game is over.} Bd2 67. b6
{My best game in Wijk aan Zee this year, and apart from the mistake on move 49,
a game I'm quite proud of!} 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 74th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2012.01.15"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D56"]
[WhiteElo "2766"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 147"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 Ne4 8. Bxe7
Qxe7 9. Rc1 c6 10. Be2 Nxc3 11. Rxc3 dxc4 12. Bxc4 Nd7 13. O-O b6 14. Qc2 (14.
Bd3 {is more ambitious.}) 14... Bb7 15. Bd3 c5 16. Bh7+ Kh8 17. Be4 Bxe4 18.
Qxe4 {For this line - see article by GM P.Lukacs and IM L.Hazai in CBM 142,
particularly annotations to Borovikov - Bakre.} Rac8 (18... Nf6 19. Qc2 Nd5 20.
Rc4 cxd4 21. Nxd4 Qf6 22. Rc1 Rfd8 23. h3 a6 24. a3 b5 25. Rc6 Ne7 26. Rc7 Nd5
27. Rb7 Ne7 28. Rc7 Nd5 29. Rc6 Ne7 30. Rc5 Ra7 31. Qe4 Rad7 $11 {1/2
Borovikov,V (2601)-Bakre,T (2509)/Kavala GRE 2010/CBM 142/[Lukacs/Hazai] (46)})
(18... f5 $6 19. Qf4 Rae8 20. Rd1 e5 21. dxe5 Nxe5 22. Nxe5 Qxe5 23. Qxe5 Rxe5
24. Rd7 f4 25. Rxa7 Rd5 26. h3 Rd1+ 27. Kh2 Rd2 28. exf4 Rxf4 29. Rg3 g5 30.
Re3 {1-0 Ponomariov,R (2754)-Miroshnichenko,E (2651)/Kiev 2011/CBM 143 (34)}
Kg8 $1 $14) ({Recent practice has seen solid, apparently equalising plans for
Black:} 18... Rfe8 19. Rfc1 Kg8 20. h3 e5 21. dxe5 Nxe5 22. Qxe5 Qxe5 23. Nxe5
Rxe5 24. Rd1 Kf8 25. g4 Ke8 {1/2 Malinin,Y (2344)-Krivonosov,O (2448)/Klaipeda
2011/EXT 2012}) (18... cxd4 19. Nxd4 Nc5 20. Qc2 a5 21. Nb3 Nxb3 22. Qxb3 Qb7
23. Rfc1 Rfc8 24. g3 Rxc3 25. Qxc3 Rd8 26. Qc6 Qb8 27. a4 Rd2 28. b3 Rd3 29.
Rc3 Rxc3 30. Qxc3 {1/2 Gurevich,M (2617)-Miroshnichenko,E (2651)/Konya 2011/
CBM 143 Extra}) {GM Magnus Carlsen finds another, quite simple option. Still,
he has to work a while to reach a draw.} 19. Rfc1 (19. Qb7 Qd6 $1) 19... Rc7
20. Qc2 Rfc8 21. h3 {Too slow.} (21. b4 $5 Nf6 $140 $5 22. bxc5 $1 Nd5 23. Rc4
b5 24. Rc3 Nxc3 25. Qxc3 $44 {[%csl Gc5]}) 21... Nf6 22. Rc4 Ne8 23. dxc5 Rxc5
24. Qb3 Rxc4 25. Rxc4 Rxc4 26. Qxc4 Nd6 27. Qc6 {Black holds this position
with accurate defence.} Kg8 28. Ne5 (28. e4 $5) 28... Qd8 29. Nd7 Ne4 30. b3 (
30. Qb7 Nc5 $1 31. Nxc5 Qd1+ 32. Kh2 Qd6+ 33. f4 Qxc5 34. Qb8+ Kh7 35. Qxa7 Kg6
$11) 30... Nf6 31. Ne5 Nd5 32. g3 Qe7 33. h4 g6 34. Kg2 Kg7 35. Nd3 Qd8 36. Qc4
Nf6 37. e4 g5 38. hxg5 hxg5 39. Qc3 Kg8 40. Kf3 Nd7 41. Ke3 Nf6 42. a4 Ng4+ 43.
Kf3 Nf6 44. b4 Qd7 45. b5 Qd8 46. Ke3 Ng4+ 47. Ke2 Nf6 48. Qc4 Qa8 49. Ke3 Qd8
50. Kf3 Kg7 51. Qc3 Qh8 52. Qd4 Qh1+ 53. Ke3 Qd1 54. Ne5 Qe1+ 55. Kf3 Qh1+ 56.
Ke3 Qe1+ 57. Kf3 Qh1+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 74th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2012.01.16"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2805"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "135"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 147"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 Be7 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bf4 c6 6. Qc2 (6. e3 {was
featured in no less than 3 games last year between Nakamura and Aronian. The
most recent clashes in this line went} Bf5 7. g4 ({For} 7. Nge2 {see Nakamura,
H (2758)-Aronian,L (2802)/London/2011/ - annotated in CBM 146.}) (7. Bd3 Bxd3
8. Qxd3 Nf6 9. Nge2 Nh5 10. Bxb8 Rxb8 11. f3 O-O 12. O-O f5 13. a3 a6 14. b4
Qd7 15. Rae1 Rbe8 16. Nc1 a5 17. bxa5 Bxa3 18. Nxd5 Bxc1 19. Nb6 Qe6 20. Rxc1
Qxe3+ 21. Qxe3 Rxe3 22. d5 cxd5 23. Nxd5 Re5 24. Rfd1 Nf6 $11 {Nakamura,H 
(2774)-Ponomariov,R (2754)/Saint Louis m/2011/ The difference between this
game and ours is that Ponomariov didn't weaken his kingside and therefore he
could effectively counter White's central expansion with a timely f5.}) 7...
Be6 8. h4 Nd7 9. g5 {, avsak aktivna reakcia} ({Nakamura tried the moves} 9. h5
{and}) (9. Bg3 {, but on neither occasion did he get anything out of the
opening.}) 9... h6 $5 10. g6 Ngf6 $142 (10... fxg6 11. Bd3 Nf8 (11... Bf7 12.
Qc2 {/\} Nf8 13. Nf3 {[%csl Rg6][%cal Rf3e5]}) 12. Nf3 Bf5 13. Ne5 Nf6 14. Rg1
$44 Ne4 $6 (14... Rg8 $142 $5) 15. Bxe4 Bxe4 (15... dxe4 16. Qb3 $16) 16. Nxe4
dxe4 17. Qb3 Qa5+ 18. Kf1 (18. Ke2 $5 Qa6+ 19. Kd1) 18... Qb5+ 19. Qxb5 cxb5
20. Rc1 Bxh4 21. Bh2 Bd8 (21... h5 $5 22. Rc7 $36) 22. Rg4 Nd7 23. Rxg6 Bf6 24.
Rc7 Nf8 25. Rg4 Ne6 26. Rxb7 $18 {Caruana,F (2736)-Melkumyan,H (2620)/Moscow/
2012/}) 11. gxf7+ Bxf7 12. Bd3 (12. Nf3 Nh5 $13) 12... Nh5 13. Be5 O-O 14. Qg4
Nhf6 15. Qg3 Nh5 {1/2,Morozevich,A (2762)-Giri,A (2714)/Reggio Emilia/2012/}
16. Qg2 Nxe5 17. dxe5 Bb4 18. Nf3 d4 19. Nxd4 Nf4 20. exf4 Qxd4 21. Rg1 Bxc3+
22. bxc3 Qxc3+ 23. Ke2 Qb2+ 24. Ke3 Qb6+ $11) 6... Nf6 7. h3 {This is a modern
wrinkle.} ({White tries to avoid the line} 7. e3 Nh5 $5 8. Be5 (8. Bg3 Nd7 9.
Bd3 g6 10. Nf3 O-O 11. Rb1 a5 12. a3 Re8 $2 (12... Nxg3 13. hxg3 Nf6 $132) 13.
Nxd5 $1 $16 {Sandipan,C (2628)-Vishnu,P (2392)/New Delhi/2012/} {/\} cxd5 14.
Bc7 $18) 8... Nd7 9. Be2 (9. Nf3 Nxe5 10. Nxe5 g6 11. Bd3 Ng7 12. O-O-O Bf5 13.
g4 Bxd3 14. Nxd3 Qd7 15. h3 O-O-O 16. Kb1 Kb8 17. Rc1 Bd6 18. Na4 f5 19. Nac5
Qe7 20. gxf5 Nxf5 21. Qb3 Rhf8 $11 {Kalinitschew,S (2431)-Bruedigam,M (2322)/
Berlin/2011/}) 9... Nxe5 10. dxe5 g6 11. Bxh5 gxh5 {The critical move is} 12.
O-O-O $5 $13 {, featured in Grishchuk-Aronian and So-Laznicka. Both games were
annotated in CBM 143.} (12. Nf3 f6 13. O-O (13. e4 d4 14. exf6 Bxf6 15. O-O-O
$13 {-12.0-0-0}) 13... Bg4 14. exf6 Bxf6 15. Nd4 O-O 16. f3 Bd7 17. Rad1 Rc8 (
17... Qe7 $5 18. Rfe1 Qg7 $13 {[%csl Gd7,Gf6] /=/+}) 18. Rfe1 Bg7 19. e4 c5 20.
Nf5 Bxf5 21. exf5 d4 22. Qe4 (22. Qb3+ $13) 22... Qd7 23. g4 Rfe8 24. Qd5+ Qxd5
25. Nxd5 Rxe1+ 26. Rxe1 Rd8 27. Nc7 hxg4 28. fxg4 d3 $36 {Arizmendi Martinez,J
(2568)-Sargissian,G (2671)/EU-chT Porto Carras/2011/}) (12. Rd1 f6 13. exf6
Bxf6 14. Nge2 O-O (14... Qe7 15. e4 d4 16. Nxd4 Qg7 17. Nde2 (17. Nce2 $5 Qxg2
18. Rg1 Qxh2 19. Qb3 $44 {/\} Rf8 $2 20. Ne6 $40) 17... Qxg2 18. Rg1 Qxh2 19.
Qb3 Rf8 20. f4 Bg4 21. Rxg4 hxg4 22. Qe6+ Be7 23. Rd7 Qh4+ 24. Kf1 Rf7 25. Rxb7
Kf8 26. Qxc6 Rd8 $19 {Aleksandrov,A (2626)-Negi,P (2617)/ESP-chT Melilla/2011/}
) 15. O-O (15. e4 Qb6 $132 (15... Bg4 $5)) 15... Qe8 16. e4 dxe4 (16... Qg6 $13
) 17. Nxe4 Bg7 18. N2c3 (18. N2g3 $142 $5) 18... Bf5 19. Qb3+ Qe6 20. Qxe6+
Bxe6 21. Rd6 Rae8 22. Re1 b5 23. a3 a5 24. h4 b4 25. axb4 axb4 26. Na4 Bd5 $15
{Aleksandrov,A (2612)-Shimanov,A (2549)/Moscow/2012/})) (7. Nf3 {is considered
innocuous mainly due to} g6 $5 8. e3 Bf5 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 Nbd7 11. O-O O-O
12. h3 Re8 13. Rab1 a5 14. Rfc1 Nb6 (14... Bf8 $11 {[%cal Yf6e4]}) 15. Nd2 Nh5
16. Bh2 Bd6 17. Bxd6 Qxd6 18. a3 Nf6 19. b4 Nfd7 20. bxa5 Rxa5 21. a4 Ra7 22.
Rb2 Rea8 23. Qb1 Nxa4 24. Nxa4 Rxa4 25. Rxb7 Ra2 26. Nf3 c5 $11 {Moiseenko,A 
(2676)-Khairullin,I (2574)/Moscow/2009/}) 7... g6 $146 {[%mdl 8] This novelty
is otherwise a typical reaction, but possibly not ideal in our case.} ({
Currently the most promising alternative seems to be} 7... Qa5 $5 8. e3 (8. Nf3
Ne4 9. Bd2 Nxd2 10. Nxd2 g6 11. e3 Bf5 12. Bd3 Bxd3 13. Qxd3 Qd8 14. O-O Nd7
15. Rfc1 O-O 16. Rab1 a5 17. Na4 Nb6 18. Nxb6 Qxb6 19. Nb3 a4 $11 {1/2,
Lupulescu,C (2657)-Giri,A (2714)/EU-chT Porto Carras/2011/}) 8... Ne4 9. a3 Bf5
10. Bd3 Na6 11. Rc1 Nxc3 12. Qxc3 Qxc3+ 13. Rxc3 Bxd3 14. Rxd3 O-O-O 15. Nf3
Nc7 16. Ke2 Bd6 17. Bxd6 Rxd6 18. Ne5 Rf8 19. Rc3 Nb5 20. Rc2 Re6 21. Kf3 Nd6
$11 {Turov,M (2645)-Grover,S (2532)/Wijk aan Zee-C/2012/}) ({Another
interesting idea is} 7... Na6 $5 8. e3 Nb4 9. Qb1 g6 10. g4 h5 11. a3 Na6 12.
Bxa6 bxa6 13. g5 Nh7 14. Be5 O-O 15. f4 Bf5 16. Qa2 f6 17. gxf6 Nxf6 18. Nge2
Ne4 19. Nxe4 Bxe4 20. Rg1 Qd7 $132 {Bosiocic,M (2580)-Brkic,A (2578)/CRO-ch
Opatija/2012/ Both games from 2012 were played later, than Carlsen-Aronian, so
the theory of the line is constatntly developing.}) (7... O-O 8. e3 {gives
White chances of achieving a pleasant version of the Carlsbad structure:} Nbd7
(8... Bd6 9. Bxd6 Qxd6 10. Bd3 Be6 11. Nge2 Re8 12. g4 g6 13. Ng3 Na6 $2 14.
Bxa6 bxa6 15. g5 Nd7 16. Kf1 c5 17. Rd1 f5 18. Nge2 c4 19. Nf4 Bf7 20. h4 Nb6
21. Kg2 Rab8 22. Rh3 Qe7 23. Rdh1 Kg7 24. h5 $40 {Kononenko,T (2305)-Sharevich,
A (2266)/Vladimir/2004/}) 9. Nf3 Re8 (9... g6 $5 10. Bd3 Nh5 11. Bh2 Ng7 12.
O-O Nb6 $132 {[%cal Yc8f5] Michna,M (2348)-Juszczak,A/Trzebinia/1999/}) 10. Bd3
Nf8 11. O-O Ne6 12. Bh2 g6 13. Rab1 Ng7 14. b4 a6 15. Na4 Bf5 16. Nc5 Bxd3 17.
Qxd3 Ra7 18. a4 Nf5 19. Rfc1 Ne4 20. Nxe4 dxe4 21. Qxe4 Bxb4 22. Qd3 a5 23. Ne5
Ra8 24. Qb3 $14 {Matthiesen,A (2349)-Rendboe,J (2199)/Silkeborg/2009/}) (7...
Be6 8. e3 Nbd7 9. Nf3 h6 10. Bd3 Rc8 11. Bh2 a6 12. O-O O-O 13. a3 a5 14. Rae1
c5 15. Qd2 c4 16. Bb1 Re8 17. Ne5 Nxe5 18. dxe5 Nh7 19. Rd1 Rc5 20. f4 f5 21.
g4 $16 {Kalinitschew,S (2430)-Loeffler,F/Porz/1991/}) 8. e3 Bf5 9. Qd2 $5 {
[%cal Yg2g4] A clever idea. As White hasn't committed his king yet, he can
seriously consider developing a kingside initiative with g4 (altogether a
typical idea in this line - see the note to move 6).} (9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 O-O
$11 {is less impressive.}) 9... h5 {Aronian prevents the aforementioned idea,
but was it really worth weakening his kingside?} (9... Ne4 $142 $5 {was less
committal:} 10. Nxe4 Bxe4 11. f3 (11. Ne2 Bd6 12. f3 Bf5 13. O-O-O {is similar}
) 11... Bf5 12. O-O-O a5 $132) (9... O-O 10. g4 Be6 11. Bd3 c5 12. Nge2 $13 {
/+/=}) 10. Bd3 $1 Bxd3 11. Qxd3 {[%csl Rh5] White has forced a similar
position to that after 9.Bd3, but here the extra move h5 hurts Black's chances
- it loosens his kingside and also takes away the h5-square for Black's knight
(see Nh5 in Nakamura-Ponomariov above).} Nbd7 (11... Bd6 12. Nf3 $5 {[%cal
Rf4d6,Rf3e5] shows another drawback of h5: once White's knight lands on e5,
it's much more difficult to chase it away with f6.}) 12. Nge2 {Compared with 7.
Nf3, here White can develop his knight more flexibly, which enables him to
play in the centre.} a5 {A semi-waiting move, Black wants to clarify the
intentions of White's king.} (12... O-O {is more natural, but here also} {also}
13. O-O-O $5 {[%cal Yd1g1,Yg2g4] deserves some attention.} ({However, instead
of risking a double-edged fight, White can also choose the prudent} 13. O-O Re8
14. f3 $14)) 13. O-O O-O 14. f3 $14 {[%csl Ge4][%cal Ge3e4]} b5 $6 {[%csl Rc6]
The opening is almost over and White has built up a promising position: he has
a slight and riskless edge. This provokes a nervous reaction from Aronian.
Black still had more solid alternatives:} (14... Re8 15. e4 Nf8 $14) (14... h4
15. e4 Nb6 $14) 15. e4 dxe4 16. fxe4 $36 {[%csl Gd4,Ge4][%cal Yd4d5,Ye4e5]
Here White already has a very distinct pull, with both e5 and d5 hanging over
Black's position.} Nc5 17. Qf3 (17. Qe3 Ne6 18. Bh6 Re8 19. Rad1 $36) 17... Ne6
(17... b4 18. e5 $5 (18. dxc5 bxc3 (18... Bxc5+ 19. Kh1 bxc3 20. Bg5 $18 (20.
Rad1 Nd7 21. Qxc3 $18 {[%cal Rd1d7]})) 19. Rad1 $1 Qe8 20. Nxc3 Bxc5+ 21. Kh1
$16) 18... Nh7 19. dxc5 $16) 18. Be3 {White already has a choice:} (18. Rad1 $5
Nxf4 19. Nxf4 $36 {Sakaev}) 18... b4 (18... Nh7 $5 {is less committal} 19. e5 (
19. Bf2 $5) 19... Rc8 $14) 19. Nb1 $5 {[%mdl 4] Instead of putting his knight
offside with} (19. Na4 {, Carlsen patiently transfers it to an ideal square.
By model play White increases his strategic superiority.}) 19... Nh7 20. Nd2 {
[%csl Gc4]} Rc8 (20... Nhg5 21. Qg3 (21. Qf2 f5 $1 $132) 21... Nh7 22. Nc4 (22.
Qf2 Bh4 23. g3 Bg5 24. Rac1 $14 {/+/-}) 22... Bh4 23. Qf3 Nhg5 24. Bxg5 Bxg5
25. Rad1 $36) (20... f5 21. exf5 Rxf5 22. Qxc6 $16) ({The text move is not too
useful, more to the point was the immediate} 20... Bh4 $5) 21. Rad1 Bh4 22. g3
Bf6 (22... Bg5 $5 23. Nc4 Bxe3+ (23... h4 $5) 24. Qxe3 Qg5 {gives Black more
chances to create some counterplay.}) 23. Nc4 Bg7 24. b3 $16 {[%csl Ra5]} Qe7 {
[%cal Re6g5] As White improves his pieces, Black is gradually running out of
ideas. Therefeore he decides to lash out.} (24... h4 25. e5 $1 hxg3 26. Nd6 $16
(26. Qxg3 $16)) ({Sakaev prefers} 24... Nf6 $16 {, but it's only an attempt to
limit the damage - Black's position remains tough.}) 25. Qg2 {Carlsen is
reluctant to commit himself and prefers a prophylactic move.} ({The engine
points out the straightforward} 25. e5 $5 {[%csl Rh7][%cal Yc4d6]} h4 (25... f6
26. Nf4 $1 Nxf4 27. gxf4 {[%csl Gd4,Ge5,Gf4]}) 26. Nxa5 c5 $5 (26... Nhg5 27.
Qg4 $16) 27. Nc6 Qd7 28. d5 Neg5 29. Bxg5 (29. Qg2 Rfe8 30. gxh4 Nxh3+ 31. Kh2
Bxe5+ 32. Nxe5 Rxe5 33. Rd3 Rce8 34. Rf3 N3g5 $1 35. hxg5 Nxg5 $14) 29... Nxg5
30. Qe3 Bh6 31. g4 Rxc6 32. dxc6 Qxc6 33. Rd6 $16) 25... Nc7 (25... Neg5 26. e5
$36) (25... Nf6 $142 26. Qf3 $16 (26. Nxa5 Qa7 27. Nxc6 (27. e5 Qxa5 28. exf6
Bh8 $132 {[%csl Ra2,Rf6][%cal Ye6c7,Yc7d5,Yc8d8,Yf8e8]}) 27... Rxc6 28. e5 Nd8
29. exf6 Bxf6 $14 {/<=>}) (26. d5 $5 $36)) 26. Nxa5 (26. Bf4 $5 $16) 26... Rfe8
(26... Nd5 27. Bd2 (27. Bc1 Nc3 28. Nxc3 bxc3 29. Nc4 c5 30. Ba3 $16) 27... Nc3
28. Bxc3 bxc3 29. e5 $16) 27. e5 Nd5 28. Bd2 {[%cal Ra5c6]} (28. Nxc6 $2 Qd7
$19 {[%csl Rc6,Re3]}) 28... Red8 29. Nf4 Qa7 $2 {This should have lost quickly.
} (29... Qc7 $142 $1 30. Nc4 Ra8 {/\} 31. Nxd5 (31. Be3 $142 $5 Nxe3 32. Nxe3
Qa7 33. Nc2 Bxe5 34. Nxb4 $16) 31... cxd5 32. Nd6 Rxd6 33. exd6 Qxd6 34. Bf4
Qd7 $14 {[%csl Ra2,Rd4][%cal Yh7f6,Yf6e4]}) 30. Nxc6 Rxc6 31. Nxd5 Rc2 32. Kh1
(32. Qe4 $5 Rxa2 (32... Qxa2 $2 33. Nxb4) 33. Bf4 $1 $18 {/\} Qd7 34. Nxb4 Rb2
35. Nd3 Rxb3 $2 36. Nc5) 32... Bf8 (32... Rb2 33. Nxb4 Qxd4 34. Bc3 Qxd1 35.
Bxb2 Qd7 36. Nc6 $18 {is hopeless in the long run, but retains at least some
practical chances.}) 33. e6 $1 Qa8 (33... fxe6 34. Qe4 $18) (33... f5 34. g4
$18 {->}) 34. exf7+ (34. e7 $1 Rxd5 35. e8=Q Qxe8 36. Qxd5 Rxa2 37. Rde1 Qa8
38. Qxa8 Rxa8 39. Ra1 $18) 34... Kh8 ({A more resilient try was} 34... Kg7 $142
$1 35. Nf4 Qxg2+ 36. Nxg2 Ra8 $16) 35. Nf4 Qxg2+ 36. Kxg2 $6 {White needlessly
prolongs theagony.} ({The text doesn't give away the win, but a more direct
way was} 36. Nxg2 $142 $1 Kg7 (36... Rxd4 37. Bc3 bxc3 38. Rxd4 $18) 37. Bf4
Bd6 (37... Be7 38. Be5+ Bf6 39. Nf4 $18) 38. Rde1 Nf8 39. d5 $18 {[%cal Rf4d6,
Rg2f4,Rf4e6]}) 36... Rxd4 37. Rf2 Rd6 (37... Rc6 38. Re1 $18) 38. Bc1 $1 Rxf2+
(38... Rxd1 39. Rxc2 Kg7 40. Ne6+ Kxf7 41. Nxf8 Nxf8 42. Bd2 $18 {[%cal Rd2b4]}
) 39. Kxf2 Rxd1 {The only chance to fight on.} ({After} 39... Kg7 40. Rxd6 Bxd6
41. f8=Q+ $1 (41. Bd2 Nf6 $16) 41... Nxf8 42. Bd2 $18 {[%csl Rb4][%cal Rf4d5,
Rf4d3] White will be 2 pawns up in a simple endgame.}) 40. Bb2+ Nf6 $8 (40...
Bg7 $4 41. Nxg6#) 41. Bxf6+ Kh7 42. Ne6 Bd6 $8 (42... Bh6 43. Ng5+ $1 Bxg5 44.
f8=Q $18) 43. Be5 Be7 44. f8=Q (44. Ke2 $5 Rg1 (44... Rd5 45. Bf6 Bd6 46. f8=Q
Bxf8 47. Nxf8+ Kh6 48. Ne6 Ra5 49. Kd3 Rxa2 50. Bg5+ Kh7 51. Bd2 $18) (44...
Rh1 45. Bf6 Bd6 46. h4 Rh2+ 47. Kd3 {[%cal Rf6e5]} Rxa2 48. Be5 Be7 49. f8=Q
Bxf8 50. Nxf8+ Kh6 51. Ne6 $18 {[%csl Rb4][%cal Rd3c4]}) 45. Bd4 {/\} Rxg3 $2
46. Bf6 Bd6 47. Be5 $18) 44... Bxf8 45. Nxf8+ Kh6 46. Ne6 $6 (46. Ke2 $142 $1
Rg1 $1 (46... Rd5 47. Bf4+ Kg7 48. Ne6+ Kf6 49. Nc7 Ra5 50. h4 $1 $18) 47. Ne6
(47. h4 g5 $1 48. Bf6 g4 (48... gxh4 49. Bxh4 Rg2+ 50. Kd3 Rxa2 51. Kc4 $18)
49. Bg5+ Kg7 50. Ne6+ Kf7 51. Kf2 $1 Ra1 52. Nd4 Rxa2+ 53. Ke3 {[%cal Re3d3,
Rd3c4]} Ra8 54. Kd3 Rc8 55. Bd2 $18) 47... g5 48. Bd6 Rg2+ (48... Kg6 49. Kf3
$18 {leads to a similar position after} Ra1) 49. Kf3 Rxa2 50. Bxb4 Rb2 51. Nd4
$18) 46... g5 $5 {Aronian tries to get counterchances on the kingside.} (46...
Rd2+ 47. Ke3 Rxa2 48. Bf4+ Kh7 49. Kd3 {[%csl Rb4] loses in a straighforward
fashion, as the b-pawn falls shortly.}) 47. h4 gxh4 48. gxh4 Kg6 49. Nd4 Rd3 $5
(49... Rd2+ 50. Ke3 Rxa2 51. Kd3 {[%cal Ye5f4,Yf4g5,Yd3c4] should gradually
win after White safeguards his h-pawn. Aronian tries to cut off White's king.})
50. Nc6 (50. Ke2 Rh3 51. Bd6 (51. Nf3 Kf5 $16) 51... Rxh4 52. Nf3 Rh1 (52...
Re4+ 53. Kd3 $18) 53. Bxb4 h4 54. Kf2 Kf5 55. Kg2 Rb1 (55... Ra1 $5) 56. Nxh4+
Kg4 57. Nf3 Rb2+ 58. Nd2 Rxa2 59. Kf2 $18 {is a Tablebase win, Carlsen seeks
something more human...}) 50... Rd2+ 51. Ke3 Rxa2 52. Bd6 (52. Nxb4 $2 Ra3 $11)
52... Ra1 (52... Ra6 53. Ne7+ Kf7 54. Bxb4 $18) (52... Rc2 53. Nd4 Rc3+ 54. Ke4
Rh3 $16 {/\} 55. Nf3 Rh1 56. Bxb4 $2 Rb1 57. Nd2 (57. Nd4 Rh1) 57... Rh1 $132
58. Be7 $4 Re1+) 53. Kd4 Rg1 $6 {Now Black loses more or less listlessly.} ({
Shipov points out the far more resilient} 53... Rh1 $1 54. Be7 Rh3 55. Ne5+ (
55. Kc4 Rc3+) 55... Kf5 56. Nd3 Rg3 57. Kc4 Rg4+ 58. Kb5 Rg3 59. Nc5 Rg4 {
Now White has to play for zugzwang to pass the move to his opponent with} 60.
Bd8 $3 (60. Bg5 Rxg5 $1 61. hxg5 h4 $11) (60. Ka4 Rg7 61. Bd8 Rg8 62. Nb7 Kg4
63. Kxb4 Rxd8 64. Nxd8 Kxh4 65. Nc6 Kg3 66. Nd4 Kg4 $1 67. Nc2 h4 68. Ne3+ Kf3
69. Nf1 h3 70. Kc5 Kg2 71. Ne3+ Kf2 $11) 60... Rd4 61. Bg5 Rg4 62. Be7 Rd4 $1 (
62... Rg7 63. Bd8 Rg8 64. Nb7 Kg4 65. Kc4 $1 {/\} Rxd8 66. Nxd8 Kxh4 67. Kd3
Kg3 68. Ke2 h4 69. Kf1 Kf3 70. Nc6 $18) 63. Ka4 Kg6 64. Bg5 Rg4 65. Nd3 Kf5 (
65... Rxg5 $2 66. Nf4+ Kf5 67. hxg5 Kxg5 68. Nxh5) 66. Nf2 $1 (66. Kb5 Rg3 67.
Kc4 Rg4+ 68. Kc5 Rg3) 66... Rd4 (66... Rg2 67. Nd1 $18 {[%cal Ra4b4]}) 67. Kb5
Ke5 68. Kc5 $22 Rd7 69. Kxb4 Kd4 70. Nd1 Rb7+ 71. Ka3 Kd3 72. Kb2 $16 {/+-
White should gradually win, but he still has to overcome some technical
problems after} Rf7 {, e.g.,} 73. Ne3 Rf2+ 74. Ka3 Rf8 75. Nd5 Kd4 76. Nf4 Kc3
77. Ka4 Ra8+ 78. Kb5 Kxb3 79. Nxh5 Rc8 $1 $11 {is only a Tablebase draw!}) 54.
Kc5 Kf5 (54... Rh1 55. Be7 Rc1+ 56. Kb5 Rc3 57. Nd4 $18) 55. Nxb4 Rc1+ 56. Kd4
Re1 (56... Rb1 57. Kc3 Rc1+ 58. Nc2 $18) (56... Rd1+ 57. Nd3 Rh1 (57... Ke6 58.
Bf4) 58. Be7 $18) 57. Nc6 $18 {[%csl Gb3][%cal Gb3b8] White gives up Ph4, as
his passed b-pawn will be too fast.} ({Equally strong was} 57. Nd3 $5 Re4+ 58.
Kd5 Rxh4 (58... Re3 59. Nc5 $18) 59. Nf2 $1 {[%csl Rh4][%cal Rd5c5,Rd6g3]})
57... Re4+ 58. Kd5 Rxh4 59. b4 Rh1 60. b5 Rb1 61. Nd4+ Kg4 (61... Kf6 62. Kc6
Rc1+ 63. Bc5 $5 h4 64. b6 h3 65. Nf3 $18) 62. Kc6 Rc1+ 63. Kd7 (63. Bc5 $2 h4
$11) 63... Rb1 (63... Rd1 64. b6 Rxd4 65. b7 $18) 64. Kc7 h4 (64... Rc1+ 65.
Nc6 Rb1 66. b6 h4 67. b7 h3 (67... Kf3 68. Nb4 $18) 68. Nd4 {and Black's king
is cut off.}) 65. b6 Kh3 (65... h3 66. b7 $18 {-64...Rc1+}) 66. b7 Kg2 67. Nf5
h3 68. Nh4+ {Stops Black's passed pawn and forces resignation.} (68. Nh4+ Kg1
69. b8=Q Rxb8 70. Kxb8 h2 71. Nf3+) 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 74th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2012.01.17"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 147"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Ke8 10. h3 Bb4 11. Ne2 Be6 12. Nf4 Bd5 13. Nxd5 cxd5 14.
g4 Ne7 15. Nd4 Bc5 16. Rd1 h5 17. Kg2 Bxd4 18. Rxd4 c5 19. Rd3 d4 20. b4 cxb4
21. Rxd4 Nc6 22. Rd5 hxg4 23. hxg4 Rd8 24. Rxd8+ Kxd8 25. Bg5+ Kc7 26. f4 b5
27. Rd1 a6 28. Rd5 Re8 29. Kf3 Rh8 30. Kg2 Re8 31. Bh4 Na5 32. Bf2 Nc4 33. Kf3
g6 34. Bd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 74th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2012.01.19"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E61"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "128"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 147"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. d4 O-O 5. Bg5 d6 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 g5 8. Bg3
Nh5 9. Nd2 Nxg3 10. hxg3 e6 11. Qc2 Qe7 12. Be2 a6 13. f4 f5 14. O-O-O c5 15.
d5 e5 16. Rh5 exf4 17. gxf4 gxf4 18. exf4 Nd7 19. Bd3 Nf6 20. Rhh1 Ng4 21. Rde1
Qf6 22. Re2 Qd4 23. Na4 Ne3 24. Rxe3 Qxe3 25. Nb6 Rb8 26. Rf1 Re8 27. Kb1 Qd4
28. Nb3 Qf6 29. Nc1 Re7 30. Nxc8 Rxc8 31. Bxf5 Rce8 32. Be6+ Rxe6 33. dxe6 Qxe6
34. Rf2 Qe4 35. Re2 Qxc2+ 36. Kxc2 Rf8 37. Nd3 b5 38. b3 Kf7 39. Nf2 Rd8 40.
Ne4 d5 41. Nxc5 dxc4 42. Nxa6 Ra8 43. Nb4 Bf8 44. Kc3 Bg7+ 45. Kc2 Bf8 46. Kc3
Bg7+ 47. Kd2 Bf8 48. Nc2 Rxa2 49. bxc4 bxc4 50. Re4 Ra4 51. Ke2 Bc5 52. Kf3 Kf6
53. g4 Kf7 54. f5 Be7 55. Ne3 Ra3 56. Rxc4 Bg5 57. Re4 Kf6 58. Re8 Rxe3+ 59.
Rxe3 Bxe3 60. Kxe3 h5 61. gxh5 Kxf5 62. h6 Kg6 63. h7 Kg7 64. Ke2 Kxh7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 74th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2012.01.20"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Navara, David"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D46"]
[WhiteElo "2712"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "162"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 147"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. Bd3 O-O 8. O-O
dxc4 9. Bxc4 b5 10. Bd3 Bb7 11. Rd1 b4 12. Na4 c5 13. dxc5 Rc8 14. Qe2 Nxc5 15.
Nxc5 Rxc5 16. e4 Nxe4 17. Bxe4 Bxe4 18. Rxd6 Bxf3 19. Qd2 Rd5 20. Rxd8 Rfxd8
21. Qe1 Rd1 22. Bg5 Rxe1+ 23. Rxe1 Rd5 24. Be7 Bg4 25. Bxb4 h5 26. Bc3 f6 27.
f3 Bf5 28. Re2 e5 29. Rd2 Rc5 30. Kf2 Kf7 31. h4 Be6 32. Rd6 Bc8 33. Rd8 Rc4
34. Kg3 Be6 35. a3 Rc7 36. Ba5 Rc2 37. Ra8 Rxb2 38. Rxa7+ Kg8 39. Bb4 Bc4 40.
Rd7 Bf1 41. Rd2 Rb3 42. Kf2 Bd3 43. Ke3 Bb5+ 44. Kf2 Kf7 45. Rd5 Bd3 46. Rd7+
Kg8 47. Rd8+ Kh7 48. Rd7 Bf5 49. Ra7 Kg8 50. Ra8+ Kh7 51. Ra7 Rb2+ 52. Kg1 e4
53. Bf8 Kg8 54. Bxg7 e3 55. Bxf6 Rb1+ 56. Kh2 e2 57. Bc3 e1=Q 58. Bxe1 Rxe1 59.
Kg3 Bg6 60. a4 Re2 61. Ra5 Ra2 62. Kf4 Kg7 63. g4 Bf7 64. Ra7 Rc2 65. gxh5 Rc6
66. Kg4 Rf6 67. Rc7 Ra6 68. h6+ Kf6 69. h7 Rxa4+ 70. f4 Ra8 71. f5 Rh8 72. h5
Rxh7 73. Rc6+ Kg7 74. h6+ Kh8 75. Rc8+ Bg8 76. f6 Ra7 77. Re8 Kh7 78. Re7+ Rxe7
79. fxe7 Bf7 80. Kf5 Kxh6 81. e8=B Bxe8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 74th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2012.01.21"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D12"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2739"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 147"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nh4 Bg6 (6... Be4) ({and} 
6... Bg4 {are also playable, but the move in the text considered as the most
solid one.}) 7. Nxg6 hxg6 8. Bd3 {In this position White can play almost every
legal move, the choice of Magnus is just one of the options.} (8. Bd2 Nbd7 9.
a3 Be7 10. Qc2 O-O 11. Be2 dxc4 12. Bxc4 c5 13. dxc5 Nxc5 14. O-O Rc8 15. Rfd1
Qc7 16. Rac1 Rfd8 17. Be2 Nce4 18. Be1 Nxc3 19. Qxc3 Rxd1 20. Bxd1 Qxc3 21.
Rxc3 Rxc3 22. Bxc3 {+/=/= 1/2-1/2 Carlsen,M (2693)-Anand,V (2786)/Dortmund
2007/CBM 119 (39)}) 8... Nbd7 (8... c5 9. Qb3 Qd7 10. cxd5 exd5 11. dxc5 Bxc5
12. Qb5 (12. O-O $5 Nc6 (12... Bd6 13. f4 $14) 13. Rd1 $14) 12... Qxb5 13. Nxb5
Kd7 14. O-O Nc6 15. Rd1 Ke7 16. Bd2 Bb4 17. Nc3 Rac8 18. Rac1 Rhd8 19. a3 Bd6
20. Ne2 Ne5 {1/2-1/2 Kramnik,V (2744)-Gelfand,B (2724)/Saint Vincent 2005/CBM
110}) 9. O-O Bd6 10. h3 {So far the players have been following their previous
exciting encounter from the Tal Memorial.} dxc4 11. Bxc4 O-O {Boris is the
first to deviate.} (11... Nb6 12. Bb3 e5 13. Qc2 Qe7 14. Bd2 O-O-O 15. d5 (15.
Nb5 {might be an improvement for White trying to eliminate the dangerous
bishop.}) 15... e4 $1 16. dxc6 Qe5 17. f4 exf3 18. Rxf3 Ng4 $1 19. cxb7+ Kb8
20. hxg4 Rh1+ 21. Kf2 Rxa1 22. Ne2 $13 {1-0 Carlsen,M (2826)-Gelfand,B (2744)/
Moscow 2011/EXT 2012 (38)}) 12. Qc2 Qe7 {In general, the position is very
close to equal. In the long term White hopes to benefit from the pair of
bishops. Since none of Black's forces have advanced beyond the sixth rank, the
second player needs more space. For this purpose he may choose between two
main ideas: ..e6-e5 or ...c6-c5 to be carried out at an appropriate moment.}
13. Rd1 Rac8 14. Bd2 (14. e4 $6 {is met by} e5 {and Black gets good play on
the dark squares.}) 14... Nb6 15. Bf1 (15. Bb3 c5 (15... e5 $4 16. Qxg6 $18)
16. dxc5 Rxc5 17. Rac1 Rd8 18. Be1 g5 19. Qe2 a6 {Black has a satisfactory
position.}) 15... e5 (15... c5 16. dxc5 Rxc5 17. Qb3 {keeping slight, but
stable pressure.}) 16. dxe5 Bxe5 (16... Qxe5 {is less accurate.} {After} 17. g3
{later on the queen might get kicked away by f2-f4.}) 17. Rac1 Rcd8 18. Be1 {
Now massive exchanges along the d-file will follow. Both sides have no grounds
to avoid them, otherwise the opponent will seize the central line for free.}
Rxd1 19. Rxd1 Rd8 20. Rxd8+ Qxd8 21. g3 (21. Na4 Nxa4 22. Qxa4 a6 (22... Bxb2
23. Qxa7 Qd7 24. Qa8+ Kh7 25. Qa4 Kg8 26. Qb3 Be5 27. a4 $14 {[%cal Gf1c4]})
23. Be2 Qd7 {Black is slightly worse, but has a solid position.}) 21... Qe7 22.
Bg2 Bd6 23. Bd2 Qe6 24. b3 Nbd5 25. Ne2 $1 (25. Nxd5 cxd5 $1 26. Bc3 Ne4 27.
Bd4 a6 {Black doesn't have any problems. His pieces are active enough and he
covers all the squares on the c-file against White's queen invasion.}) 25...
Nb4 26. Qb1 Qf5 $1 27. e4 Qc5 28. Nf4 $6 {I don't think that this is a good
provocation.} (28. Be3 Qa5 29. Qd1 Bf8 30. Nc1 (30. a4 Bc5 $11) 30... Nxa2 31.
Nxa2 Qxa2 32. e5 Nd5 $1 33. Bxd5 cxd5 34. Qxd5 b6 35. e6 Qb1+ 36. Kg2 Qf5 37.
exf7+ Qxf7 $11) 28... g5 $1 {Why not?} 29. Ne2 g4 {This pawn is annoying.} 30.
h4 (30. Be3 Qa5 31. Qd1 Bf8 $132) 30... Nd7 $2 {It's logical to transfer the
knight to e5, but White can now exploit the moment when Black has two pieces
on the d-file. So far Boris has played well, but this mistake ruins all his
efforts.} (30... Be5 $1 31. Be3 Qa5 32. Nc1 Qd8 {[%cal Gd8d1]} 33. Ne2 Qa5 {
The position is equal. If White pushes too hard, then after} 34. a4 Qd8 35.
Bxa7 $6 Qd2 36. Bf1 Nc2 {[%csl Re4] Black seizes the initiative.}) 31. Be3 Qc2
(31... Qa5 32. Qd1 {[%csl Rd6,Rd7] is the point.} Qc7 33. a3 Na6 34. b4 {
This position is extremely unpleasant for Black, perhaps just bad. The knight
on a6 is misplaced, the Pg4 is a target and the manoeuvre Ne2-d4-f5 is in the
air.}) 32. Qxc2 Nxc2 33. Bxa7 {It's a free pawn!} Ba3 (33... Bc5 34. Bxc5 Nxc5
{was an interesting practical chance. Black's knights are very active, though
after} 35. Nc1 {The extra pawn will tell sooner or later.}) (33... b6 34. e5
$18 {[%csl Rc6]}) 34. Nc3 Bb2 35. Nd1 (35. Na4 $6 {is less accurate:} Bd4 36.
Bxd4 Nxd4) 35... Bc1 36. Bf1 Nb4 (36... Ne5 37. Be2 f6 38. Bb8 Nf3+ (38... Nd4
$2 39. Bxe5 Nxe2+ 40. Kf1 fxe5 41. Kxe2 $18) 39. Kg2 Ncd4 40. Bc4+ Kf8 41. Ne3
b5 42. Bd6+ Ke8 43. Bg8 $18) 37. a4 Nf6 38. e5 Nd7 39. Bd4 Nc2 40. Bc3 Nc5 41.
Be2 {[%csl Rg4]} Ne4 (41... Nxb3 42. Bxg4 $18) 42. Bxg4 Nxc3 43. Nxc3 Bb2 44.
e6 $1 fxe6 45. Bxe6+ Kf8 46. Ne4 {Two extra pawns promise White an easy win.}
Nd4 47. Ng5 Ke7 48. Bg8 Kf8 49. Bc4 Ke7 50. Kg2 b5 51. Bg8 Kf8 52. a5 $1 {
[%csl Ga5]} 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 74th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2012.01.22"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D78"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 147"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. d4 c6 5. O-O Nf6 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. c4 a5 8. b3 a4
9. Bb2 Bf5 10. Ne5 Nbd7 11. Nxd7 Bxd7 12. Bc3 axb3 13. axb3 Bg4 14. Rxa8 Qxa8
15. h3 Bf5 16. Qa1 h5 17. Qxa8 Rxa8 18. Ra1 Rxa1+ 19. Bxa1 Bc2 20. e3 g5 21.
Bf1 g4 22. hxg4 hxg4 23. Be2 Kh7 24. cxd5 cxd5 25. Bc3 Kg6 26. Kf1 Kf5 27. Ke1
Nd7 28. b4 e6 29. Nf1 Kg5 30. Nh2 Nf6 31. Bd2 Kf5 32. b5 Bf8 33. Ba5 Be7 34.
Bc7 Kg5 35. b6 Bb3 36. f4+ Kf5 37. Kf2 Bc4 38. Bd1 Bb4 39. Bd8 Ba5 40. Kg2 Bd3
41. Kf2 Ne4+ 42. Kg2 Nf6 43. Kf2 Ne4+ 44. Kg2 Nf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 74th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2012.01.24"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2769"]
[Annotator "Karjakin,S"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 147"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 b6 3. Nc3 Bb7 4. d4 e6 5. a3 d5 6. Bg5 Be7 7. e3 O-O 8. Rc1 {
Magnus chooses the rare moves of the Petrosian line and already here I started
to think... Magnus wählt die seltenen Züge der Petrosian-Variante, und bereits
hier begann ich zu überlegen...} h6 {Not the most common move, which was
evaluated differently!  Nicht der häufigste Zug, und er wird unterschiedlich
bewertet!} 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. cxd5 exd5 11. Bd3 c5 12. O-O {I heard different
evaluations of this position. Aronian told me that this is a famous position
from the Queen's Gambit with an extra tempo for White, but Magnus said that
the position is absolutely harmless for Black... Zu dieser Stellung hörte ich
unterschiedliche Einschätzungen. Aronian sagte mir, dies sei eine berühmte
Stellung aus dem Damengambit mit einem Extratempo für Weiß, dagegen meinte
Magnus, die Stellung sei absolut harmlos für Schwarz...} Na6 {Preparing Nc7-e6,
but later the knight went another way... Bereitet Nc7-e6 vor, doch später ging
der Springer einen anderen Weg...} 13. Ne5 {Interesting try, White is
preparing f2-f4. I expected more Ne2 and then Ng3 or Nf4. Also possible was
Bb1 with an unclear position. Interessanter Versuch, Weiß bereitet f2-f4 vor.
Ich erwartete eher Ne2 und dann Ng3 oder Nf4. Ebenfalls möglich war Bb1 mit
unklarer Stellung.} cxd4 14. exd4 Bxe5 ({The interesting alternative Die
interessante Alternative} 14... Nc5 {seemed quite risky to me in view of
schien mir ziemlich riskant angesichts von} 15. Nxf7 ({A quieter move is Ein
ruhigerer Zug ist} 15. f4) 15... Rxf7 16. dxc5 bxc5 17. Qh5 {and for the human
the position looks very dangerous with such a weak diagonal b1-h7. , und für
den Menschen sieht die Stellung mit einer derart schwachen Diagonale b1-h7
brandgefährlich aus.}) 15. dxe5 Nc5 16. Re1 $1 {The only one try to fight for
an advantage! Der einzige Versuch, um Vorteil zu kämpfen!} (16. Nb5 Nxd3 17.
Qxd3 Ba6 $11 {is fine for Black, for example: ist in Ordnung für Schwarz, zum
Beispiel:} 18. f4 Rc8 19. Rce1 $6 {Trying to play for a win. Versucht, auf
Gewinn zu spielen.} ({White should make a draw after Weiß sollte Remis machen
mit} 19. Rxc8 Qxc8 20. Qxd5 Qc5+ 21. Qxc5 bxc5 22. a4 Bxb5 23. axb5 Rb8 $11)
19... Qd7 20. a4 Rc4 $1 21. b3 Bxb5 22. axb5 Rb4 $15) 16... Re8 ({The most
logical move does not work: Der logischste Zug funktioniert nicht:} 16... d4
17. Ne4 Bxe4 (17... Qd5 $2 18. Bc4 $1 Qxe5 19. Nxc5 Qxc5 20. Bxf7+ $18) 18.
Bxe4 d3 19. Rxc5 bxc5 20. Bxa8 Qxa8 21. Qxd3 {with an extra pawn for White.
mit einem Mehrbauern für Weiß.}) 17. f4 $6 {After this move White is not
fighting for an advantage any longer! Nach diesem Zug kämpft Weiß nicht länger
um Vorteil!} ({White should have played Richtig für Weiß war} 17. Bf1 a6 {
Black should cover the b5-square. Schwarz sollte das b5-Feld decken} 18. Rc2 $1
{keeping a minimal advantage. , was minimalen Vorteil bewahrt.}) 17... d4 18.
Ne4 $2 {Almost the decisive mistake! After this move White gets a very bad
position... Fast schon der entscheidende Fehler! Nach diesem Zug erhält Weiß
eine sehr schlechte Stellung...} (18. Nb5 Qd5 19. Rc2 Nxd3 20. Qxd3 Ba6 21. a4
Bxb5 22. axb5 Rac8 {with a draw. mit Remis.}) 18... Bxe4 19. Bxe4 d3 $1 {
Nice move, which because of the inclusion 16...Re8 17.f4 now works! Schöner
Zug, der jetzt wegen der Einschaltung von 16...Re8 17.f4 funktoniert!} 20. Rc4
{I also thought this is the strongest, but the lesser evil was 20.Re3. Dies
hielt ich auch für am stärksten, doch das geringere Übel war 20.Re3.} (20. Bxa8
d2 21. Bc6 Qd4+ 22. Kh1 dxe1=Q+ 23. Qxe1 Nd3 24. Qf1 Re6 25. Rc2 Nxf4 $17) (20.
Re3 $1 Qd4 21. Qf3 Rac8 22. Rd1 d2 23. Kf1 {and White is somehow holding...
und Weiß hält sich irgendwie...}) (20. Rxc5 Qd4+ $1 {Here we can understand
the importance of the inclusion 16...Re8 17.f4. Hier sehen wir die Tragweite
der Einschaltung von 16...Re8 17.f4.}) 20... Rc8 21. Bf5 Qd5 {Also strong was
21...b5, but I wanted my b6-pawn to support the knight on c5. Ebenfalls stark
war 21...b5, aber ich wollte meinen b6-Bauern stehenlassen, um den Springer
auf c5 zu stützten.} 22. Rc3 Rcd8 23. Qd2 Qd4+ 24. Kh1 (24. Kf1 a5 {was
equally bad for White. war ebenfalls schlecht für Weiß.}) 24... a5 $1 {Playing
against b4. Gegen b4 gerichtet.} 25. Rb1 {It was hard to suggest anything
instead... Es fiel schwer, etwas anderes vorzuschlagen...} a4 26. Rd1 Rd5 {
This is a bit too much! Of course Black's position was very good, but why not
just win an exchange by playing Dies ist ein bisschen zu viel! Natürlich war
die schwarze Stellung sehr gut, aber warum nicht einfach eine Qualität
gewinnen durch} (26... g6 $1 27. Bxd3 Ne4 28. Bxe4 Qxd2 29. Rxd2 Rxd2 $19 {
with an easy win! mit leichtem Sieg!}) 27. h4 g6 ({A stronger try was Ein
stärkerer Versuch war} 27... Red8 28. h5 f6 $19 {and White is defenceless! und
Weiß ist wehrlos.}) 28. Bxd3 Red8 29. Qe1 Qxf4 30. e6 $1 Nxe6 (30... Nxd3 $6
31. Rdxd3 Rxd3 32. e7 {with drawing chances. mit Remischancen.}) 31. Bc2 {
White is defending very well! Weiß verteidigt sich sehr gut!} b5 ({The
strongest was Am stärksten war} 31... Nd4 $1 32. Bxa4 Nf5 33. Rxd5 Rxd5 34.
Qe8+ Kg7 35. Bb3 Qxh4+ {and Black wins! But being down on time I decided to
play safer... und Schwarz gewinnt. Aber da ich weniger Zeit hatte, beschloss
ich, sicherer zu spielen...}) 32. Rxd5 Rxd5 33. Re3 Nd4 34. Bd3 (34. Bxg6 {
does not work: funktioniert nicht:} fxg6 35. Re8+ Kg7 36. Re7+ Kf6 $19) 34...
Kg7 35. Kg1 Qf6 36. Kh2 ({More stubborn was Hartnäckiger war} 36. Qf2 Nf5 (
36... Qd6 $5) 37. Bxf5 Rxf5 38. Rf3 Rxf3 39. gxf3 {and though the position
should be winning, still a lot of work is required. und obwohl die Stellung
gewonnen sein sollte, ist noch eine Menge Arbeit erforderliche.}) 36... Rh5 {
Playing in mutual time trouble. In beiderseitiger Zeitnot gespielt.} ({It was
even stronger to play Noch stärker war} 36... Rc5 $1 {and Black is dominating!
und Schwarz dominiert!}) 37. Rh3 ({There was the slightly more stubborn Hier
gab es das etwas hartnäckigere} 37. Re4) 37... Ne6 {Here Black had many ways,
but before the time control I chose the most human moves... An dieser Stelle
hatte Schwarz viele Möglichkeiten, aber vor der Zeitkontrolle wählte ich die
menschlichsten Züge...} (37... Qf4+ 38. Qg3 Nf3+ $1 39. gxf3 Qd2+ $19) 38. Rf3
Rxh4+ 39. Kg1 Qd4+ 40. Qf2 Qxf2+ 41. Kxf2 b4 {Starting from here Magnus
defended very well, but 2 pawns was enough even for me... Von hier an
verteidigte sich Magnus sehr gut, aber zwei Bauern waren selbst für mich genug.
..} 42. Re3 Rd4 43. Bb5 Kf6 44. Rf3+ (44. Bxa4 bxa3 45. Rxa3 Rd2+ $19) 44...
Ke7 45. Rd3 bxa3 46. bxa3 Rf4+ (46... Rxd3 47. Bxd3 Nc5 48. Bb5 f5 49. Ke3 g5
50. Kd4 Kd6 {should also be winning, but I wanted to keep the rooks. sollte
ebenfalls gewinnen, aber ich wollte die Türme behalten.}) 47. Ke3 f5 48. Rd7+
Kf6 49. Rd6 Re4+ 50. Kf2 Kg5 51. Be8 (51. Bc6 Nc5 $1 $19) 51... Nf4 52. Bb5 Re5
53. Bc4 (53. Bxa4 Re2+ $19) 53... Nh5 {The decisive knight manoeuvre! Black
gives up the a4-pawn, but creates a mating threat! Das entscheidende
Springermanöver! Schwarz gibt den a4-Bauern auf, stellt dafür aber eine
Mattdrohung auf!} 54. Ra6 Nf6 55. Rxa4 Ng4+ 56. Kf1 Kh4 $1 57. Be2 Kg3 58. Bxg4
fxg4 {Because Black's king will go to h2, the endgame is completely hopeless
for White! Da der schwarze König nach h2 gehen wird, ist das Endspiel komplett
hoffnungslos für Weiß!} 59. Rb4 h5 60. a4 Kh2 {White resigned! Weiß gab auf!}
0-1

[Event "Tata Steel-A 74th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2012.01.25"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2759"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 147"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 a6 5. a4 e6 6. Bf4 {By far not the main
line. There are three more popular continuations:} (6. Bg5 {Bu Xiangzhi (2714)
-Movsesian,S (2732)/Nanjing 2008/CBM 128/[Rogozenco] (1-0, 62)}) (6. e3 {
Inkiov,V (2495)-Gurevich,M (2634)/Utrecht 2005/CBM 106 ext/[Gutman] (1-0, 32)})
(6. g3 dxc4 (6... Bb4 {Wells,P (2489)-Houska,J (2418)/Sheffield 2011/CBM 143
Extra/[Martin,A] (1/2, 36)}) 7. Bg2 c5 8. O-O (8. dxc5 {Moiseenko,A (2679)
-Postny,E (2612)/Mulhouse 2011/CBM 142 Extra/[Postny] (1/2, 80)}) 8... cxd4 9.
Nxd4 Bc5 {Mamedyarov,S (2763)-Gashimov,V (2734)/Astrakhan 2010/CBM 137/[Postny]
(1/2, 43)}) 6... Be7 {A rare continuation. It is worth mentioning that Carlsen
had played this line with White.} (6... c5 7. e3 Nc6 8. Be2 dxc4 9. Bxc4 cxd4
10. exd4 Be7 11. O-O O-O 12. Re1 Nb4 13. Ne5 Bd7 14. d5 exd5 15. Nxd5 Nbxd5 16.
Bxd5 Bg4 17. Nxg4 Nxd5 18. Nh6+ Kh8 19. Nf5 Nxf4 20. Rxe7 g6 21. Qxd8 Raxd8 22.
Ne3 $14 {Carlsen,M (2786)-Movsesian,S (2732)/Kallithea 2008/CBM 127/[Krasenkow]
(0-1, 76)}) (6... a5 7. e3 Na6 8. Be2 Be7 9. O-O Nb4 {Carlsen,M (2775)-Kamsky,
G (2723)/Moscow 2008/CBM 126 Extra (1/2, 94)}) 7. e3 Nh5 $146 {The move is new,
but the idea is typical in the 5.Bf4 Queen's Gambit.} (7... O-O) 8. Bd3 Nxf4 9.
exf4 a5 10. O-O Na6 11. Rc1 Nb4 12. b3 O-O 13. Bb1 Bf6 14. Re1 b6 15. cxd5 cxd5
16. Na2 Nxa2 17. Bxa2 Ba6 18. Bb1 g6 19. Bd3 Bxd3 20. Qxd3 Rc8 21. g3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 74th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2012.01.27"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,A"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 147"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "6000+30"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. c3 Ngf6 5. Qe2 a6 6. Ba4 Qc7 {Not the main
move, but it scores quite well. A lot of games have seen 6... b5 instead.} 7.
O-O e5 {And this is new, Volokitin had tried c4 against a weaker opponent a
few years ago.} 8. d4 b5 9. Bc2 cxd4 {This move requires a little bit of an
explanation. Black doesn't really want to concede the c3 square for White's N,
but at the same time, this move is useful because it takes the sting out of a4,
which would have been the reply to any other logical move. The position
heavily resembles a Ruy Lopez more than a Sicilian, due to the B positioning
on c2 and the pawn structure.} (9... Be7 10. a4 b4 11. dxc5 dxc5 12. Nbd2 {
[%cal Rd2c4] eeally emphasizes the weakness left on c4 by pushing the pawn.})
10. cxd4 Be7 11. Nc3 (11. a4 b4 {is nowhere near as threatening now.}) 11...
O-O 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bh4 Bb7 14. Rad1 Rac8 15. Bb3 Rfe8 16. dxe5 dxe5 17. Bg3 Bf8
18. h3 Nb6 {So far both sides have developed in a very logical fashion. Black
should be quite happy with the results of the opening: all his pieces are on
good squares and he has a sound pawn structure. His last move prepares the
very natural ...Nc4, which will block out the strong B on b3, and pressure b2.}
19. Nh4 $5 Nc4 20. Nf5 {And this is where things start to get wild. Magnus'
Nh4 was already an indication that this move will follow, as there was no
satisfactory way to meekly defend the b2 pawn.} Nxb2 21. Bh4 $5 (21. Rc1 Nc4
22. Bh4 g5 $15 {Gives White some compensation but I'm not sure it is enough.
The N on f5 does look powerful, but a pawn is a pawn. It's possible that Black
is just better in this position.}) (21. Nxh6+ $5 gxh6 22. Bh4 Bg7 (22... Qc6
23. Bxf6 Qxf6 24. Qxb2 $14) 23. Bxf6 Bxf6 24. Qg4+ Kh8 25. Rd7 Qxc3 26. Bxf7
Red8 $17 {And here White has a scary looking attack, but it does seem like
Black will survive by all means.}) 21... Nxd1 {Topalov "goes for it" but he
might not have had a choice.} (21... g5 {Seemed like the more prudent way to
play, but that is not quite the case.} 22. Rd6 $3 Bxd6 $8 23. Nxh6+ Kf8 24.
Bxg5 $13 {And despite being up a rook (!) White's threats look extremely
powerful. Specifically, Bxf6 and Qg4 or Nf5 and Bh5+. A crazy position that
should be analyzed in depth.}) 22. Bxf6 Nxc3 (22... gxf6 $2 23. Nxd1 $16 {
gives White way too much compensation for his lost material, as Qh5 is the
next move and the attack is huge.}) (22... Re6 $5 {is a very clever move. If
White takes on e6, then after fxe6 the g7-pawn will be better defended and it
kicks out the N on f5. Again, this position would require lots of analysis,
but let's take a look at the most obvious.} 23. Nxh6+ (23. Bxe6 Nxc3 $5 24.
Nxh6+ Kh7 25. Qh5 g6 $13) 23... Kh7 24. Qh5 g6 $1 25. Qh4 Bxh6 26. Rxd1 g5 $1
27. Bxg5 Rg6 $13) 23. Qg4 Bxe4 {A very logical move. The bishop hurries back
to the defense and attacks the f5-N. It also covers the b1-h7 diagonal which
can be important in many variations.} (23... Re6 {was very interesting but
it's hard to play during a game. Again, this will be analyzed in full.} 24.
Nxh6+ (24. Nxg7 $5 Rxf6 25. Ne8+ Kh8 26. Nxf6 Bg7 27. Qf5 Bxf6 28. Qxf6+ Kg8
29. Qg6+ Kf8 30. Qxh6+ Ke8 {Might just not work for White though.}) 24... Kh7
25. Nxf7 $13) 24. Nxh6+ (24. Nxg7 Kh7 25. Nxe8 Rxe8 26. Rd1 $1 {is a very
surprising resource. Here Black is powerless against the threat of Rd7, but he
can still defend once the R penetrates.} Bg6 (26... Nxd1 $4 27. Qxe4+ Kg8 28.
Qg6+) 27. Rd7 Ne2+ 28. Kf1 Ng3+ 29. fxg3 Qc1+ 30. Ke2 {with an incredibly
messy position.}) 24... Kh7 25. Bxf7 {A lot of pieces are swarming around the
black king. It is easy to say this during post mortem analysis: I just don't
see what White is threatening at the moment. However, during the heat of
battle, I can't imagine having a scarier position.} Qxf7 $2 {This is a little
bit of a panic mode.} (25... Bd3 {and I'm not sure what White's followup is.}
26. Qh5 Ne2+ 27. Kh1 Nf4 {and it looks like it's checkmate but it's not, so
Black wins.}) 26. Nxf7 gxf6 {Black still has a considerable material advantage,
but unfortunately for him his K is very exposed. Carlsen must be quick to
exploit this, because as soon as Black gets any kind of coordination he will
be lost.} 27. f4 $8 Bg6 28. Qh4+ Kg7 29. fxe5 Ne4 30. Rxf6 Bc5+ 31. Kh2 Nxf6
32. Qxf6+ Kh7 33. Ng5+ Kh6 {White has sacrificed even more material, but in
compensation Black's K is even more exposed. It is funny how those things work.
In any case, it is clear the Magnus now has a perpetual and I'm sure many GMs
would be willing to finish such an exhausting game, but that's not the
attitude that's made Magnus the #1 player in the world.} 34. Ne6 (34. Nf7+ Kh7
$11) 34... Rxe6 35. Qxe6 Re8 36. Qf6 {To be fair, it doesn't take much to
realize that White still holds a perpetual in his hands whenever he wants it.
He just has to be careful not to overpress.} Be7 $2 {I'm not sure why Topalov
gifted the a6-pawn, but maybe a loss of perspective can explain it. After
defending so much and having such wild material differences, it is sometimes
hard to remember that one pawn can make a big difference.} (36... a5 {was
quite a superior move. Not only does it save the pawn, it keeps the pressure
on e5 which is very important.}) 37. Qxa6 $14 b4 38. Qc4 Bf8 39. g4 Kh7 40. e6
Bd6+ {Move 40 has finally been reached, but sadly for Topalov his position
isn't so good any more. This is mainly due to the fact that the e6-pawn is
very hard to get to, and the two passed pawns on the kingside are very
powerful. On top of that, there is no way to create counterplay. This is a
very tough defense.} 41. Kg2 Be7 42. Qc7 {Black is almost in Zugzwang in this
position, and actually 42...Kg7 is forced.} Kg8 43. Kg3 Kf8 44. Qf4+ $6 {
An innacuracy, a better way to do what Magnus did in the game was by putting
the Q on e5 immediately.} (44. Qe5 $1 {threatening Qh8 mate.} Kg8 45. h4 {
is much more like it, with strong threats.}) 44... Kg7 45. Qd4+ Kg8 46. h4 Rd8
47. Qc4 Bd3 $6 {And with this move Topalov returns the favor, it was
imperative to take this one hope of counterplay and go for it.} (47... Rd3+ $1
48. Kg2 Rd2+ (48... Bxh4 $2 49. e7+ $18) 49. Kf3 Bxh4 {and it seems Black is
safe. Easier said with a lot of time to analyze the position though, as it
looks quite scary.}) 48. Qc6 Bb1 $2 {But this move just loses. It is way too
aggressive, which is unsurprising considering Topalov's usual 'defense'
methods, but it was not what the position required.} (48... Kg7 49. g5 Bg6 {
still gave good drawing chances since the K can't easily cross to the 4th rank
to support the pawn.}) 49. h5 {Winning but not as easily as....} (49. Qb7 $1 {
And now Black has serious problems with the positioning of his pieces.} Kf8 $2
(49... Re8 50. Qd7 Kf8 51. Qd1 {and again Q somewhere in the f-file next move.}
) (49... Bd6+ 50. Kh3 $18 {threatens both Qf7 and e7 and just e7 directly.})
50. Qf3+ Kg8 51. Qf7+) 49... Bxa2 50. Qe4 {Black is simply dominated in this
position, and his K is rapidly being entangled in a mating net.} Kh8 51. h6 Bf6
52. e7 Re8 53. Qf4 Bg7 54. hxg7+ Kxg7 55. g5 Kg8 56. Qf6 {Definitely not
Topalov's most shining moment. It is possible that he was simply winning and
that Carlsen's sacrifices were not much more than a bluff, but the bluff paid
off. Even then, the endgame was quite holdable, but Topalov's over-aggression
prevented him from cooly maintaining a passive defense, and that cost him the
game. Wild and exciting chess!} 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 74th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2012.01.28"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C89"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2732"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 147"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3
d5 9. d4 dxe4 10. Nxe5 Bb7 11. Nxc6 Bxc6 12. Bg5 Nd5 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Nd2 f5
15. f3 e3 16. c4 Nf4 17. cxb5+ Kh8 18. Nc4 e2 19. Qd2 Qg5 20. Rxe2 Nxe2+ 21.
Qxe2 Bxb5 22. Qe3 f4 23. Qe5 Qh4 24. Qe1 Qxe1+ 25. Rxe1 Bxc4 26. Bxc4 c6 27.
Re6 Rf6 28. Re4 a5 29. h4 Rd8 30. Re5 a4 31. Ra5 Rfd6 32. Rxa4 Rxd4 33. b3 g6
34. Kh2 Kg7 35. Ra6 Rd2 36. a4 Rf2 37. Ra7+ Kh8 38. Kh3 h5 39. Rf7 Rdd2 40.
Rxf4 Rxg2 41. Rf7 Rh2+ 42. Kg3 Rdg2+ 43. Kf4 Rxh4+ 44. Ke5 Rg5+ 45. Kf6 Rf5+
46. Kxg6 Rxf7 47. Bxf7 Rf4 48. Be6 Rxf3 49. Kxh5 Re3 50. Bc4 Kg7 51. Kg5 Re5+
52. Kf4 Kf6 53. Bd3 Rh5 54. Be4 c5 55. Bd3 Rh4+ 56. Ke3 Ke5 57. a5 Rh3+ 58. Ke2
Kd4 59. Bc4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 74th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2012.01.29"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A90"]
[WhiteElo "2692"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 147"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 f5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 d5 5. O-O Bd6 6. c4 c6 7. b3 Qe7 8. Ne5 b6
9. cxd5 cxd5 10. Nc4 Nc6 11. Nxd6+ Qxd6 12. a4 Qd7 13. Ba3 Kf7 14. Nc3 Ba6 15.
f3 Rhe8 16. Qd2 Kg8 17. Rfc1 Rac8 18. Ra2 h6 19. Rac2 Na5 20. Rb1 Rc7 21. Na2
Rxc2 22. Qxc2 Nc6 23. Qd2 e5 24. dxe5 Rxe5 25. Re1 Qe6 26. f4 Rxe2 27. Rxe2
Bxe2 28. Nc3 Bh5 29. Bxd5 Nxd5 30. Qxd5 Qxd5 31. Nxd5 Bf7 32. Ne7+ Nxe7 33.
Bxe7 Bxb3 34. a5 bxa5 35. Kf2 a4 36. Ke3 Kf7 37. Ba3 g5 38. h4 Kg6 39. hxg5
hxg5 40. Kd2 Kh5 41. fxg5 Kxg5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 7th Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2012.06.07"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "McShane, Luke J"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2706"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2012.06.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 148 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.06.22"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.06.22"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. e5 Nh5 4. f4 d5 5. c4 c6 6. Nc3 Ng7 7. Nf3 h5 8. Qb3 e6
9. Be3 Be7 10. Be2 b6 11. O-O Kf8 12. Rac1 Nf5 13. Bf2 Kg7 14. cxd5 exd5 15.
Bd3 Be6 16. Nd1 Qd7 17. Ne3 Rc8 18. Nxf5+ Bxf5 19. Bh4 Bf8 20. Bf6+ Kg8 21.
Bxf5 Qxf5 22. Nh4 Qe4 23. f5 Nd7 24. fxg6 Nxf6 25. gxf7+ Kh8 26. Rf4 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 7th Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2012.06.07"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2825"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2012.06.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 148 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.06.22"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.06.22"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O a6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. Nxd4 Be7 8.
f3 O-O 9. Be3 Nd7 10. Nc3 Ne5 11. Qe2 Bb4 12. Nd1 c5 13. Nb3 c4 14. Nd4 c5 15.
Nf5 Bxf5 16. exf5 Re8 17. Nf2 Nc6 18. Ne4 Nd4 19. Bxd4 Qxd4+ 20. Kh1 Qxb2 21.
a3 Ba5 22. Rab1 Qe5 23. Rxb7 Qxf5 24. Qxc4 Qe6 25. Qxc5 Bd8 26. Qd4 Be7 27. Rb6
Qa2 28. c4 Qxa3 29. c5 a5 30. Ra1 Rad8 31. Nd6 Bf6 32. Rxa3 Bxd4 33. Nxe8 Bxc5
34. Rd6 Rxe8 0-1

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 7th Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2012.06.07"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2012.06.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 148 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.06.22"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.06.22"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. d4 d6 4. Bc4 a6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bb7 7. Re1 e6 8. a4 Nd7
9. Bg5 Ne7 10. axb5 axb5 11. Rxa8 Qxa8 12. d5 Nc5 13. Nd4 h6 14. Bxe7 Kxe7 15.
Nxb5 Qa5 16. N1c3 Rb8 17. dxe6 fxe6 18. Nd4 Nxb3 19. Nxb3 Qb4 20. Qg4 Bxc3 21.
bxc3 Qxc3 22. Re3 Qxc2 23. h3 Rf8 24. Qxe6+ Kxe6 25. Nd4+ Ke5 26. Nxc2 c5 27.
Ne1 Ra8 28. Nd3+ Kd4 29. e5 c4 30. Nf4 dxe5 31. Ne2+ Kd5 32. Nc3+ Ke6 33. f4 e4
34. Kf2 Bc6 35. Nxe4 Ra2+ 36. Kg3 Kd5 37. Nf6+ Kd4 38. Re6 Rxg2+ 39. Kh4 Bf3
40. Ng4 c3 41. Rd6+ Kc5 42. Rd8 Rxg4+ 43. hxg4 c2 0-1

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 7th Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2012.06.07"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C07"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2784"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2012.06.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 148 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.06.22"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.06.22"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 a6 4. Ngf3 c5 5. c3 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Nf6 7. e5 Nfd7 8. f4
Nc6 9. N2f3 Be7 10. Bd3 Nc5 11. Bc2 Bd7 12. O-O Nxd4 13. Nxd4 g6 14. Be3 Qc7
15. Kh1 h5 16. Qe1 Rc8 17. Bf2 Ba4 18. Bb1 Bd7 19. Bh4 Bxh4 20. Qxh4 Qd8 21.
Qf2 Qe7 22. Bc2 Ba4 23. b3 Bd7 24. a4 O-O 25. Rae1 Bc6 26. f5 exf5 27. Nxf5
gxf5 28. Qg3+ 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 7th Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2012.06.07"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A37"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2012.06.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 148 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.06.22"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.06.22"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. O-O d6 6. Nc3 Qd7 7. e3 Bxc3 8. bxc3
f5 9. d3 Nf6 10. Nd2 b6 11. f4 Bb7 12. e4 O-O-O 13. Re1 fxe4 14. Nxe4 Nxe4 15.
Bxe4 Rhe8 16. Qf3 e6 17. Qf2 d5 18. cxd5 exd5 19. Bg2 Rxe1+ 20. Qxe1 d4 21. Qf1
Ne7 22. c4 Nf5 23. Bd2 Re8 24. Re1 Rxe1 25. Qxe1 Bxg2 26. Kxg2 Kb7 27. Kf2 h5
28. Qd1 Ka6 29. a4 Qe8 30. Qb3 Qe6 31. a5 Ne3 32. Bxe3 Qxe3+ 33. Kf1 Qf3+ 34.
Kg1 Qe3+ 35. Kf1 Kb7 36. axb6 axb6 37. Qd1 Kc6 38. Kg2 b5 39. Qa4 Kb6 40. Qb3
Kc6 41. Qc2 Kd6 42. Kh3 Qe6+ 43. Kg2 Qe3 44. Kh3 Qe6+ 45. Kg2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 7th Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2012.06.07"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B40"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2012.06.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 148 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.06.22"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.06.22"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. b3 b6 4. Bb2 Bb7 5. Bd3 Nc6 6. c3 Nf6 7. Bc2 d5 8. e5 Nd7
9. d4 cxd4 10. cxd4 Nb4 11. O-O Rc8 12. Nc3 Nxc2 13. Qxc2 Be7 14. Qd2 O-O 15.
Ne2 Ba6 16. Rfc1 Rxc1+ 17. Rxc1 Qb8 18. h4 Rc8 19. Nf4 Rxc1+ 20. Qxc1 Qc8 21.
Qb1 Nf8 22. g3 Ng6 23. Ng2 h6 24. Ne3 Be2 25. Kg2 Qa6 26. Ne1 Bb4 27. f3 Bd2
28. Kf2 Bxe3+ 29. Kxe3 Bf1 30. Qc2 Qxa2 31. Bc3 Qxc2 32. Nxc2 a5 33. h5 Ne7 34.
g4 Nc6 35. Kd2 g6 36. Ne3 Ba6 37. f4 b5 38. hxg6 fxg6 39. f5 Kf7 40. f6 b4 41.
Bb2 g5 42. Nd1 Na7 43. Nf2 Bf1 44. Ke1 Bg2 45. Ke2 Nb5 46. Nd3 Be4 47. Nc5 Bg6
48. Nb7 Ke8 49. Nxa5 h5 50. gxh5 Bxh5+ 51. Ke3 Bd1 52. Nb7 g4 53. Kf4 Nc3 54.
Kg3 Ne4+ 55. Kg2 Bxb3 56. Bc1 Bd1 57. Nd6+ Nxd6 58. exd6 b3 59. Kg3 Bc2 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 7th Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2012.06.07"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2769"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2012.06.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 148 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.06.22"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.06.22"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Be3 Qf6 6. c3 Nge7 7. Nc2 Bxe3 8.
Nxe3 Qe5 9. Bd3 d5 10. Nd2 dxe4 11. Bxe4 O-O 12. Qc2 f5 13. Bxc6 Nxc6 14. Nf3
Qc5 15. Qb3+ Kh8 16. O-O-O f4 17. Nd5 Be6 18. Rhe1 Bg8 19. Qa3 Qxa3 20. bxa3
Rf5 21. Nxc7 Rc8 22. Ne6 Na5 23. Rd8 Rxd8 24. Nxd8 h6 25. Re5 Rxe5 26. Nxe5 g5
27. Ndf7+ Kg7 28. Nd6 Bxa2 29. Kd2 Bd5 30. f3 Kf6 31. Ng4+ Ke6 32. Nb5 Nc4+ 33.
Kd3 h5 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 7th Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2012.06.07"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E92"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2761"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2012.06.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 148 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.06.22"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.06.22"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. d4 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. Be3 exd4 8. Nxd4
Re8 9. f3 c6 10. Bf2 d5 11. exd5 cxd5 12. O-O Nc6 13. c5 Re5 14. a3 Qf8 15. b4
Bd7 16. Nxc6 bxc6 17. Bd4 Re6 18. Bd3 Nh5 19. Bc2 Rae8 20. Qd2 Bxd4+ 21. Qxd4
Qh6 22. f4 Re3 23. f5 Qg5 24. b5 R8e5 25. b6 Qd8 26. Rab1 axb6 27. cxb6 Ng7 28.
b7 Qb8 29. Na4 Bxf5 30. Nc5 Ne6 31. Qxe5 Rxe5 32. Nd7 Qa7+ 33. Kh1 Kg7 34. b8=Q
Qxb8 35. Rxb8 Re3 36. Bxf5 gxf5 37. h3 f4 38. Rc8 Rc3 39. a4 d4 40. Ne5 c5 41.
a5 Ra3 42. Rc1 Rxa5 43. Nd3 f3 44. gxf3 Ra3 45. Nxc5 Nf4 46. Rg1+ Kf6 47. Ne4+
Ke6 48. Re1 Kd7 49. Rc4 Rxf3 50. Rxd4+ Kc7 51. Rc1+ Kb6 52. Rb4+ Ka5 53. Rb2
Rxh3+ 54. Kg1 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 7th Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2012.06.07"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Tomashevsky, Evgeny"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A31"]
[WhiteElo "2738"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "122"]
[EventDate "2012.06.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 148 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.06.22"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.06.22"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Missing moves added. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1-sYUO_cMQ} 1. c4 c5 2.
Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. g3 h5 6. Bg2 h4 7. Nc3 g6 8. Bg5 hxg3 9. hxg3
Rxh1+ 10. Bxh1 Bg7 11. Nb3 b6 12. Nd5 Nh7 13. Bxe7 Nxe7 14. Nxe7 Bxb2 15. Rb1
Bc3+ 16. Kf1 Rb8 17. Nxc8 Rxc8 18. Qd3 Bg7 19. Rd1 Ng5 20. Bd5 Ne6 21. Nd2 Qe7
22. Ne4 Kf8 23. Kg2 Nc7 24. Bb7 Rb8 25. Nd6 Be5 26. Bf3 Qxd6 27. Qxd6+ Bxd6 28.
Rxd6 Ke7 29. Rd3 Ne6 30. Ra3 a5 31. Bd5 Kd6 32. e4 Kc5 33. Rf3 Rf8 34. Rb3 Nd4
35. Rb1 a4 36. f4 f6 37. Rh1 a3 38. Rh6 Nc2 39. g4 g5 40. Rh3 gxf4 41. Rb3 Kd4
42. Kf3 Ke5 43. Rxb6 Rh8 44. c5 Rh3+ 45. Kf2 Rh2+ 46. Kg1 Rd2 47. Rb3 Nd4 48.
Rxa3 f3 49. Kf1 Kf4 50. e5 Kg3 51. Re3 fxe5 52. Rxe5 Nc2 53. Bxf3 Kxf3 54. Rf5+
Kxg4 55. Rf2 Rxf2+ 56. Kxf2 Kf5 57. Ke2 Ke5 58. Kd3 Nb4+ 59. Kc4 Nxa2 60. c6
dxc6 61. Kc5 Nb4 0-1

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 7th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2012.06.08"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E36"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2012.06.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.07.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.07.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 d5 {The newest
trend in the 4.Qc2 variation.} 7. e3 {The practice of the last years has shown
that White risks falling behind in development if he spends a tempo on Bg5.
The game move saves an important tempo, but faces White with the risk of
remaining with a passive dark-squared bishop, especially after the exchange of
the light-squared bishops.} (7. Bg5 dxc4 8. Qxc4 b6 9. Rd1 Ba6 10. Qa4 Bb7 (
10... Qd7 {Nepomniachtchi,I (2711)-Amin,B (2609)/Ningbo 2011/CBM 144/[Marin,M]
(1-0, 46)}) 11. f3 Nbd7 {Dreev,A (2697)-L'Ami,E (2623)/Aix-les-Bains 2011/CBM
142/[Marin,M] (1/2, 43)}) (7. Nf3 dxc4 8. Qxc4 b6 {Golod,V (2590)-Almasi,Z 
(2720)/Rijeka 2010/CBM 136/[Marin,M] (1/2, 18)}) 7... b6 8. cxd5 {White
decides to play against the hanging pawns. His slight delay in development
makes this approach rather risky.} (8. Nf3 Ba6 (8... Bb7 {Vitiugov,N (2694)
-Karjakin,S (2723)/Khanty Mansiysk 2009/CBM 134/[Marin] (0-1, 47)}) 9. b4 {
Grachev,B (2652)-Bartel,M (2618)/Khanty Mansiysk 2009/CBM 134/[Marin] (1/2, 21)
}) 8... exd5 ({The dynamic} 8... Qxd5 {is also playable:} 9. f3 (9. Be2 c5 10.
Bf3 Ne4 11. Qc2 f5 12. Ne2 cxd4 13. exd4 Nc6 14. Be3 Ba6 $132 {Narciso Dublan,
M (2551)-Fedorchuk,S (2650)/Salou 2011/CBM 142 Extra (1/2, 36)}) 9... Ba6 (9...
Rd8 $5 {would prevent or at least delay e3-e4.}) 10. Bxa6 Nxa6 11. e4 Qb7 12.
Bg5 Nd7 13. Ne2 $14 {Michiels,B (2501)-Winants,L (2540)/Belgium 2012 (1/2, 60)}
) ({A previous game between the same opponents went:} 8... Nxd5 9. Qc2 Ba6 10.
Bxa6 Nxa6 11. e4 Ne7 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Qc6 e5 15. Qb5 exd4 16. Qxa6
Qxe4+ 17. Kf1 Rfe8 $44 {Carlsen,M (2823)-Kramnik,V (2791)/Moscow 2011/CBM 144 
(1/2, 35)}) 9. Bd3 $146 {White takes measures against the occupation of the
e4-square.} (9. Nf3 Ne4 10. Qc2 Bf5 $132 {Vasilevich,T (2399)-Galojan,L (2373)/
Plovdiv 2010/CBM 138 Extra (1/2, 36)}) 9... Ba6 $1 {As a general rule, it is
the side playing against the hanging pawns who is interested in exchanging
these bishops. Here, we have enough elements to justify Black's last move.
Strategically, it is always a good idea to spoil the enemy's bishop pair.
Dynamically, the white bishop has moved already, which transforms the next
move into a loss of time.} (9... Ne4 10. Qc2 Bf5 $6 11. Ne2 $14) 10. Bxa6 Nxa6
11. Qd3 (11. Nf3 c5 $36) 11... Qc8 12. Ne2 ({With such poor development, White
cannot afford to play} 12. b4 c5 {. General exchanges on c5 would leave the
light squares desperately weak.}) 12... c5 13. b3 {Taking measures against the
threatened ...c5-c4.} cxd4 $5 {This seems to be the best moment to release the
tension.} ({After just a few neutral moves, such as} 13... Qb7 14. O-O Rac8 15.
Bb2 {Black would face some small problems already.}) 14. Qxd4 $2 {Too
ambitious. White wants to play against the Isolani, but underestimates the
significance of his delay in development.} (14. Nxd4 $2 {is almost as bad:} Nc5
15. Qb5 (15. Qe2 Nxb3 16. Nxb3 Qc3+ $17) (15. Qb1 Qa6) (15. Qc2 Qa6) 15... a6
16. Qxb6 Rb8 17. Qc6 Nxb3 18. Qxc8 Rfxc8 $32) (14. exd4 $11 {would have led to
plain equality.}) 14... Nc5 {White has problems defending the b3- and
d3-squares. Castling becomes a remote dream.} 15. Qd1 (15. Rb1 Qf5 $36) 15...
Qa6 16. Nf4 (16. O-O Nxb3 $17) 16... d4 {Strong enough, but maybe a bit
premature.} (16... g5 $6 17. Bb2 $132) ({Black could have prepared the central
break with:} 16... Rad8 $5 17. b4 (17. Bb2 d4 $1 18. Bxd4 Rxd4 19. Qxd4 Nxb3
20. Qb2 Nxa1 21. Qxa1 Qa5+ 22. Ke2 Qb5+ $40 {[%cal Gf8d8]}) 17... g5 18. bxc5 (
18. Bb2 d4) 18... gxf4 $36) 17. b4 {The only chance to stay in the game.} (17.
exd4 $2 Rfe8+ 18. Be3 g5 19. Ne2 Nd3+ 20. Kf1 Nd5 $40) 17... dxe3 ({The
unexpected resource} 17... Nd5 $5 {would have offered better chances for
retaining an attack:} 18. Nxd5 (18. bxc5 Nxf4 19. exf4 Rfe8+ 20. Kd2 bxc5 $19)
18... Nd3+ 19. Kd2 Nxf2 20. Qf1 Ne4+ 21. Ke1 d3 $40) 18. bxc5 Qa5+ 19. Kf1 Rad8
20. Qc2 Qb5+ {Resigning himself to a draw by perpetual.} 21. Ke1 (21. Kg1 $2
Qxc5 $19) 21... Qa5+ 22. Kf1 Qb5+ 23. Ke1 Qa5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 7th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2012.06.09"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E35"]
[WhiteElo "2769"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2012.06.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.07.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.07.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 c5 8.
dxc5 g5 9. Bg3 Ne4 10. e3 Qa5 11. Rc1 {A rare continuation, which recently
became popular.} (11. Nge2 {or}) (11. Be5 {is usually played.}) 11... Nd7 $6 {
This leads to an endgame, clearly better for White. More appropriate
alternatives:} (11... Bf5 12. Bxb8 $1 (12. Bd3 Nd7 13. f3 Nxc3 14. bxc3 Bxd3
15. Qxd3 Bxc5 $13) 12... Rxb8 13. Bd3 O-O 14. Nge2 Rfc8 15. O-O Rxc5 16. f3
Nxc3 17. bxc3 Bxd3 18. Qxd3 Ba3 19. Rb1 Qa4 20. Nd4 Rcc8 21. f4 $1 $40 {
1-0 Gupta,A (2644)-Yu Yangyi (2626)/Zaozhuang CHN 2012/The Week in Chess 915 
(73)}) (11... Nc6 $5 12. Bd3 $1 Bxc3+ (12... Nxg3 13. hxg3 d4 14. exd4 Nxd4 15.
Qd2 Be6 16. a3 Bxc5 17. b4 Qxa3 18. bxc5 O-O-O 19. Nb1 Qa4 $44 {0-1 Tozer,R 
(2380)-Lalic,S (2405)/London 1997/CBM 058 ext (33)}) 13. bxc3 Nxc5 14. Nf3 b6
15. h4 g4 16. Ne5 Nxe5 17. Bxe5 Nxd3+ 18. Qxd3 Ba6 19. Qf5 Rg8 $13 {1/2
Lomineishvili,M (2437)-Zaiatz,E (2364)/St Petersburg 2009/CBM 129 Extra (48)})
({There is also nothing wrong with} 11... Qxa2 {, e.g.} 12. Bb5+ Bd7 13. Bxd7+
Nxd7 14. Nge2 Nxc3 15. Nxc3 Qc4 16. Rd1 (16. h4 O-O-O) 16... Nxc5 17. f3 Bxc3+
18. bxc3 Ne6 19. Kf2 Rc8 20. Be5 Rg8 $13 {1/2 Finegold,B (2563)-Perelshteyn,E 
(2522)/Chicago 2006/EXT 2007 (46)}) 12. Nge2 Ndxc5 (12... Qxa2 13. Kd1 {
1/2 Priborsky,J (2344)-Gordon,S (2508)/Liverpool 2008/CBM 126 Extra} Nxc3+ 14.
Nxc3 Bxc3 15. Qxc3 O-O 16. h4 $16) 13. a3 Bxc3+ 14. Nxc3 Nxc3 15. Qxc3 Qxc3+
16. Rxc3 Ne4 17. Rc7 $16 {[%csl Gc7,Rd5]} Nxg3 (17... O-O 18. Be2 $16 (18. Be5
$143 f6 19. Bd4 Rf7)) 18. hxg3 Rb8 19. Bb5+ Kf8 20. Kd2 (20. f4 $5 {may be
more energetic.}) 20... Kg7 21. Rhc1 Rd8 $6 {This move is rather senseless.} (
21... Be6 $142 {[%cal Yg7f6,Yf6e5,Ye5d6]} 22. Re7 Kf6 23. Rcc7 a6 24. Be2 b5 {
Of course, Black's position remains very bad.}) 22. Re7 Kf6 23. Rcc7 Rf8 24. b4
$6 {There was no need to move queenside pawns at the moment.} (24. Be2 $142 $1
{[%cal Ye2f3,Yf3d5,Re2h5]} g4 25. Bd1 {winning the d5-pawn.}) 24... a6 25. Bd3
a5 26. bxa5 ({Why not} 26. b5 {? There was no reason to break the well-known
rule that pawn exchanges are favourable for the defender.}) 26... Ra8 27. Bb5
Rxa5 28. a4 Ra8 29. Kc3 h5 $1 {Trying to create at least some counterplay.} 30.
Kb4 h4 31. Re8 $2 {[%mdl 16384] A strange decision letting Black's pieces out.}
(31. Kc5 hxg3 32. fxg3 $16 {although Black now obtains some counterplay by
means of} Be6 33. Rxb7 Ke5) 31... Rxe8 32. Bxe8 {[%mdl 4096]} Be6 33. Bb5 d4 $5
(33... hxg3 34. fxg3 Rb8 {[%cal Yf6f5,Yf5e4,Yf5g4] was possible, too.}) 34.
gxh4 gxh4 35. exd4 Bd5 36. f3 Rg8 {Black's position is straightening up like a
spring.} 37. Rc2 (37. Bf1 $142 {The rook should remain active. However, White
can hardly convert his extra pawn in that case, too.}) 37... Ke7 38. a5 Kd6 39.
Bc4 Bxc4 40. Rxc4 $2 (40. Kxc4 Rg5 $1 {must lead to a draw but White has
nothing better in any case} ({GM A.Morozevich fancied under time pressure that
the pawn ending after} 40... Rc8+ $6 41. Kd3 Rxc2 $6 42. Kxc2 Kc6 {was
dangerous for him due to Black's outside passed b-pawn; that was not the case;
on the contrary,} 43. Kd3 Kb5 44. Ke4 Kxa5 45. Kd5 $1 {gave him winning chances
})) 40... Rxg2 41. Rc5 h3 42. Rh5 h2 {[%csl Gh2] Black is simply better in
this rook endgame; fortunately for White, the limited number of pawns enables
him to hold his ground.} 43. Kc4 Rc2+ 44. Kd3 Ra2 45. Ke4 f5+ 46. Kf4 Kd5 47.
Rxf5+ Kxd4 48. Rh5 Rg2 49. Rh7 Kd3 50. Ke5 Ke2 51. f4 Kf1 (51... Kf3 $144) 52.
f5 Ra2 53. f6 Rxa5+ 54. Ke6 Ra6+ 55. Ke7 Rxf6 56. Kxf6 Kg1 57. Ke5 h1=Q 58.
Rxh1+ Kxh1 59. Kd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 7th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2012.06.10"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2012.06.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.07.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.07.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Qa4+ Nd7 8.
Nf3 O-O 9. Be3 (9. Bg5 {was the original idea of the Janjghava system but it
doesn't force} h6 {. Therefore White prefers a simpler way of development.})
9... c5 10. Rc1 (10. Rd1 Qc7 11. Bd3 b6 12. O-O Bb7 13. Rfe1 a6 14. Qa3 e6 15.
Qb2 b5 16. a4 Nf6 17. Bg5 bxa4 18. Qa3 h6 19. Bd2 cxd4 20. cxd4 Bc6 21. Rc1 Qb7
22. Rb1 Bb5 23. Ne5 Rfd8 {1/2 Schandorff,L (2534)-Khalifman,A (2622)/Fuegen
2006/CBM 115}) (10. Be2 Nf6 (10... Qc7 $5) (10... e5 $5) 11. Bd3 (11. Nd2 Ng4
12. Bxg4 Bxg4 13. f3 Bd7 14. Qb3 cxd4 15. cxd4 b5 $15 {1-0 Korobov,A (2511)
-Obodchuk,A (2438)/Moscow 2002/CBM 088/[Krasenkow] (39)}) 11... a6 12. O-O Qc7
$11 {[%cal Yb7b5]}) 10... Nb6 (10... Nf6 11. Bd3 Ng4 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bh4 cxd4
14. cxd4 Ne5 15. Nxe5 Bxe5 16. d5 Qd6 17. Bg3 Bxg3 18. hxg3 Bd7 19. Qd4 $14 {
1-0 Tunik,G (2435)-Gutman,L (2535)/Moscow 1989/TD (45)}) (10... b6 11. Be2 Bb7
12. e5 Qc7 13. h4 Bd5 14. h5 c4 15. Qc2 Qc6 16. Qd2 f6 17. hxg6 hxg6 18. Bh6
$36 {0-1 Gurevich,M (2644)-L'Ami,E (2516)/Belgium 2005/EXT 2006 (44)}) (10...
e6 {is unnecessary but also possible:} 11. Be2 a6 12. Qa3 b6 13. Qb3 cxd4 14.
cxd4 Bb7 15. Bg5 Bf6 16. Bh6 Bg7 17. Bg5 Qb8 18. Qe3 Rc8 19. O-O Qd6 $11 {
1-0 Lenic,L (2637)-Gabrielian,A (2554)/Plovdiv BUL 2012/The Week in Chess 907 
(40)}) (10... a6 $5 11. Qa3 (11. Be2 b5 $1) 11... b6 12. e5 Bb7 13. h4 b5 14.
h5 e6 15. hxg6 hxg6 16. Ng5 Rc8 17. f4 cxd4 18. cxd4 Rxc1+ 19. Bxc1 {1-0
Twardon,M (2355)-Jasnikowski,Z (2460)/Katowice 1993/EXT 1998 (21)} Re8 $13) (
10... cxd4 11. cxd4 Nb6 12. Qa5 (12. Qb4 Qd6 13. Qxd6 exd6 14. Bd3 f5 15. O-O
fxe4 16. Bxe4 d5 $11 {1/2 Karner,H (2365)-Rytshagov,M (2425)/Tallinn 1989/EXT
1997 (26)}) 12... f5 13. e5 Be6 14. Be2 Qd5 15. Qb4 Qxa2 16. Qxe7 Rfc8 $13 {
0-1 Pisulinski,J (2400)-Malisauskas,V (2500)/Warsaw 1989/EXT 1997 (23)}) (10...
Qc7 {The main move, quite sufficient for equality.} 11. Be2 (11. Bd3 a6 (11...
b6 12. e5 Bb7 13. h4 Rad8 14. Bb1 Bc6 15. Qc2 {1-0 Twardon,M (2340)-Murawski,G
(2260)/Lubniewice 1994/CBM 045 ext (48)} b5 16. h5 Nb6 $13) 12. Qa3 c4 13. Bb1
e5 14. O-O b5 15. Nxe5 Nxe5 16. dxe5 Bxe5 17. f4 Bd6 18. Qb2 Bb7 19. Qf2 Rae8
20. e5 Ba3 21. Rce1 f6 $132 {1-0 Comas Fabrego,L (2435)-Fernandez Garcia,J 
(2445)/Spain 1993/TD (32)}) 11... a6 (11... e5 12. O-O b6 13. Rfd1 Bb7 14. d5
a6 15. Qb3 Nf6 16. Nd2 Bc8 17. a4 $14 {0-1 Ortiz Suarez,I (2556)
-Nepomniachtchi,I (2711)/Khanty-Mansiysk 2011/CBM 145 (59)}) 12. O-O b5 13. Qa3
Bb7 14. d5 Rac8 15. c4 b4 16. Qa4 Nb6 17. Qc2 a5 18. Qd2 e5 19. Ne1 Qd6 20. a3
f5 21. f3 Nd7 $13 {1-0 Litinskaya,M (2370)-Veroci,Z (2320)/Subotica 1991/TD 
(34)}) 11. Qd1 Bg4 (11... Qc7 {is less logical now:} 12. Bd3 Rd8 13. h3 e5 14.
O-O Be6 15. Qe2 $14 {[%csl Rb6] 1/2 Hughes,T (2161)-Dragicevic,D (2302)/
Gaziantep 2008/CBM 125 Extra (24)}) 12. Be2 Bxf3 13. gxf3 cxd4 {The simplest
course. Black opens up the c-file and trades all the rooks along it, reaching
full equality.} 14. cxd4 Qd7 15. O-O Rac8 16. Qd2 Rfd8 17. Rfd1 Rxc1 18. Qxc1
Rc8 19. Qa3 Na4 20. Bf1 b5 21. Rc1 Rxc1 22. Qxc1 Bxd4 23. Bxb5 Bxe3 24. Bxd7
Bxc1 25. Bxa4 Bf4 26. h3 Be5 27. Kg2 Bf4 28. Kg1 Be5 29. Kg2 Bf4 30. Kg1
1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 7th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2012.06.12"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2761"]
[Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,A"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2012.06.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.07.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.07.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4
b4 9. Nbd2 Bc5 {An interesting idea that was used by Adams against Hunt last
year, and was picked up by Aronian who used it to beat Karjakin earlier this
year in Wijk Aan Zee. The idea is that the bishop is out of the pawn chain,
doing something productive.} 10. Nc4 d6 11. Bg5 {New. White immediately pins
the knight which has no comfortable way of being defended.} h6 12. Bh4 Bg4 13.
Ne3 Bxf3 14. gxf3 $5 {This strange move hopes to capitalize on the light
square weaknesses left by Black's next move.} (14. Qxf3 Nd4 15. Qd1 Nxb3 16.
cxb3 g5 17. Bg3 {looks acceptable for Black.}) 14... g5 (14... Nd4 15. Ng4 Qc8
$5 {with a complex position.}) 15. Bg3 Nd4 16. Bc4 Nh5 17. c3 bxc3 18. bxc3 Ne6
19. Rb1 Nhg7 20. Bd5 Rc8 21. Kh1 Kh8 22. Rg1 Qf6 23. Bc4 a5 {White has some
obvious drawbacks in his position. His bishop on g3 is slightly worse than
useless and his pawn on f3 is permanently weak. However Black has his issues -
a5 is weak, the g7 knight is not doing much and he lacks a clear plan.} 24. Rb5
h5 $5 {Trying to trap that bishop. This comes with a great amount of risk.} 25.
Rxa5 (25. Bxe6 $1 {A surprising exchange that works due to very concrete
reasons.} fxe6 (25... Nxe6 26. f4 $18 {h5 is hanging and with it the game.}) (
25... Qxe6 26. Bxe5 {is a similar version of the trick but better for White
since the f-file is still closed.}) 26. Bxe5 Qxe5 27. d4 Qf6 28. dxc5 {seems
better for White.}) 25... h4 26. Ng4 Qe7 27. Qf1 {Black can't take the g3
bishop just yet, but he doesn't have to. It won't be saved any time soon.} Ra8
(27... Bb6 28. Rb5 Ra8 29. Qh3 Rxa4 30. Bxe6 Nxe6 31. f4 {is, as many lines,
super messy. But Black is the one who has to be careful now.} exf4 $2 32. Bxh4
{and the rook swings to the attack and wins the game.}) 28. Rxc5 $1 {Another
surprising move! Carlsen sacrifices the exchange for the following tactical
reasons:} dxc5 (28... Nxc5 29. Bxh4 {is 'the point'} Nh5 $13 (29... gxh4 $2 30.
Qc1 {and since the e6-knight was distracted to c5 by the rook sacrifice, the
penetration on h6 is unavoidable and decisive.})) 29. Nxe5 (29. Bxe5 f6 {
and the bishop is still trapped, though White has some resources ... like
going back to g3!} 30. Bg3 (30. Bxe6 $1 Nxe6 31. Nxf6 Rxf6 32. f4 Nxf4 33. Rxg5
Kh7 34. Qd1 $1 {A superb resource.} Rg6 35. Rh5+ Nxh5 36. Qxh5+ $11 {and an
unusual perepetual.}) 30... Nh5 31. Nh6 hxg3 32. fxg3 {White only has a few
pawns for that rook, so It wouldn't be surprising that Black is winning, but
Black has coordination and light square problems to fix first.}) 29... Qf6 30.
Qh3 (30. f4 $5 {The idea is to block the f-file, allowing Nd7.} gxf4 31. Nd7
Qh6 32. Bxh4 Qxh4 33. Nxf8 Rxf8 34. Qg2 {White has obvious compensation for
the missing piece, and probably a little bit more.}) 30... Rxa4 31. Bd5 (31. f4
Nxf4 32. Bxf4 Qxf4 33. Nf3 Rxc4 $1 34. dxc4 f6 {finally leads to material
equality, and the position is quite complicated. Both structures are bad and
it seems that the weak nature of both kings will result in a perpetual.}) 31...
Ra6 32. Bc4 Rd6 33. f4 $1 {A well timed strike. Black must take with the
knight, which means that the bishop on g3 is finally not hanging, and Black's
pieces leave something to be desired.} Nxf4 34. Bxf4 Qxf4 35. Nf3 {Now Black
can't really defend the g5-pawn.} Rg6 36. Rg4 Qc1+ 37. Rg1 Qf4 38. Rg4 Qc1+ 39.
Rg1 Qf4 40. Rg4 Qc1+ {Neither side can improve their position beyond this
repetition. Black must always be defending the g5 pawn and White can't give
Black time to consolidate. A wild game, where every move is difficult to
justify. Overall the players did a fantastic job of navigating through the
treacherous waters and staying afloat. At no point was either side winning.}
1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 7th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2012.06.13"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2784"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[Annotator "Mueller,Karsten"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2012.06.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.07.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.07.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Kan,I-Capablanca,J Moscow 1936 0-1 In Capablanca's footsteps Magnus Carlsen
really has an amazing endgame technique. His victory against Radjabov has
remained many of Capablanca's famous win against Kan in Moscow 1936. I have
only looked at the end in more detail but advise you to look at the whole game
to see how Carlsen collected small advantages and always found a way to make
progress towards his aim: Auf Capablancas Spuren Der folgende Endspielsieg
erinnerte viele an eine berühmte Partie Capablancas:} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4
exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nxc6 Qf6 6. Qf3 bxc6 7. Qg3 d6 8. Nc3 Qg6 9. Bd3 Nf6 10.
Na4 Bd4 11. c3 Bb6 12. O-O Qxg3 13. hxg3 Ng4 14. Bf4 f6 15. Rad1 h5 16. Be2 Be6
17. Nxb6 axb6 18. a3 Ke7 19. f3 Ne5 20. Kf2 b5 21. Bxe5 fxe5 22. Ke3 h4 23.
gxh4 Rxh4 24. Rh1 Rah8 25. Rxh4 Rxh4 26. Rc1 Rh2 27. Kf2 Rh8 28. Ke3 g5 29. Bd3
Kd7 {[%cal Gd7c8,Gc8b7,Gb7b6,Gc6c5] The start of the first long king march to
make ...c6-c5 possible. Der Beginn des ersten langen Königsmarschs, um ...c5
zu ermöglichen.} 30. Ra1 Bb3 31. Rc1 Kc8 32. Kf2 Kb7 33. Kg3 Be6 34. Ra1 Kb6
35. Rc1 c5 36. Ra1 c4 37. Bc2 Kc5 38. Re1 c6 39. Bb1 Kb6 40. Bc2 Kc7 {[%cal
Gc7e7,Ge7f6,Gd6d5] Carlsen starts another march to make the advance ...d6-d5
possible. Carlsen beginnt einen weiteren langen Marsch, um ...d5 spielen zu
können.} 41. Kf2 Kd7 42. a4 bxa4 43. Ra1 Rb8 44. Ra2 d5 45. exd5 cxd5 46. Bxa4+
Kd6 47. Bc2 d4 {Finally Carlsen has achieved want he wants. But White should
be able to defend due to the reduced winning potential and the option to free
his rook by bringing his king to the queenside. Carlsen hat sein Ziel erreicht.
Weiß sollte sich allerdings gerade noch so über Wasser halten können.} 48. Be4
$1 {The bishop immediately uses its new outpost. Der Läufer nutzt seinen neuen
Vorposten sofort.} Rb6 49. Ke2 {[%cal Ge2d2,Gd2c1] Now it is White's time to
start a king march. Nun beginnt Weiß einen Königsmarsch.} g4 50. fxg4 $6 {
This opens further roads for Black's attack. Dies öffnet dem schwarzen Angriff
Zugstraßen.} (50. Kd2 {is safer as ist sicherer, denn auf} g3 {can be met by
kann folgen} (50... Bd5 51. Kc1 d3 52. Ra5 d2+ 53. Kd1 Bxe4 54. fxe4 Rxb2 55.
Rd5+ Ke6 56. Rc5 $11) (50... gxf3 51. gxf3 Bd7 52. Kc1 d3 53. Ra8 $11) (50...
Ke7 51. Kc1 d3 52. Ra5 Kf6 53. fxg4 Bxg4 54. b4 cxb3 55. Bxd3 $11) 51. Kc1 Bh3
52. Ra8 Bxg2 53. Rg8 $11) 50... Bxg4+ 51. Kd2 Be6 52. Kc2 $2 {Radjabov commits
the final mistake. Radjabov begeht den letzten Fehler.} ({At the press
conference Carlsen gave the prophylactic Auf der Pressekonferenz gab Carlsen
das prophylaktische} 52. Kc1 $1 {and also indicated what he had planned then:
an:} Bd5 53. Bxd5 Kxd5 {but White seems to be able to survive due to the lare
drawish tendency of rook endings, e.g. und Weiß kann sich wegen der großen
Remistendenz der Turmendspiele gerade noch retten:} 54. cxd4 exd4 55. Ra8 Rg6
56. Re8 Rxg2 57. Re7 d3 58. Rb7 Kd4 59. Kd1 Ke3 60. Re7+ Kf2 61. Rf7+ Kg1 62.
Rc7 Rc2 63. Rg7+ $11) 52... Bd5 53. Bxd5 ({Keeping the bishops on the board
with Es hilft nicht, den Läufer mit} 53. Bg6 {does not help: auf dem Brett zu
behalten:} d3+ 54. Kd2 Bxg2 55. Ke3 Bd5 56. Bh5 Kd7 {and the blockade will be
broken sooner or later. A few sample lines run und die Blockade wird früher
oder später gebrochen werden, z.B.} 57. Bd1 (57. Bg4+ Kc7 58. Ra5 Kd6 59. Ra2
Bc6 60. Bd1 Rb7 61. b4 cxb3 62. Rb2 e4 63. Kd4 (63. Rxb3 Rh7 $19) 63... Bd5 64.
c4 Rb4 65. Bxb3 Bc6 66. Kc3 Rb8 67. Kd4 d2 $19) 57... Kc7 58. Ra5 Kd6 59. Ra2
Rb5 60. Bh5 (60. Ra6+ Kc5 61. Ra2 Bc6 62. Bg4 (62. Ba4 Rb7 63. Bxc6 Kxc6 64.
Ra4 Kc5 65. Ra2 Rh7 66. Ra5+ Kd6 $19) 62... Rb8 63. Ra5+ Kd6 64. Ra2 Rg8 $19)
60... Kc5 61. Bg4 Bc6 62. Be6 e4 63. Bf7 (63. Ra4 Bd5 $19) 63... Rb7 64. Ra5+
Kb6 65. Rf5 Rd7 66. Bh5 Rg7 67. Kd4 Rg1 68. Kxc4 d2 69. Kd4 d1=Q+ 70. Bxd1
Rxd1+ $19) 53... d3+ $1 {An all important zwischenschach. Das entscheidende
Zwischenschach.} ({The direct Das direkte} 53... Kxd5 $2 {spoils it due to
verdirbt es wegen} 54. cxd4 exd4 55. Ra5+ Ke4 56. Ra8 {as Black's king has no
hiding place, e.g. denn der schwarze König kann sich nicht verstecken, z.B.}
d3+ 57. Kc3 Rb3+ 58. Kxc4 d2 59. Rd8 Rxb2 60. Kc3 $11) 54. Kd2 Kxd5 55. Ke3 Rg6
56. Ra5+ Ke6 57. Ke4 ({The pawn endgame is lost after Das Bauernendspiel ist
verloren:} 57. Ra6+ Kf5 58. Rxg6 Kxg6 {due to White's backward b-pawn, e.g.
Der weiße Bauer b2 kann nicht eingreifen.} 59. b4 cxb3 60. Kxd3 e4+ 61. Kxe4 b2
$19) (57. b3 Rg3+ 58. Ke4 Rg4+ 59. Ke3 Kf5 60. bxc4 Rg3+ 61. Kf2 (61. Kd2 Ke4
$19) 61... Kf4 62. Rd5 e4 63. c5 (63. Rd8 d2 64. Rf8+ Ke5 65. Rd8 Rd3 $19)
63... e3+ 64. Kf1 e2+ 65. Ke1 Ke4 66. Rh5 Rxg2 67. Kd2 Rg1 $19) (57. Kf2 Rf6+
58. Ke3 (58. Ke1 e4 59. Rh5 e3 60. Rh3 e2 61. Rh1 Kf5 62. Kd2 Kg4 $19) 58...
Rf1 $19) 57... Rg4+ 58. Kf3 Rf4+ 59. Ke3 Rf1 {and Radjabov resigned as Carlsen
mighty passed pawns will decide the day, e.g. und Radjabov gab auf, weil
Carlsens mächtige Freibauern den Tag entscheiden werden, z.B.} (59... Rf1 60.
g4 Re1+ 61. Kd2 Re2+ 62. Kd1 e4 63. Rc5 Rxb2 64. Rxc4 Ke5 65. g5 e3 $19) 0-1

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 7th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2012.06.14"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2825"]
[Annotator "Kritz,L"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2012.06.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.07.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.07.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Ke8 10. b3 Be6 {In dieser Stellung ist auch der von
Kramnik gespielte Zug Bb4 gut:} (10... Bb4 $1 11. Bb2 Bxc3 12. Bxc3 c5 13. Rad1
h6 14. h3 Be6 $132 {und Schwarz stand zumindest nicht schlechter in Howell -
Kramnik (London, 2002)}) (10... a5 {Das ist ebenfalls eine spielbare
Initiative.} 11. Bb2 Bb4 12. Rad1 Bxc3 13. Bxc3 c5 14. h3 h5 15. Rfe1 b6 16.
Ng5 Rh6 17. f4 h4 $132 {Solomon - Pashikian (Khanty-Mansiysk, 2010)}) 11. Bb2
Bb4 12. Ne2 (12. Rfd1 Bxc3 13. Bxc3 c5 14. Rd2 h6 $132 {mit gleichem Spiel wie
nach 10...Bb4, Fogarasi - Almasi (Hungary, 1995)}) 12... Bd5 13. Ne1 (13. Ned4
Nxd4 14. Nxd4 Rd8 15. Rad1 Bc5 16. Nf5 Be4 17. Rxd8+ Kxd8 18. Nxg7 Ke7 19. Re1
$132 {Guseinov - Pashikian (Ohrid, 2009)}) 13... h5 {Es sieht so aus, als ob
Schwarz hier mit 13....Rd8 ausgleichen konnte:} (13... Rd8 14. Nd3 Be7 15. Rad1
Be4 16. Rfe1 Bxd3 17. cxd3 c5 $11) 14. Nd3 Be7 15. Nef4 Rh6 (15... g5 $5 16. c4
$1 (16. Nxd5 cxd5 17. e6 Rh6 18. exf7+ Kxf7 19. f4 g4 20. Rfe1 Bd6 $11) 16...
Be6 17. Nxe6 fxe6 18. Rad1 Rd8 $11) 16. c4 Be4 (16... Be6 17. g3 $1 (17. h3 h4
$11) 17... g5 18. Nxe6 Rxe6 19. h3 $14 {Weiß will Kg2-g4 spielen.}) 17. Rad1 (
17. Rfe1 Bxd3 18. Nxd3 Rd8 19. Rad1 c5 20. Nf4 Ra6 21. Rxd8+ Bxd8 22. Ra1 (22.
a4 Rb6 $15) 22... h4 $11) 17... g5 18. Rfe1 Bxd3 19. Nxd3 {Die Partie verlief
bisher nicht ganz typisch für die Berliner Mauer, jetzt wird es sogar noch
interessanter.} b5 $6 {Ich denke nicht, dass dieser Zug gut sein kann. Die
einzige Idee von b5 ist auf c4 zu nehmen, dann ...c5 zu spielen, und danach ...
Ra6. Weiß hat jedoch viele Wege, um dies zu verhindern.} 20. c5 (20. Re4 $5 {
Das sieht sehr logisch aus.} Rd8 21. Kf1 $14) 20... Ng7 {Der Springer geht
nach g7, um den Bauern c5 von e6 aus anzugreifen.} 21. b4 (21. Bc3 $5 a5 22. a3
Ne6 23. b4 axb4 24. axb4 Ra3 25. Bb2 Ra2 26. Ra1 Rxa1 27. Rxa1 $14) 21... a5
22. a3 Ne6 23. g3 (23. f3 $5 {Mit der Idee Kf2-g3-Ke3-f4.} Rd8 24. Kf2 $14)
23... g4 {Nun ist es nicht mehr so einfach für Weiß f2-f4 durchzuführen.} 24.
Kg2 Rg6 25. Nf4 Rg5 (25... Nxf4+ 26. gxf4 axb4 27. axb4 Ra2 28. Re2 $14 {
Die Idee f5 und danach f3 ist sehr unangenehm für Schwarz.}) 26. Bc1 (26. Nxe6
fxe6 $11 {Dieses Endspiel ist remis, weil Schwarz gutes Gegenspiel am
Damenflügel hat.}) 26... Rf5 27. h3 gxh3+ (27... axb4 $5 28. hxg4 hxg4 29. axb4
Ra2 $6 30. Rh1 $1 {Das ist sehr stark.} Rxe5 31. Nxe6 Rxe6 (31... fxe6 32. Rh8+
Kf7 33. Rd7 $18) 32. Rh8+ Bf8 33. Bf4 $16) 28. Nxh3 axb4 29. axb4 Ra4 {Schwarz
hat gewisses Gegenspiel, doch die Stellung von Weiß sieht besser aus.} 30. Bd2
Ra3 (30... Nd4 31. f4 Nc2 32. Re4 $14) 31. f4 $1 {Schwarz bekommt eine starke
Initiative nach 31.Nf4.} (31. Nf4 h4 $1 32. Nxe6 fxe6 33. g4 h3+ 34. Kg1 Rff3
35. Re3 Bh4 $36) 31... h4 32. Re3 Rxe3 $5 {Es sieht so aus, als ob Weiß in
Vorteil kommt, doch Schwarz spielt sehr dynamisch und gleicht die Stellung aus.
Auch 32...Ra2 war interessant.} (32... Ra2 $1 33. g4 (33. Kf3 hxg3 34. Kg4 Ng7
35. Rxg3 Rh5 36. Nf2 Rh4+ 37. Kf3 Nf5 38. Rg8+ Kd7 $1 $11) 33... Rxf4 34. Nxf4
Bg5 $1 35. Kf3 Bxf4 36. Rd3 Bxd2 37. R1xd2 Ra1 38. Rd1 Ra2 39. Rh1 Rb2 40. Rxh4
Rxb4 $44 {Schwarz hat ausgezeichnete Kompensation.}) 33. Bxe3 hxg3 34. Kxg3 {
Das Problem für Schwarz ist, dass er nicht genug Gegenspiel besitzt und nur
passiv warten kann.} Rh5 35. Bf2 (35. Kg4 $2 Rh4+ 36. Kg3 Ng7 $11 {Wenn die
weißen Bauern mit dem Springer blockiert sind, kann Weiß kaum durchbrechen.})
35... f5 (35... Ng7 36. Kg4 $14 {und Schwarz schafft es nicht, den Springer
nach f5 zu stellen.}) 36. exf6 (36. Be3 Rh7 37. Ng1 Rg7+ 38. Kf3 Rh7 39. Ne2
Rh3+ 40. Ng3 Bh4 $11) 36... Bxf6 37. Kg4 Rxh3 {Das sieht verdächtig aus,
obwohl, es kann sein, dass das Endspiel remis ist.} (37... Rd5 $5 38. Re1 (38.
Rxd5 cxd5 39. Kf5 Kf7 40. Ng5+ Nxg5 41. fxg5 Bc3 $11) 38... Kd7 $11 {Es sieht
so aus, dass Schwarz die Stellung halten kann.}) 38. Kxh3 Nxf4+ 39. Kg4 Nd5 {
Das Problem für Weiß ist, dass er die Läufer tauschen muss, weil der Bauer b4
schwach ist. Sonst, mit den Läufern, wäre das Endspiel sicherlich gewonnen.}
40. Bd4 (40. Rb1 Bc3 41. Be1 {Das ist der einzige Zug, um den Bauern zu halten.
} Bxe1 42. Rxe1+ Kd7 43. Re4 (43. Rb1 Ke6 44. Kf3 Ke5 $15 {Der König kommt
nach c4 und Weiß verliert beide Bauern.}) 43... Nf6+ 44. Kf5 Nxe4 45. Kxe4 Ke6
$11) 40... Kf7 (40... Bxd4 41. Rxd4 Kd7 {führt zum selben Endspiel wie in der
Partie.}) 41. Kf5 Ne7+ 42. Ke4 Bxd4 43. Kxd4 Ke6 44. Re1+ Kd7 45. Ke5 Nd5 46.
Re4 (46. Rd1 Kc8 47. Rxd5 $5 {Es sieht so aus, als ob Weiß eine Chance hätte,
doch auch das Bauernendspiel ist remis.} cxd5 48. Kxd5 Kd7 49. c6+ Ke7 50. Ke5
Kf7 51. Kd5 Ke7 52. Kc5 Ke6 53. Kxb5 Kd5 54. Ka6 Kxc6 55. b5+ Kc5 56. Kb7 Kxb5
57. Kxc7 $11) 46... Kc8 47. Ke6 Nc3 48. Rh4 Nd5 49. Rd4 Kd8 $1 ({Nach} 49...
Kb7 $2 {ist das Bauernendspiel gewonnen!} 50. Rxd5 $1 cxd5 51. Kxd5 Kc8 (51...
c6+ 52. Kd6 $18) 52. Kc6 Kd8 53. Kb7 Kd7 54. Kb8 Kc6 (54... Kd8 55. c6 $18) 55.
Kc8 Kd5 56. Kxc7 Kc4 57. c6 Kxb4 58. Kd6 Ka3 59. c7 b4 60. c8=Q $18) 50. Rg4
Kc8 51. Rh4 Kb7 52. Kd7 (52. Rd4 Kc8 $1 53. Rxd5 cxd5 54. Kxd5 Kd7 $11) 52...
Nf6+ 53. Kd8 Nd5 54. Rg4 (54. Rh7 Kb8 55. Rg7 Kb7 56. Rg4 {-> siehe die Partie.
}) 54... Kb8 55. Rd4 Kb7 {Weiß kann keine Fortschritte machen.} 56. Kd7 Nc3 57.
Ke6 Kc8 58. Rd3 Nd5 59. Rd4 Nc3 60. Rd3 Nd5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 7th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2012.06.16"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E08"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2012.06.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.07.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.07.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Be7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. Qc2 c6 8. O-O
b6 9. Bf4 Bb7 10. Rd1 Nbd7 11. Nc3 dxc4 12. Nd2 Nd5 13. Nxc4 Nxf4 14. gxf4 {
The structure is reminiscent of the Cambridge Springs Queen's Gambit, with one
important difference: the white kingside structure has been spoiled. This will
increase the danger of a perpetual check, but also face White with certain
dangers in the endgame, when the h2-pawn may become a target for the king.} Qc7
15. e3 Rad8 16. Rd2 $5 {"Almost" a novelty, played only once before. White
prepares to keep the tension on d5 after the inevitable pawn break ...c5.} (16.
Rac1 c5 17. d5 exd5 18. Nxd5 ({If} 18. Bxd5 Nf6 {White cannot maintain his
outpost, as in Grischuk,A (2771)-Kramnik,V (2791)/Moscow (blitz) 2010 (1/2, 44)
}) 18... Bxd5 19. Rxd5 b5 $132 {Drenchev,P (2499)-Mastrovasilis,D (2631)/
Skopje 2012/CBM 147 Extra (1/2, 25)}) 16... Nf6 ({The idea behind White's
previous move is revealed after} 16... c5 17. d5 exd5 18. Bxd5 Nf6 19. Rad1 {
, although it is far from clear whether this offers an advantage:} Nxd5 20.
Nxd5 Bxd5 21. Rxd5 Rxd5 22. Rxd5 Rd8 23. Qd3 Rxd5 24. Qxd5 Qd8 25. Qb7 Qd1+ {
1/2 Berkes,F (2693)-Wojtaszek,R (2721)/Paks 2011/CBM 143}) 17. Rad1 c5 18. d5
exd5 19. Nxd5 Nxd5 20. Bxd5 g6 21. Ne5 Bxd5 22. Rxd5 Rxd5 23. Rxd5 Rd8 24. Qc4
Rxd5 25. Qxd5 Bf6 26. Nd7 Kg7 27. b3 Bc3 28. a4 {White has some domination,
but, as mentioned above, the weakness of the white kingside offers Black a
clear plan for counterplay.} Qd8 29. Qd6 Bf6 30. Kf1 Qe7 31. Qd5 Bc3 32. Ke2
Qh4 33. Kd3 Ba1 34. Ne5 Bxe5 35. Qxe5+ Kh6 36. Qc7 Qxf2 37. Qxf7 Qf1+ 38. Ke4
Qb1+ 39. Kf3 Qh1+ 40. Kg3 Qg1+ 41. Kf3 Qh1+ 42. Kg3 Qg1+ 43. Kf3 Qh1+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 7th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2012.06.17"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Tomashevsky, Evgeny"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2738"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "169"]
[EventDate "2012.06.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.07.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.07.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bc5 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O a6 7. a3 O-O 8. b4
Ba7 9. d3 h6 10. Bb2 {I have a lot of experience as White with this line, but
I must confess that White's regrouping completed on the 14th move was
unfamiliar to me.} Rb8 $5 {A rare move. Black overdefends the b7-pawn in order
to enable the standard manoeuvre ...Nc6-e7-g6. In some cases, Black can
display some queenside ambitions with ...b7-b5.} ({The main line is} 10... Be6
{as played in Marin,M (2551)-Navara,D (2656) Reggio Emilia 2007 CBM 122 [Marin,
M] (1/2, 37)}) (10... Bg4 {is an important alternative:} 11. Rc1 Qd7 12. e3 Ne7
(12... Qf5 {fails to keep White pinned:} 13. Nd5 Qh5 14. Nxf6+ gxf6 15. h3 $1
Bxh3 16. Bxh3 Qxh3 {Marin,M (2541)-Nemeth,F (2426) Baile Tusnad ROM 2005 (1/2,
17)} 17. c5 $36 {[%csl Ga7,Gg8]}) (12... Bh3 {transposes to 10...Be6.}) 13. Qc2
c6 14. c5 Ng6 15. cxd6 Qxd6 16. h3 Bf5 17. e4 Be6 18. Na4 $14 {Marin,M (2541)
-Valeanu,E (2380) Baile Tusnad 2005 (1-0, 42)}) 11. Rc1 Be6 12. Nd2 (12. e3 Ne7
13. a4 {This obstinate play on the queenside does not offer White much, since
Black is well regrouped.} (13. Nd2 {would transpose back to the game.}) 13...
Qd7 14. Re1 Ng6 15. b5 Bg4 16. Qb3 Bb6 (16... Qf5 17. Nd2 Qxd3 $2 18. Nde4 Nxe4
19. Bxe4 Qd2 20. Rcd1 $18) 17. Nd2 Bh3 18. Qd1 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 Ba5 20. Nb3 Bb4
21. Rf1 axb5 22. axb5 Bxc3 23. Bxc3 c6 $132 {Le Quang,L (2715)-Bruzon Batista,
L (2673)/Khanty-Mansiysk 2011/CBM 145 (1/2, 34)}) 12... Ne7 13. e3 $146 (13.
Qb3 {is too provocative, inviting the following operation.} c6 14. a4 b5 15.
Qa3 (15. axb5 axb5 16. Ra1) 15... Qd7 (15... bxc4 $5) 16. Ra1 Bb6 (16... bxc4
$5) 17. axb5 axb5 18. Rfd1 d5 $13 {Verduga,D (2356)-Quezada,Y (2515)/Morelia
2007/CBM 116 ext (0-1, 46)}) 13... Qd7 14. Ne2 $1 {(!!) A clever display of
the knights, which I do not remember having seen in this variation. (It is
more typical for the reversed hippopotamus, if such a thing exists, where the
knights would get to these squares without loss of time). The c4-, d4- and
e4-squares are sufficiently well defended to allow the standard d3-d4, gaining
space and restricting the a7-bishop.} Bg4 ({Black probably discarded} 14... Bh3
{because of} 15. Ne4 $5 Nxe4 16. Bxh3 Qxh3 17. dxe4 {[%csl Ga7]}) 15. Re1 Ng6
16. Qc2 c6 17. d4 $14 {Both sides have completed their planned regroupings,
but White has more space. Black will need some time to find an useful job for
his a7-bishop.} Rbe8 18. c5 Bb8 ({After} 18... d5 19. dxe5 Nxe5 20. f4 Ng6 {
the a7-bishop would remain completely out of play (even after ...Bb8). White
would have a pleasant choice already.} 21. e4 (21. Bxf6 Rxe3 $5 22. Bxg7 Kxg7
23. Nd4 Rxe1+ 24. Rxe1 $16) 21... Nxe4 22. Nxe4 dxe4 23. Bxe4 $16) 19. dxe5
dxe5 20. Nc4 Bh3 21. Rcd1 Qe6 22. Na5 Bxg2 23. Kxg2 Re7 24. e4 {The weakness
of the b7-pawn prevents Black from actively fighting for the only open file.
At the same time, his kingside attack is not reaching anywhere.} Qg4 25. Ng1
Nh4+ 26. Kh1 Nf3 27. Nxf3 Qxf3+ 28. Kg1 {The exchange of one knight has not
helped Black to solve his problems: the d-file, the b7-pawn, his passive
bishop.} Qg4 29. Rd3 Qc8 30. Nc4 Qe6 (30... Rd8 31. Nb6 Qc7 32. Red1 Rxd3 (
32... Ree8 $2 33. Bxe5 $1 $18) 33. Qxd3 Re8 34. Nc4 $16) 31. f3 Bc7 32. Red1
Rd7 {Finally, Black has managed to neutralise part of White's pressure.} 33.
Nd6 Bxd6 (33... b5 34. Qc3 Re7 $14 {would be solid, but not too appealing.})
34. Rxd6 $6 {Allowing an unexpected resource.} (34. cxd6 $14) 34... Rxd6 $6 ({
Missing his chance:} 34... Rfd8 $1 {Black is very close to equality, since
White cannot prevent general exchanges.} 35. Rxe6 $2 {is impossible to} Rxd1+
$19 {retrieving the queen and winning more material after that.}) 35. Rxd6 $14
{White maintains his domination now, although Black has solved at least one of
his problems: the bishop.} Qa2 36. Kg2 Re8 37. Qc3 Nh7 38. Rd2 Nf8 39. Bc1 Qe6
40. Rd6 Qa2+ 41. Qb2 Qxb2+ {The ending is less safe than Black might have
thought.} (41... Qc4 $5 {would have kept White busy with avoiding perpetual
checks.}) 42. Bxb2 f6 43. Kh3 {An interesting plan, but maybe not the best.} ({
Playing in centre would have offered good chances for an advantage. Here is a
sample line:} 43. Kf2 Kf7 44. Ke3 Re7 45. f4 exf4+ 46. gxf4 {The point is that}
f5 {fails to stabilise the position in view of} 47. Be5 $1 (47. e5 Ne6 $11)
47... Ng6 48. exf5 Nxe5 49. fxe5 Rxe5+ 50. Kf4 Re7 51. Rd8 $16 {This ending is
quite unpleasant for Black. Among others (lack of space, weak queenside) he is
in zugzwang.} Re2 (51... Rc7 52. Ke5) (51... g5+ 52. fxg6+ Kxg6 53. Rd6+ Kg7
54. Kf5) 52. Rd7+ Re7 $2 53. Rxe7+ Kxe7 54. Ke5 h5 (54... Kf7 55. Kd6 Kf6 56.
Kc7 Kxf5 57. Kxb7 $18) 55. h4 Kf7 56. Kf4 $1 (56. Kd6 {is less clear:} Kf6 57.
Kc7 Kxf5 58. Kxb7 g5 59. Kxa6 gxh4 60. b5 h3 61. bxc6 h2 62. c7 h1=Q 63. c8=Q+)
56... Kf6 57. a4 $18) 43... Re7 44. Kg4 Kf7 45. Bc1 Rd7 46. Be3 Rxd6 47. cxd6
Nd7 48. a4 b6 49. a5 bxa5 50. bxa5 c5 (50... Ke6 {looks riskier than it really
might be. White surely is not worse, but Black may be able to hold a draw.} 51.
Kh5 Nf8 52. Bc5 Kd7 53. Ba3 Ne6 {A complicated regrouping.} 54. Kg6 c5 55. f4 (
55. h4 Kxd6 56. Kf7 $44) 55... Kxd6 56. f5 Ng5 57. Kxg7 Nxe4 58. Kxh6 Kd5 {
Quite a complicated position, which is evaluated as drawn by my engines.} 59.
Kg6 c4 60. g4 c3 61. h4 Nd6 62. h5 Nc4 63. Bc1 e4 64. h6 e3 65. h7 e2 66. h8=Q
e1=Q 67. Qg8+ Kd4 68. Qd8+ $11) 51. Kh5 Kg8 {/\...Kh7, ...g6} 52. f4 (52. Kg6
Nf8+ 53. Kf5 Kf7 $15 54. Bxc5 $2 h5 $3 $19 {with mate in one.}) 52... exf4 53.
gxf4 Kf7 54. Bd2 Nf8 55. Be3 Nd7 56. f5 c4 57. Bd4 {Optically, it looks like
if White has some chances, but in fact there are more ways than one to defend
with Black. One important element is that the a5-pawn has the promotion square
on a different colour from that of the bishop.} Ke8 (57... Nf8 {was also
possible, not fearing} 58. e5 fxe5 59. Bxe5 {because of} Nd7 60. Bc3 Nf6+) 58.
Kg6 Kf8 59. Bc3 Kg8 60. Bd4 Kf8 61. h3 Kg8 62. Bc3 Kf8 63. h4 Kg8 64. e5 $5 {
Finally some action.} fxe5 65. f6 gxf6 (65... Nxf6 66. Bxe5 Kf8 $8 67. h5 Ke8
68. Kxg7 Nxh5+ 69. Kxh6 c3 70. Kxh5 c2 71. Bf4 Kd7 72. Kg4 c1=Q 73. Bxc1 Kxd6
$11) 66. h5 f5 67. Kxf5 Kf7 68. Bb4 e4 69. Kxe4 Ke6 70. Kd4 Nf6 71. Kxc4 Nxh5
72. Kc5 Nf6 73. Kc6 Nd7 74. Be1 h5 75. Bg3 Nf8 76. Kb7 h4 77. Bh2 Kd5 78. Kxa6
Kc6 79. Ka7 Nd7 80. a6 Nc5 $11 81. Bf4 h3 82. Bg3 Kb5 83. Bh2 Kc6 84. Bg3 Kb5
85. Bh2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 7th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2012.06.18"]
[Round "9"]
[White "McShane, Luke J"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C85"]
[WhiteElo "2706"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[Annotator "Knaak,R"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2012.06.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.07.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.07.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%mdl 2]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7.
d3 Nd7 8. b3 O-O 9. Bb2 f6 10. Nc3 {Meistens wird der Springer nach d2
entwickelt, vermutlich nicht ohne Grund.} (10. Nbd2 Nc5 11. d4 (11. Nc4 $5 Ne6
12. Ne3) 11... exd4 12. Nxd4 $13) 10... Re8 11. Kh1 Nf8 12. Ne2 c5 13. Nh4 Ne6
14. Nf5 Bf8 15. Ne3 Nd4 16. f4 Be6 17. fxe5 fxe5 18. Ng1 ({Man kann auch gleich
} 18. c3 {spielen, denn den Springertausch muss Weiß nicht fürchten. Aber der
Ne2 soll sowieso nach f3 gehen.}) 18... g6 $1 19. c3 Nc6 20. Nf3 {Weiß hat für
diese Aufstellung insgesamt 8 Springerzüge gebraucht.} Bg7 21. Qe1 $2 {Wenn
Weiß die Stellung weiterhin geschlossen hält, muss er nichts fürchten. Dazu
muss er auf ...a5 zu a4 in der Lage sein.} ({Prinzipiell spricht auch nichts
gegen} 21. c4 $5 {, aber aus irgendeinem Grund wollte McShane so nie spielen.})
(21. Qc2 a5 22. a4 $11) 21... a5 $1 $15 ({Natürlich nicht} 21... Qxd3 $2 22.
Rd1 Qb5 (22... Qxe4 23. Ng5) 23. Ng5 {und Schwarz sieht sich einem Angriff
ausgesetzt, bei dem seine Dame nichts zur Verteidigung beiträgt.}) 22. Rd1 (22.
a4 $2 Bxb3 23. c4 {funktioniert nicht, es folgt} Qxd3 $1 24. Ra3 Red8 25. Rf2
Nd4 {und Weiß kann aus der Stellung der schwarzen Dame keinen Nutzen ziehen.})
22... a4 23. bxa4 {Dies ist vermutlich notwendig.} Rxa4 24. a3 Rf8 25. Bc1 {
Das führt zu nichts, besser ist} (25. Qe2 {und Weiß sollte sich zunächst
passiv verhalten, Schwarz muss erst mal einen Gewinnplan finden.}) 25... Ra8
26. Qg3 $6 {Die weißen Ambitionen am Königsflügel erhalten sofort einen
Dämpfer:} Bb3 $1 27. Rde1 $2 (27. Rd2 Bh6 $1 28. Qf2 {mag hässlich sein, hält
aber die materielle Balance.}) 27... Qxd3 {Schwarz gewinnt nun mühelos.} 28.
Ng4 Be6 29. Nh6+ Kh8 30. Qh4 Bf6 31. Bg5 Bxg5 32. Qxg5 Kg7 33. Qc1 Rf4 34. Rd1
Qc4 35. Rfe1 Raf8 36. Ng5 Bc8 37. g3 Rf2 38. Nf5+ gxf5 39. Nh3 Re2 40. Qg5+ Kh8
0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.06"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Kazhgaleyev, Murtas"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2589"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2012.07.06"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. Bb3 d6 7. h3 Ne7 8. O-O
Ng6 9. Nbd2 c6 10. d4 Bb6 11. Re1 Re8 12. Bc2 h6 13. Nf1 Nh5 14. Ne3 Nhf4 15.
Nf5 Qf6 16. g3 Nxh3+ 17. Kg2 d5 18. dxe5 Nxe5 19. Nxe5 Rxe5 20. f4 Rxe4 21.
Bxe4 Nf2 22. Qh5 Nxe4 23. Nh4 Bd7 24. Be3 Bxe3 25. Rxe3 g5 26. Nf3 gxf4 27.
Ree1 Qg7 28. Qh4 Qxg3+ 29. Qxg3+ fxg3 30. Nd4 h5 31. Rh1 Bg4 32. Rae1 Kg7 33.
Ne2 Nf2 34. Rxh5 Bxh5 35. Nxg3 Nd3 36. Nxh5+ Kg6 37. Rh1 Rh8 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.06"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2012.07.06"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 Be7 8. Qd2
b6 9. Bd3 O-O 10. O-O f6 11. exf6 Nxf6 12. Kh1 c4 13. Be2 Bb4 14. Ne5 Nxe5 15.
dxe5 Ne4 16. Qe1 d4 17. Rd1 Nxc3 18. bxc3 Bxc3 19. Qf2 b5 20. Bxd4 Bxd4 21.
Rxd4 Qa5 22. Bf3 Rb8 23. Rfd1 Bb7 24. Rd7 Bxf3 25. Qxf3 Rbd8 26. R7d6 Rde8 27.
Qg4 Re7 28. Rxe6 Ref7 29. g3 Qxa2 30. Qe2 a5 31. Red6 c3 32. e6 Re7 33. f5 Qa3
34. Qxb5 Qb4 35. Qd5 g6 36. fxg6 hxg6 37. Rd7 Rfe8 38. Re1 a4 39. Kg2 Qb6 40.
Re4 Rxe6 41. Rg4 Kh8 42. Rh4+ Kg8 43. Rh6 g5 44. Qxg5+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.06"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A37"]
[WhiteElo "2749"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2012.07.06"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 g6 2. Nf3 Bg7 3. g3 c5 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. O-O Nh6 6. Nc3 Nf5 7. a3 O-O 8. b4
Nxb4 9. axb4 cxb4 10. d4 bxc3 11. e4 Nd6 12. Qd3 b5 13. cxb5 Qb6 14. Ba3 Qxb5
15. Qc2 Ba6 16. e5 Nf5 17. g4 Nxd4 18. Nxd4 Qxe5 19. Rfd1 Rac8 20. Bc1 Bc4 21.
Rxa7 d5 22. Be3 Qd6 23. f4 e5 24. fxe5 Qxe5 25. Bf2 Rfe8 26. Ra3 Qf4 27. Rxc3
Be5 28. Rg3 Ra8 29. Ne2 Qg5 30. Nc3 Bxg3 31. hxg3 Rac8 32. Rd4 Re5 33. Qd2 Qxd2
34. Rxd2 Rd8 35. Bd4 Re6 36. g5 Rde8 37. Bxd5 Bxd5 38. Nxd5 Rc8 39. Nf6+ Kg7
40. Ng4+ Kf8 41. Kf2 Rec6 42. Kf3 Rd8 43. Bg7+ Kxg7 44. Rxd8 Rc5 45. Ne3 Rxg5
46. Rd7 h5 47. Ra7 Rc5 48. Rb7 Kf6 49. Rb6+ Kg5 50. Rd6 Rc3 51. Rd5+ f5 52. Rd6
Ra3 53. Rb6 Rd3 54. Ra6 Rb3 55. Rc6 Ra3 56. Rb6 Rc3 57. Ra6 Rb3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.06"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bologan, Viktor"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2732"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2012.07.06"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 h6 7. Qb3 Ra7 8. cxd5
cxd5 9. Bd2 e6 10. Ne5 Bd6 11. Qa4+ Nc6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Qxc6+ Qd7 14. Qxd7+
Kxd7 15. Na4 Rb8 16. Ba5 Bb4+ 17. Bxb4 Rxb4 18. b3 Kd6 19. Rc1 e5 20. dxe5+
Kxe5 21. f3 Kd6 22. Kf2 Bd7 23. Nc5 a5 24. Rhd1 Ke7 25. Rd4 Rxd4 26. exd4 Kd6
27. Na6 Ng8 28. Rc5 a4 29. b4 Ne7 30. b5 Nc8 31. Nb8 Nb6 32. Nxd7 Kxd7 33. Rc6
Rb7 34. Ke3 Na8 35. Kd2 Nc7 36. Rc5 Kd6 37. Kc3 Rb6 38. Bd3 a3 39. g3 g5 40.
Bf1 f5 41. Bd3 f4 42. g4 Kd7 43. Bf5+ Kd6 44. Kb4 Na6+ 45. Ka5 Nxc5 46. Kxb6
Nb3 47. Ka7 Nxd4 48. b6 Nc6+ 49. Ka8 d4 50. b7 Kc7 51. Bd3 Nb8 52. Bb5 d3 53.
Bxd3 Nd7 54. Ka7 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.06"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Kurnosov, Igor"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2663"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "128"]
[EventDate "2012.07.06"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nf5 8.
Nf3 O-O 9. d4 d5 10. g3 Re8 11. Nc3 Be6 12. Ne2 Bf8 13. Nf4 Bd7 14. Rxe8 Bxe8
15. Bh3 Nce7 16. Qd3 g6 17. Bd2 c6 18. Re1 Bd7 19. Ne5 Bc8 20. Bb4 Nd6 21. Qf3
Bxh3 22. Nxh3 Nef5 23. c3 a5 24. Bxd6 Nxd6 25. Qf4 Bg7 26. Ng5 Qf6 27. Qxf6
Bxf6 28. h4 a4 29. Nd7 Bd8 30. a3 Kg7 31. Re2 h6 32. Nf3 h5 33. Kg2 f6 34. Nc5
Kf7 35. Ne6 Ba5 36. Nf4 Bc7 37. Nd2 Ra5 38. Nd3 Rb5 39. Nb4 Bd8 40. Kf1 Be7 41.
Ke1 Bf8 42. Kd1 Bh6 43. Kc2 Ra5 44. Nd3 Ra8 45. Nc5 b6 46. Nd3 Rc8 47. Nb4 Bxd2
48. Kxd2 g5 49. hxg5 fxg5 50. Ke1 Nc4 51. Kf1 b5 52. Kg2 g4 53. f3 Re8 54. Rf2
gxf3+ 55. Rxf3+ Kg7 56. Nxc6 Re2+ 57. Rf2 Rxb2 58. Rxb2 Nxb2 59. Na7 Kf6 60.
Nxb5 Ke6 61. Kf3 Nc4 62. Ke2 $4 (62. Nc7+ Kd6 63. Na6 {would have held the
draw.}) {Do you see how Black now wins? Simply by picking up the knight, which
is trapped.} 62... Kd7 63. Kd3 Kc6 64. Na7+ Kb7 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.07"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dreev, Alexey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B11"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2677"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2012.07.06"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Nc3 Bg4 4. h3 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 e6 6. d4 dxe4 7. Qxe4 Nf6 8.
Qh4 Qa5 9. Bd3 Na6 10. O-O Nb4 11. Rd1 Be7 12. Bg5 O-O-O 13. a3 Nxd3 14. Rxd3
h6 15. Bd2 Qf5 16. Re1 Bd6 17. Ne4 Nxe4 18. Rxe4 Be7 19. Qg4 Qxg4 20. hxg4 Bf6
21. b4 Rd7 22. f4 g6 23. c3 h5 24. g5 Bg7 25. Kf2 b6 26. Ke2 Rhd8 27. Ree3 Kb7
28. Rh3 Bf8 29. Be1 a5 30. Bd2 axb4 31. axb4 Ra8 32. Rh1 Ra2 33. Ke3 Rd8 34.
Ke4 Rb2 35. g3 Ra2 36. Be3 Ra3 37. Bf2 Ra2 38. Be3 Ra3 39. Rb1 Ra4 40. Rdd1 b5
41. Rh1 Ra2 42. g4 hxg4 43. Rh7 Rd7 44. Rh8 Bd6 45. Rg1 Ra3 46. Bd2 Ra2 47. Be3
Ra3 48. Bd2 Ra2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.07"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2738"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2012.07.06"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 b6 7. Bd3 dxc4 8. Bxc4
Bb7 9. O-O c5 10. dxc5 Qxd1 11. Rfxd1 Bxc5 12. Nb5 Nbd7 13. Nd6 Bd5 14. Bb5 Nh5
15. Bxd7 Nxf4 16. Nb5 Rad8 17. exf4 Rxd7 18. Ne5 Rb7 19. Nc3 f6 20. Nd3 Bc6 21.
Nxc5 bxc5 22. Rd6 Rc8 23. b3 Kf7 24. Re1 Bd7 25. Ne4 Ke7 26. Ra6 Rcc7 27. Ra5
c4 28. Nc5 Rb6 29. bxc4 Bc8 30. Na4 Rb4 31. Nc3 Kf8 32. Nb5 Rcxc4 33. Nd6 Rc6
34. Nxc8 Rxc8 35. Rxa7 Rxf4 36. g3 Rf5 37. Rb1 h5 38. h4 Kg8 39. Rbb7 Rc1+ 40.
Kg2 Rc2 41. Rxg7+ Kf8 42. Rh7 Rfxf2+ 43. Kg1 Rg2+ 44. Kh1 Rh2+ 45. Kg1 Rhg2+
1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.07"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C76"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2726"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2012.07.06"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. c3 Bd7 6. d4 g6 7. O-O Bg7 8. d5
Nce7 9. Bxd7+ Qxd7 10. Be3 h6 11. Nfd2 f5 12. f3 Nf6 13. c4 O-O 14. Nc3 g5 15.
c5 Ng6 16. exf5 Qxf5 17. Nde4 Nxe4 18. fxe4 Qxf1+ 19. Qxf1 Rxf1+ 20. Rxf1 dxc5
21. Bxc5 Bf8 22. Be3 Bd6 23. Ne2 Rf8 24. Rc1 Ne7 25. Ng3 b6 26. Nf1 Kf7 27. Nd2
Ke8 28. Rf1 Rxf1+ 29. Kxf1 Kf7 30. Ke2 b5 31. Nb3 c6 32. Bc5 Bxc5 33. Nxc5 cxd5
34. Nxa6 dxe4 35. Nc7 Nf5 36. Kd2 Nh4 37. Nxb5 Nxg2 38. a4 Ke7 39. a5 Kd7 40.
Nc3 e3+ 41. Ke2 g4 42. b4 h5 43. a6 Kc6 44. b5+ Kb6 45. Nd5+ Ka7 46. Nf6 Kb6
47. Nd7+ Ka7 48. Nxe5 Nf4+ 49. Kxe3 Ne6 50. Nc6+ Kb6 51. Nd4 Nc7 52. Kf4 Kc5
53. Kg5 Kxd4 54. Kxh5 Nxb5 55. Kxg4 Nc7 56. a7 Kc5 57. h4 Kd6 58. Kf5 Ke7 59.
Kg6 Kf8 60. Kf6 Ke8 61. Kg7 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.07"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Tkachiev, Vladislav"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D12"]
[WhiteElo "2644"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[Annotator "Martin,A"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2012.07.06"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2016"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.08"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.08"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{The following game is an excellent example of how to mount and sustain
pressure. The fact that this was a rapid game only adds to the overall quality
of Black's performance.} 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 {[%csl Gc8]} 4. e3 Bf5 5.
cxd5 cxd5 6. Qb3 {[%csl Gb7]} Qc7 7. Bd2 {[%csl Gb1][%cal Gd2b4]} e6 8. Bb5+
Nbd7 9. O-O a6 $1 {Maybe the simplest way of resolving diffficulties.} (9...
Bd6 {turns out to be a superfluous developing move in this current instance.
In the following game Black is routed:} 10. Rc1 Qd8 11. Bb4 Bxb4 12. Qxb4 Qb6
$2 ({Maybe Black has to settle for} 12... a6 {but after} 13. Bxd7+ Qxd7 14. Ne5
Qb5 15. Qxb5+ axb5 16. Nc3 b4 17. Nb5 $16 {the position he reaches by force
really isn't very nice.}) 13. Ne5 a6 14. Nc3 $3 axb5 15. Nxb5 {[%cal Gb5d6,
Gb5c7] threats of either Nd6+ or Nc7+ are too strong for Black to meet.} Bg6
16. a4 Qa5 (16... Kd8 17. a5 Qa6 18. Nd6 {[%csl Gb7,Gf7]} Rb8 19. Ndxf7+ Bxf7
20. Nxf7+ Ke8 21. Nxh8) 17. Rc8+ Rxc8 18. Nd6+ {1-0 Prusikin,M (2522)-Miller,E
(2110)/Nuremberg 2010}) 10. Rc1 (10. Be2) 10... Qb6 11. Be2 Qxb3 {Again
Carlsen chooses the simplest way, reaching a position which Black can hardly
lose.} (11... Bd6 {also looks pretty safe:} 12. Nc3 (12. Qxb6 Nxb6 13. Ba5 Nbd7
14. a3 Ke7 15. Nc3 h6 16. Nd2 Rac8 17. f3 Bh7 18. Nb3 b6 19. Bb4 Nb8 20. Nd2
Rhd8 21. Kf2 Rc6 {1/2-1/2 Prusikin,M (2534)-Milov,L (2558)/Germany 2010}) 12...
h6 13. Na4 Qxb3 14. axb3 Ne4 15. Ba5 O-O 16. b4 Rab8 17. Nc5 Ndf6 18. Bb6 Rfc8
19. b5 axb5 20. Bxb5 g5 21. Ne5 Nd2 22. Rd1 Nde4 23. Ned7 Bxc5 24. dxc5 Nxd7
25. Bxd7 Rxc5 26. Bxc5 Nxc5 27. Bb5 Bc2 28. Re1 Bd3 29. Rec1 b6 30. Bxd3 Nxd3
31. Rc2 Rd8 32. Kf1 Kg7 33. Ra7 Ne5 34. Rb7 Rd6 35. Rcc7 Kg6 36. h3 h5 37. Ke2
Kf5 38. Rb8 h4 39. Rcc8 Nc4 40. b3 Na5 41. Rc3 Nc6 42. Rb7 f6 43. Ke1 d4 {
1/2-1/2 Tkachiev,V (2657)-Wang Hao (2684)/Dagomys 2008}) 12. axb3 Bd6 {[%cal
Gb3b4,Gb4b5] White can try to dissolve his pawn weakness with b4-b5, but Black
always meets this idea comfortably with ...Ke7!} 13. Nc3 Ke7 14. Nh4 Bg6 15.
Na4 {I don't much like this move.} ({Better chances to at least draw could be
obtained after} 15. Nxg6+ $1 hxg6 16. h3 Rac8 17. f3 g5 18. Bd3 g6 19. Kf2 {
Objectively the position is about equal, but White would not have the same
problems facing him that he does after the game continuation.}) 15... Bh5 16.
Nf3 $6 {Indecision.} ({I think he should take the opportunity to get Black's
light-squared bishop off the board:} 16. Bxh5 Nxh5 17. Nc5 Bxc5 18. dxc5 Rhc8
19. b4 Nhf6 20. Bc3 g6 21. Nf3 Ne4 22. Be1 $11) 16... Ne4 17. Be1 b5 (17...
Rhc8) 18. Nc3 b4 19. Nb1 ({Tkachiev clearly does not want to put his knight on
the edge of the board,yet this may have been the better continuation. The
knight on a4 would be active, limiting Black's plans:} 19. Na4 $1 a5 20. Bd3
Rhc8 21. Bxe4 dxe4 22. Nd2 f5 23. Nc4 Bc7 24. Rc2 {[%csl Ga4][%cal Gh5e2,Ge2d3]
White is fine here, with the doubling of rooks imminent.}) 19... a5 20. Bb5
Rhc8 21. Nbd2 Rxc1 22. Rxc1 Nxd2 23. Nxd2 Rb8 24. Bf1 Bg6 25. f3 e5 $15 {
[%csl Gb2] Black has a small edge and the way he now increases the pressure is
most instructive. If White now takes on e5, then b2 hangs, but otherwise Black
threatens ...exd4, weakening the d4-pawn.} 26. Bg3 (26. Ra1 Bc7 27. dxe5 Nxe5 {
[%csl Gd3]} 28. Bg3 Ra8 29. Be2 Bb6 30. Nf1 f6 $17) 26... exd4 27. exd4 Nf8 {
[%csl Gd4][%cal Gf8e6]} 28. Kf2 Ne6 29. Ke3 f5 $1 {Counter-intuitive, in that
the scope of the bishop on g6 decreases, but this is only temporary.} 30. Bxd6+
Kxd6 31. f4 Bh5 32. Bd3 g6 {[%csl Gh5] An eventual break with ...g6-g5,
levering open the kingside, is Black's ongoing plan} 33. Nf1 $6 (33. g3 Nc7 34.
Kf2 Bg4 35. Bf1 Ne6 36. Ke3 h6 37. h3 Bh5 38. h4 Rg8 39. Bb5 g5 40. hxg5 hxg5
41. Rh1 Be8 42. Bxe8 Rxe8 43. Rh6 Kc7 {is still a little better for Black})
33... g5 34. fxg5 (34. g3) 34... f4+ 35. Kf2 Nxg5 36. Nd2 Ne6 37. Bxh7 (37. Ra1
Ra8 38. Bxh7 Nxd4 39. Bd3 Nc6 {is the type of plausible continuation, which
does not really satisfactorily solve White's problems. He is still worse and
Black has good chances to penetrate in the centre.}) 37... Nxd4 38. Bd3 Rh8 39.
Ra1 Nc6 40. Bb5 Ne5 41. h3 (41. Rxa5 Ng4+ 42. Kg1 Rc8 {[%csl Gc1,Gc2] must
have seemed unattractive.}) 41... Rc8 42. Be2 Rc2 43. Bxh5 $2 ({Like it or not,
White had to try} 43. Ke1 Bxe2 44. Kxe2 Rxb2 45. Rxa5 Nc6 46. Ra6 Kc5 47. Kd3
Nd4 {This is very uncomfortable to defend doubly so because it is Carlsen
pressing and triply so because of time shortage.}) 43... Rxd2+ 44. Kf1 Rxb2 {
[%csl Gd5]} 45. Bd1 Rd2 46. h4 Ke6 (46... a4 $1 {seems most accurate:} 47. bxa4
Nc4 $19) 47. h5 Kf6 48. Be2 d4 49. Ke1 Rb2 50. Rxa5 d3 51. Bd1 $4 (51. Bf3 {
might have led to a draw:} d2+ 52. Ke2 Nxf3 53. gxf3 Rxb3 54. Rd5 Re3+ 55. Kxd2
Rxf3 56. h6 Kg6 57. Rd6+ Kh7 58. Rb6 b3 59. Rf6 Kg8 60. Rf5 Kh7 61. Rf6) 51...
Rxg2 52. Rd5 f3 53. Kf1 Rd2 54. Ke1 f2+ {A triumph for tenacity and
perseverance.} 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.07"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2779"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2012.07.06"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O a6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. Nxd4 Bc5 8.
c3 O-O 9. f3 Nd7 10. Be3 Ne5 11. Qe2 Qe7 12. Nd2 f6 13. Kh1 Bd6 14. Rae1 c5 15.
Nf5 Bxf5 16. exf5 Qd7 17. f4 Nf7 18. g4 Rfe8 19. Qf3 Bf8 20. Ne4 Qd3 21. Nf2
Qb5 22. g5 Qxb2 23. gxf6 Qxc3 24. fxg7 Bxg7 25. Rg1 Kh8 26. Qxb7 Nd6 27. Qd5
Nxf5 28. Bxc5 Rad8 29. Rxe8+ Rxe8 30. Nd3 Qf6 31. Rg5 Rd8 32. Qxf5 Qxf5 33.
Rxf5 Rxd3 34. Rf7 Rd1+ 35. Kg2 Rd2+ 36. Kf3 Rxa2 37. Rxc7 Kg8 38. h4 Rc2 39.
Rc8+ Kf7 40. Ke4 Rc4+ 41. Kf5 Bd4 42. Rf8+ Kg7 43. Bd6 Rc6 44. Rd8 Bc5 45. Be5+
Kf7 46. Rd7+ Be7 47. h5 Ke8 48. Ra7 Rh6 49. Bg7 Rc6 50. h6 Kf7 51. Ke4 Ke8 52.
Ra8+ Kf7 53. Rh8 Rc4+ 54. Kf5 Rc5+ 55. Be5 Bf8 56. Rxh7+ Kg8 57. Rh8+ Kf7 58.
Rxf8+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.08"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Ismagambetov, Anuar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C91"]
[WhiteElo "2471"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2012.07.06"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. d4 Bg4 10. d5 Na5 11. Bc2 c6 12. h3 Bc8 13. dxc6 Qc7 14. Nbd2 Qxc6 15.
Nf1 Nc4 16. Ng3 Re8 17. b3 Nb6 18. Be3 Nbd7 19. Bd2 Nc5 20. Rc1 Be6 21. Qe2 a5
22. Ng5 Bd7 23. c4 b4 24. Rcd1 Qb6 25. Be3 a4 26. Rd2 axb3 27. axb3 Ra3 28. Qd1
h6 29. Nf3 Qc6 30. Qb1 Bf8 31. Nh4 g6 32. Nf3 Rea8 33. Kh2 Be6 34. Red1 R8a6
35. Re1 Kh7 36. Qd1 Ra2 37. Bb1 Ra1 38. Qc2 R1a3 39. Bxc5 Qxc5 40. Nf1 Nd7 41.
Ne3 Qa5 42. Qd1 Nc5 43. Bc2 Ra1 44. Qe2 Qa2 45. Rxa1 Qxa1 46. Nd5 Bxd5 47. exd5
Qc3 48. Nh4 e4 49. g3 Ra2 50. Kg2 Nxb3 51. Nxg6 Qf3+ 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.08"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E21"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2769"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2012.07.06"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 Ne4 5. Qc2 f5 6. g3 b6 7. Bg2 Bb7 8. Nd2
Bxc3 9. bxc3 Nd6 10. d5 Na6 11. O-O O-O 12. Ba3 Qf6 13. e4 f4 14. Rab1 Rae8 15.
Qd3 e5 16. Nb3 Nb8 17. Bxd6 Qxd6 18. c5 Qf6 19. c4 d6 20. c6 Bc8 21. c5 f3 22.
Bh1 Ba6 23. Qe3 Bxf1 24. Rxf1 bxc5 25. Nd2 Na6 26. Qa3 Nb4 27. Qb3 Rb8 28. Qc4
Qg5 29. Nxf3 Rxf3 30. Bxf3 Qd2 31. a3 Nd3 32. Bg4 Rf8 33. f3 g6 34. Qb5 c4 35.
Qb7 Qa5 36. Kg2 Kg7 37. h4 h5 38. Be6 Kh6 39. Kh3 Qd2 40. Qxc7 Qe2 41. Qe7
Qxf1+ 42. Kh2 Qf2+ 43. Kh3 Nf4+ 44. gxf4 Qxf3+ 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.08"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2763"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2012.07.06"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 h6 10. Rd1+ Ke8 11. h3 Ne7 12. Ne4 Ng6 13. Nd4 Nxe5 14.
Bf4 Bd6 15. Re1 f6 16. Bxe5 Bxe5 17. Nxf6+ gxf6 18. f4 c5 19. Nb5 Bd7 20. Nc3
Rg8 21. fxe5 Bxh3 22. exf6+ Kf8 23. Re2 Bg4 24. Re3 Bd7 25. Nd5 Bc6 26. Nxc7
Rxg2+ 27. Kf1 Rc8 28. Re7 Rxc7 29. Rxc7 Rg6 30. f7 Rf6+ 31. Ke2 Rxf7 32. Rxf7+
Kxf7 33. Rf1+ Ke6 34. Ke3 h5 35. Rf8 Bd5 36. a3 Ke5 37. Re8+ Kd6 38. Rh8 a5 39.
Rh6+ Kc7 40. Rxh5 Kd6 41. Rh6+ Kc7 42. Kf4 b6 43. Ke5 Bg2 44. Rh7+ Kb8 45. Rg7
Bf3 46. Kd6 Be4 47. c3 Bh1 48. Re7 Bg2 49. b3 Bh1 50. Re2 Kb7 51. Rb2 Bf3 52.
b4 cxb4 53. axb4 axb4 54. Rxb4 Be2 55. c4 Ka6 56. Kc6 Ka5 57. Rb5+ Ka4 58. Kd5
1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.08"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B32"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2788"]
[PlyCount "146"]
[EventDate "2012.07.06"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 a6 6. Nd6+ Bxd6 7. Qxd6 Qe7 8.
Qxe7+ Ngxe7 9. Nc3 d5 10. Bd2 Be6 11. O-O-O O-O-O 12. f3 Kc7 13. b3 f6 14. exd5
Nxd5 15. Nxd5+ Rxd5 16. Bd3 h6 17. Be4 Rd7 18. Bc3 Rhd8 19. Rxd7+ Rxd7 20. Re1
Bd5 21. Bf5 Rd8 22. Kb2 Bf7 23. Bd3 Bd5 24. a4 a5 25. Re3 Nb4 26. Bf5 Nc6 27.
g3 b6 28. f4 Re8 29. fxe5 Nxe5 30. Bd4 Bc6 31. h4 Nf3 32. Rxe8 Bxe8 33. Bf2 g5
34. Kc3 Bc6 35. Kb2 Be8 36. c3 Bc6 37. Ka3 Bd5 38. Bc2 Bc6 39. c4 Bd7 40. Be4
Bc6 41. Bf5 Be8 42. Kb2 Bc6 43. Kc3 Be8 44. Be4 Bc6 45. Bf5 Be8 46. Be6 Bc6 47.
Bg4 Be4 48. hxg5 hxg5 49. c5 bxc5 50. Bxc5 f5 51. Bh5 Bd5 52. Be3 Kc6 53. Bg6
Be6 54. Be8+ Kb7 55. Bb5 Bd5 56. Bd3 Be6 57. Bc2 Kc6 58. Bd1 Bd5 59. Be2 Kb7
60. Bd1 Be4 61. Bc5 Bd5 62. Bd6 Kc6 63. Be7 Kd7 64. Bf8 Kc6 65. Bg7 Kc7 66. Be2
f4 67. gxf4 gxf4 68. Bh6 Bxb3 69. Bxf4+ Kd8 70. Bxf3 Bxa4 71. Kd4 Bb3 72. Bd6
Kd7 73. Ke5 a4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.08"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2752"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2012.07.06"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 a6 5. e3 Bf5 6. Bd3 e6 7. Bxf5 exf5 8. Qb3
Ra7 9. Bd2 dxc4 10. Qxc4 Bd6 11. O-O O-O 12. Qd3 g6 13. e4 fxe4 14. Nxe4 Nxe4
15. Qxe4 Nd7 16. Bg5 Qa5 17. Rfe1 Raa8 18. h3 Nb6 19. Bh6 Rfd8 20. Ne5 Qd5 21.
Qh4 Re8 22. Qf6 Bf8 23. Bxf8 Rxf8 24. Ng4 h5 25. Ne5 Qd8 26. Qf4 Kg7 27. Re4
Nd5 28. Qf3 Qd6 29. Rae1 Rad8 30. a3 Qc7 31. Nd3 Rd6 32. Nc5 a5 33. Qg3 Rfd8
34. Re5 b6 35. Ne4 R6d7 36. Ng5 Qd6 37. Ne4 Qc7 38. Qf3 c5 39. Ng3 {Magnus has
been fishing around for a way to decide this essentially equal game in his
favour, and blunders:} h4 $4 40. Nh5+ gxh5 41. Qxh5 $4 ({Topalov had a forced
mate against the Norwegian, but did not see it:} 41. Rg5+ Kf8 42. Qxh5 {
and Black can only delay the mate by a few suicidal moves.}) 41... Rd6 42. Rg5+
Rg6 43. Rxd5 Qc6 44. Qxg6+ Qxg6 45. Rxd8 c4 46. d5 Qc2 47. d6 Qd2 48. Re4 Qxb2
49. Rxc4 Qa1+ 50. Kh2 Qe5+ 51. Kg1 Qe1+ 52. Kh2 Qe5+ 53. f4 Qe3 54. d7 Qg3+
1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Andreikin, Dmitry"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A25"]
[WhiteElo "2700"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 f5 4. Bg2 Nf6 5. e3 g6 6. d4 d6 7. Nge2 Bg7 8. b4 e4
9. b5 Ne7 10. O-O O-O 11. a4 Be6 12. Qb3 Bf7 13. a5 a6 14. bxa6 bxa6 15. Qa4
Qd7 16. f3 exf3 17. Bxf3 Rab8 18. Nf4 c5 19. dxc5 dxc5 20. Ncd5 Qa7 21. Ra2 Ne4
22. Bxe4 fxe4 23. Raf2 Nf5 24. Nb6 Rbd8 25. Nfd5 Qb7 26. Qa3 h5 27. Bb2 Bxd5
28. cxd5 Bxb2 29. Qxb2 Qg7 30. Qc1 Qe7 31. Qc3 Kh7 32. Rf4 Rf7 33. R1f2 Rdf8
34. Nc4 Qd8 35. Ne5 Rb7 36. g4 hxg4 37. Nxg4 Qg5 38. h3 Rbf7 39. Qe5 Qh4 40.
Qxe4 Qg3+ 41. Rg2 Qh4 42. Nf2 Qh6 43. Ng4 Qg7 44. Qe5 Nh4 45. Qxg7+ Kxg7 46.
Rgf2 Rxf4 47. exf4 Nf5 48. Rc2 Nd4 49. Rxc5 Rxf4 50. d6 Ne2+ 51. Kg2 Rd4 52.
Rc7+ Kf8 53. d7 Nf4+ 54. Kf3 Ne6 55. Ra7 Ke7 56. Ne5 Kf6 57. Nc6 Rd6 58. Nb8
Rd3+ 59. Kf2 Nc5 60. Rc7 Ne6 61. Rc6 Ke7 62. Rxa6 Ra3 63. Rxe6+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.09"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Jumabayev, Rinat"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C33"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2525"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nc3 Ne7 4. d4 d5 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. Nxd5 Qxd5 7. Bxf4 c5 8.
Nf3 Nc6 9. Bd3 cxd4 10. O-O Be7 11. Qe1 O-O 12. Ne5 Nxe5 13. Bxe5 Bg5 14. Qg3
f6 15. Bf4 Bd7 16. Bxg5 Qxg5 17. Qxg5 fxg5 18. Bc4+ Kh8 19. Rxf8+ Rxf8 20. Rd1
Bf5 21. Rxd4 Bxc2 22. Bd5 b6 23. Bf3 Bf5 24. Ra4 Rf7 25. Rd4 g6 26. a3 h5 27.
Rd6 Kg7 28. Bd5 Rc7 29. Bb3 h4 30. g3 h3 31. Kf2 Rc1 32. Rd1 Rc7 33. Rd2 Kf6
34. Ke3 Re7+ 35. Kf2 Rc7 36. Rd6+ Ke5 37. Rd5+ Kf6 38. Rd6+ Ke5 39. Rd5+ Kf6
40. Rd2 Ke5 41. Ke3 Re7 42. Kf2 Rc7 43. Rd5+ Kf6 44. Rd6+ Ke5 45. Rd5+ Kf6 46.
Rd6+ Ke5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.09"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D79"]
[WhiteElo "2726"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "141"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 Bg7 4. g3 c6 5. Nc3 d5 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. Bg2 O-O 8. Ne5
e6 9. O-O Nfd7 10. Nf3 Nc6 11. e4 dxe4 12. Nxe4 h6 13. Qe2 Nb6 14. Rd1 Nd5 15.
h4 b6 16. h5 g5 17. Nfxg5 hxg5 18. Bxg5 f6 19. Be3 Nce7 20. h6 Bh8 21. Rac1 Nf5
22. Nc3 Nfxe3 23. fxe3 f5 24. Qh5 Kh7 25. Nxd5 exd5 26. Rc6 Bf6 27. Rdc1 Bd7
28. Rc7 Kh8 29. Rb7 Qe8 30. Qxe8 Bxe8 31. Bxd5 Rd8 32. Bf3 Bg5 33. Kf2 Rd7 34.
Rxd7 Bxd7 35. Rc7 Bb5 36. Rxa7 Re8 37. Bh5 Bxe3+ 38. Kf3 Bc6+ 39. Ke2 Re4 40.
Bg6 Bxh6+ 41. Kd3 Re3+ 42. Kc4 Rxg3 43. Rh7+ Kg8 44. Rxh6 Kg7 45. Be8 Bxe8 46.
Rxb6 Bf7+ 47. d5 f4 48. Kd4 f3 49. Rb3 Rg4+ 50. Ke5 Rg5+ 51. Kf4 f2 52. Rf3 Rg2
53. Ke3 Bxd5 54. Rxf2 Rg3+ 55. Kd4 Bxa2 56. b4 Be6 57. b5 Rg5 58. Rb2 Bc8 59.
Rc2 Bf5 60. Rc7+ Kf6 61. b6 Be6 62. Rc5 Rg4+ 63. Kc3 Rg1 64. Rb5 Rg8 65. b7 Rb8
66. Kd4 Ke7 67. Kc5 Bh3 68. Kb6 Bg2 69. Kc7 Rxb7+ 70. Rxb7 Bxb7 71. Kxb7
1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.09"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A80"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 f5 2. Bg5 g6 3. h4 h6 4. Bf4 Nf6 5. e3 d6 6. Bc4 e6 7. Nf3 Qe7 8. Nc3 a6
9. Qe2 b5 10. Bd3 Bb7 11. a3 Nbd7 12. Bg3 c5 13. dxc5 Nxc5 14. O-O-O e5 15. h5
e4 16. Bxb5+ axb5 17. Nd4 b4 18. axb4 Ba6 19. b5 Bb7 20. hxg6 Qd7 21. Kb1 d5
22. Be5 Bg7 23. Bxf6 Bxf6 24. Qh5 O-O-O 25. Qxf5 Bxd4 26. Qxd7+ Nxd7 27. Rxd4
Ne5 28. Rh5 Nxg6 29. Nxd5 Kb8 30. c4 Rhf8 31. Rxh6 Ne5 32. Nb6 Rde8 33. c5 Bc8
34. Rh7 Rxf2 35. c6 Nd3 36. Ra4 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.09"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B11"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2769"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. h3 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 e6 6. d4 dxe4 7. Qxe4 Nf6 8.
Qh4 Be7 9. Bd3 Nbd7 10. O-O O-O 11. Bg5 g6 12. Bh6 Re8 13. Ne2 e5 14. Bc4 exd4
15. Nxd4 Nh5 16. Qe4 Bf8 17. Bxf7+ Kxf7 18. Qf3+ Kg8 19. Qb3+ Kh8 20. Be3 Nc5
21. Qc3 Ne4 22. Qb3 Qb6 23. Qf7 Re7 24. Qf3 Qa5 25. Rfe1 Rae8 26. Nb3 Qf5 27.
Qxf5 gxf5 28. Bxa7 Nf4 29. f3 Ng3 30. Rxe7 Rxe7 31. Bc5 Re2 32. Bf2 Rxc2 33.
Nd4 Rxb2 34. Rd1 Bc5 35. Kh2 Ngh5 36. Nxf5 Kg8 37. Bxc5 Rxg2+ 38. Kh1 Rg5 39.
Rd8+ Kf7 40. Rf8+ Ke6 41. Nd4+ Kd5 42. Ba7 c5 43. Nb5 Ng3+ 44. Kh2 Nf1+ 45. Kh1
Ne2 46. Nc3+ Nxc3 47. f4 Rg7 48. Rf5+ Ke4 49. Rxc5 Nd5 50. Rc4+ Kf3 51. Bd4
Ng3+ 52. Kh2 Ne4 53. Bxg7 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.09"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A21"]
[WhiteElo "2749"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 f5 3. d4 e4 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Bg2 c6 6. d5 Bb4 7. Bd2 Na6 8. Nh3 O-O
9. O-O cxd5 10. Nxd5 Nxd5 11. cxd5 Bxd2 12. Qxd2 d6 13. f3 exf3 14. exf3 Bd7
15. Ng5 Qb6+ 16. Rf2 Rae8 17. f4 Nc5 18. Qd4 h6 19. Ne6 Nxe6 20. Qxb6 axb6 21.
dxe6 Bc6 22. Re1 Rf6 23. Rfe2 Kf8 24. Re3 Ke7 25. Rb3 b5 26. Bf1 Rxe6 27. Rxe6+
Kxe6 28. Bxb5 Kd5 29. Kf2 Kd4 30. Be2 Be4 31. Rb4+ Kc5 32. Rb5+ Kd4 33. Rb4+
Kc5 34. Rb5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.09"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bologan, Viktor"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2732"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 c6 4. Nge2 e5 5. g3 b5 6. Bg2 Bb7 7. O-O Nbd7 8. h3
h5 9. a3 Be7 10. Be3 a5 11. d5 b4 12. dxc6 Bxc6 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 Bb5 15.
axb4 axb4 16. Qd2 Rb8 17. Ra7 O-O 18. Rfa1 Nb6 19. b3 h4 20. g4 Bxe2 21. Qxe2
Bg5 22. Be4 Bxe3 23. Qxe3 Nd7 24. R1a6 Nc5 25. Rc6 Rb5 26. Bf5 Rb6 27. Rc8 Qf6
28. Rc6 Rbb8 29. Kg2 g6 30. Qxc5 gxf5 31. Qxd6 Qxd6 32. Rxd6 fxg4 33. hxg4 Rbc8
34. Rc6 Rxc6 35. dxc6 Rc8 36. c7 Kf8 37. Kh3 Ke7 38. Kxh4 Kd7 39. Kg5 Rg8+ 40.
Kf5 Rg6 41. c8=Q+ Kxc8 42. Rxf7 Rc6 43. g5 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.09"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Chadaev, Nikolay"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2580"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nxe4 4. Bd3 Nf6 5. O-O Bg7 6. c4 O-O 7. Nc3 d5 8. c5
Bg4 9. Be3 c6 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 e5 12. dxe5 Nfd7 13. Qg3 Nxe5 14. Be2 Nbd7
15. f4 Nc4 16. Bxc4 dxc4 17. f5 Re8 18. Bg5 Qa5 19. Rad1 Nxc5 20. fxg6 fxg6 21.
Qf4 Qb6 22. Kh1 Rf8 23. Qxc4+ Kh8 24. Rxf8+ Bxf8 25. b4 Na6 26. Bf6+ Bg7 27.
Rd7 Bxf6 28. Qf7 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.09"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B36"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2752"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. Nc3 Nxd4 7. Qxd4 d6 8.
Bg5 Bg7 9. Qd2 O-O 10. Bd3 a5 11. O-O a4 12. Rfe1 Bd7 13. Rab1 Re8 14. h3 Qa5
15. b4 axb3 16. axb3 Qb4 17. Qc2 Be6 18. Bd2 Qc5 19. Be3 Qb4 20. Nb5 Rec8 21.
f4 Bd7 22. Nc3 Bc6 23. Ne2 Nd7 24. Nd4 Nc5 25. Kh2 Ra3 26. Bg1 Rca8 27. Bf1 Ra2
28. Nxc6 bxc6 29. Qd1 Ne6 30. Qf3 Nd4 31. Qg3 Rc2 32. e5 dxe5 33. fxe5 c5 34.
Bxd4 cxd4 35. Ra1 Rxa1 36. Rxa1 Qb8 37. Re1 Rc3 38. Qf4 Rxb3 39. Qxd4 e6 40. c5
Rb4 41. Qd6 Bf8 42. Qxb8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.09"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Le, Quang Liem"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B38"]
[WhiteElo "2693"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. e4 c5 5. Nge2 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Nc6 7. Be3 Nf6 8.
Be2 Nxd4 9. Bxd4 O-O 10. O-O Bd7 11. Qd2 a5 12. b3 Bc6 13. f3 Nd7 14. Be3 Nc5
15. Rab1 Qb6 16. Rfc1 Rfc8 17. Rc2 Qd8 18. Kh1 h5 19. a3 Kh7 20. Bf1 Be5 21.
Nd5 e6 22. Nc3 Qh4 23. Bg1 Qe7 24. Ne2 Rd8 25. Nd4 Qf6 26. b4 axb4 27. axb4
Bxe4 28. fxe4 Nxe4 29. Qe3 Qh4 30. Ne2 f5 31. Qh3 Qf6 32. Rd1 Ra4 33. b5 Rda8
34. Nd4 Ra1 35. Qd3 R8a3 36. Rxa1 Rxd3 37. Bxd3 Bxd4 38. Rd1 Nc5 39. Bxd4 Qxd4
40. Be2 Qf4 41. Bf3 b6 42. Rcd2 e5 43. Rxd6 e4 44. Be2 Qf2 45. R6d2 e3 46. Rc2
Ne4 47. Bd3 Qh4 48. Bxe4 Qxe4 49. Re2 f4 50. Rc1 f3 51. gxf3 Qxf3+ 52. Rg2 h4
53. Kg1 h3 54. Rgc2 e2 55. Re1 Qe3+ 56. Kh1 Qe4+ 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.09"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2763"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Bd3 dxe4 4. Bxe4 Nf6 5. Bf3 c5 6. Ne2 cxd4 7. Qxd4 Nbd7 8.
Nbc3 Bc5 9. Qf4 Qe7 10. O-O Bd6 11. Qh4 Ne5 12. Bg5 h6 13. Be4 O-O 14. Bxf6
Qxf6 15. Qxf6 gxf6 16. Rad1 Be7 17. g3 Rb8 18. Nb5 a6 19. Nd6 b5 20. b3 Rb6 21.
Nxc8 Rxc8 22. c3 f5 23. Bg2 a5 24. Rd2 Bf6 25. Rfd1 a4 26. h3 axb3 27. axb3 h5
28. Rd6 Rxd6 29. Rxd6 h4 30. Rb6 hxg3 31. fxg3 Nd3 32. Rxb5 Bxc3 33. Nxc3 Rxc3
34. Bf1 Nc5 35. Rb8+ Kg7 36. Rc8 Rxg3+ 37. Kh2 Ne4 38. b4 Rb3 39. b5 f4 40. Rc2
f3 41. Bc4 Rb4 42. Bd3 f5 43. Bxe4 fxe4 44. Kg3 Rxb5 45. Kf4 Rf5+ 46. Ke3 Kf6
47. h4 Kg6 48. Rf2 Kh5 49. Kxe4 Kg4 50. Rf1 f2 51. h5 Kg3 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.09"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2788"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e6 4. g3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O a6 7. Re1 d6 8. e4 Be7
9. d4 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Qc7 11. b3 O-O 12. Bb2 Nbd7 13. Rc1 Rac8 14. Qe2 Rfe8 15.
h3 Bf8 16. g4 g6 17. f4 Qb8 18. Qf2 e5 19. Nde2 d5 20. fxe5 Bc5 21. Nd4 Nxe5
22. Na4 Nxe4 23. Rxe4 dxe4 24. Nxc5 bxc5 25. Ne2 Nf3+ 26. Bxf3 exf3 27. Ng3
Rcd8 28. Bc3 Rd3 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.09"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kotsur, Pavel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B24"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2548"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 d5 4. exd5 exd5 5. d4 Nc6 6. Bg2 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Nf6 8.
O-O Be7 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Be3 h6 11. Re1 Re8 12. h3 Bb4 13. a3 Bxc3 14. bxc3 Na5
15. g4 Ne4 16. Qd3 b6 17. Bf4 Bb7 18. Nf5 Re6 19. f3 Nc5 20. Qd4 Qf8 21. Qf2
Nc4 22. Bf1 Rae8 23. Bxc4 dxc4 24. Bd6 Rxe1+ 25. Rxe1 Rxe1+ 26. Qxe1 Qd8 27.
Bxc5 bxc5 28. Qe5 Qd1+ 29. Kh2 Qd2+ 30. Kg3 Qg5 31. f4 Qf6 32. Qxf6 gxf6 33.
Nxh6+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.09"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2779"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 h6 10. Rd1+ Ke8 11. h3 a6 12. Bf4 Bd7 13. Rd3 Ne7 14. Rad1
Be6 15. Nd4 Bc4 16. R3d2 c5 17. Nb3 b6 18. e6 fxe6 19. Bxc7 Nd5 20. Nxd5 Bxd5
21. Bxb6 c4 22. Nc1 c3 23. bxc3 Rc8 24. Ba5 Be7 25. Nb3 Bf6 26. Bb4 Kf7 27. Rd3
Rc7 28. Na5 Rhc8 29. c4 Bxc4 30. Rd7+ Rxd7 31. Rxd7+ Ke8 32. Rd6 Bxa2 33. Rxa6
Rxc2 34. Rc6 Rb2 35. Ba3 Rb1+ 36. Rc1 Rxc1+ 37. Bxc1 Bd5 38. Be3 Kd7 39. Kf1
Kc7 40. Bd2 Kb6 41. f3 Kb5 42. Ke2 Bd8 43. Bc3 g6 44. Ke3 Bxa5 45. Bg7 h5 46.
g4 Bc7 47. f4 Kc4 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.09"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B53"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2738"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 a6 5. c4 Nc6 6. Qe3 Bg4 7. Be2 g6 8. O-O
Bg7 9. Nc3 Nf6 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Bxf3 Nd7 12. Rd1 O-O 13. Be2 Qa5 14. Nd5 Qc5 15.
Rb1 e6 16. Nc3 Rac8 17. Bf1 Na5 18. Qxc5 Nxc5 19. Bd2 Nc6 20. f3 Rfd8 21. Be1
Ne5 22. b3 Kf8 23. Rbc1 Ke7 24. Bh4+ Bf6 25. Bf2 g5 26. Rc2 Ng6 27. Ne2 h5 28.
Be3 h4 29. Rcd2 Ne5 30. Nd4 Ng6 31. Nc2 Nf4 32. Rb1 Bc3 33. Rdd1 Be5 34. Bf2
Ng6 35. Be3 Bf4 36. Bf2 Bg3 37. Be3 Bf4 38. Bf2 Bg3 39. Be3 Bf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.10"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Andreikin, Dmitry"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A59"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2700"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bxa6 7. e4 Bxf1 8.
Kxf1 d6 9. g3 Bg7 10. Kg2 O-O 11. Nf3 Nbd7 12. Qe2 Qa5 13. e5 dxe5 14. Nxe5
Nxe5 15. Qxe5 Ra7 16. Rd1 Rd8 17. Qe2 Rad7 18. Qf3 c4 19. Be3 Nxd5 20. Nxd5
Rxd5 21. Rxd5 Qxd5 22. Qxd5 Rxd5 23. Rc1 Bxb2 24. Rxc4 Ba3 25. Rc3 Ra5 26. Kf3
Bd6 27. Rc2 f5 28. Bd2 Ra4 29. h4 Kf7 30. Bg5 e5 31. Kg2 Ke6 32. Rb2 Ra6 33.
Be3 f4 34. gxf4 exf4 35. Bd4 Ra4 36. Bc3 f3+ 37. Kxf3 Ra3 38. Rb3 Rxa2 39. Bb4
Be5 40. Bc5 Rc2 41. Be3 Rc4 42. Bg5 Rc3+ 43. Rxc3 Bxc3 44. Ke4 h5 45. Bf4 Bf6
46. Bg3 Be7 47. Kf3 Kf5 48. Kg2 Ke4 49. f3+ Ke3 50. Bf2+ Ke2 51. Bg3 Bf6 52.
Bf2 Be5 53. Bg1 Bf4 54. Bf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.10"]
[Round "17"]
[White "Jumabayev, Rinat"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2525"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb7 6. Bg2 Bb4+ 7. Bd2 c5 8. O-O
O-O 9. Bf4 cxd4 10. Qxd4 Nc6 11. Qd3 d5 12. a3 Be7 13. Nc3 dxc4 14. bxc4 Na5
15. Ne5 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 Qc8 17. Ra2 Qb7+ 18. Qf3 Qxf3+ 19. Kxf3 Rfc8 20. Nb5 a6
21. Nd4 Ne8 22. Rb1 f6 23. Nd7 Nxc4 24. Nxe6 b5 25. a4 b4 26. Rc2 Ne5+ 27. Nxe5
Rxc2 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.10"]
[Round "18"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C41"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2726"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7 6. g3 d5 7. e5 Ng4 8. Bg2
O-O 9. Nxd5 Bc5 10. c3 c6 11. Ne3 Nxe5 12. O-O Re8 13. b4 Bb6 14. a4 a5 15. Bb2
Na6 16. bxa5 Bxa5 17. Qc2 Qf6 18. Rad1 Qg6 19. Be4 Qh5 20. c4 Nc5 21. Bg2 Bh3
22. f4 Bxg2 23. Kxg2 Ng4 24. Nxg4 Qxg4 25. h3 Qg6 26. Nf5 Ne4 27. g4 h5 28.
Nxg7 hxg4 29. Nxe8 Rxe8 30. h4 Qh6 31. Qd3 Qxh4 32. Be5 Bb6 33. c5 Bxc5 34.
Rde1 f5 35. Rxe4 Qh3+ 36. Qxh3 gxh3+ 37. Kxh3 fxe4 38. Kg4 Kf7 39. Re1 e3 40.
Rc1 Bb4 41. Kf3 Bd2 42. Rb1 Re7 43. Ke2 Ke6 44. Kd3 Rd7+ 45. Ke2 Kf5 46. a5 Rh7
47. Kd3 Kg4 48. Rg1+ Kf3 49. Rf1+ Kg2 50. Rb1 Kf2 51. f5 Rd7+ 52. Bd4 c5 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.10"]
[Round "19"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 dxc4 4. Bg2 c6 5. O-O b5 6. a4 Bb7 7. b3 cxb3 8. Qxb3
b4 9. Bb2 Nf6 10. Ne5 a5 11. d3 Be7 12. Nd2 O-O 13. Rac1 Nd5 14. e4 Nb6 15. f4
N8d7 16. f5 Nc5 17. Rxc5 Bxc5+ 18. Kh1 exf5 19. Rxf5 Qe7 20. Ng4 Bc8 21. Nf6+
gxf6 22. Bxf6 Bxf5 23. Bxe7 Be6 24. Qd1 Bxe7 25. e5 Nd5 26. Qh5 f5 27. exf6
Bxf6 28. Ne4 Ra7 29. Nxf6+ Nxf6 30. Qc5 Rd7 31. Qxa5 b3 32. Bxc6 Rxd3 33. Qb4
Rc8 34. Qb5 Rd6 35. Bf3 Kf7 36. g4 Rc2 37. g5 Bd5 38. Bxd5+ Nxd5 39. Qxb3 Rcc6
40. Kg2 Kg6 41. h4 Rc3 42. Qb1+ Kg7 43. Qb7+ Rc7 44. Qb2+ Kf7 45. Kf3 Ne7 46.
Qb3+ Kf8 47. Kg4 Rcd7 48. Kh5 Rd4 49. Qb8+ Kf7 50. Qb3+ Kg7 51. Qe6 Ng6 52.
Qf6+ Kg8 53. Qe6+ Kf8 54. Qf6+ Kg8 55. Qe6+ Rf7 56. Qc8+ Rf8 57. Qe6+ Kh8 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.10"]
[Round "20"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B38"]
[WhiteElo "2769"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. d4 d6 4. Be2 a6 5. c4 c5 6. Nc3 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Nc6 8. Be3
Nf6 9. O-O O-O 10. Rc1 Bd7 11. Nb3 Rc8 12. f4 Be6 13. Kh1 Na5 14. Nxa5 Qxa5 15.
b3 b5 16. f5 Bd7 17. fxg6 hxg6 18. e5 dxe5 19. Qxd7 Rfd8 20. Qxe7 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.10"]
[Round "21"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B40"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2749"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 g6 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Qb6 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8.
Be3 Qc7 9. O-O Bg7 10. Bc5 d5 11. Nd2 Nf6 12. Re1 Bf8 13. Bxf8 Kxf8 14. c4 Kg7
15. Rc1 dxe4 16. c5 Rd8 17. Qc2 e5 18. Nc4 Be6 19. Nd6 Bd5 20. Qc3 Rxd6 21.
cxd6 Qxd6 22. Red1 a5 23. Bf1 h5 24. Be2 a4 25. h4 Rb8 26. Rd2 Rb4 27. Qe3 Qb8
28. Rcc2 Bxa2 29. Rxc6 Rxb2 30. Rxb2 Qxb2 31. Kf1 Bd5 32. Rc1 a3 33. Qc3 Qxc3
34. Rxc3 a2 35. Ra3 Ng4 36. Bxg4 hxg4 37. Ke2 f5 38. Ke3 Kf6 39. Ra6+ Ke7 40.
Kd2 f4 41. Ke1 Kd7 42. Kd2 Kc7 43. gxf4 exf4 44. Kc3 g3 45. fxg3 fxg3 46. Kb2
g2 47. Rxg6 e3 48. Rg7+ Kd6 49. Rg6+ Ke7 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.10"]
[Round "22"]
[White "Bologan, Viktor"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2732"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Rd1+ Ke8 10. Nc3 Ne7 11. h3 Ng6 12. Ne2 Be6 13. Ned4 Bd5 14.
b3 Rd8 15. Bg5 Be7 16. Bxe7 Nxe7 17. c4 Bxf3 18. Nxf3 Ng6 19. Kf1 Ke7 20. g3 c5
21. Ke2 a5 22. a4 Rxd1 23. Rxd1 Nf8 24. Nh4 g6 25. f4 Ne6 26. Nf3 h5 27. Ke3
Ng7 28. Ke4 b6 29. Rd2 Rh6 30. Ng5 Nf5 31. Rd3 Nd4 32. Nf3 Nc6 33. f5 gxf5+ 34.
Kxf5 Rg6 35. g4 hxg4 36. hxg4 Rh6 37. Rd2 Rh3 38. Kf4 Rh1 39. g5 Rf1 40. Kg4
Rb1 41. Rd3 Nb4 42. Re3 Rd1 43. e6 fxe6 44. Ne5 Nc2 45. Rh3 Rg1+ 46. Kf4 Rf1+
47. Ke4 Re1+ 48. Kf4 Rf1+ 49. Ke4 Re1+ 50. Kf4 Kd6 51. Nf7+ Ke7 52. Ne5 Rf1+
53. Ke4 Re1+ 54. Kf4 Rf1+ 55. Ke4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.10"]
[Round "23"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Chadaev, Nikolay"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C36"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2580"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 exf4 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. c4 c6 6. d4 cxd5 7. c5 Nc6 8. Bb5
Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. Bxf4 Bg4 11. Nc3 Ne4 12. Qd3 Bf5 13. Qe3 Bf6 14. Bxc6 bxc6
15. Ne5 Bxe5 16. Bxe5 Bg6 17. Nxe4 Bxe4 18. Qg3 f6 19. Bd6 Re8 20. b4 Bg6 21.
a4 a6 22. h4 Qd7 23. h5 Bxh5 24. Rxf6 Qg4 25. Qxg4 Bxg4 26. Rf4 Bh5 27. Raf1 h6
28. Be5 Ra7 29. b5 axb5 30. axb5 cxb5 31. c6 Raa8 32. c7 Kh7 33. Rb1 Be2 34.
Rf7 Rg8 35. Re7 Bc4 36. Kh2 Rae8 37. Rd7 Ra8 38. Rb2 Raf8 39. g4 Ra8 40. Rf2 b4
41. Rff7 h5 42. Rxg7+ Rxg7 43. Rxg7+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.10"]
[Round "24"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2752"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. h3
d6 9. c3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 c5 12. d5 c4 13. Bc2 Qc7 14. Nf1 Nc5 15. N3h2
a5 16. a3 Rb8 17. Bd2 Nfd7 18. Ng3 Qd8 19. Nf5 Nb6 20. Nxe7+ Qxe7 21. Be3 Nba4
22. Rb1 f5 23. f3 f4 24. Bf2 g5 25. Kf1 Bd7 26. Ke2 b4 27. axb4 axb4 28. Qd2 b3
29. Bd1 Nd3 30. Rg1 Bb5 31. Kf1 Ra8 32. g3 Kh8 33. gxf4 gxf4 34. Rg4 Bd7 35.
Bh4 Qf7 36. Be2 Nac5 37. Kg2 h5 38. Rg5 Rg8 39. Bxd3 Nxd3 40. Kh1 Rxg5 41. Bxg5
Bxh3 42. Rg1 Rg8 43. Qe2 Kh7 44. Bh4 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.10"]
[Round "25"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Le, Quang Liem"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B37"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2693"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 c5 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Nc6 7. Nc2 O-O 8.
Be2 d6 9. Be3 Nd7 10. Qd2 a5 11. O-O Nc5 12. f3 a4 13. Rab1 Qa5 14. Kh1 Be6 15.
Rfc1 Rfc8 16. Na3 h5 17. Bf1 Ne5 18. Qd1 Kh7 19. Bd2 Qd8 20. Be3 Qa5 21. Nd5
Bxd5 22. exd5 Ned7 23. Nb5 Qd8 24. Rc2 Be5 25. f4 Bg7 26. f5 Ne5 27. Be2 Qd7
28. Nd4 gxf5 29. Bxh5 Ng6 30. Qf3 e6 31. dxe6 fxe6 32. Qh3 Qe7 33. Rf1 Rh8 34.
Nxf5 exf5 35. Bxg6+ Kg8 36. Qxf5 Be5 37. Bf7+ Kf8 38. Bd5+ Ke8 39. Qg6+ Kd7 40.
Rf7 Raf8 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.10"]
[Round "26"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C93"]
[WhiteElo "2763"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "186"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. a3 h6 10. h3 Re8 11. d4 Bf8 12. Nbd2 Nb8 13. Bc2 Nbd7 14. Nf1 c5 15. Ng3
g6 16. a4 Rb8 17. Be3 Qc7 18. Qd2 Kh7 19. d5 Nb6 20. Qe2 Bd7 21. b3 Bg7 22. a5
Nc8 23. b4 c4 24. Nh2 Ng8 25. Rf1 Qd8 26. Qd2 Qh4 27. Nf3 Qe7 28. Nh2 Qh4 29.
Nf3 Qe7 30. Nh2 Rb7 31. Rae1 Qf6 32. Re2 Nce7 33. Qc1 Nc8 34. Bd2 Qe7 35. Kh1
Rf8 36. Bb1 Kh8 37. f4 exf4 38. Bxf4 Be5 39. Ref2 h5 40. Nf3 f6 41. Nxe5 dxe5
42. Be3 Qg7 43. Bc5 Rf7 44. Qe3 Kh7 45. Ne2 Qh6 46. Ng1 Qxe3 47. Bxe3 Nd6 48.
Bc5 Ne8 49. Nf3 Rg7 50. Kh2 Bc8 51. Ne1 Rbf7 52. Nc2 Bd7 53. Ne3 Nh6 54. Bb6 g5
55. g3 Kg6 56. Bc5 Rg8 57. Rg1 Rh7 58. Kg2 Nf7 59. Rgf1 Kg7 60. Bc2 Rh6 61. Be7
Nfd6 62. g4 hxg4 63. hxg4 Rgh8 64. Kf3 Kf7 65. Bd8 Rh3+ 66. Ke2 R8h6 67. Kd2
Rg3 68. Rf3 Rh2+ 69. Kc1 Rhh3 70. Rxg3 Rxg3 71. Kd2 Bxg4 72. Rh1 Kg7 73. Be7
Bf3 74. Rf1 Bxe4 75. Bd1 Bd3 76. Re1 Ne4+ 77. Kc1 N8d6 78. Bh5 Rh3 79. Bg4 Rh2
80. Bf3 Ra2 81. Rh1 Ra1+ 82. Kb2 Rxh1 83. Bxh1 Kf7 84. Bd8 Nd2 85. Bc7 Ke7 86.
Bb6 Be4 87. Bxe4 N2xe4 88. Ng4 Nf5 89. Bc5+ Kf7 90. Kc2 Ne7 91. d6 Nc6 92. d7
Ke6 93. Bb6 Kxd7 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.10"]
[Round "27"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2788"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. a4 e5 2. e4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Nf3 Bb4 5. Bb5 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. d3 Bg4 8. Ne2
a6 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. Ng3 Nh5 11. h3 Nxg3 12. fxg3 Bd7 13. g4 Bc5+ 14. Kh1 Qe7
15. Qe1 f6 16. Nh4 g6 17. Bh6 Rf7 18. Rb1 Bb6 19. b3 d5 20. Nf3 Re8 21. Qg3 Bc5
22. Rbe1 dxe4 23. dxe4 Bd6 24. Re2 c5 25. Nd2 Be6 26. Qd3 g5 27. Qxa6 Kh8 28.
Nc4 Bxc4 29. Qxc4 Rg8 30. h4 gxh4 31. g5 Rg6 32. Ref2 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.10"]
[Round "28"]
[White "Kotsur, Pavel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2548"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 d6 7. c3 O-O 8. Nbd2
Nd7 9. Bc2 Bf6 10. Re1 g6 11. Nf1 Bg7 12. Ng3 Nb6 13. h3 d5 14. Qe2 h6 15. Be3
Be6 16. Bxb6 cxb6 17. Bb3 b5 18. Nf1 Na5 19. Bxd5 Bxd5 20. exd5 Qxd5 21. Qe4
Qxe4 22. dxe4 Nc4 23. b3 Nd6 24. Rad1 Rfd8 25. Rd5 f6 26. Red1 Bf8 27. N3d2
Rdc8 28. Nb1 Nxe4 29. Rd7 Nc5 30. R7d5 Rc7 31. Ne3 Rac8 32. Kf1 Kf7 33. Ke2 Be7
34. f3 Ne6 35. g3 h5 36. h4 Bc5 37. Rd7+ Ke8 38. Rxc7 Nxc7 39. Nd5 Nxd5 40.
Rxd5 Ke7 41. Nd2 Ke6 42. Rd3 f5 43. c4 Bb4 44. cxb5 axb5 45. Kd1 Ra8 46. a4 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.10"]
[Round "29"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2779"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. O-O Bg4 8.
h3 Bh5 9. Nc4 Re8 10. Be3 Bd6 11. Bg5 h6 12. Bh4 g5 13. g4 Bg6 14. Bg3 Nd7 15.
h4 f6 16. Ne3 Bf8 17. Kg2 Nc5 18. hxg5 hxg5 19. Nf5 Ne6 20. Rh1 Qd7 21. Rh3
Bxf5 22. exf5 Nf4+ 23. Bxf4 exf4 24. Nd2 Rad8 25. Qf3 Bg7 26. Ne4 Kf7 27. Rh7
Rh8 28. Qh3 Rxh7 29. Qxh7 Rh8 30. Qg6+ Kf8 31. Nxf6 Qf7 32. Nh7+ Rxh7 33. Qxh7
Qd5+ 34. f3 Qe5 35. Kf1 Qe3 36. Qh3 Bxb2 37. Re1 Qd2 38. Qh6+ Bg7 39. Qg6 Be5
40. f6 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 6th"]
[Site "Astana"]
[Date "2012.07.10"]
[Round "30"]
[White "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2738"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2012.07.09"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "30"]
[EventCountry "KAZ"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. e3 Bf5 6. Qb3 Ra7 7. Be2 h6 8. cxd5
cxd5 9. Ne5 e6 10. Bd2 Nbd7 11. Nxd7 Nxd7 12. O-O Bd6 13. a4 O-O 14. a5 Qh4 15.
f4 Qe7 16. Na4 Raa8 17. Nb6 Nxb6 18. Qxb6 Rac8 19. Rac1 Be4 20. b4 g5 21. b5
axb5 22. Qxb5 gxf4 23. exf4 Qf6 24. Qb6 Rxc1 25. Bxc1 Qg7 26. Bf3 Be7 27. Be3
Bd3 28. Qxb7 Bxf1 29. Qxe7 Bd3 30. f5 exf5 31. Bxd5 Qg6 32. Qh4 Rb8 33. h3 Qd6
34. Ba2 Rb2 35. Bf4 Qg6 36. Bd5 Be4 37. Bxe4 fxe4 38. g3 e3 39. Qg4 Qxg4 40.
hxg4 Rb1+ 0-1

[Event "Biel exh blitz"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2012.07.22"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Bacrot, Etienne"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A20"]
[WhiteElo "2713"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2012.07.22"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 c6 4. d4 e4 5. Nc3 d5 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. cxd5 cxd5 8. Qb3
h6 9. Bf4 Qa5 10. Bd2 Qb6 11. Nxd5 Nxd5 12. Qxd5 Nf6 13. Qb3 Be6 14. Qxb6 axb6
15. a3 b5 16. Rc1 Bd6 17. e3 b4 18. Bxb4 Bxb4+ 19. axb4 Ra2 20. Ne2 Rxb2 21.
Nc3 Bf5 22. O-O Ke7 23. Rb1 Rc2 24. Rfc1 Rxc1+ 25. Rxc1 Rc8 26. Kf1 Be6 27. Ke1
Rc4 28. b5 b6 29. Kd2 Rb4 30. Nxe4 Rxb5 31. Nxf6 gxf6 32. Be4 Rb2+ 33. Bc2 Kd6
34. Rb1 Rxb1 35. Bxb1 Ke7 36. Kc3 Kd6 37. Kb4 Bd7 38. Ba2 Ke7 39. Bc4 Bc6 40.
Bd3 Bd7 41. Be4 Be8 42. Bd3 Bc6 43. e4 Bd7 44. f4 Kd6 45. Bb5 Bg4 46. Bc4 Bf3
47. e5+ fxe5 48. fxe5+ Ke7 49. Kb5 f6 50. exf6+ Kxf6 51. Kxb6 Ke7 52. Kc5 1-0

[Event "Biel exh blitz"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2012.07.22"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bacrot, Etienne"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2713"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2012.07.22"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. Bb3 d5 7. Qe2 Re8 8. Bg5
dxe4 9. dxe4 h6 10. Bh4 Be7 11. Nbd2 Nh5 12. Bg3 Bf8 13. O-O-O Qf6 14. Nc4 Nf4
15. Bxf4 Qxf4+ 16. Kb1 Bg4 17. h3 Bxf3 18. gxf3 Bc5 19. Rd5 Bb6 20. a4 Rad8 21.
Rhd1 Rxd5 22. exd5 Ne7 23. d6 cxd6 24. Nxd6 Rf8 25. Nxb7 Qf5+ 26. Ka2 Qxh3 27.
Qxe5 Ng6 28. Qe4 Nh4 29. Nd6 Bxf2 30. Nxf7 Rxf7 31. Rd8# 1-0

[Event "Biel exh blitz"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2012.07.22"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bacrot, Etienne"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2713"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2012.07.22"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 149 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.08.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. Nc3 Nd4 6. Nxd4 cxd4 7. Ne2 Qb6 8.
Bc4 d6 9. d3 Nf6 10. Bb3 O-O 11. Kh1 Nd7 12. f4 Nc5 13. f5 Nxb3 14. axb3 d5 15.
Bg5 dxe4 16. dxe4 Qd6 17. Qd3 b6 18. Bf4 Qc5 19. Ng3 a5 20. Rf2 Ba6 21. Qd2
Rac8 22. Re1 Rc6 23. e5 Rfc8 24. Rd1 Qxc2 25. Qxd4 Qxb3 26. Re1 Qb4 27. Qd1 Bc4
28. e6 fxe6 29. fxg6 hxg6 30. h3 Bb3 31. Qe2 Rc2 32. Qe3 Bd4 33. Qe4 Rxf2 34.
Qxg6+ Bg7 35. Re4 Rxf4 36. Rxb4 axb4 37. Nh5 Rf7 38. Qg4 Bd5 39. Nf4 Rc4 0-1

[Event "Biel GM 45th"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2012.07.23"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E91"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2778"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2012.07.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 150"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 a6 5. c4 Nc6 6. Qd1 Bg4 7. Be2 Nf6 8. Nc3
Bxf3 9. Bxf3 g6 10. O-O Bg7 11. Be3 O-O 12. Rc1 Nd7 13. Be2 Nc5 14. f3 Rc8 15.
Kh1 e5 16. Nd5 Ne6 17. Qd2 Ncd4 18. Bd3 Nc7 19. Bg5 f6 20. Be3 Nxd5 21. cxd5
Qb6 22. Rc3 Rc5 23. Bxd4 exd4 24. Rcc1 Rxc1 25. Rxc1 Rf7 26. Rc8+ Rf8 27. Rc4
Rf7 28. Qc1 Bf8 29. g3 Be7 30. Kg2 Bd8 31. Rc8 Kg7 32. Qd2 Bc7 33. h4 Rf8 34.
Rxf8 Kxf8 35. h5 Kg7 36. h6+ Kf7 37. f4 Bd8 38. Qf2 Qc5 39. Qe2 Qc1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM 45th"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2012.07.24"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wang, Hao"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2739"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2012.07.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 150"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. Nf3 b6 6. e4 c5 $6 {A second-rate
move.} (6... d5 {and}) (6... Bb7 {are more common continuations.}) 7. e5 (7.
dxc5 Bxc5 (7... Bxc3+ $5 8. bxc3 e5) 8. e5 Ng4 9. Qe4 $6 {leads to big
complications, quite satisfactory for Black:} (9. Bd3 $142 Nc6 $1 $13) 9...
Nxf2 10. Qxa8 Nc6 11. Rg1 Qe7 {[%cal Rc8a6]} 12. Bg5 f6 13. exf6 gxf6 14. Bh4
Ng4 15. h3 {0-1 Toth,B (2405)-Olafsson,H (2370)/Thessaloniki 1984/EXT 1997 (36)
} Bxg1 16. hxg4 Be3 $17) (7. a3 {is not dangerous either:} Bxc3+ $1 (7... cxd4
8. axb4 dxc3 9. e5 $36) (7... Ba5 8. e5) 8. bxc3 Bb7 9. Bd3 d5 10. cxd5 exd5
11. e5 Ne4 {, and Black is more or less OK}) 7... Ne8 (7... cxd4 8. a3 $1 (8.
Nxd4 Ne8 9. Bd3 (9. Qe4 Nc6 10. Nxc6 dxc6 11. Bd3 f5 12. exf6 Nxf6 13. Qe2 e5
$132 {1/2 Kouatly,B (2460)-Miralles,G (2365)/Montpellier 1985/EXT 1999 (35)})
9... f5 10. exf6 Nxf6 11. Bg5 (11. O-O Bb7 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bh4 Nc6 14. Nxc6 Bxc6
15. Rad1 Rc8 {1/2 Brglez,R (2285)-Horvath,S (2320)/Austria 1995/EXT 1998 (25)}
16. a3 Be7 17. Bg3 $14 {/=}) 11... h6 12. Bh4 Bb7 13. O-O-O {1-0 Gausel,E 
(2490)-Bern,I (2360)/Gausdal 1995/EXT 1998 (62)} Qc8 14. Kb1 $14) 8... Bxc3+
$142 (8... dxc3 9. axb4 cxb2 (9... Ne8 10. Qxc3 (10. Bd3 $1) 10... f6 11. Be2
Bb7 12. O-O fxe5 13. Nxe5 d6 14. Nf3 Qf6 15. Qxf6 gxf6 16. Nd4 $16 Nc7 17. Bh6
Re8 18. Ra3 Kh8 19. Rfa1 Rg8 20. f3 a6 21. b5 a5 22. b4 axb4 23. Rxa8 Bxa8 24.
Ra7 Rc8 25. Bg7+ Kg8 26. Bxf6 Kf7 27. Bg5 e5 28. Nf5 {1-0 Erdos,V (2597)
-Bruedigam,M (2317)/Deizisau 2011/CBM 141 Extra}) 10. Bxb2 Ne8 11. Bd3 f5 12.
exf6 Nxf6 13. Ng5 (13. b5 $5 {[%csl Ra8,Rb8]} Bb7 14. Ng5) 13... h6 14. Nh7 Nc6
$1 (14... Nxh7 15. Bxh7+ Kh8 16. Bxg7+ $1 Kxg7 17. Qg6+ Kh8 18. Qxh6 Rf6 19.
Bg6+ Kg8 20. Ra3 $18) 15. Nxf8 Nxb4 16. Qd2 Qxf8 17. O-O Bb7 18. Ba3 a5 19.
Bxb4 axb4 20. Rxa8 Qxa8 21. f3 $16 {1-0 Sakalauskas,V (2437)-Sulskis,S (2570)/
Vilnius 2004/CBM 100 ext (62)}) 9. bxc3 Ne8 10. Bd3 (10. cxd4 $5 Bb7 11. Be2
$14) 10... h6 11. Bh7+ (11. a4 $5) 11... Kh8 12. Be4 Nc6 13. cxd4 Bb7 14. Be3
d6 $132 {1/2 Corke,A (2216)-Pokorna,R (2338)/Rijeka 2006/CBM 111 ext (58)}) 8.
d5 (8. Bg5 f6 9. exf6 Nxf6 10. dxc5 {1-0 Tomaszewski,R (2405)-Szymczak,Z (2335)
/Gdynia 1985/EXT 2001 (41)} Bxc3+ $1 11. bxc3 Bb7 12. Bd3 h6 $44) (8. Bd3 {
may be the most accurate:} f5 (8... h6 $5) 9. Bg5 (9. exf6 Nxf6 10. O-O cxd4
11. Ne4 h6 12. Nxd4 Na6 13. a3 Be7 14. b4 Bb7 15. Bb2 Nc7 16. Rfe1 $14 {
1/2 Panno,O (2485)-Galliamova,A (2400)/Aruba 1992/CBM 033 (49)}) (9. d5 $5)
9... Qc7 10. d5 d6 11. O-O-O (11. O-O $142 $16) 11... Bxc3 (11... dxe5 $142 12.
Nb5 Qb7 13. Nxe5 a6 14. Nc3 b5) 12. Qxc3 exd5 13. cxd5 $16 {1-0 Vera Gonzalez
Quevedo,R (2535)-Aleksic,N (2445)/Porto San Giorgio 1998/EXT 2000 (23)}) 8...
exd5 9. cxd5 d6 10. Bg5 (10. Bd3 $5 dxe5 11. Bxh7+ Kh8 12. Bd3 Nd6 13. O-O $14
{[%csl Rh8]}) 10... f6 11. exf6 Nxf6 12. O-O-O $5 (12. Be2 $14 {[%cal Ye1g1]})
12... Bxc3 13. bxc3 Bg4 {Black has survived the most difficult times and
obtained a decent position. However, he now once again plays inaccurately.} (
13... Na6 $142 {[%cal Ya6c7] to cover the e6-square.}) 14. Re1 Bxf3 (14... Nbd7
15. Nh4 $1 Bh5 16. Nf5 Bg6 17. Ne7+ Qxe7 18. Rxe7 Bxc2 19. Kxc2 Rae8 20. Re6 $1
Ne4 21. Be3 $14) 15. gxf3 Nbd7 16. Bd3 h6 17. Bf4 c4 $1 {Black correctly looks
for queenside counterplay but has he got enough time?} 18. Bf5 Nc5 (18... Nxd5
19. Bxh6 $1 gxh6 20. Rhg1+ Kh8 21. Qd2 Qh4 22. Qxd5 $16 Qf4+ $140 23. Kb2 Qxf5
24. Re6 Qf4 25. Qd4+ $1 $18) 19. Rhg1 {[%mdl 128]} Kh8 20. Rg6 Rf7 21. Reg1 $6
(21. Bxh6 gxh6 22. Rxh6+ Nh7 23. Rxh7+ Rxh7 24. Bxh7 Qf6 {, and Black
consolidates his position.}) (21. Qd2 $142 $1 Qf8 $1 22. Qd4 $16 (22. Bxh6 $143
Nd3+ 23. Bxd3 cxd3)) 21... Qf8 22. Be3 Nxd5 $2 {Greediness is punished! Black
could have successfully defended by means of} (22... Nh5 $1 23. Be4 (23. Be6
Rf6) 23... Nf4 (23... Nd7 $5)) 23. Bd4 (23. Bxc5 dxc5 (23... Rxf5 24. Bd4) 24.
Be6 {, winning an exchange, was also possible, e.g.} Nf4 25. Bxf7 Qxf7 26. Rxg7
Nd3+ 27. Kb1 Qxg7 28. Rxg7 Kxg7 29. Qa4 $1 {, and Black's fortress can hardly
be held.}) 23... Nf6 24. Qd2 Re8 25. Rxg7 Qxg7 26. Rxg7 Kxg7 27. Qf4 Nd3+ 28.
Bxd3 cxd3 29. Kd2 Kg6 30. Kxd3 Re6 31. h4 Rfe7 $2 {[%mdl 8192]} (31... Rh7 $1 {
was the only way to avoid further material losses although White should win in
the long run.}) 32. h5+ $1 Kf7 33. Qf5 {[%cal Rf5g6]} Re5 34. Qg6+ Ke6 35. f4 {
The capitulation was a bit premature. Black probably didn't see the only
defence} (35. f4 Rd7 $8 (35... Rf5 $2 36. Bxf6 Rxf6 37. f5+ Ke5 38. f4+) {
although his position after} 36. fxe5 (36. Qxh6 $5 Rf5 37. Qg6 Rxf4 38. h6)
36... dxe5 37. Qxh6 exd4 38. cxd4 Rd5 39. Qe3+ Kf7 40. h6 {is surely lost.})
1-0

[Event "Biel GM 45th"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2012.07.29"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Bologan, Viktor"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2732"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[Annotator "Kritz,L"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2012.07.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 150"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 {Dieser Zug wurde zuletzt oft gespielt. Die
anderen Hauptvarianten sind 3...g6 und 3...e6.} (3... g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7
6. h3 Nf6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Be3 b6 9. Qd2 $14 {Weiß hat die etwas angenehmere
Stellung.}) (3... e6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. d3 $132 {Hier spielt Weiß gegen den
schlechten schwarzen Läufer c8 und hat eine bessere Bauernstruktur. Die
entstehenden Stellungen sind jedoch sehr kompliziert.}) 4. O-O (4. Bxc6+ bxc6
5. O-O e5 6. c3 Nf6 7. Re1 Bg4 $132 {mit gleichen Chancen.}) 4... Bd7 5. Re1
Nf6 6. h3 {Eine relativ seltene Fortsetzung. Der Hauptzug ist 6.c3.} (6. c3 a6
7. Bf1 Bg4 8. h3 Bxf3 9. Qxf3 g6 10. d3 Bg7 11. Be3 Nd7 12. Nd2 O-O 13. Qd1 Rc8
$132 {Kasparov - Vachier Lagrave (Clichy, 2011)}) 6... e6 {Gut spielbar ist
hier auch 6...a6.} (6... a6 7. Bf1 e5 8. c3 Be7 9. d4 Qc7 10. d5 Nd8 $132 {
Die Stellung ist sehr ähnlich zu Spanischen Strukturen, jedoch sieht es so aus,
als ob Schwarz schon alles erreicht hat, was man in einem typischen Spanier
erreichen will.}) 7. c3 d5 {Wenn Schwarz das Spiel gleich vereinfachen will,
kann er 7...Ne5 spielen.} (7... Ne5 8. Bxd7+ Qxd7 9. d4 Nxf3+ 10. Qxf3 cxd4 11.
cxd4 d5 12. e5 Ng8 13. Nc3 Ne7 14. Qd3 Nc6 $11 {Rozentalis - Chernyshov (Bad
Wiessee, 2009)}) 8. d3 {Das logische 8.e5 funktioniert hier überhaupt nicht.} (
8. e5 $2 Nxe5 $1 $19) 8... a6 9. Ba4 b5 {Das sofortige Nehmen auf e4 wäre
etwas besser, weil Weiß dann keine extra Möglichkeiten bekäme.} (9... dxe4 10.
dxe4 b5 11. Bc2 {->9....b5}) 10. Bc2 (10. exd5 $5 Nxd5 (10... bxa4 11. dxc6
Bxc6 12. Ne5 $16) 11. c4 Nb6 (11... bxa4 12. cxd5 Nb4 13. dxe6 Bxe6 14. Nc3 $16
) 12. Bb3 Be7 13. Nc3 bxc4 14. dxc4 O-O 15. Bf4 $14) 10... dxe4 11. dxe4 e5 $1
{Sonst würde Weiß selbst e5 spielen.} (11... Be7 12. e5 Nd5 13. Be4 $14) 12. a4
(12. Nbd2 Be7 13. Nf1 Be6 14. Ne3 O-O $11 {Weiß kann üblicherweise keinen
großen Nutzen aus dem Feld d5 ziehen, weil Schwarz die Kontrolle darüber hat.})
12... Be7 13. axb5 axb5 14. Rxa8 Qxa8 15. Bg5 {Nach 15.Na3 hätte Schwarz mehr
Probleme zu lösen:} (15. Na3 Qb8 $1 (15... Qa6 $6 16. Bg5 $1 Be6 (16... h6 17.
Bxf6 Bxf6 18. Qd6 Be7 19. Qd3 c4 20. Qd5 $14) 17. Nxb5 $3 Qxb5 18. Nxe5 $1 $16)
16. Bg5 h6 17. Bxf6 Bxf6 18. Qd5 Qb6 $11) 15... Be6 16. Na3 b4 17. Nb1 $2 {
Weiß hat sich nicht getraut, den Springer auf b5 zu stellen und gerät in eine
schwierige Lage.} (17. cxb4 $1 cxb4 18. Nb5 Qb8 19. Bxf6 gxf6 (19... Bxf6 20.
Nd6+ Ke7 21. Nf5+ Bxf5 22. exf5 Rd8 23. Qe2 Kf8 24. Bb3 $14) 20. Bd3 O-O 21.
Nh4 $36) 17... O-O {Weiß hat zu viel Zeit verloren.} 18. Ba4 h6 19. Bh4 ({
Das Nehmen auf c6 funktioniert nicht:} 19. Bxc6 Qxc6 20. Nxe5 Qc7 21. Bf4 Bd6
$19) 19... Rd8 20. Nbd2 g5 $5 {Schwarz will den weißen schwarzfeldrigen Läufer
ausschalten.} 21. Bg3 Nd7 22. Bb3 (22. Bxc6 Qxc6 23. Nxe5 Nxe5 24. Bxe5 Qd7 $19
) 22... Nf8 23. Qc2 {Nun hätte man den Bauern nehmen können, aber Schwarz
würde auch dann Kompensation haben.} (23. Bxe6 Nxe6 24. Nxe5 bxc3 25. bxc3 Nxe5
26. Bxe5 Qa2 27. Re2 c4 28. Qe1 Qa4 $44) 23... f6 24. Nc4 (24. Bxe6+ Nxe6 25.
Qb3 Kf7 26. Nc4 Qa6 27. Ne3 h5 28. Nd5 c4 29. Qd1 h4 $36 {Weiß hat einen sehr
starken Springer auf d5, aber der Rest seiner Figuren macht nichts.}) 24... Qa6
25. Qe2 $2 {Das ist ein Fehler, der dazu führt, dass Schwarz endgültig die
Initiative übernimmt.} (25. Ne3 c4 26. Qe2 bxc3 27. bxc3 Rd3 28. Nxc4 Rxc3 29.
Ne3 Qxe2 30. Bxe6+ Nxe6 31. Rxe2 $11) 25... Rb8 $1 26. Ne3 Qxe2 27. Bxe6+ Nxe6
28. Rxe2 Ra8 $1 {Der Bauer b2 wird nun zum Angriffsziel schwarzer Figuren.} 29.
h4 Ra2 30. Kf1 Kf7 {Schwarz hat es nicht eilig - er aktiviert seine Figuren
und bringt den König ins Zentrum, immer eine gute Strategie im Endspiel.} 31.
Bh2 Na5 32. hxg5 hxg5 33. Rd2 b3 {Die Frage wäre immer noch, wie kommt Schwarz
voran, doch Weiß hilft ihm.} 34. Bxe5 $2 {Nun verliert Weiß forciert.} (34. Ke1
$1 {und das Spiel läuft noch.}) 34... g4 $1 {Das gewinnt am sichersten.} (34...
fxe5 35. Nxe5+ Ke8 36. Ke2 $15 {Schwarz hat natürlich Vorteil, doch Weiß will
seinen König nach g4 bringen, den Springer auf c4 stellen und Schwarz wird
sich noch quälen müssen.}) 35. Nxg4 Nc4 36. Re2 (36. Rd7 fxe5 37. Nfxe5+ Nxe5
38. Nxe5+ Ke8 39. Rd2 Bg5 40. Re2 Nf4 $19 {und der Bauer b2 geht verloren.})
36... Nxb2 {Nun ist das Spiel vorbei, der Bauer b2 ist viel wichtiger als die
Figur.} 37. Nd2 c4 38. Bg3 Nd3 39. f4 Nexf4 40. Bxf4 Ra1+ 0-1

[Event "Biel GM 45th"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2012.07.26"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Bacrot, Etienne"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2713"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2012.07.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 150"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 Bb4+ 3. Bd2 Bxd2+ 4. Qxd2 d5 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Nf3 O-O 7. e3 Qe7 8.
Rc1 Rd8 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Bd3 Nc6 11. Bb5 Rd6 12. Bxc6 Rxc6 13. Ne5 Re6 14. f3
b6 15. O-O Bb7 16. Rfe1 h6 17. Ne2 c5 18. Nf4 Rd6 19. dxc5 bxc5 20. Ned3 c4 21.
Nb4 Rad8 22. Nc2 Nd7 23. Nd4 Ne5 24. Rc3 Ra6 25. b3 Rb6 26. Rd1 Re8 27. Nc2 Qf6
28. Ne1 a5 29. Qd4 Rb5 30. Nh5 Qg5 31. Ng3 Nc6 32. Qf4 Qxf4 33. exf4 Nb4 34.
bxc4 dxc4 35. Rxc4 Nxa2 36. Ne4 Bd5 37. Rc5 Rxc5 38. Nxc5 Nc3 39. Ra1 a4 40.
Ned3 Bb3 41. Ra3 Nb5 42. Ra1 Nd4 43. Nb2 a3 44. Nbd3 Ra8 45. Nxb3 Nxb3 46. Ra2
Rd8 47. Ne1 Rd1 48. Kf2 Ra1 49. Rxa1 Nxa1 50. Ke2 a2 51. Kd3 Nb3 52. Nc2 f5 53.
Kc3 Nc1 54. Kd2 Nb3+ 55. Kc3 Nc1 56. Kd2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM 45th"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2012.07.27"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2696"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2012.07.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 150"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d3 Nf6 6. d4 d5 7. Bd3 Bd6 8. O-O
O-O 9. h3 h6 10. c4 dxc4 11. Bxc4 Nc6 12. Nc3 a6 13. Re1 Re8 14. Be3 b5 15. Bf1
Bb7 16. Rc1 Ne7 17. Ne5 Ned5 18. Nxd5 Nxd5 19. Bd2 Qf6 20. Qh5 c5 21. a4 c4 22.
Re4 Bxe5 23. dxe5 Qg6 24. Qh4 Nf6 25. Ree1 Ne4 26. Bc3 Rad8 27. axb5 axb5 28.
Bb4 Nd2 29. Qg4 Qxg4 30. hxg4 Nb3 31. Rb1 Bc8 32. f3 Rd5 33. Rbd1 Red8 34. Bd6
Rxd1 35. Rxd1 Be6 36. Be2 f6 37. exf6 gxf6 38. Bf4 Rxd1+ 39. Bxd1 Kg7 40. Be3
Bf7 41. f4 Bd5 42. Kf2 b4 43. Bc2 c3 44. bxc3 bxc3 45. Bf5 Nd2 46. Bd4 Ne4+ 47.
Kg1 Kf7 48. Bxe4 Bxe4 49. Bxc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM 45th"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2012.07.28"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D91"]
[WhiteElo "2778"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2012.07.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 150"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bg5 Ne4 6. Bf4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 c6 {
A rare, rather passive continuation but in the hands of GM Magnus Carlsen it
becomes quite playable!} (7... c5 {and}) (7... O-O {are usually played}) 8. e3
O-O 9. cxd5 $6 {This move, giving the c6-square back to Black's knight, is
rather harmless. Practice has seen other options posing more problems to Black:
} (9. Bd3 $5 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Nd7 11. O-O Nb6 12. Bb3 Nd5 13. Ne5 Nxf4 14. exf4
Qd6 15. Re1 e6 16. Qf3 Re8 17. h4 $1 $40 {1-0 Spassky,B-Byvshev,V/Leningrad
1955/EXT 1999 (30)}) (9. Be2 dxc4 (9... Qa5 10. Qb3 Nd7 11. O-O e5 12. Bg3 dxc4
13. Bxc4 e4 14. Nd2 b5 15. Be2 Nf6 16. a4 $16 {1-0 Malaniuk,V (2615)-Markowski,
D (2305)/Koszalin 1997/CBM 059 ext (28)}) (9... Nd7 10. O-O Nb6 11. c5 Nd7 12.
c4 dxc4 13. Bxc4 b5 14. Be2 a5 15. Rc1 Nf6 16. Ne5 Bb7 17. Bf3 Nd5 18. Bg3 $14
{1-0 Movsziszian,K (2525)-Kuehn,P (2230)/Hamburg 1994/EXT 1997 (35)}) 10. Bxc4
{- 9.Bd3}) (9. h3 $5 Qa5 10. Qb3 Nd7 11. a4 dxc4 12. Bxc4 b5 13. Bd3 Nb6 14.
O-O Nxa4 15. c4 a6 16. Rfc1 Ra7 17. Ne5 Bxe5 18. Bxe5 Qd8 19. Qc2 Bd7 20. h4
$40 {1-0 Gabriel,C (2555)-Gauglitz,G (2400)/Germany 1998/GER-chT (27)}) 9...
cxd5 10. c4 (10. Bd3 {is safer.}) 10... Nc6 11. c5 Bg4 (11... f6 $5 {[%cal
Ye7e5] , and Black can even fight for the initiative.}) 12. Be2 Bxf3 13. Bxf3
e5 {A classic equalising plan. The position quickly simplifies.} 14. dxe5 Bxe5
15. Bxe5 Nxe5 16. O-O Nxf3+ 17. Qxf3 Rc8 18. Rac1 Qd7 19. Rfd1 Rfd8 20. Qe2 Rc6
21. Qb2 Rdc8 22. Qa3 b6 23. cxb6 Rxc1 24. Rxc1 Rxc1+ 25. Qxc1 axb6 26. Qb2 Qc6
27. h3 h5 28. a4 Qxa4 29. Qxb6 Qa1+ 30. Kh2 Qe5+ 31. Kg1 Qa1+ 32. Kh2 Qe5+ 33.
Kg1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM 45th"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2012.07.30"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Wang, Hao"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2012.07.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 150"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb7 6. Bg2 Bb4+ 7. Bd2 c5 8. O-O
O-O 9. Bc3 Na6 10. a3 (10. dxc5 Bxc5 11. e3 Be7 12. Nbd2 Nc5 13. Rc1 Qc7 14.
Qe2 Rac8 15. Rfd1 Rfd8 16. Be5 d6 17. Bb2 a6 18. Nd4 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 Qb7+ 20. f3
d5 $11 {1-0 Ponomariov,R (2705)-Grischuk,A (2715)/Moscow 2007/EXT 2008 (33)}) (
10. Bb2 {is played more often, e.g.} cxd4 11. Qxd4 (11. a3 Be7 12. b4 Rc8 13.
Qxd4 Nb8 14. Nbd2 d6 15. Rfd1 Nbd7 16. Rac1 Rc7 17. Ne1 Qa8 18. e4 Rfc8 19. Nd3
a6 20. Qe3 h6 21. h3 b5 $132 {1/2 Pankratov,A (2530)-Olofson,D (2515)/ICCF
2002/ICCF Telechess CBM 112 (43)}) (11. Nxd4 Bxg2 12. Kxg2 Qc7 13. Nf3 Be7 14.
Nc3 Nc5 15. Qd4 Qb7 16. Rfd1 Rfd8 17. Rac1 Rac8 18. Kg1 d6 19. Qe3 a6 20. Nd4
Bf8 $11 {1/2 Aronian,L (2808)-Carlsen,M (2815)/Monte Carlo 2011/CBM 142 (37)})
11... Be7 (11... Bc5 $5 12. Qf4 d5) 12. Nc3 Nc5 13. Rfd1 d6 14. Rac1 a6 15. Qe3
Qc7 16. b4 Ncd7 $132 {0-1 Olafsson,H (2535)-Hjartarson,J (2595)/Vestmannaeyjar
1994/EXT 1997 (65)}) 10... Bxc3 11. Nxc3 cxd4 12. Nxd4 (12. Qxd4 Nc5 13. Nd2
Bxg2 14. Kxg2 d5 15. cxd5 exd5 16. Rfd1 Re8 17. Rac1 Qd7 18. b4 Ne6 19. Qd3 d4
$132 {1-0 Neverov,V (2535)-Kiselev,S (2470)/Pardubice 1993/TD (48)}) 12... Bxg2
13. Kxg2 Nc5 14. Rc1 Qc7 15. b4 Nb7 16. Ncb5 Qb8 17. Qd3 Rc8 18. Rfd1 h6 19. f3
a6 20. Nc3 Nd6 21. Nb1 Nde8 22. Nd2 Qb7 23. c5 {Black's position is very solid
and can resist such attempts to break it up.} (23. N2b3 d6 {leads to a normal
hedgehog.}) 23... bxc5 $6 (23... a5 $5 {, immediately opening up the a-file
and activating the rook, may be more accurate.}) 24. bxc5 Qa7 (24... Rab8 $142)
25. N2b3 {[%csl Rd4] The wrong arrangement of the knights!} (25. N4b3 $142 $1
a5 26. a4 Nd5 27. Nc4 $1 {, and Black faces some problems}) 25... Nd5 26. c6
dxc6 $6 {Obvious but not good. Black had a chance to trade his passive rook:} (
26... Rxc6 $1 27. Rxc6 (27. Nxc6 Ne3+ 28. Kg1 (28. Kh1 Nxd1 {[%cal Rd1f2]})
28... dxc6 {regaining material with a good position}) 27... dxc6 28. Nxc6 Ne3+
29. Kg1 Qb6 30. Rc1 Nf5+ {with sufficient counterplay.}) 27. e4 {Of course,
after this pawn sacrifice White will have compensation due to his more active
pieces but it is not enough for any advantage.} (27. Nxc6 Ne3+ 28. Kh1 Nxd1 29.
Nxa7 Rxc1 $1 30. Kg2 Rc3 31. Qxd1 Rxa7 32. Qd8 Rxb3 33. Qxe8+ Kh7 $15) (27. Na5
$142 {setting up the knight on c6 and creating a kind of domination:} c5 (27...
Ne7 28. Naxc6 Nxc6 29. Nxc6 $14 {[%csl Gc6]}) 28. Ndc6 c4 (28... Qb6 29. e4)
29. Rxc4 Ne3+ 30. Kg1 Rd8 $1 31. Qxd8 Nxd1+ 32. Qd4 $1 Qxd4+ 33. Rxd4 Nc3 34.
Kf2 $14) {However, Black's inaccurate play enables White to create a similar
domination later on.} 27... Ne7 28. Nc5 Nf6 29. Ndb3 Ng6 30. Qc3 Nf8 (30... a5
$142 31. a4 Qc7) 31. Na5 Rab8 32. a4 Kh8 33. Rb1 $6 {Why exchange Black's
crumpled pieces?!} (33. Rd6 $1 $36) 33... Rb6 34. Rxb6 Qxb6 35. Nab7 (35. Nab3
$5 Rb8 36. Rd6) 35... Rb8 36. Nd6 Kg8 37. Rd2 a5 38. Nd3 N8d7 39. Nc4 Qa6 40.
Rc2 (40. Nxa5 Ra8 41. Nxc6 Qxa4) 40... c5 41. Rb2 Rb7 42. Rxb7 Qxb7 43. Qb2 Qa6
44. Qb5 Qxb5 45. axb5 {[%mdl 4096]} a4 {The exchanges have been favourable for
Black, who must now reach a draw without problems.} 46. Ndb2 $2 {[%mdl 8192]
White loses his sense of danger and misses a strong tactical blow!} ({A
logical outcome of the game could be something like} 46. b6 a3 47. Nc1 (47.
Nxa3 Nxb6 48. Nxc5 $11) 47... Kf8 48. b7 Ke7 49. e5 Nd5 50. Nxa3 Nb4 51. Nb5
Nc6 52. f4 Kd8 53. Kf3 Nd4+ 54. Nxd4 cxd4 55. Ke4 Kc7 56. Kxd4 Kxb7 $11) 46...
Nb6 $1 47. Kf2 (47. Nxb6 $2 {is impossible due to} a3 {, and Black's pawn
queens, which means that Black now blockades White's passed pawn and keeps his
strong extra pawn.}) 47... Nfd7 48. Ke3 Kf8 49. f4 f5 50. exf5 exf5 51. Kd3 Ke7
52. Na3 Nf6 $1 53. Nbc4 Nxc4 54. Nxc4 Ne4 55. Ne5 $6 {Totally upset, White
doesn't offer serious resistance.} (55. Kc2 Nd6 $1 56. b6 Kd7 57. Na5 {,
setting up a barrier, was much more stubborn.}) 55... Kd8 56. g4 fxg4 57. Nxg4
Nd6 58. b6 Kc8 59. Ne3 Kb7 60. Nd5 Kc6 0-1

[Event "Biel GM 45th"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2012.07.31"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bologan, Viktor"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A59"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2732"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2012.07.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 150"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bxa6 {After Adams and
Topalov stopped playing the Benko almost a decade ago, the gambit went into a
decline and became a very rare guest at the higher level. Therefore Bologan
using it in Biel no less than 3 times came as a surprise. Although it brought
the out-of-form Moldavian GM only grief, the positions were perhaps not so
clear as the results indicate.} 7. e4 ({Another important line is} 7. g3 d6 8.
Nf3 Bg7 9. Bg2 O-O 10. Rb1 {and now:} Nbd7 (10... Bc8 11. Nd2 $5 Bf5 12. e4 Bc8
$6 (12... Bg4 13. Qc2 Na6 14. a3 Qc8 15. Nc4 Rb8 16. Na5 Bd7 17. O-O c4 18. Nc6
Bxc6 19. dxc6 e6 20. Rd1 Ng4 21. Bg5 Qc7 {Happel,H (2254)-Kohler,A (2298)/
Amsterdam/2002/} 22. a4 $5 $36 {[%cal Rc3b5]}) {was an unusual novelty, but
White quickly returned the pawn for a powerful initiative after} 13. O-O Ba6
14. Re1 Nfd7 15. Nf3 Bc4 16. Bf4 $1 Nb6 17. e5 Bxa2 18. Ra1 Bxd5 19. Nxd5 Rxa1
20. Nxe7+ Qxe7 21. Qxa1 d5 22. e6 $1 fxe6 23. Bh3 e5 24. Nxe5 Qf6 25. Qa7 $18 {
->,Wang,H (2739)-Bologan,V (2732)/Biel/2012/}) 11. O-O Qa5 {is the more
customary choice:} 12. Bd2 (12. Qc2 Nb6 13. Rd1 Nfd7 14. Bd2 Nc4 15. Be1 Rfb8
16. Qc1 Nde5 17. Nxe5 Nxe5 18. h3 Bc8 19. b3 c4 20. f4 Nd7 21. Qe3 cxb3 22.
axb3 Qd8 23. Na4 Nf6 24. Bf2 Bf5 25. Rbc1 Rb4 26. g4 Bd7 27. Rc6 Rab8 28. Rd3 {
Korobov,A (2660)-Caruana,F (2736)/Moscow/2012/} h5 $5 $13) 12... Bb7 (12...
Rfb8 13. Qc2 {Kramnik,V (2807)-Topalov,V (2743)/Wijk aan Zee/2003/ This game
seriously affected the popularity of the whole Benko Gambit. See the more
detailed notes in CBM 93}) 13. Qc2 Qa7 $5 14. e4 Ba6 15. Rfd1 Ng4 16. Be1 Rfb8
17. b3 Nge5 18. Nxe5 Nxe5 19. h3 $6 (19. a4 $1 $13 {/+/=}) 19... c4 $36 20. b4
Nd3 21. a3 $6 (21. b5 $142 $132) 21... Bc8 22. Ra1 Bd7 23. Ra2 Qd4 24. Ne2 Nxe1
25. Nxd4 $2 (25. Rxe1 Qd3 $36) 25... Nxc2 26. Nxc2 Ba4 $19 {[%cal Ra4b3] Le
Quang,L (2693)-Bologan,V (2732)/Astana blitz/2012/}) 7... Bxf1 8. Kxf1 d6 9.
Nf3 Bg7 10. g3 O-O 11. Kg2 Nbd7 12. Qe2 {A rare idea, which Carlsen connects
with the plan of building an outpost on b5. It also stops the Ra6, Qa8, e6
plan, which Black employed after the more usual moves.} ({These are} 12. Re1) (
{or} 12. h3 {The two continuations occurred in an absolute majority of the
games which feature our position. As White mostly plays both moves in quick
succession, the lines often transpose into each other.}) 12... Qb6 ({The
typical Benko move is} 12... Qa5 {, but perhaps it's not ideal:} 13. Bd2 $5 (
13. a4 Rfb8 {prevents Nb5 for the time being...} 14. Bd2 $6 (14. Ra3 $142 $5)
14... Rxb2 $1 15. Nd1 Rxd2 16. Nxd2 Nxe4 (16... Nxd5 $5 $36) 17. Nc4 Qb4 18.
Ndb2 $2 (18. Rc1 $13) 18... Nc3 19. Qxe7 Ne5 $1 20. Qxd6 Nxc4 21. Qc6 Ne3+ 22.
fxe3 Qe4+ 23. Kh3 Qf5+ 24. Kg2 Rb8 $19 {Ramirez,A (2559)-Leon Hoyos,M (2579)/
Vancouver/2012/}) (13. e5 dxe5 14. Nxe5 Nxe5 15. Qxe5 Ra7 (15... Rfd8 $1 $44 {
[%cal Rf6d5] shows up White's 13th move as rather premature.}) 16. Rd1 Rd8 17.
Qe2 Rad7 18. Qf3 c4 19. Be3 Nxd5 20. Nxd5 Rxd5 21. Rxd5 (21. Bb6 $1 $14) 21...
Qxd5 22. Qxd5 Rxd5 23. Rc1 Bxb2 24. Rxc4 Ba3 25. Rc3 Ra5 $11 {Carlsen,M (2837)
-Andreikin,D (2700)/Astana blitz/2012/}) (13. Bf4 Ng4 14. Nd2 Nge5 15. Bxe5 (
15. Be3 Rfb8 16. f4 $2 Ng4 17. Qxg4 Rxb2 18. Ne2 Rxd2 19. Bxd2 Qxd2 20. Rad1
Qc2 $17 {Gerusel,M-Pedersen,K/Grossenbrode 1971/}) 15... Bxe5 $5 (15... Nxe5
16. f4 Nd7 17. Nc4 $14) 16. Nc4 Qa6 17. Nxe5 Qxe2 18. Nxe2 Nxe5 19. b3 Rfb8 (
19... Ra3 $44) 20. Rhc1 Nd3 $6 21. Rc3 Nb4 22. a3 Ra7 23. Kf1 Rba8 24. a4 Rb8
25. f3 Rab7 26. Ke1 $14 {Yarmonov,I (2324)-Matijasevic,I (2104)/Split/2012/
The Ukrainian IM Yarmonov often plays the 12.Qe2 line.}) 13... Rab8 (13... Qb4
14. Rab1 Rfb8 15. Rhc1 Ng4 16. b3 Qa3 17. Ne1 $1 Ngf6 18. Nc2 Qa6 19. Qxa6 Rxa6
20. f3 Ne8 21. a4 Nc7 22. Na3 Ne5 23. Ncb5 Nxb5 24. Nxb5 $16 {Yarmonov,I (2277)
-Cocogne,L (1965)/Turin/2006/ In this game White achieved his strategic ideal.}
) 14. b3 Qa8 15. Rac1 $14 e6 $6 16. dxe6 fxe6 17. Bf4 Rb6 18. Rhd1 d5 19. Ne5
Ra6 20. a4 Nxe4 21. Nxe4 Bxe5 22. Bxe5 Nxe5 23. Nxc5 d4+ 24. Qe4 $18 {Horvath,
C (2505)-Gibicar,D (2085)/Vienna/2012/}) (12... Ng4 $5 13. Nd2 Ngf6 14. Nc4 Nb6
15. a4 Nxc4 16. Qxc4 Qa5 17. Bd2 (17. Nb5 Rfb8 {[%cal Rb8b5] /\} 18. Ra3 Qb4 $1
$132) 17... Rfb8 18. Ra2 Nd7 19. Qe2 Qa6 20. Qxa6 Rxa6 21. Rb1 Rb4 (21... c4 $5
$44 {[%cal Yd7c5]}) 22. b3 c4 23. Rab2 (23. bxc4 $142 Rxc4 24. Rb7 $14) 23...
cxb3 $2 (23... h5 24. bxc4 Rxc4 $11) 24. Rxb3 Rxb3 25. Rxb3 Kf8 26. Rb4 $14 {
Yarmonov,I (2340)-Tocklin,T (1885)/Bialystok/2010/}) (12... Qc7 13. Bf4 Rfb8
14. Rab1 Rb6 15. Rhc1 Qb7 16. Rc2 e6 (16... Nh5 17. Bd2 Bxc3 18. Bxc3 Rxa2 $132
) 17. Rd1 (17. dxe6 fxe6 18. Bxd6 $5 Rxd6 19. e5 $14) 17... exd5 18. exd5 Re8
19. Qd2 Ne4 20. Nxe4 Rxe4 21. b3 Nf6 22. Qd3 Qe7 23. Bg5 h6 24. Bxf6 Bxf6 25.
Rc4 $14 {Yarmonov,I (2340)-Matijasevic,I (2101)/Bialystok/2010/}) 13. a4 $5 (
13. h3 e6 $5 14. Rd1 exd5 15. exd5 Rfe8 16. Qb5 (16. Qd3 $142 $14 {/<=>}) 16...
Qa7 17. Qc6 $2 Rac8 18. Qxd6 Nh5 19. g4 Ne5 $1 {[%csl Rd6][%cal Rc8d8]} 20.
gxh5 Nxf3 $2 (20... Rcd8 $17) 21. Qg3 Nd4 22. Bf4 Qb7 23. Rab1 Rcd8 24. Kh2 $14
{Tregubov,P (2545)-Barkhagen,J (2400)/Gausdal/1994/}) (13. Re1 Rfb8 14. e5 Nxe5
15. Nxe5 dxe5 16. Qxe5 Rb7 17. Qe2 Ne8 18. Bd2 Nd6 19. b3 Qa6 $1 20. Rac1 Qxe2
21. Rxe2 c4 $44 {1/2,Sosonko,G (2525)-Topalov,V (2670)/Polanica Zdroj/1995/}) (
13. Rd1 Qa6 $5 {A typical Benko motif - the queen swap limits White's
attacking potential without reducing Black's queenside chances.} (13... Rfb8
14. Rb1 Ne8 15. Bd2 Qa6 $5 16. Qe3 Nc7 17. b3 Rb7 18. Qg5 Bf6 19. Qh6 Nb5 20.
Nxb5 Qxb5 21. a4 Qd3 22. Qe3 Qxe3 (22... Qc2 $5) 23. Bxe3 Rab8 24. Nd2 Bc3 $132
{Muse,D (2230)-Boehle,L/Bundesliga/1991/}) 14. Qc2 (14. Qxa6 Rxa6 15. Nd2 Rb8
16. a3 Nb6 17. Ra2 Ng4 18. Ne2 f5 $1 19. h3 Ne5 20. Nf4 Na4 21. exf5 gxf5 22.
Re1 c4 23. Nf1 Bh6 $1 $15 {Ivanov,I (2515)-Alburt,L (2570)/Hastings/1983/})
14... Ng4 15. h3 Nge5 16. Nxe5 Nxe5 17. b3 (17. Be3 Nc4 18. Rac1 Rfb8 19. b3
Na3 20. Qd2 c4 21. Qe2 h6 22. bxc4 Nxc4 23. Rc2 Na3 24. Qxa6 Rxa6 25. Rcc1 Rb4
$11 {Gerusel,M (2425)-Giorgadze,T (2535)/Dortmund/1979/}) 17... Rab8 18. Rb1
Rfc8 19. Be3 Qa5 (19... Rb4 $5 $44 {[%cal Yc5c4]}) 20. Ne2 Qb4 $6 21. Bd2 Qb5
22. Bc3 $36 {Kristiansen,E (2220)-Finnlaugsson,G (2072)/Reykjavik/2011/}) 13...
Rfb8 (13... Ng4 $6 14. Nd2 Ngf6 15. Nc4 Qb4 16. Bd2 Nb6 17. Nxb6 Qxb6 18. Nb5
e6 19. Bc3 exd5 20. exd5 Rfe8 21. Qf3 Nd7 22. Rhe1 Ne5 23. Bxe5 (23. Qd1 $5 $16
) 23... Rxe5 24. Rxe5 Bxe5 25. Qe2 $14 {Thorfinnsson,B (2421)-Rodriguez
Guerrero,E (2454)/England/2012/}) 14. Nb5 ({In the last round we saw} 14. Bd2
Ne8 (14... Qb3 15. Rhb1 $14 e6 $2 16. Ra3 Qb7 17. dxe6 fxe6 18. Bf4 Qc6 19. Rd1
e5 20. Qc4+ Kh8 21. Ng5 $18 {Bhat,V (2549)-Tirard,H (2451)/Metz/2010/}) 15.
Rhb1 Nc7 16. Nd1 $146 (16. Ra3 Qa6 17. Qd1 Ne5 $5 (17... Nb6 18. b3 $14) 18.
Nxe5 Bxe5 19. Qc2 Rb6 20. Nd1 Rab8 21. Bc3 Bxc3 22. Rxc3 (22. Nxc3 $142 Qa5 23.
b3 Rb4 $44) 22... Rb4 23. b3 Qb7 24. Rb2 f5 25. f3 fxe4 26. fxe4 e6 $36 {
1/2,Elsness,F (2499)-Byklum,B (2251)/NOR-chT/2012/}) 16... Qa6 17. Qxa6 Rxa6
18. a5 f5 19. exf5 Nxd5 (19... gxf5 $142 20. Nh4 (20. Ne3 f4 21. gxf4 Nf6 $13)
20... f4 $5 21. Bxf4 Nxd5 22. Bd2 e6 $14 {/<=>}) 20. fxg6 hxg6 21. Ra4 Nb4 22.
Ne3 Rb5 23. b3 e6 24. Bxb4 Rxb4 25. Rxb4 cxb4 26. Rc1 $1 $14 {|^,Nakamura,H 
(2778)-Bologan,V (2732)/Biel/2012/}) 14... Ne8 15. Bg5 $146 ({The developing
text move seems more to the point than} 15. Nd2 Qa6 16. Ra3 Nc7 17. Re1 Nxb5
18. axb5 Qb7 (18... Qb6 $5 {/\} 19. Nb1 Ra5 20. Rxa5 Qxa5 21. Na3 Qb4 $44) 19.
Nb1 $1 $14 Rxa3 20. Nxa3 Nb6 21. Rd1 Re8 22. f3 Qa8 23. Qc2 Bd4 24. Rd3 e6 $6
25. dxe6 fxe6 26. Be3 $16 {Aliavdin,N (2382)-Licznerski,L (2269)/Lazy/2012/})
15... Qd8 (15... h6 $6 16. Bxe7 Rb7 (16... f6 $2 17. Nh4 Kf7 18. Nxg6 $1 Kxg6
19. Qg4+ $18) 17. Nd2 Ne5 18. f4 Rxe7 19. fxe5 Bxe5 20. Nc4 Qd8 21. Rhf1 Nc7
22. Nxc7 Qxc7 23. a5 Rae8 24. a6 Bg7 25. a7 Ra8 26. Ra6 $16 {Shaw,P (2168)
-Ledger,S (2089)/GBR-ch North Shields/2012/ Curiously enough, this game was
played on the same day!}) (15... Kf8 16. Qc2 {[%cal Yf3d2,Yd2c4]} Nc7 17. Nxc7
Qxc7 18. Rab1 $14 {[%cal Yb2b3,Yg5d2,Yd2c3]}) 16. Ra3 (16. Ra2 h6 (16... Nc7 $5
{/\} 17. Bxe7 Qxe7 18. Nxc7 Ra5 {[%cal Rb8b7]} 19. Rha1 Nf6 20. Nb5 Qxe4 $13)
17. Bd2 Nc7 18. Nxc7 (18. Rha1 Nxb5 19. axb5 Rxa2 20. Rxa2 Qb6 21. Bc3 Nf6 22.
Nd2 Nd7 $5 $132) 18... Qxc7 19. Rb1 Rb3 $44) 16... Nb6 {Black ignores play on
the b-file and starts a more complex plan of undermining White's centre.} ({
However, this backfires in the end, so} 16... h6 17. Bf4 Nc7 18. Rha1 (18. Nc3
$5) 18... Ra5 $14 {[%cal Gb8b2] /<=> possibly promises better counterchances.})
17. b3 (17. a5 $5 Nd7 18. Rha1 $14) 17... Qd7 18. Ra2 (18. Rd1 Nxd5 $5 19. exd5
Rxb5 20. Qxe7 Qxe7 21. Bxe7 Rb7 $44) 18... f6 {Bologan follows his idea.} (
18... h6 19. Bc1 Nc7 {now favours White after} 20. Nxc7 Qxc7 21. Bb2 $36) 19.
Bc1 f5 20. exf5 (20. Re1 fxe4 (20... Rb7 $5) 21. Qxe4 Nf6 22. Qxe7 Qxe7 23.
Rxe7 Nbxd5 {[%cal Rd5e7,Rb8b5]} 24. Ree2 Nb4 $14 {/<=>}) 20... gxf5 (20... Qxf5
21. Rd1 {also doesn't solve Black's problems:} Nf6 (21... Nxd5 22. Qc4 Rxb5 (
22... e6 23. g4 Qf6 24. Ng5 Rxb5 25. Qxb5 Nf4+ (25... Nc3 26. Qb7 Nc7 27. Qxc7
Nxa2 28. Be3 $18) 26. Kg3 Nc7 27. Qc4 $16) 23. axb5 Rxa2 24. Rxd5 Qf7 (24...
Qc2 25. Qxc2 Rxc2 26. b6 Nf6 27. Bg5 $1 Nd7 $8 28. Bxe7 Nxb6 29. Rxd6 $18 {
[%csl Rb6]}) 25. b6 e6 26. Rd3 $16 {[%cal Rb3b4,Yf3g5]}) (21... Bf6 22. h3 $16
{[%cal Yg3g4,Yc1b2] /\} Nxd5 23. Qc4 Rxb5 (23... e6 24. g4 Qb1 25. Re2 $18) 24.
axb5 Rxa2 25. Rxd5 Qe6 26. b6 $40) 22. Qxe7 (22. Nc7 $5 $36) 22... Nfxd5 23.
Qe1 $16 {[%csl Rd6]}) 21. Rd1 Nf6 22. Qe6+ Qxe6 23. dxe6 $16 {[%csl Ge6,Re7,
Rf5] Although Black's pieces are active, he can't effectively attack the
advanced e6-pawn and this in connection with the weakness on f5 (both pawn and
square) and consequently e7 give White a sizeable advantage.} Ne4 (23... f4 24.
Bxf4 Nbd5 {[%cal Rb8b5]} 25. Rc2 Nxf4+ 26. gxf4 Nh5 27. Rc4 Rf8 28. Nc7 $16)
24. Nh4 $1 {[%mdl 64] In the following short skirmish the tactics work in
White's favour.} c4 ({The passive} 24... Rf8 25. a5 $1 {[%csl Ga5]} Ra6 {
gives White a pleasant choice:} 26. Ra3 (26. Be3 Nc3 27. Nxc3 Bxc3 28. Bh6 Bg7
29. Bg5 Bf6 30. Bxf6 Rxf6 31. axb6 Rxa2 32. b7 Rf8 33. Nxf5 $18) 26... Na8 27.
Ra4 {[%cal Rg3g4]} Nc3 28. Nxc3 Bxc3 29. Rd3 Bd4 30. Rf3 $18) 25. bxc4 Nxc4 {
[%cal Rb8b5]} 26. Nc7 $1 Nc3 $8 (26... Ra7 27. Nd5 $18 {[%cal Rh4f5]}) (26...
Ra5 27. Nd5 Rxd5 (27... Rb7 28. Nxf5 $18 (28. Rc2 $5)) 28. Rxd5 Nc3 29. Rc2
Nxd5 30. Rxc4 $18 {[%csl Ga4][%cal Rh4f5]}) 27. Nxa8 Nxa2 (27... Rxa8 28. Rc2
Nxd1 29. Rxc4 $18) (27... Nxd1 28. Nc7 Nc3 29. Rc2 Rc8 30. Na6 Nxa4 (30... Ra8
31. Nb4 Rxa4 32. Nc6 $18) 31. Nxf5 $16) 28. Nc7 Nc3 ({A more testing move was} 
28... Rb1 29. Nxf5 Bf8 (29... Rxc1 30. Rxc1 Nxc1 31. Nxe7+ Kf8 (31... Kh8 32.
Ng6+) 32. Ned5 $18) (29... Nxc1 30. Nxe7+ Kh8 31. Ng6+ hxg6 32. e7 Rb8 33. Rxc1
$18) 30. Nd5 Rxc1 31. Rd4 $16 Ne5 32. a5 Rc5 33. a6 Ra5 34. Nfxe7+ Bxe7 35.
Nxe7+ Kf8 36. Nd5 $40 {[%csl Ga6,Ge6]}) 29. Rd3 Rc8 (29... Rf8 30. Bg5 $18) 30.
Nb5 (30. Nd5 $5 Nxd5 31. Rxd5 Nb6 32. Rb5 Nxa4 33. Bg5 $18) 30... Nxb5 (30...
Nxa4 31. Nxf5 Bf6 32. g4 $16 {/+-}) 31. axb5 Rc5 (31... Ne5 32. Rd1 Bf6 (32...
Rc5 33. Bg5 $18 {[%csl Re7]}) 33. Nxf5 (33. Bh6 $5 {[%csl Rg8]}) 33... Rc5 34.
b6 Rb5 35. Ne3 $5 Rxb6 36. Nd5 $18) 32. Rb3 $18 {Black has managed to save the
f5-pawn for the time being, but now he can't cope with the passed b-pawn.} Na5
33. Rb1 Bd4 (33... Bf6 34. b6 Nb7 35. Bh6 {[%cal Yb1b3,Yb3f3]} Bxh4 36. Ra1 $1
Ra5 37. Rxa5 Nxa5 38. gxh4 $18 {[%csl Rg8][%cal Yg2b5]}) 34. b6 Nb7 35. Rb4
Bxf2 (35... Bf6 36. Bh6 Bxh4 37. Ra4 $18 {and White wins as in the previous
note.}) (35... Be5 36. Be3 $18) 36. Kxf2 Rc2+ 37. Kf3 Rxc1 38. Nxf5 Rf1+ (38...
Kf8 39. Ra4 Rc8 40. Rf4 $18) 39. Kg4 Nc5 (39... Re1 40. Rc4 Rxe6 41. Rc7 $18)
40. b7 (40. b7 h5+ 41. Kg5 Nxe6+ 42. Kh6 $18) 1-0

[Event "Biel GM 45th"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2012.08.01"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2696"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2012.07.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 150"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qc2 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Bxd2+ 7. Nbxd2 d5 8.
Bg2 O-O 9. O-O Nbd7 10. Ne5 c5 11. Nxd7 Qxd7 12. cxd5 Nxd5 13. dxc5 Rac8 14.
Nb3 bxc5 15. Rfd1 c4 16. Nd4 c3 17. Nf5 Qb5 18. bxc3 Rxc3 19. Ne7+ Kh8 20. Qd2
Qxe2 21. Nxd5 Qxd2 22. Rxd2 exd5 23. Bxd5 g6 24. Bb3 Bc4 25. Rd7 Bxb3 26. axb3
Rxb3 27. Raxa7 Kg7 28. Kg2 h5 29. h4 Rb6 30. Rd3 Rf6 31. Rf3 Rxf3 32. Kxf3 Rb8
33. Ra3 Kf6 34. Ra6+ Kg7 35. Ra3 Kf6 36. Ra6+ Kg7 37. Ra3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM 45th"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2012.08.02"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bacrot, Etienne"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2713"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2012.07.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 150"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nbd2 Be6 7. b3 Ng4 8.
O-O f6 9. Qe2 Qd7 10. Nc4 g5 11. Rb1 b5 12. Ne3 h5 13. c3 Qh7 14. d4 Bb6 15.
Nc2 O-O-O 16. a4 exd4 17. Nfxd4 Bd7 18. b4 Rhe8 19. Re1 a6 20. Ra1 Kb7 21. axb5
axb5 22. c4 bxc4 23. Qxc4 Ra8 24. Rxa8 Rxa8 25. Bd2 h4 26. Qc3 h3 27. Qxh3 Qxh3
28. gxh3 Ne5 29. Kg2 Rh8 30. Nf5 Ng6 31. Ncd4 Bxd4 32. Nxd4 Rxh3 33. Re3 Nf4+
34. Kg1 Rh8 35. Nb3 Kb6 36. Nc5 Bc8 37. Ra3 Bh3 38. f3 Rd8 39. Bxf4 gxf4 40.
Nd3 Rg8+ 41. Kf2 Rg2+ 42. Ke1 Rxh2 43. Nxf4 Bc8 44. Ra8 Kb7 45. Ra5 Kb6 46. Nd3
Rc2 47. Rh5 Ra2 48. Rh8 Ba6 49. Nc5 Re2+ 50. Kd1 Rf2 51. Ra8 Bb5 52. Rb8+ Ka7
53. Rb7+ Ka8 54. Rxc7 Rxf3 55. Kd2 Kb8 56. Rf7 Kc8 57. Kc2 Rf1 58. Nb7 Rf3 59.
Nd6+ Kd8 60. Kb2 Ba4 61. Nb7+ Ke8 62. Nd6+ Kd8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grand Slam Final 5th"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao"]
[Date "2012.09.24"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C19"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[PlyCount "181"]
[EventDate "2012.09.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 151"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.11.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.11.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Nf3 Nbc6 8.
Bd3 Bd7 9. O-O Qc7 10. Re1 Na5 11. Ng5 Ng6 12. Re3 c4 13. Be2 Nc6 14. Bh5 Nce7
15. Qg4 Ba4 16. Ra2 Nf5 17. Re1 O-O-O 18. Nf3 Kb8 19. h4 Rdf8 20. Qh3 Nge7 21.
Qh2 h6 22. Bg4 g5 23. h5 Ng7 24. Nd2 f5 25. exf6 Qxh2+ 26. Kxh2 Rxf6 27. Bf3
Rhf8 28. Nf1 Nef5 29. Bg4 Be8 30. Bxf5 Nxf5 31. Ne3 Nxe3 32. Bxe3 Bxh5 33. Kg3
Bg6 34. Rb2 h5 35. f3 g4 36. Bg5 Rf5 37. f4 Re8 38. Re2 Kc7 39. Rb1 Rf7 40. Rh1
Rh7 41. Kf2 Kb6 42. g3 Ka5 43. Ke3 Bf5 44. Kd2 Rc8 45. Bh4 Rd7 46. Rb1 Rc6 47.
Ree1 Rb6 48. Rxb6 Kxb6 49. Rb1+ Kc7 50. Kc1 Rd6 51. Kb2 Rb6+ 52. Kc1 Ra6 53.
Kb2 Be4 54. Bg5 Kd7 55. Bh4 Ke8 56. Ka2 b6 57. Kb2 Kf7 58. Re1 b5 59. Rb1 Kg6
60. Re1 Kf7 61. Ra1 Rb6 62. Rb1 Kg6 63. Kc1 Ra6 64. Kb2 Kf5 65. Re1 Rb6 66. Rb1
a5 67. Kc1 Bg2 68. Kd2 Ke4 69. Re1+ Kf3 70. Re2 b4 71. axb4 axb4 72. Re3+ Kf2
73. Re2+ Kf3 74. Re3+ Kf2 75. Re2+ Kg1 76. Re1+ Kh2 77. cxb4 Rxb4 78. Rxe6 Be4
79. Rxe4 dxe4 80. f5 Kg2 81. Ke3 Rb2 82. d5 Rxc2 83. d6 c3 84. d7 Rd2 85. d8=Q
Rxd8 86. Bxd8 h4 87. gxh4 g3 88. f6 c2 89. Kd2 e3+ 90. Kxc2 e2 91. Ba5 1-0

[Event "Grand Slam Final 5th"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao"]
[Date "2012.09.25"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Vallejo Pons, Francisco"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2697"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2012.09.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 151"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.11.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.11.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5 4. dxe5 ({Zur Hauptvariante der
Philidorverteidigung führt} 4. Nf3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. O-O O-O) 4... dxe5 5.
Qxd8+ Kxd8 6. Nf3 (6. Bg5 Be6 7. O-O-O+ Nbd7 8. Nf3 Bd6 {ist Zugumstellung.} (
8... Kc8 $5)) ({Die Alternative ist} 6. Bc4 Be6 (6... Ke8 $5) 7. Bxe6 fxe6)
6... Bd6 7. Bg5 Be6 8. O-O-O Nbd7 {Laut Datenbankstatistik macht Schwarz mit
dieser Position bemerkenswerte 64%} 9. Nb5 Ke7 10. Nxd6 cxd6 11. Bb5 ({Auf} 11.
Nd2 {folgt auch} h6 12. Bh4 g5 13. Bg3) 11... Rhd8 ({Bisher sah man hier} 11...
Nc5 {z.B.:} 12. Rhe1 a6 13. Bf1 Rac8 14. Kb1 b5 15. Nd2 h6 16. Bxf6+ Kxf6 $11 {
Rajkovic,L (2208)-Colovic,D (2356) Vrnjacka Banja 2007, 0-1 (43)}) 12. Nd2 h6
13. Bh4 g5 14. Bg3 a6 15. Bxd7 {Das Läuferpaar ist hier nichts wert.} Rxd7 16.
f3 Rc8 17. Kb1 Nh5 18. Nf1 ({Auch nach} 18. Bf2 Nf4 19. g3 Nh3 20. Be3 (20. Bb6
Rc6 21. Be3 f5) 20... f5 {liegt die Initiative bei Schwarz.}) 18... f5 19. exf5
Bxf5 20. Ne3 Bg6 21. Rd2 Ke6 22. b3 b5 23. Kb2 d5 {Fast zwangläufig ist Weiß
aus der Eröffnung heraus in eine passive Position geraten.} 24. Re1 Nxg3 25.
hxg3 h5 26. c3 {Schwarz drohte b5-b4 oder d5-d4 und das Feld c3 wird schwach.}
d4 27. cxd4 Rxd4 28. Rxd4 exd4 {mit der kleinen Pointe, dass Weiß keinen
wirksamen Springerabzug hat.} 29. Nc2+ (29. Nc4+ Kf6 {und der Springer gerät
auf Abwege.} (29... Kd5 $4 30. Nb6+)) 29... Kd5 30. Nb4+ Kd6 31. Rc1 (31. Nxa6
Rc2+ 32. Ka3 Rxg2 {und die weißen Königsflügelbauern fallen.}) 31... Rxc1
32. Kxc1 h4 33. gxh4 gxh4 34. Nxa6 ({Die Alternative war} 34. Kd2 a5 (34... Ke5
35. Ke2 Kf4 36. Kf2 a5 37. Nd5+ Ke5 38. Ne7 Be8 {reicht wohl auch für Schwarz.
}) 35. Nc2 (35. Nd3 Bxd3 36. Kxd3 Ke5 $19) 35... Bxc2 36. Kxc2 {mit gewonnenem
Bauernendspiel für Schwarz.} Ke5 37. Kd3 Kf4 38. Kxd4 Kg3 $19) 34... Bd3 35.
Nb4 Bf1 36. Kd2 Bxg2 37. Ke2 Bh3 38. a4 (38. Nd3 Bf5 39. Nf2 b4 40. f4 h3 41.
Kf3 Kd5 42. Nd1 Bb1 $19) 38... Bf5 39. axb5 d3+ 40. Ke3 h3 41. Nxd3 Bxd3 42.
Kd4 0-1

[Event "Grand Slam Final 5th"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao"]
[Date "2012.09.26"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2778"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2012.09.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 151"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.11.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.11.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Nbd2 d5 6. Bg2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. Ne5
c5 9. dxc5 Qc7 10. Ndf3 bxc5 11. cxd5 Nxd5 12. Qc2 Nc6 13. Nxc6 Qxc6 14. Bg5 f6
15. Bd2 Qb6 16. Rfe1 Rfd8 17. a3 Rab8 18. Rab1 Bf8 19. h4 Qb3 20. Qe4 Nb6 21.
Bc3 Bb7 22. Qg4 e5 23. Nd2 Qf7 24. Bxb7 Rxb7 25. Nf1 Nc4 26. Red1 Rdb8 27. Qe4
Nd6 28. Qc2 Qg6 29. Qxg6 hxg6 30. Nd2 Kf7 31. e3 Nb5 32. Ba5 Nd6 33. Rbc1 Rb5
34. Bc7 R8b7 35. Bxd6 Bxd6 36. Nc4 Be7 37. e4 Ke6 38. Kg2 Rb8 39. Rd2 Rd8 40.
Rxd8 Bxd8 41. Rd1 Be7 42. Rd3 Rb8 43. Kf3 Rb7 44. Ke2 Rb8 45. Kd2 f5 46. Rd5
Rd8 47. Rxd8 Bxd8 48. Kd3 f4 49. Ke2 g5 50. gxf4 exf4 51. hxg5 Bxg5 52. Kf3 Bh4
53. a4 a6 54. b3 g5 55. Na5 Ke5 56. Nc6+ Kd6 57. Na5 Ke5 58. Nc4+ Kd4 59. a5
Bxf2 60. Kxf2 Kxe4 61. Nd6+ Kd5 62. Ne8 Kc6 63. Nf6 Kb5 64. Ne4 g4 65. Ke2 Kxa5
66. Nxc5 Kb4 67. Nxa6+ Kxb3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grand Slam Final 5th"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao"]
[Date "2012.09.28"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2816"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2012.09.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 151"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.11.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.11.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nbd2 Be6 7. O-O Bd6 8.
b3 Nd7 9. Nc4 Bxc4 10. bxc4 O-O 11. Rb1 b6 12. g3 f5 13. exf5 Rxf5 14. Qe2 Nc5
15. Be3 Ne6 16. Nd2 Qf6 17. Qg4 Rf8 18. Ne4 Qf7 19. a4 h5 20. Qe2 Be7 21. a5
Qg6 22. axb6 axb6 23. Kh1 Rf3 24. Rbe1 Bb4 25. Ra1 Qg4 26. Qd1 Qh3 27. Bf4 Bc3
28. Qxf3 Bxa1 29. Qg2 Qf5 30. Bd2 Bd4 31. h3 Bc5 32. Bc3 Be7 33. Re1 b5 34. Kg1
b4 35. Bb2 Bd6 36. h4 Be7 37. Kh2 Ra8 38. Ra1 Rxa1 39. Bxa1 Nc5 40. Nd2 Bf6 41.
Bb2 b3 42. Nxb3 Nxb3 43. cxb3 Qxd3 44. Qxc6 Qc2 45. Qe8+ Kh7 46. Qxh5+ Kg8 47.
Qe8+ Kh7 48. Qh5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grand Slam Final 5th"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao"]
[Date "2012.09.29"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E18"]
[WhiteElo "2780"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2012.09.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 151"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.11.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.11.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3 Ne4 8. Bd2
Bf6 9. Qc2 Nxd2 10. Qxd2 d6 11. e4 Nd7 12. Rad1 g6 13. h4 Qe7 14. Rfe1 Bg7 15.
Qc2 c5 16. b3 cxd4 17. Nxd4 a6 18. Qd2 Rfd8 19. Qe3 Rab8 20. Rd2 Nf6 21. Bf3
Qc7 22. Red1 Nd7 23. Bg2 Rbc8 24. Bh3 Re8 25. Nde2 Bf8 26. h5 Nf6 27. hxg6 hxg6
28. Bg2 Ba8 29. Bf3 Qc5 30. Qxc5 Rxc5 31. Na4 Rc7 32. Nxb6 Bxe4 33. Kg2 Rb8 34.
Na4 d5 35. cxd5 Bxf3+ 36. Kxf3 Nxd5 37. Nf4 Nxf4 38. gxf4 Rb5 39. Nb2 Rf5 40.
Nc4 g5 41. Rd4 Kg7 42. Rg1 Bc5 43. Re4 Kf6 44. Rxg5 Rxg5 45. fxg5+ Kxg5 46. Ne3
Ba7 47. Rc4 Rxc4 48. Nxc4 Kf6 49. b4 e5 50. a4 Ke6 51. b5 e4+ 52. Kxe4 axb5 53.
axb5 Bxf2 54. b6 f5+ 55. Kf3 Bxb6 56. Nxb6 f4 57. Nd5 Kxd5 58. Kxf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grand Slam Final 5th"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao"]
[Date "2012.10.08"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C00"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[EventDate "2012.09.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 151"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.11.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.11.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d3 {The French Defence was a huge surprise to me, so I decided to
employ the same strategy that had brought me my only victory so far in the
tournament, namely push the d-pawn one square forward as early as possible.
Die Französische Verteidigung war eine Riesenüberraschung für mich, daher
beschloss ich, dieselbe Strategie anzuwenden, die mir meinen einzigen Sieg
bislang in dem Turnier eingetragen hatte, nämlich, den d-Bauern so früh wie
möglich ein Feld vorzuschieben.} d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. Ngf3 Nc6 {A perfectly
reasonable way of avoiding the "fearsome" King's Indian Attack, starting with
4...c5 5.g3 and so on.  Ein absolut vernünftiger Weg, den "furchterregenden"
Königsindischen Angriff zu vermeiden, beginnend mit 4...c5 5.g3 und so weiter.}
5. c3 Bd6 {Looks a little weird, but is actually quite logical. If immediately
5...e5, or 5...dxe4 6.dxe4 e5, then Black would have to reckon with the
b4-push. Sieht ein wenig seltsam aus, ist aber eigentlich ganz logisch. Falls
sofort 5...e5, oder 5...dxe4 6.dxe4 e5, dann müsste Schwarz mit dem Vorstoß b4
rechnen.} 6. Be2 {It seemed to me that the bishop would have more work here
than on g2 after a subsequent dxe4 dxe4 e5, and besides, this one seemed to
fit better with ideas of pushing b4. Mir schien, dass der Läufer hier nach
anschließendem dxe4 dxe4 e5 mehr Arbeit hätte als auf g2, und außerdem schien
dieser Zug besser zu Ideen mit dem Vorstoß b4 zu passen.} O-O 7. O-O (7. b4 {
here or on the previous move, could have been well met with hier oder im
vorigen Zug hätte gut begegnet werden können mit} dxe4 8. dxe4 a5 9. b5 Ne5 {
and White has gained some space, but also weakened some squares, so Black
should be doing fine. und Weiß hat zwar einigen Raum gewonnen, aber auch ein
paar Felder geschwächt, daher sollte Schwarz gut stehen.}) 7... a5 {Black had
several choices here: Schwarz hatte mehrere Möglichkeiten hier:} (7... e5 {
would be met by würde beantwortet werden mit} 8. b4 {and White obviously has
an excellent version of the Philidor. Whether that would be sufficient for an
advantage though, is quite unclear. und Weiß hat offensichtlich eine
ausgezeichnete Version des Philidor. Ob dies allerdings zu einem Vorteil
reichen würde, ist völlig unklar.}) (7... b6 8. Re1 Bb7 9. Bf1 {seems a little
artificial for Black. scheint ein wenig künstlich für Schwarz.}) (7... Re8 8.
Re1 a5 9. Bf1 e5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nc4 {would transpose to the game. würde zur
Partie überleiten.}) 8. Re1 e5 9. exd5 {Other Philidor-style moves like Bf1 or
b3 were certainly possible, but I felt like forcing things a bit. Andere
Philidor-gemäße Züge wie Bf1 oder b3 waren durchaus möglich, aber mir war
danach, die Dinge ein bisschen zu forcieren.} Nxd5 10. Nc4 Re8 11. Bf1 Bg4 12.
h3 (12. g3 {is not as accurate, as Black can play ist nicht so genau, denn
Schwarz kann} Qd7 {when the annoying bishop cannot be kicked away with h3. I
actually once tried that in a similar position in a blitz game against
Ponomariov, who with a puzzled look in his face simply captured the pawn.
spielen, wonach sich der lästige Läufer nicht mit h3 vertreiben lässt.
Tatsächlich hatte ich dies einmal in ähnlicher Stellung in einer Blitzpartie
gegen Ponomariov versucht, der mit verdutztem Gesichtsausdruck einfach den
Bauern nahm.}) 12... Bh5 13. g3 {Once the e4-pawn is not there to obstruct it,
the bishop is re-deployed to the long diagonal. Nachdem es keinen e4-Bauern
mehr gibt, der ihn behindert, wird der Läufer auf die lange Diagonale
überführt.} ({Going on a fishing expedition with Auf Fischfang zu gehen mit} 
13. g4 Bg6 14. Qb3 {as the comp seems to recommend, would probably have
appealed to me on the next day against Paco, when I was in more of a
coffee-house mood. wie der Comp offenbar empfiehlt, hätte mir vermutlich am
nächsten Tag gegen Paco zugesagt, als ich eher in Kaffeehaus-Stimmung war.})
13... Nb6 {A decent move, made after a long period of thought. As you might
have guessed, by this point we were both way "out of book".  Ein ordentlicher
Zug, gespielt nach einer langen Denkphase. Wie Sie wohl erraten haben, waren
wir an dieser Stelle beide weit "aus dem Buch".} 14. Nxb6 cxb6 15. Bg2 b5 $2 {
This one however, is rather questionable, as will become apparent after a few
more moves. Dies allerdings ist ziemlich fragwürdig, wie sich nach ein paar
weiteren Zügen herausstellen wird.} (15... a4 {would have retained equal
chances. hätte gleiche Chancen bewahrt.}) 16. a4 $1 {Favourably fixing the
black queenside pawns on dark squares. Fixiert günstig die schwarzen
Damenflügelbauern auf dunklen Feldern.} b4 (16... bxa4 17. Qxa4 {also gives
Black plenty to worry about. gibt Schwarz ebenfalls viel, worüber er sich
sorgen muss.}) 17. Be3 Bc7 18. Qb3 {Now the queen is active, and soon the
knight will be brought to d2 and e4, when all the white minor pieces will be
much more active than their black counterparts. Nun steht die Dame aktiv, und
bald wird der Springer nach d2 und e4 gebracht werden, wonach alle weißen
Leichtfiguren weit aktiver sein werden als ihre schwarzen Gegenüber.} h6 {
It's not so easy to find a more useful move for Black here. Es ist nicht so
leicht, hier einen nützlichen Zug für Schwarz zu finden.} (18... Qxd3 $2 {
loses immediately: verliert sofort:} 19. Rad1 Qa6 (19... Qe4 20. Nh4 Bxd1 21.
Rxd1) 20. g4 Bg6 21. Bf1 {and the queen is trapped. und die Dame ist gefangen.}
) (18... Bxf3 19. Bxf3 Qxd3 {is possible, but even here Black has a very
unpleasant position after ist möglich, doch selbst hier hat Schwarz eine sehr
unangenehme Stellung nach} 20. Rad1 Qf5 21. Bg4 Qg6 22. Rd7 Rac8 23. Be2 $1 {
with the threat of Rxf7. mit der Drohung Rxf7.}) 19. Qc4 {According to a
Russian GM, this was the move of a 2nd category (1600) player. Laut einem
russischen GM war dies der Zug eines Spielers der 2. Kategorie (1600).} ({
He instead recommended Stattdessen empfahl er} 19. Nh4 {which looks very
attractive, as , was sehr attraktiv aussieht, da} Qxd3 (19... Qc8 {however,
bothered me a little, as after allerdings störte mich ein wenig, denn nach} 20.
g4 Qd8 $1 21. Nf5 Bg6 {it is not entirely clear what White has achieved ist
nicht gänzlich klar, was Weiß erreicht hat.}) 20. Rad1 Bxd1 21. Rxd1 Qh7 22.
Rd7 Re7 23. Bxc6 {wins. gewinnt.}) 19... bxc3 20. bxc3 e4 {Otherwise, the
pressure on the queenside would quickly have become unbearable. Ansonsten wäre
der Druck am Damenflügel schnell unerträglich geworden.} 21. dxe4 {I played
this and the next few moves quickly, as I couldn't wait to get to torture him
in the endgame. Dies und die nächsten paar Züge spielte ich schnell, denn ich
konnte es nicht erwarten, ihn im Endspiel zu quälen.} (21. Nd4 {would have
been even stronger. I would have probably have considered it had I noticed
that after wäre sogar noch stärker gewesen. Ich hätte es vermutlich erwogen,
wäre mir aufgefallen, dass nach} Ne5 22. Qb5 Nxd3 {The bishop is actually
hanging der Läufer tatsächlich hängt:} 23. Qxh5) 21... Bxf3 22. Bxf3 Ne5 23.
Qe2 Nxf3+ 24. Qxf3 Qd3 {The position has been simplified quite a bit, but I
had seen many moves ago that even in the endgame Black is far away from a draw.
Die Stellung wurde ziemlich vereinfacht, aber ich hatte viele Züge zuvor
gesehen, dass selbst im Endspiel Schwarz von einem Remis weit entfernt ist.}
25. Kg2 $1 {This is much stronger than Dies ist viel stärker als} (25. Rab1
Qxe4 26. Qxe4 Rxe4 27. Rxb7 Be5 {when Black is pretty close to a draw, e.g. ,
wonach Schwarz ziemlich nach am Remis ist, z.B.} 28. Bd2 Rxe1+ 29. Bxe1 Rc8 30.
Rb5 Bxc3 31. Bxc3 Rxc3) 25... Qxe4 26. Bd4 Qxf3+ (26... Qc6 27. Qxc6 bxc6 28.
Rxe8+ Rxe8 29. Rb1 {also gives Black a very difficult defence. gibt Schwarz
ebenfalls eine sehr schwierige Verteidigung.}) 27. Kxf3 b6 28. Rab1 Rac8 29.
Re4 g6 (29... h5 {seems logical, in order not to be stuck with a weak pawn on
a dark square, but then after wirkt logisch, um nicht mit einem schwachen
Bauern auf einem dunklen Feld sitzenzubleiben, aber dann nach} 30. Rb5 g6 31.
g4 hxg4+ 32. hxg4 {he might have to deal with a rook penetrating via the
h-file at some point. hätte er eventuell damit fertigwerden müssen, dass ein
Turm an irgendeiner Stelle über die h-Linie eindringt.}) (29... f6 {might be
the best way to arrange the pawns, but even here, after an eventual g4-h5,
Black will have problems on both flanks. ist womöglich der beste Weg, die
Bauern aufzustellen, doch selbst hier, nach schließlichem g4-h5, wird Schwarz
auf beiden Flanken Probleme haben.}) 30. g4 $1 {Fixing the pawn on h6. Fixiert
den Bauern auf h6.} Kf8 31. h4 Rxe4 32. Kxe4 Re8+ 33. Kd3 Re6 34. Be3 Kg7 35.
Rb5 Bd8 36. h5 Rd6+ 37. Kc4 Rc6+ (37... f5 {was suggested by Caruana as a
possible improvement after the game. I was intending to keep the pressure with
wurde von Caruana nach der Partie als mögliche Verbesserung vorgeschlagen. Ich
hatte vor, den Druck aufrechtzuerhalten mit} 38. f3 {when Black can exchange a
couple of pawns, but is still a long way from a draw - , wonach Schwarz zwar
ein paar Bauern tauschen kann, ein Remis aber noch immer in weiter Ferne liegt
-} fxg4 39. fxg4 gxh5 40. gxh5 $16) 38. Kd5 Re6 39. Bd4+ Kf8 40. f4 {With the
pawn coming to f5, I felt pretty sure that I was winning. White just gains
more and more ground, and eventually Black cannot hold on to everything.
Angesichts des nach f5 kommenden Bauern war ich ziemlich sicher, dass ich
gewinne. Weiß erobert einfach mehr und mehr Boden, und am Ende kann Schwarz
nicht mehr alles festhalten.} Bc7 41. f5 Rd6+ 42. Ke4 Rc6 43. Rb1 Ke8 {
Allowing a more or less forced win, but the position was lost in any case.
Lässt einen mehr oder weniger forcierten Gewinn zu, aber die Stellung war in
jedem Fall verloren.} (43... g5 {closes the kingside, but now the king creates
havoc on the queenside, while Bg7 is always an issue. schließt den
Königsflügel, aber jetzt wütet der König am Damenflügel, während Bg7 immer ein
Thema ist.} 44. Kd5 Rd6+ 45. Kc4 Ke7 46. Kb5 Kd7 47. Ka6 Rc6 (47... Kc6 48.
Bxb6 Rd8 49. Rb5 Ra8+ 50. Ba7 $18) 48. Kb7 Rc4 49. Bg7 $1 Bd6 (49... Rxg4 50.
Rd1+ Bd6 51. Be5) 50. Bxh6 Rxg4 51. Bg7 Rh4 52. Rd1 Ke7 53. Kc6 $1 Rc4+ 54.
Kxb6 Rxa4 55. Rh1 {and the h-pawn will cost Black a rook. und der h-Bauer wird
Schwarz einen Turm kosten.}) (43... gxh5 44. gxh5 Rc4 45. Ra1 Rc6 46. Rg1 Rd6 (
46... Rc4 {allows White to finish in style: erlaut Weiß, stilvoll zu vollenden:
} 47. Kd5 Rxa4 48. Rg4 $1 Ra1 49. Kc6 Bh2 50. Bg7+ Ke8 51. Re4+ Kd8 52. Bf6+ {
and mate next and mate next}) 47. Be5 $1 (47. Rg7 $4 Rxd4+) 47... Rc6 48. Bg7+
Ke7 49. Bd4 Kf8 50. Rg7 {and the rook penetrates with decisive effect. und der
Turm dringt mit entscheidender Wirkung ein.}) 44. hxg6 $1 {Reducing the number
of pawns, but I had seen a more or less forced win. Reduziert die Anzahl der
Bauern, doch ich hatte einen mehr oder weniger forcierten Gewinn gesehen.} fxg6
45. Rh1 Kf7 $6 (45... gxf5+ 46. gxf5 Bd8 {was certainly the most tenacious
defence, and the line I had spent the most time calculating: war sicherlich
die zäheste Verteidigung und das Abspiel, für das ich die meiste Bedenkzeit
aufgewandt hatte:} (46... Rc4 47. Kd5 Rxa4 48. Rxh6 {wins easily, despite the
limited material gewinnt leicht trotz des begrenzten Materials.}) 47. f6 $1
Bxf6 48. Rxh6 Rxc3 $1 {Other moves lose rather trivially Andere Züge verlieren
ziemlich trivial.} 49. Bxf6 (49. Bxc3 $4 Bxc3 50. Rxb6 {is a tablebase draw!
ist ein Tablebase-Remis!}) 49... Ra3 (49... Rc4+ 50. Kd5 Rxa4 51. Ke6 Re4+ 52.
Be5) 50. Rh7 $1 (50. Kd5 Kf7 $11) 50... Rxa4+ 51. Kd5 Ra2 52. Ke6 Re2+ 53. Be5
Rf2 54. Rb7 Rd2 55. Rxb6 {and the tablebase shows a win in 23 moves. In fact,
the win is quite simple as soon as White captures the pawn, as was shown many
times, for instance in the recent game Grischuk-Kamsky from the Olympiad. und
die Tablebase zeigt einen Sieg in 23 Zügen. Tatsächlich ist der Gewinn
ziemlich einfach, sobald Weiß den Bauern schlägt, wie viele Male gezeigt wurde,
zum Beispiel in der kürzlich gespielten Partie Grischuk-Kamsky bei der
Olympiade.}) 46. Kd5 Rd6+ 47. Kc4 {Caruana spent a lot of time on this move
and the next, but in vain. Caruana verbrauchte eine Menge Zeit für diesen Zug
und den nächsten, aber vergeblich.} gxf5 (47... g5 48. Kb5 {holds out longer,
but the winning plan is quite clear even here hält länger, aber der Gewinnplan
ist selbst hier recht klar:} Bd8 49. Ka6 Rc6 50. Rh3 $1 (50. Kb7 Rc7+ {is less
accurate ist weniger genau.}) 50... Rd6 (50... Kg8 51. f6 $1) 51. Kb7 Ke8 52.
Rh1 Kf7 53. Kc8 {with total zugzwang. Check for yourselves! mit totalem
Zugzwang. Überprüft es selbst!}) 48. gxf5 Bd8 49. f6 {I played this
immediately, as I had double and triple-checked the lines so many times
already while he was thinking. Ich zog dies sofort, da ich die Abspiele
bereits so oft doppelt und dreifach gecheckt hatte, während er nachdachte.}
Bxf6 (49... Kg6 50. Rg1+ Kf7 51. Rg7+ Ke8 52. Rg6 Kf7 53. Rxh6 {and there is
nothing Black can do. und es gibt nichts, was Schwarz tun kann.}) 50. Rxh6 Be7
(50... Ke7 51. Bxf6+ Rxf6 52. Rxf6 Kxf6 53. Kb5) 51. Rxd6 Bxd6 52. Kb5 Ke6 53.
Bxb6 Kd7 54. c4 Kc8 55. Bxa5 {It only remains for White not to let Black sac
the bishop for the c-pawn. I (and a suspect quite a lot of other people) knew
the winning method from the famous game Fischer-Keres, Zurich 59. Nun muss
Weiß nur noch aufpassen, dass Schwarz nicht seinen Läufer für den c-Bauern
opfert. Die Gewinnmethode kannte ich (wie vermutlich viele andere auch) aus
der berühmten Partie Fischer-Keres, Zürich 59.} Kb7 56. Bb4 Bf4 57. c5 Ka7 58.
c6 Kb8 59. a5 Ka7 60. a6 Ka8 61. Bc5 Bb8 62. Kc4 Bc7 63. Kd5 Bd8 64. Ke6 Bc7
65. Kd7 Ba5 66. Be7 {Black resigned, as Bd8 followed by c7 is coming up.
Schwarz gab auf, denn es steht Bd8 nebst c7 ins Haus.} 1-0

[Event "Grand Slam Final 5th"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao"]
[Date "2012.10.09"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vallejo Pons, Francisco"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2697"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2012.09.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 151"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.11.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.11.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. exd5 exd5 5. Bd3 Nf6 6. Nge2 Bg4 7. O-O O-O 8.
f3 Bh5 9. Nf4 Bg6 10. Nxg6 hxg6 11. Ne2 Re8 12. Bg5 Be7 13. Ng3 Nbd7 14. f4 Nh7
15. Qf3 c6 16. h4 Ndf8 17. Rae1 Qc7 18. Bxe7 Rxe7 19. Re5 f6 20. Rxe7 Qxe7 21.
h5 gxh5 22. Qxh5 Qf7 23. Qg4 g6 24. Nf5 Kh8 25. Nh4 f5 26. Qh3 Qe6 27. Kf2 Re8
28. Nf3 Re7 29. Ne5 Nd7 30. Rh1 Nxe5 31. dxe5 c5 32. b3 c4 33. bxc4 dxc4 34.
Be2 g5 35. g3 Qb6+ 36. Kg2 Qe3 37. Kf1 Rf7 38. Qh5 Qxg3 39. Qxf7 Qxf4+ 40. Kg2
Qe4+ 41. Bf3 Qxc2+ 42. Kg3 f4+ 1-0

[Event "Grand Slam Final 5th"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao"]
[Date "2012.10.11"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C18"]
[WhiteElo "2778"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2012.09.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 151"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.11.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.11.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Ne7 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. Qg4 O-O 8. Bd3
f5 9. exf6 Rxf6 10. Bg5 Rf7 11. Qh5 g6 12. Qd1 Qa5 13. Bd2 Nd7 14. Nf3 c4 15.
Be2 Nc6 16. Ng5 Re7 17. f4 Nf6 18. O-O Bd7 19. a4 Rf8 20. Bf3 Nd8 21. Qc1 Nf7
22. Qa3 Ree8 23. Nxf7 Rxf7 24. Rfe1 Bc6 25. Qb4 Qxb4 26. cxb4 Ne4 27. Bxe4 dxe4
28. c3 Bd5 29. Be3 Kf8 30. h3 Ke7 31. Kh2 h5 32. h4 Rf5 33. Kg3 Rg8 34. Kh2 Re8
35. Kg3 Rg8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grand Slam Final 5th"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao"]
[Date "2012.10.12"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2780"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2012.09.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 151"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.11.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.11.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ {During the whole tournament Carlsen consistently
and mostly sucessfully avoided any heated theoretical debates in the openings,
opting for lines such as 2.d3, or a quick exd5 against the French Defence.} ({
Also in this game he avoids the Open Sicilian with} 3. d4 {, his last Najdorf
against the World Champion was rather disappointing:} cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3
a6 6. g3 e6 7. Bg2 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. Nce2 Qc7 10. b3 e5 $5 11. Nf5 Bxf5 12.
exf5 d5 $1 13. Bxd5 Rd8 14. c4 Nxd5 15. cxd5 Qa5 16. Qd2 Qxd2 17. Bxd2 Rxd5 18.
Be3 Nc6 {1/2,Carlsen,M (2814)-Anand,V (2810)/Wijk aan Zee/2011/}) 3... Bd7 {
The most solid response and the result of our game will hardly change this
long-standing verdict.} ({However, there have been some recent developments
after the more enterprising} 3... Nd7 $5 {- see the notes to Bologan-Topalov,
ECC Eilat 2012.}) 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. c4 {This continuation is White's best
chance to fight for an opening edge - he puts his pawns on the light squares,
as he has just exchanged the light-squared bishops.} (5. O-O {occurs only
rarely in top-level games and is generally considered too soft:} Nf6 (5... Nc6
6. Qe2 g6 7. c3 Bg7 8. Rd1 e5 $5 9. b4 cxb4 10. cxb4 Nge7 11. d4 exd4 12. Bb2
O-O 13. b5 Ne5 14. Nxd4 Rac8 15. Nd2 d5 16. h3 Rfe8 17. Rab1 Qc7 18. Rbc1 Qb6
19. Rxc8 Nxc8 $5 20. exd5 Nd6 21. Qf1 Rc8 $44 {[%csl Rb5,Rd5] Short,N (2698)
-Anand,V (2811)/London/2011/}) 6. Qe2 ({Simply boring is} 6. Re1 Nc6 7. c3 e6
8. d4 cxd4 9. cxd4 d5 10. e5 Ne4 11. Nbd2 Nxd2 12. Bxd2 Be7 13. Rc1 O-O 14. Rc3
Rfc8 15. a3 Bd8 16. Qb1 Ne7 17. Rec1 Rxc3 18. Rxc3 Rc8 19. Qc2 h6 20. Rxc8 Qxc8
21. Qxc8 Nxc8 $11 {1/2,Kuzubov,Y (2623)-Areshchenko,A (2691)/UKR-ch Kiev/2012/}
) 6... Nc6 7. Rd1 g6 8. c3 Qg4 9. Re1 Ne5 10. Nxe5 Qxe2 11. Rxe2 dxe5 12. Na3
Bg7 13. Nc4 Nd7 14. d3 O-O 15. a4 b6 16. Be3 Rfd8 17. Rd2 Rac8 18. g4 Nf8 19.
f4 exf4 20. Bxf4 Ne6 21. Be3 Bf6 22. Rad1 Bg5 23. Kf2 Bf4 24. h4 h6 $11 {
Mamedov,R (2634)-Negi,P (2664)/Istanbul olm/2012/}) 5... Nf6 {Black intends to
develop his kingside first and possibly use the c-file before he plays Nc6.} ({
The alternative is} 5... Nc6 6. Nc3 g6 7. d4 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Bg7 9. Nde2 $5 {
seems more testing, as after} (9. Be3 {commits the bishop, Black has
reasonable counterplay after} Nf6 10. h3 $5 (10. f3 O-O 11. O-O a6 12. a4 e6
13. Nde2 (13. Rc1 Ne5 14. b3 d5 15. cxd5 exd5 16. Nxd5 Nxd5 17. exd5 Rfe8 18.
Bf2 Qxd5 19. Qc2 Qd7 20. Rcd1 Rac8 21. Qb1 Qc7 22. Rfe1 Nd7 $11 {Adams,M (2722)
-Dominguez Perez,L (2725)/London/2012/}) 13... Rac8 14. Rc1 Rfe8 15. Bf2 Qe7
16. b3 Nd7 17. Nd4 Nb4 18. Kh1 Nc5 19. Bg1 h5 20. Rb1 Qd8 21. Nde2 Qc7 22. Qd2
Red8 23. Nd1 Nc6 24. Ne3 f5 $5 25. exf5 gxf5 26. Nc2 Qf7 27. Nf4 Ne7 {Tiviakov,
S (2656)-Nakamura,H (2775)/Hoogeveen/2012/ (30)} 28. Rfd1 $13) 10... O-O 11.
O-O a6 12. a4 Rfc8 13. b3 e6 (13... Qd8 14. Qd2 Nd7 15. Rab1 Nc5 16. Rfd1 Na5
17. Qc2 Rab8 18. b4 Nxc4 19. bxc5 Na3 20. Qb3 Nxb1 21. Nxb1 dxc5 22. Ne6 Qa5
23. Nxg7 Kxg7 24. Nc3 b5 25. axb5 axb5 26. Nd5 Qa4 27. Qb2+ f6 28. Ra1 Qxe4 29.
Ra7 {1-0 Spasov,V (2581)-Georgiev,K (2423)/Sunny Beach 2012/CB37_2012}) 14. Rc1
d5 15. Nxc6 bxc6 16. e5 Ne8 17. f4 a5 (17... Qd8 $5 $11 {prevents both a5 and
Ne4.}) 18. Ne4 Bf8 19. Rf3 Qd8 20. Nc5 Rcb8 21. Bf2 Nc7 22. Qe2 Rb4 23. Kh2 Be7
$14 {/<=>,Carlsen,M (2826)-Nepomniachtchi,I (2730)/Moscow/2011/}) 9... Nf6 10.
f3 O-O 11. O-O a6 12. a4 e6 {White can develop his bishop more actively with}
13. Bg5 h6 14. Bh4 Rfd8 15. Rb1 Qc7 16. Kh1 Rd7 17. Rc1 Re8 18. Nd5 exd5 $6 (
18... Qd8 $1 19. Nxf6+ Bxf6 20. Bxf6 Qxf6 $11) 19. cxd5 Qb6 20. Bf2 Qxb2 21.
dxc6 bxc6 22. Rxc6 Rdd8 23. Rxa6 Qb4 24. Rb6 Qc4 25. Nd4 $14 {/+/-,Caruana,F 
(2773)-Anand,V (2780)/Sao Paulo/Bilbao/2012/ This game was played earlier.
Although Black's position is quite playable, Anand presumably wanted to give
the encounter with Carlsen a different character.}) 6. Nc3 g6 (6... Nc6 7. d4 (
7. O-O g6 8. d4 cxd4 9. Nxd4 Bg7 {[%cal Rf6e4]} 10. Nde2 Qe6 $5 $13 {Kasparov,
G (2851)-The World/Internet/1999/ leads to complications, which Black
ultimately doesn't have to fear. See the notes to this game in CBM 74.}) 7...
cxd4 8. Nxd4 {and now:} {More often than not Black avoids these complications
and simply develops with} g6 {Now White can avoid the continuation from
Kasparov-The World with} (8... Qg4 {is an attempt to force quick
simplification:} {However, here Black has to reckon mainly with} 9. Qxg4 (9.
O-O Qxd1 10. Rxd1 Nxd4 (10... Rc8 11. Nde2 g6 12. f3 Bg7 13. b3 Nd7 14. Be3 O-O
15. Rac1 b6 16. Nd5 Rfd8 17. Nec3 e6 18. Nf4 Nc5 19. Nfe2 a6 20. Rd2 Rd7 21.
Rcd1 Bf8 22. Bf4 Rcd8 23. Bg5 Rc8 24. h3 h6 25. Bf4 Rcd8 26. g4 Kg7 27. Kg2 Be7
28. Be3 Rb7 29. Nd4 Rc8 30. Nxc6 Rxc6 31. Bf4 b5 $132 {Rozentalis,E (2623)
-Alterman,B (2580)/ISR-chT/2010/}) 11. Rxd4 Rc8 12. Bg5 Nd7 13. Rc1 g6 14. Nd5
h6 15. Be3 Bg7 16. Rdd1 a6 17. b4 e6 18. Nb6 Nxb6 19. Bxb6 Ke7 20. c5 Be5 21.
Rd3 Rc6 22. a4 Rhc8 23. a5 dxc5 24. Bxc5+ Ke8 25. Rcd1 Bf6 26. Kf1 Rd8 27. Ke2
Rcc8 $11 {Cheparinov,I (2621)-Lupulescu,C (2546)/EU-ch Warsaw/2005/}) 9... Nxg4
10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Bf4 {A more enterprising try is the sacrificial} g5 $5 (11...
Rb8 12. h3 Ne5 13. Bxe5 dxe5 14. Na4 (14. O-O-O e6 15. Na4 h5 16. Rd3 Rh6 17.
Rhd1 Rg6 18. g3 Rf6 19. f3 Rg6 20. g4 hxg4 21. hxg4 Rh6 22. a3 Be7 23. Kc2 Rh2+
24. R1d2 Rh1 25. Rd1 Rh2+ 26. R1d2 Rh1 27. c5 Rb5 28. b4 a5 29. Rb3 $14 {
Laznicka,V (2593)-Gashimov,V (2658)/Moscow/2007/}) 14... e6 15. Ke2 Kd7 16.
Rhd1+ Kc7 17. Rd3 Be7 18. Rad1 Rhd8 19. Rxd8 Bxd8 20. a3 a5 21. c5 Be7 22. Kd3
f5 23. f3 Rd8+ 24. Kc2 Rb8 25. Kc3 fxe4 26. fxe4 Rf8 27. b4 axb4+ 28. axb4 Bh4
29. Nb6 Rf7 30. Kb3 Bf2 31. Rd6 Bd4 32. Nc4 Rf1 33. Na5 $18 {Ni Hua (2705)
-Shengelia,D (2569)/ESP-chT Sabadell/2008/}) 12. Bxg5 Bg7 $5 (12... Ne5 13. b3
Rg8 14. Bh4 Rg4 (14... Bg7 15. Kd2 a5 16. Rab1 a4 17. Nxa4 Bh6+ 18. Kc2 Rg4 (
18... Rxg2 $142 $132) 19. Bg3 Nxc4 20. bxc4 Rxa4 21. Rb8+ Kd7 22. Kb3 Ra7 23.
f3 Rg5 24. e5 dxe5 25. Rd1+ Ke6 26. a4 $36 {Zhang Zhong (2608)-Petrosian,T 
(2581)/Tiayuan/2005/}) 15. Bg3 Bg7 16. Kd2 Ng6 17. f3 Rg5 18. f4 $142 (18. Rag1
Bd4 19. Rc1 Kd7 20. Ne2 Bb6 21. h4 Ra5 22. Rc2 Rg8 23. Be1 Ne5 24. Nf4 Ra3 25.
Ke2 Bd4 $44 26. Bb4 {1/2,Baklan,V (2585)-Atalik,S (2585)/YUG-chT Vrnjacka
Banja/1998/}) 18... Rg4 (18... Ra5 19. a4 Rb8 20. Kc2 f5 21. Rae1 Kd7 22. Rhf1
e6 23. exf5 Rxf5 24. Ne4 Rbf8 25. Rd1 d5 26. Nc5+ Kd6 27. Nd3 $14 {/+/-,Soltau,
A (2632)-Ugge,A (2567)/corr/2005/}) 19. Raf1 h5 20. Nd1 Bh6 21. Nf2 Bxf4+ 22.
Ke2 Rg5 23. Nh3 Rxg3 24. hxg3 Bxg3 25. Ng5 $14 {/~~ Atalik}) 13. Ke2 Rb8 14.
Nd1 (14. Rab1 $5 Rg8 15. Bf4 Bd4 $44) 14... Rb4 15. Rc1 Bxb2 16. Rb1 Ba3 17.
Rb3 Rxb3 18. axb3 Kd7 19. Ne3 Rg8 20. h4 Nxe3 21. Bxe3 Rxg2 22. Kf3 Rg8 23. Ra1
Bb4 $11 {Jansa,V (2490)-Trapl,J (2340)/Ostrava/1976/}) 9. Nde2 Bg7 10. f3 {
- 5...Nc6 , which transposes back to Caruana-Anand, mentioned above.}) 7. d4
cxd4 8. Nxd4 Bg7 9. f3 ({The other main try is} 9. h3 {, when} Qc7 $5 {has
recently become popular:} 10. Qe2 (10. b3 {allows the simplifying operation}
Qa5 11. Bd2 Nxe4 $1 12. Nxe4 Qe5 13. Qb1 f5 14. Bc3 Qxe4+ 15. Qxe4 fxe4 16. Nb5
Bxc3+ 17. Nxc3 Rf8 18. Nxe4 (18. O-O Na6 19. Rfe1 Nc5 20. Rad1 Kd7 21. Re3 Rac8
22. Rd4 Rf4 23. Nd5 Rf7 24. Rd2 Rc6 25. b4 Na4 26. Rxe4 e6 27. Ne3 Nc3 28. Red4
e5 29. R4d3 Ne4 30. Re2 Ke6 $11 {Bologan,V (2665)-Naiditsch,A (2712)/ESP-chT
Melilla/2011/}) 18... Rf5 (18... Nc6 19. Rd1 Rf5 20. O-O O-O-O 21. f4 Rdf8 22.
g3 Kd7 23. Nc3 a6 24. Nd5 b5 $132 {Movsesian,S (2751)-Dominguez Perez,L (2717)/
Wijk aan Zee/2009/}) 19. O-O Kd7 20. Rad1 Na6 21. Rfe1 Raf8 22. Re2 Re5 23. g3
Nc5 $11 {1/2,Movsesian,S (2711)-Svidler,P (2741)/EUCup Ohrid/2009/}) 10... Nc6
11. Nc2 O-O 12. O-O a6 (12... Rfc8 13. b3 a6 14. Bb2 (14. Bd2 $5) 14... Qa5 15.
Ne3 Nd4 16. Qe1 Ne6 17. Rb1 Nf4 18. Ba1 b5 19. Ncd5 Qxe1 20. Nxf6+ Bxf6 21.
Rfxe1 Bxa1 22. Rxa1 Kf8 23. Kf1 Nd3 24. Red1 Nc5 $11 {Alavkin,A (2460)-Kokarev,
D (2603)/Kazan/2009/}) 13. Bd2 e6 14. Rac1 Rfe8 15. Be3 $146 (15. Ne3 Nd4 16.
Qd3 Nd7 17. Kh1 Nc5 18. Qb1 Rac8 19. b4 Nd7 20. Qd3 Qb8 21. f4 b5 $132 {
/=/+,Malakhov,V (2715)-Hracek,Z (2606)/EU Cup Ohrid/2009/}) 15... Ne5 16. Na3
Rac8 17. b3 Qa5 18. Nab1 d5 19. f4 Nc6 20. e5 Nh5 21. Qf2 $6 (21. g4 Ng3 22.
Qf2 Nxf1 23. Bb6 Qb4 24. Bc5 $11) 21... d4 $1 22. Bxd4 Nxd4 23. Qxd4 g5 $1 24.
fxg5 Bxe5 25. Qf2 Bf4 (25... Ng3 $1 26. Rfe1 Bd6 $40 {Safarli}) 26. Ne4 Bxc1
27. Rxc1 Qe5 28. Re1 Kh8 29. Nbd2 $36 {Tiviakov,S (2656)-Hou,Y (2623)/
Hoogeveen/2012/}) (9. O-O Nc6 $132 {once again leads to Kasparov-The World.})
9... Qc7 $5 {With f3 instead of h3 this move is still rare - Black doesn't
have the blow on e4 from the previous note!} ({The standard continuation is} 
9... O-O 10. Be3 (10. O-O Rc8 11. b3 d5 $1 {is Ivanchuk's brilliant idea,
Black easily equalised in the stem game} 12. exd5 Nxd5 13. Nxd5 e6 14. Be3 exd5
15. cxd5 Na6 16. Rc1 Rxc1 17. Qxc1 Nb4 18. Qd2 Nxd5 19. Ne2 Qe7 {1/2,Delchev,A
(2577)-Ivanchuk,V (2704)/EU-ch Istanbul/2003/}) (10. Bg5 {is rare and for a
good reason - here Black easily gets a good position with the accurate} Nc6 $1
(10... Rc8 11. b3 Qd8 12. Qd2 Nc6 13. Nde2 a6 14. a4 Nd7 $132) 11. Nde2 a6 12.
a4 Qc7 $1 13. b3 Qa5 14. Qd2 b5 $1 15. cxb5 axb5 16. O-O (16. Nxb5 Nxe4 $36)
16... bxa4 17. bxa4 Rfc8 (17... Nd7 $5 {[%csl Ra4][%cal Yd7c5,Yd7b6]}) 18. Rfb1
Nd4 19. Nxd4 Rxc3 20. Kh1 Qc5 (20... Rc5 $15) 21. Rd1 Rc4 22. Be3 Qa5 23. Qd3
Rc3 24. Qe2 Nd7 25. h3 Qa6 26. Qe1 Rc4 27. a5 Nc5 28. Rab1 {Gharamian,T (2471)
-Savchenko,S (2545)/Metz/2007/} Na4 $15 {[%csl Ra5][%cal Ra4c3]}) 10... Rc8 (
10... Nc6 $5 11. O-O a6 12. a4 e6 {transposes to a satisfactory position from
the 5...Nc6 lines, mentioned in the above notes.}) 11. b3 a6 12. a4 e6 (12...
Nc6 13. O-O Qd8 14. Rb1 e6 15. Nde2 Qa5 16. Qxd6 Ne8 17. Qd2 Rd8 18. Qe1 Rd3
19. Nd1 Qb4 20. Nc1 Rd7 21. Qxb4 Nxb4 22. Nf2 Nc2 23. Bc5 b6 24. Bxb6 Na3 25.
Ncd3 Nxb1 26. Rxb1 $14 {Balogh,C (2664)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2705)/Saint Louis/
2012/}) 13. Rc1 (13. Nde2 Nc6 14. O-O d5 $1 15. exd5 exd5 16. c5 Re8 17. Bf2
Rad8 18. Nd4 Qc7 19. Nxc6 bxc6 20. Bd4 a5 21. Ra2 Rb8 22. Ne2 Qb7 23. Qa1 Nh5
$17 {Laznicka,V (2610)-Wojtaszek,R (2635)/CZE-chT/2007/}) 13... Nc6 14. O-O d5
15. exd5 exd5 16. Nxc6 bxc6 17. cxd5 cxd5 (17... Nxd5 $142 $5 $11) 18. Bd4 Rd8
19. Qd3 Qb7 20. Ne2 Ne8 21. Rc3 Nc7 22. Bxg7 Kxg7 23. Nd4 Ne6 24. Nxe6+ fxe6
25. Rfc1 Rac8 26. Qe3 Rxc3 27. Rxc3 Qe7 28. Rc6 e5 $132 {Ni Hua (2625)
-Areshchenko,A (2570)/Moscow/2005/}) (9... Nc6 10. Nde2 {and we are again back
in Caruana-Anand.}) 10. b3 Qa5 {Black's idea is to lure the bishop to b2
instead of its usual deployment on the c1-h6 diagonal (e3 or g5).} (10... Nc6
11. Be3 Qa5 12. Rc1 Nh5 13. Nde2 $5 ({White avoids the endgame after} 13. O-O
Nxd4 14. Bxd4 Bxd4+ 15. Qxd4 Qc5 $11 {/+/=}) 13... O-O 14. O-O Kh8 15. Qd5 Qa6
16. Qd2 Qa5 17. Kh1 f5 18. exf5 gxf5 19. Nd5 Qd8 (19... Qxd2 $142 $14) 20. Rfd1
Be5 21. Ndf4 Qe8 22. c5 Nxf4 23. Nxf4 dxc5 24. Rxc5 (24. Nd3 $1 $36) 24... Rd8
25. Qe1 Rxd1 26. Qxd1 {Kasparov,S (2500)-Varga,C (2349)/Pardubice/2007/} Bd6
$132) ({A similar type of position arises after} 10... O-O 11. Be3 Qa5 12. Qd2
Nc6 13. Rc1 $11 {/+/=,Loaiza,Y (1902)-Ramirez,H (2089)/Puerto Boyaca/2012/
White's space advantage gives him a slight pull.}) 11. Bb2 (11. Bd2 {also
deserves consideration, but} Nc6 {is still fine for Black after} 12. Nd5 (12.
Nde2 O-O $132) 12... Qd8 13. Bc3 e6 14. Nxc6 bxc6 15. Nxf6+ Bxf6 16. Bxf6 Qxf6
17. O-O Rd8 $11) 11... Nc6 12. O-O O-O 13. Nce2 $146 {[%mdl 40] Although
objectively this novelty is not particularly dangerous, it's in keeping with
White's strategy to avoid excessive simplification and retain fighting chances.
} (13. Kh1 Nd7 (13... Nxd4 14. Qxd4 Nxe4 15. Qxe4 Bxc3 16. Bxc3 Qxc3 17. Qxe7
a5 $44) 14. Nd5 Rfe8 15. Bc3 Qd8 16. Nb5 (16. Qd2 $142 $5) 16... Bxc3 17. Ndxc3
a6 18. Nd4 Qb6 19. Nc2 Rac8 20. Qd2 Qc5 21. Qe3 Nce5 22. Rac1 b5 23. f4 Ng4 {
Bolshagin,V (2061)-Kokarev,D (2583)/Moscow/2011/} (23... Qxe3 24. Nxe3 Nd3 25.
Rcd1 bxc4 26. Rd2 Nb4 27. Nxc4 Nb6 $11) 24. Qf3 $13) (13. Nd5 Nxd5 {is simpler:
} (13... Qc5 14. b4 Qxc4 (14... Nxb4 15. Nxe7+ Kh8 16. Rf2 $5 Qxc4 (16... Nd7
$5 $132) 17. Qa4 a5 18. a3 Qc7 19. Nxg6+ hxg6 20. axb4 $14) 15. Nxc6 Nxd5 16.
Rc1 Qxa2 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. exd5 bxc6 19. Qd4+ $44 (19. dxc6 $44)) 14. exd5 Nxd4
15. Bxd4 Bxd4+ 16. Qxd4 b5 $11 {<=>}) 13... Rfd8 {Anand returns to the idea of
pushing d5 either after preparation (e6), or directly as in the game.} (13...
Nd7 14. Kh1 (14. Bc3 $6 Qxc3 15. Nxc3 Bxd4+ $15) 14... a6 $13) 14. Bc3 (14. Kh1
$5 {/\} Qb6 (14... Nd7 $5) 15. Qd2 {prevents the following central break.
However, Black's position remains solid and he can react differently already
on move 14.}) 14... Qb6 15. Kh1 d5 $1 16. Nxc6 ({This is the only way to keep
the tension in the position.} 16. exd5 $143 Nxd5 $1 17. cxd5 Rxd5 {wins the
piece back and already Black can claim a slight edge:} 18. Qe1 Nxd4 19. Nxd4
Bxd4 20. Bxd4 Rxd4 (20... Qxd4 21. Qxe7 Rd7 22. Qe2 Rad8 $15) 21. Qxe7 Rad8 $15
{[%cal Ra2h2,Gd8d2]}) (16. cxd5 Nxd5 17. exd5 {-16.exd5}) 16... bxc6 17. Qe1 $1
{[%cal Rc3a5]} Rdc8 $6 ({Leaving the d-file perhaps isn't a direct mistake,
but it's certainly unnatural. The most logical response was} 17... a5 {/\} 18.
e5 Nd7 $5 19. e6 (19. cxd5 cxd5 20. Bd4 Qb4 21. Bc3 Qb6 $11) 19... d4 20. Bd2
$5 (20. Bxd4 Bxd4 21. Nxd4 Qxd4 22. Rd1 Qa7 23. exd7 Rxd7 $11) (20. exf7+ Kxf7
21. Bd2 e5 22. Ng3 Kg8 23. Ne4 Nc5 $11 {/<=>}) 20... Nc5 $5 (20... fxe6 21. Nf4
e5 22. Ne6 $44) 21. exf7+ Kxf7 $11) 18. e5 Ne8 (18... Nd7 $143 19. e6 Bxc3 (
19... fxe6 20. Bxg7 Kxg7 21. Nf4 e5 22. cxd5 $36) 20. Nxc3 Nf6 21. exf7+ Kxf7
22. Rd1 $5 $14 dxc4 23. Ne4 Nxe4 24. Qxe4 cxb3 25. f4 $40 {[%cal Rf4f5]}) 19.
e6 $5 {[%mdl 128] Carlsen possibly felt his opponent's insecurity and goes for
a direct attack. His approach pays off with surprising speed, but Black could
have defended better.} ({The alternative was} 19. f4 e6 $5 {is safer.} (19...
dxc4 20. f5 $1 {[%cal Re5e6]} (20. bxc4 Qa6) 20... gxf5 21. Rxf5 $44) (19...
Nc7 20. f5 e6 21. f6 Bf8 $13)) 19... fxe6 20. Nf4 (20. Bxg7 {is harmless:} Nxg7
21. Nf4 Qc7 22. Nxe6 Qd6 23. Nxg7 Kxg7 $11) 20... Bxc3 21. Qxc3 $44 d4 (21...
Ng7 22. Rae1 (22. Qe5 Qb8 $11) (22. c5 Qc7 23. Nd3 $5 $44 {[%csl Re5]} (23.
Qxg7+ Kxg7 24. Nxe6+ Kf6 25. Nxc7 Rxc7 $15 {[%csl Gc6,Gd5,Ge7] [+]})) 22... d4
23. Qd2 c5 24. g4 {transposes back to the game}) 22. Qd2 $5 (22. Qe1 c5 23.
Nxe6 Rc6 24. Nf4 e6 25. Nd3 a5 $14 {/<=> is pleasant and almost riskless for
White. However, here Black's defence is simpler than in the game, so Carlsen
ambitiously envisages a different route for his queen.}) 22... c5 23. Rae1 Ng7
24. g4 $1 {[%csl Rf5] Limits Black's knight and prepares the follwing
manoeuvre, which is easy to overlook.} Rc6 $2 {And sure enough, Anand goes
astray and fails to meet White's most dangerous idea. Black had better options,
leading to balanced positions:} (24... Qc6 25. Nh3 (25. Re5 $44 {[%cal Yh1g2,
Yf1e1]}) 25... Rf8 26. Qh6 Rxf3 27. Kg1 Rxf1+ 28. Rxf1 Qe4 29. Qxh7+ (29. Ng5
$4 Qxg4+ 30. Kh1 Qh5) (29. Rf4 Qe3+ 30. Kg2 Qd2+ 31. Kg1 Qe3+ $11) 29... Kxh7
30. Ng5+ Kg8 31. Nxe4 Rc8 32. Ng5 Rc6 33. Rf7 Rd6 34. Kf2 Rd7 35. Rf4 $14 {
[%csl Rc5,Re6,Re7,Rg7]}) (24... Rf8 {White would have possibly preferred to
change his plan with} 25. Nd3 $44 (25. Nh3 Rf6 $5 (25... Qc6 {-24...Qc6}) 26.
Qh6 g5 27. Qxg5 Qc6 28. Ng1 $5 (28. Nf4 h6 29. Qe5 Raf8 30. Re4 Qd6 $36) 28...
a5 29. Re5 $13)) (24... Qd6 25. Re4 (25. Nh3 e5 26. Qh6 Ne6 27. Ng5 Nxg5 28.
Qxg5 Qf6 29. Qxe5 Qxe5 30. Rxe5 Rc7 $11) 25... a5 $5 (25... Rf8 26. Nd3 $44 (
26. Kg2 $44)) 26. Rfe1 Rf8 $132 {[%cal Ya5a4]}) 25. Nh3 $1 $40 {[%cal Rd2h6,
Rh3g5] Suddenly Black is in trouble - his queen joins the defence one move too
late.} Ne8 (25... Qd8 26. Qh6 Kh8 27. Ng5 Qg8 28. Re4 {[%cal Re4f4]} Rf8 (28...
e5 29. Rxe5 Ne6 30. Kg2 $16 {[%csl Re7]}) 29. Rg1 $5 {[%cal Rg1g3,Rg3h3]} Rf6
30. Rg3 Ne8 31. Rh3 Rf7 $8 32. Rxe6 $5 (32. Nxf7+ Qxf7 33. Re2 $14 {/+/-})
32... Rxe6 33. Nxe6 Nf6 34. Nxc5 g5 35. Rg3 $16) 26. Qh6 Nf6 27. Ng5 d3 $6 {
Hastens the end.} (27... Qa6 28. Re5 Qc8 29. Rfe1 Qf8 30. Qxf8+ (30. Qh3 $5 $40
) 30... Rxf8 31. Nxe6 Rfc8 32. Nf4 $16) 28. Re5 $1 Kh8 (28... Qc7 29. Nxe6 Rxe6
(29... Qxe5 30. Qg7#) 30. Rxe6 $18) (28... Qd8 29. Nxe6 Rxe6 30. Rxe6 d2 31.
Rd1 Qd3 32. Qe3 $18) (28... Rd8 29. Nxh7 $1 Nxh7 30. Qxg6+ Kf8 (30... Kh8 31.
Rh5) 31. Qxh7 d2 32. Qh8+ Kf7 33. Qh5+ Kf8 34. Rd1 $18 {[%cal Re5g5,Rh5g6]})
29. Rd1 $18 {[%csl Rd3,Rd8][%cal Gg5f7] Here White has no immediate mate, but
Black remains completely paralysed, as due to Nf7 he has no access to the
d8-square.} Qa6 30. a4 $5 (30. Rxd3 Qxa2 31. Re1 $1 Re8 (31... Kg8 32. Red1 Qa5
33. f4 $1 $18 {[%cal Rg5h7]}) 32. Red1 Qb2 33. Rd8 Rc8 34. Nxe6 Ng8 35. Rxc8
Rxc8 36. Qe3 $18 {also wins, but Carlsen doesn't want to give Black even the
slightest chance.}) (30. a4 Qc8 31. Rxd3 Qg8 32. Rde3 $18 {[%csl Rc5,Re6]}) 1-0

[Event "Grand Slam Final 5th"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao"]
[Date "2012.10.13"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E18"]
[WhiteElo "2816"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2012.09.24"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 151"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.11.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.11.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3 Ne4 8. Bd2
Bf6 9. Ne5 Nxc3 10. Bxc3 Bxg2 11. Kxg2 d5 12. Ng4 Nd7 13. Qa4 Be7 14. Rfd1 Nf6
15. Ne5 Qe8 16. Nc6 Kh8 17. f3 a6 18. Be1 Bd6 19. Rac1 b5 20. cxb5 axb5 21.
Qxb5 Rxa2 22. Ba5 Qa8 23. Rd3 Nd7 24. Rdc3 Nb8 25. b4 Nxc6 26. Rxc6 Rb2 27.
R6c2 Rxc2 28. Rxc2 Qa7 29. e3 h6 30. Qc6 Kg8 31. Kf2 Qa8 32. Kg2 Qxc6 33. Rxc6
Rb8 34. Bxc7 Bxc7 35. Rxc7 Rxb4 36. g4 Rb2+ 37. Kg3 g5 38. Rc3 Re2 39. h4 Kg7
40. Ra3 Kg6 41. h5+ Kf6 42. Rb3 Kg7 43. Ra3 Kf6 44. Rb3 Kg7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grand Slam Final playoff 5th"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao"]
[Date "2012.10.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2012.10.13"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 151"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.11.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.11.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Ne7 10. h3 h6 11. Ne4 b6 12. b3 Bd7 13. Bb2 Kc8 14. Rad1
a5 15. a4 Nd5 16. Ng3 Rg8 17. Nd4 c5 18. Nb5 Nf4 19. Rfe1 Bc6 20. f3 Kb7 21. c4
Re8 22. Kh2 Be7 23. Nf5 h5 24. h4 Ne6 25. Nxe7 Rxe7 26. Rd2 g5 27. hxg5 Rxg5
28. Re3 Re8 29. Nc3 Nd4 30. Ne4 Rgxe5 31. Bxd4 cxd4 32. Red3 Bxe4 33. fxe4 Rxe4
34. Rf2 R8e7 35. Rf5 h4 36. c5 R7e5 37. Rxe5 Rxe5 38. cxb6 c5 39. Rf3 f5 40.
Rf4 d3 41. Rxh4 Rd5 0-1

[Event "Grand Slam Final playoff 5th"]
[Site "Sao Paulo/Bilbao"]
[Date "2012.10.13"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B40"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[PlyCount "33"]
[EventDate "2012.10.13"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 151"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.11.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.11.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 b6 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. Qe2 d6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Nf6 8. O-O
Nbd7 9. Rd1 a6 10. e5 Bxg2 11. exf6 Bh3 12. Qh5 Qxf6 13. Qxh3 Be7 14. Nc3 Qg6
15. Nc6 Ne5 16. Nxe7 Kxe7 17. Bf4 1-0

[Event "Mexico City UNAM"]
[Site "Mexico City"]
[Date "2012.11.24"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bruzon Batista, Lazaro"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C00"]
[WhiteElo "2848"]
[BlackElo "2706"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2012.11.24"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "MEX"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 151 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.12.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.12.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. Qe2 Nf6 6. Bg2 Be7 7. O-O b5 8. exd5
exd5 9. d4 c4 10. Ne5 Nxd4 11. Qd1 Qb6 12. Be3 Bc5 13. Nc3 Be6 14. a4 b4 15. a5
Qc7 16. Na4 Bd6 17. Nxc4 Qxc4 18. Bxd4 Be7 19. b3 Qc7 20. c4 Rd8 21. Bxf6 Bxf6
22. cxd5 O-O 23. Rc1 Qxa5 24. Nc5 Bc8 25. d6 Bc3 26. Qd5 Bg4 27. h3 Be2 28. d7
Bxf1 29. Rxf1 g6 30. Rd1 Rb8 31. Bf1 Kh8 32. Bc4 Bf6 33. Re1 Qb6 34. Re3 a5 35.
Rf3 Bg7 36. h4 h5 37. Ne4 Qd4 38. Ng5 Qxd5 39. Bxd5 Bc3 40. Rxf7 1-0

[Event "Mexico City UNAM"]
[Site "Mexico City"]
[Date "2012.11.24"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Bruzon Batista, Lazaro"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E43"]
[WhiteElo "2706"]
[BlackElo "2848"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2012.11.24"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "MEX"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 151 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.12.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.12.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 b6 5. Bd3 Bb7 6. Nf3 c5 7. O-O O-O 8. Na4
cxd4 9. exd4 Re8 10. a3 Bf8 11. b4 a5 12. b5 d6 13. Bb2 Nbd7 14. Re1 Rc8 15.
Rc1 g6 16. h3 d5 17. Nd2 dxc4 18. Nxc4 Nd5 19. Be4 Rc7 20. Qd2 Qb8 21. Bd3 Rec8
22. Bf1 Ba8 23. Ne5 Nxe5 24. dxe5 Rxc1 25. Rxc1 Rxc1 26. Qxc1 Bg7 27. Bd4 h5
28. Qe1 Bf8 29. Qc1 Bg7 30. Nb2 Bxe5 31. Bxe5 Qxe5 32. Qc8+ Kh7 33. Nc4 Qh8 34.
Qd7 Qf8 35. Qa7 Kg7 36. Nxb6 Qc5 37. Qxa8 Qxb6 38. Bc4 Nf6 39. Be2 h4 40. Qa6
Qc5 41. Qxa5 Ne4 42. Qe1 Qxa3 43. Bf3 Nd6 44. Qb1 Nc4 45. Be2 Nd2 46. Qd3 Qa1+
47. Kh2 Qe5+ 48. Kg1 Qa1+ 49. Kh2 Qe5+ 50. Kg1 Qa1+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Mexico City UNAM"]
[Site "Mexico City"]
[Date "2012.11.25"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Polgar, Judit"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E90"]
[WhiteElo "2848"]
[BlackElo "2705"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2012.11.24"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "MEX"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 151 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.12.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.12.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. d4 O-O 6. h3 e5 7. d5 Na6 8. Be3 Qe8
9. g4 Nc5 10. Nd2 a5 11. Be2 c6 12. Rg1 Kh8 13. h4 Ng8 14. Qc2 Bd7 15. O-O-O
cxd5 16. Nxd5 Ne6 17. h5 g5 18. Kb1 Ba4 19. b3 Bc6 20. Nb6 Rd8 21. Qc3 Nf4 22.
Bf1 h6 23. Qxa5 f5 24. gxf5 Qxh5 25. Re1 Nf6 26. Nd5 Ra8 27. Qb4 Rfd8 28. f3
Qh4 29. Rc1 Bxd5 30. cxd5 N4xd5 31. Bxg5 Qxg5 32. Rxg5 Nxb4 33. Rg2 d5 34. exd5
Nfxd5 35. Ne4 Ne3 36. f6 Bf8 37. Rh2 Rac8 38. Bc4 Nxc4 39. bxc4 Kg8 40. Rb2 Rc7
41. c5 Nd3 42. Rd2 Rcd7 43. c6 bxc6 44. Rxc6 Kf7 45. Rb6 Nc5 46. Rxd7+ Rxd7 47.
Nf2 h5 48. Rc6 Rd2 49. Nh3 Ne6 50. a4 Rh2 0-1

[Event "Mexico City UNAM"]
[Site "Mexico City"]
[Date "2012.11.26"]
[Round "2.2"]
[White "Polgar, Judit"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B09"]
[WhiteElo "2705"]
[BlackElo "2848"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2012.11.24"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "MEX"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 151 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.12.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.12.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. f4 Bg7 5. Bd3 c5 6. d5 O-O 7. Nf3 Na6 8. O-O
Rb8 9. a4 Bg4 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Nb4 12. Qf2 Nd7 13. Be3 a6 14. Rfd1 Nxd3 15.
cxd3 Qa5 16. d4 Rbc8 17. Rab1 Qb4 18. Kh2 cxd4 19. Bxd4 Rc4 20. Bxg7 Kxg7 21.
Re1 Nc5 22. Qe3 Rd4 23. Rbd1 Rxd1 24. Rxd1 Qxb2 25. e5 Rc8 26. f5 Nd7 27. exd6
exd6 28. Qd4+ Ne5 29. Ne4 Qxd4 30. Rxd4 Rc4 31. Rxc4 Nxc4 32. f6+ Kf8 33. Kg3
b5 34. axb5 axb5 35. Kf4 b4 36. g4 b3 37. Nc3 b2 38. Nb1 Nb6 39. Ke4 g5 40. Nc3
h6 41. Nb1 Kg8 42. Kd4 Kh7 43. Kc3 Nxd5+ 44. Kxb2 Kg6 0-1

[Event "Mexico City UNAM"]
[Site "Mexico City"]
[Date "2012.11.26"]
[Round "2.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Polgar, Judit"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2848"]
[BlackElo "2705"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2012.11.24"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "MEX"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 151 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.12.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.12.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. O-O Bg7 6. Re1 d6 7. c3 Bg4 8. h3
Bxf3 9. Qxf3 e5 10. a3 Ne7 11. b4 O-O 12. bxc5 d5 13. d3 Qa5 14. a4 Rab8 15.
Qe2 Rb3 16. Nd2 Rxc3 17. Nf3 Qxc5 18. Bd2 Rc2 19. Bb4 Rxe2 20. Bxc5 Rxe1+ 21.
Rxe1 Re8 22. Bxa7 Ra8 23. Bc5 Nc8 24. exd5 cxd5 25. Nxe5 Rxa4 26. d4 Bf8 27.
Nd7 Bxc5 28. Re8+ Kg7 29. dxc5 d4 30. Kf1 Na7 31. Ne5 Nb5 32. f4 Ra2 33. Re7
Kf6 34. Rxf7+ Ke6 35. Rxh7 Kd5 36. c6 Rc2 37. Rb7 Nd6 38. Rd7 Ke6 39. Rd8 g5
40. Nf3 Rc1+ 41. Ke2 Rc2+ 42. Kd1 Rc4 43. Nxg5+ Kd5 44. Nf7 1-0

[Event "Mexico City UNAM"]
[Site "Mexico City"]
[Date "2012.11.26"]
[Round "2.4"]
[White "Polgar, Judit"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2705"]
[BlackElo "2848"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2012.11.24"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "MEX"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 151 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.12.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.12.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O d6 5. c3 Bb6 6. a4 Nf6 7. b4 a5 8. b5 Ne7
9. d3 O-O 10. Bg5 Ng6 11. Nbd2 h6 12. Be3 c6 13. Ba2 d5 14. Bxb6 Qxb6 15. exd5
cxd5 16. Re1 Re8 17. c4 e4 18. d4 exf3 19. Rxe8+ Nxe8 20. c5 Qd8 21. Qxf3 Nf6
22. Re1 Be6 23. Bb1 Nf8 24. h3 Rc8 25. b6 Bd7 26. Bc2 Ne6 27. Qd3 Bc6 28. f3
Qd7 29. Ra1 Re8 30. g3 Ng5 31. h4 Qh3 32. Nf1 Nge4 33. fxe4 dxe4 34. Qe2 e3 35.
Qh2 Qg4 36. Re1 e2 0-1

[Event "Mexico City UNAM Carlsen-The World"]
[Site "Mexico City"]
[Date "2012.11.24"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "The World"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2848"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2012.11.24"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "MEX"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 151 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.12.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2012.12.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e5 7. Nde2 Be7 8. g4
O-O 9. Ng3 Nbd7 10. Nf5 Nc5 11. Bg2 Be6 12. O-O b5 13. a3 Rc8 14. f4 Na4 15.
Nxa4 bxa4 16. g5 Nd7 17. Nxe7+ Qxe7 18. f5 Bc4 19. Rf2 f6 20. g6 h6 21. Be3 Nc5
22. Rd2 Rfd8 23. Qe1 Qb7 24. Rad1 Qxb2 25. Rxd6 Rxd6 26. Rxd6 Qxa3 27. Qd2 Nd3
28. Rd7 Bb5 29. Rd5 Nf4 30. Rc5 Re8 31. Rc7 Qa1+ 32. Kh2 Kh8 33. c4 a3 34. cxb5
Qb2 35. bxa6 Qxd2 36. Bxd2 Ne2 37. Rc4 a2 38. Ra4 1-0

[Event "London Classic 4th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2012.12.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "McShane, Luke J"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2713"]
[BlackElo "2848"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2012.12.01"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 152"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nf5 8.
Nf3 O-O 9. d4 d5 10. g3 Bf6 11. c3 Re8 12. Rxe8+ Qxe8 13. Bf4 Qd8 14. Bd3 Nfe7
15. Na3 a6 16. Nc2 Bf5 17. Bxf5 Nxf5 18. g4 Nfe7 19. Ne3 g6 20. Qf1 Qd7 21. Qh3
Bg7 22. Qg3 Rc8 23. g5 Nd8 24. Be5 Ne6 25. Bf6 Re8 26. Ne5 Qd6 27. Kh1 Nxg5 28.
Bxg5 f6 29. Bxf6 Qxf6 30. Re1 c6 31. Kg2 Nc8 32. N3g4 Qd8 33. Nd3 Rxe1 34. Nxe1
Nd6 35. Nd3 Nf5 36. Qh3 Bf8 37. Ne3 Qg5+ 38. Kf1 Nxe3+ 39. fxe3 Kg7 40. Nf4 Qf6
41. Ke2 Bd6 42. Qg4 Kf7 43. h3 h5 44. Qc8 Qe7 45. Nd3 Kf6 46. b3 Kg5 47. c4 Kh4
48. c5 Bg3 49. b4 Qf7 50. a4 g5 51. Kd2 Bh2 52. Ne1 Kg3 53. Nc2 Bg1 54. Qd8 Kh4
55. Qc8 Bf2 56. Ke2 Kg3 57. Qd8 Qf5 58. Kd2 Kxh3 59. b5 g4 60. bxc6 bxc6 61.
Nb4 g3 62. Nd3 g2 0-1

[Event "London Classic 4th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2012.12.02"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2848"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2012.12.01"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 152"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 {Carlsen is definitely a fan of d3 lines against
the Ruy Lopez. They allow him to avoid a heated theoretical struggle in
forcing lines, while retaining enough strategic tension to fight for an
advantage in the ensuing middlegame.} ({Even after} 3... Nf6 {he has lately
avoided the Berlin Wall with} 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 (5. Nc3 d6 6. Na4 Bb6 7. Nxb6
axb6 8. c3 Bd7 9. Ba4 Ne7 10. Bc2 Ng6 11. h3 O-O 12. O-O h6 13. Re1 Re8 14. d4
Bc6 15. dxe5 dxe5 16. Qxd8 Rexd8 17. g3 Nd7 18. Be3 Nc5 19. Nd2 Nf8 20. f3 Nfe6
21. h4 Bb5 22. a3 Rd7 23. b4 {Carlsen,M-Anand,V/London/2012/} Bd3 $5 24. bxc5
Bxc2 $11) 5... dxc6 6. Nbd2 Be6 7. O-O Bd6 8. b3 Nd7 9. Nc4 Bxc4 10. bxc4 O-O
11. Rb1 b6 12. g3 f5 13. exf5 Rxf5 14. Qe2 Nc5 15. Be3 Ne6 16. Nd2 Qf6 17. Qg4
Rf8 18. Ne4 Qf7 19. a4 h5 20. Qe2 Be7 21. a5 Qg6 22. axb6 axb6 23. Kh1 Rf3 24.
Rbe1 Bb4 25. Ra1 Qg4 26. Qd1 Qh3 $132 27. Bf4 $4 (27. Qe2 Be7 $11) 27... Bc3 $4
(27... R8xf4 $1 28. gxf4 Nxf4 29. Ra8+ Bf8 30. Rg1 Qxh2+ 31. Kxh2 Rh3#) 28.
Qxf3 Bxa1 29. Qg2 Qf5 $11 {Carlsen,M (2843)-Aronian,L (2816)/Sao Paulo/Bilbao/
2012/}) 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 ({While Aronian definitely must have anticipated
White's general strategy, Magnus far more often played} 5. O-O Be7 {and only
now} 6. Re1 (6. d3 {, when Black has committed his Bf8. After} b5 7. Bb3 d6 8.
a4 {Black faces a wider choice:} {Lately Aronian has started to favour the
less committal} Bd7 {, Black retains the tension and doesn't give away the
a-file:} (8... b4 9. Nbd2 (9. a5 O-O 10. Nbd2 Rb8 11. Nc4 h6 12. h3 Be6 13. Be3
Qc8 14. Nfd2 Rd8 15. Qe2 Qb7 16. Ba4 Nd7 17. c3 {Nepomniachtchi,I (2656)
-Melkumyan,H (2582)/EU-ch Rijeka 2010/} Na7 $5 $13) 9... Na5 10. Ba2 O-O 11. c3
c5 12. cxb4 (12. d4 cxd4 13. cxd4 Qc7 $132) 12... cxb4 13. h3 $5 (13. Nc4 Rb8
14. Re1 Nc6 15. Ne3 Be6 16. Bxe6 fxe6 17. Nc4 Nd7 18. Ncd2 Nc5 19. Nb3 Nxb3 20.
Qxb3 Rxf3 21. gxf3 Nd4 22. Qd1 Qf8 23. Kg2 Qf6 $44 {Carlsen,M (2733)-Aronian,L
(2739)/Wijk aan Zee/2008/}) 13... Be6 14. Bxe6 fxe6 15. Nb3 Nc6 16. Be3 Qd7 17.
Rc1 Rfc8 18. Qd2 Bd8 19. Rc4 $14 {Efimenko,Z (2654)-Stern,R (2501)/Bundesliga/
2009/}) (8... Rb8 9. axb5 axb5 10. Nbd2 O-O 11. Re1 (11. c3 Nd7 (11... Bd7 $5 {
will probably only transpose after the natural} 12. Re1) 12. Re1 Bf6 13. Nf1
Nc5 14. Ba2 (14. Bc2 $5) 14... Bg4 $2 (14... b4 $142 $132) 15. b4 Ne6 16. Ne3
Bxf3 17. Qxf3 Bg5 18. Bd5 $1 $16 Qd7 (18... Ne7 19. Bxe6 fxe6 20. Qg4 {[%csl
Re6,Rg5]}) 19. Nf5 Ne7 20. Nxg7 $1 $40 {Carlsen,M (2714)-Fressinet,L (2654)/
ECC Kemer/2007/}) 11... Bd7 12. c3 Ra8 13. Rxa8 Qxa8 14. d4 h6 (14... Qb7 $5
15. Nf1 b4 $132) 15. Nf1 Re8 16. Ng3 Qc8 17. Nh4 Bf8 $6 (17... Na5 $142 18. Ba2
Nc4 $13) 18. Ng6 $1 Na5 19. Nxf8 Rxf8 20. Bc2 Re8 21. f4 Bg4 $2 {[%csl Rg4]} (
21... Qa6 $14) 22. Qd3 exf4 23. Bxf4 $16 {[%csl Gd4,Ge4,Rg8] ->>>, Carlsen,M 
(2826)-Topalov,V (2803)/Nanjing/2010/ White scored an impressive win in this
game, for more details see the notes by Moradiabadi in CBM 139.}) 9. c3 O-O 10.
Nbd2 Na5 11. Bc2 c5 12. Re1 Re8 13. Nf1 (13. d4 exd4 (13... cxd4 $5 14. cxd4
Nc6 15. Bb3 h6 $132 16. dxe5 dxe5 17. Nf1 Bg4 18. h3 Qxd1 19. Bxd1 Bxf3 20.
Bxf3 Nd4 21. Bd1 Bb4 22. Bd2 Bxd2 23. Nxd2 Rac8 24. axb5 axb5 $15 {Werner,C 
(2315)-Tseshkovsky,V (2519)/Davos/2008/}) (13... Qc7 $1 {is indicated by
Caruana as the simplest equaliser - Black has a good version of the Chigorin.})
14. cxd4 Bg4 15. h3 Bh5 16. d5 Qc8 17. Nf1 Bd8 18. g4 Bg6 19. Ng3 b4 20. Nh4 b3
21. Bb1 {Caruana,F (2773)-Aronian,L (2816)/Sao Paulo/Bilbao/2012/} c4 $5 $13 {
[%cal Yc4c3]}) 13... Nc6 14. Ne3 b4 15. Bb3 (15. h3 Rb8 16. Nc4 Be6 17. Bb3 h6
18. Be3 bxc3 19. bxc3 d5 $1 20. exd5 Nxd5 $15 {McShane,L (2713)-Aronian,L 
(2815)/London/2012/}) 15... Na5 16. Ba2 Rb8 17. d4 $6 (17. Nd2 $11) 17... exd4
18. cxd4 Nxe4 19. Nd5 {Kamsky,G (2729)-Leko,P (2747)/Dresden olm/2008/} Bf8 $13
{/=/+}) 6... b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. d3 d6 9. a4 {was actually the move-order from
Caruana-Aronian above.}) 5... b5 {In 2010 I wrote a 2 part article about the
C77 5.d3 Ruy Lopez, which was published in CBM 136-137. Part 1 featured mainly
the text move.} ({Part 2 in CBM 137 concentrated on the more restrained, but
quite reliable} 5... d6 6. c3 g6 {Carlsen hasn't been able to get anything
tangible here after} 7. O-O (7. Nbd2 Bg7 8. Nf1 O-O 9. Bg5 d5 10. Qe2 Qd6 11.
Bxf6 Bxf6 12. Ne3 Ne7 13. Bb3 c6 14. h4 Be6 15. Ng5 Bd7 16. Rd1 Rad8 17. Qf3 h6
18. Nc4 dxc4 19. dxc4 Nd5 20. Nh3 h5 21. Qg3 Bg4 22. Rd2 Bxh4 23. Qxh4 Qf6 24.
Qxf6 Nxf6 25. Ng5 c5 $15 {Carlsen,M (2810)-Caruana,F (2675)/Wijk aan Zee/2010/
See the notes to this game by Postny in CBM 135.}) 7... Bg7 8. Re1 (8. h3 Bd7
9. Re1 O-O 10. Nbd2 Qe8 11. Nf1 Nh5 12. Bb3 Kh8 13. d4 f5 14. exf5 gxf5 15.
dxe5 dxe5 16. Be3 e4 17. Ng5 h6 18. Nf7+ Rxf7 19. Qxh5 Rf6 20. Qxe8+ Rxe8 21.
Bf4 Ne5 22. Bxe5 Rxe5 23. Rad1 {1-0 Alekseev,E (2683)-Efimenko,Z (2689)/
Germany 2012/CB42_2012 (61)} Bc6 $132) 8... O-O 9. Nbd2 Kh8 (9... b5 $5 {
is the more usual choice - Black was doing fine after} 10. Bb3 Na5 11. Bc2 c5
12. Nf1 h6 13. Bd2 Nc6 14. a4 Be6 15. Ne3 Qd7 16. Bb3 Rfb8 17. Bxe6 Qxe6 18. h3
c4 19. Qe2 Na5 20. axb5 axb5 21. Rad1 Rc8 $132 {Areshchenko,A (2694)-Efimenko,
Z (2701)/UKR-ch Kiev/2011/}) 10. Nf1 Ng8 11. Bg5 f6 12. Bh4 Qe8 13. d4 Bd7 14.
d5 Nd8 15. Bxd7 Qxd7 16. N3d2 Nf7 17. f3 f5 18. c4 a5 19. Bf2 Nf6 20. c5 fxe4
21. Nxe4 dxc5 22. Nxc5 Qxd5 23. Qxd5 Nxd5 24. Rad1 c6 25. Ne3 Rfd8 $11 {
Carlsen,M (2814)-L'Ami,E (2628)/Wijk aan Zee/2011/}) 6. Bb3 Bc5 {Aronian opts
for the more active developing move.} ({Earlier he preferred} 6... Be7 7. a4 b4
8. Nbd2 O-O 9. Nc4 ({More flexible is} 9. O-O {The resulting positions are
similar to those, mentioned above in the note to White's 5th move.}) 9... d6
10. h3 Be6 11. O-O Nd7 12. Be3 Bf6 13. c3 bxc3 14. bxc3 Rb8 15. Rb1 d5 16. Ncd2
Nb6 17. Re1 Re8 18. Qc2 Qd7 19. Bc5 Na5 20. Ba2 Qxa4 21. Qxa4 Nxa4 22. exd5
Rxb1 23. Rxb1 Bxd5 24. Bxd5 Nxc5 25. Ne4 Nxe4 26. Bxe4 $44 {Ivanchuk,V (2786)
-Aronian,L (2757)/Dresden olm/2008/}) ({After} 6... Bb7 7. O-O Bc5 {Carlsen
already used} 8. Nc3 $5 {with great effect:} d6 9. a4 Na5 10. Ba2 b4 11. Ne2
Bc8 12. c3 bxc3 13. bxc3 Bb6 14. Ng3 Be6 15. d4 Bxa2 16. Rxa2 O-O 17. Bg5 exd4
18. Nh5 dxc3 19. Nh4 Kh8 20. Nf5 {1-0, Carlsen,M (2625)-Beliavsky,A (2626)/
Wijk aan Zee-B/2006/ For more details see the notes to this game by
Mikhalevski in CBM 111.}) 7. Nc3 $5 {One of the less usual reactions, but
actually I recommended it in CBM 136.} ({More regular is} 7. c3 d6 {, now} 8.
Bg5 {led to complex play after} ({The article in CBM 136 concentrated mainly on
} 8. O-O h6 $5) 8... h6 9. Bh4 Bb6 ({Black postpones castling, after} 9... O-O
10. O-O g5 {he has to reckon even with the sacrificial} 11. Nxg5 $5 $44 {
Note how later on Aronian postpones g5 only after White has castled, but his K
is still on e8.}) 10. Nbd2 Rb8 11. Qe2 a5 12. a4 b4 13. O-O g5 14. Bg3 (14.
Nxg5 hxg5 15. Bxg5 Rg8 $17) 14... O-O 15. Nc4 Ba7 16. Nfd2 h5 17. h3 h4 18. Bh2
Kg7 19. Kh1 Rh8 20. d4 $6 (20. Ne3 $1 Nh5 $13) 20... bxc3 21. bxc3 exd4 22. e5
dxc3 23. exf6+ Qxf6 {Kramnik,V (2801)-Aronian,L (2820)/Zuerich m rpd/2012/} 24.
Ne4 Qe7 25. Ba2 d5 (25... Re8 26. Qh5 Qxe4 27. Nxd6 cxd6 28. Qxf7+ Kh8 29. Qh5+
$11) 26. Nxa5 Nd4 (26... Nxa5 27. Bxd5 $13) 27. Qd3 dxe4 28. Qxc3 $132) (7. O-O
d6 {[%cal Yc6a5] is only a transposition after} 8. c3) 7... O-O {A young
Magnus had to face this position with Black.} ({He opted for} 7... d6 8. Nd5 h6
9. c3 O-O 10. O-O Rb8 (10... Bb7 11. a4 (11. Bd2 Nxd5 12. Bxd5 Rb8 13. Qc2 Bb6
14. a4 Ne7 15. Bxb7 Rxb7 16. d4 Ng6 17. Rfd1 Qf6 18. Qd3 Rbb8 19. Be3 Rfd8 20.
Qe2 Qe7 21. a5 Ba7 22. dxe5 Bxe3 23. Qxe3 Nxe5 24. Nd4 Re8 $132 {Vallejo Pons,
F (2678)-Naumann,A (2538)/Bundesliga/2004/}) 11... Nxd5 12. Bxd5 Rb8 13. axb5
axb5 14. Qb3 b4 15. Be3 Bxe3 16. fxe3 bxc3 17. bxc3 Qe7 18. Qc2 Nd8 19. Rfb1 c6
20. Bc4 Ra8 21. Rxa8 Bxa8 22. Qa2 Ne6 23. Bxe6 fxe6 24. h3 c5 25. Rb6 $14 {
Asrian,K (2602)-Fontaine,R (2537)/Moscow/2005/}) 11. Ne3 $6 (11. Re1 $5 {
[%cal Yd3d4] promises White better chances to fight for an opening advantage.})
11... Bb6 $1 12. Qe2 Ne7 13. Rd1 Ng6 14. Nf5 d5 15. h3 Re8 16. g4 $2 c5 17. c4
bxc4 18. dxc4 d4 19. Ba4 Re6 20. Ne1 Nf4 21. Bxf4 exf4 22. f3 g6 23. Nxh6+ Kg7
24. g5 Nh7 25. h4 Nxg5 $19 {Lahno,K (2500)-Carlsen,M (2625)/Wijk aan Zee-B/
2006/ For more details about this game see the notes by Mikhalevski in CBM 111.
}) (7... h6 8. Nd5 (8. a4 b4 9. Nd5 Na5 $5 10. Ba2 d6 $11) 8... O-O 9. O-O {
and Black hardly has anything better than} d6 {, transposing to 7...d6.}) 8.
Nd5 Nxd5 {A rare alternative.} (8... h6 9. O-O d6 {still transposes to 7...d6})
9. Bxd5 Rb8 $146 {[%mdl 520] This novelty, connected with a pawn-sacrifice, is
the best reaction.} (9... Qf6 10. O-O h6 11. Be3 Be7 12. d4 $16 {Michelle,C 
(2052)-Janani,J (1808)/Chennai/2011/}) (9... Bb7 10. O-O (10. Nxe5 $5 Qh4 11.
g3 Qh3 12. Qg4 (12. Bxc6 dxc6 13. Qe2 Bd6 14. Nf3 c5 $44 {|^}) 12... Qg2 13.
Qf3 Bxf2+ 14. Kd1 Qxf3+ 15. Nxf3 $14) 10... d6 11. Be3 Bxe3 12. fxe3 Na5 13.
Bxb7 Nxb7 14. b4 a5 15. c3 d5 $11 {Koski,C (1252)-Yehuda,B (1100)/corr/2009/})
10. O-O Ne7 $5 (10... Qf6 11. c3 $14 {[%csl Rf6]} (11. Be3 Nd4 $5)) (10... Nb4
11. Bb3 $14 (11. Nxe5 {- 11...Ne7!?})) 11. Nxe5 {White accepts the challenge.}
(11. Bb3 d6 12. Be3 Ng6 $5 $11 {seems too soft.}) 11... Nxd5 12. exd5 Re8 ({
Carlsen didn't like this move and preferred} 12... Bb7 $1 13. c4 Bd6 $5 (13...
Re8 14. d4 Ba7 (14... bxc4 15. Nxf7 Kxf7 16. dxc5 $14) (14... Bf8 15. b3 {
transposes back to the game.}) 15. b3 bxc4 16. bxc4 d6 17. Nf3 (17. Nc6 Bxc6
18. dxc6 Qh4 19. Be3 Qe4 $11) 17... Bc8 18. Bg5 f6 19. Be3 Bg4 20. Rb1 $5 $14)
(13... d6 14. Nf3 c6 15. d4 Ba7 16. c5 $5 dxc5 17. Bf4 Rc8 (17... c4 $5 18.
Bxb8 Bxb8 $14 {/~~}) 18. dxc5 Bxc5 19. d6 $36 {[%csl Gd6]}) 14. Re1 Re8 15. Nf3
c6 $44) (12... Qf6 $5 13. d4 Bb6 $132 {[%cal Yf6d6,Yc8b7]}) 13. d4 Bf8 14. b3
Bb7 (14... b4 15. a3 a5 16. axb4 axb4 17. Qf3 f6 18. Nd3 $36 {[%csl Rb4][%cal
Ya1a8]}) 15. c4 (15. Qf3 Qe7 16. Be3 (16. c4 d6 17. Nc6 (17. Nd3 $5) 17... Bxc6
18. dxc6 bxc4 19. bxc4 Qe6 20. d5 Qe4 $11) 16... f6 17. Nd3 Qf7 18. c4 bxc4 19.
bxc4 a5 $14 {/<=>}) 15... d6 16. Nf3 (16. Nc6 Bxc6 17. dxc6 bxc4 18. bxc4 d5
19. c5 Qf6 $11 20. Qa4 $6 Bxc5) (16. Nd3 g6 $44 (16... bxc4 17. bxc4 c6 $5 18.
dxc6 Bxc6 $44 {[%csl Gc6,Gf8][%cal Gb8b1,Ge8e1]})) 16... Qf6 17. Be3 Bc8 18.
Qd2 (18. Rc1 bxc4 19. bxc4 Bg4 $11) 18... Qg6 {White has consolidated his
position, but it's difficult for him to make any progress.} 19. Kh1 h6 20. Rac1
Be7 21. Ng1 {This seems rather artificial.} (21. cxb5 axb5 22. Rxc7 Bb7 $44 {
[%csl Rd5]}) ({White's doubled extra pawn doesn't count for much, but perhaps
he is slightly better after} 21. Qa5 $14) ({A useful move, suggested by
Carlsen, is} 21. Rfe1 $5 $14) 21... Bg5 (21... Bf6 {seems more natural, but
Aronian has an interesting idea - exchanging the defensive Be3 activates
Black's forces.}) 22. Bxg5 (22. Rfe1 Bf5 $5 $14 {/~~} (22... Bxe3 $6 23. Rxe3
$36 {is a better version of the B swap.})) (22. cxb5 $5 Bd8 23. bxa6 Bxa6 24.
Rfe1 Qf5 25. Ne2 Qxd5 26. Nc3 Qf5 27. d5 $14) 22... Qxg5 23. Rfd1 (23. Qxg5
hxg5 24. f3 (24. cxb5 Rxb5 25. Rxc7 Rxd5 26. Rd1 g4 $5 $44) 24... Bf5 (24...
bxc4 25. Rxc4 $14) 25. Rf2 $14 {/= is maybe a better way to retain a small
plus.}) 23... bxc4 (23... Qxd2 24. Rxd2 bxc4) 24. bxc4 $6 {Only this natural
recapture is inaccurate.} (24. Qxg5 $142 hxg5 25. Rxc4 $14 {/= and once again
White risks little by playing on.}) 24... Qxd2 25. Rxd2 a5 {[%csl Ra2,Rc4,Gc8,
Rd4,Rg1][%cal Ge8e1,Gb8b1][%mdl 4096] In this endgame Black is definitely OK -
he controls the open files and has the better minor piece. White's pawns are
vulnerable and Carlsen also thought he wass the one who should be playing with
care to maintain equality.} 26. h3 Rb4 27. Nf3 Bf5 28. c5 Kf8 ({Aronian is
unwilling to play the weakening} 28... Be4 29. Re2 f5 30. Kh2 $11) 29. Nh2 Reb8
({However, here} 29... Be4 $1 {was definitely simpler:} 30. Nf1 Bxd5 31. Ne3
Be4 32. cxd6 cxd6 33. d5 Reb8 $11 {/=/+ White is in no position to win here,
although he shouldn't lose either.}) 30. Ng4 Rb1 31. Rxb1 Rxb1+ 32. Kh2 a4 (
32... Bxg4 33. hxg4 Rb5 34. Rc2 Rb4 35. cxd6 cxd6 36. Rd2 Rb5 37. Kg3 Rxd5 38.
a4 f5 $11 {is enough for a draw. However, as Aronian admitted after the game,
he erroneously thought he had a sizeable plus.}) 33. Ne3 Bg6 34. Kg3 Rb4 (34...
a3 35. Kf3 (35. f3 $5) 35... Rb2 36. Nc4 Bc2 37. Nxa3 Be4+ 38. Ke3 Rxd2 39.
Kxd2 Bxd5 $11) 35. Kf3 Ke7 36. Ke2 Kd7 37. f3 Rb5 38. Nd1 Rb4 (38... dxc5 39.
Nc3 Rb4 (39... Ra5 40. dxc5 Rxc5 41. Nxa4 Rc4 42. Nb2 Rc3 $11) 40. dxc5 c6 41.
Ke3 Rc4 $11 {should hold the endgame rather easily. Aronian optimistically
continues to overestimate his position and gradually gets into trouble.}) 39.
c6+ Kc8 (39... Ke7 40. Nc3 (40. Rb2 $5 Rxd4 41. Ne3 Bd3+ 42. Ke1 f5 43. Rb7 f4
44. Rxc7+ Kd8 45. Rd7+ Kc8 46. Nd1 Rxd5 47. Nc3 Rc5 48. Kd2 $14) 40... a3 41.
Ke3 $14 {is similar to the game.}) 40. Nc3 f6 41. Ke3 Rc4 (41... a3 $142) (
41... h5 $5) 42. Ne2 a3 43. h4 Rb4 $6 (43... Bf7 44. Nf4 (44. Ke4 Bg6+ 45. Ke3
Bf7) 44... g5 45. Kd3 Rc1 46. hxg5 fxg5 47. Ne2 (47. Ne6 $2 Bg6+ 48. Ke3 Rc3+
49. Ke2 Rc2 $1 $36 {[%csl Ra2]}) 47... Bg6+ 48. Ke3 Rb1 49. Nc3 Rc1 (49... Rb2
{should be tenable as well}) 50. Nb5 Bf7 51. Re2 Kd8 (51... Bxd5 $2 52. Kd2 {
[%csl Rc1,Re8]} Rxc6 53. Na7+ $18) 52. Nxc7 $5 (52. Ke4 Bg6+ 53. Ke3 Bf7 $11)
52... Kxc7 53. Kd2 Ra1 54. Re7+ Kc8 55. Rxf7 Rxa2+ 56. Kd3 Rxg2 $11) 44. g4 $1
{Black has shuffled around rather aimlessly, so White improves his position by
expanding on the kingside.} Rb1 $2 (44... Rb2 45. h5 Bc2 46. Nc3 {is already
better for White, but Carlsen was unsure how he should make progress if Black
passes with} Kd8 $14) 45. h5 Bh7 46. f4 $1 {[%csl Rh7][%cal Yf4f5,Ye2f4,Yf4e6]}
f5 (46... Bg8 47. f5 $1 (47. Nc3 Rg1 48. Kf3 Rf1+ 49. Kg3 Rg1+ $11) 47... Re1 (
47... Bxd5 $2 48. Nc3) 48. Kf2 Rb1 49. Nf4 Rb5 50. Ne6 Rxd5 51. Nxg7 Rb5 52.
Ne6 Rb2 53. Ke3 $16 {/+-}) 47. g5 $36 {With the B cut off, Black is on the
brink of defeat.} Rh1 (47... Rb2 48. Kd3 Bg8 49. Nc3 $16 {/+-}) (47... Kd8 $5
48. Nc3 (48. Rd3 Rh1 49. Kd2 Bg8 50. Rxa3 Bxd5 51. Ra8+ Ke7 52. Ng3 Rh2+ 53.
Ke1 Bxc6 54. Nxf5+ $16) 48... Rg1 49. g6 Bg8 $16 {and White must still find a
way to break through.}) 48. Ng3 Rh3 49. Kf3 hxg5 ({More resilient, but still
insufficient was} 49... Kd8 50. g6 Bg8 51. Kg2 Rh4 52. Nxf5 Rxf4 (52... Bxd5+
53. Kg3 Rxh5 54. Nxg7 Rh1 55. f5 Ra1 (55... Ke7 56. Re2+ Kf6 57. Ne8+ Kxf5 58.
Nxc7 Bxc6 59. d5 $18 {[%cal Rg6g7]}) 56. Ne6+ Ke7 57. Nf4 {/\} Bxa2 58. Re2+
Kf6 59. Rxa2 Rxa2 60. Nh5+ Kxf5 61. g7 Ra1 62. Kf2 Rg1 63. Kxg1 a2 64. Ng3+ $1
Kf4 65. Kf2 a1=Q 66. Ne2+ Ke4 67. g8=Q $18) 53. Ne3 $1 (53. Nxg7 Bxd5+ 54. Kg3
Rf3+ 55. Kg4 Rf1 $132) 53... Rh4 54. Rf2 Ke8 55. Nf5 Bxd5+ 56. Kg3 Rh1 57.
Nxg7+ Ke7 (57... Kd8 58. Rf8+ Ke7 59. Rc8 Rg1+ 60. Kf2 Rg2+ 61. Ke3 Bxc6 62.
Rxc7+ Bd7 63. Ra7 $18) 58. Nf5+ Kd8 59. Ne3 Rg1+ (59... Bxc6 60. d5 $18) 60.
Kf4 Bxc6 61. Ng4 $18) (49... Bg8 $2 50. Kg2 $18 {/\} Rh4 51. Nxf5 Rxf4 52. Ne7+
) 50. fxg5 g6 (50... Kd8 51. Rf2 $5 (51. Re2 Bg8 52. Kf4 Bxd5 53. Nxf5 Rxh5 54.
Nxg7 Rh4+ 55. Kf5 Bxc6 56. Ne6+ $16) (51. g6 Bg8 52. Kf4 Bxd5 53. Nxf5 Rxh5 54.
Nxg7 $16) 51... Rh4 (51... Bg8 52. Kg2 Rh4 53. Rxf5 $18) 52. Ne2 $1 Rh3+ 53.
Kg2 Rxh5 54. Nf4 Rxg5+ 55. Kf3 Rg1 (55... Ke7 56. Re2+ Kf7 57. Ne6 $18) 56. Rh2
Bg6 57. Nxg6 Rxg6 58. Rh8+ Ke7 59. Rc8 $18) 51. Re2 Kd8 $8 52. hxg6 Bxg6 53.
Re6 Bf7 (53... Bh5+ 54. Kf4 $5 Rh4+ 55. Kxf5 Bg4+ 56. Kf6 Bxe6 57. dxe6 $18)
54. g6 $1 $18 Bg8 (54... Bxe6 55. dxe6 {[%cal Rg6g7]} Rh6 56. g7 Rg6 57. Nxf5
Ke8 58. d5 Kd8 59. Kf4 Ke8 (59... Rg2 60. Ng3) 60. Nxd6+ $18) 55. g7 {[%cal
Re6f6,Rf6f8]} f4 (55... Bf7 56. Kg2 Rh4 57. Nxf5 Rh5 58. Rf6 $18) 56. Kxf4 Rh2
57. Nf5 Rxa2 58. Rf6 Re2 59. Rf8+ (59. Rf8+ {After} Re8 60. Nxd6 $1 cxd6 61.
c7+ Kxc7 62. Rxe8 a2 63. Re1 Bxd5 (63... Kb6 64. Ke3 Kb5 65. Kd3 Kb4 66. Kc2
Ka3 67. Re3+ $18) 64. Ke3 $18 {[%cal Ye3b2] White frees his R and converts his
passed pawn.}) 1-0

[Event "London Classic 4th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2012.12.03"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A37"]
[WhiteElo "2795"]
[BlackElo "2848"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2012.12.01"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 152"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 e5 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. O-O Nge7 7. a3 a5 8. Ne1
d6 9. Nc2 O-O 10. d3 Rb8 11. Rb1 Be6 12. b4 axb4 13. axb4 cxb4 14. Nxb4 Nxb4
15. Rxb4 d5 16. cxd5 Nxd5 17. Nxd5 Bxd5 18. Rb5 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 Qd7 20. Qb3 Rfc8
21. Bb2 Qd6 22. Rb1 Rc5 23. Rb6 Rc6 24. Rxb7 Rxb7 25. Qxb7 Rb6 26. Qc8+ Qf8 27.
Qd7 h5 28. e4 Qd6 29. Qe8+ Qf8 30. Qd7 Qd6 31. Qxd6 Rxd6 32. Rd1 f5 33. f3 fxe4
34. fxe4 Rb6 35. Bc3 Rb3 36. Ba1 Kf7 37. Kf3 Ke6 38. h3 Bh6 39. Ke2 Bg5 40. Rg1
Bh6 41. h4 Kd6 42. Rd1 Ke6 43. Rf1 Rb4 44. Rd1 Rb3 45. Rg1 Kf6 46. Rh1 Ke6 47.
Rd1 Kf6 48. d4 Re3+ 49. Kf2 Rxe4 50. dxe5+ Kf5 51. Rd7 Kg4 52. Rd6 Be3+ 53. Ke2
Bf4+ 54. Kd3 Re3+ 55. Kc4 Bxe5 56. Rxg6+ Kf3 57. Bxe5 Rxe5 58. Rg5 Re4+ 59. Kd5
Rg4 60. Ke5 Kxg3 61. Rxh5 Rxh4 62. Rxh4 Kxh4 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 4th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2012.12.04"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Jones, Gawain C B"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B53"]
[WhiteElo "2848"]
[BlackElo "2644"]
[Annotator "Mekhitarian,K"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2012.12.01"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 152"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 $5 {The Hungarian variation, that should
never be underestimated. Either a quick development or a Hedgehog-like setup
could be White's weapons here} a6 (4... Nc6 {the main line, naturally} 5. Bb5
Bd7 6. Bxc6 Bxc6 {and now White follows with Nc3-Bg5-0-0-0 or c4 straight away,
with a rich battle either way.}) 5. h3 $5 {A setup with Qe3, Be2, c4, Nc3 is
sought by White. A decision that proved to be very good, since Black's
troubles started already after his 15th move.} Nc6 6. Qe3 g6 7. c4 Bg7 8. Be2
Nf6 9. Nc3 O-O 10. O-O Nd7 11. Rb1 $1 {The expansion with b4 is always a good
plan, and when Black plays ...a5 to stop that (and also secure c5 for his N),
White gets the b5-square for the c3-N.} a5 (11... b6 {was another way to fight,
Bb7, Rc8 coming. Play could go like this:} 12. b4 Bb7 13. Rd1 Rc8 14. Na4 $5
$14 {and the b6-P will be slightly harassed.}) (11... Qb6 $5 {Possibly an
interesting novelty, forcing an early Q-exchange, that should work in Black's
favour.} 12. Nd5 Qxe3 13. Bxe3 Nf6 {And I feel Black is ok, with natural
developing moves coming}) 12. b3 Nc5 13. Bb2 f5 {This is part of Black's plan
- if he doesn't try this, White is just building up an advantage with Rfd1,
Nb5, and a3-b4 later.} 14. exf5 Bxf5 15. Rbd1 $14 {This is the kind of
position where Black has to be careful, since central files are open and both
black Ps are still there. Highly typical of the Accelerated Dragon's Maroczy
like positions. Personally, I like White's chances in these structures. It
just feels like Black's position is highly unstable and moves like Ba3, Ng5,
Nd5, Nb5 must be watched all the time.} a4 16. Ba3 $1 Qa5 (16... Bxc3 $6 {
a highly concrete decision, that should be considered and could go like this:}
17. Qxc3 Ne4 18. Qe3 $1 (18. Qc1 {would also be decent} axb3 19. axb3 Rxa3 20.
Qxa3 Nc3 {Even here, White claims a small edge with a simple move like 21.Rfe1,
because of Black's unstable central pawns and his open K} 21. Rfe1 $14) 18...
axb3 19. Bb2 {ideas like this should be considered, because it feels like 16...
Bxc3 should backfire somehow. Now g4 is a threat and in the event of 19...Rxa2,
then simply 20.Qb3, with huge compensation} Rxa2 20. Qxb3 $16) 17. Nb5 (17. b4
$5 {was attractive, but was probably not leading to much:} Nxb4 18. Bxb4 Qxb4
19. Nd5 Qa5 20. Nxe7+ Kh8 21. Nxf5 gxf5 $14 {Keeping the pieces in a tense
position with 17.Nb5 is always more interesting than doing this. Of course, 18.
..Rf6! may change the whole evaluation and induce White to choose this line
instead.}) 17... axb3 18. axb3 Qxa3 {White was claiming a small, comfortable
advantage already, but this looks drastic. I mean, Black is far from stable,
and he's not even going to take on b3. There will be some piece play, indeed.
But it doesn't look right.} (18... Rf6 $1 {This is what I'm talking about - if
Black wants to claim a good position, he has to do it in a concrete fashion,
which probably was the thought process that occurred to Gawain, but he
overestimated the Q-sacrifice and didn't consider this odd-looking R
activation (I would hardly take this move seriously while analysing during a
game)} 19. Bxc5 (19. b4 {leads to a crazy position as well:} Nxb4 20. Bxb4 Qxb4
21. Nc7 Qa5 22. Nxa8 Re6 $1 23. Qd2 Bc3 24. Qd5 Be4 $44 {and Black's strong
piece positioning (and a P) surely compensate for the exchange}) (19. Ng5 h6
20. g4 {would be another direct try to refute Black's idea} hxg5 21. gxf5 Rxf5
22. Bxc5 Re5 $13 {same idea, on the 5th rank now :)}) 19... Re6 $1 {The point,
now the e2-B becomes a target} 20. Qc1 Rxe2 21. Bd4 Nxd4 22. Nfxd4 Re5 $13) 19.
Nxa3 Rxa3 20. Nd2 $16 {Slowly White coordinates so as to exchange some pieces,
when Black's problems will become bigger and bigger} Bd4 21. Qg3 Be5 $6 (21...
Kg7 $5 {a small K-improvement was possible, maintaining some positional
pressure.}) 22. f4 {This 'weakness' also helps White to gain some space.} Bf6
23. Bg4 Nd4 24. Kh1 Bc2 25. Rde1 Kh8 26. Re3 h5 27. b4 $1 h4 (27... Nd3 $1 28.
Bd1 $1 {disturbing completely Black's harmony} h4 $1 (28... Nf5 29. Qxg6 Nxe3
30. Bxc2 Nxc2 31. Ne4 $18 {and the material advantage becomes a deadly attack})
29. Qxg6 Nf2+ 30. Rxf2 Bxg6 31. Rxa3 {also good for White, but perhaps the
most stubborn idea.}) 28. Qf2 Nd3 29. Qg1 $18 {Now everything is hanging and
Ne4 is a very strong threat.} Nf5 30. Bxf5 gxf5 31. Nf3 Rc3 32. c5 Bb3 33. Ne1
Bd4 34. Nxd3 dxc5 (34... Rxd3 {wouldn't change anything:} 35. Rxd3 Bxg1 36.
Rxb3 Bd4 37. cxd6 exd6 38. Rd3 $18) 35. Qf2 Rf7 36. Rc1 cxb4 37. Rxc3 bxc3 38.
Qe1 1-0

[Event "London Classic 4th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2012.12.06"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Adams, Michael"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2710"]
[BlackElo "2848"]
[PlyCount "126"]
[EventDate "2012.12.01"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 152"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a4
Bd7 9. h3 O-O 10. Be3 Be6 11. Bxe6 fxe6 12. Nbd2 b4 13. c3 d5 14. cxb4 Bd6 15.
b5 axb5 16. axb5 Rxa1 17. Qxa1 Nb4 18. d4 exd4 19. Nxd4 Qe8 20. Qa4 Nxe4 21.
Nxe4 dxe4 22. Nc6 Nd5 23. Qxe4 Nxe3 24. Qxe3 Rf5 25. Nd4 Re5 26. Qb3 Rd5 27.
Qc4 Qf7 28. b3 Qd7 29. Nf3 Rxb5 30. Ra1 Rd5 31. g3 h6 32. Qe4 Qe8 33. Kg2 Kf7
34. Ra2 Qd8 35. Re2 Qf6 36. h4 Qf5 37. Qc4 Rd3 38. Re3 Rxe3 39. fxe3 Qb1 40. e4
Qb2+ 41. Kh3 Qf2 42. e5 Qxf3 43. exd6 Qh1+ 44. Kg4 Qd1+ 45. Kh3 Qxd6 46. h5 c5
47. g4 Qd4 48. Qf1+ Ke7 49. Qf3 Qd5 50. Qc3 e5 51. Kg3 Kd6 52. Qc4 Qxc4 53.
bxc4 e4 54. Kf4 e3 55. Kf3 Ke6 56. Ke2 Kf6 57. Kf3 Kg5 58. Kxe3 Kxg4 59. Ke4
Kxh5 60. Kd5 g5 61. Kxc5 g4 62. Kd4 g3 63. Ke3 Kg4 0-1

[Event "London Classic 4th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2012.12.07"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Polgar, Judit"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A33"]
[WhiteElo "2848"]
[BlackElo "2705"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2012.12.01"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 152"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 ({Kavalek in his notes indicated that the first one to use White's setup
was Ljubojevic almost 40 years ago, albeit against a Sicilian:} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3
e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nb5 d6 6. c4 Nf6 7. N5c3 (7. N1c3 {is the usual
move, but Ljubojevic wanted to avoid the standard} a6 8. Na3 {, as he didn't
like the knight on the edge.} (8. Nd4 {allows} Be7 9. Be2 O-O 10. O-O d5 $1 11.
exd5 exd5 12. cxd5 Nxd5 13. Nxc6 bxc6 14. Nxd5 cxd5 15. Be3 a5 16. Bf3 Ba6 17.
Re1 Bb4 18. Bd2 Bc5 19. Bc3 d4 20. Bxa8 dxc3 $44 {Ehlvest,J (2589)-Bacrot,E 
(2649)/Dubai rpd/2002/})) 7... Be7 8. Be2 O-O 9. O-O b6 10. Bf4 Bb7 11. Nd2 (
11. Re1 {is similar:} Ne5 12. Nd2 (12. Bf1 Ng6 13. Bg3 Qd7 14. Na3 Rfd8 15. Qd2
Ne8 16. Rad1 Bf6 17. Nab5 Qe7 18. Qe3 Bg5 19. f4 Bh6 20. Qf2 Qf6 21. f5 Ne5 22.
Qd4 Ng4 23. Qxf6 gxf6 24. Rd3 Ne5 25. Rdd1 Ng4 26. Rd3 {1/2,Ljubojevic,L (2605)
-Sokolov,A (2595)/Bugojno/1986/}) 12... Nfd7 13. Bf1 Bg5 14. Bxg5 Qxg5 15. Nf3
Qf6 $5 16. Nxe5 Nxe5 17. Qd2 (17. Qxd6 Rfd8 $44) 17... g5 18. Rad1 Rfd8 19. Qe3
Rd7 20. Rd2 Bc6 21. Red1 Rad8 22. f3 h5 23. Be2 h4 $11 {Ljubojevic,L (2590)
-Kasparov,G (2630)/Tilburg/1981/}) {The most usual reaction is the immediate}
11... a6 (11... Ne5 12. Rc1 Rc8 13. a3 {leads to the position from our game,
only there Black's bishop took 2 moves to get to e7 and Carlsen had the extra
move Re1. After} a6 (13... Qc7 14. Re1 Qb8 15. b4 Qa8 16. Bf1 Rfd8 $13 {
is a viable attempt to do without a6.}) 14. Re1 Rc7 15. Be3 Ned7 16. b4 Qa8 17.
Na4 Rc6 18. Qb3 Bd8 19. f3 Rc8 20. Kh1 Bc7 21. Bf1 Kh8 22. Qb2 Rg8 23. Nb3 Bc6
24. Nc3 Bb7 25. Na4 Bc6 26. Nc3 Bb7 27. Red1 Qb8 28. Bg1 g5 $132 {Cheparinov,I
(2572)-Karjakin,S (2599)/Wijk aan Zee/2005/ Here Black has a typical Hedgehog
counterplay, see the notes to this game by Ribli in CBM 105.}) (11... Rc8 12.
Re1 Rc7 13. Bf1 Rd7 {seems too artificial:} 14. a3 Qa8 15. Rc1 Ne5 16. Bg3 Ng6
17. Qe2 Rc8 18. f4 Rdd8 19. Kh1 h5 20. Nf3 Re8 21. h3 Ba6 22. b3 d5 23. e5 Ne4
24. Nxe4 dxe4 25. Nd2 h4 26. Bh2 Bb7 27. b4 a5 28. Rb1 axb4 29. axb4 Qa3 30.
Nxe4 Bxe4 31. Qxe4 Bxb4 32. Re3 Qa5 33. f5 $1 $40 {Ljubojevic,L (2605)
-Bronstein,L (2380)/Buenos Aires olm/1978/}) 12. a3 Nd4 13. Bd3 Nd7 14. Be3 (
14. Re1 $5 Ne5 15. Bf1 Bg5 16. Be3 Bxe3 17. Rxe3 f5 18. exf5 Nxf5 19. Rh3 $13 {
leads to an interesting position. Black has active piece play, but his central
pawns are vulnerable and exchanges help his opponent. After} Qg5 (19... Qc7 $5)
20. Nde4 Bxe4 21. Nxe4 Qf4 22. Qe1 d5 $6 23. cxd5 exd5 24. Nc3 Rad8 25. Rd1 d4
26. Qe4 $14 {/+/-,Kavalek,L (2555)-Langeweg,K (2410)/Wijk aan Zee/1975/ White
forces an advantageous endgame.}) 14... Bf6 15. Rc1 Ne5 16. Bb1 Nec6 17. Re1
Rb8 (17... Rc8 $5 $11 {seems more natural}) 18. b4 b5 19. Ba2 Ba8 20. Nd5 $5
exd5 21. cxd5 a5 (21... Ne7 22. Nf1 Ndf5 (22... Qb6 23. Ng3 {[%cal Rg3h5]} g6
24. Rc3 $16) 23. exf5 Nxf5 $11) 22. dxc6 Nxc6 23. Qb3 axb4 24. axb4 Ne5 25. h3
Qe7 26. Qb1 {1/2,Ljubojevic,L (2565)-Karpov,A (2660)/Madrid/1973/} Rfe8 $132 {
The final position resembles a Ruy Lopez.}) 1... c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4.
Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 (5... Qb6 {is less flexible:} 6. Nb3 e6 7. a3 $5 {[%csl Rb6]
} (7. e4 Bb4 8. Bd3 Ne5 9. O-O Qd6 10. Bf4 Bxc3 11. bxc3 Qxd3 12. Bxe5 {
1-0 Le Quang,L (2647)-Nepomniachtchi,I (2658)/Moscow 2010/CBM 135/[Le Quang
Liem] (60)} Qxd1 $5 13. Raxd1 (13. Rfxd1 Nxe4 14. Bxg7 Rg8 15. Bd4 b6 16. f3
Nd6 17. c5 Nf5 $11) 13... Nxe4 (13... b6 14. Rd4 $14) 14. Rfe1 Nf6 15. Nd4 Kf8
16. Nb5 $44 {White has compensation, but hardly an advantage after} Ne8) 7...
d5 8. Be3 Qd8 9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. Nxd5 exd5 11. g3 a5 12. Bg2 a4 13. Nd4 Qa5+ 14.
Qd2 Qxd2+ 15. Kxd2 Na5 $6 (15... Bc5 $5 $14) 16. Bxd5 Bh3 17. Rhd1 Rd8 18. Ba2
Bc5 19. Ke1 O-O 20. Rac1 b6 21. Nc2 Rb8 22. Bf4 Rb7 23. Ne3 Re8 24. Rc3 $16 {
Stohl,I (2525)-Polgar,J (2540)/Amsterdam/1990/}) 6. a3 {Let's check the
alternatives:} (6. g3 Qb6 {There have been new developments also after} 7. Nb3
(7. Ndb5 Bc5 (7... Ne5 8. Bf4 Nfg4 9. e3 (9. Qa4 g5 10. Bxe5 Qxf2+ $5 11. Kd1
Nxe5 12. Nc7+ Kd8 13. Nxa8 Qd4+ 14. Kc2 Nxc4 15. Kb3 Nd2+ 16. Kc2 Nc4 17. Kb3
Nd2+ 18. Kc2 {1/2, Carlsen,M (2776)-Dominguez Perez,L (2717)/Linares/2009/})
9... a6 10. Qa4 $5 $146 {With this White wants to avoid the above line.} {
The critical move is probably} Rb8 {when} (10... g5 11. Bxe5 Nxe5 12. O-O-O {
Vachier was obviously striving for this position and got a big plus after} Be7
(12... Rb8 13. Nd4 Qc7 14. Be2 Be7 15. Kb1 (15. f4 $5) 15... Nc6 16. Rc1 Qe5
17. Rhd1 h5 18. Ka1 g4 19. Bf1 f5 20. Bg2 Kf7 21. h3 Bf6 22. Qc2 Ne7 23. Nce2
b5 $5 $13 {Aronian,L (2739)-Leko,P (2753)/Morelia/Linares/2008/ See the notes
to this game by Marin in CBM 123. Here the actual move order was 9.Qa4 g5 10.
Bxe5 Nxe5 11.0-0-0 a6 12.e3.}) 13. Be2 O-O 14. Nd4 Qb4 15. Qxb4 Bxb4 16. f4
gxf4 17. gxf4 Ng6 18. h4 b6 19. h5 Ne7 20. Ne4 d5 21. Rhg1+ Kh8 22. Nf6 Bc5 23.
h6 Ng8 24. Nxg8 Rxg8 25. Rxg8+ Kxg8 26. Rg1+ $16 {Vachier Lagrave,M (2686)
-Dominguez Perez,L (2725)/Istanbul ol/2012/}) 11. Be2 axb5 12. Nxb5 g5 13. Bxg5
f6 14. Bf4 h5 15. O-O $5 $44 {gives White good compensation.}) {White can
probably fight for an edge only with} 8. Bg2 $5 (8. Nd6+ Ke7 9. Nde4 Nxe4 10.
Nxe4 Bb4+ 11. Bd2 d5 12. cxd5 exd5 13. Nc3 Be6 14. Bg2 Rhd8 15. O-O d4 $5 (
15... Kf8 16. Na4 Qa5 17. Bxb4+ Qxb4 18. Rc1 Qe7 19. Nc5 Rac8 20. Qa4 a6 21.
Rfd1 $14 {Christiansen,L (2555)-Tolnai,T (2470)/WChT Luzern/1989/}) 16. Na4 Qa5
17. Bxb4+ Qxb4 18. a3 Qb5 19. b4 a5 20. Nc5 axb4 21. axb4 Rxa1 22. Qxa1 {
Marin,M (2545)-Nisipeanu,L (2610)/Bucharest/1998/} Bd5 $11) (8. e3 $6 {This is
too soft.} O-O 9. Bg2 a6 10. Na3 Bxa3 11. bxa3 Ne5 12. Na4 Qd8 13. Qb3 d5 14.
cxd5 exd5 15. O-O b5 16. Nc5 Nc4 17. Qc3 (17. a4 $5) 17... Bf5 18. Qd4 Qe7 19.
Nd3 Be4 20. f3 Bxd3 21. Qxd3 Rfe8 22. Re1 Rad8 $36 {[%csl Rc1,Gc4,Gf6,Rg2]
Fressinet,L (2702)-Short,N (2707)/Bastia rpd/2012/}) 8... a6 9. Nd6+ Ke7 10.
Nde4 Nxe4 11. Nxe4 Bb4+ 12. Kf1 d5 13. cxd5 Rd8 14. Be3 Qb5 15. Nc3 Bxc3 16.
bxc3 exd5 17. Rb1 ({Marin suggests} 17. h4 $5 h5 18. Bf3 $14) 17... Qc4 18. Qd3
Qxd3 19. Bc5+ Kf6 20. exd3 b5 21. Ke2 {1/2,Marin,M (2551)-Gashimov,V (2664)/
Reggio Emilia/2008/}) 7... Ne5 8. e4 Bb4 9. Qe2 d6 10. Bd2 (10. f4 Nc6 11. Be3
Bxc3+ 12. bxc3 Qc7 13. Bg2 O-O 14. c5 (14. O-O b6 15. g4 Ba6 $13 {/=/+ is not
without risk, in practice Black has mostly been able to cope with White's
attack.}) 14... dxc5 15. Bxc5 Rd8 16. e5 Na5 17. Bd4 Nxb3 18. axb3 Rxd4 19.
cxd4 Qc3+ 20. Kf2 Qxd4+ 21. Kf3 Qc3+ 22. Kf2 Qd4+ $11 {is a well-known draw.})
10... a5 (10... O-O 11. O-O-O a5 12. f4 Nc6 $5 (12... a4 13. fxe5 axb3 14. a3
dxe5 15. axb4 Ra1+ 16. Nb1 Qa6 17. Qd3 {The untested} b5 $5 (17... Qa2 18. Bg2
Re8 19. Bc3 Re7 20. Kd2 $1 (20. Qd8+ Re8 21. Qd3 Re7 $11) 20... Rd7 21. Na3
Rxd1+ 22. Rxd1 $16 {[%csl Ra2] Gulko,B (2589)-Alekseev,E (2625)/Ruschess.com/
2005/ White has good winning chances, as the Qa2 is completely offside. see
the notes to this game by Ribli in CBM 109.}) 18. c5 Nxe4 $13 {seems worth a
try.}) 13. Be3 Qa6 14. Nb5 a4 15. Nd2 (15. Nc7 axb3 $1 16. Nxa6 bxa2 17. Kc2
Rxa6 18. e5 dxe5 19. fxe5 Nxe5 20. Bg2 Neg4 21. Ra1 e5 22. Rxa2 Be6 {[%cal
Re6c4]} 23. Kb3 Ba5 24. Bc5 b5 25. Rxa5 Rxa5 26. Qd2 bxc4+ 27. Kb4 Rxc5 28.
Kxc5 Rc8+ $44 {Pauwels,C (2541)-Korze,D (2474)/corr/2009/}) 15... a3 16. b3 e5
$5 17. Bg2 (17. Nc7 $2 Qa5 18. Nxa8 Bc5 $1 $19) ({Probably the critical move is
} 17. f5 $5 Bc5 18. Bg5 $13) 17... Bg4 18. Bf3 Bxf3 19. Qxf3 Qa5 20. h4 $6 Rfe8
21. f5 h5 $1 22. Rhe1 Bc5 23. Re2 Bxe3 24. Rxe3 Nd4 25. Nxd4 exd4 26. Rd3 Qc5
$17 {Martin Rebollo,L (2106)-Baltasar Perez,A (2022)/corr/2008/}) 11. f4 Nc6
12. Be3 $5 (12. Na4 Bxd2+ 13. Qxd2 Qb4 $11) 12... Qc7 13. Bg2 a4 ({After} 13...
Bxc3+ 14. bxc3 {Black is a tempo up, compared to 10.f4. However, the extra
move a5 only makes his queenside more vulnerable.}) ({The same goes for} 13...
O-O 14. O-O Bxc3 15. bxc3) 14. Nd2 Bxc3 15. bxc3 b6 (15... O-O 16. c5 d5 17.
O-O Rd8 18. e5 Nd7 19. Qh5 Ra5 20. g4 f6 21. exf6 Nxf6 22. Qh4 d4 23. cxd4 Nxd4
24. Rad1 Qxc5 25. Kh1 $18 {[%cal Rd2f3,Rd2e4] D'Costa,L (2411)-Edouard,R (2531)
/Palma de Mallorca/2008/}) 16. Rb1 Nd7 17. Qf2 Rb8 18. O-O O-O 19. g4 Ba6 (
19... f6 {is more circumspect}) 20. Qh4 Rfe8 21. Rf3 Nf8 22. Rh3 b5 $6 (22...
Na5 $142 $5 {was consistent:} 23. e5 Nxc4 $13) 23. e5 $1 dxe5 24. Be4 h6 25. f5
$1 f6 26. Bxh6 $1 $40 {Morozevich,A (2748)-Leko,P (2732)/Tashkent/2012/
However, we have indicated Black's play can be improved, only further practice
will decide the future of 10...a5.}) (6. Ndb5 d5 7. Bf4 e5 8. cxd5 exf4 9. dxc6
bxc6 10. Qxd8+ Kxd8 11. Rd1+ Bd7 12. Nd6 Kc7 $5 (12... Bxd6 13. Rxd6 Rb8 14.
Rd2 Re8 15. g3 f3 16. Kd1 fxe2+ 17. Bxe2 Kc7 $11) 13. Nxf7 Rg8 14. Ne5 Rb8 15.
Nxd7 Nxd7 16. g3 (16. Rd2 Bb4 17. g3 Ne5 18. Bh3 {allows Black to force a draw
with} Bxc3 19. bxc3 Rb1+ 20. Rd1 Nd3+ $1 21. exd3 Re8+ 22. Kd2 Rb2+ 23. Kc1
Ree2 $11 {Blees,A (2380)-Hegeler,F (2245)/Krumbach/1991/}) 16... Rxb2 17. Bh3
Nf6 18. O-O Bb4 19. Rc1 Rd8 20. Bg2 Rdd2 21. gxf4 Rbc2 22. Ne4 Rxe2 23. Nxf6
gxf6 24. Rxc2 Rxc2 25. Be4 Rxa2 26. Rc1 c5 27. Bxh7 Rd2 $11 {Nakamura,H (2775)
-Kramnik,V (2801)/Moscow/2012/ The ^- endgame is drawish, if anybody must
tread with care, it's White.}) (6. e4 Bb4 7. Nxc6 bxc6 (7... dxc6 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8
9. e5 Ne4 10. a3 $1 {/\} Bxc3+ 11. bxc3 Nxc3 12. a4 Ne4 13. Be3 b6 14. a5 $44
Rb8 15. axb6 axb6 16. Ra7 Rf8 17. Bd3 Nc5 18. Bxh7 Nd7 19. Bg5+ f6 20. exf6
gxf6 21. Bf4 Rb7 22. Rxb7 Bxb7 23. Bd6 Rh8 24. Be4 f5 25. Bd3 Rh4 26. f4 Nf6
27. O-O $14 {/+/-,Kosten,A (2534)-Don Juan/playchess.com/2007/}) 8. Bd3 e5 (
8... d5 9. exd5 exd5 10. cxd5 Qe7+ 11. Qe2 Qxe2+ 12. Kxe2 Bxc3 13. bxc3 Nxd5
14. Bd2 (14. c4 $5) 14... O-O 15. c4 Re8+ 16. Kf3 Ba6 $132 {1/2,Stohl,I (2560)
-Lautier,J (2580)/Chalkidiki/1992/}) 9. O-O O-O 10. Be3 (10. Bg5 h6 11. Bh4 Bc5
12. a3 a5 13. Qd2 d6 14. Kh1 Be6 15. f4 exf4 16. Rxf4 g5 17. Raf1 Bd4 18. R4f3
Ng4 19. Bg3 Ne5 20. Bxe5 Bxe5 21. R3f2 Qb6 $17 {Christiansen,L (2595)-Ribli,Z 
(2595)/Bundesliga/1992/}) ({Maybe White should prefer the modest} 10. Bd2 {
, but here Black can hardly have problems after} Be7 $11 ({or} 10... d6 $5))
10... d6 (10... Bxc3 $5 11. bxc3 d6 $11 {was Kasparov's laconic recommendation.
However, even his own move was not that bad.}) 11. Na4 $1 d5 12. exd5 cxd5 13.
a3 Be7 14. cxd5 Nxd5 15. Bc5 Nf6 (15... Bxc5 $5 16. Nxc5 Nf4 $132) 16. Re1 Bxc5
17. Nxc5 Qb6 18. Qc2 Re8 19. h3 a5 20. Rac1 Rb8 21. Re2 h6 22. Bc4 Re7 23. Rd2
e4 $14 {/<=>,Kramnik,V (2710)-Kasparov,G (2805)/New York rpd/1994/ Black lost
the game only after further mistakes.}) 6... Bc5 (6... Qb6 7. Nb3 $14 {- 5...
Qb6}) ({However, an equivalent alternative is} 6... Be7 $5 7. e4 O-O 8. Nf3 (8.
Be2 d5 $11 {was sufficient for equality even in an inferior version from the
note to move 1 - here it easily solves Black's problems.}) (8. Nc2 b6 $11 9.
Be2 Bb7 10. O-O Qc7 11. Ne3 a6 12. f4 d6 13. b4 b5 $5 14. cxb5 axb5 15. Bb2 Qb6
16. Qd3 Nd4 17. Bd1 e5 18. Kh1 Rac8 $132 {Agdestein,S (2571)-Carlsen,M (2528)/
Sandnes/2005/}) 8... Qc7 (8... b6 9. Bf4 {prevents the queen from going to c7,
but even here} Bb7 10. Be2 d6 11. O-O Rc8 {leads only to a playable Hedgehog
from our game (mentioned also in the note to move 1).}) 9. Be2 b6 10. O-O Bb7
11. Bg5 Rad8 {is less forcing:} (11... Ne5 12. Nxe5 (12. Bh4 {Xiu,D (2508)
-Edouard,R (2634)/Moscow/2011/} Ng6 $5 13. Bg3 Nf4 14. Nb5 Nxe2+ 15. Qxe2 Qc6 {
[%csl Gb7,Ge7] is fine for Black.}) 12... Qxe5 13. Bh4 Bxe4 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15.
Nxe4 Qxe4 16. Bf3 Qxc4 17. Rc1 Qd4 18. Bxa8 Rxa8 19. Rc7 a5 20. Rxd7 Qxb2 21.
Qd6 h6 22. Rd1 b5 23. g3 b4 $11 {Van Wely,L (2688)-Dominguez Perez,L (2734)/
ECC Eilat 2012/}) 12. Re1 h6 13. Bh4 d6 14. Bf1 Ne5 15. Nd4 Qb8 16. Bg3 Qa8 17.
Qe2 Rc8 18. b3 a6 19. Rac1 Rfe8 20. h3 Ned7 $11 {Kovalyov,A (2593)-Akopian,V 
(2703)/St Petersburg/2012/}) 7. Nb3 Be7 8. e4 O-O 9. Be2 b6 10. O-O Bb7 ({
Here Black has also} 10... Ba6 $5 {[%csl Rc4] , targetting c4.} 11. f4 (11. Bf4
d6 12. Re1 Ne5 13. Nd2 Rc8 $132) 11... d6 12. Be3 Rc8 13. Rc1 {again allows} (
13. Bd3 Nd7 $5 14. Rc1 (14. Nd2 Bf6 $132) 14... Nc5 15. Nxc5 bxc5 16. Rf2 Qa5 (
16... Bb7 $11) (16... Bf6 $5 {/\} 17. e5 dxe5 18. Bxc5 Be7 $13) 17. Bd2 Qc7 18.
Qa4 Qa5 19. b4 $5 Qxa4 20. Nxa4 Nd4 21. Be3 Bf6 $2 (21... Rfd8 $11) (21... f5
$5 $132) 22. e5 dxe5 23. Nxc5 {Stohl,I (2580)-Fancsy,I (2345)/HUN-chT/1998/}) (
13. Kh1 Nb8 14. Nd2 d5 15. cxd5 exd5 16. e5 d4 17. Bxd4 Qxd4 18. exf6 Bxf6 19.
Bxa6 Nxa6 20. Nde4 Nc5 21. Nxf6+ {1/2,Stohl,I (2525)-Horvath,J (2540)/Stary
Smokovec/1990/}) 13... Nb8 ({Black can also keep more tension on the board with
} 13... Re8 14. Bf2 Bb7 15. Nd2 Bf8 16. b4 Ne7 17. Bf3 Ng6 18. g3 h6 19. Re1
Qc7 20. Qe2 Qb8 21. Nf1 Bc6 22. Ne3 a6 23. Nc2 Ba8 $11 {Khairullin,I (2631)
-Jakovenko,D (2736)/Tyumen/2012/}) 14. Nd2 d5 $5 15. cxd5 exd5 16. Bxa6 Nxa6
17. Nxd5 Nxd5 18. Rxc8 Qxc8 19. exd5 Rd8 20. Qc1 Nc7 21. d6 {1/2,Papaioannou,I
(2600)-Vajda,L (2584)/EU-chT Porto Carras/2011/}) 11. Bf4 {Simple development
а la Ljubojevic.} (11. Be3 d6 12. f4 Rc8 13. Bf3 Qc7 (13... Nb8 $143 14. Nd2
Nbd7 15. Qe2 Qc7 16. Rac1 Qb8 17. g4 $1 Ne8 18. g5 Nc7 19. Qg2 Rfe8 20. h4 Bf8
21. h5 g6 22. Rce1 Ba8 23. Qh3 b5 24. Re2 Re7 25. f5 $1 $40 {Stohl,I (2525)
-Benjamin,J (2560)/Novi Sad olm/1990/ Black played too passively and White
whipped up a strong attack.}) 14. Rc1 Qb8 15. Qe2 Rfe8 16. Rfd1 (16. g4 {
is double-edged, as the knight has a comfortable retreat} Nd7 $1 $13) (16. Bf2
Bf8 17. Nd2 {0 Milov,V (2635)-Vettel,M (2205)/Baden/1998/ is similar to what
Carlsen played later in the game.}) 16... Bf8 17. Kh1 Ne7 18. Nd2 Ba6 19. b4
Ng6 20. g3 Rc7 21. a4 Rec8 22. Na2 d5 $1 23. e5 Ne4 24. b5 Bb7 $11 {Jakovenko,
D (2718)-Bocharov,D (2595)/RUS-chT Olginka/2011/ The typical central break
once again gave Black good counterplay.}) (11. f4 d6 {usually only transposes.}
) 11... d6 12. Rc1 Rc8 13. Re1 Ne5 14. Nd2 {[%mdl 32] The extra tempo in
comparison with Cheparinov-Karjakin is fine, but it still doesn't change the
evaluation - Black is doing reasonably well here. More important for Carlsen
is the fact that against an excellent tactician he has achieved a complex
position full of various predominantly strategic options and motifs. This
allows him to fight for an advantage in the middlegame - something he
obviously enjoys much more than preparing computer novelties in irrational
lines.} Nfd7 15. Be3 $146 {The first novelty, Carlsen starts the manoeuvring
struggle by retreating the bishop to a square, where it could have been since
move 11. From here it attacks both flanks and has more perspectives than after}
(15. b4 Kh8 16. Bg3 g5 $5 17. Nb3 a6 18. Bf1 Rg8 19. Na4 Bc6 20. Nd4 (20. b5
axb5 21. cxb5 Bb7 $13) 20... Bb7 21. Nb3 Bc6 22. Nd4 Bb7 23. Nb3 {1/2,Van Wely,
L (2692)-Gashimov,V (2761)/Wijk aan Zee/2012/}) 15... Qc7 16. b4 Qb8 ({Even
here} 16... g5 {deserved attention, but Polgar doesn't want to commit herself
yet...}) 17. f4 {And she doesn't get another chance.} Ng6 18. g3 {[%cal Yh2h4,
Yh4h5] White first fortifies his territorial gains.} Rfe8 19. Bf3 Qa8 20. Bf2
Ngf8 21. Qe2 Qb8 22. Red1 g6 $2 {Black's lack of space doesn't matter that
much, as long as she has no weaknesses - and the text-move creates a serious
one.} (22... a6 {/\Rc7, Rec8 is plausible, Black can proceed to double on the
c-file as in Jakovenko-Bocharov above.}) ({Other waiting moves are} 22... Red8
{or}) (22... Ba8) ({If Black wanted to create a luft, Kavalek indicates the
stronger} 22... h6 $5) 23. e5 $1 $36 {[%csl Ge5] This pawn will be a thorn in
Black's flesh, moreover with the last move he denied his knight the g6-square,
from which it could be effectively attacked.} Bc6 (23... Bxf3 24. Nxf3 {or}) (
23... dxe5 24. fxe5 {are similar.}) 24. Bd4 Red8 25. Bxc6 Rxc6 26. Nf3 (26.
exd6 Qxd6 27. Nf3 {/\Ne4 is tempting, but Magnus wants this as an option,
preferring to retain the cramping Pe5.}) 26... dxe5 (26... Rdc8 $2 {already
runs into} 27. exd6 Bxd6 28. Ne4 Be7 29. Ne5 Nxe5 (29... R6c7 30. Ng4 $18) 30.
Bxe5 Qb7 31. b5 $16 {/+- , winning an exchange.}) 27. fxe5 (27. Nxe5 Nxe5 28.
Bxe5 Rxd1+ 29. Rxd1 Qb7 30. Ne4 Nd7 $14 {gives Black better defensive chances.}
) 27... Rdc8 {The counterattack fails due to Black's lack of space and weak
kingside.} ({After} 27... a5 28. Ne4 axb4 29. axb4 Bxb4 {Kavalek points out
the powerful} 30. Qe3 {[%cal Re3h6]} Kg7 31. Qf4 h6 32. Be3 $18 {/\} g5 33.
Nfxg5 $1 hxg5 34. Qxg5+ Ng6 35. Rxd7 $1 Rxd7 36. Qh6+ Kg8 37. Nf6#) ({This is
why the computer recommends} 27... h6 {, or even}) (27... g5 $5 {as more
resilient. However, I can't believe that in the long run Black can get away
with such weaknesses.}) 28. Ne4 {[%csl Rf6,Rg7,Rg8][%mdl 128] White has a
promising attacking position, Carlsen will meke the most of his chances.} Qc7
29. Nfd2 {[%cal Rb4b5]} a6 (29... Nxe5 30. b5 Rc5 31. Nb3 $5 $16 (31. Nxc5 $16)
31... Rxc4 $2 32. Bxe5) 30. Nf2 {[%cal Yf2g4]} Bg5 {This active move doesn't
help, as without the bishop Black can't defend the gaping holes on the
dark-squares.} ({More resilient was} 30... f5 $5 31. exf6 Bxf6 {although White
is distinctly better after} 32. Bxf6 Nxf6 33. Nde4 $16) 31. Rf1 $1 {[%csl Rf7]
[%cal Gf1f7,Yf2e4] ><f7} Bxd2 {Insufficient, but it's difficult to suggest an
improvement.} ({After} 31... f5 32. exf6 Bxf6 33. Bxf6 Nxf6 34. Nfe4 $40 {
White is has an important extra tempo, compared with the previous note.}) 32.
Qxd2 Nxe5 (32... Rxc4 33. Rxc4 Qxc4 34. Ng4 Kh8 35. Nh6 $5 (35. Rxf7 $40) {
gives White a huge attack:} 35... f5 36. exf6 e5 37. Bb2 Qe6 {allows White to
quickly shift the to e5 with} 38. Re1 Rc7 39. Ng4 $1 {/\} Qxg4 40. Qh6 Ne6 41.
f7 $18 {[%cal Re1e5,Rb2e5]}) 33. Bxe5 Qxe5 34. Ng4 Rd6 (34... Qd6 35. Nh6+ Kg7
36. Rxf7+ Kh8 37. Qc3+ e5 38. Qf3 $18 {[%cal Rc1d1]}) 35. Nh6+ Kg7 36. Rxf7+
Kh8 37. Qf2 Qd4 38. c5 $5 ({Here White already had a wider choice, other good
moves are} 38. Rb7 {, or}) (38. Rf1 Qxf2+ 39. R1xf2 Nd7 40. Re7 Ne5 41. Nf7+
$16 {/+-}) 38... bxc5 (38... Qxf2+ 39. Kxf2 bxc5 40. Rxc5 (40. bxc5 $5 Rdc6 41.
Ke3) 40... Rxc5 $1 41. bxc5 Rc6 42. Ng4 (42. Rxf8+ Kg7 43. Rf3 Kxh6 44. Rc3 Kg7
45. Ke3 Kf6 46. Kd4 Ke7 47. Rb3 $14 {/+/- is difficult for Black, but she
could still fight on.}) 42... Kg8 43. Ne5 Rxc5 44. Rxf8+ Kg7 45. Nd7 Rd5 46.
Rd8 h6 47. Ke3 Kf7 48. Rf8+ Ke7 49. Nb6 Kxf8 (49... Rb5 50. Rb8 $18) 50. Nxd5
exd5 51. Kd4 {and White's active king decides the issue:} Ke7 52. Kxd5 Kd7 53.
Kc5 Kc7 54. g4 Kb7 (54... g5 55. a4 Kb7 56. a5 Kc7 57. h3 $22) 55. Kd6 Kb6 56.
Ke6 Kb5 57. Kf6 g5 (57... Ka4 58. Kxg6 Kxa3 59. Kxh6 $18) 58. Kg6 Ka4 59. Kxh6
Kxa3 60. Kxg5 a5 61. h4 $18) (38... Nd7 39. Re7 Ne5 40. cxd6 $5 Rxc1+ 41. Kg2
Qxf2+ 42. Kxf2 Rd1 43. g4 Rd2+ 44. Kg3 g5 (44... Rxd6 45. Re8+ Kg7 46. g5 {
[%cal Re8g8]}) 45. Rxe6 $18) 39. Qxd4+ $5 {Carlsen doesn't even allow the line
from the previous note.} Rxd4 40. Rxc5 {[%csl Rh8] Black is fighting for a
lost cause with her cornered king and uncoordinated pieces.} Rcd8 (40... Rxc5
41. bxc5 Nd7 (41... Rc4 42. Rxf8+ Kg7 43. Rf4 $18 {retains the extra knight})
42. c6 Nb6 43. c7 $18 {[%csl Gc7]}) (40... Rdd8 41. Rxc8 Rxc8 42. Ng4 $18 {
[%cal Yg4f6,Yg1d4,Ya3a4,Yb4b5] also paralyses Black. The course of the game
will be similar.}) 41. Rcc7 $18 Rd1+ 42. Kg2 R1d2+ 43. Kh3 R2d5 44. Ng4 Rh5+
45. Kg2 Rd2+ 46. Kf3 Rf5+ 47. Ke3 Rxf7 48. Rxf7 Rd8 49. Nf6 Rb8 50. Kf4 {
[%cal Rf4h6,Rf7g7,Rg7g8]} h6 $8 51. Ke5 a5 (51... Rd8 52. h4 g5 53. h5 $22) 52.
bxa5 Ra8 53. a6 (53. a6 Rxa6 54. Rxf8+ Kg7 55. Rd8 Ra5+ 56. Kxe6 Ra6+ 57. Rd6
$18) 1-0

[Event "London Classic 4th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2012.12.08"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2760"]
[BlackElo "2848"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2012.12.01"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 152"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. Bc4 e6 6. d4 cxd4 7. cxd4 d6 8. O-O
Be7 9. Qe2 O-O 10. Rd1 Qc7 11. a3 Rd8 12. b4 a6 13. Bd3 b5 14. h4 dxe5 15. dxe5
Bb7 16. Ra2 Ndxb4 17. axb4 Nxb4 18. Rad2 Rxd3 19. Rxd3 Nxd3 20. Qxd3 Rd8 21.
Qe2 Rxd1+ 22. Qxd1 Bxf3 23. gxf3 Qxe5 24. Qd7 Bf8 25. Be3 a5 26. Qe8 h6 27. Kg2
a4 28. Na3 b4 29. Nc4 Qc7 30. Nb6 Qe7 31. Qxa4 Qxh4 32. Qa8 Qe7 33. Qc8 b3 34.
Nd7 b2 35. Nxf8 Qxf8 36. Qb7 e5 37. Qxb2 f6 38. Qc2 Qf7 39. Qf5 Kh8 40. Bd2 Kg8
41. Kg3 Kh8 42. Be3 Kg8 43. Kh2 Kh8 44. Kg2 Kg8 45. Qd3 Kh8 46. f4 exf4 47.
Bxf4 Kg8 48. Qe4 Kh8 49. Be3 Kg8 50. Bd4 Kh8 51. f4 Kg8 52. Kg3 Kh8 53. Be3 Kg8
54. Bd4 Kh8 55. Be3 Kg8 56. Bd4 Kh8 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 4th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2012.12.10"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C48"]
[WhiteElo "2848"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2012.12.01"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 152"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{The clashes between the top rated player and the current World Champion are
always the centre of attention.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 {As
usual, Magnus doesn't wish to enter the main line, trying, and mostly
succeeding, to outplay his opponents in the long-term battle. His choice for
the current game is understandable, as the opening knowledge of the World
Champion is way better.} Bc5 5. Nc3 d6 {Anand likes to play with knights, so
he doesn't mind allowing the exchange that now follows.} ({To avoid the
exchange of the bishop that happened in the game, Black can play} 5... O-O) 6.
Na4 Bb6 7. Nxb6 {Carlsen deviates from his previous game.} (7. O-O Bd7 8. c3
Ne7 9. Nxb6 axb6 10. Bxd7+ Qxd7 11. Bg5 Ng6 12. Bxf6 gxf6 13. Nd2 f5 $11 {
1/2-1/2 (59) Carlsen,M (2765)-Wang Yue (2689) Baku 2008}) 7... axb6 8. c3 Bd7
9. Ba4 {White's only chance for an advantage is to keep the pair of bishops,
that might tell in the long run. Therefore, he should hide his light-squared
bishop from the exchange. Still, the position is equal.} Ne7 (9... O-O 10. Bc2
Ne7 11. Bg5 Ng6 12. h4 h6 13. h5 Nf4 14. Bxf4 exf4 15. Qd2 Ra5 16. Qxf4 Rxh5
17. O-O-O Rxh1 18. Rxh1 $14 {1/2-1/2 (34) Short,N (2702)-Aronian,L (2648)
Reykjavik 2004}) 10. Bc2 Ng6 11. h3 O-O 12. O-O h6 ({In the following game
Black performed some original rook manoeuvres:} 12... Bc6 13. Re1 Re8 14. Nh2
h6 15. Ng4 Nxg4 16. Qxg4 Re6 17. g3 Rf6 18. Qh5 Bd7 19. Be3 Ra5 $1 $132 {
1/2-1/2 (48) Efimenko,Z (2637)-Almasi,Z (2640) Germany 2005}) 13. Re1 Re8 14.
d4 Bc6 $1 {Attacking the Pe4 and forcing White to make a slight concession:
either to close the centre by d4-d5 or to exchange pawns.} 15. dxe5 (15. d5 Bd7
16. c4 Nh5 $132 {[%cal Gh5f4]}) 15... dxe5 {It's obvious that Black is not
experiencing any problems.} 16. Qxd8 Rexd8 $146 (16... Raxd8 17. a4 Nh5 18. Be3
Nhf4 19. Red1 f6 $11 {1/2-1/2 (24) Balogh,C (2561)-Georgiev,K (2649) Sibenik
2007}) 17. g3 Nd7 {The knight is heading to the d3-square. In fact, only Black
can be better here.} 18. Be3 Nc5 19. Nd2 (19. Bxc5 bxc5 20. a3 $11) 19... Nf8
20. f3 Nfe6 21. h4 {Magnus is not bothered by anything.} Bb5 22. a3 Rd7 $6 {
It was more consistent to put the bishop on d3.} (22... Bd3 23. Bd1 b5 {
Even if this position is equal, everyone would like to be on the black side.})
23. b4 $1 Nd3 $6 (23... Ba4 $1 24. bxc5 Bxc2 $11 {Opposite coloured bishops
promise a future draw.}) 24. Reb1 Ba4 25. Bxa4 Rxa4 {Anand has achieved the
favourable exchange of bishops, but his knight is ensconced on d3, and just a
headache for Black.} 26. Kf1 b5 27. Ke2 Ra6 28. h5 {Fixing the kingside, just
in case.} c5 $6 {It's clear that Anand got worried that he may eventually lose
his Nd3. So, he decided to liberate it now, before it is too late, even at a
price of a pawn. In fact, concrete variations do not support his choice.} (
28... Rc6 {[%csl Rc3]} 29. c4 ({Also after} 29. Rb3 f6 30. Rd1 Kf7 31. Nf1 Rcd6
32. Rbb1 Rd8 33. Rd2 Ke7 34. Rbd1 Nb2 {the knight escapes.}) 29... b6 $1 (29...
bxc4 $2 30. b5 $16 {[%csl Rc6]}) 30. cxb5 (30. a4 bxa4 31. Rxa4 Rcd6 32. c5
bxc5 33. Nc4 Nxb4 34. Nxd6 cxd6 $11) 30... Rc2 31. a4 Nb2 32. Rc1 {[%tqu "En",
"Black can make a forced draw. How?","","","d7d2","",5]} Rdxd2+ $1 33. Bxd2
Nd4+ 34. Ke3 (34. Ke1 Nd3+ 35. Kd1 Nb2+ $11) 34... Nc4+ 35. Kd3 Nb2+ $11) 29.
bxc5 Ndxc5 30. Rxb5 Na4 31. Rc1 Rc7 32. Nb1 {Now Black has a long fight for a
draw.} f6 33. c4 b6 34. Rd5 Nac5 35. Rc2 Rc6 {All Black's pieces are well
placed. It's now up to White to show some plan of improvement.} 36. Rb2 Kh7 37.
Rb4 g6 $5 {This is controversial. It is, normally, recommended for the
defending side to exchange pawns, but now Black gets some weaknesses on the
kingside.} (37... Kg8 {[%cal Gg8f7] would be more natural.}) 38. hxg6+ Kxg6 39.
Rd2 h5 40. Nc3 $5 {Of course, every existing engine would condemn this move.
On the other hand, it seems impossible for White to achieve any progress only
by manoeuvering. Magnus is trying to activate his pieces and create some
threats against Black's vulnerable king.} Rxa3 41. Nd5 Kf7 42. Nxb6 Nb3 $1 {
The knight is heading to d4.} 43. Rd7+ Ke8 {Before playing 42...Nb3, Anand had
to bear in mind that his king might be in danger on the back rank.} 44. Rb7
Nbd4+ 45. Bxd4 Nxd4+ 46. Kd1 Kd8 $2 {After long meditation Anand decided to
keep his active pieces as they are and not to take the pawn. However, this
loss of tempi could bring him to the verge of losing.} (46... Ra1+ 47. Kd2
Nxf3+ 48. Kc3 Ng5 49. Nd5 Nxe4+ 50. Kb2 Rd1 51. Re7+ Kd8 52. Rh7 Kc8 53. Ne7+
Kc7 54. Nxc6+ Kxc6 {Black's compensation is sufficient for a draw.}) 47. Rd7+
$2 (47. Kc1 $1 {was very strong. The idea is to bring the king to b2, and push
away Black's rook from the a-file. After that White's rook will get an
opportunity to join the attack via a4.} Ne6 (47... Nxf3 48. Rg7 $1 Ne1 49. Rb5
Nd3+ 50. Kc2 Nc5 51. Nd5 $18) (47... Rxf3 $2 48. Ra4 $18 {[%csl Rd8][%cal
Ga4a8]}) 48. Kb2 Rxf3 (48... Ra6 49. Rb5 {[%cal Gb6d5]} Nc7 50. Rb3 $18) 49.
Ra4 Nc7 50. Raa7 $1 Rxg3 51. Rb8+ Ke7 52. Nd5+ Kd6 53. Rd8+ Kc5 54. Nxc7 Rb6+
55. Kc2 h4 56. Rd2 Kxc4 57. Nd5 {with good winning chances.}) 47... Ke8 48. Rb7
Kd8 $2 (48... Ra1+ $1 {- see 46...Ra1.}) 49. Nd5 $2 ({It was the last chance
for} 49. Kc1 $1) 49... Ra1+ 50. Kd2 Ra2+ 51. Rb2 (51. Kc1 {Now it wasn't so
effective.} Rc2+ 52. Kd1 R6xc4 53. Rxc4 Rxc4 54. Rh7 Rc6 {and Black will
eventually hold.} (54... Nxf3 $4 55. Rh8+ Kd7 56. Nb6+ $18)) 51... Rxb2+ 52.
Rxb2 Nxf3+ 53. Kd3 Ng5 54. Rb8+ Kd7 55. Rb7+ Kd6 56. Nxf6 Ra6 {Black is safe
now. Suddenly, all his pieces are well placed.} 57. Ne8+ Kc5 58. Rc7+ Kb4 59.
Rb7+ Kc5 60. Rc7+ Kb4 61. Rb7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 75th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2013.01.12"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A36"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2013.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 153"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 g6 2. e4 e5 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. g3 d6 5. Nge2 c5 6. d3 Nc6 7. Bg2 Nge7 8. a3
Nd4 9. b4 Bg4 10. h3 Bxe2 11. Nxe2 Nxe2 12. Qxe2 Nc6 13. Rb1 b6 14. O-O O-O 15.
Be3 Rc8 16. Qd2 Rc7 17. Kh1 Kh8 18. Rb2 f5 19. Rbb1 Nd4 20. Bxd4 cxd4 21. exf5
gxf5 22. Bd5 Qe8 23. b5 Re7 24. Rbe1 e4 25. f4 exf3 26. Rxe7 Qxe7 27. Rxf3 Be5
28. a4 Qg7 29. Qf2 Rf6 30. Rxf5 Bxg3 31. Qf3 Be5 32. Be6 Rxf5 33. Bxf5 Qg5 34.
Be4 Kg7 35. Qg4 Qxg4 36. hxg4 h6 37. Kg2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 75th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2013.01.13"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E90"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2861"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2013.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 153"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. h3 Nc6 $6 {Does Magnus
Carlsen laugh at his rivals? He can play anything at all and then outplay them!
} 7. d5 {The most logical reply. Otherwise Black has the idea ...e7-e5 d4-d5
Nc6-d4!:} (7. Be2 e5 8. d5 Nd4 9. Nxd4 exd4 10. Qxd4 Re8 11. Qd3 Qe7 12. Bg5 h6
13. Bxf6 Bxf6 $132 {[%csl Re4]}) (7. Be3 e5 8. d5 Nd4 $1 9. Nxd4 exd4 10. Bxd4
(10. Qxd4 Ng4 11. Qd2 Nxe3 12. Qxe3 f5 $1 $44) 10... Nxe4 11. Nxe4 Qh4 12. g4
Re8 13. Bg2 Bf5 14. O-O Bxe4 15. Bxg7 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 Kxg7 17. Qd4+ Qf6 18. Qxf6+
Kxf6 19. Rfe1 {1/2 (19) Lutz,C (2580)-Finkel,A (2465) Leeuwarden 1994}) (7. Bg5
h6 8. Be3 e5 9. d5 Nd4 $1 (9... Ne7 10. Qc1 Kh7 11. Bd3 $14 {1-0 (28) Chernin,
A (2600)-Uhlmann,W (2500) Austria 1993}) 10. Nxd4 exd4 11. Qxd4 (11. Bxd4 Nxe4
$1 12. Nxe4 (12. Bxg7 Re8 $1) 12... Qh4 $1 13. g4 Re8 14. Bg2 Bf5 $1 $11) 11...
Ng4 12. Qd2 Nxe3 13. Qxe3 {Here Black's compensation for the pawn is less
impressive than in the 7.Be3 line as his position is weakened by ...h7-h6.
Still, after} f5 14. Bd3 Bd7 {he can't complain.}) 7... Nb4 (7... Nb8 8. Be2 c6
9. O-O a6 10. Bg5 b5 11. dxc6 b4 12. Bxf6 exf6 13. c7 Qxc7 14. Nd5 Qb7 15. Nd4
Nd7 16. Qd2 Re8 17. Rfe1 $16 {1-0 (42) Zubarev,A (2583)-Lagarde,M (2501)
Sautron FRA 2012}) 8. Be2 (8. Bg5 e6 9. a3 Na6 10. dxe6 Bxe6 11. Be2 Nc5 12.
Qc2 Qe8 13. Nd2 Bd7 14. O-O Bc6 15. Bd3 Nfd7 16. Rfe1 {1/2 (16) Bagirov,V 
(2500)-Zaitsev,I (2445) Podolsk 1992}) (8. a3 $5 {A logical idea: to push
Black's knight away to a6 before he has played ...a7-a5; besides, White's
bishop can now go to d3-c2, where it is placed better than on e2.} Na6 9. Bd3
Nc5 10. Bc2 e6 (10... a5 11. Be3) 11. O-O exd5 12. cxd5 Re8 13. Re1 a5 14. Bf4
a4 15. Rc1 $14 {1-0 (36) Berkovich,D (2445)-Zaitsev,I (2445) Podolsk 1992})
8... e6 9. Be3 (9. O-O Re8 10. Bg5 exd5 11. exd5 h6 12. Be3 Na6 13. Qd2 Kh7 14.
Rfe1 Nc5 15. Bxc5 dxc5 16. Bd3 Bd7 17. Ne5 Re7 18. Re3 Ne8 19. Rae1 $14 {
1/2 (26) Iotov,V (2569)-Libiszewski,F (2478) Marrakesh 2010}) 9... Re8 10. Nd2
a5 11. O-O Bd7 12. Re1 b6 13. Rc1 Kh8 14. a3 Na6 15. Qc2 e5 16. Rb1 Ng8 {
Finally we have a normal King's Indian, and Black's position is quite decent
as he will now play ...f7-f5.} 17. b4 f5 18. Nb5 $5 (18. Nf3 $5 Nf6 $1 (18...
Bh6 19. Bxh6 Nxh6 20. Bd3 {[%cal Yc2e2,Yc4c5]}) 19. Bd3 f4 20. Bc1 Rg8 21. Qe2
{[%cal Rc4c5]} Bc8 $13) 18... Bh6 (18... f4 19. Bxb6 $1 cxb6 20. Nxd6 Rf8 21.
c5 $16 {[%csl Gc5,Gd5]}) 19. Bxh6 Nxh6 20. exf5 (20. Qc3 $5 f4 21. Nb3 {
[%cal Yc4c5]}) 20... gxf5 (20... Nxf5 $5 21. Ne4 axb4 22. axb4 Bxb5 23. cxb5
Nb8 24. Bg4 Nd7 $14 {/=}) 21. f4 $5 exf4 22. Qc3+ Kg8 23. Bh5 Nf7 24. Rxe8+
Qxe8 25. Qf6 Qf8 26. Bxf7+ Qxf7 27. Qg5+ Qg7 28. Qxf4 $14 {The position has
clarified. Black's kingside attack is now out of the question, and his
misplaced a6 knight guarantees White an edge.} axb4 29. axb4 Re8 30. Nd4 (30.
Rb3 {[%cal Rb3g3]} Qe5) 30... Qe5 31. Qg5+ Qg7 32. N2f3 $1 Qxg5 33. Nxg5 Kg7
34. Nge6+ Kf6 35. Rf1 Bxe6 36. Nxe6 {[%cal Rg2g4]} h5 $6 (36... Kg6 $1 $14) 37.
g4 (37. b5 $5 Nc5 38. Rxf5+ Kxf5 39. Ng7+ Kf4 40. Nxe8 Nd3 41. Nxc7 Ne5 {
Black recaptures one of the missing pawns but the other one remains - and good
winning chances for White.}) 37... hxg4 38. hxg4 Nxb4 39. Rxf5+ Kg6 40. Nf4+
Kg7 41. g5 {White still pushes on but the number of pawns is dramatically
decreasing.} c6 $1 42. Kf2 (42. Rf6 cxd5 43. cxd5 Nxd5 $1 44. Nxd5 Re5 45. Rxd6
Rxg5+ $11) 42... cxd5 43. cxd5 Re5 44. Ne6+ Kg6 45. Rf6+ Kh5 46. Kf3 Re3+ $1
1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 75th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2013.01.14"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E75"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2679"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2013.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 153"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Bg5 c5 7. d5 e6 8. Qd2
exd5 9. exd5 Qb6 10. Nf3 Bf5 11. Nh4 $1 Ne4 12. Nxe4 Bxe4 13. f3 Qxb2 14. Rc1 {
This line of the Averbakh System was popular a couple of decades ago. It is
quite risky for Black, who has won the b2-pawn but is considerably behind in
development.} Bf5 {Alternatives:} (14... Bf6 $6 15. Qxb2 Bxb2 16. fxe4 Bxc1 17.
Bxc1 Re8 18. Nf3 Rxe4 19. Ng5 $16 {[%cal Yc1f4] 1-0 (42) Korotylev,A (2445)
-Filippov,V (2455) Moscow 1995}) (14... Qxd2+ 15. Kxd2 Bxd5 {A brilliant but
insufficient idea of the late GM Leonid Yurtaev. White has enough time to
consolidate his position.} (15... f6 16. Bf4 g5 17. Bxd6 gxh4 18. Bxf8 Kxf8 19.
fxe4 Bh6+ 20. Kc3 Bxc1 21. Rxc1 Ke7 22. Rf1 Nd7 23. Rf4 Rg8 24. Bf1 Ne5 25.
Rxh4 $16 {1-0 (46) Freise,H-Klein,M Koenigsfeld 1969}) (15... Bf5 16. Nxf5 gxf5
17. Rb1 b6 18. Bd3 Nd7 19. Be7 Rfe8 20. Bxd6 Ne5 21. Rhe1 $16 {1-0 (44)
Kachiani Gersinska,K (2448)-Berezina,I (2304) Istanbul 2000}) 16. cxd5 Re8 (
16... Nd7 $142 17. g3 Nb6 18. Ng2 $14) 17. Rb1 $1 (17. Bf4 Bf6 18. g3 (18. Bg3
a6 19. f4 Nd7 20. Bg4 Nb6 21. Bf3 Na4 22. Bf2 b5 23. g4 b4 $132 {0-1 (63)
Zaichik,G (2420)-Yurtaev,L (2360) Volgodonsk 1983}) 18... g5 19. Bxd6 gxh4 20.
Bc7 Nd7 $11 (20... a6 21. Rxc5 Nd7 22. Rc4 Be5 23. gxh4 Nf6 24. Rg1+ Kf8 25.
Rg5 Bxc7 26. Rxc7 Rad8 27. Bc4 h6 28. Rf5 Re7 29. Rxe7 Kxe7 30. Kc3 $14 {
1-0 (45) Sorin,A (2460)-Peralta,F (2360) Buenos Aires 1998}) 21. Bb5 $6 {
1-0 (46) Grivas,E (2360)-Kotronias,V (2430) Athens 1986} a6 $1 22. Bxd7 Re7 $15
) (17. Rhe1 a6 18. Bd3 (18. Bf4 Bf6 19. g3 g5 20. Bxd6 gxh4 21. Bxc5 Nd7 22.
Ba3 hxg3 23. hxg3 Re5 24. Bc4 b5 25. Bb3 a5 $36 {1/2 (41) Lerner,K (2495)
-Yurtaev,L (2360) Tallinn 1983}) 18... Nd7 19. a4 h6 20. Be3 Nb6 21. Nxg6 $1
fxg6 22. a5 $14 {1/2 (31) Legky,N-Yurtaev,L Soviet Union 1984}) 17... Nd7 (
17... Re5 18. f4 $1 Rxd5+ 19. Kc1 Nc6 20. Rxb7 Rd4 21. Nf3 $16 {1-0 (34) Legky,
N (2365)-Monin,N Tallinn 1985}) 18. Bb5 Re5 19. Bxd7 Rxg5 20. Rxb7 Rxd5+ 21.
Kc2 $16 {1-0 (32) Lputian,S (2530)-Yurtaev,L (2435) Volgograd 1985}) (14... h6
$1 15. Bxh6 Qxd2+ 16. Bxd2 Bf6 17. g3 Bxh4 (17... g5 18. fxe4 gxh4 19. Bf4 Nd7
20. Bxd6 Rfe8 21. Bd3 Be5 22. Bxe5 Nxe5 23. Ke2 $14 {1/2 (39) Polugaevsky,
L-Gufeld,E Tallinn 1965}) 18. gxh4 Bf5 19. Bf4 Rd8 20. Rg1 (20. h5 gxh5 (20...
Na6 $142 $14) 21. Rg1+ Kh7 22. Rg5 Bg6 23. Kd2 Na6 24. Rcg1 Rd7 25. Bd3 $1 Rg8
26. h4 Nb4 27. Bb1 Na6 28. Rxh5+ {1-0 (28) Bekker Jensen,S (2403)-Nordenbaek,J
(2262) Denmark 2000}) 20... Na6 21. Kd2 Nc7 22. a4 Ne8 23. h5 Ng7 24. hxg6 fxg6
25. Rc3 Kf7 26. a5 Rd7 27. Bd1 Rh8 28. Ba4 $14 {1-0 (48) Boleslavsky,I-Balendo,
E Minsk 1970}) 15. Nxf5 gxf5 16. Qxb2 Bxb2 17. Rb1 $146 {[%mdl 8] This novelty
is quite obvious. In the previous game White played strangely:} (17. Rc2 $6 Be5
18. f4 Bd4 19. Bd3 Re8+ 20. Re2 Rxe2+ 21. Kxe2 Nd7 22. Bxf5 Re8+ 23. Kd2 Nb6
24. Bd3 Kg7 $132 {0-1 (45) Bukhman,E-Nezhmetdinov,R Daugavpils 1973}) 17...
Bc3+ 18. Kd1 {[%cal Rb1b7,Re2d3,Rg5e7]} Re8 (18... b6 19. Bd3 $16 (19. Be7 Re8
20. Bxd6 Nc6 $3)) 19. Rxb7 Na6 20. a3 Rab8 21. Rxb8 Nxb8 (21... Rxb8 22. Kc2
Be5 (22... Rb2+ 23. Kxc3 Rxe2 24. Bf4 $1) 23. Bc1 $1 $16) 22. Bd3 $16 {White
has the bishop pair, and Black has weaknesses on f5 and d6. Such positions are
peanuts for GM Magnus Carlsen.} Nd7 23. Kc2 Bd4 24. Rb1 Nb6 25. Bf4 Be5 26. Re1
Kg7 27. Bg3 Re7 28. f4 Bf6 29. Rxe7 Bxe7 30. Be1 h5 31. g3 Bf6 32. Kb3 Kg6 33.
h3 {[%cal Rg3g4]} 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 75th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2013.01.15"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C44"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2698"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2013.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 153"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 {Maybe not such a bad move after all. White
threatens to occupy the centre with d2-d4, just "a bit" earlier than this
happens in the Ruy Lopez (if Black does not interfere with this sweet plan by
choosing the Open variation or the Marshall Attack, of course). And since
Carlsen does not seem to be too keen to sustain long theoretical discussions,
the Ponziani is the perfect one-game-opening.} ({It is interesting to compare
the game position after 7 moves with that arising after} 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4
5. e5 d5 6. Bb5 Ne4 7. Nxd4 {Obviously, White has an extra tempo in the
Ponziani (c2-c3) with respect to an entirely approved opening! In the
two-knight defence, the main line goes} Bc5 {, to be cpmpared wth the similar
line below.}) 3... Nf6 4. d4 d5 5. Bb5 exd4 (5... Nxe4 6. Nxe5 Bd7 7. Nxd7 (7.
Qb3 {1-0 Prokopchuk,E-Sofieva,A (2385)/St Petersburg 1994/CBM 041/[Hecht] (74)}
) 7... Qxd7 8. O-O Be7 9. Nd2 Nxd2 10. Bxd2 a6 11. Bd3 O-O 12. Qf3 $14 {
Estrin,Y-Vasilchuk,Y/Moscow 1961/MCD (1-0, 42)}) 6. e5 Ne4 7. Nxd4 Bd7 {
This looks a bit passive.} ({I have the feeling that} 7... Bc5 {may be the
critical continuation anyway, even with the extra c2-c3. After all, Black does
not necessarily want to put pressure on d4, but rather weaken the presure over
c6 and for this reason c2-c3 is not too relevant.} 8. O-O (8. Nxc6 Bxf2+ 9. Kf1
bxc6 10. Bxc6+ Kf8 $13 {Kastell,M-Jonasson,P SVE-ch Klass corr 1999 (1-0, 23)})
8... O-O 9. f3 (9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. Be3 Qe8 11. f3 Nd6 $15 {Gligoric,S-Keller,D
Zuerich 1959 MCL [Bulletin] (1-0, 38)}) (9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Bxc6 Ba6 11. Nd2 Bxf1
12. Nxe4 dxe4 13. Qxf1 Rb8 {Onderdelinden,D-Rosenhahn,E ICCF-Cup corr 1994 
(0-1, 34)}) 9... Ng5 10. Bxc6 bxc6 11. Be3 f6 {Gligoric,S-Fischer,R Buenos
Aires 1960 (1/2, 20). Well, if Fischer, on a very rare occasion when he
deviated from his 1...c5, chose this line, there may be something behind it.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to put these two great players, Fischer and
Carlsen, who reached unthinkable rating peaks of their time, to rehearse this
position against eachother...}) 8. Bxc6 bxc6 9. O-O Be7 10. Be3 {This looks
logical,} ({but} 10. f3 Nc5 11. f4 {does not seem too bad either:} O-O (11...
f5 $2 12. b4 Ne4 13. e6 $16 {Schneider,L (2410)-Moen,O (2315)/Eksjo 1981/MCL 
(1-0, 29)}) 12. Be3 $6 (12. f5 $1 {is the critical line, leaving Black with
the permanent threats of e5-e6 and f5-f6.}) 12... f6 $132 {Panchev,P (2365)
-Schoene,R (2360) Karl-Marx-Stadt 1990 (0-1, 42)}) 10... O-O 11. Nd2 Nc5 (11...
Nxd2 12. Qxd2 c5 13. Ne2 ({It makes more sense to fight for the c5-square:} 13.
Nb3 c4 14. Nc5 Bf5 15. b3 $14) 13... Bb5 14. Rfd1 Bxe2 15. Qxe2 Qd7 $11 {
Dueckstein,A-Unzicker,W/Siegen 1970/EXT 2002 (1/2, 29)}) 12. b4 $146 (12. f4 $5
f5 $6 (12... a5 $6 13. f5 Nd3 14. f6 $40) (12... f6 $1 13. b4 $6 fxe5 $1) 13.
b4 Ne6 $6 (13... Ne4 $14) 14. N2b3 $16 {Basman,M-Masters,D/Bath 1963/EXT 1999 
(1-0, 31)}) 12... Nb7 $6 {Too passive, I believe.} ({The provocative} 12... Nd3
$5 {may offer better chances for counterplay.} 13. f4 (13. N2f3 Nb2 14. Qc2 Nc4
) 13... a5 (13... c5 14. bxc5 Nxc5 15. Qf3 $36) 14. Qc2 (14. a3 axb4 15. axb4
Rxa1 16. Qxa1 c5 $132) 14... axb4 15. Qxd3 c5 $44) 13. f4 a5 14. f5 $5 {
This promising pawn sacrifice would not have been possible with the black
knight on d3 rather than b7.} axb4 15. cxb4 Bxb4 16. Qg4 {White's compensation
consists of two elements: his kingside threats and the idea of blocking the
enemy queenside pawns on c5 and d4.} Bc3 (16... c5 $2 17. Bh6 g6 18. Nc6 $1
Bxc6 19. fxg6 hxg6 20. Rxf7 $1 $18) 17. Rac1 Bxd4 18. Bxd4 Rxa2 {It is not
easy to find a good moment to fight against the blockade with ...c6-c5. This
is a result of the combined threats on both wings, quite an effective method
of play.} (18... c5 19. e6 cxd4 20. f6 g6 21. exd7 $16) 19. e6 f6 20. Nb3 {
Now and later, Carlsen will constantly choose the static approach, refraining
from turning the game dynamic. It is not easy to judge whether he was right,
maybe sometimes he was and other times not, but the course of the game is
suggestive for his general style.} (20. Rce1 $5 Rxd2 21. e7 Qe8 22. exf8=Q+
Qxf8 23. Qf4 Rd3 24. Qxc7 $36) 20... Be8 21. Nc5 Nd6 22. Qf3 Qe7 ({I would not
resist playing} 22... Nb5 {, with constant pressure against d4. In this case,
White would have enjoyed lesser freedom to build up his attack, although play
would have remained slightly one-sided anyway.}) 23. Rf2 Ra5 24. Nb3 Rb5 25.
Bc5 Bh5 26. Qc3 {White has achieved a faourable regrouping and can count on an
advantage.} Qe8 27. Qe3 (27. Nd4 $16) 27... Qa8 (27... Ne4 28. Bxf8 Nxf2 29.
Nd4 Ng4 30. Qg3 Qxf8 31. Nxb5 cxb5 32. Qxc7 $18) 28. Nd4 Rxc5 29. Rxc5 Ne4 30.
Nxc6 Nxf2 31. Kxf2 Qa2+ 32. Kg3 Re8 33. h3 $16 {The position has calmed down,
White has exchanged all the superfluous pieces and can enjoy his blockade.
Black can only sit and wait to be crushed.} Qa6 34. Qc3 Be2 35. Rxd5 Bb5 36.
Nb4 Qb7 37. Qc5 Ba4 38. Rd7 Qe4 39. Rxc7 h5 40. Kh2 Kh7 41. Qf2 Rg8 42. Na6 Be8
43. Rc5 Qd3 44. Nb4 Qd6+ 45. Kh1 Qd1+ 46. Qg1 Qd6 47. Nd5 Rf8 48. Qd4 Kh8 49.
Rc8 Bc6 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 75th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2013.01.17"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2861"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2013.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 153"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 Be7 6. Bd3 Nf6 7. O-O O-O 8.
h3 (8. Nc3 {would have transposed to Karjakin,S (2780)-Wang Hao (2752)/Wijk
aan Zee 2013/CBM 153 (1-0, 42), in which a completely different line was
played: 5.Nc3.}) 8... Re8 9. Nc3 Nbd7 10. Re1 Nf8 11. d5 {Ambitious, but not
really effective as the game proves.} (11. Bf4 Ng6 12. Bh2 a6 13. a4 d5 14. Ne5
c6 15. Ne2 Ne4 16. c3 a5 $11 {Landa,K (2643)-David,A (2548)/Clermont-Ferrand
FRA 2003/ (1/2, 48)}) 11... c6 12. Bf4 Bd7 13. Bc4 Ng6 14. Bg3 Rc8 15. dxc6
Bxc6 16. Bb3 d5 17. Qd3 Qb6 18. Nxd5 Bxd5 19. Bxd5 Nxd5 20. Qxd5 Qxb2 21. Rab1
Qxc2 22. Rxb7 Red8 23. Qb3 Qxb3 24. axb3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 75th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2013.01.18"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sokolov, Ivan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2663"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2013.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 153"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bb7 7. d3 Bc5 8. a4
O-O 9. Bg5 ({The complications that arise after Die Komplikation, die nach} 9.
Nc3 Na5 {have been working well for Black, as far as I know. The text is a
more positional approach, aiming for a slight advantage. entstehen, haben für
Schwarz gut funktoniert, soweit ich weiß. Der Text ist eine positionellere
Herangehensweise, die auf einen kleinen Vorteil abzielt.}) 9... h6 10. Bh4 d6
11. c3 Qe7 {Ivan went for this after a bit of thought. I assumed the plan was
to go Nd8-e6 at some point, while staying flexible and keeping the option of
going g5 at the appropriate juncture. Dies wählte Ivan nach ein wenig
Nachdenken. Ich vermute, der Plan war, Nd8-e6 an irgendeiner Stelle zu spielen
und dabei flexibel zu bleiben und sich die Möglichkeit zu g5 im passenden
Moment vorzubehalten.} 12. Na3 {This is just awful, especially in combination
with my next move. Das ist einfach schrecklich, vor allem in Kombination mit
meinem nächsten Zug.} (12. Nbd2 {would have been the sane choice. wäre die
gesunde Wahl gewesen.}) (12. Kh1 {was played in one of the three games that
reached this position. It probably makes more sense than what I did. wurde in
einer der drei Partien gespielt, die diese Stellung erreichten. Es ist
vermutlich sinnvoller als das, was ich tat.}) 12... Na5 {Of course.  Natürlich.
} 13. Bc2 ({I had assumed that Ich hatte angenommen, dass} 13. axb5 Nxb3 14.
Qxb3 {would work out for me, but Black actually has several good options here,
including the simple für mich funktionieren würde, tatsächlich aber hat
Schwarz hier sogar mehrere gute Möglichkeiten, darunter das einfache} Rfb8 15.
Qc2 (15. bxa6 Bxe4 16. Qd1 Bxf3 17. Qxf3 g5 18. b4 Bb6 {and ...Rxa6 und ...Rxa6
}) 15... Bxa3 16. Rxa3 axb5 {and Black is absolutely fine. und Schwarz steht
absolut ordentlich.}) (13. Ba2 {was another option, but after the simple war
eine andere Option, aber nach dem einfachen} Bxa3 14. bxa3 c5 {it appeared to
me that Black would have too easy a game, with c4 coming up, so I decided to
keep the tension at the cost of two tempi. schien mir, dass Schwarz, mit
bevorstehendem c4, zu leichtes Spiel haben würde, daher beschloss ich, auf
Kosten zweier Tempi die Spannung aufrechtzuerhalten.}) 13... b4 14. Nb1 g5 15.
Bg3 Nh5 {Obviously, Black is doing well now. However, the white position still
has some long-term potential, especially based on the potentially offside
knight on a5 (spoiler alert: it did not make another move in the game).
Offenkundig steht Schwarz jetzt gut. Allerdings hat die weiße Stellung dennoch
langfristiges Potential, vor allem basierend auf dem potentiell abseits
stehenden Springer auf a5 (Spielverderberalarm: Er machte in der Partie keinen
Zug mehr).} 16. Nbd2 Ba7 17. Re1 bxc3 18. bxc3 Nxg3 19. hxg3 Qf6 20. Qe2 Rfb8
21. Rab1 Bc8 22. Nf1 {It seems that White is not really worse here, but it was
only after the next move that I really started to hope for something more. Es
scheint, dass Weiß hier nicht wirklich schlechter steht, aber erst nach dem
nächsten Zug begann ich tatsächlich, auf etwas mehr zu hoffen.} Rxb1 {In
slight time pressure Ivan decided to simplify. However, the double rook
exchange loses crucial time, allowing me to get in Ne3 and d4. In slight time
pressure Ivan decided to simplify. However, the double rook exchange loses
crucial time, allowing me to get in Ne3 and d4.} (22... Be6 {or most other
sensible moves would have been absolutely fine. oder die meisten anderen
vernünftigen Züge wären absolut in Ordnung gewesen.}) 23. Rxb1 Rb8 24. Rxb8
Bxb8 25. Ne3 Ba7 (25... Nc6 26. Nh2 {with Ng4 to come would also have been
unpleasant. mit Ng4 im Fahrwasser wäre ebenfalls unangenehm gewesen.}) 26. d4 {
This is the point. I have time to develop an initiative before he can bring
the knight and bishop back into play. Das ist der Punkt. Ich habe Zeit, eine
Initiative zu entwickeln, bevor er Springer und Läufer wieder ins Spiel
bringen kann.} g4 {This just allows the second knight to jump in. Dies erlaubt
nur dem zweiten Springer, ins Spiel einzugreifen.} (26... exd4 27. cxd4 Bxd4
28. Nd5 {is no good either, but taugt ebenfalls nichts, aber}) (26... c6 {
would still have been reasonably solid. wäre noch immer halbwegs solide
gewesen.}) 27. Nd5 Qd8 28. Nh4 c6 (28... exd4 29. Nf5 {spells disaster for
Black. bedeutet Unheil für Schwarz.}) 29. Ne3 h5 (29... exd4 30. Nhf5 {is
similar to the previous note. ist ähnlich der vorigen Anmerkung.}) 30. Nhf5 Qf6
31. Qd3 Bb6 32. Bb1 Kf8 33. Ba2 Bc7 {I've achieved everything I wanted , but
it's still not easy to break through, as attempts to play on the kingside with
f3 or f4 did not appear convincing at all. I decided that I probably needed to
attack a6 somehow, possibly after including d5 ...c5. Ich habe alles erreicht,
was ich wollte, aber es ist immer noch nicht leicht durchzubrigen, denn
Versuche, mit f3 oder f4 am Königsflügel zu spielen, schienen keineswegs
überzeugend. Ich entschied, dass ich wahrscheinlich irgendwie a6 angreifen
müssen, womöglich nach dem Einschub von d5 ...c5.} 34. Qb1 Ke8 35. Qb4 {
Now the bishop is going to d3, and the queen to e2 or f1. Jetzt geht der
Läufer nach d3, und die Dame nach e2 oder f1.} d5 {A tempting move, especially
in time-trouble, but now the centralised white pieces will rule. Ein
verlockendere Zug, vor allem in Zeitnot, aber jetzt werden die zentralisierten
weißen Figuren herrschen.} ({However, passive defence was also unpromising,
for instance Passive Verteidigung war allerdings auch nicht verlockend, zum
Beispiel} 35... Kf8 36. Bb1 Ke8 37. Bd3 Kf8 38. Qb1 Kg8 39. d5 c5 40. Qf1 Bd7
41. Bxa6 Bxa4 42. Bb5 Bb3 43. f3 gxf3 44. gxf3 {and the black kingside is
helpless, with all the minor pieces stranded on the queenside. und mit allen
Leichtfiguren am Damenflügel gestrandet, ist der schwarze Königsflügel ist
hilflos.}) 36. Bb1 exd4 37. cxd4 dxe4 38. Bxe4 Be6 {This loses, but it is hard
to suggest anything better.  Das verliert, aber es fällt schwer, etwas
Besseres vorzuschlagen.} 39. Qc5 Kd7 40. d5 cxd5 41. Nxd5 Bxd5 42. Qxd5+ Kc8
43. Ne3 {Material is still equal, but the difference in activity and king
safety is simply too huge. Das Material ist noch ausgeglichen, aber der
Unterschied in punkto Aktivität und Königssicherheit ist einfach zu riesig.}
Qa1+ 44. Kh2 Qxa4 (44... h4 {was the one move I needed to calculate, but it is
not too hard to see that after war der einzige Zug, den ich berechnen musste,
aber es fällt nicht allzu schwer zu sehen, dass nach} 45. Qa8+ Kd7 46. Bf5+ Ke7
47. Nd5+ Kd6 48. Nxc7 hxg3+ 49. fxg3 Kxc7 50. Qc8+ Kb6 51. Qd8+ Ka7 52. Qxa5
Qh8+ 53. Kg1 Qd4+ 54. Kf1 {White easily escapes the checks and wins. Weiß
mühelos den Schachs entkommt und gewinnt.}) 45. Qa8+ Kd7 46. Nd5 {This one is
just lazy. I played it fairly quickly, assuming that ...Bd8, which he did in
fact play, was the only move. Der ist einfach faul. Ich spielte ihn recht
schnell in der Annahme, dass ...Bd8, was er in der Tat auch spielte, der
einzige Zug war.} (46. Bf5+ Ke7 47. Qa7 Qc6 48. Qd4 {Centralisation! And the
threat of Nd5 is lethal. Zentralisation! Und die Drohung Nd5 ist tödlich.})
46... Bd8 (46... Qc6 {would have allowed Black to fight on for a while, as
there is no clear-cut win. hätte Schwarz erlaubt, eine Weile weiterzukämpfen,
denn einen klaren Gewinn gibt es nicht..} 47. Qh8 Qe6 48. Qxh5 Kd6) (46... Qd4
47. Qf8 Qe5 48. Qxf7+ Kc6 49. Nf6+ Kb5 50. Bd3+ Kc6 51. Nxh5 {would also have
prolonged the resistance. hätte den Widerstand ebenfalls verlängert.}) 47. Bf5+
Ke8 48. Qc8 {This one he evidently missed. There is no defence to Bd7+
followed by Nf6+, so he resigned. Das hatte er offenbar übersehen. Es gibt
keine Verteidigung gegen Bd7+ nebst Nf6+, daher gab er auf.} 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 75th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2013.01.19"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Leko, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2735"]
[BlackElo "2861"]
[PlyCount "166"]
[EventDate "2013.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 153"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5
8. Rxe5 O-O 9. d4 Ne8 10. d5 d6 11. Re1 Bg5 12. Nc3 Bxc1 13. Rxc1 Nf6 14. Qd4
Bd7 15. Ne4 Re8 16. Nxf6+ Qxf6 17. Qxf6 gxf6 18. Red1 a5 19. f3 Kg7 20. Kf2 a4
21. Rd4 Ra5 22. Rcd1 Rc5 23. R1d2 Ra8 24. Rc4 b6 25. b4 axb3 26. cxb3 Ra3 27.
b4 Rxc4 28. Bxc4 f5 29. f4 h6 30. Rd3 Rxd3 31. Bxd3 b5 32. Be2 Kg6 33. Ke3 Kf6
34. Kd4 Ke7 35. Bh5 Bc8 36. Be2 Bd7 37. Kc3 Kd8 38. Bh5 Ke7 39. a3 Ke8 40. Be2
Ke7 41. Kd4 Ke8 42. Ke3 Ke7 43. Kf2 Kf6 44. Kg3 Kg7 45. Kh4 Kg8 46. Kh5 Kh7 47.
Bf1 Kg7 48. Bd3 f6 49. Kh4 Kf8 50. Kg3 Ke7 51. Kf2 Kd8 52. Ke3 Ke7 53. Be2 Be8
54. Kd4 Kd8 55. Bd3 Bd7 56. Bc2 Ke7 57. Bd1 Be8 58. Be2 Kd8 59. Ke3 Ke7 60. Bd3
Bd7 61. Kf3 Kf8 62. Kg3 Kg7 63. Kh4 Kg8 64. h3 Kg7 65. Be2 Be8 66. Bf3 Bf7 67.
Kg3 Kf8 68. Kf2 Ke7 69. Ke3 Be8 70. Kd4 Kd8 71. Be2 Ke7 72. Kc3 Kd8 73. Bd1 Ke7
74. Bf3 Kd8 75. Be2 Ke7 76. Bd3 Bd7 77. Kd2 Kd8 78. Ke3 Ke7 79. Kf2 Kf8 80. Kg3
Kg7 81. Kh4 Kg8 82. Be2 Be8 83. Kg3 Kf8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 75th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2013.01.20"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2780"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "183"]
[EventDate "2013.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 153"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 {It is not a secret that the opening is not Carlsen's
favourite area for duels of principle; he prefers the middlegame and the
endgame for that. The Reti Opening is just perfect for such an approach.} d5 3.
Bg2 c6 4. O-O Bg4 5. c4 e6 6. d3 Nbd7 7. cxd5 exd5 ({After ...Nbd7, it seems
to make less sense to clear the c6-square with} 7... cxd5 {, but the move
remains playable, of course, see for instance Markowski,T (2564)-Fressinet,L 
(2627) Gothenburg 2005 CBM 109 [Marin,M] (1/2, 31)}) 8. Qc2 {Usually White
does not develop his queen so early, but it may well lead to a transposition.}
(8. Nc3 Be7 (8... Bc5 9. h3 Bh5 10. a3 a5 11. e4 {1-0 (40) Marin,M (2530)
-Krasenkow,M (2655) Elista 1998 CBM 066 ext [Horn,Pe]}) 9. h3 Bxf3 10. Bxf3 d4
11. Nb1 {1/2 (26) Markowski,T (2560)-Bobras,P (2501) Poznan 2005 CBM 107 
[Marin,M]}) 8... Be7 9. Nc3 Bxf3 {Black gives up the bishops pair in order to
prevent the planned e2-e4.} (9... O-O 10. e4 Nc5 11. Ne5 Bh5 12. exd5 Nxd5 13.
Nxd5 cxd5 14. d4 $14 {Loginov,V (2499)-Poddubnyi,V (2240) Elista 2001 CBM 083 
[Horn,Pe] (1-0, 33)}) 10. Bxf3 d4 {This prolongs the f3-bishops range only
partly, since the c6-pawn is solidly defended. It all depends on whether White
can carry out the minoritys attack with b4-b5.} 11. Ne4 (11. Nb1 O-O 12. Nd2 {
1/2 (73) Markowski,T (2560)-Czarnota,P (2478) Poznan 2005 CBM 107 [Marin,M]})
11... O-O {Abstractly speaking, the best approach. Black does not release the
tension, letting White do it if he wishes so.} ({Concretely, I am not sure
whether} 11... Nxe4 12. Bxe4 {really improves that much White's position with
respect to the game, but in practice White scored well:} a5 (12... O-O 13. b4
Bxb4 14. Rb1 a5 15. a3 Bc3 16. Bb2 Bxb2 17. Rxb2 Nb6 18. Rfb1 Ra6 19. Rb3 $44 {
Loginov,V (2524)-Sinkevich,P (2323) St Petersburg 2003 (1-0, 48)}) (12... Nc5
13. Bg2 O-O 14. b4 Ne6 15. Rb1 Qd7 16. Bd2 Rac8 17. Rfc1 Kh8 18. Qb3 a6 19. Rc2
Ng5 20. a4 Qf5 21. b5 $16 {Hausrath,D (2445)-Jacob,G (2250) Germany 2004 (1/2,
60)}) 13. Bd2 O-O 14. Rab1 (14. Rfb1 Qb6 15. Qc4 Ne5 16. Qa4 Nd7 17. Qc4 Ne5
18. Qa4 Nd7 {1/2 (18) Loginov,V (2540)-Grischuk,A (2701) Togliatti 2003}) 14...
Qb6 15. Rfc1 Rfe8 16. Qd1 Bb4 17. Bf4 Nc5 18. Bf3 Ne6 19. Bd2 Bxd2 20. Qxd2 Qb4
21. Qxb4 axb4 22. Rc4 Rxa2 23. Rxb4 Re7 24. Bg4 g6 25. Bxe6 Rxe6 26. Kf1 $16 {
Hausrath,D (2507)-Van Wessel,R (2375) Netherlands 2011 (1-0, 44)}) 12. Nxf6+
Nxf6 $146 ({Clearly an improvement over} 12... Bxf6 {, which allows White
start his queenside attack without loss of time:} 13. b4 Nb6 14. Rb1 Qd7 15. b5
Rac8 (15... cxb5 16. Qc5 $16) 16. bxc6 bxc6 17. Bd2 Rfe8 18. Rfc1 g6 19. a4 Nd5
20. Qc4 $16 {Loginov,V (2507)-Tunik,G (2451) Togliatti 2001 (1-0, 43)}) 13. Bd2
({The already familiar} 13. b4 {maybe worth a try here, too, but Carlsens
approach (at least in this game) is by far longer ranged than that.}) 13... a5
14. a3 Nd5 $1 {From this square, the knight inhibits the thematic b2-b4,
because of the possible occupation of the c3-square (sustained by ...Bf6, of
course). Still, Black is not 100% stable since the d4-pawn cannot be defended
along the d-file.} (14... a4 {is premature and would play into White's hands:}
15. b3 axb3 16. Qxb3 Ra7 17. a4 $14) 15. Rab1 Qd7 16. Rfc1 (16. b4 axb4 17.
axb4 Bf6 {[%cal Gd5c3]}) 16... Rfe8 {It is far from easy to evaluate this
position. It takes a lot of optimism to claim an advantage with White, but on
the other hand did Black achieve full equality? White's structure is more
flexible, his bishops are a potential danger and it would be only he who could
carry out certain pawn breaks, such as b2-b4 or e2-e4. Black has to limit
himself to parrying the small threats and in doing so he should also avoid
losing coordination. Karjakin will deal with this task for a long time, but
not long enough! So, for practical point of view, I would risk to asses the
position as a +/=.} 17. Qc4 Nc7 18. h4 a4 19. Bb4 {An interesting plan. White
needs the b4- and c5-squares for his major pieces, in order to start attacking
the a4- and d4- pawns.} (19. b4 {remains unappealing:} Nb5 20. Ra1 Bf6) 19...
Nb5 20. Kg2 h6 21. Bc5 g6 22. Qb4 Bf6 {Stepping out of the tension in the hope
that White's pieces will become vulnerable.} (22... Bxc5 23. Rxc5 {offers
White some initiative, but it is difficult to say how persistent. From
practical point of view, Black's position would be slightly unpleasant though.}
h5 24. Rbc1 Kg7 25. R1c4 Qe7 (25... Red8 26. Rxc6 bxc6 27. Bxc6) (25... Re6 26.
Rxb5 cxb5 27. Rxd4) 26. Rxb5 cxb5 27. Rxd4 Qxb4 28. Rxb4 $44) 23. Qd2 Kg7 24.
Rc4 Ra6 25. Qd1 b6 {Quite a committal, but not necessarily bad move.} ({
It is not easy to find a constructive plan for White in case of neutral black
play, though:} 25... Rea8 26. Rbc1 h5 27. Rb4 Kh7 (27... b6 $2 28. Bf8+ $1 $16
{[%cal Gf3c6]}) 28. Qc2 Kg8 (28... b6 $2 29. Bxb6 $1 Rxb6 30. Bxc6 Rxc6 31.
Qxc6 Qxc6+ 32. Rxc6 $16) 29. Qc4 Kh7 30. Rc2 Kg7) 26. Bb4 c5 27. Bd2 Nc7 $1 {
Heading for d5, in oder to keep dreaming of the c3-square.} (27... Nd6 {
offers White some play:} 28. Rcc1 Qe6 29. b4 c4 (29... axb3 30. Qxb3 Qxb3 31.
Rxb3) 30. dxc4 Nxc4 31. b5 Ra7 32. Rb4 $36) 28. Rcc1 Nd5 29. Qh1 $5 {An
original way to cast some doubt over the advance of Black's queenside pawns.
The d5-knight has lost some of his stability.} Be7 30. Kg1 Rd8 31. Rc2 Qe6 32.
Qg2 Ra7 33. Re1 Rad7 34. Kh2 Rc8 35. Qh3 Qxh3+ {As a consequence of Black's
space advantage, his queen enjoyed higher mobility and the possibility of
keeping both wings under control. These are reasons to keep the queen, but how
to achieve that?} (35... Qd6 $2 36. h5 $14 g5 $2 37. Bg4 $18) (35... f5 {
looks entirely playable, though. White could try to keep weakening the light
suqares from Black's camp with} 36. h5 g5 37. g4 Qd6+ 38. Kg2 f4 {, but how to
make progress here?}) 36. Kxh3 h5 37. Rb1 {Somehow, Black's queenside looks
more vulnerable in the absence of the queen.} Ra8 38. Kg2 Ra6 39. b3 axb3 40.
Rxb3 Bf6 41. Rc4 Rd6 ({There does not seem to be any counterindication for} 
41... Nc3 {, sicnce after} 42. e3 Nd5 $1 {it is not easy to make further
progress.} 43. e4 $2 (43. exd4 Bxd4 {activates the bishop.}) 43... Nc3 $1 {
and the c4-rook is in danger.}) 42. Kf1 Kf8 43. a4 Nc3 $6 {But now, the
occupation of this square allows White take over the initiative. It does not
lose the game, though, this will happen much, much later.} (43... Ke7 $6 44. a5
$1 bxa5 45. Rb7+ Ke6 (45... Kf8 46. Rxc5 $16) 46. Rxc5 a4 47. Bg2 $40) ({
It is better to put the king into safety with} 43... Kg7 {waiting for White to
display his intentions. For instance} 44. a5 $6 bxa5 $1 45. Rxc5 a4 {and there
is no interemdiate check anymore.}) 44. Bf4 Re6 45. e3 Nxa4 (45... Kg7 46. exd4
cxd4 47. Bc6 $14) 46. Bd5 $1 Re7 (46... Re8 47. Bc6 $18) 47. Bd6 b5 48. Bxe7+
Bxe7 49. Rxb5 Nb6 50. e4 Nxc4 51. Rb8+ Kg7 52. Bxc4 Ra7 {This ending is very
unpleasant for Black, but possibly not more than that.} 53. f4 (53. Rc8 Rb7 54.
f3 Rb2 55. Rc7 Kf8 56. Kg1 Re2 57. g4 hxg4 58. fxg4 Re3 59. Kg2 Re2+ $11) 53...
Bd6 54. Re8 Rb7 55. Ra8 Be7 56. Kg2 Rb1 57. e5 Re1 58. Kf2 Rb1 59. Re8 (59. e6
f5) (59. Kf3 Rf1+ 60. Ke4 Rg1) 59... Bf8 60. Rc8 Be7 61. Ra8 Rb2+ 62. Kf3 Rb1
63. Bd5 Re1 64. Kf2 Rd1 65. Re8 Bf8 66. Bc4 Rb1 67. g4 $5 {The only chance.
Carlsen might have broken the kingside with his king on f2 in order to tempt
his opponent to make use of the h1-square. Had he put his king on g2 first,
Black would have been forced to play the correct move, ...g6xh5.} hxg4 68. h5
Rh1 $2 $18 (68... gxh5 69. f5 h4 70. f6+ Kg6 71. Rxf8 Kf5 $1 $11 (71... g3+ 72.
Kf3 Kf5 73. Rh8) 72. Rh8 (72. Rxf7 $2 g3+ 73. Kf3 Rb2 $19) 72... Rb2+ 73. Kg1
Rb1+) 69. hxg6 fxg6 70. Re6 (70. e6 Bd6) 70... Kh6 71. Bd5 Rh2+ (71... Ra1 72.
Be4) 72. Kg3 Rh3+ 73. Kxg4 Rxd3 74. f5 Re3 75. Rxg6+ Kh7 76. Bg8+ Kh8 77. Kf4
Rc3 78. f6 d3 79. Ke3 c4 80. Be6 Kh7 81. Bf5 Rc2 82. Rg2+ Kh6 83. Rxc2 dxc2 84.
Bxc2 Kg5 85. Kd4 Ba3 86. Kxc4 Bb2 87. Kd5 Kf4 88. f7 Ba3 89. e6 Kg5 90. Kc6 Kf6
91. Kd7 Kg7 92. e7 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 75th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2013.01.22"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Hou, Yifan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C44"]
[WhiteElo "2603"]
[BlackElo "2861"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[EventDate "2013.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 153"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 {Is this a psychologyc joke? Did Hou Yifan hope to
make Carlsen feel uncomfortable by using his own weapon against him? A double
edged experiment...} Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. e5 Nd5 {With a bit of imagination, we
can notice some similarities with the Alapin Sicilian.} (5... Ne4 6. Qe2 f5 7.
exf6 d5 $13 {De Mondragon,J-Palciauskas,V/USA 1972/Corr Nr. 1 (0-1, 25)}) 6.
Bc4 (6. cxd4 Bb4+ {Kanmazalp,O (2379)-Atalik,S (2608)/Golden Sands 2012/CBM
149/[Atalik,S] (0-1, 41)}) 6... Nb6 7. Bb3 d5 (7... d6 {looks quite allright,
too:} 8. O-O (8. Ng5 Nxe5 9. cxd4 h6) 8... Be7 (8... dxe5 9. Ng5) 9. exd6 Qxd6
10. Nxd4 Nxd4 11. cxd4 Be6 12. Bxe6 Qxe6 13. Re1 {Strategically, Black is
doing great, and the pressure along the e-file allows White only to avoid
getting the worse of it.} Qd7 14. Qe2 Nd5 15. Nc3 Nxc3 16. bxc3 O-O $1 17. Rb1
(17. Qxe7 $2 Rae8 $19) 17... b6 18. Bf4 Bd6 {1/2 Sermek,D (2495)-Mikhalchishin,
A (2520)/Portoroz 1993/CBM 037}) 8. cxd4 Bg4 {An interesting position and I
would say no less consistent than those arising from more popular openings.
White has the centre, Black intends to undermine it. Just playing in according
to the basic rules. Maybe the Ponziani should be tried more often?} 9. Be3 (9.
Nc3 Be7 10. h3 Bh5 (10... Bxf3 11. gxf3 Qd7 12. f4 g6) 11. Be3 Qd7 {Emma,
J-Pilnik,H/Buenos Aires 1972/EXT 99 (0-1, 43)}) 9... f6 $146 ({It is hard to
say whether this pawn break should be played with or without the intermedioate
check on b4:} 9... Bb4+ 10. Nc3 f6 11. h3 Bh5 12. g4 Bg6 13. O-O Qd7 $13 {
Barrenechea Bahamonde,G (2261)-Maiorov,N (2574)/Paleochora 2012/ (0-1, 39).
Carlsen probably thought that the bishop on f8 is more active than the knight
on b1. This way, the developing moves from the previous game should favour
White abstratly speaking.}) 10. O-O Qd7 11. h3 Bh5 12. e6 $5 {A bit too
optimistic, I assume.} ({White should have kept developing:} 12. Re1 O-O-O 13.
Nc3 Kb8 14. Rc1 {with chances to retain some pressure.}) 12... Qd6 $1 (12...
Qxe6 13. Ng5 fxg5 (13... Bxd1 14. Nxe6 Bxb3 15. Nxc7+ Kd7 16. Nxa8 $16) 14.
Qxh5+ g6 15. Qxg5 $36) 13. Nc3 O-O-O 14. a4 a5 15. Nb5 Qxe6 16. Bf4 Rd7 17. Re1
Qf7 18. Rc1 Bb4 19. Re3 g5 20. Bh2 Nc4 21. Bxc4 dxc4 $15 {Black has stabilized,
ha san extra pawn, and even if he loses it somehow, his position is better
strategically.} 22. Qc2 (22. g4 Bg6 23. Nd2 Bd3 $15) 22... Bxf3 {I would thin
twice before making his concession. Apparently, Carlsen was confident in his
ability to maintain the advantage during the process of simplifications.} ({
I would prefer} 22... Bg6 23. Qxc4 Qxc4 24. Rxc4 Bf7 25. Rc2 Rhd8 $17 {[%cal
Gh7h5]}) 23. Rxf3 Nxd4 24. Nxd4 Rxd4 25. Be5 {Could he have missed this, as a
result of premature relaxing? Sounds almost like a blasphemie, but 2800+ are
human, too.} Rd2 26. Qf5+ Qd7 27. Qxf6 Re8 28. Bg3 Rd4 29. Rf1 g4 30. hxg4 Rxg4
31. Rf4 h5 32. Rxg4 hxg4 33. Rc1 c3 34. bxc3 Bc5 {Despite having given away
the bishops pair and the extra pawn, Black maintains the better chances
because of his safer king.} 35. Qg5 b6 36. c4 Re4 37. Qg6 Re2 38. Kf1 Qd2 39.
Qxg4+ Kb8 40. Qxe2 Qxc1+ 41. Qe1 Qxc4+ 42. Qe2 Qxa4 43. Be5 Bd4 44. Bxd4 Qxd4
45. g4 Qd5 46. Qe8+ (46. f4 Qh1+ 47. Kf2 Qh2+ 48. Kf3 Qxe2+ 49. Kxe2 Kc8 {
Three connected pawns can put the enemy king in zugzwang, while two pwns
cannot do the same.} 50. Kd3 Kd7 51. Kc4 c5 52. Kb5 Ke7 53. Ka4 c4 54. Ka3 b5
55. Kb2 a4 {and so on.}) 46... Kb7 47. Qa4 b5 48. Qxa5 Qd1+ 49. Qe1 Qxg4 50.
Qe5 Qc4+ 51. Kg2 Qc6+ 52. Kf1 b4 53. f4 b3 54. f5 Ka6 55. Qa1+ Kb6 56. Qh8 Qc1+
57. Kg2 Qc2+ 58. Kh1 b2 59. Qb8+ Ka5 60. Qa7+ Kb4 61. Qb7+ Ka3 62. Qf3+ Qb3 63.
Qa8+ Qa4 64. Qf3+ Ka2 65. Qd5+ Ka1 66. Qe5 c5 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel-A 75th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2013.01.23"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "L'Ami, Erwin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B18"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2627"]
[Annotator "Gormally,D"]
[PlyCount "129"]
[EventDate "2013.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 153"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. Bc4 e6 7. N1e2 b5 $5 {
An unusual approach, L'Ami is trying to seize early control over some useful
squares on the queenside. However such an approach is not without its
drawbacks - serious weaknesses are being created on the queenside.} (7... Bd6 {
is perhaps more prudent.} 8. Nf4 Bxf4 9. Bxf4 Nf6 10. O-O O-O 11. c3 Nbd7 12.
Qe2 Re8 13. Rad1 a5 14. Rfe1 a4 15. Bd3 Bxd3 16. Qxd3 Qa5 17. c4 Qa6 18. Qc2
Rad8 19. h3 Nb6 20. b3 Nbd7 21. Rd2 Ra8 22. Nf1 Qb6 23. Bd6 axb3 24. axb3 c5
25. dxc5 Nxc5 26. Bxc5 Qxc5 27. Ne3 h5 28. Red1 Qb4 29. Qb1 b5 30. Rd4 Rab8 31.
Qd3 bxc4 32. bxc4 Rec8 33. Rd6 Qc5 34. Qd4 Qxd4 35. R6xd4 Kf8 36. Kf1 Ke7 37.
g4 Rc5 38. f4 hxg4 39. hxg4 g5 40. f5 Re5 41. Re1 Re4 42. Rxe4 Nxe4 43. fxe6
fxe6 44. Ke2 Kd6 45. Ra1 Rb2+ 46. Ke1 Kc5 47. Rd1 Rb3 48. Nf1 Kxc4 49. Rd8 Kc5
50. Rd7 Ra3 51. Rd8 Rh3 52. Rd7 Rb3 53. Rd8 Rb2 54. Ne3 Rh2 55. Rd7 Ra2 56. Rd8
Nf6 57. Rf8 Nd7 58. Rd8 Ne5 59. Kf1 Nf3 60. Nc2 Nh2+ 61. Kg1 Nf3+ 62. Kf1 e5
63. Ne3 e4 64. Rd5+ Kb4 65. Rd8 Rh2 66. Rd7 Kc3 67. Nd1+ Kc2 68. Ne3+ Kc1 69.
Rd1+ Kb2 70. Rd7 Kb3 71. Rc7 Nd4 72. Rc8 Rh3 73. Nd5 Rf3+ 74. Kg2 Rd3 75. Kf2
Ne6 76. Ne3 Nf4 77. Re8 Nh3+ 78. Ke2 Nf4+ 79. Kf2 Rd2+ 80. Kf1 Rd4 81. Rc8 Ra4
82. Kf2 Ra2+ 83. Kf1 Nd3 84. Nd5 Rf2+ 85. Kg1 Rd2 86. Ne3 Re2 87. Nd5 Nf4 88.
Ne7 e3 89. Nf5 Rg2+ 90. Kh1 e2 91. Nd4+ Kb4 92. Nc2+ Kb3 93. Nd4+ Kb4 94. Nc2+
Kb5 95. Nd4+ Kb6 96. Rc1 Rf2 97. Kg1 Nh3+ {0-1 Campora,D (2505)-Dreev,A (2690)/
Dos Hermanas 2003/CBM 095}) 8. Bb3 Bd6 9. Nf4 Bxf4 {Black decides that the
bishop on g6 is a more useful piece to retain than the one on d6, but the
dark-squared weaknesses incurred with this exchange, are potentially highly
significant in the long-run.  I recently wrote an openings report on a similar
line, and observed that in such positions when Black has exchanged the knight
on f4, White has an enduring advantage due to the two bishops. I don't think
that the judgement is any different here, and Carlsen is like no other at
nursing small advantages.  Personally because of this I would rather retain
the dark-squared bishop in this opening. If White exchanges on g6, then the
h-file is opened and Black will have some counterplay.} (9... Nf6 10. h4 Qc7
11. Qf3 Nd5 $1 {would have been less compliant.}) 10. Bxf4 Nf6 11. O-O O-O 12.
c4 $1 {With this highly practical and somewhat counter-intuitive decision,
Carlsen shows very deep understanding of the position. He opens up another
front - the c-file, along which he will stage a lengthy war of attrition
against the c6-pawn.  Watching the game online at the time, I observed that
most of the watching kibitzers seemed taken aback by this. Doesn't this just
leave White with a isolated d-pawn?  But sometimes to gain something we have
to give something in return. First we have to ask what logic brought Carlsen
to make this move. If White doesn't play c4, how can he make progress? It
becomes clear with some analysis, that without the aid of a pawn break, it is
not easy for White to get anywhere. Mere piece play alone is unlikely to make
much imprint in the rock that is the black position. White needs a plan!} (12.
c3 Nbd7 13. a4 Qb6 14. a5 Qa6 15. Re1 c5 $1 {would be a very typical line,
where Black is very well-placed, and it is not clear what White is doing.
Therefore White must give Black a target - the pawn on d4 - in order to gain
one himself, the backward weakling on c6.}) 12... bxc4 13. Bxc4 Qb6 ({If Black
is to defend this line in the future, then} 13... Nd5 {would be a possible
starting point.} {It is entirely possible that L'Ami rejected this due to} 14.
Bxd5 $1 cxd5 (14... Qxd5 15. h4 h6 16. h5 Bh7 17. Qg4 {gives White a useful
initiative.}) (14... exd5 {just looks ugly - Black has not resolved the
problem of his backward c-pawn.}) 15. Rc1 {when White has a useful majority on
the queenside - and any attempt to stoke up trouble by Black is likely to lead
to disaster, for example} Qa5 $2 16. h4 $1 h6 17. h5 Bh7 18. Qg4 {with a very
strong attack.}) 14. Qd2 Rd8 15. Rfd1 Nbd7 16. Rac1 Nd5 ({The problem now for
Black is the attempt to rid himself of this weakling pawn on c6, can run into
problems.} 16... c5 17. a4 $1 (17. dxc5 Nxc5 18. Qe3 {is also not bad. Next
move White will play b3, emphasising his structural advantage.} h6 19. b3)
17... cxd4 18. a5 $1 {and the queen on b6 has run out of useful squares.}) (
16... e5 17. Be3 Ng4 18. Bg5 $1 Ndf6 19. h3 Rxd4 20. Qe2 Nh6 21. Qxe5 {and
Black falls apart.}) 17. Bd6 N7f6 18. Bc5 Qb8 19. f3 {Now White just had a
bind, which fully justifies Carlsen's brave decision on move 12.} h6 20. Ne2
Nd7 21. Ba3 e5 22. b3 $1 {Delaying a decision is probably best.} ({A more
forcing move was} 22. Bxd5 cxd5 23. Nc3 {but after} Qb7 24. dxe5 Nxe5 25. Nxd5
Nd3 $1 {Black is not without counterplay for his pawn. More importantly, White
would lose control over the position, which is certainly not in Carlsen's
style.}) 22... Qb6 23. Nc3 N7f6 $6 {But this turns out to be rather inaccurate.
In fact the knight was better placed on d7 than where it eventually lands, on
d5, where it looks good but does little.} ({Therefore} 23... Nxc3 $1 24. Qxc3
Re8 $1 {was indicated, where Black threatens to gain serious counterplay with .
.e4.} 25. Kh1 e4 26. fxe4 Bxe4 {and with the knight coming to f6, Black has
co-ordinated his forces and solved most of his problems.}) 24. Bc5 Qc7 25. dxe5
Qxe5 26. Bd4 Qe7 27. Re1 Qd6 28. Qf2 Nxc3 29. Bxc3 Nd5 30. Be5 Qa3 31. h4 ({
It is obvious that White has a strategic advantage, but one of the hardest
situations in chess is when you have a number of promising continuations. A
possibly even stronger alternative was to crank up the pressure with} 31. f4 $5
Re8 32. Qg3 Qc5+ 33. Kh1 Qf8 34. Be2 Re6 35. Bg4 f5 36. Bf3 {when Black is
really creaking.}) 31... f6 32. Bd4 Kh7 33. Bxd5 Rxd5 34. Rxc6 Qb4 35. Rc4 Qd6
36. Bc5 Qd8 37. Kh2 a6 38. Be7 Qb8+ 39. Qg3 Qxg3+ 40. Kxg3 {Despite the pawn
deficit, Black has serious drawing chances in this ending. In fact I would
wager that against 99 percent of grandmasters, L'Ami would gain a draw without
any real difficulty.  However against Carlsen of course, it is a different
story altogether. At this point, he's just getting going! Such is his
reputation in endings, that any kind of disadvantage can normally be viewed as
hopeless!   Also the psychological pressure of having to play accurate move
after accurate move, to defend a worse ending against someone who has
boundless energy and confidence, is in incredible shape, and is happy to grind
away forever, should not be underestimated.} Ra7 41. Rc6 a5 42. Bc5 Rad7 43.
Be3 R7d6 44. Rc4 Re6 45. Kf2 Rde5 46. Rc3 Be8 47. Bd2 a4 48. Rxe5 Rxe5 49. b4
Bb5 $6 {A step in the wrong direction, Black plays too passively. In order to
increase his chances of a draw, it's essential to exchange as many pawns on
the kingside as possible. This is because that as long as the kingside remains
intact, White has the opportunity of creating an attack over there, to try and
distract and break the blockade that Black has on the queenside.} (49... g5 $1
{would have gained some vital space.} 50. Rc7+ Kg6 51. g4 h5 52. Bc3 Re6 53.
hxg5 fxg5 54. gxh5+ Kxh5 {is starting to look quite drawish.}) 50. Be3 h5 51.
Rc7 Kg6 52. Ra7 Rd5 53. Kg3 Rd3 54. Bc5 Ra3 $2 {Now however, L'Ami switches to
active defence at just the wrong moment. Knowing when to defend passively in
the ending, and when to defend actively, is one of the most difficult skills a
chessplayer can master, if it is at all possible.} ({It was hard to commit to
complete passivity with} 54... Rd7 {but after} 55. Ra5 Rb7 56. Kf4 Kf7 57. g4
hxg4 58. fxg4 Ke6 {it is not so obvious how White makes progress.}) 55. Bf8
Rxa2 56. Kf4 Kh7 57. Rxg7+ Kh8 58. Kf5 $1 {It is amazing that even so late in
the tournament, and in the sixth hour of play, Carlsen still manages to beso
accurate. Yet again he finds the narrow path to victory. The guy is a machine,
he just doesn't seem to get tired!} Rc2 59. Kxf6 {White's rampaging king, and
the pawns he can gather on the kingside, is more relevant than the black
a-pawn, which is easily controlled.} a3 60. Ra7 $5 ({The "dance of death" with
the bishop would also have won -} 60. Bc5 $1 a2 61. Bd4 Rd2 62. Be5 Re2 63. Ba1
Re1 64. Bc3 Rc1 65. Be5 Re1 66. Ra7 $1 {and White wins, as the black rook
isn't hitting g2 anymore.}) 60... a2 (60... Rxg2 61. Rxa3 $18) 61. g3 Rc6+ 62.
Kg5 Kg8 (62... Ra6 {would not have saved Black either -} 63. Bg7+ Kg8 64. Rxa6
Bxa6 65. Bd4 Be2 66. f4 (66. Kxh5 Bxf3+ 67. Kg5 Bc6 68. Kf6 {also looks winning
}) 66... Kf7 67. f5 Ke8 68. b5 Bxb5 69. Kxh5 {and the white pawns are
overwhelming.}) 63. Bc5 Ba6 64. Bd4 Rd6 65. Ba1 {The Ph5 is dropping, so Black
had seen enough.} 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 75th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2013.01.25"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Wang, Hao"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2752"]
[BlackElo "2861"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2013.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 153"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. O-O Nge7 5. Re1 Ng6 6. c3 d5 7. Qa4 Be7 8. d4
O-O 9. exd5 Qxd5 10. dxc5 Bxc5 11. Nbd2 Be7 12. Nc4 Qd8 13. Bxc6 bxc6 14. Nd4
c5 15. Nc6 Qc7 16. Nxe7+ Nxe7 17. Qa5 Qxa5 18. Nxa5 Ba6 19. Bg5 Rfe8 20. Rad1
h6 21. Bxe7 Rxe7 22. c4 Kf8 23. Rd6 Bb7 24. Red1 Ke8 25. Nc6 Bxc6 26. Rxc6 Rb7
27. b3 a5 28. Rxc5 a4 29. h4 axb3 30. axb3 Rab8 31. Rd3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 75th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2013.01.26"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B32"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2769"]
[Annotator "Gormally,D"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2013.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 153"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{One of the most keenly awaited clashes in the chess world these days, is the
quite regular battles between the Norwegian Wunderkind Magnus Carlsen, and the
highly entertaining, often explosive, American player Hikaru Nakamura.  The
only problem is from Nakamura's point of view, these clashes have become
worryingly one-sided. For all Nakamura's incredible talent, he has yet to beat
Carlsen in a classical game - a fact that must frustrate the American, who has
defeated pretty much everyone else at the top of the world's elite at some
time or another.  So you may ask, why is this clash so interesting? Well I
think Nakamura brings out the best in Carlsen, as the American's ultra
aggressive style tends to force Magnus into full combat from an early stage of
the game, when most of the time the Norwegian is happy enough grinding away in
an endgame.   Their round 12 clash in Wijk aan Zee was a good example of this
- Nakamura played an adventurous opening, but Carlsen soon clamped down on his
aggressive ideas, before quickly turning to his own deadly intentions.} 1. e4
c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 {Probably not the opening
Carlsen was expecting, but Nakamura is very similar to Ivanchuk - he can play
pretty much anything, and play it pretty well.} 6. g3 $1 {Very typical of
Carlsen's style - he is not actively trying to refute openings, like a
Kasparov, but rather just building up a slight advantage, before viciously
outplaying the opposition in the middlegame and endgame. But beware of drawing
him into a battle - just because his natural style is to grind, doesn't mean
he can't mix it with the best of them.   Aware of the dangers of being ground
down in 80 moves, Nakamura now lashes out with a spiky lunge on the kingside -
however this is a risky strategy, as his king will never now be completely
safe in any part of the board.} h5 $5 {I used to play some guy on the Internet
chess club, in the one minute pool, who would thrust his h-pawn down the board
at any opportunity. In fact he rarely bothered to wait this long, he would
invariably start with 1..h5! (I think his name was something like Soong Loong,
and he would gleefully mock me everytime he beat me with one of his horrible
openings.)  Funnily enough his strategy was far more dangerous than it seemed
at first glance - particularly when you only have 1 minute on your clock!
Doubtless Nakamura himself has had to face down Soong Loong many times as well,
as a one time regular visitor of the ICC.  In this particular example though
you could argue that Nakamura's advance makes perfect sense- with White
already commited to an early fianchetto - he is looking to soften up Carlsen's
kingside and get some action going down the h-file.} (6... Be6 {was a more
passive approach - if Black is not careful White will nurse a strategic
advantage to the end of the game, due to the long-term hole on d5.} 7. Bg2 Be7
8. N1c3 Nf6 9. Nd5 O-O 10. O-O Qc8 11. a4 Qd7 12. Na3 Bh3 13. Bxh3 Qxh3 14. Be3
Rfd8 15. c3 h6 16. Qd3 Nxd5 17. Qxd5 Bg5 18. Rfe1 Rd7 19. Rad1 Ne7 20. Qb3 Bxe3
21. Rxe3 a6 22. Nc2 Qe6 23. Qxe6 fxe6 24. Red3 d5 25. Ne3 Rad8 26. Nc4 Ng6 27.
a5 d4 28. Nb6 Rd6 29. h4 h5 30. Kf1 Kf7 31. Ke2 Ke7 32. b4 Nf8 33. Nc4 Rc6 34.
Nxe5 Rxc3 35. Rxc3 dxc3 36. Rxd8 Kxd8 37. Kd3 Ke7 38. Kxc3 Kd6 39. Kd4 {
1-0 Ivanchuk,V (2735)-Maidla,V (2370)/Tallinn 1996/CBM 050 ext}) 7. N1c3 a6 8.
Na3 b5 (8... h4 9. Bg2 h3 $5 (9... Nf6 {keeping the tension, was also possible}
10. Bg5 hxg3 11. hxg3 Rxh1+ 12. Bxh1 Be7 {when Black seems fine}) 10. Bf1 b5
11. Nd5 Nce7 $6 {slightly eccentric play which backfires -} (11... Nf6 12. Bg5
Qa5+ 13. Bd2 Qd8 {and White probably has nothing better than returning to g5
with the bishop}) 12. Bg5 f6 13. Be3 Nxd5 14. Qxd5 Rb8 15. O-O-O Ne7 16. Qxd6
Qxd6 17. Rxd6 Nf5 18. Rb6 Rxb6 19. Bxb6 Nd6 20. f3 Be6 21. Bc5 Be7 22. Be2 Nb7
23. Bxe7 Kxe7 24. b3 Nd6 25. c3 g6 26. Nc2 a5 27. Rd1 f5 28. exf5 gxf5 29. Bf1
f4 30. gxf4 exf4 31. Nd4 Bd7 32. Ne2 Bc6 33. Nxf4 Bxf3 {1-0 Nunn,J (2600)
-Short,N (2635)/Wijk aan Zee 1990/CBM 017}) 9. Nd5 {White now has ideas of
playing Be3 and c4 - threatening to make speedy progress on the queenside, a
very typical strategy for White in these sorts of systems. By contrast, what
aggressive plan can Black muster? Not such an easy question to answer, and
even the ever-inventive Nakamura can't seem to provide an convincing recipe.}
Nge7 10. Bg2 Bg4 $6 ({In the after game press conference, Carlsen explained
that he expected} 10... Nxd5 11. exd5 Ne7 {which he seemed to think was fairly
acceptable for Black.} 12. c4 Bd7 {and with ideas like ...h4 and also Nf5-d4
coming, Black is more than ok, although of course the game remains very sharp.
Instead of this, Naka seems to "drift".}) 11. f3 Be6 12. c3 h4 13. Nc2 {
Magnus is building up slowly, ignoring Black's aggressive intentions on the
kingside - he doesn't believe that it's going to go anywhere. Before he
commits to any actions on the queenside, he first takes the d4-square under
control - now a4 is in the air.} Bxd5 $6 {This exchange is only risky for
Black, as the light-square weaknesses in his position now become appreciable.}
({Black could of course exchange rooks on the h-file, but that would only work
out in White's favour -} 13... hxg3 14. hxg3 Rxh1+ 15. Bxh1 {and now while
White has ideas of playing a4, or even f4, Black really lacks a plan.}) ({
It looks unpleasant, but perhaps} 13... f6 {with the idea of putting the king
on f7 would have been the safest, as then} 14. f4 {is not particularly
dangerous, as f5 will lead nowhere and the e5-square is solidly defended.}) 14.
exd5 Na5 15. f4 $1 {Of course! Carlsen now switches to full Kasparov turbo
boost mode, his intentions becoming every more aggressive with every passing
move.} Nf5 $6 ({Carlsen felt that} 15... hxg3 16. hxg3 Rxh1+ 17. Bxh1 Qd7 {
was more accurate, with the idea of ...Qh3.} 18. Bg2 exf4 19. Bxf4 Ng6 {
seems ok for Black.}) 16. g4 $1 h3 17. Be4 Nh4 {Kasparov, commenting on the
game afterwards, seemed to elude to the idea that this was the decisive error,
suggesting that Black needed to play} (17... Qh4+ 18. Kf1 Ne7 ({The misguided
attempt to "attack" with} 18... Nh6 19. g5 Ng4 {only backfires on Black, after}
20. Qe2 {White is already threatening Bf5, trapping the errant knight}) {
However after the calm reply} 19. Qe2 {it is not obvious what Black's
follow-up is.  In fact as we shall see, Black has not stepped over the line
just yet.}) 18. O-O g6 19. Kh1 {A useful prophylatic move. Just in case, White
tidies his king away.} Bg7 ({Carlsen was not afraid of} 19... f5 {indicating
that after} 20. Bd3 e4 21. Be2 {Black's "initiative" has come to a halt and
the weakness incurred on e6 is likely to become significant, with Nd4 coming.})
20. f5 $5 {I admit that this probably wouldn't have been my choice, but then
I'm not the world number one!} ({White had a number of useful options,
including the immediate} 20. Nb4) 20... gxf5 21. gxf5 Ng2 $2 {But only this
mistake really sends Black plummeting over the precipice. Nakamura tries to
increase his control over the dark squares, but this turns out to be far too
slow.} ({The game would have remained reasonably unclear after either} 21...
Bf6) ({Or} 21... Bh6) 22. f6 $1 {Probably the single greatest reason why
Carlsen has risen to such giddy heights lately, and now holds an unshakeable
grip over the world number one spot.  Unlike other elite grandmasters, who
occasionally let tactical mistakes by their opponents go by, Carlsen seems to
have a shark-like ability to smell the blood in the water - and subsequently
he will ruthlessly pounce on the slightest slip. This he has in common with
the great champions of sport - like Federer, Messi and Woods - his ruthless
streak and instinctive ability to sense when his opponent is weakening, and
subsequently likely to make a mistake.  It would seem that Carlsen has
Nakamura's "number" and seems to know exactly when the American will err. 
(talking about "having someone's number", I believe I've lost pretty much
every blitz game I've ever played against Nakamura since he became a strong
grandmaster, which just gives an example of the difference between these top
guys and lesser mortals like myself.)  This impetuous pawn wanders deep into
the black kingside, forcing the ignomonious retreat of the black bishop.} Bf8 {
A sorry retreat, but there was little better.} ({Black loses material after} 
22... Bxf6 23. Qf3 Rh4 24. Bg5 $1) ({And} 22... Bh6 {is no longer possible -
White wins on the spot with} 23. Qh5 {as ...Qf6 is clearly no longer possible.}
) 23. Qf3 {Looking at Black's useless knights on g2 and a5, the phrase
"knights on the rim are dim" never seemed more pertinent. Completely devoid of
any meaningful counterplay, all Black can do now is thrash around uselessly
waiting for the killer blow.} Qc7 24. Nb4 Nb7 25. Nc6 {The final nail in
Black's coffin. The knight on c6 and pawn on f6 form an unbreakable cage
around the black king.} Nc5 26. Bf5 Nd7 27. Bg5 Rg8 28. Qh5 Nb6 29. Be6 Rxg5
30. Qxg5 fxe6 31. dxe6 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 75th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2013.01.27"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E87"]
[WhiteElo "2720"]
[BlackElo "2861"]
[Annotator "Giri,A"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2013.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 153"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{I had a mediocre to bad tournament in Wijk, as I lost two games (to
Harikrishna and Hou Yifan) and managed to win just one (though against Fabiano)
. Obviously I had enough reasons to be ambitious. Ich hatte ein mittelmäßiges
bis schlechtes Turnier in Wijk, denn ich verlor zwei Partien (gegen
Harikrishna und Hou Yifan) und konnte nur eine gewinnen (allerdings gegen
Fabiano). Offenkundig hatte ich allen Grund, ehrgeizig zu sein.} 1. d4 Nf6 2.
c4 g6 {I was very happy with this move as I knew that now it will be a rough
fight. I was eager to (at least try) finish the tournament on a high note
especially since I felt pretty confident towards the end. Über diesen Zug
freute ich mich sehr, denn ich wusste, dass es jetzt ein rauer Kampf werden
würde. Ich brannte darauf, das Turnier mit einem Höhepunkt abzuschließen (oder
es zumindest zu versuchen), vor allem, da ich gegen Ende ziemlich viel
Selbstvertrauen hatte.} 3. f3 $1 {Securing that abovementioned rough fight.
Sichert den oben erwähnen rauen Kampf.} d6 4. e4 e5 {A strategically risky
line, a surprising choice by Magnus. I was thinking during the game that he
might have followed some old notes of Kasparov, who had this variaiton in his
World Championship match with Karpov, but maybe I am overfantasising. Ein
strategisch riskantes Abspiel, eine überraschende Wahl von Magnus. Während der
Partie dachte ich, dass er würde womöglich irgendwelchen alten Anmerkungen von
Kasparov folgen, der diese Variante ja in seinem Weltmeisterschaftsmatch mit
Karpov hatte, aber vielleicht geht auch meine Phantasie mit mir durch.} 5. d5
Nh5 6. Be3 Bg7 {I was expecting some creative idea like ...Be7!? going for ...
Bg5, but Magnus decided to just transpose to the above mentioned old line. Ich
erwartete irgendeine kreative Idee wie ...Be7!? mit der Absicht ...Bg5, aber
Magnus beschloss, einfach zu dem oben erwähnten alten Abspiel überzuleiten.} 7.
Nc3 O-O 8. Qd2 f5 {I don't believe in this line. Black doesn't have the usual
attack on the king and then somehow this f5 push loses its strength. On the
other hand he intends to close the whole board and build some sort of a
fortress. Ich glaube nicht an dieses Abspiel. Schwarz hat nicht en üblichen
Angriff auf den König, und dann verliert dieser f5-Vorstoß irgendwie seine
Kraft. Andererseits beabsichtigt er, das ganze Brett zu schließen und eine Art
Festung zu errichten.} (8... Qh4+ $5 {is the move I have studied a little, as
after the semi-forced sequence ist der Zug, den ich ein wenig studiert habe,
denn nach der halb-forcierten Folge} 9. g3 (9. Bf2 Qf4) 9... Nxg3 $1 10. Qf2
Nxf1 11. Qxh4 Nxe3 {the position is very fascinating and unclear. ist die
Stellung sehr faszinierend und unklar.}) 9. O-O-O (9. exf5 $5 {is also very
challenging, now after ist ebenfalls recht anspruchsvoll; jetzt kann nach} gxf5
10. O-O-O {White can prepare g4 one day. The play is somewhat more dynamic
here. Weiß eines Tages g4 vorbereiten. Hier ist das Spiel etwas dynamischer.})
9... f4 $5 {I was surprised to see that Magnus would decide on this move so
fast and indeed it's a rare one. However his concept isn't as bad as I thought
at first. He intends to close the queenside with eventual ...c5 and then it
will be hard for White to break through with his usual b4 plan. Ich war
überrascht zu sehen, dass Magnus sich so schnell für diesen Zug entschied, und
in der Tat ist er auch ungewöhnlich. Allerdings ist sein Konzept nicht so
schlecht, wie ich zunächst dachte. Er beabsichtigt, den Damenflügel mit
späterem ...c5 zu schließen, und dann wird es für Weiß schwer sein, mit seinem
üblichen b4-Plan durchzubrechen.} 10. Bf2 Bf6 11. Qe1 {Preventing ...Bh4.
Verhindert ...Bh4.} Nd7 12. Kb1 Be7 13. g3 $5 {From now on I was playing in
the modern spirit. While earlier players might have played g4! Ng7 h4! and
would have written +/- due to the long term queenside plan, I feel that
nowadays such a dogmatic view is not a guarantee of victory. Instead I was
aiming for some more concrete action, now for example I want Bh3 and once the
h5-knight goes I may think of even some action like gxf and Bxd7. Von jetzt an
spielte ich im modernen Geist. Während frühere Spieler vielleicht g4! Ng7 h4!
gespielt und +/- geschrieben hätten aufgrund des langfristigen
Damenflügelplans, meine ich, dass heutzutage so eine dogmatische Sicht keine
Siegesgarantie mehr ist. Stattdessen strebte ich konkretere Handlungen an, zum
Beispiel will ich Bh3, und wenn der h5-Springer einmal weggeht, kann ich sogar
an eine Aktion wie gxf und Bxd7 denken.} c5 $2 {Too early. Magnus assumed that
he would be able to take advantage of my undeveloped kingside in the
complications but in fact his pieces lack coordination. Zu früh. Magnus nahm
an, dass er in den Komplikationen Vorteil aus meinem unterentwickelten
Königsflügel würde ziehen können, tatsächlich aber mangelt es seinen Figuren
an Koordination.} (13... a6 {followed by some waiting moves, like ...Kh8 and ..
.Rb8 would prepare ...c5 and would make my task much more difficult. , gefolgt
von ein paar Wartezügen wie ...Kh8 und ...Rb8, würde ...c5 vorbereiten und
meine Aufgabe deutlich erschweren.}) 14. dxc6 $1 bxc6 15. c5 $1 {From now on I
started to really like my position and Carlsen started to dislike his. Von
jetzt an begann ich, meine Stellung richtig zu mögen, und Carlsen begann,
seine zu verabscheuen.} dxc5 16. Na4 Qc7 17. Qc3 Rb8 {Rooks belongs on open
files, so why not? Türme gehören auf offene Linien, also warum nicht?} 18. Bh3
$1 {Simple and strong, now I threatened to take on d7 and get control of the
key c5-square. From now on the black position looks busted but after burning a
lot of time Magnus found some way to get practical chances. Einfach und stark;
jetzt drohte ich, auf d7 zu nehmen und das Schlüsselfeld c5 in den Griff zu
bekommen. Von jetzt an sieht die schwarze Stellung pleite aus, aber nachdem er
eine Menge Zeit verbraten hatte, fand Magnus einen Weg, praktische Chancen zu
bekommen.} (18. Ne2 {was another option, but the text move is better. war eine
andere Option, aber der Textzug ist besser.} Nb6 (18... Ba6 19. Nxf4 $1) (18...
Ng7 19. Nc1 Ne6 20. Nb3) 19. Nxc5 Rf7 {and Black has a better version of the
game, as my knight on e2 is causing some lack of harmony. und Schwarz hat eine
bessere Version der Partie, da mein Springer auf e2 gewissen Harmoniemangel
verursacht.}) 18... Nb6 19. Nxc5 Rf7 $2 (19... Rd8 $1 {was strong now after
the natural War stark. Nun wirkt die Stellung nach} 20. Rxd8+ Qxd8 21. Bxc8
Qd1+ 22. Qc1 Qxc1+ 23. Kxc1 Rxc8 {the position looks disastrous for Black, but
unbelievably White is unable to untangle his pieces as Ne2 can be met by fxg
hxg Rf8. So instead of that I would have had to look for something more
sophisticated. katastrophal für Schwarz, aber unglaublicherweise ist Weiß
nicht in der Lage, seine Figuren zu entwirren, da Ne2 mit fxg hxg Rf8 begegnet
werden kann. Daher würde ich stattdessen etwas Anspruchsvolleres suchen müssen.
}) 20. b3 $1 {Another simple and strong move. Now nothing works for Black.
Noch ein einfacher und starker Zug. Jetzt funktioniert nichts für Schwarz.}
fxg3 21. hxg3 Bxc5 22. Qxc5 Ng7 $1 {Black has no better move than that. Here I
have many options and perhaps I made a wrong choice practically speaking.
Schwarz hat keinen bessern Zug als diesen. Hier habe ich viele Möglichkeiten,
und ich traf, praktisch gesehen, vielleicht die falsche Wahl.} 23. Rc1 $6 (23.
f4 $5 {was suggested by computers and then many people found it suddenly very
natural. In fact it's not so easy: wurde von Computern vorgeschlagen, und
danach fanden es viele Leute plötzlich sehr natürlich. Tatsächlich ist die
Sache nicht so einfach:} exf4 24. gxf4 $1 {Frankly I didn't really consider
this one, trying to make Nf3!? or Bd4!? work. Offen gesagt hatte ich das nicht
wirklich auf der Rechnung, da ich versuchte, Nf3!? oder Bd4!? zum
Funktionieren zu bringen.} Qxf4 {Now it's forced Nun ist es forciert.} 25. Rd8+
Rf8 26. Rxf8+ Qxf8 27. Qxf8+ Kxf8 28. Bxc8 Rxc8 29. Rxh7 {and White has a
fantastic endgame, but Black has some drawing chances. und Weiß hat ein
fantastisches Endspiel, allerdings besitzt Schwarz einige Remischancen.} Kg8 $1
30. Rh6 Rf8 $1) (23. Qd6 $5 {is not much, even though it's much easier to play
for White than the game. bietet nicht viel, obwohl es für Weiß viel einfacher
zu spielen ist als die Partie.} Qxd6 24. Rxd6 Bxh3 25. Rxh3 (25. Nxh3 Rxf3 26.
Bxb6 axb6 27. Ng5 Rxg3 28. Nxh7 Nh5 $1) 25... Rc7 {intending c5-c4. Shouldn't
be much but White is still better. mit der Absicht c5-c4. Sollte nicht viel
sein, aber Weiß steht trotzdem besser.} 26. Rh1 $1) 23... Be6 $3 {I missed
this very powerful resource. Now Black gets some counterplay out of absolutely
nowhere and my task becomes much more difficult. This is a rare case when the
best move is not actually the first line of the engine. Diese sehr kraftvolle
Ressource hatte ich übersehen. Nun erhält Schwarz aus dem absoluten Nichts
heraus einiges Gegenspiel, und meine Aufgabe wird deutlich schwerer. Dies ist
ein seltener Fall, wo der beste Zug tatsächlich nicht das erste Abspiel der
Engine ist.} 24. Qxc6 Qe7 {Here objectively speaking I probably have a huge
advantage but in the practical game things aren't as simple with a slightly
dubious king and no development. I feel I started losing some control.
Objektiv gesehen habe ich hier vermutlich riesigen Vorteil, aber in der
praktischen Partie sind, bei leicht heiklem König und keiner Entwicklung, die
Dinge nicht so einfach. Ich bekam das Gefühl, etwas die Kontrolle zu verlieren.
} 25. Qc5 Qf6 26. Bg2 $2 {A machine-move, but once I had made it I started to
regret it a lot. Somehow it feels too slow. Ein Maschienenzug, aber sobald ich
ihn gemacht hatte, begann ich, ihn sehr zu bereuen. Irgendwie fühlt es sich zu
langsam an.} (26. Bf1 $1 {is an even more machine-move as now I don't even
threaten to develop my knight. For example ist sogar noch maschinenmäßiger,
denn jetzt drohe ich nicht einmal, meinen Springer zu entwickeln. Zum Beispiel}
Rfb7 {now I have , und jetzt habe ich} 27. Ba6 $1 Na4 28. Qa5 $1 Rxb3+ 29. axb3
Rxb3+ 30. Kc2 Rb2+ 31. Kd1 Rxf2 32. Be2 $1 {and Black runs out of resources.
und Schwarz gehen die Mittel aus.}) 26... Rfb7 $1 {Now I started to feel
pretty uncomfortable and disappointed about the course of the game and I
decided to try to keep control of the situation. My feeling was right indeed
as after my absolutely awkward last move all my advantage is gone and the game
is becoming pretty random. Jetzt begann ich, mich ziemlich unwohl zu fühlen
und enttäuscht über den Lauf der Partie, und ich beschloss zu versuchen, die
Situation unter Kontrolle zu behalten. Mein Gefühl war in der Tat berechtigt,
denn nach meinem absolut scheußlichen letzten Zug ist mein fanzer Vorteil
futsch, und die Partie wird ziemlich zufällig.} 27. Ka1 Nd7 $2 {A mistake
objectively, but Magnus managed to bluff me (though himself he probably missed
my defence as well). Objektiv ein Fehler, aber Magnus schaffte es, mich zu
bluffen (wobei er selbst meine Verteidigung wahrscheinlich ebenfalls übersehen
hatte).} (27... a5 $1 {would have been a painful blow. I would have most
likely tried to chicken out with wäre ein unangenehmer Schlag gewesen.
Höchstwahrscheinlich hätte ich versucht, mit} 28. Ne2 $1 a4 29. b4 $1 Nd7 30.
Qc2 Rxb4 31. Rb1 {and that would probably be quite smart. Here the position is
balanced. den Schwanz einzuziehen, und das wäre wahrscheinlich ziemlich clever
gewesen. Hier ist die Stellung ausgeglichen.}) 28. Qd6 $2 (28. Qa3 $1 {seemed
too risky, but in fact everywhere I seem to have a defence - wirkte zu riskant,
tatsächlich aber scheine ich überall eine Verteidigung zu haben -} a5 $5 {
It's almost in time. Ist fast rechtzeitig.} (28... Bxb3 29. axb3 Rxb3 30. Qa2
$1 {I missed this detail. Though I wasn't really looking for it as I was happy
with the idea of pinning his bishop with my queen on the sixth rank. Dieses
Detail übersah ich. Allerdings suchte ich auch nicht direkt danach, denn ich
war zufrieden mit der Idee, seinen Läufer mit meiner Dame auf der sechsten
Reihe zu fesseln.}) 29. Ne2 a4 30. Qxa4 Qd8 $1 {but now I have an incredible
resource - , aber jetzt habe ich eine unglaubliche Ressource -} 31. Rc6 $1 Rb5
32. Rhc1 Ra5 33. Rc8 $1 {and somehow White ends up on top again. und irgendwie
ist Weiß am Ende wieder obenauf.}) 28... Ne8 $2 {Magnus could have already
taken on b3, or have played a5, but we still didn't see this Qa3-a2 idea so
the blindness continued.  Magnus hätte bereits auf b3 schlagen oder a5 spielen
können, aber wir beide sahen noch immer nicht diese Qa3-a2-Idee; die Blindheit
hielt also an.} 29. Qa6 $6 (29. Qa3 $1 a5 (29... Bxb3 30. axb3 Rxb3 31. Qa2)
30. Ne2 a4 31. Qxa4 Nb6 {Black has compensation but it shouldn't be enough.
Schwarz hat Kompensation, sie sollte allerdings nicht ausreichen.} 32. Bxb6
Rxb6 33. Rc6 Bxb3 34. Rxf6 Bxa4 35. Rxb6 Rxb6 36. Nc3) 29... Bxb3 $5 {I wasn't
too upset about it, as I was actually already seeing some sort of draw arising
in other lines. Das regte mich nicht sonderlich auf, denn ich sah bereits eine
Art von Remis, wie es in anderen Abspielen entsteht.} (29... Nc7 $5 {was my
main fear. And actually my intuition is being supported by my computer which
still needs a lot of time to realise what is what. war meine größte
Befürchtung. Und tatsächlich wird meine Intuition von meinem Computer gestützt,
der nach wie vor eine Menge Zeit braucht, um zu begreifen, was Sache ist.} 30.
Qd6 {I was trying to see whether this one forces a draw and it seems that it
does. Ich versuchte zu sehen, ob dies ein Remis forciert, und offenbar ist es
so.} (30. Qa5 Bxb3) (30. Qa4 Rb4 31. Qc6 Qe7) 30... Nb5 (30... Bxb3 $1 31. Qxd7
Qf7 $3) 31. Qa6 Nd4 {to avoid repetition but now I get a tempo um die
Wiederholung zu vermeiden, aber nun bekomme ich ein Tempo.} 32. Bh3 $1 Rb6 33.
Bxe6+ Qxe6 34. Qc4 Nxb3+ 35. axb3 Qxc4 36. Rxc4 Rxb3 37. Rc2 {with the same
drawish motif. mit demselben Remismotiv.}) 30. Qxf6 Nexf6 {Initially I was
thinking I am better in this endgame due to my two bishops but after a long
think I realised that it's not really the case and so I decided that it has
been enough fun. Anfänglich meinte ich, in diesem Endspiel aufgrund meiner
zwei Läufer besser zu stehen, aber nach langem Nachdenken begriff ich, dass
dies nicht wirklich der Fall ist, und daher beschloss ich, dass es genug Spaß
gewesen war.} 31. axb3 (31. Nh3 Be6 32. Rb1 Rxb1+ 33. Rxb1 Rc8 $1) (31. Rb1 Be6
32. Ne2 Kg7 33. Rxb7 Rxb7 34. Rb1 Nb6 {and I will have problems to answer ...
Rc7 and ...Rd7 kind of moves, threatening to enter the second rank. und ich
werde Probleme haben, Züge wie ...Rc7 und ...Rd7 zu beantworten, die drohen,
die zweite Reihe zu besetzen.}) 31... Rxb3 32. Rc2 Rb1+ 33. Ka2 R1b4 34. Ka1
Rb1+ {Neither of us can really deviate. Keiner von uns kann wirklich abweichen.
} 35. Ka2 R1b4 36. Ka1 {It's always fun with Magnus. :) Mit Magnus macht es
immer Spaß. :)} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Candidates Tournament"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2013.03.15"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2809"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2013.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Bxd2+ 5. Qxd2 d5 {This apparently
simplistic way of playing used to be a specialty of Ulf Andersson, a
completely different kind of player from Carlsen.} 6. Nc3 ({The typical way of
meeting any Bogo-Indian setup is based on the kingside fianchetto; Carlsen had
some recent experience against it, though.} 6. g3 O-O 7. Bg2 Nbd7 8. O-O c6 9.
Rc1 b6 10. cxd5 (10. b4 {Topalov,V (2803)-Carlsen,M (2826)/Nanjing 2010/CBM
139/[Edouard,R] (0-1, 33)}) 10... cxd5 11. Nc3 (11. Na3 {Kramnik,V (2784)
-Carlsen,M (2814)/Wijk aan Zee 2011/CBM 141/[Moradiabadi/Karsten Mueller] (0-1,
85)}) 11... Ba6 {Wang Yue (2732)-Carlsen,M (2826)/Nanjing 2010/CBM 139/
[Edouard,R] (1/2, 28)}) 6... O-O 7. e3 {Before moving forward, I find it
useful to relate the position to some refefrence points from well settled
theory. In the Orthodox lines of the Queen's Gambit, Black frequently aims to
exchange the dark-squared bishops, in order to get some space for the queen
and release the pressure against the f6-knight. Two classical ways of
achieving that are the Capablanca System (...dxc4 followed by ...Nd5) and he
Lasker System (...Ne4).. From this point of view, I find some positive aspects
in the Bogo setup: Black exchanges the bishops without the need to give up the
tension in the centre with ...dxc4 or moving for the second time with an
already developed knight.} Qe7 {The perfect square for the queen in many
Bogo-Indian lines.} 8. Rc1 Rd8 {This way of putting pressure on the white
centre is reminsicent to some extent of one of the plans in the Lasker System.}
9. Qc2 ({Deviating from an earlier Carlsen game:} 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Bd3 Nc6 {
An useful preparation for ...Ne4.} (10... Ne4 11. Qc2 $14) 11. Bb5 (11. O-O Ne4
12. Qe2 Bg4) (11. a3 {is too slow: after having taken the e5-square under
control, Black can develop his initiative with} Bg4) 11... Rd6 {Somewhat
similar to one of the Lasker System variations, successfully used by Yusupov
during his candidates match against Karpov, ages ago.} 12. Bxc6 Rxc6 13. Ne5
Re6 14. f3 b6 15. O-O Bb7 16. Rfe1 h6 17. Ne2 c5 18. Nf4 Rd6 19. dxc5 bxc5 20.
Ned3 c4 21. Nb4 Rad8 22. Nc2 Nd7 23. Nd4 Ne5 $132 {Bacrot,E (2713)-Carlsen,M 
(2837)/Biel 2012/CBM 150 (1/2, 56)}) 9... a6 $5 {Resorting to a basic idea
from other Queen's Gambit setups than those mentioned above. Black prepares
the queenside expansion with ...b5 and ...c5, waiting with ...dxc4 until White
has spent a tempo on developing his bishop.} (9... Nbd7 10. cxd5 exd5 11. Bd3
Nf8 12. O-O {The position is typical for the Karlsbad/Exchange Variation of
the Queen's Gambit. The previous exchange of the bishops ensures Black some
freedom of action for his major pieces. It is interesting to follow the
harmonious regrouping of two great modern/classic players of completely
different style.} Ng6 (12... c6 13. a3 Ng6 14. h3 Rd6 15. Rfe1 Bd7 16. Nd2 Re8
$11 {Van der Sterren,P (2470)-Andersson,U (2605)/Wijk aan Zee 1988/CBM 005 
(0-1, 40)}) 13. Ne2 c6 14. Ng3 Re8 15. Qc5 Qd8 16. Nd2 Nh4 17. b4 a6 18. a4 Bd7
19. Rb1 Ng4 20. Qc2 g6 21. b5 axb5 22. axb5 h5 23. bxc6 bxc6 24. Rfe1 Qf6 {
One can feel the kingside pressure already.} 25. Ndf1 {Ironically, this knight
does not only fail to defend the king, but it also takes away an important
square from the king and bishop.} (25. Nb3 Nxg2 $1 26. Kxg2 h4 27. Nc5 Bc8 {
Retreating with the knight leads to disaster after ...h3!+, but} 28. Qe2 Kg7 {
/\...Rh8 does not spare White problems, either. Once again, stepping back is
bad:} 29. Nf1 h3+ 30. Kg1 Ra2 $1 31. Nd2 Qd6 $19) 25... Ra3 26. Re2 c5 $1 {
Excellent! White cannot defend both wings properly.} 27. dxc5 Ne5 28. Bb5 $2
Qf3 $3 {0-1 Andruet,G (2450)-Spassky,B (2565)/Germany 1988/GER-chT} 29. gxf3
Nexf3+ 30. Kh1 Bh3 $1 {/\...Bg2# What a shock! The f1-knight is Black's best
friend. One move earlier, it prevented Kf1, now it does not allow the defence
Bf1.}) ({In practice, White has failed to prove anything convincing after the
simplistic} 9... dxc4 10. Bxc4 c5 {, but the general feeling is that Black has
not equalised completely at this stage.} 11. O-O Nc6 (11... cxd4 12. Nxd4 Bd7
13. Rfd1 Nc6 14. Bb5 Rac8 15. Nxc6 Bxc6 16. Bxc6 Rxc6 17. Rxd8+ Qxd8 18. Rd1 {
1/2 Andersson,U (2640)-Spassky,B (2605)/Tilburg 1983/MCD} Qb8 19. Qd3 Rc8 20.
h3 {1/2 Chernin,A (2565)-Spassky,B (2620)/Reggio Emilia 1986/CBM 004}) (11...
Nbd7 12. Rfd1 cxd4 13. Rxd4 Nb6 14. Rxd8+ Qxd8 15. Bb5 Bd7 $11 {Akobian,V 
(2622)-Ghaem Maghami,E (2572)/Al Ain 2012/CBM 152 (1/2, 30)}) 12. dxc5 Qxc5 13.
Ne4 Qe7 14. a3 Bd7 15. Bd3 (15. Rfd1 Be8 {1/2 Vaganian,R (2630)-Karpov,A (2700)
/London 1984/MCL}) 15... h6 16. b4 Rac8 {Nikolic,P (2540)-Andersson,U (2640)/
Niksic 1983/MCD (0-1, 39)}) 10. a3 (10. cxd5 exd5 11. Bd3 {can again be met
with} Nc6 $5 12. Be2 Bg4 (12... g6 $5) 13. O-O Ne4 14. h3 Bh5 15. Ne5 Nb4 16.
Qd1 Bxe2 17. Qxe2 f6 18. Nf3 Rd7 19. a3 Nc6 20. b4 Nxc3 21. Rxc3 Na7 22. Rc5
Nc8 23. Rfc1 c6 24. a4 Nd6 {Akobian,V (2621)-Krush,I (2461)/Philadelphia 2012/
CBM 147 Extra (1/2, 44). After the knight has reached d6, only Black can be
better. Compare with the famous Portisch-Kasparov Skelleftea 1989 and
Bobotsov-Petrosian Lugano (ol) 1968 games.}) 10... Nbd7 11. Be2 $6 $146 {
This does not make any effort to cross Black's plans.} (11. h3 {is only a
little bit better, because h2-h3 does not change anything essentially.} dxc4
12. Bxc4 c5 13. O-O b5 14. Ba2 (14. Be2 {would almost transpose to the main
game.}) 14... Bb7 15. Qe2 cxd4 16. exd4 Nb6 $11 {Mukhaev,A (2315)-Kholmov,R 
(2465)/Moscow 1997/EXT 2000 (1/2, 50)}) ({Probably this is a good moment to
exchange on d5, since the insertion of ...a6 and a3 may favour White
strategically.} 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Na4 $5 (12. Bd3 c5 13. dxc5 Nxc5 14. O-O Bg4
15. Nd4 Rac8 {may offer Black some dynamic compensation for the isolani with a
supposedly bad bishop.}) 12... c6 13. Bd3 Ne4 14. O-O Re8 15. b4 {[%csl Rb6]
[%cal Ga4c5,Gf3d2]}) 11... dxc4 12. Bxc4 c5 13. Be2 b5 14. dxc5 Qxc5 15. b4 Qe7
16. O-O Bb7 {Black has equalised completely; in fact, White's position has
somewhat lost flexibility, which explains why Aronian decides to force drawish
exchanges.} 17. a4 $11 (17. Rfd1 Rac8 18. Qb3 Bxf3 19. Bxf3 Ne5 {[%csl Gc4] is
the typical neutral course which could favour only Black.}) 17... Qxb4 18. axb5
axb5 19. Qb1 Qxb1 20. Rxb1 Bxf3 21. Bxf3 Rab8 22. Nxb5 Ne5 23. Nd4 Nxf3+ 24.
Nxf3 Rxb1 25. Rxb1 h6 26. h3 g5 27. g4 Kg7 28. Kg2 Rd7 29. Rb2 Rc7 30. Nd4 Nd5
31. Rc2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Candidates Tournament"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2013.03.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A33"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2810"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2013.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Bf4 d5 7. e3 (7. Ndb5 {
transposes to a line that used to be fashionable a few decades ago; in recent
years we had Nakamura,H (2775)-Kramnik,V (2801)/Moscow 2012/CBM 149/[Marin,M] 
(1/2, 40)}) 7... Bb4 8. Be2 dxc4 $146 (8... O-O {Zhigalko,A (2589)-Vachier
Lagrave,M (2711)/Warsaw 2012/ (0-1, 69)}) 9. Nxc6 Qxd1+ 10. Rxd1 bxc6 11. Bxc4
Nd5 12. O-O Nxf4 13. exf4 Bxc3 14. bxc3 Ke7 15. Rb1 Bd7 16. Rb7 Rhb8 17. Rfb1
Rxb7 18. Rxb7 a5 19. Bd3 h6 20. h4 Kd8 21. Kf1 Kc8 22. Rb1 Rb8 23. Rxb8+ Kxb8
24. Ke2 Kc7 25. Ke3 Kd6 26. Kd4 c5+ 27. Ke3 Bc6 28. g3 f6 29. a3 e5 30. fxe5+
Kxe5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Candidates Tournament"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2013.03.17"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D52"]
[WhiteElo "2740"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2013.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bg5 c6 6. e3 Qa5 7. cxd5 (7. Nd2 {
used to be the main line, but recently Black has been doing well after} Bb4 8.
Qc2 O-O 9. Be2 c5) 7... Nxd5 (7... exd5 {leads to Carlsbad structure where the
queen on a5 is doing nothing.}) 8. Rc1 {This move is relatively rare.} (8. Qd2
{is the main continuation.} Bb4 9. Rc1 h6 10. Bh4 {This position has been
defended mainly by grandmasters Alexei Shirov and Alexey Dreev. Here is one
recent example:} b6 11. a3 Bxc3 12. bxc3 c5 13. c4 Qxd2+ 14. Nxd2 Ne7 15. f3
Ba6 16. Be2 cxd4 17. exd4 Rc8 18. O-O Nf5 19. Bf2 O-O 20. Rfd1 Rfd8 21. g4 Ne7
$11 {1/2-1/2 (31) Potkin,V (2663)-Dreev,A (2677) Eilat 2012}) 8... Nxc3 9. bxc3
Ba3 (9... Qxa2 10. Bd3 Bd6 11. O-O Qa5 ({Black must be careful:} 11... O-O $2
12. Ra1 Qb2 13. Bxh7+ $1 Kxh7 14. Qd3+ Kg8 15. Rfb1 $18 {[%csl Rb2]}) 12. c4 {
with good compensation for the pawn.}) 10. Rc2 b6 {Preparing the favourable
exchange of the light-squared bishops.} 11. Bd3 Ba6 12. O-O Bxd3 13. Qxd3 O-O (
13... h6 14. Bh4 O-O 15. c4 Rfe8 16. e4 (16. Rd1 $5) 16... e5 17. d5 Nc5 18.
Qe2 Qa4 $11 {1/2-1/2 (38) Malakhatko,V (2548)-Michiels,B (2489) Antwerp 2011})
14. e4 {I think the plan adopted by Boris is not the best.} (14. c4 h6 15. Bf4
(15. Bh4 Rfe8 16. Rd1 {is another option. Then White can put his bishop on g3,
preventing the advance e6-e5.}) 15... Rad8 16. Rb1 Rfe8 17. Bc7 (17. c5 $2 e5)
17... Rc8 18. Bg3 Rcd8 19. c5 $1 Nxc5 20. Qc3 Ne4 21. Qxa5 bxa5 22. Rxc6 $14)
14... Rfe8 15. e5 $6 {This is a committal decision. White doesn't really have
chances for an attack on the kingside. Meanwhile, the move in the text weakens
the light squares.} ({In the event of} 15. c4 $6 e5 16. d5 Nc5 {Black will get
a nice square for his knight.}) (15. Bf4 {would be preferable.}) 15... h6 16.
Bh4 c5 17. Nd2 cxd4 18. cxd4 Rac8 $1 {The structure is now favourable for
Black. So, it's up to White to prove something.} 19. Nc4 Qb5 {Black doesn't
lose a piece.} ({Of course, not} 19... Qa6 $4 20. Qxa3 $18 {[%csl Ra6]}) 20. f4
Rc7 21. Qxa3 {White has to release the pressure before Black doubles the rooks
along the c-file.} (21. f5 Rec8 22. fxe6 fxe6 23. Qxa3 Rxc4 24. Rxc4 Qxc4 $15)
21... Rxc4 22. Rxc4 Qxc4 23. Bf2 {[%csl Ra7]} Qc7 {Black has to spend a move
on protecting the Pa7, so White seizes the c-file.} 24. Rc1 Qb7 25. Qd6 {
White's position looks very active, but he has no objects to attack.} ({
From the practical point of view it was preferable to swap queens:} 25. Qf3 $5
Qxf3 26. gxf3 {White's pawn structure has been spoiled, but the rook is going
to penetrate to c7. The position is balanced. For instance:} Nf8 27. Rc7 Ng6
28. f5 exf5 29. Rxa7) 25... Nf8 26. g3 ({After} 26. Qc7 Qa6 {the black queen
becomes active.}) 26... Rc8 27. Rxc8 Qxc8 28. d5 {White should get rid of this
pawn.} exd5 29. Qxd5 g6 30. Kg2 Ne6 {The position is very close to equality,
but White is the one who has to play accurately. The well-known duo queen +
knight might cause the white king some troubles.} 31. Qf3 Kg7 32. a3 h5 33. h4
$1 {Seemingly illogical, placing the pawns on the same colour as the bishop,
but preventing the possibility of h5-h4 which could weaken the Pf4.} Qc2 34.
Qb7 Qa4 35. Qf3 b5 {Sooner or later Black is going to organise a passed pawn
on the queenside.} 36. f5 {With must hurry up with his counterplay against the
black monarch.} gxf5 37. Qxf5 Qxa3 38. Qxh5 a5 39. Qg4+ Kf8 40. h5 $2 {The
decisive mistake.} (40. Qh5 Qc3 41. Qh8+ Ke7 42. Qf6+ Ke8 43. Qh8+ Kd7 {
Otherwise it's a perpetual check.} 44. Qf6 Qc6+ 45. Kg1 Nd8 46. e6+ $1 Qxe6 47.
Qg5 {[%csl Gh4] White is not worse as his h-pawn is also very dangerous.})
40... Qc1 $1 {Preventing the further advance of White's h-pawn.} 41. Qe4 b4 42.
Be3 Qc7 (42... Qc8 {was also strong} 43. h6 b3 $19 {[%cal Gc8c2]}) 43. Qa8+ Kg7
44. h6+ Kh7 45. Qe4+ Kg8 46. Qa8+ Qd8 {No perpetual check.} 47. Qxd8+ (47. Qf3
Qd3 48. Qg4+ Kh7 {is also hopeless for White.}) 47... Nxd8 48. Kf3 a4 49. Ke4
Nc6 50. Bc1 Na5 $1 51. Bd2 b3 52. Kd3 Nc4 $1 {The knight assists the passed
pawns very effectively.} 53. Bc3 a3 54. g4 Kh7 55. g5 Kg6 56. Bd4 b2 57. Kc2
Nd2 {White has to give up a piece, so he resigned.} 0-1

[Event "Candidates Tournament"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2013.03.19"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2013.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 {Avoiding the "Berlin endgame".} Bc5 5. c3
{A few months ago Carlsen tried 5.Nc3, but achieved nothing against the world
champion.} (5. Nc3 d6 6. Na4 Bb6 7. Nxb6 axb6 8. c3 Bd7 9. Ba4 Ne7 10. Bc2 Ng6
11. h3 O-O 12. O-O h6 13. Re1 Re8 14. d4 Bc6 15. dxe5 dxe5 16. Qxd8 Rexd8 $11 {
1/2-1/2 (61) Carlsen,M (2848)-Anand,V (2775) London 2012}) 5... O-O 6. O-O d6
7. h3 a6 {This is more a challenging continuation, inviting White to spoil the
pawn structure, but to give up a good bishop. The solid alternative is to
transfer the knight to g6.} (7... Ne7 8. d4 Bb6 9. Re1 Ng6 10. Bd3 Re8 11. Qc2
c6 12. Be3 d5 (12... Nh5 $5 $11 {[%cal Gh5f4]}) 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Nxe5 Rxe5 15.
Bxb6 axb6 16. f4 Rh5 17. e5 Nd7 18. Qe2 Rh4 19. e6 Nc5 20. exf7+ Kxf7 21. Nd2
Nxd3 22. Qxd3 Rxf4 23. Qxh7 Bf5 24. Qh5+ Bg6 25. Qe5 Rf6 26. Nf3 Kg8 $11 {
1/2-1/2 (43) Adams,M (2725)-Anand,V (2780) Baden-Baden 2013}) 8. Bxc6 bxc6 9.
Re1 {Magnus decided not to hurry up with d3-d4 advance, but to complete the
development at first.} (9. d4 Bb6 10. Re1 h6 11. Qc2 (11. dxe5 dxe5 12. Qa4 $5
{[%cal Gb1d2,Gd2c4] is worth being checked in practice.}) 11... Re8 12. Nbd2
exd4 13. cxd4 c5 $11 {1-0 (55) Karjakin,S (2786)-Grischuk,A (2764) Moscow 2013}
) 9... Re8 10. Nbd2 d5 $6 $146 {This is strategically risky, as Black's pawn
structure will be permanently damaged.} (10... Bb6 11. Nf1 h6 12. Ng3 Be6 13.
Be3 Bxe3 (13... c5 14. d4 cxd4 15. cxd4 exd4 16. Bxd4 Rb8 {is playable for
Black.}) 14. Rxe3 c5 15. Qc2 Nd7 16. d4 cxd4 17. cxd4 exd4 18. Nxd4 $14 {
1-0 (55) Svidler,P (2741)-Navara,D (2706) Prague 2012}) 11. exd5 ({An
immediate counterstrike in the centre was also an option to consider:} 11. d4
dxe4 12. Nxe5 Qd5 13. Ndc4 (13. Qc2 Bd6 14. Ndc4 (14. Nxe4 $4 Nxe4 15. Qxe4
Qxe4 16. Rxe4 f6 $19) 14... c5 $132) 13... Bf8 14. Bg5 Nd7 {Black has
sufficient counterplay which compensates for his structural defects. His pair
of bishops is also a factor.}) 11... Qxd5 12. Nb3 Bf8 (12... Ba7 13. Be3 c5 {
is the engine suggestion, but it looks pretty ugly to close in the Ba7.}) 13.
c4 Qd6 14. Be3 Nd7 15. d4 e4 16. Nfd2 a5 17. a4 {Preventing any further
advance of Black's a-pawn and fixing it as a target.} f5 {From the strategic
point of view Black's position is very bad, but he has counterchances on the
kingside.} 18. c5 Qg6 $2 {This logical move is a serious mistake. It was
necessary to retreat to e6, covering the c4-square against the knight move.} (
18... Qe6 $1 19. Bf4 (19. Qc1 Nf6 20. Nc4 Nd5 $132) 19... Nf6 $1 {Black
shouldn't spend time on protecting the weak pawn.} 20. Bxc7 Nd5 (20... Qf7 21.
Be5 Be7 $44 {[%cal Gc8e6]}) 21. Be5 Qg6 (21... Nb4 22. f3 Nd3 23. fxe4 $1 Nxe1
24. Qxe1 fxe4 25. Qxe4 $14) 22. Nc4 f4 23. Kh2 f3 (23... Nb4 24. Nbd2 Nd3 25.
Nxe4 Nxe1 26. Qxe1 f3 27. gxf3 Bxh3 28. Kxh3 Qe6+ 29. Kg2 Qxc4 30. Qc3 $14) 24.
Rg1 Qh6 25. Qd2 Qh4 26. g4 Nf6 27. Ne3 g6 $44 {[%cal Gf8h6] An engine is not
really bothered by Black's kingside initiative, but a human player would
easily get frightened here as White.}) 19. Nc4 {[%csl Ra5]} (19. Bf4 Nf6 20.
Nc4 {leads to the same position as in our game.}) 19... Nf6 20. Bf4 (20. Ne5 $2
{would fall into a nasty exchange sacrifice:} Rxe5 $1 21. dxe5 Nd5 22. Qd2 Rb8
23. Nd4 f4 24. Bxf4 Bxc5 {All Black's pieces are very active, he gets the
material back.} 25. Rad1 Bb4 26. Qc1 Bxe1 27. Rxe1 Bxh3 28. Bg3 Bd7 $11) 20...
Nd5 21. Qd2 Be6 (21... Qf6 22. Nbxa5 Nxf4 23. Qxf4 Qxd4 24. b4 Be6 25. Rac1 $16
) 22. Nbxa5 Reb8 23. Ne5 Qf6 24. Bh2 ({It was possible to grab another pawn,
but probably after} 24. Naxc6 Nxf4 25. Qxf4 Rxb2 {Magnus was concerned about
the idea Be6-d5 trapping the Nc6.} {The engine finds the way to keep the
position winning by a subtle piece of tactics:} 26. Qc1 $1 Rb7 27. a5 Bd5 28.
Rb1 Rxb1 29. Qxb1 {and the knight is taboo in view of Qb3+.}) 24... Rxa5 {
A desperate tactical effort, but insufficient.} 25. Qxa5 Rxb2 26. Rab1 Ra2 27.
Qa6 {This way the queen can help in the defence. White just needs to
consolidate, his material advantage is enough for a win.} e3 (27... Nc3 28.
Rbc1 $18) 28. fxe3 Qg5 29. Re2 Nxe3 (29... Rxe2 30. Qxe2 Nc3 31. Qd3 Nxb1 32.
Nf3 Qh6 33. Bf4 Qh5 34. Qxb1 $18) 30. Nf3 Qg6 31. Rxa2 Bxa2 32. Rb2 Bc4 33. Qa5
Bd5 34. Qe1 $1 {Magnus is precise and merciless as usual, when it comes to the
technical part of the game.} f4 35. Bxf4 Nc2 36. Qf2 Bxf3 37. Rxc2 1-0

[Event "Candidates Tournament"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2013.03.20"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D93"]
[WhiteElo "2757"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2013.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bf4 ({Easily the most sensational try to dent
the Grünfeld in London was} 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. h4 $5 {by Grischuk. Morozevich
played this flank sortie in blitz last year, but Carlsen could have hardly
expected it and reacted cautiously with} c6 ({In a later game Black already
played the more active and straightforward} 5... c5 6. dxc5 Na6 $5 $146 7. h5
O-O 8. hxg6 fxg6 9. Bh6 Bxh6 10. Rxh6 dxc4 11. Rh4 Nxc5 12. Rxc4 b6 13. b4
Qxd1+ 14. Rxd1 Ba6 15. e3 Ncd7 16. Rcd4 Bxf1 17. Kxf1 Rfc8 18. Ne2 Nf8 19. Nf4
Rc2 20. a4 Rac8 21. b5 Ra2 $11 {Morozevich,A (2758)-Mamedyarov,S (2766)/Zug/
2013/}) 6. Bg5 O-O 7. Bxf6 Bxf6 8. h5 Bf5 9. e3 e6 10. hxg6 Bxg6 11. Bd3 Nd7
12. Qe2 e5 13. Bxg6 hxg6 14. dxe5 Nxe5 15. cxd5 cxd5 16. Rd1 Qa5 17. Kf1 Rad8
18. Nd4 Qc5 19. Nb3 Qc6 20. Na5 Qc7 21. Nb3 Qc6 22. Na5 $11 {1/2, Grischuk,A 
(2764)-Carlsen,M (2872)/London Candidates/2013/}) 4... Bg7 5. Nf3 ({Carlsen
would undoubtedly welcome a repetition of his previous Grünfeld encounter with
Ivanchuk, when Black easily solved his opening problems and even got a slight
edge after} 5. e3 c5 6. dxc5 Qa5 7. Qb3 Na6 $5 8. cxd5 Nxc5 9. Qb5+ Qxb5 10.
Bxb5+ Bd7 11. Rd1 Nh5 12. Bxd7+ Kxd7 13. Bg3 b5 14. d6 e6 15. Nf3 b4 16. Nb5
Nxg3 17. hxg3 Rab8 18. Nbd4 h5 19. Rh4 f5 20. Ne2 e5 21. Rc4 Rhc8 22. Kf1 Ne4
23. Rc7+ Rxc7 24. dxc7+ Kxc7 25. Nd2 Nxd2+ 26. Rxd2 a5 $11 {/=/+, Ivanchuk,V 
(2775)-Carlsen,M (2826)/Moscow/2011/ For more details see the notes to this
game in CBM 146 by Ramirez Alvarez.}) 5... O-O 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Qa5 {The text
move is the main continuation.} ({In round 11 we had the less usual} 7... Ne4
8. Rc1 {with the recent twist} Nd7 $5 ({The older move is} 8... Nxc3) 9. cxd5
Qa5 10. Nd4 Nxc3 $5 (10... Ndxc5 11. Bc4 (11. Qc2 Bf5 $5 12. Nxf5 gxf5 $44)
11... Nxc3 12. bxc3 e5 13. dxe6 Bxe6 14. Bxe6 Nxe6 15. Nxe6 Bxc3+ 16. Kf1 fxe6
17. Qb3 Qa6+ 18. Kg1 Bf6 19. h3 Rad8 20. Kh2 Rd2 21. Rc2 Rxc2 22. Qxc2 Qc6 23.
Qxc6 bxc6 24. Rc1 Rc8 25. Bd6 Kf7 $11 {/+/=, Gustafsson,J (2633)-Safarli,E 
(2630)/Porto Carras/2011/ The endgame is somewhat unpleasant for Black due to
his split pawns, but he managed to hold it rather easily.}) 11. bxc3 Qxa2 12.
c6 (12. Qb3 Qxb3 13. Nxb3 a5 14. c6 Nf6 15. d6 bxc6 16. dxe7 Re8 17. Nd4 Bd7
18. Bd6 Ne4 19. Ba3 c5 20. Bd3 Rxe7 21. Bxe4 Rxe4 22. Bxc5 Rc8 23. Ba3 f5 $44 {
Fridman,D (2655)-Kramnik,V (2799)/Dortmund/2012/ Black drew with ease, his
bishops give him full compensation.}) 12... Nc5 13. Be2 (13. c4 $6 {Somogyi,I 
(2290)-Kun,S (2295)/HUN-chT/1992/} e5 $1 14. dxe6 fxe6 $32 {|^} (14... Qa5+ $5
$40)) 13... Qxd5 14. Bf3 Qc4 15. Be2 Qd5 (15... Qa2 $5 $13 {is an interesting
attempt to avoid an immediate draw}) 16. Bf3 Qc4 17. Be2 Qd5 {1/2, Ivanchuk,V 
(2757)-Gelfand,B (2740)/London Candidates/2013/}) 8. Rc1 Rd8 {Carlsen chooses
a rare line, spoiling for a fight. Possibly he wanted to surprise his opponent,
who had problems with time management in London. However, Black will soon come
under pressure.} ({There has been some recent development in another sideline} 
8... Ne4 {Perhaps more testing is} 9. cxd5 (9. Be5 Bxe5 (9... Nxc3 $143 $6 10.
Bxc3 Bxc3+ 11. Rxc3 $16 Qxa2 12. Qc1 Qa5 13. cxd5 Nd7 14. Nd2 Rd8 15. Be2 f5
16. f3 Nf6 17. e4 fxe4 18. fxe4 $18 {Korotylev,A (2574)-Tilicheev,V (2366)/
Moscow/2012/}) 10. Nxe5 Nc6 $1 ({This is the new twist.} 10... Nxc3 $2 {
is hopeless:} 11. Rxc3 Qxa2 12. Qc1 {[%cal Rc3a3]} Qa4 13. b3 Qa5 14. cxd5 Nd7
15. Nxd7 Bxd7 16. f3 Rfc8 17. Kf2 Qb4 18. Be2 $16 {Novikov,I (2490)-Epishin,V 
(2350)/Minsk/1986/}) 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. cxd5 {is critical:} (12. a3 Rb8 13. Qa4
Qxc5 14. b4 Nxc3 (14... Qd6 15. Nxe4 dxe4 16. Be2 c5 17. O-O cxb4 18. c5 Qe5
19. axb4 Qb2 20. Rfe1 Rxb4 {Simantsev,M (2549)-Misailovic,N (2301)/Kraljevo/
2011/} 21. Qa5 $1 $36 {[%csl Gc5]}) 15. Rxc3 Qb6 16. c5 $6 (16. cxd5 cxd5 17.
Rc6 Qb7 18. Ba6 Qa8 19. Rc7 d4 $132) 16... Qc7 17. Bd3 Qe5 18. Rc1 d4 19. O-O
dxe3 $15 {Docx,S (2426)-Kanep,M (2512)/Caleta/2013/}) 12... Nxc3 13. Qd2 {
, but Black has} Rb8 $1 14. Qxc3 (14. Rxc3 Rd8 15. d6 (15. Bc4 cxd5 16. Bb3 Ba6
$44) 15... Qxa2 16. dxe7 Re8 $44) 14... Qxa2 (14... Qxc3+ 15. bxc3 cxd5 16. c4
Be6 $11) 15. Bc4 Qxb2 16. Qxb2 Rxb2 17. dxc6 Be6 $11) 9... Nxc3 10. Qd2 Qxa2
11. bxc3 (11. Rxc3 $5 Bxc3 12. Qxc3 Nd7 $5 $13) 11... Qa5 $13 {, but even this
position is not quite clear.}) ({Definitely the main alternative is} 8... dxc4
{but this has a drawish reputation after} 9. Bxc4 Qxc5 10. Bb3 Nc6 11. O-O Qa5
12. h3 Bf5 13. Qe2 Ne4 {After} 14. Nd5 (14. Nxe4 Bxe4 15. Rfd1 h6 $5 (15... Qh5
{Aronian,L (2802)-Svidler,P (2755)/Moscow/2011/ For more details about the
whole line see my notes to this game in CBM 146}) 16. Rd7 Rac8 17. Rcd1 Qb4 18.
R7d2 (18. Nd2 Bf5 19. Rd5 Rfd8 20. a3 Qb6 $36 21. Rxf5 gxf5 22. Qh5 {Bulatov,R
(2208)-Nevostrujev,V (2449)/Pavlodar/2012/} e6 23. Bxh6 Ne5 $17) 18... a6 19.
Bc2 Bxc2 20. Rxc2 e5 21. Bg3 Rcd8 (21... e4 $5) 22. Rxd8 Rxd8 23. Nd2 f5 24. f3
Qd6 25. a3 Kh7 26. Be1 h5 27. Nc4 Qe6 28. Na5 $11 {Shimanov,A (2599)
-Areshchenko,A (2710)/St Petersburg/2012/}) 14... e5 {White has lately tried}
15. Bg5 (15. Bh2 Be6 16. Rfd1 Rfd8 17. Qc4 Nf6 18. e4 Rac8 19. Ng5 Nd4 $11 {
is a more or less forced draw}) 15... Nxg5 16. Nxg5 Qd8 17. h4 $5 (17. Nf3 e4
18. Nh2 Ne5 19. Rfd1 Nd3 20. Rc2 a5 $36 {Dzagnidze,N (2559)-Lahno,K (2546)/
Gaziantep rpd/2012/}) {, but even here the excitement peters out into
perpetuals after} 17... h6 18. g4 Bd7 19. Ne4 Qxh4 20. f3 Kh8 21. Rf2 f5 22.
Rh2 Qd8 23. Rxh6+ $1 Bxh6 24. Qh2 Kg7 25. Rxc6 $1 fxe4 (25... Bxc6 26. Qxe5+
Kh7 27. Ndf6+ Rxf6 28. Nxf6+ Kh8 29. Ng8+ Kh7 30. Nf6+ Kh8 31. Ng8+ {1/2,
Cmilyte,V (2503)-Lahno,K (2557)/Tbilisi rpd/2012/}) 26. Qxe5+ Kh7 27. Nf6+ Rxf6
28. Rxf6 Be8 29. g5 Rc8 (29... Qd2 30. gxh6 Qxe3+ 31. Kf1 Kxh6 32. Qh2+ Kg7 33.
Rxg6+ Kxg6 34. Qd6+ Kh7 35. Qe7+ Kg6 36. Qd6+ Kh7 37. Qe7+ Kg6 38. Qd6+ {
1/2, Jobava,B (2734)-Areshchenko,A (2702)/Burgas/2012/}) 30. Bd5 $2 (30. fxe4
Bxg5 31. Qxg5 Kg7 32. Rf5 $11) 30... Bxg5 $2 (30... Rc1+ 31. Kg2 Qc8 $1 $19)
31. Qxg5 Kg7 32. Rf5 exf3 33. Qg3 Qe7 34. Rxf3 $11 {Nielsen,P (2687)-Nyback,T 
(2627)/Bundesliga/2012/}) 9. Qa4 {The best way to fight for an advantage.
After other moves Black has more than one way to achieve a satisfactory
position:} (9. Nd2 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Nc6 (10... Na6 $5 11. a3 Qxc5 12. b4 Qh5 13.
Qxh5 Nxh5 14. Bg5 Nf6 15. Ke2 Nc7 16. Rhd1 Be6 17. Bxe6 Nxe6 18. Bh4 {1/2,
Vallifuoco,G (2285)-Stone,R (2305)/Dubai olm/1986/}) 11. Bb3 $6 (11. Qb3 $142
$5 $14) 11... Bf5 12. O-O Nb4 13. Bc4 Nd3 14. Bxd3 Bxd3 15. Nb3 {Bykhovsky,A 
(2405)-Manor,I (2510)/Tel Aviv/1996/} Qa6 16. Re1 Ne4 $17) (9. Qb3 Na6 (9...
Ne4 10. cxd5 Nd7 11. Nd4 Ndxc5 12. Qb5 Qxb5 13. Ncxb5 e5 14. dxe6 Nxe6 15. Nxe6
(15. Nc7 $5 $14) 15... Bxe6 16. f3 Nd2 $6 (16... Nf6 $44) 17. b3 a5 18. Nc7
Rac8 19. Bb5 g5 20. Bxg5 $6 (20. Bg3 $1 $16) 20... Rd5 21. Bf4 Nxb3 22. Rb1
Rxc7 23. Bxc7 Rxb5 24. axb3 a4 $36 {Farago,I (2475)-Rajna,G (2405)/HUN-ch/1974/
}) (9... Qxc5 10. Be2 (10. Rd1 Qa5 11. Be2 Na6 (11... Ne4 $1 $11 {/=/+}) 12.
O-O Nc5 13. Qb5 Qxb5 14. Nxb5 Bf5 15. Nfd4 dxc4 16. Nxf5 gxf5 17. Bxc4 Nfe4 18.
b4 {Tukmakov,V-Dueball,J/Kiev/1970/} Na4 $132) 10... Nc6 11. O-O dxc4 12. Qxc4
(12. Bxc4 $142 $1 {/\} Na5 13. Bxf7+ Kf8 14. Qa4 {[%cal Rb2b4]}) 12... Qb6 13.
Qb5 Qxb5 14. Bxb5 Bd7 15. h3 a6 16. Be2 Bf5 17. Rcd1 Ne4 18. Rxd8+ Rxd8 19. Na4
e5 20. Bh2 Be6 21. b3 Nb4 $36 {De Greif,B-Uhlmann,W/Havana/1963/}) 10. Qb5 Qxb5
11. Nxb5 Bd7 12. Nc7 $6 (12. cxd5 Nxd5 13. Be5 f6 $11) 12... Nxc7 13. Bxc7 Rdc8
14. Be5 Rxc5 15. b4 Rcc8 16. c5 a5 17. b5 Ne4 18. Bd4 f6 19. Nd2 Nxd2 20. Kxd2
e5 21. Bb2 Bf8 22. Ba3 b6 $17 {Portisch,F (2425)-Sax,G (2530)/Budapest/1976/})
9... Qxc5 {Natural enough.} ({However, White also has to reckon with} 9... Qxa4
10. Nxa4 Nc6 11. Ne5 $5 (11. Nc3 Ne4 $1 12. Be2 $6 Bxc3+ 13. bxc3 dxc4 14. Bxc4
Nxc5 15. O-O Be6 16. Bxe6 Nxe6 17. Bg3 Rac8 18. Nd4 Nc5 19. Rfd1 f6 $15 {
Portisch,L (2600)-Adorjan,A (2490)/Frankfurt rpd/1998/}) (11. Bc7 $5 Rd7 12.
Bg3) 11... Be6 (11... Nxe5 12. Bxe5 Be6 13. cxd5 Bxd5 14. Nc3 a5 $44) 12. Nxc6
bxc6 13. Bc7 Rd7 14. Be5 (14. Ba5 $5 d4 15. exd4 Rxd4 16. b3 $14) 14... Rad8
15. Be2 dxc4 16. O-O Ne4 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. Rfd1 Rxd1+ 19. Rxd1 {1-0 Mac Kenzie,
G-Mondaca,O (2160)/Buenos Aires 1993/EXT 1999 (30)} Rb8 $1 {[%cal Rb8b4]} 20.
Rd4 c3 $36) 10. b4 (10. Qb5 Qxb5 (10... Na6 $5) 11. Nxb5 Na6 12. Nc7 Nxc7 13.
Bxc7 Re8 14. Be5 Bd7 15. Be2 Bc6 16. O-O Nd7 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. cxd5 Bxd5 19.
Bb5 Red8 20. Rc7 Nb6 21. Rfc1 Kf6 22. h4 Rd6 23. b3 a6 24. Bc4 Bc6 25. Nd4 Nd5
{Orndahl,M (2170)-Li,C (2529)/Taby/2007/} 26. Bxd5 $11) 10... Qc6 11. Qa3 $1
$146 {[%cal Yb4b5,Ga3e7][%mdl 8] An interesting novelty, judging by the
consumption of time Ivanchuk invented it over the board.} (11. Qb3 Ne4 $1 (
11... a5 12. b5 Qc5 13. a3 a4 14. Nxa4 Qa7 15. Bc7 $1 Rd7 16. Bb6 Qxa4 17. Qxa4
Rxa4 18. cxd5 $18 {[%csl Rc8] Farago,I (2500)-Vadasz,L (2495)/Budapest/1977/})
12. Be5 (12. Nb5 Na6 13. Bd3 Nac5 (13... dxc4 $1 14. Bxc4 Be6 $15) 14. bxc5
Nxc5 15. Qa3 $4 (15. Qc2 Nxd3+ 16. Qxd3 Bf5 17. Qb3 $14) 15... Bb2 {0-1,
Mikhalchishin,A-Vaganian,R/Valencia/1974/}) 12... Bxe5 13. Nxe5 Qf6 (13... Qd6
$2 14. Nxf7 Kxf7 15. Nxe4 dxe4 16. c5+ Be6 17. cxd6 Bxb3 18. dxe7 Kxe7 19. axb3
Nd7 20. Bb5 $14 {Urday Caceres,H (2470)-Yermolinsky,A (2590)/Moscow olm/1994/})
14. Nf3 Nxc3 15. Qxc3 Qxc3+ 16. Rxc3 Nc6 17. b5 Na5 18. cxd5 Rxd5 19. Bd3 Bd7
20. e4 Rd6 21. Ke2 Rd8 22. Ke3 Be6 $11 {Karsa,L (2200)-Sax,G (2530)/Budapest/
1976/}) ({It's not so simple for Black even after other moves:} 11. b5 Qc5 12.
Qb3 (12. Be5 Nbd7 (12... Ne4 13. Bd4 Nxc3 14. Rxc3 {Roeder,M (2365)-Pusch,H/
Porz/1989/} Nd7 15. Be2 $5 $14) 13. Bd4 Qc7 14. cxd5 Nxd5 15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. Qa3
Nxc3 17. Rxc3 Qd6 18. Qxd6 exd6 19. Be2 Nc5 20. O-O a6 21. bxa6 Nxa6 22. Nd4
Nc5 $11 {Laux,T-Wild,H/Porz/1989/}) 12... Bg4 13. Na4 (13. Ne5 $5 Be6 14. Na4
Qc8 15. Qa3 d4 16. Be2 $14) 13... Qc8 {Here White would have profited from
having his queen already on a3!} 14. Be2 (14. Qa3 Bxf3 15. gxf3 Qf5 16. Nb6 e5
$36) 14... Ne4 15. Rc2 Nd7 (15... e5 16. cxd5 Qf5 17. Bg3 Nxg3 18. hxg3 e4 19.
Nd4 Bxd4 20. Bxg4 Qxg4 21. exd4 Nd7 {Lukacs,P (2450)-Sax,G (2565)/Budapest/
1977/} 22. Rh4 $1 Qg5 23. d6 $16) 16. cxd5 Ndc5 17. Nxc5 Nxc5 18. Qb4 (18. Qa3
$5 b6 19. e4 $14) 18... b6 19. O-O Qf5 20. Rc4 Qxd5 21. h3 Bf5 $11 {Farago,I 
(2500)-Gulko,B (2585)/Polanica Zdroj/1977/}) (11. Qxc6 bxc6 (11... Nxc6 12. b5
Nb4 $2 (12... d4 $1 13. Nd1 e5 $13) 13. a3 Ne4 14. Be5 Nxc3 15. Rxc3 a5 16.
Bxg7 Kxg7 {Petrov,I (2190)-Petkov,V (2375)/Sofia/2004/} 17. Rc1 $1 $16 {
[%csl Rb4]}) 12. cxd5 (12. Nd4 Ne4 13. Nxe4 dxe4 14. Bxb8 Bxd4 15. Bc7 Bb2 16.
Rc2 Rd7 17. Rxb2 Rxc7 18. Be2 a5 19. bxa5 Be6 20. O-O Rxa5 21. Rc1 Rca7 22.
Rcc2 Kg7 $15 {Urday Caceres,H (2480)-Olafsson,H (2525)/Manila olm/1992/}) (12.
Bc7 Rd7 (12... Re8 $5) 13. Ba5 Rb7 (13... Ne4 14. Nxe4 dxe4 15. Ng5 c5 16. Nxe4
cxb4 17. Bxb4 Na6 18. Bc3 Bb7 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. Nc3 Rad8 $44 {Kortschnoj,
V-Stein,L/Moscow/1964/}) 14. cxd5 Bd7 {Sorensen,T (2480)-Loeffler,B (2340)/
corr/1991/} 15. Na4 $5 $36) 12... Nxd5 13. Nxd5 cxd5 14. Bc7 Re8 15. Nd4 e5 16.
Nb5 Na6 17. Ba5 Bf8 {1/2, Ruchlin,V (2304)-Stern,W (2551)/corr/1980/} 18. a3
$14) 11... dxc4 {Carlsen senses the danger and resolves the tension.} (11...
Be6 12. Nd4 Qe8 (12... Qd7 13. Na4 $36) 13. Ncb5 Na6 14. Nxe6 fxe6 15. Be2 $36)
(11... Bf5 12. b5 (12. Nd4 Qd7 13. b5 $14 {[%csl Rb8]}) 12... Qe8 13. cxd5 {/\}
Nxd5 (13... Nbd7 $142 $5 $14) 14. Nxd5 Rxd5 15. Bc4 Rd7 (15... Rd8 16. Ng5 e6
17. e4 Bg4 18. h3 h6 19. hxg4 hxg5 20. Bxg5 Rd4 21. Qh3 Rxe4+ 22. Kf1 Nd7 23.
Qh7+ Kf8 24. Bh6 Bxh6 25. Qxh6+ Ke7 26. Qg5+ $18) 16. Ne5 Bxe5 17. Bxe5 $40)
12. b5 Qb6 (12... Qe8 $2 13. Bc7 $1 Nd5 (13... Rd7 14. Bxb8 $18) 14. Nxd5 Rxd5
15. Bxc4 Rh5 16. O-O $32 {[%csl Ra8,Rb8,Rc8,Rh5]}) 13. Bxc4 (13. Qxe7 $6 Bf8
14. Qc7 Ba3 $132) (13. Ne5 Qd6 $5 (13... Nbd7 14. Bxc4 Nxe5 15. Bxe5 Bf5 (15...
Be6 $2 16. Na4 Qa5+ 17. Bc3 Qc7 18. Bxe6 $18) 16. O-O $14) 14. Qb2 Qb6 15. Nxc4
(15. Bxc4 Be6 16. Qb3 Nbd7 $11) 15... Qc5 16. Be5 Be6 17. Na4 Qd5 $13) 13...
Be6 $1 (13... e6 14. O-O $16 {is ideal for White, he has a lead in development,
while Black's can't get his queenside pieces out.}) 14. Bxe6 (14. Be2 Nbd7 15.
Nd4 Qc5 $11 (15... Bxa2 $5 16. Qxa2 e5 $11)) 14... Qxe6 15. O-O (15. Ng5 Qc4 $1
16. Nce4 Qxb5 17. Qxe7 Qa5+ 18. Kf1 Qb5+ 19. Kg1 Qd7 $1 $11 {/\} 20. Nxf6+ Bxf6
21. Qxf6 $4 Qd1+ 22. Rxd1 Rxd1#) 15... Nbd7 {Black decides to sacrifice a pawn
just to get out his forces and swap a few pieces.} ({The resulting endgame
will be admittedly difficult to win, but} 15... Bf8 $5 {seems to be
objectively better. White must still prove he has anything tangible, in other
words Black has chances to gradually neutralise the pressure:} 16. Ng5 (16. Ne2
Nbd7 17. Rfd1 Rdc8 $5 18. Bc7 (18. Rxc8 $6 Rxc8 19. Qxa7 Qc4 20. Ned4 Qd5 {
[%cal Re7e5]}) 18... Nd5 $11) (16. e4 Nbd7 (16... Nxe4 17. Rfe1 Qf5 18. Rxe4 e5
19. Qa4 exf4 20. Rxf4 $40 {[%csl Rf7]}) 17. Rfd1 Nb6 $1 $132) 16... Qf5 $5 (
16... Qc4 17. e4 $5 {[%cal Rc3d5]} (17. Qb2 Nbd7 $11) 17... e6 18. Qb2 Qb4 $8
19. Qxb4 Bxb4 20. e5 Bxc3 21. exf6 Bxf6 22. Ne4 Be7 23. Rc7 Nd7 24. Rxb7 Nc5
$14) 17. Qb3 e6 18. f3 {[%csl Rf5]} Nbd7 19. g4 Qc5 20. Nge4 Qa3 $11) 16. Ng5 (
16. Nd4 Qb6 $11 17. Qxe7 $4 Bf8) 16... Qf5 17. Qxe7 Nh5 18. Rfd1 (18. Qe4 Nxf4
19. exf4 h6 20. Qxf5 gxf5 21. Nf3 Nc5 22. Nd1 $5 $14) 18... Nxf4 19. exf4 Bf8
20. Qe4 (20. Qe3 Nc5 $14 {/<=>}) 20... Qxe4 21. Ncxe4 Nb6 $14 {[%mdl 4352]
This is the endgame position Carlsen was aiming for. White has an extra pawn,
but it's doubled and his queenside is vulnerable. Converting the small
advantage requires superlative technique and maybe even some extra luck, Black
proceeds to defend tenaciously and finally saves the game.} 22. g3 (22. Rxd8
Rxd8 23. g3 Kg7 $14 {is similar to the game.}) 22... Rxd1+ 23. Rxd1 Be7 24. Nf3
(24. Rc1 $5 Rd8 25. Kg2 $14) 24... Rc8 25. Ne5 Rc7 ({Safe, but engines
indicate the direct} 25... f5 $1 26. Ng5 (26. Nd2 Rd8 $11) 26... Rc5 27. Ne6
Rxb5 28. Rc1 Bd6 $11) 26. Kg2 f6 27. Nf3 Kf7 28. h4 Rc2 29. a4 (29. Rd2 Rxd2
30. Nfxd2 Ke6 $132) 29... Ra2 30. Nc3 Ra3 31. Rc1 Nxa4 {Here Carlsen got too
optimistic and even declined a draw, later criticising his decision. There was
no need to hurry with this capture, now White retains winning chances.} (31...
a5 $142 $5 32. bxa6 bxa6 $11) (31... h5 32. Rc2 Ke8 33. Ne2 (33. f5 gxf5 34.
Ne2 Rxa4 {/\} 35. Rc7 Kd8 36. Rxb7 $6 Nd7 {[%csl Rb7]} 37. Nfd4 Kc8 38. Rxa7
Rxa7 39. Nc6 Ra2 40. Nxe7+ Kd8 $15) 33... Bd6 34. f5 $5 Kf7 $132 (34... gxf5
35. Ned4 f4 36. Nf5 $14)) 32. Ne4 Rd3 33. Rc7 Ke6 (33... Ke8 $5 34. Rxb7 Rd7
35. Rb8+ Rd8 36. Rxd8+ Bxd8 (36... Kxd8 37. Nd4 {[%cal Rd4c6,Yf4f5]}) 37. g4
$14 (37. h5 $5 $14)) 34. Rxb7 (34. g4 $142 $1 Nb6 35. f5+ gxf5 36. gxf5+ Kf7
37. Rxb7 Rd7 38. Rxd7 Nxd7 39. Nd4 $36 {gives White more winning chances.})
34... Rd7 35. Rb8 Rd8 36. Rb7 Rd7 37. Rxd7 Kxd7 {Contrary to the line above,
Black has forced a rook swap, while his king remains active.} 38. Nd4 f5 $1 39.
Ng5 (39. Nd2 $6 Nc3 {[%csl Rb5][%cal Ye7c5,Yd7d5]}) 39... Bxg5 (39... h6 $2 40.
Nf7 {[%csl Rg6][%cal Yf7e5]}) (39... h5 $2 40. Nc6 $16 {[%cal Yc6a7,Yc6e5]})
40. fxg5 Nc3 41. h5 (41. f4 Kd6 42. h5 gxh5 43. Nxf5+ Kc5 $132) 41... gxh5 $1 (
41... Kd6 $6 42. Nxf5+ $1 {/\} gxf5 $2 43. g6 hxg6 44. h6 $18) 42. Kh3 Kd6 43.
Kh4 Kd5 {Black will use his king to mount a counter-attack on White's pawns.} (
{However, supporting his own passed pawn seems to hold as well after} 43... Kc5
44. Nxf5 Kxb5 45. Ne3 a5 46. f4 a4 47. f5 Ne4 48. f6 (48. g6 hxg6 49. fxg6 a3
50. g7 Nf6 51. Kg5 Ng8 52. Nc2 a2 53. Kxh5 Kc4 54. Kg6 Kc3 55. Na1 Kb2 56. Kf7
Nh6+ 57. Kg6 Ng8 $11) 48... Nd6 49. Nc2 Kc4 50. Kxh5 Kb3 $11) 44. Nxf5 Nxb5 45.
Kxh5 Ke4 46. Ne3 (46. Ne7 a5 47. Kh6 a4 48. Nc6 a3 49. Nb4 Kf5 50. f4 Nc3 51.
Kxh7 Ne4 52. g6 Nxg3 53. g7 Nh5 $11) 46... Nd6 $1 (46... a5 $2 47. Kh6 a4 48.
Nc4 $18) 47. Kh6 Nf7+ {The defence finally triumphs, now the draw is
unavoidable.} 48. Kxh7 (48. Kh5 Kf3 49. g6 hxg6+ 50. Kxg6 Kxf2 $11) 48... Nxg5+
49. Kg6 Nh3 50. Nd1 Kf3 (50... a5 51. f4 Nxf4+ $11) ({Even} 50... Nxf2 $6 51.
Nxf2+ Kd4 $1 {[]} (51... Kf3 $2 52. g4 Kxf2 53. Kf5 $1 a5 54. Ke4 Ke2 55. g5 a4
56. g6 $5 a3 57. g7 a2 58. g8=Q a1=Q 59. Qg2+ $18) 52. g4 (52. Nd1 a5 53. Nb2
Kc3 54. Na4+ Kb4 $11) 52... a5 53. g5 a4 $11 {is still a draw.}) 51. Kf5 Nxf2
52. Nxf2 Kxg3 53. Nd1 a5 54. Ke4 a4 55. Kd4 a3 56. Nc3 a2 57. Nxa2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Candidates Tournament"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2013.03.21"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2747"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[Annotator "Szabo,Kr"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2013.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 {A very popular move
nowadays. White would like to avoid some critical lines.} b5 (6... d6 {is
another main move.}) 7. Bb3 d6 8. a4 b4 ({The other possibilities are} 8... Rb8
) ({and} 8... Bd7) 9. Nbd2 O-O 10. a5 Be6 11. Nc4 Rb8 {Both players are
following theory. The upcoming positions are considered to be nicely playable
for both sides. All the pieces are on the board, which ensures a complicated
game where the stronger player might try to outplay his opponent with either
colour.} 12. c3 {Svidler had already two games for this. White wants to play
d4 at a good moment, but of course, this requires long preparation.} (12. h3 {
and}) (12. Re1 {was also tried.}) 12... bxc3 13. bxc3 h6 {Typical prophylaxis
against N or Bg5.} (13... Na7 {looks a little weird and could have been met
effectively by} 14. Ng5 $1 Bg4 15. f3 Bh5 (15... Bd7 {would have been met with}
16. f4 $1 $36 {which gives a strong initiative for White.}) 16. Qc2 Nd7 17. Nh3
$1 {Black has managed to avoid the f4 idea, but his bishop on h5 is out of
play, while the knight on h3 is just temporarily misplaced, as it will soon be
improved through f2.} Kh8 18. Ne3 $14 {Svidler-Sargissian, Ningbo 2011}) 14.
Re1 {From the 12th move, White prepares for d4. This time he protects the e4 P.
} Qc8 {Also a usual move, preparing for Rd8.} 15. Bc2 $146 {The first novelty
of the game, White would like to go back with his knight to e3 and then, d4
finally becomes possible.} (15. Ba3 {is the most common move.}) (15. Ba4 {
was played recently in a top game:} Bxc4 16. Bxc6 (16. dxc4 Nxa5 {This is the
difference. That is why Svidler went to c2 with his bishop.}) 16... Bb5 17.
Bxb5 Rxb5 {and Black's position is completely solid. Leko-Adams, London 2012})
15... Rd8 {This is the standard setup and the idea of the previous Qc8 move.
Black would like to play Bf8 and be ready to push d5 at a good moment.} (15...
Bxc4 {was also interesting. Black gives up his strong B to destroy White's P
structure. It is difficult to judge which factor has bigger importance.} 16.
dxc4 Qe6 17. c5 $5 {probably Svidler wanted to play this P sacrifice and play
on the light squares. Black is really missing his bishop here, but on the
other hand, he is a pawn up.} (17. Qe2 Nd7 $1 {and Black drives his N to c5
and it looks nicely placed.}) 17... dxc5 18. Qe2 Rb5 19. Ba4 (19. Bd3 Rxa5 20.
Rxa5 $6 Nxa5 21. Bxa6 $2 c4 22. Bb5 c6 23. Ba4 Nb3 {is forces the take on b3
and Black gains a very unpleasant advanced P.}) 19... Rxa5 20. Nd2 {now the R
can be trapped.} c4 21. Nxc4 Rc5 22. Bb3 Rb8 {and Black has no problem.}) 16.
Qe2 ({In the event of} 16. Ne3 {Black can play immeditely} d5 $1 {with a
promising position.}) 16... Bf8 (16... Bxc4 17. dxc4 Nd7 {was an option again,
but Carlsen preferred to keep his B pair.}) 17. Ne3 $6 {This seems like an
inaccuracy. The last preparation for d4, but this allows Black's strong reply.}
({Immediately} 17. d4 {would have still been too early. Black can play} exd4
18. cxd4 d5 $1 $15 {with a slight advantage.}) ({Probably} 17. h3 {was the
best waiting move, because Black also has difficulties finding a useful move.}
Bxc4 18. dxc4 Nd7 {similar to the previous line.} 19. Ba4 Ne7 20. Be3 Ng6 {
with a double-edged fight.}) 17... d5 $1 {Excellent timing by Carlsen. White's
last N move left the pressure from the important e5 P, so Black can
immediately start the action.} 18. exd5 Nxd5 19. Nxd5 Rxd5 {Black keeps the e5
pawn protected and, at the same time, attacks the pawn on a5.} ({Maybe} 19...
Bxd5 {was slightly better, as the e5 pawn is not really hanging.} 20. Nxe5 Nxe5
21. Qxe5 Re8 $5 ({Black can also force a draw by} 21... Bxg2 22. Kxg2 Re8 23.
Qxe8 Qg4+ 24. Kf1 Qh3+ 25. Kg1 Qg4+ $11) 22. Qxe8 Qg4 $1 {White has to
sacrifice his Q with} 23. Qe4 $1 (23. Re4 $2 Rxe8 $19) (23. f3 $2 Bxf3 $1 $19)
23... Bxe4 24. Rxe4 {Only Black can be better.}) 20. h3 $2 {This typical move
is a mistake. White would like to open the back rank and avoid the pin after
Bg4. The initiative passes to Black and Carlsen does not let it slip away
anymore.} (20. d4 $6 {is not so good, because} exd4 21. Qe4 g6 {and Black has
avoided everything, White cannot continue the attack. For example:} 22. cxd4
Qd8 23. Ra4 Bb4 $15) (20. Ba4 Rxa5 ({after} 20... Nxa5 21. Nxe5 Nb3 22. Bxb3
Rxb3 23. c4 Rd8 {Black is also OK here.}) 21. Bd2 (21. Bxh6 $6 {White would
like to protect the a1 R and threaten Bxc6, but after} Rxa4 $1 22. Rxa4 gxh6
23. Nxe5 Nxe5 24. Qxe5 Bg7 $17 {Black is much better.}) 21... Rc5 22. Bxc6 Rxc6
23. Nxe5 Rcb6 $15 {Thanks to the pair of Bs and passed P, Black looks very
nicely placed.}) (20. c4 Rxa5 21. Rxa5 Nxa5 22. Nxe5 Nb3 23. Bb2 c5 $132 {
and the N goes to d4.}) (20. Qe4 {is an interesting alternative. White would
like to provoke a weakness on the kingside with the threat of d4.} g6 ({On} 
20... f5 {White simply answers} 21. Qe2 {and the e5 P become vulnerable.}) 21.
Ba4 $1 Nxa5 22. Nxe5 Bg7 23. Bf4 $14 {Now the exchange of the a5 pawn for the
e5 one favours White. White seems to have an edge here.}) 20... Bf5 $1 {
A very strong move! Black prevents d4 and can exert pressure on the d3
weakness and soon, the a5 P will be hanging as well.} 21. Rd1 Qe6 22. Bb1 {
Svidler tries to activate his B from a2.} Qd7 $1 {Keeping the pressure on the
d3 P.} (22... Rxa5 {allows some counterplay for White.} 23. Rxa5 Nxa5 24. Ba2 {
getting back the e5 P.}) 23. Be3 e4 $1 (23... Rxb1 {not the best, because} 24.
Raxb1 Bxd3 {and White has} 25. Qa2 $1 {to attack the d5 R.} Rxa5 26. Qxa5 $1
Nxa5 27. Nxe5 Qf5 28. Nxd3 {The two R will give unpleasant counterchanches for
White.}) 24. Nd4 Nxd4 25. Bxd4 $2 {This allowed a tactical blow, which
actually Carlsen judged too risky.} (25. cxd4 {also led to Black's advantage
after} exd3 26. Bxd3 Bxd3 27. Qxd3 Rbb5 $1 $15 {White has serious problems
with the a5 P. Black is clearly better.}) 25... exd3 ({The computer immeditely
finds the strong} 25... Bxh3 $1 26. dxe4 (26. gxh3 {is not possible.} Qxh3 27.
Be3 Bd6 $1 $19) 26... Rg5 27. g3 {This was the critical position where I think
Carlsen missed a winning combination or just did not want to risk a
miscalculation. Black wins after a fantastic tactical blow:} Bg4 $1 28. f3 Rb2
$3 29. Qxb2 Bxf3 {and Black has too many threats. Rxg3, Qh3 and the simple
Bxd1.} 30. Qf2 (30. Rd3 Rxg3+ 31. Kf2 Rg2+ $19) 30... Bxd1 $19 {with an extra
P and a strong attack.}) 26. Bxd3 Bxd3 27. Rxd3 c5 28. Be5 $1 {This was
Svidler's plan, when he took back with the B on d4, but unfortunately for him,
it does not solve the problems.} Rxd3 29. Bxb8 c4 $1 {A great positional move!
Black protects the d3 R, fixes c3 and frees the c5 square for his B, where it
puts very strong pressure on f2. The additional weaknesses on c3 and a5 are
too much for White to hold the position.} 30. Be5 (30. Qe1 {was slightly better
} Bc5 31. Kh2 {followed by Bg3.}) 30... Bc5 31. Rb1 Qd5 $1 {Carlsen activates
his pieces.} (31... Rd2 {was too early} 32. Qxc4 {and Bxf2 is only a check.
There is no reason for Black to hurry with this plan.}) 32. Rb8+ Kh7 33. Qh5 {
Svidler tried the last trap with the threat of Rh8 Kxh8 Qxh6 and mate on g7,
but of course, this doesn't work on this level.} (33. Re8 {was the best chance,
although Black has various ways to remain better here as well.} Qd7 (33... f5 {
is also good to prevent Qe4.}) 34. Ra8 Qe6 {The following line is forced:} 35.
Qe4+ f5 36. Rh8+ $1 Kg6 $1 ({Of course not} 36... Kxh8 $2 37. Bxg7+ $1 $18) 37.
Qf4 Rd1+ 38. Kh2 Bxf2 $1 $17 {and Black is better.}) 33... Qe4 $1 {A cool
defence against the Rh8 and it also creates some threats of destroying White's
position.} 34. Rb2 (34. Rh8+ Kxh8 35. Qxh6+ Qh7 $1 $19) 34... Rd5 $1 {White
cannot avoid losing a piece.} 35. Re2 Qb1+ 36. Kh2 f6 0-1

[Event "Candidates Tournament"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2013.03.23"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2793"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2013.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. b3 {The Anand setup, not easy to
handle with White and maybe too complex for the style of Carlsen, who rarely
embarks such early battles of principle.} d6 (5... e5 6. Nxe5 Qe7 7. Bb2 (7. d4
d6 {Anand,V (2791)-Gelfand,B (2727)/Moscow 2012/CBM 149/[Stohl,I] (1-0, 77)})
7... d6 8. Nc4 d5 {Anand,V (2791)-Gelfand,B (2727)/Moscow 2012/CBM 149/[Kritz,
L] (1/2, 25)}) 6. O-O ({Radjabov must have felt confident about this position,
since he had had it twice recently:} 6. e5 dxe5 7. Nxe5 Qd5 8. Nf3 Qe4+ 9. Kf1
Qf5 10. Nc3 (10. Na3 Nf6 {Grischuk,A (2761)-Radjabov,T (2784)/Moscow 2012/CBM
149/[Kritz,L] (1/2, 41)}) 10... Nf6 11. d3 {McShane,L (2706)-Radjabov,T (2784)/
Moscow 2012/CBM 149/[Radjabov] (0-1, 48)}) 6... Ne7 ({It is instructive to
followe how a living legend fought for the control on the dark squares by
somewhat extravagant means.} 6... e5 7. Re1 g5 8. d3 h6 9. c3 Bg7 10. Na3 Ne7
11. Nc4 O-O 12. Ne3 f5 {This youthful way of playing, with ...f5 and ...g5,
yielded Korchnoi many impressive wins throughout his career; the latest
remarkable example is his win against Caruana in Gibraltar 2011.} 13. b4 f4 $36
{Boehnisch,M (2374)-Kortschnoj,V (2552)/Velden 2009/CBM 129 Extra (0-1, 40)})
7. e5 {This is the modern treatment of the problem of the dark squares in the
centre. There are other ways, though:} (7. d4 cxd4 8. Qxd4 e5 9. Qe3 f6 10. c4
d5 $132 {Dolmatov,S (2550)-Whitehead,J (2325)/Chicago 1983/EXT 99 (1/2, 43)}) (
7. c3 Ng6 8. d4 {Becerra Rivero,J (2480)-Blanco Fernandez,A (2345)/Havana 1994/
EXT 97 (1/2, 61)} cxd4 9. cxd4 Ba6 10. Qc2 Rc8 11. Rd1 Be7 12. Nc3 Qa5 $132)
7... Ng6 8. exd6 Bxd6 (8... e5 {may define the central structure too soon:} 9.
Na3 Bxd6 10. Nc4 $14) 9. Nc3 {Maybe this move is not bad, but in the game
Carlsen will not manage to justify this way of developing the knight. So, I do
not know whether to attach the question mark to the last move or simply to the
whole of the following sequence.} (9. d4 {remains an alternative:} cxd4 $140
10. Qxd4 O-O 11. Ba3) ({but} 9. Na3 O-O 10. Nc4 {looks more flexible. True,
without a pawn on e5, Black can play} Be7 {keeping c5 well defended and
followed by ...f6 and ...e5 later.}) 9... e5 10. Re1 O-O 11. d3 f5 $1 {The
start of a courageous plan; Black does not fear any ghosts. Black has two
relatively weak pawns, on c5 and e5, but he can defend them well enough. White
seems to have comfortable play, but soon he will end up short of constructive
plans.} 12. Ba3 Be6 13. Na4 Qe7 14. c4 Rad8 15. Qe2 Bc8 {Black has completed
his superb regrouping plan and is ready to launch the attack. It looks as if
the colours have been switched, since it is Black who dictates the events
after the opening. Having been outplayed, White needs some tactical
inventiveness to stay in the game, but he will fail here, too.} 16. Qe3 {
Not a good square and area for the queen, that goes without saying.} (16. Rad1
Nf4 (16... e4 17. dxe4 fxe4 18. Qxe4 Qxe4 19. Rxe4 Bxh2+ 20. Kxh2 Rxd1 21. Bxc5
$44) 17. Qc2 Rde8 $36) 16... f4 $5 {[%cal Gc8g4] Not the only possible plan.} (
16... Nf4 17. Bb2 (17. Bxc5 Nxd3 18. Qxd3 Bxc5 19. Qc3 e4 20. Ne5 Bd6 21. Nxc6
Qc7 22. Nxd8 Bxh2+ 23. Kf1 Be5) (17. Nxe5 Nxg2 18. Kxg2 f4 19. Qe4 Bxe5 20.
Qxe5 Qh4 21. Bb2 Qh3+ 22. Kg1 Rf6 $19) 17... e4 18. dxe4 fxe4 19. Qxe4 Nh3+ 20.
Kf1 Qg5 $5 21. Re2 (21. Nxg5 Rxf2#) (21. Re3 Nxf2 22. Kxf2 Bxh2 $40) 21... Rxf3
22. Qxf3 Bg4 $40) 17. Qe4 $6 {Playing with fire again. This square is supposed
to be left available for the knight.} (17. Qe2 Bg4 18. h3 Bh5 19. Qe4 {At
least now there is some stability for the queen in the centre.}) 17... Kh8 {
Unnecessarily cautious, but good enough. The attack is very much on still.} (
17... Rf5 $5 18. Rad1 Nh4 (18... Rh5 19. d4 cxd4 20. Nxd4) 19. h3 Rh5 20. Nxh4
Qxh4 21. Qf3 Rg5 22. Kf1 Rf8 $40 {/\...Rf6, /\...Rg3, /\...Rxg2!?}) 18. Rad1
Bg4 19. Rd2 Bxf3 {The problem with this plan is that White has chances to
consolidate on the light squares if he does not get killed by the attack.} 20.
Qxf3 Nh4 21. Qe4 $2 {But this loses at once, or should have done so...} ({
He should have defended the h3-c8 diagonal with} 21. Qg4 {, although the
position reemains dangerous after} Rf5 $40 {/\...Rdf8, ...h5}) 21... f3 22. g3
Ng2 $19 23. Nc3 (23. Red1 Qe6 $19 {[%cal Ge6h3]}) 23... Qe6 $2 {Offering White
an unexpected chance to stay in the game.} (23... Nxe1 24. Qxe1 Bc7 {[%cal
Gc7a5]} 25. d4 Qf7 $19 {Black is an exchange up and keeps mating threats. I
doubt that even a player with Carlsen's survival skills would have continued
playing on in this position.}) 24. Re3 $3 $17 {[%csl Gf3]} Nxe3 25. fxe3 {
Suddenly, White has got some space and stability on the light squares. He
should lose, of course, but Black still needs to find a constructive plan for
breaking open the fortress.} f2+ $2 $15 {Hallucinating. There is no attack
after this and White is more or less OK with one pawn for the exchange.} 26.
Rxf2 Rxf2 27. Kxf2 Rf8+ 28. Ke2 Qh3 29. Qh1 Be7 30. Ne4 Qg4+ 31. Kd2 Qh3 32.
Ke2 h5 33. Bb2 Qg4+ 34. Kd2 Qh3 35. Ke2 Qg4+ 36. Kd2 Qh3 37. Ke2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Candidates Tournament"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2013.03.24"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E05"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2809"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2013.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. d4 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. Qxc4
b5 9. Qc2 Bb7 10. Bd2 Bd6 11. a3 {Since Black's last move (quite fashionable
nowadays) does not contribute to the development directly, White thinks he can
afford to play some pawn moves before making up his mind with respect to the
b1-knight.} Nbd7 12. b4 (12. Ba5 {Cheparinov,I (2689)-Atalik,S (2603)/Burgas
2012/CBM 151/[Atalik,S] (1-0, 44)}) 12... Ra7 {Preparing a typical regrouping
with ...Qa8, aimed at putting pressure on the long diagonal and the a-file at
the same time.} (12... Nb6 13. Nc3 Nbd5 (13... Nc4 14. e4 $5) 14. Na2 Nb6 15.
Nc3 Nbd5 16. Nxd5 Nxd5 $2 (16... Bxd5 {may be slightly worse, but entirely
playable.}) 17. Qe4 $2 {Too modest.} (17. Ng5 $1 g6 18. Ne4 $16 {[%csl Gc5,Gf6,
Gh6]}) 17... h6 18. Ne5 Rb8 19. Qc2 Bxe5 20. dxe5 Qe7 21. e4 Nb6 22. Be3 $14 {
Leko,P (2735)-Karjakin,S (2780)/Wijk aan Zee 2013/CBM 153 (1/2, 38)}) (12...
Be4 13. Qb2 Bd5 14. Bg5 Qb8 15. Bxf6 Nxf6 16. Nc3 a5 {Quite ambitious, but not
really necessary.} (16... Bb7 17. Nd2 Bxg2 18. Kxg2 a5 19. Nde4 Nxe4 20. Nxe4
axb4 21. axb4 Ra4 $132 {Black's play along the a-file compensates for the
backward c-pawn.}) 17. Nxd5 exd5 18. Ne5 axb4 19. axb4 Ra4 20. Nc6 {Quite a
good square for the knight, but White still needs to stabilise the position
and create some targets.} Qa8 $6 ({A more harmonious and effective regrouping
would have been} 20... Qb7 21. Rfc1 Rfa8 $11) 21. Rfc1 Rxa1 22. Qxa1 Qa4 23.
Qc3 $14 {Laznicka,V (2701)-Bruzon Batista,L (2682)/Poikovsky 2011/CBM 145 (1-0,
43)}) 13. Nc3 (13. a4 {gains some space but also helps Black get rid of a
potential queenside weakening.} bxa4 14. Rxa4 Qa8 15. Na3 Ne4 16. Rb1 Nxd2 17.
Qxd2 Rb8 18. Nc4 Nb6 19. Nxb6 cxb6 20. Rba1 Rc8 21. Ne1 {1/2 Gelfand,B (2756)
-Granda Zuniga,J (2644)/Lugo 2009/CBM 133}) 13... Qa8 14. Nh4 Bxg2 15. Nxg2 c6
$146 {Once the bishops have been exchanged, this is quite logical. Black
focuses on ...a5.} (15... e5 {does not quite solve all the problems, since the
queenside pieces remain slightly strangely placed:} 16. Be3 Rb7 17. Rfd1 $14 {
Cheparinov,I (2710)-Harikrishna,P (2692)/Leon 2012/EXT 2013 (1/2, 33)}) 16.
Rac1 $6 {This does not cross Black's plans in either way.} (16. Ne4 $5 Nxe4 17.
Qxe4 Rc8 18. Rfc1 {[%cal Gg2f4,Gf4d3,Gg2e1,Ge1d3] would allow White to keep
the queenside immobile, with chances to get an advantage in the long run. With
the a3-pawn defended,} a5 $6 {may cause Black some problems after} 19. bxa5 $1)
16... a5 17. Ne4 Nxe4 18. Qxe4 Rc8 19. Nf4 axb4 20. Bxb4 ({White could still
keep the queenside blocked, but this would allow Black active play along the
a-file:} 20. axb4 Nf6 21. Qb1 Ra3 22. Nd3 Qa7 23. e3 Ne4 24. Rfd1 {[%cal Gd2e1]
}) 20... c5 21. Qxa8 Raxa8 22. dxc5 Bxc5 $11 {The position is plain equal now.
The game will end up in the same way as the first encounter between the same
players: a knight ending with equal pawns and symmetrical structure! Good
fighting spirit, but not really thrilling.} 23. Nd3 Bf8 24. Rxc8 Rxc8 25. Rb1
Ra8 26. Bxf8 Kxf8 27. Rxb5 Rxa3 28. g4 h6 29. h4 Ra2 30. Kf1 Ra1+ 31. Kg2 Ra2
32. Kf3 Ra3 33. Kg3 Ra2 34. e3 Rd2 35. Nf4 g6 36. g5 hxg5 37. hxg5 Ke7 38. e4
Rc2 39. f3 Rc5 40. Rxc5 Nxc5 41. Ng2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Candidates Tournament"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2013.03.25"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E05"]
[WhiteElo "2810"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2013.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Ne5 Nc6 8.
Bxc6 bxc6 9. Nxc6 Qe8 10. Nxe7+ Qxe7 11. Qc2 e5 12. Rd1 Rb8 13. Nc3 h6 14. dxe5
Qxe5 15. Bf4 Qe7 16. Rd4 Be6 17. Rad1 Rb6 18. Qd2 Kh7 19. f3 Rfb8 20. Qe3 Rxb2
21. Rxc4 R2b7 22. Ra4 Re8 23. Rxa7 Rxa7 24. Qxa7 Qb4 25. Be5 $2 (25. Qd4 $14)
25... Nd5 26. Nxd5 Bxd5 27. Qxc7 Qc4 28. a3 f6 29. Qxc4 Bxc4 30. Bc3 Rxe2 31.
Rd4 Bb5 32. Bb4 Re3 33. Kf2 Re2+ 34. Kg1 Re3 35. f4 Re2 36. Rd6 Rc2 37. g4 Bc6
38. Bd2 Bf3 39. h3 Ra2 40. Bb4 Rg2+ 41. Kf1 Rh2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Candidates Tournament"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2013.03.27"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2740"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2013.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Magnus Carlsen: "My game against Gelfand in round 10, annotated by Peter
Heine Nielsen below, represents the level of chess I aspired to play at in the
Candidates. Although I did not succeed in every game, I take great comfort in
having reached the main objective which was to qualify for the World
Championship match against V. Anand. I would like to express my gratitude to
Peter Heine and the other seconds for their valuable help in reaching this
goal."} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 {Openingwise the players are basically 2 opposites.
While Carlsen moves around a lot, Gelfand, both in the WC-match with Anand and
in this Candidates tournaments stayed completely loyal to the Grünfeld against
1.d4 and the Sveshnikov against 1.e4.} 3. Bb5 $5 {Sveshnikov was right! At
least judged by the current trends, White players seems to concede that the
actual Sveshnikov Sicilian is fine for Black, and that 3.Bb5 is the way to
fight for the advantage. As Sveshnikov claimed years back. Anand did well with
Bb5 in the match, and later both Caruana and Ponomariov posed Gelfand some
problems.} e6 4. O-O ({In round 7 Magnus played} 4. Bxc6 {against Radjabov,
and after} bxc6 5. b3 d6 6. O-O $5 {tried this idea, deviating from 6.e5 which
was both played by McShane and Grischuk against Radjabov. The idea is that
after 6...e5 we have a position known from 3...d6 4.Bxc6 bxc6 5.0-0 only with
the white pawn on b3 instead of b2. Not a huge difference, but definitely
leading to a playble position for White. Here Radjabov played} Ne7 $5 {and in
a complex position, Magnus hallucinated, and was suddenly lost, but saved the
game after inaccurate play by Radjabov.}) 4... Nge7 5. Re1 a6 $5 {In the
Tashkent Grand Prix against Caruana and Ponomariov, Gelfand chose 5...Nd4, but
part of the reason behind being able to succesfully repeat his openings, is
having small surprises within them, and for this candidates he had prepared 5..
.a6, and employed it already succesfully with Grischuk in round 6.} 6. Bf1 d5
7. exd5 $5 {I was seconding Magnus in London, but also got help from other
seconds online. They suggested this line, thinking it leads to a moderately
pleasant position, with a long game ahead, which should suit Magnus style
excellently.} ({Grischuk played} 7. d3 {and we saw an unusually sharp fight
for pawn structure with big decisions early on:} d4 $5 8. e5 $5 Nd5 9. c4 $5
dxc3 10. bxc3 Rb8 11. Bb2 b5 $5 {and after a tactical error by Grischuk
Gelfand got a winning position, although the game ended in a draw.}) 7... Nxd5
8. d4 Nf6 9. Be3 cxd4 (9... Be7 {might be slightly more accurate as after} 10.
c4 O-O 11. Nc3 cxd4 12. Nxd4 {instead of 12...Bd7 also 12...Qc7 indenting ...
Rd8 is possible.}) 10. Nxd4 Bd7 11. c4 {This is the concept. White has a bit
more space and a queenside majority. Black of course a healthy and solid
position though.} Nxd4 (11... Be7 12. Nc3 O-O 13. Nf3 $5 {White has been quite
succesful with, and this is an argument for Gelfand's choice, securing
relieving exchanges before it is too late.}) (11... Bb4 $5 {is a principled
choice, but after} 12. Nc3 Bxc3 13. bxc3 O-O 14. Bf4 {White's activity more
than compensates for the structural weaknesses. After} Nxd4 $5 15. cxd4 Bc6 {
surprisingly suddenly we have the typically Nimzo pawn structure, very similar
to game 11 in the Anand-Gelfand match, where Gelfand had a pleasant position
with the 2 bishops, before that game was drawn.}) 12. Bxd4 Bc6 13. Nc3 Be7 14.
a3 $5 {Magnus was happy with this decision, as he thought the interpolation of
a3/a5 is probably favouring White.} (14. Qd3 O-O 15. Rad1 {This was played in
the stem game Kinmark (that's actually an anagram of Kramnik as my Swedish
friends have pointed out!) -Paoli 1975, also being slightly more pleasant for
White.}) 14... a5 $5 {The principled approach, and what one would expect from
Gelfand.} (14... O-O 15. b4 {is what White wants, but as usual only a slight
edge.}) 15. Qd3 O-O (15... a4 $6 {is an ambitious attempt, but after} 16. Rad1
O-O 17. Qg3 {White's initiative becomes too strong.}) 16. Rad1 Qc7 17. Be5 Qb6
18. Qg3 Rfd8 (18... Nh5 $5 19. Qh3 Nf6 {would be an interesting way to defend,
as now Bc7 no longer annoys Black, and Black is threatening ...Rfd8.} 20. Bd3
h6 21. Bd4 Qc7 22. b4 $1 {and White still keeps an edge though.}) 19. Rxd8+ (
19. Nd5 {Magnus said at the press-conference that he had wasted quite some
time on this move, which fails due to a small tactic:} exd5 20. Bd4 Bc5 21.
Bxf6 Bxf2+ $1 {leading to a drawish ending.}) 19... Qxd8 20. Rd1 Qb6 (20... Qf8
$5 {Speelman mentioned this move at the press conference, to which Gelfand
quite rightly replied that from a practical perspective it has no huge
relevance. Gelfand's plan was hampering Black's queenside play in an ambitious
manner, but this more defensive move does have some bite, as the following
tactic:} 21. b4 $5 axb4 22. axb4 Nh5 $1 23. Qg4 Bxb4 24. Qxh5 f6 $1 25. Bd3 g6
$1 {amazingly holds up for Black, as after} 26. Bxg6 $2 (26. Qg4 $1 fxe5 27.
Qxe6+ Qf7 28. Qxe5 Ra5 {and Black has enough compensation to draw here}) 26...
hxg6 27. Qxg6+ Qg7 {and due to the mate on g2, White can't take on f6 with the
queen, and thus suddenly ends up a piece short! Instead of 21.b4, probably 21.
Bd3!? is stronger, and White remains comfortably placed.}) 21. Bd4 Qb3 22. Rd3
(22. Rd2 {is more modest, but White still has a pleasant game after eg.} a4 23.
Qc7 Nd7 24. Be3 Bd8 25. Qg3 {But the game puts much more direct pressure on
Black.}) 22... Qc2 23. b4 $1 axb4 24. axb4 Nh5 25. Qe5 (25. Qe3 $5 {This
computer move also keeps an edge, the main point being} Bxb4 26. Qg5 g6 (26...
f6 $1 {a much better fighting chance} 27. Qxh5 e5 28. Qf5 Rf8 $1 {() and
although White is better, Black keeps definite figthing chances}) 27. Ne4 $1
Bxe4 28. Qe5 $1 {and Black's position suddenly collapses.}) 25... Bf6 {The
toughest defence.} ({Both players saw} 25... Ra1 26. Nd1 $1 Rxd1 27. Rxd1 Qxd1
28. Qb8+ Bf8 29. Bc5 h6 30. Qxf8+ Kh7 {and now} 31. Qd6 $1 {is the key
bringing back the queen for defence, and the ensuing endings will just be
winning for White due to the queenside majority and the pair of bishops.} (31.
Qxf7 $2 Be4 $1 {however would completely reverse the situation, as ...Bd3
can't be stopped.})) 26. Qxh5 Bxd4 27. Rxd4 Qxc3 28. Qa5 $1 {The point behind
23.b4, without this, White wouldn't even be better. But now with this
intermezzo, White just manages to coordinate in time, and thus his queenside
majority secures a huge edge.} Rf8 29. Qb6 e5 {The only way to fight.} 30. Rd1
(30. Rd8 $5 g6 31. b5 Be4 32. Rd7 {transposes to the line below.}) 30... g6 31.
b5 Be4 32. Qf6 $6 (32. h4 $5) (32. Rd7 {This seems almost winning, the idea
being Qd6 next, and if now ...Bf5, then Rxb7.} Qe1 33. Qd6 $16) 32... h5 $6 (
32... Bf5 $1 {A very good fighting chance,} 33. Rd5 Be6 34. Qxe5 Qxe5 35. Rxe5
Rc8 {as this could be easily drawn for Black, White should probably not
liquidate into this ending. An important line is} 36. c5 Kf8 37. Bd3 Bd7 $1 {
followed by ...f6 winning back the pawn.}) 33. h4 Bf5 34. Rd5 Qc1 $5 (34... Be6
35. Qxe5 Qxe5 36. Rxe5 Rc8 37. c5 Kf8 38. Bd3 Bd7 {is now different, as ...f6
would weaken the g6-pawn, and thus h4/h5 greatly favours White.}) 35. Qxe5 Be6
36. Rd4 Ra8 37. Qe2 {Gelfand has reasonable activity for the pawn, but in time
pressure commits a few inaccuracies, which Magnus punished mercilessly.} Kh7 $6
(37... Qa1 38. Qd1 Kg7 {eg. was a much tougher defence} 39. c5 $2 Qc3 $1 {
being one resource.}) 38. Rd1 Qc3 39. Qe4 Ra1 $2 {But ...Ra7 as the computer
thinks, fights on. But it is impossible for a human to play.} 40. Rxa1 Qxa1 41.
c5 $1 {The time control has been reached, but now White is completely winning,
as nothing stops his pawns marching forward.} Qc3 42. Qxb7 (42. b6 {would
indeed be safer, but Magnus missed Gelfand's reply to his next move.}) 42...
Qe1 $5 (42... Qxc5 43. b6 {followed by Qa6, and the pawn just queens.}) 43. b6
{Magnus said at the press conference that he quite quickly recovered from the
shock, and that despite losing the bishop on f1, it doesn't really change much,
as what matters is that the white pawns are queening.} Bc4 44. Qf3 $1 Qxf1+ 45.
Kh2 Qb1 46. b7 Qb5 47. c6 Bd5 48. Qg3 $1 {Controlling g2, and h4, eliminating
even any small attempts at counterplay, and simultaneously queening the b-pawn
made Gelfand resign. Probably Magnus' best game in London. He achieved only a
small edge in the opening, but with some precise tactics managed to enlarge it,
and then increased it to decisive proportions in Gelfand's time trouble. This
gave Carlsen the sole lead, but much more was still to happen...} 1-0

[Event "Candidates Tournament"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2013.03.28"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D90"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2013.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. h4 $5 {This extravagant move has
some abstract justification. Black's position in the centre is not too stable,
quite typically for the Grünfeld, so he might be not that well prepared
against the brutal advance of the h-pawn.} c6 {Adding some stability to the
centre, so as to parry h4-h5, at least for the time being.} ({If} 5... h5 6.
Bg5 {the insertion of the moves h4 and ...h5 ensures that the g5-bishop is
defended, rendering the typical ...Nf6-e4 ineffective.} c6 7. e3 $14 {Kadas,G 
(2224)-Bakos,B (2234)/Hungary 2006/EXT 2009 (0-1, 39)}) 6. Bg5 ({In the few
games played with this line,} 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. Bf4 {In principle, the move
h2-h4 does not seem to fit into what would otherwise be a marginally better
position for White. Still, in the long run the threat h4-h5 may become real
and if Black prevents it with ...h7-h5, things would already look coherent
from White's point of view.} Nc6 8. e3 O-O 9. Ne5 (9. Be2 Bg4 10. O-O e6 11.
Rc1 Rc8 {Melkumyan,H (2649)-Erdos,V (2637)/Germany 2013/CBM 153 (1/2, 58)})
9... Qb6 (9... Be6 10. Nd3 b6 11. Be2 h5 12. Rc1 Bg4 13. f3 Bd7 14. b4 e6 15.
Qb3 $14 {Nenezic,M (2400)-Maric,D (2207)/Belgrade 2013/CBM 152 Extra (1-0, 36)}
) 10. Qb3 Qxb3 (10... Bf5 11. Be2 h5 {Sadorra,J (2431)-Gopal,G (2548)/Beijing
2008/CBM 126 Extra (1-0, 29)} 12. Qxb6 axb6 13. f3 $14) 11. axb3 Nb4 12. Kd2 h5
13. Nd3 Nc6 (13... Nxd3 14. Bxd3 {[%cal Gc3b5]} Bd7 15. Ra5 $14) 14. f3 Bf5 15.
Ne5 $14 {Morozevich,A (2748)-Giri,A (2720)/Beijing 2012/ (1-0, 49). In all
these games, White's better control in the centre and the king's
centralisation make his position more pleasant.}) 6... O-O $146 {This flexible
developing move invites White to display his cards.} (6... Ne4 7. cxd5 (7. e3
$5 $14) 7... cxd5 8. Qb3 Nxc3 {1/2 Wocke,R-Chandler,P/Wiesbaden 1988/GER}) 7.
Bxf6 ({One possible problem is that the natural} 7. e3 {cuts off the bishop's
retreat, allowing} Nh5 $5 {[%cal Gh7h6]}) 7... Bxf6 (7... exf6 $5 {might also
be playable.} 8. cxd5 cxd5 9. e3 Nc6 {[%cal Gf6f5] There is no clear plan of
attacking the d5-pawn, while Black enjoys free development.}) 8. h5 Bf5 {
The bishop hurries to the defence of the kingside.} (8... dxc4 9. e4 b5 ({If} 
9... Be6 {then White gains time to cut the dark-squared bishop out of the play
completely:} 10. e5 Bg7 11. h6 Bh8 12. Ng5 Bd5 13. Qg4 Qb6 14. O-O-O Na6 15. f4
{Black will have to play the rest of the game with his bishop immobile on h8.
Besides, his king is under constant pressure. Would the extra pawn and
activity of the remaining pieces compensate for these important drawbacks?
With Black, I would be afraid they would not.}) 10. e5 Bg7 {Now, the same plan
is more difficult to carry out; Black would react with ...f6 if needed. White
may play} 11. a4 $44 {, hoping that the queenside diversion would create
favourable circumstances on the opposite wing.}) 9. e3 (9. Qb3 $5 dxc4 10. Qxb7
Qb6 11. Qxb6 (11. Qxa8 Qxb2 $19) 11... axb6 12. e4 Be6 13. e5 Bg7 (13... Bh8 {
anticipates the white plan, but the bishop does not stand nicely on h8.}) 14.
h6 $5 Bh8 15. Ng5 Bd5 16. f4 {The h8-bishop has been cut off play mechanically.
On the other hand, Black has an advantage on the queenside and in some cases
he could free his bishop with a knight sacrifice on e5 (following to ...
f7-f6xe5). The final evaluation is not clear to me, since the computers do not
always understand the notion of a trapped piece.}) 9... e6 10. hxg6 Bxg6 $1 (
10... hxg6 11. Ne5 {exposes the bishop to the threat g2-g4 and forces Black to
make some concession.} c5 (11... Bxe5 12. dxe5 Qg5 13. Qd4 Nd7 14. cxd5 exd5
15. O-O-O $36) 12. g4 cxd4 13. exd4 Be4 14. f3 Bh4+ 15. Ke2 f6 16. Nd7 $5 Qxd7
17. Rxh4 g5 18. Rh1 Bg6 19. cxd5 exd5 20. Kf2 $14) 11. Bd3 Nd7 12. Qe2 (12.
cxd5 cxd5 {[%cal Ge6e5] does not change things essentially.}) 12... e5 $132 {
Black clears the path for his Grünfeld bishop, which will compensate for the
relative weakness of the Isolani.} 13. Bxg6 hxg6 14. dxe5 Nxe5 15. cxd5 cxd5
16. Rd1 Qa5 17. Kf1 {Grischuk keeps his rook on h1, in order to inhibit ...
Bxc3.} (17. O-O Nxf3+ 18. Qxf3 Bxc3 19. Rxd5 Qxa2 20. bxc3 a5 $11) (17. Rxd5
Nxf3+ 18. Kf1 {looks trickier, but Black has some tricks as well:} Nd2+ $3 (
18... Qc7 19. Qxf3 Bxc3 20. bxc3 Qxc3 21. Qh3 $36) 19. Qxd2 (19. Rxd2 Bxc3 20.
bxc3 Qxc3 $11) 19... Rad8 $1 $44) 17... Rad8 18. Nd4 Qc5 $11 (18... Rfe8 $2 19.
Nb3 $16 {wins the d5-pawn.}) 19. Nb3 {White has no advantage at all and,
fearing the pressure of the enemy minor pieces, immediately started peace
negotiations. In view of the weakness of his central pawn, Black cannot avoid
the repetition.} Qc6 20. Na5 Qc7 21. Nb3 Qc6 22. Na5 Qc7 23. Nb3 Qc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Candidates Tournament"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2013.03.29"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2757"]
[Annotator "Kritz,L"]
[PlyCount "180"]
[EventDate "2013.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 {Mueller,Ka} c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e6 ({Wenn Schwarz ganz prinzipiell
spielen will, kann er mit} 3... e5 {fortfahren:} 4. Bc4 d6 5. d3 Be7 {mit
vielen theoretischen Varianten.}) 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Qd2 {
Das ist die populärste und wohl auch die stärkste Fortsetzung gegen das
Paulsen-System.} (7. Bd3 Nf6 8. O-O Nxd4 $1 {Ich finde das Nehmen sehr gut für
Schwarz.} 9. Bxd4 Bc5 10. Bxc5 (10. Bxf6 $2 gxf6 11. Qg4 Kf8 12. Kh1 h5 13. Qh4
Be7 14. f4 b5 $132) 10... Qxc5 11. Kh1 d6 12. f4 e5 $132) (7. Be2 Nf6 8. O-O
Bb4 9. Na4 Be7 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Nb6 Rb8 12. Nxc8 Qxc8 13. Bd4 c5 14. Be5 Rb6
$132 {Auch hier hat Schwarz gute Aussichten.}) 7... Nf6 8. O-O-O Bb4 9. f3 Ne7
$5 {Diese Variante war und bleibt eine der größten Fragen, die Weiß noch zu
beantworten hat.} (9... b5 10. Bf4 Ne5 11. Nc6 $3 {Dank dieses Tricks bekommt
Weiß eine sehr angenehme Stellung.} Nd3+ (11... Qxc6 12. Bxe5 Bb7 13. Qg5 $16)
(11... Bxc3 12. bxc3 $1 Qxc6 13. Bxe5 $16) (11... dxc6 12. Bxe5 $16) 12. cxd3
Qxc6 13. Kb1 O-O 14. Rc1 $14) (9... Ne5 {Die Hauptvariante!} 10. Nb3 b5 11. Qe1
{Nun droht Nxb5.} Be7 12. f4 Ng6 13. e5 Ng4 14. Ne4 $132 {Beide Seiten haben
ihre Chancen.}) 10. Nb3 $2 {Dieser Zug wird selten gespielt und das zurecht.
Besser ist 10.Nde2.} (10. Nde2 d5 (10... b5 11. Bf4 e5 12. Bg5 Bb7 13. Kb1 $14)
11. Bg5 dxe4 12. Bxf6 gxf6 13. Qd4 exf3 14. Qxb4 fxe2 15. Bxe2 f5 $13 {Es
sieht so aus, als ob Weiß genug Kompensation für den Bauern hat, aber etwas
Konkretes gibt er auch wieder nicht. Es hat noch niemand einen eindeutigen Weg
zum Vorteil in dieser Stellung gezeigt.}) 10... d5 11. e5 {Weiß steht schon
schlechter. Nach dem Partiezug bekommt er keine einzige Chance zum Spielen.} (
11. Kb1 Bxc3 12. bxc3 O-O 13. e5 Nd7 14. f4 a5 15. Nd4 Nc5 16. Nb5 Qc6 17. Bxc5
Qxc5 18. Qd4 b6 19. Qxc5 bxc5 $15 {0-1 Cernousek,L (2417)-Chloupek,S (2317)/
Czechia 2009/EXT 2011 (40)}) 11... Nd7 $15 {Es ist sehr komisch, dass Carlsen
diese Variante gewählt hat. Ich vermute, dass er etwas verwechselt hat, weil
Weiß hier einfach eine schlechte Bauernstruktur bekommt, ohne jegliche
Kompensation.} 12. f4 b6 13. Bd4 {Etwas stärker war doch a3, dann behält man
zumindest den schwarzfeldrigen Läufer.} (13. a3 Bxc3 14. Qxc3 Qxc3 15. bxc3 Bb7
16. Kd2 Kd8 17. Be2 Kc7 $15 {1-0 Piorun,K (2445)-Vovk,Y (2549)/Warsaw 2008/CBM
125 Extra (44)}) 13... Nc5 {Jetzt ist die Stellung von Weiß schon kritisch.}
14. a3 $2 {Und wieder nicht die beste Entscheidung! Offensichtlich hat Carlsen
einfach einen schlechten Tag erwischt.} (14. Bxc5 $1 Bxc5 (14... bxc5 15. a3
Bxc3 16. Qxc3 c4 17. Nd4 $132) 15. Kb1 O-O (15... Bb4 $2 16. Nb5 $1 $16) 16.
Bd3 Bd7 $15) 14... Ne4 15. Qe1 Nxc3 16. Bxc3 (16. axb4 Nxd1 $19) 16... Bxc3 17.
Qxc3 Qxc3 18. bxc3 $17 {Nach nur 18 Zügen hat Weiß alle Chancen auf aktives
Spiel verloren und muss nun ums Remis kämpfen. Gegen einen Spieler von solcher
Klasse wie Ivanchuk kann man solche Stellungen kaum halten.} a5 $6 {Als erstes
kommt der "schlechte" Läufer raus, wobei das auch einen Nachteil hat - das
Feld b5 wird geschwächt.} 19. Nd4 (19. c4 $5 O-O 20. cxd5 Nxd5 21. g3 a4 22.
Nd4 Ne3 23. Re1 Bb7 $17) 19... Ba6 20. Bd3 $1 {Wenn Schwarz auf d3 nimmt, wird
die weiße Bauernstruktur sofort verbessert.} (20. Nb5 $6 Kd7 21. Bd3 Bxb5 $1
22. Bxb5+ Kc7 $17 {Dieses Materialverhältnis ist das schlechteste für Weiß.})
20... Kd7 (20... Bxd3 $4 21. cxd3 $14) 21. Kd2 Nc6 $1 {Ivanchuk spielt sehr
genau. Man muss alle starken Figuren von Weiß abtauschen, um dann gegen die
Schwächen spielen zu können.} 22. Rb1 (22. Nb5 f6 $1 23. exf6 gxf6 $17 {
Schwarz wird bald zu ...e5 kommen.}) (22. Bb5 Bxb5 23. Nxb5 g5 $1 {Typischer
Zug für diese Bauernstruktur.} 24. g3 Rag8 $17) 22... Bxd3 $1 {Jetzt kann
Schwarz auf d3 nehmen, weil Weiß nicht mit dem Bauern zurückschlagen kann.} 23.
Kxd3 (23. cxd3 Nxd4 24. cxd4 Kc6 25. Rb2 Kb7 26. Rhb1 Ra6 $15 {Demnächst kommt
Rc8-Rc6 und dann wird sich der Turm a6 befreien können.}) (23. Nxc6 Bxc2 24.
Kxc2 (24. Rxb6 Be4 25. Nd4 Rhb8 $19) 24... Kxc6 $19) 23... Rab8 {Weiß kann die
Stellung wahrscheinlich halten, wenn er die Türme auf der b-Linie verdoppelt.}
24. Nb5 $2 (24. Rb2 f6 25. Nxc6 Kxc6 26. Re1 Rhf8 27. g3 $15) 24... g5 $1 {
Jetzt kommt Schwarz auch noch von der anderen Seite.} 25. g3 Rhg8 26. c4 (26.
Nd6 gxf4 27. gxf4 f6 $19) (26. Rhg1 Ne7 $17) 26... gxf4 {Das Nehmen auf c4 war
gut genug.} (26... dxc4+ 27. Kxc4 gxf4 28. gxf4 Rg4 $19 {Beide Bauern e5 und
f4 hängen.}) 27. gxf4 Ne7 $2 {Ivanchuk macht ebenfalls einen Fehler. Nach 27...
.dxc4 könnte Weiß aufgeben.} (27... dxc4+ 28. Kxc4 (28. Kc3 Ne7 $19) 28... Rg4
29. Rhf1 Nxe5+ $19) 28. Rhg1 {Nun hat Schwarz das Feld g4 nicht mehr zur
Verfügung.} dxc4+ 29. Kxc4 Nd5 (29... Rbc8+ 30. Kb3 Nd5 31. Rxg8 Rxg8 32. Rd1
Kc6 33. c4 Nxf4 34. Rd6+ Kb7 (34... Kc5 $4 35. Nc3 $18) 35. Rd7+ $14) 30. Nd6
Kc6 31. Nxf7 Nxf4 {Auch nach 31....Rgf8 steht Schwarz besser.} (31... Rgf8 32.
Ng5 Rxf4+ 33. Kb3 Re8 34. Rbe1 h6 35. Ne4 Rh4 $15) 32. Kb3 {Vermutlich waren
beide Spieler schon in Zeitnot.} (32. Rbd1 $1 Rxg1 (32... Nd5 33. Kd4 $11) 33.
Rxg1 b5+ 34. Kb3 Kc5 35. Rf1 Ne2 36. c3 b4 37. cxb4+ axb4 38. Ng5 $1 (38. axb4+
Rxb4+ 39. Kc2 Rf4 40. Rxf4 Nxf4 41. Ng5 h6 42. Nf7 h5 43. Kd2 Kd4 $19) 38...
Nd4+ 39. Kb2 bxa3+ 40. Kxa3 $15 {Schwarz steht besser, aber Weiß hat gute
Chancen, um Remis zu halten.}) 32... Kc5 (32... Rgf8 $5 33. Ng5 Rf5 34. Rbf1
Rg8 35. Nxh7 Rxg1 36. Rxg1 Rxe5 $15) 33. Ng5 h6 34. Ne4+ Kd4 35. Nf6 Rxg1 36.
Rxg1 Rc8 $1 {Genau gespielt! Schwarz muss seinen Turm aktivieren.} (36... Kxe5
$4 37. Nd7+ $18) 37. Re1 (37. Rd1+ Kxe5 38. Ng4+ Ke4 39. Nxh6 Ne2 $17) 37...
Rc3+ 38. Kb2 Rf3 (38... Rh3 $4 39. Re4+ $18) 39. Re4+ Kc5 40. Nd7+ Kd5 41. Nf6+
Kc5 42. Nd7+ Kc6 $1 {Schwarz will natürlich weiter spielen, seine Stellung ist
viel besser, weil sein König sehr stark ist.} 43. Nf6 (43. Rd4 Nd5 44. c4 Rf2+
45. Kb3 a4+ $1 46. Kxa4 b5+ 47. cxb5+ (47. Ka5 bxc4 48. Nb8+ Kc5 $19) 47...
Kxd7 48. Rh4 Re2 $17) 43... Ng6 {Nun droht einfach Nxe5.} 44. Rc4+ Kb5 45. Re4
$2 {Mueller,Ka: 'The passive solution makes life difficult for Carlsen.'} ({
The active} 45. Rc8 $1 {Mueller,Ka draws easier, e.g.} Nxe5 46. Ne4 Re3 47.
Nd6+ Ka4 48. Rf8 b5 (48... Rf3 49. Rxf3 Nxf3 50. c4 Nd2 51. Ka2 Nb3 52. Ne4
Nc1+ 53. Kb2 Nd3+ $11) 49. Rf4+ b4 50. axb4 axb4 51. Rf8 Ka5 52. Rb8 Re2 53.
Kb3 $11) 45... Rf5 $17 {Schwarz hat wieder sehr großen Vorteil. Weiß kann den
Bauern nicht halten.} 46. Ne8 $6 ({The computer suggestion} 46. a4+ {Mueller,Ka
} Kc5 47. Kb3 Nxe5 48. c3 {is better.}) 46... Kc5 47. Nc7 $6 ({Again the
computer solution} 47. Kb3 {Mueller,Ka} Rxe5 48. Rc4+ Kd5 {is objectivly
better, but White's house already looks very shaky.}) 47... Nxe5 $1 48. Rh4 Kd6
49. Nb5+ Kd7 50. a4 h5 51. Nd4 Rg5 52. Re4 Nc4+ 53. Kc3 Re5 $1 54. Rh4 $6 {
Mueller,Ka: 'The rook is a bit misplaced here.'} (54. Re2 $5 {Mueller,Ka is
called for.}) 54... Nd6 55. Kd3 Rd5 56. c4 Rg5 57. Nf3 Rc5 58. Nd2 Rf5 59. Nb3
Nb7 60. Rh3 Kd6 61. Kc3 Nc5 $1 62. Nxc5 Kxc5 63. Re3 (63. Rh4 {Mueller,Ka} e5
64. Kd3 Kb4 $19) 63... e5 $2 {Mueller,Ka: 'Until now Ivanchuk has played his
initiative forcefully. But now he loses control for a short moment.'} (63... h4
$1 {Mueller,Ka wins, e.g.} 64. Rxe6 (64. Kd3 e5 65. Ke4 (65. Kc3 e4 66. Rxe4
Rf3+ 67. Kc2 Rh3 $19) 65... Rf4+ 66. Kxe5 Rxc4 67. Ra3 Kb4 68. Ra1 Rc2 $19)
64... Rf3+ 65. Kb2 (65. Kd2 Rh3 $19) 65... Rh3 66. Re5+ Kb4 67. Rb5+ (67. Re2
Kxa4 $19) 67... Kxc4 68. Rxb6 Rxh2+ 69. Ka3 Rh3+ 70. Kb2 Rd3 71. Rb5 Rd5 $19)
64. h4 Kd6 65. Rd3+ Ke6 (65... Kc6 {Mueller,Ka} 66. Rd5 Rf3+ 67. Kc2 Rh3 68.
Rxe5 Rxh4 69. Kc3 Rh1 70. Re6+ Kc5 71. Re5+ Kd6 72. Rb5 Kc6 73. Kd4 h4 74. Rh5
h3 75. Rh6+ Kd7 76. Kd5 h2 77. Rh7+ Ke8 78. Kc6 Kf8 79. Rh3 Kg7 80. Kb7 $11)
66. Rg3 (66. Rd5 $2 {Mueller,Ka} Rf3+ (66... e4 $2 67. Kd4 Rxd5+ 68. cxd5+ Kf5
69. d6 Ke6 70. Kxe4 Kxd6 71. Kd4 Kc7 72. Kc3 $11) 67. Kc2 Rf4 68. Kc3 Rxh4 69.
Rb5 Rh3+ 70. Kd2 (70. Kb2 e4 71. Rxb6+ Ke5 72. c5 Kd4 73. Re6 Rc3 $19) 70... e4
71. Rxb6+ Ke5 72. c5 Rd3+ 73. Ke2 Rc3 74. Rb5 h4 75. Rxa5 (75. c6+ Kd4 $19)
75... h3 76. c6+ Kd6 77. Rh5 h2 78. Rh6+ Kc7 79. Kd2 Ra3 80. a5 Ra1 $19) 66...
Kf6 67. Rd3 Rf4 68. Rd6+ Kf5 69. Rxb6 Rxh4 70. c5 Rxa4 (70... Ke4 {Mueller,Ka}
71. c6 (71. Kc4 $11) 71... Kd5 72. Rb5+ Kxc6 73. Rxe5 $11) 71. Rh6 $2 {Mueller,
Ka: 'The large drawish tendency of rook endings still saves White, but over
the board it is next to impossible to defend this position.'} (71. c6 {Mueller,
Ka} Ke6 (71... Ra1 $6 {is met by} 72. Kb2 {when} Ra4 {is the only move to draw
for Black.}) 72. Rb5 Kd6 73. c7 Kxc7 74. Rxe5 {is a tablebase draw, e.g.} h4
75. Rh5 Kb6 76. Rh6+ Kc5 77. Rh5+ Kd6 78. Kb3 Rd4 79. Rxa5 Rd5 80. Ra6+ Ke5 81.
Rh6 Rd4 82. Kc3 Ra4 83. Kd2 Kf5 84. Ke2 Kg5 85. Rh8 $11) 71... Ke4 $1 {Mueller,
Ka: 'Ivanchuk's king crosses over to deal with the passed c-pawn himself.'} 72.
Rd6 (72. Rxh5 {Mueller,Ka} Kd5 73. c6 Rc4+ 74. Kd3 Rxc6 $19) (72. c6 {Mueller,
Ka} Kd5 73. Kd3 Rd4+ 74. Ke3 Rc4 $19) 72... Rd4 $1 73. Ra6 (73. Rxd4+ {Mueller,
Ka} exd4+ 74. Kc4 d3 75. c6 (75. Kc3 Kd5 76. Kxd3 Kxc5 $19) 75... d2 76. c7
d1=Q 77. c8=Q Qc2+ $19) 73... Kd5 74. Rxa5 (74. c6 {Mueller,Ka} Rc4+ 75. Kd3
Rxc6 76. Rxa5+ Ke6 $19) (74. Rh6 {Mueller,Ka} Kxc5 75. Rxh5 Kd5 $19) 74... Rc4+
75. Kd3 Rxc5 76. Ra4 Rc7 ({The computer move} 76... e4+ {Mueller,Ka wins
quicker as} 77. Rxe4 $6 {runs into} Rc3+ 78. Kxc3 Kxe4 79. Kd2 Kf3 80. Ke1 Kg2
$19 {[%csl Gg1,Gg2]}) 77. Rh4 Rh7 78. Ke3 Ke6 79. Ke4 Rh8 80. Ke3 Kf5 81. Ke2
Kg5 82. Re4 Re8 83. Ke3 h4 84. Ke2 h3 85. Kf2 h2 86. Kg2 h1=Q+ 87. Kxh1 Kf5 88.
Re1 Rg8 $1 {Mueller,Ka: 'The cut off decides.'} 89. Kh2 (89. Rg1 {Mueller,Ka}
Rxg1+ 90. Kxg1 Ke4 91. Kf2 Kd3 $19 {[%csl Gd3,Ge3,Gf3]}) 89... Kf4 90. Rf1+ Ke3
0-1

[Event "Candidates Tournament"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2013.03.31"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2793"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "178"]
[EventDate "2013.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. g3 {A rare plan in the
4.Qc2 system.} O-O 7. Bg2 e5 8. O-O (8. dxe5 Nxe5 9. Nxe5 dxe5 10. O-O c6 11.
Rd1 Qe7 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bxf6 Qxf6 14. Ne4 Qe7 15. c5 Bf5 16. Rd6 Bxe4 17. Bxe4
Rfd8 18. Rad1 $14 {1-0 (59) Rajlich,I (2399)-Lomineishvili,M (2437) St
Petersburg 2009}) 8... c6 (8... exd4 9. Nxd4 c6 10. a3 Bc5 11. Rd1 Ne5 12. Na4
Qe7 13. Nxc5 dxc5 {1/2 (46) Foisor,O (2495)-Hergott,D (2320) Saint John 1988}
14. Nf3 $14) 9. Rd1 Re8 (9... Qe7 $5 {is probably more accurate} 10. dxe5 $140
Nxe5) 10. dxe5 $1 {Otherwise 10...e4.} (10. Bg5 Bxc3 11. Qxc3 e4 12. Ne1 h6 13.
Bf4 Nf8 14. Nc2 Ng6 15. Be3 d5 16. b3 Be6 17. h3 Qd7 18. Kh2 h5 $36 {0-1 (43)
Vitiugov,N (2594)-Tomashevsky,E (2646) Moscow 2007}) 10... dxe5 11. a3 (11. Ng5
h6 12. Nge4 {is positionally wrong: White should not trade knights as Black's
minor pieces get in each other's way.} Qc7 13. a3 Bf8 14. b4 Nxe4 15. Nxe4 f5
16. Nd2 Nf6 17. e4 a5 18. Rb1 axb4 19. axb4 Qf7 $132 {0-1 (46) Paulsen,D (2240)
-Kuzmin,G (2545) Dortmund 1981}) 11... Bxc3 (11... Bf8 {deprives Black's
d7-knight of a comfortable square.} 12. b4 a5 13. Rb1 $14) 12. Qxc3 Qe7 13. b4
{A courageous move, active but weakening the c4-pawn (square).} Nb6 14. Be3 $6
(14. a4 $5 e4 $140 15. Ng5 h6 16. a5 Nbd7 17. Nh3 $14) 14... Ng4 15. Nd2 ({
It is hard to say whether White missed} 15. Bc5 $2 Na4 $1 {or simply made a
mistake in evaluation but after the exchange of his important dark-squared
bishop the position roughly equalises.}) 15... f5 16. h3 Nxe3 17. Qxe3 e4 (
17... Qf7 $5 18. Rac1 Be6) 18. Rac1 $6 (18. c5 Nd5 19. Qd4 {[%cal Yd2c4,Yc4d6]}
b5 $5 {leads to complex play. After the passive text move Black seizes the
initiative.}) 18... Be6 19. Qc3 (19. c5 Nd5 20. Qd4 Rad8 21. Qe5 Nc7 $1 {
, and White's knight can't get to c4 anymore.}) (19. f3 exf3 20. exf3 {(S.
Zagrebelny) is hardly enough: after} Qf6 21. Bf1 Bf7 22. Qf2 Na4 {White's
position is very unpleasant.}) 19... Rad8 20. Bf1 (20. c5 Nd5 21. Qe5 {was
relatively better after all.}) 20... c5 $6 {Black fails to demonstrate
prophylactic thinking (how to anticipate White's idea 21.e3 ?) and misses a
strong resource:} (20... Bf7 $1 21. e3 {(what else?)} Bh5 22. Re1 Nd7 $17 {
[%cal Yd7e5] (indicated by S.Zagrebelny and other commentators)}) 21. bxc5 Na4
22. Qb4 Nxc5 23. Nb3 {After this the position nearly equalises.} Rxd1 24. Rxd1
Na6 (24... Nxb3 25. Qxb3 Rc8 26. e3 {is hardly enough, too.}) 25. Qxe7 Rxe7 26.
e3 Kf7 27. Be2 b6 28. Rd8 Nc5 29. Nd4 (29. Nxc5 bxc5 30. Rb8 {was good enough.
But after the text move White obtains a strong outpost on d4, compensating for
Black's c5 stronghold.}) 29... Kf6 30. Kf1 Rd7 31. Rf8+ Bf7 32. Ke1 g6 33. h4
h6 34. Rc8 Be6 35. Rf8+ Rf7 36. Rh8 Rc7 37. Nb5 Rd7 38. Nd4 h5 {Otherwise
h4-h5 could be an issue.} 39. Rf8+ Bf7 40. Rc8 Ke5 41. Ra8 a6 42. Rc8 Rd6 43.
Nc6+ Kf6 44. Nd4 Be6 45. Rf8+ Ke7 46. Ra8 Rd7 47. Rb8 (47. Kd2 {was simpler.})
47... Rb7 48. Rxb7+ {Why? White's rook was more active, and Black couldn't
make any progress. The minor piece endgame should also be drawn but it
requires accuracy from White as Black has ways to improve his position.} Nxb7 {
[%mdl 4096]} 49. Kd2 Kd6 50. Kc3 Bf7 51. Nb3 Ke5 52. Bf1 a5 53. Be2 Be6 54. Bf1
Bd7 55. Be2 Ba4 56. Nd4 Nc5 57. Kb2 Be8 58. Kc3 Bf7 59. Nc6+ Kd6 60. Nd4 Nd7 {
Black finds a plan: ...Ke5, Nc5 and ...a4 with a semblance of zugzwang.} 61.
Nb5+ Kc5 62. Nd4 Ne5 63. Nb3+ Kc6 64. a4 $6 {A move, which amazed spectators
and commentators. In normal circumstances a strong GM would never make such a
move (creating a new serious weakness in his camp) even at gunpoint. GM
Teimour Radjabov was probably in extremely bad shape. Meanwhile, the zugzwang
was just an illusion; White simply needs to realise that he can play f2-f3 at
some point:} (64. Nd4+ Kd6 65. Nb3 a4 66. Nd2 Kc5 {Zugzwang?} 67. f3 $1 (67.
Bd1 Ng4 68. Bxa4 Nxf2 {is indeed risky}) 67... exf3 68. Nxf3 Nxf3 (68... Nxc4
69. Bxc4 Bxc4 70. Ne5) 69. Bxf3 Bxc4 {- White loses a pawn but after} 70. e4
Be6 71. exf5 Bxf5 72. Bg2 {Black can never break through.}) (64. Kd4 Kd6 65.
Nd2 Nc6+ 66. Kc3 {[%cal Yf2f3] was possible, too.}) 64... Kd7 65. Nd4 Kd6 66.
Nb5+ Kc5 67. Nd4 Be8 68. Nb3+ (68. Kb3 Bd7 {This is indeed zugzwang!} 69. f3 (
69. Bf1 Ng4) (69. Nc2 Nd3) 69... exf3 70. Nxf3 Ng4 $19 {is now a completely
different story!}) 68... Kd6 69. c5+ Kc7 $1 (69... bxc5 70. Nxa5 Bxa4 71. Nc4+
{is a draw.}) 70. Kd4 Nc6+ 71. Kc3 Ne7 $1 72. cxb6+ Kxb6 73. Nd2 Bxa4 74. Nc4+
Ka6 $1 75. Na3+ Kb7 76. Nc4 Ka6 77. Na3+ Ka7 $1 {Black holds his extra pawn
and gets fair winning chances.} 78. Kd4 (78. Nc4 Bb5) 78... Nc6+ 79. Kc5 Ne5 (
79... Nb4 $5 80. Nb5+ Kb7 81. Nc3 Bb3) 80. Nc4 $2 {Probably the decisive
mistake.} (80. Kd4 $1 {was the right way although even after} Nd3 {
(recommended by Alexey Dreev during a live broadcast)} (80... Nc6+ 81. Kc5 Nb4
{is possible, too}) 81. Bxd3 exd3 82. Kxd3 Bb3 {we can't assume it is a clear
draw.}) 80... Nd3+ 81. Kd4 ({Now} 81. Bxd3 exd3 82. Kd4 Bc2 83. Kc3 a4 {
is hardly enough for a draw - both White's pieces are paralysed, and Black's
king goes forward.}) 81... Nc1 $1 ({White probably expected something like} 
81... Nxf2 82. Nxa5 Nh1 83. Ke5 Nxg3 84. Bc4 Kb6 85. Nb3 {with good chances to
recapture one of Black's pawns and survive}) 82. Bf1 Bb5 83. Nxa5 $2 {
Desperation under time pressure.} (83. Kc3 a4 84. Kb2 Nd3+ (84... Nb3 $5) 85.
Bxd3 exd3 86. Nd2 Kb6 {leads to a setup mentioned in the comment to White's
81st move.}) 83... Bxf1 84. Nc6+ Kb6 85. Ne7 Nd3 86. Nxg6 Kc7 87. Ne7 Bh3 88.
Nd5+ Kd6 89. Nf6 Bg4 0-1

[Event "Candidates Tournament"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2013.04.01"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2747"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2013.03.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.05.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a3
O-O 9. Nc3 Bb7 10. Bd2 Qd7 11. a4 $146 (11. Ne2 Nd8 12. Ng3 Ne6 13. Nf5 c5 14.
N3h4 Bd8 15. Qf3 d5 {Mickiewicz,P (2271)-Malaniuk,V (2522)/Koszalin 2007/CBM
119 ext (0-1, 43)}) 11... Nd8 12. axb5 axb5 13. Rxa8 Bxa8 14. Ne2 Ne6 15. Ng3
c5 16. Nf5 Bd8 17. c4 $5 {This way of fighting for the light squares justifies
(at least partly) the loss of a tempo with a3-a4.} bxc4 18. Bxc4 Bc7 19. Re1
Re8 20. Qc1 Nh5 21. g3 g6 22. Nh6+ Kg7 23. Ng5 Nxg5 24. Bxg5 d5 25. exd5 Bxd5
26. Ng4 Bf3 27. Bf6+ Kg8 28. Nh6+ Kf8 29. Qe3 Bb7 30. Bh4 Qh3 31. f3 $2 (31.
Bd5 $1 {This is not that difficult to spot, but evaluating the consequences
requires some effort.} Bxd5 32. Qxc5+ Kg7 33. Qxd5 Kxh6 34. Qxf7 Ba5 35. Qxe8
Bxe1 36. Qxe5 {Threatening mate with Bg5#} Bxf2+ $1 (36... Bd2 37. Qe2 Bc1 38.
Be7 {allows White to maintain the initiative in conditions of material
equality.}) 37. Kxf2 Qxh2+ {with a probable draw. If White interposes his
queen to one of the checks, Black can exchange and win the bishop with ...g5.})
31... Nf4 $36 32. gxf4 Qxh4 33. Nxf7 Bxf3 34. Qf2 Qg4+ 35. Qg3 exf4 36. Rxe8+
Kxe8 37. Qxg4 Bxg4 38. Ng5 h6 39. Nf7 h5 40. Nh6 Bd1 41. Kf2 f3 42. h3 Bf4 43.
Nf7 g5 44. Ke1 g4 45. hxg4 hxg4 46. Kxd1 g3 47. Ke1 g2 48. Kf2 Bh2 0-1

[Event "Norway Masters blitz"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2013.05.07"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2783"]
[BlackElo "2868"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2013.05.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. O-O Bd7 6. c3 g6 7. Re1 a6 8. Ba4
Bg7 9. Nbd2 O-O 10. Nf1 Re8 11. Bb3 Be6 12. h3 Bxb3 13. Qxb3 Qd7 14. Bg5 Nh5
15. Rad1 h6 16. Bc1 Nf6 17. Ng3 Na5 18. Qc2 c5 19. d4 cxd4 20. cxd4 Rac8 21.
Qd3 exd4 22. Nxd4 Nc4 23. b3 Ne5 24. Qb1 h5 25. Bb2 h4 26. Nf1 d5 27. exd5 Nxd5
28. Ne3 Nxe3 29. Rxe3 Rcd8 30. Rde1 Nc6 31. Rxe8+ Rxe8 32. Rxe8+ Qxe8 33. Nxc6
Qxc6 34. Bxg7 Kxg7 35. Qb2+ f6 36. Qd2 g5 37. Qe2 Qc1+ 38. Kh2 Qc7+ 39. Kg1
1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Masters blitz"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2013.05.07"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2868"]
[BlackElo "2745"]
[PlyCount "122"]
[EventDate "2013.05.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 g6 4. b3 Bg7 5. Bb2 O-O 6. O-O c5 7. e3 Nc6 8. Ne5
Nxe5 9. Bxe5 Bg4 10. Qc1 Qd7 11. d3 Qf5 12. Bb2 Bh3 13. Nd2 Bxg2 14. Kxg2 Rfd8
15. Qd1 Rac8 16. Qe2 Qe6 17. Rfe1 b5 18. a4 c4 19. Bd4 a6 20. axb5 axb5 21. Nf3
Nd7 22. Ra5 cxb3 23. cxb3 b4 24. Bxg7 Kxg7 25. Qb2+ Qf6 26. Qd4 Qxd4 27. exd4
e6 28. Rea1 Rc3 29. Rb5 Rb8 30. Rxb8 Nxb8 31. Ne5 Nc6 32. Nxc6 Rxc6 33. Ra4 Rc3
34. Rxb4 Rxd3 35. Kf1 Rd2 36. Ke1 Rb2 37. Rb7 g5 38. h3 h5 39. Kf1 Rd2 40. Rb4
g4 41. hxg4 hxg4 42. Ke1 Rb2 43. Rb8 Kg6 44. Rb7 f6 45. Rb6 Kf5 46. b4 e5 47.
dxe5 fxe5 48. b5 Ke4 49. Rb8 d4 50. b6 Kd3 51. Kf1 Kd2 52. b7 d3 53. Rg8 Rxb7
54. Rxg4 Kc3 55. Rg8 Rb1+ 56. Kg2 d2 57. Rc8+ Kb2 58. Rd8 d1=Q 59. Rxd1 Rxd1
60. Kf3 Re1 61. g4 Kc3 0-1

[Event "Norway Masters blitz"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2013.05.07"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A06"]
[WhiteElo "2793"]
[BlackElo "2868"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2013.05.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. b3 c5 3. e3 g6 4. Bb2 Nf6 5. c4 dxc4 6. Bxc4 Bg7 7. O-O Nc6 8. d4
cxd4 9. Nxd4 Nxd4 10. Bxd4 O-O 11. Nc3 Bd7 12. Nd5 Bc6 13. Nxf6+ Bxf6 14. Bxf6
exf6 15. Qxd8 Rfxd8 16. Rfd1 f5 17. f3 Kg7 18. Kf2 Kf6 19. h4 h6 20. Be2 g5 21.
hxg5+ hxg5 22. Rxd8 Rxd8 23. Rd1 Rxd1 24. Bxd1 f4 25. g3 Ke5 26. b4 Bd5 27. a3
f5 28. gxf4+ gxf4 29. Be2 b6 30. Bd1 Bc4 31. exf4+ Kxf4 32. Bc2 Bd5 33. Bd1 Bc4
34. Bc2 Ke5 35. Kg3 Be6 36. Bb1 f4+ 37. Kh4 Kd4 38. Kg5 Ke3 39. Be4 Bd7 40. Bd5
Kd4 41. Be4 Kc3 42. Kxf4 Kb3 43. Bd3 Kxa3 44. b5 Kb4 45. Ke5 Bxb5 46. Bc2 a5
47. f4 a4 48. Kd4 0-1

[Event "Norway Masters blitz"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2013.05.07"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Hammer, Jon Ludvig"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A50"]
[WhiteElo "2608"]
[BlackElo "2868"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2013.05.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 g6 6. O-O Bg7 7. Nc3 Ne4 8. Nxe4
Bxe4 9. Bg5 Qc8 10. Qd2 h6 11. Bf4 d6 12. Rac1 Nd7 13. Rfe1 Qb7 14. b3 g5 15.
Be3 f5 16. Red1 O-O 17. Bf1 Rae8 18. Ne1 e5 19. dxe5 Nxe5 20. f3 Bc6 21. Bd4 f4
22. gxf4 Rxf4 23. Be3 Rf7 24. Bf2 Qc8 25. Bg3 Qf5 26. Nc2 Qxf3 27. exf3 Nxf3+
28. Kh1 Nxd2+ 29. Bg2 Bxg2+ 30. Kxg2 Re2+ 31. Kh1 Nf3 32. Nb4 a5 33. Rc2 Rfe7
34. Nd5 Rxc2 35. Nxe7+ Kf7 36. Nd5 h5 37. Rf1 g4 38. Nxc7 Be5 39. Rf2 Rc1+ 40.
Kg2 Rg1# 0-1

[Event "Norway Masters blitz"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2013.05.07"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wang, Hao"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B50"]
[WhiteElo "2868"]
[BlackElo "2743"]
[PlyCount "128"]
[EventDate "2013.05.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c3 Nf6 4. Be2 g6 5. O-O Bg7 6. Bb5+ Bd7 7. Bxd7+ Nfxd7 8.
d4 O-O 9. Bg5 Nc6 10. d5 Nce5 11. Nfd2 b5 12. a4 h6 13. Be3 a6 14. Na3 Rb8 15.
axb5 axb5 16. Qe2 c4 17. b3 b4 18. cxb4 c3 19. Ndb1 Rxb4 20. Nxc3 Rxb3 21. Nab5
Rb4 22. Rfb1 Rxb1+ 23. Rxb1 Qc8 24. Rb4 Nc5 25. Na7 Qd7 26. Ncb5 Ncd3 27. Rb1
g5 28. Nc6 Ra8 29. Nba7 e6 30. h3 exd5 31. exd5 Re8 32. Nb5 f5 33. Nbd4 f4 34.
Bd2 Nc5 35. Qh5 Ne4 36. Bb4 Nf6 37. Qd1 Nxd5 38. Qb3 Qf7 39. Bxd6 Nxc6 40. Nxc6
Qe6 41. Rd1 Qxd6 42. Rxd5 Qe6 43. Nd8 Qe1+ 44. Kh2 Kh7 45. Qd3+ Qe4 46. Qxe4+
Rxe4 47. Rd7 Kg6 48. f3 Re2 49. Nb7 Bc3 50. Nc5 Bf6 51. Rd6 Kg7 52. h4 gxh4 53.
Kh3 Bg5 54. Ne4 Kf7 55. Rc6 Kg7 56. Nd6 Kg6 57. Nb5+ Kg7 58. Nd4 Rd2 59. Nf5+
Kh7 60. Rd6 Rxd6 61. Nxd6 Kg6 62. Kg4 h5+ 63. Kh3 Kf6 64. Ne4+ Kf5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Masters blitz"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2013.05.07"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A46"]
[WhiteElo "2813"]
[BlackElo "2868"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2013.05.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 g6 4. Bd3 c5 5. O-O Bg7 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. dxc5 Qc7 8.
Nb3 b6 9. cxb6 axb6 10. Bd2 Bb7 11. h3 e5 12. Be2 d5 13. a4 Nbd7 14. a5 Rfc8
15. a6 Bc6 16. Bb4 Bf8 17. Bxf8 Nxf8 18. Ne1 Rd8 19. c3 Ne6 20. Nc2 Rac8 21. f4
d4 22. fxe5 dxc3 23. Ncd4 cxb2 24. exf6 bxa1=Q 25. Qxa1 Qe5 26. Nf5 Qe4 27.
Nh6+ Kf8 28. Qa3+ Nc5 29. Rf3 Qb1+ 0-1

[Event "Norway Masters blitz"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2013.05.07"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A37"]
[WhiteElo "2868"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2013.05.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. g3 g6 2. Bg2 Bg7 3. Nf3 e5 4. O-O c5 5. c4 Nc6 6. Nc3 Nge7 7. a3 O-O 8. b4
cxb4 9. axb4 e4 10. Ng5 f5 11. b5 Ne5 12. Qb3 h6 13. d4 exd3 14. Nf3 dxe2 15.
Re1 d6 16. Rxe2 Be6 17. Nxe5 dxe5 18. Bxb7 Rb8 19. Rxa7 Qd4 20. Be3 Qxc4 21.
Qxc4 Bxc4 22. Rd2 Nc8 23. Ra4 Rxb7 24. Rxc4 e4 25. Nd5 Nd6 26. Ne7+ Rxe7 27.
Rxd6 g5 28. Bc5 Rb7 29. Rd5 Rxb5 30. Bxf8 Rxd5 31. Bxg7 Kxg7 32. g4 fxg4 33.
Rxe4 h5 34. Re6 Rf5 35. Kg2 Rf6 36. Re5 Kg6 37. Ra5 h4 38. Ra1 h3+ 39. Kg1 Rb6
40. Kf1 Rb5 41. Rc1 Kf5 42. Ra1 Rb4 43. Ra5+ Kf4 44. Ra1 Rb3 45. Ke2 Kf5 46.
Kf1 Rb2 47. Ra5+ Kg6 48. Ra6+ Kh5 49. Ra1 g3 50. hxg3 Rb3 51. Kg1 Kg4 52. Kh2
Kf3 53. Ra5 Kxf2 54. Rxg5 Kf3 55. Kxh3 Rb8 56. Rf5+ Ke4 57. g4 Rh8+ 58. Kg3 Rh1
59. Ra5 Rh8 60. g5 Rh1 61. Kg4 Rh2 62. g6 1-0

[Event "Norway Masters blitz"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2013.05.07"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C41"]
[WhiteElo "2767"]
[BlackElo "2868"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2013.05.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Nf3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. a4 a6 8. a5
h6 9. h3 Re8 10. Re1 exd4 11. Nxd4 Ne5 12. Bf1 c5 13. Nf5 Bf8 14. Ne3 Be6 15.
Ned5 Nc6 16. Nxf6+ Qxf6 17. Nd5 Bxd5 18. Qxd5 Re5 19. Qb3 Rb8 20. c3 d5 21. Rd1
c4 22. Qc2 dxe4 23. Be3 Nxa5 24. Bd4 Nb3 25. Bxe5 Qxe5 26. Ra4 b5 27. Rxa6 e3
28. fxe3 Nc5 29. Rc6 Qe8 30. Rc7 Qe5 31. Rc6 Qe8 32. Rc7 Qe6 33. Qf2 Ne4 34.
Qf4 Bd6 35. Rxd6 Nxd6 36. Be2 Re8 37. Bf3 g5 38. Qd4 Nf5 39. Qc5 Nxe3 40. Bh5
Rf8 41. Re7 Qf5 42. Qxe3 1-0

[Event "Norway Masters blitz"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2013.05.07"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "2868"]
[BlackElo "2769"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2013.05.07"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 g6 2. e4 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. Be2 O-O 6. O-O a6 7. h3 Nc6 8. Be3
e5 9. dxe5 Nxe5 10. Nxe5 dxe5 11. Qxd8 Rxd8 12. Bc4 b5 13. Bb3 Bb7 14. f3 Bf8
15. a4 b4 16. Nb1 Nd7 17. Nd2 Bc5 18. Kf2 a5 19. Rfd1 Kg7 20. Nc4 Bxe3+ 21.
Kxe3 f6 22. Rd2 Nb6 23. Nxb6 cxb6 24. Rad1 Rxd2 25. Rxd2 Bc6 26. Rd6 Rc8 27.
Be6 Rc7 28. b3 Kf8 29. Bc4 Kg7 30. h4 h5 31. g4 Bxa4 32. Rxb6 Bd7 33. gxh5 gxh5
34. Bd3 Kf7 35. f4 exf4+ 36. Kxf4 Rc5 37. Rb7 Ke6 38. Ra7 Kd6 39. Ke3 Bg4 40.
Kd4 Re5 41. Bc4 Bf3 42. Bd5 Bd1 43. Rf7 Re8 44. Rxf6+ Kc7 45. Ra6 Bxc2 46. Rc6+
1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 1st"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2013.05.08"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2868"]
[BlackElo "2793"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2013.05.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 155"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 ({It is interesting to compare the line played in
this game with that obtained by symmetry:} 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. Nc3 d5 {
This idea had been developed by Korchnoi as a complement to the Grünfeld, one
of his favoured openings half a century ago. He won a couple of games against
6.Bg5, but in his comments he considered} 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Ndb5 Nxc3 8. Qxd8+
Kxd8 9. Nxc3 Bg7 10. Bd2 {to be better, slightly favouring White on account of
Black's impossibility to castle. Things are not entirely clear, though, since
the king can reach safety anyway.} Nc6 11. g3 Be6 12. Bg2 Rc8 13. O-O Kc7 ({
Black's coordination looks less harmonious after} 13... Ke8 14. Rfc1 b6 {
Gheorghiu,F (2520)-Petrosian,T (2645) Skopje 1972 (1/2, 32)}) 14. Bf4+ Kb6 15.
Rac1 {Fomichenko,E (2492)-Andonov,B (2326) Rennes 2008 EXT 2009 (1-0, 59)} Rhd8
{with similar play (with reversed colours) as in one of the lines below.}) 3...
Nc6 4. Bg2 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. d4 {The only way to prevent Black setting up the
Maroczy bind with reversed colours.} cxd4 7. Nxd4 Ndb4 {Not the only possible
reaction, but surely a natural one.} 8. Nxc6 Qxd1+ 9. Kxd1 Nxc6 10. Nc3 ({
Ulf Andersson, in his best days the world's greatest expert at getting an
endgame advantage out of nothing, almost never refrained from a move like} 10.
Bxc6+ {White can hardly claim an advantage here, but the weakness of the pawns
will stay there forever, giving Ulf a clear plan of play.} bxc6 11. Nc3 e5 12.
Be3 h5 (12... Be6 13. Kc2 Bb4 14. Na4 Bf5+ 15. Kc1 a5 16. Bc5 O-O-O 17. Bxb4
axb4 18. Rd1 Kc7 19. b3 h5 20. Rxd8 Rxd8 21. a3 bxa3 22. Rxa3 Ra8 23. Kb2 Rd8
24. Kc1 Ra8 25. Ra1 Ra5 26. Kb2 c5 $11 {Andersson,U (2605)-Sax,G (2610)
Brussels 1988 (1/2, 44)}) 13. h4 Bb4 14. Kd2 Ke7 15. Rhc1 Rd8+ 16. Ke1 Be6 17.
a3 Bxc3+ $6 {Black mistakenly thought that the opposite coloured bishops would
make his defence easier.} (17... Ba5 {[%csl Gc5][%cal Ga5b6]}) 18. Rxc3 Bd5 19.
b4 Rdb8 20. Bd2 Ke6 21. Rc5 Rb5 22. Rcc1 f6 23. a4 Rb7 24. Rc5 $14 {Andersson,
U (2560)-Stean,M (2540) Sao Paulo 1979 (1-0, 52)}) 10... Bd7 {This is not so
much a way to prevent Bxc6+, as it is a preventive measure against Nd5 or Nb5.}
(10... g6 11. Nd5 $36) (10... e5 11. Nb5 $36) 11. Be3 (11. Nd5 O-O-O) (11. Nb5
Kd8) 11... g6 (11... O-O-O {1/2 Kramnik,V (2758)-Kasparov,G (2851)/Frankfurt
2000/CBM 078/[Stohl] (32)}) 12. Rc1 Bg7 13. Kc2 $146 {Entirely in the spirit
of a game mentioned above.} (13. f4 {1-0 Smirin,I (2590)-Alterman,B (2615)/
Dresden 1998/CBM 065/[Stohl] (49)}) (13. Ke1 h5 14. h3 Nd4 {1/2 (14) Izoria,Z 
(2602)-Mikhalevski,V (2572) Lake George 2005}) 13... Rc8 (13... Bf5+ 14. Kb3 {
only helps White activating his king. In certain lines, having the b2-pawn
defended would be quite useful, allowing Na4-c5 or Nd5.} Na5+ (14... Be6+ 15.
Ka3 Rc8 16. Na4 $14) 15. Kb4 Nc6+ 16. Ka3 Rc8 17. Nd5 $14 {[%csl Ga7,Gb7][%cal
Gd5b4] One of the threats is Nb4, putting serious pressure on the black
queenside pawns. here too, the usefullness of the king on a3 is obvious.}) 14.
Rhd1 Na5 15. Bd4 ({If} 15. Kb1 {White has to reckon with a continuation in the
style of Ulf:} Bxc3 $5) 15... Bf5+ 16. e4 Bxd4 17. Rxd4 Be6 18. b3 f6 19. f4
Kf7 20. Kb2 Rhd8 $11 {Black has normal development and White's space advantage
does not count that much. Both participants displayed high fighting spirit,
but the equality will persist, with one exception, until the end.} 21. Rcd1
Rxd4 22. Rxd4 Nc6 23. Rd2 h6 24. Bf3 Bh3 25. Nb5 h5 26. Be2 h4 $6 {This coud
have led to some problems.} 27. Bc4+ $6 (27. gxh4 $5 a6 (27... Rh8 28. h5 gxh5
29. f5 a6 $6 30. Bc4+ Kg7 31. Nc7 $16) 28. Nc3 Rh8 29. h5 gxh5 30. Na4 $14)
27... Be6 28. Bd5 hxg3 29. hxg3 a6 30. Nc3 Rd8 31. Na4 Bxd5 32. exd5 Nb4 33.
Nc3 Nc6 34. Ka3 Na7 35. Kb4 Nc8 36. Ne4 Nd6 37. Nc5 Rc8 38. Ne6 b6 39. Rh2 Nf5
40. g4 Ne3 41. Rh7+ Ke8 42. Rh8+ Kd7 43. Rxc8 Kxc8 44. g5 Nxd5+ 45. Kc4 Ne3+
46. Kd4 Nf5+ 47. Ke4 Kb7 48. Nf8 Nd6+ 49. Kd5 fxg5 50. fxg5 Nf7 51. Nxg6 Nxg5
1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 1st"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2013.05.09"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2868"]
[BlackElo "2783"]
[Annotator "Szabo,Kr"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2013.05.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 155"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 a6 6. Bxd7+ Bxd7 7. c4 e5 8.
Qd3 b5 $5 {A very logical move. Black attacks White's P centre in order to
lessen the pressure against d5.} 9. Nc3 (9. Na3 {has also been played, but} Qb6
10. O-O h6 11. b3 Nf6 12. Re1 Be7 13. Nd2 O-O 14. Nf1 Bc6 15. Ng3 Bd7 16. Be3
Qb7 17. Nc2 bxc4 18. bxc4 Rfc8 $132 {and Black looks nicely placed,
Tiviakov-Babula, Dresden 2007.}) 9... bxc4 10. Qxc4 Be6 11. Qd3 (11. Qc6+ {
leads only to repetition of moves after} Bd7 12. Qc4 Be6 $11) (11. Nd5 Qa5+ 12.
Qc3 (12. Bd2 Bxd5 13. exd5 Qb5 $13) 12... Qxc3+ 13. Nxc3 h6 14. b3 Rc8 15. Bb2
Nf6 16. O-O Be7 17. Rfd1 O-O 18. Nd2 Rc6 $13 {D.Howell-Shanava, Istanbul ol
2012}) 11... h6 {This important move avoids B or Ng5.} ({In the event of} 11...
Nf6 $6 12. Bg5 Be7 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. O-O {followed by Nd5 with a slight
advantage for White.}) 12. O-O Nf6 13. Rd1 $146 {The first novelty in the game.
The idea can be seen in the next moves.} (13. Be3 Be7 14. Nd2 d5 15. exd5 Nxd5
16. Nxd5 Qxd5 17. Qxd5 Bxd5 18. Rfc1 Kd7 19. Nc4 Bxc4 20. Rxc4 Rhc8 $11 {
Yu Ruiyuan-Zhou Jianchao, Tianjin 2013. Black equalised.}) 13... Be7 14. Ne1 $5
{A very typical plan in these P structures. The white N goes to c2-e3 and d5.}
O-O 15. Nc2 Qb6 16. Ne3 Rfc8 17. b3 {A prophylactic move, Carlsen prepares for
Bd2.} ({The immediate} 17. Ned5 {is probably too early, as} Nxd5 18. Nxd5 Bxd5
19. Qxd5 Rab8 (19... Qb4 20. b3) 20. b3 Rc2 21. Be3 Qb4 {and it is not so easy
to improve the position with White.}) 17... a5 18. Bd2 Qa6 {Anand decides to
exchange the Q.} 19. Be1 Nd7 20. f3 {Carlsen protects the e4 P, which wasn't
hanging at the moment, but after the exchange of Q, than Ncd5 Nc5 and the P is
protected.} Rc6 21. Qxa6 Rcxa6 22. Ned5 $1 (22. Ncd5 {was also possible} Bd8 (
22... Bg5 23. Nc4 $14) 23. Rac1 $14 {and White is slightly better.}) 22... Bd8
23. Nb5 {This is the point of why Carlsen put the e3 N on d5.} Rc8 (23... Rc6 {
was more precise} 24. Rac1 (24. Bf2 Rb8) 24... Rxc1 25. Rxc1 Bxd5 26. exd5 Nf6
27. Nxd6 Nxd5 {and still Black can hope for equalisation.}) 24. Bf2 (24. Rac1 {
was an interesting alternative.} Rxc1 25. Rxc1 Bxd5 26. exd5 Bb6+ 27. Bf2 $14)
24... Kh7 {A prophylactic move, which avoids Ne7 checks.} 25. Kf1 $14 {Another
logical move by Carlsen. The K is coming towards the centre.} Rcc6 $6 (25... g6
{was another option preparing for Kg7.} 26. Rac1 Rac6 27. Be3 $14) 26. Rac1 Bg5
27. Rc3 (27. Rxc6 $1 {was stronger} Rxc6 28. Ndc7 Rc2 29. Nxe6 fxe6 30. Rxd6
$16 {and White is better.}) 27... Bxd5 28. Rxd5 Rxc3 29. Nxc3 Rc6 30. Be1 Nc5
31. Nb5 (31. h4 $5 Bd8 (31... Be7 32. Ke2 $14) 32. Nb5 Nb7 33. Ke2 $14) 31...
Nb7 32. h4 Be3 33. Ke2 Bc5 34. h5 Bb4 35. Bd2 $6 ({In the event of} 35. Bxb4
axb4 36. a3 bxa3 37. Nxa3 g6 38. hxg6+ Kxg6 39. Nc4 {is still also slightly
better for White.}) 35... g6 36. a3 Bxd2 37. hxg6+ Kxg6 38. Kxd2 h5 39. g3 f6
40. Na7 Rc7 41. Nb5 Rc6 42. Ke2 Kf7 $11 {Anand has made some precise moves, so
he has levelled the position.} 43. b4 axb4 44. axb4 Ke6 45. Rd3 Rc4 46. Rb3 d5
47. Kd3 Rc6 48. exd5+ Kxd5 49. Rc3 f5 50. Nc7+ Kd6 51. Ne8+ Kd5 52. Rxc6 Kxc6
53. Ng7 Nd6 54. Nxh5 e4+ 55. fxe4 Nxe4 56. Kd4 Kb5 57. g4 fxg4 58. Kxe4 g3 59.
Nxg3 Kxb4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 1st"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2013.05.10"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C28"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2868"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2013.05.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 155"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Na5 5. Nge2 Be7 ({In the last and
decisive game of an old Candidates' quarter-final, Black hurried with the
exchange of bishops exchange, thus offering White a wider choice at a later
moment.} 5... Nxc4 6. dxc4 Be7 7. O-O d6 {Now, 8.f4 would transpose to our
game, but Larsen thought} 8. b3 {to be more flexible and he eventually proved
to be right, at least from a practical point of view, see Larsen,B-Portisch,L/
Porec 1968/Candidates/[ChessBase] (1-0, 28)}) 6. O-O d6 7. f4 ({With the
bishop alive, it would make little sense to bury it with} 7. b3 $2) 7... Nxc4
8. dxc4 c6 9. Kh1 O-O $146 {Not fearing the kingside attack.} ({I did not find
anything wrong with the more cautious} 9... h5 10. f5 h4 11. Qd3 Bd7 12. h3 Qc7
13. Be3 O-O-O {Zinn,L (2410)-Kovacs,L (2385)/Decin 1975/EXT 2003 (1/2, 21)})
10. f5 {If allowed to play g4-g5, White would get a very strong attack. With
the d5-square under firm control of the white pawns, a breakthrough seems to
be difficult to cary out, but Carlsen thought differently.} b5 $5 11. cxb5 d5
12. exd5 (12. bxc6 d4 13. Na4 Nxe4 $17) 12... cxd5 13. Bg5 Bb7 $44 {A brief
glance at the position reveals Black's compensation. However, the ulterior
course of the game proves that White's position is easier to handle, since
Black cannot advance any of his pawns without giving away part of his dynamic
potential.} 14. Ng3 h6 15. Bxf6 Bxf6 16. Qe2 Qe7 17. Rad1 Rad8 18. Nh5 e4 19.
Nxf6+ ({It would have made some sense to keep the tension. The h5-knight may
cause some troubles still, for instance with Nxg7, while the f6-bishop is not
going to run away.} 19. Qg4 $5) 19... Qxf6 20. Na4 Ba8 (20... Bc8 $5 {[%csl
Gf5]}) 21. c3 d4 22. cxd4 Rxd4 23. Nc3 Rxd1 24. Nxd1 Rd8 25. Qe3 a6 26. a4 axb5
27. axb5 Rd3 28. Qa7 Bd5 29. Nc3 e3 30. Nxd5 Rxd5 31. Qxe3 Qxb2 32. Qe8+ Kh7
33. Qxf7 Qxb5 34. Qg6+ Kg8 35. Ra1 Rxf5 36. Ra8+ Rf8 37. Rxf8+ Kxf8 38. h3
1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 1st"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2013.05.12"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2868"]
[BlackElo "2769"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2013.05.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 155"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. O-O a6 ({If Black delays attacking the
bishop with} 4... Ngf6 5. Re1 a6 {White could regroup properly:} 6. Bf1) 5. Bd3
$5 {A relatively unexplored move.} ({The main stream goes} 5. Bxd7+ Bxd7) 5...
Ne5 $5 {But this is really rare. Black accepts the weakness of the doubled
pawns in order to cross White's plans of central expansion with c2-c3, Bc2 and
d2-d4.} (5... Ngf6 {is examined in Stohl's extensive comments to Caruana,F 
(2786)-Topalov,V (2769)/Bucharest 2012/CBM 152/[Stohl,I] (1/2, 81)}) 6. Nxe5 {
White has nothing better than picking up the gauntlet. It is not such a bad
option, by the way.} ({If} 6. Be2 Nxf3+ 7. Bxf3 Nf6 {the bishop does not stand
well in front of the f-pawn.}) 6... dxe5 7. a4 Nf6 {I must confess that I do
not quite understand why Black allows the blocking a4-a5 move while White does
not play it! It will be only nine moves later that Black will eventually play .
..b7-b6.} ({The more logical (and, in my opinion, better)} 7... b6 {has been
played only in one game between lower rated players, so there must be
something beyond my understanding.} 8. b3 {Mudrak,J (2313)-Rychlik,H (2044)
Nachod 2012 (1-0, 48)}) 8. b3 $146 (8. Re1 g6 (8... b6 9. Na3 Bb7 10. Nc4 Nd7
11. b3 e6 12. Bb2 Qg5 13. Re3 g6 14. Rg3 Qf6 15. Qe2 $16 {Trent,L (2429)
-Sutovsky,E (2684)/Caleta 2013/CBM 153 (0-1, 43)}) 9. Qe2 Bh6 10. Na3 b6 11. b3
O-O 12. Bb2 Qc7 13. Rad1 Bb7 14. f3 Nd7 15. Bc4 Nb8 {[%cal Gb8c6,Gc6d4] and
Black managed to equalise gradually in Flores Rios,M (2482)-Iturrizaga Bonelli,
E (2555)/Sao Paulo 2009/CBM 131 Extra (1/2, 30)}) ({I would play} 8. a5 {
without thinking twice!}) 8... Be6 ({If Black keeps developing normally, White
will gain a lot from having saved the tempo Rf1-e1 with respect to the two
games above; moreover, the rook is better placed on f1 in view of a possible
f2-f4.} 8... g6 9. Bb2 Qc7 10. Na3 Bg7 11. Nc4 Nh5 (11... Nd7 12. f4 $40) 12.
a5 $16) 9. Bb2 ({For once,} 9. a5 {oes not work>} Bxb3 $17) 9... Bxb3 10. Qe2 (
10. Bxa6 Rxa6 11. cxb3 Nxe4 12. Re1 Nf6 13. Bxe5 e6 14. Na3 {is not too clear.
White has a nice blockade, but on the other hand Black's structure is more
compact.}) (10. Bxe5 $2 Qxd3 $1) 10... c4 (10... Be6 11. Bxe5 $14) 11. Bxc4
Bxc4 12. Qxc4 $14 {The unusual exchanges have left White with the better
development and better pawn control in the centre.} Rc8 13. Qb3 Qc7 14. d3 e6 (
14... Qxc2 15. Qxb7 $16) 15. Nd2 Nd7 16. Nc4 ({This was the last moment when
White could block the queenside with} 16. a5 {Why did Carlsen refrain from
such a strategically advantageous move? Surely not because of} Qxc2 $2 17. Rac1
Qxb3 18. Rxc8+ Ke7 19. Nxb3 $18) 16... b6 {The worst is over for Black now.
The c4-knight will face the constant threat of ...b6-b5, which makes the
c2-pawn vulnerable.} 17. Kh1 Rb8 18. Qc3 f6 19. g3 b5 20. axb5 axb5 21. Ne3
Qxc3 22. Bxc3 b4 23. Bd2 b3 24. cxb3 Rxb3 25. Ra8+ Rb8 {Safest} (25... Kf7 26.
Rc1 Rxd3 27. Bb4 {would offer White a dangerous initiative.}) 26. Rxb8+ Nxb8
27. Rc1 Kd7 28. Rb1 Nc6 $11 {Black's position is absolutely normal and the
king's activity fully compensates for the slight delay in development.} 29. Nc4
Be7 30. f4 exf4 31. gxf4 Rb8 32. Rxb8 Nxb8 33. Kg2 Nc6 34. Bc3 Bc5 35. Kf3 Nd4+
36. Bxd4 Bxd4 37. f5 g6 38. fxe6+ Kxe6 39. h3 h5 40. Na5 Bb6 41. Nc4 Bd4 42.
Na5 Bb6 43. Nc4 Bd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 1st"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2013.05.13"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2767"]
[BlackElo "2868"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2013.05.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 155"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 {For a player like Carlsen, who rarely banks on the
opening, the Breyer variation must be an optimal choice. Black retains a
flexible position and things cannot go really wrong for him. In the worst case,
he would find himself in a slightly inferior position after 15-20 moves or so,
but Carlsen is quite good at converting such worse positions into... wins! The
important thing is to leave the opening behind with the minimum of damage and
then get to the complicated middlegame business, clearly Carlsen's piece of
cake.} 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. a4 Bf8 14. Bd3 c6 {A typical position for
this line. Black surely is flexible and has no weaknesses at all. He still has
useful moves at his disposal, mainly ...g6 and ...Bg7, but then will have to
come up with some counterplay in the centre. White has better control in the
centre, but in order to prove at least a slight advantage, he has to prepare
against Black's ...d6-d5, ...c6-c5 and ...exd4 in optimal way. Easier said
than done, especially in over the board conditions.} 15. Qc2 {A relatively
rare move.} ({Carlsen has had some experience against the more popular
continuations:} 15. b4 Nb6 16. axb5 cxb5 $5 (16... axb5 {1/2 Anand,V (2800)
-Carlsen,M (2826)/Nanjing 2010/CBM 139/[Giri] (44)}) 17. d5 Rc8 18. Ra3 (18.
Bb2 Nh5 {1/2 Shirov,A (2749)-Carlsen,M (2826)/Bilbao 2010/CBM 139/[Edouard,R] 
(175)}) 18... Nh5 19. Nf1 g6 20. N1h2 Bg7 {Anand,V (2800)-Carlsen,M (2826)/
Bilbao 2010/CBM 139/[Edouard,R] (1/2, 50)}) ({A previous Breyer duel between
the same two players went:} 15. b3 Qc7 ({Carlsen also tried the standard} 15...
g6 16. Bb2 exd4 17. cxd4 d5 {Nisipeanu,L (2659)-Carlsen,M (2815)/Medias 2011/
CBM 143/[Rogozenco] (1/2, 32)}) 16. Qc2 Rac8 17. Bb2 Nh5 {Karjakin,S (2760)
-Carlsen,M (2802)/Moscow (blitz) 2010/EXT 2011 (0-1, 31)}) 15... Rc8 16. axb5
axb5 17. b4 ({Slightly more ambitious, but also more committal, than} 17. b3 g6
18. Bb2 Qc7 19. c4 bxc4 20. Nxc4 exd4 21. Bxd4 {1/2 Vallejo Pons,F (2697)
-Grischuk,A (2760)/Khanty Mansiysk 2010/CBM 139} d5 $11) 17... Qc7 $5 $146 ({
Carlsen might have disliked the standard} 17... g6 {for concrete reasons.} 18.
dxe5 $5 ({After the neutral} 18. Bb2 {Black managed to get enough play in an
older top level game:} Nh5 19. g3 exd4 $5 20. cxd4 d5 21. Bc3 Nb6 22. e5 Rc7
23. Nb3 Bc8 24. Kg2 Ng7 25. Nh2 h5 $13 {(1/2, 56) Short,N (2635)-Portisch,L 
(2605)/Wijk aan Zee 1990/CBM 017}) 18... dxe5 19. Nb3 Qc7 (19... c5 $6 {
loses a pawn without compensation:} 20. bxc5 Nxc5 21. Nxc5 Rxc5 22. Ba3 $16)
20. Bg5 $1 h6 21. Be3 $14 {White retains some pressure, since after} c5 22.
bxc5 {the pawn is not that easy to retrieve because Ph6 is hanging.}) 18. Bb2 (
18. dxe5 dxe5 19. Nb3 {is completely inoffensive:} c5 20. bxc5 Nxc5 21. Nxc5
Qxc5 $11) 18... Ra8 $6 {But this counter-developing move does not seem right.}
(18... g6 {would leave White with the problem of how to strengthen his
position.} 19. Bf1 {Possibly the most constructive move. Once the b1-h7
diagonal has been safely defended by Black's last move, the bishop is more
useful on f1, defending g2 among others.} (19. c4 exd4 20. Bxd4 bxc4 21. Qxc4
d5 $11) (19. Nb3 c5 $1 20. bxc5 dxc5 21. dxe5 Nxe5 $132 22. Nxe5 $6 c4 $15) (
19. Rad1 d5 $5 20. exd5 exd4 21. Rxe8 Rxe8 22. dxc6 Qxc6 $11) 19... exd4 ({
Some of the metits of the bishop retreat can be seen after} 19... d5 $6 20.
exd5 exd4 $6 21. Rxe8 Rxe8 22. dxc6 Qxc6 23. Nxd4 $18 {and the g2-pawn is
defended.}) 20. cxd4 d5 21. e5 Nh5 22. Bc3 Ng7 23. Nb3 Nb6 {This is similar to
the Short-Portisch game above, but the move ...Qd8-c7 is at least a waste of
time. For instance, Black does not have the nice regrouping ...Rc7, ...Bc8
anymore. So, maybe White has better chances to retain some advantage.}) 19.
Rad1 Nb6 $6 {Paradoxically, this does not reduce the impact of c3-c4 at all.
In fact, weakening the defence of the e5-pawn will have serious effects.} ({
Given White's centralisation,} 19... g6 {looks dangerous, too:} 20. c4 bxc4 21.
Bxc4 (21. Qxc4 Ba6 $11) 21... exd4 22. Bxd4 $14 d5 23. Bxd5 Nxd5 24. exd5 Rxe1+
25. Nxe1 Bxb4 26. Ne4 $36 {Black is under pressure on bth wings. With the pawn
on g7, things would be different, but it is late to think about that now.}) ({
Black should probably have admitted that something had gone slightly wrong and
played some very safe move like} 19... h6 $5 {According to White's answer,
Black could next play ...g6 or ...d5. Or if} 20. c4 bxc4 21. Bxc4 exd4 22. Bxd4
{, the safest might be} Qc8 $5 {[%cal Gd6d5,Gb7a6] unpinning the c6-pawn and
preparing both ...d6-d5 and ...Ba6.} (22... Ba6 23. Bxa6 Rxa6 24. b5 $16) (
22... d5 23. e5 dxc4 24. exf6 {If he does not wish to see his kingside
structure ruined, Black has to spend a tempo on} g6 $14)) 20. c4 $1 bxc4 21.
Nxc4 Nxc4 22. Bxc4 $16 {White has wonderful development, with the bishops
deserving a special mention. This time, the Breyer has yielded Carlsen
slightly less than a worse but playable position.} h6 {Even now, this seems to
be the only move allowing him to put up some resistance.} (22... g6 $2 23. dxe5
dxe5 24. Ng5 Re7 25. f4 $18) (22... Ba6 $6 23. dxe5 (23. Bb3 $5 $16) 23... dxe5
24. Ra1 Bxc4 25. Rxa8 Rxa8 26. Bxe5 Qb6 27. Qxc4 Bxb4 28. Rb1 c5 29. Ng5 Qb7 (
29... Ra7 30. Bc3) 30. Qxc5) (22... exd4 23. Bxd4 d5 (23... Nxe4 $2 24. Bd5 Nf6
25. Ng5 $18 {Golubev}) 24. Bxd5 Nxd5 25. exd5 Rxe1+ 26. Rxe1 $16 Bxb4 $2 27.
Ng5 g6 28. Ne4 $18) 23. dxe5 (23. Bb3 {also looks playable, but may lead to
some undesired complications. White is entitled to hope to win the game by
technical means.} exd4 24. Nxd4 c5 25. Nf5 Nxe4 (25... Bxe4 $2 26. Rxe4 Nxe4
27. Bd5 $18) 26. f3 Qb6 $1 (26... Nf6 27. Nxh6+ $1 $18) 27. Re3 c4 28. Qxc4 Ng5
29. Bd4 Qc6 {and Black's position is worse, but probably holdable.}) 23... dxe5
24. Bc3 Ba6 {Aiming to get counterplay in a position that does not allow that.}
(24... Nd7 $2 25. Rxd7 Qxd7 26. Nxe5 Rxe5 27. Bxe5 Bxb4 28. Rd1 Qe7 29. Qb3 $18
) (24... g6 $6 25. Qb2 Nd7 (25... Bd6 26. Rxd6 Qxd6 27. Bxe5 Rxe5 28. Nxe5 $18)
26. Rxd7 Qxd7 27. Nxe5 Rxe5 28. Bxe5 $18) ({Maybe Black should have thought of
consolidating the e5-pawn with} 24... Re7 $5 25. Qb2 Rae8 {, although his
position would be rather cramped.}) 25. Bb3 c5 26. Qb2 c4 27. Ba4 Re6 28. Nxe5
Bb7 {Black has lost a pawn, but his light-squared bishop has become active and
for an instant White is slightly hanging.} 29. Bc2 $2 {This has a double
drawback: it cuts the queen off from the kingside and allows Black's optimal
regrouping with the next move.} (29. Bb5 $1 $16 {[%csl Gc4,Ge8]} Ba6 (29...
Nxe4 30. Rd7 $18 {Golubev}) (29... Bxe4 30. Bxc4 Rxe5 31. Bxe5 Qxc4 32. Rd4 Qc2
33. Qxc2 Bxc2 34. b5 $18 {Golubev}) 30. Bd7 Rb6 (30... Re7 31. Bc6 $16) 31. b5
Bxb5 32. Bxb5 Rab8 33. Ba5 $18) 29... Rae8 $1 30. f4 Bd6 $44 {Suddenly, Black
has entirely adequate compensation. He is threatening ...Nh5 followed by
either ...f6 or ...g5, undermining White's stability in the centre.} 31. Kh2 $6
{This is hard to explain, the king does not stand well on the same diagonal as
the black queen and bishop.} (31. g3 Nh5 32. Re3 g5 33. Ba4 R8e7 34. Qe2 (34.
Qf2 gxf4 35. gxf4 f6) (34. Qg2 f5) 34... gxf4 35. Qg4+ (35. Nxf7 fxe3 36. Qxh5
Rxf7 37. Qg4+ Kh7 38. Qxe6 $13) 35... Kf8 36. gxf4 Nf6 37. Qf5 Bxe4 38. Rxe4
Nxe4 39. Qxe4 Bxe5 40. Bxe5 Qa7+ 41. Qd4 Qxa4 42. Bd6 $11) (31. Re3 Nh5 {
is likely to transpose.}) 31... Nh5 32. g3 f6 33. Ng6 Nxf4 $1 {White is in
trouble already. This seemed virtually impossible 10 moves earlier. What kind
of magic does Magnus use?} 34. Rxd6 (34. gxf4 Bxf4+ 35. Kg2 (35. Nxf4 Qxf4+ 36.
Kg2 f5 $19) (35. Kh1 Rxe4 36. Bxe4 Rxe4 37. Kg1 Bd2 $1 $18 {[%cal Gc7g3]})
35... f5) 34... Nxg6 35. Rxe6 Rxe6 $15 36. Bd4 $6 (36. Qc1 $5 $15) 36... f5 $17
{Winning a pawn.} 37. e5 Nxe5 38. Bxe5 Qc6 39. Rg1 (39. Bxf5 Rxe5) (39. Be4
fxe4 40. Re3 $17) 39... Qd5 40. Bxf5 Rxe5 41. Bg4 h5 42. Bd1 c3 43. Qf2 (43.
Qxc3 Qa2+ 44. Qc2 Qxc2+ 45. Bxc2 Re2+) 43... Rf5 44. Qe3 Qf7 45. g4 Re5 {
An elegant solution.} ({The simple} 45... Qc7+ {was good enough, of course.}
46. Rg3 (46. Qg3 Rf2+) 46... Qc6 (46... h4 $2 47. gxf5) 47. Rg1 c2 48. Qb3+ Kh8
49. Qxc2 Qd6+ 50. Rg3 h4) 46. Qd4 Qc7 $1 {[%csl Rh2][%cal Gc3c2,Ge5e3,Ge5d5]}
0-1

[Event "Norway Chess 1st"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2013.05.14"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D32"]
[WhiteElo "2868"]
[BlackElo "2745"]
[Annotator "Sumets,A"]
[PlyCount "135"]
[EventDate "2013.05.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 155"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. d4 d5 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Bb5 Bd6 8. O-O
O-O 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. b3 Bg4 11. Bb2 a6 {Black has several options to achieve a
playable position.} (11... Bd6 12. h3 Bh5 13. Be2 a6 14. Nh4 $1 {A typical
manoeuvre when you are fighting against the isolated pawn} Bxe2 15. Nxe2 Re8
16. Rc1 Ne4 17. Nf5 Be5 18. Bxe5 Rxe5 19. Nfd4 Qd7 20. Nf4 Rae8 21. Nxc6 bxc6
22. Qc2 c5 23. Rfd1 $14 {Kramnik,V-Polgar,J Presidents Cup Baku AZE 2010 1/2-1/
2 (67)}) (11... Rc8 12. Rc1 a6 (12... Bd6 13. h3 Bh5 14. Be2 a6 15. Nh4 Bxe2
16. Nxe2 Be5 (16... Re8 $5 17. Nf3 Ne4) 17. Bxe5 Nxe5 18. Qd4 Re8 19. Nf5 Rxc1
20. Rxc1 Qd7 21. Nfg3 $14 {Grachev,B-Chadaev,N TCh- RUS Loo 2013 1-0 (54)}) 13.
Be2 Ba7 {leads to the game Topalov,V-Karjakin,S.} 14. h3 Bh5 15. Nh4 Bg6 16.
Nxg6 hxg6 17. Bf3 d4 18. exd4 Bxd4 19. Na4 Bxb2 20. Nxb2 Nd4 21. Rxc8 Nxf3+ 22.
Qxf3 Qxc8 $11 {Topalov,V-Karjakin,S Stavanger NOR Blitz 2013 0-1 (64)}) 12.
Bxc6 (12. Be2 Ba7 13. Rc1 Qd7 (13... Rc8 {leads again to Topalov,V-Karjakin,S.}
) 14. Na4 Ne4 15. Ne5 $2 {It's hard to believe, but after this logical move
White's position became very difficult} (15. Nd4 Bxe2 16. Nxe2 Rfe8 $11) 15...
Nxe5 16. Bxe5 Bxe2 17. Qxe2 Rfe8 18. Qb2 $6 (18. Bb2 b5 19. Nc3 Nxf2 20. Rxf2
Bxe3 21. Qf1 Re6 22. Nd1 Bxc1 23. Bxc1 Rae8 $17) 18... b5 19. Bxg7 bxa4 20. Bh8
f6 (20... Qg4 $1 21. Rc7 a3 22. Qa1 Nxf2 23. Rxf2 Bxe3 $19) 21. Bxf6 a3 22. Qa1
Nxf6 23. Qxf6 d4 $17 {Lauber,A-Landa,K Bundesliga Hamburg 2012 0-1 (42)}) 12...
bxc6 13. Rc1 Ba7 (13... Bd6 14. Ne2 Rc8 (14... c5 $5 15. Bxf6 Qxf6 16. Qxd5
Rad8 $44) 15. Ng3 (15. Ne5 $5 Bxe2 16. Qxe2 Qe8 17. Nf3 $14) 15... Re8 16. Qd3
Ne4 17. Nd2 $6 Nxg3 18. hxg3 h5 19. Nf3 Bxf3 $6 20. gxf3 Qg5 21. f4 Qg4 22. Kg2
h4 23. Rh1 $1 hxg3 24. Rh3 $3 $16 {1-0 Peralta,F-Swinkels,R/Wijk aan Zee NED
2013 (31)}) 14. Ne2 {A simple but strong move. In one game White tried his
knight on c5. Nothing good came of it.} (14. Na4 $6 Qd6 15. Rc4 $6 Qe6 16. Nc5
Qc8 17. Rc1 Ne4 18. b4 Bxc5 19. bxc5 f6 20. Qd4 Bxf3 21. gxf3 Ng5 $15 {0-1
Nielsen,U-Sax,G/Vejle 1994/CBM 040 (46)}) 14... Qd6 (14... Bxf3 15. gxf3) 15.
Be5 Qe7 16. Ned4 (16. Rxc6 $4 Bxf3 17. Bxf6 Qd7 $19) 16... Bxf3 $6 {T.
Radjabov decided to play solidly. This desire is very understandable to anyone
who has seen M. Carlsen's elo. However it seems that 16...c5 was stronger.} (
16... c5 17. Nc6 Qe6 18. Bxf6 (18. Nxa7 $2 Bxf3 19. Qxf3 Qxe5 20. Nc6 Qd6 21.
Na5 Qb6 $17) 18... Qxc6 19. Be7 Rfc8 20. Bxc5 Bxc5 21. b4 Qb5 22. bxc5 Rxc5 23.
Rxc5 Qxc5 $11 {The position is very close to equal.}) 17. Nxf3 Rfc8 18. Qd3 a5
(18... Ne4 $5 19. Bb2 a5 20. Rc2 a4 21. Rfc1 axb3 22. axb3 Qe6 $14 {White is
slightly better, but it seems to me that if Black plays precisely he is out of
danger.}) 19. Bxf6 $1 Qxf6 20. Rc2 Rd8 (20... a4 $6 21. b4 Qd6 22. a3 g6 23.
Rfc1 Rc7 24. Nd4 Bxd4 25. Qxd4 Rac8 26. Rc5 $16) 21. Rfc1 c5 (21... d4 $6 22.
e4 $1 (22. exd4 Bxd4 23. Nxd4 Rxd4 24. Qc3 g6 25. Qxc6 Qxc6 26. Rxc6 a4 $14 {
the endgame is rather drawish}) 22... c5 {Black's bishop, which is responsible
for the c5-pawn, is not a very active piece. Gradually White will create an
attack on the kingside.}) 22. e4 $6 (22. Qb5 $1 h6 (22... Bb6 23. Ne5 $1 Qxe5
24. Qxb6 $16) 23. Qxa5 Bb6 24. Qd2 Ba5 25. Qd3 Bb4 26. a4 $16 {Black doesn't
have compensation for the pawn.}) 22... Qg6 $1 23. Re1 dxe4 $1 {Black has an
almost equal endgame.} (23... d4 $6 {See the comments to the 21st move.}) 24.
Qxe4 Qxe4 25. Rxe4 Rd1+ 26. Re1 Rxe1+ 27. Nxe1 Rd8 28. Kf1 (28. a4 $6 Rd1 29.
Kf1 Rb1 30. Rc3 g6 {Black's rook is very active.}) 28... a4 $1 29. bxa4 $1 {
The only chance to play for a win.} Rd4 30. a5 Ra4 31. Rd2 Kf8 32. Nd3 f6 (
32... c4 $2 33. Nb2 Rb4 (33... Rxa2 34. Nxc4 $16) 34. a3) 33. Nb2 Rxa5 $1 (
33... Rxa2 $2 34. Nc4 Ra4 35. Rd8+ Ke7 36. Ra8 Rxc4 37. Rxa7+ Kf8 38. Rc7 $1
$16) 34. Nc4 Ra4 $11 35. Rc2 Ke7 36. Ke2 Ke6 37. Kd3 Kd5 38. a3 h5 39. h3 h4
40. Rc1 g6 41. Rc2 $1 g5 42. Rc1 $22 {Black's king and rook are placed
perfectly. Unfortunately he is forced to remove one of them and White will
play Re1.} Ra6 $1 (42... Bb8 $4 43. Nb6+) 43. Re1 Bb8 44. Re7 Bf4 (44... Be5
45. a4 Bd4 46. Re2 Be5 47. a5 Bd4 $11 {I don't see how White can make any
progress}) 45. Kc3 f5 $2 {A very serious mistake.} (45... Be5+ $1 46. Kb3 (46.
Kd3 Bd4 47. f3 Be5 $11) 46... Kd4 47. a4 (47. Rd7+ Ke4 48. a4 Bd4) 47... Kd3
48. a5 Bd4 49. f3 Ra8 50. Re6 (50. Rb7 $2 Ke2) 50... Rb8+ 51. Rb6 Ra8 52. Re6
$11) 46. Kb3 g4 47. a4 gxh3 48. gxh3 Rg6 49. a5 $16 Rg1 50. a6 Rb1+ 51. Kc3 $6
(51. Ka2 $1 {The endgame should be winning for White} Rb4 (51... Rb8 52. a7
Kxc4 53. axb8=Q Bxb8 54. Kb2 $18) 52. Ne3+ Bxe3 53. Rxe3 Rb8 54. a7 Ra8 55. Ra3
$18) 51... Rc1+ 52. Kd3 $6 (52. Kb3 $1 Rb1+ (52... Rxc4 53. Rd7+ Bd6 (53... Kc6
54. Kxc4 Kxd7 55. a7) 54. Rxd6+ Kxd6 55. Kxc4 Kc6 56. a7 $18) 53. Ka2) 52...
Rd1+ 53. Ke2 $2 (53. Kc3 $1 {He should have changed his mind and put his king
on a2} Rc1+ 54. Kb3 Rb1+ 55. Ka2) 53... Ra1 54. Nb6+ Kd6 55. Rg7 Kc6 56. Rg6+
Kb5 57. Nd5 Be5 $2 {After this weak move Black is in trouble again. He could
make a draw after 57....Ra2.} (57... Ra2+ $1 58. Kf3 Bd2 $1 59. Rd6 Kc4 60. Ne7
Ra3+ 61. Kg2 (61. Ke2 Bf4 62. Re6 Rxh3 63. Nxf5 Kb5 $11) 61... Ra2 62. Re6 (62.
Nxf5 Be1 $11) 62... f4 63. Kf3 Kb5 64. Nd5 c4 65. Ke4 Be1 $1 66. Rg6 c3 67. Rg1
Ra1 68. Nxc3+ Kxa6 69. Ne2 Ra4+ 70. Kf3 Ra3+ 71. Kxf4 Bxf2 $11) 58. Rb6+ Kc4
59. Ne3+ Kc3 60. f4 $1 Bd4 61. Nxf5 c4 62. Rc6 Rh1 $2 (62... Bg1 $1 {The most
stubborn continuation.} 63. Ne3 (63. Nxh4 $6 Kb4 64. Ng6 Bd4 $13) 63... Ra2+
64. Kf3 Kd4 65. Nxc4 Kd5 66. Ne5 Bd4 67. Rf6 (67. Rh6 Bxe5 68. Rh5 (68. fxe5
Kxe5 69. Rh5+ Kf6 70. Rh8 Kg7 71. Ra8 $11) 68... Ra3+ $1 (68... Rxa6 $2 69.
Rxe5+ Kd6 70. Kg4 $18) 69. Kg4 Ke6 70. Rxe5+ Kf6 71. Rh5 Kg7 72. Kxh4 Rxa6 {
a theoretical draw}) 67... Bxe5 68. Rf5 Ke6 $1 69. Rxe5+ Kf6) 63. Nd6 $18 {
Now Black's position is completely hopeless.} Rh2+ 64. Kf3 Kd3 65. Rxc4 Rxh3+
66. Kg4 Rh1 67. Ra4 Bf2 68. Ra3+ 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 1st"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2013.05.15"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Hammer, Jon Ludvig"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2608"]
[BlackElo "2868"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2013.05.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 155"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 a5 7. Qc2 Bxd2+ 8.
Qxd2 c6 9. a4 Ne4 $5 {A relatively unexplored continuation. Rather than
sticking to his extra pawn, Black intends to return it and get a solid
position with comfortable development and prospects for counterplay.} ({
The main line goes} 9... b5 {, the last top level example being} 10. Na3 {
Anand,V (2787)-Topalov,V (2805)/Sofia 2010/CBM 136/[Marin,M] (1-0, 32)}) 10.
Qc2 {The most frequent and at the same time most natural answer. The queen
attacks the knight and the pawn, allowing the rapid connection between the
rooks. The only drawback of this move is placing the queen on a vulnerable
square, causing White to spend another tempo after the predictable ...Na6-b4.}
(10. Qc1 {avoids this deffect, but is not without some hidden deffects.} Nd6
11. Ne5 Na6 {After this mechanical move, White has chances to retain an edge.}
(11... Qb6 $5 {is based on the fact that with the queen on c1 White may not be
so well prepared to sacrifice the d4-pawn.} 12. e3 f6 13. Nxc4 Nxc4 14. Qxc4
Qxb2 $44 {Black's extra pawn should compensate for White's space advantage and
active bishop.}) 12. O-O O-O 13. Nd2 Nb4 14. Ndxc4 f6 15. Rd1 Nxc4 16. Nxc4 Bd7
17. e4 Be8 18. Qc3 $14 {Yevseev,D (2520)-Makarov,M (2518)/St Petersburg 2010/
CBM 137 (1-0, 45)}) (10. Qe3 Nd6 (10... Qb6 11. O-O Qxb2 12. Na3 Nc3 13. Nd2
$16) 11. Nbd2 O-O 12. O-O b5 (12... Na6 {looks like an important alternative.}
13. Rfc1 Nb4 14. Nxc4 Nxc4 15. Rxc4 Qd6 {In view of the threat Ne5, Black has
to delay ...b6 for a while.} 16. Rac1 Rd8 17. Ne5 $6 f6 18. Nd3 Nd5 19. Qd2 Nb6
{[%csl Ga4,Gd4]}) 13. Qf4 Bb7 14. e4 Na6 15. e5 Nf5 16. g4 Ne7 17. Ne4 Ng6 18.
Qg3 Nb4 $13 {Ju Wenjun (2528)-Kosteniuk,A (2489)/Istanbul 2012 (1/2, 64)}) (10.
Qf4 Nd6 ({With the queen on f4,} 10... Qb6 {looks more playable than after
Qd2-e3, since the e2-pawn is hanging.} 11. O-O Qxb2 12. Nbd2 Nc3 13. Qe3 Nd5
$13) 11. Na3 Na6 12. Ne5 O-O 13. O-O Nb4 14. Naxc4 Nxc4 15. Nxc4 b6 16. Rfd1
Ba6 17. Rac1 Rb8 18. b3 Qe7 19. Rd2 f6 {Black has a flexible position and
launched his counterplay a few moves later in Cioara,A (2483)-Landa,K (2641)/
Germany 2012/CBM 152 (0-1, 40)}) 10... Nd6 11. Nbd2 (11. O-O Na6 12. Na3 Nb4
13. Qc1 b5 (13... O-O {is in the spirit of our main game.}) 14. Ne5 Ra6 15. Rd1
Bd7 16. e4 O-O 17. d5 cxd5 {1/2 Brunello,S (2475)-Korneev,O (2651)/Porto Mannu
2008/CBM 124 Extra. Massive simplifications are to be expected.}) (11. Ne5 Na6
(11... Qb6 {could be met with} 12. Na3 Qxd4 13. Naxc4 Nxc4 14. Nxc4 {, since
the queen does not prevent the rapid rook activation in the centre.}) 12. Na3 (
12. e3 Nb4 13. Qc3 O-O 14. O-O Qc7 15. Na3 b6 16. Naxc4 Nxc4 {1/2 Melkumyan,H 
(2593)-Nielsen,P (2670)/Aix-les-Bains 2011/CBM 142}) 12... Nb4 13. Qc3 Nd5 14.
Qc2 Qb6 15. O-O-O {Quite an unusual plan. The king is not that exposed and
could become active in the endgame.} Qb4 16. Naxc4 Nxc4 17. Qxc4 f6 18. Qxb4
axb4 19. Nd3 Rxa4 20. Kc2 Ke7 21. Kb3 Ra8 22. Ra1 Rxa1 23. Rxa1 Rd8 24. Ra7 Kd6
25. Nxb4 Nc7 $11 {(0-1, 57) Zablotsky,S (2518)-Maletin,P (2556)/Novokuznetsk
2007/EXT 2009. The reduced material on board and the excellent king
centralisation allows Black to have confidence in his chances.}) (11. Na3 b5 (
11... Na6 12. Nxc4 Nb4) 12. Ne5 (12. O-O Ra7 13. e4) 12... Ra6 13. O-O Rb6 {
0-1 (40) Chapman,T (2279)-Shirov,A (2708)/Hinckley ENG 2013/TWC 965}) 11... Na6
12. Nxc4 Nb4 13. Nxd6+ Qxd6 14. Qd2 O-O 15. O-O Rd8 $146 {A new move which
does not change the essence of the position, though.} (15... b6 16. Rac1 Ba6
17. Rfd1 Rac8 18. Bf1 Rfd8 19. Qf4 Qxf4 20. gxf4 f6 21. e3 {1/2 Ragger,M (2662)
-Wojtaszek,R (2705)/Porto Carras 2011/CBM 146}) 16. Rfd1 b6 17. Qc3 Ba6 18. Rd2
Rac8 $11 {This is the kind of position Black has been aiming for. After the
exchange of two minor pieces, Black's relative lack of space does not cause
him any problems of coordination. The b4-knight is very strong and the
thematic break ...c6-c5 is in the air.} 19. Rad1 Qe7 20. h4 c5 {Black could
still have prepared this pawn break.} (20... Rc7 {[%cal Gf7f6,Ge7f7,Gc7d7] In
the meanwhile, it would not be easy to suggest an active plan for White.}) 21.
dxc5 Rd5 {This was probably meant to confuse the opponent and it eventually
did.} (21... Rxd2 22. Qxd2 Qxc5 $11 {looks safe enough.}) 22. Rxd5 (22. Ne5 $5
{may have retained some initiative for White:} Bxe2 $1 (22... Rcxc5 23. Qe3
Rxd2 24. Rxd2 Nd5 25. Qb3 $14 {[%csl Gb6,Gd7][%cal Ge2e4]}) 23. Bxd5 Bxd1 24.
Bc4 Bxa4 25. cxb6 {[%cal Gc3a3] This pawn will not be easy to eliminate, which
keeps Black under some prolonged pressure.} Be8 (25... Qc5 26. Bxe6 $1 Qxc3 27.
bxc3 fxe6 28. cxb4 axb4 29. Ra2 Bb5 30. b7 $18) 26. Qd4 (26. Qa3 Qc5) 26... Rb8
27. Bf1 Nd5 28. Nc4 Bb5 29. Qe5 Qf8 30. b3 $5 $14 {/=}) 22... Nxd5 23. Qe5 Qxc5
24. Bh3 Re8 25. Nd4 Kf8 26. Bf1 ({In for a penny...} 26. Bxe6 Nf6 (26... fxe6
$2 27. Nxe6+ Rxe6 28. Qxe6 $18) 27. Qf5 Qxf5 28. Bxf5 Bxe2 $11) 26... Rc8 {
White did not play with a clear plan, but the position remains... safe for
both sides. The next move is simply asking for trouble.} 27. Nb5 $2 (27. Nf5
Nf6 28. Qxc5+ Rxc5 29. Rd8+ Ne8 30. Nd6 (30. Nxg7 Kxg7 31. Rxe8 Rc2 32. b3 Rc1
33. Kg2 Bb7+ 34. f3 Bd5 35. Rb8 Bxb3 36. Rxb6 Bxa4 37. Ra6 Rc5 $15 {[%cal
Ga4b3,Ga5a4]}) 30... Ke7 31. Rxe8+ Kxd6 32. Rd8+ Ke7 (32... Kc7 33. Rg8) 33.
Rb8 $11) 27... Bxb5 28. axb5 Nf6 {The b5-pawn is very weak. Besides, the
absence of the knight prevents White from creating any counterplay.} 29. Qd6+
Ke8 30. Qd3 Qd5 31. Qxd5 exd5 32. e4 (32. Rd2 Rc4 33. e3 Rb4 $17 {[%cal Ge8e7,
Ge7d6]}) (32. e3 Rc2 33. b4 axb4 34. Rb1 Ng4 $17) 32... Rc2 $1 (32... dxe4 33.
Rd6 Nd7 34. Bh3 Rc1+ 35. Kg2 Nc5 36. Rxb6 Rc2 $17 {This is not too easy to
evaluate in advance, so Carlsen's choice must be regarded as more technical.})
33. e5 (33. exd5 Rxb2 34. d6 Kd8) 33... Ne4 34. Rxd5 Rxb2 35. Rd4 Rb4 36. Rd1 (
36. Rxb4 axb4 37. Bc4 Nd2 $19) 36... a4 $19 37. Bg2 Nc3 38. Bc6+ Ke7 39. Rd7+
Ke6 40. Ra7 Kxe5 (40... Kxe5 41. Kf1 (41. Rxf7 a3 42. Ra7 Ra4 $19) 41... Rb3
42. Be8 f6 {[%csl Rb5][%cal Ge5d4,Gd4c5,Gc5b4]}) 0-1

[Event "Norway Chess 1st"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2013.05.17"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wang, Hao"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A35"]
[WhiteElo "2868"]
[BlackElo "2743"]
[Annotator "Sumets,A"]
[PlyCount "158"]
[EventDate "2013.05.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 155"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e5 4. d3 {According to ChessBase 4.g3 or 4.e3 is
more popular.} (4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. d3 Nge7 7. h4 h6 8. Bd2 d6 9. a3 Be6 10.
Rb1 a5 11. Qc1 Rc8 12. O-O b6 13. e4 Bg4 14. Re1 Kf8 15. Nd5 Nxd5 16. exd5 Bxf3
17. Bxf3 Nd4 18. Bg4 f5 19. Bd1 g5 $132 {Wang Yue-Grischuk,A Istanbul TUR 2012
0-1 (28)}) (4. e3 Nf6 5. d4 cxd4 6. exd4 e4 7. Ne5 Bb4 8. Be2 Qa5 9. O-O Nxe5
10. dxe5 Qxe5 11. Bd2 Bc5 12. Nb5 O-O 13. b4 Be7 (13... Bd4 14. Nxd4 Qxd4 15.
Bf4 Qxd1 16. Rfxd1 b6 17. a4 $44 {Buhmann,R (2579)-Gschnitzer,O (2444) Bonn
2011 1-0 (46)}) 14. f4 Qe6 15. Be3 Bxb4 16. Nc7 Qc6 17. Nxa8 b6 (17... Bc5 18.
Bxc5 Qxc5+ 19. Kh1 d6 20. Rb1 Bd7 $14) 18. Rb1 Bc5 19. Bxc5 bxc5 20. Rb8 $16 {
Aronian,L-Caruana,F Wijk aan Zee NED 2012 1-0 (47)}) 4... d6 5. a3 a5 6. g3
Nge7 (6... g6 7. Bg2 Bg7 8. O-O Nge7 9. Bd2 (9. Bg5 f6 (9... h6 $6 10. Bxe7 $1)
10. Bd2 Be6 11. Ne1 O-O 12. Nd5 Bf7 13. Nxe7+ Qxe7 14. Nc2 f5 15. Ne3 e4 16.
Nd5 Bxd5 17. cxd5 Ne5 18. dxe4 Nc4 19. exf5 Nxb2 20. Qc2 Qxe2 21. Ra2 Nc4 22.
Bc1 {1/2 Nisipeanu,L (2666)-Eljanov,P (2574) Andorra 2003}) (9. Ne1 O-O 10. Nc2
Rb8 (10... Be6 11. Ne3 Rb8 12. Ned5 h6 13. Rb1 Kh7 (13... f5 14. b4 axb4 15.
axb4 cxb4 16. Nxb4 Nxb4 17. Rxb4 d5 18. cxd5 Nxd5 19. Nxd5 Bxd5 20. Rb5 $14)
14. Bd2 f5 15. f4 Ng8 16. b4 axb4 17. axb4 cxb4 18. Nxb4 e4 19. Nbd5 $14 {
Podzielny, K-Sarakauskas,G/Bad Zwischenahn 2002 1-0 (39)}) 11. Rb1 Be6 12. b4
axb4 13. axb4 cxb4 14. Nxb4 Nxb4 15. Rxb4 d5 16. cxd5 Nxd5 17. Nxd5 Bxd5 18.
Rb5 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 Qd7 20. Qb3 $14 {1/2 (62)-1/2 Kramnik,V-Carlsen,M/ London
ENG 2012}) 9... O-O 10. Rb1 Rb8 11. Qa4 Be6 12. Nb5 d5 13. cxd5 Bxd5 14. Nc3 (
14. Rfc1 $5 b6 15. Nc3 Bxf3 16. Bxf3 Nd4 17. Bg2 b5 18. Qd1 $14) 14... Bxf3 15.
Bxf3 Nd4 16. Bg2 b5 17. Qd1 b4 18. Ne4 bxa3 19. bxa3 Rxb1 20. Qxb1 Nxe2+ 21.
Kh1 c4 22. dxc4 f5 $11 {Socko, B-Gershon,A Athens 2005 0-1 (41)}) 7. Bg2 g6 8.
Bg5 $1 $146 (8. O-O) 8... Bg7 9. Bxe7 $1 {In order to better understand
Carlsen's idea I advise you to look at the game Eingorn,V-Borovikov,V
Ordzhonikidze zt 2000 or the game Peelen,P-Polgar,S Hoogovens (B) Wijk aan Zee
1990. Both games were commented on by Ribli.} Qxe7 10. O-O O-O 11. Nd2 Be6 12.
Rb1 Rfc8 $1 {It is not so easy to understand Black's last move. Now Wang Hao
is very well prepared to meet b4.} 13. Nd5 {I think that Carlsen
underestimated the opponent's plan.} (13. e3 $5 Qd7 14. Qa4 Ra6 15. Bd5 Bf5 16.
Nde4 $14) 13... Qd8 14. b4 axb4 15. axb4 Bxd5 $1 {The point of Wang Hao's idea.
} ({Of course he didn't want to take on b4.} 15... cxb4 $6 16. Nxb4 Ra3 (16...
Nxb4 17. Rxb4 Ra2 18. Rxb7 $16) 17. Nd5 Ra7 18. e3 Ne7 19. Nxe7+ Qxe7 20. Rb6
$16 {Black should avoid such a position}) 16. Bxd5 cxb4 17. Ne4 {To regain the
pawn White needs to trade his bishop for Black's knight. It leads to an equal
game.} Rc7 {It would be nice to play f4 and to start an attack on the kingside.
Unfortunately, it's very difficult to put into practice.} 18. Qd2 (18. f4 $6
exf4 19. Rxf4 Be5 {After f4 the black bishop is a very strong piece.} 20. Rf1
Kg7 21. Qd2 h6 $15 {Black's position is better.}) 18... Kh8 $1 (18... h6 $6 19.
f4 $1 Kh7 (19... exf4 $2 20. Qxf4 Qe7 21. Qxd6 $16) 20. f5 $40) 19. Ra1 {
Carlsen accepted the fact that f4 doesn't work.} (19. f4 $2 exf4 20. Qxf4 f5 $1
21. Ng5 Nd4 22. Rf2 Be5 23. Qh4 Bf6 $17) 19... Rb8 ({Houdini recommends} 19...
Rxa1 $5 20. Rxa1 f5 21. Ng5 Bh6 22. Nf7+ Rxf7 23. Qxh6 Rc7 {It seems to me
that final position is better for White.}) 20. Rfb1 h6 21. Bxc6 {He has to
admit that position is equal.} bxc6 22. Rxb4 d5 $11 23. Rxb8 Qxb8 24. Nd6 e4 {
The position is completely equal.} (24... Bf8 25. c5 Kg7 26. Ra6 (26. Qe3 f6
27. d4 Ra7 28. Rxa7+ Qxa7 29. dxe5 Qa1+ 30. Kg2 Qxe5 $11) 26... Bxd6 27. cxd6
Rd7 28. Qc3 Qxd6 29. Rxc6 Qe7 $11) 25. Ra6 exd3 26. exd3 (26. Qxd3 Qb4 $1 27.
Ne8 dxc4 $1 28. Qd8 Qb1+ 29. Kg2 Qe4+ 30. Kg1 Qb1+ $11) 26... Kh7 27. Kg2 (27.
c5 Qb2 28. Qxb2 Bxb2) 27... dxc4 (27... Be5 28. c5 Qb2 29. Qxb2 Bxb2 30. Rb6
Bd4 31. Rb7 Rxb7 32. Nxb7 Kg7 33. Nd8 Bxc5 34. Nxc6 $11) 28. dxc4 Rd7 29. c5 ({
Carlsen could take the pawn} 29. Rxc6 {that leads to a draw:} Qa8 (29... Bf8
30. Qd5 Rxd6 (30... Qa8) 31. Qxf7+ Bg7 32. Qf4 Rd8 33. Qe4 Rd6 34. Qf4 Rd8 $11)
30. Qd5 Bf8 31. h4 h5 32. Kh3 Qa2 33. Kg2 Qa8 $11) 29... Bf8 30. Rb6 Qc7 31.
Rb3 Qa7 $1 (31... Bxd6 $2 32. Rd3 $16) 32. Rc3 $2 {After this mistake White
will fight for a draw.} (32. Qb4 Bxd6 33. cxd6 c5 34. Qf4 Qa8+ 35. Qf3 Qxf3+
36. Rxf3 Kg7 37. Rc3 Rxd6 38. Rxc5 $11) 32... Bxd6 33. cxd6 Qa5 $1 34. h4 Rxd6
35. Qe3 Qd5+ 36. Qf3 h5 (36... c5 $2 37. Rxc5 $1 $11) (36... Qxf3+ $5 {
Probably White should make a draw if he played precisely. However it seems to
me that Black's chances are higher than in the endgame with the extra d5-pawn}
37. Kxf3 Re6 {The white king is cut off from the queenside.}) 37. Qxd5 cxd5 38.
Kf3 $15 {It seems that the endgame is drawish and Magnus Carlsen mostly proved
it.} Kg7 39. Rc7 Kf6 40. Ke3 Ra6 41. Rd7 Ke6 42. Rb7 Ra3+ 43. Kf4 Ra4+ 44. Ke3
Re4+ 45. Kd3 $1 Re1 46. Rb6+ Kf5 47. Rb7 f6 48. Rd7 Re5 49. f3 $5 (49. Rd8 $5 {
also leads to a draw:} Kg4 50. Rg8 Kf3 51. Rxg6 Kxf2 52. Kd4 (52. Rxf6+ Kxg3
$19) 52... Rf5 53. Rg8 Rf3 54. Kxd5 Rxg3 55. Rh8 $11) 49... Ke6 50. Rg7 g5 51.
Rh7 g4 (51... gxh4 52. gxh4 Rf5 53. Ke3 d4+ 54. Kxd4 Rf4+ 55. Ke3 Rxh4 56. Kf2)
52. fxg4 ({White could make draw after} 52. f4 $5 Re1 53. Rxh5 Rg1 54. Kd4 Rxg3
55. Rxd5 f5 56. Ra5 Rf3 57. Ra6+ Kf7 58. Ke5) 52... hxg4 53. Rg7 f5 54. Rg6+
Kf7 55. Ra6 (55. h5 $5 Re1 56. Kd4 Rg1 57. Kxd5 Rxg3 58. Ke5 Rf3 59. Rg5 g3 60.
h6 $11) 55... Re1 56. Kd2 $2 {Why not 56.Kd4?} (56. Kd4 Re4+ 57. Kxd5 Re3 58.
h5 Rxg3 59. Ke5 Rf3 60. Ra7+ Kg8 61. Kf6 g3 62. h6 $11) 56... Rg1 {It seems to
me that White still could save the game but he needed to play very precisely.}
57. Ra3 Rg2+ 58. Ke1 Kf6 59. Kf1 Rc2 60. Ra6+ Ke5 61. h5 Rh2 62. h6 d4 63. Kg1
Rh3 64. Kg2 $2 {The decisive mistake.} (64. Kf2 $1 {It was necessary to take
control of the e3-square.} d3 65. Ra5+ Kd4 (65... Ke4 66. Ra4+) 66. Ra4+ Kc3
67. Ra3+ Kc2 68. Ra2+ Kb3 69. Ra6 Rh2+ (69... d2 70. Ke2 Rh2+ 71. Kd1 Kc3 72.
Ra3+ Kd4 73. h7 Ke4 74. h8=Q Rxh8 75. Kxd2 Rh2+ 76. Ke1 $11) 70. Kg1 (70. Ke1
$2 Kc3 71. Ra3+ Kd4 72. Ra4+ Ke3) 70... Rh3 71. Kf2 $11) 64... d3 $19 65. Ra5+
Kd4 66. Ra4+ Kc3 67. Ra6 (67. Ra3+ Kd2 68. Ra2+ Ke3 $19) 67... d2 68. Rc6+ Kd3
69. Rd6+ Kc2 70. Rc6+ Kd1 71. Rd6 f4 $1 {Wang Hao calculated everything till
the end.} 72. gxf4 Ke2 73. Re6+ Re3 74. Rxe3+ Kxe3 75. h7 d1=Q 76. h8=Q Qf3+
77. Kg1 Qf2+ 78. Kh1 Qf1+ 79. Kh2 g3+ 0-1

[Event "Norway Chess 1st"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2013.05.18"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D63"]
[WhiteElo "2813"]
[BlackElo "2868"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2013.05.08"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 155"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 O-O 7. Rc1 a6 8. Qc2
{This move is hardly dangerous for Black, as well as} (8. cxd5) (8. c5 {
is crucial.}) 8... dxc4 {I don't like this move allowing White's bishop to
come to c4 at once. Other popular options:} (8... h6) (8... c6) (8... Re8) 9.
Bxc4 c5 {The most accurate move order.} (9... b5 10. Bd3 Bb7 (10... c5 11. Bxf6
Nxf6 12. Ne4 $1 Qa5+ 13. Ke2 Bb7 14. Nxf6+ Bxf6 {1/2 (24) Lisanti,A (2330)
-Zude,A (2465) Bruchkoebel 1993} 15. dxc5 $14) 11. Bxf6 $5 Nxf6 12. Ne4 Nxe4
13. Bxe4 Bxe4 14. Qxe4 c5 15. dxc5 Qa5+ 16. b4 Qxa2 17. O-O a5 {0-1 (25)
Boudiba,M (2373)-Triger,F (2196) Noisy le Grand 2003} 18. Ra1 $1 Qc4 19. Qxc4
bxc4 20. Rxa5 Rxa5 21. bxa5 Bxc5 22. Ra1 c3 23. Kf1 $14 {_|_}) 10. Be2 (10. a4
cxd4 11. exd4 h6 12. Bd2 Nb6 13. Ba2 Bd7 14. O-O Rc8 $36 {0-1 (44) Tartakower,
S-Kmoch,H Vienna 1928}) (10. O-O b5 11. Bd3 (11. Be2 cxd4 $1 12. Nxd4 Bb7 $11)
11... cxd4 (11... c4 $5 12. Be2 Bb7 13. a3 h6 14. Bh4 Rc8 15. e4 Nh5 16. Bxe7
Qxe7 17. Qd2 Rfd8 18. Qe3 Nhf6 $11 {1/2 (57) Schmidt,W (2505)-Ardiansyah,H 
(2330) Dubai 1986}) 12. Nxd4 Bb7 13. Rfd1 h6 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15. Be4 Bxe4 16.
Nxe4 Bxd4 17. Rxd4 Rc8 18. Qxc8 {1/2 (18) Parmentier,X (2348)-Roos,J (2307)
Germany 2003}) (10. dxc5 {is the most principled continuation:} Nxc5 11. O-O b5
12. Rfd1 (12. Be2 Bb7 (12... b4 13. Na4 Nxa4 14. Qxa4 Bd7 15. Qc2 h6 16. Bh4
Rc8 17. Qd2 a5 18. Qd4 Nd5 19. Bxe7 Qxe7 20. Ne5 $14 {1-0 (43) Piket,J (2540)
-Hjartarson,J (2555) Tilburg 1989}) 13. Rfd1 Qa5 $1 (13... Qb6 14. Bxf6 Bxf6
15. b4 $16 {1-0 (23) Piket,J (2500)-Ioseliani,N (2480) Spijkenisse 1989}) 14.
a3 Rac8 $1 15. Nd2 (15. b4 Qxa3 16. bxc5 Rxc5 {[%cal Rb7f3,Rb5b4]}) 15... Na4
$15 {1/2 (30) Yanvarjov,I (2425)-Ubilava,E (2525) Villalba 1995}) 12... Qe8 $1
(12... Qb6 13. Be2 Bb7 $140 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15. b4) 13. Be2 Bb7 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15.
Nxb5 axb5 16. Qxc5 Rxa2 17. Bxb5 Qa8 18. Bc6 Bxc6 19. Qxc6 {1/2 (19) Panelo
Munoz,M (2418)-Gonzalez Garcia,J (2503) Barcelona 2006}) 10... b5 11. a4 b4 12.
Ne4 cxd4 $1 $146 {A minor improvement on the previous game. Pay attention to
the fact that in this structure it is generally better for Black to trade the
central pawns himself (...c5xd4) than to wait for White's d4xc5. Of course,
Black should make sure that the invasion of White's knight (Nd4-c6) will not
be dangerous:} (12... Bb7 13. Bxf6 gxf6 14. Nxc5 Nxc5 15. dxc5 Rc8 16. Qb3 Rxc5
17. O-O Qb6 18. Rc4 Rxc4 19. Qxc4 Rd8 20. Qg4+ Kh8 21. Qh5 Kg8 {1/2 (24)
Tallaksen,G (2402)-Kveinys,A (2540) Oslo 2006 , and now, had White wished, he
could have continued fighting for an edge by means of} 22. Rc1) 13. Nxf6+ (13.
Nxd4 $144 Bb7) 13... Nxf6 14. Nxd4 Bb7 15. Nc6 {White decided to simplify the
game.} (15. Bf3 $6 Rc8 16. Qb1 Rxc1+ 17. Qxc1 Bxf3 18. Nxf3 Qd3 {K.Landa}) (15.
O-O Rc8 16. Qb3 Qa5 17. Bf3 Bxf3 18. Nxf3 h6 19. Bxf6 Bxf6 20. Rfd1 (20. Nd2
Qd5 21. Nc4 Bc3 $1 {K.Landa}) 20... Rc5 $36) 15... Bxc6 16. Qxc6 Rc8 (16... Qa5
17. Bxf6 Bxf6 18. b3 Bc3+ 19. Kf1 $11 {[%cal Yg2g3,Yf1g2]}) 17. Qxc8 Qxc8 18.
Rxc8 Rxc8 19. O-O a5 (19... Rc2 20. Bxa6 Rxb2 21. Bc4 Rc2 22. Bb3 $11 {K.Landa}
) 20. b3 Kf8 21. Bxf6 Bxf6 22. Rd1 Rc3 23. Bc4 h5 24. Kf1 Ke7 25. Ke2 Be5 26.
h3 h4 27. Rd3 Rc2+ 28. Rd2 Rc3 29. Rd3 Rc2+ 30. Rd2 Rc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 8th Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2013.06.12"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Andreikin, Dmitry"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2864"]
[BlackElo "2713"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2013.06.12"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bxd2+ 6. Qxd2 Ba6 7. b3 c6 8.
Bg2 d5 9. Qc2 O-O 10. Nbd2 Nbd7 11. e4 c5 12. O-O cxd4 13. exd5 d3 14. Qxd3
exd5 15. Rfe1 Rc8 16. Nd4 Qc7 17. Rac1 dxc4 18. Nxc4 Ne5 19. Qb1 Bxc4 20. bxc4
Rfd8 21. Rcd1 Nxc4 22. Nc6 Rxd1 23. Qxd1 Re8 24. Rxe8+ Nxe8 25. Qe2 Ncd6 26.
Qa6 Kf8 27. Qxa7 Qxa7 28. Nxa7 Ke7 29. Bd5 Nc7 30. Nc6+ Kd7 31. Ne5+ Ke7 32.
Bb3 f6 33. Nc6+ Kd7 34. Nd4 Ne4 35. Bc2 Nc3 36. Bxh7 Nxa2 37. h4 Ke7 38. Bc2
Nc3 39. Kg2 b5 40. Kf3 Kf8 41. Bb3 Nb1 42. Kf4 Na3 43. Kf5 Nc4 44. Kg6 Ne5+ 45.
Kh7 Nd3 46. f4 Nc5 47. Bc2 b4 48. h5 N7e6 49. Nxe6+ Nxe6 50. Kg6 Nd4 51. Bd3 b3
52. h6 gxh6 53. Kxf6 b2 54. f5 h5 55. Kg5 Ne2 56. Kxh5 Nxg3+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 8th Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2013.06.12"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C66"]
[WhiteElo "2864"]
[BlackElo "2803"]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "2013.06.12"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. O-O g6 6. c3 Bg7 7. Re1 O-O 8. Bg5
h6 9. Bh4 Qe8 10. Nbd2 Nh5 11. d4 Bd7 12. dxe5 Nxe5 13. Bxd7 Qxd7 14. Nxe5 Bxe5
15. Nf3 Rae8 16. Nxe5 Rxe5 17. f3 Rfe8 18. Qd2 g5 19. Bf2 Nf4 20. Bg3 d5 21.
Rad1 Qc6 22. Bxf4 gxf4 23. Qxf4 dxe4 24. Re3 Qb6 25. Kh1 Qxb2 26. fxe4 Rg5 27.
Rg3 Qb5 28. h4 Rxg3 29. Qxg3+ Kf8 30. Qf4 Qc6 31. Rd5 Qxc3 32. Qxh6+ Qg7 33.
Qf4 f6 34. e5 Qf7 35. Qh6+ Qg7 36. Qxf6+ Qxf6 37. exf6 Re6 38. Rd7 Rxf6 39.
Rxc7 Rf4 40. g3 Ra4 41. Rxb7 Rxa2 42. Kg1 a5 43. Ra7 Kg8 44. h5 Kh8 45. Kf1 Kg8
46. h6 Ra4 47. Kg2 Rg4 48. Rxa5 Rg6 49. Rh5 Kh7 50. Kh3 Rf6 51. Kh4 Rg6 52. g4
Ra6 53. g5 Ra4+ 54. Kg3 Ra8 55. Rh4 Kg6 56. Rg4 Ra3+ 57. Kh4 Ra6 58. Re4 Rb6
59. Kg4 Ra6 60. Kf4 Rb6 61. Re7 Rb4+ 62. Ke5 Rb5+ 63. Ke4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 8th Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2013.06.12"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C90"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2864"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2013.06.12"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. O-O Be7 6. c3 O-O 7. Re1 a6 8. Ba4
Re8 9. Nbd2 Bf8 10. Nf1 b5 11. Bb3 Na5 12. Bc2 c5 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bxf6 Qxf6 15.
Ne3 Be6 16. Nd2 g6 17. a4 h5 18. axb5 axb5 19. Qe2 Bh6 20. Ra3 Bxe3 21. Qxe3 b4
22. Ra4 Nc6 23. Rea1 Rab8 24. Ra6 Rec8 25. Ba4 Nd8 26. Qe1 Qe7 27. Nf1 Ra8 28.
Bb5 Rxa6 29. Bxa6 Ra8 30. Ne3 bxc3 31. bxc3 Qa7 32. Ra4 Qb6 33. Qa1 Nc6 34. h3
Ne7 35. Bc4 Rxa4 36. Qxa4 Bxc4 37. Qxc4 Kg7 38. g3 Ng8 39. Nd5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 8th Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2013.06.12"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2864"]
[BlackElo "2784"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2013.06.12"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bg5 Bg7 4. Nbd2 O-O 5. c3 d6 6. e4 h6 7. Bh4 c5 8. dxc5
dxc5 9. Be2 Nc6 10. O-O Nh5 11. Re1 Nf4 12. Bf1 Nd3 13. Re3 Nde5 14. Nxe5 Bxe5
15. Nc4 Qxd1 16. Rxd1 Bc7 17. e5 Be6 18. f4 b5 19. Nd2 c4 20. Bf2 Rfd8 21. Ree1
Bg4 22. Be2 Bxe2 23. Rxe2 Rd5 24. Rf1 g5 25. g3 gxf4 26. gxf4 f5 27. Nf3 e6 28.
a4 a6 29. Ra1 b4 30. cxb4 Rb8 31. b5 axb5 32. axb5 Rdxb5 33. Rc2 Na5 34. Nd4
Nb3 35. Nxb3 Rxb3 36. Rxc4 Bb6 37. Bxb6 R3xb6 38. Kh1 Rxb2 39. Rg1+ Kf8 40. Rc6
R2b6 41. Rxb6 Rxb6 42. Rg6 Rb4 43. Rxh6 Kf7 44. Rh4 Kg6 45. Kg2 Rb2+ 46. Kf3
Rb3+ 47. Ke2 Rb2+ 48. Ke3 Kg7 49. Kd4 Rd2+ 50. Kc5 Rd5+ 51. Kc6 Rd2 52. Rh3 Rd4
53. Ra3 Kf7 54. Ra7+ Kg6 55. Re7 Rxf4 56. Rxe6+ Kf7 57. Kd7 Rd4+ 58. Rd6 Rxd6+
59. Kxd6 f4 60. Kd7 f3 61. e6+ Kg7 62. e7 f2 63. e8=Q f1=Q 64. Qe5+ Qf6 65.
Qxf6+ Kxf6 66. h4 Kg6 67. h5+ Kxh5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 8th Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2013.06.12"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2774"]
[BlackElo "2864"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2013.06.12"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. Nc3 e5 5. O-O d6 6. d3 Be7 7. Bg5 O-O 8. Bxf6
Bxf6 9. Nd5 Be6 10. Bc4 g6 11. c3 Bg7 12. a3 Kh8 13. b4 f5 14. Rb1 b6 15. Ne3
Bd7 16. Bd5 Rc8 17. Qb3 f4 18. Nc4 Qe7 19. Nfd2 g5 20. f3 g4 21. fxg4 Bxg4 22.
Nf3 Bf6 23. Rb2 Nd8 24. a4 Ne6 25. a5 b5 26. Ncd2 a6 27. h3 Bxf3 28. Nxf3 Ng5
29. c4 Nxf3+ 30. Rxf3 cxb4 31. Qxb4 Rc5 32. Qa3 Bh4 33. Rb1 Qc7 34. cxb5 Rc2
35. bxa6 Rf6 36. Qb4 Qg7 37. Qb8+ Rf8 38. Qxf8+ Qxf8 39. a7 Rc8 40. d4 Qg7 41.
Rb7 Rc1+ 42. Rf1 Bf2+ 43. Kxf2 Rc2+ 0-1

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 8th Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2013.06.12"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2864"]
[BlackElo "2782"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2013.06.12"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. Bd3 Bg4 6. b3 e6 7. Nbd2 Nbd7 8. Bb2
Bd6 9. Qc2 Qb8 10. h3 Bh5 11. Nh4 Bg3 12. Ndf3 Bd6 13. g4 Bg6 14. Nxg6 hxg6 15.
O-O-O Qd8 16. Ng5 Qe7 17. f4 Ba3 18. Bxa3 Qxa3+ 19. Kb1 Qe7 20. c5 a5 21. Rhe1
Nh7 22. Nf3 Nhf6 23. g5 Nh5 24. Rg1 Rb8 25. Qd2 Qd8 26. Rc1 b6 27. cxb6 Qxb6
28. Ka1 O-O 29. Qc2 a4 30. Qxc6 axb3 31. Qxb6 Rxb6 32. Rc7 Nb8 33. Rb1 Nc6 34.
Rxb3 Rxb3 35. axb3 Nb4 36. Bb1 Ng3 37. Kb2 Nf1 38. Rc3 Ra8 39. h4 Kf8 40. Ne5
Ra7 41. Rc8+ Ke7 42. Rb8 Na6 43. Rg8 Nb4 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 8th Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2013.06.12"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B35"]
[WhiteElo "2760"]
[BlackElo "2864"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2013.06.12"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Missing moves added. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyxBlhdtGDk https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=80-I7lPpdCI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsWKAkE7auU} 1.
e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 Qa5 8. O-O
O-O 9. Bb3 d6 10. h3 Bd7 11. f4 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 Bc6 13. Qd3 Nd7 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15.
Nd5 Qc5+ 16. Kh1 e6 17. Nc3 Nf6 18. Rad1 Rad8 19. f5 Qe5 20. Rde1 b5 21. Nd5
Nh5 22. Re3 a5 23. f6+ Kh8 24. a3 Qxb2 25. Ne7 Ba8 26. Qxb5 Nxf6 27. Qg5 Nxe4
28. Qh4 Qe5 29. Rxf7 Qa1+ 30. Kh2 Qe5+ 31. Kh1 Qa1+ 32. Kh2 Qe5+ 33. Kh1 Qa1+
34. Re1 Qxe1+ 35. Qxe1 Rxf7 36. Nxg6+ Kg7 37. Qxa5 Re8 38. Nh4 Kh8 39. Kh2 d5
40. Qb6 Rfe7 41. Nf3 e5 42. Qh6 Nc5 43. Ng5 Nxb3 44. cxb3 e4 45. Qf6+ Kg8 46.
Qf4 d4 47. Qg4 Kh8 48. Qf5 e3 49. Nf7+ Kg7 50. Nd6 e2 51. Qg5+ Kh8 52. Qf6+ Kg8
53. Nf5 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 8th Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2013.06.12"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2864"]
[BlackElo "2755"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2013.06.12"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. a4 e5 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bc4
O-O 9. O-O Be6 10. Bxe6 fxe6 11. a5 Nc6 12. Be3 Qd7 13. Re1 Rae8 14. Bb6 Bd8
15. Na4 Nxa5 16. Nc5 dxc5 17. Qxd7 Nxd7 18. Bxa5 Bxa5 19. Rxa5 Rc8 20. Kf1 h6
21. Rd1 Rc7 22. Rd6 Re8 23. Ra1 Kf8 24. h4 Ke7 25. Rad1 Rf8 26. R6d2 Rf4 27.
Re1 c4 28. Re3 Rf8 29. h5 Rfc8 30. c3 b5 31. Nh4 Nf8 32. Rg3 Kf7 33. Ng6 Nxg6
34. Rxg6 a5 35. Rd6 Re7 36. Rb6 Rc5 37. Ke2 a4 38. f3 Rcc7 39. Kd2 Ra7 40. Rxb5
Reb7 41. Rxb7+ Rxb7 42. Kc2 Ra7 43. g4 a3 44. bxa3 Rxa3 45. g5 hxg5 46. Rxg5
Kf6 47. Rg6+ Kf7 48. Rg5 Kf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 8th Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2013.06.12"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2753"]
[BlackElo "2864"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2013.06.12"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 154 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.06.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. Rc1 b6 7. e3 Ba6 8. Qa4
Bxc4 9. Bxc4 dxc4 10. Qxc4 c5 11. dxc5 Bxc5 12. O-O Nbd7 13. Rfd1 Qc8 14. Nb5
Qb7 15. Ne5 Rfc8 16. Nxd7 Nxd7 17. Nc7 Rxc7 18. Bxc7 Qxc7 19. b4 Rc8 20. Qb5
Rd8 21. Rd2 h6 22. Rcd1 a6 23. Qc4 Kf8 24. bxc5 bxc5 25. h3 Ke7 26. Qh4+ Ke8
27. Qg4 g6 28. Qh4 h5 29. Qc4 Qc6 30. Rd6 Qb5 31. Qf4 c4 32. Qd4 Ke7 33. Qc3 a5
34. R6d4 Qb4 35. Qxb4+ axb4 36. Rxc4 Ke8 37. Rcd4 e5 38. Rd6 Ke7 39. R1d5 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 8th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2013.06.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2864"]
[BlackElo "2803"]
[Annotator "Sumets,A"]
[PlyCount "143"]
[EventDate "2013.06.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 155"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 d5 3. e3 c5 4. Bxf6 gxf6 5. dxc5 {White may opt for other
possibilities.} (5. Bb5+ Bd7 6. Bxd7+ Qxd7 7. Qf3 (7. Nf3 Nc6 8. Nc3 cxd4 9.
exd4 $6 (9. Nxd4 f5 10. O-O e6 11. Qh5 Bg7 12. Rad1 O-O $11) 9... O-O-O 10. Ne2
e5 11. O-O h5 12. Nh4 Rg8 $15 {Maslak,K-Bukavshin,I Ch-RUS Higher League
Irkutsk 2010 0-1 (56)}) 7... cxd4 8. exd4 Nc6 9. Ne2 f5 10. O-O e6 11. Rd1
O-O-O 12. b3 Rg8 13. c4 dxc4 14. Nbc3 Bg7 (14... cxb3 $6 15. axb3 a6 16. d5 Ne5
17. Qe3 $44) 15. bxc4 Bxd4 16. Rab1 Ne5 17. Qh3 Qc6 $15 {Morozevich,
A-Ponomariov,R Macedonia Palace GP Thessaloniki GRE 2013 1/2-1/2 (55)}) (5. c3
Nc6 (5... Qb6 $5 6. Qc2 Nc6 7. Nf3 cxd4 8. exd4 (8. Nxd4 e5 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10.
Nd2 Rb8 11. b3 Bd6 12. Be2 O-O $15) 8... e5 9. Be2 e4 10. Nh4 f5 11. g3 f4 12.
gxf4 Bh3 13. Rg1 Qd8 $17 {0-1 Alarcon Casellas,R-Peralta,F/Barbera del Valles
ESP 2012 (36)}) 6. Nd2 e5 7. Ngf3 Be6 (7... e4 $5 8. Ng1 Qb6) 8. Bb5 Bd6 9. O-O
Qc7 (9... e4 10. dxc5 exf3 11. cxd6 fxg2 12. Kxg2 Qxd6 13. Ne4 Qe7 14. Ng3 Rg8
$13) 10. dxe5 fxe5 11. e4 O-O-O 12. exd5 Bxd5 13. Qc2 Ne7 14. Bc4 Bxc4 15. Nxc4
Rhg8 16. Rfe1 (16. Rad1 $5) 16... f6 17. Qxh7 Ng6 18. Qxc7+ Bxc7 19. Rad1 $16 {
Chernyshov,K-Movsesian,S Pardubice Rapid 2009 1-0 (57)}) (5. Nc3 Nc6 (5... e6
6. Qh5 Nc6 7. O-O-O cxd4 8. exd4 Bb4 9. Nge2 Bd7 10. Rd3 Qb6 11. g3 Na5 12. Bh3
f5 13. g4 (13. Bxf5 $1 exf5 $2 (13... Nc4 14. b3 O-O-O 15. Bh3 Nd6 $44) 14.
Nxd5 Qc6 15. Nef4) 13... Nc4 14. b3 Ba3+ 15. Kb1 fxg4 16. Bxg4 O-O-O 17. Nd1
Nd6 $17 {Duong The Anh-Erdos,V Harkany 2008 0-1 (44)}) 6. Bb5 e6 7. Nf3 Bd7 8.
O-O a6 9. Bxc6 Bxc6 10. dxc5 e5 11. Qe2 Qd7 12. b4 (12. Rfd1 $5 O-O-O 13. e4 d4
14. b4 Rg8 15. Nd5 Bxd5 16. exd5 Qxd5 17. Rab1 $13) 12... O-O-O 13. Rfd1 Rg8
14. g3 Qg4 15. e4 dxe4 16. Rxd8+ Kxd8 17. Rd1+ Kc8 18. Nd2 Qxe2 19. Nxe2 b6 $15
{Zhang Pengxiang-Naiditsch,A EU-Cup 22nd Fuegen 2006 1/2-1/2 (52)}) (5. c4 dxc4
6. Bxc4 cxd4 7. exd4 Bg7 8. Nc3 O-O 9. Nge2 Nc6 10. O-O f5 11. d5 Ne5 12. Bb3
Qd6 13. h3 Bd7 14. Ba4 Nc4 15. Bxd7 Qxd7 16. b3 Nb6 17. Qd3 Rac8 18. Rad1 Rc5
19. Qf3 Rfc8 20. Rd3 Kh8 {1/2-1/2 Miladinovic,I-Georgiev,K Bar 2008}) 5... e6
6. Nf3 (6. c4 dxc4 7. Qxd8+ Kxd8 8. Bxc4 Bxc5 9. Nc3 Ke7 10. a3 a6 11. Nf3 Nc6
{1/2-1/2 Miladinovic,I-Popovic,D/Vrnjacka Banja SRB 2012}) 6... Nd7 $146 {
Black's plan is to regain the pawn with ...Nxc5 and put his bishop on the
a1-h8 diagonal (...Bg7 and ...f5).} 7. c4 {It seems to me that this is the
only way to fight for an advantage.} dxc4 8. c6 $1 (8. Bxc4 Nxc5 9. Nc3 Bg7 10.
O-O O-O 11. Qe2 f5 {Black might have the better position.}) 8... Nb6 (8... Ne5
$5 9. Qxd8+ Kxd8 10. Nxe5 fxe5 11. Bxc4 (11. cxb7 Bxb7) 11... bxc6 12. Nd2 Rb8
13. b3 Bb4 {Black's bishops compensate for the damaged pawn structure. I think
that the position is equal.}) 9. Nbd2 {White needs to keep queens on the board.
Otherwise he could find himself in a worse position.} (9. Qxd8+ Kxd8 10. Nbd2 (
10. cxb7 $6 Bxb7 11. Nbd2 Rg8 12. O-O-O Ke7 $17) 10... c3 11. bxc3 bxc6 12. Be2
Kc7 13. O-O Rg8 {Black has better chances.}) 9... c3 10. bxc3 bxc6 11. Qc2 Bg7
12. Bd3 f5 (12... h6 {Who except a computer engine wants to make such moves if
he has another choice?} 13. O-O O-O 14. Rfd1 Qc7 15. e4 Rd8 16. a4 $14) 13. e4
Qf6 (13... fxe4 $1 {I think it was the best move and Black even had some
chances to seize the initiative.} 14. Bxe4 (14. Nxe4 Nd5 15. O-O O-O 16. Rab1
f5 17. Ng3 Qd6 (17... Bxc3 18. Ne2 Bf6 19. Qxc6 Bd7 20. Qd6 Bc8 21. Qc6 Bd7 $11
) 18. Ne2) 14... Nd5 15. O-O f5 $1 {It is not easy to make a move like ...f5
before castling short but I believe that only Black could fight for an
advantage after 15...f5} 16. Bxd5 (16. Bd3 O-O 17. Rfe1 Bxc3 18. Rab1 Qc7 19.
Rb3 Bg7 20. Nc4 Rb8) 16... cxd5 {I don't see how White should play} 17. Rac1 (
17. Rfe1 O-O 18. Nb3 Qc7 19. Rac1 e5 {White's strategy failed}) 17... O-O 18.
c4 $6 e5 19. cxd5 e4 20. Ne1 Ba6 $19) 14. Rc1 {White should keep the tension
in the centre.} (14. e5 $6 Qe7) (14. exf5 exf5 15. O-O O-O 16. Rac1 c5 17. Rfe1
Bd7 $11) 14... O-O 15. O-O c5 16. Rfe1 {Magnus Carlsen didn't want to take the
c4-pawn so he prepares the f1-square for his bishop.} (16. a4 c4 {now White
must capture on c4} 17. Nxc4 (17. Bxc4 $2 Nxc4 18. Nxc4 Ba6 19. Qa2 Rac8 $17)
17... Nxc4 18. Bxc4 Bb7 19. Bd3 Rac8 20. c4 Rfd8 $44 {Black has some
compensation for the pawn.}) 16... Rd8 17. a4 (17. exf5 $5 exf5 18. Nc4 $1 (18.
Nf1 $6 c4 (18... Nd5 $5 19. Ng3 Nf4 20. Bf1 Be6) 19. Be2 f4 20. Nd4 Bb7 21. Nd2
Qg6 22. Bf3 Bxf3 23. N2xf3 Qxc2 24. Rxc2 Nd5 $11) 18... Be6 19. Ne3 f4 20.
Bxh7+ Kh8 21. Nf1 Nd5 22. Be4 Rab8 23. Bxd5 Bxd5 24. N1d2 {Black has the two
bishops and some compensation for the sacrificed pawn but the position should
be assessed in White's favour.}) 17... c4 ({At the press conference M. Carlsen
suggested} 17... Nxa4 18. e5 (18. exf5 $5 exf5 19. Qxa4 Rxd3 20. Ne4 $1 Qe7 21.
Neg5 Be6 22. Nxe6 fxe6 23. Qc4 Rd6 24. h4 h6 25. Qxc5 $14) 18... Qe7 19. Bxf5
exf5 20. Qxa4 Bb7 21. Qf4 Qe6 $13) 18. Bf1 fxe4 19. Nxe4 Qf5 $6 (19... Qg6 20.
a5 Nd5 21. Bxc4 Nf4 22. g3 Bb7 23. a6 Bc6 {(Carlsen)}) 20. Nd4 Bxd4 21. cxd4
Bb7 (21... Rxd4 $2 {To take this pawn means to lose immediately.} 22. Rcd1 e5 (
22... Rxd1 23. Qxd1 Nd5 (23... Ba6 24. Re3 Nd5 25. Rg3+ Kf8 26. Qd4 $18) 24.
Bxc4 Bb7 25. Qd4 e5 26. Qc5 Rc8 27. Qxa7 Rxc4 28. Nd6 $18) 23. a5 Nd7 24. Rxd4
exd4 25. Qxc4 Qe5 26. f4 $18) 22. Nc5 $8 Qxc2 23. Rxc2 Bc6 $1 {Black found an
amazing opportunity. However it is not easy to see how White wins after the
simple ...Bd5.} (23... Bd5 24. a5 Nc8 25. Bxc4 Ne7 26. g4 $1 (26. h3 Nf5 $1 27.
Bxd5 Rxd5 28. Re5 Nxd4 29. Rxd5 exd5 30. Rd2 Rc8 31. Nd7 Rc4 32. Nf6+ Kg7 33.
Nxd5 Nb3 $11) 26... Bxc4 27. Rxc4 Rac8 28. Rec1 h5 $1 29. h3 hxg4 30. hxg4 Kg7
{White is a pawn up but Black has good chances to make a draw.}) 24. a5 Rxd4
25. axb6 axb6 {White' knight is trapped.} 26. Nxe6 $1 {The only way to avoid a
draw.} (26. Nb3 cxb3 27. Rxc6 b2 28. Rb1 Ra1 29. Rxb2 Rdd1 30. g3 $11) (26. Nd3
Ba4 27. Nb4 Bxc2 28. Nxc2 Rd2 $17 {(Carlsen)}) 26... fxe6 27. Bxc4 Bd7 28. h3
Kf7 29. Bb3 $14 {It is obvious that White has an advantage in the endgame. It
is obvious as well that Black could make a draw if he plays precisely. The
material is very reduced.} Ke7 (29... b5 30. Rce2 Ra6 {Probably this was the
best setup for Black.} 31. Re5 (31. Rc1 Ke7 32. Re3 b4) 31... Rd3 32. Bc2 Rd2
33. Bxh7 Raa2 34. Rf1 b4 $44) 30. Rce2 Rd6 31. Re4 Ra3 32. R1e3 h5 (32... Rd2
33. Rh4 Ra1+ 34. Kh2 Rxf2 35. Rxh7+ Rf7 36. Rh8 {All the white pieces are very
active but I believe that Black would find the way to draw.}) 33. Rh4 Be8 34.
Kh2 Bg6 35. Rb4 Kf6 36. Kg3 e5 37. Kh4 Rd4+ (37... Ra1 $6 38. f4 exf4 39. Rxf4+
Kg7 40. Re7+ Kh6 41. Rf8 Bd3 42. Rh8+ Kg6 43. Rxh5 $16) (37... Ra5 {Black
could wait. It is difficult to find a reasonable plan for White.} 38. g4 hxg4
39. hxg4 e4 40. f4 exf3 41. Rf4+ Kg7 42. Re7+ Kh6 43. Rf8 {(Carlsen)} Bd3 $8
44. Rxf3 Rc5 45. Rf8 Kg6 46. Ref7 Bc4 47. Bc2+ Bd3 48. Bxd3+ Rxd3 $11) 38. Rxd4
exd4 39. Re6+ Kg7 40. Rxb6 d3 41. Bd1 (41. Kg5 Be4 $5 (41... Ra5+ 42. Kf4 Rf5+
43. Ke3 Re5+ 44. Kd4 Re2 $11 {(Carlsen)}) 42. Bd1 (42. f3 $4 Rxb3 43. Rxb3 d2
$19) 42... Bxg2 43. Kxh5 Bxh3 $11) 41... Ra2 $1 42. Kg3 {The only chance to
continue the game.} (42. Kg5 Be4 43. Kxh5 Rxf2 44. g4 Rd2 45. Ba4 Ra2 46. Rb4
Bf3 47. Rf4 Rxa4 48. Rxa4 d2 49. Rd4 d1=Q 50. Rxd1 Bxd1 $11) (42. Bxh5 Bxh5 43.
Kxh5 Rxf2 44. g4 (44. Rb7+ Kf6 45. g4 Ke6 46. g5 d2 47. Rb1 Rf8 48. g6 Rd8 49.
Rd1 Kf6 $11) 44... Rf6 45. Rb1 Rd6 46. Rd1 d2 $11) 42... h4+ $6 (42... Ra1 43.
Bf3 Ra4 44. h4 (44. Rd6 h4+ 45. Kh2 Ra2 (45... Rb4 46. g4 hxg3+ 47. Kxg3 Ra4)
46. Rd4 Rxf2 47. Rxh4 d2 48. Rd4 Bc2 49. Bg4 $18 {(Carlsen)} (49. Kg3 $2 Rxf3+
$11)) 44... Rc4 {White's advantage is probably insufficient for a win after
all.} 45. Rc6 Rb4 46. Bd1 Rb1 47. Ba4 Rb4 48. Bd1 ({If White wants to continue
the game so much he could show us how to make a draw without the bishop.} 48.
Ra6 $2 d2 49. Bd1 Rb1 50. Bf3 d1=Q 51. Bxd1 Rxd1) 48... Rb1 $11) 43. Kxh4 Rxf2
44. Kg3 Rf6 $4 {Such a move can only be explained by Vladimir Kramnik's
fatigue. Perhaps he confused something and thought that the position is
drawish.} 45. Rxf6 Kxf6 46. Kf4 $18 d2 47. Ke3 Ke5 48. g3 $1 (48. Kxd2 $4 Kf4
49. g4 (49. Ke1 Kg3 50. Kf1 Be4 $11) 49... Be4 50. h4 Bf5 51. g5 Kg3 52. Ke3
Kxh4 53. Kf4 Be4 $11) 48... Bf5 49. h4 Be6 50. Kxd2 Ke4 51. Ke2 Bg4+ 52. Ke1
Be6 53. Kf2 Ke5 54. Ke3 Bd7 55. Bc2 Bg4 56. Bg6 Bd7 57. h5 Kf6 (57... Bc8 58.
Be4 Bd7 59. h6 Kf6 60. Kf4 Bc8 61. g4 Bxg4 62. Kxg4 Kf7 63. Bh7 $1 {The only
move. Black's king doesn't get into the corner.} Kf6 64. Kh5 Kf7 65. Kg5 Kf8
66. Kg6) 58. Kf4 Be6 59. Be4 ({Of course Carlsen doesn't play} 59. g4 $4 Bxg4
60. Kxg4 Kg7 61. Kg5 Kh8 $11) 59... Kg7 60. Kg5 Bd7 61. h6+ Kh8 62. Kf4 Be6 63.
Bf5 Bf7 64. g4 Bh5 65. g5 Kg8 66. Be6+ Kh7 67. Kf5 Bg6+ 68. Kf6 Kh8 69. Bd7 Bh5
70. Bc6 Kh7 71. Bd5 Bg6 72. Bg8+ 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 8th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2013.06.14"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2782"]
[BlackElo "2864"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2013.06.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 155"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5
8. Rxe5 O-O 9. d4 Ne8 10. d5 Bc5 11. Re1 d6 12. Nc3 Bf5 13. Bd3 Bxd3 14. Qxd3
Nf6 15. Na4 Re8 16. Bd2 Rxe1+ 17. Rxe1 Qd7 18. Nxc5 dxc5 19. c4 Re8 20. f3
Rxe1+ 21. Bxe1 b6 22. g4 Ne8 23. Bg3 Nd6 24. b3 a5 25. Kf2 a4 26. Qe3 Kf8 27.
h4 axb3 28. axb3 Qe7 29. Qc3 f6 30. h5 Kf7 31. Bf4 g6 32. Qa1 Ke8 33. h6 Kf7
34. Bg3 Ke8 35. Bh4 Kf7 36. Bg3 Ke8 37. Bh4 Kf7 38. Bg3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 8th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2013.06.15"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2864"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2013.06.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 155"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 c6 4. O-O Bg4 5. c4 e6 6. cxd5 Bxf3 7. Bxf3 cxd5 8.
Nc3 Nc6 9. d4 Be7 10. e3 O-O 11. b3 Qa5 12. Bb2 Ba3 13. Qc1 Bxb2 14. Qxb2 Rfc8
15. Rac1 Ne7 16. Na4 Nd7 17. Nc5 Nxc5 18. dxc5 Rxc5 19. b4 Rb5 20. a3 Qd8 21.
e4 a5 22. exd5 Nxd5 23. Rc5 Qb6 24. Rxb5 Qxb5 25. Bxd5 exd5 26. Rc1 Re8 27. Qd4
axb4 28. axb4 h6 29. Kg2 b6 30. Rd1 Re4 31. Qxd5 Qxd5 32. Rxd5 Rxb4 33. h4 Kf8
34. Rd7 Re4 35. Rb7 Re6 36. g4 g5 37. f4 gxf4 38. Kf3 Rf6 39. g5 Rc6 40. Kxf4
h5 41. Kf5 Kg7 42. Rb8 Rc5+ 43. Kf4 Rb5 44. Ke4 Rb1 45. Kf5 Rb2 46. Kf4 Rb4+
47. Ke5 Kg6 48. Rg8+ Kh7 49. Rf8 Rxh4 {Caruana's cut off This is an important
technique in rook endings:} 50. Rxf7+ $2 {This capture is too greedy.} (50. Rb8
$1 {saves the day, e.g.} b5 (50... Rb4 51. Kf6 $1 {(Golubev)} h4 52. Rb7 Rf4+
53. Ke5 Rf1 54. Rxb6 $11) 51. Rxb5 Kg6 52. Rb8 Kxg5 53. Rg8+ $1 {(Golubev in
Chess Today 4603)} Kh6 54. Kf5 Ra4 55. Rh8+ Kg7 56. Rb8 h4 57. Rb3 Kh6 58. Rb6+
Kh5 59. Rb8 Ra5+ 60. Kf4 Ra6 61. Rb5+ Kg6 62. Kg4 Ra4+ 63. Kh3 $11) 50... Kg6
51. Rf6+ (51. Rf8 {is also insufficient, e.g.} Kxg5 52. Rg8+ Kh6 53. Rb8 Rc4
54. Kf6 Rc6+ 55. Kf5 Rd6 56. Ke5 (56. Rh8+ Kg7 57. Rxh5 $6 Rd5+ 58. Kg4 Rxh5
59. Kxh5 b5 $19) 56... Rg6 57. Kf5 Rc6 58. Rg8 Rd6 59. Rb8 Kg7 60. Rb7+ Kf8 61.
Kg5 Ke8 62. Kxh5 Kd8 63. Kg5 Kc8 64. Rh7 Rd7 $19) 51... Kxg5 52. Rxb6 (52. Rf5+
{is met by} Kg4 53. Ke4 Rh3 54. Rb5 Rh1 $1 {(Heimers)} 55. Rxb6 Re1+ 56. Kd3 h4
57. Kd2 Re5 58. Rg6+ Kh5 59. Rg8 h3 60. Rh8+ Kg4 61. Rg8+ Rg5 $19) 52... Ra4 {
The cut off decides.} 53. Rb8 Kg4 54. Rg8+ Kf3 55. Rf8+ Kg3 56. Rg8+ Kh2 57.
Kf5 h4 58. Rb8 ({Just waiting with} 58. Rg7 {is broken by} h3 59. Rg8 Kh1 60.
Rg7 h2 61. Rg8 Ra1 62. Kf4 Rg1 63. Ra8 Kg2 64. Ra2+ Kh3 65. Ra3+ Kh4 66. Ra8
Rf1+ $19) 58... h3 59. Kg5 ({After} 59. Rb2+ {Caruana's king hides on h4:} Kg3
60. Rb3+ Kh4 $19) 59... Re4 60. Kf5 Re2 61. Rg8 (61. Kf4 Kg2 62. Rg8+ Kf1 63.
Kf3 h2 64. Rh8 Rf2+ 65. Ke3 Kg1 66. Rh7 Rg2 $19) 61... Rg2 62. Rd8 Rf2+ (62...
Rf2+ 63. Ke4 Kg1 64. Ke3 h2 65. Rh8 Rg2 66. Ra8 h1=Q $19) 0-1

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 8th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2013.06.17"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Andreikin, Dmitry"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A34"]
[WhiteElo "2713"]
[BlackElo "2864"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2013.06.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 155"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e3 g6 6. Bb5+ Bd7 7. Qb3 Nxc3 8.
Ne5 e6 9. bxc3 Bxb5 10. Qxb5+ Nd7 11. Rb1 b6 12. c4 Bd6 13. Nxd7 Qxd7 14. a4
O-O-O 15. a5 Qxb5 16. Rxb5 Bc7 17. Bb2 Rhe8 18. Ke2 e5 19. e4 f5 20. f3 Kb7 21.
Bc3 Kc6 22. axb6 axb6 23. Rbb1 h5 24. h3 h4 25. Rbg1 f4 26. Ra1 Ra8 27. Rxa8
Rxa8 28. Ra1 Rxa1 29. Bxa1 g5 30. d3 Bd6 31. Kd2 Bc7 32. Kc2 Bd6 33. Kd2 Bc7
34. Kc2 Bd6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 8th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2013.06.18"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E46"]
[WhiteElo "2864"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2013.06.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 155"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Nge2 d5 6. a3 Be7 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
Bd2 Nd7 9. g3 b6 {Alternatives seen in practice:} (9... N7f6) (9... N5f6) (9...
N5b6) (9... Nxc3) 10. Nxd5 exd5 11. Bg2 Bb7 {[%csl Rb7] The bishop will be
passive here.} (11... Nf6 12. O-O Bf5 {This is a better square for the bishop.}
(12... Bb7 13. Bb4 {was probably the best of all} (13. Qc2 Bd6 (13... a5 $5)
14. Bb4 a5 15. Bxd6 Qxd6 16. Rac1 c6 17. Rfd1 Rac8 18. Nc3 g6 {1/2 (25)
Bischoff,K (2561)-Tischbierek,R (2507) Austria 2004} 19. Qb3 $14) (13. Rc1 Qd7
(13... a5 {again was appropriate}) 14. Qc2 Bd6 15. Bb4 Bxb4 16. axb4 c6 17. Nf4
a6 18. Qc3 Qd6 19. f3 Rfe8 20. Rfe1 Rad8 21. Rcd1 Nd7 22. e4 $14 {0-1 (44)
Janssen,R (2484)-Tiviakov,S (2601) Dieren 2004})) (12... Ne4 13. Rc1 Bb7 (13...
Bf5 $5) 14. Qc2 Rc8 15. Rfd1 Bd6 16. Bb4 $5 Qf6 17. Nc3 Nxc3 18. Qxc3 c6 19.
Bxd6 Qxd6 20. b4 Rc7 21. a4 Bc8 22. a5 Ba6 23. Ra1 $14 {1-0 (38) Ponomariov,R 
(2734)-Kramnik,V (2807) Wijk aan Zee 2003 CBM 093 [Ftacnik,L]}) 13. Bb4 (13.
Nf4 Qd7 14. Qb3 Rfd8 15. Rac1 Rac8 16. Rfd1 a5 17. Be1 a4 18. Qc3 c6 19. Qd2
Bd6 20. Qe2 Bxf4 21. exf4 Bh3 $11 {1/2 (26) Grigoriants,S (2594)-Wells,P (2499)
Dresden 2007}) 13... a5 14. Bxe7 Qxe7 15. Rc1 h6 16. Nc3 Qd7 17. Re1 Rfe8 18.
Qb3 Rad8 19. Qb5 Qd6 20. Qb3 Qd7 21. Qb5 Qd6 22. Qe2 Qd7 23. Qb5 {1/2 (23)
Martinovic,S (2515)-Papp,G (2534) Chur 2010}) 12. Bb4 $1 {[%mdl 32] White
decides to get rid of his passive bishop at once, not giving Black a chance to
prevent this exchange by means of ...a7-a5.} (12. O-O Re8 (12... a5 $5 13. Qc2
Nf6) 13. Qc2 Bd6 14. Rac1 Qe7 15. Nc3 Nf6 16. Nb5 c6 17. Nxd6 Qxd6 18. f3 Nd7
19. Rfe1 c5 20. Bc3 $14 {1-0 (45) Milov,V (2632)-Cheparinov,I (2550) Dos
Hermanas 2004 CBM 099 ext [Milov,V]}) 12... Nf6 (12... c5 13. dxc5 bxc5 14. Bc3
Nf6 15. O-O {[%cal Yb2b4]} Ne4 16. Nf4 $5 $14) 13. O-O Re8 14. Rc1 c6 (14...
Bxb4 $5 15. axb4 c6 {makes sense after White has removed his rook from a1}) 15.
Bxe7 Rxe7 16. Re1 Qd6 17. Nf4 $14 Bc8 $6 {This idea to improve the position of
the bishop simply doesn't work. Alas, Black shouls defend passively, e.g.} (
17... Rc7) 18. Qa4 Rc7 {It was probably better for Black to admit his mistake
and play} (18... Bb7) 19. f3 $1 Be6 20. e4 dxe4 $6 ({The position after} 20...
Qd7 21. Nxe6 Qxe6 22. e5 Ne8 23. f4 {[%csl Ge5,Gf4] is difficult for Black,
according to GM A.Korotylev, but the text move is even worse.}) 21. fxe4 Qd7 (
21... b5 22. Qd1 Qd7 23. e5 Nd5 24. Nd3 $16 {[%cal Yd3c5] A.Korotylev}) 22. d5
$1 cxd5 23. Qxd7 Rxd7 24. Nxe6 $1 fxe6 25. Bh3 $1 Kh8 26. e5 Ng8 27. Bxe6 Rdd8
({After} 27... Re7 28. Bxd5 Rd8 {White should convert his extra pawn but it
was more stubborn than allowing White's rook to invade the 7th rank.}) 28. Rc7
d4 29. Bd7 $1 {Black decided that further resistance was senseless.} ({In the
event of} 29. Bd7 Ne7 30. Rd1 Nd5 31. Rb7 Rdb8 32. Rxb8+ Rxb8 33. Rxd4 Ne7 34.
Bb5 {White wins a pawn, and his rook again breaks to the 7nd rank.}) 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 8th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2013.06.19"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2755"]
[BlackElo "2864"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2013.06.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 155"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bf4 dxc4 6. e3 a6 7. a4 Bd6 8. Bxd6
cxd6 9. Bxc4 O-O 10. O-O d5 11. Bd3 b6 12. Qb3 Qe7 13. Rfc1 Bb7 14. Rc2 Rfc8
15. Rac1 Qd6 16. Na2 Rxc2 17. Rxc2 Rc8 18. Rxc8+ Bxc8 19. Qc3 Bb7 20. b4 Ne4
21. Qc1 h6 22. h3 Kf8 23. b5 a5 24. Nc3 Qc7 25. Qa3+ Qd6 26. Qc1 Qc7 27. Qa3+
Ke8 28. Ne2 g5 29. Qb2 Ke7 30. Nd2 Ndf6 31. Nf1 Nd6 32. f3 Nd7 33. g4 f6 34.
Nfg3 Nf8 35. Kf2 Bc8 36. Qc2 Qxc2 37. Bxc2 Bd7 38. Nc3 Be8 39. f4 Bf7 40. Bb3
gxf4 41. exf4 Ng6 42. f5 Nf4 43. fxe6 Nxh3+ 44. Ke3 Bxe6 45. Nxd5+ Kd8 46. Nh5
f5 47. gxf5 Nxf5+ 48. Ke4 Ng5+ 49. Ke5 Ne7 50. Nhf4 Bg8 51. Bd1 Bxd5 52. Nxd5
Nf7+ 53. Ke6 Ng5+ 54. Ke5 Nf7+ 55. Ke6 Ng5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 8th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2013.06.21"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B17"]
[WhiteElo "2864"]
[BlackElo "2760"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2013.06.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 155"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. c3 Ngf6 6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7. Bd3 Qd5
8. f3 Bf5 9. Ne2 Bxd3 10. Nf4 Qg5 11. Qxd3 Nd5 12. g3 e6 13. Qe2 Nxf4 14. Bxf4
Qd5 15. Be5 f6 16. Bf4 O-O-O 17. O-O Bd6 18. Be3 e5 19. dxe5 Qxe5 20. Qf2 a6
21. Rfe1 Qf5 22. Bb6 Bc7 23. Bxc7 Kxc7 24. Re7+ Rd7 25. Rae1 Rhd8 26. Kg2 Qd5
27. a3 Rxe7 28. Rxe7+ Rd7 29. Rxd7+ Kxd7 30. Qc2 g6 31. Qc1 Qd3 32. Kf2 Ke6 33.
Qe3+ Qxe3+ 34. Kxe3 Kd5 35. b3 c5 36. c4+ Ke5 37. f4+ Ke6 38. g4 f5 39. g5 a5
40. a4 b6 41. h4 Kd6 42. Kf2 Ke6 43. Kf3 Ke7 44. Kg3 Kf7 45. Kh3 Ke6 46. h5 Kf7
47. h6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 8th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2013.06.22"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "2864"]
[BlackElo "2784"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2013.06.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 155"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 c6 4. Qc2 Nf6 5. Nf3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 b5 7. Qb3 Bb7 8. O-O
Nbd7 9. d4 a6 10. Ne5 Qb6 {A rare and probably less accurate continuation
instead of the main move} (10... Nxe5 {, examined in my survey in CBM 150.
After that White sometimes sacrifices his e5-pawn obtaining a positional
compensation (active pieces etc.). However, in future Black's queenside pawn
advantage can become essential. Here are some recent games:} 11. dxe5 Nd5 12.
Nc3 Be7 13. Ne4 O-O $5 {[%cal Yc6c5] is probably simpler:} (13... Qc7 14. Nd6+
$5 (14. Bf4 Nxf4 15. gxf4 O-O 16. a4 Rad8 17. Rfc1 Rd4 $132 {1/2 (31) Ni Hua 
(2641)-Frolyanov,D (2555) Moscow 2012}) (14. Bg5 Bxg5 15. Nxg5 Qxe5 16. Ne4 O-O
17. Nc5 {[%csl Gd5]} Qc7 18. Rfc1 Rad8 19. Qc2 Bc8 20. Nd3 Bb7 $13 {1-0 (52)
Bruzon Batista,L (2694)-Leitao,R (2623) Quito 2012 CBM 150 [Krasenkow,Michal]})
14... Bxd6 15. exd6 Qxd6 16. Rd1 (16. e4 Nb6 $13) 16... Qe7 17. e4 Nb6 18. Qc3
O-O 19. b3 c5 (19... Nd7 {[%cal Ye6e5,Yc6c5] may be a bit more accurate}) 20.
Qa5 Qc7 21. Bf4 e5 22. Be3 Rac8 23. Rac1 (23. Bh3 $1 Rcd8 24. f3 $14) 23... Nd7
24. Qxc7 Rxc7 25. Bh3 Bc8 26. Bxd7 Rxd7 27. Rxd7 Bxd7 28. Rxc5 f6 $11 {1/2 (31)
Maletin,P (2567)-Yudin,S (2546) Kirov 2012}) 14. Be3 (14. Rd1 c5 15. a4 c4 $13)
14... Nxe3 15. Qxe3 c5 16. Rac1 c4 (16... Bxe4 $5) 17. b3 Qc7 18. bxc4 Qxe5 19.
Nf6+ Bxf6 20. Qxe5 Bxe5 21. Bxb7 Ra7 $11 {1/2 (25) Shyam,S (2484)-Vaibhav,S 
(2494) Kolkata 2012}) 11. Be3 c5 12. Nxd7 Nxd7 13. d5 e5 $2 {[%mdl 32] A big
positional mistake.} (13... exd5 14. Bxd5 Bxd5 15. Qxd5 Rd8 (15... Rc8 16. a4
b4 (16... Be7 17. axb5 axb5 18. Nc3 $36 {- Black can't castle}) 17. Nd2 Nf6 18.
Qe5+ Qe6 19. Qxe6+ fxe6 20. Rac1 Be7 21. Nc4 O-O 22. f3 Rfd8 23. Rfd1 $14 {
1-0 (59) Smirnov,P (2599)-Zontakh,A (2556) Sochi 2012}) 16. a4 Be7 17. axb5
axb5 18. Nc3 O-O 19. b4 (19. Qe4 $142 $14) 19... Qf6 20. Nxb5 cxb4 21. Ra7 Nc5
$11 {1/2 (44) Meier,G (2656)-Ponomariov,R (2764) Dortmund 2011}) 14. a4 {
Black will be forced to play ...b5-b4 or ...b5xa4 weakening his position.} b4 (
14... Bd6 {is even worse:} 15. axb5 axb5 16. Rxa8+ Bxa8 17. Nc3 b4 18. Qa4 $1
$16) ({If} 14... c4 {then} 15. Bxb6 cxb3 16. Bc7 Bb4 (16... Rc8 17. d6) 17.
axb5 axb5 18. Rxa8+ Bxa8 19. Rc1 O-O 20. Nc3 $16) 15. Nd2 Bd6 16. Nc4 {[%csl
Gc4]} (16. Rac1 $5 {[%csl Rc5][%cal Yd2e4]}) 16... Qc7 17. f4 (17. Bh3 $5 Nf6 (
17... Bxd5 18. Rfd1 Bxc4 19. Qxc4 Nf6 20. Bg2 $16) 18. Bg5 Bxd5 (18... Nxd5 19.
Rad1 h6 20. Bh4) (18... Ne4 19. Bh4 {[%cal Yh3g2]}) 19. Rfd1 Bxc4 20. Qxc4 $16)
17... O-O (17... exf4 $143 18. Nxd6+ Qxd6 19. Bxf4 Qg6 20. Qe3+) 18. Rac1 exf4
(18... Rae8 $5 19. fxe5 Bxe5 {may be more stubborn.}) 19. Bxf4 Bxf4 20. gxf4 {
[%cal Ye2e4,Ye4e5]} a5 21. e4 Rae8 (21... Ra6 $1 {was the only chance to put
up resistance. If} 22. e5 ({or} 22. d6 Rxd6 23. Nxd6 Qxd6) {then} 22... Rg6)
22. e5 $18 {White's pawns now just sweep Black's pieces away.} Ba6 23. Rfe1 Kh8
(23... Bxc4 {was equally hopeless.}) 24. Nd6 Re7 (24... Rd8 $2 25. Nxf7+ Rxf7
26. d6 $18) 25. Qe3 (25. Qh3 $5 c4 26. Nxc4 Bxc4 27. d6 Qc5+ 28. Qe3 $18 Ree8
$140 29. Qxc5 Nxc5 30. Rxc4 Nxa4 31. Bc6 Rc8 32. d7 Rc7 33. Rd4 $1) 25... Qd8 (
25... g5 26. Nf5 Ree8 (26... gxf4 27. Qxf4 Rxe5 28. d6 Rxe1+ 29. Rxe1 Qd8 30.
Re7 $18 {->}) 27. Qg3 $18) 26. b3 $1 {A good prophylactical move stopping ...
c5-c4.} g5 27. Kh1 (27. Nf5 Ree8 28. Qg3 $18 {was more energetic} Rg8 $140 29.
Nh6) 27... Qb8 28. Qf2 gxf4 (28... Bd3 29. Nb7 $1 gxf4 30. Nxc5 $18) 29. Qxf4
Bd3 30. Re3 $4 {[%mdl 8192] A tactical oversight, however, not taken advantage
of by Black.} (30. Bh3 $1 {, liquidating the main defender of Black's position
(the Nd7), was the best way to finish the game off.} {If} Qa8 {then} 31. Rxc5
$1 (31. Qf3 {is also possible}) 31... Nxc5 32. Qf6+ Kg8 33. Rg1+ Bg6 34. Nf5
Qxd5+ 35. Bg2 $18) 30... Bg6 $4 (30... Rxe5 $1 31. Rxe5 Qxd6 32. Rf5 Qxf4 33.
Rxf4 c4 $1 {, and the position becomes unclear.}) 31. Rf1 $2 ({Again} 31. Bh3 {
was winning}) 31... Rxe5 $1 {This is less effective than a move earlier but
still creates serious problems for White.} 32. Rxe5 Qxd6 33. Re8 (33. Re3 {
deserved attention, not exchanging Black's passive rook.}) 33... Qxf4 34. Rxf8+
Kg7 35. Rxf4 Kxf8 {[%cal Yf8e7][%mdl 4096]} 36. d6 $1 Ne5 {[%cal Yf8e8,Ye8d7]}
37. Bf1 $1 Bc2 38. Bb5 f5 (38... Bxb3 39. Rf5 f6 40. Rxf6+ Nf7 41. d7 $1 Ke7
42. Rf5 Be6 43. Rxc5 {, and White should win.}) 39. Kg2 c4 $2 {This
miscalculation hastens Black's defeat.} (39... Nf7 $142 40. d7 Ke7 41. Rf2 $1
Bxb3 42. Rxf5 {etc. like in the previous annotation.}) 40. Bxc4 Be4+ 41. Kg3
Nxc4 42. bxc4 Ke8 {Or else:} (42... b3 43. Rf2 Bc2 44. Re2 $1 b2 45. d7 b1=Q
46. d8=Q+ $18) (42... Kf7 43. c5 (43. Rf2 $143 Ke6 44. c5 Bc6) 43... b3 (43...
Ke6 44. Rh4 $3 b3 45. Rh6+ Kd7 46. Rxh7+ Kd8 (46... Ke6 47. d7) 47. Rh8+ Kd7
48. Rb8 $18) 44. Rf2 Bc2 (44... Ke6 45. Rb2 Bc2 46. Kf4 h6 47. h3 h5 48. h4 $18
) 45. d7 b2 (45... Ke7 46. Rd2 Kd8 47. c6) 46. d8=Q b1=Q 47. Qd7+ Kf8 48. Qd4
Qg1+ 49. Kh4 $18) 43. c5 Bc6 (43... b3 44. Rf2 Kd7 (44... Bc2 45. c6 b2 46. c7
Kd7 47. Rxc2 $18) 45. Rb2 Bc2 46. Kf4 Ke6 47. h3 h6 48. h4 h5 {is not a
reciprocal zugzwang as White can play} 49. Kg5 $18) 44. Rxf5 Bxa4 45. Re5+ Kd8
46. Re7 Bc6 47. Rc7 (47. Rc7 Bd5 48. c6 b3 49. Rd7+ $1 Kc8 50. Rxh7 Bxc6 51.
Rc7+ Kd8 52. Rxc6 a4 53. Rb6 $18) 1-0

[Event "Moscow Tal Memorial 8th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2013.06.23"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E62"]
[WhiteElo "2753"]
[BlackElo "2864"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2013.06.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 155"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Nf3 d6 5. g3 c6 6. Bg2 Bf5 7. O-O Ne4 8. Re1
O-O 9. Qb3 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Qc8 11. e4 Bg4 12. e5 Bxf3 13. Bxf3 dxe5 14. Rb1 exd4
15. cxd4 Bxd4 16. Qxb7 Qf5 17. Kg2 Na6 18. Bh6 Nc5 19. Qxe7 Nd3 20. Re4 Bg7 21.
Rd1 Bxh6 22. Rxd3 Bg5 23. Qe5 Qxe5 24. Rxe5 Bf6 25. Ra5 Rfd8 26. Rxd8+ Rxd8 27.
Bxc6 Rd2 28. Rxa7 Bd4 29. Rd7 Rxf2+ 30. Kh3 Be5 31. Rd5 Bc7 32. Rd7 Be5 33. Rd5
Bc7 34. Rd7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lillehammer m rapid"]
[Site "Lillehammer"]
[Date "2013.06.28"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Predojevic, Borki"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2616"]
[BlackElo "2864"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2013.06.28"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 155 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.08.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.08.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. Nc3 d6 8. Nd5
h6 9. Nxf6+ Qxf6 10. Bd5 Bd7 11. Be3 O-O 12. Bxc5 dxc5 13. Qd2 Rad8 14. Bxc6
Bxc6 15. Qc3 c4 16. O-O Rfe8 17. Rfe1 cxd3 18. cxd3 Bd7 19. b4 Bg4 20. Nd2 Qd6
21. Re3 Be6 22. a3 a5 23. Rc1 axb4 24. axb4 Ra8 25. Nf3 Bg4 26. h3 Bxf3 27.
Rxf3 Re7 28. Qc5 Qxc5 29. Rxc5 c6 30. Rxc6 Ra4 31. Rc5 Rxb4 32. Rf5 f6 33. f4
Rb1+ 34. Kh2 Rf1 35. Rxb5 exf4 36. h4 Ra7 37. Ra5 Rxa5 38. Rxa5 g5 39. Rf5 Kg7
40. e5 fxe5 41. hxg5 hxg5 42. Rxe5 Kf6 43. Rd5 g4 44. Rd8 Ke5 45. Re8+ Kd4 46.
Rg8 g3+ 47. Kh3 Ke3 48. Ra8 Kxd3 49. Re8 Rf2 50. Kg4 Re2 51. Rf8 Rxg2 52. Rxf4
Rf2 53. Kxg3 Rxf4 54. Kxf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lillehammer m rapid"]
[Site "Lillehammer"]
[Date "2013.06.28"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Predojevic, Borki"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D10"]
[WhiteElo "2864"]
[BlackElo "2616"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2013.06.28"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 155 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.08.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.08.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. e3 Bf5 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Qb3 Qc7 6. Bb5+ Nd7 7. Nc3 e6 8.
Nf3 Ngf6 9. Ne5 a6 10. Bd3 Bxd3 11. Nxd3 Bd6 12. Bd2 Qc4 13. Ke2 Qxb3 14. axb3
Ke7 15. f3 Rhd8 16. b4 e5 17. g4 exd4 18. exd4 Nb6 19. Nc5 Rab8 20. b5 Nc4 21.
Bg5 Bxc5 22. dxc5 d4 23. Ne4 d3+ 24. Kf2 Nxb2 25. c6 bxc6 26. bxc6 Rb6 27. Nxf6
gxf6 28. Rhe1+ Kd6 29. Bxf6 Rc8 30. Reb1 Rcxc6 31. Rxb2 Rxb2+ 32. Bxb2 Rc2+ 33.
Ke3 Rxb2 34. Rxa6+ Ke7 35. Rh6 d2 36. Ke2 Rb3 37. Rh3 Rd3 38. Kd1 Kf6 39. Rxh7
Rxf3 40. Kxd2 Kg6 41. Rh8 f5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lillehammer m rapid"]
[Site "Lillehammer"]
[Date "2013.06.29"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Predojevic, Borki"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2616"]
[BlackElo "2864"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2013.06.28"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 155 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.08.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.08.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c3 d5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. d4 Nf6 6. Na3 Nc6 (6... a6 {
is another choice, but lately Black has shown that there is no need to fear
Nb5.}) 7. Nb5 Qd8 8. dxc5 Bxc5 9. Qxd8+ Kxd8 10. Bf4 Ne4 $1 {Carlsen shows
great opening knowledge even in this somewhat off-beat line of the c3 Sicilian.
} 11. Ng5 Nxg5 12. Bxg5+ f6 13. Be3 Bxe3 14. fxe3 {Black cannot be unhappy
with the result of the opening. His king being stuck in the center is not a
bad thing, since after the trade of queens it is very likely that in any
resulting endgame the king will want to be precisely near the middle of the
board. On top of that White's e-pawn can potentially become weak.} Ke7 15.
O-O-O Ne5 16. Be2 Bd7 17. Nd4 Rac8 18. Rd2 Rc5 19. Rhd1 Rhc8 20. Nf3 Ba4 21.
Re1 Nf7 22. c4 {Not bad, but it does seems a little strange to push a pawn
into a somewhat more vulnerable position.} Bc6 23. b3 Nd6 24. Kb2 a5 (24... b5
25. cxb5 Bxb5 26. Bxb5 Nxb5 27. Nd4 {would open the c-file for the black rooks,
but its unclear what else it achieves. Carlsen chooses a slower path.}) 25. Nd4
Be8 26. Red1 Re5 27. Bf3 Ne4 28. Bxe4 Rxe4 29. Re1 Rc5 30. Nc2 e5 31. Na3 Rg4
32. Nb1 b5 $1 {It is important that Black breaks the queenside before White
finishes his knight maneouver to d5.} 33. cxb5 Bxb5 34. Nc3 Bc6 35. e4 h5 36.
a3 h4 37. Re3 Ke6 38. Re1 g6 39. Re3 f5 40. exf5+ $6 {The start of real
problems. Black's passed pawn is more dangerous than the pressure on White's
e4 pawn, so it was imperative to retain the passive position and hold on to
the static structure.} gxf5 41. g3 Bh1 42. Ne2 Rd5 43. Rc2 $2 (43. Kc1 {
holding on to the second rank, was necessary. After Carlsen's response White
is lost.}) 43... Be4 44. Rc4 {Black's position is too active.} (44. Nc3 Bxc2
45. Nxd5 Kxd5 46. Kxc2 f4 47. gxf4 exf4 {seemed hopeless.}) 44... Rd2+ 45. Kc1
Ra2 46. h3 Rxe2 $1 47. Rxe2 Rxg3 {The exchange sacrifice is easy to make since
White will need to give up another pawn and the e and pawns will roll to
victory.} 48. Rc5 Rxh3 49. Rxa5 Rxb3 50. Ra6+ Kd5 51. Ra5+ Kd4 52. Ra4+ Kd3 53.
Rh2 f4 54. Rxh4 Ke3 55. Rb4 Rxb4 56. axb4 f3 57. Rh1 {The pawn will cost White
his rook and the game is over.} 0-1

[Event "Lillehammer m rapid"]
[Site "Lillehammer"]
[Date "2013.06.29"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Predojevic, Borki"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2864"]
[BlackElo "2616"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2013.06.28"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 155 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.08.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.08.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5 4. dxe5 dxe5 5. Qxd8+ Kxd8 6. Nf3 Bd6 7. Be3 Nbd7
8. O-O-O a6 9. Bc4 Ke8 10. a4 h6 11. h3 b6 12. Nd2 Bb7 13. f3 Ke7 14. Bb3 c6
15. Nc4 Bc7 16. Bf2 b5 17. Ne3 g6 18. Bh4 Nc5 19. Ng4 g5 20. Bf2 Nxb3+ 21. cxb3
Nxg4 22. hxg4 Bc8 23. Bc5+ Kf6 24. a5 Bxa5 25. Rd6+ Be6 26. b4 Bd8 27. Rxc6 a5
28. bxa5 Bxa5 29. b4 Bd8 30. Kb2 Kg7 31. Nd5 Bf6 32. Rb6 Bxd5 33. exd5 Ra4 34.
Rxb5 Rha8 35. Ra5 R4xa5 36. bxa5 Rxa5 37. Rc1 Rb5+ 38. Ka3 Ra5+ 39. Kb3 Rb5+
40. Kc4 Rb2 41. g3 Rg2 42. Kd3 Rxg3 43. Ke4 Rg2 44. Be3 Ra2 45. d6 Ra4+ 46. Kf5
Ra3 47. Ke4 Ra4+ 48. Kf5 Ra3 49. Ke4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 1st"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2013.09.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2862"]
[BlackElo "2741"]
[Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,A"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2013.09.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 157"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.11.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.11.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. d4 d5 4. Nc3 a6 5. e3 {An annoying move to face. There
are many other possibilities, but most importantly 5.c5!? is dangerous to
which Gata almost always replies 5...g6!?} Bf5 {A surprise! Other moves have
been tried in this idea. 5...b5 is a main idea while transposing to a
Semi-Slav with 5...e6 is also very popular.} 6. Bd3 (6. Qb3 b5 7. c5 a5 $1 8.
Ne5 a4 9. Qd1 g6 10. g4 Be6 11. h3 Bg7 {gave Black a fine position in the game
Tomashevsky-Ramirez, Tromso 2013.}) 6... Bxd3 7. Qxd3 e6 8. O-O Bb4 {Most
players had rejected this as a dubious idea. Magnus took a long time trying to
figure out how to get an advantage after this.} (8... Be7 {allowing} 9. e4 dxe4
10. Nxe4 Nxe4 11. Qxe4 Nd7 {is very possible and the main idea.}) 9. Bd2 Bxc3
10. Bxc3 O-O 11. a4 Nbd7 12. a5 Ne4 13. Bb4 Re8 14. Rac1 {White holds a very
slight advantage because his position has more space and its more obvious on
what exactly to do: mainly it is to remove the knight from f3 and push f3.} h5
$5 {Kamsky took a long time thinking about this move. Carlsen seemed to have a
confused look on his face when he saw it.} 15. Ne5 Qc7 (15... Nxe5 16. dxe5 {
strands the knight on e4, and could prove dangerous.}) 16. Nxd7 Qxd7 17. Qe2 (
17. f3 {was more direct, but its unclear how much advantage White will be able
to obtain.}) 17... Nf6 18. Rfd1 Qc7 19. h3 Rad8 20. b3 Rd7 {Black has enough
space to maneouver endlessly, so it's up to White to try to create something.}
21. Rc2 Qd8 22. Rcc1 h4 23. Be1 Ne4 24. Qg4 g5 $5 {Kamsky is in no mood to let
Carlsen slowly wrap his army around the weak h4-pawn. Instead he will create
space on the kingside and push back White's pieces. Kamsky was beginning to
fall dangerously low on the clock around this time.} 25. cxd5 f5 26. Qf3 cxd5 (
26... Rxd5 $5 {was also interesting, to retain the pawn on the c-file keeping
White's pieces out.}) 27. Rc2 Rg7 28. Rdc1 Nf6 (28... g4 $1 {was more to the
point, but Kamsky was running short on time.}) 29. Qd1 g4 30. f3 $1 {An
amazing move. Suddenly the counterattack on the weak h4-pawn is strong and
Black must decide exactly how to proceed with the kingside initiative, as if
it is mishandled White already enjoys the c-file and some strong positional
advantages.} gxh3 31. Bxh4 Kf7 $2 {Too optimistic} (31... hxg2 32. Qe1 Qe7 {
still gave some hope.}) 32. Qe1 $1 {Very powerful, White is nearly winning now.
} hxg2 {And now he definitely is with the following sequence.} 33. Rc7+ Re7 34.
Bxf6 Kxf6 35. Rc8 Qd6 36. Qh4+ Kf7 37. Qh5+ Rg6 38. f4 $1 {Most accurate.
Black is in a sort of zugzwang and his position will fall apart faster than
with the immediate Qh8.} Qa3 39. Qh8 Rg7 40. Qh5+ Rg6 41. Qh8 Rg7 42. Qf8+ Kg6
43. Kxg2 $1 {Slow but fatal: White's rook will swing into great effect.
Black's discovery check is no threat at all. From now on White must play
perfect to checkmate Black, but Carlsen does this with ease.} Rgf7 44. Qd8 Rh7
45. Rg1 Qa2+ 46. Kf3+ Kf6 47. Qg8 Rh3+ 48. Rg3 Rxg3+ 49. Qxg3 {And now Black
is completely defenseless against the threats.} 1-0

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 1st"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2013.09.10"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A85"]
[WhiteElo "2813"]
[BlackElo "2862"]
[Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,A"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2013.09.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 157"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.11.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.11.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 f5 {Already something to talk about. The Dutch is not a common guest in
top level chess, but two other players in this tournament are known to use it:
Kamsky and Nakamura!} 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 g6 4. Nc3 {The setups with a quick g3
and b3 are more common, but Aronian has a specific idea in mind.} Bg7 5. Bf4 $5
{A favorite of Hrant Melkumyan, an Armenian that lives in Berlin like Aronian.
It is possible that Aronian got the idea from him.} d6 6. e3 Nc6 {Basically
new, but since Black's only plan is to play e5 anyways the move makes sense.}
7. Be2 (7. d5 e5 $1 {is the typical response against d5 when there is a bishop
on f4.} 8. dxc6 exf4 9. cxb7 Bxb7 10. exf4 Qe7+ {gives Black a superior
position despite being a pawn down.}) 7... O-O 8. O-O Ne4 $1 {The point of
this move is to allow Black to push e5. There are other ways of doing this,
like ...Qe8, but they are far more awkward while this is natural and direct.}
9. h3 e5 {Black has achieved e5 while it is unclear exactly what White has
achieved. Carlsen has already equalized.} 10. Bh2 exd4 11. exd4 Ng5 $1 {
Taking away the protection of the d4-pawn will force this diagonal open: a
nice strategical advantage as the bishop on h2 will not be able to oppose the
one on g7.} 12. Nxg5 Qxg5 13. f4 {A strange move as White is at least
temporarily burrying his bishop. He hopes to maneouver it soon to g1 for it to
regain its power.} Qf6 14. d5 Nd4 15. Kh1 c5 $1 {Securing the diagonal and
giving b5 ideas a sharper edge.} 16. Bd3 Bd7 17. Bg1 Rae8 18. Qd2 a6 19. Rad1 {
Already Black's position is more comfortable. By induction from the Benoni, it
is clear that if Black achieves the b5 break and achieves a powerful bishop on
g7 he will be in the driver's seat.} Rb8 20. a4 Qd8 $1 {A smart regrouping of
the queen. Black only needs one piece to control the long diagonal.} 21. Rb1
Qa5 22. Qd1 Qb4 23. Bf2 Rbe8 24. Be1 Qb3 {The queen finishes her long journey
to b3, and with it she exerts so much power that White has no choice but to
trade her off. The problem is that this is a bad trade for White, as the queen
is his best defender. Without the queen White is both planless and in a
difficult situation, Black will slowly set up b5 and when that break happens
Black's pieces will crash through.} 25. Qxb3 Nxb3 26. Bc2 {Aronian was down to
less than ten minutes at this point. He started pacing a lot around this point,
while Carlsen stayed at his board constantly thinking.} Na5 {It was tempting
to put the knight on d4 again, but both moves are about as problematic for
White as now the c4-pawn is not easily defended.} 27. Bd3 $1 Re3 28. Rd1 Rb8 $6
{Black continues with this plan of breaking on b5. Magnus has shuffled his
rooks a lot, but they now find themselves in strong positions which is why
Aronian takes care of that immediately. However it might have been better to
immediately place the knight on a5 back to d4 before anything else.} (28...
Rxd3 $5 {was his original idea, but Carlsen didn't see anything clear at the
end and decided not to go for the complications.} 29. Rxd3 Nxc4 $13) 29. Bf2
Ree8 30. Ra1 $1 {Aronian is an excellent player, and sometimes it is most
important to shine when you are in difficult positions. This important move
allows the rook to diminish the effects of a possible b5, as the a-file will
be open in its favor.} Bd4 31. Kg1 {Aronian took the opportunity where he felt
Black's advantage had slip and the fact that Carlsen had dropped significantly
in the clock to offer a draw in this position.} Be3 32. Bxe3 Rxe3 33. Rad1 Rbe8
34. Kf2 Nb3 35. Rfe1 $1 {With the trade of all the rooks, White has nothing to
worry about.} Rxe1 36. Rxe1 Rxe1 37. Kxe1 Nd4 38. Kd2 Kf7 39. Be2 Kf6 40. Bd1
a5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 1st"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2013.09.11"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E62"]
[WhiteElo "2862"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,A"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2013.09.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 157"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.11.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.11.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 {Nakamura comes to the game
in fighting spirits. This slugfest was expected, and the American's
step-father, FM Sunil Weeramantry, had predicted that this would be a game
full of fighting chess.} 6. Nc3 Nc6 7. O-O Rb8 8. Bf4 {In a very common
position Carlsen decides to play in a slightly unusual way. h3 and b3 are by
more common ideas, but this move coupled with Rc1 has been seen more and more
in the recent past. The Bf4, like in the game that Carlsen played yesterday
with Black, has the problem that it might be bothered by the e5 break.} a6 9.
Rc1 h6 $5 {This move allows Black to sometimes play g5 if the time is right.}
10. b3 (10. Qd3 Ng4 $5 11. Bd2 e5 {was the game between Vachier-Lagrave and
Ding Liren from 2012 which ended in a draw.}) (10. h3 {is also interesting, to
avoid g4 after g5.}) 10... g5 $1 {Of course, Nakamura wouldn't back down from
such an opportunity. White is forced to go for the line that was played in the
game} 11. d5 (11. Bd2 g4 12. Nh4 Nxd4 {does not give White enough compensation
for the pawn.}) 11... gxf4 12. dxc6 fxg3 13. hxg3 {Black cannot win a pawn
here after...} b5 (13... bxc6 $6 14. Nd4 Bd7 (14... c5 $2 15. Nc6 {and Black
loses}) 15. Nxc6 Bxc6 16. Bxc6 {is certainly more pleasant for White.}) 14.
cxb5 axb5 15. b4 {White fixes the weakness on b5, but at the same time his
pawn on b4 is somewhat lose. He has to worry about Black's pair of bishops and
the potential pawns on the center rolling down. On the other hand he has
pressure on b5 and a majority on the queenside that might be problematic for
Black.} d5 16. Qd3 Qd6 17. Nd4 Qxb4 18. a4 {Both players are happy with this
exchange. b4 is lost, and the bishops gain a little more scope in the open
game, but for the other hand White will obtain a passed pawn on the a-file.}
Ne4 $5 {Nakamura spent 17 minutes in this move, a difficult position not only
because of the many variations, but because none of them are necessarily
clearly evaluated.} (18... bxa4 19. Rb1 Ba6 $1 20. Rxb4 Bxd3 21. Rxb8 Rxb8 22.
exd3 {leaves Black down a piece, and although he has a powerful passed pawn on
the a-file and a strong bishop supporting it from g7, it seems unlikely that
there is quite enough.}) 19. Ndxb5 $5 (19. Nxd5 Nxf2 $1 (19... Qxd4 20. Qxd4 $1
Bxd4 21. Bxe4 {gives chances to retain the advantage with pressure on e7 and c7
}) 20. Rxf2 Qxd4 21. Qxd4 Bxd4 {is nearly equal.}) 19... Nxc3 20. Nxc3 Bxc3 21.
Rxc3 (21. Qxc3 Qxc3 22. Rxc3 e6 {gives Black some chances to win as White's
a-pawn is weaker than it is dangerous.}) 21... Bf5 22. Qxd5 Qxc3 23. Qxf5 {
A strange position. Neither side will be able to make much progress as Black
has more material but his king is permanently weak and the white bishop will
hold down the position comfortably.} Rfd8 24. Bf3 Ra8 25. Qe4 Qf6 26. Qb4 Ra7
27. Kg2 Rda8 28. Qg4+ Kf8 29. Qd7 e6 30. Rd1 Qe5 31. Rh1 Kg7 32. Rb1 Rxa4 33.
Rb7 {Black has managed to round up the a pawn but now has to deal with the
weakness on c7. He in reality has made no progress.} R4a7 34. Qe7 Rxb7 {
The only way to continue, but allowing a pawn that is protected on b7 is sad.}
35. cxb7 {White on the other hand can also make no progress as b8 will be
permanently defended.} Rb8 36. Qd7 c5 37. Qc6 Kf6 38. Kh2 Ke7 39. Kg2 f5 40.
Qc8 Qd6 41. e3 Kf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 1st"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2013.09.13"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C69"]
[WhiteElo "2741"]
[BlackElo "2862"]
[Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,A"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2013.09.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 157"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.11.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.11.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 {Kamsky seemed to have not expected Carlsen to
go for this variation specifically. He thought for a few minutes before
deciding that the best course of action was to go into the quiet waters of the
exchange Spanish.} 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O f6 6. d4 Bg4 7. dxe5 (7. c3 {was
Fischer's favorite, but neither this move nor the move in the game are
considered dangerous for Black nowadays.}) 7... Qxd1 8. Rxd1 fxe5 9. Rd3 {
A common rook lift, the idea being that if White had played instead} (9. Nbd2
O-O-O {it becomes difficult to develop his pieces.}) 9... Bd6 10. Nbd2 Nf6 11.
Nc4 {White's play revolves around the weakened e5-pawn - taking it and playing
with the remaining passed pawn while Black has no chance at creating one
himself on the queenside. However Black's piece activity has been considered
for some time to give him a perfetly good game.} O-O 12. Nfxe5 Be2 13. Re3 Bxc4
14. Nxc4 Ng4 $1 {More accurate than the other move. At least here White has
some chances of going wrong.} (14... Bc5 {is a known draw:} 15. Re1 Rae8 16.
Be3 Bxe3 17. Rxe3 Rxe4 18. Rxe4 Nxe4 19. f3 Nd6 {and although White should be
minimally better becaues of the structure, no one has been able to win this
position.}) 15. Re2 Bxh2+ 16. Kf1 $6 {And he starts doing so almost
immediately. The king is safer and better placed on h1.} Rae8 17. Nd2 $6 {
It's going to become incredibly hard to develop because of the self-pin.} (17.
c3 {just passing and allowing some breathing room on the second rank was much
better.}) 17... Rd8 $1 {The World number one shows that he is in a class of
his own. With the rook going back and forth, he has now secured a pin on the
d-file that causes White's development to stall almost completely.} 18. f3 Bg3
19. Kg1 Ne5 20. b3 Ng6 $1 {Magnus moves are all precise, with the goal of not
allowing White easily development.} 21. Nf1 Be5 22. c3 $2 {Panic.} (22. Rb1 Rd1
23. Rd2 Bd4+ 24. Kh2 Rxf1 25. Rxd4 Nf4 26. Rd7 Rf6 27. Bxf4 $1 Rxb1 28. Be5 {
is unpleasant, but White's activity gives him excellent chances to draw.})
22... Bxc3 23. Bb2 Nf4 24. Rc2 Ba5 {The Norwegian wants to keep as many pieces
on the board as possible, especially with the somewhat exposed king, but there
was nothing wrong with simplifying the position and exploiting the material
advantage.} 25. Ng3 g6 26. Rf1 Rd3 27. Kh2 Bb4 28. Ne2 Ne6 29. Nc1 Rd7 30. g3
Rfd8 31. Kg2 Kf7 32. f4 h5 33. Kh3 a5 34. Kg2 Nc5 35. Kf3 Nd3 36. Re2 Be7 $2 {
Allowing White some hope.} (36... Nxb2 37. Rxb2 Ba3 38. Rc2 Rd2 {and it will
be very hard for White to hold this position as a2 will soon fall as well.})
37. Nxd3 Rxd3+ 38. Kg2 Bc5 $6 {The extra pawn still gives Black excellent
chances to win, but the advantage is slipping move by move. The bishop is not
well placed on c5 as it might be forced back to b6 in a defensive position.}
39. Rc1 $6 (39. Be5 $1 {would have at least forced Black to find an active
idea to defend c7.} Bd6 40. Bb2 {and now any move by the bishop will be met
with Be5 again.}) 39... Rd2 40. Rc2 Rxe2+ 41. Rxe2 {Time control has been
reached. Black is still up a pawn, but will have a tough technical job ahead
of him after missing many ways of finishing his opponent off.} Rd3 42. Rc2 Bd6
43. Bc1 Be7 44. Kf2 a4 45. Rd2 Rxd2+ $2 {A strange decision. The bishop
endgame looks less promising than the rook endgame.} (45... Bc5+ $1 46. Kg2 Rc3
47. Bb2 Re3 48. Bd4 Bxd4 49. Rxd4 a3 $1 {gives black great winning chances.})
46. Bxd2 axb3 47. axb3 c5 48. g4 $6 {Not necessarily losing, but why create a
free passed pawn for Black? Much more tenacious was to simply wait and keep
the king on e2-d3, forcing Black to figure out a plan of action.} b5 49. gxh5
gxh5 50. Bc3 $2 {The final blunder.} (50. Kf3 b4 51. Be3 {should still be
somehow winning for Black, but it's much more difficult to figure out.}) 50...
b4 51. Bb2 Bh4+ {Not the most precise but also winning.} 52. Ke2 Bg3 {The
combined action between the passed pawn on h4 and the threats of breaking on
c4 and exchanging bishops gives Carlsen the win. Here he is pushing the f-pawn
forward so he will be able to easily trade bishops later.} 53. f5 h4 54. e5 h3
55. e6+ (55. Kf3 Bh4 56. Ba1 Be1 $19) 55... Ke7 56. Kf3 Bf4 57. Bg7 Bg5 58. Be5
c4 59. bxc4 Bf6 {White has two passed pawns, but they are worth nothing
compared to the outside passed pawns of Black, which will soon promote.} 0-1

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 1st"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2013.09.14"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2862"]
[Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,A"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2013.09.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 157"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.11.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.11.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5
8. Rxe5 {Nakamura uses a line that has given Carlsen some problems in the past,
both sides seemed to have been very well prepared.} O-O 9. Nc3 Ne8 10. Nd5 Bd6
11. Re1 c6 12. Ne3 Bc7 13. Nf5 d5 14. Ne7+ Kh8 15. Nxc8 Rxc8 16. g3 {Only this
move is actually new. Moving the bishop to the h3-f5 diagonal can cause Black
some problems, or at least that was the American's original plan. Carlsen
ignores this and obtains an acceptable position.} Nd6 (16... Qd7 17. d3 Nf6 18.
Qf3 {is slightly more pleasant for White due to the pair of bishops, without
it being anything special.}) 17. Bh3 f5 18. d3 (18. d4 $6 {takes control of e5,
but is not as important as the fact that it loses control of e4.}) 18... Qf6
19. c3 (19. Bf4 Qxb2 20. Be5 Qa3 21. Qh5 Kg8 22. Qg5 {gives White some
compensation, but of course Black doesn't have to take on b2.}) 19... Rce8 20.
Bd2 Nf7 21. Rxe8 Rxe8 22. Qf1 f4 23. Re1 Rf8 24. Qe2 h6 25. Kh1 Ng5 26. Bg4 Bd6
{Black has solved most of his problems because White has to consistently pay
attention to his kingside. The only way of kicking the knight out of g5 is
with h4, which will weaken g3 and increase the power of the d6-bishop.} 27. h4
Nh7 28. Kg2 Qg6 29. Bh5 Qf5 30. Bg4 Qg6 31. Bh5 Qf5 32. Bg4 Qg6 {Neither side
is really playing for anything, and with White's kingside weaknesses it's
fully understandable that he immediately agreed to a draw. With this important
results Carlsen goes into the last round with an extra half a point.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 1st"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2013.09.15"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2862"]
[BlackElo "2813"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "139"]
[EventDate "2013.09.09"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 157"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2013.11.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2013.11.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 ({Aronian has always
played exclusively the text move, spurning the Open Ruy Lopez with} 5... Nxe4)
({as well as the Arkhangelsk or Neo-Arkhangelsk with} 5... b5) ({and} 5... Bc5
{respectively.}) 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4 {Just like Kasparov, also Carlsen
avoids the Marshall. However, contrary to his ex-trainer, he did allow it a
few times:} (8. c3 d5 9. exd5 (9. d4 dxe4 10. Nxe5 Bb7 11. Nxc6 Bxc6 12. Bg5
Nd5 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Nd2 f5 15. f3 e3 16. c4 $2 (16. f4 $1 {/\} Kh8 17. Qf3
$14) 16... Nf4 $1 17. cxb5+ Kh8 {[%cal Re3e2,Re7e3,Re3f2]} 18. Nc4 e2 19. Qd2
Qg5 20. Rxe2 Nxe2+ 21. Qxe2 Bxb5 22. Qe3 $15 {/-/+,Carlsen,M (2835)-Kamsky,G 
(2732)/Wijk aan Zee/2012/}) 9... Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. d3 Bd6 13.
Re1 Bf5 14. Qf3 Qh4 15. g3 Qh3 16. Bxd5 cxd5 17. Be3 Bxd3 18. Qxd5 Rad8 19. Qf3
Rfe8 20. Nd2 Qf5 21. Qxf5 Bxf5 22. Bd4 f6 23. f3 b4 24. Ne4 Bc7 25. Kf2 bxc3
26. bxc3 Rb8 $44 {Carlsen,M (2548)-Anand,V (2785)/Leon rpd/2005/ A typical
Marshall endgame, the bishop-pair makes converting the extra pawn almost
impossible.}) ({The immediate} 8. d4 {gives Black a wider choice:} Nxd4 (8...
d6 9. c3 Bg4 {-C91 This line is not considered too dangerous for Black.}) 9.
Nxd4 (9. Bxf7+ Rxf7 10. Nxe5 Rf8 11. Qxd4 Bb7 $5 $44 12. c4 c5 13. Qd3 Qc7 14.
Nf3 bxc4 15. Qxc4+ d5 16. exd5 Bxd5 17. Qe2 Bd6 18. Nc3 Bxf3 19. Qxf3 Bxh2+ 20.
Kf1 Rad8 (20... Be5 $5) 21. g3 Nh5 22. Qxh5 Rxf2+ 23. Kxf2 Qxg3+ 24. Ke2 Qg2+
25. Ke3 Qg3+ 26. Ke2 Qg2+ {1/2, Kamsky,G (2717)-Leko,P (2756)/Jermuk/2009/})
9... exd4 10. e5 Ne8 11. c3 (11. Qxd4 Bb7 12. c4 c5 13. Qg4 d6 14. Nc3 (14. Bf4
{Short,N (2707)-Fressinet,L (2702)/Bastia rpd/2012/} bxc4 15. Bxc4 d5 $11 {/=/+
}) 14... dxe5 15. cxb5 axb5 16. Nxb5 {Gilabert Mallol,E (2440)-Kyhos,A (2352)/
corr/2010/} Nf6 17. Qf5 Qb6 $132) 11... dxc3 12. Nxc3 d6 13. Qf3 Be6 14. Nd5
Rc8 15. Bf4 Bxd5 $5 (15... dxe5 16. Nxe7+ (16. Bxe5 Bd6 17. Rad1 Bxe5 18. Rxe5
Bxd5 19. Rexd5 Nd6 20. Qf4 Qe7 21. Re5 Qf6 22. Qxf6 gxf6 23. Rc5 Rfd8 24. Rdc1
Re8 25. g3 Re2 26. Rxc7 Rxc7 27. Rxc7 Rxb2 28. Rc6 Ne4 29. Rxa6 Nc5 $11 {
Henrichs,T (2483)-Gustafsson,J (2584)/GER-ch Bad Koenigshofen/2007/}) 16...
Qxe7 17. Bxe5 Nd6 18. Qc3 Qg5 19. Bxe6 fxe6 20. Rac1 $5 (20. b3 Qg6 21. Qc6 Nf7
22. Bg3 e5 23. Rac1 Qf6 24. h3 Rfd8 {Leko,P (2756)-Aronian,L (2768)/Jermuk/
2009/}) 20... Nc4 21. Bg3 Rfe8 22. b3 Nb6 23. Qa5 Nd5 24. Rc6 e5 25. Rxa6 c6
26. h4 Qf6 27. a4 $14 {Sievilainen,T (2179)-Laine,E (2234)/corr/2010/}) 16.
Bxd5 dxe5 17. Rxe5 Bf6 18. Re2 Nd6 19. Rd1 Bg5 20. Be5 Bf6 21. Bf4 {1/2,
Becerra Rivero,J (2598)-Onischuk,A (2670)/Lubbock/2008/}) 8... b4 {Nowadays
Black's main reaction.} ({For} 8... Rb8 9. axb5 axb5 10. d3 d6 11. Nbd2 {
- see Carlsen-Topalov}) 9. d4 {This alternative has recently been getting more
attention.} ({Earlier White used to prefer} 9. d3 d6 10. Nbd2 (10. a5 {was
Kasparov's choice and White used it well up to 2006. Nowadays it seems rather
tame:} Be6 11. Nbd2 Qc8 12. Qe2 h6 13. h3 Bxb3 14. Nxb3 Re8 15. Nh2 Nh7 16. Ng4
Bg5 17. Ne3 Rb8 18. Kh2 Nf8 19. Nf5 Bxc1 20. Raxc1 Ne7 21. Nxe7+ Rxe7 22. d4
Rb5 23. Rcd1 Ne6 24. Qg4 Qf8 25. d5 Nc5 26. Re3 g6 27. Qe2 Re8 28. Rf3 Nxb3 $11
{1/2,Adams,M (2698)-Bacrot,E (2700)/ESP-chT Linares/2009/}) 10... Na5 (10...
Be6 11. Bxe6 fxe6 12. Nf1 ({A typical manoeuvre, but in recent games White has
tried other moves:} 12. Nb3 Qe8 13. d4 Nd7 14. d5 Nd8 15. dxe6 Nxe6 16. Qd5 Qf7
17. Na5 c5 18. Be3 Nf6 (18... Nb6 $5 19. Qd3 Nd4 $132) 19. Qc4 Nd4 20. Qxf7+
Kxf7 21. Ng5+ Kg6 22. Rac1 Nd7 23. Nh3 Nb6 24. c3 bxc3 25. bxc3 Ne6 $13 {
/=,Caruana,F (2772)-Ivanchuk,V (2757)/RUS-chT Loo/2013/}) (12. c3 Rb8 ({For} 
12... d5 $5 {see Bacrot-Tomashevsky, Paris 2013.}) 13. Qe2 Qd7 14. Nc4 bxc3 15.
bxc3 Rb3 16. Bd2 Re8 17. h3 Bf8 18. Rec1 Qc8 19. Bg5 Nd7 20. Qa2 Rb8 21. Be3
Nf6 22. Rab1 Qd7 $14 {/=,Dominguez Perez,L (2723)-Almasi,Z (2689)/Havana/2013/
The resulting position is more pleasant for White, but with circumspect
defence Black maanged to hold the game.}) 12... Qe8 $5 (12... Qd7 13. Ng3 Nd8 (
13... Na5 14. d4 exd4 15. Qxd4 c5 16. Qd3 Nc6 17. c3 bxc3 18. bxc3 Kh8 19. h3
Qc7 20. Ng5 Ne5 21. Qe2 Qc8 22. f4 Nf7 23. Nf3 Rb8 24. c4 $36 {[%csl Gc4,Ge4,
Gf4] (),Leko,P (2751)-Grischuk,A (2726)/WCh Mexico City/2007/}) (13... h6 14.
h3 Nh7 15. c3 bxc3 16. bxc3 Rab8 17. d4 exd4 18. cxd4 d5 19. Ba3 Bxa3 20. Rxa3
Rb4 21. Rae3 a5 22. exd5 Qxd5 23. Ne2 Ng5 24. Nxg5 hxg5 25. Nc3 Qxd4 26. Qh5 {
Sedlak,N (2568)-Brkic,A (2558)/Zupanja/2008/} Rb3 $132) 14. c3 bxc3 15. bxc3 c5
16. d4 exd4 17. cxd4 Nc6 (17... cxd4 18. Nxd4 Rc8 $14 {/=}) 18. Ba3 Rac8 19.
dxc5 dxc5 20. Qe2 Nb4 $2 (20... Nd4 $5 $13) 21. Qc4 $16 {Carlsen,M (2776)
-Svidler,P (2723)/Gjovik rpd/2009/}) 13. Ng3 Kh8 14. c3 (14. b3 h6 15. h3 Rd8
16. Bb2 Nd7 17. Qe2 Bf6 18. Rad1 Qf7 19. d4 Nxd4 20. Nxd4 exd4 21. Bxd4 Bxd4
22. Rxd4 a5 23. Red1 Qf6 24. Rc4 Rc8 25. Rc6 Kh7 26. Ra6 Ra8 27. Nh5 Qc3 28.
Rd3 Qa1+ 29. Rd1 Qc3 $11 {Goze,T (2456)-Jansen,J (2467)/corr/2009/}) 14... bxc3
15. bxc3 Na5 (15... Rb8 $5 16. d4 Nd7 $132) 16. d4 Nd7 17. Qd3 c5 18. Rb1 c4
19. Qe2 exd4 20. cxd4 Rc8 21. Be3 (21. Ba3 $5) 21... Nb3 22. Nd2 Nxd2 23. Qxd2
Nf6 24. Rb7 Bd8 25. d5 c3 $132 {Chuprov,D (2577)-Najer,E (2670)/Novokuznetsk/
2008/}) 11. Ba2 c5 12. c3 Rb8 (12... Nc6 {- see Anand-Grischuk}) 13. d4 $5 ({
Rather slow is} 13. Nc4 Nc6 14. h3 h6 (14... Be6 15. Ng5 Bd7 16. f4 {gives
White a slight pull. An important line is} h6 (16... Rb7 17. a5 Qb8 18. Nb6 Be8
19. fxe5 dxe5 20. Be3 Qd8 21. Nf3 Bd6 22. Nd5 Nxd5 23. Bxd5 $14 {Karjakin,S 
(2782)-Caruana,F (2774)/Moscow/2013/}) 17. Nf3 exf4 18. Bxf4 Be6 19. d4 $5 cxd4
20. cxd4 $36 b3 21. Bxb3 $1 Rxb3 22. Qxb3 Na5 23. Qc2 Bxc4 (23... Nxc4 24. d5
$16) 24. b4 $14) 15. Ne3 (15. d4 cxd4 16. cxd4 exd4 17. Bf4 b3 18. Bxb3 Be6 19.
Ba2 d3 $1 20. Qxd3 Nb4 21. Qe2 Nxa2 22. Rxa2 Rc8 23. b3 Nxe4 $1 $15 {Karjakin,
S (2780)-Aronian,L (2802)/Wijk aan Zee/2013/ Opening the centre favoured Black.
}) (15. Nh2 Be6 16. f4 exf4 17. Bxf4 Rb7 18. Ne3 {Prathamesh,S (2358)
-Sethuraman,S (2332)/Dindigul/2007/} d5 $1 $15) 15... Be6 16. Bc4 Bxc4 17. Nxc4
Re8 18. Be3 (18. Bd2 $142 $11 {prevents the following central push}) 18... Bf8
19. Nfd2 d5 $1 20. exd5 Qxd5 21. Qf3 Qxf3 22. Nxf3 Nd5 23. Bd2 f6 24. a5 Kf7
$15 {[%csl Rd3] Caruana,F (2786)-Kasimdzhanov,R (2696)/Tashkent/2012/}) 13...
bxc3 (13... Qc7 14. dxe5 dxe5 15. Nc4 b3 $5 ({For} 15... Rd8 {see
Caruana-Tomashevsky}) 16. Nxa5 bxa2 17. Nc4 Be6 18. Qe2 Nd7 19. Rxa2 Nb6 20.
Nfd2 (20. Nfxe5 Bd6 21. a5 Nxc4 22. Nxc4 Bxh2+ 23. Kh1 Rfe8 24. Ra1 Bxc4 25.
Qxc4 Re6 26. Qe2 Rbe8 27. Ra4 Bd6 $44 {Muri,H (2374)-Kayser,P (2055)/corr/2011/
}) 20... Rfd8 21. Ra1 Nxc4 $6 (21... Bg5 $142) (21... a5 $5 $44) 22. Nxc4 Bxc4
23. Qxc4 Qd6 24. Ra2 $6 (24. Rb1 $14) (24. Kf1 $14) 24... a5 25. Be3 h6 26. h3
Qb6 27. Kh2 Qd6 28. Rb1 Qd3 29. Qxd3 Rxd3 30. Kg1 c4 $11 {Karjakin,S (2775)
-Grischuk,A (2764)/Moscow rpd/2012/}) 14. bxc3 cxd4 15. cxd4 Nc6 16. Ba3 exd4 (
{Solid is} 16... Nxd4 17. Nxd4 exd4 18. Nf3 Bb7 19. Qd3 d5 20. Bxe7 Qxe7 21.
exd5 (21. e5 Ne4 22. Nxd4 $5 {seems more enterprising}) 21... Qd8 22. Rab1 Bxd5
23. Rxb8 Qxb8 24. Bxd5 Nxd5 25. Qxd4 Nf6 26. h3 Qc7 $11 {Dominguez Perez,L 
(2708)-Pelletier,Y (2569)/Biel/2008/}) 17. Nb3 Bg4 $5 (17... Bb7 {could lead
to Pelletier's game.}) 18. Nbxd4 Nxd4 19. Qxd4 Bxf3 20. gxf3 Nh5 21. Rad1 (21.
e5 $5 d5 22. Bc1 $14) 21... Qc8 22. Qe3 (22. Bc1 $5 Bf6 (22... Qh3 $6 23. e5
dxe5 24. Qg4 $1 $16 {[%csl Ga2,Gc1]}) 23. Qxd6 Rd8 24. Qa3 Qh3 $44) 22... Qc2
23. Rd2 Qxa4 24. e5 {Cheparinov,I (2681)-Dzhumaev,M (2499)/Istanbul olm/2012/}
Nf4 $1 $132 {/\} 25. Rd4 Qa5 26. Rxf4 Bg5 27. Ra1 Bxf4 28. Qxf4 Qxa3 29. Bxf7+
Rxf7 $11) 9... d6 {After the insertion of 8.a4 b4 this modest reaction is
Black's best choice.} (9... Nxd4 10. Nxd4 ({In this version also} 10. Bxf7+ $5
Rxf7 11. Nxe5 Rf8 12. Qxd4 Bb7 13. Nd2 $14 {deserves more attention.}) 10...
exd4 11. e5 Ne8 12. Qxd4 Bb7 13. Bf4 c5 14. Qe3 d5 15. exd6 Bxd6 16. Nd2 Qc7
17. Be5 Bxe5 18. Qxe5 Qc6 19. f3 Nd6 20. Nc4 Nxc4 21. Bxc4 Rae8 22. Qf4 a5 23.
Bb5 Rxe1+ 24. Rxe1 Qd5 25. h3 Bc8 26. Bc4 Qf5 27. Qc7 $16 {Grischuk,A (2719)
-Beliavsky,A (2667)/FIDE WCh Tripoli/2004/}) 10. dxe5 {White can't
advantageously retain the central tension.} (10. d5 Na5 11. Ba2 Rb8 12. Nbd2 c6
13. dxc6 Qc7 $5 $11 (13... Be6 14. Bxe6 fxe6 15. Qe2 Qb6 16. Nc4 Nxc4 17. Qxc4
d5 18. exd5 exd5 19. Qb3 e4 20. Ne5 Bc5 21. Be3 Bxe3 {Aronian,L (2562)
-Minasian,A (2480)/Yerevan/2001/} 22. Qxe3 $16)) (10. c3 bxc3 11. bxc3 exd4 12.
Nxd4 Nxd4 13. cxd4 d5 14. exd5 Bb7 15. Bg5 Bxd5 16. Nd2 h6 17. Bxd5 Nxd5 18.
Bxe7 Nxe7 19. Nf3 Qd6 20. h3 Rab8 21. Rc1 Rb4 22. Qc2 Nd5 23. Re4 Nf6 24. Re2
Nd5 {1/2,Stein,L-Tal,M/Moscow/1967/}) 10... dxe5 (10... Nxe5 11. Nxe5 (11. Nbd2
Nfd7 $146 (11... Nxf3+ $5 12. Nxf3 Bb7 13. e5 Nd7 14. e6 fxe6 15. Bxe6+ Kh8 16.
Bd5 c6 17. Ba2 c5 18. Bd5 Bxd5 19. Qxd5 Nb6 20. Qe6 Bf6 21. a5 Nd7 22. Qd5 Ne5
23. Nd2 Ng4 24. Nf3 Ne5 25. Nd2 Ng4 {1/2,Anand,V (2782)-Naiditsch,A (2574)/
Dortmund/2004/}) 12. Nd4 c5 13. Nf5 Nf6 14. Ne3 (14. Nxe7+ Qxe7 15. Nc4 $14 {/=
}) 14... Bb7 15. f3 Ng6 16. Ndc4 d5 17. exd5 Nxd5 18. Nf5 Qc7 19. Nxe7+ Ngxe7
20. Bg5 Nf5 21. c3 (21. Na5 $5) 21... bxc3 22. bxc3 h6 23. Qd3 g6 24. Bd2 Rad8
25. Qe2 Nf4 26. Bxf4 Qxf4 27. Rad1 Bd5 28. Nd2 Bxb3 29. Nxb3 Qxa4 30. Nxc5 {
Nakamura,H (2772)-Aronian,L (2813)/Saint Louis/2013/} Qc6 $11) 11... dxe5 12.
Qe2 Bc5 ({The most usual move, but maybe Black should consider} 12... Bb7 {, or
}) (12... a5 $5) 13. Be3 Qe7 $146 (13... Bd4 $5 14. c3 ({Engines have tested
both} 14. Bxd4 Qxd4 15. Rd1 {and}) (14. Qd3 c5 15. c3 {- see the notes to
Caruana-Fressinet}) 14... bxc3 15. bxc3 Bxe3 16. Qxe3 Qe7 17. Nd2 Be6 18. h3
Rfd8 19. Bxe6 Qxe6 20. Nf3 Ne8 21. c4 Nd6 22. c5 Nc8 23. Ng5 Qe7 24. Red1 Na7
25. Rd5 Nc6 $11 {Baklan,V (2578)-Pinter,J (2535)/AUT-chT/2005/}) 14. Nd2 Bg4 $6
15. Bxc5 Qxc5 16. Qe3 Qxe3 17. Rxe3 Rad8 18. Nc4 Rfe8 19. Na5 $1 Be6 20. f3 Rd2
21. Rc1 Nd7 22. Bxe6 Rxe6 23. Nb3 Rdd6 24. c3 $1 bxc3 25. Rexc3 $16 {Caruana,F
(2779)-Fressinet,L (2708)/Paris/2013/ The lost tempo cost Black dearly, as his
queenside crumbles.}) 11. Qxd8 {White wants to profit from the queenside holes
in a simplified position.} (11. Nbd2 Bc5 12. Qe2 ({Jansa's} 12. h3 Bb7 $11 {
is rather slow.}) 12... Qe7 $5 (12... Bg4 13. h3 Bh5 14. c3 (14. Qf1 $5 Qd7 15.
a5 Qe7 16. Bc4 Ra7 17. Nh4 g6 18. c3 bxc3 19. bxc3 Rb8 20. Nb3 Bd6 21. g4 $16 {
Zinchenko,E-Manyakhin,A/corr/2006/}) 14... Na5 15. g4 Bg6 16. Bc2 bxc3 17. bxc3
Nd5 $1 18. Nb1 {Grischuk,A (2779)-Caruana,F (2774)/Thessaloniki GP/2013/} Qf6
$5 19. g5 Qe6 20. exd5 Qxh3 21. Nh2 Bh5 22. Qe4 Bg6 23. Qe2 Bh5 $11) (12... Bb7
13. Nc4 {Black must be careful.} Qe7 14. Bg5 h6 15. Bh4 g5 16. Bg3 Nh5 (16...
Nd4 $5 17. Nxd4 Bxd4 18. Qf3 Rad8 $132 {Zajontz,R (2492)-Feco,J (2331)/corr/
2009/}) 17. Ne3 Nxg3 18. hxg3 Bxe3 19. Qxe3 Na5 20. Bd5 Rad8 21. Bxb7 Nxb7 22.
Rad1 Rxd1 23. Rxd1 Rd8 24. Rd5 Rxd5 25. exd5 Qc5 $11 {/+/=,Guilloux,J (2046)
-De los Reyes,A (1141)/corr/2003/}) 13. Nc4 Bg4 14. c3 bxc3 (14... Nh5 15. g3
Qf6 16. Kg2 Rad8 17. Be3 Bxe3 18. Nxe3 Bxf3+ 19. Qxf3 Qxf3+ 20. Kxf3 Na5 21.
Bd5 bxc3 22. b4 c6 23. Ba2 Nb7 24. Rec1 $36 {Inarkiev,E (2693)-Onischuk,A 
(2667)/Poikovsky/2013/}) 15. bxc3 h6 16. Bc2 Qe6 17. Ne3 Bxe3 18. Qxe3 Na5 19.
Nd2 Qc6 20. h3 Be6 21. Qg3 Nd7 22. Rb1 Rfb8 $11 {Grischuk,A (2764)-Svidler,P 
(2747)/London Candidates/2013/}) 11... Rxd8 12. Nbd2 ({After} 12. Bg5 {Black
can play} Rb8 $11 ({, as well as Caruana's provocative} 12... h6 $6 13. Bxf6
gxf6 14. Bd5 Rd6 {- see Negi-Caruana})) 12... h6 {Black makes a useful move
without committing his bishops.} (12... Bc5 13. h3 $5 (13. Bc4 Ng4 14. Re2 Na5
15. Bd5 Rb8 16. Nb3 Nxb3 17. cxb3 h6 18. h3 Nf6 19. Nxe5 Nxd5 20. exd5 $6 (20.
Nc6 Nc3 21. bxc3 Rd1+ 22. Kh2 Rb6 23. cxb4 Bd6+ 24. e5 Rxc6 25. exd6 Be6 $1 $11
) 20... Rxd5 21. Bf4 Be6 22. Rc1 Bd6 23. Bg3 Re8 24. Re3 c5 $15 {[%csl Rb3,Gd6,
Ge6] Anand,V (2783)-Adams,M (2727)/Paris/St Petersburg/2013/}) 13... Bb7 (13...
Re8 14. a5 Be6 15. Ba4 Bd7 16. Nb3 Bd6 17. Bg5 $14) (13... h6 14. Nc4 Re8 15.
a5 Bb7 16. Ba4 Re6 17. c3 Rd8 (17... Rb8 $5) 18. Bc2 Re7 19. Nfd2 Ba7 20. Nb3
Ne8 21. Ne3 Red7 22. Ra4 bxc3 23. bxc3 Nd6 24. Ba3 Ne7 {Inarkiev,E (2669)
-Akopian,V (2679)/Elista/2008/} 25. Bc5 $14) 14. a5 (14. Bc4 h6 15. Nb3 Bd6 16.
Bd3 $5 (16. a5 Ne7 17. Nfd2 Ng6 18. Bf1 Nf4 19. f3 Nd7 20. Nc4 Be7 21. Be3 Ne6
22. Bf2 Bc6 23. Ne3 Ndc5 24. Bc4 Nxb3 25. cxb3 Bb5 {Bologan,V (2682)
-Sargissian,G (2642)/Kallithea/2008/} 26. Nd5 $14 {Bologan}) 16... Bc8 17. Be3
Be6 18. Nfd2 Be7 19. Rad1 Nd7 20. Bc4 $14 {Bologan: Compared with the
positions where the pawn is on a5, White controls the very important square b5.
}) 14... h6 15. Ba4 Nd7 (15... Nxa5 $5 16. Nxe5 Bd4 17. Nd3 c5 $132) 16. Nb3
Bd6 17. Be3 Ncb8 18. Nfd2 Bc6 19. Nc4 Bxa4 20. Rxa4 Nc6 21. Rd1 Be7 22. Raa1
Kf8 23. f3 Ke8 24. Kf2 Nf8 25. Rd5 f6 26. g3 Ne6 27. f4 $36 {Harikrishna,P 
(2685)-Kamsky,G (2746)/Istanbul olm/2012/}) ({Black has had more success with
the prophylactic} 12... Bd6 13. a5 h6 14. Bc4 Re8 $1 (14... Kf8 15. b3 (15. Nb3
Ke7 16. Nfd2 ({Bologan recommends} 16. Be3 Be6 17. Bxe6 Kxe6 18. Nfd2 {, but}
Rab8 {[%cal Yb8b5] seems about equal.}) 16... Be6 17. Bf1 Nd7 18. Nc4 Nc5 19.
Nxc5 Bxc5 20. c3 f6 21. Be3 {1/2,Nisipeanu,L (2684)-Inarkiev,E (2684)/Evry/
2008/} Bxe3 22. Nxe3 Rd2 $11) 15... Ke7 $6 (15... Bc5 {is the engine move, but
why then go to d6 at all?}) 16. Bd5 $1 Nxd5 17. exd5 Na7 18. Nxe5 Kf8 19. Ndc4
Bxe5 20. Rxe5 Nc6 21. Bg5 $1 $14 {Karjakin,S (2721)-Aronian,L (2754)/Nalchik/
2009/}) (14... Bb7 15. b3 (15. Nb3 Re8 16. c3 bxc3 17. bxc3 Nd8 18. Nfd2 Ne6
19. f3 Bc6 20. Bf1 Reb8 21. Ba3 Kf8 22. Nc1 Bb5 23. Nc4 Bxa3 24. Rxa3 Nd7 25.
Rd1 f6 $11 {/=/+,Felgaer,R (2570)-Tomashevsky,E (2730)/Istanbul olm/2012/})
15... Bc5 16. Bb2 Rd7 17. h3 Re8 18. Ra4 {Kritz,L (2618)-Kaplan,S (2422)/Biel/
2010/} Nh5 $132 {[%cal Yh5f4]}) 15. Nb3 (15. b3 Be6 16. Bb2 Nd7 17. h3 f6 18.
Nh4 Nc5 19. Nf5 Bf8 20. Ne3 Bxc4 21. Ndxc4 Ne6 22. Rad1 Red8 23. Rd5 Nf4 $11 {
Negi,P (2642)-Sargissian,G (2663)/WChT Ningbo/2011/}) (15. Bd3 Nd7 16. Nb3 Nc5
17. Be3 Nxd3 18. cxd3 Be6 19. Nfd2 Nb8 20. Rec1 Nd7 $11 {Sargissian}) 15... Be6
16. Bd3 Red8 17. Bf1 (17. Nfd2 Nd7 18. Bc4 Nc5 19. Nxc5 Bxc5 20. Bxe6 fxe6 21.
Nb3 Ba7 22. Be3 Nd4 23. Rac1 Nxb3 24. cxb3 Bxe3 25. Rxe3 c5 $11 {Antipov,M 
(2462)-Heimann,A (2493)/Athens/2012/}) 17... Kf8 18. Nfd2 Nd7 19. Nc4 Nc5 20.
Nxc5 Bxc5 21. c3 f6 22. Be3 Bxe3 {1/2,Carlsen,M (2772)-Leko,P (2756)/Dortmund/
2009/}) 13. a5 ({Carlsen and Aronian already had this position once.} 13. Bc4
Bd6 (13... Bc5 $5) 14. Nb3 Bb7 (14... Re8 $142 $5 {[%cal Yc8e6]}) 15. h3 Kf8
16. Bd3 Bc8 17. Be3 Be6 18. Nfd2 Ke8 19. f3 Be7 20. Bc4 Bc8 21. Red1 Bb7 22.
Bf2 Nd7 23. Bd3 Nf8 24. Nc4 Ne6 25. Nba5 $16 {Carlsen,M (2776)-Aronian,L (2750)
/Nice rpd/2009/ gave White a substantial advantage, but Aronian undoubtedly
prepared an improvement here.}) (13. Nc4 Bd6 14. a5 Be6 15. Be3 Rab8 16. Nfd2
Ng4 17. h3 Nxe3 18. Nxe3 Bc5 19. Bxe6 Rxd2 20. Bd5 Bxe3 (20... Nd8 $5) 21. fxe3
Ne7 22. Bc4 Rxc2 23. b3 Rxc4 24. bxc4 Kf8 $44 {Wan,Y (2477)-Tkachiev,V (2662)/
Jakarta/2012/}) 13... Bc5 $146 {Until now Black played mostly} (13... Bd6 {
which transposes into the aforementioned 12...Bd6 lines.}) 14. Bc4 {[%cal
Yb2b3,Yc1b2,Yc4d3,Yd2c4] White's long-term plan is to target e5, but the text
move is not ideal.} (14. Ba4 Nxa5 15. Nxe5 Ng4 16. Nxg4 Bxg4 $132 {and Black's
active pieces give him reasonable counterchances.}) (14. h3 $142 $5 {gives
better chances for an edge. Now} Bb7 {leads to Harikrishna - Kamsky above,} ({
while} 14... Re8 15. Nc4 {transposes to Inarkiev-Akopian})) 14... Ng4 15. Re2
Be6 $1 {Swapping the important bishop complicates White's development and
gives Aronian the initiative.} 16. Bxe6 ({White has no time for} 16. Bd3 b3 $36
) 16... fxe6 17. h3 Nf6 18. Re1 Rab8 19. Nc4 Rb5 {[%csl Ra5][%cal Gb5e5] An
excellent outpost for the rook, attacking and defending at the same time.} 20.
b3 (20. Ncxe5 $6 Nxe5 21. Nxe5 Bxf2+ 22. Kxf2 Rxe5 $15 {[%csl Re4] /-/+}) (20.
Be3 Ne8 $36 {[%cal Ye8d6]}) 20... Bd4 21. Bb2 (21. Nxd4 exd4 $15 {[%csl Ra5]})
21... Rc5 $1 {[%cal Rc5c4]} 22. Ra2 Bxb2 ({After} 22... Ne8 {White can already
consider} 23. Bxd4 $5 exd4 24. e5 $132) 23. Rxb2 Ne8 24. Ra2 Nd6 25. Nfd2 Nb7 (
25... Nd4 $15) ({, or} 25... Nb5 $15 {was probably better, but even here it's
not simple to increase Black's pressure.}) 26. Nf3 Kf7 (26... Nbxa5 27. Nfxe5
Nxe5 28. Rxa5 Rxa5 29. Nxa5 Rd2 30. Rc1 $11 {[%cal Yg1e1]}) ({Aronian is
playing for a win and spurns} 26... Nd6 $11) 27. Kf1 Kf6 28. Ra4 Nbxa5 29. Ne3
$5 (29. Nxa5 Nxa5 30. Re2 Rd1+ 31. Re1 Rd6 $5 32. Rxb4 Rxc2 33. Nxe5 c5 $15 {
Carslen is not intent on winning the pawn back immediately, this cool retreat
leaves Black's kinights sidetracked.}) 29... h5 30. Rea1 Rd4 31. Ne1 Ke7 (31...
Rxe4 $6 32. Nd3 {/\} Rb5 33. c4 $1 Nxb3 34. cxb5 axb5 35. Ra6 $14) 32. f3 Rd2
33. Rd1 (33. Nd3 $2 Rxd3 34. cxd3 Nxb3 35. Rd1 a5 $17 {[%csl Ga5,Gb4][%cal
Rc5b5,Rb3c5] /-+}) 33... Rd6 ({Keeps the tension, after} 33... Rxd1 34. Nxd1
$11 {[%cal Yd1e3,Ye1d3] Black has no obvious way to untangle.}) 34. Rda1 Kd7 ({
Still aiming for more than} 34... Rd2 35. Rd1 $11) 35. Nd1 Rd2 36. Nf2 $5 Kc8
37. Nfd3 Rb5 38. h4 (38. Nxb4 Nxb4 39. Rxa5 Kb7 {is still slightly unpleasant
for White. Carlsen was short of time, so he doesn't change the character of
the position.}) 38... Kb7 39. R1a2 Ka7 40. Kg1 Kb6 41. Kf1 g6 42. Kg1 Kb7 43.
Kf1 Kc8 44. Nf2 Rd8 $6 ({This is already pushing it too far, Black should have
resigned himself to} 44... Rc5 45. Nfd3 Rb5 $11) 45. Ned3 $44 {The retreat of
the active rook allows White to further improve his piece coordination and put
serious pressure on Black's weaknesses. Carlsen realised this was the turning
point of the game and somewhere around here he already declined a draw offer.
Aronian was late to realise he has to defend accurately and without much
resistance.} Kb7 46. Ke2 Kb6 47. Ke3 Kb7 {Awkward.} (47... Ra8 48. Nb2 $1 {
doesn't allow the knight to leave a5, but after} Rc5 49. Kd2 Rf8 $14 {Black
can still fight on.}) 48. Nd1 (48. Nh3 $5 $14 {is interesting, but White has a
different plan.}) 48... Kc8 49. N1b2 Rd6 50. Ra1 $1 {An important finesse,
which clearly indicates aggressive intentions.} ({Carslen avoids the immediate
} 50. Nc4 Nxc4+ 51. bxc4 Rb8 52. c5 Rd7 53. Rxa6 b3 $1 $11) 50... Kd8 $2 {
The decisive mistake, the rook should have left the exposed d6-square as soon
as possible.} (50... Rd7 51. Nc4 Nxc4+ 52. bxc4 Rb8 53. Rxa6 Nd4 54. Rc1 $16 {
[%csl Re5,Re6] /\} b3 55. c3 Nc2+ 56. Ke2 {[%csl Rb3]}) (50... Rd4 $142 $5 {
and the forcing} 51. Nxe5 (51. g3 $5 $36 {[%cal Yf3f4] is perhaps stronger})
51... Rxe5 52. Rxa5 Rdxe4+ 53. fxe4 Nxa5 (53... Rxa5 $2 54. Rxa5 Nxa5 55. Kf4
$18 {[%cal Rf4g5]}) 54. Nd3 Rb5 55. Nf4 Kd7 $14 {gives Black chances for a
successful defence.}) 51. Nc4 Nxc4+ 52. bxc4 Rb8 53. c5 Rd7 ({Even after the
more resilient} 53... Rxd3+ 54. Kxd3 a5 55. Kc4 $16 {/+- White should graually
win.}) 54. Rxa6 $18 b3 {Hopeless, but} (54... Nd4 {was no better:} 55. Ra8 $1
Rxa8 (55... Nxc2+ 56. Kd2 Nxa1 57. Rxb8+ Ke7 58. Rxb4 $18 {[%csl Ra1,Re5]}) 56.
Rxa8+ Ke7 57. Nxe5 $5 (57. Nxb4 $18) 57... Nxc2+ 58. Ke2 $18 {[%csl Rd7] and
Black's rook is trapped!}) 55. Rxc6 bxc2 56. Ne1 {[%csl Rc2]} (56. Rxe6 $142 $1
$18) 56... Ke7 (56... Rb2 57. Rxe6 {[%cal Ra1a8]} Rd1 58. Nxc2 $18) (56... Rd1
57. Nxc2 Rxa1 58. Nxa1 Ra8 59. Rxe6 (59. Nc2 $2 Kd7) 59... Rxa1 60. Rxg6 $18)
57. Nxc2 Rb3+ 58. Ke2 Rb2 59. Rc1 Ra2 {Now the Rc6 is temporarily trapped, but
Black has no way to attack it and he is already a piece down. The rest doesn't
require any comment.} 60. Ke3 Kf7 61. f4 Kf6 62. fxe5+ Kxe5 63. Ne1 Ra3+ 64.
Kf2 Rd2+ 65. Kf1 Rd7 66. Nf3+ Kf4 67. Rxe6 g5 68. hxg5 Kg3 69. Rf6 Ra2 70. Ne5
1-0

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Anand +3-0=7"]
[Site "Chennai"]
[Date "2013.11.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D78"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[Annotator "Sumets,A"]
[PlyCount "32"]
[EventDate "2013.11.09"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 158"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.01.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.01.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. d4 (4. c4 d4 $5 (4... c6) 5. d3 e5 6. b4 a5 $6
7. b5 c5 8. bxc6 Nxc6 9. Na3 Nge7 10. O-O O-O 11. Nd2 Nb4 12. Nb5 Nec6 13. Ne4
Qe7 14. e3 Rd8 15. a3 Na6 16. exd4 Nxd4 17. Nxd4 exd4 18. Re1 $16 {Jobava,B 
(2678)-Stevic,H (2612) Porto Carras 2011 1-0 (35)}) 4... c6 5. O-O Nf6 6. b3 {
A slightly passive move.} (6. c4 dxc4 $5 {Probably Carlsen didn't want to play
this line} (6... O-O {leads to the main line}) 7. a4 Na6 $5 $146 (7... O-O 8.
Na3 Be6 9. Ng5 Bd5 10. e4 h6 11. exd5 hxg5 12. dxc6 Nxc6 13. Bxg5 Qxd4 14. Bxc6
Qxd1 15. Raxd1 bxc6 {1/2 (15) Adianto,U (2605)-Tkachiev,V (2620) Jakarta 1996})
8. Na3 Be6 9. Ng5 Qd7 10. Nxe6 Qxe6 11. Qc2 Nb4 12. Qc3 $8 (12. Qxc4 $2 Qxc4
13. Nxc4 Nc2 14. Rb1 Nxd4 $17) 12... a5 13. e3 Ne4 14. Qxc4 Qxc4 15. Nxc4 Nd6
16. Nd2 $2 (16. b3 O-O $6 17. Nxa5 Nc2 18. Ra2 Nxd4 19. Nxb7 $16) 16... e5 17.
Nb3 exd4 18. exd4 O-O $11 {Kunin,V (2537)-Volokitin,A (2695) ChT-AUS 2012 0-1 
(53)}) 6... O-O 7. Bb2 Bf5 8. c4 Nbd7 9. Nc3 ({A more cautious move is} 9. Nbd2
Ne4 10. Nh4 (10. e3 {This move has very good statistics} Rc8 (10... Ndc5 $5 {
might be a reasonable novelty}) 11. Rc1 a6 12. Nh4 Nxd2 13. Qxd2 Be6 14. cxd5
cxd5 15. Qb4 Rb8 16. Nf3 Bf6 17. Ne5 $14 {Nikolic,P (2657)-Votava,J (2546)
Germany 2007 1-0 (72)}) 10... Nxd2 11. Qxd2 Be6 12. e4 (12. cxd5 cxd5 13. Qb4
Bf6 (13... a5 14. Qxb7 a4 15. Qb5 {1/2 (15) Kortschnoj, V (2595)-Nunn,J (2625)
Amsterdam 1988} axb3 16. axb3 Rb8 17. Qd3 Qb6 18. Ra3 Rfc8 $44) 14. Nf3 Qb6 15.
Qxb6 axb6 {1/2 (15) Bogner,S (2569)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2680) Belfort 2012})
12... dxe4 13. Bxe4 Bh3 14. Rfe1 Qc7 15. Nf3 Nf6 16. Bc2 Rad8 17. Qe3 Rfe8 18.
Bc3 Qc8 19. Rad1 Bf5 20. Bxf5 Qxf5 21. Kg2 Qc8 22. h3 $14 {Nakamura,H (2783)
-Leko,P (2737) London 2012 1/2 (73). The rook endgame was very instructive.})
9... dxc4 $1 {This underestimated move isn't a novelty, but it hadn't been
played before by titled players. 9...Ne4 was considered as the main line. I
think that White will stop playing 9.Nc3 because of 9...dxc4!} (9... Ne4 10. e3
(10. Nxe4 Bxe4 11. Nd2 Bxg2 12. Kxg2 c5 13. cxd5 cxd4 14. Nf3 Nb6 15. Bxd4 Bxd4
16. Qxd4 Qxd5 17. Qe3 Rad8 18. Qxe7 Rfe8 19. Qf6 Qe4 20. e3 (20. Rfe1 $1 Nd5
21. Qb2 g5 22. Kg1 $16) 20... Nd5 $44 {Tazbir,M (2444)-Jasnikowski,Z (2403)
ChT-POL Karpacz 2008 1-0 (59)}) 10... a5 11. Qe2 Nxc3 12. Bxc3 a4 13. cxd5 cxd5
14. Nd2 (14. Qb5 Qb6 15. Qxd5 Be6 16. Qe4 Nf6 17. Qb1 Rfc8 18. Rc1 axb3 19.
axb3 Rxa1 20. Bxa1 Rxc1+ 21. Qxc1 Qxb3 $11) 14... Nf6 15. bxa4 Rxa4 16. a3 Qd7
$11 {1/2 (40) Fedoseev,V (2546)-Levin,E (2499) St Petersburg 2012}) 10. bxc4
Nb6 11. c5 (11. Qb3 {I think that this move is more reliable than 11.c5} Be6
12. d5 $1 (12. Ne5 $6 Nxc4 $1 (12... Qxd4 $6 13. Nd5 Qc5 14. Nc7 Rad8 15. Nxe6
fxe6 16. Rac1 $44) 13. Nxc4 b5 14. Bxc6 Bxc4 15. Qc2 Rc8 16. Bf3 Qxd4 $17)
12... cxd5 13. cxd5 Nbxd5 (13... Nfxd5) 14. Ng5 Qb6 (14... Nxc3 $5 15. Nxe6
Nxe2+ 16. Kh1 Nxg3+ 17. fxg3 fxe6 18. Qxe6+ Kh8 19. Rab1 $44) 15. Nxe6 fxe6 16.
Nxd5 Nxd5 17. Bxg7 Qxb3 18. axb3 Kxg7 19. Rfc1 $44 {White has enough
compensation for the sacrificed pawn to get an equal game.}) 11... Nc4 12. Bc1
{In order to avoid trouble White should play carefully.} ({One might recommend
} 12. Qb3 Nxb2 13. Qxb2 Rb8 14. Rfd1 Ne4 (14... Qc7 $5) 15. Nxe4 Bxe4 $11)
12... Nd5 $146 ({It seems to me that the world champion could have tried to
get some advantage following G. Aring:} 12... Ne4 $1 13. Qb3 Na5 (13... b5 $5 {
Gleizerov,E} 14. cxb6 (14. Rd1 Nxc3 15. Qxc3 Be4 16. a4 a6 (16... Qd5 $1 17.
axb5 cxb5 18. Qb3 (18. Ne1 $2 Bxg2 19. Nxg2 Qxc5) 18... Qb7 19. Nh4 Bxg2 20.
Nxg2 Rfd8 $15) 17. Ne5 Bxg2 18. Nxc4 bxc4 19. Kxg2 Qd5+ 20. Qf3 Qxf3+ 21. Kxf3
Rfd8 22. Be3 Rab8 23. Rab1 Rxb1 24. Rxb1 Bxd4 25. Rb4 Bxe3 26. Kxe3 $11 {
Gleizerov,E}) 14... Na5 15. Qb2 axb6 $15) 14. Qb4 b6 15. Nxe4 Bxe4 16. Rd1 Qd5
17. cxb6 $2 (17. Bf4 Qc4 18. Qxc4 Nxc4 $11) 17... axb6 18. Bf4 c5 19. Qxb6 cxd4
20. Rac1 Rfc8 $15 {1-0 (56) Wagner,F (2249)-Aring,G (2205) Gerlingen 2011}) 13.
Qb3 (13. Nxd5 $6 {leads to an inferior position:} Qxd5 $5 (13... cxd5 14. Bf4
Qd7 15. Qb3 b6 $15) 14. Qb3 Be4 15. Bf4 b5 $15) 13... Na5 14. Qa3 (14. Qb2 Nc4
$11 (14... b6 $5)) 14... Nc4 {Vishy Anand agreed to a draw.} (14... b6 $5 15.
Re1 Nxc3 16. Qxc3 Be4 17. Be3 Qd5) 15. Qb3 Na5 16. Qa3 Nc4 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Anand +3-0=7"]
[Site "Chennai"]
[Date "2013.11.10"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B19"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[Annotator "Sumets,A"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2013.11.09"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 158"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.01.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.01.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nf3 e6 (7...
Nd7 {is the main line}) 8. Ne5 ({Another line is} 8. h5 Bh7 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10.
Qxd3 {Black must not hurry with ...Nd7. In some lines he can play ...c5 and ...
Nc6.} Nf6 11. Bd2 Be7 12. O-O-O O-O 13. c4 $6 b5 14. cxb5 Qd5 15. Kb1 cxb5 $15
{0-1 (45) Zapata,A (2496)-Macieja,B (2595) Greensboro USA 2013}) 8... Bh7 9.
Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 Nd7 11. f4 Bb4+ 12. c3 Be7 13. Bd2 Ngf6 14. O-O-O (14. Qe2 $5
{For this line see the recent game Anand,V-Ding Liren Paris/Saint Petersburg
2013. It would be interesting to see what Magnus had prepared after 14.Qe2.})
14... O-O (14... c5 15. Be3 O-O 16. Kb1 Qc7 17. Ne4 Nxe4 18. Qxe4 Nxe5 19. dxe5
Rfd8 20. h5 Rxd1+ 21. Rxd1 Rd8 22. Rxd8+ Qxd8 23. Kc2 Qd7 24. b3 $14 {Inarkiev,
E (2693) -Eljanov,P (2702) Poikovsky RUS 2013 0-1 (48)}) 15. Ne4 {This line
isn't considered as a dangerous one for Black.} (15. c4 Qc7 16. Rhe1 Rad8 17.
Qf3 a5 18. Kb1 Bb4 19. Bxb4 axb4 $11 20. f5 Nxe5 21. dxe5 Rxd1+ 22. Qxd1 Rd8
23. Qe2 Nd7 24. fxe6 fxe6 25. Ne4 b6 (25... Qxe5 $1 26. Rd1 Qa5 27. Rd6 (27.
Qd3 $2 Ra8 $17) 27... Nf8 $15) 26. g4 Nxe5 27. g5 $13 {Svetushkin,D (2570)
-Lauber,A (2517) Berlin GER 2010 1-0 (33)}) (15. Qf3 $5 Qc7 16. c4 (16. Rde1 $6
c5 17. d5 $6 Nxd5 18. c4 Nb4 $1 (18... N5b6 19. Ng4 Nxc4 20. Bc3 Qc6 21. Nxh6+
Kh7 22. Qd3+ Kxh6 23. Qe2 g6 $5 (23... Kh7 24. Qh5+ Kg8 25. Bxg7 Kxg7 26. Qg4+
$11) 24. h5 g5 25. Qxc4 Nb6 $13) 19. a3 Nc6 20. Nxc6 Qxc6 21. Qxc6 bxc6 22. Ne4
(22. f5 Bf6 23. fxe6 Ne5 $17) 22... Nf6 23. Bc3 Nxe4 24. Rxe4 Bf6 $15 {Kroeze,
F (2446)-Lauber,A (2417) Germany 2008 0-1 (45)}) 16... Rac8 (16... a5 17. Kb1
Rad8 18. Bc1 Rfe8 19. Ne2 c5 (19... h5 $5 {! Lucacs,P} 20. c5 g6 21. Nc3 Bf8
$13) 20. g4 cxd4 21. g5 Nxe5 22. fxe5 Nh7 23. gxh6 $40 {Topalov,V (2707)-Dreev,
A (2676) FIDE Wch k. o. New Delhi/Teheran 2000 1-0 (43)}) ({Black can't play} 
16... c5 $6 {due to} 17. d5 $1 Rae8 (17... Nxe5 $4 18. fxe5 Qxe5 19. Bf4 $18)
18. Rhe1 exd5 19. cxd5 Bd6 20. Bc3 $16 Nxe5 21. fxe5 Rxe5 22. Bxe5 Bxe5 23. Nf5
Rd8 $2 (23... c4 24. d6 Qc5 25. Kb1 $16) 24. d6 Bxd6 25. Rxd6 {1-0 (24)
Movsesian,S (2666) -Iordachescu,V (2594) FIDE-Wch k.o. New Delhi/Teheran 2000})
17. Rhe1 b5 18. c5 Nd5 19. Nh5 N7f6 20. Ng3 (20. Nxf6+ Bxf6 21. g4 $40 {
Erenburg}) 20... Nd7 21. Nh5 N7f6 22. Nxg7 $5 Kxg7 23. f5 exf5 24. Qxf5 $44 {
Roiz,M (2512)-Erenburg, S (2494) Tel Aviv 2002 0-1 (32)}) 15... Nxe4 16. Qxe4
Nxe5 (16... Nf6 {seems to be a risky decision.} 17. Qe2 Qd5 18. g4 h5 (18...
Qxa2 $2 19. g5 Ne8 20. gxh6 Bf6 21. Rdg1 $18) (18... Qe4 19. Rde1 Qxe2 20. Rxe2
Nd5 21. g5 $14) 19. gxh5 (19. g5 $5 Qe4 (19... Ne4 $4 20. c4 Qxd4 21. Be1 $18)
20. Rhe1 Qxe2 21. Rxe2 Nd5 22. c4 Nb6 23. b3 Rfd8 24. Ba5 $14) 19... Qe4 20.
Qf2 $6 (20. Qxe4 Nxe4 21. h6 $1 gxh6 $8 (21... Nf2 22. Rhg1 Nxd1 23. Rxg7+ Kh8
24. Kxd1 $18) 22. f5 Kh7 23. fxe6 fxe6 24. Rde1 Nxd2 25. Kxd2 Rf2+ 26. Kc1 Rg8
27. Nd3 Rf6 28. Re2 $14) 20... Qf5 21. Rdg1 Nxh5 $11 {Fercec,N (2477)-Zelcic,R
(2531) Zadar 2004 1/2 (36). White has no attack anymore.}) 17. fxe5 Qd5 18.
Qxd5 $146 {According to Carlsen, after the exchange of queens there is nothing
to discuss.} (18. Qg4 $5 {The only way to continue the game} f5 $5 {It seems
to me that Black has good counterplay.} (18... Kh7 19. b3 $6 (19. Kb1 $1 c5 20.
Bg5 $1 f5 21. exf6 Bxf6 22. dxc5 Qxc5 23. Bc1 Rae8 (23... Qf5+ 24. Qxf5+ exf5
25. Rd5 $16) 24. Rhf1 Qc6 25. Rf3 $14) 19... c5 (19... a5 $5 20. Bg5 f5 21.
exf6 Bxf6 22. Rde1 a4 23. Bxf6 Rxf6 24. Re5 Rg6 $1 $11) 20. Bg5 f5 21. exf6
Bxf6 22. c4 Qc6 23. dxc5 Qxc5 24. Qe4+ Kh8 25. Bxf6 Rxf6 26. Rhf1 Rxf1 27. Rxf1
Rd8 $11 {Mrdja,M (2360)-Zelcic,R (2591) Zagreb 2008 1-0 (56)}) 19. Qg6 (19.
exf6 $6 Rxf6 20. Kb1 Rf2 21. Rhg1 (21. Bxh6 $4 Rxg2) 21... h5 $15) 19... Qxa2
20. Bxh6 Rf7 {The position is complicated and both sides have their good and
bad points.} 21. h5 (21. g4 f4 22. Rhf1 Raf8 23. Rxf4 Qa1+ 24. Kc2 Qa4+ 25. Kd2
Qa2 26. Kc1 Qa1+ $11) (21. Bg5 a5 22. d5 cxd5 23. Qxe6 Qa1+ 24. Kc2 Qa4+ 25.
Kb1 Qe4+ 26. Ka2 Qa4+ $11) 21... a5 22. Bf4 a4 23. h6 a3 24. Kc2 Qxb2+ (24...
c5 $5) 25. Kd3 Qb5+ 26. Ke3 Qd5 27. g3 $1 Raf8 28. Rh2 Qb3 29. Rdh1 Qxc3+ 30.
Kf2 Qc2+ 31. Ke3 Qe4+ 32. Kf2 $11) 18... cxd5 $11 19. h5 b5 20. Rh3 a5 21. Rf1
(21. Kc2 b4 22. Kd3 bxc3 23. Bxc3 Bb4 $11) 21... Rac8 22. Rg3 Kh7 23. Rgf3 Kg8
24. Rg3 Kh7 25. Rgf3 Kg8 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Anand +3-0=7"]
[Site "Chennai"]
[Date "2013.11.12"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2013.11.09"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 158"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.01.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.01.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. c4 dxc4 4. Qa4+ Nc6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. Nc3 e5 7. Qxc4 {
A harmless line of the Reti opening. I would even say it is favourable for
Black, who gains tempi for development by attacking White's prematurely
advanced queen.} Nge7 8. O-O (8. d3 O-O 9. Bg5 Be6 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. Qa4 Nd4
12. Nd2 c6 13. O-O a6 14. Rfc1 Rad8 15. Qd1 f5 16. Na4 Bd5 $15 {1-0 (59) Vukic,
M (2491)-Jakovljevic,V (2375) Jahorina 2003}) 8... O-O ({Or} 8... h6 9. d3 Be6
10. Qa4 O-O 11. Be3 (11. Rd1 Nd4 12. Rb1 c6 13. b4 a5 14. Rd2 b5 15. Qa3 c5 16.
Nxd4 exd4 17. Nxb5 cxb4 18. Qb2 Rb8 19. a4 Bd5 $17 {0-1 (37) Managadze,N (2459)
-Vorobiov,E (2598) Paleochora 2009}) 11... Nd4 12. Rac1 c6 (12... c5 $143 13.
Nd2 Nd5 14. Bxd4 exd4 15. Nxd5 Bxd5 16. Rxc5 Bxg2 17. Kxg2 Qe7 18. Ne4 f5 19.
Qc4+ Rf7 20. Nd2 $16 {1-0 (48) Bezold,M (2495)-Raetsky,A (2455) Werfen 1996})
13. Rfe1 a5 14. Nd2 f5 15. Qa3 Re8 16. Na4 Bf7 17. Nc5 Qc7 $15 {1/2 (20)
Kokarev,D (2495)-Kruppa,Y (2547) St Petersburg 2004}) 9. d3 h6 (9... Nd4 10.
Nxd4 exd4 11. Ne4 Be6 12. Qc2 (12. Qb5 b6 13. Bg5 f6 14. Bc1 a6 15. Qa4 c5 16.
Nd2 Ra7 17. Nf3 Re8 18. Bd2 Nd5 $15 {0-1 (36) Seul,G (2415)-Heyken,E (2375)
Germany 1993}) 12... Bd5 (12... b6 $5) 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bf6 Bxe4 15. Bxe7 Qxe7
16. Bxe4 {1/2 (16) Schmidt,W (2500)-Boey,J (2435) Nice 1974}) (9... Be6 10. Qh4
f6 (10... Nf5 11. Qxd8 Raxd8 $1 (11... Rfxd8 12. Ng5 Bd7 13. Nge4 Nfe7 14. Bg5
h6 15. Nf6+ Kh8 16. Nxd7 Rxd7 {1-0 (40) Stein,L-Averbakh,Y Riga 1970 URS-ch 
[ChessBase]} 17. Bxe7 $16 {L.Stein}) 12. Nb5 Rd7 13. Ng5 {L.Stein} Nfd4 14.
Nxd4 Nxd4 15. Nxe6 Nxe2+ 16. Kh1 fxe6 17. Bxb7 $11) 11. Bd2 Kh8 12. Bh6 Qd7 13.
Bxg7+ Kxg7 14. Qa4 Rfd8 15. b4 Nd5 16. Nxd5 Bxd5 17. b5 Ne7 18. Qb4 a5 $15 {
0-1 (73) Klimm,W (2212)-Slobodjan,R (2550) Arco 1999}) 10. Bd2 (10. Qh4 Nf5 (
10... g5 $2 11. Bxg5 {1-0 (57) Cheng,B (2406)-Kaidanov,G (2577) Arlington USA
2013} hxg5 $140 12. Nxg5 Bf5 13. Be4) (10... Nd4 $5 {[%cal Yc7c6]}) 11. Qxd8
Rxd8 12. Nb5 Rb8 13. Bd2 a6 14. Nc3 Nfd4 15. Nxd4 Nxd4 16. f4 Bg4 17. Rf2 exf4
18. Bxf4 Rd7 19. h3 {1/2 (19) Huzman,A (2390)-Khmelnitsky,S Soviet Union 1986})
10... Nd4 $6 {[%mdl 32] Black wants to reach the classic setup: Nd4, pawn on
c6; in the event of N(B)xd4 exd4 he will be able to pressurise White's
backward e2-pawn along the e-file. However, this move is rather ill-timed:
White now solves the problem of his queen and consolidates his position.} (
10... Nf5 11. Rac1 (11. Na4 Ncd4 12. Nxd4 Nxd4 13. Rfe1 c6 14. e3 b5 15. Qc1
bxa4 16. exd4 Qxd4 17. Re4 Qxd3 18. Bxh6 $14 {1/2 (38) Obukhov,A (2487)
-Yevseev,D (2589) Krasnoyarsk 2003}) 11... Re8 12. Ne4 Ncd4 13. Nxd4 Nxd4 14.
Rfe1 c6 15. e3 Ne6 16. Bb4 Bf8 17. Bc3 Bg7 18. f4 $36 {1-0 (33) Martinovic,S 
(2427)-Rubil,M (2060) Sv Filip i Jakov 2009}) (10... Be6 {is probably the
accurate move order:} 11. Qa4 Nd4 (11... f5 12. Rac1 Nd4 13. Qa3 c6 14. Nxd4
exd4 15. Na4 Bd5 16. Bb4 Bxg2 17. Kxg2 Re8 18. Bxe7 {1/2 (18) Shilov,S (2330)
-Vanek,P (2210) Czechia 1999}) 12. Rfc1 a5 (12... c6 13. Ne1 Nd5 14. Kf1 Nb6
15. Qd1 a5 16. e3 Nf5 17. Ne4 Nd7 18. b4 axb4 19. Bxb4 Re8 20. a4 Bd5 $11 {
1/2 (41) Loginov,V (2532)-Lukin,A (2440) St Petersburg 1999}) 13. Qd1 Re8 14.
Ne1 c6 15. e3 Ndf5 16. a3 Nd6 17. Na4 f5 18. b4 axb4 19. axb4 Bd5 $15 {1/2 (59)
Kavalek,L (2565)-Bisguier,A (2420) El Paso 1973}) 11. Nxd4 exd4 12. Ne4 c6 (
12... Be6 $2 13. Qc1 {[%cal Rd2h6,Re4c5]}) 13. Bb4 (13. Qc1 $1 Kh7 14. Bb4 {
was more to the point. It looked difficult for Black to develop his pieces but
perhaps he could simply play} Be6 (14... Bg4 15. h3 $1 Bxe2 $140 $2 16. Re1
Bxd3 17. Bxe7 Qxe7 18. Nc5) 15. Nc5 Bc8 $5 {[%cal Yb7b6]} 16. Nb3 Re8 $11)
13... Be6 14. Qc1 (14. Qc5 Nd5) 14... Bd5 {The initiative again belongs to
Black.} 15. a4 (15. Qc5 Nc8 {[%cal Yf8e8,Yb7b6,Yc6c5]}) 15... b6 (15... a5 16.
Ba3 b6 $15 {[%csl Gd5,Re2] was more solid}) 16. Bxe7 Qxe7 17. a5 {White's only
chance is counterplay on the a-file.} Rab8 18. Re1 Rfc8 19. axb6 axb6 20. Qf4
Rd8 21. h4 Kh7 22. Nd2 Be5 23. Qg4 h5 24. Qh3 Be6 25. Qh1 {[%csl Rh1]} c5 $15
26. Ne4 $6 (26. b3 {, stopping Black's queenside pawns, was probably more
appropriate.}) 26... Kg7 27. Ng5 b5 {[%cal Yc5c4] Black doesn't fear the
exchange of his light-squared bishop: his queenside play is more important.}
28. e3 $5 {[%mdl 512] An attempt to complicate matters. Otherwise White's
position is just bad, e.g.} (28. Nxe6+ Qxe6 29. Bh3 Qf6 {[%cal Yc5c4]} 30. b3 (
30. Rec1 c4 31. dxc4 d3) (30. Rac1 c4 31. dxc4 bxc4 32. Rxc4 d3 33. exd3 Rxb2
34. Qg2 Rxd3 $17) 30... c4 31. bxc4 bxc4 32. dxc4 d3 33. Ra2 Bc3 34. Rf1 d2 $17
) 28... dxe3 29. Rxe3 Bd4 {[%csl Gd4]} (29... Bxb2 30. Rae1 Rb6 {was quite
possible but White kept drawing chances, e.g.} 31. Bd5 $1 Bd4 (31... Bxd5 32.
Rxe7 Bxh1 33. Nxf7 $1) 32. Rxe6 $1 (32. R3e2 Qf6) 32... fxe6 33. Rxe6 Qf8 $1
34. Qg2 Rdd6 35. Kh2 $1 (35. Re2 Rf6) {, and the endgame after} 35... Rxe6 36.
Nxe6+ Rxe6 37. Bxe6 Bxf2 {is rather drawish.}) 30. Re2 c4 $1 31. Nxe6+ fxe6 32.
Be4 (32. dxc4 bxc4 33. Rc1 Qc5 {[%csl Rb2]}) 32... cxd3 33. Rd2 Qb4 $6 {
The critical moment of the whole match.} ({Black could have kept good winning
chances by means of} 33... Rf8 $1 34. Bxd3 (34. Qg2 Qb4 35. Rad1 Rxf2 $1 36.
Rxf2 Bxf2+ 37. Kxf2 $2 Qd4+) 34... Qd6 35. Qg2 Rxf2 $1 36. Rxf2 Rf8 37. Raf1
Bxf2+ 38. Rxf2 Rxf2 39. Qxf2 Qxd3 {(indicated by GM K.Landa and other
commentators)}) 34. Rad1 Bxb2 $6 (34... Rf8 {was possible here, too, but White
had a reply} 35. Kh2 $1 (35. Bxd3 Qd6 $1 36. Qg2 Rxf2 37. Rxf2 Rf8 38. Rdf1 {
led to the above-mentioned line}) 35... Bxf2 36. Rxd3 {since complications
after} Qxb2 $6 37. R1d2 Qe5 38. Qg2 Bb6 39. Rd7+ {are dangerous for Black.})
35. Qf3 {White recaptures the pawn on d3 and keeps the balance due to the
opposite-coloured bishops and Black's unsafe king.} Bf6 (35... Bd4 {[%csl Gd4]
[%cal Ye6e5] was a relatively better chance.}) 36. Rxd3 Rxd3 37. Rxd3 Rd8 (
37... Bd4 38. Qe2 Rf8 39. Rf3 {- after the exchange of rooks Black has no
winning prospects.}) 38. Rxd8 Bxd8 39. Bd3 Qd4 40. Bxb5 Qf6 41. Qb7+ Be7 42.
Kg2 g5 43. hxg5 Qxg5 44. Bc4 h4 45. Qc7 hxg3 46. Qxg3 e5 47. Kf3 Qxg3+ 48. fxg3
Bc5 49. Ke4 Bd4 50. Kf5 Bf2 51. Kxe5 Bxg3+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Anand +3-0=7"]
[Site "Chennai"]
[Date "2013.11.13"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2013.11.09"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 158"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.01.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.01.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 {Carlsen decided not to repeat the Caro-Kann as in game 2. This time
he goes for the Berlin Defence - the opening that will serve him well until
the end of the match as his main weapon against 1.e4.} 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4.
O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. h3 {Not the main
line, but quite fashionable. In previous years 9.Nc3 or 9.Rd1 was played
nearly automatically.} Bd7 10. Rd1 Be7 {This move was employed several times
by grandmaster Hammer, one of Carlsen's seconds.} ({A really complicated and
double-edged position arises after} 10... Kc8 11. g4 Ne7 12. Ng5 Be8 13. f4 h5
14. Kf2 b6 15. f5 Kb7 16. c4 c5 17. Bf4 Nc6 18. Nc3 $13 {1/2-1/2 (39) Giri,A 
(2737)-Nakamura,H (2772) Paris 2013}) 11. Nc3 ({The following game from the
European team championship was played just one day prior to the World
championship encounter:} 11. g4 Nh4 12. Nxh4 Bxh4 13. Nd2 Kc8 14. Nf3 Be7 15.
Rd3 h6 16. Nd4 Re8 17. Bf4 c5 18. Nf5 Bf8 19. c4 a6 20. Ne3 b5 21. b3 g5 22.
Bg3 Be6 23. Rad1 Kb7 $11 {1/2-1/2 (42) Caruana,F (2782)-Grischuk,A (2785)
Warsaw 2013}) (11. Bg5 Kc8 12. g4 $6 {Too early.} (12. Nc3 {would transpose to
our game Anand-Carlsen.}) 12... h6 13. Bxe7 (13. Bd2 Nh4 14. Nxh4 Bxh4 15. Bc3
h5 $15 {1-0 (67) Ganguly,S (2651)-Hammer,J (2647) Wijk aan Zee 2011}) 13...
Nxe7 14. Kh2 Re8 15. Nbd2 b6 16. Re1 c5 17. Ne4 Bc6 18. h4 Kb7 $15 {0-1 (44)
Sutovsky,E (2692)-Hammer,J (2606) Aix-les-Bains 2011}) 11... Kc8 12. Bg5 {
After witnessing many games in this line, it seems that both sides are
satisfied with the exchange of dark-squared bishops.} h6 13. Bxe7 Nxe7 14. Rd2
(14. a4 a5 15. Rd2 c5 16. Rad1 Bc6 17. e6 $1 fxe6 18. Ne5 Re8 19. Nb5 Bxb5 20.
axb5 Nd5 21. c4 Nb6 22. h4 $14 {[%cal Gd2d3,Gd3g3,Gd3f3] 1/2-1/2 (33) Berg,E 
(2587)-Hammer,J (2630) Achaea 2012}) 14... c5 15. Rad1 $146 (15. Ne4 b6 16. Ng3
Bc6 17. Nh2 Ng6 18. Re1 Nf4 19. f3 Kb7 20. Kf2 Rad8 21. Rxd8 Rxd8 22. Nhf1 g6
$11 {1-0 (102) Jakovenko,D (2710)-Almasi,Z (2691) Khanty-Mansiysk 2007}) 15...
Be6 16. Ne1 $6 {Clearly, a step in the wrong direction.} ({In a very recent
game an attempt to improve White's play was made:} 16. Ne2 Ng6 (16... Bxa2 $2
17. b3 c4 18. Nfd4 c5 19. Nb5 cxb3 20. cxb3 Bxb3 21. Rb1 c4 22. Ned4 {with a
strong initiative.}) 17. Ng3 b6 18. Nh5 Rg8 19. a3 a5 20. Re1 Kb7 21. Nh2 Ne7
22. f4 g6 23. Nf6 Rgd8 24. Red1 Rxd2 25. Rxd2 Kc6 $11 {1-0 (49) Gorbatov,A 
(2360)-Pranizin,G (2187) Khanty-Mansiysk 2013}) 16... Ng6 17. Nd3 (17. Re2 {
was possible, but then the whole idea of doubling the rooks along the d-file
makes little sense.}) 17... b6 18. Ne2 $6 {Inviting the opponent to take the
risky decision. Objectively, it was bettter not to allow Carlsen to grab the
pawn. Perhaps, Anand just didn't believe that the move that now follows would
work so well for Black.} (18. b3 {was, objectively, the safest.} c4 19. bxc4
Bxc4 20. f4 Kb7 (20... Bxd3 $6 21. Rxd3 Nxf4 22. Rf3 g5 23. g3 Nxh3+ 24. Kg2 g4
25. Rxf7 Ng5 26. Re7 $44) 21. a4 {White is slightly worse, but the material
balance is not broken.}) ({The aggressive attempt} 18. f4 $6 {will leave White
a pawn down, fighting for a draw.} c4 19. Rf1 (19. Nb4 Nxf4 20. Nc6 Re8 $15)
19... cxd3 20. f5 Nxe5 21. fxe6 fxe6 22. Re1 (22. cxd3 Rd8 23. Re2 Nxd3 24. Rf7
e5 25. Rxg7 Kb7 $15) 22... Nc6 23. Rxd3 Re8 24. Rg3 Re7 $15) 18... Bxa2 $1 {
Accepting the challenge.} (18... c4 $6 19. Ndf4 Nxf4 20. Nxf4 c3 21. Nxe6 $1 (
21. bxc3 Bxa2 $15) 21... cxd2 22. Nxg7 Rd8 23. f4 Kb7 24. Kf2 {with good
compensation for the exchange. The Pd2 will, most likely, fall.}) 19. b3 c4 20.
Ndc1 cxb3 21. cxb3 Bb1 {The bishop is coming out, so White should desperately
look for some compensation.} 22. f4 (22. Rd7 Rg8 $3 {A great prophylactic move,
shown immediately by the engine.} ({After} 22... Nxe5 $6 23. Re7 {White will
get back one of the pawns, and keep the activity.}) 23. Nc3 Nxe5 $1 {This also
requires precise calculation.} 24. R7d5 Bc2 25. R1d2 Nc6 26. Rxc2 Nb4 27. Re2
Nxd5 28. Nxd5 Rd8 $17 {Rook + two pawns should overcome White's knights.}) (22.
e6 fxe6 23. Nc3 Bf5 24. Rd7 (24. g4 Ne5 25. gxf5 Nf3+ 26. Kg2 Nxd2 27. fxe6 $1
Rd8 28. e7 Re8 29. Rxd2 Rxe7 $17) 24... Nf4 25. Rxg7 Rh7 26. Rdd7 Rxg7 27. Rxg7
Kb7 $17) 22... Kb7 23. Nc3 ({After} 23. Nd3 Bxd3 24. Rxd3 Rhe8 25. Rg3 Re7 {
White's compensation is not sufficient.}) 23... Bf5 24. g4 Bc8 $17 25. Nd3 h5 {
Opening the h-file is one of the basic ideas for Black in the Berlin endgame.}
26. f5 Ne7 ({An attempt to break White's kingside pawn chain straight away is
not recommended:} 26... Nh4 $6 27. Kf2 g6 28. Rc1 $1 hxg4 29. hxg4 gxf5 30. Nb5
c5 31. Nd6+ Kb8 32. b4 fxg4 33. bxc5 {In such a mess anything can happen,
White is really active.}) 27. Nb5 hxg4 $6 {This is an important moment. At
first sight it looks that Black can open the h-file first and then figure out
the right move. In fact, Magnus should have played 27...a6 without delay, it's
important to kick away White's active knight.} (27... a6 28. Nd4 hxg4 29. hxg4
a5 $1 30. Rc1 (30. e6 fxe6 31. fxe6 Re8 $1 $17 {[%csl Re6]}) 30... a4 31. Nb5 (
31. bxa4 Rxa4 32. Nf2 Ra5 $17) 31... Nc6 32. Nb4 Nxb4 33. Rxc7+ Kb8 34. Rd6 Nd5
$1 35. Rxd5 a3 36. Rd6 (36. Rc1 a2 37. Rdd1 Bb7 38. Kf2 Ra5 39. Nd6 Rxe5 $19)
36... Bb7 37. Rxb6 Ra7 38. Rbxb7+ Rxb7 39. Rxb7+ Kxb7 40. Nxa3 Kc6 $19) 28.
hxg4 $6 {Anand automatically recaptures, missing an interesting tactical
opportunity.} (28. Rc1 $1 Nd5 $1 {is the best reply. Now White has two options.
In both cases he is objectively fighting for a draw, but, with correct play
should eventually make it.} (28... Nc6 $2 29. Rdc2 Bxf5 (29... Bd7 30. Nb4 $1
Nxb4 $140 $2 31. Rxc7+ Ka6 32. Nd6 $18 {[%csl Ra6][%cal Gc1a1]}) 30. Rxc6 Bxd3
31. Rxc7+ Ka6 32. Nd6 Ka5 33. hxg4 $36 {[%csl Ra5]}) 29. Nc5+ (29. e6 fxe6 30.
Ne5 a5 $1 (30... a6 $4 {runs into a spectacular mate:} {[%tqu "En","Can you
spot the combination?","","","c1c7","",3]} 31. Rxc7+ $1 Nxc7 32. Nd6+ Ka7 33.
Nc6#) 31. hxg4 c5 32. Nf7 Rf8 33. Re1 $1 exf5 34. Nbd6+ Kc6 35. gxf5 Ra7 $1 36.
Nxc8 Raxf7 37. Re6+ Kc7 38. Nd6 Rxf5 39. Nxf5 Rxf5 40. Rg6 $15) 29... bxc5 30.
Rxd5 gxh3 (30... Bxf5 $6 31. Rdxc5 Rac8 32. Nxc7 $132) 31. Rdxc5 h2+ 32. Kh1
Kb8 $1 {[%cal Gc8b7]} 33. Nd4 Bb7+ 34. Nc6+ Kc8 35. Rd5 Bxc6 36. Rxc6 Rb8 37.
Rdc5 Rb7 38. e6 fxe6 39. fxe6 $15) 28... Rh4 $6 {Again Black should have
kicked away the knight.} (28... a6 29. Nd4 a5 30. Rc1 a4 31. bxa4 Rxa4 $17 {
is the position Black should strive for. Both of his rooks are in the action.})
29. Nf2 Nc6 (29... a6 $2 {is now runs into} 30. Nd6+ $1 cxd6 31. exd6 Nc6 32.
d7 {winning back the piece and White is not worse anymore.}) 30. Rc2 a5 $1 {
[%cal Ga5a4]} (30... g6 31. Kf1 $3 {is extremely difficult to figure out for a
human player.} (31. Rdc1 $2 Bd7 32. Nd4 Nxd4 33. Rxc7+ Kb8 34. Rxd7 Ne2+ {
is the problem for White.}) 31... gxf5 32. Rdc1 Bd7 (32... Rh6 33. g5 Rg6 34.
Nd6+ $1 cxd6 35. Rxc6 Be6 36. Rc7+ Ka6 37. exd6 $44) 33. Nd4 Nxd4 34. Rxc7+ Ka6
({No more fork on e2 after} 34... Kb8 $2 35. Rxd7 $16) 35. Ra1+ Kb5 36. Rxd7
$132) (30... a6 31. Rdc1 Bd7 32. e6 fxe6 33. fxe6 axb5 (33... Be8 $2 34. Nd4 {
would lose a piece as White's knight is taboo.}) 34. exd7 Rh6 35. Nd3 Rah8 (
35... Rd8 $2 36. Ne5 $1 Nxe5 $2 37. Rxc7+ Ka6 38. Ra1#) 36. Rxc6 $1 Rxc6 37.
Rxc6 Kxc6 38. Ne5+ Kc5 39. Nf7 Rf8 40. d8=Q Rxd8 41. Nxd8 Kb4 42. Ne6 Kxb3 43.
Nxg7 b4 44. Nf5 Kc3 45. g5 b3 46. Ne3 Kd3 47. Nd1 Kc2 48. Ne3+ $11) 31. Rc4 $1
{An immediate doubling of the rooks would give White no benefit, so Anand
finds a useful move, preventing the advance a5-a4.} (31. e6 $6 fxe6 32. fxe6
Bxe6 33. Rxc6 Kxc6 34. Nd4+ Kd7 $1 35. Nf3+ Kc8 36. Nxh4 Bxb3 {It's difficult
to give a clear estimation of this position, but three connected passers are
really dangerous.}) (31. Rdc1 $6 Bd7 32. e6 fxe6 33. fxe6 Be8 $17) 31... g6 (
31... Bxf5 $6 32. Rxc6 $1 Kxc6 33. Nd4+ Kb7 34. Nxf5 $132) 32. Rdc1 {Now White
must pay great attention to specifics as his kingside chain of pawns is about
to collapse.} Bd7 33. e6 (33. Nd4 $2 Nxd4 34. Rxc7+ Ka6 35. Rxd7 Ne2+ $19)
33... fxe6 34. fxe6 Be8 35. Ne4 $1 {[%mdl 2048] An excellent resource, not
obvious at all, as White allows his opponent to capture a pawn with check!}
Rxg4+ 36. Kf2 Rf4+ $6 (36... Rd8 $1 {would make White's task more difficult.}
37. Ke3 Rd5 (37... Rg2 38. Rh1 $1 Rd5 39. Rh7 $1 Rxb5 40. Nd6+ Ka6 41. Nxb5
Kxb5 42. Rh8 {The bishop is trapped.} Rg3+ 43. Kd2 Rxb3 44. Rg4 {With the next
move White will capture the bishop and the Pe6 will not allow Black to advance
his queenside pawns comfortably. With correct play this mess should end in a
draw.}) 38. Nbc3 Re5 39. Kf3 Rgxe4 40. Rxe4 Rxe6 $1 41. Rxe6 Nd4+ 42. Ke3 Nxe6
{In this endgame White's chances for a draw are higher than Black's for a win,
but against Magnus this won't be easy to prove.}) 37. Ke3 Rf8 (37... g5 38. Nd4
Nb4 39. Ne2 $1 (39. Rxc7+ $6 Ka6 {[%cal Gb4d5]} 40. Rg7 Nd5+ 41. Kd3 Rd8 42.
Rxg5 Rh4 {[%csl Rd3,Rd4,Re4] and all White's centralised pieces, including the
king, are under serious pressure.}) 39... Bc6 40. Nxf4 gxf4+ 41. Kxf4 Nd3+ 42.
Kf5 Nxc1 43. Rxc1 {[%csl Ge6] The strong passed pawn guarantees White
sufficient counterplay.}) 38. Nd4 Nxd4 39. Rxc7+ Ka6 40. Kxd4 Rd8+ {The time
trouble has passed and White can be definitely happy with the latest
developments. He is still a pawn down, but not worse anymore thanks to his
active pieces and the strong e6-passer.} 41. Kc3 $5 {Anand goes for the safest
move, protecting the Pb3 and already having in mind the forthcoming exchange
of the minor pieces. The alternative 41.Ke3 was more ambitious, from a human
point of view more risky for both sides! Objectively, the position would
remain equal as well.} (41. Ke5 $4 Rf5#) (41. Ke3 {Here Black's general idea
is to sacrifice the bishop for the e-pawn, to grab the Pb3 and roll forward
two connected passed pawns. Here is a sample line:} Rd5 42. Rh7 (42. e7 $2 Rf7
$17) 42... Bb5 43. Rf7 Rh8 44. Rcc7 Rd3+ 45. Kf2 (45. Kf4 Be8 46. Rfe7 Rh4+ 47.
Ke5 Re3 48. Rxe8 Rhxe4+ 49. Kf6 Rxb3 50. e7 Rf3+ 51. Kxg6 Rfe3 52. Ra8+ Kb5 53.
Kf7 Rf3+ 54. Kg6 Rfe3 $11) 45... Be8 46. Rf3 Rh2+ 47. Kg3 Rh3+ 48. Kxh3 Rxf3+
49. Kg4 Rxb3 50. Rc8 Ba4 51. Kf4 Rb1 52. Nd6 Ka7 53. Rc7+ Ka6 54. Rc8 $11)
41... Rf3+ 42. Kb2 Re3 43. Rc8 {This is the way minor pieces will be exchanged.
The forthcoming double rook endgame is drawish, since Black's extra pawn has
no significance.} Rdd3 $1 {Magnus is trying the last practical chance. Keeping
all the rooks on the board, Black is hoping to target the Pb3.} (43... Rxc8 44.
Rxc8 Rxe4 45. Rxe8 {The e- and g-pawns will be swapped and the position is
completely drawish.}) 44. Ra8+ Kb7 45. Rxe8 Rxe4 46. e7 Rg3 47. Rc3 Re2+ 48.
Rc2 Ree3 {[%csl Rb3]} 49. Ka2 $1 {Now Black can't capture the Pb3, as he
always has to keep an eye on the e-pawn.} g5 50. Rd2 Re5 51. Rd7+ Kc6 52. Red8
Rge3 53. Rd6+ Kb7 54. R8d7+ Ka6 55. Rd5 Re2+ (55... g4 56. Rxe5 Rxe5 57. Rd4 g3
58. Rg4 $11) 56. Ka3 Re6 57. Rd8 g4 58. Rg5 Rxe7 59. Ra8+ $1 ({It's never too
late to go astray:} 59. Rxg4 $2 Rf2 60. Ra8+ Kb7 61. Rag8 Re1 {could give
Black winning chances.}) 59... Kb7 60. Rag8 {Now the rook is trapped for an
exchange, the draw is inevitable.} a4 (60... Rf2 61. R8g7 $11) 61. Rxg4 axb3
62. R8g7 Ka6 63. Rxe7 Rxe7 64. Kxb3 {A very rich in content, hard-fought
battle.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Anand +3-0=7"]
[Site "Chennai"]
[Date "2013.11.15"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow/Mueller,Ka"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2013.11.09"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 158"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.01.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.01.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 c6 4. e4 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Bb4+ 6. Nc3 {A harmless
continuation, examined, beside the main line, in the opening survey in CBM 152.
} (6. Bd2 Qxd4 7. Bxb4 Qxe4+ {is the start of major theoretical research here.}
) 6... c5 7. a3 Ba5 8. Nf3 Nf6 9. Be3 (9. Be2 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Ne4 11. Ndb5 Qxd1+
12. Bxd1 Nxc3 13. Nxc3 Bxc3+ 14. bxc3 Bd7 15. a4 Bc6 16. O-O Nd7 17. a5 a6 18.
Ba3 {1/2 (18) Babula,V (2590)-Khenkin,I (2603) Germany 2003 CBM 093 [Krasenkow]
}) 9... Nc6 (9... Ne4 {is simpler, e.g.} 10. Qc2 Nxc3 11. bxc3 cxd4 12. Bxd4
O-O 13. Bd3 h6 (13... g6 $142) 14. O-O Nc6 15. Rab1 Bc7 16. Be4 Qe7 17. Rfe1
Bd6 18. Qa4 {1-0 (36) Yermolinsky,A (2530)-Shulman,Y (2623) Philadelphia 2008}
Rb8 $1 $11) 10. Qd3 (10. dxc5 Bxc3+ 11. bxc3 Qa5 12. Qc2 (12. Qc1 e5) 12... Ng4
13. Qc1 O-O 14. Be2 Nxe3 15. Qxe3 Ne7 16. O-O Nf5 17. Qe4 Qxc5 $11 {1/2 (41)
Polgar,Z (2560)-Portisch,L (2580) Budapest 1993}) 10... cxd4 11. Nxd4 Ng4 $1
$11 12. O-O-O Nxe3 13. fxe3 Bc7 {A bit too passive.} (13... Qe7 $5 {A.Korotylev
}) 14. Nxc6 (14. Ndb5 O-O 15. Qc2 Qe7 16. Nxc7 Qxc7 17. Nb5 Qe5 18. Qf2 {
A.Korotylev} f6 {[%cal Ye5c5,Yc6e5,Yc8d7]}) 14... bxc6 15. Qxd8+ Bxd8 16. Be2 (
16. g3 $5 Bg5 17. Bg2 Bxe3+ 18. Kc2 Bd7 19. Rhe1 Bc5 20. Ne4 Be7 21. c5 $44)
16... Ke7 ({Here, too,} 16... Bg5 {was more to the point.}) 17. Bf3 Bd7 18. Ne4
Bb6 (18... Bc7 19. Nc5 Be8 20. Na6 Be5 21. Rd3 {(A.Korotylev) is dangerous for
Black, e.g.} f5 22. Rb3 Rf8 23. Rb7+ Kf6 24. Nb4 {[%csl Ra7,Rc6]}) 19. c5 f5
20. cxb6 fxe4 21. b7 $1 Rab8 22. Bxe4 Rxb7 $14 {A consequence of Vishy Anand's
minor inaccuracies. Still, this simplified position should be drawn but it
requires accurate defence from Black - something in Magnus Carlsen's style!}
23. Rhf1 Rb5 24. Rf4 (24. Rd4 $5 {was recommended by GM A.Korotylev but it is
still nothing special after} a5) 24... g5 25. Rf3 h5 26. Rdf1 Be8 27. Bc2 Rc5 (
27... Re5 $5 28. Kd2 Rd5+ 29. Ke2 $6 h4) 28. Rf6 {[%csl Gf6] The activation of
this rook is a progress for White but Black's position is still defensible.} h4
29. e4 a5 30. Kd2 Rb5 31. b3 Bh5 32. Kc3 Rc5+ 33. Kb2 Rd8 (33... g4 {[%cal
Yg4g3] was simpler:} 34. g3 hxg3 35. hxg3 Be8 {[%cal Gh8h2] A.Korotylev}) 34.
R1f2 Rd4 {This active continuation is possible but more complex.} 35. Rh6 (35.
Bb1 Kd6 {[%cal Yh5d1]} (35... Bd1 $143 36. Rf8) (35... g4 $5 36. g3 hxg3 37.
hxg3 Rd2+ 38. Rxd2 Kxf6) 36. Rf8 Kc7 37. Rh8 Bd1 $132) 35... Bd1 36. Bb1 Rb5
37. Kc3 c5 38. Rb2 e5 39. Rg6 a4 $6 (39... g4 $142 40. Bd3 (40. Rh6 a4 41. bxa4
Rxb2 42. Kxb2 Rd2+ 43. Kc1 Rxg2 44. Kxd1 Rxh2 {, and White must give the
bishop back by means of} 45. Bd3 g3 46. Bf1 $11) 40... Rxb3+ 41. Rxb3 Bxb3 42.
Rxg4 c4 43. Be2 Kd6 44. Rxh4 Kc5 {with sufficient counterplay}) 40. Rxg5 Rxb3+
41. Rxb3 Bxb3 {[%mdl 4096]} 42. Rxe5+ Kd6 43. Rh5 Rd1 44. e5+ Kd5 45. Bh7 Rc1+
$6 {The resulting rook ending is still drawn, but matters are very close now.}
(45... Ra1 $5 {is much easier, e.g.} 46. Bg8+ (46. Rxh4 Kxe5 $11) 46... Kc6 47.
Bxb3 Rxa3 48. Kc4 axb3 49. Rh6+ Kd7 50. Kxc5 Ra2 51. Rb6 Rxg2 $11) 46. Kb2 Rg1
(46... Re1 {is playable as well, e.g.} 47. Bg8+ (47. e6+ Kd6 $11) 47... Kd4 48.
Rxh4+ Kd3 49. Rh3+ (49. Bh7+ Kd2 50. Re4 Rxe4 51. Bxe4 c4 52. h4 c3+ 53. Kb1 (
53. Ka1 Bc4 54. Kb1 Bd5 $11) 53... Bd5 54. Bc2 Bb3 $11 {and Black draws by
eternal hunt - continually offering the exchange of bishops..}) 49... Kd4 50.
Bxb3 axb3 51. Rh4+ $1 (51. Kxb3 c4+ 52. Kc2 Re2+ 53. Kd1 Rxg2 54. e6 Rg1+ 55.
Ke2 Rg2+ 56. Kf3 Rg6 $11) 51... Kd3 52. Kxb3 {but even here after} Rb1+ 53. Ka2
(53. Ka4 c4) 53... Re1 {Black's passed c-pawn should save him, e.g.} 54. Rh3+
Kd4 55. g4 c4 56. g5 c3 57. Kb3 Rb1+ 58. Kc2 Rb2+ 59. Kc1 Rg2 60. Rh8 Rxg5 61.
e6 Rg1+ 62. Kc2 Rg2+ 63. Kb3 Rb2+ 64. Ka4 Rb7 $11) 47. Bg8+ Kc6 48. Rh6+ Kd7
49. Bxb3 axb3 50. Kxb3 Rxg2 51. Rxh4 Ke6 $2 {Now Black's king is too far away
from the passed a-pawn.} ({The rook belongs behind the passed pawn:} 51... Re2
$1 {and White can not win, e.g.} 52. a4 (52. Rh5 Re3+ 53. Kc4 (53. Ka4 Kc6 54.
Rh6+ Kd5 55. e6 c4 56. h4 c3 57. Kb3 c2+ 58. Kxc2 Rxa3 59. e7 Re3 60. Rh7 Kd6
61. h5 Rxe7 62. Rxe7 Kxe7 63. h6 Kf7 64. h7 Kg7 $11) 53... Rxa3 54. Kxc5 Ke6
55. Kd4 Ra4+ $11) (52. Kc4 Rxe5 53. a4 Kc6 54. Rh6+ Kb7 55. a5 Re4+ 56. Kxc5
Re2 $11) 52... Rxe5 53. Kc4 Kc6 54. Rh6+ Kb7 55. a5 Re4+ 56. Kxc5 Re2 {[%cal
Ge2h2] and Black has reached a version of Vancura's draw, e.g.} 57. Kb5 Re5+
58. Kb4 Re4+ 59. Kc5 Re2 60. h4 Re4 $1 {[%cal Ge4h4] The rook must attack the
pawn so that White's rook can not break free.} 61. Kd5 (61. Rb6+ Kc7 62. Rb4
Re5+ $11) 61... Rg4 62. Ke5 Ka7 63. Kf5 Rc4 $1 64. Rh7+ Kb8 65. h5 Rc5+ 66. Kg6
Rc6+ ({Of course not} 66... Rxa5 $2 67. Rf7 $18 {[%cal Gh5h8]}) 67. Kg7 Rc7+
$11) (51... Kc6 $2 52. a4 Re2 53. Rh6+ (53. Kc4 $2 Rxe5 54. Rh6+ Kb7 55. a5 Ka7
56. h4 Re4+ 57. Kxc5 Rf4 $11) 53... Kd5 (53... Kb7 54. e6 $18) 54. a5 c4+ (
54... Rxe5 55. a6 Re7 56. h4 c4+ 57. Kb4 Rc7 58. Rh5+ Kd4 59. Ra5 Ra7 60. h5 c3
61. Kb3 Kd3 62. Rd5+ Ke4 63. Rd6 Rc7 64. Kc2 Ke5 65. Rg6 Kf5 66. Rb6 Kg5 67. h6
Kh5 68. Rb3 Kxh6 69. Ra3 Ra7 70. Kxc3 $18) 55. Kb4 Rb2+ 56. Kc3 Rb3+ 57. Kc2
Kxe5 58. a6 Ra3 (58... Kd4 59. Rh4+ Kc5 60. a7 Ra3 61. Rh7 $18) 59. h4 Kd4 (
59... Kf5 60. Rc6 Kg4 61. Rxc4+ Kh5 62. Rc6 Kxh4 63. Kb2 Ra5 64. Kb3 Kg5 65.
Kb4 Ra1 66. Rc5+ Kf6 67. Ra5 Rb1+ 68. Kc5 Rc1+ 69. Kb6 Rb1+ 70. Rb5 $18) 60.
Rd6+ Kc5 61. Rg6 Kd4 62. h5 Ra2+ 63. Kb1 Rh2 64. a7 Rh1+ 65. Ka2 Rh2+ 66. Ka3
Rh1 67. Rg2 Ra1+ 68. Ra2 $18) (51... Rg5 $2 52. Re4 Ke6 53. a4 Rg1 54. a5 Rb1+
55. Ka2 Rb8 56. a6 Ra8 57. Ra4 Kxe5 58. a7 $18) 52. a4 Kxe5 53. a5 Kd6 (53...
Rg7 54. a6 Kd5 55. Ra4 Ra7 56. h4 c4+ 57. Kc3 $18) 54. Rh7 $1 {[%cal Gh7a7,
Ga5a7] Magnus Carlsen cuts Black's king off from the queening square a8.} Kd5 (
54... Rg8 55. a6 Ra8 56. a7 Kc6 57. h4 Kb6 58. h5 Rxa7 59. Rxa7 Kxa7 60. h6 $18
) 55. a6 c4+ 56. Kc3 Ra2 57. a7 Kc5 58. h4 (58. h4 Ra3+ 59. Kb2 Ra6 (59... Rb3+
60. Ka2 $18) 60. h5 Kb4 61. Rb7+ Kc5 62. h6 Kc6 63. Rg7 Kb6 64. h7 Rxa7 65.
Rxa7 Kxa7 66. h8=Q $18) 1-0

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Anand +3-0=7"]
[Site "Chennai"]
[Date "2013.11.16"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2013.11.09"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 158"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.01.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.01.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%mdl 32]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 (3... a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Bc5 6. c3
O-O 7. d3 b5 8. Bb3 d6 9. Bg5 $5 {The reason why we are quoting the following
2 games will soon become clear...} h6 10. Bh4 Be6 (10... g5 11. Bg3 Bg4 12.
Nbd2 Nh5 13. Re1 (13. Bd5 Qd7 14. Bxc6 Qxc6 15. Nxe5 $5 Bxd1 16. Nxc6 Be2 17.
d4 Bxf1 18. Nxf1 $44) 13... Nxg3 14. hxg3 Ne7 $6 (14... Qf6 15. Nf1 Ne7 $13)
15. Nf1 Ng6 16. d4 Bb6 17. Ne3 Bxf3 $2 (17... Bd7 $142 $1) 18. gxf3 (18. Qxf3
$1 exd4 19. Qh5 $40) 18... exd4 19. cxd4 Qf6 20. Ng4 Qg7 (20... Qxd4 $142 21.
Qxd4 Bxd4 22. Nxh6+ Kh7 23. Nxf7 Bf6 $14) 21. e5 $36 {Carlsen,M (2714)-Shirov,
A (2739)/WCh blitz Moscow/2007/}) 11. Nbd2 g5 (11... Bxb3 12. axb3 Nb8 $6 (
12... Re8 $142 {leads to Spraggett-Fedorchuk, all this after} 13. Re1 {
tranposes to the position from our game.}) 13. d4 $16) 12. Bg3 Bb6 13. Re1 Nd7
14. Nf1 Qf6 15. Ne3 Bxe3 16. Rxe3 Ne7 17. Bc2 Ng6 18. d4 Nb6 19. b3 h5 20. h3
h4 21. Bh2 g4 22. hxg4 Bxg4 23. Qd2 Kg7 24. Rf1 Rh8 25. Ne1 c5 26. f3 Be6 27.
f4 exf4 28. Ref3 $1 $40 {Carlsen,M (2813)-Ponomariov,R (2737)/Nice blindfold
rpd/2010/}) 4. d3 {A popular and legitimate attempt to retain the tension and
avoid quick simplification. Although this line had already appeared in a few
of their previous encounters, Anand spurns the surprise factor and after Game
4 is unwilling to enter the complex Berlin endgame (or queenless middlegame?)
with} (4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 (5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5 8. Rxe5 O-O 9. d4
Bf6 10. Re1 Re8 11. c3 Rxe1 12. Qxe1 Ne8 13. Bf4 d5 14. Bd3 g6 15. Nd2 Ng7 16.
Qe2 c6 17. Re1 Bf5 18. Bxf5 Nxf5 19. Nf3 Ng7 20. Be5 Ne6 $11 {Carlsen,M (2870)
-Anand,V (2775)/WCh Chennai/2013/ is insipid and rather boring - but who can
blame Carlsen, who already had a 2-point lead at that moment...}) 5... Nd6 6.
Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. h3 Bd7 10. Rd1 Be7 11. Nc3 Kc8 12. Bg5
h6 13. Bxe7 Nxe7 14. Rd2 c5 15. Rad1 Be6 16. Ne1 (16. Ne2 $5 Ng6 17. Ng3 b6 18.
Nh5 Rg8 19. a3 a5 20. Re1 Kb7 21. Nh2 Ne7 22. f4 $14 {Gorbatov,A (2360)
-Pranizin,G (2187)/Khanty-Mansiysk/2013/ This is a subsequent example, played
only after Chennai.}) 16... Ng6 17. Nd3 b6 18. Ne2 $6 Bxa2 19. b3 c4 20. Ndc1
cxb3 21. cxb3 Bb1 22. f4 Kb7 23. Nc3 Bf5 24. g4 Bc8 $15 {/-/+,Anand,V (2775)
-Carlsen,M (2870)/WCh Chennai/2013/}) 4... Bc5 {This active move is very
topical right now, as I already mentioned in the notes to Navara-Caruana (CBM
157).} ({The more restrained} 4... d6 {has also featured in the opponent's
previous encounters:} 5. O-O Be7 (5... Bd7 6. c3 g6 7. Re1 a6 8. Ba4 Bg7 9.
Nbd2 O-O 10. Nf1 Re8 11. Bb3 Be6 12. h3 Bxb3 13. Qxb3 Qd7 14. Bg5 Nh5 15. Rad1
h6 16. Bc1 Nf6 17. Ng3 Na5 18. Qc2 c5 19. d4 cxd4 20. cxd4 Rac8 21. Qd3 exd4
22. Nxd4 Nc4 23. b3 Ne5 24. Qb1 h5 25. Bb2 h4 26. Nf1 d5 {Anand,V (2783)
-Carlsen,M (2868)/Stavanger blitz/2013/}) 6. c3 O-O 7. Nbd2 Bd7 8. Re1 Re8 9.
Nf1 Bf8 10. Ba4 h6 11. Ng3 Ne7 12. Bb3 Ng6 13. d4 c5 14. h3 Qc7 15. a4 a6 16.
a5 cxd4 17. cxd4 exd4 18. Nxd4 d5 19. exd5 Rxe1+ 20. Qxe1 Re8 21. Qc3 Qxc3 22.
bxc3 Re1+ 23. Kh2 Bd6 24. Nc2 Rf1 25. Be3 Rxa1 26. Nxa1 Be5 $11 {Carlsen,M 
(2826)-Anand,V (2800)/Bilbao /2010/ Carlsen later overpressed and lost - see
the notes to this game by Ftacnik in CBM 139.}) 5. c3 ({In Game 7 Anand tried} 
5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nbd2 {and ran into the rare, but clever} Bg4 $5 ({Usually good
enough for equality, there is also the more standard} 6... O-O 7. O-O Re8 (7...
Bg4 8. h3 Bh5 9. Nc4 Re8 10. Be3 Bd6 11. Bg5 h6 12. Bh4 g5 13. g4 Bg6 14. Bg3
Nd7 15. h4 f6 16. Ne3 Bf8 17. Kg2 Nc5 18. hxg5 hxg5 19. Nf5 Ne6 20. Rh1 Qd7 21.
Rh3 Bxf5 22. exf5 Nf4+ 23. Bxf4 exf4 24. Nd2 Rad8 25. Qf3 Bg7 26. Ne4 $16 {
[%csl Ge4,Rg7][%cal Gh1h8] Carlsen,M (2837)-Karjakin,S (2779)/Astana blitz/
2012/}) 8. Nc4 Nd7 9. a4 (9. Kh1 a5 10. a4 b6 11. Be3 Bb4 12. Nfd2 b5 13. axb5
cxb5 14. c3 bxc4 15. cxb4 cxd3 16. bxa5 Ba6 17. Qb3 Nf6 {Anand,V (2780)
-Kramnik,V (2810)/Zuerich 2013/} 18. f3 $5 $13 {Gormally}) 9... Bf8 (9... a5
10. b3 Bf8 11. Kh1 b6 12. g3 Ba6 13. Bb2 Bxc4 14. bxc4 g6 15. Nh4 Bh6 16. Ng2
Nc5 17. f4 exf4 18. gxf4 Bg7 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. f5 Qg5 21. Rf3 Rad8 22. Qf1 $14
{Anand,V (2783)-Aronian,L (2813)/Stavanger blitz/2013/}) 10. Kh1 f6 11. b3 Nc5
12. Ng1 Ne6 13. Ne2 b6 14. f4 exf4 15. Nxf4 Nxf4 16. Bxf4 Be6 17. Qf3 Bxc4 18.
bxc4 Bd6 19. Qg3 Bxf4 20. Rxf4 Qd6 21. Qf3 Re5 22. h3 Rae8 $11 {Anand,V (2783)
-Hammer,J (2608)/Stavanger blitz/2013/}) ({Carlsen himself had to face the
more risky} 6... Be6 {- something he was unwilling to repeat with Black:} 7. b3
$5 (7. O-O Bd6 8. b3 Nd7 9. Nc4 Bxc4 10. bxc4 O-O 11. Rb1 b6 12. g3 f5 13. exf5
Rxf5 14. Qe2 Nc5 15. Be3 Ne6 16. Nd2 Qf6 17. Qg4 Rf8 18. Ne4 Qf7 19. a4 h5 20.
Qe2 Be7 21. a5 Qg6 22. axb6 axb6 23. Kh1 Rf3 $132 {Carlsen,M (2843)-Aronian,L 
(2816)/Sao Paulo/Bilbao/2012/}) (7. Qe2 Nd7 8. Nb3 Bd6 9. Bd2 b6 10. Ng5 Qe7
11. O-O a5 12. Nxe6 Qxe6 13. a4 Nc5 14. Nxc5 Bxc5 15. Be3 Bd6 16. b3 O-O 17.
Kh1 Bb4 18. f4 exf4 19. Bxf4 Bd6 20. Qf2 Rae8 21. Bxd6 Qxd6 22. Rae1 Re6 $11 {
Caruana,F (2782)-Navara,D (2705)/EU-chT Warsaw/2013/}) 7... Ng4 8. O-O f6 9.
Qe2 Qd7 10. Nc4 g5 11. Rb1 b5 12. Ne3 h5 13. c3 Qh7 14. d4 Bb6 15. Nc2 O-O-O
16. a4 exd4 17. Nfxd4 (17. cxd4 $5 $36) 17... Bd7 18. b4 $6 (18. f3 Ne5 19. Kh1
$14) 18... Rhe8 19. Re1 a6 20. Ra1 Kb7 21. axb5 axb5 22. c4 bxc4 23. Qxc4 Ra8
24. Rxa8 Rxa8 $132 {Carlsen,M (2837)-Bacrot,E (2713)/Biel/2012/}) 7. h3 Bh5 ({
Black is in no hurry to play} 7... Bxf3 $143 8. Qxf3 Nd7 9. Qg3 Qf6 10. Nc4 O-O
11. O-O Rfe8 12. a4 Nf8 13. Bg5 Qe6 14. Bd2 Ng6 15. b4 Bf8 16. Qg4 b6 17. g3 f6
18. Bc3 Bd6 19. Ne3 Kh8 20. Kg2 a6 21. Qf3 Ne7 22. h4 b5 23. Rfb1 Qd7 24. h5 h6
25. Qg4 Qxg4 26. Nxg4 $14 {Adams,M (2733)-Fressinet,L (2696)/Bundesliga/2012/})
8. Nf1 (8. Nc4 Nd7 9. Be3 f6 10. Qd2 Qe7 11. Nh4 O-O-O $5 12. Nf5 Qf8 13. O-O
Bf7 14. b3 g6 15. Ng3 h5 16. Bxc5 Nxc5 17. Qe3 Kb8 18. f4 Bxc4 19. bxc4 Qd6 20.
Ne2 Rhf8 $132 {Sjugirov,S (2641)-Maletin,P (2598)/Khanty-Mansiysk/2013/ This
is another game, played only after the match.}) 8... Nd7 9. Ng3 Bxf3 $5 ({
Only now, although also} 9... Bg6 10. Bg5 f6 11. Bd2 Nf8 $1 $13 {seems
playable.}) 10. Qxf3 g6 11. Be3 Qe7 12. O-O-O O-O-O 13. Ne2 Rhe8 14. Kb1 b6 15.
h4 Kb7 16. h5 Bxe3 17. Qxe3 Nc5 18. hxg6 hxg6 19. g3 a5 20. Rh7 Rh8 21. Rdh1
Rxh7 22. Rxh7 Qf6 23. f4 Rh8 $11 {Anand,V (2775)-Carlsen,M (2870)/WCh Chennai/
2013/}) ({White's move order avoids} 5. O-O Nd4 $5 (5... d6 6. c3 {- 6...d6})
6. Ba4 Nxf3+ 7. Qxf3 O-O 8. Qg3 d6 9. Bg5 c6 10. Bb3 Nh5 11. Qh4 Nf6 12. Nc3 h6
13. Bd2 a5 14. Kh1 Bd4 15. f4 Ng4 16. Qxd8 Rxd8 17. fxe5 Nxe5 18. a4 Be6 19.
Bxe6 fxe6 20. Ne2 Bb6 21. Nf4 Re8 22. h3 Nd7 23. Rf3 Ne5 24. Rff1 Nd7 25. g4 d5
$11 {Carlsen,M (2823)-Anand,V (2817)/Moscow rpd/2011/ See the notes to this
game by Postny in CBM 144.}) (5. Nc3 d6 6. Na4 Bb6 7. Nxb6 axb6 8. c3 Bd7 9.
Ba4 Ne7 10. Bc2 Ng6 11. h3 O-O 12. O-O h6 13. Re1 Re8 14. d4 Bc6 15. dxe5 dxe5
16. Qxd8 Rexd8 17. g3 Nd7 18. Be3 Nc5 19. Nd2 Nf8 20. f3 Nfe6 21. h4 Bb5 22. a3
Rd7 (22... Bd3 $1) 23. b4 Nd3 $6 (23... Ba4 $1 24. bxc5 Bxc2 $11) 24. Reb1 Ba4
25. Bxa4 Rxa4 26. Kf1 $13 {[%csl Rd3] Carlsen,M (2848)-Anand,V (2775)/London /
2012/ See the notes to this game by Postny in CBM 152.}) 5... O-O 6. O-O (6.
Bxc6 bxc6 7. Nxe5 d5 8. Bg5 Re8 9. f4 dxe4 10. d4 Bb6 11. Nd2 c5 12. dxc5 Bxc5
13. Qe2 h6 14. Bh4 g5 15. fxg5 hxg5 16. Bg3 e3 (16... Qd5 $142 $1 $13 {/=/+})
17. Nb3 Bb6 (17... Bd6 $5 18. O-O-O Qe7 19. Qxe3 Bxe5 20. Qxg5+ Kf8 21. Qh6+
Kg8 $11) 18. Qf3 Be6 19. Rd1 g4 20. Qe2 Qe7 21. Nc6 (21. O-O Ne4 22. Nd4 $14)
21... Qf8 22. Nbd4 Qc5 (22... Bc8 $1 23. O-O Ba6 $13) 23. Ne5 $36 {Ivanchuk,V 
(2717)-Kramnik,V (2772)/Wijk aan Zee/2001/}) 6... Re8 {An interesting move;
given the chance, Black can later play d5 in one move.} ({Earlier Magnus
played the standard continuation} 6... d6 7. Nbd2 Bb6 ({Perhaps better than
the more usual, but somewhat provocative} 7... a6 8. Bxc6 bxc6 {, mentioned
shortly in the notes to Navara-Caruana, CBM 157.}) 8. Nc4 Ne7 9. Nxb6 axb6 10.
Ba4 Ng6 11. h3 Nh5 12. Bg5 f6 13. Be3 Nhf4 14. Bb3+ Kh8 15. Bxf4 Nxf4 16. Nh4
f5 17. Nxf5 Qg5 18. Qg4 Qf6 19. Qh4 Qxh4 20. Nxh4 Nxd3 21. Nf3 Rf6 22. Rad1
Nxb2 23. Rd2 Na4 24. Nxe5 Be6 25. Ng4 Bxg4 26. hxg4 Nxc3 27. Re1 h6 {1/2,Anand,
V (2817)-Carlsen,M (2823)/Moscow rpd/2011/} 28. e5 $44) (6... d5 7. Nbd2 $5 (7.
exd5 Qxd5 8. Bc4 Qd8 9. b4 Bd6 10. Re1 h6 11. Nbd2 Re8 12. a4 Bf5 13. Ne4 Be6
14. Bxe6 Rxe6 15. b5 Nb8 16. Nxd6 cxd6 17. c4 Nbd7 18. Ba3 Qc7 19. Rc1 Nc5 20.
d4 exd4 21. Rxe6 fxe6 22. Nxd4 Re8 23. Qc2 Qf7 24. Rd1 Rc8 $132 {Sjugirov,S 
(2610)-Bacrot,E (2706)/EU-ch Plovdiv/2012/}) (7. Bxc6 bxc6 8. Nxe5 dxe4 9. d4
Bd6 10. Bg5 (10. Nxc6 $6 Qe8 11. Na5 $2 Qb5 12. Nb3 Bg4 13. Qd2 Bxh2+ 14. Kxh2
Qxf1 15. Qf4 Bf3 16. gxf3 Qxf2+ 17. Kh1 exf3 18. Qh2 Qe1+ {0-1,Neumann,
G-Anderssen,A/Berlin/1864/}) 10... Qe8 (10... h6 $13) (10... Ba6 11. Re1 Bxe5
12. dxe5 Qxd1 13. Rxd1 Ng4 14. Bf4 $6 (14. Nd2 $142 $14) 14... Rfe8 15. Rd7
Rad8 16. Rxd8 Rxd8 17. Na3 e3 18. fxe3 Rd2 $44 {Riemann,F-Anderssen,A/Breslau/
1877/}) 11. Bxf6 gxf6 12. Nc4 Qe6 13. Nbd2 f5 14. Re1 Ba6 15. b3 Rae8 16. Re3
Bf4 17. Rh3 h6 18. Qh5 Kg7 19. Re1 Qg6 20. Qd1 Kh7 21. g3 {Gu,X (2369)-Zhao,X 
(2495)/Jiangsu Wuxi/2011/} Bg5 $13) 7... dxe4 8. Nxe4 Nxe4 9. dxe4 Qf6 10. Qe2
Bg4 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 Qxf3 13. gxf3 Ne7 14. f4 c6 15. Bc4 exf4 16. Bxf4 Ng6
17. Bg3 Rfe8 18. Rfe1 Rad8 19. Rad1 Rxd1 20. Rxd1 Rxe4 21. Rd8+ Nf8 22. Bd3
Re1+ 23. Kg2 a5 24. Ra8 Rd1 25. Bc4 $44 {/+/=,Radjabov,T (2735)-Carlsen,M 
(2733)/Morelia/Linares/2008/ See the notes to this game by Radjabov in CBM 123.
}) 7. Re1 (7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4 Bf8 9. Nbd2 d6 10. d4 exd4 11. Nxd4 Bd7 12. Nxc6
bxc6 13. Bd3 Be7 14. f4 Qb8 {[%cal Rf6e4,Rb8b2]} 15. Bxf6 Bxf6 16. e5 dxe5 17.
Ne4 Qxb2 18. f5 Red8 19. Bc4 Be8 20. Qh5 {Carlsen,M (2826)-Howell,D (2633)/
London/2011/} Qb6+ {/\c5~~/=/+}) 7... a6 8. Ba4 b5 9. Bb3 (9. Bc2 d5 $1 {
illustrates what we said in the note to Black's 6th move:} 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. a4
(11. Bb3 $142) 11... b4 12. Ng5 $6 h6 13. Ne4 Bb6 14. Qh5 Nf6 15. Qf3 Nxe4 16.
Qxe4 {Zhao Dindin-Kosteniuk,A/WChJ Szeged/1994/} Qf6 17. d4 g6 $36 {[%cal
Rc8f5]}) 9... d6 (9... d5 $2 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. d4 $16) 10. Bg5 $5 $146 {
[%mdl 8] Formally this is a novelty. However, as we have seen in the notes
above, Carlsen himself has used the bishop sortie in very similar positions on
at least 3 occasions. He must have been familiar with the nuances, as the
diffrence between his games with Shirov and Ponomariov is only the insertion
of Re1 and Re8; Magnus finds a way to profit from this.} (10. a4 b4 (10... Bb7
11. Nbd2 h6 12. Nf1 Ne7 13. Ng3 Ng6 14. axb5 axb5 15. Rxa8 Bxa8 16. Ba2 Qd7 17.
h3 Bb6 18. Nh2 d5 19. Nh5 Nxh5 20. Qxh5 Nf4 $6 (20... c5 $13 {[%cal Yc5c4]})
21. Bxf4 exf4 22. Nf3 c6 23. d4 $1 $36 {[%cal Yf3e5] Bauer,C (2645)-Marciano,D
(2514)/SUI-chT/2011/}) (10... Bg4 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 Na5 13. Bc2 b4 14. Nd2
Rb8 15. Rb1 Qd7 16. Nb3 Nxb3 17. Bxb3 bxc3 $6 (17... Rb7 $142 $132 {[%cal
Yb4c3,Ye8b8]}) 18. bxc3 Rf8 19. Bg5 Ne8 {Garbisu de Goni,U (2463)-Glavina
Rossi,P (2440)/Barcelona/2005/} 20. Red1 $36 {[%cal Yd3d4]}) 11. a5 (11. d4 $5
exd4 12. cxd4 Bb6 $132) 11... bxc3 12. bxc3 h6 13. h3 Ba7 14. Nbd2 Ne7 15. Nf1
Ng6 16. Ng3 d5 17. exd5 Nxd5 18. d4 Be6 19. Bd2 exd4 20. Nxd4 Bxd4 21. cxd4 Nf6
(21... Rb8 $11) 22. Bxe6 Rxe6 23. Rxe6 fxe6 24. Qc2 $14 {Pedersen,C (2443)
-Antonsen,M (2446)/Helsingor/2013/}) ({Anand has already played the typical} 
10. Nbd2 Bb6 (10... Be6 11. Nf1 Bxb3 12. axb3 d5 (12... h6 13. b4 Bb6 14. Be3
Bxe3 15. Nxe3 Qd7 16. h3 a5 17. bxa5 Nxa5 18. b4 Nc6 19. Qb3 Ne7 20. Kh2 Qc6
21. g3 Rxa1 22. Rxa1 Ra8 $11 {Dominguez Perez,L (2754)-Leko,P (2730)/Beijing/
2013/}) 13. Qc2 h6 (13... Qd7 14. Ng3 h6 15. h3 dxe4 16. dxe4 Qe6 17. Nh4 a5
18. Nhf5 Bf8 19. Nf1 Red8 20. Be3 Ne7 21. N5g3 Ng6 22. Red1 Rxd1 23. Rxd1 Qc6
$11 {Fedorchuk,S (2660)-Buhmann,R (2578)/FRA-chT Haguenau/2013/}) 14. Ng3 a5
15. h3 Qd7 16. Be3 Bf8 17. Rad1 Rad8 18. Nf5 Qe6 19. g4 dxe4 20. dxe4 Ne7 21.
Rxd8 Rxd8 22. Ra1 Ra8 23. c4 b4 24. g5 hxg5 25. Nxg5 Qc8 26. Nxe7+ Bxe7 27. Kh2
Ra6 $15 {Radjabov,T (2793)-Aronian,L (2809)/London Candidates/2013/ See the
notes to this game by Krisztian Szabo in CBM 154.}) 11. Nf1 Ne7 12. Ng3 Ng6 13.
h3 h6 14. d4 (14. a4 Bd7 15. d4 Rb8 16. axb5 axb5 17. Be3 c5 18. dxe5 dxe5 19.
c4 Qc8 20. cxb5 c4 21. Rc1 Bxb5 22. Bxb6 Rxb6 23. Qc2 Rc6 24. Ba4 Bxa4 25. Qxa4
Nf4 26. Re3 $11 {Zhigalko,A (2615)-Navara,D (2703)/ECC Rhodes/2013/}) 14... c5
15. dxe5 dxe5 16. Qxd8 Bxd8 17. a4 c4 18. Bc2 Ba5 19. axb5 axb5 20. Be3 Bb7 21.
Ra2 Bc7 22. Rea1 Rxa2 23. Rxa2 Ra8 24. Rxa8+ Bxa8 25. Kf1 Ne7 26. Nd2 Kf8 27.
Bc5 Nd7 28. Ba3 g6 29. f3 Ke8 $11 {Anand,V (2783)-Aronian,L (2809)/Paris/St
Petersburg/2013/}) 10... Be6 (10... h6 11. Bh4 (11. Bxf6 $6 Qxf6 12. Bd5 Bd7 {
[%csl Gc5,Gd7] leads nowhere}) 11... Bb6 $5 (11... g5 {might be playable, but
this move is risky and would certainly follow Anand's preparation. Black has
to reckon not only with} 12. Bg3 ({, but also with the piece sacrifice} 12.
Nxg5 $5 hxg5 13. Bxg5 $44)) 12. Nbd2 (12. a4 $5) 12... Be6 13. Nf1 ({The idea
is to play} 13. Bxe6 Rxe6 $11) 13... Bxb3 (13... Nb8 14. Bxe6 Rxe6 15. Bxf6
Qxf6 (15... Rxf6 16. d4 $14) 16. a4 $14) 14. axb3 Qe7 15. Ne3 Qe6 {/\} 16. Bxf6
Bxe3 17. Rxe3 Qxf6 $11) 11. Nbd2 {White's immediate reaction is rather soft.} (
11. Bd5 Bxd5 12. exd5 Ne7 13. Bxf6 gxf6 $13 {[%csl Gc5][%cal Yf6f5,Ye7g6] is
unclear at the least - Black has a strong bishop and can show some potential
kingside ambitions of his own.}) ({Instead of the slow developing move Giri
points out the more ambitious and principled} 11. Bxe6 fxe6 (11... Rxe6 $143
12. d4 exd4 $8 13. cxd4 Bb4 14. Nc3 $14 {[%csl Gd4,Ge4]}) 12. b4 (12. d4 exd4 (
12... Bb6 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Nxe5 dxe5 15. Nd2 $14) 13. cxd4 Bb6 14. Nc3 h6 15.
Be3 Na5 $14 {[%cal Ya5c4,Yc7c5] /~~}) (12. a4 $5 {/\} b4 13. d4 $14) 12... Bb6
13. a4 $14 {Here White has chances to get a pull.}) (11. d4 Bxb3 12. axb3 exd4
13. cxd4 Bb6 14. Nc3 Nb4 15. Qd2 c5 $132) 11... h6 12. Bh4 (12. Bxe6 Rxe6 13.
Bxf6 Rxf6 14. b4 Bb6 15. a4 Ne7 $11 {[%csl Gb6]}) 12... Bxb3 13. axb3 Nb8 $5 {
A Breyer-style manoeuvre to combat the annoying pin.} (13... Bb6 14. Nf1 g5 15.
Bg3 d5 16. exd5 $6 (16. Qe2 $142 $13) 16... Qxd5 17. Ne3 Qd7 18. h3 (18. Qc2
Rad8 19. Rad1 Nh5 $11 {/=/+}) 18... Rad8 19. Rxa6 Qxd3 20. Qc1 Re6 (20... b4 $5
$36) 21. Kh2 Ne4 $6 (21... Nh5 $36) 22. Rxb6 cxb6 23. Rd1 Qe2 24. Re1 {1/2,
Spraggett,K (2631)-Fedorchuk,S (2603)/Metz/2007/}) (13... a5 $5 $13 {is also
possible, then Black can consider either g5, or unpinning as in the game.}) (
13... Qe7 {[%cal Ye7e6]} 14. Nf1 Bb6 $11 {transposes to the 10...h6 line.}) 14.
h3 {Just as on move 11, White plays it slowly - and doesn't achieve anything.}
({Gleizerov suggested} 14. b4 Bb6 15. Bxf6 Qxf6 16. Ra3 {, but after} Nc6 17.
Qe2 Ra7 18. Rea1 Rea8 $11 {[%cal Ya6a5] Black gradually prepares the
liberating a5.}) (14. d4 Bb6 15. Qc2 Nbd7 16. b4 c6 $11 {[%cal Yd8c7,Ya6a5] is
a similar story.}) 14... Nbd7 15. Nh2 (15. b4 Bb6 16. Nb3 Nf8 $11 (16... c5 $5
$132)) 15... Qe7 16. Ndf1 {Abandons the b4 and Nb3 idea.} {Puts the bishop on
a less exposed square.} Bb6 ({Black doesn't need complications as} 16... a5 17.
d4 $5 exd4 (17... Bb6 18. Ng4 $14 {[%cal Rf1e3,Re3d5,Re3f5]}) 18. cxd4 Bb4 19.
Re3 Qe6 20. Rc1 $13) 17. Ne3 Qe6 18. b4 (18. Nf5 Kh7 {[%cal Yg7g6] is just a
loss of time.}) 18... a5 $1 $11 {[%mdl 32] Gets rid of his only weakness.
Purposeful strategic play by Black has solved his opening problems without any
concessions.} 19. bxa5 Bxa5 20. Nhg4 (20. Nf5 Bb6 21. Qd2 d5 $5 $11 {/\} 22.
Rxa8 Rxa8 23. Ng4 Nxg4 24. Ne7+ (24. hxg4 d4 25. cxd4 exd4 $132 {[%cal Yc7c4] /
=/+}) 24... Kh7 25. exd5 Bxf2+ 26. Qxf2 Qxe7 27. Bxe7 (27. hxg4 f6 28. d4 Qd6
$11) 27... Nxf2 28. Kxf2 f6 29. d6 c5 $5 {[%csl Re7]}) 20... Bb6 21. Bxf6 $5 {
Anand realises he has nothing at all and decides to simplify the position - in
other words to bail out. The engine also praises his judgement, further
"attacking" attempts such as} (21. Qf3 $143 Nxg4 22. Nxg4 Ra4 $5 {might leave
the bishop misplaced} (22... Nf8 $15 {[%csl Rh4][%cal Ye6b3,Ya8a2] Giri}))
21... Nxf6 22. Nxf6+ (22. Nf5 Rxa1 $5 23. Nxf6+ (23. Qxa1 Nxg4 24. hxg4 Qf6 $15
{[%csl Rf2,Rg4]}) 23... Qxf6 24. Qxa1 d5 $11) 22... Qxf6 23. Qg4 (23. Qe2 $142
$1 {[%cal Re3d5] is more accurate, White avoids the doubling of the pawns after
} Bxe3 (23... c6 24. g3 Qe6 25. Kg2 $11 {Formally Black has the better minor
piece, but in practice it's difficult to suggest, how he can make inroads.})
24. Qxe3 $11) 23... Bxe3 24. fxe3 Qe7 $1 (24... Qe6 25. Qxe6 fxe6 $11 {more or
less forces a draw, but Magnus rightly feels he runs no real risk by playing
on.}) 25. Rf1 c5 $11 {/=/+ The position is almost equal, but the only one who
can try something is Black.} 26. Kh2 c4 (26... Qb7 $5) 27. d4 $1 Rxa1 ({
This doesn't win a pawn, so perhaps} 27... g6 28. d5 Kg7 {was slightly
preferable.}) 28. Rxa1 Qb7 (28... exd4 29. exd4 Qxe4 30. Qxe4 Rxe4 31. Ra8+ Kh7
32. Rb8 $11) 29. Rd1 ({A more prudent move is} 29. d5 $5 {and Black has no
obvious way to make progress.} g6 (29... b4 30. Ra4 bxc3 31. bxc3 Qb3 32. Qd7
Rf8 33. Ra6 Qxc3 34. Qxd6 Qxe3 35. Qxe5 {and it's Black who has to tread with
care.}) (29... Ra8 30. Rxa8+ Qxa8 31. Qd7 Qb8 $8 $11) 30. Qh4 Kg7 31. Rf1 $11 {
Giri}) 29... Qc6 (29... exd4 30. Rxd4 Re6 31. Rd5 $132 {[%csl Rb5,Rd6]}) 30.
Qf5 (30. d5 $11 {was again an option}) 30... exd4 {Black has no other way to
proceed.} 31. Rxd4 Re5 32. Qf3 Qc7 33. Kh1 (33. Rd5 Qe7 34. Rxe5 Qxe5+ 35. Qf4
{/\} Qxf4+ 36. exf4 f5 37. exf5 d5 38. Kg3 d4 39. Kf3 $1 $11 {Gleizerov}) 33...
Qe7 34. Qg4 Kh7 35. Qf4 g6 36. Kh2 Kg7 37. Qf3 Re6 38. Qg3 $6 {Forcing matters,
but this is a concession, which improves Black's prospects. After} (38. Qf4 Rf6
39. Qg3 $11 {/=/+ he has a comfortable endgame, but still nothing tangible.})
38... Rxe4 39. Qxd6 Rxe3 (39... Qxd6+ 40. Rxd6 Rxe3 41. Rd5 b4 42. cxb4 Rb3 43.
b5 Rxb2 44. Rc5 Rb4 45. b6 Rxb6 46. Rxc4 {is a theoretical draw}) 40. Qxe7 Rxe7
41. Rd5 Rb7 42. Rd6 {[%mdl 4096] In the rook endgame White's active rook
almost compensates for the extra pawn. His drawing chances are higher than
Black's winning chances, but the fight is still on.} (42. Kg3 Kf6 43. Kf4 Ke6
44. Ke4 $44 {/\} f5+ 45. Kd4 Rd7 46. Rxd7 Kxd7 47. Kc5 Ke6 48. Kxb5 Kd5 49. Ka4
$1 {holds, but the last move is not easy to see in advance:} (49. Kb4 g5 50. b3
g4 $1 51. bxc4+ Kc6 $19) 49... g5 50. b4 cxb3 (50... g4 51. hxg4 fxg4 52. Ka5
Kc6 53. Ka6 Kc7 54. Ka7 Kc6 55. Ka6 $11) 51. Kxb3 f4 52. c4+ Kc5 53. Kc3 h5 54.
Kd3 $11) 42... f6 (42... h5 43. Kg3 f6 $15) 43. h4 Kf7 $6 {Magnus admitted he
missed White's idea.} (43... h5 $142 $1 44. Kg3 Re7 45. Rb6 Re5 46. Rb7+ (46.
Kf3 Rf5+ 47. Ke3 Kf7 48. Rb7+ Ke6 {[%cal Ye6c6]} 49. Rg7 g5 $15) 46... Kh6 47.
Rb6 Rf5 48. Rd6 g5 49. hxg5+ Rxg5+ 50. Kf3 Rf5+ 51. Kg3 Kg5 $15) 44. h5 $1 gxh5
(44... g5 45. Kg3 Ke7 (45... Kg7 46. Kf3 f5 47. Rg6+ Kh7 48. Rf6 f4 49. g3 fxg3
50. Kxg3 Re7 51. Kf3 $1 (51. Rb6 $143 Re3+ 52. Kg4 Re4+ 53. Kf5 Rf4+ 54. Ke5
Rf7 $5) 51... Re1 52. Rb6 $11 {[%csl Rb5,Rh6]}) 46. Rc6 Rd7 47. Rb6 Rd3+ (47...
Rd5 48. Kf3 $132 {[%csl Rb5,Rf6]}) 48. Kh2 Rd5 49. Kg3 Kf7 50. Kf3 $11) 45. Rd5
Kg6 46. Kg3 {With the split kingside pawns it should be a draw again.} Rb6 47.
Rc5 f5 48. Kh4 (48. Kf4 h4 49. Rxf5 $4 Rf6 50. Rxf6+ Kxf6 51. Kg4 Ke5 52. Kxh4
Ke4 53. Kh5 Kd3 54. Kxh6 Kc2 55. g4 Kxb2 56. g5 b4 57. g6 bxc3 58. g7 c2 59.
g8=Q c1=Q+ $19) 48... Re6 (48... Kf6 $5 49. Kxh5 Re6 50. Rxb5 Re2 51. Rb4 Rxg2
52. Rxc4 Rxb2 53. Kh4 {is a TB draw without White's pawn. However, achieving a
rook endgame with extra f+h pawns is Black's dream and gives him more
practical chances, than the text move should have done...}) 49. Rxb5 Re4+ 50.
Kh3 Kg5 51. Rb8 (51. b3 {was suggested by Nakamura. White holds after} Re3+ 52.
Kh2 Rxc3 53. bxc4 Rxc4 54. Rb8 {, even achieving the aforementioned endgame
with f+h pawns is almost impossible.}) 51... h4 52. Rg8+ (52. b3 $5 $11 {
was still possible}) 52... Kh5 53. Rf8 Rf4 54. Rc8 Rg4 55. Rf8 Rg3+ 56. Kh2 Kg5
57. Rg8+ $6 {Complicates the issue.} ({Just sitting tight with} 57. Rc8 $1 Rg4
58. Rc7 (58. Kh3 h5 59. Rc7 Rg3+ 60. Kh2 f4 61. Rxc4 Kg4 62. Rc8 h3 $15 {/\}
63. Rg8+ $4 Kh4 64. Rxg3 fxg3+ 65. Kg1 hxg2 66. b4 Kg4 67. b5 Kf3 68. b6 h4 69.
b7 h3 70. b8=Q h2#) (58. Rg8+ Kf4 59. Re8 $5 $11 {also seems good enough} (59.
Rh8 $2 Ke3 60. Rxh6 Kf2 61. Kh3 Rg3+ 62. Kxh4 f4 $17)) {holds the balance:}
58... h5 59. Rc8 Re4 60. Rg8+ Kf4 61. Rh8 Re2 62. Rxh5 Ke4 63. Rh8 $5 Rxb2 64.
Rd8 $11) 57... Kf4 $1 58. Rc8 (58. Rh8 h3 $1 59. gxh3 Rg6 $36) 58... Ke3 59.
Rxc4 f4 60. Ra4 $2 {Loses a tempo and the game, as White's queenside pawns
enable Black's king to hide from side checks.} ({Engines and numerous previous
annotators pointed out the right way:} 60. b4 $1 {[]} h3 61. gxh3 Rg6 62. Rc8
f3 63. Re8+ Kf2 (63... Kd3 64. Rf8 (64. b5 $5 $11) 64... Rg2+ 65. Kh1 Ke3 66.
b5 Rb2 (66... Rg6 67. Re8+ Kf2 68. c4 $11)) 64. b5 Rg2+ 65. Kh1 Rg1+ 66. Kh2
Rb1 (66... Re1 67. Rxe1 Kxe1 68. b6 $11) 67. c4 Rb2 68. Kh1 {/\} Kg3 69. Rg8+
Kxh3 70. Kg1 $11) (60. Rc7 $2 Kf2 $19) 60... h3 $1 61. gxh3 Rg6 $19 62. c4 (62.
Ra8 f3 63. Re8+ Kf2 64. b4 Rg2+ 65. Kh1 Rg1+ 66. Kh2 Re1 {and Black has a
crucial extra tempo in comparison with the above note:} 67. Ra8 Ke3 68. Re8+
Kd2 69. Rf8 Ke2 70. Re8+ Kf1 71. Rf8 f2 72. Kg3 Re3+ 73. Kh2 Ke1 74. Kg2 Re2
$19) 62... f3 63. Ra3+ Ke2 {No side checks, the game is decided.} 64. b4 f2 65.
Ra2+ Kf3 66. Ra3+ Kf4 67. Ra8 (67. Ra1 Re6 $19 {[%cal Re6e1] and again no side
checks!}) 67... Rg1 0-1

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Anand +3-0=7"]
[Site "Chennai"]
[Date "2013.11.18"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[Annotator "Szabo,Kr"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2013.11.09"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 158"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.01.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.01.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{We have just reached the half-way point of the match. Carlsen was leading by
4-2.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 {Carlsen repeats his main weapon, the
Berlin Defence, which he employed successfully in the 4th and 6th games of the
match.} 4. d3 {Anand avoids the 4.0-0 Nxe4 "endgame line", like in the 6th
game.} Bc5 5. Bxc6 {Anand's favourite move.} (5. c3 {and}) (5. O-O {are other
lines.}) 5... dxc6 6. Nbd2 {The position has some similarities to the RL
Delayed Exchange Variation with 3...a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.d3.} Bg4 $5 {
A rare, but interesting move.} ({The most recent games continued with} 6... Be6
{followed by Nd7.}) ({Anand had two successful games with} 6... O-O 7. O-O Re8
8. Nc4 Nd7 9. Kh1 (9. a4 a5 10. b3 Bf8 11. Kh1 {A possible plan is Ng1-e2 and
f2-f4.} b6 12. g3 {/\ Nh4} Ba6 13. Bb2 Bxc4 14. bxc4 g6 15. Nh4 Bh6 16. Ng2 {
/\ f4} Nc5 17. f4 exf4 18. gxf4 Bg7 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. f5 $36 {with some
initiative, later White managed to win, Anand-Aronian, Stavanger blitz 2013.})
9... a5 10. a4 b6 11. Be3 (11. b3 $5) 11... Bb4 12. Nfd2 b5 13. axb5 cxb5 14.
c3 bxc4 15. cxb4 cxd3 16. bxa5 Ba6 17. Qb3 Nf6 18. h3 Nh5 19. Rfc1 Nf4 20. Rc6
Ne2 21. Qd5 Qb8 $4 {Until this point the game was balanced, but here suddenly
Kramnik blundered, allowing White's strong reply.} ({The correct choice would
have been} 21... Qxd5 22. exd5 Rec8 {Black is under pressure, but with tough
defence it should be an equal endgame.}) 22. Rxa6 $1 Rxa6 23. Qxd3 {and after
a few moves Black resigned, Anand-Kramnik, Zuerich 2013.}) 7. h3 Bh5 {Of
course Carlsen saves his bishop pair.} (7... Bxf3 8. Qxf3 Nd7 9. Qg3 Qf6 10.
Nc4 O-O 11. O-O Rfe8 12. a4 Nf8 13. Bg5 Qe6 14. Bd2 Ng6 15. b4 Bf8 16. Qg4 b6
17. g3 f6 18. Bc3 $14 {with a comfortable position for White, Adams-Fressinet,
Germany 2012.}) 8. Nf1 {White employs the typical Ruy Lopez regrouping of the
knight to g3 before castling, especially since the bishop is on h5.} ({In case
of} 8. g4 Bg6 9. Nxe5 $2 {is not working because of} Qd4 $1) 8... Nd7 {Black
is also following his typical plan. He prepares for f6, Bf7 and sometimes
Nf8-e6.} 9. Ng3 Bxf3 {An interesting decision to give up the B now.} (9... Bg6
$5 {was an interesting alternative. Black plans f6 then transfers his B to f7.
For example} 10. O-O O-O {and Black has a comfortable position.} ({Still} 10...
f6 {is too early, as} 11. Nh4 Bf7 12. Nhf5 O-O 13. Qg4 $36 {and White has some
initiative.})) 10. Qxf3 g6 $1 {A very important positional move. In normal
cases when the white N is on g3 the ...g6 move is very good, as the N can't
move to f5 or h5. If Black had castled, g6 isn't so good, because White has an
attack with Bh6 and h4-h5, but now Carlsen wants to castle to the queenside.}
11. Be3 Qe7 12. O-O-O O-O-O {Finally both sides have finished their
development. White has a slight advantage thanks to his slightly better pawn
structure, but this can hardly be exploited. A slow, positional manoeuvring
fight begins, where both players try to improve their pieces. The game is
balanced.} 13. Ne2 {The N is not so useful on g3, while from e2 it can be
support a d4 or an f4.} Rhe8 14. Kb1 {Another useful move. Sometimes Black's
idea is Qe6 followed by f5 and without Kb1 the a2 P is unprotected.} b6 {
Carlsen also makes a useful move, he prepares for Kb7.} 15. h4 Kb7 ({I think} 
15... h5 $5 {was easier, but Carlsen doesn't worry about White's threats on
the h-file.}) 16. h5 Bxe3 17. Qxe3 ({In case of} 17. fxe3 $5 {Black can
regroup to the kingside with} Rg8 $5 18. g4 (18. Rdf1 {could have been met by}
f5 (18... Rdf8 $5) 19. hxg6 (19. exf5 gxf5 20. Qxf5 Rxg2 {and Black hasn't got
any problem.}) 19... fxe4 20. Qxe4 Rxg6 {with an equal position.}) 18... gxh5
$1 {This is the point of the Rg8!} (18... Rdf8 19. Rdf1 Nc5 20. Qf6 $14 {
maybe a little bit unpleasant for Black.}) 19. gxh5 (19. Rxh5 Nf6 $11) 19...
Rg5 20. Ng3 Rdg8 21. Nf5 Qf6 {White has a strong N on f5, but Black controls
the g-file with his rooks, so the position is balanced.}) 17... Nc5 {The N is
ready to go to e6, or sometimes even Na4 and Qb4 could be a threat.} 18. hxg6
hxg6 19. g3 ({If} 19. Rh7 {Black uses the same motif as in the game with} Rh8
20. Rdh1 Rxh7 21. Rxh7 Qf6 $11 {followed by Rh8 with a completely drawish
endgame.}) 19... a5 (19... Rh8 $11) ({or} 19... Qf6 $11 {was also fine, with
an equal position.}) 20. Rh7 (20. f4 {could have been met by} f5 $1 21. exf5
gxf5 22. fxe5 Qxe5 23. Qxe5 Rxe5 {with a fully drawish ending.}) 20... Rh8 21.
Rdh1 Rxh7 22. Rxh7 Qf6 $1 {Black prepares to exchange the rooks with Rh8.} 23.
f4 Rh8 $1 {The most precise move.} ({The natural} 23... exf4 $6 {was dubious,
as} 24. Qxf4 $1 Qxf4 25. gxf4 {and suddenly the endgame is better for White.
His rook is very active and his pawn structure is also better.} Rd7 26. Kc1 $14
{Followed by Ng3, Kd2-e3 then f5 later on. But of course Carlsen doesn't allow
such chances.}) 24. Rxh8 Qxh8 25. fxe5 Qxe5 26. Qf3 ({The fork with} 26. d4 $2
{does not work in view of} Qxe4 $17) 26... f5 $1 {After this the draw is
inevitable.} 27. exf5 gxf5 28. c3 Ne6 29. Kc2 Ng5 30. Qf2 Ne6 31. Qf3 Ng5 32.
Qf2 Ne6 {A tidy draw, Carlsen preserved his 2 point lead!} 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Anand +3-0=7"]
[Site "Chennai"]
[Date "2013.11.19"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[Annotator "Szabo,Kr"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2013.11.09"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 158"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.01.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.01.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 {This is the first time 1.e4 was played by Carlsen during the match. He
had already tried 1.Nf3 and 1.c4.} e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 {Another Berlin
Defence! This is the 4th time in the match already, but it is the first time
from Anand with Black.} 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 {A very solid decision by Carlsen.
He has 2 points advantage, the draw is good for him, so it was a logical
opening choice.} Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5 8. Rxe5 O-O 9. d4 Bf6 ({Recently
Carlsen himself played the another line with} 9... Ne8 10. d5 Bc5 (10... d6 11.
Re1 Bg5 {White has some space advantage due to his d5 P, but that's all.
Exchanging the dark-squared B is favourable for Black.} 12. Nc3 Bxc1 13. Rxc1
Nf6 14. Qd4 Bd7 15. Ne4 Re8 16. Nxf6+ Qxf6 17. Qxf6 gxf6 18. Red1 a5 19. f3 Kg7
20. Kf2 a4 21. Rd4 Ra5 22. Rcd1 Rc5 23. R1d2 Ra8 {the computer considers the
position to be slighty better for White, but in the game Black could hold his
position, Leko-Carlsen, Wijk aan Zee 2013.}) 11. Re1 d6 12. Nc3 Bf5 13. Bd3
Bxd3 14. Qxd3 Nf6 15. Na4 Re8 16. Bd2 Rxe1+ 17. Rxe1 Qd7 18. Nxc5 dxc5 19. c4
Re8 $11 {with an equal endgame, Karjakin-Carlsen, Moscow 2013.}) 10. Re1 Re8 (
10... Nf5 {is another main move.}) 11. c3 {This move shows that Carlsen is
happy with the draw.} (11. Bf4 {was the only critical move} Rxe1 12. Qxe1 Ne8 (
{The greedy} 12... Bxd4 $5 {could have been met by} 13. c3 (13. Bxd6 $5 cxd6
14. Nc3 $44 {was also interesting.}) 13... Bf6 14. Bxd6 cxd6 15. Qe4 $1 d5 $1 {
Otherwise Qd5.} 16. Qxd5 d6 17. Na3 Rb8 {and Black's two bishops give some
counterplay for his weaknesses.}) 13. Nc3 $1 {Otherwise Black can play d5 and
equalise more easily.} Bxd4 ({Now} 13... d5 $2 {is not working, as} 14. Nxd5 $1
$16) 14. Nd5 c6 (14... d6) 15. Ne7+ Kf8 16. Nxc8 Qf6 $1 17. Qb4+ c5 18. Qd2
Rxc8 19. c3 (19. Re1 g5 $1 20. Bxg5 Bxf2+ $1 21. Qxf2 Qxg5 22. Bb5 Nd6 23. Bxd7
Rd8 $11 {Guseinov-Sargissian, Warsaw 2013}) 19... Be5 20. Bxe5 Qxe5 21. Qxd7
Qc7 (21... Rc7 $11) 22. Rd1 Qxd7 23. Rxd7 Rc7 24. Rxc7 Nxc7 $11 {with a
completely drawish endgame, Kasimdzhanov-Leko, London 2012.}) 11... Rxe1 12.
Qxe1 Ne8 $1 {A typical idea. Black wants to equalise with d5.} 13. Bf4 d5 14.
Bd3 {Of course... White doesn't want to allow Bf5.} ({For example} 14. Nd2 {
could have been met by} Bf5 $1 $11) 14... g6 {Anand prepares for Ng7 then Bf5.}
15. Nd2 Ng7 16. Qe2 {White improves his pieces and he has a positional trick
too.} c6 $1 {A great deep move!} ({The immediate} 16... Bf5 {could have been
met by} 17. Bxf5 Nxf5 18. Qb5 $1 $14 {and White created some unpleasant
threats on the queenside.}) 17. Re1 $146 {Basically this is the first novelty
in the game, but in this positional line it does not determine the result.} ({
Before} 17. Be5 {was tried} Bxe5 18. Qxe5 Bf5 19. Bxf5 Nxf5 20. Re1 Qd6 21. Nb3
Qxe5 22. Rxe5 f6 23. Re2 Kf7 $11 {with a symmetrical drawish endgame,
Rozentalis-Bruzon, Montreal 2013.}) 17... Bf5 18. Bxf5 Nxf5 19. Nf3 Ng7 $1 {
Another good positional move. Anand prepares for Ne6 or sometimes in the Qd7
then Re8 plan is also useful.} 20. Be5 {Carlsen doesn't mind the exchange of
pieces.} Ne6 21. Bxf6 Qxf6 22. Ne5 Re8 23. Ng4 {Carlsen creates some threats
on the dark squares. Now Anand needs to play some exact moves.} Qd8 $1 ({
In the event of} 23... Qg7 {White has a nice initiative after} 24. Qf3 $1) 24.
Qe5 ({Now} 24. Qf3 {White can answer with} Ng5 $1 25. Nf6+ Kf8 26. Rxe8+ Qxe8
$11 {and Black is OK.}) 24... Ng7 25. Qxe8+ $1 {The only move, but it wasn't
so difficult for Carlsen. Now all the pieces will be exchanged.} ({Of course} 
25. Nf6+ $4 Qxf6 $1 $19) (25. Nh6+ $4 Kf8 $19) 25... Nxe8 26. Rxe8+ $1 Qxe8 27.
Nf6+ Kf8 28. Nxe8 Kxe8 29. f4 f5 30. Kf2 b5 31. b4 Kf7 32. h3 h6 33. h4 h5 {
A high level positional game!} 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Anand +3-0=7"]
[Site "Chennai"]
[Date "2013.11.21"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E25"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[Annotator "Gutman,L"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2013.11.09"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 158"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.01.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.01.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 $1 {"I should have played 1.d4 from the start. That was one of my
greatest mistakes in my preparation", Viswanathan Anand after the match. "Ich
hätte von Anfang an 1.d4 spielen müssen. Dies war einer meiner größten Fehler
bei der Vorbereitung", Viswanathan Anand nach dem Wettkampf.} Nf6 2. c4 e6 3.
Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. cxd5 exd5 ({In the match
Anand-Kramnik, Bonn 2008 Im Wettkampf Anand-Kramnik, Bonn 2008, kam} 7... Nxd5
{was played. aufs Brett.}) 8. e3 c4 $5 {In any case the choice of opening by
Carlsen should have ben no surprise, since his previous trainer and confidant
GM Simen Agdestein had already played this at the start of the year and even
revealed after the game, "that the Norwegian national team had recently been
lookng into this variation", Ian Rogers.  Allerdings sollte die Eröffnungswahl
von Carlsen keine Überraschung sein, da sein früherer Trainer und Vertrauter
GM Simen Agdestein bereits Anfang des Jahres so gespielt hat und nach der
Partie sogar verriet, "dass die norwegische Nationalmannschaft sich kürzlich
gerade mit dieser Variante beschäftigte", Ian Rogers.} 9. Ne2 (9. g4 Nc6 10.
Ne2 {leads to the game by transposition. führt durch Zugumstellung zur Partie})
({For Bezüglich} 9. g3 Nc6 10. Nh3 {see Biolek-Agdestein, Prag 2013 siehe
Biolek-Agdestein, Prag 2013}) ({Once can hardly recommend Kaum zu empfehlen ist
} 9. e4 $6 dxe4 10. Bxc4 (10. Bg5 Qa5 11. Qc1 (11. Qd2 $5 Nbd7 12. Bxc4 O-O 13.
Ne2 b5 14. Ba2 exf3 15. gxf3 Bb7 16. O-O Bd5 $15) 11... Nbd7 12. Bxc4 O-O 13.
Ne2 Re8 (13... b5 $5 14. Ba2 exf3 15. gxf3 Bb7) 14. Rb1 Qc7 15. Bb3 $6 (15. Bb5
a6 16. Bxd7 Nxd7 $15) 15... exf3 16. gxf3 b6 17. Kf2 Ba6 $17 {Grover-Zhou
Weigi, Dubai 2012}) 10... O-O 11. fxe4 (11. Ne2 exf3 12. gxf3 Bf5 13. O-O Nbd7
14. Bb3 Rc8 15. c4 Re8 16. Rf2 Nh5 17. Ng3 Bg6 18. Ne4 Ndf6 19. Nc3 h6 $15 {
Jambrich-Nemchenko, email 2010}) 11... Nxe4 12. Nf3 Qc7 13. Qb3 Nd7 14. O-O Nb6
15. Bd3 Be6 (15... Qxc3 16. Qb1) 16. Qc2 f5 17. Ng5 Bc4 18. Bd2 Bxd3 19. Qxd3
Qc4 20. Qh3 Nxg5 21. Bxg5 Nd5 22. Bd2 g6 23. Rae1 Nf6 24. Bh6 Rfe8 25. Qf3 Re4
$15 {Gerola-Kunzelmann, corr 2012}) 9... Nc6 (9... O-O 10. g4 (10. Qc2 $6 Nc6
11. e4 dxe4 12. fxe4 Qa5 13. e5 Re8 $17) 10... Nc6 {is a transposition of
moves. ist Zugumstellung.}) 10. g4 ({Abzuraten ist von} 10. Ng3 {cannot be
advised:} h5 $5 {(Michail Krasenkow, chesspro.ru). (Michail Krasenkow,
chesspro.ru).} 11. h4 ({Compare: Man sehe:} 11. Qc2 h4 12. Ne2 Qe7 13. Kf2 g6 (
13... b5 $5 $17) 14. g4 hxg3+ 15. Nxg3 Be6 16. a4 Na5 17. Ba3 Qc7 18. Bg2 Nb3
19. Rae1 O-O-O $17 {Joergensen-Sadowski, email 2006}) (11. e4 h4 12. exd5 hxg3
13. dxc6 Rxh2 14. Rg1 Kf8 $17) 11... Qc7 $5 (11... Na5 12. e4 Nb3 13. Rb1 Qa5
$15 {Marusenko-Pavlov, Kiev 2010}) 12. Kf2 Na5 13. Qe1 (13. e4 dxe4 14. Nxe4
Nd5 $15) 13... Nb3 $15) 10... O-O (10... Na5 $5 {is perhaps somewhat more
flexible (Krasenkow), see Kortschnoj-O'Kelly and Aghasuryan-Mekumyan. ist
vielleicht etwas flexibler (Krasenkow), siehe Kortschnoj-O'Kelly und
Aghasuryan-Mekumyan.}) (10... h6 {leads to Kasparov-Polgar. führt zu
Kasparov-Polgar.}) 11. Bg2 Na5 ({Zeitverlust wäre} 11... Qe7 $6 {would be a
waste of time:} 12. Nf4 (12. O-O $5) 12... b5 (12... Na5 13. O-O Nb3 14. Ra2)
13. O-O h6 14. h4 (14. e4 $5 dxe4 15. fxe4 Bxg4 16. Qe1 $14) 14... Rd8 $6 (
14... Qd8 $5 15. e4 Ne7 {would be more solid wäre solider}) 15. g5 hxg5 16.
hxg5 Ne8 17. e4 Nc7 18. Nxd5 Nxd5 19. exd5 Na5 20. f4 Nb3 21. Ra2 Bb7 22. Re2
Qd7 23. Re5 $16 {Nikitin-Belinkov, Moskau 1966}) 12. O-O Nb3 {Anand must have
been satisfied with his choice of opening; he obtained exactly the sort of
position he needed since he was trailing in the match - complicated and sharp.
Mit seiner Eröffnungswahl dürfte Anand zufrieden gewesen sein, er bekam genau
den Typ Stellung, den er bei seinem Rückstand im Wettkampf gebraucht hatte -
kompliziert und scharf.} 13. Ra2 {In contrast to the Botvinnik Variation White
does not need a rook on e2 in order to get in e3-e4. Im Unterschied zur
Botwinnik-Variante braucht Weiß keinen Turm auf e2 um e3-e4 durchzusetzen.} ({
The move Der Zug} 13. Rb1 $5 {has been less explored, but in view of the
counterplay for Black on the b-file it looks to make more sense and would
perhaps have been less pleasant for Carlsen to face. ist weniger untersucht,
erscheint in Anbetracht des schwarzen Gegenspiels auf der b-Linie sinnvoller
und wäre für Carlsen vielleicht unangenehmer gewesen.}) 13... b5 (13... h6 {
see Kasparov-Polgar siehe Kasparov-Polgar}) (13... Qa5 14. g5 Nd7 (14... Nh5 {
(Krasenkow)} 15. Qe1 Bd7 16. Qh4 g6 17. e4 Rae8 18. Bf4 Nxf4 19. Qxf4 Bc6 20.
h4 $14) 15. e4 Nb6 16. Qe1 $5 (16. h3 Na4 $5 (16... Nxc1 17. Qxc1 Bd7 18. Ng3
Nc8 19. Re2 Ne7 {Bernasek-Hera, Österreischische Liga 2012/13} 20. f4 dxe4 21.
Nxe4 Nd5 22. Nc5 Bc6 23. Bxd5 Bxd5 24. Rfe1 $11) 17. Qe1 f6 18. gxf6 Nxc1 19.
Qxc1 Rxf6 $15) 16... f6 (16... Nxc1 17. Qxc1 Bd7 18. Ng3) (16... Na4 17. Rc2
Bd7 18. Ng3) 17. gxf6 Nxc1 18. Qxc1 Rxf6 19. Ng3 Na4 20. Rc2 Be6 21. e5 Rf7 22.
f4 Raf8 23. Qe3 $14) 14. Ng3 (14. a4 {hardly fits in here ist kaum am Platze}
bxa4 15. Ng3 (15. Rxa4 a5 16. g5 Ne8 17. e4 Nc7 18. Ng3 Bd7 19. Ra2 Nxc1 20.
Qxc1 a4 21. e5 Rb8 22. f4 Rb3 $15 {(Pavel Maletin, ruchess)}) (15. Nf4 Bb7 16.
Rxa4 Re8 17. g5 Nd7 18. h4 a5 $15) 15... Nxc1 16. Qxc1 Qa5 17. e4 Rb8 18. g5
Ne8 $15) ({Etwas sinnvoller erscheint} 14. g5 {seems to make more sense:} Nd7 (
14... Nh5 15. e4 f6 16. gxf6 Qxf6 17. Be3 a5 18. Nc1 Nxc1 19. Qxc1 Rb8 20. Rb2
Qe7 21. Qd2 Rb6 22. e5 Bf5 23. Kh1 Bd3 24. Rg1 Rf7 25. Bg5 $11 {Fessler-Vozda,
corr 2012}) 15. e4 Nb6 16. Bf4 (16. e5 $2 Bf5 $17 {Gardner-Shabalov, Calgary
2012}) 16... a5 (16... f6 17. gxf6 Qxf6 18. Qe1 $11) 17. Qe1 Ra7 18. Qg3 $11)
14... a5 15. g5 ({Kaum besser wäre} 15. e4 {would hardly be any better, see
Volkov-Smirnov, Khanty Mansiysk 2013. siehe Volkov-Smirnov, Khanty Mansiysk
2013.}) 15... Ne8 16. e4 Nxc1 ({After Nach} 16... Nc7 {then ist} 17. Be3 Rb8
18. Qe1 b4 19. axb4 axb4 20. Ne2 bxc3 21. Nxc3 Bb7 22. Qg3 Ra8 23. Rxa8 Bxa8
24. Rd1 Bc6 $11 {is possible (Maletin). möglich (Maletin).}) 17. Qxc1 Ra6 (
17... Rb8 18. Qd2 Nc7 19. e5 Qe7 20. Rb1 $11) 18. e5 Nc7 $6 {Carlsen is too
optimistic. He wants to maintain the tension and over-estimates his position.
Carlsen ist zu optimistisch. Er will die Spannung aufrechterhalten und
überschätzt seine Stellung.} ({Two alternatives appear more prudent:
Vorsichtiger erscheinen zwei weitere Alternativen:} 18... b4 19. axb4 axb4 20.
Rxa6 Bxa6 21. cxb4 Qb6 22. Qc3 Nc7 23. f4 Nb5 (23... Rb8 24. Ra1) 24. Qe3 Qxd4
25. Qxd4 Nxd4 26. Bxd5 c3 {(Krasenkow)} 27. Rc1 c2 28. Be4 Rc8 29. Kf2 g6 30.
Ke3 Rc4 31. Bd3 Rc3 32. Kxd4 Rxd3+ 33. Kc5 Rc3+ $11) (18... g6 19. f4 Ng7 20.
Rb2 Rb6 21. Qb1 {(Krasenkow)} Qd7 $1 22. f5 Nxf5 23. Nxf5 (23. Rxf5 gxf5 24.
Nh5 Qe7 25. Nf6+ Rxf6 26. gxf6 Qxa3 {(Maletin)} 27. Qc2 b4 28. Bxd5 Kh8 29. Ra2
b3 30. Rxa3 bxc2 31. Ra1 Be6 32. Bxe6 fxe6 33. Rc1 Ra8 34. Rxc2 Kg8 35. Ra2 $16
) 23... gxf5 24. h4 h6 25. Bh3 Qe7 26. Bxf5 Qxa3 {(Maletin)} 27. Rg2 Qxc3 28.
Bxc8 Qxd4+ 29. Rff2 Qxe5 30. Bf5 Kh8 31. Qc1 Re8 32. g6 $11) 19. f4 $2 ({
The critical moment! Black had more difficulties after Der kritischer Moment!
Mehr Schwierigkeiten hatte Schwarz nach} 19. Rb2 $5 Qe7 20. Rb1 {(Krasenkow) ,
so as to finally bring this rook to b1: , um diesen Turm endlich auf b1 zu
bringen:} Rb6 21. f4 b4 22. axb4 axb4 23. cxb4 Rxb4 (23... g6 24. Qe3 $5 Bd7
25. f5 Bxf5 26. Nxf5 gxf5 27. Rxf5 Rxb4 28. Rbf1 $14 {(Maletin)}) 24. Qa3 Na6
25. Bxd5 $5 (25. Rb2 Qb7 26. Rfb1 Rxb2 27. Qxb2 Qd7 28. Qb6 $14 {(Maletin)})
25... Qd8 26. Rxb4 Nxb4 27. Qxb4 Qxd5 28. Qc5 $14) 19... b4 20. axb4 ({For
equality Zum Ausgleich reichte} 20. a4 {was sufficient, to deprive Black of
the b5-square for his knight: um Schwarz das Feld b5 für den Springer
wegzunehmen:} b3 (20... Rb6 21. f5 bxc3 22. Raf2 Na6 (22... Rb3 23. e6 fxe6 24.
f6 Rb2 25. Rf3 {(Maletin)} e5 26. Rxc3 exd4 27. Qxb2 dxc3 28. Qxc3 Ne6 29. Nf5
gxf6 30. Bxd5 Kh8 31. gxf6 Qxd5 32. f7+ Nd4 33. Qxd4+ Qxd4+ 34. Nxd4 Kg7 35.
Nf5+ Bxf5 36. Rxf5 Rxf7 37. Rxa5 Rc7 38. Kf2 c3 39. Rg5+ Kf6 40. Rg1 $11) 23.
f6 Nb4 24. fxg7 Kxg7 25. Nh5+ Kh8 26. Rxf7 {(Maletin)} Rxf7 27. Rxf7 Be6 28.
Rf6 Nd3 29. Qxc3 Rb1+ 30. Bf1 Bh3 31. Qxa5 Rxf1+ 32. Rxf1 Qxg5+ 33. Ng3 Bxf1
34. Qa8+ Kg7 35. Qa7+ $11) 21. Raf2 Bd7 22. f5 Bxa4 23. f6 Bd7 $1 (23... g6 $2
24. Qf4 Re8 (24... Ne6 $2 25. Qh4 Kh8 26. Bh3) 25. Qh4 Ree6 26. Nf5 gxf5 (26...
Qf8 27. Ne7+ Kh8 28. Rf3 h5 29. Bh3 Be8 30. Bg4 $18) 27. Bh3 Kh8 28. Bxf5 Qg8
29. Rf3 Ne8 30. Rh3 Nxf6 31. exf6 Rxf6 32. Qxh7+ Qxh7 33. Rxh7+ Kg8 34. gxf6
$18 {(Maletin)}) 24. fxg7 Kxg7 25. Nh5+ Kh8 26. Rxf7 (26. Nf6 Ne8 27. Nxd5 Be6
28. Nf6 Nxf6 29. Rxf6 Rg8 $11 {(Maletin)}) 26... Rxf7 27. Rxf7 Be6 28. Rf6 Qg8
{(Maletin)} 29. g6 hxg6 30. Nf4 (30. Qh6+ Qh7 31. Qf8+ Qg8 32. Qh6+ Qh7 $11)
30... Bf7 31. Nxd5 Rxf6 32. Nxf6 Qf8 33. Qg5 Kg7 34. Nh5+ Kh8 35. Nf6 Kg7 $11)
({A more energetic move seems to be Energischer erscheint} 20. f5 $5 {(Boris
Gelfand, chesspro)} bxc3 $5 (20... b3 21. Raf2 $40) (20... Nb5 21. axb4 axb4
22. Rxa6 Bxa6 23. f6 g6 24. Qf4 $1 (24. e6 fxe6 25. Qe3 Bc8 26. cxb4 Nd6 $11 {
(Krasenkow)}) 24... Qb6 25. Qh4 h5 26. Nxh5 bxc3 27. Kh1 $1 Nxd4 28. Ng3 Ne6
29. Nf5 $1 gxf5 30. Qh5 $1 Qb7 31. Bh3 d4+ 32. Bg2 $18) 21. f6 g6 22. Qxc3 (22.
Qf4 Ne6 23. Qh4 Qb6 24. Ne2 Qb3 25. Nc1 Qb6 26. Ne2 $11) 22... Rb6 23. Qxa5 Rb3
$11 {(Maletin)}) ({And Auch} 20. Raf2 $5 {is also interesting, so as to
mobilise all his resources: ist interessant, um alle Resourcen zu mobilisieren:
} Nb5 (20... bxc3 21. Qxc3 a4 22. Qe3 Rb6 23. f5 Rb3 24. Qf4 Rd3 (24... c3 25.
f6 Ne6 26. Qh4 Ba6 27. Bh3 $16) 25. Nh5 Nb5 26. e6 Rxd4 27. Qe5 Qxg5 28. Nf4
$16) (20... b3 21. f5 Kh8 22. Nh5 Rb6 23. Qe3 $16) 21. axb4 axb4 22. cxb4 Nxd4
23. f5 Bb7 (23... Nb3 24. Qd1 Bb7 25. Qh5) 24. Nh5 {(Maletin)} Qb6 25. Qe3 Qa7
26. e6 fxe6 27. Qe5 Bc8 28. b5 Nxb5 29. f6 Ra2 (29... Qd4 30. fxg7 Rf5 31. Qb8
Qc5 32. Kh1 $18) 30. Bxd5 Qb6 31. Bxc4 Rxf2 32. Rxf2 Nd4 $11) 20... axb4 21.
Rxa6 Nxa6 22. f5 (22. cxb4 Nxb4 23. f5 g6 24. Qd2 Nc6 $11) 22... b3 (22... bxc3
23. Qxc3 g6 24. Qe3 (24. f6 Nc7 25. Rb1 Ne6 26. Qd2 Qc7 27. Ne2 $11 {(Maletin)}
) 24... Nc7 25. h4 Bxf5 26. Nxf5 gxf5 27. Rxf5 Ne6 28. Rf6 Qa5 29. Kh2 $11) 23.
Qf4 (23. f6 g6 24. Qf4 Kh8 $5 25. Qh4 b2 26. Qh6 Rg8 27. Rf4 b1=Q+ 28. Bf1 Qd1
$1 29. Rh4 Qh5 30. Nxh5 gxh5 31. Qxh5 Bf5 32. Qxf7 Nc7 $15) (23. Nh5 Nc7 24.
Qe3 Kh8 25. h4 $11) (23. h4 $5 {(Alexej Dreev, chessnews.ru)} Nc7 24. h5 Ne8 (
24... Nb5 $6 25. f6 Be6 26. g6 hxg6 27. hxg6 fxg6 28. Qg5 Nxc3 29. Qxg6 Qc7 30.
Nh5 $18) 25. Qf4 (25. f6 gxf6 26. gxf6 Kh8 27. Ne2 Rg8 28. Nf4 Nc7 $15) 25...
Qa5 26. h6 g6 27. fxg6 hxg6 28. Nh5 Bf5 29. Bh3 Bxh3 30. Nf6+ Kh8 31. Nxe8 f6
32. e6 Qa2 33. Rf2 Qb1+ 34. Kh2 Qe1 35. Nxf6 Bxe6 $11 {(Maletin)}) 23... Nc7 (
23... Kh8 $6 24. Nh5 Nc7 25. e6 Ne8 (25... fxe6 26. Nxg7 Kxg7 27. f6+ Kg8 28.
f7+) 26. exf7 Rxf7 27. f6 g6 28. Re1 Nc7 29. Ng7 Kg8 30. h4 $14) 24. f6 $5 (24.
Qh4 Kh8 25. Nh5 Nb5 (25... b2 26. f6 g6 27. Ng7 Nb5 {(Mikhail Golubev, chess
today)} 28. Qf2 Nxc3 29. Qxb2 Ne4 30. h4 Kg8 31. Qb4 Qc7 $11) 26. e6 fxe6 27.
f6 gxf6 28. Nxf6 Qe7 29. Rf2 Rf7 30. g6 Rg7 31. Nh5 Kg8 $11) 24... g6 (24...
gxf6 25. Qh4 f5 (25... Kh8 26. Rxf6 Ne6 27. Bxd5 Qxd5 28. Rh6 Nxg5 29. Qxg5 Qf3
30. Rf6 Qg4 31. Qh6 Kg8 32. Rb6 Be6 33. Kf2 Qg6 34. Qxg6+ hxg6 35. Ke3 Kg7 36.
Rb5 $11) 26. Nh5 Ne8 27. Nf4 Be6 28. Rf3 Ng7 29. Rh3 Re8 30. Nxd5 Bxd5 31.
Qxh7+ Kf8 32. Qh8+ Ke7 33. Qxg7 b2 34. Qf6+ Kd7 35. Qd6+ Kc8 36. Qa6+ Kc7 $11)
25. Qh4 Ne8 {Magnus Carlsen has defended more or less accurately and is hoping
for the best.  Magnus Carlsen hat sich mehr oder weniger akkurat verteidigt,
und hofft auf das Beste.} 26. Qh6 (26. Ne2 Be6 27. Nf4 Qa5 28. Nxe6 ({Maletin
gives Maletin gibt} 28. Bh3 Bxh3 29. Qxh3 b2 30. e6 (30. Ne6 Qa1 31. Nxf8 Kxf8
32. e6 Nd6 33. Qh6+ Ke8 34. exf7+ Nxf7 35. Qh3 Kd8 36. Qg2 b1=Q 37. Qxd5+ $11)
(30. Nxg6 hxg6 31. e6 Qa1 32. e7 Nxf6 33. exf8=Q+ Kxf8 34. gxf6 Kg8 $11) 30...
Nd6 (30... Qa1 31. e7 b1=Q 32. exf8=Q+ Kxf8 33. Nxd5) 31. Nxg6 hxg6 32. Qh6 Nf5
33. Rxf5 b1=Q+ 34. Rf1 Qxf1+ 35. Kxf1 $11 {with equality in each case. jeweils
mit Ausgleich an}) 28... fxe6 29. Bh3 Nc7 (29... Qa6 30. Qf2 Rf7 31. Qb2 Ra7
32. Bg4 Kf8 33. Qf2 Qb6 34. Qh4 b2 35. Qh6+ Kg8 36. Qh3 Kf8 $11) 30. f7+ Rxf7
31. Rxf7 Kxf7 32. Qxh7+ Kf8 33. Qh8+ Ke7 34. Qf6+ Kd7 35. Bxe6+ Nxe6 36. Qf7+
Kd8 37. Qf6+ Kc7 38. Qe7+ Kb8 39. Qxe6 $11) 26... b2 27. Rf4 $5 (27. Ne2 Be6
28. Nf4 Qa5 29. Nxe6 fxe6 30. Bh3 Qa6 31. Bg4 Rf7 32. Qh3 Nc7 33. Qg2 Qa2 34.
Qc2 Rf8 35. f7+ Kg7 36. Qf2 $11) 27... b1=Q+ 28. Nf1 $4 ({Anand overlooks
Black's reply. Anand übersieht die schwarze Antwort. Zum Ausgleich reichte} 28.
Bf1 {was enough for equality:} Qd1 $1 29. Rh4 Qh5 30. Nxh5 gxh5 31. Rxh5 Bf5
32. g6 $1 (32. Bh3 Bg6 33. e6 Nxf6 34. gxf6 Qxf6 $15) 32... Bxg6 33. Rg5 Nxf6 (
33... Qa5 34. Rg3 Qa3 35. h4) 34. exf6 Qxf6 35. Rxd5 Qf3 36. Rc5 Qxc3 37. Rxc4
$11 {(Krasenkow)}) 28... Qe1 $1 ({But not Aber nicht} 28... Qd1 $4 29. Rh4 Qh5
30. Rxh5 gxh5 31. Ne3 Be6 32. Bxd5 $18) 0-1

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Anand +3-0=7"]
[Site "Chennai"]
[Date "2013.11.22"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[Annotator "Szabo,Kr"]
[PlyCount "130"]
[EventDate "2013.11.09"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 158"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.01.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.01.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Since Carlsen had won the previous game too, he had 3 points advantage and
actually this was the last game of their match.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ {
A logical decision by Carlsen. He avoids the sharp lines after 3.d4. Apart
from this, Carlsen usually employs this move.} Nd7 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 a6 6.
Bxd7+ Bxd7 7. c4 Nf6 ({A few months ago they had a game against each other with
} 7... e5 8. Qd3 b5 9. Nc3 bxc4 10. Qxc4 Be6 11. Qd3 h6 12. O-O Nf6 13. Rd1 Be7
14. Ne1 O-O 15. Nc2 Qb6 16. Ne3 Rfc8 17. b3 {and White had a stable position,
Carlsen-Anand, Stavanger 2013.}) 8. Bg5 e6 9. Nc3 Be7 10. O-O {The most
natural move.} (10. Rd1 Bc6 11. O-O O-O 12. Qd3 Qc7 13. a4 Rfd8 14. Rfe1 Rac8
15. Nd4 Be8 16. b3 Qc5 17. Be3 Qa5 18. Bd2 Qc5 19. h3 Nd7 20. Be3 Qa5 $11 {
and Black has a completely fine position, Fressinet-Ponomariov, Elancourt 2013.
}) 10... Bc6 ({The immediate} 10... O-O {could have been met by} 11. e5 dxe5
12. Nxe5 Be8 13. Rad1 {White has gained some space, but thanks to his stable
position, Black can hold the game.}) 11. Qd3 {White prepares for Nd4.} (11.
Rad1 {transposes to 10.Rd1.}) 11... O-O 12. Nd4 Rc8 13. b3 $146 {Carlsen would
like to stabilise his position.} (13. Rac1 Qa5 14. Bd2 Qd8 15. Bg5 b6 16. Nxc6
Rxc6 17. Ne2 Qa8 18. f3 Rfc8 19. Be3 Nd7 20. b3 Qb7 $11 {Schoeneberg-Danailov,
Leipzig 1986}) 13... Qc7 14. Nxc6 ({The natural} 14. Rfd1 {was also possible.}
Rfd8 15. Nxc6 (15. Rac1 Be8 {and Black can keep his B.}) 15... Qxc6 16. Rac1 {
similar to the game.}) 14... Qxc6 15. Rac1 h6 (15... Rfd8 16. Rfd1 {and White
is solid.}) 16. Be3 Nd7 17. Bd4 Rfd8 18. h3 (18. Rfd1 Qc7 {is also similar.})
18... Qc7 19. Rfd1 Qa5 20. Qd2 {White is threatening with Nd5!} ({In the event
of} 20. Qg3 {Black can reply with} Qg5 ({or} 20... Bf8 {.})) 20... Kf8 (20...
Bg5 {was easier, but I think Anand didn't want to exchange the bishops so
quickly.} 21. Be3 (21. f4 Bf6 22. Bxf6 Nxf6 $11) 21... Bxe3 22. Qxe3 Ne5 $11 {
with a balanced middlegame.}) 21. Qb2 Kg8 22. a4 (22. Qd2 {was a repetition of
moves.}) 22... Qh5 23. Ne2 Bf6 {After the B exchange suddenly the d6 P will be
very weak.} ({Probably} 23... Qg6 $1 {was more exact, as} 24. f3 b6 {followed
by Nc5 and the e7 B is able to hold the d6 P.}) 24. Rc3 $1 {The R is very
useful on the 3rd rank.} Bxd4 25. Rxd4 {Now White has a comfortable position,
because the d6 P can be attacked by tripling on the d-file.} Qe5 26. Qd2 Nf6 (
26... Nc5 {was also possible} 27. Re3 Qf6 28. a5 {and still Black needs to
play some exact moves.}) 27. Re3 Rd7 28. a5 Qg5 $2 {A mistake, which allows
White's strong reply!} (28... Rcd8 {was important to protect the d7 R.}) 29. e5
$1 Ne8 30. exd6 $2 {White returns the error, but I think Carlsen was only
thinking about the draw and becoming the new World Champion.} ({Nevertheless} 
30. Nc3 $1 {was the strongest answer. White keeps the tension and the N is
ready to go to e4 or a4 too.} Rc6 31. f4 Qe7 32. Red3 $16 {and Black is in a
big trouble.}) 30... Rc6 {Now Black immediately gains back the d6 P.} 31. f4
Qd8 32. Red3 Rcxd6 33. Rxd6 Rxd6 34. Rxd6 Qxd6 35. Qxd6 Nxd6 36. Kf2 {I think
Carlsen wanted this endgame, which is an easy draw for him without any problem.
} Kf8 37. Ke3 Ke7 38. Kd4 Kd7 39. Kc5 Kc7 40. Nc3 Nf5 41. Ne4 Ne3 42. g3 f5 43.
Nd6 g5 44. Ne8+ Kd7 45. Nf6+ Ke7 46. Ng8+ (46. Nh5 {was also possible, but
White didn't want to risk} Kf7 47. Kb6 Kg6 48. Kxb7 Kxh5 49. Kxa6 gxf4 50. gxf4
e5 51. Kb6 exf4 52. a6 f3 53. a7 f2 54. a8=Q Kh4 (54... f1=Q $6 55. Qe8+ {
and the e3 N is lost.}) 55. Qf3 f1=Q 56. Qxe3 f4 57. Qe6 h5 {with a drawish
queen endgame.}) 46... Kf8 47. Nxh6 (47. Nf6 Ke7 {was a repetition of moves.})
47... gxf4 48. gxf4 Kg7 49. Nxf5+ exf5 50. Kb6 Ng2 51. Kxb7 Nxf4 52. Kxa6 Ne6
53. Kb6 f4 54. a6 f3 55. a7 f2 56. a8=Q f1=Q 57. Qd5 {Carlsen has achieved his
aim; he has no way to lose, the position is completely drawn.} Qe1 58. Qd6 Qe3+
59. Ka6 Nc5+ 60. Kb5 Nxb3 61. Qc7+ Kh6 62. Qb6+ Qxb6+ 63. Kxb6 Kh5 64. h4 Kxh4
65. c5 Nxc5 {and Magnus Carlsen is the new World Champion! Congratulations to
him!} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Mountain View Churchill CC sim"]
[Site "Mountain View"]
[Date "2014.01.16"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Talamantez, Abel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D58"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "1918"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2014.01.16"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2015"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.11.20"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.11.20"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Nc3 O-O 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 b6 8. Be2
dxc4 9. Bxc4 Bb7 10. O-O Nd5 11. Bg3 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Nd7 13. Re1 c5 14. Bd3 Re8
15. Qe2 cxd4 16. cxd4 Nf6 17. a4 Ne4 18. Bxe4 Bxe4 19. Qd1 Bxf3 20. Qxf3 Qd5
21. Qxd5 exd5 22. Reb1 Rac8 23. a5 Bd8 24. Rb3 Rc4 25. Rb5 bxa5 26. Rxd5 Bb6
27. h4 Rec8 28. Kh2 a4 29. Bf4 Bc7 30. Bxc7 R8xc7 31. Ra5 Kh7 32. R1xa4 Rc2 33.
Kg3 Re2 34. Rxa7 Rxa7 35. Rxa7 Kg6 36. h5+ Kxh5 37. Rxf7 Ra2 38. e4 Kg6 39. Rf8
Ra3+ 40. Kf4 Ra2 41. Ke5 Rxf2 42. Rxf2 1-0

[Event "Zuerich Chess Challenge Blitz"]
[Site "Zuerich"]
[Date "2014.01.29"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B42"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2782"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2014.01.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 158 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.02.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.02.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Bc5 6. c3 d6 7. Nd2 Nf6 8. O-O
O-O 9. a4 e5 10. N4b3 Ba7 11. Nc4 Be6 12. Qe2 Nc6 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bh4 g5 15. Bg3
Ne7 16. Nbd2 Ng6 17. Rfe1 h5 18. h3 h4 19. Bh2 g4 20. Kh1 gxh3 21. gxh3 Bxh3
22. Rg1 Kg7 23. Ne3 Bxe3 24. Qxe3 Ng4 25. Qf3 Qf6 26. Rxg4 Qxf3+ 27. Nxf3 Bxg4
28. Nxh4 Nxh4 29. Rg1 Nf3 30. Rxg4+ Kf6 31. Rg3 Nxh2 32. Kxh2 Rh8+ 33. Kg2 Rag8
34. Bc4 Rxg3+ 35. fxg3 a5 0-1

[Event "Zuerich Chess Challenge Blitz"]
[Site "Zuerich"]
[Date "2014.01.29"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2777"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2014.01.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 158 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.02.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.02.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bg5 Bg7 4. Nbd2 O-O 5. c3 d6 6. e4 c5 7. dxc5 dxc5 8.
Bc4 Nc6 9. O-O Qc7 10. Qe2 Na5 11. e5 Nxc4 12. Nxc4 Nd5 13. Qe4 Be6 14. Rfe1
Rad8 15. Qh4 Rfe8 16. Rad1 f6 17. Bh6 Bh8 18. h3 b5 19. Ncd2 Bf5 20. Ne4 Qc6
21. Ng3 Bc8 22. Qe4 Bb7 23. h4 Nb6 24. Rxd8 Rxd8 25. exf6 Bxf6 26. Qe2 Nc4 27.
a4 a6 28. axb5 axb5 29. Qc2 Ne5 30. Qe4 Qxe4 31. Nxe4 Bxe4 32. Rxe4 Rd1+ 33.
Kh2 Nxf3+ 34. gxf3 Rb1 35. Re2 b4 36. Be3 bxc3 37. bxc3 c4 38. Bc5 Bxc3 39.
Rxe7 Bf6 40. Re4 c3 41. Be3 Rb5 42. Kg3 Kf7 43. Rc4 Rb7 44. Rc6 Rd7 45. f4
1/2-1/2

[Event "Zuerich Chess Challenge Blitz"]
[Site "Zuerich"]
[Date "2014.01.29"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A46"]
[WhiteElo "2812"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "166"]
[EventDate "2014.01.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 158 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.02.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.02.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 b5 3. e4 Nxe4 4. Bxb5 e6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 Nf6 7. c4 O-O 8.
Nc3 Ba6 9. Bf4 c6 10. Bxa6 Nxa6 11. Ne5 Qc8 12. Qf3 Nb4 13. Rad1 d6 14. Ng4
Nxg4 15. Qxg4 Kh8 16. Re3 f5 17. Qe2 Rf6 18. Re1 Bf8 19. a3 Na6 20. Rxe6 Rxe6
21. Qxe6 Qxe6 22. Rxe6 Nc7 23. Re2 Kg8 24. f3 Kf7 25. Kf1 g6 26. Bg3 Rd8 27.
Ke1 Bg7 28. Rd2 Bh6 29. Rd3 Rd7 30. d5 cxd5 31. Nxd5 Nxd5 32. Rxd5 Bc1 33. Rb5
Rc7 34. Bxd6 Rxc4 35. Be5 Be3 36. Bc3 Bb6 37. Ke2 Ke6 38. Re5+ Kd6 39. Re8 Rc6
40. Bb4+ Kd5 41. Bc3 Kc4 42. a4 Kb3 43. a5 Bc5 44. Rb8+ Kc2 45. Rb7 h5 46. Be1
Re6+ 47. Kf1 Bd4 48. b4 Kd3 49. Bf2 Bxf2 50. Kxf2 h4 51. Rxa7 Re2+ 52. Kf1 Rb2
53. Rd7+ Ke3 54. Re7+ Kd3 55. Re1 h3 56. gxh3 Rxh2 57. Kg1 Ra2 58. h4 Ra4 59.
b5 Rxa5 60. Rb1 Ra7 61. b6 Rb7 62. Kf2 f4 63. Rb4 Kc3 64. Rxf4 Rxb6 65. Kg3 Kd3
66. Kg4 Ke3 67. Re4+ Kf2 68. Ra4 Rb1 69. Ra2+ Ke3 70. Ra3+ Kf2 71. Kg5 Rg1+ 72.
Kh6 Kg3 73. Kxg6 Kxh4+ 74. Kf5 Rb1 75. Ra5 Kh5 76. f4 Kh6 77. Ra7 Rb5+ 78. Kf6
Rb6+ 79. Kf7 Rb5 80. Ra6+ Kh5 81. Rf6 Ra5 82. Kg7 Ra7+ 83. Kf8 Kg4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Zuerich Chess Challenge Blitz"]
[Site "Zuerich"]
[Date "2014.01.29"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A06"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[Annotator "Vidit,S"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2014.01.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 158 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.02.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.02.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. b3 c5 3. e4 $5 {Reversed Budapest Gambit! Quite an unexpected
choice.} dxe4 4. Ng5 Nf6 5. Nc3 {Generally in the Budapest Gambit the bishop
is developed first as it provokes e6.5.Nc3 allows the extra option of 5...Bf5}
(5. Bc4 e6 6. Nc3) 5... Nc6 (5... Bf5 6. Bb5+ Nc6 7. Qe2 Qd4 8. f3 exf3 9.
Bxc6+ bxc6 10. Nxf3 {Is a typical way of playing in these lines.}) 6. Bc4 e6 7.
Bb2 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. Ncxe4 {The drawback of the extra tempo (b3) is that it
stops one of the most typical plans in these lines i.e the a4-Ra3-Rh3!} Nxe4 (
9... h6 $5 10. Nxf6+ Bxf6 11. Bxf6 Qxf6 12. Ne4 Qe7 {With no weaknesses and
extra control over the centre I would take the black pieces.}) 10. Nxe4 e5 $2 {
I was very surprised when Anand blitzed out this move within seconds.It opens
the diagonal for c4 bishop plus allows white the opportunity to attack with f4.
After the normal b6 I would infact prefer black's position} (10... b6 {& Black
can simply play Bb7-Qd7-Rad8 whereas it isn't clear how white should develop
an initiative.} 11. Qg4 {is simply met by} Nd4) 11. f4 exf4 12. Qh5 $2 {
I absolutely see no reason for playing Qh5 before Rf4.} (12. Rxf4 $142 Be6 13.
Bxe6 fxe6 14. Qg4 $40) 12... Nd4 $2 {Black had an opportunity to neutralize
the attack by playing Be6. The same wouldn't have been possible after Rf4
because then White queen could go to g4 !} (12... Be6 $142 $1 13. Rxf4 Bxc4 14.
bxc4 Nd4 $132) 13. Rxf4 {Anand sank into a deep thought here and his second
Peter Leko on the live feed remarked "This is not usual for Vishy to spend so
much time, he likes to play fast. I think he definitely feels some pressure
here."} g6 (13... Be6 {was the lesser of the evils.} 14. Nxc5 Bxc4 15. Rxd4 Be2
$1 16. Rxd8 Bxh5 17. Rd5 Bg6 18. Re1 Bxc5+ 19. Rxc5 $16) 14. Qe5 $18 {Black is
already lost now as white's attack is too strong.} b6 15. Raf1 Bf5 16. g4 (16.
Rxf5 $5 gxf5 17. Rxf5 $18) 16... Be6 17. Bxe6 fxe6 18. Rxf8+ Bxf8 19. Nf6+ Kh8
20. c3 (20. Ne8+ Kg8 21. Qh8+ {Wasn't this more pretty? :)}) 20... Nc6 21. Ne8+
(21. Ne8+ Nxe5 22. Rxf8#) 1-0

[Event "Zuerich Chess Challenge Blitz"]
[Site "Zuerich"]
[Date "2014.01.29"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C47"]
[WhiteElo "2789"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2014.01.29"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 158 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.02.28"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.02.28"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 O-O
8. O-O d5 9. exd5 cxd5 10. Bg5 c6 11. Na4 Bd6 12. c3 Re8 13. Bh4 Bg4 14. f3 Bh5
15. Qc2 Bg6 16. Rae1 Qc7 17. g4 Bxd3 18. Qxd3 Nd7 19. Qc2 Nf8 20. Rxe8 Rxe8 21.
Re1 Rb8 22. Kg2 Ne6 23. Bg3 c5 24. b3 c4 25. Rd1 cxb3 26. axb3 d4 27. Bxd6 Qxd6
28. cxd4 Nf4+ 29. Kh1 Qd5 30. Qe4 Qxb3 31. Re1 g5 32. Nc5 Qa2 33. Rg1 Nh3 34.
Nd3 Nxg1 35. Qe5 Nxf3 36. Qxb8+ Kg7 37. Ne1 Qa1 38. Kg2 Nxe1+ 39. Kf2 Nd3+ 40.
Ke3 Qc3 0-1

[Event "Zuerich Chess Challenge"]
[Site "Zuerich"]
[Date "2014.01.30"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D78"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2777"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2014.01.30"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{After his win in Chennai, Magnus took a 2 month break from chess, discounting
an indeed effective, yet rather risky attacking victory against Bill Gates.
The prolog in Zurich was a 5 round blitz tournament to determine the pairings.
Despite his actually winning it did indicate some rustiness in the champion's
play, but in his first classical game as World Champion, we saw Magnus from
his absolutely best side.} 1. c4 g6 2. d4 $5 {Having given it a shot at
avoiding the Grünfeld, Magnus reacts to Gelfand's surprising 1...g6 by
actually allowing it! It might seem inconsistent, but one of Magnus' many
strengths is huge flexibility and not being dependent on a specific opening
choice.} Nf6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 c6 5. Bg2 d5 6. Qa4 $5 {An interesting line,
which became popular after Magnus used it to get a decent position against
Peter Svidler in Linares 2007. The inspiration then came from leafing through
Larsen's book ZOOM (Zero hour opening models). As Gelfand has mentioned it as
a book with a huge impact on his chess development, I guess hoping for 6.Qa4
being a surprise is too much, but even objectively it's an interesting line.}
O-O 7. O-O Nfd7 $5 (7... Bf5 {was what Svidler played, but after:} 8. Nc3 Nbd7
9. cxd5 Nb6 10. Qb3 Nfxd5 11. Rd1 Qd6 12. Bd2 Nxc3 13. Bxc3 Qe6 14. d5 $5 {
Magnus had a pleasant edge, as after exchanging on g7 and Nd4 White gets back
the pawn with risk-free pressure.}) (7... a6 8. Bf4 Be6 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. Qb3
Ra7 {was Aronian's creative way of handling the position im Monaco 2011, but
there too Magnus had a pleasant position, despite both games eventually being
drawn.}) (7... Nbd7 8. cxd5 Nb6 {has also been played, but the claim is that
after ...cxd5 the knight would rather be on b8, ready to go to c6, than sort
of misplaced on b6.}) 8. Qc2 Nf6 $5 {A very interesting novelty.} ({Against
Fressinet Gelfand had an unpleasant position after} 8... dxc4 9. Qxc4 Nb6 10.
Qc2 Na6 11. Rd1 {, but as always had done his homework well and has an very
interesting idea in mind, which made Magnus think for more than half an hour.})
9. Bf4 $5 {Probably White's best way to fight for an opening advantage. The
position after 8...Nf6 had previously occurred in quite a few games, but
always with Black to move! But in some way, White is actually in some kind of
zugzwang. The natural 9.Nc3 is answered by 9...dxc4 when its not obvious how
White gets his pawn back, and 9.Rd1 Bf5 10.Qb3 Qb6 already threatens 11...Qxb3
followed by 12...Bc2.} Bf5 10. Qb3 Qb6 11. Nbd2 Ne4 $5 {Nothing seems wrong
with 11...Nbd7, but Gelfand tries putting pressure in the centre and keeps the
option of putting the knight on c6, should White exchange on d5.} 12. e3 (12.
cxd5 Qxb3 13. Nxb3 cxd5 {[%cal Gb8c6] illustrates exactly that point, when
Black due to the knight coming to c6 is completely fine, so Magnus has to try
and keep the tension.}) 12... Qxb3 13. axb3 Na6 14. cxd5 cxd5 {A seemingly
dull position with no advantage for White would be the obvious conclusion.
Quite similar to Magnus' game against Caruana later in the tournament. And in
both games after just a few more moves, almost like by magic, suddenly Carlsen
has an overwhelming initiative.} 15. g4 $1 {An excellent move, with a good mix
of objective merits and provocation. Gelfand, being a principled player, of
course reacts with the critical continuation, accepting the sacrifice.} Bxg4 (
15... Nxd2 16. Nxd2 Be6 {was possible, but apart from the natural 17.Rfc1 Rfc8
18.Rc3!? also 17.Nb1!? keeps putting pressure on the black position.}) 16. Nxe4
dxe4 17. Nd2 f5 {The price Black has to pay for winning the pawn, is that his
bishop on g4 now is shut out, and can't help in defending the weak black
queenside.} 18. f3 e5 $5 (18... exf3 19. Nxf3 {illustrates well White's idea.
He is a pawn down, but his bishops points at the queensinde, and Black seems
not to be able to defend b7, when White's knight goes to either e5 or g5.
However there seems to be a hidden defence:} Rad8 $1 20. Ne5 (20. Ng5 e5 $1 21.
dxe5 Rfe8 22. Bxb7 Nb4 {is indeed a very computerish line, but Black seems to
generate enough counterplay just in time.}) 20... Bxe5 21. Bxe5 Rd7 {and
allthough White definitely still has sufficient compensation, Black's position
does seem very solid keeping the game in balance.}) 19. dxe5 exf3 20. Nxf3 Rae8
{Gelfand's play as always follows a clear logical path, and by sacrificing
back the pawn, it seems like he has neutralised the pressure of White's
bishops.} (20... Rfe8 {wouldn't be an inprovement, as} 21. Nd4 {attacking b7,
then caused trouble, but now this can be met by 21...Bxe5 22.Bxb7 Nb4 as there
is no longer a rook hanging on a8.}) 21. Ra5 $1 {It almost seems like White
goes to great lengths to hang on to his extra pawn, but it's actually equal
material, and White developing his initiative! Yes, he does have seemingly
weak doubled pawns, but like this Magnus defends the pawn on e5, thus being
ready for Nd4 or Ng5 very much making it a tactical battle, and not a quiet
positional game.} Nb4 22. Nd4 b6 23. Rxa7 Bxe5 {Again, Gelfand's play is
consistent and logical. Pushing away the white rook, he eliminated the pawn on
e5, and the knight on b4 controls the d5-square, keeping White's bishop from
checking on d5. A first sight, it would seem Black has solved his problems.}
24. Bh6 $1 Rf6 {An uncomfortable necessity, allowing White access to g7, but
the more obvious looking} (24... Rf7 {is answered very strongly by} 25. Ra4 Bd6
26. Rfa1 $1 {when defending against 27.Ra8! with a white mating attack becomes
very difficult, with White already being close to winning.}) 25. h3 (25. Ra4 $5
{would also have been very interesting, and maybe even better than the game
continuation. It's based on the tactical point} Bd6 26. Nb5 Bc5 27. Nc7 Rd8 28.
Rxb4 $1 Bxb4 29. Nd5 {when surprisingly despite being an exchange up, there is
no way only to sacrifice it back, as 29...Be7 would just be captured, and 29...
Rxd5 30.Bxd5+ Kh8 31.Ra1! wins further material due to the mating threat.} Rfd6
30. Nxb4 Rd1 {still do keep some drawing chances for Black though.}) 25... Bh5
$6 {Hard to believe, but this retreat weakens f5! Resolute defence with} (25...
Bxd4 $1 26. exd4 Be2 27. Rc1 g5 $1 {would come close to saving the game for
Black. The most tempting move looks to be} 28. Rg7+ Kh8 29. Re7 $1 {but after}
Rg8 30. Bxg5 Rxg5 31. Rc8+ Rg8 32. Rxg8+ Kxg8 33. Rxe2 {although White is
still considerably better, I would think Black has as good chances of saving
the game, as White has of winning it. The b-pawn is not much of an extra pawn
and ...Kf7 and ...Rd6 a solid setup making it very hard for White to break
through.}) 26. Nc2 $3 {An excellent tactical resource, illustrating that the
position despite the exchanged queens in no way resembles an endgame, but that
king safety is the dominating factor. By offering Black a chance to take on c2,
Magnus wins access to the d5-square for his bishop, and the direct acceptance
of the sacrifice leads to: 26...Nxc2 27.Bd5+ Rfe6 (27...Kh8 28.Bg7 is mate!)
28.Rc1 wins the knight, leaving White with an extra exchange, as 28...Nb4 29.
Bxe6+ Rxe6 30.Rc8 mates.} g5 $1 {The only way to fight back, challenging the
bishop on h6 just in time as now the black knight still controls the d5-square.
} 27. Bxg5 Rg6 28. Rxf5 $1 {This was the whole point of 25.h3. The black
bishop had to be lured to h5, leaving the f5-pawn unprotected.} h6 29. Bxh6 $5
{Keeping true to the style of the game, but actually the more modest} (29. Nxb4
$1 {might be objectively better as after} Rxg5 30. Rxg5+ hxg5 31. Bd5+ Kf8 (
31... Kh8 32. Bf7 Bxf7 33. Rxf7 Bxb2 34. Nd5 {also should win easily as White
will just bring up his king with decisive effect}) 32. Nc6 Bxb2 33. Kf2 {
Despite White being only one pawn up, he here has a dominating grip on the
position, and should win rather trivially.}) 29... Rxh6 $2 (29... Bf3 $1 {
amazingly prolongs the resistance. The point is that after 30.Rxf3 Nxc2 the
bishop on h6 is hanging, and ...Ne1 a threat, so White has to play} 30. Rg5
Rxg5 31. Bxg5 Bxg2 32. Nxb4 Bxh3 33. Nd5 {keeping good winning chances, but
not as easy a task, as after 29.Nxb4!}) (29... Nxc2 30. Rxh5 {Now the bishop
on h6 is protected, and} Ne1 31. Rg5 $1 {Just wins.}) 30. Nxb4 Bxb2 31. Nd5 Kh8
32. Rb7 Bd1 33. b4 Rg8 34. Ne7 Rd8 35. Be4 Bf6 $2 {In time trouble Gelfand
blunders, but even if it would take some time, White's extra pawns would
suffice for a win.} 36. Rxb6 Kg7 37. Rf2 $1 {Threatening 38.Nf5+ and if 37...
Bxe7 then 38.Rg2+! forces the black king to leave the protection of the rook
on h6, so Gelfand resigned.  An excellent start for Magnus, and while not
exactly without further adventures he kept up the pace and with 4/5 in the
classical control improved on his own rating record as well as gaining a huge
lead before the final rapids, when even a rather unstable performance sufficed
to give him a win in the overall standings too.} 1-0

[Event "Zuerich Chess Challenge"]
[Site "Zuerich"]
[Date "2014.01.31"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2812"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2014.01.30"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 {Carlsen's intentions when opening the game with this move are not very
clear. In the fifth game of his match against Anand he soon transposed to 1.d4,
something Korchnoi used to do a lot in his matches against Karpov. In this
game, White will not be given this opportunity.} Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3
d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Nb6 {In my opinion, the most testing system against the
English Opening. It is very hard to prove an objective advantage with White;
you mainly need to know all the typical ideas and try to outplay your opponent
by combining them in the most inspired way.} 7. O-O Be7 8. a3 O-O 9. d3 Re8 10.
b4 Bf8 11. Rb1 a5 12. b5 Nd4 13. e3 $5 {A rare move and, at this level, a
novelty. White usually does not play e2-e3 with the knight on f3 still.} (13.
Nd2 a4 14. e3 Ne6 15. Nf3 Nc5 16. d4 exd4 17. Nxd4 {This was supposed to be
good for White some 20 years ago, but things seem to have changed since then.}
Qg5 (17... g6 {Georgiev,K (2580)-Gelfand,B (2680) Manila 1990 CBM 019 [Ribli] 
(1/2, 91)}) 18. e4 Qg6 19. Bf4 Ne6 20. Nxe6 Bxe6 21. Bxc7 Rec8 22. Bxb6 Rxc3
23. Qd4 {1/2 Flores,D (2599)-Garcia Palermo,C (2479) Mar del Plata 2012}) (13.
Bb2 {used to be a favourite of Portisch:} a4 (13... Bg4 {Portisch,L (2605)
-Kortschnoj,V (2625) Wijk aan Zee 1990 CBM 017 [Ribli] (1-0, 39)}) 14. Nd2 {
Portisch,L (2605)-Petursson,M (2555) Wijk aan Zee 1990 CBM 017 [Ribli] (1/2,
39)}) 13... Nxf3+ 14. Bxf3 a4 (14... Bh3 $6 {offers White pleasant play:} 15.
Bxb7 $1 Bxf1 {Vezzosi,P (2362)-Ranola,Y (2432) Salsomaggiore Terme 2006 (0-1,
49)} 16. Qxf1 Rb8 17. Bc6 Re6 18. Bb2 Rd6 19. Rd1 $44) 15. Qe2 $146 {Planning
a long and logical regrouping.} ({The previously played} 15. Qc2 {does make
sense, though:} Ra5 ({If Black chooses the same setup as in the game with} 
15... Ra7 {White could speed up his initiative with} 16. Ne4 {[%cal Ge4c5]
inhibiting the development of the c8-bishop in view of the threat Nc5; here we
see that the queen is useful on c2 and that White is ready for action even
with incomplete development. One main thing is that the 7-rook is passive.} f5
17. Nd2 Be6 18. Bb2 Bd6 19. Nc4 Nxc4 20. dxc4 Qe7 21. Qc3 e4 22. Bh5 Rd8 23. f3
Qg5 24. f4 Qe7 25. g4 {White's position remains more pleasant, but is it
enough for anything?}) 16. Rd1 f5 $6 17. e4 $1 $14 {[%csl Gf4] Kristiansen,J 
(2445)-Jakobsen,O (2390) Copenhagen 1990 (1-0, 33)}) 15... Ra7 16. Bb2 Be6 17.
Rfc1 {Logical, but also a bit slow. If the rooks go on the b- and c-files, the
queen is surely well placed on e2.} Qd7 ({Aronian does not feel like embarking
double edged action such as} 17... f5 18. e4 f4 19. gxf4 exf4 20. Kh1 $5 {
[%cal Gc1g1]}) 18. Ne4 Ba2 $1 {At some later point it will appear that the
white queen's rook actually stands better on a1 than on b1. And yet, at this
point in the game, the last move is the best.} (18... Bd5 19. Nc5 $14 Qxb5 $2
20. Bxe5 $16 {Here we see the role of the b1-rook.}) (18... Bb3 19. Nd2 Ba2 20.
Ra1 Bd5 21. Bxd5 Nxd5 22. e4 Nb6 23. Nf3 Bd6 (23... Qxb5 24. Rab1 $1 {[%cal
Gb2e5] Even with a loss of one tempo the rook is quite effective here, for
instance} Qa5 $6 25. Rxc7 Bd6 26. Bc3 Qa6 27. Ng5 $1 {[%cal Ge2h5]} h6 28. Qh5
Rf8 29. Nxf7 Bxc7 30. Nxh6+ gxh6 31. Qg6+ Kh8 32. Qxh6+ Kg8 33. Qg6+ Kh8 34.
Rxb6 $1 Qxb6 35. Bxe5+ Bxe5 36. Qxb6 $16 {lots of pawns...}) 24. d4 $14 {
[%csl Ga7]}) 19. Ra1 Bd5 20. Bg4 {Aiming to provoke some weakening of Black's
position.} Qd8 ({Actually,} 20... f5 {was entirely playable, but the following
variation had to be calculated accurately.} 21. Bh3 Ra5 22. Ng5 Bd6 23. e4 Qe7
$1 {Exiting the pin and attacking the knight.} 24. Qd2 Rxb5 $1 25. exd5 Rxb2
26. Qxb2 Qxg5 $44 {There is no obvious way to breakthrough with White. In fact,
it is mainly Black who could think of a pawn attack on the kingside.}) 21. Bc3
Nd7 22. Bf3 $6 {Giving away the chances to keep the micro-initiative.} (22. Qb2
$5 {[%cal Gc3b4] The bishop exchange would spare White any troubles with the
a3-pawn and would ensure some queenside space for the major pieces.} b6 ({
The bishop would be exposed after} 22... Bb3 23. Bb4 Bxb4 24. axb4 b6 25. Rc3 {
[%cal Gc3b3]} Bd5 26. Nd2 Nf6 27. Bd1 $16 {[%csl Ga4]}) 23. Bb4 Bxe4 24. dxe4
Bxb4 25. Qxb4 Nc5 26. Be2 Ra8 27. Bc4 $1 Qf6 (27... Nxe4 $2 28. Bxf7+ $1 $16)
28. Rc2 Rad8 29. Bd5 $14 {[%csl Ga4,Gc7][%cal Ga1c1,Gc2c5]}) 22... b6 $1 {
[%cal Gd7c5] Crossing White's plans.} ({There was absolutely no need to fall
into the thematic trap} 22... f5 $2 23. Nd6 $1 $16 Bxf3 24. Qa2+ $1 $18) 23.
Bb4 $5 {Not the optimal way to exchange bishops, but a reasonable one...} ({
Now is too late for} 23. Qb2 {in view of} Nc5 $1) 23... Bxb4 24. axb4 Qe7 25.
Nc3 Bxf3 26. Qxf3 Nf6 $1 (26... a3 $6 {not only fails to keep the pawn, but
also hands over the initiative to White:} 27. Nd5 Qd8 (27... Qd6 $2 28. Rc6 $18
) 28. Rc3 $16 {[%csl Ga3]}) ({Or if} 26... Qxb4 $6 27. Qc6 Rd8 {White has a
pleasant choice already} 28. Nd5 $1 (28. Nxa4 $5 $14 Rxa4 $2 29. Qxc7 $1) 28...
Qb3 29. Nxc7 $16 {Black's poor coordination seems to be more relevant than his
passed pawn.}) 27. Rxa4 Rxa4 28. Nxa4 Qxb4 $11 29. Nc3 Qb2 30. Qd1 Rd8 31. Kg2
h6 32. h3 Rxd3 {Actually, any reasonable move would suffice for equality. True,
White's structure is more compact, but Black is quite active.} (32... Rd7 $11)
33. Qxd3 Qxc1 34. Qd8+ Kh7 35. Qxc7 Ne4 $1 {Otherwise Black would be in some
trouble.} (35... e4 36. Qe5 Qc2 37. Nd5 Nxd5 38. Qxd5 $16 {[%csl Gb6,Ge4,Gf7]})
36. Qxe5 (36. Qxf7 $11) 36... Nxc3 37. Qf5+ Kg8 38. Qc8+ Kh7 39. Qf5+ Kh8 40.
Qc8+ Kh7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Zuerich Chess Challenge"]
[Site "Zuerich"]
[Date "2014.02.01"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2789"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "122"]
[EventDate "2014.01.30"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 d5 5. a3 Be7 6. e4 dxe4 7. fxe4 e5 8. d5
Bc5 9. Bg5 (9. Nf3 {is more common.}) 9... O-O (9... h6 {is usually played
here. An old example:} 10. Bh4 Bd4 11. Nf3 Bxc3+ 12. bxc3 Qd6 13. Bd3 Nbd7 14.
O-O O-O 15. Kh1 Nc5 16. Qe2 Bg4 17. Qe3 Nfd7 18. Bg3 Bxf3 {1/2 (18) Moskalenko,
V (2500)-Chekhov,V (2480) Leningrad 1989}) 10. Nf3 Bg4 {Black has a different
concept. Anticipating White's long castling, he doesn't want to weaken his
queenside by means of ...h7-h6. However, the present game shows that it is not
easy to equalise in any case.} (10... h6 11. Bh4 Bg4 12. Bd3 (12. h3 $5) 12...
Nbd7 13. h3 Bxf3 14. Qxf3 c6 15. O-O-O Bd4 16. Ne2 Qb6 17. Nxd4 exd4 18. Bxf6
Nxf6 19. e5 cxd5 20. exf6 dxc4 21. fxg7 Rfc8 22. Bf5 c3 23. Qf2 cxb2+ 24. Kb1
Rc3 25. Rd3 $18 {1-0 (47) Yakimenko,A (2178)-Stojcevski,Z (2352) Sunny Beach
2011}) (10... a5 $5 11. Qd2 Qd6 12. Be3 $6 (12. O-O-O) 12... Na6 13. Bd3 Bd7
14. O-O Qb6 15. Rae1 Ng4 $36 {0-1 (57) Kantorik,M (2289)-Solodovnichenko,Y 
(2430) Zvolen 2000}) 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 Nbd7 (12... Bd4 13. Ne2 $1 Bxb2 $140
$6 14. Ra2 Bd4 15. Nxd4 exd4 16. e5 $16) 13. O-O-O Bd4 14. Ne2 $1 {[%mdl 4]} c5
(14... Nc5 $4 15. Nxd4 exd4 16. e5 h6 17. Bxf6 gxf6 18. exf6 {1-0 (18)
Petrosian,K (2340)-Suess,M Budapest 1990}) ({But perhaps it was better to
refrain from the text move keeping a possibility to play ...c7-c6 later on:} 
14... Re8 {Black even sacrifices a pawn but obtains the e5-square if White
takes on d4:} 15. Nxd4 (15. Kb1 c6 $1) 15... exd4 16. Rxd4 Qe7 17. Bd3 $140 Ne5
18. Qe3 c5 19. dxc6 bxc6) 15. g4 a5 $2 (15... a6 $1 {[%cal Yb7b5,Ya8b8] was
now a must.}) 16. Kb1 Ra6 17. Ng3 {[%mdl 128] Suddenly it turns out that Black
can hardly develop his attack since he can't push ...b7-b5. Meanwhile, White's
assault goes slowly but smoothly.} g6 $6 {This weakening move makes White's
attack unstoppable. It was better to refrain from it, even allowing White's
knight will a powerful position on f5:} (17... Rb6 {is useless, e.g.} 18. Rh2
a4 19. h4 Rb3 20. Rd3) (17... a4 $142 18. Nf5 Qa5 19. Rh2 Rb6 {[%cal Rb6b3]}
20. Bc1 $140 Ne8 $1 {[%cal Ye8d6]}) 18. h4 a4 19. Rh2 (19. Bh6 Ne8 (19... Re8
$2 20. g5 Nh5 21. Nxh5 gxh5 22. Bh3) 20. Bxf8 Rf6 21. Qd3 Kxf8 {wins an
exchange but White wants more.}) 19... Qa5 20. Bd2 Qc7 21. g5 Ne8 22. h5 Rb6
23. Bc1 Rb3 24. Qg4 Nb6 25. Be2 Nd6 26. Rdh1 Bxb2 {Desperation.} (26... Nbxc4
27. Bxc4 Nxc4 28. hxg6 fxg6 29. Qe6+ Qf7 30. Rxh7 $1 Qxe6 31. dxe6 $18) 27.
Bxb2 Nbxc4 28. Bxc4 Nxc4 29. hxg6 Qb6 $1 {[%mdl 256] Magnus Carlsen finds the
most stubborn defence. It is not easy for White to find the decisive blow over
the board.} 30. g7 (30. gxf7+ $142 $1 Rxf7 31. Nh5 $1 Rxb2+ 32. Ka1 Rxh2 33.
Nf6+ Kg7 34. Rxh2 $18 {(K.Landa)}) 30... Rd8 31. Qh4 Rxb2+ 32. Ka1 Rxh2 33.
Rxh2 Qg6 34. Nf5 Re8 35. Qg4 {[%mdl 64] White fails to find the winning idea:}
(35. Qf2 b6 (35... Nd6 36. Rh6) 36. Rxh7 $1 Qxh7 37. Nh6+ $18) 35... Qb6 36.
Qh3 (36. g6 $1 Qxg6 (36... fxg6 37. Nh6+ Kxg7 38. Qd7+) 37. Qh3 $18 {[%cal
Rh2g2]}) 36... Qg6 37. d6 $2 {Wrong!} (37. Qf3 $1 {[%cal Rh2h7] was still good
enough.}) 37... Nxd6 $8 38. Nxd6 Rd8 $1 39. Nc4 $2 (39. Nc8 $3 Kxg7 40. Ne7
Rd1+ 41. Ka2 Qe6+ (41... Qb6 42. Qxh7+ Kf8 43. Qh6+) (41... Qxg5 42. Nf5+ Kf8
43. Ne3) 42. Qxe6 fxe6 43. Rh6 {still gave White some winning chances but
Hikaru Nakamura had no chances to find such niceties that day.}) 39... Qxe4 40.
Qh5 $4 (40. Ne3 $13) 40... Rd3 $1 {Black starts a decisive counter-attack.} 41.
Rh4 Qf5 42. Qe2 b5 43. Nd2 Qxg5 (43... Rxa3+ 44. Kb2 Rg3 {was even stronger
but the World Champion correctly judges that his pawn avalanche will be much
stronger than White's knight anyway.}) 44. Qxd3 Qxh4 45. Ne4 Kxg7 46. Qf3 (46.
Qd5 Qf4 47. Nxc5 Qd4+ $19 {_|_}) 46... Qf4 47. Qg2+ Kf8 48. Kb2 h5 49. Nd2 h4
50. Kc2 b4 51. axb4 cxb4 52. Qa8+ Kg7 53. Qxa4 h3 54. Qb3 h2 55. Qd5 e4 56. Qh5
e3 57. Nf3 e2 58. Kb3 f6 59. Ne1 Qg3+ 60. Ka4 Qg1 61. Qxe2 Qa7+ 0-1

[Event "Zuerich Chess Challenge"]
[Site "Zuerich"]
[Date "2014.02.02"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2782"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2014.01.30"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 ({The last round featured finally featured a
Marshall, after} 3... a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d5 9.
exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. d3 Bd6 13. Re1 Bf5 14. Qf3 Qh4 15. g3
Qh3 16. Be3 Bxd3 17. Nd2 Qf5 {White came up with a novelty} 18. Bd4 $5 $146 {
, which retained some pressure:} (18. Qxf5 Bxf5 19. Bd4 Rfd8 20. a4 Bf8 21. Ne4
h6 22. h4 Bg6 23. Rad1 Bh5 24. Rc1 Nb4 25. Re3 Nd5 26. Ree1 Nb4 $11 {Ivanchuk,
V (2751)-Aronian,L (2739)/Nice rpd blindfold/2008/}) (18. Rad1 {did not offer
superiority either.} Rfe8 19. Qxf5 Bxf5 20. Bxd5 cxd5 21. Nb3 Be6 22. Bc5 Bc7
23. Nd4 Rac8 24. b4 Bd7 25. Nc2 Rxe1+ 26. Rxe1 Re8 27. Rxe8+ Bxe8 28. Ne3 Bd8
29. Nxd5 Bc6 $11 {Polgar,J (2707)-Leko,P (2753)/Wijk aan Zee/2008/}) 18... Rfe8
19. a4 h6 20. Kg2 Kf8 (20... Bf8 $5) 21. Rxe8+ Rxe8 22. axb5 axb5 23. Qxf5 Bxf5
24. Bxd5 cxd5 25. Ra6 Be7 $6 (25... Be5 $1 $14 {/<=>}) 26. Nf1 b4 27. Ne3 Bd3
28. Ra5 bxc3 29. bxc3 $14 {/+/-,Caruana,F (2782)-Aronian,L (2812)/Zürich/2014/
Black loses a pawn, in the end he didn't make the most of his drawing chances
and went down in the endgame. See the winner's notes in CBM 159.}) 4. d3 {
In Zürich nobody ventured into the Berlin endgame; we'll check out some recent
examples mainly from Wijk 2014:} (4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 (6. dxe5 Nxb5
7. a4 Nbd4 ({The fighting option is} 7... d6 8. e6 fxe6 9. axb5 Nb4 {is not
without risk after} 10. Ng5 Be7 11. Qh5+ g6 12. Qh6 Bf8 13. Qh3 Qf6 14. Ra4 Nd5
15. Re4 e5 16. Qb3 h6 17. Qxd5 hxg5 18. Rc4 g4 19. Nc3 Rh7 20. f3 Rf7 21. Qe4
Qf5 22. Nd5 c6 23. bxc6 b5 24. Rc3 Be6 {Larin,I (2293)-Grigoryev,V (2498)/corr/
2012/} 25. Qe2 $5 $36) 8. Nxd4 d6 9. exd6 Bxd6 $5 10. Re1+ Be7 11. Nxc6 Qxd1
12. Rxd1 bxc6 13. Be3 Bf5 14. Re1 O-O-O 15. Na3 Rhe8 16. Bxa7 Bxa3 17. Rxe8
Rxe8 18. bxa3 Re4 19. c3 Rxa4 20. Bd4 g6 21. f3 Kd7 $11 {Naiditsch,A (2718)
-Aronian,L (2812)/Wijk aan Zee/2014/}) 6... dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.
h3 ({The tension quickly dissipated after} 9. Rd1+ Ke8 10. Bf4 Ne7 11. h3 Ng6
12. Bh2 Be7 13. Nc3 Bd7 14. Nd4 Nf8 15. Rd2 h5 16. Rad1 Rd8 17. a3 h4 18. Nce2
c5 19. e6 Nxe6 20. Nxe6 Bxe6 21. Bxc7 Rxd2 22. Rxd2 f6 23. Nf4 Kf7 24. Nxe6
Kxe6 $11 {Dominguez Perez,L (2754)-Giri,A (2734)/Wijk aan Zee/2014/}) 9... Bd7
({Another topical and playable alternative is} 9... Ke8 10. Nc3 h5 11. Rd1 (11.
Ne2 Be7 12. Re1 Be6 13. Ned4 Nxd4 14. Nxd4 Bc8 15. Bf4 c5 16. Nb5 Bd8 17. e6
Bxe6 18. Rad1 Ke7 19. Nxc7 Bxc7 20. Bxc7 Rac8 21. Bd6+ {1/2,Fressinet,L (2710)
-Giri,A (2749)/Bundesliga/2014/} Kf6 22. Rd3 h4 $11) (11. Bf4 Be7 12. Rad1 Be6
13. Ng5 Rh6 14. g3 Bxg5 15. Bxg5 Rg6 16. h4 f6 17. exf6 gxf6 18. Bf4 Nxh4 19.
f3 Rd8 20. Rxd8+ Kxd8 21. Kf2 Nf5 22. Rh1 Ng7 23. Nd1 $44 {/=, Naiditsch,A 
(2718)-So,W (2719)/Wijk aan Zee/2014/}) 11... Be7 12. Ne2 Nh4 13. Nxh4 Bxh4 14.
Bf4 Be7 15. Nd4 g5 16. Bh2 Rh6 17. e6 Bxe6 18. Bxc7 Rc8 19. Nxe6 Rxe6 20. Ba5
Bf6 21. Rab1 b6 22. Be1 Rd8 $11 {Harikrishna,P (2706)-So,W (2719)/Wijk aan Zee/
2014/}) 10. Rd1 Kc8 11. g4 Ne7 12. Ng5 Be8 13. f4 b6 (13... h5 14. Kf2 b6 15.
f5 Kb7 16. c4 $146 (16. Nc3 hxg4 17. hxg4 Rh2+ 18. Kg3 Rxc2 19. Nh7 c5 $1 20.
Nxf8 Bc6 $44 {Caruana,F (2796)-Adams,M (2740)/Dortmund/2013/} 21. Bg5 $1 Rg2+
22. Kf4 Rf2+ 23. Kg3 $11 {See the notes to this game by Adams in CBM 156.})
16... c5 17. Bf4 Nc6 18. Nc3 g6 $1 19. e6 fxe6 20. Nxe6 hxg4 21. Nxc7 Bh6 $1
22. Bxh6 Kxc7 23. Bf4+ Kb7 24. hxg4 gxf5 25. g5 Rh4 26. Ne2 Bh5 27. Rh1 Rxh1
28. Rxh1 Bxe2 29. Kxe2 Nd4+ 30. Kd3 Ne6 31. Rf1 Rd8+ 32. Kc3 Rg8 $11 {Giri,A 
(2737)-Nakamura,H (2772)/Elancourt/2013/}) 14. f5 $5 (14. Nc3 c5 (14... h5 15.
Kg2 c5 $13) 15. Kf2 h6 16. Nf3 g6 17. Be3 Bc6 18. a4 Kb7 19. a5 Re8 20. Nd2 Nd5
21. Nxd5 Bxd5 22. Nf3 Be6 23. Rd3 Be7 24. Rad1 h5 25. Kg3 hxg4 26. hxg4 Rh7 27.
R3d2 Kc6 28. axb6 cxb6 29. Rh2 Rxh2 30. Nxh2 a5 $36 {[%csl Ga5,Gb6,Gc5,Ge6,Ge7]
Sutovsky,E (2700)-Harikrishna,P (2669)/WChT Ningbo/2011/}) 14... c5 (14... h5
15. Kg2 c5 16. Nc3 g6 17. f6 Nc6 18. Nf3 Nb4 19. Bf4 $1 Nxc2 20. Rac1 Nb4 21.
a3 Nc6 22. Ne4 $44 Bd7 23. Neg5 hxg4 $2 (23... Nd8 $142 24. Rxd7 $1 Kxd7 25.
e6+ fxe6 26. Ne5+ $36) 24. hxg4 Bxg4 25. Nxf7 Rh5 26. Kg3 Bf5 27. N7g5 Bh6 28.
e6 {Dominguez - Nakamura, Wijk aan Zee 2014.} Bxg5 29. Nxg5 Rxg5+ 30. Bxg5 Bxe6
{Dominguez Perez,L (2754)-Nakamura,H (2789)/Wijk aan Zee/2014/} 31. b4 $16) 15.
Nd2 (15. e6 $5) 15... h6 16. Ngf3 Bc6 17. Kf2 Kb7 18. b3 g6 19. f6 Nd5 20. Bb2
Nb4 21. Rdc1 a5 22. a3 Nd5 23. Kg3 g5 24. a4 Nb4 25. Nc4 Be4 26. Ne3 c4 $5 27.
bxc4 Rd8 $44 {/=/+,Caruana,F (2779)-Nakamura,H (2783)/ECC Rhodes/2013/
Nakamura was probably worried about some improvement right from the start, as
against Dominguez he was the first to deviate.}) 4... Bc5 {I have already
mentioned in the notes to Navara-Caruana,ECC 2013 (CBM 157) and Anand-Carlsen,
WCh 2013 (CBM 158), that this active developing move is all the rage nowadays.}
({However, even the modest} 4... d6 {is playable and retains some top level
fans:} 5. O-O Be7 6. h3 O-O 7. c4 a6 8. Ba4 Nd7 9. Nc3 Nc5 10. Bxc6 bxc6 11. d4
exd4 12. Nxd4 Bd7 13. Be3 Bf6 14. Re1 Re8 15. Qc2 Qe7 ({The traditional way to
deploy the queen in these positions is} 15... Qb8 $5 $132 {[%cal Yb8b4,Ya6a4]})
16. Rad1 g6 17. Bc1 Ne6 $6 (17... a5 $142 $11) 18. Nf3 $1 {[%csl Re7][%cal
Ye4e5]} Bg7 19. b3 Qf8 20. Ba3 $1 Rad8 21. e5 c5 22. Nd5 dxe5 23. Nxe5 Nd4 24.
Rxd4 Rxe5 25. Rxe5 Bxe5 26. Rd1 Bc6 {Sjugirov,S (2641)-Jakovenko,D (2721)/
Khanty-Mansiysk/2013/} 27. Qe4 Bg7 28. Qe3 $1 $16 {[%csl Rc5]}) 5. Bxc6 {
This swap changes the character of the position and is also very topical.} (5.
Nc3 {is too weak:} O-O (5... d6 6. Na4 Bb6 7. Nxb6 axb6 8. c3 Bd7 9. Ba4 Ne7
10. Bc2 Ng6 $11 {was Anand's choice in his game against Carlsen, London 2012.
For more details see the notes by Postny in CBM 152.}) 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. Bg5 Qd6
8. Qd2 a5 9. h3 Re8 10. Nh4 a4 11. a3 b5 12. O-O Nh5 13. Ne2 Bb6 14. g4 h6 15.
Be3 Nf4 16. Nxf4 exf4 17. Bxf4 Qf6 18. Nf5 Qxb2 19. Kh2 h5 $13 {/=/+,Motylev,A
(2676)-Kramnik,V (2796)/RUS-ch Nizhny Novgorod/2013/}) (5. c3 {was featured in
the recent title match:} O-O 6. O-O Re8 $5 ({A welcome change to the standard} 
6... d6 {, where the struggle strongly resmebles the Giuoco Piano:} 7. h3 (7.
Nbd2 Bb6 8. h3 (8. Nc4 Ne7 9. Nxb6 axb6 $132) 8... Ne7 {is similar and often
only transposes.}) 7... Ne7 8. d4 Bb6 9. Re1 (9. Nbd2 exd4 $5 (9... c6 10. Bd3
Ng6 11. Re1 h6 12. a4 Re8 13. Bf1 d5 $5 14. dxe5 Nxe5 15. exd5 Nxf3+ 16. Nxf3
Rxe1 17. Nxe1 Nxd5 18. Qf3 Be6 19. Nd3 a5 20. Bd2 Qh4 21. b3 Rd8 $11 {
Movsesian,S (2699)-Alekseev,E (2683)/St Petersburg rpd/2012/}) 10. cxd4 d5 11.
e5 Ne4 12. Bd3 Bf5 13. Qe2 Nc6 14. Nxe4 dxe4 15. Bxe4 Nxd4 16. Nxd4 Bxe4 17.
Qxe4 Qxd4 $11 {/=/+,Areshchenko,A (2709)-Kramnik,V (2784)/WCup/2013/}) 9... Ng6
(9... d5 $5 10. Nxe5 Nxe4 11. Nd2 Nd6 12. Bf1 c6 13. b3 Re8 14. a4 Ng6 15. Nxg6
Rxe1 16. Qxe1 hxg6 17. Ba3 a5 18. Qe3 Be6 19. Re1 Bc7 20. Bd3 Bf5 21. Nf3 Bxd3
22. Qxd3 Ne4 23. Nd2 Nxd2 24. Qxd2 Bd6 25. Bxd6 Qxd6 26. g3 Qd7 27. Kg2 Re8 $11
{Karjakin,S (2756)-Le Quang,L (2703)/Beijing rpd/2013/}) 10. Bd3 (10. Nbd2 d5
$5 $11) 10... Re8 11. Qc2 c6 12. Be3 h6 13. Nbd2 Nh7 14. Bf1 Ng5 15. Rad1 Qf6
16. Nxg5 hxg5 17. dxe5 dxe5 18. Bxb6 axb6 19. Nc4 b5 20. Nd6 Rd8 21. Nxc8 Raxc8
22. Be2 Ra8 $11 {Areshchenko,A (2720)-L'Ami,E (2648)/WChT Antalya/2013/}) 7.
Re1 a6 8. Ba4 b5 9. Bb3 (9. Bc2 d5 $1 $11 {is one of the main ponts behind 6...
Re8!?}) 9... d6 10. Bg5 $5 ({I have already quoted almost all the relevant
examples with} 10. Nbd2 Bb6 ({or} 10... Be6 {in the notes to Anand-Carlsen.}))
10... Be6 11. Nbd2 (11. Bxe6 $142 $1 fxe6 12. b4 (12. d4 $5) 12... Bb6 13. a4
$14) 11... h6 12. Bh4 Bxb3 13. axb3 Nb8 $5 14. h3 Nbd7 15. Nh2 Qe7 16. Ndf1 Bb6
17. Ne3 Qe6 18. b4 a5 $1 19. bxa5 Bxa5 20. Nhg4 Bb6 21. Bxf6 Nxf6 22. Nxf6+
Qxf6 $11 {Anand,V (2775)-Carlsen,M (2870)/WCh Chennai/2013/ - see the notes in
CBM 158 for more details.}) ({After} 5. O-O {White must reckon with} Nd4 $5 (
5... d6 6. c3 O-O {transposes to 5.c3 and was already mentioned above.}) 6.
Nxd4 Bxd4 7. c3 Bb6 8. Nd2 c6 9. Ba4 O-O 10. Nf3 d5 $5 ({Black has no serious
problems even after the more restrained} 10... d6 11. h3 h6 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Kh1
d5 14. Qe2 dxe4 15. dxe4 Nh5 16. Nh2 Qh4 17. Qf3 {Kamsky,G (2723)-Kramnik,V 
(2788)/Moscow blitz/2008/} Be6 $11) 11. Nxe5 dxe4 12. d4 c5 13. dxc5 Bxc5 14.
Qxd8 Rxd8 15. Bb3 Be6 16. Bxe6 fxe6 17. Nc4 b5 18. Be3 bxc4 19. Bxc5 Rd5 20.
Bd4 e5 21. Be3 Rd3 22. Rfe1 h6 $11 {Perunovic,M (2613)-Andreikin,D (2710)/
EU-chT Warsaw/2013/ Black's active pieces balance the split pawns.}) 5... dxc6
6. h3 {This has become White's main try after Chennai.} (6. Nbd2 Bg4 $5 ({
A reliable antidote, but Black may possibly go for the more complex} 6... O-O
7. O-O Re8 8. Nc4 Nd7 9. a4 f6 $5 {as well:} 10. Bd2 Nf8 11. Nh4 (11. b4 $142)
11... Ne6 12. Nf5 Bf8 13. Kh1 c5 14. f4 exf4 15. Bxf4 Nxf4 16. Rxf4 Be6 17. b3
a6 18. a5 b5 19. axb6 cxb6 20. Nce3 g6 21. Ng3 Bh6 22. Rf3 b5 $132 {/=/+,
Michalik,P (2529)-Lysyj,I (2656)/EU-ch Plovdiv/2012/}) 7. h3 Bh5 8. Nc4 $5 (8.
Nf1 Nd7 9. Ng3 Bxf3 $1 10. Qxf3 g6 11. Be3 Qe7 12. O-O-O O-O-O 13. Ne2 Rhe8 14.
Kb1 b6 15. h4 Kb7 16. h5 Bxe3 17. Qxe3 Nc5 18. hxg6 hxg6 19. g3 a5 20. Rh7 Rh8
21. Rdh1 Rxh7 22. Rxh7 Qf6 23. f4 Rh8 24. Rxh8 Qxh8 25. fxe5 Qxe5 26. Qf3 f5
$11 {Anand,V (2775)-Carlsen,M (2870)/WCh Chennai/2013/}) 8... Nd7 9. Be3 f6 10.
Qd2 Qe7 ({A simpler and more consistent way is} 10... Bxf3 11. gxf3 Qe7 $11)
11. Nh4 $5 O-O-O 12. Nf5 Qf8 13. O-O Bf7 14. b3 g6 15. Ng3 h5 16. Bxc5 Nxc5 17.
Qe3 Kb8 18. f4 Bxc4 19. bxc4 Qd6 20. Ne2 Rhf8 $132 {Sjugirov,S (2641)-Maletin,
P (2598)/Khanty-Mansiysk/2013/}) (6. b3 Bg4 7. Nbd2 Nd7 8. Bb2 f6 9. Nf1 (9. h3
Bxf3 10. Nxf3 Qe7 11. a3 O-O-O 12. b4 Bd6 13. c3 Nf8 14. Qa4 Kb8 15. O-O-O Ne6
16. Qc2 c5 17. Nd2 c6 18. Nc4 {1/2,Trent,L (2433)-Parker,J (2531)/England/2012/
} Bc7 $15) 9... Nf8 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Ne6 12. Ne3 Qd7 13. h4 a5 14. a4 O-O
15. h5 Bxe3 16. Qxe3 c5 17. Qh3 Qc6 $11 18. O-O Nf4 19. Qh2 Qe8 20. h6 g5 21.
g3 Ne6 22. f4 $5 gxf4 23. gxf4 Nxf4 24. Rxf4 exf4 25. Kf2 $44 {/=,McShane,L 
(2671)-Kramnik,V (2800)/London/2011/}) (6. O-O {may be somewhat premature.
White has committed his king and in some cases opposite-side castling can be
advantageous for Black. An illustrative example is} Bd6 7. Nbd2 Bg4 8. Nc4 Nd7
9. h3 Bh5 10. g4 $6 (10. Ne3 $11 {/\} Qf6 11. Nf5) 10... Bg6 11. Kg2 Qe7 12.
Ne3 O-O-O 13. Nd2 h5 14. Nf5 Qf6 15. Nf3 hxg4 16. hxg4 Rdg8 17. Rh1 Bxf5 18.
Bg5 Qe6 19. exf5 Qe8 20. Rxh8 Rxh8 21. Qe2 f6 22. Bd2 Qg8 $1 23. Qe1 g6 24.
fxg6 Nc5 $1 $40 {[%cal Rg8g6] Karjakin,S (2756)-Leko,P (2730)/Beijing rpd/2013/
} (24... Qxg6 25. Qe4 $11)) 6... Nd7 {Black also doesn't show his hand with
his king.} (6... Be6 7. Qe2 ({A novel idea is} 7. Nc3 $5 $146 Qd6 8. O-O O-O-O
(8... a5 $5 $132) 9. a3 Nh5 $6 {Black's ultra-sharp reaction is maybe not
ideal, after} 10. Na4 $1 Bb6 11. Nxb6+ axb6 12. a4 $5 f6 13. Be3 Nf4 14. a5 b5
15. Bxf4 (15. d4 $6 Nxh3+ $1 16. gxh3 Bxh3 17. dxe5 Qe6 18. Nd2 Bxf1 19. Qxf1
Qxe5 20. c3 Kb8 21. a6 b6 22. Qg2 Rd6 23. Nf1 f5 $1 $36 {Anand,V (2773)
-Nakamura,H (2789)/Zuerich/2014/}) 15... exf4 16. Re1 $14 {[%cal Ye4e5] Here
Black's king is more exposed, than White's.}) 7... Nd7 8. Be3 f6 ({Black
doesn't want to part with his bishop immediately after} 8... Bd6 9. Ng5 $14) (
8... Qe7 9. Bxc5 Qxc5 10. Nc3 Qd6 11. O-O-O c5 12. Nh4 O-O-O 13. Nf5 Bxf5 14.
exf5 Nf6 15. Rhe1 Rhe8 16. Qf3 Qd4 17. g4 h6 18. a3 a6 $6 (18... Qf4+ 19. Qxf4
exf4 20. Ne2 h5 $132 {Postny}) 19. Re3 Re7 20. Kb1 Nd5 21. Nxd5 Qxd5 22. Qxd5
Rxd5 23. Rde1 f6 24. f4 Kd7 25. c3 b5 26. Kc2 $36 {Morozevich,A (2748)-Caruana,
F (2786)/Tashkent 2012/ See the notes by Postny in CBM 152 for more details.})
9. Bxc5 Nxc5 10. Qe3 Qe7 11. Nc3 O-O-O 12. O-O-O Kb8 13. d4 exd4 14. Nxd4 Nd7
15. f4 Nb6 16. Nxe6 Qxe6 17. Qc5 Rd6 18. b3 Rhd8 19. Qh5 h6 20. Qg4 Qe7 {
White has the better pawn structure, but he has no obvious way to make
progress. The simplifying} 21. Rxd6 cxd6 22. Rd1 {allowed Black to force a
draw with} d5 $1 23. exd5 Qa3+ 24. Kb1 Nc4 25. bxc4 Qb4+ $11 {Nakamura,H (2772)
-Fressinet,L (2708)/Elancourt/2013/}) ({However, Black can also refrain from
any speculations and play the simple} 6... O-O 7. O-O Re8 8. Nbd2 Nd7 9. Nc4 f6
10. Nh4 $5 (10. Be3 Bf8 11. Qd2 Nc5 12. Qc3 Ne6 13. b4 b6 14. a4 c5 15. bxc5
Bxc5 16. Bxc5 Nxc5 17. a5 Be6 18. Ne3 Qd7 19. Qa3 Rad8 20. axb6 axb6 $11 {
Antoniewski,R (2559)-Balogh,C (2665)/AUT-chT/2012/}) 10... Nf8 11. Be3 Bb6 12.
a4 Be6 13. a5 Bd4 14. Bxd4 Qxd4 15. b3 (15. Ne3 $1 $13 {retains more tension
in the position}) 15... Ng6 16. Nxg6 hxg6 17. Qe2 Bxc4 18. bxc4 g5 19. Rfb1 b5
$1 20. cxb5 cxb5 $11 {/=/+,Caruana,F (2774)-Anand,V (2786)/Moscow blitz/2013/})
7. Be3 (7. Nbd2 {is too weak:} O-O 8. Nf1 (8. O-O Re8 {transposes to the line
from the previous note}) 8... Re8 9. Be3 Bd6 10. Ng3 Nf8 11. Qd2 c5 12. O-O Ne6
13. Nf5 Nd4 14. Bxd4 cxd4 15. Nxd6 cxd6 16. c3 dxc3 17. Qxc3 Qf6 18. d4 exd4
19. Qd3 b6 20. Rfe1 Bb7 21. Nxd4 d5 22. exd5 Bxd5 $11 {/=/+,Solak,D (2583)
-Sargissian,G (2678)/EU-chT Novi Sad/ 2009/}) 7... Bd6 (7... Bxe3 8. fxe3 $13 {
/+/= is not a direct mistake, but given a choice, Black would nevertheless
prefer to retain both his bishops.}) 8. Nc3 $146 {A novelty, but hardly an
impressive one - this game certainly wasn't decided by opening preparation.} (
8. Nbd2 O-O 9. O-O Re8 10. c3 $5 (10. Nc4 Nf8 11. d4 exd4 12. Qxd4 c5 13. Qd3
b6 14. Nxd6 Qxd6 15. Qxd6 cxd6 16. Rfd1 Bb7 17. Rxd6 Bxe4 18. Ne1 Rad8 19. Rad1
Ne6 20. Rxd8 Rxd8 21. Rxd8+ Nxd8 $11 {Anand,V (2773)-Carlsen,M (2872)/Zuerich/
2014/ This colourless draw was played on the following day, it seems the
players had an unwritten non-aggression pact.}) 10... Nf8 (10... c5 $5 $11) 11.
d4 Ng6 12. Qc2 exd4 13. cxd4 Bf4 14. Rfe1 Qf6 15. Nf1 Be6 16. Ng3 Bxe3 17. Rxe3
Nf4 18. a3 a5 19. Qd2 Qh6 20. Rc1 $14 {[%csl Gd4,Ge4] /<=>,Inarkiev,E (2671)
-Aronian,L (2783)/Mainz rpd/2010/ White is somewhat better due to his pawn
centre, but Black's defences are still solid.}) 8... c5 9. O-O ({White could
have played} 9. Nd2 {immediately, but Carlsen doesn't speculate with his king
placement anymore. If necessary, Black can follow suit and prepare 0-0, or
0-0-0 in accordance with White's choice.}) 9... Nf8 10. Nd2 Ng6 (10... Ne6 11.
Nc4 O-O 12. a4 $11 {/+/= is perhaps a tad better for White. Caruana sensibly
keeps e6 free for his bishop.}) 11. Nc4 Be6 12. Ne2 Qd7 (12... Bxc4 13. dxc4
$14 {[%csl Rd6,Ge3]}) ({However, Black had no serious reason to hesitate with} 
12... O-O $1 {/\} 13. Nxd6 cxd6 14. f4 f5 $5 $11) 13. Nxd6+ {Radically
counters any ideas as Bxh3 (Anand-Nakamura!), or Nh4xg2.} cxd6 14. f4 exf4 ({
With the king still on e8} 14... f5 $6 15. fxe5 Nxe5 16. d4 $1 {is definitely
risky:} Nc4 17. Bc1 fxe4 18. b3 Nb6 19. Ng3 $36) 15. Nxf4 Nxf4 16. Rxf4 b6 $6 {
[%cal Yd6d5] This is really toying with fire.} ({There was still nothing
really wrong with} 16... O-O {, the direct attack} 17. Qh5 f6 {[%cal Yd7f7]} (
17... f5 $5 {is also a plausible alternative}) 18. Rh4 $2 g5 {leads nowhere
and otherwise White has only a very slight and almost surely temporary pull.})
17. Qh5 d5 {A natural follow-up to the previous move.} (17... O-O 18. Rh4 h6
19. Rf1 $1 {[%cal Re3h6]} (19. Bxh6 $2 gxh6 20. Qxh6 f6 {doesn't give White
anything concrete and his compensation for the piece is somewhat vague.}) 19...
f6 $8 20. Qg6 Qf7 21. Rxh6 Qxg6 22. Rxg6 $14 {/+/-}) ({Black's king is more
exposed after} 17... O-O-O 18. a4 $14 {[%csl Rc8]}) 18. d4 $1 {[%csl Re8]} c4
19. b3 {Black now can't afford to open the position, while Magnus wants to
blast apart the centre. However, White had also other moves:} (19. Raf1 $14 {or
}) (19. e5 $5 {[%csl Rf7] both give White an edge.}) 19... Qc6 {Again risky.
Caruana insists on castling queenside, but this is risky.} ({Houdini insists on
} 19... Rc8 $1 {and this indeed seems better. After} 20. e5 cxb3 21. cxb3 O-O
22. Raf1 (22. Rh4 Bf5) 22... Qb5 $11 {[%cal Yb5d3] Black can defend his
kingside from d3.}) 20. Raf1 O-O-O 21. bxc4 $5 (21. e5 {[%cal Ye3c1,Yc1a3,
Ya3d6,Gf1f7] also gives White nagging pressure, but Carlsen is already more
ambitious and envisages a positional exchange sacrifice to further his attack.}
) 21... Qxc4 22. Rxf7 $1 {[%mdl 640]} Bxf7 ({Black could have considered} 22...
g6 $5 {, but after} 23. Qh6 $1 (23. Qe5 Bxf7 24. Rxf7 Rhe8 25. Qg7 Qc6 26. e5
Rd7 $11) 23... Bxf7 24. Rxf7 dxe4 (24... Qc6 25. c4 $1 {/\} dxc4 26. d5 $16 {->
}) 25. Qg7 (25. Rxa7 Rhf8 26. Qxh7 $36 {leads to the same position}) 25... Rhg8
26. Qxh7 Rgf8 27. Rxa7 $36 {he still faces a difficult defence.}) 23. Rxf7 Rd7
$8 {[%cal Gd7f7] Black must fight back on the 7th rank.} (23... dxe4 $2 24.
Qf5+ Kb8 25. Qe5+ Ka8 26. Qxe4+ Qd5 27. Qe7 $18) (23... g6 24. Qg4+ (24. Qh6 {
-22...g6!?}) 24... Kb8 25. Qg5 {[%cal Rg5e7]} Ka8 26. Qe7 Qa6 27. Bg5 {/\} Rhe8
28. Qc7 Rc8 29. Qd7 $18) 24. Rxd7 Kxd7 25. exd5 g6 ({The engine prefers} 25...
Rd8 26. Qxh7 Kc8 27. Qxg7 Rd7 {for a while, but gradually the evaluation of
Black's chances decreases - the kingside passed pawns are dangerous after} 28.
Qg8+ Kb7 29. Qe6 Rxd5 30. h4 $14 {/+/-}) 26. Qg4+ Kc7 27. Qe6 Kb7 28. Qe7+ $6 {
Gives Black some respite.} (28. Qf6 $142 $1 {/\d6 I don't see any perpetual
after} Qe2 29. Qxh8 Qxe3+ 30. Kf1 (30. Kh2 Qf4+) 30... Qc1+ 31. Kf2 Qf4+ (31...
Qxc2+ 32. Kg3 Qc3+ 33. Kf4 $16) 32. Ke2 Qe4+ 33. Kd1 $16) 28... Qc7 29. Qe4 {
[%csl Gc2,Gd4,Gd5] The material is equal, but White with his strong central
pawns holds the initiative. However, now Black's rook joins the fray and he
can fight back.} Qd7 (29... Rd8 $142 $1 30. Bg5 (30. d6+ $2 Qc6) 30... Rd7 31.
Bf4 Qc4 32. d6+ Ka6 $14 {with drawing chances.}) 30. d6+ (30. c4 $143 $6 Re8
31. Qf3 Qf5 $132 {/=/+}) 30... Ka6 (30... Qc6 $2 31. Qe7+ Kc8 32. Bf4 $40 {/\}
Qd7 33. Qe4 Kb8 34. c4 Rc8 35. c5 $1 bxc5 36. dxc5 Rxc5 37. Qe8+ $1 $18) 31.
Bf4 Rc8 32. Kh2 $6 ({Useful prophylaxis, but White had the more direct} 32.
Qe2+ $142 $1 Kb7 (32... Qb5 $2 33. Qe7 Qb1+ 34. Kh2 Qf1 35. Bg5 Rxc2 36. Qe4
Re2 37. Qc6 $18 {[%cal Rd6d8] , ako aj}) (32... b5 $2 33. a4 $40) 33. c4) 32...
Rc4 $2 {Blockade was necessary, but the rook is misplaced here, as Qe7 becomes
an issue.} (32... g5 33. Bg3 b5 $14 {or the immediate}) (32... b5 $5 {makes it
more difficult for White to convert his advantage.}) 33. Bg3 {Carlsen is in no
hurry and spurns such tempting alternatives as} (33. Qe2 $5 b5 34. Qe7 $16) ({
or} 33. Qe7 Qxe7 34. dxe7 Rc8 35. Bc7 $36) 33... Rc8 $6 {Losing tempi is more
than Black's position can stand.} ({A more resilient try was} 33... b5 {
, although} 34. a4 $5 (34. Qe7 Qxe7 35. dxe7 Rc8 36. Bc7 Rg8 $5 $14 {might not
be enough}) 34... bxa4 35. Qe2 Kb5 36. d5 {[%cal Re2e6]} a3 37. Qd3 a2 38. Qb3+
Kc5 39. Qxa2 Kxd5 40. Qb3 $16 {/+- is probably winning anyway. Black's king is
permanently exposed and his pieces are not coordinated well enough to prevent
either a decisive attack, or an advance of the c-pawn.}) 34. Qd3+ Kb7 (34...
Qb5 $2 35. Bh4 $1 $18 {[%cal Rd6d8]}) 35. c4 $18 {-> Once all the pawns join
in, Black is facing an uphill fight.} Qc6 36. Qb3 {Now he has got in c4, White
doesn't force the issue before the time control.} (36. c5 $5 {/\} bxc5 37. dxc5
Qxc5 38. Qe2 $1 $40) 36... Ka8 (36... Qxc4 $2 37. d7 $18) (36... Qe4 37. a4 $5
{[%cal Ra4a5,Rc4c5] /\} Qxd4 38. Qf3+ Ka6 (38... Rc6 39. a5 $1 {[%cal Ra5a6]}
bxa5 40. Qf7+ Ka6 41. Qe8 $18) 39. Qe2 Ka5 40. Qe7 $18) 37. a4 $1 Re8 38. a5
Kb7 (38... bxa5 39. d5 (39. c5 $18 {[%cal Yb3c4,Yd4d5]}) 39... Qb7 (39... Qc5
40. Qa4 Rd8 41. Qc6+ $18) (39... Qb6 40. Qxb6 axb6 41. Bh4 $18) 40. Qxb7+ Kxb7
41. d7 Rd8 42. c5 $18 {[%csl Gc5,Gd5,Gd7]}) 39. c5 {White already had more
than one way to win.} (39. d5 $5 Qc5 40. a6+ $1 Kc8 41. Qf3 Qxc4 42. Qf7 Re2
43. Qg8+ Kd7 44. Qxh7+ Ke8 45. d7+ Kd8 46. Bh4+ $18) 39... Kc8 40. axb6 axb6
41. d5 $1 {Move 40 has passed and Carlsen calmly finds and calculates the most
convincing win.} Qxc5 42. Qa4 Re3 43. Qa8+ Kd7 44. Qb7+ Ke8 45. d7+ Kd8 46.
Bh4+ Re7 47. Qc8+ $1 {Now White wins a whole rook.} (47. Bxe7+ $2 Kxe7 48. Qc8
Qd6+ $11 {was still a way to spoil the game.}) 1-0

[Event "Zuerich Chess Challenge"]
[Site "Zuerich"]
[Date "2014.02.03"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[Annotator "Vidit,S"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2014.01.30"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{This was the first classical game after the World Championship match and I
was anticipating a tough fight. But unfortunately the Berlin wall is just too
solid :)} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. h3 Nd7 7.
Be3 $5 {A surprising choice as Carlsen on the previous day used this line with
the white pieces to defeat Caruana in a brilliant way!} Bd6 8. Nbd2 (8. Nc3 c5
9. O-O Nf8 10. Nd2 Ng6 11. Nc4 Be6 12. Ne2 Qd7 13. Nxd6+ cxd6 14. f4 exf4 15.
Nxf4 Nxf4 16. Rxf4 b6 17. Qh5 d5 18. d4 c4 19. b3 Qc6 20. Raf1 O-O-O 21. bxc4
Qxc4 22. Rxf7 Bxf7 23. Rxf7 Rd7 24. Rxd7 Kxd7 25. exd5 g6 26. Qg4+ Kc7 27. Qe6
Kb7 28. Qe7+ Qc7 29. Qe4 Qd7 30. d6+ Ka6 31. Bf4 Rc8 32. Kh2 Rc4 33. Bg3 Rc8
34. Qd3+ Kb7 35. c4 Qc6 36. Qb3 Ka8 37. a4 Re8 38. a5 Kb7 39. c5 Kc8 40. axb6
axb6 41. d5 Qxc5 42. Qa4 Re3 43. Qa8+ Kd7 44. Qb7+ Ke8 45. d7+ Kd8 46. Bh4+ Re7
47. Qc8+ {1-0 (47) Carlsen,M (2872)-Caruana,F (2782) Zurich SUI 2014}) 8... O-O
9. O-O Re8 10. Nc4 Nf8 11. d4 {A questionable decision. The game now
immediately peters out to a draw.} (11. a4 $5) 11... exd4 12. Qxd4 c5 13. Qd3
b6 14. Nxd6 Qxd6 15. Qxd6 cxd6 16. Rfd1 Bb7 17. Rxd6 Bxe4 18. Ne1 Rad8 $11 {
The game is completely drawish now.} 19. Rad1 Ne6 20. Rxd8 Rxd8 21. Rxd8+ Nxd8
22. f3 Bd5 23. a3 Nc6 24. Kf2 f6 25. Nd3 Kf8 26. Ke2 Ke7 27. Kd2 Kd7 28. Nf4
Bf7 29. b3 Ne7 30. h4 Nd5 31. Nxd5 Bxd5 32. Bf4 Kc6 33. Bg3 Bf7 34. Bf4 Bg6 35.
Bg3 Bf7 36. Bb8 a6 37. Bf4 Bg6 38. Bg3 Bh5 39. Bf2 Bf7 40. Bg3 Bg6 {Not much
happened in the game. White didn't get anything out of the opening and the
game was soon equal.A typical berlin affair.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Zuerich Chess Challenge Rapid"]
[Site "Zuerich"]
[Date "2014.02.04"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A58"]
[WhiteElo "2761"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2014.02.04"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. e4 O-O 8. Nf3
Qa5 9. Bd3 Nxd5 10. exd5 Bxc3+ 11. bxc3 Qxc3+ 12. Qd2 Qxa1 13. O-O Bxa6 14. Bb2
Qxa2 15. Ra1 Qb3 16. Be4 d6 17. Rb1 f6 18. Bxf6 Qc4 19. Bb2 Qxe4 20. Re1 Qd3
21. Qxd3 Bxd3 22. Rxe7 Rxf3 23. gxf3 Na6 0-1

[Event "Zuerich Chess Challenge Rapid"]
[Site "Zuerich"]
[Date "2014.02.04"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E06"]
[WhiteElo "2826"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2014.02.04"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. d4 O-O 6. Qc2 c5 7. O-O cxd4 8. Nxd4
e5 9. Nf5 d4 10. Nxe7+ Qxe7 11. Bg5 h6 12. Bxf6 Qxf6 13. Nd2 Bf5 14. Qb3 Nd7
15. Qa3 Qb6 16. Rfc1 Rfc8 17. b4 a5 18. c5 Qa6 19. Nc4 Be6 20. Nd6 axb4 21.
Qxa6 bxa6 22. Nxc8 Rxc8 23. c6 Nb6 24. Rab1 a5 25. a3 b3 26. c7 Bc4 27. Bb7
Rxc7 28. Rxb3 Rxb7 29. Rxc4 Nxc4 30. Rxb7 Nxa3 31. Kg2 Nc4 32. g4 Nd6 33. Ra7
f6 34. Rxa5 Ne4 35. h4 h5 36. gxh5 Kh7 37. Ra8 Nd6 38. Kf3 Nf5 39. Kg4 Nh6+ 40.
Kh3 Nf5 41. Rd8 Nh6 42. f4 exf4 43. Rxd4 Nf7 44. Rxf4 Kh6 45. Rf5 Nd6 46. Rd5
Nc4 47. Kg3 Ne3 48. Rc5 Nf1+ 49. Kf4 Nd2 50. e3 Nb3 51. Rc3 Na5 52. Rc8 Kh7 53.
Kf5 1-0

[Event "Zuerich Chess Challenge Rapid"]
[Site "Zuerich"]
[Date "2014.02.04"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "140"]
[EventDate "2014.02.04"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. O-O a6 5. Bd3 Ngf6 6. Re1 b5 7. c4 Ne5 8. Bf1
Nxc4 9. a4 Bd7 10. d4 cxd4 11. Nxd4 e5 12. axb5 exd4 13. Bxc4 axb5 14. Rxa8
Qxa8 15. Bb3 Be7 16. Qxd4 O-O 17. Nc3 b4 18. Qxb4 Rb8 19. Qc4 Be6 20. Nd5 Bd8
21. h3 h6 22. Bf4 Qb7 23. Bc2 Ba5 24. Rd1 Bxd5 25. exd5 Rc8 26. Qb3 Qxb3 27.
Bxb3 Rb8 28. Bc4 Rxb2 29. Bxd6 Bb6 30. Be5 Rxf2 31. Kh2 Rf5 32. Bg3 h5 33. d6
Rc5 34. Be2 Ne4 35. d7 Bd8 36. Bb8 Nf6 37. Bf3 Kh7 38. Bf4 g5 39. Be3 Rb5 40.
Bc6 Ra5 41. Bd4 Kg6 42. Kh1 Ra6 43. Rc1 h4 44. Kg1 Be7 45. Bb5 Rd6 46. Bc5 Rxd7
47. Bxd7 Bxc5+ 48. Rxc5 Nxd7 49. Rc6+ f6 50. Kf2 Ne5 51. Rc3 Kf5 52. Ke3 Nd7
53. Rb3 Nf8 54. Rb5+ Kg6 55. Ke4 Ne6 56. Rb2 Nf4 57. Ra2 Ne6 58. Kd5 Nf4+ 59.
Kd6 g4 60. hxg4 Kg5 61. Ke7 Kxg4 62. Kxf6 Kg3 63. Kf5 Nxg2 64. Ra3+ Kf2 65. Kg4
Ne3+ 66. Kxh4 Kf3 67. Ra4 Nf5+ 68. Kg5 Ne3 69. Ra3 Ke4 70. Rxe3+ Kxe3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Zuerich Chess Challenge Rapid"]
[Site "Zuerich"]
[Date "2014.02.04"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2781"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2014.02.04"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 c6 4. O-O Bf5 5. d3 e6 6. c4 Nbd7 7. cxd5 cxd5 8.
Be3 Bc5 9. Bxc5 Nxc5 10. Nc3 O-O 11. Qd2 h6 12. Rfc1 Rc8 13. b4 Ncd7 14. a4 Qe7
15. Nb5 a6 16. Nbd4 Bg6 17. Nb3 e5 18. Nh4 Bh7 19. Bh3 d4 20. Nf3 Rxc1+ 21.
Rxc1 Nb6 22. a5 Nbd5 23. Rc5 Rd8 24. Na1 e4 25. Nxd4 exd3 26. exd3 Bxd3 27.
Qxd3 Nxb4 28. Qc3 Ne4 29. Nf5 Qf8 30. Qxb4 Nxc5 31. Nc2 Nd3 32. Qc3 g6 33. Nfd4
Nc5 34. Bg2 Qd6 35. h4 h5 36. Qe3 Qf6 37. Nf3 Qf5 38. Nfd4 Qf6 39. Kh2 Kg7 40.
Qc3 Nd7 41. f4 b5 42. Nb4 Nb8 43. Nd5 b4 44. Nf5+ 1-0

[Event "Zuerich Chess Challenge Rapid"]
[Site "Zuerich"]
[Date "2014.02.04"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2014.02.04"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5
8. Rxe5 O-O 9. d4 Bf6 10. Re1 Re8 11. c3 Rxe1 12. Qxe1 Ne8 13. Bf4 d5 14. Bd3
g6 15. Nd2 Ng7 16. Nf3 Bf5 17. Bxf5 Nxf5 18. Qe2 c6 19. Re1 Ng7 20. Be5 Ne6 21.
Bxf6 Qxf6 22. Ne5 Re8 23. Ng4 Qd8 24. Qe5 Ng7 25. Qxe8+ Nxe8 26. Rxe8+ Qxe8 27.
Nf6+ Kf8 28. Nxe8 Kxe8 29. f4 f5 30. Kf2 Kf7 31. b4 b5 32. g3 Kf6 33. Kf3 Ke6
34. Ke3 Kf6 35. Kf3 Ke6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Caxias do Sul Uva Extra rap"]
[Site "Caxias do Sul"]
[Date "2014.03.06"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Rodriguez Vila, Andres"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2437"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "142"]
[EventDate "2014.03.06"]
[EventType "game (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.04.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.04.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 a6 6. O-O d6 7. Bb3 Ba7 8. Nbd2
O-O 9. Re1 Ng4 10. Re2 Kh8 11. h3 Nh6 12. Nf1 f5 13. Bg5 Qe8 14. Qd2 fxe4 15.
dxe4 Ng8 16. N3h2 Qg6 17. Ng3 Nf6 18. Be3 Na5 19. Bxa7 Nxb3 20. axb3 Rxa7 21.
b4 Bd7 22. Nf3 Raa8 23. Nh4 Qf7 24. Qg5 h6 25. Qe3 Nh5 26. Ngf5 Nf4 27. Rd2 Qf6
28. Qg3 Kh7 29. Re1 g5 30. Nf3 Bxf5 31. exf5 Qxf5 32. Nh2 Rae8 33. Ng4 e4 34.
Ne3 Qf7 35. Qg4 d5 36. Qd1 c6 37. Kh2 Nd3 38. Rf1 Re6 39. Kg1 Qf4 40. Qe2 Ref6
41. Ng4 R6f7 42. f3 h5 43. Nh2 Qg3 44. fxe4 Nf4 45. Rxf4 Qxf4 46. exd5 cxd5 47.
Qxh5+ Kg7 48. Qe2 Qe4 49. Nf3 Re8 50. Qf2 Rf5 51. Qg3 Qf4 52. Qxf4 gxf4 53. Kf2
Kf6 54. Rd4 Re4 55. Rd3 Rh5 56. Nh2 Ke6 57. Ng4 Rh7 58. Kf3 Rf7 59. Nf2 Re1 60.
h4 Rh7 61. Kg4 Rg1 62. Kf3 Rxh4 63. Nh3 Rf1+ 64. Ke2 Rb1 65. Kf3 Ke5 66. Rd2
Re1 67. Rd4 Re4 68. Rd2 Re3+ 69. Kf2 Rg4 70. Rd4 Re4 71. Rd3 Rg3 0-1

[Event "Caxias do Sul Uva rap"]
[Site "Caxias do Sul"]
[Date "2014.03.06"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Leitao, Rafael Duailibe"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[EventDate "2014.03.06"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4 5. cxd5 Bxf3 6. Qxf3 cxd5 7. Nc3 e6 8.
Bd3 Nc6 9. O-O Bb4 10. Bd2 O-O 11. Rac1 Rc8 12. a3 Ba5 13. b4 Bc7 14. Qh3 Bd6
15. f4 a5 16. b5 Ne7 17. e4 Rxc3 18. Rxc3 dxe4 19. Bc4 Bxa3 20. Rxa3 Qxd4+ 21.
Qe3 Qxc4 22. Rc1 Qxb5 23. Rxa5 Qd7 24. Rac5 Nf5 25. Qc3 e3 26. Bxe3 Nd5 0-1

[Event "Caxias do Sul Uva rap"]
[Site "Caxias do Sul"]
[Date "2014.03.06"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Milos, Gilberto"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2583"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2014.03.06"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bb4+ 5. c3 Be7 6. Bf4 Nf6 7. e5 Nd5 8.
Bg3 O-O 9. Nf5 d6 10. Nxe7+ Ndxe7 11. exd6 Nf5 12. Be2 Re8 13. O-O Nxg3 14.
hxg3 Qxd6 15. Qxd6 cxd6 16. Re1 d5 17. Nd2 d4 18. Bf3 Bd7 19. c4 Ne5 20. Rad1
Bc6 21. Bxc6 Nxc6 22. Rxe8+ Rxe8 23. Kf1 f5 24. Nf3 Kf7 25. a3 a5 26. b4 axb4
27. axb4 Nxb4 28. Rb1 Nc6 29. Rxb7+ Re7 30. Rb5 Kf6 31. Rd5 Re4 32. c5 g6 33.
Kg1 Ke7 34. Kh2 Kf6 35. Kh3 h6 36. Kh2 Ne5 37. Rd6+ Kf7 38. Nxe5+ Rxe5 39. Rxd4
Rxc5 40. g4 fxg4 41. Rxg4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Caxias do Sul Uva rap"]
[Site "Caxias do Sul"]
[Date "2014.03.06"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Rodriguez Vila, Andres"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2437"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "42"]
[EventDate "2014.03.06"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 Nf6 2. Bb2 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. c4 c5 5. e3 b6 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O e6 8. Na3
Bb7 9. Nc2 d5 10. Rc1 Nc6 11. a3 Qe7 12. cxd5 exd5 13. d4 Rac8 14. Qd2 Rfd8 15.
Rfd1 Na5 16. Na1 Ne4 17. Qd3 c4 18. bxc4 dxc4 19. Qb1 c3 20. Bxc3 Nxc3 21. Rxc3
Rxc3 0-1

[Event "Caxias do Sul Uva rap"]
[Site "Caxias do Sul"]
[Date "2014.03.06"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Leitao, Rafael Duailibe"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B20"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2014.03.06"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. b3 Nc6 3. Bb2 d6 4. Bb5 Bd7 5. f4 a6 6. Bxc6 Bxc6 7. Nc3 Nf6 8. Qe2
e6 9. Nf3 Be7 10. O-O-O Qc7 11. d4 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Rc8 13. g4 O-O 14. g5 Nd7 15.
h4 b5 16. Rhe1 Rfe8 17. a3 Nc5 18. f5 Bf8 19. f6 a5 20. Ndxb5 Bxb5 21. Nxb5 Qb8
22. Kb1 Nxe4 23. fxg7 Be7 24. Qxe4 Qxb5 25. a4 Qc6 26. Qd3 e5 27. Rf1 Kxg7 28.
Qf5 Rf8 29. h5 Rc7 30. Rd2 Qd7 31. Bxe5+ Kg8 32. Qxd7 Rxd7 33. Rf5 Re8 34. Bc3
1-0

[Event "Caxias do Sul Uva rap"]
[Site "Caxias do Sul"]
[Date "2014.03.06"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Milos, Gilberto"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B42"]
[WhiteElo "2583"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "128"]
[EventDate "2014.03.06"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Ne7 6. c4 Nbc6 7. Nf3 Ng6 8.
O-O Bc5 9. Nc3 d6 10. a3 O-O 11. b4 Ba7 12. Qe2 e5 13. h3 Nd4 14. Nxd4 Bxd4 15.
Bd2 Qh4 16. Qf3 Be6 17. Rac1 Rac8 18. Nd5 Bxd5 19. cxd5 Nf4 20. Bxf4 Qxf4 21.
Qxf4 exf4 22. a4 h5 23. Rfd1 Bb2 24. Rb1 Be5 25. Rbc1 g6 26. Kf1 Kg7 27. Ke2 g5
28. f3 Kf6 29. Kd2 Bd4 30. Rc4 Rxc4 31. Bxc4 Rc8 32. Kd3 Ke5 33. Rb1 g4 34.
hxg4 hxg4 35. Rh1 gxf3 36. gxf3 Be3 37. Rh5+ Kf6 38. Rh6+ Ke7 39. b5 axb5 40.
Bxb5 Rc1 41. e5 Rd1+ 42. Ke4 Bc5 43. exd6+ Bxd6 44. Rh8 Re1+ 45. Kf5 Re5+ 46.
Kg4 Rxd5 47. Re8+ Kf6 48. Rd8 Rg5+ 49. Kh4 Bc5 50. Rd7 Bf2+ 51. Kh3 Rg3+ 52.
Kh2 b6 53. Bc4 Bg1+ 54. Kh1 Be3 55. Rxf7+ Ke5 56. Be2 Bc5 57. Rh7 Kd4 58. Rh5
Ke3 59. Ba6 Kxf3 60. Bb7+ Ke2 61. a5 f3 62. Re5+ Kf2 63. Rh5 bxa5 64. Rh2+ Ke1
0-1

[Event "Caxias do Sul Uva rap"]
[Site "Caxias do Sul"]
[Date "2014.03.06"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Rodriguez Vila, Andres"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C00"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2437"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2014.03.06"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[EventCategory "16"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.03.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 dxe4 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Nxe4 Nxe4 6. Bxe4 Nd7 7. Bg2 c5 8.
Nf3 Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. d4 cxd4 11. Qxd4 Nc5 12. Rd1 Qxd4 13. Nxd4 a6 14. a4 e5
15. Ne2 Be6 16. b4 Bc4 17. bxc5 Bxe2 18. Rd5 Bc4 19. Rxe5 Bf6 20. Bf4 Rac8 21.
Bxb7 Bxe5 22. Bxe5 Rxc5 23. Bd6 Rfc8 24. Bxc5 Rxc5 25. a5 f5 26. c3 Bb5 27. Ra3
Kf7 28. f4 Ke6 29. Kf2 h6 30. Ke3 g5 31. Bf3 Kd6 32. Rb3 Ke6 33. Kd2 Kd6 34.
Rb4 Kc7 35. fxg5 hxg5 36. h4 gxh4 37. gxh4 Be8 38. h5 Rxa5 39. Rh4 Ra2+ 40. Kd3
Bb5+ 41. c4 Ra3+ 42. Ke2 Ra4 43. Bd5 Kd6 44. h6 1-0

[Event "Caxias do Sul Uva KO rap"]
[Site "Caxias do Sul"]
[Date "2014.03.07"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Rodriguez Vila, Andres"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2437"]
[PlyCount "45"]
[EventDate "2014.03.07"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.04.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.04.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 f5 2. d3 Nf6 3. e4 d6 4. exf5 Bxf5 5. d4 Qd7 6. Nc3 g6 7. Bd3 Bg7 8. O-O
Nc6 9. d5 Nb4 10. Bxf5 gxf5 11. a3 Na6 12. Nd4 Nc5 13. b4 Nce4 14. Nxe4 fxe4
15. Ne6 Rg8 16. Bb2 c6 17. c4 Bh8 18. Re1 Rg6 19. Bxf6 exf6 20. Qh5 Qf7 21. Qf5
Qg8 22. g3 Kf7 23. Rxe4 1-0

[Event "Caxias do Sul Uva KO rap"]
[Site "Caxias do Sul"]
[Date "2014.03.07"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Rodriguez Vila, Andres"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2437"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2014.03.07"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.04.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.04.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 a6 6. O-O d6 7. h3 Ba7 8. Bb3 h6
9. Nbd2 Qe7 10. Nc4 Be6 11. Ne3 Bxe3 12. Bxe3 d5 13. exd5 Bxd5 14. Re1 O-O 15.
Bc2 Qd6 16. Nd2 Rad8 17. Ne4 Nxe4 18. dxe4 Bc4 19. Qxd6 cxd6 20. Bb6 Rd7 21.
Red1 Be6 22. Rd2 d5 23. Rad1 d4 24. cxd4 Nxd4 25. Bxd4 Rxd4 26. Rxd4 exd4 27.
Rxd4 Rc8 28. Bb3 Bxb3 29. axb3 Rc1+ 30. Kh2 Rc2 31. Rd8+ Kh7 32. Rd7 Rxf2 33.
Rxb7 f6 34. Kg3 Rxb2 35. Kf3 a5 36. Rb5 g5 37. Kg3 Kg6 38. Kf3 h5 39. Kg3 h4+
40. Kf3 Kf7 41. Rb7+ Ke6 42. Rb6+ Ke5 43. Rb5+ Ke6 44. Rb6+ Ke5 45. Rb5+ Ke6
1/2-1/2

[Event "Caxias do Sul Uva KO rap"]
[Site "Caxias do Sul"]
[Date "2014.03.07"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Milos, Gilberto"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2583"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2014.03.07"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.04.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.04.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. g3 Be7 7. Bg2 Be6 8.
O-O O-O 9. Bd2 Nb6 10. a4 a5 11. Nb5 f6 12. Rc1 Rf7 13. Qc2 Bb4 14. Bc3 Rd7 15.
Rfd1 Qe7 16. d4 e4 17. Nd2 f5 18. e3 Nd8 19. Nxc7 Rxc7 20. Bxb4 Rxc2 21. Bxe7
Rxb2 22. Bf1 Nc6 23. Bc5 Nxa4 24. Nc4 Rb3 25. d5 Nxc5 26. dxe6 Nd3 27. Rb1 Rxb1
28. Rxb1 Ndb4 29. Nd6 g6 30. Nxb7 Kf8 31. Rd1 Ne5 32. Nc5 Ke7 33. Ra1 Ned3 34.
Bxd3 Nxd3 35. Nxd3 exd3 36. Kf1 Kxe6 37. Ke1 Kd5 38. Ra4 Kc5 39. Kd2 Kb5 40.
Ra1 a4 41. Kxd3 a3 42. Kc3 Ka4 43. f3 Rc8+ 44. Kd3 Rd8+ 45. Kc3 Rb8 46. e4 fxe4
47. fxe4 Rb2 48. Rd1 Rb3+ 49. Kc4 a2 50. Ra1 Ka3 51. e5 Rb1 52. Rxa2+ Kxa2 53.
e6 Rb8 54. Kd5 Kb3 55. e7 Kc3 56. g4 Kd3 57. Ke6 Ke4 58. Kf7 Kf4 59. h3 Kg3 60.
g5 Kxh3 0-1

[Event "Caxias do Sul Uva KO rap"]
[Site "Caxias do Sul"]
[Date "2014.03.07"]
[Round "2.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Milos, Gilberto"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A41"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2583"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2014.03.07"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.04.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.04.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d6 2. d4 Bg4 3. Qd3 c6 4. e4 Nf6 5. Nbd2 e6 6. Qe3 Be7 7. Bd3 d5 8. O-O
O-O 9. Ne5 Bh5 10. Qh3 Bg6 11. Nxg6 hxg6 12. e5 Nfd7 13. f4 c5 14. Bxg6 fxg6
15. Qxe6+ Rf7 16. Qxg6 Nf8 17. Qg4 cxd4 18. f5 Nc6 19. Nf3 Qc8 20. e6 Rf6 21.
Bg5 Nh7 22. Bxf6 Nxf6 23. Qg6 Qe8 24. Qxe8+ Rxe8 25. h3 Ne4 26. g4 Rc8 27. Kg2
Nb4 28. Nxd4 Nxc2 29. Rac1 Ne3+ 30. Kf3 Nc4 31. Rfd1 Bg5 32. Rc2 Rf8 33. Nb3
Ne3 34. Rxd5 Nxd5 35. Kxe4 Nf6+ 36. Kf3 Rd8 37. Nc5 b6 38. e7 Rc8 39. Ne4 1-0

[Event "Caxias do Sul Uva op rap 13th"]
[Site "Caxias do Sul"]
[Date "2014.03.08"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Contin, Daniel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2328"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2014.03.08"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.04.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.04.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Nb6 7. a3 Be7 8.
O-O O-O 9. b4 Re8 10. d3 Bf8 11. Be3 a5 12. Bxb6 cxb6 13. b5 Nd4 14. Nxd4 exd4
15. Na4 Re5 16. Qc2 Rxb5 17. Rfb1 Bd7 18. Bxb7 Rb8 19. Rxb5 Bxb5 20. Be4 Bd7
21. Nb2 Rc8 22. Qd1 b5 23. a4 bxa4 24. Nc4 Bb4 25. f4 g6 26. Rxa4 Bxa4 27. Qxa4
Qe8 28. Qb3 Kg7 29. Qa2 a4 30. Ne5 f6 31. Nc4 Bf8 32. f5 a3 33. Kg2 gxf5 34.
Bxf5 Rb8 35. e4 dxe3 36. Qe2 a2 37. Qxa2 e2 38. Qa7+ Qf7 39. Qf2 Re8 40. Be4
Rxe4 0-1

[Event "Caxias do Sul Uva op rap 13th"]
[Site "Caxias do Sul"]
[Date "2014.03.08"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "El Debs, Felipe de Cresce"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B40"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2511"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2014.03.08"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.04.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.04.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 d5 4. exd5 exd5 5. d4 Nf6 6. Bg2 cxd4 7. O-O Be7 8.
Nxd4 O-O 9. h3 Nc6 10. Be3 Re8 11. Re1 Bf8 12. c3 Bd7 13. Nd2 Rc8 14. Nf1 h6
15. Nxc6 bxc6 16. Bxa7 c5 17. Rxe8 Bxe8 18. b4 cxb4 19. cxb4 Bxb4 20. Ne3 Bc5
21. Bxc5 Rxc5 22. Qd4 Ra5 23. Re1 Bd7 24. Re2 Qa8 25. Rb2 Be6 26. Qf4 Nd7 27.
Qd6 Qf8 28. Qc7 Rc5 29. Qf4 Ra5 30. a4 Qa3 31. Rb4 Qc3 32. h4 Qe5 33. Bf1 Qxf4
34. gxf4 d4 35. Rxd4 Nb6 36. Bb5 Bb3 37. Rd8+ Kh7 38. Rb8 1-0

[Event "Caxias do Sul Uva op rap 13th"]
[Site "Caxias do Sul"]
[Date "2014.03.08"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Milos, Gilberto"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C63"]
[WhiteElo "2583"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2014.03.08"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.04.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.04.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Qe2 fxe4 7. Nxe4 Bg4
8. h3 Bxf3 9. Qxf3 Nxe4 10. Qxe4 Qd5 11. d3 Bc5 12. Be3 Qxe4 13. dxe4 Bxe3 14.
fxe3 Rf8 15. Ke2 Ke7 16. Rhf1 Rxf1 17. Rxf1 a5 18. h4 a4 19. h5 c5 20. g4 c4
21. a3 Ra6 22. Rf5 Re6 23. Kd2 g6 24. hxg6 hxg6 25. Rf2 Rf6 26. Rh2 b5 27. Rh7+
Rf7 28. Rxf7+ Kxf7 29. g5 c5 30. c3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Caxias do Sul Uva op rap 13th"]
[Site "Caxias do Sul"]
[Date "2014.03.08"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mekhitarian, Krikor Sevag"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2562"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2014.03.08"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.04.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.04.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. O-O a6 7. Bb3 h6 8. Nbd2
O-O 9. Re1 Ba7 10. Nf1 Be6 11. Ng3 Re8 12. Bxe6 Rxe6 13. Be3 Bxe3 14. Rxe3 d5
15. Qb3 Rb8 16. h3 Qd7 17. Rae1 dxe4 18. dxe4 Na5 19. Qc2 Rd8 20. b3 g6 21.
R3e2 Nc6 22. Nf1 Nh5 23. Ne3 Nf4 24. Rd2 Rd6 25. Red1 Qe6 26. b4 Kg7 27. a4
Rxd2 28. Nxd2 h5 29. Nf3 Rd6 30. h4 Qd7 31. Rxd6 Qxd6 32. g3 Ne6 33. Nc4 Qd8
34. Ncxe5 Nxe5 35. Nxe5 c5 36. b5 axb5 37. axb5 Nc7 38. b6 Ne6 39. Nc4 Qd7 40.
Qe2 Qb5 41. Kg2 Qc6 42. Qd3 Qb5 43. Qd5 Qb3 44. Nd6 Qxb6 45. Nxb7 Qb2 46. Nxc5
1-0

[Event "Caxias do Sul Uva op rap 13th"]
[Site "Caxias do Sul"]
[Date "2014.03.09"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Delgado Ramirez, Neuris"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2586"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2014.03.08"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.04.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.04.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. Qe2 a6 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. d3 Bd6 7. Nbd2 Be6 8.
d4 Nd7 9. Nc4 Bxc4 10. Qxc4 Qe7 11. O-O O-O-O 12. Be3 exd4 13. Qxd4 c5 14. Qd3
Rhe8 15. Nd2 Nf6 16. Qb3 Ng4 17. h3 Nxe3 18. Qxe3 Qe5 19. f4 Qxb2 20. e5 Be7
21. Nb3 c4 22. Qa7 cxb3 23. Qa8+ Kd7 24. Qxb7 Qd4+ 25. Kh1 bxc2 26. Qxa6 Rb8
27. Qe2 Rb2 28. Rac1 Reb8 29. f5 Qd5 30. Qg4 Kc6 31. Qa4+ Kb7 32. Rxc2 Rxc2 33.
Qxc2 Qxe5 34. Qb3+ Kc8 35. Qxf7 Rb2 0-1

[Event "Caxias do Sul Uva op rap 13th"]
[Site "Caxias do Sul"]
[Date "2014.03.09"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nielsen, Peter Heine"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2653"]
[PlyCount "135"]
[EventDate "2014.03.08"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "BRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.04.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.04.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 g6 7. d4 cxd4 8.
Nxd4 Bg7 9. h3 O-O 10. O-O Rc8 11. b3 d5 12. exd5 Nxd5 13. Nxd5 e6 14. Bh6 exd5
15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. cxd5 Qxd5 17. Nf3 Rd8 18. Qxd5 Rxd5 19. Rfd1 Rxd1+ 20. Rxd1
Nc6 21. Rd7 b6 22. Ng5 Ne5 23. Rc7 h6 24. Ne4 g5 25. g3 Kg6 26. Kg2 f5 27. Nd2
h5 28. Nf3 Kf6 29. Nxe5 Kxe5 30. Rh7 Kf6 31. b4 h4 32. gxh4 gxh4 33. Rxh4 Rg8+
34. Kf3 Rc8 35. a4 Rc3+ 36. Kg2 Ra3 37. b5 Kg5 38. Rc4 f4 39. Rd4 Kf5 40. Rd5+
Ke4 41. Rg5 Rxa4 42. h4 f3+ 43. Kg3 Ra1 44. Rg4+ Kf5 45. Rf4+ Kg6 46. Rb4 Kh5
47. Kxf3 a6 48. bxa6 Rxa6 49. Kg3 Ra3+ 50. f3 Ra1 51. Rb5+ Kh6 52. Rxb6+ Kh5
53. Rb5+ Kh6 54. Kg4 Rg1+ 55. Kf5 Ra1 56. f4 Ra2 57. Re5 Ra1 58. Kf6 Ra4 59. f5
Rxh4 60. Re1 Kh5 61. Re8 Ra4 62. Rh8+ Kg4 63. Kg6 Ra5 64. f6 Rg5+ 65. Kf7 Ra5
66. Rh1 Kg5 67. Kg7 Ra7+ 68. f7 1-0

[Event "NOR-chT qual"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2014.03.22"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Georgiev, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2553"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2014.03.22"]
[EventType "team-match"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 159 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.04.24"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.04.24"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Stavanger"]
[BlackTeam "Nordstrand"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bb7 7. d3 Bc5 8. c3
O-O 9. a4 d5 10. axb5 axb5 11. Rxa8 Bxa8 12. exd5 Nxd5 13. Re1 b4 14. Qc2 f6
15. Nbd2 Kh8 16. Ne4 Be7 17. h3 Na5 18. Ba2 b3 19. Bxb3 Nxb3 20. Qxb3 Nb6 21.
d4 f5 22. Nc5 e4 23. Ne5 Bd5 24. Qd1 Bd6 25. Bf4 Nc4 26. b4 g5 27. Bh2 f4 28.
Nxc4 Bxc5 29. Nd2 Bd6 30. Nxe4 Qe7 31. Nxd6 Qxd6 32. Re5 h6 33. h4 gxh4 34. Qh5
c6 35. f3 Qf6 36. b5 Ra8 37. Re8+ Rxe8 38. Qxe8+ Kh7 39. Qd7+ Kh8 40. b6 1-0

[Event "Gashimov Memorial-A 1st"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2014.04.20"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D52"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2760"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2014.04.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.05.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.05.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. e3 Qa5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
Rc1 {This rare continuation has recently become quite popular.} Nxc3 ({White
meets} 8... Bb4 {with} 9. a3 Bxc3+ 10. bxc3 {sacrificing his a3-pawn but
getting good compensation: the bishop pair and a strong centre.}) 9. bxc3 Ba3 (
9... Qxa2 10. Bd3 Bd6 11. O-O Qa5 12. c4 $44 {E.Postny}) 10. Rc2 b6 (10... O-O
11. Bd3 e5 {is another way to activate the c8-bishop. In the following game
Black obtained a decent position:} 12. O-O Re8 13. e4 Be7 14. Be3 Qc7 15. h3 b5
16. Nh2 Bb7 17. f4 c5 $1 18. fxe5 c4 19. Be2 Bxe4 20. Rb2 Qc6 $13 {1/2 (51)
Vovk,Y (2608)-Antipov,M (2488) Riga 2013}) 11. Be2 (11. Bd3 {is more common
but a way to pose any problems to Black is yet to be found:} Ba6 12. O-O Bxd3
13. Qxd3 O-O 14. c4 (14. e4 Rfe8 15. e5 $6 (15. Bf4 $142 {E.Postny}) 15... h6
16. Bh4 c5 17. Nd2 cxd4 18. cxd4 Rac8 $1 19. Nc4 Qb5 20. f4 Rc7 21. Qxa3 Rxc4
22. Rxc4 Qxc4 23. Bf2 Qc7 24. Rc1 Qb7 25. Qd6 Nf8 $11 {0-1 (57) Gelfand,B 
(2740)-Carlsen,M (2872) London 2013 CBM 154 [Postny,E]}) (14. Rb1 Rfe8 15. Bh4
Rac8 16. c4 Bd6 17. Ng5 Qf5 18. Qxf5 exf5 19. Bg3 Bxg3 20. hxg3 c5 21. Nf3 Nf6
22. Kf1 Ne4 $11 {1/2 (85) Moiseenko,A (2703)-Dreev,A (2679) Jakarta 2013})
14... h6 15. Bh4 (15. Bf4 $5 {E.Postny}) 15... Rfe8 16. Nd2 (16. e4 e5 17. d5
Nc5 18. Qe2 Qa4 $11 {1/2 (38) Malakhatko,V (2548)-Michiels,B (2489) Antwerp
2011}) (16. Rd1 $5 {E.Postny}) 16... Be7 17. Bxe7 Rxe7 18. c5 bxc5 19. Nb3 Qa4
{1/2 (19) Cmilyte,V (2525)-Gurevich,M (2596) Konya 2012} 20. Nxc5 Nxc5 21. Rxc5
Qxa2 22. Rxc6 a5 $11) 11... Ba6 12. O-O Bxe2 13. Qxe2 O-O {White has a pawn
advantage in the centre but it should not worry Black too much as he has good
development and prospects of counterplay with ...e6-e5 or ...c6-c5.} 14. e4
$146 (14. Rd1 Rfe8 (14... e5 $5) 15. Bf4 (15. e4 Rac8 16. Bf4 {preventing ...
e6-e5} c5 17. Nd2 b5 (17... cxd4 $142 18. Nc4 Qa6 $11) 18. dxc5 Nxc5 19. Nb1 e5
20. Bg3 a6 21. c4 b4 22. Rd5 Qa4 23. f3 b3 24. axb3 Qxb3 25. Nxa3 Qxa3 26. Bf2
Ne6 27. g3 $14 {1/2 (61) Cmilyte,V (2515)-Dreev,A (2673) Caleta ENG 2014})
15... Rac8 16. c4 Be7 17. e4 {looks formidable but Black finds a way to create
counterplay:} Qa4 18. h3 Nf8 19. Be3 Ng6 20. g3 c5 21. d5 exd5 22. Rxd5 Bf6 23.
Qd3 Ne7 24. Rd6 Nc6 25. a3 Be5 26. Rd5 Bc7 27. Kg2 Ne7 28. Rd7 Nc6 29. Rd5 Ne7
30. Rd7 Nc6 {1/2 (30) Tomashevsky,E (2697)-Dreev,A (2670) Loo RUS 2014}) (14.
Bf4 $5 {- this move order is yet to be tried.}) 14... Rac8 $6 {I don't like
this standard move. What's its idea? After ...c6-c5 White plays d4-d5 anyway,
and the c-file remains closed.} (14... c5 15. d5 $36) (14... Rfe8 $5 {[%cal
Ge8e2,Yc6c5]}) 15. e5 {[%mdl 32] The same plan as in Gelfand - Carlsen (see
above) but White's queen is placed on e2 better than on d3.} Qa4 {Black
prevents Nf3-d2 (-c4 or e4).} (15... c5 $2 16. d5 $1 exd5 17. e6 fxe6 18. Qxe6+
Rf7 19. Ne5 $18 {E.Gleizerov}) 16. c4 Rfe8 ({Perhaps it was slightly more
accurate to play} 16... h6 {first:} 17. Bh4 (17. Be3 Rfd8 {[%cal Yd7f8]}) 17...
Rfe8 {[%cal Yd7f8,Yf8g6]}) 17. Rd1 c5 ({Probably it was better to wait:} 17...
Nf8 {But that means that the initiative belongs to White.}) 18. d5 {[%csl Ra3]}
exd5 19. Rxd5 (19. cxd5 $1 {was more energetic:} Nxe5 20. Nxe5 Rxe5 21. Qxe5
Qxc2 22. Re1 $44 {[%csl Gd5] E.Gleizerov}) 19... Nf8 (19... Nb8 $142 {[%cal
Yb8c6] to keep the e5-pawn under fire (recommended by E.Gleizerov). The
position remains unclear in that case.}) 20. h4 h6 21. Be3 Ng6 $6 {This
position of the knight is unsafe in view of h4-h5.} (21... Rc7 $142 {[%cal
Yc7e7] The knight can pick its way out later on.}) 22. Qd3 $1 {Preventing ...
Ng6-e7-f5.} Re6 (22... Nf8 {(admitting his mistake)} 23. h5 $36 {[%cal Yf3h4,
Yh4f5]} Rcd8 $5 {was probably a better possibility.}) 23. h5 Ne7 24. Rd6 {
Carlsen plays in a positional manner. The rook exchange on e6 weakens Black's
pawn structure.} (24. Rd8+ {was better but required accurate calculation:} Rxd8
25. Qxd8+ Kh7 26. Rd2 Bc1 (26... Qxc4 $2 27. Bxh6 $1 gxh6 28. Qf8 {[%cal Rf8f7,
Rd2d8]}) 27. Rd7 Bxe3 28. fxe3 Qxa2 29. Rxe7 Rxe7 30. Qxe7 Qxc4 31. Qxa7 b5 32.
Qa6 {, and White should win as} Qc1+ 33. Kh2 b4 {doesn't work due to} 34. Qd3+
Kg8 35. e6 $1 fxe6 36. Qd8+ Kh7 37. Ne5 {[%cal Re5g6]}) 24... Bb4 25. Rc1 Re8
26. Rxe6 fxe6 27. Nh4 {[%cal Yg2g4,Yg4g5,Yh4g6]} Qc6 (27... Qxa2 $2 28. Qd7 Kf7
29. Ng6 {[%cal Rg6f4]} Qa6 30. Rd1 {[%cal Yd1d3,Ye3h6,Yd3f3]} Qc8 31. Qxa7 $18
{[%cal Yd1d7] E.Gleizerov}) 28. a3 Ba5 29. Rd1 Qc7 30. Ng6 Nxg6 31. Qxg6 Qf7
32. Rd3 $1 {Preventing ...Ba5-c3. White is practically a piece up.} a6 (32...
Qxg6 33. hxg6 Kf8 34. Kf1 Ke7 35. Bf4 $1 {[%cal Yf4g3,Yg3h4] , and Black is
completely helpless}) 33. a4 Rf8 34. g4 {The advance of the kingside pawns
decides the game.} Qe8 $6 35. Rd6 Qxa4 (35... Qxg6 36. hxg6 Re8 37. f4 $18) 36.
Qxe6+ Kh8 37. Bxh6 $1 {White accurately calculates that Black's subsequent
rook sacrifice doesn't give him a perpetual.} Qa1+ 38. Kg2 Rxf2+ 39. Kxf2 Qe1+
40. Kg2 Qe4+ 41. Kh3 Qh1+ 42. Kg3 Qe1+ (42... Be1+ 43. Kf4 Qh2+ 44. Kg5 Bh4+
45. Kg6 Qc2+ 46. Qf5 $18) 43. Kf4 Bd2+ 44. Rxd2 Qxd2+ 45. Kf5 gxh6 46. Qe8+ Kg7
47. Qe7+ (47. Qe7+ Kg8 48. Kg6 Qd3+ 49. Kxh6 Qe3+ 50. g5 $18) 1-0

[Event "Gashimov Memorial-A 1st"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2014.04.21"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[Annotator "Roiz,M"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2014.04.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.05.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.05.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 h6 7. Bd3 $146 {
This novelty can hardly pose Black new problems. The inclusion of h7-h6 does
not affect the position much, so the resulting positions should be compared
with the known 6.Bd3 line.} ({In his previous rapid game, Magnus went for the
most ambitious:} 7. Qb3 Ra7 8. cxd5 cxd5 9. Ne5 e6 10. Bd2 {Black should have
played:} Be7 ({and here instead of:} 10... Bd6 $2 11. Qa4+ Nc6 (11... Nbd7 12.
Nb5 $18) 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Qxc6+ $16 {1-0 Carlsen,M (2837)-Bologan,V (2732)/
Astana KAZ 2012 (54)}) 11. Rc1 O-O 12. O-O Nfd7 {with a solid position. For
instance,} 13. Nxd7 Nxd7 14. a4 Nb8 15. e4 dxe4 16. d5 Nd7 17. Be3 Nc5 $1 (
17... Bc5 $6 18. Nxe4 Bxe3 19. Qxe3 Qb6 20. Ng3 $36 {1/2-1/2 Aronian,L (2802)
-Carlsen,M (2826)/London 2011/CBM 146 (39)}) 18. Qc4 ({Black is clearly no
longer at risk in the event of:} 18. Qc2 Ra8 19. dxe6 fxe6 20. Bxc5 Bxc5 21.
Nxe4 Bd4 $11) 18... b6 19. g4 exd5 (19... Bh7 $5 20. dxe6 Nxe6 21. Rfd1 Qb8 {
is also fine for Black}) 20. Qxd5 Qxd5 21. Nxd5 Be6 22. Nxe7+ Rxe7 $11) 7...
Bxd3 (7... e6 8. Bxf5 exf5 9. Qc2 g6 10. O-O Bd6 $11) 8. Qxd3 e6 9. O-O Bb4 10.
Bd2 O-O 11. Rfd1 {This position is quite topical with the pawn on h7. Black
has to solve a problem of Bb4 now - 11...Nbd7? is a tactical blunder (12.Nxd5!)
} Bxc3 {The simplest way to complete the developement.} ({Protecting the
bishop has its drawbacks:} 11... a5 12. a3 Bxc3 (12... Be7 13. e4 dxe4 14. Nxe4
Nxe4 15. Qxe4 Nd7 16. Bf4 $14) 13. bxc3 Nbd7 (13... dxc4 14. Qxc4 Qd5 15. Qe2
$14) 14. cxd5 cxd5 15. c4 $14) ({It was possible to keep the bishop on the
board by means of} 11... Ba5 $5 12. Rab1 Nbd7 13. b4 Bc7 14. e4 Nb6 15. cxd5
cxd5 16. e5 Nfd7 $132) 12. Bxc3 Nbd7 13. b3 {White is marginally better due to
a space advantage, but it would be difficult to make progress.} Qe7 {At this
stage of the game Hikaru correctly avoids any active actions.} (13... Ne4 14.
Bb2 a5 15. Ne5 Nxe5 16. dxe5 Qe7 17. Qc2 $14) 14. Rac1 Rac8 (14... a5 15. Nd2
Rfd8 (15... a4 16. b4 Nb6 17. c5 Nbd7 18. b5 $14) 16. h3 Nf8 17. e4 dxe4 18.
Nxe4 Nxe4 19. Qxe4 Ng6 20. a4 Qg5 21. g3 Rd7 22. h4 Qh5 23. Rd3 Ne7 24. Rcd1
$14) 15. Qe2 Ne4 $6 {This move looks natural, but the knight does not have
much of a job to do there. Moreover, now White's plan of seizing the centre by
means of f2-f3 and e3-e4 becomes more realistic.} ({A solid alternative was} 
15... Rfd8 {completing the flexible setup. The play may continue:} 16. Ne1 dxc4
17. bxc4 c5 18. Qb2 b6 19. f3 (19. dxc5 Nxc5 20. Bxf6 Qxf6 21. Qxb6 Rxd1 22.
Rxd1 Qc3 $11) 19... cxd4 20. Bxd4 Rc6 $11) 16. Bb2 Rfd8 17. Ne1 Nd6 {Allowing
the unpleasant pin, but Black's position lacks any constructive ideas.} (17...
Qg5 18. f3 Nd6 19. c5 (19. e4 $6 dxc4 20. bxc4 b5 $132) 19... Nf5 20. e4 Nh4
21. g3 $14) (17... dxc4 18. Qxc4 Nef6 19. Nd3 $14) (17... Nef6 18. Nd3 $14) 18.
Ba3 $14 f5 {Hikaru is trying to stop e3-e5 at any cost, but the weakness of
the dark squares in his camp is obvious now.} (18... Nf6 19. Nd3 Qc7 20. f3 $14
) 19. Nd3 Nf6 20. Bb4 Qc7 21. Qf3 {Magnus decides to activate the queen and is
ready to enter the endgame.} ({Black is definitely also under pressure after} 
21. f3 $5 Nf7 22. Be1 Qe7 23. Bh4 $14) 21... dxc4 {This exchange can hardly
suit Black - the pawn structure is better for White now. However, Hikaru was
trying to push e6-e5.} (21... Nf7 22. h4 Re8 $14) 22. bxc4 Nf7 23. a4 {A
positional threat of fixing the pawn structure is unpleasant, so Black is
forced to take a decision now.} a5 {Creating one more potential weakness.} ({
I would prefer} 23... b6 24. Qf4 Qxf4 25. Nxf4 Re8 (25... c5 26. Ba3 $14) 26.
a5 bxa5 27. Bxa5 e5 28. dxe5 Nxe5 $14 {in the resulting position White has a
stable positional advantage, but the material is reduced.}) 24. Be1 b6 25. Qg3
{Black cannot avoid an inferior endgame.} (25. Qf4 $5) 25... Qxg3 26. hxg3 {
[%csl Ra5,Rb6][%cal Gc4c5]} Ra8 {A sad necessity. There was no other way to
save losing a pawn.} (26... c5 27. dxc5 bxc5 28. Bxa5 Rd6 29. Be1 Rcd8 30. Nb2
$16) 27. f3 Rdb8 {A correct idea. Pushing b6-b5 may simplify the position and
ease Black's task.} 28. Rc2 (28. Rb1 Nd7 29. c5 (29. Kf2 Nd6 30. Rdc1 c5 $14)
29... bxc5 30. Nxc5 Nxc5 31. dxc5 Rxb1 32. Rxb1 Ne5 $14) 28... b5 (28... Nd7 $5
29. Rb1 e5 $14) 29. Nc5 $1 {The most ambitious continuation. Magnus is not
ready to swap the queenside pawns.} ({Things could be much easier for Hikaru
after} 29. cxb5 cxb5 30. axb5 Rxb5 31. Ra1 e5 $14) 29... bxc4 ({After} 29... b4
30. Nxe6 Ra7 31. Nc5 Nd7 32. Nb3 $14 {the strong Pb4 doesn't fully compensate
for the loss of a pawn.}) 30. Rxc4 Nd5 (30... e5 31. Kf2 Nd5 32. Rdc1 Rb2+ (
32... exd4 33. Rxd4 Rb2+ 34. Rd2 Rb4 35. Re2 Rb6 36. e4 fxe4 37. Rxe4 $14) 33.
R4c2 Rxc2+ 34. Rxc2 exd4 35. exd4 $14) 31. Bd2 e5 32. e4 {A double-edged
decision. Magnus gets an excellent square for his knight, but now there are
not many pawns left on the board.} (32. Ne6 $5 Rb6 33. dxe5 (33. Rdc1 exd4 34.
Rxd4 $14) 33... Nxe5 34. Rc5 Nd7 35. Rc2 $14) 32... fxe4 33. Nxe4 (33. fxe4 $6
Nf6 $11) 33... Nb6 $6 {This natural decision is wrong. Nakamura liquidates the
last queenside pawn, but his pieces lose harmony.} (33... exd4 $142 34. Rxd4
Rb2 35. Rc1 Nd8 36. Nc5 Ra2 $14) 34. Rxc6 Nd8 ({I would prefer} 34... Nxa4 35.
Ra1 Nb6 ({after} 35... Nb2 36. d5 a4 37. d6 a3 38. d7 Nd8 39. Rc3 $16 {White's
passed pawn is very strong}) 36. Rxa5 Rxa5 37. Bxa5 Na4 $1 38. dxe5 (38. d5 $2
Rb5 $11) 38... Nxe5 39. Rc7 Rf8 40. g4 $16 {and Black has a very difficult
position, but drawing chances cannot be understimated.}) 35. Rg6 $1 {A good
practical decision - now Black has an unpleasant choice, so there are more
chances for an additional mistake!} (35. Rd6 Nf7 (35... Nc4 36. Rd5 exd4 37.
Rxd4 $16) 36. Re6 Nxa4 37. dxe5 Nb2 38. Ra1 a4 39. Bc3 Nc4 40. f4 $16) 35...
Nc4 36. dxe5 Kh7 $2 {A decisive mistake.} ({It was necessary to exchange the
strong bishop:} 36... Nxe5 37. Rd6 Nc4 38. Rd7 Nb6 39. Bf4 Nxd7 40. Bxb8 Rxb8
41. Rxd7 $16) 37. Rg4 Nxe5 38. Rh4 Ndf7 (38... Ndc6 39. g4 Kg8 40. Bc3 $18) 39.
Bc3 {Combining play on the both sides of the board.} Rb3 (39... Rd8 40. Rb1 Rd3
41. Rb5 Nd7 42. Bxa5 $18) 40. Rd5 Re8 41. Rf4 $1 {Brilliant technique by the
World Champion. Now Black just loses a second pawn.} (41. Rxa5 Ng6 42. Rg4 Rxe4
43. Rxe4 Rxc3 $16 {deserves much more efforts.}) 41... Re7 42. Bxa5 $18 {
The rest is a matter of accuracy, since Black is unable to create any threats.}
Ng6 43. Rff5 Nfe5 44. Rd1 {The rook is going to support the passed Pa4.} Nc4 (
44... Ra3 45. Bb4 $18) 45. Rc1 Nxa5 46. Rxa5 Ra3 47. Rcc5 {Restricting the
knight. White is not in a hurry.} Ra2 48. Kh2 Rd7 ({The following illustrative
line shows, that Black is helpless:} 48... Rb7 49. Ra8 Rbb2 50. Nf6+ $1 gxf6
51. Rc7+ Ne7 52. Rxe7+ Kg6 53. Rg8+ Kf5 54. g4+ Kf4 55. Re4#) 49. Ra6 Ne7 50.
g4 Rb7 ({Or} 50... Nd5 51. Rxd5 Rxd5 52. Nc3 Rdd2 53. Nxa2 Rxa2 54. a5 $18) 51.
Rb5 Rc7 52. Nc5 Rc6 (52... Ng6 53. Kg3 $18) 53. Rxc6 Nxc6 54. Rb7 {Reminding
Black about the king.} Nd4 55. Kh3 Kg8 56. Rb4 Ne2 57. g5 Ng1+ (57... hxg5 58.
Kg4 Ng1 59. g3 Ne2 60. Ne4 $18) 58. Kg3 Ne2+ (58... hxg5 59. Ne4 g4 60. f4 g6
61. Nf6+ Kg7 62. Nxg4 $18) 59. Kg4 hxg5 60. Kxg5 Ng1 61. Rg4 1-0

[Event "Gashimov Memorial-A 1st"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2014.04.22"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E27"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "2014.04.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.05.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.05.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Nh5 7. Nh3 f5 {
An aggressive continuation. Instead of trying to equalise, Black wants to
obtain a double-edged position.} 8. e3 (8. Bg5 {is the main alternative - see
Khairullin-Adams with annotations by GM A.Mikhalchishin in CBM 136.}) 8... d6 (
8... Nc6 9. Bd3 d6 {is hardly good as White pushes c4-c5 at an appropriate
moment:} 10. O-O (10. g3 $6 e5 11. Nf2 Qe8 12. O-O Na5 13. Qe2 b6 14. Rb1 Ba6
15. c5 Bxd3 16. Nxd3 Nf6 17. dxe5 dxe5 18. f4 exf4 19. Qa2+ Kh8 20. exf4 Rd8
$17 {1/2 (39) Abergel,T (2499)-Adams,M (2735) Liverpool 2008}) 10... Qe8 11. a4
e5 $6 (11... b6 $5) 12. c5 $1 dxc5 13. Ba3 b6 14. dxc5 Rf6 15. f4 e4 16. Be2 g6
17. c4 Ng7 18. Bb2 Rf7 19. cxb6 cxb6 20. c5 $16 {1-0 (30) Golizadeh,A (2472)
-Bacallao Alonso,Y (2583) Istanbul 2012}) (8... c5 $5 9. Bd3 Nc6 10. O-O Nf6
11. d5 $6 Ne5 12. e4 fxe4 13. fxe4 d6 14. Ng5 h6 15. Nf3 Nxd3 16. Qxd3 Qe8 17.
Ra2 exd5 18. exd5 Qe4 $15 {1/2 (33) Abdalla,L (2322)-Leitao,R (2620) Sao Paulo
2011}) 9. Be2 (9. f4 Nf6 10. Bd3 e5 11. O-O e4 12. Be2 Kh8 13. Nf2 Nc6 14. h3
b6 15. g4 Na5 $132 {0-1 (27) Swapnil,S (2336)-Komarov,D (2540) Calicut 2007}) (
9. Nf2 {is too passive:} Nc6 $5 (9... e5 {(a bit too early)} 10. Bd3 $1 {
- 9.Bd3} (10. f4 Nf6 11. fxe5 dxe5 12. c5 Nc6 13. Bc4+ Kh8 14. O-O b6 15. Bb5
Bb7 16. Rb1 Ne7 17. Be2 Ne4 $15 {1/2 (54) Volkov,S (2622)-Izoria,Z (2606)
Saint Vincent 2005}) (10. Be2 Qe7 11. c5 Nc6 12. cxd6 cxd6 13. a4 {1/2 (13)
Mensch,E (2336)-Nikolaidis,I (2525) Nancy 2006})) 10. a4 (10. Bd3 e5 11. O-O
Qh4 12. Qe1 Bd7 13. g3 Qe7 14. Qd1 Rae8 15. Ra2 Nf6 16. f4 e4 17. Be2 Qf7 18.
a4 Na5 $15 {1/2 (31) Cebalo,M (2505)-Komarov,D (2530) Bratto 2006}) 10... b6
11. Bd3 Na5 12. O-O Ba6 13. Qe2 Qh4 14. Bd2 Rae8 15. e4 e5 16. c5 Bxd3 17. Qxd3
fxe4 18. fxe4 dxc5 19. dxc5 Rd8 20. Qe2 Nb3 21. Qc4+ Kh8 22. Qxb3 Rxd2 {
0-1 (57) Kozakov,M (2457)-Fedorchuk,S (2633) France 2009} 23. Ra2 $15) (9. Bd3
Qh4+ (9... e5 10. Nf2 (10. O-O Nc6 11. f4 Qe8 12. fxe5 dxe5 13. Ra2 e4 14. Be2
Nf6 15. a4 Kh8 16. a5 Rg8 17. Nf4 Ne7 18. Qb3 c6 19. Qb4 $14 {0-1 (40) Geller,
E-Pogats,J Szczawno Zdroj 1950}) 10... Qe8 11. O-O Nf6 12. Qc2 Qh5 13. c5 Nc6
14. Bb5 Nd8 15. cxd6 cxd6 16. a4 $36 {1-0 (73) Koberl,F-Pogats,J Budapest 1951}
) (9... c5 $5) 10. Nf2 Nc6 11. Qc2 (11. Ra2 e5 12. g3 Qe7 13. d5 Nd8 14. g4 e4
$132 {0-1 (42) Sagalchik,G-Dautov,R (2515) Minsk 1988}) 11... e5 12. g3 Qe7 13.
O-O Bd7 14. Bd2 Kh8 15. Kg2 Rae8 16. Rae1 Qd8 $11 {0-1 (56) Wiersma,E (2419)
-Swinkels,R (2459) Netherlands 2009}) 9... c5 $1 $146 {[%mdl 40] A good plan.
Black fixes the c4-pawn, therefore eliminating the c4-c5 idea altogether.} (
9... Nc6 {deserves more attention here than with Bd3:} 10. O-O Qe8 $5 (10... e5
11. c5 $5) 11. Nf2 b6 12. g4 $6 fxg4 13. fxg4 Nf6 14. Qc2 Bb7 15. g5 Nd7 16. e4
e5 $132 {1-0 (34) Posedaru,B (2318)-Soltanici,R (2373) Bucharest 2011}) 10. O-O
Nc6 11. g4 $2 {Here, too, this advance is bad.} (11. f4 Nf6 12. Bf3 Na5 {
[%csl Rc4]}) (11. d5 Na5 {[%cal Ye6e5]}) (11. e4 fxe4 12. fxe4 Rxf1+ 13. Bxf1
Nf6 14. Nf2 e5 $11) (11. Nf2 $5 {[%cal Ye3e4] was probably the most flexible
keeping both ideas: e3-e4 and f3-f4.}) 11... fxg4 (11... Qh4 $1 {, recommended
by GM E.Gleizerov, was very strong:} 12. Nf4 (12. gxh5 Qxh3 13. f4 b6 14. Bf3
Bb7 $17 {[%csl Rc1,Rc4,Rh5]} 15. dxc5 dxc5 16. Qd7 Rf7 $1 17. Qxe6 Nd8 18. Qe8+
Rf8 $19) (12. Kg2 fxg4 13. fxg4 Rxf1 14. Qxf1 Nf6 15. Qf2 Qh6 $17) 12... Nxf4
13. exf4 Na5 $17 {[%cal Yb7b6]} (13... cxd4 $143 14. cxd4 e5 15. Be3 $1 exd4
16. Bxd4 Nxd4 17. Qxd4 fxg4 18. fxg4 Bxg4 19. f5 h5 20. Rf4 {, and White
should survive})) {However, after the simple text move Black keeps an
advantage, too.} 12. fxg4 Nf6 13. Nf2 h6 14. e4 {This move weakens White's
position but it is very difficult for him to find a good plan anyway.} e5 15.
d5 Ne7 (15... Na5 $5 {pressurising the c4 pawn.}) 16. g5 hxg5 17. Bxg5 Qe8 18.
Qd3 Qg6 19. Qg3 Bd7 20. Kh1 Rf7 (20... Nxe4 $2 21. Nxe4 Qxe4+ 22. Bf3 {[%cal
Rg5e7]} Rxf3 $8) 21. Qh4 Raf8 22. Rae1 Qh7 23. Qxh7+ Nxh7 $17 {In this ending
Black's knights are stronger than White's bishops.} 24. Be3 Ng6 25. Nd3 Rxf1+
26. Rxf1 Rxf1+ (26... Nf6 $5 27. Nf2 Nf4 {is quite good but the minor piece
ending is also difficult for White.}) 27. Bxf1 {[%mdl 4096]} Nf6 28. Nf2 Nf4
29. h4 (29. Bxf4 exf4 30. e5 dxe5 31. Nd3 Ng4 $1 32. h3 (32. Nxc5 Bf5) 32... e4
$1 33. Nxf4 (33. Nxc5 Nf6 {[%csl Ge4,Gf4]}) 33... Ne3 {[%cal Re3d1]} 34. Be2 g5
$17) 29... Ng6 (29... Ng4 30. Nxg4 Bxg4 {[%cal Rg4f3,Yg4d1] was very strong,
probably enough for a win.}) 30. Bg5 Nh7 31. Bd8 Kf7 32. Kh2 Nf6 (32... Ke8 33.
Bg5) 33. Kg3 Nf4 34. Kf3 Ba4 35. Nh3 Bd1+ 36. Ke3 Ng6 (36... Ng4+ 37. Kd2 Nh2 {
is probably insufficient for a victory due to} 38. Nxf4 Nxf1+ 39. Kxd1 exf4 40.
Ke2 Ne3 41. Bg5 Nxc4 42. Bxf4 b5 (42... g6 43. Kd3 b5 44. a4) 43. h5 {[%csl
Rg7]}) 37. Ng5+ Ke8 38. Ne6 Nxh4 39. Bc7 Kd7 40. Bb8 {White has created some
counterplay.} Bg4 (40... a6 $5 41. Nxg7 Bc2 $5 42. Bh3+ Ke7 43. Nf5+ (43. Bc8
b5 44. Bxa6 bxc4 45. Bxc4 Bxe4 46. Kf2 $1 Ng4+ 47. Kg3 Ne3 $17) 43... Nxf5+ 44.
Bxf5 Bb3 {keeping winning chances}) 41. Nxg7 a6 42. Bd3 (42. a4 a5 43. Ne6 Ne8
{[%csl Ra4]}) 42... Ng2+ 43. Kd2 Ke7 (43... b5 $5 44. cxb5 axb5 45. Bc2 (45.
Bxb5+ $2 Kc8 46. Bxd6 Nxe4+) (45. Ne6 $5 c4 46. Bc2) 45... c4 46. Ne6 Bxe6 47.
dxe6+ Kxe6 48. Ba7 Nf4 $17) 44. a4 Kf7 45. Bxd6 (45. Nf5 Bxf5 46. exf5 Ke7 {
is very unpleasant for White but the piece sacrifice is hardly sufficient
either.}) 45... Kxg7 46. Bxe5 Nh4 $2 ({Black could have stopped White's pawns
by means of} 46... Bf3 $1 {[%cal Rg7f7]} 47. d6 Bg4 $1 {(recommended by E.
Gleizerov)} (47... Kf7 $2 48. Bxf6 Kxf6 49. e5+ Ke6 50. Bf5+ Kf7 51. Bg6+ $1
$11) {e.g.} 48. Bg3 Nh5 49. Bf2 Nhf4 50. Bxc5 Nxd3 51. Kxd3 Kf6 {, and he
should win in a long term.}) 47. Bg3 Ng6 (47... Nf3+ 48. Ke3 Nd7 49. Be2 Nfe5
50. Bxe5+ Nxe5 51. Kf4 $1 Bxe2 52. Kxe5 Bxc4 53. a5 {(E.Gleizerov), and White
is not worse.}) 48. e5 {White's connected passed pawns guarantee him a draw.}
Nd7 (48... Nh5 49. Bh2 Nh4 50. Ke3 Nf3 51. Bf4) 49. e6 Nde5 50. Bxg6 Nxg6 51.
Bd6 Kf6 52. Bxc5 Ke5 53. Ke3 Bd1 54. Bb6 Bxa4 55. Bc7+ Kf6 56. Kd4 Ke7 57. c5
Nh4 58. c4 Nf3+ 59. Kc3 Ng5 60. Kb4 Bd1 61. Bg3 Nxe6 62. dxe6 Bf3 63. Bh4+
1/2-1/2

[Event "Gashimov Memorial-A 1st"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2014.04.23"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2783"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[Annotator "Caruana,F"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2014.04.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.05.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.05.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. h3 h6 {In the match, Magnus played 9...Bd7. Perhaps he feared
preparation and was hoping to surprise me, but he made an unfortunate choice,
going for a line I knew well, as I had faced it last year against Ponomariov.}
(9... Bd7 10. Rd1 Be7 11. Nc3 {It's interesting that exactly 1 day before
Anand and Carlsen's game, Grischuk played the same variation against me during
the European Team Championship. I played 11.g4 and the game was eventually
drawn.} Kc8 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bxe7 Nxe7 14. Rd2 c5 15. Rad1 Be6 16. Ne1 Ng6 17.
Nd3 b6 18. Ne2 {, and now Magnus grabbed a pawn with} Bxa2 $1 {Anand-Carlsen,
Chennai 2013; , held onto it and nearly won the game.}) 10. Rd1+ {Now Black's
king is forced to e8, which generally speaking is an awkward square.} Ke8 11.
Nc3 Bd7 12. Bf4 Rd8 13. Ne4 {This is the new move. In the aforementioned game
against Ponomariov, I played 13.e6 and didn't pose serious problems to my
opponent.} (13. e6 Bxe6 14. Bxc7 Rxd1+ 15. Rxd1 Be7 16. g4 Nh4 17. Nd4 Bd7 18.
Re1 Kf8 19. Bg3 g5 20. Bxh4 gxh4 21. Ne4 Kg7 {, although perhaps if I had
played more accurately here I could have counted on a minuscule advantage.})
13... Be7 {I was happy to see this move. After the trade of knights White's
position is very comfortable.} (13... c5 $5 {seems like the most critical move.
I was planning} 14. e6 Bxe6 15. Bxc7 Rc8 16. Bh2 {, with a small advantage,
but Black should be able to defend with accuracy.}) 14. g4 Nh4 15. Nxh4 Bxh4
16. Kg2 Be6 17. f3 b6 18. b3 c5 $6 {A strategic mistake. After the game,
Magnus said he wanted to use the d4-square but underestimated the importance
of the d5-square.} ({I was expecting} 18... Rd7 19. c4 Kd8 {If Black is given
time to play ...Kc8 and ...Rd8 he will have a fine position. White has to act
fast:} 20. Bg3 Be7 21. f4 g6 22. Rf1 $1 {, and the threat of f5 is very
unpleasant.}) 19. c4 ({Perhaps} 19. Bg3 Be7 20. c4 {was more accurate.}) 19...
Rd7 (19... Rd4 20. Be3 Rxd1 21. Rxd1 {doesn't solve Black's problems.}) 20. Bg3
Be7 21. Rxd7 Bxd7 {Understandably, Magnus wanted his bishop out of the way of
f4-f5.} ({However,} 21... Kxd7 {was a stronger alternative.} 22. f4 g6 23. Rf1
Kc8 24. f5 gxf5 25. gxf5 Bd7 {and it isn't easy to prove a clear advantage for
White.}) 22. Nc3 Kd8 $6 ({It made sense to set up a passive but solid
defensive formation.} 22... Bd8 23. Nd5 Bc8 {, and just sit and wait,
unpleasant though it may be.}) 23. Nd5 Re8 {Magnus played this and the next
move surprisingly quickly. He was probably already disgusted with his position.
} ({After} 23... c6 {, White should simplify into an opposite colored bishop
ending:} 24. Nxe7 Kxe7 25. f4 {, with good winning chances.}) 24. Rd1 Kc8 $4 {
Just losing a pawn for nothing. It's hard to say what Magnus overlooked.} (
24... c6 25. Nxe7 (25. Nc7 Rg8 26. e6 fxe6 27. Nxe6+ Kc8) 25... Rxe7 26. Bh4 g5
27. Bg3 {is awful for Black, but there was already no choice.}) 25. Nxc7 Rd8
26. Nd5 {Besides being up a pawn, White also has a commanding position.} Re8
27. Be1 Bd8 28. Bc3 g6 29. Kg3 ({I would prefer} 29. a4 $1 {, snuffing out any
hopes of counterplay.}) 29... b5 30. cxb5 Bxb5 31. Ne3 Re6 32. f4 Ra6 {Black
is trying to create counterplay any way he can, but White is too solid.} 33.
Rd2 h5 34. gxh5 gxh5 35. Nf5 Rg6+ 36. Kh2 Bc6 37. Nd6+ Kb8 38. f5 Rg8 39. f6 $1
{An important move, blocking the bishop's access to h4.} Bb6 40. Nc4 $2 {
With 2 minutes on my clock for the last move, I got spooked by Black's
counterplay with ...c4 and committed a serious inaccuracy.} (40. Nxf7 $1 c4 41.
h4 $1 {is the game.}) 40... Re8 $2 {Giving me a second chance! I calculated a
bit and decided to take the pawn.} (40... Bc7 41. Ba5 {is probably winning for
White, but he could have put up serious resistance.}) 41. Nd6 Rg8 42. Nxf7 $1 {
A pawn is a pawn, after all.} c4 43. h4 Rg4 44. e6 {This is what I hadn't seen
before the time control. The bishop will protect everything from e5.} Be3 45.
Be5+ Ka8 46. Rd8+ Kb7 47. Bg3 c3 48. Rb8+ Ka6 49. Rc8 Bd5 ({During the game I
spent some time figuring out what happens after} 49... Rc4 50. bxc4 c2 51.
Rxc6+ Ka5 52. Bc7+ Ka4 53. Ra6+ Kb4 54. Bd6+ Kc3 55. Ba3 {Good calculation,
but unfortunately I missed a mate in two with 52.Be1!}) 50. Rxc3 Bd4 51. Rd3
Re4 52. Rd2 Rxe6 53. Ng5 1-0

[Event "Gashimov Memorial-A 1st"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2014.04.24"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E70"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2713"]
[Annotator "Radjabov,T"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2014.04.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.05.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.05.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{5th round of the Shamkir Chess 2014, Vugar Gashimov's memorial. We were in
different tournament situations, I was on 50 percent, Magnus was at +1 after
he lost to Caruana before this game with Black. Certainly an interesting fight
was ahead! It's always interesting to play against the World Champion and I
have enjoyed this fight.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 {King's
Indian Defence. No comments.} 5. Nge2 O-O 6. Ng3 {There are so many moves and
plans in the opening phase, but annotating the game and working on chess ECO
is quite different. I will not get far in theoretical debris but will show few
most recent examples here:} e5 (6... h5 7. Be2 a6 (7... Nbd7 8. Be3 e5 9. d5 a5
10. a3 Nc5 11. h4 Ng4 {which is a bit similiar to our game in Nabaty-Smirin
Skopje 2013, which ended in a draw.}) 8. O-O c5 9. d5 e5 {with a real mix of
all the possible plans in Bologan-Mamedov, 2014 Euro Cup Rhodes, ended in a
draw.}) 7. d5 a5 8. Be2 Na6 9. h4 {It's not as agressive as it looks, only if
Black allows h5 it becomes a kind of tactical and offensive approach, in
general it's more a positional move to play Bg5 after h5 and get Qd2-0-0-0
faster.} h5 (9... c6 10. h5 cxd5 11. cxd5 Nc5 12. Be3 Qb6 {It was played in
Lutz-Gelfand, Horgen 1994. Gelfand won this game. Lutz never castled and tried
a Nf1-d2 plan, which is going nowhere as after Nc4 Black may just go back to
c7 threatening ...b5 later on. The Computer suggests to change directions here
and go for 0-0 h6-Qd2 and playing on the queenside. Claims White is better but
it's far from obvious for a practical game.} 13. O-O Bd7 14. h6 Bh8 15. Qd2 a4
16. f3 Rfc8 {with mutual chances!}) 10. Bg5 Qe8 (10... Nc5 $6 11. Bxh5 gxh5 12.
Nxh5 Ncd7 {To be honest I didn't even consider this. Too beautiful.} 13. Nxg7
Kxg7 14. f4 $36) 11. Qd2 Nc5 (11... Nh7 $5 12. Be3 Qe7 (12... f5 $2 13. exf5
gxf5 14. Bxh5 Qd7 15. f4 {and there is no way to have counterplay here, White
is too solid}) 13. Nf1 f5 14. exf5 gxf5 15. Bg5 Nxg5 16. Qxg5 Qxg5 17. hxg5 a4
{and I am sure Black has strong compensation for the pawn on the h-file.}) 12.
O-O-O (12. Nb5 {Computer's suggestion that I saw during the game, as if the
queen goes to d8 there are some Bxh5 in the air. Black can just defend the
pawn with some ...Qd7 or other move. But...} Ncxe4 13. Nxe4 Nxe4 14. Qe3 Nxg5
15. Nxc7 Qa4 16. Nxa8 Qb4+ 17. Qd2 Qxd2+ 18. Kxd2 Ne4+ 19. Ke1 Nc5 $44 {
and I would prefer to play with Black here.}) (12. f3 {is probably the most
natural instead of 0-0-0, not to allow ...Ng4 move.} Nh7 $5 13. Be3 b6 14. Bd3
f5 $132) 12... Ng4 $1 {Important move, now White has to change his e2-bishop
for the knight.} 13. Bxg4 (13. Rdf1 f6 {and White will eventually play Bxg4
anyway. Even though after Bxg4 for White here, Black has ...fxg5!? besides
taking on g4 with the c8-bishop.}) (13. Qe1 f6 14. Bd2 Bh6 {is quite OK for
Black.}) 13... Bxg4 14. f3 (14. Rdf1 Bd7 {and the rook is far from defending
its monarch! ...b5 is coming!}) 14... Bd7 15. Be3 b6 (15... b5 16. cxb5 Bxb5
17. Bxc5 dxc5 18. Nf1 {I didnt like this position that much, g4 is coming
somewhere and I am not sure how to organize direct threats on the b-line.}) 16.
Kb1 Kh7 (16... f5 {was already possible here, I wanted to wait for Nge2 first
as it looked to me that White doesn't have any improving ideas} 17. exf5 gxf5)
17. Qc2 a4 (17... Bh6 {this is ok, but I didn't want to allow any Bxc5-a4 ideas
} 18. Bxc5 bxc5 19. a4 {and even though I was sure that Black is ok, I didn't
like to allow a4-Nb5 here with pressure on a5 later on.}) 18. Nge2 f5 19. exf5
gxf5 (19... Bxf5 {I thought it's about equal and gxf5 is more fighting} 20. Ne4
Nxe4 21. fxe4 Bg4 22. Rdf1 a3 {Black is even slightly better here, but draw is
the most normal outcome.}) 20. Rh3 {The rook looks a bit naive on this square
with f3-Be3 standing, nevertheless the threat is clear Rg3-g5, sometimes with
ideas of eleminating the g7-bishop.} Kh8 $1 {Fighting against the Rg3-move, ...
f4 is threatening now with ...Bf5 idea, White had to do something, otherwise
Rhh1 is the only option.} 21. f4 {The most logical reaction, playing Rhh1
looked awful, now the rook is heading to g5 again after Rg3 if Black is not
taking measures!} Ne4 $5 {Good move, preventing Rg3, now ...Qg6 is coming next
and the bad position of White's pieces starts to tell, but including ...a3 was
even better.} (21... a3 $1 22. b3 Ne4 {All the ensuing complications like in
the game, are better with the a3-pawn creating new threats to White's king.})
22. Nxe4 {Carlsen is not going to passively wait here, he prepares an exchange
sacrifice with great complications where Black's weak king may become an
important factor as I was already running short on time.} (22. Rf3 a3 23. b3
Qg6 24. g3 {was possible to try some kind of fortress, even though Black may
slighly improve the position of his pieces and it's not sure what White wil do
next.}) 22... fxe4 23. Rg3 Bg4 24. Rxg4 $8 hxg4 25. f5 Rxf5 26. Ng3 Rf8 27.
Qxe4 {White has blocked all the center, h5-h6 is coming, I considered ...Rf4
somewhere to open up the g7-bishop, but it didn't seem to offer winning
chances.} Qd7 (27... a3 {This is always good, there was no need to wait with
this move, mating ideas are always there around White's king after a3.} 28. b3
Rf7 $1 {I have tried to figure out how to bring my queen to h7, I was mostly
considering Qf7-Bf6 or Qf7-Qg8-h7, but this neat way is also very nice
especially having ...a3 already played!} 29. Qxg4 Qg8 30. Ne4 Qh7 {Now ...Rf4
is in the air, Black is just winning.} 31. Re1 (31. Kc1 Rf4 $3 32. Bxf4 Qxe4
33. Qh5+ Kg8 34. Bg5 Rf8 $19) 31... Bf6 $19 {and when the a-rook joins the
party, White is helpless.}) 28. a3 {White is trying to hide his king on a2 and
profit from Black's king position with h5-h6.} (28. h5 a3 {then ...Bf6, we saw
it above.}) 28... b5 $1 {Very strong move, Magnus said on the press conference
that he thought that the compensation is very strong for White, but after this
move the position started to be really shaky for White.} 29. c5 (29. cxb5 Qxb5
30. Qg6 Rab8 31. Rd2 e4 32. Qh5+ Kg8 33. Qg6 Rf6 {and Rbf8 or ...Qb3, White's
king is too weak now!}) 29... dxc5 $1 {Two very important moves starting from
b5!, now lines are open for Black's rooks and they developing a strong play
against White's king.} 30. h5 c4 (30... Ra6 {I thought about this, but ...c4
looks much stronger to me now too after checking it back home.}) 31. h6 (31.
Ka2 {This was interesting, finally revealing the idea of a3!, but White is
still in trouble after} Rae8 32. h6 Bf6 {even though White have had to choose
this option, his position falls apart anyway as ...Qh7 and ...c3 is a real
threat.} 33. Nh5 Qh7 34. Qxg4 c3 35. Bc1 Qg8 $17) 31... Bf6 32. Bc5 Rf7 (32...
Qh7 $6 {Trying to release the tension and White's pressure on Black's king
wouldn't work due to} 33. Bxf8 Qxe4+ 34. Nxe4 Rxf8 35. Rf1 $11) 33. Rf1 (33.
Nh5 Rg8 $19) 33... Re8 $1 {This simple move is very important, otherwise Nh5
could be really dangerous, Pe5 is protected and Black can regroup with Bg5-f4
or Bd8.} 34. Bb4 {There is no good advice for White here, the position is
already lost.} (34. Qg6 Qxd5 35. Rxf6 Qd1+ 36. Ka2 Qb3+ 37. Kb1 c3 $3 {It wins
according to the computer, but I didn't see the exact path after} (37... Rd8
38. Rd6 Rdf8 {I saw only this idea} 39. Rf6 c3 40. Rf2 Qd1+ 41. Ka2 cxb2 {
and Black is winning}) 38. Rf2 Rd8 (38... Qd1+ 39. Ka2 b4 $3 {This is even
simplier according to the engine. As now if the bishop takes on b4, White is
unable to defend against ...Rd8 with Be3-c1!} (39... cxb2 $4 40. Rxb2 Qd5+ 41.
Ka1 $11 {and compared to the line with Rdf8, the rook on f7 is hanging}) 40.
Bxb4 Qb3+ 41. Kb1 Rd8 $19) 39. Be3 Rd1+ 40. Bc1 b4 $19) 34... Bg5 {I had
around 1 minute here, but I was able to calculate all of my next moves and
Magnus's ideas. ...c6 is a very important finesse.} 35. Nf5 {Otherwise Black
plays Bf4 anyway.} c6 $1 {Killing move,black is completely winning} (35... Bf4
36. Nh4 {and things are very complicated again!}) 36. Bd6 (36. d6 Ref8 $19 {
the diagonal a3-f8 is blocked, Black is a rook up now.}) 36... Bf4 37. Ng7 (37.
Rxf4 exf4 38. Be5+ Rxe5 39. Qxe5+ Kh7 40. Nd6 cxd5 $19) 37... Qxd6 38. Nxe8
Qxd5 {Everything is forced here.} 39. Qxd5 cxd5 40. g3 Kh7 $1 {My first
intention having few seconds, was to play ...Re7 here, which was also good,
but ...Kh7 seemed to be a more clear cut win.} (40... Re7 41. Nf6 {with few
more tricks in the air as after} Bxh6 42. Rh1 (42. Nxd5 Rd7 {and I wasn't sure
if it's that easy to win as Pb5 is too weak, even though Black is objectively
winning here too}) 42... Kg7 43. Rxh6 Re6 $1 {You have to see this move from
far.}) 41. gxf4 (41. Nd6 Rd7 42. Nxb5 Bxg3 {Black has too many pawns, the
d-pawn is promoted very fast.}) 41... exf4 42. Nd6 {Otherwise pawns are going
forward without any obstacles.} Rf6 43. Nxb5 {It took me some time here, to
understand which pawn push is better, finally it seems to make no real
difference, which pawn moves leading to a win.} f3 (43... g3 44. Nd4 Kxh6 45.
Kc2 Kh5 46. Nf3 Kg4 47. Ne5+ Kh3 $19) 44. Nd4 Kxh6 (44... Rf4 45. Ne6 Re4 $2
46. Ng5+ Kxh6 47. Nxf3 gxf3 48. Rxf3 {and I don't see how Black can win this
endgame.} Kg5 49. Rf8 d4 50. Kc1 d3 51. Kd1 Re2 52. Rg8+ $11) 45. Kc2 Kg5 {
The king helps to march with f- and g-pawns, White can do nothing here.} 46.
Kd2 f2 47. Ne2 Rf3 48. Kc2 Kh4 49. Rh1+ (49. Nd4 Rf6 $19) 49... Rh3 50. Rf1 g3
51. Kd2 Kg4 {Carlsen resigned as the black king comes to f3 and g2. I am happy
about my play in the zeitnot part and in the middlegame around move 30-40 in
time scramble I was able to find all the best moves. I hope that this
tournament becomes traditional and I'm very thankful to both players and
organisers for the perfect tournament.} 0-1

[Event "Gashimov Memorial-A 1st"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2014.04.26"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2760"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2014.04.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.05.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.05.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. Nf3 dxc4 6. Bg5 b5 {Carlsen needs
to look for positions, that are full of life even with the black pieces. His
title as champion and fantastic rating oblige him to win many games even
against very strong opponents.} 7. a4 c6 8. g3 {Mamedyarov keeps his cool and
develops the bishop in style of the Catalan Opening. His choice is certainly
sensible, since there is no direct refutation of the daring idea used by Black.
} (8. axb5 cxb5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Qe4 (10. e3 Bb7 11. b3 Nd7 12. bxc4 bxc4 13.
Nd2 a5 14. Bxc4 Rg8 15. d5 Nb6 16. Qxh7 Rf8 17. Bb5+ Ke7 18. Qd3 Nxd5 19. Na2
Bxd2+ 20. Qxd2 Qb6 21. Rb1 $11 {0-1 (33) Ballesteros Perez,F-Hernandez Onna,R 
(2445) Las Palmas 1991}) 10... Qd5 11. Qg4 Nd7 12. g3 Bb7 13. Bg2 Qd6 14. O-O
Bxc3 15. bxc3 a6 16. e4 h5 17. Qh4 O-O-O 18. Rfd1 Kb8 19. Ne1 f5 20. e5 Qc7 $11
{0-1 (68) Postl,A (2315)-Lerner,K (2605) Graz 1995}) 8... Bb7 9. Bg2 Nbd7 10.
O-O Qb6 {Black is playing with fire as the opponent has excellent pieces and a
slight development advantage. On the other hand Black's advantage of an extrae
pawn can play a significant role later in the game.} 11. e4 a6 (11... Bxc3 12.
bxc3 O-O 13. a5 Qc7 14. Bf4 Qc8 15. Bd6 c5 16. e5 Nd5 17. Ng5 g6 18. a6 Bxa6
19. dxc5 Bb7 20. Ne4 Re8 21. Qd2 f5 22. exf6 N5xf6 $11 {1/2 (50) Wilhelmi,C 
(2325)-Arnold,J (2190) Budapest 1996}) (11... O-O 12. Be3 Bxc3 13. bxc3 c5 14.
dxc5 Nxc5 15. Nd2 a6 16. Rab1 Qc6 17. Nxc4 bxc4 18. Bxc5 Qxc5 19. Rxb7 Rab8 20.
Rfb1 Rxb7 21. Rxb7 Ng4 $11 {0-1 (32) Costello,C (2070)-Petersen,S (2165)
Copenhagen 1996}) 12. Rfd1 {White deserves credit for playing very sensibly in
the virtually unknown line. The pieces are taking the optimal squares and
their activity should promise compensation for the missing material.} (12. Be3
O-O 13. Ne5 Rad8 14. Rad1 c5 15. axb5 axb5 16. dxc5 Bxc5 17. Nxd7 Nxd7 18. Bg5
f6 19. Bf4 Ne5 20. Bxe5 fxe5 21. Rxd8 Rxd8 $17 {0-1 (28) Sajn,S (1896)
-Kozamernik,J (2172) Bled 2001}) 12... h6 13. Be3 (13. Bf4 O-O 14. Na2 Be7 15.
Nc3 Rad8 $15) 13... O-O 14. d5 {When all the forces are mobilised all good
players know that waiting can only help the adversary. Mamedyarov is opening
the direct fight with a logical shot in the centre.} (14. Ne5 c5 15. Na2 Ba5
16. dxc5 Nxc5 17. axb5 axb5 18. Nxc4 (18. b4 $2 cxb3 19. Qxc5 Qxc5 20. Bxc5
Rfd8 $19) 18... bxc4 19. Qxc4 Bxe4 20. Bxc5 Qc6 $15) 14... c5 {World champions
are also only human and have to tread carefully in questions of risk. The more
ambitious move 14...Bc5!? was probably deemed to be too messy, even though
Black would keep somewhat better chances.} (14... Bc5 $5 15. dxe6 fxe6 16. e5
Nd5 17. Bf4 Bc8 18. Qd2 b4 19. Ne4 c3 $15) 15. a5 (15. dxe6 Qxe6 16. Nd5 Nxd5
17. exd5 Qf6 $15) 15... Qd8 {Mamedyarov is well known as a player who always
carries a sharp knife in his bag. It makes no sense to provoke the tiger with
the unseemly move 15...Bxa5.} (15... Bxa5 16. dxe6 fxe6 17. e5 Nd5 18. Bxh6 $1
Bxc3 19. Qg6 Rf7 20. Ng5 Nxe5 21. Qh7+ Kf8 22. bxc3 Nf6 23. Bxg7+ Rxg7 24. Qh8+
Ng8 25. Bxb7 $11) 16. dxe6 (16. Nh4 exd5 17. exd5 Ne5 $17) 16... fxe6 17. Nh4
Bxc3 {The knight on c3 is eliminated as it might possibly head to the centre
and join the forces heading towards black king.} (17... Qc7 18. Bf4 e5 19. Bd2
Bxc3 20. Bxc3 $11) 18. bxc3 Qe8 (18... Qc7 19. Bf4 e5 20. Bc1 Rfe8 21. Nf5 Nf8
$13) 19. f4 Rd8 {Carlsen is not worried about the seeming passivity of his
army, it is more important to defend the critical squares like g6.} (19... Ng4
20. Bc1 Qf7 21. Rd6 Rad8 22. h3 Ngf6 23. Be3 $11) 20. h3 (20. Rd6 e5 21. Re1
$11) 20... Rf7 21. Rd6 (21. g4 e5 22. f5 Nf8 23. Bxc5 Rfd7 24. Rxd7 Qxd7 $15)
21... e5 22. f5 $6 {With his faulty decision Mamedyarov chooses the road to
perdition. It was not necessary to tempt the collapse, but White was probaby
not suspecting the level of danger.} (22. Re1 $1 Nh5 23. Qd2 Rc8 (23... Nxg3
24. fxe5 Qxe5 25. Ng6 Qe8 26. e5 Bxg2 27. Qxg2 Nf5 28. Bf2 $11) 24. Kh2 $11)
22... Nf8 $1 23. Bxc5 $2 {[%mdl 2048] White could not resist the temptation to
restore material equality on the board. Unfortunately this strategy helps to
improve the black pieces and they will spring to life with astonishing force.
It was necessary to look for ways to limit the damage.} (23. Rad1 Rxd6 24. Rxd6
Qc8 25. Ng6 Nxg6 26. fxg6 Rd7 27. Qd2 Qc7 28. Rxd7 Qxd7 29. Qxd7 Nxd7 30. h4
Kf8 31. Bh3 Ke8 32. Bxd7+ Kxd7 33. Bxc5 (33. Bxh6 $2 b4 $17) 33... Ke6 34. Kf2
Bxe4 $15) 23... Rxd6 24. Bxd6 Rd7 25. Bxf8 {If every step leads in the wrong
direction the result may be somewhat depressing. The last chance for White to
put up resistance was tied to the move 25.Bb4.} (25. Bb4 N8h7 (25... Rd3 26.
Re1 Rxg3 27. Qf2 Rd3 $17) 26. Ng6 Ng5 27. Qf2 Rd3 28. h4 Ngxe4 29. Qb6 Bd5 $17)
25... Qxf8 26. Rd1 (26. Qf2 Bxe4 27. Ng6 Qe8 28. Bf1 Nd5 29. Rc1 Qb8 $17) 26...
Qc5+ 27. Kh2 (27. Kh1 Qe3 $1 (27... Bxe4 28. Bxe4 Rxd1+ 29. Qxd1 Nxe4 30. Qd8+
Kf7 31. Qd7+ Qe7 32. Qd5+ $18) 28. Rxd7 Nxd7 29. Qd1 Qd3 $19) (27. Kf1 Bxe4 28.
Bxe4 Rxd1+ 29. Qxd1 Nxe4 30. Qd8+ Kh7 31. Qb6 Qc8 32. Kg2 Qd7 $17) 27... Bxe4
$1 {Black would at any time gladly pay top dollar for the ideal coordination
of his forces as in this position. The only problem that has to be dealt with
is the counterplay against his own king.} (27... Bxe4 28. Bxe4 Rxd1 29. Qxd1
Nxe4 30. Ng2 (30. Qd8+ Kh7 31. Ng6 Qf2+ $19) 30... Kh7 31. Qc2 Qd5 32. Ne1 Nf6
$19) 0-1

[Event "Gashimov Memorial-A 1st"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2014.04.27"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2014.04.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.05.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.05.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 c5 {This time Carlsen leaves the main
lines even earlier than in his previous games.} (4... d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ (5... Be7
6. e4 dxe4 7. fxe4 e5 8. d5 Bc5 9. Bg5 (9. Nf3 {is the more usual move order:}
Bg4 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Nbd7 12. Bg5 h6 (12... Bd4 13. Ne2 $1 Bxb2 14. Ra2 Bd4
15. Nxd4 exd4 16. e5 $1 O-O $2 17. exf6 Re8+ 18. Kf2 Ne5 19. Qf5 h6 20. Bc1 $18
{Ganguly,S (2654)-Filippov,A (2607)/Khanty-Mansiysk WCup/2009/ For more
details see the notes to this game by Krasenkow in CBM 134.}) (12... O-O 13.
O-O-O Bd4 14. Ne2 {transposes back to Nakamura-Carlsen}) 13. Bh4 Bd4 14. Ne2
O-O 15. Nxd4 (15. O-O-O $142 $1 $14) 15... exd4 16. O-O-O Re8 17. Rxd4 Qe7 18.
Kc2 a5 19. Bd3 Ne5 20. Qf5 Qc5 21. Rd1 Qxd4 22. Bf2 Qxd3+ 23. Rxd3 Nxd3 24.
Kxd3 Nxe4 $11 {Almarza Mato,C (1995)-Belanoff,S (2066)/email/2011/}) 9... O-O (
9... Bd4 $5 {was suggested by PH Nielsen. White's best reaction is probably}
10. Qd2 (10. Nf3 Bxc3+ 11. bxc3 Qd6 12. Bd3 Na6 13. O-O Nc5 14. Qc2 h6 15. Bxf6
Qxf6 16. Kh1 Qe7 17. Nd2 Bd7 18. Qb1 b6 19. Nb3 Nb7 20. Bc2 O-O $15 {Formanek,
E (2330)-McCambridge,V (2465)/Chicago/1985/}) 10... O-O (10... Bxc3 11. Qxc3
Qe7 {[%cal Rf6e4,Rf6d5]} 12. Qf3 $14 (12. Bxf6 Qxf6 13. Nf3 $32)) (10... Bg4 $5
11. Be2 (11. Nb5 Nxe4 12. Bxd8 Nxd2 13. Bxc7 Nb3 $5 (13... Nxf1 14. Nxd4 exd4
15. Kxf1 $14) 14. Rb1 Bxg1 15. Rxg1 Kd7 16. Kf2 a6 17. Bxb8 Raxb8 18. Nc3 Bf5
19. Re1 Kd6 $13) 11... h6 12. Bxf6 (12. Bxg4 $2 hxg5 13. Qxg5 Nxg4 14. Qxg4
Bxc3+ 15. bxc3 Qh4+ 16. Qxh4 Rxh4 $15) 12... Qxf6 13. Bxg4 Qh4+ 14. g3 Qxg4 15.
Nge2 c5 $14 {/<=>}) 11. Nf3 c5 12. Nb5 Nbd7 13. Bd3 Qb6 14. a4 a5 15. O-O-O h6
16. Bh4 Re8 17. Rhf1 Nh5 18. Kb1 Nf4 19. Rc1 f6 20. h3 Ra6 21. Bc2 Ng6 22. Be1
Qd8 23. g4 Nh8 24. Bg3 Nf7 25. Bd3 Nf8 26. Nfxd4 exd4 27. Nc7 $16 {Dolya,
A-Orekhov,V/email/2010/}) 10. Nf3 Bg4 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 Nbd7 13. O-O-O Bd4
14. Ne2 c5 15. g4 a5 16. Kb1 Ra6 17. Ng3 g6 18. h4 a4 19. Rh2 Qa5 20. Bd2 Qc7
21. g5 Ne8 22. h5 Rb6 23. Bc1 $40 {Nakamura,H (2789)-Carlsen,M (2872)/Zuerich/
2014/ In the end in a heavy tactical struggle Black turned the tables - for
more details about this game see the notes by Krasenkow in CBM 159.}) 6. bxc3
c5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 ({The double-edged} 7... exd5 8. e3 c4 $5 {was played in the
9th game of the World Championship match Anand-Carlsen in 2013. Lev Gutman
annotated the game in detail and devoted a whole article to this line in CBM
158.}) 8. dxc5 Qa5 9. e4 {is the standard continuation, even more recently
Black seems to be doing OK after} Nf6 {This was the topic of another
theoretical article by Gutman in CBM 159. After} 10. Be3 O-O 11. Qb3 Nfd7 12.
a4 (12. Bb5 Qc7 13. Ne2 (13. Qb4 Nc6 14. Bxc6 (14. Qa4 Nce5 $11 (14... Na5 15.
Rd1 $1 Nxc5 16. Bxc5 Qxc5 17. Qxa5 a6 18. c4 Rb8 19. Ne2 axb5 20. cxb5 e5 21.
Rd5 Qe7 22. Qb4 $14 {Ulibin,M (2506)-Nyback,T (2575)/Stockholm/2007/})) 14...
bxc6 15. Nh3 Ba6 16. Qa4 Bb5 17. Qc2 Qa5 18. Kf2 Nxc5 19. Bxc5 Ba4 20. Qd2
Qxc5+ 21. Qd4 Qa5 22. Rhb1 {Pacher,M (2446)-Haba,P (2503)/CZE-chT2/2014/} Bc2
23. Rb7 Rad8 $36) 13... Nxc5 14. Qc4 b6 15. Bxc5 bxc5 16. O-O a6 17. Ba4 Nd7
18. Bxd7 Bxd7 19. a4 e5 20. Ng3 Be6 21. Qe2 g6 22. a5 Rfd8 $15 {Richter,M 
(2473)-Michalik,P (2584)/Bundesliga/2014/}) (12. Qb4 Qc7 13. Rd1 Nc6 14. Qa4
Nce5 15. Qd4 Nc6 16. Qa4 (16. Qd2 Nce5 17. Qd6 Qa5 $132) 16... Nce5 17. Qd4 Nc6
{1/2, Timman,J (2630)-Karpov,A (2730)/Tilburg/1991/}) 12... Qc7 13. Qa3 b6 14.
a5 bxc5 15. a6 c4 16. Qa5 Qxa5 17. Rxa5 Nc6 18. Ra2 Nde5 19. f4 Ng4 20. Bc1 Rb8
21. Nh3 Rb1 22. Kd2 Rb6 23. Bxc4 Nb8 24. Be2 Nf6 25. Nf2 Bxa6 $11 {Wang,H 
(2743)-Radjabov,T (2745)/Stavanger/2013/}) ({Another new direction in which
the 4.f3 system is developing is} 4... O-O $5 5. e4 (5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Nh5 $5
7. Nh3 f5 8. e3 d6 9. Be2 c5 10. O-O Nc6 11. g4 fxg4 12. fxg4 Nf6 13. Nf2 h6
14. e4 e5 15. d5 Ne7 16. g5 hxg5 17. Bxg5 Qe8 18. Qd3 Qg6 19. Qg3 Bd7 20. Kh1
Rf7 21. Qh4 Raf8 $15 {Karjakin,S (2772)-Carlsen,M (2881)/Shamkir/2014/}) 5...
d5 6. e5 Nfd7 7. cxd5 exd5 8. a3 Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 f6 10. exf6 Qe8+ (10... Qxf6 11.
Bd3 Nb6 12. Ra2 Bf5 13. Bxf5 Qxf5 14. Nh3 N8d7 15. O-O Rae8 16. Nf4 c6 17. Re1
Nf6 18. g4 Qd7 19. Nd3 Rxe1+ 20. Qxe1 Nc4 21. Re2 Re8 $11 {Millstone,M (2473)
-Hertel,P (2641)/email/2009/}) 11. Qe2 Qf7 $5 $146 (11... Nxf6 12. Qxe8 Nxe8
13. Ne2 Nd6 14. Bf4 Rd8 15. Ng3 Nc6 16. Bd3 Be6 17. Kf2 Bf7 18. Nf5 Bg6 {
1/2, Shmeliov,D (2270)-Kraai,J (2505)/Las Vegas/2007/} 19. Nxd6 $14) 12. fxg7
Re8 13. Be3 Nc6 14. Qd2 Na5 15. Rb1 $1 Nb6 16. Rb4 Nac4 17. Bxc4 dxc4 $6 (17...
Nxc4 $142 18. Rxc4 dxc4 19. Ne2 Bf5 20. Kf2 $44) 18. Rb5 Bf5 19. Kf2 (19. Re5
$5) 19... Nd5 20. Rxd5 Qxd5 21. Ne2 a5 22. h4 b5 23. h5 b4 24. cxb4 axb4 25.
axb4 {Mamedyarov,S (2757)-Aronian,L (2830)/Khanty-Mansiysk Candidates/2014/} {
Now Giri's suggestion} Bd3 $1 {would have still given Black chances to save
the game.}) 5. d5 O-O {[%mdl 32] A restrained approach, this Nakamura-Carlsen
encounter will be more strategic than their tussle in Zuerich.} (5... b5 6. e4
O-O 7. e5 Ne8 8. f4 exd5 9. cxd5 d6 10. Nf3 c4 11. a4 Nd7 ({Black started to
avoid the rather unpleasant} 11... Bg4 12. axb5 Nd7 13. e6 $14 {Shirov,A (2749)
-Kramnik,V (2780)/Shanghai/2010/ See the notes to this game in CBM 138.}) 12.
Be2 Qb6 13. axb5 (13. Bd2 Nc7 14. Nxb5 Bxd2+ 15. Nxd2 Nxd5 16. Nxc4 Qc5 17. Qd2
dxe5 18. fxe5 Nxe5 19. Nxe5 {1/2, Nenciulescu,S (2179)-Antonov,V (2283)/email/
2011/} Ne3 20. Nd3 Nc2+ 21. Kd1 Ne3+ $11) 13... Nc7 $5 $146 (13... dxe5 14.
fxe5 Bb7 15. Qd4 Nc7 16. Qxb6 Nxb6 17. d6 Nxb5 18. Bd2 Bxf3 19. Bxf3 Rae8 20.
Nxb5 Rxe5+ 21. Kd1 Bxd2 22. Nxa7 Bf4 23. Ra6 {Ding,L (2714)-Bacrot,E (2714)/
Biel/2013/} Nd7 $132) 14. Qd4 (14. Ra4 $5 Qc5 $132) 14... Bb7 15. Bd2 Bxc3 16.
bxc3 dxe5 17. fxe5 Bxd5 18. Be3 Qxb5 19. O-O Ne6 20. Qh4 Ndc5 (20... a5 $5 $15)
21. Rab1 Nb3 22. Bd1 Qa5 23. Bc2 g6 24. Ng5 Nxg5 25. Bxg5 Qxc3 26. Rf2 (26.
Rbd1 $1 $44) 26... Nd4 27. Bh6 (27. Bf6 Qe3 28. Bg5 $11) 27... Nc6 $1 28. Rd1
Qxe5 $15 {Mamedyarov,S (2757)-Karjakin,S (2766)/Khanty-Mansiysk Candidates/
2014/}) 6. e4 d6 7. Bd2 (7. Nge2 {gives Black's counterplay a faster start with
} b5 8. Nf4 (8. Ng3 bxc4 (8... exd5 9. cxd5 a6 10. Be2 Nbd7 11. O-O c4 12. Be3
Re8 13. Kh1 Bc5 14. Bxc5 Nxc5 15. b4 cxb3 16. axb3 b4 17. Nb5 Qb6 18. Nd4 Bd7
19. Qd2 a5 20. Bc4 h6 21. Nc6 $1 Bxc6 22. dxc6 Qxc6 23. Nf5 $16 {Milov,V (2570)
-De Firmian,N (2605)/Biel/1995/}) 9. Bxc4 Bxc3+ 10. bxc3 Qa5 $132 {[%cal Yc8a6]
}) 8... a6 $5 (8... e5 9. Nfe2 Nh5 $5 (9... bxc4 10. Ng3 Ba6 11. Bg5 h6 12. Be3
Bc8 13. Bxc4 Nbd7 14. O-O Nb6 15. Be2 Bxc3 16. bxc3 Bd7 17. a4 Rb8 18. a5 Na8
19. Qd2 Qe7 20. f4 $36 {Shirov,A (2610)-Savon,V (2460)/Moscow/1991/}) 10. g4
Qh4+ 11. Kd2 Nf4 12. Nxf4 exf4 13. Kc2 Bxc3 (13... bxc4 14. Bxc4 (14. Bxf4 $142
Qf6 15. Qd2) 14... Ba6 15. Bxa6 Nxa6 16. Bxf4 c4 17. Qd4 Rfc8 18. a3 Bc5 19.
Qd2 Qe7 20. h4 Rab8 21. g5 Rb3 $40 {Cheng,B (2440)-Papin,V (2514)/Melbourne/
2013/}) 14. bxc3 b4 15. Bxf4 Bd7 16. Qd2 $5 (16. Qd3 $6 Ba4+ 17. Kd2 Nd7 18.
Be2 f5 $1 19. exf5 Rae8 20. Rae1 Ne5 21. Bxe5 Rxe5 22. f4 Rfe8 $1 $19 {Berkes,
F (2702)-Yemelin,V (2574)/Skopje/2013/} {/\} 23. fxe5 Qg5+ 24. Qe3 bxc3+ 25.
Kd3 Bc2+) 16... Ba4+ (16... Qe7 $5) 17. Kd3 bxc3 18. Qxc3 (18. Qe3 Qe7 19. Ke2
c2 20. Kf2 Nd7 $13 {Miton,K (2638)-Charbonneau,P (2501)/Montreal/2006/}) 18...
f5 19. exf5 Qf2 (19... Na6 20. Bg3 $16) 20. Be3 Qxf3 21. Be2 Qh3 22. Qe1 $1 {
[%cal Re1g3]} Bc2+ 23. Kd2 Be4 24. Rg1 Qxh2 25. Qg3 $16) 9. Be2 (9. Bd2 exd5
10. cxd5 Ba5 11. Be2 Nbd7 12. O-O Ne5 13. Kh1 c4 $132 {is similar to our game,
Black was on top after} 14. b3 $6 b4 15. Na4 c3 16. Be3 Bc7 17. a3 a5 18. Bb5
Rb8 19. Qe2 h6 20. Rfd1 Qe7 21. axb4 axb4 $15 {Timofeev,A (2631)-Topalov,V 
(2751)/EU Cup Eilat/2012/}) 9... exd5 (9... e5 10. Nd3 Nbd7 11. Nxb4 cxb4 12.
Nb1 Qb6 13. g4 bxc4 14. Nd2 c3 15. bxc3 a5 16. Nc4 Qc7 17. cxb4 axb4 18. Be3
Ba6 19. Rc1 Bxc4 20. Rxc4 Nc5 21. Qd2 Rfb8 22. O-O b3 $11 {Tritt,M (1896)
-Kolanek,R (2098)/email/2008/}) 10. cxd5 Nbd7 11. O-O Ne5 12. Kh1 Bd7 13. Nd3
Nxd3 14. Qxd3 h6 15. g4 Nh7 16. Nd1 Re8 17. Ne3 c4 18. Qd1 Bc5 19. Qe1 Qb6 20.
Nf5 Bxf5 21. gxf5 Be3 22. Qg3 Kh8 23. Bxe3 Qxe3 24. Rg1 Rg8 $13 {/=/+, Richter,
M (2470)-Babula,V (2583)/Pardubice/2013/}) 7... Nbd7 ({Nakamura himself
preferred} 7... Re8 8. Nge2 a6 (8... Na6 9. Ng3 Nc7 10. Be2 a6 11. a4 Bd7 12.
O-O Qe7 13. Re1 exd5 14. cxd5 b5 15. Kh1 bxa4 16. Nxa4 Bxd2 17. Qxd2 Reb8 18.
Nxc5 dxc5 19. d6 Qe5 20. f4 Qxb2 21. Qxb2 Rxb2 22. dxc7 Rc8 $11 {Volkov,S 
(2620)-Cekro,E (2441)/EU Cup Rethymnon/2003/}) 9. a4 (9. Ng3 b5 10. dxe6 Bxe6
11. cxb5 d5 12. bxa6 c4 (12... Nxa6 $5) 13. exd5 Bh3+ $2 (13... Nxd5 14. Be2
Nxc3 15. Bxc3 Qb6 $44 {[%csl Re1]}) 14. Nce4 Nxd5 15. Bxb4 Nxb4 16. gxh3 Qa5
17. Kf2 $18 {Steadman,M (2217)-Hansen,S (2603)/Sydney/2011/}) 9... exd5 10.
cxd5 Nh5 11. g3 f5 12. Bg2 fxe4 13. Nxe4 Nf6 14. Bxb4 cxb4 15. Qd2 Nxe4 16.
fxe4 a5 17. Nd4 Na6 18. O-O Nc5 19. Qf4 Nd3 20. Qd2 Nc5 21. Qf4 Nd3 22. Qd2 Nc5
{1/2, Le Quang,L (2715)-Nakamura,H (2770)/Dortmund/2011/}) ({Carlsen once
again simply continues his development and spurns more direct attempts, such as
} 7... exd5 8. cxd5 Nh5 $5 (8... a6 9. Nge2 Nbd7 10. Ng3 b5 11. Be2 (11. a4 $1
$14) 11... c4 12. Be3 Bc5 13. Bxc5 Nxc5 14. b4 cxb3 15. axb3 b4 16. Nb5 Qb6 17.
Nd4 a5 18. Ngf5 Re8 $15 19. g4 $2 {Khenkin,I (2600)-Dgebuadze,A (2505)/El
Sauzal rpd/2007/} Nfxe4 20. fxe4 Nxe4 $40) 9. g3 ({I doubt Nakamura would have
repeated Aronian's aggressive reaction} 9. g4 Qh4+ 10. Ke2 Ng3+ 11. hxg3 Qxh1
12. Kf2 Nd7 (12... c4 $5 $17) 13. Bg2 Qh2 14. a3 Bxc3 15. Bxc3 Qh6 16. f4 Qg6
17. Bf3 Re8 18. Kg2 f6 19. Qc2 b5 20. Nh3 Nb6 21. f5 Qf7 22. b3 Nd7 23. Nf4 Ne5
24. Rh1 h6 25. Ne6 $44 {1-0 Aronian,L (2693)-Efimenko,Z (2620)/Warsaw 2005/CBM
108 (49)}) (9. Nge2 f5 10. Qc2 b5 11. O-O-O Bxc3 12. bxc3 fxe4 13. fxe4 $6 (13.
Ng3 $132) 13... Bg4 14. Re1 Nd7 15. Ng3 Nxg3 16. hxg3 Ne5 17. Bxb5 c4 $40 {
0-1 Gomez Esteban,J (2425)-Supatashvili,K (2450)/Debrecen 1992/EU-chT (26)})
9... f5 10. Bg2 $142 (10. f4 $6 Qe8 11. Be2 Bxc3 12. Bxc3 Qxe4 13. Nf3 Re8 14.
Kf1 b6 15. Rg1 Qxe2+ 16. Qxe2 Ba6 17. Qxa6 Nxa6 18. Kf2 Nc7 $17 {Bilobrk,F 
(2390)-Zelcic,R (2519)/Zadar/2013/}) 10... Bxc3 (10... Nf6 $142 $1 {seems
promising for Black}) 11. Bxc3 fxe4 12. fxe4 Qe8 13. Ne2 Bg4 14. Rf1 Rxf1+ 15.
Kxf1 Nd7 16. Qc2 Ne5 17. Kg1 Nf3+ 18. Kh1 Qg6 19. Rf1 Nxh2 20. Kxh2 Bxe2 21.
Qxe2 Nxg3 22. Qe3 Nxf1+ 23. Bxf1 Re8 24. Bg2 $13 {Van Osmael,A-Huybrecht,F/
corr/2002/}) 8. Nge2 Ne5 $146 (8... exd5 9. Nxd5 $6 ({Nakamura would have
almost certainly played} 9. cxd5 $142 a6 10. Ng3) 9... Nxd5 10. cxd5 f5 11.
Bxb4 cxb4 12. Nd4 Nc5 13. Be2 fxe4 14. O-O Qg5 15. Qc1 Qe5 16. Qe3 exf3 17.
Qxe5 dxe5 18. Nxf3 e4 19. Nd4 Bd7 20. Bc4 $132 {Akshat,K (2354)-L'Ami,E (2640)/
Dieren/2013/}) (8... Re8 9. Ng3 a6 10. Be2 exd5 11. cxd5 b5 (11... Qc7 12. O-O
Ne5 13. Bg5 Nfd7 14. f4 Ng6 15. f5 $1 Nge5 16. f6 h6 17. Bxh6 Nxf6 18. Rxf6
gxf6 19. Nh5 Qd8 20. Qd2 Ng6 21. Bg7 {1-0, Bobykin,K (2000)-Pilipchuk,A (2172)/
email/2008/}) 12. a4 bxa4 13. Nxa4 (13. Qxa4 $142 Rb8 14. O-O $13 {/+/=}) 13...
Rb8 14. O-O Bxd2 15. Qxd2 Rb4 16. Ra2 Ne5 17. Rfa1 h5 18. Qg5 Ng6 19. Nc3 h4
20. Nf5 Bxf5 21. Qxf5 Re5 22. Qh3 Rh5 $1 {[%cal Rg6f4]} 23. g4 hxg3 24. Qxg3
Re5 25. Kh1 Nh5 $36 {Landgren,A (2220)-Bjork,C (2473)/SWE-chT/2004/}) (8... Nh5
9. Be3 $2 (9. Nf4 $142) 9... Ne5 10. b3 Qh4+ 11. Bf2 Qf6 12. Qc2 b5 $1 $32 13.
cxb5 exd5 14. O-O-O Nxf3 $5 15. Rxd5 Ne5 16. Be3 Bb7 17. Rd1 Ng4 18. Bg1 Rfe8
$17 {Skula,E-Krcmar,J/corr/1997/}) 9. Ng3 exd5 10. cxd5 {[%mdl 16] The
pawn-structure originates from the Benoni, but the dark-squared bishop is on
the queenside instead of the long diagonal. In the Snake Benoni Black plays
Bd6-c7-a5; here it's similar, but he didn't allow White to get in the d5-d6
advance (the main problem of most Snake Benoni versions). All in all the
position seems very unclear to me.} Bd7 {Carlsen wants to get in a quick b5,
but without allowing White to reach a positon such as the one seen in Milov-De
Firmian above. However, d7 is an important square also for Black's knights and
a few moves later he will feel the bishop should retreat.} (10... a6 11. Be2 b5
12. a4 $5 $14) (10... c4 $5 11. Be3 (11. f4 Nd3+ (11... Ng6 12. Bxc4 Re8 13.
Bb5 Bd7 $44 {[%csl Re1]}) 12. Bxd3 cxd3 13. Qf3 Re8 14. O-O (14. Qxd3 Bxc3 15.
Bxc3 Nxe4 16. Nxe4 Bf5 $11) 14... Bd7 $13 15. Qxd3 $2 Ng4 $17) 11... Qc7 12.
Be2 Bc5 $132) 11. a3 {Nakamura first of all wants to slow down the advancing
pawns.} ({Perhaps he didn't like} 11. Be2 {due to} c4 $5 (11... b5 12. Nxb5
Bxb5 13. Bxb5 Qa5 14. Be2 Rab8 15. b3 $14) 12. Be3 Qa5 13. O-O Bc5 14. Qd2 $13)
11... Ba5 12. Be2 b5 13. O-O (13. Nxb5 Bxb5 14. Bxb5 c4 {[%csl Rb5]} (14... Rb8
15. b4 Rxb5 16. bxa5 Nd3+ 17. Ke2 c4 $13) 15. b4 cxb3 16. Rb1 Rb8 17. Rxb3 Qc7
$44 {[%csl Re1]}) (13. b4 cxb4 (13... Bb6 $5 14. Nxb5 Bxb5 15. Bxb5 c4 $44) 14.
axb4 Bxb4 15. Nxb5 Bc5 16. Ba5 Qe7 17. Nd4 Ng6 $132) 13... c4 14. Be3 Bb6 15.
Qd2 Rb8 (15... a5 16. a4 $5 {and the c4-pawn will be vulnerable:} b4 17. Nb5
Bxb5 18. axb5 g6 19. Rfc1 Rc8 20. Kh1 Bxe3 (20... Re8 21. Bg5 $36) 21. Qxe3 Rc5
22. f4 $14) 16. Nd1 Bc8 $6 {Preparing the knight transfer is rather slow.} (
16... h5 $5) (16... Re8 $13) 17. Kh1 ({White gradually improves his position,} 
17. a4 a6 $13 {achieves nothing tangible.}) 17... Nfd7 {[%cal Yd7c5,Yc5b3,
Yc5d3]} 18. f4 $1 {At the right moment - now Black won't control d3 with both
knights.} Ng6 19. Bxb6 (19. a4 a6 20. Nc3 {Zagrebelny} Bc5 $5 {doesn't look
too impressive.}) 19... Rxb6 20. Ne3 Nc5 21. Bd1 Nd3 (21... Re8 22. f5 Nf8 23.
f6 Nxe4 24. Nxe4 Rxe4 25. Bc2 $44) 22. f5 $1 ({Houdini prefers} 22. a4 a6 23.
b3 $14 {, but Nakamura decides to act.}) 22... Ngf4 $8 {More or less forced.} (
22... Nge5 $2 23. f6 $40 g6 $2 24. Nxc4 {[%cal Rd2h6]}) 23. a4 (23. Bc2 Qh4 24.
f6 $5 g6 25. a4 $36) 23... a6 24. Ng4 {[%cal Rf1f4]} (24. Bc2 $5 {deserves
attention even here.}) 24... h5 (24... Qg5 $2 25. Nh5 $1 $18) 25. Nf2 $5 ({
This is at least as good as the more energetic} 25. Rxf4 Nxf4 (25... hxg4 $5
26. Rxg4 Ne5 {is a safer choice, although White is better after} 27. a5 (27.
Rf4 Qg5 $14)) 26. Nh6+ gxh6 (26... Kh8 27. Qxf4 Qf6 28. Nxf7+ Rxf7 29. Bxh5 Rf8
(29... Qxb2 30. Rd1 $18) 30. Bg6 Qxg6 (30... Kg8 31. Qg4 {[%cal Rg4h5]} Rd8 32.
e5 $1 dxe5 33. Qh5 $18 {[%cal Rg3e4]}) 31. Qe3 Qf6 32. Qxb6 Qxb2 33. Rf1 $16)
27. Qxf4 Qg5 28. Qf2 $16 {[%cal Rf2b6,Rg3h5] ->}) 25... Qf6 (25... Nxf2+ 26.
Qxf2 Nd3 27. Qe3 {[%cal Rf5f6]} f6 (27... h4 28. f6 $1) 28. a5 Rb7 29. Bxh5 $18
{[%cal Rh5g6,Re3f3,Rf3h5]}) (25... bxa4 26. Nxd3 Nxd3 27. f6 $18) 26. Nxd3 $2 (
26. Nxh5 $142 $1 Nxh5 (26... Nxf2+ 27. Qxf2 Nxh5 28. Qxb6 $18) 27. Nxd3 cxd3
28. a5 Rb8 29. Bxh5 $16 {[%cal Yb2b4,Ya1a3,Ya3d3]}) 26... Nxd3 27. Qe3 (27.
Nxh5 Qxb2 $13) 27... Rb7 28. Nxh5 ({This looks like a good moment to flick in} 
28. axb5 axb5 29. Nxh5 Qh6 30. Qd4 $5 $36) 28... Qh6 $1 (28... Qxb2 $2 29. f6
Qxa1 30. Qg5 (30. fxg7 {[%cal Re3h6]} f5 31. gxf8=Q+ Kxf8 32. Be2 $18) 30...
Nf2+ 31. Kg1 Nh3+ 32. gxh3 Qd4+ 33. Rf2 $1 g6 34. Ng3 $1 Qxd1+ 35. Kg2 $18) 29.
Qxh6 {Nakamura simplifies the position.} ({After} 29. Qd4 {White has to reckon
also with} bxa4 $5 $132) 29... gxh6 $44 {/+/=} 30. axb5 axb5 {[%csl Gb5,Gc4]
Black has survived the onslaught, without queens his dangerous pawns give him
reasonable compensation. In the following phase Nakamura's time trouble plays
a crucial role.} (30... Rxb5 $2 31. b3 $16 {/\} cxb3 32. Be2) 31. Bc2 (31. Rb1
$142 $5 Nc5 (31... Ra7 32. Bc2 Nb4 33. Rf2) 32. Re1 $14) 31... Ne5 $6 {
Objectively this isn't ideal, but Carlsen is already ambitious.} (31... Nxb2
$142 $5 32. Nf6+ Kg7 33. Nh5+ Kh8 34. Ra6 Rd8 35. Rfa1 b4 36. Rc6 b3 37. Bxb3
cxb3 38. Ra8 Nd3 39. Rcxc8 Rxc8 40. Rxc8+ Kh7 41. Nf6+ Kg7 42. Nh5+ $11 {
is an unforced, but plausible sample line.}) 32. Ra6 (32. Ra8 b4 33. Rb1 $14) (
32. b4 $5 cxb3 33. Bxb3 $14 {/+/-}) 32... Rd8 33. Ng3 $6 $138 (33. Rb1 b4 34.
Ra8 $14) 33... Rb8 34. Ra7 b4 35. Ne2 (35. Rb1 $13 {was still playable, the
knight transfer doesn't improve White's coordination.}) 35... Bd7 36. Rfa1 $6 (
36. Nd4 Ra8 $44 37. Rfa1 (37. Rb7 $142 $5) 37... Rxa7 38. Rxa7 b3 39. Bb1 Rc8
40. Ne2 Be8 41. Nc3 (41. Ra1 Nd3 42. Bxd3 cxd3 43. Nc3 Rxc3 44. bxc3 b2 45. Rb1
d2 $19 {[%cal Re8a4]}) 41... Nd3 $15) 36... Bb5 37. h3 (37. Nd4 b3 38. Bd1 (38.
Bb1 c3 39. Nxb5 c2 40. Bxc2 bxc2 $19) 38... c3 39. bxc3 (39. Nxb5 Rxb5 40. bxc3
b2 41. Rb1 Rc8 $19) 39... b2 40. Rb1 Bd3 41. Bc2 Bxc2 42. Nxc2 Rdc8 43. Ra2 Nd3
$5 $19 (43... Rxc3 44. Raxb2 Rxb2 45. Rxb2 Nd3 46. Ra2 Nb4 $17)) 37... Rdc8 $1
$36 {All is ready for the pawn break.} 38. Kh2 $2 (38. Rb1 c3 39. Nd4 b3 40.
Nxb3 Bd3 41. Bxd3 Nxd3 42. bxc3 Rxc3 $17) 38... c3 $19 39. Nd4 cxb2 40. Rb1 Rc4
$1 41. Nxb5 Rxc2 42. Nd4 (42. Nxd6 Rd8 43. Re7 (43. Nxf7 Nxf7 44. Rb7 Kh8 $1 {
[%cal Rd8g8]} (44... Nd6 45. Rxb4 Nc4 46. Kg3 $17) 45. Kg3 (45. Rxf7 Rg8 $19)
45... Ne5 46. Rxb4 Rg8+ 47. Kh4 Rgxg2 $19) 43... Rxd6 44. Rxe5 Ra6 45. d6 Rxd6
46. Rd5 Rxd5 47. exd5 Kf8 48. f6 Ke8 $19) 42... Rd2 $6 (42... b3 $1 {[%cal
Re5c4]} 43. Ra3 (43. Nc6 Nf3+ 44. Kg3 Nd2 45. Rxb2 Rxb2 46. Nxb8 Ra2 $19) 43...
Nc4 44. Rxb3 Rxb3 45. Nxb3 Na3 46. Nd4 Rd2 $19) 43. Nc6 Re8 44. Ra4 (44. Rb7
Nd3 45. e5 Nxe5 46. Nxe5 Rxe5 47. Rxb4 Ree2 $17 {/-+}) ({A more resilient try,
but hardly sufficient, was} 44. Nxe5 Rxe5 45. Ra2 Rxe4 46. Raxb2 Rxb2 47. Rxb2
Kg7 48. g4 Kf6 $17 {/-+}) 44... Nd3 45. Nxb4 Nf2 $1 $19 {[%cal Re8e4,Rf2d1,
Rd1c3]} (45... Rxe4 $2 46. Ra8+ Kg7 47. Nxd3 $11) 46. Ra2 Nd1 47. Rxd1 Rxd1 48.
Rxb2 Rxe4 {The rest is a matter of technique, White's pieces are uncoordinated
and his pawns are vulnerable.} 49. Nc6 (49. f6 Rf4 $19) 49... Kg7 50. f6+ Kxf6
51. Rf2+ Kg6 52. Nd8 Re8 (52... Re8 53. Nxf7 Rxd5 {[%csl Rf7][%cal Rg6g7,Re8f8]
traps the knight.}) 0-1

[Event "Gashimov Memorial-A 1st"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2014.04.28"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2014.04.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.05.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.05.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Nbd2 Bb7 6. Bg2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. b3
c5 9. Bb2 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Bxg2 11. Kxg2 Nc6 12. Nxc6 dxc6 13. e4 Qd3 14. e5 Ne4
15. Nf3 Rfd8 16. Re1 Nc5 17. Nd4 Rac8 18. Re3 Qxd1 19. Rxd1 Nxb3 20. axb3 c5
21. Red3 cxd4 22. Rxd4 Kf8 23. Kf3 Ke8 24. Ke4 Bc5 25. Rxd8+ Rxd8 26. Rxd8+
Kxd8 27. f3 Kc7 28. Bc3 Kc6 29. Kd3 b5 30. b4 Bg1 31. h3 Bf2 32. g4 Bg3 33. Kd4
a6 34. Kd3 Bf2 35. Bd2 Bg3 36. Bc3 Bf2 37. Bd2 Bg3 38. Bc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gashimov Memorial-A 1st"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2014.04.29"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C93"]
[WhiteElo "2713"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "201"]
[EventDate "2014.04.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.05.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.05.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Bb7 10. d4 Re8 11. Nbd2 Bf8 12. a3 h6 13. Bc2 Nb8 14. b3 Nbd7 15. Bb2
Rb8 16. a4 c5 17. d5 Bc8 18. axb5 axb5 19. Bd3 Nh5 20. Bf1 Ndf6 21. Ra7 Nf4 22.
Qa1 Ng6 23. Qa5 Qxa5 24. Rxa5 Bd7 25. Rea1 Rb7 26. Ne1 Reb8 27. Nc2 Ne8 28. Ra8
Rxa8 29. Rxa8 Nc7 30. Ra5 Be7 31. c4 Bg5 32. Ne3 Bxe3 33. fxe3 b4 34. Bd3 Kf8
35. Kh2 Ke7 36. Nf3 Rb8 37. Ra7 Kd8 38. Bc1 Ra8 39. Rxa8+ Nxa8 40. Bd2 Nc7 41.
Be1 Ne8 42. Nd2 Nf6 43. Bc2 Nf8 44. Bd3 Ke7 45. Bc2 N8h7 46. Nf1 Kf8 47. Bf2 g6
48. Be1 Kg7 49. Bf2 h5 50. Be1 Ng8 51. Bf2 Nh6 52. Nd2 g5 53. g3 Nf6 54. Kg2
Nhg8 55. Bd3 Ne7 56. Be2 Ng6 57. Bd1 Kh6 58. Be2 Ne7 59. Bd1 Kg6 60. Be2 Neg8
61. Bd1 Nh6 62. Be2 Nhg8 63. Bd1 Ne7 64. Be2 Nc8 65. Bd1 Nb6 66. Be1 Ng8 67.
Bf2 Nh6 68. Be1 f6 69. Bf2 Nf7 70. g4 hxg4 71. hxg4 Nd8 72. Nf1 Nb7 73. Ng3 Na5
74. Nf5 Nb7 75. Kf1 Kf7 76. Ke2 Bc8 77. Kd3 Ke8 78. Ng3 Na5 79. Nf1 Kd8 80. Nd2
Kc7 81. Kc2 Bd7 82. Be2 Nc8 83. Nf1 Ne7 84. Ng3 Ng8 85. Nf5 Bxf5 86. exf5 e4
87. Bg3 Nh6 88. Bd1 Kd7 89. Be2 Ke7 90. Bd1 Nb7 91. Kd2 Nd8 92. Ke1 Ndf7 93.
Kf2 Ne5 94. Bxe5 fxe5 95. Be2 Ng8 96. Ke1 Nf6 97. Kd2 Kf8 98. Ke1 Ke7 99. Kd2
Kf8 100. Ke1 Ke7 101. Kd2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gashimov Memorial-A 1st"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2014.04.30"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2783"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2014.04.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.05.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.05.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%mdl 2]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 c5 5. c3 d5 {[%mdl 512] It was
not a good decision for Fabiano Caruana to sac the c5-pawn, taking into
consideration that Magnus Carlsen is especially strong in this kind of
position.} 6. dxc5 O-O 7. O-O {This line was examined in CBM 129, annotations
to Kamsky-Karjakin.} a5 {This attempt to encircle the c5-pawn proves fruitless.
} (7... Nc6 8. Qb3 Qa5 9. Qa3 Qc7 10. Bg5 Ne4 11. Be3 e5 12. Nbd2 f5 13. Rad1
Nf6 14. b4 Re8 15. Nb3 Ne4 16. b5 Ne7 17. Qc1 $16 {1-0 (41) Kamsky,G (2725)
-Karjakin,S (2706) Wijk aan Zee 2009}) (7... Qc7 $5 8. b4 e5 {deserves
attention. In the following game Black obtained decent compensation for the
pawn:} 9. Bb2 Rd8 10. Nbd2 Bf5 11. Qb3 (11. c4 $5) 11... Nc6 12. a3 b6 13. cxb6
axb6 14. Rfd1 h6 15. e3 Be6 16. Qc2 {1/2 (16) L'Ami,E (2626)-Bok,B (2527)
Haarlem 2013}) 8. Be3 (8. Nd4 $5 e5 9. Nb5 Na6 10. Bg5 e4 11. Bf4 Bd7 12. N1a3
b6 13. cxb6 Qxb6 14. c4 dxc4 $6 15. Nd6 $16 {1/2 (90) Harika,D (2525)-Muzychuk,
M (2462) Antakya 2010}) (8. c4 $5 Na6 9. Nc3 dxc4 10. Ne5 $5 Nxc5 11. Be3 Nfe4
12. Nxe4 Nxe4 13. Nxc4 Nd6 14. Nxd6 Qxd6 15. Qxd6 exd6 16. Rad1 $14) 8... Nc6 (
8... Ng4 9. Qd2 {, and Black can't recapture the pawn anyway.}) 9. Na3 a4 10.
Qc1 $1 e5 {Black's pawn centre doesn't fully compensate for his missing pawn.}
11. Rd1 Qe7 12. Nb5 {[%csl Rd6]} Be6 13. Ng5 (13. Nd6 {was less clear in view
of} b6) 13... Bg4 $1 14. Nd6 $1 (14. f3 $6 Bc8 15. Nd6 h6 16. Nh3 Bxh3 17. Bxh3
b6 $13) 14... h6 $1 (14... Bxe2 15. Rxd5 $1 Nxd5 16. Bxd5 Nd8 17. Qc2 Bg4 18.
Qe4 $16 {[%csl Gd5,Gd6,Ge4]}) 15. Nf3 Kh7 {An unnecessary loss of a tempo.} (
15... b6 $142 $1 {- a typical undermining although White keeps the better
prospects after} 16. Ne1 $1 (16. Bxh6 $2 bxc5) 16... e4 $1 (16... Bxe2 17. Rxd5
Nxd5 18. Bxd5 bxc5 19. Bxc5 {[%csl Gc5,Gd5,Gd6]} Ra5 20. Qe3) 17. f3 exf3 18.
exf3 Be6 19. Nd3) 16. h3 Be6 17. b4 {This move unexpectedly gives Black good
counterplay.} (17. Ne1 $142 {[%cal Ye1d3]}) 17... axb3 18. axb3 Rxa1 19. Qxa1
Ne4 20. Nd2 f5 $6 (20... Nxd6 21. cxd6 Qxd6 22. Nc4 Qd8 23. Bc5 Rg8 (23... Re8
24. Nd6 Bf8 25. Nxb7 Qb8 26. Qa6) 24. Bxd5 Bxd5 25. e4 Nd4 26. exd5 Nxb3 27.
Qa3 Qc8 28. Qxb3 Qxc5 29. d6 $16 {[%csl Gd6]}) (20... d4 $1 21. Bxe4 (21. N2xe4
dxe3 22. fxe3 f5 23. Nd2 e4 $44 {[%csl Rg2]}) 21... dxe3 22. fxe3 Bxh3 $44 {
White's king is unsafe, and Black's attacking chances should not be
underestimated.}) 21. N2xe4 dxe4 (21... fxe4 22. Qb1 {[%cal Yc3c4] e.g.} h5 23.
c4 d4 24. Bc1) 22. Qb1 $1 f4 23. Bd2 e3 {This is now harmless.} 24. Be1 {
Safely protecting White's king while his other pieces are very active. Black
has no compensation for the pawn whatsoever.} Bf5 25. Qc1 h5 26. fxe3 fxg3 27.
Bxg3 Qg5 28. e4 $1 Qxg3 29. Rd3 Qh4 30. exf5 gxf5 31. e4 $1 {White seizes the
light squares.} fxe4 (31... f4 32. Nf5) (31... Bh6 32. Qd1) 32. Bxe4+ Kh8 33.
Qe3 Rf4 34. Bg2 Qe7 35. Qe2 Qh4 36. b4 {The rest is clear. Black has no real
counterplay anymore, and the advance of White's queenside pawns decides the
game.} e4 37. Nxe4 Ne5 38. Rd5 Kg8 39. b5 Rf5 40. c6 bxc6 41. bxc6 Qe7 42. Nd6
Rg5 43. Nb5 Qe6 44. Rd8+ Kh7 45. Qe4+ Rg6 46. c7 Qa6 47. c8=Q Qa1+ 48. Kf2 Qb2+
49. Ke1 1-0

[Event "Carlsen-Norway"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2014.05.08"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Norway"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B56"]
[BlackElo "2882"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2014.05.08"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. f3 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Nd5
Nxd5 9. exd5 Nb8 10. Bd3 O-O 11. Be3 Nd7 12. O-O f5 13. c4 a5 14. Nd2 Bg5 15.
Bxg5 Qxg5 16. Qe2 Nc5 17. Bc2 Bd7 18. b3 b5 19. f4 exf4 20. cxb5 Rae8 21. Qc4
Qe7 22. Nf3 Qe3+ 23. Kh1 Ne4 24. Bd3 Nf2+ 25. Rxf2 Qxf2 26. Qc7 Re7 27. Qxd6
Rfe8 28. h3 Re1+ 29. Nxe1 Rxe1+ 30. Rxe1 Qxe1+ 31. Kh2 Qg3+ 32. Kg1 Qe3+
1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Flor/Fjaere"]
[Date "2014.06.02"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C44"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2014.06.02"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. g3 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bg2 d6 6. c3 O-O 7. O-O a6 8. Re1
Ba7 9. Na3 Ne7 10. Nc2 Ng6 11. h3 Re8 12. Be3 c6 13. Bxa7 Rxa7 14. Ne3 d5 15.
Qc2 Be6 16. Rad1 Ra8 17. Ng5 d4 18. Nxe6 Rxe6 19. Nf5 c5 20. h4 Nf8 21. Bh3 Rc6
22. f4 exf4 23. gxf4 Nh5 24. Rf1 Ng6 25. Qh2 Nxh4 26. Nxh4 Qxh4 27. Bf5 Qg3+
28. Qg2 Rd8 29. Rf3 Qxg2+ 30. Kxg2 g6 31. Bg4 Nf6 32. Bh3 dxc3 33. bxc3 Nxe4
34. Rc1 Nf6 35. Re3 Rcd6 0-1

[Event "Norway Chess blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Flor/Fjaere"]
[Date "2014.06.02"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D97"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2752"]
[PlyCount "126"]
[EventDate "2014.06.02"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 O-O 7. e4 a6 8. Be2
b5 9. Qd3 c5 10. dxc5 Bb7 11. Be3 b4 12. Na4 Nxe4 13. Qc2 Bc6 14. Nb6 Ra7 15.
O-O Nd7 16. Rfd1 Qe8 17. Rac1 e5 18. Nc4 Rc7 19. Nd6 Qa8 20. Qb3 Nxd6 21. cxd6
Rcc8 22. Qxb4 Rb8 23. Qa3 Bxf3 24. gxf3 e4 25. Bd4 Bxd4 26. Rxd4 exf3 27. Bxf3
Qa7 28. Rdd1 Rfc8 29. Rxc8+ Rxc8 30. Re1 Qd4 31. Kg2 Rc5 32. Re4 Qxd6 33. Qe3
Nf6 34. Rd4 Qc7 35. b4 Rc2 36. a4 Kg7 37. h3 h5 38. b5 axb5 39. axb5 Qc5 40.
Bc6 Rc3 41. Rd3 Qxe3 42. Rxe3 Rc2 43. Rb3 g5 44. Ba8 Rc8 45. Bc6 g4 46. hxg4
hxg4 47. Kf1 Kf8 48. Bg2 Nd7 49. b6 Ke7 50. b7 Rb8 51. Ke2 Kd6 52. Ke3 Nc5 53.
Rb6+ Ke5 54. Rb5 Kd6 55. Kf4 Nd3+ 56. Kg3 Ne5 57. Rd5+ Ke6 58. Ra5 Kd6 59. Be4
f6 60. Kf4 Ke6 61. Ra8 Nd7 62. Bf5+ Kd6 63. Bxd7 Kd5 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Flor/Fjaere"]
[Date "2014.06.02"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2792"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2014.06.02"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bf4 Bb4 6. cxd5 exd5 7. e3 Ne4 8.
Qc2 g5 9. Be5 Nxe5 10. Nxe5 Bxc3+ 11. bxc3 f6 12. Nf3 Bf5 13. Bd3 Qd7 14. O-O
Nd6 15. Nd2 O-O-O 16. c4 Bxd3 17. Qxd3 dxc4 18. Nxc4 Nxc4 19. Qxc4 Rhe8 20.
Rab1 Re6 21. Rb5 Rc6 22. Qb3 Rb6 23. a4 Kb8 24. Rc1 f5 25. Rcc5 Rxb5 26. axb5
b6 27. Re5 h6 28. h3 f4 29. Qc2 fxe3 30. fxe3 Re8 31. Qe4 Rxe5 32. Qxe5 a5 33.
bxa6 Ka7 34. d5 Kxa6 35. e4 Qd6 36. Qd4 Kb5 37. Qd3+ Kb4 38. Qd4+ Kb5 39. Qd3+
Kb4 40. Qd4+ Kb5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Flor/Fjaere"]
[Date "2014.06.02"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2014.06.02"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 g5 8. Bg3
Ne4 9. Nd2 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Bxc3 11. Rc1 Bb2 12. Rxc7 Na6 13. Rc2 Bxd4 14. e3 Bg7
15. h4 Nb4 16. Rc7 O-O 17. hxg5 Qxg5 18. Bd6 Nc6 19. Bxf8 Kxf8 20. Qf3 Be6 21.
Rxb7 Rc8 22. Qf4 Qxf4 23. exf4 Nd4 24. Nb3 Nxb3 25. axb3 Rc2 26. Kd1 Rxf2 27.
Be2 Rxf4 28. Rxa7 Rd4+ 29. Kc1 Rb4 30. Bh5 Bd4 31. Ra4 Be3+ 32. Kb2 Rb6 33. Be2
Bd7 34. Ra5 Be6 35. Rh5 Kg7 36. Raxd5 Bxd5 37. Rxd5 Bf4 38. Bf3 Bd6 39. Kc3
Bb4+ 40. Kc4 Be7 41. Rd7 Kf6 42. Bd5 Rb4+ 43. Kc3 Rb6 44. Rb7 Rxb7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Flor/Fjaere"]
[Date "2014.06.02"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A10"]
[WhiteElo "2753"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2014.06.02"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 g6 2. e4 e5 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nf3 exd4 5. e5 Ne4 6. Qxd4 Bb4+ 7. Nbd2 Nxd2 8.
Bxd2 Nc6 9. Qf4 Bxd2+ 10. Qxd2 Qe7 11. O-O-O b6 12. Bd3 Bb7 13. Be4 O-O-O 14.
Rhe1 f6 15. exf6 Qxf6 16. Qg5 Qg7 17. h4 Rhe8 18. h5 Nb4 19. Bxb7+ Kxb7 20.
Rxe8 Rxe8 21. Qd2 Nc6 22. Qxd7 Qh6+ 23. Rd2 Rd8 24. Qg4 gxh5 25. Qg5 Qxg5 26.
Nxg5 Rg8 27. f4 h4 28. Nxh7 Ne7 29. Rf2 Nf5 30. Ng5 Rd8 31. b3 Rd3 32. Nf3 Re3
33. Kd2 Re4 34. Ng5 Re3 35. Rf3 Re7 36. Rd3 a5 37. Rd5 Ne3 0-1

[Event "Norway Chess blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Flor/Fjaere"]
[Date "2014.06.02"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C07"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "21"]
[EventDate "2014.06.02"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. e4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. exd5 Qxd5 7. Nb5 Na6 8.
Nc3 Qd8 9. a3 Be7 10. Qf3 O-O 11. Bxa6 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Flor/Fjaere"]
[Date "2014.06.02"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C60"]
[WhiteElo "2771"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2014.06.02"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bb4 4. c3 Ba5 5. O-O Nge7 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 d5 8.
e5 Bg4 9. h3 Bh5 10. Nc3 O-O 11. g4 Bg6 12. Nh4 Bb6 13. Be3 f6 14. exf6 Rxf6
15. Nxg6 Nxg6 16. Qb3 Nce7 17. Ne4 Rf8 18. f4 c6 19. Bd3 Kh8 20. Nc5 Qd6 21.
Bxg6 Nxg6 22. Nd3 Rae8 23. Ne5 Nxf4 24. Kh1 Ng6 25. Nf7+ Rxf7 26. Rxf7 Qe6 27.
Raf1 h5 28. Bg1 hxg4 29. Qg3 gxh3 30. Rxb7 Kg8 31. Rff7 Qe4+ 32. Kh2 Qe2+ 33.
Bf2 Bxd4 34. Kxh3 0-1

[Event "Norway Chess blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Flor/Fjaere"]
[Date "2014.06.02"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2783"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2014.06.02"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. g3 d5 7. Bg2 dxc4 8. O-O
O-O 9. Rd1 Qe7 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bxf6 Nxf6 12. Ne5 c5 13. a3 Ba5 14. Nxc4 Bc7 15.
Nb5 cxd4 16. Nxd4 e5 17. Nf5 Bxf5 18. Qxf5 e4 19. Qb5 Rab8 20. Rac1 Rfd8 21.
Rxd8+ Qxd8 22. e3 a6 23. Qb3 b5 24. Rd1 Qe7 25. Nd2 Rd8 26. Nb1 Be5 27. Rxd8+
Qxd8 28. Qc2 g6 29. Nd2 Qd3 30. Qxd3 exd3 31. b3 Bb2 32. Nb1 Nd7 33. Kf1 a5 34.
Bc6 Nc5 35. Bxb5 Nxb3 36. Bxd3 Kg7 37. Bc4 Nc5 38. Ke2 f5 39. f3 Kf6 40. Bb5
Be5 41. a4 h5 42. Nd2 Bc7 43. Nc4 Ke6 44. Be8 Kf6 45. Bc6 Ke6 46. f4 Kf6 47.
Kf3 Ke6 48. h3 Kf6 49. g4 hxg4+ 50. hxg4 g5 51. gxf5 gxf4 52. e4 Nd3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess blitz 2nd"]
[Site "Flor/Fjaere"]
[Date "2014.06.02"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Agdestein, Simen"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B42"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2628"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2014.06.02"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Nf6 6. Qe2 e5 7. Nf5 Nc6 8. O-O
g6 9. Ne3 Bg7 10. Nc3 O-O 11. Ned5 Nxd5 12. Nxd5 d6 13. Be3 Be6 14. Bc4 b5 15.
Bb3 Nd4 16. Bxd4 exd4 17. a4 Bd7 18. axb5 axb5 19. Rxa8 Qxa8 20. Nb6 Qa7 21.
Nxd7 Qxd7 22. Bd5 h5 23. Ra1 Rb8 24. g3 Bf6 25. Ra6 b4 26. Qc4 Kg7 27. Rc6 Bd8
28. b3 Qa7 29. Rxd6 Bb6 30. Kg2 Rd8 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 2nd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2014.06.03"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A34"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2752"]
[Annotator "Sumets,A"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2014.06.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 161"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e3 (5. e4 Nb4 6. Bc4 Nd3+ (6...
Be6 $5 {reminds me of an old game Polugaevsky,L-Tal,M:} 7. Bxe6 Nd3+ 8. Kf1
fxe6 9. Ng5 (9. Qb3) 9... Qb6 10. Qe2 $6 c4 11. b3 h6 12. Nf3 Nc6 13. bxc4
O-O-O $44 {Polugaevsky,L (2625)-Tal,M (2615) Riga 1979 0-1 (28)}) 7. Ke2 Nf4+
8. Kf1 Ne6 9. b4 {Up to the moment, this option doesn't give anything to White.
See another classic game Polugaevsky,L-Kortschnoj,V:} (9. Ne5 Nc6 10. Nxc6 bxc6
11. Na4 Nd4 $5 $146 12. Nxc5 g6 13. Nb3 Be6 14. Bxe6 Nxe6 15. Qc2 Bg7 16. Qxc6+
Kf8 17. Qa6 Nd4 18. Nxd4 Bxd4 19. d3 Kg7 $44 {Nakamura,H (2789)-Giri,A (2734)
Wijk aan Zee NED 2014 1/2 (39)}) 9... cxb4 10. Nd5 g6 $1 11. Bb2 Bg7 12. Bxg7
Nxg7 13. Nxb4 (13. Qc1 Nc6 14. d4 Be6 $1 15. h4 Rc8 16. h5 Nxh5 17. Qh6 Nxd4 $6
(17... a6 $1 {with the threat of ...Na5} 18. Re1 Na5 19. Bd3 Bxd5 20. exd5 Qxd5
$17) 18. Nxd4 Rxc4 19. Nxe6 $6 (19. Rxh5 gxh5 20. Nxe6 fxe6 21. Rd1 exd5 22.
Qxh5+ Kf8 23. Qf3+ Kg7 24. Qg4+ $11) 19... fxe6 20. Rxh5 exd5 21. Rxd5 Qb6 $15
{Seirawan,Y (2565)-Peters,J (2445) South Bend 1981 1/2 (29)}) 13... O-O 14. d4
Bg4 15. Ke2 $2 Qd6 16. Qd2 Ne6 $17 {Polugaevsky,L (2635)-Kortschnoj,V (2695)
Buenos Aires 1980 0-1 (41)}) 5... Nxc3 ({In his game against Dmitry Andreikin,
Magnus played a rare line:} 5... g6 6. Bb5+ (6. Qb3 $5 Nxc3 $2 (6... Nc7 $6 7.
Bc4 e6 8. d4 (8. Ne4 $6 b6 $4 (8... Be7 9. d4 cxd4 10. exd4 O-O 11. O-O Nc6
$132) 9. Qc3 $18) 8... cxd4 9. exd4 Bg7 10. O-O O-O 11. Bg5 {White is well on
top}) (6... Nf6 {seems to be the strongest option} 7. d4 cxd4 8. exd4 Bg7 {
with an unexplored position}) 7. Qxc3 f6 8. Qxc5 e5 9. Bb5+ Bd7 10. Qd5 Bxb5
11. Qxb5+ $16 {Malich,B (2470)-Tischbierek,R (2380) Halle 1981 1-0 (41)}) 6...
Bd7 7. Qb3 Nxc3 (7... Nb4 $2 8. Bc4 e6 9. a3 b5 10. Nxb5 N4c6 11. Qd3 (11. Be2
$1 a6 12. Nc3 Bg7 13. O-O O-O 14. Qc2 $18 {White will take c5-pawn soon}) 11...
Na5 12. b3 Nxc4 13. bxc4 Bg7 14. Rb1 O-O 15. Bb2 Bxb5 16. Qxd8 Rxd8 17. cxb5
Bxb2 18. Rxb2 Rd3 19. Ke2 $16 {1/2 (19) Witt,R (2280)-Ernst,S (2440) Amsterdam
2001}) 8. Ne5 (8. Bc4 $1 e6 9. Qxc3 f6 10. O-O $14 {I think that this position
is in the White's favour}) 8... e6 9. bxc3 Bxb5 10. Qxb5+ Nd7 11. Rb1 b6 12. c4
Bd6 $11 {Andreikin,D (2713)-Carlsen,M (2864) Moscow 2013 1/2 (34)}) 6. bxc3 Qc7
$146 {A novelty. Probably Anish Giri didn't want to play 6...g6 due to 7.h4 or
he didn't want to allow Bd3.} (6... g6 7. d4 (7. h4 $5 Bg7 8. h5 Nc6 9. Rb1 Qc7
10. d4 Bd7 11. Bd3 Rd8 12. Qc2 {Svidler,P (2740)-Nepomniachtchi,I (2702)
Nizhny Novgorod 2013 1-0 (66) CBM 157 [Gormally,D]} (12. Ng5 $1 {Gormally,D}))
7... Bg7 8. Bd3 O-O 9. O-O Nd7 10. Ba3 b6 11. Qe2 Bb7 12. Rad1 Qc7 13. e4 e5
14. d5 a6 15. Bb2 b5 16. a4 c4 17. Bc2 Rfe8 $14 {Rodshtein,M (2615)-Gupta,A 
(2470) Yerevan 2007 1/2 (80)}) 7. d4 g6 8. Bb5+ ({Of course, he couldn't play
8.Bd3:} 8. Bd3 $6 cxd4 9. cxd4 $4 (9. Bb5+) 9... Qc3+ $19) 8... Bd7 9. a4 ({
Another option is} 9. Rb1 $5 Bg7 10. O-O O-O) 9... Bg7 10. O-O O-O 11. Ba3 {
It seems that White has a better position due to the strong pressure on the
queenside but after the strong reply...} b6 $1 {...he wasn't able to prove
White's superiority.} 12. dxc5 (12. Qe2 Nc6 13. Rad1 (13. h3 Rfd8 14. Rfd1 Na5
15. dxc5 bxc5 16. Bxd7 Rxd7 17. Rxd7 Qxd7 18. Bxc5 Bxc3) 13... a6 $1 14. Bxa6
Nb8 15. Bb5 Bxb5 16. Qxb5 Qc6 $11) (12. h3 Nc6 13. dxc5 (13. Qe2 {leads to the
same position as after 12.Qe2 Nc6 13.h3})) 12... bxc5 13. Qd5 Bxb5 {A normal
move. However, Giri could have played 13...a6!? with a very complicated
position:} (13... a6 $5 14. Qxa8 (14. Be2 Rc8 15. Qxa8 $2 Bc6 16. Qxc6 Nxc6 $17
) 14... axb5 15. Qd5 (15. axb5 Bxb5 16. Rfd1 Bc6) 15... Bxc3 $44 {It seems to
me that White should give the exchange back and play an equal position} 16.
Rac1 (16. axb5 Bxa1 17. Rxa1 Bxb5 18. Qxc5 Qxc5 19. Bxc5 Nc6 $11) 16... b4 17.
Rxc3 bxc3 18. Qc4 Qa5 19. Rc1 Na6 $11) 14. axb5 (14. Qxa8 $4 Bc6 $19) 14... Nd7
15. Rfd1 ({Black is OK after} 15. Rad1 Rfd8 16. c4 a6 $1 {the point} 17. Qc6
Rac8 18. Qxc7 Rxc7 19. b6 (19. bxa6 Ra8 $11) 19... Rb7 20. Bxc5 Rc8 21. Bxe7
Nxb6 22. c5 Na4 23. Bd6 Nxc5 24. Rc1 Bf8 $11) 15... Rfd8 16. Ng5 e6 $8 17. Qc6
Qxc6 ({He could have played} 17... Rac8 18. Qxc7 Rxc7 19. Rac1 {intending to
play c4} Rb8 $1 20. c4 a6 21. bxa6 Ra8 $11) 18. bxc6 Ne5 19. c7 Rdc8 20. f4 h6
$1 (20... Nc4 $2 21. Rd7 Nb6 22. Rad1 $1 Nxd7 23. Rxd7 $16 {Despite the extra
exchange, Black's position is close to hopeless.}) 21. Ne4 Nc4 22. Rd7 {
Anyway Magnus insists on the exchange sacrifice.} (22. Bxc5 Rxc7 23. Bd4 a5 {
might be dangerous only for White}) 22... Nb6 23. Rad1 Nxd7 24. Rxd7 Bf8 25. c4
({The last chance to continue the game was the move} 25. Bxc5 $1 {In this case
Black had to find a rook sacrifice that leads to a draw.} Bxc5 $1 (25... a5 $6
{leads to a difficult rook endgame.} 26. Bd4 a4 (26... Ba3 $6 27. c4 a4 28. c5
Bb4 29. Nd6 Rf8 30. Nc4 a3 31. Nb6 $18) 27. Nf6+ Kh8 28. Nd5+ Bg7 29. Nb6 a3
30. Nxa8 a2 31. Bxg7+ Kxg7 32. Rd1 Rxa8 33. Ra1 Rc8 34. Rxa2 Rxc7 35. Rc2 $16)
26. Nxc5 Kf8 (26... a5 $2 27. Na4 Kf8 28. Nb6 Ke8 29. Rd2 $16) 27. Na6 Ke8 28.
Rd2 Ke7 {White should hurry up otherwise Black's rooks can be dangerous} 29.
Rb2 (29. Kf2 Re8 30. Rb2 Rac8 31. Rb7 $6 (31. Rd2 $11) 31... Kd6 32. Rxa7 $2 (
32. c4 e5 33. c5+ Kc6 34. Rb8 exf4 35. exf4 Kd7 $15) 32... Ra8 $17) 29... Kd6
30. Rb8 Raxb8 $1 {Black can't wait.} (30... Re8 $2 31. Kf2 f6 32. c4 $16 {
Black hasn't any counterplay and White gradually improves his position.}) 31.
cxb8=Q+ Rxb8 32. Nxb8 {White has an extra knight but he can't win the game.} a5
33. Kf2 Kc7 $1 (33... a4 $4 34. Na6) 34. Na6+ Kb6 $11 35. Nb4 (35. Nb8 Kc7 $11
(35... a4 36. Nd7+ Kb5 37. c4+ Kxc4 38. Nb6+ Kb5 39. Nxa4 Kxa4 40. Kf3 Kb4 41.
Ke4 f6 $11)) 35... axb4 36. cxb4 Kb5 $11) 25... a5 26. Nc3 {The position is
drawish.} (26. Bb2 Bg7 27. Bxg7 Kxg7 28. Nd6 a4 29. Nxc8 Rxc8 30. Kf2 a3 31.
Rd3 Rxc7 32. Rxa3 $11) 26... a4 27. Nb5 (27. Kf2 Re8 $1 28. Nb5 Rac8 $11) 27...
Re8 $1 28. e4 Rac8 29. Na7 (29. Kf2 $6 Re7 {and Black can think about the full
point.}) 29... Ra8 30. Nb5 Rac8 31. Na7 Ra8 32. Nb5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 2nd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2014.06.04"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2783"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2014.06.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 161"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Bxd2+ 5. Qxd2 d5 6. Bg2 c6 7. Nf3 Nbd7 8.
O-O O-O 9. Rc1 b6 10. cxd5 cxd5 11. Na3 Ne4 $146 {Quite typical for Carlsen.
He changes his lines regularly in order to avoid specific preparation. With
his last move he deviates from an earlier game between the same players,
despite the favourable result.} (11... Bb7 12. Nb5 a6 13. Nd6 {Kramnik,V (2784)
-Carlsen,M (2814) Wijk aan Zee 2011 CBM 141 [Moradiabadi/Mueller,Kar] (0-1, 85)
}) 12. Qe3 Ba6 13. Ne5 Nd6 14. Nc2 Nxe5 15. dxe5 Nc4 16. Qd4 {In principle, if
White wishes to prove an advantage, this square should be the reserved for the
knight.} ({In fact, the pawn sacrifice} 16. Qf4 {looks promising:} Nxb2 17.
Rab1 Nc4 18. Nb4 g5 (18... Bb7 19. Rxc4 $16) 19. Qf6 Qxf6 20. exf6 Nd2 21. Nxa6
Nxb1 22. Rxb1 Rac8 23. Bf3 $14 {[%cal Gf3h5] Given the delicate situation of
the black king, the minor pieces sustained by the rook may be stronger than
the two black rooks.}) 16... Qe7 17. b3 Na5 18. e4 dxe4 19. Bxe4 Rac8 20. Ne3
Bb7 {The game simplifies now to a dull ending, in which Carlsen will
surprisingly (or perhaps not?!) gets the upper hand at a later stage.} 21. Rxc8
Rxc8 22. Rd1 Bxe4 23. Qxe4 h6 24. b4 Nc6 25. a3 b5 26. Kg2 a5 27. Rc1 Qd7 28.
bxa5 Nxa5 29. Rxc8+ Qxc8 30. a4 bxa4 31. Qxa4 Qb7+ 32. Kh3 Nb3 33. Nc4 Nd4 34.
Nd6 Qd5 35. f4 Ne2 36. Ne4 Qd3 37. Kg2 Nd4 38. Qa8+ Kh7 39. Nf2 Qd2 40. Qe4+ g6
41. Qd3 Qb2 42. Kf1 Kg7 43. Ng4 h5 44. Ne3 Nf3 45. Nf5+ exf5 46. Qxf3 Qxh2 47.
e6 fxe6 48. Qc3+ Kh7 49. Qc7+ Kh6 50. Qe7 Qb2 51. Qg5+ Kh7 52. Qe7+ Qg7 53.
Qxe6 Kh6 54. Qe8 Qa1+ 55. Kg2 Qb2+ 56. Kh3 Qf6 57. Qc8 h4 58. g4 fxg4+ 59. Qxg4
g5 60. fxg5+ Qxg5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 2nd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2014.06.05"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D70"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2014.06.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 161"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nb6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Be3 O-O 8. Qd2
Nc6 9. O-O-O Qd6 10. Nb5 Qd7 11. Kb1 Rd8 12. d5 a6 13. Nc3 Qe8 14. Qc1 (14. Qe1
{was played in Gelfand-Caruana (see CBM 153, where you can learn more about
this line). After} Na7 $1 {some new games have been played since then:} 15. h4
(15. Nge2 Nb5 $1 (15... Nc4 16. Bd4 e5 17. dxe6 Bxe6 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. Nd4 Nb6
20. Qe3 Nc6 21. Be2 Nxd4 22. Rxd4 Qe7 23. Rxd8 Rxd8 24. h4 {1/2 (42) Jarmula,L
(2213)-Wagner,D (2467) Al-Ain UAE 2013} h6 $11) 16. Nxb5 axb5 17. Bd4 {1-0 (28)
Yang,D (2486)-Schut,L (2289) Philadelphia 2013} Rxd5 $3 18. exd5 Bf5+ 19. Kc1 (
19. Ka1 Rxa2+ 20. Kxa2 Qa8+ 21. Kb3 Qa4+ 22. Kc3 Nxd5+ 23. Kd2 Qc2#) 19... Rxa2
$40 20. Bxg7 $140 $2 Nc4 $1 $19) 15... Nb5 16. Nxb5 (16. Nge2 Nc4 $15 {1/2 (40)
Gelfand,B (2740)-Caruana,F (2757) Zuerich 2013 CBM 153 [Krasenkow,M]}) 16...
axb5 17. h5 $2 Nc4 ({Black misses} 17... Nxd5 $1 18. exd5 (18. Rxd5 $2 Rxd5 19.
exd5 Bf5+ 20. Kc1 Rxa2) 18... Bf5+ 19. Bd3 b4 $1 20. Bxf5 (20. Ne2 Rxa2 $1 21.
Kxa2 Qa4+ 22. Kb1 Qb3 $19) 20... Qa4 21. Bd4 Qxa2+ 22. Kc2 Qc4+ 23. Kb1 Bxd4
24. Rxd4 Qxd4 25. hxg6 hxg6 26. Be4 Rxd5 $1 27. Ne2 Qc4 $19) 18. Bc1 f5 19. Bd3
Qf7 20. hxg6 hxg6 21. Qh4 Qf6 22. Qxf6 Bxf6 23. Ne2 $13 {1-0 (40) Thorfinnsson,
B (2484)-Gordon,S (2533) England 2013}) 14... Na5 15. Bh6 $146 {A new move
order although not a new plan, of course. White will play h2-h4 at a later
stage.} (15. h4 e6 16. Bg5 $5 f6 17. Bd2 Nbc4 18. Bh6 Bxh6 19. Qxh6 exd5 20. h5
d4 21. hxg6 Qxg6 22. Bxc4+ Nxc4 23. Qxg6+ hxg6 24. Nge2 d3 25. Nf4 d2 26. Nxg6
Kg7 27. Nf4 Ne3 $13 {1/2 (45) Berczes,D (2497)-Sarkar,J (2452) Dallas USA 2014}
) 15... Bxh6 (15... Bh8 16. Bf4 Rd7 17. h4 {and here the position of Black's
bishop on h8 is worse than on g7.}) 16. Qxh6 e6 17. Nh3 {[%cal Rh3g5]} (17. h4
exd5 18. h5 {is harmless due to} Qf8 {.}) 17... Qe7 (17... Qf8 $5 {- the
position after the queen exchange is nearly equal but I understand Caruana
avoiding it against Carlsen.}) 18. Bd3 $5 {White goes for sharp play...} (18.
Nf4 $5 e5 19. Nd3 c6 $132 {e.g.} 20. Qe3 Nac4 21. Qc5 Qxc5 22. Nxc5 Ne3 23. Rd3
Nxf1 24. Rxf1 cxd5 25. Nxd5 Nxd5 26. Rfd1 Be6 27. Nxe6 fxe6 28. exd5 Rxd5 29.
Rxd5 exd5 30. Rxd5 Re8 31. Rd7 (31. Kc2 Kf7 32. Rd7+ Re7 33. Rxe7+ Kxe7 34. Kd3
Ke6 35. Ke4 a5 {is not enough either}) 31... e4 32. fxe4 Rxe4 33. Rxb7 Re2 {
and the endgame should be drawn.}) 18... e5 {... and Black prefers a solid
continuation. However, the resulting position is quite passive and slightly
inferior for him.} (18... exd5 19. Nf4 {[%cal Rf4h5,Rf4d5] looks dangerous but
Black holds on by means of} Be6 20. Nh5 $1 f6 $1 (20... gxh5 $2 21. exd5) 21.
exd5 Nxd5 22. Nxd5 Rxd5 23. Bxg6 $1 Rxd1+ 24. Rxd1 hxg6 25. Qxg6+ Kh8 26. Nxf6
Bg8 $1 27. Rd5 Qe1+ 28. Kc2 Qe2+ $11) 19. Nf2 Nbc4 (19... c6 {can now be met
with} 20. h4 $1 cxd5 21. Nxd5 Nxd5 22. exd5 Rxd5 23. h5 Bf5 24. Bxf5 Rxd1+ 25.
Nxd1 gxf5 26. Ne3 $16 {[%csl Ra5]} Nc6) (19... Qc5 $5 20. Qh4 $14 {A.Korotylev}
) 20. h4 Rd6 21. Bxc4 (21. Qc1 $5) 21... Nxc4 22. Qc1 {[%cal Yh4h5]} b5 (22...
Rb6 23. Nd3 $14) (22... c6 23. b3 Nb6 24. Qe3 cxd5 25. exd5 $14 {[%csl Re5]
[%cal Rf2e4,Yh1e1]}) 23. Nd3 $14 {[%csl Rc5]} Bd7 24. b3 Nb6 25. h5 g5 26. g3
$6 {[%cal Yf3f4]} (26. Qe3 $142 {preventing ...c7-c6.}) 26... c6 $1 27. f4 $6 {
White continues his plan despite Black's counterplay.} ({It was probably
better to reduce ambitions and play} 27. dxc6 Rxc6 28. Qe3 Rxc3 29. Qxb6 $13)
27... cxd5 28. Nxe5 $6 (28. fxe5 Rc6 29. Qd2 Be6 $36) 28... d4 $1 29. Qa3 a5 $1
30. Nxb5 $6 {Panic. White doesn't get sufficient compensation for the piece.} (
30. Nd5 Nxd5 31. exd5 Bf5+ 32. Ka1 a4 $36 {A.Korotylev}) 30... Bxb5 31. Rxd4
Re6 32. Qxe7 Rxe7 33. Rc1 Nd7 34. Rc7 Nxe5 $6 (34... gxf4 $1 35. gxf4 (35. Nxd7
f3 36. Nf6+ Kg7 37. Rxe7 f2 38. Rd1 Kxf6 $19) 35... Nxe5 36. Rxe7 Nc6 37. Rd5
Nxe7 38. Rxb5 Kg7 {and Black should gradually win.}) 35. Rxe7 Nc6 36. Rd5 Bd3+
37. Rxd3 Nxe7 38. fxg5 {[%mdl 4096] White has got a third pawn for the piece
and now has good drawing chances.} Rb8 39. Rd7 $6 {It was more essential to
bring the king into the game.} (39. Kb2 $142 {A.Korotylev}) 39... Kf8 40. Ra7
Rb5 41. Ra8+ Kg7 42. Re8 (42. Ra6 {[%cal Rh5h6]} Rc5 $1 $17 (42... Rxg5 43. h6+
Kh8 44. Kb2)) 42... Re5 (42... Nc6 $142 $1 43. h6+ Kg6 44. Rg8+ Kh5 45. Rg7 Ne5
46. Rxh7 Kxg5 {and Black should win, according to GM A.Korotylev.}) 43. g4 Rxe4
44. Kc2 Re5 45. Kd3 f6 46. gxf6+ Kxf6 47. Rh8 Kg7 48. Re8 (48. Ra8 $142 Rg5 49.
a3) 48... Kh6 (48... Nc6 $142 {Caruana was probably tired and couldn't
evaluate the position after the exchange of rooks:} 49. Rxe5 Nxe5+ 50. Kc3 (50.
Kd4 Nxg4 51. a4 Kf7 52. Kc4 Nf6 53. b4 Ke6 $19) 50... Nxg4 51. b4 axb4+ 52.
Kxb4 Kf6 53. Kb5 Ke7 54. Kc6 Kd8 55. Kb7 Nf6 56. h6 (56. a4 Nxh5 57. a5 Nf4 58.
a6 Ne6 59. a7 Nc7) 56... Ng4 57. a4 Nxh6 58. a5 Nf5 59. a6 Nd6+ 60. Kc6 Nc8 $19
) 49. a3 Kg5 50. Rh8 $5 (50. b4 axb4 51. axb4 Kxg4 52. b5 Kxh5 {should be
winning for Black.}) 50... h6 51. Rh7 Re6 52. Rg7+ Kf6 53. Rh7 Ke5 54. Rg7 Kf4
55. b4 axb4 56. axb4 {This passed pawn is White's main trump. The position is
very hard to evaluate and calculate; White's drawing chances are realistic.}
Nc6 57. b5 Ne5+ 58. Kd4 Nxg4 59. Kc5 Re5+ 60. Kc6 (60. Kb4 $1 Rxh5 (60... Ne3
61. Rg6 Rxh5 62. b6 Nd5+ 63. Kc4 Nxb6+ 64. Rxb6 {is a draw.}) 61. b6 Ne5 62.
Rh7 Nc6+ 63. Kc4 {, keeping White's king closer to Black's pawn, was probably
more appropriate.}) 60... Rxh5 $2 ({A.Korotylev recommends} 60... Ne3 $142 $1 {
as the rook endgame after} 61. b6 Nc4 {will now be winning for Black: White's
king is too far away. Meanwhile it is unclear whether White can reach a draw
by refraining from b5-b6.}) 61. b6 Ne5+ 62. Kc7 Nc4 $6 (62... Nd3 $142 $1 {
, but} 63. Rh7 $1 ({but not} 63. Rf7+ Rf5 64. Rxf5+ $2 Kxf5 65. b7 Nc5 66. b8=N
$8 h5 $19) 63... Nc5 64. Kd6 {looks like a positional draw.}) 63. b7 Rc5+ 64.
Kd8 Rb5 65. Kc7 Rc5+ 66. Kd8 Rb5 67. Kc7 Ke5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 2nd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2014.06.07"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2014.06.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 161"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 c5 8.
dxc5 Nbd7 9. e3 (9. Qa4 {would transpose to the second round game
Agdestein-Giri}) 9... Qa5 10. Nd2 Bxc3 11. bxc3 Qxc5 $146 (11... O-O 12. Be2
Qxc3 13. O-O Qxc5 14. Rc1 Qb4 15. Bg3 Nb6 16. Be5 Qe7 17. Bd4 $44 {
Kasimdzhanov,R (2700)-Aleksandrov,A (2554) Dubai 2014 (1-0, 48)}) 12. Rc1 O-O
13. Be2 Qa3 14. O-O Qxa2 15. c4 Ne4 16. Nxe4 dxe4 17. Be7 Re8 18. Bd6 Nf6 19.
Ra1 Qb2 20. c5 a5 21. Rb1 Qa2 22. Bb5 Rd8 23. Qc1 Qe6 24. Bc7 Rf8 25. Bd6 (25.
Bc4 Qg4 (25... Qf5 26. Rb5) 26. Rd1 a4 27. Qa3) 25... Rd8 26. Bc7 Rf8 27. Bd6
Rd8 28. Bc7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 2nd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2014.06.08"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[Annotator "Sumets,A"]
[PlyCount "185"]
[EventDate "2014.06.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 161"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 Nbd7 8.
e3 g5 (8... c5 {including the moves ...h6 and Bh4, the line is considered as a
risky one. However some players disagree with this.} 9. Bd3 Qa5 (9... c4 10.
Bf5 Nb6 11. Bc2 Qe7 12. Nd2 $6 (12. O-O O-O 13. Ne5 $14) 12... O-O 13. O-O Re8
14. a3 Bxc3 15. bxc3 Qe6 16. Bxf6 Qxf6 17. a4 Bf5 18. Bxf5 Qxf5 19. Qb1 Qd7 $11
{Chiburdanidze,M (2502)-Zhao,X (2474) 1/2 (25) Antakya 2010}) 10. Qc2 g5 11.
Bg3 c4 12. Bf5 O-O 13. O-O Re8 14. h4 Bxc3 15. bxc3 Ne4 16. hxg5 hxg5 17. Bxe4
dxe4 18. Nd2 $16 {Sargissian,G (2683)-Hanley,C (2421) 1-0 (49) Caleta 2012 CBM
147 [Let's Check]}) 9. Bg3 Ne4 10. Nd2 (10. Qc2 Nb6 11. Bd3 Nxg3 12. hxg3 Be6
13. Ne5 (13. a3 $5 Bd6 14. Nb5 $14) 13... Qe7 14. f4 O-O-O 15. O-O Kb8 16. a3
Bd6 17. a4 gxf4 18. gxf4 Rhg8 $13 {Lysyj,I (2648)-Aronian,L (2813) 0-1 (50)
Tromso 2013}) 10... Nxg3 (10... Nxc3 {is too bold:} 11. bxc3 Bxc3 12. Rc1 Ba5
13. h4 {and Black is in danger.}) 11. fxg3 $146 {With a very unusual pawn
structure. In this game Black can't complain about the result of the opening
but I wouldn't be in any hurry to claim that 11.fxg3 is a dubious move. We
need more games to establish the objective value of this move.} (11. hxg3 Nb6 (
11... c6 12. Bd3 Nb6 13. Qc2 Be6 14. O-O-O Qf6 15. f4 O-O-O 16. Nf3 Kb8 17. Kb1
Qg7 18. Rhe1 $6 (18. f5 Bc8 19. g4 Rhe8 20. e4 $13) 18... Rhe8 19. Re2 Bg4 $15
{Kryakvin,D (2588)-Khismatullin, D (2674) 1/2 (141) Taganrog RUS 2014} (19...
f6 $5)) 12. a3 Bd6 (12... Bf8 13. Bd3 c6 14. Qc2 Be6 15. O-O-O Qe7 16. Nb3
O-O-O 17. Nc5 Kb8 18. Kb1 Bg7 19. Rc1 h5 $11 {L'Ami,E (2646)-Panjwani,R (2440)
1-0 (38) Reykjavik ISL 2014}) 13. Qc2 c6 14. e4 dxe4 15. Ndxe4 Be6 16. O-O-O
Qe7 17. Nxd6+ Qxd6 18. Ne4 Qe7 19. Qc5 Qxc5+ 20. dxc5 Nd7 21. Nxg5 (21. Nd6+
Ke7 22. Nxb7 a5 $11) 21... Bd5 22. Nh3 (22. b4 $5 a5 23. Bd3 axb4 24. axb4 $14
Bxg2 $6 25. Rhe1+ Kf8 26. Bc4 $40) 22... Nxc5 23. Nf4 Bb3 24. Re1+ {1/2 (24)
Ragger,M (2680)-Vitiugov,N (2719) Tromso 2013}) 11... Nb6 12. Bd3 Qe7 13. Qf3
Be6 14. a3 {Magnus hurries to exchange the bishop. His king might be
well-placed on f2, where it protects the e3-pawn.} (14. O-O O-O-O 15. Rac1 Kb8
16. a3 Bxc3 17. Rxc3 Na4 18. Rc2 Bg4 19. Qf2 Rhe8 20. Re1 Nb6 $15) 14... Bxc3
15. bxc3 O-O-O ({It was not bad to play} 15... O-O $5 16. O-O f5 17. h4 Rae8
18. Rae1 Kg7 $11 {then Black can play ...Nc8, ...Nd6.}) 16. a4 Bd7 (16... Kb8
17. a5 Nc8 18. Nb3 Nd6 19. Nc5 $14) ({But} 16... a5 $6 {is too risky:} 17. O-O
({Black is counting on} 17. Nb3 Rhe8 18. Nxa5 Kb8 19. O-O Bg4 $15) 17... Kb8
18. Nb3 Bc8 19. Qf2 $1 (19. Nxa5 Rhe8 20. Rfe1 (20. Rae1 Qa3) 20... Rd6 21. Nb3
Rf6 22. Qe2 Re6 23. Nc5 Rxe3 24. Qxe3 Qxe3+ 25. Rxe3 Rxe3 26. Kf2 Re7 27. Rb1
Ka7 $11) 19... Rhe8 20. Rae1 Nxa4 (20... Qa3 $4 21. Nc5 $18 {with following Ra1
}) 21. Nxa5 Rd6 (21... Nxc3 $4 22. Qb2) 22. c4 $40) 17. a5 ({It is worth
considering the sacrifice of the a-pawn:} 17. O-O $5 Nxa4 $6 ({I would prefer} 
17... Kb8 $1 18. a5 Na4 19. c4 $6 Nb2 20. Qe2 Rhe8 $15) 18. c4 $44 Qb4 19. Qf2
Kb8 20. cxd5 f5 21. Nf3 $16) 17... Na4 18. a6 Rhe8 ({He could have played} 
18... b5 $5 19. O-O Rhe8 {The position is very complicated. White has several
options.} 20. Rfe1 $1 (20. e4 Nxc3 21. e5 Qb4 22. Qe3 c5 23. dxc5 Be6 24. Rac1
d4 25. Qf3 Bd5 26. Be4 Nxe4 27. Nxe4 Rxe5 28. Nd6+ Kc7 29. Qd3 Rxd6 30. cxd6+
Kxd6 $13 {with a very messy position.}) 20... Nxc3 21. Rac1 Ne4 22. Nb3 $44)
19. Kf2 Kb8 {Threatening ...Bg4.} 20. Rhe1 $8 (20. axb7 $4 Bg4 $19) 20... Nxc3
21. axb7 Qb4 $1 $132 22. Kg1 (22. Nf1 {allows Black to play} c5 $1 23. Kg1 (23.
dxc5 $4 Bg4 $19) 23... cxd4 24. Kh1 Re6 $15 25. Qxf7 Qf8 26. Qxf8 Rxf8 27. exd4
Rxe1 28. Rxe1 a5 $17 {The a-pawn is very dangerous.}) 22... Qb2 23. Nf1 ({
There is no relief after} 23. Qf2 Re6 24. Rac1 Rde8 25. Nf3 Qxf2+ 26. Kxf2 Ne4+
27. Bxe4 dxe4 28. Ne5 Bb5 29. Rc5 a6 $15) 23... f5 24. Ra5 $6 (24. Rac1 $1 {
intending Rc2 and Rec1} Ba4 (24... Ne4 $6 25. Rc2 Qb3 26. Qe2 Re6 27. Rec1 $14)
25. Bxf5 Rf8 26. g4 Rd6 27. Ng3 $13) 24... Ba4 {Black should not be afraid of
Rea1.} (24... Rf8 25. Qf2 (25. Rea1 $6 Ba4 26. Re1 f4 27. gxf4 gxf4 28. exf4
Qb4 $17) 25... Qxf2+ 26. Kxf2 f4 27. gxf4 gxf4 28. Kg1 Bf5 29. Bxf5 Rxf5 30.
Rea1 Rd6 31. Rxa7 Nb5 $11) 25. Rc5 $6 ({I think he should have preferred} 25.
Qf2 Qb4 26. Ra6 f4 27. gxf4 gxf4 28. Qxf4 Bb5 29. Bxb5 Qxb5 30. Qxh6 Ne2+ 31.
Kh1 Nxd4 {A complex position with approximately equal chances.}) (25. Bxf5 Rf8
26. g4 Rd6) 25... Rf8 26. h3 Rf6 27. Nh2 Rdf8 $15 28. Qf1 Ne4 29. Re2 $2 (29.
Rxd5 Nxg3 30. Qf2 Qc3 31. Qxg3 Qxd3 $15) 29... Qa3 $1 30. Bxe4 fxe4 $17 {
Magnus' position is very difficult, after ...Kxb7 his opponent gets a material
advantage, the knight on h2 will be out of play after ...h5.} 31. Qe1 c6 32.
Ra5 Qb3 $6 (32... h5 $1 33. g4 h4 {and White has no useful moves. Black's
position is winning.}) 33. Qa1 Qd1+ $2 {Now White is on top.} (33... Bb5 34.
Ra3 Qxa3 35. Qxa3 Bxe2 36. Qb2 Bd3 $17 37. Ng4 (37. Qa3 h5) 37... Rf1+ 38. Kh2
Rb1 $19) 34. Qxd1 Bxd1 35. Re1 Bh5 $8 (35... Bb3 36. Ng4 $16) 36. g4 Be8 37.
Rea1 Rf2 $6 (37... Kxb7 38. Rxa7+ Kb6 39. R7a6+ Kc7 40. Nf1 $14 {Black needs
to play precisely to draw.}) 38. Rxa7 Rb2 39. Nf1 $16 Kc7 (39... Rxb7 40. Ra8+
Kc7 41. Ng3 {Due to the deadly pin, White is winning.}) 40. Ra8 Kxb7 41. R1a7+
Kb6 42. Re7 Rbf2 43. Rb8+ $1 (43. Ng3 $6 {is much weaker:} Bg6 44. Rxf8 Rxf8
45. Re6 Rg8 {Black has good chances to make a draw. For example} 46. Nf5 Bxf5
47. gxf5 Rf8 48. g4 Rh8 49. Kf2 Kb5 $14) 43... Ka6 44. Ng3 Bg6 45. Rxf8 Rxf8
46. Re6 Be8 (46... Rg8 47. Rxc6+ $18) 47. Rxh6 Kb5 {The king is the most
active black piece.} 48. Rh7 {It seems that Magnus could win immediately after
48.Rd6:} (48. Rd6 $1 Kc4 (48... Kb6 49. Nf5 Kc7 50. Rh6 Bd7 51. Rh7 Kd8 52. Nd6
$18) 49. Nf5 Kd3 50. Rd8 Ke2 51. h4 gxh4 52. Kh2 Kf2 53. Kh3 Rh8 54. g5 $18)
48... Kc4 49. Ra7 Bg6 50. Ra6 Rf6 51. Ra3 $1 Kb4 52. Ra1 Kc3 53. Rf1 Re6 54.
Rf8 Kd2 {This gives White a tempo.} (54... Kd3 $1 55. Nf1 c5 56. dxc5 Rc6 $16
57. Rf2 (57. Ra8 Rxc5 58. Ra3+ Rc3 59. Rxc3+ $2 Kxc3 $11) 57... Rxc5 58. Rd2+
Kc3 59. Rd4 $16) 55. Nf1+ Kd3 (55... Ke2 $1 56. Rf2+ Kd3 57. Rf8 c5 58. dxc5
Rc6 59. Rf2 Rxc5 60. Rd2+ Kc3 61. Rd4 $16 {leads to the above mentioned
position.}) 56. Kf2 Re7 57. Rg8 Re6 (57... Bh7 58. Ra8 $1 $16 ({With a little
trap} 58. Rxg5 $2 Rf7+ 59. Ke1 Ra7 60. h4 Ra2 61. Rg7 Re2+ 62. Kd1 Rf2 $11))
58. Ke1 Rf6 59. Rg7 Re6 60. Ra7 Re8 61. Ra3+ $1 Kc2 62. Ra6 Rc8 63. Ke2 Be8 64.
Ra5 Kc3 $6 (64... c5 65. Rxc5+ $2 {leads to a draw} (65. dxc5 Kc3 66. Ng3 Kb4
67. Ra7 Rxc5 68. Nf5 $16) 65... Rxc5 66. dxc5 Bb5+ 67. Ke1 Bxf1 68. Kxf1 d4 69.
c6 Kd2 $1 $11) ({The best chance was} 64... Rb8 $1 65. Rc5+ Kb3 66. Ng3 (66.
Nd2+ $1 Kb4 67. Kd1 Ra8 68. Nb1 Ra1 69. Kc1 $16) 66... Ra8 67. Nh5 Ra2+ 68. Kf1
Ra7 69. Kg1 Ra1+ 70. Kf2 Ra2+ 71. Kg3 Rc2 $1 72. Ra5 (72. Rxc2 $2 Kxc2 73. Nf6
c5 $3 74. dxc5 (74. Nxe8 cxd4 $19) 74... Bc6 75. Kf2 d4 76. exd4 Kd2 77. Nxe4+
Bxe4 78. g3 Kd3 $11) 72... c5 73. Nf6 Bc6 74. dxc5 Kb4 $14) 65. Ng3 Rb8 66.
Rc5+ $1 Kb2 67. Nh5 $18 {Black's position is hopeless.} Bxh5 68. gxh5 Rh8 69.
g4 Rh6 70. Kf2 Re6 71. Kg3 Rf6 72. h4 $1 Rf3+ 73. Kg2 gxh4 74. h6 Rxe3 75. h7
h3+ 76. Kh2 Re2+ 77. Kxh3 Re1 78. Kg2 Re2+ 79. Kg3 Re3+ 80. Kh4 Re1 81. Kg5 Rh1
82. Kg6 Rh4 83. Rxc6 e3 84. Re6 Rxg4+ 85. Kh5 Rg1 86. Rxe3 Rh1+ 87. Kg6 Rg1+
88. Kf7 Rh1 89. Kg8 Rg1+ 90. Kh8 Rg4 91. Re5 Rxd4 92. Kg7 Rg4+ 93. Kh6 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 2nd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2014.06.09"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2771"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2014.06.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 161"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. h3 Bd7 10. Rd1 Be7 11. g4 Nh4 12. Nxh4 Bxh4 13. Nd2 Kc8 14.
Ne4 $146 {aiming to force events.} (14. Nf3 {leads to more consistent play.}
Be7 15. Rd3 h6 16. Nd4 Re8 17. Bf4 c5 18. Nf5 Bf8 19. c4 a6 20. Ne3 b5 21. b3
g5 22. Bg3 Be6 23. Rad1 Kb7 24. h4 Kc6 25. h5 Reb8 26. f3 a5 $132 {Caruana,F 
(2782)-Grischuk,A (2785) Warsaw 2013 (1/2-1/2 , 42). Both sides are well
regrouped and have their achievements on opposite wings.}) 14... b6 15. Bg5
Bxg5 16. Nxg5 h6 17. Nxf7 {The start of a spectacular sequence resulting in
almost complete simplifying.} Re8 18. f4 Be6 19. Nxh6 gxh6 20. f5 Bxf5 (20...
Bd5 21. e6 {looks slightly dangerous for Black. He probably should give away
the bishop with ...Bxe6 anyway, now or in the near future.}) 21. gxf5 Rxe5 22.
Rf1 Kd7 $1 {The king's activity will keep trouble away despite the
"half-a-pawn" disadvantage.} 23. Rad1+ Ke7 24. Rfe1 Kf6 25. Rxe5 Kxe5 26. Rd7
c5 27. Kf2 Rf8 28. Rxc7 Rxf5+ 29. Kg3 Rg5+ 30. Kf2 Rf5+ 31. Ke2 Rh5 32. Rxa7
Rxh3 33. Rb7 Rh2+ 34. Kd3 Kd5 35. Rxb6 Rh3+ 36. Kd2 Rh2+ 37. Kd3 Rh3+ 38. Kd2
Rh2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 2nd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2014.06.10"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D80"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2792"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "148"]
[EventDate "2014.06.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 161"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bg5 Ne4 6. Bf4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 c5 8.
cxd5 cxd4 9. cxd4 Qxd5 10. e3 O-O 11. Be2 Nc6 12. O-O Bf5 13. Qa4 Qa5 14. Qxa5
Nxa5 15. Rfc1 Rfc8 16. Nd2 Rxc1+ 17. Rxc1 Rc8 18. Rxc8+ Bxc8 19. Bf3 Nc6 $146 {
Preventing the bishop's access to b8, which would force the weakening of the
queenside pawns.} (19... Bd7 20. Bb8 a6 21. Bc7 Nc6 22. Nb3 $14 {Sumets,A 
(2477)-Prasad,D (2359) Pardubice 2005 (1/2-1/2, 36)}) 20. Bc7 Kf8 21. Nb3 Ke8
22. Nc5 e6 23. Bxc6+ bxc6 $14 {With such a black weakness on c6, the position
surely looks pleasant for White, but the bishop pair offers good chances for
defending.} 24. Bb8 a6 25. Bd6 Bf6 26. Kf1 Bd8 27. Ke2 Bb6 28. Na4 Bd8 29. Nc5
Bb6 30. Ne4 Kd7 31. Be5 Bd8 32. Bf6 Bb6 33. Ng5 c5 34. Nxh7 Bb7 35. g4 Bd5 36.
a3 Bc4+ 37. Kd1 Bd5 38. Ng5 cxd4 39. Bxd4 Bxd4 40. exd4 f6 41. Nh7 Ke7 42. g5
fxg5 43. Kd2 e5 44. Ke3 Ke6 45. Nf8+ Kf5 46. dxe5 Kxe5 47. Nxg6+ Kf6 48. Kd4
Bg2 49. Ne5 Kf5 50. Nd3 Kg4 51. Ke3 Kh3 52. Nc5 a5 53. f3 g4 54. fxg4 Kxg4 55.
Nb3 a4 56. Nc5 Bc6 57. Kf2 Kh3 58. Kg1 Kg4 59. Nd3 Bb5 60. Nb4 Kh3 61. Na2 Be8
62. Nc3 Kg4 63. Nd1 Bb5 64. Nf2+ Kf3 65. h4 Be8 66. Nd1 Kg3 67. Nc3 Kxh4 68.
Kf2 Kg4 69. Ke3 Kf5 70. Kd4 Ke6 71. Kc5 Ke7 72. Nxa4 Bxa4 73. Kb4 Be8 74. a4
Bxa4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 2nd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2014.06.12"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A25"]
[WhiteElo "2753"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[Annotator "Roiz,M"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2014.06.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 161"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 f5 {I guess this came as a real susprise for Peter.
This system is rarely seen on the top level.} 4. d3 {Not the most principled
response.} (4. d4 e4 {is the main theoretical line here, but it requires a lot
of knowledge from both players.}) 4... Nf6 5. g3 Bb4 6. Bg2 {This move is
connected with a definite strategic risk, since White's q-side pawn structure
becomes less flexible, while the bishops are not so strong in such a closed
positions.} ({That's why} 6. Bd2 $5 O-O 7. Bg2 d6 8. O-O {makes a lot of sense.
For instance,} Bd7 (8... Bc5 $142 9. e3 a6) 9. a3 Bxc3 10. Bxc3 Qe8 11. e3 f4
12. exf4 exf4 13. Qd2 $14 {1-0 Grandelius,N (2536)-Tikkanen,H (2591)/Germany
2011/CBM 146/[RR] (65)}) 6... Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 d6 8. O-O (8. Qb3 O-O 9. c5+ d5
$132) 8... O-O 9. Rb1 Qe8 10. Qb3 $6 {It looks like Peter wasn't familiar with
the chosen opening system. The queen has no good prospects there, so White is
just losing a tempo.} ({White's play should be based on attacking the
opponent's pawn centre by means of} 10. c5 dxc5 (10... Qh5 11. cxd6 cxd6 12.
Ba3 Rd8 13. Qd2 Rb8 14. Qg5 Qxg5 15. Nxg5 $14 {1-0 Vaganian,R (2625)
-Dzindzichashvili,R (2530)/Saint John 1988/EXT 1997 (53)}) (10... d5 11. Bg5
Qh5 12. e3 e4 13. Bxf6 Rxf6 14. Nd4 Qxd1 15. Rfxd1 Ne5 16. Nb5 c6 17. d4 Nc4
18. Nc7 Rb8 19. Na6 Ra8 20. Nc7 Rb8 21. Bf1 $14 {1/2-1/2 Ubilava,E (2525)
-Kristiansen,J (2430)/Kecskemet 1989/TD (46)}) 11. Be3 Qe7 12. Qa4 Kh8 13. Nd2
$44) ({Or even} 10. Ne1 $5 Qh5 11. f4 Re8 12. Nf3 e4 13. Nd4 Nxd4 14. cxd4 $132
{1-0 Nikolac,J (2485)-Plaskett,J (2470)/Bahrain 1990/CBM 020/[Ribli] (37)})
10... b6 $146 {This natural move is a sound novelty in a rare position.
Objectively speaking, Black's position already looks better, since White lacks
any counterplay on the q-side.} (10... Kh8 {1/2-1/2 Uddenfeldt,D-Kaplan,J/
Stockholm 1969/EXT 2001 (64)}) 11. Nh4 Na5 ({Another energetic way to handle
the position is} 11... e4 $5 12. f3 h6 13. fxe4 fxe4 14. Nf5 Bd7 $15) 12. Qa3 {
It is not easy to find a useful place for the queen now.} (12. Qc2 Rb8 13. Bg5
h6 14. Bxf6 Rxf6 $15) 12... Rb8 13. Be3 $6 {One more inaccurate move - the Be3
is just a target for Black's pieces, while f5-f4 would come with tempo.} ({
The lesser evil was} 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bxf6 Rxf6 $15 {getting rid of the useless
bishop.}) 13... f4 $1 {An obvious temporary pawn sacrifice.} 14. gxf4 {
Accepting the challenge.} (14. Bd2 Bg4 15. Rfe1 Qh5 $17) 14... Qh5 {Black's
attack plays itself now.} ({Magnus had another good possibility at his
disposal:} 14... e4 $5 15. dxe4 Nxe4 16. Rbd1 Bb7 $17 {White's position
desperately lacks any harmony.}) 15. Nf3 Bh3 {Liquidating the main defender of
White's monarch.} (15... e4 16. Ng5 exd3 17. exd3 Bf5 $17) 16. Bxh3 Qxh3 17.
Kh1 Rbe8 $1 (17... e4 18. dxe4 Nxe4 19. Rg1 c5 20. Rg2 Rbe8 21. Rbg1 Re7 $17)
18. Qb2 $6 (18. Qa4 e4 (18... exf4 19. Bxf4 Rxe2 20. Ng1 Qxd3 21. Nxe2 Qxe2 22.
f3 $17) 19. Ng1 Qf5 20. d4 $17) 18... e4 $1 19. Ng5 Qh5 $19 {As a result of
Peter's unsuccessful play, Carlsen has a completely winning position on move
19!} 20. dxe4 (20. Rg1 exd3 21. exd3 h6 $19) 20... Ng4 (20... h6 $5 21. Nf3
Nxc4 22. Qb3 Rxe4 23. Rg1 Kh8 $19) 21. Nf3 Nxc4 {Starting to collect the pawns.
} 22. Qb3 Rxe4 23. Rg1 d5 ({Avoiding the pin wasn't necessary:} 23... Rfxf4 24.
Bxf4 Nxf2+ 25. Kg2 Nh3 $19) 24. Qb5 {Black has many good possibilities, but
here the miracle comes...} Rfxf4 $2 {A terrible misclaculation. Magnus has
missed a nice defensive resourse.} ({All the following continuations were
quite convincing:} 24... Ncxe3 25. fxe3 Nf2+ (25... Rxe3 26. Rg2 Re7 $19) 26.
Kg2 Nh3 27. Rgf1 Rxe3 $19) (24... c5 25. Qd7 Ncxe3 26. fxe3 Nf2+ 27. Kg2 Qg4+
28. Qxg4 Nxg4 $19) (24... Nxf2+ 25. Bxf2 Rxe2 $19) 25. Bxf4 Nxf2+ 26. Kg2 Rxe2
({After} 26... Nh3 27. Qd7 $1 Rxe2+ 28. Kg3 Nxf4 29. Rbe1 $1 {White gets
serious counterplay and should survive as well:} (29. Kxf4 Re4+ 30. Kg3 Qxf3+
31. Kxf3 Ne5+ 32. Kg2 Nxd7 $17) 29... Qg6+ 30. Kxf4 Re4+ 31. Rxe4 Qxe4+ 32. Kg3
Qxf3+ 33. Kxf3 Ne5+ 34. Kf4 Nxd7 35. Rd1 Nf6 36. Ke5 $11) 27. Kf1 $1 {That is
the point! Suddenly White is able to make use of the g-file.} Ne4 ({There was
no more than a perpetual after:} 27... Qxf3 28. Rg3 Qe4 (28... Qxf4 $2 29.
Qxd5+ Qf7 30. Qxf7+ Kxf7 31. Kxe2 $18) 29. Qd7 $1 g6 30. Qc8+ Kg7 31. Qxc7+ Kg8
32. Qd8+ $11) 28. Rxg7+ $1 (28. Kxe2 Nxc3+ 29. Kf2 Nxb5 30. Rxb5 c5 $19) 28...
Kf8 $6 {A risky decision - Magnus is trying to complicate matters, but now
Black is in real danger as well.} ({After the correct} 28... Kxg7 29. Qd7+ Qf7
30. Qg4+ Qg6 31. Qd7+ Kh8 32. Qd8+ Qg8 33. Qxg8+ Kxg8 34. Kxe2 Nxc3+ 35. Kd3
Nxb1 36. Bxc7 $15 {White should be able to survive, but some work is required.}
) 29. Kxe2 Nxc3+ 30. Kf2 Nxb5 31. Rbg1 {Now White's king is well protected,
but the Kf8 is under fire.} Nc3 $2 {A natural mistake in such a scary
situation.} ({It was very difficult to find the most precise defence:} 31...
Nbd6 32. Rg8+ Ke7 33. R1g7+ Kf6 34. Rxc7 d4 $1 {freeing a way out for the
monarch} 35. Rf8+ (35. Ng5 Qd1 36. Rf8+ Kg6 37. Rg8+ Kf6 $11) (35. Nxd4 Qd1 36.
Rf8+ Kg6 37. Rg8+ Kf6 $11) 35... Ke6 36. Nxd4+ Kd5 37. Nf3 Ne4+ 38. Ke2 Nc3+
39. Kf2 Ne4+ $11) 32. Rxc7 $2 {Returning the favour!} ({White's attack seems
decisive after} 32. Rg8+ $1 Ke7 33. R1g7+ Kf6 34. Rxc7 Ne4+ 35. Kg2 $40 {
For example:} Kf5 36. Rf8+ Kg6 37. Re7 $18) 32... Ne4+ 33. Ke1 $1 {Correctly
leaving the knight unprotected.} (33. Ke2 $2 Nc5 $1 34. Rc8+ Kf7 35. Rc7+ Kf6
36. Rc6+ Ne6 37. Rg5 Qe8 38. Nd4 Qxc6 39. Rf5+ Kg6 40. Rg5+ Nxg5 41. Nxc6 Kf5
$17) 33... Nc5 {Now the game ends quickly.} ({White has enough counterplay
also after} 33... Ncd6 34. Nd4 Qh4+ 35. Kd1 Qh3 36. Rg3 $1 Nxg3 (36... Qf1+ 37.
Kc2 Qf2+ 38. Kd3 Nc5+ 39. Rxc5 bxc5 40. Bxd6+ Ke8 41. Bxc5 $11) 37. Bxd6+ Kg8
38. Bxg3 Qg4+ 39. Ne2 $11) 34. Rc8+ Kf7 35. Rc7+ Kf8 ({Magnus had no reason to
refuse the draw at this point:} 35... Kf6 36. Rc6+ Ne6 $6 (36... Kf7 $11) 37.
Nd4 Qh4+ 38. Rg3 Qxf4 39. Rf3 Qxf3 40. Nxf3 $14) 36. Rc8+ Kf7 37. Rc7+ Kf8 {
A very disappointing draw for Magnus in this game!} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 2nd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2014.06.13"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Agdestein, Simen"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2628"]
[Annotator "Roiz,M"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2014.06.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 161"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 d5 6. Bg2 Bb4+ 7. Bd2 Bd6 {
Quite a rare system. Black doesn't want to lock the e-file by playing 7...Be7.
However, White is not obliged to release the pressure.} 8. Nc3 $1 {8. cxd5 is
much more popular, but the text move poses more problems.} (8. cxd5 exd5 9. O-O
O-O 10. Nc3 Nbd7 {leads to a long strategic fight. This position can also
arise after 6.cxd5 and gives Black satisfactory results.}) 8... O-O ({In the
preceding game Vishy was able to secure a stable edge:} 8... c6 9. O-O O-O 10.
e4 Nxe4 11. Nxe4 dxe4 12. Ng5 Be7 13. Nxe4 Nd7 14. Bf4 Nf6 15. Qc2 Rc8 16. Rfd1
$14 {1-0 Anand,V (2770)-Granda Zuniga,J (2630)/Madrid 1998/CBM 065/[Avrukh,B] 
(39)}) 9. O-O dxc4 $6 $146 {A novelty in a rather rare position. This new
approach is not successful, since White's pressure along the h1-a8 diagonal is
too strong.} ({Black cannot avoid an inferior position after} 9... Nbd7 {
either:} 10. e4 Nxe4 11. Nxe4 dxe4 12. Ng5 Nf6 (12... Be7 13. Nxe4 Bb7 14. Qc2
$14 {1/2-1/2 Pinheiro,J (2288)-Spraggett,K (2501)/Lisbon 2000/CBM 079 ext (14)}
) 13. Nxe4 Nxe4 14. Bxe4 Rb8 15. Qc2 $14) (9... c6 {leads to the above
mentioned game of Anand.}) 10. Ne5 c6 (10... Bxe5 {didn't work in view of:} 11.
dxe5 Nd5 12. Nxd5 $1 exd5 13. Bb4 c5 14. Bxc5 bxc5 15. Bxd5 Nc6 16. Bxc6 $16 {
and White is just a pawn up.}) 11. bxc4 $1 {The most ambitious way: White
keeps the knight on e5, and it delays Black's development.} ({The quiet
alternative} 11. Nxc4 Be7 12. e3 Qc7 13. Rc1 Nbd7 14. Re1 Rad8 15. a4 $14 {
also leads to a safe advantage.}) 11... Qc7 ({Grabbing a pawn by means of:} 
11... Bxe5 12. dxe5 Ng4 13. Bf4 Qxd1 14. Rfxd1 Bxc4 15. h3 Nh6 16. g4 $16 {
is not recommended, since almost all Black's pieces are out of play.}) 12. Bf4
{This natural move seems inaccurate, since Black may exploit the vulnerable
position of White's bishop and ease the pressure.} ({A stronger move was:} 12.
f4 $1 Bb7 13. e4 Rd8 14. Qc2 $16 {with a clear advantage due to a strong pawn
centre.}) 12... Bb7 ({Correctly avoiding} 12... Nbd7 13. Nxc6 Bxf4 14. gxf4
Qxf4 15. e3 Qd6 16. Nb5 Bxb5 17. cxb5 $16) ({But the immediate} 12... Nh5 $5 {
comes into consideration, since after} 13. Be3 Bxe5 14. dxe5 Qxe5 15. Qb3 Nd7
16. Bxc6 Rad8 $14 {Black's position is not that bad.}) 13. Rc1 Nh5 ({Again
avoiding a nice tactical trap:} 13... Nbd7 14. Nb5 $1 cxb5 15. cxb5 Nc5 (15...
Qb8 16. Nxd7 Nxd7 17. Bxd6 Qxd6 18. Bxb7 $18) 16. dxc5 bxc5 17. Bxb7 Rad8 18.
Bc6 Bxe5 19. Bxe5 Qxe5 20. Qa4 $16) 14. Ne4 $6 {Exchanging the strong Bf4
would definitely ease Simen's task.} ({Much stronger was} 14. Be3 Bxe5 15. dxe5
Qxe5 16. c5 $36 {with a powerful initiative for the sacrificed pawn.}) 14...
Nxf4 {The most natural response.} ({However, it was possible to delay it by
means of} 14... c5 $5 15. d5 (15. Nxd6 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 Nxf4+ 17. gxf4 Qxd6 $11) (
15. Qd3 f6 16. dxc5 Nxf4 $1 (16... Bxe5 $6 17. Bxe5 Qxe5 (17... fxe5 18. Ng5
Nf6 19. Nxe6 Qe7 20. Nxf8 Kxf8 21. Bxb7 Qxb7 22. Rfd1 $36) 18. Ng5 fxg5 19.
Bxb7 $14) 17. gxf4 Be7 18. Nf3 bxc5 $11) 15... Nxf4 16. gxf4 Bxe5 17. fxe5 Qxe5
18. f4 Qc7 $132) 15. gxf4 c5 16. Qd3 {Now Magnus has an unpleasant threat, so
Black has to simplify.} Bxe5 ({Of course, not} 16... cxd4 $2 17. Ng5 g6 18. Qh3
h5 19. Bxb7 Qxb7 20. Nxg6 fxg6 21. Qxe6+ $18) 17. Ng5 (17. dxe5 Nc6 18. Rfd1
Rad8 19. Nd6 Nb4 20. Qa3 Bxg2 21. Kxg2 f6 $132) 17... g6 18. Qh3 h5 19. dxe5
Nc6 $1 {Simen is on top!} ({Correctly refusing} 19... Bxg2 $6 20. Qxg2 Nc6 21.
Ne4 Rfd8 22. Qg5 $40 {and White develops a strong attack.}) 20. Ne4 (20. e3 Na5
21. Bf3 Kg7 22. Qg2 Rad8 $11) 20... Nd4 21. Nf6+ Kg7 {The king is somewhat
exposed, but White's attacking potential is not great.} 22. Rfe1 Nf5 {Freeing
a a way for the rooks.} ({After} 22... Rh8 23. e3 Nf5 24. Rc3 Rad8 25. e4 Nd4
26. Bf1 Kf8 27. Qh4 $14 {Black's position is solid, but rather passive.}) 23.
Rc3 Rh8 (23... Rfd8 $5 24. e4 Nd4 25. Rg3 Rh8 26. Qh4 $14) 24. Rd1 Rad8 25.
Rcd3 Rd4 $6 {A serious inaccuracy. Provoking e2-e3 is not a good idea, since
that is an important prophylactic move.} ({Instead, Simen should have opted
for:} 25... Nd4 26. e3 (26. Kf1 Ba6 27. Rc1 Bb7) 26... Ne2+ 27. Kf1 Nc3 28.
Rxd8 (28. R1d2 Nb1 $1 29. Rxd8 Rxd8 30. Rxd8 Bxg2+ 31. Qxg2 Qxd8 $11) 28...
Rxd8 29. Rxd8 Bxg2+ 30. Kxg2 Qxd8 31. Qf3 Nxa2 32. Qb7 Nb4 33. Qxa7 Nc2 $132) (
{Or} 25... Rxd3 26. Qxd3 Bxg2 27. Kxg2 Qc6+ 28. Kg1 Qa4 $132) 26. e3 Rxd3 27.
Rxd3 Bxg2 ({Too passive is} 27... Bc8 28. Be4 b5 29. cxb5 Qa5 30. Bc6 $36) 28.
Qxg2 Rd8 29. Kf1 ({It was possible to grab a pawn:} 29. Nxh5+ $5 Kf8 30. Rxd8+
Qxd8 31. Nf6 a6 32. Qf3 b5 $14 {In the resulting position Black doesn't have
sufficient compensation for the pawn, but it would be very difficult for White
to make any progress.}) 29... Kf8 (29... Rxd3 $4 30. Ne8+) 30. Rxd8+ Qxd8 31.
Ke2 {Just in time! White is covering all the squares along the d-file, so
Black is doomed to a passive defence.} Qc8 $1 (31... Ne7 32. Qb7 $16) 32. a3 {
A useful prophylactic move - the pawn is somewhat less vulnerable now.} Ke7 (
32... Ne7 33. Qg5 Ng8 34. Ne4 Kg7 35. Nd6 Qa6 36. Qd8 Qxa3 37. h3 $36) 33. h3
Kd8 34. Qe4 Kc7 {Simen decides to keep the king on the q-side.} ({A waiting
strategy was possible as well:} 34... Ke7 $5 35. Qd3 Qc6 36. Kd2 Qb7 {and
Black has good drawish chances.}) 35. Nh7 Qe8 36. Ng5 {Keeping an eye on the
weak Pf7.} b5 $6 {The first step in a wrong direction - there was no need to
change the character of the position.} ({After the correct} 36... Qd7 $1 37.
Ke1 (37. Qa8 Qa4 $132) 37... a6 38. Ke2 Kb8 {Black's position seems very solid.
}) 37. Qd3 (37. cxb5 $5 Qxb5+ 38. Qd3 Qb2+ 39. Kf3 Qb7+ 40. Ne4 $14) 37... a6
38. Kd2 {White has all the time in the world, since Black has no active
possibilities.} Kb6 39. Kc3 Qe7 40. Ne4 {Now the Pb5 is a new target for White.
} Qc7 (40... Qe8 41. Kb3 Qc8 42. Nc3 $14) 41. Kb3 Kc6 (41... Qe7 42. Nc3 Qe8
$14) 42. Nc3 bxc4+ $2 {This leads to a very difficult position.} ({Simen's
task was tough, but it looks like after} 42... Qa5 $1 43. Qe4+ Kb6 {Black's
position is still tenable. For instance,} 44. Qa8 bxc4+ 45. Kb2 Kc7 $1 46. Qa7+
Kd8 $11 47. Qxf7 $140 $4 Qb6+ 48. Kc1 Qb3 $19) 43. Qxc4 Qb6+ 44. Kc2 {Now
Black cannot avoid an unpleasant penetration of White's queen.} Qa5 45. Qe4+
Kc7 46. Qa8 $1 $16 c4 $2 {The decisive mistake, which leads to loss of
material.} ({The last chance was} 46... Kd7 47. Qb7+ Ke8 48. Qb8+ Kd7 49. Kb2
Qc7 50. Qxc7+ Kxc7 51. Ne4 Kc6 52. Kb3 Kd5 53. Ng5 Nh6 54. Kc3 $16) 47. Qf8 $1
Kd7 ({It was possible to provide more resistance, but after} 47... Nh6 $1 48.
Qd6+ $1 (48. Qxh6 Qxa3 49. Qg7 Qb3+ 50. Kd2 Qb2+ 51. Kd1 Qxc3 52. Qxf7+ Kd8 $16
) 48... Kc8 49. Ne4 Qa4+ 50. Kd2 Qa5+ 51. Ke2 Nf5 52. Qc6+ Kd8 53. Nd6 Nxd6 54.
exd6 c3 55. Qb7 Qb5+ 56. Qxb5 axb5 57. e4 $18 {White wins anyway.}) 48. Ne4
Qa4+ 49. Kc1 $18 {The Nf5 is restricted, so Black lacks any counterplay.} Qc6
50. Qxf7+ Kc8 51. Nd6+ (51. Ng5 $18 {was also good enough.}) 51... Kd8 ({
The move} 51... Nxd6 {offers no hope:} 52. Qxe6+ Kb7 53. Qe7+ Ka8 54. exd6 $18)
52. Qf8+ Kc7 53. Qc8+ Kb6 54. Qb8+ {One more technical achievement of World
Champion!} ({Black resigns in view of} 54. Qb8+ Kc5 55. Qb4+ Kd5 56. Qd2+ Kc5
57. Qa5+ $18) 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.16"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Georgiev, Kiril"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D58"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2644"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2014.06.16"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 b6 8. Be2
Bb7 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. cxd5 exd5 11. O-O Qe7 12. Qb3 Rd8 13. Rad1 c5 14. dxc5
Bxc3 15. Qxc3 bxc5 16. Rc1 Nd7 17. Qa3 Qf6 18. Rfd1 Qb6 19. h3 a5 20. Ne1 Rac8
21. Qb3 Qxb3 22. axb3 g6 23. Bb5 Nb6 24. Ra1 Ra8 25. Nd3 Rdc8 26. Ne5 Kg7 27.
Ra3 Kf6 28. Ng4+ Kg7 29. Rda1 c4 30. Rxa5 cxb3 31. Rxa8 Rxa8 32. Rxa8 Bxa8 33.
Ne5 Kf6 34. Nd7+ Nxd7 35. Bxd7 Ke5 36. Ba4 d4 37. exd4+ Kxd4 38. Bxb3 f6 39.
Kf1 g5 40. Be6 Bc6 41. g3 Kd3 42. Ke1 Kc2 43. b3 Kd3 44. Bc4+ Kd4 45. Kd2 f5
46. Bd3 Bd7 47. b4 f4 48. gxf4 Bxh3 49. f5 Ke5 50. b5 Bg2 51. b6 Bb7 52. Ke3 g4
53. Be4 Bc8 54. f6 Kxf6 55. Kf4 h5 56. b7 Bxb7 57. Bxb7 Kg6 58. Bc6 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C09"]
[WhiteElo "2613"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2014.06.16"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 exd5 5. Bb5+ Nc6 6. Ngf3 cxd4 7. O-O Bd6 8.
Re1+ Nge7 9. Nxd4 O-O 10. N2b3 Qc7 11. h3 a6 12. Bd3 Ne5 13. Bf4 N7g6 14. Bxg6
fxg6 15. Bxe5 Bxe5 16. c3 Qd6 17. Qd3 Bd7 18. Re2 Rae8 19. Rae1 g5 20. Nd2 g4
21. hxg4 Bh2+ 22. Kf1 Rxe2 23. Kxe2 Bxg4+ 24. f3 Bd7 25. Kd1 Bf4 26. Kc2 Qf6
27. N2b3 Be8 28. Nf5 Kh8 29. Nbd4 Bg6 30. g4 Be5 31. Kd1 h6 32. Qe3 Re8 33. Qd2
Kh7 34. a3 a5 35. Re2 Qa6 36. Re1 Bf4 37. Qc2 Rxe1+ 38. Kxe1 Qf6 39. Qe2 Bf7
40. Kd1 g6 41. Ne3 h5 42. gxh5 gxh5 43. Ng2 Bh6 44. Qd3+ Bg6 45. Qb5 h4 46.
Qd7+ Kg8 47. Qc8+ Kh7 48. Qd7+ Kg8 49. Qc8+ Kh7 50. Qd7+ Kh8 51. Qc8+ Kh7
1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.16"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Potkin, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2621"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2014.06.16"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. a3 Nf6 8. f4
Nxd4 9. Qxd4 Ng4 10. Qb6 Bd6 11. e5 Nxe3 12. Qxe3 Be7 13. O-O-O b5 14. Ne4 O-O
15. Bd3 Bb7 16. Nf6+ Bxf6 17. exf6 g6 18. f5 Qd8 19. Qg5 Rc8 20. fxg6 fxg6 21.
Bxg6 Qxf6 22. Bxh7+ Kh8 23. Qh5 Kg7 24. Rxd7+ Rf7 25. Bd3 Qf4+ 26. Kb1 Rxd7 27.
Qh7+ Kf6 28. Qxd7 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.16"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Tomashevsky, Evgeny"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2695"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2014.06.16"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. a3 Bb7 5. Nc3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. e3 g6 8. Bb5+
c6 9. Bd3 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Bg7 11. h4 c5 12. h5 Nc6 13. O-O gxh5 14. dxc5 Qc7 15.
Qa4 Rd8 16. cxb6 axb6 17. Nd4 O-O 18. Be2 Rd5 19. Nxc6 Bxc6 20. Qh4 Rf5 21. Rb1
Bf6 22. Qg3+ Qxg3 23. fxg3 Rxf1+ 24. Kxf1 Rb8 25. c4 Be7 26. Bxh5 Bc5 27. Bf3
Ba4 28. Ke2 Rd8 29. Bb2 Kf8 30. Bf6 Rd7 31. Be4 Ke8 32. Rh1 Be7 33. Bxe7 Kxe7
34. Rb1 f5 35. Bf3 Rd6 36. g4 Bc2 37. Rc1 Bd3+ 38. Kf2 fxg4 39. Bxg4 Rc6 40.
Be2 Bg6 41. Rc3 Kd6 42. Rb3 Kc7 43. Rb5 Be8 44. Ke1 h6 45. a4 Rc5 46. Rb4 Ra5
47. Bd1 Bc6 48. Kf2 Ra6 49. g4 Kd6 50. Rb1 Kc5 51. Ra1 Ra7 52. Be2 Rxa4 53. Rg1
Ra2 54. g5 hxg5 55. Rxg5+ Kd6 56. Ke1 Ra5 57. Rg6 Be4 58. Rh6 Ra1+ 59. Kd2 Ra2+
60. Ke1 Rb2 61. Bg4 Bd3 62. Bxe6 Kc5 63. Rh5+ Kd6 64. Rd5+ Kxe6 65. Rxd3 b5 66.
cxb5 Rxb5 67. Ke2 Ke5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.16"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Inarkiev, Ernesto"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A65"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2682"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2014.06.16"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 c5 4. d5 d6 5. e4 Bg7 6. Nc3 O-O 7. Bg5 h6 8. Be3 e6
9. Qd2 exd5 10. cxd5 Re8 11. Nge2 Nbd7 12. Nc1 a6 13. Be2 h5 14. O-O Nh7 15.
Nd3 Ne5 16. Nf2 b5 17. a3 Rb8 18. b4 cxb4 19. axb4 Bb7 20. f4 Nd7 21. Bd4 Rc8
22. Rac1 Nhf6 23. Bd3 Nb6 24. Ne2 Rxc1 25. Rxc1 Nfd7 26. Bxg7 Kxg7 27. Qb2+ Qf6
28. Qxf6+ Nxf6 29. g3 Nc4 30. Bxc4 bxc4 31. Nc3 Nd7 32. Rd1 f5 33. Rd4 Nb6 34.
Nfd1 fxe4 35. Ne3 Bc8 36. Nxe4 c3 37. Kf2 Bb7 38. Nxc3 Re7 39. h3 Ba8 40. g4
hxg4 41. hxg4 Bb7 42. Kf3 Rc7 43. Ne4 Nc8 44. f5 gxf5 45. Nxf5+ Kg6 46. Nexd6
Nxd6 47. Nxd6 Ba8 48. Kf4 Rc1 49. Nf5 Rf1+ 50. Ke5 Kg5 51. Kd6 Rb1 52. Kc5 Rc1+
53. Kb6 Rc8 54. d6 Rb8+ 55. Kc7 Rb7+ 56. Kc8 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.17"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B78"]
[WhiteElo "2771"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2014.06.16"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2
O-O 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. h4 h5 11. O-O-O Ne5 12. Bb3 Rc8 13. Bg5 Rc5 14. Kb1 Re8 15.
Bh6 a5 16. a4 Qb6 17. g4 Rxc3 18. bxc3 Nxf3 19. Nxf3 Nxe4 20. Qd3 Nxc3+ 21. Kc1
Bxh6+ 22. Ng5 Bg7 23. Rdf1 d5 24. Rxf7 Qd4 25. gxh5 Qxd3 26. cxd3 gxh5 27. Rf2
Bd4 28. Rc2 Rf8 29. Re1 Rf4 30. Ne4 Nxe4 31. Bxd5+ e6 32. Bxe4 Kf8 33. Rc7 Ke7
34. Rxb7 Kd6 35. Kd2 Rxh4 36. Rh1 Rxh1 37. Bxh1 Bxa4 38. Bf3 h4 39. Rh7 Bf6 40.
Rh5 Bd8 41. d4 Bb3 42. Kc3 a4 43. Rh8 Bf6 44. Rh6 Ke7 45. Rh7+ Kf8 46. Bg4 Kg8
47. Rb7 Kf8 48. Rxb3 Bxd4+ 49. Kxd4 axb3 50. Kc3 Ke7 51. Kxb3 e5 52. Kc4 Kf6
53. Kd3 Kg5 54. Bc8 Kf4 55. Ke2 Kg3 56. Ke3 h3 57. Bxh3 e4 58. Kxe4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.17"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Fressinet, Laurent"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2717"]
[PlyCount "128"]
[EventDate "2014.06.16"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nbd2 Bf5 5. Nh4 Be4 6. Qb3 Qb6 7. e3 e6 8. Be2
h6 9. Nxe4 dxe4 10. g3 c5 11. Bd2 Nc6 12. Bc3 cxd4 13. exd4 O-O-O 14. O-O-O Bb4
15. Ng2 Bxc3 16. bxc3 e5 17. Qxb6 axb6 18. d5 Nb8 19. Ne3 Na6 20. g4 Nc5 21. h4
Ne8 22. h5 Nd6 23. Rhg1 f6 24. Nf5 Nxf5 25. gxf5 Rd7 26. Rg4 Rf8 27. Rdg1 Rff7
28. Kd2 Kc7 29. Ke3 Na4 30. Bd1 Nc5 31. Bc2 Kd8 32. Bxe4 Ke8 33. Bc2 Kf8 34.
Rb1 Rd6 35. Rb5 Rc7 36. Rg1 Nd7 37. Rgb1 Rxc4 38. R1b3 Rh4 39. Bd1 Rf4 40. R3b4
Rxb4 41. cxb4 Ke7 42. a4 Kd8 43. a5 Kc7 44. Ba4 Kd8 45. Kd3 Kc7 46. Bb3 Kd8 47.
Kc3 Kc7 48. f3 bxa5 49. Rxa5 Nb6 50. Rc5+ Kd8 51. Kb2 Nc8 52. Ra5 Kc7 53. Ra1
Rd7 54. Rg1 Nd6 55. Bc2 Kb6 56. Bd3 Rc7 57. Kb3 Re7 58. Kc3 Rc7+ 59. Kd2 Rd7
60. Ke3 Re7 61. Rg2 Rc7 62. Kd2 Re7 63. Ke3 Rc7 64. Kd2 Re7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.17"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Kryvoruchko, Yuriy"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2707"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2014.06.16"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. c3 Ngf6 5. Qe2 a6 6. Ba4 e5 7. O-O Be7 8. d4
b5 9. Bc2 O-O 10. Rd1 Qc7 11. d5 Rb8 12. a4 c4 13. axb5 axb5 14. b4 cxb3 15.
Bxb3 Nc5 16. Bc2 Bd7 17. Ba3 Ra8 18. Nbd2 Na4 19. Bxa4 Rxa4 20. Bb4 Rfa8 21.
Rxa4 bxa4 22. Nb1 Bg4 23. Na3 Nh5 24. Qe3 Nf4 25. Ra1 f5 26. Nb5 Qd7 27. c4
fxe4 28. Nd2 Nxd5 29. Qxe4 Nb6 30. Nc3 Bf5 31. Qe3 Qc6 32. Qe2 Be6 33. Qe4 Qxe4
34. Ndxe4 Nxc4 35. Rxa4 Rb8 36. h3 Kf8 37. Nd1 Bd7 38. Ra7 Bc6 39. Rc7 Bxe4 40.
Rxc4 Bd5 41. Rg4 h5 42. Rh4 g5 43. Ne3 gxh4 44. Nxd5 Rb5 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.17"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Movsesian, Sergei"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2672"]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "2014.06.16"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. Qa4+ Nc6 8.
e3 O-O 9. Be2 dxc4 10. O-O a6 11. Bxc4 Bd6 12. Ne4 Qe7 13. Nxd6 cxd6 14. d5 Na7
15. Qb4 e5 16. Rac1 Bf5 17. Nd2 Rfc8 18. Be2 Rxc1 19. Rxc1 Rc8 20. Rxc8+ Nxc8
21. e4 Bg6 22. Bg4 Na7 23. a4 Qc7 24. h4 h5 25. Be2 a5 26. Qc4 Qxc4 27. Bxc4
Kf8 28. Bd3 Nc8 29. Nc4 b6 30. f3 Ke7 31. g4 f6 32. Ne3 Kd8 33. Kf2 Be8 34. b3
Ne7 35. Kg3 Kc7 36. Ba6 Kd8 37. g5 Bd7 38. gxf6 gxf6 39. f4 Be8 40. f5 Ng8 41.
Be2 Ne7 42. Kf2 Nc8 43. Nd1 Na7 44. Nc3 Ke7 45. Ke3 Kf8 46. Kd2 Ke7 47. Kc2 Kd8
48. Kb2 Kc7 49. Ka3 Kd8 50. b4 Kc7 51. Nd1 axb4+ 52. Kxb4 Nc8 53. Ne3 Ne7 54.
Nf1 Ng8 55. Ng3 Kb7 56. Bxh5 Bd7 57. Bg6 Kc7 58. Nh5 Kd8 59. Bf7 Nh6 60. Be6
Ng4 61. Bxd7 Kxd7 62. Kb5 Kc7 63. Ka6 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.17"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C41"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2014.06.16"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d6 2. e4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Nf3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. O-O exd4 7. Qxd4 Nb6 8.
Bb3 O-O 9. a4 a5 10. Bf4 Bg4 11. Qd3 Nfd7 12. Nd4 Bf6 13. Ndb5 Nc5 14. Qg3 Nxb3
15. cxb3 Be6 16. Rac1 Nd7 17. Nd5 Bxd5 18. exd5 Rc8 19. Bd2 Be5 20. Qh3 c6 21.
dxc6 Rxc6 22. Bxa5 Qxa5 23. Qxd7 Rxc1 24. Rxc1 Qd2 25. Rf1 Qxb2 26. Qxb7 Qxb3
27. a5 d5 28. Qc6 Rb8 29. Rc1 g6 30. a6 Qa2 31. a7 Rf8 32. g3 d4 33. Qb7 Kg7
34. Rc8 Rxc8 35. Qxc8 Qb1+ 36. Kg2 Qe4+ 37. Kh3 Qd3 38. a8=Q 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.18"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2014.06.16"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e3 O-O 8. Rc1
dxc4 9. Bxc4 c5 10. O-O cxd4 11. Ne4 Qf5 12. Ng3 Qa5 13. exd4 Nc6 14. Qe2 Bd7
15. a3 Bd6 16. Ne4 Bf4 17. Rc3 Rad8 18. Rd1 b5 19. Bd3 b4 20. Rc5 Qb6 21. g3
Bb8 22. Qe3 f5 23. Rb5 f4 24. Qc1 Qc7 25. Rc5 fxg3 26. Ne5 gxf2+ 27. Nxf2 Qd6
28. Rxc6 Bxc6 29. Qxc6 bxa3 30. bxa3 Rf4 31. Bc4 g5 32. Bxe6+ Kg7 33. Rb1 Rxd4
34. Rb7+ Kf6 35. Qf3+ Kxe6 36. Qf7+ Kxe5 37. Re7+ Qxe7 38. Qxe7+ Kf5 39. Qh7+
Kf6 40. Qxh6+ Kf5 41. Qh7+ Kf6 42. Ne4+ Ke5 43. Qe7+ Kf5 44. Nf2 Bf4 45. Qxa7
Kg6 46. Qb6+ R8d6 47. Qb1+ Kg7 48. Qb7+ Rd7 49. Qf3 Rf7 50. Qc3 Bxh2+ 51. Kxh2
Rxf2+ 52. Kg3 Rff4 53. a4 Rg4+ 54. Kf3 Rgf4+ 55. Kg3 Rg4+ 56. Kf3 Rgf4+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.18"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D10"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2785"]
[Annotator "Vidit,S"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2014.06.16"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 {Something new, Finally !} d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 $5 {Of all the lines
exchange variation was the least expected.} cxd5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Bf4 Nc6 6. e3
Bf5 7. Rc1 (7. Qb3 {is the more popular line nowadays}) 7... Rc8 8. Nf3 e6 9.
Qb3 Bb4 10. Bb5 Bxc3+ 11. bxc3 (11. Qxc3 $6 a6 12. Be2 Ne4 13. Qa3 g5 $36)
11... O-O 12. Bxc6 Rxc6 13. Qxb7 Qc8 14. Qxc8 Rfxc8 {Something has definitely
gone wrong for White.Black has not only solved the opening problems but also
has the intiative. Probably the hybrid of Rc1-Qb3-Bb5 isn't correct and allows
black a lot of time.} 15. Ne5 Rxc3 16. Rxc3 Rxc3 17. O-O h6 (17... Nh5 $5 {
was an artificial but an interesting option. If black manages to remove the
bishop and consolidate he will clearly be better.} 18. g4 $1 ({Interesting
complications follow after} 18. Bg5 f6 19. g4 fxe5 20. gxf5 exd4 21. fxe6 Rc6
$1 $36) 18... Nxf4 19. exf4 Bc2 20. Re1 $1 f6 21. Nd7 Rc4 22. Nc5 Rxd4 23. Nxe6
Ra4 24. f3 $44 {In my opinion white has sufficient activity for the pawn.}) 18.
h4 Ne4 19. g4 $1 {It is important to play actively and create some quick
counterplay.} Bh7 20. Rb1 g5 21. hxg5 hxg5 22. Bh2 Nd2 $1 {Engine at first
fails to understand and evaluate the position of Rook vs two pieces. Black is
actually in no danger at all as the activity of black's rook is always
sufficient for a draw.} 23. Rb8+ Kg7 24. Rb7 Be4 25. Rxf7+ Kg8 26. f3 Nxf3+ 27.
Rxf3 Bxf3 28. Nxf3 Rc1+ (28... Rxe3 29. Nxg5 Ra3 30. Nxe6 Rxa2 31. Nc5 a5 $11)
29. Kf2 Rc2+ 30. Ke1 Rxa2 31. Bd6 a5 32. Nxg5 a4 33. Kd1 Rb2 {Diagram [#]} 34.
Nxe6 $2 {You simply cannot explain such moves. 99/100 times Carlsen would play
the correct move, but apparently even the World Champion blunders! Any other
move would have drawn easily.} Rb6 35. Nf4 $4 {Actually this is the real
blunder ! Carlsen must have been so demoralized by missing Rb6 that he failed
to see that he can still save the game. The point is that immediate 35.Nc5 is
met with a3 and black wins, but White can invert the move order by playing 35.
Kc2! & then Nc5} (35. Kc2 $142 $1 Rxd6 36. Nc5 a3 37. Kb3 $11 {and the king
catches the pawn}) 35... Rxd6 36. Kc2 Rb6 $1 {Now the king is cut off and with
accurate play black managed to win the game} 37. Nxd5 Rb7 38. Nc3 a3 39. e4 Kf7
40. e5 Ke6 41. Kc1 Rc7 42. Kd2 Ra7 43. Na2 Rb7 44. Kc3 Rb8 45. g5 Kf5 {Now
white is in a type of zugwang as any move by King or the knight loses a piece.
Hence white has to slowly give up all of his pawns.} 46. d5 (46. Kc2 Rb2+) (46.
Nc1 Rc8+ 47. Kd2 Kxg5 $19) 46... Kxe5 47. g6 Kxd5 48. g7 Ke6 49. g8=Q+ Rxg8 50.
Kb3 Rg3+ 51. Kb4 Ke5 52. Nc3 Re3 53. Kc4 Kf5 54. Kb4 Kg4 55. Na2 Kf3 56. Nc3
Kg2 57. Nd5 Rf3 58. Nc3 Kf1 59. Kc4 Ke1 60. Kb4 Rh3 {Between these two the d4
games have clearly been more fighting and full of thrill compared to the dry
and ever-boring berlins. So, I hope & wish to see a lot 1.d4 games in the
upcoming WCH match. Fingers crossed ! :)} 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.18"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Yu, Yangyi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2014.06.16"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Qf6 5. Nb3 Qg6 6. f3 Bd6 7. Nc3 Nge7 8.
Be3 Bxh2 9. Qd2 Bg3+ 10. Bf2 b6 11. O-O-O Bxf2 12. Qxf2 Bb7 13. Bd3 O-O-O 14.
e5 Qe6 15. f4 f6 16. f5 Qf7 17. exf6 Qxf6 18. Ne4 Qf8 19. Rhf1 Ne5 20. Qg3
Nxd3+ 21. Qxd3 Nc6 22. Kb1 Qe7 23. Rfe1 Rhe8 24. Qg3 Qf7 25. Qf4 h6 26. g4 Kb8
27. Nc3 Rxe1 28. Rxe1 Re8 29. Rd1 d6 30. Nd4 Nxd4 31. Qxd4 Re5 32. b3 Bc6 33.
Kb2 Kb7 34. Rd2 Qf6 35. Rd3 Qg5 36. Rd1 Qh4 37. Qf4 h5 38. Rg1 a5 39. Qg3 Qxg3
40. Rxg3 hxg4 41. Rxg4 Re7 42. Rg6 Rf7 43. Ne2 Bd7 44. Ng3 Kc6 45. Rg5 d5 46.
Rg6+ Kc5 47. c3 b5 48. a3 b4 49. axb4+ axb4 50. Rg4 bxc3+ 51. Kxc3 Kd6 52. Rg5
c6 53. b4 Ke5 54. Rg6 Re7 55. Kd3 Kf4 56. Kd4 Be8 57. Nh5+ Kxf5 58. Rxg7 Re4+
59. Kc5 Rc4+ 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.18"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E81"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2792"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2014.06.16"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 {Gegen die Sämisch-Variante hat
Grischuk schon vieles probiert:} O-O (5... a6 6. Be3 Nc6 7. Qd2 Rb8 8. Nge2 Bd7
9. Nc1 O-O 10. Nb3 e5 11. d5 Ne7 12. g4 b5 13. c5 b4 14. Nd1 Bb5 15. Nf2 Bxf1
16. Rxf1 Rb5 17. c6 Nfxd5 18. exd5 Rxd5 19. Qc2 Qa8 20. Rc1 a5 21. Nd2 f5 22.
Bg5 Nc8 23. gxf5 Rxf5 24. Nfe4 Kh8 25. Qb3 Nb6 26. Be3 Rb5 27. Bxb6 Rxb6 28.
Qd5 Qb8 29. Nxd6 cxd6 30. Nc4 e4 31. Qxd6 exf3 {1-0 (31) Wang,Y (2697)
-Grischuk,A (2752) Beijing 2011}) 6. Be3 a6 (6... e5 7. d5 c6 8. Qd2 cxd5 9.
cxd5 a6 10. Bd3 Nh5 11. Nge2 Nd7 12. O-O f5 13. exf5 gxf5 14. Bxf5 Rxf5 15. g4
Nb6 16. b3 Rxf3 17. Rxf3 Bxg4 18. Rf2 Nd7 19. Ne4 Ndf6 20. Nxf6+ Nxf6 21. Ng3
$16 {1-0 (55) Morozevich,A (2748)-Grischuk,A (2764) Beijing 2012}) (6... c5 7.
Nge2 Nc6 8. d5 Ne5 (8... Na5 9. Nc1 e6 10. Be2 exd5 11. cxd5 Nd7 (11... a6 12.
Nb3 b5 13. O-O Nd7 14. Nxa5 Qxa5 15. Qd2 Re8 $11 {0-1 (42) Dreev,A (2677)
-Grischuk,A (2763) Astana 2012}) 12. Nb3 f5 13. Qd2 Ne5 14. Nxa5 Qxa5 15. O-O
fxe4 16. Nxe4 Qxd2 17. Bxd2 Nf7 18. Bc3 Bf5 $11 {1/2-1/2 (54) Vitiugov,N (2705)
-Grischuk,A (2763) Moscow 2012}) 9. Ng3 h5 10. Be2 h4 11. Nf1 e6 12. f4 Nxc4
13. Bxc4 b5 14. Bxb5 exd5 15. e5 dxe5 16. fxe5 Bg4 17. exf6 Bxd1 18. fxg7 Kxg7
19. Bxc5 h3 $13 {1/2-1/2 (41) Svidler,P (2747)-Grischuk,A (2764) London 2013})
7. Nge2 c6 (7... Nc6 8. Qd2 Rb8 9. Rc1 e6 10. b3 Nd7 11. h4 h5 12. g3 Ne7 13.
g4 hxg4 14. fxg4 Nf6 15. g5 Nh5 16. Bg2 e5 17. Bf3 b5 18. dxe5 Bxe5 19. Nf4
Bxf4 20. Bxf4 bxc4 21. bxc4 Be6 22. Nd5 Bxd5 23. cxd5 Qd7 24. O-O Nxf4 25. Qxf4
c6 26. h5 cxd5 27. h6 Qe6 28. exd5 Nxd5 29. Bxd5 Qxd5 30. Qf6 Qe5 31. Qxe5 dxe5
32. Rc5 Rb5 {1/2-1/2 (32) Anand,V (2791)-Grischuk,A (2733) Linares 2009}) 8. c5
({Die Alternative ist} 8. Qd2) 8... b5 9. cxd6 exd6 10. Nf4 Re8 ({Im letzten
Worldcup geschah} 10... b4 11. Nce2 Re8 12. Ng3 Nd5 13. Bc1 Qh4 14. Nfe2 Nb6
15. Be3 a5 16. Rc1 h6 17. Nf4 Nd5 18. Nxd5 cxd5 19. Bb5 Bd7 20. Qa4 dxe4 21. f4
Qd8 22. f5 Bxb5 23. Qxb5 Nd7 24. fxg6 fxg6 25. Qd5+ Kh8 26. Qxd6 Nf6 27. Qxd8
Raxd8 28. Ke2 Nd5 29. Rhd1 a4 30. Rd2 a3 31. bxa3 bxa3 32. Rc6 Rb8 33. Rc5 Nxe3
34. Kxe3 h5 35. Ne2 Bh6+ 36. Nf4 Bxf4+ 37. Kxf4 e3 38. Re2 Rb2 39. Kf3 Reb8 40.
Rcc2 Rxc2 41. Rxc2 Rb2 42. Re2 Kg7 43. Kxe3 Kf6 44. Kd3 Rb1 45. d5 g5 46. Kc3
Rb8 47. d6 Rd8 48. Rd2 Rd7 49. Kb4 Ke6 50. Kc5 Ra7 51. d7 Rxd7 52. Rxd7 Kxd7
53. Kb4 {1-0 (53) Dreev,A (2668)-Wang,H (2747) Tromsoe 2013}) 11. Be2 b4 (11...
Bb7 12. O-O Nd5 13. Nfxd5 cxd5 14. Qd2 Nd7 15. a3 Nf6 16. Bg5 Qb6 17. Kh1 dxe4
18. fxe4 Nxe4 19. Nxe4 Bxe4 20. Bf6 Rac8 21. Bxg7 Kxg7 22. Rac1 Qb7 23. Bf3
Bxf3 24. Rxf3 Re2 25. Qxe2 Rxc1+ 26. Rf1 Qe4 27. Qf2 Rxf1+ 28. Qxf1 Qxd4 29. h3
{0-1 (29) Abello,S (2303)-Georgiev,K (2453) France 2008}) 12. Na4 Nd5 $1 {
Der gleiche Trick wie in der Partie der letzten Anmerkung. Schwarz übernimmt
die Initative.} 13. Bc1 Nb6 (13... Nxf4 $5 14. Bxf4 d5 {mit der Idee} 15. e5 f6
) 14. Nxb6 Qxb6 15. Be3 d5 16. Qd3 dxe4 17. fxe4 a5 18. Rd1 Ba6 19. Qc2 Bxe2
20. Nxe2 {Weiß hat einige Mühe, seine Entwicklung abzuschließen und hat
zudem eine Reihe von Schwächen.} Nd7 21. O-O Nf6 22. Ng3 Ng4 $17 23. Bf2 Rad8
{Droht nun Tausch auf f2 und schon entscheidendend Gewinn des Bauern d4.} 24.
e5 c5 25. dxc5 (25. Qxc5 Qxc5 26. dxc5 Bxe5 $17) 25... Qc7 26. Rxd8 Rxd8 27.
Ne4 Bxe5 28. g3 {Überall knackt es in der weißen Stellung.} Nxf2 29. Kxf2 (
29. Nxf2 Bxg3 30. hxg3 Qxg3+ 31. Kh1 Rd5 $19) 29... Qc6 $19 30. Re1 Bd4+ (30...
f5 $1 $19 {war stärker.}) 31. Kf1 f5 (31... Rd5 $1 $19) 32. Nf2 Bxc5 33. Re5
$17 {Nach zwei Ungenauigkeiten von Schwarz hat Weiß überlebt und findet
zurück ins Spiel.} Qa6+ 34. Kg2 ({Objektiv besser} 34. Qe2 Qxe2+ 35. Rxe2 $17)
34... Qb7+ (34... Bd4 $5 35. Re7 Qa8+ 36. Kf1 Qd5 $17) 35. Kh3 Bd4 36. Rxa5 Qb6
$2 ({Richtig war hier} 36... Qd7 $19) 37. Qc4+ Kh8 38. Rb5 $11 {Und plötzlich
hat Weiß wieder gleiches Spiel erreicht.} Qf6 39. Nd3 g5 40. Rd5 Rxd5 41. Qxd5
Kg7 42. Nxb4 Bxb2 43. a4 f4 44. Kg2 Bc3 45. Nd3 fxg3 46. hxg3 Qe7 47. Nf2 Qe5
48. Qf3 (48. Qxe5+ Bxe5 49. a5 h5 50. a6 Bd4 51. Ne4 Kg6 $11) 48... Bd4 49.
Qb7+ Kg6 50. Qc6+ Kg7 51. Ne4 h5 52. a5 (52. Nxg5 Qe2+ 53. Kh3 Qg4+ $11 {
mit Dauerschach.}) 52... h4 53. g4 {Carlsen spielt auf Gewinn...} Be3 $2 (53...
Bc5 $5 54. Nxc5 Qe2+ 55. Kh3 Qe3+ 56. Kh2 Qe5+ $11) 54. Qd7+ {und ergreift die
Chance...} Kg6 55. Qd6+ Qxd6 56. Nxd6 Kf6 57. a6 Ke6 58. Nb5 Ke5 59. Kf3 Bb6
60. a7 Bxa7 61. Nxa7 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.18"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2724"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2014.06.16"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. Nbd2 d6 7. Bb3 Be6 8. O-O
Bxb3 9. Qxb3 Rb8 10. h3 Re8 11. Re1 Qd7 12. Nf1 Bb6 13. Ng3 Qe6 14. Qc2 h6 15.
Nh4 d5 16. Nhf5 Rbd8 17. Be3 dxe4 18. dxe4 Ne7 19. Bxb6 axb6 20. a3 Nxf5 21.
Nxf5 g6 22. Ne3 b5 23. Rad1 c6 24. f3 Qe7 25. Re2 Rxd1+ 26. Qxd1 Rd8 27. Rd2
Rxd2 28. Qxd2 Kg7 29. Ng4 h5 30. Nxf6 Qxf6 31. Qd7 Qf4 32. Qxb7 Qc1+ 33. Kh2
Qf4+ 34. Kg1 Qc1+ 35. Kh2 Qf4+ 36. Kg1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 8th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.19"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Fedoseev, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2662"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2014.06.19"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4 5. h3 Bh5 6. Nc3 e6 7. g4 Bg6 8. Ne5
Nbd7 9. Qb3 Qc7 10. Nxg6 hxg6 11. Bg2 Nb6 12. cxd5 exd5 13. Qc2 Bd6 14. b3
O-O-O 15. Bb2 Kb8 16. O-O-O g5 17. Kb1 Qe7 18. Rhe1 Bb4 19. f3 Rhe8 20. Re2
Nfd7 21. a3 Bxc3 22. Bxc3 Nf8 23. e4 Ne6 24. Ree1 Qf6 25. Bf1 Qe7 26. e5 Nc8
27. Qd2 Qc7 28. Ba5 b6 29. Bc3 Ne7 30. Rc1 Kb7 31. Bb4 Qd7 32. Qd3 Ng6 33. Qa6+
Ka8 34. Red1 Ngf4 35. Bd6 Rc8 36. Qa4 b5 37. Qa6 Qb7 38. Qa5 Qb6 39. Qd2 Kb7
40. Ka1 Rh8 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 8th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.19"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2613"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2014.06.19"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. O-O d6 6. a4 a5 7. Re1 Nbd7 8. e4
e5 9. Nc3 Re8 10. h3 b6 11. Be3 Bb7 12. d5 Nc5 13. Nd2 Nfd7 14. Nc4 f5 15. exf5
gxf5 16. f4 e4 17. Bd4 Bxd4+ 18. Qxd4 Qe7 19. Ne3 Qf7 20. g4 fxg4 21. Nxg4 Qg7
22. Qxg7+ Kxg7 23. Nxe4 Nxe4 24. Bxe4 h5 25. Bf5 Rxe1+ 26. Rxe1 hxg4 27. Bxd7
gxh3 28. c4 Rf8 29. Re4 Bc8 30. Bxc8 Rxc8 31. Re6 Kf7 32. Kh2 Rh8 33. Re3 Rh4
34. Rxh3 Rxf4 35. Rh7+ Kf6 36. Rxc7 Rf2+ 37. Kg3 Rxb2 38. Kf4 Rb4 39. Ke4 Rxa4
40. Rc6 b5 41. Rxd6+ Ke7 42. Ke5 Rxc4 43. Ra6 Rc1 44. Ra7+ Ke8 45. Rxa5 b4 46.
Rb5 Rc4 47. Kd6 Rd4 48. Rb7 Rc4 49. Rb8+ Kf7 50. Kd7 Kf6 51. d6 Kf7 52. Kd8 Rd4
53. d7 Ke6 54. Rb6+ Kd5 55. Kc7 Kc4 56. Rd6 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 8th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.19"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Fressinet, Laurent"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B02"]
[WhiteElo "2717"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2014.06.19"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Ng8 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 c6 5. h3 Bf5 6. Bd3 Bxd3 7. Qxd3 dxe5 8.
Nxe5 Nd7 9. Bf4 Ngf6 10. Nc3 Nxe5 11. Bxe5 e6 12. O-O-O Be7 13. Kb1 O-O 14. Qg3
Nh5 15. Qf3 Nf6 16. h4 Nd7 17. Ne4 Qa5 18. Qg3 Nxe5 19. dxe5 Rad8 20. Nd6 Bxd6
21. Rxd6 Rxd6 22. exd6 Rd8 23. Rd1 Rd7 24. b3 h6 25. Qf4 Qc5 26. g3 f6 27. Rd3
Kf7 28. Qd2 e5 29. Rc3 Qb4 30. Kb2 Rxd6 31. Qe2 Qd4 32. Qh5+ Kf8 33. Qf5 b5 34.
a3 Kg8 35. b4 Kf7 36. Qc8 h5 37. Qf5 Qg4 38. Qxg4 hxg4 39. Kc1 Ke6 40. a4 a6
41. a5 Kd7 42. Re3 Rd5 43. c3 c5 44. Kc2 c4 45. Re4 f5 46. Re3 Ke6 47. Kc1 Rd3
48. Kc2 Rxe3 49. fxe3 Kd5 50. Kd2 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 8th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.19"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Iturrizaga Bonelli, Eduardo"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A31"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2653"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2014.06.19"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nf3 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 g6 6. g3 d6 7. Bg2 Bd7 8.
Nxc6 Bxc6 9. e4 Bg7 10. O-O O-O 11. Be3 a5 12. Qe2 Nd7 13. Rfd1 a4 14. Rac1 Qa5
15. Nd5 Bxd5 16. Rxd5 Qa6 17. h4 Rfc8 18. Rb5 Rc7 19. h5 Rac8 20. h6 Bh8 21. b4
axb3 22. axb3 Nc5 23. Qd1 Nd7 24. Bh3 Ra8 25. Bxd7 Rxd7 26. Bd4 Bxd4 27. Qxd4
f6 28. e5 fxe5 29. Rxe5 dxe5 30. Qxd7 Qd6 31. Qxb7 Rb8 32. Qf3 Qd2 33. Rd1 Qxh6
34. Qd5+ Kf8 35. c5 Qh5 36. c6 Rc8 37. Rc1 Qg5 38. Rc3 Kg7 39. c7 Qf6 40. Rc6
Qf5 41. b4 Qb1+ 42. Kg2 Qxb4 43. Qxe5+ Kh6 44. Qe3+ Kg7 45. Qe6 Kh6 46. Qxc8
Qe4+ 47. Kh2 Qxc6 48. Qh3+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 8th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.19"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2726"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2014.06.19"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. O-O Ngf6 5. d4 a6 6. Bxd7+ Nxd7 7. Nc3 e6 8.
d5 e5 9. a4 Be7 10. Nd2 O-O 11. Nc4 Nb6 12. Ne3 Bg5 13. b3 Bxe3 14. Bxe3 f5 15.
f4 Nd7 16. a5 Qe7 17. Qd2 fxe4 18. fxe5 Qxe5 19. Rxf8+ Nxf8 20. Bf4 Qe7 21. Na4
Bf5 22. Nb6 Rd8 23. Bg5 e3 24. Bxe7 exd2 25. Bxd8 Bxc2 26. Be7 d1=Q+ 27. Rxd1
Bxd1 28. Bxd6 Bxb3 29. Bxc5 Kf7 30. Bxf8 Kxf8 31. Kf2 Ke7 32. Ke3 Kd6 33. Kd4
g5 34. g3 g4 35. Nc4+ Bxc4 36. Kxc4 Kd7 37. Kc5 Kc7 38. d6+ Kd7 39. Kd5 h6 40.
Ke5 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 8th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.19"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2730"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2014.06.19"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nxc6 Qf6 6. f4 dxc6 7. Nc3 Qh4+
8. g3 Qe7 9. Bd3 Nf6 10. Qe2 Bg4 11. Qg2 O-O-O 12. Bd2 Nd5 13. h3 Be6 14. a3
Bd4 15. Nxd5 cxd5 16. O-O-O dxe4 17. Bxe4 c6 18. Rhe1 Qc7 19. f5 Bd5 20. Bf4
Qb6 21. c3 Bxe4 22. Qxe4 Bf6 23. Qc4 Rxd1+ 24. Rxd1 Rf8 25. a4 h6 26. Kb1 Qa5
27. g4 Be5 28. Be3 a6 29. Bc5 Rd8 30. Rxd8+ Qxd8 31. Qxf7 Qd1+ 32. Ka2 Qxa4+
33. Ba3 Bf6 34. Qe6+ Kb8 35. Qd6+ Kc8 36. Qe6+ Kb8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 8th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.19"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Le, Quang Liem"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D79"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2712"]
[PlyCount "205"]
[EventDate "2014.06.19"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 d5 5. c4 c6 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. Ne5 O-O 8. Nc3
e6 9. O-O Nfd7 10. Nf3 Nf6 11. Bf4 Nc6 12. Rc1 Bd7 13. Qd2 Rc8 14. Ne5 Qe7 15.
Rfd1 Rfd8 16. Bg5 Qf8 17. h4 h6 18. Bxf6 Bxf6 19. f4 h5 20. e3 Be8 21. Bf3 Ne7
22. Kf2 Nf5 23. Ne2 Qd6 24. Qa5 Qb6 25. Qxb6 axb6 26. Rxc8 Rxc8 27. Rc1 Ra8 28.
a3 Nd6 29. Nc3 Kf8 30. e4 dxe4 31. Nxe4 Bxe5 32. dxe5 Nxe4+ 33. Bxe4 Bc6 34.
Ke3 Ke7 35. Bd3 Ra5 36. Rc3 Rc5 37. Rb3 b5 38. Rc3 Rxc3 39. bxc3 Kd7 40. Kd4 b6
41. Ke3 Kc7 42. Kd2 Bd7 43. Ke3 Kc6 44. Kd4 Kc7 45. Be2 Bc6 46. g4 hxg4 47.
Bxg4 Kd7 48. Be2 Kc7 49. h5 gxh5 50. Bxh5 Be8 51. f5 Kd7 52. f6 Kc7 53. Bf3 Bc6
54. Be2 Be8 55. Bd1 Bd7 56. Bb3 Be8 57. Ke4 Kd8 58. Kf4 Bd7 59. Bd1 Bc6 60. Be2
Bd7 61. Bd3 Bc6 62. Ke3 Kc7 63. Kd2 Be8 64. Be4 Bc6 65. Bc2 Be8 66. Kd3 Kc6 67.
Kd4 Kc7 68. Ke4 Bc6+ 69. Kf4 Kd8 70. Bb3 Bd7 71. Kg5 Ke8 72. Kh6 Kf8 73. Bc2
Bc6 74. Kh7 Bd5 75. Bd3 Bc6 76. Be2 Be4+ 77. Kh8 Bc6 78. Bf1 Bd7 79. Bg2 Be8
80. Bb7 Bd7 81. Ba6 Bc6 82. Bc8 Be4 83. Bd7 Bd3 84. Bc6 Bc4 85. Kh7 Bd3+ 86.
Kh6 Kg8 87. Kg5 Bc4 88. Kf4 Kh7 89. Kg5 Kg8 90. Bd7 Kh7 91. Be8 Kg8 92. Kf4 Kf8
93. Bc6 Kg8 94. Ke4 Kh7 95. Kd4 Bf1 96. Be8 Kg6 97. Ke3 Kf5 98. Kd4 Kg6 99. Ke4
Bc4 100. Kf4 Bf1 101. Bc6 Kh6 102. Bb7 Bc4 103. Ba6 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 8th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.19"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Lu, Shanglei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C25"]
[WhiteElo "2546"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2014.06.19"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 Bc5 4. Bg2 d6 5. Na4 Be6 6. Ne2 Qd7 7. h3 Nge7 8. d3
O-O-O 9. Nxc5 dxc5 10. Be3 b6 11. f4 f5 12. Qd2 fxe4 13. dxe4 Qe8 14. Qc3 Nd4
15. Bxd4 cxd4 16. Qa3 Bc4 17. Bf3 Nc6 18. O-O-O exf4 19. gxf4 Bxe2 20. Bxe2
Qxe4 21. Bf3 Qxf4+ 22. Kb1 Ne5 23. Qa6+ Kd7 24. Bg2 Rhe8 25. Rhe1 Ke6 26. Qxa7
Re7 27. Re4 Qf2 28. Rde1 Kf7 29. Rf1 Qf6 30. Rxf6+ gxf6 31. Re1 d3 32. cxd3
Rxd3 33. Qa4 Red7 34. a3 Rd2 35. Bc6 R7d4 36. Qb3+ Ke7 37. Qg3 Kd6 38. Be4 b5
39. Bxh7 b4 40. axb4 Rxb4 41. Qc3 Rbd4 42. Bc2 c5 43. Rc1 Nc4 44. Qg3+ Kc6 45.
Ba4+ Kd5 46. Bb3 Rxb2+ 47. Ka1 Rbd2 48. Rxc4 Rxc4 49. Qf3+ Ke5 50. Bxc4 Rd4 51.
Qe3+ Re4 52. Qxc5+ Kf4 53. Bd3 Re5 54. Qf2+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 8th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.19"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Ragger, Markus"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E05"]
[WhiteElo "2632"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2014.06.19"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. a4
Bd7 9. Qxc4 Bc6 10. Bf4 Bd6 11. Nc3 Nbd7 12. Rfe1 Bxf4 13. gxf4 Nb6 14. Qd3
Nbd5 15. e3 Nb4 16. Qd2 a5 17. Rac1 Qe7 18. Red1 Rfd8 19. Qe2 Bxf3 20. Bxf3 c6
21. Ne4 Nxe4 22. Bxe4 Qh4 23. Kh1 g6 24. Rg1 Rd7 25. Rg5 Nd5 26. Rcg1 Kh8 27.
Qf3 Qh6 28. Qg3 f5 29. Bf3 Rg8 30. h4 Nf6 31. Rg2 Qf8 32. h5 gxh5 33. Rxg8+
Nxg8 34. Bxh5 Rg7 35. Qxg7+ Qxg7 36. Rxg7 Kxg7 37. Kg2 Nf6 38. Bd1 h6 39. Bb3
Kf7 40. f3 Ke7 41. Kg3 Kd6 42. Kh4 b5 43. Kg3 Nd5 44. e4 Nb4 45. Kf2 Nd3+ 46.
Ke3 Nxb2 47. Bc2 Nxa4 48. exf5 exf5 49. Bxf5 Nc3 50. Bc2 Nd5+ 51. Ke4 a4 52.
Kf5 Ne3+ 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 8th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.19"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2014.06.19"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nb3 Bb6 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. Bg5 O-O 8.
Qf3 Nd4 9. Nxd4 Bxd4 10. O-O-O Bxc3 11. bxc3 Re8 12. Bc4 d6 13. Bxf6 Qxf6 14.
Qxf6 gxf6 15. Rhe1 f5 16. Bd5 fxe4 17. Bxe4 Re5 18. Bd5 Rxe1 19. Rxe1 Kf8 20.
Re4 c6 21. Bb3 Bf5 22. Rf4 Bg6 23. h4 h5 24. Kd2 Rd8 25. Bc4 d5 26. Bd3 Kg7 27.
a4 b6 28. g3 c5 29. Be2 Rd6 30. a5 Rf6 31. axb6 axb6 32. Bf3 Rd6 33. Bg2 Rd8
34. Bf3 Rd6 35. Bg2 Rd8 36. Ra4 Rd6 37. Rf4 b5 38. Bf1 Rb6 39. Bg2 Ra6 40. Bf1
Ra2 41. Bd3 Bxd3 42. Kxd3 Kg6 43. g4 hxg4 44. Rxg4+ Kf5 45. Rg5+ Ke6 46. Rg1
Ra3 47. Kd2 b4 48. cxb4 cxb4 49. Rg3 Ra1 50. Rh3 Kf6 51. h5 Kg7 52. h6+ Kh7 53.
Rh4 Ra6 54. Rxb4 Kxh6 55. Rb5 Rf6 56. Ke2 Re6+ 57. Kd3 Rf6 58. Rxd5 Rxf2 59. c4
Rf1 60. c5 Rc1 61. Kd2 Rc4 62. Kd3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 8th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.19"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2743"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2014.06.19"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. Qa4 a5 8.
e3 O-O 9. Be2 h6 10. Bh4 g5 11. Bg3 Ne4 12. Qc2 c6 13. O-O Ndf6 14. Ne5 Kg7 15.
a3 Bxc3 16. bxc3 Nxg3 17. hxg3 Be6 18. Rab1 Qc8 19. c4 Nd7 20. cxd5 cxd5 21.
Qb2 Rb8 22. Rfc1 Qd8 23. Nxd7 Qxd7 24. Qb6 Qd8 25. Rc7 Rc8 26. Rxb7 Rc3 27.
Qxe6 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 8th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.20"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Meier, Georg"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2632"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2014.06.19"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Bg4 4. c4 c6 5. O-O e6 6. d3 Bd6 7. h3 Bh5 8. Qb3
Qe7 9. Bg5 Na6 10. Nbd2 Nc5 11. Qc2 Ncd7 12. e4 Bxf3 13. Bxf3 d4 14. Bg2 h6 15.
Bxf6 Nxf6 16. Rac1 Nd7 17. f4 e5 18. f5 a5 19. Kh2 a4 20. h4 Kd8 21. Bh3 Kc7
22. Nf3 Bc5 23. Kg2 Nf6 24. Nh2 g5 25. fxg6 fxg6 26. Rf3 a3 27. b3 Bb4 28. Rcf1
Raf8 29. Qf2 Ne8 30. Rf7 Rxf7 31. Qxf7 Qxf7 32. Rxf7+ Kb6 33. Ng4 Bd6 34. Nh2
Nc7 35. Rf6 Rd8 36. Rxg6 Na6 37. Ng4 Nb4 38. c5+ Kxc5 39. Nxh6 Bb8 40. Nf7 Rf8
41. Ng5 Kb6 42. Ne6 Rh8 43. Rf6 Nxa2 44. Rf1 Nb4 45. Bf5 Nxd3 46. Kh3 Bd6 47.
g4 Bb4 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 8th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.20"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2785"]
[Annotator "Vidit,S"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2014.06.19"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 {Another berlin ! Both the players stick to
this solid unbreakable line. Perhaps there is some pyschological warfare?} 4.
d3 Bc5 5. Nbd2 Nd4 6. Nxd4 Bxd4 7. c3 Bb6 8. O-O c6 9. Ba4 O-O 10. Bb3 d5 11.
h3 dxe4 12. dxe4 Qe7 13. Qf3 Be6 $11 {Black has again managed to equalise
easily. For the next few moves the players keep manouevering to build some
initiative but the game always remained equal. A top level draw !} 14. Nc4 Nd7
15. Ne3 Bxe3 16. Bxe3 Rfd8 17. Rfd1 a6 18. Bxe6 Qxe6 19. Qg4 Qxg4 20. hxg4 h6
21. a4 Kf8 22. a5 Ke8 23. f3 Nf8 24. Bb6 Rxd1+ 25. Rxd1 Nd7 26. Be3 Rd8 27. Kf2
f6 28. Ke2 Nf8 29. Rh1 Ne6 $11 30. g3 Nf8 31. f4 Ng6 32. g5 exf4 33. gxf4 fxg5
34. fxg5 hxg5 35. Bxg5 Rd7 36. Rg1 Kf7 37. Be3 Nf8 38. Bd4 Ne6 39. Ke3 Rd8 40.
Be5 Rh8 41. Rg3 Rh1 (41... Rh5 $142 $1 {Anand could have actually won a pawn
with this move but I guess they both were under severe time pressure.}) 42.
Rf3+ Ke7 43. b4 Re1+ 44. Kd3 Rd1+ 45. Ke2 Rh1 46. Ke3 Re1+ 47. Kd3 Rd1+ 48. Ke2
Rh1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 8th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.20"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Polgar, Judit"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E81"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2685"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2014.06.19"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 a6 7. Nge2 c6 8. a4 a5
9. Ng3 Na6 10. Be2 Qc7 11. O-O e5 12. d5 h5 13. Qd2 h4 14. Nh1 Nh5 15. Nf2 f5
16. Nd3 f4 17. Bf2 Ng3 18. Rfd1 c5 19. hxg3 hxg3 20. Bxg3 fxg3 21. Qg5 Qf7 22.
Nb5 Qf6 23. Qxg3 Bh6 24. Kf2 Nb4 25. Rh1 Kg7 26. Qh4 Qxh4+ 27. Rxh4 Bg5 28. Rh2
Be3+ 29. Kxe3 Nc2+ 30. Kd2 Nxa1 31. Kc3 Ra6 32. Rh1 Bd7 33. Rxa1 Bxb5 34. cxb5
Raa8 35. b3 Rh8 36. b6 Rh2 37. Rg1 Ra6 38. Nb2 Rxb6 39. Bb5 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 8th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.20"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2792"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2014.06.19"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bf4 c6 6. e3 Nh5 7. Bg5 Be7 8. Bxe7
Qxe7 9. Bd3 O-O 10. Qc2 Nhf6 11. cxd5 exd5 12. g4 Re8 13. h3 Nb6 14. O-O-O Be6
15. Ng5 h6 16. Nxe6 Qxe6 17. Bf5 Qe7 18. h4 Ne4 19. Bxe4 dxe4 20. g5 h5 21. g6
Nd5 22. gxf7+ Qxf7 23. Nxe4 Nb4 24. Ng5 Nxc2 25. Nxf7 Nxe3 26. fxe3 Kxf7 27.
Rdf1+ Kg8 28. Kd2 Re4 29. Rf5 Rae8 30. Rh3 g6 31. Rf6 Kg7 32. Rd6 R8e7 33. Kd3
Rg4 34. b4 Rg2 35. a4 a6 36. b5 axb5 37. axb5 cxb5 38. Rb6 Ra2 39. Rg3 Ra3+ 40.
Kd2 Ra2+ 41. Kd3 Ra3+ 42. Kd2 Ra2+ 43. Kd3 Ra3+ 44. Kd2 Ra2+ 45. Kc3 Ra3+ 46.
Kb4 Raxe3 47. Rgxg6+ Kf7 48. Rgf6+ Ke8 49. Rxb5 R3e4 50. Rxh5 Rxd4+ 51. Kc5
Rde4 52. Rff5 Kd7 53. Kb5 Kc7 54. Rc5+ Kb8 55. Rc4 Rxc4 56. Kxc4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 8th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.20"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "170"]
[EventDate "2014.06.19"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 d5 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Bg2 Bb4+ 8. Bd2
Bd6 9. O-O O-O 10. Nc3 Nbd7 11. Re1 Re8 12. Qc2 Rc8 13. a4 c6 14. a5 bxa5 15.
e4 dxe4 16. Nxe4 Nxe4 17. Rxe4 Rxe4 18. Qxe4 Nf6 19. Qf5 Rb8 20. Rxa5 Bc8 21.
Qc2 Be6 22. Rxa7 Bxb3 23. Qxc6 Bd5 24. Qc1 h6 25. Nh4 Bxg2 26. Kxg2 Bf8 27. Qc4
Qd5+ 28. Qxd5 Nxd5 29. Ra5 Nf6 30. Nf5 h5 31. Bg5 Ne4 32. Ne7+ Bxe7 33. Bxe7
Re8 34. Bc5 Nf6 35. Bd6 Rd8 36. Be7 Rxd4 37. Bxf6 gxf6 38. Rxh5 Kg7 39. Rh4 Rd2
40. Rf4 Kg6 41. g4 Ra2 42. h4 Rb2 43. Rc4 Kg7 44. Kg3 Rb3+ 45. Kf4 Rb2 46. f3
Rh2 47. h5 Ra2 48. Ke4 Ra5 49. Kf4 Rb5 50. Rd4 Ra5 51. Ke3 Ra3+ 52. Rd3 Ra4 53.
Rd4 Ra3+ 54. Ke4 Ra5 55. f4 Ra1 56. Rd5 Ra6 57. Kf5 Rb6 58. Ra5 Rc6 59. Rd5 Ra6
60. Ke4 Ra4+ 61. Rd4 Ra5 62. Rd5 Ra4+ 63. Kf5 Ra6 64. g5 fxg5 65. fxg5 Ra1 66.
h6+ Kh7 67. Kf6 Rf1+ 68. Rf5 Ra1 69. Kxf7 Ra7+ 70. Kf6 Ra6+ 71. Ke5 Ra5+ 72.
Kf4 Ra4+ 73. Kg3 Kg6 74. Rf8 Ra3+ 75. Kg4 Ra4+ 76. Rf4 Ra6 77. Rb4 Rc6 78. Re4
Rb6 79. Kf4 Ra6 80. Re8 Ra4+ 81. Ke5 Ra5+ 82. Kf4 Rf5+ 83. Ke4 Rxg5 84. Rg8+
Kxh6 85. Rxg5 Kxg5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 8th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.20"]
[Round "17"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dreev, Alexey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2667"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2014.06.19"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Ne5 Nc6 6. Bb5 Bd7 7. Nxd7 Qxd7 8.
c3 a6 9. Bd3 Qg4 10. Qxg4 Nxg4 11. Bf4 e6 12. Nd2 Nf6 13. Nb3 Nd7 14. Ke2 Be7
15. a4 O-O 16. a5 Rfe8 17. Rhe1 e5 18. dxe5 Ndxe5 19. Kd2 Bd6 20. Bg3 Nc4+ 21.
Bxc4 dxc4 22. Bxd6 cxb3 23. Bc7 Rxe1 24. Rxe1 f6 25. f4 Kf7 26. c4 Rc8 27. Bb6
Ne7 28. Re4 Rc6 29. Rd4 Nf5 30. Rd3 Rxc4 31. Rxb3 Nd6 32. Kd3 Rc6 33. g4 g6 34.
Bd4 Nb5 35. f5 gxf5 36. gxf5 Rc1 37. Bf2 Rh1 38. Bg3 Rf1 39. Ke4 Rc1 40. Kd5
Rd1+ 41. Kc5 Rf1 42. Kb6 Rxf5 43. Kxb7 Nd4 44. Rd3 Ne6 45. b4 Rb5+ 46. Kxa6
Rxb4 47. Bd6 Rb1 48. Rd5 Kg6 49. Rb5 Rd1 50. Rb6 Ra1 51. Kb5 Kf5 52. a6 Nd4+
53. Kc4 Nf3 54. Kd5 h5 55. Kc6 Nd4+ 56. Kb7 Ne6 57. a7 Nd8+ 58. Kb8 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 8th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.20"]
[Round "18"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B41"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2731"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2014.06.19"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nf3 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Nc3 e6 6. e4 Qc7 7. a3 b6 8. Be3
Bb7 9. f3 Nc6 10. Rc1 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Bd6 12. g3 h5 13. Qd2 h4 14. g4 Bf4 15. Be3
Bxe3 16. Qxe3 Qc5 17. Kf2 Bc6 18. Be2 a5 19. e5 Ng8 20. b4 axb4 21. axb4 Qxb4
22. Ra1 Ne7 23. Rxa8+ Bxa8 24. Rb1 Qa5 25. Qxb6 Qxb6+ 26. Rxb6 O-O 27. f4 g5
28. fxg5 Ng6 29. Rb5 Bc6 30. Ra5 Rb8 31. Nb5 Nxe5 32. Nd4 Ng6 33. Ke3 Rb2 34.
Rc5 Ne7 35. Ra5 Kg7 36. Ra7 Kg6 37. Nxc6 Nxc6 38. Rxd7 Ne5 39. Rd2 Rxd2 40.
Kxd2 Kxg5 41. Ke3 Nd7 42. Bf3 f5 43. gxf5 Kxf5 44. Bc6 Ne5 45. Be4+ Kf6 46. c5
Ng4+ 47. Kf4 Nxh2 48. c6 Ke7 49. Kg5 Kd6 50. Kxh4 Nf1 51. Kg5 Nd2 52. Bg2
1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 8th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.20"]
[Round "19"]
[White "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C25"]
[WhiteElo "2659"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2014.06.19"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 Bc5 4. Bg2 d6 5. Nge2 Be6 6. d3 Qd7 7. Nd5 Nge7 8. c3
a6 9. O-O Ba7 10. d4 O-O 11. Be3 Ng6 12. h4 f6 13. dxe5 fxe5 14. Bxa7 Nxa7 15.
f4 exf4 16. Nexf4 Nxf4 17. Nxf4 Nc6 18. e5 Kh8 19. exd6 cxd6 20. Qd2 Bc4 21.
Rfe1 Rad8 22. b3 Bg8 23. Rad1 Qg4 24. Kh2 Ne5 25. Bxb7 Rf6 26. Bg2 Rdf8 27. Rf1
g5 28. hxg5 Qxg5 29. Bh3 Rh6 30. Ng6+ Qxg6 31. Rxf8 Qh5 32. Qg2 Qxd1 33. Qa8
Ng4+ 34. Kg2 Qe2+ 35. Kg1 Qh2+ 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 8th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.20"]
[Round "20"]
[White "Yudin, Sergei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2546"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[PlyCount "34"]
[EventDate "2014.06.19"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 Nf6 5. Nbd2 d6 6. c3 O-O 7. O-O Be6 8. Bb3
Bxb3 9. Qxb3 Rb8 10. Nc4 Qd7 11. Be3 b5 12. Ncd2 Bxe3 13. fxe3 Ne7 14. Nh4 Qg4
15. Nf5 Nxf5 16. Rxf5 Qe2 17. Qc2 Ng4 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 8th"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2014.06.20"]
[Round "21"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Korobov, Anton"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2881"]
[BlackElo "2680"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2014.06.19"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 160 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.07.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 a6 7. b3 Bd6 8. Be2 e5
9. cxd5 cxd5 10. dxe5 Nxe5 11. Bb2 O-O 12. O-O Bg4 13. Nxe5 Bxe5 14. Bxg4 Nxg4
15. h3 Nf6 16. Ne2 Rc8 17. Qb1 Qe7 18. Bxe5 Qxe5 19. Nd4 Ne4 20. Qb2 f5 21.
Rac1 f4 22. exf4 Qf6 23. g3 h5 24. h4 Rc6 25. Rfd1 Rfc8 26. Rxc6 Rxc6 27. Qe2
Rc3 28. Qxh5 Nxg3 29. fxg3 Rxg3+ 30. Kf2 Qxf4+ 31. Nf3 Rh3 32. Qxd5+ Kh7 33.
Qh5+ 1-0

[Event "Olympiad-41"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2014.08.03"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Nyback, Tomi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D23"]
[WhiteElo "2594"]
[BlackElo "2877"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2014.08.02"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 162"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Finland"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "FIN"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

{I will not hide that I waited with impatience and curiosity for the moment
when Carlsen would step in. Fortunately, the reigning World Champion does not
seem to have lost any single bit of his interest for the game after reaching
unprecedented rating heights and conquering the supreme title at all the
official time rates (classical, rapid and blitz). Maintaining the flame of
enthusiasm alive when there is no higher level to aim at is a task not many
World Champions have dealt with sucessfully. Anyway, since his presence in the
team surely makes a big difference, Carlsen was ready for the fight as soon as
round two.} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 {An interesting choice of the opening.
Carlsen has played the Slav in the past, but it is by far not his main weapon.
The puzzling thing is that in a game where the big rating difference strongly
required him to play for a win, he exposes himself to a transposition to the
symmetrical structure resulting after 4.cxd5 cxd5. The Exchange Variation is
not as dull as it seems and players like Botvinnik or Portisch have made good
use of it with white, but Black has his reasons for being content, too.
Objectively, he should be close to equalising, which actually is just one
preliminary step on the way towards taking over the initiative.} 4. Qc2 {
(!) Played almost without hesitation. I assume that Tomi was not really
bothered by the idea of a draw (although I may be wrong), but even though the
exchange variation makes up part of his repertoire, he does not show himself
ready for such early relasing of the tension.} dxc4 5. Qxc4 Bg4 {This has
always been a reasonable alternative to 5...Bf5. Now, it seems to be acquiring
some higher popularity.} ({For quite a few years, the main theoretical
disputes took place in the variation} 5... Bf5 6. g3 e6 7. Bg2 Nbd7 8. O-O Be7
9. Nc3 O-O 10. Re1 Ne4 11. Qb3 Qb6 12. Nh4 {as, for instance, in Mamedyarov,S 
(2729)-Wang,Y (2685) Istanbul 2012 CBM 151 [Ftacnik,L] (1-0, 39)}) 6. Nc3 {
The most active continuation.} (6. Nbd2 {avoids getting the doubled pawns and
keeps the possibility of developing the bishop by fianchetto, but the knight
is not too active on d2.} Nbd7 7. g3 e6 8. Bg2 Be7 9. Ne5 Bh5 10. Nxd7 Nxd7 11.
O-O O-O 12. Nb3 a5 13. a4 Bb4 14. e4 e5 $132 {Mamedyarov,S (2757)-Anand,V 
(2770) Khanty-Mansiysk 2014 CBM 160 [Krasenkow,M] (0-1, 31)}) (6. Ne5 {only
apparently gains time.} Be6 7. Qd3 Nbd7 8. Nxd7 ({This speeds up Black's
development, but} 8. Nf3 Bg4 9. Nc3 e6 {transposes below.}) 8... Qxd7 9. e4 Rd8
10. Be3 Ng4 11. Nc3 Nxe3 12. fxe3 {Black should have no problems at all, to
say the least. White's centre lacks dynamism, while the dark-squared bishop
could become very threatening.} Bg4 (12... Qc7 13. Be2 g6 14. O-O Bg7 {
Schandorff,L (2563)-Nielsen,P (2625) Horsens 2003 CBM 095 [Huzman] (1/2-1/2,
25)}) 13. Be2 e5 14. O-O-O Bb4 15. Bf3 O-O 16. h3 Be6 $15 {Nenezic,M (2393)
-Solak,D (2592) Kragujevac 2013 (1/2-1/2, 72)}) 6... Nbd7 ({If Black wishes to
exchange on f3, he could do it now since after} 6... Bxf3 7. gxf3 Nbd7 {
there is no obvious way of avoiding a transposition below with 8.e4. For
instance:} 8. f4 e6 9. Bd2 Rc8 10. Bg2 Be7 {and Black is doing OK, Mandiza,F 
(2406)-Black,J (2201) Wheeling 2012 (0-1, 32)}) 7. e4 ({In view of the
previous comment,} 7. Qd3 {is more relevant for the move order starting with 6.
Ne5 above.} e6 8. e4 ({If} 8. g3 {the simplest seems to be the spectacular} Nc5
{taking advantage that the f3-knight is hanging.} 9. Qe3 Bxf3 10. exf3 Ncd7 11.
Bg2 Be7 {The control over the d5-square ensures Black simple play, Borg,A 
(2151)-Atalik,E (2399) Antalya 2006 (0-1, 63)}) 8... c5 $5 {The latest trend.}
9. d5 {This yields Black easy play.} ({The critical continuation is} 9. e5 Nd5
10. Nxd5 exd5 11. Be2 c4 12. Qc2 $13 {with mutual attacks on the wings.}) 9...
exd5 10. exd5 Bd6 11. Be2 $6 {This allows Black to consolidate.} (11. Qe3+ Qe7
12. Qxe7+ {would have caused some delay in Black's regrouping. The bishop
should stay on d6 to prevent Bf4, so the natural line goes} Kxe7 13. Be2 Rhe8
14. O-O Ne5 15. Re1 Kf8 16. Nb5 $13) 11... O-O 12. O-O ({With the queen
exposed on d3, rather than exchanged on e7, and the king in the centre,} 12.
Nb5 {runs into} Ne5 $17) 12... a6 13. a4 Re8 14. Be3 Qc7 15. h3 Bh5 16. Rfe1
Rad8 $15 {Thejkumar,M (2452)-Sasikiran,K (2666) Jalgaon 2013 (1/2-1/2, 52).
White does not have active plans and the d5-pawn is more of a weakness than
strength.}) 7... e5 $5 {Quite typical for Carlsen. He takes the game into
almost unexplored territory as soon as on move seven! He had been doing that
during the match against Anand quite a lot, depriving the then reigning
champion of the opportunity to display his massive preparation. By breaking
the centre without previously taking on f3, Black aims for higher flexibility.}
(7... Bxf3 {is played almost unanimously, with 7...e6 a minor alternative.} 8.
gxf3 e5 9. Be3 {The main question is whether White can put his central pawns
into motion or, on the contrary, Black will be able to keep the blockade on f4.
} exd4 ({Black should not delay this exchange too much.} 9... Bd6 10. O-O-O Qe7
{Zhou,W (2616)-Robson,R (2628) Ningbo 2013 (0-1, 57)} 11. Ne2 $1 {[%csl Rf5]
[%cal Ge5d4,Ge2d4,Ye2g3]}) 10. Bxd4 Bd6 11. O-O-O Qe7 ({An attempt to improve
over} 11... Qc7 12. Ne2 O-O 13. Qc2 Rfe8 14. h4 {Mamedyarov,S (2746)-Inarkiev,
E (2692) Rogaska Slatina 2011 CBM 145 [Krasenkow] (1-0, 54) which also
contains a comprehensive survey of the position after 7...Bxf3 8.gxf3 e5.}) 12.
Qb3 Nc5 13. Qc2 Bf4+ 14. Be3 Bxe3+ 15. fxe3 {White has improved his structure,
but the next exchanges will reduce the importance of his space advantage.} O-O
16. Bg2 Rad8 17. Kb1 Rxd1+ 18. Rxd1 Rd8 19. Rxd8+ Qxd8 20. e5 Nfd7 21. Qd2 $6 (
21. f4 Qh4 22. Bf3 Qe1+ 23. Nd1 $13) 21... Qh4 $36 {Reinderman,D (2604)-Van
Wely,L (2657) Amsterdam 2014 (0-1, 39)}) 8. Nxe5 (8. dxe5 Bxf3 9. gxf3 Nxe5 {
transposes back into a line considered to be OK for Black, for instance} 10.
Qe2 Bc5 11. Rg1 Qb6 12. Rg5 Ng6 13. Bd2 Rd8 {Krasenkow,M (2620)-Harikrishna,P 
(2673) Nancy 2009 (0-1, 53)}) ({Or if} 8. Be3 Bd6 9. O-O-O O-O {Griffiths,R 
(2362)-Van Kampen,R (2565) Athens 2012 (0-1, 27). The e4-pawn is hanging with
respect to the game Zhou,W (2616)-Robson,R (2628) above, preventing Ne2. In
this line, delaying ...Bxf3 is good for Black.}) 8... Nxe5 9. dxe5 Be6 10. Qd3
$146 {Usually, a queenside majority is more useful in the middlegame than in
the endgame. This is what Steinitz said and what has been proven in many games.
But in this concrete position it seems that White loses too much time if he
wants to keep queens on board. besides, he would also neglect the fight for
the d-file.} (10. Qa4 Ng4 11. Be2 ({With queens on the board, White cannot
play in the same way as in the game:} 11. Bf4 $2 Bc5 12. Bg3 Nxf2 13. Bxf2
Bxf2+ 14. Kxf2 Qb6+ 15. Ke1 Qxb2 $19 {[%csl Ga1,Gc3]}) 11... Nxe5 12. O-O Bc5
13. Qc2 Qe7 14. Bf4 {Grigoryan,K (2473)-Grover,S (2514) Kocaeli 2011 (1-0, 41)}
Ng6 15. Bg3 O-O 16. Rad1 Rad8 17. Kh1 Rxd1 18. Rxd1 f5 19. Na4 Bb4 20. a3 f4)
10... Ng4 11. Qxd8+ Rxd8 12. Bf4 $1 {White prefers returning the pawn in the
near future for the sake of completing his development} ({If} 12. f4 Bc5 {
Black's initative becomes threatening.} 13. Be2 Ne3 14. Bxe3 Bxe3 15. g3 (15.
f5 Bc8 {[%cal Ge3d4]}) 15... g5 $5 ({Black could also try playing for piece
pressure with, say,} 15... Ke7 {, but personally I would prefer to make sure
of weakening the e5-pawn as soon as possible.}) 16. f5 (16. Rf1 $2 gxf4 17.
gxf4 Bd2+ $1 18. Kf2 Bxf4 $19) 16... Bc8 17. Bh5 O-O 18. h4 gxh4 19. Rxh4 Bd4
$13) 12... Bc5 13. Bg3 Bd4 14. Rd1 Bxe5 15. Rxd8+ Kxd8 16. Bxe5 Nxe5 17. f4 Ng4
{The merits of Nyback's novelty are obvious. He has exchanged the active black
bishop and put his majority into motion. Still, White's advantage is rather
symbolic .} 18. Be2 Nh6 19. Kf2 f6 20. h3 Nf7 21. Bg4 Ke7 22. Bxe6 Kxe6 23. Rd1
Rd8 24. Rxd8 Nxd8 {The structure is quite similar to that from the last match
game against Anand. Even though in Chennai Carlsen was Black, in both cases,
he had two groups of three pawns each, against his opponent's two plus four.
But in the current game, White's position is a bit more active.} 25. b4 Kd6 26.
Ke3 a6 {A somewhat mysterious move. The threat of b4-b5 was not real, as it
would allow . ..Kc5, but Carlsen might have intended to set his queenside
majority into motion with ...b5 and ...c5, or even ...c5 right away.} 27. Na4
Ne6 {Renewing the threat ...b5..} 28. f5 $1 {A committal decision after only
five minutes of thinking. White gives away the e5-square, but gets some
queenside pressure in exchange.} Nd8 29. Kd4 Nf7 30. Nc5 {It may seem that the
weakening move ... a7-a6 is about to cause some major problems. But Carlsen is
not that easy to catch on the wrong foot in the endgame.} b6 $1 {Played
instantly.} ({If} 30... Nd8 31. a4 {threatening a4-a5, Black would soon be in
zugzwang. Actually, even now the best saving chance would be giving up the
pawn with} b6 {under lesss favourable circumstances.}) 31. Nxa6 Ne5 {The black
knight has occupied the fantastic central square, while its rival has no
obvious way back into the game.} 32. a4 Nd7 {Threatening ...c5, which would
open the king's way towards the knight. The final move repetition took place
rather quickly, although White twice took a minute for reflection.} 33. Kc4
Ne5+ 34. Kd4 Nd7 35. Kc4 Ne5+ 36. Kd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Olympiad-41"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2014.08.04"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Djukic, Nikola"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2877"]
[BlackElo "2521"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2014.08.02"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 162"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Montenegro"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "MNE"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd8 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. h3 Bxf3 7. Qxf3 c6 8.
Qd3 e6 9. g3 Nbd7 10. Bg2 Bd6 11. O-O O-O 12. a3 Qc7 13. Rd1 Rad8 14. b3 Rfe8
15. Bb2 a6 16. Ne2 e5 17. c4 exd4 18. Nxd4 Be5 19. Qc2 c5 20. Nf3 Bxb2 21. Qxb2
Nf8 22. Nh4 Ng6 23. Nf5 Ne7 24. Ne3 b6 25. b4 Nc6 26. Rxd8 Rxd8 27. Rb1 cxb4
28. axb4 Ne5 29. Qc3 Rd3 30. Qa1 h5 31. Qxa6 h4 32. g4 Rd2 33. c5 bxc5 34. b5
Ned7 35. b6 Qf4 36. Qa8+ Kh7 37. Qf3 Qxf3 38. Bxf3 Rd4 39. b7 Rb4 40. Rd1 Ne5
41. Bg2 Nfd7 42. Nc2 Rf4 43. Rd5 f6 44. Rxc5 Nb8 45. Rc8 1-0

[Event "Olympiad-41"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2014.08.05"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wojtaszek, Radoslaw"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B25"]
[WhiteElo "2877"]
[BlackElo "2735"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2014.08.02"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 162"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Poland"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "POL"]

1. e4 {For a moment, this move made me curious: will we see a fierce
theoretical dispute in the Najdorf?!} c5 2. Nc3 {Not really! Just some complex
positional struggle with mobile pawn chains and all pieces on the board. In
the '60s, the Closed Sicilian used to be a deadly weapon in Spassky's hands.
Players like Geller and Larsen (the latter also with reversed colours, 1.c4 e5)
were crushed during Spassky's campaigns for the world title.} d6 ({The man who
did find an antidote to Spassky's treatment of the Sicilian was Viktor
Korchnoi. During their 1968 Candidates final he twice answered} 2... e6 {
followed by ...d7-d5. Black had some light pressure in both games but they
ended in draws. In order to win the match, Spassky found no other solution
than... winning with Black and switching to 1. d4 when playing with White. It
remains an open question what would Carlsen do against 2...e6. True, he twice
faced this move, but this happened in 2002 when he was rated 2171...}) 3. g3
Nc6 4. Bg2 g6 5. d3 Bg7 6. Be3 ({Spassky almost always played} 6. f4 {The
aforementioned games went} e5 7. Nh3 exf4 (7... Nge7 8. O-O Nd4 9. f5 gxf5 10.
Qh5 $44 h6 11. Rf2 Be6 12. Be3 Qd7 13. Raf1 O-O-O 14. Nd5 fxe4 15. Nxe7+ Qxe7
16. Bxd4 cxd4 17. Rxf7 Qe8 18. Bxe4 Rf8 19. Bf5 Qxf7 20. Qxf7 Rxf7 21. Bxe6+
Rfd7 22. Rf7 Kc7 23. Bxd7 Rxd7 24. Rxd7+ Kxd7 25. Kg2 {The complications
petered out in an ending which is more pleasant for White. Hort did not defend
the best way and lost in Spassky,B (2630)-Hort,V (2620) Bugojno 1978 MCL 
[Bulletin] (1-0, 41)}) 8. Bxf4 Nge7 9. O-O h6 10. Rb1 O-O 11. a3 Be6 12. Be3
Ne5 13. Nf4 Bd7 14. Kh1 Rc8 15. Qd2 Kh7 16. h3 {It is interesting to compare
Spassky's regrouping starting from this moment with Carlsen's.} Bc6 17. g4 Qd7
18. Rf2 b6 19. Rbf1 Bb7 20. Qe2 Rce8 21. Bc1 Kg8 22. Qe3 b5 23. Qg3 b4 24. axb4
cxb4 25. Nd1 {[%cal Gd1e3] Black's play surely was more harmonious than
Wojtaszek's, but this did not prevent White from including practically all his
pieces in the inevitable attack. In principle, the position is unclear yet,
but White's attacking potential eventually prevailed in Spassky,B (2610)
-Portisch,L (2625) Geneve 1977 (1-0, 40)}) 6... e5 {Black adopts Botvinnik's
English triangle with reversed colours, a system I had recommended in my
English Opening books. I have to add a small correction: the system is good
unless you are facing Carlsen. But does this not apply for any other opening?!}
7. Nh3 {This way of developing the knight was also one of Spassky's favourites.
I must confess that when following Carlsen's play I have every time the
temptation to compare him with another World Champion from the past: now
Fischer, later Lasker, but today we surely have Boris Vassilievich in the
background. On more concrete terms, what could be the great idea behind the
last move? Shouldn't the knight (after f2-f4) go to f3, controlling the
important central d4- and e5-squares? Actually, it would be of little use to
put pressure on such well defended squares, so it is a good idea to be heading
for the only weakness in Black's setup, the d5-square. After the planned f2-f4,
the prospect of a knight jump to f4-d5 somwehat restricts Black's options.} ({
The vast majority of the games continue with} 7. Qd2 {for instance} Nge7 8. f4
Nd4 9. Nf3 O-O 10. O-O exf4 11. Bxf4 Nxf3+ 12. Rxf3 Qb6 {Adams,M (2708)
-Kramnik,V (2760) Las Vegas 1999 CBM 072 [Donev] (1/2-1/2, 78)}) 7... Nge7 8.
f4 Nd4 {Since the knight will be forced to retreat after only four moves, this
looks like a mere loss of time.} ({But Black must have feared that after the
natural} 8... O-O {White would carry out the thematic attack} 9. f5 gxf5 10.
Qh5 Nd4 11. O-O-O {(which, under slightly difficult circumstances occurred in
one of Spassky's games, above!) Black is under no immediate threats, but the
weakness of the light squares and of his king's position may accumulate into a
promising positional white attack.}) 9. O-O O-O 10. Qd2 Bd7 {This move may be
all right, but instinctively I would feel that it does not keep Black's
harmony.} (10... Rb8 {getting ready for either ...B6 and ...Bb7 or ...B5-b4,
looks more flexible.} 11. Rf2 f6 $1 {A typical method of restricting White's
kingside activity. It occurs in the English triangle quite often, too (in its
mirrored version f2-f3, of course).} 12. Raf1 (12. fxe5 dxe5 $15 {[%cal Gc8e6]}
13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 Bxh3 15. Bxh3 Qxd5) 12... Be6 13. Nd5 (13. Kh1 Qd7 14.
Ng1 b5 {Lutovac,M (2200)-Ciocaltea,V (2465) Bar 1977 (0-1, 65)}) 13... Bxd5 14.
exd5 Nef5 15. g4 Nxe3 (15... Nh6 $1) 16. Qxe3 {Shaw,J (2280)-Sher,M (2510)
Hastings 1995 (0-1, 52)} f5 $15) ({The immediate} 10... f6 $5 {is also
interesting, but has never been tested between strong players.}) 11. Nd1 $5 {
A multi-purpose move. White prepares to expell the d4-knight and to
consolidate his h3-knight at the same time.} Qc8 $6 $146 {Another
disharmonious move.} (11... exf4 $6 12. Nxf4 Ne6 13. c3 Nxf4 14. Bxf4 Be6 15.
Bh6 (15. d4 $5) 15... d5 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Qf4 Rc8 18. Ne3 $36 {Jurkovic,H 
(2270)-Hulak,K (2530) Pula 1994 (1/2-1/2, 44)}) (11... b6 $5 $146 {(See also
my next comment)} 12. c3 Ndc6 13. Ndf2 Qc7 14. Rae1 Rad8) 12. Ndf2 Ndc6 13. c3
b5 $2 ({One rule I knew as a kid is that if there is some tension in the
centre Black should consolidate his c5-pawn with} 13... b6 {In this concrete
position, the idea would be meeting} 14. fxe5 {with} dxe5 {, preventing the
radical activation of the h3-knight.}) 14. fxe5 $1 Nxe5 15. Bh6 $14 {The most
precise move order. Such a positive move as Nh3-f4 should not obstruct the
bishop. Besides, exchanging the g7-bishop will weaken the kingside and turn
Black's queenside counter-attack into something similar to an infantry assault
without the support of the artilery.} N7c6 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Nf4 Qd8 {After
the bishop exchange, it looks natural to return with the queen to the dark
squares, for both defensive and offensive purposes. But I cannot help
comparing the two rival Majesties, suggesting an advantage for the white queen.
From d2, it also controls dark squares on both wings, but it does not prevent
the connection of the rooks! Ironically, Black will manage to connect rooks
only on move 29, but that will be just a speeding up of the defeat!} 18. Rad1
Rc8 19. Qe2 {Controlling the g4-square and taking the queen out of the
e5-knight's range (d3-d4, ...Nc4) in order to prepare the central expansion.}
h5 $6 {The final phase of the game induces the thought that Black should have
abstained from this weakening of the kingside. But the sad thing is that Black
has no active plan available and has to live with the positional threat of
d3-d4.} 20. d4 cxd4 21. cxd4 Ng4 22. h3 Nxf2 23. Qxf2 {White's progress over
the past moves is obvious, while for Black it remains difficult to formulate a
coherent plan.} Ne7 {Black's worries regarding the d5-square are justified,
but the knight stands awfully on e7.} 24. Rd3 $1 {With the centre firmly in
White's hands, such rook lifts tend to be rather annoying. But, ironically,
this move would not have been possible had Black not occupied the b5-square
with the pawn!} b4 {The threat ...Bb5 arrives too late. Things will start
happening on the kingside.} 25. Rf3 Qe8 $2 {Black surely did not know what to
do with his queen in this game. It looks as if the strongest piece is
searching on purpose for the most passive squares.} ({Black spent a tempo on
over-defending f7, since} 25... Bb5 $2 {would allow the decisive blow} 26.
Nxh5+ $1) ({A safer way to parry the sacrifice on h5 was} 25... Kg8 26. g4 $1 {
This is slightly less strong than in the game, but quite annoying anyway.} (26.
d5 Bb5 27. Re1 Qc7 $14 {[%csl Re7]}) (26. Nxh5 $6 gxh5 27. Rxf7 Ng6 28. e5 Qg5
$132) 26... hxg4 27. hxg4 Bxg4 28. Rg3 Qd7 29. d5 a5 30. Qd4 {[%cal Gg2h3,
Gg4h3,Rg3h3,Rh3h8]} f6 {[%csl Ge6]} 31. Bh3 Bxh3 32. Nxh3 Rf7 33. Nf4 $16) 26.
g4 {With the black pawn on h7, this would have just been a way to increase the
positional domination by blocking the enemy structure with g4-g5. But the way
it is, the open file will be opened, with fatal consequences for Black.} ({
White's positon was so good already that there was another, much simpler, win:
} 26. d5 {[%csl Ga7,Gg7][%cal Gf2d4,Gd4b4]} a5 27. Qd4+ Kg8 (27... f6 28. Ne6+
Bxe6 29. Rxf6 $18) 28. Qf6 {[%cal Gf6d6] Black's lack of coordination is
pathetic.}) 26... hxg4 27. hxg4 Bb5 (27... Bxg4 {would just open another file
for White's attack:} 28. Rg3 Qd7 29. Bh3 $1 {Attacking the main defender of
the g-file.} f5 (29... Bxh3 30. Nh5+ {is curtains.}) 30. d5 {with such threats
as Qd4+ and Ne6+.}) 28. Re1 Qd8 {This queen surely has moved a lot. And it did
it with short steps, as if it was the least mobile piece on board, the king.}
29. g5 Qb6 $6 {The first relatively long queen move loses by force, but it is
hard to give an advice for Black. Apart from the game manoeuvre he threatens
Rh3 with combined threats along the h-file and on f6. White would win with
simple moves even if Black had restricted himself to a status quo policy.} (
29... a5 30. d5 {[%csl Ra7][%cal Gf2d4,Gf3h3,Rd8b6]} Rh8 31. Bh3 $18 {[%cal
Gh3c8]} Rc7 32. Ne6+ fxe6 33. Rf7+ Kg8 34. Rg7+ Kxg7 35. Qf6+ Kg8 36. Bxe6+ Kh7
37. Qf7#) (29... Bd7 30. Rf1 {[%csl Gf7]}) (29... Rb8 30. Rh3 a5 31. Rh6 a4 (
31... Rh8 32. Ne6+ $1) 32. Nh5+ gxh5 33. Qf6+ Kg8 34. Qh8#) 30. Bh3 Rcd8 31.
Be6 {Quite a nasty visit!} Be8 32. Nd5 (32. Rh3 {with the threat Nh5+ followed
by Qf6+ and Rxh5 is more spectacular. Had Black retreated his rook to b8
rather than d8, this might have been Carlsen's choice. But with the d8-square
unavailable to the black queen, his solution is simple and effective.}) 32...
Nxd5 33. Bxd5 {Black resigned... in what looks a "normal" position. It would
be so with the h-file closed. Under the given circumstances, the threat Rh3
followed by Qf6+ is decisive.} 1-0

[Event "Olympiad-41"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2014.08.06"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D16"]
[WhiteElo "2805"]
[BlackElo "2877"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2014.08.02"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 162"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Armenia"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ARM"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Na6 6. e3 Bg4 7. Bxc4 e6 8. h3
Bxf3 9. Qxf3 Nb4 10. O-O Be7 11. a5 O-O 12. Rd1 b6 13. axb6 axb6 14. Rxa8 Qxa8
15. Bd2 Rd8 16. Rc1 Nbd5 17. Qd1 h6 18. Ra1 Qb7 19. Qb3 Ra8 20. Rc1 Nxc3 21.
Bxc3 Qc7 22. Be2 c5 23. Bf3 Rd8 24. Rd1 Nd5 25. dxc5 Nxc3 26. cxb6 Rxd1+ 27.
Bxd1 Qb7 28. bxc3 Bc5 29. h4 Qxb6 30. Qc2 Qd6 31. h5 Kf8 32. Bf3 Ke7 33. g3 Qe5
34. Kg2 Qd6 35. Qe4 Qc7 36. Be2 Qd6 37. Bc4 Qc7 38. Bb5 Bd6 39. c4 Bc5 40. g4
Bb6 41. Qa8 Qd8 42. Qa1 Kf8 43. Qa3+ Kg8 44. Bc6 Qc8 45. Qa4 Bc5 46. Qb5 Be7
47. Kf3 Qd8 48. Ke2 Qd6 49. Qb7 Qb4 50. Qc8+ Bf8 51. Be4 Qc5 52. Qa6 Qg5 53.
Bf3 g6 54. hxg6 Qxg6 55. Qa4 Qb1 56. Bg2 Qb2+ 57. Kf1 Qb1+ 58. Ke2 Qb2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Olympiad-41"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2014.08.08"]
[Round "6.1"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2877"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2014.08.02"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 162"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Italy"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ITA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 d5 {A big surprise on the very first move: Carlsen has never played the
Scandinavian before! His opening choice must be a bit more than a display of
peninsular patriotism; if intended as a psychological weapon, it worked
wonderfully well. The Scandinavian Defence used to be a frequent guest in Bent
Larsen's games, but otherwise it is very uncommon at such a high level. True,
when things started going wrong during his match with Kasparov, Anand
unexpectedly used this opening and even got an advantage with it, but this was
just an exception.} 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 {White gets a developing tempo for
free, but placing the knight in front of the c-pawn is likely to restrict his
strategic possibilities. I remember that when 30 years ago I switched from 1.
e4 to 1.d4, one of my main ghosts was precisely the Scandinavian. I simply
could not find a way to a harmonious development!} ({If I should no decide to
switch back to 1.e4, I would consider} 3. d4 {, aiming for a development based
on c4, Nc3, Nf3, with full control in the centre. One possible problem is that
after} e5 {White's advantage might prove symbolic.}) 3... Qd8 {Without being
new, of course, this really looks provocative. After three moves Black has not
developed any piece yet! But on the other hand, he will not have to spend
additional time retreating with his queen from d6 or a5, whenever attacked by
a white minor piece.} 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. h3 Bxf3 7. Qxf3 c6 8. Ne2 {
An almost new and logical move, clearing the path for the c-pawn in an attempt
to restore White's harmony. However, the knight will still need doing a bit of
jumping before reaching a perfect square.} ({The usual continuation is} 8. Be3
{see for instance the heavily annotated game Kovacevic,A (2525)-Georgiev,K 
(2670) Belgrade 1997 CBM 062 [Mueller,Karsten] (0-1, 47)}) 8... e6 $146 {
A new move, leaving the queen's acess to d5 open.} ({The only previous game
reaching this position went} 8... Nbd7 {deprives Black from the possibility of
activating the queen with ...Qd8-d5, but creates the threat ...e7-e5.} 9. g3 $6
{This does not cross Black's intentions at all.} (9. Bd2 $5 {[%cal Gg2g4,Gc2c4,
Gd2c3]} e5 $6 10. O-O-O $32 Bd6 11. g4 $36) 9... g6 {But Black refrains from
his main plan. The bishop's development to the fianchetto is typical for a
wide range of openings reaching this structure, such as the Alekhine, the Caro
Kann, the Pirc and the Scandinavian, of course, but here it loses too much
time.} (9... e5 $5 10. Bg2 Qa5+ 11. Bd2 Bb4 12. c3 {[%csl Gd3]} Bd6 13. O-O O-O
) 10. Bg2 Bg7 11. O-O O-O 12. Rd1 $14 e5 {With his development almost complete,
White is better prepared for this central break.} 13. Qb3 Qc7 14. dxe5 Nxe5 {
The structure is almost symmetrical, but the bishop pair may prove a telling
factor in the ending. It greatly depends on the way Black will find stability
for his knights, especially on dark squares. In the following manoeuvring
phase both sides will commit small inaccuracies, typical for such apparently
dull positions, which are actually full of subtleties.} 15. Bf4 {The bishop
stands actively here, but in the long run the control of the c5-square would
be important.} (15. a4 a5 16. Be3 $14) 15... Nfd7 16. a4 Nc5 17. Qb4 Ne6 18.
Be3 a5 19. Qb3 Nd7 20. Nc3 $6 {This allows Black to consolidate.} (20. Nf4 $5
$14 {would exchange the e6-knight, shaking Black's overall stability.}) 20...
Ndc5 21. Qc4 Na6 (21... Qe7 $5 $11 {would keep Black's stability.}) 22. Rd2 $6
(22. Ne4 $5 Nb4 23. Nc5 Nxc5 24. Bxc5 Rfe8 25. c3 $14) 22... Rfd8 23. Rad1 Rxd2
24. Rxd2 {Fedorchuk,S (2647)-Danielsen,H (2501) Kolkata 2014 (1-0, 39)} Nb4 $5
25. Nb1 Bf8 26. c3 Na6 $11 {[%csl Gc5]}) 9. g4 {Being better developed and
enjoying more space, White surely can afford such active moves.} ({But against
such a strong strategist as Carlsen, I would consider the more restrained} 9.
g3 Qd5 10. Bg2 {True, after} Nbd7 {the queen would not have the g3-square at
its disposal, which more or less forces White into castling short. As we will
see, Caruana had other plans for his king.}) 9... Qd5 10. Bg2 Nbd7 11. Qg3 Qc4
$1 {After the bishop has parted from the f1-a6 diagonal, the queen can cause
some minor problems in the surrounding area.} 12. Qb3 {Caruana spent 25
minutes on this move. This was a critical moment, indeed, when White had to
decide whether to exchange queens or not.} ({The main alternative is} 12. c3 {
for instance} Be7 13. b3 Qa6 14. Bd2 {[%cal Gc3c4]} O-O 15. c4 Rad8 16. O-O $14
{[%csl Ra6]}) 12... Qxb3 {I would consider this an important strategic
concession, allowing White to recapture towards the centre, but Carlsen played
it almost without thinking. Eventually, White lost because of his double pawns
and even though his position looked very promising for a long while, I will
refrain from attaching an "?!" to the last move. Since the Carlsen era seems
to be lasting for a while, I suggest introducing a sign for "inspired, even
though probably not the best, move". I would use that here.} ({And if I had to
choose a move without thinking,} 12... Nb6 {would surely be my candidate. If
White wants to exchange queens, let him activate my knight! For instance} 13.
Qxc4 Nxc4 14. c3 (14. b3 Na3 {[%csl Ya1,Gc2,Ye1]}) 14... Be7 15. b3 Nd6 (15...
Na3 16. O-O {[%csl Ga3]}) 16. c4 h5 17. g5 Nd7 {with a perfect regrouping of
the knights.}) 13. axb3 Bd6 14. c4 a6 {Preparing long castling. White has the
bishop pair and more space on practically the whole board, but the relative
weakness of the b4- and f4-squares offers Black hopes for counterplay.} 15. Be3
({A natural move, but it would make sense solving one of the aforementioned
problems by playing} 15. Bd2 {This could turn the weakness into a strength by
means of b4-b5.} O-O-O 16. b4 Kb8 17. O-O) 15... O-O-O 16. O-O-O {Another
natural move and again an original available alternative.} ({White could have
tried} 16. Kd2 $5 {followed by Kc3 and b3-b4. In many cases, the rook would be
useful on a1, being ready for activating along the fifth rank. If} e5 {then}
17. Kc2 {would be safest, switching to play along the central files with white
pressure due to his two bishops.} Rhe8 18. Rhd1) 16... Rhe8 $6 {This looks a
bit dogmatic: centralisation without a clear purpose.} ({Black cannot think of
starting counterplay in the centre, for instance} 16... e5 $6 17. d5 cxd5 $6
18. g5) ({But the rook could have been more useful on h8 than in the centre.
Black could have tried} 16... h5 17. Bf3 (17. g5 Ng8 {[%cal Gg8e7,Ge7f5]})
17... Nf8 18. g5 Ng8 19. d5 cxd5 20. Bd4 (20. cxd5 Ne7 21. dxe6 Nxe6 $11 {
[%csl Rb4,Rb5,Gd6,Ge6,Ge7,Rf4,Rf5]}) 20... e5 21. Bb6 Bc7 22. Bxc7 Kxc7 23.
Bxd5 f6 24. Rhg1 Ne7 25. gxf6 gxf6 26. Nc3 Nfg6 $132 {[%csl Rf4]}) 17. Ng3 Nf8
(17... h6 $5 {, slowing down White's expansion, could be somewhat better.}) 18.
Bf3 {Preparing h4-h5.} ({But I see no reason to keep the g-pawn on a light
square, restricting the bishop, so why not} 18. g5 {followed by h3-h4? This
would have prevented Black's plan of exchanging the dark-squared bishops.} N6d7
19. h4 Ng6 20. h5 Ne7 (20... Nf4 21. Bf1 Bc7 22. Rh4 e5 23. Nf5 $16) 21. Kc2
$14) 18... Ng6 19. h4 Bf4 $1 {Even though this will strengthen White's control
in the centre, it will mainly offer Black some stability on the dark squares
and some breathing space.} 20. h5 Bxe3+ 21. fxe3 Ne7 22. e4 $6 {Played after
eight minutes, this move marks a turning point on the game.} ({White would
have retained a positional advantage in a rather one-sided position with either
} 22. g5 Nd7 23. Bg4) ({or} 22. h6 g6 (22... Rg8 23. hxg7 Rxg7 24. Rdf1 $14
Nxg4 $2 25. Nh5 Rg6 26. Bxg4 Rxg4 27. Rxf7 Nf5 28. Nf6 $16 {[%cal Gh1h7]}) 23.
Rdf1 $14 {It is curious that Caruana neglected the dark squares issue that
much.}) 22... h6 $1 {Finally, Black gets some stability on at least one part
of the board.} 23. e5 Nh7 24. Ne4 Rf8 25. Nd6+ Kc7 26. Bg2 Ng5 {White has
installed a magnificent knight on d6, having gained tempi in the meanwhile,
but it will soon become clear that the knight is kind of hanging there!} 27.
Rhf1 f6 $1 {Starting from this moment, Carlsen plays at full strength. Even
though the position is approximately equal still, Black's play is easier to
carry out.} 28. Kc2 fxe5 29. dxe5 Nc8 30. c5 {When playing this ambitious move,
consolidating the knight but conceding the d5-square, Caruana might have still
been under the spell of his previous advantage.} ({From a practical point of
view, it would have been safer to exchange the active black knight with} 30.
Ne4 $11) 30... Ne7 31. b4 $2 {Played after a quarter of an hour, this move
leads to some trouble. Any move taking measures against the thteatened ...
Nd5-e3 would have been enough for maintaining equality.} ({One possible
continuation was} 31. Kd3 Nd5 32. Bh1 {White's position surely is unpleasant
to play over the board, as it seems to be hanging. But the far advanced
d6-outpost seems to keep trouble away from him. Black has no obvious way of
making progress. For instance} b6 33. cxb6+ Kxb6 34. Rc1 {[%cal Gd6c4,Gc4a5]
creates some sort of perpetual harassing mechanism.}) 31... Nd5 $1 {Played
almost without thinking. Finally, the weakness of the doubled pawns makes
itself felt. Black not only attacks b4, but also threatens ...Ne3, attacking
three white pieces and the g4-pawn. How did he do that? How could he confuse
his strong opponent so greatly? Did the knight manoeuvre along the route
b8-d7-f8-g6-e7-c8-e7-d5 hypnotise Caruana?} 32. Bxd5 cxd5 {Suddenly, there are
some problems defending the e5-pawn against the threats of ...Nf3 or ...Rf3.}
33. b5 $6 {This desperate attempt at counterplay weakens the c5-pawn.} (33. Kb3
$5 Nf3 (33... Rf3+ 34. Rxf3 Nxf3 35. Ka4 Kc6 36. Rf1 $11 Nxe5 $6 37. Re1 $36)
34. Nf5 exf5 35. Rxf3 fxg4 36. Rg3 Rf3+ 37. Rxf3 gxf3 38. e6 f2 39. e7 Re8 40.
Rf1 Rxe7 41. Rxf2 b6 42. Rf8 $15) 33... axb5 34. Nxb5+ Kc6 35. Nd6 Nf3 $6 {
This should have offered White saving chances.} (35... Rf3 $1 36. Ra1 Rdf8 37.
Rxf3 Nxf3 $19 {When I think of choosing between these two moves, 35...Nf3 and
35...Rf3, I cannot help remembering a friendly blitz game played some 30 years
ago against IM Parik Stefanov. I was White in a Benoni and he could install a
magnificent knight on d4 (I believe ...Nb5-d4). But the question was whether
he should previously exchange bishops with ...Bg7xb2. We used to comment
loudly on our thoughts (Romanians are very forthcoming and outspoken, as most
of the Latins) and he asked himself: "Do I need the g7-bishop? Should I
obstruct it with my knight?" The answer was obvious (2 x NO) and after ...Bxb2
followed by ...Nd4 he got a crushing advantage. It is strange that after so
many years in chess I consider that some of the most teaching moments have
taken place casually, like in this case. And I believe that if I had reached
the current position I would have felt sceptical about 35...Nf3, if I only had
got the time and inspiration to remember Parik's words.}) 36. b4 $1 (36. Nf5 {
is premature because of} exf5 37. Rxf3 fxg4 38. Rg3 Rf4 $17 {partly because
the c5-pawn is doomed.}) 36... Ra8 37. Ra1 $2 ({But now was a good moment for} 
37. Nf5 $1 Nxe5 (37... exf5 38. Rxf3 fxg4 39. Rxf8 Rxf8 40. Rd4 g5 {The only
way to keep the game tense.} 41. hxg6 h5 42. Rf4 $3 {[%cal Gf8f4,Gg6g7]} Rg8
43. Rf6+ Kd7 44. Kd3 g3 45. Ke2 h4 46. Kf3 d4 47. Kg2 $11 {[%cal Gf6d6,Gf6f4]})
38. Rfe1 exf5 39. Rxe5 fxg4 40. Rdxd5 $1 (40. Rexd5 Ra3 {leaves White without
counterplay.}) 40... Rf6 ({If} 40... Ra3 {the rooks are well prepared for
counterplay:} 41. Rd6+ Kb5 42. c6+) 41. Rd4 g3 42. Rg4 $15 {White is
struggling but not necessarily lost.}) 37... Rxa1 38. Rxa1 Nxe5 {The first
pawn has dropped and in view of the hanging (rather than active) white knight,
grabbing the second one is not far away...} 39. Ra7 Rb8 40. Ra3 b6 41. Ra7 bxc5
42. Ra6+ Kc7 43. bxc5 Nd7 44. Ra7+ Kc6 45. g5 Nxc5 {The rest is simple.} 46.
Nf7 d4 47. Ne5+ Kd5 48. Nd7 d3+ 49. Kc1 Nxd7 50. Rxd7+ Ke4 0-1

[Event "Olympiad-41"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2014.08.09"]
[Round "7.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2877"]
[BlackElo "2709"]
[Annotator "Roiz,M"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2014.08.02"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 162"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Germany"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GER"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 c5 5. g3 O-O 6. Bg2 cxd4 7. Nxd4 d5 8.
cxd5 Nxd5 9. Qb3 Nc6 ({In his preceding game Arkadiy went for a more popular
order of moves:} 9... Qa5 10. Bd2 Nc6 11. Nxc6 ({A rare alternative here is} 
11. Nc2 {but after} Bxc3 12. bxc3 Qc7 {Black has comfortable play:} 13. e4 (13.
Qa3 Ne5 14. Bxd5 exd5 $15 {0-1 Beliavsky,A (2650)-Ivanchuk,V (2740)/Belgrade
1995/CBM 051/[Dautov] (29)}) 13... Nb6 14. O-O Na5 15. Qb4 Nbc4 $11 {1/2-1/2
Georgiev,V (2559)-Draskovic,L (2135)/Sunny Beach 2011/CBM 144 Extra (55)})
11... bxc6 12. O-O Bxc3 13. bxc3 Ba6 14. Rfd1 Qc5 15. e4 Bc4 16. Qa4 Nb6 17.
Qb4 Qh5 18. Re1 c5 19. Qa5 Rfc8 20. Be3 Be2 21. Bf4 Bd3 22. Rad1 Be2 23. Rc1
Bd3 24. Bd6 e5 25. Bxc5 Nc4 26. Qb5 a6 27. Qd7 Be2 $44 {1/2-1/2 Efimenko,Z 
(2689)-Naiditsch,A (2684)/Mukachevo 2010/CBM 138 (34)}) 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. O-O
Qa5 {Black is trying to switch to the main lines, but here White has an extra
resource.} ({Some top players have gone for} 11... Rb8 $5 12. Na4 (12. Ne4 Ba6
13. Qc2 Be7 14. a3 Qb6 15. b4 Rfc8 $11 {1-0 Ponomariov,R (2705)-Kramnik,V 
(2785)/Moscow 2007/EXT 2008 (79)}) 12... Ba6 13. Qc2 Qa5 14. a3 Be7 15. Bf3 (
15. b4 $5 Qb5 16. Re1 Qc4 17. Qxc4 Bxc4 18. Bd2 Bb3 19. Nc5 $14) 15... c5 16.
Bd2 Qb5 17. Rfc1 Rfc8 $11 {1/2-1/2 Edouard,R (2692)-Wojtaszek,R (2724)/
Saint-Quentin FRA 2014 (21)}) 12. Ne4 $5 {Magnus is happy to deviate from the
known paths. Black has a weak Pc6, so he has to search for active piece play.}
(12. Bd2 {will just transpose us to the above-mentioned game against Efimenko.}
) 12... Ba6 13. Qc2 {Black's pieces are a bit far away from the king, so
Arkadij has to parry a threat of 14.Ng5.} h6 {This prophylactic move is a bit
slow.} ({However, in other cases White is able to fight some edge as well:} 
13... Rab8 14. Ng5 $1 (14. a3 Be7 15. Bf3 c5 16. Bg5 Bxg5 17. Nxg5 Nf6 18. Ne4
Nxe4 19. Bxe4 g6 $11 {1/2-1/2 Miroshnichenko,E (2670)-Ismagambetov,A (2496)/
Tashkent 2011/CBM 141 Extra (30)}) 14... g6 15. Ne4 Be7 16. Bh6 Rfd8 17. b3 $14
) (13... Be7 14. Ng5 (14. Bd2 Qb5 15. Rfc1 Rab8 16. Qxc6 Qxc6 17. Rxc6 Bxe2 $11
{1/2-1/2 Sulava,N (2405)-Grosar,A (2370)/Kladovo 1991/TD (46)}) 14... g6 15.
Ne4 Rfd8 16. Bh6 $14) 14. a3 Be7 15. b4 $1 $146 {White comes up with an
important tactical resource. This novelty definitely poses Black some problems.
} (15. Bd2 Qb5 16. Rfc1 c5 17. Nxc5 (17. e3 $5) 17... Bxc5 18. Qxc5 Qxb2 $11 {
1/2-1/2 Von Herman,U (2400)-Schulz,J (2255)/Germany 2003/CBM 100 ext (68)})
15... Qb5 ({White's idea is based on the following line:} 15... Bxb4 16. axb4
$1 (16. Bxh6 Bc3 17. Rac1 gxh6 18. Nxc3 Qxc3 19. Qxc3 Nxc3 20. Rxc3 Bxe2 $11)
16... Qxa1 17. Bb2 Qa2 18. Nd2 $1 {[%csl Ra2][%cal Gf1a1]} Nxb4 19. Qc3 e5 20.
Ra1 Qe6 21. Qxb4 Bxe2 22. Re1 $14 {and White should be better in this position,
although it would be not easy to achieve a victory.}) 16. Re1 Qc4 ({An attempt
to get rid of the Pc6 leads to a slighty inferior position:} 16... c5 17. bxc5
Rac8 18. Rb1 Qc6 19. Qd2 Bxc5 20. Nxc5 Qxc5 21. Bb2 $14) 17. Qb2 c5 (17... Rfd8
18. Bd2 Rab8 19. Rac1 Qb5 20. Qc2 $14) 18. Nxc5 {The most natural response.
Magnus is ready to simplify the position in order to exchange the opponent's
dark-squared bishop.} ({The alternative wasn't obvious:} 18. Qe5 $5 Qd4 (18...
cxb4 19. Bb2 Nf6 20. Nd2 $16) 19. Qxd4 cxd4 20. Bb2 d3 21. exd3 Bxd3 22. Nc5
$14) 18... Bf6 {This move was probably connected with some tactical blunder.} (
{Black could have opted for} 18... Bxc5 19. bxc5 Qxc5 20. Bd2 Rab8 21. Qe5 Qc2
22. Red1 Qb2 $14 {with a holdable endgame.}) 19. Qa2 Rac8 $6 {A serious
mistake - now Black is going to lose a pawn without getting any compensation.}
({The point is that after} 19... Bxa1 $2 20. Qxa1 {[%csl Ra6,Rc4] Black's
pieces are in trouble:} Rac8 21. Bb2 Rxc5 22. bxc5 f6 23. e4 Nc7 24. e5 f5 25.
c6 $18) ({Black's task wasn't easy, but} 19... Nc3 $1 {was called for:} 20.
Qxc4 Bxc4 21. Bxa8 (21. Bb2 Nxe2+ 22. Rxe2 Bxe2 23. Bxf6 gxf6 24. Re1 Bc4 25.
Bxa8 Rxa8 $14) 21... Rxa8 {Black wins the material back and gets excellent
drawish chances.} 22. e4 Ne2+ 23. Rxe2 Bxe2 24. Rb1 Rd8 $14) 20. e4 Nc3 21.
Qxc4 Bxc4 22. e5 Be7 {Black has some activity, but White can prevent any
reasonable counterplay now.} 23. Bd2 {This bishop is somewhat misplaced there.}
(23. Be3 $5 {would be simpler:} Rfd8 24. Ne4 $16) 23... Ne2+ 24. Kh1 Nd4 25.
Rac1 Bd5 (25... Bb5 26. Be3 Nf5 27. Nb7 Nxe3 28. fxe3 $16) 26. Bxd5 exd5 {
The knight on d4 is quite tricky, so White should be careful.} 27. Nd7 $1 {
Magnus correctly avoids the exchange of his knight.} ({In the following lines
Black could get some compensation for a pawn:} 27. Kg2 Bxc5 28. Rxc5 Rxc5 29.
bxc5 Nc2 30. Rd1 Rc8 31. Bb4 a5 32. Bxa5 Rxc5 $14) (27. Be3 Bxc5 28. bxc5 Nc6
29. Red1 Rfd8 30. f4 d4 31. Bf2 f6 32. exf6 gxf6 33. Kg2 Kf7 $14) 27... Rxc1 (
27... Rfd8 28. Rxc8 Rxc8 29. Rc1 Rc4 30. Rxc4 dxc4 31. Kg2 Nb5 32. Bc1 $16) 28.
Rxc1 Rd8 29. Nc5 {The first step in the wrong direction - there was no reason
to come back.} (29. Rc7 $1 {did require precise calculating, but after} Nb3 (
29... Nb5 30. Rb7 Nxa3 31. Rxa7 $16) 30. Be1 d4 31. Rxa7 d3 32. Kg2 d2 33. Bxd2
Nxd2 34. b5 Nb3 35. Rc7 Bxa3 36. b6 $16 {White's winning chances shouldn't be
understimated.}) 29... Bxc5 30. Rxc5 (30. bxc5 Nc6 31. f4 Rb8 $44) 30... Nf3 $1
{Arkadij has managed to activate his forces, while the d-pawn may be dangerous.
} (30... Nb3 31. Rc2 Re8 32. f4 f6 33. Rb2 Nxd2 34. Rxd2 fxe5 35. Rxd5 exf4 36.
gxf4 $16) 31. Bc3 $2 {This natural move is a serious mistake - White spoils
the advantage.} ({Carlsen's task wasn't easy, but after the correct} 31. Bf4 $1
g5 32. Kg2 Ne1+ 33. Kf1 Nf3 (33... Nd3 34. Rc3 Nxb4 35. Bxg5 hxg5 36. axb4 $16)
34. Bc1 d4 (34... Nxe5 35. Ke2 Nc4 36. f4 $16) 35. Ke2 Nxh2 36. Kd3 $16 {
it was still possible to win this game.}) 31... g5 $1 $132 {After securing the
Nf3 Black gets sufficient counterplay.} (31... d4 $2 32. Kg2 Ng5 33. Bd2 Ne4
34. Rc2 $16) 32. h3 h5 33. Kg2 g4 34. b5 Rd7 (34... d4 $5 35. Ba5 Rd7 36. hxg4
hxg4 37. Rc7 Rd5 $132) 35. Rc8+ Kh7 36. Ba5 d4 {The passed d-pawn is very
strong, but White is still OK.} (36... Nxe5 $2 37. hxg4 hxg4 38. Rc7 $16) 37.
hxg4 hxg4 38. e6 $2 {A very strange decision by the World Champion. White just
gives the pawn back.} ({After} 38. Rc7 Rxc7 39. Bxc7 d3 40. Kf1 {Black would
still have to find some precise moves in order to avoid a loss:} Nd4 $1 41. Ke1
Nxb5 42. Bd6 Kg6 43. Kd2 Kf5 44. Kxd3 Ke6 $1 45. Kc4 (45. Ke4 f5+ 46. Kf4 a6
$11) (45. Bf8 Kd5 $11) 45... Nxd6+ 46. exd6 Kxd6 47. Kd4 f5 48. a4 a5 $11)
38... fxe6 39. Rc7 Rxc7 40. Bxc7 d3 {Suddenly White is in a real danger.} 41.
Kf1 Nd4 42. Ke1 Nxb5 {Black is a pawn up now!} 43. Bb8 (43. Bd8 e5 $1 44. a4
Nd4 45. Kd2 e4 $19) 43... Nxa3 44. Kd2 {The position looks very bad now for
Magnus, but most probably a draw is still attainable at this moment.} a5 (44...
Nb5 45. Kxd3 Kg6 46. Ke4 a5 47. Be5 a4 48. Kf4 Kh5 49. f3 gxf3 50. g4+ Kg6 (
50... Kh4 51. Bf6+ Kh3 52. Kxf3 $11) 51. Kxf3 a3 52. Ke2 Na7 53. Kd3 Nc6 54.
Bc3 e5 55. Kc4 Kg5 56. Bd2+ Kxg4 57. Kb3 $11) 45. Kxd3 Kg6 46. Ke4 $1 {White
chooses the right route for his king!} ({After} 46. Bd6 $2 Nb5 47. Bf4 Kf5 $1 (
47... a4 48. Kc4 e5 49. Bxe5 Kf5 50. Ba1 Nd6+ 51. Kb4 $11) 48. Kc4 Na7 49. Bc7
a4 50. Bb6 Nc8 $1 (50... Nc6 51. Kb5 Ne5 52. Kxa4 Ke4 53. Kb3 Kf3 54. Kc3 Ke2
55. Ba7 Nd3 56. Kd4 Nxf2 57. Ke5 Kf3 58. Kxe6 $11) 51. Bc5 Ke4 52. Kb4 Kd5 53.
Be3 e5 54. Kxa4 Kc4 $19 {Black should win here quite easily.}) 46... a4 47. Be5
(47. f3 Nc4 48. Ba7 Nd6+ 49. Ke3 a3 50. fxg4 e5 $19) 47... Nc4 48. Bc3 a3 49.
Kf4 Kh5 {Obviously, White's chances are connected only with exchanging the
k-side pawns, but this time Magnus fails to find a correct version of that
plan!} 50. f3 $2 (50. Ke4 $2 {was also bad:} Kg5 51. Ba1 a2 52. Kd3 Nd6 53. Bb2
Kf5 54. Ba1 Ne4 $19) ({But} 50. Bb4 $1 a2 51. Bc3 {could save the day:} Na5 (
51... Nb6 52. Ba1 Nd7 53. f3 e5+ 54. Ke4 Kg5 55. fxg4 Kxg4 56. Kd5 Kxg3 57. Kc4
e4 58. Kb3 e3 59. Kxa2 e2 60. Bc3 Kf2 61. Kb3 Ne5 62. Kc2 $11) 52. f3 gxf3 53.
Kxf3 Kg5 54. Ke4 Kg4 55. Ke5 Kxg3 56. Kxe6 Kf3 57. Kd5 Ke2 58. Kc5 Kd3 59. Kb4
Kc2 60. Bh8 Nc6+ 61. Ka3 Kb1 62. Bg7 $11) 50... e5+ 51. Ke4 Nd6+ $1 {That is
the point! Black is not obliged to take on f3.} (51... gxf3 $2 52. Kxf3 Kg5 53.
g4 Kf6 54. Ke2 Ke6 55. g5 Kf5 56. g6 Kxg6 57. Kd3 $11) 52. Ke3 Kg5 $19 {
Now Black's king is back in the game, so 2 passed pawns will decide the game.}
53. fxg4 e4 (53... Kxg4 54. Kd3 e4+ 55. Kc2 e3 56. Kb3 e2 57. Be1 Nb5 $19) 54.
Kd2 Nb5 55. Be5 Kxg4 56. Ke3 Kf5 57. Ba1 Nd6 {Protecting the pawn. White is
completely helpless.} 58. Kd2 Kg4 59. Ke3 ({Or} 59. Kc3 e3 60. Kb3 Ne4 61. Kxa3
e2 $19) 59... a2 60. Bc3 (60. Kf2 Nc4 61. Bc3 e3+ 62. Kg2 Na3 63. Kf1 Kf3 64.
g4 Nc2 $19) 60... Kxg3 61. Ba1 Kg4 62. Kd2 Kf3 0-1

[Event "Olympiad-41"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2014.08.10"]
[Round "8.1"]
[White "Predojevic, Borki"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A37"]
[WhiteElo "2604"]
[BlackElo "2877"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2014.08.02"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 162"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Bosnia&Herzegovina"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "BIH"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. Nc3 d6 6. O-O e6 7. d3 Nge7 8. Bd2
b6 9. Qc1 h6 10. a3 Bb7 11. Rb1 Qd7 12. b4 Rd8 13. Nb5 Ba8 14. Rd1 g5 15. Bc3
e5 16. Ba1 Nd4 17. Nbxd4 cxd4 18. e3 Qf5 19. Ne1 Bxg2 20. Nxg2 O-O 21. exd4
exd4 22. Qd2 Ng6 23. f4 Rfe8 24. Rf1 g4 25. Rbe1 Bf6 26. Rxe8+ Rxe8 27. Re1 Re6
28. Bb2 Ne7 29. Rxe6 fxe6 30. Qe2 Kf7 31. Ne1 h5 32. Bc1 b5 33. cxb5 Qxb5 34.
h3 gxh3 35. Kh2 Qf5 36. Bd2 Qg4 37. Nf3 Nf5 38. Be1 Ne3 39. Ng1 Qxe2+ 40. Nxe2
Nc2 41. Bd2 Nxa3 42. Kxh3 Nb1 43. Be1 Nc3 44. Nc1 Nd5 45. Ne2 Ne3 46. Bf2 Nc2
47. b5 e5 48. g4 e4 0-1

[Event "Olympiad-41"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2014.08.11"]
[Round "9.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Solak, Dragan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2877"]
[BlackElo "2632"]
[Annotator "Roiz,M"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2014.08.02"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 162"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Turkey"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "TUR"]

1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. h3 $5 {An interesting way to deviate
from the main lines in the Slav.} e6 6. b3 ({After} 6. d4 Nbd7 {Black has a
superb version of the Meran.}) 6... Bd6 {Black is ready to push e6-e5, so
White should clarify the situation in the centre.} ({The alternatives are:} 
6... c5 7. cxd5 (7. d4 Nc6 8. Bb2 cxd4 9. Nxd4 Bd6 10. Be2 O-O 11. O-O Qe7 $11
{0-1 Gelfand,B (2729)-Bacrot,E (2707)/Rishon Le Ziyyon 2006/CBM 114 ext (39)})
7... exd5 8. d4 Nc6 9. Bb2 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Bd6 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bd3 O-O 13. O-O
$14) (6... Nbd7 7. d4 (7. Bb2 e5) 7... Bb4 8. Bd2 O-O 9. Bd3 Bd6 (9... Qe7 $5)
10. O-O e5 11. cxd5 cxd5 12. dxe5 Nxe5 13. Nxe5 Bxe5 14. Rc1 {may transpose to
another topical line of Meran.}) 7. d4 Nbd7 8. Bb2 O-O 9. Be2 $146 {A natural
novelty in a typical but rare Meran position.} ({There was an alternative
worth considering:} 9. Bd3 $5 e5 (9... Re8 10. O-O e5 11. dxe5 Nxe5 12. cxd5
cxd5 13. Na4 Nc6 14. Bxf6 Qxf6 15. Nb6 Rb8 16. Nxd5 $14 {1/2-1/2 Daly,C (2365)
-Ryan,J (2275)/Drogheda 1999/EXT 2000 (79)}) 10. cxd5 cxd5 11. dxe5 Nxe5 12.
O-O Nxf3+ 13. Qxf3 Be5 14. Rfd1 $14 {with some pressure on the isolated pawn.})
9... Qe7 10. g4 $6 {White's setup isn't suitable for such aggressive measures.}
({More to the point was} 10. O-O e5 $140 (10... b6 $5 11. Qc2 Bb7 {might be
the best way to handle this position.}) 11. dxe5 (11. cxd5 $6 e4 12. Nd2 cxd5
$15) 11... Nxe5 12. cxd5 Nxf3+ 13. Bxf3 Qe5 14. g3 Bxh3 15. dxc6 bxc6 (15...
Bxf1 $2 16. cxb7 Rad8 17. Qxf1 $18) 16. Re1 Rfd8 17. Qc2 Qg5 18. Ne2 $14) 10...
b5 {Black has control over the key e4-square, so there is no need to hurry
with 10...Ne4.} 11. g5 {What else?} (11. Qc2 dxc4 12. bxc4 bxc4 13. g5 Nd5 14.
Bxc4 Rb8 $15) (11. c5 Bc7 12. b4 a5 13. a3 e5 $15) 11... Ne4 {Black takes over
the initiative, as the Ke1 is stuck in the centre.} 12. Nxe4 (12. c5 {was
hardly any better:} Bc7 13. Nxe4 dxe4 14. Nd2 e5 15. Qc2 f5 $36) 12... dxe4 13.
Nd2 f5 $1 ({The text is much stronger than} 13... Qxg5 14. Nxe4 Bb4+ 15. Kf1
Qh4 16. Nd2 $132) 14. h4 {That is probably the best practical decision - the
advanced kingside pawns may give White some tactical resources in the future.}
(14. gxf6 {Opening up the f-file couldn't suit White:} Nxf6 15. Qc2 e5 16.
O-O-O exd4 17. Bxd4 (17. exd4 Bf5 18. Nf1 bxc4 19. Bxc4+ Nd5 20. Ne3 Kh8 $15)
17... Be5 $15) 14... e5 {This natural advance is the most natural way to
proceed.} ({But Black had a better way to develop the initiative:} 14... c5
$142 $1 15. cxb5 cxd4 16. Bxd4 axb5 17. Bxb5 Ne5 $36) 15. c5 Bc7 16. a4 $6 {
White has no time for real counterplay on the queenside.} ({It was the right
moment to get some space for the pieces:} 16. b4 $1 exd4 17. exd4 Kh8 (17...
Bb7 18. Qb3+ Kh8 19. a4 f4 20. f3 $132) 18. a4 Bb7 19. Qb3 $132) 16... f4 $1 (
16... exd4 17. exd4 Bb7 (17... e3 18. Nf3 Re8 19. Qd3 exf2+ 20. Kxf2 $132) 18.
b4 f4 19. Qc2 e3 20. Nf3 $132) 17. Qc2 {Freeing a way for the king.} ({There
was no time for} 17. axb5 {in view of} fxe3 18. bxc6 exf2+ 19. Kf1 exd4 20.
cxd7 Bxd7 21. Bxd4 e3 22. Nf3 Rad8 23. Bc4+ Be6 $36 {with a strong attack.})
17... fxe3 (17... exd4 $5 18. Bxd4 Ne5 19. Nxe4 (19. axb5 cxb5 20. Qxe4 Bf5 21.
Qd5+ Kh8 $40) 19... Bf5 20. O-O-O Qe6 $36) 18. fxe3 exd4 19. Bxd4 {This
decision is double-edged. White keeps the bishop useful along the a1-h8
diagonal, but Black gets the important e5-square for his pieces.} ({On the
other hand,} 19. exd4 e3 20. Nf1 Qf7 21. O-O-O Re8 $36 {looks unpleasant as
well.}) 19... Ne5 20. axb5 $6 {Magnus is playing with fire. Black gets a
golden opportunity to develop a direct attack.} (20. Nxe4 {was called for:}
Nf3+ (20... Ba5+ 21. Kd1 Bg4 22. Bxg4 Nxg4 23. Kc1 Bc7 $44) 21. Bxf3 Rxf3 22.
axb5 cxb5 23. Rg1 Qe8 $44 {In the resulting position Black has obvious
compensation for a pawn, but there is nothing decisive.}) 20... Nd3+ $1 {
Dragan takes his chance.} (20... cxb5 21. Qxe4 Bf5 22. Qd5+ Kh8 23. O-O-O Rfd8
24. Qg2 Rac8 $44) 21. Bxd3 exd3 22. Qxd3 Bf5 $36 {The light squares in White's
camp are extremely weak now.} 23. Qe2 (23. Qc3 Bg3+ 24. Kd1 axb5 $36) 23...
cxb5 ({There was nothing wrong with the other recapture} 23... axb5 24. Rxa8
Rxa8 25. O-O Bh3 $17) (23... Bg3+ $5 24. Kd1 Rad8 $1 25. Qc4+ (25. bxa6 $4 Rxd4
26. exd4 Bc2+ $19) 25... Be6 26. Qc3 axb5 $17) 24. O-O-O {The king is under
attack there too, but there was no choice.} Qe6 {At this stage of the game
Magnus had to find precise moves in order to avoid an immediate loss.} (24...
Rad8 $5 25. Qg2 Rxd4 26. exd4 Qe3 27. Kb2 Qxd4+ 28. Ka2 Qxc5 $17) 25. Qg2 Rad8
(25... Be5 26. Rde1 Rac8 27. h5 Bd3 $17) 26. Rhf1 Be5 27. Rde1 Bd3 $2 {The
first serious inaccuracy by Dragan in this game. Exchanging one pair of rooks
will decrease the attacking potential.} (27... Rf7 $1 {[%cal Gf5h3]} 28. h5 (
28. Rg1 Rc7 $19) 28... Bh3 29. Qe4 Bxf1 30. Qxe5 Qxe5 31. Bxe5 Rd5 32. Bd6 Bg2
$17) 28. Rxf8+ Rxf8 29. Rd1 {Now it looks like White has almost consolidated,
but Black starts to disturb the king again.} a5 $1 30. h5 a4 31. Kb2 $2 {
This could be a decisive mistake by the World Champion, but Dragan's task
wasn't easy.} (31. h6 $1 Bg6 32. Qb7 Rb8 33. Qa7 gxh6 34. gxh6 Qd5 35. Rg1 $132
) 31... Rd8 $2 {This natural move (especially under time pressure) is actually
a serious mistake.} ({Provoking b3-b4 would drastically change the picture:} 
31... Rc8 $1 32. b4 {and only now} Rd8 $1 {wins by force:} 33. Qf2 (33. h6 a3+
$1 34. Kc3 Bg6 $19 {[%cal Ge6a2]}) 33... a3+ 34. Ka1 Qg4 35. Nf3 Bxd4+ 36. exd4
Be4 37. Rf1 Bxf3 38. Qxf3 Qxd4+ $19) 32. h6 $1 {Now the threat of 32...Rxd4
isn't fatal, so White can create some counterplay and stay in the game!} a3+ $2
{Mistakes are rarely come alone in such sharp positions!} (32... Rxd4 {leads
only to equality after} 33. exd4 Bxd4+ 34. Ka3 Bxc5+ 35. b4 Bf8 (35... Bxb4+
36. Kxb4 Qd6+ 37. Ka5 Qc7+ 38. Kb4 Qd6+ $11) 36. hxg7 Bxg7 37. Rc1 Bg6 38. Qa8+
Bf8 39. Qc6 $11) ({But} 32... Bxd4+ 33. exd4 Qe3 34. Qg1 Qf4 $1 {would still
keep the initiative. For instance,} 35. Nf1 Be2 36. g6 gxh6 37. Re1 Re8 38. c6
Qf3 39. Qg3 Qxc6 40. gxh7+ Kxh7 41. Nd2 Bh5 $15) 33. Ka2 Bxd4 34. exd4 {
Suddenly the Ka2 is not under attack, so Black has his troubles!} Qe3 35. Qg1
$2 {Returning the favour.} (35. c6 $1 {\/After} Qf4 (35... Qxd4 36. Ne4 Rc8 37.
Nc5 $18) 36. Nf1 Rxd4 (36... Qxd4 37. c7 Rc8 38. Rd2 Rxc7 39. Qa8+ Kf7 40. Qf3+
Kg8 41. Qxd3 $18) 37. Qh2 $3 {Black cannot keep the queens on the board, so
the passed c-pawn decides the game.}) 35... Qe2 $2 ({The game should have
ended in a draw in the event of} 35... Qf4 36. Nf1 Be2 37. Rd2 Bxf1 38. Rf2
Qxd4 39. Qxf1 Qxc5 $11) 36. Qe1 {Magnus doesn't miss a second chance to swap
the queens.} Rxd4 37. c6 Rd6 $1 ({Correctly deviating from the rook ending:} 
37... Bb1+ 38. Kxa3 Qxe1 39. Rxe1 Rxd2 40. Rxb1 Rc2 41. Kb4 Rxc6 42. Kxb5 Rg6
43. b4 Rxg5+ 44. Kc6 Rg6+ 45. Kc7 Rxh6 46. b5 $18) 38. c7 Rc6 39. Qxe2 Bxe2 40.
Re1 Bg4 41. Re7 {The endgame loos really difficult for Black, but there are
definite drawish chances.} gxh6 42. gxh6 Rxh6 43. Re4 {Now Black has to find a
good square for the bishop...} (43. Kxa3 $2 Kf8 44. Re4 Bd7 45. Rd4 Ke7 $11)
43... Bf5 $2 {Finally Dragan overlooks a nice tactical resource and loses on
the spot.} ({Had he played} 43... Bd7 44. Rd4 Bh3 45. Rd3 Bf5 46. Rg3+ Kh8 $14
{the position would be drawish due to a reduced material balance.}) 44. Nf3 $1
{That is the point! The bishop is vulnerable on f5, so White can avoid a pin
and win a piece.} (44. Re5 $2 Rh2 45. Rxf5 Rxd2+ 46. Kxa3 Rc2 $11) 44... Bh3 (
44... Rc6 {offered no hope either:} 45. Nd4 Rxc7 46. Nxf5 $18) ({And} 44... Ra6
45. Nd4 Bd7 46. Re8+ Kf7 47. c8=Q Bxc8 48. Rxc8 $18) 45. Ng5 Bf5 46. Re5 Bg4
47. Ne6 $18 {Finally White wins a piece and easily wins.} Rh2+ 48. Kxa3 Rc2 49.
Rg5+ ({A slightly simpler way was} 49. Nc5 Kf7 50. Kb4 h5 51. Rxh5) 49... Kf7
50. Nd4 (50. Nc5 h6 51. Rd5 Ke7 52. Kb4 $18) 50... Rxc7 51. Rxg4 Rb7 52. Kb4
Kf6 53. Nf3 {Preventing any counterplay.} ({There was also nothing wrong with} 
53. Nxb5 h5 54. Rg2 h4 55. Kc5 h3 56. Rh2 Rh7 57. Nd4 Kg5 58. b4 Kg4 59. Ne2
$18) 53... h5 54. Rf4+ Kg6 55. Kc5 b4 ({Or} 55... Rb8 56. b4 Rb7 57. Kc6 Rb8
58. Kc7 Rh8 59. Kb6 Rb8+ 60. Kc6 Kg7 61. Rf5 $18) 56. Rxb4 Rxb4 57. Kxb4 Kf5
58. Kc3 Kf4 59. Nh4 Kg4 60. b4 ({Black resigns in view of} 60. b4 Kxh4 61. b5
Kg3 62. b6 h4 63. b7 h3 64. b8=Q+) 1-0

[Event "Olympiad-41"]
[Site "Tromsoe"]
[Date "2014.08.12"]
[Round "10.1"]
[White "Saric, Ivan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C61"]
[WhiteElo "2671"]
[BlackElo "2877"]
[Annotator "Roiz,M"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2014.08.02"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 162"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Croatia"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "CRO"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 {As often happens, Magnus goes for a side line
in order to surprise his opponent.} 4. Nxd4 exd4 5. Bc4 $5 {This time Ivan
also deviates from the main stuff in the Bird.} (5. O-O {is much more popular.}
) 5... Nf6 6. O-O {This position is important for the theoretical value of
White's setup.} d5 (6... Nxe4 $5 {was a principled response. White's chances
are preferable in the following complications:} 7. Bxf7+ (7. Re1 d5 8. Bb5+ c6
9. d3 cxb5 10. dxe4 dxe4 11. Rxe4+ Be6 12. Rxd4 Qb6 13. Be3 Bc5 14. Rd3 Bxe3
15. Rxe3 b4 $15 {1/2-1/2 Vavulin,M (2377)-Khairullin,I (2651)/St Petersburg
RUS 2013 (34)}) 7... Kxf7 8. Qh5+ g6 9. Qd5+ Kg7 10. Qxe4 Qf6 (10... c5 11. d3
d6 12. Re1 Rb8 13. Qf4 Bf5 14. Nd2 $14) 11. d3 c6 12. Bf4 d6 13. Nd2 $14 {
1-0 Stevic,H (2588)-Hirneise,T (2440)/Austria 2008/EXT 2009 (39)}) 7. exd5 Be7
{Perhaps, Magnus was out of his preparation at this point. He comes up with a
dubious pawn sacrifice, but it looks like there was no way to equalise anyway.}
(7... Nxd5 8. Qh5 c6 9. d3 $1 (9. Qe5+ Be6 10. Qxd4 Bd6 11. Bxd5 O-O 12. Nc3
cxd5 13. d3 Rc8 $44 {0-1 Givon,A (2329)-Jirka,J (2415)/Tel Aviv 2012/CBM 147
Extra (59)}) 9... Be7 10. Nd2 O-O 11. Nf3 Nf6 12. Qh4 Ng4 13. Qg3 $14) 8. Qf3
$1 $146 {An important novelty in a rare position. Black gets some development
advantage, but White has a solid extra pawn.} (8. Re1 Nxd5 9. Qh5 c6 10. Bxd5
Qxd5 11. Qxd5 cxd5 12. d3 Be6 13. Nd2 Rc8 14. Nf3 Bf6 $11) 8... Bg4 $6 {
Black choosed a wrong order of moves and loses one more central pawn.} (8...
O-O {was much better:} 9. d3 Bg4 10. Qf4 b5 $1 {and White has to play
precisely in order to keep his edge:} 11. Bxb5 (11. Bb3 Bd6 12. Qxd4 c5 13. Qc3
Re8 $44) 11... Qxd5 12. Bc4 Qd7 13. f3 Bd6 14. Qg5 Be6 15. Nd2 $14) 9. Qf4 O-O
(9... Qd7 10. h3 Bf5 11. d3 Nxd5 12. Qxd4 $16) 10. h3 $1 {Now White will grab
a pawn in a better version.} ({The text is better than} 10. Qxd4 c6 11. d3 (11.
Nc3 b5 12. Bd3 b4 13. Ne4 Nxd5 14. Bc4 $14) 11... cxd5 12. Bb3 Rc8 13. Bg5 $14)
10... Bd6 ({Black also fails to prove any compensation for a pawn after} 10...
Bd7 11. Qxd4 b5 12. Be2 $1 (12. Bb3 Bxh3 13. gxh3 c5 14. Qe5 c4 {is less clear}
) 12... Bc6 13. Re1 Nxd5 14. Nc3 Nb4 15. Qxd8 Raxd8 16. Bd1 Rfe8 17. d3 $16)
11. Qxd4 c5 (11... Be6 12. Nc3 c6 13. d3 Nxd5 14. Nxd5 cxd5 15. Bb3 $16) 12.
Qd3 Bh5 (12... Bd7 13. Nc3 a6 14. a4 Re8 15. Qf3 $16) 13. Nc3 {White is 2
pawns up, but the q-side pieces are still undeveloped, so Black still has some
practical chances to complicate matters.} (13. f4 $5 Bg6 14. f5 Bh5 15. Nc3 Re8
16. b3 a6 17. a4 Qe7 18. Ba3 $16 Qe5 $140 19. g3) 13... Re8 (13... Bg6 14. Qf3
Nd7 15. d3 Ne5 16. Qd1 $16) 14. f4 $1 {Ivan is on top again! Now there some
problems with the Bh5 too.} ({The quiet alternative} 14. b3 $6 {wasn't
convincing:} a6 15. a4 Qa5 $1 16. Ra2 (16. Bb2 Bg6 17. Qf3 Bxc2 $132) 16... Qc7
17. Bb2 Rad8 $44) 14... a6 15. a4 {Restricting any activity on the q-side.} ({
Correctly avoiding} 15. g4 $2 Bg6 16. f5 Nxg4 $1 17. fxg6 fxg6 18. Ne4 (18.
hxg4 Qh4 $19) 18... Qh4 19. Nxd6 Re3 20. Qxe3 Nxe3 21. dxe3 Qg3+ 22. Kh1 Qxh3+
$11) 15... Qd7 (15... Bg6 16. Qf3 Bxc2 17. d3 Bxa4 18. Rxa4 b5 19. Nxb5 axb5
20. Bxb5 Rxa4 21. Bxa4 Re7 22. Bb5 Rb7 23. Bc4 $18) (15... Qa5 16. Ra3 h6 17.
g4 Bg6 18. f5 Bh7 19. Qf3 Nd7 20. d3 Ne5 21. Qg2 $18) 16. Qg3 {Now White needs
just 2 tempi to complete the development by d2-d3 and Bc1-d2.} Ne4 (16... Re7
17. d3 Rae8 18. Bd2 Qc7 19. a5 $18) 17. Nxe4 Rxe4 18. b3 (18. d3 $5 {is worthy
of attention:} Re2 19. d4 (19. Qh4 Bg6 20. Qg4 Qxg4 21. hxg4 f5 $16) 19... Re4
20. Bd3 Rxd4 21. Be3 Rxd5 22. Be4 Be7 23. Bxd5 Qxd5 24. f5 $16) 18... Qc7 $6 {
A decisive mistake.} (18... Bg6 {was called for:} 19. Bb2 Qc7 20. Rae1 (20. Qc3
f6 21. Rae1 Rae8 22. Rxe4 Rxe4 23. f5 Bf7 $16) 20... Bxf4 21. Qf3 Rae8 22. Rxe4
Rxe4 23. Bd3 Bh2+ 24. Kh1 Re7 $16) 19. d3 Re2 (19... Ree8 20. Qf2 f6 21. Be3
Bf7 22. a5 $18) 20. Qg5 $18 {Provoking Black's next move.} g6 ({After} 20...
Bg6 21. f5 Re5 22. Bb2 f6 23. Qg4 $18 {White's material advantage is too big.})
21. Bb2 {Now the Kg8 is in trouble.} (21. g4 {was also good enough:} Rxc2 22.
gxh5 Re8 23. hxg6 hxg6 24. Qg3 Ree2 25. Be3 $18) 21... Be7 {A sad necessity.} (
21... Rxc2 {is just as hopeless:} 22. Qf6 Rxb2 23. Qxb2 Bxf4 24. d6 Qxd6 25.
Bxf7+ Kxf7 26. Rxf4+ Qxf4 27. Rf1 $18) 22. Bf6 ({Another nice way was} 22. d6
Qxd6 23. Qe5 $1 Rxe5 24. Bxf7+ Kf8 25. fxe5 Qc7 26. Bxg6+ Kg8 27. Bxh5 $18)
22... h6 23. Be5 $1 {The final touch. Black cannot avoid simplifications.} Qd8
(23... hxg5 24. Bxc7 gxf4 25. Rxf4 Rxc2 26. g4 g5 27. Rf3 Bg6 28. d6 $18) 24.
Qxh6 Rxe5 25. d6 ({Of course, not} 25. fxe5 $2 Bg5 {and the queen is trapped.})
25... Re2 26. dxe7 Qxe7 (26... Qd4+ 27. Kh1 Rxe7 28. f5 $18) 27. f5 Qh4 {
At this moment White has a lot of winning continuations.} 28. Qf4 {Liquidating
into a completely winning endgame.} (28. fxg6 Rxg2+ 29. Kxg2 Bf3+ 30. Rxf3 Qxh6
31. gxf7+ Kh7 32. Raf1 $18) (28. Bxf7+ Kxf7 29. fxg6+ Ke6 30. g7+ Kd7 31. Rf7+
Re7 32. Rxe7+ Kxe7 33. Rf1 $18) 28... g5 29. Qxh4 gxh4 30. Rf4 Rxc2 31. Rxh4
Be2 32. Re4 {The rest is just an agony.} Rd2 (32... Kf8 33. Re1 b5 34. axb5
axb5 35. Bxb5 (35. R4xe2 Rxe2 36. Rxe2 bxc4 37. dxc4 $18) 35... Raa2 36. f6 $18
) 33. Re7 Bxd3 34. Bxf7+ Kf8 35. f6 Rd8 (35... Re2 36. Bg6 $1 Rxe7 37. fxe7+
Kxe7 38. Bxd3 $18) 36. Bh5 Kg8 37. Re8+ 1-0

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 2nd"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2014.08.27"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2768"]
[BlackElo "2877"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2014.08.27"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "23"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 162"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nb3 {A common line nowaday where
White normally castles to the queenside, heading for sharp play.} Bb6 6. Nc3
Nf6 7. Qe2 a5 {A standard push, but in this particular position very rare. The
main continuations are 7...d6 and 7...0-0.} 8. e5 $146 {A principled novelty,
but both players continued to play quickly, clearly having the variation
analysed until a certain point.} (8. a4 O-O (8... Nb4 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bh4 d6 11.
O-O-O Qe7 12. f3 Bd7 13. Kb1 g5 $6 14. Bf2 Bxf2 15. Qxf2 Be6 16. Nd4 $16 {
1/2-1/2 (81) Volokitin,A (2687)-Eljanov,P (2707) Kiev 2013}) 9. Be3 d5 10. Bxb6
cxb6 11. O-O-O Re8 12. f3 Bd7 13. Qf2 dxe4 14. fxe4 Rc8 $15 {1-0 (49) Carlsson,
P (2485)-Hector,J (2483) Borlange 2014}) 8... O-O $1 {This sacrifice is forced.
Things are getting exciting from the very beginning.} 9. exf6 a4 10. Nd5 (10.
fxg7 $2 {would lose a crucial tempo. The white pawn on g7 actually contributes
to the defence of Black's monarch.} Re8 11. Be3 axb3 12. cxb3 Nd4 13. Qh5 Ra5
$1 (13... Nc2+ $2 14. Kd2 Ra5 (14... Nxa1 $4 15. Bd3 $18) 15. Nb5 Nb4 16. Bg5
f6 17. Bxf6 Qxf6 18. Qxe8+ Kxg7 19. Kd1 Rxb5 20. Bxb5 Qd4+ 21. Kc1 Qf4+ 22. Kd1
Qd4+ $11) 14. Nb5 (14. Nd5 Nc2+ 15. Kd2 Nb4 16. Bc4 Nxd5 17. Bxd5 Qf6 18. Bxb6
cxb6 $19) 14... Rxe3+ $1 15. fxe3 Qe7 16. O-O-O Nxb5 17. Bd3 Bxe3+ (17... Qc5+
18. Qxc5 Bxc5) 18. Rd2 h6 19. Qf5 Bxd2+ 20. Kxd2 {Otherwise, White will lose
his queen after the knight's check.} Qg5+ 21. Qxg5 hxg5 22. Bxb5 Rxb5 23. Re1
Kxg7 24. Re8 Ra5 25. Rxc8 Rxa2 26. Kc2 Ra6 $1 27. Rxc7 Rc6+ 28. Rxc6 bxc6 $19)
10... Re8 11. Be3 axb3 12. Qg4 g6 13. Bc4 $1 {Development above all!} Nb4 $1 {
The preparation probably ended somewhere here, as from this point players
started to consume more time. Magnus found the right way to complete his
development with the temporary pieece sacrifice.} (13... bxc2 14. O-O d6 15.
Qf4 Re5 16. Nxb6 cxb6 17. Bxb6 $1 Qf8 {is unlikely to be good for Black.}) 14.
Nxb4 d5 15. Qf4 (15. Qg5 dxc4 16. Nd5 Bc5 $1 {It is necessary to bring the
bishop into defence.} 17. cxb3 cxb3 18. O-O h6 19. Qxh6 Bf8 20. Qg5 bxa2 21.
Rfd1 {The queen has no square to hide, but Black will get enough material for
it.} Bf5 22. h4 Ra6 23. Ne7+ Bxe7 24. Rxd8 Bxd8 25. Bd4 Bb1 {Black is not
worse.}) 15... dxc4 16. O-O bxc2 17. Nd5 $1 {Back to the key square.} (17. Bxb6
cxb6 18. Nd5 Re6 19. Qxc4 Kh8 20. Qxc2 $1 Qxd5 $2 (20... Rd6 $1 {must be
played.} 21. Nc3 Bf5 22. Qb3 Qxf6 $11) 21. Rad1 Qe5 22. Rd8+ Re8 23. Qc7 $1 Qe6
24. h4 $1 {A remarkable position. White is a piece down, but dominating.} (24.
Rfd1 $2 Bd7 25. Qxd7 Raxd8 26. Qxd8 h5 {Compared to the line 24.h4 White can't
now play 27.Qd7 in view of the mate on the back rank. The queen must go back
to d3 or d2 and White loses his extra pawn.}) 24... Kg8 25. Rfd1 Bd7 $8 26.
Qxd7 Raxd8 27. Qxd8 h5 28. Qd7 $16) 17... Re6 {Now the queen can protect the
king from f8.} 18. Qxc4 Bxe3 19. fxe3 b5 $1 20. Qc5 Bb7 21. Ne7+ Kh8 (21...
Rxe7 22. fxe7 Qd2 23. Rf2 Qd1+ 24. Rf1 Qd2 {could force a repetition, but
Carlsen is playing for a win.}) 22. Qxc2 Raa6 {Black has managed to develop
both his rooks via the sixth rank. There is a lot of unusual stuff in this
game!} 23. Rac1 $6 {It's tempting to attack the Pc7, but it was more important
to fight for the d-file.} (23. Rad1 Rad6 24. Qb3 Rd2 25. Rxd2 Qxd2 26. Rf2 Qe1+
27. Rf1 Qe2 28. Rf2 $11) 23... Rxf6 24. Rxf6 Rxf6 25. Qxc7 Qd2 $6 {Just missed
the square.} (25... Qd3 $1 26. Qc3 Qxc3 27. Rxc3 Rd6 28. Rc7 Be4 {Black is a
pawn down at the moment but seriously pressing. The rook is penetrating to d2,
while the white knight is dominated by the bishop.}) 26. Qb8+ {Now the game is
going to end in a spectacular draw.} Kg7 27. Qg8+ Kh6 28. Qf8+ Kh5 29. Rc5+ g5
30. Rxg5+ $1 Kxg5 (30... Kh4 31. g3+ Kh3 $2 {would lose to a long sequence of
checks.} (31... Kxg5 32. Qg7+ Rg6 33. Qe5+ {leads to the same perpetual as in
the game. The inclusion of the move g2-g3 is of no significance.}) 32. Rh5+ Kg4
33. Qg7+ $1 (33. Rh4+ $4 Kf3 {and Black is mating!}) 33... Kxh5 34. g4+ Kh4 35.
Qxf6+ Kh3 36. Qh6+ Kxg4 37. Qf4+ Kh5 38. Qxf7+ Kh6 39. Qf6+ Kh5 40. Qe5+ $1 Kh6
41. Nf5+ Kg6 42. Qe6+ Kg5 43. Qh6+ Kg4 44. h3+ Kxf5 45. e4+ {winning the queen.
}) 31. Qg7+ Rg6 32. Qe5+ f5 (32... Kh6 33. Nf5+ Kh5 34. Ng3+ Kh6 35. Nf5+ {
is another version of perpetual check.}) 33. h4+ Kh5 34. Qxf5+ Kh6 35. Qf8+ Kh5
36. Qf5+ Kh6 37. Qf8+ Kh5 38. Qf5+ {[%mdl 64] Great game by both players!}
1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 2nd"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2014.08.28"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C76"]
[WhiteElo "2787"]
[BlackElo "2877"]
[Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,A"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2014.08.27"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "23"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 162"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 {Not the usual choice for Carlsen. The 3...g6
variations are much sharper than the normal Breyer or Berlin type of Spanish
positions. Interestingly, Nakamura used this recently against Anand with black.
} 4. O-O Bg7 5. c3 a6 6. Ba4 (6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. d4 exd4 8. cxd4 Ne7 9. h3 O-O 10.
Nc3 h6 $11 {Anand-Nakamura, 2013}) 6... d6 7. d4 Bd7 8. d5 {Closing the
position is one of two approaches the situation; by closing the position White
gains space, but Black will be able to push f5 quickly.} (8. Re1 {is a
completely different approach to the position.}) 8... Nce7 9. Bxd7+ (9. c4 {
is, in my humble opinion, a more accurate move order. It also scores better.})
9... Qxd7 10. c4 h6 (10... f5 $6 11. Ng5 {emphasizes the weakness of e6.}) 11.
Nc3 f5 12. Nd2 Nf6 13. f3 O-O 14. b4 c6 (14... g5 $5 {Was an old game between
Sax-Smyslov... such legends!}) 15. dxc6 {It's hard to understand the desire to
simplify the tension so quickly. Black obtains quick activity and access to
the d4 square. However maybe there was no satisfactory alternative.} (15. Bb2
b5 {starts becoming dangerous for White.}) 15... Nxc6 16. a3 Nd4 17. Bb2 Rac8 {
Black has good pressure, but White is banking on his superior pawn structure
to win in the long run.} 18. Ne2 Nh5 $5 {This involves a pawn sacrifice!} (
18... Ne6 {is more sedate, and about equal:} 19. exf5 gxf5 20. Qb3 $13) 19.
Nxd4 exd4 20. exf5 {Tha pawn cannot be taken, but that is still ok.} Nf4 $1 {
Diagram [#]} (20... gxf5 $6 21. Nb3 Rxc4 22. Qd2 $1 {White will regain the d4
pawn and his structure is much superior.}) (20... Qxf5 21. g4 Qg5 22. Ne4 Qe3+
23. Kh1 d3 24. Bxg7 Nxg7 25. Nxd6 $16) 21. f6 $1 {A good practical decision.} (
21. fxg6 Rf6 $1 {Gives black more than enough compensation. Practically it is
difficult to defend this position.}) 21... Bxf6 22. g3 Nh3+ 23. Kg2 $6 (23. Kh1
{was safer, there is no reason to tempt Qh3+.} Ng5 24. Nb3 Rxc4 25. Qd3 Qf7 26.
Bxd4 {was maybe a little better for White.}) 23... Ng5 24. Qb1 Kh7 25. Qd3 {
White retains the better pawn structure; Black has to act quickly before his
initiative evaporates.} Be5 $1 {Putting pressure on the kingside is mandatory.}
26. Rae1 {Accepting the draw.} (26. f4 Qh3+ 27. Kh1 Rxf4 28. Rxf4 Bxf4 29. Re1
{gives Black some problems.}) 26... Bxg3 27. hxg3 Qh3+ {There is nothing
better than perpetual for both sides.} 28. Kg1 Qxg3+ 29. Kh1 Qh4+ 30. Kg2 Qh3+
31. Kg1 Qg3+ 32. Kh1 Qh3+ (32... Rf4 $2 33. Re7+ Nf7 34. Rxf7+ Rxf7 35. Ne4 {
allows White to consolidate and have the better position.}) 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 2nd"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2014.08.29"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C24"]
[WhiteElo "2877"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2014.08.27"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "23"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 162"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 {As usual, Magnus is not going for the theoretical
lines, trying to minimise the value of any opening preparation.} c6 4. Nf3 d5
5. Bb3 Bb4+ {Provoking the move that now follows, so that White won't be able
to develop his knight to c3 anymore.} (5... Bd6 {used to be the main move.}) 6.
c3 Bd6 7. Bg5 dxe4 (7... Be6 8. d4 dxe4 9. Nfd2 exd4 10. Nxe4 Be7 11. Bxf6 Bxf6
12. Bxe6 fxe6 13. Qb3 Qe7 14. Nxf6+ gxf6 15. cxd4 Na6 16. Nc3 O-O-O $11 {
1/2-1/2 (34) Shirov,A (2713)-Roiz,M (2668) Saratov 2011}) 8. dxe4 h6 (8... O-O
9. O-O Qe7 $6 (9... h6 10. Bh4 Qe7 $11) 10. Nh4 $1 Na6 11. Nd2 Nc5 12. Qf3 Nxb3
13. axb3 $14 {1-0 (29) Karjakin,S (2772)-Efimenko,Z (2703) Poikovsky 2011}) 9.
Bh4 Qe7 {Fabiano is playing it flexibly, not castling immediately, but
developing the queenside pieces instead. The position is, of course, equal.}
10. Nbd2 Nbd7 11. Bg3 $6 $146 {This move looks strange to me - moving the
bishop away without even provoking g7-g5.} (11. Qe2 Bc7 12. O-O Nf8 13. Bg3 Ng6
14. Nh4 Nf4 15. Bxf4 exf4 16. Rfe1 Bg4 17. f3 Be6 18. Bxe6 Qxe6 19. Nf5 O-O $11
{1-0 (73) Pridorozhni,A (2491)-Aleshin,O (2423) Moscow 2005}) (11. O-O {
would also be normal.}) 11... Bc7 12. O-O Nh5 13. h3 $6 {Carlsen continues the
odd strategy. Anything else that makes sense would be preferable.} Nxg3 14.
fxg3 Nc5 (14... Nf6 {would avoid the complications that followed in the game.
Black is slightly better.}) 15. Bxf7+ $5 {Obviously, Carlsen wasn't happy with
the course of the game. This intuitive sacrifice is an interesting practical
chance as it leads to a murky position where both sides have to calculate a
lot.} Kxf7 (15... Qxf7 $4 16. Nxe5 {and Black has to part with his queen to
avoid the deadly check on h5.}) 16. Nxe5+ (16. Nh4+ $5 {was an interesting
alternative which could lead to a position where White wins the queen for
several pieces.} Kg8 17. Ng6 Qe8 18. Rf8+ Qxf8 19. Nxf8 Kxf8 20. Qh5 Be6 21.
Nf3 Nd7 22. Rf1 (22. Nh4 Nf6 23. Rf1 Rg8 $17) 22... Kg8 23. Nh4 Rh7 $1 24. Qg6
Bxa2 25. Nf5 Kh8 26. Ne7 Bb6+ 27. Kh2 Bc5 28. Qf5 g5 $1 29. Rd1 $1 Rf7 30. Qxd7
Rxe7 31. Qf5 Kg7 32. Rd7 Bf7 33. Rxe7 Bxe7 34. Qd7 Re8 35. Qxb7 {Black is
better, but to win this position would be quite a difficult task.}) 16... Kg8
17. Ng6 Qg5 18. Rf8+ Kh7 19. Nxh8 (19. Rxh8+ Kxg6 20. Nf3 (20. b4 Qxg3 $1 21.
bxc5 Bxh3 22. Qf3 Rxh8 23. Qxg3+ Bxg3 24. gxh3 Be5 $17) 20... Qxg3 (20... Qe3+
$6 21. Kh1 Nxe4 22. Nh4+ Kg5 23. Nf3+ Kf6 24. Qd4+ Qxd4 25. Nxd4 Nxg3+ 26. Kg1
{Here the matters are not entirely clear as long as Black's queenside is
undeveloped.}) 21. Qc2 Bg4 $1 22. hxg4 Rxh8 23. e5+ Kf7 24. Qf5+ Ke7 $19) 19...
Bg4 (19... Qe3+ $1 {was even stronger, but required precise calculation.} 20.
Kh1 Bg4 21. Qf1 $2 (21. Qxg4 Rxf8 22. Ng6 Rf7 $17) 21... Qxg3 22. e5 {[%cal
Gf1b1,Gb1h7]} Rxf8 23. Qxf8 Qxe5 (23... Bxe5 $4 24. Nf1 $18) 24. Nf1 Bxh3 $1 {
This must have been seen in advance!} 25. gxh3 Qe4+ 26. Kg1 Ne6 $19 {[%csl Rg1]
[%cal Gc7b6]}) 20. Qf1 Nd3 $1 {[%cal Gg5e3,Ge3g3] Great resource, adding the
knight to the counterattack.} 21. Qxd3 (21. Ng6 {was an interesting chance,
but insufficient.} Qe3+ (21... Kxg6 $2 22. Qf7+ Kh7 23. Qg8+ $11) 22. Kh1 Qxg3
23. e5 Rxf8 24. Nxf8+ Kg8 25. Ng6 Nf2+ 26. Kg1 Nxh3+ 27. Kh1 Nf2+ 28. Kg1 Be6
$1 29. Ne7+ (29. Qxf2 $2 Bb6 $19) 29... Kh8 30. Ng6+ Qxg6 31. Kxf2 Qc2 $17)
21... Rxf8 22. hxg4 Qxg4 23. Nf3 Qxg3 (23... Kxh8 {would have been slightly
more precise.}) 24. e5+ (24. Nf7 $1 Rxf7 25. e5+ g6 (25... Kh8 $6 26. e6 {
is the point of White's idea, the black rook gets kicked away by the pawn.})
26. Rf1 {White is worse as in the game, but here Black's seventh rank is
slightly weakened, which might give White some additional practical chances.})
24... Kxh8 25. e6 {Carlsen is rushing forward with his passed pawn, but
unfortunately for him his king is too vulnerable.} (25. Rf1 Bb6+ (25... Bxe5
26. Nxe5 Rxf1+ 27. Qxf1 Qxe5 28. Qf7 {White has decent chances to hold this
endgame.}) 26. Kh1 Qg4 (26... Rf4 27. Qd7 $8 {still surviving.}) 27. Nh2 Rxf1+
28. Qxf1 Qh5 29. Qf8+ Kh7 30. Qd6 Qg6 31. Nf3 Qxd6 32. exd6 Kg6 33. Kh2 Kf6 34.
Kg3 Ke6 35. Kg4 Kxd6 36. Kf5 Kd5 {This endgame should be won for Black. If the
white king goes to g6, its counterpart will penetrate to the queenside via e4.}
) 25... Bb6+ 26. Kh1 Qg4 (26... Rf4 $4 {No, it's not mate.} 27. e7 Rh4+ 28.
Nxh4 Qxh4+ 29. Qh3 $16) 27. Qd6 (27. e7 Re8 28. Re1 Qh5+ 29. Nh2 Bc7 30. g3 Qf7
{The pawn is going down and White's prospects are very grim.}) 27... Rd8 28.
Qe5 Rd5 29. Qb8+ Kh7 30. e7 Qh5+ (30... Rh5+ $4 31. Nh2 {[%csl Ge7][%cal Ge7e8]
would turn the tables.}) 31. Nh2 $2 {A blunder in a bad position.} (31. Qh2 {
was the only way to prolong the fight.} {Still, after} Qe8 {White loses the
passed pawn. The bishop is also superior to the knight.} 32. Re1 $2 {fails to}
Bf2 33. Rf1 Rh5 $19) 31... Rd1+ 32. Rxd1 Qxd1+ 33. Nf1 Qxf1+ 34. Kh2 Qg1+ (
34... Qg1+ 35. Kh3 Qe3+ {capturing the Pe7.}) 0-1

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 2nd"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2014.08.30"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E21"]
[WhiteElo "2877"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[Annotator "Finegold,B"]
[PlyCount "126"]
[EventDate "2014.08.27"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "23"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 162"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. Bd2 $5 {An unusual way to fight for
an advantage.} Bb7 6. g3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. Bg2 O-O 9. O-O Be7 10. Bf4 Na6 11.
Nb5 d5 12. Ne5 Nc5 13. Rc1 a6 14. Nc3 dxc4 {Diagram # White has nothing from
the opening and the game is completely equal. Normally, this is where Magnus
outplays his opponents, but, thus far, not in this event.} 15. Bxb7 Nxb7 16.
Qxd8 Raxd8 17. Nc6 $5 {Magnus does not want the equality offered by 17.Nxc4}
Rde8 $5 (17... Rd7 18. Ne5 Rdd8 $11) 18. Rfd1 {Both sides decide to play for a
win. Now Topalov is ahead a pawn, but his Rf8 is out of play and white may
want to play Be5xf6 and penetrate with Rd7.} h6 19. e4 Bc5 $1 20. e5 {Diagram #
} Nd5 $1 {Topalov plays very accurately and maintains equality by giving back
the pawn.} 21. Nxd5 exd5 22. Rxd5 b5 $5 (22... Re6 23. Nd4 Bxd4 24. Rxd4 b5 $11
) 23. Be3 $1 Bxe3 24. fxe3 Re6 25. Nd4 Rb6 26. b3 Rc8 27. Kg2 {Diagram #} Rc5
$1 {This temporary pawn sacrifice ensures black has no difficulties.} 28. Rxc5
Nxc5 29. bxc4 bxc4 30. Rxc4 Nd3 31. Rc8+ Kh7 32. e6 fxe6 33. Kf3 Kg6 {Now the
game is just a draw. But Magnus goes a little too far and things get
interesting!} 34. a4 e5 35. Nc6 Kf5 36. g4+ (36. e4+ Ke6 37. Nb8 a5 38. Rc6+
Rxc6 39. Nxc6 Nb2 40. Nxa5 Nxa4 $11) 36... Ke6 37. a5 Rb5 38. Rd8 $2 (38. Rg8
Kd6 39. Nd8 Ke7 40. Nc6+ Kd6 $11) 38... Nc5 39. h4 Rb1 40. Rg8 Kd6 {Time
control was reached and only Topalov can play for a win now!} 41. Nb8 e4+ 42.
Kg2 Rb2+ 43. Kf1 Rb5 44. Kf2 $6 (44. Ke2 Kc7 (44... Ne6 45. Nxa6 Rxa5 46. Nb4
Rb5 47. Nc2 $11 {And the Ke2 makes all the difference (with the Kf2, as played
in the game, now 47...Rb2 wins)}) 45. Nxa6+ Nxa6 46. Rxg7+ Kc8 47. g5 $11)
44... Ne6 45. Rc8 Rxa5 (45... Rc5 {People got excited when they saw the
computer evals, but this is also a draw...} 46. Rxc5 Nxc5 47. h5 Kc7 48. Nxa6+
Nxa6 49. Kg3 $11) 46. Rc6+ Kd5 47. Rxa6 Rxa6 48. Nxa6 Kc6 49. Nb4+ Kc5 50. Nc2
Kc4 51. Ke2 g5 52. hxg5 hxg5 53. Kd2 {White needs to be careful, but this is
an easy draw for Magnus.} Nc5 54. Na3+ Kb4 55. Nc2+ Kc4 56. Na3+ Kd5 57. Nb5
Nd7 58. Nc3+ Ke5 59. Nd1 Nf6 60. Nf2 Kd5 61. Nh3 Nxg4 62. Nxg5 Nxe3 63. Nxe4
Ke5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 2nd"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2014.08.31"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A50"]
[WhiteElo "2805"]
[BlackElo "2877"]
[Annotator "Roiz,M"]
[PlyCount "140"]
[EventDate "2014.08.27"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "23"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 162"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 b6 3. g3 Bb7 4. c4 g6 {As usual, Magnus Carlsen doesn't mind
deviating from the main paths.} 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. O-O O-O 7. Re1 {The latest
attempt to fight for the opening advantage. White is delaying a development of
the Nb1 in order to take control of the key e4-square.} ({Black's position
looks quite solid after} 7. d5 Ne4 (7... Na6 8. Nc3 Nc5 9. Nd4 (9. Be3 $5) 9...
e5 10. Nb3 d6 11. e4 Nfd7 12. Be3 a5 13. Nd2 f5 $132 {1-0 Giri,A (2734)
-Grischuk,A (2783)/Beijing CHN 2013 (43)}) 8. Qc2 f5 9. Nbd2 Nd6 10. e4 Na6 11.
exf5 Nxf5 12. Ne4 c6 $132 {1/2-1/2 Sargissian,G (2686)-Anton Guijarro,D (2631)/
Dubai UAE 2014 (82)}) ({Or} 7. Nc3 Ne4 8. Nxe4 Bxe4 9. Be3 c5 10. Qd2 d6 11.
Bh6 Nd7 12. Bxg7 Kxg7 13. Rfd1 Nf6 $11 {1-0 Istratescu,A (2651)-Edouard,R 
(2680)/Nancy FRA 2013 (56)}) 7... e6 8. Nc3 {Exchanging one pair of knights
would definitely suit Black.} ({After} 8. Bg5 h6 9. Bxf6 Qxf6 10. Nc3 d6 $11 {
White seizes a lot of space, but Black's position remains flexible, while the
dark-squared bishop is becoming very strong.}) ({At the same time,} 8. Bf4 $5
d6 9. Qc2 {may be a possible improvement.}) 8... Ne4 9. Nxe4 (9. Bd2 {seems
quite comfortable for Black:} d6 10. Rc1 Nd7 11. d5 Nxc3 (11... Nxd2 $5 12.
Nxd2 Qe7 $11) 12. Bxc3 Bxc3 13. Rxc3 e5 14. Qd2 Kg7 15. e4 a5 16. h4 Nc5 $11 {
1-0 Svidler,P (2753)-Ipatov,A (2613)/Dubai UAE 2014 (41)}) 9... Bxe4 10. Bg5
Qe8 $1 $146 {Magnus comes up with an important novelty in a rare theoretical
position.} ({In the previous game Black had failed to solve all the problems
after bringing the queen to b7:} 10... Qc8 11. Qd2 d6 12. Bh6 Qb7 13. Bxg7 Kxg7
14. Rad1 (14. Bh3 $5 Bxf3 15. exf3 c5 16. f4 $14) 14... Nd7 15. d5 Bxf3 16.
exf3 e5 17. f4 $14 {0-1 Efimenko,Z (2648)-Maletin,P (2588)/Dubai UAE 2014 (56)}
) 11. Qd2 d6 {It looks like Black has no problems now.} 12. Bh6 ({Nor does} 12.
Qe3 {promise anything special:} Bb7 13. Bh6 (13. Qd3 e5 14. e4 Nd7 $11) 13...
Nd7 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. Qd3 Rd8 16. e4 e5 17. Rad1 Qe7 $11) 12... Nd7 13. Rac1 (
13. Qf4 f5 14. Qh4 Nf6 15. Ng5 Bxh6 16. Qxh6 Bxg2 17. Kxg2 Qe7 $11) 13... Qe7
14. Bxg7 Kxg7 $11 {Magnus has comfortably equalised.} 15. Bh3 {An ambitious
attempt to avoid the further simplifications.} (15. Ng5 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 e5 17.
Ne4 Nf6 18. Nc3 c6 $11) 15... Nf6 (15... c5 16. Red1 Rad8 17. dxc5 dxc5 18.
Qc3+ Qf6 $11) 16. Nh4 {The knight has nothing much it can achieve there, but
Levon just wanted to seize space in the centre as soon as it was possible.} (
16. Qc3 c5 17. Nd2 Bb7 18. e4 cxd4 19. Qxd4 Qc7 $11) 16... Bb7 17. f3 (17. Bg2
Bxg2 18. Nxg2 $11) 17... c5 18. e4 cxd4 19. Qxd4 Rfd8 {White's space advantage
is just symbolic here, since there are not many minor pieces on the board.} 20.
Ng2 Qc7 21. Ne3 Qc5 22. Qc3 {I guess, Levon was quite ambitious at this moment.
} (22. Red1 h5 23. Rd3 Rd7 24. Rcd1 Rad8 $11) 22... a5 23. Red1 h5 {A useful
prophylactic move.} 24. Rd3 b5 $1 {Just in time! Magnus doesn't hesitate and
avoids a passive position.} ({After} 24... Rd7 25. Rcd1 Rad8 26. Bg2 $14 {
Black would be forced to sit and wait, while White may try to make progress on
both sides of the board.}) 25. b3 $6 {A strange decision.} ({There was no
reason to deviate from} 25. cxb5 Qxb5 26. Qd2 Ba6 27. Bf1 (27. Rb3 $5) 27...
Qb4 28. Rd4 Qxd2 29. Rxd2 Bxf1 30. Kxf1 {and White's position is even slightly
better, although Black should be able to equalise.}) 25... bxc4 26. bxc4 {
The position is still more or less equal, but White may face some problems in
the long run - the pawns on c4 and a2 are quite vulnerable, while the Pd6 is
not under any pressure.} ({I would prefer} 26. Qxc4 Qa3 27. Rdc3 d5 (27... Rac8
28. Qd4 Rxc3 29. Rxc3 $11 Qxa2 $140 $2 30. Bxe6 $16) 28. Qc7 Rd7 29. Qe5 dxe4
30. fxe4 {and White has enough counterplay to achieve a draw:} Bxe4 31. Rf1 Qe7
32. Rf4 Bf5 33. Bxf5 exf5 34. Rxf5 $11) 26... Bc6 27. Rcd1 Rd7 28. Bg2 Rb8 29.
Qd4 {A correct decision - the queen exerts unpleasant pressure along the a7-g1
diagonal.} Qe5 $5 {Magnus is trying to complicate the matters.} ({Deviating
from the simple endgame which arises after} 29... e5 30. Qxc5 dxc5 31. Rd6 Ba4
32. R1d2 Rxd6 33. Rxd6 Rb1+ 34. Bf1 $11) 30. f4 $6 {This impatient advance
leads to some troubles.} ({It was necessary to swap one pair of rooks in order
to equalise:} 30. Rb3 $1 Rxb3 31. axb3 Rb7 32. Nc2 Be8 (32... Rxb3 $2 33. f4 $1
Qxd4+ 34. Nxd4 Rb6 35. Nxc6 Rxc6 36. e5 $16) 33. Qxe5 dxe5 34. Ra1 Rxb3 35.
Rxa5 Rc3 36. Ne1 $11) 30... Qxd4 31. Rxd4 Rc7 {Now Black has a small but
stable advantage, since White has a couple of weaknesses.} (31... e5 32. Rxd6 (
32. fxe5 dxe5 33. Rxd7 Bxd7 $15) 32... Rxd6 33. Rxd6 exf4 34. gxf4 Bxe4 35. Rd2
a4 $15) 32. R1d2 Ne8 $1 {As usual, Magnus is playing precisely in such
positions.} ({Black didn't get anything special in the event of} 32... e5 33.
Rxd6 exf4 34. gxf4 Nxe4 35. Bxe4 (35. Rxc6 $2 Rxc6 36. Bxe4 Re6 $19 {[%csl Re3,
Re4]}) 35... Bxe4 36. Kf2 $11) 33. Kf2 (33. e5 {didn't solve all the problems
either:} dxe5 34. fxe5 Bxg2 35. Kxg2 Rc5 36. Re4 Nc7 $15) 33... Kf8 34. c5 {
As is his style, Levon is searching for active play at the cost of material.} (
34. R4d3 Rb4 35. Rb3 $15) 34... dxc5 35. Rc4 (35. R4d3 $5 Nf6 36. e5 Ne4+ 37.
Bxe4 Bxe4 38. Rc3 $15) 35... Bb5 $6 ({The only way to fix the advantage was} 
35... Rd7 $1 {exchanging Levon's most active piece} 36. Rxd7 (36. Rdc2 Nd6 37.
Rxc5 Bxe4 $17) 36... Rb2+ 37. Rc2 $1 (37. Ke1 Bxd7 38. a4 Ra2 $17) 37... Rxc2+
38. Nxc2 Bxd7 39. e5 $15 {Still, White has excellent drawing chances here.})
36. Rc3 (36. Rb2 $5 Rbb7 (36... Bxc4 37. Rxb8 Bd3 (37... Bxa2 $4 38. Rb2 $18)
38. Ke1 Ke7 39. e5 $44) 37. Rc3 Bc6 38. Rxb7 Bxb7 39. e5 Bxg2 40. Kxg2 Ng7 41.
Kf3 $11) 36... c4 37. e5 $6 {This natural move is inaccurate.} ({Equality was
reachable:} 37. Rb2 $142 Rcc8 38. e5 Ng7 39. Be4 Nf5 40. Nxc4 Bxc4 41. Rxb8
Rxb8 42. Rxc4 $11) 37... Rc5 $1 38. Nc2 $6 {After this move White's position
could become very difficult.} (38. Bf1 $142 f6 $1 39. Nxc4 fxe5 40. fxe5 Bxc4
41. Rxc4 Rxe5 $15) 38... Nc7 39. Nd4 Nd5 $6 {There was no reason to hurry with
clarifying the character of the position.} ({A much stronger move was} 39...
Ba6 $1 40. Ke3 Rb1 41. Be4 Nd5+ 42. Bxd5 Rxd5 $17) 40. Bxd5 Rxd5 41. Nf3 $1 {
After exchanging one pair of rooks White gets sufficient compensation for a
pawn, since the knight is more useful than the bishop here.} Rc5 (41... Ba6 42.
Rxd5 exd5 43. Ra3 Rb1 44. Ke3 $44) 42. Rb2 Rd8 (42... Rcc8 43. Nd2 Ba6 44. Rbc2
Rc5 45. Ke3 Rb4 46. Ne4 $44) 43. Nd2 Bc6 44. Nb3 $6 {Tired after some tough
defence, Levon commits another serious mistake.} ({After} 44. Ke3 Bd5 45. Rbc2
Rdc8 46. h4 {Black couldn't make any progress.}) 44... Rb8 $1 {That's the
point! Now White cannot set up a blockade any more.} 45. Rcc2 c3 46. Rb1 Rcb5
47. Rxc3 Bd5 {White has managed to win the c-pawn, but there is no way to
avoid the loss of another pawn.} 48. Rbc1 Bxb3 49. Rxb3 Rxb3 50. axb3 Rxb3 {
This rook endgame is still drawn, but White's practical task is not that easy.}
51. Rc8+ $1 {Correctly keeping the took active.} (51. Ra1 Rb5 52. Ra2 Ke7 53.
Ke3 g5 $17) 51... Ke7 ({After} 51... Kg7 52. Ra8 Ra3 53. h4 a4 54. Kg2 {
it would be very difficult to activate the Kg7, so White should be able to
save a half point.}) 52. Kg2 $1 {An excellent defensive resource! The king may
attack Black's kingside pawns now.} (52. Ra8 $2 Rb2+ 53. Ke3 Ra2 54. Kd4 a4 55.
Ke3 a3 56. Kd4 Kd7 57. Ra7+ Kc6 58. h4 Kb6 59. Ra8 Kb5 60. Rb8+ Ka4 61. Ra8+
Kb3 62. Rb8+ Kc2 63. Ra8 Ra1 $19) 52... a4 53. Kh3 g5 $1 {Magnus finds the
only resource in this drawish position.} ({After} 53... a3 54. Ra8 Kd7 55. Kh4
Kc6 56. Kg5 $11 {White would be out of danger.}) 54. fxg5 Rb4 55. Ra8 Rg4 56.
Ra7+ Kf8 57. g6 ({There was nothing wrong with} 57. Kg2 Rxg5 (57... h4 58. Kf3
hxg3 59. hxg3 Rb4 60. g6 fxg6 61. Kf2 $15) 58. Rxa4 Rxe5 59. h3 $15) 57... fxg6
58. Kg2 g5 59. Kf3 Rb4 60. Ke3 Ke8 61. Kd3 h4 ({After} 61... Rb2 $5 62. Rxa4 (
62. h4 $2 gxh4 63. gxh4 Rb4 $19) 62... Rxh2 63. g4 {White should be able to
escape, but the task is not easy:} Rh3+ 64. Ke2 h4 65. Ra8+ Kf7 66. Ra7+ Kg6
67. Re7 Rg3 68. Rxe6+ Kf7 69. Rf6+ Ke7 70. Rh6 Rxg4 71. Kf3 Rf4+ 72. Kg2 Re4
73. Kh3 Rxe5 74. Kg4 {and Black cannot make progress.}) 62. Kc3 hxg3 63. hxg3 (
63. Kxb4 g2 $19) 63... Rg4 64. Kd3 $2 {The decisive mistake. Levon allows
Black to keep the a-pawn on the board.} ({After the correct} 64. Kd2 $1 Rxg3
65. Rxa4 Kf7 66. Ra8 Rb3 67. Ke2 Rb5 68. Kf3 Rxe5 69. Kg4 {the activity of
White's pieces saves the day. Still, precise play is required.}) 64... a3 65.
Ke3 Rxg3+ 66. Kd4 g4 $19 {Now the game is over - 2 passed pawns are
unstoppable.} 67. Ra8+ Kd7 68. Kc5 Rd3 69. Kc4 Rf3 70. Kc5 g3 0-1

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 2nd"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2014.09.02"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B35"]
[WhiteElo "2877"]
[BlackElo "2768"]
[Annotator "Roiz,M"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2014.08.27"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "23"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 162"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 {This move could be a surprise for Magnus, since the
Najdorf is the main Sicilian weapon of his opponent.} 3. Nf3 g6 4. d4 cxd4 5.
Nxd4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O 8. Bb3 Qa5 {The main idea of this move is
preventing White from building up an aggressive Dragon setup with 9.f3, 10.Qd2
and 11.0-0-0.} ({Black has a large choice of alternatives here. The most
common are:} 8... d6) (8... a5) ({and} 8... Ng4) 9. f3 (9. O-O {is more
popular and leads to a long strategic battle. In the following game Magnus
Carlsen had an excellent position playing on the Black's side:} d6 10. h3 (10.
Nd5 Re8 11. Nxf6+ Bxf6 12. c3 Ne5 13. h3 Qa6 14. Nc2 Nd3 15. Qf3 Be6 16. Bd4
Bxd4 17. Nxd4 Bc4 $11 {1-0 Grischuk,A (2764)-Ivanchuk,V (2757)/London ENG 2013
(39)}) 10... Bd7 11. f4 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 Bc6 13. Qd3 Nd7 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. Nd5 $6
Qc5+ 16. Kh1 e6 17. Nc3 Nf6 18. Rad1 Rad8 19. f5 Qe5 $15 {1-0 Morozevich,A 
(2760)-Carlsen,M (2864)/Moscow RUS 2013 (53)}) 9... e6 $5 {An interesting way
to change the character of play. Maxime is ready for the creation of an
isolated pawn, while Black's pieces are becoming quite active.} (9... d5 10.
exd5 Nb4 11. Qd2 Nbxd5 12. Nxd5 Qxd2+ 13. Kxd2 Nxd5 14. Bxd5 Rd8 {doesn't
fully equalise:} 15. c4 e6 16. Be4 Bxd4 17. Bxd4 Rxd4+ 18. Kc3 $14) (9... d6
10. Qd2 {would transpose to ''Dragon stuff''.}) 10. O-O (10. Qd2 d5 11. exd5
Nxd5 12. Bxd5 exd5 13. O-O-O Be6 $11 {0-1 Lopez Gracia,F (2218)-De la Villa
Garcia,J (2466)/Zaragoza 2001}) 10... d5 11. exd5 exd5 $6 {A serious
inaccuracy. The knight is not placed well on f6, so the dark-squared bishop
remains quite useless. In such a situation, White's pressure on the isolated
pawn becomes annoying.} (11... Nxd5 12. Nxd5 (12. Bxd5 exd5 13. Qd2 Re8 14.
Rad1 Be6 $11) 12... exd5 13. c3 Re8 14. Re1 (14. Qd2 Ne5 15. Bh6 Nc4 16. Bxc4
Bxh6 17. Qxh6 dxc4 18. Rfe1 Bd7 $11) 14... Nxd4 15. Bxd4 Rxe1+ 16. Qxe1 Bxd4+
17. cxd4 Qd8 {Black should be able to neutralise White's slight pressure.}) 12.
Qd2 Re8 13. Rad1 $146 {A natural novelty in a rare position.} ({White's
advantage is also indisputable after:} 13. Rfe1 Be6 14. Bf2 $14 (14. Nxc6 $6
bxc6 15. Nxd5 Qxd2 16. Nxf6+ Bxf6 17. Bxd2 Bxb2 $11 {0-1 Distaso,A (1974)
-Georgiev,V (2586)/Campobasso 2010/EXT 2013 (63)})) 13... Bd7 14. Nxc6 {
For some reasons, White prefers to change the pawn structure.} ({The weak Pd5
would be quite vulnerable after} 14. Bf2 $5 Rad8 15. Rfe1 Rxe1+ 16. Rxe1 $14 ({
Or} 16. Qxe1 $14)) 14... bxc6 {GM Vachier Lagrave doesn't mind to getting rid
off his isolated pawn. Still, Black's position is rather passive, while White
has full control of the dark squares.} (14... Bxc6 15. Bd4 Qc7 16. Rfe1 $14)
15. Nxd5 {Perhaps, Carlsen's decision on the previous move was connected with
a concrete approach.} ({Another way to handle the position was:} 15. Rfe1 $5
Re5 16. Na4 Qxd2 17. Bxd2 Rae8 18. Kf2 $14) 15... Qxd2 16. Nxf6+ Bxf6 17. Bxd2
({After} 17. Rxd2 {Black's best practical decision should be:} Rxe3 (17... Be6
18. Kf2 (18. Ba4 Rac8 19. Bxa7 Bxb2 20. Bf2 $14) 18... Bxb2 19. Rfd1 $14) 18.
Rxd7 Re7 19. Rfd1 Rae8 20. c3 Rxd7 21. Rxd7 Re7 22. Rd6 Bg5 23. Rxc6 Bc1 $14 {
the character of play here is similar to the text.}) 17... Bxb2 {Correctly
accepting the challenge.} ({After} 17... Be6 $6 18. Bc1 $1 Bxb3 19. cxb3 $16 {
there would be no compensation for a pawn.}) 18. Bc3 Bxc3 19. Rxd7 Rf8 {
A sad necessity.} 20. Rfd1 $14 {White's advantage is clear in this endgame,
but Black has definite drawing chances.} Kg7 (20... a5 21. Rc7 a4 22. Bc4 $14)
21. Rb7 {Magnus is trying to keep both rooks on the board.} ({It was possible
to win a pawn immediately:} 21. Rc7 Ba5 22. Rxc6 Rac8 23. Rcd6 Rfd8 $14 {
but this would allow Black to release the pressure.}) 21... Ba5 {Bringing the
bishop to a secure spot.} (21... g5 22. Rd6 (22. Rdd7 Rad8 23. Rxf7+ Rxf7 24.
Rxf7+ Kg6 25. Rc7 $14) 22... Rac8 23. g3 Ba5 24. Kg2 $14) 22. Rdd7 Bb6+ 23. Kf1
Rad8 {Now White cannot avoid an exchange.} 24. Rxd8 Rxd8 25. Rxf7+ Kh8 26. Ke2
Re8+ {Black's moves are quite forced now - otherwise White may make progress.}
27. Kd3 Rd8+ 28. Kc3 Ba5+ {This move seems inaccurate, as it allows White to
activate the king.} ({After} 28... Rd1 $142 29. g4 h5 (29... Rh1 30. Rf6 Rxh2
31. Rxc6 Re2 32. Kb4 $16) 30. gxh5 gxh5 31. Rf5 Kg7 32. Rxh5 Kg6 33. Rh4 Rf1 {
White has 2 extra pawns, but the activity of Black's rook makes the task
difficult.}) 29. Kb2 ({There was no reason to deviate from} 29. Kc4 $1 Bb6 30.
Rf6 Rd2 ({or} 30... c5 31. Kb5 Rd2 32. g4) 31. g4 c5 32. Kb5 Rxh2 33. g5 h6 34.
Rxg6 hxg5 35. Rxg5 $16 {with excellent winning chances.}) 29... Bb6 30. g4 Rd2
31. h4 (31. g5 h5 32. gxh6 Rxh2 33. Ba4 c5 $14) 31... Rh2 {Now White cannot
avoid the simplifications.} 32. Ba4 (32. g5 h5 33. gxh6 Rxh4 34. a4 Rxh6 $14)
32... h5 (32... Rxh4 33. Bxc6 h5 34. gxh5 gxh5 35. Be4 {leads to the text.})
33. gxh5 Rxh4 34. Bxc6 gxh5 35. Be4 {Black is still in danger, but the passed
h-pawn is an important factor now.} Rh1 36. f4 ({After} 36. c4 h4 37. Rh7+ Kg8
38. Rh5 h3 39. c5 Bc7 40. c6 Kf8 $1 (40... h2 41. f4 Rf1 42. Rxh2 Rxf4 43. Bd5+
Kg7 44. Re2 Rd4 45. Bh1 Kf6 {is less clear}) 41. Rh7 h2 {Black should be able
to save a half point. For instance:} 42. Rxc7 Rb1+ 43. Bxb1 h1=Q 44. Rh7 Qg2+
45. Bc2 Qxf3 46. c7 Qf6+ 47. Kb3 Qf3+ 48. Kb4 Qf4+ 49. Kb5 Qe5+ 50. Kc6 Qe6+
51. Kb7 Qd5+ 52. Kb8 Qb5+ $11) 36... Rh3 37. c3 ({It looks like} 37. c4 $5 {
was the best chance:} Bd4+ 38. Kc2 Rc3+ 39. Kd2 Rxc4 40. Rh7+ Kg8 41. Rxh5 Ra4
42. Bd5+ Kg7 $14 {Some accuracy is required, but a draw is the most probable
result here.}) 37... h4 38. f5 ({After} 38. Kb3 Re3 39. Bf5 Ba5 40. Rh7+ Kg8
41. Rxh4 Rxc3+ 42. Ka4 Bd8 43. Be6+ Kg7 44. Rg4+ Kf6 45. f5 Bb6 {White could
hardly make any progress either.}) (38. Kc2 Re3 39. Bf5 Kg8 40. Rh7 Ba5 {
is more or less the same.}) 38... Re3 $11 {Now Black has sufficient
counterplay.} 39. Re7 (39. Bd5 Rd3 40. Be6 h3 41. f6 Rf3 {is safe for Black as
well}) 39... Ba5 (39... Bc5 40. Re6 h3 41. f6 Kg8 $11) 40. c4 h3 41. Re6 {
The only way to stop the h-pawn.} h2 (41... Kg7 42. Bd5 Rxe6 43. fxe6 Kf6 $11)
42. Bd5 Rxe6 43. fxe6 Bd8 44. Kb3 Kg7 {Of course, White has only a symbolic
advantage here.} 45. Kb4 Kf6 46. Kb5 h1=Q (46... Be7 47. Kc6 (47. c5 Ke5 $11)
47... Ke5 48. Kd7 Kf6 $11) 47. Bxh1 Kxe6 48. c5 Kd7 49. Ka6 Kc7 50. Kxa7 Be7
51. c6 Bc5+ {White's 2 extra pawns are of no value, so a draw was agreed.}
1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 2nd"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2014.09.03"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D10"]
[WhiteElo "2877"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2014.08.27"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "23"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 162"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 dxc4 {Hikaru tried this line recently against
Mamedyarov in the Olympiad.} 4. e3 b5 5. a4 b4 6. Ne4 Qd5 7. Nd2 c3 8. bxc3 {
Mamedyarov played 8.Ndf3. For some reason, Hikaru was either unfamiliar with
this line (the main line) or forgot his analysis.} bxc3 9. Nb1 Qa5 10. Qc2 {
This is a common position. Black usually plays 10...Na6. Hikaru went into a
long think, and played an interesting move.} e5 $5 11. Nf3 {And now Hikaru
thought for a long time, and made the losing move.} Na6 $4 (11... exd4 12. Nxd4
Nf6 {is better for white, but the game goes on. Perhaps Hikaru thought this
was too simple and played for complications, but they were not in his favor.})
12. Nxe5 {Black is simply lost. He will be 1-2 pawns in the ending with no
compensation.} Nb4 {Played after long thought, but there is nothing else.} 13.
Qb3 $1 Be6 14. Bc4 c2 $6 (14... Bxc4 15. Qxc4 Qd5 (15... Nc2+ $2 16. Kd1 Nxa1
17. Qxf7+ Kd8 18. Qd7#) 16. O-O {is best, but white should be winning.}) 15.
Bxe6 Nd3+ 16. Ke2 Nxe5 17. dxe5 fxe6 18. Qxe6+ Ne7 19. Nd2 Qd5 {The computer
says this is best, but black has little chance of survival in the ending.} 20.
Qxd5 Nxd5 21. Ne4 Rb8 22. Bd2 Bb4 23. Rhc1 Bxd2 24. Nxd2 Nb4 25. Nf3 Ke7 26.
Ne1 Rhd8 27. f4 $1 (27. Nxc2 $6 Nd3 28. Rcb1 Nxe5 {is great for white, but not
completely winning.}) 27... c5 28. Nxc2 Nd3 29. Rcb1 Nb2 30. Ra2 Nxa4 {A bit
tricky, but unfortunately, not tricky enough.} 31. Rxb8 Nc3+ 32. Kf3 Nxa2 33.
Rb5 Nb4 34. Nxb4 cxb4 35. Rxb4 Ra8 36. Ke4 a5 37. Ra4 Kf7 38. g4 Ke7 39. f5 h6
40. h4 Kf7 41. e6+ Kf6 42. Rd4 Ke7 (42... Ra7 43. g5+ hxg5 44. Rd7 Rxd7 45.
exd7 Ke7 46. f6+ gxf6 47. h5 {is a funny computer line.}) 43. Rd7+ Kf8 44. e7+
Ke8 45. Rd8+ Rxd8 46. exd8=Q+ Kxd8 47. Kd5 Ke7 48. g5 a4 49. Kc4 hxg5 50. hxg5
Kd6 51. e4 Ke5 52. Kb4 1-0

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 2nd"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2014.09.04"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B36"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2877"]
[Annotator "Roiz,M"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2014.08.27"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "23"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 162"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 d6 7. f3 Nxd4 8.
Qxd4 Bg7 9. Be3 O-O 10. Qd2 a5 ({The most popular continuations here are} 10...
Be6) ({and} 10... Qa5 {but the text move is also well known.}) 11. b3 {
Restricting Black's activity on the queenside.} ({Another way to handle the
position was shown by 13th World Champion:} 11. Be2 a4 12. O-O Qa5 13. Rac1 Bd7
(13... Be6 $5) 14. c5 Bc6 15. cxd6 Rfd8 16. Nb1 Qxd2 17. Nxd2 exd6 18. Nc4 d5
19. Nb6 Ra5 20. e5 Nd7 21. f4 $14 {1/2-1/2 Kasparov,G (2825)-Alterman,B (2615)/
Tel Aviv 1998/CBM 065/[Tsesarsky] (25)}) 11... a4 $6 {This move is quite risky
from a strategic point of view: the a-pawn may become a target, while Black
has a couple of weak squares on the queenside.} ({In the following recent game
Black had a solid, but rather passive position:} 11... Bd7 12. Be2 Bc6 13. O-O
Nd7 14. Rfd1 Nc5 15. Rac1 Qb6 16. Nd5 Bxd5 17. cxd5 Qb4 18. Rc2 Qxd2 19. Bxd2
$14 {1-0 Khismatullin,D (2671)-Vorobiov,E (2587)/Vladivostok RUS 2014}) ({
The most reasonable setup is connected with:} 11... Be6 12. Rb1 (12. Be2 $5 Nd7
13. O-O Nc5 14. Rac1) 12... Nd7 13. Be2 Nc5 14. O-O Qb6 15. Rfc1 Rfc8 16. Kh1 (
16. Nd5 $5 {deserves a serious attention, but after} Bxd5 17. cxd5 Qb4 {
Black is a tempo up compared to Khismatullin-Vorobiov,2014.}) 16... Qb4 17. Bg5
a4 18. Bxe7 axb3 19. axb3 Nxb3 $11 {1/2-1/2 Van Wely,L (2691)-Iturrizaga,E 
(2627)/Istanbul TUR 2012 (122)}) 12. b4 Be6 13. Rc1 Nd7 14. Be2 {Fabiano is
not in a hurry.} ({Black's position also looks unpleasant after} 14. Nd5 f5 (
14... a3 15. Nf4 Rc8 16. Be2 $14) 15. exf5 Bxf5 16. Be2 $14) 14... Nb6 15. Nb5
$5 $146 {This ambitious continuation is a novelty. Having a serious space
advantage, White wants to keep as many pieces as it possible.} ({In the
preceding game Black was able to defend an inferior position after:} 15. Nd5
Nxd5 16. exd5 Bd7 17. a3 (17. O-O a3 18. c5 dxc5 19. bxc5 $14) 17... e6 18.
dxe6 Bxe6 19. O-O d5 20. c5 d4 21. Bf2 Qd7 22. Bd3 $14 {1/2-1/2 Felgaer,R 
(2586)-Cuenca Jimenez,J (2477)/La Massana AND 2013}) 15... a3 {Desperately
looking for any kind of counterplay.} ({After} 15... Rc8 16. Na3 f5 17. exf5
gxf5 18. O-O $16 {Black's position lacks any active ideas.}) 16. Nd4 Bd7 17. h4
$1 {Once again, Caruana chooses the most ambitious way to handle the position.}
(17. O-O Na4 18. f4 Qc7 19. Kh1 $14 {was a quiet alternative. White maintains
a stable advantage.}) 17... h5 (17... e6 18. h5 Qe7 19. Nb3 $16 {followed by
20.c5 is extremely unpleasant.}) 18. g4 $1 {Now Black is under a direct attack.
} hxg4 19. fxg4 ({Correcty deviating from} 19. h5 e5 20. Nb3 gxf3 21. Bxf3 Be6
22. Qh2 Nd7 $132) 19... e5 {This is an obvious positional concession, but
Magnus had no choice.} (19... Be5 20. h5 Na4 21. Nf3 $40) 20. Nb3 (20. Nb5 $5 {
also deserved serious attention:} Bxb5 21. cxb5 d5 22. h5 d4 23. Bh6 $36) 20...
Bc6 21. Bf3 f5 {Now Black's king is exposed, but Black cannot sit and wait
anymore.} 22. gxf5 (22. Na5 $5 Rxa5 (22... f4 23. Bf2 Qc7 24. h5 $16) 23. bxa5
Na4 24. gxf5 gxf5 25. Bg5 $16) 22... gxf5 23. Na5 {Keeping an eye on the
light-squared bishop.} f4 (23... Rxa5 24. bxa5 Na4 25. Bg5 {leads to a
position from the previous note. Black has some practical chances, but
objectively there is no compensation for an exchange.}) 24. Bf2 $16 {White's
monarch feels quite safe now, while Black has numerous weaknesses.} Na4 25.
Nxc6 (25. Rg1 Kh8 26. Ke2 Bf6 27. h5 $16) 25... bxc6 26. O-O {Caruana doesn't
mind spending some time on removing his king from the centre.} ({Also good
enough was} 26. h5 Bf6 27. Rg1+ Kh8 28. Ke2 $16) 26... c5 {In such a difficult
situation, Magnus is trying to fix the pawn structure in order to set up some
kind of blockade.} (26... Bf6 27. Kh1 Kh8 (27... Bxh4 $2 28. Rg1+ Kh8 29. Rg2
$18) 28. Rg1 Qe7 29. Rg2 Rf7 (29... Rg8 30. Bg4 Rg7 31. Rcg1 Rag8 32. Qe2 $16)
30. Bg4 Rh7 31. Bf5 Rh6 32. b5 Bxh4 33. Rh2 $16) (26... Rf6 27. Kh1 Rh6 28. Rg1
Kh8 29. Rg2 Bf6 30. h5 $16) 27. b5 Bf6 28. Kh1 Nb6 $2 {This could be a
decisive mistake.} ({A better move was} 28... Ra7 $142 29. Rg1+ Kh8 30. h5 Nb6
31. Rg6 Rg8 32. Bg4 Rag7 33. Bf5 $16) ({The pawn was untouchable:} 28... Bxh4
29. Rg1+ Kh8 30. Rg2 {with a decisive attack.}) 29. Rcd1 $2 {Wrong rook!} ({
Fabiano misses a clear win:} 29. Rfd1 $1 Be7 30. Bxc5 Kh8 31. Bf2 Bxh4 $140 32.
Bxb6 Qxb6 33. Qxd6 $18 {and the 2 strong passed pawns will decide the game.})
29... Kh8 $1 30. Qxd6 $6 {Underestimating Black's defensive resources in the
resulting endgame.} ({After} 30. Bg4 Bxh4 31. Qxd6 Qxd6 32. Rxd6 Bxf2 33. Rxb6
Be3 $14 {Black gets excellent drawish chances.}) ({It was still possible to
pose serious problems by means of} 30. Be2 $1 Be7 31. Rg1 Rf6 32. Qd3 Qd7 33.
Qf3 $36) 30... Qxd6 31. Rxd6 Nxc4 {[%cal Gc4e3] The knight is heading to e3,
forcing White to exchange the dark-squared bishop.} 32. Rd5 (32. Rd7 {also
achieves nothing special:} Rad8 33. Bxc5 (33. Rfd1 Ne3 34. Bxe3 fxe3 35. Be2 c4
36. Rxd8 (36. Bxc4 Rc8 37. Bd3 Bxh4 $11) 36... Rxd8 37. Rxd8+ Bxd8 38. Bxc4
Bxh4 39. b6 Bd8 40. b7 Bc7 $11) 33... Rxd7 34. Bxf8 Rd2 35. Rc1 Ne3 36. b6 Rxa2
37. Bxa3 Rxa3 38. b7 Rb3 39. Rc8+ Kg7 40. b8=Q Rxb8 41. Rxb8 Bxh4 $11) 32...
Ne3 33. Bxe3 fxe3 34. Be2 Bxh4 {Magnus should be happy with his position at
this moment.} 35. Rf5 ({After} 35. Rxf8+ Rxf8 36. Rd3 {the easiest way is} c4
$1 37. Rxe3 Rc8 38. Rc3 (38. Rxa3 c3 39. Bd3 Bf2 40. Bc2 Bd4 41. Rb3 Rf8 $11)
38... Be1 39. Rxc4 Rxc4 40. Bxc4 Ba5 $11) 35... Rxf5 36. exf5 Rd8 $11 {
Liquidating into a drawish bishop endgame.} 37. Rxd8+ (37. Rxe5 Rd2 38. Rxe3
Rxa2 $11) 37... Bxd8 38. Kg2 Kg7 39. Kf3 Kf6 40. Ke4 c4 41. Bxc4 Bb6 42. Bd3 ({
A draw was agreed in view of} 42. Bd3 Bd4 43. Kd5 Ba7 44. Kc6 e4 45. Be2 Kxf5
46. b6 Bxb6 47. Kxb6 Kf4 48. Kc5 Kg3 $11) 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 2nd"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2014.09.05"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D56"]
[WhiteElo "2877"]
[BlackElo "2805"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "168"]
[EventDate "2014.08.27"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "23"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 162"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 Ne4 8. Bxe7
Qxe7 9. Rc1 c6 10. Qc2 Nxc3 11. Qxc3 Nd7 12. Be2 (12. Bd3 dxc4 13. Bxc4 {
is more common but White wants to recapture with his queen.}) 12... dxc4 13.
Qxc4 {An unusual decision allowing e6-e5. On the other hand, White prevents ...
b7-b6 followed by ...Bc8-b7 and ...c6-c5 so the position remains asymmetrical.}
e5 14. O-O exd4 15. Nxd4 {We have a typical quiet position with the open
d-file. It is approximately equal but not yet drawn - just made for Magnus
Carlsen!} Nf6 (15... Ne5 16. Qc5 Re8 17. Qxe7 Rxe7 18. Rfd1 Bd7 19. b4 Kf8 20.
Rc3 Be8 21. Nb3 Rd7 22. f4 Rxd1+ 23. Bxd1 Rd8 24. Be2 Ng6 25. Kf2 Ne7 26. e4 b6
27. Bf3 f6 28. Ke3 $14 {/= 1/2 (55) Nanu,C (2515)-Nikolov,S (2409) Sunny Beach
2010}) (15... Nb6 16. Qc5 (16. Qb3 $5) 16... Re8 17. Qxe7 Rxe7 18. Rfd1 Be6 19.
a3 g6 20. Nxe6 Rxe6 21. Rd4 Kf8 22. Rcd1 Ree8 23. Kf1 Ke7 24. Re4+ {1/2 (24)
Del Rio de Angelis,S (2484)-San Segundo Carrillo,P (2509) Leon 2012}) 16. b4 ({
White obtained a tiny plus in the following game:} 16. Bf3 Re8 17. Rfd1 Bd7 18.
a4 a5 19. Qb3 Bg4 20. Bxg4 Nxg4 21. h3 Nf6 22. Nf5 Qe6 23. Qxe6 Rxe6 24. Nd6
Re7 25. Nc4 $14 {1-0 (83) Melkumyan,H (2628)-Esen,B (2555) Plovdiv 2012}) 16...
Bd7 (16... Be6 $5 17. Nxe6 Qxe6 18. Qxe6 fxe6 {was recommended by IM Maxim
Notkin but White can still fight on, say, after} 19. a4 {with a minority
attack.}) 17. Rfd1 Rfe8 18. Qc5 g6 19. a4 Qxc5 20. bxc5 a5 21. Nb3 (21. Rd2 $5
{[%cal Yd2b2] M.Notkin}) 21... Re5 22. Rd4 Kf8 23. Kf1 Ke7 24. Bc4 g5 25. h3 b5
$6 {Hardly a good idea. Black trades White's only weakness and remains with
pawn ruins on the queenside.} (25... h5 $5 26. Ke2 g4) 26. cxb6 Rb8 27. f4 $5 {
A nice pawn sacrifice.} Rxe3 28. Nc5 {[%csl Gc5]} (28. Nxa5 Rxb6 29. fxg5 c5
30. Rd3 Rxd3 31. Bxd3 hxg5 32. Rxc5 g4 33. hxg4 Bxa4 $11) (28. fxg5 $5 hxg5 29.
Nxa5 Re5 (29... Rxb6 30. Bd3 $1 {[%cal Ra5c4]}) 30. Nb3 c5 31. Rxd7+ Nxd7 32.
a5 $14) 28... Rxb6 29. Kf2 gxf4 30. Rxf4 Re5 31. Rxf6 Be8 {An unnecessary
tactical trick.} (31... Rb2+ 32. Kf3 Rxc5 33. Rxf7+ Kd8 (33... Kd6 34. Rd1+ Ke5
35. Re7+ Kf6 36. Re4 $14) 34. Rd1 Rxc4 35. Rdxd7+ Kc8 {looks very dangerous
for Black but, surprisingly, there is no decisive blow, e.g.} 36. Rc7+ Kb8 $1 (
36... Kd8 $2 37. Ra7 Ke8 38. Rh7) 37. Rce7 Ka8) 32. Rf4 $1 Rxc5 33. Re4+ Kf8
34. Rxe8+ Kxe8 35. Bxf7+ Kxf7 36. Rxc5 {[%mdl 4096] This rook endgame is very
subtle; the line between a draw and White's win is very thin.} Rb4 {It looked
more logical to give a couple of checks to force White's king out of the
centre:} (36... Rb2+ 37. Kg3 Rb3+ {; however, the king goes forward:} 38. Kh4
$1 Rb4+ 39. g4 Rxa4 40. Rxc6 Kg7 41. Kh5 $18 {M.Notkin}) 37. Rxa5 c5 38. Ke3
Rd4 39. Ra6 Kg7 $6 (39... h5 $5 40. Rh6 (40. a5 Ra4) 40... Rxa4 41. Rxh5 Ra3+
42. Kf4 c4 43. Rc5 c3 44. h4 Ra2 45. g4 c2 46. g5 (46. h5 Ra4+ 47. Kg3 Ra3+ 48.
Kh4 Ra2 {is a theoretical draw}) 46... Ke6 47. Kg4 Kd6 48. Rc8 Ra4+ 49. Kh5 Ra2
{, and White apparently can't make progress}) 40. a5 Ra4 41. g4 h5 (41... Ra3+
42. Ke4 Rxh3 43. Kd5 c4 (43... h5 44. gxh5 Rxh5+ 45. Kc4 Rh4+ 46. Kb5) 44. Kxc4
h5 45. gxh5 Rh4+ 46. Kc5 Rxh5+ 47. Kb6 Rh6+ 48. Kb7 Rh5 49. Ra7 $1 $18 {
M.Notkin}) 42. gxh5 Ra3+ 43. Ke4 c4 44. Kd4 c3 (44... Rf3 45. h6+ Kh7 46. Rc6)
45. Kd3 Kh7 46. h6 $2 (46. Kc2 $1 {was necessary. It is essential for White
not to allow Black's rook to control the a-pawn from the side.} Kg7 47. h6+ Kh7
48. h4 Kh8 49. Ra7 Kg8 50. a6 Kh8 51. h5 $22 Kg8 52. Rg7+ Kh8 53. a7 Ra2+ 54.
Kb3 $18) 46... Rb3 $3 {Miraculously, this move now saves the game.} 47. Kc2 (
47. Rc6 {(b6, d6 etc.)} Ra3 48. a6 Kg8 {No zugzwang is possible now, and White
can't make progress.}) 47... Rb5 48. Kxc3 Rf5 {The so-called Vancsura setup.
Despite 3 extra pawns, the position is drawn.} 49. Ra8 Rb5 50. Kc4 Rf5 {
The f-file is the most appropriate position for Black's rook.} 51. Kb4 Rf4+ 52.
Kc5 Rf5+ 53. Kd4 Rb5 54. Ke4 Rc5 55. Ra6 Rb5 56. h4 Rc5 57. Kd4 Rb5 58. Kc4 Rf5
59. Kb4 Rf4+ 60. Kc5 Rf5+ 61. Kb6 Rf6+ {Black pushes White's king away as it
is approaching the a-pawn.} 62. Kb7 Rf7+ 63. Kc8 Rf8+ 64. Kd7 Rf5 65. Ra8 Rd5+
66. Ke6 Rb5 67. Kf6 Rc5 68. Ra7+ Kxh6 69. Kf7 Rb5 70. a6 Rb6 71. Kg8 Rb8+ 72.
Kf7 Rb6 73. Ke7 Kg6 74. Kd7 Rf6 75. Ra8 Kg7 76. Kc7 Rf7+ 77. Kd6 Rf6+ 78. Ke5
Rb6 79. Ra7+ (79. a7 Ra6 $11) 79... Kg6 80. h5+ Kh6 81. Kf5 Rc6 82. Re7 Rxa6
83. Re6+ Rxe6 84. Kxe6 Kxh5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 2nd"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2014.09.06"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2877"]
[PlyCount "38"]
[EventDate "2014.08.27"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "23"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 162"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.09.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. h3 Ke8 10. Nc3 b6 11. Bf4 Bb4 12. Ne4 Ba6 13. Rfc1 Be2 14.
Nfd2 Bxd2 15. Nxd2 Nd4 16. Be3 Nf5 17. Bf4 Nd4 18. Be3 Nf5 19. Bf4 Nd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Anand +3-1=7"]
[Site "Sochi"]
[Date "2014.11.08"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2792"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2014.11.08"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 164"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bd2 {The opening could not have
come as a complete surprise to either one of the players, even though it does
not belong to their main lines. Carlsen has played the Grünfeld over the past
years only occasionally and did not try it in 2014 at all! At the same time,
Anand has tried a wide range of systems against the Grünfeld, the most popular
being the Russian Variation (as in game 10) and the normal (5.e4) Exchange
Variation.} Bg7 6. e4 Nxc3 7. Bxc3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 $5 {Even in such a heavily
analysed opening as the Grünfeld, Carlsen finds a way of deviating from the
main theoretical discussion. But this is not really such a miracle, since this
is a very flexible opening with practically unlimited possibilities for
improvising.} ({It would have made little sense checking Anand's preparation
after, say,} 8... c5 9. d5 Bxc3 10. bxc3 e6 11. d6 e5 12. h4 Be6 {when the
former World Champion had delivered a very powerful novelty in a game against
Carlsen's countryman:} 13. Nh3 $1 $146 {Anand,V (2783)-Hammer,J (2608)
Stavanger 2013 CBM 155 [Krasenkow,M] (1-0, 45)}) 9. Nf3 {The most natural way
of defending the central pawn, even though it allows Black to develop freely
on the next move.} (9. Ne2 {as tried in Hambleton,A (2583)-Berson,J (2021)
Portugal Cove 2013 (1-0, 26) avoids ...Bg4 but places the knight on a not very
active square. Black could obtain good counterplay with} e5 {(not the only
move, most surely)} 10. d5 Nd4 $1 11. Nxd4 exd4 12. Bxd4 Qh4 13. Bxg7 (13. Qe3
Re8 14. Bd3 Bf5 $11) 13... Qxe4+ 14. Qe2 Qxe2+ 15. Bxe2 Kxg7 16. Rc1 {The
backward pawn should not offer Black too many problems since White is behind
in development.} Bf5 17. Rxc7 Rac8 18. Rxc8 Rxc8 {[%cal Gf5e4,Gc8c1]}) ({
Without kingside development, the radical advance} 9. d5 {is not likely to
yield too much:} Ne5 10. Be2 (10. f4 Ng4 11. Bxg7 Kxg7 12. Nf3 c6 $32 {
Ushenina,A (2501)-Lagno,K (2543) Beijing 2013 (0-1, 37)}) 10... c6 11. Nf3
Nxf3+ 12. Bxf3 Bxc3 13. Qxc3 cxd5 14. exd5 e6 $11 {Gleizerov,E (2536)-Ulibin,M
(2498) Las Palmas 2014 (1/2-1/2, 18)}) 9... Bg4 10. d5 {The only reasonable
continuation.} (10. O-O-O $6 e5 11. d5 Nd4 $15) 10... Bxf3 11. Bxg7 $5 $146 {
Strictly speaking, this looks like a concession since White would be
interested in provoking ...Bxc3, bxc3 with a strengthening of his centre. But
Anand had a concrete idea in mind, which worked reasonably well, at least from
the opening point of view.} ({If} 11. gxf3 Ne5 12. O-O-O ({Defending the pawn
is not necessary.} 12. Be2 {wastes an important tempo and has led to
comfortable play for Black in a few games, the latest being:} c6 13. f4 Nd7 14.
Bxg7 Kxg7 15. dxc6 bxc6 {Moiseenko,A (2707)-Nepomniachtchi,I (2714) Yaroslavl
2014 (0-1, 38)}) 12... c6 ({Even with bishops on the board, the pawn is taboo:
} 12... Nxf3 $2 13. Qf4 $18) 13. f4 Ng4 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 $11 {[%cal Gg4f6]}) 11...
Kxg7 12. gxf3 Ne5 13. O-O-O c6 {This hurried undermining of the centre offers
White the possibility of setting up some pressure.} (13... Nxf3 $2 14. Qc3+) ({
Black could have avoided the weakening of his kingside with} 13... Qd6 $5 14.
Be2 (14. Qc3 $6 Qf6 15. Be2 c6 $15 {leaves the white centre immobile and
vulnerable.}) 14... c6 $132) 14. Qc3 $1 f6 {[%csl Ge6]} 15. Bh3 $14 {This
bishops cuts like a blade, preventing Black from obtaining rapid counterplay.
In the long run, the kingside weaknesses may tell. On the other hand, the
position remains double-edged strategically. Should White allow some exchanges,
he would risk landing into a bad ending, due to his numerous pawn weaknesses.}
(15. dxc6 $6 Qb6 16. cxb7 $6 Rab8 $15 17. f4 $2 Rxb7 $19 {[%cal Gf8c8,Rb7c7]})
15... cxd5 {True to his style, Carlsen clears up matters in the centre at the
first given occasion.} ({The long plan of transfering the knight to d4 (!) is
interesting but probably not entirely sound:} 15... Qb6 $5 16. f4 (16. d6 exd6
17. Rxd6 Rad8 18. Rhd1 Rxd6 19. Rxd6 Qxf2 $19) 16... Nf7 {[%csl Gf2]} 17. f3 $1
(17. Rd2 Nd6 {[%csl Ge4] gains an important tempo for developing the
counterplay.} 18. Qd3 cxd5 19. exd5 f5) (17. dxc6 bxc6 18. Rd7 Qxf2 19. Rf1 Qe2
20. Rxe7 Rae8 $132) 17... Nd6 (17... cxd5 18. exd5 Nd6 19. Kb1) (17... Rad8 18.
Kb1 Nd6 19. a4 $1 {[%csl Gb5]} cxd5 20. Rxd5 Nf7 21. Bd7 Nd6 22. a5 Qf2 23. Be6
$14) 18. Kb1 (18. a4 $2 cxd5 $17) 18... Nb5 19. Qb3 c5 20. Rc1 Nd4 21. Qe3 (21.
Qd3 Qd6 22. Qe3 f5 23. exf5 gxf5 24. Rhe1 Rf7) (21. Qc4 Nxf3 22. Qc3 Nd4 23.
Qxc5 Ne2 24. Qxb6 axb6 25. Rc7 Nxf4 26. Bd7 f5 27. Rxb7 fxe4 $132) 21... Qd6
22. f5 g5 23. Rhg1 Qxh2 (23... Kh8 24. Bg4 $36 {[%cal Gh2h4,Gg4h5,Gh5g6]}) 24.
Bf1 b6 25. f4 h6 26. Bd3 $44) 16. exd5 Nf7 $2 {But this is too straightforward
an attempt to stabilise the position. True, the d6-square is important, but
does not justify abandoning the central e5-square.} (16... Qd6 $5 17. Kb1 Rad8
18. f4 (18. Rhe1 Rfe8 19. f4 Nf7 20. Rd4 e5 21. fxe5 Rxe5 22. Rxe5 fxe5 $11)
18... Nf7 19. Rd4 e5 20. fxe5 fxe5 21. Rd2 {may offer White some chances for
the initiative. If compared with the similar subline above, all major pieces
are on the board, making Black's position less stable.}) (16... a5 17. f4 Nf7
18. Kb1 a4 {would transpose below.}) 17. f4 $2 {This wastes a tempo, exposes
the f-pawn and obstructs the c1-h6 diagonal. On top, after the knight has
retreated, it does not achieve anything constructive.} (17. Kb1 $5 Qd6 (17...
a5 18. Be6 a4 19. h4 a3 20. b3 Qd6 21. Qd2 $36 {[%cal Gh4h5,Gd2h6]}) 18. Be6
Nd8 (18... Ng5 19. Bg4 {/\x h4}) (18... Rad8 19. h4 $36) 19. Rhe1 $5 Re8 (19...
Qxh2 20. Rh1 Qf4 21. Qa3 Qd6 22. Qe3 $16) 20. Bc8 $1 $36 {[%cal Gh2h4,Gh4h5] A
nice move paralysing the black queenside and clearing the path of the h-pawn
for the attack.}) 17... Qd6 {It is not clear yet which piece is best suited
for the occupation of this square.} ({Since the black rooks do not have any
future on the open c-file, it would have made sense to get some space on the
queenside:} 17... a5 $5 18. Kb1 a4 19. Be6 (19. a3 b5 $1 {[%cal Ga8b8,Gd8d6,
Gb5b4]}) 19... Qd6 20. Rd4 a3 21. b3 Nd8 22. Bg4 b6 {[%csl Ra5][%cal Ga8a5,
Ga5c5]} 23. h4 Ra5 {[%csl Gd5]} 24. Qd2 f5 25. Bf3 h5 (25... Nf7 26. Re1 {
[%csl Ge6]}) 26. Rg1 {Black is under certain pressure but since White does not
have any pawn breaks it looks like the position is statically equal. One more
detail is that the white king is not entirely safe either.} Kh7 (26... Kh6 {
is also possible:} 27. Qd1 Rc5 28. Bxh5 gxh5 29. Rg5 {Things look dangerous but
} Kh7 $8 {saves the day.} 30. Rxh5+ Kg7 31. Rg5+ Kh7 $11) 27. Re1 Ra7 28. Rc4
Qf6 $13) 18. Qd4 (18. Rd4 {can be met with the paradoxical} f5 $3 {[%csl Rh3]}
(18... Rad8 19. Be6 $14) 19. Re1 (19. Re4+ $2 Kg8 $19 {[%csl Gd5][%cal Ga8c8]})
19... Kg8 20. Kb1 Rac8 21. Rc4 Rxc4 22. Qxc4 Qf6 {/\ ...Nd6 with excellent
play for Black.}) 18... Rad8 19. Be6 {It is important to block the e7-pawn.} (
19. Rhe1 e5 $1 20. fxe5 Nxe5 21. Re3 (21. f4 Nf3) 21... Nc6 22. dxc6 (22. Qa4
Nb4 23. Be6 Rfe8 24. Kb1 Qf4 $1 $11 25. a3 $140 $2 Nxd5 $17) 22... Qxd4 23.
Rxd4 Rxd4 24. cxb7 f5 25. Re7+ Kf6 26. Rxh7 Rfd8 $132) 19... Qb6 20. Qd2 $6 {
This allows Black to solve all his problems.} ({Anand might have avoided the
queen exchange for psychological reasons, since the endgame is supposed to be
Carlsen's chosenterritory, but the only way to keep the pressure was:} 20. Qxb6
axb6 21. Kb1 Nd6 22. Rc1 f5 23. Rc7 Kf6 24. Bd7 {[%cal Gh1e1]} Ne4 25. Rxb7 (
25. Re1 $6 Nc5 26. Be6 Rd6 $15 {[%csl Ge6]}) 25... Rb8 26. Rc7 Nxf2 27. Re1 Ne4
28. b4 Rfd8 29. Kb2 h6 30. h4 $14 {[%cal Ga2a4,Gb2b3] White's queenside
initiative is rather threatening. For Black, creating a kingside passed pawn
with ...g5 would imply big risks for his king.}) 20... Rd6 21. Rhe1 Nd8 {
Everything fits well in Black's position and suddenly, White loses his
stability in the centre.} 22. f5 (22. Bh3 e6) 22... Nxe6 23. Rxe6 Qc7+ $6 {
A bit too timid at a favourable moment.} ({It might have been better to use
the c-file for a well-timed check with the rook while eliminating completely
White's pressure along the e-file:} 23... Rxe6 $5 24. fxe6 (24. dxe6 Rc8+ 25.
Kb1 Qc5 26. fxg6 hxg6 {[%cal Gc8c6]}) 24... Rc8+ 25. Kb1 Qd6 {with chances for
reaching a better ending due to White-s weakened structure.}) 24. Kb1 Rc8 (
24... Rxe6 25. dxe6 Qc5 26. Qc2 $11) 25. Rde1 Rxe6 26. Rxe6 Rd8 27. Qe3 Rd7 $11
{White's pressure along the e-file should now compensate for the structural
defects. But as in an earlier comment, it is worth keeping in mind that the
endings could be unpleasant for White.} 28. d6 exd6 29. Qd4 Rf7 30. fxg6 hxg6
31. Rxd6 a6 32. a3 Qa5 33. f4 Qh5 34. Qd2 Qc5 35. Rd5 Qc4 36. Rd7 Qc6 ({If} 
36... Rxd7 37. Qxd7+ Qf7 38. Qd6 {the activity of the white queen compensates
for the structural problems.}) 37. Rd6 (37. Rxf7+ Kxf7 {would leave the white
pawns exposed to a possible king invasion on the light squares.}) 37... Qe4+
38. Ka2 Re7 {So far Anand has kept things level, but his next two moves give
up the centralising, offering Black some chances to take over the initiative.}
39. Qc1 $6 (39. Rd4) 39... a5 40. Qf1 $6 a4 $15 41. Rd1 Qc2 42. Rd4 (42. Qf3 $5
{[%csl Ge3]}) 42... Re2 $6 {Missing the last chance.} (42... Re3 $1 {[%cal
Ge3a3,Ga2a3,Rc2b3] with the brutal threat of 43...Rxa3!+ 44.Kxa3 Qb3 mate!} 43.
Qd1 (43. Ka1 Rxa3+ 44. bxa3 Qc3+ {[%csl Rd4]}) (43. Rd7+ Kh6 {[%cal Gb7b5]} 44.
Rxb7 Rb3 45. Rxb3 axb3+ 46. Ka1 Qxh2 $17 {[%csl Ra1][%cal Gg6g1]}) 43... Qxd1
44. Rxd1 Kh6 $15 {Black is better on both wings and White would face an
unpleasant defensive task... even though all rook endings are drawn! Actually
the first match proved not all of them are...}) 43. Rb4 {White has finally
reached absolute stability and is out of any danger.} b5 44. Qh1 $1 Re7 45. Qd5
Re1 46. Qd7+ Kh6 47. Qh3+ Kg7 48. Qd7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Anand +3-1=7"]
[Site "Sochi"]
[Date "2014.11.09"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2792"]
[Annotator "Negi,P"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2014.11.08"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 164"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 {I am curious why Magnus avoided these
long middlegames in the next games, considering the way this game went.} Bc5 {
The first theoretical crossroads. 0-0, and c3, both seem to lead to similar
positions, but there are many subtle differences. I'll briefly write about a
line in the c3-variation which I feel is an influence on the way Magnus played
here.} 5. O-O (5. c3 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. Nbd2 (7. Bxc6 {not as good as the Magnus
version because of c3 being already committed.}) 7... a6 {plays into White's
plans. Now we get a setup similar to Carlsen's in the game. It might appear
that in the game Black did not lose a move with ...a6 - but that was possibly
offset by the fact that White tried to play a setup with c3. As you will see,
c3-d4 is not neccesarily the only plan here, so it could be beneficial not to
hurry with it.} (7... Ne7 $1 {is the main line these days, and it has been
very hard for White to prove any advantage. The key idea is that Black avoids
Bxc6 setups, and is willing to concede the centre after} 8. d4 {if not d4,
then Black gets the ideal Ne7-Ng6, followed by ...a6 etc.} exd4 9. cxd4 Bb6 {
this is the critical position for the assessment of this line. It appears to
me that Black has been able to get enough counterplay so far, but there's
certainly more room to explore.}) 8. Bxc6 {A couple of excellent
demonstrations of White's play were the following. In both the games, White
avoided an early d4, and instead just focussed on developing his pieces, and
eventually exploiting Black's structural weaknesses. Right now, the weaknesses
appear miniscule, but it makes it incredibly difficult for Black to create
counterplay since ideas like ...d5 just weaken his position further. And White
can eventually try to get in d4 at the right point.} bxc6 9. Re1 Re8 10. h3 Bb6
11. Nf1 h6 12. Ng3 Be6 (12... d5 13. Qc2 $1 {again the queen is wonderful here.
Black is just spoiling his own structure:} dxe4 14. dxe4 Nd7 15. Be3 Nc5 16. c4
a5 17. b3 $14 {1-0 (26) Dominguez Perez,L (2753)-Cox,J (2387) Rhodes 2013}) 13.
Be3 Bxe3 14. Rxe3 c5 15. Qc2 {The queen is always excellent here.} Nd7 16. d4
$1 {since everything is perfectly placed.} cxd4 17. cxd4 exd4 18. Nxd4 a5 19.
b3 Nc5 20. Rd1 $14 {1-0 (55) Svidler,P (2741)-Navara,D (2706) Prague 2012})
5... d6 (5... O-O {isn't possible due to} 6. Bxc6 bxc6 7. Nxe5) ({The main
drawback for 0-0 is} 5... Nd4 {as an extra option, which has often allowed
Black to equalise easily in the past. But as the following recent game shows,
there is a lot more to explore here, and clearly Magnus had some interesting
setup in mind against this.} 6. Nxd4 Bxd4 7. c3 Bb6 8. Na3 $5 c6 9. Ba4 O-O 10.
Bg5 h6 11. Bh4 d5 12. exd5 cxd5 13. Bb3 g5 14. Bg3 Re8 15. Re1 Bc7 16. Nc2 $14
{1/2-1/2 (69) Topalov,V (2785)-Andreikin,D (2709) Khanty-Mansiysk 2014}) 6. Re1
$5 {Already a novelty among decent players! That's pretty impressive in one of
the most widely analysed opening of our times...although I have to admit, it's
not really a new concept. The same thing was tried by Adams after 6.Nbd2 -
actually 9...h6 by Anand would have converted to the Adams - Kramnik game
mentioned below.  I am not sure if there is any subtlety behind delaying Nd2 -
perhaps it could be more flexible in some cases, but I don't think it really
matters. White's main idea is just to play the closed structure after Bxc6,
similar to the Svidler - Navara game mentioned after 5. c3. In the long term
he hopes to exploit the 'queenside' weakening of the strucuture, and hope that
active moves like d5 will only create weaknesses for Black. It's an
interesting concept, and certainly an excellent try against people not
comfortable with long strategic manoevres.} ({The same structure can be got by
} 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. Bxc6 bxc6 8. h3 h6 9. Re1 Re8 10. Nf1 d5 $5 {I prefer} 11. Qe2
{or perhaps he could have included c3 earlier, so Qc2 would have made even
more sense.} (11. exd5 Qxd5 $1 {gave Black a lot of counterplay despite the
broken structure.} 12. Be3 Bf8 13. Bd2 e4 14. dxe4 Nxe4 15. Ng3 Bb7 16. Bf4 Nd6
17. b3 c5 $11 {0-1 (75) Adams,M (2727)-Kramnik,V (2801) Paris/St Petersburg
2013 CBM 154 [Szabo,Kr].}) {Nothing drastic has occured and the slow game
continues. Here, Black went wrong trying to seek activity with} 11... dxe4 12.
dxe4 a5 13. Rd1 Ba6 14. Qe1 Qb8 15. Ng3 Qb4 16. b3 Qxe1+ 17. Rxe1 Bb4 18. Rd1
Bc3 19. Rb1 c5 20. Bd2 Bxd2 21. Nxd2 g6 22. f3 Red8 23. Ndf1 $14 {with a
pleasant endgame in Bartel,M (2651)-Arslanov,S (2396) Moscow 2014.}) 6... O-O
7. Bxc6 bxc6 8. h3 (8. Nbd2 {would run into Ng4...f5 ideas.}) 8... Re8 9. Nbd2
Nd7 (9... h6 {would convert to Adams - Kramnik as mentioned above. There White
continued Nf1, but perhaps it makes sense to play more in Carlsen's style as
well.} 10. a4 {or doing the same thing without a4 - but including a4 never
seems bad to me. Also it's a useful waiting move.} a5 (10... Be6 11. Nf1 {
now d5 isn't possible as in Adams - Kramnik.}) 11. Nc4 Be6 (11... d5 {leads to
strange complications, but White seems to be preferrable in the end:} 12. exd5
e4 13. dxe4 Rxe4 14. Rxe4 Nxe4 15. Be3 cxd5 16. Bxc5 Nxc5 17. Ne3 $14) 12. Be3
$5 Bxc4 13. Bxc5 Be6 (13... dxc5 14. dxc4 $14 {the tripled pawns are uglier.})
14. Be3 {and again we have opposite coloured bishops, and perhaps some
pretensions of an edge for white? certainly his play is easier.}) (9... Nh5 {
seems more natural, but I am not sure if White needs to worry much about
Nh5-Nf4 as a plan. He can just continue Nc4...Be3, or try c3-d4.}) 10. Nc4 Bb6
{This avoids Na5 ideas, and also Nxb6 doesn't really seem worrying since it
improves the structure.} (10... a6 11. Na5 $1 $14) (10... a5 11. Bd2 a4 12. Na5
$14) 11. a4 {A really useful move - as you will see soon.} a5 12. Nxb6 {
Somewhat counter intuitive decision...at first the opposite colours seem to
make Black's life easier. But Carlsen had a more long term idea in mind...I
still feel that Black's position should be fairly solid here, but it's not as
obvious as it looks at first sight.} cxb6 $6 ({With hindsight, I'd prefer} 
12... Nxb6 $1 {although I must admit that it's hard to imagine, particularly
in a game, that ...cxb6 could be anything but solid for Black. But another
advantage of this move is that Black can actually play actively with ...f5!
next - and the a5-weakness is less scary since it would only be a problem in
the endgame.} 13. b3 (13. d4 exd4 $1 14. Nxd4 c5 $11 {Black's pieces are
perfectly set to deal with the d4 break.}) 13... f5 $1 $13 ({Actually Black
doesn't even need to hurry with f5.} 13... c5 14. Bd2 Nd7 $5 {/\ Nb8-Nc6 seems
just fine as well.})) 13. d4 Qc7 $6 {Another almost imperceptible inaccuracy,
but suddenly things start to get tougher for Black after this. The queen seems
natural on c7, but it allows White the strong option of Nh4 in the future!} (
13... Qe7 {keeps an eye on h4, but this seems a really awkward square for the
queen. Also b6 might be weak after Nf8-Ng6.} 14. Ra3 Nf8 15. Rb3 Rb8 16. Be3) (
13... f6 $1 {also allows Nh4 at some point, but it's not as easy to implement
for White because after} 14. Ra3 Nf8 {dxe5-dxe5 would give Black an additional
move due to the threat to exchange queens.} 15. dxe5 (15. Nh4 exd4 $1 {would
create a mess}) 15... dxe5 16. Rd3 Qc7 17. Nh4 Ne6 {and White's initiative
looks much less dangerous.}) 14. Ra3 $1 {The idea behind 11.a4! Suddenly the
position seems slightly less innocuous, and you realise that it is indeed
easier to play for White. Most importantly, practically, it's not easy to make
decisions.} Nf8 (14... c5 15. d5 $14 {the kingside attack will be more
dangerous now.}) (14... Bb7 15. dxe5 dxe5 16. Nh4 $14) (14... exd4 15. Nxd4 {
is too slow for Black. /\ Rg3.}) 15. dxe5 dxe5 16. Nh4 {White's play flows
very smoothly now.} Rd8 (16... Ng6 17. Nf5 {doesn't change much.}) 17. Qh5 f6 (
17... Ng6 18. Nf5 $14) 18. Nf5 Be6 (18... Ne6 $1 19. Rg3 Kh8 {is a much more
cool defence, keeping things more under control but it does look like a
worrying position for Black. I don't see many ways Black can improve, so white
can slowly try to continue building an initiative...particularly Rg4-Rh4 ideas
seem tempting in the future.}) 19. Rg3 Ng6 20. h4 (20. Bh6 {would lead to some
nice fireworks, but that's not really in Carlsen's style, and very much not
required.} gxh6 21. Rxg6+ hxg6 22. Qxg6+ Kf8 23. Qxf6+ Qf7 24. Qxh6+ Ke8 {
and a rook ought to be worth something. It seems pretty unclear.}) 20... Bxf5 (
20... Rd7 21. Bh6 $1 {is much stronger now.} gxh6 22. Qxh6 {/\ h5.}) 21. exf5
Nf4 22. Bxf4 exf4 23. Rc3 $1 {Despite the equal material, the major piece
endgame is surprisingly hard to play. It's possible to suggest better
defensive moves with the engine, but I believe practically it's already very
tough. Understandably, Vishy begins to make slight inaccuracies, and Magnus
wraps it up smoothly with his trademark precision:} c5 24. Re6 Rab8 $2 (24...
h6 {(/\ 25.Rc4 Rd4!)} 25. Qf3 Rab8 {with much better chances to survive
compared to the game.}) 25. Rc4 Qd7 26. Kh2 Rf8 (26... Qd1 {isn't possible due
to} 27. Re8+ $1 $18) (26... Re8 27. Rce4 Rxe6 28. fxe6 $16 {will be pretty
unpleasant.}) 27. Rce4 Rb7 28. Qe2 b5 29. b3 $5 {This doesn't seem required,
but it's in Carlsen's style to not force things. Instead he just restricts any
counterplay for Black, and makes Black go wrong by himself.} bxa4 30. bxa4 Rb4
{Exchanging a pair of rooks might reduce the pressure, but here it also
creates additional weaknesses - particularly in Black's 7th rank. White
continues with a strong attack despite the almost endgame nature of the
position!} 31. Re7 Qd6 32. Qf3 Rxe4 33. Qxe4 f3+ 34. g3 h5 $2 {The final
blunder - but the position was actually much trickier than it looks.} (34...
Qd2 35. Qxf3 Qxc2 {at first Black seems to be safe, but after} 36. Kg2 Kh8 37.
Qc6 {White continues to exert pressure without taking any risk. Black's rook
is completely tied down to g7, and it will be hard for him to keep the c-pawn
alive. Still, it's not a straightforward win, and White still needs to show
technique.}) 35. Qb7 $1 1-0

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Anand +3-1=7"]
[Site "Sochi"]
[Date "2014.11.11"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2792"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2014.11.08"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 164"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 {[%emt 0:00:04]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 2. c4 {[%emt 0:00:05]} e6 {[%emt 0:
00:08]} 3. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:05]} d5 {[%emt 0:00:10]} 4. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:06]} Be7
{[%emt 0:00:07]} 5. Bf4 {[%emt 0:00:08]} O-O {[%emt 0:00:18]} 6. e3 {[%emt 0:
00:04]} Nbd7 {[%emt 0:00:15]} 7. c5 {[%emt 0:00:16]} c6 {[%emt 0:00:48]} 8. Bd3
{[%emt 0:00:27]} (8. h3 {has gone out of fashion recently as after} b6 9. b4 a5
10. a3 {Black can play} Bb7 ({or even} 10... h6) ({instead of the direct} 10...
Ba6 {, which allows White to save a tempo by taking on a6 in one go}) 11. Bd3
Qc8 {- see Kasimdzhanov-Jakovenko in CBM 132 and Grischuk-Wang Hao in CBM 139.}
) 8... b6 {[%emt 0:00:15]} 9. b4 {[%emt 0:00:09]} a5 {[%emt 0:00:14]} 10. a3 {
[%emt 0:00:07]} Ba6 {[%emt 0:03:31]} 11. Bxa6 {[%emt 0:00:41] A principled
continuation although the quiet} (11. O-O {is more common.}) 11... Rxa6 {
[%emt 0:00:07]} 12. b5 $1 {[%emt 0:00:34]} cxb5 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 13. c6 {
[%emt 0:00:05]} Qc8 $1 {[%emt 0:00:05]} (13... b4 $2 14. Nb5 bxa3 15. cxd7 Bb4+
16. Ke2 Qxd7 17. Qd3 $16 {1-0 (33) Olafsson,H (2521)-Al Tamimi,H (2290) Turin
2006}) 14. c7 {[%emt 0:00:06]} (14. Nxb5 Qxc6 15. Nc7 Ra7 16. Rc1 Qb7 17. Qa4 (
17. a4 Bb4+ 18. Ke2 Rc8 19. Qd3 Nh5 20. Nb5 Nxf4+ 21. exf4 Raa8 $17 {1-0 (47)
Efimov,I (2520)-Costantini,R (2233) Reggio Emilia 2000}) 17... b5 (17... Rc8 $5
18. O-O Nf8 {[%cal Yf8g6]}) 18. Nxb5 Nb6 19. Qb3 Nc4 20. a4 Bb4+ 21. Ke2 Raa8
22. Ne5 Rfc8 23. f3 Nxe5 24. Bxe5 Ne8 $11 {1/2 (29) Rojas Keim,L (2408)-Ryan,J
(2263) Montcada i Reixac ESP 2014}) 14... b4 $1 {[%emt 0:00:33]} 15. Nb5 {
[%emt 0:00:28] This sequence of moves has been analysed more deeply with
White's pawn on h3 (8.h3 instead of 8.Bd3), which is considered more
favourable for White as his bishop can retreat to h2, avoiding an exchange if
necessary. However, Vishy Anand and his team have proven that this version is
not so harmless either.} a4 {[%emt 0:02:57]} (15... bxa3 16. O-O Nh5 (16... a4
17. Qc2 Ra5 $6 {1/2 (26) Kveinys,A (2510)-Halkias,S (2548) Gothenburg 2005} 18.
Bd6 $1 Rxb5 19. Bxe7 Re8 20. Bxa3 $36 {[%csl Gc7]}) 17. Qc2 Nxf4 18. exf4 Qb7
19. Ne5 $36 Nc5 20. dxc5 bxc5 21. Rfb1 (21. Nd7 $5 Re8 22. Qa4 $16) 21... c4
22. Nd7 Rfa8 23. Qa4 h6 24. h3 Qc8 25. Nb8 Rb6 $13 {1/2 (32) Sedlak,N (2557)
-Pavlovic,M (2534) Vrnjacka Banja 2010}) (15... Ne4 16. O-O (16. a4 Nc3 17. Qd3
Ra8 18. Nxc3 bxc3 19. O-O Bb4 20. Qb5 Ra7 21. Ne1 Nf6 22. Nd3 Nh5 $13 {1/2 (48)
Rusev,K (2543)-Stoinev,M (2295) Albena 2010}) 16... bxa3 17. Qa4 (17. Qc2 $44
a4 $5 {/\Ra5, R.Dautov}) 17... g5 18. Bg3 g4 $1 19. Ne1 Nd2 20. Qd1 Nxf1 21.
Qxg4+ Kh8 22. Kxf1 Ra8 (22... a4 {[%cal Ya6a5] R.Dautov} 23. Qe2 Ra5 24. Nd6
Bxd6 25. Bxd6 Rg8 26. Nd3 $44) 23. Nc2 Qa6 24. Qe2 Rg8 25. Ncxa3 $44 {1-0 (50)
Karpov,A (2693)-Georgiev,K (2655) Dubai 2002 CBM 089 [Dautov]}) 16. Rc1 {
[%emt 0:06:00]} Ne4 {[%emt 0:02:02]} 17. Ng5 $5 {[%emt 0:01:47] This tactical
trick restricts Black's possibilities compared to} (17. Nd2 e5 (17... Nc3 18.
Nxc3 bxc3 19. Rxc3 b5 20. O-O Nb6 {1/2 (67) Villuendas Valero,A (2176)-Labena
Bernal,A (2003) Pamplona 2006} 21. Qg4 $5 $36) 18. Nxe4 (18. dxe5 Ndc5 {
[%cal Rc5d3]}) 18... dxe4 19. Bxe5 Nxe5 20. dxe5 Bc5 21. Qd5 bxa3 22. O-O {
0-1 (36) Jendrichovsky,P (2147)-Goumas,G (2315) Fermo 2009} Ra5 $13) 17... Ndf6
{[%emt 0:32:33]} ({Here} 17... e5 18. dxe5 {is obviously senseless}) (17...
Nxg5 $6 18. Bd6 $1 Ra5 $8 19. Bxe7 Rxb5 20. axb4 Re8 21. Qxa4 Rxe7 22. Qxb5 $16
{[%csl Gc7]}) (17... Bxg5 18. Bxg5 Ra5 {is a better version of the previous
line for Black but White keeps the initiative anyway:} 19. Be7 Rxb5 20. Bxf8
Kxf8 21. Qxa4 Ra5 22. Qxb4+ Ke8 23. O-O Ra7 24. f3 Nef6 25. Qd6 $14 {[%csl Gc7]
A.Korotylev}) 18. Nxe4 {[%emt 0:06:58]} Nxe4 {[%emt 0:00:45]} (18... dxe4 $142
$1 19. Nd6 Bxd6 20. Bxd6 b3 21. Bxf8 Kxf8 $44 {(A.Korotylev) , which is about
to be the subject of further research.}) 19. f3 {[%emt 0:05:40]} Ra5 {[%emt 0:
12:38]} 20. fxe4 $146 {[%emt 0:02:08][%mdl 8] This improvement on the
following game is quite obvious, especially as it had been already played in
the similar position of the 8.h3 line (with White's pawn on h3), e.g. in
Gyimesi-Vaganian (Germany 2006).} (20. Qe2 $6 Qd7 21. fxe4 Rc8 22. exd5 exd5
23. axb4 Rxb5 24. O-O Rxb4 25. Qa6 h6 26. Rc6 Bg5 27. Bxg5 hxg5 28. Rfc1 Rc4
29. R1xc4 dxc4 30. Qxb6 a3 31. Rxc4 a2 32. Qa5 Qe6 33. Qxa2 Rxc7 34. Qa8+ Kh7
35. Rxc7 Qxe3+ 36. Kf1 Qf4+ 37. Qf3 Qxc7 $11 {1/2 (40) Aronian,L (2795)-Adams,
M (2753) Bilbao 2013}) 20... Rxb5 {[%emt 0:00:24]} 21. Qxa4 {[%emt 0:00:56]}
Ra5 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 22. Qc6 {[%emt 0:00:12]} bxa3 {[%emt 0:09:32] Black's
a3-pawn looks formidable but it is far less dangerous than White's c7-pawn.} (
22... dxe4 23. a4 $16 {[%csl Gc7]}) 23. exd5 {[%emt 0:03:43]} Rxd5 {[%emt 0:10:
57]} (23... exd5 24. O-O {is hardly better. In some situations White can break
in the centre by means of e3-e4.}) 24. Qxb6 {[%emt 0:08:48]} Qd7 {[%emt 0:06:
37]} 25. O-O {[%emt 0:15:23]} (25. Qa6 $5 Qc8 (25... Rc8 26. Rb1 Rxc7 $8 27.
Rb8+ Bd8 28. Bxc7 Qxc7 29. Rc8 Qe7 30. O-O $16) 26. Qc4 {A.Korotylev}) 25...
Rc8 {[%emt 0:05:01] Black has blockaded White's passed pawn with a more
appropriate piece but eliminating the "nail" is impossible.} 26. Rc6 $1 {
[%emt 0:08:36]} g5 {[%emt 0:09:41] Perhaps it was better to do without this
move:} (26... Bb4 27. Ra1 h6) 27. Bg3 {[%emt 0:00:42]} (27. Be5 $5 {A.Korotylev
} {e.g.} Bb4 28. Qxb4 $5 Qxc6 29. Qe7 Rxe5 30. Qxf7+ Kh8 31. Qf6+ Kg8 32. dxe5
(32. Qxe5 $5 h6 33. Qf6 Rxc7 34. Qf8+ Kh7 35. Qxa3 {, and White should
gradually win}) 32... Qxc7 33. Qxe6+ Kh8 34. Qf6+ Qg7 35. Qa6 Rg8 (35... Re8
36. Qxa3 Qxe5 37. Rf8+ Kg7 38. Rxe8 Qxe8) 36. Qxa3 Qxe5 37. h3 {, and Black is
helpless as the queen endgame after the eventual exchange of rooks is winning
for White.}) 27... Bb4 {[%emt 0:06:25]} 28. Ra1 {[%emt 0:13:45]} Ba5 $2 {
[%emt 0:07:45] Black tries to get rid of the c7-pawn after all but this
attempt fails. It was better to wait:} (28... g4 {In that case White could
have continued weakening Black's position exploiting the e3-e4 threat, e.g.}
29. Be5 {etc. but his victory was still far away.}) 29. Qa6 {[%emt 0:01:23]}
Bxc7 {[%emt 0:01:22]} (29... Bb4 $2 {was now hopeless due to} 30. Rb6 {[%cal
Rb6b4,Ra6c8] , and otherwise Black just loses his a3-pawn.}) 30. Qc4 $1 {
[%emt 0:04:21] A decisive pin.} e5 {[%emt 0:01:59]} 31. Bxe5 {[%emt 0:00:19]}
Rxe5 {[%emt 0:00:10]} 32. dxe5 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Qe7 {[%emt 0:00:39]} 33. e6 {
[%emt 0:06:09]} Kf8 {[%emt 0:01:12]} 34. Rc1 {[%emt 0:00:46]} 1-0

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Anand +3-1=7"]
[Site "Sochi"]
[Date "2014.11.12"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B40"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2792"]
[Annotator "Kasimdzhanov,R"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2014.11.08"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 164"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{This outwardly very quiet game was in fact full of content and also very
interesting from a psychological point of view. The day before Magnus had lost
in a somewhat embarassingly one-sided fashion, and it was very interesting to
see how he would cope in a new situation.} 1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:04]} c5 $1 {
[%emt 0:00:08] No Berlin today! Thanks from all the fans all around the world!
:)} 2. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:07]} e6 {[%emt 0:00:05] Vishy has played 2...d6 most of
his life, but not today. Is 3.Bb5 really that strong?} 3. g3 {[%emt 0:00:16]
What Black had in store after 3.d4, we'll see in game 6.} Nc6 {[%emt 0:00:44]}
4. Bg2 {[%emt 0:00:10]} d5 {[%emt 0:00:12]} 5. exd5 {[%emt 0:00:30]} exd5 {
[%emt 0:00:08]} 6. O-O {[%emt 0:00:30]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:01:09]} 7. d4 {[%emt 0:00:
57]} Be7 {[%emt 0:00:53]} 8. Be3 {[%emt 0:05:55]} cxd4 {[%emt 0:05:06]} 9. Nxd4
{[%emt 0:00:46]} Bg4 $1 {[%emt 0:00:14] A nice improvement, typical of
high-class preparation.} ({After the usual} 9... O-O 10. h3 {Black has had
some problems in recent games:} Re8 11. Nc3 (11. Re1 h6 12. Nd2 Bd6 13. c3 Bd7
{1/2-1/2 (37) Short,N (2696)-Caruana,F (2675) Wijk aan Zee 2010}) 11... Bb4 12.
Nce2 Bd6 13. c3 Bd7 14. Nf4 Bxf4 15. Bxf4 $14 {1/2-1/2 (54) Adams,M (2740)
-Kryvoruchko,Y (2678) Tromsoe 2013}) 10. Qd3 {[%emt 0:03:32]} Qd7 {[%emt 0:03:
27]} 11. Nd2 {[%emt 0:06:52]} O-O {[%emt 0:01:39] Black has got a pretty
comfortable IQP position.} 12. N2f3 {[%emt 0:01:24]} Rfe8 {[%emt 0:06:27]} 13.
Rfe1 {[%emt 0:05:36]} Bd6 {[%emt 0:05:45]} 14. c3 {[%emt 0:07:37]} h6 {[%emt 0:
02:43]} 15. Qf1 $1 {[%emt 0:09:04] Quite impressive, and not because this move
changes anything in the evaluation - the position reamains around equality -
but it does manage to create some threats (h3, Nh4, Bh3 in some lines) from
nothing.} Bh5 {[%emt 0:17:25] Played after some thought.} ({Vishy could also
have gone for more ambitious} 15... Ne4 $5 {when after} 16. h3 (16. Nxc6 bxc6
17. Nd4 Bh5 $13) 16... Bh5 17. Nh4 Nxd4 18. Bxd4 f5 $1 {Black's play should
not be underestimated.}) 16. h3 {[%emt 0:06:42]} (16. Nh4 {was perhaps more
challenging} Bc5 $1 (16... Ng4 17. Qb5 Nxe3 18. Rxe3 Rxe3 19. fxe3 $14) 17.
Nhf5 Bb6 $11) 16... Bg6 {[%emt 0:00:31]} 17. Rad1 {[%emt 0:05:24]} Rad8 {
[%emt 0:08:41] Both sides have completed the development, and White faces a
really difficult task of coming up with a plan of action. He decides to change
the structure in the centre - this decision could not possibly have been an
easy one.} 18. Nxc6 $5 {[%emt 0:08:44]} bxc6 {[%emt 0:00:46]} 19. c4 {[%emt 0:
00:07]} Be4 $6 {[%emt 0:08:16] Nothing could be more natural than this, but
now Black starts sliding into trouble.} (19... Bc2 $1 {forces the rook to
occupy a worse square} 20. Rc1 (20. Rd2 Be4 {and the threat of ...Bb4 gains
some time}) 20... Be4 21. Bd4 dxc4 22. Qxc4 (22. Bxf6 Bd3) 22... Bd5 $11) 20.
Bd4 {[%emt 0:09:36]} Nh7 {[%emt 0:02:17]} 21. cxd5 {[%emt 0:02:46]} Bxd5 {
[%emt 0:00:16]} (21... cxd5 22. Qa6 {feels risky in the long run.}) 22. Rxe8+ {
[%emt 0:06:18]} Rxe8 {[%emt 0:00:42]} 23. Qd3 $1 {[%emt 0:01:55] The white
queen comes back into the game, and Black has problems due to queenside
weaknesses and vulnerable pieces along the d-file.} Nf8 {[%emt 0:13:26]} 24.
Nh4 $2 {[%emt 0:03:29] Letting go way too easily.} (24. Bc3 $1 {kept it very
tough for Black} Rd8 (24... Ne6 25. Nh4) (24... Ng6 25. Qd4 Bf8 26. Nh2) 25.
Nh4 Bc5 26. Nf5 Bxg2 27. Qxd7 Rxd7 28. Rxd7 Nxd7 29. Kxg2 $14) 24... Be5 $1 {
[%emt 0:05:01] That's exactly the difference.} 25. Bxd5 {[%emt 0:04:04]} Qxd5 {
[%emt 0:02:21]} 26. Bxe5 {[%emt 0:01:13]} Qxe5 {[%emt 0:00:13] Now it's about
equal again.} 27. b3 {[%emt 0:01:06]} Ne6 {[%emt 0:02:55]} 28. Nf3 {[%emt 0:03:
23]} Qf6 {[%emt 0:00:51]} 29. Kg2 {[%emt 0:01:06]} Rd8 {[%emt 0:05:54]} 30. Qe2
{[%emt 0:00:10]} Rd5 {[%emt 0:03:49]} (30... Rxd1 31. Qxd1 Qe7 32. Qd3 Qc5 {
might have been simpler.}) 31. Rxd5 {[%emt 0:04:27]} cxd5 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 32.
Ne5 {[%emt 0:01:11]} (32. Qe5 $5 Qd8 33. Nd4 Nxd4 34. Qxd4 Qd7 {I wonder if
White has chances here...}) 32... Qf5 {[%emt 0:03:20]} 33. Nd3 {[%emt 0:03:22]}
Nd4 {[%emt 0:01:51]} 34. g4 $5 {[%emt 0:05:29] This unexpected move still
poses some problems.} Qd7 {[%emt 0:05:29]} (34... Nxe2 35. gxf5 Kf8 36. Kf3 Nc3
37. a4 Ke7 38. Ke3 Kd6 {is ok for Black, but I can understand the reluctance
to go for a knight ending.}) (34... Qg6 35. Qe8+ (35. Qe3 Nf5 36. Qe8+ Kh7)
35... Kh7 36. Nf4 Qe4+ 37. Qxe4+ dxe4 {same here}) (34... Qe4+ $2 35. Qxe4 dxe4
36. Nc5) 35. Qe5 {[%emt 0:00:33]} Ne6 {[%emt 0:00:20]} 36. Kg3 {[%emt 0:03:39]}
Qb5 {[%emt 0:00:46]} 37. Nf4 {[%emt 0:00:57]} Nxf4 {[%emt 0:01:19]} 38. Kxf4 {
[%emt 0:00:05]} Qb4+ {[%emt 0:02:10]} (38... g5+ $1 39. Kg3 Qa6 40. a4 Qd3+ 41.
Qe3 Qd1 {is quite a simple draw.}) 39. Kf3 {[%emt 0:00:09]} d4 {[%emt 0:01:07]}
40. Qe8+ {[%emt 0:00:00]} Kh7 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 41. Qxf7 {[%emt 0:05:34]} Qd2 $1
{[%emt 0:05:46] Probably found by elimination, as the most natural} (41... Qc3+
$2 42. Ke4 d3 43. Qf3 $16 {leads nowhere good.}) 42. Qf5+ {[%emt 0:08:35]} (42.
Ke4 $5 d3 43. Kd4 Qe2 44. Qf5+ Kg8 45. Qxd3 Qxf2+ 46. Kd5 Qxa2 47. Kc6 {
looks strong, but in fact there is too little material remaining to give
chances} Qf2 $1) 42... Kh8 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 43. h4 {[%emt 0:06:47]} Qxa2 {
[%emt 0:11:13]} 44. Qe6 {[%emt 0:01:40]} Qd2 {[%emt 0:05:48]} 45. Qe8+ {
[%emt 0:06:15]} Kh7 {[%emt 0:00:40]} 46. Qe4+ {[%emt 0:00:09]} Kh8 {[%emt 0:00:
13]} 47. Qe8+ {[%emt 0:00:38]} Kh7 {[%emt 0:00:06] Again, Magnus managed to 
(almost) outplay his mighty opponent from an equal position, but a slightly
careless 24.Nh4, allowing 24...Be5! pretty much led to a draw.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Anand +3-1=7"]
[Site "Sochi"]
[Date "2014.11.14"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E16"]
[WhiteElo "2792"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[Annotator "Wojtaszek,R"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2014.11.08"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 164"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 {[%emt 0:00:04]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 2. c4 {[%emt 0:00:05]} e6 {[%emt 0:
00:05]} 3. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:05]} b6 {[%emt 0:00:08] The Queen's Indian Defence
didn't really come as a surprise to us. It was one of the openings we thought
Magnus might be attracted to.} 4. g3 {[%emt 0:00:11]} Bb4+ {[%emt 0:00:09]} 5.
Bd2 {[%emt 0:00:18]} Be7 {[%emt 0:00:12] This on the other hand is a very rare
sideline. We didn't really pay too much attention to this line but still we
made sure that Vishy knew some important details here.} 6. Nc3 {[%emt 0:01:19]}
Bb7 {[%emt 0:00:09]} 7. Bg2 {[%emt 0:00:13]} c6 {[%emt 0:00:11]} 8. e4 $5 {
[%emt 0:06:07] Probably the critical test for the whole line} (8. O-O d5 {
would lead to positions which are mostly seen in the Catalan. It has to be
said that Black is very solid here, so Vishy decided to choose a more active
option.} 9. Ne5 O-O 10. Bf4 Nbd7 {is the mainline here but it's not easy to
prove anything as White. Many games played by GM Tiviakov can be found here.})
8... d5 {[%emt 0:00:37]} 9. exd5 $1 {[%emt 0:01:26]} (9. Qe2 dxc4 $1 (9... O-O
$6 10. e5 $1) 10. O-O O-O 11. Rfd1 b5 {and I don't think White has enough
compensation for the pawn here}) (9. e5 Ne4 $1 10. cxd5 cxd5 11. O-O O-O 12.
Re1 Nxd2 13. Qxd2 Ba6 {and Black looks fine to me.}) 9... cxd5 {[%emt 0:00:09]}
10. Ne5 {[%emt 0:00:22]} O-O {[%emt 0:00:33]} 11. O-O {[%emt 0:00:48]} Nc6 {
[%emt 0:00:22]} (11... Nbd7 $6 12. Re1 Rc8 13. Rc1 $14 {It's slightly better
for White and also it's not easy to suggest a good move for Black here} Ba8 14.
Bg5 $5 (14. cxd5 Nxe5 15. Rxe5 exd5 16. Bg5 $14) 14... h6 15. Bxf6 Nxf6 16.
cxd5 Nxd5 17. Nxd5 exd5 18. Qa4 $14) 12. cxd5 $1 {[%emt 0:06:22] Only this one
can pose any problems for Black.} (12. Bf4 Na5 13. Rc1 Rb8 $1 {the most precise
} (13... dxc4 {this would be a natural reaction but I'm not entirely convinced
it would be enough for equality} 14. Bxb7 Nxb7 15. Nxc4 Rc8 $1 (15... Na5 $6
16. Ne3 $1 (16. Nxa5 bxa5 17. Be5 Rc8 {with a balanced position}) 16... Rc8 17.
d5 Bc5 18. dxe6 fxe6 19. Ng4 $1 {A very important resource, White is better
thanks to his pawn structure}) 16. Nb5 (16. Ne3 Bb4) 16... Na5 $1 (16... a6 $4
17. Na7 Ra8 18. Nc6 $18) 17. Nxa5 Rxc1 18. Qxc1 bxa5 19. Nxa7 Qxd4 20. Nc6 Qd7
21. Rd1 Nd5 22. Rd4 {and despite the fact that probably Black is solid enough,
White's position looks a bit more pleasant}) 14. Nd3 (14. cxd5 Nxd5 15. Nxd5
Bxd5 $11) 14... Rc8 (14... dxc4 $5 15. Bxb8 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 Qxb8 17. Ne5 Rd8 {
and Black has decent compensation}) 15. cxd5 (15. c5 Nc6 $1) 15... Nxd5 16.
Nxd5 Bxd5 17. Rxc8 Qxc8 18. Bxd5 exd5 19. Re1 Nc6 $11) 12... Nxe5 {[%emt 0:01:
44]} 13. d6 $1 {[%emt 0:02:20] Of course that's the point of White's idea.} (
13. dxe5 Nxd5 $11) 13... Nc6 {[%emt 0:00:24]} (13... Bxg2 $2 14. dxe7 Qxe7 15.
dxe5 Bxf1 16. exf6 Qxf6 17. Qxf1 $14) 14. dxe7 {[%emt 0:00:59]} Qxe7 {[%emt 0:
01:39]} 15. Bg5 {[%emt 0:00:18]} h6 {[%emt 0:01:05]} 16. d5 $1 {[%emt 0:03:20]}
Na5 {[%emt 0:00:14]} (16... Rad8 $2 17. Bxf6 Qxf6 18. dxc6 Rxd1 19. Rfxd1 Bc8
20. Rac1 {and despite what engines are showing, practically speaking Black's
position is very bad.}) 17. Bxf6 {[%emt 0:11:29]} Qxf6 {[%emt 0:00:37]} 18.
dxe6 {[%emt 0:07:03]} Qxe6 $6 {[%emt 0:04:23]} (18... Bxg2 $5 {sacrificing a
pawn was quite an interesting option but it has to be said that it works
mainly thanks to tactical reasons} 19. exf7+ (19. Kxg2 Qxe6 20. Qf3 Rad8 {
and the position is just equal}) 19... Qxf7 20. Kxg2 Nc4 21. Qb3 $5 (21. Qc2
Rad8 22. Rfd1 (22. Rad1 $6 Rd2 $3 23. Rxd2 Ne3+ 24. Kg1 Nxc2 25. Rxc2) 22...
Qf3+ 23. Kg1 Rde8 {and Black's initiative is quite obvious}) (21. Qe2 Rae8 22.
Ne4 Nxb2 $1 $11) 21... Rad8 22. Rae1 (22. Rad1 Rxd1 23. Nxd1 Rd8 24. Re1 Rd2 {
and I believe here Black has enough compensation to make a comfortable draw})
22... Rd2 23. Re2 Kh8 $1 24. Kg1 $1 (24. Rxd2 $2 Qf3+ $1 $19) 24... Rxe2 25.
Nxe2 Nd2 26. Qxf7 Rxf7 27. Rc1 Nf3+ 28. Kg2 Nxh2 $1 {was the final point of
Black's play.}) 19. Re1 {[%emt 0:01:48]} (19. Bxb7 $5 Nxb7 20. Qf3 Nc5 21. Rfe1
Qg6 22. Nd5 $14 {was also an interesting option. White's position is slightly
better but it wouldn't be easy to increase the advantage. Vishy decided that a
more complex continuation would give him more chances.}) 19... Qf6 {[%emt 0:01:
08]} 20. Nd5 $1 {[%emt 0:17:18]} Bxd5 {[%emt 0:12:23]} (20... Qxb2 $6 21. Re2
$1 Qa3 22. Re3 Qb2 23. Rb1 $1 {and Black's position would be already quite
difficult} Qxa2 24. Ra1 $1 Qc4 25. Rxa5 bxa5 26. Ne7+ Kh8 27. Bxb7 Rad8 28. Qf3
{and White has a very strong initiative.}) 21. Bxd5 {[%emt 0:01:00]} Rad8 {
[%emt 0:02:09]} 22. Qf3 {[%emt 0:02:26]} Qxb2 {[%emt 0:11:06]} (22... Qxf3 23.
Bxf3 $14 {is a typical position where the bishop is simply better than the
knight.}) 23. Rad1 {[%emt 0:01:03]} Qf6 $1 {[%emt 0:13:01] A very practical
decision. White has a very strong initiative which will be easier to handle in
the endgame.} (23... Rd6 $2 24. Bxf7+ $1 Rxf7 25. Re8+ Kh7 26. Qxf7 Rxd1+ 27.
Kg2 {and there is no good defence} Qf6 (27... Rd6 28. Qf5+ Rg6 29. Re6 $18) 28.
Qg8+ Kg6 29. Re6 $18) 24. Qxf6 {[%emt 0:01:29]} gxf6 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 25. Re7 {
[%emt 0:01:19]} Kg7 {[%emt 0:03:27] Till this point I think Vishy had played
an excellent game but here he missed his chance to pose more problems for
Black.} 26. Rxa7 $2 {[%emt 0:07:46]} (26. Rc7 $1 {stopping ...Nc6 was
neccessary at first} a6 27. Kg2 $1 {another very important detail, now White
has a Bxf7 threat} Kh8 $1 {is the best way to play for Black} (27... b5 $2 28.
Bxf7 Rxd1 29. Bh5+ Kg8 30. Bxd1 {it's already very difficult}) 28. Bf3 Rxd1 29.
Bxd1 Kg7 30. Ra7 $16 {and White eventually will take the pawn back without
exchanging anything on the queenside. I don't know how big exactly are White's
winning chances but it's clear that it would be very difficult for Black to
defend it successfully.}) 26... Nc6 {[%emt 0:00:55]} 27. Rb7 $6 {[%emt 0:09:28]
This allows Black to exchange the last pawns on the queenside, so the weakness
of the kingside doesn't matter any more.} (27. Ra4 {was the last chance to
continue the game a bit} Rd7 $1 28. Bb3 Rxd1+ 29. Bxd1 Rd8 {and Black should
hold this position fairly simply thanks to his active pieces.}) 27... Nb4 {
[%emt 0:00:09]} 28. Bb3 {[%emt 0:00:07]} Rxd1+ {[%emt 0:00:05]} 29. Bxd1 {
[%emt 0:00:07]} Nxa2 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 30. Rxb6 {[%emt 0:00:06]} Nc3 {[%emt 0:
00:17]} 31. Bf3 {[%emt 0:00:10]} f5 {[%emt 0:00:14]} 32. Kg2 {[%emt 0:00:41]}
Rd8 {[%emt 0:01:22]} 33. Rc6 {[%emt 0:01:35]} Ne4 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 34. Bxe4 {
[%emt 0:00:08]} fxe4 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 35. Rc4 {[%emt 0:00:09]} f5 {[%emt 0:00:
14]} 36. g4 {[%emt 0:00:14]} Rd2 {[%emt 0:00:34]} 37. gxf5 {[%emt 0:00:15]} e3
{[%emt 0:00:08]} 38. Re4 {[%emt 0:00:12]} Rxf2+ {[%emt 0:00:07]} 39. Kg3 {
[%emt 0:00:04]} Rxf5 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Anand +3-1=7"]
[Site "Sochi"]
[Date "2014.11.15"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B41"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2792"]
[Annotator "Kasimdzhanov,R"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2014.11.08"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 164"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{This game has already entered chess history, and not in a good way. Hardly
any other game caused so much astonishment, and left even experts so perplexed.
Mutual blunders shocked the public at large; a strange opening choice from
Vishy left me, amongst others, struggling for an explanation.} 1. e4 {[%emt 0:
00:04]} c5 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 2. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:05]} e6 {[%emt 0:00:06] The
same opening choice from Anand as in game 4, but...} 3. d4 $1 {[%emt 0:00:15]
This time Magnus is prepared!} cxd4 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 4. Nxd4 {[%emt 0:00:02]}
a6 {[%emt 0:00:09]} 5. c4 {[%emt 0:00:43] A very popular move these days,
alternatives are 5.Bd3 and 5.Nc3.} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:13]} 6. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:10]}
Bb4 {[%emt 0:00:08] Quite natural, but in fact not the most solid continuation.
} (6... Qc7 7. a3 b6 {leads to pretty normal Hedgehog positions} (7... Nxe4 8.
Nxe4 Qe5 {is very risky for Black})) 7. Qd3 {[%emt 0:01:34]} Nc6 $6 {[%emt 0:
00:15] Vishy choosing this line is rather odd - Black gets a passive position
without any counterplay.} (7... Qc7 8. a3 Bxc3+ 9. Qxc3 Nxe4 10. Nb5 $1 {
is just bad for Black: 1-0 (31) Nepomniachtchi,I (2730)-Svidler,P (2753) Dubai
2014}) ({But} 7... d5 {is a pretty good move, with decent chances to equalize.}
) 8. Nxc6 {[%emt 0:02:24]} dxc6 {[%emt 0:00:09]} 9. Qxd8+ {[%emt 0:03:23]} Kxd8
{[%emt 0:00:41]} 10. e5 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Nd7 {[%emt 0:01:28]} (10... Ne4 {
looks more active: after} 11. a3 Bxc3+ 12. bxc3 b6 13. Be3 Kc7 14. Bd3 Nc5 (
14... Nxc3 15. a4 b5 {feels quite risky too}) 15. Bc2 a5 16. O-O-O Ba6 17. Rd4
{isn't as bad for Black as the game, but still kind of sad.}) 11. Bf4 {[%emt 0:
02:58]} (11. f4 {gives Black counterplay} f6 12. exf6 Nxf6 (12... gxf6 $5))
11... Bxc3+ {[%emt 0:09:17]} 12. bxc3 {[%emt 0:00:29]} Kc7 {[%emt 0:00:33]} 13.
h4 {[%emt 0:03:55]} b6 {[%emt 0:01:21]} (13... h5 14. Rh3 {and maybe Black is
just no longer in time to defend f7.}) 14. h5 {[%emt 0:01:38]} h6 $6 {[%emt 0:
07:45] Very understandable, but in fact a rather risky approach.} ({Letting
the white pawn get to h6 after} 14... Bb7 15. h6 g6 {does not look great, but
in fact Black has only one weakness to defend now, the pawn on f7, and he
might be able to do it.} 16. O-O-O c5 17. Rh4 Rhf8 18. Bg3 Rae8 {and I don't
see how White should progress here.}) 15. O-O-O {[%emt 0:03:58]} Bb7 {[%emt 0:
01:18]} 16. Rd3 {[%emt 0:02:04]} c5 {[%emt 0:07:41]} 17. Rg3 {[%emt 0:01:41]}
Rag8 {[%emt 0:01:39]} 18. Bd3 {[%emt 0:00:45]} Nf8 {[%emt 0:04:29] Now we can
take stock of what has happened - Black is passive and worse; or, as Kramnik
nicely put it, the starting position in chess is not so bad for Black that he
should go for something like this :)} 19. Be3 {[%emt 0:01:26]} g6 {[%emt 0:10:
20] Black just can't allow Rh4-g4.} (19... Nd7 20. Rh4 Nxe5 21. Bf4 f6 22. Rhg4
{is no improvement.}) 20. hxg6 {[%emt 0:02:49]} Nxg6 {[%emt 0:03:20]} 21. Rh5 {
[%emt 0:00:34]} Bc6 {[%emt 0:06:24]} 22. Bc2 {[%emt 0:02:55]} Kb7 {[%emt 0:04:
17] So far White has played immaculately, but around here strange things start
happening.} 23. Rg4 {[%emt 0:08:35] In fact the rook is pretty vulnarable here,
and does not do very much at all.} (23. Kd2 Ne7 $1 24. Rxg8 Rxg8 25. g3 Bf3 26.
Rxh6 Rd8+ 27. Kc1 {Black is still fighting here, but White should convert in
the long run} (27. Ke1 Nc6)) 23... a5 {[%emt 0:05:45]} (23... Ne7 24. Rxg8 Rxg8
25. g3 Bf3 26. Rxh6 Ng6 {is similar to the previous line.}) 24. Bd1 {[%emt 0:
01:37]} Rd8 {[%emt 0:05:17]} 25. Bc2 {[%emt 0:03:46]} Rdg8 {[%emt 0:02:23]} 26.
Kd2 $4 {[%emt 0:01:03] A move that should have changed modern chess history.
White really needs to centralise his king, but it would be nice to achieve it
without blundering all his pawns.} (26. Kd1 Nf8 $1 27. Rf4 Be8 {is suddenly
awkward for White}) (26. Rg3 $5 {might be the best; although it becomes clear,
that White lost a lot of time, shuffling his pieces around.}) 26... a4 $4 {
[%emt 0:01:00] As they say, "returning the favour". I can't think of any other
example, where Vishy with loads of time on his clock had failed to spot
tactics that simple.} (26... Nxe5 $1 27. Rxg8 Nxc4+ 28. Ke2 Rxg8 29. g3 Nxe3
30. Kxe3 Bd5 {with a reasonably simple techical task.}) 27. Ke2 {[%emt 0:01:31]
Back in control.} a3 {[%emt 0:02:42]} 28. f3 {[%emt 0:01:20]} Rd8 {[%emt 0:09:
34]} 29. Ke1 {[%emt 0:08:04]} (29. Bxg6 fxg6 30. Rxg6 Ba4 31. Rxe6 Bc2 {
feels less clear than White would ideally like.}) 29... Rd7 {[%emt 0:01:18]}
30. Bc1 {[%emt 0:01:58]} Ra8 {[%emt 0:03:54]} 31. Ke2 {[%emt 0:08:42]} Ba4 {
[%emt 0:00:25]} 32. Be4+ {[%emt 0:02:26]} Bc6 $2 {[%emt 0:00:09] The last of
so many mistakes in this game.} ({After} 32... Ka7 $1 33. Bxa8 Kxa8 34. Bxa3 (
34. Rh1 Bc2) 34... Rd1 35. Rxh6 Ra1 {Black gets a surprising ammount of
counterplay} 36. Ke3 $1 {perhaps the best, but far from simple} (36. Rh7 Rxa2+
$13) (36. Rg5 Rxa2+ 37. Ke1 Nf4 (37... Rxa3 38. Rh7 $16) 38. Bc1 Nd3+ 39. Kf1
Bb3 (39... Nxc1 40. Rg7) 40. Rg7 Bxc4 41. Kg1 Kb7 42. Rxf7+ Kc6 43. Bg5 Rc2 {
is a mess}) 36... Nxe5 37. Rg7 Nxc4+ 38. Kf4 Nd6 39. Ke5 Rd1 40. Bc1 {and
White will prevail, probably :)}) 33. Bxg6 {[%emt 0:01:27]} fxg6 {[%emt 0:00:
19]} 34. Rxg6 {[%emt 0:00:08]} Ba4 {[%emt 0:05:18]} 35. Rxe6 {[%emt 0:03:43]}
Rd1 {[%emt 0:04:02]} 36. Bxa3 {[%emt 0:02:10]} Ra1 {[%emt 0:01:53]} 37. Ke3 {
[%emt 0:01:55]} Bc2 {[%emt 0:03:43]} 38. Re7+ {[%emt 0:00:36] Luck always
favours the winner.} Ka6 39. Rxh6 Rxa2 40. Bxc5 1-0

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Anand +3-1=7"]
[Site "Sochi"]
[Date "2014.11.17"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2792"]
[Annotator "Kasimdzhanov,R"]
[PlyCount "243"]
[EventDate "2014.11.08"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 164"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:04]} e5 {[%emt 0:00:09]} 2. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Nc6 {
[%emt 0:00:05]} 3. Bb5 {[%emt 0:00:09]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 4. O-O {[%emt 0:
00:10]} Nxe4 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 5. d4 {[%emt 0:00:06] After a very sucessful
Anti-Berlin in game 2, Magnus switches to the main line.} Nd6 {[%emt 0:00:07]}
6. Bxc6 {[%emt 0:00:15]} dxc6 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 7. dxe5 {[%emt 0:00:12]} Nf5 {
[%emt 0:00:07]} 8. Qxd8+ {[%emt 0:00:09]} Kxd8 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 9. h3 {[%emt 0:
00:09]} Ke8 {[%emt 0:00:19]} 10. Nc3 {[%emt 0:03:15]} h5 {[%emt 0:00:09]} 11.
Bf4 {[%emt 0:01:20]} Be7 {[%emt 0:00:16]} 12. Rad1 {[%emt 0:02:15]} Be6 {
[%emt 0:01:04] The very main line these days; Black is solid, but does not
usually get many chances to win the game, and has to know his defences quite
exactly.} 13. Ng5 {[%emt 0:00:57]} Rh6 {[%emt 0:00:52]} 14. g3 {[%emt 0:01:30]}
(14. Rfe1 {is the main alternative, played by Vishy himself. Black had to
suffer to get a draw after} Bb4 15. g4 hxg4 16. hxg4 Ne7 17. Nxe6 Rxe6 18. Kg2
Bxc3 19. bxc3 Rd8 20. Rxd8+ Kxd8 21. Rh1 Nd5 22. Bg3 g5 23. c4 Nc3 24. Kf3 Rg6
25. a3 Na4 26. Ke4 Nc5+ 27. Kf5 Ne6 28. Rh8+ Kd7 29. c3 Ng7+ 30. Ke4 Ne6 31. f3
c5 32. Bf2 a6 33. Be3 b6 {in the game Anand,V (2770)-Karjakin,S (2766)
Khanty-Mansiysk 2014.}) 14... Bxg5 {[%emt 0:04:25] An introduction to the very
forced sequence.} 15. Bxg5 {[%emt 0:00:08]} Rg6 {[%emt 0:00:11]} 16. h4 {
[%emt 0:00:57]} f6 {[%emt 0:00:29]} 17. exf6 {[%emt 0:00:21]} gxf6 {[%emt 0:00:
07]} 18. Bf4 {[%emt 0:00:10]} Nxh4 {[%emt 0:00:41]} 19. f3 {[%emt 0:02:20]} Rd8
{[%emt 0:00:45]} 20. Kf2 {[%emt 0:01:08]} Rxd1 {[%emt 0:00:41]} 21. Nxd1 {
[%emt 0:00:19]} Nf5 {[%emt 0:00:09]} 22. Rh1 {[%emt 0:00:48]} Bxa2 $1 {[%emt 0:
01:15] The point.} ({After} 22... Ng7 23. Ne3 {[%cal Ge3g2,Gg2h4] the rook on
g6 is in serious trouble.}) 23. Rxh5 {[%emt 0:00:13]} (23. b3 $2 Bb1) 23... Be6
{[%emt 0:00:12]} 24. g4 {[%emt 0:00:38]} (24. Bxc7 Rh6 {is just a draw.}) 24...
Nd6 {[%emt 0:05:03]} 25. Rh7 {[%emt 0:01:18]} Nf7 {[%emt 0:10:27] Only this
move is new, but in fact White's initiative is still quite nasty.} ({The
previous game saw} 25... f5 26. g5 (26. Rxc7 $1 {might be what Magnus had in
mind} Nb5 27. gxf5 Bxf5 28. Rxb7 Bxc2 29. Ne3 {there is not much material left,
but Black is in trouble because of his weak king and White's marching f-pawn})
26... Nf7 27. Rh5 Rg8 28. Kg3 Rh8 {led to an eventual draw in Giri,A (2768)
-Radjabov,T (2726) Tashkent 2014.}) 26. Ne3 {[%emt 0:01:45] Black is a pawn up,
but his position suffers from a serious lack of coordination; especially the
rook on g6 is out of play.} Kd8 {[%emt 0:08:54]} 27. Nf5 {[%emt 0:01:47]} c5 {
[%emt 0:05:33]} 28. Ng3 {[%emt 0:01:52] Around here Vishy sank into deep
thought; his position is quite precarious.} Ne5 $1 {[%emt 0:27:31] When played,
this looked like a major concession, but now I realise that, at least
practically speaking, this must be the correct choice. Alternatives look scary
over the board:} (28... Kd7 29. Nh5 Kc6 30. Be3 (30. Bxc7 Kxc7 31. Nf4 Rh6 32.
Nxe6+ Kd6 33. Rxf7 Kxe6 34. Rxb7 Rh2+ 35. Ke3 Rxc2 $11) 30... Ba2 $3 {but
clearly, nobody can see such lines over the board :)}) 29. Rh8+ {[%emt 0:24:53]
} Rg8 {[%emt 0:09:25]} 30. Bxe5 {[%emt 0:04:26]} fxe5 {[%emt 0:00:16]} 31. Rh5
{[%emt 0:00:08]} Bxg4 $1 {[%emt 0:05:05]} (31... Rf8 32. Ke3 Bd5 33. Ne4 Bxe4
34. Kxe4 {might be just lost} Rf4+ 35. Ke3 Rb4 36. Rxe5 Rxb2 37. Rxc5) 32. fxg4
{[%emt 0:00:31]} Rxg4 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 33. Rxe5 {[%emt 0:00:30]} b6 {[%emt 0:
02:06] I spent some time looking at this ending; most probably it's drawn;
White's only chance is to go for c4, Nd5 and Re7, but before that Magnus
decides to shuffle around for a while.} 34. Ne4 {[%emt 0:00:26]} Rh4 {[%emt 0:
01:28]} 35. Ke2 {[%emt 0:00:25]} Rh6 {[%emt 0:04:13]} 36. b3 {[%emt 0:01:48]}
Kd7 {[%emt 0:00:31]} 37. Kd2 {[%emt 0:01:42]} Kc6 {[%emt 0:01:53]} 38. Nc3 {
[%emt 0:02:15]} a6 {[%emt 0:03:01]} 39. Re4 {[%emt 0:00:49]} Rh2+ {[%emt 0:00:
48]} 40. Kc1 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Rh1+ {[%emt 0:00:00]} 41. Kb2 {[%emt 0:00:34]}
Rh6 {[%emt 0:04:49]} 42. Nd1 {[%emt 0:01:06]} Rg6 {[%emt 0:05:55]} 43. Ne3 {
[%emt 0:00:34]} Rh6 {[%emt 0:01:09]} 44. Re7 {[%emt 0:04:29]} Rh2 {[%emt 0:02:
44]} 45. Re6+ {[%emt 0:00:58]} Kb7 {[%emt 0:01:36]} 46. Kc3 {[%emt 0:12:38]}
Rh4 {[%emt 0:04:57]} 47. Kb2 {[%emt 0:04:24]} (47. Kd3 {was a more direct try}
Rd4+ (47... a5 48. c4 c6 49. Re7+) 48. Ke2 a5 49. c4 {and now Black has a
choice:} Rh4 (49... c6 50. Nf5 Rf4 51. Re7+ Kb8 $1 (51... Ka6 52. Nd6 a4 53.
Nc8) 52. Ne3 Rh4 53. Kd3 Rh3 54. Ke4 Rg3 55. Kf4 Rh3 {and suprisingly, even
this might not be enough for a win:} 56. Rg7 b5 57. Re7 Rh2 58. Ke5 Rd2 59. Rg7
Re2 60. Ke4 Rb2) 50. Kd3 Rh3 51. Ke4 Rh4+ 52. Ke5 Rh2 53. Re7 Rb2 54. Nd5 Rxb3
55. Rxc7+ Ka6 $1 (55... Kb8 56. Kd6) 56. Rg7 a4 57. Nc7+ Ka5 58. Nd5 Ka6 {
with a draw.}) 47... Rh2 {[%emt 0:02:33]} 48. Nd5 {[%emt 0:02:15]} Rd2 {
[%emt 0:03:02]} 49. Nf6 {[%emt 0:01:20]} Rf2 {[%emt 0:00:12]} 50. Kc3 {[%emt 0:
01:28]} Rf4 {[%emt 0:06:27]} 51. Ne4 {[%emt 0:04:36]} Rh4 {[%emt 0:05:58]} 52.
Nf2 {[%emt 0:00:59]} Rh2 {[%emt 0:01:05]} 53. Rf6 {[%emt 0:00:29]} Rh7 {
[%emt 0:02:15]} 54. Nd3 {[%emt 0:00:55]} Rh3 {[%emt 0:05:12]} 55. Kd2 {[%emt 0:
00:45]} Rh2+ {[%emt 0:00:07]} 56. Rf2 {[%emt 0:00:26]} Rh4 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 57.
c4 {[%emt 0:00:50]} Rh3 {[%emt 0:02:02]} 58. Kc2 {[%emt 0:00:37]} Rh7 {[%emt 0:
00:07]} 59. Nb2 {[%emt 0:00:59]} Rh5 {[%emt 0:02:58]} 60. Re2 {[%emt 0:00:00]}
Rg5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 61. Nd1 {[%emt 0:04:31]} b5 $5 {[%emt 0:04:54] Vishy
changes his tactics and does not even let the knight on to d5 any more.} 62.
Nc3 {[%emt 0:02:01]} (62. Nb2 Kb6 63. Nd3 c6 64. Kc3 Rg3 {does not change much.
}) 62... c6 {[%emt 0:01:37]} 63. Ne4 {[%emt 0:03:16]} Rh5 {[%emt 0:00:46]} 64.
Nf6 {[%emt 0:01:35]} Rg5 {[%emt 0:06:30]} 65. Re7+ {[%emt 0:15:33]} Kb6 {
[%emt 0:00:16]} 66. Nd7+ {[%emt 0:12:36]} Ka5 {[%emt 0:00:12]} 67. Re4 {
[%emt 0:01:29]} Rg2+ {[%emt 0:08:09]} 68. Kc1 {[%emt 0:02:59]} (68. Kc3 b4+ 69.
Kd3 Rd2+ $1 70. Kxd2 {would have a picturesque finale.}) 68... Rg1+ {[%emt 0:
01:10]} 69. Kd2 {[%emt 0:00:23]} Rg2+ {[%emt 0:00:34]} 70. Ke1 {[%emt 0:00:37]}
bxc4 $1 {[%emt 0:08:48]} 71. Rxc4 {[%emt 0:01:24]} Rg3 {[%emt 0:02:22]} 72.
Nxc5 {[%emt 0:00:45]} Kb5 {[%emt 0:00:06] A very nice idea. White's knight on
c5 is not stable, so he can't hold on to his last pawn much longer.} 73. Rc2 {
[%emt 0:00:20]} a5 {[%emt 0:02:54]} 74. Kf2 {[%emt 0:03:41]} Rh3 {[%emt 0:00:
17]} 75. Rc1 {[%emt 0:00:12]} Kb4 {[%emt 0:00:31]} 76. Ke2 {[%emt 0:00:36]} Rc3
{[%emt 0:00:56]} 77. Nd3+ {[%emt 0:01:22]} Kxb3 {[%emt 0:00:07] And the
remaining moves can be skipped with a clear conscience.} 78. Ra1 {[%emt 0:00:
06]} Kc4 {[%emt 0:02:29]} 79. Nf2 {[%emt 0:02:24]} Kb5 {[%emt 0:00:30]} 80.
Rb1+ {[%emt 0:00:22]} Kc4 {[%emt 0:00:59]} 81. Ne4 {[%emt 0:00:31]} Ra3 {
[%emt 0:00:38]} 82. Nd2+ {[%emt 0:00:30]} Kd5 {[%emt 0:00:19]} 83. Rh1 {
[%emt 0:00:13]} a4 {[%emt 0:00:34]} 84. Rh5+ {[%emt 0:00:06]} Kd4 {[%emt 0:00:
51]} 85. Rh4+ {[%emt 0:00:13]} Kc5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 86. Kd1 {[%emt 0:00:23]}
Kb5 {[%emt 0:01:02]} 87. Kc2 {[%emt 0:00:27]} Rg3 {[%emt 0:01:37]} 88. Ne4 {
[%emt 0:00:23]} Rg2+ {[%emt 0:00:06]} 89. Kd3 {[%emt 0:00:07]} a3 {[%emt 0:00:
11]} 90. Nc3+ {[%emt 0:00:14]} Kb6 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 91. Ra4 {[%emt 0:00:24]} a2
{[%emt 0:00:13]} 92. Nxa2 {[%emt 0:00:10]} Rg3+ {[%emt 0:00:06]} 93. Kc2 {
[%emt 0:00:06]} Rg2+ {[%emt 0:00:05]} 94. Kb3 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Rg3+ {[%emt 0:
00:14]} 95. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Rh3 {[%emt 0:00:14]} 96. Rb4+ {[%emt 0:00:12]}
Kc7 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 97. Rg4 {[%emt 0:00:06]} Rh7 {[%emt 0:00:33]} 98. Kc4 {
[%emt 0:00:06]} Rf7 {[%emt 0:00:15]} 99. Rg5 {[%emt 0:00:28]} Kb6 {[%emt 0:00:
37]} 100. Na4+ {[%emt 0:00:09]} Kc7 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 101. Kc5 {[%emt 0:00:10]}
Kd7 {[%emt 0:00:37]} 102. Kb6 {[%emt 0:00:59]} Rf1 {[%emt 0:00:19]} 103. Nc5+ {
[%emt 0:00:08]} Ke7 {[%emt 0:00:11]} 104. Kxc6 {[%emt 0:00:08]} Rd1 {[%emt 0:
00:08]} 105. Rg6 {[%emt 0:00:48]} Kf7 {[%emt 0:00:19]} 106. Rh6 {[%emt 0:00:16]
} Rg1 {[%emt 0:00:13]} 107. Kd5 {[%emt 0:00:18]} Rg5+ {[%emt 0:00:08]} 108. Kd4
{[%emt 0:00:05]} Rg6 {[%emt 0:00:09]} 109. Rh1 {[%emt 0:00:20]} Rg2 {[%emt 0:
00:23]} 110. Ne4 {[%emt 0:00:10]} Ra2 {[%emt 0:00:23]} 111. Rf1+ {[%emt 0:00:
17]} Ke7 {[%emt 0:00:13]} 112. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:10]} Rh2 {[%emt 0:00:33]} 113.
Nd5+ {[%emt 0:00:06]} Kd6 {[%emt 0:00:10]} 114. Rf6+ {[%emt 0:00:06]} Kd7 {
[%emt 0:00:06]} 115. Nf4 {[%emt 0:01:37]} Rh1 {[%emt 0:00:17]} 116. Rg6 {
[%emt 0:00:25]} Rd1+ {[%emt 0:00:13]} 117. Nd3 {[%emt 0:00:08]} Ke7 {[%emt 0:
00:23]} 118. Ra6 {[%emt 0:00:29]} Kd7 {[%emt 0:00:12]} 119. Ke4 {[%emt 0:00:14]
} Ke7 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 120. Rc6 {[%emt 0:02:12]} Kd7 {[%emt 0:00:14]} 121. Rc1
{[%emt 0:00:07]} Rxc1 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 122. Nxc1 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Anand +3-1=7"]
[Site "Sochi"]
[Date "2014.11.18"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2792"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2014.11.08"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 164"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 {[%emt 0:00:04]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 2. c4 {[%emt 0:00:05]} e6 {[%emt 0:
00:07]} 3. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:04]} d5 {[%emt 0:00:16]} 4. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:09]} Be7
{[%emt 0:00:39]} 5. Bf4 {[%emt 0:00:13] Anand doesn't mind to repeat the same
line that brought him success in game three.} O-O {[%emt 0:00:14]} 6. e3 {
[%emt 0:00:06]} c5 {[%emt 0:00:13] This used to be the main line years ago,
but nowadays is out of fashion.} ({In game three there followed} 6... Nbd7 7.
c5 {which is the main line nowadays.}) 7. dxc5 {[%emt 0:00:28]} Bxc5 {[%emt 0:
00:16]} 8. a3 {[%emt 0:00:27]} Nc6 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 9. Qc2 {[%emt 0:00:54]} Re8
$5 {[%emt 0:00:12] Here is what Magnus and his team unleashed. Black's idea is
to prepare e6-e5. However, as long as Black's queen stays on d8, this gives
White numerous options to press on the Pd5. The quiet rook move is very rare
and has never really appeared on the top level so far. During and after the
game there were speculations as to whether the idea 9...Re8 was a one-shot
affair, or whether it may find followers and even become a new trend in the
Queen's Gambit!? Hard to say. After a certain analysis I can conclude that
White definitely can't refute Black's setup by force, but does have chances
for a slight advantage.} (9... Qa5 {is the main move.}) 10. Bg5 $6 {[%emt 0:11:
18] White has many logical options to consider. Anand's choice is one of them,
but unfortunately for him, is not the most challenging. In future games White
needs to seek for an advantage after 10.0-0-0 or 10.b4.} (10. b4 Bd6 ({A real
mess may arise after} 10... e5 $6 11. Bg5 d4 12. Bxf6 gxf6 13. Nd5 e4 14. bxc5
exf3 15. O-O-O {which seems to be in White's favour.}) 11. Bxd6 Qxd6 12. c5 (
12. Be2 dxc4 13. Bxc4 $140 Ne5 $1 $11) 12... Qe7 13. Rd1 Rd8 14. Be2 e5 15. O-O
Bg4 16. Rfe1 {This position is slightly easier to handle as White.}) (10. O-O-O
e5 (10... h6 $5 {This prophylaxics deserves more atttention. Before developing
his counterplay on the queenside, Black covers the g5-square.} 11. Bg3 (11. Kb1
e5 12. cxd5 exf4 13. dxc6 Qc7 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15. Qxc5 Nf6 16. exf4 Bg4 $132) (11.
Nb5 e5 12. Bg3 a6 13. cxd5 Na5 $1 14. Nc3 Bg4 $44 {and now} 15. b4 $2 Bd6 16.
bxa5 $2 Qxa5 {[%csl Rc1] leads to a disaster for White.}) 11... a6 $1 {Another
useful prophylactic move.} ({After} 11... Qa5 $6 12. Nb5 {is unpleasant.}) 12.
Kb1 Be7 13. Bh4 Bd7 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15. cxd5 Na5 $1 16. dxe6 Rxe6 17. Rd5 Rc8 18.
Nd4 Re5 19. Rxe5 Bxe5 {with decent compensation.}) 11. Bg5 (11. cxd5 $6 exf4
12. dxc6 Qc7 {is fine for Black.}) 11... d4 12. Nd5 Be7 13. Nxe7+ Qxe7 14. exd4
Nxd4 (14... Bg4 15. dxe5 (15. d5 $6 Nd4 16. Qd3 Bxf3 17. gxf3 b5 $1 $44) 15...
Nxe5 16. Be2 b5 $5 (16... h6 17. Be3 $14) 17. Rhe1 bxc4 18. Bxc4 Bxf3 19. gxf3
Qc7 20. Be2 $14) 15. Nxd4 exd4 16. Rxd4 (16. Kb1 h6 17. Bh4 $14) 16... Qe5 17.
Be3 b5 18. c5 Bf5 19. Bd3 Rac8 20. b4 Bxd3 21. Rxd3 $14 {1-0 (39) Lalith,B 
(2569)-Thejkumar,M (2452) Jalgaon 2013}) (10. Rd1 e5 11. Bg5 d4 12. Nd5 Be7 13.
Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Bd3 g6 15. Nxf6+ Qxf6 16. O-O Bg4 $11 {1/2-1/2 (30) Romanov,S 
(2535)-Dibley,E (2463) ICCF email 2010}) ({In case of} 10. cxd5 exd5 11. Be2 {
Black can equalise by} d4 12. Rd1 Bg4 13. O-O Qe7 14. Na4 Bxf3 15. Bxf3 dxe3 $1
16. Nxc5 e2 17. Bxe2 Qxe2 $11) 10... Be7 $1 {[%emt 0:02:07] Magnus answered
quickly, clearly showing that Anand's reply had also been under thorough
investigation.} (10... d4 11. O-O-O e5 {would transpose to the line 10.0-0-0
e5 11.Bg5 d4 mentioned above.}) 11. Rd1 {[%emt 0:07:43]} (11. cxd5 Nxd5 12.
Bxe7 Qxe7 $11) (11. O-O-O Bd7 {is also perfectly playable for Black.} (11...
Qa5 $6 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. cxd5 {Here White's knight is not pinned, so White
wins a pawn.}) {It is now very risky for White to grab the pawn:} 12. Bxf6 $6
Bxf6 13. cxd5 exd5 14. Rxd5 Rc8 $36) 11... Qa5 {[%emt 0:01:00] Pinning the
knight, so now the Pd5 is protected.} 12. Bd3 {[%emt 0:06:50] Officially, only
this is a novelty. At first sight it looks like an improvement, but Carlsen
proves that Black has good grounds for keeping the balance.} (12. Be2 Ne4 13.
cxd5 Nxc3 14. Qxc3 Qxc3+ 15. bxc3 exd5 16. Bxe7 Nxe7 17. Nd4 Bd7 $11 {0-1 (66)
Correa de Almeida,C (1742)-Manheimer,G (1967) Lechenicher SchachServer 2010})
12... h6 {[%emt 0:00:34]} 13. Bh4 {[%emt 0:00:24]} dxc4 {[%emt 0:02:23]} (13...
a6 {was also possible and after} 14. O-O (14. cxd5 Nxd5 15. Bxe7 Ncxe7 $11)
14... dxc4 15. Bxc4 {could lead to the same position by a different order of
moves.}) 14. Bxc4 {[%emt 0:00:14]} a6 {[%emt 0:02:32]} 15. O-O {[%emt 0:07:30]}
b5 {[%emt 0:01:40]} 16. Ba2 {[%emt 0:07:59]} Bb7 {[%emt 0:00:53]} 17. Bb1 {
[%emt 0:03:35]} (17. Bxf6 Bxf6 18. Ne4 (18. Rd7 Re7 $11) 18... Be7 19. Rd7 (19.
Nc5 Bxc5 20. Qxc5 Red8 $11) 19... Qb6 20. Bb1 g6 {White doesn't have enough
resources to create serious threats, his activity is temporary. For instance:
after} 21. h4 Rac8 {Black has no problems.}) 17... Rad8 $1 {[%emt 0:01:09] A
cold-blooded reply, showing that White's battery along the diagonal b1-h7 is
not so frightening.} 18. Bxf6 {[%emt 0:09:36]} Bxf6 {[%emt 0:00:37]} 19. Ne4 {
[%emt 0:04:31]} (19. Qh7+ $6 {is just a single check.} Kf8 {Black's king has a
safe shelter on e7. Meanwhile, White's queenside is under pressure.}) 19... Be7
{[%emt 0:00:10]} 20. Nc5 {[%emt 0:08:02]} Bxc5 {[%emt 0:00:40]} 21. Qxc5 {
[%emt 0:00:08]} b4 $1 {[%emt 0:05:00] After the exchange of queens the game
peters out.} 22. Rc1 {[%emt 0:05:11]} (22. Qxa5 Nxa5 23. axb4 Nc4 24. b3 Bxf3
25. Rxd8 (25. gxf3 $4 Nd2 $19) 25... Rxd8 26. bxc4 Be2 27. Rc1 Bxc4 $11) 22...
bxa3 {[%emt 0:03:27]} 23. bxa3 {[%emt 0:00:19]} Qxc5 {[%emt 0:01:36]} 24. Rxc5
{[%emt 0:00:14]} Ne7 {[%emt 0:01:56]} 25. Rfc1 {[%emt 0:03:42]} Rc8 {[%emt 0:
00:28]} (25... Bxf3 {is possible, but I wouldn't recommend it.} {After} 26.
gxf3 {White's bishop is slightly superior to the knight and the Pa6 may become
a target.}) 26. Bd3 {[%emt 0:01:57]} Red8 {[%emt 0:01:15]} 27. Rxc8 {[%emt 0:
02:28]} Rxc8 {[%emt 0:01:53]} 28. Rxc8+ {[%emt 0:04:58]} Nxc8 {[%emt 0:00:02]}
29. Nd2 {[%emt 0:01:41]} Nb6 {[%emt 0:01:06]} 30. Nb3 {[%emt 0:02:03]} Nd7 {
[%emt 0:00:14] Covering the c5-square and parrying White's last attempt to
squeeze something out of nothing.} 31. Na5 {[%emt 0:02:28]} Bc8 {[%emt 0:00:35]
} 32. Kf1 {[%emt 0:01:27]} Kf8 {[%emt 0:01:11]} 33. Ke1 {[%emt 0:00:22]} Ke7 {
[%emt 0:06:03]} 34. Kd2 {[%emt 0:01:31]} Kd6 {[%emt 0:03:16]} 35. Kc3 {[%emt 0:
00:30]} Ne5 {[%emt 0:00:26]} 36. Be2 {[%emt 0:00:32]} Kc5 {[%emt 0:00:19]} 37.
f4 {[%emt 0:02:25]} Nc6 {[%emt 0:01:17]} 38. Nxc6 {[%emt 0:01:41]} Kxc6 {
[%emt 0:00:02]} 39. Kd4 {[%emt 0:00:39]} f6 {[%emt 0:00:37] Black has a safe
fortress.} 40. e4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Kd6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 41. e5+ {[%emt 0:01:07]
A success for Magnus neutralising one of Anand's last games as White in the
match.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Anand +3-1=7"]
[Site "Sochi"]
[Date "2014.11.20"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2792"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[EventDate "2014.11.08"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 164"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:03]} e5 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 2. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:06]} Nc6 {
[%emt 0:00:05]} 3. Bb5 {[%emt 0:00:09]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 4. O-O {[%emt 0:
00:09]} Nxe4 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 5. d4 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Nd6 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 6.
Bxc6 {[%emt 0:00:07]} dxc6 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 7. dxe5 {[%emt 0:00:20]} Nf5 {
[%emt 0:00:07]} 8. Qxd8+ {[%emt 0:00:08]} Kxd8 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 9. h3 {[%emt 0:
00:06] This has been Carlsen's constant choice in this match.} Ke8 {[%emt 0:00:
10]} ({In the next Berlin game, Anand deviated with} 9... Bd7 $5 {Carlsen,M 
(2863)-Anand,V (2792) Sochi 2014 CBM 164 [Nielsen,PH] (1-0, 45). From the
course of the game this proved an attempt to level the score and, to a certain
point, quite a consistent one.}) 10. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:07]} h5 {[%emt 0:00:09] A
logical reaction to White's unmasked intentions to gain kingside space with
g2-g4.} ({But the plan of developing the queen's bishop in the fianchetto is
possible without paying attention to the kingside, as in the recent game} 10...
b6 11. Rd1 Bb7 {Grischuk,A (2797)-Andreikin,D (2722) Baku 2014 CBM 163 [Marin,
M] (1/2-1/2, 77)}) 11. Ne2 {[%emt 0:00:37]} ({Carlsen is the first to deviate
from the previous Berlin game, in which, rather non-typically, his opening
preparation was better than Anand's, and quite impressively so!} 11. Bf4 {
Carlsen,M (2863)-Anand,V (2792) Sochi 2014 CBM 164 [Kasimdzhanov,R] (1/2-1/2,
122)}) 11... b6 {[%emt 0:00:59];Caruana,F (2801)-Negi,P (2645) Tromso ol (Men)
41st 2014 (3.1) 1-0 This is a generally useful move in the Berlin Defence.
Black prepares to place his queenside pawns on dark squares in order to
restrict the enemy bishop and ensure the highest mobility of his light-squared
bishop. A good example of what can happen if Black does not stick to this
policy is offered by the game} ({The most popular move in this still not that
heavily explored position is} 11... Be7 12. Re1 (12. Bg5 {Carlsen,M (2772)
-Jakovenko,D (2760) Dortmund 2009 CBM 131 [Mueller,Karsten] (1-0, 49)}) 12...
Nh4 13. Nxh4 Bxh4 14. Nd4 Be7 15. Bf4 g5 16. Bh2 Rh6 17. Rad1 a6 {[%csl Rb5]
[%cal Gc6c5]} 18. e6 Bxe6 19. Bxc7 c5 20. Nxe6 Rxe6 21. Rxe6 fxe6 22. Be5 $14 {
This is the kind of position which may not be too pleasant to play with Black,
but does not guarantee White very clear winning chances, Sutovsky,E (2642)
-Bacrot,E (2721) Poikovsky 2014 (1/2-1/2, 33). Still, it does not look like
something one would like to get against Carlsen!}) 12. Rd1 {[%emt 0:04:43]
White hurries to take the control over the open file, but this will lead tu
unnatural development.} (12. Bf4 c5 13. Rad1 {looks more harmonious, since the
king's rook basically belongs on e1, but after} Bb7 14. Ng5 Rh6 {Black managed
to regroup in time in McShane,L (2645)-Kramnik,V (2791) London 2010 CBM 140 
[Postny,E] (1/2-1/2, 139)}) ({The main threat created by the last move is
occupying the d4-square with the knight(s). Its immediate occupation would be
premature:} 12. Nfd4 Nxd4 13. Nxd4 c5 $1 14. Nb5 Kd7 $1 {[%cal Gd7c6] This is
why White needs controlling the d-file!}) 12... Ba6 $5 {[%emt 0:02:50]} ({If} 
12... Bb7 13. Nfd4 Nxd4 14. Nxd4 {White has some chances of retaining the
initiative.} Be7 (14... c5 $2 15. Nb5 $16) 15. Bf4 (15. Nf5 Bc8 16. Nxe7 Kxe7
17. Bg5+ Ke6 18. g4 hxg4 19. hxg4 Bb7 20. Kg2 c5+ 21. f3 Rh7 $132 {Volokitin,A
(2722)-Hracek,Z (2615) Austria 2013 (1/2-1/2, 31)}) 15... Rd8 16. Nf5 Rxd1+ 17.
Rxd1 Bc8 18. Nxe7 Kxe7 19. Bg5+ Ke6 20. Bd8 Kxe5 21. Bxc7+ Kf5 22. Bb8 a6 23.
Ba7 b5 24. Rd6 Rh6 25. Rd8 Be6 26. b3 Bd5 27. f3 a5 28. Bd4 Re6 {Grischuk,A 
(2763)-Jakovenko,D (2722) Moscow 2012 (1/2-1/2, 87). White retains only a
symbolic advantage based on his active pieces. This should not be enough to
counter-balance the drawish tendency yielded by the opposite bishops.}) 13. Nf4
{[%emt 0:13:35]} ({With the b5-square over-protected,} 13. Ned4 Nxd4 14. Nxd4 {
is not dangerous due to} c5 $1 {for instance:} 15. Nf5 Be2 16. Rd2 Bc4 17. Ne3
Be6 18. Nd5 Rc8 19. b3 c6 20. Ne3 Rd8 21. Rxd8+ Kxd8 22. Bb2 g6 23. Rd1+ Kc7
24. f3 Bh6 25. Kf2 a5 26. a4 b5 $132 {Kurnosov,I (2676)-Karjakin,S (2760)
Moscow 2010 CBM 140 [Ftacnik,L] (0-1, 63)}) 13... Bb7 $5 $146 {[%emt 0:06:08]
This aparent loss of time is not without logic. After accomplishing the
mission of avoiding Ned4, the bishop was not doing much on a6, being also
exposed to a4-a5. The last move prepares its activating with a well-timed ...
c6-c5.} (13... Rd8 14. Bd2 (14. Rxd8+ $1 Kxd8 15. e6 fxe6 16. Ne5 $44) 14...
Nd4 (14... Bc8 $5) 15. Nxd4 Rxd4 16. a4 Bc8 (16... g5 $1 {[%csl Rf4][%cal
Ga6e2]} 17. a5 gxf4 18. axb6 axb6 19. Rxa6 Bg7 $11 {[%cal Gd4d1]}) 17. a5 $36 {
Dominguez Perez,L (2726)-Ponomariov,R (2741) Leon 2012 (1-0, 66)}) 14. e6 {
[%emt 0:16:00] White cannot achieve much with such a radical move while his
development is incomplete as yet. But this mainly means that Anand's novelty
was a good antidote to 13.Rd1.} ({If} 14. b3 {, hoping to catch up in
development, Black can start fighting for kingside space:} Be7 15. Bb2 (15. e6
g5 {is similar.}) 15... g5 $1 16. e6 Rh6 $1 (16... f6 $6 17. Ng6 Rh6 18. Nxe7
Nxe7 19. h4 $36 {Black is weak on the dark squares.}) 17. exf7+ Kxf7 18. Ne2 (
18. Ne5+ Kg8) 18... c5 $13) 14... Bd6 {[%emt 0:01:20] The simplest solution.
The best way of maintaining the lead in development is... making a developing
move!} ({Black is not prepared for the over-ambitious} 14... f6 $2 {, hoping
to win the e6-pawn:} 15. Rd7 Bd6 16. Ng6 Rg8 17. Bf4 $1 {Suddenly, Black
cannot hold his position anymore.} Bc8 18. g4 $1 hxg4 19. hxg4 Nh6 20. Bxd6
Bxd7 21. exd7+ Kf7 {The last hope for avoiding material losses:} 22. Bxc7 Kxg6
23. Nd4 $1 Rad8 24. Bxd8 Rxd8 25. Ne6 $18 {Ironically, it is the king's
position that dooms Black. But the king HAD to capture the knight on d6...}) ({
There is no clear refutation to} 14... fxe6 {White surely has a strong
initiative for the pawn, but Black's ability to defend his centre with the
help of the king should not be underestimated, for instance:} 15. Ng6 Rg8 16.
Bf4 c5 17. Ng5 Bd6 18. Rd3 Kd7 19. Rad1 Bd5 (19... h4 $5) 20. b3 Rae8 {Black
has completed his development and the dangers are not too obvious.} 21. c4 Ba8
22. Nf7 (22. g4 Nd4 $15) 22... Nd4 23. Rxd4 {Less effective than it may look
at first sight.} cxd4 24. Rxd4 e5 $3 {A strong defence, clearing the e-file
for the rook.} 25. Bxe5 Kc8 26. Bxd6 (26. Nxd6+ cxd6 27. Bxd6 Re4 {[%cal Gg8d8]
} 28. Rxe4 Bxe4 29. Nf4 Kd7 $15) 26... Re1+ $1 {This is the point! The rook
escapes the fork with gain of time, using the open e-file.} 27. Kh2 cxd6 28.
Nxd6+ Kb8 29. Nf4 h4 $13 {White may be able to prove his compensation for the
exchange, but only Black could play for a win already. WHite will face
problems defending both his wings against the attack of the enemy rook(s).})
15. exf7+ {[%emt 0:10:08]} ({Keeping the tension with} 15. Re1 {could already
be met with} f6 {(not the only move, but quite an ambitious one, endangering
the far advanced pawn).}) 15... Kxf7 {[%emt 0:00:16][%cal Ga8e8,Gh5h4,Gc6c5]
Black is well developed and has a clear plan of strengthening his position.
Little wonder that, behind in development but leading on the score table,
Carlsen decides to force a draw.} 16. Ng5+ {[%emt 0:00:12]} Kf6 {[%emt 0:00:16]
} 17. Ne4+ {[%emt 0:00:10]} Kf7 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 18. Ng5+ {[%emt 0:01:32] 92}
Kf6 {[%emt 0:00:50]} 19. Ne4+ {[%emt 0:00:12]} Kf7 {[%emt 0:00:13]} 20. Ng5+ {
[%emt 0:00:06]} 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Anand +3-1=7"]
[Site "Sochi"]
[Date "2014.11.21"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D97"]
[WhiteElo "2792"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2014.11.08"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 164"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 {[%emt 0:00:03]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 2. c4 {[%emt 0:00:05]} g6 {[%emt 0:
00:05]} 3. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:07]} d5 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 4. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Bg7
{[%emt 0:00:08]} 5. Qb3 {[%emt 0:00:06]} dxc4 {[%emt 0:00:14]} 6. Qxc4 {
[%emt 0:00:07]} O-O {[%emt 0:00:14]} 7. e4 {[%emt 0:00:06]} Na6 {[%emt 0:00:33]
} 8. Be2 {[%emt 0:00:35]} c5 {[%emt 0:00:10]} 9. d5 {[%emt 0:00:07]} e6 {
[%emt 0:00:07]} 10. O-O {[%emt 0:00:16]} exd5 {[%emt 0:00:17]} 11. exd5 {
[%emt 0:00:12]} Re8 {[%emt 0:00:35]} 12. Bg5 {[%emt 0:11:40] A relatively rare
but promising idea posing new problems to the adherents of the 7...Na6 system.
White provokes ...h7-h6, which will later allow him to gain a tempo when his
queen will be forced to retreat to c1.} h6 {[%emt 0:03:02]} (12... Qb6 13. Qh4
Bf5 14. Bb5 Bd7 15. Bc4 Nb4 16. Rad1 $16 {[%cal Yd5d6] 1-0 (21) Limp,E (2440)
-Rosa,C (2223) Rio de Janeiro 2006}) 13. Be3 {[%emt 0:01:35]} (13. Bxf6 $6 {
makes no sense:} Qxf6 14. Rad1 Bd7 15. Rfe1 (15. Rd2 Rab8 16. a4 Qb6 17. d6 Nb4
18. Qb3 Rbd8 19. Bc4 Be6 20. Rfd1 Rd7 $132 {[%csl Rd6] 0-1 (37) Jakobsen,O 
(2410)-Welin,T (2215) Copenhagen 1980}) 15... Qb6 16. Rd2 Rad8 17. a3 Qa5 18.
Bf1 Rxe1 19. Nxe1 b5 $36 {1/2 (38) Oll,L (2405)-Gavrikov,V (2550) Tallinn 1985}
) (13. Bh4 Qb6 (13... g5 $5) 14. a3 (14. Rfd1 Bf5) 14... Bf5 15. Bd3 Bxd3 16.
Qxd3 Qxb2 17. Ra2 Qb6 18. Rb1 c4 19. Qxc4 Rac8 20. Qf1 Qc5 $36 {1/2 (41)
Szczechowicz,B (2275)-Miton,K (2375) Trzebinia 1998}) (13. Bf4 $5 Bf5 (13... g5
$5 14. Bg3 Nh5 {is probably better}) 14. Ne5 (14. Rad1 Ne4 15. Bd3 Nd6 16. Bxd6
Bxd3 17. Rxd3 Qxd6 18. a3 Nc7 19. Rfd1 b6 20. Ne4 Qd7 21. Nc3 Rad8 22. h3 Qd6
23. a4 {1/2 (23) Bolbochan,J-Pilnik,H Mar del Plata 1950}) 14... Qb6 (14... Nd7
$5 15. Nxd7 Qxd7) 15. d6 Be6 16. Qd3 Qb4 17. Qd2 g5 18. Bg3 c4 19. f4 $16 {
1-0 (28) Antoshin,V-Kozma,J Sochi 1963}) 13... Bf5 {[%emt 0:02:29]} 14. Rad1 {
[%emt 0:07:06]} Ne4 {[%emt 0:02:40]} (14... Qb6 {didn't solve Black's problems
in the following correspondence game:} 15. Rd2 ({but not} 15. b3 Rad8 16. Rd2
$6 Ng4 17. Bf4 Qa5 18. Rc1 {0-1 (67) Wojtaszek,R (2713)-Ponomariov,R (2729)
Poikovsky 2012} b5 $1 19. Qxb5 Bxc3 20. Qxa6 g5 $1 $17) 15... Rac8 16. h3 Ne4
17. Nxe4 Rxe4 18. Qc1 Ree8 19. Bc4 Qd6 20. Re2 g5 21. h4 f6 22. Rfe1 Nc7 23.
Bb3 b6 24. Nd2 Kh8 25. Nc4 Qd7 26. hxg5 hxg5 27. d6 $16 {1-0 (46) Langeveld,R 
(2696)-Schuster,P (2451) ICCF email 2010}) 15. Nxe4 {[%emt 0:02:11]} Bxe4 {
[%emt 0:10:55]} (15... Rxe4 16. Qc1 {[%cal Re3h6,Yd5d6]}) 16. Qc1 {[%emt 0:12:
38] This retreat is now unnecessary as the queen is not attacked.} (16. d6 $142
$1 $36 {[%csl Gd6]}) 16... Qf6 {[%emt 0:05:49] Black immediately exploits
White's inaccuracy. Still, he can't reach full equality.} (16... Kh7 $143 17.
d6 $1) 17. Bxh6 {[%emt 0:09:45]} Qxb2 {[%emt 0:00:30]} (17... Bxd5 {
(recommended by GM M.Golubev)} 18. Rxd5 Rxe2 19. Rd7 $5 (19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. Rd7
Re7 $11) 19... Qxb2 20. Bxg7 Qxc1 21. Rxc1 Kxg7 22. Rxb7 {[%cal Rf3g5]} Rae8 $1
$14) 18. Qxb2 {[%emt 0:13:47]} Bxb2 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 19. Ng5 $1 {[%emt 0:08:07]
} Bd4 $1 {[%emt 0:33:49][%csl Gd4]} 20. Nxe4 {[%emt 0:14:02]} Rxe4 {[%emt 0:00:
09]} 21. Bf3 {[%emt 0:00:18]} Re7 {[%emt 0:01:52]} 22. d6 {[%emt 0:08:08]} Rd7
{[%emt 0:00:03]} 23. Bf4 {[%emt 0:00:42][%csl Gd6]} Nb4 {[%emt 0:05:55]} 24.
Rd2 $6 {[%emt 0:01:14][%mdl 32] By ceding the e-file to Black White loses
winning chances.} (24. Rfe1 $142 Rad8 {[%cal Yd7d6]} (24... Nxa2 $143 25. Re7
Rxe7 26. dxe7 Re8 27. Re1 {[%csl Ge7]}) 25. a3 (25. Re7 Kf8 $1) 25... Nc6 26.
h4 $14) 24... Re8 {[%emt 0:02:32]} 25. Rc1 {[%emt 0:05:57]} Re6 {[%emt 0:08:43]
} 26. h4 {[%emt 0:01:25]} Be5 {[%emt 0:04:58]} 27. Bxe5 {[%emt 0:01:45]} Rxe5
$11 {[%emt 0:00:02] Now White's d6-pawn can become weak. Vishy Anand decides
to force a draw.} 28. Bxb7 {[%emt 0:03:39]} Rxb7 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 29. d7 {
[%emt 0:00:07]} Nc6 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 30. d8=Q+ {[%emt 0:00:06]} Nxd8 {[%emt 0:
00:05]} 31. Rxd8+ {[%emt 0:00:12]} Kg7 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 32. Rd2 {[%emt 0:01:01]
} 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Anand +3-1=7"]
[Site "Sochi"]
[Date "2014.11.23"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2792"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2014.11.08"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 164"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{With the score being 51/2-41/2 to Carlsen with 2 games to go, the match has
reached its crucial moment. Yet still there maybe was an expectation of
silence before the storm? A draw in this game at first seemed like a good
result for both, as Carlsen would guarantee himself a playoff, while Anand
could gamble everything with the white pieces in game 12. In tournaments
situations might often arise in which both player have mutual interests in a
draw, but in matches it is important to remember that what is good for your
oppenent, is bad for you! The discussions about the right strategy in these
situations reflect that its probably a very close decision, with no obvious
"correct" answer. In Brissago 2004, against Leko, Kramnik choose the Benoni as
Black, in order to gamble, while here Anand choose the Berlin, seemingly happy
to make a draw.} 1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:05]} e5 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 2. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:
06]} Nc6 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 3. Bb5 {[%emt 0:00:07]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 4. O-O {
[%emt 0:00:09]} Nxe4 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 5. d4 {[%emt 0:01:03] Carlsen hesitated
here for a few minutes, possibly contemplating the safer 5.Re1, as employed in
Chennai a year before, succesfully drawing and thus preserving his lead. There
however he was on +2, making a draw even more valuable.} Nd6 {[%emt 0:00:07]}
6. Bxc6 {[%emt 0:00:13]} dxc6 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 7. dxe5 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Nf5 {
[%emt 0:00:06]} 8. Qxd8+ {[%emt 0:00:05]} Kxd8 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 9. h3 {[%emt 0:
00:08]} Bd7 $5 {[%emt 0:00:18] Anand is the first to deviate from games 7&9
where he went 9...Ke8. It might seem a bit strange that after getting into
trouble in game 7 he repeated ...Ke8, while after securing an easy draw in
game 9, he changed. However not doing the obvious, is an excellent way of
surprising, and springing this "mini" surprise, might be an indication that
despite the choice of the Berlin, he is not against a fight.} 10. Nc3 $5 {
[%emt 0:00:08] A slightly surprising decision. In the previous match in
Chennai, Anand as White choose:} (10. Rd1 {which is part of the point behind 9
h3, as now if Black wants to get his king to c8, he has to enter the
complications after 10...Kc8 11.g4 Ne7 12.Ng5 Be8 13.f4 h5. Recently however
Black has done well here, as well as the general trend in this match is Anand
welcoming, and Carlsen avoiding forced lines.} Be7 {was Carlsen's own choice
in the previous match, when he came close to winning game 4 after} 11. Nc3 (11.
g4 Nh4 12. Nxh4 Bxh4 13. Nd2 Kc8 14. Ne4 b6 15. Bg5 Bxg5 16. Nxg5 h6 17. Nxf7
Re8 18. f4 Be6 19. Nxh6 gxh6 20. f5 Bxf5 21. gxf5 Rxe5 {was drawn after a
couple of exact defensive moves by Black in Karjakin-Carlsen, Shamkir 2014.})
11... Kc8 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bxe7 Nxe7 14. Rd2 c5 15. Rad1 Be6 {with Black having
solved his opening problems in the abovementioned game 4 of the 2013 WC-match.}
) 10... h6 {[%emt 0:00:48]} 11. b3 {[%emt 0:00:32]} Kc8 {[%emt 0:01:11]} 12.
Bb2 {[%emt 0:01:12]} c5 $5 {[%emt 0:01:30] Technically speaking a very rare
move, but in harmony with the current trend in this line, that Black will play
a quick ...c5.} (12... b6 {is the original concept, played by Kramnik in the
2000 WC-match against Kasparov, who got nowhere after} 13. Rad1 Ne7 (13... c5 {
Leko's move order, and would transpose to the main game.}) 14. Ne2 Ng6 15. Ne1
h5 16. Nd3 c5 17. c4 a5 18. a4 h4 {and Kasparov both in this game, as in the
match in general, did not manage to make any headway against the Berlin.}) 13.
Rad1 {[%emt 0:04:07]} b6 {[%emt 0:01:01] Despite the slight improvement in the
move order by Anand, it has now transposed into a recent game between Kokarev
and Leko from the Russian league. With Leko being one of Anand's seconds for
the previous match, one can guess at that it was preparation for Chennai. By
controlling the d4-square, Black avoids the White tries now considered maybe
most critical after 13...b6 starting with 14.Nd4!?, however at the cost at
giving white access to the d5-square. Optically it looks like an excellent
post for a white knight, but as the game shows, things are not as simple as
that.} 14. Rfe1 {[%emt 0:10:11]} (14. Nd5 a5 15. Nd2 Ne7 $1 {Contesting the
strong knight on d5 is part of Black's plan. If 16 c4, then ...a4 gives
excellent counterplay.} 16. Ne3 Nf5 17. Nd5 Ne7 18. Ne3 Nf5 {and the game was
drawn by repetition.}) 14... Be6 $5 {[%emt 0:09:58] Bologan and Jakovenko have
played ...Ne7 here, Ponomariov ...a5. Both decent moves, but so is Anand's,
getting ready to put his king on b7, and for the time being not retreating the
knight voluntarily.} 15. Nd5 {[%emt 0:02:42]} g5 {[%emt 0:01:35] Not allowing
a white Nf4, harassing the bishop on e6. It does create a "hole" on f6, but
gains space, and makes it more difficult for White to immediately expand on
the kingside.} 16. c4 {[%emt 0:10:30]} Kb7 {[%emt 0:09:49] A very principled
position, where both players have their intended setup. White's argument will
be that space does matter, that d5 is an outpost of value, and that he can
roll forward eventually on the kingside, while Black will claim his position
is solid, and that potentially White's queenside structure soon fixed on white
squares is vulnerable.} 17. Kh2 {[%emt 0:13:27] Not hesitating, Carlsen's
prepares for expanding on the kingside.} a5 {[%emt 0:14:59]} 18. a4 {[%emt 0:
01:37] Of course weakening b3, but allowing ...a4, would give Black immediate,
counterplay.} Ne7 {[%emt 0:00:32]} 19. g4 {[%emt 0:02:23]} Ng6 {[%emt 0:06:53]
A good defensive move, taking precautions against White's plan of Kg3+h4.
However already here instead of defense, being aggressive with: 19...b5!?
would have been an interesting try, as after 20.axb5 a4 Black has serious
counterplay.} 20. Kg3 {[%emt 0:02:59]} Be7 {[%emt 0:02:16] In line with the
idea of stopping a white h4.} 21. Nd2 {[%emt 0:09:31]} ({If} 21. Nxe7 Nxe7 22.
h4 $2 {then} gxh4+ $1 {followed by 23...Rag8 when it's Black who benefits from
the immediate opening of fire on the kingside.}) 21... Rhd8 {[%emt 0:07:06]}
22. Ne4 {[%emt 0:01:51]} Bf8 {[%emt 0:00:35] An interesting position. At first
sight it looks like Black is solid, but passive, and the defining factor will
be if White is able to break through on the kingside. However as shown by the
game, Black has a powerful resource in ...b5 creating counterplay on the
queenside. Thus the task for White here is to find a prophylactic measure,
preventing ...b5 but keeping the long-term prospects on the kingside. Easier
said than done.} 23. Nef6 {[%emt 0:09:34]} ({During the game I thought} 23. Bc3
$5 {was the right move, but even there after} b5 {Black has counterplay after}
24. axb5 c6 25. bxc6+ Kxc6 {when it's not easy for White to keep Black's
potential under control. In the game it's an even more difficult task, but
Carlsen manages it extremely well!}) 23... b5 $1 {[%emt 0:09:48] A strong and
thematic move. The idea is that after 24.axb5 a4 25.bxa4 Rxa4 Black has more
than sufficient compensation for the pawn, due to the a-file and the weakness
of the pawn on c4. An even worse move is 24.cxb5 c6! 25.bxc6+ Kxc6 undermining
the knight on d5, and thus the pawn on b3 will fall. However Carlsen adapts
very well to the situation, not panicking but instead very much adapting to
the circumstance with a realistic defensive move. Despite the momentum having
swung in Anand's favour, it is however worth noting that Carlsen's chances of
winning the game have also improved. For a while Black now gets chances, the
stakes have risen, and any mistake can turn the tables, while without ...b5
both players' margin of error was bigger.} 24. Bc3 $5 {[%emt 0:08:39] Getting
out of the way of a black rook soon to be in the b-file, as well as eying the
pawn on a5 too.} bxa4 {[%emt 0:03:59]} 25. bxa4 {[%emt 0:00:01]} Kc6 {[%emt 0:
00:19]} 26. Kf3 $6 {[%emt 0:07:38] Much praised and combined with 23.Nef6
maybe match winning inaccuracies! Because while objectively Black now has the
chance to get the upper hand, Carlsen does seek to put pressure on his
opponent by marching forward with his king.} Rdb8 $6 {[%emt 0:21:53] Logical,
but letting a big chance slip.} ({With} 26... Be7 $1 {Anand could have given
the match a dramatic turn. The game would not at all be decided yet, but Black
keeps a stabe edge. It might seem pardoxical that Anand would play ...Be7
earlier in this game, instead of the maybe more obvious looking ...Bg7, but
there it had the specific point of preventing a white h4. Here however looks
just strange, but has the advantage that Nh5 is not with tempo, as indeed
would be the case after ...Bg7. The tactical problem is that after} 27. Ke4
Bxf6 $1 28. exf6 Bxd5+ $1 29. cxd5+ Kd6 {it's the black king which feels safe
and comfortable in the centre, as the d5-pawn provides him excellent cover,
while its white counterpart suddenly feels very awkwardly placed. Carlsen
certainly has ways to fight on after 26...Be7, and objectively the position
most likely is drawn, but he would be facing an uphill struggle, while now
certainly all 3 results are in play.}) 27. Ke4 {[%emt 0:02:54]} Rb4 $6 {
[%emt 0:03:22] As Anand admitted at the press conference his emotions got the
better of him, and he erred first. The stakes do simply not get higher, and
the pressure on the players obviously is immense. Anand tries maximising the
pressure on Carlsen, but while it does put pressure, the move lacks just a bit
in objective quality. The idea is right, the execution however flawed.} (27...
Rb3 $1 {is the better move.} {Thus} 28. Rb1 {is logical, but then Black has
the pleasant choice of either} ({If} 28. Rd2 {or 28.Rd3 then} Bg7 {will start
undermining the white centre.} (28... Kb7 $5)) {And} 28... Rb4 $5 {also
certainly makes sense, as the white rook obviously is placed worse on b1 than
on d1, after White accepts the offered exchange.} (28... Ra3 29. Ra1 Rb3 {
with a repetition} ({or} 29... Rxc3 {as an interesting exchange sacrifice.})))
28. Bxb4 {[%emt 0:00:42]} cxb4 $2 {[%emt 0:00:10] While the least move might
be sub-optimal, this one however is a clear mistake. It might look tempting to
get the c5-square for either the bishop or even the king, but now with very
concrete action, Carlsen manages to prove that Black's plan is too slow.} ({
With} 28... axb4 $1 {Black stays very much in the game. The positional
compensation with the pair of bishops as well as the the better structure
means that e.g. a passive approach like} 29. Ra1 ({It would be more
challenging if White plays for a direct f4 with} 29. Nh5 {similar to the game,
but after} Rxa4 30. Ra1 Rxa1 31. Rxa1 Bxd5+ $1 32. cxd5+ Kb5 {Black's passed
pawns are ready to march forward with a very complicated struggle ahead.})
29... Bg7 {is very playable for Black, who could even be better.}) 29. Nh5 $1 {
[%emt 0:09:58] As always Carlsen is a master in adopting to the circumstances,
and immediately jumps at his chance. Black's position does have potential, but
by attacking it immediately and with great force it's game, set and match.} Kb7
{[%emt 0:01:49]} 30. f4 {[%emt 0:01:21]} gxf4 {[%emt 0:00:38]} (30... Bd7 $5 {
looked a possible figthing chance, but after} 31. f5 Bxa4 32. fxg6 fxg6 33.
Nhf6 Bxd1 34. Rxd1 c6 {White do not retreat his knight, when the black pawns
indeed would become dangerous, but decides the game with} 35. Nd7 $1 {when the
white knights will either block the pawns, or after} cxd5+ 36. cxd5 {the white
pawns win the race, as} b3 37. Nxf8 a4 38. Nd7 {the white knight will return
in time.}) 31. Nhxf4 {[%emt 0:00:10]} Nxf4 {[%emt 0:00:25]} 32. Nxf4 $1 {
[%emt 0:00:58] Again very much to the point. Of course allowing Black to take
on c4 gives him connected passed pawns, but keeping up the pace of the attack
is of much higher relevance. Now the bishop on e6 is attacked, and after...}
Bxc4 {[%emt 0:01:14]} 33. Rd7 $1 {[%emt 0:00:08] ...is the deciding point. The
c7-pawn is the target, and when it falls, the whole black position crumbles.} {
So Anand tries one last trick:} Ra6 $5 {[%emt 0:05:45] The rook aims for c6,
where it protects the weak pawn on c7, as well as the bishop on c4, meaning
that e.g. 34.Rc1 is parried. It almost works, but White do have one concrete
way of breaking through...} ({After} 33... Kc6 {White will simply retreat with}
34. Rd2 {when Rc1 next will decide.}) 34. Nd5 $1 {[%emt 0:01:23]} Rc6 {[%emt 0:
01:17]} 35. Rxf7 $1 {[%emt 0:00:51]} Bc5 {[%emt 0:00:38]} 36. Rxc7+ $1 {
[%emt 0:03:06] The final blow, netting an extra pawn as well as exchanging the
c6-rook that kept the black position together.} Rxc7 {[%emt 0:00:22]} 37. Nxc7
{[%emt 0:00:01]} Kc6 {[%emt 0:03:48]} ({Anand's misfortune is that after} 37...
Kxc7 38. Rc1 b3 39. Rxc4 b2 40. Rxc5+ {is check, gaining the decisive tempo
allowing Rb5 next, stopping the passed pawn.}) 38. Nb5 $1 {[%emt 0:01:28]
Allowing Black 2 connected passed pawns, but correctly judging that White's
one passer will prevail.} Bxb5 {[%emt 0:00:22]} 39. axb5+ {[%emt 0:00:07]} Kxb5
{[%emt 0:00:06]} 40. e6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} b3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 41. Kd3 {[%emt 0:
02:22]} Be7 {[%emt 0:01:34]} 42. h4 $1 {[%emt 0:01:29]} a4 {[%emt 0:02:21]} 43.
g5 {[%emt 0:00:38]} hxg5 {[%emt 0:00:31]} 44. hxg5 {[%emt 0:00:45]} a3 {
[%emt 0:00:09]} 45. Kc3 {[%emt 0:00:55] Stopping the passed black pawns, and
despite the fact that 45...Bb4+ wins the white rook on e1, what matters is the
pawns. 46.Kxb3 Bxe1 47.e7 and the pawn queens. Anand had no choice, but to
resign the game and thus the match. A very interesting last game. Like in game
9 in Chennai, Anand might have shown how to successfully attack Carlsen, but
by doing that he also forced him to display excellent defensive
resourcefulness once again netting him a full point!} 1-0

[Event "Oslo NRK TV"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2014.11.30"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Norway"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B02"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2014.11.30"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 163 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.12.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.12.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. exd5 Nxd5 5. Nxd5 Qxd5 6. d4 Bg7 7. c3 O-O 8.
Bd3 Bg4 9. O-O Rd8 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Qxf3 12. gxf3 Nd7 13. Re1 e6 14. Bf4 c6
15. Bc7 Re8 16. Rad1 Nf6 17. Be5 Nd5 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. c4 Nf4 20. Re4 Nxh3+ 21.
Kg2 f5 22. Rh4 Ng5 23. f4 Nf7 24. Rdh1 h6 25. c5 Rad8 26. b4 Rxd4 27. Rd1 Red8
28. Rh3 e5 29. fxe5 Nxe5 30. Re3 Nxd3 31. Re7+ Kf6 32. Rxb7 Nf4+ 33. Kf3 Rd3+
34. Kxf4 g5# 0-1

[Event "Norway sim"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2014.12.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Drozdowski, Kacper"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A56"]
[WhiteElo "2862"]
[BlackElo "2472"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2014.12.14"]
[EventType "simul (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 163 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.12.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.12.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. d4 c5 3. d5 a6 4. Nc3 b5 5. Nf3 d6 6. e4 b4 7. Na4 Nxe4 8. Bd3 Nf6
9. Bg5 g6 10. a3 a5 11. O-O Bg7 12. Qd2 O-O 13. Bh6 Bg4 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. Ng5
Bd7 16. Bc2 h6 17. Nf3 Ra7 18. Rfe1 Qe8 19. Nb6 Bg4 20. axb4 Bxf3 21. bxc5 Bg4
22. h3 dxc5 23. hxg4 Qd8 24. Na4 Qd6 25. Nc3 Nxg4 26. g3 Qf6 27. Nb5 Ra6 28.
Bd1 h5 29. Ra3 e5 30. Nc3 Nd7 31. Ne4 Qd8 32. d6 Ngf6 33. Nc3 Nb8 34. Nb5 Nc6
35. Bf3 Nd4 36. Rxe5 Nxb5 37. cxb5 Rxd6 38. Qc3 Re8 39. Rxe8 Qxe8 40. Rxa5 Qc8
41. Ra7 Qf5 42. Ra3 Kh7 43. Ra6 Rd4 44. Rc6 Ne4 45. Qe3 Ng5 46. Bg2 h4 47. gxh4
Qb1+ 48. Kh2 Ne6 49. Qg3 Qxb2 50. b6 Qb4 51. b7 Qxb7 52. Rxe6 Qb4 53. Re7 Rxh4+
54. Bh3 Rf4 55. Be6 Kg7 56. Qe3 Rf6 57. Bh3 Qh4 58. Kg1 Rxf2 59. Re4 Re2 60.
Qc3+ 1-0

[Event "Norway sim"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2014.12.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "LakeMonster"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2862"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2014.12.14"]
[EventType "simul (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 163 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.12.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.12.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bg5 Be7 7. Bxe7 Nxe7 8.
dxe5 Nxb5 9. a4 O-O 10. axb5 Ng6 11. Nc3 b6 12. Qd5 c6 13. bxc6 dxc6 14. Qxc6
Be6 15. Rad1 Qc8 16. Qe4 Bf5 17. Qe3 Qb7 18. Nd4 Be6 19. f4 Bc4 20. Rfe1 Ne7
21. f5 Nd5 22. Nxd5 Bxd5 23. f6 gxf6 24. Nf5 Kh8 25. Qh6 Rg8 26. Qxf6+ Rg7 27.
Qxg7# 1-0

[Event "Norway sim"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2014.12.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Manfay, Mate"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C04"]
[WhiteElo "2862"]
[BlackElo "2214"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2014.12.14"]
[EventType "simul (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 163 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.12.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.12.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. e4 d5 3. Nd2 Nc6 4. Ngf3 Nf6 5. e5 Nd7 6. Bd3 f6 7. exf6 Qxf6 8.
O-O Bd6 9. Nb3 O-O 10. c4 Bf4 11. Re1 e5 12. cxd5 Nxd4 13. Nbxd4 exd4 14. Bxf4
Qxf4 15. Re4 Qf6 16. Rc1 Nb6 17. Rxc7 Bf5 18. Ree7 Bxd3 19. Qxd3 Rac8 20. Rxg7+
Qxg7 21. Rxg7+ Kxg7 22. Qxd4+ Kg8 23. h4 Rc1+ 24. Kh2 Rc7 25. Ne5 Rg7 26. d6
Nd7 27. f4 a6 28. g4 Re8 29. g5 h6 30. Qd5+ Kh7 31. g6+ Kh8 32. Nf7+ Kg8 33.
Nxh6+ Kh8 34. Nf7+ Kg8 35. Qh5 1-0

[Event "Norway sim"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2014.12.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Martyr, Reginald"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2862"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2014.12.14"]
[EventType "simul (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 163 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.12.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.12.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Bd3 Nf6 8.
O-O Nxd4 9. Bxd4 Bc5 10. Bxc5 Qxc5 11. Qe1 e5 12. Na4 Qd4 13. Qa5 O-O 14. Nb6
Rb8 15. Rad1 d6 16. c3 Qc5 17. Qxc5 dxc5 18. Bc4 Nxe4 19. Rfe1 Nf6 20. Rxe5 Be6
21. Bxe6 fxe6 22. Rxe6 Rbd8 23. Rxd8 Rxd8 24. Kf1 Rd1+ 25. Re1 Rd2 26. Nc4 Rc2
27. Rb1 Ng4 28. f3 b5 29. fxg4 bxc4 30. a4 Kf7 31. h3 Kf6 32. Re1 Rxb2 33. Re4
Ra2 34. Rxc4 Ke6 35. g5 Ra3 36. Rxc5 Rxa4 37. Rc7 g6 38. Rxh7 Kf5 39. h4 Rc4
40. Ra7 Rxh4 41. Rxa6 Rc4 42. Rf6+ Kxg5 43. Rf3 Re4 44. Kf2 Kg4 45. Rd3 Kf4 46.
g3+ Ke5 47. Re3 Kd5 48. Rxe4 Kxe4 49. Ke2 g5 50. c4 Kd4 51. Kf3 Kxc4 52. Kg4
Kd5 53. Kxg5 Ke6 54. Kg6 Ke7 55. g4 Kf8 56. Kh7 Kf7 57. g5 Kf8 58. g6 Ke7 59.
g7 1-0

[Event "Norway sim"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2014.12.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Osinovsky, Stepan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2862"]
[BlackElo "2241"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2014.12.14"]
[EventType "simul (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 163 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.12.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.12.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 c5 3. d5 Ne4 4. Bc1 e6 5. c4 b5 6. cxb5 Qa5+ 7. Nd2 exd5 8. e3
a6 9. bxa6 Nxa6 10. Ngf3 Be7 11. Be2 O-O 12. O-O Bb7 13. Ne5 Qc7 14. Nxe4 Qxe5
15. Ng3 g6 16. Bd2 Bf6 17. Bf3 Bc6 18. Bc3 d4 19. exd4 cxd4 20. Re1 dxc3 21.
Rxe5 cxb2 22. Rb1 Bxe5 23. Bxc6 dxc6 24. Ne4 Nb4 25. f4 Rfd8 26. Qb3 Bd4+ 27.
Kf1 Rab8 28. Rxb2 Na6 29. Qc4 Rxb2 30. Qxa6 Bg7 31. Ke1 h6 32. a4 Kh7 33. Qxc6
Rdb8 34. Nf6+ Kh8 35. Nd7 R8b3 36. Qa8+ Kh7 37. Qd5 Ra3 38. Qd1 Rxg2 39. Kf1
Rxh2 40. Kg1 Raa2 41. Qd5 Rhd2 0-1

[Event "Norway sim"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2014.12.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Petersen, Caleb"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A03"]
[WhiteElo "2862"]
[PlyCount "135"]
[EventDate "2014.12.14"]
[EventType "simul (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 163 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.12.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.12.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. f4 d5 2. Nf3 c6 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 g6 5. O-O Bg7 6. d3 Na6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. e4
dxe4 9. dxe4 Nc7 10. e5 Nfd5 11. Ne4 Bf5 12. Qe2 Ne6 13. c4 Qb6+ 14. Kh1 Bxe4
15. Qxe4 Nc5 16. Qe2 Nb4 17. Be3 Nba6 18. a3 Qc7 19. b4 Ne6 20. Bh3 Qc8 21. f5
gxf5 22. Bxf5 Qc7 23. Qc2 Bxe5 24. Rae1 Bf6 25. Qe4 Kh8 26. Bxh7 Ng7 27. Ng5
Bxg5 28. Bxg5 f6 29. Be3 Qe5 30. Qxe5 fxe5 31. Bc2 Nc7 32. Rxf8+ Rxf8 33. Bxa7
b5 34. cxb5 Nxb5 35. Bc5 Nxa3 36. Be4 Ne6 37. Bxe7 Rf7 38. Bh4 Nd4 39. Kg2 Nc4
40. Bd3 Nf3 41. Re4 Ncd2 42. Re3 Nxh4+ 43. gxh4 Rd7 44. h5 Kg7 45. Rg3+ Kh6 46.
Be2 Rg7 47. Rxg7 Kxg7 48. Kf2 Ne4+ 49. Ke3 Nd6 50. Bf3 Nf5+ 51. Kd3 Nd4 52. Be4
Kh6 53. Bg6 Kg5 54. Kc4 Nb5 55. h4+ Kh6 56. Kc5 Nc3 57. Bf7 e4 58. Kd4 Nb5+ 59.
Ke3 Nc7 60. Bc4 Kxh5 61. Kxe4 Na8 62. Kd4 Nb6 63. Kc5 Na4+ 64. Kxc6 Nc3 65. Kc5
Kxh4 66. Kd4 Na4 67. Bb3 Nb6 68. Kc5 1-0

[Event "Norway sim"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2014.12.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Rajarishi, Karthi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A06"]
[WhiteElo "2862"]
[BlackElo "1960"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2014.12.14"]
[EventType "simul (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 163 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.12.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.12.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 d5 2. Bb2 c5 3. e3 Nc6 4. Bb5 Nf6 5. Nf3 e6 6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. O-O Bd6 8.
d3 O-O 9. Ne5 Qc7 10. f4 Nd7 11. Qh5 f6 12. Ng4 f5 13. Qg5 Nb6 14. Nf6+ Kh8 15.
Nh5 e5 16. Nd2 d4 17. Nf3 e4 18. Nh4 Rf7 19. exd4 Be7 20. Qg3 Qd8 21. dxc5 Bxh4
22. Bxg7+ Kg8 23. Bf6+ Bxg3 24. Bxd8 Nd7 25. Nxg3 exd3 26. c4 Nxc5 27. Ba5 Be6
28. Rad1 Rd7 29. Rfe1 Kf7 30. Re5 Nb7 31. Bc3 Re8 32. Nxf5 Bxf5 33. Rxf5+ Kg8
34. Re5 Rxe5 35. Bxe5 Nc5 36. Kf2 Na6 37. a3 Nc5 38. Ke3 Nxb3 39. Rxd3 Rxd3+
40. Kxd3 Kf7 41. f5 Nc5+ 42. Kd4 Na4 43. g4 Nb2 44. g5 Nd1 45. h4 Nf2 46. h5
c5+ 47. Kd5 Ng4 48. g6+ hxg6 49. fxg6+ Ke7 50. Bg7 1-0

[Event "Norway sim"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2014.12.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Solsky, Itzhak"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E42"]
[WhiteElo "2862"]
[BlackElo "1942"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2014.12.14"]
[EventType "simul (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 163 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.12.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.12.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 c5 5. Nge2 d5 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. Nxc3 Nc6 8.
dxc5 a5 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Bb5 O-O 11. O-O Bg4 12. f3 Be6 13. Na4 Qe7 14. Bd2
Rfd8 15. Bc3 d4 16. exd4 Nd5 17. Qd2 Qf6 18. Rfe1 Nf4 19. Bxc6 bxc6 20. Nb6
Rab8 21. Re4 g5 22. d5 Qg6 23. Qd4 f5 24. Rxf4 gxf4 25. Qh8+ Kf7 26. dxe6+ Ke7
27. Qe5 Rb7 28. Re1 Rd3 29. Nc8+ 1-0

[Event "Norway sim"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2014.12.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Tang, Andrew"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2862"]
[BlackElo "2316"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2014.12.14"]
[EventType "simul (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 163 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.12.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.12.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 e6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. c5 Ne4 8. Rc1
f5 9. h3 c6 10. b4 Bf6 11. Bd3 a5 12. a3 axb4 13. axb4 b5 14. O-O Re8 15. Ne2
Bb7 16. Ra1 Qe7 17. Ne5 Rxa1 18. Qxa1 Nd2 19. Rd1 Ra8 20. Qxa8+ Bxa8 21. Rxd2
Bb7 22. Ra2 Qd8 23. Ra7 Nxe5 24. dxe5 Qb8 25. Rxb7 Qxb7 26. exf6 gxf6 27. Bd6
Qa6 28. Nd4 Kf7 29. Be2 Qc8 30. Bh5+ Kg7 31. f4 Qd7 32. Kh2 Kh6 33. g4 fxg4 34.
hxg4 Kg7 35. g5 f5 36. Kg3 Kg8 37. Be5 Qc8 38. g6 hxg6 39. Bxg6 Qa6 40. Kh4 Qa1
41. Kg5 Qa7 42. Nxc6 Qd7 43. Nd4 Qe7+ 44. Bf6 Qf8 45. Nxe6 Qh6+ 46. Kxh6 1-0

[Event "Norway sim"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2014.12.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wilson, Rainn"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2862"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2014.12.14"]
[EventType "simul (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 163 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.12.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.12.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Bg7 4. Bc4 Bg4 5. Bxf7+ Kxf7 6. Ng5+ Ke8 7. Qxg4 Nh6
8. Qh3 Nd7 9. Ne6 Qc8 10. Nxg7+ Kd8 11. Ne6+ Ke8 12. Bxh6 Nf6 13. Nc3 Kf7 14.
d5 c6 15. O-O cxd5 16. exd5 Qc4 17. Ng5+ Ke8 18. Qe6 Qg4 19. Qf7+ Kd7 20. Rae1
Rae8 21. Re6 Qd4 22. Rfe1 Ng4 23. Rxe7+ Rxe7 24. Rxe7+ Kc8 25. Re8+ Rxe8 26.
Qxe8+ Kc7 27. Ne6+ Kb6 28. Qb5# 1-0

[Event "Norway sim"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2014.12.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Xu, Grant"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E13"]
[WhiteElo "2862"]
[BlackElo "2126"]
[PlyCount "135"]
[EventDate "2014.12.14"]
[EventType "simul (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 163 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2014.12.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2014.12.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. Bg5 Bb4 6. Nd2 h6 7. Bh4 O-O 8. e4
Bxc3 9. bxc3 g5 10. Bg3 Nxe4 11. Nxe4 Bxe4 12. h4 d6 13. hxg5 Qxg5 14. Rh5 Qg6
15. Rh4 Bf5 16. Bf4 e5 17. Rxh6 Qg4 18. Qxg4+ Bxg4 19. Bg5 Nd7 20. Bd3 Rfe8 21.
Kd2 e4 22. Bc2 Bf5 23. Rah1 Kg7 24. Ba4 f6 25. Bxd7 Bxd7 26. Bxf6+ Kf7 27. Rh7+
Kxf6 28. Rxd7 Rg8 29. Rh6+ Kf5 30. Rf7+ Kg5 31. Re6 Kh5 32. Rh7+ Kg5 33. Rxc7
Rgc8 34. Rxc8 Rxc8 35. Rxd6 Rxc4 36. Rd7 Ra4 37. Ke3 Rxa2 38. Kxe4 Rxf2 39.
Rxa7 Rc2 40. Kd3 Rb2 41. Rb7 b5 42. d5 Kf5 43. Kd4 Rd2+ 44. Kc5 Rd3 45. Rf7+
Ke4 46. Re7+ Kf5 47. d6 Kf6 48. Re1 Kf7 49. Kc6 Rxc3+ 50. Kxb5 Rd3 51. Kc6 Rc3+
52. Kb7 Rc2 53. d7 Rb2+ 54. Kc7 Rc2+ 55. Kd8 Rxg2 56. Rc1 Ra2 57. Rf1+ Kg7 58.
Rf4 Re2 59. Kc7 Rc2+ 60. Kd6 Rd2+ 61. Ke6 Kg6 62. Rf8 Re2+ 63. Kd6 Rd2+ 64. Kc6
Rc2+ 65. Kb5 Rb2+ 66. Kc4 Rc2+ 67. Kb3 Rd2 68. d8=Q 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 77th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2015.01.10"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A42"]
[WhiteElo "2784"]
[BlackElo "2862"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2015.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. e4 d6 4. Nf3 e5 5. Nc3 ({It's too early to swap queens:} 
5. dxe5 dxe5 6. Qxd8+ Kxd8 7. Nc3 c6 {Later on Black puts the king on c7 and
has no problems. Don't believe your engine that shows an advantage for White
here, this position is equal.}) 5... Nc6 (5... exd4 6. Nxd4 Nc6 {is another
story.} ({or} 6... Ne7)) 6. Bg5 {Provoking some sort of a concession.} (6. d5
Nce7 7. Be2 f5 8. exf5 Nxf5 (8... gxf5 $2 {is over optimistic. After} 9. Ng5 {
I managed to win against a strong opponent rather quickly:} Nf6 10. Bh5+ Kf8 $2
11. Bf7 $1 h6 12. Ne6+ Bxe6 13. Bxe6 $18 {1-0 (27) Postny,E (2637)-Delchev,A 
(2622) Haguenau 2013}) 9. O-O Nf6 {leads to one of the typical structures. I
believe that White should be slightly better, though it won't be easy to
establish a blockade on e4 without letting black's knight get to d4.}) 6... f6
(6... Nf6 $2 {loses material by force after} 7. dxe5 dxe5 8. Qxd8+ Nxd8 9. Bxf6
Bxf6 10. Nd5 $18 {[%csl Rc7,Rf6]}) 7. Be3 Nh6 {The knight goes to f7, which is
in harmony with Black's previous move.} 8. h3 (8. dxe5 dxe5 9. Qxd8+ Kxd8 10.
O-O-O+ Bd7 11. h3 Kc8 12. c5 Nf7 13. Bc4 Ncd8 14. b4 c6 15. Nd2 Be6 16. Be2 Bh6
17. Bxh6 Nxh6 18. Nc4 Ndf7 19. a4 Kc7 $11 {0-1 (60) Karpov,A (2725)-Seirawan,Y
(2600) Roquebrune 1992}) 8... Nf7 9. c5 $6 {A standad break, but too early in
this case.} ({The simple} 9. Be2 {looks like a better try for an opening
advantage.} O-O 10. O-O f5 (10... Bd7 11. c5 $1 exd4 12. Nxd4 dxc5 13. Nxc6
Bxc6 14. Bxc5 Nd6 15. Qb3+ Kh8 16. Bb5 $1 $14 {1/2-1/2 (56) Keres,P-Spassky,B
Moscow 1965}) 11. dxe5 dxe5 12. Qxd8 Ncxd8 (12... Rxd8 13. Nd5 fxe4 14. Nd2 $14
) 13. Nd5 fxe4 14. Nd2 Ne6 15. Nxe4 Nf4 16. Bf3 Nxd5 17. cxd5 $14 {1/2-1/2 (70)
Bhat,V (2483)-Nakamura,H (2697) Mainz 2008}) (9. d5 {is always an option, of
course. However, it seems that White can benefit more if keeps the centre
flexible, at least for a while.}) 9... dxc5 10. dxe5 (10. dxc5 Qxd1+ 11. Rxd1
Be6 $11) 10... Nfxe5 11. Nxe5 fxe5 {Massive simplifications to follow. Black
has very little to worry about. All this has already appeared before.} 12. Bb5
(12. Bxc5 Qxd1+ 13. Rxd1 Bd7 14. Bc4 O-O-O $11 {1/2-1/2 (17) Petkov,V (2480)
-Jovanovic,Z (2543) Sibenik 2006}) 12... Bd7 (12... Qxd1+ 13. Rxd1 Bd7 14. Bxc5
O-O-O 15. O-O Nd4 $11 {1-0 (36) Kortschnoj,V (2665)-Kagan,S (2465) Beersheba
1978}) 13. Bxc6 {Anish decided to play it safe, not allowing the knight togo
to d4 by simply eliminating it.} (13. Qd5 Nd4 14. Bxd7+ Qxd7 15. Qxb7 O-O (
15... Nc2+ $2 {is just a waste of time, as the knight will have to go back to
d4 soon.} 16. Ke2 Rd8 17. Rhd1 Nd4+ 18. Kf1 $16) 16. O-O Rfb8 17. Qa6 Rxb2 18.
Rab1 Rb6 19. Qc4+ Qe6 20. Qxc5 Rab8 {with a balanced position.}) 13... Bxc6 14.
Bxc5 Bf8 {The bishop could achieve nothing from g7.} 15. Bxf8 (15. Be3 Qxd1+
16. Rxd1 Bd6 {followed by castling to the queenside is also equal.}) 15... Rxf8
16. O-O (16. Qg4 Qf6 (16... Qe7 {is also fairly safe.}) 17. O-O-O Rd8 18. Rxd8+
Kxd8 19. Rd1+ Ke7 {White doesn't have enough resources to harass black's king.
It's important that White's knight is restricted.}) 16... Qxd1 17. Rfxd1 Rd8 {
The game quickly simplified into an equal endgame.} 18. Rxd8+ Kxd8 19. Rd1+ Ke7
20. Nd5+ Bxd5 21. Rxd5 Ke6 22. f3 c6 23. Rd3 Rf7 24. Kf2 Rd7 {The exchange of
rooks doesn't change the evaluation of the position as drawish.} 25. Rxd7 Kxd7
26. h4 c5 27. g3 b5 28. b3 Ke6 29. Ke3 h6 30. f4 h5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 77th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2015.01.11"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E46"]
[WhiteElo "2862"]
[BlackElo "2762"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2015.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. d4 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Nge2 d5 6. a3 Be7 7. cxd5 exd5 8. g3
Nbd7 9. Bg2 Nb6 10. O-O Re8 11. b3 {The whole line is harmless, and the text
move doesn't change the evaluation.} (11. Nf4 {is the most common continuation:
} c6 12. b3 (12. f3 c5 $1 13. Kh1 Bf8 14. Re1 Bd7 15. Nd3 cxd4 16. exd4 Rxe1+
17. Qxe1 Na4 18. Ne5 Rc8 19. Nxa4 Bxa4 20. Bd2 Nd7 {1/2 (20) Petrosian,T-Szabo,
L Amsterdam/Leeuwarden 1956 Candidates [ChessBase]}) 12... Bd6 (12... Bf8 13.
Nd3 a5 14. Ne5 Nfd7 15. Nd3 Nf6 16. Re1 Ne4 17. Bb2 Nxc3 18. Bxc3 a4 19. b4 Nc4
$132 {1/2 (71) Giorgadze,G-Emms,J (2500) Muenster 1995}) 13. Nd3 Bf5 14. Bb2 h5
15. h4 Qe7 16. Re1 Rad8 17. Ne2 Be4 18. Nef4 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 g6 20. f3 Qc7 21.
Qc2 Nbd7 22. Re2 Re7 23. Rae1 Rde8 $11 {1/2 (40) Smyslov,V (2605)-Farago,I 
(2460) Szolnok 1975}) 11... h6 {Two other, more straightforward continuations,
seen in practice long ago, are probably even more convincing:} (11... Bf5 $5
12. f3 c5 13. g4 Bg6 14. Nf4 cxd4 15. exd4 Rc8 16. Nxg6 hxg6 17. Qd3 Bd6 {
'with the idea' Bh2, Qc7} 18. h3 Bb8 19. Bd2 Qd6 20. f4 Rcd8 $132 {0-1 (35)
Vera Gonzalez Quevedo,R (2485)-Chandler,M (2560) Novi Sad 1990}) (11... a5 $5
12. a4 (12. Bd2 Bf5 13. a4 c6 14. f3 Bb4 15. Re1 h5 16. Nf4 Qd7 17. Bf1 Bd6 18.
h4 Re7 19. Nce2 Qc7 20. Nc1 Nbd7 21. Ncd3 Rae8 $36 {1-0 (40) Bilek,I (2490)
-Planinec,A (2510) Skopje 1971}) 12... Bb4 13. f3 Bf5 14. g4 Bg6 15. Bd2 h6 16.
Re1 Bh7 17. Ng3 Nbd7 $15 {1/2 (33) Spassky,B-Petrosian,T Amsterdam/Leeuwarden
1956}) 12. Qc2 Bd7 13. a4 a5 14. Nf4 c6 15. Bb2 Bb4 16. Nd3 Bf5 17. Qd1 Bd6 {
Black's pieces are placed very well, and it is difficult for White to get
active play.} 18. Re1 Nbd7 19. Ba3 Bxa3 20. Rxa3 Nb8 $5 {[%csl Rb4][%cal Yb8a6]
} 21. Ra2 Na6 22. Rae2 Re7 23. Ne5 Nb4 24. e4 {[%mdl 256] Probably a correct
decision. White gets a slightly inferior position with an isolated central
pawn but easily holds it.} dxe4 25. Nxe4 Bxe4 26. Bxe4 Nxe4 27. Rxe4 Qd5 28.
R4e3 {It is important that Black's a5-pawn is vulnerable, and White can attack
it by means of Ne5-c4.} b5 29. Ng4 Rxe3 30. Nxe3 Qe4 31. Ng4 Qc2 32. Ne3 Qe4 (
32... Qxd1 33. Rxd1 Rd8 34. Kf1 $11 Nd5 35. Rc1 {[%csl Rc6]}) 33. Ng4 Qc2 34.
Ne3 Qe4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 77th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2015.01.12"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Wojtaszek, Radoslaw"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A41"]
[WhiteElo "2744"]
[BlackElo "2862"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2015.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 f5 {A delayed dutch.} 4. b4 Bg7 5. Bb2 a5 6. b5 a4 $5
{This brave pawn will be weak, but it does restrict White a little. Carlsen
has to be very careful not to lose it though.} 7. e3 Nf6 8. Be2 c6 9. bxc6 bxc6
10. O-O O-O 11. Qc2 Qc7 12. Nc3 a3 13. Bc1 {White has a nice edge. His central
control and possibility to attack a3 makes Black's position very shaky. The
best he can do is sacrifice the a3 pawn and try to gain counterplay using the
open a-file, but that seems to be easier said than done.} Nbd7 14. Rb1 Ne4 {
This uses a nifty tactical resource, but Wojtaszek smartly sidesteps the
complications.} 15. Nxe4 fxe4 16. Nd2 (16. Qxe4 Nc5 $1 17. dxc5 (17. Qh4 Bf5
$132) 17... Bf5 {skewers the queen to the rook on b1.}) 16... Nf6 17. Rb3 {
White is now going to win the b3 pawn and in some lines e4 is under attack.
Black really has no compensation.} Bf5 18. Rxa3 h5 19. Rxa8 Rxa8 20. a3 h4 {
Initiating operations on the kingside is the only way to go, but it is
insufficient.} 21. Bb2 h3 22. g3 {Ignoring the pawn pushes is fine for White
as there is no way to force the trade of the bishops, the knight on d2 AND get
a queen to f3.} Qc8 23. Re1 (23. Ra1 Bg4 $1) 23... Rb8 (23... Bg4 24. Nxe4 {
is no good. Re1 is prophylaxis against Bg4.}) 24. Bc3 Nh7 25. a4 Ng5 26. Rb1
Ra8 27. Qd1 (27. Rb6 $16) 27... c5 28. Rb6 Qe6 $2 {This leads to a forced win
for White.} (28... Kh7 {still keeps Black's chances alive, though there is no
doubt that White is better.}) 29. g4 $1 {Simply put the bishop on f5 is
trapped. Black has some tricks, but that's it.} cxd4 30. Bxd4 {There is no
rush in capturing on f5, so this is more precise.} Bxd4 31. exd4 e3 32. gxf5
gxf5 (32... exf2+ 33. Kf1 $1 Qxf5 34. Qb1 {is kaput.}) 33. Nf1 exf2+ 34. Kxf2
Ne4+ 35. Ke1 {White's king is a little exposed, and with time trouble looming
the situation is tricky, but Wojtaszek handles it very well.} Qf6 36. Qd3 Rxa4
37. Rb1 $1 {Covering the first rank removes counterplay.} Qh4+ 38. Ng3 Kf7 (
38... Nxg3 39. Qxg3+ Qxg3+ 40. hxg3 h2 41. Kf2 $18) 39. Qf3 $1 Kg7 40. Qf4 $1 {
A very human reaction. The computers will tell you there are better moves out
there, but simplifying into an endgame up a piece is the simplest.} Qxf4 41.
Nh5+ Kf7 42. Nxf4 Ng5 43. d5 {The rest is relatively easy. White just needs to
untangle and put his pieces in the correct spots. f5 and h3 will eventually
work by themselves.} Kf6 44. Kf2 Ra3 45. Bd3 Ra2+ 46. Kg3 Ra3 47. Re1 Ne4+ 48.
Kf3 Ng5+ 49. Ke3 Ra2 50. Re2 Ra3 51. Rf2 Ne4 52. Rf3 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 77th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2015.01.13"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D76"]
[WhiteElo "2667"]
[BlackElo "2862"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2015.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Nb6 7. Nc3 Nc6 8.
O-O O-O 9. d5 Na5 10. Qc2 c6 11. dxc6 Nxc6 12. Rd1 Bd7 13. Bf4 Qc8 14. Rac1 Bf5
15. e4 Bg4 16. Qb3 Qe6 17. Qxe6 fxe6 18. e5 Nd5 19. Nxd5 exd5 20. Ng5 e6 21. f3
h6 22. fxg4 hxg5 23. Bxg5 Nxe5 24. Bf4 Nc6 25. g5 Bxb2 26. Rc2 Bd4+ 27. Kh1
Rad8 28. Rb1 Rf7 29. Bh3 Re8 30. Re2 e5 31. Rb5 Ref8 32. Be6 exf4 33. Rxb7 f3
34. Rd2 Kg7 35. Bxf7 Rxf7 36. Rxf7+ Kxf7 37. Rd3 f2 38. Kg2 Ke6 39. h4 Bb6 40.
Rf3 Ne5 41. Rf6+ Ke7 42. a4 Bd4 43. g4 Nxg4 44. Rf4 Nh2 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel-A 77th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2015.01.15"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2862"]
[BlackElo "2797"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2015.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bxf6 Qxf6 8.
Qa4+ Nc6 9. e3 O-O 10. Be2 Be6 11. O-O a6 12. Rfc1 Bd6 13. Qd1 Ne7 {A popular
system of the Ragozin Defence has been played. As usual in this structure,
White must start active play on the queenside while Black must create kingside
counterplay.} 14. a3 ({In the event of} 14. Na4 {there is nothing wrong with}
b6 {, e.g.} 15. b4 (15. Nc3 g5 $5 16. g3 Qg7 17. Qf1 f5 18. Bxa6 f4 19. exf4
Rxa6 $5 20. Qxa6 gxf4 21. Qd3 Bf5 22. Qd2 Be4 $36 {0-1 (29) Khairullin,I (2604)
-Khismatullin,D (2614) Ulan Ude 2009}) 15... g5 16. Nb2 Ng6 17. Nd3 Kg7 18. a4
a5 19. b5 h5 20. Rc3 Rad8 21. Rac1 Rd7 22. Nfe5 Nxe5 23. Nxe5 Bxe5 24. dxe5
Qxe5 25. Qd4 Qxd4 26. exd4 h4 27. Rxc7 Rxc7 28. Rxc7 {White has broken through
but Black easily holds his ground in this simple ending:} Rc8 29. Rxc8 Bxc8 30.
Bd3 Kf6 31. Kf1 Bg4 32. Ke1 Bf5 33. Kd2 Bxd3 34. Kxd3 g4 35. Ke3 Kg5 36. f4+
Kf5 {1/2 (36) Huzman,A (2605)-Jakovenko,D (2726) Plovdiv 2010}) ({To} 14. Rab1
{(which may look a better way to prepare b2-b4) Black can reply} Bf5 {and then
make use of the exchange of light-squared bishops by transferring his knight
to b6 and possibly c4:} 15. Bd3 c6 16. b4 Nc8 $1 17. a4 Nb6 18. a5 Nc4 19. Na4
Rfe8 20. Nc5 {1/2 (20) Babula,V (2583)-Dizdar,G (2541) Turin 2006}) 14... Rfd8
{This move is slightly mysterious; it is not clear what Black's rook will do
here. Practice has seen a lot of alternatives; here are some examples, in
which Black mostly obtained good play:} (14... Rad8 15. Na4 Bc8 16. Nc5 c6 17.
b4 g5 18. g3 Nf5 19. Ne1 Kg7 20. Bh5 Bc7 21. a4 Nd6 22. Bg4 Bxg4 23. Qxg4 Qe7
24. Ned3 Bb8 25. Qh3 Rfe8 26. Ra2 f6 27. Rac2 Qf7 28. Nxa6 $5 bxa6 29. Rxc6 {
1-0 (38) Gurevich,D (2499)-Zilberstein,D (2379) San Diego 2004} a5 $13) (14...
Rfe8 15. b4 c6 16. Na4 Ng6 17. Nc5 Re7 18. a4 Bg4 19. Ra2 (19. b5 {is
premature due to} axb5 20. axb5 Rxa1 21. Rxa1 Bxc5 {forcing} 22. dxc5) 19...
Rae8 (19... a5 $5 20. b5 b6) 20. Ne1 (20. b5 $5) 20... Bxe2 21. Rxe2 Nf4 22.
Rb2 {1-0 (40) Jobava,B (2678)-David,A (2597) Milan 2011} Qg5 $11) (14... c5 $5
15. dxc5 Bxc5 16. Na4 (16. Nxd5 Bxd5 17. Rxc5 Qxb2 $11) 16... Ba7 17. b4 d4 18.
Nxd4 Rad8 19. Qf1 Bxd4 20. exd4 Nf5 21. Nc5 {1/2 (21) Jobava,B (2695)-Efimenko,
Z (2640) Rijeka 2010}) (14... b6 15. Qf1 Bg4 16. b4 c6 17. Na4 Rfb8 18. h3 Bf5
19. Qe1 g5 20. Nb2 h5 21. Nd3 g4 22. hxg4 Bxd3 $1 23. Bxd3 hxg4 24. Nd2 a5 25.
bxa5 Rxa5 26. a4 Rba8 $132 {0-1 (74) Maiorov,N (2516)-Aleksandrov,A (2601)
Minsk 2007}) (14... Rfb8 15. Na4 b6 16. b4 c6 17. Ne1 Bf5 18. Bd3 Bd7 19. Rab1
Ra7 20. g3 g6 21. Be2 h5 22. Bf3 Bf5 23. Rb3 a5 24. Nc3 axb4 25. axb4 b5 26. e4
dxe4 27. Bxe4 $6 Be6 $15 {0-1 (56) Laurusas,T (2222)-Swiercz,D (2501) Wroclaw
2010}) (14... g5 $5 15. g3 Qg7 16. e4 dxe4 17. Nxe4 Bd5 18. Nxd6 cxd6 19. Bc4
Bc6 20. d5 Bd7 21. Qd2 Qf6 22. Rc3 Rac8 23. Rac1 b5 24. Bb3 Rxc3 25. Rxc3 Rc8
$11 {0-1 (54) Aghasaryan,R (2235)-Lintchevski,D (2502) Kirishi 2008}) 15. b4
Nc8 16. Na4 {[%mdl 36]} b6 $6 {Too cautious.} (16... b5 $5 17. Nc5 Nb6 18. a4
Nc4 $132) 17. Nb2 Ne7 18. Nd3 Ng6 {This manoeuvre is slightly illogical but it
was necessary to cover the e5-square. It looks like Black has not done
anything terribly wrong so far but in fact, his position is now very passive.}
19. a4 {[%cal Ya4a5]} a5 20. b5 {Compare this position to the above-mentioned
game Huzman-Jakovenko: Black has not managed to push ...g7-g5 so he has no
counterplay. White gradually mounts pressure along the c-file.} Re8 (20... Bf5
21. Rc3 Rd7 22. Rac1 Re8 {may be a better arrangement of the rooks but it
doesn't solve the general problems.}) 21. Rc3 Bf5 22. Rac1 Rad8 23. Nd2 Rd7 (
23... Qe6 $142 {preventing the exchange of bishops. Still, White can gradually
prepare it:} 24. Bh5 $1 Rd7 25. h3 {as} Bxh3 26. gxh3 Qxh3 {doesn't work due to
} 27. Qg4) 24. g3 (24. Bg4 $1 {was possible at once as} Bxh2+ {obviously
didn't work.}) 24... Nf8 ({Again} 24... Qe6 {was called for. Still, after} 25.
Bf3 {[%cal Yd1b3] Black's defence was very difficult.}) 25. Bg4 $1 {A typical
exchange of a defender. Black's d5-pawn becomes more vulnerable, the c6-square
in White's full possession; besides, White can now activate his queen and even
his kingside pawns.} Nh7 26. Bxf5 (26. Ne5 $5 Bxe5 27. dxe5 Rxe5 28. Rxc7 {
E.Gleizerov}) 26... Qxf5 27. Qf3 $1 {Both endgame and middlegame are now bad
for Black.} Qg5 (27... Qe6 28. Nf4 (28. h4 $143 Nf6 {[%cal Yf6e4,Ye6h3]}) 28...
Bxf4 29. gxf4 {, and the c7-pawn gets even weaker.}) 28. h4 Qe7 29. Rc6 Nf6 30.
Nf4 g6 $6 {Black weakens his kingside, and his position collapses. Now it was
better to defend passively:} (30... Ba3 31. R1c2 Bb4) 31. h5 $1 Kg7 (31... g5
32. Nxd5 Nxd5 33. Qxd5 Bxg3 (33... Ba3 34. Qf5 Bxc1 35. Rxh6 f6 36. Qg6+ Qg7
37. Qxe8+ $18) 34. Qf5 {[%cal Rc6h6]} Bd6 35. Nc4 $18 {[%cal Rc4d6]}) 32. hxg6
fxg6 33. Nxd5 $1 Nxd5 34. Qxd5 Bxg3 35. Qg2 Bd6 36. Nc4 {[%cal Rc4d6]} Rf8 $2 (
36... Qd8 {was relatively better but after} 37. f4 $1 {[%cal Yc4e5] Black's
position could not be defended anyway} (37. Nxd6 $143 cxd6)) 37. Ne5 $1 Bxe5 ({
In the event of} 37... g5 38. Nxd7 Qxd7 {White's simplest way to convert his
material advantage was} 39. e4 Rf4 40. Kf1 {[%cal Re4e5]} Rg4 41. Qf3 Rf4 42.
Qg3 $1 Rxe4 43. Rxc7 $1) 38. Qxg6+ Kh8 39. Qxh6+ Kg8 40. dxe5 $18 Qxe5 41. Rg6+
Kf7 42. Rc4 Qa1+ 43. Kg2 Rh8 44. Rf4+ Ke8 45. Re6+ Re7 46. Rxe7+ Kxe7 47. Re4+
1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 77th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2015.01.16"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2820"]
[BlackElo "2862"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2015.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 {Magnus is in a fighting mood - no Berlin after beating Aronian the
day before!} 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {On the other hand Caruana lost to Wojtaszek
and is in a different frame of mind - no Open Sicilian either!} (3. d4 cxd4 4.
Nxd4 {The last game between our 2 protagonists featured} g6 ({Carlsen hasn't
played Sveshnikov structures with Black since 2010. In Wijk he faced} 4... e5
5. Nb5 d6 6. c4 Be7 (6... g6 $5 7. Be3 Be6 8. N1c3 a6 9. Na3 Nf6 10. Be2 Bg7
11. Nc2 Rc8 12. Rc1 O-O 13. O-O Ne7 14. Na3 Nc6 15. Re1 Nd4 16. f3 Qb6 17. Rb1
Nxe2+ 18. Rxe2 Qb4 19. Rd2 Rfd8 20. c5 Qa5 21. Rxd6 Bf8 22. Rxd8 Rxd8 23. Qe2
Bxc5 $15 {Ivanchuk,V (2715)-Jobava,B (2727)/Wijk aan Zee/2015/}) 7. N1c3 a6 8.
Na3 Be6 9. Nc2 Bg5 10. Be2 Bxc1 11. Rxc1 Nf6 12. O-O O-O 13. Qd2 Qb6 14. Rfd1
Rfd8 15. b3 h6 (15... Rac8 {is a more standard setup.}) 16. h3 Qa7 17. Bf3 Ne7
18. Ne3 Nc6 19. Bg4 Nd4 20. Bxe6 fxe6 21. Nc2 Nxc2 22. Rxc2 Rd7 23. Qe2 Rad8
24. Rd3 $11 {/+/=, Carlsen,M (2862)-Hou,Y (2673)/Wijk aan Zee/2015/ White has
a very slight edge due to his more flexible pawn structure, but he managed to
increase his pressure only in the late middlegame.}) 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 d6 7. f3
Nxd4 8. Qxd4 Bg7 9. Be3 O-O 10. Qd2 a5 11. b3 a4 $6 ({Risky, as the pawn will
be vulnerable. The solid move is} 11... Be6 12. Rb1 Nd7 13. Be2 Nc5 14. O-O Qb6
15. Rfc1 Rfc8 {then} 16. Kh1 Qb4 17. Bg5 a4 $1 18. Bxe7 axb3 19. axb3 Nxb3 $11
{Van Wely,L (2691)-Iturrizaga Bonelli,E (2627)/Istanbul olm/2012/} {/\} 20. Qd1
Bxc4 21. Bxc4 Qxc4 22. Rxb3 Qxb3 $1 23. Qxb3 Rxc3 {[%cal Rc3c1,Ra8a1] wins the
Q back.}) 12. b4 {[%csl Ra4]} Be6 13. Rc1 Nd7 14. Be2 Nb6 15. Nb5 $5 $146 ({
More ambitious than} 15. Nd5 Nxd5 16. exd5 $14) 15... a3 (15... Rc8 16. Na3 $14
) 16. Nd4 Bd7 17. h4 $1 h5 18. g4 hxg4 19. fxg4 e5 20. Nb3 (20. Nb5 $5) 20...
Bc6 (20... Na4 21. h5 Be6 $14) ({or} 20... Be6 {are engine suggestions, but
they seem too passive. Carlsen seeks central counterplay, but doesn't equalise
either.}) 21. Bf3 f5 22. gxf5 gxf5 23. Na5 $1 f4 24. Bf2 $36 {[%csl Rd6,Rg8]
Caruana,F (2801)-Carlsen,M (2877)/Saint Louis/2014/ For more details see the
notes to this game in CBM 162 by Roiz.}) ({Magnus uses the bishop sortie
himself:} 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Qc7 (4... e5 5. O-O ({Rather soft; a more critical
line is} 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nxe5 Nxe4 7. Nxe4 Qd5 8. Qe2 Qxe5 9. f4 $13) 5... d6
6. d3 Be7 7. Bg5 O-O 8. Bxf6 Bxf6 9. Nd5 Be6 10. Bc4 g6 11. c3 Bg7 12. a3 Kh8 (
12... Ne7 $5 $11) 13. b4 f5 14. Rb1 b6 $6 {Caruana,F (2774)-Carlsen,M (2864)/
Moscow blitz/2013/} 15. Nxb6 axb6 16. Bxe6 Rxa3 17. bxc5 bxc5 18. Rb3 $14 {
[%csl Ge6,Rg7]}) 5. O-O Nd4 6. Re1 a6 7. Bc4 b5 8. Nd5 Nxd5 9. Bxd5 Rb8 10.
Nxd4 cxd4 11. d3 e6 12. Bb3 Bd6 13. Qh5 Bb7 14. f4 Bxf4 15. Bxf4 Qxf4 16. Rf1
Qe3+ 17. Kh1 O-O 18. Rf3 Qh6 19. Qe5 a5 20. a4 Bc6 21. axb5 Rxb5 22. Qxd4 Qd2
$11 {Carlsen,M (2862)-Saric,I (2666)/Wijk aan Zee/2015/}) 3... g6 {The most
usual move, but in the past Carlsen has slso played other standard
alternatives:} (3... e6 {became more fashionable after Anand-Gelfand in 2012} {
After} 4. O-O ({Anand preferred} 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. d3 ({or} 5. b3)) 4... Nge7 {
Caruana's specialty is the rare} 5. d4 $5 (5. c3 {is played very often.}) ({
The same goes for} 5. Re1 Ng6 (5... a6 $142 6. Bf1 d5 $132) 6. c3 d5 7. Qa4 Be7
8. d4 O-O $5 9. exd5 Qxd5 10. dxc5 Bxc5 11. Nbd2 Be7 12. Nc4 Qd8 13. Bxc6 bxc6
14. Nd4 c5 15. Nc6 Qc7 16. Nxe7+ Nxe7 17. Qa5 Qxa5 18. Nxa5 Ba6 19. Bg5 Rfe8
20. Rad1 h6 21. Bxe7 Rxe7 22. c4 Kf8 23. Rd6 Bb7 24. Red1 Ke8 {Wang,H (2752)
-Carlsen,M (2861)/Wijk aan Zee/2013/} 25. a3 $14 {[%cal Yb2b4]}) 5... cxd4 6.
Nxd4 Ng6 (6... Qb6 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8. Bd3 Ng6 9. c4 Be7 10. Nc3 O-O 11. Rb1 Qc7
12. Be3 e5 $6 (12... Nf4 13. Bc2 e5 $14 {/~~ Caruana}) 13. g3 $1 d6 14. b4 Be6
15. Qd2 Rac8 16. b5 Bd8 17. Rfc1 Qd7 18. bxc6 Rxc6 19. Nd5 $36 {Caruana,F 
(2779)-Gelfand,B (2764)/Elancourt/2013/ For more details see the notes by
Caruana in CBM 157.}) 7. Be3 (7. Be2 Bc5 $5 8. Nb3 Bb6 9. c4 d6 10. Nc3 a6 11.
Kh1 e5 12. Nd5 Ba7 13. Bg4 O-O 14. Bxc8 Rxc8 15. Be3 Bxe3 16. Nxe3 Nge7 17. Rc1
a5 18. c5 dxc5 19. Nxc5 Nd4 20. Qd3 Qd6 $11 {Caruana,F (2839)-Nakamura,H (2767)
/London rpd/2014/}) 7... Be7 8. Be2 O-O 9. c4 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 Bf6 11. Qd2 b6 12.
Nc3 Bb7 13. f3 Qe7 14. a4 Rad8 15. Ra3 Be5 16. a5 f5 $6 (16... bxa5 $13 {/\}
17. Rxa5 d5 {[%cal Re5h2,Re7c7]}) (16... Bd6 17. Rb3 Bc5 $132) 17. axb6 axb6
18. exf5 Rxf5 19. Bd3 Rh5 20. h3 Bb8 21. Bxg6 hxg6 22. Bxb6 Rf8 23. Ne2 Rh4 24.
Qd3 Kh7 25. Bf2 $14 {/+/-, Caruana,F (2779)-Radjabov,T (2723) /Bucharest/2013/
For details see the notes to this game by Rogozenco in CBM 157.}) (3... d6 {
Nowadays more topical is} 4. O-O (4. Bxc6+ bxc6 5. e5 $5 (5. O-O e5 6. c3 Nf6
7. Re1 Bg4 8. h3 Bh5 ({The simple} 8... Bxf3 {is quite solid:} 9. Qxf3 Be7 10.
d3 O-O 11. Nd2 Ne8 12. Nc4 Nc7 13. b4 cxb4 14. cxb4 Ne6 15. Be3 Qd7 16. Rac1
Rfc8 17. Rc2 Rab8 18. a3 Bd8 19. Rec1 Bb6 20. Qg4 {Rublevsky,S (2679)-Tregubov,
P (2599)/Krasnoyarsk/2007/} Bxe3 21. fxe3 c5 $11) 9. d4 cxd4 10. cxd4 Nd7 11.
Be3 Be7 12. Nbd2 O-O (12... exd4 13. Bxd4 O-O 14. Nf1 $14) 13. Qc2 Qc7 14. Rac1
Rfc8 15. Qd3 Qb7 16. dxe5 dxe5 17. Rc3 Rab8 18. Rec1 {Palac,M (2604)-Tomic,B 
(2418)/Sarajevo/2012/} c5 $132) 5... Bg4 (5... d5 6. h3 $5 $14 {gives White
excellent practical results}) 6. h3 Bh5 7. O-O e6 (7... dxe5 8. g4 e4 $13) 8.
Re1 (8. d3 d5 9. Nc3 Ne7 10. Re1 Nc8 $1 11. Qe2 Nb6 12. b3 Be7 13. Bb2 O-O 14.
Nb1 a5 15. a4 c4 $1 16. dxc4 dxc4 17. Rd1 Qb8 18. Nbd2 cxb3 19. cxb3 Nd5 20.
Rac1 Qb6 $15 {Kabanov,N (2502)-Caruana,F (2767)/EU-ch Plovdiv/2012/}) (8. exd6
$142) 8... Ne7 (8... d5 $5) 9. exd6 Nd5 10. d3 Bxd6 11. Nbd2 O-O {and Black's
piece play should compensate for his split pawns:} 12. Nc4 (12. Ne4 h6 13. Ng3
Bg6 14. Ne4 Bh5 15. Ng3 Bg6 16. Ne4 {½, Rabiega,R (2501)-Boensch,U (2540)/
Austria/2002/}) 12... Bc7 13. Qe2 Kh8 14. Bd2 Nb4 15. Bxb4 cxb4 16. Qe3 Qd5 17.
g4 Bg6 18. Nfe5 Rfe8 19. Qf3 f6 20. Nxg6+ hxg6 21. Re4 f5 22. gxf5 exf5 23.
Rxe8+ Rxe8 24. Qxd5 cxd5 25. Ne3 {Caruana,F (2757)-Gelfand,B (2740)/Zuerich
blitz/2013/} d4 $132 {[%cal Ye8e2]}) 4... Bd7 (4... Bg4 $5 5. h3 Bh5 {is for
the more aggressively minded.}) 5. Re1 Nf6 ({After} 5... a6 {Black must also
reckon with} 6. Bxc6 $5 Bxc6 7. d4 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Rc8 9. c4 Nf6 10. Nc3 Bd7 11.
b3 b5 12. Bg5 bxc4 13. Nd5 h6 14. Bxf6 gxf6 15. Qf3 h5 16. h3 Bh6 17. Nf5 Bf8
18. bxc4 e6 19. Rab1 Bc6 20. Qc3 $18 {Anand,V (2793)-Nakamura,H (2775)/London
blitz/2014/}) 6. c3 (6. h3 e6 7. c3 d5 $5 8. d3 (8. e5 $2 Nxe5) 8... a6 9. Ba4
b5 10. Bc2 dxe4 11. dxe4 e5 12. a4 Be7 13. axb5 axb5 14. Rxa8 Qxa8 15. Bg5 Be6
16. Na3 b4 17. Nb1 $6 (17. cxb4 cxb4 18. Nb5 Qb8 19. Bxf6 gxf6 20. Bd3 O-O 21.
Nh4 Rd8 $13) 17... O-O 18. Ba4 h6 19. Bh4 Rd8 20. Nbd2 g5 21. Bg3 Nd7 22. Bb3
Nf8 23. Qc2 f6 24. Nc4 Qa6 {Bologan,V (2732)-Carlsen,M (2837)/Biel/2012/} 25.
Nfd2 $11) 6... a6 7. Bf1 Bg4 8. h3 Bxf3 9. Qxf3 g6 10. d3 Bg7 11. Be3 Nd7 12.
Nd2 O-O 13. Qd1 b5 14. Nf3 b4 15. Qa4 Qc7 16. d4 Rfb8 17. Rab1 e6 (17... Na7 $6
18. cxb4 Rxb4 19. Qc2 Nc6 20. dxc5 dxc5 21. a3 Rb7 22. Rec1 $36 {Efimenko,Z 
(2649)-Markos,J (2590)/Slovakia/2014/}) (17... a5 $5 18. Rec1 Qb7 19. Qd1 Rc8
20. Bc4 Nb6 21. Bf1 Nd7 22. Bc4 Nb6 {½, Haug,J (2121)-Lissang,C (2273)/
Stockholm/2014/}) 18. Rec1 (18. Qc2 a5 19. a4 Rc8 20. Bb5 bxc3 21. bxc3 cxd4
22. cxd4 Qb7 23. Qd1 Nb4 24. d5 exd5 25. exd5 Qc7 $132 {Partenie,M (2130)
-Ulbig,S/email/2011/}) 18... Ra7 19. Qd1 a5 20. Bf4 bxc3 21. bxc3 Rxb1 22. Rxb1
cxd4 23. cxd4 Nxd4 24. Nxd4 Bxd4 25. Qxd4 e5 26. Qd2 exf4 27. Qxf4 $14 {
Ottesen,S (2399)-Hansen,L (2182)/email/2010/}) (3... Nf6 4. e5 ({More usual is
} 4. Nc3 {- 3.Nc3}) 4... Nd5 5. O-O (5. Nc3 Nc7 $132) 5... g6 6. c3 Bg7 7. d4
cxd4 8. cxd4 Nc7 9. Nc3 Nxb5 10. Nxb5 O-O 11. Bf4 a6 12. Nc3 d6 13. exd6 exd6
14. h3 d5 15. Re1 Be6 16. Qd2 Re8 17. Re2 Qb6 18. Rae1 Nxd4 19. Nxd4 Qxd4 20.
Qxd4 Bxd4 21. Nxd5 Rac8 22. Bd6 Kh8 23. Nc7 Red8 24. Nxe6 Rxd6 $11 {Zvjaginsev,
V (2636)-Bacrot,E (2722)/Moscow/2009/}) 4. Bxc6 {Caruana mostly plays the text
move.} ({The main alternative is} 4. O-O Bg7 5. Re1 (5. c3 Nf6 {is usually
just a transposition}) 5... Nf6 6. c3 (6. e5 Nd5 7. Nc3 Nc7 8. Bxc6 dxc6 9. Ne4
Ne6 (9... b6 10. Nf6+ Kf8 11. Ne4 h6 12. d3 g5 $5 (12... Kg8 13. h3 Kh7 $132)
13. Ng3 Be6 14. Qe2 Qd5 15. c4 Qd7 16. b3 f5 17. exf6 exf6 18. Bb2 Re8 19. Qc2
h5 20. Re3 h4 21. Ne4 Rh6 22. Rae1 h3 23. g3 Bf7 $13 {Rapport,R (2693)
-Moiseenko,A (2699)/Biel/2013/}) 10. d3 O-O 11. Be3 b6 12. Qd2 Nd4 13. Nxd4
cxd4 14. Bh6 c5 15. h4 Qd5 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Ng3 Bb7 18. f3 Qe6 19. b3 {
½, Bacrot,E (2714)-Moiseenko,A (2699)/W Cup Tromsoe/2013/}) 6... O-O 7. h3 (7.
d4 d5 8. e5 Ne4 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. Nbd2 cxd4 11. cxd4 c5 12. dxc5 Nxc5 13. Nb3
Nxb3 14. Qxb3 Bg4 15. Nd4 Qb6 16. Qxb6 axb6 17. b3 Rfc8 18. a4 Bd7 19. f4 e6
20. Ba3 Bh6 21. g3 g5 22. Ra2 b5 $132 {Vegjeleki,A (2224)-Latronico,N (2441)/
email/2010/}) 7... Qb6 $5 (7... e5 8. d3 d6 9. a3 {[%cal Yb2b4] is perhaps
slightly more promising for White.}) 8. Ba4 (8. Bf1 e5 9. d3 d5 10. exd5 Nxd5
11. Qb3 Qxb3 12. axb3 Rd8 13. g3 f6 14. Nbd2 Nc7 15. Nc4 Bf5 16. Rd1 Be6 17.
Be3 Bf8 18. Nfd2 Nd5 19. Re1 Bf7 20. g4 b6 $15 {Kamsky,G (2741)-Christiansen,L
(2579)/USA-ch Saint Louis/2013/}) 8... Rd8 9. d3 (9. d4 d5 $1 10. e5 Ne4 $132)
9... d5 10. e5 Nd7 11. d4 Nf8 $1 12. Na3 cxd4 13. cxd4 Bf5 14. Be3 Ne6 15. Qd2
Be4 16. Ng5 $1 (16. Rad1 $2 Bxf3 17. gxf3 Rac8 18. f4 Kh8 19. Bb5 Bh6 20. Be2
Ng7 21. Nb5 Nf5 22. Nc3 e6 23. Bg4 Nh4 24. Kh1 Rg8 $40 {[%csl Rh1][%cal Yg6g5]
Muminova,N (2315)-Hou,Y (2661)/Sharjah/2014/ After thorough preparation Black
gradually broke through on the kingside.}) 16... Nxg5 17. Bxg5 f6 $11 {Hou
Yifan}) 4... dxc6 (4... bxc6 {is somewhat more risky, as was seen a few rounds
later:} 5. O-O Bg7 6. Re1 Nf6 (6... Nh6 7. c3 O-O 8. d4 {also gives White
chances to fight for an advantage}) 7. e5 Nd5 8. c4 Nc7 9. d4 cxd4 10. Qxd4 O-O
(10... d6 11. Bh6 $1 $36) 11. Qh4 f6 12. Nc3 Ne6 13. Ne4 fxe5 14. Nfg5 Nxg5 15.
Bxg5 Qb6 16. c5 $5 Qxb2 17. Rad1 $44 d5 $6 (17... Qxa2 $142 $5 {[%csl Ga7]})
18. cxd6 exd6 19. Rxd6 Bf5 20. Nf6+ Bxf6 21. Bxf6 Rab8 $2 22. Qc4+ Rf7 23. Red1
Qb1 24. h3 {1-0, Van Wely,L (2667)-Hou,Y (2673)/Wijk aan Zee/2015/}) 5. d3 Bg7
6. h3 Nf6 {[%mdl 32] White has swapped his light-squared B and places his
pawns strategically on the light squares, Black continues developing naturally
and a positional battle starts.} ({Carlsen is not attracted by} 6... b6 7. O-O
e5 8. Be3 Ne7 9. Nbd2 O-O 10. Nc4 f6 11. a3 a5 $2 {[%csl Ra5,Rb6]} (11... Nd5
$142 $1 $13) 12. b4 axb4 13. axb4 Rxa1 14. Qxa1 b5 15. Ncd2 cxb4 16. Qa2+ Kh8
17. Bc5 g5 18. Ra1 Bd7 19. Qa5 Qe8 20. Qxb4 Rf7 21. Ra7 Bf8 22. d4 $16 {
Caruana,F (2716)-Kuznetsov,V (2427)/RUS-chT Olginka/2011/}) 7. Nc3 b6 ({
Basically a useful move, but Black usually plays it a bit later, preferring} 
7... O-O 8. Be3 b6 9. Qd2 ({Caruana probably would have played} 9. O-O {
, transposing to our game.}) 9... e5 10. Bh6 Qd6 11. O-O-O (11. Bxg7 Kxg7 12.
g3 $146 a5 13. Nh4 a4 14. a3 b5 15. Qe3 Rb8 16. f4 exf4 17. gxf4 Nh5 {[%csl
Re1]} 18. Ne2 Qf6 19. Nf3 Qxb2 20. Kf2 Qf6 21. Rag1 b4 22. Qxc5 {Hansen,E 
(2577)-Saric,I (2680)/Doha/2014/} Nxf4 23. Nxf4 Qxf4 24. axb4 f5 $1 $36) 11...
a5 12. Nh2 (12. Bxg7 Kxg7 13. g4 a4 14. Ne2 b5 15. Ng3 b4 16. Qg5 Re8 17. Nd2
a3 18. bxa3 h6 19. Qe3 Be6 20. Nb3 Rxa3 21. Qxc5 Qb8 $40 {Shirov,A (2697)-Leko,
P (2722)/Dortmund/2002/}) 12... a4 13. Ng4 Nh5 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. Ne2 f6 16. g3
a3 17. b3 f5 18. exf5 Bxf5 19. Qe3 Rae8 20. f3 Nf6 21. Nxf6 Qxf6 $132 {
Pedersen,H (2527)-Serradimigni,R (2477)/email/2006/}) 8. Be3 ({Black gets in
the central advance even after} 8. Bf4 Nd7 9. Qd2 h6 10. a3 e5 11. Be3 Qe7 12.
O-O h5 13. Rfb1 a5 14. b3 O-O 15. Bh6 Rd8 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Qe3 Ba6 18. a4 Nf8
19. Ne2 Qf6 20. Ng5 Qd6 21. f4 exf4 22. Nxf4 Qd4 23. Re1 Ra7 24. Kh2 Qxe3 25.
Rxe3 Re7 $11 {Chadaev,N (2574)-Alekseev,E (2691)/Irkutsk/2010/}) 8... e5 $6 {
Strategically sound, but right now rather careless...} (8... O-O $142 9. O-O (
9. Qd2 e5 {see 7...0-0 above}) 9... Ne8 (9... e5 $5 {leads back to the game})
10. Qd2 e5 (10... Nc7 11. Bh6 Ne6 12. Bxg7 Kxg7 13. Ne2 $14) 11. Bh6 f6 12. Nh2
Qe7 13. Bxg7 Nxg7 14. f4 exf4 15. Qxf4 Ne6 16. Qh4 Nd4 17. Rf2 Rf7 18. Raf1 f5
19. Qf4 Be6 20. e5 g5 21. Qd2 c4 22. Rd1 cxd3 23. Qxd3 Rd8 $15 {Veinger,I 
(2597)-Wills,M (2500)/corr/1996/}) 9. O-O $6 ({White misses an opportunity to
play} 9. Nxe5 $1 Nxe4 10. Qf3 $1 f5 11. Bf4 (11. Nxg6 $5 hxg6 12. dxe4 O-O 13.
Qg3 $14) 11... Qe7 12. Nxc6 ({A simpler way is} 12. dxe4 Bxe5 13. O-O-O $1 $36)
12... Qe6 (12... Ng5+ $142 $1 13. Nxe7 (13. Qe3 Qxe3+ 14. fxe3 Nf7 {[%csl Rc6]}
) 13... Nxf3+ 14. gxf3 Kxe7 $44) 13. dxe4 Qxc6 14. Nd5 (14. O-O-O $142 $1 $14)
14... Kf7 15. O-O-O fxe4 16. Qxe4 Re8 17. Qf3 Bf5 18. Rhe1 Rad8 19. c4 Qa4 20.
Qb3 Qxb3 21. axb3 Be4 22. f3 Bxd5 23. Rxe8 Kxe8 24. Rxd5 Rxd5 25. cxd5 Kd7 26.
Kc2 b5 $2 (26... Bf6 {/\} 27. Bb8 Kc8 $11) 27. Bb8 $1 a6 28. f4 $18 {[%cal
Rb8e5] Macieja,B (2430)-Pyda,Z (2305)/Polanica Zdroj/1996/}) 9... O-O 10. a3 {
As with Kuznetsov, Caruana concentrates on the queenside.} ({However, White
far more often plays} 10. Qd2 Qd6 11. Bh6 Nh5 12. Ne2 (12. Rae1 f6 13. Ne2 Be6
14. Bxg7 Nxg7 15. b3 a5 16. a4 Rfd8 17. Qe3 b5 18. Ra1 Bf7 19. Nh2 c4 $132 {
Nijboer,F (2510)-Piket,J (2670)/Amsterdam/1995/}) 12... f6 13. b3 (13. a3 a5
14. Nh2 Ra7 15. Rad1 Be6 16. Bxg7 Rxg7 17. Ng4 Rd7 {½, Vachier Lagrave,M 
(2458)-Lautier,J (2666)/Val d'Isere/2004/}) (13. Bxg7 Nxg7 14. Nh2 Ne6 $11)
13... Be6 (13... g5 14. Bxg7 Nxg7 15. Ng3 h5 16. h4 $1 Bg4 {Jansa,V (2449)
-Zwardon,V (2383)/CZE-chT/2013/} 17. hxg5 {/\} Bxf3 18. g6 $1 $40) ({Lautier's
} 13... a5 $5 {deserves attention even here.}) 14. Bxg7 Nxg7 15. Qh6 Rad8 16.
Nd2 Bc8 (16... Nh5 $142 $5) 17. f4 exf4 18. Rxf4 Qe5 19. Raf1 Qg5 20. Qxg5 fxg5
21. Rxf8+ Rxf8 22. Nc4 Rxf1+ 23. Kxf1 $14 {Magem Badals,J (2573)-Alsina Leal,D
(2531)/Barcelona/2011/}) 10... Qe7 (10... Qd6 $5) 11. Qb1 $146 (11. Qe2 $6 {
only helps Black in improving his knight with} Nh5 12. Rfb1 Nf4 13. Qd2 Ne6 $11
{/=/+, Fougerit,V (2233)-Desbonnes,S (2332)/France /2009/}) (11. Qd2 {also
prepares queenside activity:} Nh5 12. b4 $1 cxb4 13. axb4 Qxb4 14. Rfb1 $14 {
[%cal Rb1b6,Re3b6] wins the pawn back with an edge.}) 11... Nh5 $5 {Carlsen
wants to develop his own play on the opposite flank.} (11... a5 12. Na4 $5 {
[%csl Rb6]} (12. b4 axb4 13. axb4 Rxa1 14. Qxa1 cxb4 15. Na4 Nd7 16. Nxb6 Nxb6
17. Bxb6 Bb7 18. Qa5 Ra8 19. Qc5 Qxc5 20. Bxc5 Ra2 $11)) (11... Rd8 $5 {
Korotylev, /\} 12. b4 c4 $1 13. dxc4 Ba6 $11 14. Qb3 (14. b5 $2 cxb5 15. cxb5
Bb7) 14... Qe6 15. Nd2 Rxd2 16. Bxd2 Bxc4 $11) 12. b4 f5 $6 {This seems too
hasty, as it gives White a free hand on the queenside.} (12... Nf4 $142 $1 13.
bxc5 bxc5 $13 {[%cal Yf4e6,Yf7f5] improves the knight, f5 can come later.}) 13.
bxc5 f4 14. Bd2 bxc5 (14... Qxc5 15. Qb3+ Kh8 16. Qb4 $36 {swaps queens and
quashes Black's attacking ambitions.}) 15. Qb3+ {Very direct and logical.} ({
The engines recommend} 15. Qb2 Be6 16. Na4 $14 {[%csl Rc5,Re5][%cal Yb2c3,
Ya4b2]} (16. Rfb1 $5 {is also interesting, stopping Rab8.})) 15... Be6 16. Qa4
Rac8 ({After} 16... Qd7 $5 {[%cal Ye6h3] White should probably play the
prophylactic} 17. Kh2 $5 $14 (17. Ng5 c4 18. Qa6 f3 $5 $132)) 17. Qa5 (17. Qa6
$142 $5 g5 18. Rfb1 {[%cal Yb1b7] forces Black to lose a tempo with} Rf7 19.
Na4 g4 20. hxg4 Bxg4 21. Qc4 $36) 17... g5 $1 {[%mdl 640] Carlsen throws
caution (and a pawn) to the winds and concentrates on his attack.} ({After} 
17... c4 18. Na4 c5 19. Nb2 $14 {Black must defend his weaknesses.}) 18. Na4 ({
Consistent,} 18. Nh2 c4 $132 {is a concession.}) 18... g4 19. hxg4 Bxg4 20.
Qxc5 Qf6 21. Nh2 $6 {Gives the attack a new impulse.} (21. Rfb1 Qg6 22. Kf1
Ng3+ $1 23. Ke1 (23. fxg3 fxg3 {/\} 24. Ke2 Qh5 25. Rf1 Qh2 26. Qg1 Rxf3 $1 $19
) 23... Nxe4 $5 24. Qc4+ Be6 25. Qxe4 Bf5 (25... Qxg2 $2 26. Ke2 Bd5 27. Rg1)
26. Qc4+ (26. Qe2 Qxg2 $44 {|^}) 26... Be6 $11 {and repetition seems to be a
logical outcome.}) (21. Rfe1 Rf7 $5 $13 {[%cal Yg7f8,Yg8h8,Yc8g8]} (21... Qg6
22. Kf1 Ng3+ 23. fxg3 fxg3 24. Ke2 Qh5 25. Kd1 $1 $16)) 21... f3 $1 22. Nxg4 $8
(22. gxf3 $2 Bxf3 $19) (22. g3 $6 Bh3 $36 (22... Qg6 $5 $15 {/-/+})) 22... Qg6
23. Qe7 $1 {[]} ({The queen must quickly return, White can't afford} 23. Ne3 $2
Bh6 $19 (23... Nf4 $19)) 23... fxg2 (23... Qxg4 $2 24. Qg5 $16 {leads to a
premature queen swap.}) 24. Rfb1 (24. Rfe1 Qxg4 25. Qg5 Qxg5 26. Bxg5 Nf4)
24... Qxg4 25. Qg5 Qe2 26. Qe3 Qg4 27. Qg5 Qxg5 $1 ({Carlsen spurns} 27... Qe2
$11 {, Black already risks nothing by continuing the fight.}) 28. Bxg5 Nf4 {
[%cal Rf4h3]} 29. Bxf4 $2 {A serious error with disastrous consequences.} ({
The series of forced moves continued with} 29. Kh2 $1 {[]} Kh8 $1 (29... Bf6
30. Bh6 Bg7 $11) (29... c5 $5 30. Rg1 c4 31. Bxf4 exf4 32. Rxg2 cxd3 33. cxd3
f3 $44) 30. Re1 (30. Ra2 c5 31. Bxf4 exf4 32. Kxg2 f3+ $40 {[%csl Ra2]}) 30...
h6 31. Bh4 (31. Bxf4 exf4 32. e5 f3 $17) 31... Bf6 $15 {[%csl Gg2] Black holds
the initiative, but the game is far from over.}) 29... exf4 30. Kxg2 f3+ 31.
Kf1 $6 ({Black should gradually win after} 31. Kh3 Bxa1 32. Rxa1 Kf7 $17 {
, as his Pf3 remains very much alive. However, this was still more resilient,
as now White's king can't escape the mating net.}) 31... Rf4 $1 32. c3 ({
Caruana most probably overlooked} 32. Ke1 Rd8 $1 (32... Bxa1 $2 33. Rxa1 {
[%cal Ye1d2,Yd2e3,Ya4c5] is actually OK for White}) 33. Kd2 Rxe4 {[%cal Re4a4,
Re4e2]} 34. Nc3 Bh6+ 35. Kd1 Rh4 {with mate to follow.}) 32... Rd8 $1 33. d4 (
33. Rd1 Rh4 34. Ke1 Bh6 $1 $19 {[%cal Rh4h1]}) (33. Ke1 Rxd3 $19 {[%cal Rf4h4,
Rf4e4]}) 33... Bh6 {Black already had a choice:} (33... Rxe4 34. Nc5 Rh4 35.
Ke1 Bxd4 36. cxd4 Rdxd4 37. Rb8+ Kf7 38. Rf8+ Kxf8 39. Ne6+ Kf7 40. Nxd4 Rh1+
$19) (33... Bxd4 $142 $1 {and taking the bishop leads to mate after} 34. cxd4
Rh4 35. Ke1 (35. Kg1 Kh8 {[%cal Rd8g8]}) 35... Rxd4 $19) 34. Ke1 Rxe4+ 35. Kd1
c5 $1 $19 {Now the only winning move.} (35... Re2 $143 $6 36. Rb2 $15) 36. Kc2
(36. Nxc5 Re2 37. Nb3 Rde8 $19 (37... Kh8 $19 {[%cal Rd8g8]})) 36... cxd4 37.
Kd3 Re2 38. c4 Rxf2 (38... Rd2+ $142 $1 39. Ke4 Rxf2 $19) 39. Rd1 (39. Rb2 {
prolongs White's suffering, his position remains hopeless after} Rxb2 40. Nxb2
Rb8 41. Nd1 Kf7) 39... Re2 {[%cal Re2e3] Black's passed pawns will soon clinch
the point.} 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel-A 77th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2015.01.17"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hou, Yifan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B32"]
[WhiteElo "2862"]
[BlackElo "2673"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2015.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. c4 Be7 7. N1c3 a6 8. Na3
Be6 9. Nc2 Bg5 10. Be2 Bxc1 11. Rxc1 Nf6 12. O-O O-O 13. Qd2 Qb6 14. Rfd1 Rfd8
15. b3 h6 16. h3 Qa7 17. Bf3 Ne7 18. Ne3 Nc6 19. Bg4 Nd4 20. Bxe6 fxe6 21. Nc2
Nxc2 22. Rxc2 Rd7 23. Qe2 Rad8 24. Rd3 Qc5 25. Na4 Qc6 26. Re3 b6 27. Nb2 Rf7
28. Rd2 Nd7 29. Nd3 a5 30. Nb2 Nc5 31. Nd1 Rdf8 32. Qe1 Rd8 33. Nc3 Rfd7 34.
Qd1 Na6 35. Qh5 Nc7 36. Rg3 Kh8 37. Rdd3 Re7 38. Rg6 Qe8 39. Rdg3 Rdd7 40. Nd1
Rf7 41. Qe2 Rf4 42. Qe3 b5 43. Nb2 Rdf7 44. c5 Qc6 45. Nd3 b4 46. Qe2 Rh4 47.
R6g4 Rxg4 48. Qxg4 Kg8 49. Qh5 Nb5 50. Rg4 Nc3 51. Qxh6 Nxe4 52. Qxe6 Nxf2 53.
Nxe5 Nxh3+ 54. Kh2 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 77th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2015.01.18"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Jobava, Baadur"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A01"]
[WhiteElo "2727"]
[BlackElo "2862"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2015.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 {The game rarely truly begins at the first move, but with Jobava it is
no great surprise. The Georgian player is exceptionally gifted, but not your
standard top grandmaster. In his chess philosophy opening knowledge does not
deserve any prominent spot.} g6 2. Bb2 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. d4 c5 {Carlsen is a
clear favourite in the game and the world champion actively looks for early
conflict.} (4... d5 5. Qd2 a5 6. f3 h5 7. e4 dxe4 8. fxe4 a4 9. bxa4 Bh6 10.
Qd3 b6 11. Nf3 Ba6 12. Qd1 Bxf1 13. Rxf1 Nc6 14. d5 Na5 15. Qd4 c5 16. Qd3 O-O
17. h3 e6 18. d6 Nd7 19. g4 h4 20. e5 $14 {1-0 (48) Shengelia,D (2556)
-Schreiner,P (2460) Austria 2013}) 5. e3 cxd4 6. exd4 d5 {The choice of the
central structure was done in a hope, that the development of the bishop to b2
will turn out to have been slightly premature.} (6... O-O 7. Bd3 Nc6 8. Nge2 d6
9. O-O Bg4 10. f3 Bd7 11. Ne4 Nd5 12. Qd2 f5 13. Bc4 e6 14. Nxd6 Qh4 15. Nxb7
Bh6 16. f4 g5 17. g3 Qh5 18. Nc5 $18 {0-1 (37) Bancod,R (2171)-Gallegos,P 
(2097) ICC INT 2009}) 7. Qd2 Nc6 8. f3 h5 {In retrospect Black might have been
somewhat unhappy about the missed chance to limit the scope of the
light-squared bishop of White.} (8... a6 $5 9. O-O-O h5 $15) 9. Bb5 Qd6 10.
Nge2 Bh6 11. Qd1 (11. Qd3 a6 12. Bxc6+ Qxc6 $15) 11... Bf5 {In the games of
strong players every small detail can gain great importance. It seem to have
been somewhat more precise to kick the b5-bishop away with the immediate 11...
a6 move.} (11... a6 12. Bxc6+ Qxc6 13. Bc1 Bg7 14. O-O Bf5 $15) 12. Bc1 Bxc1 (
12... Bg7 13. Bf4 Qd7 14. O-O $11) 13. Rxc1 Rc8 14. Qd2 O-O 15. Bxc6 (15. O-O
Nd8 16. Nd1 a6 17. Bd3 Bxd3 18. Qxd3 Nc6 $11) 15... bxc6 {A chess game can be
presented as a sequence of more or (sometimes) less successful choices. Lesser
players might have hoped to get more play after recapturing with the rook.} (
15... Rxc6 16. Nd1 b5 17. O-O Rfc8 18. Ne3 Bd7 $11) 16. Na4 Rfe8 17. O-O e5 18.
c3 (18. Rce1 Nd7 19. Ng3 Qf6 20. Nxf5 Qxf5 $11) 18... h4 19. dxe5 Rxe5 20. b4
$1 {Jobava is on alert and his pawn move fixes the central structure on light
squares. Black's bishop is now limited by 4 black pawns sitting on the light
squares.} Rce8 (20... Nd7 21. Nd4 c5 22. Nxc5 Nxc5 23. f4 Re4 24. bxc5 Qxc5 25.
Kh1 Rce8 $11) 21. Nd4 h3 22. g3 (22. Nxf5 Rxf5 23. g3 (23. gxh3 $2 Nh5 $17)
23... Rfe5 $15) 22... Bc8 23. Nc5 Nd7 24. Nd3 {The knight exchange on d7 would
have made it easier for Black to seek some activity with the timely c6-c5
advance.} (24. Nxd7 Bxd7 25. Rfe1 Rxe1+ 26. Rxe1 Rxe1+ 27. Qxe1 c5 28. bxc5
Qxc5 $15) 24... R5e7 25. Rfe1 c5 26. bxc5 (26. Rxe7 Rxe7 27. bxc5 Nxc5 28. Nf4
Ne6 29. Ndxe6 Bxe6 30. Re1 $11) 26... Nxc5 27. Nf4 (27. Rxe7 Rxe7 28. Nf4 $11)
27... Rxe1+ 28. Rxe1 Rxe1+ 29. Qxe1 Ne6 {Carlsen does not want to risk a
situation in which the white knights will become too dangerous.} 30. Nfxe6 (30.
Ndxe6 Bxe6 31. Qe3 Qa6 32. g4 $1 Qxa2 33. Nxh3 a5 34. Ng5 $11) 30... Bxe6 31.
Kf2 {[%mdl 4096] For a very original player like Jobava the situation on the
board must have seemed a bit tedious, but he certainly had some problems
judging it correctly to the last detail. Exchanging the minor pieces should
have given White an equal position.} (31. Nxe6 fxe6 32. Qe3 Qa6 33. a4 $11)
31... Bd7 32. Qb1 Qc7 33. Qb3 Bc8 34. a3 (34. Qxd5 Qxc3 35. Qd8+ Kg7 36. Ne2
$11) 34... a5 35. Qb2 {White is unsure if opening of the position will be
enough for a draw, so he decides to wait.} (35. Qxd5 $1 Qxc3 36. Qd8+ Kh7 37.
Ne2 Qc5+ 38. Ke1 Be6 39. Qh4+ Kg8 40. Qd8+ $11) 35... Ba6 36. Nc2 Qa7+ 37. Ne3
Bc4 38. f4 Kh7 39. g4 {The proverbial moves just before the time control are
already made under some pressure.} (39. a4 Qd7 40. Qc2 Qc6 $15) 39... Qe7 40.
Qc1 $6 (40. a4 $1 Qe4 41. Qb8 Ba2 $15) 40... Qe4 41. f5 Qf4+ 42. Kg1 gxf5 43.
gxf5 Bd3 44. Qe1 Bxf5 (44... d4 45. cxd4 Qxd4 46. Qd2 Kg7 47. Kf2 Qf4+ 48. Ke1
Bb5 $15) 45. Nxf5 $2 {Just like tennis players chess players should also know
that a very important part of the match with better opponents is inner
confidence, that a loss is not the inevitable result. Jobava is trading minor
pieces and the black position strikingly jumps in value.} (45. Qf2 $1 Qg5+ 46.
Qg3 Qh6 47. Qe5 Be6 $15) 45... Qxf5 46. Qg3 Kh6 $1 {The white king is locked
in on g1 and the queen endgame proves to be simply hopeless.} 47. Qb8 (47. c4
dxc4 48. Qh4+ Kg7 49. Qd4+ Qf6 50. Qxc4 Qg5+ 51. Kf2 Qg2+ 52. Ke3 Qxh2 53. Qd4+
Kg6 54. Qe4+ Kf6 55. Qh4+ Ke6 56. Qc4+ Ke7 57. Qh4+ f6 58. Qh7+ Kd6 $19) 47...
Qf3 48. Qh8+ Kg6 49. Qg8+ Kf6 50. Qd8+ (50. a4 Qe3+ 51. Kf1 Qf4+ 52. Ke1 Qxh2
$19) 50... Kf5 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel-A 77th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2015.01.20"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2862"]
[BlackElo "2734"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2015.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 {An Anti-Berlin that has done well this
tournament. MVL beat Giri with it.} Bc5 5. O-O d6 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. Bxc6 bxc6 8.
h3 h6 {The game will be quite strategical. White has the structural advantage
but Black can remain solid and in the long run he has the pair of bishops.} 9.
Re1 Re8 10. Nf1 a5 11. Ng3 Rb8 12. b3 Bb4 13. Bd2 Ra8 $6 {Black's last few
moves are difficult to understand. Now White gets a slight edge by building up
his center.} 14. c3 Bc5 15. d4 Bb6 (15... exd4 16. cxd4 Bb6 {changes the
character of the position to something more agreeable with the pair of bishops,
but it still looks more pleasant to be White.}) 16. dxe5 dxe5 17. c4 Nh7 18.
Qe2 Nf8 19. Be3 c5 {Even though this is (some) engines recommendation and the
move that Radjabov chose... it is so painful to see this bishop on b6 trapped
as it is.} (19... Bxe3 20. Qxe3 Qe7 {at least there is no entombed bishop on
b6 here.}) 20. Rad1 Qf6 21. Nh5 Qe7 22. Nh2 {White starts a slow but standard
attack on the kingside. And why not? It's not like Radjabov's pieces on the
queenside are doing much at the moment.} Kh7 23. Qf3 f6 (23... a4 24. Ng4 Ng6 {
was a better choice, probably.}) 24. Ng4 {Already White threatens nasty
sacrifices} Bxg4 (24... a4 25. Ngxf6+ gxf6 26. Nxf6+ Kg6 27. Nxe8 Qxe8 28. Rd5
{with a strong attack.}) 25. Qxg4 Red8 $2 (25... g6 $1 {Black absolutely
needed to take control over some lightsquares!}) 26. Qf5+ Kh8 27. f4 Rxd1 28.
Rxd1 exf4 29. Bxf4 Qe6 30. Rd3 Re8 {Missing White's blow, but Radjabov's
position was already delicate.} 31. Nxg7 $1 Kxg7 32. Qh5 {Black cannot hope to
hold his kingside together, much less with that bishop stuck on b6.} Nh7 33.
Bxh6+ Kh8 34. Qg6 Qg8 35. Bg7+ Qxg7 36. Qxe8+ {The rest is easy. For all
practical purposes White is up the echange.} Qf8 37. Qe6 Qh6 38. e5 Qc1+ 39.
Kh2 Qf4+ 40. Rg3 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 77th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2015.01.21"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2715"]
[BlackElo "2862"]
[PlyCount "35"]
[EventDate "2015.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e3 O-O 8. Rc1
dxc4 9. Bxc4 c5 10. O-O cxd4 11. Nxd4 Bd7 12. Qb3 Nc6 13. Nxc6 Bxc3 14. Rxc3
Bxc6 15. Bb5 Bd5 16. Bc4 Bc6 17. Bb5 Bd5 18. Bc4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 77th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2015.01.23"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2862"]
[BlackElo "2757"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2015.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Be3 c5 8.
Rc1 O-O 9. Nf3 Bg4 10. Be2 Qa5 11. O-O Qxa2 12. Rb1 cxd4 13. cxd4 Nc6 14. Rxb7
Rab8 15. Rxb8 Rxb8 16. h3 Bd7 17. d5 Ne5 18. Bf4 Nxf3+ 19. Bxf3 Rb4 20. Qc1 Rc4
21. Qb1 Qb2 22. Qxb2 Bxb2 23. Rb1 Rb4 24. Be3 a5 25. Bc5 Rb5 26. Bxe7 Be5 27.
Rxb5 Bxb5 28. Bg4 Bb2 29. Bc5 a4 30. Bd1 f5 31. exf5 gxf5 32. f4 Kf7 33. g4 Bc1
34. Bd6 fxg4 35. hxg4 a3 36. Bb3 Bd7 37. g5 h6 38. gxh6 Kg6 39. Kf2 Kxh6 40.
Kf3 Kg6 41. Ba2 Bb2 42. Be5 Bf5 43. d6 Bd7 44. Bb1+ Kf7 45. Ke4 Bc6+ 46. Kf5
Bd7+ 47. Ke4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 77th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2015.01.24"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2732"]
[BlackElo "2862"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2015.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 b6 7. Bd3 dxc4 8. Bxc4
Ba6 9. Qe2 Qc8 10. O-O c5 11. Nb5 Nbd7 12. Rac1 Qb7 13. dxc5 Nxc5 14. b4 Nce4
15. Nfd4 Rac8 16. a3 Nd5 17. Bd3 Bxb5 18. Nxb5 Nxf4 19. exf4 Nf6 20. f5 exf5
21. Bxf5 Rxc1 22. Rxc1 a5 23. Rc7 Qd5 24. Bd3 Bd8 25. Bc4 Qg5 26. Rxf7 Qc1+ 27.
Qf1 Qxf1+ 28. Kxf1 Rxf7 29. Nd6 axb4 30. Nxf7 Be7 31. Nd8+ Kf8 32. Ne6+ Kf7 33.
Nc7+ Kg6 34. axb4 Bxb4 35. Nd5 Nxd5 36. Bxd5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 77th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2015.01.25"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Saric, Ivan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2862"]
[BlackElo "2666"]
[Annotator "Gormally,D"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2015.01.10"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Qc7 5. O-O Nd4 6. Re1 a6 7. Bc4 {White
has other choices here of course.} (7. e5 {is very forcing but Black should be
ok in most of these lines.} Nxb5 8. exf6 Nxc3 9. fxg7 Bxg7 10. dxc3 d6 11. Ng5
(11. Bf4 e5 12. Bg3 h6 {should also be ok for Black}) 11... Bf5 12. a4 Qc6 13.
Qe2 Bf6 {White has nothing} 14. Ne4 Bxe4 15. Qxe4 Qxe4 16. Rxe4 d5 {1/2-1/2
Anand,V (2753)-Kramnik,V (2807) Linares 2003}) (7. Bf1 Ng4 $1 {this seems like
a logical response, relocating the knight to a useful central square} 8. g3
Nxf3+ 9. Qxf3 Ne5 10. Qe2 e6 11. Bg2 d6 12. d3 Be7 13. Be3 O-O 14. a4 Nc6 {
and with good control over the central square d4 Black stood well in
Harikrishna,P (2726)-Zhigalko,S (2678) Dubai 2014.}) 7... b5 $5 {A risky, but
playable variation. I'm not convinced this would have been preparation though
as it's not easy to predict what sort of opening Carlsen will play- as Short
said in his typical droll style, Carlsen plays "condom" openings, ie he uses
them once then throws them away.   This may be slightly harsh although it's
well known that Carlsen just likes to get a playable position out of the
opening then use his great understanding to outplay the guy later on.} (7... d6
{is much more common. Of course this is intended to prevent e5 and now Black
has ideas of ...Bg4 or perhaps ...b5 so White is almost obliged to play} 8. Nd5
Nxd5 9. exd5 g6 10. Nxd4 cxd4 11. d3 h6 12. b4 Bg7 13. Qe2 Bf6 14. Qf3 Kf8 {
with some slight pressure for White in the game Kasparov,G (2847)-Leko,P (2736)
Linares 2003. Although I doubt it is much and the game ended in a draw.  In
general these anti-Sicilian lines have been pretty much worked out and it's
difficult to prove any advantage - on the plus side however you are probably
in less danger of losing with White than you are in some of the sharp main
lines.}) 8. Nd5 (8. Bd5 Rb8 (8... Bb7 9. Bxb7 Qxb7 10. e5 {is slightly awkward
for Black;} Nxf3+ 11. Qxf3 Qxf3 12. gxf3 {with a nice lead in development}) 9.
e5 $6 Nxd5 10. Nxd5 Qc6 {looks better for Black if anything as the bishop will
find its way to an excellent diagonal on b7.}) 8... Nxd5 9. Bxd5 Rb8 10. Nxd4 (
10. c3 Nxf3+ 11. Qxf3 e6 12. Bb3 {was another way to play for White. Perhaps
this isn't the most exciting opening in the world although I'm sure Carlsen
would have been confident of outplaying Saric from an equal position.} c4 13.
Bc2 Bb7 14. d4 cxd3 15. Bxd3 Bc5 $11) 10... cxd4 11. d3 e6 12. Bb3 Bd6 13. Qh5
{Carlsen defends against the threat on h2 actively. That's one of the things
you notice when following the games of the best players in the world - they
are always looking for the most ambitious way to play the position.} ({By
contrast a move like} 13. g3 {while not obviously bad, looks rather passive.
In general you don't want to weaken your king like this, as if the game opens
up later it may come back to haunt you.} {I'm sure a Speelman, or perhaps even
Deep Blue circa 1997, would not hesistate to play} h5 $1 {creating
counter-attacking chances on the kingside.}) 13... Bb7 14. f4 $1 Bxf4 15. Bxf4
{Perhaps not the best way to follow up his idea.} (15. Rf1 $1 {was more
consistent, although this seems to lead to a draw with best play. Not a bad
result for Carlsen in the context of the tournament- it would ensure victory
for him. But I doubt he cared much about this and was surely thirsting for
revenge for the defeat he suffered at Ivan's hands at the last olympiad.} Qe5 {
Presumably this is why Carlsen rejected this line, as this seems like a good
tactical response.} 16. Qf3 Bxh2+ (16... Bxc1 17. Qxf7+ Kd8 18. Raxc1 {looks
unpleasant for Black} Kc7 19. c3 $16 Bc6 20. Qf2) 17. Kh1 Bg3 (17... O-O $2 {
is just weak and drops a piece after} 18. Qh3 Bg3 19. Rf3) 18. Qxf7+ Kd8 19.
Bd2 Kc7 {and now with the bishop on g3 ensuring that the White king is
probably just as much danger as its counterpart, objectively he should bail
out to a draw with} 20. Ba5+ Kc6 21. Bd5+ $1 Kd6 (21... exd5 $2 22. Rf5 Qd6 (
22... Rbf8 23. exd5+ Kc5 24. Qxd7 $18)) 22. Bb4+ Kc7 23. Ba5+ $11) 15... Qxf4
16. Rf1 Qe3+ 17. Kh1 O-O 18. Rf3 Qh6 19. Qe5 a5 $1 {A very strong idea. This
is the problem for White in many of these anti-Sicilian lines - the bishop
become a target on b3. If White plays a3, then after the response ...a4
pushing the bishop back to a2, the c2-pawn will become vulnerable. And if he
plays a4 then the b-file is opened, which should give Black good counterplay.}
20. a4 Bc6 21. axb5 Rxb5 22. Qxd4 Qd2 23. Raf1 Qb4 24. Qf2 (24. Qxb4 $2 Rxb4 {
would of course be a disaster for White - ...a4 is coming when b2 drops.})
24... f6 25. Rf4 $1 {Typical of Carlsen, I think people underesimate how
tricky he is. Here he defends against the threat of ...a4 with a tactical idea.
} Re5 (25... a4 $2 26. e5 $1) 26. Rb1 a4 27. Ba2 Rb8 28. c3 Qb6 {Black has a
very comfortable game here and maybe even stands better.However over the next
part of the game, as he so often does, Carlsen outplays his opponent.} 29. Qd2
Rb5 30. Rf2 Qc7 31. h3 h6 32. Qe3 Rg5 33. d4 Kh8 34. Re1 Bb5 35. e5 $1 {
I must admit watching the game on the live webcam at this point, I was fully
convinced that Carlsen would win. (when you watch chess a lot, you get used to
Carlsen winning.) Suddenly the rook on g5 seems stranded on the kingside with
little to do. But credit to Saric he doesn't collapse and has just enough
trumps to hold the game.} f5 $1 {An essential move.} (35... fxe5 36. dxe5 {
might not seem to bad according to an engine, but from a human perspective the
threat of Bb1 and Qe4 will be extremely difficult to deal with.} Bc6 37. Bb1
Qd8 $6 38. Qd3 g6 39. Qd6 $1 {and White is dominating.}) 36. d5 exd5 37. Bxd5
Bc4 $1 {This is the problem. Carlsen still has the initiative, but more and
more material is coming off the board meaning that the game is becoming very
drawish.} 38. Rd1 Re8 39. Bxc4 Qxc4 40. Rxd7 Qb5 $1 {The last accurate move
that Saric has to find.} 41. e6 Qc6 42. Qf3 (42. Re2 Rg6 $1 {also offers White
nothing.}) 42... Qxe6 43. Rd5 Qe1+ 44. Rf1 Qe2 45. Rxf5 Rxf5 46. Qxe2 Rxe2 47.
Rxf5 Rxb2 48. Ra5 Rc2 49. Rxa4 Rxc3 {In the press conference afterwards, I was
told later that Carlsen looked very dejected. Every other chess player in the
world would be delighted to win the strongest tournament on the calendar but
instead Carlsen is fuming that he doesn't beat a much lower rated player with
the white pieces - that's probably why he's the best!} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 3rd"]
[Site "Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2015.02.02"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D36"]
[WhiteElo "2777"]
[BlackElo "2865"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2015.02.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6 6. Qc2 Be7 7. e3 Nbd7 8.
Bd3 h6 9. Bh4 Nh5 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. O-O-O Nb6 12. Nf3 Bg4 13. Kb1 Nf6 14. Rc1
Nfd7 15. Ka1 O-O-O 16. Nd2 Kb8 17. Na4 Nxa4 18. Qxa4 Qh4 {A relatively dry
position. Black has no real targets to pressure, while White is doing the best
not to weaken his position.} 19. Rcf1 Qf6 20. Qc2 Rc8 21. Nb3 Rc7 22. Rc1 Rhc8
{Black's complicated plan of doubling on the c-file and playing c5 may not
have been a bad idea, except that it was never executed.} 23. h3 Be6 24. Rhf1
h5 $2 (24... c5 $5 25. Nxc5 Nxc5 26. dxc5 Rxc5 27. Qxc5 Rxc5 28. Rxc5 Qg5 {
White cannot successfully defend his g-pawn (29.g4 runs into 29...Qh4) so
Black gets one pawn for the two rooks against queen situation, which might
make his position just an inch preferable.}) 25. f4 $1 {Carlsen must have
underestimated this move. There is no comfortable way to protect against f5,
trapping the bishop.} g6 (25... Nb6 26. f5 Bd7 27. Nc5 {Leaves Black's pieces
without coordination, very similar to what happened in the game but with the
kingside pawns still alive, which is worse for Black.}) 26. f5 gxf5 $6 (26...
Bxf5 $1 27. Bxf5 gxf5 28. Rxf5 (28. Qxf5 Qxf5 29. Rxf5 Rg8 $11) 28... Qg6 {
And Black is a tiny bit worse, but should have enough counterplay with
pressure against e3, g2 and some c5 ideas.}) 27. g4 $1 {This strong move binds
Black's pieces.} hxg4 28. hxg4 Nb6 {what else?} 29. gxf5 Bd7 30. Nc5 Re8 {
Black has some compensation for his cramped position in the form of pressure
on e3 and a relatively solid camp, but it is definitely White that is
preferable here.} 31. Rce1 Qd6 32. a3 $6 (32. Rg1 $1) 32... Bc8 33. Qf2 Nd7 $6
(33... f6 $1 {Forces Aronian to find some good way of continuing the pressure.
Black is close to equality.}) 34. e4 $1 dxe4 35. Nxe4 Qf8 (35... Qd5 36. Bb1 $1
{Is extremely uncomfortable, with the threat of Nc3.}) 36. Rg1 Rd8 37. Qh2 $2 {
This move lets go of any advantage.} (37. f6 $1 Nb6 38. Rg7 {keeps the bind
and some real pressure on the position. It's hard to find moves for Black.})
37... Qh8 $1 {Now that the queens come off the board it is impossible to play
for a win with White.} 38. Qxh8 Rxh8 39. Rg7 Nb6 40. Nf6 Rd8 41. Rg4 (41. Bb1
$1 {was probably a simpler way of forcing a draw.} Rxd4 42. Ne8 Rcd7 43. Nf6
Rd8 44. Rxf7 $11) 41... c5 42. Ne8 $6 (42. dxc5 Rxc5 (42... Rxd3 43. cxb6 axb6
44. Re8 {looks a bit dangerous for Black.}) 43. Bb1 $11 Bxf5 $4 44. Rg5 $18)
42... Rcd7 43. dxc5 Rxd3 44. cxb6 axb6 {Now that White doesn't have access to
the eight rank the bishop is a slightly better piece than the knight on e8.}
45. Rf4 R8d5 46. Ref1 {It's hard to make progress with Black anyways. If he is
forced to trade a pair of rooks White's defensive task becomes easier.} Rd1+
47. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 48. Ka2 Rd5 49. Ng7 {Awkward, but the f-pawn is doing an
important job of restraining the Black bishop.} Bd7 50. Kb3 Kc7 51. Re4 Kd6 52.
Ne8+ Kc6 (52... Bxe8 53. Rxe8 Rxf5 54. Rb8 {is almost impossible to win.}) 53.
Ng7 Rd3+ 54. Kb4 Rg3 55. Rc4+ Kd6 56. Rd4+ Kc7 57. Nh5 Rg2 58. Nf6 Bc6 (58...
Bxf5 59. Nd5+ Kb8 60. b3 $11) 59. b3 b5 60. Ng4 Re2 61. Nh6 Be8 62. Ng4 Bd7 63.
Nh6 Be8 64. Ng4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 3rd"]
[Site "Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2015.02.03"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Adams, Michael"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2865"]
[BlackElo "2738"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2015.02.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2016"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.08"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.08"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Michael Adams was Magnus Carlsen's second for his World Championship Match
2014 against Vishy Anand. Carlsen said that he included Adams in his team to
get a human feel to the preparations owing to the British player's excellent
positional understanding. Hence, this game which was played three months after
the World Championship match was extremely interesting.} 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3.
Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bb4 {This line with four knights in the English is strategically
very complicated. Basically there are two ways for White to play. One is to
continue normally with Bg2 and later allow Black to take on c3 or as Carlsen
plays in this game, to jump with the N on d5.} 5. Nd5 {Marin recommends a
similar knight jump to d5 in his book on the English but there instead of Nf3,
White has played Bg2.} Bc5 {It was also possible to leave the bishop out on b4
and continue with 0-0 or e4 but this move Bc5 looks the most natural.} (5... e4
$5 6. Nh4 O-O 7. Bg2 (7. Nxb4 Nxb4 8. Bg2 d5 $1 $17) 7... Re8 8. O-O {With an
interesting position. THe important point to note is that White usually
refrains from taking on b4 because he considers his knight on d5 to be much
stronger and important than the B on b4.}) 6. Bg2 d6 (6... e4 {would be highly
inaccurate because of} 7. Ng5 $1 Nxd5 8. Nxe4 $1 Bxf2+ 9. Nxf2 $14 {And the
central pawns determine White's advantage.}) 7. O-O O-O 8. d3 {We reach the
main position of the opening. It could be said that Black has wasted a tempo
in playing Bb4-c5. Which means that if he had directly played his bishop to c5
from f8 then it would have been the same position apart from the White knight
being on c3 instead of d5. So the question to be asked is whether White has
benefitted from playing his knight to d5. Adams doesn't think so and he
exchanges it off.} Nxd5 (8... h6 {is the other way to go. This move prevents
the pinning of the knight with Bg5.} 9. a3 a5 10. Nxf6+ Qxf6 11. Nd2 {With an
interesting position as witnessed in the game Topalov-Epishin 1994. White
tries to reroute his knight to the d5 square via d2-e4-c3-d5.}) 9. cxd5 Nd4 (
9... Ne7 {can be met with} 10. d4 exd4 11. Nxd4 {At first glance this position
looks clearly better for White as he has more space due to the pawn on d5. But
things are not so clear as Black immediately looks for the exchange of one
pair of minor pieces.} Nf5 12. Nb3 $1 {This is the right way to claim an
advantage. White has more space and must definitely refrain from exchanges.} (
12. Nxf5 Bxf5 $11 {is a very fine position for Black.}) 12... Bb6 13. e4 Ne7
14. Re1 $14) 10. Nxd4 exd4 {A very unusual structure with both the sides
having doubled d-pawns has arisen. Who stands better? In general Black's dark
squared bishop is his main piece that defends his position. If magically you
could remove the c1 and the c5 bishop then White would be clearly better. The
main reason for that is the c7 pawn would be very weak. In general to attack
c7 for White would be much easier than e2 for Black. Carlsen's subsequent play
thus revolves around posing maximum problems to the c5 bishop.} (10... Bxd4 {
is plausible. A high quality game between Karpov-Anand, Frankfurt Rapid 1997
continued} 11. e3 Bb6 12. b4 Bd7 13. a4 a5 14. b5 f5 15. Bd2 Qf6 16. Rc1 Qg6
17. Rc4 {The game reached an interesting position and here Rae8 would have
maintained the balance but Anand went for} f4 $6 (17... Rae8 $1 $132) 18. exf4
$6 (18. Be4 $1 {would have given the advantage to Karpov.} Bf5 19. exf4 $14)
18... Qxd3 19. Qc1 exf4 20. Bxf4 $11 {With an interesting position.}) 11. Bd2
a5 {Stopping queenside expansion with b4.} 12. e4 $5 dxe3 (12... f5 $5 $132 {
Keeping the pawn structure without taking fxe3 was also an option.}) 13. fxe3 (
13. Bxe3 {Earlier I mentioned that it would be nice for White to get rid of
the dark squared bishops. But things have changed now. White's pawn structure
is no longer as compact as it used to be before the e3 break. In fact now it
makes more sense to preserve the bishops and block the black one with d3-d4.
As seen in the game, Black's dark squared bishop is left without much to do
after it is blocked with d4.} Bxe3 14. fxe3 Bd7 $11) 13... Qg5 14. Rf4 Bd7 15.
a4 Rae8 (15... Rfe8 $5 {Somehow it made more sense to keep the a8 rook where
it is for the time being. White is angling for the b2-b4 break and then the
rook on a8 could come in handy.}) 16. d4 Bb6 17. Qb3 {Putting the queen on an
active square on c4 before going for the b4 break.} Qd8 (17... Re7 18. Qc4 Rfe8
19. b4 $14 {is similar to the game with one difference being, the queen is on
g5 which is more active than the one on d8 as in the game. And this difference
turns out to be disadvantageous for Black because his queenside pawns will be
weak and fragile.}) 18. Qc4 Re7 19. b4 $1 {After this break White's advantage
starts to assume very real proportions. The point to note here is how
effectively each of White's piece is positioned and how passive black pieces
have become. The bishop on b6 is biting on granite. The bishop on d7 doesn't
know what to do. Queen is passive on d8 and even if White doubled the rooks on
the e-file, the bishop on d2 does a great job of defending everything.} axb4
20. a5 Ba7 21. Qxb4 c5 {Finally Adams tries to break free from the bind. It is
very instructive to see how Carlsen handles this position.} 22. dxc6 {This was
forced as it makes no sense to open the path for the a7 bishop by spoiling the
e3-d4 formation.} Bxc6 (22... bxc6 {This would have been wonderful if it was
possible because now Black can blast open the position with c6-c5. But the
problem is that the d6 pawn falls now.} 23. Qxd6 $16) 23. Qb3 {A very nice
move putting pressure on the f7 point.} Bxg2 24. Kxg2 {Almost magically Black
has been left with more weaknesses than White. White's advantage is made up of
the following factors: 1. The b7 and d6 pawns are weak. The e3 and a5 pawns
which can be source of counterplay for Black are securely defended by the d2
bishop. 2. The white rooks and queen have more weaknesses to focus upon in the
black position than the Black major pieces. 3. And the biggest advantage for
Black is his e3-d4 pawn structure which limits the a7 bishop. 4. One factor
which is in Black's favour is the weakness of the White king. Black king is
very safe on the g8 square. One has to understand that White's advantage is in
no way substantial. It is the kind of nagging edge which humans find very
irritating to defend against. For a machine, Black's position is completely
tenable.} Qd7 (24... d5 {would be a positionally desirable move but tactically
doesn't work due to} 25. Bb4 $18) (24... Rfe8 25. Qd5 $1 $14 (25. Raf1 {
would be inaccurate because of} d5 $1 {And black is back into the game. His
bishop can now be activated on the b8-h2 diagonal. Notice how Carlsen prevents
this d6-d5 move for Black in the game.})) 25. Raf1 Rc8 26. Rf5 $1 {Preventing
d5.} h6 27. R1f2 Bb8 28. Bb4 Qc6+ 29. R2f3 (29. Qd5 Qxd5+ 30. Rxd5 Rxe3 $11 {
is not something that White would want.}) 29... Rcc7 30. Be1 Qe8 (30... Qc4 31.
Qxc4 Rxc4 32. Rb5 $14) (30... g6 $1 {Pushing the rook away from the favourable
fifth rank.} 31. Rf6 Qc4 $1 32. Qxc4 Rxc4 $11 {Black is more than alright here.
}) 31. g4 Re4 (31... Qc8 $5 {was a better way to play} 32. Qd5 (32. Bf2 $2 g6
$1 33. R5f4 d5 $1 34. Qxd5 Rcd7 $17) 32... g6 33. R5f4 Rc2+ 34. Rf2 Rxf2+ 35.
Bxf2 Kg7 $11) 32. h3 Rce7 33. Bf2 {Once again Black's counterplay comes to a
standstill as the bishop comes just in time to defend the pawns.} R4e6 34. Rb5
Bc7 35. Rxb7 Qa8 $2 {The fatal mistake of the game. Now Carlsen has a winning
position.} (35... Bxa5 36. Rb8 Bd8 37. Bh4 Rd7 38. Qd5 $14 {looks scary for
Black but no real threat is apparent and he can defend this position.}) 36. Rb5
$1 Re8 37. Qd5 Qxd5 38. Rxd5 {White is a pawn up and maintains all his
positional trumps. The rest is very easy for Magnus.} Rb8 39. Bg3 g6 (39...
Rb2+ 40. Rf2 Rb3 41. Re2 Rbxe3 42. Rxe3 Rxe3 43. a6 Ra3 44. Bxd6 Bxd6 45. Rxd6
$18 {With two passed pawns, this should be a winning endgame.}) 40. h4 Ra8 41.
Be1 Re4 42. g5 $5 {Playing aggressively. The pawn on g5 is very safe because
the rook on d5 is very stable.} h5 43. Rb5 Ra7 44. Kf1 Re8 45. Ke2 Rea8 46. Rf6
Ra6 47. Bb4 Bxa5 48. Rxa5 Rxa5 49. Bxa5 Rxa5 50. Rxd6 {The rook endgame is
easily won.} Kf8 51. Rf6 Ra3 52. Kf3 Ke7 53. Ke4 Ra5 54. Rf4 Rb5 55. d5 Rb3 56.
Kd4 Ra3 57. e4 Rb3 58. Ke5 {Slowly and steadily Carlsen makes progress and
there is no way to prevent it.} Rd3 59. Rf1 Rh3 60. Ra1 Rxh4 61. d6+ Kd7 62.
Ra7+ Ke8 63. Ra8+ Kd7 64. Rf8 {The f7-pawn falls and the game is over. Where
was black's exact mistake is a very logical question that can be asked. I
think overall the structure was such that it was very difficult to create
counterplay for Black. And Adams would have drawn that position against many
great players in the world but against Carlsen! Well, that guy's technique is
just from another planet!} 1-0

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 3rd"]
[Site "Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2015.02.04"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2706"]
[BlackElo "2865"]
[Annotator "Szabo,Kr"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2015.02.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. Be3 a6 5. a4 Nf6 6. h3 O-O 7. g4 {An ambitious
move. White has gained some space and he would like to restrict Black's pieces
as much as possible.} ({Nevertheless} 7. Nf3 {is more popular.}) 7... e5 8. d5
c6 9. Nge2 cxd5 10. exd5 Bxg4 $6 {A creative reply, Black sacrifices a piece
for two Ps, but objectively this is not so good.} (10... Ne8 {was more solid,
and Black tries to play for ...f5.}) 11. hxg4 Nxg4 12. Qd2 Nd7 13. Ne4 f5 {
Black activates his central Ps. On the other hand White is also active, his
pieces are powerful.} 14. Bg5 $1 Qb6 15. Bh3 $1 {Another strong intermediate
move. White doesn't escape with his e4 N, he also attacks his opponent's N.}
Ndf6 (15... Qxb2 {could have been met by} 16. O-O $1 {. Finally White has
finished his development and now he is threatening Rfb1 trapping the Q.}) (
15... fxe4 16. Bxg4 Qxf2+ 17. Kd1) 16. Nxf6+ Nxf6 17. Nc3 $2 {A mistake, which
allows some counterplay for Black.} ({The simply} 17. b3 $16) ({or} 17. Bxf6
Bxf6 18. c3 $16 {was better for White.}) 17... Qxb2 $1 {The right move. Black
captures the P, and now he has some threats on the c-file.} 18. Rb1 (18. O-O $2
{is not working, because of} Rac8 {and Black is very strong on the c-file.})
18... Qa3 19. Rxb7 Rf7 $6 {An inaccuracy.} (19... Rab8 $1 {was the correct
reply to control the b-file,} 20. Rxg7+ (20. Rxb8 Rxb8 21. Bg2 e4 $132 {
with strong counterplay.}) 20... Kxg7 21. Bxf5 gxf5 22. Bxf6+ Kxf6 $1 ({
Of course not} 22... Rxf6 $2 23. Qg5+ Rg6 24. Qe7+ $18 {and White wins.}) 23.
Rxh7 f4 24. Qd3 Qc1+ 25. Ke2 Rf7 26. Rxf7+ Kxf7 27. Qf5+ $11 {and a draw with
perpetual check.}) 20. Rb3 Qc5 ({In he event of} 20... Qa1+ 21. Rb1 Qa3 22. Bg2
$16 {White is solid, his position is better.}) 21. Qe3 Qc7 22. Qb6 $1 {White
forces the exchange of Qs, because the endgame is better for him.} e4 23. Qc6 {
White closes the c-file, and he attacks the a8 R. On the other hand this is
not the best move.} (23. a5 $142 $16 {was more accurate.}) 23... Rc8 24. O-O (
24. Qxc7 Rfxc7) 24... Qxc6 25. dxc6 Rxc6 {Now Black has three Ps for the piece,
but the pair of Bs and the weak a6 P give an important target to White.} 26.
Rfb1 (26. Rd1 $5 {was also possible.}) 26... h6 27. Bxf6 Bxf6 28. Nxe4 $1 {
A trade of advantages. The endgame after 28...fxe4 29.Be6 is practically very
difficult for Black, so Carlsen decides to give up the P again. Moreover he
will win the c2 P.} Be5 (28... fxe4 $6 29. Be6 Kf8 30. Bxf7 Kxf7 31. Rb6 Rxc2
32. Rxd6 $16 {followed by Rbb6 and White is better.}) 29. Nd2 (29. Rb6 $5 {
was an interesting alternative.}) 29... Rxc2 30. Nf3 Ra2 31. Bg2 $6 {A dubious
move, White should take Black's B.} (31. Nxe5 $1 dxe5 32. Rb6 Rxa4 33. Rxg6+
Kh7 34. Rbb6 $16 {and White has a good winning chance.}) 31... Bf6 $1 {The
correct move. Black saves his B, which is very important for him.} 32. Nh2 Kg7
33. Bd5 Re7 34. Rb4 Rd2 $1 35. Bc4 a5 $1 36. Rb7 Rd4 37. Rxe7+ Bxe7 38. Bb5 h5
{With the amount of black pawns he has enough to compensate for the piece.
However the most important aspect is that White has no real targets: the
a5-pawn can be easily defended by the bishop.} 39. Nf3 Rf4 40. Kg2 h4 41. Rd1
Rg4+ {These type of checks are useful, because White has to decide about his K.
} 42. Kf1 ({In the event of} 42. Kh3 Rf4 43. Kg2 (43. Rd3 $6 g5) 43... Rg4+ {
is only a repetition of moves.}) 42... h3 {This is a really attractive move to
push the passed P, but on the other hand the h3-pawn could become a target.} (
42... Kf6 43. Rd3) 43. Rd3 $1 {White prepares for Nh2.} Bf6 $1 {A good move,
Carlsen doesn't want to protect the d6 P. Black's idea should basically always
be to play g5-g4 and connect the Ps.} ({The immediate} 43... g5 44. Nh2 (44.
Rd5 $5) 44... Rf4 $1 (44... Rh4 45. Rf3 $1 $16 {followed by Bd7 and Black
loses a P.}) 45. Rxh3 g4 46. Rc3 Bh4 47. Rc4 $1 Rxf2+ 48. Kg1 {followed by
Nxg4.}) 44. Nh2 ({Or} 44. Rxd6 Rf4 45. Rd3 g5 {followed by g4. I think the
position should be a draw.}) 44... Rh4 45. Kg1 {White prepares for a nice plan.
First he needs to free the N from h2. Then Nf3 or Nf1, followed by Kh2.} ({
Objectively} 45. Rxd6 $1 {was the best, but in a practical game, this is very
difficult.} Be5 46. Rd7+ Kf6 47. Kg1 Rb4 48. Rh7 $1 Rb1+ 49. Nf1 $14) 45... Bd4
46. Rf3 {White avoids the g5-g4 at the moment.} Kf6 47. Nf1 Be5 ({The reckless
} 47... g5 $6 {could have been met by} 48. Bd7 $1) (47... d5 $5 {was also a
possibility.}) 48. Ne3 {White prepares for Nc4 to win the a5 P, because his a4
will be a strong passed P.} Kg5 $6 {This move is a little bit strange. The K
prevents his g-P, so probably the black K has to go back to f6.} ({Black had
to play} 48... h2+ $1 49. Kh1 Rd4 {Black prepares for ...Rd2.} 50. Kg2 Kg5 51.
Rh3 d5 $11 {and of course Black still has a serious fight for equality, but
objectively the position should probably be very close to equal.}) 49. Kh1 $1 {
A very deep and calm move by Naiditsch. White is threatening Nc4, and he has
avoided ...Rg4+.} ({The immediate} 49. Nc4 $2 {allows} Rg4+ 50. Kh1 Kh4 $1 $11
{defending the h3 P. The position should be around equal.}) 49... Kf6 $6 ({
Probably the best practical chance would have been} 49... Rf4 $142 50. Rxf4 (
50. Rg3+ Kh4 51. Rxg6 Rxf2 $11) (50. Rxh3 Rxf2 {and I think Black should be
able to save the game.}) 50... Kxf4 51. Be8 g5 52. Bd7 Kf3 53. Bxf5 Kxf2 54.
Nc4 Bc3 55. Nxd6 Bb4 {and Black has also a good chance for to reach the draw.})
50. Nc4 {This is a slightly risky move, because White allows the quick g5-g4,
but this is the only chance to win the a5 P, otherwise White can't improve his
position.} g5 {Of course Black doesn't have anything better than to try and
create counterplay on the kingside as quickly as possible.} 51. Nxa5 g4 52. Rd3
f4 53. Nc4 Rh7 (53... g3 $2 {is not working, as} 54. fxg3 fxg3 55. Nxe5 g2+ 56.
Kh2 Kxe5 57. Bd7 {and White will win all the black Ps, moreover the a-P is the
correct colour to win with.}) 54. Nxe5 (54. Nxd6 $5 {was also strong.}) 54...
dxe5 55. a5 Rc7 {The rook must be activated.} 56. Ra3 Rc1+ {Of course Black
has to create some counterchance; the passive ...Ra7 loses without creating
difficulties for White.} 57. Kh2 Rc2 58. a6 $1 {Well calculated! Black's four
connected passed Ps are not so dangerous as White's one passed P on the
a-file! Of course the b5 B is the most important one for this.} Rxf2+ 59. Kh1
g3 60. a7 {The B from b5 covers the f1 square.} Rd2 (60... Rb2 61. Ra1 $18) 61.
Ra1 {and Black resigned, because he can't stop White from playing a8Q. A great
victory by Naiditsch!} (61. Ra1 Rh2+ 62. Kg1 Rg2+ 63. Kf1 Rf2+ 64. Ke1 h2 65.
a8=Q $18) 1-0

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 3rd"]
[Site "Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2015.02.06"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A90"]
[WhiteElo "2797"]
[BlackElo "2865"]
[Annotator "Roiz,M"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2015.02.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. c4 c6 5. Nf3 d5 {The Stonewall system must
have come as a surprise for Vishy. Magnus prefers to deviate from the main
theoretical lines as soon as possible.} 6. O-O Bd6 7. b3 Qe7 {Avoiding the
exchange of the dark-squared bishops.} 8. Ne5 O-O 9. Nd2 {White goes for a
classical plan of occupying the central square with both of his knights.} a5 {
A typical useful move for such a structure - Black is getting some space for
his q-side pieces and preventing White from advancing the b-pawn.} (9... c5 10.
e3 Nc6 11. Bb2 cxd4 12. exd4 $14) (9... Nbd7 10. Ndf3 Ne4 11. Bf4 $14) (9... b6
10. cxd5 exd5 (10... cxd5 11. Ndc4 $1 $14) 11. Bb2 Bb7 12. Rc1 $14) 10. Bb2 {
This natural developing move seems most promising.} ({Black doesn't experience
any problems after} 10. Ndf3 b6 11. Qc2 Bb7 12. Bf4 Ne4 13. Nd3 Bxf4 14. Nxf4
Nd7 $11) 10... Nbd7 (10... b6 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Rc1 Bb7 13. e3 $14) 11. Qc2 a4
12. Ndf3 {Vishy decides not to react to the aggressive advance of Black's
a-pawn.} ({The previously played} 12. bxa4 $5 {also comes to consideration:}
Ne4 13. Nxe4 (13. Ndf3 Bxe5 14. dxe5 $6 Nb6 15. cxd5 exd5 16. Rab1 Nc4 $15 {
0-1 (29) Goganov,A (2550)-Sandipan,C (2590)/Moscow RUS 2013}) 13... fxe4 14. f4
exf3 15. Nxf3 $14) 12... Ne4 13. e3 $146 {This innovation doesn't really
change the evaluation - White is slightly better due to a space advantage, but
Black's position is very solid.} ({Also worth considering is} 13. Rab1 $5 {
freeing the a1-square for the bishop is more promising. For instance,} a3 (
13... Bxe5 14. dxe5 Qb4 15. Rfd1 $14 {1-0 (24) Cifuentes Parada,R (2508)
-Salamero Pelay,F (2130)/Spain 2011/EXT 2013}) 14. Ba1 Nxe5 15. Nxe5 Bd7 16. f3
Nf6 17. Nd3 {with a long strategic battle, where White's chances are
preferable due to a space advantage.}) 13... a3 14. Bc3 ({After} 14. Bc1 g5 (
14... c5 $5 15. cxd5 exd5 16. Nxd7 Bxd7 17. dxc5 Bxc5 18. Qd3 Rad8 $11 {
is another solid way to equalise}) 15. Nxd7 Bxd7 16. c5 Bc7 17. b4 Be8 $132 {
White lacks harmony, so Black has no reasons for complaint.}) 14... Nxe5 15.
Nxe5 Bd7 ({The following simplification hardly promises Black equality:} 15...
Bxe5 16. dxe5 Nxc3 17. Qxc3 Bd7 18. c5 Be8 19. Rad1 Bh5 20. f3 $14) 16. Nxd7 {
The exchange of the passive bishop definitely makes Black's play easier.} ({
It looks like} 16. Be1 $142 $1 Be8 17. f3 Nf6 18. Nd3 e5 19. c5 (19. dxe5 Bxe5
20. Nxe5 Qxe5 21. Qc1 Qe7 $11) 19... Bc7 20. Nxe5 Bxe5 21. dxe5 Qxe5 22. Qc3
Qe7 23. Qd4 {would allow White to keep a small, but risk-free edge.}) 16...
Qxd7 17. c5 {This ambitious advance is double-edged: White seizes a lot of
space on the queenside, but releasing the pressure in the centre offer Black
decent counterplay on the opposite side.} (17. Be1 b5 18. f3 Nf6 19. c5 Bc7 20.
Bc3 h5 $11) 17... Bc7 ({Magnus deviates from a boring equalising line:} 17...
Nxc3 18. Qxc3 Be7 19. b4 b5 20. Rab1 Ra4 21. Rb3 Rfa8 $11) 18. b4 h5 {Black
has no real threats yet, but White's king is under pressure now.} 19. Be1 e5
20. dxe5 (20. f3 $5 {also deserved some attention:} Nf6 21. Rb1 exd4 22. exd4
h4 23. b5 hxg3 24. hxg3 Nh5 25. bxc6 bxc6 26. f4 Nf6 27. Rf3 $11) 20... Bxe5
21. Rd1 Qe6 {Keeping an eye on the vulnerable Pa2. The position is still equal,
but White has to play precisely.} 22. f3 ({After} 22. Rd3 h4 (22... Bb2 23. f3
Nf6 24. Bc3 $11) 23. gxh4 $1 f4 24. f3 Nf6 {White's position doesn't look good,
though} 25. Bf2 Qf5 26. e4 dxe4 27. fxe4 Qg6 28. Kh1 {enables him to keep the
balance.}) 22... Nf6 23. Bh3 $1 {White correctly opens up the position - the
bishops need more space! However, the king is getting exposed now.} (23. Qb3 {
was too passive:} Rfe8 24. Bf2 Bb2 $15) 23... g6 24. e4 dxe4 25. fxe4 Bb2 $1 {
This brave attempt to play for a win was fully justified.} ({After} 25... Ng4
26. exf5 Rxf5 27. Rxf5 gxf5 28. Bf2 Bb2 29. Re1 $11 {Black wouldn't be able to
win the Pa2, so White should be OK.}) 26. exf5 Qxa2 27. Bf2 {Anand's move is
natural - White is connecting the rooks, so the pieces are located more
harmoniously. However, this loss of tempi allows Magnus to stabilise the
situation on the kingside.} (27. Rf2 $1 {[%cal Ge1c3] was safer:} Rad8 28. Rxd8
Rxd8 29. Bc3 {and White neutralises the dangerous passer:} Nd5 30. f6 Kf7 31.
Bxb2 axb2 32. Qxb2 Qxb2 33. Rxb2 {with a drawish endgame.}) 27... g5 $1 28.
Rfe1 $2 {White doesn't have time for a slow improvement - the Pa2 is simply
too strong!} ({The correct approach would be} 28. Bg2 Qf7 29. Bd4 $1 Bxd4+ 30.
Rxd4 {Now, when the dark-squared bishop is gone, White is able to stop the
pawn:} Ng4 31. Qd2 a2 32. Qxg5+ Qg7 33. Qxg7+ Kxg7 34. Ra1 Ra4 35. Rd2 Rfa8 36.
b5 Rb4 (36... Ne5 37. bxc6 bxc6 38. f6+ $1 Kxf6 39. Rf2+ Ke6 40. Re2 {and
Black cannot make any progress.}) 37. Rdxa2 Rxa2 38. Rxa2 Rb1+ 39. Bf1 cxb5 (
39... Ne3 40. Rf2 cxb5 41. Rf3 $11) 40. Re2 Kf6 41. h3 Ne5 42. Kf2 {White
should be able to achieve a draw quite easily.}) 28... Qf7 $1 29. Re6 $1 {
Vishy manages to find the best way to develop his counterplay.} (29. Rd6 {
was much worse:} Rfe8 30. Rde6 Ng4 31. Bxg4 hxg4 32. Qb3 Rxe6 33. fxe6 Qf3 34.
Qc4 Qd5 35. Qc2 Kg7 36. e7 Re8 37. Re3 Bd4 38. Rxa3 Rxe7 $19) 29... Ng4 $2 {
This natural move is not the best from an objective point of view, though
White's task is becoming extremely tough.} ({After the correct} 29... Rfe8 $1
30. b5 cxb5 31. Bg2 b4 32. Bf1 Kh8 33. Bc4 Rxe6 34. fxe6 Qe7 $17 {White still
would have some counter-chances, but Black's advantage is indisputable there.})
30. Bxg4 hxg4 31. Rg6+ Kh7 32. Rd7 $4 {That desperate move leads to a quick
loss.} ({At the same time, Vishy could have escaped by means of} 32. Re6 $1 {
[%cal Ge6e7]} Rfe8 (32... Qxf5 33. Rd7+ Kg8 34. Rg6+ Kh8 35. Rh6+ $11) 33. Be3
$1 {It turns out, that White has enormous attacking resources everywhere:} Be5
$1 (33... Rxe6 34. fxe6+ Qg6 35. Rd7+ Kh6 (35... Bg7 36. Qa2 {leads nowhere})
36. Bxg5+ $1 Kxg5 37. h4+ gxh3 38. Qd2+ Kh5 39. Qe2+ Qg4 40. Rh7+ Kg5 41. Qe3+
Kf5 42. Rf7+ Bf6 43. Qf2+ Ke4 44. Rxf6 h2+ 45. Kxh2 Rh8+ 46. Kg1 Qd1+ 47. Qf1
Qxf1+ 48. Rxf1 Kd5 49. Ra1 $11) 34. h4 $3 gxh3 35. Rg6 {[%cal Gc2e2]} Bg7 36.
Rd7 $3 Qxd7 37. f6 Qd1+ 38. Qxd1 Kxg6 39. Qd3+ Kxf6 40. Bd4+ Kf7 41. Qf5+ Kg8
42. Bxg7 Kxg7 43. Qxg5+ {with perpetual.}) 32... Qxd7 $19 {Unfortunately,
there are not many pieces left. Black easily wins now.} 33. f6 Qd1+ (33... Rxf6
{was also good enough:} 34. Rxf6+ Kg8 35. Rg6+ Bg7 36. Qa2+ Qf7 $19) 34. Qxd1
Kxg6 35. Qd3+ Kh6 36. h4 gxh3 0-1

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 3rd"]
[Site "Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2015.02.07"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Baramidze, David"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2865"]
[BlackElo "2594"]
[Annotator "Szabo,Kr"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2015.02.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nf1 Bf8 14. Ng3 g6 15.
a4 Bg7 ({The} 15... c5 16. d5 c4 {line is more popular.}) 16. Bd3 c6 17. Bg5 ({
On the next day Anand played} 17. Be3 {against Baramidze} Qc7 18. Qd2 exd4 19.
cxd4 c5 20. d5 c4 21. Bc2 Rec8 22. axb5 c3 23. bxc3 Nxd5 24. exd5 Bxc3 25. Qd1
Bxa1 26. Qxa1 axb5 27. Qd4 $1 {with a promising position for White, later he
managed to win, Anand-Baramidze, Baden Baden 2015.}) 17... Nf8 18. Qd2 Ne6 19.
Bh6 Nd7 20. Bc2 Bxh6 21. Qxh6 Qf6 22. Rad1 Rad8 23. d5 $146 {The first new
move in the game.} (23. Rd2 exd4 24. Nxd4 Qf4 25. Qxf4 Nxf4 26. Nde2 Nxe2+ 27.
Rdxe2 Nb6 28. a5 Nc8 29. Rd1 {with a nearly equal endgame, but White is more
comfortable, N.Djukic-Nikcevic, Tivat 2011.}) 23... cxd5 24. exd5 Qf4 {A
logical decision, Black exchanges the Qs and he tries to level the endgame.}
25. Qxf4 Nxf4 26. Ne4 Bxd5 27. axb5 axb5 28. Nxd6 {So far Baramidze has done a
nice job defending and creating counterplay. His pieces are active and give
counterplay even if he loses the b5 P too.} Re6 $2 {This looks logical move is
a mistake. The R will be attackable on e6.} (28... Bxf3 29. gxf3 Re7 30. Nxb5
Rb8 31. c4 Nxh3+ 32. Kh2 Nf4 $13) ({or} 28... Rf8 $1 29. Ne4 (29. Nxb5 Rb8 $11
{and the P is regained on b2.}) 29... f5 30. Neg5 Rfe8 $132 {and Black looks
nicely placed.}) 29. Ne4 $1 {The right reply!} (29. Nxb5 {could have been met
by} Rb6 $11 {and the b2 P is lost.}) 29... f5 ({In the event of} 29... Nb6 30.
Nfg5 Re7 31. g3 Nh5 32. Bd3 $14 {and White is slightly better.}) 30. Nfg5 $1 {
A very strong intermediate move. He attacks the e6 R, moreover he protects the
h3 P, so he prepares for g3 too.} Re7 (30... fxe4 $6 {is dubious, because of}
31. Rxd5 $1 Nxd5 32. Nxe6 $16 {and White is better.}) 31. g3 $1 {Another great
answer! The N on f4 cannot move, because the B on d5 is hanging, and in the
awkward positions of Black's Rs and the pinned N on d7 his structure will be
compromised.} Bxe4 32. Bxe4 fxe4 ({In the event of} 32... Nxh3+ 33. Nxh3 fxe4
34. Ng5 $16 {and White has a wonderful position.}) 33. gxf4 Rf8 (33... exf4 34.
Rxe4 Rde8 (34... Rxe4 35. Nxe4 $16 {the pin is very unpleasant for Black.}) 35.
Rxf4 {and White is a healthy P up.}) 34. Nxe4 Rxf4 35. b4 $1 {A good move.
White fixes the b5 P. Material is still even, but White's N on e4 is monstrous
and he will win the b5 P soon.} Nf6 (35... Nb6 36. Nd6 Rf3 37. Nxb5 Rxh3 38.
Rd6 Nc4 39. Rd8+ Kf7 40. Re4 {and White's two Ps on the queenside are really
strong.}) 36. Nd6 Rf3 37. Nxb5 Rxh3 38. c4 {White's Ps are very fast, the
position is very unpleasant for Black.} Rh4 (38... Rb3 {could have been met by
the tricky} 39. Nd4 $1 {and in the event of the P being captured with} Rxb4 40.
Nc6 {and White should win the endgame.}) 39. Nd6 Nh5 40. b5 Nf4 {Black tries
to create some counterplay against White's K, but it is not dangerous.} 41. b6
Rg4+ 42. Kf1 Rh4 43. f3 {This is the point! White simply avoids the mate,
Black has no hope.} Rh1+ 44. Kf2 Rh2+ 45. Kg1 Rc2 (45... Rb2 46. Rb1 $18) 46.
Kh1 ({The careless} 46. b7 $2 {is bad, because of} Nh3+ 47. Kh1 Nf2+ 48. Kg1
Nh3+ $11 {and Black survives with perpetual checks.}) 46... Nh3 47. Ne4 {
The N comes back to defend against Nf2+. There were other winning moves too,
but this is the easiest practical reply.} Rxc4 48. Rd8+ $1 Kg7 49. Rb1 {
and Black resigned, because he can't defend against b7. Very nice technique by
Carlsen!} 1-0

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 3rd"]
[Site "Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2015.02.08"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2811"]
[BlackElo "2865"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[EventDate "2015.02.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. h3 h6 10. Rd1+ Ke8 11. Nc3 Ne7 12. Bf4 Ng6 13. Bh2 Bb4 14. Ne2
Be7 15. Nfd4 Nf8 16. g4 h5 17. Nf5 Ne6 18. Kg2 b6 19. f3 c5 20. Bg3 Bg5 (20...
Bb7 {was also perfectly possible.}) 21. h4 hxg4 {and now the draw is forced}
22. hxg5 gxf3+ 23. Kxf3 Nxg5+ 24. Kf4 (24. Kg4 Nh3 {is risky for White:} 25. e6
Bxe6 26. Nf4 g6 27. Nxe6 gxf5+ 28. Kxf5 fxe6+ 29. Kg4 e5 $1 {with this key
move the knight from h3 is rescued and Black remains out a pawn, though
probably one that is very hard to convert.} 30. Bxe5 (30. Rd5 Ke7 $15) (30. Re1
Kd7 $1 $17) 30... Nf2+ $17) 24... Nh3+ 25. Ke4 Ng5+ 26. Kf4 Nh3+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 3rd"]
[Site "Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2015.02.09"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bacrot, Etienne"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2865"]
[BlackElo "2711"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2015.02.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bg5 Bg7 4. Nbd2 O-O 5. e3 d6 6. Bc4 Nbd7 7. O-O Qe8 8.
a4 e5 9. a5 e4 10. Ne1 h6 11. Bh4 c6 12. Bb3 Nh5 13. f3 exf3 14. Qxf3 Ndf6 15.
Nd3 Bg4 16. Qf2 Be6 17. Bxe6 Qxe6 18. Qf3 g5 19. Bf2 g4 20. Qe2 Rae8 21. a6 b6
22. Rae1 Nd5 23. e4 f5 24. Qd1 fxe4 25. Rxe4 Qf5 26. Qxg4 Qxg4 27. Rxg4 Re2 28.
Rd1 Nhf6 29. Rg3 Nh5 30. Rf3 Rxf3 31. gxf3 Ne3 32. Bxe3 Rxe3 33. Nc4 Rxf3 34.
Nb4 b5 35. Na5 (35. Na3 $1 {Even though this move looks rather awkward, it is
actually very powerful. Once c6 falls so does b5, and then a7.} c5 36. Nc6 Rf7
37. Nxb5 $18) 35... c5 36. Nbc6 Rf7 37. Nb7 (37. dxc5 dxc5 38. Rd8+ Bf8 39. Ra8
$18 c4 40. b4 $1 {This key move locks out the bishop and gives White a winning
position.}) 37... Nf4 38. dxc5 dxc5 39. Nxa7 $2 {Too hasty! This gives Black
unexpected counterplay!} Bd4+ 40. Kh1 (40. Rxd4 Ne2+ $1 (40... cxd4 41. Nxb5
$18) 41. Kg2 Nxd4 42. c3 Rf6 $1 {And a6 falls, with White's winning chances
really.}) 40... Nh3 $1 {A miracle perpetual! White cannot escape the threats,
for now Nf2+ would win the rook.} 41. Kg2 (41. Ra1 Rg7 {gets White mated,
nearly, and is way too risky. The a-pawn is not that fast.}) 41... Nf4+ 42. Kg3
Ne2+ 43. Kg4 Rf4+ 44. Kh3 (44. Kh5 Rf5+ 45. Kxh6 $4 (45. Kg6 Rf6+ 46. Kh5 $11)
45... Nf4 $19) 44... Rf3+ 45. Kg4 Rf4+ 46. Kh3 Rf3+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic playoff1 3rd"]
[Site "Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2015.02.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E14"]
[WhiteElo "2865"]
[BlackElo "2706"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2015.02.09"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Nbd2 b6 5. a3 Bxd2+ 6. Qxd2 O-O 7. e3 Bb7 8.
b4 a5 9. Bb2 axb4 10. axb4 Ne4 11. Qc2 Rxa1+ 12. Bxa1 Qe7 13. c5 f5 14. Be2 Nc6
15. Bc3 bxc5 16. dxc5 Ra8 17. O-O Nxc3 18. Qxc3 Qf6 19. Qd2 Rd8 20. b5 Ne5 21.
Nxe5 Qxe5 22. c6 Bc8 23. Rd1 d5 24. Qd4 Qxd4 25. exd4 Kf8 26. f4 Ke7 27. Ra1 g6
28. Kf2 Kd6 29. Ra3 Rf8 30. h4 Ke7 31. h5 Rg8 32. hxg6 hxg6 33. Rh3 g5 34. fxg5
Kd6 35. Rh6 Ke7 36. Bf3 e5 37. Rh7+ Kd6 38. dxe5+ Kc5 39. Rxc7 Kxb5 40. Bxd5
1-0

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic playoff1 3rd"]
[Site "Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2015.02.09"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C49"]
[WhiteElo "2706"]
[BlackElo "2865"]
[PlyCount "135"]
[EventDate "2015.02.09"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 d6 7. Bg5 Ne7 8. Re1
c6 9. Ba4 Ng6 10. Bb3 h6 11. Bd2 Bg4 12. h3 Bh5 13. g3 d5 14. Kg2 d4 15. Ne2
Bxf3+ 16. Kxf3 Bxd2 17. Qxd2 Nd7 18. a3 Kh8 19. Kg2 Nc5 20. Ba2 f5 21. exf5
Rxf5 22. Rf1 Qf6 23. f4 Rf8 24. Rae1 h5 25. Rf3 h4 26. g4 Nxf4+ 27. Kh2 Rg5 28.
Nxf4 exf4 29. b4 Nd7 30. Re6 Qd8 31. Qe1 Rb5 32. a4 Rb6 33. Re7 Nf6 34. Qxh4+
Nh7 35. Be6 Rf6 36. Bf5 Rh6 37. Qe1 Qd6 38. Re8+ Nf8 39. Qe7 Qxe7 40. Rxe7 Rxb4
41. Re8 Rf6 42. Rxf4 g6 43. g5 Rf7 44. Rh4+ Kg7 45. Be4 Rb2 46. Kg3 Rxc2 47.
Rf4 Rc5 48. h4 Ra5 49. Rxf7+ Kxf7 50. Rb8 b5 51. Rb7+ Ke6 52. axb5 cxb5 53. Kf4
Ra2 54. Rxb5 Rf2+ 55. Kg3 Re2 56. Ra5 Nd7 57. Ra6+ Ke7 58. Bxg6 Ne5 59. Be4
Nxd3 60. Bxd3 Re3+ 61. Kf4 Rxd3 62. h5 Rh3 63. h6 d3 64. Rxa7+ Ke6 65. Ra6+ Kf7
66. g6+ Ke7 67. g7 d2 68. g8=Q 1-0

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic playoff2 3rd"]
[Site "Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2015.02.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E14"]
[WhiteElo "2865"]
[BlackElo "2706"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2015.02.09"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Nbd2 b6 5. e3 Bb7 6. Bd3 c5 7. O-O cxd4 8.
exd4 O-O 9. a3 Be7 10. b4 a5 11. b5 d5 12. Bb2 Nbd7 13. a4 Rc8 14. Rc1 dxc4 15.
Nxc4 Nd5 16. g3 Nb4 17. Be2 Na2 18. Ra1 Bxf3 19. Bxf3 Rxc4 20. Rxa2 Nf6 21. Bc6
Nd5 22. Qe2 Rb4 23. Rd1 Rb3 24. Kg2 Qd6 25. Qc2 Qb4 26. Rda1 Rc8 27. Ba3 Qc3
28. Qxc3 Rxc3 29. Bxd5 Rxa3 30. Rxa3 Bxa3 31. Bxe6 fxe6 32. Rxa3 Rc4 33. Kf3
Rxd4 34. Rc3 Rxa4 35. Rc6 Kf7 36. Rxb6 Rb4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic playoff2 3rd"]
[Site "Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2015.02.09"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2706"]
[BlackElo "2865"]
[PlyCount "136"]
[EventDate "2015.02.09"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. c4 Ke8 10. Nc3 Be6 11. b3 Be7 12. Ne4 Rd8 13. Bb2 h5 14. Rad1
b5 15. Nfg5 Bxg5 16. Nxg5 a6 17. Bc3 c5 18. Rxd8+ Kxd8 19. Rd1+ Ke7 20. Ne4
bxc4 21. Nxc5 cxb3 22. axb3 Rb8 23. b4 Rb6 24. Kf1 Bc4+ 25. Ke1 Bb5 26. f3 h4
27. Kf2 Rc6 28. Bb2 Ke8 29. Rc1 Ne7 30. Nb3 Nd5 31. Rxc6 Bxc6 32. Ba3 Nf4 33.
g3 Nd3+ 34. Ke3 hxg3 35. hxg3 Nxe5 36. Kf4 Nxf3 37. Bb2 f6 38. Nd4 Ne1 39. Ke3
Bd5 40. Ke2 Ng2 41. Kf2 Kd7 42. Bc3 g6 43. Nf3 g5 44. Bxf6 Bxf3 45. Kxf3 Ne1+
46. Ke2 Nc2 47. Bxg5 Nxb4 48. Bf4 Nd5 49. Bd2 Ke6 50. Kd3 Nf6 51. Bc1 Kd5 52.
Bg5 Ng4 53. Kc3 c5 54. Kb3 Kc6 55. Ka4 Ne5 56. Ka5 Kb7 57. Bh6 Nc6+ 58. Ka4 c4
59. g4 Kc8 60. Bg7 Kd7 61. Bf6 Ke6 62. g5 Kf5 63. Ka3 Ne5 64. Kb4 a5+ 65. Kc3
a4 66. Bxe5 Kxe5 67. Kxc4 Kf5 68. Kb4 Kxg5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic playoff3 3rd"]
[Site "Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2015.02.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B91"]
[WhiteElo "2865"]
[BlackElo "2706"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2015.02.09"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 165"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. g3 e5 7. Nde2 Be7 8. Bg2
O-O 9. O-O Nbd7 10. a4 b6 11. Nd5 Nxd5 12. Qxd5 Rb8 13. Nc3 Nf6 14. Qd3 Be6 15.
Qxa6 Qc7 16. Qe2 Bc4 17. Qf3 Bxf1 18. Bxf1 d5 19. exd5 e4 20. Qf5 Rbd8 21. Bf4
Qc5 22. Rd1 Qb4 23. Be5 Bc5 24. Bxf6 gxf6 25. Nxe4 Qxb2 26. Bd3 Rfe8 27. Nxf6+
Kf8 28. Nxh7+ Ke7 29. Re1+ Kd6 30. Qf4+ Kxd5 31. Nf6+ Kc6 32. Nxe8 1-0

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 2nd"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2015.04.17"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C89"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[Annotator "Pavlovic,M"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2015.04.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 166"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.05.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.05.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 {No Berlin this time.} 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6.
Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d5 {The Marshall Attack is definitely one of the most
popular choices on the top level.} 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12.
d3 Bd6 13. Re1 Bf5 14. Qf3 Bg6 {A completely new idea. I will add here a
recent game from the USA Ch..} (14... Qh4 15. g3 Qh3 16. Be3 Bxd3 17. Nd2 Bf5 {
rare choice , usually they go 17..Qf5} 18. Bd4 Rfe8 19. c4 (19. Bxd5 cxd5 20.
Qxd5 Bf8 {this must be critical for the evaluation of Black's idea. White is a
pawn up but the bishop pair and weak light squares help Black immensely in
getting his usual compensation}) 19... Bg4 20. Qg2 Qxg2+ 21. Kxg2 Nb4 22. Ne4
Bf8 23. cxb5 {Now Black has a few ideas:} cxb5 (23... Be6 $5 24. b6 (24. Bxe6
Rxe6 25. Nc3 Rxe1 26. Rxe1 axb5 {again Black is ok}) 24... Bxb3 25. b7 Bd5 26.
bxa8=Q Rxa8 27. f3 Nc2 {is fine for Black}) (23... axb5 24. Ng5 Bh5 25. g4 Rxe1
26. Rxe1 Bg6 27. f4 h6 28. f5 Bh5 29. gxh5 hxg5 30. a3 c5 {Black has enough
counterplay}) 24. Ng5 Bh5 25. g4 Bg6 26. f4 Nc2 27. Rxe8 Rxe8 28. Rd1 Nxd4 {
not best; after this White takes over the initiative} (28... h6 $5 29. f5 Bh5
30. gxh5 hxg5 31. Bf2 Ne3+ 32. Bxe3 Rxe3 33. Rd7 Be7 34. Ra7 Re2+ 35. Kf3 Re3+
$1 $11) 29. Rxd4 Be7 30. Nf3 Bb1 31. Nd2 $18 {1-0 (36) So,W (2788)-Onischuk,A 
(2665) Saint Louis 2015, White is wining}) 15. Bxd5 cxd5 16. Bf4 d4 17. cxd4
Bb4 18. Nc3 Qxd4 19. Be5 Qd7 $6 {Black had to take on d3 and although it looks
a bit unpleasant it seems that Black can hold:} (19... Qxd3 20. Re3 {now two
reasonable moves for Black:} Qc4 (20... Qf5 21. Qxf5 Bxf5 22. Nd5 Bc5 23. Rc3
Rac8 24. Rac1 Rfe8 25. Rxc5 Rxc5 26. Rxc5 Rxe5 27. f4 $14) 21. Nd5 Rad8 22.
Nf6+ (22. Rd1 f6 $1 {with good play}) 22... Kh8 $1 {is fine for Black.}) 20.
Nd5 $1 f6 (20... Bxe1 21. Nf6+ $1 gxf6 22. Qxf6 $18) 21. Nxb4 fxe5 22. Qd5+
Qxd5 23. Nxd5 Bxd3 24. Rxe5 {He is a clear pawn up} Rfe8 25. Rxe8+ Rxe8 26. Ne3
Rc8 27. a3 a5 28. h4 Bg6 29. Rd1 b4 30. axb4 axb4 31. g4 b3 {Carlsen is
putting up the best defence.} 32. h5 Bf7 33. Kg2 Kf8 34. Kg3 Ra8 35. Rd2 {
This is probably winning for Anand; everyone noticed that during the live
comentaries, but to win it it is not easy, otherwise we wouldn't be talking
now about a draw in this game, but about 1-0. Somehow it is not easy to find a
clear winning path for Anand, and computers defend Carlsen's position with
utmost accuracy.} h6 36. Nf5 Be6 37. Nd4 Bf7 38. f3 Rc8 39. Kf4 Rc1 40. Nf5 Kg8
41. Rd8+ Kh7 42. Rd7 Kg8 43. Rd8+ Kh7 44. Rd7 Kg8 45. Nd6 {White has many
ideas here; let's try some.} (45. Rb7 Rc2 46. Nd6 Be6 47. Ke5 Re2+ 48. Ne4 Bf7
49. f4 ({another try might be} 49. g5 Bxh5 50. Rxb3 hxg5 51. Kf5 Kf8 52. Nxg5 {
with a big advantage but still no clear winning path}) 49... Rxb2 ({But Black
doesn't need to be cooperative as pointed out by Rainer Knaak so} 49... Kf8 $5
50. Rb8+ Ke7 51. f5 Be8 $1 52. Rb7+ Kf8 53. Rxb3 Bc6 54. Rb4 Bxe4 55. Rxe4 Rxb2
{and Black should make a draw here, surely not an easy defence, but it is
possible that Carlsen might have seen it.}) 50. g5 Bxh5 51. gxh6 Rg2 52. hxg7 {
White wins, that was one possible line for instance.}) (45. Nh4 Be6 46. Rb7 Bd5
$1 {very precise!} (46... Rc2 $2 47. Ng6 Bc4 48. Rb8+ Kf7 49. Ke5 $1 {White
wins}) 47. Rb8+ Kh7 $1 (47... Kf7 48. Ke5 $1 {with the mating idea Ng6}) 48.
Ng6 Bg8 49. Ne7 Bf7 50. Rb7 Rc2 51. Nf5 Kg8 {and we have reached the same
position as after 45.Rb7 Rc2.}) 45... Be6 46. Re7 Bd5 47. Kf5 $2 {A mistake
that spoils all his advantage and all chances to play for win.} Rc6 $1 {
Now it is just a draw.} 48. Ke5 Bxf3 49. Nf5 g5 50. Rg7+ Kh8 51. Rg6 Kh7 52.
Rg7+ Kh8 53. Rg6 Kh7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 2nd"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2015.04.18"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D94"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2756"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2015.04.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 166"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.05.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.05.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 g6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O b6 {Quite a
passive system leading to a small plus for White. However, Black's position is
solid and difficult to break.} 8. a4 {Among other options seen in practice:} (
8. b4) (8. b3) (8. cxd5) (8. Bd2) (8. Qc2) (8. Ne5) (8. Qb3) 8... a5 (8... Bf5
9. a5 Nbd7 10. cxd5 cxd5 11. a6 $1 Nb8 12. Ne5 Nfd7 13. Bf3 Nxe5 14. dxe5 Nc6
15. Bxd5 Rc8 16. e4 Bd7 17. f4 $16 {1-0 (35) Golod,V (2576)-Meenakshi,S (2310)
Port Erin 2006}) (8... Nbd7 9. cxd5 $1 cxd5 10. b3 Bb7 11. Ba3 Ne4 12. Rc1 Rc8
13. Nxe4 dxe4 14. Rxc8 Qxc8 15. Nd2 Re8 16. Qb1 e5 17. Nc4 Qa8 18. Nd6 $14 {
1/2 (47) Zhou,J (2574)-Yu,R (2548) China 2014}) (8... Ba6 9. b3 (9. a5 dxc4 10.
axb6 axb6 11. Bxc4 b5 12. Be2 b4 13. Na4 c5 $1 $11 {1/2 (41) Szoen,D (2452)
-Orzech,D (2394) Rewal 2007}) 9... c5 10. Ba3 $36 cxd4 $6 11. Nxd4 Bb7 12. Bf3
Re8 13. cxd5 Nxd5 14. Ndb5 e6 15. Nxd5 Bxd5 16. Nd6 $18 {1-0 (26) Koziak,V 
(2489)-Orzech,D (2472) Rewal 2008}) (8... Bb7 9. a5 e6 10. b4 dxc4 11. Bxc4 Nd5
12. Nxd5 exd5 13. Bd3 b5 14. Nd2 a6 15. Nb3 Nd7 16. Qf3 f5 17. Qg3 Rf7 18. Bd2
$14 {1/2 (39) Bukavshin,I (2517)-Bu,X (2670) Moscow 2012}) 9. cxd5 (9. Qb3 $5
e6 10. Bd2 Nbd7 (10... Na6 {[%csl Yb4] looks more logical}) 11. Rfd1 Qc7 12.
Rac1 Qb8 13. Bd3 Bb7 14. cxd5 exd5 15. e4 dxe4 16. Nxe4 Nd5 17. Bc4 Re8 18. Nc3
N7f6 19. Ne5 $16 {1-0 (32) Arutinian,D (2561)-Petrosyan,T (2315) Jermuk 2012})
9... cxd5 (9... Nxd5 {makes some sense here since the knight can take the
comfortable b4-square; however, White can comfortably bypass it:} 10. e4 Nb4
11. Be3 ({or} 11. h3 Nd7 12. Bg5 Ba6 13. Rc1 Re8 14. Bxa6 Rxa6 15. Qe2 Ra8 16.
Rfd1 Qb8 17. Qc4 Qb7 18. e5 Nf8 19. d5 $14 {1/2 (33) Roeder,M (2440)-Sapis,W 
(2440) Cappelle la Grande 1995}) 11... Bg4 12. h3 Bxf3 13. Bxf3 N8a6 14. d5 Nc5
15. Qe2 Qe8 $5 16. Rfd1 Rc8 17. dxc6 Qxc6 18. e5 $14 {1/2 (32) Anand,V (2800)
-Wang,Y (2732) Nanjing 2010 CBM 139 [Edouard,R]}) 10. b3 Ne4 $6 {[%mdl 32]
Black doesn't just neglect development but also trades White's "excess piece",
i.e. his c3-knight, which only blocks his activity on the c-file. Additionally,
Black obtains a vulnerable e4-pawn. Not surprisingly, he gets into trouble.} (
10... Bb7 11. Ba3 Nc6 12. Rc1 Rc8 {looks more appropriate.}) 11. Nxe4 dxe4 12.
Nd2 Bb7 13. Ba3 f5 (13... Nc6 $142 {but still after} 14. Rc1 Rc8 15. Bb5 {
[%cal Yd1e2] White is clearly on top.}) 14. Rc1 Kh8 15. Nc4 Nd7 16. d5 $1 Rc8
17. d6 e6 $8 {[%csl Gd6]} 18. b4 $1 {White must open up the queenside to reach
Black's blockading d7-knight.} axb4 19. Bxb4 Bd5 20. a5 $1 bxa5 21. Bxa5 Qe8
22. Qa4 Bc6 23. Qb4 Rb8 24. Nb6 $1 Ne5 $2 (24... Nxb6 $142 25. Bxb6 Qd7 {
- although the queen is not the best blockader, White still had to work hard
to make use of his passed pawn.}) 25. Qc5 Ba8 $2 {This loses instantly but
gymnastics like} (25... Rf7 26. Bc3 Rfb7 $1 27. Bxe5 Rxb6 {would have hardly
rescued Black either.}) 26. Bc3 $1 Nd7 (26... Qc6 27. Qxe5 $1 $18) (26... Nf7
27. Bb5 Qd8 28. Nd7) (26... Bd5 27. Nxd5 exd5 28. Qxd5 $18) 27. Bxg7+ Kxg7 28.
Nxd7 Qxd7 29. Qe5+ {[%cal Rc1c7]} 1-0

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 2nd"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2015.04.19"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A90"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2015.04.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 166"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.05.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.05.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Caruana had reasonable results against the World Champion in the last 2 years,
but in 2015 the tide started to change. Despite having Black, Carlsen won a
nice attacking game in Wijk (see CBM 165) and easily drew in Baden.} 1. d4 {
Fabiano avoids the Sicilian, or Berlin...} f5 $5 {Magnus is in a fighting
mood! However, this could have hardly surprised Caruana, as his opponent has
already played the Dutch more than once this year.} 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. c4
c6 {Still following his win against Anand in Baden. The flexible text move
waits for White to declare his intentions with the Ng1 before committing the
Pd7.} ({After the immediate} 4... d5 {White scored well with the} 5. Nh3 $5 {
system, an impressive example was} c6 6. O-O Bd6 7. Qc2 O-O 8. Nd2 Bd7 9. Nf3
Be8 10. Bf4 h6 11. Qb3 b6 12. Rfc1 Be7 13. cxd5 Nxd5 14. Bd2 g5 15. Ne5 a5 16.
e4 fxe4 17. Bxe4 Ra7 18. f4 gxf4 19. Kh1 Bf6 20. Nxf4 $16 {Anand,V (2769)
-Nikolic,P (2659) Wijk aan Zee 2000 See the notes to this game by Tyomkin in
CBM 75.}) 5. Nf3 ({Now} 5. Nh3 {allows} d6 $5 {[%cal Ye6e5]} 6. Nc3 e5 (6...
Be7 7. e4 e5 $132) 7. dxe5 dxe5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Ng5 Ke8 10. e4 Bd6 11. exf5
Bxf5 12. O-O h6 13. Rd1 Bc5 14. Nge4 Bxe4 15. Bxe4 Kf7 16. Bf5 Na6 17. Re1 g6
18. Bh3 Nb4 19. Re2 Rad8 20. Rb1 Bd4 21. Kg2 Nd3 22. Be3 b6 $11 {[%csl Gd3,Gd4]
Wojtaszek,R (2721)-Vaisser,A (2533) FRA-chT Mulhouse 2011}) 5... d5 {[%mdl 32]
The Stonewall leads to a complex strategic fight with almost no long forcing
lines - all in all an opening suiting Carlsen's style. Moreover it belonged to
the repertoire of his trainer Agdestein.} 6. O-O Bd6 7. b3 Qe7 8. Bb2 {Allows
Black to fianchetto his Bc8.} ({He was fine also after} 8. Ne5 O-O (8... b6 {
now runs into} 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. Nc4 $1 Nc6 11. Nxd6+ Qxd6 12. Ba3 Nb4 13. Nd2
$14) 9. Nd2 a5 10. Bb2 Nbd7 11. Qc2 a4 (11... Ne4 12. Ndf3 a4) 12. Ndf3 ({
Possibly critical is the greedy} 12. bxa4 Ne4 (12... Bxe5 13. dxe5 Ng4 14. Nf3
Nb6 15. cxd5 exd5 16. h3 Nh6 17. Nd4 Nc4 (17... f4 $5 $13) 18. f4 Ne3 19. Qb3
Nxf1 20. Ba3 Qd8 21. Bxf8 Nxg3 22. Bxg7 Nxe2+ 23. Nxe2 Kxg7 24. Nd4 Ng8 25. Re1
$36 {Visloguzov,V (2036)-Jardi Talarn,J (2054) email 2011}) 13. Nxe4 $1 (13.
Ndf3 Bxe5 (13... Qd8 14. Nd3 Qa5 15. Nf4 Bxf4 16. gxf4 Qxa4 17. Qxa4 Rxa4 18.
cxd5 exd5 19. e3 Nb6 20. Ne5 {Kiriakov,P (2555)-Moskalenko,V (2540) playchess.
com blitz 2006} Nc4 $15) 14. dxe5 (14. Nxe5 $142 $5) 14... Nb6 15. cxd5 exd5
16. Rab1 Nc4 17. Rfd1 Qb4 18. Nd4 Qxa4 $36 {Goganov,A (2550)-Sandipan,C (2590)
Moscow 2013}) 13... fxe4 14. f4 exf3 15. Nxf3 $14 {Roiz}) 12... Ne4 13. e3 a3
14. Bc3 Nxe5 15. Nxe5 Bd7 16. Nxd7 (16. Be1 $142 $1 $14) 16... Qxd7 17. c5 Bc7
18. b4 h5 19. Be1 e5 20. dxe5 Bxe5 21. Rd1 Qe6 $11 {Anand,V (2797)-Carlsen,M 
(2865) Baden-Baden 2015 For more details see the notes to this game by Roiz in
CBM 165.}) 8... b6 9. Ne5 Bb7 10. Nd2 ({White will later redirect his N to c3,
but here the immediate} 10. Nc3 {is not too effective due to} Nbd7 $11 {
forcing White to make a decision about his Ne5.}) 10... O-O 11. Rc1 ({My own
experience with this line was rather bleak, after} 11. e3 a5 12. Nd3 Na6 13. a3
Rac8 14. Qe2 Ne4 15. Rfc1 c5 16. dxc5 Naxc5 17. Nxc5 bxc5 18. Rd1 a4 19. bxa4
Ra8 20. f3 Nxd2 21. Qxd2 Rxa4 22. cxd5 exd5 23. f4 $11 {Stohl,I (2465)-Glek,I 
(2430) Tallinn 1986 White just barely managed to hold the balance (and lost
due to a miscalculation later on).}) 11... a5 12. e3 {The most usual move, but
it's not easy for White to get anything tangible from the opening.} (12. Nd3
Na6 13. Nf3 {avoids ideas with Bxe5; White intends to put the other N on e5,
but this manoeuvring costs time and Black gets counterplay after} Ne4 14. Nfe5
Rac8 (14... c5 15. f3 Nf6 16. cxd5 exd5 17. Re1 Nb4 18. a3 Nc6 19. e3 Nd8 20.
Bh3 g6 21. Nf4 Qe8 22. Ned3 Rc8 23. dxc5 bxc5 24. Qd2 a4 25. e4 $5 dxe4 26.
fxe4 Bxe4 27. b4 $36 {Martin Clemente,J (2638)-Timmerman,G (2694) email 2009})
15. e3 c5 16. dxc5 bxc5 17. Nf4 Nb4 18. a3 Bxe5 19. Bxe5 Nc6 {½ Avrukh,B 
(2425)-Gleizerov,E (2535) St Petersburg 1994} 20. Bb2 d4 $1 $132) (12. Nb1 Nbd7
(12... Ne4 13. f3 Nf6 14. Nc3 Nbd7 15. Nxd7 Nxd7 16. e4 dxc4 17. bxc4 e5 18.
exf5 exd4 19. Re1 Ne5 20. Ne4 Ba3 21. Bxa3 Qxa3 22. Qxd4 Nxf3+ 23. Bxf3 Qxf3
24. c5 $16 {Gordon,S (2556)-Djurhuus,R (2436) Oslo 2012}) 13. cxd5 cxd5 14. Nc4
b5 15. Nxd6 Qxd6 16. Nc3 Ba6 {[%csl Ga6,Rg2] Black's bad Ba6 is more effective,
than the "good"one on g2.} 17. Qd2 Rfc8 18. f3 b4 19. Nd1 a4 20. Ne3 a3 21.
Rxc8+ Rxc8 22. Bc1 f4 23. gxf4 Qxf4 $11 {()=/+, Tukmakov,V (2575)-Agdestein,S 
(2560) Dortmund 1987}) 12... Na6 13. Nb1 $146 {A novelty, but judging by the
time-consumption an over the board idea. The N heads for c3 and possibly for
a4 (or e2-f4).} ({Until now White mostly connected his rooks with} 13. Qe2 Ne4
(13... Nc7 14. Ndf3 Ne4 15. Rfd1 a4 16. Nd3 a3 17. Ba1 Na6 18. Nfe5 c5 19. f3
Nf6 20. Bh3 g6 21. Rd2 Rac8 22. Rdc2 Rc7 23. Rd1 Rfc8 24. Rcd2 cxd4 25. Bxd4
Nc5 26. Nxc5 Bxc5 27. Bg2 Ba6 28. Bf1 Nd7 29. Nxd7 Rxd7 30. Bxc5 Qxc5 31. Qf2
Rcd8 32. e4 d4 $132 {Hansen,O (2499)-Timmerman,G (2694) email 2009}) (13... a4
14. bxa4 Bxe5 15. dxe5 Nd7 16. a5 Nac5 17. Bc3 bxa5 18. Nb3 Nxb3 19. axb3 Nc5
20. Qc2 Ne4 21. Bb2 a4 22. bxa4 Ba6 23. f3 Ng5 24. cxd5 Bxf1 25. d6 $16 {
So,W (2656)-Reinderman,D (2573) Wijk aan Zee 2010}) (13... Bxe5 14. dxe5 Ne4
15. Rfd1 a4 $5 16. Nb1 Nb4 (16... axb3 17. axb3 Nac5 18. Qc2 Ra2 $132 {/\} 19.
f3 $6 Qg5 $1 20. fxe4 fxe4 $44) 17. Ba3 axb3 18. axb3 c5 19. f3 Ng5 20. h4 Nf7
21. Bxb4 cxb4 22. f4 dxc4 23. Bxb7 Qxb7 24. Rxc4 Rfd8 25. Rxd8+ Nxd8 {Alekseev,
E (2640)-Moiseenko,A (2662) Sochi 2006} 26. Rxb4 $14) 14. Rfd1 c5 15. Nb1 Nb4
16. f3 Nxa2 17. fxe4 Nxc1 18. Bxc1 fxe4 19. Nc3 Rad8 20. Nb5 cxd4 21. exd4 Bxe5
22. dxe5 dxc4 {Van Wely,L (2668)-Ulibin,M (2581) Moscow 2003} 23. Rxd8 Rxd8 24.
bxc4 Qc5+ 25. Be3 Qxe5 26. Bxb6 $13) 13... Bxe5 $5 {A very straightforward
solution.} ({Black can also redirect his N with} 13... Nb8 14. Nc3 Nbd7 {
Carlsen maybe didn't relish the possibility} 15. f4 $5 (15. Na4 b5 $11 {
is harmless}) 15... Rac8 $13 {with a complex double Stonewall.}) 14. dxe5 Ne4
15. Qe2 (15. cxd5 exd5 $5 16. Nc3 Nac5 $132) ({It was worth considering} 15.
Nc3 $5 {/\} Nac5 (15... Rac8 $142 $5) 16. Ba3 $14) 15... a4 $5 16. Nc3 $6 {
A mediocre reaction, after which already White will have to tread with care.} (
{The principled continuation was} 16. Ba3 $142 c5 17. f3 Ng5 18. cxd5 Bxd5 (
18... exd5 $5 19. bxa4 $13) 19. bxa4 (19. Nc3 Nc7 $13 {can transpose}) 19...
Nc7 20. e4 fxe4 21. fxe4 Rxf1+ 22. Rxf1 Bc6 23. h4 Nf7 24. Qb2 $13) (16. Rfd1 {
transposes to Alekseev-Moiseenko above.}) 16... axb3 (16... a3 $5 17. Ba1 Nb4
$13 {[%csl Ra1] /=/+ also deserves attention, but true to himself, Carlsen
chooses a simple technical solution.}) 17. axb3 Qb4 18. Nxe4 (18. cxd5 exd5 {
is also pleasant for Black.}) 18... dxe4 {Black continues in the spirit of his
16th move and chooses the simpler symmetrical recapture.} ({More complex is} 
18... fxe4 19. Bh3 (19. Bc3 $5 Qxb3 20. cxd5 exd5 21. Bh3 $44) 19... Rfe8 20.
f4 $1 $13 {[%cal Yf4f5]}) 19. Qc2 Nc5 20. Bc3 Qxb3 21. Qxb3 Nxb3 22. Rb1 Nc5
23. Rxb6 Na4 24. Rxb7 Nxc3 {[%csl Gc3,Rg2][%mdl 4096] A series of natural
moves has led to an endgame in which White must still solve the problem of his
passive Bg2. It would seem that this is simple enough, but in such technical
positions Carlsen is incomparable.} 25. Re7 {Voluntarily exchanges the R on
the 7th rank.} ({A more active way is} 25. f3 $5 {White intends to reanimate
his bishop either on the long diagonal, or by hitting Pe6 from h3 after a pawn
swap on e4. All this should be sufficient to hold the balance.}) 25... Rfe8 26.
Rxe8+ Rxe8 27. Ra1 $6 (27. f3 $1 $132 {still seems preferable.}) 27... Rd8 28.
Bf1 {White must already change plans and start calculating.} (28. Ra6 $5 Ne2+
29. Kf1 Nc1 30. Kg1 Rd1+ (30... Rc8 31. Bf1 $132 {and Black's R is too passive}
) 31. Bf1 Nb3 32. Kg2 Nd2 33. Ra8+ Kf7 34. Ra7+ {/\} Kg6 35. Rd7 Rxf1 36. Rxd2
Rc1 37. Rd6 $11) (28. f3 Rd1+ $1 29. Rxd1 Nxd1 30. fxe4 Nxe3 $15 31. exf5 $2
Nxg2 32. Kxg2 exf5 33. Kf3 Kf7 34. Ke3 c5 $1 35. Kf3 Ke6 36. Kf4 h6 $19) 28...
c5 29. Ra3 (29. Ra5 $5) 29... Nb1 $5 30. Ra1 (30. Ra5 {or}) (30. Ra6 $142 {
seems preferable:} Rd1 31. Ra8+ Kf7 32. Ra7+ Kg6 33. Ra1 {and it's still not
clear, how Black should make progress.} (33. Kg2 Rd2 (33... Nd2 34. Rd7 Rxf1
35. Rxd2 Rc1 36. Rd7 Rxc4 37. Re7 $11) 34. Re7 Nc3 35. Kg1 Nd1 36. Rxe6+ Kf7
37. Rd6 Rxd6 38. exd6 g6 $11 {/=/+})) 30... Nd2 $1 31. Be2 $2 ({This is
already a serious error, more or less necessary was} 31. Kg2 $8 Nf3 32. Ra6 Kf7
33. Ra7+ Kf8 34. Rc7 Rd1 35. Rc8+ (35. Rxc5 Nd2 36. Be2 Re1 {[%csl Re2]}) 35...
Kf7 36. Rc7+ Kg6 37. Rc6 $1 $132) 31... Nf3+ 32. Bxf3 (32. Kg2 Nxe5 $17 {
gives Black a healthy extra pawn.}) 32... exf3 33. h3 h5 $17 {White had a
slightly unpleasant position, some nine moves later he is on the verge of
losing.} 34. g4 (34. Ra6 Rd1+ 35. Kh2 Rf1 36. Rxe6 Rxf2+ 37. Kg1 (37. Kh1 $2
Rf1+ 38. Kh2 Rc1) 37... Rg2+ 38. Kf1 Kf7 $17) ({With the passive} 34. Ra5 Rd1+
35. Kh2 Rf1 36. Ra2 (36. Rxc5 Rxf2+ 37. Kg1 Rg2+ 38. Kf1 Rxg3 $17) {, White
pins his hopes to stalemate tricks after} 36... g5 (36... Rc1 $5) 37. h4 g4 38.
e4 $17 {However, it's difficult to believe this would save the game, moreover
in time trouble one naturally strives for activity.}) 34... fxg4 35. hxg4 h4 $1
{[%csl Rg1]} 36. Kh2 (36. g5 Kh7 37. Ra6 Rd1+ 38. Kh2 Rf1 39. Rxe6 Rxf2+ 40.
Kh3 Rc2 $19) 36... Rd2 37. Kh3 $6 (37. g5 $1 Rxf2+ 38. Kh3 Kh7 39. Kxh4 Rg2 40.
Rf1 $17 {was the last chance to fight on. Black will have an extra pawn, but
converting it still presents technical problems.}) 37... g5 {Keeps the king
boxed in.} 38. e4 Rd4 $1 (38... Rxf2 $2 39. Ra8+ Kf7 40. Ra7+ Ke8 41. Ra8+ Kd7
42. Ra7+ Kc6 43. Ra6+ Kb7 44. Ra7+ $11 {is too obvious, Carlsen easily avoids
the stalemate trap.}) 39. Ra8+ Kf7 40. Ra3 Rxc4 41. Rxf3+ Ke7 42. Re3 Rd4 43.
f3 c4 $19 {[%csl Gc4,Gh4] Material is still equal, but Black's positional
superiority with 2 strong passed pawns is decisive.} 44. Ra3 ({After} 44. Rc3 {
Black already has a choice:} Kd7 $19 (44... Rd3 $5 45. Rxc4 Rxf3+ $19)) 44...
Rd3 45. Ra7+ Kd8 46. Kg2 c3 47. Ra4 c2 48. Rc4 Rd2+ 49. Kh3 Kd7 50. Rc5 (50.
Rc3 Rf2 $19 {[%cal Rf2f3]}) 50... Rf2 51. f4 Rf3+ (51... gxf4 52. g5 f3 53. g6
Rd2 54. g7 f2 $19 {is more forcing, but Black can already win without any
calculation.}) 52. Kh2 Rxf4 ({White has had enough, the endgame after} 52...
Rxf4 53. Rxc2 Rxe4 $19 ({or} 53... Rxg4 $5 $19 {is completely hopeless.})) 0-1

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 2nd"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2015.04.20"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Adams, Michael"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C76"]
[WhiteElo "2745"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2015.04.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 166"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.05.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.05.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. c3 a6 5. Ba4 d6 6. d4 Bd7 7. O-O Bg7 8. d5
Nce7 9. Bxd7+ Qxd7 10. c4 h6 11. Nc3 f5 12. exf5 gxf5 13. Nh4 Nf6 14. f4 e4 15.
Be3 O-O 16. Ne2 c6 17. dxc6 bxc6 18. Bd4 c5 19. Bc3 Qe6 20. Rc1 Rf7 21. Ng3 Kh7
22. Qe2 Rg8 23. Rfd1 Ne8 24. Nh5 Bxc3 25. bxc3 Rg4 26. g3 Rxh4 27. gxh4 Ng6 28.
Kh1 Nxh4 29. Rg1 Nf3 30. Rg3 Re7 31. Rd1 Qf7 32. Rh3 Re6 33. Rb1 Rg6 34. Rg3
Re6 35. Rh3 Re7 36. Rd1 Re6 37. Rb1 Re7 38. Rd1 Re6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 2nd"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2015.04.21"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[Annotator "Gormally,D"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2015.04.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 166"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.05.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.05.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 b5 3. Bg2 Bb7 4. Na3 a6 ({I'm not entirely sure what's wrong
with} 4... b4 5. Nc4 Nc6 {perhaps} ({Or} 5... a5 {when Black will gain a tempo
on the knight with ...d5 later}) 6. Nd4 d5 7. Nxc6 Bxc6 8. Na5 {gives White
some kind of strategic edge.}) 5. c4 b4 6. Nc2 e6 ({Black can also play the
immediate} 6... c5 {which should at least avoid the strategic grip that Black
suffers in the game.} 7. O-O e6 8. d4 cxd4 9. Ncxd4 Be7 10. b3 O-O 11. Bb2 d6
12. Qd2 Qb6 13. a3 $1 bxa3 14. Bxa3 {Efimenko,Z (2648)-Moiseenko,A (2707)
Dubai 2014, and White was better. I always think these lines where Black has
already set the pawn structure on the queenside are better for White, because
Black seems to have less dynamism in his position.}) 7. d4 a5 ({Strangely
enough there have already been many games played from this position. This came
as a surprise to me and shows in a way how bad my theory is as I've never even
seen this line before.} 7... c5 8. d5 $1 {A typical thrust in the Queen's
Indian} exd5 9. Nh4 g6 10. Ne3 Bg7 11. Nxd5 Nxd5 12. Bxd5 Nc6 13. Ng2 O-O 14.
Nf4 {Lenderman,A (2561)-Abdumalik,Z (2344) Caleta 2014, when White had a
strategic advantage.}) (7... Be4 {might be the most solid approach.} 8. O-O Be7
9. Bg5 a5 10. Ne5 Bxg2 11. Kxg2 O-O 12. Qd3 d6 13. Qf3 Ra7 14. Nd3 {Vaganian,R
(2568)-Stark,L (2432) Germany 2010 also gave some advantage for White. Looking
through these games and also the results, you wonder if the whole line is just
bad for Black.}) 8. O-O Be7 ({This was Black's last chance for the limiting} 
8... Be4 {perhaps in view of what happened in the game, he should have taken it
}) 9. d5 $1 {Now I think White is clearly better as it's not easy for Black to
create anything in the centre.} Na6 (9... exd5 10. Nfd4 c6 11. cxd5 Nxd5 12.
Nf5 {looks like a very pleasant version of a pawn sacrifice line that often
occurs in the Queen's Indian} O-O 13. e4 $36) 10. Nfd4 Nc5 11. Re1 O-O 12. e4
e5 13. Nf5 $16 {Already White has a clear strategic advantage. The black
bishop on b7 bites on granite while by contrast White is very well placed to
build up a quick attack on the kingside. The "Kasparov" knight on f5 in
particular casts a spell on the position. I think what we now see in this game
and also other games in Shamkir is why Carlsen could now be called "The
Pitbull" What he demonstrated in this tournament and has been doing for a
number of years is that when he gains an advantage it's incredibly hard to
shake his grip, rather like a pitbull. It was quite scary to see in this game
that Maxime lost without making an easily identifiable mistake. Perhaps he
just played a slightly dubious opening. But that's enough. Kramnik make a
slight tactical error against Magnus in their game just out of the opening and
that was enough to ensure a loss. It's a quite frightening level. Watching the
world snooker championships this year, I watched a frame where Chinese player
Ding played a slightly poor break-off shot against Judd Trump and never got
another shot, as Trump potted a long red and then cleared all the balls
without any effort. I think it's fair to say it's similar in chess now, that
one slight mistake can be enough to cost you the game, or at least to make
life very difficult.} d6 14. Bg5 $1 {Straightforward and effective. White
"freezes" the knight on f6.} (14. Qf3 Nfd7 $1) 14... Nxd5 $6 {Allowing White a
tactical possibility.} ({I would have played} 14... h6 {because it's a
reaction move to Bg5, and I like reaction moves. I tend to follow just what my
opponent does.} 15. Bh4 $5 (15. Bxh6 $2 gxh6 16. Qd2 Bc8 $1) (15. Be3 $5 {
can be met by} Bc8 $1 (15... Nfxe4 $2 16. Bxe4 Nxe4 17. Qg4 Ng5 18. h4 h5 19.
Nxe7+ $18) 16. Qf3 $2 Ncxe4) (15. Bd2 $5 Nd3 $1 16. Bxh6 Nxe1 17. Bxg7 Bc8 (
17... Nxc2 $1 18. Qxc2 Bc8 $19) 18. Nce3 Nxg2 19. Kxg2 {although this is hard
to believe after} Re8) 15... Kh7 16. f4 Ng8 17. Nxe7 Nxe7 18. Ne3 {I must
confess also doesn't look a barrel of laughs for Black, but it might be hard
to crack his position after} f6) 15. Bh6 $1 {Magnus rarely misses a chance
like this. I think it was Anish Giri who half-jokingly suggested at Wijk Aan
Zee that Magnus was just a trickster.  Still it's easy to underestimate with
all these top guys just how good they are at little tactical tricks and
trapping their opponents.} gxh6 16. Qg4+ Bg5 17. cxd5 Kh8 18. h4 Bf6 {Black is
a pawn up, but that's the end of the good news. His pawn structure is a mess,
his king remains unsafe in the long term while White enjoys a strategic
strangehold on the light squares on the kingside.} 19. Nce3 Bc8 20. Qf3 Bg7 21.
Bh3 Rg8 22. Bg4 Qf6 23. Bh5 Bxf5 {Not a move you would ever want to play, but
White had the threat of Ng4.} 24. Nxf5 c6 25. dxc6 Rac8 26. Qd1 $1 Rxc6 27. Qd5
Rgc8 28. Rad1 Bf8 29. Qxf7 (29. Bxf7 $1 {was also strong - Black's position is
in general something of a disaster and perhaps White could have finished him
off much sooner- but if you were Magnus Carlsen wouldn't you be tempted to go
into an ending?} Na4 30. Rd2 Rc2 31. Ree2 $16) 29... Qxf7 30. Bxf7 Na4 31. Re2
Rc1 32. Rxc1 Rxc1+ 33. Kg2 Nc5 34. b3 Rc3 35. Kh3 Nd7 36. Be6 Nc5 37. Bd5 Nd7
38. Ne3 Nf6 39. Be6 Rc5 40. Nc4 Kg7 {This is a gruesome ending to defend for
Black, obviously. Carlsen already has a more than formidable reputation as one
of the best endgame players in history, and even equal positions are extremely
hard to hold against him, but a position like this where Black is effectively
dominated is really bad news.} 41. f3 Ne8 42. Rd2 Nc7 43. Bg4 a4 44. Nxd6 Bxd6
45. Rxd6 a3 46. Bd7 $1 {I doubt I would even see this move, which dominates
the knight on c7 (which is probably why I'm not 2870.)} ({I would have just
carried on with} 46. Rd7+ Kf6 (46... Kg8 47. f4 $1 {and I don't see a decent
move for Black, maybe he can punt} Nb5 48. Be6+ Kf8 49. f5 Rc6 {but} 50. Rf7+
Ke8 51. Rxh7 {looks decisive}) 47. Rxh7 {presumably Magnus was concerned about
possible counterplay for Black if he is ever to capture the white a-pawn.} Rc2
48. Rxh6+ Ke7 49. Rb6 Rxa2 50. Rxb4 {seems to be winning but Black retains
some hopes while the a-pawn remains alive.}) 46... Rc2 47. Bc6 ({Certainly not
the hasty} 47. Rc6 $2 Rxc6 48. Bxc6 Ne6 49. Bd5 Nd4 $1 {which could get
embarrassing.}) 47... Rxa2 ({Perhaps the last hope was} 47... Na6 {keeping as
much material on the board as possible.} {however the accurate} 48. Bd5 $1 {
wins easily;} Nc5 ({The desperate} 48... Nc7 {seems to fail;} 49. Bc4 ({
The immediate} 49. Rd7+ Kf6 50. Bc4 {is also good enough} Rxc4 51. bxc4 b3 52.
axb3 (52. Rxc7 $4 bxa2) 52... a2 53. Rd1 Na6 54. Ra1 Nb4 55. Kg4 $18) 49... Ne8
50. Rd7+ Kf6 51. Rf7+ Kg6 52. h5+ $1 Kxh5 53. Rf5+ Kg6 54. Bf7+ Kg7 55. Bxe8
Rxa2 56. Rf7+ Kg8 57. Rb7 $18) 49. Rc6 {should also soon force resignation.})
48. Rd7+ Kf6 49. Rxc7 Rc2 50. Rxh7 Kg6 51. Rc7 Kf6 52. h5 Rc1 (52... a2 53. Ra7
Rxc6 54. Rxa2 Rc3 (54... Kg5 55. Ra5 $1) 55. Kg4 Rxb3 56. Ra6+ Kg7 57. Rb6 {
is a fairly trivial win.}) 53. Rh7 a2 54. Bd5 1-0

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 2nd"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2015.04.23"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2790"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2015.04.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 166"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.05.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.05.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e3 O-O 8. Rc1
dxc4 9. Bxc4 c5 10. dxc5 Nd7 11. c6 Ne5 12. Nxe5 Qxe5 13. O-O bxc6 14. Qe2 Rd8
15. Rfd1 Bb7 16. Rxd8+ Rxd8 17. Rd1 Rxd1+ 18. Qxd1 Qc7 19. h3 Bxc3 20. bxc3 c5
21. Qa4 Qc6 22. Qxc6 Bxc6 23. Bd3 e5 24. f4 f6 25. Kf2 Kf7 26. h4 Ke6 27. g3 g5
28. hxg5 hxg5 29. fxg5 fxg5 30. Ke1 Bd5 31. a3 e4 32. Be2 Ke5 33. Kd2 Be6 34.
Ke1 Kd6 35. Kd2 Ke5 36. Ke1 Kd6 37. Kd2 Ke5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 2nd"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2015.04.24"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2783"]
[Annotator "Pavlovic,M"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2015.04.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 166"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.05.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.05.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 {Yet another big clash in the Berlin.} 4. d3 Bc5
5. c3 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. h3 Ne7 8. d4 Bb6 9. Bd3 d5 {Trying to use the momentum
to free the game by further exchanges is logical, and we all know this
trademark of Kramnik.} ({Usual is also} 9... Ng6 {with a normal type of game.})
10. Nbd2 dxe4 ({A bit of computer type of chess might be} 10... exd4 11. e5 Nh5
$5 12. Ng5 g6 13. cxd4 Ng7 14. Nb3 f6 15. Nf3 {with interesting play for both
sides.}) 11. Nxe4 Nxe4 12. Bxe4 exd4 13. Qc2 $5 {An interesting new attempt,
the point is that it is not one move but a whole concept that Carlsen found.}
h6 (13... f5 14. Bd3 Nc6 15. Re1 Kh8 16. Bf4 dxc3 17. bxc3 Qf6 18. Bc4 Bd7 19.
Rad1 {with major compensation, Black is facing difficulties in developing his
pieces.}) 14. a4 $1 {Unusual and very deep as we will see. Carlsen came fully
prepared for this game.} c6 {A solid approach, Black could have tried to
defend the pawn or simply take another one.} (14... dxc3 15. Rd1 Qe8 16. Qxc3
a5 17. b3 f6 18. Ba3 Qf7 19. Nh4 {with the initiative, an unpleasant one I may
add.}) (14... c5 15. Rd1 a5 16. Bf4 $5 (16. cxd4 cxd4 17. Nxd4 Bxd4 18. Be3 Nf5
19. Bxf5 Bxf5 20. Qxf5 Qf6 21. Qxf6 Bxf6 22. Rd7 Bxb2 23. Rb1 Bc3 24. Rbxb7 {
looks defendable for Black}) 16... Re8 17. cxd4 cxd4 18. Be5 Nd5 19. Bxd4 Nb4
20. Qe2 Bxd4 21. Rxd4 Qb6 22. Bh7+ Kf8 23. Qd2 {with initiative.}) 15. Rd1 Nd5
16. Nxd4 Re8 17. a5 $3 {Probably this had been worked out by Carlsen, it is
really a nice play.} Bxa5 {Kramnik decides to take the pawn, going back to c7
is also possible.} (17... Bc7 18. Nf3 ({The direct} 18. a6 Qd6 19. Nf3 bxa6 20.
c4 Nb4 21. Qa4 Qe7 {is ok for Black}) 18... Qf6 19. Bd2 Nf4 20. a6 bxa6 21.
Bxf4 Bxf4 22. Qa4 {again Black is confronted with slight but lasting pressure.}
) 18. Nf3 b5 19. Nd4 Bc7 (19... Bb7 20. Bxd5 cxd5 21. Nxb5 Bb6 22. Bf4 Re6 23.
Nd4 Re4 24. Be3 Qf6 25. Qd3 Rae8 26. Nc2 $1 {I guess something like this must
have been the idea, if Black can't play ...d4 to open lines for the bishop
then he is facing problems.}) (19... Bd7 20. Nxb5 $14 {is simply better for
White.}) 20. Nxc6 Qd6 21. g3 Bb7 22. Bf4 $1 {White is better.} Qxc6 ({The
alternative was better:} 22... Qd7 23. c4 $1 (23. Nb4 Bxf4 24. Nxd5 Bd6 25.
Nf6+ gxf6 26. Bxb7 Qxb7 27. Rxd6 Qf3 28. Qd1 Qxd1+ 29. Raxd1 {White is
slightly better}) 23... Bxf4 24. cxb5 Qxh3 25. Bxd5 Bg5 26. Qc4 Rf8 27. Ra3 $16
) 23. Bxd5 {By giving the queen it is just winning now for White.} Re1+ 24. Kh2
Qxd5 25. Rxd5 Rxa1 26. Rd1 Rxd1 27. Qxd1 Rd8 28. Qe2 Bb6 29. Be3 Bxe3 30. Qxe3
Rd1 31. g4 Bc6 32. Qc5 Bd7 33. Qxa7 {This is simply technical now.} Rd2 34. Kg3
Rd3+ 35. Kf4 Kh7 36. Qb7 Rd2 37. Ke3 Rd6 38. f4 g6 39. Qb8 Rd5 40. Ke4 Be6 41.
Qb7 Rc5 42. Kd4 Rc4+ 43. Ke5 b4 44. cxb4 Rc2 45. Kf6 Rxb2 46. Qb8 Rf2 47. f5
gxf5 48. Qg3 Rf1 49. g5 1-0

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 2nd"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2015.04.25"]
[Round "8"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2788"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2015.04.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 166"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.05.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.05.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bb4 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O Re8 7. Nd5 Nxd5 8.
cxd5 Nd4 9. Nxd4 exd4 10. Qa4 a5 11. e3 b5 12. Qc2 Bb7 13. b3 Qg5 14. a3 Bf8
15. Bb2 Bxd5 16. e4 Bb7 17. Bxd4 c5 18. Be3 Qg6 19. d3 a4 20. Rab1 axb3 21.
Rxb3 b4 22. axb4 cxb4 23. Bd2 Bc6 24. Rb2 Ba4 25. Qc4 Rec8 26. Qd4 Bc5 27. Qd5
b3 28. d4 Bb6 29. Be3 h6 30. e5 Bc6 31. Qxb3 Bxg2 32. Kxg2 Bxd4 33. Bxd4 Qe4+
34. Qf3 Qxd4 35. Rb5 Qc3 36. Rd1 Qxf3+ 37. Kxf3 Rc7 38. Rbd5 Raa7 39. Kg4 Ra2
40. R1d2 Rxd2 41. Rxd2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 2nd"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2015.04.26"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2658"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2015.04.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 166"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.05.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.05.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 d5 4. e3 a6 5. d4 Bf5 6. Be2 h6 7. Bd3 {A small
detail, that does not radically change the balanced nature of the position.
White has waited for the move h7-h6 before exchanging the light-squared
bishops as the black pawn structure is not quite perfect any more. The older 7.
Qb3 has fallen into disrepute as White was unable to get any advantage.} (7.
Qb3 Ra7 8. cxd5 cxd5 9. Ne5 e6 10. Bd2 Be7 (10... Bd6 $2 11. Qa4+ Nc6 (11...
Nbd7 12. Nb5 $18) 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Qxc6+ $16 {1-0 Carlsen,M (2837)-Bologan,V 
(2732)/Astana KAZ 2012 (54)}) 11. Rc1 O-O 12. O-O Nfd7 13. Nxd7 Nxd7 14. a4 Nb8
15. e4 dxe4 16. d5 Nd7 17. Be3 Nc5 $1 (17... Bc5 $6 18. Nxe4 Bxe3 19. Qxe3 Qb6
20. Ng3 $36 {Aronian,L (2802)-Carlsen,M (2826)/London 2011/ (39)}) 18. Qc4 (18.
Qc2 Ra8 19. dxe6 fxe6 20. Bxc5 Bxc5 21. Nxe4 Bd4 $11) 18... b6 19. g4 exd5 (
19... Bh7 $5 20. dxe6 Nxe6 21. Rfd1 Qb8 $15) 20. Qxd5 Qxd5 21. Nxd5 Be6 22.
Nxe7+ Rxe7 $11) 7... Bxd3 (7... e6 8. Bxf5 exf5 9. Qc2 g6 10. O-O Bd6 $11) 8.
Qxd3 e6 9. O-O Bb4 10. Bd2 {Carlsen has some experience with the line and he
obviously believes that White should try to act swiftly, otherwise even the
traces of an advantage might prove to be elusive.} (10. b3 O-O 11. Bb2 Nbd7 12.
Nd2 b5 13. a3 Ba5 14. a4 bxc4 15. bxc4 c5 16. Ba3 Bb4 17. Rfb1 Bxa3 18. Rxa3
cxd4 19. Qxd4 e5 20. Qh4 $11 {1/2 (41) Kovalenko,I (2650)-Nyback,T (2610)
Finland 2015}) 10... O-O 11. Rfd1 (11. a3 Bxc3 12. Bxc3 dxc4 (12... Nbd7 13.
Rfd1 a5 14. a4 Ne4 15. Nd2 Nxc3 16. bxc3 Qc7 17. cxd5 cxd5 18. c4 dxc4 19. Nxc4
Rfc8 20. Nd2 Ra6 21. Ne4 $11 {1/2 (31) Georgiev,K (2623)-Rusev,K (2544) Pleven
2015}) 13. Qxc4 Qd5 14. Qb4 b5 15. Qa5 Rc8 16. a4 Ne4 17. Nd2 Nd6 18. Rfe1 f5
19. f3 c5 20. e4 fxe4 21. fxe4 Qb7 22. axb5 Nxb5 $11 {1/2 (41) Giri,A (2790)
-Mamedyarov,S (2756) Shamkir 2015}) (11. b3 a5 12. a3 Bxc3 13. Bxc3 Ne4 14. Bb2
Re8 15. Ne5 Nd7 16. Nxd7 Qxd7 17. f3 Ng5 18. a4 f6 19. Bc3 Nf7 20. Rad1 $11 {
0-1 (43) Mamedyarov,S (2759)-Tomashevsky,E (2716) Tbilisi 2015}) 11... Ba5 $5 {
[%mdl 4] Mamedov was acting in Shamkir with a surprising level of confidence.
In this game his good form translates into an ambition to improve upon the
Nakamura game from the Shamkir event in the year 2014.} (11... Bxc3 12. Bxc3
Ne4 (12... Nbd7 13. b3 Qe7 (13... Ne4 14. Bb2 a5 15. Ne5 Nxe5 16. dxe5 Qe7 17.
Qc2 $14) 14. Rac1 Rac8 (14... a5 15. Nd2 Rfd8 (15... a4 16. b4 Nb6 17. c5 Nbd7
18. b5 $14) 16. h3 Nf8 17. e4 dxe4 18. Nxe4 Nxe4 19. Qxe4 Ng6 20. a4 Qg5 21. g3
Rd7 22. h4 Qh5 23. Rd3 Ne7 24. Rcd1 $14) 15. Qe2 Ne4 $6 (15... Rfd8 16. Ne1
dxc4 17. bxc4 c5 18. Qb2 b6 19. f3 (19. dxc5 Nxc5 20. Bxf6 Qxf6 21. Qxb6 Rxd1
22. Rxd1 Qc3 $11) 19... cxd4 20. Bxd4 Rc6 $11) 16. Bb2 Rfd8 17. Ne1 Nd6 (17...
Qg5 18. f3 Nd6 19. c5 Nf5 20. e4 Nh4 21. g3 $14) (17... dxc4 18. Qxc4 Nef6 19.
Nd3 $14) (17... Nef6 18. Nd3 $14) 18. Ba3 $14 {1-0 (61) Carlsen,M (2881)
-Nakamura,H (2772) Shamkir 2014/}) 13. Be1 Nd7 14. Rac1 Re8 15. Qb3 (15. a4 Qf6
16. Qc2 Nd6 17. b3 Rac8 18. Bb4 Ne4 19. Qe2 Qf5 20. h3 Qh5 21. Rc2 $11 {
1-0 (70) Collins,S (2495)-Greet,A (2431) Tromso 2014}) 15... Qb6 16. Qxb6 Nxb6
17. b3 f6 18. Kf1 a5 19. Ng1 a4 20. c5 Nd7 21. b4 $11 {1-0 (49) Michalik,P 
(2570)-Nyback,T (2603) Germany 2015}) (11... a5 12. a3 Bxc3 (12... Be7 13. e4
dxe4 14. Nxe4 Nxe4 15. Qxe4 Nd7 16. Bf4 $14) 13. bxc3 Nbd7 (13... dxc4 14. Qxc4
Qd5 15. Qe2 $14) 14. cxd5 cxd5 15. c4 $14) 12. a4 {The world champion must
have looked at the idea of expansion with the b-pawn, but he obviously did not
like the vulnerability of the c4-square.} (12. Rab1 Nbd7 13. b4 Bc7 14. e4 Nb6
15. cxd5 cxd5 16. e5 Nfd7 $132) 12... Nbd7 13. b4 {White needs to play
actively as Black has every reason to consider his position to be
strategically very healthy.} (13. Ne2 Re8 14. Qb3 Rb8 $11) 13... Bxb4 (13...
Bc7 $5 14. a5 Re8 15. e4 dxe4 16. Nxe4 e5 17. dxe5 Nxe4 18. Qxe4 Nxe5 $11) 14.
Nxd5 exd5 {Modern chess practice is turning into a a game with lots of small
choices for both sides. Both players have been aware that Black is quite close
to full equality, but the selection of the most promising line was wide open.}
(14... cxd5 15. Bxb4 dxc4 16. Qxc4 Rc8 17. Qb3 Re8 18. a5 $14) (14... Bxd2 $5
15. Nxf6+ Nxf6 16. Rxd2 c5 17. Rb1 Qc7 $11) 15. Bxb4 Re8 (15... dxc4 16. Qxc4
Re8 17. a5 $14) 16. a5 dxc4 17. Qxc4 Nd5 {The position is nearly equal, but
Carlsen has managed to fix the queenside pawn structure to his favour. Black
will trust his piece control of the centre and the fact, that White has 5
pawns of his pawn structure on the squares of his remaining bishop.} 18. h3 (
18. Rab1 Rb8 19. Rb2 $14) 18... Qc7 19. Be1 N7f6 20. Ne5 Ne4 21. Rac1 Qe7 {
The only real weakness in the black position is the pawn on b7. White does not
even pretend that he could effectively attack it at this stage of the game.} (
21... Rad8 22. Qb3 Qe7 23. Rc2 $14) 22. Qd3 Nd6 23. Qa3 f6 (23... Nb5 24. Qb2
Rad8 25. Nd3 Nd6 $11) 24. Nd3 Rad8 25. Bb4 {For better or worse White is
parting with his imperfect bishop with the hope to capitalise on a slightly
better pawn structure.} (25. Nc5 Ne4 $11) 25... Nxb4 26. Qxb4 Ne4 27. Nc5 Nxc5
(27... Rd7 28. Qc4+ Rd5 29. Qb3 Kf8 30. Qxb7 (30. Nxe4 Rb5 $1 $11) 30... Qxb7
31. Nxb7 Rb8 32. f3 Rxb7 33. fxe4 Rxa5 34. Rf1 $11) 28. dxc5 Rxd1+ 29. Rxd1 Qf7
30. Qg4 (30. Rd6 Re5 31. g3 Kh7 $11) 30... f5 $1 {This weakening move will
make it easier for the defender to keep firm control of the e file as well as
to defend the b7 weakness.} 31. Qb4 Re4 32. Qb6 Qe7 33. Qb3+ (33. Rd6 Kh7 $11)
33... Kh7 34. Rd6 Qe5 $2 {All players are kindly advised to combine defence
with some sensible counterplay. Mamedov discloses how much tension he must
have felt under the surface of the relatively peaceful middlegame. His first
active move is a grave blunder, frustrated he resigned immediately.} (34... Re5
35. Qc2 Re4 $11) 35. Qf7 $1 (35. Qf7 $1 Qe8 (35... Qe7 $2 36. Qxf5+ Kg8 37.
Qc8+ Kh7 38. Rd7 Qe5 39. Qxb7 $18) 36. Qxf5+ g6 37. Qf6 $16) 1-0

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 3rd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2015.06.15"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C76"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2015.06.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 166 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.06.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.06.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. c3 a6 6. Ba4 d6 7. d4 Bd7 8. Re1 b5
9. Bc2 Nf6 10. h3 O-O 11. Nbd2 Re8 12. Nf1 Na5 13. b3 c5 14. d5 Nh5 15. Bg5 Qc7
16. Ng3 Nf4 17. Qd2 c4 18. b4 Nb7 19. Bxf4 exf4 20. Ne2 a5 21. a3 Qd8 22. Qxf4
Qe7 23. Ned4 Ra6 24. h4 Rea8 25. e5 axb4 26. cxb4 dxe5 27. Nxe5 Bxe5 28. Rxe5
Qf6 29. Qxf6 Rxf6 30. g3 Kf8 31. Re3 Rfa6 32. Kg2 Nd6 33. Ne2 Bf5 34. Nd4 Bc8
35. h5 Bb7 36. Nc6 Bxc6 37. dxc6 Rxc6 38. hxg6 hxg6 39. Rd1 c3 40. Rd5 Rxa3 41.
Red3 Nf5 42. g4 Ra2 43. gxf5 Rxc2 44. Rxb5 gxf5 45. Rc5 Rxc5 46. bxc5 Rd2 47.
Rxc3 Ke7 48. Kf3 Kd7 49. c6+ Kc7 50. Rc5 Ra2 51. Ke3 f4+ 52. Kf3 Rb2 53. Rc4
Ra2 54. Rc1 Rb2 55. Rc3 Ra2 56. Rc4 Rb2 57. Rxf4 Kxc6 58. Rxf7 Kd6 59. Ra7 Ke5
1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 3rd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2015.06.15"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2723"]
[PlyCount "148"]
[EventDate "2015.06.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 166 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.06.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.06.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 b5 3. Bg2 Bb7 4. O-O e6 5. d3 c5 6. e4 d6 7. a4 b4 8. Nbd2 Be7
9. Nc4 O-O 10. Re1 Nbd7 11. Bf4 d5 12. Nd6 Bc6 13. Ng5 Nb6 14. Ndxf7 Rxf7 15.
Bh3 Bd7 16. a5 e5 17. axb6 Bxh3 18. b7 Rb8 19. Bxe5 Rxb7 20. Nxh3 Qd7 21. Nf4
dxe4 22. dxe4 Ng4 23. Qd5 Nxe5 24. Qxe5 Bd6 25. Qd5 Bxf4 26. Qxd7 Rbxd7 27.
gxf4 Rxf4 28. Re2 Re7 29. e5 Rf5 30. e6 g6 31. Ra6 Kg7 32. Kg2 Kf6 33. Re3 Re5
34. Rxe5 Kxe5 35. Kf3 Kd5 36. h4 h6 37. b3 Rxe6 38. Rxa7 Kd4 39. Rc7 Rf6+ 40.
Ke2 Rf5 41. Rc6 Kc3 42. Kd1 g5 43. hxg5 hxg5 44. Kc1 Kd4 45. Rg6 Ke4 46. Kd2
Kf3 47. Ke1 g4 48. Kf1 Rd5 49. Rf6+ Ke4 50. Ke2 Kd4 51. Rf4+ Kc3 52. Rc4+ Kb2
53. Ke3 Re5+ 54. Kd2 Rf5 55. Ke2 Rh5 56. Kf1 Re5 57. Kg2 Re2 58. Rxc5 Rxc2 59.
Rg5 Kxb3 60. Rxg4 Ka3 61. Rg8 b3 62. Ra8+ Kb2 63. Kg3 Rc3+ 64. Kg4 Kc2 65. Rb8
b2 66. Rxb2+ Kxb2 67. f4 Rc4 68. Kf5 Kc3 69. Ke5 Rc5+ 70. Ke4 Rc8 71. f5 Kc4
72. Ke5 Kc5 73. Ke6 Rc6+ 74. Ke7 Kd4 0-1

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 3rd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2015.06.15"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2805"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "126"]
[EventDate "2015.06.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 166 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.06.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.06.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. d4 c6 6. Bc4 Bg4 7. h3 Bxf3 8.
Qxf3 e6 9. Bd2 Qc7 10. O-O-O Nbd7 11. Ne4 Nxe4 12. Qxe4 Bd6 13. Kb1 Nf6 14. Qf3
O-O 15. Bd3 a5 16. h4 Nd5 17. h5 Rfd8 18. Qe4 Nf6 19. Qe2 Bf4 20. Bxf4 Qxf4 21.
g3 Qg5 22. c3 h6 23. Bc2 Kf8 24. Rde1 c5 25. dxc5 Qxc5 26. Rd1 b5 27. Rxd8+
Rxd8 28. Rd1 Rc8 29. a3 Qxh5 30. Qxh5 Nxh5 31. Rd7 b4 32. cxb4 axb4 33. axb4
Nf6 34. Rb7 Nd5 35. b5 Nb4 36. Be4 Rc4 37. Bg2 Rd4 38. Rc7 Rd1+ 39. Rc1 Rxc1+
40. Kxc1 Ke7 41. Kd2 Kd6 42. b6 h5 43. f4 f6 44. Kc3 Nc6 45. b7 Nb8 46. Kd4 Nd7
47. b4 Kc7 48. Bf3 g6 49. Be4 g5 50. fxg5 fxg5 51. Bf3 h4 52. g4 h3 53. b5 h2
54. Bh1 Nf6 55. Ke5 Nxg4+ 56. Kxe6 Nf2 57. Bg2 Nd1 58. Ke5 Kb8 59. Ke4 Nf2+ 60.
Kf5 h1=Q 61. Bxh1 Nxh1 62. Kxg5 Kxb7 63. b6 Kxb6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 3rd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2015.06.15"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2798"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2015.06.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 166 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.06.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.06.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. Bc4 c6 4. Qf3 e6 5. Ne2 d5 6. Bb3 Nd7 7. Nbc3 Ne7 8. O-O
O-O 9. Rd1 b6 10. Bf4 Bb7 11. Bd6 Re8 12. h3 Nf6 13. e5 Nd7 14. Ng3 Nc8 15. Ba3
c5 16. dxc5 bxc5 17. Ba4 Ncb6 18. Qe2 Nxa4 19. Nxa4 Qa5 20. b3 Bxe5 21. Bb2
Bxb2 22. Nxb2 Qc7 23. Qe3 e5 24. Qg5 f6 25. Qg4 Rad8 26. Rd2 e4 27. Re1 Ne5 28.
Qh4 f5 29. Na4 d4 30. Qg5 Nf7 31. Qf6 Rd6 32. Qh4 Rde6 33. Rdd1 e3 34. f4 Qc6
35. Re2 Ba6 36. Nb2 Bxe2 37. Nxe2 Nd6 38. Nd3 Ne4 0-1

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 3rd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2015.06.15"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C36"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2780"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2015.06.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 166 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.06.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.06.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 d5 4. exd5 Nf6 5. Bc4 Nxd5 6. O-O Be7 7. Nc3 Be6 8.
Qe2 Nc6 9. d4 O-O 10. Nxd5 Bxd5 11. Bxd5 Qxd5 12. Bxf4 Bd6 13. Qd2 Rae8 14.
Bxd6 Qxd6 15. Rae1 Re7 16. d5 Ne5 17. Nxe5 Rxe5 18. Rxe5 Qxe5 19. c4 Re8 20.
Qf2 f6 21. b3 b6 22. h3 Kf7 23. Rd1 h5 24. c5 Rd8 25. d6 Rd7 26. b4 bxc5 27.
bxc5 cxd6 28. c6 Rc7 29. Rc1 Qd5 30. Qc2 Qc5+ 31. Qxc5 dxc5 32. Rxc5 g6 33. Kf2
Ke6 34. Ra5 Kd6 35. Ke3 h4 36. Kf4 Rxc6 37. Rxa7 Rc4+ 38. Kf3 g5 39. Ra6+ Ke5
40. Ra5+ Ke6 41. Ra6+ Kf5 42. Ra5+ Ke6 43. Ra6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 3rd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2015.06.15"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C76"]
[WhiteElo "2804"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2015.06.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 166 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.06.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.06.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. c3 a6 6. Ba4 d6 7. d4 Bd7 8. Bg5 f6
9. Be3 Nh6 10. dxe5 dxe5 11. h3 Nf7 12. c4 O-O 13. Nc3 f5 14. Re1 Re8 15. Nd5
f4 16. Bd2 g5 17. Bc3 h5 18. Nh2 g4 19. hxg4 hxg4 20. Nxg4 Qh4 21. Ndf6+ Bxf6
22. Qxd7 Rad8 23. Qf5 Bg7 24. Bxc6 bxc6 25. Rad1 Rd6 26. Rxd6 cxd6 27. c5 dxc5
28. Rd1 Rd8 29. Rxd8+ Qxd8 30. Nxe5 Bxe5 31. Bxe5 Nxe5 32. Qxe5 Qd2 33. Qc3
Qd1+ 34. Kh2 Qe2 35. b3 Qh5+ 36. Qh3 Qe2 37. Qf3 Qd2 38. e5 Kf7 39. Kh3 Ke7 40.
Kg4 Qxa2 41. Qxf4 Qxb3 42. Qf6+ Ke8 43. e6 Qd1+ 44. f3 Qd4+ 45. Kf5 Qxf6+ 46.
Kxf6 c4 47. g4 c3 48. g5 c2 0-1

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 3rd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2015.06.15"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2015.06.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 166 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.06.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.06.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. d4 d6 4. Bc4 c6 5. Bb3 d5 6. Qe2 dxe4 7. Qxe4 Nf6 8. Qh4
h6 9. Ne5 e6 10. c3 Nbd7 11. Nc4 Nb6 12. Nba3 Nxc4 13. Nxc4 Qe7 14. O-O Nd5 15.
Qg3 O-O 16. Re1 c5 17. Nd6 Qc7 18. Bxd5 exd5 19. Bf4 g5 20. Be3 c4 21. h4 f6
22. Nxc8 Raxc8 23. Qg4 Rcd8 24. Bd2 Qd7 25. Qxd7 Rxd7 26. f4 gxf4 27. h5 Kf7
28. Bxf4 Rg8 29. Re3 Bf8 30. Rf1 Re7 31. Rxe7+ Bxe7 32. Kf2 f5 33. Re1 Bf6 34.
Kf3 b5 35. g3 a5 36. a3 Ra8 37. Ra1 Re8 38. Rb1 Ra8 39. b3 b4 40. axb4 axb4 41.
bxc4 Ra3 42. Rxb4 Rxc3+ 43. Ke2 dxc4 44. d5 Rd3 45. Rb7+ Ke8 46. d6 Rd5 47. Rh7
c3 48. Rxh6 Bg7 49. Re6+ Kf7 50. Re7+ Kf6 51. Rc7 Bf8 52. Rxc3 Ra5 53. Rd3 Ra8
54. d7 Be7 55. Bc7 Kg5 56. d8=Q Bxd8 57. Bxd8+ Kxh5 58. Kf3 Ra1 59. Bc7 Rf1+
60. Kg2 Ra1 61. Rd4 Kg5 62. Bf4+ Kh5 63. Rd6 Rb1 64. Rh6+ 1-0

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 3rd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2015.06.15"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A90"]
[WhiteElo "2781"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2015.06.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 166 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.06.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.06.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 f5 2. g3 e6 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. c4 c5 5. d5 exd5 6. cxd5 d6 7. Nc3 Be7 8. Nh3
Na6 9. Nf4 Nc7 10. a4 O-O 11. O-O Ng4 12. Rb1 Bf6 13. Qc2 Qe8 14. b4 cxb4 15.
Rxb4 Na6 16. Rb1 Bd7 17. Nb5 Rc8 18. Qa2 Bxb5 19. axb5 Nc5 20. Ne6 Ne4 21. Bd2
Qh5 22. h3 Ne5 23. Bb4 Rfe8 24. Rbc1 h6 25. Nf4 Qf7 26. Bxe4 fxe4 27. Bxd6 e3
28. fxe3 Nd7 29. Rxc8 Rxc8 30. Qxa7 Qe8 31. Ne6 Rc2 32. Rf2 Rc1+ 33. Kh2 Qg6
34. Qa8+ Kh7 35. Qa3 Rd1 36. Qb3 Rd2 37. Qc4 Qb1 38. Qg4 Rd1 39. Qf5+ Qxf5 40.
Rxf5 g6 41. Rf2 Rxd5 42. Nf8+ Nxf8 43. Rxf6 Kg7 44. Rxf8 Rxd6 45. Rc8 Rd2 46.
Kg2 Kf6 47. Rc7 Rxe2+ 48. Kf3 Rh2 49. h4 Rb2 50. Rxb7 Rb4 51. Rb8 g5 52. hxg5+
hxg5 53. b6 g4+ 54. Ke2 1-0

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 3rd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2015.06.15"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hammer, Jon Ludvig"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2677"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2015.06.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 166 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.06.18"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.06.18"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c6 4. e3 Nf6 5. b3 Bb4 6. Bb2 Qa5 7. Qc1 Ne4 8. Nge2
c5 9. a3 Bxc3+ 10. Nxc3 cxd4 11. b4 Qc7 12. Nxe4 dxe4 13. Bxd4 O-O 14. Be2 Nc6
15. Bb2 b6 16. O-O Bb7 17. c5 bxc5 18. Qxc5 Qe7 19. Rac1 Qxc5 20. Rxc5 Rfd8 21.
b5 Na5 22. Rd1 Rxd1+ 23. Bxd1 Rd8 24. Bc2 Bd5 25. a4 Bb3 26. h4 Bxc2 27. Rxc2
h5 28. Bd4 Nb3 29. Bxa7 Rd1+ 30. Kh2 Ra1 31. b6 Na5 32. Rc5 Rxa4 33. Rxa5 Rxa5
34. b7 Rb5 35. b8=Q+ Rxb8 36. Bxb8 f6 37. Kg3 e5 38. f4 exf3 39. Kxf3 Kf7 40.
e4 Ke6 41. g4 hxg4+ 42. Kxg4 g6 43. Ba7 Kf7 44. h5 f5+ 45. exf5 gxf5+ 46. Kxf5
Kg7 47. Be3 Kh7 48. Kxe5 Kg7 49. Kf5 Kh7 50. Kf6 Kh8 51. Kg6 Kg8 52. Bc5 Kh8
53. h6 Kg8 54. h7+ Kh8 55. Bd4# 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 3rd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2015.06.16"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D43"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2798"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2015.06.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 167"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e3 Nd7 8. Rc1
g6 9. Be2 (9. Bd3 {is more common, with a usual continuation being} dxc4 10.
Bxc4) 9... Bg7 (9... dxc4 10. Bxc4 {was possible here, too.}) 10. cxd5 {
[%mdl 32] White goes for the classic Karlsbad structure, for which his rook is
not placed properly on c1 but neither is Black's bishop on g7.} ({He can
include mutual castling first:} 10. O-O O-O (10... dxc4 11. Bxc4 {again leads
to a common position}) 11. cxd5 (11. e4 dxe4 12. Nxe4 Qf4 13. Qc2 f5 14. Nc3
Qc7 15. Rfd1 e5 16. d5 {0-1 (31) Kanep,M (2505)-Fridman,D (2653) Riga 2012} e4
$132) (11. Qc2 Qe7 12. Rfd1 a6 $5 13. a3 Rb8 14. h3 Kh8 15. Nd2 Rd8 16. b4 b5
17. c5 e5 18. Nb3 Nf8 19. dxe5 Qxe5 20. Nd4 Qc7 21. h4 Ne6 $132 {1/2 (48)
Aronian,L (2816)-Kasimdzhanov,R (2684) Istanbul 2012}) 11... exd5 12. b4 a6 (
12... Nb6 {1/2 (17) Tosic,M (2440)-Kosic,D (2455) Kladovo 1993} 13. b5 $1) 13.
a4 Qd6 14. Qb3 (14. b5 $5) 14... b5 15. axb5 axb5 16. e4 {1/2 (42) Devereaux,M
(2329)-Horton,J Port Erin 2003} Nb6 $1 $11 17. exd5 $140 Nxd5 18. Nxd5 Be6 $1)
({If} 10. b4 a6 11. a4 {then} dxc4 12. Bxc4 O-O 13. O-O Qe7 $11 14. b5 $6 axb5
15. axb5 c5 16. Be2 cxd4 17. Nxd4 Nb6 18. Ra1 Rxa1 19. Qxa1 e5 20. Nf3 Be6 $36
{0-1 (60) Kolbus,D (2416)-Malakhatko,V (2556) Port Erin 2005}) 10... exd5 11.
b4 {[%cal Yb4b5]} a6 (11... Qd6 {is less accurate:} 12. b5 O-O 13. O-O Nb6 14.
bxc6 bxc6 (14... Qxc6 15. Ne5 Qe8 16. Nd3 Bd7 17. Nc5 Bc6 18. Qb3 Qe7 19. a4
Qg5 20. Rfd1 Rad8 21. Nb5 Nc8 22. Bf3 a6 23. Nc3 $16 {1/2 (61) Shchekachev,A 
(2537)-Bajarani,U (2424) Paris 2011}) 15. Na4 Re8 16. Nc5 Rb8 17. Re1 Nd7 18.
Nd3 Ba6 19. Nf4 Bb7 20. Qa4 a6 21. Nd3 Rec8 22. Qa5 $14 {1-0 (46) Shchekachev,
A (2528)-Lamorelle,J (2277) Paris 2012}) 12. a4 O-O 13. b5 axb5 14. axb5 {
The classic minority attack leads to a typical position with the weak c6-pawn 
(in the event of b5xc6 b7xc6) or weak b- and d-pawns in Black's camp (in the
event of ...c6xb5 or b5xc6 Qxc6). Usually Black opts for the former setup as
it is difficult for White to convert such a small advantage. Often (in the
present game, too) White refrains from the early capture on c6 so that the
b-file remains closed, and he can sometimes attack the b7-pawn.} Qd6 15. O-O
Nb6 16. Qb3 Rb8 17. Nd1 {The knight goes to d3 and then possibly to c5 or e5.}
Bf5 18. Nb2 Rfc8 19. Nd3 Bxd3 {A simple way to disrupt White's plan. However,
the exchange of Black's light-squared bishop has a drawback as it is a good
defender of his position.} 20. Qxd3 c5 {Another typical transformation. Black
prefers to have an isolated central pawn, safely protected by the perfectly
placed b6 knight. In many cases (including this one) it is quite enough for
equality.} 21. dxc5 Rxc5 $11 {However, the World Champion is famous for
regularly outplaying his rivals in quiet equal positions.} 22. h4 Na4 (22... h5
{was quite possible (and would have been probably played against any other
opponent):} 23. Ng5 Rxc1 24. Rxc1 Ra8 $11) 23. h5 Rbc8 $6 {Another timorous
move.} (23... Nc3 $142 24. hxg6 Qxg6 $11) 24. Rxc5 Nxc5 {The knight is hardly
placed better on c5 than on b6.} 25. Qc2 {Now the destruction of Black's
queenside is inevitable. He must switch to defence.} gxh5 (25... Qe6 26. Rc1 $1
$36) 26. Nd4 Qg6 27. Nf5 $14 {[%csl Gf5]} Bf8 28. Rd1 Qe6 29. Rc1 Nb3 $1 {
[%mdl 256] A correct simplification.} 30. Qxc8 Nxc1 31. Qxc1 Qxf5 {The
opposite-coloured bishops should secure Black a draw.} 32. Qc7 Qb1+ 33. Bf1 d4
$1 34. exd4 (34. Qxb7 dxe3 35. fxe3 Qe1 {[%cal Yf8d6,Ye1g3]}) 34... Qd1 (34...
Qe4 $142 $1 $11 35. Bc4 $140 Qe1+ 36. Kh2 Qxf2) 35. Qe5 $1 (35. Qxb7 Qxd4 $11 {
[%cal Yf8c5]}) 35... Bg7 36. Qe8+ Bf8 37. Qd8 Kg7 (37... Qd2 $142 $5 38. d5 Kg7
) 38. Qd5 $1 {White is trying all possible chances.} b6 39. Qe5+ Kg8 40. Qf6
Bg7 (40... Bb4 $142 $1 41. Qxb6 (41. Qxh6 Qxd4 {[%cal Yb4c5]}) 41... Kg7 {
[%cal Yb4c3,Yc3d4]} 42. Qd8 Bc5 $1 {, which is not easy to find, though.}) 41.
Qxb6 Bxd4 42. Qxh6 Qg4 43. Qd6 Qd1 44. Qd8+ Kh7 $6 {A serious inaccuracy.} (
44... Kg7 $1 45. Qg5+ Kh7 {was still a clear draw.}) 45. Qc7 $1 {White's
passed pawn now moves forward.} Kg7 46. b6 Qg4 $1 {The only way to create
counterplay.} (46... Qd2 $4 47. Qg3+ Kh7 48. b7) 47. b7 Qh4 $1 48. g3 Qf6 49.
Qc2 Qe5 {Black has stopped White's pawn at the last moment. The draw is still
highly probable.} 50. Qd3 Ba7 51. Qf3 Qf6 52. Qe2 {The queen exchange leads to
a draw, e.g.} (52. Be2 Qxf3 53. Bxf3 Kg6 54. Kg2 f5 55. Be2 Bb8 (55... f4 56.
gxf4 Bb8 {is good enough}) 56. Kh3 Be5 57. f4 Bc7 58. Kg2 (58. Kh4 Bd8+) 58...
h4 $1 $11) 52... Qc3 53. Kh2 Qd4 54. Qf3 Bb8 $2 {Surprisingly, this is a big
mistake.} (54... h4 $1 {was correct as} 55. g4 Qe5+ 56. Kg2 Bb8 {lead to a
dead draw.}) 55. Kh3 Bc7 (55... Qf6 56. Qxf6+ Kxf6 57. Kh4 Kg6 58. Be2 {
- Black's bishop is placed wrongly, unable to give a check, therefore he loses
the h5-pawn and the game.}) 56. Be2 Bb8 57. Bd1 {[%cal Rf3h5] White doesn't
want to calculate the queen endgame after} (57. Qxh5 Qxf2 58. Qg5+ Kf8 59. Qd8+
Kg7 60. Qxb8 Qxe2) 57... f5 {Desperation.} 58. Be2 f4 (58... Qg4+ 59. Qxg4+
hxg4+ 60. Bxg4 fxg4+ 61. Kxg4 $18 {White's pawns easily prevail as his king
goes to the queenside at the decisive moment.}) 59. Qxh5 Qxf2 $5 60. Qg5+ Kf7
$138 {White lost on time unaware of the time rate. He still needed several
accurate checks to construct the mating net:} (60... Kf7 61. Bc4+ Ke8 62. Bb5+
$1 {Only this; if Black's king escapes to the queenside, it will be safe!} Kf7
63. Qf5+ Kg7 64. Qd7+ $1 Kf6 65. Qd8+ $1 Kg7 (65... Kf7 66. Bc4+ Kg6 67. Qg8+
Kf6 68. Qf8+ Kg5 69. Qg7+ {leads to the same}) 66. Qe7+ Kh6 67. Qf6+ Kh7 68.
Bd3+ Kg8 69. Bc4+ Kh7 70. Qf7+ Kh6 71. Qf8+ $1 Kg5 72. Qg7+ Kf5 73. g4+ Ke4 74.
Qg6+ Kd4 75. Qb6+ $18) 0-1

[Event "Norway Chess 3rd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2015.06.17"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2805"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[Annotator "Wagner,D"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2015.06.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 167"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{This game was played in the 2nd round of the Norway Chess tournament in
Stavanger. It has to be mentioned that Carlsen entered this game with a
certain psychological handicap, as he had lost his game in round one against
Veselin Topalov on time in a winning position, because he didn't know the time
control.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 {Definitely not for the first time
the two experts have chosen the Berlin as their battleground.} 4. O-O Nxe4 5.
d4 {Caruana is principled enough to enter the ending.} Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5
Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. h3 h6 $5 {That's the third time Carlsen has chosen this
setup against Caruana. The move h6 controls the important g5-square, but has
the drawback that White can seize space with g4 at the appropriate moment.} (
9... Ke8 10. Nc3 h5 {is the mainline.}) 10. Rd1+ Ke8 11. Nc3 Ne7 (11... Bd7 {
led to another disaster for Carlsen against the same opponent.} 12. Bf4 Rd8 13.
Ne4 Be7 14. g4 Nh4 15. Nxh4 Bxh4 16. Kg2 Be6 17. f3 b6 18. b3 c5 19. c4 Rd7 20.
Bg3 Be7 21. Rxd7 Bxd7 22. Nc3 Kd8 23. Nd5 Re8 24. Rd1 Kc8 25. Nxc7 $16 {
1-0 (53) Caruana,F (2783)-Carlsen,M (2881) Shamkir 2014}) 12. b3 $1 {I think
that the b3-setup is the most promising against the line with h6 and Ne7.} (12.
Bf4 {Apparently Caruana wasn't content with the result of their last game in
this line.} Ng6 13. Bh2 Bb4 14. Ne2 Be7 15. Nfd4 Nf8 16. g4 h5 17. Nf5 Ne6 18.
Kg2 b6 19. f3 c5 20. Bg3 Bg5 21. h4 hxg4 22. hxg5 gxf3+ 23. Kxf3 Nxg5+ 24. Kf4
Nh3+ 25. Ke4 Ng5+ 26. Kf4 Nh3+ {1/2-1/2 (26) Caruana,F (2811) -Carlsen,M (2865)
Baden-Baden 2015}) 12... Bf5 {Carlsen immediately activates his light-squared
bishop.} (12... Ng6 $5 {is an alternative.} 13. Bb2 Be7 14. Ne2 (14. Ne4 Nf4
15. Nd4 Bd7 16. Ng3 c5 17. Nde2 Nxe2+ 18. Nxe2 Rd8 $11 {1/2-1/2 (37)
Svetushkin,D (2597)-Kryvoruchko,Y (2676) Achaea 2012}) 14... h5 15. a4 a5 16.
c4 $14 {1-0 (83) Kamsky,G (2705)-Bruzon Batista,L (2679) Khanty-Mansiysk 2010})
13. Nd4 Bh7 14. Bb2 Rd8 15. Nce2 $1 (15. e6 {is rather harmless, if Black
reacts precisely.} Nd5 $1 $11 (15... Nc8 16. Nce2 Bd6 17. c4 Ne7 (17... f6 18.
g4 h5 $11) 18. Rac1 b6 19. g4 f6 20. f4 {1/2 (65)-1/2 (65) Polgar, J (2689)
-Howell,D (2644) Warsaw 2013; with a complicated position, where White has the
initiative.}) 16. Nxd5 (16. Nce2 Bd6 17. c4 Nb4 18. Bc3 Rg8 $132) 16... cxd5
17. exf7+ Kxf7 18. Nf3 Bd6 19. Ne5+ Bxe5 20. Bxe5 c6 $11) 15... Nd5 (15... g5 {
is another idea, but creates some further weaknesses.} 16. c4 (16. e6 Rg8 $1
$11) 16... Bg7 17. Ng3 Bg6 18. Re1 a6 (18... Kd7 19. e6+ fxe6 20. Rad1 Kc8 21.
Nxc6 Nxc6 22. Rxd8+ Kxd8 23. Bxg7 Rh7 24. Bc3 $14) 19. Nf3 Rg8 20. Ne4 Bxe4 21.
Rxe4 c5 22. h4 $1 gxh4 23. Rxh4 Ng6 24. Re4 $14 {White is slightly better,
because of his mobile kingside majority, but Black can hope to compensate for
this with his control of the d-file.}) 16. c4 Nb4 17. Nf4 Rg8 18. g4 {I
already like White's position. The knight on b4 is out of the game, while
Black is still far away from active counterplay. Anyway, Black should still be
ok here.} Na6 $2 {But that´s the start of major problems.} (18... g5 $6 19. Nh5
Be7 20. Nf5 $14) (18... Nc2 $1 {Black can hope to survive by exchanging his
bad knight.} 19. Nxc2 Rxd1+ 20. Rxd1 Bxc2 21. Rd2 Bb1 22. Bc3 Be7 23. Ne2 {
might be the best try, since Black can't attack ths knight on this square.} (
23. Kg2 Bg5 $1 {with a good exchange for Black} 24. Kg3 Bxf4+ 25. Kxf4 Ke7 $11)
(23. Nh5 Bg6 24. Kg2 Bxh5 25. gxh5 Bg5 26. Rd4 c5 27. Rd5 g6 28. Rxc5 gxh5 29.
Kf3 c6 $11) 23... Ba3 24. Kg2 Ke7 25. Nd4 Rd8 26. Nf5+ Bxf5 27. gxf5 Rxd2 28.
Bxd2 $14) (18... Be7 $5 {is also possible.} 19. Nf5 (19. Bc3 Nc2 20. Nxc2 Rxd1+
21. Rxd1 Bxc2 22. Rd2 Bg5 $11) 19... Bg5 20. Ne2 c5 21. Rxd8+ (21. f4 Bxf5 22.
gxf5 Bh4 23. Rxd8+ Kxd8 24. Rd1+ Kc8 $11) 21... Kxd8 22. Rd1+ Kc8 23. a3 Nc6
24. Kg2 {with a double-edged position where Black should be able to defend
successfully.}) 19. Nf5 Nc5 20. Rxd8+ (20. Kg2 $5 {is also good, e.g.} Ne6 21.
Nxe6 fxe6 22. Rxd8+ Kxd8 23. Rd1+ Kc8 24. Nd4 Kd7 25. Ne2+ Ke7 26. Kf3 $14)
20... Kxd8 21. Rd1+ Kc8 22. Ba3 $5 {Setting a cunning trap...} Ne6 $2 {...
which Carlsen runs into!} (22... Bxf5 $6 23. gxf5 g6 24. fxg6 (24. f6 g5 (24...
Ne6 25. Nxe6 Bxa3 26. Ng7 Bb2 27. f4 g5) 25. Nh5 Ne6 26. Bxf8 Rxf8 27. Kg2 Re8
28. Kg3 $14) 24... Ne6 25. Bxf8 Nxf4 (25... Nxf8 26. Kg2 Nxg6 27. Nxg6 Rxg6+
28. Kf3 $14) 26. g7 Ne6 27. Kh2 Nxf8 28. gxf8=Q+ Rxf8 29. Kg3 $14 {with a
dangerous edge in the rook ending.}) (22... b6 $5 {is more pleasant for White,
but nothing decisive of course.}) 23. Nxe6 Bxa3 {A sad necessity.} ({Probably
Carlsen had planned} 23... fxe6 {but overlooked the strong reply} 24. Be7 $3
$18) 24. Nexg7 Bf8 25. e6 $1 Bxf5 26. Nxf5 fxe6 27. Ng3 $16 {This is a
nightmare for every Berlin-player. The black structure has even worsened and
White can exploit the kingside majority without the slightest risk.} Be7 28.
Kg2 Rf8 29. Rd3 $1 {[%cal Gd3f3] A great square for the rook.} Rf7 30. Nh5 Bd6
31. Rf3 Rh7 (31... Rxf3 32. Kxf3 Kd7 33. Ke4 {is also just bad.}) 32. Re3 Re7
33. f4 {The rest is a matter of technique.} Ba3 34. Kf3 Bb2 35. Re2 Bc3 36. g5
Kd7 37. Kg4 Re8 38. Ng3 Rh8 39. h4 b6 40. h5 c5 41. g6 Re8 42. f5 exf5+ 43. Kf4
Rh8 44. Nxf5 Bf6 45. Rg2 {A convincing technical game by Caruana and a tough
start for the World Champion.} 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 3rd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2015.06.18"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[Annotator "Szabo,Kr"]
[PlyCount "152"]
[EventDate "2015.06.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 167"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. c3 (4. d4 {is the main line.}) 4... Ngf6 5.
Qe2 a6 6. Ba4 b5 7. Bc2 e6 8. d4 Bb7 9. O-O Be7 10. Re1 O-O 11. Nbd2 cxd4 12.
cxd4 Rc8 $146 {The first new move in the game.} (12... Qc7 13. Nf1 Rfc8 14. Bd3
b4 15. Ng3 a5 16. Bg5 Bf8 17. Rac1 Qb6 18. Be3 Qd8 19. h3 $14 {Rasik-Laznicka,
Prague 2015, and White is slightly better.}) (12... Qb6 13. b3 (13. e5 $2 {
was bad, as} dxe5 14. dxe5 Ng4 $1 {should have been played} 15. Ne4 Ndxe5 16.
Nxe5 Nxe5 $15 {and Black has a healthy P up.}) 13... Rfc8 14. Bd3 {and White
looks slightly better.}) 13. Nf1 Re8 14. Ng3 Bf8 15. Be3 Rc7 16. Bd3 {White's
position is more comfortable. He has some space advantage and his pieces are
active.} e5 ({In the event of} 16... Qa8 17. Bd2 $14 {and it is obviously
favourable for White .}) 17. d5 {The right reaction. White closes the centre
and neutralises the b7-B.} Nc5 18. Bc2 b4 $6 {Giri wanted to avoid 19.b4, but
this is an inaccuracy, which involves weaknesses on Black's queenside.} (18...
Qd7 {was more solid, but} 19. Bg5 (19. b4 Na4) 19... Be7 20. Nf5 $36 {and
White has some initiative.}) 19. a3 $1 {White immediately takes advantage of
Black's previous move.} b3 20. Bxc5 {White simply accepts the P.} (20. Bd3 $5 {
was also possible.}) 20... Rxc5 21. Bxb3 Qb6 22. Bc4 (22. Ba4 {was the
alternative,} Rec8 23. b4 R5c7 24. Nd2 {and White looks nicely placed.}) 22...
Rec8 23. Bd3 g6 24. Nf1 {A logical manoeuvre, because the N on g3 was already
not very useful. White prepares for Ne3-c4.} Bh6 25. Ne3 a5 26. b4 $1 {A very
nice reply by Carlsen! The b4-P is not takeable, White's position is much
better.} (26. Nc4 $6 {was too early, as} Qc7 {and the N has to escape.}) 26...
axb4 27. axb4 R5c7 ({In the event of} 27... Rc3 28. Nc4 $1 Qxb4 (28... Qd8 29.
Na5 Ba8 30. b5 $16 {followed by Nc6.}) 29. Rab1 R8xc4 30. Bxc4 Qxc4 31. Rxb7
Rc2 32. Qxc4 Rxc4 33. h4 Nxe4 34. Rd7 $16 {and White has a hopeful endgame.})
28. b5 (28. Nc4 {was also fine,} Qxb4 29. Reb1 Rxc4 30. Bxc4 Qxc4 31. Qxc4 Rxc4
32. Rxb7 $16) 28... Qc5 29. h3 ({The engine suggests the logical} 29. Nd2 $16 {
followed by Ndc4.}) 29... Nh5 30. Qb2 Qb6 31. Qb4 {Carlsen activates his Q and
he is threatening Nc4.} Bxe3 32. Rxe3 Rc3 33. Rae1 f5 $6 {A brave attempt by
Giri. He would like to create complications, but this is too dangerous.} (33...
Nf6 {was more solid, but} 34. Ra1 {and White will slowly, but surely
consolidate and exploit the fact that he is a P up.}) 34. exf5 Nf4 35. Be4 $1
R3c5 (35... R3c4 36. Qb1 $18) ({or} 35... R8c4 36. Qb1 $18 {with a decisive
attack.}) 36. fxg6 hxg6 37. Bxg6 $1 {A brilliant tactical blow by Carlsen!}
Rxb5 {Still the best practical chance.} (37... Nxg6 {could have been met by}
38. Qg4 $1 Kf7 39. Qe6+ Kg7 40. Nh4 $1 $18 {and mate soon.}) 38. Qe4 $6 {
Well, this was the straightforward and human reply. On the other hand White
missed a fantastic winning move!} (38. Bf7+ $3 {What a brilliant sacrifice!}
Kxf7 39. Qe4 $18 {and Black cannot prevent the threats of Qf5+ and Ng5+, even
then it is not obvious how the attack proceeds, but Black simply cannot save
himself.}) 38... Rf8 $1 39. Nxe5 $6 (39. Nh4 $1 {should have played} Bxd5 40.
Qa4 {and White should be better, but in a practical game, it is not easy yet.})
39... dxe5 40. Rg3 Rxd5 $1 {The only move to survive which Giri did. Black's
position looks very dangerous, but at this moment White doesn't have a forced
win.} 41. Qb1 {Black also had several threats, so Carlsen simplifies.} (41. Rb1
{could have been met by} Rd1+ $1 42. Kh2 Rxb1 43. Bf5+ Kh8 44. Qxe5+ Qf6 45.
Qc7 Rf7 46. Qb8+ Rf8 47. Qc7 Rf7 $11 {and repetition of moves.}) 41... Qxb1 42.
Bxb1+ Kh8 43. Be4 Rd7 44. Bxb7 Rxb7 45. Rxe5 {White has three Ps for the N,
only he has any chance to win, but objectively this is a draw.} Rh7 46. Re4
Rhf7 47. Kh2 Kh7 48. Rf3 Kg6 49. h4 Nh5 50. Rxf7 Rxf7 51. Re2 Nf4 52. Rd2 Nh5
53. g3 Nf6 54. Kg2 Rd7 55. Ra2 {Carlsen tries everything, but Black can hold.}
(55. Rxd7 Nxd7 56. g4 Ne5 $11 {is also drawish.}) 55... Rd5 56. Ra4 Re5 57. g4
Re4 58. Rxe4 Nxe4 59. Kf3 Nd6 60. Kf4 Nf7 61. Ke4 Kf6 62. f4 Nd6+ 63. Kd5 Nb5
64. h5 Nc3+ 65. Kd4 Nb5+ 66. Kc4 Nd6+ 67. Kc5 Ke6 68. Kc6 Nf7 69. Kc7 Nh6 70.
g5 Nf7 71. g6 Nh6 72. Kd8 Kf5 73. Ke7 Kxf4 74. Kf8 Kg5 75. g7 Kxh5 76. g8=Q
Nxg8 {and finally the draw!} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 3rd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2015.06.19"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2804"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[Annotator "Roiz,M"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2015.06.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 167"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 {Both players have a
huge experience of playing the Ruy Lopez with both colours. This time Vishy
goes for a quiet, but very fashionable line.} d6 (6... b5 7. Bb3 d6 {is the
most common choice here.}) 7. c3 O-O 8. Nbd2 Re8 9. Re1 b5 10. Bc2 (10. Bb3 Na5
11. Bc2 c5 {leads to another well-known theoretical line.}) 10... Bf8 11. Nf1 (
11. d4 $5 {deserves some attention in order to meet} Bg4 {with} 12. h3 Bh5 13.
d5 $14) 11... g6 12. h3 ({Sometimes White prefers to start with} 12. Ng3 {
, but most probably White shouldn't do without h2-h3 anyway.}) 12... Bb7 13.
Ng3 ({It was also possible to keep the knight on f1 for a while, like in the
following example:} 13. Be3 Bg7 14. Qc1 Qd7 (14... d5 $5) 15. Bh6 Nd8 16. Ng3
c5 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. d4 $14 {1/2-1/2 (82) Rozentalis,E (2607)-Jovanic,O (2519)/
Trieste ITA 2013}) 13... Nb8 14. d4 Nbd7 {The players have entered into the
main line of Breyer system.} 15. a4 (15. b3 {is another major line here.})
15... c5 16. d5 c4 17. Bg5 Bg7 ({Recently White has managed to put Black under
positional pressure after} 17... h6 18. Be3 Nc5 19. Qd2 Kh7 20. Bxc5 dxc5) ({
In the following recent game Black was able to solve the problems after} 17...
Rb8 $5 18. Qd2 Nc5 19. axb5 axb5 20. Nh2 Bc8 21. Rf1 Bg7 22. f4 h6 23. fxe5
Nfxe4 24. Bxe4 Qxg5 25. Qxg5 hxg5 26. e6 fxe6 27. Bxg6 Re7 $11 {1/2-1/2
Vachier Lagrave,M (2775)-Dominguez Perez,L (2726)/Tbilisi FIDE GP 2015}) 18.
Qd2 Rb8 {Magnus deviates from the known paths at this early stage. This move
is aimed at making the c8-spot vacant for the bishop.} ({In the following
classical game between two former World Champions White couldn't pose Black
any special problems:} 18... Nc5 19. Ra3 (19. Nh4 Qd7 20. axb5 axb5 21. Rxa8
Rxa8 22. Qe3 Ne8 $132 {1-0 (68) Zherebukh,Y (2473)-Kovalev,V (2318)/Kirishi
2008/CBM 127 Extra}) 19... Qc7 20. Rea1 Rab8 21. Qe3 Nfd7 22. Bh6 Bh8 23. Nh2
Bc8 24. axb5 axb5 25. Ng4 Nf6 {1/2-1/2 Tal,M (2645)-Petrosian,T (2645)/Milan
1975/MCL}) 19. Nh2 $146 {This logical innovation is a standard preparation of
White's k-side activity, which is based on the f2-f4 advance.} ({Taking
control over the a-file doesn't offer much:} 19. Ra3 Nc5 20. axb5 axb5 $11 {
1/2-1/2 (21) Dueball,J (2450)-Matanovic,A (2490)/Bath 1973/EU-chT}) 19... Bc8
$6 {The World Champion is playing with fire! Leaving the pin yields White too
many attacking possibilities.} ({A much safer move was} 19... Qc7 20. f4 (20.
Ng4 Nxg4 21. hxg4 Bc8 22. Be3 (22. f3 Nc5 23. Be3 Bd7 24. axb5 Rxb5 25. Ra2
Reb8 26. Rb1 a5 $132) 22... Nc5 23. g5 Bd7 $132) 20... exf4 21. Qxf4 b4 22. Rf1
Qa5 $132 {with a complex battle.}) 20. Ng4 Nc5 $6 {One more inaccuracy.} ({
After} 20... Qe7 21. Nh6+ Kh8 22. Rf1 Qf8 23. axb5 axb5 24. Ra5 (24. h4 $5)
24... Nc5 25. Rfa1 $14 {Black's position would be worse, but playable.}) 21.
Nh6+ $1 Bxh6 {Exchanging the main defender of king is definitely a bad sign
for Black!} (21... Kf8 22. axb5 axb5 23. f4 $16 {[%csl Rf8]}) 22. Bxh6 bxa4 {
Breaking the q-side pawn chain is necessary, since Black desperately needs any
counterplay.} 23. Ra2 {Definitely not the best, since Black is getting some
play along the b-file, while the Ra2 is passive now.} ({A stronger move was} 
23. Reb1 $1 Bd7 24. Bg5 Kg7 25. Qe3 Qe7 26. Ra2 $16) 23... a3 $1 24. bxa3 $6 {
Recapturing the pawn definitely suits Black here.} ({There was a nice way to
extend the initiative at the cost of pawn:} 24. Rxa3 $1 Rxb2 25. Bg5 Kg7 26.
Qc1 Qb6 (26... Rb7 27. Rf1 $36) 27. Be3 Nfd7 28. Ba4 $36) 24... Nfd7 $1 25. f4
({Possibly,} 25. Qe3 $5 {was more promising here:} Kh8 (25... a5 26. Nf5 Nf6
27. Ng7 Rf8 28. f4 $36) 26. Raa1 Rb2 27. Qc1 $14) 25... a5 $1 {Magnus finds
the best way to connect the rooks - the bishop is heading to a6.} (25... Qh4 $2
{doesn't work in view of} 26. Bg5 Qxg3 27. Re3 Nb3 28. Bxb3 Qxe3+ 29. Qxe3 cxb3
30. Rb2 $18) 26. Rf1 (26. f5 Qh4 $1 27. Nf1 f6 28. Be3 gxf5 29. Bf2 Qg5 {
looks good for Black.}) 26... f6 $2 {This passive continuation leads to a very
difficult position from the strategic point of view.} ({It was necessary to
release the pressure in the centre:} 26... Qb6 $1 27. Kh1 Nb3 28. Qe2 exf4 $1
29. Bxf4 Ne5 30. Be3 Qd8 $132 {leads to a complex position, where the strong
centralised knight compensates for the vulnerablity of Black's monarch.}) 27.
f5 $1 {Now Black's position desperately lacks space.} Nd3 {Black is trying to
complicate matters, since White's potential k-side attack is unstoppable.} ({
After} 27... Qe7 28. h4 Qf7 29. Be3 $16 {White may develop a crushing attack
step by step.}) 28. Bxd3 cxd3 29. Qd1 $1 {White has reached a harmonious setup,
so all the pieces may take part in attacking the opponent's king.} ({Vishy
correctly rejects} 29. Qxd3 $6 Qb6+ 30. Be3 (30. Kh2 Ba6 31. c4 Qb3 $11) 30...
Ba6 31. Qd2 Qb3 $44) 29... Re7 (29... Kh8 30. Be3 Rg8 31. Qxd3 Qc7 32. fxg6
hxg6 33. Qe2 $16) 30. Raf2 Rf7 31. Qxd3 {Now there is nothing wrong with
taking a pawn.} (31. h4 $5 {was another promising option here:} Kh8 32. fxg6
hxg6 33. h5 Qg8 34. Bg5 $40) 31... Nc5 32. Qf3 Ba6 {A natural move, but the
bishop was quite useful on c8.} (32... g5 {was bad:} 33. h4 gxh4 34. Nh5 Kh8
35. Qg4 Qe7 36. Rf3 Ba6 37. Re1 Nd3 38. Ree3 Rb1+ 39. Kh2 $18) ({The most
tenacious continuation seems to be} 32... Kh8 33. fxg6 hxg6 34. Bg5 Nd7 35. h4
Ba6 36. c4 Qg8 {[%cal Gb8f8] and Black manages to parry the immediate threats,
though White is still almost winning here.}) 33. Qg4 ({It looks like the
direct attack would decide the game here:} 33. fxg6 hxg6 34. Qg4 Kh7 35. Qh4
Bxf1 36. Bg5+ Kg8 (36... Kg7 37. Qh6+ Kg8 38. Bxf6 $1 Rxf6 39. Nh5 gxh5 40.
Rxf6 $18) 37. Bxf6 Rh7 38. Qg5 Qe8 39. Rxf1 Rbb7 40. h4 $18) 33... g5 ({
Black's position is hopeless after} 33... Bc8 34. Qh4 g5 35. Qg4 Kh8 36. h4 Ba6
37. hxg5 Bxf1 38. g6 $18) 34. h4 $1 {There is no need to spend a tempo on
removing the rook.} Bxf1 35. Rxf1 Qd7 ({After} 35... Kh8 36. hxg5 fxg5 {
the most convincing is} 37. f6 Rxf6 38. Bg7+ Kxg7 39. Nh5+ Kh8 40. Rxf6 Qe7 41.
Qf5 $18 {with full domination.}) 36. hxg5 fxg5 37. Qh5 {This unexpected move
doesn't spoil anything - the king is too weak.} ({There was nothing wrong with
the most natural} 37. Bxg5 Kh8 38. Qh4 Rg8 39. Rb1 $1 $18 (39. Bf6+ $6 {
is less clear:} Rxf6 40. Qxf6+ Qg7 41. Qxg7+ Kxg7 $16)) 37... Kh8 38. f6 Rg8
39. Bg7+ Rfxg7 40. fxg7+ Qxg7 {It looks like Black has consolidated, but
Anand's calculations were deep!} 41. Nf5 Qg6 42. Qxg6 Rxg6 43. Ne7 $1 $18 Kg7 (
{The poor coordination of Black's pieces enables White to liquadate into a
winning rook ending:} 43... Rh6 44. Rf8+ Kg7 45. Rc8 Kf7 46. Nf5 Rg6 47. Nxd6+
Rxd6 48. Rxc5 $18) 44. Nxg6 Kxg6 45. Rf8 a4 ({Or} 45... Nxe4 46. c4 a4 47. Ra8
Nc5 48. Kf2 h5 49. Ke3 Kf5 50. Rf8+ Kg4 51. Rd8 $18) 46. c4 h5 47. Kf2 {
Quite a disappointing loss for Magnus, but Anand's achievement shouldn't be
underestimated.} ({Black resigns in view of} 47. Kf2 Nxe4+ 48. Ke3 Nc5 49. Rd8
$18) 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 3rd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2015.06.21"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B91"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[Annotator "Szabo,Kr"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2015.06.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 167"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. e4 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. g3 e5 7. Nde2 Be7 8. Bg2
b5 (8... O-O {is the other main line.}) 9. Nd5 {A quite rare move, because
sometimes White delays this N move.} Nbd7 10. Nec3 Bb7 11. a4 Nxd5 $146 {
A novelty by Grischuk.} (11... bxa4 12. Rxa4 O-O 13. O-O Nxd5 14. Nxd5 Bxd5 15.
exd5 f5 16. Qe2 Nc5 17. Rc4 $14 {Mestre Bellido-Colon Garcia, Catalunya 2013,
and White was more comfortable.}) (11... O-O 12. axb5 axb5 13. Rxa8 Bxa8 14.
Nxb5 (14. O-O $5) 14... Bxd5 (14... Nxd5 15. exd5 Qa5+ 16. Nc3 $14 {and White
is a healthy P up.}) 15. exd5 Qa5+ 16. Nc3 Rb8 17. O-O Bd8 18. Kh1 Qb4 19. Qe2
Bb6 20. Nb1 $1 $14 {Lutikov-Magerramov, Moscow 1983.}) 12. Nxd5 Nf6 13. axb5 (
13. Nxe7 $5 {was also an interesting option,} Qxe7 14. axb5 axb5 15. Rxa8+ Bxa8
16. Qd3 $14 {and White has a slight advantage.}) 13... Nxd5 14. exd5 axb5 15.
Rxa8 Qxa8 16. Qd3 O-O 17. O-O ({The greedy} 17. Qxb5 $2 {does not work,
because of} Qa1 18. O-O Ba6 $17 {and Black wins an exchange.}) 17... Bc8 ({
The solid} 17... Qa6 {was also possible.}) 18. Be3 Bd7 19. Rc1 {The start of a
deep plan.} (19. f4 Bf6 $11) 19... h6 20. Qd1 Qb7 21. Ra1 Ra8 22. h4 Ra6 23. b3
Bd8 24. c4 bxc4 25. bxc4 Bb6 26. c5 $1 {The only practical chance! With this
move Carlsen creates complications.} Bxc5 27. Bxc5 dxc5 28. d6 Qb6 (28... Rxa1
$1 {was more accurate,} 29. Qxa1 e4 30. Qe5 Qb1+ 31. Kh2 e3 $1 32. fxe3 c4 $11
{and Black has also a dangerous passed-P.}) 29. Rxa6 Qxa6 30. Bd5 $1 {White's
P on d6 and the weakness on f7 create a slightly uncomfortable position for
Black. With a couple of accurate moves Black should be out of trouble, but in
a practical game, it is always difficult.} Qc8 $2 {A passive retreat.} (30...
Qb6 $1 {was more accurate} 31. Be4 (31. Qh5 Qb1+ $1 {an important resource,}
32. Kg2 Qf5 $11 {with equality.}) (31. Kg2 Be8 $11) 31... c4 32. Qd5 Qb8 33.
Qxe5 c3 $11 {is also drawish.}) 31. Qb3 $1 {Now White exerts some pressure, it
is difficult for Black to find moves.} Be8 32. Qc3 $1 {Another accurate move,
now White gains back a P.} c4 (32... Qf5 $1 {was the best reply,} 33. Qa5 $5 {
A very nice deep move by Mr. Houdini!} (33. Qxc5 g5 $1) 33... Qd7 34. Qxc5 Qb5
{and the passed d-P gives White a slight edge, but Black should hold with
perfect play.}) 33. Bxc4 Bd7 34. Qb3 Qe8 35. Qf3 Kf8 36. h5 $6 (36. Bd5 $1 $16
{was more accurate to avoid Black's counterplay.}) 36... Kg8 $2 {An error in
reply.} (36... e4 $1 {should have played} 37. Qc3 (37. Qe3 Qe5 38. Qb6 e3 $1)
37... e3 $1 38. Qxe3 (38. fxe3 Qe4 $132) 38... Qxe3 39. fxe3 Bc6 $11 {and
Black will survive.}) 37. Qe4 {Now White is fine again.} Bc6 38. Bd5 Bd7 {
Of course Black can't exchange the Bs, because the d-P is decisive.} 39. Kg2
Kh8 {Black can only defend passively.} 40. f4 {A tricky move by Carlsen,
moreover just on move 40! So still Grischuk needs to play 1 move before the
time control.} exf4 $2 {Losing immediately, but it was a difficult situation
especially in time trouble.} (40... f5 41. Qxe5 Qxh5 42. Qe7 Kh7 43. Bf3 (43.
Qxd7 $2 {is bad, because of} Qe2+ $11 {and perpetual checks.}) 43... Qe8 44.
Qxe8 Bxe8 45. Bd5 Bd7 46. Kf3 $18 {should be winning for White.}) (40... f6 $1
{was tougher} 41. fxe5 fxe5 42. g4 (42. Qf3 Qb8) 42... Qc8 {and Black has some
chance to survive.}) 41. Qxe8+ Bxe8 42. Bxf7 $1 $18 {This is the point! Now
Black has no hope left.} Bc6+ 43. Kf2 fxg3+ 44. Kxg3 Bd7 45. Bg6 {and Black
resigned.} (45. Bg6 Kg8 46. Kf4 Kf8 47. Ke5 (47. Bf5 Ba4) 47... Kg8 48. Bf5 Ba4
49. d7 Bxd7 50. Bxd7 {and thanks to the g7-P, Black gets a zugzwang.} Kh7 (
50... Kf7 51. Be6+ Ke7 52. Kf5 $18) 51. Kf5 Kg8 52. Kg6 Kh8 53. Kf7 Kh7 54.
Bf5+ Kh8 55. Kf8 $18) 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 3rd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2015.06.22"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D56"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2802"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "190"]
[EventDate "2015.06.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 167"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 Ne4 8. Bxe7
Qxe7 9. Rc1 c6 10. Qc2 Nxc3 11. Qxc3 dxc4 {A dubious decision: Black allows
White's bishop to get to c4 in one go.} (11... Nd7 {is more accurate and
common.}) 12. Bxc4 b6 (12... Nd7 13. Be2 $5 Re8 14. O-O e5 15. Rfe1 exd4 16.
exd4 Nf8 17. d5 Bg4 18. h3 Bh5 19. dxc6 bxc6 20. Bf1 Qb7 21. Rxe8 Rxe8 22. Nd4
$16 {1-0 (68) Bischoff,K (2533)-Senff,M (2449) Germany 2006}) 13. O-O {Too
conventional.} (13. Be2 $5 Bb7 14. Ne5 Rc8 15. O-O $142 {as it is not easy for
Black to push ...c6-c5 without concessions:} (15. Bh5 {(Hort) is not very
promising due to} g6 16. Bf3 c5 {as} 17. Bxb7 Qxb7 {[%cal Yb8d7]} 18. Ng4 {
doesn't work:} Qxg2 19. Nf6+ Kg7 20. dxc5 Qxh1+ 21. Ke2 Qxc1 22. Qxc1 Rxc5 $1 (
{but not} 22... Kxf6 $2 23. cxb6 $1 Rxc1 24. b7)) 15... Nd7 (15... c5 16. b4 $5
) 16. Nxd7 Qxd7 17. Qb3 (17. b4 $5) 17... Qe7 (17... c5 {leads to an isolated
pawn}) 18. Bf3 {etc.}) 13... Nd7 {More accurate than} (13... Bb7 14. Ne5 $5 (
14. e4 c5 15. d5 exd5 16. exd5 Nd7 17. Rfe1 Qd6 (17... Qf6 $5 18. Bb5 (18. Ne5
$5) 18... Qxc3 19. bxc3 Nf6 {Hort} 20. c4 a6 21. Bc6 $14) 18. Nh4 $5 g6 $1 (
18... Qf6 19. Qxf6 Nxf6 20. d6 $14 {1-0 (29) Hort,V-Donner,J Wijk aan Zee 1970}
) 19. Qe3 Rfe8 $1 20. Qxh6 Ne5 $132) 14... Nd7 15. Nxd7 Qxd7 16. Be2 $1 Rfc8 (
16... Qe7 17. Bf3 Rac8 18. Qb3 Rc7 19. Qa4 c5 20. Bxb7 Rxb7 21. dxc5 bxc5 22.
b3 $14 {1-0 (41) Frydman,P-Gershman,J Buenos Aires 1939}) 17. b4 (17. Rfd1 Qe7
18. Bf3 c5 19. Bxb7 Qxb7 $11 {1/2 (27) Kieninger,G-Schmidt,P Heidelberg 1949})
17... a5 18. a3 axb4 19. axb4 Qd5 20. Bf3 Qb5 21. Rb1 Ra2 22. Rfc1 $14 {
1-0 (40) Huzman,A (2570)-Ravia,M (2330) Israel 1996}) 14. Rfd1 (14. b4 Bb7 15.
Be2 Rfc8 16. Rfd1 {1/2 (16) Kantsler,B (2455)-Ravia,M (2370) Petah Tiqwa 1996}
a5 $132) 14... Bb7 15. h3 (15. e4 Rfd8 16. Qe3 c5 17. h3 cxd4 18. Nxd4 Rac8 19.
f3 Ne5 $11 {1-0 (36) Sanikidze,T (2426)-Becker,M (2330) Dresden 2007}) 15... c5
$11 {Black has solved his opening problems.} 16. d5 {A harmless attempt.
Black's queenside pawns will not be less strong than White's central pawns,
which are not too advanced.} exd5 17. Bxd5 Bxd5 18. Rxd5 Nf6 19. Rd3 Rad8 20.
Rcd1 Rxd3 21. Qxd3 Rc8 22. a4 c4 23. Qc2 Qe4 24. Nd4 c3 25. Qb3 Qd5 26. Qc2 Qe4
27. Qxe4 Nxe4 {[%mdl 4096]} 28. b3 Nd2 $6 {A risky adventure. It was better to
take another route:} (28... Nc5 $5 {(K.Sakaev)} 29. Kf1 Na6 (29... a5 30. Ke2
Na6 {[%cal Ya6b4]}) 30. Nc2 Nc5 $11) 29. Rc1 a5 (29... c2 $6 30. b4) 30. Rc2 (
30. f3 c2 {[%cal Yc8c3]}) 30... Nb1 31. Rc1 (31. f3 Na3 32. Rc1 c2 33. Kf2 Rc3
{, and White can't make progress.}) 31... Nd2 32. Rc2 Nb1 33. Nb5 Kf8 (33...
Rd8 34. Rc1 Rd3 (34... c2 35. Rxc2 Rd1+ 36. Kh2 Nd2 37. Kg3 Nxb3 38. Rc6 {
is risky for Black}) 35. g4 c2 36. Rxc2 Rxb3 37. Rc8+ Kh7 38. Rc6 Rb4 39. Nd6 {
, and White fights on.}) 34. f3 Rd8 35. Nd4 {White could have kept winning
chances by means of} (35. Kf2 $1 Rd2+ 36. Rxd2 cxd2 37. Ke2 Ke7 38. g4) 35...
Rc8 36. Rc1 Na3 37. Nc2 Nxc2 38. Rxc2 {White eventually wins the c3-pawn in
this rook ending but Black manages to trade all the queenside pawns, after
which a theoretically drawn endgame arises.} Rc5 39. Kf2 b5 40. axb5 Rxb5 41.
Rxc3 g6 42. f4 (42. g4 h5 $1) 42... h5 {It is useful for Black to put his rook
pawn here as it makes his task easier. White's further attempts are absolutely
fruitless.} 43. Rc8+ Kg7 44. Ra8 Rxb3 45. Rxa5 Rb2+ 46. Kf3 Rb3 47. Ra7 Rc3 48.
Re7 Rb3 49. Kg3 Rb2 50. Kf3 Rb3 51. g4 hxg4+ 52. hxg4 Rb1 53. Rd7 Rf1+ 54. Ke4
Rg1 55. g5 Ra1 56. Ke5 Ra3 57. e4 Ra5+ 58. Kd6 Ra6+ 59. Ke5 Ra5+ 60. Rd5 Ra4
61. Rc5 Ra1 62. Rc2 Rf1 63. Rc7 Re1 64. Ra7 Rg1 65. Ra4 Rf1 66. Ra6 Re1 67. Kd4
Rd1+ 68. Ke3 Re1+ 69. Kf3 Rf1+ 70. Kg3 Re1 71. e5 Re3+ 72. Kf2 Rb3 73. Rd6 Ra3
74. Rd8 Rc3 75. Ke2 Ra3 76. Rd3 Ra1 77. Ke3 Re1+ 78. Kd4 Rf1 79. Ke4 Ra1 80.
Rd7 Ra4+ 81. Rd4 Ra5 82. Rc4 Kf8 83. Rc8+ Kg7 84. Rc7 Kf8 85. Kd4 Ra4+ 86. Rc4
Ra5 87. Rc8+ Kg7 88. e6 fxe6 89. Rc5 Ra7 90. Ke5 Rf7 91. Rc4 Rf5+ 92. Kxe6 Kg8
93. Rc8+ Kg7 94. Rc7+ Kg8 95. Rc8+ Kg7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 3rd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2015.06.23"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D43"]
[WhiteElo "2723"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,A"]
[PlyCount "34"]
[EventDate "2015.06.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 167"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 g5 7. Bg3 Ne4 $6 {
This move simply cannot be good, but it is clear that Carlsen had at least
looked at the situation. MVL thought for a few minutes and decided to go for
the sacrificial route.} 8. Nxe4 (8. Nd2 Nxg3 9. hxg3 Bg7 10. e3 a6 {was a
blitz game between Grischuk-Kramnik from 2008. White obtained the better
position and won the game.}) (8. e3 {might be the simple move and the true
refutation of Black's intentions. He might have to start attacking with Bb4,
but it should be insufficient} Bb4 9. Qb3 Qa5 10. Rc1 Nd7 11. Bd3 $14) 8...
dxe4 9. Nd2 Qxd4 10. e3 {This is the point. The threat on the queen and on the
e4 pawn is strong, so Black must keep munching pawns to stay in the game.} Qxb2
11. Rb1 Qc3 $1 {The only move} 12. Be2 Nd7 (12... Bb4 13. Rxb4 Qxb4 14. O-O {
is already extremely dangerous for Black. For example:} f5 $2 15. Nxe4 $1 fxe4
16. Bh5+ Ke7 17. Qd4 {with a decisive advantage: the attack is too strong.})
13. O-O Nc5 {Incredibly Black is holding. There are still many interesting
possibilities in this position, but the situation is very unclear. Carlsen had
blitzed up to this point and it was clear that he had seen this position in
his analysis, so MVL took the practical decision to force the draw.} 14. Nb3
Nd3 (14... Be7 15. Nxc5 Bxc5 16. Bd6 {looks uncomfortable for Black.}) 15. Nd2
Nc5 {Black must defend the e4 pawn.} 16. Nb3 Nd3 17. Nd2 (17. f3 $5 {would
have been a completely different story.}) 17... Nc5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 3rd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2015.06.24"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C90"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2780"]
[Annotator "Szabo,Kr"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2015.06.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 167"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 (
8. a4) ({and} 8. a3 {are the other main variations.}) 8... O-O 9. Re1 Na5 10.
Bc2 c5 11. Nbd2 Nc6 (11... Re8 {is also common.}) 12. Nf1 h6 13. Ne3 {A
logical plan by Carlsen. He would like to control the important d5-square.} (
13. Ng3 {is the other setup.}) 13... Re8 14. a4 Be6 15. d4 ({Last year Adams
played} 15. h3 Bf8 16. Nh2 b4 17. Bb3 Rb8 18. Bc4 bxc3 19. bxc3 d5 20. Bxa6 Qa5
21. Bb5 (21. c4 $6 {A very smart move, but it is too much.} Qxa6 22. exd5 Bxd5
23. cxd5 Nb4 24. Ra3 Nfxd5 $17 {Adams-Caruana, London 2014, and Black has a
wonderful middlegame.}) 21... Rxb5 22. exd5 Nxd5 23. Nc4 Qa8 24. axb5 Qxa1 25.
bxc6 f6 $15 {and Black looks nicely placed too.}) 15... exd4 16. cxd4 Nb4 $146
{Aronian improves on the game which he played 12 years ago.} (16... Nxd4 17.
Nxd4 cxd4 18. Qxd4 Nd7 19. axb5 axb5 20. Bd2 Bf6 (20... Qb6 $5) 21. Qxd6 Rxa1
22. Rxa1 Bxb2 23. Rb1 Be5 24. Qd3 Qc7 25. Nd5 Bxd5 26. exd5 Nf6 27. g3 $14 {
J.Polgar-Aronian, Hoogeveen 2003, with a comfortable position for White.}) 17.
Bb1 bxa4 18. Rxa4 Bf8 19. Ra1 d5 $1 {A typical break-through in this type of
position.} 20. e5 Ne4 21. h3 Qb6 $6 {This is a slight inaccuracy, after which
White can win a P. Nevertheless Black will have some compensation for it, but
he will be fighting for equaliity.} ({After the natural} 21... Rc8 {Black
looks completely fine.}) 22. Nxd5 $1 Bxd5 23. Bxe4 Rad8 24. Bxd5 Rxd5 25. Be3
Red8 26. dxc5 Bxc5 27. Qb3 Bxe3 28. Rxe3 a5 {The previous moves were forced;
Carlsen is a P up, but Black's pieces are powerful.} 29. e6 $5 {Carlsen gives
back the P, and in doing so he creates a weakness in Black's position.} fxe6
30. Rae1 R8d6 31. Rc1 Nd3 $2 {A mistake, which allows a strong attack for
White!} (31... Rd3 $1 $11 {was the easiest reply to simplify the position and
Black doesn't have any problem.}) 32. Rc8+ Kh7 33. Qa4 $1 {A nice
repositioning of the Q. From here the Q can threaten the K with Qe8 and it
also has access to e4 with lethal checks.} Qxb2 $2 {This was an attractive
move, because of the Q attack on f2, and moreover he takes a P. Nevertheless
this is a decisive mistake.} (33... Nb4 {was correct to avoid the Qe4,} 34. Qe8
Rd1+ 35. Kh2 Rd8 36. Rxd8 Rxd8 37. Qh5 Qc7+ {and still Black can hold his
position.}) 34. Qe4+ Rf5 35. Kh2 $3 {What an excellent cool-headed move! White
avoids ...Qxf2+ and is threatening Nh4.} ({The immediate} 35. Nh4 $4 {was bad,
as} Qxf2+ 36. Kh2 Qf4+ $19 {and suddenly Black wins.}) 35... Nf4 {The best
practical chance.} (35... Qxf2 $2 {did not work because of} 36. Rxd3 $18) ({and
} 35... Nxf2 {is also losing, after} 36. Qa8 $1 $18 {with a decisive attack.})
36. Rc2 $4 {A big mistake probably in time trouble.} ({He should simply
continue the original threat with} 36. Nh4 Qxf2 37. Rg3 $1 (37. Nxf5 exf5 38.
Qxf5+ $2 Rg6 $1 {and suddenly Black has an attack on the g-file.}) 37... Rdd5
38. Nxf5 Rxf5 39. Rc7 $18 {and White is winning.}) 36... Qa1 $4 {A huge error
in reply! This move is completely based on an oversight.} (36... Qb4 37. Rc4
Qb8 {is very similar to 36...Qb8!}) (36... Qb8 $1 {was the strongest
continuation,} 37. g3 (37. g4 $2 Ng6 $1 38. gxf5 exf5 $1 $19 {and there isn't
a safe square for the white Q, because the R will win it with a discovered
check.}) (37. Nh4 Rd4 $1 {A very strong intermediate move!} 38. Rc8 $1 (38.
Qxd4 $2 Ne2+ $19 {and Black wins.}) 38... Qxc8 39. Qxd4 Rf6 $15) 37... Nd5 38.
Ree2 Nf6 $15 {and Black is a clear P up.}) 37. g4 $18 {Now White is clearly
winning.} Qf1 38. Ne1 {Perhaps this move was what Aronian missed when he
played 36...Qa1. Now everything is defended and Black is helpless against gxf5.
} ({The careless} 38. Nh4 $4 {loses, because of} Rd1 $19 {and suddenly it is
White who gets mated!}) 38... Nh5 39. gxf5 exf5 40. Qc4 {and Black can't avoid
the exchange of Qs, so he resigned.} 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 3rd"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2015.06.25"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Hammer, Jon Ludvig"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2677"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[Annotator "Mokal,P"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2015.06.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 167"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 a6 $5 {An out of form (and out of luck) Carlsen
playing Black against his own second and good friend, Jon Ludwig Hammer in the
last round. An unenviable situation for the Champion. It is therefore not a
surprise that Carlsen chooses to play something slightly different...} 4. Bg5
f6 $6 {[%csl Re6][%cal Rg8f6,Ga2g8] ...but this is a real surprise. Whatever
the engines say, this move would be criticised by any book on openng
fundamentals. It weakens the a2-g8/^, takes away an important square from the
g8-N and also creates a target on e6.} (4... Be7 {is normal.}) 5. Bd2 dxc4 6.
e3 Nc6 (6... b5 7. a4 Bb7 8. axb5 axb5 9. Rxa8 Bxa8 10. b3 $14 {[%csl Rb5,Re6,
Re8,Rf6][%cal Gf7f6] White will win back the pawn. The weakening move ...f6
will matter sooner or later.}) 7. Bxc4 {[%csl Re6]} Bd6 8. e4 (8. Nc3 $5 Nge7
9. O-O O-O 10. Ne4 $14) 8... Nge7 9. O-O O-O 10. Qb3 Kh8 (10... Qd7 11. a4 $14
{[%csl Rc8,Re6,Rg8] White has the space. Black has the weakness and awkwardly
placed pieces.}) 11. Bxe6 Bxh2+ 12. Kxh2 (12. Nxh2 $2 Nxd4 $17) 12... Qd6+ 13.
Kh1 ({Hammer was probably worried about some intermediate checks that could
spoil his calculations somewhere after} 13. Kg1 {[%cal Gc6d4,Gd4f3,Gc6e5,Ge5f3,
Gf3g1] but concrete variations do not show anything to worry about, for example
} Bxe6 14. d5 Bg8 (14... Nxd5 15. exd5 Bxd5 16. Bf4 $16) 15. Qa3 $14) 13...
Bxe6 14. d5 Bg8 (14... Nxd5 15. exd5 Bxd5 16. Bf4 $16) 15. Qa3 $1 {Forcing a
pleasant endgame.} Qxa3 16. Nxa3 Na7 (16... Nb8 {[%csl Ra8][%cal Gb8d7,Gc7c6]
controls the d7-square and therefore makes ...c6 a viable option to consider.
But it holds up the R on a8, giving us the pros and cons.} 17. Bb4 Re8 18. Rac1
c6 19. Rfe1 $14 ({The point of ...Nb8 is that} 19. d6 {[%csl Rd7][%cal Gb8d7]
is a move that Black need not worry about.} Nc8 $15) (19. Nc4 Nc8)) (16... Ne5
$2 17. Nxe5 fxe5 18. f3 $16 {[%csl Rc7,Re5]}) 17. Bb4 Rfe8 18. Rac1 Rac8 (18...
c6 $6 19. d6 $14 {[%csl Ra7][%cal Rb8d7]}) (18... Ng6 $5 19. Rxc7 (19. Rfe1 c6
20. Nc4 Nf4 21. d6 (21. Nb6 $2 Rad8 $132) 21... Nd3 $132) 19... Rxe4 20. Bc5 (
20. Rxb7 $2 Bxd5 $17) 20... Bxd5 21. Rd1 Bg8 (21... Bxa2 22. Bxa7 Rxa7 23. Rd8+
Bg8 24. Nc4 {[%cal Gc4d6]} h5 (24... h6 25. Nd6 Re7 26. Rcc8 $16) 25. Nd6 $18 {
[%cal Gc7c5,Gc5h5,Gc7c8,Gd8g8]}) 22. Bxa7 Rxa7 23. Rd8 $36 {[%csl Ra7,Rg8]
[%cal Gc7a7,Gc7h7,Gd8a8,Gd8h8]}) 19. Nd4 $1 f5 20. f3 (20. Bxe7 $6 Rxe7 21.
exf5 (21. Nxf5 Rxe4 $15) 21... Rd8 $15 {[%csl Rd5]}) 20... fxe4 21. fxe4 $14 {
[%csl Rc7,Gd5,Ge4] The central pawns take away a lot of important squares from
Black pieces and White has annoying pressure on c7.} Ng6 22. Nf5 $6 (22. Rfe1
$142 {[%csl Gd5,Ge4] maintaining the strong central control.} Nf4 {[%cal Gf4d3]
} 23. Nf5 $1 {[%csl Rg7][%cal Gb4c3,Gc3g7]} Nd3 24. Bc3 Bf7 25. Nxg7 Kg8 26.
Nxe8 Rxe8 27. Bd4 {[%csl Ra7]} Nxe1 28. Rxe1 $14 {[%csl Ra7,Rc7,Gd5,Ge4]})
22... Rxe4 23. Bc3 Bxd5 $6 ({On any other day and in any other tournament
Carlsen would have found} 23... h6 $142 24. Bxg7+ Kh7 25. Bd4 (25. Bxh6 Bxd5
$132) 25... b6 26. d6 c5 $13) (23... Ne5 $2 24. Rce1 $18) 24. Bxg7+ Kg8 25. Bd4
$1 {[%csl Ra7][%cal Gf5h6,Gd4a7] Carlsen admitted to having missed this move.
That is real bad form.} Rxd4 26. Nxd4 Bxa2 27. b3 Rd8 ({Black's best chance
was to try and fight after} 27... c5 28. Rf2 cxd4 29. Rxc8+ Nxc8 30. Rxa2 {
and it is not that easy for White to convert this position into a win.} Nf8 31.
Nc4 $14 {and a long battle awaits.} ({White cannot really take the P on d4.
For example} 31. Rd2 Ne6 32. Nc2 $6 Nd6 $1 33. Nxd4 $2 Ne4 $17 {[%csl Rd1,Rd3,
Re2][%cal Ge4g3,Ge4f2]})) 28. Ne6 Rd2 ({Black should have pushed the N away
with} 28... Rd6 $142 $16) 29. Rc3 (29. Rxc7 Bxb3 30. Rg7+ Kh8 31. Rff7 Bxe6 32.
Rxh7+ Kg8 33. Rhg7+ Kh8 34. Rxb7 Bd5 (34... Nb5 35. Nxb5 axb5 36. Rxg6 $16) 35.
Rh7+ Kg8 36. Rbg7+ Kf8 37. Rxg6 $18) 29... Re2 (29... Nc6 30. Rcf3 {[%cal
Gf3f8]} h5 31. Rf7 Nce5 32. Rg7+ Kh8 33. Nc4 $18) 30. Nf4 (30. Rf6 $18 {
[%cal Gc3f3,Gf6f8] was simpler, forcing Black to give up another exchange to
avoid the threatened mate with Rcf3 followed by Rf8.}) 30... Rb2 31. Nxg6 hxg6
32. Rxc7 Rxb3 $2 (32... Bxb3 33. Rf6 $18 (33. Rxb7 Nb5 34. Rb1 Rxb1+ 35. Nxb1
$16)) ({A better fighting chance was} 32... Nc6 33. Re1 (33. Rf6 $5 Rxb3 34.
Rxg6+ Kf8 35. Nc2 $16 {[%csl Gg2]}) (33. Rxb7 Rxb3 34. Rxb3 Bxb3 35. Rf6 Ne5
36. Rxa6 $16) 33... Kf8 34. Nc4 Rxb3 35. Nd6 {[%cal Ge1e8]} Rb1 36. Rxb1 Bxb1
37. Nxb7 $16 {[%cal Gb7c5,Gc5a6,Gc5e6]}) 33. Rd1 {[%cal Gd1d8]} Nc6 34. Rdd7 {
[%cal Gc7c8] A fine victory for Jon Ludwig Hammer who kept up the pressure all
through the game. From Carlsen's viewpoint, bad luck, bad form, the pressure
of the home crowd and a final round against his own Second, everything went
wrong for the Champion in this tournament. He is mortal, after all. The next
event will be a test of his character and it will be no surprise if he comes
out fighting with a vengeance.} 1-0

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 3rd"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2015.08.23"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2853"]
[BlackElo "2816"]
[Annotator "Szabo,Kr"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2015.08.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. O-O Ngf6 (4... a6 {is the another main line,
but after} 5. Bd3 Ngf6 {White doesn't have to play 6.Re1, he can immediately
answer with} 6. c3 {followed by Bc2, d4.}) 5. Re1 a6 6. Bd3 b5 7. c4 g5 $5 $146
{A very interesting and ambitious novelty by Topalov. Nowadays ...g5 becomes
typical in these type of position. In case of White captures the P Black has
some play on the g-file and in case of White ignores, Black continues with ...
g4 and takes some pressure in the centre.} ({Last year Nakamura played} 7...
Ne5 {against Carlsen,} 8. Bf1 Nxc4 9. a4 Bd7 10. d4 cxd4 11. Nxd4 e5 12. axb5
exd4 13. Bxc4 axb5 14. Rxa8 Qxa8 15. Bb3 Be7 16. Qxd4 $14 {and White had a
comfortable position, Carlsen-Nakamura, Zuerich rapid 2014.}) 8. Nxg5 {Carlsen
takes the gauntlet.} (8. cxb5 $5 {was the alternative,} g4 9. e5 $5 dxe5 10.
Ng5 Nb6 {with a very complicated position.}) 8... Ne5 9. Be2 bxc4 10. Na3 (10.
Nc3 $5 {was also possible,} Rg8 11. d4 cxd3 12. Bxd3) ({or} 10. Nf3 $5 Nd3 11.
Bxd3 cxd3 12. e5 $1 Nd5 (12... dxe5 13. Nxe5 {and White has a dangerous
initiative since} Bb7 $2 {loses instantly,} 14. Qa4+ $1 Nd7 15. Nxf7 $1 Kxf7
16. Qb3+ Kg7 17. Qxb7 $18 {and White wins.}) 13. Na3 Rg8 $132 {with a
double-edged fight.}) 10... Rg8 11. Nxc4 $6 {A pretty piece sacrifice, but
objectively this is not so good!} (11. Nf3 $6 {could have been met by} Nd3 12.
Bxd3 cxd3 13. Nc4 (13. e5 dxe5 14. Nxe5 Qd5 $17) 13... Be6 $15 {and Black
looks fine.}) ({Probably} 11. d4 {was the most accurate, but} cxd3 12. Bxd3 h6
13. Nf3 Nxd3 14. Qxd3 d5 $1 $132 {and Black has a nice counterplay.}) 11...
Nxc4 (11... Rxg5 $2 {is bad, because of} 12. d4 $16 {and White is better.}) 12.
d4 {This was the point of the piece sacrifice.} Nb6 13. Bh5 (13. dxc5 dxc5 14.
Qxd8+ Kxd8 15. Nxf7+ Ke8 16. Ng5 e5 $15 {and two Ps are not enough.}) 13...
Nxh5 14. Qxh5 Rg7 (14... Rg6 $1 {was more accurate. The R is much more active,
and after} 15. Qxh7 Rg7 16. Qh8 cxd4 17. Nh7 Rxh7 18. Qxh7 e5 $17 {and Black
has a wonderful position.}) 15. Nxh7 Qd7 (15... Bg4 16. Qh4 Rxh7 17. Qxh7 cxd4
18. Bh6 Bxh6 19. Qxh6 e5 20. f4 {and still White has some counterchance.}) 16.
dxc5 dxc5 17. e5 $2 {Decisive mistake.} (17. Nxf8 {was the only move} Qh3 $1 (
17... Qg4 18. Qxg4 Rxg4 19. Nh7 f6 20. Ng5 $1 fxg5 21. g3 $1 $18 {followed by
f3 and the R is trapped.}) 18. Qxh3 Bxh3 19. g3 Nc4 (19... Kxf8 20. Bh6 {
might even favour White as Black's pieces are not well coordinated.}) (19...
Rg8 20. Nh7 f6 $13) 20. Bh6 Rg8 $13) 17... Qc6 $1 ({The natural} 17... Bb7 $4 {
is losing immediately, as} 18. Nf6+ exf6 19. exf6+ $18) 18. f3 ({Now} 18. Nf6+
{could have been met by} Kd8 $1 $17 {and Black is better.}) 18... Qg6 $1 {
A good move, Black forces to exchange of Qs and he avoids White's practical
chances.} 19. Nf6+ Kd8 $1 {The black K simply slides over to safety.} 20. Qxg6
Rxg6 21. Ne4 Bb7 22. h4 Rc8 23. h5 Rg8 24. Bd2 Nc4 25. Bc3 Bh6 26. Rad1+ Ke8
27. Rd3 Bf4 $1 $19 {Very precise play by Black, his position should be winning.
} 28. Nf2 Bc6 29. Nh3 Bg3 30. Re2 Bb5 31. Rd1 Bc6 32. Nf2 Bxe5 $1 {A beautiful
tactical solution! White's position is now hopeless.} 33. Ng4 (33. Bxe5 Bxf3
34. Rde1 Bxe2 35. Rxe2 Nxe5 36. Rxe5 f6 $19) 33... Bxc3 34. bxc3 Kf8 35. Kf2
Rh8 36. Ne5 Nxe5 37. Rxe5 Be8 38. g4 f6 39. Re6 Bb5 40. Rde1 Rc7 0-1

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 3rd"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2015.08.24"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2808"]
[BlackElo "2853"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2015.08.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "40/7200:3600+30"]

1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:04]} e5 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 2. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Nc6 {
[%emt 0:00:05]} 3. Bb5 {[%emt 0:00:03]} a6 {[%emt 0:00:06];Caruana,F (2805)
-Carlsen,M (2876) Norway Chess 3rd 2015 (2) 1-0 There is little wonder that
Carlsen avoids the Berlin after the recent defeat by Caruana's hands in} 4. Ba4
{[%emt 0:00:04]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 5. O-O {[%emt 0:00:06] By this moment I
guess Caruana was asking himself whether it would be a Marshall or a Breyer.}
b5 {[%emt 0:00:18]} 6. Bb3 {[%emt 0:00:06]} Bb7 {[%emt 0:00:06] None of them
in fact! Carlsen chooses the classical Arkhangelsk move order, which has
fallen into oblivion long time ago.} ({Fashion has the neo-Arkhangelsk based on
} 6... Bc5 {more reliable.}) 7. d3 {[%emt 0:01:15] Caruana does not show
himself keen of checking Carlsen's preparation in the main lines and chooses a
setup which is mainly played to avoid the Marshall.} (7. Re1 Bc5 8. c3 d6 9. d4
Bb6 {leads to positional play with reasonable black counterplay.}) (7. c3 {
is more challenging. The most fascinating line goes} Nxe4 8. d4 Na5 9. Bc2 exd4
10. Bxe4 Bxe4 11. Re1 d5 12. b4 Nc4 13. Nxd4 c5 14. bxc5 Bxc5 15. f3 O-O 16.
fxe4 dxe4 17. Rxe4 Qd5 {with certain compensation for Black in view of his
better development and the hanging d4-knight. The last games at high level went
} 18. Qf3 Ne5 19. Qf5 Rae8 20. Nd2 g6 ({Deviating from his slightly earlier
game} 20... b4 21. N2b3 g6 22. Qf1 Qxe4 23. Nxc5 $14 {Ivanov,A (2539)
-Tomashevsky,E (2708) Khanty-Mansiysk 2009 (½-½, 36)}) 21. Qf4 b4 22. Bb2
bxc3 23. Bxc3 Nc6 24. Kh1 Bxd4 25. Rxd4 Nxd4 26. Bxd4 Re2 27. Nf3 f6 28. h3 $14
{Hellers,F (2520)-Shirov,A (2580) Stockholm 1990 0-1 Shirov,A (2719)
-Tomashevsky,E (2708) Khanty-Mansiysk 2009 (1-0, 41). Maybe Shirov was not the
best suited opponent to try this opening against, since two decades ago he
used to be a specialist of it with... Black. See for instance}) 7... Be7 {
[%emt 0:00:09] A bit disappointing - the game now enters the Anti-Marshall
paths, (I find Alejandro Ramirez' description "An Archangel with Be7"
inaccurate, but this is relative, of course.)} ({Long before the
neo-Arkhangelsk story started to take shape, Malaniuk caused some sensation
winning three games with the slightly weird} 7... Bd6 {The idea is to
over-defend the e5-pawn in order to allow an early ...Na5 if needed. The most
famous of his games (of course, I am speaking from the perspective of somebody
who was playing chess at that time) went} 8. a4 ({Neutral play such as} 8. c3
O-O 9. Nbd2 {could eventually transpose to ...Bc5 lines (I do not know how to
baptize them already) when the bishop retreats to f8 a few moves later:} Re8
10. Re1 Bf8 {and so on.}) 8... h6 9. Nc3 b4 10. Ne2 Na5 {Now is when the
bishop proves useful on d6.} 11. Ba2 O-O 12. Ng3 Re8 13. h3 ({The modern
interpretation is} 13. c3 c5 {as for instance in Hovhannisyan,R (2560)-Bartel,
M (2638) Aix-les-Bains 2011 (0-1, 51)}) 13... Bf8 14. Nh2 d5 15. Qf3 c5 $15 {
Adams,M (2505)-Malaniuk,V (2560) Palma de Mallorca 1989 (0-1, 51)}) 8. Nc3 {
[%emt 0:02:22]} O-O {[%emt 0:01:01]} 9. a3 {[%emt 0:01:01] The third most
popular continuation after 9.Bd2 and 9.a4.} d6 {[%emt 0:16:21]} 10. Re1 {
[%emt 0:09:39]} Qd7 {[%emt 0:00:35];Jansa,V (2535)-Smyslov,V (2600) Sochi
Chigorin Memorial 1974 (9) 0-1 The regrouping initiated with this move reminds
me of one of Smyslow's ultra-solid systems in the classical Ruy Lopez} 11. Ne2
{[%emt 0:05:12]} Nd8 {[%emt 0:06:15] Unlike in Smyslow's game, Black can
already regroup with his knight, since there is no pressure on e5.} 12. Ng3 {
[%emt 0:01:06]} Ne6 {[%emt 0:00:32] This position was seen in five earlier
games, which makes Caruana's 30 minute thought a bit surprizing.} 13. Ba2 $146
{[%emt 0:29:44]} ({During my live comments I did not have access at the
"reference" button, nor to the engines, so I wondered what would be wrong with
} 13. c3 c5 14. d4 {After all, this is what the Spanish Opening is all about -
White needs occupying the centre. I must confess that I under-estimated
Black's dynamic potential, based on his better development. White has wasted
quite some time with a2-a3 and d2-d3-d4.} exd4 15. cxd4 {Black has two
playable ways of breaking the centre with ...d6-d5.} c4 (15... d5 16. exd5 Bxd5
17. Bxd5 Nxd5 18. dxc5 Bxc5 19. b4 Bb6 20. Ne5 Qb7 21. Nf5 {White's position
looks threatening but he still is underdeveloped.} Rad8 $1 (21... Ne7 22. Qf3
$1 Qa7 {Horvath,A (2531)-Banusz,T (2598) Gyula 2013 (0-1, 38)} 23. Nxe7+ Qxe7
24. Bb2 $14 {[%csl Rc6,Rg7][%cal Ge5c6,Ga1c1]}) 22. Qg4 Nf6 23. Qh4 Bd4 {
Black's position becomes dominant so White is best adviced to force a draw by
perpetual:} 24. Bg5 Bxa1 25. Rxa1 Nxg5 26. Qxg5 g6 27. Qxf6 {or 27.Nh6+.}) 16.
Bc2 d5 {This is Tomashevsky's specialty.} 17. e5 Ne4 18. Nxe4 ({White does not
get much by rejecting the sacrifice:} 18. Nf5 f6 19. Be3 Bd8 20. exf6 Bxf6 {
with active black play in Jakovenko,D (2711)-Tomashevsky,E (2658) Dagomys 2008
(½-½, 26)}) 18... dxe4 19. Bxe4 Bxe4 20. Rxe4 Qd5 21. Qc2 Rfd8 {This looks
unnatural.} ({But if} 21... Rad8 {Black must have feared} 22. Bd2 {[%cal Gd2b4]
when ...a5 is impossible.}) ({Given this problems, I am actually asking myself
whether there is such a hurry to define the rooks' intentions. Since Black
plans playing ...f7-f5 anyway, I consider} 21... f5 {a serious candidate, for
instance} 22. exf6 Bxf6 23. Be3 Rad8 {with a couple of extra tempi compared to
the game.}) 22. h4 f5 23. exf6 Bxf6 24. Be3 Qf5 25. Re1 Rf8 {The rook returns
to the right square but I am not sure h2-h4 is such a weakening as to allow
wasting two tempi.} 26. Re2 Rad8 {Anyway, Black's blockade is relatively safe
and the game ended in a draw, Shirov,A (2740)-Tomashevsky,E (2658) Dagomys
2008 (½-½, 34) Even if the consequences of 13.c3 are far from clear, I do
not see the point behind Caruana's novelty. White wastes just another tempo
while big part of his army is placed on the initial squares.}) 13... Rfe8 {
[%emt 0:08:03] Black is one step away from completing his development with ...
Rad8, while White is far behind in the process. Besides, he does not have too
much space to deal with that. Little wonder that Caruana decided to exchange
some pieces.} 14. Ng5 {[%emt 0:06:30] Trying to make use of White's best piece
- his Spanish bishop.} ({If} 14. Nf5 Bf8 15. c3 c5 {Black threatens
undermining the white centre with ...c5-c4.}) ({The only reasonable
alternative to the game move is} 14. Bd2 {, without offering a clue to what
White should do with his queen, though.}) 14... d5 $5 {[%emt 0:16:04] Played
after 16 minutes, this is the most principled decision. Allowing an exchange
on e6 looks unappealing, while} (14... Nxg5 15. Bxg5 {would only speed up
White's development, for instance} h6 16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17. Nf5 Kh7 18. Qh5 Rf8 19.
h4 $36 {[%cal Gg2g4,Ge1e3] with a much better version of the game continuation.
}) 15. Nxe6 {[%emt 0:08:59] White needs releasing the tension in order to
clear the g5-square for the bishop. Delaying this exchange would give Black
time to increase his space advantage.} ({The pawn grabbing} 15. exd5 Nxg5 16.
Bxg5 Bxd5 17. Rxe5 Bxa2 18. Rxa2 {should not scare a Marshall Attack player.
The a2-rook is less than undeveloped.} h6 $5 19. Bxf6 (19. Bd2 Bd6) 19... Bxf6
20. Re4 Rxe4 21. Nxe4 Be5 {offers Black plenty of play.}) 15... Qxe6 {[%emt 0:
00:15]} 16. Bg5 {[%emt 0:07:46]} ({For instance} 16. Nf5 Bf8 17. Bg5 c5 18. Qf3
({Or if} 18. Bxf6 Qxf6 19. Ne3 d4 20. Nd5 Qd6 $11 {[%cal Gb7c8,Gc8e6,Ya8c8,
Yc5c4] the beautiful central knight would actually block the own bishop.})
18... c4 19. Nh6+ (19. Bxf6 Qxf6 20. exd5 Rad8 21. dxc4 $2 e4 {[%cal Gf6b2]})
19... Kh8 20. Bxf6 Qxf6 21. Qxf6 gxf6 22. Nf5 Rac8 $11 {Black's activity and
space advantage compensates for the structural deffect.}) 16... h6 $1 {[%emt 0:
04:17] It would be dangerous to delay this thematic move.} (16... c5 17. Bxf6
Bxf6 18. Nh5 Be7 (18... Rad8 19. exd5 Bxd5 20. Nf4) (18... Qd6 19. Nxf6+ gxf6
20. Qh5 $16) (18... Bg5 19. Bxd5 Bxd5 20. exd5 Qxd5 21. Qg4 Qd8 22. f4 $36) 19.
exd5 Bxd5 $2 20. Nf4 $18) 17. Bxf6 {[%emt 0:01:23]} Bxf6 {[%emt 0:01:22]} 18.
Qf3 {[%emt 0:05:51]} (18. Nh5 Bg5 {is safe for Black due to the fact that his
bishop is defended, making the queen incursion after} 19. Bxd5 Bxd5 20. exd5
Qxd5 21. Qg4 {inoffensive, for instance} Qe6 $11) 18... c6 {[%emt 0:03:08]
This ultra ambitious move fails to keep the a2-bishop out of play after
Caruana's active answer.} (18... Rad8 {is more natural, even though the
evaluation remains the same: both sides' chances are even.}) 19. c4 $1 {
[%emt 0:06:36]} Rad8 {[%emt 0:03:30]} 20. cxd5 {[%emt 0:01:05]} ({One
important problem is that the a1-rook needs defending the bishop. For instance
completing the development with} 20. Rac1 {allows} dxc4 $1 (20... bxc4 {
is less clear:} 21. exd5 $1 ({Only not} 21. dxc4 $2 d4 22. b4 c5 $15 {[%csl
Ra2]}) 21... cxd5 22. dxc4 e4 23. cxd5 Bxd5 24. Bxd5 exf3 25. Bxe6 Rxe6 26.
Rxe6 fxe6 $13) 21. dxc4 Bg5 22. Rc2 g6 {[%csl Ra2,Rg3][%cal Ge6a2]}) 20... cxd5
{[%emt 0:00:02]} 21. Nf5 {[%emt 0:00:30] White tris compensating his space
defficit with active piece play.} ({It would be nice to fight for the c-file,
but} 21. Rac1 $2 {loses material to} dxe4 {[%csl Ga2]} 22. Bxe6 exf3) ({Or if} 
21. Rec1 {(not very natural - the rook belongs to e1.)} Rd7 22. Rc5 Qb6 23.
Rac1 Be7 24. R5c2 Bg5 25. Re1 Red8 26. Qg4 Rc7 $11) 21... Bg5 {[%emt 0:22:27]}
22. h4 {[%emt 0:01:00]} Bd2 $5 {[%emt 0:03:54] When I saw this move, I thought
the bishop will finally reach b6, truly in the spirit of the Arkhangelsk. But
my expectations proved wrong...} ({As pointed out by Ramirez,} 22... Bf4 {
"is also possible."} 23. g3 dxe4 24. Qg4 (24. dxe4 $2 Qxf5 $17) 24... Qf6 25.
gxf4 exd3 {"gets crazy, but computers like Black a bit."} 26. fxe5 $2 d2 $19 {
"was something Carlsen missed."}) 23. Re2 {[%emt 0:04:26]} dxe4 {[%emt 0:14:28]
} 24. dxe4 {[%emt 0:05:18]} Qf6 {[%emt 0:00:11]} 25. g3 {[%emt 0:09:41]} Kf8 $3
{[%emt 0:01:45];Carlsen,M (2863)-Anand,V (2792) World Championship 2014 (11)
1-0 The evaluation is not only for the objective merits of the move, but also
for the whole king's moving around initiated now and the depth behind it. The
king manoeuvre reminds me a bit of the somewhat similar issue in the last game
of the return Carlsen-Anand match} ({Carlsen intended to drive the enemy
knight away with ...g6, which would not work with the king on h8 due to Nxh6+.
And if} 25... Kh8 {the f7-square would be vulnerable. White could play a
consolidating move such as} 26. Kg2 (26. h5 Bg5) 26... g6 $6 27. Nd4 Qg7 (27...
Qxf3+ $2 28. Nxf3 Ba5 29. Bxf7 $18) 28. Nb3 f5 29. Nc5 $14) ({The ARkhangelsk
plan should be carried out with care, for if} 25... Ba5 $6 26. Nxh6+ $1 Qxh6
27. Qxf7+ Kh7 28. Qxb7 $16) ({I would probably choose} 25... Kh7 26. Kg2 Ba5
27. Rc1 g6 28. Ne3 (28. Nd4 {does not work so well now, since after} Qxf3+ 29.
Nxf3 {the bishop is not hanging anymore, allowing} f5 $36) 28... Qxf3+ 29. Kxf3
Rd3 {[%cal Ga5b6]}) 26. h5 {[%emt 0:05:10]} ({With the f7-pawn defended,} 26.
Kg2 g6 27. Nd4 Qxf3+ 28. Nxf3 Ba5 {is safe for Black.}) 26... Bg5 {[%emt 0:04:
20] There were no reasons to refrain from occupying the concealed square. The
bishop defends the queen, making ...g6 an issue already, without fearing Nd4
at all.} 27. a4 {[%emt 0:01:14] By now, both players were approaching severe
time trouble. With jis last move Caruana opens a new front, clearing the
a3-square for the queen in order to harass the centralized king.} ({A neutral
move such as} 27. Rf1 {would allow} g6 ({If Black wants more than an immediate
draw he can try} 27... Bc8) 28. hxg6 fxg6 29. Qb3 (29. Nh4 Bxh4) 29... gxf5 30.
Qg8+ Ke7 31. Qh7+ Kf8 {White should take the draw by perpetual since} 32. Qxb7
$2 Re7 {[%csl Gb7] suddenly traps the queen!}) 27... b4 $6 {[%emt 0:01:13]
Carlsen renews the threat, without realizing that White's queenside play is
far from over.} (27... g6 $2 28. hxg6 fxg6 29. Qa3+) (27... bxa4 $1 {would
have absolved Black from any problems:} 28. Qa3+ Kg8 29. Qxa4 Bc8) 28. a5 $3 {
[%emt 0:02:02] Caruana spent most of his remaining time on this fantastic move,
going down to seconds on his clock. White prevents Black's consolidating with .
..a6-a5, endangering the b4-pawn and adding a small tactical detail to the
plot.} Kg8 $5 {[%emt 0:04:23] Typical for Carlsen's lack of pre-concepts. He
does not mind returning with his king now that there was some danger for it.} (
{When playing his precious move Carlsen might have thought that he could
finally carry out his plan, failing to notice that after} 28... g6 29. hxg6
fxg6 30. Qb3 gxf5 31. Qg8+ Ke7 32. Qh7+ Kf8 33. Qxb7 $1 Re7 {the queen has a
choice between} 34. Qxb4 {and the less strong 34.Qb6.}) ({But in principle} 
28... Bc8 {[%cal Gg7g6] would have been safer} 29. Qb3 Bxf5 30. Qxb4+ Kg8 31.
exf5 Qxf5 {[%cal Gf5f3] with some symbolic white advantage only, due to his
more active bishop. For instance:} 32. Qe4 Qxe4 33. Rxe4 Kf8 34. b4 Rd6 {
[%cal Ge8b8,Gg5d2]}) 29. Bc4 $6 {[%emt 0:00:09] Too slow. Besides, White
dismantles his potential battery along the a2-g8 diagonal.} (29. Rc2 $5 Rd7 (
29... Rc8 30. Rc4 Rxc4 31. Bxc4 $14 {[%cal Ga1d1]} Kh8 $6 32. Rd1) 30. Rc4 Kh8
31. Rd1 (31. Rxb4 g6 32. hxg6 fxg6 33. Rd1) 31... Rxd1+ 32. Qxd1 Rd8 33. Qf3 g6
34. Rc7) (29. Qb3 {would mainly transpose to the line above since} Bxe4 {
would be met with} 30. Qxf7+ Qxf7 31. Bxf7+ Kxf7 32. Rxe4 $14) 29... Rd7 $6 {
[%emt 0:00:51] Carlsen still had a few minutes left, but failed to remain
consequent to his curious king manoeuvre.} (29... Kh8 $1 30. Kg2 g6 31. Ne3 (
31. hxg6 $2 fxg6 32. Ne3 Qxf3+ 33. Kxf3 Rf8+ 34. Kg2 Bxe4+ $17) 31... Qxf3+ 32.
Kxf3 Rd4 33. Bd5 Bxd5 34. Nxd5 gxh5 35. Ra4 b3 $13) 30. Ra4 $1 {[%emt 0:00:28]
Suddenly, White's queenside play strongly interfers with Black's planned ...g6.
} Kh8 {[%emt 0:02:15] Carlsen spent most of his remaining time on this move,
joining his opponent for the blitz mode.} 31. Rxb4 {[%emt 0:00:08]} g6 {
[%emt 0:00:07]} 32. hxg6 {[%emt 0:00:01]} fxg6 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 33. Qb3 $1 {
[%emt 0:00:41] The clue.} Bc6 {[%emt 0:00:06]} (33... Bxe4 34. Rxe4 (34. Nxh6
Rd1+ $5 35. Qxd1 Qf3 36. Nf7+ Kg7 37. Rxe4 $8 Qxd1+ 38. Kg2 $14) 34... gxf5 (
34... Qxf5 35. Bd3 $16) 35. Rb6 Rd6 36. Re2 $16 {[%cal Gc4a6]}) 34. Ne3 {
[%emt 0:00:03]} Bxe4 {[%emt 0:00:11]} 35. Bd5 {[%emt 0:00:01]} (35. Bb5 $5 Rb8
36. Rxe4 Rxb5 37. Qc3 {[%cal Ge3c4,Ge3g4]} Qf3 38. Rxe5 $36) 35... Bxd5 {
[%emt 0:01:03]} ({Ramirez:} 35... Qf3 36. Rxe4 $1 (36. Bxe4 Qxe2 37. Rb8 {
Carlsen thought this was "at least a draw" but actually Black is winning after}
Rxb8 38. Qxb8+ Kh7 $1 39. Bd5 Rg7 $1 $18) 36... Qxe2 37. Nc4 Qh5 38. g4 $1 Qh4
39. Nxe5 $1 {with a strong initiative.}) 36. Nxd5 {[%emt 0:00:01]} Qc6 {
[%emt 0:00:01]} 37. Nc3 $14 {[%emt 0:00:02] White has achieved stability on
light squares, but needs to be careful with his major piece regrouping,
something Caruana failed to do under the time pressure.} Qf3 {[%emt 0:00:06]}
38. Qc2 {[%emt 0:00:03]} ({Even with seconds on the clock, it is strange that
Caruana refrained from the natural} 38. Rb8 $16 {reducing Black's attacking
potential.}) 38... Red8 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 39. Rbe4 {[%emt 0:00:01]} (39. Qe4 $1
$16 Rd1+ $2 40. Nxd1 Rxd1+ 41. Re1 {Ramirez}) 39... Rd2 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 40.
Rxd2 $4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} (40. Qb3 Rd1+ $1 41. Qxd1 Rxd1+ 42. Nxd1 h5 $44) ({
It is hard to predict what would have happened after} 40. Qa4 {White would
retain his strategic advantage against any black move with one exception:} Bf4
$3 {leading to perpetual check (either Black, after 41.gxf4 or White after} 41.
Rxd2 Rxd2 42. Qe8+ {But would Carlsen have found it just before the control?})
40... Rxd2 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 0-1

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 3rd"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2015.08.25"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E60"]
[WhiteElo "2853"]
[BlackElo "2731"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2015.08.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 c5 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 O-O 7. Nc3 Qc7 {
This provocative continuation is the second popular move in this position after
} (7... Nc6) 8. Nd5 $5 (8. b3 d5 $5 {is Black's main idea seen in a number of
games.}) 8... Qxc4 (8... Nxd5 9. cxd5 Qa5+ 10. Bd2 Qb6 11. Bc3 {leads to a
quiet position with a small edge for White. The text move is sharper but not
enough for equality either.}) 9. Nxe7+ Kh8 10. Nxc8 (10. O-O $143 Nc6 11. Ndxc6
(11. Nxc8 Raxc8 {[%cal Yf8e8]}) 11... dxc6 12. Nxc8 Raxc8 13. b3 Qc3 14. Bd2
Qe5 15. Qe1 Rfe8 16. e3 Ne4 17. Rc1 Rcd8 $132 {1/2 (38) Horvath,P (2458)
-Horvath,C (2565) Hungary 2005}) 10... Rxc8 11. O-O Nc6 {Black's development
advantage doesn't fully compensate for his damaged pawn structure.} 12. Be3
$146 {A simple developing move, enough for keeping a tiny plus. Alternatives:}
(12. Nxc6 $6 dxc6 13. b3 Qc3 14. Bd2 Qe5 15. Rc1 Rd8 16. Rc2 Ne4 $11 {1/2 (60)
Khurtsidze,N (2418)-Lomineishvili,M (2396) Tbilisi 2005}) (12. e3 Nxd4 13. exd4
d5 14. Be3 Rc6 15. Bf3 Rac8 16. Qb3 Qxb3 17. axb3 a6 18. Rfc1 Rxc1+ 19. Rxc1
Rxc1+ 20. Bxc1 Ne4 21. Be3 f5 $11 {1/2 (28) Sargissian,G (2602)-Radjabov,T 
(2667) Moscow 2005}) (12. Nb3 $5 Re8 13. e3 a5 14. Bd2 a4 15. Rc1 Qb5 16. Nc5
$36 (16. Nd4 $6 Nxd4 17. exd4 Qxb2 18. Rc2 Qxd4 19. Qc1 Ne4 $15 {1/2 (37) Wang,
H (2710)-Aronian,L (2797) Beijing 2014})) (12. Nc2 Re8 (12... Ne4 13. Ne3 Qe6
14. Nd5 f5 15. Be3 Qe5 16. Nc3 Nxc3 17. bxc3 Rd8 18. Rb1 b6 19. c4 Rac8 20. Qa4
$16 {1-0 (34) Borovikov,V (2595)-Iskusnyh,S (2472) Pardubice 2005}) 13. Ne3 Qe6
14. Nd5 Nxd5 15. Bxd5 Qxe2 16. Bxf7 Re7 17. Qxe2 (17. Bd5 Nd4 18. Be3 Qxb2 19.
Rb1 Ne2+ 20. Kg2 Nc3 21. Rxb2 Nxd1 22. Rxb7 Nxe3+ 23. fxe3 Rxe3 24. Rxd7 $14 {
1/2 (32) Azaladze,S (2499)-Saric,S (2400) Novi Sad 2014}) 17... Rxe2 18. Rb1
Rf8 19. Bc4 Rexf2 20. Rxf2 Bd4 21. Bf4 g5 22. Kg2 Bxf2 23. Bxg5 Bd4 24. Rd1
Bxb2 25. Rxd7 Ne5 {1/2 (25) Wojtaszek,R (2569)-Fressinet,L (2638) Warsaw 2005}
26. Rd8 $1 $14) 12... Ng4 {Black must deprive White of his bishop pair.} 13.
Nc2 Nxe3 14. Nxe3 Qe6 15. Nd5 Bxb2 16. Rb1 Be5 17. Rxb7 $14 {As a result of
the opening, White has got a small but clear advantage due to his strong d5
knight and the weakness of Black's d7 pawn.} Rab8 18. Rxb8 Rxb8 19. e3 Rb2 20.
a4 Ne7 (20... Nb4 {was more active, and in case of} 21. Nf4 Qe7) 21. Nf4 {
Black is now forced to trade his bishop, and the position simplifies even
further. That gives White more chances than} (21. Nxe7 Qxe7 22. Qd3) 21... Bxf4
22. exf4 {[%cal Ge1e8,Rd1d4] White now wins a pawn as he is threatening
Qd1-d4+.} Qb6 (22... Kg8 23. Qd4 {[%cal Rd4b2,Rd4a7]} Qb6 24. Qxd7) 23. a5 ({
After} 23. Qxd7 Qc5 {White has hardly anything better than} 24. a5) 23... Qc5
24. Qxd7 Ra2 25. Qd3 Kg7 ({Black can recapture the pawn:} 25... Rxa5 {but after
} 26. Qe2 {[%cal Yf1d1] White keeps pressure despite Black's passed pawn. He
controls central files, and his king is safer. Instead, Black decides to
prevent White's activation allowing White to keep his extra pawn.}) 26. a6 h5
27. Bb7 Nf5 28. Qe4 Nd6 29. Qb1 Rd2 30. Qa1+ Kg8 31. Bg2 Nf5 32. Qe5 Qxe5 $6 {
A strange decision to undouble White's pawns and liquidate into a technical
endgame.} (32... Qb6 {was consistent although after} 33. Qc3 $1 Rb2 34. Bd5 {
White activates his bishop and increases his winning chances.}) 33. fxe5 {
[%mdl 4096]} Re2 (33... Ra2 34. Bb7 Re2 (34... h4 $5) 35. f4 (35. Rd1 $143 Rxe5
36. Rd8+ Kg7 37. Ra8 Nd6 38. Rxa7 Re7) 35... Ne3 36. Rc1 {, and White should
win anyway.}) (33... h4 $5 34. Rb1 Nd4 35. gxh4 Ne2+ 36. Kh1 Nd4 {was probably
the best chance to get counterplay.}) 34. Rb1 Rxe5 35. Rb7 Re1+ ({Black will
be unable to keep defense on the 7th rank after} 35... Re7 36. Bh3 {as the
pawn endgame after} Kf8 37. Bxf5 gxf5 38. Rxe7 Kxe7 39. Kg2 {is lost, e.g.} Ke6
(39... Kd6 40. Kh3 Kc6 41. Kh4 Kb6 42. Kxh5 Kxa6 43. h4 Kb5 44. Kg5 a5 45. h5
a4 46. h6 a3 47. h7 f6+ $8 48. Kxf5 a2 49. h8=Q a1=Q 50. Qxf6) 40. Kf3 Ke5 41.
h3 f4 (41... Ke6 42. Kf4 Kf6 43. h4 $22) 42. gxf4+ Kf5 43. Ke3 {etc.}) 36. Bf1
h4 37. Rxa7 h3 38. Rd7 Ra1 39. g4 (39. a7 $142 Kg7 40. g4 Nh4 41. f4 Nf3+ 42.
Kf2 Nxh2 43. Bxh3 $18) 39... Nh4 40. Rd3 Ng2 41. Rxh3 Nf4 42. Rf3 g5 43. Rb3 {
Black resigned although White still needed to work a while to convert his
material advantage.} 1-0

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 3rd"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2015.08.26"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2793"]
[BlackElo "2853"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2015.08.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 {The Sveshnikov Sicilian.
It goes in and out of fashion, and Carlsen playing it might bring some
attention back to a defense that is largely overlooked, despite the fact that
there is no definite refutation of it.} 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Nd5
Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 Ne7 {One of several possibilities Black has at his
disposal. Krasenkow likes to play this move.} 12. Nc2 Nxd5 13. Qxd5 Rb8 14. Nb4
Bb7 15. Qd3 O-O 16. Be2 a5 17. Nd5 b4 {Giri took some time to get to this
position, but Carlsen reached it relatively quickly. Black shouldn't have any
real problems in this position. This vriation has been played a couple of
times. White might be able to pressure slightly on the light squares but it
won't big a big deal.} 18. O-O bxc3 19. bxc3 Bg5 20. Rab1 Qd7 21. Rb3 Bc6 22.
Rfb1 Rxb3 23. Rxb3 g6 24. Rb6 Rc8 25. h3 Bxd5 {Even this move was maybe
unnecessary.} (25... h5 26. Ra6 Bxd5 {is safer:} 27. Qxd5 Rc5 $1 {a nice
intermezzo.} 28. Qxd6 Qxd6 29. Rxd6 Rxc3 $11) 26. Qxd5 Rxc3 27. Rxd6 Qe7 28.
Bd1 Rc7 29. g3 Kg7 {White has a very minor amount of pressure, but this is way
closer to a draw. Black's bishop isn't the greatest but White can't create
threats, so it will eventually remaneuver.} 30. Ba4 Bc1 31. Rc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 3rd"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2015.08.27"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2853"]
[BlackElo "2779"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2015.08.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 ({Two rounds later
Carlsen went for the classical} 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Be3 Be6 9. Qd3 Nbd7 10.
Nd5 O-O ({After} 10... Bxd5 11. exd5 O-O {Black must reckon with the sharp} 12.
g4 $5) 11. O-O (11. c4 b5 $1 $132) 11... Bxd5 12. exd5 {However, Black has
counter-chances in the strategic struggle even without radically changing the
position; a reasonable alternative is} Rc8 ({Here the most often played move is
} 12... Nc5 13. Nxc5 (13. Qd2 $143 Nfe4 14. Qb4 a5 15. Qb5 Qc7 16. Qc4 Rac8 17.
Rfd1 f5 18. c3 Qd8 19. Qb5 b6 20. Nd2 Nxd2 21. Bxd2 Bf6 $36 {Ponomariov,R 
(2744)-Anand,V (2810) Wijk aan Zee 2011/ For more details see the notes to
this game in CBM 141.}) 13... dxc5 14. Bf3 Qc7 15. c4 g6 (15... Bd6 $142 $1 16.
g3 Rae8 $132) 16. Rae1 h5 $6 17. Bg5 Ne8 18. Bxe7 Qxe7 19. Qe3 Nd6 20. b3 Rfc8
21. Qxe5 Qxe5 22. Rxe5 $16 {Nakamura,H (2775)-Topalov,V (2793) Thessaloniki
2013/ For more details see the notes to this game in CBM 155.}) 13. c4 Ne8 (
13... a5 $5 14. Rad1 b6 15. Nd2 Nc5 16. Qc2 Nfd7 17. f3 Bg5 18. Bf2 f5 19. Kh1
Qf6 20. Nb1 Qh6 21. Nc3 {Shirov,A (2718)-Polgar,J (2676) Linares 2001/} Bf4 22.
g3 Be3 $132 {For more details see the notes to this game by Ftacnik in CBM 082.
}) 14. Qd2 b6 15. Rac1 a5 16. Na1 g6 17. b4 Ng7 18. bxa5 bxa5 19. Bd3 Nc5 20.
Bc2 a4 21. Rb1 e4 22. Bxc5 Rxc5 23. Bxa4 Rxc4 24. Bc6 Nf5 25. Qe2 Rc3 26. Qxe4
Ra3 $11 {[%csl Ra2] Carlsen,M (2853)-Grischuk,A (2771) Saint Louis 2015 White
can't retain the extra pawn and the position is drawish. Subsequent mistakes
even cost Carlsen the full point.}) 6... e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. f3 Nbd7 {Both
players have experience with this line with both colours, especially So.} ({
The fashionable continuation here, with many top-level annotated games, is} 
8... h5 9. Nd5 Bxd5 10. exd5 Nbd7 11. Qd2 g6 (11... Qc7 12. c4 g6 13. O-O-O Nb6
14. Qa5 Bh6 15. Bxh6 Rxh6 16. Kb1 Nfd7 17. Qd2 Rh8 18. Rc1 Na4 19. Be2 a5 20.
Na1 Kf8 21. Nc2 Kg7 22. Na3 {Topalov,V (2771)-Wojtaszek,R (2698) ECC Rhodes
2013} Qd8 23. Nb5 Qf6 $13 {For more details see the notes to this game by
Wojtaszek in CBM 157.}) 12. Be2 ({A recent example is} 12. O-O-O Nb6 13. Kb1 (
13. Qa5 Bh6 14. Bxh6 Rxh6 15. Kb1 Rc8 16. Qb4 Kf8 17. c4 Kg7 18. g3 Rh8 19. Rc1
Qc7 20. Bh3 Rce8 21. Rhd1 Re7 22. a3 Rd8 23. Nd2 {brought White success in
Anand-Topalov, Wijk aan Zee 2008 (CBM 122), but Black can improve with} e4 $1
24. fxe4 Nxe4 25. Nxe4 Rxe4 26. Bg2 Re2 27. c5 dxc5 28. Rxc5 Qd6 $132 {
Yeremenko,A (2456)-Schmidt,G (2435)email 2009/ I already mentioned this in the
notes to So-Dominguez (CBM 161).}) 13... Nbxd5 14. Bg5 Be7 15. Na5 Rb8 16. Bc4
Nb6 17. Bxf6 Bxf6 18. Qxd6 Qxd6 19. Rxd6 Bd8 20. Rd3 Bc7 21. Bb3 Ke7 22. Rhd1
Rhd8 23. Rxd8 Bxd8 24. Nc4 $11 {Grischuk,A (2771)-Topalov,V (2816) Saint Louis
2015/ The opposite-coloured bishops indicate the point was split shortly
afterwards.}) 12... Bg7 (12... Qc7 13. Rc1 Bg7 14. O-O O-O 15. c4 b6 16. Na1
Kh7 17. h3 Ng8 18. g4 Qd8 19. gxh5 Qh4 20. hxg6+ fxg6 21. Bd3 Bh6 22. Rf2 Bxe3
23. Qxe3 Ne7 $44 {So,W (2731)-Dominguez Perez,L (2768) Havana 2014 For more
details see the notes to this game in CBM 161.}) 13. O-O (13. Na5 Qc7 14. c4 e4
15. O-O exf3 16. gxf3 O-O 17. b4 Rfe8 18. Rac1 Rxe3 $5 19. Qxe3 Re8 20. Qd2 {
Caruana,F (2844)-Gelfand,B (2748) Baku 2014} Qb6+ $1 21. Kh1 Bh6 $44 {For more
details see the notes to this game by Kr. Szabo in CBM 163.}) 13... b6 14. Rae1
O-O 15. c4 Rc8 16. h3 Nh7 17. Na1 a5 18. Nc2 Bf6 19. Na3 Bh4 20. Rb1 f5 21. Nb5
f4 22. Bf2 Bxf2+ 23. Rxf2 Nc5 24. Qc2 Qf6 25. b3 Ng5 26. Bd3 Kg7 27. a3 Nf7 28.
b4 Nxd3 29. Qxd3 Qf5 30. Qxf5 gxf5 31. Rc2 {So,W (2762)-Wojtaszek,R (2744)
Wijk aan Zee 2015} axb4 32. axb4 Kf6 $132 {For more details see the notes to
this game by Pavlovic in CBM 165.}) 9. Qd2 ({An alternative is the immediate} 
9. g4 {After} b5 {White can even spurn castling and play on the queenside with}
(9... Nb6 10. g5 Nh5 11. Qd2 Rc8 ({and even more often} 11... Be7 $13 {is the
older main line, which was extensively tested in the past decade.})) 10. g5 b4
11. Nd5 Nxd5 12. exd5 Bf5 13. Bd3 Bxd3 14. Qxd3 Be7 15. h4 O-O 16. a3 bxa3 17.
Rxa3 a5 18. Qb5 Qc7 19. Nxa5 Rfb8 20. Qc6 Qxc6 $2 (20... Bd8 $1 $132) 21. dxc6
d5 22. Ra2 Bd8 23. cxd7 Rxa5 24. Rxa5 Bxa5+ 25. Ke2 $16 {Topalov,V (2772)
-Wojtaszek,R (2735) Tromso olm 2014/ For more details see the notes to this
game by Kr.Szabo; this line is analysed also in the notes to Navara-Grischuk,
Tromso olm 2014 in CBM 162.}) 9... b5 10. O-O-O Be7 ({Rare and maybe possible,
but definitely more risky is} 10... h5 11. Nd5 Bxd5 12. exd5 Nb6 13. Qc3 Rb8 (
13... Nfd7 14. Na5 $14 {Repp,H (2497)-Avotins,M (2488) email 2010 This game
was quoted already in the notes to the aforementioned game So-Dominguez 
(CBM161).}) 14. a4 Be7 15. Qc6+ (15. axb5 O-O 16. Bxb6 Qxb6 17. bxa6 Rfc8 18.
Bc4 Nd7 $36) 15... Nfd7 16. Na5 Bg5 17. f4 exf4 18. Bd2 O-O 19. Qxd6 Nf6 20.
Qxd8 Rbxd8 21. Nc6 Rd7 22. axb5 axb5 23. Bxb5 Nbxd5 24. c4 Nc7 25. Ba4 Ne6 26.
Kb1 Ra8 27. Ba5 Rb7 $132 {1/2-1/2, Pereira,N-Cintins,I email 2011}) 11. g4 b4 {
Another crossroads and Black opts for a sideline.} ({The main continuation} 
11... O-O 12. g5 b4 13. Ne2 Ne8 14. f4 a5 15. f5 a4 {has been around for more
than 10 years, with numerous practical, email and engine games creating a
complex theoretical labyrinth. Lately White has been trying to get an edge with
} 16. fxe6 axb3 17. cxb3 fxe6 18. Bh3 Rxa2 19. Bxe6+ Kh8 20. Ng3 Nc7 21. Bc4
Qa8 22. Rhf1 Rxf1 23. Rxf1 Ra1+ 24. Kc2 Rxf1 25. Bxf1 d5 26. Qf2 g6 27. h4 Qf8
28. Qxf8+ Nxf8 {He has a pull in the resulting endgmae, but Black seems to
hold:} 29. Ba7 (29. Kd3 Nfe6 30. exd5 Nxd5 31. Bf2 Ndf4+ 32. Ke4 (32. Kc4 h6 $1
) 32... Bd6 33. Bc4 Nc5+ 34. Kf3 Nfd3 35. Bxd3 Nxd3 36. Ne4 Be7 37. Bg3 Kg7 38.
Nd2 (38. Ke3 Nf4 $1 39. Bxf4 exf4+ 40. Kxf4 Bd8 $44 {should also be enough to
hold according to A.Kovacevic.}) 38... Nc5 39. Bxe5+ Kf7 40. Ke3 Ke6 41. Kd4
Kf5 $132 {Lafarga Santorroman,D (2659)-Hefka,V (2571) email 2012}) 29... dxe4
30. Bb8 Nfe6 31. Nxe4 h6 32. Bc4 hxg5 33. hxg5 Kg7 34. Kd3 Kf8 35. Ke3 Bd8 36.
Bxe6 Nxe6 37. Bxe5 Nxg5 $11 {Radjabov,T (2726)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2757)
Tashkent 2014}) ({Apart from the text move, another less played alternative is
} 11... Nb6 12. g5 Nh5 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 Bd7 15. Na5 Qc7 16. Kb1 O-O 17.
Rg1 $5 (17. c4 f6 18. Rc1 b4 $5 19. gxf6 Rxf6 20. Qxb4 Rb8 21. Qd2 Rxf3 22. Be2
(22. c5 $1 $13) 22... Rh3 23. Bxh5 $6 Rxh5 24. Ka1 {Dominguez Perez,L (2726)
-Nepomniachtchi,I (2714) Beijing rpd 2014} Bd8 $36) 17... g6 (17... f6 $6 18.
g6 $40) 18. c4 f6 19. Rc1 b4 (19... Bf5+ $5 20. Ka1 Bd8 21. Nc6 fxg5 22. Nxd8
Qxd8 23. Bxg5 Qd7 $13 {has been tested in email games; although White scored
well, the position remains tense.}) 20. Qxb4 Rab8 21. Qc3 $5 (21. Qd2 Bd8 22.
Nc6 Bxc6 23. dxc6 Qxc6 24. Bd3 Qxf3 25. c5 d5 26. Rgf1 Qh3 27. gxf6 Nxf6 28.
Bxa6 Qe6 29. c6 Bc7 $14 {/~~, Tossutti,J (2091)-Saglione,E (2474) email 2008})
21... fxg5 (21... Bd8 22. Nb3 $14) 22. Bxg5 (22. c5 $1 e4 23. Nc6 Bxc6 24. cxd6
Qxd6 25. dxc6 Bf6 26. Qc4+ Kg7 27. Rc2 $36 {[%csl Gc6] Inarkiev}) 22... Bxg5
23. Rxg5 Nf4 24. c5 Bb5 25. Nb3 Rfe8 $6 (25... a5 $132) (25... e4 $5 $13 {
Inarkiev}) 26. Bxb5 Rxb5 27. cxd6 Qxd6 28. Qc6 Qd8 29. Nc5 $1 $16 {Inarkiev,E 
(2675)-Nepomniachtchi,I (2714) Moscow 2015}) 12. Nd5 {Very natural, but White
has tried other retreats as well:} (12. Ne2 a5 13. Kb1 h6 14. Ng3 a4 15. Nc1 d5
16. Nf5 Bxf5 17. gxf5 d4 18. Bf2 O-O 19. Rg1 Kh8 20. Bb5 a3 $1 (20... Nc5 21.
Nd3 a3 $2 22. Nxe5 axb2 23. Bxd4 Rxa2 24. Kxa2 Qa5+ 25. Kxb2 Qxb5 26. Rxg7 $1
Kxg7 27. Ng4 {Svidler,P (2735)-Sutovsky,E (2697) Mallorca olm 2004}) 21. b3 Nc5
22. Be1 Bd6 23. Bc4 Qe7 24. Nd3 Nxd3 25. cxd3 Nh5 26. Rg4 Nf4 $11 {Rivas
Romero,G (2322)-Panduro,R (2163) email 2011}) (12. Na4 {has scored really well,
but still lacks more relevant examples. An untested reacton is} Qc7 $5 (12...
d5 13. g5 d4 14. Bxd4 Nxe4 15. fxe4 exd4 16. h4 Ne5 {Gyugyi,P (2117)-Francisco,
V (2033) email 2003} 17. Nxd4 $36) (12... O-O 13. Qxb4 d5 $44) 13. g5 Nxe4 $1
14. fxe4 Qc6 15. Qxb4 Rb8 16. Na5 Rxb4 17. Nxc6 Rxe4 18. Bd2 Rxa4 19. b3 Rh4
$132) 12... Bxd5 13. exd5 Nb6 14. Na5 (14. Qxb4 Nfxd5 15. Bxb6 Nxb6 16. f4 O-O
$142 (16... Qc7 17. fxe5 dxe5 18. Qe4 O-O 19. h4 $1 ({More concrete than} 19.
Kb1 a5 20. a4 {1/2-1/2, Morozevich,A (2774)-Dominguez Perez,L (2695) Sarajevo
2008}) 19... a5 20. a4 g6 21. Bb5 f5 22. gxf5 $5 (22. Qg2 f4 23. Nd2 (23. Qf3
$142) (23. h5 $5) 23... Bb4 $1 24. g5 Rac8 25. Nf3 Bc3 $36 {Ponomariov,R (2704)
-Bu,X (2637) WChT Beersheba 2005}) 22... gxf5 23. Qg2+ Kh8 24. Rhf1 Bxh4 25.
Kb1 Rac8 26. c4 Qf7 27. c5 Qxb3 28. cxb6 $16 {[%csl Gb6,Rh8] Ruiz Vidal,P 
(2346)-Hervet,G (2357) email 2009}) 17. fxe5 a5 $1 18. Qe1 (18. Qc3 Rc8 19.
Qxa5 Qc7 20. Bd3 Ra8 21. exd6 Bxd6 22. Qb5 {1/2-1/2, Zidu,J (2579)-Casabona,C 
(2598) email 2011} Rxa2 23. Bxh7+ Kxh7 24. Qd3+ Kg8 25. Qxd6 Qb7 $132) (18. Qe4
d5 19. Qf3 a4 20. Nd4 Qc7 21. Kb1 Rab8 22. Bb5 Nc4 23. Bxc4 dxc4 24. Qc6 Qxe5
25. Rhe1 Qg5 26. Qxa4 Bb4 $11 {Dothan,Y (2589)-Lafarga Santorroman,D (2639)
email 2007}) 18... a4 19. Nd4 Bh4 20. Qe2 $6 (20. Qe4 $142 a3 21. b3 d5 $13)
20... Qg5+ (20... a3 $5 {/\} 21. b3 Nd5 $36) 21. Kb1 Qxe5 22. Nf3 Qf6 23. a3 (
23. Nxh4 a3 $1 24. c3 Qxh4 $15) 23... Rab8 24. c3 Nc4 25. Qxc4 Qxf3 26. Bd3
Rfc8 $17 {Morozevich,A (2788)-Anand,V (2798) Mainz rpd 2008}) 14... Nbxd5 (
14... Nfxd5 $143 $6 15. Nb7 $1 (15. Nc6 Qc7 16. Nxb4 (16. Nxe7 Nxe3 17. Qxe3
Kxe7 18. Qg5+ Kf8 $15 {Roiz,M (2611)-Sutovsky,E (2607) Rishon Le Ziyyon blitz
2006}) 16... Nxb4 17. Qxb4 Rc8 18. Bd3 Nc4 19. Qa4+ Qc6 20. Qxc6+ Rxc6 21. Bf2
{Karjakin,S (2679)-Ponomariov,R (2721) Tomsk rpd 2006} Bg5+ 22. Kb1 Nd2+ 23.
Ka1 d5 $132) 15... Qc7 16. Bxb6 Nxb6 17. Nxd6+ Kf8 18. f4 e4 (18... Rd8 19.
fxe5 Nc8 20. Bc4 $1 Bxd6 21. Qf4 f6 22. exd6 Rxd6 23. Rxd6 Qxd6 24. Qe4 g5 25.
Rd1 $18 {Dzhumaev,M (2529)-Saravanan,V (2394) Rochefort 2009}) (18... exf4 19.
Qxf4 f6 20. g5 $1 $40) 19. Nxe4 Rd8 20. Bd3 Nd5 21. f5 Qa5 {Inarkiev,E (2628)
-Amonatov,F (2567) Ramenskoe 2006} 22. Kb1 Nc3+ 23. Nxc3 bxc3 24. Qf4 $5 $16)
15. Nc4 {[%mdl 512] Carlsen opts for a positional pawn sacrifice instead of
regaining material:} (15. Nc6 Qc7 16. Nxb4 Nxb4 17. Qxb4 O-O 18. Qb6 $142 $1 {
makes life far more difficult for Black:} (18. g5 $2 Rfc8 19. Qa4 Rab8 $1 20.
Bd3 (20. gxf6 Rb4 $19) 20... Nd7 21. Qe4 g6 22. Bxa6 Rb4 23. Qd3 Rcb8 24. b3
Nc5 25. Bxc5 Qxc5 26. Qd5 Qa7 27. Bc4 Bxg5+ 28. Kb2 Ra4 29. a3 Ra5 30. Qe4 Be3
31. c3 Rxa3 32. Ra1 Ra8 {0-1, Svidler,P (2728)-Karjakin,S (2678) Wijk aan Zee
2007}) 18... Qc8 19. g5 Nd7 20. Qa5 Rb8 (20... Nc5 21. Bc4 Qf5 22. Qd2 Rfc8 23.
h4 Rab8 24. Qd5 Rb4 25. b3 a5 26. Rhf1 a4 27. f4 $16 {Inarkiev,E (2656)
-Sjugirov,S (2562) EU-ch Budva 2009}) 21. h4 Qb7 22. b3 Qxf3 23. Rh3 Qg4 24.
Qxa6 Ra8 25. Qc4 Qxc4 26. Bxc4 Rxa2 27. Rd5 Rc8 28. Rb5 Kf8 29. Kb1 Rxc4 30.
bxc4 Ra4 $14 {/=, Cavajda,I (2456)-Norrelykke,S (2346) email 2011}) 15... Nxe3
({Inserting} 15... h6 16. h4 {is hardly ideal, as Black can now as good as
forget about castling kingside:} Nxe3 17. Nxe3 d5 18. Nxd5 Nxd5 19. Qxd5 Qxd5
20. Rxd5 Bf6 21. Ra5 Ke7 22. Rxa6 Rxa6 23. Bxa6 Rd8 24. Bd3 Kd6 25. h5 Bg5+ 26.
Kb1 $14 {/+/-, Dominguez Perez,L (2695)-Predojevic,B (2651) Sarajevo 2008}) 16.
Nxe3 {[%csl Re7,Gf1] White plays for light-square control, with ^- on the
board he is the one with the stronger bishop.} ({Less logical is} 16. Qxe3 Qc7
17. h4 O-O 18. g5 Nd7 (18... Nh5 $5 19. Nb6 Nf4 20. Nxa8 Rxa8 $44) 19. f4 f5
20. gxf6 (20. Rh2 $5 $44 {[%cal Yh2d2]}) 20... Rxf6 21. fxe5 dxe5 22. Qe4 Rd8
23. Bd3 g6 24. Ne3 {Franklin,S (2307)-Burrows,M (2123) England 2013} Rf4 $15)
16... O-O (16... Nd7 17. Nd5 Bh4 18. Qxb4 Nc5 19. Qb6 O-O 20. Qxd8 Rfxd8 21. b4
Ne6 22. Kb2 Kf8 23. c3 a5 24. a3 Ra7 25. Bc4 g6 26. Rhf1 Kg7 {Perez Garcia,R 
(2432)-Razmyslov,A (2387) Burguillos 2008} 27. Bb3 $14) 17. Bc4 $146 {[%mdl 40]
Consistent with the previous move, Carlsen shows a different strategy from his
predecessors - White doesn't hurry with his attack and first increases his
central control.} (17. h4 a5 18. Kb1 Rc8 19. Bd3 Rc5 20. Nf5 Nd5 (20... g6 21.
Qh6 gxf5 22. g5 (22. Bxf5 e4 23. fxe4 Re8 24. g5 Rxf5 25. exf5 Ng4 26. Qh5 Ne5
$13) 22... Ne4 23. fxe4 f4 24. Rdg1 Kh8 25. h5 Rg8 26. g6 Rg7 27. gxf7 Rxf7 28.
Bc4 Bg5 $1 29. Rxg5 Rxc4 30. Rhg1 Rxe4 31. Qe6 Rf8 32. Qh6 Rf7 33. Qe6 Rf8 {
1/2-1/2, Papp,P (2254)-Gara,T (2377) Kisvarda 2012}) 21. Rhe1 Kh8 22. Bc4 $6 (
22. Be4 $11) 22... Nc3+ $1 23. bxc3 Rxc4 24. Nxe7 Qxe7 25. Qxd6 Qxd6 26. Rxd6
Rxc3 (26... f6 $1 $15) 27. Rxe5 Rxf3 28. Rxa5 $11 {Shomoev,A (2571)-Bodnaruk,A
(2425) St Petersburg 2012}) 17... Nd7 (17... Rc8 18. Bb3 $5 {retains the
tension.} (18. Qxb4 d5 19. Qb7 d4 20. Qxa6 Nd7 $5 $44)) (17... d5 18. Qe2 $5 (
18. Nxd5 Nxd5 19. Qxd5 Qc7 $5 $132 (19... Qxd5 20. Rxd5 Bg5+ 21. Kb1 Bf4 22.
Rd7 $14)) 18... d4 19. Nf5 $13 {/+/=}) 18. h4 $1 (18. Kb1 Bg5 $1 19. Qxd6 Bxe3
20. Qxd7 Bd4 $11 {eases Black's task and solves his opening problems.}) 18...
a5 (18... Bxh4 $2 19. Qh2 g5 20. Nf5 $16) (18... Nb6 19. Bd5 $5 (19. Qxb4 d5
$132) 19... Rb8 20. Be4 $44) 19. g5 Rc8 20. Bd5 Nb6 21. Kb1 Qc7 $6 {White has
a strong bind and it's not so easy to say where Black went wrong. Perhaps this
is the moment and the queen shouldn't stray too far from the kingside.
Possibly a better alternative is} (21... Rc5 22. Rhf1 Kh8 (22... Re8 23. Be4 $5
$44 (23. f4 exf4 24. Rxf4 Nxd5 25. Nxd5 Bf8 $132 {[%cal Yd8a8,Ye8e5]})) 23. f4
exf4 (23... f6 24. g6 $5 hxg6 25. f5 $44) 24. Rxf4 f6 25. Rdf1 $44 (25. g6 hxg6
26. Rg4 Qe8 $1 27. Rdg1 Nxd5 28. Nxd5 Qf7 $11)) 22. Rhf1 {[%cal Yf3f4]} (22.
Rhg1 $143 {[%cal Yg5g6]} Kh8 23. h5 Qd8 24. Qg2 Rc5 $132) 22... Nxd5 (22... Kh8
23. f4 exf4 24. Rxf4 {/\} f6 25. g6 hxg6 26. Rg4 $40 {[%csl Rg6,Rh8]}) (22...
Qc5 23. f4 Nxd5 24. Nxd5 Bd8 25. f5 f6 $5 $14) 23. Nxd5 {[%csl Gd5] The B is
replaced by a N - any minor piece on d5 is a powerhouse!} Qb7 24. f4 f5 {
A natural attempt to curb White's kingside expansion, but it loosens Black's
kingside.} (24... f6 25. g6 $5 h6 26. Ne3 $36 {[%cal Ye3f5]}) (24... exf4 25.
Qxf4 $36 {[%cal Yh4h6,Yg5g6]}) 25. Qe3 e4 (25... Rce8 26. Qh3 {and Black can
sooner or later hardly avoid the stabilising e4 advance.} (26. h5 $5 $36) (26.
fxe5 dxe5 27. Qxe5 Bxg5 28. Qc7 Qxc7 29. Nxc7 Rc8 30. Ne6 Bxh4 $132)) 26. h5
$36 {[%csl Gg5,Rg8,Gh5]} Rc5 27. h6 g6 (27... Rxd5 $2 28. Qb3 $18) (27... Rf7
28. Qb3 $36 {/\} a4 29. Nxe7+ Qxe7 30. Qxa4 $16 {[%csl Rb4,Rd6]}) ({Komodo
initially recommends} 27... gxh6 28. gxh6 Kf7 {, but after} 29. Nxe7 (29. Qd4
Rg8 $13) 29... Kxe7 30. Qd4 Qc6 31. Rg1 $36 {[%csl Rd6,Re7,Rh7] White is on
top even without the Nd5 - Black's K and P are vulnerable.} Rxc2 $2 32. Rg7+
Rf7 33. Qa7+ Qc7 34. Qa8 $1 {[%cal Ra8d5]} Qc4 35. Qb7+ Qc7 36. Qd5 $18) 28.
Qb3 Rf7 29. a4 {A generally useful move, but more energetic and concrete was} (
29. Rf2 {[%cal Yf2d2,Yd5e3]}) ({or} 29. Rd4 $142 $1 $16 {immediately.}) 29...
Bd8 30. Rd4 Kf8 (30... Rc6 $5 31. Rfd1 Qd7 $14 {/\} 32. Ne3 $2 Bb6) 31. Rfd1
Rc6 (31... Rd7 32. Ne3 Be7 33. Nc4 $36 {[%cal Rc4d6,Rc4e5]}) 32. Ne3 $1 Bb6 33.
Nc4 $6 (33. Rxd6 $142 Rxd6 34. Rxd6 Bc7 35. Rd5 $5 {seems simpler} (35. Re6
Bxf4 36. Nd5 Bxg5 37. Qc4 {was pointed out by Ramirez, after} Bxh6 (37... Rd7
38. Qd4 $1 Kf7 39. Rd6 $1 Rxd6 40. Qg7+ $18) 38. Qc5+ Kg8 39. Nf6+ Rxf6 40.
Rxf6 $36 {Black has more than enough material, but his pieces are
uncoordinated.}) {/\} 35... Bxf4 36. Rxa5 Bxg5 37. Rb5 $16) 33... Bxd4 $6 {
[%mdl 64] So misses a good tactical chance} (33... Rxc4 $5 {, when White's
advantage is not as convincing, as it was in the game:} 34. Qxc4 $1 (34. Rxc4
Rd7 $1 $15 {[%csl Rc4][%cal Rd6d5]} (34... d5 $2 35. Rxd5 Qxd5 36. Rc8+ $18))
34... Bxd4 (34... Qc7 35. Qa6 $1 (35. Qxc7 $6 Bxc7 $14) 35... Qb7 36. Qxb7 Rxb7
37. Rxd6 Be3 38. Rf1 $16) 35. Rxd4 Qd7 (35... Qc7 $2 36. Qa6 $1 {[%cal Rd4c4,
Rd4d6]}) (35... Rc7 36. Qe6 Qc6 37. Qf6+ Kg8 38. Qd8+ Kf7 39. c4 $1 {[%cal
Rd4d6]} Ke6 40. Qf6+ Kd7 41. Rd5 $1 $16) 36. Qd5 $36 (36. Qa6 $5)) 34. Nxa5 Qb6
35. Nxc6 Bc5 (35... Qxc6 36. Rxd4 $18 {[%csl Rb4,Rd6,Rf8]}) 36. Qd5 e3 {
Seeking practical chances.} ({Passive defence is disgusting:} 36... Qc7 37. Nd4
$16 (37. a5 Qc8 $16)) 37. a5 Qb5 (37... Qb7 $2 38. Qxc5 $18) ({A more
resilient try was} 37... Qc7 $142 38. a6 (38. c3 $5 b3 $8 (38... bxc3 39. b4
c2+ 40. Kxc2 Bxb4 41. Kd3 $1 $18) 39. a6 $16) 38... Qc8 39. Re1 (39. a7 $5 Qa8
40. Qa2 $16) 39... Qxa6 40. Rxe3 b3 $1 41. Rxb3 $1 Qf1+ 42. Ka2 Qa6+ 43. Ra3 $8
Bxa3 44. bxa3 $16) 38. Nd8 $1 $18 Ra7 (38... Re7 39. Ne6+ Ke8 40. Nd4 Qb7 41.
Nc6 e2 (41... Rf7 42. Qe6+ Kf8 43. Nd8 $18) 42. Re1 Re4 43. a6 Qf7 (43... Qxa6
44. Qg8+ Kd7 45. Nb8+) 44. a7 $5 Bxa7 (44... Qxd5 45. a8=Q+ Kd7 46. Qd8+ Kxc6
47. Qa8+ $18) 45. Qa5 $1 $18 {and White wins a piece with a continuing attack.}
(45. Qxf7+ Kxf7 46. Nxa7 $16)) 39. Ne6+ Ke8 (39... Ke7 40. Nd4 $18 {[%cal
Rd4c6]}) 40. Nd4 $6 {Doesn't squander the advantage, but prolongs the game.} ({
Much simpler was} 40. Nxc5 Qxc5 41. Qg8+ Kd7 42. Qxh7+ Kc6 43. Qxg6 Re7 (43...
e2 $2 44. Qe8+) 44. Qg8 $18 (44. Qh5 e2 45. Re1 $18)) 40... Qxa5 41. Qg8+ Kd7
42. Qxh7+ Kc8 43. Qg8+ Kb7 44. c3 $1 bxc3 (44... Qa4 45. Qb3 Qxb3 46. Nxb3 $18
{is similar to the game.}) 45. Qb3+ Qb6 (45... Qb4 46. bxc3 Qxb3+ 47. Nxb3 $18)
46. Qxb6+ ({Carlsen has had enough excitement, but it was tempting to keep the
queens on board with} 46. Nb5 $18) ({or} 46. Qxc3 $5 {- here Black's king is
still more exposed, than its counterpart.}) 46... Kxb6 (46... Bxb6 {gives
White a pleasant choice:} 47. Ne2 $5 (47. Nb5 $16) (47. bxc3 Bxd4 48. cxd4 Kc6
49. Re1 Re7 50. Kc2 Kd5 51. Kd3 Re4 52. Rxe3 Rxf4 53. Rh3 Rxd4+ 54. Ke2 Re4+
55. Kf2 Re8 56. Rd3+ Kc5 57. Re3 Ra8 58. Re6 Ra2+ 59. Ke3 Ra3+ 60. Kd2 Ra2+ 61.
Kc1 Ra1+ 62. Kb2 Rh1 63. Rxg6 f4 64. Rf6 Rh5 65. Rf8 $18 {[%cal Rg5g6]}) 47...
cxb2 48. Rxd6 Ra1+ 49. Kxb2 Re1 50. Nc1 Bc7 51. Rxg6 Bxf4 52. Nd3 Re2+ 53. Kc3
$18) 47. bxc3 $18 {[%csl Gh6] The powerful o^ makes long-term resistance
futile.} Bxd4 48. Rxd4 $1 Kc6 (48... e2 49. Rxd6+ Kc5 50. Re6 $18) (48... Kc5
49. Kc2 Re7 50. Kd1 e2+ 51. Ke1 Re3 52. Ra4 Rxc3 53. Ra8 Rh3 54. Kxe2 d5 55.
Ra6 Kd4 56. Rxg6 Ke4 57. Rg7 Kxf4 58. h7 $18) 49. Kc2 Ra2+ 50. Kd1 Rf2 51. Ke1
Kd7 52. Ra4 Ke6 53. Ra8 Rh2 54. c4 $5 (54. Rg8 Kd5 55. Re8 $1 $18 (55. Rxg6 $2
Ke4 $132)) 54... Kf7 55. Rb8 $22 Ke6 (55... Rh4 56. Ke2 $18) (55... e2 56. Kd2
$18) 56. Rg8 1-0

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 3rd"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2015.08.28"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2853"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2015.08.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Nb6 7. O-O Be7 8.
d3 O-O 9. a3 Re8 10. b4 Bf8 11. Nd2 Be6 12. Bb2 {A normal version of a
reversed Dragon, though there are no games in the database with this exact
position!} Qd7 13. Nce4 Bh3 {Trading off the dragon bishop is very normal.
Black wastes some time on this operation, but it is more than acceptable.} 14.
Bxh3 (14. b5 Nd4 15. Bxh3 Qxh3 16. a4 {was not to Aronian's liking.}) 14...
Qxh3 15. Qb3 Qd7 16. Nf3 a5 17. b5 Nd4 18. Nxd4 (18. Bxd4 exd4 {gives Black
the ability to pressure a3 (after a4 from Black) and e2, which should give him
enough counterplay.}) 18... exd4 19. a4 Qd5 {Carlsen mentioned he didn't know
what else to do, this leads to a draw after many trades.} 20. Qxd5 Nxd5 21.
Bxd4 f5 22. Nc3 Nxc3 23. Bxc3 Rxe2 {so far forced. White has to take care of
the active rook.} 24. Rfe1 {no Rae8 because a5 is hanging} Rxe1+ 25. Rxe1 Bb4 {
more trades} 26. Rc1 {forced} (26. Bxb4 axb4 {gives Black an obvious edge in
an endgame.}) 26... c6 27. bxc6 bxc6 28. Bxb4 axb4 29. Rxc6 Rxa4 {the game is
very obviously drawn.} 30. Rb6 Ra1+ 31. Kg2 Rd1 32. Rxb4 Rxd3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 3rd"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2015.08.30"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2853"]
[BlackElo "2771"]
[Annotator "Roiz,M"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[EventDate "2015.08.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Be3
Be6 9. Qd3 Nbd7 10. Nd5 O-O {Alexander Grischuk chooses a tricky order of
moves. Now it's hard to suggest anything better than 11.0-0.} ({In case of} 
10... Bxd5 11. exd5 O-O {Black has to deal with a more aggressive approach -}
12. g4 $5) 11. O-O ({After} 11. c4 b5 $1 12. cxb5 axb5 13. O-O Bxd5 14. exd5
Nb6 15. Bxb6 Qxb6 16. Qxb5 Qa7 $44 {Black had an excellent compensation for a
pawn in 1/2 Svidler,P (2672)-Gelfand,B (2692)/Haifa 2000}) 11... Bxd5 12. exd5
Rc8 $5 {Provoking the c2-c4 advancement.} (12... Nc5 {is much more popuar here.
}) 13. c4 ({Black has nothing to worry about after} 13. a4 Nb6 14. Bxb6 Qxb6
15. a5 Qc7 $132) 13... Ne8 {That move is connected with a typical plan of
regrouping the k-side pieces.} (13... a5 14. Kh1 Re8 15. Rad1 Bf8 16. Nd2 g6
17. b3 Bg7 18. a3 h5 19. f3 b6 20. b4 $14 {1-0 Short,N (2645)-Cheparinov,I 
(2713)/Wijk aan Zee 2008}) 14. Qd2 {An exchange of bishops would definitely
suit Black, so Magnus prevents it for a while.} ({Dubious is:} 14. Bg4 $6 e4 $1
15. Qxe4 Nef6 16. Qd4 Nxg4 17. Qxg4 Ne5 18. Qe2 Nxc4 19. Bd4 Bf6 $15 {0-1
Medvegy,Z (2462)-Shariyazdanov,A (2612)/Oberwart 2000/EXT 2001 (51)}) ({
Black gets a comfortable play after} 14. Rac1 Bg5 15. Nd2 Bxe3 16. Qxe3 Nef6
$11 {0-1 Pinter,G (2384)-Seres,L (2444)/Budapest 2000/CBM 079 ext (29)}) 14...
b6 {A double-edged move. Alexander restricts the activity of Nb3, but the
weakness of c6-spot may tell in the long run.} ({Another Najdorf expert
Alexander Areschenko has opted for:} 14... f5 $5 15. f4 g6 16. Na5 (16. Kh1
Nef6 17. fxe5 Ne4 18. Qe1 dxe5 19. Na5 Rb8 20. b4 Bh4 $1 21. g3 f4 $132) 16...
exf4 17. Bxf4 Nef6 $132 {Black had a decent counterplay in 0-1 Hovhannisyan,R 
(2592)-Areshchenko,A (2701)/Martuni 2014}) 15. Rac1 $146 {A natural innovation.
The rook may support he thematic c4-c5 advancement, while the a1-spot is
vacant for the knight's route.} ({The previously played} 15. f4 {should be met
by:} f5 (15... Qc7 16. Rac1 Nc5 (16... Nef6 17. fxe5 dxe5 18. Qe1 Bd6 19. Qh4
Rfe8 20. Kh1 $14) 17. Nxc5 bxc5 18. Bd3 $14 {1-0 Tsiros,F (2147)-Marosi,L 
(2211)/Gyor HUN 2014}) 16. Rae1 a5 $132) ({The saim can be said about} 15. Rae1
a5 (15... g6 16. Bh6 Ng7 17. f4 $14) 16. f4 f5 $1 $132 ({Now} 16... g6 $6 {
looks too passive in view of:} 17. f5 Ng7 18. Bd3 Nxf5 19. Bxf5 gxf5 20. Rxf5
Rxc4 21. Qe2 $36)) 15... a5 ({The more aggressive way of handling the position
was:} 15... f5 16. f3 f4 17. Bf2 Bh4 18. Bd3 g6 $132 {, but Alexander's plan
wasn't based on the f7-f5 advancement.}) 16. Na1 g6 {An original way of
handling the position. As was mentioned before, Black deviates from the usual
f7-f5 advancement in order to keep the f5-spot vacant for the knight.} 17. b4 (
17. Nc2 Ng7 18. Bh6 (18. Bd3 f5 19. f3 f4 20. Bf2 Bh4 $132) 18... Re8 19. g4 f5
$132) 17... Ng7 ({No doubt, the naive} 17... axb4 $6 {would be strongly met by:
} 18. Nc2 $1 f5 19. Bh6 Rf7 20. Nxb4 Nef6 21. Nc6 $14) 18. bxa5 bxa5 ({It was
possible to exchange the powerful dark-squared bishop at cost of a pawn:} 18...
Nf5 $5 19. Bxb6 Nxb6 20. axb6 Qxb6 21. Nc2 Qa7 $44) 19. Bd3 ({After} 19. Nb3 $6
Nf5 20. Nxa5 Nxe3 21. fxe3 Bg5 22. Nc6 Qb6 23. Rc3 Ra8 {White's position is
getting unpleasant from practical point of view - the extra pawn has no much
value here.}) 19... Nc5 20. Bc2 {That retreat gives Black more time for
activating their pieces.} ({Deserved a serious attention} 20. Rb1 $5 Nxd3 21.
Qxd3 Qc7 22. Rfc1 Rb8 (22... Nf5 23. Bb6 Qd7 24. Nb3 $14) 23. Rb5 Nf5 24. a4
Nxe3 25. Qxe3 {The arising complex position contains strategic risk for both
sides, but White's play seems somewhat easier.}) 20... a4 {A consistent
continuation - the Na1 is out of moves now.} ({However, there was no reasons
for rejecting the more aggressive} 20... f5 $5 21. f3 a4 22. Rb1 Bf6 {and
Black is not worse at the very least.}) 21. Rb1 e4 $6 {A dubious pawn
sacrifice. Perhaps, Alexander has overestimated the effect of knight's
appearance on f5.} (21... f5 $142 22. Rb4 (22. Rb5 $6 Nd7 $1 23. Qb4 f4 24. Bc1
f3 $40) 22... Qa5 23. Rd1 Bd8 $132) 22. Bxc5 ({It was possible to postpone
that exchange:} 22. Qe2 $5 f5 (22... Nf5 23. Bxc5 Rxc5 24. Qxe4 $14) (22... Qd7
23. Bxc5 Rxc5 24. Bxe4 $14) 23. Bxc5 Rxc5 24. Bxa4 Bf6 25. Nb3 Rc8 26. g3 $14)
22... Rxc5 23. Bxa4 $6 {Returning the favoure. Now Alexander's 21 move fully
justifies.} ({At the same time, after} 23. Qe2 $1 f5 (23... Qc7 24. Bxa4 Rxc4
25. Bb5 Rc3 26. Qxe4 $14) 24. Bxa4 Ra5 25. Bb5 $14 {it would be not easy to
develop an attack, so Black doesn't have a sufficient compensation for a pawn.}
) 23... Rxc4 24. Bc6 Nf5 25. Qe2 Rc3 26. Qxe4 {Finally White has won a pawn,
but now Black's pieces are much more active than before.} Ra3 27. Qe2 ({
Nothing promises:} 27. Nc2 Rxa2 28. Nb4 Ra3 29. Bb5 Bf6 30. Nc6 Qb6 31. Be2 Qc5
$11) ({Another way to protect the Pa2 was:} 27. Qc4 Bf6 28. Nc2 Rc3 29. Qa4 Be5
$44 {, but Black gets a decent compensation either.}) 27... Bf6 28. Nb3 Qe7 29.
Qxe7 ({White hardly may play for a win with such a passive pieces:} 29. Rfe1
Qa7 30. Nc1 Nd4 31. Qe4 Rb8 32. Rxb8+ Qxb8 33. Qe8+ Qxe8 34. Rxe8+ Kg7 $11)
29... Nxe7 30. Nd2 Rxa2 $11 {The extra pawn is gone, so the position is
completely equal now.} 31. Nc4 (31. Ne4 Be5 32. f4 Bd4+ 33. Kh1 Nf5 $11) 31...
Rd8 32. g4 $6 {An over-ambitious decision. White pushes for a win, but
exposing the king that way is risky.} (32. Rfd1 $142 Kg7 33. g3 $11) 32... Bd4
$1 {Immediately exploiting White's inaccuracy. The bishop is coming to c5,
where it will puts a strong pressure on the Pf2. At the same time, White's
bishop is not doing much.} 33. Rbd1 $6 {One more mistake, which leads to a
loss of pawn.} ({It looks like White shouldn't be able to solve the problems
quite easily after} 33. Rb7 Kf8 34. Kg2 g5 35. Kf3 Ng6 36. Ke4 $1 Rxf2 37. Rxf2
Bxf2 38. h3 $11 {activating all the pieces.}) 33... Bc5 34. Rd2 {It is
necessary to exchange the opponent's active rook.} Rxd2 35. Nxd2 Nxc6 36. dxc6
Rc8 37. Ne4 Rxc6 38. Rd1 {The arising endgame must be very unpleasant for
Magnus, but White still has good drawish chances due to a limited material
ballance.} h6 39. h4 Kf8 40. Kg2 Ke7 41. Rc1 {Preventing Black from advancing
the passer for a while.} Rc8 42. Kf3 Ke6 43. Rc2 Rc7 44. h5 $1 {Correctly
swapping more pawn on the k-side.} (44. Rc1 Bb6 45. Re1 Rc2 $17) 44... gxh5 ({
Comparing to the previous note,} 44... Bb6 $6 {can be strongly met by:} 45. Re2
$1 Bd4 46. g5 $1 hxg5 47. hxg6 fxg6 48. Kg4 {and draw becomes unavoidable.})
45. gxh5 Bb6 {Obviously, sooner or later Black has to unpin the bishop.} 46.
Re2 Bd4 $1 {Alexander manages to find an excellent resourse - the bishop's
transfer to e5 would pose White more problems.} 47. Kg3 ({Unfortunately,} 47.
Ng3+ Be5 48. Ra2 Rc3+ 49. Kg2 {leads to a hopeless rook's ending:} Bxg3 50.
fxg3 Rc5 51. g4 f5 $19) 47... d5 (47... f5 $5 48. Ng5+ Kf6 49. Nh3 Rg7+ 50. Kf3
Be5 $17) 48. Nd2+ Kf5 49. Kg2 (49. Nf3 Bf6 50. Ra2 d4 51. Ra5+ Ke4 52. Nd2+ Kd3
53. Nf3 Kc2 $17) 49... Be5 50. Nf3 Bf6 51. Ra2 Rd7 52. Ne1 {Obviously, White's
only plan is to set-up blockade.} Rc7 $6 ({There was no reason to deviate from:
} 52... Kg4 53. Ra6 Bg7 54. Nd3 Kxh5 55. Kf3 Kg5 $17 {grabbing the second pawn,
though White still in the game due to activity of all the pieces.}) 53. Kf3 Bg5
54. Ra5 Ke5 55. Ke2 {Now it is not easy to make any progress.} Ke4 56. Ra4+ d4
57. f3+ Kd5 58. Ra5+ Kc4 ({Correctly rejecting} 58... Rc5 59. Rxc5+ Kxc5 60. f4
Bf6 61. Kd3 Kd5 62. Nf3 Bg7 63. Nh4 $11) 59. Nd3 {Provoking the exchange of
rooks.} ({Possibly,} 59. Ra4+ $5 {would be a better choice from practical
point of view:} Kc3 60. Ra3+ Kb4 61. Ra8 Re7+ 62. Kd1) 59... Re7+ 60. Re5 Re6
$5 {Alexander is trying to change the static character of position.} ({It
looks like White should be able to achieve a draw after} 60... Kc3 61. Rxe7
Bxe7 62. Ne5 Kc2 63. Nd3 f6 64. Nf4 Bd6 65. Nd3 f5 66. Ne1+ Kc3 67. Nd3 {
and White's knight has enough spots.}) 61. f4 $1 {The only move.} ({White
cannot afford changing the pawn structure:} 61. Rxe6 $2 fxe6 62. Ne5+ (62. f4
Be7 63. Kd2 Kd5 $19) 62... Kc3 63. Nd3 Be7 64. Ne5 Bf6 65. Nd3 Bh4 66. Ne5 Bg3
67. Nd3 e5 68. Nc5 Kc4 69. Nd3 Kd5 $19 {[%csl Rh5][%cal Gd5e6,Ge6f5]}) 61...
Bf6 62. Rxe6 fxe6 {A critical moment.} 63. Nf2 $2 {A decisive mistake.} ({
The precise} 63. Kd2 {would allow Magnus to save a half point:} Kd5 64. Ke2 Bd8
(64... Ke4 65. Nc5+ Kxf4 66. Nxe6+ Kg4 67. Kf2 Kxh5 68. Nxd4 Bxd4+ 69. Kg2 $11)
65. Kf3 Bc7 66. Nf2 Bd6 67. Nd3 $11) 63... Be7 64. Ng4 ({Hopeless was also:} 
64. Nd3 Kc3 65. Nf2 Kc2 66. Nd3 Bf8 67. Ne1+ Kc3 68. Nd3 Bd6 $19) 64... Kc3 65.
f5 ({Or} 65. Kd1 Bf8 66. Nf2 d3 67. Ng4 Kd4 68. Ke1 Ke4 $19) 65... exf5 66.
Nxh6 Kc2 $1 ({White resigns, in view of:} 66... Kc2 67. Nxf5 d3+ 68. Kf3 Bc5
$19 {[%csl Gc5,Rf5][%cal Gd3d2]}) 0-1

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 3rd"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2015.08.31"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2853"]
[BlackElo "2814"]
[Annotator "Wagner,D"]
[PlyCount "190"]
[EventDate "2015.08.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "40/7200:3600+30"]

{The day before Carlsen had lost an unbelievable game against Grischuk. After
losing his objectivity in a completely equal position he had to suffer for a
long time in an ending a pawn down. Nakamura on the other hand was outplayed
by Aronian after unconvincing preparation in a Spanish line.} 1. d4 {[%emt 0:
00:03]} d5 {[%emt 0:00:10] I was following the live commentary where former
World Champion Garry Kasparov joined Yasser Seirawan and Jennifer Shahade in
the commentary room. When asked which opening he would have recommended
Nakamura against Carlsen he immediately responded: King's Indian, of course!} (
1... Nf6 $1 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 $1) 2. c4 {[%emt 0:00:06]} e6 {[%emt 0:00:03]}
3. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:07]} Be7 {[%emt 0:00:04] But instead Nakamura goes for the
solid Queen's Gambit, a decent opening of course, but in the specific
tournament situation I would tend to agree with Kasparov. After his loss on
the previous day it would have been more unpleasant for Carlsen to face
concrete problems in a sharp line, where on top of that it's easier for
Nakamura to unfold his full potential.} 4. Bf4 {[%emt 0:01:23]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:
00:16]} 5. e3 {[%emt 0:00:10]} O-O {[%emt 0:00:29]} 6. a3 $5 {[%emt 0:00:22]
The main point of this line is to prevent 6...Nbd7, so 6...b6 is considered
the right reply now, because a3 is not that useful in the b6-setup.} c5 {
[%emt 0:08:20] A risky choice, because Carlsen has lots of experience in this
line with both colours.} (6... b6 $1) (6... Nbd7 $6 7. Nb5 $1) 7. dxc5 {
[%emt 0:00:11]} Bxc5 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 8. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:06]} Nc6 {[%emt 0:00:
56]} 9. Qc2 {[%emt 0:00:37]} Qa5 {[%emt 0:21:02]} (9... Re8 {was played by
Carlsen himself in his last World Championship match with Anand.} 10. Bg5 Be7
11. Rd1 Qa5 12. Bd3 h6 13. Bh4 dxc4 14. Bxc4 a6 15. O-O b5 16. Ba2 Bb7 17. Bb1
Rad8 18. Bxf6 Bxf6 19. Ne4 Be7 20. Nc5 Bxc5 21. Qxc5 b4 $11 {1/2 (41)-1/2 (41)
Anand, V (2792)-Carlsen,M (2863) Sochi 2014}) 10. Rd1 {[%emt 0:00:13]} Be7 {
[%emt 0:01:43]} 11. Be2 {[%emt 0:00:22]} Ne4 {[%emt 0:02:11] I wonder what
went wrong with Nakamura's preparation, because this line is considered
dubious already for quite a long time.} (11... dxc4 12. Bxc4 Nh5 {is another
line, where White gets a small plus.}) 12. cxd5 {[%emt 0:01:39]} Nxc3 {[%emt 0:
00:16]} 13. Qxc3 {[%emt 0:00:07]} (13. bxc3 $5 {seems also pleasant for White.}
exd5 14. O-O Bf6 15. c4 Be6 16. Bg5 dxc4 17. Bxf6 gxf6 18. Bxc4 Qc5 19. Rc1
Qxc4 20. Qxc4 Bxc4 21. Rxc4 $16 {1-0 (37) Giri,A (2752)-Kasimdzhanov,R (2700)
Rosmalen 2014}) 13... Qxc3+ {[%emt 0:00:15]} 14. bxc3 {[%emt 0:00:03]} exd5 {
[%emt 0:00:10]} 15. Rxd5 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Bxa3 {[%emt 0:04:29]} 16. Nd4 $1 {
[%emt 0:00:52] A strong centralization move} Nxd4 {[%emt 0:03:50]} (16... a5 {
is the other move that has been played here.} 17. Rb5 (17. Kd2 $5 a4 18. Kc2
Be7 19. Bf3 $14) 17... a4 18. Kd2 Be7 19. Ra1 Ra7 20. Bg5 f6 21. Bf4 Rd8 22.
Bc7 Re8 23. Bb6 Ra8 24. Bc4+ Kf8 25. Ne6+ Bxe6 26. Bxe6 Bd6 27. Bd5 $16 {
1-0 (41) Sokolov,I (2657)-Meier,G (2608) Budva 2009}) 17. exd4 {[%emt 0:00:13]}
b6 {[%emt 0:05:32]} 18. Kd2 $14 {[%emt 0:03:18] It's time to make a cut and
evaluate the position that has arisen. White has a protected passed pawn in
the centre, while Black has one on the a-file. The White king is centralized
and his other pieces are also active. Black on the other hand has an awkward
piece placement. Especially his bishops are struggling to find good spots, as
will also be demonstrated by the game later on. All in all White has a pretty
decent and riskfree advantage, normally a dream position for our World
Champion.} Be6 {[%emt 0:10:29]} 19. Rb5 {[%emt 0:00:14]} Bd7 {[%emt 0:00:11]}
20. Rb3 {[%emt 0:03:19]} Be7 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 21. Bf3 {[%emt 0:05:04]} Ba4 {
[%emt 0:06:33] The other bishop has emerged to the edge of the board.} (21...
Rac8 22. Ra1 $18 {loses already a pawn!}) 22. Rb2 {[%emt 0:00:49]} Rad8 {
[%emt 0:00:04]} 23. Ra1 {[%emt 0:07:42]} b5 {[%emt 0:00:06] The only way to
prevent losing material, but now Black has built a cage for his own bishop.}
24. Bc6 {[%emt 0:12:46]} a6 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 25. Bb7 {[%emt 0:09:42]} Bd6 {
[%emt 0:00:22]} 26. Be3 {[%emt 0:00:23]} a5 {[%emt 0:01:30]} 27. Bc6 {[%emt 0:
00:37] logical and efficient play so far. The weak pawns are attacked and
become even weaker by advancing.} Rb8 {[%emt 0:01:07]} 28. d5 $18 {[%emt 0:00:
44]} Rfd8 {[%emt 0:07:30]} (28... Be5 {[%cal Gb5b4]} 29. f4 Bf6 30. Kd3 $18 {
is no better.}) 29. Kd3 {[%emt 0:00:34] White is in full control!} Bf8 {
[%emt 0:03:41]} 30. Bd4 {[%emt 0:01:35]} f6 {[%emt 0:01:47]} 31. Ke4 {[%emt 0:
07:14]} Bd6 {[%emt 0:09:18]} 32. c4 $6 {[%emt 0:01:49] This is not the kind of
technical play to which we are accustomed from Magnus. Although this is
winning there was no need to hurry.} ({Instead the position could have been
improved slowly but surely with e.g.} 32. g3 $5 $18 {[%cal Gf2f4] intending to
improve the position to the maximum, before c4 is carried out. Black can't do
anything.}) 32... Bb4 {[%emt 0:00:33]} 33. Ba7 {[%emt 0:04:40]} f5+ $1 {
[%emt 0:06:37] Nakamura is always capable of finding some tricks to create
problems for his opponent.} 34. Kf3 {[%emt 0:01:41]} Rbc8 {[%emt 0:02:42]} 35.
cxb5 {[%emt 0:05:04]} Bxb5 {[%emt 0:00:12]} 36. Bxb5 {[%emt 0:00:08]} Bc3 {
[%emt 0:00:04]} 37. Rab1 {[%emt 0:01:20]} (37. Rba2 Bxa1 38. Rxa1 Rxd5 39. Rxa5
$1 Kf8 40. Bb6 Rb8 41. Bc4 Rxa5 42. Bxa5 $18 {should be winning for White, but
there is still some technical work ahead of him. I give a sample line to
illustrate how play may continue. White has to display some accuracy to break
down Black's defence.} g6 43. Bd2 Kg7 44. Bc3+ Kf8 45. Ke3 Rc8 46. Kd4 Re8 47.
g3 Kg7 48. h4 Kh6 49. Bb5 Re6 50. Kd5 Re7 51. Kd6 Rb7 (51... Re4 52. f3 $1 $18
{pretty domination!}) 52. Be2 Ra7 53. Bd4 Ra4 54. Be3+ Kg7 55. Bb5 Re4 56. Bc6
Rb4 57. Ke7 Rc4 58. Bd5 Ra4 59. Bd2 Ra3 60. Bb4 Ra7+ 61. Ke8 h5 (61... Ra6 62.
Bc3+ Kh6 63. Kf8 $18) 62. Bc3+ Kh6 63. Kf8 Rc7 64. Bd4 Rc8+ 65. Kf7 Kh7 66. Be3
Rc3 67. Kf6 Ra3 68. Kg5 Ra6 69. Bf4 Rb6 70. Bf7 Kg7 71. Bc4 Kh7 72. Be5 Rb7 73.
f3 Ra7 74. Kf6 Kh6 (74... Rb7 75. Bf7 Rb6+ 76. Kg5 $18) 75. Bc3 Rc7 76. Bd2+
Kh7 77. Bf7 Rc6+ 78. Kg5 Kg7 (78... f4 79. Bxf4 (79. g4 $5 $18) 79... Kg7 80.
Bxg6 Rxg6+ 81. Kxh5 $18) 79. Be8 $18 Ra6 80. Bc3+ Kh7 81. Bf6 $18) 37... Bxb2 {
[%emt 0:00:05]} 38. Rxb2 {[%emt 0:00:04]} Rxd5 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 39. Be3 $2 {
[%emt 0:00:40] This doesn't make any sense. Maybe Magnus just blundered 39...
Rb8, because afterwards I saw him shaking his head in frustration on the
livestream.} (39. Ba4 $1 $18 {It's obvious that White should prevent a rook
exchange.} Rc3+ 40. Ke2 Re5+ 41. Kd2 Rc8 42. Rb7 Kf8 43. Be3 Rc4 44. Bb3 Rb4
45. Rxb4 axb4 46. Kd3 $18) 39... Rb8 {[%emt 0:01:21]} 40. Bc4 {[%emt 0:00:00]}
Rxb2 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 41. Bxd5+ {[%emt 0:00:12]} Kh8 {[%emt 0:00:00] White
could have achieved the same position without the black a-pawn! Although he
has still winning chances this makes quite a huge difference. Especially from
a psychological point of view White's chances of success have dramatically
decreased.} 42. Bd4 {[%emt 0:05:06]} Rb1 {[%emt 0:05:54]} 43. Ke2 {[%emt 0:12:
22]} a4 {[%emt 0:02:20]} 44. g3 {[%emt 0:00:56]} a3 {[%emt 0:08:56]} 45. Kd2 {
[%emt 0:01:21]} h5 {[%emt 0:02:29]} 46. h4 {[%emt 0:06:57]} Kh7 {[%emt 0:01:18]
} 47. Bc4 {[%emt 0:09:31]} g6 {[%emt 0:09:32]} 48. Kc2 {[%emt 0:04:30]} Re1 {
[%emt 0:05:08]} (48... Rb8 $5 {It's not clear how White makes progress against
this setup either. The rook cuts the king from the a-pawn.}) 49. Be3 {[%emt 0:
02:43]} (49. Kb3 $2 a2 $19) (49. Bc5 f4 $1 50. Bxa3 (50. gxf4 Re4) 50... fxg3
51. fxg3 Re8 {is like the game.}) 49... f4 $1 {[%emt 0:00:33] a good pawn
exchange!} 50. Bxf4 {[%emt 0:07:23]} (50. gxf4 Rh1 $132) 50... a2 {[%emt 0:00:
06]} 51. Bxa2 {[%emt 0:00:06]} Re2+ {[%emt 0:00:02]} 52. Kb3 {[%emt 0:00:26]}
Rxf2 {[%emt 0:00:04] This is already a convincing fortress! A major problem
for White is that Black sometimes has the possibility to sacfrice his rook for
the dark-squared bishop if he manages to exchange g-pawns afterwards.} 53. Bb1
{[%emt 0:00:07]} Re2 {[%emt 0:01:01]} 54. Kc4 {[%emt 0:00:09]} Kg7 {[%emt 0:00:
27]} 55. Kd5 {[%emt 0:00:24]} Re1 {[%emt 0:04:59]} 56. Bc2 {[%emt 0:01:14]} Re2
{[%emt 0:01:53]} 57. Bd3 {[%emt 0:00:46]} Re1 {[%emt 0:00:47]} 58. Be4 {
[%emt 0:02:03]} (58. Be5+ Kh7 59. Ke6 {White cannot make progress this way,
because Black can solve his problems radically:} Kh6 $1 60. Kf6 Rxe5 $1 61.
Kxe5 g5 $1 $11 62. hxg5+ Kxg5 63. Be2 h4 64. g4 h3 $11) 58... Rd1+ {[%emt 0:01:
31]} 59. Ke5 {[%emt 0:00:37]} Re1 {[%emt 0:00:35]} 60. Bd2 {[%emt 0:01:04]} Re2
{[%emt 0:02:01]} 61. Bc3 {[%emt 0:01:04]} Kh6 {[%emt 0:01:01]} 62. Bb4 {
[%emt 0:01:57]} Rf2 {[%emt 0:01:25] White is unable to cross the f-file.} 63.
Bc5 {[%emt 0:00:24]} Rf1 {[%emt 0:00:18]} 64. Bb4 {[%emt 0:01:29]} Rf2 {
[%emt 0:01:16]} 65. Be7 {[%emt 0:02:02]} Rf1 {[%emt 0:01:21]} 66. Bf6 {[%emt 0:
04:15]} Rg1 {[%emt 0:01:52]} 67. Bg5+ {[%emt 0:02:29]} Kg7 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 68.
Bf4 {[%emt 0:00:45]} Re1 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 69. Kd5 {[%emt 0:00:09]} Rd1+ {
[%emt 0:01:22]} 70. Ke6 {[%emt 0:00:44]} Re1 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 71. Ke5 {[%emt 0:
00:07] I think about here Nakamura claimed a draw on a three-fold-repetition.
The position has indeed been reached for a third time, but while now it's
Black´s turn to move, in the earlier versions it was White to move. So after
adding some extra time to Magnus' clock the game continued.} Re2 {[%emt 0:00:
33]} 72. Kd5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Re1 {[%emt 0:01:02]} 73. Bd3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Kh7
{[%emt 0:02:41]} 74. Kd4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Kg7 {[%emt 0:00:19]} 75. Be3 {
[%emt 0:00:00]} Ra1 {[%emt 0:03:14]} 76. Ke4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Ra4+ {[%emt 0:03:
16]} 77. Kf3 {[%emt 0:00:03]} Ra3 {[%emt 0:00:34]} 78. Bb5 {[%emt 0:00:24]} Rb3
{[%emt 0:00:23]} 79. Be8 {[%emt 0:00:10]} Rb1 {[%emt 0:00:36]} 80. Bc6 {
[%emt 0:02:12]} Rb4 {[%emt 0:01:10]} 81. Bd2 {[%emt 0:02:24]} Rb6 {[%emt 0:00:
24]} 82. Bc3+ {[%emt 0:00:20]} Kh6 {[%emt 0:00:14]} 83. Bd5 {[%emt 0:00:06]}
Rb1 {[%emt 0:00:58]} 84. Kf4 {[%emt 0:01:26]} Rf1+ {[%emt 0:02:44]} 85. Ke5 {
[%emt 0:00:08]} Rg1 {[%emt 0:04:57]} 86. Bd2+ {[%emt 0:04:47]} Kg7 {[%emt 0:00:
01]} 87. Bf4 {[%emt 0:00:13]} Re1+ {[%emt 0:00:23]} 88. Kd6 {[%emt 0:00:20]}
Kf6 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 89. Bf3 {[%emt 0:04:34] This allows Black to end his
suffering:} (89. Bc6 Rd1+ $11) 89... Kf5 $1 {[%emt 0:00:55]} 90. Kd5 {[%emt 0:
00:08]} Rf1 {[%emt 0:00:31]} 91. Be4+ {[%emt 0:01:04]} Kg4 {[%emt 0:00:50]} 92.
Bxg6 {[%emt 0:00:35]} Rxf4 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 93. gxf4 {[%emt 0:00:08]} Kxf4 {
[%emt 0:00:03]} 94. Bxh5 {[%emt 0:00:17]} Kg3 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 95. Bd1 {
[%emt 0:00:07]} Kxh4 {Very tenacious defence by Nakamura and another
disappointment for Carlsen. In my opinion it's only a matter of time, till
Carlsen finds back his form. In an interview during this game Garry Kasparov
was asked whom he saw as the biggest threat to Carlsen recently. His answer
was telling: Magnus Carlsen!} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 3rd"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2015.09.01"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2816"]
[BlackElo "2853"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2015.08.23"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. h3 h5 10. Nc3 Be7 11. Rd1+ Ke8 12. Ne2 Nh4 13. Nxh4 Bxh4 {
Both players took a long time to get to this position, but it had all been
played before.} 14. f3 Bf5 15. Nd4 (15. c3 Bc2 16. Rd2 Bf5 17. g4 Be6 {was
fine for Black in Leko-Radjabov, 2014. The Azeri won that game in the long run.
}) 15... Bg6 16. Bf4 Be7 17. g4 {Anand mentioned that he had looked at this
idea with f3 and g4, but must have botched it up at some point.} Rd8 18. Kg2
hxg4 19. hxg4 Bc5 20. c3 Bxd4 21. Rxd4 Rxd4 22. cxd4 Ke7 {Whtie retains some
chances of creating an advantage if he can push f4-f5, but it looks difficult
to achieve... and when it does, still the advantage is not that clear.} 23. Rc1
Ke6 24. Be3 f6 {Now the draw is obvious. The structural advantage is
meaningless with the opposite colored bishops on the board.} 25. exf6 gxf6 26.
Bd2 Rd8 27. Bc3 Kf7 28. Kg3 Re8 29. Rh1 Bd3 30. Re1 Rxe1 31. Bxe1 Bc4 32. a3 b6
33. Kf4 a5 34. Ke3 a4 35. Bg3 b5 36. Bxc7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Vienna sim blindfold"]
[Site "Vienna"]
[Date "2015.10.06"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Schewe, Joerg"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2015.10.06"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "AUT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 Bd6 6. c3 g6 7. O-O O-O 8. Bg5
h6 9. Bxh6 Nxe4 10. dxe4 Qf6 11. Bb3 Bc5 12. Bxf8 Kxf8 13. Nbd2 d6 14. h4 Bg4
15. Bd5 Rd8 16. b4 Bb6 17. a4 a5 18. b5 Rd7 19. bxc6 bxc6 20. Bxc6 Rd8 21. Bd5
Kg7 22. Nc4 c5 23. Nxb6 Rf8 24. Nc4 Qf4 25. Rb1 Kh6 26. Rb6 Rd8 27. Rxd6 Rxd6
28. Nxd6 Kg7 29. Nxf7 Qxf7 30. Bxf7 Kxf7 31. Nxe5+ Kf6 32. Nxg4+ Ke6 33. Qd5+
Ke7 34. e5 c4 35. Qd6+ Kf7 36. Qd7+ Kg8 37. e6 g5 38. Qf7+ Kh8 39. Nf6 gxh4 40.
Qg8# 1-0

[Event "Vienna sim blindfold"]
[Site "Vienna"]
[Date "2015.10.06"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Rekola, Kimmo"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[PlyCount "30"]
[EventDate "2015.10.06"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "AUT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bd2 O-O 7. e4 Nxc3 8.
bxc3 Be7 9. Bd3 c5 10. O-O Nd7 11. e5 f5 12. exf6 Nxf6 13. Qe2 cxd4 14. cxd4
Qd6 15. Rfe1 Bd7 0-1

[Event "Vienna sim blindfold"]
[Site "Vienna"]
[Date "2015.10.06"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Goldman, Bjoern"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A15"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[PlyCount "36"]
[EventDate "2015.10.06"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "AUT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d6 4. Nf3 g6 5. O-O Nc6 6. d4 Bg7 7. d5 Nb4 8. Qa4+
Bd7 9. Qxb4 b6 10. Qb3 O-O 11. e4 Qe8 12. Qc2 Rb8 13. Re1 Qc8 14. e5 Ne8 15.
exd6 cxd6 16. dxe6 Bxe6 17. b3 h6 18. Bb2 Nf6 0-1

[Event "Vienna sim blindfold"]
[Site "Vienna"]
[Date "2015.10.06"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Prevezer, Mark"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E10"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2015.10.06"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "AUT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 Nc6 3. d4 e6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. c4 d6 7. Nc3 Nd7 8. e3
f5 9. d5 Ncb8 10. Nd4 a6 11. Nxe6 Qe8 12. Nxc7 Qd8 13. Nxa8 b6 14. e4 Bb7 15.
Nxb6 Qxb6 16. exf5 Nf6 17. Re1 Bd8 18. Be3 Qc7 19. Ne4 Nxe4 20. Bxe4 Nd7 21.
Bd4 Nf6 22. Bd3 Qf7 23. Re6 Ne8 24. Qe2 Nc7 25. Re1 Nxe6 26. fxe6 Qe7 27. Qh5
h6 28. Qg6 Rf6 29. Qh7+ Kf8 30. Qh8# 1-0

[Event "Vienna sim blindfold"]
[Site "Vienna"]
[Date "2015.10.06"]
[Round "1.5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Riley, Jonathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A25"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2015.10.06"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "AUT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. g3 e5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Bg2 Bc5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. e3 O-O 6. Nge2 d6 7. O-O Re8 8. a3
Bg4 9. b4 Bxe2 10. Qxe2 Bb6 11. f4 exf4 12. Rxf4 a6 13. Bb2 d5 14. cxd5 Nxd5
15. Nxd5 Qd7 16. Nf6+ gxf6 17. Qg4+ Qxg4 18. Rxg4+ Kf8 19. Bxf6 Re6 20. Rf1
Bxe3+ 21. dxe3 Rxe3 22. Rgf4 Rae8 23. Bg5 R8e6 24. Rxf7+ Ke8 25. Rf8+ Kd7 26.
Rd1+ Rd6 27. Rxd6+ cxd6 28. Bxe3 a5 29. b5 b6 30. bxc6+ Kc7 31. Rf7+ Kc8 32.
Bh3+ Kb8 33. c7+ Kb7 34. c8=Q# 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.10"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2596"]
[BlackElo "2850"]
[PlyCount "159"]
[EventDate "2015.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e4 Bb4 5. d3 d6 6. a3 Bc5 7. b4 Bb6 8. Na4
Bg4 9. Nxb6 axb6 10. Bb2 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Nd7 12. Qe3 Qf6 13. Be2 Nf8 14. Bg4 h5
15. Bf5 g6 16. Bh3 g5 17. Bf5 Ne6 18. Bxe6 fxe6 19. O-O O-O 20. f3 Nd4 21. Bxd4
exd4 22. Qe2 e5 23. a4 Qf4 24. g3 Qe3+ 25. Qxe3 dxe3 26. Kg2 g4 27. fxg4 hxg4
28. Rxf8+ Rxf8 29. Ra2 Kg7 30. Re2 Ra8 31. Ra2 c6 32. Kf1 Rh8 33. Kg2 Kf6 34.
b5 Ke6 35. Kf1 d5 36. bxc6 dxc4 37. dxc4 bxc6 38. c5 bxc5 39. a5 c4 40. a6 Kd6
41. a7 Ra8 42. Ke2 Kc5 43. Kxe3 Kb6 44. Rb2+ Kxa7 45. Rb4 Rf8 46. Rxc4 Kb6 47.
Rb4+ Kc5 48. Rb7 Rf3+ 49. Ke2 Kd4 50. Rb4+ Kc5 51. Rb7 Ra3 52. Rg7 Ra2+ 53. Kd3
Rxh2 54. Rxg4 Ra2 55. Rg6 Ra3+ 56. Kd2 Ra6 57. Kc3 Ra3+ 58. Kd2 Kd4 59. Rxc6
Rxg3 60. Ke2 Ra3 61. Rh6 Re3+ 62. Kd2 Rf3 63. Ke2 Rf4 64. Rd6+ Kxe4 65. Ra6 Kf5
66. Ke3 Rh4 67. Ra8 Rh3+ 68. Ke2 Kf4 69. Ra7 Rb3 70. Rh7 Rb2+ 71. Ke1 Rg2 72.
Ra7 e4 73. Ra3 Rg3 74. Rxg3 Kxg3 75. Ke2 Kf4 76. Kf2 e3+ 77. Ke2 Ke4 78. Ke1
Kf3 79. Kf1 e2+ 80. Ke1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.10"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wagner, Dennis"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[BlackElo "2575"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2015.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 d5 3. e3 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nd2 cxd4 6. exd4 Bf5 7. Qb3 Qc8 8.
Ngf3 h6 9. Ne5 g5 10. Bg3 Bg7 11. Be2 O-O 12. O-O e6 13. Rae1 Ne4 14. Nxe4 Bxe4
15. Nd3 Bh7 16. Qd1 Ne7 17. Be5 f6 18. Bd6 Re8 19. Bh5 Bg6 20. Bxe7 Bxh5 21.
Qxh5 Rxe7 22. f4 Qe8 23. Qf3 f5 24. fxg5 hxg5 25. g4 f4 26. h4 Qg6 27. h5 Qf7
28. Re2 Rae8 29. Rfe1 Kh7 30. Kf1 Kh6 31. a4 Bf6 32. a5 Qh7 33. a6 b6 34. Nb4
Qf7 35. Qd3 Kg7 36. Kf2 Rc8 37. Kf3 Rc4 38. Qg6+ Qxg6 39. hxg6 Bxd4 40. Rxe6
Rxe6 41. Rxe6 Bc5 42. Nxd5 Ra4 43. b4 Bf8 44. Rf6 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.10"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Vallejo Pons, Francisco"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2684"]
[BlackElo "2850"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2015.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. c4 c6 12. Nc3 b4 13. Na4 c5 14. d5 Re8 15. a3 a5
16. Bc2 Nf8 17. b3 Ng6 18. Nb2 Bd7 19. Be3 h6 20. Ra2 Nh7 21. Qd2 Ng5 22. Nxg5
Bxg5 23. axb4 Bxe3 24. Qxe3 axb4 25. Rea1 Rxa2 26. Rxa2 Nf4 27. Nd3 Qg5 28.
Nxf4 exf4 29. Qd3 Qe5 30. Qd1 Kf8 31. Kf1 Bc8 32. f3 Qg5 33. Qa1 Qg3 34. Bd1 h5
35. Ra7 h4 36. Qa5 $2 {[#]Gestattet Schwarz einen taktischen Schlag. Notwendig
war} (36. Qa4 {Spielt Schwarz dann wie in der Partie} Bxh3 37. gxh3 Qxh3+ 38.
Ke1 Qg3+ 39. Kd2 h3 {folgt} 40. Qd7 {und nach} Qg6 {hängt der Bauer auf h3.})
36... Bxh3 37. gxh3 Qxh3+ 38. Ke1 Qg3+ 39. Kd2 h3 {Die Idee des Läuferopfers:
Schwarz läuft mit seinem h-Bauern durch. Und gegen diesen Vormarsch ist Weiß
machtlos.} 40. Qc7 Qg6 41. Bc2 h2 42. e5 Qg2+ 43. Kc1 h1=Q+ 44. Kb2 Qh5 45.
Qxd6+ Kg8 46. Qe7 {Ein letzter Versuch, aber...} Qxc2+ $1 47. Kxc2 Rxe7 48. Ra1
0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.10"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bruzon Batista, Lazaro"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D36"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[BlackElo "2659"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2015.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6 6. Qc2 Na6 7. a3 Nc7 8. e3
Be7 9. Bd3 g6 10. Nf3 Ne6 11. Bh4 O-O 12. O-O Ng7 13. b4 a6 14. Na4 Bf5 15. Nc5
Ra7 16. a4 Bxd3 17. Nxd3 Nf5 18. Bxf6 Bxf6 19. b5 cxb5 20. axb5 a5 21. Rfc1 b6
22. Qb3 Ne7 23. Nb4 Ra8 24. Nc6 Qd6 25. Nxe7+ Bxe7 26. Rc6 Qd8 27. g3 Kg7 28.
h4 Re8 29. Ne5 Bf8 30. h5 Ra7 31. Kg2 Kg8 32. Ng4 Bg7 33. h6 f5 34. Nh2 Bxh6
35. Nf3 Bg7 36. Ne1 g5 37. Nd3 Rf7 38. Rac1 Qd7 39. Qd1 f4 40. gxf4 gxf4 41.
Nxf4 Qf5 42. Rc7 Rxc7 43. Rxc7 Bf8 44. Qf3 Rd8 45. Rc6 Rd6 46. Rc7 a4 47. Ra7
a3 48. Qg3+ Kh8 49. Qh3 Qe4+ 50. Qf3 Qf5 51. Ra8 Rf6 52. Qh3 Qe4+ 53. Kg3 Rf7
54. Qh5 Rf5 55. Qh6 Kg8 56. Qe6+ Qxe6 57. Nxe6 Rf6 58. Nxf8 Rxf8 59. Rxa3 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.10"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Kryvoruchko, Yuriy"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2710"]
[BlackElo "2850"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2015.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 a6 6. O-O d6 7. Nbd2 Ba7 8. Bb3
Be6 9. Bxe6 fxe6 10. Qb3 Qc8 11. Nc4 O-O 12. Be3 b5 13. Ncd2 Na5 14. Qc2 Bxe3
15. fxe3 c5 16. a4 h6 17. h3 Qb7 18. axb5 axb5 19. Ra2 Nc6 20. Rfa1 Rxa2 21.
Rxa2 d5 22. exd5 exd5 23. e4 d4 24. cxd4 c4 25. Ra1 Nb4 26. Qc3 Nxd3 27. Nxc4
Qxe4 28. Ncxe5 Qe3+ 29. Kh2 Nxe5 30. Nxe5 Qxc3 31. bxc3 Nd5 32. Rc1 Rf2 33. c4
bxc4 34. Nxc4 Rf4 35. Rd1 Nc3 36. Rd2 Nb5 37. Kg3 Rxd4 38. Rxd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.11"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[BlackElo "2661"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2015.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. b3 c5 6. Nf3 cxd4 7. exd4 Bb4 8. Bd2
dxc4 9. Bxc4 O-O 10. O-O Nc6 11. a3 Bxc3 12. Bxc3 b6 13. Qe2 Bb7 14. Rfd1 Ne7
15. Ne5 Nfd5 16. Bb2 Ng6 17. Nxg6 hxg6 18. Qe5 Rc8 19. a4 Qd7 20. Rac1 Rfd8 21.
h3 Qe7 22. Re1 Qb4 23. h4 a6 24. Ra1 Qe7 25. h5 gxh5 26. Qxh5 Qf6 27. Qe5 Qg6
28. f3 Nb4 29. Rac1 Bxf3 30. Qh2 Rxc4 31. Rxc4 Nd3 32. Rb1 Bd5 33. Rc2 Nf4 34.
Rbc1 Qe4 35. Kh1 Qe3 36. Qh4 f6 37. Rc8 Rxc8 38. Rxc8+ Kf7 39. Rc7+ Kg8 40.
Rc8+ Kf7 41. Rc7+ Kg8 42. Rc8+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.11"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Wojtaszek, Radoslaw"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A90"]
[WhiteElo "2734"]
[BlackElo "2850"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2015.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 f5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 c6 5. Nd2 d5 6. Nh3 Bd6 7. Qc2 O-O 8. Nf3 a5
9. O-O Ne4 10. Nf4 Qe7 11. Nd3 Bd7 12. Bf4 Be8 13. Bxd6 Nxd6 14. c5 Nf7 15. Qc3
Nd7 16. a4 g5 17. Rab1 g4 18. Nfe5 Nfxe5 19. dxe5 f4 20. Nxf4 Nxc5 21. Qa3 Rf7
22. h3 Nd7 23. Qc3 Qg5 24. Nd3 gxh3 25. Bxh3 Re7 26. b4 Bg6 27. bxa5 Bxd3 28.
exd3 Nxe5 29. d4 Nc4 30. Rfe1 Rae8 31. f4 Qh6 32. Kh2 Rg7 33. Re2 Rge7 34. Rbe1
Nd6 35. Re5 Nc4 36. R5e2 Qf6 37. Kg2 h5 38. Qf3 Qh6 39. Kh2 Kf7 40. Kh1 Qh8 41.
Kh2 h4 42. gxh4 Qxh4 43. Rg1 Rh8 44. f5 Nd6 45. fxe6+ Ke8 46. Rg4 Qh6 47. Reg2
Rxe6 48. Rg7 Rf6 49. Qg4 Qf4+ 50. Qxf4 Rxf4 51. a6 bxa6 52. R2g6 Nf5 53. Rc7
Rfh4 54. Re6+ Kd8 55. Rexc6 Rxh3+ 56. Kg2 Rg3+ 57. Kf2 Rh2+ 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.11"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[BlackElo "2634"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2015.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bg5 Bg7 4. Nbd2 d6 5. c3 h6 6. Bh4 g5 7. Bg3 Nh5 8. e4
Nxg3 9. hxg3 c5 10. dxc5 dxc5 11. Bc4 Qb6 12. Rb1 Be6 13. O-O Nd7 14. Bd5 Bg4
15. Nc4 Qc7 16. Qb3 O-O-O 17. Na5 b6 18. Nc6 e6 19. Nxd8 Rxd8 20. Bc4 Bxf3 21.
gxf3 Ne5 22. Kg2 h5 23. Rbd1 Rh8 24. Be2 h4 25. Rh1 Kb8 26. Qc2 Qc6 27. Qd2 g4
28. Rxh4 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.11"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2705"]
[BlackElo "2850"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2015.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nxc6 Qf6 6. Qf3 dxc6 7. Nc3 Be6
8. a3 O-O-O 9. Be3 Bxe3 10. Qxe3 Kb8 11. f4 Qe7 12. Bd3 g5 13. fxg5 h6 14. gxh6
Nxh6 15. O-O-O Ng4 16. Qf4 Qd6 17. e5 Nxe5 18. Qe4 Bd5 19. Nxd5 cxd5 20. Qe1
Rxh2 21. Rxh2 Nxd3+ 22. Rxd3 Qxh2 23. Rxd5 Kc8 24. Rxd8+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.11"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[BlackElo "2738"]
[Annotator "Schulz,Andre"]
[PlyCount "139"]
[EventDate "2015.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. e3 d6 5. h3 O-O 6. Be2 Nfd7 7. Bh2 e5 8. Nc3
Nc6 9. O-O Re8 10. Re1 a6 11. a4 b6 12. Bc4 Bb7 13. Bd5 Rb8 14. dxe5 dxe5 15.
Qe2 Qe7 16. Rad1 Nc5 17. Qc4 a5 18. Nb5 Nd8 19. Bxb7 Ndxb7 20. Na7 Qe6 21. Qxe6
Rxe6 22. b3 f6 23. Nb5 c6 24. Nc3 Nd6 25. Nd2 Bf8 26. f3 Ree8 27. Bg3 Kf7 28.
Bf2 Red8 29. Kf1 Na6 30. Ke2 Be7 31. e4 Nb4 32. Rc1 Ke6 33. Nd1 Bf8 34. Be3 Rd7
35. c3 Na6 36. Nb2 b5 37. Ra1 Nb7 38. b4 Nc7 39. Rec1 Kf7 40. axb5 Nxb5 41.
bxa5 Ba3 {[#]} 42. Rxa3 (42. Rc2 {gefiel Weiß nun nicht:} Bxb2 43. Rxb2 Nxa5 {
und man kann wegen Sc3 nicht auf a5 nehmen. Nach} 44. Kf2 {hängt der Sa5 aber
wirklich und die Fesselung auf der b-Linie muss bedient werden.} Nb7 45. c4
N5d6 46. Rb6 $14) 42... Nxa3 43. a6 {Vorpreschende Randbauern werden ja
neuerdings "Carlsen-Bauern" genannt. der Freibauer wiegt die Qualität auf.}
Nd6 44. Nd3 Ndc4 45. Nxc4 Nxc4 46. Bc5 Rbd8 47. Rd1 Ra8 48. Ra1 Rad8 49. Nb4
Rd2+ 50. Kf1 Rd1+ 51. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 52. Ke2 Ra1 {[#]} 53. a7 {Fast ist der Bauer
schon auf der Grundreihe angekommen.} (53. Kd3 $5 Nb2+ 54. Kc2 Na4 55. Bf2 c5
56. a7 Nxc3 57. Kxc3 Rxa7 58. Bxc5 $16) 53... Ke6 54. Nxc6 Nd6 55. Kd3 Nc8 ({
Besser war} 55... Kd7) 56. Kc4 Kd7 57. Kb5 Kc7 {[#]} 58. Na5 {Nun droht a8D.
Was tun?} Rb1+ 59. Kc4 (59. Ka6 Nb6 60. Bb4 Na8 {und es geht nicht weiter.})
59... Nxa7 60. Bxa7 Ra1 61. Kb5 Rb1+ 62. Ka6 Rb2 {[#] Die weißen Truppen sind
nun auf der a-Linie etwas abgeklemmt. Und einige Bauern am Königsflügel
werden fallen. Aber Weiß hat ja noch einen Freibauern.} 63. c4 Rxg2 64. Bb6+
Kc8 65. c5 Rf2 66. c6 Rxf3 67. Nc4 {Droht Matt in 3.} Rd3 68. Kb5 f5 69. Kc5
Rc3 70. Kd5 (70. Kd5 f4 71. Nd6+ Kb8 72. Ba7+ $1) 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.12"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Zhigalko, Sergei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2656"]
[BlackElo "2850"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2015.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. h3
Bb7 9. d3 d6 10. a3 Nb8 11. Nbd2 Nbd7 12. Nf1 Re8 13. Ng3 Bf8 14. Ng5 d5 15.
exd5 Nc5 16. c4 Nxb3 17. Qxb3 c6 18. dxc6 Bxc6 19. cxb5 Bd5 20. Qd1 axb5 21.
N5e4 h6 22. Qf3 Ra6 23. Bd2 Ba8 24. Bb4 Nd5 25. Bxf8 Rxf8 26. d4 exd4 27. Nf5
Ne7 28. Rad1 Nxf5 29. Qxf5 Re6 30. f3 d3 31. Qxb5 Bxe4 32. Rxe4 Rxe4 33. fxe4
Qd4+ 34. Kh1 Rd8 35. Qb4 Qe3 36. Qa5 Rd4 37. Qd2 Qxe4 38. Re1 Qd5 39. Re3 Kh7
40. b4 Qg5 41. Kg1 Rd6 42. a4 Qxe3+ 43. Qxe3 d2 44. Qe4+ g6 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.12"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[BlackElo "2726"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "151"]
[EventDate "2015.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 O-O
8. Qd2 Nd7 9. O-O-O c6 10. h4 d5 11. Bd3 Nc5 12. Bxc5 Bxc5 13. Rde1 Qf6 14. Nd4
Bd7 15. Re3 Rae8 16. Rf3 Qe5 17. Bf5 Bxf5 18. Nxf5 Re6 19. h5 Rfe8 20. Rd1 h6
21. a3 Be7 22. Nxe7+ R8xe7 23. g4 b5 24. Re3 Qg5 25. Rxe6 fxe6 26. Qxg5 hxg5
27. Kd2 Rf7 28. Ke3 e5 29. f3 Rf4 30. Rh1 Kh7 31. Re1 a5 32. Rh1 a4 33. Rg1 {
[#] Man kann sich eigentlich nicht vorstellen, dass Weiß das Endspiel
gewinnen kann.} Kg8 34. Rh1 Rf6 35. b3 Rf4 36. h6 g6 37. h7+ Kh8 38. Rh6 Rf6
39. bxa4 bxa4 40. c4 dxc4 41. Ke4 Rf4+ 42. Kxe5 Rxf3 43. Rxg6 Kxh7 44. Rxc6 Rc3
45. Kd5 Rxa3 46. Rxc4 Ra1 {[#] Carlsen hat in passiver Stellung einige
Aktivitär entwickelt, aber auch das hier entstandene Endspiel ist remis.} 47.
Kc5 Kg6 48. Kb4 Kf6 49. Re4 Ra2 50. c3 Rc2 51. Rc4 Ra2 52. Kb5 a3 53. Kb4 Ke5
54. Kb3 Ra1 55. Ra4 {"Schwupps, da war der Bauer weg." Objektiv ist das
Endspiel immer noch remis, aber es ist jetzt nicht einfacher geworden.} Rc1 56.
Rxa3 Kf4 57. Ra4+ Kf3 58. Rd4 Ke3 59. Kb4 Rf1 60. Kc5 Rf4 (60... Rf8 {hat
jemand mit Tiefe 106 auf Let's check als Remis errechnet. Der Textzug ist aber
auch noch OK.}) 61. Kd5 (61. Rxf4 gxf4 (61... Kxf4 62. Kd5 Kxg4 63. c4 Kf4 64.
c5 g4 65. c6 g3 66. c7 g2 67. c8=Q g1=Q 68. Qc4+ Kf3 $11) 62. g5 f3 63. g6 f2
64. g7 f1=Q 65. g8=Q Qa6 {ist Remis (Tablebases).}) 61... Kf3 $2 {Nun steht
der König dem Bauern, der auf der f-Linie auftaucht, im Weg.} (61... Rf7 62.
Rb4 Rf4 $11) 62. Rxf4+ gxf4 (62... Kxf4 63. c4 Kxg4 64. c5 Kf3 65. c6 g4 66. c7
g3 67. c8=Q g2 68. Qc5 Ke2 69. Qg1 $18) 63. g5 {Und nun ist es für Weiß
gewonnen.} Ke3 64. g6 f3 65. g7 f2 66. g8=Q f1=Q 67. Qe6+ Kd2 68. c4 Kc3 69.
Qe3+ Kb4 70. Qb6+ Kc3 71. Qd4+ Kb3 72. c5 Qf7+ 73. Kc6 Qe6+ 74. Kb7 Qe7+ 75.
Kb6 Qe6+ 76. c6 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.12"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2732"]
[BlackElo "2850"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2015.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4
Bb7 9. d3 Re8 10. Nc3 Nd4 11. axb5 Nxb3 12. cxb3 axb5 13. Rxa8 Bxa8 14. Nxb5 d5
15. exd5 Bb4 16. Bd2 Bxd2 17. Qxd2 Bxd5 18. Nxe5 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 Qd5+ 20. Nf3
Qxb5 21. Rxe8+ Nxe8 22. Qe3 h6 23. Qe5 Qd7 24. h3 Nf6 25. Nd4 Kf8 26. Qc5+ Kg8
27. Qe5 Kf8 28. Qc5+ Kg8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.12"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[BlackElo "2777"]
[PlyCount "31"]
[EventDate "2015.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nf5 8.
c3 Nxe5 9. Rxe5 d6 10. Re1 O-O 11. d4 d5 12. Bf4 Bd6 13. Qf3 Nh4 14. Qg3 Nf5
15. Qf3 Nh4 16. Qg3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.12"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E52"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2850"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2015.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. e3 O-O 6. Bd3 d5 7. cxd5 exd5 8. O-O
Ba6 9. Bxa6 Nxa6 10. Qd3 Qc8 11. Bd2 Re8 12. Rac1 Bf8 13. a3 c5 14. dxc5 Nxc5
15. Qb1 Qa6 16. Nd4 Rac8 17. f3 Ne6 18. Nce2 Bc5 19. Qf5 Bxd4 20. Nxd4 Nxd4 21.
exd4 Rxc1 22. Rxc1 Qb5 23. Qc2 h6 24. a4 Qa6 25. b3 Nd7 26. Qc6 Nf6 27. Qc2 Qb7
28. Qf5 Qe7 29. h3 Qe2 30. Qc2 Qa6 31. Bf4 Qb7 32. Kh2 Qe7 33. Qf5 Rd8 34. Bc7
Qd7 35. Qxd7 Rxd7 36. Be5 Nh7 37. Rc8+ Nf8 38. Kg3 f6 39. Bb8 Kf7 40. Kf2 Ne6
41. Ke3 Ke7 42. f4 Rb7 43. Rg8 Kf7 44. Rh8 Rd7 45. Rc8 g6 46. g4 Re7 47. Bd6
Re8 48. Rxe8 Kxe8 49. f5 gxf5 50. gxf5 Ng5 51. h4 Ne4 52. Bb8 a6 53. h5 Kf7 54.
Bf4 Kg7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 9th"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Nikolic, Predrag"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D26"]
[WhiteElo "2603"]
[BlackElo "2850"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "2015.10.13"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 a6 4. e3 Nf6 5. Nc3 dxc4 6. Bxc4 b5 7. Be2 Bb7 8. O-O
Nbd7 9. Bd2 Bd6 10. Rc1 O-O 11. Qe1 Qe7 12. Nb1 e5 13. Ba5 exd4 14. Nxd4 Qe5
15. g3 c5 16. Bf3 Bxf3 17. Nxf3 Qxb2 18. e4 Rfe8 19. Bc3 Qxa2 20. e5 Qd5 21.
Qd1 Qxd1 22. Rfxd1 Bxe5 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 9th"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.13"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Akopian, Vladimir Eduardovic"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[BlackElo "2648"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2015.10.13"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. O-O Bd7 5. Re1 Nf6 6. h3 e6 7. c3 Be7 8. d4
cxd4 9. cxd4 d5 10. e5 Ne4 11. Bf1 O-O 12. Nbd2 Nxd2 13. Bxd2 Rc8 14. a3 Na5
15. Bd3 Nc4 16. Bc1 h6 17. Bc2 Bb5 18. Qd3 g6 19. Qd1 Qc7 20. Bd3 Rfe8 21. b3
1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 9th"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.13"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Eljanov, Pavel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2717"]
[BlackElo "2850"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2015.10.13"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 a6 3. Bf4 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bd3 Bd6 6. O-O O-O 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4
Nbd7 9. Nbd2 c5 10. c3 b6 11. e4 cxd4 12. cxd4 dxe4 13. Nxe4 Be7 14. Qe2 Bb7
15. Rac1 Nxe4 16. Bxe7 Qxe7 17. Bxe4 Bxe4 18. Qxe4 Nf6 19. Qe2 Qb7 20. Rc4 Rac8
21. Rfc1 Nd5 22. Qc2 Rxc4 23. Qxc4 Ne7 24. h3 Rc8 25. Qf1 Nf5 26. Rc4 a5 27.
Qc1 Rxc4 28. Qxc4 Qe4 29. Qb5 Kh7 30. Qxb6 Qb1+ 31. Kh2 Qxa2 32. Qb5 a4 33. g4
Nd6 34. Qb4 Qd5 35. Qc3 Nc4 36. Ne5 Nxe5 37. dxe5 Qe4 38. f3 Qf4+ 39. Kg2 g6
40. h4 Kg7 41. Kh3 h5 42. g5 Kh7 43. Qc7 Qxf3+ 44. Kh2 Kg7 45. Qc5 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 9th"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.13"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Fressinet, Laurent"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[BlackElo "2702"]
[Annotator "Schulz,Andre"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2015.10.13"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. a3 g6 3. Bf4 d6 4. e3 Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 b6 7. O-O Bb7 8. h3
Nbd7 9. c4 Ne4 10. Bh2 e5 11. d5 a5 12. b3 f5 13. Nfd2 Ndc5 14. Nxe4 Nxe4 15.
Ra2 Bc8 16. f3 Nc5 17. Nc3 Qg5 18. f4 Qe7 19. Nb5 Ba6 20. Kh1 Ne4 21. Rc2 exf4
22. exf4 Rae8 23. Bf3 Rf7 24. Nd4 Bc8 25. Nc6 Qh4 26. Bxe4 Rxe4 27. b4 axb4 28.
axb4 Bd7 29. c5 bxc5 30. bxc5 Bxc6 31. dxc6 dxc5 32. Rxc5 Bf8 33. Re5 Bd6 (
33... Re7 34. Qd5+ Kg7 $11) 34. Rxe4 fxe4 35. Qd4 Re7 $2 {[#] Mit seinem Zug
hat Schwarz die f-Linie verlassen, was sofort ausgenutzt wird.} 36. f5 $18 {
Probleme auf d6 und in der f-Linie.} Bxh2 37. Qd8+ Kf7 38. fxg6+ $2 (38. Kxh2
$18 {hält beide Optionen offen, f6 und fxg6.}) 38... Kxg6 39. Kxh2 e3 $2 (
39... Qg5 {und Schwarz hat alles unter Kontrolle.} 40. Qg8+ Kh6 41. Qf8+ Kg6
$11) 40. Qg8+ Kh6 41. Qf8+ Kg6 42. Qf5+ Kg7 43. g3 Qe4 44. Qf6+ {und Matt im
nächsten Zug.} 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 9th"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.13"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2625"]
[BlackElo "2850"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2015.10.13"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 c6 4. c4 Bg4 5. Ne5 Be6 6. O-O Nbd7 7. cxd5 Bxd5 8.
Nf3 e5 9. Nc3 Bxf3 10. Bxf3 Bc5 11. d3 O-O 12. Bg5 Re8 13. Rc1 Be7 14. a3 a5
15. Re1 Nf8 16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17. Ne4 Be7 18. Qb3 Qc7 19. Bg4 g6 20. Bh3 Kg7 21.
Red1 Rad8 22. Qc4 f5 23. Nc3 Bg5 24. e3 Ne6 25. b4 axb4 26. axb4 Qb6 27. Na4
Qa7 28. Nc5 Nxc5 29. bxc5 f4 30. exf4 exf4 31. Rb1 fxg3 32. hxg3 Bf6 33. d4 Re4
34. Qb3 Re7 35. Qc4 Re4 36. Qb3 Bxd4 37. Qxb7+ Qxb7 38. Rxb7+ Kh6 39. Rd7 Rxd7
40. Bxd7 Bxc5 41. Bxc6 Re2 42. Rf1 Kg5 43. Kg2 Rb2 44. Kf3 h5 45. Be4 Kf6 46.
Bd3 g5 47. Bc4 g4+ 48. Kg2 Kg5 49. Bf7 h4 50. gxh4+ Kxh4 51. Rh1+ Kg5 52. Rh5+
Kf6 53. Rxc5 Kxf7 54. Rc4 Kf6 55. Rxg4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 9th"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.13"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D78"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[BlackElo "2758"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2015.10.13"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Competitively this was the most important game of the first day. Even though
Magnus Carlsen beat MVL and snatched the lead from the French player.} 1. Nf3
Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O O-O 5. d4 d5 6. Nbd2 c6 7. b3 Bf5 8. Bb2 Nbd7 9.
c4 Ne4 10. e3 Nxd2 11. Nxd2 Nf6 12. Qe2 Qd7 13. Rac1 Rac8 14. Nf3 Bg4 15. Qe1
Bh3 16. Ne5 Qe6 17. cxd5 cxd5 18. Qb4 {Nothing special happened in the opening
but White has started to probe a little on the queenside.} Bxg2 19. Kxg2 b6 $6
(19... Rxc1 20. Rxc1 Ne4 $1 {This energetic play would have ensured equality.}
21. Qxb7 Bxe5 22. dxe5 Ng5 {the light squares are too weak.} 23. Kg1 Nf3+ 24.
Kg2 Ng5 $11) 20. Ba3 $1 Rfe8 21. Rxc8 Qxc8 22. Rc1 {White has perfect
co-ordination.} Qf5 (22... Qa6 {was better.}) 23. Qa4 Qe4+ 24. Kg1 Bh6 25. Re1
Qc2 26. Ng4 {This is tempting but you need to be Magnus Carlsen in order to
defend this position as White after winning the exchange.} Nxg4 27. Qxe8+ Kg7
28. Rf1 Bxe3 {It looks very dangerous for White but Magnus keeps his cool.} 29.
Qxe7 Bxf2+ 30. Kh1 {If the bishop could just move, there would be an
unstoppable mate on h2 but the f7 point is weak and there is no clear
finishing stroke available at Black's disposal.} Qe4+ 31. Qxe4 dxe4 32. d5 $1
e3 33. Bb4 (33. d6 e2 34. Rc1 e1=Q+ 35. Rxe1 Bxe1 36. d7 $18) 33... e2 34. Rc1
Kf6 35. d6 Ke6 (35... Ne5 36. Kg2 Ke6 {might have made White's task more
difficult but he is still better after} 37. Be1 $16) 36. Rc2 e1=Q+ 37. Bxe1
Bxe1 38. Re2+ Kxd6 39. Rxe1 {This endgame is easy for Magnus to convert.} Ne5
40. Kg2 f6 41. Rc1 Nc6 42. Kf3 a5 43. Ke4 Nb4 44. a3 Na6 45. Kd4 Nc7 46. Kc4
b5+ 47. Kd3 f5 48. Rc2 Ne6 49. Rc8 Nc5+ 50. Kc3 Kd5 51. Ra8 Ne4+ 52. Kc2 g5 53.
Rxa5 Kd4 54. Rxb5 f4 55. gxf4 gxf4 {Before Carlsen could make his move Maxime
resigned. Even though Magnus beat his rival in their head to head encounter,
at the end of the day it was MVL who finished a half point ahead of the World
Champion with 9.5/11.} 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 9th"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.13"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[BlackElo "2784"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2015.10.13"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. e3 d6 5. h3 O-O 6. Be2 Nc6 7. Bh2 Nd7 8. a4
e5 9. a5 exd4 10. exd4 a6 11. O-O Re8 12. Nc3 Nf6 13. Re1 h6 14. d5 Ne7 15. Bf1
Nf5 16. Rxe8+ Qxe8 17. Qd2 Bd7 18. Re1 Qf8 19. b4 Re8 20. Rb1 Bc8 21. b5 axb5
22. Nxb5 Nxd5 23. Qxd5 c6 24. Qd2 cxb5 25. Bxb5 Rd8 26. Bd3 Qe7 27. Qb4 Qc7 28.
g4 Ne7 29. Qb6 Qxb6 30. Rxb6 Bc3 31. Rxd6 Bxa5 32. Bc4 Rxd6 33. Bxd6 Nc6 34.
Bd5 Bb4 35. Bf4 Kg7 36. Kg2 Be7 37. Be3 h5 38. gxh5 gxh5 39. Nd4 Nxd4 40. Bxd4+
Bf6 41. Bb6 h4 42. c4 Be5 43. Bd8 f6 44. Ba5 Kg6 45. Bd2 b6 46. Be3 Bc7 47. f3
Bd7 48. Bf2 Kg5 49. Be3+ Kg6 50. Bf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 9th"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.13"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Andreikin, Dmitry"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C49"]
[WhiteElo "2720"]
[BlackElo "2850"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2015.10.13"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nc3 Nf6 2. e4 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Bb5 Bb4 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 Bxc3 7. bxc3 d6 8.
h3 Ne7 9. Re1 a6 10. Bc4 b5 11. Bb3 c5 12. Bg5 Ng6 13. Bd5 Rb8 14. a4 h6 15.
Bxf6 Qxf6 16. axb5 axb5 17. Nh2 Qg5 18. Re3 Nf4 19. Rg3 Qe7 20. Bb3 Kh7 21. Ng4
f5 22. exf5 d5 23. c4 bxc4 24. dxc4 d4 25. Qe1 Bxf5 26. Ra6 e4 27. Qd2 Bxg4 28.
Rxg4 e3 29. fxe3 dxe3 30. Qe1 e2 31. Kh2 Nh5 32. c3 Qe5+ 33. g3 Rxb3 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 9th"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.13"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vallejo Pons, Francisco"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A80"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[BlackElo "2684"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2015.10.13"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 f5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 b6 4. e3 Bb7 5. c4 e6 6. Be2 Bb4+ 7. Nbd2 Be7 8. O-O
Nh5 9. Ne5 Nxf4 10. exf4 O-O 11. Bf3 c6 12. d5 Bf6 13. Nb3 exd5 14. cxd5 c5 15.
d6 Bxf3 16. Qxf3 Nc6 17. Qd5+ Kh8 18. Nf7+ Rxf7 19. Qxf7 Bxb2 20. Rae1 a5 21.
a4 Nd4 22. Nxd4 Bxd4 23. Re7 Bf6 24. Rxd7 Qg8 25. Rd1 c4 26. Qxg8+ Kxg8 27. Rc7
c3 28. d7 Rd8 29. Rc8 Kf7 30. Rxd8 Bxd8 31. Rc1 Ke6 32. Rxc3 Kxd7 33. Rd3+ Kc7
34. Kf1 Bf6 35. Ke2 b5 36. Rd5 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 9th"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.13"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Socko, Bartosz"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2599"]
[BlackElo "2850"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2015.10.13"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. e5 d5 7. Be2 Ne4 8. cxd4
Bb6 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Be3 Ne7 11. O-O c6 12. Rc1 Bf5 13. Qb3 Bg4 14. h3 Bh5 15.
Rfe1 Nf5 16. Na4 Bxf3 17. Bxf3 Ng5 18. Bg4 Nxd4 19. Bxd4 Bxd4 20. Qxb7 Ne4 21.
Re2 h5 22. Bxh5 Qh4 23. Bxf7+ Rxf7 24. Qxa8+ Kh7 25. Rcc2 Rxf2 26. Rxf2 Bxf2+
27. Kf1 Qf4 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 9th"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.13"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[BlackElo "2762"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2015.10.13"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{After a streak of 25 unbeaten games, Magnus Carlsen finally lost a game and
who was his vanquisher? Of course, the 2015 World Cup winner!} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4
{The London system has gained a lot of prominence in this tournament with many
of top players like Carlsen and Kramnik essaying it.} d5 3. e3 e6 4. Nf3 c5 5.
c3 Nc6 6. Nbd2 Bd6 {Karjakin goes for the most solid set up not trying to do
anything outlandish.} 7. Bg3 O-O 8. Bb5 a6 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. Ne5 Qc7 11. Nd3 c4
12. Bxd6 Qxd6 13. Nc5 e5 {White might have a nice knight on c5 but he hasn't
0-0 yet and Black has more center control.} 14. b3 cxb3 15. axb3 Re8 16. O-O
Ng4 $1 17. g3 (17. h3 exd4 18. hxg4 dxe3 $1 19. Nde4 Qe7 20. fxe3 dxe4 $15 {
Gives Black a small edge.}) 17... Qh6 18. h4 Ra7 19. Kg2 (19. Nf3 e4 20. Nh2
$14) 19... Rae7 20. Nf3 e4 21. Nh2 $6 (21. Ne1 {was much better.}) 21... Nxh2
22. Kxh2 g5 $1 {Karjakin doesn't miss an opportunity like this.} 23. Rh1 (23.
h5 f5 $36) 23... gxh4 24. Kg1 (24. Kg2 h3+ $17) 24... h3 25. Nxa6 Ra7 $1 26.
Nc5 Rxa1 27. Qxa1 Bg4 28. Kh2 Qf6 29. Qb2 $2 (29. Qe1 $17 {and White is still
fighting, although Black is clearly better.}) 29... Qf3 30. Rg1 Ra8 31. c4 {
Diagram [#] Black has an absolute killer here! Can you find it?} Kg7 $6 (31...
Ra1 $3 {This theme of deflection will end up in many beginner's books of
tactics. Extremely thematic.} 32. Rxa1 (32. Qxa1 Qxf2+ 33. Kh1 Bf3+) 32... Qg2#
) 32. cxd5 cxd5 33. b4 Rb8 (33... Ra1 $1) 34. Na6 Rb6 35. Nc7 Rxb4 36. Qa2 Ra4
(36... Rb1 $1 {with the same idea as shown in the variation with 31...Ra1.})
37. Qb2 Ra5 38. Ne8+ Kg6 39. Nc7 h5 40. Qc2 Kh7 41. Qb2 Qf6 42. Rc1 Qf3 43. Rg1
Qf5 44. Rc1 Ra7 45. Ne8 Qf3 46. Rg1 Ra6 47. Qc2 Re6 {The knight is trapped as
Nc7 can be met with Rc6. Sergey didn't find this rook to the first rank win on
many occasions but his position was so good that he could still beat the World
Champion.} 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 9th"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.14"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2777"]
[BlackElo "2850"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2015.10.13"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. c4 c6 4. Qa4 Nd7 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Bg2 Bg7 7. Nc3 Ngf6 8.
O-O O-O 9. d4 b6 10. Bf4 Bb7 11. Rfc1 a6 12. Ne5 e6 13. Qb3 Rc8 14. e3 Qe7 15.
Bg5 Qd6 16. Bxf6 Nxf6 17. Na4 Rxc1+ 18. Rxc1 b5 19. Nc5 Rc8 20. Rc3 Qb6 21. a4
Bf8 22. Ned3 Bc6 23. Bf1 Rb8 24. Ne5 bxa4 25. Qxb6 Rxb6 26. Nxe6 Be8 27. Nxf8
Rxb2 28. Nxh7 Kxh7 29. Bxa6 Rxf2 30. Kxf2 Ne4+ 31. Ke2 Nxc3+ 32. Kd3 Ne4 33.
Bb7 Nf6 34. Kc3 Kg7 35. Kb4 Kf8 36. g4 g5 37. h3 Kg7 38. Bc6 Bxc6 39. Nxc6 Ne4
40. Ne7 Nf2 41. Nxd5 Nxh3 42. Nb6 Nf2 43. d5 Nxg4 44. d6 Kf6 45. Nxa4 Nxe3 46.
Kc5 Nf5 47. d7 Ke7 48. Kc6 Kd8 49. Nc5 Nd4+ 50. Kd6 Nb5+ 51. Ke5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 9th"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.14"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2738"]
[BlackElo "2850"]
[Annotator "Schulz,Andre"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2015.10.13"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 a6 {Im Blitzen spielt Carlsen gerne extravagante
Eröffnungszüge. Letzlich ist das nur Zugumstellung.} 3. e3 Nf6 4. c4 e6 5. b3
c5 6. Bb2 cxd4 7. exd4 Nc6 8. Nbd2 g6 9. Bd3 (9. Be2 Bg7 10. O-O O-O 11. Ne5
Nd7 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Nf3 Qa5 14. Qc2 Bb7 15. Rfd1 Rfc8 16. Bc3 Qc7 17. Qd2 Nf6
18. Ba5 Ne4 19. Bxc7 Nxd2 20. Bb6 Nxf3+ 21. Bxf3 Bh6 {1/2-1/2 (21) Polugaevsky,
L (2605)-Kortschnoj,V (2625) Antwerp 1993}) 9... Bg7 10. O-O O-O 11. Rc1 b6 12.
Re1 Bb7 13. a3 Rc8 14. Qe2 dxc4 15. bxc4 Re8 16. h3 Qc7 17. Qe3 Ne7 18. Ne5 Nf5
19. Bxf5 exf5 20. Ndf3 Bxf3 21. Qxf3 Ne4 22. Re2 Qd6 $2 {Gibt die Deckung von
f7 auf.} (22... Rcd8 $17) 23. Qb3 (23. Rxe4 fxe4 24. Qxf7+ $18) 23... Bxe5 24.
dxe5 Qc6 25. Qe3 Rcd8 (25... Re6 {hält die Diagonale b2-h8 geschlossen.}) 26.
f3 Nc5 {[#]} 27. e6 {Ermöglicht nun Drohungen auf der langen Diagonalen.
Objektiv ist noch nichts Schlimmes passiert, aber Schwarz muss aufpassen.} Nd3
(27... Rxe6 28. Qc3 f6 29. Rxe6 Qxe6 30. Qxf6 Qxf6 31. Bxf6 Rd3 $11) 28. Rd1 {
[#]} Nf4 $2 ({Richtig war} 28... f4 29. Qe4 Qxe4 30. fxe4 Nxb2 31. Rxd8 Rxd8
32. Rxb2 (32. exf7+ Kxf7 33. Rxb2 $15) 32... fxe6 33. Rxb6 $11) 29. Ree1 $2 ({
Es gewann} 29. Red2 Nxe6 30. Qc3 $18) 29... Rxd1 30. Rxd1 Nxe6 $2 (30... Qc5 {
erzwingt Damentausch und beseitigt damit die schlimmsten Gefahren.}) 31. Qc3
$18 {und aus.} f6 32. Qxf6 Rf8 33. Qh8+ Kf7 34. Qxh7+ Ke8 35. Qxg6+ Ke7 36. Kh1
Qxc4 37. Be5 Rf7 38. Bd6+ Ke8 39. Qg8+ Nf8 40. Bxf8 Qe2 41. Bb4+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 9th"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.14"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C90"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[BlackElo "2727"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2015.10.13"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. Re1 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. Nbd2 Nc6 12. Nf1 h6 13. Ne3 Be6 14. d4 cxd4 15.
cxd4 Nxd4 16. Nxd4 exd4 17. Qxd4 Rc8 18. Bb3 Nd7 19. Nd5 Bxd5 20. Qxd5 Nc5 21.
Bf4 Nxb3 22. axb3 Qb6 23. Be3 Qc6 24. Qf5 Rfe8 25. Rac1 Qb7 26. Bd4 Bf8 27. f3
a5 28. h3 a4 29. b4 d5 30. exd5 Rxe1+ 31. Rxe1 Bxb4 32. Qg4 f5 33. Qxf5 Bxe1
34. Qe6+ Kh7 35. Qe4+ Kh8 36. Qxe1 Qxd5 37. Qe3 Kg8 38. Kh2 b4 39. Be5 a3 40.
bxa3 bxa3 41. f4 a2 42. Qa7 Qf7 43. Qa4 Rd8 44. Qa5 Rd1 45. Qa8+ Kh7 46. Qa4
Rd2 47. Qe4+ Kh8 48. Qa8+ Qg8 49. Qc6 Kh7 50. Qe4+ Kh8 51. Qg6 Qh7 52. Qe8+ Qg8
53. Qg6 Qh7 54. Qe8+ Qg8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 9th"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.14"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[Annotator "Schulz,Andre"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2015.10.13"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. e3 Nf6 3. d4 g6 4. c3 b6 5. dxc5 bxc5 6. e4 Bg7 7. Bd3 O-O 8. O-O
d6 9. Na3 Bb7 10. Re1 Nbd7 11. h3 a5 12. Bf4 a4 13. Qd2 Bc6 14. Rad1 Qb6 15. e5
dxe5 16. Nxe5 Nxe5 17. Bxe5 Qb7 18. f3 Rfd8 19. Qf2 Rac8 20. Nc4 Bd5 21. Bf1
Ne8 22. Bxg7 Nxg7 23. Rd2 Bxc4 24. Bxc4 Rxd2 25. Qxd2 Nf5 26. b3 axb3 27. axb3
Qc7 28. Qf2 Rd8 29. Bf1 h5 {[#] Die schwarzen Felder um den schwarzen König
sind schwach. Carlsen antwortet aktiv, aber plötzlich gibt es eine
Vollversammlung der schwarzen Figuren am weißen Königsflügel.} 30. b4 cxb4
31. cxb4 Qc3 32. b5 Rd2 33. Re2 Rd1 34. g4 (34. Kh2 $2 h4 {gefolgt von} 35. Z0
Ng3 $19) 34... hxg4 35. hxg4 Nd4 {[#]} 36. Re3 $2 {Tempoverlust} ({Nach} 36.
Rxe7 Rd2 (36... Kf8 37. Qe3 Nxf3+ 38. Kg2 {ist Ok für Weiß.}) 37. Be2 {
ist Weiß unter Druck, aber nicht verloren.}) 36... Qc1 $19 {Es droht Txf1 und
Dxe3.} 37. Rxe7 {[#]} Rd2 $2 (37... Kf8 $1 $19 {und es gibt kein sicheres Feld
für den Turm.} 38. Re4 (38. Re5 Rxf1+ 39. Qxf1 Nxf3+ $19) 38... Rxf1+ 39. Qxf1
Nxf3+ 40. Kg2 Qxf1+ 41. Kxf1 Nd2+) 38. Qe3 $2 (38. Re8+ $1 Kg7 39. Qe3 {
droht Matt nach De5.} Kh7 40. Re7 $11) 38... Ne2+ $2 (38... Qe1 $3 {Hübsch!}
39. Qxe1 (39. Re8+ Kh7 40. f4 Nf3+ 41. Qxf3 Qxe8 $19) 39... Nxf3+ 40. Kh1 Rh2#)
39. Kg2 $11 Nf4+ 40. Kg3 Ne6 41. Re8+ Kh7 {[#]} 42. Qe5 $2 (42. Rxe6 fxe6 43.
Qa7+ Kh6 44. g5+ Kxg5 45. Qe7+ Kh6 46. Qf8+ {Mit Remis durch Dauerschach war
angesagt.}) 42... Ng7 43. Bg2 Nxe8 44. Qxe8 Qc7+ 45. Kh3 Kg7 46. Qe3 Qd6 47. b6
Rb2 48. Qc3+ Qf6 49. Qxf6+ Kxf6 50. f4 Rxb6 51. Bd5 Rd6 52. g5+ Kf5 53. Bxf7
Kxf4 54. Kh4 Kf5 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 9th"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.14"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Zhigalko, Sergei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2656"]
[BlackElo "2850"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2015.10.13"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O d6 5. c3 Nf6 6. d3 O-O 7. Bb3 Be6 8. Nbd2
Bxb3 9. axb3 a6 10. b4 Ba7 11. Nc4 Re8 12. Be3 Bxe3 13. fxe3 b5 14. Ncd2 a5 15.
bxa5 Nxa5 16. Nh4 Nc6 17. Rxa8 Qxa8 18. Nf5 Ne7 19. Nh6+ Kf8 20. Qb3 d5 21.
Qxb5 Rb8 22. Qc5 Rxb2 23. Nf5 Qd8 24. Nf3 g6 25. Nxe7 Qxe7 26. Qxe7+ Kxe7 27.
Nxe5 dxe4 28. Nc6+ Ke6 29. Nd4+ Ke5 30. Nc6+ Ke6 31. Nd4+ Ke7 32. Nc6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 9th"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.14"]
[Round "17"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Jones, Gawain C B"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A16"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[BlackElo "2623"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2015.10.13"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. d3 d6 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. Qd2 c6 8. Bh6
e5 9. Nf3 Re8 10. Bxg7 Kxg7 11. O-O a6 12. Rac1 Nf8 13. Rfd1 Rb8 14. b3 Bg4 15.
h3 Bxf3 16. Bxf3 Ne6 17. Bg2 d5 18. cxd5 cxd5 19. Qb2 Qd6 20. b4 h5 21. h4 Rbd8
22. a3 Nd4 23. Na4 Ng4 24. Nc5 Qf6 25. e3 Nf3+ 26. Bxf3 Qxf3 27. Re1 Re7 28.
Qe2 Qxe2 29. Rxe2 Kg8 30. Rec2 f5 31. Nb3 Rdd7 32. Rc8+ Kf7 33. Rh8 Nf6 34.
Rcc8 Rc7 35. Nc5 d4 36. exd4 exd4 37. Rxc7 Rxc7 38. Rb8 Nd7 39. Rxb7 Rxb7 40.
Nxb7 Ke6 41. Kf1 Kd5 42. Na5 Nb6 43. Ke2 Na4 44. Nc4 Nc3+ 45. Kd2 Ke6 46. f4
Nd5 47. Ne5 Ne3 48. Ke2 Nc2 49. Nc4 Na1 50. Kd2 Kd5 51. Na5 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz 9th"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.14"]
[Round "18"]
[White "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A90"]
[WhiteElo "2741"]
[BlackElo "2850"]
[Annotator "Schulz,Andre"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2015.10.13"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 f5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 c6 5. Nh3 d6 6. Nc3 d5 7. O-O Be7 8. Bg5 O-O
9. Nf4 Na6 10. e3 Nc7 11. Qe2 Bd7 12. Nd3 Be8 13. Ne5 Nd7 14. Bxe7 Qxe7 15. f4
g5 16. cxd5 exd5 17. Qc2 Ne6 18. Qb3 Nxe5 19. dxe5 Rd8 20. Rad1 Bh5 21. Rd2
gxf4 22. exf4 Kh8 23. Kh1 d4 24. Ne2 Nc5 25. Qa3 Bxe2 26. Rxe2 Rfe8 27. Rd1 d3
28. Red2 Rd4 29. Qxa7 Red8 30. Kg1 Ne4 31. Bxe4 fxe4 {[#] Der Computer findet
die Stellung ausgeglichen, aber die beiden schwarzen Zentralfreibauern wirken
beunruhigend.} 32. Re1 $2 {Die Türme geraten nun unter Beschuss.} (32. Kf2 Qf8
33. Ke3 Rc4 $11) 32... Qb4 33. Rdd1 (33. Red1 $2 e3) 33... d2 {[#]} 34. Re2 $2
({Nötig war} 34. Re3 $17) 34... Qxb2 $2 {Vergibt den sofortigen Gewinn. Die
Angelegenheit wird nun unklar.} (34... Qc4 $1 35. Rg2 (35. Rf2 e3 $19) 35...
Qc2 {und Schluss.}) 35. Qc5 $11 Qxa2 36. Qe7 Qg8 $2 {Es geschehen einige
Fehler, aber nicht vergessen: es ist Blitz.} (36... Qc2 37. Qf6+ Kg8 38. Qg5+ {
mit Dauerschach wäre jetzt das korrekte Ende gewesen.}) 37. f5 $2 ({Weiß
konnte die Partie hier auf hübsche Weise für sich entscheiden:} 37. Rexd2 $1
Rxd2 38. Qf6+ Qg7 39. Qxd8+ Rxd8 40. Rxd8+ Qg8 41. Rxg8+ Kxg8 42. Kf2 Kf7 43.
Ke3 b5 44. Kxe4 c5 45. f5 $18) 37... Qg7 38. Qe6 (38. f6 Qxe7 39. fxe7 Re8 40.
Rexd2 Rxd2 41. Rxd2 Rxe7 42. Kf2 Kg8 $15) 38... Qg4 39. Qf6+ Qg7 40. Qe6 R4d5
41. f6 Qg6 42. Qe7 R5d7 43. Qc5 Qg5 44. Qe3 Qxe3+ 45. Rxe3 Kg8 {[#]} 46. e6 {
Eine wilde Schwefigurenschlacht mit fast ständig wechelnden Bewertungen.
Welche Freibauern machen das Rennen?} Rd4 47. Kf2 R8d6 48. e7 Rxf6+ 49. Ke2 Kf7
50. Rb3 b5 51. Rxd2 {[#]} Rf2+ 52. Kxf2 Rxd2+ 53. Ke3 Rd3+ {... die Schwarzen!}
0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 9th"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.14"]
[Round "19"]
[White "Vovk, Yuri"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2617"]
[BlackElo "2850"]
[PlyCount "187"]
[EventDate "2015.10.13"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 a6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nc3 c6 6. Bf4 Bd6 7. Bg3 Ne7 8. e3
Bf5 9. Qb3 Ra7 10. Be2 O-O 11. Bxd6 Qxd6 12. Qb6 Nc8 13. Qb3 Nd7 14. O-O Qf6
15. Rfc1 Nd6 16. Qb4 a5 17. Qa3 b5 18. Qb3 Rb8 19. Nd2 Nc4 20. Nxc4 dxc4 21.
Qd1 Nb6 22. Bf3 Rd8 23. Qe1 h6 24. Rd1 b4 25. Ne4 Bxe4 26. Bxe4 Rad7 27. a3 Qe7
28. Bxc6 Rc7 29. Bf3 Na4 30. axb4 Nxb2 31. bxa5 c3 32. a6 c2 33. Rdc1 Nd3 34.
Qd2 Nxc1 35. Rxc1 Qa3 36. h3 Qxa6 37. Rxc2 Rxc2 38. Qxc2 g6 39. g3 Rb8 40. Kg2
Kg7 41. Qe4 Qf6 42. Qf4 Qxf4 43. gxf4 Rb2 44. h4 f5 45. Bd5 Kf6 46. Bc4 Rd2 47.
Bd5 Ke7 48. Bc4 Rb2 49. Bd5 h5 50. Bc4 Rb6 51. Ba2 Kd6 52. Bf7 Kd7 53. Bc4 Kc7
54. Bf7 Rd6 55. Kg3 Kb6 56. Be8 Ka5 57. Bf7 Kb4 58. d5 Rf6 59. Be6 Kc5 60. f3
Rf8 61. e4 Kd6 62. exf5 gxf5 63. Kf2 Ke7 64. Ke3 Kf6 65. Kf2 Ra8 66. Bd7 Ra7
67. Bc8 Rc7 68. Be6 Rc4 69. Kg3 Rd4 70. Bg8 Rd1 71. Be6 Rd2 72. Bg8 Rd3 73. Be6
Rd1 74. Kg2 Ra1 75. Bc8 Ra8 76. Be6 Rf8 77. Kg3 Ke7 78. Kf2 Kd6 79. Kg3 Kc5 80.
Kf2 Kd4 81. d6 Kc5 82. d7 Kd6 83. Bxf5 Ke7 84. Bg6 Rxf4 85. Bxh5 Kxd7 86. Bg4+
Kd6 87. Kg3 Rb4 88. h5 Ke5 89. Bh3 Kf6 90. Bd7 Kg5 91. Be8 Rb1 92. f4+ Kf6 93.
Bg6 Rg1+ 94. Kf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz 9th"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.14"]
[Round "20"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[BlackElo "2726"]
[Annotator "Schulz,Andre"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2015.10.13"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 c5 3. Bxf6 gxf6 4. d5 Qb6 5. Qc1 f5 6. c4 d6 7. Nc3 Nd7 8. g3
Bg7 9. Nf3 Nf6 10. Nd2 Ne4 11. Ndxe4 fxe4 12. Bg2 Qb4 13. O-O Qxc4 14. Bxe4 h5
15. h4 Bg4 16. Re1 O-O-O 17. Rb1 Kb8 18. Bg2 Rhg8 19. Qe3 Bf6 20. Ne4 Bd4 21.
Qd2 Qxa2 $17 {Die weiße Eröffnung ist missglückt. Schwarz steht überlegen.}
22. Qf4 Rgf8 ({f7 hing eigentlich nicht.} 22... Be5 23. Qxf7 Rg7 {mit
Damenfang.}) 23. b4 Be5 24. Qe3 c4 25. Nc3 Qa6 26. Qd2 Rc8 27. e3 Bf5 28. Ra1
Qb6 29. Ra4 Bd3 30. Rea1 a6 31. Bf3 Rg8 32. Kg2 f5 33. Bxh5 Rcf8 (33... f4 $5 {
mit der Idee} 34. exf4 Qd4 35. fxe5 Bf1+ $19) 34. b5 {[#]} f4 $19 {Nach einer
freudlosen Partie muss Carlsen nun die Exekution seiner Stellung hinnehmen.}
35. exf4 Bxf4 36. Qe1 Bxg3 (36... Be5 $1 $19) 37. fxg3 Rf1 $2 (37... Qd4 $5)
38. Qd2 $2 (38. Qxf1 {ist gar nicht so klar.} Bxf1+ 39. Rxf1 axb5 40. Rb4 {
Weiß hat Turm und zwei Leichtfiguren für die Dame, z.B.:} Qe3 41. Rf3 Qe5 42.
g4 Qxh5 43. Rf8+ Kc7 44. Rxg8 $13) 38... Qg1+ (38... Qg1+ 39. Kh3 Qxg3#) 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz 9th"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "2015.10.14"]
[Round "21"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Tomashevsky, Evgeny"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B10"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[BlackElo "2758"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2015.10.13"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 168 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.10.29"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. Bc4 d5 3. Bb3 dxe4 4. Qh5 e6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Qh4 Nbd7 7. f3 Nc5 8.
fxe4 Nfxe4 9. Qxd8+ Kxd8 10. Nxe4 Nxe4 11. d4 Bb4+ 12. c3 Bd6 13. Nf3 f5 14.
Be3 Kc7 15. O-O-O Bd7 16. Rhe1 Rhe8 17. Bc2 Nf6 18. Ne5 Rf8 19. g3 Rad8 20. Bb3
Bc8 21. Nc4 Nd5 22. Nxd6 Nxe3 23. Nb5+ cxb5 24. Rxe3 f4 25. gxf4 Rxf4 26. Bxe6
Re8 27. Rde1 Bxe6 28. Rxe6 Rxe6 29. Rxe6 Rf1+ 30. Kd2 Rf2+ 31. Re2 Rxe2+ 32.
Kxe2 Kd6 33. Kd3 Kd5 34. b3 b6 35. a4 bxa4 36. bxa4 a6 37. c4+ Ke6 38. Ke4 g6
39. d5+ Kd6 40. Kd4 h6 41. Ke4 Kd7 42. Ke5 Ke7 43. h3 h5 44. h4 1-0

[Event "EU-chT (Men) 20th"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2015.11.15"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[Annotator "Adhiban,B"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2015.11.13"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Armenia"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "ARM"]

{An epic clash between a slightly weakened "slow poison" Carlsen and the
improved "I am a different player now" Aronian.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6
4. d3 Bc5 5. O-O (5. Bxc6 dxc6) 5... Nd4 $5 {A wise decision not allowing
Carlsen to take on c6 and get his favourite pawn structure after which you are
in for a positional grind.} (5... d6 {One more positional lesson by Carlsen was
} 6. Nbd2 $5 (6. Re1 O-O 7. Bxc6 bxc6 8. h3 Re8 ({I wonder what is wrong with} 
8... Nd7 $5 9. Nbd2 f5 10. exf5 Rxf5 11. Ne4 Bb6 {Though I fully agree such an
overly aggressive attempt weakening the a2-g8 diagonal (even without the
presence of the white light-squared bishop) is strictly against the principles
of the Berlin :).}) 9. Nbd2 Nd7 10. Nc4 Bb6 11. a4 a5 12. Nxb6 cxb6 13. d4 Qc7
({Possibly Anand didn't like} 13... Qe7 {because of} 14. b3 {with annoying
pressure on the a3-f8 diagonal.}) 14. Ra3 $1 {was an instructive game 
(Carlsen-Anand 2014), though Black can equalise with accurate play.}) 6... O-O
7. Bxc6 bxc6 8. h3 h6 9. Re1 Re8 10. Nf1 a5 11. Ng3 Rb8 12. b3 {Seriously??
Didn't Mr. Carlsen show us that fixing the black pawn structure (against Anand)
with a4 is good? Well yet again he shows us that he understands the positional
concepts at a much higher level.} Bb4 ({An interesting move was} 12... a4 $5 {
but we will have to wait for another Carlsen game for a conclusion in this.})
13. Bd2 Ra8 14. c3 Bc5 15. d4 Bb6 16. dxe5 dxe5 17. c4 $14 {Carlsen-Radjabov
2015, with clear positional superiority.}) 6. Nxd4 Bxd4 7. c3 Bb6 8. Na3 c6 9.
Ba4 d6 10. Bb3 a5 11. Nc4 Ba7 $5 {Aronian is the first to deviate and to be
honest this seems like the way after a5.} ({Karjakin-Caruana continued} 11...
Bc7 {but then why did he play ...a5?}) 12. a4 O-O 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bxf6 Qxf6 15.
Nxa5 {I am not at all sure that such a approach is a good idea against Aronian
who doesn't mind giving up a pawn if he can take over the intiative for it!} d5
$1 16. Bc2 (16. exd5 cxd5 17. Bxd5 Qd8 $1 18. Bxb7 Bxb7 19. Nxb7 Qc7 {and
finally the greedy knight meets its end.}) 16... dxe4 17. dxe4 Rd8 18. Qe1 (18.
Qe2 Qg5 19. Qf3 (19. Nc4 Bg4 $19 {wins on the spot.}) 19... Rd2 $17 {with a
dangerous intiative.}) 18... Qg5 19. Kh1 Rd2 20. Bd1 Be6 {Now the brave knight
can't return.} 21. b4 Rad8 22. Nxb7 $6 {It was not the time to be greedy.} (22.
Be2 $1 {was more tenacious, preparing to exchange a pair of rooks to reduce
the intensity.} R8d7 23. Rd1 Rxd1 24. Bxd1 Qc1 25. Bb3 Qxe1 26. Rxe1 Bxb3 27.
Nxb3 Bxf2 28. Rb1 $1 {Although Black is still clearly better, the fight is
just beginning.}) 22... Bc4 $1 {Now follows a forced sequence after which
Black comes out on top.} 23. Nxd8 Bxf1 24. Qxf1 Rxf2 25. Qg1 Ra2 $1 26. Rxa2
Bxg1 27. Kxg1 Qc1 {The dust has settled and it does seem like White can hope
to save the position, but unfortunately for him his pieces are uncoordinated.}
28. Kf2 Qxd1 29. Nxc6 Qb3 30. Rd2 (30. Re2 $5 Qxc3 31. b5 {White anyway can't
hope to protect his pawns hence Black goes for a quiet king move preventing
Ne7-d5.} Kf8 $5 {with a winning advantage.} (31... Qc4 {allows} 32. Rb2 $1) ({
Or} 31... Kh7)) 30... Qxc3 31. Rd6 Qb2+ 32. Ke3 Qa3+ 33. Kf2 Qxa4 34. Nxe5 Qc2+
$5 {A strong practical decision!} ({After} 34... Qxb4 35. Rd8+ Kh7 36. Nf3 {
Black would face an uphill struggle to win this position.}) 35. Kf3 f5 $1 {
Getting of the rid of the small shelter which White was hoping to have.} 36.
Rd3 fxe4+ 37. Kxe4 Qxg2+ 38. Nf3 Qg4+ 39. Ke3 g5 $5 (39... Qxb4 40. h4 $1 {
and White's chances of saving this endgame are quite high!}) 40. Kf2 (40. b5
Qf4+ {[%cal Gg5g4]}) 40... Qf5 $1 {Not allowing White to get coordinated.} 41.
Rd8+ Kg7 42. Kg2 g4 43. Nd2 Qe6 $1 {Capitalising on the loosely placed pieces.}
44. Nf1 Qc6+ {A nice effort by Aronian who has definitely made his epic
comeback after quite a while! It will be interesting to see how Carlsen will
come back to his top form and this is something I will be waiting for!} 0-1

[Event "EU-chT (Men) 20th"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2015.11.16"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Hansen, Sune Berg"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E01"]
[WhiteElo "2566"]
[BlackElo "2850"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2015.11.13"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Denmark"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "DEN"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]
[WhiteClock "0:32:56"]
[BlackClock "0:44:33"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bd6 6. Bg2 c6 7. O-O Nbd7 8. Nc3
dxc4 9. Bg5 O-O 10. Qc2 b5 11. a4 Qb6 12. e4 b4 13. a5 Qc7 14. e5 bxc3 15. exd6
Qxd6 16. bxc3 Ba6 17. Rfe1 Nd5 18. Bc1 Rfb8 19. Ba3 Qc7 20. Ng5 N7f6 21. Bh3
Bc8 22. Bf1 Rb3 23. Bxc4 Rxc3 24. Qe2 Rb8 25. Nf3 Nb4 26. Rec1 Rxc1+ 27. Bxc1
Nbd5 28. Qc2 c5 29. Bf1 cxd4 30. Qxc7 Nxc7 31. Nxd4 Ba6 32. Nc6 Rb7 33. Bg2
Ncd5 34. Ba3 Rc7 35. Rc1 Bb5 36. Bxd5 Nxd5 37. Nxa7 Rxc1+ 38. Bxc1 Bd7 39. Kf1
Kf8 40. Ke2 Ke8 41. Kd3 Nb4+ 42. Kc4 Nc6 43. Nxc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-chT (Men) 20th"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2015.11.17"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Pelletier, Yannick"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[BlackElo "2566"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2015.11.13"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Switzerland"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "SUI"]
[WhiteClock "0:43:40"]
[BlackClock "0:08:29"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. Nf3 e6 4. g3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O Be7 7. b3 O-O 8. Bb2
d6 9. d4 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Bxg2 11. Kxg2 Qc8 12. e4 Nc6 13. Rc1 Nxd4 14. Qxd4 Qb7
15. Rfd1 a6 16. Ba3 Rfd8 17. Qd3 Rd7 18. Qf3 Bf8 19. Rd4 d5 20. Bxf8 dxe4 21.
Nxe4 Kxf8 22. Rxd7 Nxd7 23. c5 bxc5 24. Nxc5 Qxf3+ 25. Kxf3 Nb6 26. Ke4 Ke7 27.
f4 a5 28. Nd3 Nd5 29. Rc5 Kd6 30. Kd4 f6 31. a4 Ne7 32. Rb5 Kc6 33. b4 Nf5+ 34.
Kc3 axb4+ 35. Kxb4 Nd4 36. Rh5 h6 37. Rc5+ Kb6 38. Rc4 Nc6+ 39. Kc3 Rd8 40. Re4
Rd6 41. Re2 Ne7 42. Rb2+ Kc6 43. Rb8 Nd5+ 44. Kb3 Kc7 45. Rg8 Ne7 46. Rxg7
Rxd3+ 47. Kc4 Rd7 48. Rf7 f5 49. Rf6 Kd6 50. Rxh6 Rc7+ 51. Kb3 Nd5 52. Rh8 Rc3+
53. Kb2 Re3 54. a5 Kc5 55. h4 Rxg3 56. h5 Rh3 57. h6 Nf6 58. a6 Kb6 59. Rd8 Ne4
0-1

[Event "EU-chT (Men) 20th"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2015.11.19"]
[Round "6.1"]
[White "Leko, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2708"]
[BlackElo "2850"]
[Annotator "Havasi,G"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2015.11.13"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Hungary"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "HUN"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. Nc3
d6 9. a3 Rb8 $5 10. Be3 (10. h3 {was played in Leko's earlier game against
Tomashevsky} h6 11. Ba2 Re8 12. Nh2 Nd4 13. f4 exf4 14. Bxf4 Be6 15. Nf3 Nxf3+
16. Qxf3 Bxa2 17. Rxa2 Qd7 18. Raa1 Qe6 19. Kh1 Rbc8 20. Bg3 Nd7 21. a4 c6 22.
Ne2 Ne5 23. Qf2 Bf8 24. axb5 axb5 25. Ra7 $16 {1-0 (67) Leko,P (2737)
-Tomashevsky,E (2709) Kiev UKR 2013. I annotated that game in my article about
the a3-line.}) 10... Na5 11. Ba2 c5 12. Nd5 (12. b4 Nc6 13. Nd5 {is also
possible.}) 12... c4 (12... Nc6 13. b4 {would transpose to 12.b4.}) (12... Nxd5
13. Bxd5 {is slightly better for White.}) 13. Nxe7+ (13. b4 cxb3 14. cxb3 Nxd5
15. exd5 Nb7 16. b4 {is the suggestiom of the computer, but I can agree with
Leko, because Black might be dangerous after f5-f4.}) 13... Qxe7 14. Qd2 Nc6
15. h3 Be6 16. b4 Rfc8 17. c3 cxd3 18. Qxd3 Bxa2 19. Rxa2 d5 $11 {Black has
equalised.} 20. Nd2 Qe6 21. Raa1 Ne7 $1 {Preparing Rd8, Qc6 and Ng6.} (21...
Rd8 22. Bg5 {was a problem} dxe4 23. Qe2 Ne7 24. Bxf6 Qxf6 25. Nxe4 $11) 22.
Bc5 Ng6 23. Rad1 Rd8 (23... Nf4 {is also good} 24. Qf3 Rd8 $15) 24. Qf3 h6 25.
Rfe1 Rd7 26. Qf5 Qc6 27. exd5 Rxd5 28. Nf3 $6 (28. Qf3 $1 Rbd8 29. Ne4 Rxd1 30.
Nxf6+ Qxf6 31. Rxd1 {is a chance for White to equalise.}) 28... Rbd8 29. Qc2 $6
{Overlooking the ...Ne4-move.} (29. Rxd5 Rxd5 30. Qc2 $15 {is very good for
Black, but not winning.}) 29... Rxd1 30. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 31. Qxd1 Ne4 $17 {Black is
practically winning.} 32. Qd8+ Kh7 33. Qb6 Qxb6 34. Bxb6 Nxc3 35. Nd2 Nf4 36.
h4 Kg6 37. f3 Kf5 38. Kf2 Nd3+ 39. Kf1 h5 40. Be3 Ke6 41. g3 Kd5 {A very nice
game for Carlsen, but White also had some chances to maintain equality.} 0-1

[Event "EU-chT (Men) 20th"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2015.11.20"]
[Round "7.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Papaioannou, Ioannis"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[BlackElo "2638"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2015.11.13"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Greece"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GRE"]
[WhiteClock "1:22:32"]
[BlackClock "1:15:31"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Qe7 5. g3 Bxd2+ 6. Qxd2 Nc6 7. e3 d5 8.
Bg2 dxc4 9. O-O e5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. dxe5 Qxe5 12. Na3 O-O 13. Nxc4 Qe7 14.
Rac1 Rd8 15. Qa5 c6 16. b4 Be6 17. Qc5 Qxc5 18. bxc5 Nd7 19. Na5 Rab8 20. a4 g6
21. h3 Nxc5 22. Rxc5 b6 23. Rxc6 bxa5 24. Rc5 Rd2 25. Rxa5 Rbb2 26. Rc5 Ra2 27.
a5 Ra3 28. g4 Rda2 29. Bd5 Bxd5 30. Rxd5 Rxa5 31. Rfd1 Rxd5 32. Rxd5 h6 33. Kg2
a5 34. h4 Kg7 35. h5 g5 36. Kf3 Ra4 37. Rc5 Kf6 38. Rc6+ Kg7 39. Ra6 Kh7 40.
Kg3 Ra3 41. Kg2 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-chT (Men) 20th"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2015.11.21"]
[Round "8.1"]
[White "Nisipeanu, Liviu Dieter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C68"]
[WhiteElo "2683"]
[BlackElo "2850"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2015.11.13"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Germany"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "GER"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]
[WhiteClock "0:36:02"]
[BlackClock "0:48:29"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Bd6 6. d4 exd4 7. Qxd4 f6 8.
Nbd2 Be6 9. b3 Qe7 10. Nc4 Bc5 11. Qd3 Qd7 12. Qxd7+ Bxd7 13. Be3 Be7 14. Nd4
O-O-O 15. Rad1 Re8 16. f3 Bf8 17. Bf2 Nh6 18. Ne3 Nf7 19. Ne2 g6 20. Nf4 Bg7
21. a4 Re7 22. Nd3 Kb8 23. Nc4 Bc8 24. a5 Rhe8 25. Nc5 f5 26. Bd4 Bxd4+ 27.
Rxd4 Ka7 28. exf5 Bxf5 29. Ne4 c5 30. Rd2 Bxe4 31. fxe4 Nd8 32. e5 Nc6 33. Rd5
Nxe5 34. Rxc5 Nc6 35. Rd5 b5 36. axb6+ cxb6 37. Rd6 Kb7 38. Rff6 Rc8 39. Rd2
Rcc7 40. Nd6+ Ka7 41. Rf8 Red7 42. Nc8+ Kb7 43. Nd6+ Ka7 44. Nc8+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-chT (Men) 20th"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2015.11.22"]
[Round "9.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wojtaszek, Radoslaw"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[BlackElo "2748"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2015.11.13"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Poland"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "POL"]

1. d4 (1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Nf6 6. Bf4 Bg4 7. Qb3 {
- B13 is a line resembling our game. Later we will compare the resulting
positions, here} Qd7 8. Nd2 e6 9. Ngf3 Bxf3 10. Nxf3 Bd6 11. Bxd6 Qxd6 $11 {
has a reliable reputation.}) 1... Nf6 2. Bf4 {This bishop sortie was once the
domain of Kamsky, recently more top players have resorted to it in a quest to
reach original positions (the foremost being Kramnik, Grischuk and Carlsen).
The following notes will concentrate mostly on their recent efforts.} (2. Nf3
g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. e3 d6 5. h3 O-O 6. Be2 Nfd7 (6... Nc6 7. Bh2 Nd7 8. a4 e5 9.
a5 exd4 10. exd4 a6 11. O-O Re8 12. Nc3 Nf6 13. Re1 h6 14. d5 Ne7 15. Bf1 Nf5
16. Rxe8+ Qxe8 17. Qd2 Bd7 18. Re1 Qf8 19. b4 Re8 20. Rb1 Bc8 21. b5 axb5 22.
Nxb5 Nxd5 23. Qxd5 c6 24. Qd2 cxb5 25. Bxb5 Rd8 26. Bd3 Qe7 27. Qb4 Qc7 28. g4
Ne7 29. Qb6 Qxb6 30. Rxb6 Bc3 $11 {Carlsen,M (2850)-Aronian,L (2784) Berlin
blitz 2015}) 7. Bh2 e5 8. Nc3 Nc6 9. O-O Re8 10. Re1 a6 11. a4 b6 12. Bc4 Bb7
13. Bd5 Rb8 14. dxe5 dxe5 15. Qe2 Qe7 16. Rad1 Nc5 17. Qc4 a5 18. Nb5 Nd8 19.
Bxb7 Ndxb7 20. Na7 Qe6 21. Qxe6 Rxe6 22. b3 f6 23. Nb5 c6 24. Nc3 Nd6 25. Nd2
Bf8 26. f3 Ree8 27. Bg3 Kf7 28. Bf2 Red8 29. Kf1 Na6 30. Ke2 Be7 31. e4 $14 {
Carlsen,M (2850)-Radjabov,T (2738) Berlin rpd 2015 White has finally
reactivated his bishop and is slightly better.}) 2... d5 {Black's reaction is
still a matter of choice.} ({Another solid option is} 2... e6 3. e3 c5 4. Nd2 (
4. c3 cxd4 (4... b6 5. Nf3 Bb7 6. h3 Be7 7. Nbd2 cxd4 8. cxd4 O-O 9. a3 d6 10.
Be2 Nbd7 11. O-O Rc8 12. Bh2 Ne4 13. Nxe4 Bxe4 14. Ba6 Rc7 15. Nd2 Bc6 16. Qe2
Qa8 17. e4 Bb7 18. Bd3 e5 19. Nc4 b5 20. Na5 exd4 21. Bxb5 Ne5 22. Nxb7 Qxb7
23. Rac1 Rxc1 24. Rxc1 Rc8 25. Rd1 Qb6 26. a4 h6 27. Bg3 Qc5 28. Kh2 Bf6 29. f4
Ng6 30. Bd3 $14 {Kamsky,G (2741)-Onischuk,A (2660) Saint Louis 2012}) 5. exd4
Be7 6. Nf3 b6 7. Bd3 Bb7 8. O-O O-O 9. Re1 (9. h3 d6 10. Nbd2 {-4.Nd2}) 9... d6
10. c4 d5 11. Nc3 dxc4 12. Bxc4 Nc6 13. a3 Na5 14. Ba2 Rc8 15. Qd3 Nd5 16. Bd2
Nxc3 17. Bxc3 Bf6 18. Rad1 Bd5 19. Bb1 g6 20. Ne5 Nc4 21. Ng4 {1/2, Pakleza,Z 
(2498)-Stohl,I (2498) CZE 2015} Bg7 22. Ne3 Nxe3 23. fxe3 f5 $11 {/=/+}) 4...
b6 5. Ngf3 Be7 6. h3 Bb7 7. Bd3 O-O 8. O-O cxd4 9. exd4 Ba6 $5 (9... d6 10. c3
(10. Bh2 Nbd7 11. Re1 Re8 12. c3 a6 13. Rc1 Bf8 14. a4 g6 15. Bf1 Rc8 16. Nc4
Qc7 17. Ne3 Qb8 (17... Ne4 $5 18. Bd3 Ndf6 $132) 18. Nd2 Red8 19. b4 Qa7 20.
Qb3 d5 21. Rc2 Nb8 22. b5 axb5 23. axb5 Qa3 24. Qxa3 Bxa3 25. Ra1 Bd6 26. Bxd6
Rxd6 27. Ra7 Rd7 {Grischuk,A (2810)-Aronian,L (2797) Beijing rpd 2014} 28. c4
$14) 10... Nbd7 11. Re1 a6 12. a4 Re8 13. Bh2 Nf8 (13... Qc7 14. c4 a5 15. Nb1
Qd8 16. Nc3 d5 17. b3 Bb4 18. Rc1 Rc8 19. Re3 Nf8 20. Nb5 Ne4 21. Rc2 Re7 22.
Qc1 Nd7 23. Na7 Ra8 24. cxd5 exd5 25. Nc6 Bxc6 26. Rxc6 $16 {Kamsky,G (2718)
-Tiviakov,S (2648) Montreal 2007}) 14. Nc4 Ng6 (14... Nd5 $5 $11) 15. a5 b5 16.
Nb6 Ra7 (16... Rb8 $142) 17. b3 Nd5 18. Nxd5 Bxd5 19. c4 bxc4 20. bxc4 Ba8 21.
d5 $1 Bf6 22. Ra3 exd5 23. Rxe8+ Qxe8 24. cxd5 Bxd5 25. Bxg6 Bxf3 26. Bxh7+
Kxh7 27. Rxf3 $14 {Kramnik,V (2777)-Duda,J (2658) Berlin blitz 2015}) 10. Nc4
Qc8 11. Ne3 Bxd3 12. Qxd3 Nc6 13. c3 d5 14. Rae1 Qb7 15. Ne5 Rac8 16. a3 Rfe8
17. N3g4 Ne4 18. f3 Nf6 19. Nxc6 Qxc6 20. Ne5 Qb7 21. Bg5 Nd7 22. Bxe7 Rxe7 23.
f4 Rce8 24. Nxd7 Qxd7 25. Re3 Qd6 26. Qe2 f6 $11 {Kramnik,V (2777)-Leko,P 
(2707) Skopje 2015}) 3. e3 c5 (3... e6 4. Nf3 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Nbd2 Bd6 (6...
Be7 7. Bd3 Nh5 8. Be5 Nxe5 9. Nxe5 Nf6 10. O-O O-O 11. f4 g6 12. Rf3 Ne8 13.
Rh3 f5 14. g4 Nf6 15. g5 Ne4 16. Qe1 Nxd2 17. Qh4 Nf3+ 18. Rxf3 Bd6 19. Rh3 Qc7
20. Nxg6 hxg6 {Fridman,D (2616)-Naiditsch,A (2706) Poznan blitz 2014} 21. dxc5
$1 $18) 7. Bg3 O-O 8. Bd3 (8. Bb5 a6 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. Ne5 Qc7 11. Nd3 c4 12.
Bxd6 Qxd6 13. Nc5 e5 14. b3 cxb3 15. axb3 Re8 16. O-O Ng4 17. g3 Qh6 18. h4 Ra7
19. Kg2 Rae7 20. Nf3 e4 21. Nh2 Nxh2 22. Kxh2 g5 23. Rh1 gxh4 24. Kg1 h3 25.
Nxa6 Ra7 26. Nc5 Rxa1 27. Qxa1 Bg4 $36 {Carlsen,M (2850)-Karjakin,S (2762)
Berlin blitz 2015}) 8... b6 9. e4 (9. Ne5 Bb7 10. f4 Ne7 11. Qb1 (11. Qc2 c4
12. Be2 Nf5 13. Bf2 Be7 14. Ng4 Nxg4 15. Bxg4 Nd6 16. f5 $6 exf5 17. Bxf5 Nxf5
18. Qxf5 Qc8 19. Qf3 b5 20. h4 a5 21. h5 h6 22. Bh4 Re8 23. Nf1 Qe6 24. Kf2 Bf8
$17 {Andreikin,D (2720)-Karjakin,S (2762) Baku 2015}) 11... g6 12. Bf2 cxd4 13.
exd4 Nh5 14. g3 f6 15. Nef3 Qc8 16. O-O Ba6 17. Re1 Ng7 18. Kg2 Rb8 19. a3 Re8
20. Qc2 Bxd3 21. Qxd3 Qd7 22. Re2 a5 23. Rae1 a4 24. h3 b5 $11 {Grischuk,A 
(2810)-Wang,H (2710) Beijing rpd 2014}) 9... dxe4 $5 (9... Be7 10. e5 Nh5 11.
a3 a5 12. Qe2 Ra7 (12... c4 13. Bc2 b5 14. Ng5 Bxg5 15. Qxh5 g6 16. Qe2 f5 17.
exf6 Qxf6 18. h4 Bf4 19. Bxf4 Qxf4 20. g3 Qf6 21. f4 Ra7 22. Nf3 h6 23. Ne5
Nxe5 24. dxe5 Qg7 25. Qg4 Rd8 26. O-O-O b4 27. Qxg6 Qxg6 28. Bxg6 Rg7 29. h5
$16 {Kramnik,V (2777)-Zhigalko,S (2656) Berlin rpd 2015}) 13. O-O c4 14. Bc2 b5
15. h4 g6 16. Bh2 Bxh4 17. g4 Ng7 18. Nxh4 Qxh4 19. Kg2 f5 20. exf6 Qxf6 21.
Bd6 Rff7 22. f4 e5 23. dxe5 Qh4 24. f5 gxf5 25. Rh1 Qd8 26. Qe3 d4 $1 $132 {
Grischuk,A (2774)-Nakamura,H (2816) Skopje 2015}) 10. Nxe4 Nxe4 11. Bxe4 Bb7
12. Qa4 Qc7 13. dxc5 bxc5 14. Qc4 (14. Bxd6 Qxd6 15. Rd1 Qc7 16. O-O Rfd8 17.
Qb5 Na5 18. Bxb7 {1/2, Burmakin,V (2565)-Iturrizaga Bonelli,E (2660) Barcelona
2013}) 14... Rad8 15. Qxc5 f5 16. Bc2 f4 17. Bxh7+ Kxh7 18. Qh5+ Kg8 19. Ng5 g6
20. Qxg6+ Qg7 21. Qxe6+ Kh8 22. Qh3+ Kg8 23. Qe6+ Kh8 {½, Baklanov,V (2354)
-Aleksandrov,A email 2003}) 4. c3 {In keeping with his style Carlsen opts for
the more restrained continuation.} ({After the more concrete and sharper} 4.
dxc5 {Black should be able to hold his own in the resulting complications:} Nc6
(4... e6 5. b4 Nc6 6. Bb5 Bd7 7. c3 a5 8. Qb3 (8. Qe2 axb4 9. Bxc6 Bxc6 10.
cxb4 d4 11. Nf3 Nd5 12. O-O dxe3 13. Bg5 $6 Be7 14. Bxe7 Qxe7 15. Qc4 Qf6 16.
Nd4 e2 17. Re1 Nxb4 (17... Nf4 $1 $19) 18. Nd2 O-O 19. Nxc6 Nxc6 20. Ne4 Qb2
21. Qxe2 Qxe2 22. Rxe2 Ra4 23. Rb1 Rfa8 24. Rxb7 Rxa2 $11 {Savchenko,B (2583)
-Motylev,A (2645) Khanty-Mansiysk 2007/ For more details see the notes to this
game in CBM 122 by Krasenkow.}) 8... Ne4 9. Ne2 (9. f3 e5 10. fxe4 exf4 11. Ne2
(11. exd5 Qh4+ 12. Kd1 Qf2 13. Ne2 O-O-O 14. exf4 Bg4 15. Re1 Ne7 16. d6 Nf5
17. d7+ Kb8 18. Kd2 Ne3 19. Qxf7 Bxd7 $1 20. Bxd7 Kc7 $19 {Rumyantsev,V (1812)
-Bohak,J (2185) email 2010}) 11... Qh4+ 12. g3 fxg3 13. Nxg3 dxe4 14. O-O Be6
15. Qa4 Rc8 16. Nd2 Be7 17. Bc4 O-O 18. Bxe6 fxe6 19. Ndxe4 Ne5 20. Qd1 axb4
21. cxb4 Rxf1+ 22. Qxf1 Ra8 23. Qe2 Bg5 $132 {Sanchez Riera,X-Franco Rincon,D 
(2142) email 2011}) 9... g5 10. Bxc6 Bxc6 (10... bxc6 $5 11. Be5 f6 12. Bg3 Bg7
$44) 11. Be5 f6 12. Bg3 (12. Bd4 $5) 12... h5 (12... axb4 13. cxb4 b6 $1 $13)
13. f3 h4 14. fxe4 (14. Bf2 $14) 14... hxg3 15. Nxg3 Qc7 16. O-O O-O-O (16...
Qh7 $5) 17. Nd2 Be7 18. Nf3 g4 $2 (18... Rxh2 19. Nxh2 Qxg3 20. Rf3 $16) 19.
Nd4 Rxh2 20. Rf4 Rdh8 21. Nxe6 Qe5 22. Nd4 $18 {Karjakin,S (2762)-Gajewski,G 
(2654) Berlin rpd 2015}) (4... Qa5+ 5. Nc3 Qxc5 6. Nb5 Na6 7. Nf3 Bd7 8. a4 g6
9. Be5 Bg7 10. Bd4 Qb4+ 11. c3 Qa5 12. Nxa7 O-O 13. Nb5 Bg4 14. Be2 Nb8 15.
Bxf6 Bxf6 16. Qxd5 Nc6 17. O-O Rad8 18. Qa2 Qb6 19. b4 $18 {Stefanova,A (2551)
-Harika,D (2515) Khanty-Mansiysk olw 2010}) 5. Bb5 Qa5+ 6. Nc3 a6 7. Bxc6+ bxc6
8. Nf3 (8. Qd4 e6 9. b4 Qa3 10. Nge2 a5 11. Rb1 axb4 12. Rxb4 Ba6 13. O-O Bxe2
14. Nxe2 Be7 15. Bd6 Bxd6 16. cxd6 O-O 17. Ng3 Rfc8 18. Qd2 Rd8 19. e4 dxe4 20.
c4 Qxa2 21. Qxa2 Rxa2 22. Rb6 h5 23. Rxc6 h4 $17 {Grischuk,A (2781)-Anand,V 
(2804) Stavanger blitz 2015}) 8... Ne4 $5 (8... e6 9. O-O Bd7 10. a3 Qxc5 11.
Na4 Qa7 12. c4 Be7 13. Rc1 Rc8 14. cxd5 cxd5 15. Rxc8+ Bxc8 16. Qd4 Qxd4 17.
exd4 Bd7 18. Nb6 Bd8 19. Nxd7 Nxd7 20. Rc1 f6 21. Rc6 Kf7 22. Rxa6 $16 {
Grischuk,A (2771)-Anand,V (2816) Saint Louis 2015 For more details about this
game see the notes in CBM 168 by Wagner.}) 9. Qd4 Nxc3 10. bxc3 f6 11. O-O e5
12. Bxe5 fxe5 13. Qxe5+ Kf7 14. Ng5+ Kg8 15. Qe8 (15. Ne6 Bd7 16. Nxf8 Rxf8 $11
) 15... Qc7 16. Ne6 Bxe6 17. Qxe6+ Qf7 18. Qxc6 Ra7 19. Rfd1 h5 20. Qxd5 Rc7
21. Rab1 Rxc5 22. Qa8 Rh6 23. Rb8 Rb5 24. Rxb5 axb5 25. a4 {1/2, Beecham,C 
(2499)-Mahling,T (2467) email 2008}) 4... Nc6 5. Nd2 cxd4 {By resolving the
central tension Black won't have to worry about dxc5 anymore. Also Wojtaszek
has played this line in the recent past.} ({However, the more usual} 5... Bf5 {
is also fully playable:} 6. Qb3 (6. Ngf3 Qb6 7. Qb3 c4 8. Qxb6 axb6 $11 9. a3
h6 10. Be2 b5 11. O-O e6 12. Ne5 Nxe5 13. dxe5 Nd7 14. Nf3 Bg4 15. Nd4 Bxe2 16.
Nxe2 Nc5 17. Nd4 Ra5 18. Bg3 Be7 19. f3 O-O 20. Rad1 Nd3 21. Rd2 Bc5 22. Bh4
Ra6 23. f4 f6 24. exf6 gxf6 25. Re2 e5 26. fxe5 fxe5 27. Rxf8+ Bxf8 28. Nxb5
Rb6 29. a4 Ra6 30. h3 Rxa4 $17 {Eljanov,P (2717)-Bluebaum,M (2588) Berlin
blitz 2015}) 6... Qd7 7. Ngf3 c4 8. Qd1 e6 9. Be2 (9. h3 h6 10. Be2 Bd6 11. O-O
O-O 12. b3 b5 13. a4 a6 14. b4 Qc7 15. Bxd6 Qxd6 16. Qc1 Nd7 17. Qb2 Nb6 18.
Bd1 Rfb8 19. a5 Nd7 20. Bc2 Bxc2 21. Qxc2 e5 22. dxe5 Ndxe5 23. Rad1 Nd3 24.
Ne1 Nce5 25. Ndf3 Nxf3+ 26. Nxf3 Rd8 27. Rd2 Rd7 28. Rfd1 Rad8 29. Ne1 Ne5 $11
{Grachev,B (2654)-Eljanov,P (2742) Moscow blitz 2010}) 9... h6 10. O-O Bd6 (
10... Be7 11. Ne5 Nxe5 12. Bxe5 O-O 13. Bf3 b5 14. a3 a5 15. Re1 Ne4 16. Bxe4
dxe4 17. a4 Rfc8 18. axb5 Qxb5 19. Qa4 Qd5 20. Bg3 h5 21. h3 h4 22. Bh2 f6 23.
f3 Qb7 24. Qc2 exf3 25. e4 $5 $13 {Kamsky,G (2741)-Potkin,V (2647)
Khanty-Mansiysk 2013}) 11. b3 (11. Bxd6 Qxd6 $11) 11... Bxf4 12. exf4 cxb3 13.
axb3 O-O 14. Ne5 Qc7 15. Qc1 Rfc8 16. Qb2 a6 17. h3 Qb6 18. Rfc1 Rc7 19. Bf1
Rac8 20. Nd3 Nd7 21. Qa3 $2 (21. b4 $5 $13) 21... Na7 $1 22. Qb2 Nb5 $17 {
Grachev,B (2673)-Najer,E (2646) Moscow blitz 2014}) 6. exd4 Bf5 7. Qb3 Qc8 8.
Ngf3 e6 (8... h6 9. Ne5 g5 10. Bg3 Bg7 11. Be2 O-O 12. O-O e6 13. Rae1 Ne4 14.
Nxe4 Bxe4 15. Nd3 Bh7 16. Qd1 Ne7 17. Be5 f6 18. Bd6 Re8 19. Bh5 Bg6 20. Bxe7
Bxh5 21. Qxh5 Rxe7 22. f4 Qe8 23. Qf3 f5 24. fxg5 hxg5 25. g4 $16 {Carlsen,M 
(2850)-Wagner,D (2575) Berlin rpd 2015}) 9. Nh4 {White wants to at least net
himself the bishop pair. Other moves lead to rather sedate play.} (9. Ne5 Be7
10. Be2 O-O 11. O-O Nxe5 12. Bxe5 Nd7 13. Bg3 Nb8 14. a4 Nc6 15. a5 a6 16. Qa4
Qd7 17. b4 {Eljanov,P (2717)-Motylev,A (2649) Berlin blitz 2015} e5 $1 $132 {/\
} 18. dxe5 d4) (9. Be2 h6 10. h3 Be7 11. O-O O-O 12. Rfe1 Bd8 (12... a6 13. a4
Nd7 14. Bf1 Re8 15. Rac1 Na5 16. Qa2 Nb6 17. b4 Nac4 18. a5 Nxd2 19. Nxd2 Nd7
20. Nb3 Nb8 21. Nc5 $14 {Grachev,B (2666)-Motylev,A (2648) Sochi rpd 2015}) 13.
a4 Bc7 $11 {½, Grachev,B (2666)-Motylev,A (2648) St Petersburg rpd 2015}) 9...
Be4 (9... Bg6 10. Nxg6 hxg6 11. h3 Be7 12. Bd3 Bd8 13. Nf3 Bc7 14. Be3 O-O 15.
Qc2 a6 16. h4 e5 17. dxe5 Nxe5 18. Nxe5 Bxe5 19. O-O-O Re8 20. Kb1 b5 21. Bg5
Ne4 22. Bc1 b4 23. Bxe4 dxe4 24. cxb4 Qg4 25. Rhe1 Bf6 26. g3 Rac8 27. Qb3 $14
{Grischuk,A (2774)-Motylev,A (2649) Berlin rpd 2015}) 10. Nxe4 Nxe4 11. Nf3 Bd6
12. Bxd6 ({Radek's previous experience went} 12. Bg3 Nxg3 13. hxg3 Qc7 14. Bd3
h6 15. g4 O-O-O 16. Kf1 Kb8 17. a4 Rhe8 18. a5 Nxa5 19. Qa4 Nc6 20. b4 Qb6 21.
g3 e5 22. b5 Nxd4 23. cxd4 e4 $15 {Kamsky,G (2683)-Wojtaszek,R (2737) Sochi
2015/ Black had no problems whatsoever, therefore he was willing to repeat the
line even against Carlsen.}) 12... Nxd6 13. Bd3 Qc7 (13... O-O 14. Qc2 h6 {
can transpose into games from the following note. I somehow doubt Carlsen
would go in for something wild like} 15. g4 (15. O-O-O b5 $15 {[%cal Yb5b4]})
15... Re8 16. O-O-O b5 $13 {/=/+}) 14. Qc2 $5 $146 {[%mdl 32] A tricky move
order; for the time being Carlsen leaves his king on e1 and wants his opponent
to disclose his castling intentions first.} (14. O-O O-O 15. Qc2 h6 (15... g6
16. Rfe1 b5 17. Qd2 Kg7 18. Ne5 Nxe5 19. Rxe5 Rab8 20. h4 Qd8 21. h5 Qf6 22.
Rae1 Nc4 23. Bxc4 bxc4 24. R1e3 Rb6 25. Rf3 Qe7 26. Rh3 Rh8 27. Qe2 Rhb8 28.
Qe3 Qf6 29. Rf3 Qh4 30. Rh3 Qf6 31. Rf3 $11 {Sandipan,C (2594)-Kasimdzhanov,R 
(2700) Dubai rpd 2014}) 16. Qe2 Rab8 17. a4 (17. b4 $6 Ne7 18. Rac1 Nec8 19.
Bb1 Nc4 20. Qd3 g6 21. Qe2 N8d6 22. h4 Rfe8 23. Ne5 Nxe5 24. dxe5 Nc4 25. Rfe1
h5 $15 {Karlik,V (2248)-Vrana,J (2298) Novy Bor 2010}) 17... Rbe8 18. Ne5 Nxe5
{1/2, Sedlak,N (2538)-Prohaszka,P (2573) Hungary 2012} 19. Qxe5 (19. dxe5 Nc4
$11) 19... Re7 $11 {We have already mentioned a position like this in the very
first note, here the strategy is very similar. In the reversed Carlsbad
structure White's chances for a successful kingside attack with only one pair
of minor pieces are minimal; moreover Black has reasonable queenside
counterplay.}) 14... O-O-O {Radek repeats queenside castling from
Kamsky-Wojtaszek above, but here the situation is different. While the text
move is probably objectively playable, a more circumspect one was} (14... h6 {
and we will probably get a position from the previous note. And if Black is
too worried, his king can still copy White's castling...}) 15. O-O $13 {
Contrary to Kamsky, White can simply castle and a sharp and complex struggle
with kings on opposite sides of the board is on.} h6 16. a4 Kb8 17. Rfe1 {
A sound positional move. White is in no hurry to push b4 and give Black play
against c3.} ({Carlsen is also not interested in the typical, but unclear pawn
sacrifice} 17. a5 Nxa5 $5 18. Qa4 (18. Ra4 $5 Nc6 19. Rfa1 $44) 18... b6 $13)
17... Rc8 {[%cal Yc6b4]} 18. Qd1 (18. Qe2 {seems more natural, but White maybe
already anticipated using this square for a different piece later on.} g5 $13 (
18... Rhe8 $5 $132 {[%cal Yf7f6,Ye6e5]})) 18... Rhe8 {Starting from this
moment onwards kingside expansion would seem natural.} ({However, after} 18...
g5 {Black must reckon with} 19. Ne5 $5 {[%cal Yd1h5]} h5 20. Qf3 Nxe5 21. dxe5
(21. Rxe5 Qd8 $13) 21... Nc4 22. Bxc4 dxc4 23. Rad1 $14 {- here his 18th move
has only weakened his setup.}) 19. Bf1 Re7 (19... f6 $5 {[%cal Yg7g5,Yh6h5]})
20. Rc1 Rd8 {Restrained manoeuvring.} ({Although it's difficult to evaluate
the position unequivocally, the time already seems ripe for} 20... g5 $5 $13)
21. Re2 {This frees e1 for the knight. Although this will work nicely in the
game, right now it's not too impressive.} (21. b4 $5 g5 22. Nd2 $13 {[%cal
Yd2b3,Yb3c5]}) 21... Ne4 $6 {This doesn't seem ideal anymore.} (21... g5 $132)
22. b4 $1 Ng5 (22... g5 23. b5 g4 (23... Na5 24. c4 $1 $36) 24. Nd2 Nxd2 25.
Qxd2 Na5 26. Qxh6 $14) (22... f5 $142 $5 23. b5 Na5 {is maybe better, but I
can understand Black was unwilling to make such a committal move.}) 23. Ne1 e5
{seeking quick central counterplay.} ({White already has a lead in his attack
after} 23... f6 24. a5 $5 (24. Nd3 e5 25. a5 e4 26. Nc5 f5 27. Ra2 $36 {
[%cal Yb4b5,Ya5a6] is a line, given by Danny King - also here White's play is
more straightforward and dangerous.}) 24... e5 25. a6 b6 26. Nc2 $14 {[%cal
Yc2e3,Yb4b5,Yc2b4] /|^}) 24. b5 Na5 25. Rxe5 Rxe5 26. dxe5 Qxe5 27. c4 $36 {
[%csl Gc1,Gd1,Ge1,Gf1] Despite all his pieces on the basic rank, Magnus is
pushing! The main reason is Black's forces are uncoordinated, once the game
has opened up especially the decentralised knights are a problem.} Ne6 28. Nf3
(28. c5 $5 Rc8 (28... Qd4 29. Nd3 {is similar}) 29. Nd3 $36 {/\} Qd4 30. c6
bxc6 31. Qe1 $40) 28... Qf4 $2 {Gives White's initiative a further boost.} (
28... Qe4 29. c5 $36) ({However, even after the better} 28... Qd6 $142 29. cxd5
Qxd5 30. Qe1 b6 31. Rc3 ({or} 31. g3 $5 $14 {[%cal Yf1g2] Black's king is more
vulnerable and he is worse.})) 29. cxd5 Rxd5 (29... Nc7 30. g3 Qd6 31. Rc2 $16)
30. Qxd5 Qxc1 31. g3 $1 $16 {[%csl Yf4][%cal Rf3e5][%mdl 128] A strong
multi-purpose move. It gives the king luft, limits the Ne6, prepares Ne5 and
frees g2 or h3 for the bishop. Carlsen winds up the attack impeccably.} (31.
Ne5 Qc7 32. g3 Qd8 33. Qe4 Qc7 34. Qe3 $36 {is less convincing.}) 31... Qc5 (
31... Qc7 32. Bh3 Nc5 33. Ne5 $40) ({A more resilient try was} 31... Qc8 $142
$5 32. Bh3 Nc4 $16) 32. Qd7 Qf8 (32... Qc7 33. Qe8+ Qd8 (33... Nd8 34. Ne5 {
[%cal Re5f7]}) 34. Qxf7 $18) (32... Qf5 33. Nd4 $1 {and Black's kingside
collapses:} Nxd4 34. Qd6+ (34. Qd8+ Qc8 35. Qxd4 f6 (35... Qf8 36. Qf4+ Ka8 37.
Qc7 Nb3 38. Bg2 Qb8 39. Qc3 $18) 36. Qd6+ Ka8 37. Qe7 $18 {[%csl Ra5,Rb7,Rg7]})
34... Kc8 35. Qxd4 $18 {[%cal Rd4a7,Rd4g7]}) 33. Ne5 $18 Nc5 34. Qd5 {[%cal
Rd5c5]} Kc7 35. Nxf7 Nxa4 {Trying to keep at least material equal, but this
won't last for long.} (35... Qe7 36. Ne5 Nxa4 37. Ng6 Qd6 (37... Qd7 38. Qe5+
Kb6 39. Nf8 $18) 38. Qf7+ $18 {/\} Qd7 39. Qf4+) 36. Qe5+ Kb6 $8 (36... Kc8 37.
Bh3#) 37. Nd6 Nc5 (37... a6 38. Bh3 $5 (38. Qe6 Kc7 (38... Ka7 39. bxa6 $18)
39. Ne8+ Kb8 40. bxa6 $18) 38... Nc5 39. Nc8+ Kxb5 40. Bf1+ Kb4 41. Qe1+ $18)
38. Ne8 {[%cal Re5c7]} (38. Ne8 Qf7 39. Qd6+ $18) 1-0

[Event "London Classic 7th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2015.12.04"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2850"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2015.12.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "7200+1605"]
[WhiteClock "1:03:14"]
[BlackClock "0:59:43"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 O-O (11... Ne7 12. Nc2 Nxd5 13. Qxd5 Rb8
14. Nb4 Bb7 15. Qd3 O-O 16. Be2 a5 17. Nd5 b4 18. O-O bxc3 19. bxc3 Bg5 20.
Rab1 Qd7 21. Rb3 Bc6 22. Rfb1 Rxb3 23. Rxb3 g6 24. Rb6 Rc8 25. h3 Bxd5 26. Qxd5
Rxc3 27. Rxd6 Qe7 28. Bd1 Rc7 29. g3 Kg7 30. Ba4 Bc1 31. Rc6 {1/2-1/2 (31)
Giri,A (2793)-Carlsen,M (2853) Saint Louis USA 2015}) (11... Bg5 12. Nc2 O-O
13. a4) 12. Nc2 Rb8 13. a4 $6 {wurde hinterher von Carlsen als ungenau
kritisiert - Vachier-Lagrave verwechselte vermutlich die Varianten} (13. Be2) (
{oder das aggressivere} 13. h4 {versprechen Weiß mehr Aussichten}) 13... bxa4
14. Ncb4 Nxb4 15. cxb4 Bb7 16. Rxa4 Qc8 (16... Bxd5 {wäre vielleicht eine
Möglichkeit gewesen, die Spannung noch weiter aufrecht zu halten} 17. Qxd5 Qd7
18. b3 Rfc8 19. Ra1 (19. Bc4 $2 Rxc4 20. Qxc4 Rc8 $19) 19... Qg4 $1 (19... Rxb4
20. Bxa6 {und hier kann Weiß nicht schlechter stehen}) 20. h3 Qg5 {und Weiß
hat Probleme, den König aus dem Zentrum zu bekommen}) 17. Nxf6+ gxf6 18. Bd3
Bc6 19. Rxa6 Rxb4 20. O-O Rd4 21. Qf3 Bxe4 {führt forciert ins Dauerschach,
doch Schwarz hat keine vorteilsversprechenden Fortsetzungen zur Verfügung} 22.
Bxe4 Qxa6 23. Qg4+ Kh8 24. Qf5 Rxe4 25. Qxf6+ Kg8 26. Qg5+ Kh8 27. Qf6+ Kg8 28.
Qg5+ Kh8 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 7th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2015.12.05"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah/CB Website"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2015.12.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 {Magnus goes for a pretty
sedate line, trying to get a small edge.} Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5 8. Rxe5
O-O 9. Nc3 Ne8 10. Nd5 Bd6 11. Re1 c6 12. Ne3 Be7 13. c4 Nc7 14. d4 d5 15. cxd5
Nxd5 16. Nxd5 cxd5 17. Bf4 {All of this has been seen before in the game
Areshechenko-Bacrot in June 2015. White won that game. The position is very
symmetrical. However, White seems to have a small edge due to the better
placement of his pieces, like the rook being on e1 and the bishop on f4.
However, this is nothing much.} Bf6 {.} 18. Be5 Bxe5 19. Rxe5 {One of the
reasons why White should have a small edge here is because the d5-pawn is on a
light square, which means that the bishop on c8 is slightly a bad piece.} Re8
20. Rxe8+ Qxe8 21. Qb3 {Magnus was playing his moves pretty quickly and
confidently.} Qc6 22. Bb5 Qb6 {Black is ready to sacrifice his d5 pawn in
order to get some counterplay.} (22... Qd6 23. Rc1 (23. Re1 Be6 $11) 23... Be6
{also looks fine. But Caruana wanted to be more precise and hence chose ...Qb6
over ...Qd6.}) 23. Qxd5 a6 $1 {Very accurate.} (23... Be6 24. Qc5 $1 Qxc5 25.
dxc5 $16 {is just an extra pawn.}) 24. Bd3 {Magnus retreats to a square where
he can create some mating threats with Bd3.} Be6 25. Qe4 g6 26. d5 {It seems
as if White has things going his way but Caruana has everything under control.}
Bf5 27. Qe2 Bxd3 28. Qxd3 Qxb2 {Black recovers the pawn. However, the d5-pawn
is not at all a unit that should be underestimated.} 29. Re1 Rd8 30. d6 Rd7 {
Stopping the pawn in its tracks. This is not all easy to defend but Caruana
does a fine job.} (30... Qxa2 31. Qd4 $1 {looks pretty dangerous with Qf6
coming up next.}) 31. g3 $5 {Magnus takes out time to secure his back rank.}
Qf6 32. Rd1 Qe5 33. Qa3 a5 34. f4 {This move might well be strong practically,
however in the end it was this move that led to the perpetual check.} Qe2 35.
Qc1 Qe6 36. Qc5 b5 37. Qxb5 (37. Qe5 $11 {Anand and Aronian analysed this move
in their press conference and it is also equal.}) 37... Rxd6 $1 {Caruana is
tactically alert and sacrifices his rook in order to get a perpetual check.}
38. Qb8+ Kg7 39. Qxd6 Qe3+ 40. Kg2 Qe2+ 41. Kg1 Qe3+ 42. Kg2 Qe2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 7th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2015.12.06"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2803"]
[BlackElo "2850"]
[Annotator "Roiz,M"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2015.12.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Ke8 10. h3 Be6 11. Rd1 Bc5 {Magnus chooses a somewhat
dubious, but unexplored theoretical continuation. This position had been seen
in only 1 game before.} ({The most common alternatives are} 11... Bb4 12. Ne2
Bd5 13. Ned4 Nxd4 14. Nxd4 Rd8 15. Bd2 (15. Be3 $5) 15... Bc5 16. Nf5 Bf8 17.
Be3 b6 18. f3 Be6 19. g4 Rd5 $11 {1/2 Vachier Lagrave,M (2722)-Fressinet,L 
(2698)/Caen 2011}) ({and} 11... h6 12. b3 Rd8 13. Bb2 Bb4 14. Ne2 Bd5 15. Nfd4
Be4 16. c4 Nxd4 17. Nxd4 Ke7 18. f3 Bg6 $11 {1/2 Hou Yifan (2671)-Mamedyarov,S
(2736)/Baku AZE 2015}) 12. g4 $1 $146 {This natural advance is a novelty. It
definitely makes sense to make progress on the kingside as soon as possible.} (
{In the preceding game Black didn't experience any problems after} 12. Bf4 h6
13. a3 Rd8 $11 {Parma,B-Bisguier,A/Caracas 1970}) 12... Ne7 13. Ng5 Bd5 ({
It looks like} 13... Ng6 {doesn't fully solve the problems either:} 14. Kg2 $1
({After} 14. Nce4 Be7 15. Nxe6 fxe6 16. f4 Rf8 17. Rf1 Rd8 18. Be3 b6 19. Kg2 {
White's position is more pleasant, but it would bew very difficult to make any
progress}) 14... Be7 (14... h5 15. Nxe6 fxe6 16. f4 Rf8 17. Ne4 Be7 18. Rf1 Rd8
19. Be3 $14) 15. Nxe6 fxe6 16. f4 Rf8 17. Ne2 Rd8 18. Be3 $14) 14. Nge4 ({
The following line} 14. Nxd5 $5 cxd5 15. e6 f6 16. Nf7 Rf8 17. Bf4 Rc8 18. Rd3
$14 {looks somewhat scary for White - the Nf7 has no vacant squares. However,
Black's position is very passive here, so it was an option worth considering.})
14... Bb6 {Black experiences some problems with connecting the rooks.} 15. Kg2
{Vishy doesn't hurry with any ''drastic'' decisions.} ({A more energetic way
of handling the position was} 15. a4 $5 a5 16. Nxd5 cxd5 17. Ng3 $14) 15... Rd8
16. Bf4 ({For some reason, Anand rejected the most natural} 16. Kg3 Ng6 17. f4
{, though White's position looks quite attractive here. For instance,} h5 18.
Nxd5 Rxd5 19. Bd2 $14) 16... Ng6 17. Bg3 h5 ({The immediate attempt to connect
the rooks is dubious:} 17... Ke7 $6 18. f4 $1 Rhe8 19. Nxd5+ cxd5 20. Nc3 d4
21. Ne4 $16) 18. f4 hxg4 19. hxg4 {One of Black's rooks has a job to do along
the h-file, but their position is still rather passive.} Ke7 {One more risky
decision. The king is getting vulnerable now.} (19... Nh4+ 20. Bxh4 Rxh4 21.
Kg3 Rh8 22. Rh1 Ke7 23. Rxh8 Rxh8 24. Rd1 Rd8 25. Ng5 $14) 20. Rh1 ({Another
possible move was} 20. Nxd5+ $5 cxd5 21. Nc3 c6 (21... d4 22. Na4 f6 23. Nxb6
axb6 24. exf6+ Kxf6 25. f5 $14) 22. Rh1 {White's pieces are somewhat more
active, so Black is under pressure. For instance,} Bc7 23. Ne2 f6 24. e6 $14)
20... Bd4 21. Nxd5+ cxd5 22. Nc3 (22. Ng5 $5 Rxh1 (22... Bxb2 23. Rxh8 Nxh8 24.
Rb1 Bd4 25. f5 $16) 23. Rxh1 Rh8 24. Rd1 Be3 25. Kf3 d4 26. Ne4 $14) 22... Bxc3
23. bxc3 {Black has been able to simplify matters and damage White's pawn
structure, but the poor placement of theNg6 and vulnerablity of his king make
the position very dangerous.} Kd7 24. f5 Ne7 25. Rae1 $6 {Spoiling the lion's
share of his advantage.} ({A much more energetic and stronger move would be} 
25. Rhf1 $1 Nc8 (25... Rde8 26. Rad1 Kc8 27. c4 $1 $16 dxc4 $140 28. e6 fxe6
29. fxe6 Nc6 30. Rf7 $18) 26. e6+ fxe6 27. fxe6+ Kc6 28. Rf7 Nd6 29. Rxg7 Rdg8
30. Rxg8 Rxg8 31. Kf3 $16) 25... Rde8 26. Kf3 $6 {Mistakes rarely come alone!}
({The precise} 26. Bf4 {would keep Black under pressure:} Rxh1 27. Rxh1 Nc6 28.
Rh7 Rg8 29. Kf3 $14) 26... Rxh1 27. Rxh1 Nc6 {Now it is obvious, that the K is
misplaced on f3.} 28. Re1 {Alas, leaving the open file is the only way to
fight for a win now.} ({Indeed, after} 28. Rh7 Nxe5+ {Black manages to solve
all his problems:} 29. Bxe5 (29. Kf4 f6 30. Rxg7+ Re7 $11) 29... Rxe5 30. Rxg7
Ke7 $11) 28... g5 {An interesting move - now White has less space for the
pieces.} ({Another possibility was} 28... Na5 29. g5 Nc4 30. Kg4 b6 31. g6 fxg6
32. e6+ Ke7 33. Bh4+ Kd6 $11) 29. a4 a6 30. Kg2 ({Another, more aggressive way
of handling the position was} 30. c4 $5 dxc4 (30... Nd4+ 31. Kf2 Nxc2 32. Rd1
d4 33. Rd2 Nb4 34. Rxd4+ Kc8 35. Kf3 $14) 31. Rd1+ Ke7 32. Ke4 $44 {obtaining
excellent compensation for a pawn.}) 30... Kc8 31. Kf2 b6 32. Kf3 Kd7 {It is
very difficult for either side to make any progress now.} 33. Kf2 Kc8 34. Re3
$6 {For some reason, Vishy deviates from repeating the moves, but letting
Black put the knight on c4 is a serious mistake.} (34. Kf3 $11) 34... Na5 $1 {
Suddenly White finds himself in a difficult situation.} 35. Re1 (35. e6 fxe6
36. fxe6 Rf8+ 37. Kg2 Nc4 38. Re1 Re8 39. Bf2 Kd8 40. Be3 Rg8 $17) 35... Nc4
36. Kf3 Kd7 $6 {This natural move seems to be inaccurate, though the
refutation isn't trivial...} (36... a5 {was stronger} {and if} 37. Rh1 {then}
Nxe5+ 38. Bxe5 Rxe5 39. Rh7 Re7 40. Rh5 b5 {and the a-passer should decide the
game:} 41. Rxg5 bxa4 42. f6 Re6 43. Rxd5 Rxf6+ 44. Ke3 Kb7 $19) 37. Kg2 $6 ({
It was the right moment for liquidating into a rook ending at the cost of a
pawn:} 37. Rh1 $1 Nxe5+ 38. Bxe5 Rxe5 39. Rh5 Re4 40. Rxg5 Rxa4 41. Rh5 {
with sufficient counterplay.}) 37... a5 38. Kf2 $2 {The waiting strategy isn't
a successful approach here.} ({The active way of defending was more to the
point:} 38. Rh1 $1 Nxe5 39. Rh7 b5 $1 (39... Kd8 40. Bxe5 Rxe5 41. Rxf7 Re2+
42. Kf3 Rxc2 43. Rg7 Rxc3+ 44. Kf2 $11) 40. axb5 a4 41. Bxe5 Rxe5 42. Rxf7+ Re7
43. Rf6 Re4 44. Kf3 {White's position seems difficult here, but the limited
material balance offers definite drawing chances.}) 38... c6 39. Kg2 b5 40. Rb1
Rh8 $2 {Returning the favour.} ({There was no reason for rejecting} 40... Nxe5
41. axb5 Nxg4 {and Black should be able to convert the extra pawn into the
full point. For instance,} 42. b6 Ne3+ 43. Kf3 g4+ 44. Kf4 f6 45. Bf2 Kc8 46.
b7+ Kb8 47. Kg3 a4 48. Ra1 Re4 $19) 41. Bf2 $1 {Vishy doesn't miss the golden
opportunity to activate his bishop.} Nxe5 ({White is doing OK also after} 41...
Rb8 42. Bd4 Kc7 43. Kg3 $132 bxa4 $140 $2 44. Rxb8 Kxb8 45. e6 fxe6 46. f6 $18)
42. axb5 Nxg4 ({The b-passer offers White sufficient counterplay after} 42...
Nc4 43. b6 Rb8 44. Bc5 Rb7 45. Ra1 $11) 43. bxc6+ Kxc6 44. Bd4 Re8 45. Kg3 {
Now all White's pieces are perfectly placed.} Ne5 ({Nor was anything promised
by} 45... Re4 46. Rb6+ Kc7 47. Ra6 Ne3 48. Bxe3 Rxe3+ 49. Kg4 Rxc3 50. Kxg5
Rxc2 51. Rxa5 Kd6 52. Ra7 d4 53. Kf4 $11) 46. Rb6+ Kc7 47. Rf6 Kd7 ({Or} 47...
a4 48. Bxe5+ Rxe5 49. Rxf7+ Kb6 50. Rf6+ Kb5 51. Rf8 $11) 48. Bxe5 Rxe5 49. Kg4
({There was nothing wrong with} 49. Rxf7+ Re7 50. Rf6 $11) 49... Ke7 50. Kxg5 {
There is no way to avoid a draw now.} Re1 (50... Re3 51. Ra6 f6+ 52. Kg4 Rxc3
53. Rxa5 $11) 51. Ra6 f6+ 52. Kg4 Rg1+ 53. Kf4 Rf1+ 54. Kg4 Rg1+ 55. Kf4 Rf1+
56. Kg4 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 7th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2015.12.07"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Adams, Michael"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2850"]
[BlackElo "2744"]
[Annotator "Mokal,P"]
[PlyCount "155"]
[EventDate "2015.12.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 ({On move number 33 in the main game below, Carlsen was of the opinion
that perhaps he should have taken the N with his B and gone for a RR vs RBP
endgame with 3 other Ps each on the kingside. That endgame would be somewhat
similar to the following one that occured in Tkachiev - Van Wely, 2003 with
light notes by endgame expert Karsten Mueller in CBM 95. It went -} 1. d4 Nf6
2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Nf3 Nb6 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. e3 e5 9. d5
Nb4 10. e4 c6 11. a3 Na6 12. a4 O-O 13. a5 Nc4 14. Qb3 cxd5 15. Nxd5 Nxa5 16.
Qc3 b6 17. b4 Bb7 18. bxa5 Bxd5 19. axb6 axb6 20. exd5 e4 21. Nd4 Qxd5 22. Be3
Rfc8 23. Qd2 Rc4 24. O-O Rxd4 25. Bxd4 Qxd4 26. Qxd4 Bxd4 27. Ra4 Bc3 28. Bxe4
Ra7 29. Bd3 Ba5 30. Bxa6 Rxa6 {This is the structure and material balance that
we are talking about.} 31. Rd1 Ra7 32. g4 Kg7 33. Rad4 Bc3 34. Rd7 Ra4 35. h3
Rf4 36. Kg2 b5 $5 37. R1d3 b4 38. Rb7 h6 39. Rf3 Rf6 40. Rxf6 Kxf6 {Without
the b-pawn Black's position is theoretically lost, but with it matters are not
completely clear. The game is not conclusive proof, so further analysis is
needed.} 41. Kf3 h5 $6 {opens for White many inroads on the light squares.} (
41... Be1 $142) 42. gxh5 gxh5 43. Rb5 Kg6 44. Ke4 Be1 45. f4 Bc3 46. Rb6+ f6
47. Rc6 Bb2 48. Rd6 Bc3 49. Rd3 Be1 $6 (49... f5+ $5 {came strongly into
consideration}) 50. Re3 Bd2 51. Rg3+ Kf7 52. Kf5 Ke7 53. Rd3 (53. Rg7+ $5 Kd6
54. Rh7 Kc5 55. Ke4 $16 (55. Kxf6 $2 b3 56. Rb7 b2 {[%cal Gd2b4]} 57. Rxb2 Bc3+
$11)) 53... Bc3 54. Ke4 Kf7 55. f5 Kg7 56. Rg3+ Kh7 57. Kd5 Be5 58. Re3 Kh6 59.
Ke6 Bd4 (59... Bc3 60. h4 Kg7 61. Ke7 Kh7 62. Kf7 Be5 63. Rb3 Bc3 64. Rb1 Kh8
65. Rg1 b3 66. Rg8+ Kh7 67. Rg7+ Kh8 68. Kg6 b2 69. Rc7 $18) (59... Kg5 $2 {
is refuted nicely:} 60. Rxe5 fxe5 61. f6 b3 62. f7 b2 63. f8=Q b1=Q 64. Qf6#)
60. Rg3 $1 Be5 61. Rg6+ Kh7 62. Kf7 h4 (62... b3 63. Rg7+ Kh8 (63... Kh6 64. h4
b2 65. Kg8 b1=Q 66. Rg6#) 64. Kg6 b2 65. Rd7 Bc7 66. Rxc7 b1=Q 67. Rc8#) 63.
Rg4 Kh6 64. Rxb4 Kg5 65. Ke6 {1-0 (65) Tkachiev,V (2642)-Van Wely,L (2675)
France 2003 CBM 095 [Mueller,Karsten]} (65. Ke6 Ba1 66. Rg4+ Kh5 67. Rg6 Bd4
68. Rxf6 $18)) 1... d5 2. g3 Bg4 3. Bg2 c6 4. O-O e6 5. d3 Bd6 6. c4 Ne7 7.
cxd5 exd5 8. Nc3 O-O 9. h3 Bh5 10. e4 Na6 $146 {In two previous games the N
had been developed to d7. From a6 the N can find a nice shielded square on c7
to protect d5 while if needed, it can play an active role from b4 or c5.} (
10... Nd7 {[%cal Yd7e5]} 11. Qc2 (11. exd5 cxd5 (11... Nxd5 12. Nxd5 cxd5 13.
Qb3 $14) 12. g4 Bg6 13. Nh4 $14) 11... Rc8 12. Nd4 {[%cal Yf2f4]} (12. Be3 $5)
12... Bg6 13. f4 $6 Bc5 (13... Qb6 $15) 14. Be3 $14 {1-0 Miles,A (2595)-Vera
Gonzalez Quevedo,R (2535)/Havana 1998 (53), with a slight advantage of space.})
(10... dxe4 11. dxe4 Qc7 12. Qc2 Nd7 13. Be3 Rad8 14. Nd4 $14 {1/2-1/2
Berkovich,M (2334)-Azarov,S (2603)/Cappelle la Grande 2014 (31); was also
slightly better for White.}) 11. exd5 (11. g4 Bg6 12. Nd4 $5 {[%cal Gf2f4] /
\f2-f4-f5.} (12. Nh4) 12... Re8 13. f4 Bc5 (13... Qb6 14. Be3 Qxb2 $13) 14. Be3
$13) 11... cxd5 (11... Nxd5 12. Nxd5 cxd5 13. Qb3 $14) 12. Re1 ({Worth
considering was} 12. g4 Bg6 13. Nh4 {to pocket the ^^ advantage.}) 12... Nc6
13. d4 (13. g4 $5 Bg6 14. Nxd5 Nc5 $132 (14... Nab4 $5 15. Nxb4 Nxb4 16. Ne5
Re8 (16... Nxd3 17. Nxd3 Bxd3 18. Bxb7 (18. Qxd3 $2 Bh2+ $19) 18... Rb8 19. Qf3
$14) 17. Bd2 Bxe5 18. Bxb4 Bxd3) 15. d4 Nd3) 13... Nc7 14. a3 h6 15. b4 Rc8 (
15... Re8 $5 16. Rxe8+ (16. Bb2 $6 Rxe1+ 17. Qxe1 Bxf3 18. Bxf3 Nxd4) 16...
Qxe8 17. Bb2 $14 {[%cal Gd1d2,Ga1e1,Gd2d3]}) 16. Bb2 a6 $6 {Adams "My ...a6
move was not very clever, because it gave him a clear plan."} (16... Re8 $5)
17. Na4 $1 {[%csl Rb6,Rc5] Carlsen immediately pounces on the weakened squares.
} a5 18. Nc5 (18. Nb6 $5 Rb8 19. bxa5 Nxa5 20. g4 Bg6 21. Ne5 {[%cal Gb6d7,
Ge5d7,Ge5g6]} Bxe5 22. dxe5 $16 {[%csl Rd5][%cal Gb2d4,Gf2f4]}) 18... axb4 19.
axb4 Rb8 (19... b6 20. Qa4 $1 bxc5 21. dxc5 $16 {[%csl Rc6,Rd6]} Nxb4 22. cxd6
Qxd6 23. Be5 Qb6 24. Rab1 Nca6 25. Bd4 Qd6 26. Nh4 $1 $16 {[%csl Rd6,Rg7][%cal
Gh4f5]} Bg6 27. Nxg6 fxg6 28. Bf1 $16 {[%csl Ra6,Rb4] Black's pieces are stuck.
}) 20. Qa4 (20. Qb3 $5 b6 21. Nd3 {[%cal Gd3e5,Gf3e5,Gd3b4]} f6 (21... Bxf3 22.
Bxf3 Ne6 23. Qxd5 Nxb4 24. Qb3 $16 {[%csl Gb2,Gd4,Gf3]}) 22. Rac1 $14) 20...
Bxf3 21. Bxf3 Qf6 22. Qb3 (22. Bg4 $5 Bxc5 23. bxc5 $14) 22... Rfd8 23. Bg4
Nxd4 {Black finds the best way to fight, giving up an exchange.} (23... Qg6 24.
b5 Ne7 (24... Na5 25. Rxa5 b6 26. Ra7 bxc5 27. dxc5 Rxb5 28. Qf3 $1 Rxb2 29.
cxd6 Ne6 30. Qxd5 $18) 25. b6 Ne8 26. Ra7 $18) (23... Qg5 24. b5 $16) (23...
Ra8 24. Kg2 (24. Nxb7 Bxb4) 24... Rxa1 25. Rxa1 b6 26. Nb7 Rb8 27. b5 Nxd4 28.
Nxd6 Nxb3 29. Bxf6 Nxa1 30. Bxa1 $16) (23... Bxc5 24. bxc5 $16 {[%csl Gb2,Rb7,
Rd5,Gg4]}) 24. Bxd4 Qxd4 25. Red1 Qc4 26. Qxc4 dxc4 27. Nd7 {[%csl Rd6]} Rxd7 (
27... Bxb4 28. Ra4 {would be similar to the game.}) 28. Bxd7 {Adams "I was not
very optimistic about my chances here."} Bxb4 29. Ra4 Bc5 $1 {Adams visualises
a nice fortress. Although not an impeccable one, this fortress seems like his
best chance to fight for a draw.} (29... Na6 30. Rc1 c3 31. Bb5 $16 {[%csl Ra6,
Rb4,Rb8,Rc3][%cal Ga6b4,Gb4c3,Gb8b4] and Black's pieces are all stuck
defending each other.}) 30. Rxc4 b6 {Carlsen "I just assumed that I should be
able to break down this fortress somehow. But maybe it is not that easy."} 31.
Kg2 g6 32. Bc6 Ne8 33. Rd7 ({Carlsen "Perhaps I should have taken the N with} 
33. Bxe8 Rxe8 34. Rd7 $14 {with slightly better chances to win than in the
game." A similar situation occured in Tkachiev vs Van Wely, 2003 which you can
find above in the note to the 1st move.}) 33... Nf6 34. Ra7 Kg7 35. Ra8 Rxa8
36. Bxa8 h5 37. Ra4 Ng8 38. Bd5 Ne7 39. Ba2 Nc6 ({Black could also think about
going for his desired setup immediately with} 39... Nf5 $5 {[%cal Gf5d6]}) 40.
Ra8 Nb4 41. Bc4 Nc6 42. f4 Ne7 43. Kf3 ({Adams was worried about} 43. Ra7 $5 {
but Carlsen rejected it because of} h4 {which seems to be simplifying towards
a draw. For example} (43... b5 $2 44. Ra5 $18) 44. gxh4 (44. g4 b5 45. Ra5 (45.
Rc7 Bd6 46. Rd7 Bxf4) 45... Bd6 46. Rxb5 Bxf4 $11) 44... b5 45. Ra5 Bd6 46.
Rxb5 Bxf4 47. Rb7 Bd6 $13) 43... Nf5 44. Ra7 Nd6 ({Nakamura was of the opinion
that keeping the N on e7 would secure an easier draw, but the players were not
sure about this assessment. While Adams thought that the White K would
penetrate via b5-a6-b7-c7 and so on, Carlsen thought that Ke4-e5 at some point
might create problems for Black. I tried both these ideas, but could not find
anything clear -} 44... Ne7 45. Ke4 Kf6 (45... b5 46. Rc7 Bd6 47. Rd7 $18) 46.
Rb7 Kg7 47. Kd3 (47. g4 hxg4 48. hxg4 Kf6 49. g5+ Kg7 50. Kd3 Kf8 51. Kc2 Bd6)
(47. Ke5 Nc6+ 48. Kd5 Ne7+ 49. Ke4 Kf6 50. g4 hxg4 51. hxg4 Kg7 52. g5 Kf8 53.
Ke5 Kg7 54. Rc7 Kf8 {It is still not clear how White can make progress.} 55.
Rd7 (55. Rxc5 bxc5 56. Kf6 Ng8+ $11) (55. Kf6 $4 Bd4#) 55... Ke8 56. Rb7 Kf8)
47... Kf8 48. Kc3 Kg7 (48... Bf2 49. g4 hxg4 50. hxg4 Be3 51. f5 gxf5 52. gxf5)
49. Kb3 Kf8 50. Ka4 Bf2 51. g4 hxg4 52. hxg4 Bc5 53. Kb5 Kg7 54. Ka6 Kf8 55.
Ba2 (55. Rc7 Bd6) 55... Kg7 56. Ra7 (56. Rd7 Kf8 57. Kb7 Be3 58. Rd8+ Kg7 59.
Re8 Bc5 60. Kc7 Ng8 61. g5 Ne7 62. Kd7 Nf5 63. Bb1 Nd6 (63... Ng3 $5 {[%cal
Gg3h5]})) 56... Kf8 57. Kb7 {and in spite of getting the K into the enemy camp
I found it tough to make progress. Some sample variations -} Be3 58. Ra8+ (58.
Ra4 Ng8 59. Re4 Bc5 60. g5 Ne7 61. Kc7 Kg7 62. Kd7 Nf5) 58... Kg7 59. Re8 Bc5
60. Bb3 Ng8 (60... Kf6 61. Rf8) 61. Rd8 Nh6 (61... Ne7 62. Rd7 Kf8 63. Kc7) 62.
Rd7 (62. g5 Nf5 63. Rd7 Ne7 64. Kc7 Kf8 65. Rd1 (65. Kd8 Nc6+ 66. Kc7 Ne7)
65... Be3 66. Kd7 Nf5 $13) 62... g5 $5 (62... Nxg4 63. Rxf7+ Kh6 64. Bc2) 63.
f5 (63. fxg5 Nxg4 64. Rxf7+ Kg6 65. Be6 Ne3 $11) 63... Nxg4 64. Rxf7+ Kh6 65.
Rc7 Ne5 66. f6 Kg6 67. f7 Bd6 68. Ka6 Kg7 69. Ra7 g4 70. Ra8 Bf8 $11) 45. Bd5
Bd4 46. Rd7 Bc5 47. Ba2 Kf6 48. g4 hxg4+ 49. hxg4 Kg7 50. Rd8 Nb7 51. Rd7 Nd6
52. Ke2 Kf8 53. Kd3 Kg7 54. Bd5 Kf8 55. Rd8+ Kg7 56. Bc6 Kh7 57. g5 Kg7 58. Bd5
Kh7 59. Rd7 Kg7 60. Ke2 Kf8 61. Kf3 Ke8 62. Rc7 Bd4 (62... Kf8 $5) 63. Kg4 (63.
Bxf7+ Nxf7 64. Rc6 Nh8 {[%cal Gd4b6,Gd4h8,Gh8g6]} 65. Ke4 Kd7 $11) 63... Be3 $6
{After a lot of manouvering, Adams makes a slip, overlooking White's strong
idea.} ({He should have played} 63... Kf8 $142 {not allowing Bf7. Then Carlsen
was intending to use the idea of} 64. f5 (64. Bxf7 $2 Nxf7 65. Rc6 Kg7 $11)
64... gxf5+ 65. Kh5 {, with minor chances, according to him. This would still
be a draw, but it would require some accuracy from Black (less than the game
though).}) 64. Bxf7+ $1 {Adams admitted to having overlooked this point. But
luckily, he managed to collect himself and continue to find the best resources
in a difficult position.} Nxf7 65. Rc6 Bd4 66. Rxg6 b5 {[%csl Gd4,Gd6,Gf7]
[%cal Gf7d6,Gd4h8,Gd4a1,Gb5b4,Gb4b3,Gb3b2,Ge8d7] Black has a striking harmony
and flexibility between his K,B,N&P. Its like they are all there for each
other, always. He can use the P as a decoy for the R, or he can even think
about sacrificing the 2 pieces for White's two pawns and draw the K+P vs K+R
ending.} 67. Rg8+ (67. Kf3 $5 b4 68. Ke4 Bc3 69. Rb6 Kd7 70. Kd5 Ke7 71. g6 Nh6
$11) (67. Kh5 Kd7 $1 $11 {[%cal Gf7d6]}) 67... Kd7 68. f5 (68. Rb8 Nd6 69. f5
Kc7 70. Ra8 b4 71. Ra4 Bc3) (68. Ra8 b4 69. g6 Nd6 70. g7 Bxg7 71. Ra7+ Kc6 72.
Rxg7 b3 73. Re7 Kc5 $11) 68... Be3 $1 {Carlsen underestimated this defense. He
thought White would win this but he missed 74...Ne7 in the variation below
with 73.Kh5.} 69. Rg7 (69. g6 $2 Nh6+ 70. Kf3 Nxg8 71. Kxe3 $11) 69... Ke8 70.
Rg8+ Kd7 71. Rg7 Ke8 72. g6 Nh6+ $1 73. Kf3 (73. Kh5 Nxf5 74. Rf7 Ne7 $1 $11 (
74... Nh6 $2 75. Rf3 Bd2 76. g7 $18 {[%cal Gh5g6]} b4 77. Kg6 Ke7 78. Rd3 Bc1
79. Rd1 Bf4 80. Rd4 Bc1 81. Rxb4 Bd2 (81... Ng8 82. Rb8 Nh6 83. Rh8 $18) 82.
Re4+ Kd7 83. Rd4+ $18) (74... Nd6 $2 75. Rf6 $18 {[%csl Rd6,Re3][%cal Gf6e6]}))
73... Nxf5 74. Rf7 Nh4+ 75. Kxe3 Nxg6 76. Rb7 b4 77. Ke4 b3 78. Rxb3 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 7th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2015.12.08"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D41"]
[WhiteElo "2788"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2015.12.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. Nf3 e6 4. e3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. d4 cxd4 7. exd4 Nxc3 {
A rare but solid continuation. Black usually plays} (7... Be7) ({or} 7... Bb4)
8. bxc3 Qc7 {This immediate attack on White's c3-pawn, preventing Bf1-d3, is
the only way for Black to justify his previous move.} (8... Be7 9. Bd3 {
is comfortable for White.}) 9. Bd2 {This move looks passive but other defences
have their drawbacks, too:} (9. c4 Bb4+ 10. Bd2 Bxd2+ 11. Qxd2 b6 12. Be2 O-O
13. O-O Nd7 14. a4 Bb7 15. a5 Rfd8 16. Qe3 Rac8 17. Rfc1 bxa5 18. Nd2 Nb6 $11 {
1/2 (93) Timman,J (2615)-Fressinet,L (2711) Malmo 2014}) (9. Bb5+ Nd7 10. O-O
Bd6 11. d5 O-O 12. dxe6 fxe6 13. h3 Nf6 14. Re1 e5 15. Ba3 Bxa3 16. Qb3+ Kh8
17. Qxa3 Bd7 18. Rxe5 {1/2 (18) Ghaem Maghami,E (2596)-Kramnik,V (2777) Berlin
2015}) (9. Bb2 Nd7 (9... Bd6 10. Bd3 Nd7 11. O-O O-O 12. c4 Rd8 13. Qe2 Nf8 14.
Qe4 Bd7 15. Qg4 Ng6 16. Qh5 Bf4 17. Rfe1 Bc6 18. Ng5 Bxg5 19. Qxg5 Qf4 $11 {
1-0 (92) Khismatullin,D (2649)-Ghane Gardeh,S (2398) Moscow 2011}) 10. Bd3 Ba3
$5 11. Qb3 Bxb2 12. Qxb2 O-O 13. O-O b6 14. Be4 Rb8 15. Rac1 b5 16. Rfe1 Bb7
$11 {0-1 (44) Klimentov,E (2196)-Kharitonov,A (2553) Voronezh 2015}) (9. Qc2
Nd7 (9... b6 $5 10. Bb5+ Nd7 11. O-O a6 12. Bd3 Bb7 13. Ng5 $6 Bd6 14. f4 Nf6
15. Bd2 Rc8 16. Rae1 h6 17. Ne4 Nxe4 18. Bxe4 O-O $11 {1/2 (63) Milov,V (2669)
-Houska,J (2392) Gibraltar 2009}) 10. Bd3 b6 11. O-O Bb7 12. Ng5 (12. Re1 Bd6
13. Be4 Bxe4 14. Rxe4 Nf6 15. Rh4 Rc8 16. Bd2 h6 17. Re1 Nd5 18. Qe4 Nf6 19.
Qb1 Nd5 20. Rg4 Kf8 $13 {1-0 (33) Adams,M (2724)-Houska,J (2401) London 2007})
(12. Be4 $11) 12... Bd6 13. h3 h6 (13... Bh2+ $6 14. Kh1 Bf4 15. Re1 Bxg5 16.
Bxg5 h6 17. Bd2 Nf6 18. c4 O-O 19. a4 $14 {0-1 (36) Riazantsev,A (2646)
-Kramnik,V (2777) Berlin GER 2015}) 14. Ne4 Be7 $11) 9... Nd7 10. Bd3 b6 {
Black can develop his kingside bishop first:} (10... Be7 $5 11. O-O b6 12. Re1
Bb7 13. Ng5 Nf6 14. Re3 h6 15. Rh3 Bd6 16. Qe2 O-O 17. Ne4 Bxe4 18. Bxe4 Nxe4
19. Qxe4 Rfe8 $11 {0-1 (29) Dickenson,N (2250)-Levitt,J (2445) Maidstone 1994})
(10... Bd6 11. O-O b6 $5 (11... O-O 12. Qe2 Nf6 13. Ne5 Bxe5 14. dxe5 Nd7 15.
Rfe1 $1 (15. Rae1 Nc5 16. Bb1 b6 17. Qh5 g6 18. Qh4 Ba6 19. c4 Nd7 $13 {
0-1 (52) Hou,Y (2673)-Dimitrov,R (2445) Bastia 2014}) 15... Nc5 16. Bc2 $40)
12. Re1 (12. d5 Nc5 13. Bb5+ Bd7 14. Bxd7+ Qxd7 15. c4 O-O 16. Be3 Rac8 17. Qd4
Rfe8 18. Rad1 e5 $15 {0-1 (28) Bern,I (2345)-Ogaard,L (2395) Oslo 2006}) 12...
Bb7 13. c4 O-O 14. Rc1 (14. Bc3 Rfe8 15. Ng5 $6 h6 16. Nf3 Rad8 $15 {0-1 (60)
Rantanen,Y (2308)-Barbosa,O (2501) Pattaya 2015}) 14... Rac8 15. d5 Bf4 (15...
Nc5 $5 16. Bxh7+ $140 Kxh7 17. Ng5+ Kg6) 16. Ng5 Bxg5 17. Bxg5 Nc5 18. Re3 f6
19. Rh3 Nxd3 20. Qxd3 {1-0 (25) Nurkic,S (2415)-Majeric,Z (2345) Tuzla 2007} g6
$13) 11. Ng5 {White tries to exploit Black's delay in the development of his
kingside but doesn't gain anything.} (11. O-O Bb7 12. c4 Bd6 {- see above})
11... Nf6 12. Qf3 Rb8 13. O-O Bd6 14. Qh3 h6 15. Rfe1 (15. Nf3 $5 {is more
logical, preventing castling. However, Black's position is solid enough in any
case:} Bb7 (15... O-O $2 16. Bxh6 gxh6 17. Qxh6) (15... Bf4 {is less accurate
in view of} 16. Bxf4 Qxf4 17. Ne5 {[%csl Rf4]} O-O 18. g3 Qd2 19. Rfc1 {
[%cal Rc1c2]}) 16. Rae1 Bxf3 $1 {(the simplest: White's strong knight should
be eliminated)} 17. Qxf3 Bxh2+ 18. Kh1 Bd6 19. d5 O-O 20. dxe6 Rbe8 $11) 15...
O-O 16. Nf3 Bf4 17. Bxf4 Qxf4 18. Ne5 Bb7 {Black's queen is safe here.} 19.
Rad1 (19. g3 Qd2 20. Rec1 Qb2 21. a4 Rfc8 {etc. - Black's extra tempo is
crucial}) 19... Qg5 20. c4 Rbd8 21. Qg3 $6 ({As usualwith hanging pawns, it
was better for White to keep queens on the board:} 21. Bf1 $11) 21... Qxg3 22.
hxg3 {A marginal plus now belongs to Black as White's hanging pawns are rather
weak. Still, a draw is the most probable outcome.} Rfe8 ({The immediate} 22...
Nd7 {is more accurate as the most appropriate position of Black's rooks is yet
to be determined.}) 23. f3 Nd7 24. Kf2 Kf8 25. Bc2 Nxe5 26. Rxe5 Re7 27. Bb3
Red7 28. Ke3 {, and the World Champion failed to break down White's defences:}
g6 29. g4 Bc6 30. d5 exd5 31. cxd5 Bb7 32. f4 f6 {(forcing a draw)} 33. Re6
Bxd5 34. Rxd5 Rxd5 35. Bxd5 Rxd5 36. Rxf6+ Kg7 37. Rc6 Ra5 38. Rc2 Kf6 39. Rc6+
Kg7 40. Rc2 Kf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 7th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2015.12.10"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C91"]
[WhiteElo "2778"]
[BlackElo "2850"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2015.12.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. d4
d6 9. c3 Bg4 10. Be3 exd4 11. cxd4 Na5 12. Bc2 Nc4 13. Bc1 c5 14. b3 Nb6 15.
Nbd2 Rc8 16. Bb2 Nfd7 17. Qb1 g6 18. h3 Bxf3 19. Nxf3 cxd4 20. Nxd4 Bf6 21. Qd1
Ne5 22. Rc1 Bg5 23. Rb1 Nbd7 24. Rf1 Bf6 25. Rc1 Qb6 26. Bb1 Rxc1 27. Bxc1 Nd3
28. Qxd3 Bxd4 29. Bh6 Rc8 30. Qe2 Nf8 31. g3 Ne6 32. Kg2 Bg7 33. Be3 Bd4 34.
Bd2 Qd8 35. Rc1 Rxc1 36. Bxc1 Qf6 37. a4 bxa4 38. bxa4 Nc5 39. a5 Bc3 40. Ba3
Bxa5 41. Bxc5 dxc5 42. Bd3 Bc3 43. Bxa6 Bd4 44. Bc4 Kg7 45. h4 Qb6 46. h5 Qf6
47. Ba2 gxh5 48. f4 Qg6 49. Kh3 f5 50. exf5 Qxf5+ 51. Kg2 Kh6 52. Qe6+ Qxe6 53.
Bxe6 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 7th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2015.12.11"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2793"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "155"]
[EventDate "2015.12.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{3 rounds to go, and not much positive could be said of the World Champion's
experiences in the Grand Chess Tour as of yet. But when, despite a total minus
score, you still have a chance in the overall standings it's hard not to be
motivated, especially when facing the leader, Nakamura.} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 $5 {
An interesting surprise by Nakamura, who has recently, at least result-wise,
done quite well with 2...e6 against Magnus. But having suffered in the opening
in St. Louis, as well as trying to be the first to surprise in this crucial
game, Hikaru goes back to the Slav.} 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 {Magnus' preferred line,
giving Naka his chance to spring his surprise:} Bg4 $5 {Against Magnus, Naka
has played only 4...a6.} 5. h3 Bh5 6. cxd5 $5 {Played after prolonged thought.
It's a rare move at the top level these days, but serves the purpose of not
having to face Nakamuras preparation in the main lines.} cxd5 7. Nc3 e6 8. g4
Bg6 9. Ne5 Nfd7 $1 {Due to the exchange of c-pawns the c6-square is available
for the b8-knight, and like this then Black gets a very harmonious position.}
10. Nxg6 hxg6 11. Bg2 Nc6 12. e4 $5 {An interesting way to change the
structure, as Black was completely fine after} (12. O-O f5 {in Tregubov- Anand
from Corsica 2014. Maybe 11...f5!? would be Black's most exact move-order, but
as Black is fine in the game, it is of minor importance.}) 12... dxe4 13. Nxe4
Bb4+ 14. Nc3 Nb6 15. O-O O-O (15... Nxd4 {was interesting, as} 16. Bxb7 Rxh3 {
would give Black an overwhelming attack, should White take the exchange.
However by playing less materialistically with} 17. Bg2 Rh8 18. Bf4 {White
keeps decent compensation for the sacrificed pawn. But Nakamura seems
reluctant to play his normal aggressive style in this game, bearing in mind
that a draw would keep his tournament lead, and effectively eliminate Magnus
from the fight for overall 1st place.}) 16. d5 exd5 17. Nxd5 Bc5 18. Nc3 Bd4
19. Qf3 Qf6 $6 {Again, sticking to his drawing strategy.} 20. Qxf6 Bxf6 21. Bf4
Rad8 22. Rad1 {After a not too impressive opening, White has gained some
advantage, with basically a free pair of bishops. Even so in a symmetrical
structure without queens Black's position should be drawable, even if
unpleasant. But now Nakamura plays more according to his instincts and
unbalances the position instead of the more obvious rook-swaps in the d-file.}
Bxc3 23. bxc3 Na4 24. c4 Nc3 25. Rd2 $1 {A small, but important move. Like
this White keeps opposing in the d-file, while simultaneously covering the
e2-square.} Rxd2 26. Bxd2 Ne2+ {As the bishop has vacated f4, this check is no
longer dangerous, but} (26... Nxa2 27. Bxc6 $1 bxc6 28. Ra1 {would just trap
the knight, so Black has no choice.}) 27. Kh2 Rd8 28. Be3 Nc3 29. a3 Rd3 30.
Rc1 Nd1 31. Be4 Rd7 32. Bc5 Nb2 33. Rc2 Na4 34. Be3 {The position has
stabilised, White keeps his pair of bishops, and Black had to withdraw his
knight.} Nb6 35. c5 $5 {To some extent limiting the black-squared bishop, but
even if} (35. Bxb6 axb6 36. Rb2 {also is promising, the risk is that some sort
drawn rook-ending a pawn up, could easily end up being the result of White's
effort. So Magnus wisely retains the tension.}) 35... Nd5 36. Rd2 Nf6 37. Rxd7
$5 {It would seem to me, there was logic in keeping the rooks, having more
pieces to try and complicate matters, but Magnus believed the black fortress
was in no way impregnable.} Nxd7 38. Kg3 Kf8 39. f4 Nf6 40. Bf3 Ke7 {The
time-control has been reached, without too much having happened in the game so
far. White does of course have the bishop pair, but Black's position is solid,
without obvious weaknesses, and White's structure is somewhat shattered, and
the knights have strongholds on c6 and f6. It is easy to understand if
Nakamura felt reasonably confident he woud draw this position without too much
trouble. For a start it's hard to see how White can improve his position, and
the next move in many ways looks like worsening it!} 41. f5 $1 gxf5 42. gxf5 {
What has White achieved by this exchange? For a start all his pawns are now
isolated, as well as the f6-stronghold having become even more solid. Even so
there has been considerable progress for White. His king can proceed further
up the board, combined with pushing the h-pawn, and one advantage of the
bishops over the knights, is that it is the bishop who at any moment can
choose to exchange itself. Right now Bxc6 followed by Bg5 is not a threat, as
after ...Kf8 Bxf6 gxf6 the pawn ending is drawn as the black king is in time
with counterplay on the h-file while the white kings walks to a5, but Black
constantly has to be on his guard.} Kd7 43. Kf4 Ne8 {.} 44. Kg5 $1 {As so
often, the king becomes a powerful piece in the endgame, and is here
excellently placed on g5. After 44...Nf6 45.Bxc6+ followed by 46.Bd4 comes
close to forcing a winning pawn ending, but Black seems to draw by a tempo,
meaning just 45.h4! being the right response keeping the tension and further
improving the white position. And after the tempting 44...f6+ White just plays
45.Kh5! when Bxc6+ followed by Kg6 becomes a decisive threat so Black has no
choice, but just has to keep biding his time.} Ke7 (44... Nf6 45. h4 $1) (44...
f6+ 45. Kh5 $1) 45. Bf4 a6 46. h4 Kf8 47. Bg3 Nf6 48. Bd6+ Ke8 49. Kf4 Nd7 50.
Bg2 Kd8 51. Kg5 Ke8 52. h5 Nf6 53. h6 $1 {After patiently making slight
improvements to his position, White now plays the very essential swap of pawns
on the kingside. It does reduce the material left on the board, but much more
importantly undermines the f6-square and as well manages to break through even
further with the king.} Nh7+ 54. Kh5 Nf6+ 55. Kg5 Nh7+ 56. Kh4 $1 {Stepping
out of the reach of the black knights, leaving Black no choice but to take and
allow the white king in.} gxh6 {.} 57. Kh5 Nf6+ 58. Kxh6 Ng4+ 59. Kg7 $1 {
White has made huge progress, and almost made it look like the position after
move 40 was a forced win. But Black's resistance is in no way broken, as the
downside of the white king having reached g7, is that the f5-pawn is much
harder to defend and Nakamura instantly tries to maximise his counterplay
against it.} Nd4 60. Be4 Nf2 61. Bb1 $1 {The chessboard is just big enough for
the bishop to hide from the black knights while keeping f5 protected.} Ng4 {.}
62. Bf4 f6 {Fixing the f-pawn and basing his counterplay on attacking it.} ({
Harassing the bishops will not really work, e.g.} 62... Ne2 63. Bc7 Nc3 64. Bc2
Ne3 65. Bd3 {illustrates that Black would just be making 1-move threats with
no purpose.}) 63. Be4 Nf2 64. Bb1 Ng4 65. Be4 Nf2 {Black's counterplay makes a
lot of sense. In order to proceed, White has to give up the f-pawn further
reducing material.} 66. Bxb7 Nd3 {The first 40 moves indeed were nothing
special, while the next 25 constitute a very instructive ending, where White
breaks through a very solid looking fortress. But the brilliancy and tactical
complications are here very unusually kept for the last stage of the game,
happening after even 6 hours of play.} 67. Kxf6 $3 {A stunning piece sacrifice,
and the only way to win!} ({It looks like} 67. Bd6 $2 Nxf5+ 68. Kxf6 Nxd6 69.
Bc6+ $1 Kd8 70. cxd6 {would lead to an easily winning ending for White, but
surprisingly this position is a draw! White simply has no way to get to the
queenside with his king, without allowing the knight to harass the white pawns:
} Nb2 71. Ke6 Nc4 72. a4 a5 73. Kd5 Ne3+ 74. Kc5 Ng4 {being the principal line.
After} 75. Kb6 Ne5 76. Bb5 Nf7 {Black is just in time, as} 77. d7 Ne5 78. Kxa5
Nxd7 {is a draw, as Black's king reaches the crucial c8-square in the pawn
ending.}) 67... Nxf4 68. Ke5 $1 {This is the point. The king attacks both
knights, which are forced into a purposeless existence, simply defending each
other.} Nfe2 ({After} 68... Nde2 69. Bxa6 {the knights are completely stuck,})
({and} 68... Nxf5 69. Kxf5 Nd3 70. c6 Kd8 71. Bxa6 {leaves White two pawns up,
with no fortress in sight, so Nakamuras plays his best chance.}) 69. f6 $2 {
A mistake that could have ruined an otherwise great game and tournament
comeback.} (69. c6 $1 {would have crowned his efforts, as Black has no other
choice than to give up a knight straightaway, as 69...Kd8 70 f6! will lead to
the promotion of a white pawn, but after} Nxc6+ 70. Bxc6+ Kf8 71. Bd5 $1 {
it makes a huge difference compared to the game, that the white pawns are
still on a3 as well as on f5. The difference is clearly seen after} Nc3 72. Bc4
a5 {as White now doesn't have to defend the a4-pawn and can just simply play}
73. Kd4 Nd1 74. a4 Ke7 (74... Nb2 {would have been relevant were the white
pawn on f6, but here after} 75. Bb3 Ke7 76. Kc3 Nxa4+ 77. Bxa4 Kf6 {the bishop
can defend the pawn, due to it still being on a white square.}) 75. Bb3 Nf2 76.
Kc5 Kf6 77. Be6 {and again it helps that the pawn is on f5 and White wins by
just collecting a5 and then queening the advancing a-pawn while his pawn and
bishop securely defend each other.}) 69... a5 70. a4 {Looks winning, as it
puts Black in a kind of zugzwang, and, as 70.c6 Nb5 leads nowhere, the logical
continuation.} Kf7 71. Bd5+ Kf8 $4 {looks like the solid and obvious move,
keeping the promotion square under control, however it leaves the f6-pawn
unattacked, which proves fatal.} (71... Kg6 $1 {would have seen Black just
escape, as after} 72. c6 Nxc6+ 73. Bxc6 Kf7 74. Bd5+ Kf8 {it makes a deciding
difference that the white pawns are now on a4 and f6, and thus much easier to
attack. After} 75. Bc4 Nc3 76. Bb3 {Black just bides his time with} Ke8 {and}
77. Kd4 Ne2+ {almost by magic draws. The crucial point is} 78. Kc4 ({and as
well} 78. Kc5 Nc3 $1 {threatening to take on a4, and after the bishop takes
back, then ...Kf7 clearing off the last pawn. It still feels very
counter-intuitive to me, that this, as well as the ending analysed above both
are drawn for Black, but the computer does verify that there is no way, White
can exploit his seemingly big superiority.}) 78... Nc1 $1 {attacking the
bishop, and then having ...Kf7 next winning the f6-pawn,}) {Even so, the drama
was not over, as in the commentary room, the computers indicated that White
had only one way to exploit the favour, and Magnus took almost all of his
remaining 2 minutes on the clock, before calmly retreating his king.} 72. Ke4
$1 {The point is that is the king reaches e3, the knihts are doomed, as the
king attacks both, and Bc4 next will just pick one up for free, so Nakamura
tries:} Nc2 73. c6 Nc3+ 74. Ke5 $1 {The king has done its job and now returns
to its more natural place, helping the passd pawns. The threat, is c7 queening,
so taking on a4 is forced, but fails as...} Nxa4 75. Bb3 {...is a simple fork,
picking up one of the knights, while still keeping the 2 passed pawns, leaving
Black in a hopeless position.} Nb6 76. Bxc2 a4 77. c7 Kf7 78. Bxa4 ({And
seeing that} 78. Bxa4 Nc4+ 79. Kd5 Nb6+ 80. Kc5 $1 {is hopeless and that after}
Nc8 (80... Nxa4+ 81. Kc6 $1) 81. Bd7 Na7 82. Kb6 {White soon queens, Nakamura
resigned. A lot was still to come, before Magnus had pulled of a spectacular
last minute comeback, to take both the tournament and the tour, but without
this win, the possibility would not have been there.}) 1-0

[Event "London Classic 7th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2015.12.12"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D41"]
[WhiteElo "2803"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[Annotator "Bronznik,V"]
[PlyCount "193"]
[EventDate "2015.12.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 cxd4 8.
cxd4 Bb4+ 9. Bd2 Bxd2+ 10. Qxd2 O-O 11. Bc4 Nd7 12. O-O b6 13. a4 {Die Idee
von Petrosian, deren Sinn im weiteren a4-a5 mit dem nachfolgenden Bauerntausch
auf b6 besteht, wonach Schwarz am Damenflügel einen vereinzelten anfälligen
Bauern bekommt, auch wenn dieser gleichzeitig ein Freibauer ist (manchmal kann
übrigens anstatt des Tausches auf b6 der Vorstoß a5-a6 geschehen). Tauscht
Schwarz auf a5 selbst, wird sein a-Bauer schwach. Stoppt der Nachziehende den
weißen Bauer mit a7-a5, schwächt er das Feld b5 und bekommt einen schwachen
Bauern auf b6. Spielt er nicht a7-a5, sondern a7-a6, bleibt das Feld b5 unter
seiner Kontrolle, dafür aber wird nicht nur sein Bauer b6, sondern auch der
Bauer a6 schutzbedürftig.} ({Als Hauptvariante gilt} 13. Rfe1 Bb7 14. Rad1 ({
stattdessen kann man hier mit} 14. a4 {immer noch zu Petrosians Plan greifen,
was dann nur eine kleine Zugumstellung bedeuten wird.})) 13... Bb7 14. Rfe1 Nf6
{Eine sehr seltene Fortsetzung. Schwarz greift den Bauern e4 ein weiteres Mal
an und erhöht wesentlich seine Kontrolle über das Feld d5, andererseits aber
wirkt er am Damenflügel nicht mehr mit; außerdem sollte sich Weiß für
e4-e5 entscheiden, würde es jetzt mit Tempo passieren.} ({"Normal" ist} 14...
Rc8 15. Bd3 {und nun sind die verbreitetsten Optionen} Qc7 (15... a5 $5) ({und
} 15... e5 $5)) 15. Bd3 h6 {Eine sehr wichtige Prophylaxe gegen den Plan e4-e5,
Nf3-g5-e4. Was passieren kann, wenn Schwarz darauf verzichtet, zeigt folgendes
klassisches Beispiel:} (15... Rc8 $6 16. a5 (16. e5 $6 Bxf3 17. exf6 Bh5 {
scheint für Schwarz durchaus akzeptabel zu sein}) 16... Qc7 17. axb6 axb6 18.
Rac1 Qb8 19. Rb1 Qa8 20. Ra1 Qb8 21. e5 $1 Nd5 (21... Bxf3 22. exf6 Bh5 23.
fxg7 Kxg7 24. d5 $5 exd5 25. Qg5+ Bg6 26. h4 Rc3 27. Rad1 Qd8 28. Re7 $16) 22.
Ng5 h6 23. Ne4 Qc7 24. Nd6 Ra8 25. Rab1 $16 {Jussupow,A (2575) - Eslon,J (2440)
/Can Picafort 1981.}) 16. a5 a6 $146 {Eine Neuerung, die aber am Charakter der
Stellung und ihrer Bewertung nicht viel ändert.} (16... b5 $6 {ist
zweifelhaft wegen} 17. a6 $1 Bc6 18. Ne5 {, z.B.} Qb6 (18... Be8 19. Qb4 $16)
19. Qb4 {mit klarem weißem Vorteil.}) (16... bxa5 17. Rxa5 Qc7 $14 {Rotstein,
A (2540) - Remling,C(2345)/BL-2 2004}) 17. axb6 Qxb6 18. Rab1 {Eine
natürliche, aber nicht die einzige gute Fortsetzung. In Frage kam auch die
Idee, diesen Turm auf der a-Linie zu belassen, um den Druck auf den schwarzen
a-Bauern aufrechtzuerhalten - aus dieser Sicht waren z.B. die Optionen} (18.
Reb1 $5 Qa7 19. Qe3) ({und} 18. Ra4 {beachtenswert.}) 18... Qc7 ({Eine
Alternative zum Textzug war die Fortsetzung} 18... Qa7 {[%cal Ga7d4] , um den
Bauern d4 nicht aus den Augen zu verlieren. Dabei aber entfernt sich die
schwarze Dame zu weit weg vom Königsflügel, was den Anziehenden berechtigt,
dort einen Angriff zu starten -} 19. g4 $5 (19. e5 Nd5 20. Re4 Rfc8 $13 {
[%cal Yg8f8]}) (19. Qa5 $5 $14 {[%csl Ra6]}) 19... Nxg4 (19... Rfc8 20. g5 hxg5
21. Qxg5 Bc6 22. Kh1 $40 {[%cal Re1g1]}) (19... Rab8 20. g5 hxg5 21. Qxg5 $40)
20. Qf4 Nf6 21. Kh1 {[%cal Re1g1] mit brandgefährlicher Kompensation für den
geopferten Bauern.}) 19. Rbc1 $6 {Schwer zu sagen, mit welchem Plan Topalov
diesen Zug verband. In jedem Fall wirkt sein Spiel auf mich ab diesem Moment
recht kraftlos.} ({Viel stärker war} 19. Ne5 $1 {- Weiß aktiviert seinen
Springer , ermöglicht f2-f3, lässt seinen Damenturm bei dem Bb7 weiterhin
bleiben und lässt sich die Option Re1-c1 offen. Folgende Varianten wären
dann möglich:} Rfb8 $5 (19... Rfd8 20. Rec1 Qe7 21. f3 Ne8 (21... Rxd4 $4 22.
Qb2 $18) (21... a5 22. Qb2 Qd6 23. Nxf7 $1 Qxd4+ 24. Qxd4 Rxd4 25. Ne5 Bc8 26.
Bb5 $16) 22. Bf1 Nd6 23. Qa5 {mit starker Initiative am Damenflügel}) (19...
a5 $6 {(hier wird der Bauer noch anfälliger)} 20. Rec1 Qe7 21. f3 Rfc8 22. Nc4
a4 23. Rb4 a3 24. Ra1 $16 {[%csl Ra3]}) 20. Qf4 $5 {[%csl Rf7][%cal Rg2g5,
Rh2h4]} (20. f3 $14 {/\Rec1}) 20... a5 21. g4 {mit sehr gefährlicher
Initiative am Königsflügel.}) ({Das aggressive} 19. g4 $6 {führt zu einem
spannenden Kampf, ist aber an dieser Stelle bestimmt nicht die stärkste
Fortsetzung, z. B.} Nxg4 (19... a5 $5) 20. Rec1 Qe7 21. Qf4 f5 22. exf5 (22.
Rc7 fxe4 23. Rxe7 Rxf4 24. Rbxb7 exd3 25. Rxg7+ Kh8 26. Nh4 Ne5 $1 27. dxe5
Rxh4 28. Rh7+ Kg8 $11) 22... Bxf3 23. Qxf3 Qg5 24. Qg3 exf5 25. h3 Nf6 26. Qxg5
hxg5 27. Bxf5 Rad8 {- nach Komplikationen entstand ein remisliches Endspiel.})
19... Qe7 20. Qa5 Rfc8 $1 $11 {Hat Topalov früher übersehen, dass dieser Zug
mit keinem Bauernverlust verbunden ist? Wie dem auch sei, hat ihm die Aktion
19.Rfc1, 20.Qa5 gar nichts gebracht, während der ganze schwarze Aufbau jetzt
ganz harmonisch aussieht.} 21. Rxc8+ ({Auch nach} 21. Rb1 Qc7 {hat Schwarz
keine Schwierigkeiten, z.B.} 22. Qa1 a5 23. Ne5 Ba6 24. Bxa6 Rxa6 $11) 21...
Rxc8 22. Nd2 $6 ({Den Vorzug verdiente das viel aktivere} 22. Ne5 $1 {, z. B.}
Qd6 23. Qa1 a5 (23... Rd8 24. d5 $1 exd5 25. Nxf7 Kxf7 26. e5 Qe7 27. exf6 Qxf6
28. Qb1 Bc8 (28... Rd7 $4 29. Re3 d4 30. Bc4+ Kf8 31. Re6 Qg5 32. Qb4+ Re7 33.
Bf1 {[%cal Rf2f4]} Bxg2 34. f4 $1 $18) (28... Ba8 29. Qa2 Kg8 30. Bxa6 $11) (
28... Bc6 29. Bxa6 Kg8 $11) 29. Bh7 $1 $44 {/\30.Re3} (29. Re3 Kg8)) 24. d5 (
24. f3 Rd8 25. Bf1 Qxd4+ 26. Qxd4 Rxd4 27. Ra1 $11) 24... exd5 25. Nxf7 Qe6 26.
e5 Ne8 (26... Qxf7 27. exf6 Qxf6 28. Qxa5 Qc3 29. Qxc3 Rxc3 $11) 27. Nd6 Nxd6
28. exd6 Qxd6 29. Qxa5 $11) 22... Qd7 {Ab jetzt und bis zum Schluss wird
Initiative voll und ganz dem Schwarzen gehören.} 23. Qb6 (23. Qa1 a5 $1 {
[%cal Ra5a4]}) 23... Rc3 24. Bxa6 {Topalov lässt sich auf eine Stellung mit
allen Bauern am gleichen Flügel ein, in der aber der Gegner dank Aktivität
seiner Figuren am Drücker sein wird.} ({Als Alternative gab es z.B. die
Variante} 24. Bb1 Qb5 25. Qd8+ Ne8 26. Nf3 Rc8 27. Qe7 Rc7 28. Qd8 Qd7 29. Qxd7
Rxd7 30. Bd3 Nf6 31. Kf1 a5 $15) 24... Bxa6 25. Qxa6 Qxd4 26. Nf3 Qc5 27. e5 (
27. h3 Rc1 28. Qf1 Rc2 $36) 27... Nd5 28. Qa8+ Kh7 29. Qb7 Rc1 30. Qb2 $6 ({
Stärker ist} 30. h4 $1 {, um Raum zu gewinnen und später eventuell auch
h4-h5 folgen zu lassen, z.B.} Rxe1+ (30... Rc2 31. Rf1 Qc7 32. Rb1 Rc1+ 33. Kh2
Rc4 34. Qxc7 Rxc7 35. g3 Kg6 36. Kg2 {, und dieses Endspiel kann man leicht
halten} {(} Kf5 37. Rb8 g5 38. hxg5 hxg5 39. Rg8) 31. Nxe1 Qc1 32. Kf1 Qf4 33.
Qb1+ g6 34. h5 $5 (34. Nf3 {soll auch reichen}) 34... Qxe5 35. hxg6+ fxg6 36.
Nf3 {, und wegen der offenen Lage seines Königs hat Schwarz hier kaum Chancen,
seinen Mehrbauern zu verwerten.}) 30... Rc2 31. Qd4 g5 $1 {Carlsen beginnt,
den Gegner am Königsflügel einzuengen - gerade dieses Spielmuster hätte
Topalov früher mit 30.h4! verhindern können.} 32. g3 Kg7 33. Qxc5 Rxc5 34.
Re4 Kg6 35. h3 Ne7 {Schwarz fängt an zu manövrieren. Er plant, seinen
Springer nach c6 und den König nach f5 zu bringen, um den Bauern e5 mit allen
Kräften anzugreifen und den das Feld f4 schwächenden Zug g3-g4 zu
provozieren.} 36. h4 Kf5 37. Ra4 ({Das Turmendspiel mit einem weißen
Minusbauern, welches nach} 37. Re1 Nc6 38. hxg5 hxg5 39. Kg2 Nxe5 40. Nxe5 Rxe5
41. Ra1 (41. g4+ $2 Kf4) 41... g4 {entstehen könnte, ist trotz des weit
vorgerückten und den Gegner hemmenden Bauern g4 objektiv gesehen Remis, aber
es ist nicht ganz einfach, dieses Ergebnis in einer praktischen Partie zu
erreichen - besonders gegen Carlsen!}) 37... Nc6 38. hxg5 hxg5 39. g4+ {
Topalov trifft die Entscheidung, sich an den Bauern e5 weiterhin zu halten,
und ist bereit, die Schwäche des Feldes f4, die dabei entsteht, in Kauf zu
nehmen.} ({Eine würdige Alternative dazu war die Möglichkeit, diesen Bauern
zu opfern, und zwar unter günstigeren Umständen, als in der vorherigen
Anmerkung, z.B,.} 39. Kg2 {, und wenn} Nxe5 (39... g4 $2 40. Rf4+) 40. Nxe5
Rxe5 {, dann} 41. g4+ $1 Kf6 42. Kg3 {- bei dieser Bauernstruktur erreicht
Weiß Remis ziemlich leicht.}) 39... Kg6 40. Re4 Ne7 41. Kg2 Nd5 {Ein schönes
Feld für den Springer - hier ist er sowohl gedeckt und zentralisiert, als
auch bereit, sofort auf f4 zu erscheinen, falls es sich dafür eine passende
Möglichkeit ergibt. Objektiv gesehen ist die weiße Stellung zweifellos
haltbar, aber am Brett ist es für den Anziehenden alles andere als leicht,
das gewünschte Ergebnis zu erreichen, weil der Gegner immer wieder neue
Drohungen aufstellt.} 42. Kg3 Rc3 (42... Nf4 $2 43. Nxg5 $1) 43. Re1 Ra3 (43...
Nf4 {hätte hier noch nichts gebracht -} 44. Re3 (44. Re4)) 44. Re4 Ra8 45. Rc4
Rh8 {Mit dem Turm auf der h-Linie entsteht in einigen Varianten die
Mattkonstruktion Kg3/Nf4+Rh3.} 46. Re4 Nc3 (46... Nf4 $2 47. Nxg5) 47. Re3 ({
Nach} 47. Rc4 Ne2+ 48. Kg2 Nf4+ 49. Kg1 (49. Kg3 $4 Rh3#) 49... Ra8 {würde
sich der weiße König sehr unwohl fühlen.}) 47... Rc8 48. Re1 Rc4 49. Re3
Ne4+ {Schwarz hat die Kontrolle über die vierte Reihe übernommen und beginnt
jetzt mit der Überführung seines Springers nach d3 - von dort aus wird er
nicht nur das Feld f4 im Auge behalten, sondern auch die Bauren e5 und f2
attackieren.} 50. Kg2 Ra4 51. Re1 Nc5 52. Kg3 Rf4 53. Nd2 Nd3 54. Re2 Ra4 55.
Nf3 Ra8 56. Re3 Rd8 57. Re4 ({Es gab auch andere spielbare Möglichkeiten, z.
B.} 57. Ne1 Nf4 58. Kf3 Rd2 59. Kg3) ({oder} 57. Ng1 Nf4 58. Nh3 Rd4 59. f3 {
, aber natürlich hätte Carlsen auch dann seine Gewinnversuche nicht
aufgegeben.}) 57... Rh8 58. Rc4 Ra8 (58... Nf4 $2 59. Nxg5) 59. Rc3 (59. Rd4 $2
Ra3 $1 60. Re4 (60. Kg2 $4 Nf4+ $19) 60... Ra2) (59. Re4 $2 Ra2 {- diese
Varianten zeigen uns die Vorteile der Position des schwarzen Springers auf d3.}
) 59... Nf4 60. Rc4 Ne2+ 61. Kg2 Rh8 62. Re4 $6 {Früher hat sich Topalov gut
verteidigt, aber mit seinem letzten Zug erlaubt er dem Gegner, den weißen
König in eine gefärdete Lage zu bringen.} ({Stärker ist} 62. Ne1 {(der
Springer räumt das Feld f3 für seinen König), z.B.} Nf4+ 63. Kf3 Rh1 64. Rc1
Rh3+ 65. Ke4 Rb3 (65... Ra3 66. Rc4 Ra2 67. Nc2) 66. Rc4 Rb2 67. Nc2 Nh3 68. f3
Rb3 69. Ne1 {, und Schwarz hat nichts greifbares erreicht.}) 62... Nf4+ 63. Kg1
Ra8 64. Nh4+ Kh6 65. Ng2 (65. Nf3 $2 Ra2 {[%csl Rf2][%cal Rf4h3] kostet den
Bauern f2.}) 65... Nd3 66. Ne1 Ra1 67. Kf1 {Passiver geht gar nicht - dem
Weißen stehen nur die Züge mit dem Turm nach e3 und zurück nach e4 zur
Verfügung. Verloren ist seine Stellung aber immer noch nicht!} Kg6 68. Re3 Nf4
69. Re4 Kg7 70. Kg1 Nd3 71. Kf1 Kf8 72. Re3 Nf4 73. Kg1 Ra4 $1 {Mit diesem Zug
nimmt Carlsen den Bauern g4 ins Visier und verbietet gleichzeitig dem
gegnerischen Turm den Zugang zur vierten Reihe.} 74. Kh2 (74. f3 Ra1 75. Kf1
Rd1 {(Carlsen)} 76. Kf2 Rd2+ 77. Kf1 {sieht natürlich unschön aus, aber kann
Schwarz in dieser Stellung wirklich etwas erreichen? Z.B. die Idee, hier den
König zu aktivieren, erweist sich als nicht ausreichend:} Ke7 78. Rb3 Kd7 79.
Rc3 Rd1 80. Re3 Kc6 81. Rc3+ Kd5 82. Rc7 Kxe5 83. Rxf7 Rd2 84. Rf8 Kd4 85. Rc8
$1 {mit Remis} {(} Ke3 86. Rc3+ Nd3 $140 87. f4 $1 {)}) 74... Nd5 75. Rg3 Kg7
76. Nd3 Rd4 77. Kg1 Nb6 $1 {[%csl Re5][%cal Rb6c4] Jetzt wendet Schwarz seine
Aufmerksamkeit wieder dem Bauern e5.} 78. Kf1 Re4 79. Kg2 Nc4 80. Kh3 Rd4 ({
Leider kann Weiß im Turmendspeil nach} 80... Nxe5 81. Nxe5 Rxe5 {leicht Remis
halten. Deshalb entscheidet sich Carlsen dafür, erst seinen König zu
aktivieren - in der Hoffnung, sich später in einem günstigeren Moment des
Bauern e5 zu bedienen. Übrigens musste er gleichzeitig auch weiteres, extrem
unangenehmes Problem beachten: nach dem 39. Zug von Weiß gab es in dieser
Partie weder Schläge noch weitere Bauernzüge - das hieß, er wurde gezwungen,
wohl oder übel demnächst auf e5 zu schlagen, um der 50-Züge-Regel aus dem
Weg zu gehen. Wozu er zuerst seinen Turm nach d4 brachte, kann wahrscheinlich
nur er selbst erklären.}) (80... Kf8) 81. Kg2 Kf8 82. Kf1 Ke7 (82... Re4 83.
Nc5 Nd2+ 84. Kg2 Rd4 {(so weit Carlsen)} 85. Nb3 $1 $11) 83. Ke2 Re4+ 84. Kd1 (
{Auf} 84. Kf1 {plante Carlsen} Nd2+ ({wie es bereits erwähnt wurde, kann der
Anziehende das Endspiel nach} 84... Nxe5 85. Nxe5 Rxe5 {trotz des schwarzen
Mehrbauern ziemlich problemlos halten}) 85. Kg2 Re2 {, aber nach} 86. Rh3 {
kommt Schwarz nicht weiter.}) 84... Nxe5 {Schwarz hatte bis zum Eintritt der
besagten Regel nur fünf Züge, deshalb sah Carlsen keinen Sinn mehr, mit
diesem Schalg zu warten - vielleicht hoffte er auch, die abgeschnittene Lage
des weißen Königs doch irgendwie auszunützen.} ({Die Idee, vor dem Nehmen
auf e5 seinen König wieder auf g6 zu bringen, um später nach f7-f5, g4xf5
mit dem Bauern zurückschzuschlagen, konnte leider nicht ausreichen:} 84... Kf8
85. Kc2 Kg7 86. Kc3 Nxe5 87. Nxe5 Rxe5 88. Kd3 Kg6 89. Rg1 f5 90. gxf5+ exf5 (
90... Kxf5 91. Rg3 {mit Remis}) 91. f4 $1 {(Notkin)}) 85. Nxe5 Rxe5 86. Kd2 Kf6
87. Ra3 Kg6 88. Ra6 $1 {(damit Schwarz nach f7-f5, g4xf5 nicht mit dem Bauern
zurücknehmen kann)} f5 89. gxf5+ Kxf5 90. Ra3 Kf4 91. Rb3 g4 92. Ra3 Re4 93.
Rb3 e5 94. Ra3 Rb4 95. Ke2 Rb1 96. Ra4+ e4 97. Ra3 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 7th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2015.12.13"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2747"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2015.12.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. e4 d6 3. Bb5+ {The World Champion switches his allegiance between
the text move and the Open Sicilian with} (3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 {
Recently in Qatar he was on both sides of the board after} 6. Be2 ({For the
alternative} 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. f3 Nbd7 9. Qd2 b5 10. O-O-O Be7 11. g4 {
Carlsen,M (2853)-So,W (2779) Saint Louis 2015 see the notes to this game in
CBM 168.}) 6... e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Bg5 Nc6 $5 ({A rare continuation; a far more
usual one is} 8... Be6 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. Qd3 Be7 11. Nd5 Nd7 12. Rd1 Bxd5 13.
Qxd5 Qc7 14. Nd2 O-O 15. O-O b5 16. c3 g6 17. a3 Rab8 18. Rfe1 Rfd8 19. Qa2 Nc5
20. Bf1 Bg5 21. Nb3 Qc6 22. Na5 Qc7 23. Nb3 Qc6 24. Rd5 Nd7 25. Rd3 Nc5 26. Rf3
Rd7 27. Na5 Qa8 28. Qd5 Qxd5 29. exd5 e4 30. Rh3 f5 $132 {Carlsen,M (2834)
-Giri,A (2784) Doha 2015}) 9. Qd3 (9. Bxf6 $5 Bxf6 10. Nd5) 9... Nb4 $5 $146
10. Qd2 h6 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. Nd5 $6 (12. a3 $142 Bg5 13. Qd1 Nc6 14. Qd3 Be6
$11) 12... Nxd5 13. Qxd5 Qc7 14. O-O-O Be7 15. Kb1 Be6 16. Qd3 O-O 17. f4 exf4
18. Nd4 Bd7 19. Rhf1 Bf6 20. Rxf4 Be5 21. Rff1 Rac8 22. c3 b5 23. Nf3 Be6 $36 {
Duda,J (2663)-Carlsen,M (2834) Doha 2015}) 3... Nd7 {This ambitious reaction
used to be a favourite of Kasparov, later it was taken up by Topalov. All this
is described in a survey in CBM 153; currently the text is experiencing a good
level of popularity among other top players as well.} ({One of these is
Vachier Lagrave, but in the rapid tiebreak later that day he preferred the
more sedate} 3... Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 g6 7. d4 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Bg7
9. f3 Qc7 (9... O-O 10. Be3 Nc6 11. Rc1 (11. O-O a6 12. Qd3 Ne5 13. Qe2 Rac8
14. b3 b5 15. Nd5 Nxd5 16. cxd5 e6 17. dxe6 fxe6 18. Rac1 Rxc1 19. Rxc1 Rc8 20.
Rd1 Nc6 21. Nc2 Qc7 22. Qd2 Rd8 23. Bg5 Rd7 24. Bf4 Qb6+ 25. Be3 Qc7 {½,
Safarli,E (2657)-Areshchenko,A (2682) Reykjavik 2015}) 11... Nxd4 (11... a6 $5
12. a4 (12. O-O Nxd4 13. Bxd4 b5 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15. cxd5 Bh6 $1 16. Rc2 Rfc8 $11)
12... Rac8 13. b3 e6 14. O-O d5 15. Nxc6 bxc6 16. e5 Ne8 17. f4 f6 $132) 12.
Bxd4 Rfc8 13. b3 Nh5 14. O-O Bxd4+ 15. Qxd4 Nf6 16. Rfe1 Rc7 17. Rcd1 Qc6 18.
Nb5 Rd7 19. Nxa7 Qc5 20. Qxc5 dxc5 21. Nb5 Rxa2 22. e5 Rxd1 23. Rxd1 Nh5 24. g3
Rb2 25. Rd8+ Kg7 26. Re8 Rb1+ 27. Kg2 Rb2+ 28. Kg1 Rb1+ 29. Kg2 Rb2+ 30. Kh3 e6
31. Re7 Rxb3 {Carlsen,M (2834)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2773) London plof 2015} 32.
Nd6 Rxf3 33. Kg2 Rc3 34. Rxf7+ Kg8 35. Rxb7 $36) 10. b3 Qa5 {was Anand's
choice against Carlsen 3 years ago, although he lost the game, it remains
viable:} 11. Bb2 (11. Bd2 Nc6 12. Nde2 O-O 13. O-O a6 14. Kh1 Rac8 15. Rb1 e6
16. a4 Qc5 17. Be1 Rfd8 18. Bh4 h6 19. Rc1 Qh5 20. Bf2 Qa5 21. Be1 Qb6 22. Bf2
Qa5 23. Be1 Qb6 {1/2, Iordachescu,V (2588)-Wojtaszek,R (2746) FRA-chT
Montpellier 2015}) 11... Nc6 12. O-O O-O 13. Kh1 (13. Nce2 Rfd8 14. Bc3 Qb6 15.
Kh1 d5 $1 $132 {Carlsen,M (2843)-Anand,V (2780) Sao Paulo/Bilbao 2012. See the
notes to this game in CBM 151}) 13... Rfe8 14. Nce2 Nxd4 15. Bxd4 b5 16. cxb5
Qxb5 17. Rc1 Rec8 18. Nc3 Qb7 19. Qd3 Rc6 20. Bxf6 Bxf6 21. Nd5 Rac8 22. Nxf6+
exf6 23. Rxc6 Qxc6 24. h3 Kg7 25. Rd1 Qc2 26. Qxc2 Rxc2 27. a4 Rc6 28. b4 Rc4
29. Rxd6 Rxb4 30. Ra6 Rb7 $11 {Duda,J (2599)-Gajewski,G (2643) Germany 2015})
4. O-O {We'll check the main alternatives:} (4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 a6 6. Bxd7+ (6.
Be2 Ngf6 7. O-O {gives Black a choice between Dragon, Hedgehog and Najdorf
setups:} e5 (7... g6 8. Nc3 (8. e5 $5 $32) 8... Bg7 9. Rd1 O-O 10. e5 Nh5 $6 (
10... Nxe5 11. Nxe5 Nd7 12. Nxf7 Bxd4 13. Nxd8 Bxf2+ 14. Kh1 Rxd8 15. Bg5 $44)
11. Qh4 dxe5 12. Bg5 Nhf6 (12... f6 13. Be3 {[%csl Rh5]} e6 14. Rd6 $32 Kh8 15.
Rad1 Qe7 16. Bc4 Nf4 17. Bxf4 exf4 18. Qxf4 e5 19. Qe3 $36 {Fressinet,L (2717)
-Cheparinov,I (2682) Dubai blitz 2014}) 13. Bh6 Bxh6 14. Qxh6 Ng4 15. Qh4 Ngf6
16. Qh6 Ng4 17. Qg5 Ngf6 18. Nxe5 Qc7 19. Nc4 b5 20. Ne3 Bb7 21. Rd4 Rfc8 22.
a4 Nf8 23. Rh4 bxa4 24. Rc4 Qd8 25. Rcxa4 $36 {1/2-1/2 (56) Krnan,T (2428)
-Hansen,E (2583) Guelph 2015}) (7... Qc7 8. c4 e6 9. b3 b6 10. Nc3 Bb7 11. Rd1
Be7 12. h3 Rd8 13. Qe3 O-O 14. Ba3 Rfe8 15. Rac1 h6 16. b4 Rc8 17. Bb2 Qb8 18.
Bd3 Nh7 19. Ne2 Ba8 20. e5 Ng5 21. Nxg5 Bxg5 22. f4 Be7 23. Be4 Bxe4 24. Qxe4
Red8 25. Nd4 Bf8 26. Nxe6 $5 fxe6 27. exd6 $44 {Svidler,P (2739)-Grischuk,A 
(2746) Khanty-Mansiysk 2011}) 8. Qe3 Nc5 (8... d5 9. exd5 Bc5 $2 (9... Nxd5
$142 10. Qd2 (10. Qe4 N5f6 11. Qh4 Be7 $13) (10. Qb3 Nc5 11. Qa3 Qc7 $11) 10...
N5f6 $132) 10. Qd2 O-O (10... e4 11. Nd4 {/\} Nxd5 $2 12. Nf5) 11. c4 e4 12.
Nd4 Ne5 13. b4 Ba7 14. Nc3 Bg4 15. c5 a5 16. a3 Nxd5 (16... Bb8 17. Rb1 $16)
17. Nxe4 Bb8 18. f3 Nf4 19. Nd6 $1 Bxd6 20. cxd6 Nxe2+ 21. Qxe2 Qxd6 22. Nb5
$18 {Hou,Y (2629)-Giri,A (2750) Biel 2014}) 9. Nc3 Be7 10. b3 O-O 11. Ba3 Ne6
12. g3 Qa5 13. Bb2 Nc5 14. Nd2 Be6 15. a4 Rfe8 16. Nc4 Qc7 17. a5 Rad8 18. Rfd1
Qc6 19. Nd2 h6 20. Bf3 Bf8 $132 {Fressinet,L (2711)-Grandelius,N (2587) Malmo
2014}) 6... Bxd7 7. c4 (7. O-O Nf6 (7... Rc8 8. c4 (8. Bg5 $5 h6 9. Bh4 Nf6 10.
Bxf6 gxf6 11. c4 Rg8 12. Qd3 f5 13. exf5 Rc5 14. f6 Bh3 15. Ne1 Bxg2 16. Nxg2
Rcg5 17. Kh1 Rxg2 18. Nc3 e6 19. Ne4 Qc7 20. Rad1 $14 {/~~, Morozevich,A (2711)
-Khismatullin,D (2651) Poikovsky 2015}) 8... e5 9. Qd3 Qc7 $5 (9... b5 10. Na3
Qb6 11. cxb5 (11. Be3 Qb7 12. Nd2 Be7 13. Rfc1 Nf6 14. cxb5 Rxc1+ 15. Rxc1 axb5
16. Bg5 Nh5 17. Bxe7 Kxe7 18. g3 Nf6 19. Nc2 Rc8 20. Rd1 Bg4 21. Re1 Be6 22.
Nb4 Qb6 23. a3 Qb7 24. Qe3 h6 $11 {Wang Hao (2734)-Wojtaszek,R (2716) Shamkir
2014}) 11... Bxb5 (11... axb5 12. Bd2 Be7 13. Rac1 Rxc1 14. Rxc1 Nf6 15. Bb4
Bc6 16. Bxd6 Nxe4 17. Bxe7 Kxe7 18. Nxe5 Qxf2+ 19. Kh1 Qb6 {Kosintseva,T (2483)
-Ushenina,A (2494) Beijing rpd 2014} 20. Qd4 $1 $18) 12. Nxb5 Qxb5 13. Qxb5+
axb5 14. a4 bxa4 15. Rxa4 Nf6 16. Bg5 Be7 17. Rd1 O-O 18. g3 Rc2 {Kravtsiv,M 
(2623)-Areshchenko,A (2677) Lvov 2015} 19. Rd2 $5 $14) 10. Nfd2 b5 11. b3 Nf6
12. Nc3 Be7 13. Ba3 O-O 14. Rac1 Qb6 15. cxb5 axb5 16. Bb4 Bc6 17. a3 Rfd8 18.
Rc2 Nd7 19. Nd5 Bxd5 20. Rxc8 Rxc8 21. Qxd5 Nf6 22. Qd3 Qb7 23. h3 h6 24. Re1
Rd8 {1/2, Kovalenko,I (2682)-Cheparinov,I (2683) Warsaw 2015}) (7... e5 {
often only transposes after} 8. Qd3 Rc8 {- 7...Rc8}) 8. Nc3 e5 9. Qd3 h6 10.
Nd2 (10. Rd1 Be7 11. Nd2 b5 12. a3 O-O 13. Nf1 Bg4 14. f3 Be6 15. Ne3 Qb6 16.
Kh1 Rfc8 17. Qe2 Qc6 18. Bd2 Bd8 19. Be1 Bb6 20. Bh4 Bxe3 21. Qxe3 {Duda,J 
(2658)-Ponomariov,R (2710) Berlin blitz 2015} Ne8 $11) 10... b5 11. a4 Rb8 12.
Rd1 Be7 13. axb5 axb5 14. Nf1 b4 15. Nd5 Nxd5 16. Qxd5 O-O 17. Ne3 Be6 18. Qd3
Qc7 19. Bd2 Rfc8 20. c3 bxc3 21. Bxc3 Qb7 22. Nd5 Bg5 23. h3 Ra8 24. Ne3 Bxe3
25. Qxe3 Rxa1 26. Rxa1 Ra8 $11 {Anand,V (2816)-Topalov,V (2816) Saint Louis
2015}) 7... e5 (7... Nf6 8. Bg5 (8. Nc3 g6 9. O-O Bg7 10. Qd3 O-O 11. a4 Rc8
12. Rb1 Bc6 13. Re1 Nd7 14. b4 Nb6 15. b5 Bd7 {[%csl Rc4]} 16. Nd2 Be6 17. Nd5
Nxa4 18. Ba3 Qd7 19. h3 Rfe8 $17 {Svidler,P (2727)-Karjakin,S (2762) WCup Baku
blitz 2015}) 8... e6 9. Nc3 Be7 10. O-O Bc6 11. Qd3 O-O 12. Nd4 Rc8 13. b3 Qc7
14. Nxc6 Qxc6 15. Rac1 h6 16. Be3 Nd7 17. Bd4 Rfd8 18. h3 Qc7 19. Rfd1 Qa5 20.
Qd2 Kf8 21. Qb2 Kg8 22. a4 Qh5 23. Ne2 Bf6 24. Rc3 Bxd4 25. Rxd4 Qe5 26. Qd2
$14 {Carlsen,M (2870)-Anand,V (2775) WCh Chennai 2013}) 8. Qd3 b5 9. Nc3 bxc4
10. Qxc4 Be6 (10... Nf6 $5 11. Bg5 Be6 12. Qc6+ Bd7 13. Qc4 Be6 14. Qd3 Be7 15.
O-O O-O 16. Rac1 Nh5 17. Be3 Nf6 18. Bg5 Nh5 19. Be3 Nf6 20. Bg5 {1/2,
Alekseev,E (2642)-Khismatullin,D (2642) St Petersburg rpd 2015}) 11. Qd3 h6 12.
O-O Nf6 13. Rd1 Be7 14. Ne1 O-O 15. Nc2 Qb6 (15... Qb8 16. Ne3 Rc8 17. Ned5 (
17. b3 $5) 17... Nxd5 18. Nxd5 Bd8 19. b3 Rc6 20. Be3 Qb5 21. Rac1 Rxc1 22.
Bxc1 Qxd3 23. Rxd3 f5 24. Ne3 Rc8 25. Rxd6 Rxc1+ 26. Nf1 Kf7 27. exf5 Bxf5 28.
Rxd8 Bb1 $15 {Munoz Pantoja,M (2456)-Kulaots,K (2581) Barcelona 2013}) 16. Ne3
Rac8 (16... Rfc8 17. b3 Qb7 (17... a5 18. Bd2 Qa6 19. Be1 Nd7 20. f3 Rc6 21.
Qxa6 Rcxa6 22. Ned5 Bd8 23. Nb5 $14 {Carlsen,M (2868)-Anand,V (2783) Stavanger
2013}) 18. Bd2 Bd8 19. Rac1 Bb6 20. Ncd5 Bxd5 21. Nxd5 Nxd5 22. Qxd5 Qxd5 23.
exd5 Kf8 24. Kf1 Ke7 25. Ke2 h5 26. f3 Kd7 27. Kd3 f5 28. h3 g6 29. Rxc8 {
1/2, Solozhenkin,E (2464)-Kulaots,K (2574) Jyvaskyla 2015} Rxc8 30. Rc1 $11)
17. Rb1 Rfd8 18. Bd2 Qb7 19. Be1 Rd7 20. f3 Bd8 21. Ncd5 Bxd5 22. Nxd5 Nxd5 23.
Qxd5 Bb6+ 24. Kf1 Bd4 25. Qxb7 Rxb7 26. Rd2 Kf8 27. Bf2 Bxf2 28. Kxf2 Ke7 $11 {
Cornette,M (2533)-Dorfman,J (2571) Nimes 2014}) (4. c3 Ngf6 5. Qe2 a6 6. Ba4 e5
(6... b5 7. Bc2 Bb7 8. O-O e6 9. d4 Be7 10. a4 O-O 11. Nbd2 cxd4 12. cxd4 Qb6
13. a5 Qc7 14. Bd3 Rfc8 15. Nb3 Nf8 16. g3 Ng6 17. Bd2 Qd8 18. Ne1 Rc7 19. f3
Rac8 20. Ng2 Nd7 21. h4 h6 22. Ne1 Ngf8 23. Ng2 Nh7 24. Kh2 Nhf6 $11 {Wang,H 
(2729)-Wojtaszek,R (2715) Dubai blitz 2014}) 7. O-O Be7 8. d4 b5 9. Bc2 cxd4 $5
(9... O-O 10. Rd1 Qc7 11. a4 $5 (11. d5 $6 Rb8 12. a4 c4 13. axb5 axb5 14. b4
cxb3 15. Bxb3 Nc5 16. Bc2 Bd7 17. Ba3 Ra8 18. Nbd2 Na4 19. Bxa4 Rxa4 20. Bb4
Rfa8 21. Rxa4 bxa4 22. Nb1 Bg4 23. Na3 Nh5 24. Qe3 Nf4 25. Ra1 f5 $36 {
Kryvoruchko,Y (2707)-Carlsen,M (2881) Dubai rpd 2014}) 11... Rb8 12. axb5 axb5
13. Na3 Ba6 14. d5 Qb7 15. b4 Bd8 16. Bd3 Ra8 17. Bg5 c4 18. Bc2 Nh5 19. Bxd8
Rfxd8 20. Nh4 g6 21. Qe3 Qb6 22. Qxb6 Nxb6 23. g3 Nf6 24. Ng2 Ne8 25. Ra2 Bc8
26. Rda1 Bd7 $11 {Caruana,F (2808)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2731) Saint Louis 2015})
10. cxd4 O-O {was Topalov's choice. He already inserted the swap on d4 with
Carlsen in Wijk 2012, but there Black's queen already was on c7, which limits
his options.} 11. Nc3 Bb7 12. a3 Rc8 13. Rd1 exd4 14. Rxd4 Re8 15. Bg5 Qc7 16.
Re1 Nf8 17. Qd1 Ne6 18. Rd2 Nxg5 19. Nxg5 Qc5 20. Nf3 Bf8 21. h4 h6 22. Rd4 Qa7
23. Bb3 Rc5 24. Qd2 Qa8 25. Qf4 Qc8 26. Red1 a5 27. Nh2 Rxc3 $1 28. bxc3 Rxe4
29. Rxe4 Bxe4 $36 {Kamsky,G (2741)-Topalov,V (2771) Zug 2013}) ({An unusual,
but rather harmless try was} 4. a4 Ngf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. a5 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. d3 a6
9. Bc4 b5 10. axb6 Nxb6 11. Bb3 Bb7 12. Re1 e6 13. e5 dxe5 14. Nxe5 Nfd5 15.
Na4 Nxa4 16. Bxa4 Nb6 17. Qg4 Qd4 18. Qxd4 cxd4 19. Bc6 Rfb8 20. h3 a5 21. b3
Nd5 22. Bxb7 Rxb7 23. Nc4 Rba7 24. Bd2 a4 25. b4 Rb7 26. Reb1 Rb5 27. Nd6 Rb6
28. Nc4 Rb5 29. Nd6 Rb6 30. Nc4 Rb5 {1/2, Giri,A (2778)-Vachier Lagrave,M 
(2765) EU-chT Reykjavik 2015}) 4... a6 5. Bd3 {The modern way.} (5. Bxd7+ Bxd7
6. d4 {- 4.0-0 transposes to the lines above.}) 5... Ngf6 (5... Ne5 $6 {
prematurely compromises Black's pawns:} 6. Nxe5 dxe5 7. a4 Nf6 8. b3 (8. Na3
Be6 9. Qe2 g6 10. Bc4 Qd6 $6 11. Bxe6 Qxe6 12. a5 Bh6 13. d4 Bxc1 14. d5 Qg4
15. Qxg4 Nxg4 16. Rfxc1 Nf6 17. f3 Nd7 18. Nc4 O-O 19. Ra3 f6 20. Rb3 Rab8 21.
Rd1 $36 {1-0 (53) Hracek,Z (2638)-Esen,B (2565) Warsaw 2013}) 8... Be6 (8...
Qd4 $2 9. Bb2 $1 Qxb2 10. Nc3 {[%csl Rb2][%cal Ra1a2]}) 9. Bb2 Bxb3 10. Qe2 (
10. Bxa6 $5) 10... c4 11. Bxc4 Bxc4 12. Qxc4 Rc8 13. Qb3 Qc7 (13... Nxe4 $5 14.
Bxe5 Nc5 {gives Black more chances for sufficient counterplay.}) 14. d3 e6 15.
Nd2 Nd7 {Carlsen,M (2868)-Svidler,P (2769) Stavanger 2013} 16. a5 $1 {White's
superior pawn-structure gives him a long-term advantage.} (16. Nc4)) ({However,
the knight swap idea deserves attention in a different form:} 5... g6 6. c3 (6.
Re1 Bg7 7. c3 Ne5 $5 8. Be2 Nxf3+ 9. Bxf3 e5 10. d4 $6 (10. d3 Ne7 $11 {
hardly gives White anything, but this violent break seems simply incorrect.})
10... cxd4 11. cxd4 exd4 12. Na3 Ne7 13. e5 dxe5 14. Nc4 Nc6 15. Bxc6+ bxc6 16.
Nxe5 Be6 $1 17. Nxc6 Qb6 18. Ne5 O-O 19. b3 Rfd8 20. Bb2 Rac8 21. Rc1 Rc5 22.
Rxc5 Qxc5 23. Nd3 Qb5 24. Qd2 Bf5 $17 {Motylev,A (2685)-Wojtaszek,R (2716)
Shamkir 2014}) 6... Bg7 7. Bc2 Ne5 (7... c4 $5 8. b3 b5 $13) 8. Nxe5 dxe5 9. a4
b6 10. Na3 Nf6 11. Nc4 Nd7 12. b4 cxb4 (12... Qc7 $5) 13. cxb4 Nb8 14. Bb2 Nc6
15. f4 Nxb4 16. Nxe5 f6 (16... O-O $142 17. d4 $14) 17. Nf3 Nd3 18. Bxd3 Qxd3
19. Qb1 Qxb1 20. Rfxb1 Bb7 21. d3 Kf7 22. Bd4 b5 23. axb5 axb5 24. Rxa8 Rxa8
25. Rxb5 $14 {Kobalia,M (2627)-Motylev,A (2696) Vladivostok 2014}) 6. Re1 {
This line is the topic of a more recent survey in CBM 169 by Kr.Szabo.} ({
The main alternative is} 6. c3 b5 (6... g6 $143 7. Bc2 Bg7 8. d4 Qc7 9. a4 O-O
10. d5 b6 11. c4 e6 12. Nc3 exd5 13. cxd5 Re8 14. h3 Rb8 15. Qe2 Ne5 16. Nxe5
Rxe5 17. Be3 Re8 18. Bd3 Bb7 19. Rac1 Re7 20. Qd2 Qd7 21. b3 Bc8 22. Bh6 Bh8
23. Qe2 Re8 24. Rfe1 $36 {Caruana,F (2786)-Topalov,V (2769) Bucharest 2012/
For more details see the notes to this game in CBM 152.}) 7. Bc2 Bb7 8. Re1 {
, also analysed by the Hungarian GM. This may (not necessarily) lead to
positions, resembling the Ruy Lopez:} {The most popular reaction is} e5 (8...
Qc7 9. a4 (9. d4 $6 cxd4 10. cxd4 Rc8 {[%csl Re4]}) 9... b4 10. d3 g6 11. Nbd2
bxc3 12. bxc3 Bg7 13. a5 O-O 14. h3 Bc6 15. d4 (15. Nc4 $5 $11) 15... cxd4 16.
cxd4 Rab8 17. Ra2 Rfc8 18. d5 Bb5 19. Nd4 Nc5 20. Nxb5 Rxb5 21. Nc4 Nfd7 (21...
Ncxe4 $5 22. Bxe4 Nxe4 23. Rxe4 f5 $15) 22. Bd2 Rcb8 23. Qe2 Ne5 24. Nb6 Ned7
25. Nc4 Ne5 26. Nb6 Ned7 {1/2, Ganguly,S (2619)-Wojtaszek,R (2715) Dubai rpd
2014}) (8... c4 $5 9. a4 e6 (9... e5 10. axb5 axb5 11. Rxa8 Qxa8 12. Na3 Be7
13. Nxb5 O-O 14. Qe2 Rc8 15. d4 cxd3 16. Bxd3 Nc5 17. Nd2 Nxd3 18. Qxd3 Ba6 19.
c4 Bxb5 20. cxb5 Qb7 21. b3 Rb8 22. Bb2 Qxb5 23. Qxb5 Rxb5 24. Rc1 Rb8 $14 {
/=, Karjakin,S (2762)-Cheparinov,I (2672) Rhodes 2013}) 10. axb5 (10. d4 cxd3
11. Bxd3 bxa4 12. Qxa4 Be7 13. e5 dxe5 14. Nxe5 O-O 15. Nxd7 Nxd7 16. Qc2 Nf6
17. Nd2 Qc7 18. h3 Rfd8 19. Ne4 Nd5 20. Ng5 h6 21. Nf3 Rac8 22. Bh7+ Kh8 23.
Be4 a5 24. Qe2 Bf6 $132 {Sebag,M (2483)-Salgado Lopez,I (2616) Montpellier 2015
}) 10... axb5 11. Rxa8 Qxa8 12. Na3 Bxe4 13. Bxe4 Nxe4 14. d3 cxd3 15. Nxb5 Qb7
16. Qxd3 d5 17. Be3 Bc5 18. c4 Bxe3 19. Qxe3 O-O 20. cxd5 Qxb5 21. Qxe4 Nf6 22.
Qe2 Qxe2 23. Rxe2 Nxd5 $11 {Stevic,H (2600)-Cheparinov,I (2681) CRO-chT Bol
2015}) (8... e6 9. d4 Be7 (9... cxd4 10. cxd4 Be7 11. Nbd2 O-O 12. Nf1 Rc8 (
12... Nb6 13. Ng3 Rc8 14. Bd3 Re8 15. Qe2 Nfd7 16. b3 d5 17. e5 Nb8 18. Nh5 Nc6
19. Nxg7 Kxg7 20. Qe3 Rh8 21. Qh6+ Kg8 22. Ng5 Bxg5 23. Bxg5 Ne7 24. Bxe7 {
1-0, David,A (2585)-Kempinski,R (2630) Porto Rio 2015} Qxe7 25. Re3 $18) 13.
Ng3 Re8 14. h3 Bf8 15. Bd2 Qc7 16. Rc1 Qb8 17. Ba5 g6 18. Qd2 Qa8 19. a3 Rc4
20. Bd3 Rxc1 21. Qxc1 Rc8 22. Qd2 Qa7 23. h4 e5 24. Bc3 Ng4 25. Bb1 Bg7 26. Ba2
exd4 27. Bxd4 Bxd4 28. Nxd4 Nde5 29. Rd1 $16 {Svidler,P (2740)-Papaioannou,I 
(2633) Rhodes 2013}) 10. Nbd2 Qc7 $5 (10... O-O 11. e5 Nd5 12. Ne4 Qc7 $5 13.
Nfg5 h6 14. exd6 Bxd6 15. Nxd6 Qxd6 16. Ne4 Qc6 17. f3 Rfd8 18. Qd3 cxd4 19.
Qxd4 Rac8 20. Bb3 Qb6 21. Bd2 Nc5 22. Nxc5 Rxc5 23. Qf2 Rcc8 24. Rad1 Qxf2+ 25.
Kxf2 Nb6 26. Bc1 Bd5 $11 {Rozentalis,E (2606)-Esen,B (2589) Tromso olm 2014})
11. Nf1 (11. e5 $5 $13) 11... O-O 12. Ng3 Rfe8 13. h3 Rac8 14. Bd3 (14. Re2 Bf8
15. Be3 g6 16. Rc1 Bg7 17. Bb1 e5 18. d5 c4 19. Qd2 Nc5 20. Bh6 Bxh6 21. Qxh6
Qe7 22. Rf1 Qf8 23. Qg5 Nfd7 24. Nh2 Qe7 25. Qd2 Rf8 26. Ng4 Qh4 27. Re3 Nf6
28. Nh2 Rce8 29. Nf3 Qh6 30. Nh2 Bc8 $11 {Havasi,G (2302)-Erdos,V (2621)
Hungary 2015}) 14... Bf8 15. Bd2 g6 16. Qe2 Bg7 17. a4 e5 $5 18. d5 c4 19. Bc2
Nc5 20. Nh2 Rb8 21. Ra3 Bc8 22. axb5 axb5 23. Ng4 Bxg4 24. hxg4 Ra8 25. Rea1
Rxa3 26. Rxa3 Qb7 $11 {Hou,Y (2629)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2766) Biel 2014}) (8...
Rc8 9. a4 b4 10. a5 Qc7 (10... e6 11. d3 bxc3 12. bxc3 Be7 13. h3 O-O 14. Bf4
Bc6 15. Nbd2 Bb5 16. Bh2 Re8 17. Bb3 Bxd3 18. c4 d5 19. cxd5 exd5 20. e5 c4 21.
Bc2 {Nakamura,H (2814)-Nepomniachtchi,I (2705) WCup Baku 2015} Bxc2 22. Qxc2 c3
$15) 11. d3 bxc3 12. bxc3 e6 13. h3 Be7 14. Bf4 O-O 15. Nbd2 Bc6 16. Nc4 Bb5
17. Nfd2 Rfd8 18. Bg3 Ne8 19. Kh2 Rb8 20. Ne3 Ne5 21. Qe2 Nc6 22. Nb3 Ne5 23.
Nd2 Nc6 24. Ndc4 Nf6 25. Kh1 Ne5 26. f4 Nxc4 27. dxc4 Bc6 28. Nd1 g6 29. Bh2
Nh5 $132 {/=/+, Nakamura,H (2814)-Grischuk,A (2771) Saint Louis 2015/ Grischuk
spoiled a good position in his habitual time trouble; for more details see the
notes to this game in CBM 168 by Mokal.}) 9. d4 Be7 10. Nbd2 O-O 11. Nf1 Re8
12. Ng3 Bf8 (12... cxd4 $5 13. cxd4 exd4 14. Nxd4 Bf8 $11 {Mekhitarian}) 13. d5
g6 (13... c4 $142 $132) 14. b3 Nb6 15. Rb1 c4 16. bxc4 Nxc4 17. a4 Qc7 18. axb5
axb5 19. Rxb5 Na3 20. Rb3 Nxc2 21. Qxc2 Nd7 22. Be3 Ba6 23. Ra3 Bb5 24. Rea1
Rxa3 25. Rxa3 Rb8 26. Ra7 Qc8 27. h3 Nb6 28. Qc1 Nc4 29. Bh6 Qc5 30. Nh5 $1 $18
{->, Harikrishna,P (2706)-Nakamura,H (2789) Wijk aan Zee 2014}) 6... b5 {
Black usually fights the intended central expansion by flank activity.} ({
However,} 6... g6 7. c3 Bg7 8. Bc2 b5 {is also viable. Compared with
Caruana-Topalov above, White has spent time on playing Re1 and the extra tempo
gave Black counterplay after} 9. d4 cxd4 10. cxd4 Bb7 11. Nc3 O-O 12. h3 Nb6
13. a3 Rc8 14. Qe2 e6 15. Bd3 Nh5 16. a4 b4 17. a5 bxc3 18. axb6 c2 19. Bxc2
Qxb6 20. Bd3 Bxd4 21. Nxd4 Qxd4 22. Bh6 Rfe8 23. Bxa6 Bxa6 24. Rxa6 Rb8 25. Bc1
{Svidler,P (2745)-Papaioannou,I (2638) EU-chT Reykjavik 2015} Nf6 $132) 7. c4 {
The only way to emhasise the difference between the two alternatives on move 6.
} (7. c3 g5 $6 (7... Bb7 8. Bc2 {-6.c3 transposes to lines from the previous
notes.}) 8. Bc2 g4 9. Nh4 c4 10. a4 Bb7 11. axb5 axb5 12. Rxa8 Bxa8 13. d4 e6
14. g3 Be7 15. Bh6 Rg8 16. Nd2 d5 17. e5 Ne4 18. Ng2 Nb6 19. Ne3 Bc6 20. Nxg4
Na4 21. Nxe4 dxe4 22. Bc1 Nb6 23. Bxe4 Bxe4 24. Rxe4 $18 {Hansen,E (2547)-Pert,
R (2434) England 2013 This was an unsuccessful predecessor of the Black's
sudden flank attack...}) (7. a4 b4 {after} 8. c3 (8. Bc4 Bb7 9. d3 e6 $11) 8...
Bb7 9. Bc2 Qc7 {once again transposes to positions from the 6.c3 line 
(Ganguly-Wojtaszek above)}) 7... g5 $5 {[%mdl 64] Earlier in 2015 Topalov
surprised Carlsen with this tactical sortie and scored a full point. Since
then the line has been tested further, especially at the blitz and rapid WCh
in Berlin. This time Magnus was obviously prepared...} (7... Ne5 8. Bf1 {
Safer is} Bd7 $5 (8... Nxc4 9. a4 Bd7 10. d4 cxd4 11. Nxd4 e5 12. axb5 exd4 13.
Bxc4 axb5 14. Rxa8 Qxa8 15. Bb3 Be7 16. Qxd4 O-O 17. Nc3 b4 (17... Bc6 18. Bf4
Re8 19. f3 b4 20. Nd5 Nxd5 21. exd5 Bg5 22. Rxe8+ Qxe8 23. Kf2 Bf6 24. Qe3 Ba4
25. Qxe8+ Bxe8 26. Bxd6 Bxb2 27. Bxb4 $14 {Balogh,C (2648)-Gajewski,G (2650)
Budapest 2014}) 18. Qxb4 Rb8 19. Qc4 Be6 20. Nd5 Bd8 21. h3 h6 22. Bf4 Qb7 23.
Bc2 $36 {Carlsen,M (2872)-Nakamura,H (2776) Zuerich rpd 2014/ Although Black
eventually drew both games, it's obvious he is struggling here.}) 9. Nxe5 dxe5
10. cxb5 (10. Nc3 $5 b4 11. Nd5) 10... axb5 11. d3 e6 12. Be3 Bd6 13. Nd2 O-O
14. Nb3 Qe7 15. Qe2 $11 {½, Brkic,A (2597)-Popilski,G (2500) Bad Gleichenberg
2014}) 8. Nxg5 (8. cxb5 g4 9. e5 (9. Nh4 $5 $13) 9... dxe5 10. Ng5 Bg7 (10...
e6 11. Nc3 h5 12. Qe2 Nd5 13. Nxe6 fxe6 14. Bg6+ Ke7 15. d4 Bh6 16. Nxd5+ exd5
17. dxc5 Kf6 18. Bc2 Qe7 19. c6 Bxc1 20. cxd7 Bxb2 21. dxc8=Q Raxc8 22. Rab1
Bd4 23. bxa6 $16 {Mamedov,R (2657)-Anand,V (2803) Berlin rpd 2015}) (10... Nb6
11. Qb3 $14) 11. Qe2 (11. Nc3 O-O 12. bxa6 (12. Qe2 {-11.Qe2}) 12... e6 13.
Nge4 Nxe4 14. Bxe4 Rxa6 15. Qe2 f5 16. Bd3 Rd6 17. Bc4 e4 18. d3 Ne5 19. dxe4
f4 $40 {Mamedov,R (2657)-Grischuk,A (2774) Berlin rpd 2015}) 11... O-O 12. Nc3
Nb6 13. bxa6 c4 14. Bc2 Bxa6 15. Qxe5 h6 16. Nge4 Nfd5 17. Qf5 (17. Qh5 $142)
17... Bc8 (17... e6 $1 $36) 18. Qh5 Nf4 19. Qc5 Bd4 20. Qc6 Be6 21. Nc5 Qd6 22.
Qxd6 exd6 23. d3 Nxg2 24. Rxe6 (24. Kxg2 dxc5 25. Bxh6 Rfd8 $44) 24... fxe6 25.
Nxe6 Bxc3 26. Nxf8 Ne1 27. Bd1 Bf6 28. Ne6 Nxd3 $15 {Bartel,M (2622)-Grischuk,
A (2774) Berlin rpd 2015}) (8. e5 Nxe5 9. Nxe5 dxe5 10. Bf1 (10. Qe2 Bg7 11.
cxb5 Nd5 $13) 10... b4 (10... bxc4 $5 11. Na3 $5 $13) 11. d3 g4 12. a3 e6 13.
axb4 cxb4 14. Bg5 Rg8 15. Be3 (15. Bh4 $1 $36) 15... Bd6 (15... Qc7 $142) 16.
Nd2 a5 17. Nb3 (17. c5 $1 Bc7 18. Qa4+ $36) 17... Bb7 18. d4 exd4 19. Nxd4 Ne4
20. Qa4+ Kf8 21. Bh6+ (21. g3 $142 $13) 21... Rg7 22. Bxg7+ $6 Kxg7 $40 {
Bartel,M (2622)-Bocharov,D (2560) Berlin rpd 2015}) 8... Ne5 9. Be2 (9. Bf1 {
also deserves attention:} Bh6 $5 (9... Rg8 10. cxb5 $5 $14 {/\} Rxg5 $2 11. d4)
(9... bxc4 10. d4 $1 cxd3 (10... cxd4 11. f4 $36) 11. f4 Nc6 12. Bxd3 h6 13.
Nf3 e6 14. Nc3 Bb7 15. b3 Be7 {1/2, Barski,R (2336)-Borovikov,V (2564)
Heusenstamm 2015} 16. Bb2 $36 {This illustrates the main drawback of the
enterprising 7...g5!? - if Black's activity peters out, his king remains
constantly vulnerable.}) (9... Nxc4 10. Bxc4 bxc4 11. Qa4+ Bd7 12. Qxc4 e6 13.
Nc3 $14 {/+/-}) 10. d4 cxd4 11. Qxd4 Rg8 12. f4 Nc6 $14 {/<=>}) 9... bxc4 10.
Nc3 $1 $146 {[%mdl 8]} (10. Na3 $143 $6 Rg8 11. Nxc4 $2 (11. d4 cxd3 12. Bxd3
h6 13. Nf3 Nxd3 14. Qxd3 d5 $132 {Kr.Szabo}) 11... Nxc4 12. d4 Nb6 13. Bh5 Nxh5
14. Qxh5 Rg7 (14... Rg6 $142 $17) 15. Nxh7 Qd7 16. dxc5 dxc5 17. e5 $2 (17.
Nxf8 Qh3 18. Qxh3 Bxh3 19. g3 Rg8 20. Nh7 f6 21. e5 Rh8 22. Nxf6+ exf6 23.
exf6+ Kf7 $11) 17... Qc6 18. f3 Qg6 19. Nf6+ Kd8 20. Qxg6 Rxg6 21. Ne4 Bb7 $17
{/+-, Carlsen,M (2853)-Topalov,V (2816) Saint Louis 2015/ See the notes to
this game by Kr.Szabo in CBM 168.}) ({Another interesting untested
continuation is} 10. Nf3 Nd3 11. Bxd3 cxd3 12. Nc3 (12. e5 Nd5 $13) (12. Qb3 $5
) 12... Rg8 13. e5 Ng4 $5 $132 {However, Carlsen's developing move seems both
safer and stronger.}) 10... Rb8 $6 {A rather dubious attempt to circumvent
White's preparation.} ({More natural is the analogous} 10... Rg8 {, but
Grischuk was obviously reluctant to give up his kingside castling rights:} 11.
f4 (11. d4 cxd3 12. Bxd3 h6 13. Nf3 Bg4 (13... Nxd3 14. Qxd3 $14 {and contrary
to the line above, with the knight on c3 instead of a3 White can fight for an
edge.}) 14. Be2 Bxf3 15. Bxf3 Qd7 16. Bf4 Nxf3+ 17. Qxf3 Qg4 18. Qxg4 Rxg4 19.
g3 Nh5 20. Be3 Bg7 $132) 11... Nd3 12. Bxd3 cxd3 13. Qa4+ Bd7 14. Qc4 e6 15.
Qxd3 Nh5 16. Qf1 $5 h6 (16... Nxf4 17. d4 Qxg5 18. Bxf4 $14) 17. Nh3 Bg7 18. d3
Rb8 $13 {/+/=}) 11. Rf1 {This refined reaction cost Carlsen 20 minutes, so now
it's obvious both players are out of their book.} (11. f4 $5 Nd3 12. Bxd3 cxd3
13. Qa4+ Nd7 (13... Bd7 14. Qxa6 $16) (13... Qd7 14. Qc4 h6 15. Qxf7+ Kd8 16.
Nh3 $5 Qg4 17. Nf2 $14) 14. Qc4 e6 15. Qxd3 $14 {seems simple and good - Black
has yet to prove he has sufficient compensation.}) 11... h6 12. Nf3 Nd3 13. Ne1
$1 {The point behind the 11th move - White immediately swaps the nagging
knight.} (13. Qa4+ $6 Qd7 14. Qxc4 Nf4 $36 {[%csl Rg2][%cal Rh8g8,Rb8b4] is
dangerous for White to say the least.}) 13... Nxb2 (13... Rg8 {is an engine
suggestion, but it's hardly a radical improvement:} 14. Kh1 $5 $14 {is perhaps
the best choice - Black may regret his king in the centre later on.} (14. Nxd3
cxd3 15. Bxd3 Bh3 16. g3 Bg7 $5 (16... Bxf1 17. Qxf1 $14) 17. Re1 Ng4 $44) (14.
Bxd3 cxd3 15. Nxd3 Bg7 (15... h5 $5) 16. Nf4 $14)) 14. Bxb2 (14. Qc2 Nd3 15.
Nxd3 cxd3 16. Bxd3 Rg8 (16... Bg7 17. Bb2 Nh5 18. Rab1 $14) 17. Ne2 $5 {
is perhaps better for White, but the text move is simpler - Magnus exchanges
the undeveloped bishop and his remaining pieces have superior coordination.})
14... Rxb2 15. Bxc4 {[%csl Rb2][%cal Rc4b3]} Rb4 16. Qe2 {[%csl Ra6]} Bg7 17.
Nc2 Rb6 (17... Rb2 $6 18. Ne3 {[%cal Rc4b3,Re3c4]} Nd7 19. Rac1 $16 {and
Black's rook remains misplaced.}) 18. Rab1 $5 {Exchanging one rook reduces
Black's chances for effective counterplay; White can then turn his attention
to the kingside.} O-O 19. Rxb6 Qxb6 20. Ne3 e6 21. f4 {After a series of
natural moves White has good attacking chances.} Kh8 (21... Bb7 22. f5 $16 {
[%csl Re6]}) (21... Qc6 $5 $14) 22. f5 (22. e5 dxe5 23. fxe5 {is tempting, but
inconclusive:} Nh7 $5 (23... Nd7 24. Ng4 Qc7 25. Nxh6 Bxh6 (25... Nxe5 26. Qh5
Nxc4 27. Rf3 f5 28. Rh3 Bd4+ 29. Kh1 Qg7 30. Ne2 $1 Nxd2 31. Nxd4 Ne4 32. Qe2
Qh7 33. Nc6 Kg7 34. Qb2+ Rf6 35. Ne7 Nf2+ 36. Qxf2 Rxh6 37. Qb2+ Kf7 38. Rxh6
Qxh6 39. Nxc8 $18) 26. Qh5 Kg7 27. Qg4+ Kh8 28. Qh4 Kh7 (28... Kg7 29. Rf6 $1
Rh8 30. Qg4+ Kf8 31. Rxf7+ Kxf7 32. Qxe6+ Kg7 33. Qf7#) 29. Bd3+ Kg7 30. Qg4+ (
30. Rf6 Rh8 31. Rg6+ $1 Kf8 (31... fxg6 32. Qe7+ Kg8 33. Bxg6 Nxe5 $8 34. Qxc7
$18) 32. Rxh6 Rxh6 33. Qxh6+ Ke8 $14) 30... Kh8 31. Rf5 $1 Nxe5 32. Qh4 f6 33.
Qxh6+ Kg8 34. Rxf6 Rxf6 35. Qxf6 Nxd3 36. Qg6+ $16) 24. Ng4 (24. Qh5 Qc7 25.
Ng4 Qd7 $132) 24... Qd8 $14) 22... a5 (22... Rg8 $5 23. Kh1 $14) 23. a4 Qd8 24.
h3 (24. Ba6 Bd7 25. Bb5 Bc8 26. fxe6 fxe6 27. Nc4 Bb7 $14 {is not too
convincing.}) ({Therefore Magnus patiently improves his position, but this
move does not only provide breathing space, but also weakens the kingside.
Therefore} 24. Qd3 $5 {deserves attention, keeping all the options open.})
24... Qe7 25. Ba6 Bxa6 {Grischuk seeks kingside counterplay.} (25... Bd7 26.
Bb5 Bc8 27. fxe6 Bxe6 (27... fxe6 28. Nc4 $16 {[%csl Ra5][%cal Re4e5]}) 28. Nf5
$16) 26. Qxa6 Nh5 27. Rf3 $6 {Starts slipping up.} (27. Ne2 $5 $36) (27. Qxa5
Be5 (27... Ng3 28. Rf3 Be5 29. Qb5 {/\} Bxc3 30. dxc3 Nxe4 31. Qd3 d5 32. c4
Ng5 33. Rf1 d4 34. Ng4 $16) 28. fxe6 Qxe6 29. Ne2 $14) 27... Rg8 28. Nb5 $6 {
Continues the trend, with two pieces out of the action White will suddenly be
in danger.} (28. Qxa5 Qh4 $44) (28. Ne2 Qh4 29. Qd3 (29. fxe6 Qe1+ 30. Nf1 fxe6
31. Qc4 Be5 32. Qxe6 Rxg2+ 33. Kh1 $1 Rh2+ 34. Kg1 Rg2+ $11) 29... d5 $5 (29...
Be5 30. Ng4 Rxg4 31. hxg4 Nf6 32. g3 Qxg4 33. fxe6 fxe6 34. Nf4 h5 $44 {<=>})
30. Ng4 Nf6 $11) (28. fxe6 $142 fxe6 (28... Qxe6 29. Qxa5 $14) 29. Ne2 $14)
28... Be5 $1 29. Ng4 Qh4 {The concentration of Black's forces is alarming.} ({
The text move is more convincing than} 29... Nf4 30. f6 Qf8 31. Kf1 Nxg2 $13)
30. fxe6 $2 {[%mdl 8192] A tactical error, but not the last one...} (30. Nxe5 {
allows Black to force a draw, but White had already squandered his advantage.}
Qe1+ (30... dxe5 31. Nd6 Nf4 32. Nxf7+ Kh7 33. Nxe5 Rxg2+ 34. Kf1 Rg7 35. Ng6 (
35. fxe6 $2 Nxh3 $19) 35... Nxg6 36. fxg6+ Rxg6 37. Qc6 Qh5 $11) 31. Rf1 (31.
Kh2 $2 dxe5 32. Nd6 Ng3 $19) 31... Rxg2+ 32. Kxg2 Qg3+ $11) (30. Nxd6 Bd4+ $1
31. Ne3 $8 (31. Nf2 $2 Nf4 32. Nxf7+ Kh7 $17) (31. Kf1 $2 Rxg4 32. Nxf7+ Kh7
33. Qb7 Rg7 $17) 31... Qe1+ 32. Qf1 Qxd2 33. Ndc4 Qc3 34. fxe6 fxe6 35. Kh2
Be5+ $13) 30... fxe6 $2 (30... Rxg4 $1 31. hxg4 Qh2+ 32. Kf2 (32. Kf1 Nf4 33.
Qa8+ Kg7 34. Ke1 Qxg2 35. Rxf4 Bxf4 36. Qxa5 (36. e7 Qxd2+ 37. Kf1 Bg3 38. Qf8+
Kg6 39. Qg8+ Kf6 40. e5+ dxe5 41. e8=N+ Ke7 $19) 36... Qg1+ 37. Ke2 Qxg4+ $19)
32... Nf4 33. Rg3 Nxe6 34. Rf3 Nf4 $1 (34... Kg7 $40 {D.King} 35. Na3 $5 (35.
Nc3 Qh4+ 36. g3 Qh2+ 37. Ke1 Ng5 38. Qd3 Nxf3+ 39. Qxf3 Bxg3+ 40. Kd1 Qg1+ 41.
Kc2 Be5 $19) 35... Qh4+ 36. g3 Qh2+ 37. Ke1 Ng5 38. Qd3 Nxf3+ 39. Qxf3 Qg1+ (
39... Bxg3+ 40. Kd1 Qg1+ 41. Kc2 Be5 42. Nc4) 40. Ke2 Qd4 $17) 35. Rg3 Ng6 36.
Rf3 Kg7 {[%cal Rg6h4]} 37. Nc7 Nh4 38. Ne6+ Kh7 $1 39. Rxf7+ Kg6 40. Rf5 (40.
Rf8 Qxg2+ 41. Ke3 Qh3+ 42. Kf2 Qg3+ 43. Ke2 Qxg4+ 44. Kd3 Qh3+ $1 45. Kc2 Qxe6
$19) 40... Qxg2+ 41. Ke3 Qg3+ 42. Ke2 Qxg4+ 43. Ke3 Nxf5+ 44. exf5+ Kxf5 $19) (
30... Nf4 $2 31. Kf1 $1 {[]} (31. Nxd6 Qe1+ 32. Rf1 Qxd2 33. Nxf7+ Kh7 34. Rf2
Bd4 $19) 31... fxe6 (31... Rxg4 $2 32. exf7 Kg7 33. Qc8 $18) 32. Nxd6 Rxg4 33.
Nf7+ Kh7 34. Nxe5 Rxg2 35. Ng4 (35. Rxf4 Qxh3 36. Rh4 Qxh4 37. Kxg2 Qg5+ $11)
35... Rxg4 36. hxg4 Qxg4 37. Kf2 Qg2+ 38. Ke3 Qg1+ 39. Rf2 (39. Kxf4 $4 Qg5#)
39... Qg3+ $11) 31. Nxe5 dxe5 ({A simpler way is} 31... Qe1+ 32. Rf1 $8 (32.
Kh2 $2 Nf4 $1 (32... Ng3 33. Nf7+ (33. Ng4 Ne2 $19) 33... Kh7 34. Ng5+ Rxg5 35.
Qb7+ Rg7 36. Qxg7+ Kxg7 37. Rxg3+ Kh7 $19) 33. Ng6+ Rxg6 34. Qc8+ Kh7 35. Qc7+
Rg7 36. Qxg7+ Kxg7 37. Rxf4 Qxd2 $19) 32... Rxg2+ 33. Kxg2 Qg3+ 34. Kh1 Qxh3+
$11) 32. Qxe6 Qe1+ $2 {The decisive error.} (32... Qg5 $8 33. Rf2 (33. g4 Nf4
34. Qf5 Qg7 (34... Qe7 35. Na7 $8 Rg5 (35... Rf8 $2 36. Nc6) 36. Qc8+ Rg8 $11)
35. Rxf4 exf4 36. Qxc5 $11) 33... Nf4 34. Qg4 Qxg4 35. hxg4 Rxg4 36. Kh2 Rg6
37. g3 Ne6 $132) 33. Kh2 {[%cal Re6e5,Re6h6]} (33. Rf1 $142 $1 Qxd2 (33... Qxe4
34. Qxh6+ Qh7 35. Qe3 Qg7 36. g4 $18) (33... Rxg2+ 34. Kxg2 Qxd2+ 35. Kg1 $1
Qe3+ 36. Rf2 $18 {transposes into the game.}) 34. Qxe5+ Ng7 (34... Rg7 35. g4
$18) 35. Rf7 $18) 33... Rxg2+ (33... Qxd2 $142 $5 {was more resilient:} 34.
Qxe5+ (34. Rf2 Rxg2+ $1 35. Rxg2 Qf4+ 36. Kh1 Qf1+ 37. Rg1 Qf3+ 38. Kh2 Qf2+
39. Rg2 Qf4+ $11) 34... Rg7 (34... Kh7 35. Rf7+ $18) 35. Rf8+ Kh7 36. Qf5+ Rg6
37. Rf7+ (37. Qf7+ $5 Rg7 38. Qf2 Qxf2 39. Rxf2 $16) 37... Ng7 38. Qf3 $16) 34.
Kxg2 Qxd2+ $6 (34... Qe2+ 35. Rf2 $1 (35. Kg1 Qxf3 36. Qxh6+ Kg8 37. Qe6+ Kf8
38. Qf5+ $18) 35... Nf4+ 36. Kg3 Qxf2+ (36... Nh5+ 37. Kh4 Qxf2+ 38. Kxh5 $18)
(36... Qd3+ 37. Rf3 Qxf3+ 38. Kxf3 Nxe6 39. Nd6 Kg7 40. Nc4 Ng5+ 41. Ke3 Nxh3
42. Nxa5 Nf4 43. Nb7 $18 {[%csl Ga4]}) 37. Kxf2 Nxe6 38. Nd6 c4 39. Nxc4 Nc5
40. Kf3 Nxa4 41. Kg4 $5 Nc5 42. Kf5 $18 {The knight endgame is beyond saving,
but now Black just remains a rook down.}) 35. Kg1 Qe1+ 36. Rf1 $1 Qe3+ 37. Rf2
Qe1+ (37... Qg3+ 38. Kf1 Qd3+ 39. Ke1 Qxe4+ 40. Kd2 Qb4+ 41. Kc2 Qxa4+ 42. Kb2
Qxb5+ 43. Kc1 Ng7 44. Rf8+ Kh7 45. Qg8+ Kg6 46. Qf7+ Kh7 47. Rg8 $18) 38. Kg2 (
38. Kg2 Qxe4+ 39. Kh2 {and the checks are over. A dramatic final round with a
lucky outcome for Magnus!}) 1-0

[Event "London Classic 7th Tiebreak"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2015.12.13"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah/CB Website"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2015.12.13"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ {After having played the same line successfully
against Grischuk in the classical game earlier in the day, Magnus does not
flinch from giving it another go.} Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 g6 7. d4
cxd4 8. Nxd4 Bg7 9. f3 (9. O-O O-O 10. f3 Rc8 11. b3 d5 $1 $11 {is known to be
an equalising idea since a long time. Hence f3 is more accurate than 0-0.})
9... O-O 10. Be3 Nc6 11. Rc1 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 Rfc8 13. b3 {This is a position
with small but stable edge for White.} Nh5 $5 14. O-O Bxd4+ 15. Qxd4 Nf6 16.
Rfe1 $1 {Magnus brings his rooks to the central files.} Rc7 17. Rcd1 Qc6 18.
Nb5 (18. Nd5 Nxd5 19. exd5 $14 Qc5 20. Qxc5 dxc5 21. Rd2 {is also a pleasant
position but maybe Black can defend this as e7 is the only weakness right now.}
) 18... Rd7 19. Nxa7 Qc5 20. Qxc5 dxc5 21. Nb5 Rxa2 22. e5 Rxd1 23. Rxd1 Nh5
24. g3 Rb2 25. Rd8+ Kg7 26. Re8 Rb1+ (26... Rxb3 27. Rxe7 Rxf3 28. Nd6 $16 {
Black's biggest problem is his knight on h5.}) 27. Kg2 Rb2+ 28. Kg1 Rb1+ 29.
Kg2 Rb2+ 30. Kh3 e6 31. Re7 Rxb3 32. Kg4 (32. Nd6 Rxf3 33. Kg2 Rc3 34. Rxf7+
Kg8 35. Rxb7 $16 {was a better way to gain an edge.}) 32... Kf8 33. Rxb7 h6 34.
Rc7 f5+ 35. exf6 Nxf6+ 36. Kf4 g5+ 37. Ke5 Ne8 38. Rxc5 Re3+ 39. Kd4 Rxf3 {
Maxime was playing with great speed and already had a big time advantage. Now
his position was also pretty much defensible.} 40. Re5 Rf2 41. Rxe6 Rxh2 42. c5
h5 43. Nd6 $6 (43. Nc3 $14) 43... Nxd6 44. cxd6 Kf7 45. Re3 h4 46. g4 h3 47.
Ke5 Rh1 48. d7 Ke7 49. Kf5+ Kxd7 50. Kxg5 {It seems as if White is completely
winning here because he just keeps an eye on the pawn with the rook. For eg.
h2 is met with Re2, the black king is cut off and the white king moves to the
h-file and starts pushing the g-pawn down the board. However, there is a study
like solution for Black to draw the game.} Kd6 (50... h2 51. Re2 Kd6 $1 {
The only move. Black has to wait till the white king goes to the h-file before
leaving the h1 square with his rook.} 52. Kh5 (52. Kg6 Rg1 $11) 52... Rc1 $1
53. Rxh2 Rc8 $3 {The only way to make a draw. The threat of skewering the rook
from h8 makes it impossible to push the pawn to g5 which would be a
theoretical win.} 54. Re2 Rh8+ 55. Kg5 Rg8+ 56. Kh5 Rh8+ $11) 51. Kh5 Rf1 $2 (
51... h2 $1 52. Re2 Rc1 53. Rxh2 Rc8 $1 {and just like in the previous
variation Black makes a draw.}) 52. Rxh3 Ke7 53. Kg6 $1 {Shouldering!} Rf6+ 54.
Kg7 Rf7+ 55. Kg6 Rf6+ 56. Kg5 Ra6 (56... Kf7 57. Rh7+ $18) 57. Rf3 {The basic
Lucena position will be reached pretty soon and Black will have to resign. A
very interesting game especially with a nice touch in the rook endgame.} 1-0

[Event "London Classic 7th Tiebreak"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2015.12.13"]
[Round "2.2"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A34"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah/CB Website"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2015.12.13"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. Nf3 e6 4. e4 Nc6 5. Be2 e5 6. d3 d6 7. a3 Be7 8. b4 b6 (
8... cxb4 9. axb4 Nxb4 10. O-O O-O 11. Ba3 $44 {is good compensation for White.
}) 9. O-O O-O 10. Rb1 Nd4 11. bxc5 bxc5 12. Bg5 Be6 13. Rb7 Nd7 14. Bxe7 Qxe7
15. Qa4 Nb6 $1 {A nicely calculated move.} 16. Qa6 (16. Rxe7 Nxa4 17. Nxa4
Nxe2+ $17) 16... Bc8 $1 17. Rxe7 Bxa6 18. Rb1 $6 (18. Nxd4 $1 exd4 19. Nd5 $11
{leads to equality.}) 18... Rfb8 (18... Nxe2+ 19. Nxe2 Rfc8 $17 {with the
threat of ...Kf8 traps the e7-rook.}) 19. Kf1 Kf8 20. Rc7 Ne6 21. Rc6 Rd8 $6 (
21... Ke7 22. Nd5+ Kd7 23. Rcxb6 (23. Nxb6+ Kxc6 $19) 23... axb6 24. Rxb6 Bb7
$19) 22. a4 Bb7 23. Rcxb6 axb6 24. Rxb6 {White has a pawn for the exchange but
the position is clearly in Black's favour. Look how carefully Carlsen
circumvents all the possible traps and tactics and brings home the full point,
ok almost the full point as he agreed to a draw in a clearly better position.}
Bc8 25. Bd1 Ra6 26. Rb2 Bd7 27. g3 Bc6 28. Ke1 Rda8 29. Ra2 Rb6 30. Kd2 g6 31.
Kc1 Nd4 32. Nd2 Rb4 33. Rb2 Rab8 34. Nb5 Rxb2 35. Kxb2 Ke7 36. Kc3 Bd7 37. f4
f6 38. Nf1 exf4 39. gxf4 Ne6 40. f5 gxf5 41. Ne3 Nf4 42. exf5 Bc6 43. d4 Be4
44. d5 Ng2 45. Nxg2 Bxg2 46. Bc2 Bf3 47. Kb3 Ra8 48. Nc7 Ra7 49. Nb5 Ra8 50.
Nc7 Ra7 51. Nb5 {With this win Magnus Carlsen became not only the London Chess
Classic winner but also the Grand Chess Tour Champion.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Qatar Masters op"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2015.12.20"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Batsiashvili, Nino"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A09"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2498"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2015.12.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{The biggest upset of the first round was Magnus Carlsen's draw against Nino
Batsiashvili. The World Champion, fresh from his exploits at the London Chess
Classic, was unable to get going against his Georgian opponent. Let's see how
the game went.} 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 {This is Carlsen's way of saying
that he would like to have an original game without any theoretical
discussions.} c5 4. c4 d4 5. b4 $5 {Do you get what Carlsen is doing with the
white pieces? He is employing the Benko Gambit with reversed colours!} cxb4 6.
a3 b3 $5 {The Benko is a decent opening with Black. The Black player gets good
compensation. However, the problem with employing it with White is that you
can level the game but to get an advantage might not be so easy. Giving back
the pawn is a very common way to play against the Benko.} (6... bxa3 7. Bxa3 {
would be a fully fledged Benko.}) 7. Qxb3 (7. d3 {[%cal Gb1d2,Gd2b3] followed
by Nbd2 and regaining the pawn with Nxb3 would have been much more logical.})
7... Nc6 8. O-O e5 {Nino has played natural moves and has a good position out
of the opening. A natural continuation would now be d3, but Magnus wanted to
make use of his lead in development by opening up the position.} 9. e3 Be7 10.
exd4 exd4 (10... e4 $5 11. Ng5 (11. Ne5 Nxd4 12. Qa4+ Kf8 $1 $17) 11... Nxd4
12. Qb2 O-O 13. Nxe4 Nxe4 14. Bxe4 Bf6 $17 {would give Black a clear advantage.
But in an over the board game it is not so easy to see this variation.}) 11.
Bb2 O-O 12. Re1 Re8 13. a4 Na5 14. Qd3 Be6 15. Na3 Bxa3 $6 {While it is
tempting to take a pawn, it would have been better to maintain the pressure.} (
15... Rc8 {Putting further pressure on the c4-pawn would have given Black
equal chances.}) 16. Bxa3 Bxc4 (16... Nxc4 17. Rxe6 $1 Nxa3 18. Rxe8+ $18) 17.
Qxd4 Qxd4 18. Nxd4 $14 {Magnus surely has a small edge now. This is due to two
factors: his pieces are better posted, and on an open board the bishops are
just too strong.} Bd5 {When your opponent has the bishop pair, it is always a
good idea to exchange one of them.} 19. Rxe8+ Rxe8 20. Rc1 $1 {The accuracy
with which Magnus plays his next few moves is a treat to watch.} b6 (20... Bxg2
21. Kxg2 h5 {Black's defensive task would have been easier than in the game.})
21. Bf1 {Preserving the bishop pair.} (21. Rc7 Re1+ 22. Bf1 h5 23. Rxa7 $2 Bc4
$19) 21... Bb7 22. Nf5 {With threats like Nd6 in the air, Black's position is
getting quite hard to defend. It is commendable that Batsiashvili could hold
the position from this point onwards, as Carlsen has a clear cut advantage.
And with such edges he is known to beat even 2700+ opponents!} Rd8 (22... g6
23. Nd6 Re7 24. Nxb7 Rxb7 25. Bb2 $18) 23. d4 Nd5 24. Bg2 g6 25. Nd6 Ba8 26. h4
(26. Rc8 {seems like it wins a pawn but Black can recover it.} Rxc8 27. Nxc8
Bb7 28. Nxa7 Nc3 29. Bxb7 Nxb7 30. Nb5 Nxa4 31. Kf1 $16 {The knight on a4 is
kind of trapped and the white king will slowly proceed towards it. This would
have given Carlsen excellent winning chances. But sometimes it is not so easy
to assess such endgames with equal material just based on the placement of
pieces.}) 26... h5 27. Re1 Bc6 28. Re5 Nf6 29. Rxa5 Bxg2 30. Rxa7 Bd5 {White
still maintains an edge in this position, but the opposite coloured bishops
lend it quite a drawish nature. Besides the bishop on d5 is pretty strong.} 31.
Ra6 Nd7 32. Nb5 $2 {This throws away all the advantage as it allows Black to
activate her rook by threatening a mate.} (32. Kf1 {looks the most logical but
Carlsen must have been afraid of reaching this drawish looking endgame after}
Ra8 33. Rxa8+ Bxa8 34. Ke2 Bd5 {Threatening ...Bb3.} 35. Nb5 (35. Bb4 Bb3 36.
a5 bxa5 37. Bxa5 {This should be closer to a draw than a White win.}) 35... Bb3
36. Nc3 Nf6 $1 37. Kd3 Nd5 38. Nxd5 Bxd5 39. Kc3 Bc6 $11 {This shows the
Carlsen's fears were not unfounded.}) 32... Re8 $1 (32... Ra8 33. Rxa8+ Bxa8
34. Be7 Bd5 35. Nc3 Bb3 36. Kg2 f6 37. Bd8 Kf7 38. Kf3 Ke8 39. Bc7 Kf7 40. Ke4
$16 {White's chances are much preferable to what we saw in the previous
variation.}) 33. Bb4 Re2 34. Ra7 Nf6 35. Kf1 Rb2 36. Bc3 Rc2 37. Rc7 Ng4 {
Black has tremendous activity and it is the World Champion who has to play
carefully now in spite of being a pawn up.} 38. Ke1 (38. Be1 Nh2+ 39. Kg1 Nf3+
40. Kf1 Rxc7 41. Nxc7 Bc4+ $19) 38... Rxf2 39. Rc8+ Kh7 40. Rd8 Bf3 41. Re8 (
41. d5 $2 Re2+ 42. Kf1 (42. Kd1 Re8+ $19) 42... Ne3+ 43. Kg1 Rg2+ 44. Kh1 Rxg3+
45. Kh2 Nf1#) 41... f6 42. Re7+ Kg8 43. Re8+ Kh7 44. Re7+ Kg8 45. Bd2 Rg2 46.
Bf4 g5 $1 {Exchanging as many pawns as she can and getting closer to a draw.}
47. hxg5 fxg5 48. Bxg5 Rxg3 49. Nc3 Bc6 50. Kd2 Rg2+ 51. Re2 Nf2 52. d5 Bxd5 $1
53. Nxd5 Ne4+ 54. Ke3 Rxe2+ 55. Kxe2 Nxg5 56. Nxb6 Ne6 57. a5 Nc7 {It could be
said that the World Champion played quite well for the majority of the game.
He had a small edge and was pushing almost throughout the game. But full
credit to Nino Batsiashvili for playing a fine game to draw against an
opponent who was rated 336 points above her.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Qatar Masters op"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2015.12.21"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Aravindh, Chithambaram VR"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B20"]
[WhiteElo "2486"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2015.12.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 {Aravindh is famed in the Indian chess circuits for his unorthodox
openings. But against the World Champion he decides to play it safe with 1.e4.}
c5 2. b3 $5 {Well, so much for the well trodden paths! The 16-year-old had
beaten Alexei Shirov with 1.b3 a year ago. This time he tries to catch a
bigger fish with that move but of course 1.e4 c5 2.b3 is quite different from
1.b3.} g6 $5 {After the game I had an opportunity to do an interview with
Magnus Carlsen. He said that he had considered playing this line with White
but did not like this 2...g6 move. And hence he played it with Black. This is
the same line recommended by Peter Heine Nielsen in his book "Experts against
the Anti-Sicilians."} 3. Bb2 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 {Here Aravindh sank into deep
thought. He was of course out of theory and wanted to clarify the position as
much as he could. There is a chance that the e5-pawn will become weak and
hence he decides to advance the pawn.} 5. e6 $6 (5. d4 Qa5+ 6. Qd2 Qxd2+ 7.
Nxd2 cxd4 8. Ngf3 Bg7 $11 {might be a better way for White to play, but I
think Black has absolutely no problems in this position as well.}) (5. Bc4 Nb6
6. e6 f6 7. exd7+ Bxd7 $15) 5... f6 $1 {Of course this is forced and the move
f6 looks pretty unusual but the point is that White is going to take on d7 and
that would mean that all his moves with the e-pawn have been sort of wasted.}
6. exd7+ Qxd7 {The e-pawn has made four moves and exchanged itself for the d7
pawn which hadn't moved even once in the game.} 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. Bb5 Nc7 9. Bxc6
Qxc6 $15 {Black already has the bishop pair and the possibility to establish a
strong centre with e5. He is clearly better. One would assume that the World
Champion would win quite easily from this point onwards. After all it is not
every day that you get a good solid edge as Black after just nine moves
against a grandmaster. But the 16-year-old Aravindh doesn't give up easily.}
10. Qf3 Bd7 11. O-O-O e5 12. Qxc6 Bxc6 13. f3 Ne6 14. Nge2 Be7 15. Rhf1 b5 16.
Rde1 Kf7 17. Nd1 a5 {Things are going excellently for Black as he slowly but
steadily builds up his position. White has nothing much that he can do than to
wait and hope for the opponent to go wrong. The last move a5 although not bad
was not really necessary. The pawn could have been more useful on a6 to defend
the b5-pawn.} 18. Ne3 Bd6 $6 {Magnus played his B to d6 in order to defend his
e5-pawn and prepare f5. The problem with this move is that the bishop is a
little exposed on d6 and can be hit in the future with the moves Nc4 or Ne4.} (
18... Rhe8 {was much better.}) 19. Nc3 h5 $6 (19... a4 {was necessary to stop
White from going a4.} 20. bxa4 b4 $1 21. Ne4 (21. Nc4 $2 bxc3 22. Nxd6+ Ke7 $19
) 21... Be7 22. Ng4 Nd4 23. f4 $132) 20. a4 $1 {Securing the c4-square for the
knight.} b4 (20... bxa4 21. Nc4 Be7 22. Nxa4 $11) 21. Ne4 Bc7 22. Nc4 {
Suddenly things are not at all clear. White has an excellent square for his
knight on c4 and the Black pawns, which were once very strong, now look like
targets.} h4 23. g4 (23. f4 $6 Bxe4 24. Rxe4 exf4 $17) 23... hxg3 24. hxg3 Rh3
25. g4 {[%cal Rg4g5]} (25. f4 $5 {Trying to open the position could have been
a possible option.} exf4 26. gxf4 Bxe4 27. Rxe4 $13) 25... Rd8 $2 {A gross
miscalculation by the World Champion. If one were to ask what is it that White
is threatening here, it is easy to see that the move is g4-g5. Carlsen
overlooks that and allows White to gain the advantage.} (25... g5 $1 $17 {
makes the position quite static and slowly Black should be able to increase
his edge especially since he controls the h-file.}) 26. g5 $1 Bxe4 (26... f5
27. Bxe5 $1 $18) 27. fxe4 Nf4 (27... Nxg5 28. Bxe5 Bxe5 29. Nxe5+ Kg7 30. Nc4
$14 {is surely a slight edge for White.}) 28. gxf6 $14 {The pawn cannot be
taken because of Rxf4. Isn't it surprising that from a completely better
position, Carlsen drifted into a worse position in a matter of ten moves. As
Magnus said after the game, all that was left now was to try and trick his
opponent before the 40th move as the Indian was under grave time pressure.} Ke6
29. Ne3 (29. d3 g5 30. f7 Rf8 31. Rg1 Kf6 32. Kd1 Rxf7 33. Bc1 Rg7 34. Rg4 Rh4
35. Ne3 $14 {was a possible way to continue the game when White has a pleasant
position thanks to the more compact pawn structure.}) 29... g5 30. Nd5 (30. d3
$14) 30... Bd6 31. Rg1 Rg8 32. Rg4 $6 Rh4 $1 33. Rgg1 (33. Rxh4 gxh4 $17) 33...
g4 34. Ne3 g3 {The position has changed a bit in the last few moves and White
has lost his edge.} 35. Nf5 Rhh8 $1 {The rook comes back to defend the
f8-square and stop the f-pawn from queening. So to f7, the g8-R can safely
move up without worry about the f8-square.} (35... Rh3 36. f7 Kxf7 37. Nxd6+
$18) 36. f7 (36. f7 Rg4 $1 {and the rook on h8 controls the f8-square.}) (36.
Rxg3 Ne2+ $1 37. Rxe2 Rh1+ $19) 36... Rg6 37. Kd1 g2 {And here Aravindh's flag
fell. Most probably the position is already lost as ...Nh3 winning an exchange
is coming up. An interesting game where Magnus was once again put under some
strong pressure by his opponent who was rated 300 points below him. But this
was the last game in the tournament where Magnus faced any problems. His next
seven games were just great and he was able to win the second edition of the
Qatar Masters.} 0-1

[Event "Qatar Masters op"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2015.12.22"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Yuffa, Daniil"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E62"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2504"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah/CB Website"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2015.12.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. O-O d6 6. Nc3 Nc6 7. d4 Bf5 8. Bg5
Ne4 9. Nxe4 Bxe4 10. d5 Bxf3 11. exf3 Nd4 12. Re1 Re8 {Let's skip the opening
and come to the important part of the game. Until this point both sides had
played quite quickly. But here Magnus sunk into deep thought. And how deep was
it? 40 minutes in all! So what exactly was going through his mind? It is clear
that White has the bishop pair. But the knight on d4 is strongly placed. It is
important not to let Black establish the knight on d4 with the move ...c5.
Black wants to play ...c5 and reply to dxc6 with bxc6, when he can strengthen
his knight with c5. Here Magnus came up with a deep idea to put his rook on e4
followed by pushing his h-pawn down the board. Quite original. For normal
players like me the move Bd2 followed by Bc3 looks natural, but of course it
is nowhere close to as ambitious as what Magnus goes for.} 13. Re4 $5 {The
funny thing is that this move has already been played twice by the great
player Aleksander Wojtkiewicz.} (13. Bd2 c5 14. dxc6 bxc6 15. Bc3 c5 $11 {
is some sort of a dream scenario for Black.}) (13. Be3 Nf5 14. Bc1 c6 $11)
13... c5 14. dxc6 Nxc6 15. h4 $5 {Not really caring about the b2-pawn.} Qb6 (
15... Bxb2 16. Rb1 Bg7 17. Rxb7 {when Black is not worse, but neither is White.
}) 16. Rb1 a5 17. Be3 Qc7 18. h5 e5 19. Qd2 Nd4 20. h6 $1 {A superb move by
Magnus, who doesn't fear his rook getting trapped in the centre of the board.}
f5 (20... Bh8 21. Bxd4 exd4 22. Rxd4 Bxd4 23. Qxd4 f6 24. Qxf6 Qe7 25. Qd4 $16
{is excellent compensation.}) 21. Rxd4 $1 exd4 22. Bxd4 Bf8 (22... Bxd4 23.
Qxd4 f4 $1 {at least temporarily closing in the g2-bishop.} 24. Qxf4 Qc5 25.
Qd2 $16 {[%cal Gf3f4]}) 23. Bc3 {[%cal Gd2d4,Gd4h8]} Qxc4 24. f4 {[%cal Gg2d5]}
Re4 25. b3 $1 Qc5 26. Ba1 $1 {The queen is coming to b2 and there would be no
way to avert the mate.} d5 27. Rc1 $1 {Daniil Yuffa found it futile to
continue the resistance. The main point is that after the queen moves, Bxe4
follows and then Qc3 mates the black king on the long diagonal. A beautiful
game by Carlsen. Particularly impressive was his idea of Re4 followed by h4,
which he found over the board.} (27. Rc1 Qd6 28. Bxe4 fxe4 29. Qd4 Kf7 30. Qh8
$18) 1-0

[Event "Qatar Masters op"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2015.12.23"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Duda, Jan Krzysztof"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2663"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah/CB Website"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2015.12.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Bg5
Nc6 9. Qd3 Nb4 $5 $146 {This move was made quite quickly by Magnus and hence
he was clearly prepared.} 10. Qd2 h6 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. Nd5 $6 (12. a3 {is met
by} Bg5 13. Qd1 Nc6 14. O-O Be6 15. Qd3 O-O 16. Rad1 $11 {and White has a much
better position than what happened in the game.}) 12... Nxd5 13. Qxd5 Qc7 14.
O-O-O Be7 15. Kb1 Be6 16. Qd3 O-O $15 {Black has a very pleasant position due
to the following reasons:  1. He has the bishop pair. Although the bishop on
e7 is not particularly great it can be activated either on g5 or after White
plays f4 it can be strong on the a1-h8 diagonal.  2. The d5-square is weak,
however the knight on b3 is at least three moves away from it and cannot
really take advantage of it.  3. And last but not least Black has a clear plan
of attack on the queenside with b5-b4, a5-a4. White also can push his pawns
down the board but somehow he lacks the firepower in that zone.} 17. f4 exf4
18. Nd4 Bd7 19. Rhf1 Bf6 20. Rxf4 Be5 {The bishop on e5 is really strong now.}
21. Rff1 Rac8 22. c3 b5 23. Nf3 Be6 24. Nd4 Bc4 25. Qf3 b4 $1 {White's king
position is slowly but surely getting ripped open whereas White has not yet
started his play on the kingside.} 26. cxb4 Qb6 $1 27. Bxc4 Rxc4 28. Nc2 Rfc8 {
The f7 pawn is not really so important as the king can hide safely on f7. Yet
it made sense to take the pawn and then play Rd2.} 29. Rd2 (29. Qxf7+ Kh8 30.
Rd2 Qc6 31. Qf2 Qxe4 (31... a5 {was played by Magnus in the game.}) 32. Re2 $14
{and White should defend this position and might well be slightly better.})
29... Qc6 (29... Qc7 $1) 30. Qxf7+ Kh8 31. Qf2 a5 32. a3 $2 (32. bxa5 {is a
computer move but it looks extremely scary and I won't be surprised if there
is a mate somewhere around the corner.} Rb8 33. b3 Rc3 $40) 32... axb4 33. Nxb4
Qxe4+ 34. Ka2 Rxb4 $1 35. axb4 Ra8+ 36. Kb3 Rb8 37. Ka2 Qxb4 {The queen, rook
and bishop combine to launch a winning attack against the white king.} 38. Rc1
Qa4+ 39. Kb1 Qe4+ 40. Rcc2 Bxb2 41. Qf3 Qe1+ 42. Rd1 Bd4+ (42... Bd4+ 43. Kc1
Be3+ {with a winning position. A fine game by Magnus Carlsen who had very
little difficulty in crushing his talented young opponent.}) 0-1

[Event "Qatar Masters op"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2015.12.24"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Li, Chao B"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D70"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2015.12.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{The world champion's return to open tournaments indeed had a rough start, but
by round 5 he certainly had found his pace, and on Christmas Eve he created
excellent entertainment for all those kids waiting for the evening to come.
And for all other chess-lovers:} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 $5 {A move that has
been very much in the limelight over the last couple of years, but somehow the
interest seems to have faded a bit, for no apparent reason except fashion.} d5
4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nb6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Be3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O f5 (9... Qd6 {
has been established as the main line, and is what Caruana played against
Magnus in Norway Chess 2014. But Li, stays true to his favourite choice.}) 10.
e5 Nb4 11. Nh3 Qe8 $5 {Here however Li springs his surprise, just before
Magnus would had a chance to show how he thought to proceed after Li's usual
move 11..a5. The text move has the queen not only the keeping an eye on the
f7-square, attacking a2, but also ideas like ...Na4 exchanging of an important
defender of both the queenside and the d5-square. Magnus, almost in Grischuk
like fashion, here had a very long think, trying to grasp the subleties of
Li's novelty.} 12. Kb1 a5 {Black switches back to this move, the point of 12.
Kb1 being that 12...Qf7 could now just be answered by 13.Ng5! and 13...Nxa2 no
longer is check.  In a way this position is a "mini zugzwang", in the sense
that White would love to play Nf4 and h4 with a complete grip, but Black's
concept with ...Qe8 is, that Nf4 can be answered strongly by ...g5! as h5 is
protected. Thus Black do not want to play ...Be6, as this exactly allows Nf4
and h4, so both players try to bide their time, while making small
improvements to their position.} 13. Be2 c6 14. Rc1 Kh8 $6 {A logical move,
seen often in the Leningrad Dutch freeing the g8-square for the black bishop,
but with hindsight it is easy to see that the king is very vulnerable in the
h-file.} (14... Be6 {seems preferable straight away, even if} 15. Ng5 $5 {
still seems to give White a promising position.}) 15. Ka1 $1 {One could make
the same argument here in reverse, that the white king is vulnerable due to
the attack in the a-file, but there is a major difference. Partly in that
there is no white pawn on b3, and thus the direct ...a4 is harmless, but
especially as it becomes relevant in the game that ...Bxa2 is no longer check.}
Be6 16. Nf4 ({Without the inclusion of ...Kh8 Ka1} 16. Ng5 {was the move, here
however it leads to} Nc4 $1 {as} 17. Qe1 $4 {now fails to} Nxe3 {when} 18. Nxe6
{is met by a deadly fork on c2, due to the king now being on a1.}) 16... Qf7
17. h4 $1 {Exploiting the situation to the maximum attacking the black king
and not caring about an unimportant pawn.} Bxa2 $6 {A very principled move.} (
17... Rfd8 {still seemed very decent, as the threat of 18...Bxe5 slows White
down somewhat.} {Probably} 18. Nh3 $5 {is the correct way forward, preparing
19.h5, and if} ({, and} 18. Nxe6 Qxe6 19. f4 (19. h5 g5) 19... h5 $1 {leaves
the position too blocked for White's liking.}) ({The straightforward} 18. h5 g5
19. Ng6+ Kg8 {leads nowhere}) 18... h5 {by Black, then} ({and if} 18... Bxe5 {
then} 19. Ng5 $1 {followed by 20.h5 gives a very dangerous attack for the
sacrificed pawn.}) 19. g4 $1) 18. h5 Kg8 {Of course it can be seen as
admitting that move 14 was wrong, but Black will claim he won the a2-pawn, and
that White has to play energetically to prove Black's plan wrong:} 19. hxg6
hxg6 20. g4 Bb3 $1 {Neccesary,} ({as} 20... a4 {is answered by the simple} 21.
gxf5 a3 22. b3 $1 {when Black's attack comes much too late, despite winning
the white queenside pawns. But now however should the black pawn reach a3, his
threats are deadly, so Magnus has to act decisively.}) 21. Bd1 $1 {White wants
to get his queen to h2 as soon as possible, creating mating threats against
the black king, but in this way he maximises the pressure on Black's position,
exploiting the fact that the bishop on b3 is vulnerable, which is more than
Black's position can bear. Another move actually has a lot of logic too:} ({
As White wants to get his queen to h2, and also slow down Black's attack,} 21.
Ba6 $5 {comes to mind, and indeed the computers after some time shows White is
completely winning!}) 21... a4 22. Qh2 Rfd8 23. Qh7+ Kf8 24. d5 {A good move,
attacking the knight on b6, and if a knight takes on d5, allowing e6.} ({
However} 24. gxf5 $5 {might be a simpler win, allthough "simple" might not be
very accurate, the point is that after} gxf5 (24... a3 {also does not work, as}
25. Bxb3 Qxb3 26. Ne6+ $1 {is just in time, due to} Ke8 27. Qg8+ $1 Kd7 28.
Nc5+ {winning the queen on b3.}) {the counter-intuitive} 25. Bxb3 $1 axb3+ 26.
Kb1 {is completely winning for White, as his attack comes first. The main
point is} Ra5 27. Rcg1 Rda8 {and now} 28. Qh8+ $1 {exploits the g-file which
has been opened, and wins on the spot.}) 24... Nc4 $5 {Setting up an
unstoppable threat of ...a3. White's only chance it getting to the black king
first, which requires very accurate calculation.} 25. Nxg6+ $1 {Reversing the
order would be fatal.} ({After} 25. e6 $4 a3 $1 {Black gives mate.}) 25... Ke8
26. e6 a3 $5 {Very close to being brilliant.} 27. exf7+ Kd7 {It looks like the
black king has escaped, and being a queen down seems less important, than the
speed of the mating attack. But:} 28. Ne5+ $3 {Destabilising the knight on c4
is the key, as without it, Black has no forced mate.} ({That White is in grave
danger is illustrated by} 28. bxa3 $4 Rxa3+ 29. Kb1 Bc2+ $3 {which forces mate.
} 30. Bxc2 (30. Rxc2 Rb3+ $1 31. Kc1 Nd3# {being the point.}) 30... Ra1+ $3 31.
Kxa1 Bxc3+ 32. Kb1 Na3#) 28... Bxe5 ({As} 28... Kc7 29. Nxc4 {puts an end to
the black attack,}) ({or} 28... Nxe5 29. Bxb3 {as well, Black has no choice.})
29. Qxf5+ Kc7 30. Qxe5+ $3 {Forcing the Nc4 to leave its post. As 30...Kc8 31.
Qe6+ is curtains, Black has to take.} Nxe5 31. Bxb3 {The bishop on b3, did end
up hanging! Materially Black is not in a hopeless situation, as he now wins an
exchange, but the passed pawn on f7 makes White's edge decisive.} axb2+ 32.
Kxb2 Nbd3+ 33. Kb1 Nxc1 34. Rxc1 Kc8 ({If} 34... Nxf7 {then} 35. dxc6 {
threatening on f7, as well as Nb5+ wins.}) 35. dxc6 bxc6 36. f4 {And Black
resigned. Magnus' trademark indeed is unique technical performances making him
compared to Capablance, but in this game he shows he also has the ability to
play like Tal.} 1-0

[Event "Qatar Masters op"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2015.12.26"]
[Round "6"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C97"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2015.12.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3
d6 9. h3 Na5 {The Chigorin is a rare guest in Carlsen's play.} 10. Bc2 c5 11.
d4 Qc7 {But only this move is "new" for his repertoire.} 12. Nbd2 Bd7 13. Nf1
Nc4 $5 {This old specialty of Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian is one of the
systems I recommended in "A Spanish Repertoire for Black". Instead of putting
pressure on the white centre with committal moves such as ...Bb7 or ...Na5-c6,
usually met with d4-d5, Black keeps the global harmony of his position.} (13...
Rfe8) (13... cxd4 14. cxd4) 14. b3 (14. Ne3 Nxe3 15. Bxe3 {absolves Black of
the problem of finding a good square for his queen's knight.} Rfc8 {This was
one (and probably the best) choices of Petrosian.} ({The latest game with this
system went} 15... Rfe8 16. d5 {Not really necessary since Black was not
threatening to break open the centre} c4 17. Nh2 a5 18. a3 Rab8 19. Bd2 h6 20.
Nf1 Nh7 21. Ne3 Bg5 $11 {Naroditsky,D (2622)-Glud,J (2531) Helsingor 2015 (1/
2-1/2, 24)}) ({Things did not go well for Petrosian in the following game
which became famous for his trademark exchange sacrifice:} 15... Be6 16. Nd2
Rfe8 17. f4 Rad8 18. fxe5 dxe5 19. d5 Bd7 20. c4 Rb8 21. a4 b4 22. a5 Rf8 23.
Ba4 Bxa4 24. Rxa4 Rbd8 25. Qf3 Rd6 26. Nb3 Nd7 27. Raa1 Rg6 28. Rf1 Bd6 29. h4
Qd8 30. h5 Rf6 31. Qg4 Rf4 $5 {Tal,M-Petrosian,T Riga 1958 URS-ch [ChessBase] 
(1/2-1/2, 73). This position is mentioned by Tal in his foreward to the modern
edition of Nimzowitsch's "My system" in Russian.}) 16. Rc1 Bc6 17. Nd2 cxd4 18.
cxd4 Qb7 19. d5 Be8 20. Qe2 Bd8 {Karpov,A (2705)-Petrosian,T (2645) Milan 1975
(1/2-1/2, 28), with a perfect regrouping for Black.}) ({Against} 14. d5 {
Petrosian designed the paradoxical retreat} Nb6 $5 {The main idea is that in
order to develop his bishop without having to return at once after ...Nb6-c4,
White would need to play b2-b3. In that case Black could speed up his
queenside counterplay with the knight optimally placed.} 15. g4 (15. N3h2 Ne8
16. Ng3 g6 17. Bh6 Ng7 18. Nhf1 Qd8 19. f4 exf4 20. Bxf4 Nc4 21. Qc1 Bf6 22.
Bd3 Ne5 $15 {Palac,M (2591)-Delchev,A (2598) Skopje 2015 (1/2-1/2, 42)}) (15.
b3 a5 {[%cal Gc5c4,Ra5a4]}) 15... h5 $1 16. gxh5 ({In a modern game White
reacted poorly:} 16. N3h2 hxg4 17. hxg4 Nh7 18. Ng3 Bg5 $15 {Dvirnyy,D (2459)
-Vocaturo,D (2480) Brescia 2009 (0-1, 49)}) 16... Bxh3 17. N3h2 Bxf1 18. Nxf1
Qd7 19. Ng3 Qh3 20. Qf3 g6 21. Bd1 Rfe8 22. Qg2 Qxg2+ 23. Kxg2 {Kasparov,
G-Petrosian,T (2610) Banja Luka 1979 (1/2-1/2, 23)}) 14... Nb6 15. Ne3 c4 {
Virtually forced since White was threatening dxe5 followed by c3-c4 and Nd5.}
16. Ba3 Rfe8 17. Qd2 Bf8 {A typical position for this line: White cannot fully
enjoy his advantage in the centre due to Black's queenside pressure.} 18. bxc4
{A rare move. White usually tries increasing the pressure in the centre, but
without any special consequences.} (18. Rad1 a5 19. dxe5 dxe5 20. Bxf8 Kxf8 21.
Nd5 (21. Qd6+ Qxd6 22. Rxd6 cxb3 23. axb3 Nc8 24. Rd2 Nb6 25. c4 bxc4 26. bxc4
Rac8 $11 {The same line with a white rook on a1, resulting after 18.Red1 given
below, would not work since the a5- and e5-pawns would be hanging.}) 21...
Nbxd5 22. exd5 Qd6 $2 (22... cxb3 23. axb3 Rac8 24. Re3 e4 25. Ne1 Qb6 $15) 23.
bxc4 bxc4 24. Qe3 e4 25. Nd2 Nxd5 26. Qd4 $16 {Nijboer,F (2552)-Bosch,J (2456)
Dieren 2009 (1-0, 33)}) (18. Rab1 a5 19. bxc4 Nxc4 20. Nxc4 bxc4 21. d5 Rab8
22. Qe2 {Nijboer,F (2583)-Pruijssers,R (2487) Groningen 2011 (1-0, 59)} Nh5 $5
23. g3 g6) (18. Red1 a5 (18... Bc6 {looks like the best way to take advantage
of the rook's departure from e1.}) 19. dxe5 dxe5 20. Bxf8 Kxf8 21. Qd6+ Qxd6
22. Rxd6 Nc8 23. Rd2 cxb3 24. axb3 Bc6 (24... Nb6 25. c4 $14 {[%cal Ge3d5]})
25. Nd5 (25. c4 $1 bxc4 26. Nxc4 $14) 25... Bxd5 26. exd5 Nd6 $15 {Bildat,J 
(2098)-Wenzel,B (2072) Hamburg 2011 (1/2-1/2, 36)}) 18... Nxc4 19. Nxc4 bxc4
20. Rab1 Rab8 21. Rxb8 (21. Rbd1 Rb6 22. Bb4 {1-0 (51) Bannik,A-Lilienthal,A
Yerevan 1954} Rb7) 21... Rxb8 22. Bb4 {Securing the bishop against the threat .
..Qa5.} h6 23. Rd1 a5 24. Ba3 {The position is about equal. In principle, one
would say that it could only be White who might take a decision in the centre,
but Carlsen thinks differently.} Bc6 $5 ({A waiting move such as} 24... Rb7 {
possibly followed by ...Rb7-b8, would have given White a hard job making any
shadow of progress.}) 25. Qe2 (25. dxe5 $6 dxe5 26. Bxf8 Kxf8 27. Qd6+ $2 Qxd6
28. Rxd6 Bxe4 $17 {[%csl Ga2,Gc3]}) 25... exd4 $5 (25... Bd7 $11) 26. Qxc4 {
Any other capture would be met with ...Bxe4, based on different tactical
nuances.} (26. cxd4 Bxe4 27. Bxe4 Re8 28. Nd2 d5 $17) (26. Rxd4 Bxe4 27. Bxe4
d5 28. Bxf8 Nxe4 29. Bxg7 (29. Ba3 Nxc3 30. Qe3 Rb1+ 31. Ne1 Nb5 $17) 29...
Kxg7 30. Qc2 Qb6 31. Rxd5 Qb1+ 32. Qxb1 Rxb1+ 33. Kh2 Nxc3 34. Rxa5 Nd1 $11 {
[%csl Gf2][%cal Gc4c3]}) (26. Nxd4 Bxe4 27. Bxe4 Nxe4 28. Qxe4 d5 29. Qxd5 Rd8
{It is important to pin the white knight.} (29... Bxa3 $2 30. Nb5 Qe7 31. Nxa3
Qxa3 32. Qxc4 $16) 30. Qb5 Bxa3 $11) 26... dxc3 27. Qxc3 Rc8 28. Qd4 {
Optically, White has the better structure but in fact his e4-pawn is just as
vulnerable as the d6-pawn. Defending it with f2-f3 would create weaknesses on
the dark squares so all in all the position remains balanced.} Bd5 $5 {An
amusing way to anticipate a possible attack along the a2-g8 diagonal..} (28...
Bb7 29. Bd3 Nd7 30. Rc1 Nc5 $11) 29. Bb1 (29. Rc1 $5 Be6 $1 (29... Bxa2 $6 30.
Qa1 Be6 31. e5 dxe5 32. Bh7+ $14) 30. Bb3 Qd7 $11) 29... Be6 {If White does
not create mating threats along the b1-h7 diagonal the bishop risks becoming a
sourece of worries.} 30. Qe3 Rb8 (30... d5 $5 31. Bxf8 Rxf8 32. e5 Ne4 33. Rc1
Qb8 34. Nd4 {The perfect blockade on d4 is compensated for by the queenside
weaknesses.} Qb2 $132 (34... Qxe5 35. f3 Qg5 36. Qxg5 Nxg5 37. Rc5 Ra8 38. Kf2
$44)) 31. Nd4 Bd7 32. Rc1 Qb6 {The game lasts for a few more moves but neither
of the players managed to find a constructive plan to improve his position.}
33. Qd2 Re8 34. Re1 a4 35. Bc2 Qb7 36. Qd3 Qc7 37. Qd2 Qb7 38. Qd3 Qc7 39. Qd2
1/2-1/2

[Event "Qatar Masters op"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2015.12.27"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2784"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2015.12.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "6000+670"]
[WhiteClock "0:32:18"]
[BlackClock "0:26:39"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 6. Be2 {Carlsen - mit
einem halben Punkt Vorsprung in der Tabelle - scheut riskante Varianten und
versucht mit diesem System einen kleinen Vorteil zu bekommen und danach zu
drücken.} e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Bg5 Be6 (8... Nc6 $5 {war Carlsens Wahl in der
vierten Runde} 9. Qd3 Nb4 10. Qd2 h6 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. Nd5 Nxd5 13. Qxd5 Qc7
14. O-O-O Be7 15. Kb1 Be6 $15 {0-1 (42) Duda,J (2663)-Carlsen,M (2834) 2015})
9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. Qd3 Be7 11. Nd5 Nd7 12. Rd1 (12. O-O-O Bxd5 13. Qxd5 Qc7 $11 {
bringt etwas Schärfe in die Stellung, doch gibt Schwarz auch einen
potentiellen Königsangriff}) 12... Bxd5 13. Qxd5 Qc7 {Diagramm [#] Ein sehr
typisches Szenario der Najdorf-Variante: Weiß hat das Feld d5 fest unter
Kontrolle und setzt nun alles daran, eine Leichtrigur, im Optimalfall den
Springer dorthin zu bringen. Mögliche Zugangsfelder sind e3 und b4, da der
Bauer auf c2 auf c3 gestellt werden muss, da er ansonsten schwer zu decken ist.
Nach e3 oder b4 kommt der Springer am besten über d2-f1-->e3 oder a1-c2 -->
e3/b4} 14. Nd2 {bringt den Springer über zweitgenannte Route auf den Weg
Richtung d5 - wo er allerdings nie ankommen wird} (14. Qc4 Qxc4 15. Bxc4 Nf6
16. Bd5 Nxd5 17. Rxd5 Rc8 {ist die optimale Figurenverteilung für Weiß, doch
auch hier ist der Sb3 zu weit vom Idealziel d5 entfernt - zudem kann Schwarz
schnell seine Entwicklung vollenden und mit .. .f5 das weiße Zentrum
attackieren.} 18. c3 g6 19. Ke2 Kd7 20. Rhd1 Ke6 21. Nd2 f5 22. a4 Rhd8 23. c4
Rc6 24. b3 Rf8 25. f4 exf4 26. Kf3 Rc5 27. Re1 Kd7 28. Rxc5 dxc5 29. exf5 Rxf5
30. Ne4 h5 31. Nc3 g5 32. h3 Bd6 33. Nd5 Be5 34. h4 gxh4 35. Rh1 Rg5 36. Rxh4
Rg3+ 37. Ke4 Bd6 38. Rxh5 Rxb3 39. Rh6 Rb2 40. Nf6+ Kc6 41. Kf5 Bb8 42. a5 {
1/2-1/2 (42) Vachier Lagrave,M (2766)-Wojtaszek,R (2733) Biel 2014}) (14. c3 $5
O-O 15. O-O b5 16. Na1 {[%cal Ga1c2,Gc2b4,Gc2e3] wäre die Alternative gewesen:
Der Vorteil von dem Sc2 ist klar ersichtlich: Schwarz muss sich um beide
Problemfelder gleichzeitig kümmern}) 14... O-O 15. O-O (15. Nc4 $6 {
funktioniert ohne Rochade nicht} Nf6 16. Qd3 b5 17. Ne3 Qa5+ {[%csl Ga2]})
15... b5 16. c3 g6 17. a3 {mit der möglichen Drohung c4 - folgende
Konstellation wäre für Weiß gut} Rab8 (17... Rfe8 $2 18. c4 Nb6 19. Qd3 bxc4
20. Nxc4 Nxc4 21. Qxc4 Qxc4 22. Bxc4 $16) 18. Rfe1 Rfd8 19. Qa2 (19. Nf1 $2 Nf6
20. Qd3 d5 $15) 19... Nc5 20. Bf1 Bg5 21. Nb3 {spätestens hier ist klar, dass
der weiße Plan nicht aufgegangen ist, der Springer hat auf b3 keine Zukunft}
Qc6 22. Na5 Qc7 23. Nb3 Qc6 24. Rd5 Nd7 25. Rd3 Nc5 26. Rf3 $5 (26. Rd5 {
mit Remisschluss wäre eine logische Folge gewesen. Doch Carlsen findet eine
interessante Ressource, der Partie noch einmal Leben einzuhauchen.}) 26... Rd7
{Diagramm [#]} 27. Na5 Qa8 28. Qd5 Qxd5 29. exd5 {Schwarz ist von seinem
Problemfeld d5 erlöst und kann nun seine Bauernmehrheit auf den Vormarsch
bringen. Weiß hingegen hat mit b4 nebst c4 und Spiel auf den weißen Feldern
einen ebenso konkreten Plan.} e4 30. Rh3 f5 31. Nc6 Rb6 32. b4 Na4 33. c4 Rc7
34. Rb3 {soweit verlief in diesem Partiestadium alles logisch, nun ist es für
beide Seiten schwer die Stellung wirklich zu verstärken ohne große Schwächen
zu kreieren.} Bd2 {gibt das Zugrecht ab, allerdings steht der Turm auf d1
schlechter als auf e1} (34... Bf6 35. f3 $13) 35. Rd1 Bg5 36. g3 Bf6 37. Rc1
Rbxc6 $5 {nicht erzwungen, da c5 wohl nicht drohte, aber aussichtsreich} (37...
Kg7 38. f3 $5 $13 (38. c5 $2 Rbxc6 39. dxc6 Rxc6 $15)) 38. dxc6 Rxc6 39. Rbb1
Bg5 40. Rc2 d5 41. c5 d4 42. Rd1 Bf6 $1 (42... d3 $2 43. Bxd3 exd3 44. Rxd3 $16
) 43. Rcd2 Nc3 {wickelt in ein Endspiel ab, dass mit etwas genauem Spiel von
Schwarz remis ist} 44. Rxd4 Nxd1 45. Rxd1 Bb2 46. Rd8+ Kf7 47. Ra8 Bxa3 48.
Bxb5 Rc7 (48... axb5 $2 49. Rxa3 $16) 49. Rxa6 Bxb4 50. c6 Ke7 51. Rb6 Bd6 52.
Rb7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Qatar Masters op"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2015.12.28"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2748"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah/CB Website"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2015.12.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e3 O-O 8. Rc1
dxc4 9. Bxc4 c5 10. O-O cxd4 11. Ne4 Qe7 12. exd4 {This is much more combative
than taking on d4 with the knight. The isolated pawn means that there is an
imbalance and an imbalance means that both sides have to play actively to make
use of their imbalances.} (12. a3 {is the new move with which Dubov beat Anand
in the World Rapid.}) 12... Rd8 13. Qe2 Nc6 14. Rfd1 Ba5 15. Ng3 Bb6 16. Qe4
Bd7 17. h4 $5 {Typical Mamedyarov. Until here everything had been seen in the
game Shimanov-Matlakov 2014. But this is a new move.} Be8 18. a3 Rd6 19. Qg4 $6
({It was a good time to think about equalising and getting rid of the isolated
pawn.} 19. d5 exd5 (19... Rad8 20. Qc2 $1 Rxd5 (20... exd5 21. Nf5 $16) 21.
Bxd5 exd5 $14) 20. Rxd5 Qxe4 21. Nxe4 Rxd5 22. Bxd5 Rd8 23. Nc3 $11) 19... Rad8
{Now the d4-pawn is just a weakness.} 20. d5 Qf8 $1 {You are not going to be
able to fool Magnus. He takes his queen away from the Nf5 fork tricks and gets
ready to take on d5.} 21. Qe4 Ne7 {Thanks to the pin on the d-file the pawn
cannot really move.} 22. Bd3 f5 $1 23. Qe5 Nxd5 24. Bxf5 $2 exf5 25. Nxf5 {
Did Mamedyarov stir up some complications once again?} Rc6 $1 {Not really! The
rook on c1 would be left hanging if the d-rook moved and if Rxc6 then bxc6
would solidify the position of the knight on d5.} 0-1

[Event "Qatar Masters op"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2015.12.29"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2796"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2015.12.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5
8. Rxe5 O-O 9. d4 Bf6 10. Re1 Re8 11. c3 Rxe1 12. Qxe1 Ne8 13. Bf4 d5 14. Bd3
g6 15. Nd2 Ng7 16. Nf3 Bf5 17. Bxf5 Nxf5 18. Qe2 c6 19. Re1 Ng7 20. Be5 Bxe5
21. Nxe5 Qd6 22. Qf3 f6 23. Nd3 Re8 24. Rxe8+ Nxe8 25. Qe3 Ng7 26. h3 Kf7 27.
Qh6 Kg8 28. Qe3 Kf7 29. Qh6 Kg8 30. Qe3 Kf7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Qatar Masters Tiebreak"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2015.12.29"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Yu, Yangyi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah/CB Website"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2015.12.29"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 {Magnus plays the London System in order to have an original
game without much theory.} d5 3. e3 e6 4. Nf3 a6 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Bd6 7. Bg3 Nc6
8. Nbd2 O-O 9. Ne5 Ne7 10. O-O b6 11. Bh4 Nf5 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bf4 Bb7 {The
players were playing good chess and logical moves, but somehow they were
taking a lot of time. After just 13 moves both were down to almost one and a
half minutes.} 14. h3 Be7 15. a4 Nd6 16. f3 Nd7 17. Qe2 Nf6 18. Bh2 Qc8 19.
Rac1 a5 20. g4 $1 {Carlsen starts a flank attack after securing his centre. Yu
Yangyi has been doing nothing much apart from shuffling his pieces, and hence
this is quite a logical follow up.} Qd8 21. Qg2 Nd7 22. f4 Rc8 23. Rce1 cxd4
24. exd4 Ba8 25. g5 $1 {A strong move. Carlsen notices that the queen on d8 is
overloaded in defending d7 and attacking g5. Also the bishop on h2 can come
into action after hxg5 fxg5.} hxg5 26. fxg5 Nxe5 27. Bxe5 (27. dxe5 d4 {
[%csl Ga8] There is absolutely no point in opening up the way for the monster
on a8.}) 27... Nc4 28. Nf3 Nxe5 29. Rxe5 Bd6 30. Re2 g6 31. Qg4 Kg7 32. h4 Rh8
{Simply unbelievable play by Magnus who executed the next move with just about
20 seconds on his clock!} 33. Rxe6 $3 fxe6 34. Qxe6 Qe8 35. Qxd6 Rc6 (35...
Qe3+ 36. Kg2 Qxd3 37. Qd7+ Kg8 38. Qxc8+ $18) 36. Qe5+ Qxe5 37. Nxe5 {The
position is completely winning for White.} Rxh4 38. Rf7+ Kg8 39. Ra7 Rc8 40.
Bxg6 Bc6 41. Bf7+ Kf8 42. Ng6+ {An excellent blitz game played by the World
Champion.} 1-0

[Event "Qatar Masters Tiebreak"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2015.12.29"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Yu, Yangyi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E43"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah/CB Website"]
[PlyCount "32"]
[EventDate "2015.12.29"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 170"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.01.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. e3 Bb7 6. Bd3 O-O 7. O-O c5 8. Na4
cxd4 9. exd4 Re8 10. a3 Bf8 11. Bf4 Bxf3 $1 {The most amazing thing about
Magnus is that he knows so much more than his opponents. While Yu Yangyi might
have seen this position in passing, Magnus had played it against Karjakin with
the white pieces and had come up with an improvement for Black i. e. to take
on f3 with his bishop. It's moves like these which win games. The opponent is
so surprised that you know something so deep even in this relatively unknown
position that he sometimes doesn't follow up in the best possible manner.} 12.
Qxf3 Nc6 13. d5 (13. Qh3 {was the best.} Nxd4 $2 14. Be5 $16) 13... exd5 14.
cxd5 Ne5 15. Qd1 $4 (15. Bxe5 Rxe5 16. Nc3 $11) 15... Nxd3 {[%cal Re4f4,Re4a4,
Ge8e4] When Magnus took this piece, Yu Yangyi sank into deep thought. He
thought for nearly three minutes. Of course for the first few seconds I was
trying to figure out what exactly is going on. Why isn't he recapturing on d3.
After all that is the only move. But then I saw ...Re4! which attacks both the
undefended pieces on f4 and a4 and realised that not only the game but also
the tournament was essentially over!} 16. Qxd3 Re4 {[%cal Re4f4,Re4a4] wins a
piece and hence Yu Yangyi resigned, giving Magnus the title of the second
Qatar Masters Open 2015.} 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel-A 78th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2016.01.16"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Navara, David"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2730"]
[BlackElo "2844"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2016.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 171"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 c6 8. e3
g5 9. Bg3 Nh5 10. Bd3 Nxg3 11. hxg3 Bg7 12. O-O a5 13. a3 O-O 14. Qc2 Re8 15.
b4 b5 16. Na2 Bb7 17. bxa5 Rxa5 18. Nb4 Qa8 19. Bh7+ Kh8 20. Bf5 Nb6 21. Ne5
Bxe5 22. dxe5 Nc4 23. Qc3 Rxa3 24. Qd4 c5 25. Rxa3 cxd4 26. Rxa8 Rxa8 27. exd4
Ra4 28. Rb1 Nd2 29. Rb2 Nc4 30. Rb1 Nd2 31. Rb2 Nc4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 78th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2016.01.17"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2844"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2016.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 171"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. g3 {By far not the main move in Carlsen's repertoire, but then the question
is whether the World Champion really has a main weapon with White. And it
surely is an excellent way to confuse a well prepared opponent from an early
stage.} g6 2. Bg2 Bg7 3. e4 {But only this is new in Carlsen's games.} ({
Three years earlier he transposed to a genuine English with} 3. Nf3 e5 4. O-O
c5 5. c4 Nc6 6. Nc3 Nge7 7. a3 {Carlsen,M (2868)-Nakamura,H (2775) Stavanger 
(blitz) 2013 (1-0, 62)}) 3... e5 4. Ne2 c5 5. d3 Nc6 6. Be3 d6 {Carlsen,M 
(2877)-Wojtaszek,R (2735) Tromso ol (Men) 41st 2014 (4.1) 1-0 The game finally
took the contours of the Closed Sicilian, an opening which Carlsen famously
used in} 7. Qd2 $5 {With the exception of a few games between lower rated
players, this is a novelty.} (7. Nbc3 Nge7 {would transpose to a genuine
Closed Sicilian, but Carlsen has other plans for his queenside development.})
7... Nd4 $146 ({Caruana obviously feared White's attack after} 7... Nge7 8. Bh6
O-O 9. h4) 8. c3 {In the Closed Sicilian White has to waste some time with
Nc3-d1 and Ne2-c1 before driving the enemy knight away from d4, while here he
has this plan on a plate.} (8. Nc1 {would be pushing things too far because of}
Bg4 {[%cal Gd4f3]}) 8... Nxe2 (8... Ne6 $6 {wastes too much time allowing
White to open the centre in his favour with} 9. d4) ({Actually White's last
move does not threaten to win a piece but after, say,} 8... Bg4 9. cxd4 cxd4
10. Nxd4 (10. Bg5 f6 11. Bh4 g5) 10... exd4 11. Bf4 Ne7 12. Na3 {White retains
the better structure and comfortable development.}) 9. Qxe2 Ne7 10. h4 {
This is the kind of move facing Black with a difficult choice of principle.} h6
$6 {This seems to be the least advisable reaction under the given
circumstances.} (10... O-O {exposes the king prematurely after} 11. h5 Be6 12.
Nd2 $14 {possibly followed by long castling.}) ({Caruana must have rejected
the principled} 10... h5 {because it causes problems with the thematic ...
f7-f5 due to weakening the g5-square. After the flexible} 11. Nd2 {White could
choose between a2-a3 followed by b2-b4 or 0-0-0 followed by opening the
kingside somehow (f2-f4 or f2-f3 followed by g3-g4.)}) 11. h5 g5 {If Black was
better developed, this would be the most ambitious continuation, aiming for
either ...f7-f5 or ...d6-d5. But the way it is it implies certain risk.} (11...
Be6 12. hxg6 fxg6 13. Bh3 $14) 12. f4 {This tempting move leads to sharp play,
offering Black more counterplay than Magnus must have thought.} ({The
developing} 12. Nd2 {would ensure White a plus without any risk.} Nc6 (12... f5
{only increases the force of} 13. f4 $16) (12... g4 13. O-O-O Be6 14. Kb1 Qd7
15. f4 gxf3 16. Nxf3 O-O-O 17. d4 $14) 13. Bh3 Bxh3 14. Rxh3 Qd7 15. g4 $14 {
[%cal Gd2f1,Gf1g3]}) 12... exf4 13. gxf4 gxf4 14. Bxf4 Nc6 15. Na3 {White has
the more compact and flexible structure and is better developed. Black's
prospects of bringing his king into safety are unclear yet, so in order to
compensate for all these drawbacks he needs making use of his main trump: the
control over the dark squares.} Be5 ({Leaving the e4-pawn without blocking can
have unpleasant consequences.} 15... Be6 16. O-O-O Bxa2 17. e5 Nxe5 (17... dxe5
18. Bxc6+ bxc6 19. Bxe5 $36) 18. d4 {[%cal Ge2b5]} cxd4 19. b3 $3 {[%csl Ga2]}
(19. cxd4 $2 Rc8+ 20. Nc2 O-O 21. dxe5 Bb3 22. Be4 Qa5 $36) 19... Bxb3 20. Qb5+
{[%cal Gb5b3]}) 16. Be3 Be6 ({Black should not hurry to fire his bullet too
soon with} 16... Bg3+ $6 17. Kd2 Be6 18. Bh3 $16) 17. Nc4 {Even though ...
b7-b5 needs some preparing, the knight is not too stable here, so things
become more and more concrete.} ({The point of the comment on the previous
line is that} 17. Bh3 $6 {allows} Qh4+ 18. Bf2 Bg3) ({The last move defends
the a2-pawn since after} 17. O-O-O Bxa2 18. Bh3 Qa5 {Black gets too much
counterplay:} 19. Qc2 Rb8 $1 (19... b5 20. d4 {[%csl Ga8,Gc6,Ge8]}) 20. d4 (20.
Rhg1 b5 21. d4 b4 $1 $40 {[%cal Gb8b2]}) 20... cxd4 21. cxd4 Bf6 $13) 17...
Bg3+ {This makes the position even sharper as the bishop is vulnerable here.} (
17... b5 {may not suffice for full equality, but is playable:} 18. Nxe5 Nxe5
19. d4 cxd4 20. cxd4 {[%csl Ge3,Gg2]} Nc4 21. O-O (21. Bf4 Qf6) 21... Nxe3 22.
Qxe3 Qg5 23. Qf3 $14) 18. Kd2 Qd7 {Over-defending the knight.} ({The position
is not ripe for} 18... b5 $2 {yet:} 19. e5 $1 Nxe5 20. Nxe5 Bxe5 21. Bxa8 Qxa8
22. Bxc5 $1 Bxc3+ 23. bxc3 dxc5 24. Qe5 $5 Qg2+ 25. Ke3 $18) 19. d4 cxd4 (19...
b5 20. d5 $1 {The critical answer.} (20. Na3 b4 21. Nc4 bxc3+ 22. bxc3 cxd4 23.
cxd4 Ne5 {is a largely improved version of the game continuation, because
Black has attacking space on the queenside.}) 20... bxc4 21. dxe6 fxe6 22. Qg4
Be5 23. Qg6+ Kd8 (23... Qf7 24. Raf1 Qxg6 25. hxg6 $16) 24. Bh3 Rb8 25. Rab1
Re8 26. Rhf1 $36) 20. cxd4 Ne5 $5 {A nice, yet insufficient, trick aimed at
changing the course of the game.} (20... O-O-O $2 21. d5 Bg4 22. dxc6 Bxe2 23.
cxd7+) (20... Ke7 {removes the threat d4-d5xc6xd7 with check, but leaves the
king exposed in the centre.} 21. Rac1 $5 $16 {[%csl Gc4][%cal Ge2f3]}) (20...
b5 21. Na3 b4 22. Nc4 $16) (20... d5 $2 21. exd5 Bxd5 22. Bxd5 Qxd5 23. Bf4+
Kf8 24. Bxg3 Qxc4 $2 25. Bd6+) 21. Nxe5 dxe5 22. d5 {White has a structural
advantage so Black needs to look for counterplay at any cost.} Bg4 (22... f5
23. Kc2 $1 Qc7+ (23... Rc8+ 24. Kb1 Bf7 25. Bh3 $18) 24. Kb1 Bd7 25. Qd3 $16)
23. Bf3 (23. Qd3 f5 24. exf5 Bxf5 25. Bh3 Bxd3 (25... Bxh3 26. Qg6+ Kd8 27.
Qf6+ Qe7 $11 28. Qxh8+ $2 Kd7 29. Qxa8 Qb4+ 30. Kc1 Bf5 $19) 26. Bxd7+ Kxd7 27.
Kxd3 Kd6 28. Ke4 Rag8) 23... Bxf3 24. Qxf3 Qb5 25. Rac1 $2 {Offering Black a
pawn and a lot of counterplay.} (25. Qxg3 $2 Qxb2+ 26. Kd3 Qb5+) (25. b3 $1 {
seems to keep all White's trumps, but after} Qb4+ {it takes clarity and
courage to play} 26. Kd3 $1 (26. Kc2 $2 Rc8+ {[%csl Gc3]}) (26. Kd1 Qc3 27. Ke2
Qc2+ 28. Bd2 Bf4 29. Qd3 Qxd3+ 30. Kxd3 Bxd2 31. Kxd2 Rc8 $14) 26... Bf4 (26...
Qb5+ 27. Kc2 Bf4 28. Bxf4 exf4 29. Rad1 $18) 27. Rac1 $5 Rg8 28. Rc4 Qa3 29.
Bxf4 exf4 30. Qxf4 Qxa2 31. Rhc1 Qxb3+ 32. R4c3 Qb5+ 33. Ke3 Qb6+ 34. Kf3 $16 {
The king has finally reached the desired safety and White can now start his
own attack, based on his superior coordination. Black's extra pawn does not
play any part at this stage.}) 25... Qxb2+ 26. Kd1 (26. Rc2 Qb4+ 27. Kd3 Qb5+
28. Rc4 Rc8 29. Rhc1 Rxc4 30. Rxc4 Qb1+ 31. Rc2 Rg8 $132 {After the exchange
of one rook, White does not have the pinning Rg1 anymore.}) 26... Bf4 27. Bxf4
exf4 28. Qxf4 Rg8 $132 29. Rf1 Qd4+ 30. Ke1 (30. Qd2 Qa4+ 31. Rc2 Rc8 32. Kc1
Rxc2+ 33. Qxc2 Qxc2+ 34. Kxc2 Rg5 $11) 30... Qb4+ 31. Kd1 Qd4+ 32. Ke1 Qb4+
1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 78th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2016.01.18"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Wei, Yi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C89"]
[WhiteElo "2706"]
[BlackElo "2844"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2016.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 171"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3
{I might be subjective, but my feeling is that Carlsen is allowed more
frequently to play the genuine Marshall than any other of his colleagues. If
this is true, the natural question is whether his opponents trust that despite
his phenomenal positional feeling Carlsen may be less strong in concrete
opening variations or on the contrary they want to play safe, keeping a draw
in their pocket. Be it as it may, the present game contradicts both points of
view as White got a slightly worse position out of the opening.} d5 9. exd5
Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. d3 Bd6 13. Re1 Bf5 (13... Qh4 {is slightly
more popular. Here is just a recent example:} 14. g3 Qh3 15. Re4 Nf6 16. Rh4
Qf5 17. Bc2 Re8 18. d4 Qe6 19. Nd2 Qe1+ 20. Qxe1 Rxe1+ 21. Kg2 Bb7 22. f3 Rae8
23. Bd3 c5 24. Kf2 c4 $6 (24... cxd4 25. Ne4 R1xe4 26. fxe4 dxc3 27. bxc3 Bxe4
$44) 25. Be4 Nxe4+ 26. Nxe4 Bxe4 27. Kxe1 Bd3+ 28. Re4 Bxe4 29. fxe4 Rxe4+ 30.
Kf2 $14 {1-0 (62) Ivanov,O (2513)-Balashov,Y (2418) Moscow 2015}) 14. Qf3 Qh4 (
{Deviating from a game of his own:} 14... Bg6 15. Bxd5 cxd5 16. Bf4 {Anand,V 
(2791)-Carlsen,M (2863) Shamkir 2015 CBM 166 [Pavlovic,M] (1/2-1/2, 53), in
which he had to struggle hard to reach a draw.}) 15. g3 Qh3 16. Be3 ({It is
the Chinese player's turn to deviate from an earlier game between the same
players as above, but with reversed colours:} 16. Bxd5 cxd5 17. Be3 Bxd3 18.
Qxd5 Rad8 19. Qf3 Rfe8 20. Nd2 Qf5 21. Qxf5 Bxf5 {Carlsen,M (2548)-Anand,V 
(2785) Leon 2005 (1/2-1/2, 30)}) 16... Bxd3 17. Nd2 {White has returned the
extra pawn for the sake of completing the development. Even though the
structure is more or less symmetrical, the position is not dull at all.
Black's minor pieces seem more active, but they can easily be exposed
depending how things turn out. The same applies to Black's queenside space
advantage: due to the permanent threats c3-c4 and a2-a4 Black's pawns may
become weak.} Qf5 {Since Black has no attacking chances anymore, the queen
returns to the centre.} 18. Bd4 {For the time being both players maintain the
tension.} (18. Qxf5 Bxf5 19. Bd4 Rfd8 20. a4 Bf8 {1/2-1/2 (27) Ivanchuk,V 
(2751)-Aronian,L (2739) Nice 2008}) (18. Rad1 Rfe8 19. Qxf5 Bxf5 20. Bxd5 cxd5
21. Nb3 {Polgar,J (2707)-Leko,P (2753) Wijk aan Zee 2008 (1/2-1/2, 35)}) 18...
Rae8 {In view of the next rook lift to e6, it looks logical to keep the other
rook on f8,} ({but} 18... Rfe8 {is also played as in Leko,P (2708)-Svidler,P 
(2745) Reykjavik 2015 (1/2-1/2, 41)}) 19. Kg2 Qxf3+ $146 {Preparing the rook
lift without losing more time.} (19... h6 20. a4 Qxf3+ 21. Kxf3 Re6 22. axb5
axb5 23. Kg2 {Vachier Lagrave,M (2731)-Adams,M (2740) Biel 2015 CBM 168 [Sagar
Shah] (1-0, 42)}) 20. Kxf3 Re6 21. Rac1 {With the obvious idea of finding a
good moment to play c3-c4.} ({One of the points behind Carlsen's novelty is
that} 21. a4 {can be answered with} bxa4 $5 {The e1-rook is hanging and the
intermediate exchange on e6 loses a piece after ...fxe6 check!} 22. Bxa4 c5 23.
Be3 Nxe3 24. Rxe3 c4 {[%csl Gd3,Gd6]}) (21. Rxe6 fxe6+ 22. Kg2 {can lead to
interesting play:} c5 23. Re1 Bf4 $3 (23... cxd4 24. Rxe6 $16) (23... Kf7 24.
Be5 {with a pleasant blockade.}) 24. Bxc5 (24. gxf4 cxd4 $13) (24. Rxe6 c4 $17)
24... Bxd2 25. Rxe6 Rd8 26. Rxa6 {[%cal Ga6a8]} Bc4 $8 {White's three pawns
compensate for the missing knight, but possibly not more.}) 21... h6 $5 {
This move and White's reply show that both sides have problems making progress.
The position is in some sort of dynamic balance, or, exaggerating a bit,
mutual zugzwang. Still, I am not sure about the merits of Black's last move.} (
{True,} 21... Rfe8 $2 22. Rxe6 Rxe6 23. c4 $16 {causes Black problems.}) ({
But I would consider} 21... a5 {Black's main candidate, aiming to put Black's
queenside space advantage to work.} 22. c4 ({White could renew the
pseudo-zugzwang with the neutral} 22. a3 $5 a4 23. Ba2) (22. a4 bxa4 23. Bxa4
c5 $132) 22... bxc4 23. Bxc4 (23. Nxc4 $4 a4 {wins a piece.}) 23... Bb4 24.
Red1 Bxd2 25. Rxd2 Be4+ 26. Ke2 Bg2+ 27. Kd1 a4 $5 {[%cal Gf8d8] Black's
superior activity and the slight exposure of the white king compensate for the
bishop pair.}) 22. Kg2 {White avoids the check in case of a later exchange on
e6, but taking the king away from the centre looks a bit like a
counter-developing move.} (22. c4 $5 c5 {White has to permanently count with
this counter-blow.} (22... Nb4 $6 23. Rxe6 fxe6+ 24. Ke3 $16) (22... Rxe1 23.
Rxe1 Nb4 24. c5 Bb8 25. Bc3 a5 26. Kg2 $1 $14 {[%csl Rc6,Rf7][%cal Gd2f3,Gf3e5]
Now is a good moment for this retreat!}) 23. cxd5 Rxe1 24. Rxe1 cxd4 25. Ne4
Bxe4+ 26. Rxe4 Bc5 27. Ke2 Rc8 28. Kd3 Kf8 29. Re2 {In principle the position
should be drawn, but while there are rooks on the board White can try exerting
some pressure.. His king is perfectly placed and the black queenside is
weakened.}) (22. a3 a5 ({What else? If} 22... g5 23. Kg2 $5 {Black does not
have the plan based on ...Rg6 followed by ...Nf4 anymore.}) 23. c4 {leads to a
similar ending as above:} c5 (23... Rxe1 24. Rxe1 Nf6 25. c5 Bb8 26. Re7 $14)
24. cxd5 Rxe1 25. Rxe1 cxd4 26. Ne4 Bxe4+ 27. Rxe4 Bc5 28. Ke2 a4 29. Ba2 Rc8
30. Kd3 {with the same evaluation.}) ({By the way, with his king on f3 White
cannot try playing against the Isolani with} 22. Bxd5 $6 cxd5 23. Nb3 $2 {
due to} Be4+ 24. Ke2 Bb1+ 25. Kd2 Bxa2) 22... Rg6 {Finally exiting the tension
along the e-file.} 23. Ne4 {This leads to lively play with entirely adequate
counterplay for Black.} ({Now was a good moment to settle for a slightly
better ending against the Isolani with} 23. Bxd5 $5 cxd5 24. Be5 Bc5 25. Nb3
Bb6 26. Bd4 $14) 23... Nf4+ 24. Kf3 {As we see the king didn't find peace on
g2. After returning to f3, it will soon allow Black to gain another tempo with
a knight move.} Bxe4+ 25. Rxe4 (25. Kxe4 c5 $1 26. Bxc5 (26. gxf4 cxd4 27. cxd4
Rg4 $15) 26... Bxc5 27. Kxf4 Rf6+ 28. Kg4 Rxf2 $11) 25... Nd3 (25... c5 26.
gxf4 cxd4 27. cxd4 $16 {[%csl Gf4]}) 26. Rd1 {The principled move, fighting
for the initiative at the cost of a temporary pawn sacrifice.} (26. Rb1 c5 27.
Be3 Rd8 {[%cal Gd6f8]} 28. Bc2 f5 $1 29. Rh4 Bf8 {with better coordination for
Black, compensating for White's bishop pair.}) 26... Nxb2 27. Rd2 Ba3 28. Bb6
Rd6 29. Rxd6 Bxd6 30. Re2 Nd3 $5 {The knight is heading for c4 to neutralise
the bishop's pressure against f7, but on the way it will drive the enemy king
away from the centre for the second time in this game.} (30... Nc4 $11) 31. Rd2
Ne5+ 32. Kg2 Be7 33. f4 Nc4 34. Bxc4 bxc4 35. Rd7 Bf6 36. Rc7 Bxc3 37. Rxc6 Rb8
{More or less forced play has resulted in an ending where White needs some
caution to make a draw. In principle, due to his activity many roads lead to
Rome, but the problem is finding just one of them (and not a false path) and
sticking to it.} 38. a4 ({There is no need to simplify to an ending with a
pawn down, even though it should be drawn.} 38. Rxc4 Rxb6 39. Rxc3 Rb2+ 40. Kf3
Rxa2 41. Rc8+ Kh7 42. Ra8 h5 {This type of ending is heavily analysed with the
standard pawn positioning on f2, g3, h4, but the present structure is less
usual. In principle it looks less favourable for White, as his king is exposed
and the pawns more vulnerable, but it should not suffice for a win. I have
found a game to which we will transpose after just a few (some of them dumb)
moves:} 43. Ke4 (43. h3 $6 Ra3+ 44. Kf2 {forces the king to stay passive.})
43... g6 44. Kf3 Kg7 45. Ra7 a5 ({This is necessary only for... transposing.
But Black does not get much if he keeps the sixth rank defended for a while:} 
45... Kf6 46. Ke4 Ke6 47. Kf3) 46. Ra6 a4 47. h3 $6 {This puts White on the
edge.} (47. Ke3) 47... a3 48. Ra5 Ra1 49. Kg2 Kf6 50. Ra6+ Ke7 51. g4 h4 52. g5
a2 53. Kh2 {In order to win, Black needs to create a passed pawn on the f-file,
but this is not achievable. A g-pawn or a h-pawn would not suffice.} Kd7 54.
Kg2 Kc7 55. Ra8 Kb7 56. Ra3 Kc6 57. Ra6+ Kd5 58. Ra7 Ke6 59. Ra6+ Ke7 60. Ra7+
Ke6 61. Ra6+ Kd5 62. Ra7 Ke4 63. Re7+ ({Actually even} 63. Kh2 Kf3 64. Ra3+
Kxf4 65. Ra5 {is drawn.} Ke4 66. Kg2 Ke3 {[%cal Ga1d1,Gd1d2]} 67. Ra3+ $1)
63... Kxf4 64. Rxf7+ Kxg5 65. Ra7 Kh6 66. Ra4 g5 67. Ra6+ Kg7 68. Ra7+ Kg6 {
1/2-1/2 Fominyh,A (2518)-Deepan Chakkravarthy,J (2428) Hyderabad 2006}) 38...
Bb2 ({During the game I thought} 38... a5 {was more consistent, but it is just
an illusion.} 39. Kf3 ({I had in view} 39. Rxc4 $6 Rxb6 40. Rxc3 Rb4 41. Ra3 {
when Black has more space than in the game, with increased chances to outplay
his opponent.}) 39... Bb4 40. Bd4 c3 41. Ke4) 39. Ba5 c3 40. Bxc3 Bxc3 41. Rxc3
Rb4 42. a5 Rb5 43. Ra3 {The white rook is passive, but White does not have
weaknesses on the kingside, making the draw quite obvious. In the worst case
he can transpose to the previous ending, of course, but he can choose the
circumstances under which to do it.} Rb2+ 44. Kh3 f5 45. Rc3 Rb5 46. Ra3 g5 (
46... Kf7 47. Kh4 $11) 47. fxg5 hxg5 48. Kg2 Kg7 49. h4 g4 50. Rc3 $1 Rxa5 51.
Rc6 Ra2+ 52. Kg1 a5 53. Ra6 a4 54. Kh1 Kf7 55. Kg1 Ra1+ 56. Kg2 Ra3 57. Kh2
Ra2+ 58. Kg1 Ke7 59. Kh1 a3 60. Kg1 (60. Kg1 Kd7 61. Kh1 (61. Rf6 $4 Rb2 $19)
61... Kc7 62. Kg1 Kb7 63. Ra4 Kb6 64. h5 $11) 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 78th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2016.01.19"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D71"]
[WhiteElo "2844"]
[BlackElo "2747"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2016.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 171"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 c6 4. Bg2 d5 5. Qa4 a6 6. cxd5 b5 7. Qd1 cxd5 8. Nf3
Bg7 9. Bf4 O-O 10. O-O Nc6 11. Ne5 Bb7 12. Nxc6 Bxc6 13. Be5 e6 14. Nd2 Bh6 15.
Rc1 Rc8 16. Bxf6 Qxf6 17. e3 b4 18. Re1 Qd8 19. Bf1 Qb6 20. Nf3 Rc7 21. Qd3 Ra8
22. Rc2 Bf8 23. Rec1 Bd6 24. Ne5 Bb5 25. Qd1 Bxe5 26. dxe5 Rac8 27. Rxc7 Rxc7
28. Rxc7 Qxc7 29. Bxb5 axb5 30. Qd4 Qa5 31. Kg2 Kg7 32. b3 Qxa2 33. Qxb4 Qc2
34. Qxb5 Qe4+ 35. Kg1 Qb1+ 36. Kg2 Qe4+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 78th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2016.01.21"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D83"]
[WhiteElo "2640"]
[BlackElo "2844"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2016.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 171"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 {At the moment our game was played, Carlsen
hasn't yet scored a full point. Going for the complex Grünfeld indicates his
ambitions.} 4. Bf4 {On the other hand, van Wely responds with a solid system
to minimise the risk.} ({After the analogous} 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bg5 ({For} 5. Qb3
dxc4 6. Qxc4 O-O 7. e4 a6 8. Be2 {see Navara's notes to Navara-Giri, Wijk 2016.
}) 5... Ne4 6. Bf4 {Black recently came up with a novel sacrificial idea} O-O
$5 ({The standard continuation is} 6... Nxc3 7. bxc3 dxc4 $11 ({or} 7... c5
$132)) 7. Nxd5 (7. e3 c5 8. cxd5 Bf5 $5 $146 (8... Nxc3 {- 6...Nxc3} 9. bxc3
Qxd5 {leads back to the main line.}) 9. Bc4 (9. Qb3 $142 $5 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Nxc3
11. bxc3 Be4 12. Bc4 $13 {/+/=}) 9... cxd4 10. exd4 Nxc3 11. bxc3 Be4 12. O-O
Bxd5 13. Bxd5 Qxd5 14. Qb3 Qd7 15. Rab1 b6 16. Ne5 Bxe5 17. Bxe5 Nc6 18. Bf4
Na5 19. Qd1 Rac8 20. Qf3 Qc6 $15 {Gelfand,B (2743)-Grischuk,A (2810) Beijing
blitz 2014}) (7. cxd5 Nxc3 8. bxc3 Qxd5 9. e3 Qa5 10. Qd2 Nd7 11. Bd3 e5 12.
Bg3 Re8 13. e4 b6 14. Rd1 Ba6 15. O-O exd4 16. cxd4 Qxd2 17. Rxd2 Bxd3 18. Rxd3
Rxe4 19. Bxc7 Rc8 20. Bg3 Re2 21. a3 Bf8 22. d5 Bc5 $15 {Wang,Y (2720)
-Grischuk,A (2810) Beijing blitz 2014}) 7... c5 8. Bc7 $5 (8. Nc3 $6 Qa5 9. e3
Nc6 10. Rc1 g5 $1 (10... Rd8 11. d5 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Bxc3+ 13. Nd2 e6 14. e4 Nd4
15. Bd3 Bb2 16. Rb1 Qxa2 17. O-O a5 {Gelfand,B (2759)-Grischuk,A (2795) Sochi
blitz 2014} 18. Bg5 Re8 19. e5 $1 $36) (10... cxd4 $5 11. exd4 Rd8 $36 {
[%csl Rd4]}) 11. Be5 (11. Nxg5 Nxg5 12. d5 Ne4 $40) 11... Nxe5 12. dxe5 Nxc3
13. Rxc3 g4 $17) 8... Qd7 9. Be5 (9. Ne5 Qe8 10. Qc2 e6 11. Qxe4 exd5 $36 {/\}
12. Qxd5 Na6 {[%cal Ra6c7,Ra6b4]}) 9... f6 10. Bf4 e6 $5 (10... cxd4 11. Qxd4
f5 $44) 11. Nc3 (11. Nc7 g5 $15) 11... f5 $32) 4... Bg7 5. e3 (5. Nf3 O-O 6.
Rc1 {Black can play} Be6 $5 {here as well, trying to limit his opponent's
options.} ({After the (once) main move} 6... dxc4 {Black must reckon with both}
7. e3 ({and} 7. e4)) {The sortie} 7. Ng5 $6 ({We will deal with the more
circumspect} 7. e3 {below.}) {is risky due to White's lag in development:} 7...
c5 $1 8. dxc5 (8. Nxe6 fxe6 9. e3 (9. dxc5 d4 10. Na4 Ne4 11. e3 Qa5+ 12. Ke2
Nc6 13. f3 d3+ 14. Qxd3 Rad8 15. b4 Qxb4 {0-1, Lomakin,V (2148)-Kovalev,D 
(2484) Mukachevo 2012}) 9... Nh5 $5 (9... Qa5 10. Be2 Ne4 11. O-O cxd4 12. Nxe4
dxe4 13. Bg4 $1 $13 (13. Bxb8 $2 Raxb8 14. exd4 Qxa2 15. Qc2 Bxd4 16. Qxe4 Qxb2
17. Rb1 Qc3 18. Qxe6+ Kh8 19. Bf3 Rxf3 20. gxf3 Qxf3 $40 {Stocek,J (2569)
-Howell,D (2635) Istanbul olm 2012})) 10. Bxb8 Rxb8 11. Be2 cxd4 12. exd4 dxc4
(12... Nf4 $5) 13. Bxc4 Bxd4 14. O-O {Faghirnavaz,A (2284)-Darini,P (2540)
Tabriz 2013} Qb6 $15) 8... d4 9. Nb5 Nc6 10. Nc7 Bf5 $1 11. Nxa8 e5 12. Bd2 e4
13. e3 (13. Qb3 Qe7 14. e3 d3 15. Nh3 Rxa8 16. Nf4 Rd8 17. h3 Ne5 18. Nd5 Qd7
19. Qb5 Nxd5 20. Qxd7 Rxd7 21. cxd5 Rxd5 $44 {|^, Socko,B (2629)-Negi,P (2661)
Leiden 2012}) (13. b4 Qe7 14. Bf4 Rxa8 15. Bd6 Qd8 16. b5 e3 17. fxe3 dxe3 18.
Qa4 Nd4 19. g3 Ne4 20. Nf3 Nxc5 $1 $19 {Perez Garcia,A (2273)-Csonka,B (2415)
Gibraltar 2016}) 13... h6 (13... d3 $5) 14. Nh3 $6 (14. exd4 $5 hxg5 15. d5 $15
{/~~}) 14... Bxh3 15. gxh3 Ne5 $1 16. Bg2 Nd3+ 17. Kf1 Nxc1 18. Qxc1 d3 19. Bc3
Qe7 $2 (19... Re8 $1 $17 {[%csl Gd3,Ge4]}) 20. Nc7 $1 Qxc7 21. Bxf6 Bxf6 22.
Bxe4 Rd8 23. Bd5 Qxc5 24. Qd1 $11 {Grischuk,A (2761)-Caruana,F (2770) Moscow
2012 For more details see the notes to this game in CBM 149 by Krasenkow.})
5... O-O ({A solid alternative is} 5... c5 6. dxc5 Qa5 7. Rc1 dxc4 8. Bxc4 O-O
9. Nge2 ({The more usual} 9. Nf3 Qxc5 10. Bb3 Nc6 11. O-O Qa5 12. h3 Bf5 13.
Qe2 Ne4 $11 {doesn't promise White an advantage, most of the lines here are
analysed much deeper to almost forced draws. For more details see the notes to
Aronian,L (2802)-Svidler,P (2755) Moscow 2011 in CBM 146.}) {Black can avoid
the murky sacrificial line with} 9... Nc6 $5 (9... Qxc5 10. Qb3 Nc6 11. Nb5 Qh5
12. Ng3 Qh4 13. Nc7 e5 $13 (13... g5 $5)) 10. O-O (10. Qb3 Nd7 $11 (10... Ne4
$5)) 10... Qxc5 11. Nb5 Be6 12. Bd3 (12. Nc7 $2 Bxc4 13. Nxa8 Bxe2 14. Qxe2 Qa5
15. Nc7 e5 $17) 12... Qb4 13. Nc7 (13. a3 Qb3 14. Ned4 Nxd4 15. Nxd4 Qxd1 16.
Rfxd1 Nd5 17. Nxe6 fxe6 18. Rc2 Rac8 19. Rxc8 Rxc8 20. Rb1 Nxf4 21. exf4 Rd8
22. Bc4 Kf7 23. b3 Rd2 24. Re1 Bd4 $11 {Lysyj,I (2686)-Svidler,P (2743) Kazan
2014}) 13... Bxa2 14. Nxa8 Rxa8 15. Ra1 Be6 16. Qa4 Nd5 17. Bb5 Nxf4 18. Nxf4
Bb3 19. Qxb4 Nxb4 20. Rac1 a5 21. Rc7 a4 22. Rxb7 Bxb2 23. Be2 Na2 24. Bf3 Rd8
25. Nd5 e6 26. Rb1 a3 27. Rxb3 exd5 28. R3xb2 axb2 29. Rxb2 Nc3 $11 {
Tomashevsky,E (2747)-Svidler,P (2739) Chita 2015/ However, we have already
indicated Carlsen was not interested in symmetry and equality...}) 6. Rc1 (6.
cxd5 Nxd5 7. Nxd5 Qxd5 8. Bxc7 Na6 $1 9. Bxa6 Qxg2 10. Qf3 Qxf3 11. Nxf3 bxa6 {
is considered innocuous:} 12. Rc1 f6 13. Rg1 Rf7 (13... Bb7 14. Ke2 Rf7 15.
Rgd1 e6 16. Ne1 Rc8 17. Bg3 Rxc1 18. Rxc1 e5 19. dxe5 fxe5 20. Nd3 e4 21. Ne5
Bxe5 22. Bxe5 $14 {/=, Lysyj,I (2691)-Rodshtein,M (2654) Sochi 2015}) 14. Ke2
Bd7 15. Nd2 e5 16. d5 Bb5+ 17. Kf3 f5 18. b3 e4+ 19. Kg2 Bb2 20. Rc2 Bd3 21.
Rc6 Bb5 22. Rc2 Bd3 23. Rc6 {1/2, Radjabov,T (2700)-Ivanchuk,V (2729) Morelia/
Linares 2006. See the notes to this game in CBM 112 by Krasenkow.}) ({The
natural developing move is} 6. Nf3 {and now:} {After the common} c5 ({Even
here Black can consider} 6... Be6 $5 {, but the knight move is more useful
than Rc1 and he must reckon with} 7. Ng5 (7. Qb3 c5 8. Qxb7 Qb6 9. Qxb6 axb6
10. dxc5 bxc5 11. Ng5 Nc6 12. Nxe6 fxe6 13. Be2 d4 14. Nb5 e5 15. Bg3 e4 16.
Nc7 Rab8 17. Nb5 Rb7 18. O-O d3 19. Bd1 Nh5 20. Bxh5 gxh5 $44 {Sakaev,K (2594)
-Gelfand,B (2747) Jurmala 2015}) 7... Bf5 8. Qb3 c5 9. cxd5 (9. Qxb7 Nbd7 10.
Be2 cxd4 11. exd4 dxc4 12. O-O Qb6 13. Qxb6 Nxb6 14. Be5 Rac8 15. Nb5 Bd7 16.
a4 a6 17. Nc3 {Sanikidze,T (2549)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2682) Nancy rpd 2012} Nfd5
$11) 9... cxd4 10. exd4 Nbd7 11. Qxb7 Nb6 12. Bc7 Qc8 13. Qxc8 Raxc8 14. Bxb6
axb6 15. Ba6 Rcd8 16. Bc4 Bc8 17. Nf3 Bb7 18. Ke2 Nxd5 19. Nxd5 Bxd5 20. Bxd5
Rxd5 21. Rhd1 Rfd8 22. Rac1 g5 23. h3 h5 $44 {Simantsev,M (2454)-Rausis,I 
(2532) Teplice 2013}) 7. dxc5 {Black has a choice:} Ne4 $142 (7... Qa5 8. Rc1
Rd8 9. Qa4 Qxc5 10. b4 Qc6 11. Qa3 $5 dxc4 12. b5 Qb6 13. Bxc4 Be6 14. Bxe6
Qxe6 15. O-O $14 {Ivanchuk,V (2757)-Carlsen,M (2872) London ct 2013. See the
notes to this game in CBM 154.}) (7... dxc4 8. Qxd8 $1 (8. Bxc4 Qa5 $11 {
- 5...c5}) 8... Rxd8 9. Bxc4 $14) 8. Rc1 Nd7 $5 9. cxd5 Qa5 10. Nd4 (10. Qc2
Nxc3 11. bxc3 Nxc5 12. e4 Bd7 13. Bd2 Qa4 (13... Rac8 $5 {is the main choice
in email games, Black scores well here:} 14. c4 Qb6 15. Be3 Ba4 16. Qxa4 Nxa4
17. Bxb6 axb6 18. Rc2 b5 19. Nd2 bxc4 20. Bxc4 b5 21. Bb3 Rxc2 22. Bxc2 Nc3 23.
Bb3 Ra8 24. g3 Nxa2 $11 {Sciarretta,R (2141)-Rodriguez,K (2341) email 2013})
14. Qxa4 Bxa4 15. e5 Bd7 16. Bf4 Bg4 17. Nd4 Rad8 18. f3 Bc8 19. d6 exd6 20.
exd6 Rfe8+ 21. Kf2 Be5 22. Bxe5 Rxe5 23. Bc4 Rxd6 $11 {Prohaszka,P (2554)-Bok,
B (2532) Stroebeck 2013}) 10... Nxc3 11. bxc3 Qxa2 12. c6 (12. Qb3 Qxb3 13.
Nxb3 a5 14. c6 Nb6 $32 {=/+}) 12... Nc5 13. Be2 (13. c4 e5 $1 $40 {[%csl Re1]})
13... Qxd5 14. Bf3 Qc4 15. Be2 Qd5 (15... Qa2 $5) 16. Bf3 Qc4 17. Be2 Qd5 {
½, Ivanchuk,V (2757)-Gelfand,B (2740) London ct 2013}) 6... Be6 7. cxd5 {
Van Wely chooses the simplest continuation.} ({An ambitious alternative is} 7.
c5 {and now:} {Possibly the best is the strategic retreat} Bc8 $5 (7... c6 8.
Bd3 (8. b4 Nbd7 9. Bd3 Nh5 10. Nge2 (10. Bg5 $142 $5) 10... f6 $1 11. h4 Bf7
12. Bh2 {[%cal Rg2g4]} f5 $1 {[%cal Ye7e5]} 13. f4 $6 Nhf6 14. Bg3 Ng4 15. Qd2
Ndf6 16. Nd1 Ne4 17. Bxe4 dxe4 18. a4 b6 19. h5 gxh5 20. Bh4 Bf6 21. Bxf6 Nxf6
22. Nf2 Kh8 23. O-O Rg8 $40 {Ivanchuk,V (2731)-Grischuk,A (2785) Elancourt 2013
}) (8. h3 {[%cal Yg1f3] frees a square for the Bf4 and prepares Nf3 without
allowing Bg4:} {Black seems fine after} Ne4 (8... b6 9. b4 Ne4 10. Bd3 a5 11.
Na4 (11. b5 $142 $5 Nxc3 12. Rxc3 bxc5 13. Rxc5 $11 {/+/=}) 11... Nd7 12. f3 b5
$5 13. fxe4 bxa4 14. b5 dxe4 15. Bxe4 cxb5 16. Nf3 Bxa2 17. Qe2 Bc4 18. Rxc4
bxc4 19. Qxc4 Ra7 20. O-O e5 21. Bg5 Bf6 {Jumabayev,R (2525)-So,W (2652)
Istanbul olm 2012} 22. Bh6 Bg7 23. Bg5 Bf6 $11) 9. Bd3 Bf5 $5 $13) 8... Bg4 9.
Nge2 (9. f3 Bc8 10. Nge2 Nbd7 11. O-O e5 12. Bg5 Qc7 13. b4 Re8 14. Qd2 Nf8 15.
Bh4 Nh5 16. g4 Nf6 17. Bg3 N8d7 18. Kg2 Qd8 19. h3 h5 $13 {Kovalenko,I (2637)
-Kulaots,K (2568) Vilnius 2014}) (9. Qc2 Nfd7 10. Bxb8 $6 Nxb8 $1 11. h3 Bc8
12. f4 b6 13. Na4 e5 $1 14. dxe5 f6 15. exf6 Qxf6 16. Nf3 Qe7 17. Kf2 b5 18.
Nc3 Na6 19. Qd2 Nxc5 20. Bb1 Kh8 21. b4 Nb7 22. Ne2 Nd6 $17 {Wang,Y (2736)
-Carlsen,M (2772) Nanjing 2009}) 9... Re8 (9... Bxe2 10. Bxe2 Nbd7 {Spalir,J 
(2325)-Rogulj,B (2402) Hum na Sutli 2015} 11. Bg3 Re8 12. f4 $1 {() Wojtaszek})
10. f3 Bc8 11. O-O Nbd7 12. Bg5 e5 13. b4 Nf8 14. Bh4 Bh6 $2 (14... exd4 15.
exd4 Bd7 16. b5 Qa5 $132 {Wojtaszek}) 15. f4 e4 16. Bc2 Bg7 17. b5 Bd7 18. Ba4
Qc8 19. h3 Nh5 20. Rb1 f5 21. Qb3 Bf6 22. Bxf6 Nxf6 23. bxc6 bxc6 24. Qb7 $16 {
Wojtaszek,R (2733)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2731) Biel 2015. See the notes to this
game by Wojtaszek in CBM 168.}) (7... Nh5 8. Bg5 b6 9. b4 a5 10. b5 bxc5 11.
dxc5 h6 12. Bh4 c6 13. Nf3 a4 14. Nd4 Bd7 15. Be2 g5 16. Bxh5 gxh4 17. Bf3 e6
18. O-O cxb5 19. Ncxb5 Ra5 20. Be2 Bxb5 21. Nxb5 Nc6 $13 {Buhmann,R (2613)
-Rambaldi,F (2517) Vienna 2015}) 8. Bd3 c6 9. Bg5 (9. h3 Nfd7 $1 10. Nf3 e5 11.
dxe5 ({White still wants to fight for an edge, but a more circumspect try was} 
11. Nxe5 Nxe5 12. Bxe5 Bxe5 13. dxe5 Nd7 14. O-O Nxe5 $11) 11... Nxc5 12. Bb1 (
12. O-O Nxd3 (12... Nbd7 $5) 13. Qxd3 Bf5 14. Qe2 Nd7 $11) (12. Be2 $5) 12...
Nbd7 13. b4 (13. O-O Qb6 14. Qc2 Re8 15. Rfd1 a5 $5 {[%csl Re5]}) 13... Ne6 14.
O-O (14. Bg3 Ng5 $15) 14... Nxf4 15. exf4 Nb6 16. Qd4 (16. Re1 a5 $5 $13 {/=/+}
) 16... f6 17. b5 Nc4 (17... fxe5 $142 $1 18. Nxe5 (18. fxe5 $2 Rxf3 19. gxf3
Qg5+) 18... Nc4 $36) 18. bxc6 bxc6 19. Bd3 fxe5 20. Nxe5 $6 (20. fxe5 Rxf3 21.
Bxc4 $13 {/\} Bxh3 22. Nxd5 Qg5 23. Nf4+ $11) 20... Bxe5 $1 21. fxe5 Nd2 22.
Rfd1 Qg5 23. Qe3 $1 (23. Kh2 $2 Bxh3 $1 24. Kxh3 Nf3 $1 25. gxf3 Rxf3+ 26. Kh2
Raf8 $19) 23... Nf3+ 24. Kh1 Qxe3 25. fxe3 Nxe5 $15 {Gelfand,B (2759)-Grischuk,
A (2795) Moscow 2014/ See the notes to this important game in CBM 164 by
Krasenkow.}) (9. Nf3 Bg4 $11) (9. b4 $5 b6 (9... Nfd7 10. Nf3 e5 $5 11. dxe5
Re8 $11) 10. Nge2 Nfd7 11. O-O e5 12. Bg3 a5 13. b5 bxc5 14. bxc6 Nxc6 15. Nxd5
Nb4 16. Be4 $36 {Karner,C (2339)-Kreisl,R (2408) Austria 2014}) 9... Re8 (9...
Nfd7 10. f4 {Kovalenko,I (2653)-Grigoriants,S (2570) Wroclaw blitz 2014} (10.
Nge2 $142 {Wojtaszek}) 10... f6 11. Bh4 e5 $1 12. fxe5 Qe8 $36) (9... b6 10. b4
a5 11. b5 bxc5 12. dxc5 Nbd7 13. bxc6 Nxc5 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15. Be2 Bxc3+ 16. Rxc3
Ne4 17. Rc2 a4 18. f3 Qa5+ 19. Kf1 Nf6 20. g4 Ba6 21. Kf2 Rfc8 22. Qd4 Rab8 23.
Qa7 Rb6 24. g5 Ne8 25. Nh3 Rc7 26. Qa8 Rc8 {½, Duda,J (2663)-Bok,B (2594)
Doha 2015}) 10. f4 Bf5 11. Bxf5 gxf5 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. Qh5 e6 14. Nf3 Nd7 15.
g4 fxg4 16. Rg1 Kh8 17. Rxg4 Rg8 18. Rg3 Qe7 19. Ke2 $6 (19. e4 $5) 19... Rg6
20. Rxg6 fxg6 21. Qg4 b6 22. b4 a5 $132 {Wojtaszek,R (2734)-Vovk,Y (2617)
Berlin blitz 2015}) (7. Nf3 c5 ({Another good way is} 7... dxc4 8. Ng5 Bd5 9.
e4 h6 10. exd5 hxg5 11. Bxg5 Nxd5 12. Bxc4 Nb6 13. Bb3 Nc6 14. Ne2 a5 $1 $11 {
, this line has already been known for about 15 years.}) 8. dxc5 (8. cxd5 $5 {
is rare, but the engines seem to like it:} Nxd5 9. Nxd5 Qxd5 10. Bc4 Qd7 11.
Bxe6 Qxe6 12. Rxc5 Qxa2 13. Bxb8 (13. O-O $142 $5 Qxb2 14. Qd3 $36) 13... Rfxb8
14. Qc2 b6 15. Rc4 b5 16. Rc7 a5 17. O-O a4 18. Ne5 Bxe5 19. dxe5 b4 20. Rxe7
Re8 $44 {Lefebvre,H (2286)-Wirig,A (2490) Cappelle-la-Grande 2013}) 8... Nc6 9.
Be2 (9. Ng5 Bg4 10. f3 e5 $5 11. cxd5 exf4 12. dxc6 Qe7 {and Black holds his
own in the complications:} 13. fxg4 Qxe3+ 14. Be2 Nxg4 15. Nh3 Rad8 16. Qc2 Qe7
$1 17. O-O Qxc5+ 18. Kh1 Ne3 $132) 9... Ne4 10. Nd4 (10. O-O Bxc3 $1 (10...
Nxc3 11. bxc3 dxc4 12. Ng5 $14) 11. bxc3 dxc4 12. Nd4 Qd7 $1 (12... Nxc5 $143
13. Bh6 Re8 14. Nxe6 Nxe6 15. Bxc4 Qxd1 16. Rfxd1 $14 {Keres,P-Kavalek,L
Marianske Lazne 1965}) 13. Nxe6 Qxe6 14. Qa4 Ne5 15. Qb5 (15. c6 $5 $11) 15...
Nd3 $1 ({This is more concrete than} 15... a6 $5) 16. Bxd3 cxd3 17. Qxd3 $6 (
17. f3 d2 18. Rc2 Rad8 19. Rd1 g5 $1 $15) 17... Nxc5 18. Qd4 Rfc8 19. c4 f6 20.
Rfd1 Rc6 21. h3 Rac8 22. Qd5 Kf7 $15 {[%csl Rc4] /-/+, Miralles,G (2472)
-Dominguez Perez,L (2753) Rhodes 2013}) 10... Nxd4 11. exd4 Nxc3 12. bxc3 dxc4
13. O-O Bd5 14. Bf3 Qd7 15. Re1 Rfe8 16. Rb1 b6 17. cxb6 axb6 18. Rxb6 Rxa2 19.
Bxd5 Qxd5 20. Qf3 Qa5 $5 21. Rbb1 Bf6 22. Qc6 Qa4 23. Qxa4 Rxa4 24. g4 Ra5 25.
Rb7 Rc8 26. Kg2 h5 27. h3 Kg7 28. Re3 Rc6 29. Bg3 hxg4 30. hxg4 g5 $11 {
L'Ami,E (2606)-Mamedyarov,S (2721) Novi Sad 2009}) (7. Qb3 c5 $1 8. Qxb7 Qb6 9.
Qxb6 axb6 $32 {It's practically impossible to finish development and retain
the extra material:} 10. Nf3 Nc6 (10... dxc4 11. dxc5 bxc5 12. Ng5 Bd5 13. Nxd5
Nxd5 14. Bxc4 Nxf4 15. exf4 Bxb2 16. Rc2 Bf6 17. O-O Nc6 18. Bd5 Nb4 19. Rxc5
Nxd5 20. Rxd5 Rxa2 {Ding,L (2574)-Le,Q (2681) Manila 2010}) 11. dxc5 bxc5 12.
cxd5 Nxd5 13. Nxd5 Bxd5 14. Rxc5 e6 15. Bc4 Bxc4 16. Rxc4 Rxa2 17. O-O Na5 18.
Rc5 Nb7 19. Rc7 Rxb2 20. g4 Rb5 21. Kg2 h6 $11 {Malakhov,V (2714)-Svidler,P 
(2730) Olginka 2011 White's more active pieces give him only a symbolic edge,
a draw was agreed shortly.}) 7... Nxd5 8. Nxd5 Bxd5 (8... Qxd5 {is played more
often, but leads to a rather boring position Magnus definitely wanted to avoid:
} 9. b3 (9. a3 Qa5+ 10. Qd2 Qxd2+ 11. Kxd2 c6 12. Bc4 Bxc4 13. Rxc4 Nd7 14. Nf3
Rfd8 15. Ke2 Nb6 16. Rc2 Rd5 17. g4 Rb5 18. Be5 Nd7 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. h3 Re8 {
1/2, Pelletier,Y (2577)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2758) Saint-Quentin 2014}) 9... Qa5+
(9... c6 10. Nf3 Nd7 11. Qd2 Nb6 12. Be2 Rfc8 13. Ng5 Rd8 14. O-O Bf5 15. Bc7
Rf8 16. Bg3 Rfd8 17. Bc7 Rf8 18. Rfd1 Qd7 19. Bg3 Rfd8 20. Qa5 Bg4 21. Nf3 Qe8
22. h3 Be6 {Dominguez Perez,L (2746)-Nepomniachtchi,I (2720) Havana 2015} 23.
e4 $36) (9... Nd7 $5 {[%cal Yc7c5]} 10. Bxc7 Rac8 11. Ne2 Rxc7 12. Rxc7 Qa5+
13. Rc3 Nf6 14. b4 Qxb4 15. Qc1 Bxa2 16. Qa3 Nd5 17. Qxb4 Nxb4 18. Kd2 Bd5 19.
f4 Rd8 20. Rg1 e6 21. g4 a5 $13 {Basso,P (2428)-Boruchovsky,A (2536) Douglas
2015}) 10. Qd2 Qxd2+ 11. Kxd2 c6 12. Nf3 Nd7 (12... Bd5 $5 13. Bd3 (13. Bc4
Bxf3 14. gxf3 e6 15. Ke2 Nd7 16. Bd6 Rfe8 17. f4 Bf8 18. Bxf8 Kxf8 19. Bd3 Ke7
20. Rc2 Nb6 21. a3 Red8 $11 {Basso,P (2438)-Li,D (2389) Doha 2015}) 13... Bxf3
14. gxf3 Nd7 15. Bg5 Rfe8 16. Ke2 Nb6 17. f4 e6 18. Rhd1 a5 19. a4 Nd5 20. f3
Bf8 21. Bh4 Bb4 22. Be1 Bxe1 23. Rxe1 Red8 $11 {Ju,W (2547)-Ding,Y (2435)
Taizhou 2015}) 13. Bd3 Nf6 14. Be5 Bd5 15. Ke2 Rfd8 16. Rhd1 a5 17. Bc4 $11 {
/+/=} a4 18. b4 Ne4 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. Ne5 e6 21. Bd3 Nd6 22. Bb1 Bxg2 23. f3
Bh3 24. Rg1 f6 25. Nd3 e5 26. dxe5 fxe5 27. Nxe5 Be6 28. h4 Kf6 29. Nd3 Nc4 30.
Rc3 {Dreev,A (2644)-Bok,B (2607) Wijk aan Zee-B 2016} a3 $5 $132) 9. Bxc7 {
Consistent.} (9. Nf3 $143 c6 10. a3 Bxf3 $5 11. gxf3 Nd7 12. Bc4 c5 $1 13. dxc5
Bxb2 14. Rc2 Be5 15. Bxe5 Nxe5 16. Qxd8 Rfxd8 17. Ke2 Rac8 18. Rhc1 Rc7 19. f4
Nc6 20. h4 e6 21. h5 Na5 22. hxg6 hxg6 $15 {Mahmud,S (2315)-Li,C (2710)
Jakarta 2011/ While objectively this endgame is probably tenable for White,
his inferior pawn structure forces him to tread with care.}) 9... Qd7 10. Bg3
Bxa2 $146 {[%mdl 8] A novelty. While the text move seems to give White a
slight pull (in the middlegame a central pawn is worth more, than the Pa2) ,
it leads to a double-edged fight, which is exactly what Black was trying to
achieve.} ({Carlsen immediately regains the sacrificed pawn rather than seek
compensation after} 10... Nc6 11. Ne2 e5 (11... Rac8 12. Nc3 Rfd8 13. a3 Qe6
14. Nxd5 Qxd5 15. Be2 Qxg2 16. Bf3 Qh3 17. Bg4 Qg2 18. Bf3 Qh3 {½, Aupi Royo,
J (2378)-Mercadal Benejam,J (2359) email 2013}) 12. dxe5 Nxe5 13. Nc3 Rac8 14.
e4 Be6 15. Qxd7 Nxd7 16. Be2 Nc5 17. O-O Bxc3 18. Rxc3 Nxe4 19. Rxc8 Rxc8 20.
Bf4 Bxa2 21. Ra1 Bc4 22. Bxc4 Rxc4 23. Rxa7 Nc5 24. Be3 Kg7 25. h3 h5 26. Ra5
Ne6 27. Rb5 Rc7 $11 {Sjugirov,S (2678)-Navara,D (2735) Jerusalem 2015}) 11. Ne2
{The best, White simply continues his development.} ({The offside Ba2 can't be
trapped:} 11. b3 Qd5 {[%csl Rb3]} 12. Bc4 Qxg2 13. Qf3 Qxf3 14. Nxf3 Nc6 $15 {
/\} 15. Ra1 Nb4) 11... Bd5 {Black retains the bishop, but loses time.} ({
An interesting try was} 11... Nc6 12. Nc3 Qe6 $5 (12... Be6 13. Bd3 Rac8 14.
O-O $14) 13. Be2 (13. Nxa2 Qxa2 $132) 13... Bb3 14. Qd3 Rfd8 15. O-O a6 $132 {
/+/=}) 12. Nc3 Bc6 13. h4 $5 {Van Wely got ambitious, but he started spending
a lot a time, which backfires later on. Carlsen was suprised by White's choice,
although the text move is fine, a more modest alternative is} (13. f3 a5 14.
Bc4 b5 15. Be2 $13 {/+/=}) 13... Rd8 ({Komodo prefers} 13... a5 $5 14. h5 Na6
$13) 14. Qb3 Qf5 ({After} 14... Na6 {[%cal Ye7e5] White could change his mind
with} 15. Bc4 e6 16. O-O $14) 15. h5 e6 ({After} 15... Na6 {the N has nowhere
to go, but the engine prefers}) (15... a5 $142 $5 {[%cal Yb8a6,Ya6b4]}) 16.
hxg6 hxg6 17. Qd1 {Rather slow.} ({A more energetic way was} 17. Nb5 $5 Na6 (
17... Nd7 18. Bd3 $5 (18. Bc7 Rf8 19. Nd6 Qg5 20. Nxb7 Bxg2 21. Rg1 Qd5 (21...
Bd5 22. Rxg5 Bxb3 23. Ra5 $16) 22. Qxd5 Bxd5 23. Nd6 $14 {[%csl Gc7,Gd6]})
18... Qg5 19. Nc7 Bxg2 (19... Rac8 20. Nxe6 Qa5+ 21. Ke2 Bd5 22. Nxd8 Rxc1 23.
Nxb7 Bxb3 24. Nxa5 Rxh1 25. Nxb3 $36) 20. Rh2 Bd5 21. Nxd5 Qxd5 22. Qxd5 exd5
23. Rc7 $36) (17... Bd5 18. Qa3 Nc6 19. Nd6 Qg4 20. Nxb7 Nxd4 21. Nxd8 Bxg2 22.
exd4 Bxh1 23. Qe7 $16) 18. Nd6 Qa5+ 19. Qc3 Nb4 20. Nc4 $14) 17... Nd7 $6 {
This natural reaction could have led to problems.} (17... Qa5 $142 {White can
proceed with his kingside play and this results in some very complex computer
lines:} 18. Qg4 Nd7 19. Qh4 (19. Qh3 e5 $5 $13) 19... e5 $5 (19... Nf6 20. Be5
Nh5 21. f4 Qb4 22. Rc2 f6 23. Bd3 Be8 24. Qg4 fxe5 25. fxe5 Rd5 26. Be4 (26.
Bxg6 Rxe5 27. O-O Ng3 $132) 26... Rxd4 27. exd4 Qxd4 28. Ne2 Qxe5 29. Bxg6 Nf6
30. Qf4 $14) 20. dxe5 Qb6 $5 (20... Nxe5 21. Bf4 $1 Nd3+ 22. Bxd3 Rxd3 23. Qh7+
Kf8 24. Bh6 Bxh6 25. Qxh6+ Ke7 $14 {/~~}) 21. e6 (21. Qh7+ Kf8 22. Bf4 Qxb2 23.
e4 Bxe5 24. Rh3 {[%cal Rf1c4]} b5 25. Qh6+ Ke7 26. Qg5+ Bf6 27. Nd5+ Bxd5 28.
Qxd5 Rac8 $132) 21... fxe6 22. b4 (22. Bc4 Bxg2 23. Qh7+ Kf8 24. Qxg6 {[%cal
Rc4e6]} Nf6 $1 25. b4 Bxh1 26. Be5 Rd7 27. Bxf6 Bf3 28. Bxg7+ Rxg7 29. Qf6+ Rf7
30. Qh8+ Ke7 31. Qh4+ (31. Qxa8 $2 Rf8) 31... Rf6 32. Qh7+ $11) 22... Rac8 23.
Qh7+ Kf8 (23... Kf7 $2 24. Rh4 $1) 24. Bd6+ Kf7 25. Bd3 Nf8 $13) 18. Bd3 $6 (
18. b4 $1 {[%csl Ra5][%cal Yb4b5] takes away a5 from the queen and also
threatens b5:} a6 19. Bd3 Qg5 20. Ne4 Qd5 21. f3 Qa2 22. O-O $36 {/\} e5 23.
Bc4 Qa3 24. Nd6) 18... Qa5 19. Kf1 Nf6 (19... e5 20. d5 $1 Nc5 $8 (20... Bxd5
$2 21. b4 $18) 21. Be2 $14) 20. Be5 Rac8 ({Carlsen avoids the trap - the
natural} 20... Nd5 $2 {runs into} 21. Bxg6 $1 fxg6 22. Qg4 Rd7 (22... Nxc3 23.
Qxe6+ Kf8 24. Bxg7+ Kxg7 25. Qe7+ Kg8 26. bxc3 $18) (22... Be8 23. Bxg7 Kxg7
24. Qg5 $18) 23. Qxg6 Nxc3 24. bxc3 $16 {White risks nothing here and has a
strong attack.}) 21. Qd2 {Now Black fully consolidates his setup.} ({A more
useful move was} 21. Kg1 $142 Qb4 $5 (21... Nd5 $2 {still fails to} 22. Bxg6 (
22. Ne4 Bxe5 23. dxe5 Nxe3 $1 24. fxe3 Qxe5 $44) 22... fxg6 23. Qg4 Be8 24. Qh4
$1 (24. Bxg7 Nxc3 25. Rh8+ (25. Be5 $2 Ne2+) 25... Kxg7 26. Qh4 Ne2+ 27. Kh2
Bc6 28. Rh7+ Kg8 29. Rh8+ $11) 24... Rd7 25. Rh3 $18) 22. Rc2 Qe7 $13) 21...
Ng4 (21... Ne4 22. Bxe4 (22. Nxe4 Qxd2 23. Nxd2 Bxe5 $11) 22... Bxe5 23. Bxc6
bxc6 $5 $11) (21... Nh5 $5 22. Bxg7 Kxg7 $11 {[%cal Yd8h8,Ya5g5] /=/+ was even
more accurate.}) 22. Bxg7 Kxg7 23. f3 Qg5 $6 {[%mdl 512] Carlsen fully
realised that this sacrifice is not quite correct, but it's difficult to
handle with time running out.} (23... Nf6 24. e4 (24. Kf2 Rh8 25. Ra1 Qg5 $1)
24... Rh8 (24... Nh5 25. d5 Ng3+ (25... exd5 $2 26. Rxh5 gxh5 27. Qg5+ Kf8 28.
exd5 Bxd5 29. Re1 $1 $18) 26. Kf2 Nxh1+ 27. Rxh1 Qc5+ 28. Kg3 Qd6+ 29. Kf2 exd5
30. Qh6+ Kf6 31. Qh4+ Kg7 $11) 25. Kf2 Qb4 26. Be2 Rcd8 $11 {leads to a
roughly equal position, in which Black's chances to trick his opponent are
minimal.}) 24. fxg4 $8 (24. Ke2 Nf6 25. Rcg1 e5 $36) 24... Rxd4 25. Ke1 ({
Also after} 25. Rc2 $5 Rxg4 26. e4 Qf6+ (26... Qxd2 27. Rxd2 Rd8 28. Ke1 Rg3
29. Rh3) 27. Ke1 $16 {Black doesn't have full compensation.}) 25... Qe5 {
An attempt to keep more tension.} (25... Rxg4 $5 26. Ne4 Qe7 27. Rc4 Rd8 28.
Qc3+ e5 29. Rh2 $14 {/+/-}) 26. Ne2 (26. Kd1 $5 Rxg4 27. e4 $16 {[%cal Yd1c2,
Yc2b1,Rd2h6]}) 26... Rxg4 27. e4 $1 Rxg2 $2 (27... g5 28. Qb4 Rxg2 29. Rc5 Qf6
30. Rf1 Qh6 31. Qd4+ (31. Rxc6 bxc6 32. Rxf7+ Kxf7 33. Qb7+ Kf6 34. Qxc8 Qh4+
35. Kd1 Qf2 $14) 31... Kg8 32. Qe3 $36) (27... Rg5 $5 $14) 28. Qh6+ Kf6 29. Rc3
$2 $138 {[%mdl 8192] He misses an outright win. Unfortunately for Loek, this
won't be his last blunder...} (29. Qh4+ g5 (29... Qg5 30. e5+ Kg7 (30... Kxe5
31. Qd4#) 31. Qh7+ Kf8 32. Qh8+ Ke7 33. Qxc8 $18) (29... Rg5 30. Rg1 $18 {
[%cal Rg1g5,Re4e5]}) 30. Qh3 {[%csl Rg2]} Rxe2+ (30... Rd8 31. Qxg2 Rxd3 32.
Qf2+ Kg7 33. Rc5 $18) 31. Bxe2 $18 {and White should gradually convert his
extra rook.}) 29... Rd8 30. Qh3 {The moment and the advantage are gone and
White has to fight on in a very unclear position with almost no time left.} (
30. Qh7 Ke7 $13) (30. Qh4+ Qg5 $5 (30... g5 31. Qh3 Bxe4 32. Bxe4 Rxe2+ (32...
Qxe4 $2 33. Rf3+ $18) 33. Kxe2 Qxe4+ 34. Re3 Qc4+ 35. Ke1 Qc1+ 36. Kf2 Rd2+ 37.
Re2 Rxe2+ 38. Kxe2 Qxb2+ 39. Kf3 Ke7 $14 {/=}) 31. e5+ (31. Qxg5+ Kxg5 $13)
31... Kxe5 (31... Ke7 $4 32. Qb4+ $18) 32. Rc5+ Bd5 33. Qd4+ Kd6 34. Rh7 b6 35.
Rc2 e5 $13) 30... Qg5 $13 (30... Rg5 $6 31. Qh4) 31. Rf1+ Kg7 32. Qf3 Rd7 33.
Rf2 Rg4 (33... Rxf2 34. Qxf2 Qa5 $11 {is playable, but Black naturally wants
to keep pieces on the board.}) 34. Nf4 $6 {White had better moves:} (34. Nd4 {
/\} e5 (34... Qh4 35. Nxc6 bxc6 36. e5 $132) 35. Ne6+ fxe6 36. Qf8+ Kh7 37.
Rf7+ Rxf7 38. Qxf7+ Kh6 39. Qf8+ Kh7 (39... Kh5 $4 40. Be2 $18) 40. Qf7+ $11) (
34. Rh2 Rh4 35. Rxh4 Qxh4+ 36. Qg3 $11) 34... Qh4 $36 {[%csl Re4][%cal Ye6e5]}
35. Be2 $2 (35. Ng2 Qh1+ 36. Ke2 Rxe4+ $1 (36... f5 37. Ne3 Qxf3+ 38. Rxf3 Rh4
39. Ng2 Rh2 40. Rf2 $132) 37. Bxe4 Qd1+ 38. Ke3 Qd4+ 39. Kf4 Bxe4 40. Qe3 Bxg2+
41. Qxd4+ Rxd4+ 42. Ke3 Re4+ 43. Kd2 Rg4 44. Rc7 Bd5 45. Rfxf7+ Kh6 $15 {/-/+})
35... Rg1+ 36. Bf1 Kg8 $6 (36... e5 $142 37. Nd5 (37. Nh3 Rg4 $19 {[%csl Re4]})
37... f5 $1 $19) 37. Ne2 $2 ({The final error; he had to play} 37. Ng2 Qxe4+
38. Qxe4 Bxe4 39. Ne3 $17 {Although Black has excellent winning chances, he
must still work for the full point.}) 37... Rxf1+ $1 38. Kxf1 Rd1+ 39. Kg2 Bxe4
$19 {[%csl Rf3]} 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel-A 78th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2016.01.22"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Tomashevsky, Evgeny"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2844"]
[BlackElo "2728"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2016.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 171"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Like in 2015, Magnus had a rather slow start in Wijk, and again had to wander
along some dangerous paths to beat Loek van Wely. But like last year, that
triggered an excellent streak, both in the number of points, as well as in
quality of play.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bf4 $5 {The London System. A few
years back almost looked at with disgust, and in no way treated as a serious
opening, but with Grischuk's and Kramnik's efforts recently the verdict has
changed. Even so not to the extent that every professional has a ready-made
solution planned against it, and Tomashevsky did spend quite some time on the
upcoming moves.} b6 ({Maybe inspired by Magnus' success in this game, both
Karjakin and Giri decided also to give the London a try, but now Black seemed
tipped off, and we actually saw a theoretical debate in the London System(!).
After} 3... d5 4. e3 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Nbd2 Bd6 $5 {Against Karjakin, but
eventually lost.} 7. Bg3 O-O 8. Bb5 $5 {Against Karjakin, but eventually lost.}
) 4. e3 Bb7 5. h3 {For those caring about the finer points of the move orders,
its worth mentioning that Kramnik here seems to have preferred to play 5.Nbd2
first on a couple of outings. It's hard coming up with a strong reason for
either move, but maybe Kramnik wanted to avoid Alekhine's idea against
Rubinstein? With the knight on d2, instead of the pawn on e3, Alekhine played
5...Bd6!? and went on to win an instructive game, covered in his game
collection. So maybe only playing h3, when Black has committed ...Be7 is the
point.} Be7 6. Bd3 O-O 7. O-O c5 8. c3 Nc6 9. Nbd2 d5 {Both players have
developed sensibly, and one could argue that the fact that neither side has
obvious plans, but just have to make small common-sense additions to their
positions, should be a small success for Black.} 10. Qe2 $5 Bd6 {Tomashevsky
blinks first, and tries to force concrete action. Waiting with e.g. ...Rac8
would make sense, but White could still improve his position by bringing the
rooks to d1 and e1, making it hard for Black to come up with similar useful
moves which makes Black's decision easily understandable.} 11. Rfe1 $5 {
Even so, Magnus do not take the bait, but puts the ball back in Tomashevsky's
court. White has many plans, but it is much harder to see positive options for
Black, so instead Black tries forcing White to take on d6.} Ne7 ({Taking on f4
looks strategically risky, as after} 11... Bxf4 12. exf4 cxd4 13. Nxd4 $1 Nxd4
14. cxd4 {White by swapping knights, removed the option of ...Nb4 based
counterplay, and despite having doubled pawns, gets a lot in return. f5 might
be an option, transferring the knight to e5 too, or maybe Qe3-g3-h4 followed
by Re3 and Rae1.}) 12. Rad1 Ng6 13. Bxg6 $1 hxg6 14. Bxd6 Qxd6 15. Ne5 $1 {
Yes, White has given a bishop for a knight, and even allowed Black to capture
towards the centre. But the black pawn-structure, while looking healthy,
actually is a major drawback. Due to the weakness of g6, Black can never
realistically push the knight away from e5, meaning White will have a powerful
knight, and Black a rather limited bishop. Tomashevsky keeps playing logical
and sensible moves, heading for ...Nd7 exchanging the powerful knight, but not
wanting 15...Nd7 16 f4! and instead tries to stop White from advancing the
f-pawn.} g5 16. f4 $5 {Played quickly, almost like saying: did you miss this?
But while of course White could still probably be slightly better with like e.
g. 16.Qf3, sending an invitation to the following fascinating complications is
not only tempting, but also objectively good.} gxf4 {.} 17. Rf1 $1 {This is
the point. White wants the f-line open, to sacrifice the rook on f6, and
deliver mate.} Nd7 (17... fxe3 $5 {would be the logical way of trying to prove
White's concept flawed. After} 18. Rxf6 exd2 $1 (18... gxf6 $2 {loses
immediately as} 19. Qg4+ Kh7 20. Rf1 $3 {just mates. The threat is to bring
the rook into the attack on f4, as a response to 20...exd2 and if 20...fxe5
then the simple 21.Qh5+ Kg7 22.Qg5+ Kh7 23.Rf6 mates.}) {Does all this mean
that Black's position is actually objectively fine? Not really, as the less
imaginative, but simply strong} 19. Rf4 $1 {does keep an edge. The threat is
Qh5 and Rh4 with a mating attack, and Black's only chance is to fight with} (
19. Qh5 {An obvious try, forcing Black to take on f6, but after} gxf6 20. Qg4+
Kh8 21. Qh4+ Kg7 $1 {however there is no good follow-up as} 22. Ng4 ({and after
} 22. Qg3+ {Black just goes to h7 with the king, not falling for 22...Kh8?? 23.
Ng6+ winning the queen.}) 22... Qf4 $1 {protects both f6 and h6,}) (19. Rdf1 $5
{comes much closer to breaking Black's defences. f7 cannot be defended, and
taking on f6 allows a decessive attack along usual patterns. But Black has the
fantastic} Ba6 $3 {which exploits the fact that the white queen needs to be on
the kingside for the attack to succeed, meaning that 20.Qxa6 gxf6 works, or
even better, first 20...d1Q! as pointed out by the computers. After:} 20. Qh5 {
or the more sophisticated} d1=Q $5 ({The obvious} 20... gxf6 $6 21. Qg4+ Kh8
22. Rf4 Bd3 23. Nxd3 d1=Q+ 24. Qxd1 Rg8 25. Ne5 $1 Kg7 26. Rxf6 $1 {is still
very promising for White}) ({but either the simple} 20... Bxf1 21. Nxf7 Rxf7
22. Qxf7+ Kh8 $1 (22... Kh7 $2 23. Qg6+ {followed by Rf7})) 21. Rxd1 gxf6 22.
Qg4+ Kh7 23. Qh4+ Kg7 {just leads to a draw.}) 19... f6 20. Ng6 {but it
obviously does not look very appealing.}) 18. Qh5 $1 {Not a neccessity, as also
} (18. Nxd7 Qxd7 19. Rxf4 {gives White a promising attack, but somehow keeps
the spirit of the 2 previous moves, and continues the direct attack.}) 18...
Nf6 19. Qh4 Qd8 $6 {Again quite logical, trying to swap off queens, in order
to stop the white attack.} (19... Nh7 $5 {probably was a better chance, even
if White has a promising position after} 20. Rxf4 ({or even just} 20. exf4))
20. Rxf4 Ne4 $2 {A blunder, and a decisive one.} ({The same idea would be much
better, but with} 20... cxd4 21. exd4 {interpolated. Then after} Ne4 {White
can not play like in the game, as there is now no dxc5! but instead has} 22.
Qg4 $5 {when Black has no choice but to play the weakening} f5 {, where after}
23. Qg6 Rf6 24. Qh5 Qe8 {does avoid immediate disaster, but after} 25. Qxe8+
Rxe8 26. Nxe4 {it makes a huge difference having forced ...f5, as the white
knight now dominates on e5, leaving him excellent winning chances in the
ensuing ending.}) 21. Nxe4 Qxh4 22. Rxh4 dxe4 23. dxc5 $1 bxc5 24. Rd7 Rab8 25.
b3 $1 {Black is basically in a zugzwang. playing...f6 allows Ng6 and mate on
h8. The f-rook defends f7, the other, the bishop on b7, which can't move, as
then a7 would fall. So what is left, is to move the a-pawn.} a5 26. Rc7 a4 27.
bxa4 Ba8 28. a5 Rb7 29. Rxc5 Ra7 30. Nc4 {Here Tomashevsky resigned. Maybe a
bit premature, but there is no doubt that White's position is clearly winning
with the 2 extra pawns, and while Black certainly could prolong the game for a
while, the result is not really in doubt.} 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 78th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2016.01.23"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Eljanov, Pavel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E08"]
[WhiteElo "2760"]
[BlackElo "2844"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2016.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 171"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Be7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O Nbd7 8.
Qc2 Ne4 9. Bf4 c6 10. Nc3 g5 11. Be3 Nd6 12. b3 Nf5 13. g4 Nxe3 14. fxe3 b5 15.
e4 b4 16. exd5 bxc3 17. dxc6 Nb8 18. Qe4 f5 19. gxf5 exf5 20. Qd5+ Qxd5 21.
cxd5 Na6 22. Rac1 Nc7 23. Ne5 f4 24. Nc4 Rd8 25. Rxc3 Nxd5 26. c7 Nxc7 27. Bxa8
Nxa8 28. e3 Bb4 29. Rc2 Bb7 30. h4 Be4 31. Rh2 Nb6 32. Ne5 fxe3 33. hxg5 Rxd4
34. Ng4 Nd5 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel-A 78th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2016.01.24"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C79"]
[WhiteElo "2769"]
[BlackElo "2844"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2016.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 171"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. c3 a6 6. Ba4 d6 7. d4 Bd7 8. Re1
Nf6 9. d5 Ne7 10. Bxd7+ Nxd7 11. Be3 Ng8 12. c4 Bh6 13. Nc3 Bxe3 14. Rxe3 Ngf6
15. b4 O-O 16. Rc1 Qe7 17. Nd2 a5 18. a3 axb4 19. axb4 Nb6 20. h3 Rfc8 21. Ra1
Rxa1 22. Qxa1 Ra8 23. Qb2 Qe8 24. Qc2 c6 25. Kh2 Qc8 26. dxc6 Qxc6 27. Qb3 Kg7
28. Rd3 Ra1 29. Qb2 Ra8 30. Qb3 Ra1 31. Qb2 Ra8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 78th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2016.01.26"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Adams, Michael"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2844"]
[BlackElo "2744"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[EventDate "2016.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 171"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 {The first time I've ever tried 1.e4 against Mickey in classical chess}
e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 {But alas, the free day before the game was not spent
refuting his Ruy/Berlin repertoire} Bc5 4. O-O d6 {Avoiding the Max Power (Max
Lange) attack after ...Nf6 d4.} 5. c3 Nf6 6. d3 {I remembered that Saric got
an advantage with d4 Bb6 dxe5 against Aronian in last year's Tata, but I
assumed Mickey had that covered.} h6 {Avoiding Bg5. Against the Italian such
liberties can often be taken. Besides he stays flexible on the queenside,
deciding whether to play ...a6 or ...a5 only after I've shown some of my cards.
} 7. a4 {I spent more than 25 minutes combined on this and the next move, time
that I would later curse myself for having wasted. Part of the time was spent
pondering whether the extra h6-move could somehow be used to my advantage
after d4 Bb6 (I cannot imagine why I thought it maybe could). But mostly I was
trying to figure how I could favourably expand on the queenside.} (7. b4 Bb6 8.
Nbd2 {was one of the lines I considered, as if I get time for Bb3 and Nc4 I
will have a little something.} Ne7 {However looked fine to me, as Black will
be in time to meet Nc4 with ...Bc7.}) (7. Nbd2 a6 {also gives Black a normal
Italian.} (7... Ne7 8. d4 {is probably an achievement for White})) 7... a5 {
Probably the right decision. If ...a6 (one of the two naturally had to be
played to avoid me trapping his bishop) then I would follow the same plan,
with a little more space than in the game.} 8. Na3 {Once again I spent time
considering d4, but finally decided to just play normally.} O-O {I actually
thought he might consider just chopping off my knight, as my rook would be
temporarily misplaced, and I was not sure my dark-squared bishop would have
such a bright future. The bishop pair will soon be gone after ...Be6.} 9. Nc2
Re8 {I was quite happy to see this move, as I will be able to pin his rook
after ...Be6 Bb5.} (9... Be6 10. Bxe6 fxe6 {was naturally quite possible, but
White could claim to be slightly better after Be3 Bxe3 Nxe3, probably without
justification.}) 10. Re1 {As he cannot go Be6 Bxe6 Rxe6 due to d4-d5, it makes
sense to make a waiting move before going Be3.} Ba7 11. Be3 Be6 12. Bb5 Bd7 {
Now I felt that I just needed to make another waiting move, and he would have
to make a slight concession.} 13. Bxa7 {After a frustrating half an hour of
thinking I could not find anything better.} (13. h3 {is the move that suggests
itself. But I did not want to weaken f4} Ne7 14. Bxa7 Rxa7 15. d4 Ng6 {It
seemed to me that I would not be able to exploit the undefended position of
his rook on a7 after dxe5, and otherwise Black is solid, and might find some
counterplay with ...Nf4 later.}) (13. Rc1) (13. g3) (13. Nd2) (13. Qd2) (13.
Qe2 {were other more sophisticated means I considered in the fight for a tempo,
but none of them came close to convincing me.}) 13... Nxa7 14. Bc4 Be6 {
Very logical. He could also go ...Nc8 immediately, but then I might go hide
the bishop:} (14... Nc8 15. Ne3 Nb6 16. Bb3 Be6 17. Bc2 {with d4 coming,
although it is naturally not much.}) 15. Bxe6 Rxe6 16. Ne3 Nc8 {The best route
for the knight.} (16... Nc6 17. Qb3 {with Nd5 looming, is a little
uncomfortable.}) 17. Nf5 {The white pieces are a little better placed, but
with such a symmetrical structure my slight advantage will naturally disappear.
That's why I took the chance to force matters a little.} Ne7 18. d4 {The idea
of my previous move.} (18. N3h4 {is pointless, as without the dark-squared
bishops I cannot make use of the knight on f5.}) 18... exd4 19. N3xd4 Re5 $2 {
A mistake, though neither of us really understood that during the game.} (19...
Rxe4 20. Rxe4 Nxe4 21. Qg4 {At first seemed to me quite promising for White,
as I somehow only considered Nxf5 here} Ng5 $1 {I discovered that this was
possible only after I played 17.Nf5} (21... Nxf5 22. Nxf5 Ng5 23. Re1 $1 {
is what I liked for White; h4 is now a serious threat and after} Qf6 24. Ne7+
Kh8 25. Nd5 Qd8 26. Qf5 $1 Qc8 27. Qxc8+ Rxc8 28. Re7 {White's initiative
persists without queens}) 22. Re1 (22. h4 Nxf5 23. Nxf5 Ne6 24. Nxh6+ Kf8 25.
Nf5 Qf6 {is objectively the best, with equality}) 22... Ng6 $1 23. h4 Nh7 {
and there is nothing concrete while Black remains a pawn up.}) 20. Ng3 Ng6 {
It's easy to understand why Mickey did not feel the need to play concretely,
Black seems very solid, while my space advantage (e4 vs d6) does not feel very
significant with two pairs of minor pieces exchanged. Besides it appears that
the space advantage could disappear at any moment after a timely d6-d5. His
last move is quite necessary to avoid f4, as rolling with a Lasker rook on c5
understandably seemed a bit too funky.} 21. Qc2 {I spent seven minutes on this
move, partly hesitating between going c4 immediately and bringing my rook into
play first, and partly cursing myself having wasted so much time earlier in
the game and now wasting more precious time (I had about half an hour left
before this move) on a decision that did not seem particularly significant.} (
21. c4 {I finally decided against it because of} c6 {with ...Qb6 coming, even
after} 22. Ndf5 Qb6 {and ...Rd8 follows after either capture.}) 21... c6 {
Not a great move, but very logical. Engines start suggesting moves like Qb8-a7,
which is not very intuitive while White has a square on b5.} 22. Rad1 {Now I
was very surprised and happy to discover that I was actually better! It's hard
to play ...d5 under favourable circumstances and my plan in the game is
surprisingly powerful.} Qc7 (22... d5 {does not quite work} 23. Nf3 Re8 24.
exd5 Rxe1+ 25. Nxe1 cxd5 (25... Nxd5 26. c4) 26. Nf3 {is comfortably better
for White. Normally it would not be much, but the inclusion of a4 a5 helps me
enormously, as there will be a square on b5 and additional targets.}) 23. Ndf5
Rd8 (23... d5 24. exd5 Nxd5 (24... cxd5 {is better, but again by no means equal
}) 25. Nh5 {is not difficult, but it was somehow aesthetically pleasing during
the game. g7 cannot be defended.} Rae8 26. Rf1 (26. Rxe5 Qxe5 27. Qb1 $1 {
is also possible} (27. g3 Qe2)) 26... Re2 27. Qb1 {and Black's temporary
activity is extinguished, while g7 falls.}) 24. Qd2 {Going c4 was also
possible, with a nice grip on the position, but I was excited about the
prospect of attacking d6 and threatening f4 with one move.} Kh7 {Played after
18 minutes of thinking, a sure sign that he realised that his position was
getting really unpleasant.} (24... Qb6 25. Kh1 {does not seem to change much.}
(25. Nxd6 Re6 {is much too hasty})) 25. f4 Qb6+ {Normally one would like to
save such a check for later, but here it is absolutely forced.} (25... Ree8 26.
Nxd6 Qb6+ 27. Qf2 {Now I can safely block the check, since the rook on e8 is
hanging.}) 26. Kh1 (26. Qf2 {Now f4 is simply hanging:} Qxf2+ 27. Kxf2 Nxf4)
26... Ree8 (26... Re6 27. e5 {is absolutely terrible for Black, as long as I
avoid a nasty little trick} Ng4 28. Rf1 $1 {I was going to play this on
general grounds, as one should not take the rook off the last rank for no
reason!} (28. Re2 $4 Nxf4 $1 29. Qxf4 dxe5 {This is the point; because of the
last rank weakness the tables are turned.})) 27. h3 {By far the best move, but
again I invested a large part of the time I had left.} (27. Nxd6 Ng4 28. Rf1
Rxd6 (28... Ne3 29. Qf2 $1) 29. Qxd6 Nf2+ 30. Rxf2 Qxf2 {and I am only
temporarily a pawn up as both f4 and b2 are hanging.}) 27... Rd7 {This came as
a major surprise to me. Black cannot defend d6 as both ...d5 and ...Re6 run
into e5, but while maybe not objectively better,} (27... h5 {is what I spent
all my time calculating before I played h3 and would have been a very
interesting try. I investigated several options:} 28. Qe2 $1 {The surprising
move is the one I liked the most during the game} (28. Qc2 {or Qd3 were other
moves that I briefly touched on, with the idea of answering} h4 {with} 29. Nxh4
Nxh4 30. e5+ {But if he simply defends the pawn with ...Qc7 or ...Qc5 instead,
I was not convinced about my advantage}) (28. Nxd6 {This is the simplest.
After the forced} h4 29. Ngf5 Nxe4 {I saw} 30. Nxe4 $1 Rxe4 $1 {but I could
not evaluate} (30... Rxd2 31. Ng5+ {mates:} Kg8 32. Rxe8+ Nf8 33. Ne7+ Kh8 34.
Rxf8#) 31. Rxe4 Rxd2 32. Rxd2 {properly. With more time I would surely have
realised that all the entry points for his queen are covered and my threat of
Nd6 is very strong, but with little time and a possibly unsafe king, I'm
always a bit wary of playing against the queen.}) 28... h4 (28... Nxf4 {
Normally one would stop calculating here, but since my queen is now no longer
pinned on the d-file} 29. Qf3 {followed by Nxd6 is now very strong}) 29. Nh5
Nxe4 30. Qf3 $1 {I saw this idea, but I was still apprehensive, as I could not
really believe that it would work. But it does!} Nf2+ (30... Qc5 {This is a
much better defence, but it does not solve his problems} 31. Nhxg7 Ng3+ 32.
Nxg3 Rxe1+ 33. Rxe1 hxg3 34. Nh5 Qf2 35. Qxg3 Qxg3 36. Nxg3 {and since ...Nxf4
is met by Rf1 White has good winning chances}) 31. Kh2 Nxd1 32. Nf6+ $1 gxf6
33. Qh5+ Kg8 34. Qh6 {and mates.}) 28. Nxd6 Rxd6 {The only chance:} (28... Red8
29. e5 Ne8 30. Ngf5 {is just a pawn.}) 29. Qxd6 Qf2 {Since all my attention
had been focused on 27...h5, I only now realised that even I was still a long
way away from a win.} (29... Qxb2 {Even this is not so bad} 30. f5 (30. Qd2
Qxd2 31. Rxd2 Nxf4 32. e5 N6d5 {also does not look too convincing}) 30... Ne5
31. Qd2 Qa3 32. Ra1 Qe7 {and while I suspect White should be technically
winning, Black has a solid blockade for the moment, and with eight moves still
to go till move 40 one never knows what could happen.}) 30. Qd3 {There is
nothing better than to return a couple of pawns. Additionally, after
blundering both mate on g2 and the knight on g3 in different lines, getting
the queens off seemed like a very wise idea.} Nxf4 31. Qf3 Nxh3 32. Re2 {
32.Rf1 was also possible, but I liked the idea of doubling rooks on the d-file.
} Qxf3 33. gxf3 Ng5 34. Kg2 Ne6 35. Red2 g6 {He has managed to set up a solid
defence for the moment, but the following knight manoeuvre is surprisingly
strong.} ({He should perhaps have tried} 35... g5 {immediately, as Nf5 and Nd6
can be met by ...Re7. Practically speaking, Black certainly has drawing
chances.}) 36. Nf1 h5 {Since there is no good way to meet Ne3-c4 anyway,
Mickey has to go for it after all.} 37. Ne3 h4 38. Nc4 g5 39. Nxa5 g4 40. Nxb7
{I decided to be really greedy, as it seemed to me that his h3-g3 pair would
not really be dangerous.} g3 41. Nd6 Rg8 42. Nf5 Nf4+ 43. Kh1 h3 44. a5 {
So far so good. I have a lot of extra material, and he has no threats.
Additionally, my a-pawn is running very fast.} N6h5 45. a6 Ne6 {Now however, I
sank into thought and began seeing all sorts of ghosts.} 46. a7 (46. Rd6 {
This had been my original intention preventing ...Ng5 and game over I thought.
But then I saw} Nhf4 {with the idea of ...Ne2, and it spooked me a lot more
than it should have} 47. Nxg3 Rxg3 48. a7 {and game over, one would think? ...
Rg8 Rd8 is easy enough. But then you start seeing lines like} (48. Rg1 Ng2 49.
a7 Rg8 50. Rxc6 {is still completely winning, which I more or less realised
during the game. But some doubts still remained: For what did I give up my
knight!?}) 48... Ne2 $1 49. a8=Q $4 Rg2 {and once you find one line in which
are suddenly mated, you start looking for other options.}) 46... Ra8 47. Ra1
Ng5 48. Nh4 {So this is the idea that I settled on. I have to remove the
knight from its best post on f5, but I could still not see any ideas for Black.
} (48. Rd3 Nf4 49. Re3 {would have been a very clean solution, were it not for}
g2+ (49... Ng2 {was what I feared, but this is very easily solved by} 50. Re2
Nf4 51. Nxg3 {and the rook is protected}) 50. Kh2 Ne2 $1 {I naturally did not
see this} 51. Rxe2 Nxf3+ 52. Kg3 (52. Kxh3 g1=Q 53. Rxg1 Nxg1+ {and I lose
both rooks}) 52... Rxa7 53. Rb1 g1=Q+ 54. Rxg1 Nxg1 {and he has suddenly
regained all his material, even if not solving all his problems as the knight
is rather stuck on g1.}) 48... Nf4 49. b4 $2 {Panic, confusion... I just
decided to get rid of the pawns once and for all.} (49. Ra5 {would still have
been a clean win, as Mickey pointed out to me after the game. I rejected it
because of} c5 {but now} 50. b4 {which I somehow failed to consider works much
better} Ng6 (50... g2+ 51. Nxg2 hxg2+ 52. Rxg2 Nxg2 53. Kxg2 cxb4 54. cxb4 {
and with the c6-pawn gone, the pawns are unstoppable}) 51. Nxg6 Nxf3 52. Rg2 {
and this works even here.}) 49... g2+ {Because of Kh2/g1 Ng6, I am forced to
give up a full rook.} 50. Nxg2 hxg2+ 51. Rxg2 Nxg2 52. Kxg2 Ne6 53. c4 Nc7 {
And the pawns are reasonably well blockaded. It still felt like I should be
winning, as his pieces are very passive and my king and f/e-pair will manage
to create something before his king can get to the queenside.} 54. Kg3 Kg6 55.
Kf4 Kf6 56. e5+ Ke7 (56... Ke6 57. Ke4 f6 {would have been very logical,
seemingly exchanging off the e5-pawn without letting my king take up a
dominating position on e5. But I had seen in advance that it would fail to} 58.
Kd4 {and since he does not have the e6-square for the knight, my king
decisively penetrates on the queenside.}) 57. Ke4 f6 {Quite logical, but not
the best try.} (57... Kd7 58. f4 Kc8 59. f5 Kb7 60. e6 {with the idea of fxe6
f6 and} f6 61. Kd4 {But I missed} Kb6 $1 {stopping Kc5 and making a draw. My
father told me after the game that a Norwegian supercomputer gave me +4 even
after 57...Kd7, so I guess I'm still winning. Am I going to find out how, or
stick to the old cliché that this would have given better chances for a draw,
but should still lose? The latter obviously. Deal with it.} (61... Na6 62. Rxa6
{seemed to win still.} (62. Rxa6))) 58. f4 fxe5 59. Kxe5 Ne8 60. f5 Nd6 {
Now I'm winning by force.} (60... Nf6 {and the win, while attainable, is still
not quite easy.}) 61. f6+ Kd7 62. Rd1 Re8+ 63. Kd4 {The point. While breaking
the pin does not look logical, I am threatening Kc5 and after the forced.} Kc7
64. Re1 {White wins a crucial tempo} Nf5+ {As Peter and I agreed on after the
game, resigning instead of trying this would have been unprofessional.} 65. Kc3
(65. Kc5 {Fortunately I had a lot of time...} Rxe1 66. a8=Q Re5#) 65... Ra8 66.
f7 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 78th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2016.01.27"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2798"]
[BlackElo "2844"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2016.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 171"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. Qb3 Bxc3+ 8.
Qxc3 c6 9. e3 Nd7 10. Bd3 dxc4 11. Bxc4 O-O 12. Bd3 c5 13. O-O b6 14. Be4 Rb8
15. b4 Bb7 16. Bxb7 Rxb7 17. Rac1 Rc8 18. dxc5 bxc5 19. Qxf6 gxf6 20. a3 Rcc7
21. g3 cxb4 22. Rxc7 Rxc7 23. axb4 Rb7 24. Ra1 Rxb4 25. Rxa7 Nc5 26. Ra2 Kg7
27. Kg2 Rb7 28. Rc2 Ne4 29. Nd4 f5 30. Ne2 Rd7 31. Nd4 Rb7 32. h3 Rd7 33. Kf3
Ng5+ 34. Kg2 Ne4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 78th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2016.01.29"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hou, Yifan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2844"]
[BlackElo "2673"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2016.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 171"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 Nc6
8. Qd2 Be6 9. O-O-O Qd7 10. b3 Bf6 11. h3 O-O-O 12. g4 h6 13. Bg2 Kb8 14. Rhe1
Rhe8 15. Kb2 a6 16. Re2 Qe7 17. Rde1 Qf8 18. Nd4 Nxd4 19. Bxd4 Bxd4 20. Qxd4
Bd7 21. f4 Rxe2 22. Rxe2 Re8 23. Rxe8+ Bxe8 24. Qb4 c6 25. Bf1 Kc8 26. g5 Qe7
27. gxh6 gxh6 28. Qd4 f6 29. Qa7 Bd7 30. a4 Qd8 31. Qg1 Qe7 32. Qg6 Qe1 33. Bd3
Qh4 34. Bf5 Bxf5 35. Qxf5+ Kb8 36. c4 Kc7 37. Qa5+ Kc8 38. Qd2 Kd7 39. c5 d5
40. Qe3 Qh5 41. Qg3 Qf7 42. Qg4+ f5 43. Qg3 Qf6+ 44. Qc3 Qxc3+ 45. Kxc3 h5 46.
Kb4 Kc8 47. Ka5 Kc7 48. h4 Kb8 49. Kb6 Kc8 50. b4 Kb8 51. b5 cxb5 52. axb5 axb5
53. Kxb5 Kc7 54. c3 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 78th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2016.01.30"]
[Round "12"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2844"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2016.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 171"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 e6 4. g3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O Be7 7. Re1 d5 8. cxd5
Nxd5 9. e4 Nb4 10. d4 cxd4 11. Nxd4 N8c6 12. Nxc6 Qxd1 13. Rxd1 Bxc6 14. Rb1
Rd8 15. Rxd8+ Kxd8 16. a3 Nd3 17. Be3 Kc7 18. f4 a5 19. e5 Rd8 20. Bxc6 Kxc6
21. Kf1 Bc5 22. Ke2 Bxe3 23. Kxe3 Nc5 24. Rc1 Rd3+ 25. Ke2 Rd4 26. Ke3 Rd3+ 27.
Ke2 Rd4 28. Ke3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 78th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2016.01.31"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C83"]
[WhiteElo "2844"]
[BlackElo "2766"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "197"]
[EventDate "2016.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 171"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "2"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. Nbd2 Nc5 10. c3 Be7 11. Bc2 d4 12. Nb3 d3 13. Nxc5 dxc2 14. Qxd8+ Rxd8
15. Nxe6 fxe6 16. Be3 Rd5 17. Rfc1 Nxe5 18. Nxe5 Rxe5 19. Bd4 Rg5 20. Rxc2 Kf7
21. Be3 {For earlier deviations and So's novelty 21...Rh5 see Adams,M (2744)
-So,W (2773) Wijk aan Zee 2016 CBM 171 [Marin] played in the same round.} Re5 {
There is a good question about the best path for the rook to get back into
play. Abstractly, the game move may look like a slight concession as the same
position can be achieved if Black meets the immediate capture 19.Rxc2 with 19..
.Kf7. In the notes to the aforementioned game I have examined 19...0-0 which
seems best. But for White it is not easy to take advantage of this small
achievement.} (21... Rd5 {exposes the rook to} 22. c4 bxc4 (22... Rd7 23. cxb5
axb5 24. Rac1 Ra8 25. Rxc7 Rxc7 26. Rxc7 Rxa2 27. g3 Ke8 28. Bd4 g5 29. Rb7 b4
30. Kg2 $14) 23. Rxc4 Bd6 24. b3 Rb8 25. Rac1 Ke7 26. Kf1 Kd7 27. Ke2 $14 {
Nisipeanu,L (2668)-Svetushkin,D (2604) Predeal 2007 (1-0, 50), and Black
eventually went down due to his numerous weaknesses.}) (21... Rg4 {misplaces
the rook slightly.} 22. b3 $1 (22. Rd1 Rc4 23. Rcd2 Bd6 24. g3 a5 $132 {
[%csl Gc4]}) 22... Rd8 23. g3 e5 {Black needs to weaken his e-pawn even more
in order to clear the rook's path.} (23... Re4 $6 24. Bf4 $1 {[%cal Gf2f3]
more or less wins the exchange}) 24. Kg2 Rg6 25. c4 Rc6 26. Rac1 b4 27. c5 Rf6
28. Rc4 a5 29. Re4 Rd5 30. a3 bxa3 31. Ra4 Rd3 32. Rxa3 a4 33. Rxa4 Rxb3 34. h4
Rd3 35. Ra7 Rc6 36. Kf3 Ke6 37. Ke4 $14 {Adams,M (2724)-Smeets,J (2538) London
2007 (1-0, 47)}) 22. c4 b4 {There is no other way to keep the integrity of the
queenside structure, but placing a pawn on a dark square implies certain
strategic risk.} 23. Rd1 Rd8 24. Rxd8 Bxd8 25. Kf1 (25. Rd2 Ke8 26. Kf1 Bg5 $11
{Kosintseva,N (2528)-Koneru,H (2589) Kazan 2012 (½-½, 40)}) 25... Bg5 26. Bd4
({Sutovsky's favourite is} 26. Ba7 Be7 (26... h5 27. Bb8 Rc5 28. Ke2 Bf4 29. g3
Bd6 30. f4 g5 31. Ba7 Rf5 32. fxg5 Rxg5 33. Be3 {Sutovsky,E (2642)-Haba,P 
(2488) Austria 2015 (1-0, 56)} Rf5 34. Kd3 Bc5 $11) (26... Rf5 {Xie,J (2530)
-Polgar,Z (2550) Jaen 1996 CBM 052 [Ftacnik,L] (1/2-1/2, 46)}) 27. Re2 Rf5 {
Sutovsky,E (2665)-Sorokin,M (2599) Sochi 2005 CBM 107 [Postny,E] (1-0, 45)})
26... Ra5 27. b3 Bf6 28. Be3 Bg5 $5 $146 {As known from the comments to the
aforementioned Adams-So, Black is interested in exchanging bishops.} (28... Rh5
29. h3 a5 30. Ke2 a4 $6 31. Kd3 Ke8 (31... axb3 32. axb3 Ke8 33. Bd2 Be7 34.
Ra2) 32. bxa4 $5 Ra5 33. c5 Rxa4 34. Kc4 Bc3 35. Bd2 Kd7 36. Bxc3 bxc3+ 37. Kb3
Rf4 38. f3 Kc6 39. Rxc3 $14 {Potkin,V (2556)-Amin,B (2453) Abu Dhabi 2006 (1-0,
56)}) 29. f4 Be7 30. g4 {White has gained kingside space, but his pawns are
vulnerable to exchanges, helping Black to get rid of some of his weaknesses.}
h5 31. h3 g6 {Of course it would not make sense to open the h-file in a moment
when the white rook could be transferred to it along the second rank.} 32. Ke2
hxg4 33. hxg4 e5 34. Kf3 exf4 35. Bxf4 {Black has rid himself of several
weaknesses and his position looks safe enough. But White has some initiative
now and the b4-pawn still is a problem.} Bd6 $1 (35... c6 $6 {exposes the rook
too much.} 36. Ke4 Ke6 37. Bc7 Rg5 $2 ({Relatively better is} 37... Ra3 {
without a clear white win yet, but it certainly is risky playing with the
caged rook.}) 38. Kf4 Rc5 (38... Bf6 39. Re2+ Kd7 40. Be5 {[%csl Gg5] General
exchanges obviously lose while otherwise the rook remains in a miserable
position.}) 39. Re2+ Kf6 40. Rxe7 Kxe7 41. Bb6 {A fantastic trapping of the
rook!}) 36. c5 $5 {An interesting resource for keeping the fight alive.} (36.
Bxd6 cxd6 37. Kf4 Re5 38. Rh2 g5+ 39. Kf3 Ke6 40. Rh6+ Kd7 41. Rh7+ Ke6 42. Ra7
Ra5 43. Rb7 Rxa2 44. Rxb4 Ke5 $11) 36... Bxc5 $1 {The best practical decision.}
({It certainly makes no sense depriving himself of the dynamic resource
yielded by the pressure on a2. After} 36... Rxc5 37. Rxc5 Bxc5 38. Bxc7 {
the bishop ending looks suspicious for Black, even though it seems that White
only has practical chances:} Kf6 39. Bf4 Ke6 40. Ke4 Bb6 41. Bd2 Bc5 (41... a5
42. Bf4 $22 {In order to avoid Bc7xa5, Black needs to clear the king's path to
b5 with a bishop retreat.}) 42. Bh6 Be7 (42... Bf2 43. Bf8 Be1 44. Kd4 {
is similar}) 43. Kd4 Kd6 44. Bd2 Ke6 45. Kc4 Ke5 46. Bxb4 Bxb4 47. Kxb4 Kf4 48.
Ka5 Kxg4 49. Kxa6 g5 50. b4 Kf3 51. b5 g4 52. b6 g3 53. b7 g2 54. b8=Q g1=Q {
The endgame is drawn, but why suffer for 200 moves or so to prove it, with the
obvious risk of stumbling along the way?}) 37. Bxc7 Rb5 38. Ke4 Ke6 39. Bf4 Ra5
40. Bd2 Be7 {Offering White some chances.} (40... Rb5 $5) 41. Rc6+ Kd7 42. Rxg6
Rxa2 43. Bf4 Ra3 44. g5 Rxb3 45. Rb6 Bxg5 {Another practical decision. Ding
Liren knew how to defend with a rook versus a rook and a bishop so he does not
risk getting into some study like ending.} ({But objectively} 45... a5 {
should also draw:} 46. g6 Rb1 47. Kf5 Rg1 48. Rb7+ Ke8 49. Be3 (49. Bh6 Rf1+)
49... Rg2 50. Bh6 a4 51. Rb8+ Kd7 52. g7 b3 53. g8=Q Rxg8 54. Rxg8 b2 55. Rb8
a3 56. Bg7 Bf8 $5 57. Bc3 (57. Bxf8 $6 a2) 57... Bh6 58. Ke4 (58. Bxb2 $11)
58... Bc1 59. Kd3 a2 $1 {Right in time!} 60. Rxb2 a1=Q 61. Rb7+ {Unfortunately,
the black king is too close to the rook.} Kc6 62. Bxa1 Kxb7 $11) 46. Bxg5 a5
47. Ra6 a4 48. Rxa4 Kc6 49. Ra5 Ra3 50. Rf5 b3 51. Bf6 Ra2 52. Bd4 b2 53. Rc5+
Kb6 54. Rc3+ Kb5 55. Rb3+ Kc4 56. Rb8 b1=Q+ 57. Rxb1 Re2+ {Ding Liren chooses
one of the two possible defensive systems, the second rank setup.} ({I find
the other plan simpler:} 57... Rh2 58. Rc1+ Kb5 59. Kd5 Rh5+ 60. Be5 Ka5 61.
Rb1 Rg5) 58. Be3 Rc2 59. Rb8 Kc3 60. Rc8+ Kb3 61. Bc5 Kc4 62. Rc7 Kc3 63. Kd5
Kd3 64. Rh7 Re2 65. Rh3+ Kc2 66. Kc4 Re4+ 67. Bd4 Kd2 68. Rh2+ Re2 69. Rh4 Rg2
70. Re4 Re2 71. Bc3+ Kd1 72. Rf4 Kc2 73. Rd4 Rf2 74. Rd3 Re2 75. Bd4 Re4 76.
Ra3 Re2 77. Be3 Kd1 78. Rd3+ (78. Kd3 Rd2+ $1) 78... Ke1 79. Rc3 Kf1 80. Kd3
Ra2 81. Rc1+ Kg2 82. Ke4 Kg3 83. Rc8 Rg2 84. Rf8 Kg4 85. Bf2 Kh3 86. Kf3 Rg3+
87. Kf4 Rg4+ 88. Kf5 Rg7 89. Bd4 Rg3 90. Be5 Rf3+ 91. Bf4 Kg2 92. Kg4 Rf2 93.
Rh8 Re2 94. Rh3 Kf2 95. Rf3+ Kg2 96. Be3 Rc2 97. Rg3+ Kf1 98. Kf3 Rf2+ 99. Bxf2
1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com gf blitz 5m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.06.23"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2611"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2016.04.06"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "26"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2017"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c6 3. Bg2 Bf5 4. d3 Nd7 5. Nh4 Bg4 6. h3 Bh5 7. O-O e6 8. Qe1
Be7 9. Nf3 Ngf6 10. e4 O-O 11. Nbd2 a5 12. a4 Nc5 13. b3 dxe4 14. dxe4 Bxf3 15.
Bxf3 Qd4 16. Rb1 Qc3 17. Bd1 Rad8 18. e5 Nfe4 19. Nxe4 Qxe1 20. Rxe1 Nxe4 21.
Bb2 Nd2 22. Rc1 Rd5 23. Be2 Rfd8 24. Red1 g6 25. Kg2 Bc5 26. Bc3 Ba3 27. Ra1
Bb4 28. Bxb4 axb4 29. f4 h5 30. a5 h4 31. gxh4 Rd4 32. h5 gxh5 33. Bxh5 Rxf4
34. a6 bxa6 35. Rxa6 Rf5 36. Bg4 Rxe5 37. Rxc6 Rd4 38. Rc7 Kg7 39. Rxd2 Rxd2+
0-1

[Event "chess.com gf blitz 5m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.06.23"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2611"]
[PlyCount "203"]
[EventDate "2016.04.06"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "26"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2017"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d6 2. e4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Bg5 c6 5. Qd2 b5 6. Bd3 Nbd7 7. Nf3 h6 8. Bf4
Bg7 9. O-O Nh5 10. Be3 Nb6 11. a4 Nc4 12. Bxc4 bxc4 13. Qe2 Ba6 14. b4 O-O 15.
b5 Bb7 16. Qxc4 d5 17. Qd3 dxe4 18. Nxe4 cxb5 19. axb5 Qc7 20. Bd2 Nf4 21. Bxf4
Qxf4 22. Rfe1 Rfd8 23. Rad1 Rac8 24. c4 f5 25. Nc3 Bxf3 26. Qxf3 Qxf3 27. gxf3
Rxc4 28. Ne2 Kf7 29. Ra1 Rd7 30. Red1 Rc2 31. Kf1 Rb2 32. Ra5 Rc7 33. Nf4 Rb7
34. Ne2 R2xb5 35. Rxb5 Rxb5 36. Ra1 a5 37. Ra4 e6 38. Nc3 Rb4 39. Rxa5 Bxd4 40.
Ne2 Bb6 41. Ra2 Kf6 42. Kg2 Bc7 43. h3 Be5 44. Nc1 Rc4 45. Nd3 Bd6 46. Rb2 Rc3
47. Rd2 Ke7 48. Rd1 g5 49. Rd2 h5 50. Rd1 Kf6 51. Nb2 Bc7 52. Nd3 Rc2 53. Rc1
Rxc1 54. Nxc1 Ke5 55. Ne2 Kd5 56. Nc3+ Kc4 57. Nb1 Kd3 58. Na3 Bf4 59. Kf1 Bb8
60. Nb5 Kc4 61. Na3+ Kd3 62. Ke1 Bd6 63. Nb5 Be5 64. Na7 Kc4 65. Ke2 Kd5 66.
Nb5 Kc5 67. Na3 Bb2 68. Nc2 Bd4 69. Ne1 Kc4 70. Nd3 Kd5 71. Nb4+ Kd6 72. Nd3 e5
73. Nb4 Bc5 74. Nd3 Kd5 75. Ne1 Bb4 76. Nd3 Ba5 77. Ke3 Bb6+ 78. Ke2 e4 79.
fxe4+ Kxe4 80. f3+ Kd4 81. Ne1 Ba5 82. Nd3 Bc3 83. Nf2 Bb4 84. Nd3 Bd6 85. Nf2
Bf4 86. Nd3 Bg3 87. Nb2 Bd6 88. Nd3 h4 89. Nf2 Bg3 90. Nd3 Bd6 91. Nf2 Bc7 92.
Nd3 Bg3 93. Nb2 Bd6 94. Nd3 g4 95. fxg4 fxg4 96. hxg4 h3 97. Nf2 h2 98. Kf3 Ke5
99. Kg2 Kf4 100. Kxh2 Bc5 101. Nd3+ Kxg4 102. Nxc5 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com gf blitz 5m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.06.23"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2611"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2016.04.06"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "26"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2017"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. g3 d5 2. Bg2 e5 3. d3 Nf6 4. Nf3 Bd6 5. O-O O-O 6. c3 Re8 7. Qc2 h6 8. e4 c6
9. Re1 Nbd7 10. a4 a5 11. Nbd2 Nc5 12. exd5 cxd5 13. d4 exd4 14. Rxe8+ Qxe8 15.
Nxd4 Qe1+ 16. Nf1 Bd7 17. Nf3 Qe4 18. Qxe4 dxe4 19. Nd4 Bxa4 20. Ne3 Bd7 21.
Nc4 Bc7 22. Bf4 Bxf4 23. gxf4 a4 24. b4 Nd3 25. Nb6 Rd8 26. Nxd7 Rxd7 27. Rxa4
Nxf4 28. Ra8+ Kh7 29. Ra5 g6 30. Rc5 N6d5 31. Bxe4 Nxc3 32. Rxc3 Rxd4 33. Bf3
Rxb4 34. h4 Kg7 35. Rc7 Ne6 36. Rxb7 Rxh4 37. Bd5 Kf6 38. Rb6 Rd4 39. Bxe6 fxe6
40. Kg2 h5 41. Rb8 g5 42. Rh8 h4 43. f3 Rd2+ 44. Kh3 Rf2 45. Kg4 Rg2+ 46. Kh3
Rg3+ 47. Kh2 Kg7 0-1

[Event "chess.com gf blitz 5m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.06.23"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2611"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2016.04.06"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "26"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2017"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. Qe2 O-O 6. Bb3 a5 7. a3 c6 8. Nc3
Bg4 9. h3 Bxf3 10. Qxf3 Nfd7 11. Be3 b5 12. h4 a4 13. Ba2 e6 14. h5 d5 15. Qh3
g5 16. h6 Bf6 17. e5 Be7 18. f4 f5 19. g4 Kh8 20. Ne2 Na6 21. c3 Nc7 22. Bb1
gxf4 23. Nxf4 Bg5 24. gxf5 exf5 25. Bxf5 Nb6 26. Rg1 Nc4 27. Ng6+ hxg6 28. Bxg5
Qe8 29. Bd7 Qf7 30. Bf6+ Kh7 31. Rxg6 1-0

[Event "chess.com gf blitz 5m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.06.23"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2611"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "2016.04.06"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "26"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2017"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c6 3. Bg2 Bf5 4. d3 Nd7 5. Nh4 Bg4 6. O-O e6 7. h3 Bh5 8. Qe1
Be7 9. Nf3 Ngf6 10. e4 O-O 11. Nbd2 a5 12. e5 Ne8 13. a4 Nc7 14. b3 c5 15. Bb2
Nb8 16. Nh2 Nc6 17. f4 f5 18. exf6 Bxf6 19. Bxf6 Qxf6 20. Ndf3 Rae8 21. Ne5 Na6
22. g4 Bg6 23. g5 Qd8 24. Nxg6 hxg6 25. Ng4 Nab4 26. Rf2 Nd4 27. Qd1 Qd6 28. c3
Rxf4 29. Rxf4 Qxf4 30. cxb4 axb4 31. Ra2 Qxg5 32. Rf2 Rf8 33. Rxf8+ Kxf8 34.
Kh1 Ke7 35. a5 Qf4 36. Qe1 g5 37. Bxd5 Qc7 38. Qe3 Kf8 39. Bg2 Qxa5 40. Qxg5
Qc7 41. Ne5 Nxb3 42. Qf4+ Kg8 43. Be4 Nd4 44. Bg6 Nf5 45. Bf7+ Kh7 46. Bxe6 Nh6
47. Bd5 Qd6 48. Qe4+ g6 49. Bc4 Nf5 50. Qxb7+ Ng7 51. Ng4 Qf4 52. Qg2 Nf5 53.
Nf6+ Kh6 54. Ne4 Ne3 55. Qf2 Qxf2 56. Nxf2 Nxc4 57. dxc4 b3 58. Nd3 Kg5 59. Kg2
Kh4 60. Kh2 g5 61. Kg2 g4 62. hxg4 Kxg4 63. Kf2 1-0

[Event "chess.com gf blitz 5m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.06.23"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2611"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2016.04.06"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "26"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2017"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. Qe2 O-O 6. Bb3 c6 7. O-O Bg4 8. Nbd2
d5 9. e5 Nfd7 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Nxf3 e6 12. h4 c5 13. c3 Nc6 14. h5 Rc8 15. g3
cxd4 16. cxd4 Qb6 17. Rd1 Qa6 18. Qxa6 bxa6 19. h6 Bh8 20. Ba4 f6 21. exf6 Bxf6
22. Bf4 Nb6 23. Bxc6 Rxc6 24. Rac1 Rfc8 25. Rxc6 Rxc6 26. Be5 Be7 27. Re1 Nd7
28. Bg7 Kf7 29. Re3 a5 30. Rb3 Rc7 31. Rb5 Bf6 32. Rxa5 g5 33. g4 Kg6 34. Ra6
Kf7 35. Kg2 Rb7 36. b3 Rc7 37. Kg3 Rb7 38. Bxf6 Kxf6 39. Nxg5 Nf8 40. f4 Rc7
41. b4 Rc3+ 42. Kf2 Rc4 43. Rxa7 Kg6 44. Rf7 Rc8 45. Rg7+ Kxh6 46. Rg8 1-0

[Event "chess.com gf blitz 5m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.06.23"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A20"]
[WhiteElo "2611"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[PlyCount "202"]
[EventDate "2016.04.06"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "26"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2017"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. c4 dxc4 4. Na3 Nc6 5. Nxc4 Bg7 6. Bg2 e5 7. O-O Nge7 8.
d3 O-O 9. Bd2 Be6 10. Rc1 a5 11. b3 Qd7 12. Bc3 f6 13. Qc2 b5 14. Ncd2 a4 15.
Ne4 axb3 16. axb3 Bf7 17. Bd2 Ra3 18. Nc5 Qd6 19. Nb7 Qd7 20. Nc5 Qd6 21. Be3
Rfa8 22. Nd2 Ra2 23. Qd1 Nd5 24. Nce4 Qd7 25. Bc5 h6 26. Nc3 Nxc3 27. Rxc3 f5
28. Rc2 R8a6 29. Qb1 Rxc2 30. Qxc2 Nd4 31. Bxd4 exd4 32. Rc1 Bf8 33. Bc6 Qe7
34. Bxb5 Ra7 35. Nf3 c5 36. Bc4 Kg7 37. Bxf7 Qxf7 38. Nd2 Qe6 39. Nc4 Be7 40.
Re1 h5 41. e4 dxe3 42. Nxe3 h4 43. Qc3+ Qf6 44. Qxf6+ Bxf6 45. Nd5 Ra3 46. Kg2
Rxb3 47. Re6 Bd4 48. Nf4 Bf6 49. gxh4 Kf7 50. Rc6 Bxh4 51. Nxg6 Bf6 52. Nf4 Be5
53. Rxc5 Bxf4 54. Rxf5+ Kg6 55. Rxf4 Rxd3 56. Rf3 Rd1 57. Re3 Ra1 58. h3 Kg5
59. Kg3 Rg1+ 60. Kh2 Ra1 61. Kg2 Kh4 62. Re4+ Kh5 63. Kg3 Ra3+ 64. f3 Ra1 65.
Re5+ Kg6 66. h4 Ra4 67. f4 Ra1 68. h5+ Kf6 69. Rb5 Rc1 70. Rb6+ Kf5 71. Rb5+
Kf6 72. h6 Kg6 73. Rb6+ Kh7 74. Kg4 Rg1+ 75. Kf5 Ra1 76. Kg5 Rg1+ 77. Kf5 Ra1
78. Re6 Ra2 79. Kg5 Rg2+ 80. Kf6 Kxh6 81. Re3 Kh7 82. f5 Ra2 83. Kf7 Ra7+ 84.
Re7 Ra5 85. f6 Ra8 86. Rd7 Kh6 87. Re7 Kh7 88. Rc7 Kh6 89. Rd7 Kh7 90. Ke6+ Kg6
91. Rg7+ Kh6 92. Rg4 Ra6+ 93. Kf7 Ra7+ 94. Ke6 Ra6+ 95. Ke5 Ra5+ 96. Ke6 Ra6+
97. Kf5 Ra5+ 98. Kf4 Ra4+ 99. Kg3 Rxg4+ 100. Kxg4 Kg6 101. f7 Kxf7 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com gf blitz 5m+2spm Chess960"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.06.23"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2611"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "bbqrknrn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BBQRKNRN w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2016.04.06"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "26"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2017"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 1-0

[Event "chess.com qf blitz 1m+1spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.06.23"]
[Round "18"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2611"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2016.04.06"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "26"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2017"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. Qe2 O-O 6. O-O c6 7. Bb3 a5 8. a4 e6
9. e5 Nd5 10. exd6 Qxd6 11. Na3 Qc7 12. Re1 Nd7 13. Qe4 h6 14. c3 N7f6 15. Qh4
g5 16. Bxg5 hxg5 17. Nxg5 Qf4 18. Qxf4 Nxf4 19. Rad1 N6d5 20. Nc4 Rd8 21. Ne4
b5 22. Ne5 Bxe5 23. dxe5 Kg7 24. g3 Ng6 25. f4 Rb8 26. Nd6 bxa4 27. Bxa4 Rxb2
28. Bxc6 Ba6 29. f5 Nxc3 30. Rd4 Ne2+ 31. Rxe2 Rxe2 32. fxg6 Kxg6 33. Rg4+ Kh7
34. Be4+ Rxe4 35. Nxe4 Rd1+ 36. Kf2 Rf1+ 37. Kg2 Rf5 38. Nf6+ Kh6 39. Rg8 Bf1+
40. Kg1 Be2 41. h4 a4 42. g4 Bxg4 43. Rxg4 Rxe5 44. Rxa4 Rf5 45. Ng4+ Kh5 46.
Ne3 Rf3 47. Ng2 Rg3 48. Kf2 Rg4 49. Ra7 f5 50. Re7 Re4 51. Kg3 e5 52. Rg7 f4+
53. Kf3 Kh6 54. Rg5 Ra4 55. Rxe5 Ra3+ 56. Kxf4 Ra4+ 57. Kg3 Ra3+ 58. Kg4 Ra8
59. Nf4 Rg8+ 60. Rg5 Ra8 61. Rg6+ 1-0

[Event "chess.com qf blitz 1m+1spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.06.23"]
[Round "19"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2611"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2016.04.06"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "26"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2017"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. Qe2 O-O 6. O-O c6 7. Bb3 b5 8. a4 b4
9. Re1 Ba6 10. Qe3 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 c5 12. h3 cxd4 13. Nxd4 Qc7 14. Nb5 Qb7 15.
Nc4 Bxb5 16. axb5 Qxb5 17. Rxa7 Rxa7 18. Qxa7 Qc5 19. Qa4 Nb6 20. Nxb6 Qxb6 21.
Be3 Qb7 22. Bd2 Nd7 23. Bd5 Nc5 24. Qa5 Qa6 25. Qxb4 e6 26. Bc4 Qa7 27. b3 Rb8
28. Qa5 Qb7 29. e5 Bxe5 30. Rxe5 Ra8 31. Rxc5 Rxa5 32. Rxa5 Qe4 33. Bd3 Qd4 34.
Bh6 f5 35. Bf1 Kf7 36. Rb5 Kf6 37. Rb7 Qd1 38. h4 e5 39. Bg5+ Ke6 40. c4 d5 41.
Rb6+ Kd7 42. cxd5 f4 43. Rb7+ Kd6 44. Rxh7 f3 45. gxf3 Qxf3 46. Be7+ Kd7 47.
Bc5+ Kc8 48. Be3 Qg4+ 49. Bg2 Qd1+ 50. Kh2 Qg4 51. d6 Kd8 52. Bg5+ 1-0

[Event "chess.com qf blitz 1m+1spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.06.23"]
[Round "20"]
[White "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2611"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2016.04.06"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "26"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2017"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. c3 a6 7. Bb3 Ba7 8. h3
d6 9. Re1 Be6 10. Bc2 d5 11. Nbd2 dxe4 12. dxe4 Qe7 13. Qe2 Rad8 14. b3 Rd7 15.
Nf1 Rfd8 16. Be3 Bxe3 17. Nxe3 Qc5 18. Nd1 Nh5 19. b4 Qe7 20. Ne3 Nf4 21. Qf1
Qf6 22. Nf5 g6 23. Nh6+ Kg7 24. Ng4 Nxh3+ 25. gxh3 Bxg4 26. Nh2 Be6 27. Rad1
Rxd1 28. Rxd1 Rxd1 29. Qxd1 Bxh3 30. Qd3 Qg5+ 0-1

[Event "chess.com qf blitz 1m+1spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.06.23"]
[Round "21"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2611"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2016.04.06"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "26"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2017"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 g6 6. Nb5 Qd8 7. c3 c6 8. Na3
Bg7 9. Nc4 O-O 10. Be2 Nbd7 11. O-O Nb6 12. Nce5 Be6 13. Re1 Bd5 14. Ng5 Nfd7
15. c4 Nxe5 16. dxe5 Bxc4 17. Qc2 Bxe2 18. Qxe2 Qd5 19. Bf4 Rad8 20. e6 f6 21.
Nf7 Rde8 22. h4 Qc4 23. Qf3 Nd5 24. Re4 Qb5 25. h5 Qxb2 26. Rae1 Qxa2 27. hxg6
hxg6 28. Qg4 Rxf7 29. exf7+ Kxf7 30. Qe6+ Kf8 31. Bd6 Qd2 32. Rg4 g5 33. Rg3 a5
34. Rh3 a4 35. Rh7 b5 36. Qe4 a3 37. Qg6 Qxe1+ 38. Kh2 1-0

[Event "chess.com qf blitz 1m+1spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.06.23"]
[Round "22"]
[White "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C56"]
[WhiteElo "2611"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2016.04.06"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "26"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2017"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. e5 Ng4 6. O-O d5 7. Bb5 Bd7 8.
Bxc6 bxc6 9. h3 Nh6 10. Nxd4 Nf5 11. Nc3 Bc5 12. Nxf5 Bxf5 13. Na4 Bb6 14. b3
O-O 15. Ba3 Re8 16. Re1 Qg5 17. Qc1 Qg6 18. Nc5 Bxh3 19. g3 Bg4 20. Qf4 Qh5 21.
Re3 Re6 22. f3 Rh6 23. Re2 Qh1+ 24. Kf2 Qxa1 25. fxg4 Rh2+ 26. Ke3 Qg1+ 27. Kd2
Rxe2+ 28. Kxe2 Bxc5 0-1

[Event "chess.com qf blitz 1m+1spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.06.23"]
[Round "23"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B70"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2611"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2016.04.06"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "26"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2017"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8.
Re1 Nc6 9. Nb3 a6 10. Bf1 b5 11. a4 b4 12. Nd5 Nd7 13. a5 e6 14. Ne3 Qc7 15.
Nc4 Nc5 16. Bf4 e5 17. Be3 Rd8 18. Nb6 Rb8 19. Nd5 Qb7 20. Nxc5 dxc5 21. Bxc5
Be6 22. Bb6 Rd7 23. Qe2 Ra8 24. Rad1 Kh8 25. Qc4 Nd4 26. Bxd4 exd4 27. Rxd4 Rc8
28. Qxb4 Qxb4 29. Rxb4 Bxd5 30. exd5 Rxd5 31. Bxa6 Bf8 32. Rc4 Rxc4 33. Bxc4
Rxa5 34. Bxf7 Kg7 35. Bc4 Rf5 36. g3 Bc5 37. Re2 h5 38. Kg2 g5 39. Bd3 Rf8 40.
h3 g4 41. hxg4 hxg4 42. b4 Bb6 43. c4 Bd4 44. c5 Kh6 45. c6 Bb6 46. Bc4 Rf6 47.
Re6 1-0

[Event "chess.com qf blitz 1m+1spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.06.23"]
[Round "24"]
[White "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2611"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2016.04.06"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "26"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2017"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. g3 d5 2. Bg2 e5 3. d3 Nf6 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. O-O Be7 6. c3 O-O 7. Nbd2 Re8 8. e4
dxe4 9. dxe4 a5 10. a4 Bc5 11. Qe2 Qe7 12. Nc4 Bd7 13. Ne3 Rad8 14. Nd5 Qd6 15.
Nxf6+ gxf6 16. Bh6 Kh8 17. Nh4 f5 18. Bg5 f6 19. Rad1 Qe7 20. Rxd7 Rxd7 21.
Nxf5 Qf7 22. Bh6 Red8 23. Bg7+ Qxg7 24. Nxg7 Kxg7 25. Qg4+ Kh8 26. Qe6 Rd6 27.
Qf7 Rg8 28. Qxc7 b6 29. Bh3 Rg7 30. Qc8+ Rg8 31. Qf5 Ne7 32. Qf3 Rgd8 33. Bf5
Rd2 34. Qh5 Nxf5 35. Qxf5 Kg7 36. Qg4+ Kf7 37. Qh5+ Kg7 38. Qg4+ Kf7 39. Qh5+
Kg7 40. g4 R8d6 41. h4 Rxb2 42. Qe8 Rbd2 43. Qe7+ Kg8 44. h5 Rd1 45. Qe8+ Kg7
46. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 47. Kg2 Rd2 48. Kh3 Rxf2 49. Qd7+ Kh6 50. Qf7 Rf3+ 51. Kg2 Rf4
52. Qf8+ Bxf8 0-1

[Event "chess.com qf blitz 1m+1spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.06.23"]
[Round "25"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B70"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2611"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2016.04.06"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "26"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2017"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8.
Re1 Nc6 9. Nb3 Be6 10. Bf1 Rc8 11. Nd5 a6 12. c3 Nd7 13. Bg5 h6 14. Be3 Nce5
15. Qd2 Kh7 16. Bd4 b5 17. f4 Nc4 18. Qf2 Bxd5 19. exd5 Nf6 20. Rad1 a5 21. h3
a4 22. Na1 a3 23. Bxc4 bxc4 24. bxa3 Qa5 25. Nc2 Rfe8 26. Nb4 Qxa3 27. Re3 Qa5
28. Qe2 Nxd5 29. Nxd5 e5 30. Bb6 Qb5 31. fxe5 dxe5 32. Rf3 f5 33. Rff1 Qc6 34.
Bf2 e4 35. Nb4 Qe6 36. Bd4 Red8 37. Qe3 Bxd4 38. Rxd4 Rxd4 39. Qxd4 Re8 40. Nd5
Re7 41. Nxe7 1-0

[Event "chess.com qf blitz 3m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.06.23"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A09"]
[WhiteElo "2611"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2016.04.06"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "26"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2017"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 d4 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 e5 5. O-O Nf6 6. d3 Bd6 7. e3 O-O 8. exd4
exd4 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bxf6 Qxf6 11. Nbd2 Bf5 12. Qb3 Rab8 13. Nh4 Bh7 14. Ne4 Qd8
15. c5 Be7 16. Nf3 Bxe4 17. dxe4 Bxc5 18. e5 Re8 19. Rfe1 Qd7 20. Rad1 Bb6 21.
Re4 Rbd8 22. a3 d3 23. e6 fxe6 24. Bh3 Kh8 25. Bxe6 Qd6 26. Bf5 Rxe4 27. Bxe4
Nd4 28. Qf7 Rf8 29. Ne5 Rd8 30. Ng6+ Kh7 31. Nf8+ Kh8 32. Ng6+ Kh7 33. Rxd3 Qf6
34. Nf8+ Kh8 35. Ng6+ Kh7 36. Ne5+ Kh8 37. Qxf6 1-0

[Event "chess.com qf blitz 3m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.06.23"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B00"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2611"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2016.04.06"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "26"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2017"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bg4 5. d5 Nb8 6. h3 Bxf3 7. Qxf3 Nbd7 8.
g4 g6 9. Be3 Bg7 10. O-O-O c5 11. Qe2 b5 12. g5 Nh5 13. Nxb5 Rb8 14. c3 Qa5 15.
a4 Nb6 16. Nc7+ Kd8 17. Qa6 Qxa4 18. Bb5 Qxa6 19. Nxa6 Rb7 20. Bc6 Kc8 21. b4
Nc4 22. bxc5 Nxe3 23. fxe3 Rb3 24. Rd4 dxc5 25. Kc2 cxd4 26. Kxb3 dxe3 27. Kc2
Be5 28. Rb1 e2 29. Kd2 Ng3 30. Rb7 Bxc3+ 31. Kd3 Be5 32. Rxa7 Bb8 33. Ra8 e1=Q
34. Rxb8# 1-0

[Event "chess.com qf blitz 3m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.06.23"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C68"]
[WhiteElo "2611"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[PlyCount "136"]
[EventDate "2016.04.06"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "26"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2017"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Bd6 6. d3 Ne7 7. Nbd2 O-O 8.
Nc4 Ng6 9. a4 b6 10. h3 f6 11. Nh2 Be6 12. Ne3 Qd7 13. Qf3 Bc5 14. Nhg4 Kh8 15.
Bd2 Bd4 16. Bc1 b5 17. g3 Ne7 18. axb5 cxb5 19. h4 f5 20. exf5 Nxf5 21. Qg2 Nd6
22. c3 Bxg4 23. Nxg4 Qxg4 24. cxd4 Qxd4 25. Be3 Qxd3 26. Qc6 Nc4 27. Bc5 Rg8
28. b4 Rad8 29. Kg2 e4 30. Rfe1 Rge8 31. Rad1 Qf3+ 32. Kh2 h6 33. Rxd8 Rxd8 34.
Rxe4 Kh7 35. Qe6 Rd1 36. Re1 Rxe1 37. Qxe1 Qd5 38. Qe7 Ne5 39. h5 Nf3+ 40. Kg2
Nd2+ 41. Kh2 Qxh5+ 42. Kg1 Qd1+ 43. Kh2 Qh5+ 44. Kg1 Nf3+ 45. Kg2 Qd5 46. Qxc7
Ng5+ 47. Kh2 Ne6 48. Qf7 Qe4 49. Be3 Qg6 50. Qb7 Nd8 51. Qd5 Nf7 52. f4 Qc2+
53. Kh3 Qc4 54. Qf5+ Kg8 55. Bc5 Qf1+ 56. Kh2 Qe2+ 57. Kh3 Qe8 58. Qd5 Kh8 59.
Kg2 Nd8 60. Kh2 Qe2+ 61. Kg1 Ne6 62. Bd6 Qe3+ 63. Kg2 Nd4 64. Be5 Qe2+ 65. Kh3
Qf1+ 66. Kh4 Nf5+ 67. Kh5 Qh3+ 68. Kg6 Ne7+ 0-1

[Event "chess.com qf blitz 3m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.06.23"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2611"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2016.04.06"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "26"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2017"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 c6 4. Nf3 g6 5. h3 Bg7 6. Be3 O-O 7. a4 Nbd7 8. Qd2
e5 9. dxe5 dxe5 10. a5 Qe7 11. Bd3 Nc5 12. O-O Nh5 13. Rfd1 Ne6 14. Bf1 Nhf4
15. Kh2 Rd8 16. Qe1 Nd4 17. Nxd4 exd4 18. Bxf4 dxc3 19. Rxd8+ Qxd8 20. bxc3 Be6
21. e5 Qd5 22. Qe3 Re8 23. c4 Qd8 24. Qxa7 Bc8 25. Re1 g5 26. Bg3 h5 27. Kg1 f5
28. h4 f4 29. Bh2 Rxe5 30. Rxe5 Bxe5 31. hxg5 Qxg5 32. Qa8 Qd8 33. a6 bxa6 34.
Qxc6 Bf5 35. Qxa6 Qc7 36. Qh6 Qf7 37. Bxf4 Bg7 38. Qg5 Bxc2 39. Be2 Bg6 40. c5
Bf6 41. Qg3 h4 42. Qf3 Kg7 43. c6 h3 44. c7 Qe6 45. Qxh3 Bf5 46. Qg3+ Kh7 47.
Qe3 Qc6 48. Bd3 1-0

[Event "chess.com qf blitz 3m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.06.23"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A12"]
[WhiteElo "2611"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2016.04.06"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "26"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2017"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Bg4 3. Bg2 Nd7 4. O-O c6 5. d3 e6 6. Nbd2 Bd6 7. h3 Bh5 8. b3
Ngf6 9. Bb2 O-O 10. a3 Qe7 11. c4 a5 12. Qc2 Rfe8 13. Rfe1 h6 14. e4 dxe4 15.
Nxe4 Nxe4 16. Rxe4 Rad8 17. Qc3 Qf6 18. d4 Bg6 19. Ree1 b6 20. Ne5 Bxe5 21.
dxe5 Qf5 22. g4 Qg5 23. b4 h5 24. Qg3 hxg4 25. hxg4 axb4 26. axb4 Nf8 27. f4
Qe7 28. f5 exf5 29. gxf5 Bxf5 30. e6 Nxe6 31. Bxg7 Rd3 32. Qe5 Qg5 33. Bf6 Qg6
34. Ra2 Kh7 35. Rf2 Ng7 36. Bxg7 Rxe5 37. Bxe5 Kg8 38. Ba1 Be6 39. c5 b5 40.
Be5 Qg4 41. Ra1 Rd1+ 42. Rxd1 Qxd1+ 43. Rf1 Qd2 44. Bf6 Bd5 45. Rf2 Qe1+ 46.
Bf1 Kh7 47. Rh2+ Kg6 48. Rf2 Qxb4 49. Be5 Qe4 50. Rg2+ Kf5 51. Bg3 b4 52. Rf2+
Kg6 53. Bg2 Qd4 54. Kh2 b3 55. Bh3 Qxf2+ 56. Bxf2 b2 0-1

[Event "chess.com qf blitz 3m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.06.23"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2611"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2016.04.06"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "26"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2017"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 Nf6 7. Nc3 O-O 8.
Be3 b6 9. Bf4 Nd7 10. Qd2 e5 11. Bh6 f6 12. O-O Rf7 13. Bxg7 Kxg7 14. Nh2 Nf8
15. f4 exf4 16. Rxf4 g5 17. Rf2 Ng6 18. Raf1 Be6 19. Ne2 Qd6 20. Qe3 h5 21. Nf3
h4 22. d4 cxd4 23. Nexd4 Raf8 24. e5 fxe5 25. Nxe6+ Qxe6 26. Nxg5 1-0

[Event "chess.com qf blitz 3m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.06.23"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2611"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2016.04.06"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "26"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2017"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Bf5 3. Bg2 c6 4. d3 h6 5. O-O Nd7 6. Nbd2 e5 7. e4 dxe4 8. Nxe4
Ngf6 9. Ned2 Bd6 10. Nc4 Qc7 11. Re1 O-O 12. Nxd6 Qxd6 13. b3 Rfe8 14. Bb2 Rad8
15. Nd2 Qc7 16. h3 Nf8 17. Qf3 Bc8 18. Nc4 Ng6 19. Re2 b5 20. Nd2 Re6 21. Rae1
c5 22. Ne4 Nxe4 23. Qxe4 Rde8 24. h4 Qb6 25. a4 b4 26. Qe3 Qd6 27. Bh3 Nf4 28.
Bxe6 Nxe2+ 29. Rxe2 Rxe6 30. Bxe5 Qd7 31. Qxc5 f6 32. Qxb4 fxe5 33. Qc5 Bb7 34.
Rxe5 Rc6 35. Re7 Rxc5 36. Rxd7 Bf3 37. c4 Re5 38. Kh2 h5 39. g4 Bxg4 40. Rxa7
g5 41. Kg3 Rf5 42. hxg5 Rf3+ 43. Kg2 h4 44. g6 h3+ 45. Kg1 Rxd3 46. Rh7 Rxb3
47. c5 Ra3 48. c6 Rxa4 49. c7 Rc4 50. Re7 Bf5 51. g7 Rc2 52. Re5 Bd7 53. Re7
Rxc7 54. Kh2 Rb7 55. f4 Rb2+ 56. Kg3 Rg2+ 57. Kf3 Bc6+ 0-1

[Event "chess.com qf blitz 3m+2spm Chess960"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.06.23"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2611"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "qrbkrnnb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/QRBKRNNB w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "1"]
[EventDate "2016.04.06"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "26"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2017"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.25"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. f4 1-0

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 4th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2016.04.18"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2788"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2016.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 171 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.04.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.04.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. g3 d5 2. Nf3 c6 3. Bg2 Bf5 4. O-O Nd7 5. d3 h6 6. Re1 Ngf6 7. Nc3 e5 8. e4
dxe4 9. Nxe4 Nxe4 10. dxe4 Be6 11. Qe2 Bc5 12. a3 O-O 13. b4 Bb6 14. Bb2 Qf6
15. c4 Bc7 16. c5 a5 17. Nd2 axb4 18. axb4 b6 19. cxb6 Bxb6 20. Nf3 Qe7 21.
Nxe5 Nxe5 22. Bxe5 Qxb4 23. Rab1 Qc5 24. Rec1 Qxe5 25. Rxb6 c5 26. Rb5 Rfc8 27.
h3 Ra1 28. Qe1 Rxc1 29. Qxc1 Qd4 30. Rb2 c4 31. Rd2 Qe5 32. f4 Qc5+ 33. Kh2 c3
34. Rd3 c2 35. f5 Ba2 36. Rd7 Qb5 37. Ra7 Qb1 0-1

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 4th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2016.04.18"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Eljanov, Pavel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2016.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 171 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.04.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.04.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. h3 a6 8. Bxc6
bxc6 9. Re1 Bb6 10. Nbd2 a5 11. Nc4 h6 12. d4 exd4 13. cxd4 Re8 14. Qc2 c5 15.
d5 a4 16. Bd2 Bd7 17. Bc3 Bb5 18. b3 Nd7 19. Nfd2 Qe7 20. Re3 c6 21. Rg3 f6 22.
Ne3 Qf8 23. Nf5 g5 24. dxc6 Bxc6 25. Rd1 Ne5 26. Bxe5 Rxe5 27. Re3 Bc7 28. Nc4
Re6 29. Qe2 axb3 30. axb3 Kh7 31. Qh5 Be8 32. Qg4 Qf7 33. Nfxd6 Bxd6 34. Nxd6
Qe7 35. e5 fxe5 36. Qe4+ 1-0

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 4th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2016.04.18"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Grandelius, Nils"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "2649"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2016.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 171 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.04.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.04.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. Qa4+ Nbd7 6. Qxc4 a6 7. Qc2 c5 8.
Nc3 Bd6 9. O-O O-O 10. d4 Qe7 11. Rd1 h6 12. Bf4 Bxf4 13. gxf4 cxd4 14. Nxd4
Rd8 15. e3 Nf8 16. Na4 Rb8 17. Qc5 Qxc5 18. Nxc5 g5 19. fxg5 hxg5 20. Nf3 Rxd1+
21. Rxd1 b6 22. Nb3 g4 23. Ne5 Bb7 24. Rd4 Bxg2 25. Kxg2 Rc8 26. Nxg4 Nxg4 27.
Rxg4+ Ng6 28. Rb4 b5 29. a4 bxa4 30. Rxa4 Rc2 31. Nd4 Rxb2 32. Rxa6 Ne5 33. Kg3
Rb1 34. Nf3 Nxf3 35. Kxf3 Kg7 36. Ra4 Rb2 37. Rg4+ Kh6 38. Kg3 Rb1 39. h3 Rg1+
40. Kf4 Rf1 41. f3 Ra1 42. e4 Ra3 43. Rg3 Ra5 44. h4 Rb5 45. Rg5 Rb3 46. Ra5
Kg6 47. h5+ Kf6 48. h6 Kg6 49. Ra7 Rb5 50. h7 Rh5 51. Ra2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 4th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2016.04.18"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2763"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2016.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 171 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.04.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.04.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. a3 a6 7. Be3 Be7 8. f4
b5 9. Nxc6 Qxc6 10. Bd3 Bb7 11. O-O Nf6 12. Kh1 d5 13. exd5 Nxd5 14. Be4 Qd7
15. Bxd5 Bxd5 16. Nxd5 Qxd5 17. Qxd5 exd5 18. Bd4 f6 19. g3 Kf7 20. Kg2 Rhe8
21. Kf3 Rac8 22. Rf2 Bc5 23. Rd1 Re4 24. Bxc5 Rxc5 25. Rd3 {[#] Objectively
the rook ending is equal but that can be said of many endgames Carlsen has won.
} b4 $2 ({Better is} 25... a5 {After} 26. Rxd5 {Black has} Rxf4+) 26. Rxd5 Rxd5
({Now} 26... Rxf4+ 27. gxf4 Rxd5 28. axb4 {costs a pawn.}) 27. Kxe4 Rb5 28. a4
Ra5 29. b3 Rc5 30. c4 bxc3 31. Rc2 Ke6 32. Kd4 Rd5+ 33. Kxc3 Kf5 34. Kc4 Rd8
35. b4 Kg4 36. b5 axb5+ 37. axb5 h5 38. b6 Rc8+ 39. Kd3 Rb8 40. Rb2 h4 41. gxh4
Kxf4 42. b7 Ke5 43. h5 f5 1-0

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 4th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2016.04.18"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C79"]
[WhiteElo "2754"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2016.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 171 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.04.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.04.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 g6 5. c3 d6 6. d4 Bd7 7. O-O Bg7 8. Re1
Nf6 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bh4 O-O 11. dxe5 dxe5 12. Nbd2 Qe7 13. Nf1 b5 14. Bc2 Rad8
15. Ne3 Be6 16. Qc1 Qc5 17. Re2 Rd7 18. Qe1 Nh5 19. b4 Qb6 20. Bb3 Nf4 21. Rd2
Rxd2 22. Qxd2 a5 23. Bxe6 fxe6 24. a3 g5 25. Bg3 Rd8 26. Qa2 Kf7 27. h4 Bf6 28.
hxg5 hxg5 29. Ng4 Rd3 30. Qc2 Rxc3 31. Qb2 axb4 32. axb4 Rc4 33. Bxf4 gxf4 34.
Rd1 Ke7 35. Nxf6 Kxf6 36. Rd7 Nd4 37. Nxd4 Rxd4 38. Rh7 Qc6 39. Qe2 Qc1+ 40.
Kh2 Rd1 41. Rh6+ Ke7 42. Rh7+ Kd6 43. Kh3 Rh1+ 44. Kg4 Rxh7 0-1

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 4th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2016.04.18"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D41"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2016.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 171 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.04.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.04.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 c5 7. Nf3 cxd4 8.
cxd4 Bb4+ 9. Bd2 Bxd2+ 10. Qxd2 O-O 11. Bc4 Nd7 12. O-O b6 13. a4 Bb7 14. Bd3 (
14. Rfe1 Nf6 15. Bd3 h6 16. a5 a6 17. axb6 Qxb6 18. Rab1 Qc7 19. Rbc1 Qe7 20.
Qa5 Rfc8 21. Rxc8+ Rxc8 22. Nd2 Qd7 23. Qb6 Rc3 24. Bxa6 Bxa6 25. Qxa6 Qxd4 $15
{1/2-1/2 (97) Topalov,V (2803)-Carlsen,M (2850) London 2015}) 14... Rb8 (14...
a5 15. Rfc1 e5 16. d5 $14 {0-1 (57) Kramnik,V (2783)-Naiditsch,A (2722)
Dortmund 2015}) (14... Rc8 15. a5 Qc7 16. Rfb1 h6 17. h3 Rfd8 18. Ra3 Qd6 19.
Rab3 Rc7 20. axb6 Nxb6 $14 {1/2-1/2 (34) Ding,L (2707) -Kramnik,V (2801) Paris/
St Petersburg 2013}) 15. Rfe1 h6 16. a5 b5 17. Rac1 (17. a6 $5) 17... a6 18.
Qb4 Rc8 19. Nd2 Rxc1 20. Rxc1 {[#]} Ne5 $2 {Too optimistic.} (20... Qb8 {
with the idea} 21. Z0 Rc8 $11) 21. Bxb5 axb5 22. dxe5 Qd3 23. h3 Rd8 24. Rc7
Ba8 (24... Qxd2 25. Qxd2 Rxd2 26. Rxb7 Ra2 27. Rxb5 $18) 25. Qe7 Rf8 26. Qd6
Qe2 (26... Rd8 27. Qxd3 Rxd3 28. Rc8+ Kh7 29. Rxa8 Rxd2 30. Rb8 $18) 27. f3
Qe3+ 28. Kh2 Qf4+ 29. Kh1 b4 30. a6 h5 31. a7 h4 32. Qxb4 Qxe5 33. Qc5 Qxc5 34.
Rxc5 Rd8 35. Nc4 Kh7 ({After} 35... Kh7 36. Nb6 Kg6 37. Rc7 {Black has hardly
any moves - therefore he resigned.}) 1-0

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 4th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2016.04.18"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2784"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2016.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 171 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.04.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.04.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 a6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 c6 6. e4 dxe4 7. Ng5 Be7 8. Bc4
Nh6 9. Ngxe4 Nf5 10. d5 O-O 11. O-O cxd5 12. Nxd5 Nc6 13. Qh5 Be6 14. Nxe7+
Qxe7 15. Ng5 h6 16. Nxe6 fxe6 17. Bd2 Nfd4 18. Rad1 Rf5 19. Qh3 Rd8 20. Be3 b5
21. Bxd4 Nxd4 22. Rxd4 Rxd4 23. Qxf5 Rxc4 24. Qd3 Qc5 25. b3 Rc2 26. a4 Rc3 27.
Qe4 Qd5 28. Qg6 Qxb3 29. axb5 axb5 30. Ra1 Qa2 31. Rd1 Qd5 32. Qb1 Qb3 33. Rd8+
Kf7 34. Qe1 Qc4 35. Rd7+ Kf6 36. Rd1 b4 37. h3 b3 38. Qd2 Kg6 39. Re1 Rc2 40.
Qd7 b2 41. Rxe6+ Kh7 42. Re1 Rc1 43. Qf5+ Kh8 0-1

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 4th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2016.04.18"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Li, Chao B"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D75"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2755"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2016.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 171 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.04.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.04.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 g6 2. Nf3 Bg7 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 c5 5. Nc3 O-O 6. d4 d5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. O-O
cxd4 9. Nxd4 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Nc6 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Be3 Qa5 13. Bxc6 Rb8 14. Qd5
Qxc3 15. Rac1 Qb2 16. Bxa7 Bh3 17. Rfe1 Rbc8 18. Be3 Be6 19. Qc5 Qxa2 20. Qxe7
Bb2 21. Rc5 Ba3 22. Qf6 Rfd8 23. Ra5 Qb2 24. Qxb2 Bxb2 25. Rb1 Rxc6 26. Rxb2
Bh3 27. Ra1 Rcd6 28. Rbb1 Bg4 29. f3 Bf5 30. Rb2 Bh3 31. Kf2 h5 32. Bg5 Re8 33.
Bf4 Rc6 34. Ra7 Kg7 35. Rbb7 Be6 36. Be3 Rd8 37. Ra4 Rcd6 38. Rbb4 R8d7 39.
Bd4+ f6 40. e4 Rc6 41. Ke3 Rc2 42. Ra6 Bc4 43. Bxf6+ Kf7 44. Rc6 Re2+ 45. Kf4
Be6 46. Kg5 Rxh2 47. Rbb6 Ba2 48. Be5 Rf2 49. Rf6+ Ke7 50. Bd6+ Rxd6 51. Rbxd6
Rg2 52. Rxg6 Rxg3+ 53. Kf4 1-0

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 4th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2016.04.18"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2790"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2016.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 171 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.04.26"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.04.26"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nbd2 Be6 7. O-O Nd7 8.
Nb3 Bb6 9. Ng5 Bxb3 10. axb3 Qe7 (10... f6 11. Nf3 Nc5 12. Nd2 O-O 13. Nc4 Ne6
14. Kh1 Qd7 15. Qg4 Rad8 $11 {1/2-1/2 (72) Nakamura,H (2787)-Kramnik,V (2801)
Zuerich 2016}) 11. Bd2 (11. Kh1 f6 12. Nf3 Nc5 13. Nh4 Ne6 14. Qg4 O-O-O 15. f4
exf4 16. Bxf4 Qd7 $11 {1/2-1/2 (54) Sethuraman,S (2622)-Karthikeyan,P (2400)
Kottayam 2014}) 11... O-O-O {Castling queenside is a bit careless - White can
quickly drum up an attack.} 12. b4 Kb8 13. c4 Bd4 14. Nf3 Nf8 (14... Bxb2 15.
Ra2 Bd4 16. Qa4 a6 17. Nxd4 exd4 18. b5 $40) 15. Qa4 (15. Nxd4 Rxd4 (15... exd4
16. b5 cxb5 17. cxb5 {followed by} Z0 18. Qa4 $18) 16. Be3 $18) 15... a6 {
A move Black would prefer not to make but how else to defend a7? [#]} 16. b5
cxb5 17. cxb5 Qd7 18. bxa6 Qxa4 19. Rxa4 Ne6 20. axb7 Nc5 21. Ra3 Bxb2 22. Ra2
Nxd3 (22... Bd4 23. Nxd4 exd4 24. Rb1 $18 {is not much fun for Black.} Nxb7 25.
Rab2 $18) 23. Rb1 c5 (23... c5 24. Ne1 $18) 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 4th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2016.04.19"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2763"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2016.04.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 172"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.05.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.05.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Nbd2 Bb4 6. Qa4 c5 7. a3 {[%mdl 4] A
very logical line: White provokes ...c7-c5 so that the position opens up, and
then obtains the advantage of the bishop pair.} Bxd2+ 8. Bxd2 O-O (8... cxd4 {
, seen in a number of games, is another possibility.}) 9. dxc5 {An unusual
move order.} (9. Bf4 Qc8 (9... Bb7 10. dxc5 e5 $5 {is a curious idea}) 10. Bd6
Re8 11. dxc5 Ne4 12. Bg2 Bb7 $11 (12... bxc5 $143 {1/2 (18) Portisch,L (2650)
-Seirawan,Y (2555) Mar del Plata 1981} 13. Ne5 $1 Bb7 14. Bxe4 Bxe4 15. f3 $16)
) (9. Bg2 {is common but then, besides} {Black can also play} d5 $5 {:} (9...
Bb7 {e.g.} 10. dxc5 (10. O-O cxd4 11. Nxd4 Bxg2 12. Kxg2 Nc6 13. Nxc6 dxc6 {
1/2 (13) Portisch,L (2630)-Keres,P (2615) Amsterdam 1971}) 10... bxc5 11. Be3 (
11. O-O d6 12. b4 $5) 11... d6 12. O-O a5 13. Qb3 Qc7 14. Rfd1 Ra6 15. Bf4 a4
16. Qc2 Nbd7 $11 {0-1 (34) Sebenik,M (2552)-Iordachescu,V (2645) Istanbul 2012}
) 10. dxc5 (10. Bf4 Qd7 11. Qxd7 Nbxd7 12. Ne5 cxd4 13. cxd5 exd5 14. Nxd7 Nxd7
15. O-O-O Nc5 $15 {1/2 (29) Toth,C (2420)-Sunye Neto,J (2545) Merida 1993}) (
10. cxd5 exd5 11. Be3 (11. O-O Bxe2 12. Rfe1 Bxf3 13. Bxf3 Qd7 $1 $15 {0-1 (40)
Sorin,A (2460)-Zarnicki,P (2515) Villa Gesell 1998 CBM 064 [Avrukh,B]}) (11.
Bg5 Qe8 $1) 11... Qe8 $11) 10... bxc5 11. Ne5 Bb7 12. O-O Qe7 {[%cal Yd5d4] -
Black should equalise.}) 9... bxc5 10. Bg2 Qb6 $6 (10... Bb7 {transposes to
Sebenik-Iordachescu (see above). Black tries to make use of White's early
d4xc5 but the position of his queen on b6 is a serious drawback.}) 11. O-O Nc6
(11... d5 12. Ne5 $1 Qxb2 13. Bf4 $36) (11... Bb7 12. b4 $1) 12. Be3 $1 {
[%cal Ge3b6,Rb2b4,Re3c5] A very unpleasant pin, with a permanent threat of
b2-b4.} Rfc8 (12... Qa5 $6 13. Qc2 $1 Ng4 14. b4 cxb4 15. axb4 Qh5 16. Bc5 $18
{1-0 (35) Belotti,B (2405)-Boog,A (2375) Biel 1992}) (12... Rab8 $5 13. b4 Bxc4
14. Bxc5 Bb3 $1 15. Bxb6 Bxa4 16. Bc5 Rfc8 17. Bd6 $14) 13. Rfd1 $1 (13. Bxc5
$143 Qxc5 14. Qxa6 Qa5 $1 15. Qxa5 Nxa5 {- Black regains the c4-pawn and
almost equalises.}) 13... d5 14. cxd5 exd5 15. Bxc5 {Now in time!} Qa5 $1 {
A tactical trick enabling Black to regain the pawn but White keeps a
positional advantage.} 16. Qc2 (16. Qxa5 Nxa5 17. Nd4 Rxc5 18. b4 {was
possible too, but the game continuation is more clear.}) 16... Bxe2 17. Qxe2
Qxc5 18. Rac1 Qb6 19. b4 $16 {[%csl Rd5,Gg2] White has a queenside pawn
advantage, his bishop is strong, and Black's d5-pawn is weak. Black gradually
succumbs to White's pressure.} h6 20. Qe3 $1 {A good idea. White's queenside
pawns will be especially strong in the endgame.} Qb7 {Too passive.} (20... Qxe3
21. fxe3 Ne7 {was relatively better after all.}) 21. Bh3 Re8 22. Qc3 Ne7 23.
Nd4 {[%csl Gc1,Gc3,Gd1,Gd4,Gh3]} Ne4 24. Qc7 Qa6 25. f3 Ng5 26. Bd7 Red8 27. h4
Nxf3+ $6 {Desperation.} (27... Nh7 28. Re1 Qf6 29. Rcd1 {and Black is in a
kind of stalemate.}) 28. Nxf3 Qxa3 29. Kg2 Qb2+ {An unnecessary check.} (29...
Qxb4 {may be more stubborn.}) 30. Rd2 Qxb4 31. Re1 {White may have technical
problems after the queen exchange but he avoids it, using his extra piece for
a decisive attack.} a5 32. Rde2 Ng6 33. h5 Nh8 34. Bf5 a4 35. Ne5 Qd6 36. Qc2
$1 Re8 37. Bh7+ Kf8 38. Qf5 Re7 39. Bg6 Kg8 40. Nxf7 $1 Rxf7 41. Bxf7+ 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 4th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2016.04.20"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2754"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2016.04.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 172"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.05.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.05.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Qc2 c6 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Bf4 Nh5 8.
g3 Nxf4 9. gxf4 Nb6 10. e3 g6 11. h4 Bb4 12. Bd3 Bg4 13. Ne5 Bh5 14. Be2 Bxe2
15. Kxe2 f6 16. Nd3 Bxc3 17. Qxc3 Qe7 18. Qc5 Nc4 19. Qxe7+ Kxe7 20. h5 Rag8
21. hxg6 hxg6 22. a4 a5 23. b3 Nd6 24. Rag1 Kf7 25. Rc1 Rh5 26. Rhg1 Rh2 27.
Rh1 Rh5 28. Rhg1 Rh2 29. Rh1 Rh5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 4th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2016.04.21"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grandelius, Nils"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B29"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2649"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2016.04.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 172"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.05.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.05.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Magnus had a good start to Norway Chess, beating Harikrishna and then drawing
with a very solidity minded Topalov. Next was the young Swedish top player
Grandelius who in the qualifier had edged out local favourite Hammer. Nils
announced at the press-conference that he was afraid of no-one, and would stay
loyal to his style, and certainly kept his word even when facing the World
Champion:} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 $6 {A line the Swedish team had prepared for
the 2015 European championship in Reykjavik, and with which he made a draw
against Adams. After the game he was asked when he made his mistake, and said
" On move two!" It is true that the line most likely is dubious, but the
decisive mistake did only come later though.} 3. e5 $1 {Part of the reason
that 2...Nf6 is not very popular is that after 3.Nc3 Black's best option most
likely is just 3...d6 which after 4.d4 transposes back to main-line Sicilians
as in the Grandelius game with e.g. Harikrishna recently. However Nils' clever
point is that then he would have avoided Magnus' pet-line 3.Bb5+! But 3.Nc3 in
a way is kind of the lazy reaction to 2...Nf6, so one could argue that Nils
actually forces Magnus to play the best move!} Nd5 4. Nc3 Nxc3 (4... e6 {
used to be Black's try years back, when:} 5. Nxd5 exd5 6. d4 Nc6 7. dxc5 Bxc5
8. Qxd5 Qb6 9. Bc4 $1 {led to complications favourable for White, which lead
to Black players abandoning the line.}) 5. dxc3 Nc6 6. Bf4 Qb6 $5 {This
however is Black's new idea, resurrecting the line. Earlier Black played a
setup with the queen on c7 followed by long castling, but then White gets easy
development with Bd3 Qe2 0-0-0 etc. Now however Black tries forcing a weakness.
If after 7.Rb1 long castling is ruled out altogether, and 7.b3 at least gives
Black a target on c3 White should aim for 0-0-0. Which lead Magnus to the
conclusion that...} 7. Qc1 $5 {was the way to handle the position. Of course
the queen can be said to be awkwardly placed on c1, but despite the d-file
being open it was not of much use there anyway, and while 0-0-0 being as a
minimum postponed, White does have the simple plan of Bd3 and 0-0, while on
the other hand for Black it is much harder to come up when a sensible way to
finish his development.} f6 $5 {Nils took his time, and then played the
principled move. Ipatov has tried 7...h6 8.h4 d5 but after 9.exd6 exd6 10.Qe3+
is an obvious improvement with a pleasant position for White. Now however
Black tries undermining the white centre. Intending either the bold ...g5 as
well as ...d6 exd6 e5!.} 8. Bc4 $5 {A logical developing move, that makes 8...
d6 look less attractive as: 9.exf6 gxf6 10.Qe3!? when despite Black getting
his huge centre, it looks more like White's speedy development is the relevant
factor. Black might have to play 10...e5, but then White gets a grip on the
white squares in return. Nils shows no fear, and again plays the principled
move:} g5 $5 9. Bg3 $5 (9. exf6 {was a similar piece sacrifice to the game.
After} gxf4 10. Qxf4 {it even looks like White has won some time, but the
knight on f3 is a less strong attacking piece than the bishop on g3, and
concretely after} Na5 $1 {there seems to be no effective follow-up for White.})
9... g4 10. exf6 $1 {I praised Nils' courage, but one has to give credit for
Magnus' lack of fear too. The piece sacrifice is purely intuitive, believing
White's compensation to be sufficient.} gxf3 11. Qf4 $5 {Played quickly, and
very much planned when sacrificing the piece. It aims at both the f7- and
c7-squares, hoping to catch the black king in the centre, and not caring about
Black getting a tempo to take on g2. White however had an interesting
alternative, and if 12...h5! seems to hold in the game continuation, 11.0-0
might actually be very relevant for the theoretical debate of 2...Nf6, should
such a debate exist...} ({After} 11. O-O {The best seems to be} Na5 $1 {when} (
11... fxg2 12. Re1 {just helps White.}) ({So Black should either go for} 11...
e6 {when however} 12. Qf4 {looks very dangerous for Black as e.g} Kf7 13. Rad1
d5 $2 (13... Na5 14. Bd3) 14. Rxd5 $1 {crashes through.}) 12. f7+ Kd8 13. Bd5
Qg6 {looks like the critical line with a strange position where to me it looks
like White has at least sufficient compensation for the sacrificed piece.})
11... fxg2 $5 {Greedy and good.} ({If directly} 11... Na5 {then Magnus pointed
out in the post mortem that} {, however} 12. f7+ $1 (12. fxe7 Bxe7 13. Bf7+ Kf8
$1 {was an important resource for Black, as he should not fear the discovered
check, and now threatens ...Qf6 consolidating, practically speaking forcing
White to give a perpetual.} (13... Kd8 14. O-O $18) 14. Be6+ $11) 12... Kd8 13.
Bd5 {gives White great compensation similar to the game.}) (11... h5 {allows
White options with 0-0 making ...h5 lose its point, so Black's move order is
the correct one.}) 12. Rg1 Na5 $2 {A very logical move, but possibly the
losing mistake!} ({The absolutely only way is} 12... h5 $1 {stopping long
castling due to ...Bh6 as well as having the option of disturbing the white
bishop by ...h4.} {The best probably is} 13. Rxg2 $5 {when} (13. fxe7 Bxe7 14.
Qf7+ ({and also} 14. O-O-O Kd8 {seems to hold up decently as well}) 14... Kd8
15. Qg7 Re8 16. O-O-O Na5 17. Bf7 Qf6 $1 {defends just in time.}) ({Trying to
continue similarly to the game with} 13. f7+ $6 Kd8 14. O-O-O {runs into} ({and
} 14. Rxg2 d6 15. O-O-O Kc7 16. Bh4 Bg4 {also defends well.}) 14... h4 $1 15.
Bxh4 Qc7 $1 {when White's attack seems too slow.}) 13... Kd8 $1 14. fxe7+ (14.
O-O-O $6 Bh6 15. Qxh6 Rxh6 16. Bf4 d6 {unfortunately defends}) 14... Bxe7 15.
O-O-O h4 16. Bxh4 Bxh4 17. Rg8+ Rxg8 18. Qxh4+ Kc7 19. Bxg8 {which leads to an
equal position. Black has an extra piece but White's attack and the h-pawn
balances the position.}) 13. f7+ (13. fxe7 Bxe7 14. Bf7+ Kf8 $1 {again is
strong, forcing White to limit himself to a draw by perpetual check.}) 13...
Kd8 14. Bd5 {A key position in the game. At first it looks like Black has
survived the worst. His king will be safe on c7, and having "lured" White's
pawn to f7, his e7-d6-c5 construction looks solid. At first the computer
agrees, but after a few minutes comes to the realisation that White is winning.
Grandelius thought for half an hour, but came to the same result. Yes Black's
king is safe, but there is no reasonable plan for stopping a White rook from
invading on g8.} Bh6 $6 {Nils decided to sacrifice a rook for some counterplay,
but it is insufficient.} (14... d6 15. O-O-O Kc7 16. Rxg2 Bh3 17. Rgg1 {
is the illustrative mainline. After} Nc6 {he even pauses for} 18. Kb1 {as then}
Ne5 ({and} 18... Bd7 19. Bh4 Ne5 20. Rg8 Ng6 21. Qe4 Bc6 22. c4 {leaves Black
in a hopeless position, despite his extra piece.}) {is met by} 19. Qh4 $1) 15.
Qe5 Rf8 16. Bh4 $1 {This is the problem. Mate is threatened on e7, and Black
has to give up the rook to lure the white bishop away from attacking the
c6-square as 16...Nc6 17.Bxc6 Rxf7 18.Rxg2 wins on the spot.} Rxf7 17. Bxf7 Nc6
18. Qg3 Qxb2 19. Rd1 Qxc2 20. Bd5 {Materialistically speaking it is not that
bad for Black, but add on top a white attack, and the overall situation
becomes hopeless.} Qf5 21. Rxg2 Bf4 22. Qf3 $5 (22. Qxf4 $5 Qxf4 23. Rg8+ Kc7
24. Bg3 {was simple and strong, but Magnus plays for the maximum.}) 22... Kc7
23. Rg5 Qf8 24. Bg3 $6 {After the game he expressed his dissatisfaction with
this inacurracy. Taking on c6 first, and only then Bg3 would have been simpler.
} e5 25. Rh5 $6 (25. Bxc6 $1 {actually was still possible, as Nils intended:}
Qe7 $5 {while tactically creative, getting out of the f-file pin, and
preparing a discovered check in the e-line, still falls short after} 26. Rh5
dxc6 27. Qe4 $1 {attacking h7, and thus winning comfortably for White.}) 25...
a5 26. Rxh7 Ra6 27. Rf7 Qe8 28. Kf1 Bxg3 29. hxg3 Qh8 30. Kg2 Nd8 31. Rf8 Qg7
32. Rh1 Rh6 33. Rxh6 Qxh6 34. Qf6 Qxf6 35. Rxf6 d6 36. Kf3 b5 37. g4 Kd7 38.
Rh6 {And here Grandelius resigned. Even if the rather dull technical phase in
the end dragged out the game a bit, the fireworks right at the start made it
an amazing and atypical game for a supertournament, and gave Magnus a
tournament lead, which he kept till the end.} 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 4th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2016.04.23"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Li, Chao B"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D14"]
[WhiteElo "2755"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2016.04.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 172"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.05.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.05.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bf4 Bf5 7. e3 e6 8. Bd3
Bxd3 9. Qxd3 Bd6 10. Bxd6 Qxd6 11. O-O O-O 12. Rac1 Rfc8 13. h3 h6 14. Nd2 Nd7
15. a3 Nb6 16. Qb5 Qd8 17. Na4 Nxa4 18. Qxa4 Qa5 19. Qd1 Ne7 20. Qe2 Qa4 21.
Qd3 Nf5 22. Qb3 Qa6 23. Qb4 Nd6 24. a4 Qb6 25. Qa3 a5 26. Rc5 Qb4 27. Qxb4 axb4
28. Rfc1 Rxc5 29. dxc5 Rc8 30. Kf1 Nc4 31. Nxc4 Rxc5 32. b3 dxc4 33. bxc4 Ra5
34. Ra1 Rc5 35. Rc1 Ra5 36. Ra1 Rc5 37. Rc1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 4th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2016.04.24"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2790"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2016.04.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 172"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.05.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.05.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. Nc3 d6 8. Nd5
h6 9. c3 O-O 10. O-O Rb8 11. Re1 Ba7 12. Be3 Bxe3 13. Rxe3 Na5 14. Bc2 c5 15.
b4 cxb4 16. Nxb4 Qc7 17. Qd2 Nc6 18. Nxc6 Qxc6 19. h3 Be6 20. d4 Qc7 21. Bb3
Rfe8 22. Bxe6 Rxe6 23. a4 exd4 24. Qxd4 bxa4 25. Qxa4 Rbe8 26. Qxa6 Rxe4 27.
Rxe4 Rxe4 28. Qd3 Re8 29. Nd4 d5 30. Nf5 Qf4 31. g3 Qe4 32. Rd1 Qxd3 33. Rxd3
Kf8 34. f3 Ra8 35. g4 Ra3 36. Kf2 h5 37. Ke3 g6 38. Nd4 hxg4 39. hxg4 Nd7 40.
Nb5 Rb3 41. Rxd5 Nb6 42. Rc5 Na4 43. Rc8+ Kg7 44. Rc4 Nb6 45. Rc5 Na4 46. Rc4
Nb6 47. Rc5 Na4 48. Rc4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 4th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2016.04.25"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2788"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "129"]
[EventDate "2016.04.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 172"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.05.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.05.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. h3 Ke8 10. Nc3 h5 11. Bf4 Be7 12. Rad1 Be6 13. Ng5 Rh6 14.
Rfe1 Bb4 15. g4 hxg4 16. hxg4 Ne7 17. f3 ({The most popular move here is} 17.
Nxe6) 17... Bxc3 18. bxc3 Bxa2 19. Ne4 Rh8 20. e6 Bxe6 21. Bxc7 Nd5 ({One
wonders how Vachier-Lagrave wanted to improve a game between Anish Giri and
Sergey Karjakin which continued with} 21... b5 22. Be5 Rg8 23. Nc5 Nd5 24. f4
Bxg4 25. c4 f6 26. Rb1 Nb6 27. Bxf6+ Kf7 28. Bg5 Nxc4 29. Re7+ Kg6 30. Rbe1 Bf5
31. Kf2 Rad8 32. Nd3 a5 33. Rg1 Rd7 34. Bh4+ Kh7 35. Rxd7 Bxd7 36. Ne5 Nxe5 37.
fxe5 Re8 38. Re1 a4 39. Kf3 a3 40. Bf2 Rf8+ 41. Kg3 Be6 42. Bc5 Ra8 {0-1 (42)
Giri,A (2734)-Karjakin,S (2776) Beijing 2013}) 22. Be5 Kf8 23. Nc5 b5 24. c4
bxc4 25. Rd4 Re8 26. Rxc4 Rh6 27. Ra4 Kg8 (27... Ra8 28. Rea1 $14) 28. Rxa7 Bc8
29. Bg3 Rxe1+ 30. Bxe1 Rd6 {Black has to take measures against the threat of
Ra8.} 31. Ba5 {[#]} Bxg4 $5 {Carlsen liquidates into an endgame which he knows
from his World Championship match against Vishy Anand.} (31... Be6 32. Ne4 Rd7
33. Ra8+ Kh7 {apparently was not to his liking.}) 32. fxg4 Rg6 33. Kf2 Rxg4 34.
Bd2 ({Another attempt was} 34. Nd3 Rc4 35. Ne1 Ra4 36. Ke2 g5) 34... Rc4 35.
Ra8+ Kh7 36. Nd7 Rxc2 {The last remaining white pawn vanished from the board.}
37. Ke2 f6 38. Kd3 Rb2 39. Nf8+ Kg8 40. Ne6+ Kh7 41. Ra7 Rb3+ 42. Kd4 Rg3 43.
Kc5 Rg2 44. Ba5 Ne3 45. Kxc6 Nf5 46. Bb4 Re2 47. Kd7 Re4 48. Bc5 Kg6 49. Ra1
Re5 50. Bd6 Nxd6 51. Kxd6 Rb5 52. Rg1+ Kh6 53. Nf4 Kh7 54. Nd5 g5 55. Ke6 Kg7
56. Rf1 Ra5 57. Nxf6 Kg6 58. Nd5 Ra6+ 59. Ke5 Ra8 60. Ne7+ Kh5 61. Rh1+ Kg4 62.
Rg1+ Kh5 63. Rh1+ Kg4 64. Rg1+ Kh5 65. Rh1+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 4th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2016.04.27"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2016.04.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 172"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.05.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.05.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6 6. e3 Bf5 7. Qf3 Bg6 8.
Bxf6 Qxf6 9. Qxf6 gxf6 {Kramnik had played this strategically slightly risky
variation before. Since the Berlin Ruy Lopez is his main weapon against 1.e4,
it is no great wonder that against 1.d4 he does not have doubled pawns either.
But on the other hand the pawns are less compact here and secondly accepting
weaknesses against a subtle positional player like Carlsen looks a bit like
waving a red flag in the front of a bull.} 10. Nf3 Nd7 11. Nh4 Be7 {This is
the main line, preparing to meet f2-f4 with ...f7-f5.} (11... Nb6 12. f4 f5 13.
Bd3 Nc4 14. Bxc4 dxc4 15. a4 $14 {1/2-1/2 (31) Williams,S (2439)-Hawkins,J 
(2563) London 2015}) (11... O-O-O $6 12. f4 h5 13. Kf2 Re8 14. f5 Bh6 15. fxg6
Bxe3+ 16. Kf3 Bxd4 17. g7 Rhg8 18. Nf5 $18 {Bareev,E (2636)-Gorman,D (2289)
Philadelphia 2009 (1-0, 40)}) 12. Ne2 $5 $146 {An early novelty connected with
a deep regrouping plan. Actually the last move is logical since it prepares to
invade f5 before Black carries out the standard knight manoeuvre to d6.} ({
Kramnik's previous games went} 12. g3 Nb6 13. O-O-O (13. Kd2 Nc8 14. Bd3 Nd6
15. b3 O-O-O 16. f3 Rhe8 17. Rac1 Kb8 18. Ne2 Nc8 19. Nf4 Bb4+ 20. Ke2 Nd6 21.
g4 Re7 $11 {Ivanisevic,I (2653)-Kramnik,V (2777) Berlin 2015 (0-1, 53)}) 13...
Nc8 14. Bd3 Nd6 15. Kc2 Kd7 16. f3 Bxd3+ 17. Kxd3 f5 18. Ng2 h5 19. h4 Rag8 20.
Rh3 Ne8 21. Ke2 Bd6 22. Kf2 Nf6 23. Ne2 a5 $11 {Ding,L (2730)-Kramnik,V (2760)
Moscow 2014 (1/2-1/2, 41)}) 12... Nb6 {Since the knight will not reach d6 in
time, this move is now connected woth a queenside plan which will prove
illusory, though.} (12... f5 13. g3 Nb6 14. Nf4 Nc8 15. f3 Nd6 16. Bd3 $14 {
[%cal Ge1f2,Gh1c1,Gb2b4,Ga2a4] /\ Kf2, b4}) ({I have tried making work the
break ...c6-c5 by transferring the knight to e6, but this does not seem to be
entirely satisfactory either:} 12... Bb4+ 13. Kd1 O-O-O 14. Ng3 Nf8 15. Ngf5
Ne6 16. Bd3 Ba5 17. Ke2 (17. Kc2 c5 {[%cal Gg6c2]}) 17... Rhe8 18. g3 Bb6 19.
Rad1 Kb8 {[%cal Ge6d4]} (19... Bh5+ 20. f3 Nxd4+ 21. Nxd4 Bxd4 22. Bf5+ $1 $18)
20. Kf1 (20. b4 Bh5+ 21. f3 Nxd4+) 20... c5 21. dxc5 Nxc5 (21... Bxc5 22. Kg2
d4 23. e4 $14) 22. Kg2 (22. Bc2 Ne6 23. Kg2 d4 24. e4 $6 Nc5 $36) 22... Nxd3
23. Rxd3 Re5 24. g4 (24. Nxg6 hxg6 25. Nd4 Re4) 24... h5 25. h3 $14) 13. Ng3
$14 Bb4+ (13... Nc8 14. f4 $16 h6 15. f5 {leaves the light-squared bishop out
of play for the rest of the game.}) 14. Kd1 Na4 15. Ngf5 $1 {During the game I
was not sure about the meaning of this regrouping. At first sight, the knights
are clumsily placed, being neutralised by one bishop. Everything became clear
a few moves later.} Kd7 (15... Nxb2+ 16. Kc2 Nc4 17. Bxc4 dxc4 18. Rhb1 $16)
16. Rb1 Ke6 $6 {As it turns out in the game, the king is exposed on e6.} (16...
Rhc8 $5 17. Bd3 Bf8 (17... Bd6 18. Ke2 a6 19. g4 c5 20. Nxd6 Kxd6 21. Nf5+ $16)
18. Ke2 a6 19. g4 c5 20. Ng2 Bd6 21. h4 (21. Nxd6 Kxd6 22. Nh4 {would
practically lose a tempo over the previous line.} cxd4 23. exd4 Rc6) 21... h5
22. f3 Rc6 23. gxh5 Bxh5 24. Nxd6 Kxd6 25. Nf4 Rh8 26. Bc2 Nb6 27. dxc5+ Rxc5
28. Bb3 $14) 17. Bd3 Rhc8 18. Ke2 Bf8 19. g4 c5 $6 {This only creates new
weaknesses and no counterplay at all.} (19... Kd7 $5) 20. Ng2 $3 $16 {[%cal
Gh2h4,Gg2f4] The core of Carlsen's whole opening plan. Suddenly Black loses
stability in several sectors of the board.} cxd4 21. exd4 Bd6 {[%csl Gf4]} 22.
h4 h5 $2 {This loses a pawn leading to a hopeless position.} ({But it is
virtually impossible to decide upon a passive move like} 22... Rh8 $8 {[%csl
Gh7] defending the h7-pawn.} 23. h5 Bxf5 24. Bxf5+ Ke7 25. Ne3 Nb6 26. Kf3 h6
27. Rhe1 Kd8 28. Rbc1 $16 {Black's position looks awful, but White still needs
to prove he has a winning plan.}) 23. Ng7+ Ke7 24. gxh5 Bxd3+ 25. Kxd3 $18 {
The control over the f5-square and the threatening h-pawns make Black's
position hopeless.} Kd7 26. Ne3 Nb6 27. Ng4 $5 {Even though one of the knights
belongs to f5, Carlsen's "rodeos" are impressive at least optically.} Rh8 28.
Rhe1 {Playing cat and mouse a bit.} ({There was nothing wrong with} 28. Nxf6+
Ke7 29. Ng4) 28... Be7 29. Nf5 Bd8 30. h6 Rc8 31. b3 {[%csl Gb6]} Rc6 32. Nge3
Bc7 33. Rbc1 Rxc1 34. Rxc1 Bf4 35. Rc5 Ke6 36. Ng7+ Kd6 37. Ng4 Nd7 38. Rc2 f5
{A desperate move, which loses a pawn for nothing.} (38... a6 39. Re2 {[%cal
Ge2e8]}) (38... Ke7 39. Re2+ Kd8 40. Re8+ $5 (40. Nf5 $18) 40... Rxe8 41. Nxe8
Bxh6 42. Nexf6 Nxf6 43. Nxf6 $18 {[%csl Gd5]}) 39. Nxf5+ Ke6 40. Ng7+ {[%csl
Gf5,Gf6] As we see, 38...f5 did not clear space for the black king at all.} Kd6
41. Re2 Kc6 42. Re8 Rxe8 (42... Rh7 43. Nf5 {[%csl Gh7]}) 43. Nxe8 Nf8 44. Ne5+
Bxe5 45. dxe5 Kd7 46. Nf6+ Ke6 47. h5 Kxe5 48. Nd7+ Nxd7 49. h7 Nc5+ 50. Ke2 {
A fantastic game by Carlsen and the ugliest defeat of Kramnik I can remember.}
1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 4th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2016.04.28"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2784"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2016.04.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 172"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.05.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.05.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 {When replaying the first 7 moves of the game I was pleased to notice
that Aronian followed the lines given in the second volume of my English
trilogy.} ({But then everything changed when Carlsen switched to a line I
examined in CBM 170:} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. b3 Bg7 4. Bb2 d5 5. c4 dxc4 6.
bxc4 c5 7. Bg2 O-O 8. O-O Nc6 {The only difference is that... Carlsen played
this position with a tempo down! In the genuine ...dxc4 line Black's extra
tempo makes itself felt if play continues in the same spirit as in one of the
lines below:} 9. Ne5 Na5 10. Qc1 Ng4 11. Nxg4 Bxg4 12. Bxg7 Kxg7 13. d3 Rc8 14.
Nc3 Qd7 15. Nb5 b6 {With the queen on d7 instead of d8, the last move defends
the queenside properly solving most of Black's problems. In fact, in my
article I had recommended 9.d3 instead of 9.Ne5.}) 1... Nf6 2. g3 c6 3. Bg2 d5
4. Nf3 g6 5. b3 Bg7 6. Bb2 O-O 7. O-O dxc4 $6 8. bxc4 c5 {Carlsen's win over a
difficult opponent (Kramnik) in the previous round might have been the reason
behind such a weird opening choice. But as we will see, there have been some
strong players who have experimented in this way before.} 9. d3 Nc6 10. Ne5 {
With an extra tempo White has no reason to refrain from this active knight
move.} Na5 $146 {This is the thematic answer, aimed at leaving the e5-knight
vulnerable.} (10... Nxe5 11. Bxe5 {frees the white knight's way to c3 forcing
Black to lose some time to exchange the dominating bishop.} Ne8 12. Bxg7 Kxg7 (
12... Nxg7 13. Nc3 Nf5 14. Rb1 Rb8 15. Qa4 a6 16. Qa3 b6 17. Rb2 Nd4 18. Rfb1
$16 {Stein,L (2605)-Shamkovich,L (2520) Leningrad 1971 (1-0, 37)}) 13. Nc3 Rb8
14. a4 Bd7 15. a5 Nd6 16. Qc1 Nf5 17. Qb2 Kg8 18. Rfb1 $36 {Radjabov,T (2734)
-Gelfand,B (2743) Beijing (blitz) 2014 (½-½, 45). In both these games
White's queenside play develops naturally, without any shadow of counterplay
for Black.}) (10... Nd4 {avoids the exchange but wastes time.} 11. e3 Nf5 12.
Qc2 (12. Nc3 Nd7 13. Nf3 b6 14. Nh4 Rb8 15. Nxf5 gxf5 {Giri,A (2722)-De Jong,J
(2424) Netherlands 2011 (1-0, 35)} 16. Qe2 $14) 12... Rb8 13. Nd2 Nd7 14. Nef3
e5 15. a4 a5 16. Ne4 b6 17. Nc3 $16 {[%csl Gd5] Giri,A (2737)-Negi,P (2662)
Linares 2013 (1/2-1/2, 64)}) 11. Qc1 {A cunning and typically English way of
developing the queen. Apart from defending the bishop thus avoiding any pin
along the long diagonal, Her Majesty is prepared to move to a3, causing Black
serious queenside problems.} Qc7 {This plan, aiming to take advantage of the
white knight's vulnerability, is too time consuming.} ({But with a tempo down,
the plan recommended in my article does not work out so well:} 11... Ng4 12.
Nxg4 Bxg4 13. Bxg7 Kxg7 14. Nc3 {White will try forcing the weakening of
Black's queenside with Nb5, even though this looks like a loss of time after ..
.a6, Nb5-c3.} Rb8 (14... Rc8 15. Nb5 Nc6 16. h3 Be6 17. Qa3 a6 18. Nc3 $14) 15.
Nb5 a6 (15... Nc6 16. Rb1 Qd7 17. Qa3 $14 b6 18. Bxc6 Qxc6 19. Nxa7 Qb7 20. f3
Bh3 21. Rfd1 Ra8 22. Qb2+ f6 23. Nb5 $16) 16. Nc3 $14 {In all these lines
Black faces difficulties keeping the integrity of his queenside.}) 12. Nd2 {
A natural developing move} ({But speeding up the queenside attack with} 12. Bc3
Ne8 13. Qb2 {may be even more effective:} Rb8 14. Na3 a6 (14... Nd6 15. Nb5
Nxb5 16. cxb5 $16 {[%csl Ra5]}) 15. Rab1 b6 16. f4 $16 {In order to avoid
losing material due to the threat Bxa5, Black has nothing better than taking
on e5 with an obvious advantage for White.}) 12... Ne8 13. f4 Nd6 $6 {After
this logical move Black will not manage to keep his queenside together.} ({
The insertion of the fairly unaesthetic} 13... f6 {offers better chances for
surviving:} 14. Nef3 Nd6 15. Nb3 {[%csl Ra5,Rc5][%cal Gb2c3]} ({After the
white knight's retreat} 15. Bc3 {is not dangerous due to} Nc6 $11) 15... Nxb3 {
Black will have to take on b3 after Bc3 anyway and it is questionable whether
he can find a useful move in between.} 16. axb3 a5 17. d4 $14) 14. Bc3 Rb8 ({
It is too late for} 14... f6 {already:} 15. Qa3 fxe5 16. Bxa5 $16) 15. Qa3 {
A remarkable moment for a game which started with such a peaceful opening at
this level: after only 15 moves Black cannot avoid losing material.} b6 {.} 16.
Bxa5 bxa5 17. Nb3 Nb7 {The best practical chance. In order to win the pawn
White needs to part with his g2-bishop, offering Black some chances to muddy
the waters.} (17... Nf5 {has similar ideas but after} 18. Qxc5 Qxc5+ 19. Nxc5
Rb2 20. Kf2 Bxe5 21. fxe5 Nd4 22. Bf3 Nxf3 23. Kxf3 {the absence of queens
makes White's position easier to handle than in the game.}) 18. Bxb7 Qxb7 {
Black needs to keep the queens on the board.} (18... Bxb7 19. Qxc5 {[%csl Gc7]}
) 19. Nxc5 Qc7 20. d4 Rd8 {This and the next few moves are aimed at shattering
White's stability in the centre. and clearing the path for the c8-bishop.} 21.
Rfd1 f6 22. Nf3 e5 23. fxe5 fxe5 24. Nxe5 Bxe5 ({The thematic} 24... Rxd4 {
is insufficient:} 25. Rxd4 Bxe5 26. Qe3 $1 {The only move which retauns the
advantage by centralising the queen, but not a very difficult one to find.} (
26. Rad1 Bxd4+ 27. Rxd4 Bh3 $44) (26. Rdd1 Bxa1 27. Rxa1 Qe5 28. Re1 Bh3 $19) (
26. e3 Bh3 $132) 26... Bf5 (26... Bh3 27. Rad1 Bxd4 28. Qxd4 {[%cal Gc5e4,
Ge4f6]}) (26... Qxc5 $2 27. Rd8+ {[%csl Gc5]}) 27. Rad1 Bxd4 28. Rxd4 ({
The capture with the queen is slightly less clear than in the previous line
since the e4-square is controlled.} 28. Qxd4 Qe7 $5) 28... Bh3 (28... Qxc5 29.
Rd8+) 29. Kf2 Qc6 30. Re4 {Not the only move, of course, since ...Qg2+ is not
such a big threat. But it is useful to provoke opposition of the rooks.} Rf8+
31. Rf4 Qg2+ 32. Ke1 $18 {[%cal Ge1d2,Gc5d3]}) 25. dxe5 Rxd1+ $6 {The prelude
to a suicidal idea.} (25... Bh3 $142 26. Nd3 $16 {[%csl Rg2,Rh3][%cal Gd3f4,
Gd3f2]}) 26. Rxd1 Qxe5 $2 {Losing immediately.} (26... Bh3 27. Nd3 $16) 27.
Rd8+ Kf7 ({Carlsen might have overlooked that} 27... Kg7 28. Ne6+ $1 {[%cal
Ga3f8] yields a mating attack.}) 28. Qf3+ Bf5 29. Rxb8 Qxb8 30. g4 {[%csl Gf5]}
Qb4 31. Nd3 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 4th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2016.04.29"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Eljanov, Pavel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2016.04.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 172"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.05.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.05.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Be7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O c6 8. Qc2
Nbd7 9. a4 $5 {A highly original and virtually unexplored plan, typical for
Carlsen. The structure resulting after Black's natural anwer is supposed to be
completely inoffensive, but Magnus had his own views about it.} a5 {.} 10. Rc1
{Another mysterious move. White increases his pressure on a file which is not
likely to open soon, as with the actual structure cxd5 can always be answered
with ...exd5. Carlsen's strategic vision goes as usual much deeper than the
obvious. He reckons with the fact that in order to complete his development
Black will have to play ...b7-b6 and then cxd5 would force ...cxd5, opening
the c-file, which he occupies in advance. His queen's knight will then be
transferred to b5, a square which has become available after the unusual
insertion of a2-a4 and ...a7-a5. The only question remaining open is whether
Black has to rush to completie his development at all, as White does not have
a clear plan in the actual structure. Other moves have been tried in practice,
offering White a slight edge.} (10. Na3 Ne4 11. Be3 f5 12. Ne1 g5 13. f3 Nd6
14. Nd3 $14 {Hertneck,G (2572)-Bareev,E (2719) Germany 2002 (1/2-1/2, 61)}) (
10. Rd1 {is not without a point either:} Ne4 11. Be1 f5 12. Nfd2 Ndf6 13. Nxe4
Nxe4 14. Nd2 Bd6 15. Nxe4 {1/2-1/2 Ljubojevic,L (2580)-Jussupow,A (2610)
Linares 1989} fxe4 16. f3 exf3 17. exf3 $14 {[%cal Gf3f4] The usefulness of
the d1-rook becomes obvious after} e5 $2 18. cxd5 cxd5 19. dxe5 Bxe5 20. f4 $18
{[%csl Gd5]}) 10... Ne4 $146 {An active but also committal move. After
allowing the knight contact Black allows his opponent to open the centre which
can be dangerous due to his undeveloped queenside.} ({In a previous game Black
kept a neutral policy inviting White to show his cards.} 10... h6 11. Be1 b6 (
11... Re8 12. Nbd2 {[%cal Ge2e4]}) 12. cxd5 cxd5 13. Nc3 Bb7 14. Nb5 {White
has an optical advantage but Black will gradually manage to equalise due to
the almost symmetrical structure:} Rc8 15. Qd1 Rxc1 16. Rxc1 Qb8 17. Bd2 Rc8
18. Bf4 Rxc1 19. Qxc1 Qc8 20. Qxc8+ Bxc8 21. Ne5 Nxe5 22. Bxe5 Ne8 23. e3 Bd7 {
Sandipan,C (2608)-Meier,G (2668) Dresden 2012 (1/2-1/2, 23)}) 11. Be1 {In the
similar games above White preferred transferring the bishop to e3, which looks
more active. Carlsen has his own views: he intends to use his bishops on the
e1-a5 and f1-a6 diagonals, putting pressure on the enemy queenside, a plan
which will work miracles in the game.} f5 12. Nbd2 Bd6 13. e3 Ra7 {Preparing ..
.b7-b6.} (13... b6 $2 14. cxd5 cxd5 15. Qc6 Ba6 16. Nxe4 fxe4 17. Qxd6 exf3 18.
Bh3 $18) ({The main alternative was ignoring the queenside development and
launching the typical kingside attack with} 13... g5 14. Nb3 {[%csl Ga5]} ({
Black may have feared the opening of the centre with} 14. Nxe4 fxe4 15. Nd2 {
[%cal Gf2f3] followed by f2-f3, but} g4 16. Nb3 {[%csl Ga5]} Bc7 {[%cal Gd8f6]
keeps the position more or less blocked.}) 14... g4 (14... b6 $2 15. cxd5 cxd5
16. Nxg5 $3 Qxg5 17. Bxe4 fxe4 18. Qc6) (14... f4 15. exf4 gxf4 16. Qe2 {
[%cal Gb3d2]}) (14... Bc7 15. Nfd2 Qf6 16. f4 Kh8) 15. Nfd2 Ng5 {and Black has
nothing to complain about.}) 14. Qd1 b6 15. cxd5 cxd5 16. Nb1 $1 {[%csl Gb5]
After having provoked the weakening of the e5-square, the knight switches to
the newly created path.} Ba6 ({Black has no time to carry out a similar
regrouping:} 16... Nb8 17. Na3 Na6 $2 18. Nb5 Ra8 19. Nxd6 Qxd6 20. Ne5 $16)
17. Na3 Qa8 {Black anticipates the exchange on b5 by defending the c6-square
against the invasion of the white rooks.} ({Even though} 17... Bxa3 18. Rxa3
Rc7 {Gheorghiu,F (2530)-Jussupow,A (2590) WchT 1st Luzern 1985 (1) 0-1 looks
very committal, the following classical example (true, White played very
passively) shows that White's dark-squared bishop can easily turn into a bad
one.}) ({The problem with the game move is that after the general exchange of
rooks the queen could be left hanging.} 17... Qb8 {would solve this problem
but White could use the c6-square for gaining time:} 18. Nb5 Bxb5 19. axb5 Rc8
20. Qa4 $1 (20. Bf1 {is neutralised by} Rac7) 20... Rac7 21. Rc6 Qb7 22. Bf1
Nb8 ({A necessary passive move since} 22... Rxc6 23. bxc6 Rxc6 {loses material
to} 24. Ba6 $1 Qc7 25. Bb5 $18 {[%csl Rd7]}) 23. Rxc7 Qxc7 24. b4 axb4 25. Bxb4
Nd7 26. Ne1 $14 {[%cal Ge1d3,Rd3b4,Rd3f4,Yf2f3] With hindsight, this might
have been a lesser evil than in the game, though.}) 18. Nb5 Bxb5 19. axb5 Rc8
20. Bf1 {Completing a regrouping probably planned by Carlsen when he retreated
with his other bishop to e1. The bishops are only apparently biting on granit
as will soon be revealed.} (20. Rxc8+ Qxc8 21. b4 {is premature due to} a4 22.
Rxa4 (22. Ra3 Qa8 23. Qa1 g5 $15) 22... Rxa4 23. Qxa4 Qc1 $132 {The extra pawn
does not count yet and Black's activity is annoying.}) 20... Rxc1 ({With the
queen on a8} 20... Rac7 {does not work due to} 21. Rxc7 Rxc7 22. b4) 21. Rxc1
Rc7 22. Rxc7 Bxc7 {Black has exchanged all the rooks under less favourable
circumstances than he would have wished to. The bishop's absence from the
a3-f8 diagonal allows White to play b2-b4 without exchanging bishops at once.
Black will have to lose additional time to achieve that.} 23. Qa4 Qb8 (23... g5
24. b4 g4 25. Nd2 Nxd2 26. Bxd2 Qd8 27. bxa5 bxa5 28. Bd3 $14) 24. b4 axb4 25.
Bxb4 {The bishop pair together with the weaknesses on e6, c6 and b6, ensure
White a long term advantage.} h6 {Black eliminates the potential threat Ng5 
(as he might wish to play ...Bd6 followed by ...Nxd6) and ensures himself
against back rank problems.} (25... g5 $6 {weakens the position too much.} 26.
Qc2 Bd6 27. Qc6 {[%csl Ge6,Gg5] The hanging g5-pawn creates irreparable
problems for Black.} Ndf6 28. Bxd6 Qxd6 29. Nxg5 $3 $18 Qxc6 30. bxc6 {[%cal
Gg5e6,Gf1a6,Gc6c8]} Nxg5 31. c7 $18) (25... Bd6 26. Bxd6 Qxd6 (26... Nxd6 27.
Qc2 $16 {[%cal Gc2c6]}) 27. Qa8+ Kf7 28. Qc6 $16) 26. Qc2 Bd6 27. Qc6 $6 {
This apparently deadly blow allows Black some surprising counterplay which
Eljanov will fail to find.} (27. Bxd6 $1 Qxd6 28. Qc6 Kf7 (28... Qxc6 29. bxc6
Ndf6 30. c7 Nd6 31. Ba6 $18) 29. Qb7 $16) 27... Ndf6 ({Missing the far from
obvious} 27... Qa7 $1 {[%csl Gf2]} 28. Bxd6 (28. Be1 Kf7 29. Nd2 $14 {may be a
better try, but this obviously is playable for Black while in the game he was
just lost.}) 28... Qa2 $1 $11 29. Bg2 Qa1+ 30. Bf1 Qb2 31. Kh1 Nxf2+ (31...
Qxf2 $2 32. Bg2 $18 {[%csl Ge1,Gf1,Gg1]}) 32. Kg2 Ne4+ 33. Kh3 $6 Ng5+ 34. Nxg5
hxg5 35. g4 (35. Qxd7 g4+ 36. Kh4 Qxh2+ 37. Kg5 Qh6#) 35... Qf2 $36) 28. Bxd6
Qxd6 (28... Nxd6 29. Ne5 $16) 29. Qc8+ Kh7 30. Ne5 Qe7 ({Black needs to
controll f7 as after} 30... Nd2 31. Bd3 Nde4 {White gets a decisive attack with
} 32. Nf7 Qe7 33. Qh8+ Kg6 34. Ne5+ Kh5 35. Be2+ $18) 31. Qc6 Ng4 $6 {Speeding
up the defeat.} ({If} 31... Qd6 {White can create an original zugzwang with}
32. Kg2 $3 Qxc6 (32... Kg8 33. Qc8+ Kh7 34. Nf7 $18 {[%csl Rd6][%cal Gc8h8,
Gf7e5]}) (32... Ng8 33. Nd7 $18 {[%csl Gb6]}) 33. bxc6 Ne8 34. Nd7 $18 {
[%csl Gb6]}) 32. Nxg4 fxg4 33. Bd3 g6 34. Bxe4 dxe4 35. Qxb6 1-0

[Event "ICC op final"]
[Site "ICC INT"]
[Date "2016.06.05"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hevia Alejano, Carlos Antonio"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A47"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2533"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2016.06.05"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 172 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.06.21"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.06.21"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. Bf4 Nf6 3. e3 b6 4. Nf3 Bb7 5. h3 c5 6. c3 cxd4 7. cxd4 Be7 8. Bd3
O-O 9. O-O d6 10. Nc3 Nbd7 11. Qe2 a6 12. a4 d5 13. Rfc1 Ne8 14. Nb1 Bd6 15.
Ne5 Bxe5 16. Bxe5 Nxe5 17. dxe5 f6 18. Qg4 Qd7 19. f4 d4 20. e4 fxe5 21. fxe5
Rc8 22. Nd2 Rxc1+ 23. Rxc1 g6 24. Nf3 Ng7 25. Rc4 b5 26. Rxd4 Qc7 27. axb5 axb5
28. Qg5 Qb6 29. Qe3 Nh5 30. Qf2 Nf4 31. Bf1 Nxh3+ 32. gxh3 Rxf3 33. Qxf3 Qxd4+
34. Qf2 Qxe4 35. Qf6 Qe3+ 36. Kh2 Qd2+ 37. Kg3 Qe3+ 38. Kh2 Qd2+ 39. Kg3 Qe3+
40. Kh2 Qd2+ 41. Kg3 1/2-1/2

[Event "ICC op final"]
[Site "ICC INT"]
[Date "2016.06.05"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Hevia Alejano, Carlos Antonio"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2533"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "138"]
[EventDate "2016.06.05"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 172 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.06.21"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.06.21"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3
d6 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nf1 Bf8 14. Ng3 g6 15.
Bg5 h6 16. Bd2 Bg7 17. a4 c5 18. d5 c4 19. Qe2 Nc5 20. Ra3 Rb8 21. Be3 Nfd7 22.
Nd2 Bc8 23. Rb1 Nb6 24. axb5 axb5 25. Bxc5 dxc5 26. Ngf1 Bd7 27. Ne3 Ra8 28.
Rba1 Qc7 29. Qf1 Qb7 30. R1a2 Bf8 31. Qa1 Rxa3 32. Rxa3 Ra8 33. Bd1 h5 34. Be2
Bh6 35. Ndf1 Kg7 36. Rxa8 Qxa8 37. Qd1 Qd8 38. Qa1 Nc8 39. Qa6 Qb6 40. Qa8 Nd6
41. h4 Nxe4 42. Bf3 Nf6 43. Nd2 Qd6 44. Qd8 Qa6 45. Ne4 Nxe4 46. Bxe4 Qa1+ 47.
Nf1 Bg4 48. Qe8 Be2 49. Qxe5+ Kh7 50. Bxg6+ Kxg6 51. Qxe2 Qb1 52. d6 Bg7 53.
Qe7 Bf6 54. Qe8 Qxb2 55. d7 Qxc3 56. Qg8+ Kf5 57. Qxf7 Ke4 58. Ng3+ Kd3 59. Qe8
Qd4 60. Qe6 Kc2 61. Nf5 Qd1+ 62. Kh2 Bd8 63. Qe8 Bc7+ 64. g3 Qd2 65. Ne3+ Kc1
66. Kg2 c3 67. Qe4 Qxd7 68. Qf5 Qd2 69. Qxc5 c2 0-1

[Event "ICC op final"]
[Site "ICC INT"]
[Date "2016.06.05"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Hevia Alejano, Carlos Antonio"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B96"]
[WhiteElo "2533"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2016.06.05"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 172 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.06.21"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.06.21"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qc7 8. Bxf6
gxf6 9. Be2 Nc6 10. Nb3 b5 11. a3 Qb6 12. Qd2 h5 13. O-O-O Rb8 14. Bf3 b4 15.
axb4 Nxb4 16. Qd4 Qxd4 17. Rxd4 h4 18. Rd2 Bh6 19. g3 Ke7 20. Kb1 Rg8 21. Rg2
Bd7 22. Nd4 Rgc8 23. Rd2 a5 24. Nde2 a4 25. Rhd1 Rb6 26. Kc1 Bg7 27. Rd4 f5 28.
e5 d5 29. Kd2 f6 0-1

[Event "ICC op final"]
[Site "ICC INT"]
[Date "2016.06.05"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B11"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2747"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2016.06.05"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 172 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.06.21"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.06.21"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e5 Ne4 5. Ne2 Qb6 6. d4 c5 7. Ng3 e6 8. Bd3
Nxg3 9. hxg3 cxd4 10. g4 Nc6 11. a3 Bd7 12. Kf1 f6 13. Qe2 O-O-O 14. b4 Nxe5
15. Nxe5 fxe5 16. Qxe5 Bd6 17. Qxg7 Rhg8 18. Qxh7 Rxg4 19. Bd2 e5 20. Bf5 Qb5+
21. Kg1 Bxf5 22. Qxf5+ Qd7 23. Rh5 Qxf5 24. Rxf5 Rg6 25. Re1 Bc7 26. c3 dxc3
27. Bxc3 d4 28. Bd2 Re8 29. f3 Kd7 30. g4 Re7 31. Rh5 Rc6 32. Kf2 Rc2 33. Ke2
e4 34. fxe4 Rxe4+ 35. Kd3 Rxe1 36. Kxc2 Rg1 37. Rd5+ Ke6 38. Rxd4 Be5 39. Rc4
Kd5 40. Rc5+ Ke4 41. g5 Rg2 42. Rc8 Bf4 43. Rc4+ 1-0

[Event "ICC op final"]
[Site "ICC INT"]
[Date "2016.06.05"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2747"]
[PlyCount "182"]
[EventDate "2016.06.05"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 172 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.06.21"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.06.21"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. a4 Ngf6 5. d3 e6 6. O-O Be7 7. a5 O-O 8. a6
Qb6 9. axb7 Bxb7 10. Na3 d5 11. e5 Qc7 12. exf6 Nxf6 13. Re1 Bd6 14. Ba4 a6 15.
Bg5 Nh5 16. c3 h6 17. Bh4 Nf4 18. Bg3 g5 19. d4 c4 20. Bxf4 Bxf4 21. g3 Bd6 22.
Nc2 Rab8 23. Ne3 Bc8 24. Ng4 Kg7 25. Bc2 f6 26. h4 h5 27. Nxf6 Rxf6 28. hxg5
Rf8 29. Nh4 Bxg3 30. Qxh5 Bxf2+ 31. Kh1 Rh8 32. Qg6+ Kf8 33. Qf6+ Kg8 34. Qxf2
Rxb2 35. Rac1 Qf7 36. Qxf7+ Kxf7 37. Rf1+ Kg7 38. Rf4 Bd7 39. Kg1 Be8 40. Nf3
a5 41. Ne5 Rh3 42. Rf3 Rxf3 43. Nxf3 a4 44. Bxa4 Bxa4 45. Ne5 Bc2 46. Ra1 Be4
47. Ra7+ Kg8 48. Kf1 Rg2 49. g6 Rg5 50. Ra8+ Kg7 51. Ra7+ Kg8 52. Ra8+ Kg7 53.
Re8 Bxg6 54. Rxe6 Be4 55. Re7+ Kf6 56. Rf7+ Ke6 57. Ra7 Rg3 58. Ra3 Kf5 59. Ke2
Kf4 60. Ra8 Rg2+ 61. Kf1 Ke3 62. Rh8 Rc2 63. Rh3+ Kd2 64. Kf2 Rxc3 65. Rh2 Rc2
66. Kg3+ Ke3 67. Rh8 Kxd4 68. Ng4 c3 69. Rc8 Rg2+ 70. Kf4 Rxg4+ 71. Kxg4 Kd3
72. Kf4 c2 73. Ke5 Kd2 74. Kd4 c1=Q 75. Rc5 Qxc5+ 76. Kxc5 Kc3 77. Kd6 d4 78.
Ke5 Bc2 79. Kf4 d3 80. Kf3 d2 81. Kf4 d1=Q 82. Ke5 Qd2 83. Ke6 Qe2+ 84. Kf6 Qe3
85. Kf7 Kd4 86. Kf6 Qe5+ 87. Kf7 Kd5 88. Kf8 Kd6 89. Kf7 Qf4+ 90. Ke8 Bg6+ 91.
Kd8 Qf8# 0-1

[Event "ICC op final"]
[Site "ICC INT"]
[Date "2016.06.05"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D51"]
[WhiteElo "2747"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2016.06.05"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 172 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.06.21"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.06.21"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 Nbd7 7. e3 g5 8. Bg3
Nh5 9. Bd3 Nxg3 10. hxg3 Bg7 11. Qe2 Qe7 12. O-O-O a6 13. Kb1 dxc4 14. Bxc4 b5
15. Bd3 c5 16. Be4 Rb8 17. Bc6 O-O 18. Bxd7 Bxd7 19. Ne5 b4 20. Ne4 Bb5 21. Qh5
cxd4 22. exd4 Rfd8 23. f4 b3 24. fxg5 Be8 25. gxh6 bxa2+ 26. Ka1 Rxb2 27. hxg7
Rb1+ 28. Kxa2 Rb2+ 29. Kxb2 Qb4+ 30. Ka2 Qa4+ 31. Kb2 Qb4+ 32. Ka2 Qa4+ 33. Kb2
Qb4+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "ICC op final"]
[Site "ICC INT"]
[Date "2016.06.05"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2747"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2016.06.05"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 172 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.06.21"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.06.21"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nbd2 Bg4 7. h3 Bh5 8.
g4 Bg6 9. Qe2 Nd7 10. Nc4 Qe7 11. Be3 O-O-O 12. O-O-O f6 13. Nfd2 Bf7 14. Kb1
Kb8 15. f4 Bxe3 16. Qxe3 exf4 17. Qxf4 Nc5 18. Ne3 Ne6 19. Qf2 c5 20. Nf5 Qd7
21. Nf3 h5 22. Rhg1 hxg4 23. hxg4 c4 24. d4 Nc5 25. Qe1 Na4 26. Qb4 c5 27. Qa3
b5 28. Qe3 b4 29. d5 Qb5 30. g5 Nc3+ 31. Ka1 Nxd1 32. Rxd1 Ka8 33. Nxg7 fxg5
34. Nxg5 Bh5 35. Nxh5 Rxh5 36. Ne6 Rd7 37. Nxc5 Rdh7 38. Ne6 Rh1 39. Qc1 Rxd1
40. Qxd1 Qb6 41. b3 c3 42. a3 Qf2 43. axb4 Rh2 44. d6 Qd2 45. Qf1 Qxd6 46. Nc5
Rxc2 47. e5 Rf2 48. Qh1+ 1-0

[Event "Paris GCT rapid"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2016.06.09"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. h3 Ne7 8. Ba4
a6 9. d4 Ba7 10. Bc2 d5 11. Nxe5 Nxe4 12. Nd2 Nd6 13. Ndf3 Bf5 14. Re1 Bxc2 15.
Qxc2 Ne4 16. Qb3 Qc8 17. Ng5 Nxg5 18. Bxg5 f6 19. Nd3 Qd7 20. Bf4 c6 21. Re2
Ng6 22. Rae1 Rad8 23. Re6 Kf7 24. Bg3 Rde8 25. Rxe8 Rxe8 26. Rxe8 Kxe8 27. a4
Qe7 28. a5 Kd8 29. Qd1 Qe4 30. Kh2 Ne7 31. Qb3 Kc8 32. Qb4 Qe6 33. Nf4 Qf7 34.
Kg1 Bb8 35. Nd3 Bxg3 36. fxg3 Nf5 37. g4 Ng3 38. Nc5 h5 39. gxh5 Qe7 40. Kf2
Nf5 41. g4 Qe3+ 42. Kf1 Qxh3+ 43. Ke1 Qg3+ 44. Kd2 Nd6 45. Nxb7 Qg2+ 46. Kc1
Qf1+ 47. Kc2 Qe2+ 48. Kc1 Qe1+ 49. Kc2 Qe4+ 50. Kb3 Nxb7 51. Qf8+ Kc7 52. Qxg7+
Kb8 53. h6 Qd3 54. Ka3 Qb1 55. h7 Qa1+ 56. Kb3 Qd1+ 57. Kb4 Ka7 58. h8=Q Qa1 {
time} 0-1

[Event "Paris GCT rapid"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.09"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2789"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[Annotator "Szabo,Kr"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[EventDate "2016.06.09"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bb7 {The classical
Arkhangelsk has gone a little bit out of tfashion, but still Carlsen sometimes
plays it.} (6... Bc5 {is more popular nowadays.}) 7. Nc3 Be7 8. d3 O-O 9. a3
Nd4 ({A few days before Vachier had a game with} 9... d6 10. Re1 Qd7 11. Ne2
Nd8 12. Ng3 Ne6 13. c3 c5 14. d4 c4 15. Bc2 Qc7 16. Nf5 Rfe8 17. Nxe7+ Qxe7 18.
Nh4 g6 19. d5 Nf4 20. g3 Nh3+ 21. Kg2 Bc8 22. a4 Bd7 23. f3 Nh5 24. Be3 N3f4+
25. Kh1 $14 {Vachier Lagrave-Stevic, Drancy 2016, and White had a comfortable
position which he later managed to win.}) 10. Nxd4 ({In the same tournament
Caruana played} 10. Ba2 {against Carlsen,} Nxf3+ 11. Qxf3 d6 12. Bg5 Qd7 {
and White should have played the natural} 13. Rfe1 {with a balanced middlegame.
} (13. Ne2 $2 {was a mistake by} Nxe4 $1 14. Bxe7 Nc5 $1 15. Bd5 Bxd5 16. Qxd5
Qxe7 $17 {Caruana-Carlsen, Paris rapid 2016, and Black is a P up without any
compensation for White.})) ({If White captures the P with} 10. Nxe5 Nxb3 11.
cxb3 d5 $132 {with great counterplay for the P.}) 10... exd4 11. Nd5 Nxd5 12.
exd5 $146 {A novelty by Vachier Lagrave.} (12. Bxd5 Bxd5 13. exd5 f5 (13... c6
$5) 14. Bf4 g5 15. Be5 Bc5 16. b4 d6 17. Bg3 Bb6 18. f4 g4 $11 {T.Gara-Zhukova,
Kragujevac 2015, with a nearly equal position.}) 12... c5 13. dxc6 ({The
developing} 13. Bf4 {was the alternative move.}) 13... dxc6 14. Re1 c5 15. a4
$6 {A typical move, but at this moment it is an inaccuracy.} ({The natural} 15.
Bf4 {was important and the position is balanced.}) 15... Bd6 $1 $15 {After
this move Black controls the important b8-h2 diagonal and he has a space
advantage on the queenside.} 16. Qh5 Qc7 17. c3 $6 {A dubious move, which
allows Black's P advance on the queenside.} ({White should have played} 17. Bd5
Bxd5 18. Qxd5 Rad8 $15 {and Black is slightly better.}) 17... c4 $1 {Black's P
structure is very flexible on the queenside, so now he is ready to push them.}
18. Bc2 g6 {An important intermediate move, which avoids White's threats on h7.
} 19. Qh3 dxc3 20. axb5 $6 {Another inaccuracy, but White's position was
already difficult.} ({In the event of} 20. bxc3 cxd3 21. Bxd3 Qxc3 $17 {
and Black has a healthy P up.}) 20... Rfe8 $1 $19 {A great intermediate move,
which is based on White's weak back rank. White is helpless.} 21. Re3 cxb2 22.
Bxb2 c3 23. Bc1 axb5 24. Rxa8 Rxa8 25. Bb3 Bf4 26. Re1 Ra1 {Very nice game by
Carlsen!} 0-1

[Event "Paris GCT rapid"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.09"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2792"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "135"]
[EventDate "2016.06.09"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 O-O 6. O-O d5 $5 {Recently at
the top level especially 6...d6 (as well as 6...Re8) has been the preferred
move, but Levon had prepared a surprise.} 7. exd5 Qxd5 8. Bc4 Qd6 (8... Qd7 $5
{is what he played later in the rapids against MVL, also getting a decent
position.}) 9. b4 Bb6 10. Nbd2 {The computer indicates 10.Ba3!? as a critical
reply, but it's not an easy move to play against a prepared opponent, and
Magnus sticks to commom sense chess:} Bf5 11. Qc2 Rad8 12. Ne4 Nxe4 13. dxe4
Bg4 14. Be2 a5 15. a3 {I guess the opening has to be described as an success
for Aronian. It's an equal symmetrical position, where its hard to see why
White should have any objective edge. Even so, Magnus makes it looks like it!}
Kh8 16. Bg5 f6 17. Rad1 Qe7 18. Bc1 Rxd1 19. Rxd1 Rd8 20. h3 Be6 21. Rxd8+ Qxd8
22. Nd2 {Still very minimal, but Nc4 or even Bc4, starts to bother moderately.
The bishop on b6 looks nice and better than its counterpart on c1, but it's a
target for White to attack, so Aronian decided to cover the c4-square.} Qg8 23.
Qd3 axb4 24. axb4 Qa8 $5 {The point is that now 25.Nc4 Bxc4!? 26.Qxc4 Qa1
generates strong counterplay.} 25. Nf1 Qa1 $6 {Aronian later regeretted this,
saying he got too optimistic. And its true, that while it looks active, soon
the queen will be forced back to defend, making ...Qa1 an empty shot.} 26. Be3
Bxe3 27. Qxe3 Bg8 $6 (27... Qe1 $5 {would have been an interesting way of
trying to force a queen exchange, as the queen is forced to keep the bishop on
e2 defended. White could play the endings after e.g. Bg4!? or Bb5, but Black
should hold.}) 28. Qc5 $1 Qa7 29. Qb5 $1 Qa8 30. Kh2 Qb8 31. Ne3 $2 {Magnus
has been playing true to his style - by very small means making chess look
simple and creating a serious advantage out what to most others looks like
thin air. Here however he makes an inaccuracy which Levon could have punished:}
Be6 $2 (31... Nd4 $3 {which is a beautiful tactic, forcing the exchange of
knight for bishop, as after 32.cxd4 exd4 Black has the unusual threat of ...c6
with a discovered check, attacking the white queen!}) 32. Bc4 {Now order is
restored. White has an considerable edge due to the greater activity of his
pieces and the weakness of c7.} Bd7 33. Qd5 Qc8 34. Be2 Ne7 35. Qf7 Qe8 36. Qc4
Qd8 37. Qd3 Qe8 38. Bg4 Bxg4 39. hxg4 h6 40. Qc4 c6 41. Qe6 Qf8 42. Qd7 b5 43.
Qe6 Kh7 44. g3 g6 $2 45. c4 $1 {It's a rapid game, and thus some ups and downs
are to be expected. Magnus let some of his edge slip, but Levon's last move is
a mistake, weakening his kingside, and now Magnus opens a route for his knight
to join the attack.} bxc4 {Sad, but neccesary, or else just cxb5 cxb5 Qd7
winning the pawn on b5.} 46. Nxc4 Kg7 47. Nd6 Kh7 48. Kg2 $1 {With Black being
completely tied down, the white king can safely walk to the queenside breaking
Black's resistance.} Kg7 49. Kf1 Kh7 50. Ke2 Kg7 51. Kd3 Ng8 52. Ne8+ Kh8 53.
Kc4 h5 54. gxh5 Qh6 $5 {A desperate attempt to fight for a perpetual, but
White hides his king easily.} 55. Qxc6 Qd2 56. hxg6 Qe2+ 57. Kc5 Qxf2+ 58. Kb5
Qxg3 59. Qd7 Qxg6 60. Ka5 {Even with the material being equal, it's completely
winning for White. The b-pawn queens, and Black has no counterplay whatsoever.}
Qg3 61. b5 Qc3+ 62. Ka6 Qa3+ 63. Kb7 Qg3 64. b6 Qg6 65. Ka7 f5 66. exf5 Qg3 67.
f6 Qa3+ 68. Kb8 1-0

[Event "Paris GCT rapid"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.09"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2804"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2016.06.09"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bb7 7. d3 Be7 8. Nc3
O-O 9. a3 Nd4 10. Ba2 Nxf3+ 11. Qxf3 d6 12. Bg5 Qd7 13. Ne2 Nxe4 14. Bxe7 Nc5
15. Bd5 Bxd5 16. Qxd5 Qxe7 17. d4 exd4 18. Nxd4 Rfe8 19. c4 Qe4 20. Rfd1 Qxd5
21. cxd5 Re5 22. Nf3 Re4 23. Rac1 b4 24. Nd4 bxa3 25. bxa3 Rb8 26. Rd2 g6 27.
g3 Kg7 28. Kg2 Rb6 29. h4 h5 30. Rcd1 a5 31. Rc2 a4 32. Kf1 Re5 33. Nc6 Rf5 34.
Nb4 Rf3 35. Ra2 Rb3 36. Re1 Rb8 37. Re7 Rc8 38. Ke2 Kf8 39. Re3 Re8 40. Rxe8+
Kxe8 41. Kf1 Ke7 42. Nc6+ Kf6 43. Nd4 Rb1+ 44. Ke2 Ke5 45. Nf3+ Kxd5 46. Ng5 f6
47. Nh3 Ne6 48. Rd2+ Nd4+ 0-1

[Event "Paris GCT rapid"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.09"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B14"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2016.06.09"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 O-O 5. Bg5 c5 6. e3 cxd4 7. exd4 d5 8. Rc1
Be7 9. a3 b6 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Bb5 a6 13. Ba4 b5 14. Bb3 Re8+ 15.
Ne2 Bg4 16. O-O Bxf3 17. gxf3 Ra7 18. Rc5 Rd7 19. Nc3 Rd6 20. Rxd5 Nc6 21. Rxd6
Qxd6 22. Re1 Rxe1+ 23. Qxe1 Qd8 24. d5 Nd4 25. Qd1 g6 26. Kg2 Nf5 27. a4 bxa4
28. Bxa4 Nd6 29. Qd3 Be5 30. Ne4 Qh4 31. h3 Qf4 32. Nxd6 Bxd6 33. Qxa6 Qg5+ 34.
Kf1 Qc1+ 35. Kg2 Qg5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Paris GCT rapid"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.10"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2761"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2016.06.09"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a3
O-O 9. Nc3 Na5 10. Ba2 Be6 11. d4 Bxa2 12. Rxa2 Nc6 13. d5 Nb8 14. Qe2 Nbd7 15.
Rd1 Qc8 16. Nh4 g6 17. g3 Ne8 18. Ng2 Ng7 19. Bh6 Nf6 20. Ne3 Qh3 21. Bxg7 Kxg7
22. b4 h5 23. a4 a5 24. Rb1 axb4 25. Rxb4 bxa4 26. Raxa4 Ng4 27. Nf1 h4 28. f3
hxg3 29. hxg3 Nf6 30. Qg2 Qh6 31. Qh2 Qg5 32. Qd2 Qh5 33. g4 {My favourite
moment chess-wise from Paris was this position. Following the game in the
press-room I noticed that the computers indicated 33...Qh8! It looks
completely wrong at first sight, as while putting the queen in the corner is
often seen, it's always in connection with using the long diagonal. Here
however it combines attacking via the h-file with the possibility of playing
Rfb8, as well as maybe most serious, preparing ...Nh7 attacking on the
kingside. It's beautiful and logical, yet felt impossible for a human to play,
but after a short think Magnus uncorked it:} Qh8 $3 34. Nb5 Nh7 $1 35. Qh2 Rfb8
{Excellent coordination.} 36. c4 Qd8 {Now threatening ...Ng5.} 37. Ne3 Bg5 $5 (
37... Ng5 {was also strong.}) 38. Qe2 Bf4 39. Ng2 Bg3 40. Qe3 Ng5 41. Kf1 Qh8 {
And with Black having completely fulfilled the concept of ...Qh8 and activated
his pieces on their optimal squares, the white position collapses and Topalov
resigned.} 0-1

[Event "Paris GCT rapid"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.10"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C28"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2782"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2016.06.09"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 Nc6 4. Nc3 Na5 5. Nge2 Bc5 6. O-O O-O 7. a4 Nxc4 8.
dxc4 a5 9. Qd3 d6 10. b3 Be6 11. Be3 Nd7 12. Rad1 f5 13. f4 b6 14. Kh1 Kh8 15.
Bxc5 Nxc5 16. Qe3 exf4 17. Nxf4 fxe4 18. Nxe6 Nxe6 19. Rxf8+ Qxf8 20. Qxe4 Nc5
21. Qc6 Rc8 22. Kg1 Qf4 23. Nd5 Qe4 24. Rf1 h6 25. h3 Qd4+ 26. Kh2 Qe5+ 27. Kg1
Qd4+ 28. Kh2 Qe5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Paris GCT rapid"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.10"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Fressinet, Laurent"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2687"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "142"]
[EventDate "2016.06.09"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 d5 4. c4 a6 5. b3 c5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Be2 Nc6 8. O-O
cxd4 9. Nxd4 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 Be7 11. Bb2 Bf6 12. Qd2 Bd7 13. Rd1 Bc6 14. e4 Nf4
15. Qxd8+ Rxd8 16. Rxd8+ Bxd8 17. Bf1 Bxe4 18. Nd2 Bc6 19. g3 Bf6 20. Bxf6 gxf6
21. Rc1 Kd7 22. Rxc6 Kxc6 23. gxf4 Kc5 24. a3 Kd4 25. b4 Rg8+ 26. Kh1 Kc3 27.
Ne4+ Kb2 28. Nc5 Rb8 29. a4 Ka3 30. b5 Kb4 31. Nd3+ Ka5 32. Nc5 Kb4 33. Nd3+
Kxa4 34. bxa6 bxa6 35. Nc5+ Ka5 36. Bxa6 Rb4 37. Bd3 f5 38. Kg2 Rxf4 39. Be2
Kb6 40. Nd3 Rd4 41. Kg3 Kc7 42. f4 Kd6 43. Ne5 f6 44. Nf3 Ra4 45. Nh4 Ra3+ 46.
Kf2 Kd5 47. Bf3+ Kd4 48. Bc6 Ra2+ 49. Kg3 Ra6 50. Bb7 Rb6 51. Ba8 Ke3 52. Ng2+
Ke2 53. Bf3+ Kf1 54. Ne3+ Kg1 55. Be2 Rb3 56. Kf3 e5 57. Bc4 Rb2 58. Nxf5 Rf2+
59. Kg3 Rxf4 60. Be6 Rf2 61. h4 e4 62. h5 Rf3+ 63. Kg4 Ra3 64. Kf4 Ra4 65. Bd5
Kg2 66. Bxe4+ Kh3 67. h6 Rxe4+ 68. Kxe4 Kg4 69. Nd6 Kg5 70. Nf5 Kg4 71. Nd6 Kg5
1/2-1/2

[Event "Paris GCT rapid"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.10"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D41"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2812"]
[Annotator "Sadorra,J"]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "2016.06.09"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 Nxd5 {This is known as the Semi-Tarrasch
Defence. It has a solid reputation but White usually gets a small edge in the
middlegame owing to more central control. However, this is not to say that
White always gets better chances in practice, especially against a very
well-prepared player like Kramnik.} 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 c5 7. Nf3 cxd4 8. cxd4
Bb4+ 9. Bd2 Bxd2+ 10. Qxd2 O-O 11. Bc4 Nd7 ({The other normal line is} 11... b6
12. O-O Bb7 13. Rfe1 Nc6 14. Rad1 {aiming for more central control.}) 12. O-O
b6 13. a4 $5 {This plan of quickly ramming the queenside seems to give Black
more problems in practice.} Bb7 14. Bd3 e5 {Kramnik's improvement over their
game in Norway Blitz earlier this year.} ({Their previous blitz encounter
continued} 14... Rb8 15. Rfe1 h6 16. a5 b5 17. Rac1 a6 18. Qb4 Rc8 19. Nd2 Rxc1
20. Rxc1 Ne5 $2 (20... Nb8 $1 {aiming for c6 is much better.}) 21. Bxb5 axb5
22. dxe5 Qd3 23. h3 Rd8 24. Rc7 Ba8 25. Qe7 Rf8 26. Qd6 Qe2 27. f3 Qe3+ 28. Kh2
Qf4+ 29. Kh1 b4 30. a6 h5 31. a7 h4 32. Qxb4 Qxe5 33. Qc5 Qxc5 34. Rxc5 Rd8 35.
Nc4 Kh7 {1-0 (35) Carlsen,M (2851)-Kramnik,V (2801) Stavanger NOR 2016}) 15.
Qe3 $1 $146 {The World Champion is well prepared!} (15. d5 Nc5 16. Bc2 (16. Qe3
f5 $132) 16... f5 $1 $11 {and Black gains equal chances in both lines.}) 15...
exd4 16. Nxd4 Nc5 17. Bc2 Re8 18. f3 Qf6 19. a5 Rad8 20. Rfd1 $14 {White is
slightly better due to his better pawn structure, more central control and
room for his pieces.} Ba6 21. axb6 axb6 22. Ba4 $5 {A creative way to get rid
of the strong knight on c5.} (22. Nb3 {trading the knight seems also like a
good idea, but Magnus probably didn't think he could create enough problems
for Black after} Nxb3 23. Bxb3 Rxd1+ 24. Rxd1 Rd8 25. Rxd8+ (25. Bd5 Bc4) 25...
Qxd8 26. Bd5 Qc7 $11) 22... Nxa4 23. Rxa4 b5 (23... Bb7 24. Rb4 $36) (23... Bc8
24. Rb4 $36) 24. Rb4 Rd7 25. Rc1 {Even though Black has defensive resources,
Magnus likes playing positions where he has long-term pressure, creating small
problems for the enemy one after another and taking advantage of inaccuracies.}
Red8 $6 {Just like this.} (25... h6 $142 26. Rc6 Re6 $1 {a small tactic comes
to the rescue} 27. Nxe6 $4 (27. Rc5 Re5 $11) 27... Rd1+ 28. Kf2 Qh4+ $19) (
25... Rc8 {could also keep the balance but it's difficult to judge whether
this trade is beneficial or not during play.}) 26. e5 {Gaining more space, and
introducing e6 ideas in the future.} Qb6 27. Rc6 $1 Qa7 28. Nf5 Qxe3+ ({
Throwing in checks} 28... Rd1+ 29. Kf2 R1d2+ 30. Kg3 $14 {doesn't change the
evaluation of the position.}) 29. Nxe3 {Magnus has converted a slightly better
middlegame game to a superior ending. Now let's watch and learn from the World
Champion's endgame technique.} Ra8 30. Kf2 g6 31. h4 $1 {With the idea of
h5-h6. In case you haven't noticed from his games (any time-control!), Magnus
is fond of using "rook pawn thrusts."} h5 {.} 32. e6 $1 {perfect timing, now
that Black has already weakened g6} fxe6 33. Rxe6 Kh7 34. Rf4 (34. Rb6 $1 $16 {
[%cal Gb4f4,Gf4f6,Ge4e6] making sure the bishop is tied down before activating
the b4-rook} Raa7 35. Re4) 34... Bc8 35. Rb6 Ra2+ 36. Kg3 Re2 37. Re4 Bb7 38.
Nd5 $1 Rxe4 39. Nf6+ Kg7 40. Nxd7 Re7 {A critical moment, as evidenced by
Magnus' long pause before he made his next move.} 41. Nb8 $1 {Magnus chooses
the move that keeps the best practical winning chance.} (41. Nc5 Bc8 42. Rxb5
Re5 {looks drawish due to the unpleasant pin. While White may be able to break
the pin, the resulting minor piece ending gives Black good drawing chances
especially against an endgame virtuoso like Volodya.} 43. Ra5 Kh6 44. Nb3 Rxa5
(44... Re3 {may be more stubborn}) 45. Nxa5 g5 $1 46. Nc4 (46. hxg5+ Kxg5)
46... Ba6) (41. Rxb7 b4 $1 {is Kramnik's defensive trick} 42. Kf4 (42. Nc5 $4
Rxb7 43. Nxb7 b3 {the passed pawn is too fast}) 42... b3 43. Rxb3 Rxd7 $11)
41... Rc7 42. Rxb5 Kf6 {There's different ways to continue here but the next
moves show both sides shuffling pieces to manage their time. The onus is on
White to do something, because he has to extricate his knight from b8 to make
any sort of progress.} 43. Rb2 Kf5 44. Rb6 Re7 45. Rb5+ Kf6 46. Kf4 Rc7 47.
Rb6+ Kg7 48. Rd6 (48. Kg5 Rc5+ 49. Kf4 Rc7 {doesn't do anything.}) 48... Rc4+
49. Kg3 Rc7 50. Rd7+ $1 {A well-judged decision to transform the game into a
minor piece ending.} (50. Nd7 $5 {is also playable} Rc6 51. Rd4 $14) 50... Rxd7
51. Nxd7 {The important thing to see here is the possibility of getting the
white king on to g5 where it'll be winning.} Ba6 (51... Bc6 52. Nc5 Kf6 53. Kf4
{with Ne4 to follow then Kg5.}) (51... Kh6 52. Kf4 $1 {compared to the minor
piece ending arising after 41.Nc5, Black cannot trade a set of pawns here
which changes the evaluation of the situation big time.}) 52. Nc5 (52. Kf4 {
also works} Bf1 53. g3 Be2 54. Nc5 Bd1 55. Ne4 Kf7 56. Nc3 $1 {kicking the
knight out and liberating the king from the defence of f3} (56. Nd2 Kf6)) 52...
Bf1 53. Ne4 Kf7 54. Nd2 Bd3 {It's only a matter of time for White to execute
the winning plan: get the king to g5, then prepare & execute the f4-f5 pawn
break.} 55. Kf4 Ke6 56. Kg5 Kf7 57. Nb3 Bf1 58. g3 Kg7 59. Nd4 Bc4 60. f4 Bd3
61. f5 {Tada!} gxf5 62. Nxf5+ Kh7 63. Ne3 {The h-pawn will eventually drop off,
so Black resigned.} 1-0

[Event "Paris GCT blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.11"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C44"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2016.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d3 Nf6 4. g3 d5 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Bd6 7. O-O O-O 8.
Re1 Re8 9. Nc3 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Rb8 11. Rb1 h6 12. Nd2 Ne7 13. Nc4 Ng6 14. d4 Be6
15. Na5 exd4 16. Rxb7 Qf6 17. Rxb8 Rxb8 18. Nc6 Rb1 19. cxd4 Nf4 20. gxf4 Bxf4
21. d5 Bd7 22. Qf3 Bxc6 23. dxc6 Rxc1 24. Rxc1 Bxc1 25. Qxf6 gxf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Paris GCT blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.11"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A34"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2804"]
[PlyCount "136"]
[EventDate "2016.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 Nc6 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Be2 Qb6 6. O-O Be7 7. Rb1 O-O 8. a3
Qc7 9. d4 cxd4 10. Nxd4 b6 11. Ndb5 Qb8 12. Be3 Bb7 13. f4 Rd8 14. Kh1 d6 15.
Bf3 Nd7 16. Ne2 a6 17. Nbc3 Bf6 18. b4 Ne7 19. Qd3 Ng6 20. g3 Be7 21. Nd4 Qc7
22. Rbc1 Rac8 23. Nce2 Qb8 24. Bg2 Qa8 25. Nc3 Rc7 26. Qe2 Bf6 27. f5 Ngf8 28.
Bg1 Rdc8 29. fxe6 fxe6 30. Nb1 b5 31. Nd2 Bg5 32. N4f3 Bh6 33. e5 Nxe5 34. Nxe5
Bxg2+ 35. Qxg2 Qxg2+ 36. Kxg2 Bxd2 37. Rcd1 dxe5 38. Rxd2 bxc4 39. Bb6 c3 40.
Rc2 Rd7 41. Bc5 Rd2+ 42. Rf2 Rd3 43. Rf3 e4 44. Rxd3 exd3 45. Rxc3 Rd8 46. Rc1
Ng6 47. Be3 Ne5 48. Bd2 Rd4 49. Kf2 Re4 50. Re1 Rxe1 51. Kxe1 Nc4 52. a4 Kf7
53. b5 axb5 54. a5 Ke7 55. a6 Kd7 56. a7 Nb6 57. Bc3 g6 58. Kd2 Kc6 59. Kxd3
Kb7 60. Ke4 Kxa7 61. Ke5 Kb7 62. Kxe6 Kc6 63. Kf7 Nd5 64. Bd2 b4 65. Bxb4 Nxb4
66. Kg7 Kd6 67. Kxh7 g5 68. Kg6 g4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Paris GCT blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.11"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C79"]
[WhiteElo "2789"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "129"]
[EventDate "2016.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. O-O b5 7. Bb3 Na5 8. Re1
Nxb3 9. axb3 c5 10. Bg5 Be7 11. Nc3 Bb7 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. Nd5 Bxd5 14. exd5 O-O
15. c3 a5 16. d4 exd4 17. cxd4 Qb6 18. dxc5 Qxc5 19. Rc1 Qb4 20. Qd3 a4 21. Re4
Qxb3 22. Qxb3 axb3 23. Rb1 Rfc8 24. Rb4 Rc5 25. Rxb3 Rxd5 26. g3 h6 27. Rc1 Ra4
28. Kg2 Kh7 29. Rc7 Kg6 30. Rb7 Ra2 31. R7xb5 Rxb5 32. Rxb5 Rxb2 33. Rd5 Rb6
34. Nd2 Rc6 35. Ne4 Be7 36. g4 Kh7 37. h4 Kg8 38. h5 g6 39. Kf3 Kg7 40. Ke3 Ra6
41. f3 Kf8 42. Rb5 Ra3+ 43. Ke2 Ke8 44. g5 Ra2+ 45. Kd3 hxg5 46. hxg6 Ra3+ 47.
Ke2 fxg6 48. Nxg5 Ra7 49. Nh3 Kd7 50. Nf4 Kc6 51. Rb2 g5 52. Rc2+ Kd7 53. Nd5
Bd8 54. Kd3 Ke6 55. Nc3 Ra3 56. Re2+ Kf5 57. Kc4 Bf6 58. Nb5 Rxf3 59. Nxd6+ Kg6
60. Rg2 Rf4+ 61. Kd5 g4 62. Ne4 Bh4 63. Ke5 Bg5 64. Rg1 Bh6 65. Rg2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Paris GCT blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.11"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2792"]
[Annotator "Besenthal,K"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2016.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. h3 Be6 7. Nc3 Qd6 8.
Na4 Bb6 9. O-O O-O 10. b3 h6 11. Bb2 Nd7 12. Nxb6 axb6 13. d4 exd4 14. Nxd4 c5
15. Nb5 Qc6 16. c4 f6 17. f4 Rfe8 18. Qf3 Re7 19. a4 Nf8 20. Nc3 Qe8 21. Rae1 {
Diagramm [#] Carlsen hat seine gesamte Streitmacht zum sofortigen Losschlagen
aufgebaut. Der weiße Vorteil ist offensichtlich.} c6 22. f5 Bf7 23. e5 $1 {
Diagramm [#]} fxe5 $2 (23... Rxe5 24. Ne4 Nd7 25. Bxe5 Nxe5 26. Qg3 {war
nötig. Schwarz hätte zwar die Qualität eingebüßt, dafür aber den
Durchbruch am Königsflügel verhindert.}) 24. Ne4 {Weiß hat einen Bauern
weniger, aber spätestens jetzt stehen alle seine Figuren perfekt für den
Schlussangriff.} Nh7 25. Qg3 Rd7 (25... Kh8 {hätte nichts genützt:} 26. f6
gxf6 27. Rxf6 $1 Nxf6 28. Nxf6 $18) 26. Bxe5 Qf8 27. Kh2 b5 28. Nxc5 Rd2 29.
Ne6 1-0

[Event "Paris GCT blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.11"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C55"]
[WhiteElo "2812"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2016.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. Re1 d6 7. a4 Na5 8. Ba2
c5 9. Nbd2 Nc6 10. c3 Be6 11. Bxe6 fxe6 12. b4 cxb4 13. cxb4 Nxb4 14. Qb3 d5
15. Nxe5 Rc8 16. Rb1 Nc2 17. Rf1 Nd4 18. Qd1 Qc7 19. Ndf3 dxe4 20. dxe4 Nxf3+
21. Nxf3 Nxe4 22. Qe2 Qc4 23. Qxc4 Rxc4 24. Rxb7 Bc5 25. Bb2 Nf6 26. Ng5 Re8
27. a5 h6 28. Nf7 Re7 29. Rxe7 Bxe7 30. Ne5 Rc2 31. Bd4 Bc5 32. Nc6 a6 33. Ra1
Bd6 34. Bxf6 Rxc6 35. Bd4 Bc7 36. g3 Kf7 37. Kg2 h5 38. Kf3 e5 39. Be3 Ke6 40.
Ra4 Kd5 41. g4 g6 42. gxh5 gxh5 43. Rh4 Rf6+ 44. Ke2 Rf5 45. Bb6 Bd6 46. f3 Be7
47. Ra4 Rg5 48. Kf1 Rg6 49. Ra2 Rc6 50. Rd2+ Ke6 51. Kg2 Rc3 52. Re2 Kf5 53.
Re4 Rc2+ 54. Kh3 Bg5 55. Be3 Rc3 0-1

[Event "Paris GCT blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.11"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B50"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2782"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2016.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 g6 5. e5 dxe5 6. Nxe5 e6 7. Qf3 Nbd7 8. Bb5
Bg7 9. Bxd7+ Bxd7 10. Qxb7 O-O 11. Nc3 Be8 12. Nc6 Bxc6 13. Qxc6 Nd5 14. Nxd5
exd5 15. O-O Rc8 16. Qa4 Qc7 17. c3 Qb7 18. Re1 Rc6 19. Re2 Rb6 20. Qc2 Rb8 21.
Rb1 Qa6 22. Bf4 Rc8 23. b3 c4 24. bxc4 dxc4 25. d4 Rxb1+ 26. Qxb1 h5 27. h4 Qa5
28. Re3 Qd5 29. Qe4 Qd7 30. d5 Bf6 31. g3 Qg4 32. d6 Kh7 33. Qd5 Rb8 34. Qxf7+
1-0

[Event "Paris GCT blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.11"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2761"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2016.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 d6 7. c3 O-O 8. Re1
Re8 9. Nbd2 Bf8 10. h3 Bd7 11. Nf1 Ne7 12. Bc2 c5 13. Ng3 Ng6 14. d4 cxd4 15.
cxd4 exd4 16. Qxd4 Rc8 17. Bb3 Ne5 18. Qd1 h6 19. Bf4 Qa5 20. Bxe5 dxe5 21. Nh5
Be6 22. Nxf6+ gxf6 23. Nh4 Red8 24. Qf3 Bg7 25. Nf5 Bxf5 26. Qxf5 Qd2 27. h4
Qf4 28. Qh5 Rd2 29. Qxf7+ Kh8 30. Rf1 Qxe4 31. Rad1 Rxd1 32. Rxd1 Rf8 33. Qh5
f5 34. Bd5 Qc2 35. Bb3 Qxb2 36. Qg6 e4 37. Rd7 Qa1+ 38. Kh2 Qe5+ 39. Kh3 f4 40.
Rf7 Rd8 41. Bc2 Rd6 42. Qxe4 Qxe4 43. Bxe4 b5 44. Rxf4 Rd2 45. a3 Ra2 46. Rf3
Bd4 47. Bd5 Rxf2 48. Rxf2 Bxf2 49. Bb7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Paris GCT blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.11"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Fressinet, Laurent"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2687"]
[PlyCount "45"]
[EventDate "2016.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Nce2 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Nf3 b5 8. a3 a5
9. Nf4 Ba6 10. h4 h6 11. Bd3 Qb6 12. Be3 Be7 13. O-O cxd4 14. Nxd4 Nxd4 15.
Bxd4 Bc5 16. b4 Bxd4 17. cxd4 axb4 18. axb4 g5 19. Nh5 Qxd4 20. Nf6+ Ke7 21.
Nxd7 Qxb4 22. Nb6 Ra7 23. Qf3 1-0

[Event "Paris GCT blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.11"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2787"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[Annotator "Besenthal,K"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2016.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bf4 dxc4 6. e3 b5 7. Nxb5 Bb4+ 8.
Nc3 Nd5 9. a3 Nxc3 10. Qd2 Ne2 11. axb4 Nxf4 12. exf4 Bb7 13. Be2 O-O 14. O-O
Nb6 15. Ne5 Qd6 16. Rfd1 Rfb8 17. Rac1 Qd5 18. Bf1 h6 19. Nxc4 Nxc4 20. Rxc4
Qd6 21. Rc5 Bd5 22. b5 c6 23. bxc6 Bxc6 24. b4 Bd5 25. b5 Rb7 26. Rdc1 Rd8 27.
Qe3 Rbd7 28. Qe5 Qxe5 29. dxe5 g5 30. fxg5 hxg5 31. Rc7 Kg7 32. Rxd7 Rxd7 33.
Ra1 Kg6 34. g4 Bf3 35. h3 Rd2 36. Ra3 Bd5 37. Ra1 Bf3 38. Ra3 Bd5 39. f3 f5 40.
exf6 Kxf6 41. Rxa7 Bxf3 42. Ra3 Bd5 43. Rc3 Rb2 44. Rc1 Ke5 {Diagramm [#]
Carlsen hatte einen Bauern weniger, aber dafür die viel bessere
Figurenstellung. Man ahnt bereits nach einem flüchtigen Blick auf die
Stellung: Das war nicht ungefährlich für Nakamura.} 45. Re1+ $2 {Ein Fehler,
der den schwarzen König nur tiefer in die weiße Stellung hineinlässt.} ({
Weiß musste mehr Druck machen, z.B.:} 45. Bc4 Be4 46. Re1) 45... Kf4 46. Rd1
Kg3 47. Re1 Rb3 48. Rd1 Bf3 $1 {Diagramm [#] Das ist der richtige Plan!} 49.
Re1 Bd5 {... was Carlsen selber noch nicht glaubt!} 50. Rd1 Rb2 51. Re1 Kf4 (
51... Bf3 $1 52. Rxe6 $4 Rh2) 52. Rd1 Bf3 53. Rd4+ Kg3 54. Rd3 e5 55. Ra3 e4
56. b6 Rxb6 57. Ra2 Rb1 58. Ra3 Kf4 59. Ra2 e3 0-1

[Event "Paris GCT blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.12"]
[Round "10"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[Annotator "Besenthal,K"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2016.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Nb6 7. O-O Be7 8.
d3 O-O 9. a3 Re8 10. b4 Bf8 11. Bb2 Bg4 12. Nd2 Qc8 13. Re1 a5 14. b5 Nd4 15.
Nb3 a4 16. Nxd4 exd4 17. Ne4 Qd7 18. Qc2 Rad8 19. Nc5 Bxc5 20. Qxc5 Rxe2 21.
Rxe2 Bxe2 22. Bxb7 Bxd3 23. Rd1 Qxb5 24. Qxc7 Rf8 25. Bxd4 Nc4 {Diagramm [#]}
26. Bf3 $6 ({Weiß hatte bereits längere Zeit einigen Vorteil gehabt, der nach
} 26. Bc6 $1 Qb3 27. Re1 {wegen der Drohungen Ld5 und Lc5 auch offensichtlich
gewesen wäre.}) 26... Qb3 27. Bc5 Re8 {Diagramm [#] Hier war noch alles auf
der Reihe.} 28. Qd7 $4 Qxd1+ $1 (28... Qxd1+ 29. Bxd1 Re1+ 30. Kg2 Bf1+ 31. Kf3
Ne5+) 0-1

[Event "Paris GCT blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.12"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2804"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2016.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 h6 7. a4 a5 8. Na3
Bxa3 9. Rxa3 O-O 10. Re1 Re8 11. h3 Be6 12. Bb5 Bd7 13. Be3 Ne7 14. Bc4 Ng6 15.
Qb3 Be6 16. Bxe6 Rxe6 17. Qxb7 Rb8 18. Qa6 Rxb2 19. Qxa5 d5 20. Raa1 dxe4 21.
dxe4 Qc8 22. Nd2 Nh5 23. Nc4 Rb8 24. Reb1 Ra8 25. Qc5 Nhf4 26. Bxf4 Nxf4 27.
Nxe5 Qe8 28. Nf3 Rg6 29. Qf5 Nxg2 30. Kh1 Raa6 31. e5 Qa8 32. Rb4 c5 33. Re4
Qd5 34. c4 Qd3 35. Rg1 Rxa4 36. e6 Rxe6 37. Ne5 Nh4 38. Qxf7+ 1-0

[Event "Paris GCT blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.12"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2789"]
[PlyCount "147"]
[EventDate "2016.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Nbd2 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Bd3 Nc6 6. O-O O-O 7. c3 Bd7 8. Re1
e5 9. dxe5 Nxe5 10. Nxe5 dxe5 11. Nf3 Qe7 12. h3 Rfd8 13. Qc2 Ne8 14. Be3 Nd6
15. Rad1 b6 16. Bf1 h6 17. Nd2 Be6 18. a4 a5 19. Nb1 Qe8 20. c4 Qc6 21. f3 f5
22. c5 bxc5 23. Qxc5 Qxc5 24. Bxc5 fxe4 25. fxe4 Rab8 26. Rd2 Nc4 27. Rxd8+
Rxd8 28. b3 Nb6 29. Re3 Rd1 30. Nc3 Rc1 31. Ba3 Rxf1+ 32. Kxf1 Bxb3 33. Bc5
Nxa4 34. Nxa4 Bxa4 35. Kf2 Bb5 36. Rf3 h5 37. g4 hxg4 38. hxg4 Bh6 39. Rf6 Kg7
40. Re6 Bf4 41. Re7+ Kf6 42. Rxc7 Ba4 43. Be7+ Ke6 44. Bd8 Bd1 45. Re7+ Kd6 46.
Rg7 a4 47. Rxg6+ Kd7 48. Ba5 Bc2 49. Bb4 Bxe4 50. Rd6+ Kc7 51. Rf6 Kd7 52. Ra6
Bc6 53. Bc3 Kd6 54. Ra5 Bd7 55. g5 Bxg5 56. Bxe5+ Ke6 57. Bd4 Bd8 58. Ra8 Be7
59. Ke3 Bg5+ 60. Kd3 Bb5+ 61. Kc3 Be7 62. Ra5 Bc6 63. Kc4 a3 64. Ra6 Kd7 65.
Bc5 Bxc5 66. Kxc5 Be4 67. Rxa3 Ke6 68. Kd4 Bg6 69. Ra5 Kf6 70. Ke3 Kg7 71. Kf4
Bh7 72. Kg5 Kh8 73. Kh6 Bg8 74. Ra8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Paris GCT blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.12"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A33"]
[WhiteElo "2792"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[Annotator "Besenthal,K"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2016.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 c5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 cxd4 5. O-O Nc6 6. Nxd4 Bc5 7. Nb3 Be7 8.
c4 O-O 9. Nc3 b6 10. Bf4 Bb7 11. Rc1 d6 12. Nb5 Ne8 13. Qd2 a6 14. Nc3 Qb8 15.
Rfd1 Nd8 16. Ne4 e5 17. Bg5 f6 18. Be3 f5 19. Nc3 Bxg2 20. Kxg2 Ne6 21. Nd5 Bd8
22. f3 Ra7 23. Nb4 Qc8 24. Qd5 {Diagramm [#]} Kh8 $6 (24... Raf7 $1 25. Nc6 Bc7
{ist der Computervorschlag. Schwarz kann alle seine Schwächen decken und
Weiß kommt nicht mehr recht voran.}) 25. Nc6 Rb7 26. Nxd8 Nxd8 27. c5 $1 {
Das ist jetzt vorteilhaft für Weiß.} bxc5 28. Bxc5 dxc5 29. Qxd8 Nf6 30. Qxc8
(30. Qd6 $1) 30... Rxc8 31. Rxc5 Rxc5 32. Rd8+ Ng8 33. Nxc5 Rxb2 34. Kf2 Rxa2
35. h4 h6 36. h5 {Diagramm [#] Jetzt sollte Schwarz eigentlich nicht mehr
verlieren.} Rc2 37. Nd3 e4 38. Ne5 exf3 39. Kxf3 Kh7 40. Ng6 a5 41. Ra8 Ra2 42.
e3 a4 43. Kf4 Rf2+ 44. Ke5 Rf3 45. Ke6 Rxe3+ 46. Kf7 Rb3 $2 (46... Rd3 $1 47.
Nf8+ Kh8) 47. Nf8+ Kh8 48. Ng6+ Kh7 49. Nf8+ Kh8 50. Nd7 {Diagramm [#] Man
stelle sich den schwarzen Turm jetzt auf d3 vor...} Rb7 51. Rxg8+ Kh7 52. Rxg7+
Kh8 53. Kg6 a3 54. Rh7+ 1-0

[Event "Paris GCT blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.12"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2812"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2016.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. h3 Nd7 7. Be3 O-O 8.
Qd2 Re8 9. Nc3 a5 10. Bxc5 Nxc5 11. O-O-O f6 12. Qe3 Qe7 13. d4 exd4 14. Nxd4
Bd7 15. Rhe1 b5 16. f3 b4 17. Nb1 Kh8 18. Nd2 Na4 19. Nc4 c5 20. Nf5 Qe6 21. b3
Bb5 22. bxa4 Bxc4 23. Qxc5 Qf7 24. Qc6 Be6 25. Kb2 h6 26. g4 Rad8 27. Rxd8 Rxd8
28. Qc5 Qd7 29. Qe7 Qxe7 30. Nxe7 c5 31. Nc6 c4 32. Nxd8 1-0

[Event "Paris GCT blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.12"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B41"]
[WhiteElo "2782"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2016.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. g3 d6 6. Bg2 Nf6 7. c4 Bd7 8. O-O
Nc6 9. Nc3 Be7 10. Nxc6 Bxc6 11. a4 a5 12. Be3 O-O 13. Qe2 Nd7 14. Rfd1 Qb8 15.
Nb5 Rd8 16. f4 b6 17. e5 Bxg2 18. exd6 Bc6 19. dxe7 Re8 20. Nd4 Be4 21. Nxe6
Rxe7 22. Nxg7 Qb7 23. Bd4 Bh1 24. Qf2 Rae8 25. Nxe8 Rxe8 26. Re1 Be4 27. f5 f6
28. Qf4 Qc6 29. Re3 Nc5 30. Rae1 Nd3 31. Qg4+ Kf8 32. R1e2 Nc5 33. h4 Re7 34.
Qf4 Nd3 35. Qh6+ Kf7 36. Rxd3 Qxc4 37. Qxf6+ Ke8 38. Qh8+ Kd7 39. Rdd2 Kc7 40.
Qf6 Rd7 41. Qe5+ 1-0

[Event "Paris GCT blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.12"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2761"]
[Annotator "Besenthal,K"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2016.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. a4 Ngf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. a5 Bg7 7. O-O a6 8. Bc4
O-O 9. d3 Nb8 10. Nd5 Nc6 11. Nb6 Rb8 12. Bd2 Bg4 13. h3 Bxf3 14. Qxf3 Nd7 15.
Nxd7 Qxd7 {Diagramm [#]} 16. Rab1 $6 (16. Ra2 {war besser.}) 16... Qd8 17. h4
Nxa5 18. Ba2 Nc6 19. h5 e6 20. g3 $2 (20. c3 $1 {hätte zunächst einmal den
Sc6 limitiert.}) 20... b5 21. Kg2 Qf6 22. Qd1 a5 23. hxg6 hxg6 24. Rh1 Nb4 $6 (
24... a4 $1) 25. Bc3 ({Sofort} 25. Qg4 {war interessant:} Nxa2 26. Bg5 Qd4 27.
Qh4 Rfc8 28. c3 Nxc3 29. bxc3 Qxc3 30. Be7 f5 31. exf5 gxf5 32. Rbe1) 25... Qg5
26. f4 Qe7 27. Qg4 $2 {Diagramm [#] Jetzt funktioniert dieser Zug gar nicht
mehr - ungewöhnlich für Carlsen.} Nxa2 28. Qh3 f6 29. Qh7+ Kf7 30. Rh6 Rg8
31. Bxa5 Kf8 32. Rh3 Qf7 33. c3 Ra8 34. Bb6 Ra6 35. Bd8 Ke8 36. Bc7 Kd7 37. e5
Rh8 38. Qxh8 Bxh8 39. Rxh8 Kxc7 40. Rbh1 dxe5 41. R1h7 Qxh7 42. Rxh7+ Kd6 43.
Kf3 exf4 44. gxf4 b4 45. c4 Nc1 46. Ke3 Nb3 0-1

[Event "Paris GCT blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.12"]
[Round "17"]
[White "Fressinet, Laurent"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A40"]
[WhiteElo "2687"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2016.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nc6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d5 Nb8 4. Nc3 d6 5. e4 g6 6. Be3 Bg4 7. h3 Bxf3 8. Qxf3
Bg7 9. O-O-O Nbd7 10. g4 c6 11. Qe2 Rc8 12. Bd4 c5 13. Be3 Qa5 14. Qb5 Qxb5 15.
Bxb5 a6 16. Be2 b5 17. g5 Nh5 18. a4 b4 19. Nb1 c4 20. Nd2 c3 21. Nb3 cxb2+ 22.
Kb1 Rc3 23. Bd4 O-O 24. Bxa6 Nc5 25. Bxc3 bxc3 26. Nxc5 dxc5 27. d6 exd6 28.
Rxd6 Nf4 29. Rhd1 Bd4 30. Bb7 Nxh3 31. a5 Nxf2 32. R1xd4 cxd4 33. Rxd4 Re8 34.
a6 Nh3 35. Rd3 Nxg5 36. Rxc3 Kg7 37. a7 Ne6 38. Rc8 Rxc8 39. Bxc8 Nc7 40. Bb7
Kf6 41. e5+ Kxe5 42. Kxb2 h5 43. Kb3 g5 44. a8=Q Nxa8 45. Bxa8 g4 46. Kc3 h4
47. Kd3 h3 48. Ke3 f5 49. c4 f4+ 50. Kf2 Kd4 51. Bd5 Kc5 52. Kg1 g3 53. Kh1 Kd4
54. Kg1 Ke3 55. c5 f3 56. c6 f2+ 57. Kf1 g2+ 58. Bxg2 hxg2+ 0-1

[Event "Paris GCT blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2016.06.12"]
[Round "18"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2016.06.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. h3 O-O 7. Nc3 Re8 8.
Be3 Bxe3 9. fxe3 Nd7 10. O-O Nf8 11. Qe1 f6 12. g4 Ng6 13. Qg3 h6 14. Rf2 Qe7
15. Raf1 Be6 16. h4 Qd7 17. Rg2 Rf8 18. d4 exd4 19. exd4 Rae8 20. h5 Nh8 21.
Rd1 Qd6 22. Qxd6 cxd6 23. Nh4 d5 24. exd5 Bxd5 25. Nxd5 cxd5 26. Kf1 Re4 27.
Nf5 Nf7 28. Re1 Rf4+ 29. Kg1 Ng5 30. Re7 Rf7 31. Re8+ Kh7 32. Kh2 Ne4 33. Nh4
Nd6 34. Rd8 Rc7 35. Rxd6 1-0

[Event "Leuven GCT rapid"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.17"]
[Round "1"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2016.06.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. f3
Nbd7 9. Qd2 b5 10. O-O-O h5 11. Nd5 Rc8 12. g3 Bxd5 13. exd5 Nb6 14. Bh3 Nc4
15. Qe2 Rc7 16. Bg5 Be7 17. f4 Ng4 18. Bxg4 hxg4 19. Bxe7 Qxe7 20. Rhe1 Kf8 21.
fxe5 Qxe5 22. Nd4 Qxe2 23. Rxe2 g6 24. Nc6 Kg7 25. Rd4 f5 26. a4 Ne5 27. axb5
axb5 28. Nxe5 dxe5 29. Rxe5 Rxh2 30. c3 Ra7 31. Kb1 Rh3 32. d6 Rd7 33. Re3 Kf6
34. Kc2 g5 35. Red3 Ke6 36. Re3+ Kf6 37. Red3 Ke6 38. Re3+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leuven GCT rapid"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.17"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2789"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2016.06.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nc3 Nb6 6. d3 Be7 7. Nh3 Nc6 8. f4
h5 9. Be3 h4 10. Rc1 Bf5 11. Ng5 Qd7 12. Qb3 O-O 13. gxh4 Nd4 14. Qd1 Bc5 15.
Qd2 exf4 16. Bxf4 Rfe8 17. Nce4 Bxe4 18. Bxe4 Qe7 19. Kf1 Rad8 20. e3 Ne6 21.
Nxe6 Qxe6 22. Qg2 Bf8 23. Rg1 Nd5 24. Qg5 c6 25. Rg2 Nxf4 26. Qxf4 f5 27. Bxf5
Qxe3 28. Qxe3 Rxe3 29. Re2 Rf3+ 30. Rf2 Rxf2+ 31. Kxf2 Be7 32. Kg3 Kf7 33. h5
Rd5 34. Rf1 Bf6 35. b3 Ke7 36. Kg4 a5 37. Rf2 Re5 38. Rg2 Rd5 39. h4 Rc5 40.
Re2+ Re5 41. Be4 Kd6 42. Rf2 Ke7 43. Rf1 Rc5 44. a4 b5 45. Rf5 Rxf5 46. Kxf5
bxa4 47. bxa4 Bxh4 48. Kg6 Bf6 49. Bxc6 Bd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leuven GCT rapid"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.17"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A85"]
[WhiteElo "2792"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2016.06.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 f5 3. c4 Nf6 4. Nc3 {Anand,V (2797)-Carlsen,M (2865) Grenke
Chess Classic 3rd 2015 (4) 0-1 Aronian does not seem too keen to allow the
Stonewall, possibly under the influence of the game} Bb4 {The opening has
turned into a Nimzo-Dutzh hybrid, supposed to be fine for Black, but still
complicated. The reader should compare with the lines examined in my
pseudo-Owen article for CBM 166. The main difference is the early commitment
of Black's queen.} 5. Qb3 Qe7 6. Bd2 {Unpinning the knight and preparing to
re-capture with the bishop on c3.} (6. Bg5 O-O 7. g3 c5 {This looks slightly
inconsequent with the previous play.} (7... b6 $5) 8. Bg2 Nc6 9. dxc5 Qxc5 10.
Bxf6 Rxf6 11. a3 Bxc3+ 12. Qxc3 $14 {Gelfand,B (2704)-Morovic Fernandez,I 
(2549) Cap d'Agde 2002 CBM 092 [Finkel,A] (½-½, 26), with comfortable play
for White.}) (6. a3 {transposes to some sort of 4.Qc2 Nimzo-Indian.} Bxc3+ 7.
Qxc3 O-O 8. e3 b6 9. Bd3 Bb7 10. b3 d6 11. Bb2 Nbd7 12. O-O-O Ne4 13. Qc2 {
Ivanov,J (2370)-Schmouchkovitch,M (2003) Sautron 2007 EXT 2008 [RR] (1-0, 23)}
a5 $5 $132) 6... b6 (6... Bxc3 {, played for the sake of continuing with ...
d7-d6, looks a bit premature:} 7. Bxc3 d6 8. g3 Nbd7 9. Bg2 Ne4 10. O-O Nxc3
11. Qxc3 O-O 12. Rfe1 e5 13. e4 f4 14. c5 dxc5 15. dxc5 Nxc5 16. Rac1 b6 17. b4
Na6 18. Nxe5 $14 {Wang,Y (2704)-Agdestein,S (2583) Amsterdam 2008 (1-0, 35)})
7. g3 $146 {This way of developing is familiar, but in this concrete position
the last move is a novelty.} (7. e3 Bb7 8. Be2 O-O 9. O-O Bxc3 10. Bxc3 Ne4 11.
d5 {This offers Black a clear developing plan by conceding the control over
the c5-square.} ({It makes sense to keep the threat d4-d5 in reserve with
either} 11. Rad1 {or}) (11. Be1) 11... Na6 12. Rad1 d6 13. dxe6 {Another
important concession, clearing the long diagonal.} (13. Be1 Nac5 14. Qc2 a5 15.
Nd4 e5 16. Nb5 {[%cal Gf2f3]}) 13... Nac5 14. Qc2 Nxe6 15. b4 a5 16. a3 f4 $36
{Laurine,L-Keres,P Tallinn 1937 EXT 2001 (0-1, 24). In the database this game
is reported as featuring the pointless sacrifice 6...b5 instead of 6...b6.})
7... Bb7 8. Bg2 Nc6 $5 {An ambitious continuation, aiming at active piece play.
} ({The main alternative is} 8... Bxc3 9. Bxc3 Ne4 10. O-O O-O 11. Be1 d6 $13)
9. O-O (9. a3 {also leads to interesting play:} Nxd4 $1 (9... Bxc3 10. Bxc3 $14
{[%csl Rb7,Rc6]}) 10. Nxd4 Bxg2 11. axb4 Bxh1 12. f3 c5 (12... Bg2 13. Ncb5 {
[%csl Ga8,Gc7,Ge8]}) 13. bxc5 bxc5 14. Ndb5 (14. Nc2 {offers the bishop the
time to escape with} Bg2) 14... O-O 15. Kf2 a6 16. Na3 Ng4+ $1 17. Kg1 (17.
fxg4 fxg4+ 18. Kg1 Bc6 $17 {[%csl Rg1][%cal Gc6h1]}) 17... Rab8 18. Qc2 Bxf3
19. exf3 Ne5 $13 {with unbalanced play, from the strategic and material points
of view.}) 9... Na5 10. Qc2 Nxc4 11. Nb5 $1 {In view of this counter-blow the
pawn sacrifice turns into a temporary one.} Nxd2 (11... Bxd2 12. Nxc7+ Kf7 13.
Nxa8 $16) 12. Nxc7+ Kf8 13. Nxd2 Bxg2 14. Kxg2 Rc8 15. Nf3 {Removing the
knight from the attacked square and taking g5 under control.} (15. Nxe6+ $2 {
is premature due to} Kf7 16. Ng5+ Kg6 $17) 15... Qd8 ({But now Black has to
count with the aforementioned threat:} 15... Bd6 $2 16. Nxe6+ $1 Kf7 17. Neg5+
Kg6 18. Qb3 $16 {The main point is that the g5-knight is defended.}) 16. Rac1
Ke7 (16... Bd6 $2 17. Nxe6+) 17. Qa4 {A simple way of getting out of the pin.}
Rxc7 18. Qxb4+ d6 19. Qd2 {Black seems to have solved the main strategic
problems, but the king's presence in the centre invites him to caution.} h6 {
This weakens the g6-square for the sake of preventing Qg5.} (19... Qd7 20. Rxc7
Qxc7 21. Qg5 Kf7 22. d5 Nxd5 23. Qh5+ g6 24. Ng5+ Ke8 25. Qh4 $44) (19... Nd5
20. Qg5+ Ke8 $8 {[%csl Gc7,Gd8,Gg7]} 21. Qh5+ $36) 20. Kg1 Qd7 {Slightly
careless or maybe just provocative.} (20... Kf7 $5 $11) 21. Rxc7 Qxc7 22. d5 $1
{A thematic break, partly putting Black off balance.} Nxd5 23. Nh4 {[%csl Gg6]}
Rc8 ({Defending both f5 and g6 with the king does not work:} 23... Kf6 $6 24.
Qd4+ Kf7 25. Nxf5 $36) 24. Nxf5+ exf5 25. Qxd5 Qc5 26. Qd3 Qe5 27. Rd1 Rc6 $14
{White has the better structure and, despite Black's piece activity, is
entitled to count on some minimal but lasting advantage.} 28. Rd2 $6 {
Unnecessarily leaving the back rank undefended.} (28. e3) (28. Qa6) 28... Qe4
$1 {Due to the threat ...Rc1+ White cannot avoid simplifying to an endgame in
which the centralised position of the black king turns into a trump.} 29. Qxe4+
fxe4 30. f3 exf3 31. exf3 d5 $1 {The previously backward pawn suddenly starts
being threatening.} 32. Rxd5 {This leads to a worse ending.} (32. Kf2 Kd6 33.
Ke3 Rc1 34. Kd4 $11) 32... Rc1+ 33. Kg2 Rc2+ 34. Kh3 Rxb2 35. a4 a5 $1 {
Suddenly the a4-pawn is doomed in view of the threat ...Rb4.} (35... Rb4 36. a5
$11) 36. Re5+ $6 {The start of a time consuming plan.} ({As usual in the
endgame the highest priority should have been activating the king.} 36. Kg4
Rb4+ (36... Rxh2 37. Rb5 $11) 37. Kh5 Rxa4 38. Kg6 Rb4 39. Kxg7 {White has
strong counterplay which seems to be enough for reaching a draw even though
Black would not have exhausted his active ideas:} a4 40. f4 a3 41. Rd1 Ra4 (
41... b5 42. Re1+ Kd6 43. f5 $132) 42. Re1+ Kd6 43. f5 b5 44. f6 b4 45. Ra1
Ra7+ (45... b3 $2 46. f7 Ra7 47. Rxa3 $18) 46. f7 Ke6 47. Re1+ Kd5 48. Ra1 Kc4
49. h4 b3 50. Rxa3 Rxf7+ 51. Kxf7 b2 52. Ra4+ Kc5 53. Ra5+ Kc6 54. Ra6+ Kb7 55.
Rxh6 b1=Q 56. Rg6 $11 {with a reliable fortress and a draw.}) 36... Kd6 37. Rf5
Rb4 38. Rf7 Rxa4 39. Rxg7 Rc4 {With respect to the lines above the white king
is much more passive, tipping the balance in Black's favour.} 40. f4 Rc7 41.
Rg8 (41. Rg6+ Kc5 42. f5 a4 43. f6 b5 44. Rg7 Rc8) 41... Ra7 42. f5 a4 43. f6
a3 44. Rg7 Ra8 45. f7 a2 0-1

[Event "Leuven GCT rapid"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.17"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2804"]
[Annotator "Besenthal,K"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2016.06.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 Bc5 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. h3 Nd7 8.
Be3 Bd6 9. Nc3 c5 10. Nd2 Nb8 11. a4 Nc6 12. a5 Be6 13. O-O O-O 14. Nc4 Be7 15.
b3 b5 16. axb6 cxb6 17. Bd2 b5 18. Ne3 Nb4 19. Ne2 Bg5 20. f4 exf4 21. Nxf4 a5
22. Bc3 Nc6 23. Ned5 Nd4 24. Qh5 Bxf4 25. Nxf4 Qd6 26. Rxa5 Rxa5 27. Bxa5 b4
28. Nxe6 Nxe6 29. Qd5 Qa6 30. Ra1 Rb8 31. Ra4 Qb5 32. d4 Qe2 33. Qe5 Re8 34.
dxc5 f6 35. Qd6 Qe3+ 36. Kh2 Nf4 37. Bc7 {Diagramm [#] An dieser Stelle hatte
Carlsen Gewinnstellung erlangt.} Ne2 38. Ra1 Qxe4 39. Re1 Re5 40. Qd2 Re6 41.
Qd7 $2 (41. Bg3 $1) 41... h5 42. Bb8 Re8 {Diagramm [#]} 43. Bd6 $2 {Dies
ermöglicht Caruana einen überraschenden Konter.} (43. Bg3 $1 h4 44. Bxh4 Qf4+
45. Kh1 Re5 46. Qd3 $18) 43... Re5 $1 44. Rf1 (44. Bxe5 $2 Qxe5+ 45. Kh1 Ng3+
46. Kh2 Qxe1) 44... Rg5 {Diagramm [#]} 45. Rf3 $4 (45. Rf2 $11) 45... Rxg2+ $1
46. Kxg2 Nd4 47. Kg1 Nxf3+ 48. Kf2 Nd4 49. Qc8+ Kh7 50. Qa6 Qf3+ 51. Ke1 Nxc2+
52. Kd2 Qc3+ 53. Kd1 Qxb3 54. Kc1 Nd4 0-1

[Event "Leuven GCT rapid"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.17"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2787"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "33"]
[EventDate "2016.06.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qa4+ Nc6 6. e3 O-O 7. Qc2 Re8 8. Bd2
e5 9. dxe5 Nxe5 10. cxd5 Nxf3+ 11. gxf3 Nxd5 12. Nxd5 Qxd5 13. Bxb4 Qxf3 14.
Rg1 Bf5 15. Qe2 Qe4 16. Bc3 Bg6 17. Qc4 1-0

[Event "Leuven GCT rapid"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.18"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2761"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2016.06.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. Qc2 Bb7 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. Qxc3 O-O 8.
Bg5 d6 9. Nd2 Nbd7 10. e3 c5 11. dxc5 Nxc5 12. b4 Ncd7 13. f3 Rc8 14. Be2 Ne5
15. Qb2 Ng6 16. Rc1 h6 17. Bxf6 Qxf6 18. Qxf6 gxf6 19. Kf2 Rfd8 20. Rhd1 Bc6
21. Nb1 Kf8 22. Nc3 f5 23. Rd4 Ke7 24. Rcd1 Rd7 25. g3 Rcd8 26. h3 Kf6 27. f4
Ne7 28. g4 Kg7 29. Bf3 Rc8 30. Be2 Rcd8 31. b5 Bb7 32. a4 a5 33. bxa6 Bxa6 34.
Bf3 fxg4 35. hxg4 f5 36. Rb1 Rc8 37. Rxb6 Bxc4 38. Rdxd6 Rxd6 39. Rxd6 Bb3 40.
Ne2 Rc2 41. Ke1 fxg4 42. Bxg4 h5 43. Bxe6 Bxe6 44. Rxe6 Nf5 45. Re5 Nd6 46.
Rxh5 Ra2 47. Nc3 1-0

[Event "Leuven GCT rapid"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.18"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2782"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[Annotator "Roiz,M"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2016.06.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 Bb4+ {Quite a rare move, but
Magnus already had some experience (not really positive) in this line before.}
6. c3 ({His previous game} 6. Nbd2 Nd7 7. O-O Ba5 8. Nb3 Bc7 9. Ne1 f6 ({
Perhaps,} 9... Ne7 $5 {is a definite improvement.}) 10. Bh5+ g6 11. Be2 g5 12.
Bd3 Bg6 13. exf6 Qxf6 14. Qg4 $36 {Sjugirov,S - Carlsen,M / Khanty-Mansiysk
2010, White has got a dangerous initiative and eventually won the game.}) 6...
Ba5 7. O-O Nd7 8. a4 $146 {Anish comes up with an interesting novelty: this
advance yields White an additional opportunity of developing the knight via a3.
} (8. Nbd2 {was recently tested on the top level as well:} Bc7 9. Re1 (9. Ne1
Ne7 10. Nd3 O-O 11. Nf3 h6 $11 {Grischuk,A - Andreikin,D / ICC INT 2016}) 9...
h6 10. Nf1 Ne7 11. Ng3 Bg6 12. Nh4 Bh7 13. f4 c5 14. Bd3 $14 {1-0 (35)
Grischuk,A - Andreikin,D ICC INT 2016}) 8... Bc7 (8... Ne7 $6 {can be
effectively met by} 9. Nh4 $1 c5 10. Nxf5 Nxf5 11. Bd3 $36) 9. Nbd2 {This move
seems inaccurate: now Black is able to challenge the centre, so the artificial
manoeuvre Bb4-a5-c7 is justified.} ({The correct move was} 9. Re1 $1 {now
White is well prepared for} f6 (9... h6 10. Nbd2 Ne7 11. Nf1 O-O 12. Ng3 Bg6
13. b4 $14 {offers White a pleasant space advantage}) 10. Bd3 Bxd3 11. exf6
Qxf6 12. Qxd3 h6 13. Qe2 $36) 9... f6 10. Re1 (10. exf6 {doesn't pose Black
any problems:} Ngxf6 11. Nh4 O-O 12. f4 Ne4 13. Nxf5 exf5 $11) 10... Nh6 (10...
fxe5 11. Nxe5 Nxe5 12. dxe5 Ne7 13. Bh5+ Bg6 $132) 11. Nf1 fxe5 12. dxe5 ({
The intermediate} 12. Bg5 {could bother Black too:} Qb8 $1 13. Bxh6 gxh6 14.
Nxe5 Nxe5 15. dxe5 O-O $132) 12... O-O 13. Bxh6 gxh6 14. Qd4 $2 {This awkward
way of protecting the central pawn is a serious concession.} ({It was possible
to maintain the balance by means of} 14. Ng3 $1 Nxe5 ({After} 14... Bg6 15. Nd4
Qe7 16. Bg4 Nxe5 17. Nxe6 Rf6 18. Nxc7 Qxc7 19. Nh5 {White's position is not
worse, at the least}) 15. Nxe5 Bxe5 16. Nxf5 exf5 17. Bd3 Qf6 18. Qf3 $11 {
In the subsequent position with bishops of different colours Black's extra
pawn is of a symbolic value.}) 14... Be4 {As a result, the Pe5 would fall in a
worse situation.} 15. Ng3 ({In case of} 15. N1d2 Bb6 16. Qb4 a5 17. Qd6 Bf5 $1
18. Qa3 Qb8 $1 19. Bf1 Qa7 $17 {White would lose a pawn anyway.}) 15... c5 ({
Another decent way of collecting the pawn was} 15... Bxf3 $5 16. Bxf3 Qg5 17.
h4 Qg6 18. Bh5 Qg7 19. Qg4 Qxg4 20. Bxg4 Rae8 $17) 16. Qe3 Bxf3 17. Bxf3 Qg5 $5
{Magnus reasonably prefers to simplify matters.} (17... Nxe5 18. Bg4 Qf6 19.
Bh3 Rae8 $17) 18. Qxg5+ $2 {Alas, Anish fails to provide proper resistance -
there was no reason for improving Black's pawn structure.} (18. Rad1 Qxe3 19.
Rxe3 Nxe5 20. Bh5 c4 $17) 18... hxg5 19. Bg4 Rae8 20. Re2 Nxe5 21. Bh5 Rd8 22.
Rd1 ({The most stubborn was} 22. b3 Kg7 23. h3 Rf6 24. Rd1 {and Black still
has to find a way to make progress.}) 22... c4 $1 {Now Black manages to secure
an excellent spot in the opponent's camp.} 23. Nf1 Nd3 ({White resigns in view
of} 23... Nd3 24. Rxe6 Nxb2 25. Rb1 Nxa4 26. Rxb7 Nc5 $19) 0-1

[Event "Leuven GCT rapid"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.18"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2016.06.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Vishy came fresh from Leon, with an impressive victory, and his good form
continued in Leuven where he took an early lead. Magnus finished day one on a
very low note, with 2 losses, but managed to recover on day 2, to this point
with 2 wins, and with this game managed to take a lead, he would never again
relinquish:} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 $5 {All the rage. The Italian game
used to be considered dull and drawish, but these days with the Berlin being
excactly that, old evaluations have to be reconsidered, and Vishy even had
this position as many as 8(!) times in the tournament.} Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6
(5... O-O $5 {used to be considered interesting, the idea being:} 6. c3 d5 $5
7. exd5 Nxd5 {when Black is supposed to have active play with his pieces,
compensating for the e-pawn being somewhat weak. However:} 8. a4 $5 {Both
Kramnik, Anand and Giri played this in Paris/Leuven adding new life to White's
ambitions in this branch.}) 6. c3 a6 7. a4 Ba7 $5 (7... h6 {Kramnik chose this
himself as Black three times, and as always when regarding move orders one can
expect Kramnik to have thought things through.}) ({Maybe the most exiting was
Nakamura's choice:} 7... O-O $5 8. Re1 $6 Ba7 9. Nbd2 Ng4 $1 10. Re2 {Now it
looks like White with h3 next will push the black knight back, however after}
Kh8 11. h3 f5 $1 {Naka showed Black has a much more dynamic reply. Not willing
to open the f-file, Topalov played} 12. exf5 $5 Nxf2 13. Rxf2 Bxf2+ 14. Kxf2 d5
15. Bb3 Bxf5 {, but despite White actually winning the game, Black has an
overwhelming position. This led to Anand trying the idea 8.b4!? Ba7 9.Bg5
against Nakamura, and So 8.Bg5!? against Anand.}) 8. Na3 Ne7 $5 9. Nc2 O-O 10.
Be3 Bxe3 11. Nxe3 {Later in the blitz, the players had the same position with
colours reversed, and Magnus choose 11...a5, not allowing White to gain space
on the queenside.} Ng6 (11... a5 $5 12. Re1 Ng6 13. Bb3 c6 14. Bc2 Re8 15. d4
Qc7 {was the game, being rather equal.}) 12. a5 Ng4 13. h3 Nxe3 14. fxe3 Qe7
15. Qb3 c6 16. d4 Be6 {It looks like Black has equalised, but as can often be
seen in Magnus' games, small details can become substantial. White has more
space on the queenside, and also ...Ng6 can be said to have slightly less
potential than the knight on f3. Even so, Black should be confident about his
defence.} 17. Bxe6 fxe6 18. Rad1 Rae8 19. Qb4 $1 {Putting pressure on d6.} exd4
(19... Rf7 20. dxe5 Nxe5 21. Nxe5 dxe5 22. Qxe7 Rxf1+ 23. Kxf1 Rxe7 {of course
looks very symmetrical, but White has the idea of marching towards c5 with his
king, and Vishy understandably tries to defend more actively.}) 20. cxd4 e5 {
A standard move, but leading to a passive ending. But things were already
slightly unpleasant.} ({If} 20... d5 21. Qxe7 Rxe7 22. Nd2 {eyes c5 for the
knight,}) ({and also} 20... Rf7 21. Nd2 {keeps some pressure. Maybe not a lot,
but annoying and for Black it is difficult to completely equalise.}) 21. dxe5
dxe5 22. Qxe7 Rxe7 23. Rd6 {A logical move, but it's worth noting that the
computer suggests} (23. Kf2 $5 {simply centralising the king, maybe aiming for
the queenside, but also just keeping the tension, while improving his position.
Anyhow, nothing is wrong with the text move.}) 23... Nh8 24. Nd2 $6 {This
however is an inaccuracy, allowing Black to exchange rooks, which would have
made his defence easier.} ({Better was first} 24. Rd3 {, following it up with
Rfd1 and then Nd2, keeping an substantial edge.}) 24... Nf7 $6 25. Rd3 Ng5 26.
Rf5 h6 27. h4 Nh7 28. Nb3 {White now gets what he aimed for when playing move
likes Qb4, or to an extent, even a5. The knight settles on c5, dooming Black
to a passive defence.} Nf6 29. Nc5 Rff7 30. h5 ({The computer suggests} 30. Rf3
$5 {intending next to transfer the king to the queenside, which also looks
like a promising plan, but Magnus has his own idea:}) 30... Kh7 $2 {An
outright blunder, even if creating counterplay with ...g6 seems logical. But:}
31. Rd8 $1 {....basically creates zugzwang. If 31...Rc7 then 32.Ne6+-f8+ wins,
so Black has no choice, but to play the planned ...g6.} g6 32. hxg6+ Kxg6 33.
Rd6 $1 {Pinning Black, making it clear that Black's activity just created more
weaknesses.} Kg7 34. Ne6+ $1 Kg6 35. Nd8 $1 Rf8 36. g4 $1 {The final blow,
making the zugzwang complete. Black can not make a move without giving up
material, and maybe the last slight practical chance is by doing that
immediately with 36...Rxd8 37.Rxd8 Nxe4, even if White is clearly winning.} c5
37. b3 Ree8 38. Nxb7 {And Vishy resigned as c5 falls next, and then a6, while
counterplay is still nowhere in sight.} 1-0

[Event "Leuven GCT rapid"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.18"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "2812"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[Annotator "Mekhitarian,K"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2016.06.17"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 e6 2. g3 b5 3. e4 Bb7 4. Qe2 c5 5. Bg2 a6 6. O-O Nf6 7. e5 Nd5 8. b3 {
One thing is for sure - both players were looking to play original chess from
the 1st move!. We have now a mix of different openings on the board, and a
rich position.} Nc6 9. Bb2 Be7 10. Nc3 $5 (10. c4 {was another way to play the
position} bxc4 11. bxc4 Nb6 12. Nc3 O-O {White wants to play Ne4 now, but ...
Na4 would be annoying then} 13. Rab1 $5 d5 $1 14. exd6 Qxd6 15. Ne4 Qc7 16.
Rfe1 Rad8 $13 {If Black is able to regroup nicely, he could even look for an
advantage, since the d-pawn could be a problem forever.}) 10... Nxc3 11. dxc3
O-O 12. Rad1 Qc7 13. c4 Rad8 14. h4 (14. cxb5 axb5 15. Qxb5 Ra8 $1 $132 {
threatening ...Rxa2 and ...Ba6.}) 14... f6 $5 15. exf6 Bxf6 16. Bxf6 gxf6 {
Carlsen plays very creatively, but the weaknesses around his king will be a
potential problem in any position where the queens are maintained.} (16... Rxf6
$5) 17. cxb5 (17. c3 $5 {limiting the knight on c6 was an interesting idea}
bxc4 (17... b4 $2 18. Qe3 $1 {hitting c5} Ne7 19. cxb4 cxb4 20. Rfe1 $16) 18.
Qxc4 $14) 17... axb5 18. Qxb5 Nb4 $1 $132 19. Qe2 Nxa2 20. Qc4 (20. Ra1 Nb4 21.
Rfd1 $14 {was a better way to organise the pieces. Now Black's centre can't
advance easily and White could claim a small advantage, mostly because of the
better security of his king.}) 20... Kh8 21. Ra1 Ra8 22. Rfe1 $6 d5 23. Qg4 e5
{Black suddenly is taking over the initiative!} 24. h5 Bc8 25. Qh4 Bb7 26. Nh2
$6 (26. Qg4 $5 {I don't know if Black would keep on playing if Kramnik
repeated the position once again.}) 26... Nb4 27. Rxa8 Bxa8 28. c4 Nc2 {
I like this move, without pushing his central structure even more.} (28... e4
$5 29. cxd5 f5 {led to interesting play, now Black will take on d5 and wants
to grab b3 as well. White finds nice counterplay:} 30. Nf1 Bxd5 31. Ne3 Bxb3
32. h6 $1 {and with the pawns on light squares, the black king feels even more
unsafe (since the a1-h8 diagonal is now open)} Qf7 33. Ra1 Be6 34. Qf4 Qf6 35.
Ra7 $44) 29. Rd1 Nd4 30. cxd5 (30. Ra1 $5 {a tough move to play in time trouble
} Bb7 31. Bxd5 Bxd5 32. cxd5 Qd6 33. Qe4 f5 34. Qd3 Qxd5 35. Ra7 $132) (30.
Bxd5 $2 Bxd5 31. cxd5 Qd6 {and the queen achieves a commanding position on d5}
32. Qe4 f5 33. Qe3 Qxd5 34. Re1 Re8 $17) 30... Qf7 31. Qe4 Rd8 32. h6 $2 (32.
Qh4 $1 {threatening Ng4, Black has to act fast} Bxd5 33. Bxd5 Rxd5 34. Ra1 $1 {
there are many ideas connected with the activation through the a-file. A
weakened king will always suffer somehow.} Qf8 (34... Rd8 35. Ra7 $1 Qe6 (35...
Qxa7 $2 36. Qxf6+ $18) (35... Nf3+ 36. Nxf3 Rd1+ 37. Kg2 Qxa7 38. Qxf6+ Qg7 39.
Qe6 $40) 36. Qg4 $16 {with a lot of pressure}) 35. Ra7 $36 {and White clearly
has the better chances against the vulnerable black king.}) 32... Bxd5 33. Qg4
Bxb3 $17 {Now Black is a solid pawn up and has a dangerous passer on the
c-file.} 34. Ra1 Be6 35. Qe4 Qg6 36. Ra8 Rg8 (36... Rxa8 $5 {similar to the
game} 37. Qxa8+ Qg8 $17) 37. Rxg8+ Bxg8 38. Qxg6 $2 {Now White is losing.} (38.
Qa8 $1 {was still very complicated, Black's king does not feel safe, meaning
it is not easy to push the c-pawn forward} c4 39. Be4 Qg5 40. Nf3 Nxf3+ 41.
Bxf3 {threatening the decisive Qf8, followed by Bd5} c3 42. Qc8 Qxh6 43. Qxc3
$17 {with a long endgame to come, where White has great drawing chances.})
38... hxg6 39. Ng4 c4 40. Nxf6 c3 41. Be4 c2 {Doesn't spoil anything, but} (
41... Nf3+ {would force a win right away} 42. Kg2 Nd2 43. Bd3 (43. Bc2 Bb3 44.
Ne4 (44. Bd3 e4 $1 45. Nxe4 Nxe4 46. Bxe4 Bd5 $19) 44... Bxc2 45. Nxc3 Kh7 $19)
(43. h7 Bb3 44. Bd3 e4 $1 $19) 43... Bc4 44. Bc2 Bb3 {-- 43.Bc2}) 42. Bxc2 Nxc2
43. Nd7 e4 44. Nf6 e3 45. fxe3 Nxe3 46. g4 Nd5 47. Nxd5 {You can never blame
anyone for playing this, because the winning plan for Black is subtle.
Probably without time, Kramnik thought he had reached a drawn endgame.} (47.
Ne4 $1 {was the most resilient, since the game sequence loses by force} Nf4 48.
Kf2 Bd5 {achieving the best possible setup} 49. Ng5 (49. Nf6 Bc6 50. Ke3 Ne6
51. Kf2 g5 {now Black simply goes on to take h6 and gradually wins g4, and the
game} 52. Ke3 Nd8 53. Kd4 Nf7 54. h7 Kg7 $19) 49... Ne6 $1 50. Nxe6 Bxe6 51. g5
Kg8 52. Ke3 Kf8 53. Kd4 Bg8 54. Ke5 Ke7 $19) 47... Bxd5 48. g5 Kg8 49. Kf2 Kf8
50. Ke3 Bg8 51. Kd4 Ke8 $3 {A beautiful finesse from the world champion.} (
51... Ke7 {still wins, but Black would need to reach the position with Ke8
anyway. For example:} 52. Ke5 Kf7 53. Kd5 $1 (53. Kd6 {would actually help
Black, because the win becomes very intuitive:} Ke8 54. Ke5 Ke7 55. Kd4 Kd6 56.
Ke4 Ke6 57. Kf4 Kd5 $19 {After reaching the 5th rank, the g5-pawn is lost, and
so is the game}) 53... Kf8+ 54. Kd4 Ke8 $1) 52. Ke4 Kd7 53. Kd3 (53. Ke5 Ke7
$19 {followed by Kd6-Ke6 and the invasion of the black king-}) 53... Ke6 54.
Ke4 Bh7 {Reaching the 5th rank with his king, and winning the game.} 0-1

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.19"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C55"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2792"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2016.06.19"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. c3 d5 7. exd5 Nxd5 8.
Nbd2 Nb6 9. Bb5 Bd6 10. Re1 Bg4 11. h3 Bh5 12. Ne4 Re8 13. Bg5 f6 14. Be3 a6
15. Bxc6 bxc6 16. Ng3 Bf7 17. d4 Nc4 18. dxe5 Bxe5 19. Nxe5 Rxe5 20. Qc1 Qe8
21. b3 Nxe3 22. Rxe3 Rxe3 23. Qxe3 Qxe3 24. fxe3 Rd8 25. Ne4 Rd3 26. c4 Rxe3
27. Nc5 a5 28. Rd1 Bg6 29. Kf2 Re5 30. Nb7 Be4 31. g4 h5 32. Rd8+ Kh7 33. Ra8
c5 34. Ra7 hxg4 35. hxg4 Bxb7 36. Rxb7 a4 37. Rxc7 axb3 38. axb3 Kh6 39. Kf3 g6
40. Rb7 Kg5 41. b4 cxb4 42. Rxb4 f5 43. gxf5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.19"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2761"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2016.06.19"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. f3
Nbd7 9. g4 Nb6 10. g5 Nh5 11. Qd2 Be7 12. O-O-O O-O 13. Kb1 Rc8 14. Rg1 g6 15.
h4 Qc7 16. Qf2 Nc4 17. Bxc4 Qxc4 18. Nc1 b5 19. Nb3 b4 20. Na4 Rc7 21. Nb6 Qb5
22. Nd5 Bxd5 23. Rxd5 Qd7 24. Qe2 Rfc8 25. Rc1 Qh3 26. Qf2 f5 27. gxf6 Nxf6 28.
Ra5 Nh5 29. Bg5 Rf8 30. Qd2 Qxf3 31. Bxe7 Rxe7 32. Qxd6 Qf6 33. Qxb4 Qxh4 34.
Rxa6 Nf4 35. a4 Ref7 36. Qc4 Kg7 37. a5 h5 38. Rb6 Qf2 39. Nc5 h4 40. Qc3 Re7
41. a6 Ne2 42. Qb4 Nxc1 43. Rb7 Rff7 44. Rxe7 Rxe7 45. Nd3 Qf6 46. Nxc1 h3 47.
Qc3 h2 48. Qh3 Qf2 0-1

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.19"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2016.06.19"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 Nbd7 8.
e3 g5 9. Bg3 Ne4 10. Nd2 Nxg3 11. hxg3 c6 12. Qc2 Kf8 13. Bd3 Kg7 14. O-O-O Nf6
15. Nf3 Ng4 16. Kb1 Bxc3 17. bxc3 Qe7 18. Rhe1 f5 19. Re2 Rf8 20. Qb2 a5 21.
Ne1 b5 22. Bc2 b4 23. cxb4 axb4 24. Bb3 Nf6 25. Rc2 Ne4 26. Nd3 Nc3+ 27. Rxc3
bxc3 28. Qxc3 Ba6 29. Qc5 Bxd3+ 30. Rxd3 Qxc5 31. dxc5 Ra5 32. Rc3 f4 33. gxf4
gxf4 34. exf4 Rxf4 35. f3 Kf6 36. g3 Rf5 37. f4 Rh5 38. a4 Rh2 39. Bc2 h5 40.
Kc1 Ra8 41. Re3 Ra5 42. Rc3 Rh3 43. Kb2 h4 44. gxh4 Rxc3 45. Kxc3 Rxc5+ 46. Kb3
Rc4 47. h5 Rxf4 48. h6 c5 49. a5 Rb4+ 50. Ka3 Rb5 51. Ka4 Rb2 52. h7 Kg7 53.
Bf5 c4 54. a6 c3 55. a7 Ra2+ 56. Kb3 Rxa7 57. Kxc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.19"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B53"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2789"]
[Annotator "Besenthal,K"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2016.06.19"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nf6 5. Bb5+ Bd7 6. Bxd7+ Qxd7 7. c4 $6
Nc6 8. Qd3 Qg4 {Diagramm [#]} 9. Nc3 $6 (9. O-O {war besser geeignet, das
Bauernopfer zu rechtfertigen. Schwarz würde noch einen Haufen Zeit
investieren müssen, um 1. den Bauern zu schlagen und 2. seine Entwicklung zu
beenden. Derweil hätte Weiß bereits die Schwächen in der schwarzen Stellung
attackieren können, z.B. den Punkt b7.} Qxe4 (9... Nxe4 10. Be3 O-O-O 11. Nbd2
Nxd2 12. Qxd2 e5 13. Qd5 Qg6 14. Ng5 Rd7 15. f4) 10. Qb3 $13) 9... Qxg2 $1 10.
Rf1 Rc8 11. a3 g6 12. Bd2 Bg7 13. O-O-O O-O 14. Kb1 Qh3 15. Rg1 Rfe8 16. Rg3
Qe6 17. Ng5 Qd7 18. f4 Na5 19. c5 dxc5 20. Qf1 Nb3 21. Be3 Nd4 22. f5 Rf8 23.
Qh3 Rfd8 24. Rf1 Nh5 25. Rgg1 Nb5 26. Nd5 Nc7 {Diagramm [#] Mit diesem Zug
hatte Schwarz den Vorteil tatsächlich zunächst verspielt.} 27. Nxf7 $1 Nxd5
28. exd5 Qxd5 29. Bc1 $2 {Doch dann ließ dieser Fehlgriff Carlsens die Partie
wieder ein wenig in die schwarze Richtung kippen.} Qxf7 30. fxg6 Qd5 31. Rg5 $2
(31. gxh7+ $1 Kh8 32. Rg5 Qe4+ 33. Ka1 $15) 31... Qe4+ 32. Ka1 hxg6 33. Rfg1
Rc6 34. Qb3+ c4 35. Qxb7 c3 36. Rxg6 cxb2+ 37. Bxb2 Rc1+ 0-1

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.19"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "2812"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2016.06.19"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 e6 2. g3 f5 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. O-O d5 5. d3 Bd6 6. c4 dxc4 7. dxc4 O-O 8. Nc3
Nc6 9. e4 e5 10. Bg5 Kh8 11. exf5 Bxf5 12. Nh4 Be6 13. Nd5 Qd7 14. Nxf6 gxf6
15. Bh6 Rg8 16. Rc1 Rad8 17. Be3 Qf7 18. Qa4 Rg4 19. Nf3 Rxc4 20. Rxc4 Bxc4 21.
Rc1 Bxa2 22. Qb5 Nb4 23. Nh4 Bd5 24. Rd1 c6 25. Qe2 Bxg2 26. Kxg2 Nd5 27. Nf5
Bf8 28. Kg1 a6 29. Qf3 Re8 30. Qe4 Qg6 31. Kh1 Rd8 32. g4 Rd7 33. Rd3 Qf7 34.
Bd2 Nc7 35. Kg1 Rxd3 36. Qxd3 Qd5 37. Qe2 Ne6 38. Be3 Qe4 39. f3 Nf4 40. fxe4
Nxe2+ 41. Kf2 Nf4 42. Bxf4 exf4 43. Kf3 Kg8 44. Kxf4 Kf7 45. e5 a5 46. b3 b5
47. exf6 Kxf6 48. Nd4 a4 49. g5+ Kg6 50. Nxc6 axb3 51. Ne5+ Kh5 52. Nf3 Bb4 53.
Kf5 b2 0-1

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.19"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2804"]
[Annotator "Besenthal,K"]
[PlyCount "180"]
[EventDate "2016.06.19"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 c5 5. g3 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Ne4 7. Qc2 Qa5 8.
Bg2 Nxc3 9. O-O Nc6 10. bxc3 Bxc3 11. Nb3 Nd4 12. Nxd4 Bxd4 13. Rb1 d6 14. Bb2
Bxb2 15. Qxb2 O-O 16. Rfd1 Rd8 17. Rd3 e5 18. Rbd1 Be6 19. Qxb7 Rab8 20. Rxd6
Rdc8 21. Qe7 Re8 22. Qh4 Qxa2 23. Bc6 Rf8 24. Qe7 h6 25. Rxe6 fxe6 26. Rd7 Qb1+
27. Kg2 Qg6 28. f3 Rb2 29. Kf2 Qf6 30. Rxa7 Rc2 31. Qxf6 Rxf6 32. Ra4 Rf7 33.
Be4 Rc1 34. Bg6 Rf8 35. h4 Rc8 36. Bd3 e4 {Diagramm [#]} 37. Bxe4 (37. fxe4 $1
$11 {Der Freibauer auf c4 war wohl wertvoller als der Besitz eines "guten"
Läufers. Aber eine solche Degradierung einer Figur zu einem besseren Bauern
ist natürlich gar nicht Carlsens Sache.}) 37... R1xc4 {Caruana kann jetzt
ganz bequem Gewinnversuche machen.} 38. Ra6 Kf7 39. h5 R4c7 40. Bg6+ Ke7 41. f4
Rc6 42. Ra2 Rc5 43. Kf3 Kf6 44. Kg4 e5 45. Bf5 R8c7 46. Ra8 exf4 47. gxf4 Rc1
48. Bg6 Rg1+ 49. Kf3 Re1 50. Rf8+ Ke6 51. Re8+ Kd6 52. Kg4 Re7 {Diagramm [#]}
53. Rd8+ $2 {Ohne ersichtlichen Grund gibt Carlsen den Be2 preis.} (53. Rxe7 $1
Kxe7 54. e4 $15) 53... Kc7 54. Rg8 R1xe2 55. Kf5 Rc2 56. Ra8 Rc5+ 57. Kg4 Kd6
58. Ra6+ Rc6 59. Ra4 Rec7 60. Rd4+ Ke7 61. Re4+ Kf6 62. Re8 Rc4 63. Rf8+ Ke7
64. Rf5 Kd6 65. Rf8 Re7 66. Kf5 Rc5+ 67. Kg4 Kd5 68. Rd8+ Kc4 69. Bd3+ Kc3 70.
Bg6 Rc4 71. Rd3+ Kb4 72. Rd8 Ra7 73. Bd3 Rc5 74. Bg6 Kc3 75. Rd3+ Kc4 76. Rd8
Rd5 77. Re8 Kd4 78. Re4+ Kc5 79. Re8 Rd4 80. Rc8+ Kb4 81. Rb8+ Kc3 82. Re8 Raa4
83. Rf8 Kd2 84. Kf3 Ra3+ 85. Kg4 Raa4 86. Kf3 Ra7 87. Kg4 Ra6 88. Kf5 Ke3 89.
Re8+ Kf3 {Diagramm [#] Den richtigen Plan hatte Caruana schon geraume Zeit
über im Kopf: Den Angriff gegen den Bf4 mit Unterstützung des eigenen
Königs.} 90. Rb8 $2 Rd5# 0-1

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.19"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C55"]
[WhiteElo "2782"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2016.06.19"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. Re1 d6 7. a4 Na5 8. Ba2
c5 9. Na3 Nc6 10. c3 a6 11. Nc2 Rb8 12. h3 b5 13. axb5 axb5 14. Ne3 Be6 15.
Bxe6 fxe6 16. Bd2 Qd7 17. Qe2 d5 18. Ng4 Nxg4 19. hxg4 Bd6 20. Ra6 Ra8 21. Rea1
Rxa6 22. Rxa6 Qb7 23. Ra1 c4 24. d4 Re8 25. exd5 exd5 26. Bf4 Qe7 27. dxe5 Bxe5
28. Bxe5 Nxe5 29. Nxe5 Qxe5 30. Qxe5 Rxe5 31. Ra8+ Kf7 32. Rb8 d4 33. cxd4 Rd5
34. f3 h6 35. Kf2 Rxd4 36. Rxb5 Rd2+ 37. Kg3 Rc2 38. Rb4 Kg6 39. f4 Kf7 40. Kf3
c3 41. bxc3 Rxc3+ 42. Kf2 Rc2+ 43. Kg3 Rc3+ 44. Kh4 Rc2 45. Kh3 Rc3+ 46. g3 Rc5
47. Rb6 Ra5 48. Kh4 Rc5 49. g5 hxg5+ 50. fxg5 g6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.19"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[Annotator "Besenthal,K"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2016.06.19"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4 5. Qb3 Qb6 6. Nc3 e6 7. Nh4 Bh5 8. h3
Be7 9. g4 Bg6 10. Nxg6 hxg6 11. Bg2 g5 12. O-O Nbd7 13. Rd1 Qc7 14. e4 Nxe4 15.
Nxe4 dxe4 16. Bxe4 Rd8 17. Bg2 O-O 18. Be3 Rfe8 19. Rac1 {Diagramm [#] Das
Läuferpaar und der Raumvorteil sichern Weiß die Initiative. Wie soll sich
Schwarz verhalten? Damentausch vermeiden, die totale Öffnung der Stellung
verhindern, ein gutes, zentrales Feld für den Springer finden, die
Damenflügelbauern gegen die Attacke der weißen Läufer absichern - machbar,
aber viel schwieriger als Carlsens Aufgabe, der sich nur zwischen c4-c5 und
d4-d5 entscheiden muss. So scheitert jedenfalls komplett an der Lösung dieser
Probleme.} Qb6 $2 (19... b6 20. d5 ({Oder} 20. Qa4 c5 21. d5 exd5 22. Rxd5 Ne5
$14) 20... exd5 21. cxd5 c5 22. d6 Bxd6 23. Bxg5 Be7) 20. d5 $1 Qxb3 21. axb3
exd5 22. cxd5 cxd5 23. Rxd5 {Diagramm [#] Das sieht bereits komplett verloren
aus, jedenfalls wenn ein Carlsen auf der anderen Seite des Brettes sitzt. Und
so kommt es dann auch innerhalb kürzester Zeit.} Bf6 24. Bxa7 Ne5 25. Rxd8
Rxd8 26. Bxb7 Nd3 27. Rd1 Nb4 $2 (27... Rd7 28. Be3 Rxb7 29. Rxd3 {hätte
erheblich mehr Widerstand geleistet.}) 28. Rxd8+ Bxd8 29. Be4 Bf6 30. Bc5 {
Jetzt geht gar noch der Springer verloren. Sang- und klanglos hat So aus einem
etwas schlechteren Mittelspiel in ein total verlorenes Endspiel abgewickelt.}
1-0

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.19"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2787"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2016.06.19"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Bxd2+ 5. Qxd2 d5 6. Nc3 O-O 7. e3 Qe7 8.
Rc1 Rd8 9. Qc2 dxc4 10. Bxc4 c5 11. O-O cxd4 12. Nxd4 Bd7 13. Rfd1 Nc6 14. Nxc6
Bxc6 15. Bb5 Rac8 16. Rxd8+ Qxd8 17. Rd1 Qe7 18. Bxc6 Rxc6 19. Qd2 Rc8 20. Qd4
a6 21. h3 h6 22. Qd6 Qxd6 23. Rxd6 Kf8 24. Kf1 Ke7 25. Rd4 Nd7 26. Ke2 Ne5 27.
Kd1 f5 28. a4 g5 29. Kc2 Rc7 30. Rd1 Nc4 31. b3 Nd6 32. Kb2 Rc8 33. f3 h5 34.
Ne2 h4 35. Nc3 Rc5 36. Ne2 Ne8 37. Nc1 Nf6 38. Nd3 Rc7 39. Re1 Nd5 40. e4 fxe4
41. fxe4 Nf6 42. Ne5 Nh5 43. Nd3 Rc8 44. Rf1 Ng3 45. Re1 Kd6 46. a5 Rc7 47. Rd1
Ke7 48. Re1 Kf6 49. Re3 e5 50. Re1 Nh5 51. Rc1 Rxc1 52. Kxc1 Nf4 53. Nxf4 exf4
54. Kd2 Ke5 55. Kd3 g4 56. hxg4 f3 57. Ke3 fxg2 58. Kf2 h3 59. g5 Ke6 60. Kg1
Ke5 61. Kh2 Ke6 62. Kg1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.20"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A90"]
[WhiteElo "2792"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2016.06.19"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 f5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 c6 5. Nh3 d5 6. O-O Bd6 7. Bf4 Be7 8. Qc2
O-O 9. Rd1 h6 10. Nc3 Qe8 11. Rac1 g5 12. Be5 Nbd7 13. f3 Nxe5 14. dxe5 Nd7 15.
f4 dxc4 16. Nb1 gxf4 17. gxf4 Nb6 18. Nd2 Nd5 19. Nxc4 Kh8 20. Bf3 Bd7 21. Kh1
Rd8 22. Nd6 Bxd6 23. exd6 e5 24. fxe5 Qxe5 25. Qc5 Be6 26. Qxa7 Rf7 27. Qd4
Qxd4 28. Rxd4 Rfd7 29. Rcd1 Ne3 30. R1d3 Nc4 31. Nf4 Bf7 32. Bh5 Nxb2 33. Re3
Nc4 34. Rh3 Rxd6 35. Rxd6 Nxd6 36. Rd3 Bc4 37. Rd2 Kg7 38. a4 Kf6 39. Bf3 Bf7
40. Kg1 Ke7 41. Kf1 Ra8 42. Rd4 c5 43. Nd5+ Ke6 44. Nc7+ Kd7 45. Rxd6+ Kxc7 46.
Rxh6 Bc4 47. Rh7+ Kd6 48. Rxb7 Rxa4 49. h4 Bd5 50. Rb6+ Ke5 51. Bxd5 Kxd5 52.
h5 c4 53. Ke1 c3 54. Kd1 Ra1+ 55. Kc2 Ra2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.20"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D80"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2761"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2016.06.19"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Bg7 5. Bxf6 Bxf6 6. cxd5 c5 7. dxc5 Nd7 8.
e3 Nxc5 9. Bb5+ Kf8 10. Nge2 Qb6 11. a4 Qa5 12. O-O Kg7 13. Nd4 Rd8 14. Rb1 Qc7
15. Rc1 a6 16. b4 axb5 17. Ncxb5 Qe5 18. Rxc5 b6 19. Rc1 Bb7 20. Nc6 Bxc6 21.
Rxc6 Rxd5 22. Qb3 Rb8 23. h3 Rd2 24. Rc2 Rbd8 25. Nd4 Rxc2 26. Qxc2 Qd6 27. Nc6
Rd7 28. b5 Qa3 29. Rb1 Rd5 30. g3 h5 31. Kg2 h4 32. g4 Qd6 33. Qe4 Rd2 34. Qf3
Qd3 35. Rc1 Ra2 36. Nb4 1-0

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.20"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2016.06.19"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 a6 7. a4 Ba7 8. Na3
Ne7 9. Nc2 O-O 10. Be3 Bxe3 11. Nxe3 a5 12. Re1 Ng6 13. Bb3 c6 14. Bc2 Re8 15.
d4 Qc7 16. dxe5 dxe5 17. g3 h6 18. Qe2 Be6 19. Red1 Rad8 20. b4 Nf8 21. Nc4
axb4 22. cxb4 Bg4 23. Rxd8 Qxd8 24. Rd1 Qe7 25. Rb1 Ne6 26. Ncxe5 Nd4 27. Qd3
Nxf3+ 28. Nxf3 Qxe4 29. Qxe4 Nxe4 30. Rb3 Nf6 31. Kg2 Be6 32. Ra3 Bd5 33. Kf1
Ng4 34. h3 Bxf3 35. hxg4 Bxg4 36. Kg2 Kf8 37. Rc3 Rd8 38. b5 cxb5 39. axb5 Rc8
40. Rxc8+ Bxc8 41. f4 Ke7 0-1

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.20"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2789"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2016.06.19"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Nbd2 O-O 5. a3 Be7 6. e4 d6 7. Bd3 c5 8. d5
Nbd7 9. O-O e5 10. b4 a5 11. bxa5 Rxa5 12. Nb3 Ra6 13. a4 Nh5 14. g3 g6 15. Ne1
Ng7 16. Ng2 Nf6 17. f3 Bh3 18. Rf2 Nd7 19. Ne3 f5 20. Bf1 Bxf1 21. Qxf1 Bg5 22.
exf5 Bxe3 23. Bxe3 Nxf5 24. Bd2 Nd4 25. Nxd4 cxd4 26. Bb4 Qb6 27. Rb2 d3+ 28.
Kh1 Qd4 29. Rb3 e4 30. Bc3 Qxc4 31. Rxb7 Qxc3 32. Rxd7 e3 33. Rb1 Rb6 34. Rxb6
e2 0-1

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.20"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2812"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[EventDate "2016.06.19"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Kramnik used to be a difficult opponent for Magnus, but while the balance had
obviously changed, 2016 had become an extreme, the score being 7-0 with no
draws before this game! Only 1 was classical chess, but even so, quite an
extraordinary situation between the world ranking nos. 1 and 2!} 1. e4 e5 2.
Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 $5 {Like their game in Qatar (still
2015!), where a draw sufficed for Magnsu to clinch first.} Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7.
Bf1 Nxe5 8. Rxe5 O-O 9. d4 Bf6 10. Re1 Re8 11. c3 Rxe1 12. Qxe1 Ne8 13. Bf4 d5
14. Bd3 g6 15. Nd2 Ng7 16. Nf1 $5 {Deviating from the Qatar game, which went
16.Nf3. This move looks like just swapping down to a draw, but Magnus had a
specific idea in mind.} Bf5 17. Bxf5 Nxf5 18. Ne3 Nxe3 19. Qxe3 Qd7 20. Re1 {
Obviously the small details are in White's favour. Anyhow they seem too small
to matter. Personallly I always suffered as Black against 5.Re1, but told
myself it's you, not the position there is something wrong with. Just give it
to Kramnik, and he will show how to draw I used to think. He, however, also
commits an inaccuracy. Best would be first ...h5! creating "luft" for the king,
and even later maybe the h-pawn can be used positively for an attack. It's
hard to believe Black should be in any trouble; now, however, it is another
matter:} c6 $2 21. Bh6 $1 {Suddenly Black is in dire straits. He can in no way
activate his queen, as White has back rank mate motifs with the queen
sacrifice Qe8+!. Thus there is no alternative to the exchange of bishops:} Bg7
22. Bxg7 Kxg7 23. Qe7 $1 {The big differance with the disappearance of the
bishops, is that white gets access to e7.} Rd8 ({The computer suggests
exchanging with} 23... Qxe7 24. Rxe7 Rb8 {but any human would say that} 25. f3
Kf6 26. Rc7 Ke6 27. Kf2 {is just terrible for Black who needs to keep b7 and
f7 defended, meaning White can in peace and quiet try and break through with
king and pawns on either side of the board.}) 24. h4 h5 25. Re3 b6 26. Qe5+ Kg8
27. Kh2 a5 28. f3 a4 29. Kg3 b5 30. Kf4 {This position led to quite a
discussion in the players room, where participants used to gather when their
games had finished. The engines shows only a moderate edge for White, but
quite a few said that White should be just winning. There is a lot of logic to
that statement. Kg5 is a threat, and also g4 next could prove very difficult
to handle for Black.} Qd6 $2 ({But turning on the engines, I cannot prove a
deceisive edge against} 30... Rf8 $1 {Much in the style of the game would be}
31. a3 $5 {trying to claim zugzwang!} ({The obvious point is that} 31. Kg5 $2 {
is impossible due to} f6+) ({and after} 31. g4 hxg4 32. fxg4 f5 $1 {Black
seems to hold. The point is} 33. g5 ({and} 33. Qe6+ Qxe6 34. Rxe6 fxg4+ 35.
Kxg4 Kg7 36. Rxc6 Rf2 $1 {seems to create just enough counterplay.}) 33... Qh7
$1 {creates counterplay, and}) {But} 31... Qd8 ({e.g.} 31... Qc8 32. g4 hxg4
33. fxg4 f5 (33... Qd8 $5) 34. g5 {now is completely winning, as now the queen
cannot creat threats in the h-file.}) 32. Qe7 Qb8+ 33. Kg5 Qg3+ 34. Kh6 Qf4+
35. Qg5 {looks like leading to a dominating ending, but there are sublte
differences compared to the game. After} Qxg5+ 36. Kxg5 {looks better, but
after} (36. hxg5 h4 $1 {surprisingly seems very solid for Black, and White's
"active" king on h6, also is somewhat boxed in.} (36... Rc8 $2 37. g3)) 36...
Kg7 37. Re7 Rd8 {Black has a much better defensive setup than in the game, as
the white king will not reach e5. My intuition tells me White must have a way
in these lines, but I do not see it.}) 31. Qxd6 Rxd6 32. Re8+ Kg7 33. Ke5 Rd7
34. a3 $1 {A complete zugzwang! King moves loses to Kf6, rook moves to Kd6,
and 34...f6+ 35.Ke6 threatens the rook, and when it moves, 36.Re7+ forces an
easily winning pawn ending. So Kramnik has no choice, but to start shedding
pawns, just to obtain a bit of counterplay.} g5 {.} 35. hxg5 h4 36. f4 Kg6 37.
Rg8+ Kh7 38. Rc8 Kg7 39. Rxc6 Re7+ 40. Kxd5 Re2 $1 {White is winning, but at
least Black has become active, and after taking either b2 or g2, he can create
a passed pawn of his own.} 41. Rh6 $2 {Now actually it becomes tricky.} ({
The simple way was} 41. Kc5 $1 {combining threats against Black's queenside
pawns, with advancing his own d-pawn winning easily.}) 41... Rxb2 42. Rxh4 Rb3
43. Kc5 Rxc3+ 44. Kxb5 Rxa3 45. f5 Ra1 46. Kb4 a3 47. g4 Rd1 $1 {White might
have missed a possible win, which is understandable in a blitz game. Now
however it seems to be a certain draw, as Kramnik sacrifices his main trump,
the passed pawn, but in exchange gets White's d-pawn and forces a kind of
fortress-like situation, where White despite his 2 extra pawns still can't
make any progress.} 48. Kxa3 Rxd4 49. Kb3 Rf4 50. Kc3 Ra4 51. Kd3 Ra3+ 52. Kc4
Ra4+ 53. Kb5 Rf4 54. Kc6 Ra4 55. Kd6 Ra6+ 56. Kc7 Ra7+ 57. Kb6 Ra4 58. Kb5 Rf4
59. Kc5 Ra4 60. Kc6 Rb4 61. Kd5 Ra4 62. Ke5 Ra5+ 63. Kd6 Ra6+ 64. Kc5 Ra4 65.
Kc6 Rb4 66. Kd5 Ra4 {And here the players agreed a draw.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.20"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2804"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2016.06.19"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Qb3 Nf6 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. O-O O-O 7. d3 Re8 8. Bf4
Nbd7 9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. Bd2 e5 11. Nc3 Nc7 12. Ne4 Nb6 13. Bg5 Qd5 14. Nf6+ Bxf6
15. Bxf6 Qxb3 16. axb3 Bg4 17. Rfe1 Bxf3 18. Bxf3 h6 19. d4 e4 20. Bg4 Nbd5 21.
Be5 Nb5 22. Bf4 f5 23. Bh3 Nxf4 24. gxf4 Nxd4 25. Ra4 Red8 26. Bf1 a5 27. Rc1
Nxb3 28. Rc3 Nd4 29. e3 Nf3+ 30. Kg2 Rd1 31. Rc5 Rad8 32. Rcxa5 Rxf1 33. Kxf1
Rd1+ 34. Kg2 Rg1+ 35. Kh3 g5 36. fxg5 hxg5 0-1

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.20"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2782"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2016.06.19"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 Nc6 4. Nf3 g6 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. a4 Bg7 7. O-O e6 8. f5
exf5 9. d3 Nge7 10. Qe1 O-O 11. Qh4 f6 12. Bc4+ Kh8 13. Nb5 Be8 14. Bh6 Ne5 15.
Rae1 g5 16. Nxg5 fxg5 17. Bxg5 N5g6 18. Qh3 f4 19. g3 Bxb5 20. axb5 f3 21. c3
Qe8 22. Be6 Ne5 23. Re3 b6 24. Kh1 a6 25. bxa6 Rxa6 26. g4 b5 27. Bxe7 Qxe7 28.
Bf5 h6 29. d4 cxd4 30. cxd4 Nc6 31. g5 Nxd4 32. gxh6 Be5 33. Qh5 Ra2 34. Rexf3
Nxf3 35. Rxf3 Rg8 36. Bg6 Ra1+ 37. Kg2 Qe6 38. Rg3 Bxg3 39. Bf7 Qxe4+ 0-1

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.20"]
[Round "17"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A80"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2016.06.19"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 f5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bg5 d5 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Be7 6. Bd3 O-O 7. O-O Ne4 8. Bxe7
Qxe7 9. Ne2 Nd6 10. Rc1 Nd7 11. c4 c6 12. Qb3 Kh8 13. Qa3 a5 14. Ne5 Kg8 15. f4
Re8 16. Rc2 Nf6 17. Rfc1 Qd8 18. Kh1 Ng4 19. Nxg4 fxg4 20. Re1 b5 21. c5 Nf5
22. Qc3 b4 23. Qd2 Ba6 24. Bxa6 Rxa6 25. Qd3 Ra7 26. Kg1 Rf7 27. Ng3 Qh4 28. e4
Ne7 29. Rf2 Ref8 30. Ref1 g6 31. Qe2 Qf6 32. Qxg4 Qxd4 33. Qxe6 Kh8 34. Qe5+
Qxe5 35. fxe5 Kg7 36. exd5 Nxd5 37. Ne2 Rxf2 38. Rxf2 Re8 39. Nd4 Rxe5 40. Nxc6
Re1+ 41. Rf1 Re2 42. Rf2 Re1+ 43. Rf1 Re2 44. Rf2 Re1+ 45. Rf1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2016.06.20"]
[Round "18"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B14"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2016.06.19"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 173"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 O-O 5. Bg5 c5 6. e3 cxd4 7. exd4 d5 8. Rc1
h6 9. Bh4 Nc6 10. a3 Be7 11. c5 Ne4 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Bb5 Nxc3 14. Rxc3 e5 15.
O-O Bg4 16. Bxc6 bxc6 17. dxe5 Bxf3 18. Rxf3 Qxe5 19. b4 d4 20. Re1 Qd5 21. Qb3
Rfd8 22. Qxd5 Rxd5 23. Rd1 a5 24. Kf1 axb4 25. axb4 Rb8 26. Rb3 Rxc5 27. Rxd4
Rc1+ 28. Ke2 c5 29. Rd1 Rxd1 30. Kxd1 cxb4 31. Kc2 g5 32. Re3 Rd8 33. Re4 b3+
34. Kc3 Rd1 35. h4 b2 36. Kxb2 Rd2+ 37. Kc3 Rxf2 38. hxg5 hxg5 39. g4 Kg7 40.
Kd3 f5 41. gxf5 Rxf5 42. Re6 Kf7 43. Ra6 Re5 44. Kd4 Re1 45. Kd3 Re8 46. Rb6
Kg7 47. Ra6 Kf7 48. Rb6 Re6 49. Rxe6 Kxe6 50. Ke4 Kf6 51. Kf3 Kf5 52. Kg3 g4
53. Kg2 Kf4 54. Kf2 g3+ 55. Kg2 Kg4 56. Kg1 Kh3 57. Kh1 g2+ 58. Kg1 Kg3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bilbao Masters 9th"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2016.07.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B91"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2016.07.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.09.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.09.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Ne2 {Schränkt die schwarze Auswahl etwas ein. Je nachdem, was
Schwarz im zweiten Zug zieht, könnte Weiß auf d4 verzichten.} d6 3. Nbc3 a6 {
Das deutet darufhin, dass Schwarz die Najdorf-Variante spielen will.} 4. g3 g6
5. Bg2 Bg7 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Nf6 8. O-O O-O {Nun ist eine Position des
Fianchetto-Systems der Drachenvariante auf dem Brett.} 9. b3 ({Alternativen:} 
9. h3) (9. a4) 9... Nc6 10. Nxc6 (10. Nde2 Bg4 11. Bb2 Qc8 12. Qd2 Bh3 13. f3
Bxg2 14. Kxg2 b5 {1-0 (60) Bykova,E-Rudenko,L Frauen-WM, Leningrad 1953}) 10...
bxc6 11. Bb2 Qa5 12. Na4 Bg4 13. Qe1 {Damentausch?} Qh5 14. f3 Bh3 15. g4 $5 (
15. Rd1) (15. c4) 15... Qh6 16. Rd1 $14 g5 17. Bc1 Bxg2 18. Kxg2 Qg6 19. h4 (
19. Nb6 $5 Rab8 20. Nc4 h5 21. h3 $14) 19... gxh4 20. Qxh4 d5 {[#]} 21. g5 $2 {
Zu impulsiv. Nun gerät Weiß in Nachteil.} (21. exd5 cxd5 (21... Qxc2+ 22. Rd2
Qg6 23. dxc6 Rac8 $11) 22. Qg5 Qxc2+ 23. Rd2 Qc6 24. Bb2 $11) 21... dxe4 22. f4
{Für den Bauern erhält Weiß zu wenig Spiel. Vor allem steht der Sa4 viel zu
weit weg vom Geschehen.} (22. fxe4 Nxe4 {mit Bauerngewinn und sehr unsicherem
weißen König.}) 22... e6 23. c4 Rfd8 24. Rde1 Ne8 25. Nc5 Nd6 26. Qf2 f5 27.
Bb2 {[#]} Nf7 {Früher oder später kommt e5 und das schwarze
Bauernübergewicht im Zentrum wird spürbar.} 28. Bxg7 Kxg7 29. Qg3 Rd6 30. Rd1
Rad8 31. Rxd6 Rxd6 32. Qc3+ Kg8 33. Rf2 Qh5 (33... e5 $5 34. fxe5 ({Oder} 34.
Qg3 Qh5 {mit der Idee} 35. Z0 Rd1 36. Z0 Qh1#) 34... Qxg5+ $18) 34. Qh3 Qd1 35.
Qe3 e5 36. Qg3 (36. fxe5 Rg6 $1 ({Auf} 36... Nxe5 {kann Weiß vielleicht} 37.
Nxe4 fxe4 38. Qxe4 {probieren. Nach} Qg4+ 39. Qxg4 Nxg4 40. Re2 {muss Schwarz
noch etwas arbeiten.})) 36... Rg6 37. Kh2 exf4 38. Qxf4 {Weiß verwaltet eine
Ruine, die im Folgenden rasch eingerissen wird.} Qh5+ 39. Kg1 Qd1+ 40. Kh2 Qh5+
41. Kg1 Nxg5 42. Qb8+ Kg7 43. Qe5+ Kh6 44. Qf4 Qd1+ 45. Kh2 Qd4 46. b4 Kg7 47.
Qc7+ Kh8 48. Qc8+ Rg8 49. Qxf5 Nf3+ 50. Kh3 Qd6 (50... Qd6 51. Rg2 Qh6+ {
und Matt.}) 0-1

[Event "Bilbao Masters 9th"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2016.07.14"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Wei, Yi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2696"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2016.07.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.09.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.09.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. Be3 a6 {The Swedish GM Tiger Hillarp-Persson
wrote a voluminous book on this opening which recently appeared in a new,
revised edition.} 5. f4 b5 6. Nf3 Nd7 (6... Bb7 7. Bd3 Nf6 8. e5 Ng4 9. Bd2 c5
10. dxc5 dxe5 11. h3 Nf6 12. fxe5 Nfd7 13. e6 fxe6 14. Ng5 Nxc5 15. Qe2 Nc6 16.
Nxe6 Nxe6 17. Qxe6 Ne5 18. O-O Qd7 $11 {0-1 (50) Zelbel,P (2450)-Hillarp
Persson,T (2541) Gothenburg 2015}) 7. e5 Bb7 8. Bd3 c5 (8... Nh6 9. Qe2 Nb6 10.
O-O-O Qd7 11. h3 Nf5 12. Bf2 e6 13. Kb1 Ne7 14. Be3 Ned5 15. Nxd5 Bxd5 16. Rhf1
b4 17. g4 O-O 18. f5 Na4 {0-1 (36) Byklum, B (2275)-Hillarp Persson,T (2557)
Stockholm 2006} 19. f6 $5 $16) 9. Be4 Bxe4 (9... Qc8 10. Bxb7 Qxb7 11. dxc5
dxe5 12. Qd5 Qxd5 13. Nxd5 Rc8 14. Nb6 Nxb6 15. cxb6 Nf6 16. O-O-O Ng4 17. Rhe1
Nxe3 18. Rxe3 Bh6 $11 {0-1 (53) Mortensen,E (2450)-Hillarp Persson,T (2461)
Denmark 2003}) 10. Nxe4 Nh6 11. dxc5 dxe5 (11... Ng4) 12. c6 Nf6 13. Qxd8+ Rxd8
14. Nxf6+ exf6 15. c7 Rc8 16. Bb6 Kd7 {This kind of position should suit
Carlsen. After an early exchange of queens White's far advanced pawn on c7 is
vulnerable.} 17. Ba5 Nf5 18. O-O-O+ Kc6 {All this has been played before.} 19.
Rd8 (19. Rd3 Nd6 {and now 1/2-1/2 (19) in Tan,J (2322)-Buchal,S (2296) Haarlem
2013 - a bit premature.}) 19... Nd6 20. fxe5 fxe5 21. Rd1 Nc4 22. Bc3 Rxc7 (
22... b4 23. Bxb4 e4 24. Nd4+ Kxc7 25. Rxh8 Bxh8 26. Bc3 Be5 $11) 23. b3 Ne3
24. Bxe5 (24. R1d6+ Kb7 25. R8d7 Kc8 26. Rxc7+ Kxc7 27. Rxa6 Rc8 28. Ba5+ Kb7
29. Rb6+ Ka7 30. Rd6 Nxc2 $15) 24... Nxd1 25. Rd6+ (25. Bxc7 Nc3 26. Rxh8 Nxa2+
27. Kd2 Bc3+ 28. Kd3 Bxh8 29. Ba5 {and Black is a pawn up.}) 25... Kb7 26. Bxg7
Rg8 27. Bd4 Nc3 {At the moment Black is an exchange up - however, he has to
part with some material.} 28. Rb6+ Kc8 29. Be5 {Now White regains the exchange.
} Rd8 30. Kb2 ({But not} 30. Bxc7 $2 Kxc7 31. Rxa6 Rd1+ 32. Kb2 b4 {and White
is caught in a mating net.}) 30... Nd5 31. Bxc7 Kxc7 32. Rxa6 {Now White is a
pawn up but his rook is awkwardly placed and White has to return the pawn.} Kb7
33. Ra3 {White wants to keep his extra-pawn.} (33. Ra5 Kb6 34. b4 Nxb4 35. Ra3
$11 {leads to an equal position.}) 33... Ne3 {Typical Carlsen. Only a few
pieces remain on the board but he manages to exert enormous pressure.} 34. c4 (
{After} 34. g3 {follows} Nd1+ 35. Kc1 Nc3 {and Black again threatens} 36. Z0
Rd1+ 37. Kb2 b4 38. Ra5 Rb1#) 34... bxc4 35. Ne5 $2 {Not the best. The World
Champion will now advance his c-pawn to reach the first rank for a touchdown.}
(35. bxc4 $4 Nxc4+) (35. b4 Nd5 36. Ra5 Ne3 37. a4 Nxg2 38. Ne5 Ne3 39. Rc5 $11
) (35. Ra4 cxb3 36. Rb4+ Kc6 37. Rxb3 Nc4+ (37... Nxg2 38. Ne5+) 38. Kc2 Ra8
39. Rc3 Kb5 40. Rb3+ Kc5 41. Rc3 $11) 35... Rd2+ 36. Kc3 (36. Kc1 c3 37. Z0 {
und} Rd1#) 36... Rc2+ 37. Kd4 Nf5+ 38. Kd5 c3 39. Kc5 Nd6 $1 40. Nc6 {White is
still in the game. He threatens to win a piece with Ra7+.} (40. Kxd6 $2 Rd2+
41. Ke7 c2 {and the pawn queens.}) 40... Ne4+ ({After} 40... Kc7 41. Nb4 (41.
Ra7+ Nb7+ $19) 41... Rd2 (41... Rc1 42. Ra7+ Nb7+ 43. Kc4 c2 44. Kb5 $11) 42.
Ra6 c2 43. Rc6+ {the position is objectively (engine) won for Black but
subjectively (human) rather double-edged.} Kb7 (43... Kd7 $2 44. Kb6 {and
White stopped the pawn.}) 44. Rb6+ Ka8 (44... Ka7 $4 45. Nc6+ Ka8 46. Rb8#) 45.
Nc6 c1=Q+ {and Black queens with check.}) 41. Kb5 Kc7 42. Ra7+ Kd6 43. Ra4 $2 (
{Besser} 43. Nb4 Rxg2 44. Rxf7 Rxh2 {and White can still fight for the draw.})
43... f5 $19 44. Kb6 Rxg2 ({White threatened} 44... Z0 45. Rd4+ Ke6 46. Rxe4+
fxe4 47. Nd4+) 45. Rd4+ Ke6 46. a4 Ra2 ({Maybe it was better to play} 46... Rb2
{immediately.}) 47. a5 Rb2 48. Kc7 $5 (48. a6 c2 49. Rc4 Rxb3+ 50. Ka7 Nc3 $19)
(48. b4 Nd6 $17 (48... c2 $2 49. Rc4)) 48... Nc5 $1 (48... c2 $2 49. Rc4 $11) (
48... Rxb3 $4 49. Rxe4+ fxe4 50. Nd4+ $16) 49. Rc4 {[#]} Na6+ 50. Kb6 Rxb3+ 51.
Kxa6 Kd5 {The point. The white rook is once again in trouble.} 52. Rb4 c2 53.
Ne7+ Kc5 54. Rxb3 c1=Q 55. Rb6 Qc4+ 56. Kb7 Qe4+ 57. Nc6 Qd5 58. Kc7 Qd6+ 59.
Kb7 Qd7+ 60. Kb8 f4 0-1

[Event "Bilbao Masters 9th"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2016.07.15"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B50"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[Annotator "Roiz,M"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2016.07.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.09.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.09.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c3 Nf6 4. Be2 {This side system isn't as harmless as it
looks - White is aiming for building up a strong pawns centre.} g6 5. O-O Bg7
6. Bb5+ Nc6 {Sergey chooses a relatively rare theoretical continuation.} (6...
Bd7 {is much more popular. There are some practical tests:} 7. Bxd7+ Qxd7 (7...
Nbxd7 8. Re1 O-O 9. d4 cxd4 10. cxd4 d5 11. e5 Ne4 12. Nbd2 Nxd2 13. Bxd2 Qb6
14. Re3 Rac8 15. h4 $14 {Sagalchik,G (2525)-Serper,G (2535) New York 1996}) 8.
Re1 O-O 9. d4 Na6 10. d5 c4 11. Nbd2 Nc5 $132 {Adams,M (2685)-Anand,V (2735)
Dortmund 1996}) 7. d4 Qb6 (7... O-O 8. d5 Nb8 9. Re1 Bg4 10. Nbd2 Nbd7 11. h3
Bxf3 12. Nxf3 a6 13. Bf1 b5 14. Bf4 $14 {Chadaev,N (2580)-Gelfand,B (2738)
Astana 2012}) (7... Bd7 8. d5 Ne5 9. Bxd7+ Nfxd7 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. a4 O-O 12.
Bf4 Qb6 13. Qe2 c4 14. Bxe5 Bxe5 15. a5 Qb3 16. Na3 $14 {Lombardy,W - Hort,V
Zagreb 1969}) 8. Ba4 ({The drawback of protecting the bishop by means of} 8.
Na3 {was admitted by} cxd4 9. cxd4 d5 $1 $11 {in Rasik,V (2516)-Zhigalko,A 
(2601) Czechia 2013}) 8... cxd4 9. cxd4 O-O 10. d5 {This position was seen
only in 1 preceding game!} Nb8 $146 {This move looks somewhat artificial, but
the knight is heading to c5 or e5.} ({The previously played} 10... Na5 11. Nc3
({White hardly can pretend on having advantage also after} 11. Re1 Bg4 12. Nbd2
Rfc8 13. h3 Bd7 14. Bc2 e6 $132) 11... Bg4 12. h3 Bxf3 13. Qxf3 Rac8 14. Qe2
Nc4 {was fine for Black in Palit,S (2421)-Gopal,G (2558) Kolkata 2014}) 11. Nc3
({Delaying the development of Nb1 would hardly bother Black:} 11. Re1 Bg4 12.
Nbd2 Qc7 13. h3 Bd7 14. Bc2 Rc8 15. Bb1 a5 $132) 11... Bg4 12. h3 Bxf3 13. Qxf3
Nbd7 14. Rb1 ({The more aggressive} 14. Be3 Qxb2 15. Rfc1 {only leads to
simplifications:} Qa3 16. Rab1 Nc5 17. Bxc5 Qxc5 18. Rxb7 Nxe4 $1 19. Qxe4 Bxc3
20. Qf3 Qa3 $11) 14... Rfc8 {Black has completed a harmonious setup. The
position is closed yet, so White's bishops do not guarantee White any
advantage.} 15. Bc2 Ne5 (15... a6 $5 16. Qe2 Qa5 17. Bd2 Ne5 $132) 16. Qe2 Nfd7
17. Bg5 {The Pe7 isn't really hanging, but the presense of White's bishop on
g5 is somewhat annoying.} h6 ({Deserves some attention also} 17... Bf6 $5 18.
Bxf6 Nxf6 19. Kh2 Nc4 20. Bd3 Qd4 $11 {The activity of Black's pieces doesn't
allow to develop a serious attack on the kingside.}) 18. Bh4 g5 {A
double-edged decision. Black manages to secure the Ne5, but this advance
exposes the light squares around the king.} 19. Bg3 Qa6 ({Another interesting
way of handling the position was} 19... Ng6 $5 20. Rfc1 Be5 21. Bxe5 Ndxe5 22.
g3 Rc4 $132) 20. Qd1 Rc4 $2 {The first cause of Sergey's troubles!} ({There
was no reason from deviating from the most aggressive} 20... Nc4 21. Bd3 Qb6 (
21... Nc5 22. Be2 Bxc3 23. bxc3 Qxa2 24. Ra1 Qb3 25. Qd4 {looks risky for a
human eye}) 22. Qe2 Nde5 $132) 21. Kh1 {This is the point! Most of Black's
pieces are on the queenside, so White manages to develop a powerful attack now.
} Rac8 22. f4 gxf4 23. Bxf4 Qb6 {The queen is coming into defence, but it
takes a long time...} 24. Qh5 Nf6 ({The pawn sac wouldn't bring Sergey any
relief:} 24... Qd8 25. Bxh6 Nf6 26. Qh4 Ng6 27. Qg5 Qf8 28. Bxg7 Qxg7 29. Rf5
$16) 25. Qf5 Qd8 (25... Ng6 26. Bd2 Qd8 27. Bb3 R4c7 28. Be3 $16) 26. Bb3 Rd4
27. Bxe5 dxe5 {As it often happens, the presense of bishops of different
colours favours the attacking side!} 28. Rbd1 ({Worth attention is also} 28.
Rbc1 $5 Qd7 29. Qxd7 Nxd7 30. Ne2 Rxc1 31. Rxc1 Rd2 (31... Rxe4 32. Ng3 Rf4 33.
Rc7 $36) 32. Rc8+ Bf8 33. Ng3 $36 {Even though liquadating into the endgame is
Black's undisputable achievement, the position is still very unpleasant.})
28... Qd7 29. Qf3 Rb4 ({Perhaps, it was better to swap the rooks, though after
} 29... Rxd1 30. Qxd1 b5 31. Qd3 a6 32. Ne2 $36 {it wouldn't easy to find a
constructive defenseve plan.}) 30. Rd2 $1 {The rook would be very useful along
2nd rank.} Rf8 31. g4 $1 {As usual, World Champion's play is very energetic
and impressive.} a5 $2 {Black cannot afford wasting a tempo for
counter-attacking measures.} ({The only way to provide resistance was} 31...
Nh7 32. h4 Rb6 33. Rg1 Rf6 34. Qg3 $16 {White still has to find a way to make
progress.}) 32. Rg2 Nh7 33. h4 {Now White's attack lasts itself.} Rb6 34. g5
Kh8 ({In case of} 34... Rg6 35. Rfg1 Kh8 36. Ba4 Qc8 37. Rh2 $18 {Black would
be almost paralysed.}) 35. Rfg1 f5 {A desperate attempt to complicate the
matters.} 36. Qh3 Rb4 37. gxh6 Bxh6 {The king is too exposed, so White has
many winning ways now.} 38. Qg3 (38. Rg6 Bf4 39. Qg2 $18 (39. d6 $18)) 38...
Nf6 39. Qg6 Ng4 40. Rxg4 1-0

[Event "Bilbao Masters 9th"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2016.07.16"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[Annotator "Carlsen,M"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2016.07.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.09.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.09.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 {In round 4 this was already my third white game. In the first two
games against predominantly 1...e5 players I was suprised by 1...c5 and
wheeled out a couple of obscure Anti-Sicilians. I got an excellent position
against Nakamura and then nothing against Karjakin and won, so naturally I was
expecting to be surprised again.} 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 {Wesley also plays
other systems, but an invitation to the Berlin is never a surprise from a top
player.} 4. d3 {In my early years as an ambitious player the Berlin was not
considered a particulary good opening, and I used to grab the invitation with
both hands, with excellent results. More recently however, more solid systems
for Black have been found, and I'm finding myself rejecting the invitation on
a regular basis.} Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Qe2 ({Back in 2012 I started playing} 6.
Nbd2 {here, and to my surprise it became very popular. The text has similar
ideas, but is much less well-known.}) 6... Qe7 7. Nbd2 Bg4 {Naturally, there
are plenty of other options on this and the previous move, but this plan is
always decent. The bishop will temporarily be misplaced on h5/g6, but it will
usually come in to play via f7 after ...Nd7 and ...f6.} 8. h3 Bh5 9. a3 {
This move took me more than 20 minutes, but I felt that it was already time to
delve more deeply into the position. In the 2013 world championship Vishy
chose the plan with Nf1-g3 without g4, but that was without Qe2 and ...Qe7
included. Now I would just be a tempo down compared that game. Other ways to
play were Nc4 or g4 followed by Nf1-g3, but neither of them seemed to give too
much of a basis for an interesting battle. Bothering his bishop immediately
though, seemed much more interesting. Besides, I won't hide the fact that
playing h3 and a3 on consecutive moves in the opening gave me pleasure.} (9.
Nf1 Nd7 10. Ng3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 g6 {and White has wasted a tempo.}) 9... Nd7 (
9... a5 {Generally this move is desirable strategically, gaining space while
preventing b4. However, with the bishop on h5 kingside castling is not
attractive with g4 coming and a knight landing on f5, while with the pawn on
a5 queenside castling will not be on the cards. Having said that, it was
certainly a playable, and probably the most challenging option}) 10. b4 Bd6 {
Wesley spent almost 20 minutes on this move, which is very much understandable
as all three bishop moves were serious options.} (10... Bd4 {A very solid
option, getting rid the dark squared bishop, which otherwise either risks
being harassed on b6, or passive on d6} 11. Rb1 Bc3 12. O-O Bxd2 {Otherwise
the knight escapes} 13. Bxd2 {But I was not too unhappy about this, as the
extra space on the queenside feels useful.}) (10... Bb6 {The engines like this
move, and I don't have any convincing arguments against it. The worry for
Black is that the bishop is likely to be caged in on b6 after a subsequent c4
c5, which an engine probably won't mind. Recent examples from a couple of
blitz and rapid games by Nakamura (against MVL and Caruana respectively) in
another line of the Berlin, suggest that even top level practice the
computer's opinion may prevail.}) 11. Nc4 f6 (11... Nf8 {was possible, but I
suspect he was worried about} 12. Na5 {and there is no convenient way to
protect b7.}) 12. Ne3 {A key point of the a3-b4 operation is that the
e3-square is freed up for the knight (otherwise the bishop would happily have
chopped it off). The knight can later jump to f5 without having to play g4
first.} a5 $2 {As on move 9, this is the most challenging, but ceraintly not
the most practical option. That's why I'm assigning it a question mark, rather
than it's objective value.} (12... Nf8 13. Nf5 Qd7 {was very solid; with the
knight coming to e6, Black is alright.}) 13. Nf5 Qf8 {The consistent follow-up,
as he forces me to make a consession on the queenside. However, now his king
will be stuck in the center for a while, which is especially unpleasant
considering the shorter time-control that was used in Bilbao} (13... Qf7 14.
Rb1 {Now I don't have to take} axb4 15. axb4 O-O 16. O-O {and while he has
been able to seize the a-file for the moment, the rest of his pieces are
rather more clumsily placed than in the note to 12...Nf8} (16. Bh6 Qa2 $1)) 14.
bxa5 Rxa5 15. O-O Qf7 {This loss of tempo certainly doesn't look impressive,
but at least he frees up the f8-square for the knight or even bishop. Castling
however, won't be possible for a long time because of the little trick Bh6,
which really is the key to the position.} (15... Kd8 {Perhaps he should have
tried to evacuate the king to the queenside:} 16. a4 (16. Bd2 Ra4) 16... Bb4 {
And in both cases it's not so easy to generate a serious initative on the
queenside}) 16. a4 Nc5 17. Qe1 (17. Bd2 {was also good, but this move, freeing
up the knight and attacking the rook, just felt too natural not to be played.})
17... b6 {It's becoming harder and harder to defend.} (17... Ra8 18. N3h4 {
Since the rook will not be attacked after Nc4, the knight goes in the other
direction} Ne6 (18... Bf8 19. a5 {fixing b7 as a target} g5 20. Nf3 Bxf3 21.
gxf3 {and White is firmly in the driver's seat}) 19. Rb1 {and it's hard for
Black to avoid losing a pawn, as Nxd6 followed by Nf5 is looming as well.}) 18.
Nd2 Rxa4 19. Nc4 {The idea. Every move comes with a threat.} Bf8 $6 (19... Be7
{I suspected that this might better than the text, as it does not block the
h8-rook. I was not too worried though, as I saw that I had at least a forced
draw} 20. Be3 Kd7 {The only move, as} (20... O-O 21. Nxe7+ Qxe7 22. Bxc5 {
loses a piece}) 21. Nxb6+ (21. Rxa4 Nxa4 22. f4 {This is probably what I would
have done. White has a nice initative and is not risking anything, but Black
is hanging on for the moment}) 21... cxb6 22. Bxc5 Rxa1 23. Qxa1 Bxc5 24. Qa7+
Ke6 25. Nxg7+ Kd6 26. Nf5+ Ke6 $11) 20. Be3 Kd7 (20... Rg8 {This was the only
move, which I had seen.} 21. f4 {But still it's impossible to defend, at least
in practical play.}) 21. Qc3 {All natural moves, and by now I felt that I was
winning. There is very little to be done about the threat of Nxb6 followed by
Bxc5, when a white rook will land on a7, winning the queen and the game.} Nxe4
(21... Rxc4 {I thought this was the last chance, but after} 22. dxc4 Nxe4 23.
Qd3+ Nd6 24. g4 Bg6 25. Rfd1 {Black is tied up, while Bxb6 and Ra7 is
threatened.}) 22. Nxb6+ {Again opening up the seventh rank and leaving the
black king completely naked.} cxb6 23. dxe4 Qc4 24. Qd2+ Kc7 25. g4 {Finally
g4! Much later than expected, but much more powerful.} Bg6 26. Rfd1 {I had no
wish to calculate Bxb6 here or on the previous move, as this forces immediate
resignation. A fun game, which put me in a great mood (which was immediately
ruined by failing to win the next game against Anish, but that's another story)
.} 1-0

[Event "Bilbao Masters 9th"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2016.07.17"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D22"]
[WhiteElo "2785"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[Annotator "Postny,E"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2016.07.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.09.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.09.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 a6 4. e3 Bg4 {Magnus, as usual, stays away from the
main theoretical lines.} 5. Bxc4 e6 6. h3 Bh5 7. Nc3 Nc6 (7... Nf6 8. g4 Bg6 9.
Ne5 Nbd7 10. Nxg6 hxg6 11. Bf1 $1 {is a typical idea. The bishop is going to
g2 and White normally has slight, but stable advantage.}) 8. O-O Nf6 9. b3 (9.
a3 Bd6 10. b4 {is a bit more active way to handle this position.}) ({Another
option is} 9. Qe2 Bd6 10. Rd1) 9... Bd6 10. Bb2 O-O 11. Be2 Qe7 12. Rc1 (12.
Ne5 Bxe2 13. Nxc6 Bxd1 14. Nxe7+ Bxe7 15. Rfxd1 $11) (12. Nh4 Bxe2 13. Qxe2
Rad8 14. Nf3 Nd5 15. e4 Nf4 16. Qe3 e5 17. dxe5 Bxe5 18. Rad1 Bxc3 19. Bxc3 Ne6
$11 {1/2-1/2 (30) Stojanovic,M (2509)-Edouard,R (2620) Switzerland 2016}) (12.
Nd2 {is also an option, but Black doesn't have problems to equalize.}) 12...
Rad8 13. Ne5 (13. Na4 Ne4 14. Ne5 Bxe2 15. Nxc6 Bxd1 16. Nxe7+ Bxe7 17. Rfxd1 {
is extremely safe for White, though it's objectively equal.}) 13... Nxe5 (13...
Bxe2 14. Nxc6 Bxd1 15. Nxe7+ Bxe7 16. Rfxd1 {is again equal, but Magnus wants
to keep more pieces on the board.}) 14. Bxh5 Ng6 15. Bxg6 $146 {It's not a
mistake, but I wouldn't give my bishop for no reason.} (15. Bf3 c6 16. Ne4 Bb8
17. Nxf6+ Qxf6 18. Be4 Ne7 19. Qf3 (19. g3 $142 {[%cal Ge4g2]}) 19... Qh6 20.
Rc4 Bd6 21. Bb1 f5 $11 {1-0 (64) Guichard,P (2342)-Velten,P (2422) Condom 2013}
) 15... hxg6 16. Qf3 {An inaccuracy.} (16. Qc2 c6 (16... e5 $6 17. Ne4 {
and White is suddenly better.}) 17. Rfd1 Bb8 ({In case of} 17... e5 $6 18. d5 {
the white queen doesn't get into the e5-e4 kick, as after 16.Qf3.}) 18. e4 Ba7
$11) 16... c6 17. Rfd1 (17. e4 $6 e5 18. d5 cxd5 19. Nxd5 Nxd5 20. exd5 e4 {
followed by 21...f5 with pleasant prospects for Black.}) (17. Na4 {makes sense.
} e5 18. dxe5 Bxe5 19. Bxe5 Qxe5 20. Nc5 {I wouldn't say that White is
pressing, but at least it's a constructive idea for him.}) 17... e5 18. dxe5 (
18. Ne4 $6 Nxe4 19. Qxe4 f5 20. Qc2 e4 {is better for Black thanks to space
advantage and superior bishop.}) 18... Bxe5 19. Rxd8 Rxd8 20. Rd1 b5 $1 {
After a series of slight inaccuracies Giri found himself in a position where
he has to be cautious.} 21. g3 $6 {There were more useful moves than this.} ({
The pawn is taboo:} 21. Qxc6 $4 b4 {and Black is winning material.}) ({For
instance} 21. Qe2 {would be accurate enough.}) 21... Rxd1+ 22. Qxd1 (22. Nxd1
$2 Bxb2 23. Nxb2 Qd7 {[%cal Gd7d2,Gd7h3] underlines the drawback of 21.g3.})
22... c5 {Black's pawn majority on the queenside is now a factor.} 23. Qd3 Kh7
$1 {Hiding the king away from possible check on d8.} ({The following line
gives a clear hint why 23...Kh7 is useful:} 23... Qe6 $6 24. Qd8+ Kh7 {[%tqu
"En","How should White continue?","","","c3e4","",5]} 25. Ne4 $1 Nxe4 26. Qh4+
Kg8 27. Qd8+ {and White delivers a perpetual check.}) 24. Nd1 Bxb2 25. Nxb2 Qe6
26. g4 Qc6 {[%cal Gc6f3]} 27. Qe2 Ne4 28. Qc2 (28. f3 {looks safer.}) 28... Ng5
29. f4 Ne6 ({The knight will not come out after} 29... Nxh3+ $2 30. Kh2 Qf3 $2
31. Qg2 $1) 30. Qg2 Qd6 31. Qe2 Qd5 (31... g5 32. Qd3+ Qxd3 33. Nxd3 c4 34.
bxc4 bxc4 35. Nb4 gxf4 36. Nxa6 fxe3 37. Nb4 {White will not have problems to
hold, as his a-pawn will distract the black knight, while White's king is
close to Black's passed pawns.}) 32. Qg2 Qd6 33. h4 {I am surprised that Anish
didn't repeat moves by 33.Qe2. Perhaps, he got concerned about 33...g5.} Nc7
34. h5 gxh5 35. gxh5 Qe7 (35... Qd5 36. Qxd5 Nxd5 37. Kf2 Nc3 38. Nd3 Nxa2 39.
Nxc5 a5 40. Ke2 Kh6 41. Kd2 Nb4 42. Nb7 a4 43. bxa4 bxa4 44. Nd6 Kxh5 45. Nxf7
{Very few material left, so White holds.} Nd5 46. e4 (46. Ne5 $2 Nxe3 $1) 46...
Nxf4 47. Kc3 Kg4 ({Black can't win also after} 47... Kg6 48. Nd6) 48. Kb4 Nd3+
49. Kxa4 $11) 36. Qf3 Qd7 37. Nd1 Qd5 38. Qe2 ({After} 38. Qxd5 $2 Nxd5 39. Kf2
Kh6 {White will lose a pawn and his knight is still passive.}) 38... Qf5 39.
Nf2 Nd5 40. Kg2 (40. e4 $2 Nxf4 $19 {[%csl Re2]}) 40... c4 41. bxc4 bxc4 42.
Kg3 $1 c3 43. Qxa6 c2 (43... Nb4 44. Qc4 c2 45. a3 Nd5 46. Qd3 Ne7 {The same
position arose in the game, just with White's pawn on a2. This makes no
difference.}) 44. Qd3 Ne7 (44... Qxd3 45. Nxd3 Nxe3 46. Kf3 Nd5 47. Nc1 Kh6 48.
Ke4 Nb6 49. Kd3 Kxh5 50. Kxc2 Kg4 51. Nd3 $11) 45. Qc4 Qxh5 46. Qxc2+ Nf5+ 47.
Kg2 Qg6+ 48. Kh2 Qg3+ 49. Kh1 g6 50. Qe2 Nxe3 51. Ne4 $1 Qxf4 52. Qh2+ {
A queen exchange is a huge relief for Giri.} Qxh2+ 53. Kxh2 Nc4 54. Kg3 Kg7 55.
a4 f5 56. Ng5 Kf6 57. Kh4 {Black's knight has to guard the a-pawn and
therefore can't help to break the blockade on the kingside.} Na5 58. Nh7+ Kg7
59. Ng5 Nc6 60. Ne6+ Kf6 61. Ng5 Ke5 62. Nh3 {Anish played for a draw since
the opening, got himself into trouble, but defended tenaciously and eventually
got away with half a point.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bilbao Masters 9th"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2016.07.19"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E08"]
[WhiteElo "2787"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2016.07.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.09.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.09.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. Qc2 c6 7. O-O b6 8. Rd1
Bb7 9. b3 Nbd7 10. Nc3 Rc8 11. e4 c5 12. dxc5 dxc4 13. b4 a5 14. a3 axb4 15.
axb4 bxc5 16. b5 Qc7 17. Bf4 e5 18. Bg5 Nb6 19. Nd2 Rfd8 20. Bxf6 Bxf6 21. Nd5
Bxd5 22. exd5 e4 23. Rab1 Rxd5 24. Nxc4 Rd4 25. Nxb6 Qxb6 26. Bxe4 Rxd1+ 27.
Rxd1 Qxb5 28. Bxh7+ Kf8 29. Bf5 Rd8 30. Rxd8+ Bxd8 31. Qd3 Qxd3 32. Bxd3 Bf6
1/2-1/2

[Event "Bilbao Masters 9th"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2016.07.20"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wei, Yi"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D76"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2696"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2016.07.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.09.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.09.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O Nf6 5. c4 O-O 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. d4 Nb6 8.
Nc3 Nc6 9. d5 Na5 10. e4 c6 11. Bf4 Nac4 12. Qe2 cxd5 13. exd5 Bg4 14. h3 Bxf3
15. Bxf3 Nd6 16. Rfe1 Re8 17. Rac1 a6 18. b3 Rc8 19. Qd2 Nd7 20. Na4 Rxc1 21.
Qxc1 Bd4 22. Qd2 Bg7 23. h4 h5 24. Nb2 Nb5 25. Re3 Nd4 26. Bg2 e5 27. dxe6 Nxe6
28. Nc4 Nxf4 29. Rxe8+ Qxe8 30. Qxf4 b5 31. Ne3 Qe5 32. Qxe5 Bxe5 33. b4 Bd6
34. Bb7 Nb8 35. Nd5 Kf8 36. Kg2 Ke8 37. f3 f5 38. Kf2 Kd7 39. Nf4 Kc7 40. Bd5
Bxf4 41. gxf4 Kd6 42. Bf7 Nc6 43. a3 Ne7 44. Ke1 Kd7 45. Kd1 Kd6 46. Kd2 Kd7
47. Kd3 Kd6 48. Kc2 Kd7 49. Kb3 Kd6 50. a4 Nc6 51. axb5 axb5 52. Kc3 Ne7 53.
Kd2 Nd5 54. Bxg6 Nxb4 55. Bxh5 Nd5 56. Be8 Nxf4 57. Bxb5 Ke5 58. Bf1 Ng6 59. h5
Nh4 60. Ke2 Nxf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bilbao Masters 9th"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2016.07.21"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[PlyCount "38"]
[EventDate "2016.07.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.09.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.09.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qa4+ Nc6 6. e3 O-O 7. Qc2 Re8 8. Bd2
a6 9. a3 Bd6 10. h3 Bd7 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Bd3 Na7 13. Qb3 c6 14. Qxb7 Nb5 15.
Nxb5 axb5 16. Ne5 Rb8 17. Qa6 Ra8 18. Qb7 Rb8 19. Qa6 Ra8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bilbao Masters 9th"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2016.07.22"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2785"]
[Annotator "Pavlovic,M"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2016.07.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.09.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.09.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 {This system, a combination of London, Colle and similar ideas,
is getting popular nowadays.} Bf5 {I will give here one recent example:} (2...
c5 3. e3 Nc6 4. Nf3 e6 5. c3 Bd6 6. Bg3 Nf6 7. Nbd2 O-O 8. Bb5 {Recently this
move replaced the usual 8.Bd3.} Ne7 9. Bd3 Qb6 10. Rb1 Ng6 11. Bxg6 hxg6 12.
Bxd6 Qxd6 13. Ne5 b6 14. Qf3 Ba6 15. h4 Nd7 16. Nxd7 Qxd7 17. h5 g5 18. h6 f6
19. Qh5 Bd3 $132 {0-1 (38) Gelfand,B (2734)-Inarkiev,E (2730) Magas (rapid)
2016}) 3. e3 e6 4. Bd3 {The world champion is playing cautios.} (4. c4 Bxb1 5.
Qxb1 Bb4+ 6. Kd1 dxc4 7. Bxc4 Bd6 8. Bg3 c5 9. Bb5+ Kf8 10. Nf3 Bxg3 11. hxg3
Nf6 12. Qc2 cxd4 13. Nxd4 g6 14. Ke2 Kg7 15. Rac1 $14 {1-0 (70) Georgiev,K 
(2628)-Godena,M (2495) Padova 2014. This is just one example how the game may
continue.}) 4... Bxd3 5. Qxd3 c6 6. Nd2 Nf6 7. Ngf3 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. h3 Nbd7
10. a4 c5 (10... a5 11. e4 dxe4 12. Nxe4 Nxe4 13. Qxe4 Qb6 14. c4 {with
similar play to the Slav Defence where White is doing the same thing with Bd3
and early exchange of the bishops.}) 11. a5 c4 {I am not so sure about this
move, after that White knows exactly what to do.} (11... Rc8 12. c3 Rc6 {
with balanced play.}) 12. Qe2 b5 13. axb6 axb6 14. Ne5 $1 {Of course, White's
play is straingtforward in a way.} Nxe5 (14... Qc8 15. e4 Rd8 16. c3 b5 17. Bg5
Qb7 {looks solid for Black, but so is White's position.}) 15. dxe5 Nd7 16. Qg4
Re8 (16... Qc7 17. Nf3 Kh8 18. h4 Ra5 19. h5 h6 20. Nd4 Rfa8 21. Rxa5 Rxa5 22.
Bg3 Ra2 23. f4 {Such type of play I guess Carlsen would do. The position is
interesting, perhaps easier to play with White.}) 17. h4 f5 (17... Rxa1 18.
Rxa1 Bxh4 19. Bh6 g6 20. Nf3 Be7 21. Ra7 $44) 18. Qh3 {With the idea to play
g4.} Rxa1 19. Rxa1 c3 $6 20. bxc3 Qc7 21. c4 Nxe5 $2 (21... dxc4 $13) 22. Qg3
$1 Bd6 (22... Bf6 23. Kh1 $1 {/\ Nf3}) 23. cxd5 (23. c5 $1 bxc5 24. Ra6 Rd8 25.
Rxd6 Qxd6 26. Bxe5 $16) 23... exd5 24. Nb3 {It is clear now that Black
misplayed the position somehow. White is better.} Qxc2 25. Nd4 Qc8 26. h5 Qd7
27. Rb1 Bc7 28. f3 Qf7 29. Ra1 Bd6 30. Ra6 Qxh5 31. Rxb6 Nc4 32. Rxd6 Nxd6 33.
Bxd6 $16 {White managed to take control of a game and result is two pieces
against rook where pieces are really at good places.} Rxe3 34. Be5 Qg6 35. Qf4
Re1+ 36. Kf2 Ra1 37. Qd2 Ra8 $2 (37... Qa6 $142) 38. Nxf5 $1 $18 Qe6 39. Qg5 g6
40. Nh6+ Kf8 41. Ng4 Ke8 42. Nf6+ Kf7 43. Nxh7 Ra4 44. Qd8 Ra2+ 45. Kg1 1-0

[Event "Bilbao Masters 9th"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "2016.07.23"]
[Round "10"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[Annotator "CB"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2016.07.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.09.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.09.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "40/5400:3600+10"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e3 O-O 8. Rc1
dxc4 9. Bxc4 c5 10. O-O cxd4 11. Nxd4 Bd7 12. Qb3 {danach verflacht die Partie
sehr schnell} (12. Ne4 {ist ein ambitionierterer Versuch} Qe7 13. Qh5 Nc6 14.
Nb3 Be8 15. a3 f5 16. Qe2 Bxa3 17. bxa3 fxe4 18. Nc5 Ne5 19. Ba2 Nf3+ 20. Kh1
Qh4 21. gxf3 Bh5 22. Bxe6+ Kh8 23. Bg4 exf3 24. Qb2 Bxg4 25. Rg1 Rf7 26. Qd4 h5
27. Nd3 Rd8 28. Qe4 Qe7 29. Qxe7 Rxe7 30. Nf4 Kh7 31. Rc5 g6 32. h3 Bf5 33.
Nxh5 Bxh3 34. Kh2 Bf5 35. Nf6+ Kh6 36. e4 Rf8 37. e5 b6 38. Rd5 Kg7 39. Kg3 Be6
40. Rh1 Bg8 41. Kf4 Rc8 42. Rd4 b5 43. Re1 a5 44. Kxf3 Rc3+ 45. Kf4 Rxa3 46.
Nxg8 Kxg8 47. e6 Ra4 48. Rxa4 bxa4 49. Ke5 Kg7 50. Kd6 Kf8 51. Rc1 Re8 52. Ke5
a3 53. Kf6 a2 54. Ra1 Rb8 55. f4 Rb4 56. f5 gxf5 57. Rxa2 Rh4 58. Rd2 Rh6+ 59.
Ke5 Rh1 60. Kd6 Ke8 61. Rg2 Rd1+ 62. Ke5 Rh1 63. Rg6 Ke7 64. Rg7+ Ke8 65. Kf6
Rh6+ 66. Ke5 Rh1 {1/2-1/2 (66) So,W (2762)-Hou,Y (2673) Wijk aan Zee 2015 CBM
165 [Ftacnik,L]}) 12... Nc6 13. Nxc6 Bxc3 14. Qxb7 (14. Rxc3 Bxc6 15. Bb5 Bd5
16. Bc4 Bc6 17. Bb5 Bd5 18. Bc4 {1/2-1/2 (18) Ivanchuk,V (2715)-Carlsen,M 
(2862) Wijk aan Zee 2015}) 14... Bxc6 15. Qxc6 Bxb2 16. Rc2 Rac8 17. Qa4 Rc7 {
Diagramm [#] Weiß hat aufgrund der etwas besser platzierten Figuren
"symbolischen Vorteil", doch die Stellung gibt freilich zu wenig her um den
Weltmeister unter Druck zu setzen} 18. Bd3 Rxc2 19. Bxc2 Rc8 20. Rd1 Qc3 21.
Bb3 Qc5 22. g3 Bf6 23. Rd7 Rc7 24. Rxc7 Qxc7 25. Qe8+ Kh7 26. h4 g6 27. Qa8 Kg7
28. Kg2 h5 29. Qe4 a5 30. Ba4 Qc5 31. Qb7 Qb4 32. Qxb4 axb4 33. Kf3 Bc3 34. Kg2
Be1 35. Kf1 Bc3 36. Kg2 Be1 37. Kf1 Bc3 38. Kg2 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com sf blitz 1m+1spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.08.23"]
[Round "17"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B25"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[BlackElo "2754"]
[PlyCount "145"]
[EventDate "2016.08.23"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "32"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. g3 g6 2. Bg2 c5 3. e4 Bg7 4. d3 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6. O-O e5 7. Nc3 Nge7 8. Nd2
O-O 9. Nc4 Rb8 10. a4 Be6 11. Ne3 a6 12. Ncd5 b5 13. axb5 axb5 14. c3 b4 15.
Nc4 h6 16. Ra6 Rc8 17. Qa4 bxc3 18. bxc3 Ra8 19. Be3 Rxa6 20. Qxa6 Bc8 21.
Nxe7+ Nxe7 22. Qxd6 Qxd6 23. Nxd6 Be6 24. Bxc5 Rb8 25. d4 Nc8 26. d5 Bd7 27. c4
Bf8 28. Nxf7 Kxf7 29. Be3 Nd6 30. Rc1 Rb4 31. c5 Nc4 32. c6 Bc8 33. Ba7 Nd6 34.
f3 g5 35. g4 h5 36. h3 hxg4 37. hxg4 Be7 38. Bf1 Bd8 39. Ra1 Rb3 40. Bc5 Bb6
41. Bxb6 Rxb6 42. Ra7+ Kf6 43. Rh7 Rb3 44. Be2 Rb2 45. Kf2 Nf7 46. Ke1 Rb1+ 47.
Bd1 Ra1 48. Kd2 Nd6 49. Rh8 Ke7 50. Rg8 Ba6 51. Bc2 Nc4+ 52. Kc3 Rc1 53. Ra8
Bb5 54. c7 Nd6 55. c8=Q Nxc8 56. Rxc8 Kd7 57. Rg8 Ba4 58. Rxg5 Rxc2+ 59. Kd3
Ra2 60. Rxe5 Ra3+ 61. Ke2 Ra2+ 62. Ke3 Bd1 63. Rf5 Kd6 64. g5 Ra3+ 65. Kf2 Kc5
66. g6 Ra6 67. g7 Rg6 68. Rf7 Kd4 69. d6 Ba4 70. d7 Bxd7 71. Rxd7+ Ke5 72. Ke3
Ke6 73. Ra7 1-0

[Event "chess.com sf blitz 1m+1spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.08.23"]
[Round "18"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2754"]
[BlackElo "2857"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2016.08.23"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "32"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e3 Be7 5. Qb3 O-O 6. Be2 a6 7. O-O Rb8 8. Nd5
b5 9. a3 Na5 10. Qc3 Nxc4 11. Bxc4 bxc4 12. Nxe7+ Qxe7 13. Qxc4 d5 14. Qc3 e4
15. Ne5 c5 16. b4 cxb4 17. axb4 Bb7 18. Bb2 Rfc8 19. Qa3 Ne8 20. f4 f6 21. Ng4
Nd6 22. Bc3 Nb5 23. Qb2 Nxc3 24. dxc3 Qc7 25. Rfc1 Qb6 26. Qd2 h5 27. Nf2 Bc6
28. h3 Rd8 29. g4 Bb5 30. gxh5 Kf7 31. Kh2 Qe6 32. h6 Rh8 33. hxg7 Kxg7 34.
Rg1+ Kf7 35. Rg3 Rbg8 36. Rag1 Rxg3 37. Rxg3 Qf5 38. Qd4 Qh5 39. Ng4 Qf5 40.
Qa7+ Qd7 41. Qb6 Qc6 42. Qd4 Qe6 43. Nf2 Bd7 44. Kg2 Rc8 45. Ng4 Rh8 46. Qa7
Qc6 47. Nf2 Ra8 48. Qd4 Rh8 49. Ng4 Bxg4 50. hxg4 Rc8 51. g5 fxg5 52. Rxg5 Qxc3
53. Qxd5+ 1-0

[Event "chess.com sf blitz 1m+1spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.08.23"]
[Round "19"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2754"]
[BlackElo "2857"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2016.08.23"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "32"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e3 Be7 5. Qb3 O-O 6. Be2 a6 7. a3 Rb8 8. Qa2
d6 9. O-O Be6 10. Ng5 Bf5 11. d3 b5 12. b4 h6 13. Nge4 Be6 14. Nxf6+ Bxf6 15.
Nd5 bxc4 16. dxc4 e4 17. Rb1 Ne5 18. Qc2 Bf5 19. Bb2 c6 20. Nxf6+ Qxf6 21. Bxe5
Qxe5 22. Rfd1 Rfd8 23. h3 Be6 24. Rd4 f5 25. g3 c5 26. Rd2 a5 27. bxa5 Rxb1+
28. Qxb1 Qc3 29. Qb6 Qxd2 30. Qxd8+ Kh7 31. Bf1 Qd1 32. Kg2 Qf3+ 33. Kg1 Qd1
34. Kg2 f4 35. Qh4 g5 0-1

[Event "chess.com sf blitz 1m+1spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.08.23"]
[Round "20"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D78"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[BlackElo "2754"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2016.08.23"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "32"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 c6 4. Bg2 d5 5. O-O Bg7 6. b3 O-O 7. Bb2 a5 8. c4 a4
9. e3 Nbd7 10. Qe2 b5 11. Nbd2 Ba6 12. Rfc1 Re8 13. Qd1 Ne4 14. Nxe4 dxe4 15.
Ng5 e5 16. Nxe4 exd4 17. Bxd4 Ne5 18. Nc5 Qe7 19. cxb5 Bxb5 20. bxa4 Ba6 21.
Nxa6 Rxa6 22. Rab1 Rea8 23. Bxe5 Bxe5 24. Bxc6 Rd8 25. Qe2 Ra7 26. Rd1 Rc8 27.
Qb5 Kg7 28. a5 Rb8 29. Qd5 Rc8 30. a4 Bc3 31. a6 Rxa6 32. Bb7 Ra5 33. Qxa5 Bxa5
34. Bxc8 h5 35. Ba6 h4 36. Bf1 Qe4 37. Rb5 Qxa4 38. Rd4 Qa1 39. Rxh4 Be1 40.
Rf4 f5 41. h4 Bd2 42. h5 gxh5 43. Rbxf5 Kg6 44. Kg2 Qa8+ 45. Rf3 Qe4 46. R5f4
Qd5 47. Bc4 Qc6 48. Bf7+ Kg5 49. Rf5+ 1-0

[Event "chess.com sf blitz 1m+1spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.08.23"]
[Round "21"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2754"]
[BlackElo "2857"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2016.08.23"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "32"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 Bc5 4. Bg2 a6 5. Nf3 d6 6. d3 Nf6 7. O-O h6 8. a3 O-O
9. b4 Ba7 10. Bb2 Re8 11. e3 Ne7 12. Nd2 Rb8 13. Nde4 Ng6 14. Rc1 c6 15. c5
Nxe4 16. Nxe4 d5 17. Nd6 Bd7 18. Nxe8 Qxe8 19. e4 dxe4 20. Bxe4 f5 21. Bg2 Qf7
22. Re1 Re8 23. Qd2 Bb8 24. a4 Be6 25. b5 Bd5 26. Bxd5 Qxd5 27. bxa6 bxa6 28.
Qc3 Kh7 29. Qc4 Qd7 30. Re2 a5 31. Bc3 e4 32. dxe4 f4 33. e5 Qh3 34. Qe4 Bxe5
35. Qg2 Qf5 36. Qe4 Qh3 37. Qxc6 fxg3 38. hxg3 Bxg3 39. Rce1 Bh2+ 40. Kh1 Nh4
41. Qb7 Bf4+ 42. Kg1 Nf3+ 43. Qxf3 Qxf3 44. Rxe8 Qxc3 0-1

[Event "chess.com sf blitz 1m+1spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.08.23"]
[Round "22"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B25"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[BlackElo "2754"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2016.08.23"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "32"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. g3 g6 2. Bg2 Bg7 3. e4 c5 4. d3 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6. O-O e5 7. Nc3 Nge7 8. Nd2
O-O 9. Nc4 h6 10. a4 f5 11. exf5 gxf5 12. f4 Kh7 13. fxe5 dxe5 14. a5 Rb8 15.
Be3 Nd4 16. Ne2 Be6 17. c3 Ndc6 18. Bxc5 Bd5 19. Ne3 Bxg2 20. Kxg2 b6 21. axb6
axb6 22. Bxe7 Nxe7 23. Ra7 Ra8 24. Rxa8 Qxa8+ 25. Kg1 Qc6 26. Rf2 Qg6 27. Ng2
Rd8 28. d4 f4 29. gxf4 exd4 30. Nxd4 Nf5 31. Rd2 Ne3 32. Qf3 Qb1+ 33. Kf2 Nc4
34. Re2 Nxb2 35. Ne6 Rg8 36. Qe4+ Qxe4 37. Rxe4 Bxc3 38. Kf3 b5 39. Ne3 b4 40.
Nd5 Nd3 41. Ke3 Ne1 42. Rc4 Ng2+ 43. Ke4 Re8 44. Rc7+ Kg6 45. f5+ Kh5 46. Nxc3
bxc3 47. Rxc3 Nh4 48. Rh3 Kg4 49. Rg3+ Kh5 50. Kf4 1-0

[Event "chess.com sf blitz 1m+1spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.08.23"]
[Round "23"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "2754"]
[BlackElo "2857"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2016.08.23"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "32"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. Nc3 e6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nb5 d5 8. cxd5
exd5 9. O-O Nge7 10. Bf4 O-O 11. Qd2 Nf5 12. g4 Nfe7 13. h3 a6 14. Nd6 h6 15.
Nxc8 Rxc8 16. Bxh6 f5 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. Nxd4 Qd6 19. Rad1 fxg4 20. hxg4 Rh8 21.
f4 Rh4 22. g5 Rch8 23. e3 Kf7 24. Nf3 R4h5 25. e4 Qc5+ 26. Qf2 Qxf2+ 27. Rxf2
dxe4 28. Ne1 e3 29. Re2 Nf5 30. Nc2 Ng3 31. Rxe3 Rh1+ 32. Bxh1 Rxh1+ 33. Kg2
Rxd1 34. Kxg3 Rd2 35. Na3 b5 36. Nb1 Rxb2 37. Nc3 Nd4 38. Rd3 Nf5+ 39. Kf3 Ke6
40. Rd8 b4 41. Ne4 Rxa2 42. Nc5+ Ke7 43. Rd7+ Ke8 44. Rb7 a5 45. Rb6 Rc2 46.
Nd3 Rc6 47. Rb8+ Ke7 48. Ne5 Rd6 49. Rb7+ Ke6 50. Nxg6 Rd3+ 51. Kf2 b3 52. Ne5
Rc3 53. g6 a4 54. Rb6+ Kd5 55. Ng4 a3 56. Nf6+ Kd4 57. Rb4+ Kd3 58. Nd5 a2 59.
Nxc3 Kxc3 60. Ra4 b2 61. Ra3+ Kc4 62. Ra4+ Kd5 0-1

[Event "chess.com sf blitz 1m+1spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.08.23"]
[Round "24"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[BlackElo "2754"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2016.08.23"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "32"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. g3 d5 2. Bg2 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. O-O Bf5 5. c4 e6 6. Qb3 Qb6 7. d3 Nbd7 8. Be3
Bc5 9. Bxc5 Nxc5 10. Qa3 a5 11. Nbd2 O-O 12. Rfc1 Nfd7 13. Qc3 h6 14. Rab1 Bg6
15. b3 Rfc8 16. a3 Nf6 17. b4 axb4 18. axb4 Ncd7 19. h3 Qd8 20. b5 Qe7 21. bxc6
bxc6 22. cxd5 cxd5 23. Qxc8+ Rxc8 24. Rxc8+ Kh7 25. Rc2 Qd6 26. Nf1 e5 27. Rd1
Qb4 28. Ne3 Qa4 29. Rcc1 Qa5 30. Nh4 Bh5 31. g4 Bg6 32. Nxg6 Kxg6 33. Rc6 Kg5
34. Bf3 h5 35. gxh5 Qa4 36. Rdc1 Qf4 37. Nxd5 Nxd5 38. Bxd5 Kxh5 39. R1c4 Qd2
40. Bxf7+ 1-0

[Event "chess.com sf blitz 3m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.08.23"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[BlackElo "2754"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2016.08.23"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "20"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 e6 4. g3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O Be7 7. d4 cxd4 8. Qxd4
O-O 9. Rd1 Qc8 10. b3 Na6 11. Bb2 d6 12. Rac1 Nc5 13. Qe3 Rd8 14. Nd4 Ng4 15.
Qf4 Ne5 16. Bxb7 Qxb7 17. Qe3 Rac8 18. f4 Nc6 19. Nxc6 Qxc6 20. f5 h6 21. fxe6
fxe6 22. Nd5 Bg5 23. Qxg5 hxg5 24. Ne7+ Kf7 25. Nxc6 Rxc6 26. Rd4 e5 27. Rg4
Ne6 28. Rd1 b5 29. Bc1 bxc4 30. bxc4 Rb8 31. Bxg5 Rb2 32. Kf2 Rxa2 33. Be3 Ra4
34. Kf3 a5 35. c5 Rxg4 36. Kxg4 Nxc5 37. Bxc5 dxc5 38. Kf5 c4 39. Kxe5 Re6+ 40.
Kd5 Rxe2 41. Kxc4 Rxh2 42. Rd5 a4 43. Ra5 Ra2 44. Ra6 Ra1 45. Kd3 a3 46. Kc2 a2
47. Kb3 Rg1 48. Rxa2 Rxg3+ 49. Kc4 Kf6 50. Ra5 g5 51. Kd4 Kg6 52. Ke4 Kh5 53.
Ra4 Rb3 54. Kf5 Rf3+ 55. Ke5 g4 0-1

[Event "chess.com sf blitz 3m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.08.23"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2754"]
[BlackElo "2857"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2016.08.23"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "20"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 a6 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be6 7. e3 Nbd7 8.
Bd3 Bd6 9. h3 O-O 10. O-O h6 11. Bh4 Re8 12. Ne2 c6 13. Bg3 Ne4 14. Bxe4 dxe4
15. Nd2 Bxg3 16. Nxg3 f5 17. Ne2 Nf6 18. Rc1 a5 19. Nc4 Bxc4 20. Rxc4 Nd5 21.
a3 Kh8 22. Nc3 f4 23. Nxd5 cxd5 24. Rc5 b6 25. Rc6 f3 26. gxf3 Qd7 27. Rg6 Qxh3
28. f4 Rac8 29. Rg3 Qf5 30. Kg2 Re6 31. Rh1 Rf6 32. Rh5 Qd7 33. Rgg5 Rd6 34.
Qh1 Kh7 35. Qh4 Rc2 36. Rg3 Rg6 37. Rxg6 Kxg6 38. f5+ Kh7 39. f6 Qf7 40. Re5
gxf6 41. Rh5 Qg6+ 42. Kf1 Rxb2 43. Rxd5 Rb1+ 44. Ke2 Rb2+ 45. Kf1 Rb1+ 46. Ke2
Rb2+ 47. Kf1 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com sf blitz 3m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.08.23"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B50"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[BlackElo "2754"]
[PlyCount "142"]
[EventDate "2016.08.23"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "20"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. b3 d6 3. e4 Nf6 4. Bb5+ Nbd7 5. Qe2 g6 6. O-O Bg7 7. Bb2 O-O 8. d4
cxd4 9. Bxd4 e5 10. Bb2 Nc5 11. Nc3 a6 12. Bc4 b5 13. Bd5 Rb8 14. a3 Ne6 15.
Bxe6 Bxe6 16. Rfd1 Qc7 17. Rd3 Bc4 18. bxc4 bxc4 19. Rdd1 Rxb2 20. Rab1 Rfb8
21. Rxb2 Rxb2 22. h3 Bf8 23. g4 h6 24. Ne1 Qc6 25. Ng2 Kg7 26. Kh2 Be7 27. Ne3
Nxe4 28. Qf3 d5 29. Ncxd5 Ng5 30. Qe2 e4 31. Kg2 Bf6 32. Nxc4 Rb8 33. h4 Nf3
34. Qxe4 Nxh4+ 35. Kh3 Re8 36. Qd3 h5 37. Nce3 Rh8 38. g5 Bxg5 39. Qd4+ Kh7 40.
f4 Bd8 41. f5 Re8 42. Qa7 Kg8 43. Rf1 Nxf5 44. Nxf5 gxf5 45. Rg1+ Kf8 46. Qd4
f6 47. Qd2 f4 48. Qd3 Qe6+ 49. Kh4 f5+ 50. Kh3 f3 51. Qxf3 f4+ 52. Kh2 Qe2+ 53.
Qxe2 Rxe2+ 54. Kh3 f3 55. Rf1 f2 56. c4 Ke8 57. Kg2 Kd7 58. Rxf2 Rxf2+ 59. Kxf2
Kd6 60. Nb4 a5 61. Nd3 Ke6 62. Kf3 Kf5 63. a4 h4 64. c5 h3 65. Kg3 Ke4 66. Nc1
Kd5 67. Nb3 Kc4 68. Nxa5+ Bxa5 69. Kxh3 Kxc5 70. Kg2 Kb4 71. Kf3 Kxa4 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com sf blitz 3m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.08.23"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2754"]
[BlackElo "2857"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2016.08.23"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "20"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Bg5 h6 5. Bxf6 Qxf6 6. Nc3 Bb4 7. Qb3 c5 8.
cxd5 exd5 9. a3 Bxc3+ 10. Qxc3 b6 11. dxc5 Qxc3+ 12. bxc3 bxc5 13. O-O-O Be6
14. e3 Ke7 15. c4 dxc4 16. Ne5 c3 17. Bb5 a6 18. Ba4 Ra7 19. Kc2 Rc8 20. Kxc3
g5 21. h4 g4 22. f4 c4 23. e4 f6 24. Ng6+ Kf7 25. h5 Bd7 26. Bc2 Nc6 27. e5
fxe5 28. fxe5 Kg7 29. Rd6 Be8 30. Nh4 Nxe5 31. Nf5+ Kg8 32. Nxh6+ Kh8 33. Nf5
Bc6 34. Re1 Nd3 35. Re7 Rac7 36. Rh6+ Kg8 37. Rg6+ Kf8 38. Rf6+ Kg8 39. Rxc7
Rxc7 40. Rxc6 Rxc6 41. Ne7+ Kg7 42. Nxc6 Nf4 43. g3 Nxh5 44. Ne5 Nxg3 45. Nxg4
Kf7 46. Kxc4 Ke6 47. Nf2 Nf1 48. Bd3 Kd6 49. Bxf1 1-0

[Event "chess.com sf blitz 3m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.08.23"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[BlackElo "2754"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2016.08.23"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "20"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. a4 e5 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bc4
Be6 9. Bb3 h6 10. O-O O-O 11. Nh4 Nc6 12. Nf5 Bxf5 13. exf5 Nd4 14. Nd5 Nxb3
15. cxb3 Rc8 16. Be3 Rc6 17. b4 Nxd5 18. Qxd5 Qd7 19. b5 Rc2 20. Rac1 Rxb2 21.
b6 Rc8 22. g3 Rc6 23. Rxc6 Qxc6 24. Qxc6 bxc6 25. Rc1 c5 26. a5 Kf8 27. Rd1 Ke8
28. Kg2 Rb5 29. f6 Bxf6 30. Rxd6 Rxa5 31. Rc6 Rb5 32. Bxc5 Bd8 33. Kf3 f5 34.
Be3 Kd7 35. Rg6 Bf6 36. Bxh6 Rxb6 37. Bxg7 Rb3+ 38. Kg2 Bxg7 39. Rxg7+ Ke8 40.
Rg5 Kf7 41. Rxf5+ Ke6 42. Rh5 a5 43. Rh6+ Kf5 44. Ra6 Ra3 45. h4 e4 46. h5 Ra2
47. h6 e3 48. h7 Rxf2+ 49. Kg1 1-0

[Event "chess.com sf blitz 3m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.08.23"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2754"]
[BlackElo "2857"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2016.08.23"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "20"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 a6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bf4 c6 6. e3 Bd6 7. Bxd6 Qxd6 8.
Bd3 Ne7 9. Nf3 Bf5 10. Qb3 b5 11. Bxf5 Nxf5 12. a4 b4 13. Ne2 a5 14. O-O Nd7
15. Nf4 O-O 16. Rfc1 Rac8 17. Rc2 Rc7 18. Rac1 Rfc8 19. Qd3 g6 20. Qa6 g5 21.
Nd3 b3 22. Rc3 c5 23. Qxd6 Nxd6 24. Nxc5 Nxc5 25. Rxc5 Rxc5 26. Rxc5 Rb8 27.
Nd2 Rb4 28. Rxd5 Nc4 29. Nxc4 Rxc4 30. Rxg5+ Kf8 31. g3 Rxa4 32. Rb5 Ra1+ 33.
Kg2 a4 34. Rb4 f5 35. Kf3 Ra2 36. Kf4 Rxb2 37. Rxa4 Rxf2+ 38. Ke5 b2 39. Rb4
Kf7 40. d5 Re2 41. Rb7+ Kg6 42. Kd4 Rd2+ 43. Kc3 Rxd5 44. Rxb2 Kg5 45. Rb4 Rd1
46. Rd4 Ra1 47. Rh4 h5 48. Kd3 Ra2 49. Kc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com sf blitz 5m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.08.23"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A12"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[BlackElo "2754"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2016.08.23"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 d5 2. Bb2 Nf6 3. Nf3 Bf5 4. g3 e6 5. Bg2 h6 6. c4 c6 7. O-O Be7 8. d3 O-O
9. Nbd2 Bh7 10. a3 a5 11. Ra2 b5 12. Qa1 Nbd7 13. Rc1 Qb6 14. cxb5 cxb5 15. Bd4
Qb7 16. Rac2 Rfc8 17. Ne5 Nxe5 18. Bxe5 Rxc2 19. Rxc2 Rc8 20. Rxc8+ Qxc8 21.
Nf3 Qc5 22. a4 b4 23. Bf1 Ne8 24. Nd4 Bf6 25. Nb5 Bg6 26. Qb2 Kh7 27. Kg2 Bxe5
28. Qxe5 Qc2 29. Nd4 Qc3 30. f4 Nf6 31. h3 Nd7 32. Qe3 Nc5 33. Nb5 Qc2 34. Nd4
Qb2 35. g4 Bxd3 36. Nf3 Qc2 37. Nd4 Be4+ 38. Kf2 Qc3 39. h4 f6 40. g5 e5 41.
fxe5 fxe5 42. Nc6 Nxb3 43. Qb6 d4 44. Ne7 Qe3+ 45. Ke1 Qd2+ 46. Kf2 Qf4+ 47.
Ke1 Qc1+ 48. Kf2 Qf4+ 49. Ke1 Qxh4+ 50. Kd1 Qxg5 51. Qe6 Qd2# 0-1

[Event "chess.com sf blitz 5m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.08.23"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2754"]
[BlackElo "2857"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2016.08.23"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Nbd2 O-O 5. a3 Be7 6. e4 d6 7. Be2 Nbd7 8.
Qc2 e5 9. Nb1 c5 10. dxe5 Nxe5 11. Nxe5 dxe5 12. Nc3 Be6 13. O-O Qc7 14. Be3
Rfd8 15. Nd5 Bxd5 16. cxd5 Rac8 17. Rac1 Ne8 18. Bg4 Rb8 19. Bxc5 Qxc5 20. Qxc5
Bxc5 21. Rxc5 Nd6 22. f3 g6 23. h4 f5 24. exf5 gxf5 25. Bh3 Rd7 26. g4 Kf7 27.
gxf5 Kf6 28. Kf2 Rbd8 29. Ke3 Rg7 30. h5 Rg3 31. Bg4 Rg8 32. Kf2 R3xg4 33. fxg4
Ne4+ 34. Kf3 Nxc5 35. Rc1 Nb3 36. Rc7 Nd4+ 37. Kf2 Rxg4 38. Rxh7 Rf4+ 39. Ke1
e4 40. d6 Rxf5 41. h6 e3 42. d7 Rd5 43. Rg7 Nf5 44. d8=Q+ Rxd8 45. Rxb7 Nxh6
46. Rxa7 Nf5 0-1

[Event "chess.com sf blitz 5m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.08.23"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[BlackElo "2754"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2016.08.23"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Bd3 Qc7 6. Na3 a6 7. Nc2 Nf6 8. h3
e5 9. dxe5 Nxe5 10. Nf3 Bd6 11. Nxe5 Bxe5 12. O-O O-O 13. Qf3 Re8 14. Re1 Bh2+
15. Kh1 Rxe1+ 16. Nxe1 Be5 17. Be3 Bd7 18. Nc2 Re8 19. Bd4 Bxd4 20. Nxd4 Qb6
21. Rb1 Ne4 22. Bxe4 dxe4 23. Qf4 h6 24. Kg1 e3 25. fxe3 Bxh3 26. Rf1 Qg6 27.
Qf3 Bc8 28. Qd5 b5 29. e4 Qxe4 30. Qxf7+ Kh7 31. Qf3 Qg6 32. a3 Re5 33. Qc6
Qxc6 34. Nxc6 Rg5 35. Rf2 h5 36. Rd2 Bb7 37. Nd4 Bd5 38. Nc2 Bb7 39. Ne3 Re5
40. Kf2 Re6 41. c4 bxc4 42. Nxc4 Rf6+ 43. Kg1 Kh6 44. b4 g5 45. a4 h4 46. b5
axb5 47. axb5 Kh5 48. Nd6 Ba8 49. b6 Kg4 50. Kh2 Re6 51. b7 Bxb7 52. Nxb7 Re3
53. Nd6 Ra3 54. Rd4+ Kh5 55. Rd5 Kg6 56. Ne4 1-0

[Event "chess.com sf blitz 5m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.08.23"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2754"]
[BlackElo "2857"]
[PlyCount "160"]
[EventDate "2016.08.23"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 a6 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be6 7. e3 Nbd7 8.
Bd3 Bd6 9. O-O O-O 10. Rc1 h6 11. Bh4 c6 12. h3 Re8 13. Ne2 Qb6 14. Qc2 Ne4 15.
Bxe4 dxe4 16. Nd2 Bd5 17. Nc3 f5 18. Bg3 Bxg3 19. fxg3 Rf8 20. Nxd5 cxd5 21.
Qc7 Rad8 22. Nb3 Rf7 23. Na5 Rb8 24. b3 h5 25. Kh2 g6 26. a3 Kg7 27. b4 Qxc7
28. Rxc7 Nf6 29. Rfc1 Ne8 30. Rc8 Rxc8 31. Rxc8 Nd6 32. Rc5 Nb5 33. Rxd5 Nxa3
34. Kg1 Nc2 35. Kf2 Nxb4 36. Rd6 Nd3+ 37. Ke2 Rc7 38. Kd2 Nb4 39. Rb6 Nd5 40.
Rxb7 Rxb7 41. Nxb7 Kf6 42. h4 g5 43. Nc5 a5 44. hxg5+ Kxg5 45. Ne6+ Kg4 46. Nf4
Nb6 47. d5 Kxg3 48. Nxh5+ Kxg2 49. Ng7 Nxd5 50. Nxf5 Kf2 51. Nd6 Kf3 52. Nc4 a4
53. Ne5+ Kf2 54. Nc4 Nf6 55. Kc3 Ng4 56. Kb4 Nxe3 57. Nd6 Nc2+ 58. Kxa4 e3 59.
Ne4+ Kf3 60. Nc3 Nd4 61. Kb4 Ne6 62. Kc4 Nf4 63. Kc5 Nh3 64. Kd6 Nf2 65. Ke5
Ne4 66. Nb5 Nc5 67. Nc3 Na4 68. Nb5 Ke2 69. Nd4+ Kd3 70. Ne6 Nc3 71. Nf4+ Kd2
72. Kf5 Nd1 73. Ke5 Nf2 74. Kd4 Ng4 75. Ke4 Nf6+ 76. Kd4 Nh5 77. Nh3 Ke2 78.
Ng5 Ng3 79. Ne6 Kf2 80. Ng5 e2 0-1

[Event "chess.com sf blitz 5m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.08.23"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[BlackElo "2754"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2016.08.23"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bc1
Nf6 9. Bc4 e6 10. Bb3 Be7 11. O-O O-O 12. f4 b5 13. e5 dxe5 14. fxe5 Nh7 15.
Qg4 Kh8 16. Be3 Bg5 17. Bf2 Nd7 18. h4 Be7 19. Qe4 Rb8 20. Nc6 Qe8 21. Nxb8
Nxb8 22. Rad1 Nd7 23. Ne2 Nc5 24. Bxc5 Bxc5+ 25. Kh1 Qe7 26. c3 Bb7 27. Qg4 f5
28. exf6 Nxf6 29. Qxe6 Qxe6 30. Bxe6 Re8 31. Nf4 g5 32. Bd5 Nxd5 33. Nxd5 Re4
34. Kh2 Bd6+ 35. Kg1 Bc5+ 36. Kh2 Bd6+ 37. Kg1 Bc5+ 38. Kh2 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com sf blitz 5m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.08.23"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2754"]
[BlackElo "2857"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2016.08.23"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 a6 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bf4 Bd6 7. Bxd6 Qxd6 8.
e3 Bf5 9. Qb3 O-O 10. Nh4 Be4 11. Nxe4 Nxe4 12. Bd3 Nc6 13. a3 f5 14. Nf3 Kh8
15. O-O Rab8 16. Rac1 Ne7 17. Qc2 c6 18. Ne5 Qe6 19. f3 Nd6 20. f4 Ng8 21. Qe2
Nf6 22. Qf3 Rg8 23. Qe2 g6 24. Kh1 Rg7 25. Rf3 Rbg8 26. b4 Nfe4 27. a4 g5 28.
fxg5 Rxg5 29. g3 Qh6 30. Kg2 Rh5 31. Rh1 Qe6 32. Rf4 Rxg3+ 33. hxg3 Rxh1 34.
Bxe4 Qh6 35. Rh4 Rxh4 36. gxh4 Qg7+ 37. Kh2 Nxe4 38. Qf3 Kg8 39. Qf4 Qf6 40.
Nd3 Qd6 41. Nc5 Qxf4+ 42. exf4 a5 43. Nxb7 axb4 44. Na5 Nc3 45. Nxc6 b3 0-1

[Event "chess.com sf blitz 5m+2spm"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.08.23"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A49"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[BlackElo "2754"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2016.08.23"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 c5 4. c3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. Bg5 Bg7 7. Nbd2 O-O 8. O-O
d6 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. e3 Nd7 11. a4 d5 12. b4 a5 13. b5 Rc8 14. Rc1 Qc7 15. c4
Rfd8 16. cxd5 Bxd5 17. Qe2 e6 18. Rfd1 Qb8 19. e4 Bb7 20. e5 Bg7 21. Ng5 Bxg2
22. Kxg2 cxd4 23. f4 Nc5 24. Rc4 d3 25. Qf3 Rd5 26. Rdc1 Rcd8 27. h4 Rd4 28. h5
Nxa4 29. Rc7 R4d7 30. Rxd7 Rxd7 31. Qc6 Qd8 32. hxg6 hxg6 33. Nxe6 fxe6 34.
Qxe6+ Kf8 35. Rc6 Nc5 36. Qxg6 a4 37. e6 Ra7 38. Qf5+ Kg8 39. e7 Qxe7 40. Rc8+
Bf8 41. Qg6+ Qg7 42. Qxb6 Nb3 43. Ne4 Rf7 44. Qe6 d2 45. Rd8 Nd4 46. Rxd4 Qxd4
47. Ng5 Qf6 48. Qd5 a3 49. Nxf7 Qxf7 50. Qxd2 a2 51. Qd4 Bg7 52. Qd8+ Bf8 53.
Qa8 Kg7 54. b6 Qb3 55. Qb7+ Kg8 56. Qa8 Qb2+ 57. Kh3 a1=Q 58. Qd5+ Kh8 59. Qh5+
Kg7 60. Qg5+ Kf7 61. Qd5+ Ke7 62. Qc5+ Kd7 63. Qc7+ Ke6 64. Qc6+ Bd6 65. Qe4+
Kd7 66. Qb7+ Kd8 67. Kg4 Qg7+ 0-1

[Event "Olympiad-42"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2016.09.03"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hossain, Enamul"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E43"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[BlackElo "2431"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2016.09.02"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 175"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Bangladesh"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "BAN"]

1. e3 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. d4 Bb4 {A very original move order
- and finally a normal position of the Nimzo-Indian Defense.} 6. Bd3 Ne4 7. O-O
Bxc3 8. bxc3 O-O 9. Ne1 {Typical: White ousts Black's knight from the centre
but it takes some time; besides, White's knight has no good prospects.} c5 $6 {
This is not active enough. White creates a strong and solid pawn centre.} (9...
f5 {is the main theoretical line seen in hundreds of games. Here is one of
them, played at the highest level:} 10. f3 Ng5 11. Qe2 Qf6 12. Nc2 d6 13. a4
Nc6 14. Ba3 Qg6 15. f4 Ne4 16. Bxe4 fxe4 17. c5 Rfd8 18. cxd6 cxd6 19. d5 exd5
20. Nd4 Nxd4 21. cxd4 a5 $13 {1/2 (39) Gelfand,B (2741)-Vallejo Pons,F (2703)
Leon 2010}) (9... d5 {leads to the Botvinnik pawn structure, which is rather
favorable for White, e.g.} 10. cxd5 exd5 11. f3 Nf6 12. Rb1 Re8 13. Rb2 Qd7 14.
g4 g6 15. Ng2 c5 16. Nf4 Qd6 17. Qe1 cxd4 18. cxd4 Nc6 19. Qh4 Na5 20. Rg2 Rac8
21. Qh6 Qf8 22. Qxf8+ Rxf8 23. g5 $36 {1-0 (58) Gligoric,S (2565)-Sanz Alonso,
F (2330) Montilla 1978}) ({Other options:} 9... Qh4 10. f3 Ng5 11. e4 f5 12.
exf5 exf5 13. Nc2 f4 14. d5 Na6 15. Nd4 Nc5 16. Bc2 Ba6 17. Nf5 $16 {1-0 (48)
Gligoric,S-Rodriguez,J Havana 1969}) (9... d6 10. f3 Nf6 11. e4 Nbd7 12. Nc2 c5
13. Bg5 Re8 14. Ne3 Qc7 15. Re1 h6 16. Bh4 Nh5 17. Bf1 Nf8 18. Ng4 f5 19. exf5
exf5 20. Ne3 Qf7 21. Qc2 g6 22. Nd5 $36 {1-0 (41) Malaniuk,V (2513)-Saulin,D 
(2396) Tula 2004}) 10. f3 Nf6 (10... Nd6 $2 11. dxc5 bxc5 12. Bxh7+ Kxh7 13.
Qxd6 Na6 14. Rb1 Bc6 15. Nd3 Qa5 16. Ne5 $16 {1-0 (61) Lin,W-Huang,R China 1987
}) 11. e4 Ne8 {Just a loss of time.} ({It was not easy to create counterplay
but maybe something like this deserved attention:} 11... d6 12. d5 Re8 13. Nc2
Nbd7 14. Ne3 Ne5 15. Be2 Ng6 16. g3 h5 $5) 12. d5 $14 d6 13. Nc2 Nd7 14. Ne3
Nef6 (14... Ne5 15. Be2 {, and White will push f3-f4 sooner or later.}) 15. a4
a5 {Black doesn't want to allow a4-a5 but his b6-pawn may now become weak.} 16.
Ra2 Qc7 $6 {It was the last moment to bring the knight to g6 slowing down
White's attack:} (16... Ne5 17. Be2 Ng6) 17. f4 {[%mdl 128] Using his space
advantage, White starts a kingside attack.} exd5 18. exd5 Rfe8 19. g4 $1 Nf8
20. g5 N6d7 21. h4 Rad8 22. h5 Bc8 23. Ng4 Re7 24. Rg2 Kh8 25. Qf3 Rde8 26. Qg3
{[%cal Rf4f5]} Rd8 (26... g6 27. Qh4 {[%cal Yg2h2,Yf4f5]}) 27. Bd2 Rde8 28. f5
Ne5 29. Nxe5 Rxe5 30. Bf4 Nd7 31. f6 $1 {Of course, White ignores the e5-rook
so far.} g6 32. hxg6 fxg6 33. Bxg6 $1 {One of the typical Carlsen games, in
which is it difficult to find out where his opponent made a decisive mistake.
Was it really 9...c5 ??!} (33. Bxg6 hxg6 34. Qh4+ Kg8 35. Rh2 $18) 1-0

[Event "Olympiad-42"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2016.09.04"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Lupulescu, Constantin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2618"]
[BlackElo "2857"]
[PlyCount "153"]
[EventDate "2016.09.02"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 175"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Romania"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ROU"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4 5. h3 Bxf3 6. Qxf3 e6 7. Nc3 Nbd7 8. Bd3
Bd6 9. cxd5 exd5 10. g4 Nf8 11. h4 Ne6 12. g5 Nd7 13. Bd2 Qe7 14. O-O-O O-O-O
15. Qg4 g6 16. f4 f5 17. Qf3 Kb8 18. h5 Nb6 19. Kb1 a6 20. Bc1 Rc8 21. hxg6
hxg6 22. Rxh8 Rxh8 23. Rh1 Qe8 24. Rh3 Ka7 25. a3 Rg8 26. Qh1 Bf8 27. Rh8 Bg7
28. Rxg8 Qxg8 29. Bf1 Nc8 30. Bd3 Nd6 31. Bf1 Bf8 32. Be2 Be7 33. Bd3 Nf8 34.
Qh2 Nd7 35. Ne2 c5 36. dxc5 Nxc5 37. Bc2 Nce4 38. Ng3 Nxg3 39. Qxg3 Qe6 40. Qe1
Nc4 41. Qc3 Bc5 42. Bd3 Bb6 43. Qf6 Qe8 44. Bxc4 dxc4 45. Bd2 Bxe3 46. Bxe3+
Qxe3 47. Qxg6 Qe4+ 48. Ka1 Qh1+ 49. Ka2 Qd5 50. Ka1 Qd1+ 51. Ka2 Qb3+ 52. Ka1
c3 53. bxc3 Qxa3+ 54. Kb1 Qb3+ 55. Kc1 Qxc3+ 56. Kd1 Qf3+ 57. Kc2 Qxf4 58. Qf6
Qe4+ 59. Kd2 f4 60. g6 Qe3+ 61. Kc2 Qe2+ 62. Kc3 Qe1+ 63. Kc2 Qf2+ 64. Kd3 Qe3+
65. Kc2 f3 66. g7 Qg1 67. Qf8 Qg2+ 68. Kd3 f2 69. Qc5+ Kb8 70. Qe5+ Kc8 71.
Qe6+ Kc7 72. Qe7+ Kc6 73. Qe6+ Kc5 74. Qe5+ Kb4 75. Qd4+ Kb5 76. Qe5+ Kc6 77.
Qe6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Olympiad-42"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2016.09.05"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Smerdon, David"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2531"]
[BlackElo "2857"]
[Annotator "Meyer,CD"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2016.09.02"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 175"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Australia"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "AUS"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

{SPIEL MIT DEM FEUER In der 4. Runde der Schacholympiade, im Match Australien
vs Norwegen, provoziert Weltmeister Magnus Carlsen in seiner Partie gegen GM
David Smerdon mit einem tollkühnen Bauernraub einen höchstgefährlichen
Königsangriff. Angesichts komplizierter und spannender Verwicklungen greifen
dann beide Seiten in der kritischen Phase daneben, so dass sich am Ende
insbesondere der Champ mit der Punkteteilung glücklich schätzen kann.} 1. e4
c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 e6 6. Na3 (6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8.
Be3 cxd4 9. cxd4 O-O 10. Nc3 Qd6 11. a3 b6 12. Qe2 Bb7 13. Rad1 Rad8 14. Rfe1
Qb8 15. Bb1 Rfe8 16. h3 g6 17. Bc1 Rc8 18. Ng5 Nd8 19. Ba2 Qa8 20. Qd3 Nd5 21.
Qg3 Nf6 $2 (21... Nxc3 $142 22. bxc3 Bd5) 22. Qh4 h5 23. Qg3 $40 {+/-, 1:0/34,
Smerdon,D (2498)-Croad,N (2282), England 2013}) 6... Qd8 (6... a6 7. Nc4 Nbd7
8. a4 cxd4 9. Qxd4 Bc5 10. Qxd5 exd5 11. Ne3 O-O {remis/32, Smerdon,D (2513)
-David,A (2565), Tromso 2014}) 7. Nc4 ({Häufiger geschieht} 7. Nc2 {, z.B.}
Nbd7 8. Bd3 Qc7 (8... Be7)) 7... Be7 (7... Nc6 8. Nce5 cxd4 9. Bb5 Qd5 10. c4
$5) 8. Be3 cxd4 9. Qxd4 ({Das wirkt recht friedfertig und betritt
unerforschtes Neuland; noch bekannt ist} 9. Nxd4 Nd5 (9... O-O) 10. Bd2 O-O 11.
Bd3 Bf6 {mit etwa gleichen Chancen.}) 9... O-O 10. O-O-O Nd5 11. Qg4 $5 {
Nun ist (früher) Damentausch vorübergehend kein Thema, und die Stellung wird
angesichts der heterogenen Rochaden rasch kampfbetonter und zweischneidiger.}
Nxe3 ({Interessante und ebenso unklare Alternativen: I} 11... Nd7 12. Bh6 Bf6
13. Bd3 b5 (13... Nc5 14. Bc2 Qc7 15. Ne3) 14. Ne3 Nc5 15. Bc2 Bb7) ({II} 11...
Qc7 12. Qg3 $5) ({III} 11... b5 $5 12. Nce5 Nxe3 13. fxe3 Qb6) 12. fxe3 Qc7 13.
Bd3 Nd7 14. Qf4 $5 Qc5 ({Da} 14... Qxf4 15. exf4 {ihm wenig bis gar nichts
gäbe, sucht Carlsen mit ausweichenden Damenmanövern sein Heil in waghalsigen
Verwicklungen.}) 15. b4 $5 Qc6 16. Nd4 $5 {Nach anfänglichem Respekt vor
seinem großen Gegner wittert der rauflustige australische Taktiker seine
Chance und bietet ein giftiges Bauernopfer an, dessen waghalsige Annahme
eigentlich kaum zu erwarten ist ...} (16. Kb2 $13 {/=}) 16... Qxg2 $6 {Der
Champion, "den hier offenbar der Schachteufel reitet", spielt va banque! Trotz
der Furcht einflößenden Öffnung der g-Linie vertraut Carlsen auf seine
Verteidigungsressourcen und Künste, und nicht zuletzt darauf, dass nun ja
auch sein Gegner etwas beweisen muss. Indes stellen die resultierenden
messerscharfen und komplexen Verwicklungen äußerst hohe Ansprüche an die
Kombattanten!} ({Alternativen: I Am ehesten kam m. E. die Ablehnung} 16... Qd5
$13 {/= in Betracht. Allerdings stünde die Dame nach} 17. Nf3 {weiterhin auch
ungemütlich, z,B.:} Qc6 (17... g6 $6 18. h4 $1 $40 (18. Bxg6 $4 fxg6 19. Rxd5
exd5 $17)) 18. Kb2 $5 (18. Nd4 Qd5 19. Nf3 Qc6 {mit Stellungswiederholung} (
19... Qb5 20. Nd4)) 18... Nb6 19. Nxb6 Qxb6 $13 {/=}) ({II} 16... Qa6 $6 {
wirkt nicht gerade Vertrauen erweckend:} 17. Kb2 g6 (17... b5 $2 18. Na5 $1 (
18. Qe4 $4 f5 $1 19. Qxe6+ (19. Qxa8 bxc4 20. Nc6 Bf6) 19... Qxe6 20. Nxe6 bxc4
21. Nxf8 (21. Bxc4 $2 Nb6 22. Bb3 Bxe6 23. Bxe6+ Kh8) 21... cxd3 22. Nxd7 Bxd7
23. Rxd3 Be6) 18... e5 19. Qe4 Nf6 20. Qxe5 $18 (20. Qxa8 exd4 21. exd4 $18))
18. h4 (18. a4 Nb6 19. Nxb6 Qxb6 20. a5 Qd6 (20... Qd8 21. Be4) 21. Qxd6 Bxd6
22. Nb5 Be7 23. Be4 $14) 18... b5 19. Ne5 Bd6 20. Bxb5 Bxe5 (20... Qb7 $143 21.
Bxd7 $1 Bxd7 22. Qf3 $16) 21. Bxa6 Bxf4 22. Bxc8 Rfxc8 23. exf4 Nb6 24. Kb3 $14
) 17. Rhg1 {Dieser Turm wartet mit trickreichen Manövern auf.} Qh3 ({Freilich
nicht} 17... Qxa2 $4 {wegen} 18. Rxg7+ Kxg7 19. Rg1+ Kh8 20. Qh6 $18 {nebst
unparierbarem Matt (} Qa1+ 21. Kd2 Qa2+ 22. Nc2 {)}) 18. Rg3 {Strebt geschickt
die Turmverdopplung an und verlangt dem Gegner "höllische Wachsamkeit" ab!}
Qh4 $2 {Damit sollte Carlsens tollkühner Schlingerkurs aber voll danebengehen!
} ({Selbstverständlich scheitert 18...Qxh2?? an 19.Rxg7+, indes war} 18... Qh5
$142 $8 {erforderlich, worauf nach dem weiteren} 19. Rdg1 (19. Be2 $2 Qh4 {
, denn nun wäre nach Damentausch nebst Rh3 der Punkt h7 nicht mehr doppelt
bedroht.}) 19... g6 {der Tanz mit dem folgenden Springeropfer erst richtig
losgeht:} (19... Bf6 $4 20. Be2 e5 21. Qf2 Qh6 22. Nf5) 20. Nxe6 $3 {und nun:}
Ne5 $8 {der einzig spielbare Zug!} (20... fxe6 $2 21. Bxg6 hxg6 22. Rxg6+ Kh7
23. Rg7+ Kh8 24. Qg3 Nf6 25. Rxe7 Rg8 26. Rg7 Bd7 27. Ne5 $18 Bb5 28. Qh4 (28.
Qf4 Rxg7 29. Qxf6) 28... Rxg7 29. Qxf6 Rag8 30. Ng6+ Kh7 31. Nf8+ Kh8 32. Rg4
$1 {mit dem Plan Rh4+-}) 21. Nxe5 Bxe6 22. Rg5 $8 {! Diese Finesse, wonach die
schwarze Dame in die Zange genommen wird, muss schon entkorkt werden.} Bxg5 (
22... Qh3 23. Nxg6 hxg6 24. Rxg6+ fxg6 25. Rxg6+ Kh8 26. Rh6+ Kg7 27. Rg6+ (27.
Rxh3 $4 Rxf4) 27... Kh8 28. Rh6+ $11) 23. Rxg5 Qh3 $142 (23... Qh6 24. Rxg6+
Qxg6 25. Nxg6 fxg6 (25... hxg6 26. Qh6 Rfe8 27. h4 $1 Rac8 (27... Rad8 $143 28.
Bb5 Bd7 29. h5 $1) 28. h5 Rxc3+ 29. Kd2 Rc7 30. hxg6 fxg6 31. Qxg6+ Kf8 32.
Qf6+ Kg8 33. a3 $14) 26. Qe4 Bxa2 27. Qxb7 $14) 24. Rg3 Qh5 25. Rg5 Qh3 $11 {
mit forcierter Stellungswiederholung wäre ein sehr ausgeklügeltes Finale
gewesen.}) 19. Qxh4 Bxh4 20. Rh3 Bg5 ({Oder: I} 20... Be7 21. Bxh7+ Kh8 22. Nf3
$1 $16 {Hier eine Art Patentzug, den wir hinter den Kulissen wiederholt
antreffen werden. Weiß macht seine d-Linie frei und spekuliert auf Nd6 (ggf.
Nce5), während Schwarz sowohl unter seiner unsicheren Königsstellung als
auch unter seinem unterentwicklten Damenflügel (Bc8) schwer laboriert.} a5 $5
{mag noch am zähesten sein:} (22... Rb8 23. Kb2 a6 24. Nd6 Bxd6 (24... Nf6
$143 25. Ng5 Bxd6 26. Rxd6 Bd7 27. Rd4 $1 g6 28. Nxf7+ Rxf7 29. Bxg6+ Kg7 30.
Bxf7 Kxf7 31. Rh6 e5 32. Rxf6+ Kxf6 33. Rxd7 $18) 25. Rxd6 g6 26. Bxg6+ Kg7 27.
Be4 $16) (22... Nb6 $2 23. Nce5 $1 Nd5 24. Rg1 Rb8 25. Ng4 g5 (25... g6 26.
Bxg6+ Kg7 27. Be4 $18) 26. Bc2+ Kg8 27. c4 Nxb4 28. Rh7 $1 f5 (28... Nxc2 29.
Nxg5 $18) 29. Rxe7 fxg4 30. Bh7+ Kh8 31. Ne5 Rf6 32. Rd1 $18) 23. b5 $1 (23.
Be4+ $5 Kg8 24. Bxb7 Ra7 $1 25. Nxa5 Nf6 26. Bc6 Bd8 27. Nc4 Rxa2 28. Rd2 Rxd2
29. Kxd2 $16) 23... Ra7 24. b6 Ra8 25. Nd6 Bxd6 26. Rxd6 g6 27. Bxg6+ Kg7 28.
Be4 $16 {mit großem Endspielvorteil}) ({II} 20... Bf6 21. Bxh7+ Kh8 22. Nf3 $1
Nb6 $2 (22... Be7 23. Be4+ Kg8 24. Bxb7 {wie gehabt}) (22... Bxc3 23. a3 $1 Bf6
24. Nd6 a5 25. b5 a4 (25... e5 26. Bc2+ Kg8 27. Nxc8 $18) 26. Kb1 $1 Ra5 27.
Ka2 g6 (27... Ra8 28. Nxc8 Raxc8 29. Rxd7 $18) 28. Bxg6+ Kg7 29. Be4 Rh8 30.
Rxh8 Kxh8 31. Rc1 Nb6 32. Nxc8 (32. Rc7) 32... Rxb5 33. Nd4 $18) 23. Nce5 $1
Nd5 (23... Bxe5 24. Nxe5 $18 g6 25. Bxg6+ Kg7 26. Rg1 Kf6 27. Nxf7) 24. c4 (24.
Ng4 Bxc3 25. Bd3+ Kg8 26. Nh6+ gxh6 27. Rg1+ Bg7 28. Rhg3 $18) 24... Nxe3 25.
Nxf7+ $1 Rxf7 26. Ne5 $18) ({III} 20... g5 $2 21. Rg1 Kh8 22. Bxh7 $1 e5 23.
Bc2 Nb6 (23... Nf6 24. Bf5 exd4 (24... Nh7 25. Nxe5 $18) 25. Rxg5 Bxf5 26. Rxf5
$18) (23... exd4 24. Rxg5 $18) 24. Nf5 f6 (24... Bxf5 25. Bxf5 f6 26. Nxe5 $18)
25. Nxe5 $18) 21. Rg1 $2 ({Womit der Kelch knapp an den Weltmeister
vorübergegangen ist! Ebenso wie er übersieht der sonst so erfolgreiche
australische Taktiker - die für ihn schmeichelhafte Punkteteilung in
Reichweite -, dass Weiß nach dem korrekten} 21. Bxh7+ $142 Kh8 {Gewinn
verheißenden Angriff erhält.} {Oder} 22. Bc2+ {, was unter Zugumstellung zur
vorigen Variante führt:} (22. Nf3 $1 $40 {Die nachhaltige Stärke dieses
Springerzuges, von meinen Silikon-Freunden schnell errechnet, blieb unseren
Protagonisten offenbar verborgen. Man sehe:} {Nach} Be7 {erhält Weiß großen
Endspielvorteil:} (22... Bh6 23. Bc2 $1 a5 (23... Kg8 24. Rg1 Kh8 25. Nd6 a5
26. Rd1 Nf6 (26... Kg8 27. Nxc8 $18 Raxc8 28. Rxd7 Rxc3 29. Kd2) 27. Ne5 Bd7
28. Ndxf7+ Kg8 (28... Rxf7 29. Nxf7+ Kg8 30. Nxh6+ gxh6 31. Rxh6 $18) 29. Nxh6+
gxh6 30. Rg1+ Kh8 31. Rxh6+ Nh7 32. Rxh7#) (23... e5 24. Nd6 Nf6 (24... e4 25.
Bxe4 Nf6 26. Bf5 $18) 25. Bf5 $1 $18 Bxf5 (25... Be6 26. Bxe6 fxe6 27. Nxe5)
26. Nxf5 Rfe8 27. Rg1) 24. Nd6 Kg8 25. Nxc8 Rfxc8 26. Rxd7 Rxc3 27. Kd2 Rxe3 (
27... Ra3 28. Nd4 Rxa2 29. bxa5 R2xa5 30. Rf3 Rf8 31. Bb3 Ra6 32. Rxb7 $18) 28.
Rxh6 Rxf3 29. Bh7+ Kf8 30. Rh4 axb4 31. Bc2 $18) (22... b5 $4 23. Nxg5 bxc4 24.
Be4+) (22... f6 $4 23. Nxg5 fxg5 24. Bf5+ Kg8 25. Bxe6+ $18) (22... Bf6 23. Nd6
$18 {, z.B.} Nb6 24. Bg6+ Kg8 25. Ne5 $1 Bxe5 26. Bh7+ Kh8 27. Nxf7+ Rxf7 28.
Rd8+ Rf8 29. Rxf8#) 23. Nd6 (23. Be4+ Kg8 24. Bxb7 Bxb7 25. Rxd7 Bxf3 (25...
Bd5 26. Rxe7 Bxc4 27. Ne5 Bxa2 28. Kb2 Bd5 29. c4 Bh1 30. b5 $18) 26. Rxf3 Bf6
27. Kc2 $16) 23... Nb6 24. c4 Bxd6 25. Rxd6 g6 26. Bxg6+ Kg7 27. Bd3 $16) 22...
Kg8 (22... Bh6 23. Nd6 a5 24. Nf3 {etc. +- siehe nachstehend}) 23. Nf3 $1 Be7 (
23... Bf6 24. Bh7+ Kh8 25. Nd6 {+-, siehe nachstehend}) (23... Bh6 24. Rg1 {
etc. +- siehe nachstehend}) 24. Bh7+ Kh8 25. Be4+ Kg8 26. Bxb7 {etc. +- siehe
nachstehend}) 21... h6 $11 {Ebenso erzwungen wie der folgende Remisschluss.}
22. Rxg5 hxg5 23. Bh7+ Kh8 24. Bd3+ Kg8 25. Bh7+ Kh8 26. Bd3+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Olympiad-42"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2016.09.06"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Winants, Luc"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[BlackElo "2558"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2016.09.02"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 175"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Belgium"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "BEL"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Nbd2 O-O 5. a3 Be7 6. e4 d6 7. Be2 c5 8. d5
exd5 9. cxd5 Re8 10. O-O Bf8 11. Re1 a6 12. Qc2 Bg4 13. b3 Nbd7 14. Bb2 b5 15.
a4 Qb6 16. Bf1 Bxf3 17. Nxf3 g6 18. g3 Bg7 19. Kg2 Rac8 20. h3 Rb8 21. axb5
axb5 22. Nd2 Ra8 23. Bc3 h5 24. Qd3 Rxa1 25. Bxa1 Rb8 26. Bc3 Qd8 27. f4 Nb6
28. Nf3 c4 29. bxc4 bxc4 30. Qc2 Ra8 31. Bd4 Nfd7 32. e5 dxe5 33. fxe5 Nxd5 34.
Bxc4 N7b6 35. Bxb6 Nxb6 36. e6 Nxc4 37. exf7+ Kxf7 38. Qxc4+ Kf8 39. Rf1 1-0

[Event "Olympiad-42"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2016.09.08"]
[Round "6.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sadorra, Julio Catalino"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[BlackElo "2560"]
[Annotator "Sadorra,J"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2016.09.02"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 175"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Philippines"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "PHI"]

{This was both the most important and enjoyable game that I've ever played so
far in my professional career since I became a grandmaster. Fortunately for me
and my team, there was a rest day before this match so we had ample time to
prepare and relax. Without further ado, let's see how my prep and the game
played out.} 1. e4 e6 2. Nf3 {A surprise, taking me out of the prep work.} d5
3. exd5 $5 {This next one is also unexpected but it didn't affect me that much.
} exd5 4. d4 Bd6 5. c4 Nf6 6. c5 $5 {Taking the game to non-standard paths.
"You have to know theory to play no-theory."} Be7 7. Nc3 O-O ({Maybe a better
try is} 7... b6 {right away} 8. cxb6 (8. b4 $2 a5) 8... axb6 9. Bd3 O-O 10. O-O
c5 {leading to a complex middlegame where Black has good central control.}) 8.
Be3 $1 {Accurate, making b4 work.} b6 9. b4 a5 10. a3 Ng4 $5 {Asking him
questions before he gets to play natural moves & complete development.} 11. Bf4
Re8 $1 ({My intial intention was} 11... axb4 {but after checking} 12. axb4 Rxa1
13. Qxa1 Re8 {I realised that this does not work due to} 14. Bb5 $1 c6 15. Be2
$16 {[%csl Rb8]}) 12. Be2 axb4 13. axb4 ({I also had to check} 13. Nb5 {
but I thought I was fine as soon as I saw the useful tactics} Ba6 14. Nxc7 (14.
Bxc7 Qd7) 14... Bh4 $1 15. Nxe8 Nxf2 {should at least give me good counterplay
in this complex position.}) 13... Rxa1 14. Qxa1 bxc5 ({Otherwise, I will get
squeezed on the queenside! e.g.} 14... Nc6 15. Qa4 $1) 15. bxc5 Bxc5 $1 16.
dxc5 d4 17. O-O dxc3 18. Bc4 $1 {Played quickly, suggesting that he foresaw or
expected all this.} c2 $1 19. Qa4 Bf5 {Keeping my passed pawn will put him
under pressure, so when I saw I could work it out concretely, I went for it!}
20. Nd4 ({Of course the premise on which my idea was based was} 20. Bxc7 Qd7
21. Bb5 Qxc7 22. Bxe8 Qxc5 23. Qf4 (23. Qa1 Nxf2 $1 $19) 23... Nxf2 24. Nd4 Nd3
{and I thought I should be winning here.}) 20... Bg6 21. Nxc2 {Now that he's
won back his pawn, I try to take away one of his trumps - the bishop pair.} Re4
22. Bg3 Ne5 23. Bxe5 Rxe5 24. Ne3 $5 ({I thought another possible move was} 24.
Nd4 $5 {but it's difficult to work out the significant difference otb.}) ({
If he played} 24. c6 {I was preparing to hold the balance with either} Rc5 ({or
} 24... Qe8 $5) 25. Nd4 h6 $11 {and I felt that White is actually the one who
had to be more careful as his c6-pawn will be weak till the endgame.}) 24...
Rxc5 25. f4 h6 26. Qb4 Nd7 $1 {"You can't bluff me!"} 27. f5 ({Players could
be put off by the pin after} 27. Rd1 {but I foresaw a simple but important
counter-attacking idea} Qe8 $1) 27... Bh5 28. Qd2 ({The consequences of} 28. g4
Qg5 {are difficult to work out otb but I knew for sure that it's riskier for
White as his king is more exposed, not to mention the fact that he's already a
pawn down...}) 28... Qg5 29. Qd4 Re5 30. Qxd7 Qxe3+ 31. Kh1 Qc5 ({A better try
was} 31... Qc3 {as Magnus correctly pointed out after the game} 32. Qxc7 Kh7 $1
{and the pin is decisive.}) 32. Qd3 Re3 33. Qc2 Qe5 (33... Qd4 34. Rc1) 34. Qd2
$1 Kh7 35. h3 {Around this time, I only had a few minutes left and it was
annoying that I couldn't find a clear way to break through the defence and
increase my advantage. In retrospect, I can now say from experience that World
Champs indeed possess great defensive skills including the current one!} Qe4
36. Kg1 c6 $5 {Preventing Bd5 and an attempt to keep the position under
control but Magnus keeps playing the best defensive moves.} (36... f6 $142 $1
37. Qd8 Be8 38. Qxc7 Bc6 39. Rf2 Qxc4 $19) 37. Rc1 $1 Qe5 38. Bf1 Rg3 39. Qf2
Qd6 ({With only a minute on the clock, I was thinking about} 39... Bf3 {
but realised it loses to} 40. Re1 $1 (40. Rc3 Qxc3 41. Qxg3 Qd4+ $19) 40... Qd6
41. Re3 $18 {and suddenly it's White that wins!}) 40. Rc4 f6 41. Rxc6 {With
nothing to play for, Magnus offered a draw and I agreed.} Qxc6 {Although I was
disappointed in not converting my advantage, I had every reason to be happy to
achieve a fighting draw against the World Champion and to help my team pull an
upset 2-2 against the formidable Norwegian team!} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Olympiad-42"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2016.09.09"]
[Round "7.1"]
[White "Solak, Dragan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "2635"]
[BlackElo "2857"]
[Annotator "Pavlovic,M"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2016.09.02"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 175"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Turkey"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "TUR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Nf3 a6 {The Pirc is very popular among players
who are playing only to win even with Black. This particular setup that the
World Chamion is using gives Black additional ways of handling this position.
Playing in a flexible way Black is hoping to get some good versions of usual
Pirc positions.} 5. Be2 Nf6 6. O-O O-O 7. Re1 {White has opted for a classical
setup.} Nc6 $5 {Another interesting provocative move.} (7... b5 8. e5 $1 Nfd7
9. a4 b4 10. Nd5 Nc6 11. Bg5 h6 12. Bh4 g5 13. Bg3 e6 14. Ne3 dxe5 15. d5 Nd4
16. dxe6 fxe6 17. Nd2 Bb7 18. Bc4 Nb6 19. Ba2 Nd5 20. Ndc4 $44 {1-0 (125)
Malakhov,V (2694)-Morozevich,A (2711) Moscow (blitz) 2015}) 8. d5 {Another
recent game saw:} (8. h3 e5 9. Be3 exd4 10. Nxd4 Bd7 11. Bf1 Re8 12. Nxc6 Bxc6
13. Bd4 b5 14. a3 Bb7 15. f3 c5 16. Bf2 Qc7 17. Qd2 Rad8 18. Rad1 h6 19. Bg3
Qb6 20. Kh1 d5 21. exd5 Rxe1 22. Qxe1 Nxd5 23. Nxd5 Rxd5 $11 {1-0 (59) Wang
Hao (2717)-Mamedov,R (2650) Huai'an (blitz) 2016}) 8... Na7 $5 {As far as I
know Nepomniachtchi was, or still is, Carlsen's second, so I am not surprised
to see Carlsen using such an unusual retreat.} 9. h3 b5 $5 (9... c6 10. Bf1 Nb5
11. Na4 Nd7 12. c4 Nc7 13. Nc3 Nc5 14. Nd4 cxd5 15. exd5 e5 16. dxe6 N5xe6 17.
Be3 d5 18. Nxe6 Bxe6 19. Bb6 Qd6 20. Bxc7 Qxc7 21. Nxd5 Qc5 22. Qd2 Rad8 23.
Rad1 Rd7 24. b4 Qc6 25. Rxe6 Qxe6 26. Nf6+ Bxf6 27. Qxd7 {½-½ (65) Malakhov,
V (2694)-Nepomniachtchi,I (2705) Moscow (blitz) 2015. White is better.}) 10.
Bf1 Bb7 11. a4 {I am not very fond of this move, because the knight on a2
doesn't look as good as its counterpart on a7; obviously the knight on a7 has
many more potential manoeuvres available to it.} (11. Bf4 c6 12. dxc6 Nxc6 13.
a4 b4 14. Nd5 Nd7 {Black is fine again, this is reminiscent of Sicilian Dragon
positions.}) 11... b4 12. Na2 a5 13. c4 (13. c3 c5 14. Nd2 Nc8 15. Nc4 Nb6 {
Black is fine.}) 13... e6 {Somehow already I don't see any particular problems
for Black.} 14. Bg5 h6 15. Be3 Re8 16. Bd3 exd5 17. exd5 c6 18. dxc6 Nxc6 {
Now we see that the knight from a7 is back while the knight on a2 is out of
play.} 19. Nc1 Nd7 20. Qc2 Qf6 21. Rb1 Nce5 22. Nxe5 Nxe5 23. Be2 d5 $17 24.
cxd5 Bxd5 {Black is controlling all aspects of the game.} 25. Nb3 Rac8 26. Nc5
{White has had a problem all through the game with the knight on a2. Finally
it has come out but only to be lost on the c5-square.} Bf8 27. Rbc1 Bxc5 28.
Bxc5 Qg5 29. g3 Nd7 30. h4 Qd8 31. Bb5 Rxe1+ 32. Rxe1 Rxc5 $19 33. Qd2 h5 34.
Qd4 Qf6 35. Qe3 Bc6 36. Qe8+ Nf8 37. Qc8 Rc2 38. Bxc6 Qxf2+ 39. Kh1 Qxe1# 0-1

[Event "Olympiad-42"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2016.09.10"]
[Round "8.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Cordova, Emilio"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E18"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[BlackElo "2638"]
[Annotator "Roiz,M"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2016.09.02"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 175"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Peru"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "PER"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3 Ne4 8. Bd2
Bf6 9. Rc1 c5 {The most common. Provoking the d4-d5 advance would make the Bf6
more powerful, but it would also lock in the other bishop for a while.} ({
In the following important encounter White was able to get some advantage
after:} 9... Nxd2 10. Qxd2 d6 11. d5 e5 12. e4 Nd7 13. h4 a5 14. Bh3 Nc5 15.
Kg2 Bc8 16. Bxc8 Qxc8 17. Qe2 Be7 18. Nd2 $14 {Tomashevsky,E (2731)-Ponomariov,
R (2709) Baku AZE 2016}) 10. d5 exd5 11. cxd5 Nxd2 12. Nxd2 d6 13. Nde4 Be7 {
This retreat looks somewhat passive, but Black wants to keep both bishops on
the board.} ({The more ambitious} 13... Be5 $5 {looks perfectly playable too:}
14. f4 (14. e3 Ba6 15. Re1 g6 16. f4 Bg7 17. g4 b5 $132 {Marin,M (2549)
-Brunello,S (2468) Edinburgh 2007}) 14... Bd4+ 15. Kh1 Ba6 16. Qd2 Qe7 17. g4
Nd7 18. Rfe1 g6 19. g5 Bg7 $132 {Gelfand,B (2703)-Almasi,Z (2644) Monte Carlo
2002}) 14. f4 f5 {This move is very committal - the e6-spot is permanently
exposed now.} ({There was also the interesting} 14... Nd7 $5 15. g4 a6 16. a4
Nf6 $1 (16... Re8 $6 17. g5 Bf8 18. Kh1 $14 {Karpov,A (2725)-Salov,V (2660)
Linares 1993}) 17. Nf2 b5 $132) 15. Nf2 Ba6 $146 {This innovation hardly can
be considered successful.} ({The previously played} 15... Na6 {looks more
natural and offers Black adequate counterplay:} 16. Re1 Nc7 17. e4 (17. a3 $6
Bf6 18. Qd2 Qd7 $15 {Malakhatko,V (2546)-Lutz,B (2292) Basel 2011}) 17... fxe4
18. Nfxe4 Bc8 $132) 16. a4 {This natural restricting move yields Black an
important tempo for consolidating.} ({A more energetic approach would be} 16.
Re1 $1 b5 17. Qc2 Nd7 18. e4 b4 19. Ncd1 fxe4 20. Bxe4 Nf6 21. Bf5 $36 {
and Black would suffer from the vulnerablity of his light squares.}) 16... Bf6
17. Re1 Nd7 18. e3 ({For some reasons, Magnus deviates from the tempting} 18.
e4 $5 Bd4 19. exf5 Rxf5 20. Bh3 Rf8 21. Nce4 Nf6 22. Ng5 $14) 18... Rb8 ({After
} 18... g6 19. e4 Bd4 20. exf5 gxf5 21. Qc2 $14 {the weakness of the e6-spot
starts to tell.}) 19. Qc2 (19. Bh3 $5) 19... g6 20. Nb5 ({Now Black is better
prepared to meet} 20. e4 Bd4 21. Kh1 (21. exf5 g5 $1 $132) 21... Bxf2 22. Qxf2
fxe4 23. Nxe4 Ne5 $132) 20... Bxb5 21. axb5 Bg7 $1 {An excellent prophylactic
move - now the Pf5 is over-protected.} (21... Re8 22. Ra1 Qc7 23. e4 fxe4 24.
Nxe4 Bd4+ 25. Kh1 Nf6 26. Ng5 $36) 22. Bh3 ({The immediate} 22. e4 Bd4 23. exf5
{also can be met with the same approach as in the game:} g5 $1 (23... Rxf5 24.
Bh3 Rf8 25. Kh1 $14) 24. Re4 gxf4 25. Rxf4 Qe8 26. Kh1 Nf6 $132 {with
double-edged play.}) ({However,} 22. Ra1 $5 {deserved serious attention:} Rb7
23. e4 {Now, when Black's rook is tied down to protecting the Pa7, this
advance becomes more effective.} Bd4 24. Kh1 Bxf2 25. Qxf2 fxe4 26. Rxe4 Nf6
27. Ree1 $14) 22... Kh8 23. e4 g5 $1 {GM Cordova manages to make use of having
the dark-squared bishop - now neither king is safe.} 24. fxg5 ({Black's
tactical idea was based on the following line:} 24. Bxf5 gxf4 25. gxf4 Qh4 $1
26. Bxd7 Bd4 27. Bf5 Rxf5 28. exf5 Bxf2+ 29. Qxf2 Rg8+ 30. Kf1 Qh3+ 31. Ke2 Rg2
$11) 24... f4 ({Another possibility was} 24... Ne5 25. Qe2 fxe4 26. Nxe4 Nf3+
27. Kg2 Nxg5 $1 ({The ''greedy''} 27... Nxe1+ $6 28. Rxe1 Qe7 29. Be6 $14 {
leads to a passive position.}) 28. Nxg5 Qxg5 $11) 25. Bf5 fxg3 26. Nh3 {
White was able to keep the Pg5, so the position remains quite sharp.} gxh2+ 27.
Kh1 {As often happens, the Ph2 only makes White's monarch safer!} ({Correctly
refuting} 27. Qxh2 $6 Be5 28. Qg2 Rg8 29. Kh1 Nf8 $15 {and White's king is in
a real danger.}) 27... Be5 28. Qe2 Rf7 (28... Qe7 29. Qg4 Rf7 30. g6 Rg7 31.
Ng5 Nf6 32. Qh4 $13) 29. Rc2 Rg7 (29... Nf8 30. Qh5 Rg7 31. Rf1 Qe8 32. Qh6 $13
) 30. Rf1 {Both sides have time for mobilising their forces now.} Qe8 31. Qd3
Nf8 32. Rg2 Ng6 33. Bxg6 Qxg6 {Keeping the pawn on h7 looks safest for a human
eye.} ({However, there was nothing wrong with} 33... hxg6 {either:} 34. Nf2 Qe7
35. Ng4 Qxg5 36. Rf3 Qc1+ 37. Rf1 Qg5 $11) 34. Nf4 Bxf4 35. Rxf4 Qh5 ({Black
would also obtain sufficient counterplay after} 35... Rf7 36. Rxf7 Qxf7 37. e5
Qf4 38. e6 Rf8 $11) 36. Qc3 Kg8 {This move isn't that bad,} ({but} 36... Qd1+
37. Kxh2 Qh5+ 38. Kg1 Qd1+ {was a more convincing way of securing a draw:} 39.
Rf1 Qd4+ 40. Qxd4 cxd4 41. Rd1 Rf8 42. Rxd4 Rf4 43. Rc4 Re7 $11) 37. Qf6 Rf7 $2
{Letting White pin the Rf7 is a bad decision.} ({The correct move was} 37...
Qg6 38. Kxh2 Qxf6 39. Rxf6 Re8 40. Rg4 h5 41. Rgf4 Rxg5 42. Rxd6 Rge5 $11) 38.
Qe6 ({Another winning way is less obvious:} 38. Qh6 Qd1+ 39. Kxh2 Rxf4 40. g6
$18) 38... Rbf8 39. Rgf2 $2 {Such mistakes in the winning positions are
untypical for Magnus!} ({The correct} 39. Rf5 {would have put Black in a
hopeless situation:} Qd1+ 40. Kxh2 Qh5+ 41. Kg3 Qg6 42. Rgf2 Qxe6 43. dxe6 Rxf5
44. exf5 $18) 39... c4 $2 {GM Cordova doesn't stand the pressure till the end
and loses on the spot.} ({At the same time, after} 39... Kg7 40. Qh6+ (40. Qxd6
Rxf4 41. Rxf4 Qd1+ 42. Kxh2 Qd2+ 43. Kg3 Qe3+ $11) 40... Qxh6 41. gxh6+ Kg6 42.
Rxf7 Rxf7 43. Rxf7 Kxf7 44. Kxh2 Kf6 45. Kg3 Kg5 46. b3 Kxh6 47. e5 Kg7 48. e6
Kf6 {the resulting endgame seems drawish. For instance,} 49. Kg4 Kg6 50. Kf3 h5
51. Kf2 Kf6 52. Kg3 Kg7 53. Kh3 Kf6 $11) 40. g6 $1 Qd1+ (40... Qxg6 41. Rg2 $18
) 41. Rf1 1-0

[Event "Olympiad-42"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2016.09.11"]
[Round "9.1"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2808"]
[BlackElo "2857"]
[Annotator "Mekhitarian,K"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2016.09.02"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 175"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "US of America"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 d5 {The world champion tries the Scandinavian for the 3rd time,
according to the database, and all of them against the same opponent!} 2. exd5
Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 {This is Sergey Tiviakov's pet line - he has played it 164
times, according to my research!} (3... Qd8 {This happened in the 2014 olympiad
} 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. h3 Bxf3 7. Qxf3 c6 8. Ne2 e6 9. g4 Qd5 10. Bg2 Nbd7
11. Qg3 Qc4 12. Qb3 Qxb3 13. axb3 Bd6 14. c4 $14 {0-1 (50) Caruana,F (2801)
-Carlsen,M (2877) Tromso 2014. White has a more comfortable endgame, but the
pawn structure is unbalanced, and Black ended up winning.}) (3... Qa5 {The old
and main move was tried in a blitz game between them in 2015, ending in a draw:
} 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. d4 c6 6. Bc4 Bg4 7. h3 Bxf3 8. Qxf3 e6 9. Bd2 Qc7 10. O-O-O
Nbd7 11. Ne4 Nxe4 12. Qxe4 Bd6 13. Kb1 $14 {1/2-1/2 (63) Caruana,F (2805)
-Carlsen,M (2876) Stavanger 2015; and once again, White has a small advantage.}
) 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 c6 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nc4 (7. f4 Nb6 8. g4 $5 {is one of the
most energetic ways to fight this variation, and there is no better person to
play this than Shirov} Nbd5 (8... g6 9. Bg2 Bg7 10. O-O O-O $13 {should be
safer}) 9. Bg2 g6 10. g5 Nxc3 11. bxc3 Nd5 $6 (11... Nd7 $5 {following with ...
h6 and ...Nxe5 at the right moment}) 12. c4 Nc7 13. c5 Qd8 14. d5 $1 {a very
instructive pawn sacrifice for the initiative} cxd5 $2 (14... Bg7 $5 {was the
lesser evil} 15. dxc6 Qxd1+ 16. Kxd1 b5 17. cxb6 axb6 $132 {following with ...
h6 and ...Be6, Black is fighting}) 15. c4 $1 {now the position is bad already}
e6 16. Bb2 Bg7 17. Nc6 bxc6 18. Bxg7 Rg8 19. Be5 $18 {1-0 (26) Shirov,A (2749)
-Tiviakov,S (2637) Hoogeveen 2010; leaving Black already in a hopeless
position.}) 7... Qc7 8. a4 $5 {A rare line, aiming to harass Black's knight on
b6 (a standard idea).} Nd5 $5 (8... Nb6 9. Ne5 g6 10. a5 Nbd7 11. Nd3 $5 $14) (
8... g6 $5) 9. Bd3 g6 10. Qf3 N7f6 11. Nxd5 Nxd5 (11... cxd5 $2 12. Bf4 Qd8 13.
Ne5 {threatening Bb5+} a6 14. O-O Bg7 15. c3 O-O 16. Rfe1 $16 {and Black has
some development issues.}) 12. O-O Bg7 13. c3 O-O 14. Qg3 {According to
Caruana himself, he missed Black's next move, that solves all of his problems 
(15...Rd8!).} (14. Re1 $5 {White has a good space advantage, and can always
count on exploiting it with an idea like Bg5 or h4-h5. Now if Black tries a
standard development with ...Be6, White may sacrifice the exchange to achieve
interesting play:} Be6 {intending c5} (14... Rd8 $6 15. h4 $1 c5 (15... h5 $2
16. Ne5 {with problems to defend f7 properly} Be6 (16... e6 17. Bg5 Rf8 18. Qe4
$16 {followed by Rad1 and c4}) 17. Qg3 $1 $16 {threatening Nxg6 or Bxg6}) 16.
dxc5 Qxc5 17. h5 $40 {it is not easy for Black to find a move here, Ne5 is a
strong threat}) 15. Rxe6 $5 {not forced, but playable} fxe6 16. Qe2 Nf4 (16...
Qd7 17. h4 $5 $40) 17. Bxf4 Qxf4 18. Qxe6+ Kh8 19. Qe2 $44 {with interesting
positional compensation.}) 14... Qxg3 15. hxg3 Rd8 $5 {Threatening ...c5,
Black finds a way to activate.} 16. Be2 (16. Re1 c5 17. dxc5 Nxc3 $1 $132 {
looking bad for White already.}) 16... Be6 17. a5 c5 $5 (17... Rac8 {would be
a calm way to play the position} 18. a6 b6 $11) (17... b5 $5 18. axb6 axb6 19.
Rxa8 Rxa8 {should be equal, but Black is starting to look very comfortable and
could even create something on the queenside with ...b5, ...Ra2.}) 18. dxc5
Bxc3 {Suddenly there's action!} 19. a6 (19. bxc3 Nxc3 {and Black gets the
piece back, equalising:} 20. Bf3 Bxc4 21. Re1 Nd5 22. Bxd5 Bxd5 23. Rxe7 Re8
24. Rxe8+ Rxe8 25. Be3 $11) 19... bxa6 20. Na5 (20. bxc3 {is no good once again
} Nxc3 21. Bf3 Bxc4 22. Bxa8 Bxf1 23. Bb7 Bb5 {despite the dangerous c-pawn,
Black is doing ok:} 24. Kh2 Rd1 25. Bb2 Rxa1 26. Bxa1 Na4 27. c6 Nb6 $15 {
followed by ...a5, Black is already thinking about getting an advantage.})
20... Bxa5 21. Rxa5 Nb4 22. Bf4 (22. Be3 Nd5 23. Bg5 Rab8 $11 {wouldn't change
the story of the game.}) 22... Nc6 23. Ra3 (23. Rxa6 Nd4 24. Bd3 Nb3 25. Be2
Nxc5 $11) 23... a5 24. Bb5 Nd4 25. Ba6 Bc8 26. Bc4 Be6 27. Ba6 Bc8 28. Bc4 Be6
(28... Be6 29. Bxe6 {would lead to simple equality after:} Nxe6 30. Rxa5 Nxf4
31. gxf4 Rdb8 32. Rfa1 Rxb2 33. Rxa7 Rxa7 34. Rxa7 Kf8 $11) 1/2-1/2

[Event "Olympiad-42"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2016.09.12"]
[Round "10.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[BlackElo "2566"]
[Annotator "Mekhitarian,K"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2016.09.02"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 175"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway"]
[BlackTeam "Iran"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "IRI"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 {The old and good London System, quite common these
days.} e6 4. e3 Bd6 5. Bg3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Nbd2 Bxg3 $6 {Honestly it is hard
to understand why Black would play this move over the simple 7...O-O:} (7...
O-O 8. Bd3 b6 {with many recent games in this position. More ambitious moves
like Qe2, e4, Ne5 and the standard O-O have been played, generally with
satisfactory results for White. For example:} 9. Qe2 Bb7 10. Rd1 Re8 $1 (10...
Qe7 11. e4 dxe4 12. Nxe4 Nxe4 13. Bxe4 cxd4 14. Bxd6 Qxd6 15. Nxd4 $14 {
1-0 (30) Artemiev,V (2663)-Savchenko,B (2613) Sochi 2016; with a comfortable
advantage.}) 11. e4 Be7 $1 {the typical reaction against e5. Black is ready to
play ...Nh5 if White goes for e5:} 12. e5 Nh5 13. a3 g6 14. Nf1 f5 $1 15. exf6
Bxf6 16. Ne3 e5 $1 {Wesley So is a player who shows tremendous energy in every
game; I can guess it feels like you are playing against a computer} 17. dxe5
Nxe5 18. Nxe5 Nxg3 19. hxg3 Rxe5 {with the bishop pair and the initiative,
Black's position is already preferable} 20. Bc4 b5 $5 21. Bxb5 Qb6 22. O-O Kg7
$1 $44 {0-1 (34) Sedlak,N (2537)-So,W (2782) Baku 2016; threatening ...d4 and
preparing strong pressure on the e-file, as soon as the bishop leaves b5.}) 8.
hxg3 Qd6 9. Bb5 {White guarantees access to e5.} Bd7 10. Bxc6 Bxc6 11. Ne5 Qc7
(11... Nd7 {doesn't change the evaluation of the weird 7...Bxg3:} 12. f4 $6 {
I didn't like this approach} (12. Ndf3 $5 Nxe5 (12... f6 $2 13. Ng6 Rg8 14.
Rxh7 O-O-O 15. Qc2 $16 {0-1 (41) Umetsubo,C (2374)-Matsuura,E (2486) Blumenau
2015. White is a pawn up, but the knight on g6 is somewhat awkward.}) 13. Nxe5
{and White is simply better} O-O $2 14. Qh5 $1 h6 15. Ng4 $1 $16 e5 16. Qxe5 (
16. dxc5 $5 Qe6 17. Nxe5 Rae8 18. Nf3 $16) 16... Qg6 17. Qh5 Qc2 $2 (17... Qe6
$5) 18. Nf6+ Kh8 19. Qg5 $1 Qxb2 $4 20. Rxh6+ {1-0 (20) Bosque Ortega,X (2197)
-Acebal Muniz,A (2140) Benidorm 2013}) 12... Nxe5 13. fxe5 Qe7 {I guess the
main reason to prefer 12.Ndf3 or even 12.Nxd7 is that now the d2-knight lacks
a good square:} 14. Qg4 f5 15. Qh5+ Kd7 16. a4 Kc7 17. dxc5 Qxc5 18. Qg5 Qf8 (
18... h6 $5 {was more precise} 19. Qxg7+ Bd7 20. Kf2 Rag8 21. Qf7 Rf8 22. Qg7
Rfg8 $11 {already guaranteeing the draw} 23. Qf6 Rxg3 24. Kxg3 Qxe3+ 25. Kh2)
19. Nf3 h6 20. Qg6 $11 {1-0 (42) Kamsky,G (2741)-Potkin,V (2647)
Khanty-Mansiysk 2013; but this too looks acceptable. White ended up winning
this blitz game.}) 12. Qf3 {Now White has easy play, and a clear plan with g4.}
h6 13. Qf4 Qe7 14. g4 {It looks bad for Black already. Naturally White takes
advantage of the fact that he hasn't castled yet and makes full use of his
h1-rook in the play.} Nh7 15. Qg3 Rg8 $2 (15... cxd4 $1 {was the last chance
for an acceptable position} 16. exd4 (16. cxd4 Rc8 17. O-O O-O $11) 16... O-O-O
{looks dangerous, but maybe Black will survive after ...Qc7 and ...Kb8 (of
course being careful not to run into Nxf7! taking advantage of the g3-queen
pinning the c7-queen). Perhaps for that matter, ...Be8 could be useful, if
White isn't in time to open up the position with Rc1-c4.} 17. Rc1 (17. Nxc6
bxc6 18. Nb3 Qc7 19. Qd3 Nf6 20. Nc5 Nd7 $1 {looks playable, after all}) 17...
Qc7 {threatening f6} 18. c4 (18. O-O f6 (18... Be8 $2 19. c4 $1 $16) 19. Nxc6
Qxg3 20. Nxa7+ Kb8 21. fxg3 Kxa7 $14 {and I would be very happy to play this
after such a dangerous position from the opening}) 18... f6 19. Nxc6 (19. cxd5
Rxd5 20. Nxc6 Qxg3 21. fxg3 (21. Nxa7+ Kb8 22. fxg3 Kxa7 $14 {with excellent
defensive chances for Black}) 21... bxc6 22. Rxc6+ Kb8 23. Nf3 Rc8 24. Rxc8+
Kxc8 25. Ke2 $14 {and Black is definitely in the game.}) 19... Qxg3 20. Nxa7+
Kb8 21. fxg3 Kxa7 $14 {similar to the lines mentioned above.}) 16. O-O $16 {
Now Black will be defenceless against the further opening of the centre. It is
important to notice that the h1-rook has already performed its duty from there,
and can now join the central action. Also, the king finds a safe shelter on g1.
} Nf6 17. Rac1 Rc8 18. c4 $1 {Choosing a nice moment to open up the position.
Nobody said it was easy to play against the world champion with the black
pieces!} dxc4 (18... cxd4 {isolating d4 doesn't help} 19. exd4 dxc4 20. Ndxc4
Nd5 21. Rfe1 $16) 19. dxc5 Qxc5 20. Ndxc4 Ke7 21. b4 $1 Qxb4 22. Nd3 {Now the
queen can't move because of the deadly Qd6+.} Ne4 {Forced.} (22... Qb5 23. Qd6+
Ke8 24. Qa3 $1 {threatening Nd6+.} Rd8 25. Nd6+ Rxd6 26. Qxd6 $18) 23. Nxb4
Nxg3 24. fxg3 Bb5 $2 {The position was already difficult, but this loses right
away.} (24... Bd7 {White's pawn structure is horrible, but a piece up should
be enough to win the game without difficulties} 25. Ne5 $18) 25. Rxf7+ $1 Kxf7
26. Nd6+ Ke7 27. Nxc8+ Kd7 28. Nxa7 $18 Ba4 29. Nd3 1-0

[Event "Olympiad-42"]
[Site "Baku"]
[Date "2016.09.13"]
[Round "11.1"]
[White "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2752"]
[BlackElo "2857"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2016.09.02"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 175"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "India"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "IND"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O d6 5. c3 Nf6 6. d3 h6 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3 a6
9. Bb3 b5 10. Nbd2 Bb6 11. Nf1 Ne7 12. a4 Rb8 13. d4 Ng6 14. Be3 exd4 15. Bxd4
c5 16. Bxf6 Qxf6 17. axb5 axb5 18. Ne3 Qd8 19. Nd5 Bb7 20. Nxb6 Qxb6 21. Bd5
Rfe8 22. Bxb7 Rxb7 23. Qd2 Rbe7 24. Rad1 Re6 25. Re3 Qc6 26. Qd5 Qxd5 27. Rxd5
f6 28. Rd1 Ra8 29. b4 Rae8 30. Rde1 Kf7 31. g3 Ne7 32. Rb1 f5 33. e5 cxb4 34.
exd6 Rxe3 35. fxe3 Nc6 36. d7 Rxe3 37. Nd4 Nd8 38. Kf2 Rxc3 39. Rxb4 Rc5 40.
Rxb5 Rxb5 41. Nxb5 Ke7 42. Nd4 g6 43. h4 h5 44. Kf3 Kxd7 45. Kf4 Ne6+ 46. Nxe6
Kxe6 47. Kf3 Ke5 1/2-1/2

[Event "New York Challenge sim"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.09.22"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Panda, Vedic"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B28"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[BlackElo "1778"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2016.09.22"]
[EventType "simul (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 a6 3. c3 e6 4. d4 d5 5. e5 Bd7 6. Be3 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Nc6 8. f4 g5
9. Nxc6 Bxc6 10. fxg5 Bg7 11. Nd2 Bxe5 12. Nf3 Bg7 13. Bd4 Kf8 14. Bxg7+ Kxg7
15. Qd4+ f6 16. Bd3 Bb5 17. Bxb5 axb5 18. O-O Ra4 19. Qc5 Rc4 20. Qxb5 Qc7 21.
Nd4 Qc8 22. Rae1 e5 23. gxf6+ Nxf6 24. Nf5+ Kf8 25. Nd6 Qc5+ 26. Qxc5 Rxc5 27.
Rxe5 Rc6 28. Rxf6+ Kg7 29. Rf7+ Kg6 30. Re6+ Kg5 31. Rf5+ 1-0

[Event "New York Challenge sim"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.09.22"]
[Round "3.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sloan, Jed David"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D34"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2016.09.22"]
[EventType "simul (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. g3 Nc6 7. Bg2 Be7 8. O-O
O-O 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. a3 Be6 11. b4 Bb6 12. Bb2 Rc8 13. Na4 Bc7 14. Nc5 b6 15.
Nxe6 fxe6 16. Rc1 Qd7 17. Bxf6 Rxf6 18. e4 d4 19. Qa4 Ne5 20. Qxd7 Nxd7 21.
Nxd4 a6 22. Bh3 Kf7 23. Rc6 Ne5 24. Bxe6+ Rxe6 25. Rxe6 Nf3+ 26. Nxf3 Kxe6 27.
Rc1 Kd7 28. Kg2 Re8 29. Nd2 b5 30. f4 g6 31. e5 Bb6 32. Ne4 Re7 33. Nf6+ Kd8
34. Rc6 Rb7 35. Nd5 Bd4 36. e6 1-0

[Event "New York Challenge sim"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.09.22"]
[Round "3.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wiebe, Isaac"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A96"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[BlackElo "2017"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2016.09.22"]
[EventType "simul (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 e6 2. c4 f5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. b3 d6 7. d4 Ne4 8. Bb2 a5
9. Nfd2 Nxd2 10. Nxd2 Bf6 11. e4 e5 12. dxe5 dxe5 13. exf5 Bxf5 14. Bxb7 Ra7
15. Be4 Bxe4 16. Nxe4 Nc6 17. Qd5+ Qxd5 18. cxd5 Nb4 19. Ba3 Rd8 20. Bxb4 axb4
21. Rfd1 Ra5 22. Rac1 Raxd5 23. Rxd5 Rxd5 24. Rxc7 Ra5 25. Rb7 Rxa2 26. Rxb4
Kf7 27. Kg2 Ke6 28. h4 Rb2 29. h5 Be7 30. Rb7 Rb1 31. Kf3 Rb2 32. Kg4 Re2 33.
f3 Rb2 34. Rb6+ Kd5 35. Kf5 Rh2 36. Rb7 Ba3 37. Kg4 g6 38. Rd7+ Ke6 39. Rxh7
gxh5+ 40. Rxh5 Rb2 41. Rh6+ Kd5 42. Nc3+ Kd4 43. Nb5+ Kd3 44. Nxa3 Rxb3 45. Ra6
e4 46. fxe4 Kxe4 47. Ra4+ Ke5 48. Nc4+ Kf6 49. Ra6+ Kg7 50. Ne5 Rb5 51. Kf5 Rb1
52. Ra7+ Kh8 53. g4 Rb6 54. g5 Rb1 55. Kg6 Rb6+ 56. Kf7 Rb8 57. Ng6+ Kh7 58.
Kf6+ Kg8 59. Rg7# 1-0

[Event "New York Challenge sim"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.09.22"]
[Round "3.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karelina, Polina"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E81"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[BlackElo "1650"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2016.09.22"]
[EventType "simul (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. f3 c6 4. c4 g6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Be3 O-O 7. Nge2 Nbd7 8. Qd2
a6 9. a4 c5 10. d5 Nb6 11. Ng3 e6 12. a5 Nbd7 13. dxe6 Ne5 14. exf7+ Rxf7 15.
Be2 Be6 16. Nd5 Nxd5 17. cxd5 Bd7 18. O-O b5 19. axb6 Qxb6 20. Ra5 Bc8 21. Rfa1
Rc7 22. h3 Qb3 23. R1a3 Qb6 24. f4 Nf7 25. b3 Re7 26. Bc4 Nd8 27. e5 Nb7 28.
Rxa6 Rxa6 29. Rxa6 Qc7 30. Ne4 Kh8 31. exd6 Nxd6 32. Rc6 Nxe4 33. Rxc7 Rxc7 34.
Qa5 Rd7 35. Qa8 Rd8 36. Qc6 Bf6 37. Bd3 Bd7 38. Qb6 Bd4 39. Qxd8+ 1-0

[Event "New York Challenge sim"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.09.22"]
[Round "3.5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Marx, Soeren"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2016.09.22"]
[EventType "simul (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 O-O 7. Bd3 Be6 8.
Nge2 Nbd7 9. O-O c5 10. Nf4 c4 11. Bc2 a6 12. a4 Rb8 13. a5 h6 14. Bh4 b5 15.
axb6 Rxb6 16. Ra2 Qc7 17. f3 Rfb8 18. Qa1 Qc6 19. e4 dxe4 20. fxe4 Qb7 21. e5
Nd5 22. Ncxd5 Bxd5 23. Bxe7 Be6 24. Bd6 Ra8 25. Nxe6 1-0

[Event "New York Challenge sim"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.09.22"]
[Round "3.6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gudbrandsen, Gustav"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C08"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[BlackElo "2257"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2016.09.22"]
[EventType "simul (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Be7 4. Ngf3 c5 5. exd5 exd5 6. Bb5+ Bd7 7. Bxd7+ Nxd7
8. O-O Ngf6 9. dxc5 Nxc5 10. Re1 O-O 11. Nf1 Re8 12. Be3 Ng4 13. h3 Nxe3 14.
Nxe3 Ne4 15. Qxd5 Qxd5 16. Nxd5 Bc5 17. Kf1 Nxf2 18. b4 Red8 19. bxc5 Rxd5 20.
Kxf2 Rxc5 21. Nd4 g6 22. Re7 Rd8 23. Rd1 Rxc2+ 24. Nxc2 Rxd1 25. Ne3 Rd2+ 26.
Kf3 Rxa2 27. Rxb7 a5 28. Ng4 h5 29. Nh6+ Kg7 30. Nxf7 Kf6 31. Nd6 Ra3+ 32. Kf2
Ra2+ 33. Kg3 Ra3+ 34. Kh2 Ke5 1-0

[Event "New York Challenge sim"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.09.22"]
[Round "3.7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hartveit, Emil"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A53"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[EventDate "2016.09.22"]
[EventType "simul (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e3 e5 2. d4 d6 3. c4 Nf6 4. Nc3 exd4 5. exd4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be2 Be7 8. O-O
O-O 9. Be3 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Bg4 12. Bxg4 Nxg4 13. Qxg4 g6 14. Nd5
Rb8 15. Rfe1 Re8 16. Rxe7 Rxe7 17. Bf6 Qd7 18. Nxe7+ Kf8 19. Qxd7 1-0

[Event "New York Challenge sim"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.09.22"]
[Round "3.8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dimitriadis, Michael"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A16"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[BlackElo "2027"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2016.09.22"]
[EventType "simul (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. g3 Bg7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. h4 Nc6 8. h5
Nxc3 9. bxc3 e5 10. Qa4 Re8 11. hxg6 hxg6 12. Qh4 Qxh4 13. Rxh4 Bf6 14. Rc4 a6
15. Nh2 Bd7 16. Ng4 Bg7 17. Ne3 Rac8 18. Nd5 b5 19. Rc5 e4 20. a4 b4 21. Rb1 a5
22. Bb2 bxc3 23. Bxc3 Bxc3 24. Nxc3 f5 25. d3 Re5 26. Rxe5 Nxe5 27. dxe4 fxe4
28. Nxe4 Bxa4 29. Ra1 Be8 30. Rxa5 Kg7 31. Rxe5 1-0

[Event "New York Challenge sim"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.09.22"]
[Round "3.9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sala Samarra, Ivet"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D06"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[EventDate "2016.09.22"]
[EventType "simul (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nf6 3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. Nf3 e6 5. e4 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Bxd2+ 7. Qxd2 Nf6
8. Nc3 Nc6 9. Bb5 O-O 10. O-O a6 11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. Rac1 Qe8 13. e5 Ng4 14. Ne4
Bb7 15. h3 Nh6 16. Nf6+ gxf6 17. Qxh6 fxe5 18. Ng5 f6 19. Qxh7# 1-0

[Event "New York Challenge sim"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.09.22"]
[Round "3.10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grojean, Andrew"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2016.09.22"]
[EventType "simul (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 b5 5. Bb3 Nf6 6. O-O Be7 7. Re1 O-O 8. a4
Bb7 9. d3 d6 10. Nbd2 Re8 11. Nf1 Nd4 12. Nxd4 exd4 13. Ng3 h6 14. Nf5 c5 15.
Qf3 Rc8 16. axb5 axb5 17. Bxh6 g6 18. Ra7 Rc7 19. Nxe7+ Rcxe7 20. Qxf6 Rxe4 21.
Qg7# 1-0

[Event "New York Challenge sim"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.09.22"]
[Round "3.11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Berkowitz, Bernard"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E24"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2016.09.22"]
[EventType "simul (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 174 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2016.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. d4 Bb4 4. f3 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 b6 7. e4 h6 8. Nh3
c5 9. Nf2 d5 10. cxd5 exd5 11. e5 Re8 12. Bd3 Nc6 13. O-O Nh7 14. f4 cxd4 15.
cxd4 Nxd4 16. Bxh7+ Kxh7 17. Qxd4 Kg8 18. Bb2 Rb8 19. e6 f6 20. f5 Re7 21. Ng4
Bxe6 22. Nxf6+ Kf7 23. fxe6+ Rxe6 24. Nxd5+ Ke8 25. Qxg7 1-0

[Event "chess.com fin blitz 1m+1spm 2016"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.10.27"]
[Round "18"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E66"]
[WhiteElo "2853"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2016.10.27"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "25"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O O-O 5. c4 c5 6. Nc3 Nc6 7. d4 d6 8. d5
Na5 9. Nd2 a6 10. Rb1 Rb8 11. b3 b5 12. Qc2 Bf5 13. e4 Bd7 14. Ne2 e6 15. Bb2
exd5 16. cxd5 Re8 17. Rfe1 b4 18. Nf4 Ng4 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. Nd3 Bb5 21. Nc4
Bxc4 22. bxc4 Qf6 23. h3 Ne5 24. Nxe5 Qxe5 25. Rbc1 b3 26. axb3 Nxb3 27. Rb1
Nd4 28. Qd3 g5 29. Qd2 Kh8 30. f4 gxf4 31. gxf4 Qg7 32. Qf2 Ra8 33. Kh2 a5 34.
Rb7 a4 35. e5 a3 36. e6 Rf8 37. Ra1 Nxe6 38. Rxa3 Rxa3 39. dxe6 Qf6 40. exf7
Rxf7 41. Rxf7 Qxf7 42. Qb2+ 1-0

[Event "chess.com fin blitz 1m+1spm 2016"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.10.27"]
[Round "19"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A33"]
[WhiteElo "2787"]
[BlackElo "2853"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2016.10.27"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "25"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 c5 4. c4 d5 5. Nc3 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Nc6 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
Nxc6 bxc6 9. Bd2 Be7 10. Qc2 O-O 11. Be2 Rb8 12. a3 Nxc3 13. Bxc3 Qb6 14. Bd3
h6 15. Qe2 Rd8 16. Rd1 c5 17. O-O Bb7 18. Qg4 Bf8 19. Bc2 Rxd1 20. Rxd1 Rd8 21.
h4 Rxd1+ 22. Qxd1 Qc6 23. f3 Qc7 24. Qd3 f5 25. Bb3 Qf7 26. Qd8 Bd5 27. Bxd5
exd5 28. h5 Kh7 29. Kf1 f4 30. e4 d4 31. Bd2 Be7 32. Qd5 Qxd5 33. exd5 Bd6 34.
b3 g6 35. Ke2 gxh5 36. Kd3 Kg6 37. Ke4 Kg5 38. b4 cxb4 39. Bxb4 Bc7 40. Be7+
1-0

[Event "chess.com fin blitz 1m+1spm 2016"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.10.27"]
[Round "20"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2853"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2016.10.27"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "25"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. Qe2 c6 6. Bb3 O-O 7. O-O a5 8. a3
Bg4 9. Nbd2 Nbd7 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Nxf3 e5 12. dxe5 dxe5 13. c3 Nc5 14. Bc2 a4
15. Nxe5 Re8 16. f4 Nh5 17. Qf2 Qe7 18. Be3 Nb3 19. Bxb3 axb3 20. Rad1 f6 21.
Bc5 Qe6 22. Nd7 Rad8 23. Rd6 Qxe4 24. g4 b6 25. Bxb6 Qe7 26. Rfd1 Nxf4 27. Qxf4
1-0

[Event "chess.com fin blitz 1m+1spm 2016"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.10.27"]
[Round "21"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E43"]
[WhiteElo "2787"]
[BlackElo "2853"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2016.10.27"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "25"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 b6 4. c4 Bb7 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Bd3 O-O 7. O-O c5 8. Bd2
cxd4 9. exd4 d5 10. a3 Bxc3 11. Bxc3 dxc4 12. Bxc4 Ba6 13. b3 Bxc4 14. bxc4
Nbd7 15. Rc1 Rc8 16. Qa4 Qc7 17. Bb4 Rfd8 18. Rfd1 Qb7 19. Qb3 h6 20. h3 Nf8
21. Ne5 N6d7 22. Bxf8 Kxf8 23. Ng4 h5 24. Ne3 Kg8 25. d5 Nc5 26. Qb2 Qe7 27.
Qe5 Qf6 28. Qxh5 Ne4 29. Rc2 Nc3 30. Ng4 Qf5 31. Qxf5 exf5 32. Nf6+ gxf6 33.
Rxc3 Rc5 34. h4 b5 35. Rg3+ Kf8 36. cxb5 Rdxd5 37. Rxd5 Rxd5 38. Rb3 f4 39. a4
Rd1+ 40. Kh2 f3 41. a5 fxg2 42. Kxg2 1-0

[Event "chess.com fin blitz 1m+1spm 2016"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.10.27"]
[Round "22"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2853"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2016.10.27"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "25"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. Nf3 Nb6 4. d4 d6 5. Be2 Nc6 6. O-O g6 7. exd6 cxd6 8. d5
Ne5 9. Nxe5 dxe5 10. c4 Bg7 11. Nc3 O-O 12. c5 Nd7 13. Be3 Nf6 14. b4 h5 15. h3
Bf5 16. Qb3 Qd7 17. Rfd1 e4 18. Bf1 Rfd8 19. Rac1 Nh7 20. b5 Be5 21. c6 Qd6 22.
b6 axb6 23. Nb5 Qf6 24. Bxb6 bxc6 25. Rxc6 Qg5 26. Bxd8 Rxd8 27. d6 Rb8 28. d7
Rd8 29. Rc8 Rxc8 30. dxc8=Q+ Bxc8 31. Rd8+ Kg7 32. Rxc8 h4 33. Qe3 Qf5 34. Rc5
Nf6 35. Nd4 Qf4 36. Qxf4 Bxf4 37. Nc2 g5 38. a4 g4 39. hxg4 Nxg4 40. Be2 1-0

[Event "chess.com fin blitz 1m+1spm 2016"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.10.27"]
[Round "23"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C28"]
[WhiteElo "2787"]
[BlackElo "2853"]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "2016.10.27"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "25"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Na5 5. Nge2 Nxc4 6. dxc4 Bc5 7. O-O d6 8.
Qd3 O-O 9. Be3 Nd7 10. Ng3 a5 11. b3 h6 12. Rad1 Re8 13. Nd5 c6 14. Nc3 Bxe3
15. Qxe3 Nc5 16. Rd2 Qf6 17. Rfd1 Qf4 18. Qe1 Ne6 19. Rxd6 Nd4 20. Nce2 Nxe2+
21. Qxe2 a4 22. b4 a3 23. c5 Be6 24. c3 Qg5 25. h3 h5 26. Kh2 Qf4 27. Kg1 Qg5
28. Kh1 h4 29. Nf1 Qf4 30. Nh2 g6 31. Nf3 Kg7 32. Qd2 Qxd2 33. R1xd2 Kf6 34.
Nxh4 Ke7 35. Nf3 f6 36. Ne1 Red8 37. Rxd8 Rxd8 38. Rxd8 Kxd8 39. Nc2 Bxa2 40.
Nxa3 Ke7 41. f3 f5 42. exf5 gxf5 43. Kg1 f4 44. c4 Ke6 45. Kf2 Kf5 46. Ke2 e4
47. fxe4+ Kxe4 48. Kd2 Bb3 49. h4 Kf5 50. Kd3 Bd1 51. Nc2 Kg4 52. Nd4 Kxh4 53.
Ke4 Kg3 54. Nf5+ Kg4 55. Nh6+ Kg3 56. Nf5+ Kg4 57. Ke5 Be2 58. Nd6 Bf1 59. Nxb7
Bxg2 60. Nd6 Bf1 61. b5 cxb5 62. c6 Bxc4 63. c7 1-0

[Event "chess.com fin blitz 1m+1spm 2016"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.10.27"]
[Round "24"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2853"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
[PlyCount "153"]
[EventDate "2016.10.27"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "25"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Nxd7 5. O-O Ngf6 6. Qe2 e6 7. c4 Be7 8.
d4 cxd4 9. Nxd4 O-O 10. Nc3 a6 11. b3 Rc8 12. Bb2 Qa5 13. Rac1 Bd8 14. Kh1 Bb6
15. Rfd1 Rfd8 16. f4 Ba7 17. Nf3 Ng4 18. Rf1 Be3 19. Rcd1 Bxf4 20. Nd4 Qg5 21.
g3 Be5 22. Nf3 Qh5 23. Nxe5 Ndxe5 24. Na4 b5 25. Nb6 Rc6 26. Bxe5 Qxe5 27. Nd5
exd5 28. cxd5 Rc3 29. Qxg4 Re8 30. Rde1 Rc2 31. Re2 Rxe2 32. Qxe2 Qxe4+ 33.
Qxe4 Rxe4 34. Rc1 Kf8 35. Rc6 Ke7 36. Rxa6 Rd4 37. a4 bxa4 38. bxa4 Rxd5 39. a5
Rd2 40. Ra8 Ra2 41. a6 h5 42. a7 g6 43. Kg1 d5 44. h4 d4 45. Kf1 d3 46. Ke1 Kf6
47. Rd8 Rxa7 48. Rxd3 Kf5 49. Rd4 Ra2 50. Kf1 f6 51. Rb4 Rd2 52. Kg1 Re2 53.
Kf1 Re4 54. Rb6 Re6 55. Rb4 Re4 56. Rb6 Ke5 57. Kf2 Ra4 58. Rb2 Ke4 59. Re2+
Kf5 60. Kf3 Ra3+ 61. Kg2 g5 62. hxg5 Kxg5 63. Rb2 Re3 64. Rb4 f5 65. Ra4 Re4
66. Ra8 h4 67. Rg8+ Kf6 68. gxh4 Rxh4 69. Kf3 Ke5 70. Re8+ Kf6 71. Rf8+ Kg5 72.
Rg8+ Kf6 73. Rf8+ Kg6 74. Rg8+ Kf7 75. Ra8 Rb4 76. Ra6 Ke7 77. Rh6 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com fin blitz 1m+1spm 2016"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.10.27"]
[Round "25"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C28"]
[WhiteElo "2787"]
[BlackElo "2853"]
[PlyCount "211"]
[EventDate "2016.10.27"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "25"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Na5 5. Nge2 Nxc4 6. dxc4 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8.
Qd3 d6 9. Be3 c6 10. f3 Be6 11. Rfd1 Qc7 12. b3 Rfd8 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bxf6 Bxf6
15. Kh1 a6 16. a4 a5 17. Qe3 Bg5 18. Qf2 Qe7 19. Ng3 Bh4 20. Rd3 g6 21. Rad1
Rd7 22. Qd2 Bg5 23. Qf2 h5 24. Nge2 h4 25. f4 exf4 26. Nxf4 Qf6 27. Rf1 Bxf4
28. Qxf4 Qxf4 29. Rxf4 g5 30. Rf1 Kg7 31. Kg1 Re8 32. Re3 f6 33. Rd1 Red8 34.
Kf2 Bf7 35. Rd2 Kf8 36. Ne2 Bg6 37. Nd4 Re7 38. Nf5 Re6 39. Nd4 Re5 40. c5 Ke7
41. Nf5+ Bxf5 42. exf5 Rxe3 43. Kxe3 dxc5 44. Rxd8 Kxd8 45. c4 Ke7 46. g4 Kd6
47. Ke4 Kc7 48. Ke3 Kd7 49. Kd3 Kd6 50. Ke4 Ke7 51. Kf3 Kd8 52. Ke3 Kc8 53. Kd3
Kb8 54. Ke3 Ka7 55. Kd3 Kb8 56. Ke3 Kc8 57. Kd3 Kd8 58. Ke3 Ke7 59. h3 Kf7 60.
Kd3 Kg7 61. Ke3 Kh8 62. Kd3 Kg7 63. Ke3 Kf8 64. Kd3 Kf7 65. Ke3 Kg7 66. Kd3 Kg8
67. Ke3 Kf7 68. Ke4 Ke7 69. Ke3 Kd8 70. Ke4 Kc7 71. Ke3 Kb8 72. Ke4 Ka7 73. Ke3
Ka8 74. Ke4 Ka7 75. Ke3 Kb6 76. Ke4 Kc7 77. Ke3 b6 78. Kd3 Kd7 79. Ke3 Ke7 80.
Kd3 Kf7 81. Ke3 Kg7 82. Kf3 Kh7 83. Ke3 Kh8 84. Kd3 Kg8 85. Ke3 Kf8 86. Kd3 Ke8
87. Ke3 Kd8 88. Kd3 Kc8 89. Ke3 Kb8 90. Kd3 Ka8 91. Ke3 Ka7 92. Kd3 Ka6 93. Ke3
Kb7 94. Kd3 Kc7 95. Ke3 Kd6 96. Ke4 Ke7 97. Ke3 Kf7 98. Kd3 Ke8 99. Ke3 Kd7
100. Kd3 Kd6 101. Ke4 Kc7 102. Ke3 b5 103. Kd3 Kb6 104. Ke4 bxa4 105. bxa4 Kc7
106. Kd3 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com fin blitz 3m+2spm 2016"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.10.27"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E17"]
[WhiteElo "2787"]
[BlackElo "2853"]
[PlyCount "164"]
[EventDate "2016.10.27"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "25"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Re1 Na6 8. Nc3
d5 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Bf4 Re8 11. Rc1 c5 12. dxc5 Nxc5 13. Nd4 a6 14. a3 Bf8 15.
b4 Ne6 16. Nxe6 fxe6 17. Na4 Rc8 18. Rxc8 Qxc8 19. Qd4 b5 20. Rc1 Qd8 21. Nc5
Bxc5 22. Qxc5 Qd7 23. Qb6 Rc8 24. Rxc8+ Bxc8 25. Bh3 Kf7 26. Be5 Qe7 27. Qc6
Qd7 28. Qc3 Bb7 29. f3 Ne8 30. Qd3 Kg8 31. Qe3 Bc8 32. Qc5 Nf6 33. Kf2 Kf7 34.
Ke3 Qb7 35. Qc3 Bd7 36. Kf2 Qb6+ 37. Bd4 Qd6 38. Qe3 h6 39. Be5 Qc6 40. Qa7 Ne8
41. Qb8 Qc8 42. Qxc8 Bxc8 43. Ke3 Nf6 44. Kd4 Nd7 45. Bc7 Bb7 46. e3 Ke7 47.
Bf1 Nf6 48. g4 h5 49. g5 Nd7 50. Bd3 Kf7 51. h4 g6 52. Bd6 Bc6 53. f4 Bb7 54.
Bc2 Nb6 55. Kc5 Nd7+ 56. Kd4 Nb6 57. Bd3 Nd7 58. Bc7 Bc6 59. Bc2 Kg7 60. Bd1
Kf7 61. Be2 Kg7 62. Bf3 Kf7 63. f5 exf5 64. Bxd5+ Bxd5 65. Kxd5 Ke7 66. Kc6 Ke6
67. Bf4 Ne5+ 68. Kb6 Nc4+ 69. Kxa6 Nxa3 70. Kb6 Kd5 71. Kc7 Ke4 72. Kc6 Nc4 73.
Kxb5 Nxe3 74. Bxe3 Kxe3 75. Kc5 f4 76. b5 f3 77. b6 f2 78. b7 f1=Q 79. b8=Q
Qf5+ 80. Kc6 Kf3 81. Qb4 Kg3 82. Kd6 Qf8+ 0-1

[Event "chess.com fin blitz 3m+2spm 2016"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.10.27"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D78"]
[WhiteElo "2853"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2016.10.27"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "25"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. d4 c6 5. O-O Nf6 6. b3 O-O 7. Bb2 a5 8. c4 Ne4
9. Nfd2 Nxd2 10. Nxd2 Be6 11. e4 dxc4 12. Nxc4 Bxc4 13. bxc4 c5 14. e5 cxd4 15.
Qxd4 Nc6 16. Bxc6 bxc6 17. Qc5 Qd2 18. Bd4 Rfd8 19. Be3 Qb4 20. Rad1 Rxd1 21.
Rxd1 Qa4 22. Rd2 e6 23. Qe7 Bf8 24. Qf6 Qb4 25. Rd7 Qb1+ 26. Kg2 Qe4+ 27. f3
Qc2+ 28. Bf2 Qf5 29. g4 Qxf6 30. exf6 g5 31. c5 h6 32. Rc7 Kh7 33. Rxf7+ Kg6
34. Rc7 Rd8 35. Rxc6 Rd2 36. Kf1 Rxa2 37. Rc8 Kf7 38. Bg3 Rc2 39. c6 e5 40.
Bxe5 1-0

[Event "chess.com fin blitz 3m+2spm 2016"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.10.27"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E60"]
[WhiteElo "2787"]
[BlackElo "2853"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2016.10.27"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "25"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 Nf6 2. Bb2 g6 3. e3 Bg7 4. Nf3 O-O 5. d4 d6 6. Be2 Nbd7 7. c4 e5 8. dxe5
dxe5 9. O-O e4 10. Nfd2 Re8 11. Qc2 c6 12. c5 Qe7 13. b4 a5 14. a3 Ne5 15. Bxe5
Qxe5 16. Nc4 Qxa1 17. Nc3 Qxf1+ 18. Bxf1 axb4 19. axb4 Be6 20. Nd6 Re7 21. h3
Nd5 22. Nxd5 Bxd5 23. Bc4 Be5 24. g3 Rd8 25. Nxe4 Bxe4 26. Qxe4 Kg7 27. Kg2 Rd2
28. g4 Bf6 0-1

[Event "chess.com fin blitz 3m+2spm 2016"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.10.27"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D78"]
[WhiteElo "2853"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
[PlyCount "204"]
[EventDate "2016.10.27"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "25"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. d4 d5 4. Bg2 Nf6 5. O-O c6 6. b3 O-O 7. Bb2 Ne4 8. c4
Bf5 9. Nc3 Nxc3 10. Bxc3 Be4 11. e3 Nd7 12. Qe2 Nf6 13. Rfc1 Qd6 14. Bb2 a5 15.
Ne5 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 a4 17. Nd3 Nd7 18. Bc3 axb3 19. axb3 Rxa1 20. Rxa1 dxc4 21.
bxc4 c5 22. Rd1 cxd4 23. Bxd4 e5 24. Bb2 Qc6+ 25. Kg1 Qxc4 26. Nf4 Nb6 27. Rc1
Qxe2 28. Nxe2 Rc8 29. Rb1 Rc2 30. Kf1 Nc4 31. Bc1 b6 32. Ke1 Bf8 33. Ra1 Na5
34. Kd1 Rc6 35. Rb1 Nc4 36. Nc3 Kg7 37. Ke2 Bc5 38. Kd3 Nd6 39. f3 Rc8 40. Bd2
Rd8 41. Nd5 b5 42. e4 Ra8 43. Bc3 Ra3 44. Kc2 f6 45. Nc7 b4 46. Bb2 Ra7 47.
Ne6+ Kf7 48. Nxc5 Rc7 49. Kb3 Rxc5 50. Rc1 Rxc1 51. Bxc1 f5 52. exf5 Nxf5 53.
Kxb4 Nd4 54. f4 Ne2 55. Bd2 exf4 56. gxf4 Ke6 57. Kc4 Kf5 58. Kd3 Nxf4+ 59. Ke3
Ne6 60. Kf3 Ng5+ 61. Kg2 Kg4 62. Be3 Nh3 63. Ba7 Nf4+ 64. Kf2 Kh3 65. Kg1 Nd3
66. Bb8 Nc5 67. Kh1 Ne4 68. Bc7 Nf6 69. Bb8 Ne4 70. Bc7 Ng5 71. Bb8 Nf3 72. Bc7
Nh4 73. Bb8 Kg4 74. Kg1 Kf3 75. Kf1 Nf5 76. Bc7 Ne3+ 77. Kg1 g5 78. Bd8 g4 79.
Bc7 Nf5 80. Bb8 h5 81. Bc7 Nd4 82. Kf1 Ne2 83. Bb8 Nf4 84. Kg1 Nh3+ 85. Kf1 Ng5
86. Bc7 Ne4 87. Bd8 Nd2+ 88. Kg1 Nc4 89. Be7 Ne3 90. Bd8 Nf5 91. Bf6 Nd6 92.
Bd8 Ne4 93. Be7 Nc3 94. Bd8 Ne2+ 95. Kf1 Nd4 96. Be7 Nf5 97. Bd8 Kf4 98. Kg2
Ne3+ 99. Kf2 Nf5 100. Bc7+ Kg5 101. Bd8+ Kg6 102. h3 gxh3 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com fin blitz 3m+2spm 2016"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.10.27"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2787"]
[BlackElo "2853"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2016.10.27"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "25"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 O-O 8.
Nc3 Nxe5 9. Rxe5 Ne8 10. Nd5 Bd6 11. Re1 c6 12. Ne3 Bc7 13. Nf5 d5 14. Ne7+ Kh8
15. Nxc8 Rxc8 16. g3 Nd6 17. Bh3 f5 18. d3 Qd7 19. Qh5 Rce8 20. Bf4 g6 21. Qf3
Nf7 22. Bd2 Rxe1+ 23. Rxe1 Re8 24. Qd1 Kg8 25. a4 a6 26. a5 Qd8 27. b4 Rxe1+
28. Qxe1 Ne5 29. Qe2 d4 30. Bg2 Qd7 31. Bf4 Nf7 32. Bd2 Nd8 33. c4 dxc3 34.
Bxc3 Ne6 35. d4 Bd8 36. d5 cxd5 37. Qe5 d4 38. Bd5 Kf7 39. Bxd4 Be7 40. Qg7+
Ke8 41. Qg8+ Nf8 42. Qf7+ Kd8 43. Bb6+ Kc8 44. Bb3 Bd6 45. Qc4+ Qc6 46. Qd4 Bc7
47. Qg7 Bxb6 48. axb6 Qc1+ 49. Kg2 Qc6+ 50. Kh3 Qd6 51. Bd5 Nd7 52. Qg8+ Nf8
53. Qf7 Nd7 54. Qe8# 1-0

[Event "chess.com fin blitz 3m+2spm 2016"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.10.27"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A20"]
[WhiteElo "2853"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2016.10.27"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "25"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. c4 dxc4 4. Na3 Bg7 5. Nxc4 Nc6 6. Bg2 e5 7. d3 Nge7 8.
O-O O-O 9. Bd2 Nd5 10. Rc1 h6 11. a3 Be6 12. b4 a6 13. e4 Nb6 14. Na5 Qxd3 15.
Nxb7 Bc4 16. Re1 Qxa3 17. Na5 Nxa5 18. bxa5 Bb3 19. Re3 Bxd1 20. Rxa3 Bxf3 21.
Bxf3 Nc8 22. Rxc7 Nd6 23. Be2 Nxe4 24. Be3 Rfd8 25. Rd3 Rxd3 26. Bxd3 Nd6 27.
Rc6 Nf5 28. Bc5 Bf8 29. Bxf8 Kxf8 30. Bxf5 gxf5 31. Rxh6 Kg7 32. Rb6 f6 33. Kg2
Kg6 34. Kf3 Rc8 35. Rxa6 Rc3+ 36. Ke2 Rc2+ 37. Ke3 Ra2 38. Ra8 f4+ 39. gxf4
exf4+ 40. Kf3 Kf5 41. a6 Ra3+ 42. Kg2 Kg6 43. h4 Kg7 44. a7 Kh7 45. f3 Ra2+ 46.
Kf1 Kg7 47. Ke1 Kh7 48. Kd1 Kg7 49. Kc1 f5 50. Kb1 Ra6 51. Kb2 Kh7 52. Kc3 Kg7
53. Kb4 Kh7 54. Kc5 Ra1 55. Kd5 Ra5+ 56. Ke6 Kg7 57. h5 Ra4 58. Kxf5 Kh7 59.
Kg4 Kg7 60. Kg5 Kh7 61. h6 1-0

[Event "chess.com fin blitz 5m+2spm 2016"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.10.27"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C00"]
[WhiteElo "2853"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
[PlyCount "128"]
[EventDate "2016.10.27"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "25"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 e6 4. O-O Be7 5. d3 b6 6. Nbd2 Bb7 7. e4 c5 8. Re1
Nc6 9. c3 Qc7 10. Nf1 dxe4 11. dxe4 Rd8 12. Qe2 Qc8 13. e5 Ba6 14. Qe3 Nd7 15.
Qe4 Nf8 16. Ng5 Bb7 17. Qf4 Bxg5 18. Qxg5 Ng6 19. h4 O-O 20. Bf4 Nce7 21. h5 h6
22. Qg4 Bxg2 23. Kxg2 Qc6+ 24. Kg1 Nxf4 25. Qxf4 Rd3 26. Qe4 Rfd8 27. Kg2 Qxe4+
28. Rxe4 Rd1 29. Re1 Rxa1 30. Rxa1 Nc6 31. Re1 Rd5 32. f4 Na5 33. Kf2 Nc4 34.
b3 Na5 35. Ke2 Kf8 36. Ne3 Rd8 37. Rd1 Rxd1 38. Nxd1 Ke7 39. Nf2 Nc6 40. g4 Kd7
41. Ne4 Ne7 42. Kf3 Nd5 43. f5 exf5 44. gxf5 Ne7 45. Ng3 f6 46. e6+ Kd6 47. Ke4
Nd5 48. Ne2 b5 49. c4 bxc4 50. bxc4 Nb6 51. Nc3 Nxc4 52. Nb5+ Ke7 53. Nxa7 Nd6+
54. Kf4 c4 55. Nc6+ Ke8 56. Nd4 Nb7 57. Ke4 Ke7 58. Kd5 c3 59. a4 Nd6 60. a5 c2
61. Nxc2 Nxf5 62. a6 Nd6 63. Nd4 Nc8 64. Nf5+ Kf8 1-0

[Event "chess.com fin blitz 5m+2spm 2016"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.10.27"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2787"]
[BlackElo "2853"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "2016.10.27"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "25"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qc2 Bb7 6. Bg2 Bb4+ 7. Bd2 a5 8. O-O
O-O 9. a3 Bxd2 10. Nbxd2 d5 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Ne5 Na6 13. Nd3 Qe7 14. e3 c5 15.
dxc5 Nxc5 16. Nxc5 bxc5 17. Rac1 Rfc8 18. Rfd1 h6 19. Qf5 a4 20. Rc2 Bc6 21.
Rdc1 Bd7 22. Qf4 g5 0-1

[Event "chess.com fin blitz 5m+2spm 2016"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.10.27"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C00"]
[WhiteElo "2853"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2016.10.27"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "25"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 e6 4. O-O Be7 5. d3 b6 6. Nbd2 Bb7 7. e4 c5 8. Re1
Nc6 9. c3 Qc7 10. Nf1 dxe4 11. dxe4 Rd8 12. Qa4 a6 13. e5 Nd7 14. Qg4 Kf8 15.
Qh5 h6 16. Bf4 Kg8 17. h4 Nf8 18. Ne3 Ng6 19. Rad1 b5 20. Rxd8+ Bxd8 21. Qg4 h5
22. Qh3 c4 23. Rd1 Be7 24. Qh1 Kh7 25. Ng5+ Bxg5 26. hxg5 Rd8 27. Qxh5+ Kg8 28.
Rxd8+ Nxd8 29. Bxb7 Nxb7 30. Qf3 Nc5 31. Qa8+ Kh7 32. Qh1+ Kg8 33. Qa8+ Kh7 34.
Ng4 Qd7 35. Qh1+ Kg8 36. Qa8+ Kh7 37. Qh1+ Kg8 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com fin blitz 5m+2spm 2016"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.10.27"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E46"]
[WhiteElo "2787"]
[BlackElo "2853"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2016.10.27"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "25"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Nge2 d5 6. a3 Be7 7. cxd5 exd5 8.
Nf4 c6 9. Bd3 Na6 10. O-O Nc7 11. Qc2 Bd6 12. f3 Re8 13. Nce2 Qe7 14. Ng3 c5
15. Qf2 b6 16. Bd2 g6 17. dxc5 bxc5 18. Rfe1 Rb8 19. b4 c4 20. Bf1 Be5 21. Rad1
a5 22. e4 axb4 23. axb4 c3 24. Bc1 dxe4 25. Nxe4 Nxe4 26. Rxe4 Bf5 27. Ree1 c2
28. Rd2 Qxb4 0-1

[Event "chess.com fin blitz 5m+2spm 2016"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.10.27"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D03"]
[WhiteElo "2853"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2016.10.27"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "25"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 e6 3. Bg5 c5 4. e3 Qb6 5. Qc1 d5 6. c3 Bd7 7. Nbd2 Bb5 8.
Bxb5+ Qxb5 9. a4 Qa6 10. b4 cxb4 11. cxb4 Nbd7 12. b5 Qb6 13. Bf4 Qd8 14. Bc7
Qc8 15. O-O Be7 16. Ra2 O-O 17. Rc2 Ne8 18. a5 Ndf6 19. Ne5 Bd8 20. Bb6 Qxc2
21. Qxc2 axb6 22. a6 bxa6 23. Qc6 Ra7 24. Qc8 Nd6 25. Qb8 Nxb5 26. Rc1 Bc7 27.
Qxa7 Nxa7 28. Rxc7 Ra8 29. Nxf7 Nb5 30. Rb7 Rc8 31. Ng5 h6 32. Nxe6 Rc1+ 33.
Nf1 Ne4 34. f3 Nd2 35. Kf2 Nxf1 36. Rxg7+ Kh8 37. Rg6 a5 38. Nf4 a4 39. Rxh6+
Kg8 40. Nxd5 a3 41. Nb4 Rb1 0-1

[Event "chess.com fin blitz 5m+2spm 2016"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.10.27"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E46"]
[WhiteElo "2787"]
[BlackElo "2853"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2016.10.27"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "25"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Nge2 Re8 6. a3 Bf8 7. g3 d5 8. cxd5
exd5 9. Bg2 a5 10. O-O Na6 11. Nf4 c6 12. f3 c5 13. Kh1 Nc7 14. g4 h6 15. Nce2
b6 16. Bd2 Bd6 17. Ng3 a4 18. Rc1 Nb5 19. dxc5 bxc5 20. Qc2 Bxf4 21. exf4 Nd4
22. Qb1 Nb3 23. Rcd1 Ba6 24. Rg1 Be2 25. Nxe2 Rxe2 26. Be1 d4 27. Bf1 Re3 28.
Bc4 Ne8 29. g5 hxg5 30. Rxg5 Nd6 31. Bh4 Nxc4 32. Rxg7+ Kxg7 33. Bxd8 Rxd8 34.
Qf5 Rd6 35. Rg1+ Rg6 36. Rxg6+ fxg6 37. Qd7+ Kf6 38. Qd8+ Ke6 39. Qg8+ Kd6 40.
Qxc4 d3 41. Qa6+ Ke7 42. Qb7+ Kf6 43. Qc6+ Re6 44. Qc8 Re1+ 45. Kg2 d2 46. Qf8+
Ke6 47. Qg8+ Kd7 48. Qd5+ Kc7 49. Qf7+ Kb6 50. Qxg6+ Ka5 51. Qc6 d1=Q 52. Qc7+
Kb5 53. Qb7+ Kc4 54. Qf7+ 0-1

[Event "chess.com fin blitz 5m+2spm 2016"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.10.27"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2853"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2016.10.27"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "25"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O e5 5. d3 Ne7 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. a3 c5 8. e4
Nbc6 9. Rb1 d4 10. Nh4 Be6 11. f4 exf4 12. gxf4 f5 13. b4 cxb4 14. axb4 Qd7 15.
b5 Nd8 16. Re1 Nf7 17. Nhf3 Rac8 18. e5 Nd5 19. Bb2 Ne3 20. Qe2 Nxc2 21. Rec1
Ba2 22. Nc4 Ne3 23. Nxe3 dxe3 24. Ra1 Bd5 25. Qxe3 Rxc1+ 26. Rxc1 Re8 27. Qd4
Rd8 28. Ne1 Bf8 29. Qxd5 Qxd5 30. Bxd5 Rxd5 31. Rc8 Nd8 32. d4 Ne6 33. Nc2 Kf7
34. Ne3 Rxb5 35. d5 Rxb2 36. dxe6+ Ke7 37. h4 Bh6 38. Rh8 Kxe6 39. Ng2 Rb4 40.
Re8+ Kf7 41. Rh8 Bxf4 42. Nxf4 Rxf4 43. Rxh7+ Ke6 44. h5 gxh5 45. Rxb7 Ra4 46.
Rb5 Ra2 47. Rc5 h4 48. Rc4 h3 49. Rh4 Kxe5 50. Rxh3 a5 51. Kf1 a4 0-1

[Event "chess.com fin blitz 5m+2spm 2016"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2016.10.27"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E17"]
[WhiteElo "2787"]
[BlackElo "2853"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2016.10.27"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "25"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. Nc3 Na6 7. O-O O-O 8. d5
Bb4 9. Bd2 Nc5 10. Nh4 Re8 11. a3 Bxc3 12. Bxc3 exd5 13. cxd5 Nce4 14. Bd4 c5
15. dxc6 dxc6 16. f3 c5 17. Bxf6 Nxf6 18. e4 Qc7 19. Nf5 Rad8 20. Qc1 h6 21.
Qc3 Kh7 22. Rfe1 Bc8 23. Ne3 Kg8 24. Rad1 Be6 25. Bf1 Rxd1 26. Rxd1 Rd8 27. Rd2
Rxd2 28. Qxd2 Qd7 29. Qxd7 Nxd7 30. f4 f6 31. Bb5 Nb8 32. Kf2 Kf7 33. Ke2 a6
34. Bc4 b5 35. Bxe6+ Kxe6 36. Nf5 Kf7 37. g4 Nc6 38. Kd3 g6 39. Nd6+ Ke7 40.
Nb7 c4+ 41. Kc3 g5 42. fxg5 hxg5 43. h3 Ne5 44. Nc5 a5 45. Nb7 Kd7 46. Nxa5 Kc7
47. b4 Kb6 48. a4 Ka6 49. axb5+ Kxb5 50. Nb7 Nf7 51. Na5 Nd6 52. Kd4 Kxb4 53.
Nxc4 Nxc4 54. Kd5 Nd2 55. e5 fxe5 56. Kxe5 Nf3+ 57. Ke4 Nh4 58. Kd4 Kb3 59. Kd3
Kb2 60. Kd2 Ng2 0-1

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Karjakin +2-2=10"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.11.11"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[BlackElo "2769"]
[Annotator "Ponomariov,R"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2016.11.11"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{The first game of the World Championship match in New York is over.
Personally I hope to learn something from the match and to see how modern
chess is developing.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 {In an interview with Norwegian TV
before the match I had predicted that both players will play 1.d4. In my
opinion nowadays 1.d4 gives White more options to reach complicated positions
and to create tension. But I didn't expect the Trompovsky though Carlsen had
played it before. Maybe Carlsen wants to force the team of Karjakin to study
each and every game he has ever played? At any rate, the next games will
reveal his strategy for the match.} d5 {Black's most solid response.} ({
If you want to complicate things you can go for} 2... g6) ({or} 2... e6 3. e4
h6 4. Bxf6 Qxf6 {which leads to asymmetrical positions. But in World
Championship matches the players usually play solidly with Black while trying
to press with White. Therefore 2.. . d5 is an understandable decision.}) 3. e3
c5 4. Bxf6 gxf6 5. dxc5 ({If White wants to keep more tension he can play} 5.
Nc3 {leading to a Chigorin Defence with colours reversed. The text move gives
Black more options to resolve the tension in the centre.}) 5... Nc6 {There is
nothing wrong with this natural development move. It seems as if Karjakin -
like everyone else - was a bit by surprised by his opponent's opening choice
and decided to calm down and to spend some time to find out where danger might
be lurking in his position.} ({I don't think that anything is wrong with} 5...
e6 {either.} 6. Nf3 (6. b4 a5) 6... Nd7 ({Here I once played} 6... Bxc5 7. c4
dxc4 8. Nbd2 Bd7 9. Bxc4 Bc6 10. O-O Nd7 {and I think in this position Black
has solved all of his problems.} 11. Qe2 Qe7 12. Rac1 O-O 13. Nb3 Bb6 14. Nfd4
Rac8 15. Qg4+ Kh8 16. Qh4 Ne5 17. Nxc6 Rxc6 18. Be2 Rfc8 19. Qe4 Kg7 20. g3
Rxc1 21. Rxc1 Rxc1+ 22. Nxc1 Qc7 23. Nb3 f5 24. Qb1 a5 25. Qd1 Qc6 26. Nd4 Qe4
27. Nb5 Bc5 28. Nc3 Qc6 29. Bb5 Qc7 30. Bf1 Be7 {1/2 (30) Andreikin,
D-Ponomariov,R Moscow blitz 2015}) 7. c4 dxc4 8. c6 Nb6 9. Nbd2 c3 10. bxc3
bxc6 11. Qc2 Bg7 12. Bd3 f5 13. e4 {1-0 (72) Carlsen,M (2864)-Kramnik,V (2803)
Moscow RUS 2013, and in this position Magnus somehow managed to complicate
things and to outplay Vladimir Kramnik. But I think this was not due to the
opening. Kramnik was in bad shape in that tournament, he played badly and
finished last. It is interesting that Karjakin also took part in this
tournament and with his good memory he probably remembered the Carlsen-Kramnik
game.}) 6. Bb5 e6 7. c4 dxc4 8. Nd2 Bxc5 9. Ngf3 O-O 10. O-O Na5 ({It's
interesting to consider} 10... c3 {to change the pawn structure. Yes, Black's
kingside is shattered as well, but Black has the two bishops which might give
some chances to play for an advantage. Instead, Karjakin decided to play
simpler and more solid chess. But after the game move White has less to worry
about.}) 11. Rc1 Be7 ({Black also had the option to play} 11... a6 12. Bxc4
Nxc4 13. Rxc4 Be7 {and now White needs to play actively, otherwise Black will
just finish his development and the two bishops will be very strong on the
long diagonals.}) 12. Qc2 Bd7 13. Bxd7 Qxd7 14. Qc3 Qd5 {Solid again! But
sometimes solid play and giving the initiative to your opponent backfires.} ({
A more principled try was} 14... b6 15. Ne4 (15. Nxc4 Rac8) 15... e5 16. Rfd1
Qe6 17. Ng3 {Obviously, White has some compensation but Black still has a
healthy extra pawn. One wonders what Carlsen would have done with Black in
such a position.}) 15. Nxc4 {Unfortunately White does not have much choice and
can hardly avoid mass exchanges. Therefore I think that 5.dxc5 was a really
committal move.} Nxc4 16. Qxc4 {A slight inaccuracy by the World Champion.} ({
There was the possible intermezzo} 16. Rfd1 Qb5 17. Qxc4 Qxc4 (17... Qxb2 18.
Rb1) 18. Rxc4 {and the white rook is already on d1 instead of f1. However,
after} Rfc8 {White probably has nothing better than} 19. Rdc1 Rxc4 20. Rxc4 {
which leads to the same position we reached in the game. But sometimes such
small nuances can be important.}) 16... Qxc4 17. Rxc4 Rfc8 18. Rfc1 Rxc4 19.
Rxc4 Rd8 20. g3 ({Again I think it's more accurate to play the king to the
centre first.} 20. Kf1 Rd7 21. Ke2 {is of course very similar to the game, but
maybe White can eventually grab some space with g2-g4, taking two steps at
once with g-pawn.}) 20... Rd7 21. Kf1 f5 22. Ke2 (22. Ne5 Rd5) 22... Bf6 23. b3
Kf8 {For the first time it may seem as if White has some advantage because
Black's pieces are so passive. White's pieces are indeed slightly more active
and Black's pawn structure on the kingside is a bit vulnerable. You can also
try to find some analogy with the famous game Ribli-Karpov, Amsterdam 1980,
which White managed to win. But it seems that these small advantages are
simply not enough to win the game for White unless he gets a lot of help from
Black.} 24. h3 h6 {This move is still a little bit of a mystery for me.} ({
Why not} 24... Ke7 {? Probably Karjakin wanted to nip active play from White
in the bud.}) 25. Ne1 Ke7 26. Nd3 Kd8 27. f4 ({In the event of} 27. g4 fxg4 28.
hxg4 Rc7 29. Rxc7 Kxc7 30. Kf3 Kd6 31. Ke4 Bc3 {It's difficult to see how
White can make progress.}) 27... h5 ({Now Black didn't like} 27... Rc7 28. Rxc7
Kxc7 {probably because of} 29. Kf3 Kd6 30. e4 fxe4+ 31. Kxe4 {and in this
position he might hit on some ideas to pose Black problems.}) 28. a4 {White
really has difficulties to make progress. But as always Carlsen tries till the
end.} (28. Ne5 Bxe5 29. fxe5 Rd5 30. Rh4 Rxe5 31. Rxh5 Rc5 $132) 28... Rd5 29.
Nc5 b6 30. Na6 Be7 (30... b5 $5) 31. Nb8 a5 32. Nc6+ Ke8 33. Ne5 (33. Nxe7 Kxe7
34. Rc7+ Rd7) 33... Bc5 34. Rc3 Ke7 35. Rd3 Rxd3 36. Kxd3 f6 37. Nc6+ Kd6 38.
Nd4 Kd5 39. Nb5 Kc6 40. Nd4+ Kd6 41. Nb5+ Kd7 42. Nd4 Kd6 {So, to be honest,
the first game of the match was not particularly exciting. I don't think we
will see this variation again. Even for Magnus it is difficult to squeeze
blood out of a stone. I expect that the Queen's Indian will be tested in the
next games unless Karjakin has prepared something else. But before that we
will see what Sergey will play with White.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Karjakin +2-2=10"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.11.12"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2769"]
[BlackElo "2857"]
[Annotator "Ponomariov,R"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2016.11.11"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 {The last time Sergey played with White against Magnus was at the
tournament in Bilbao this year. I was in Bilbao and commented on the game live.
Sergey played 1.d4 and Magnus chose a Ragozin, which led to a very short draw.
I also expected 1.d4 by Sergey in this game - after all, he has Shakriyar
Mamedyarov and Vladimir Potkin as seconds and both are 1.d4 players. So, I
thought they might have found one or two or even more improvements on the line
Sergey and Magnus tried in Bilbao. But no, Sergey decided to play 1.e4 - in
his childhood this was his main weapon. We might see Sergey switching to
closed openings in the next games - which would indicate how much they worked
before the match to be ready for 1. e4 and 1.d4.} e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 $5 {
No Berlin this time. The mind games have started....} 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6.
d3 {The main idea of this line is to avoid lots of theory in the Classical Ruy
Lopez. After 6.d3 you don't need to study the Marshall, the Breyer, Zaitzev,
Chigorin etc. However, most people thought that Carlsen and not Karjakin would
try to avoid the main lines.} ({Normally Sergey plays} 6. Re1 {in this
position. After e.g.} b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. h3 Bb7 (8... d6 9. c3 Be6 10. d4 Bxb3
11. Qxb3 {also leads to an exchange of bishops but in contrast to the game
White has a pawn and not a knight on c3.}) 9. d3 d6 10. a3 Na5 11. Ba2 c5 12.
Nbd2 Bc8 {we reach a position that is similar to the position we had in the
game though there are differences: if you compare this line with the game
continuation you will see that Black here spent more time to exchange the
white-squared bishops.}) 6... b5 7. Bb3 d6 {Black has a number of options. If
you want to study this variation more deeply I would recommend you to use the
Reference button of your ChessBase program to see how the strongest players
have handled this position.} 8. a3 O-O 9. Nc3 Na5 10. Ba2 Be6 11. d4 Bxa2 12.
Rxa2 Re8 {If one compares this position with the lines I mentioned in the
comment to the 6th move, Black here is several tempi up and his position has
no weaknesses. With pawns on d4 and e4 White has a strong pawn centre which
gives him some space advantage but with each piece exchanged this factor is
less and less significant.} ({Earlier this year Magnus played} 12... Nc6 13. d5
Nb8 {However, 12...Re8 is also the move many engines want to play. So, I don't
know whether Carlsen's small refinement was really a surprise for Karjakin.})
13. Ra1 Nc4 14. Re1 Rc8 {The idea behind this move which puts the rook behind
the pawn on c7 remains a little bit of a mystery to me. Probably Carlsen
wanted to be ready meet d5 by White with ...c6.} ({Probably Black didn't want
to play} 14... Bf8 {immediately, because after} 15. b3 Nb6 {White can pin the
knight on f6 with} 16. Bg5) ({But there is nothing wrong with playing} 14... h6
{first, e.g.} 15. b3 Nb6 16. Bb2 Bf8 17. d5 Qc8 18. a4 c6 19. dxc6 Qxc6 {
with counterplay.}) 15. h3 h6 16. b3 Nb6 17. Bb2 Bf8 18. dxe5 {To me, this
looks like a silent draw offer. Modern chess is becoming more and more
pragmatic.} ({I think if White wanted to retain chances for a fight he had to
keep the tension in the centre.} 18. Qd3 c6 19. Rad1 Qc7 20. Ne2 d5 21. Ng3
exd4 (21... dxe4 22. Nxe4 Nxe4 23. Qxe4 exd4 24. Qxe8 Rxe8 25. Rxe8 $13) 22. e5
Ne4 23. Nxe4 dxe4 24. Qxe4 c5 {I think this position is still equal but the
pawn structure is asymmetrical and both players have chances for active play -
White on the kingside, Black on the queenside.}) 18... dxe5 19. a4 c6 20. Qxd8
Rcxd8 {As in game one we do see an early exchange of queens.} 21. axb5 axb5 22.
Ne2 Bb4 23. Bc3 Bxc3 24. Nxc3 Nbd7 25. Ra6 Rc8 26. b4 Re6 ({With} 26... c5 {
Carlsen could have posed more practical problems, e.g.} 27. Nxb5 cxb4 28. Nd6 {
and now the tactical trick} (28. Ra4 Rxc2 29. Rxb4 Rb8) 28... Re6 29. Nxc8 Rxa6
{gives White something to think about. But after White's 18th move Carlsen was
probably also happy with a draw.}) 27. Rb1 c5 28. Rxe6 fxe6 29. Nxb5 cxb4 30.
Rxb4 Rxc2 31. Nd6 Rc1+ 32. Kh2 Rc2 33. Kg1 {Well, as it turned out game two
was even less exciting than game one. But Carlsen's choice of opening was
smart.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Karjakin +2-2=10"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.11.14"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[BlackElo "2769"]
[Annotator "Seirawan,Y"]
[PlyCount "156"]
[EventDate "2016.11.11"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Match play is all about the result. Would have, could have, should have,
explanations all fall before the final score. To get a result a player has to
first establish the real battleground: In which lines of opening play will the
match be decided? Match play competition is also an exchange of information.
The players start by making informed, educated guesses about their opponent's
primary defense, their secondary defense and so on. A player will play their
primary defense until a disaster before switching to a back-up defense. For
Game One Magnus chose the Trompovsky Opening and in the process learned
precisely nothing about Sergey's primary Queen Pawn defense. In a similar vein,
Sergey learned something about Magnus's primary defense to the king pawn
opening but by opting out with the safe: 6.d3, instead of 6.Re1, in a Ruy
Lopez, he didn't learn enough. The first pair of games were soft, two draws
where the balance was barely disturbed. The match was now reduced to a ten
game match. Would Game Three finally produce the clash that chess fans were
anxious for?} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 {Amongst the elite king pawn
opening players the Berlin Defense has been a huge problem. How to get any
advantage as well as how to get play?} 4. O-O {The other main try is:} (4. d3 {
which can be well met by either the active:} Bc5 {as well as:} (4... d6 {
transposing into a Classical Ruy where White has committed himself with the
d2-d3, tempo.})) 4... Nxe4 5. Re1 {Disappointing. Okay the "Berlin Endgame"
that appears after:} (5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 {
may not be everybody's cup of tea but the imbalances can lead to rich
strategic games.}) 5... Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5 8. Rxe5 O-O 9. d4 Bf6 10.
Re2 {Stop the presses! Novelty of the year! Mmm, no. The text has been chosen
a few times over the "standard" move:} (10. Re1 {Presumably the difference
being that when Black readies a rook swap down the e-file, recapturing on the
e2-square is to be preferred. Hmm, such a nuanced difference strikes me as
insufficient for a pull.}) 10... b6 ({Instead, I'll surmise that against the
standard move} 10... Nf5 {Magnus had planned to advance his d-pawn:} 11. d5 $5
b6 12. c4 $5 Ba6 13. Na3 c6 14. Rd2 {is a line of play where the rook might
find a purpose along the second rank. Personally, I'm skeptical about White's
play as it feels artificial.}) 11. Re1 {Having coaxed Black into playing: ...
b7-b6, the e2-rook moves yet again, this time to avoid: ...Bc8-a6, which would
favor Black with a bishop trade.} Re8 12. Bf4 $1 Rxe1 13. Qxe1 Qe7 (13... Bxd4
$2 14. Bxd6 cxd6 15. Qe4 Bxb2 16. Qxa8 Qf8 17. Nc3 Bxa1 18. Nd5 Bf6 19. Nxf6+
gxf6 20. Qxa7 {would leave Black's structure in tatters.}) 14. Nc3 Bb7 15. Qxe7
Bxe7 16. a4 a6 {"Before the Endgame, the Gods have placed the Middle-game. And
I thank those Gods." So said Tal. The position at hand queries this adorable
quote. It feels as if the players have magically avoided a middle-game and
embraced an Ending. Perhaps White has a smidgen of something but it sure feels
balanced to me.} 17. g3 {Perhaps angling for an opportunity to play: Bf1-h3,
hitting the d7-pawn at an inconvenient moment.} g5 {An active rejoinder to be
sure that helps Black resolve the problem of his misplaced d6-knight. The
downside to this pleasant move is that the f5-square is weakened. Magnus was
quick to pounce.} 18. Bxd6 $1 Bxd6 19. Bg2 $1 Bxg2 20. Kxg2 {Imperceptibly
after these trades White does have something in the position. If he can
maneuver his knight to the f5-square, back it up with his g-pawn, he might yet
find a serious pull.} f5 $1 {Nipping the idea in the bud before it could take
shape. Not as convincing would be:} (20... Re8 21. Nd5 Re2 22. Ne3 $1 Rd2 23.
Rd1 Rxd1 24. Nxd1 {when White has the more agreeable play.}) 21. Nd5 Kf7 22.
Ne3 Kf6 {Sergey has "met" Magnus well and appears to be closing in on a boring
draw.} 23. Nc4 Bf8 24. Re1 Rd8 $6 {A "mysterious rook move" an echo of Game
Two where Magnus played: Ra8-c8, backing up a c7-pawn. I suppose the idea is
to discourage: Nc4-e5, by preemptively defending the d7-pawn. Very
sophisticated indeed. The brutes among us might not have been so caring:} (
24... d5 25. Ne5 Bd6 $11 {strikes me as just fine for Black.}) 25. f4 gxf4 26.
gxf4 b5 27. axb5 axb5 28. Ne3 c6 29. Kf3 {It is easy to get lulled to sleep
and imagine that nothing is happening but the swap of four pawns has opened up
the a-file and the g-file ensuring play for the rooks. On closer inspection a
problem has crept into Black's position: The f5-pawn is a greater target than
any White pawn. White is ready to seize one of the open files and prepare an
invasion. White is now spoiled for choice.} Ra8 30. Rg1 Ra2 $5 {A highly
optimistic move to be sure. My concern is that it could be badly timed. The
threat of: Rg4-g5, picking off the f5-pawn needs to be taken seriously.} ({
Therefore} 30... Bh6 $1 31. Rg3 d5 $1 32. Rh3 Bg7 $1 {is a nice way to keep
White at bay. If White persists in his attempts to win the f5-pawn he could
well miss the mark:} 33. Rh5 Ra2 34. b3 (34. Rxf5+ Kg6 35. Rg5+ Kf7 {Black
will win back his pawn.}) 34... h6 35. Rxf5+ Kg6 {White has managed to tangle
up his own pieces.}) 31. b3 c5 $2 {Sergey cracks. Up to now, nothing has gone
seriously wrong but the text is born from excessive worry. The threat of:
Rg1-g5xf5+, is stronger than its execution. Upon cold reflection the best was
the simple:} (31... d5 $1 32. Rg5 Ke6 $1 33. Rxf5 Bg7 {with a variation
similar to the previous note. Black's counter-attack against the d4-pawn gives
sufficient counterplay for holding the draw:} 34. Rh5 Bxd4 35. Rh6+ Kd7 36.
Rxh7+ Ke6 {seems to be finely balanced.}) 32. Rg8 $1 Kf7 33. Rg2 cxd4 34. Nxf5
d3 35. cxd3 Ra1 $5 {When I don't understand a move I tend to reward it with a 
(!?) mark as a sign of respect for the player's sophistication. In truth this
one is a bit beyond my comprehension. Sergey has jettisoned a pawn for active
play or what the real cognoscenti would call "dynamic factors." Cool! So why
not play actively?} ({Direct, good and compelling was} 35... Ra3 $1 36. Rb2 Bb4
$1 37. Ne3 Bc3 38. Rb1 b4 {when thanks to Black's active pieces it would be a
real technical challenge to win this one.}) 36. Nd4 b4 37. Rg5 Rb1 38. Rf5+ Ke8
39. Rb5 {From an arid desert Magnus has managed to find an oasis. He has
consolidated his extra pawn, now, remarkably, he has created real winning
chances. Unlike the previous note, the f8-bishop is now passive as well as a
potential tactical target.} Rf1+ 40. Ke4 Re1+ 41. Kf5 Rd1 42. Re5+ {By no
means a bad move. But around these parts Magnus missed a more incisive
continuation:} (42. Rb8+ $1 Ke7 (42... Kf7 $6 43. Nf3 $1 $16) 43. Ke4 Re1+ 44.
Kd5 Rd1 45. Nf5+ Kf7 46. d4 Rd3 {when appearances can be deceiving. At first
blush it seems that there has been a lot of to-and-froing without much
happening. In truth, things are going great for White. All his pieces are
active and his once dormant d-pawn and f-pawns are playing fine supporting
roles. This is laid bare after:} 47. Rd8 $1 Rxb3 48. Rxd7+ Kg6 49. Ng3 Re3 50.
f5+ Kg5 (50... Kh6 51. Rf7 $1 {Did I mention the f8-bishop could become a
target?} Re8 52. Ne4 {White is close to winning now.}) 51. Ne4+ Kf4 52. Rxh7 b3
53. Nc5 {with good winning chances for White.}) 42... Kf7 43. Rd5 Rxd3 44.
Rxd7+ Ke8 45. Rd5 {Trading off the d-pawns has benefitted Black. With the
reduced material Black need only make a few more pawn swaps and he will be
home free to make a draw.} Rh3 46. Re5+ Kf7 {Natural. But likely wrong.
Black's king is more of a target on the kingside than a stern blockader. For
reasons as we will see in the game, there is less danger for Black's king on
the d7-square. In addition covering the c6-square is important.} (46... Kd7 47.
Re2 Bc5 48. Ne6 Be7 {when White has a hard task to convert ahead of him.}) 47.
Re2 Bg7 48. Nc6 $1 {This is the rub. White defends the b3-pawn indirectly by
creating a mating net against Black's king.} Rh5+ {Doubtlessly played with a
heavy heart. Sergey had covertly eyeballed the b3-pawn dreaming that it would
soon be his! Not so:} (48... Rxb3 $4 49. Nd8+ Kf8 50. Ne6+ Kf7 51. Ng5+ {
with a forced checkmate to follow.}) 49. Kg4 Rc5 50. Nd8+ $1 {Obviously, White
wants to keep the game alive.} ({Again, a trade of pawns} 50. Nxb4 $2 Rb5 51.
Re4 h5+ 52. Kf3 Bf8 53. Nd3 Rxb3 {is helpful to Black's cause.}) 50... Kg6 51.
Ne6 h5+ 52. Kf3 Rc3+ 53. Ke4 Bf6 54. Re3 h4 55. h3 $2 {A careless slip when
once again Magnus was close to tightenng the noose.} ({An opportunity was
present to include the king into the attack by forcibly vacating the f5-square:
} 55. Nf8+ $1 Kf7 56. Nd7 {threatening a winning king and pawn ending.} Rc2 (
56... Bd8 57. Ne5+ Ke6 58. Nd3 $1 Bb6 59. Rh3 $1) 57. Kf5 $1 Bg7 58. h3 {
is a superior version of the game.}) 55... Rc1 56. Nf8+ Kf7 57. Nd7 Ke6 $1 {
The difference between the two lines is now clear: White is prevented from
playing: Ke4-f5.} 58. Nb6 Rd1 59. f5+ Kf7 60. Nc4 Rd4+ 61. Kf3 Bg5 $2 {After
fighting so tenaciously Sergey makes an egregious slip which endangers all his
hard work. With the draw nearly in sight the simple method was also a direct
one, keep attacking the f5-pawn:} (61... Rd5 $1 62. Ke2 Kg7 $1 63. Rf3 {
and only now} Bg5 $1 {Black's king is ready to sweep away the f5-pawn and
secure the coveted draw.}) 62. Re4 Rd3+ 63. Kg4 {And just like that Magnus is
back in business.} Rg3+ {In such positions, there is the "human element" of
wanting to eliminate all of White's pawns at the cost of a bishop and to play
K&R versus a K,R&N position. Where possible, you calculate where such an
escape might lie. At first blush there appears to be an "easy" draw in view:} (
63... Bf6 64. Re6 Rg3+ 65. Kf4 Bg5+ 66. Ke4 Rxh3 67. Ne5+ Kf8 68. f6 Rxb3 {
Exactly at this moment, Black is a happy camper. Just one move away from the
goal!} 69. Kf5 (69. f7 $1 Be7 70. Rg6 $1 $18) 69... Bxf6 $1 70. Kxf6 Kg8 {
Mission accomplished. A draw is in the offing. How cruel is the scorpion's
sting. Go back to move sixty-nine and play: 69.f7! Be7 70.Rg6!, instead. When
Black is just lost. Yikes.}) 64. Kh5 Be7 65. Ne5+ Kf6 66. Ng4+ $1 {During the
time that this phase of the game was being played I was having dinner at the
Closing of the "Showdown" in Saint Louis tournament. In my nearest vicinity
was Fabiano, Hikaru and Vishy. We all scrunched around Fabi's smart-phone to
follow the cut and thrust. In rapid-fire succession, one defense after another
was defeated. The verdict of the table was clear: Magnus was now winning. Our
mirth attracted the attention of Veselin Topalov as well. I was beginning to
feel out-rated but followed their analysis closely.} Kf7 {The plausible
alternative:} (66... Kxf5 {was defeated by the important zwischenzug:} 67. Re5+
$1 Kf4 68. Rxe7 Rxh3 69. Rf7+ $1 {when Black's king is forced to go into the
path of his rook.} Kg3 70. Nf2 $1 ({while} 70. Rb7 {is also good, the text is
much stronger}) 70... Rh2 71. Ne4+ Kh3 72. Rf3+ Kg2 73. Rf2+ {forcing the
trade of rooks is the easiest win.}) 67. Re6 Rxh3 68. Ne5+ {Black is now
forced to part with his bishop.} Kg7 69. Rxe7+ Kf6 70. Nc6 Kxf5 $2 {A move the
dinner table had rejected. The conversation had centered on a study-like
position that arises after:} (70... Rc3 $3 71. Re6+ Kxf5 72. Nd4+ Kf4 73. Kxh4
Rd3 $1 {The "collective wisdom" of the table was having a devil of a time here.
The analysis continued:} 74. Ne2+ Kf3 $1 (74... Kf5 $4 75. Rb6 $18) 75. Nc1 Rd1
$3 (75... Rc3 76. Re1 Kf2 77. Rd1 {Black's king is cut-off from the queenside
and White's king will march to victory.}) 76. Rc6 Ke3 77. Rc2 {At this moment,
the table was reasonably sure that the game was won, as again, Black's king
appears to be cut-off and another victorious white king march was in the
offing. Vishy forced us away from our dinners with another offering:} Rd2 $1
78. Rc6 Rd1 {and no matter how we tried, the win, if it exists proved elusive.}
) 71. Na5 $6 {Missing a golden opportunity to clinch the game:} (71. Re1 $3 {
comes with splendid timing. The text renders any tricks based on: ...Rh3-h1,
and pushing the h4-pawn harmless. Secondly, White is ready to play: Ra1-b1,
and then collect the b4-pawn. Finally, the king on the h5-square is poised to
keep an eye on the h4-pawn. Play might continue:} Kf4 ({This time, the move} 
71... Rc3 $2 {has a cruel failing:} 72. Ne7+ $1 {and Black's king is forced to
move into a fatal fork.}) 72. Rf1+ $1 Ke4 73. Na5 $1 {winning. The key
difference is that in this line of play White has managed to bring his rook to
the first rank with gain of tempo. Black is unable to prevent future pawn
pluckings.}) 71... Rh1 72. Rb7 $4 {Tragedy after a supreme effort. With this,
the win definitely slipped away. Last chances were still to be had:} (72. Rf7+
$1 Ke6 73. Rf2 $1 h3 74. Kh4 Ra1 {The plausible alternative:} (74... h2 $2 75.
Ra2 $1 {is a rather pretty picture}) 75. Nb7 Ra3 76. Rd2 $1 Ke5 77. Nc5 h2 78.
Rxh2 Kd5 79. Rc2 $1 {At long last, White is winning.}) 72... Ra1 $1 {Sergey
seizes his chance to save the game with a study-like finish:} 73. Rb5+ Kf4 $1 {
Otherwise the h4-pawn is removed from the board.} 74. Rxb4+ {What else? White
cannot capture the h4-pawn:} (74. Kxh4 $4 Rh1# {is spine chilling.}) 74... Kg3
$1 75. Rg4+ Kf2 76. Nc4 h3 77. Rh4 Kg3 78. Rg4+ Kf2 {Oh my what a game! The
collective wisdom of the table was that if Magnus had won this game 'out of
nothing' Sergey would have lost a lot of confidence, conversely thanks to this
incredible save we now have a great match in store.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Karjakin +2-2=10"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.11.15"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2769"]
[BlackElo "2857"]
[Annotator "Rogozenco,D"]
[PlyCount "187"]
[EventDate "2016.11.11"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Another marathon game in the match, another triumph of defence and another
draw... At the beginning of game four it seemed as if Karjakin had not yet
recovered from the previous tiring encounter, as some of his decisions right
after the opening were doubtful, to say the least. But then, in a very
critical situation, where most of the specialists predicted a sure win for
Carlsen, the Russian grandmaster again displayed his fantastic skills in
defending inferior positions and succeeded in getting the desired draw after
almost 7 hours of play.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 {
In the second game of the match Karjakin went for 6.d3.} 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O
8. h3 {A popular Anti-Marshall system, which tends to lead to a complicated
strategical battle, with many theoretical subleties.} Bb7 9. d3 d6 ({Here
Black can still play in Marshall-style with} 9... d5 {but Karjakin has a lot
of experience with such positions which he plays with both colours. So Carlsen
decides to go for a positional game.} 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxe5 (11. Nbd2 f6 12.
a3 Kh8 13. Ba2 Nf4 14. Ne4 Ng6 15. Be3 Nd4 16. Bxd4 exd4 17. h4 f5 18. Neg5
Nxh4 19. Ne6 Nxf3+ 20. gxf3 Qd6 21. Nxf8 Rxf8 22. Kf1 Bg5 23. Re6 Qf4 24. Qe2
Bxf3 25. Qe5 Qh4 26. Qg3 Qh1+ 27. Qg1 Qh5 {0-1 (27) Topalov,V (2752)-Karjakin,
S (2779) Astana 2012}) 11... Nd4 12. Bd2 c5 13. Nc3 Nxb3 14. axb3 Nb4 15. Ne4
f5 16. Ng3 Qd5 17. Nf3 Qd7 18. Ne5 Qd5 19. Nf3 Qd7 20. Bxb4 cxb4 21. d4 Rac8
22. Qd3 Bd6 23. Ne5 Qc7 24. Nxf5 Bxe5 25. Rxe5 {Karjakin,S (2747)-Onischuk,A 
(2688) Khanty-Mansiysk 2010, and White went on to win.}) 10. a3 Qd7 ({Both} 
10... Na5 11. Ba2 c5) ({and} 10... Nb8 11. Nbd2 Nbd7 {had been played by
Carlsen before. However, Karjakin's answer came instantly.}) 11. Nbd2 Rfe8 {
This move might have been a surprise for the contender. He thought for 12
minutes before coming up with a reply and also spent a lot of time on his next
moves. In previous games Karjakin had faced 11...Rae8 and 11...Nd8.} 12. c3 {
Why did it take Karjakin so long to play this natural move? First of all,
despite his huge experience in these types of position, Karjakin never had
this particular one in his practice before. Secondly, the position is quite
complicated strategically and it is not easy to figure out whether White needs
to play c2-c3 at all. For instance it looks logical to postpone it and start
with 12.Nf1. Generally speaking, modern theory considers this type of position
as slightly better for White. But again, with a lot of strategic subtleties.
As grandmaster Nigel Short put it: "In such positions, with White I always
feel I have no advantage, but with Black that I can't equalise".} Bf8 13. Nf1
h6 14. N3h2 {Preparing the typical action on the kingside, which is met by the
standard counterplay in the centre.} d5 15. Qf3 {White now threatens to take
on h6 and actually has a simple plan: he wants to play Ng3, Ng4 and so on.
Black must react very precisely and Carlsen is up to this task.} Na5 16. Ba2
dxe4 {Played after ten minutes.} ({Possibly the World Champion wondered
whether he had compensation in variations like} 16... c5 17. Bxh6 c4 18. Rad1 (
18. Bg5 {allows} dxe4 19. dxe4 Nxe4 20. Rxe4 f5 {which is very unlear}) 18...
dxe4 19. dxe4 Qc6 {but then decided to go for the more solid game continuation.
}) 17. dxe4 Nc4 18. Bxh6 {A curious moment. After a long think Karjakin makes
the most principled move, but soon ends up in a very unpleasant position.
Taking on h6 is not a mistake yet, but White must have missed something, as
his next move is clearly not the best way to continue.} (18. Ng4 {maintains
equality.}) 18... Qc6 $1 {Very precise play by Carlsen. Black had several
sharp alternatives, but the World Champion rightly rejected them.} (18... Nxb2
19. Bg5 Nh7 20. Bh4 c5 21. Re2 Nc4 22. Bxc4 bxc4 23. Rd2 {and White has an
advantage.}) (18... Nxe4 19. Rxe4 Bxe4 (19... f5 $2 {loses due to} 20. Rxc4
Bxf3 21. Rxc7+) 20. Qxe4 gxh6 21. Ng4 Bg7 22. Nfe3 {with good positional
compensation for White.}) 19. Bxc4 $6 {This doubtful move was played after 16
minutes of thinking! Maybe Karjakin already disliked his position so much,
that he decided to go for a clearly worse endgame, hoping to hold it.
Amazingly, this worked out in the end...} ({There was still nothing wrong with
White's position after} 19. Bc1 {For example:} Nxe4 20. Ne3 Ned6 21. Qxc6 Bxc6
22. Nhg4 {which is about equal.}) 19... bxc4 (19... Qxc4 20. Nd2 $1 {and White
keeps his extra pawn}) 20. Be3 Nxe4 21. Ng3 Nd6 ({Both} 21... Nxg3) ({and} 
21... Qg6 {were good alternatives as well. In all cases Black has the
advantage.}) 22. Rad1 Rab8 23. Bc1 f6 24. Qxc6 Bxc6 25. Ng4 Rb5 26. f3 {
Thanks to his bishop pair and the pressure on b2 Black has a clear advantage.
Basically there are two ways to treat the position: to play slowly with a move
like 26...Kf7, improving the pieces step by step, or take immediate action -
which is what Carlsen did in the game.} f5 {Black takes advantage of the fact
that the knight cannot go to e3, but slow play might have been more unpleasant
for Karjakin, who was already feeling some time pressure.} 27. Nf2 (27. Ne3 $2
f4) 27... Be7 ({Perhaps} 27... Kf7 {was more accurate, as now} 28. f4 {would
be a mistake due to} exf4 29. Ne2 Rbe5) 28. f4 $1 {As usual, in a difficult
situation Karjakin starts to defend extremely well. White needs to simplify
the position, as otherwise he will soon run out of air.} Bh4 ({Another
attractive option was} 28... exf4 29. Ne2 Ne4 (29... g5 30. Nd4 Rb6 31. Nxc6
Rxc6 32. Rd5 {followed by h4 gives White sufficient counterplay.}) 30. Nxe4
Bxe4 31. Nxf4 Rbb8 {In both cases Black is better and it is not easy to decide
which position leaves Black with more winning chances.}) 29. fxe5 Bxg3 (29...
Rbxe5 {is not convincing:} 30. Rxe5 Rxe5 31. Bf4 Rb5 32. Rd2 {and White has
good chances to escape.}) 30. exd6 Rxe1+ 31. Rxe1 cxd6 32. Rd1 Kf7 ({After the
principled} 32... Re5 33. Nh1 $1 (33. Kf1 Re6 {with ideas like ...Rg6}) 33...
f4 (33... Bh4 {leads nowhere:} 34. Rxd6 Re1+ 35. Kh2) ({but maybe} 33... Ba4
34. Rf1 Bh4 35. Bf4 Rd5 {is the best}) 34. Nxg3 fxg3 35. Kf1 Be4 {Black has a
clear advantage. However, the question remains the same: is it enough for a
win?}) 33. Rd4 Re5 34. Kf1 Rd5 35. Rxd5 Bxd5 36. Bg5 Kg6 37. h4 {A very
committal decision in time trouble, as the pawn on h4 will fall soon. In
return White gets the possibility to activate the knight via h3.} Kh5 38. Nh3
Bf7 39. Be7 Bxh4 40. Bxd6 Bd8 {The time trouble is over and we can reach some
conclusions: White has succeeded in avoiding the worst and simplified the
position. However, even if Black fails to increase his advantage, he still has
reasonable winning chances, as the bishop pair together with the chance to
create a passed pawn on the kingside are strong arguments in Black's favour.}
41. Ke2 g5 42. Nf2 Kg6 43. g4 {Another committal decision by Karjakin, which
again worked out well.} Bb6 44. Be5 a5 45. Nd1 f4 $2 {The decisive mistake, as
it considerably limits Black's winning ideas. Carlsen gets a nice passed pawn,
but closes the kingside and it will turn out that White can defend his
queenside weakness successfully.} ({After} 45... Be6 {Black must be winning.
The World Champion tries hard to win for another 50 moves, but his efforts are
in vain and Karjakin again achieves a very important draw.}) 46. Bd4 Bc7 47.
Nf2 Be6 48. Kf3 Bd5+ 49. Ke2 Bg2 50. Kd2 Kf7 51. Kc2 Bd5 52. Kd2 Bd8 53. Kc2
Ke6 54. Kd2 Kd7 55. Kc2 Kc6 56. Kd2 Kb5 57. Kc1 Ka4 58. Kc2 Bf7 59. Kc1 Bg6 60.
Kd2 Kb3 61. Kc1 Bd3 62. Nh3 Ka2 63. Bc5 Be2 64. Nf2 Bf3 65. Kc2 Bc6 66. Bd4 Bd7
67. Bc5 Bc7 68. Bd4 Be6 69. Bc5 f3 70. Be3 Bd7 71. Kc1 Bc8 72. Kc2 Bd7 73. Kc1
Bf4 74. Bxf4 gxf4 75. Kc2 Be6 76. Kc1 Bc8 77. Kc2 Be6 78. Kc1 Kb3 79. Kb1 Ka4
80. Kc2 Kb5 81. Kd2 Kc6 82. Ke1 Kd5 83. Kf1 Ke5 84. Kg1 Kf6 85. Ne4+ Kg6 86.
Kf2 Bxg4 87. Nd2 Be6 88. Kxf3 Kf5 89. a4 Bd5+ 90. Kf2 Kg4 91. Nf1 Kg5 92. Nd2
Kf5 93. Ke2 Kg4 94. Kf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Karjakin +2-2=10"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.11.17"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2853"]
[BlackElo "2769"]
[Annotator "Nunn,J"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2016.11.11"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Carlsen had pressed strongly in Games 3 and 4 so now, with the white pieces
in front of him, would this be the game for the champion's breakthrough in the
match?} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 {So far Carlsen has adopted three different
openings in his three games with White. Gone are the days of
Alekhine-Capablanca when they played the Queen's Gambit Declined in almost
every one of the 34 games.} Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 {The quiet form of the Giuoco
Piano, often called the Giuoco Pianissimo. White aims for a slow build-up,
sometimes trying to gain space on the queenside with c3 and b4, or playing for
a delayed action in the centre after transferring the knight from b1 to d2, f1
and g3, much as in the Spanish. It's tempting to just comment that such quiet
methods are unlikely to bring White much of an objective advantage, but that
isn't the way Carlsen plays. Like another world champion, Emanuel Lasker, he
is often not so concerned with playing the most critical lines, but more in
reaching a position in which he can show his strengths. Quiet methods have
secured Carlsen many victories from positions that initially didn't appear to
offer many winning chances.} O-O 6. a4 {But this is really unusual.} ({White
generally prefers to prepare central expansion by} 6. c3 {or to pin the knight
by}) (6. Bg5 {The ChessBase online database gives a mere 22 games with this
move, with White scoring a respectable 66%.}) 6... d6 7. c3 {Now we have
transposed into a more standard line. Black has to take action against the
threat to trap his bishop.} a6 8. b4 Ba7 9. Re1 Ne7 {A standard plan in such
positions. Black transfers his knight to the kingside in order to generate
play there. With only one minor piece on that side of the board, White is
slightly vulnerable there especially if he does not undertake the knight
transfer to g3.} (9... Ng4 {can be met by} 10. Ra2 {a benefit of White's early
queenside pawn advance.}) 10. Nbd2 Ng6 11. d4 {I'm not very enthusiastic about
this move, even though my computer likes it. Is White playing on the queenside
or in the centre? True, the knight transfer to g6 has weakened Black's hold on
d4, allowing White to push in the centre, but it is better to wait for this
type of move until White is more prepared. Playing d3 and then d4 involves an
inevitable loss of tempo and White's development is not yet good enough to
give a central advance any real bite.} c6 {A good response by Karjakin. Noting
the slight fragility in White's position, he prepares to play actively in the
centre himself.} 12. h3 {It's unfortunate that White has to play another
non-developing move, but} (12. Nf1 {is strongly met by} Bg4 {White has not
achieved any advantage from the opening.}) 12... exd4 $6 {Karjakin plans to
break apart White's centre, but the results are not especially favourable. He
could have kept the balance by the simple} (12... Re8 {or, if he really wanted
some central action, by}) (12... d5) 13. cxd4 Nxe4 14. Bxf7+ $1 {A somewhat
surprising decision, but a good one.} (14. Nxe4 d5 15. Bd3 dxe4 16. Bxe4 Be6 {
doesn't give White anything, so Carlsen prefers to keep his knights, which are
effective despite the relatively open position.}) 14... Rxf7 15. Nxe4 d5 16.
Nc5 (16. Neg5 $6 Rf6 {only puts the g5-knight in jeopardy.}) 16... h6 {Ruling
out any possible ideas involving Ng5 followed by Qh5.} 17. Ra3 {Thanks to
White's earlier queenside advance, White can save time by doubling rooks
without developing the c1-bishop first.} Bf5 18. Ne5 {This looks slightly
premature. White would have had more chances of an advantage with the natural}
(18. Rae3 Qf6 19. Ne5 Re7 20. Nxg6 Rxe3 21. Rxe3 Bxg6 22. Qe2 {with a solid
control of the open file, although admittedly any advantage is rather slight.})
18... Nxe5 19. dxe5 (19. Rxe5 {achieves nothing after} Bb8 20. Nxb7 Qf6 21.
Re8+ Kh7 {attacking the knight and threatening ...Bh2+.}) 19... Qh4 {Attacking
b4 and taking aim at f2.} 20. Rf3 {A good defensive move maintaining the
balance.} Bxc5 $6 ({The tactical justification for White's play is} 20... Qxb4
$2 21. Ba3 Qa5 22. e6 Rf6 23. Nxb7 Qb6 24. e7 {and wins, but Karjakin's
response is not the best.}) (20... Bg6 21. Rxf7 Bxf7 {would have been fine for
Black, since the e-pawn is not well enough supported to be a real danger.}) 21.
bxc5 {The exchange on c5 has altered the structure of the position. White's
queenside pawns are broken, but they are not really vulnerable, while Black's
b-pawn is now permanently backward. Perhaps the main worry for Black is that
White's 4 vs 2 kingside majority is far more mobile than Black's queenside
pawns. The outlines of real problems for Black are visible in the position and
it is surprising that Karjakin went in for a line which allowed Carlsen to
exercise his famous grinding skills when he had a reasonable alternative which
kept some active play.} Re8 {.} 22. Rf4 Qe7 23. Qd4 {White now a very safe
advantage. At the moment it may appear small, but it could easily increase.
The big question is whether White can advance his kingside pawns without
exposing his king too much.} Ref8 24. Rf3 Be4 25. Rxf7 Qxf7 26. f3 Bf5 27. Kh2
({It might appear that White can start pushing his pawns at once, but after} 
27. g4 Qg6 28. Kh2 Be6 29. f4 Qc2+ 30. Bd2 g6 31. Rg1 Kf7 {Black sets up a
line of defence which is hard to break through. Carlsen therefore manoeuvres
in the hope of finding a more favourable moment to start his pawn advance.
However, the extra time allows Black to improve his position and it becomes
more rather than less difficult to advance the pawns.}) 27... Be6 28. Re2 Qg6
29. Be3 Rf7 30. Rf2 Qb1 31. Rb2 Qf5 32. a5 Kf8 {An interesting plan. If White
does eventually push on the kingside, it could be that Black's king will be a
tactical weakness. Karjakin therefore decides to transfer his king to the
queenside, where his numerical superiority of pawns offers good shelter.
Additionally, the king can defend the b7-pawn, relieving his other pieces of a
rather menial job.} 33. Qc3 {Carlsen cannot see any way to make progress, and
for the moment just moves around without achieving very much.} Ke8 34. Rb4 g5
$1 {An interesting and highly committal decision. Black could have set up a
light-square blockade with ...g6, aiming to hold on to the f5-square at all
costs, but he decides instead to take pre-emptive action to prevent White's
pawns even getting as far as f4 and g4. The danger is that in any ending the
kingside pawns on dark squares will be vulnerable to attack by White's bishop,
especially if his king is far away on the queenside. In my view, Karjakin made
the right decision and, by taking action himself rather than simply waiting,
he has forced Carlsen to come up with a counterplan.} 35. Rb2 Kd8 36. Rf2 Kc8
37. Qd4 Qg6 {Black is now even ready to play ...h5 followed by ...g4, which
would completely kill any winning prospects for White, so Carlsen decides to
block Black's advance.} 38. g4 h5 39. Qd2 Rg7 {I don't see how White can make
progress here since any pawn advance of the kingside would expose the white
king too much. If White could swap off the major pieces the g5-pawn would fall,
but there is no way to achieve this.} 40. Kg3 Rg8 41. Kg2 $2 {This move, which
blocks the path of White's major pieces to the h-file is a serious error after
which White is even worse. Any normal move, such as} (41. Rh2 {would have
maintained the balance.}) 41... hxg4 42. hxg4 (42. fxg4 $2 Qe4+ 43. Kg1 Rh8 {
loses at least a pawn,.}) 42... d4 $1 {Karjakin strikes with a pawn sacrifice
allowing him to activate his bishop.} ({This is even stronger than} 42... Qh6
43. Qd4 {White must block the d-pawn since} (43. Kf1 d4 44. Bxd4 Qh1+ 45. Ke2
Rd8 {gives Black a very dangerous attack}) 43... Rh8 44. Kf1 Qh1+ 45. Ke2 Qb1
46. Bxg5 {when White can at least run with his king to f4.}) 43. Qxd4 (43. Bxd4
Qh7 44. Kg1 Qh3 45. Qe2 Rf8 46. Rh2 Qg3+ 47. Rg2 Qxf3 48. Qxf3 Rxf3 {is an
unpleasant ending for White, since all his pawns are weak, but this might
actually have been the lesser evil.}) 43... Bd5 $2 {Karjakin fails to make the
most of his chances. After} (43... Rh8 44. Qe4 Qh6 45. Kf1 Qh1+ 46. Ke2 Bd5 {
would have been deeply unpleasant for White. His king is floating around in
the middle of the board, while Black's piece press from all sides. After} 47.
Qd3 Qa1 48. Bxg5 Qxe5+ 49. Be3 Qa1 {it is unlikely that White will survive in
the long run. As is so often the case in opposite-coloured bishop positions
with major pieces, it's the initiative and attacking chances which count, and
not the odd pawn or two.}) 44. e6 {In an echo of Karjakin's ...d4, Carlsen
returns the pawn in order to gain space for his pieces. However, it would have
been even simpler to play} (44. Kg3 {allowing the rook to switch to h2, after
which I can see nothing for Black.}) 44... Qxe6 ({Or} 44... Qh7 45. e7 Qxe7 46.
Bd2 Qh7 47. Qf6 Rh8 48. Qf5+ Qxf5 49. gxf5 g4 50. Kg3 gxf3 {and with his king
active White should have no trouble holding the ending.}) 45. Kg3 {The crisis
is essentially over and the game is once more on course for a draw.} Qe7 46.
Rh2 Qf7 47. f4 {Further activating White's pieces and fully equalising.} gxf4+
48. Qxf4 (48. Bxf4 Qf5 49. g5 {was also safe for White.}) 48... Qe7 49. Rh5 Rf8
50. Rh7 Rxf4 51. Rxe7 Re4 {Forcing the draw.} ({After} 51... Re4 52. Rxe4 Bxe4
53. Kf4 Bd3 54. Ke5 Kd7 55. Kf6 Ke8 56. Bh6 Bc2 57. g5 Bd3 58. g6 Bc2 59. g7
Bb3 {Black is not in any danger.}) 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Karjakin +2-2=10"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.11.18"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2769"]
[BlackElo "2853"]
[Annotator "Hillarp Persson,T"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2016.11.11"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 {I have spent my entire life as a chess player, trying to find
assymetry where I can find it. Magnus and Sergey operate from a more elevated
view-point than mine, and although they both occasionaly flirt with assymmetry,
I do not get the feeling that they believe it merits a proper relationship.} 2.
Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 ({In a sense the Ruy Lopez is a little more ambitious than the
G-whatever Piano (In Swedish we call it "the Italian", so I'm excused for not
acing the spelling bee). If we continue down the rabbit hole with} 3. Bc4 Bc5
4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 O-O {, there is a big difference between... this position,
compared to the more easily spelled sibling; that Black has still not moved
the pawns on the queenside. This difference means that Black has fewer
weaknesses to take care of and it could turn out to be the whole difference
between a win and a big advantage (for White) later in the game.}) 3... a6 ({
I believe it was Julian Hodgson who said that the only problem with 1.e4,
compared to 1.d4, is that the e4-pawn is hanging. After} 3... Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 {
we reach one such position, the Berlin Defence. (The Petroff is another)} 5.
Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5 8. Rxe5 O-O {was seen in game three of the
match. Black argues that a reasonably symmetrical position makes White's extra
tempo less important. Time has told it is a decent argument.}) 4. Ba4 Nf6 5.
O-O Be7 6. Re1 (6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a3 {was played in the second game of the
match. The main difference here is that Black can play d6 before 0-0 without
having to fear a rapid c3/d4, which would lead to the one of the old main
lines.} (8. a4 {is also played frequently, but after} Bd7 {has been doing
quite well lately.})) 6... b5 7. Bb3 O-O {It sounds ridiculous to call such a
move "critical", but in a sense it is.} ({The reason is that} 7... d6 8. c3 O-O
9. h3 {leads to a one of the biggest theoretical tablelands in chess, whereas
the game move avoids that altogether by meeting 8.c3 with 8...d5. In days of
old, this line, the "Marshall Attack", led to slugfest bonanzas, but in the
age of engine-guided preparations it has a tendency to end in draws. This
explains why a defensively minded wielder of the dark forces is naturally
drawn to the Marshall Attack.}) 8. h3 {The consequence of Karjakin's last move
is that White is forced to play this move, unless he is happy to enter the
"old" lines after 8...d6 9.c3.} (8. a4 {After} Bb7 9. d3 Re8 (9... d6 {is more
popular.}) 10. Nc3 Nd4 11. axb5 Nxb3 12. cxb3 axb5 13. Rxa8 Bxa8 14. Nxb5 d5 {
Dominguez Perez,L (2730)-Carlsen,M (2850) World Rapid 2015, Black equalised
with ease.}) (8. c3 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 {is the starting
position of the above mentioned Marshall Attack. I'm too old to try to get
familiar with it. Perhaps I would, if jailed by nazis and left with only a
monograph (written by Peter Svidler) to fend for my sanity, eventually be able
to say something sensible about this position. And although the likelihood of
this scenario has increased lately, I'm afraid that you'll have to wait until
some time next year, at least. (Seeing the draw looming twenty moves ahead,
you'll have to excuse me for trying to pump up the drama a bit.)}) 8... Bb7 {
The most natural move if Black wants to avoid} 9. d3 (9. c3 $6 d5 $1 {is nice
for Black. It is not recommended to play} 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxe5 $2 (11. d4)
11... Nxe5 12. Rxe5 Nf4 {, when catastrophe strikes the white camp. Reading
the unfulfilled expectations of some kibitzers, I get the feeling that they
expect something like this, and nothing less. Sorry guys. You should stick
with risk.}) 9... d5 $5 {This Marshall Attack-inspired gambit can hardly have
come as a surprise for Karjakin, partly because it is a main line and partly
because it is played to draw. Especially the latter reason should have
appealed to Magnus after yesterday's rather wobbly performance.} ({In a rapid
game against Zhigalko last year, Magnus played} 9... d6 10. a3 Nb8 11. Nbd2
Nbd7 12. Nf1 Re8 13. Ng3 Bf8 14. Ng5 d5 15. exd5 Nc5 16. c4 {and had to fight
to equalise.}) 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxe5 ({Neither of the players has room to
deviate. Here} 11. a4 Nd4 $1 {equalises immediately.}) 11... Nd4 $1 {Compared
to the Marshall Attack, Black doesn't have as much of an attack here. The
compensation is of a more positional character. While the bishop on b7 roams
freely, Black's queenside pawns don't have to worry about a2-a4 (since Nxb3
would completely ruin White's pawn structure) and c7-c5 will take a lot of
space. From a White perspective, the c2-pawn has to be taken care of and the
knight on e5 turns out to be in a rather awkward position...} 12. Nc3 Nb4 ({
An instructive illustration of my last comment about the knight on e5:} 12...
Nxb3 13. axb3 Nb4 14. Bd2 f6 $1 15. Ng4 f5 $1 {The pawn is accelerated forward
as it attacks the knight.} 16. Ne5 Bd6 17. Na2 Bxe5 18. Rxe5 Nc6 19. Re1 f4 20.
Bc3 $6 ({Black also has a strong attack after} 20. f3 Nd4 21. Rf1 Rf6) 20... f3
21. Re4 a5 $5 22. b4 {and now, instead of} axb4 {which was unclear, in
Timofeev,A (2658)-Sokolov,I (2655) Sarajevo 2007, Black should have played} (
22... Ne7 $1 {, with a very strong attack.})) 13. Bf4 {Perhaps there is
nothing better here, but this move doesn't feel right to me. Why? There is
something about putting the bishop in the line of fire (g5/Nd5) and striving
to tuck it in on h2 that rings false. I'd prefer to put it on c3. On the other
hand the bishop is not obstructing the queen and could come to e5. After
weighing the pros and cons, I must disagree with my first instinct. It does
indeed make sense.} ({I'd probably spend some time on} 13. Bd2 {according to
the principle "less is more" (and "don't put the bishop on a square where it
is likely to be attacked").}) (13. Ne4 {has been played a number of times and
the lines after} Nxb3 14. axb3 Qd5 15. Nf3 f5 {seem to hold no danger to Black.
}) 13... Nxb3 14. axb3 c5 15. Ne4 {Karjakin is trying to prove that the
inclusion of Bf4 and ...c5 somehow favours White.} f6 $1 {According to the
reports I read, Carlsen continued to blitz out the moves even now, so it's
pretty clear that this was all part of his preparations.} 16. Nf3 f5 $1 {
A recurring idea leaving White with little choice.} 17. Neg5 $1 (17. Ng3 Bxf3
$1 {and it becomes obvious why the attack on the c2-pawn is a problem for
White:} 18. gxf3 (18. Qxf3 Nxc2 $19) 18... Bf6 $36) (17. Ned2 {is the most
ambitious move, since it keeps some pieces on the board. After} Bf6 18. Be5 Re8
19. Rc1 h6 20. Re2 {What else?} Bxe5 21. Nxe5 Nd5 {White cannot let the knight
land on f4 and} 22. g3 f4 {gives Black a nasty initiative. So, it seems that
the most ambitious move was less than good.}) 17... Bxg5 18. Nxg5 h6 $1 19. Ne6
Qd5 20. f3 Rfe8 {The last five moves have basically been forced, but now White
has two alternatives; one human and one non human.} 21. Re5 (21. Nc7 Qd4+ 22.
Kh1 Rxe1+ 23. Qxe1 Qxf4 24. Nxa8 Nxc2 {looks like absolute disaster for White
from afar, but in fact White can get a draw in more than one way. One pretty
line is} 25. Qe8+ Kh7 26. Nb6 $3 Nxa1 27. Nd7 {and Black has no defence
against the Nf8/ Nd7-pendulum.}) 21... Qd6 22. c3 {The challenger goes for the
draw in the most solid manner.} ({The more complicated} 22. Re2 {also ends up
in equality after} Qd7 23. Nc7 (23. Nxc5 $2 Qd4+) 23... Rxe2 24. Qxe2 Rc8 25.
Re1 Qd4+ 26. Qe3 Nxc2 27. Qxd4 Nxd4 28. Re7 {Alas, how forced!} Nc6 29. Rd7 Rd8
30. Rxd8+ Nxd8 31. Bd6 Kf7 32. Bxc5 Ne6 33. Nxe6 Kxe6 {is a most drawish draw.}
) 22... Rxe6 23. Rxe6 Qxe6 24. cxb4 cxb4 {If White was allowed to play d4, Be5
and then put the queen or rook in such a place from where it would keep an eye
on g7; then White would be better.} 25. Rc1 Rc8 {But Carlsen will not let
White have three moves for free.} 26. Rxc8+ Qxc8 27. Qe1 Qd7 28. Kh2 a5 29. Qe3
Bd5 30. Qb6 Bxb3 31. Qxa5 Qxd3 32. Qxb4 Be6 {Next Black will put the queen on
d7 and the position will reach a state of zero entropy. So, draw agreed.}
1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Karjakin +2-2=10"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.11.20"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D27"]
[WhiteElo "2769"]
[BlackElo "2857"]
[Annotator "Hillarp Persson,T"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2016.11.11"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 $5 {I had decided not to watch any of the news on the game, in order to
avoid reproducing what others had thought. Still, I couldn't keep away during
the first few moves and I felt a breeze of cautious optimism when I saw
Karjakin's first move. Could it be that he had deviated from his usual 1.e4 in
order to be more ambitious?} d5 $5 2. c4 c6 {Already the last move was a bit
of a surprise, but this is doubly surprising. Normally, both Carlsen and
Karjakin favour 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 as Black, but then they diverge. Carlsen
usually meets 3.Nf3 with 3...d5, whereas Karjakin slightly prefers 3...b6 over
3...d5. Considering how close their main repertoires are after 1.d4, it is not
that much of a surprise that Carlsen decides to spring a surprise.} 3. Nc3 Nf6
4. e3 a6 {This variation, named after the Moldovan master Chebanenko, was very
unusual before the early nineties. Although it looks weird to move both the c-
and the a-pawn to the sixth rank at such an early stage, it stands on a solid
strategical basis. We see a similar strategy in the Najdorf, the Modern Benoni
and the Modern, where Black plays a6 in order to disturb a knight on c3.
However, it is interesting to notice that this is one of the few instances
where a6 is a decent option even if the knight is not on c3. Suppose White has
played Nf3 instead of Nc3, then Black can still play a6. The point is that
White's knight really needs to go to c3, sooner or later, if White is to claim
any sort of advantage. In such a case one might say that a6 disturbs White's
natural development.} (4... e6 {leads to the Semi Slav, which has been seen in
numerous earlier WCh matches. Carlsen's choice of line is more solid and also
leads to lines that are slightly less analysed.}) 5. Bd3 {No! I couldn't
believe my eyes when I saw this. Now Black is able to enter a line from the
Queen's Gambit Accepted (QGA), that I thought was completely toothless. Still,
after checking the facts I have come to the conclusion that my instincts are,
at least, dated. Since the main lines have become so heavily analysed, the
players try some of the old things anew and as will soon become obvious,
Karjakin is far from alone in seeking something new in the these lines.} ({
The main lines start with} 5. Nf3 b5 {and then White has a choice between the
very ambitious} 6. c5 {and the less ambitious 6.b3. It says a lot about
Karjakin's attitude that he chooses neither of these. He is either a) happy to
draw his way to the tie-breaks, or he b) expects Carlsen to become
over-ambitious, or c) has great belief in his technical abilities, or d) this
line is far more dangerous for Black than I thought (and still think).}) 5...
dxc4 $1 6. Bxc4 e6 7. Nf3 c5 {So, we arrive at a line from the QGA, via a
roundabout move order. This position used to be the main line, but then
players started to realise that the knight lacked flexibility on c3. Since
then White's main ideas in these positions all have one thing in common;
avoiding putting the knight on c3. After 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.
Bxc4 c5 5.0-0 a6, both 6.Bb3, 6.Qe2 and 6.dxc5 are more common than 6.Nc3.
Then again, "common" is not always a sign of quality.} 8. O-O ({Here White has
the option of playing} 8. a4 {, which is fairly dull, especially for Black.
After} Nc6 9. O-O Be7 10. Qe2 cxd4 11. Rd1 e5 12. exd4 exd4 13. Nxd4 Nxd4 14.
Qe5 Qd6 {White is marginally better, although the results tend towards draws,
aplenty.}) 8... b5 9. Be2 {And here, when I put my hands to my face in similar
fashion to Munch's famous "peanut-face", I'm clearly out of line. This line
turns out to be as haute couture as anything chess related can be. It has been
played by Aronian, Wang Yue, Vitiugov and others. White is doing well. My
prejudices need to be updated.} (9. Bb3 Bb7 10. Qe2 ({I was hoping for} 10. e4
$5) 10... Nbd7 11. Rd1 Qb8 {has a solid reputation for Black and is the reason
why White started experimenting with not putting the knight on c3.}) 9... Bb7 (
9... Nbd7 10. d5 exd5 11. Nxd5 Bb7 12. Nxf6+ Qxf6 13. a4 b4 {seems to be about
balanced, but White can set Black some problems with} 14. e4 {Aronian,L (2795)
-Ponomariov,R (2710) SportAccord Blitz 2014, continued:} Be7 15. Bc4 Rd8 $6 16.
Qe2 Qg6 17. Bf4 O-O 18. Bc7 (18. Rfe1 $5) 18... Rc8 19. Bg3 a5 20. Rfe1 {
with some initiative for White.}) 10. dxc5 $1 {Other moves make no sense.
Black would prefer to take back on c5 with a knight, but here 10...Nbd7 can be
met with 11.b4!} Nc6 $5 {Not exactly a novelty, but played at a 2700+ level
for the first time.} (10... Bxc5 11. Qxd8+ Kxd8 12. Nd2 {has been scoring well
for White among engines.}) ({Karjakin had to suffer this position himself once
as Black. That game went:} 10... Qxd1 11. Rxd1 Bxc5 12. Nd2 $1 {If we compare
this position to the "early" dxc5-lines in the QGA, Black has already
committed to b7-b5, which leaves the dark squares somewhat weaker and also
gives White something to chew on with the a-pawn.} Nbd7 (12... Nc6 13. Nce4
Nxe4 14. Nxe4 Be7 {would be similar to the game if the queens were still on.
But since they aren't White can play} 15. Nd6+ Bxd6 16. Rxd6 Ke7 17. Rd1 $14)
13. Nb3 Bb6 (13... Bb4) 14. a4 b4 15. a5 $1 Bd8 16. Na4 Be7 17. f3 g5 18. e4 g4
19. Be3 {Fressinet,L (2700)-Karjakin,S (2775) Beijing (blitz) 2012, when White
had a big advantage and eventually won.}) 11. Nd2 {As seen on the last move,
this is the standard reaction when the queens disappear from the board.
However, here it doesn't work as well.} ({Although I haven't seen what anyone
else says about the game, I have allowed myself the luxury of turning the
engine on now and then. I know I shouldn't, but the hour is late in Sweden and
what would happen if I got it all wrong? The prospect it frightful. So, the
most critical line seems to be} 11. Qxd8+ Rxd8 12. b4 $5 {It's very likely
that Karjakin tried to calculate the consequences of this move over the board
while sensing that it was surely part of his opponent's preparation. Not
finding a clear road to an advantage he then proceeded to play a "normal" move.
I'm just guessing though.} Nxb4 13. a4 $1 {One immediately spots that the
queenside pawns will disappear and then the question is: how much activity
does White have?} Bxc5 ({With some silicon-based help, it is possible to find
that} 13... Nc2 14. Ra2 Nb4 15. Rd2 (15. Ra3 Bxc5 16. axb5 Nd3 $1 17. Rb3 O-O
$132) 15... Bxc5 16. Rxd8+ Kxd8 17. axb5 axb5 18. Nxb5 Ke7 19. Ba3 Ra8 20. Rc1
Nd7 {is a long line that just holds, although one sure wouldn't like to
calculate and play it over the board.}) 14. axb5 axb5 15. Bxb5+ Bc6 (15... Ke7
16. Na4 Bd6 17. Nb6 {and White develops some quite nasty pressure.}) 16. Ba3
Bxb5 17. Nxb5 O-O 18. Rfc1 Be7 {and Black should be within drawing distance
since} 19. Rc7 {can be met with} Rd7 $11) (11. Qc2) 11... Bxc5 {It's not only
the Giuoco Piano that can lead to an asymmetrical pawn structure. ;)} 12. Nde4
({Here the idea from Fressinet-Karjakin (above) doesn't work:} 12. Nb3 Bd6 $1 {
and White is stuck with a passive bishop, a cramped position and with no way
to use the c5-square.} 13. e4 $2 b4 $1) 12... Nxe4 13. Nxe4 Be7 {Something has
gone wrong for White and Black's position is very comfortable. The pressure to
equalise is already on White.} 14. b3 Nb4 $1 15. Bf3 $1 O-O ({Perhaps Carlsen
was too happy with the draw, because here he wastes a chance to put more
pressure on Karjakin:} 15... f5 $1 {The point is to get the bishop to the
f6-a1-diagonal, when protecting a2 becomes very hard.} 16. Nd2 (16. Nd6+ Qxd6
17. Bxb7 Qxd1 18. Rxd1 Ra7 19. Bf3 Bf6 20. Rb1 Nxa2) 16... Bxf3 17. Nxf3 Qxd1
18. Rxd1 Bf6 19. Nd4 {Not a happy move for White to play, but there is nothing
else.} Kf7 {and Black has some pressure.}) 16. Ba3 $1 {Karjakin pulls the
brake just in time. With more exchanges Black has nothing more than a little
extra space, which is a very nominal advantage indeed.} Rc8 $6 (16... Rb8 {
or any other move that protects the bishop, would give Carlsen the kind of
position where he could have played on for some while. Instead he ends up at a
slight disadvantage.}) 17. Nf6+ Bxf6 18. Bxb7 Bxa1 19. Bxb4 Bf6 20. Bxf8 Qxd1
21. Rxd1 Rxf8 22. Bxa6 {Karjakin has won a pawn but needs one more move to
make it count (a2-a4).} b4 $1 {This pawn is easily protected and keeps White's
pawn majority in check. White's advantage is that there is one tactical trick
which Black can fall for, but that's it.} 23. Rc1 g6 24. Rc2 Ra8 ({The
tactical blunder I was referring to is} 24... Bc3 $6 25. Bc4 Kg7 $2 26. a4 $1 {
, when White's winning chances become very real.}) 25. Bd3 Rd8 26. Be2 Kf8 27.
Kf1 Ra8 28. Bc4 Rc8 29. Ke2 Ke7 30. f4 h6 31. Kf3 Rc7 32. g4 g5 33. Ke4 Rc8 {
White cannot make progress, so the draw was agreed.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Karjakin +2-2=10"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.11.21"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E14"]
[WhiteElo "2853"]
[BlackElo "2769"]
[Annotator "Caruana,F"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2016.11.11"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{So the eighth game of the match; now we all know how the story goes, but I
think many people already had the feeling that this game would go down as a
big one, before it happened. After seven draws and several missed chances,
Carlsen was eager to make his move in the match. The last time a World
Championship happened in New York, in 1995, the match also started with a
string of draws. In the eighth game, the champion then, Garry Kasparov, chose
a Scotch and was neutralized with accurate opening play in long theoretical
lines by his challenger, Vishy Anand. Fast forward 21 years and the current
World Champion chose an entirely different opening strategy to try to win.} 1.
d4 {This was definitely not unexpected, and even the move I predicted before
the game. Carlsen had had enough of trying to break down Karjakin's e4 e5 and
decided to venture into the thick complex of closed systems. It was natural to
assume he might try something involving an early Bf4 or Bg5, but instead
something unexpected, or at least unexpected to me, happened:} Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3.
e3 $5 {After this surprise it became clear that we were unlikely to see any
big theory or novel ideas in the opening. Magnus often plays slightly unusual
but strategically based variations where his opponent has a wide choice of
options and where there is a good chance of getting a playable position with
chances to outplay the opposing side.} e6 {.} 4. Bd3 c5 5. b3 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7.
Bb2 b6 8. dxc5 {While the last few moves have all been pretty standard, this
strikes me as unusual. The normal tried and tested plan is to post a knight on
e5 and continue with moves like f4, Qf3, aiming to gain space and start an
attack on the kingside. Carlsen's choice is certainly not bad, however, and
leads to play where he can count on a slight, perhaps very slight, edge.} (8.
Nbd2 Bb7 9. Ne5 {is what I would normlly expect, to be followed up by f4 or
perhaps Qf3 and then Qh3. This also doesn't guarantee an advantage, but would
lead to a totally different type of position than what occurred in the game.})
8... Bxc5 (8... bxc5 9. c4 {would play into White's hands, most likely
eventually leading to a hanging pawns position after White captures on d5 and
Black recaptures with the e-pawn. Karjakin's choice is more circumspect.}) 9.
Nbd2 Bb7 {Black continues with standard development. Karjakin took his
decisions in the opening stage of the game with speed and ease, while Carlsen
seemed less sure of his position.} 10. Qe2 Nbd7 11. c4 {One of the two
plausible pawn breaks. The other one, e4, I saw was recommended for White, but
it seems completely harmless to me, and would likely end in complete equality
in a few moves.} (11. e4 dxe4 12. Nxe4 Be7 {The position remains very
complicated here, but I believe in the inherent soundness of Black's structure
and position.} (12... Nxe4 13. Bxe4 Bxe4 14. Qxe4 Nf6 {is safe and probably
enough for equality.}) 13. Rad1 (13. Neg5 {looks threatening, but after} Nc5
14. Rad1 Nxd3 15. Rxd3 Qc7 {White's play appears to go nowhere.}) 13... Qc7 (
13... Nxe4 14. Bxe4 Bxe4 15. Qxe4 Qc7 {bails out but is also enough for rough
equality.}) 14. Neg5 {, and here it looks scary, but Black can bite the bullet
and come out ahead:} Nc5 $1 15. Be5 Qc6 16. Bxf6 gxf6 $1 17. Bxh7+ Kg7 18. Be4
Nxe4 19. Nd4 fxg5 20. Nxc6 Bxc6 $17) (11. a3 $5 {is a flexible move, but it
also gives Black a lot of flexibility in his piece placement. Even the unusual
looking} Re8 $5 {, planning ...e5 next, makes sense.}) 11... dxc4 {I think
this an example of good judgement. If Karjakin had allowed cxd5, he might have
had to deal with a knight coming to e4. It's hard to prove that dxc4 is the
correct move, but I suspect the knight is only superficially good-looking on
c4 and would rather be more flexibly placed on d2.} ({For example:} 11... Qe7
12. cxd5 Nxd5 13. a3 a5 14. Ne4 N5f6 15. Nfd2 {, and White can perhaps count
on some slight pressure.}) 12. Nxc4 Qe7 13. a3 a5 {Obviously the only move, as
White shouldn't be allowed to win the bishop pair with b4. Now Magnus had to
come up with a plan, but I don't think he successfully dealt with his task.
His next few moves suggest he wasn't sure how to approach the position, and
instead he mixed up inconsistent plans and ended up only putting himself at
risk.} 14. Nd4 (14. e4 {is of course a very direct way of playing it, aiming
to attack with e5 and Ne4, but after} Rfd8 15. e5 Nd5 16. g3 Nf8 {the black
king looks very safe with a knight on f8.}) 14... Rfd8 {I like this move, and
the plan associated with it - to maneuver the knight from the awkward
d7-square to the comfy g6-square, where it also disturbs White with schemes of
attacking his bare king.} 15. Rfd1 Rac8 (15... Nf8 {immediately would run into}
16. Ne5 {, and that is understandably not what Black is looking for.}) 16. Rac1
{This strikes me as a lazy move, after which Black obtains a completely
comfortable position. The rook might look well-placed on c1, but it does
nothing to bother Black and loosens the defense of the a3-pawn. In general
this decision demonstrates to me that Carlsen is far from being at his best in
this match so far.} (16. Nb5 Nf8 17. b4 axb4 18. axb4 Bxb4 19. Nxb6 {grants
White a very temporary initiative, which will be neutralized after a couple of
accurate moves.}) (16. Nc2 $5 {feels like the right move to me, even if not
objectively, then at least practically; it makes it difficult for Black to
complete his plan of ...Nf8-g6, and anything which cuts across the opponent's
plan must be seriously considered. I'm surprised Magnus didn't choose to play
this way.} e5 (16... Nf8 $2 17. b4 axb4 18. axb4 {would hand White a serious
initiative.}) 17. e4 {, and because of the constant threat of b4 White can
perhaps count on a slight pull here.}) 16... Nf8 17. Qe1 {This idea, to bring
the bishop to f1, is I think an admission things have not gone according to
plan. White regroups in order to defend an underprotected king, but clearly he
cannot hope for an advantage in this way,} Ng6 18. Bf1 Ng4 $1 {An excellent
move, and already White seems slightly on the back foot.} 19. Nb5 $6 {And this
careless move allows Black to develop a strong initiative.} ({However, even
after} 19. h3 N4e5 20. Nxe5 Nxe5 {I would already slightly prefer to play
Black. The bishop on b7 is mighty and unopposed, the knight on e5 is itching
to jump places and a3 is under attack.}) 19... Bc6 $2 {Just strange - a
completely useless move, putting the bishop on a bad square. It's like
Karjakin, who has played excellently thus far, can't believe he has outplayed
Magnus and is already just better.} (19... Qg5 $1 {is crying out to be played.
Just attack! Let White worry about how to hold his shaky kingside together. He
would probably have to settle for the sad} 20. h3 (20. Nbd6 Bxd6 21. Nxd6 {
is met by many strong moves, for example} N4e5 {, and ...Nf3 is difficult to
prevent.}) 20... N4e5 21. Nxe5 Nxe5 22. Bxe5 (22. Kh1 $2 Nd3 $1 23. Rxd3 Rxd3
24. b4 axb4 25. axb4 Rb3 $1 26. bxc5 Rxb5 {wins an exchange and most likely
the game as well.}) 22... Qxe5 {It might not be so awful for White, but he is
definitely worse and will have to defend for a long time.}) 20. a4 Bd5 {
Correcting his mistake on the previous move is a good idea. Black still has a
decent position, but no longer a better one.} (20... Qg5 {just doesn't work
now because of} 21. h3 N4e5 22. Nxe5 Nxe5 23. Bxe5 Qxe5 24. Na7 {, and we can
see why the bishop is horribly misplaced on c6.}) 21. Bd4 {Logical. Trading
dark-squared bishops leaves b6 unprotected.} Bxc4 (21... Bxd4 22. Rxd4 (22.
Nxd4 Qc7 {and h2 is awkward to defend.}) 22... N6e5 {might have been an even
more accurate way of equalizing, because} 23. Nxb6 $4 Rxc1 24. Qxc1 Qh4 {
is basically mate and game over.}) 22. Rxc4 Bxd4 23. Rdxd4 ({In the press
conference Judit mentioned} 23. exd4 $5 {as an option. Anti-positional as it
looks, I started to appreciate the benefits of the move - taking control of
the e5-square - and even thought it might offer White an edge. However, after}
Nf6 24. g3 Qd7 25. Bg2 Ne7 {Black is way too solid to be worse.}) 23... Rxc4
24. bxc4 $6 {This move reminds me of Magnus' play in the fifth game of the
match. The position is equal, but he refuses to accept the fact and starts
playing risky, anti-positional moves to try to keep the game going. Why does
he need to play this way? The match is equal and there's no need to overpress
for a win. In this game his stubborn refusal to accept a draw finally
backfired.} (24. Rxc4 {might not offer much, or nothing at all, but White
doesn't risk losing and can perhaps press on for a little bit. I can't imagine
Magnus opting out of this, and instead going for a strategically risky
position, if he was in his usual frame of mind.}) 24... Nf6 (24... N4e5 {
was my suggeston during the game, with the idea of playing ...Nc6 and trading
rooks. Black should also be fine here, but Karjakin's way also worked out and
led to far, far more interesting play.}) 25. Qd2 (25. c5 $2 {is "almost" a
trick:} bxc5 26. Rxd8+ Qxd8 {, and the a5-pawn is protected.}) 25... Rb8 (25...
Rd7 $2 26. c5 $1 {would be very bad for Black, so he had to surrender the
d-file, but White has a hard time making use of his control of the d-file.})
26. g3 Ne5 {The knight is heading for c5 via d7. The a4-pawn is a serious
weakness and White will have to compensate for that with piece activity.} 27.
Bg2 h6 28. f4 Ned7 29. Na7 Qa3 {If it weren't for the weakness of e3, Black
would actually be in serious trouble. But that was the cost for White of
playing f4 to get the knight to c6.} 30. Nc6 Rf8 31. h3 $6 {Again, Magnus
refuses to accept a safe position and keeps pushing his luck, even though it
is obviously very risky to play this way, especially with approaching time
trouble.} (31. Rxd7 Nxd7 32. Qxd7 Qxe3+ 33. Kf1 Qc1+ 34. Kf2 {, and most
likely the position will end in a draw due to White's exposed king, but he
risks absolutely nothing and perhaps can hope for some initiative in mutual
time trouble.}) 31... Nc5 32. Kh2 Nxa4 {The next few moves could easily be
criticized, but the position is massively complex and very difficult to
understand and play, especially in time trouble.} (32... g6 $5 {could be
considered and might even transpose to the game after} 33. Rd8 Nxa4) 33. Rd8 (
33. e4 {makes a lot of sense to me. The knight on f6 is going to have to move
to a very awkward square after the upcoming e5.} Nc5 34. e5 Nh5 ({The machine
suggests the astonishing} 34... Nfe4 $5 {, which would never happen in a real,
human game.}) 35. Qf2 {This position is irrational and very difficult to
assess. Black has the extra passed a-pawn and a dominant c5-knight and active
queen. The knight on h5 is trapped on the edge of the board, but it also
serves a purpose in creating counterplay against White's king. What would have
happened in a game from this position is impossible to predict - the game
could have gone either side's way.}) 33... g6 34. Qd4 Kg7 35. c5 $2 {
Objectively a losing move, but I find it difficult to criticize the players
for making mistakes in such a complex position, with so many options and
limited time. White's situation was already difficult and this move
practically worked out for Magnus.} (35. Rd7 {keeping the rooks on the board,
was probably the best option for White.}) 35... Rxd8 (35... bxc5 $4 36. Qd6
Rxd8 37. Nxd8 {with the unstoppable threat of Qe7 and Qxf7, was Carlsen's
ingenious point.}) 36. Nxd8 Nxc5 37. Qd6 Qd3 $2 {Obviously Karjakin didn't
miss White's next move, but in time trouble he probably didn't anticipate
White's 41st.} (37... Qa4 $1 {was the way to go, as many pointed out. It's
natural Karjakin didn't want to give up b6 so easily, but after} 38. Qxb6 Ncd7
{the main point is the passed a-pawn. That will be enough for victory.}) 38.
Nxe6+ fxe6 39. Qe7+ Kg8 40. Qxf6 a4 {This pawn is a monster, but White creates
quick counterplay against Black's king:} 41. e4 {At this point I started to
believe Magnus might win! Black's king quickly becomes very vulnerable.} Qd7 $1
{But this important defensive move made me realize Karjakin wasn't risking
much.} (41... a3 42. Qxg6+ Kf8 43. f5 {would only be risky for Black, because
his king is just so weak, and the threats of fxe6 and f6 are extremely
dangerous.}) 42. Qxg6+ Qg7 43. Qe8+ Qf8 44. Qc6 (44. Qg6+ {doesn't necessarily
lead to a draw, because Black can try} Kh8 {, and White still has to prove he
is okay, which might not be so simple over the board.}) 44... Qd8 45. f5 {
White absolutely has to create counterplay, as otherwise the a-pawn will
decide the game. I think special attention should be given to the beautiful
knight on c5, which holds together Black's entire position: e6 and a4, as well
as controlling the crucial e4-square in many lines.} a3 46. fxe6 Kg7 (46... Kh7
{would force White to find a tough sequence of moves to draw:} 47. e5 $1 a2 48.
Be4+ $1 Nxe4 49. Qxe4+ Kg7 (49... Kh8 50. e7 Qxe7 51. Qa8+ Kg7 52. Qxa2 {
is drawn.}) 50. Qb7+ Kg8 51. Qf7+ Kh8 52. Qf4 {, and next Qxh6 leads to
perpetual check.}) 47. e7 Qxe7 48. Qxb6 Nd3 49. Qa5 $2 {I think this is
practically the decisive mistake from Magnus.} ({As Alejandro Ramirez and I
discussed during the game,} 49. e5 $1 {should give White a relatively easy
draw. The pawn is worthless - more important is for White to free the bishop
on g2 from its cage.} Nxe5 (49... a2 50. Qd4 $1 Nxe5 51. Bd5 {wins the pawn.})
50. Bd5 {, and with the bishop actively controlling a2 I can't see how Black
can ever win this position.}) 49... Qc5 50. Qa6 Ne5 {This position looks
horribly difficult for White to defend. It might even be objectively lost, but
I don't think it matters over the board if there is a miracle draw somewhere.
Practically, White's defensive task is impossible and I wasn't surprised to
see the game end soon.} 51. Qe6 h5 {Now it's mathematically dead lost, and
Carlsen's next move just sped up his inevitable demise.} 52. h4 a2 {A huge win
for Karjakin, to pull ahead in the match with Black and so close to the finish
line. Carlsen's unimpressive play throughout the match might give added
confidence to Karjakin, but as we've seen time and again, Carlsen has the
unique ability to pull himelf together and bring tournaments and matches back
in the eleventh hour, even when the odds are stacked against him. Perhaps this
painful loss and the rest day before the ninth game will be enough of a
wake-up call for Carlsen to get his play together for the last four games.} (
52... a2 53. Qxa2 Ng4+ 54. Kh3 Qg1 55. Qb2+ Kg6 $1 {and the checks run out.
White is mated or loses the queen after} 56. Bf3 Nf2+) 0-1

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Karjakin +2-2=10"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.11.23"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2769"]
[BlackElo "2853"]
[Annotator "Caruana,F"]
[PlyCount "148"]
[EventDate "2016.11.11"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{The game after Carlsen's loss wasn't guaranteed to be exciting, but viewers
were in for a surprise. I had expected a fairly tame draw, but instead we were
treated to an extremely complex fighting game with an opening not usually seen
at the top level.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3
Bc5 {The Archangel variation was certainly not expected by most people, and
probably not by the Karjakin camp either. Playing it requires a tremendous
amount of knowledge, so it's likely that Carlsen prepared it before the match
as a backup to his main defenses. I have some experience playing this as Black
against Karjakin, as it was my mainstay opening for a time, and we played
several interesting games. As an attempt to win, it can work if the opponent
is poorly prepared or surprised, but Karjakin proved up to the task.} 7. a4 Rb8
8. c3 d6 9. d4 Bb6 10. axb5 axb5 11. Na3 {Karjakin decided to go for the main
and most principled line, immediately grabbing the b-pawn. It is what he
recently played against Svidler and the most forcing variation, so he probably
felt playing this way avoided the most amount of risk.} O-O 12. Nxb5 Bg4 13.
Bc2 exd4 14. Nbxd4 Nxd4 15. cxd4 Bxf3 16. gxf3 Nh5 17. Kh1 {I always felt that
this line was one of the most unpleasant for Black to face. White avoids any
risk and hopes to prove the advantage of the bishop pair after the center
opens up, usually when White sacrifices a pawn with e5 or f4. Meanwhile, Black
has to constantly be on the lookout for tactics.} Qf6 18. Be3 c5 $5 {Years ago,
as Rustam Kasimdzhanov was frying some plantains, he explained to me that this
move was the best chance for Black to equalize. After we analyzed it, he tried
it against Nakamura in the 2014 Tromso olympiad. Carlsen and his team also
must have felt this was the best way for Black to approach the position.} 19.
e5 Qe6 20. exd6 c4 $1 {This unusual move is the point behind 18...c5. Black
keeps the center closed, and plans on capturing d6 next and creating mating
threats after with ...Bc7.} 21. b3 cxb3 (21... c3 {was how Rustam approached
the position, and although it may be playable, he lost the game. Carlsen's
choice is perhaps a better way to equalize.} 22. d5 Qxd6 23. Ra6 Nf4 24. Ra4
Ng6 25. Qd3 Bc7 26. f4 {Nakamura-Kasimdzhanov, Tromso ol 2014, and Black was
outplayed.}) 22. Bxb3 Qxd6 23. Ra6 {After 23 moves, we have reached a critical
position, and one which was certainly analyzed by both players and their teams.
Magnus sank into thought here, which perhaps means that he forgot what he had
prepared, or that he was deciding between two roughly equivalent options.} Rfd8
({Another option was to play} 23... Qd7 {immediately, and considering the Bxf7
tactics which happened later in the game, keeping the rook on f8 for now was
worthy of consideration.} 24. Rg1 g6 {I have a feeling that this would have
offered Black better chances for equality.}) 24. Rg1 Qd7 25. Rg4 {I thought
that placing the rook on h4 was very strange, but there was no other
convenient way of defending the d4-pawn. The next dozen or so moves are very
difficult to explain. The position is highly concrete and it's likely both
players were creating and reacting to immediate threats; the end result being
very computeresque play.} ({The tempting sacrifice} 25. Rg5 g6 26. Rxh5 gxh5 {
seems to lead nowhere.}) ({The computer suggestion of} 25. Bc4 Bxd4 26. Bg5 {
would lead to a very drawish ending:} Rdc8 27. Ra4 Rc7 28. Bxf7+ Qxf7 29. Rxd4
Rf8 30. Rd8 Rc8 31. Rxc8 Rxc8 {, and White's winning chances are minimal})
25... Nf6 26. Rh4 Qb5 27. Ra1 g6 {This move is generally useful, providing
luft for Black's king.} 28. Rb1 Qd7 29. Qd3 Nd5 30. Rg1 {Now White's plans are
clear. Rooks on the open files and a bishop on b3 pave the way for an eventual
rook sacrifice on g6, h7 or a bishop sacrifice on f7. The immediate threat is
Bg5.} Bc7 31. Bg5 Re8 32. Qc4 Rb5 $1 {An excellent move, but I'm not sure it
was one which was accurately calculated by either player.} (32... Nb6 $4 33.
Qxf7+ Qxf7 34. Bxf7+ Kxf7 35. Rxh7+ {shows the tactics available at White's
disposal.}) 33. Qc2 (33. Ba4 {is of course critical. White seems to win a rook,
but Black has a sneaky response:} Qf5 $1 34. Qf1 $1 {Interposing with the
queen on g2 is the only way to save White. Now Black has only one move to stay
in the game:} Rb1 $3 (34... Qxf3+ 35. Qg2 Qxg2+ 36. Kxg2 {wins for White.}) 35.
Qxb1 Qxf3+ 36. Rg2 Nc3 37. Qf1 Nxa4 {, and Black has very decent compensation
for the exchange in the form of White's uncoordinated forces and a mighty
queen on f3. However, White could still try to regroup and play this for a win,
even though a draw is the most likely result.}) 33... Ra8 $6 {After this,
Black again experiences difficulties.} (33... Rb4 {is the machine
recommendation, the point being to keep the rook on the e-file for} 34. Bd2 Re2
$1) 34. Bc4 Rba5 35. Bd2 Ra4 36. Qd3 Ra1 37. Rxa1 Rxa1+ 38. Kg2 Ne7 $2 {
Almost the decisive mistake, but practically this move was difficult to punish.
} ({After something like} 38... Bd8 39. Re4 Nf6 {, Black is still clearly
worse, but he has decent chances to hold on due to counterplay against White's
king.}) 39. Bxf7+ {Very tempting, but not correct. After this sacrifice
everyone in the spectators' lounge got very excited and started predicting a
win for Karjakin. However, the whole line becomes very forcing and leads to a
drawish position.} (39. Qb3 $1 {was more critical:} Nf5 (39... Qf5 40. Re4 Bd6
41. Qb7 {just wins material - the knight is trapped.}) 40. Bxf7+ Kg7 (40...
Qxf7 41. Qxf7+ Kxf7 42. Rxh7+ Ke6 43. Rxc7 {, and this ending is most likely
lost or at least very difficult to hold.}) 41. Rh3 {It feels like Black should
have counterplay here, but there is no path to create threats to White's king.
It turns out Black's king is the terminally weak one.} Qe7 42. Bg8 h5 43. d5 {
, and Bc3 is coming. Of course, this would not guarantee a win, as the
position remains very complicated, especially in time trouble, but objectively
Karjakin would have good winning chances like this.}) 39... Kxf7 40. Qc4+ Kg7
41. d5 ({My first thought during the game was} 41. Rxh7+ Kxh7 42. Qf7+ Kh8 43.
Bh6 {, with mate I thought, but then I saw} Qxd4 {and the tables are turned.
Black wins.}) (41. Bh6+ Kf6 $1 {is surprisingly also bad for White, as the
attack leads nowhere.}) 41... Nf5 {Now everything is forced.} (41... Be5 $2 42.
Bc3 Qd6 43. Qf4 $1 {is a very study-like win, with a double pin on Black's
king and queen.}) 42. Bc3+ Kf8 43. Bxa1 Nxh4+ 44. Qxh4 Qxd5 {And here it
became clear that Carlsen would not lose the game. White is not winning h7 and
his pawn advantage is not enough to cause Black significant problems. Karjakin
tried hard to create progress here, but to no avail.} 45. Qf6+ Qf7 46. Qd4 Ke8
47. Qe4+ Qe7 48. Qd5 Bd8 49. Kf1 Qf7 50. Qe4+ Qe7 51. Be5 Qe6 52. Kg2 Be7 53.
Qa8+ Kf7 54. Qh8 h5 55. Qg7+ Ke8 56. Bf4 Qf7 57. Qh8+ Qf8 58. Qd4 Qf5 59. Qc4
Kd7 60. Bd2 Qe6 61. Qa4+ Qc6 62. Qa7+ Qc7 63. Qa2 Qd6 64. Be3 Qe6 65. Qa7+ Ke8
66. Bc5 Bd8 67. h3 Qd5 68. Be3 Be7 69. Qb8+ Kf7 70. Qh8 Qe6 71. Bf4 Qf6 72. Qb8
Qe6 73. Qb7 Kg8 74. Qb5 Bf6 {Finally Karjakin gave up trying to win. Magnus
survived a difficult position! If he had lost, the match would have been
practically decided, but now it is still a wide open contest. Tomorrow Carlsen
has a critical game with White to try and win; he hasn't managed to convert
his advantages so far in the match, so we'll see if he can pull through in the
crucial last games.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Karjakin +2-2=10"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.11.24"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2853"]
[BlackElo "2769"]
[Annotator "So,Wesley"]
[PlyCount "149"]
[EventDate "2016.11.11"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Going into the World Championship matches, many people logically considered
Magnus to be the clear favorite against Sergey Karjakin. First of all the
difference in their rating was a bit wide, as was their most recent overall
performance.This year alone Magnus had won four big tournaments (Tata Steel,
Norway, Leuven and Bilbao), while Sergey had only won the (admittedly long and
tough) Candidates tournament which qualified him as the Challenger. Those
things carry weight in people's minds but rounds 1-9 showed a different and
very surprising story. The challenger's strong balanced attack, his ability to
find good moves and make plans, his outstanding defense, and resistance to
cracking under pressure, proved him to be an impregnable fortress. Magnus
could not find a way to break Sergey down until eventually, overextending
himself in Round 8, the Champion even had to accept defeat. At this point in
Game 10 with only 3 games to the finish he absolutely has to find a way to
even the score. He HAS to do it today.} 1. e4 {In Rounds 1 and 8 Magnus got
nowhere with 1.d4, after giving the Trompovsky and the Colle system a try.
Sergey Karjakin knew his stuff there. In fact he got nothing but trouble in
game 8. So today Magnus decides to go back to the "best by test move"
recommended by Fischer and Caruana. To be honest I'm kind of surprised that
Magnus does not try 1.c4 or 1.Nf3/1.g3 but maybe we will see that in Round 12.}
e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 (3. Bc4 Bc5 {Carlsen-Karjakin Round 5, but Magnus got
nothing there either and in the end he must have been happy to save that game.}
) 3... Nf6 {Sergey sticks to his guns and goes for the Berlin Opening. I
noticed that during the entire match so far, one of Sergey's strategies has
been simply to go for the main lines in the opening and play a normal game. He
does not overpush but maintains composure by playing objective, strong moves.}
4. d3 {Magnus' strategy seemed mostly aimed at surprises in the opening and
later on, hopes to exploit his opponent's mistakes over the board. It reminded
me of a quote by a famous chess player: "I will play 40 good moves. If my
opponent plays 40 good moves too, we will draw." The problem in this match is
Sergey is the opponent who finds all the good moves too.} (4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 {
Carlsen-Karjakin Round 3, where White got very close to first blood, but later
on couldn't convert.}) 4... Bc5 {Putting the bishop on an active post while
also preparing to exchange the knights with ...Nd4.} 5. c3 ({Magnus has won
many games in the past with} 5. Bxc6 dxc6 {And here White has many moves, but
the latest innovation is} 6. Qe2 {threatening to take Nxe5.} Qe7 (6... Bg4 7.
h3 Bxf3 8. Qxf3 $14) 7. Nbd2 Bg4 8. h3 Bh5 9. a3 Nd7 10. b4 Bd6 11. Nc4 f6 12.
Ne3 a5 13. Nf5 {The knight on f5 is very powerful and not easy to dislodge.}
Qf8 14. bxa5 Rxa5 15. O-O Qf7 16. a4 Nc5 (16... O-O $2 17. Bh6 $1 {is a really
nice combination.}) 17. Qe1 b6 18. Nd2 Rxa4 19. Nc4 Bf8 $2 20. Be3 {and White
won easily - Carlsen against a strong GM.}) 5... O-O 6. Bg5 {This is
unexpected, both for the spectators and I assume for Sergey too. Usually White
castles his king first with 6.O-O and then after 6...d6 7.Bg5, when Black no
longer has the option of ...Be7.} (6. Bxc6 {does not win a clean pawn, since
after} bxc6 7. Nxe5 d5 {Black will get fast development in return.}) 6... h6 7.
Bh4 Be7 {This is the safe and natural approach. I like this move.} (7... g5 8.
Bg3 d6 9. Nbd2 {is not desirable for Black as with the rook still on h1, White
gets extra attacking options.}) 8. O-O (8. Bxc6 bxc6 9. Nxe5 {You think White
has won a pawn? Well...} Nxe4 $1 {No. Black is better.}) 8... d6 9. Nbd2 {
It's a little perplexing in general is Magnus' opening approach, as it's not
very clear here where White's advantage is.} ({Perhaps} 9. Bg3 {with a complex
position for example,} Nh5 ({If} 9... Bd7 {then} 10. h3 {which is a typical
Ruy Lopez subtlety, vacating the h2-square for the bishop to retreat into!} Nh5
11. Bh2 f5 $13) 10. Bxc6 bxc6 (10... Nxg3 11. Bxb7 $1 {Aha! The suicidal
bishop gives up its life so White wins a pawn.} Bxb7 12. hxg3 $16) 11. Nxe5
dxe5 12. Qxh5 Qxd3 13. Qxe5 Re8 {and Black has the bishop pair and some
compensation for the pawn.}) (9. Re1 Nh5 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. d4 Nf4 $11) 9... Nh5
10. Bxe7 ({If} 10. Bg3 {Black just grabs the bishop pair:} Nxg3 11. hxg3 Bf6 {
with a happy position.} (11... Nb8 12. d4 c6 13. Bd3 Nd7 14. Nc4 Qc7 {should
also bring a smile to Sergey's face.})) 10... Qxe7 11. Nc4 (11. Bxc6 {to give
Black doubled pawns looks like a good option.} bxc6 12. d4 (12. g3 f5) 12...
Nf4 {But in fact White cannot really exploit it. In fact if anything, the
strong knight on f4 gives Black good chances. For example} 13. Qa4 Rb8 14. b3
Rb6 $17 {when Black seizes a strong initiative. I can already foresee a rook
swing (Rb6-g6) to the kingside later on.}) 11... Nf4 {Simple and strong.} (
11... f5 {is a more complicated way to equality.} 12. Ne3 fxe4 13. dxe4 Kh7 $11
) 12. Ne3 Qf6 (12... f5 {is always an option here, though after} 13. g3 fxe4
14. dxe4 Nh3+ 15. Kg2 {the knight on h3 still has to find a way to escape.})
13. g3 Nh3+ 14. Kh1 {A little too passive.} ({The king would be better placed
on g2.} 14. Kg2 Ne7 15. d4 {gives White a small advantage as he has more space
and seizes control over the center.} Ng6 16. Bd3 {the knight on h3 can be
kicked away later with Ng1.}) 14... Ne7 {Now comes the manoeuvring phase. Both
sides will now try to improve their position. The knight on h3 is very active,
and Black can always exchange it with ...Ng5. I think Black has no problems
here.} 15. Bc4 {Putting the bishop on the right diagonal.} (15. d4 {seems
natural but leads nowhere.} exd4 16. cxd4 c5 $11) 15... c6 (15... b5 {was
being cried out by the spectators online:} 16. Bb3 {But I am not sure where it
leads. Advancing pawns too far can lead to unnecessary weaknesses and as
everyone knows pawns cannot move backwards. In fact White is threatening a2-a4
so perhaps} (16. Bxb5 Rb8) 16... Rb8 {with an around equal position.}) 16. Bb3
Ng6 {Perhaps a small inaccuracy.} ({The knight was just fine on e7, to guard
the d5 and f5-squares. In fact Black has on his agenda an active option here
to try to seize the initiative:} 16... d5 $5 17. exd5 cxd5 18. Nxd5 Nxd5 19.
Bxd5 Rd8 20. Be4 {and now comes The Pin:} Bg4 $1 {and White has to sacrifice
material to get rid of this dangerous pin.}) 17. Qe2 {I always think Magnus
excels in this kind of close to equal positions. So in fact his opening choice
has been quite successful despite its modest appearance. Now even if the
advantage is not much, White has chances to outplay his opponent.} a5 18. a4 {
Fighting for space on the queenside and fixing the pawn on a5. With the black
knights so far away on the kingside, later this a5 pawn will lack protection.}
({Watching the game live, I thought a stronger move was} 18. d4 {based on the
chess principle 'Attack on the flank is best met by a counter-attack in the
center'.} a4 19. Bc2 Ng5 20. Nxg5 hxg5 21. Rad1 {and White is a little better.
But now I like Magnus' choice too, as he wants to dominate the whole board,
and not just the center.}) 18... Be6 19. Bxe6 $5 {When I first saw this move I
thought Magnus had just made a small blunder. I thought that's it, he just
wasted one of his last White games, congrats to Sergey for making an easy draw
and getting one step closer to being a World Champion. However deeper
inspection shows that he is setting a trap!} (19. Nd2 $1 {is definitely the
best move. Black's knights on g6 and h3 look nice, but in fact they're
stepping on each other's toes as neither of them can really put a foot on f4,
while White is ready to consolidate his center with f3.} Bxb3 20. Nxb3 {
and in fact White is already threatening to win a pawn with Nc4, amongst other
threats.} Ng5 21. f3 {White has a much better coordination of pieces than his
opponent's.}) (19. Bc2 Ng5 20. Nxg5 hxg5 21. Rad1 {is possible too, though not
as forceful as 19.Nd2.}) 19... fxe6 20. Nd2 {Now White is threatening to block
the kingside with f3.} d5 ({I thought 19.Bxe6 was a blunder because at first
sight} 20... Nxf2+ {seems to finish the game with a clean draw. But Magnus
still has a final trick up his sleeve which I am sure he will go for.} 21. Kg1
$1 {is the prepared trick. Now White gets two knights for a rook and a couple
of pawns.} (21. Kg2 $2 Nh4+ 22. Kg1 (22. gxh4 $2 Qg6+ {would end the match
right here and right now.}) 22... Nh3+ 23. Kh1 Nf2+ {and a perpetual check is
undesirable for White, as he is trailing in the match.}) 21... Nh3+ 22. Kg2
Nhf4+ 23. gxf4 Nxf4+ 24. Rxf4 exf4 (24... Qxf4 25. Qf3 $1 {gives Black an
unpleasant choice. To trade queens or not to trade? Either way White will be
happy.} Qh4 26. Qg3) 25. Nc2 {In terms of material Black is fine, but with the
position being closed, the White knights get a lot of jumping potential.
Leading the match by one game, Sergey decides to avoid unbalanced positions
like this.} e5 ({Perhaps} 25... b5 {to open some files but then} 26. e5 $1 dxe5
27. Ne1 $5 {with the idea to blockade with the knights on e4 and f3. The
position is totally chaotic.}) 26. Qg4 {and White is preparing to improve his
kingside with h4 or Ne1-f3. At the very least he is not worse and could even
be better.}) 21. Qh5 $5 {Again a very daring try by Magnus. He goes for the
most risky but most rewarding continuation.} (21. f3 $1 {would be my
preference. White is well on his way to consolidation. Knight sacrifices on f4
do not work, while the doubled e-pawns give Black eternal problems.} Rad8 22.
Rae1 {I like White.}) 21... Ng5 {Sergey misses the draw! Just when he is close
to it, he chooses another way.} (21... Nxf2+ 22. Kg2 (22. Kg1 Qg5 {wins a pawn
with an easy tactic.} 23. Qxg5 Nh3+ {Check!} 24. Kg2 Nxg5 $17) 22... Qf7 $1 {
Threatening ...Nf4 check.} 23. Kg1 {White prevents the check, and now Black
has to find:} ({If White retreats with} 23. Qe2 {then} Nh4+ {and it's clear to
see that it leads to a perpetual.} 24. Kg1 (24. gxh4 $2 Qg6+) 24... Nh3+ 25.
Kh1 Nf2+) 23... Qf6 $1 {It's easy to miss this move. Black prepares ...Qg5
followed by ...Nh3 check, so White has nothing better than} 24. Kg2 (24. Ng4
Qg5) 24... Qf7 $11) 22. h4 {Magnus is so happy to be able to torture his
opponent in a long endgame that he just went for it. According to online
sources he spent less than half a minute on this move.} ({I don't blame him at
all for wanting to squeeze the life out of Sergey in the endgame but} 22. Rae1
$1 {preparing Ng4, is even stronger. For example} Nf3 23. Ng4 Qg5 24. Qxg5 hxg5
25. Nxf3 Rxf3 26. Rd1 $16 {You may ask, what is worse than doubled pawns? Well.
.. two sets of doubled pawns.}) 22... Nf3 23. Nxf3 Qxf3+ 24. Qxf3 Rxf3 25. Kg2
{Magnus' daring play starting from 19.Bxe6 has paid off. White has a very
pleasant endgame advantage. The doubled e-pawns are a constant source of
problems. I don't like Black's position.} Rf7 26. Rfe1 {This leaves the
f2-pawn slightly vulnerable. Not that it matters though. White has an
abundance of plans here.} ({I like} 26. Ng4 {forcing h5.} h5 27. Nh2 Nf8 28.
Nf3 {Now White seizes the g5-square too.} Nd7 29. Rae1 {White is well on the
way to converting his advantage.}) 26... h5 (26... Raf8 {can be simply met by}
27. Nd1 (27. Re2 {gives birth to} Nf4+ {ideas.} 28. gxf4 exf4) 27... h5 28. Re2
$14) 27. Nf1 {Finding ideal squares for his pieces is a piece of cake for
Magnus.} Kf8 (27... Raf8 28. Re2 Rf3 29. Rd1 {with the queens off the board
any tries by Black to attack will not be successful. So instead he tries to
improve his king.}) 28. Nd2 Ke7 29. Re2 {Protecting f2. This is a very happy
position. I had no doubt that White would be able to convert this position
barring big blunders. It's got nothing to do with Sergey, Black's structure is
simply bad.} Kd6 30. Nf3 Raf8 31. Ng5 Re7 32. Rae1 Rfe8 33. Nf3 {Besides all
Black's problems, his knight is also a little misplaced on g6.} Nh8 $1 {
Improving the position of the knight. Despite being at a disadvantage, Sergey
hangs tough. The question for White now, is how to convert his advantage?} 34.
d4 {A conversion of advantages. Magnus decides the time is ripe to blast open
the center and endanger the position of the black king.} ({Personally I would
prefer to leave Black with his doubled pawns and choose} 34. b4 axb4 35. cxb4
Nf7 36. a5 {with a clear advantage too, but sooner or later White has to find
a way to break through.}) 34... exd4 35. Nxd4 g6 {Protecting the f5-square.} ({
A lesser wood pusher might go} 35... Nf7 {but then} 36. exd5 cxd5 37. c4 dxc4 {
and the black king is caught in the middle of the crossfire.}) 36. Re3 {
Threatening Rf3. Again White has an abundance of plans here. b2-b4 ideas are
always in the air.} ({I like the subtle} 36. Nb3 $5 b6 37. Nd4 {with the idea
of weakening c6 but perhaps it is too subtle for the most part.}) 36... Nf7 37.
e5+ (37. Rf3 Ne5 38. Rf6 Rf7 {allows Black to defend, no problemo. After the
exchange of his most active rook, White's chances to convert become much
harder.} 39. Rxf7 Nxf7) 37... Kd7 38. Rf3 {Perhaps not the best but it is a
normal move, especially when both players are relatively low in time.} (38. b4
{is more accurate, to prevent ...c5 ideas.}) 38... Nh6 $6 {Sergey also makes a
natural consolidating move. If he can block the f-file with ...Nf5, then all
well and good. However Black has better options here on move 38 though.} (38...
c5 {looks good, to set the queenside pawns into motion. After} 39. Nb3 b6 40.
Nd2 {Black still does not fully solve his problems however.} Nh8 $1 (40... Rg8
41. Rf6 {and the g6-h5 pawn chain will be quite vulnerable.}) 41. c4 (41. Rf6
Rf7 $1 {eliminates White's most active piece!}) 41... Rf7 {the programs show
that Black is fine but it's hard for me to believe with the knight on h8. Also,
it's almost impossible for a human to play ...Nh8 over the board.}) (38... g5
39. hxg5 Nxg5 40. Rf6) ({Or} 38... Rg8 39. Rf6 {but White still looks better
here.}) 39. Rf6 Rg7 40. b4 {Now White is back on track.} (40. c4 $5 {is the
complicated way to try to knock out Black. His king will be vulnerable in the
center even in the endgame.}) 40... axb4 41. cxb4 $16 {Both players have
finished the time trouble stage and now have an extra hour of thinking time.
Compared to a few moves back, White has now managed to increase his advantage
and gain firm control over the position. Black's dark-squares are very
vulnerable and at the same time he has to think of ways to regain control over
the f-file.} Ng8 ({If} 41... Nf5 {White simply retreats his knight to b3 or f3,
and the pressure becomes untenable in conjunction with a power rook on f6.})
42. Rf3 Nh6 43. a5 {Improving his position slowly but surely. Of course White
avoids the repetition of moves!} Nf5 {.} 44. Nb3 Kc7 45. Nc5 $6 {Magnus starts
to drift, probably because he has such a nice position.} ({White could have
sealed the win with} 45. Rc1 {threatening b5. And if} Kb8 46. a6 {if the b7-c6
pawn chain falls then the last of Black's bastions are fallen.} Rc7 47. Rfc3 {
A sample line of how the game can end:} bxa6 48. Rxc6 Rxc6 49. Rxc6 Kb7 50.
Na5+ Ka7 51. Rc7+ Kb8 52. Rf7 $18 {Seventh rank, active pieces, later on
active king, White has all the trumps that he needs. Black's position is
crumbling.}) 45... Kb8 46. Rb1 Ka7 {Now there is no clean finish. However
White is still clearly ahead.} 47. Rd3 Rc7 ({Trying to counter with a punch is
too slow} 47... g5 48. hxg5 Rxg5 {After} 49. b5 $18 {Black cannot defend all
his weaknesses (b7 and e6).}) (47... b6 {can be met simply by} 48. Na4 ({
Or even better:} 48. axb6+ Kxb6 49. Ra3 Ra7 50. Rxa7 Kxa7 51. Kf3 $16 {when
the White king is really fast.})) 48. Ra3 Nd4 49. Rd1 Nf5 50. Kh3 Nh6 51. f3 {
White has improved the position of his king in the past few moves and is now
introducing the possibility of opening up the kingside with g4. Black can do
nothing but sit and wait.} Rf7 52. Rd4 Nf5 53. Rd2 ({I like} 53. Rf4 {but then}
Rh7 $1 {preventing g4, leaves the White rook immobile on f4.}) 53... Rh7 54.
Rb3 Ree7 55. Rdd3 {This is one of Magnus' favorite strategies. He likes to
wait patiently for his opponent to crack while slowly improving his own
position. This worked well for him today.} ({But objectively now is the time
to strike.} 55. b5 $1 cxb5 56. Rxb5 {Black cannot hold on to his b7 and
e6-pawn for long. Perhaps Black can try} Ne3 {but then} 57. Rd3 Nc4 58. f4 {
gives White all the time he needs to improve his position. Black's rooks are
stuck defending pawns, which is never a good sign. Rooks are made for offense,
not defense!}) 55... Rh8 56. Rb1 {Again waiting for the right moment. Just
wait, just wait... Patience is a virtue.} Rhh7 57. b5 $1 {NOW!} cxb5 {.} 58.
Rxb5 {Compared to move 55, the only change is that White's rook is on d3.
Notice the difference? Black does not have Ne3-c4 now and his position
crumbles quickly.} d4 59. Rb6 Rc7 60. Nxe6 Rc3 61. Nf4 Rhc7 62. Nd5 $1 {
Simplification makes White's job easier. The rule of thumb is that when you
are ahead in material you aim for trades and exchanges. Like in soccer, 11
players vs 10 players is harder than 5 players vs 4 players, and a 3 vs 2 game
is a piece of cake. Chess is no different. When you are ahead in material,
exchanges usually mean less complications = cleaner win.} (62. Rxg6 Rxd3 (62...
Rc1 {gives White a choice between five different moves that win.}) 63. Nxd3 Rc3
64. Rf6 Ne3 65. Nf4 {and White's win should be easy. Contrary to appearances
there is never any mate on h1, as White can always free his king with g3-g4.
Meanwhile White is two pawns up.}) 62... Rxd3 63. Nxc7 {Some people didn't
understand it at first, however if you put this position in a super computer
it just gives +- 5.36, meaning White is more than five pawns up in a
mathematical scale.} Kb8 64. Nb5 Kc8 (64... Rxf3 65. a6 {promotes the passed
a-pawn.}) 65. Rxg6 Rxf3 66. Kg2 $1 {Activating the king. From here Magnus does
not give Sergey any chance to escape.} Rb3 67. Nd6+ {Another exchange. Now it
is 6 vs 5.} Nxd6 68. Rxd6 Re3 69. e6 ({Not} 69. Rxd4 $2 Rxe5 70. Ra4 Kd7 {
when the Black king goes over to the kingside and secures the draw. The rook
on a4 has become a mere spectator protecting the a-pawn.}) 69... Kc7 (69... d3
70. Kf2 $18) 70. Rxd4 Rxe6 (70... Re5 $5 71. e7 $5 Rxe7 72. Rd5 {does not
change anything.}) 71. Rd5 $1 {The White rook attacks h5 while at the same
time protecting his a-pawn.} Rh6 72. Kf3 {Sergey could safely have resigned
here, but it does not hurt to make a few more moves. After all its not over
until the king is mated.} Kb8 (72... b6 73. axb6+ Kxb6 74. Kf4 Kc6 75. Rd8 {
White need not even calculate rook and single pawn endings because he can win
the enemy pawn by force.} Kc7 76. Rg8 Kd6 77. Kg5 Rh7 78. Kg6 $18) (72... Kc6
73. Rf5 Kd6 74. g4 hxg4+ 75. Kxg4 $18 {also wins easily.}) 73. Kf4 (73. g4
hxg4+ 74. Kxg4 $18 {easy win.}) 73... Ka7 74. Kg5 Rh8 75. Kf6 {Magnus finally
levels the match! This has been a great game and a great fight by both players.
After choosing a modest line against the Berlin Opening, Magnus slowly
improved his position and kept the game going. Black's knight looked a little
shaky on h3 (perhaps 11...f5!?) and White managed to take advantage of this.
The sequence from move 19-21 seems to me a little strange as Black allowed
doubled-pawns and White gladly went for it and both sides developed
interesting options. Perhaps 21...Ng5 was a crucial mistake as Sergey could
maybe have made a draw with 21...Nxf2. But of course sitting at home, it is
much easier to calculate than it was for the two fighters in New York. Having
played nine long games in two weeks with all the attendant pressure, tension
and drama, most certainly took a toll on both players. A World Championship
match definitely requires levels of extraordinary endurance for anyone.
Looking ahead with the score 5-5 I feel Magnus has good chances now in the
match. He absolutely had to win today and he did. Tomorrow is a rest day, so
both players can relax and prepare new ideas. I'm sure Sergey will try to put
on the pressure in Round 11 and fight for a win with the white pieces (in
Round 9 he got close!) If the match ends with two draws and a tie of 6-6
ensues, both players go to the tiebreaks with a shorter time control. Magnus
may have the edge there although Sergey never fails to impress and surprise
his fans.} 1-0

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Karjakin +2-2=10"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.11.26"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2769"]
[BlackElo "2853"]
[Annotator "So,Wesley"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2016.11.11"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{After wining Round 10 both players are tied now 5-5 but I have a sneaking
suspicion that Magnus is gaining in control. If he achieves two more draws and
they end tied, it's clear he won't be unhappy with rapid playoffs. Sergey just
hasn't played as much Rapid and Blitz recently ... but then again ... this is
the powerful Sergey Karjakin ... so we could be very surprised. Okay two games
left to go and this is Number 11.} 1. e4 {This first move is expected, as
Sergey sticks to the type of positions that he knows the best - 1.e4 gives him
the best results based on his previous games. At least here he achieves
playable and fighting positions, which are not easy to get against a
well-prepared Magnus. A good idea I'm sure, as Sergey tried serving with 1.d4
back in Round 7, but was worse as early as move 11.} e5 {Did you expect
something else? Magnus replies with this almost 90% of the time lately, so
obviously he feels at home with it. Garry Kasparov once advised that in
important games it's best to stick to the opening in which you have the most
experience.} 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {The Ruy Lopez may be the most classical
opening in chess history, with references to it going all the way back to the
year 1490.} a6 {Magnus' preference.} (3... Nf6 {was Sergey's choice in Rounds
3 and 10.}) 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 {The main line. Black wants to keep the
tension. Magnus has already played like this in Rounds 2, 4, and 6 of the
match, so I guess this is what I expected him to play today. Naturally he is
hoping to outplay White again like he did in Round 4 and in general his
results with Black here are very good. (Which is why I was surprised he went
for 5...b5 in Round 9.)} (5... Nxe4 {leads to very forcing variations, where
prepration and memory play a huge part. However, the problem is that Black has
to play very exact moves, and chances to win are almost non existent.}) (5...
b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 {was played in Round 9. But why is there a need for this when 5..
.Be7 is serving him well?}) 6. d3 {Aiming for a closed setup, White hopes for
a long game and plenty of maneuvering and the reason White aims for the Closed
Ruy Lopez these days, is because it has become increasingly difficult to gain
anything in the Marshall Attack.} (6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5
10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 {is the starting position of the Marshall Attack.
Black goes ...Bd6 and ...Qh4 next, gaining compensation for the sacrificed
pawn based on the fact that White's queenside pieces are still undeveloped.})
6... b5 7. Bb3 d6 ({I always thought that} 7... O-O {is slightly more accurate
to keep open options of playing d7-d5 in one move, but still after} 8. Nc3 d6
9. a3 {it just transposes to the game anyway.}) 8. a3 {Reserving the a2-square
for the bishop and controlling the b4-square.} (8. a4 {is an active
alternative here and it leads to a slightly unusual position. I think the main
difference is b4 is not controlled and Black may consider gaining space with}
b4) 8... O-O 9. Nc3 Be6 {Clever Magnus! He never plays the exact same line
twice in a row. Just when Sergey is ready to face 9...Na5 again, as in Round 2,
Black chooses a different move.} 10. Nd5 (10. Bxe6 fxe6 {is an interesting
possibility. Black has firm control of the center, but at the same time he has
permanent doubled-pawns. Now I like the regrouping} 11. Ne2 {with the idea of
preventing any kingside attacks by posting a knight on g3. Not sure if going
for quiet positions like this is enough to beat the World Champion though.})
10... Nd4 {This move is well-known as Black's best here. It was first played
by Peter Svidler of Russia back in 2013. I myself remember spending many, many
hours of analysis work on this move back in 2014 (how fast time flies) however,
not ever really being able to use it. After that, I decided not to waste so
much time on lines that have a low chance of appearing in my games. I
sometimes think perhaps that's what Magnus does as well. He knows how to be
time-efficient. In this regard Anatoly Karpov is a good example, as he is
well-known for being the most practical of the World Champions. He didn't
really spend hundreds of hours researching the openings, but instead focused
on the skill of selecting and absorbing new ideas. Anyway let's go back to the
game.} (10... Bxd5 {is not recommended as in general you shouldn't give up
your bishop pair at an early stage of the game. After} 11. exd5 Nd4 12. Nxd4
exd4 13. Bd2 {White is slightly better.}) ({If} 10... Na5 {White does not
retreat his bishop, but instead goes} 11. Nxf6+ Bxf6 12. Bxe6 fxe6 {when the
doubled e-pawns give him a head start.} 13. b4 Nc6 14. c3 $14 {White is much
better.}) 11. Nxd4 exd4 12. Nxf6+ {I was a little surprised to see this move,
which is thought to be harmless, appear in this game.} ({In my notes I had} 12.
Nxe7+ Qxe7 13. Bg5 {as the most critical and the only way to trouble Black.
For example:} Bxb3 (13... c5 14. f4) 14. cxb3 h6 (14... Rac8 15. b4 c5 16. f4)
15. Bh4 {The pin is highly unpleasant and after} Qe6 16. f4 {White has chances
for an attack on the kingside.} c5 (16... Nd7 17. f5 Qe5 18. b4 $14) 17. b4
Rfe8 (17... Rac8 18. Rc1) 18. f5 $5 (18. Rc1 Rac8 19. Re1 c4 $13) 18... Qe5 19.
Bg3 Qe7 20. bxc5 dxc5 21. e5 Nd5 22. f6 Qe6 23. fxg7 Ne3 24. Qd2 Nxf1 25. Rxf1
$13 {with a really complicated position. It's very possible though that my
notes are outdated. However it seems to me that Black still has to play
extremely accurately to equalize.}) 12... Bxf6 13. Bxe6 fxe6 14. f4 {Sergey
makes a natural move, while keeping all of his options open. Options such as
Qg4, g4-g5, or Rf3-h3. White is basically up a pawn on the kingside right now 
(3 vs 2), so it is clear he should focus his attention there. But I thought
that Black showed the way to equalize after two top level games played in 2013,
when everyone was still using the chess engine 'Houdini' and computers and the
Internet were significantly slower. In those two games, Black made easy draws.}
(14. a4 c5 15. Qg4 Qd7 16. axb5 axb5 17. Bd2 c4 18. Bb4 Ra4 $1 {The best way
to force exchanges.} 19. Rxa4 bxa4 20. dxc4 Rc8 21. Qg3 (21. Qe2 Qc6 $11) 21...
Rxc4 22. Bxd6 Rxc2 $11 {Anand-Svidler, Alekhine Memorial 2013, and the game
soon ended in a draw.}) (14. Qg4 Qc8 15. f4 e5 16. f5 c5 {Black has a 'pawn
diamond' in the center and quick counterplay along the c-file. His king's
position is quite shaky but White does not have enough time to exploit this.}
17. Bg5 (17. Rf3 c4 18. Rh3 Qe8 $13 {prevents Qh5, and prepares Rc8-c2.}) 17...
Kh8 (17... c4 18. Bxf6 Rxf6 $11 {might be easier.}) 18. Rf3 c4 19. Rh3 (19.
Raf1 {might be a possible improvement to allow defence of the 2nd rank later
in some cases with R1f2.}) 19... Bxg5 20. Qxg5 Rf6 21. g4 cxd3 22. cxd3 Qc2 23.
Rc1 Qe2 $1 24. Rc7 Qe1+ 25. Kg2 Qe2+ 26. Kg1 Qe1+ 27. Kg2 Qe2+ 28. Kg1 {
1/2-1/2 Leko -Caruana, Dortmund 2013.}) 14... c5 {Preparing queenside
counterplay later with c5-c4.} (14... e5 {is an alternative, but perhaps
Magnus didn't want to close the center right away. After} 15. f5 c5 16. Rf3 c4
17. Rh3 {looks quite scary for Black, and if} Qe8 18. g4 $5 {with some
attacking chances.}) (14... Qd7 15. Qg4 c5 {just transposes to the game.}) 15.
Qg4 (15. Rf3 c4 16. Rh3 {can simply be met by} Rf7 {to meet} ({Or} 16... Qd7)
17. Qh5 {with} g6) 15... Qd7 (15... Qc8 $5 {- Leko-Caruana, was a good option.
Later after the opening of the c-file, a quick ...Qc2 is in the agenda. After}
16. Bd2 (16. f5 exf5 17. exf5 Be5 18. Qf3 Ra7 $13) 16... e5 17. f5 c4 {Black
has sufficient counterplay.}) 16. f5 {Releasing the tension and allowing
trades. I feel that Sergey no longer believes that White has much going on and
decides to loosen up the position. After all, in the event of an endgame Black
still has his doubled d-pawns to worry about (though it's hard for White to
make use of his better pawn structure).} ({If White wants to keep fighting
chances then perhaps he should go for 16.Bd2 or 16.Rf3. So here I can
recommend for White} 16. Bd2 c4 {And now} 17. b3 (17. Rf3 c3 $1 18. bxc3 dxc3
19. Be3 d5 20. e5 Be7 21. Rh3 Rf7) 17... Rac8 18. h3 cxb3 19. cxb3 Rc2 20. Bb4
Be7 21. a4 {with a small advantage.}) (16. Rf3 c4) ({Or} 16. b3 c4 {and the
overall position of the picture does not change.}) 16... Rae8 {Already, Black
has more than one way to equality.} (16... exf5 {is just fine, to clarify the
situation right away.} 17. exf5 (17. Rxf5 Rf7 18. Bd2 g6 $11) 17... Rae8 (17...
Rf7 18. Bd2 Re8 (18... c4) 19. Rae1 Be5 20. Rf2 c4 $11) 18. Bd2 {and now} g6 {
to eliminate White's spearhead.} 19. h3 (19. Bh6 Bg7 20. Bxg7 Rxf5 21. Rxf5
gxf5 22. Qg3 Qxg7 $11) 19... Be5 20. fxg6 Qxg4 21. gxh7+ Kxh7 22. hxg4 Bg3 $1 {
and with control over the open file, Black should be able to play ...Re2 in
the near future. Control of the 2nd rank should give him enough compensation
for the pawn.}) ({Even} 16... e5 {although it's no longer necessary to go for
a complicated middlegame.}) 17. Bd2 c4 18. h3 {Protecting the queen on g4 so
he can take on f5 later with the rook. It also puts a pawn on a light-square
to ensure that should they go into some deep endgame, Black cannot capture
this h-pawn with his bishop.} (18. fxe6 Qxe6 19. Qxe6+ Rxe6 20. Bb4 Rd8 {
followed by posting a bishop on e5, hence guarding his doubled-pawns. The
endgame is level.}) (18. b3 exf5 19. exf5 Be5 (19... cxb3 20. cxb3 Re5 $11) 20.
Rf2 cxb3 21. cxb3 Rc8 $11 {in general, Black's play is quite easy and he has
many options to choose from in each move.}) 18... c3 $5 {The most unbalanced
continuation. Black disrupts the coordination of White's queenside before he
has the time to consolidate with b3 and a4.} ({Many paths lead to equality. A
normal continuation would be} 18... Be5 19. fxe6 Rxf1+ 20. Rxf1 Qxe6 $11) (
18... exf5 19. Rxf5 {and now Black just has to avoid} g6 $2 20. Rxf6 {when the
white queen is protected.}) (18... e5 $13 {also gives an unclear position, but
as I said, there is no more point to keeping the center closed, when Black has
easier alternatives.}) 19. bxc3 d5 $5 {Perhaps trying to confuse White, but as
usual, Sergey keeps his nerve.} (19... dxc3 20. Be3 d5 21. Bc5 Rf7 $11) 20. Bg5
{What follows now is another series of exchanges, where each side takes away
material from the board consecutively.} ({The most obvious continuation is} 20.
fxe6 {but after} Qxe6 21. Qxe6+ Rxe6 22. exd5 Re2 {White has some tricky
problems to solve.} 23. Rf2 Rxf2 24. Kxf2 Bg5+ (24... dxc3 25. Be1 Rd8 $11 {
is perhaps just equal too.}) 25. Ke2 Bxd2 26. Kxd2 Rf2+ 27. Ke1 Rxc2 {White's
position looks scary, but according to the computer, White holds the balance
with:} 28. c4 $1 (28. cxd4 $2 Rxg2 29. Kf1 Rh2 30. d6 Kf7 $19 {looks like a
typical Carlsen grind.}) (28. d6 Kf7 {and the difference in the activity of
the kings will be crucial.})) (20. c4 $5 {is fine, since the pawn on c3 was
lost anyway. White now gets some stability in the center and after} dxc4 (20...
dxe4 21. Bb4) 21. Bb4 Rf7 22. fxe6 Qxe6 23. Qxe6 Rxe6 24. Rf5 $11 {the ending
is just equal.}) ({Though not} 20. exd5 exf5 21. Qf3 dxc3 22. Be3 {when White
is slightly worse, as now it is he who has the doubled-pawns.} Re5 $15) 20...
Bxg5 (20... dxc3 21. Bxf6 Rxf6 22. exd5 exd5 23. a4 $11) 21. Qxg5 dxe4 22. fxe6
Rxf1+ 23. Rxf1 Qxe6 24. cxd4 e3 $5 {Perhaps trying to put psychological stress
on the opponent. There is always pressure when you have to make a draw from a
defensive point of view. Now instead of making natural moves, White has to
remain alert so that the passed e-pawn does not become unstoppable.} ({Instead
of 24...e3, Black has at least three ways to make a relatively easy draw.} 
24... exd3 25. cxd3 Qe3+ (25... h6 26. Qc5 Qe3+ 27. Kh2 Qxd3 $11 {is another
way.}) 26. Qxe3 Rxe3 27. Rd1 Re2 $1 {And because of the control of the 2nd
rank and counterplay on the a3-pawn, Black makes a draw by straightforward
moves.} 28. Rc1 (28. d5 Kf7 29. Rc1 Ra2 $11) 28... Ra2 29. Rc3 Kf7 $11) ({Or} 
24... Qd6 25. Qc5 (25. Qe3 Qxa3) 25... Rd8 26. Qxd6 Rxd6 27. dxe4 Rxd4 28. e5
Re4 29. Rf5 Re3 $11 {as they say, all rook endings are drawn.}) 25. Re1 (25.
Qg4 Qe7 26. Qf3 $11) (25. d5 $6 {is an example of how things can go wrong for
White.} Qb6 26. Re1 e2+ 27. Kh1 Qf2 28. Qd2 Re3 29. d6 Kf7 {and there are some
problems with the white king immobile in the corner.}) 25... h6 (25... e2 26.
Qd2 g6 27. Qf4 (27. d5 $11) 27... Qe7 28. Qd2 $11) 26. Qh5 e2 27. Qf3 a5 $5 {
Pushing the a-pawn one step closer to promotion, just in case a pawn race
happens down the line. Is Magnus still trying to win? Surely he's hoping for
Sergey to make a small mistake or better, a major blunder, but really that
doesn't happen often. Also, Black's problem is that his king lacks a fortress,
meaning it is going to be hard to escape from queen checks later on.} ({
Almost all moves lead to a draw now.} 27... Qd6 28. Rxe2 Qxd4+ 29. Kh1 Rxe2 30.
Qxe2 Qa1+ 31. Kh2 Qxa3 $11) 28. c3 (28. d5 Qe5 (28... Qe7 29. d6 Qxd6 30. Rxe2
$11) 29. d6 $11) 28... Qa2 {Protecting the e2-pawn while at the same time
threatening to take the guy on a3, or play ...Qd2, attacking the rook on e1.}
29. Qc6 $1 {But Black's queen escapade has left his rook and king a little
vulnerable too.} Re6 (29... Re7 30. Qc8+ Kh7 31. Qf5+ {Hoping for perpetual
check.} g6 32. Qf8 $11 {There is no way for Black to make progress, as he
cannot attack and defend at the same time.}) 30. Qc8+ ({Now is not the time to
grab pawns:} 30. Qxb5 $2 Qd2 31. Qb1 Qxc3 $17 32. d5 Qd4+ 33. Kh2 Qxd5 $17 {
and White's greed has got him nothing but trouble.}) 30... Kh7 31. c4 Qd2 32.
Qxe6 Qxe1+ 33. Kh2 Qf2 34. Qe4+ {Draw. A quiet but well-played game by two
experienced players. Today they decided to go for the Closed Ruy Lopez with 6.
d3. Sergey played the same moves as in Round 2, but Magnus decided to deviate
with 9...Be6 just in case his opponent had prepared something vicious against
his pet line with 9...Na5. What followed after 9...Be6 was a series of
liquidations, with each player trading three minor pieces each, though Black
had to accept doubled d-pawns. Moves 14-16 were critical to see if White could
prove an advantage, but in the end Sergey decided to release the tension with
16.f5. What followed was a series of exchanges and with Magnus even trying to
spice up the game a bit with 18...c3!? and 19...d5!? Sergey held fast,
exchanged a few more pieces, and in the end the game never really left the
boundaries of equality. Tomorrow is the last round and let's see if Magnus'
sister's prediction that he will win his last two White games comes true.
Maybe this game is just the deep breath before the explosion.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Karjakin +2-2=10"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.11.28"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2857"]
[BlackElo "2769"]
[Annotator "Seirawan,Y"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2016.11.11"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{While both players have much to lament, each receiving a sympathetic ear,
let's face it: The arbiters have been brilliant. They have been out of sight
and nary a word about them has been spoken. Out of the spotlight they have
treble checked that bane of all chess players - the clock. The battery is
functioning (good), the time control has been set to the right one (very good),
the board and pieces have been set up correctly (most excellent).  And so it
all comes down to this: After eleven hard fought games the twelfth and final
game would be played for all the marbles. I wanted to describe the situation
as high drama. But my 'Spidey sense' began to tingle as I considered the word.
Blessed with a heightened sense of caution I decided to look up the current
definition of the word. You see the English language changes. Nearly every day
in fact. Just like the FIDE rules committee that loves to change the rules of
chess, so to do the committees that define words in the English language. It
can get pretty confusing.  To assuage my internal warnings I double-checked
and learned something new while bringing myself up-to-date: drama: Top
definition: "Something women and especially teenage girls thrive on.
Consisting of any number of situations that have an easy solution, which would
bring a fairly good outcome, but these girls choose another, shitty, bad way
to deal with it, again consisting of backstabbing, blackmailing/gossiping/
betraying their friends, or the all-too-common, "I want to break up with him
but I still love him!" It drives men and what I like to call "normal" girls
nuts." Urban Dictionary. Hmm. Right. Just as expected a surprising change. Oh
boy, I'm already in trouble and this is before annotating move one. Somehow, I
can't quite put my finger on it but the (for me) new definition just feels a
tiny bit to be politically incorrect. I confess I'm not the most astute in
such matters. Therefore, let us put high drama aside for a moment and instead
set up the situation from a different point of view...  Many fans and even
non-fans have asked me the question, "What makes one grandmaster stronger than
another?" A fair question. Once when describing himself against his colleagues
World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik saw himself, "As first amongst equals." It
seems the top grandmasters know all the various chess skills and instead to
find an answer to such a question we should consider the intangibles:
Confidence; ambition; determination; good health; a supportive team; good food;
a strong stomach; a working internet connection; staying regular and other key
factors.  The twelfth game would require a supreme effort by both players
featuring nerves of steel coupled with boundless energy. They would before the
gong imagine a long, hard fought game where conquering their nerves and
remaining calm at those crucial moments is vital. They would review their
preparation to the best of their abilities while hoping to out-calculate their
opponent in the heat of battle. Doing all the things that grandmasters do so
well. But there is another intangible to consider as well: At such a moment
are you capable of getting a good night's sleep? Don't laugh. It is an
important question. Imagine yourself in the role of Challenger Sergey Karjakin.
You are to have a career defining moment. An opportunity to become World Chess
Champion. A dream come true. With so many thoughts and emotions racing through
your mind, will you be able to recharge your battery for the biggest contest
of your life?  But which player is carrying the bigger pressure? Same
questions for Magnus Carlsen, the World Champion. Experts, pollsters and fans
had all been unanimous predicting an easy match win. They were stone-cold
wrong. Lucky to be at a level score, what risks should Magnus take to try to
clinch the match? To go all in as White in the final game? As did Veselin
Topalov with White against Viswanathan Anand in 2010? A decision which cost
him the match... So many questions. So many worries and all you really want is
to rest and recharge your battery. To sleep peacefully with pleasant dreams of
victory. Perhaps such an ability, that one, to cast aside your concerns and
get a good night sleep, is what makes one grandmaster stronger than another?
Before the battle commenced, I wondered, would we see a real drama? Wait, now
I'm certain that's not the word I want to use. In this preamble I've got it
all wrong entangling myself in knots. I think National Basketball Association
legend Michael Jordan said it best at such moments, "Go out and just enjoy the
game. Don't think about the consequences. If you do, you'll freeze."} 1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O {A first indication that perhaps the "decisive"
final Classical game in the match might not be all that decisive after all.} ({
For Game 10, Magnus played} 4. d3 {keeping all the pieces on the board.}) 4...
Nxe4 5. Re1 {Uh oh. The second indication the game is about to fizzle out.} Nd6
6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5 8. Rxe5 O-O 9. d4 Bf6 10. Re1 {Not repeating Game 3,
where Magnus tried:} (10. Re2 $5 {A move that didn't promise much but almost
brought him great success.}) 10... Re8 {All according to modern theory as well
as strategic principles. The e-file is open and therefore the chopping block
for the major pieces.} 11. Bf4 Rxe1 12. Qxe1 Ne8 {The first moment of
"excitement" quickly passes. I'm a notorious pawn-grabber but the d4-bait is
poisonous:} (12... Bxd4 $6 13. Bxd6 cxd6 (13... Bxb2 $4 14. Bxc7 {simply wins
for White}) 14. Nc3 {When I much prefer White's position. Black has
difficulties developing while White's moves play themselves:} Rb8 15. Rd1 Be5
16. Nd5 {White's initiative is getting serious.}) 13. c3 d5 14. Bd3 g6 {
Practice has proven that the symmetry in the position is hard to crack. With a
draw being the most likely result.} 15. Na3 $6 {A confounding move. After all,
where is the knight heading? I will certainly not claim that after the
standard:} (15. Nd2 Ng7 16. Qe2 c6 17. Re1 Bf5 18. Bxf5 Nxf5 19. Nb3 {It is
all "blue sky" for White. Truly, there is not much in the position but the
chances for a pull lay in this direction.}) 15... c6 16. Nc2 Ng7 17. Qd2 {
This one also had me perplexed. Trying my best to channel my "inner Magnus" I
wrongly thought his knight maneuver was designed to cover the f5-square:} (17.
Ne3 {seemed to be his intended follow-up. True, it does stop Black's ...Bc8-f5
plan but allows another in its stead:} Nh5 $1 18. Bh6 Bg5 19. Bxg5 Qxg5 {
with a knight coming to the f4-square Black has solved all his opening
problems.}) 17... Bf5 18. Bxf5 Nxf5 19. Ne3 Nxe3 20. Qxe3 Qe7 21. Qxe7 Bxe7 {
The mutual hacking continues. The board is nearly empty. Just one last trade
along the chopping block remains.} 22. Re1 Bf8 {I'm sorely tempted to give
this move an exclamation mark. After all I'm a paid commentator and I have to
earn my keep. That would make one for the whole game. In truth Black had a
perfectly decent alternative as well.} (22... Re8 {Grandmasters do not make
such moves: Walking into a "self-pin." However, there is no way for White to
exploit the moment:} 23. Bg5 Kf8 24. Bh6+ Kg8 {Black is ready to play: ...
f7-f6, and ...Kg8-f7, releasing the pin, with the time honored ritual of
signing the scoresheets to follow.}) 23. Kf1 f6 24. g4 {This bold thrust does
not hold the promise of a vicious attack, so hold the trumpets. Actually it is
actually quite safe.} Kf7 25. h3 $1 {At last, I'm in a generous mood, "Give
the man an exclam!" The text shows "understanding." In a bishop ending, pawns
should be on the opposite colored squares from the bishop. The text also
insures against adversity: The possibility of blundering a pawn is greatly
reduced.} Re8 26. Rxe8 Kxe8 {The tasks along the chopping block have all been
completed. The play must continue until move thirty. At least.} 27. Ke2 Kd7 28.
Kd3 Ke6 29. a4 a6 30. f3 Be7 {Draw agreed. Oh boy. My preamble was longer than
my notes to the game. Likely for good reasons. I'll leave it to other more
gifted writers to share their thoughts on this downer. Instead, I'll just
boldly state the obvious: A very disappointing conclusion to an intense World
Championship match. Such games do not kindle interest in our glorious sport.
Maybe I pegged it right after all? Perhaps Magnus did not get enough sleep?
Now another rest day follows and on Wednesday the tension will be at its
zenith as the title of who will be World Chess Champion will be decided by
tiebreaks.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Karjakin Tiebreak"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.11.30"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2853"]
[Annotator "Navara,D"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2016.11.30"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{The match had been very tense. Many people including me expected Magnus to be
a clear favourite, but Sergey and his team prepared excellently. The tie-break
was eagerly awaited by the chess world.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4
Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a3 O-O 9. Nc3 Nb8 {This might have been a
little surprise. Magnus had already tried} (9... Na5 10. Ba2 Be6) ({and} 9...
Be6 {in the previous games of the match, both times equalising without too
many problems.}) {On the other hand, the knight retreat has already been
played many times. Wesley So adopted it twice. The idea resembles the Breyer
line in Classical Ruy Lopez. In both lines Black retreats the knight to enable
the advance of his c-pawn. On the other hand, there are some differences as
well. In the Breyer, Black's knight might be better placed on d7 and its
removal from e4 increases the pressure against e4 and forces White to make
some concessions like removing his bishop from the a2-g8 diagonal by playing
Bb3-c2. Here the knight mostly comes back to c6, preventing the advance d3-d4
and getting space in the centre. This is also often the main idea behind the
Nc6-a5 sortie in various anti-Marshall lines.} 10. Ne2 ({The remarkable game
Anand - So saw} 10. Ng5 Nc6 $1 11. Ba2 Nd4 12. Ne2 Nxe2+ 13. Qxe2 h6 14. f4 $5
hxg5 (14... exf4 15. Nf3 g5 16. g3 fxg3 17. h4 $44 {Anand}) 15. fxg5 Ng4 16. g6
$44 {1-0 (45) Anand,V (2791)-So,W (2788) Shamkir 2015 CBM 166 [Anand,V]. White
went on to win, but Black could have equalised in the opening.}) (10. a4 b4 11.
Nd5 {also looks logical, but Black should be able to equalise after} Nxd5 12.
Bxd5 c6 13. Bb3 Nd7 14. d4 (14. Be3 $5) 14... a5 15. dxe5 dxe5 {1/2-1/2 (31)
Caruana,F (2820)-So,W (2762) Wijk aan Zee 2015}) 10... c5 11. Ng3 Nc6 12. c3 {
The advance d3-d4 could hardly bring White anything tangible, but this little
move is useful anyway. Taking the d4-square under control might enable the
manoeuvre Nf3-h4-f5 later on. True, this often fails to ...Nxe4 and ...Bxh4,
but Black must be ready to meet White's activity on various parts of the board.
} Rb8 {Nimzowitsch would probably like this mysterious rook move. Black
slightly improves his rook, foreseeing the opening of the b-file. The Rf8 and
Bc8 are placed well, protecting f7 and f5 respectively.} (12... Be6 {was also
an option, but} 13. Bxe6 fxe6 14. b4 {leaves White's pawn structure somewhat
more flexible.}) 13. h3 (13. d4 {was not a great idea in view of} cxd4 14. cxd4
Bg4 {. On the other hand, now it becomes a serious option.}) 13... a5 {Black
would like to play a5-a4, fixing White's queenside pawns.} ({The advance} 13...
d5 $6 {is hardly recommendable, as it creates too many weaknesses after} 14.
exd5 Nxd5 15. Re1 f6 16. Nh4 g6 17. Bh6 Re8 18. Nf3 $36 {.}) 14. a4 ({The
advance} 14. d4 a4 15. Ba2 {not only generates some pressure in the centre,
but also weakens the c4-square.}) 14... b4 {Black has weakened the c4-square,
but White can hardly exploit it.} 15. Re1 {Nimzowitsch would be pleased again.}
({It looked tempting to prepare the f2-f4 advance by means of} 15. Nh2 {
, but this enables} bxc3 16. bxc3 d5 {.} {White can play} 17. Ng4 {, but it
does not give him an edge.}) (15. Nh4 $6 Nxe4) 15... Be6 16. Bc4 {The opening
has been a moderate success for White, who has more prospects of active play.
Both d3-d4 and Nf3-h4-f5 might be unpleasant for Black later on, though not
now.} ({After} 16. Bxe6 fxe6 {White's pawn structure would remain a bit more
flexible, but there is a big question about where to play. As the game showed,
Black is ready for the d3-d4 advance. On the other hand, White can hardly
create active play on the kingside.}) 16... h6 (16... Bxc4 $6 17. dxc4 {
would weaken the f5- and d5-squares.}) 17. Be3 ({Komodo suggests} 17. Bb5 {
, e.g.} Qc7 $6 (17... Na7 18. c4) 18. Nh4 Na7 19. Bc4 {with an edge for White.
The control of the f5-square might indeed be important. The text is simple and
good.}) 17... Qc8 {Black keeps an eye on f5 and can occasionally push d6-d5.}
18. Qe2 ({The pawn sacrifice} 18. Nh4 $5 Nxe4 19. Bxe6 $1 Qxe6 20. dxe4 Bxh4
21. Nf5 Be7 22. Qd5 Rbc8 {would bring White compensation for the pawn, but not
more.}) 18... Rd8 19. Bxe6 fxe6 $6 (19... Qxe6 {was entirely playable, but
Magnus prefered to protect the f5-square.}) 20. d4 ({White could also prepare
the pawn advance by means of} 20. Rad1 {.}) 20... bxc3 21. bxc3 cxd4 22. cxd4
exd4 23. Nxd4 $6 ({Komodo rightly prefers} 23. Bxd4 $1 $14 {, when Black could
have problems with his exposed pawn structure. He can hardly exchange the
minor pieces, as} Nxd4 $6 24. Nxd4 {would leave his pawns on a5 and e6 rather
vulnerable.}) 23... Nxd4 24. Bxd4 Rb4 {Now Black gets enough counterplay.} 25.
Rec1 Qd7 26. Bc3 Rxa4 27. Bxa5 {The position is drawish after the elimination
of the queenside pawns.} Rxa1 28. Rxa1 Ra8 29. Bc3 Rxa1+ 30. Bxa1 Qc6 31. Kh2
Kf7 32. Bb2 Qc5 33. f4 Bd8 34. e5 (34. Qd1 {was a bit more tricky, as} Bb6 (
34... Qb4 {is safer}) 35. Bxf6 Kxf6 {allows} 36. e5+ $1 Ke7 37. Ne4 {Still,}
Qe3 38. Qxd6+ (38. exd6+ Kd8 $11) 38... Kf7 39. Qd7+ Kf8 {gives Black
sufficient counterplay.}) 34... dxe5 35. Bxe5 Bb6 36. Qd1 Qd5 37. Qxd5 Nxd5
1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Karjakin Tiebreak"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.11.30"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2853"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[Annotator "Navara,D"]
[PlyCount "167"]
[EventDate "2016.11.30"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. a4 ({GM Alexey Kuzmin
has recently analysed} 6. c3 d5 {in his review and came to the conclusion that
Black can equalise without too many problems.}) 6... a6 ({I wonder whether} 
6... d5 7. exd5 Nxd5 8. Nbd2 ({or} 8. Re1 {is really better for White, but at
least it leads to a relatively unexplored position which Magnus had
undoubtedly analysed.})) 7. c3 d6 (7... d5 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. a5 {was played in
Karjakin - Giri and a few other games.}) 8. Re1 Ba7 (8... Ng4 9. Re2 {brings
Black nothing} Kh8 10. h3 Nh6 (10... f5) 11. d4 $16) 9. h3 Ne7 {The knight
goes to a better square.} 10. d4 Ng6 11. Nbd2 c6 {Now White has to reckon with
d6-d5.} 12. Bf1 {Black has equalised, but the position remains complex.} a5 {
This move is questionable, as the a5-pawn might become weak after Nd2-c4.} ({
It might have been better to play} 12... Be6) ({or} 12... Re8) 13. dxe5 $1 {
White correctly assumes that the control of the c4-square might bring him some
initiative.} (13. b3 {was also possible, but} Qc7 14. Qc2 Be6 15. Nc4 $6 {
is not to be recommended in view of} exd4 16. cxd4 d5 17. exd5 Bxd5 {, when
Black obtains comfortable play.}) 13... dxe5 (13... Nxe5 $5 {was not bad,
either.}) 14. Qc2 Be6 15. Nc4 Qc7 16. b4 axb4 {This does not equalise, but the
alternatives did not look any better.} ({The computer shows that} 16... h6 $1 {
was fully playable, as} 17. Nxa5 c5 {gives Black full compensation, but this
is very hard to realise and evaluate correctly.}) 17. cxb4 b5 18. Ne3 $1 bxa4
19. Rxa4 Bxe3 (19... h6 $14) 20. Bxe3 ({My silicon friend pleads for} 20. Rxe3
Rxa4 21. Qxa4 $14 {, but Magnus had his own idea. A good one.}) 20... Rxa4 21.
Qxa4 Nxe4 22. Rc1 Bd5 23. b5 cxb5 {Sergey choses a radical solution. His
position was far from easy.} (23... c5 {leaves Black a pawn up, but White's
passed pawn and his bishop pair outweigh the minimal material disadvantage.} {
White remains somewhat better after both} 24. Bc4 ({and} 24. Qc2 Qb7 25. Nd2 {
, even though there remain some issues.})) (23... Qd6 24. b6 $1 {is also
unpleasant for Black.} (24. bxc6 Rc8 25. Bb5 Ne7 {might lead to an exchange of
the c6-pawn for the e5-pawn. The resulting positions should be easy to hold.}))
(23... Nd6 24. b6 $14) 24. Qxe4 $1 Qxc1 25. Qxd5 Qc7 26. Qxb5 $16 {The smoke
has cleared. White has a minimal material advantage and can play for the win
without any risk. His bishop pair is really powerful, whereas Black's rook is
not so useful when the play goes on the kingside only. I believe that very few
people would be able to save such a position against Magnus. Unlike his
opponent, Sergey was already short of time. He deserves credit for his
tenacious defence.} Rb8 {.} 27. Qd5 Rd8 {70} 28. Qb3 Rb8 29. Qa2 h6 30. Qd5 Qe7
31. Qe4 Qf6 32. g3 Rc8 33. Bd3 (33. h4 $1 {might have been slightly stronger,
as} Qc6 34. Qxc6 Rxc6 35. h5 Ne7 36. Nxe5 {leaves more pieces on the board,
which should favour White. It is easy to recommend this with the engine, but
quite hard to play such a position accurately in a rapid game.}) 33... Qc6 $1 {
The queen swap would help Black to release the tension and to protect his king.
} 34. Qf5 (34. Qxc6 Rxc6 35. Bxg6 Rxg6 36. Nxe5 Ra6 {looks tenable for Black.
A similar endgame appeared in a recent game Nisipeanu - Kramnik. The top
Russian player pressed hard with his bishop and knight against the rook, but
eventually had to agree to a draw. The Karjakin - Anand game from the
Candidates Tournament 2014 in Khanty-Mansiysk also comes to one's mind.}) 34...
Re8 (34... Rd8 $1 35. Be4 Qc8 36. Qh5 Qe6 {(Komodo) might have been more
accurate, but it would be unfair to criticise Sergey for omitting this.}) 35.
Be4 (35. h4 $5 Qe6 36. Qe4 $1 {was a serious option.}) 35... Qe6 36. Qh5 Ne7 $5
{This was a clever defence. I consider it a good practical decision, but you
might disagree with me.} 37. Qxe5 $6 {This is tempting but not the best. With
the queens off the board, Black can probably hold.} (37. Bh7+ Kh8 38. Bd3 Kg8
39. Qxe5 $6 (39. Ng5 $1) 39... Qxe5 40. Nxe5 Nf5 $1 41. Bxf5 (41. Bf4 $6 Nd4 {
also leads to further exchanges.}) 41... Rxe5 {was similar to the game.}) ({
The strongest continuation was} 37. Ng5 $1 Qc4 38. Bd3 Qd5 39. Be4 $1 ({Even} 
39. Nxf7 Ra8 40. Nxh6+ $1 gxh6 41. Bb1 $16 {is quite dismal for Black.}) 39...
Qc4 40. Bh7+ Kf8 41. Ne4 Qe6 (41... Ra8 42. Kh2) 42. Bc5 $1 {and Black can
hardly resist White's attack.} (42. Nc5 Qd5 43. Qxe5 $5 {is nice but less
convincing:} Rc8 (43... Qxe5 $4 44. Nd7#) 44. Qc3 $6 f5 $1)) 37... Qxe5 38.
Nxe5 Ng6 $1 39. Bxg6 (39. Nxg6 $6 Rxe4 {was less promising, as it is hard to
attack Black's kingside pawns.}) 39... Rxe5 40. Bd3 {White's bishop pair is
really powerful, but it is questionable whether it can successfully attack
Black's kingside pawns. White might attack the weakest pawn with his king and
one of his bishops, but Black can defend it with his two pieces. White would
need to use his second bishop to cut off the rook from the weakest pawn, but
this is easier said than done. I cannot tell you whether the position is drawn
or winning, as it is still fairly complex.} f6 {Sergey probably takes the
correct decision. During the game I expected h6-h5 and g7-g6, but the f7-pawn
would not be any safer than the g7-pawn in the game. Apart from that, Black
would need to reckon with White's king's penetration through g5 or with the
pawn break f2-f4-f5.} 41. Kg2 {The g7-pawn is really hard to reach. White
probably needs to put his bishop on f8. He would like to push his opponent's
king on to h8, move his king to g6, bishop to f8 and finally play Bf7 with the
Black's rook on the 7th rank, but this is not easy to achieve. I guess that
Black can prevent it. At least in the game he did.} Kh8 {Black refrains from
making committal moves like g7-g5.} 42. Kf3 Rd5 43. Bg6 Ra5 44. Ke4 Rb5 45. h4
Re5+ 46. Kd4 Ra5 47. Kc4 Re5 48. Bd4 Ra5 49. Bc5 Kg8 50. Kd5 Rb5 51. Kd6 Ra5
52. Be3 Re5 53. Bf4 Ra5 54. Bd3 Ra7 (54... g5 $5 {deserved serious attention,
here. True,} 55. Be3 gxh4 56. gxh4 Kg7 {The further weakens Black's position,
but the pawn exchange could simplify the defence. I do not know whether 54...
g5 is good or not. White might have avoided it.}) 55. Ke6 Rb7 56. Kf5 Rd7 57.
Bc2 Rb7 58. Kg6 $1 {A great move. The king's activity is more important than
the f2-pawn, here.} (58. Be4 {looks stronger, even though} Re7 59. f3 Kh7 $1 {
considerably complicates White's further progress}) 58... Rb2 59. Bf5 Rxf2 60.
Be6+ Kh8 61. Bd6 Re2 (61... Rg2 62. Kf7 {does not change much.}) 62. Bg4 $2 ({
As it turns out, White could win here:} 62. Kf7 Rc2 63. g4 $1 (63. Bf8 $2 Rc7+
64. Kg6 f5 $1) 63... h5 $1 (63... Rc6 $2 64. Bf8 Rc7+ 65. Kg6 {followed by Bf7
would be simple.}) 64. gxh5 Rb2 65. h6 $1 gxh6 66. Bf8 Rb7+ 67. Kg6 Rh7 (67...
h5 68. Bf7 $18) 68. h5 f5 69. Bc5 Rg7+ 70. Kxh6 Rh7+ 71. Kg6 Rg7+ 72. Kxf5 {
This endgame is winning for White, even though he still needs to display good
technique. But it is extremely easy to criticise the players, when one is
equipped with modern technology. And it is very difficult to play such a
position accurately. Do not expect me to tell you where Black made the
previous mistake. I simply do not know.}) 62... Re8 {Now Black's position is
tenable again.} 63. Bf5 Kg8 64. Bc2 Re3 65. Bb1 Kh8 66. Kf7 Rb3 67. Be4 Re3 68.
Bf5 Rc3 69. g4 Rc6 70. Bf8 Rc7+ 71. Kg6 {White is threatening Bf5-e6-f7.} Kg8
$1 {The only defence.} 72. Bb4 Rb7 $2 (72... Rc6) ({or} 72... Kh8 {were called
for.}) 73. Bd6 $2 (73. Be6+ $1 Kh8 74. Bf8 $1 {was winning, e.g.} f5 75. gxf5
Ra7 76. f6 gxf6 77. Bf7 {and Black can resign.}) 73... Kh8 (73... Rb6 $1) 74.
Bf8 $1 Kg8 75. Ba3 (75. Bc5 $1 Kh8 76. Be6 Rb8 77. h5 Ra8 78. g5 $3 {gave
White winning chances. I suspect Black can give up an exchange and save like
in the game, but it is not so easy.} Ra5 $1 (78... hxg5 $2 79. h6 $1 gxh6 80.
Be7 Rg8+ 81. Kxh6 Rg7 82. Bxf6 {is a study-like variation.}) (78... fxg5 $2 79.
Bd4 $18) 79. gxh6 gxh6 80. Be7 Rg5+ 81. Kxh6 Rg7 $1 {and the final outcome
remains unclear, unless you have access to 7-men tablebases.}) 75... Kh8 (75...
Rb6 $1) 76. Be6 (76. Bf8 $1) 76... Rb6 77. Kf7 Rb7+ 78. Be7 h5 $1 {Sergey
chooses the right moment to force a draw.} 79. gxh5 (79. g5 fxg5 80. hxg5 h4
$11) 79... f5 (79... Kh7 {was also sufficient.}) 80. Bxf5 Rxe7+ 81. Kxe7 Kg8 {
This position is a theoretical draw. White would need to deprive Black's king
of the squares g8 and h7 to force g7-g5 and then take the pawn en passant.
However, it is not possible to protect g8 and h7 without attacking g7 as well,
which leads to a stalemate after h5xg6 e.p. If White had two light-squared
bishops, he could put one of them on g8 or h7 while defending it with the
other one, thus winning. But this is clearly not the case.} 82. Bd3 Kh8 83. Kf8
g5 84. hxg6 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Karjakin Tiebreak"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.11.30"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2853"]
[Annotator "Navara,D"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2016.11.30"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a3
O-O 9. Nc3 Na5 10. Ba2 Be6 {The world champion repeats the continuation from
the 2nd game.} 11. b4 ({Game 2 saw} 11. d4 Bxa2 12. Rxa2 Re8 13. Ra1 Nc4 {
and Magnus equalised.}) 11... Nc6 12. Nd5 Nd4 {The position looks fairly
symmetrical. The only difference being the placement of the bishops.} 13. Ng5 {
White tries to exploit the vulnerability of Black's bishop.} (13. Nxd4 exd4 14.
Bb2 c5 {brings White little, for instance} 15. Nxe7+ Qxe7 16. c3 Bxa2 17. Rxa2
Qe6 18. Ra1 dxc3 19. Bxc3 Nd7 $5 (19... c4 $5) (19... Rac8) 20. f4 f5 {.
White's position looks more pleasant, but Black has no real problems.}) 13...
Bxd5 {This was not forced, but the other moves were hardly better.} 14. exd5
Nd7 15. Ne4 f5 16. Nd2 ({My silicon friend also suggests an alternative} 16. c3
$5 fxe4 17. cxd4 exd3 18. Qxd3 exd4 19. Bb2 Bf6 20. Rae1 a5 (20... Ne5 21. Qd2)
21. Bb1 g6 22. f4 {with an edge for White.}) 16... f4 17. c3 Nf5 18. Ne4 {
This move looks very natural, but it is hard to say where the knight should go.
The computer's suggestion Nd2-b3-a5-c6 looks very optimistic to me, as White's
king is not very well protected. Playing Re1, Nf3 and eventually d3-d4 might
make sense, but Black can take some precautions against it.} Qe8 $1 {Black
improves his queen.} 19. Bb3 Qg6 20. f3 {This move looks fairly natural to me.
The threat of Nf5-h4 looked annoying. On the other hand, now the e3-square
becomes weak, which Black masterfully exploits later on.} Bh4 21. a4 ({With
hindsight} 21. Bd2 {looks better here or on the next move.}) 21... Nf6 (21...
a5 $5) 22. Qe2 a5 $1 {This push changes the character of the play. The
d4-square might become seriously weak.} 23. axb5 {This was probably a correct
decision.} (23. bxa5 Rxa5 24. Ra2 {looks safer at first sight, but} Rfa8 {
would be unpleasant for White anyway, e.g.} 25. Nxf6+ (25. axb5 $2 Rxa2 26.
Bxa2 Nxe4 27. dxe4 Ng3 $1 {gives Black a decisive attack after} 28. hxg3 Bxg3
29. Rd1 Qh5 {.}) 25... Qxf6 26. axb5 $2 Rxa2 27. Bxa2 Ng3 $1 {and Black wins
an exchange, as} 28. hxg3 Bxg3 {is just winning for Black.}) 23... axb4 24. Bd2
bxc3 25. Bxc3 Ne3 {Black could still wait with this move, as the knight also
controlled d4 and g3.} 26. Rfc1 Rxa1 27. Rxa1 Qe8 28. Bc4 Kh8 29. Nxf6 Bxf6 (
29... gxf6 $5 {was a serious option, but White's position would remain
defensible after} 30. Bd2 $1 {.}) 30. Ra3 {The position has remained around
equal.} e4 $1 {A great practical decision. Black exchanges his bad bishop,
activates his major pieces and fortifies his knight's outpost on e3.} 31. dxe4
Bxc3 32. Rxc3 Qe5 33. Rc1 Ra8 (33... Qd4 $5 {was also an option. To prevent
this, White could start with 33.Qd2. However,} 34. Kh1 Ra8 35. Ba2 $1 {still
maintains equality.}) 34. h3 (34. Qd2 Ra1 35. Be2 {might have been more
circumspect.}) 34... h6 (34... Ra1 35. Rxa1 Qxa1+ 36. Kh2 h6 {looks more
pleasant for Black, but White's position is solid enough to resist.}) 35. Kh2 (
35. Qd2 $1) 35... Qd4 36. Qe1 $6 (36. e5 $1 Qxe5 37. Bd3 {or}) (36. Ba2 {
might still have sufficed for equality, but it is very hard to keep one's cool
with the clock ticking.}) 36... Qb2 37. Bf1 ({Computers suggest} 37. Be2 $1 Ra2
38. e5 $3 {, for instance:} Qxe5 (38... Qxe2 $6 39. Qxe2 Rxe2 40. b6 $1 $11 {
and the passed pawns save White.}) (38... dxe5 $6 39. d6 $1 cxd6 40. Rc8+ Kh7
41. Bd3+ g6 42. Rc2 $3 Qb3 (42... Nxc2 $4 {even loses to} 43. Qe4 $1) 43. Qh4
$1 Rxc2 44. Qe7+ Kg8 45. Qe8+ Kg7 46. Qxg6+ Kf8 47. Qxd6+ {with a perpetual.})
39. b6 $1 Qg5 $1 (39... Nxg2 40. b7 Nxe1 41. b8=Q+ Kh7 42. Qb1+) 40. Qf2 Qg3+
$1 41. Qxg3 fxg3+ 42. Kxg3 Rxe2 43. bxc7 Rxg2+ 44. Kf4 Nxd5+ 45. Ke4 Nxc7 46.
Rxc7 {with a drawish endgame. But this would be extremely difficult to find
even in a classical game. We should not criticise Sergey for missing this.
After all, most of us prefer human games to computer encounters, which might
be far too incomprehensible for us mortals.}) 37... Ra2 38. Rxc7 $2 (38. Rb1 $1
{was a must. Black's position looks dominant after} Qd4 {, but White defends
everything for the time being.}) 38... Ra1 {Magnus played an excellent game.
He created such strong pressure, that even such a great defender like Sergey
failed to cope with it.} 0-1

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Karjakin Tiebreak"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2016.11.30"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B55"]
[WhiteElo "2853"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[Annotator "Navara,D"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2016.11.30"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{It is very hard to win with Black on demand. On the other hand, it not easy
to play such a game with White, either. The subconscious desire to make a draw
might lead to concessions and gradually to a deterioration of one's position.
Magnus coped with this task excellently. He played for the win while not
avoiding a possible move repetition, thus forcing Sergey to make further
concessions.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. f3 e5 6. Nb3 Be7 (
6... d5 {is a decent move, but White should not have too many problems after}
7. Bg5 {.} {The main continuation} Be6 (7... d4 $5 {deserves serious attention.
It has already been played by strong players like Vachier-Lagrave, Cheparinov
and Navara. Black can achieve a double-edged position without making too many
concessions.}) 8. Bxf6 gxf6 9. exd5 Qxd5 10. Qxd5 Bxd5 11. Nc3 {leads to an
equal endgame which is fairly safe for White.}) ({There is a nice trap:} 6...
a5 7. c4 $6 (7. Bb5+ Nc6 8. Nc3) 7... Nxe4 $1 8. fxe4 Qh4+ 9. Kd2 a4 {with
Black's edge. To be honest, I failed to find 7...Nxe4 myself several years ago.
But it would be too naive to expect Magnus to miss it.}) 7. c4 a5 {Now White's
bishop cannot go to b5 anymore. Both sides have created considerable
weaknesses in their camps, viz. the squares d4 (White) or b5 and d5 (Black).}
8. Be3 a4 9. Nc1 O-O 10. Nc3 Qa5 11. Qd2 Na6 (11... Be6 {might have been a bit
more flexible. I would like to play Be7-d8-b6 to exchange the bad bishop, but
White can probably prevent it. Black should rather play ...Rc8, attacking the
c4-pawn.} 12. b3 $5 axb3 13. Nxb3 {might well be critical from the theoretical
point of view.}) 12. Be2 Nc5 13. O-O Bd7 14. Rb1 Rfc8 15. b4 $1 {It is
important to protect the c4-pawn. White opens the a-file, but Black's rook
cannot penetrate.} axb3 16. axb3 Qd8 17. Nd3 $14 {White has achieved a
pleasant position. His pawn structure is better and Black does not have
adequate counterplay.} Ne6 18. Nb4 Bc6 (18... Nf4 $5 {might have been an
option, the idea being} 19. Bxf4 Qb6+ ({or even} 19... exf4 20. Nbd5 Nxd5 21.
Nxd5 g5 {Still, it is hard to imagine Black winning such a position. The text
maintains more tension.}) 20. Be3 Qxb4) 19. Rfd1 h5 $1 {I like this decision.
Black starts counterplay on the dark squares around White's king.} (19... Ne8 {
followed by Bg5 might have been objectively better, but it led to a worse
endgame after} 20. Nbd5 Bg5 21. Nb6 Qxb6 22. Bxb6 Bxd2 23. Rxd2 {.}) 20. Bf1 h4
21. Qf2 (21. Nbd5 Bxd5 22. exd5 Nf4 {might objectively be better for White,
but giving up the control of the d5-square looks unnecessary.}) 21... Nd7 (
21... Nh5 {allows both} 22. Ncd5 ({and} 22. Nxc6 bxc6 23. c5)) 22. g3 {The
computer dislikes this move, but it is not easy to suggest anything better.
Komodo's suggestion 22.Kh1 is too mysterious for me and} ({direct
continuations like} 22. Nxc6 bxc6 23. b4 {also have their drawbacks, as the
d4-square could eventually become weak after something like} c5 $5 {.}) 22...
Ra3 $6 (22... Bg5 {might have been a better try. White had better not take the
d6-pawn:} 23. Bxg5 (23. Rxd6 $6 Qf8 $1) 23... Qxg5 24. Rxd6 (24. Nc2 $1 $14)
24... Qe7 25. Rbd1 Nd4 26. R6xd4 $1 exd4 27. Ncd5 $13) 23. Bh3 Rca8 24. Nc2
R3a6 25. Nb4 Ra5 {Sergey bravely avoids the repetition, but his position
remains worse.} 26. Nc2 b6 27. Rd2 Qc7 28. Rbd1 Bf8 29. gxh4 $5 {A somewhat
surprising decision. White opens the kingside, as Black cannot exploit the
weakness of the f4-square.} Nf4 30. Bxf4 ({The computer suggests} 30. Bxd7 Qxd7
31. Kh1 {and takes on f4 later, but White's continuation is also fairly strong.
}) 30... exf4 31. Bxd7 $1 Qxd7 32. Nb4 Ra3 33. Nxc6 Qxc6 34. Nb5 Rxb3 ({
Black could hardly play for the win after} 34... Ra1 {.}) 35. Nd4 Qxc4 36. Nxb3
Qxb3 {White has a material advantage. It is not easy to convert, as his king
is a bit exposed. On the other hand, Black's bishop is passive and his king is
not safe, either.} 37. Qe2 Be7 38. Kg2 Qe6 39. h5 Ra3 40. Rd3 Ra2 41. R3d2 Ra3
42. Rd3 Ra7 43. Rd5 Rc7 44. Qd2 Qf6 (44... Qh6 45. Rf5 Rc5 46. Qxf4 Qxf4 47.
Rxf4 Rg5+ 48. Rg4 Rxh5 {might have been a bit more tenacious, but it would
have been equivalent to a resignation in the match.}) 45. Rf5 Qh4 46. Rc1 Ra7
47. Qxf4 Ra2+ 48. Kh1 Qf2 49. Rc8+ Kh7 {It looks as if Black were suddenly
winning, but Magnus had foreseen everything and finished the match in style.}
50. Qh6+ $3 {and Black resigned before an inevitable mate. It was a
fascinating conclusion to a very tense match. Sergey Karjakin deserves every
credit for his strong play. He and his team prepared for the match excellently
and could have won it. He showed that it is possible to play against Magnus on
equal terms and that the Norwegian's throne isn't unshakeable. But I also
believe that Magnus deserves the title. He has been the world's number 1 for
many years and he is the strongest player in the world. He did not lose in the
classical part of the match and eventually prevailed in rapid chess.} 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.26"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ganguly, Surya Shekhar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2668"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2016.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e3 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. b3 Be7 5. Bb2 O-O 6. Nc3 c5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Qc2
Nc6 9. h4 h6 10. g4 Nxc3 11. dxc3 e5 12. g5 h5 13. Bc4 Be6 14. Bxe6 fxe6 15.
Nd2 Qe8 16. Rf1 b5 17. Qe4 a5 18. a4 bxa4 19. bxa4 Qd7 20. Ke2 Rad8 21. Rad1
Qb7 22. Ba3 Rd5 23. c4 Qa6 24. Ke1 Rd7 25. Qg6 Nb4 26. Bxb4 cxb4 27. Qxh5 Rfd8
28. Qg4 Rd3 29. Ke2 b3 30. Nxb3 Rxb3 31. Rxd8+ Bxd8 32. Rd1 Be7 33. Kf3 Rb4 34.
Kg3 Qxc4 35. Qh5 Qc6 36. Qg6 Rxa4 37. h5 Qc4 38. Rd8+ Bxd8 39. Qe8+ Kh7 40.
Qg6+ Kg8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.26"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Pantsulaia, Levan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A09"]
[WhiteElo "2607"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2016.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. c4 dxc4 4. Na3 Bg7 5. Nxc4 Nc6 6. d3 e5 7. Bd2 Nge7 8.
Bg2 O-O 9. O-O a5 10. b3 Be6 11. Rc1 Qd7 12. Ng5 Bd5 13. Ne4 f5 14. Nc5 Qc8 15.
e4 Bxc4 16. dxc4 b6 17. Nd3 Qd7 18. Bc3 Rad8 19. Nb2 Qe6 20. Qe2 f4 21. Rfd1
Qf7 22. Bh3 f3 23. Qe1 Nb4 24. Bxb4 axb4 25. c5 Bh6 26. cxb6 cxb6 27. Rc7 Qf6
28. Qxb4 Rxd1+ 29. Nxd1 Rd8 30. Rd7 Nc6 31. Qc4+ Kh8 32. Rxd8+ Nxd8 33. Nc3 Nc6
34. Nd5 Qd6 35. Bg4 Nd4 36. Qc8+ Bf8 37. h4 h5 38. Bd7 Kg7 39. Kh2 Kh7 40. Qe8
Kg7 41. b4 b5 42. Bxb5 Nc2 43. a3 Kh6 44. Qf7 Nd4 45. Nf6 Bg7 46. Qxg7+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.26"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Henriquez Villagra, Cristobal"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B66"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2517"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2016.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8.
O-O-O h6 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Bf4 d5 11. Qe3 Bb4 12. a3 Ba5 13. Be2 O-O 14. e5 Nh7
15. h4 Rb8 16. Na4 Bc7 17. Bd3 f6 18. g4 fxe5 19. Bxe5 Nf6 20. f3 Ne8 21. f4
Bxe5 22. fxe5 Qa5 23. Rhf1 Qxa4 24. Rxf8+ Kxf8 25. Qc5+ Kf7 26. Rf1+ Nf6 27.
exf6 gxf6 28. g5 f5 29. g6+ Kxg6 30. Qd6 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.26"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Flores, Diego"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2579"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2016.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 a6 6. b3 Bb4 7. Bd2 O-O 8. Bd3
Nbd7 9. O-O Bd6 10. Rc1 h6 11. Qc2 Re8 12. h3 Qe7 13. c5 Bc7 14. e4 e5 15. Rfe1
Qd8 16. exd5 cxd5 17. dxe5 Nxe5 18. Nxe5 Rxe5 19. Rxe5 Bxe5 20. Na4 Be6 21. Qd1
Ne4 22. Be3 Qh4 23. c6 bxc6 24. Rxc6 d4 25. Qc2 dxe3 26. Bxe4 Rd8 27. Rxa6 Qxe4
0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.26"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Inarkiev, Ernesto"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2709"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2016.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 a6 7. a4 Ba7 8. Re1 h6
9. Na3 O-O 10. Nc2 Ne7 11. Be3 Bxe3 12. Nxe3 c6 13. a5 d5 14. Bb3 Ng6 15. exd5
cxd5 16. d4 e4 17. Ne5 Ne7 18. f3 Be6 19. fxe4 Nxe4 20. Nxd5 Bxd5 21. Bxd5 Qxd5
22. c4 Qe6 23. Rxe4 f6 24. Qg4 f5 25. Qh3 Nc6 26. Rd1 Rad8 27. Nxc6 Qxc6 28.
Re7 Qxc4 29. Qc3 Qxc3 30. bxc3 Rf7 31. Rxf7 Kxf7 32. Rb1 Rd7 33. Kf2 Rc7 34.
Rb3 f4 35. Kf3 g5 36. Ke4 Kg6 37. Rb6+ Kh5 38. d5 Rxc3 39. d6 Re3+ 40. Kd4 Re2
41. Rb3 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.27"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bok, Benjamin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2598"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2016.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 d5 3. e3 c5 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. exd4 a6 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. Nce2 Bg4 8.
c3 e6 9. Qd2 Bh5 10. Bg5 Bg6 11. Nf4 Bxd3 12. Nxd3 Bd6 13. Nf3 Ne4 14. Bxd8
Nxd2 15. Kxd2 Rxd8 16. Rhe1 O-O 17. a4 Rc8 18. a5 Rfe8 19. Nfe5 Bxe5 20. Nxe5
Nxe5 21. Rxe5 f6 22. Re3 Kf7 23. Ra4 Rc4 24. Rxc4 dxc4 25. b3 Rc8 26. Re1 cxb3
27. Rb1 Rc4 28. Rxb3 Ra4 29. Rxb7+ Kg6 30. Rb6 Rxa5 31. Rxe6 Ra2+ 32. Kd3 Rxf2
33. c4 Rxg2 34. c5 Kf5 35. Re1 Rb2 36. c6 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.27"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2747"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2016.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Qc2 e6 5. Nbd2 dxc4 6. Nxc4 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8.
a3 O-O 9. b4 Be7 10. Bb2 Qc7 11. Rc1 Nbd7 12. e4 b5 13. Na5 Qxc2 14. Rxc2 Nxe4
15. Bxb5 Nd6 16. Bc6 Rb8 17. O-O Nb6 18. Rd1 Rd8 19. Ne5 f6 20. Bf3 fxe5 21.
Nc6 Bb7 22. Nxe7+ Kf8 23. Bxe5 Nbc4 24. Bxd6 Nxd6 25. Nc6 Bxc6 26. Rxc6 Nb5 27.
Rxd8+ Rxd8 28. Ra6 Rc8 29. h4 Rc7 30. Bg4 e5 31. Ra5 Nd6 32. Rxe5 Nc4 33. Rf5+
Ke7 34. Rf3 Ne5 35. Re3 Kd6 36. Be2 h6 37. f4 Rc1+ 38. Kf2 Nd7 39. Bf3 Rc2+ 40.
Kg3 Ra2 41. Rd3+ Ke7 42. Rc3 Kd8 43. Kg4 Rd2 44. Rc6 Rd3 45. Ra6 Nf6+ 46. Kf5
Rd7 47. g4 Ne8 48. g5 hxg5 49. hxg5 Nd6+ 50. Kg6 Nb5 51. Ra5 Nd4 52. Bg4 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.27"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Jakovenko, Dmitrij"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2704"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2016.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 Bd6 5. Bg3 O-O 6. c4 c5 7. Nc3 dxc4 8. dxc5
Bxc5 9. Bxc4 a6 10. O-O b5 11. Bd3 Bb7 12. Qe2 Nbd7 13. Rad1 Qb6 14. e4 Nh5 15.
e5 Nxg3 16. hxg3 Rfd8 17. Be4 Be7 18. Bxb7 Qxb7 19. Ne4 Nc5 20. Nd6 Bxd6 21.
exd6 Qb6 22. b4 Nd7 23. Ne5 Rac8 24. Rd2 Nxe5 25. Qxe5 Rd7 26. Rfd1 h6 27. g4
Qd8 28. Qe4 Qg5 29. Rc2 Rxc2 30. Qxc2 Qxg4 31. Qc8+ Kh7 32. f3 Qxb4 33. Qxd7
Qc5+ 34. Kf1 Qc4+ 35. Ke1 Qc3+ 36. Ke2 Qc4+ 37. Rd3 Qc2+ 38. Rd2 Qc4+ 39. Kd1
Qf1+ 40. Kc2 Qc4+ 41. Kb1 Qb4+ 42. Kc1 Qc5+ 43. Rc2 Qg1+ 44. Kd2 Qxg2+ 45. Kc3
Qxf3+ 46. Kb4 Qe4+ 47. Ka5 Qxc2 48. Qc7 Qxa2+ 49. Kb6 Qf2+ 50. Kb7 b4 51. d7 b3
52. d8=Q Qf5 53. Qc3 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.27"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D16"]
[WhiteElo "2737"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2016.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 e6 6. e3 c5 7. Bxc4 cxd4 8. exd4
Nc6 9. O-O Be7 10. Qe2 O-O 11. Rd1 Nb4 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bd2 Bd7 14. Ne5 Rc8 15.
Bb3 Bc6 16. a5 a6 17. Qe3 Bd5 18. Nxd5 Nbxd5 19. Qf3 Rc7 20. Ra4 Bd6 21. h4 Qe7
22. Re1 Rfc8 23. g3 Qe8 24. Ra2 Bb4 25. Bxb4 Nxb4 26. Raa1 Nfd5 27. Rad1 Qd8
28. Kg2 Nc6 29. Nxc6 Rxc6 30. Bxd5 exd5 31. Re5 Qxa5 32. Rxd5 Qb4 33. Rf5 R6c7
34. d5 Qxb2 35. h5 Qb4 36. d6 Rd7 37. Rd3 b5 38. Rfd5 Qc4 39. Re3 Qc6 40. Re7
Rf8 41. Rxd7 Qxd7 42. Qd3 Rb8 43. Rc5 Rd8 44. Rd5 Qc6 45. Kh2 Rd7 46. Qd4 b4
47. Qe5 Qc8 48. Qb2 Qb8 49. Qd2 b3 50. Qb2 a5 51. Rxa5 Rxd6 52. Qe5 Rb6 53. Qb2
Qb7 54. Re5 Re6 55. Rxe6 fxe6 56. Qe5 Qd5 57. Qb8+ Kh7 58. Qe8 Qf5 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.27"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2785"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2016.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. Nf3 Bf5 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. O-O Nc6 7. d3 e6 8. Be3
Be7 9. Qb3 Qd7 10. Nd4 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 O-O 12. Nc3 Bg6 13. Rfd1 Bd6 14. Nb5 Bb8
15. Bxf6 gxf6 16. e4 dxe4 17. dxe4 Qe7 18. Qa3 Qxa3 19. Nxa3 Rc8 20. Rd7 Bc7
21. b3 Rab8 22. Rc1 Bd8 23. Rxc8 Rxc8 24. Bf3 Rc1+ 25. Kg2 Bb6 26. Rxb7 Ra1 27.
Nc4 Bd4 28. Rd7 e5 29. g4 Rxa2 30. h4 Bxf2 31. h5 Be3+ 32. Kh1 Ra1+ 33. Kg2
Ra2+ 34. Kh1 Ra1+ 35. Kg2 Ra2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.28"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Korobov, Anton"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2692"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2016.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 c5 3. e3 Nc6 4. c3 Nf6 5. Nd2 e6 6. Ngf3 Bd6 7. Bg3 O-O 8. Bb5
Ne7 9. Bd3 b6 10. e4 Bxg3 11. hxg3 dxe4 12. Nxe4 Ng6 13. dxc5 Bb7 14. Nxf6+
Qxf6 15. cxb6 e5 16. Bxg6 hxg6 17. Qd7 Qxb6 18. Ng5 Bxg2 19. O-O-O Rab8 20. b3
Qxf2 21. Qg4 Rfc8 22. Kb1 Rxc3 23. Qb4 Rcc8 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.28"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2689"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2016.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Ne5 Nf6 6. Bb5 Bd7 7. Nxd7 Qxd7 8.
c3 e6 9. O-O Bd6 10. Re1 O-O 11. Bd3 Qc7 12. g3 h6 13. f4 Rab8 14. a4 a6 15.
Qe2 Rfe8 16. Qf1 Nd7 17. Nd2 f5 18. Nf3 Nf6 19. Be3 Ne4 20. Ne5 Rf8 21. Qg2
Nxe5 22. fxe5 Be7 23. Rf1 Bg5 24. Bxg5 hxg5 25. g4 Qe7 26. a5 g6 27. c4 Kg7 28.
Rac1 Rbd8 29. cxd5 exd5 30. Kh1 Rd7 31. gxf5 gxf5 32. Bxe4 dxe4 33. e6 Qxe6 34.
Qxg5+ Kh8 35. Rc5 Rg7 36. Qh4+ Rh7 37. Qf4 e3 38. Re5 Qc6+ 39. d5 Qb5 40. Rg1
Qxb2 41. Rxe3 Rc8 42. d6 Qf6 43. Re6 Qc3 44. d7 Rf8 45. Re8 Qc6+ 46. Rg2 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.28"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Riazantsev, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2671"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2016.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 a6 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be6 7. e3 Nbd7 8.
Bd3 Bd6 9. O-O O-O 10. Qc2 h6 11. Bf4 Qe7 12. Bxd6 Qxd6 13. a3 Bg4 14. Nd2 c5
15. dxc5 Nxc5 16. h3 Bd7 17. Nf3 Rac8 18. Rac1 Qb6 19. b4 Nce4 20. Qb2 Nxc3 21.
Rxc3 Rxc3 22. Qxc3 Rc8 23. Qa1 Qc7 24. Nd4 Qc3 25. Bc2 Ne4 26. Bxe4 dxe4 27.
Qxc3 Rxc3 28. Ra1 Kf8 29. Kf1 Ke7 30. Ke1 Kd6 31. Ne2 Rb3 32. Ra2 Rb1+ 33. Kd2
Rf1 34. Kc3 Rxf2 35. Rd2+ Ke7 36. Ng3 Rxd2 37. Kxd2 f5 38. h4 g6 39. Ne2 Kd6
40. Nf4 Be8 41. g3 Ke5 42. Kc3 g5 43. hxg5 hxg5 44. Nh3 Kf6 45. Kd4 Bb5 46. Nf2
Be2 47. Nh3 b6 48. Nf2 g4 49. Kd5 b5 50. Kd4 Ke6 51. Nh1 Bf3 52. Nf2 Kd6 53.
Kc3 Kd5 54. Kb3 f4 55. gxf4 g3 56. Nh3 Ke6 57. Kc3 Kf5 58. Ng1 g2 59. Kd2 Kg4
60. Ke1 Kg3 61. f5 Bg4 62. f6 Bh5 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.28"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B15"]
[WhiteElo "2767"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2016.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Nxf6+ exf6 6. d4 Bd6 7. Be2 O-O
8. O-O Re8 9. c4 Nd7 10. Bd3 Nf8 11. h3 Ng6 12. Qc2 Qa5 13. c5 Bb8 14. Bd2 Qd8
15. Rfe1 Be6 16. Bc4 Nf8 17. Rad1 Bc7 18. Qb3 Bxc4 19. Qxc4 Qd7 20. b4 Ng6 21.
a4 Ne7 22. b5 Nd5 23. bxc6 bxc6 24. Qa6 g5 25. Nh2 Bxh2+ 26. Kxh2 Kg7 27. Kg1
Rxe1+ 28. Rxe1 Rb8 29. Qd3 Rb2 30. a5 h6 31. Bc1 Ra2 32. Bd2 Qb7 33. Re8 Qb2
34. Be1 Nf4 35. Qa6 Qxd4 36. Qc8 Ng6 37. Qxc6 Ra1 38. Qe4 Qxc5 39. Kh2 h5 40.
Qe3 Qc6 41. Bc3 Ra4 42. f3 Ra2 43. Kh1 Rc2 44. Be1 Qb5 45. Bg3 h4 46. Bh2 Qb1+
47. Bg1 Qf1 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.28"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2768"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2016.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Ne5 a6 6. c4 Nf6 7. Nc3 e6 8. Be2
Bd6 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. O-O O-O 11. Bg5 Rb8 12. Rb1 h6 13. Bh4 Qc7 14. Bxf6 gxf6
15. g3 f5 16. c5 Be7 17. b4 f4 18. a4 e5 19. b5 axb5 20. axb5 fxg3 21. hxg3 Bf6
22. bxc6 Rxb1 23. Qxb1 Qxc6 24. Qb6 Qxb6 25. cxb6 Bb7 26. Na4 e4 27. Nc5 Bc6
28. Rc1 Rb8 29. b7 Bxd4 30. Nb3 Bxf2+ 31. Kxf2 Bxb7 32. Nd4 Bc8 33. Rc6 Kg7 34.
Ke3 Ra8 35. Bh5 Ra3+ 36. Kf4 Rd3 37. Rxc8 Rxd4 38. Rc7 Kf6 39. Rxf7+ Ke6 40.
Rh7 Kd6 41. Rxh6+ Kc5 42. g4 Rd1 43. g5 Rf1+ 44. Ke5 e3 45. Rh8 Rg1 46. Rc8+
Kb4 47. Kf4 d4 48. Be2 Rg2 49. Bd3 Rf2+ 50. Ke5 Rg2 51. g6 e2 52. Rc1 Rg3 53.
Kxd4 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.29"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bu, Xiangzhi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2705"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2016.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d3 Nf6 6. d4 Be7 7. Bd3 O-O 8.
O-O Re8 9. h3 Nbd7 10. c4 Nf8 11. Nc3 Ng6 12. Re1 c6 13. Qc2 Bd7 14. Bg5 Nh5
15. Bxe7 Rxe7 16. Rxe7 Qxe7 17. Re1 Qd8 18. Qb3 Nhf4 19. Bxg6 hxg6 20. Ne4 Qc7
21. Qe3 Ne6 22. d5 cxd5 23. cxd5 Nc5 24. Nxc5 Qxc5 25. Qe7 Bb5 26. Qxb7 Re8 27.
Rxe8+ Bxe8 28. Qe7 Qc1+ 29. Kh2 Qf4+ 30. Kh1 Qc1+ 31. Ng1 Bb5 32. Qxd6 Kh7 33.
Qb4 a6 34. Kh2 Qg5 35. Qd4 Qf5 36. Nf3 f6 37. d6 Bc6 38. Qh4+ Kg8 39. Qc4+ Bd5
40. Qd4 Kf7 41. Qa7+ Kg8 42. d7 Qf4+ 43. Kh1 Bxf3 44. d8=Q+ Kh7 45. Qe3 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.29"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Vallejo Pons, Francisco"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D10"]
[WhiteElo "2711"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2016.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Bf4 Nc6 6. e3 a6 7. Be2 e6 8. Nf3
Be7 9. h3 O-O 10. Rc1 Bd7 11. O-O Rc8 12. Bd3 b5 13. a4 b4 14. Nb1 Na5 15. Rxc8
Qxc8 16. Ne5 Nc4 17. Qe2 Bxa4 18. Nxc4 dxc4 19. Bxc4 a5 20. Nd2 Bc6 21. b3 Qb7
22. Nf3 Nd5 23. Ra1 Ra8 24. Ne5 Nxf4 25. exf4 Bd5 26. f5 exf5 27. Bxd5 Qxd5 28.
Qc4 Qxc4 29. Nxc4 Bf6 30. Rxa5 Rxa5 31. Nxa5 Bxd4 32. Nc6 Bc5 33. Kf1 Kf8 34.
Ne5 Ke7 35. Ke2 Ke6 36. Nc4 Kd5 37. f3 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.29"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Salem, AR Saleh"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2656"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2016.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bf4 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. Be2 c6 7. h3 Bf5 8. Ne5
Nbd7 9. g4 Be6 10. f3 c5 11. Qd2 Rc8 12. O-O-O a6 13. h4 h5 14. Nxd7 Qxd7 15.
gxh5 Nxh5 16. Be5 cxd4 17. Bxd4 b5 18. a3 Rc6 19. Rhg1 Rfc8 20. f4 Bxd4 21.
Qxd4 Ng7 22. h5 Bf5 23. hxg6 Rxg6 24. e4 Be6 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.29"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2016.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4
b4 9. d4 d6 10. dxe5 Nxe5 11. Nxe5 dxe5 12. Qxd8 Rxd8 13. Nd2 Bd6 14. Nc4 Be6
15. Bg5 h6 16. Bxf6 gxf6 17. Na5 c5 18. Bxe6 fxe6 19. Nb7 Rd7 20. Rad1 Rxb7 21.
Rxd6 Kf7 22. Rc6 b3 23. Rxc5 bxc2 24. Rxc2 Rab8 25. Rc6 a5 26. Ra6 Rxb2 27.
Rxa5 Re2 28. Kf1 Ra2 29. Rb5 Rc8 30. Rb7+ Kg6 31. Rb3 Rcc2 32. Rg3+ Kf7 33. Rf3
Rxa4 34. g3 Rcc4 35. Rfe3 Rd4 36. Kg2 Kg6 37. R3e2 h5 38. h4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.29"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A08"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2785"]
[PlyCount "194"]
[EventDate "2016.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. O-O e5 5. d3 d5 6. Bg5 Be7 7. Nfd2 Ng8 8.
Bxe7 Ngxe7 9. c4 Be6 10. Nc3 O-O 11. a3 Rc8 12. b4 cxb4 13. axb4 Nxb4 14. Rxa7
dxc4 15. Nxc4 Bxc4 16. dxc4 Rxc4 17. Qb3 Qd4 18. Nb5 Qc5 19. Rxb7 Nec6 20. e3
Na5 21. Qxc4 Qxc4 22. Nd6 Qe6 23. Rxb4 Qxd6 24. Rb5 Nc4 25. Rc1 Nb6 26. Rbc5 g6
27. h4 Kg7 28. Rc7 Rd8 29. R7c6 Qd2 30. R6c2 Qb4 31. Bf3 Rd2 32. Kg2 Rxc2 33.
Rxc2 Nc4 34. Bd5 Nd6 35. Rc6 Kf6 36. Kg1 Ke7 37. Rc7+ Kd8 38. Rc6 Kd7 39. Ra6
Qc5 40. Bf3 e4 41. Be2 Nf5 42. Kg2 Ke7 43. Ra4 Qd5 44. Kg1 Kf8 45. Bf1 Nd6 46.
Rd4 Qe5 47. Bg2 f5 48. Bf1 h6 49. Ra4 g5 50. hxg5 hxg5 51. Bg2 f4 52. gxf4 gxf4
53. exf4 Qxf4 54. Rd4 Qe5 55. Rd1 e3 56. fxe3 Qxe3+ 57. Kh1 Ke7 58. Rf1 Qe5 59.
Rf3 Nf5 60. Kg1 Nh4 61. Rf2 Qe1+ 62. Bf1 Qe3 63. Bg2 Nf5 64. Bf3 Nd4 65. Kg2
Kd6 66. Bg4 Qe4+ 67. Kg3 Ke5 68. Kh3 Qh1+ 69. Kg3 Qg1+ 70. Rg2 Qe3+ 71. Kh2 Kf4
72. Bd1 Nf3+ 73. Bxf3 Qxf3 74. Kg1 Qd1+ 75. Kf2 Qd4+ 76. Ke2 Qe4+ 77. Kf1 Kf3
78. Rf2+ Kg3 79. Rd2 Kf3 80. Rf2+ Kg3 81. Rd2 Qb1+ 82. Ke2 Qe4+ 83. Kf1 Qc4+
84. Ke1 Kf3 85. Kd1 Ke3 86. Rb2 Qa4+ 87. Kc1 Kd3 88. Kb1 Qd1+ 89. Ka2 Kc3 90.
Rh2 Qa4+ 91. Kb1 Qb5+ 92. Ka1 Qf1+ 93. Ka2 Qf7+ 94. Kb1 Qg6+ 95. Ka2 Qa6+ 96.
Kb1 Qb6+ 97. Ka2 Qa7+ 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.29"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Melkumyan, Hrant"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C03"]
[WhiteElo "2633"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "122"]
[EventDate "2016.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. e4 d5 3. Nd2 h6 4. Ngf3 Nf6 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. O-O cxd4 8. cxd4
dxe4 9. Nxe4 Be7 10. Re1 O-O 11. Be3 Nd5 12. a3 b6 13. Rc1 Bb7 14. Bb1 Rc8 15.
Qd3 f5 16. Nc3 Bf6 17. Ba2 Nce7 18. Bd2 Qd7 19. Ne5 Bxe5 20. Rxe5 Rf6 21. Rce1
Ng6 22. Nxd5 Bxd5 23. Bxd5 Nxe5 24. dxe5 Rf7 25. Bc4 Rxc4 26. Qxc4 Qxd2 27. Rf1
Re7 28. b4 Kf7 29. g3 Rd7 30. Rc1 Qb2 31. Qc6 Re7 32. Qc3 Qe2 33. Re1 Qb5 34.
Rd1 Qe2 35. Re1 Qa2 36. Rd1 Qe2 37. Re1 Qh5 38. Qc6 Qg4 39. Kg2 Qd4 40. Re3 Rd7
41. h4 Ke7 42. Qf3 Rc7 43. Qh5 Qd5+ 44. Qf3 Qd4 45. Qa8 Kf7 46. Qf3 Rc2 47.
Qh5+ Kf8 48. Qf3 Kg8 49. Re2 Rc3 50. Re3 Rxe3 51. Qxe3 Qxe3 52. fxe3 Kf7 53.
Kf3 Kg6 54. e4 fxe4+ 55. Kxe4 Kh5 56. Kf3 b5 57. Kf4 g6 58. Kf3 g5 59. hxg5
hxg5 60. Kf2 Kg4 61. Kg2 Kf5 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.29"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Adly, Ahmed"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E46"]
[WhiteElo "2599"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2016.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Nge2 d5 6. a3 Be7 7. cxd5 exd5 8. g3
Re8 9. Bg2 a5 10. O-O Na6 11. Nf4 c6 12. b3 Nc7 13. Ra2 Bd6 14. f3 c5 15. Nce2
b6 16. g4 Ba6 17. Rf2 c4 18. bxc4 Bxc4 19. Ra1 b5 20. g5 Nd7 21. h4 b4 22. axb4
axb4 23. Rxa8 Qxa8 24. Ng3 g6 25. e4 Qa1 26. Qd2 b3 27. Kh2 Bxf4 28. Qxf4 Ne6
29. Qd2 Qxd4 30. Qe1 Ndc5 31. Bb2 Nd3 32. Bxd4 Nxe1 33. Bf6 d4 34. Bf1 Bxf1 35.
Nxf1 Rc8 36. Kg3 Rc2 37. Nd2 Nd3 38. Rh2 b2 39. Nb1 Rc1 40. Na3 Ra1 41. Rc2
Nec5 42. Bxd4 Rxa3 43. Bxb2 Ra2 44. Rc4 Rxb2 45. Rd4 Rb3 46. h5 gxh5 47. f4
Nxf4+ 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.29"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D03"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2660"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2016.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bg5 h6 4. Bh4 d5 5. e3 Be7 6. Nbd2 Nbd7 7. Bd3 b6 8. O-O
Bb7 9. a4 a6 10. c3 Ne4 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 12. Qc2 Nxd2 13. Nxd2 e5 14. a5 O-O 15.
axb6 e4 16. Be2 cxb6 17. c4 dxc4 18. Nxc4 Bd5 19. Qd2 Rfc8 20. Rfc1 Rc7 21. h3
Kh7 22. Na3 Rxc1+ 23. Rxc1 b5 24. Qa5 Nf6 25. Rc5 Qd6 26. Nc2 Qd8 27. Qxd8 Rxd8
28. Nb4 Bb7 29. Kh2 Kg8 30. Bg4 Rd6 31. Rc7 Rb6 32. Bc8 Bxc8 33. Rxc8+ Kh7 34.
Ra8 Rb7 35. Nxa6 Nd5 36. Rd8 Nb6 37. Nc5 Ra7 38. b3 Na8 39. Nxe4 Ra2 40. Kg3
Kg6 41. Rd7 f6 42. Rb7 f5 43. Nc5 Ra5 44. b4 Ra2 45. Nd3 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.29"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Riazantsev, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2671"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "130"]
[EventDate "2016.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. Nf3 Bf5 6. Qb3 Ra7 7. Nh4 Bc8 8. a4 e6
9. a5 c5 10. Nf3 Nc6 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Qb6 Ra8 13. dxc5 Qxb6 14. cxb6 Bb4 15.
Bd2 Bxa5 16. Na4 Bxd2+ 17. Nxd2 d4 18. Nc4 Ke7 19. Be2 Rd8 20. O-O Be6 21. b3
dxe3 22. fxe3 Rab8 23. Nc5 Rd5 24. Nxe6 fxe6 25. Bf3 Rc5 26. Rfd1 Nd5 27. Rac1
Rd8 28. Kf2 Rb5 29. Rd3 Ncb4 30. Rd2 Nc6 31. Rd3 Rd7 32. Rcd1 Nxb6 33. Bxc6
Rxd3 34. Rxd3 bxc6 35. Nxb6 Rxb6 36. Ke2 Rb5 37. Rc3 Kd6 38. Kf3 a5 39. Ke4
Rb4+ 40. Kd3 c5 41. Kc2 Kc6 42. Rd3 c4 43. bxc4 Rxc4+ 44. Kb3 Rb4+ 45. Kc3 Rb8
46. Rd4 Rb5 47. Rg4 g5 48. h4 h6 49. hxg5 hxg5 50. Rd4 Rc5+ 51. Kb3 Re5 52. e4
Rb5+ 53. Kc3 Rb4 54. Rxb4 axb4+ 55. Kxb4 Kd6 56. Kc4 Ke5 57. Kd3 Kf4 58. Kd4 g4
59. e5 Kg3 60. Kc5 Kxg2 61. Kd6 Kf3 62. Kxe6 g3 63. Kf7 g2 64. e6 g1=Q 65. e7
Qa7 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.29"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2676"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2016.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 d5 3. e3 c5 4. c3 Qb6 5. Qc2 Nc6 6. Nd2 Bg4 7. Be2 Bxe2 8.
Nxe2 e6 9. O-O Be7 10. Nf4 O-O 11. Nd3 cxd4 12. exd4 Qc7 13. Qd1 Bd6 14. Bxf6
gxf6 15. Qh5 Kh8 16. f4 Rg8 17. Rae1 f5 18. Ne5 Rg7 19. Ndf3 Rag8 20. Re2 Nd8
21. Kh1 f6 22. Nd3 Bxf4 23. Nc5 Qd6 24. Rfe1 e5 25. Qxf5 e4 26. Nxe4 dxe4 27.
Rxe4 Bh6 28. g3 Qd7 29. Qxf6 Qf7 30. Qxf7 Rxf7 31. Ne5 Rf2 32. R4e2 Rxe2 33.
Rxe2 Kg7 34. Kg2 Re8 35. Kf3 Re6 36. Nd3 Rf6+ 37. Kg2 Kf8 38. Nc5 Kf7 39. Nd7
Re6 40. Ne5+ Ke8 41. Kf3 Bg7 42. Nd3 Kf7 43. Rxe6 Kxe6 44. Ke4 b6 45. Nf4+ Kd6
46. g4 b5 47. g5 a5 48. h4 Ne6 49. Nxe6 Kxe6 50. b3 Bf8 51. c4 bxc4 52. bxc4
Bd6 53. c5 Bg3 54. h5 Bf2 55. d5+ Kd7 56. g6 hxg6 57. hxg6 Ke7 58. d6+ Kf6 59.
d7 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.29"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Yu, Yangyi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C89"]
[WhiteElo "2729"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2016.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3
d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. d3 Bd6 13. Re1 Bf5 14. Nd2 Nf4
15. Ne4 Nxd3 16. Re3 Bxe4 17. Rxe4 Nxc1 18. Rxc1 Qf6 19. g3 Rfe8 20. Qe2 Rxe4
21. Qxe4 Bc5 22. Rf1 g6 23. Kg2 Rd8 24. Qe2 Qf5 25. Rd1 Rxd1 26. Bxd1 Qd5+ 27.
Qf3 Qxa2 28. Qxc6 Bf8 29. b4 Qc4 30. Qxc4 bxc4 31. Be2 Bg7 32. Bxc4 Bxc3 33.
Bxa6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.29"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bosiocic, Marin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2591"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2016.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Nf6 3. e3 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nd2 e6 6. Ngf3 Bd6 7. Bg3 O-O 8. Bb5
Ne7 9. Bd3 b6 10. e4 dxe4 11. Nxe4 Nxe4 12. Bxe4 Rb8 13. dxc5 Bxg3 14. hxg3 f5
15. Qxd8 Rxd8 16. c6 Nd5 17. Bxd5 Rxd5 18. Rd1 Rxd1+ 19. Kxd1 Ba6 20. Ne5 Rc8
21. c4 b5 22. b4 bxc4 23. a4 Rd8+ 24. Kc2 Rd5 25. f4 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.30"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2804"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2016.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bb7 7. d3 Be7 8. Nc3
O-O 9. a3 d6 10. Nd5 Nxd5 11. Bxd5 Qd7 12. d4 exd4 13. Nxd4 Bf6 14. Nf5 Nd8 15.
Re1 Re8 16. c3 Bxd5 17. Qxd5 Nc6 18. Ng3 g6 19. Bf4 Ne5 20. Rad1 Rad8 21. Re2
c6 22. Qa2 Qg4 23. Bc1 h5 24. h3 Qe6 25. Qxe6 Rxe6 26. f4 Nc4 27. b3 Na5 28. b4
Nc4 29. Rd3 Rde8 30. e5 dxe5 31. f5 e4 32. Rd7 gxf5 33. Nxf5 e3 34. Rd3 Re5 35.
Nd4 Rd5 36. Bxe3 Rde5 37. Nc2 Bg5 38. Kf2 Rf5+ 39. Kg1 Rfe5 40. Kf2 f5 41. Re1
Nxe3 42. Nxe3 f4 43. Nc2 Bh4+ 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.30"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2779"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2016.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. Bd2 Ne4 6. Bb4 Bf5 7. Nc3 Qb6 8. Qb3
e6 9. Bxf8 Qxb3 10. axb3 Rxf8 11. Bd3 Nd6 12. Bxf5 Nxf5 13. b4 dxc4 14. b5 Ke7
15. Ke2 Nd6 16. b6 Nd7 17. Na4 f6 18. Rhc1 Nc8 19. Nc5 Rb8 20. Rxc4 Ncxb6 21.
Rb4 Nxc5 22. dxc5 Nd5 23. Rb3 Nc7 24. Nd2 Rfd8 25. Rc3 Rd5 26. Nb3 e5 27. Na5
Ne6 28. Rac1 Kd7 29. b4 Kc7 30. Nc4 Rbd8 31. f3 a5 32. Nxa5 Rd2+ 33. Kf1 Rb2
34. Rb3 Rdd2 35. Rxb2 Rxb2 36. Rc4 g5 37. h4 h6 38. hxg5 hxg5 39. Re4 Kb8 40.
g3 Ka7 41. f4 Ka6 42. fxe5 f5 43. Rc4 Kb5 44. Rc1 Rh2 45. Kg1 Re2 46. Nxb7 Rxe3
47. Nd6+ Kxb4 48. Nxf5 Rxe5 49. Nd6 Nxc5 50. Kg2 Rd5 51. Rc4+ Kb3 52. Kf3 Nd7
53. Rxc6 Rd3+ 54. Ke4 Rxg3 55. Nf5 Rc3 56. Rxc3+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.30"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B56"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2737"]
[PlyCount "29"]
[EventDate "2016.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. f3 Nc6 6. Nc3 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Be3
O-O 9. Qd2 a5 10. Bb5 Be6 11. O-O Na7 12. Be2 Nc8 13. Bb5 Na7 14. Be2 Nc8 15.
Bb5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.30"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2747"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2016.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. O-O Nge7 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 b6 7. Nxc6 Nxc6 8.
Nc3 Qc7 9. Qg4 h5 10. Qg5 Ne5 11. Bf4 f6 12. Qg6+ Nxg6 13. Bxc7 a6 14. Bd3 b5
15. a4 b4 16. Nb1 Bc5 17. Nd2 Ra7 18. Ba5 Ne5 19. Nb3 Be7 20. Bb6 Ra8 21. Be2
g5 22. Rfd1 Bb7 23. f3 Rc8 24. Rd2 Rc6 25. Be3 Bc8 26. Kf1 Bd8 27. a5 Be7 28.
Bb6 Nc4 29. Bxc4 Rxc4 30. Nd4 Bb7 31. b3 Rc8 32. Rad1 Kf7 33. Ne2 d5 34. exd5
Bxd5 35. Nd4 h4 36. Nf5 h3 37. Nxe7 Kxe7 38. g4 Rc3 39. Rf2 Rhc8 40. Rdd2 Rxf3
41. Ke1 Rfc3 42. Bd4 Rf3 43. Rxf3 Bxf3 44. Rf2 e5 45. Rxf3 exd4 46. Kd2 Rc3 47.
Rxc3 dxc3+ 48. Ke3 Ke6 49. Kf3 Ke5 50. Ke3 f5 51. gxf5 Kxf5 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.30"]
[Round "17"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D16"]
[WhiteElo "2710"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "130"]
[EventDate "2016.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 e6 6. e3 c5 7. Bxc4 cxd4 8. exd4
Nc6 9. O-O Be7 10. Re1 O-O 11. Bf4 Nd5 12. Bg3 Bb4 13. Qd3 Nce7 14. Rac1 b6 15.
Bh4 Bb7 16. Nxd5 Bxd5 17. Red1 f6 18. Bg3 Rc8 19. b3 Nf5 20. Bf4 Qd7 21. h3 Ne7
22. Bb5 Qd8 23. Bc4 Qe8 24. Qe2 Qf7 25. Rc2 Rfd8 26. Rdc1 Ba3 27. Re1 Kf8 28.
Bd2 Bd6 29. Rec1 Qe8 30. Qd3 Qg6 31. Qxg6 hxg6 32. Be3 Rc7 33. Nd2 Bb4 34. Bf4
Rcc8 35. Be3 g5 36. Ba6 Rxc2 37. Rxc2 Nf5 38. Bc4 Rc8 39. Nf1 Nd6 40. Bd2 Ba3
41. Ne3 Nxc4 42. bxc4 Bc6 43. a5 Bd6 44. axb6 axb6 45. Rb2 Bc7 46. Bb4+ Kf7 47.
d5 exd5 48. cxd5 Bd7 49. d6 Bd8 50. g4 g6 51. Ra2 f5 52. gxf5 gxf5 53. Re2 Rc1+
54. Kh2 Bc6 55. Re1 Rxe1 56. Bxe1 Ke6 57. Bb4 Bf6 58. Kg1 b5 59. Bc5 Be5 60.
Nc2 Bd7 61. f3 Kd5 62. Be3 f4 63. Bd2 Bxh3 64. Nb4+ Kc4 65. Kh2 Bd7 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.30"]
[Round "18"]
[White "Jobava, Baadur"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2702"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2016.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bf4 a6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 c5 6. a3 b5 7. Bd3 Bb7 8. O-O
Nbd7 9. Re1 Be7 10. Ne5 O-O 11. Nxd7 Nxd7 12. Qh5 f5 13. h3 Rc8 14. Bh2 Qb6 15.
Rad1 Bd6 16. Bxd6 Qxd6 17. Qh4 Rce8 18. Bf1 e5 19. dxc5 Qxc5 20. Qb4 Rc8 21.
Nxd5 Bxd5 22. Qxc5 Rxc5 23. b4 Rxc2 24. Rxd5 Rf7 25. Red1 Nf6 26. Rxe5 g6 27.
Re6 Ne4 28. Rxa6 Nxf2 29. Re1 Rd7 30. Re2 Rxe2 31. Bxe2 Ne4 32. Bxb5 Rd1+ 33.
Kh2 Kg7 34. Bc6 Nd2 35. Kg3 Nc4 36. a4 Nxe3 37. a5 g5 38. Kf2 f4 39. Ke2 Rb1
40. b5 Rb2+ 41. Kd3 Nxg2 42. Bxg2 Rxg2 43. b6 Rb2 44. Ra7+ Kg6 45. b7 f3 46.
Ra6+ Kh5 47. Rf6 Rxb7 48. Rxf3 Rb3+ 49. Ke4 Rb4+ 50. Ke3 Ra4 51. Rf7 h6 52. Ra7
Ra3+ 53. Ke4 Rxh3 54. a6 Ra3 55. Ra8 Kg4 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.30"]
[Round "19"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Onischuk, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2601"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2016.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 a6 5. h3 Bg7 6. f4 b5 7. e5 Nfd7 8. Nf3 Nb6
9. Bd3 Bb7 10. O-O e6 11. Be4 Bxe4 12. Nxe4 Nc6 13. Qe2 Qd7 14. Rad1 Nd5 15. c3
f5 16. exf6 Nxf6 17. Nxf6+ Bxf6 18. d5 Ne7 19. f5 exf5 20. Bh6 O-O-O 21. a4 Kb7
22. axb5 axb5 23. Bg5 Bxg5 24. Nxg5 Ra8 25. Ne6 Nc8 26. b3 Nb6 27. c4 Rhe8 28.
c5 Nxd5 29. Rxd5 Qxe6 30. Qxb5+ Kc8 31. cxd6 cxd6 32. Qc6+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.30"]
[Round "20"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2779"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2016.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 d5 3. e3 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nd2 e6 6. Ngf3 Bd6 7. Bg3 O-O 8. Bb5
a6 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. Qa4 Rb8 11. Qa3 Bxg3 12. hxg3 cxd4 13. cxd4 a5 14. O-O Qb6
15. b3 Ba6 16. Rfc1 Nd7 17. Qd6 Qa7 18. Rxc6 Bb5 19. Rc7 Rb7 20. Rac1 a4 21.
Rxb7 Qxb7 22. Rc7 Qb8 23. Rxd7 Bxd7 24. Qxd7 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Doha"]
[Date "2016.12.30"]
[Round "21"]
[White "Leko, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2693"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2016.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "QAT"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 a6 6. c3 d6 7. Re1 Ba7 8. Bb3
O-O 9. h3 Ne7 10. Nbd2 Ng6 11. Nf1 c6 12. Ng3 d5 13. exd5 Nxd5 14. d4 exd4 15.
Nxd4 h6 16. Bc2 Re8 17. Rxe8+ Qxe8 18. Bb3 Qe5 19. Kh2 Ngf4 20. Bd2 Bd7 21. Qf3
Ne6 22. Nxe6 Bxe6 23. Re1 Qd6 24. Kg1 Nf6 25. Bf4 Qe7 26. Bxe6 fxe6 27. Be3
Bxe3 28. Qxe3 Re8 29. Qe5 Qd7 30. Ne4 Nxe4 31. Qxe4 Qd5 32. a3 Kf7 33. Qf4+ Qf5
34. Qc7+ Re7 35. Qd6 Qc2 36. Qf4+ Kg8 37. Qb4 Rf7 38. Qb6 Qd2 39. Rxe6 Qc1+ 40.
Kh2 Qf4+ 41. Kg1 Qc1+ 42. Kh2 1/2-1/2

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.02.11"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hambleton, Aman"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A46"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2441"]
[PlyCount "171"]
[EventDate "2017.01.11"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Montreal ChessBrahs"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "CAN"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bg5 h6 4. Bh4 b6 5. e3 Bb7 6. Bd3 c5 7. c3 Be7 8. O-O
Ne4 9. Bxe7 Qxe7 10. Nbd2 Nxd2 11. Nxd2 O-O 12. Qe2 d6 13. Rfd1 Nd7 14. e4 cxd4
15. cxd4 Rac8 16. f3 d5 17. e5 Qb4 18. Nb3 a5 19. Qd2 Qxd2 20. Nxd2 Nb8 21. Nb1
Ba6 22. Bxa6 Nxa6 23. Nc3 Rc4 24. Kf2 Nb4 25. Rd2 Nc6 26. Nb5 a4 27. Rad1 Na5
28. Nd6 Rc6 29. Rd3 Nc4 30. Rc3 a3 31. Nxc4 axb2 32. Rb1 b5 33. Rxb2 bxc4 34.
a4 Ra8 35. Ra3 c3 36. Rc2 Ra5 37. Ke3 g5 38. Raxc3 Rxc3+ 39. Rxc3 Rxa4 40. Rd3
Kg7 41. Rd2 Ra3+ 42. Kf2 Ra4 43. g4 f6 44. Rb2 Rxd4 45. Rb7+ Kg6 46. Re7 fxe5
47. Rxe6+ Kf7 48. Rxe5 Rd2+ 49. Kg3 Kf6 50. Rf5+ Kg6 51. h4 Rd3 52. h5+ Kg7 53.
Re5 Rd2 54. Re7+ Kg8 55. Rd7 Kh8 56. Rd8+ Kg7 57. Rd6 Kh7 58. Rg6 d4 59. Rd6
Kg7 60. Rd7+ Kg8 61. Re7 Kh8 62. Re6 Kh7 63. Rg6 Rc2 64. Rf6 Rd2 65. f4 Rd3+
66. Kf2 gxf4 67. Rxf4 Rd2+ 68. Kf3 Kg7 69. Ke4 Rd1 70. Rf3 d3 71. Rxd3 Rxd3 72.
Kxd3 Kf6 73. Ke4 Kg5 74. Kf3 Kf6 75. Kf4 Ke6 76. Kf3 Kf6 77. Kg3 Kg5 78. Kh3
Kf6 79. Kh4 Ke6 80. Kg3 Kf6 81. Kf4 Ke6 82. g5 hxg5+ 83. Kxg5 Kf7 84. h6 Kg8
85. Kg6 Kh8 86. h7 1/2-1/2

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.02.11"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hansen, Eric"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2603"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2017.01.11"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Montreal ChessBrahs"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "CAN"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 d6 7. c3 O-O 8. Re1
b5 9. Bc2 Re8 10. Nbd2 Bf8 11. Nf1 Nb8 12. d4 Nbd7 13. Ng3 Bb7 14. b3 g6 15. a4
Bg7 16. Bd3 d5 17. Bg5 dxe4 18. Bxe4 Bxe4 19. Nxe4 exd4 20. Nxd4 c5 21. Nc6 Qc7
22. Qd6 Qxd6 23. Nxd6 Rxe1+ 24. Rxe1 bxa4 25. bxa4 Bf8 26. Ne7+ Kg7 27. a5 Rb8
28. h3 Rb3 29. c4 Rd3 30. Bf4 Rd4 31. Bg3 h5 32. Kf1 Rd3 33. Bf4 Rd4 34. g3 Rd3
35. Ndc8 Bxe7 36. Rxe7 Kf8 37. Bh6+ Kg8 38. Be3 Ra3 39. Nd6 Rxa5 40. Kg2 Ra2
41. Rxf7 g5 42. Re7 g4 43. h4 a5 44. Bh6 1-0

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.02.11"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2827"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "171"]
[EventDate "2017.01.11"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Montreal ChessBrahs"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "CAN"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 b5 3. e3 a6 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O g6 6. b3 Bg7 7. Bb2 O-O 8. d4 d6
9. Nbd2 Nbd7 10. Qe2 c5 11. c4 Ne4 12. Nxe4 Bxe4 13. cxb5 axb5 14. Qxb5 Ra7 15.
Qe2 Qa8 16. Bc3 Nb6 17. dxc5 Bxc3 18. cxb6 Ra3 19. Rac1 Rxa2 20. Qd1 Bf6 21.
Ne1 Ra6 22. Rc4 Bxg2 23. Nxg2 Rxb6 24. Nf4 e6 25. Qc2 d5 26. Rc5 Rfb8 27. Rb1
Be7 28. Rc3 Bb4 29. Rc7 Bd6 30. Rc3 d4 31. exd4 Bxf4 32. gxf4 Qd5 33. Rc8+ Kg7
34. Rxb8 Rxb8 35. Qc5 Rxb3 36. Rxb3 Qxb3 37. Qe5+ f6 38. Qe2 Qd5 39. Qe3 Kf7
40. h3 Qf5 41. Kg2 Kg7 42. Kg3 Kh6 43. h4 Kg7 44. Qe2 Qd5 45. Qe3 Kf7 46. Qc3
Qb7 47. Qc4 Qb6 48. Qc3 Kg7 49. Qe3 Qc6 50. Qa3 Qd7 51. Qe3 Qd5 52. Qe2 Kf7 53.
Qe3 Qh1 54. Qb3 h5 55. Qb5 Qg1+ 56. Kf3 Qd1+ 57. Ke3 Qe1+ 58. Kf3 Qc3+ 59. Kg2
Qxd4 60. Qb7+ Kf8 61. Qb8+ Ke7 62. Qc7+ Qd7 63. Qb8 Qc6+ 64. Kg3 Qe8 65. Qc7+
Qd7 66. Qb8 Qd8 67. Qb7+ Kf8 68. Qh7 Qd3+ 69. f3 Qf5 70. Qh8+ Ke7 71. Qg7+ Kd6
72. Qf8+ Kd5 73. Qa8+ Kd4 74. Qa1+ Kc4 75. Qa4+ Kc3 76. Qa3+ Kd2 77. Qb2+ Kd3
78. Qb1+ Kc4 79. Qa2+ Kb5 80. Qb3+ Kc6 81. Qa4+ Qb5 82. Qe4+ Kd6 83. Qxg6 Qf1
84. Qxf6 Qg1+ 85. Kh3 Qh1+ 86. Kg3 1/2-1/2

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.02.11"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Oussedik, Elias"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2155"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2017.01.11"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Montreal ChessBrahs"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "CAN"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qa4 Bb7 6. Bg2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. Rd1
Qc8 9. Nc3 Ne4 10. Qc2 Nxc3 11. Qxc3 d6 12. Bh3 Nd7 13. d5 e5 14. Bg5 Qe8 15.
Bxe7 Qxe7 16. b4 a5 17. a3 f5 18. Rac1 g6 19. Qe3 Nf6 20. Nd4 Rfe8 21. Nb5 Ba6
22. Qb3 axb4 23. axb4 Bxb5 24. cxb5 Ra7 25. Rc2 Rea8 26. Rdc1 Ra1 27. Qc3 Rxc1+
28. Rxc1 Ra7 29. Qc4 e4 30. Bg2 Qe5 31. Rd1 Kf8 32. f4 Qb2 33. h3 Nh5 34. Kh2
Qa3 35. g4 Qg3+ 36. Kh1 Nxf4 37. Bxe4 Nxh3 38. Bg2 Nf2+ 39. Kg1 Nxd1 40. Qd4
Qe3+ 0-1

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.02.15"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Aradhya, Garg"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "2230"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2017.01.11"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Delhi Dynamite"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "IND"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 d6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. Be2 O-O 6. O-O a6 7. e5 Nfd7 8. exd6
cxd6 9. Bf4 b5 10. a3 Bb7 11. Re1 Nf6 12. h3 Nbd7 13. a4 b4 14. Na2 Nd5 15. Bd2
a5 16. c3 bxc3 17. Nxc3 Nxc3 18. Bxc3 Nf6 19. Nd2 Nd5 20. Bf3 e6 21. Nc4 Qc7
22. Bxd5 Bxd5 23. Ne3 Qb7 24. Qd2 Rfb8 25. Bxa5 Bh6 26. Bc3 Bxg2 27. d5 Bxh3
28. Qd4 e5 29. Qh4 Bxe3 30. Rxe3 Bf5 31. Qf6 Ra6 32. f4 Qb6 33. Rae1 Rxa4 34.
fxe5 Rg4+ 35. Kh2 dxe5 36. Qxb6 Rh4+ 37. Kg3 Rg4+ 38. Kh2 Rxb6 39. Rxe5 f6 40.
Re8+ Kg7 41. Bd2 g5 42. R1e7+ Kh6 43. Rf8 Rxb2 44. Rxf6+ Kh5 45. Rxf5 Rxd2+ 46.
Kh3 h6 47. Re6 Rgd4 48. Rff6 R4d3+ 49. Rf3 Rxf3# 0-1

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.02.15"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gupta, Abhijeet"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D78"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2017.01.11"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Delhi Dynamite"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "IND"]

1. b3 Nf6 2. Bb2 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nf3 d5 6. c4 c6 7. O-O Nbd7 8. d4
Ne4 9. e3 a5 10. Ne1 a4 11. Nd3 axb3 12. axb3 Rxa1 13. Bxa1 Qa5 14. Bb2 Ndf6
15. c5 Ng4 16. Qe2 Bh6 17. Bc1 Qa1 18. Qb2 Qa6 19. Rd1 Bf5 20. Bf1 Ng5 21. Ne1
Qa5 22. b4 Qa8 23. f3 Nf6 24. h4 Ne6 25. Nc3 g5 26. g4 Nxg4 27. fxg4 Bxg4 28.
Be2 f5 29. Bxg4 fxg4 30. Qg2 Kh8 31. Qxg4 Rf6 32. h5 Qa1 33. Bd2 Qb2 34. Nd3
Qc2 35. Ne5 Bg7 36. Qe2 g4 37. Qd3 Qb2 38. Rb1 Qa3 39. Nxg4 Rf3 40. Kg2 Ng5 41.
h6 Bf6 42. Rf1 Rxf1 43. Kxf1 Ne4 44. Ke2 Ng3+ 45. Kd1 Qb3+ 46. Qc2 Qc4 47. Nxf6
exf6 48. Qa2 Qf1+ 49. Kc2 Qf5+ 50. Kb3 Qc8 51. Qb1 Nf5 52. Qf1 Kg8 53. Qf4 Kf7
54. b5 Ne7 55. b6 Qa8 56. e4 Qa6 57. e5 Qc4+ 58. Kc2 f5 59. Qg5 Ke8 60. Qf6 Ng8
61. Qg7 Ne7 62. e6 1-0

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.02.15"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nihal, Sarin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2340"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[EventDate "2017.01.11"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Delhi Dynamite"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "IND"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Be3 e6 5. Nd2 h6 6. c3 Nd7 7. f4 Ne7 8. Ngf3 Bh7
9. Bf2 Rc8 10. Nb3 Be4 11. Nfd2 Bh7 12. Be2 Nf5 13. O-O Be7 14. Nf3 a6 15. g4
Nh4 16. Bxh4 Bxh4 17. Bd3 Bxd3 18. Qxd3 c5 19. f5 c4 20. Qb1 O-O 21. Nbd2 Bg5
22. Qe1 Re8 23. Qg3 Bxd2 24. Nxd2 f6 25. Rae1 Qb6 26. Rf2 Rf8 27. Nf3 fxe5 28.
Nxe5 Nf6 29. g5 hxg5 30. Qxg5 exf5 31. Rg2 Rc7 32. Ng6 Ne4 33. Qh5 Re8 34. Rf1
Nf6 35. Qh8+ Kf7 36. Ne5+ Ke7 37. Qxg7+ Kd8 38. Nf7+ Kc8 39. Rxf5 Re1+ 40. Rf1
Rxf1+ 41. Kxf1 Kb8 42. Qf8+ Ka7 43. Nd6 Ne4 44. Nxe4 dxe4 45. Qf4 Rh7 46. Rf2
Qe6 47. Ke1 e3 48. Re2 Rh3 49. Qe5 Qg4 50. Rxe3 Qg1+ 51. Kd2 Rxh2+ 52. Re2
Rxe2+ 53. Qxe2 Qb1 54. Ke3 Qxa2 55. d5 Qb3 56. Kf4 Qb6 57. Qe3 Qxe3+ 58. Kxe3
b5 59. Kd4 Kb6 60. Ke5 Kc7 61. Ke6 Kd8 62. Kd6 a5 63. Kc5 b4 64. cxb4 c3 65.
bxc3 a4 66. Kc4 1-0

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.02.15"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Grover, Sahaj"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "2467"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2017.01.11"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Delhi Dynamite"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "IND"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 d6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. h3 O-O 6. Be2 Nc6 7. O-O e5 8. dxe5
Nxe5 9. Nxe5 dxe5 10. Bg5 c6 11. Qxd8 Rxd8 12. f4 Rd4 13. Rad1 Be6 14. f5 gxf5
15. exf5 Bc4 16. Bxc4 Rxc4 17. Rfe1 Nd5 18. Nxd5 cxd5 19. Rxd5 h6 20. Bd2 Rxc2
21. Bc3 Re8 22. Re4 Re7 23. Kf1 f6 24. Re2 Rc1+ 25. Re1 Rxe1+ 26. Kxe1 h5 27.
Ke2 Bh6 28. Rd8+ Kf7 29. Kd3 e4+ 30. Ke2 Rc7 31. Rh8 Kg7 32. Re8 e3 33. Re6 Bg5
34. h4 Bxh4 35. Kxe3 Bg5+ 36. Ke4 h4 37. Rd6 Rc4+ 38. Rd4 Rc7 39. Rd6 Re7+ 40.
Re6 Rd7 41. Bb4 Kh6 42. Re7 Rd1 43. Rxb7 Rf1 44. Bd6 a5 45. a4 Kh5 46. b4 axb4
47. a5 Ra1 48. Bxb4 Kg4 49. Bc3 Ra3 50. Bb4 Ra2 51. Kd5 Rxg2 52. a6 Ra2 53. a7
Be3 54. Bc5 Bxc5 55. Kxc5 h3 56. Rh7 Kxf5 57. Kb6 Kg4 58. Rh8 f5 1/2-1/2

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.02.22"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Beletic, Daniel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A46"]
[WhiteElo "2286"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2017.01.11"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Ljubljana Direwolves"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "SLO"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bg5 h6 4. Bh4 Be7 5. Nbd2 c5 6. e3 b6 7. c3 Bb7 8. Bd3
Nc6 9. a3 O-O 10. O-O d6 11. Qe2 Nh5 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Ba6 Nf6 14. Bxb7 Qxb7
15. Rad1 Rfd8 16. Rfe1 Rac8 17. h3 a6 18. Nf1 Na5 19. Ng3 cxd4 20. exd4 Nc4 21.
Rb1 b5 22. Nd2 a5 23. Nxc4 bxc4 24. Nh5 Qe7 25. Nxf6+ Qxf6 26. Qc2 Rc7 27. Qa4
Qf5 28. Rbc1 Rb8 29. Qc2 Qd5 30. Qe2 Rcb7 31. Rc2 Rb3 32. Rd1 g6 33. Rdd2 Kg7
34. Qe3 R8b5 35. f3 Qc6 36. Qe2 h5 37. h4 Rf5 38. Qe3 Qd5 39. Re2 Rb8 40. Qe4
Qxe4 41. Rxe4 d5 42. Re3 g5 43. hxg5 Rxg5 44. Kh2 Kf6 45. g3 Rbg8 46. Rg2 Ke7
47. Kh3 Kd6 48. a4 f6 49. f4 Rg4 50. Rge2 Re8 51. Re1 f5 52. Re5 Kd7 53. R5e3
h4 54. gxh4 Rh8 55. Rg3 Rgxh4+ 56. Kg2 Rh2+ 57. Kf3 Rxb2 58. Rg7+ Kd6 59. Kg3
Rbh2 60. Kf3 R8h3+ 61. Rg3 Rxg3+ 62. Kxg3 Ra2 0-1

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.02.22"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Pavasovic, Dusko"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C55"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2548"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2017.01.11"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Ljubljana Direwolves"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "SLO"]

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 Nc6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. Re1 d6 7. a4 Na5 8. Ba2
c5 9. Nbd2 Be6 10. Bxe6 fxe6 11. c3 Nc6 12. Nf1 Ne8 13. Ng3 Nc7 14. Bd2 a6 15.
Qe2 Qd7 16. h4 Bf6 17. Ng5 h6 18. Qg4 Qe8 19. Nf3 Kh8 20. h5 Qf7 21. Be3 Be7
22. Qh3 d5 23. Nf1 d4 24. Bd2 Ne8 25. a5 Rb8 26. Re2 b6 27. axb6 Rxb6 28. Bc1
Nf6 29. N1d2 Nxh5 30. Nc4 Rb7 31. Rxa6 Nd8 32. Ncxe5 Qe8 33. cxd4 cxd4 34. Qg4
Kh7 35. Nxd4 Bf6 36. Nxe6 Nxe6 37. Rxe6 Qc8 38. Bxh6 Bxe5 39. Qg6+ 1-0

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.02.22"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sebenik, Matej"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B25"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2534"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2017.01.11"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Ljubljana Direwolves"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "SLO"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. g3 Bg7 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O e5 7. d3 Nge7 8. Nd2
O-O 9. Nc4 Be6 10. a4 h6 11. Ne3 Qd7 12. Ncd5 Bh3 13. Bxh3 Qxh3 14. c3 Nxd5 15.
Nxd5 Kh7 16. Qf3 f5 17. Qg2 Qxg2+ 18. Kxg2 Rf7 19. exf5 gxf5 20. f4 Re8 21. Bd2
Ne7 22. Nc7 Rg8 23. Rae1 Ng6 24. Nd5 h5 25. Kh3 Bh6 26. Re2 Ne7 27. Nxe7 Rxe7
28. fxe5 Bxd2 29. Rxd2 Rxe5 30. d4 cxd4 31. Rxd4 d5 32. Rfd1 Rg4 33. Rxd5 Rxd5
34. Rxd5 Rxa4 35. Rxf5 Kg6 36. Rf4 Ra5 37. Rb4 b6 38. Kh4 Re5 39. h3 b5 40. Rd4
a5 41. Rd6+ Kg7 42. Rc6 a4 43. Rd6 Kh7 44. Rd4 Rc5 45. Rd3 Kg6 46. Rd6+ Kg7 47.
Ra6 Kh7 48. Ra5 Kg6 49. g4 hxg4 50. hxg4 Kf6 51. Ra6+ Kg7 52. g5 b4 53. cxb4
Rc4+ 54. Kh5 Rxb4 55. Ra7+ Kg8 56. Kh6 Rxb2 57. Ra8+ Kf7 58. g6+ Kf6 59. Ra6+
Ke7 60. Rxa4 Rb8 1-0

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.02.22"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Lenic, Luka"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2641"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2017.01.11"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Ljubljana Direwolves"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "SLO"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. Nf3 d6 6. Bd2 Nbd7 7. a3 Bxc3 8.
Bxc3 Qe7 9. e3 b6 10. Bd3 e5 11. dxe5 dxe5 12. Nd2 Nc5 13. Be2 Bb7 14. O-O Nfe4
15. b4 Nxc3 16. Qxc3 Nd7 17. c5 bxc5 18. Rfc1 Bd5 19. bxc5 Nf6 20. Rab1 Rfd8
21. Nf3 Re8 22. c6 Qd6 23. Qc5 Qe6 24. Rb7 Ne4 25. Qa5 Bxc6 26. Bc4 Qxc4 27.
Rxc4 Bxb7 28. Rxc7 Rad8 29. h3 Bd5 30. Rxa7 Be6 31. Qe1 h6 32. Rc7 Rd5 33. Rc1
Red8 34. a4 Nc5 35. Ra1 Nb3 36. Rb1 e4 37. Nd4 Nxd4 38. exd4 Rxd4 39. a5 Ra4
40. Ra1 Ba2 41. Qe2 Bc4 42. Qb2 Rxa1+ 43. Qxa1 Ba6 44. Qe5 Bd3 45. Qc7 Ra8 46.
Kh2 g6 47. Kg3 Re8 48. Kf4 Re6 49. Ke3 Ba6 50. Qc5 Kg7 51. Qd4+ Kg8 52. Qd8+
Kg7 53. Qd4+ Kg8 54. Qd8+ Kg7 55. Qd4+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 79th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2017.01.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2808"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2017.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"]

1. d4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} d5 {[%emt 0:00:10]} 2. c4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} c6 {[%emt 0:
00:06]} 3. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:14]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 4. e3 {[%emt 0:00:40]} Bf5
{[%emt 0:02:24]} 5. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:19]} a6 {[%emt 0:00:09]} 6. Ne5 {[%emt 0:
09:36]} Nbd7 {[%emt 0:00:24]} 7. Qb3 {[%emt 0:01:43]} Qc7 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 8.
cxd5 {[%emt 0:03:51]} Nxe5 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 9. dxe5 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Nxd5 {
[%emt 0:00:04]} 10. Nxd5 {[%emt 0:00:34]} cxd5 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 11. Bd2 {
[%emt 0:00:08]} Qxe5 {[%emt 0:00:20]} 12. Bc3 {[%emt 0:01:21]} Qc7 {[%emt 0:01:
18]} 13. Qxd5 {[%emt 0:01:16]} e6 {[%emt 0:07:10]} 14. Qc4 $146 {[%emt 0:17:54]
} (14. Qd4 Rd8 15. Qa4+ Qd7 16. Qxd7+ Rxd7 17. f3 f6 18. e4 Bg6 19. Bc4 Bf7 20.
e5 Be7 21. Ke2 fxe5 22. Bxe5 Bf6 23. Bxf6 gxf6 24. Rhd1 Rg8 25. g3 Rg5 26. Rxd7
Kxd7 27. Rd1+ Ke7 28. b4 Rg8 29. Rd4 Rc8 30. Rh4 Bg6 31. a4 e5 32. Bd3 b5 33.
axb5 axb5 34. Bxb5 Rc2+ 35. Kd1 Rb2 36. Ba4 e4 37. fxe4 Rxb4 38. Bc2 f5 39. Kd2
fxe4 40. Kc3 Rb6 41. Bxe4 Bxe4 42. Rxe4+ Kf6 43. Rh4 Kg6 {Kovalenko,I (2667)
-Andreikin,D (2733) Poikovsky 2016 1/2-1/2}) 14... Qxc4 {[%emt 0:02:49]} 15.
Bxc4 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Rc8 {[%emt 0:00:30]} 16. Bb3 {[%emt 0:07:53]} Be7 {
[%emt 0:11:51]} 17. Ke2 {[%emt 0:04:54]} Be4 {[%emt 0:02:58]} 18. Bxg7 {
[%emt 0:14:53]} Rg8 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 19. Be5 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Rxg2 {[%emt 0:01:
16]} 20. Rac1 {[%emt 0:06:33]} Rxc1 {[%emt 0:00:14]} 21. Rxc1 {[%emt 0:00:03]}
Rg5 {[%emt 0:00:30]} 22. Bf4 {[%emt 0:01:32]} Rc5 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 23. Rxc5 {
[%emt 0:00:05]} Bxc5 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 24. Bc4 {[%emt 0:00:07]} b5 {[%emt 0:00:
22]} 25. Bd3 {[%emt 0:00:04]} Bxd3+ {[%emt 0:00:08]} 26. Kxd3 {[%emt 0:00:04]}
f5 {[%emt 0:00:10]} 27. f3 {[%emt 0:00:04]} Kd7 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 28. e4 {
[%emt 0:00:06]} Kc6 {[%emt 0:00:15]} 29. h3 {[%emt 0:00:06]} h5 {[%emt 0:00:23]
} 30. b3 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Bb6 {[%emt 0:00:11]} 31. Be5 {[%emt 0:00:03]} Bc5 {
[%emt 0:00:11]} 32. Bf4 {[%emt 0:00:04]} Bb6 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 33. Be5 {[%emt 0:
00:02]} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 79th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2017.01.15"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wojtaszek, Radoslaw"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[Annotator "Yermolinsky,A"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2017.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Some experts believe that Rado must be a tough opponent for Magnus. Part of
it is Wojtaszek's experience as Vishy Anand's primary opening theory
specialist during his preparation for the World Championship matches, which we
assume included their going over every game Carlsen ever played. There's also
a memorable upset win Radoslaw scored two years ago on the same stage at the
2015 Tata Steel tournament.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3
a6 6. a3 $5 {Just like that Carlsen goes off the theoretical path as early as
on move 6, repeating Karjakin's experiment from round one. We can safely
assume Wojtaszek was not prepared to face it.} e5 {It is largely a matter of
taste. Rado goes the Najdorf way,} ({while some of us would prefer the
Scheveningen Variation after} 6... e6 7. f4 Nc6 8. Nf3) 7. Nf5 ({Much more
common is} 7. Nf3 {if the word "common" can be applied to the 6.a3 line at all.
Russian GM Dvoyris played it a couple of times, and there also was a recent
blitz game Harikrishna-Giri. All in all, the white pawn on a3 does not look
out of place, and a tempo spent on that move is the same tempo White often
loses by stopping over on e3 with his dark-squared bishop on its way to g5.})
7... d5 8. Bg5 d4 9. Bxf6 Qxf6 $2 {I ablosutely loathe this move. In the name
of preserving his pawn structure intact Black invites another white knight to
come up to the centre of the board.} (9... gxf6 10. Ne2 Qb6 ({or} 10... Qa5+
11. Qd2 Qxd2+ 12. Kxd2 Be6) 11. Rb1 (11. b4 a5 $132) 11... Be6 12. Qc1 Nd7 {
has to be absolutely fine for Black.}) 10. Nd5 Qd8 11. Qg4 $1 {Carlsen
immediately hits on the right idea.} Bxf5 ({The point was to answer} 11... g6 {
with} 12. Qg3 Nc6 13. Nxd4 $1) 12. Qxf5 {Already here it became painfully
clear that White will win this game. Magnus always wins when he can get his
pieces to safe squares, and the opponent doesn't have any dynamic
possibilities.} Bd6 13. h4 $5 Nc6 14. Bc4 b5 15. Bb3 Ne7 16. Qg4 O-O 17. Rh3
Nxd5 18. Bxd5 Ra7 19. Rg3 Qf6 20. a4 {This move indicates Magnus's desire to
open a second front. He must have felt his kingside intiative alone wouldn't
be enough.} Bb4+ $2 {And Wojtaszek just plays along!} (20... b4 {had to be the
right move simply because it does not accommodate the opponent's intentions.})
21. Kf1 bxa4 22. Rxa4 a5 23. Ra1 Rc7 24. Bb3 Ra8 25. Kg1 Bf8 26. Qh5 g6 27. Qg4
Ra6 28. h5 Qf4 29. Qe2 Qf6 30. Qb5 Qc6 $4 ({I don't see anything wrong with.} 
30... Rc5) 31. Qxe5 Re7 32. Qf4 a4 33. Bd5 Qc7 34. Qd2 Qb6 35. Ra2 Rc7 36. Rf3
Qb4 37. Qe2 Rb6 38. hxg6 hxg6 39. g3 Kg7 40. Kg2 Rd7 41. Qd1 Rf6 42. Rxf6 Kxf6
43. c3 dxc3 44. Rxa4 {We have seen enough games like this. What are these guys
thinking... playing passively against Magnus Carlsen?} 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 79th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2017.01.16"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Andreikin, Dmitry"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E01"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2017.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"]

1. d4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:01:15]} 2. c4 {[%emt 0:00:18]} e6 {[%emt 0:
00:37]} 3. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:22]} d5 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 4. g3 {[%emt 0:00:14]} Bb4+
{[%emt 0:00:17]} 5. Bd2 {[%emt 0:00:07]} Bd6 {[%emt 0:00:09]} 6. Bg2 {[%emt 0:
01:14]} O-O {[%emt 0:02:27]} 7. O-O {[%emt 0:00:29]} Nbd7 {[%emt 0:01:16]} 8.
Qc2 {[%emt 0:00:58]} c6 {[%emt 0:00:18]} 9. Bf4 {[%emt 0:02:39]} Bxf4 {[%emt 0:
01:19]} 10. gxf4 {[%emt 0:00:07]} b6 {[%emt 0:04:12]} 11. Ne5 {[%emt 0:00:20]}
Nxe5 $146 {[%emt 0:13:40]} (11... c5 12. dxc5 Nxc5 13. Nc3 Bb7 14. Rfd1 Rc8 15.
Rd4 Qe7 16. Rad1 dxc4 17. Bxb7 Nxb7 18. Rd7 Nxd7 19. Rxd7 Qh4 20. Rxb7 Qxf4 21.
Nf3 Rc7 22. Rxc7 Qxc7 23. Ng5 g6 24. Qe4 h6 25. Nf3 a6 26. Qe3 Kg7 27. Ne5 b5
28. Ng4 g5 29. Ne4 Qf4 30. Qh3 h5 31. Ngf6 Rh8 32. Qc3 e5 33. Qb4 Rh6 34. Ne8+
Kg8 35. N8d6 h4 36. h3 g4 37. e3 Qf3 38. Qc5 Rg6 39. Qc8+ Kh7 40. Kh2 g3+ {
0-1 (40) Bacrot,E (2709)-Adams,M (2682) England 2010}) 12. fxe5 {[%emt 0:01:19]
} Ng4 {[%emt 0:00:18]} 13. Nd2 {[%emt 0:08:50]} Ba6 {[%emt 0:02:51]} 14. cxd5 {
[%emt 0:10:39]} cxd5 {[%emt 0:00:55]} 15. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:16]} Nh6 {[%emt 0:13:
56]} 16. Bh3 {[%emt 0:08:15]} f5 {[%emt 0:01:54]} 17. Kh1 {[%emt 0:27:57]} Kh8
{[%emt 0:14:41]} 18. Rg1 {[%emt 0:00:22]} Nf7 {[%emt 0:01:12]} 19. Rg3 {
[%emt 0:14:37]} Rc8 {[%emt 0:08:55]} 20. Qd2 {[%emt 0:00:10]} Qc7 {[%emt 0:02:
37]} 21. Ne1 {[%emt 0:01:34]} Qe7 {[%emt 0:01:38]} 22. f4 {[%emt 0:03:39]} Rc7
{[%emt 0:01:36]} 23. Ra3 {[%emt 0:03:00]} Bb5 {[%emt 0:00:28]} 24. Rb3 {
[%emt 0:00:15]} Ba6 {[%emt 0:01:03]} 25. Ra3 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Bb5 {[%emt 0:00:
14]} 26. Rb3 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Ba6 {[%emt 0:05:50]} 27. Ra3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 79th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2017.01.17"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wei, Yi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C24"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2706"]
[Annotator "Meier,Georg"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2017.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 {The Bishops's Opening or Italian Game reminds me of
the London System (1.d4 followed by Bf4 on move 2 or 3) that has also had a
resurgence of late, not least due to Magnus's efforts. You can of course find
fresh ideas everywhere, but the main point of these openings - at least to me
- is to keep a lot of pieces on the board and beat your opponent by a better
understanding of positional play and pawn structures.} c6 4. Nf3 d6 {A bit
tame. But it was played after almost 6 minutes of contemplation, indicating
that Yi had not made up his mind about this opening beforehand.} (4... d5 5.
Bb3 Bb4+ {sophisticated!} (5... Bd6 6. Nc3 {would force Black to eventually
release the tension in the centre.}) 6. c3 Bd6 {is a popular line for Black})
5. O-O Be7 6. Bb3 (6. Re1 O-O 7. a4 {would be the modern way to play.}) 6...
O-O {Both sides are free as concerns further development, so we get an
impression of where both players feel their pieces belong.} 7. c3 Nbd7 8. Re1
Nc5 9. Bc2 Bg4 10. Nbd2 Ne6 11. h3 Bh5 12. Nf1 Nd7 $1 {This is important in
connection with ...Bg4: Black must be ready to take on f3 and then he should
soon halve White's bishop pair with Bg5.} 13. g4 $5 ({The normal move would be
} 13. Ng3 Bxf3 14. Qxf3 g6 {keeping the Ng3 at bay and with Bg5 soon following.
}) 13... Bg6 14. Ng3 {The bishop on g6 will be passive for a long time, but
White has also created a hole on f4.} Ng5 {Being a bit cramped, Black wants to
exchange pieces.} 15. Bxg5 {After 20 minutes thought! I don't think Magnus was
too thrilled with his position at this point.} (15. Kg2 Nxf3 16. Qxf3 Re8 $1 {
A smart waiting move, opening the d7-f8-e6 route for the knight.} 17. Be3 Bg5
18. Bxg5 Qxg5 19. Rad1 Rad8 {is completely satisfactory for Black.}) (15. Nf5
Bxf5 16. gxf5 Nxf3+ 17. Qxf3 Bg5 {with a good position for Black was mentioned
by Carlsen.}) 15... Bxg5 16. d4 Bf4 {From here on it looks very much like
Black was looking for active ideas, when all he had to do is patiently improve
his position.} (16... Re8 {getting the rook into play and vacating f8 for the
knight; good value for a tempo.}) 17. Ne2 Qf6 18. Kg2 exd4 $2 {"An absolute
gift" (Carlsen). Black is giving up the centre for no reason.} (18... Rad8 19.
Nxf4 Qxf4 20. Qc1 Qxc1 21. Raxc1 f6 $11) 19. Nfxd4 Rfe8 20. Nxf4 Qxf4 21. f3 {
Now White has a straightforward plan: Get rid of the queen on f4 and push his
kingside pawns. At this point Black had to look for ways to limit the damage,
and quickly.} (21. Qc1 Bxe4+ 22. Bxe4 Rxe4 23. Qxf4 Rxf4 24. Re7 {looks
tempting, but Black still holds on with} Nc5 25. Rae1 Kf8 26. Kg3 g5) 21... Nb6
$6 {Further drifting...} (21... d5 {would guarantee that Black does not run
out of space. The isolated pawn would remain his only worry after} 22. exd5
Bxc2 (22... cxd5 23. Rxe8+ Rxe8 24. Ba4 $1 {leaves White with the superior
minor piece forever.}) 23. Qxc2 cxd5) 22. Qc1 Qxc1 23. Raxc1 d5 24. e5 Nd7 25.
f4 Bxc2 26. Rxc2 {Black must have underestimated the dangers of this endgame.
Clearly, digging in and holding the fort does not come easy to the Chinese
prodigy. He proceeds to lose in no time.} Nc5 ({To put up a line of defence
Black should take f5 under control, grab space with a5 to somewhat secure c5
for his knight and then centralise his king. A reasonable sequence would be:} 
26... g6 27. Kf3 a5 28. h4 Nc5 29. Re3 (29. g5 Kf8 30. h5 Ke7) 29... Kf8) 27.
Re3 Rad8 28. Kf3 Ne4 29. b4 $16 {The black knight has no way back, and White
is ready to saddle Black with a weakness by c3-c4xd5 and decisively open the
c-file.} g5 $2 {Only creating more weaknesses.} (29... f6 $1 30. exf6 (30. e6
Nd6 {looks like a decent blockade still}) 30... Nxf6 31. Ne6 Rc8 32. Rce2 Kf7
33. Ng5+ Kf8 34. f5 {with a large advantage, but exchanges will ease some of
the pressure.}) 30. c4 c5 (30... gxf4 31. Kxf4 f6 32. e6 $18) 31. Nb5 gxf4 32.
Kxf4 cxb4 33. cxd5 {This game clearly showed Wei not being comfortable with a
quiet manoeuvring struggle. And obviously Carlsen is aware of this shortcoming.
Given a strategically superior position out of nowhere he converted with ease.}
1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 79th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2017.01.19"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A21"]
[WhiteElo "2767"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2017.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"]

1. c4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} e5 {[%emt 0:01:45]} 2. Nc3 {[%emt 0:01:16]} Bb4 {
[%emt 0:01:02]} 3. Nd5 {[%emt 0:00:19]} Bc5 {[%emt 0:00:15]} 4. Nf3 {[%emt 0:
00:28]} c6 {[%emt 0:00:38]} 5. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:06]} d6 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 6. e3 {
[%emt 0:00:25]} Qe7 {[%emt 0:00:58]} 7. d4 {[%emt 0:03:08]} exd4 {[%emt 0:07:
11]} 8. Nxd4 {[%emt 0:00:12]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 9. Be2 {[%emt 0:00:26]} O-O
{[%emt 0:00:12]} 10. O-O {[%emt 0:00:27]} d5 {[%emt 0:10:05]} 11. cxd5 {
[%emt 0:08:04]} cxd5 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 12. Nb3 $146 {[%emt 0:06:00]} (12. b3 Nc6
13. Nxc6 bxc6 14. Bb2 Bd6 15. Bf3 Rd8 16. g3 Ba6 17. Re1 Rac8 18. Qc2 Be5 19.
Rad1 h5 20. Ne2 h4 21. Nf4 hxg3 22. hxg3 Nd7 23. Kg2 Bxb2 24. Rh1 g5 25. Qxb2
Qe5 26. Qa3 gxf4 27. exf4 Qg7 28. Qxa6 Nf6 29. Rd2 Rc7 30. Qa5 Rcd7 31. Qc3 Rd6
32. Qe5 Re6 33. Qf5 Rde8 34. Rc2 Ne4 35. Rh4 Rg6 36. Rg4 Nd6 37. Rxg6 fxg6 38.
Qd3 Rc8 39. Rxc6 {1-0 (39) Gurevich,M (2644)-Naiditsch,A (2611) Ajaccio 2004})
12... Bb4 {[%emt 0:12:52]} 13. Nxd5 {[%emt 0:16:00]} Nxd5 {[%emt 0:00:09]} 14.
Qxd5 {[%emt 0:00:06]} Rd8 {[%emt 0:00:26]} 15. Qh5 {[%emt 0:03:31]} Nc6 {
[%emt 0:01:46]} 16. a3 {[%emt 0:02:58]} Bd6 {[%emt 0:01:19]} 17. Nd4 {[%emt 0:
01:40]} Be5 {[%emt 0:03:26]} 18. Nxc6 {[%emt 0:09:39]} bxc6 {[%emt 0:00:09]}
19. Bc4 {[%emt 0:01:04]} g6 {[%emt 0:01:24]} 20. Qe2 {[%emt 0:01:30]} Be6 {
[%emt 0:03:56]} 21. Bxe6 {[%emt 0:05:09]} Qxe6 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 22. Rb1 {
[%emt 0:01:42]} Rab8 {[%emt 0:08:07]} 23. b4 {[%emt 0:10:54]} c5 {[%emt 0:00:
10]} 24. Bb2 {[%emt 0:00:48]} Qa2 {[%emt 0:00:17]} 25. Rfe1 {[%emt 0:00:16]}
Bxb2 {[%emt 0:00:11]} 26. Qxb2 {[%emt 0:00:10]} Qxb2 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 27. Rxb2
{[%emt 0:00:07]} a5 {[%emt 0:08:22]} 28. Kf1 {[%emt 0:09:23]} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 79th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2017.01.20"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2780"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2017.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"]

1. d4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} d5 {[%emt 0:00:17]} 2. c4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} c6 {[%emt 0:
00:04]} 3. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 4. e3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} a6
{[%emt 0:00:11]} 5. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Bf5 {[%emt 0:00:11]} 6. Be2 {[%emt 0:
00:00]} h6 {[%emt 0:00:13]} 7. Qb3 {[%emt 0:00:03]} Ra7 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 8.
cxd5 {[%emt 0:00:04]} cxd5 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 9. Ne5 {[%emt 0:01:01]} e6 {
[%emt 0:00:06]} 10. Bd2 {[%emt 0:01:49]} Be7 {[%emt 0:01:34]} 11. O-O {[%emt 0:
00:15]} O-O {[%emt 0:00:07]} 12. Rfc1 {[%emt 0:00:03]} Nfd7 {[%emt 0:10:26]}
13. Nxd7 {[%emt 0:00:07]} Qxd7 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 14. Na4 {[%emt 0:00:50]} Nc6 {
[%emt 0:01:20]} 15. Qb6 $146 {[%emt 0:00:37]} (15. Nc5 Qc7 16. h3 Rc8 17. a4
Bd6 18. a5 Qe7 19. Bd3 Bxd3 20. Nxd3 Raa8 21. Rc2 Na7 22. Rac1 Rxc2 23. Rxc2 {
1/2-1/2 (23) Le,Q (2702)-Vallejo Pons,F (2706) Tromsoe 2013}) 15... Rfa8 {
[%emt 0:11:04]} 16. Nc5 {[%emt 0:00:10]} Qc8 {[%emt 0:00:19]} 17. a3 {[%emt 0:
01:55]} Bd6 {[%emt 0:08:40]} 18. g3 {[%emt 0:01:30]} Bc7 {[%emt 0:11:47]} 19.
Qb3 {[%emt 0:00:07]} Qe8 {[%emt 0:01:50]} 20. Bf1 {[%emt 0:18:02]} Rb8 {
[%emt 0:12:14]} 21. Qc3 {[%emt 0:06:21]} Bd8 {[%emt 0:06:53]} 22. Nxa6 {
[%emt 0:05:34]} bxa6 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 23. Qxc6 {[%emt 0:00:12]} Qxc6 {[%emt 0:
00:03]} 24. Rxc6 {[%emt 0:00:06]} Rxb2 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 25. Be1 {[%emt 0:00:08]
} Be7 {[%emt 0:01:58]} 26. Rxa6 {[%emt 0:10:32]} Rab7 {[%emt 0:00:10]} 27. Rc6
{[%emt 0:00:17]} Rb1 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 28. Rc1 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Rxc1 {[%emt 0:
00:06]} 29. Rxc1 {[%emt 0:00:04]} Bxa3 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 30. Ra1 {[%emt 0:00:07]
} Rb1 {[%emt 0:00:24]} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 79th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2017.01.21"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E14"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "245"]
[EventDate "2017.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 e6 4. Bd3 c5 5. c3 b6 6. O-O Bb7 7. Nbd2 Be7 8. b3 {
White plays a kind of "Anti-Meran 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.b3" with reversed colours. Of
course, it is not too dangerous for Black.} O-O 9. Bb2 Nbd7 10. Qe2 Bd6 {
A strange idea. This loss of a tempo was not forced at all.} (10... Qc7 {
[%cal Ye6e5]} 11. c4 Rad8 12. Rac1 Rfe8 13. Rfd1 Bd6 {(now timely)} 14. cxd5
exd5 15. Ba6 Qc8 16. Bxb7 Qxb7 17. Qb5 a6 18. Qf1 h6 19. h3 Bb8 $11 {1/2 (33)
Kaszowski,D (2283)-Barglowski,F (2335) Ustron 2004}) (10... Ne4 11. Rfd1 f5 (
11... cxd4 12. exd4 Nxd2 13. Rxd2 Rc8 $11) 12. c4 a6 13. Nf1 Qe8 14. Ne5 Bh4
15. Ng3 Nxe5 16. dxe5 Bxg3 17. hxg3 Qg6 $13 {1-0 (43) Eliskases,E-Engels,L Bad
Oeynhausen 1938}) 11. c4 {This position arose in a number of games in which
White's c4-pawn and Black's d6-bishop reached their positions in one go.} cxd4
(11... Ne4 12. cxd5 exd5 13. Ba6 Bxa6 14. Qxa6 Ndf6 (14... cxd4 15. Bxd4 Ndc5
16. Qe2 Re8 17. Rfd1 Qe7 18. Bb2 Ne6 19. Nf1 Rad8 20. Ng3 g6 21. Rac1 Ba3 22.
Qc2 $14 {1/2 (60) Doettling,F (2360)-Vatter,H (2385) Karlsbad Auerbach 1998})
15. h3 Re8 16. Rad1 Qe7 17. dxc5 Bxc5 18. Nxe4 dxe4 19. Nd4 Qe5 20. Rd2 Bd6 {
1/2 (24) Koneru,H (2575)-Ushenina,A (2458) Hancheng 2016} 21. g3 $5) 12. exd4
Qe7 13. Ne5 (13. a3 Bf4 14. Rfe1 Rfd8 15. a4 Bd6 $5 {[%csl Rb4]} 16. a5 Bb4 17.
axb6 axb6 18. Rxa8 Rxa8 19. Ra1 Rxa1+ 20. Bxa1 Qd8 21. Qd1 Qa8 22. Bf1 h6 23.
Qc1 {1/2 (22) Bruno,F (2436)-Godena,M (2495) Boscotrecase 2014}) 13... Ba3 {
The exchange of bishops is desirable for Black: it weakens White's d4-pawn and
generally, simplifications are favourable for the side fighting against
hanging pawns.} 14. Bxa3 (14. Bc3 Bb4 15. Bb2 Ba3 {1/2 Minev,N-Tolush,A Warsaw
1961}) 14... Qxa3 15. f4 Qb2 $1 16. Nef3 (16. Qe3 Nxe5 17. fxe5 Ng4 $1 18. Qf4
Qc3 $132) 16... dxc4 17. bxc4 Bxf3 {Too straightforward.} (17... Rad8 $5 18. a4
Nb8 19. a5 Nc6) 18. Nxf3 Qxe2 19. Bxe2 Rac8 20. a4 Rc7 $6 {Just a loss of an
important tempo.} (20... Nb8 $142 $1 21. a5 Nc6 22. axb6 axb6 23. Ra6 Rfd8 24.
Rd1 Ne4 {[%cal Re4c3]} 25. Bf1 Rb8 $11) 21. a5 Rd8 22. axb6 Nxb6 (22... axb6
23. Ra6 {- Black has no time to transfer his passive d7-knight to c6 anymore.})
23. Rfc1 (23. Ra3 $142 $1 {[%cal Yf1a1]} Nxc4 $4 24. Rc3) 23... Nc8 {This
knight finds some good squares now.} 24. g3 Ne7 25. Ra4 Nc6 (25... Kf8 $142 26.
c5 Nfd5) 26. c5 {[%cal Ye2b5]} Nd5 27. Ne5 $1 {[%mdl 32] The exchange of
knights is favourable for White, whose knight is less active.} Nde7 (27... Nxe5
28. fxe5 $14) 28. Rcc4 (28. Rd1 {was quite possible. If} Nb8 {then} 29. Bf3 f6
30. Nc4) 28... Nxe5 (28... Nb8 $5 {[%cal Yf7f6]} 29. Rc1 f6 30. Nf3 Nbc6) 29.
fxe5 f6 30. exf6 gxf6 31. Bf3 e5 32. dxe5 fxe5 {[%csl Re5] Black has got
another weakness in his camp, and White has a chance to outmanoeuvre him.} 33.
c6 Nf5 (33... Rdc8 34. Ra5 $1 Nxc6 $2 35. Rac5) 34. Ra5 Re8 35. Rcc5 Nd4 36.
Be4 Kf7 37. Kg2 Kf6 38. Ra2 Ke6 $6 {Black´s king will now be in danger, too.}
(38... Rec8 $142) 39. Rca5 Ree7 (39... Rec8 40. Rxa7 Nxc6 41. R7a6 Ke7 42. Rf2
$18 {[%cal Re4h7]} Ke8 43. h4 $22) (39... Ra8 $5) 40. Rf2 Rg7 (40... Nxc6 41.
Ra6 Kd7 42. Bxc6+ Rxc6 43. Rd2+ Kc7 44. Rxa7+ $18) (40... Kd6 41. Rd5+ Ke6 42.
Rd8 Rg7 43. Bd5+ Ke7 44. Rff8 $18) 41. h4 h5 42. Kh2 $22 a6 (42... Rce7 43.
Bd5+ Kd6 44. Rf6+ Ne6 45. c7 $18) (42... Rge7 43. Bd5+ Kd6 44. Rf6+ Ne6 45. g4
hxg4 46. Kg3 $18 {[%cal Yh4h5,Yh5h6]}) 43. Bd5+ Ke7 44. Rxa6 Kd6 45. Bg2 $1 {
White has won a pawn, the rest should be a matter of technique.} (45. Be4 $143
Rg4 $1) 45... Rge7 (45... Rg6 46. Rf8) 46. Ra5 (46. Be4 $1 {was now
appropriate, e.g.} Re6 47. Rf8 Nxc6 48. Rf2 $1 Rh6 49. Rc2 Kd7 {Black is
totally tied up and loses after} 50. g4 $1 hxg4 51. Kg3 {etc.}) 46... Nxc6 47.
Rf6+ Re6 48. Rd5+ Ke7 49. Rf5 e4 $6 {Desperation.} (49... Rh6 {was more
stubborn although after} 50. Be4 {Black's position remained poor.}) 50. Rxh5 e3
51. Rh7+ Ke8 (51... Kf8 52. Rxc7 e2 53. Rf5+ Ke8 54. Bxc6+ Kd8 55. Ra7 $18) 52.
Rxc7 e2 53. Bf3 $1 {The refutation of Black's idea.} e1=Q 54. Bh5+ Kf8 55. Rf5+
Kg8 56. Bf7+ $2 {[%mdl 8192] White played this move without thinking, missing
a simple mate:} (56. Rc8+ Kg7 57. Rf7+ Kh6 58. Rh8#) 56... Kh8 $1 57. Rh5+ Kg7
58. Bxe6+ Kf6 {Suddenly it is not easy for White to consolidate his pieces.}
59. Rh6+ $2 (59. Bc4 $1 {was the right way but it was not easy to calculate
the following variations:} Ne5 60. Rh6+ $1 Kf5 61. Bd3+ $1 Nxd3 (61... Kg4 62.
Rg7+ Kf3 63. Rf6+ Ke3 64. Bf1 Nf3+ 65. Rxf3+ Kxf3 66. Bg2+ Kf2 67. Rf7+ $18)
62. Rf7+ Kg4 (62... Ke4 63. Re6+ Ne5 64. Rxe5+ Kxe5 65. Re7+ $18) 63. Rg7+ Kf3
(63... Kf5 64. Rg5+ Ke4 65. Re6+) 64. Rf6+ Ke4 65. Re6+ Ne5 66. Rxe5+ Kxe5 67.
Re7+ $18) 59... Ke5 60. Bh3 (60. Rh5+ $142 Kd6 (60... Kf6 61. Bc4 $1) 61. Rxc6+
Kxc6 62. Bd5+ Kd6 63. Rf5 {cutting off Black's king.}) 60... Qd2+ 61. Bg2 Qxh6
62. Rxc6 {[%mdl 4096] This endgame is theoretically drawn.} Qh7 $6 (62... Qe3
$142) 63. Rc4 {White misses another chance to cut off Black's king and keep
more winning chances:} (63. Bh3 {[%cal Yc6e6]}) 63... Kf6 64. Rg4 $6 {This
cut-off is insufficient.} (64. Rc6+ Ke5 65. Bh3) 64... Qd7 {, and Black
successfully held his ground:} 65. Rg5 Qc7 66. Rb5 Qc2 67. Rb6+ Kg7 68. Re6 Qa2
69. Re7+ Kf6 70. Re4 Kg7 71. Kh3 Qf7 72. Re2 Qf5+ 73. Kh2 Qf6 74. Be4 Qf1 75.
Rc2 Qe1 76. Bf3 Qf1 77. Bg2 Qe1 78. Rc7+ Kh8 79. Rc4 Qe2 80. Re4 Qd2 81. Re6
Qa2 82. Re8+ Kg7 83. Re7+ Kh8 84. Re3 Qd2 85. Rf3 Qd7 86. Rb3 Qe6 87. Rb2 Qe5
88. Rf2 Qe6 89. Bf3 Qe5 90. Kg2 Qf6 91. Re2 Qd8 92. Ra2 Qf6 93. Rc2 Qe7 94. Rc6
Qd8 95. Rc2 Qe7 96. Rc8+ Kg7 97. Rc6 Kh8 98. Rh6+ Kg7 99. Rh5 Qe1 100. Rd5 Qe7
101. Rb5 Qe1 102. Rb7+ Kh8 103. Rd7 Qe8 104. Rd1 Qc8 105. Re1 Qc3 106. Rf1 Qd2+
107. Kh3 Qd7+ 108. g4 {White finally starts moving his kingside pawns but
exposes his king.} Qd3 109. Kg2 Qd2+ 110. Rf2 Qe1 111. h5 Kg7 112. Re2 Qa5 113.
Re4 Kf6 114. Rf4+ Kg5 115. Rf5+ Qxf5 116. gxf5 Kxf5 117. Kg3 Kg5 118. Bg4 Kh6
119. Kh4 Kg7 120. Kg5 Kh8 121. h6 Kh7 122. Be6 Kh8 123. Kg6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 79th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2017.01.22"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Rapport, Richard"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A12"]
[WhiteElo "2702"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[Annotator "Lenderman,A"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2017.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 $5 {Stopping 1...e5 first of all.} d5 2. b3 $5 {Now that Black can't
play 2...e5, White plays this setup with b3. Richard Rapport is well-known to
be a creative player in general, and also in the openings. Richard also played
b3 on move 1 against Sergey Karjakin but in that game if anyone was better, it
was Sergey, so Richard decided to adjust his play a bit, and it worked very
well.} Bf5 3. Bb2 e6 4. d3 h6 5. Nbd2 Nf6 6. c4 c6 7. g3 Be7 8. Bg2 O-O 9. O-O
Nbd7 10. a3 a5 {Stopping White from expanding on the queenside with b4.} 11.
Qb1 $5 {Preparing b4 anyway.} Bh7 12. b4 axb4 13. axb4 Qb6 14. Bc3 Rxa1 15.
Qxa1 Bxb4 16. Bxb4 Qxb4 17. Rb1 Qd6 18. Rxb7 e5 19. d4 exd4 20. Nxd4 c5 21.
N4b3 d4 $5 {An ambitious move. If Magnus wanted a quieter, simplified game, he
could've opted for 21...dxc4. But probably Magnus, after a heartbreaking draw
last round against Anish Giri, wanted to try hard to win this game with Black
against Richard Rapport, who had been having a difficult tournament up to this
point.} (21... dxc4 22. Nxc4 Qe6 23. Ne3 Be4 24. Bxe4 Nxe4 $11 {should just be
dead equal.}) 22. Bh3 d3 $6 {This decision is very double-edged since it makes
Black's bishop on h7 bad, and gives White strong control of the centre. On the
other hand, Magnus thinks that the d3-pawn will be enough of a trump, that it
will compensate for the drawbacks in his position. It turned out to be a bit
too optimistic.} (22... Rb8 23. Rxb8+ Qxb8 24. Qa5 Qc8 {should still be quite
balanced.}) 23. e3 $1 {White correctly now doesn't simplify the game, and
keeps the tension to his advantage. A lot of players might have just tried to
release the tension to get closer to a draw if they were playing Magnus. But
Richard to his credit is a very fighting player, even when his tournament
isn't going the way he would like it to be. I really applaud that.} (23. exd3
$6 Qxd3 $11) (23. e4 $5) 23... Ne5 $6 {A natural move, but considering that
Black had already started playing unbalanced chess he should probably have
tried to continue going that route.} (23... g5 $1 {After this prophylactic
move White might be better but it's still not so clear. At least White can't
easily expand in the centre, like he was able to do in the game.}) 24. Bg2 $1 (
24. f4 $2 Nf3+ $1 25. Nxf3 Be4 $15 {was a nice trap by Magnus, and perhaps
Richard saw it and that's why avoided it and played the strong consolidating
move, Bg2.}) 24... Rc8 (24... Ned7 {The funny thing is, Stockfish thinks going
back with Ned7 is the best move. The knight on e5 turns out to be really
misplaced, since it will get hit with e4 and f4.}) 25. f4 Neg4 26. e4 Re8 $5 {
At this point sacrifising a piece might be the best practical chance, since
Black is already getting streamrollered.} 27. e5 Nxe5 28. fxe5 Rxe5 29. Rb6 $1
{Very nice geometry.} Qe7 30. Rb8+ Ne8 31. Bc6 Re1+ 32. Qxe1 Qxe1+ 33. Nf1 {
Black resigned because he will be down a piece in the endgame which is
completely hopeless. A very nice game by Richard Rapport, trying to play a
fighting game against Magnus, playing logical chess, keeping the tension, and
taking full advantage of Magnus's over-ambitious play at one moment.} 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 79th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2017.01.24"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B81"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2695"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2017.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. g4 h6 7. Bg2 Nc6 8. h3 {
The position on the board is well known in the version when Black' has already
played ...a6. Naturally other moves are possible in this move order and the
best score has been when the knight has been exchanged: 8...Nxd4.} g5 (8...
Nxd4 9. Qxd4 e5 (9... Bd7 10. f4 Bc6 11. Be3 b5 (11... Qa5 12. O-O-O Nd7 13.
Kb1 Nb6 14. b4 e5 15. bxa5 exd4 16. Rxd4 Nd7 17. Nd5 O-O-O 18. Rhd1 Nc5 19. Nb4
$18 {1-0 (37) Short,N (2685)-Sax,G (2600) Debrecen 1992}) 12. O-O Nd7 13. a4
bxa4 14. Nxa4 Be7 15. Nc3 a5 16. Qc4 Qc8 17. Ra2 O-O 18. Rfa1 Bd8 19. Rd1 {
1/2-1/2 (19) Ivanov,A (2537)-Ulybin,M (2586) Moscow 2004}) 10. Qd3 (10. Qa4+
Bd7 11. Qb3 b5 12. O-O Be7 13. f4 O-O 14. g5 hxg5 15. fxg5 Nh5 16. h4 Qb6+ 17.
Kh2 Be6 18. Nd5 Bxd5 19. Qxd5 $14 {1/2-1/2 (24) Sax,G (2570)-Votava,J (2515)
Germany 1997}) 10... Be6 11. f4 (11. Be3 Be7 12. O-O-O O-O 13. f4 Qa5 14. g5
hxg5 15. fxg5 Nh7 16. h4 Bxa2 17. Qb5 Qxb5 18. Nxb5 Rfc8 19. Nxa7 Rc7 20. Nb5
Rc6 21. Kd2 $16 {1/2-1/2 (64) Zhang,Z (2596)-Movsesian,S (2629) Mallorca 2004})
11... Rc8 12. Be3 (12. f5 Bc4 13. Qe3 b5 14. b3 b4 15. Nd1 Bb5 16. c4 bxc3 17.
Nxc3 Bc6 18. Qxa7 d5 19. exd5 Bb4 20. Bd2 Bd7 21. Qe3 O-O 22. Rc1 e4 $17 {
0-1 (34) Wahls,M (2609)-Boensch,U (2533) Germany 1999}) 12... Qa5 13. f5 Bc4
14. Qd2 Be7 15. a3 Qc7 16. Kf2 b6 17. Rac1 Ba6 18. Rhd1 Qb8 19. Kg1 Bb7 20. Nd5
Bxd5 21. exd5 $11 {1-0 (76) Bacrot,E (2719)-Kempinski,R (2620) Germany 2015}) (
8... Be7 9. Be3 O-O (9... Ne5 10. f4 Nc4 11. Bf2 Bd7 12. b3 Qa5 13. Qd3 Na3 14.
O-O Rc8 15. Nce2 O-O 16. c3 Rfd8 17. Rac1 Nb5 18. a4 Nxd4 19. Nxd4 a6 20. Rfe1
$11 {1/2-1/2 (32) Hort,V (2595)-Andersson,U (2585) Valetta 1980}) (9... Nxd4
10. Qxd4 Bd7 11. f4 Bc6 12. O-O-O Qa5 13. Kb1 Nd7 14. Qd2 Nb6 15. Qe2 Rc8 16.
Bd4 O-O 17. h4 e5 18. Bxb6 axb6 19. Nd5 Bxd5 20. Rxd5 Rc5 21. f5 b5 $11 {
0-1 (39) Palac,M (2605)-Sokolov,A (2568) Metz 2001}) 10. Qe2 (10. O-O Nxd4 11.
Qxd4 e5 12. Qd3 Be6 13. Rfd1 a6 14. Ne2 Qc7 15. Ng3 Rfd8 16. Nf5 Bf8 17. g5 Nh5
18. h4 hxg5 19. hxg5 g6 $11 {0-1 (36) Ismagambetov,A (2508)-Yu,Y (2675) Tabriz
2014}) 10... Nxd4 11. Bxd4 e5 12. Be3 Be6 13. O-O-O Rc8 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15. exd5
Bd7 16. Be4 Bg5 17. Kb1 a6 18. Rdg1 Qe7 19. h4 Bxe3 20. Qxe3 f5 $11 {1-0 (67)
Grischuk,A (2606)-Ehlvest,J (2627) New Delhi/Teheran 2000}) (8... a6 {The
transposition to the known line with ...a6 is certainly playable, but it makes
more sense for Black to try using the tempo for a more useful activity.} 9. Be3
(9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. e5 Nd5 11. exd6 Bxd6 12. Ne4 Be5 13. O-O Qc7 14. c4 Nf4 15.
Bxf4 Bxf4 16. Qf3 O-O 17. Rad1 Rb8 18. b3 $11 {0-1 (58) Ganguly,S (2668)
-Vachier Lagrave,M (2804) Doha 2016}) 9... Be7 (9... Ne5 10. f4 (10. Qe2 g5 (
10... Qc7 11. f4 Nc4 12. Bc1 Bd7 13. b3 Nb6 14. Qd3 Rc8 15. Bb2 e5 16. Nde2 Be7
17. O-O-O Bc6 18. Kb1 Nbd7 19. Rhf1 Nc5 20. Qe3 $16 {1-0 (79) Leko,P (2743)
-Sasikiran,K (2573) Istanbul 2000}) 11. f4 gxf4 12. Bxf4 Nfd7 (12... Bd7 13.
O-O-O Rc8 14. Kb1 Be7 15. Rhf1 Rxc3 16. bxc3 Qc7 17. Qe1 Nc4 18. Bc1 Ne5 19.
Ka1 Ba4 20. g5 hxg5 21. Bxg5 $14 {1/2-1/2 (27) Timofeev,A (2677)-Movsesian,S 
(2747) Dagomys 2009}) 13. O-O-O b5 14. Qf2 Bb7 15. Kb1 Qb6 16. Rhf1 Be7 17. Be3
Qc7 18. Nf3 Rh7 19. Bd4 $11 {1-0 (36) Nakamura,H (2710)-Ponomariov,R (2727)
San Sebastian 2009}) 10... Nc4 11. Qe2 Nxe3 12. Qxe3 Qb6 13. e5 dxe5 14. fxe5
Nd7 15. O-O-O Be7 16. h4 Qc7 17. Rde1 Nb6 18. b3 Bd7 19. Qg3 Rc8 20. Ne4 Nd5
21. Nd6+ Bxd6 22. exd6 Qc5 23. Bxd5 Qxd4 24. Bxb7 Qa1+ $11 {1/2-1/2 (27)
Svidler,P (2726)-Movsesian,S (2747) Odessa 2009}) 10. f4 Nd7 (10... Qc7 11. Qd2
Na5 12. b3 Nc6 13. O-O-O Nxd4 14. Bxd4 e5 15. Be3 exf4 16. Bxf4 Be6 17. Rhe1
O-O 18. Ne2 Ne8 19. Nd4 Bf6 20. g5 hxg5 21. Bxg5 $11 {1/2-1/2 (39) Svidler,P 
(2735)-Sokolov,A (2591) Germany 2005}) 11. O-O Nxd4 12. Qxd4 O-O 13. Qd2 Rb8
14. Ne2 b5 15. Rad1 Qc7 16. f5 Nf6 17. Ng3 Bb7 18. Kh1 Rbd8 19. Bxh6 gxh6 20.
Qxh6 d5 21. g5 Qxg3 22. Rd3 $16 {1-0 (29) Anand,V (2804)-Vachier Lagrave,M 
(2723) Stavanger 2015}) (8... Bd7 9. Be3 (9. f4 a6 10. Be3 Be7 11. Qe2 Qc7 12.
O-O-O (12. Nb3 b5 13. a3 Rc8 14. O-O Nh7 15. Rad1 O-O 16. Qf2 b4 17. Na4 bxa3
18. bxa3 Nb8 19. Nb6 Rce8 20. c4 $16 {1-0 (37) Short,N (2660)-Sokolov,A (2596)
Bazna 2008}) 12... Rc8 13. Nxc6 Bxc6 14. Bd4 b5 15. e5 dxe5 16. Bxe5 Qb7 17.
Rhg1 b4 18. Bxf6 Bxf6 19. Ne4 Bxe4 20. Bxe4 Qc7 21. Qf3 g6 22. Kb1 O-O $11 {
0-1 (54) Adams,M (2719)-Van Wely,L (2655) Dortmund 2005}) (9. O-O Be7 10. Be3
a6 11. f4 Qc7 12. a4 Rc8 13. Nb3 Na5 14. Nxa5 Qxa5 15. Qd2 Rc4 16. Rad1 Bc6 17.
Qd3 Rb4 18. b3 O-O 19. g5 hxg5 20. fxg5 Nd7 21. Na2 $16 {1-0 (47) Short,N 
(2650)-Sokolov,A (2605) Rotterdam 1989}) 9... Ne5 (9... a6 10. Qe2 Nxd4 11.
Bxd4 e5 12. Be3 Rc8 13. O-O Be7 14. f4 exf4 15. Rxf4 Be6 16. Rd1 {1/2-1/2 (16)
Bruzon Batista,L (2648)-Ehlvest,J (2597) Merida 2006}) 10. Qe2 Rc8 11. f4 (11.
O-O-O Rxc3 12. bxc3 Qa5 13. f4 Qxc3 14. fxe5 dxe5 15. Rd3 Qa1+ 16. Kd2 Bb4+ 17.
c3 Qb2+ 18. Nc2 Ba5 19. Qd1 Bc6 20. Qb1 Qxb1 21. Rxb1 $16 {1-0 (29) Naiditsch,
A (2697)-Ponomariov,R (2727) Villarrobledo 2009}) 11... Nc4 12. O-O-O Qb6 13.
b3 Nxe3 14. Qxe3 e5 15. Nd5 Qc5 16. c4 exd4 17. Rxd4 Nxd5 18. exd5+ Kd8 19. Qc3
Be7 20. b4 Qb6 $19 {0-1 (25) Naiditsch,A (2689)-Ponomariov,R (2739) Moscow 2009
}) 9. Nxc6 {Carlsen has never been known as a great expert in theory and he
decides to try a sound positional approach by activating the bishop on g2.} (9.
Be3 Ne5 10. Qe2 Bd7 11. O-O-O Rc8 12. Ndb5 Rc6 13. f4 gxf4 14. Bxf4 Qb8 15.
Rhf1 Be7 16. g5 hxg5 17. Bxg5 Ng8 18. h4 a6 19. Nd4 Rxc3 20. bxc3 Qc7 21. Qe1
$14 {1-0 (44) Forster,R (2463)-Atlas,V (2475) Switzerland 2002}) 9... bxc6 10.
e5 Nd5 (10... dxe5 11. Bxc6+ Bd7 12. Bxa8 Qxa8 13. Rg1 Bc6 14. Qe2 $16) 11.
exd6 Qxd6 $6 {If Van Wely would like to play the line again he should look
into the much more natural recapture with the bishop. The queen comes to the
fore way too soon and will become vulnerable on d6.} (11... Bxd6 $5 12. Ne4 Be5
13. c4 Nf4 $11) 12. O-O Ba6 13. Re1 Be7 14. Ne4 Qc7 15. c4 Nb4 (15... Bxc4 $2
16. Qd4 $18) (15... Nf4 16. Bxf4 gxf4 17. Qa4 $16) 16. b3 {In order not to
criticise the choice of the much better player I will just note, that
developing the bishop to e3 would have been unpleasant for Black.} (16. Be3 $5
Rd8 17. Qb3 Rd3 18. Nc3 $16) 16... Rd8 17. Qf3 Nd3 18. Rd1 Nxc1 19. Raxc1 Qf4 {
The opening has not helped Black to full equality as White has the better
pieces and pawn structure.} (19... O-O 20. Nf6+ Kg7 21. Nh5+ Kg8 22. Qc3 f6 23.
Rxd8 Bxd8 24. Rd1 $16) 20. Rxd8+ Bxd8 (20... Kxd8 $2 21. Rd1+ Ke8 22. Qc3 $18)
21. Qxf4 gxf4 22. Nc5 Bc8 23. Bxc6+ {Losing a pawn in a simple position is
dangerous, especially against a player with very good endgame technique.} Ke7
24. Bf3 (24. Rd1 h5 25. g5 $16) 24... Bb6 25. Nd3 Rd8 26. Nb4 Bd7 (26... Rd2
27. c5 $16) 27. c5 {The concept of restricting the opponent's pieces
represents a powerful strategic measure. Rather than advancing towards the
promotion square the pawn is helping to limit the dark-squared bishop.} Ba5 28.
Rc4 Rc8 (28... Bc7 29. Na6 Be5 30. a4 $16) 29. c6 Bxb4 {Van Wely had no better
choice than transposition to the rook endgame a pawn down.} (29... Be8 30. Rxf4
$16) 30. Rxb4 Bxc6 31. Bxc6 Rxc6 32. Rxf4 {[%mdl 4096] A rather instructive
moment and typical for Carlsen. Instead of givig Black the chance for real
counterplay in the line 32.Rb7 the world champion prefers rather to work
longer in an endgame with an extra pawn.} (32. Rb7+ Kf6 33. Rxa7 Rc2 34. a4 e5
$16) 32... a5 (32... Ra6 33. a4 Rb6 34. b4 $16) 33. Kg2 (33. Rc4 Rd6 (33...
Rxc4 34. bxc4 Kd6 35. f4 Kc5 36. h4) 34. Rc5 a4 35. bxa4 Rd3 36. Kg2 Ra3 37.
Ra5 Rxa2 38. Kg3 $16) 33... Rc5 34. h4 Rd5 35. Kf3 f6 {Once the pawn is
missing all the choices in the endgame become difficult. Black can wait and
slowly die or fight back and hope for a small miracle.} (35... Rd3+ 36. Ke2 Rh3
37. h5 f5 38. Ra4 fxg4 39. Rxa5 $16) 36. Ke3 h5 (36... Rb5 37. f3 Rd5 38. Rc4
$16) 37. f3 hxg4 (37... Rb5 38. Rc4 Kf7 39. Rc6 Rd5 40. a4 $16) 38. fxg4 Rd1
39. Ra4 Re1+ (39... Rh1 40. h5 f5 41. Rxa5 Kf6 42. gxf5 Rxh5 43. Kf4 $16) 40.
Kf3 Re5 41. Rc4 Rd5 42. h5 {The passed pawn on h5 will play an important role
as Black will have to watch out for its sudden rush forward.} Rd2 43. Ra4 Rd5
44. Ke3 Rg5 45. Rc4 Kd6 (45... f5 46. h6 Kf6 47. gxf5 Rh5 48. fxe6 Rxh6 49. Re4
Ke7 50. Kd4 $18) 46. Kf4 Rd5 $6 (46... e5+ 47. Kg3 Rg8 48. Kf3 $18) 47. Rc8 $1
Rd4+ 48. Kg3 {White is not active effectively on both flanks and the defence
becomes overwhelmed.} Kd7 (48... Rd3+ 49. Kh4 Kd7 50. Ra8 Rd1 51. Kg3 $18) 49.
Ra8 Rd3+ 50. Kg2 (50. Kf4 Rh3 51. Rxa5 $18) 50... Rd2+ 51. Kf3 Rd3+ (51... Rxa2
$2 52. h6 $18) 52. Ke4 Rh3 53. Rxa5 e5 54. Kf5 Rf3+ 55. Kg6 e4 56. h6 e3 57. h7
Rh3 (57... e2 58. h8=Q e1=Q 59. Rd5+ Kc6 60. Qa8+ $18) 58. Ra7+ Kd6 59. Ra8 {
Defending a worse endgame against Carlsen is well known to be a task which is
not for the faint-hearted....} (59. Ra8 e2 60. Re8 Rh4 61. Rxe2 Rxg4+ 62. Kh5
Rg5+ 63. Kh4 Rg1 64. Rh2 $18) 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 79th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2017.01.25"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C48"]
[WhiteElo "2766"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2017.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"]

1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} e5 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 2. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Nc6 {
[%emt 0:00:04]} 3. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:12]} 4. Bb5 {[%emt 0:
00:00]} Bd6 {[%emt 0:00:43]} 5. d3 {[%emt 0:00:31]} O-O {[%emt 0:03:20]} 6. O-O
{[%emt 0:06:32]} (6. a3 Re8 7. g4 Bc5 8. Rg1 d5 9. g5 Ng4 10. Rg2 Nxf2 11. Rxf2
Bxf2+ 12. Kxf2 d4 13. Ne2 Qd6 14. Ng3 Bg4 15. Qh1 Rf8 16. Bc4 Ne7 17. h3 Be6
18. Nh4 Bxc4 19. dxc4 f6 20. Nhf5 Nxf5 21. exf5 fxg5 22. Bxg5 c6 23. Re1 d3 24.
cxd3 Qxd3 25. Qe4 Qb3 26. Re2 Rae8 27. Kg2 Rf7 28. Rd2 Ref8 29. h4 b5 30. cxb5
cxb5 31. Qxe5 h6 32. Be3 Rc8 33. Nh5 Rc2 34. f6 Rxd2+ 35. Bxd2 Qd3 {Naiditsch,
A (2687)-Malakhov,V (2713) Doha 2016 1-0 (73)}) 6... h6 {[%emt 0:01:49]} 7. a3
{[%emt 0:00:21]} Re8 {[%emt 0:00:59]} 8. h3 {[%emt 0:02:07]} Bc5 {[%emt 0:08:
08]} 9. Be3 {[%emt 0:05:39]} Nd4 {[%emt 0:03:55]} 10. Bc4 {[%emt 0:03:08]} c6 {
[%emt 0:02:43]} 11. Re1 $146 {[%emt 0:07:29]} (11. Bxd4 exd4 12. Ne2 d5 13.
exd5 Nxd5 14. Re1 Nf6 15. Qd2 Be6 16. Bxe6 Rxe6 17. Ng3 Rxe1+ 18. Rxe1 Qd7 19.
Qf4 Nd5 20. Qe5 f6 21. Qe4 Nc7 22. Qf5 Qxf5 23. Nxf5 Rd8 24. b4 Bf8 25. N5xd4
c5 26. bxc5 Bxc5 27. Nb3 Bxa3 28. Ra1 Nb5 29. Na5 Bf8 30. Nxb7 Rb8 31. Na5 Nc3
32. Nc4 Bc5 33. Kf1 f5 34. g3 f4 35. gxf4 Nd5 36. d4 Bf8 37. f5 Nf4 38. h4 Rb4
39. Ne3 a5 40. c4 a4 {Acs,P (2567)-Hera,I (2564) Hungary 2013 1/2-1/2 (74)})
11... Nxf3+ {[%emt 0:03:15]} 12. Qxf3 {[%emt 0:00:06]} Bxe3 {[%emt 0:00:06]}
13. fxe3 {[%emt 0:01:16]} b5 {[%emt 0:01:15]} 14. Ba2 {[%emt 0:00:12]} a5 {
[%emt 0:01:33]} 15. Ne2 {[%emt 0:08:01]} d6 {[%emt 0:09:33]} 16. Ng3 {[%emt 0:
03:14]} Be6 {[%emt 0:05:16]} 17. Rf1 {[%emt 0:05:34]} d5 {[%emt 0:01:59]} 18.
Rf2 {[%emt 0:05:40]} Ra7 {[%emt 0:05:48]} 19. exd5 {[%emt 0:03:18]} cxd5 {
[%emt 0:00:16]} 20. Nf5 {[%emt 0:03:12]} Kh7 {[%emt 0:08:06]} 21. Qg3 {[%emt 0:
07:10]} Bxf5 {[%emt 0:12:53]} 22. Rxf5 {[%emt 0:00:06]} Rc7 {[%emt 0:00:07]}
23. c3 {[%emt 0:05:10]} b4 {[%emt 0:05:39]} 24. cxb4 {[%emt 0:01:03]} axb4 {
[%emt 0:00:05]} 25. a4 {[%emt 0:01:33]} b3 {[%emt 0:03:29]} 26. Bxb3 {[%emt 0:
00:11]} Qb8 {[%emt 0:00:23]} 27. Ra3 {[%emt 0:02:53]} e4 {[%emt 0:01:26]} 28.
Kh2 {[%emt 0:04:19]} exd3 {[%emt 0:06:35]} 29. Bxd5 {[%emt 0:00:39]} d2 {
[%emt 0:01:02]} 30. Rd3 {[%emt 0:07:55]} Rc2 {[%emt 0:15:11]} 31. Qxb8 {
[%emt 0:04:20]} Rxb8 {[%emt 0:00:01]} 32. b3 {[%emt 0:01:22]} Nxd5 {[%emt 0:00:
24]} 33. Rfxd5 {[%emt 0:00:11]} d1=Q {[%emt 0:00:06]} 34. Rxd1 {[%emt 0:00:05]}
Rxb3 {[%emt 0:00:10]} 35. R5d2 {[%emt 0:03:11]} Rxd2 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 36. Rxd2
{[%emt 0:00:04]} Ra3 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 37. Kg1 {[%emt 0:00:23]} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 79th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2017.01.27"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Adhiban, Baskaran"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2653"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2017.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"]

1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:55]} d5 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 2. exd5 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Nf6 {
[%emt 0:00:04]} 3. Nf3 {[%emt 0:01:47]} Nxd5 {[%emt 0:00:11]} 4. d4 {[%emt 0:
02:00]} Bg4 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 5. h3 {[%emt 0:01:35]} Bh5 {[%emt 0:01:38]} 6. Be2
{[%emt 0:00:56]} Nc6 {[%emt 0:00:10]} 7. O-O {[%emt 0:03:49]} e6 {[%emt 0:00:
09]} 8. c3 {[%emt 0:07:53]} (8. c4 Nf6 9. Nc3 Be7 10. Be3 O-O 11. Qd2 Bg6 12.
Bd3 Bxd3 13. Qxd3 Nb4 14. Qe2 c6 15. a3 Na6 16. b4 Nc7 17. Rab1 Qc8 18. Rfc1 a5
19. Ne5 axb4 20. axb4 Ra3 21. Qb2 Ra8 22. Qb3 Nd7 23. Na4 Rb8 24. Bf4 Nxe5 25.
Bxe5 f6 26. Nb6 Qd8 27. Bxc7 Qxc7 28. c5 Bd8 29. Qxe6+ Qf7 30. Qxf7+ Rxf7 31.
Nc4 Rd7 32. b5 cxb5 33. Nd6 b6 34. Rxb5 Bc7 35. Nf5 bxc5 36. Rxb8+ Bxb8 37.
dxc5 Bf4 {Gdanski,J (2542)-Pakleza,Z (2509) Katowice 2010 1-0 (65)}) 8... Be7 {
[%emt 0:07:39]} 9. Ne5 {[%emt 0:01:31]} Nxe5 {[%emt 0:14:28]} 10. Bxh5 {
[%emt 0:00:08]} Ng6 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 11. Qb3 $146 {[%emt 0:09:58]} (11. Bf3 c6
12. Re1 O-O 13. Nd2 Qc7 14. Nc4 Rad8 15. Qe2 Bf6 16. g3 Nb6 17. Ne3 Be7 18. h4
c5 19. h5 cxd4 20. hxg6 dxe3 21. gxf7+ Rxf7 22. Bxe3 Kh8 23. Be4 g6 24. Qg4 Bc5
25. Qxe6 Rdf8 26. Bd4+ Bxd4 27. cxd4 Rxf2 28. Qe5+ Qxe5 29. dxe5 Rxb2 30. Bxb7
Nc8 31. Reb1 Re2 32. Rf1 Re8 33. Bc6 Rd8 34. Rae1 Rxe1 35. Rxe1 Ne7 36. Ba4 Rd2
37. Bb3 h5 38. Re4 Kg7 39. g4 hxg4 40. Rxg4 Re2 {Vospernik,M-Karaklajic,N
Zagreb 1961 1/2-1/2}) 11... Rb8 {[%emt 0:08:29]} 12. c4 {[%emt 0:09:09]} Nf6 {
[%emt 0:02:20]} 13. Bxg6 {[%emt 0:00:46]} hxg6 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 14. Qa4+ {
[%emt 0:00:05]} c6 {[%emt 0:17:56]} 15. Qxa7 {[%emt 0:00:10]} Bd6 {[%emt 0:00:
20]} 16. Nc3 {[%emt 0:02:29]} Bc7 {[%emt 0:00:34]} 17. Rd1 {[%emt 0:04:49]} Qd6
{[%emt 0:06:40]} 18. g3 {[%emt 0:00:40]} Qd7 {[%emt 0:03:11]} 19. h4 {[%emt 0:
00:40]} O-O {[%emt 0:02:34]} 20. Qc5 {[%emt 0:03:37]} b5 {[%emt 0:05:03]} 21.
cxb5 {[%emt 0:11:02]} cxb5 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 22. a3 {[%emt 0:01:02]} Rfc8 {
[%emt 0:03:36]} 23. Qg5 {[%emt 0:00:27]} b4 {[%emt 0:00:28]} 24. axb4 {[%emt 0:
02:01]} Rxb4 {[%emt 0:00:01]} 25. Qd2 {[%emt 0:12:37]} Bb6 {[%emt 0:02:43]} 26.
Ne2 {[%emt 0:00:20]} Rbc4 {[%emt 0:00:25]} 27. Qd3 {[%emt 0:01:41]} e5 {
[%emt 0:06:43]} 28. Bg5 {[%emt 0:00:39]} Ng4 {[%emt 0:03:31]} 29. Rac1 {
[%emt 0:04:42]} Rxc1 {[%emt 0:00:39]} 30. Rxc1 {[%emt 0:00:03]} Re8 {[%emt 0:
02:39]} 31. Rd1 {[%emt 0:09:46]} exd4 {[%emt 0:04:23]} 32. Bf4 {[%emt 0:00:02]}
Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:47]} 33. Nc1 {[%emt 0:01:24]} Nd5 {[%emt 0:08:04]} 34. Bd2 {
[%emt 0:01:55]} Qc6 {[%emt 0:00:12]} 35. Ne2 {[%emt 0:01:09]} Qf6 {[%emt 0:05:
26]} 36. Rc1 {[%emt 0:01:00]} Qf5 {[%emt 0:01:09]} 37. Qxf5 {[%emt 0:05:05]}
gxf5 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 38. Kf1 {[%emt 0:00:08]} d3 {[%emt 0:00:20]} 39. Nc3 {
[%emt 0:00:17]} Nxc3 {[%emt 0:03:28]} 40. Rxc3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Bd4 {[%emt 0:
01:00]} 41. Rb3 {[%emt 0:01:00]} g6 {[%emt 0:03:40]} 42. f3 {[%emt 0:01:12]}
Be5 {[%emt 0:06:43]} 43. g4 {[%emt 0:01:03]} fxg4 {[%emt 0:01:27]} 44. fxg4 {
[%emt 0:00:02]} Bf6 {[%emt 0:00:48]} 45. h5 {[%emt 0:00:28]} gxh5 {[%emt 0:01:
29]} 46. gxh5 {[%emt 0:00:01]} Re5 {[%emt 0:02:37]} 47. h6 {[%emt 0:00:46]} Kh7
{[%emt 0:00:25]} 48. Rxd3 {[%emt 0:01:08]} Rf5+ {[%emt 0:00:04]} 49. Ke2 {
[%emt 0:00:05]} Bxb2 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 79th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2017.01.28"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Eljanov, Pavel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A90"]
[WhiteElo "2755"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[Annotator "Sadorra,J"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2017.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 f5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 d5 5. Nf3 Bd6 6. Nc3 c6 {For a must-win
game, it is interesting that the Magnus chooses the Dutch Stonewall which is
also part of the repertoire of other World Champions such as Steinitz,
Alekhine, Botvinnik, Petrosian etc!} 7. Bf4 ({The most common way to continue
here is} 7. O-O O-O 8. Bf4 (8. Qc2) 8... Bxf4 9. gxf4 Nbd7 {leading to similar
paths as in the game.}) 7... Bxf4 8. gxf4 O-O 9. e3 Bd7 {This is one of the
typical ways to develop the famous or infamous, depending on your perspective
and experience, Stonewall bishop.} ({Another way to bring it out is} 9... b6
10. O-O Bb7 (10... Ba6 $6 11. Ne5 {now Black cannot develop the b8-knight.}
Nfd7 12. b3 $1 $14 Nxe5 13. dxe5 dxc4 14. Qxd8 Rxd8 15. b4 $1 {shutting out
the black bishop followed by exploiting the development advantage and weak
a8-h1 diagonal is the idea behind b2-b3.}) 11. Ne5 Nbd7 12. Rc1 Qe7 {with a
solid position.} (12... Ne4 $5 {is also playable.})) 10. Qb3 Qc7 11. O-O Be8
12. Rfc1 {White now starts to make threats before Black finishes development
which can bring him closer to equality.} Qe7 (12... Bh5 $4 13. cxd5 exd5 14.
Nxd5 $18) 13. Qa3 $1 {One of the well-known ideas in the Stonewall for White
is to trade off Black's good dark-squares bishop in order to weaken the dark
squares and sometimes even leave Black with the "worse minor piece." Eljanov
rightfully extends this idea by trading off Black's queen which was serving
the same function of the aforementioned bishop.} ({Another good way to
increase the advantage is to simply keep improving his pieces and prepare the
Qa3 idea or a queenside expansion.} 13. Ne5 Bh5 14. Rab1 Na6 (14... Kh8 15. Qa3
$1) 15. cxd5 $5 (15. Qa3 Nb4) 15... exd5 (15... cxd5 16. Qa3 Nb4 17. Nb5 $16 {
with a clear plan of invasion.}) 16. Qc2 Ne4 17. b4 $36 {with an easy plan of
using the minority attack.}) (13. Rab1 $5 $14) 13... Qxa3 14. bxa3 Nbd7 15.
Rab1 {White has successfully transformed a slightly better middlegame into
superior endgame position.} Rb8 16. a4 $1 {a nice prophylactic move - it both
prepares to meet ...Nb6 and plans to further weaken the queenside pawns in the
future.} a5 (16... Nb6 17. c5 (17. Bf1 $5) 17... Nc4 {now the a-pawn is not
under attack!} 18. Bf1 $1 (18. Ne5 Na5 19. Rb4 Nd7) 18... Na5 19. Rb4 $14 {
and Black will have to be very careful and alert in this complex ending as
White has a dangerous plan of doubling on the b-file and then bringing his
knight to b3!}) 17. Rb2 Ne4 $6 ({It was objectively better to do "trench
warfare" with} 17... Bh5 18. Ne5 (18. Rcb1 $2 Bxf3 19. Bxf3 b6 {and there's no
way to break through Black's fortress.}) 18... Rfc8 19. Rcb1 b6 20. Bf1 Be8 {
but it's probably too deressing for Carlsen's taste.}) 18. Nxe4 dxe4 19. Ng5 $1
{The right square and plan.} (19. Ne5 Nxe5 20. dxe5 (20. fxe5 c5 $1 $132 {
and things start to look complicated for White. Just look at Black's famous/
infamous bishop!} 21. d5 Bxa4 22. Rcb1 $2 b5 $1 $15) 20... c5) 19... Rf6 20. f3
$1 {this pawn break is all part of the plan. Because if not, then what is the
future of his knight after h7-h6??} h6 21. Nh3 exf3 22. Bxf3 Rf7 23. Nf2 c5 24.
Nd3 $1 {Eljanov has been playing excellently, exercising good control on the
board and on his clock. He has 30 min left to Magnus's 39 min in a great
position that he knows he's fully capable of winning.} cxd4 25. exd4 Nf6 26.
Nc5 ({Another way to step up the pressure is to prepare the march of the
future passed c-pawn:} 26. Ne5 Rc7 27. c5 $1 (27. Rcb1 Rd8 {gives Black some
counterplay}) 27... Bxa4 (27... Rd8 28. Rxb7 Rxb7 29. Bxb7 Rxd4 30. c6 $18) 28.
Rcb1 $16) 26... Ne4 27. Nxe6 Bxa4 28. d5 Bd7 29. Bxe4 $6 {A misjudged exchange.
It's not disastrous, but it already allows Black counterplay in the form of
piece activity.} fxe4 30. Nc5 Bg4 31. Re1 {All part of Eljanov's plan
connected to his decision to trade on move 29, at least according to the quick
pace at which he played the moves.} Rc8 $1 {This is most probably what he
missed in his analysis as he now stopped for 10 minutes before making his next
move.} 32. Nxe4 Rxf4 {Just look at Black's pieces now compared to when they
were living under the Stonewall bridge, say around move 22.} 33. Nd6 Rcf8 $1 {
Magnus now starts playing quickly and more confidently.} 34. Rb3 {Eljanov now
starts to switch to more solid play.} (34. Rxb7 $4 Bh3 35. Rbb1 Rg4+ 36. Kh1
Bg2+ 37. Kg1 Be4# {is one line that shows the dynamic power of Black's pieces,
thus the game move.}) 34... R8f6 35. Ne4 Rg6 36. Rg3 b6 $1 {a nice little move
that makes a big impact as it makes it difficult for White to push his passed
pawn in the future.} 37. d6 $6 {a risky decision.} ({I think it's best to go
for waiting tactics especially as the time control is approaching:} 37. Nd2 Bf5
{and White at least has a sure way to keep the balance.} (37... Rgf6 38. Ne4) (
37... Kh7 38. Re4 $1) 38. Rxg6 Bxg6 39. Re6 $11) 37... Kh7 38. Nf2 $2 {Panic
sets in as Eljanov tries to make the time control with 2 minutes left.} (38.
Ree3 $142) ({or} 38. h4 $5 Bf5 39. h5 $1 Rxg3+ 40. Nxg3 $13) 38... Rxc4 39.
Nxg4 Rgxg4 40. Rxg4 Rxg4+ 41. Kf2 Rd4 42. Re6 Kg8 {Suddenly, it is White that
must play for a draw.} 43. Ke3 Rd1 44. d7 {The best chance to obtain drawing
chances as holding on to the pawn only makes things worse for White.} ({E.g.} 
44. Ke4 Kf7 ({Not} 44... Re1+ $4 45. Kd5 Rxe6 46. Kxe6 Kf8 47. d7 $4) 45. Re7+
Kf6 46. Rd7 h5 47. Rd8 (47. h4 g6 $1 48. Rd8 Ke6 49. Rg8 (49. Re8+ Kd7 $19)
49... Rg1 50. Rd8 Rg4+ {netting another pawn.}) 47... Ke6 48. Rg8 (48. Re8+ Kd7
49. Re7+ Kxd6 50. Rxg7 Rd2 {similar to the mainline}) 48... Rd2 $1 {the enemy
passed pawn isn't going anywhere!} (48... Rxd6 49. Rxg7 Rd2 50. Rg6+ {is a big
difference}) 49. Rxg7 Kxd6 $19) 44... Rxd7 45. Rxb6 Rd5 {At this point of the
game, one can't help but stop and wonder at how Magnus was able to turn the
game around against a strong strategic player!} 46. Rb2 Kh7 47. Ke4 Rh5 48. Kf4
Rh4+ 49. Kg3 g5 50. Rb7+ Kg6 51. Rb6+ Kh5 52. h3 Ra4 53. Rc6 ({Defending the
a-pawn doesn't help either.} 53. Rb2 Ra3+ 54. Kg2 Kh4 $19) 53... Ra3+ 54. Kg2
Rxa2+ 55. Kg3 a4 56. Ra6 a3 57. Kf3 Rb2 58. Kg3 (58. Rxa3 Kh4 $19 {and the
h-pawn falls.}) 58... a2 59. Kf3 a1=Q 60. Rxa1 Kh4 {And because there's
nothing White can do to hold on to his h-pawn, Black resigns. An very
important win for the current World Champion, setting up a tense and dramatic
finale in the last round!} 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel-A 79th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2017.01.29"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2840"]
[BlackElo "2785"]
[Annotator "Meier,Georg"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2017.01.14"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. Bg5 {Magnus is exploring
these positions from all possible angles. In the recent match against Sergey
he tried this line with the bishop on b5.} d6 (6... h6 7. Bh4 Be7 {is a
frequent reaction, defusing any worries about the pin and anticipating a
welcome exchange of dark-squared bishops.}) 7. Nbd2 h6 8. Bh4 g5 $2 {According
to Karjakin's tweet "Loran" Fressinet told him Nxg5 never works in the Italian.
I am quite sure that Magnus's on- and off-second informed his boss about the
exceptions!} 9. Nxg5 hxg5 10. Bxg5 Kg7 11. Qf3 Be6 {Armed with engines, many
wrote Karjakin off already. But in the meantime, Wesley So was running away
with tournament victory as Nepomniachtchi had already(!) self-destructed. I am
sure this unsettled Magnus...} 12. b4 $2 (12. Bd5 $1 {This creates a terrible
bind, since Black is at pains to defuse the pin. Nb8-d7 is the only manoeuvre
left to do so, but drops the exchange.} Nb8 (12... a5 13. O-O-O Nb8 14. Qg3
Nbd7 15. d4 exd4 16. cxd4 Bxd4 17. Nf3 Bc5 18. Bxf6+ Kxf6 19. Qg5#) 13. Qxf6+
Qxf6 14. Bxf6+ Kxf6 15. Bxb7 Nd7 16. Bxa8 Rxa8 17. b4 Bb6 18. Ke2 {With 3
pawns and a rook for 2 pieces, White of course has a significant edge, but
some difficulties remain, as the white rooks won't be active for a long time.})
(12. O-O-O $2 {allows a main defensive idea:} Bxc4 13. Nxc4 Qe7 {and the queen
gets to e6 - consolidating.}) 12... Bb6 13. Bd5 a5 $1 {Given a second lease on
life Karjakin is going to play very well from here on. A main reason for him
being dubbed "World Defence Champion" by colleague Giri and others must be
that he seems so unaffected by his mistakes. He can commit the most despicable
errors and then show world-class toughness from the next second!} 14. b5 Nb8 {
Not only will the rook not drop, but Black has secured squares on the
queenside forever. Stable squares are very significant in all types of
positions with minor against major pieces.} 15. Bxb7 Ra7 (15... Nbd7 16. Bc6
Rb8 17. Nc4) 16. Bd5 $2 {Allowing Black to overprotect f6.} (16. Bc6 $1 {
was definitely stronger, and may give great winning chances, but Black's
position is still full of eye-popping resources.} Nxc6 17. bxc6 Ra8 18. h4 Rh8
19. d4 $1 (19. Nc4 {Slow play is not enough, after} Bc5 20. h5 Rh6 21. Ne3 Bxe3
22. Qxe3 Qh8 23. Bxh6+ Qxh6 24. Qxh6+ Kxh6 {Black is very well coordinated.})
19... exd4 $1 (19... Rh6 20. d5 Bc8 21. Nc4 Bc5 22. Bxh6+ Kxh6 23. Ne3 {
looks hopeless for Black.}) 20. e5 dxe5 21. Ne4 Nxe4 22. Bxd8 f5 {Here we have
a complete mess and direct attempts appear to run into powerful counterplay.}
23. Be7 $1 {The sane approach, just sticking to the material.} (23. g4 {
Opening literally all the gates, but Black can respond in kind!} d3 $1 24. Bxc7
d2+ 25. Kd1 Bxc7 26. gxf5 Bd5 27. Rg1+ Kf7 28. Rg6 {Looks like Black ran out
of steam?} Rab8 {Reinforcements!} 29. c4 (29. Kc2 Rb5 {calmly doubling on the
b-file!}) 29... Rb2 30. cxd5 Rxh4 31. Rh6 $1 Rg4 $1 (31... Rxh6 $4 32. Qxe4 $18
) 32. Rh7+ Kf6 33. Rh1 Rf4 34. Rh6+ Kg7 35. Rh7+ Kxh7 36. Qh5+ $11) (23. Bg5
Nxg5 24. Qg3 $1 {Neat, but not quite enough.} Kf7 25. Qxg5 Rag8 26. Qd2 dxc3
27. Qe2 {Black only has 2 bishops for the queen, but wonderful coordination
after} Rg4 $1 28. O-O-O Re4 {and White is obliged to part with an important
pawn or go:} 29. Qc2 (29. Qb5 Bxf2) 29... Bc5 30. Rd7+ Kf6 31. h5 Ba3+ 32. Kd1
Bb4 33. a3 Bxd7 34. cxd7 Rd4+ 35. Ke1 Rd2 36. Qc1 c2 37. axb4 Rd1+ 38. Qxd1
cxd1=Q+ 39. Kxd1 axb4 $11) 23... Kf7 24. Ba3 d3 25. O-O-O $1 (25. Rf1 d2+ 26.
Kd1 Rad8) 25... Nxf2 26. g4 $1 Nxg4 (26... Rad8 27. c4 $1) 27. Qxd3 Kf6 28. h5
{sees White consolidating without having to give up much material yet.
Whenever neccesary, an exchange will be sacrificed to extinguish the
counterplay.}) 16... Nbd7 17. Nc4 Bxd5 18. exd5 Qe8 {Black has consolidated
and will be able to untangle gradually.} 19. Ne3 Rg8 20. O-O Nh7 21. Nf5+ Kh8 {
Relative safety, finally.} 22. Bh4 Ra8 23. Rae1 f6 {It's hard to formulate a
plan for White here, while Black will just keep on improving his position,
until opportunities come up.} 24. Re4 Nc5 {Karjakin felt it was time to invite
a repetition.} (24... Qf7 $5 25. Nh6 Qg6 26. Nxg8 Rxg8 {and again, Black's
position seems easier to play, at the very least.}) 25. Re3 Nd7 26. d4 $5 {
I don't think White holds an advantage at this point, but as everybody knows,
Magnus wants to fight it out!} Qg6 $1 {I like the concept of giving up a rook
for the very strong Nf5. After that Black's position becomes very solid.} 27.
Ne7 Qg4 28. Nxg8 Rxg8 29. Qxg4 Rxg4 30. g3 exd4 $2 {Opening files should be
done with great care only, when opposing the rooks. And here Black could just
regroup to go after the stranded - but nagging - Bh4 first.} (30... Nhf8 31. h3
(31. Rd1 exd4 32. cxd4 Ng6) 31... exd4 32. Re8 Rg8 33. cxd4 Ng6) 31. cxd4 Bxd4
32. Re8+ {Of course White infiltrates immediately} Rg8 33. Re7 {Mysterious -
exchanging Black's rook would greatly weaken the defence.} (33. Rxg8+ $142 Kxg8
34. Kg2 Nhf8 35. g4 Ng6 36. Bg3 $14) 33... Rg7 34. Re4 Ne5 35. Kg2 Bb6 36. f4
Ng6 37. Kh3 $2 {Here Carlsen passed up on his last chance to force the
favourable rook exchange.} (37. Re8+ Rg8 38. Rxg8+ Kxg8 39. f5 (39. Kh3) 39...
Ne7 40. g4 Nxd5 41. Bf2 Bxf2 42. Kxf2 Ng5 43. Re1 Kf8 44. h4 Nf7 {Black may
hold, but he has to suffer without counterplay.}) 37... Kg8 38. Rfe1 Kf7 {
It's hard to play constructively as White here, which usually means that the
opponent will in a practical game make progress one way or another.} 39. Re6
Rg8 40. R1e4 f5 41. Re2 Rh8 {Black is step by step improving his position and
would eventually shatter White´s pawn structure and try to go after the weak
pawns one by one.} 42. a4 Kg7 43. Rxg6+ $1 {A very very important decision!
Carlsen uses his last chance to disturb Black's regrouping, and secures
activity for his remaining pieces.} (43. Re7+ $1 Nxe7 44. Rxe7+ {is the same})
({while} 43. Re8 $2 Nhf8 {would leave White helpless already.}) 43... Kxg6 44.
Re6+ Kf7 45. Re7+ Kg8 (45... Kg6 $5 46. Re6+ Kh5 {looks awkward, as the black
king is not that far from a mating net, but some calculation shows that Black
is in time to regroup after} 47. Be7 Bd4 48. Kg2 Re8 49. Kf3 {(h3-g4 would be
a big threat...)} Nf6 50. Bxf6 Rxe6 51. dxe6 Bxf6 {Still, White survives with
perfect play:} 52. h3 Kg6 53. Ke3 Bb2 54. g4 fxg4 55. hxg4 Kf6 56. f5 d5 57.
g5+ Ke7 58. g6 $11) 46. Kg2 Nf8 47. Bg5 Rh7 48. Re8 Kf7 49. Rd8 {Black has no
space to regroup now.} Kg8 50. Re8 Rf7 51. Bh6 Rf6 52. Bg5 ({Even} 52. Rxf8+
Rxf8 53. Bxf8 Kxf8 {is a fortress for White.}) 52... Rf7 53. Bh6 {What a
full-blooded struggle, after the game seemed to be almost over early on!
Karjakin's composure is admirable time and again.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 7th Febr"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.02.07"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Sarenac, Ivan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C47"]
[WhiteElo "2409"]
[BlackElo "2967"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2017.02.07"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Be2 Bb4 5. Nd5 Be7 6. Nxe7 Qxe7 7. d3 d5 8.
exd5 Nxd5 9. O-O O-O 10. Re1 Re8 11. Bf1 Bg4 12. h3 Bh5 13. c3 Rad8 14. g3 Qd7
15. Bg2 f6 16. Qb3 b6 17. Nd2 Bf7 18. Qc2 Nde7 19. Bf1 Be6 20. Kh2 Ng6 21. Ne4
Rf8 22. h4 h6 23. h5 Nge7 24. f4 Bg4 25. Nf2 Bxh5 26. Bh3 Qd5 27. d4 Kh8 28.
dxe5 fxe5 29. Ne4 Bg6 30. Bg2 exf4 31. Bxf4 Qh5+ 32. Kg1 Nd5 33. Bd2 Ne5 34.
Rf1 Ng4 35. Rf3 Qh2+ 36. Kf1 Rxf3+ 37. Bxf3 Nde3+ 0-1

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 7th Febr"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.02.07"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Shoker, Samy"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A43"]
[WhiteElo "2970"]
[BlackElo "2519"]
[PlyCount "133"]
[EventDate "2017.02.07"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. Nf3 c5 4. d5 d6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bb5+ Bd7 7. a4 O-O 8. O-O
Bg4 9. Re1 Na6 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Nb4 12. Qd1 Rc8 13. Bf1 Qa5 14. Bd2 Nd7 15.
Qc1 Rfe8 16. Nd1 Qd8 17. Ne3 e6 18. c3 Na6 19. dxe6 fxe6 20. Nc4 Ne5 21. Bf4
Qe7 22. Qd2 Rcd8 23. Rad1 Nb8 24. Bg5 Bf6 25. Bxf6 Qxf6 26. Nxd6 Rf8 27. f4
Qxf4 28. Qxf4 Rxf4 29. Nxb7 Rxd1 30. Rxd1 Nbc6 31. Nxc5 Kf7 32. b4 Ke7 33. Bb5
Nb8 34. a5 Rf8 35. Ba4 Rc8 36. Kf2 g5 37. Ke3 h5 38. Rd4 Rf8 39. Bb3 Rf1 40.
Rd1 Rf6 41. b5 g4 42. Ke2 gxh3 43. gxh3 Rf3 44. Nd3 Rxh3 45. Nxe5 Rxc3 46. Bc4
Kf6 47. Kd2 Ra3 48. Nc6 Nd7 49. Rf1+ Kg5 50. Rf7 Nc5 51. Rxa7 Nxe4+ 52. Ke2 Rc3
53. Bd3 Nc5 54. Rg7+ Kf6 55. Rg6+ Kf7 56. Ne5+ Ke7 57. a6 Ra3 58. a7 h4 59. b6
h3 60. Rh6 Ra2+ 61. Ke3 Kd6 62. Nc4+ Kd5 63. Rh5+ Kc6 64. Rxh3 Kb5 65. Rh5 Kb4
66. Rxc5 Kxc5 67. b7 1-0

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 7th Febr"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.02.07"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Seliverstov, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2980"]
[BlackElo "2662"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2017.02.07"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 g6 2. e4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. Bc4 e6 5. Bb3 Ne7 6. O-O O-O 7. Re1 Nd7 8. c3
b6 9. Nbd2 Bb7 10. Nf1 e5 11. Ng3 h6 12. h4 Kh7 13. Bc2 Nc6 14. h5 Nf6 15. Be3
Ng4 16. Ng5+ hxg5 17. Qxg4 exd4 18. hxg6+ fxg6 19. Bxg5 Bf6 20. Qh4+ Kg8 21.
Bb3+ 1-0

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 7th Febr"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.02.07"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Naroditsky, Daniel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C70"]
[WhiteElo "2733"]
[BlackElo "2988"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "2017.02.07"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 g6 5. d4 exd4 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. Bg5 f6 8.
Bf4 c5 9. c3 Qe7 10. cxd4 Qxe4+ 11. Be3 cxd4 12. Nbd2 Qd3 13. Nxd4 Ne7 14. Rc1
Nd5 15. Qf3 Nxe3 16. fxe3 Bb4 17. Rd1 O-O 18. a3 Re8 19. Qd5+ Be6 20. Qf3 Bb3
21. Kf2 Bxd2 22. Nxb3 Bxe3+ 0-1

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 7th Febr"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.02.07"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aguiar Cunha, Lucas"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2990"]
[BlackElo "2469"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2017.02.07"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 d5 3. e3 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nd2 e6 6. Ngf3 Bd6 7. Bg3 O-O 8. Bb5
a6 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. Qa4 Bb7 11. Bxd6 Qxd6 12. Qa3 Nd7 13. Nb3 a5 14. O-O a4 15.
Nxc5 Nxc5 16. dxc5 Qc7 17. Rfd1 e5 18. c4 dxc4 19. Qc3 Rfe8 20. Qxc4 Re6 21.
Rd2 a3 22. bxa3 Qa5 23. Rad1 Rae8 24. Qb4 Qa8 25. Rd7 Ba6 26. Ng5 Rf6 27. Qb6
1-0

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 7th Febr"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.02.07"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Safarli, Eltaj"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2983"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2017.02.07"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Be7 6. dxe5 O-O 7. Qd5 Nc5 8.
Be3 a6 9. Be2 d6 10. Bxc5 dxc5 11. Qe4 Nd4 12. Nxd4 Qxd4 13. Nc3 Qxe4 14. Nxe4
Bf5 15. Bf3 Rad8 16. Rad1 c4 17. c3 b5 18. Rfe1 Rfe8 19. g3 Rxd1 20. Bxd1 Bf8
21. f4 f6 22. g4 Bxe4 23. Rxe4 fxe5 24. Rxe5 Rxe5 25. fxe5 Kf7 26. Bf3 Bc5+ 27.
Kg2 Be3 28. Bb7 a5 29. Ba6 c6 30. Bb7 Ke6 31. Bxc6 b4 32. Kf3 Bc1 33. cxb4 axb4
34. Ke4 Bxb2 35. Bd5+ Ke7 36. Bxc4 h6 37. h4 Bc3 38. h5 Bb2 39. Bb3 Bc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 7th Febr"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.02.07"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Levin, Evgeny A"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E16"]
[WhiteElo "2795"]
[BlackElo "2956"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2017.02.07"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 a5 7. O-O O-O 8. Bg5
Be7 9. Nc3 Ne4 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. Qc2 Nxc3 12. Qxc3 d6 13. Qd3 f5 14. Ne1 Bxg2
15. Nxg2 Nd7 16. e4 fxe4 17. Qxe4 Rae8 18. Rae1 Qf7 19. Qc6 Nf6 20. Nf4 g5 21.
Nd3 Qg6 22. Rd1 Re7 23. f3 h5 24. c5 Qe8 25. Qxe8 Rfxe8 26. cxd6 cxd6 27. Rc1
Nd5 28. Rc6 Rd7 29. Rfc1 Kf7 30. Nf2 Ke7 31. Ne4 g4 32. f4 Rb8 33. Re1 Rdd8 34.
Ng5 Kd7 35. Rc2 Re8 36. Rce2 Nc7 37. Nh7 Nd5 38. Ng5 Nc7 39. Nh7 Rh8 40. Nf6+
Ke7 41. Ne4 Kd7 42. Nf6+ Ke7 43. Ne4 Rh6 44. Ng5 Kd7 45. f5 Re8 46. Rc1 Re7 47.
d5 e5 48. Ne6 Nxd5 49. Rd2 Rhxe6 50. fxe6+ Kxe6 51. Rcd1 Ne3 52. Rxd6+ Kf5 53.
Rc1 Ke4 54. Rxb6 Rd7 55. Re1 Rd3 56. Rb3 Rxb3 57. axb3 Kd5 58. Rxe3 1-0

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 7th Febr"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.02.07"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Shimanov, Aleksandr"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2962"]
[BlackElo "2664"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2017.02.07"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 c5 3. e3 Nc6 4. c3 Nf6 5. Nd2 Bg4 6. Qb3 Qd7 7. Ngf3 c4 8. Qd1
e6 9. Be2 Bf5 10. O-O Bd6 11. Bxd6 Qxd6 12. b3 b5 13. a4 b4 14. Qc1 cxb3 15.
Nxb3 O-O 16. Nc5 Rab8 17. Bb5 Ne4 18. Nxe4 Bxe4 19. Bxc6 b3 20. Bb5 a6 21. Nd2
axb5 22. Nxb3 bxa4 23. Nc5 Rfc8 24. Rxa4 Rb1 25. Qd2 Rxf1+ 26. Kxf1 Qb6 27. Rb4
Qa7 28. Qb2 Bg6 29. h3 h6 30. Kg1 Qe7 31. Rb7 Qg5 32. Rb8 Qd8 33. Rb7 Qg5 34.
Kh2 Qf5 35. Rb8 Rxb8 36. Qxb8+ Kh7 37. Nd7 h5 38. Nf8+ Kh6 39. Qg3 Bh7 40. h4
Bg8 41. f3 f6 42. c4 g5 43. c5 gxh4 44. Qxh4 e5 45. c6 Be6 46. g4 Qc2+ 47. Kg3
Bc8 48. Qxf6+ 1-0

[Event "Oslo simul"]
[Site "Oslo"]
[Date "2017.02.08"]
[Round "2.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Fossan, Erik"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D79"]
[WhiteElo "2838"]
[BlackElo "2344"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2017.02.08"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 176 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.03.02"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. g3 g6 3. c3 Bg7 4. d4 cxd4 5. cxd4 Nf6 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O d5 8. Ne5
Nfd7 9. Nxd7 Qxd7 10. Nc3 Nc6 11. Nxd5 e6 12. Nc3 Nxd4 13. Be3 e5 14. Rc1 Rb8
15. Nd5 Qb5 16. Bxd4 exd4 17. Qd2 Be6 18. Nc7 Qd7 19. Nxe6 Qxe6 20. b4 Rfe8 21.
Bf3 b6 22. Rc6 Qe5 23. Rfc1 Re7 24. a4 h5 25. h4 Qf5 26. Rd6 Rc8 27. Rxc8+ Qxc8
28. Rc6 Rc7 29. b5 Be5 30. Qg5 Rxc6 31. bxc6 Qc7 32. Bxh5 Qxc6 33. Qxe5 gxh5
34. Qxd4 a6 35. Qd8+ Kg7 36. Qg5+ Kf8 37. Qxh5 Qxa4 38. Qh8+ Ke7 39. Qe5+ Kf8
40. h5 Kg8 41. Qg5+ Kh7 42. Qf5+ Kg7 43. h6+ Kxh6 44. Qf6+ Kh7 45. Qxf7+ Kh8
46. Qf6+ Kg8 47. Qg6+ Kf8 48. e4 Qa1+ 49. Kg2 a5 50. Qd6+ Ke8 51. e5 Qb1 52. e6
Qe4+ 53. f3 Qc2+ 54. Kh3 Qf5+ 55. Kh4 Qf6+ 56. Kg4 Qe7 57. Qxb6 Qb4+ 0-1

[Event "PRO League KO Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.03.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ghosh, Diptayan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2838"]
[BlackElo "2581"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2017.03.01"]
[EventType "team-k.o."]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Mumbai Movers"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "IND"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. Re1
b5 9. Bc2 d5 10. Nbd2 d4 11. Nb3 a5 12. a4 bxa4 13. Rxa4 dxc3 14. bxc3 Nd7 15.
Be3 Nb6 16. Ra1 Bd6 17. Nbd2 f5 18. Bxb6 cxb6 19. Bb3+ Kh8 20. Bd5 Qc7 21. Nc4
fxe4 22. Ng5 exd3 23. Nxh7 Rf5 24. Be4 Be7 25. Qxd3 g6 26. Ne3 Qd7 27. Qc4 Bc5
28. Nxf5 gxf5 29. Nf6 1-0

[Event "PRO League KO Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.03.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mohammad, Nubairshah Shaikh"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A33"]
[WhiteElo "2838"]
[BlackElo "2408"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2017.03.01"]
[EventType "team-k.o."]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Mumbai Movers"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "IND"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. g3 Nf6 6. Bg2 Qc7 7. O-O Nc6 8. c4
Be7 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Be3 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 e5 12. Be3 Qxc4 13. Rc1 Qe6 14. Nd5 Nxd5
15. exd5 Qg6 16. d6 Bxd6 17. Qb3 a5 18. Rfd1 Re8 19. Qb5 e4 20. Rc4 Bf8 21. a4
Ra6 22. Bxe4 Rxe4 23. Rxc8 Rd6 24. Rxd6 Qxd6 25. Qc5 Qd1+ 26. Kg2 d6 27. Qxa5
h5 28. Bg5 Re5 29. Rxf8+ Kh7 30. Qd2 Qxa4 31. Qd3+ f5 32. Rxf5 Qe4+ 33. Qxe4
Rxe4 34. Rb5 Kg6 35. Bf4 h4 36. Bxd6 Re6 37. Bc5 Re5 38. b4 hxg3 39. hxg3 Re7
40. Bxe7 1-0

[Event "PRO League KO Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.03.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Kulkarni, Rakesh"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C22"]
[WhiteElo "2325"]
[BlackElo "2838"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2017.03.01"]
[EventType "team-k.o."]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Mumbai Movers"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "IND"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qe3 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Bd2 O-O 7. O-O-O Re8
8. Qg3 Rxe4 9. f3 Re8 10. Bd3 Ne5 11. Be2 d5 12. f4 Bxc3 13. Qxc3 Ne4 14. Qb3
Nxd2 15. Rxd2 Nc4 16. Rd1 Ne3 17. Rd2 c6 18. Nf3 Nxg2 19. Rg1 Nxf4 20. Bd1 Qf6
21. Rf2 Nh3 22. Rfg2 Nxg1 23. Rxg1 Qf4+ 24. Kb1 Re3 25. Re1 Rxe1 26. Nxe1 Qd2
27. Qd3 Qxe1 28. Qe2 Qxe2 0-1

[Event "PRO League KO Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.03.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Kunte, Abhijit"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2491"]
[BlackElo "2838"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2017.03.01"]
[EventType "team-k.o."]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Mumbai Movers"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "IND"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nc6 3. d4 Bf5 4. c3 e6 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O Nf6 7. Nbd2 h6 8. b4
O-O 9. Nb3 Ne4 10. Bd2 a5 11. b5 Nb8 12. a4 Nd7 13. Qc1 Nb6 14. Ne5 Bf6 15. Nd3
Nc4 16. Bf4 b6 17. Re1 Ng5 18. Be5 Rc8 19. Nd2 Nxd2 20. Qxd2 Be7 21. Bf4 c6 22.
bxc6 Rxc6 23. Ne5 Rc8 24. Qb2 Nh3+ 25. Bxh3 Bxh3 26. Qb3 Bf5 27. Ra2 Bd6 28.
Rb2 Bxe5 29. Bxe5 Rc6 30. Rc1 Qd7 31. Bf4 Rfc8 32. Bd2 f6 33. Qb5 Kh7 34. Qa6
Qc7 35. Rd1 h5 36. Bf4 Qd8 37. h4 Qe8 38. Ra1 e5 39. dxe5 fxe5 40. Bg5 Qe6 41.
Rd1 Be4 42. Qb5 Qh3 43. f3 Qxg3+ 44. Kf1 Bf5 0-1

[Event "PRO League KO Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.03.08"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Aradhya, Garg"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2315"]
[BlackElo "2838"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2017.03.01"]
[EventType "team-k.o."]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Delhi Dynamite"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "IND"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. Nf3 b6 2. c4 Bb7 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 e6 5. a3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. e3 g6 8. h4 h6
9. Bb5+ c6 10. Bd3 Nd7 11. e4 Nxc3 12. bxc3 c5 13. Be3 Qc7 14. Qd2 Bg7 15. O-O
Nf6 16. Bf4 Qe7 17. Rfe1 Ng4 18. Bb5+ Kf8 19. dxc5 e5 20. c6 Bxc6 21. Bxc6 Rd8
22. Bd5 exf4 23. Qxf4 Ne5 24. Rad1 Bf6 25. Nd4 Kg7 26. g3 Qxa3 27. h5 Qxc3 28.
hxg6 Nxg6 29. Qf5 Rhe8 30. Nc6 Rc8 31. e5 Nxe5 32. Nxe5 Rxe5 33. Rxe5 Bxe5 34.
Qxf7+ Kh8 35. Be4 Bg7 36. Qf5 Kg8 37. Rd7 Qf6 38. Rxg7+ Kxg7 39. Qg4+ Kf7 40.
Qxc8 Qd4 41. Qc7+ Ke6 42. Bf3 a5 43. Qc6+ Ke7 44. Qxh6 a4 45. Qg5+ Kd6 46. Qb5
a3 47. Qb3 Qc5 0-1

[Event "PRO League KO Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.03.08"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grover, Sahaj"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A01"]
[WhiteElo "2838"]
[BlackElo "2473"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[EventDate "2017.03.01"]
[EventType "team-k.o."]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Delhi Dynamite"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "IND"]

1. b3 e5 2. Bb2 Nc6 3. e3 Nge7 4. Nf3 e4 5. Ng5 d5 6. Qh5 Ng6 7. Nc3 Nce5 8.
Be2 c6 9. f4 exf3 10. gxf3 h6 11. Nxf7 Kxf7 12. f4 Nd7 13. Rg1 Qh4+ 14. Kd1
Qxh5 15. Bxh5 Bd6 16. Nb5 Bf8 17. Rxg6 Kg8 18. Nc7 Rb8 19. Ne6 Nf6 20. Nxg7 1-0

[Event "PRO League KO Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.03.08"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Salem, AR Saleh"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2838"]
[BlackElo "2652"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2017.03.01"]
[EventType "team-k.o."]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Delhi Dynamite"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "IND"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. b3 Bg7 4. Bb2 O-O 5. Bg2 d5 6. c4 e6 7. O-O c5 8. cxd5
exd5 9. d4 Ne4 10. Nc3 Nc6 11. Na4 c4 12. bxc4 dxc4 13. Rc1 b5 14. Ne5 Nxe5 15.
Bxe4 Bh3 16. dxe5 bxa4 17. Re1 Rb8 18. Ba3 Re8 19. Bd6 Rc8 20. Bb7 Rc7 21. Bxc7
Qxc7 22. Bd5 c3 23. Qxa4 Rxe5 24. Qf4 Qe7 25. e4 h5 26. Qe3 Rg5 27. Rxc3 Bxc3
28. Qxc3 Kh7 29. Qe3 Kg7 30. f4 Rg4 31. Qc3+ Kh7 32. Rb1 Qd8 33. Rb7 Kh6 34.
Kf2 h4 35. Rxf7 hxg3+ 36. hxg3 Qb6+ 37. Ke2 1-0

[Event "PRO League KO Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.03.08"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Gupta, Abhijeet"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2627"]
[BlackElo "2838"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2017.03.01"]
[EventType "team-k.o."]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Delhi Dynamite"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "IND"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 a6 5. a4 e6 6. g3 Bb4 7. Bg2 O-O 8. O-O
Nbd7 9. Qc2 Qe7 10. a5 dxc4 11. Bg5 e5 12. Ne4 exd4 13. Nxd4 h6 14. Bh4 Qe5 15.
Qxc4 Nxe4 16. Qxb4 c5 17. Nf3 cxb4 18. Nxe5 Nxe5 19. Bxe4 Re8 20. Bd5 Nc6 21.
f4 Rxe2 22. Rfe1 Rxe1+ 23. Rxe1 Be6 24. Bxe6 Re8 25. Bxf7+ Kxf7 26. Rd1 Nxa5
27. f5 b6 28. Rd4 Nc6 29. Rd7+ Kf8 30. Rd6 Re1+ 31. Kg2 Rc1 32. g4 a5 33. Bf2
a4 34. Bxb6 a3 35. bxa3 bxa3 36. Rd2 Kf7 37. Bf2 Rc4 38. Rd7+ Ke8 39. Rxg7 a2
40. Rg8+ Kf7 41. Ra8 Rxg4+ 42. Kf3 Ne5+ 43. Ke3 Kf6 44. Rxa2 Kxf5 45. Bg3 Re4+
46. Kf2 h5 47. h3 Nd3+ 48. Kf3 Ne1+ 49. Kf2 Nd3+ 50. Kg2 Nf4+ 51. Kf3 Rd4 52.
Ra5+ Rd5 53. Rxd5+ Nxd5 54. Bf2 Nf4 55. Kg3 h4+ 56. Kxh4 Nxh3 57. Kg3 Nxf2
1/2-1/2

[Event "PRO League KO Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.03.15"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Andreikin, Dmitry"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C47"]
[WhiteElo "2734"]
[BlackElo "2838"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2017.03.01"]
[EventType "team-k.o."]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Gorky Stormbringers"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Be3 Bb6 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. Bb5 O-O 8.
O-O Re8 9. f3 Ne5 10. Bf2 c6 11. Ba4 d5 12. exd5 Nxd5 13. Nxd5 Qxd5 14. Bb3 Qd6
15. c3 Bd7 16. a4 Rad8 17. Qb1 c5 18. Nf5 Bxf5 19. Qxf5 g6 20. Qf4 Bc7 21. Rfd1
Qb6 22. Bd5 Rd7 23. a5 Qxb2 24. Qa4 Red8 25. c4 Nd3 26. Rxd3 Re7 27. Qa2 Qf6
28. Rad1 b6 29. axb6 axb6 30. g3 Rde8 31. Be4 Be5 32. Qa4 Kg7 33. Kg2 h5 34. h4
g5 35. hxg5 Qxg5 36. Rh1 f5 37. f4 Bxf4 38. Bf3 Be3 39. Qa1+ Qf6 40. Qxf6+ Kxf6
41. Bxh5 Bxf2 42. Bxe8 Re2 43. Kf3 1-0

[Event "PRO League KO Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.03.15"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sharafiev, Azat"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2838"]
[BlackElo "2433"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2017.03.01"]
[EventType "team-k.o."]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Gorky Stormbringers"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "RUS"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6 6. e3 Bf5 7. Qf3 Bg6 8.
Bxf6 Qxf6 9. Qxf6 gxf6 10. Nf3 Nd7 11. Nh4 Nb6 12. f4 f5 13. Bd3 Nc4 14. Bxc4
dxc4 15. Kf2 c5 16. Rhd1 Rc8 17. Rac1 Be7 18. Nf3 Bh5 19. Nd5 b5 20. b3 cxb3
21. axb3 c4 22. bxc4 bxc4 23. Ra1 Bxf3 24. Kxf3 Bd6 25. Rxa7 O-O 26. Rc1 Rc6
27. Rb7 Rd8 28. Rc2 Bf8 29. Rb5 Kg7 30. Nc3 Kg6 31. Ne2 Rdc8 32. Ng3 Rf6 33. e4
fxe4+ 34. Nxe4 Rf5 35. d5 h5 36. g3 Rd8 37. Rd2 Bg7 38. Rb6+ Kh7 39. d6 Ra5 40.
Rc6 Ra3+ 41. Kg2 Rd3 42. Rxd3 cxd3 43. Rc5 Kg6 44. Rg5+ Kh6 45. Rd5 Bf8 46. f5
Re8 47. Kf3 Rd8 48. Rxd3 1-0

[Event "PRO League KO Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.03.15"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Yatzenko, Anton"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C44"]
[WhiteElo "2838"]
[BlackElo "2356"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2017.03.01"]
[EventType "team-k.o."]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Gorky Stormbringers"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "RUS"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d3 Nf6 4. g3 d5 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8.
Re1 f6 9. d4 Bg4 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Nb6 12. dxe5 fxe5 13. Qe4 Bc5 14. Be3
Bxe3 15. Qxe3 Qd4 16. Nc3 Rad8 17. Bxc6 bxc6 18. Qxd4 exd4 19. Ne4 Rd5 20. b3
c5 21. c4 dxc3 22. Rac1 c4 23. Rxc3 Ra5 24. Rc2 cxb3 25. axb3 Nd5 26. Rd1 Re8
27. Rd4 Rb5 28. Kg2 h6 29. Nc5 Nf6 30. Rd3 a5 31. Na6 Reb8 32. Nxb8 Rxb8 33.
Rxc7 Rb5 34. Ra7 Kh7 35. Rc3 Kg6 36. Rcc7 1-0

[Event "PRO League KO Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.03.15"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Gorozhanin, Mikhail"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A47"]
[WhiteElo "2419"]
[BlackElo "2838"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2017.03.01"]
[EventType "team-k.o."]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Gorky Stormbringers"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 e6 3. e3 b6 4. Nf3 Bb7 5. h3 c5 6. Be2 cxd4 7. exd4 Be7 8. O-O
O-O 9. c3 d6 10. a4 a6 11. Nbd2 Re8 12. Bh2 Qc7 13. Qb3 Nbd7 14. Rfe1 Bf8 15.
Bd3 h6 16. Ne4 Nxe4 17. Bxe4 Bxe4 18. Rxe4 b5 19. axb5 axb5 20. Rae1 Nf6 21.
R4e2 Qc4 22. Qc2 Rec8 23. Nd2 Qd5 24. Ne4 Nxe4 25. Rxe4 b4 26. Qd2 Qb3 27. c4
Rxc4 28. Rg4 h5 29. Rh4 Ra5 30. g4 Be7 31. Rxh5 Rxh5 32. gxh5 Qxh3 33. Re3 Qxh5
34. Rg3 Bf6 35. Qf4 Qd1+ 36. Kg2 Qxd4 37. Qf3 d5 38. Qe2 Qe4+ 39. Qxe4 Rxe4 40.
Rb3 Re2 41. Rxb4 Rxb2 42. Rh4 Bxh4 0-1

[Event "PRO League KO Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.03.25"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Pantzar, Milton"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A90"]
[WhiteElo "2257"]
[BlackElo "2838"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2017.03.01"]
[EventType "team-k.o."]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Stockholm Snowballs"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "SWE"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 f5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 d5 5. Bg2 Bd6 6. O-O O-O 7. b3 b6 8. Ba3
Bxa3 9. Nxa3 Bb7 10. Nc2 dxc4 11. bxc4 Qe7 12. e3 Nbd7 13. Qe2 c5 14. a4 e5 15.
dxc5 Nxc5 16. Na3 Nxa4 17. Qc2 Nc5 18. Nb5 Be4 19. Qb2 a6 20. Nc3 Bxf3 21. Bxf3
e4 22. Be2 Rab8 23. Qa3 Rfd8 24. Rfd1 Qe5 25. Na4 Nd3 26. Bxd3 exd3 27. Qc3 Qe4
28. Nb2 Qc6 29. Rxd3 Ne4 30. Qe5 Ng5 31. Qxf5 Nf3+ 32. Kf1 Nd4 33. Rxd4 Rxd4
34. exd4 Qh1+ 35. Ke2 Re8+ 36. Kd2 Qxa1 37. Qd5+ Kh8 38. Nd1 Qa2+ 39. Kc1 Rc8
40. c5 0-1

[Event "PRO League KO Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.03.25"]
[Round "4.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Pantsulaia, Levan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2838"]
[BlackElo "2589"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2017.03.01"]
[EventType "team-k.o."]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Stockholm Snowballs"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "SWE"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 b6 3. Bg2 Bb7 4. O-O c5 5. d3 e6 6. e4 d6 7. Re1 Nbd7 8. Nbd2
Be7 9. a4 O-O 10. Nc4 a6 11. Bf4 e5 12. Bd2 Re8 13. Ne3 Bf8 14. c4 Bc6 15. Bh3
b5 16. axb5 axb5 17. b3 Rxa1 18. Qxa1 Qa8 19. Nd5 bxc4 20. bxc4 Qxa1 21. Rxa1
Ra8 22. Rxa8 Bxa8 23. Ba5 Bb7 24. Nd2 Ba6 25. Bd8 Nxd5 26. exd5 Nf6 27. Bxf6
gxf6 28. Ne4 Be7 29. Bf5 h6 30. Kg2 Kf8 31. Kh3 Kg7 32. Kg4 Bb7 33. Kh5 Ba6 34.
f3 Bb7 35. Nf2 Bd8 36. Ng4 Ba5 37. Nxh6 Bc3 38. Bd7 Kf8 39. Nf5 e4 40. fxe4 Be5
41. Kg4 Ba6 42. h4 Bb7 43. Kf3 Ba6 44. g4 Bb7 45. Ke2 Ba6 46. Kd1 1-0

[Event "PRO League KO Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.03.25"]
[Round "4.3"]
[White "Meier, Georg"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2630"]
[BlackElo "2838"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2017.03.01"]
[EventType "team-k.o."]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Stockholm Snowballs"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "SWE"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 b5 3. Bg2 Bb7 4. O-O g6 5. c3 a6 6. a4 c6 7. d4 Bg7 8. Nbd2
O-O 9. e4 d6 10. e5 Nd5 11. Ne4 Qc7 12. Re1 c5 13. axb5 axb5 14. Rxa8 Bxa8 15.
e6 f5 16. Neg5 Nf6 17. d5 Na6 18. Nh4 c4 19. Nf7 Nc5 20. Nh6+ Bxh6 21. Bxh6 Re8
22. Qd2 Nd3 23. Qg5 Kh8 24. Ra1 Qc5 25. Nxg6+ hxg6 26. Qxg6 Qxf2+ 27. Kh1 Rg8
28. Bg7+ Rxg7 29. Rxa8+ Rg8 30. Rxg8+ Nxg8 31. Qh5+ Kg7 32. Qf7+ Kh6 33. Qf8+
Kh7 34. Qf7+ Kh8 35. Qh5+ Kg7 36. Qf7+ Kh6 37. Qf8+ Kh5 38. Qf7+ Kh6 39. Qf8+
1/2-1/2

[Event "PRO League KO Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.03.25"]
[Round "4.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Jobava, Baadur"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2838"]
[BlackElo "2701"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[EventDate "2017.03.01"]
[EventType "team-k.o."]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Stockholm Snowballs"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "SWE"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. b3 Bg7 4. Bb2 O-O 5. Bg2 a5 6. O-O a4 7. c4 d6 8. d4
Nbd7 9. Nc3 Nb6 10. Qc2 d5 11. c5 a3 12. Bxa3 Rxa3 13. cxb6 cxb6 14. Rfc1 Bf5
15. Qb2 Ra8 16. Ne5 e6 17. Nb5 Nd7 18. Nf3 Rc8 19. Rxc8 Qxc8 20. Rc1 Qb8 21.
Rc7 Nc5 22. Ne5 Na6 23. Re7 Bxe5 24. dxe5 Re8 25. Rxe8+ Qxe8 26. Nd6 Qc6 27.
Qd2 Nc5 28. Qg5 Qd7 29. g4 Be4 30. f3 Bb1 31. h4 Bxa2 32. h5 Bxb3 33. h6 f5 34.
gxf5 exf5 35. Bh3 Ne6 36. Bxf5 Nxg5 37. Bxd7 d4 38. Kf2 Kf8 39. Bc8 Nf7 40. Nb5
Nxe5 41. Nxd4 Bd5 42. e4 Bc6 43. Be6 Nf7 44. Bxf7 Kxf7 45. Ke3 g5 46. f4 gxf4+
47. Kxf4 b5 48. e5 Kg6 49. Nc2 Bd7 50. Nd4 Bc6 51. Nc2 Kxh6 52. e6 Kg7 53. Ke5
h5 54. Nd4 Be8 55. Nf5+ Kg6 56. Nd6 Bc6 57. e7 h4 58. Kf4 b4 59. Nxb7 Kf6 60.
Na5 Bd7 61. e8=Q Bxe8 62. Kg4 Ke5 63. Kxh4 Kd4 64. Kg4 Kc5 65. Kf4 Bf7 66. Ke4
Kb6 0-1

[Event "PRO League KO Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.03.25"]
[Round "4.5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Pantzar, Milton"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D78"]
[WhiteElo "2838"]
[BlackElo "2257"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2017.03.01"]
[EventType "team-k.o."]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Stockholm Snowballs"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "SWE"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. b3 Bg7 4. Bb2 O-O 5. Bg2 d5 6. c4 c6 7. O-O Nbd7 8. d4
Re8 9. e3 b6 10. Nc3 Bb7 11. Rc1 Rc8 12. Qe2 e6 13. Rfd1 Qe7 14. e4 dxe4 15.
Nxe4 Nxe4 16. Qxe4 Nf6 17. Qe2 Red8 18. c5 Nd5 19. Ne5 Ba8 20. h4 h5 21. Ba3
Qe8 22. Rc2 Kh7 23. Bc1 Ne7 24. b4 Nf5 25. Bb2 a5 26. bxa5 bxa5 27. Bc3 a4 28.
Rcd2 Rb8 29. Qa6 Bb7 30. Qxa4 Ra8 31. Qc2 Rdc8 32. Rb1 Ba6 33. Rb4 Kg8 34. a4
Ne7 35. Rd1 Nd5 36. Rbb1 Rcb8 37. Bd2 Qc8 38. Rxb8 Rxb8 39. Rb1 Rb7 40. Bxd5
cxd5 41. Bf4 Qb8 42. Rxb7 Qxb7 43. c6 Qc8 44. c7 Bxe5 45. Bxe5 Qd7 46. Qc1 Bc8
47. Qh6 1-0

[Event "PRO League KO Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.03.25"]
[Round "4.6"]
[White "Pantsulaia, Levan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A06"]
[WhiteElo "2589"]
[BlackElo "2838"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2017.03.01"]
[EventType "team-k.o."]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Stockholm Snowballs"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "SWE"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g4 Bxg4 3. Bg2 Nd7 4. c4 e6 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Qb3 Nc5 7. Qc2 c6 8.
b3 Nf6 9. Bb2 Ne6 10. Rg1 Bh5 11. Bh1 Bg6 12. d3 Bd6 13. Nbd2 O-O 14. Ne5 Re8
15. Nxg6 hxg6 16. Nf3 Ba3 17. Kf1 Bxb2 18. Qxb2 Nf4 19. Re1 Qd7 20. Qd4 N6h5
21. Ng5 f6 22. Nf3 g5 23. Bg2 Qf5 24. h4 g4 25. Nh2 Ng3+ 0-1

[Event "PRO League KO Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.03.25"]
[Round "4.7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Meier, Georg"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "2838"]
[BlackElo "2630"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2017.03.01"]
[EventType "team-k.o."]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Stockholm Snowballs"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "SWE"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bd3 Bd6 6. Qe2+ Qe7 7. Qxe7+ Bxe7
8. Bf4 c6 9. O-O O-O 10. Re1 Re8 11. Nbd2 Bg4 12. Ne5 Be6 13. Nb3 a5 14. Nc5
Bxc5 15. dxc5 Nbd7 16. Nxd7 Bxd7 17. f3 a4 18. Kf2 Be6 19. Bd6 Nd7 20. b4 axb3
21. axb3 g6 22. g4 b6 23. cxb6 Nxb6 24. Kg3 Nd7 25. h4 Kg7 26. f4 d4 27. Rxa8
Rxa8 28. f5 gxf5 29. gxf5 Bd5 30. Re7 Ra7 31. Kf4 Rb7 32. Be5+ Kf8 33. f6 1-0

[Event "PRO League KO Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.03.25"]
[Round "4.8"]
[White "Jobava, Baadur"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E13"]
[WhiteElo "2701"]
[BlackElo "2838"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2017.03.01"]
[EventType "team-k.o."]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Stockholm Snowballs"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "SWE"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 Bb7 7. Nd2 Qe7 8. Qc2
c5 9. a3 Bxc3 10. Qxc3 cxd4 11. Qxd4 Nc6 12. Qc3 Rc8 13. e3 O-O 14. Rd1 d5 15.
Bxf6 gxf6 16. cxd5 Ne5 17. Qd4 Rfd8 18. Be2 Rxd5 19. Qh4 Qd8 20. Qxh6 Nd3+ 21.
Bxd3 Rxd3 22. e4 Bxe4 23. O-O Bg6 24. h4 Rc5 25. b4 Rcd5 26. h5 Rxh5 27. Qf4
Rhd5 28. Ne4 Bxe4 29. Rxd3 Bxd3 30. Rc1 Kg7 31. Rc7 0-1

[Event "PRO League KO Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.03.26"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Rosenthal, Nicholas"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2169"]
[BlackElo "2838"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2017.03.01"]
[EventType "team-k.o."]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "St Louis Arch Bishops"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O d6 5. d3 Nf6 6. c3 a6 7. h3 Ba7 8. Re1
O-O 9. Bb3 h6 10. Nbd2 Re8 11. Nf1 Be6 12. Bc2 d5 13. Ng3 d4 14. a3 Nd7 15. c4
b5 16. b3 Rb8 17. Nd2 Ne7 18. Nf3 Ng6 19. Nh2 bxc4 20. bxc4 c6 21. Bd2 Bc5 22.
Ng4 Be7 23. Nf5 Bg5 24. g3 h5 25. Nh2 Bxd2 26. Qxd2 Qf6 27. Bd1 Bxf5 28. exf5
Qxf5 29. Bf3 c5 30. Kg2 Nf6 31. Be4 Nxe4 32. Rxe4 Rb3 33. Nf3 Reb8 34. Ra2 f6
35. Qe2 Rc3 36. Nd2 a5 37. Qf1 Qd7 38. Nb1 Rcb3 39. Nd2 R3b6 40. Re1 Qc6+ 41.
Kh2 h4 42. Ne4 f5 43. Nd2 Rb2 44. Rea1 e4 45. dxe4 fxe4 46. Qg2 Rxa2 47. Rxa2
Re8 48. Ra1 hxg3+ 49. fxg3 Qe6 50. Re1 e3 51. Nb3 Qxc4 52. Qc6 Qf7 53. Kh1 d3
54. a4 c4 55. Nd4 d2 56. Rg1 e2 0-1

[Event "PRO League KO Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.03.26"]
[Round "5.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Finegold, Benjamin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2838"]
[BlackElo "2481"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2017.03.01"]
[EventType "team-k.o."]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "St Louis Arch Bishops"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 Bf5 4. e3 e6 5. c4 Bxb1 6. Qxb1 Bb4+ 7. Kd1 Bd6 8.
Bg5 c5 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Bb5+ Nc6 11. dxc5 Bxc5 12. Bxc6+ bxc6 13. Qc2 Be7 14.
Qxc6+ Kf8 15. Rc1 h6 16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17. Ke2 Bxb2 18. Rc2 Bf6 19. Rd1 Qe8 20.
Rxd5 Qxc6 21. Rxc6 Ke7 22. Rc7+ Ke6 23. Rcd7 Rhb8 24. e4 Rb2+ 25. Kd3 Rb6 26.
e5 1-0

[Event "PRO League KO Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.03.26"]
[Round "5.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Akobian, Varuzhan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "2838"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2017.03.01"]
[EventType "team-k.o."]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "St Louis Arch Bishops"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bd3 Bd6 6. Qe2+ Qe7 7. Qxe7+ Kxe7
8. O-O Re8 9. Re1+ Kf8 10. Rxe8+ Kxe8 11. Nc3 c6 12. Bd2 h6 13. Re1+ Kf8 14.
Ne5 Nbd7 15. f4 Nb6 16. h3 Bd7 17. g4 Be8 18. Kf2 c5 19. dxc5 Bxc5+ 20. Kf3
Nfd7 21. Nxd7+ Bxd7 22. b3 Bc6 23. Kg3 Rd8 24. Ne2 d4 25. b4 Be7 26. b5 Be8 27.
Kf3 Na4 28. Ng3 Nb2 29. Nf5 Bc5 30. Rb1 Nxd3 31. cxd3 Bd7 32. Bb4 Bxb4 33. Rxb4
Bxf5 34. gxf5 Ke7 35. Ke4 Kf6 36. Ra4 Ra8 37. Rxd4 Re8+ 38. Kf3 Re7 39. Rd5 h5
40. a4 b6 41. h4 Rc7 42. Ke4 Rc1 43. Rd7 Re1+ 44. Kd5 Rf1 45. Rxa7 Rxf4 46. Kc6
Rxh4 47. Kxb6 Rb4 48. a5 h4 49. Ra8 Kxf5 50. a6 g5 51. Rh8 Kg4 52. a7 Ra4 53.
Kb7 f5 54. a8=Q Rxa8 55. Kxa8 f4 56. b6 f3 57. b7 f2 58. Rf8 1-0

[Event "PRO League KO Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.03.26"]
[Round "5.4"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2822"]
[BlackElo "2838"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2017.03.01"]
[EventType "team-k.o."]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 177 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.04.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "St Louis Arch Bishops"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 a5 5. a3 Bxd2+ 6. Qxd2 b6 7. Nc3 Bb7 8.
g3 O-O 9. Bg2 Ne4 10. Nxe4 Bxe4 11. O-O a4 12. Qe3 Bb7 13. Qd3 f5 14. Ne5 Bxg2
15. Kxg2 d6 16. Nf3 Qf6 17. e4 Nc6 18. Rae1 Ra5 19. d5 fxe4 20. Qxe4 exd5 21.
cxd5 Ne7 22. Rd1 Qf5 23. Qxe7 Qxf3+ 24. Kg1 Rc5 25. Rd2 h6 26. Re1 Rf5 27. Re3
Rc1+ 28. Re1 Rxe1+ 29. Qxe1 Re5 30. Qc1 b5 31. h3 Kf8 32. h4 Ke8 33. Kh2 Kd8
34. Qh1 Qb3 35. Qg2 Re1 36. Qh3 Qf3 37. Qg2 Qf5 38. Qh3 Rh1+ 0-1

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 4th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2017.04.15"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Bluebaum, Matthias"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E90"]
[WhiteElo "2634"]
[BlackElo "2838"]
[Annotator "Szabo,Kr"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2017.04.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 178"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.05.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.05.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. e4 O-O 6. h3 Na6 (6... e5 {is the
most popular main line.}) 7. Be3 c5 (7... e5 {is the other variation.}) 8. Be2
(8. d5 {is more common. However 8.Be2 must not be worse.}) 8... cxd4 9. Nxd4
Nc5 10. Qc2 b6 11. O-O (11. b4 $5 {is an interesting choice. White doesn't
want to allow ...Bb7 to attack the e4-pawn.} Ne6 12. Nb3 (12. Rd1 $5) ({
The careless} 12. O-O $6 {could have been met by} Ng4 $1 13. hxg4 ({or} 13.
Nxe6 Nxe3 $15) 13... Nxd4 $36 {and Black looks nicely placed.}) 12... a5 13.
bxa5 bxa5 14. a4 Nd7 15. Rd1 Ba6 16. O-O Rc8 17. Nd5 Nec5 $132 {Granda
Zuniga-Maze, Sitges 2015, and Black looks fine.}) 11... Bb7 12. Bf3 Rc8 13.
Rad1 {The natural developing move.} (13. b4 $5 {was a good alternative again,}
Na6 (13... Ncd7 $6 14. e5 $1) (13... Ne6 14. Nxe6 fxe6 15. Qb3 {and White's
structure is better, his position looks more tempting.}) 14. Qb3 Qc7 {Now the
c4-pawn is indefensible, so White has to find tactical counterplay.} 15. Rac1
$1 Qxc4 ({If Black doesn't capture the pawn with} 15... Qb8 16. Nd5 $36 {
and White has gained some space, his position is powerful.}) 16. e5 Qxb3 17.
axb3 $1 Bxf3 18. exf6 Bxf6 19. gxf3 Nxb4 {and Black has three pawns for the
knight, but after} 20. Rfd1 $14 {White is slightly better.}) 13... Qc7 14. b3
Qb8 15. Rfe1 Rfe8 16. Bc1 a6 17. Qe2 e6 {Black has followed a natural plan and
he wants to play ...d5 at a good moment.} 18. Bb2 Rcd8 (18... d5 $5 {was an
interesting option to break in the centre,} 19. exd5 exd5 20. Qc2 dxc4 21. bxc4
$11 {with an equal position. Probably Carlsen wanted to keep the tension.}) 19.
Qc2 Qa8 20. Qe2 {White doesn't find any plans, he is trying to hold the
position.} h5 (20... d5 $5 {was possible again,} 21. exd5 exd5 22. Qf1 (22. Qc2
$2 {is bad now, as} Rxe1+ 23. Rxe1 dxc4 $17 {and the d4-knight is hanging.})
22... dxc4 23. Qxc4 $11 {and they exchanged the central pawns.}) 21. Ba1 Ncd7 (
21... d5 {is similar to the analysis of the 18th and 20th moves.}) 22. g3 (22.
Nc2 {was more solid, however} Ne5 {and Black takes the f3-bishop.}) 22... d5 $1
{The typical break-through in the hedgehog structure.} 23. Bg2 {It is a
cool-blooded reply, now Black has a lot of tempting possibilities.} e5 ({
Probably} 23... dxe4 $5 {was the most precise,} 24. Nxe4 Nxe4 25. Bxe4 Bxe4 26.
Qxe4 Qxe4 27. Rxe4 Ne5 28. Re3 Rd6 $15 {Black has a comfortable endgame.}) 24.
Nc2 dxe4 (24... d4 25. Nd5 {gives good counterplay for White.}) 25. Nxe4 Nxe4
26. Bxe4 Bxe4 27. Qxe4 Qxe4 28. Rxe4 Nc5 29. Ree1 Nd3 30. Re3 e4 31. Bxg7 Kxg7
32. Ne1 {White would like to exchange for a R endgame, which gives the best
chance of a draw.} ({In case of} 32. f3 Nc5 33. Rxd8 Rxd8 34. b4 Ne6 35. fxe4
Ng5 36. h4 Rd2 $1 $15 {and White has to fight to equalise.}) 32... Nc5 $15 {
Black's position is more tempting, but with White's accurate play he will hold
the endgame.} 33. Rxd8 Rxd8 34. b4 $1 {The best practical chance.} Nd3 35. Rxe4
Nxb4 36. a3 Nc6 37. Nc2 Rd1+ 38. Kg2 a5 39. Ne3 Ra1 40. Nd5 Rxa3 41. Nxb6 {
It is good to simplify the position for White, because he has more chance to
equalise.} Rc3 42. Re8 Rb3 43. c5 Rc3 44. Na4 Rc4 45. Rc8 $1 Ne5 46. Nb6 Rc2
47. Nd5 {White is active, so probably Black can't avoid the exchange of the a-
and c-pawns.} a4 48. Ne3 Rc3 49. Nd5 Rc1 50. Ra8 Rxc5 51. Ne3 {Black can't
protect the a4-pawn.} Nc4 52. Rxa4 Nxe3+ 53. fxe3 Rc2+ 54. Kf3 g5 55. Ra5 f6
56. e4 Rc3+ 57. Kf2 Rc2+ 58. Kf3 Rc3+ 59. Kf2 {Nice defending technique by
White!} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 4th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2017.04.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2838"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[Annotator "Lenderman,A"]
[PlyCount "140"]
[EventDate "2017.04.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 178"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.05.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.05.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Welcome everyone! This is GM Aleksandr Lenderman presenting you round 2 game
of the day. I decided to choose the game between Magnus Carlsen and Levon
Aronian since not only was it arguably the top matchup of the day, but also
the game was quite an interesting fight.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4
Nf6 5. O-O Be7 ({Aronian has always played exclusively the text move, spurning
the Open Ruy Lopez with} 5... Nxe4) ({as well as the Arkhangelsk or
Neo-Arkhangelsk with} 5... b5) ({and} 5... Bc5 {respectively.}) 6. Re1 b5 7.
Bb3 O-O 8. a4 {8)a4 is a very common high level Anti-Marshall move, which
leads to quieter games and very much to Magnus Carlsen's liking. Magnus
decides not to test Levon Aronian in the Marshall Attack this game.} (8. c3 d5
{is of course the Marshall Attack, in which Aronian is considered arguably one
of the biggest experts.} 9. exd5 (9. d4 dxe4 10. Nxe5 Bb7 11. Nxc6 Bxc6 12. Bg5
Nd5 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Nd2 f5 15. f3 e3 16. c4 $2 (16. f4 $1 {/\} Kh8 17. Qf3
$14) 16... Nf4 $1 17. cxb5+ Kh8 {[%cal Re3e2,Re7e3,Re3f2]} 18. Nc4 e2 19. Qd2
Qg5 20. Rxe2 Nxe2+ 21. Qxe2 Bxb5 22. Qe3 $15 {/-/+,Carlsen,M (2835)-Kamsky,G 
(2732)/Wijk aan Zee/2012/}) 9... Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. d3 Bd6 13.
Re1 Bf5 14. Qf3 Qh4 15. g3 Qh3 16. Bxd5 cxd5 17. Be3 Bxd3 18. Qxd5 Rad8 19. Qf3
Rfe8 20. Nd2 Qf5 21. Qxf5 Bxf5 22. Bd4 f6 23. f3 b4 24. Ne4 Bc7 25. Kf2 bxc3
26. bxc3 Rb8 $44 {Carlsen,M (2548)-Anand,V (2785)/Leon rpd/2005/ A typical
Marshall endgame, the bishop pair makes converting the extra pawn almost
impossible.}) ({The immediate} 8. d4 {gives Black a wider choice:} Nxd4 (8...
d6 9. c3 Bg4 {-C91 This line is not considered too dangerous for Black.}) 9.
Nxd4 (9. Bxf7+ Rxf7 10. Nxe5 Rf8 11. Qxd4 Bb7 $5 $44 12. c4 c5 13. Qd3 Qc7 14.
Nf3 bxc4 15. Qxc4+ d5 16. exd5 Bxd5 17. Qe2 Bd6 18. Nc3 Bxf3 19. Qxf3 Bxh2+ 20.
Kf1 Rad8 (20... Be5 $5) 21. g3 Nh5 22. Qxh5 Rxf2+ 23. Kxf2 Qxg3+ 24. Ke2 Qg2+
25. Ke3 Qg3+ 26. Ke2 Qg2+ {1/2, Kamsky,G (2717)-Leko,P (2756)/Jermuk/2009/})
9... exd4 10. e5 Ne8 11. c3 (11. Qxd4 Bb7 12. c4 c5 13. Qg4 d6 14. Nc3 (14. Bf4
{Short,N (2707)-Fressinet,L (2702)/Bastia rpd/2012/} bxc4 15. Bxc4 d5 $11)
14... dxe5 15. cxb5 axb5 16. Nxb5 {Gilabert Mallol,E (2440)-Kyhos,A (2352)/
corr/2010/} Nf6 17. Qf5 Qb6 $132) 11... dxc3 12. Nxc3 d6 13. Qf3 Be6 14. Nd5
Rc8 15. Bf4 Bxd5 $5 (15... dxe5 16. Nxe7+ (16. Bxe5 Bd6 17. Rad1 Bxe5 18. Rxe5
Bxd5 19. Rexd5 Nd6 20. Qf4 Qe7 21. Re5 Qf6 22. Qxf6 gxf6 23. Rc5 Rfd8 24. Rdc1
Re8 25. g3 Re2 26. Rxc7 Rxc7 27. Rxc7 Rxb2 28. Rc6 Ne4 29. Rxa6 Nc5 $11 {
Henrichs,T (2483)-Gustafsson, J (2584)/GER-ch Bad Koenigshofen/2007/}) 16...
Qxe7 17. Bxe5 Nd6 18. Qc3 Qg5 19. Bxe6 fxe6 20. Rac1 $5 (20. b3 Qg6 21. Qc6 Nf7
22. Bg3 e5 23. Rac1 Qf6 24. h3 Rfd8 {Leko,P (2756)-Aronian,L (2768)/Jermuk/
2009/}) 20... Nc4 21. Bg3 Rfe8 22. b3 Nb6 23. Qa5 Nd5 24. Rc6 e5 25. Rxa6 c6
26. h4 Qf6 27. a4 $14 {Sievilainen,T (2179)-Laine,E (2234)/corr/2010/}) 16.
Bxd5 dxe5 17. Rxe5 Bf6 18. Re2 Nd6 19. Rd1 Bg5 20. Be5 Bf6 21. Bf4 {1/2,
Becerra Rivero,J (2598)-Onischuk, A (2670)/Lubbock/2008/}) 8... b4 ({For} 8...
Rb8 9. axb5 axb5 10. d3 d6 11. Nbd2 {- see Carlsen-Topalov}) 9. d3 {A slight
surprise.} (9. d4 {is a much more popular move, and Magnus himself has also
played this move in the 2013 Sinquefield Cup against Aronian in that famous
game where Magnus would have taken clear first with a draw, but when he had a
somewhat better position without much risk, he declined a draw despite the
fact that it would clinch him clear first.}) 9... Bc5 (9... d6 {is also quite
a common move, and also has been played by Aronian quite frequently. However,
in his last game in the World Rapid against Yu Yangyi, he did play ...Bc5, so
most likely Magnus did expect ...Bc5 more.}) 10. c3 $146 {Amazingly this move
according to my database is already a novelty.} (10. Be3 {This was played by
Yu Yangyi.} Bxe3 11. Rxe3 d6 12. Nbd2 Na5 13. Ba2 c5 14. Nc4 Nxc4 15. Bxc4 Be6
$11 {Black has no problems here, and the game was drawn in a few moves in 1/2 
(29) Yu Yangyi (2729)-Aronian,L (2785) Doha QAT 2016}) (10. Nbd2 {has also
been tried a few times, including once by GM Wei Yi.}) 10... bxc3 {First small
think here by Aronian for about 5 minutes.} (10... d6 {is also possible, but
then Black has to count with the move d4.} 11. d4 Ba7 12. h3 {and maybe White
can hope for something with some central control.}) 11. bxc3 {And about a
10-minute think by Magnus here. So, he probably didn't expect bxc3 so much. Or
maybe more likely it's just a delayed transposition. Since bxc3 seems like the
only logical move.} (11. Nxc3 $2 {seems anti-positional, leaving Black with a
strong d4-square and leaving White with backward pawns b2 and d3, for no real
compensation.} d6 $15) 11... Rb8 12. Bg5 $5 {This is an ambitious move, which
allows Black to hunt the bishop down in return for weakening his king somewhat.
} (12. Nbd2 $11 {was of course an alternative.}) 12... h6 13. Bh4 g5 $1 {
Aronian is not the type to back down from principled continuations.} 14. Bg3 (
14. Nxg5 $2 {just did not work tactically for White:} hxg5 15. Bxg5 Rxb3 $1 {
This is the point, otherwise White can hope for some compensation.} 16. Qxb3
Bxf2+ 17. Kxf2 Ng4+ 18. Kg1 Qxg5 $19 {and Black is completely winning here.
Material is roughly equal, but Black's pieces are much better and he has a
strong attack.}) 14... Nh5 $1 {Usually the rule is: in for a penny, in for a
pound. Very energetic play by Aronian here, and he had to foresee some other
interesting possibilites from White as well here. What's also impressive is
that Aronian executed the sequence of ...g5 and ...Nh5 quite quickly, in less
than 10 minutes.} (14... d6 $6 {was probably not the best idea. Seems a bit
slow.} 15. Nbd2 g4 (15... Nh5 $2 16. Nxe5 $18) 16. Nh4 Nh5 17. Nf5 Bxf5 18.
exf5 Qg5 19. Ne4 Qxf5 20. Nxc5 dxc5 21. Bd5 Nxg3 22. hxg3 Ne7 23. Bc4 $16 {
would be very strong for White.}) 15. Nbd2 {Played after about 20 minutes of
thought and rightfully so. White certainly had interesting alternatives here
as well.} (15. Nxe5 $5 Nxg3 16. Nxc6 dxc6 17. hxg3 {Seems like it's just
winning for White, but ...} (17. d4 Nxe4 18. Rxe4 Bd6 19. Nd2 c5 $11 {is
probably roughly equal.}) 17... Rxb3 $1 18. Qxb3 Qxd3 {This strong exchange
sacrifice shatters White's centre, and suddenly here, Black has very strong
threats with his very active pieces, and White has to think about defending
now.} 19. Qd1 Qxg3 20. Qf3 Qxf3 21. gxf3 Rd8 $44 {and I'd probably prefer
Black here, since he has a 2 bishop advantage and a pawn as well as very
active pieces for the exchange.}) (15. Bd5 Nxg3 16. hxg3 Qf6 {might be
something similar to the game.}) 15... Nxg3 16. hxg3 Qf6 {A very sensible
option, activating the queen.} (16... g4 {was also a possible alternative with
complex play.} 17. Nh2 h5 18. Nxg4 hxg4 19. Qxg4+ Kh7 20. Qh5+ Kg7 21. Qg4+ $11
{was a possible line.}) 17. Nc4 (17. Bd5 $5 g4 18. d4 Ba7 19. Nxe5 Nxe5 20.
dxe5 Qg5 (20... Qxf2+ $2 21. Kh2 Rb2 22. Qxg4+ Kh7 23. Re2 $16) (20... Bxf2+ $4
21. Kf1 $18) 21. Qe2 {would lead to complex play.}) 17... d6 18. Ne3 Be6 {
Aronian continues to play the most ambitious way.} (18... Bxe3 $11) 19. Bxe6 {
Played after about 25 minutes of thinking and I'm not sure if it's the best
move since now Magnus helps Levon activate his rook on f8.} (19. Nd5 {was
probably more sensible.} Bxd5 20. Bxd5 (20. exd5 $5) 20... Ne7 21. Bc4 g4 {
wasn't so scary because of...} 22. d4 Ba7 23. Nh4 exd4 24. cxd4 Bxd4 25. Qxg4+
Qg5 26. Qxg5+ hxg5 27. Rad1 Bc3 28. Re3 {with a roughly equal game.}) (19. Nd2
Na5 {might be slightly unpleasant for white.}) 19... fxe6 20. Qc2 (20. g4 $5
Qf4 21. Qc2 Bxe3 22. Rxe3 Qxg4 23. Qa2 $44 {is surprising compensation for
White since he activates his queen and can soon control the centre, whilst
Black's king is slightly weakened.}) 20... h5 21. Rab1 Rxb1 (21... Rbe8 {
perhaps keeping the rooks also deserved attention.}) 22. Rxb1 h4 {The computer
doesn't like this move, but it's not clear if Black would be able to make
sufficient progress if he played the line recommended by the computer.} (22...
g4 23. Nh4 Bb6 24. Rb2 {and even though it seems like Black is slightly better,
it does not seem so clear how Black should make progress.}) 23. gxh4 gxh4 24.
Rb7 (24. Nh2 $11) 24... h3 $6 {But this already seems to be a little bit over
ambitious. Now White will have the upper hand. Black had decent alternatives
here to maintain the balance.} (24... Qg7 25. Qe2 h3 26. g3 Bb6 27. Nh4 $1 Na5
28. Rxb6 cxb6 29. Qh5 $132 {Here White has enough counterplay for a draw.}) (
24... Rf7 25. Nh2 $11) (24... Bb6 25. Nc4 Qg7 26. Nxb6 Rxf3 27. Qe2 Rf7 28. Nc4
$11) 25. Rxc7 hxg2 26. Qe2 Ne7 27. Ne1 $1 {Could it be that Aronian missed
this defensive move when he played ...h3? Hard to say what exactly Aronian
missed or underestimated.} Rb8 $6 (27... Qh6 28. N1xg2 Rf7 {might've been a
little bit more solid but still, White is up a pawn and is probably better.})
28. Qg4+ $2 {Magnus has used up a lot of time and energy to try to solve the
difficult problems that Aronian has posed him this game, and now it's taking
its toll. At this point both players are going to make a few mistakes in this
complex position.} (28. Qf3 $1 Qxf3 29. Nxf3 Ng6 {Perhaps Magnus thought this
would be annoying counterplay for Black but in fact White is actually doing
quite well here.} 30. Ng4 $1 {Not the most natural move, maybe the key move
that Magnus missed, since without this move things are not so clear. Black
might indeed have sufficient counterplay.} (30. Nxg2 $2 Rb1+ $11) (30. Kxg2 $2
Nf4+) 30... Nf4 $2 (30... Kf8 31. Kxg2 Nf4+ 32. Kh2 Rb3 33. Ng5 $1 Ke8 34. Nf7
$1 {and White thanks to combination of threats against Black's king, as well
as his weak pawns is winning despite the fact that Black's counterplay looks
real.}) 31. Nf6+ {this is the point.} Kf8 (31... Kh8 32. Rh7#) 32. Nd7+ $18)
28... Ng6 $2 {Black errs in return.} (28... Kf8 {Seems fine for Black.} 29. Nf3
{Maybe this was Magnus's plan, but here Black has also very strong counterplay
with...} (29. Qf3 Qxf3 30. Nxf3 Ke8 {Now Black is in time with his king to
kick out the annoying rook and White has to be careful not to be worse.} 31.
Ng5 (31. d4 Bb6 32. Rc4 exd4 33. cxd4 Kd7 $11) 31... Bb6 32. Rc4 Kd7 33. Nh7
Ng6 34. Nxg2 Bd8 35. Rb4 $11) 29... Qh6 $1 30. Kxg2 (30. Ng5 $4 Qh1#) 30...
Bxe3 31. fxe3 Rb2+ 32. Kg3 Qxe3 33. Qh4 Qf2+ 34. Kg4 Qg2+ (34... Qxh4+ $11) 35.
Qg3 Qf1 $15) 29. Nf3 $1 Rb2 {Maybe Aronian thought he is fine here, since it
seems like he has sufficient counterplay, but now Magnus finds a very nice
forced sequence to get what should've been a decisive advantage.} 30. d4 $1
exd4 31. e5 $1 dxe5 32. Nc4 $1 $18 Rb1+ 33. Kxg2 e4 $5 {The best chance to
muddy the waters. And it worked!} (33... dxc3 34. Rxc5 c2 35. Ncxe5 c1=Q 36.
Rxc1 Rxc1 37. Nxg6 $18 {is completely hopeless for Black.}) 34. Qxe4 $2 {
And now unexpectedly just a few moves before reaching the time control and
converting his winning position comfortably, Magnus makes a big slip.} (34.
Nfe5 $1 {was winning. I'm sure Magnus saw this move, but maybe he saw some
ghosts in some line.} e3 (34... dxc3 35. Rxc5 c2 {The critical testing line.} (
35... Qf5 36. Nd6 Qxg4+ 37. Nxg4 $18 {is a simple technical position.}) 36.
Rc8+ $1 Kg7 37. Nd6 $1 {Without the sequence of Rc8+! followed by Nd6! White
is actually not winning, so perhaps Magnus missed this very nice idea.} Qxe5 (
37... c1=Q 38. Rxc1 Rxc1 39. Ne8+) 38. Rc7+ {and White will mate in a few
moves here.}) (34... Qf5 35. Qxg6+ Qxg6+ 36. Nxg6 dxc3 37. Nf4 c2 38. Ne2 $18 {
is an easy win for White.}) 35. Rf7 $1 $18 {Or perhaps Magnus missed this?})
34... Nf4+ $1 35. Kg3 Ne2+ $1 {Or maybe Magnus just missed ...Ne2+ here?
Because without this move, White is winning.} (35... Nh5+ $2 36. Kg4 $18 {
Here Black runs out of counterplay.}) 36. Kg4 (36. Qxe2 Qg6+ {This line will
lead to a perpetual check.} 37. Kf4 Qf5+ 38. Kg3 Qg6+ 39. Kh2 Qh5+ 40. Kg2 Qg4+
$11) 36... Qf5+ 37. Qxf5 exf5+ 38. Kxf5 dxc3 $1 {It's also possible Magnus
missed this key move from far away. Without this move Black is still losing.
But now Black has just enough counterplay.} 39. Rxc5 c2 40. Rc8+ Kg7 41. Rc7+
Kg8 42. Kf6 Rg1 (42... Rb8 {was also drawing, but Levon understandably saw the
other drawing line and perhaps didn't see the need to calculate the
consequences of ...Rb8, since after ...Rb8, White has potentially a dangerous
initiative and if you miss something subtle, it can be deadly. Here are some
variations.} 43. Rg7+ {This is much more critical.} (43. Nce5 {isn't dangerous
because} c1=Q 44. Rg7+ Kf8 45. Rf7+ Kg8 $11 {and White has no more than a
perpetual.} (45... Ke8 46. Re7+ Kd8 47. Nf7+ Kc8 48. Nd6+ $11)) 43... Kf8 $1 (
43... Kh8 $2 44. Nd6 Rb6 45. Rd7 c1=Q 46. Rd8+ Kh7 47. Ng5+ Qxg5+ 48. Kxg5 Rb4
49. Rd7+ Kg8 50. Re7 Nc3 51. a5 $16 {with good winning chances for White.}) 44.
Ng5 $5 {Again the most critical.} (44. Nfe5 Nf4 45. Rf7+ (45. Nd6 $4 Nh5+ $19)
45... Kg8 46. Rg7+ Kf8 $11) (44. Nh4 Nf4 45. Ng6+ Nxg6 46. Nd6 c1=Q 47. Rf7+
Kg8 48. Rg7+ $11) 44... Nf4 (44... c1=Q $4 45. Ne6+ Ke8 46. Re7#) 45. Nh7+ Ke8
46. Rg8+ (46. Kf5 c1=Q 47. Nf6+ Kf8 48. Rg8+ Ke7 49. Rg7+ $11) 46... Kd7 47.
Rxb8 Nd5+ $1 {And this is the key move. 47.Nh5+ also works with a similar idea
to distract the white king.} (47... c1=Q 48. Nb6+ Kd6 49. Rd8+ Kc7 50. Rc8+ $18
) (47... Nh5+ {is also good.} 48. Ke5 (48. Kf7 c1=Q 49. Nb6+ Kd6 50. Rd8+ Ke5
$1) 48... c1=Q 49. Nb6+ Ke7 $11) 48. Ke5 (48. Kf7 c1=Q) 48... c1=Q 49. Kxd5
Qh1+ 50. Kc5 Kc7 51. Rb6 Qh5+ 52. Kd4 Qxh7 53. Rxa6 Qh4+ $11 {However, this
variation is a little bit complicated and it's very easy to miscalculate a
minor detail in a line like this and that can end up being very costly.}) 43.
Nxg1 (43. Ng5 $5 {is the computer's choice, but after further investigation I
came to the conclusion that it's probably just a positional draw, and most
likely both players saw that as well.} Rxg5 44. Ne3 (44. Nd6 c1=Q 45. Rxc1 Nxc1
46. Kxg5 Nd3 {Is more or less the same thing.}) 44... c1=Q 45. Rxc1 Nxc1 46.
Kxg5 Nd3 47. Nd1 Kf7 48. f4 Nc5 49. Nc3 a5 50. f5 Kg7 51. f6+ Kf7 52. Kf5 Kg8
$1 (52... Kf8 $2 53. Kg6 Kg8 54. Nd5 Nxa4 55. f7+ Kf8 56. Nf6 $18) 53. Kg6 Kf8
54. f7 Nd7 55. Ne4 Ne5+ 56. Kf6 Nxf7 $11) 43... c1=Q 44. Nxe2 Qh6+ $1 {
Probably foreseen by Aronian in advance when he played 42...Rg1. Now Black
will win the knight on e2 by force, which practically makes the game a dead
draw.} 45. Ke7 Qh7+ 46. Kd6 Qd3+ 47. Kc5 Qxe2 48. Kb6 Qxf2+ 49. Kxa6 Kf8 50. a5
Ke8 51. Nb6 Qf5 52. Rd7 Qc5 {Of course not...} (52... Qxd7 $4 53. Nxd7 Kxd7 54.
Kb7 $18) 53. Rh7 Qe5 54. Rd7 Qc5 55. Rd5 Qc6 56. Rh5 Qc3 57. Kb7 Qg7+ 58. Ka6
Kd8 59. Rd5+ Kc7 {A neat move taking advantage of a stalemate idea.} (59... Ke8
{Of course this also draws.}) 60. Rd7+ Kb8 61. Rd8+ Kc7 62. Rc8+ {Magnus is
still playing for a win, but at this point the chance of Black making a
mistake is quite small.} Kd6 63. Nc4+ Kd7 64. Rc5 Qg1 65. Kb6 Qb1+ 66. Ka7 Qb4
67. Nb6+ Kd6 68. Rh5 Kc6 69. Rh6+ Kb5 {Still not too late to go wrong with...}
(69... Kc7 $4 70. Nd5+ $18) 70. Rh5+ Kc6 {A very nice fight between two top
players and both excellent warriors in a fighting mood. Sure, it wasn't
perfect from a mathematical standpoint of view, but it was a true battle, and
really reflects on the idea that chess is after all a sport!} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 4th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2017.04.17"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Hou, Yifan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2649"]
[BlackElo "2838"]
[Annotator "Moradiabadi,E"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2017.04.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 178"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.05.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.05.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "60"]

1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} c5 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 2. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} d6 {[%emt 0:
00:00]} 3. d4 {[%emt 0:00:01]} cxd4 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 4. Nxd4 {[%emt 0:00:04]}
Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 5. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:05]} a6 {[%emt 0:00:09]} 6. a4 {
[%emt 0:05:20] A choice of Carlsen himself.} e5 {[%emt 0:03:25]} 7. Nf3 {
[%emt 0:00:07]} Be7 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 8. Bg5 {[%emt 0:01:52] Less ambitious but
more solid!} Be6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 9. Bxf6 {[%emt 0:01:19]} Bxf6 {[%emt 0:00:23]
} 10. Nd5 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Nd7 {[%emt 0:00:16]} 11. Bc4 {[%emt 0:00:50]} Rc8 {
[%emt 0:00:52]} 12. Qe2 {[%emt 0:06:14]} Nb6 {[%emt 0:15:06] The World
Champion spent a lot of time here. I am sure he knew the right continuation
but was unhappy with the course of the game which has let White dry up the
position.} 13. Nxf6+ {[%emt 0:08:57]} Qxf6 {[%emt 0:01:44]} 14. Bxe6 {[%emt 0:
00:07]} Qxe6 {[%emt 0:00:14]} 15. O-O {[%emt 0:00:48]} (15. b3 O-O 16. Rd1 Rc6
{1/2-1/2 (16) Svidler,P (2739)-Grischuk,A (2746) Khanty-Mansiysk 2011}) 15...
O-O {[%emt 0:18:40]} 16. Rfd1 {[%emt 0:05:39]} Rc6 {[%emt 0:06:59]} 17. a5 {
[%emt 0:18:39] Finally a new move after a long think by the World Women's
number one.} Nd7 {[%emt 0:00:15]} 18. b3 {[%emt 0:00:08]} Rfc8 {[%emt 0:03:14]}
19. Rd2 {[%emt 0:07:35]} Nc5 {[%emt 0:07:45]} 20. Rad1 {[%emt 0:12:17]} Qe7 {
[%emt 0:01:06]} 21. Qe3 {[%emt 0:00:25]} g6 {[%emt 0:07:16]} 22. g3 {[%emt 0:
02:33] The position is balanced but unlike most of the cases, it is Carlsen
who does not have the patience to wait.} b5 $6 {[%emt 0:02:05] Played after
just a short thinking since Black needs to save time as Carlsen spent a lot of
time early on in the game.} (22... Ne6 23. c4 Rb8 {and now b6 where Black
compensates for his weaknesses by attacking b3.}) 23. axb6 {[%emt 0:00:14]}
Rxb6 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 24. Rd5 {[%emt 0:05:39]} Rcc6 $6 {[%emt 0:16:20] A
strange square for the rook.} (24... Rbc6 25. Nd2 Ne6 26. Nc4 Nd4 27. c3 Nxb3
28. Nxd6 Rf8 29. c4 Nd4 30. c5 {is not fun to play but is better than what
Carlsen did.}) 25. Nd2 $1 {[%emt 0:03:59]} Nb7 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 26. Nc4 {
[%emt 0:01:40]} Rb5 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 27. Qa7 $1 $16 {[%emt 0:00:00] Excellent
play by Hou Yifan, Black is completely tied up!} Qc7 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 28. Rxb5
$2 {[%emt 0:12:11] A pity. Hou Yifan concedes a draw precisely when she had
the World Champion on the ropes!} (28. h4 h5 29. Ra1 Rb4 $1 30. Rd2 $1 {
An excellent prophylactic move.} ({Rushing to take the pawn with} 30. Rxa6 {
would let Black confuse the issue with the strong exchange sacrifice} Rcxc4 $1
31. bxc4 Rb1+ 32. Kh2 $1 {The reason this is the best move will be clear in an
instant:} Qxc4 33. Ra1 {Now it is understood. If the king had been on g2,
Black could have struck with ...Qf1+, but now there is no such killer blow.
Therefore} Rxa1 34. Qxa1 Qxc2 35. Kg1 Nc5 36. Rxd6 Nxe4 37. Rd8+ Kh7 38. Qa7
Qb3 {with good winning chances but it is not clear how winning this position
is... if at all.}) 30... a5 31. Ne3 Nc5 32. Qxc7 Rxc7 33. Rxd6 Nxe4 34. Rd5 f6
35. Raxa5 Rd4 36. Kg2 {and I believe Carlsen would be first in line to play
this position!}) 28... axb5 {[%emt 0:00:29]} 29. Nxd6 {[%emt 0:00:10] And now
the draw is inevitable.} Nxd6 {[%emt 0:00:39]} 30. Qxc7 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Rxc7 {
[%emt 0:00:12]} 31. Rxd6 {[%emt 0:00:04]} Rxc2 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 32. Rd5 {
[%emt 0:00:08]} Re2 {[%emt 0:00:47]} 33. Rxe5 {[%emt 0:00:25]} b4 {[%emt 0:00:
10]} 34. Rb5 {[%emt 0:00:41]} Rxe4 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 35. Kg2 {[%emt 0:00:12]}
Rd4 {[%emt 0:00:19]} 36. Kf1 {[%emt 0:00:19]} Re4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 37. Kg2 {
[%emt 0:00:30]} Rd4 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 38. Kf1 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 4th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2017.04.19"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "2838"]
[BlackElo "2817"]
[Annotator "Silver,A"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2017.04.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 178"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.05.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.05.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d3 Nf6 6. d4 d5 7. Bd3 Bd6 8.
Qe2+ Be6 (8... Qe7 9. Qxe7+ Kxe7 10. O-O Re8 11. Re1+ Kf8 12. Rxe8+ Kxe8 13.
Nc3 c6 14. Bd2 h6 15. Re1+ Kf8 16. Ne5 Nbd7 17. f4 Nb6 {1-0 (58) Carlsen,M 
(2838)-Akobian,V (2645) chess.com INT 2017}) 9. c4 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Qe7 11. O-O
O-O 12. Nc3 h6 $146 (12... Re8 13. Bd2 Nc6 14. Rfe1 Qd7 15. Bxe6 Rxe6 16. Qb5 {
1/2-1/2 (42) Taksrud,V (2091)-Cerveny, L (2144) ICCF email 2011}) 13. d5 Bg4
14. Qxe7 Bxe7 15. Nb5 Nbd7 16. Re1 Bc5 17. Bb3 (17. Nxc7 $2 {is wrong:} Rac8
18. Ne6 (18. Bf4 $2 Bxf3 19. gxf3 Nh5 $17) 18... fxe6 19. dxe6 Nb6 20. e7+ Nxc4
$17) 17... Rac8 18. Bf4 Bxf3 19. gxf3 {The position is equal.} a6 20. Nxc7 {
This might seem unplayable, but both players had seen it was, and knew where
it was leading.} Nh5 {The obvious continuation.} 21. Ne6 $1 Nxf4 ({Obviously
not} 21... fxe6 $6 22. dxe6 Ndf6 23. e7+ Rf7 24. Rad1 $1 $16 {and the threat
of Rd8 serves as protection of the hanging bishop on f4.}) 22. Nxf4 Bd6 23. Nd3
Nc5 24. Nxc5 Rxc5 25. Rac1 Rxc1 26. Rxc1 $11 {It is pretty easy to guess that
this endgame has no hope of coming to life, and after 15 more moves they shook
hands.} Re8 27. Ba4 Rd8 28. Kg2 Kf8 29. Re1 g6 30. h3 Kg7 31. Re8 Rxe8 32. Bxe8
Kf6 33. Bd7 a5 34. a4 b6 35. b3 Ke7 36. Bc6 Kf6 37. Be8 Ke7 38. Bc6 Kf6 39. Be8
Ke7 40. Bc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 4th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2017.04.20"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Meier, Georg"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D90"]
[WhiteElo "2621"]
[BlackElo "2838"]
[Annotator "Moradiabadi,E"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2017.04.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 178"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.05.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.05.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 {Not sure whether I should consider this a
surprise or not. However, when I first saw the first three moves I thought the
world champion was actually opting for a King's Indian Defence!} 4. Nf3 Bg7 5.
g3 $5 {An interesting line!} (5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. g3 {is also very interesting!})
5... dxc4 6. Qa4+ Nfd7 $1 {The best move but very well-known!} 7. Qxc4 Nb6 8.
Qd3 O-O 9. Bf4 (9. Bg2 Nc6 $15) 9... Nc6 10. Rd1 $6 {I'm not a fan of this
move. I understand that White is trying to protect d4 with Rd1 but that costs
him too many tempi. Instead, I think White should have tried to get his king
to safety as soon as possible.} (10. Bg2 Nxd4 11. Nxd4 e5 $1 (11... Qxd4 12.
Qxd4 Bxd4 13. Nb5 Bxb2 14. Rb1 a6 15. Rxb2 axb5 16. Rxb5 Bd7 17. Re5 Bc6 18.
Bxc6 bxc6 19. Rxe7 Nd5 20. Re4 Rfe8 21. Rxe8+ Rxe8 22. Kd2 Nxf4 23. gxf4 Re4
24. e3 Ra4 25. Ra1 Kf8 26. Kc3 Ke7 27. Kb3 Ra5 28. Rc1 Rb5+ 29. Kc3 Rc5+ 30.
Kd2 Rxc1 31. Kxc1 Kf6 32. Kd2 g5 33. fxg5+ Kxg5 34. f4+ Kg4 35. Kd3 Kf3 36. f5
f6 37. a4 h5 38. a5 h4 39. a6 h3 40. e4 Kg2 41. Ke2 Kxh2 42. Kf2 c5 43. e5 c4
44. exf6 c3 45. f7 c2 46. f8=Q c1=Q {1/2-1/2 (46) Bruedigam,M (2312)-Lagunow,A
(2441) Germany 2013}) 12. Bxe5 (12. Ndb5 Qxd3 13. exd3 exf4 14. Nxc7 Rb8 15.
O-O fxg3 16. hxg3 Rd8 $17 {1/2-1/2 (59) Huebner, R (2595)-Topalov,V (2750)
Dortmund 1996}) 12... Bxe5 13. Rd1 Qe7 14. O-O c6 $15) 10... Bf5 11. Qd2 Bg4
12. Bg2 $2 {This is too much.} (12. Ne5 Nxe5 13. Bxe5 Bxe5 14. dxe5 Qxd2+ 15.
Rxd2 Nc4 16. Rd4 Nxe5 17. Re4 f6 18. Bg2 {may give White some chances.}) 12...
Bxf3 13. Bxf3 Nxd4 14. Bxb7 Nc4 15. Qc1 Rb8 16. b3 Rxb7 17. bxc4 c5 18. O-O Rb4
{You know things are going really bad when every natural move for Black poses
serious problems for White.} 19. Bh6 Bxh6 20. Qxh6 Rxc4 21. Ne4 Nxe2+ 22. Kg2
Qa8 23. f3 Rxe4 $1 {Strong and forced otherwise Ng5 was a threat.} 24. fxe4
Qxe4+ 25. Kf2 Nd4 26. Qe3 Qd5 27. Rd2 e5 {The game is over. The rest is just
an agony.} 28. Re1 Re8 29. Qe4 Qe6 {No exchange this time.} 30. Re3 Kg7 31. Rb2
c4 32. g4 Qf6+ 33. Ke1 Qg5 34. Kf2 Re6 35. Ke1 h5 36. h3 Rf6 37. Kd2 Rf4 38.
Qxe5+ {I am sure Meier had seen the end but decided to give the joy of
geometry to the spectators.} Qxe5 39. Rxe5 Nf3+ {Fork number 1.} 40. Ke3 Nxe5
41. Kxf4 Nd3+ {And fork number 2 decides the game!} 0-1

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 4th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2017.04.21"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2702"]
[BlackElo "2838"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2017.04.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 178"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.05.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.05.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. e3 Bg7 5. h4 h5 6. Be2 O-O 7. Nf3 c5 8. dxc5
Qa5 9. O-O Qxc5 10. Nb5 a6 11. Nc7 Ra7 12. Nb5 axb5 13. Bxb8 Ra8 14. Be5 b4 15.
Bd4 Qa5 16. c3 Bg4 17. Qb3 bxc3 18. Bxc3 Qc7 19. Rac1 Qd8 20. Rfd1 e6 21. Bb4
Re8 22. Bb5 Nd7 23. e4 Bxf3 24. Qxf3 Ne5 25. Qh3 Nc6 26. exd5 exd5 27. Rxc6
bxc6 28. Bxc6 Rxa2 29. Bxd5 Kh7 30. Qf3 Rxb2 31. Bxf7 Rxb4 32. Rxd8 Rxd8 33. g3
Rb6 34. Bxg6+ Rxg6 35. Qxh5+ Rh6 36. Qf5+ Kh8 37. Kg2 Rf6 38. Qh5+ Kg8 39. Qe2
Rdf8 40. Qc2 Rxf2+ 41. Qxf2 Rxf2+ 42. Kxf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 4th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2017.04.22"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2838"]
[BlackElo "2803"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2017.04.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 178"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.05.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.05.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Be3
Be6 9. Qd3 Nbd7 10. Nd5 O-O 11. O-O Bxd5 12. exd5 Ne8 13. a4 Bg5 14. a5 Bxe3
15. Qxe3 Nef6 16. c4 Rb8 17. Rfb1 Qc7 18. Nd2 b6 19. Nb3 Nc5 20. axb6 Rxb6 21.
Nxc5 dxc5 22. b4 Rfb8 23. Rd1 Rxb4 24. Rxa6 Rb3 25. Qg5 h6 26. Qf5 Qc8 27.
Qxc8+ Rxc8 28. Rc6 Rbb8 29. Bd3 e4 30. Bc2 Rxc6 31. dxc6 Rc8 32. Ba4 Kf8 33.
Bb5 Ke7 34. Ra1 Ng4 35. Ra7+ Ke6 36. f3 exf3 37. gxf3 Ne5 38. f4 Nf3+ 39. Kf2
Nd4 40. Ke3 g6 41. Ke4 Nxc6 42. Ra6 f5+ 43. Kf3 Kd6 44. h4 h5 45. Ke3 Rc7 46.
Kd2 Rc8 47. Kc3 Rc7 48. Kb3 Rc8 49. Ka4 Rc7 50. Rb6 Rc8 51. Ba6 Rb8 52. Bb7 Ke7
53. Rxc6 Rxb7 54. Rxc5 Rb1 55. Rd5 Rh1 56. c5 Rxh4 57. c6 Rxf4+ 58. Kb3 Rf1 59.
Kb2 Rf2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 17th April"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.07"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bernotas, Arturs"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C41"]
[WhiteElo "3038"]
[BlackElo "2446"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2017.04.17"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Nf3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. a4 a5 8. Re1
c6 9. h3 Nb6 10. Bb3 Nfd7 11. Be3 exd4 12. Nxd4 Nc5 13. Qf3 Bf6 14. Rad1 Qe7
15. Qg3 Kh8 16. Bf4 Be5 17. Nf3 Nxb3 18. Nxe5 dxe5 19. Bxe5 Rg8 20. cxb3 Be6
21. Ne2 Nd7 22. Bd6 Qf6 23. Nd4 h6 24. f4 Nb6 25. f5 Bc8 26. Bc7 Nd7 27. e5 Qg5
28. Qc3 Nf8 29. e6 fxe6 30. fxe6 Ng6 31. Nf3 Qh5 32. e7 Bxh3 33. gxh3 Qxh3 34.
Ne5 Qh5 35. Nxg6+ Qxg6+ 36. Qg3 Qc2 37. Rd8 Qc5+ 38. Qe3 1-0

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 17th April"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.07"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Shagbazyan, Taron"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E52"]
[WhiteElo "2560"]
[BlackElo "3039"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2017.04.17"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 b6 7. O-O Ba6 8. cxd5
exd5 9. a3 Bxc3 10. bxc3 Ne4 11. Bxa6 Nxa6 12. Qd3 Nb8 13. c4 Nc6 14. Bb2 Na5
15. cxd5 Qxd5 16. Rac1 c5 17. Ne5 Rfe8 18. Rfd1 Rad8 19. Qc2 Qb3 20. Qxe4 Qxb2
21. Qf4 f6 22. Nf3 Qxa3 23. d5 Rxd5 24. Ra1 Red8 25. Re1 Qb4 26. e4 R5d7 27. h4
Nb3 28. Rab1 Qc4 29. h5 h6 30. Nh4 Nd4 31. Kh2 Qe6 32. f3 Qe5 33. Qxe5 fxe5 34.
Ng6 Re8 35. Re3 c4 36. g3 b5 37. f4 exf4 38. gxf4 a5 39. e5 b4 40. Rf1 c3 41.
f5 c2 42. e6 Rd5 43. Rd3 Rxf5 0-1

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 17th April"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.07"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Krzyzanowski, Marcin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "3041"]
[BlackElo "2590"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2017.04.17"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. e3 c6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. h3 O-O 7. Be2 Bf5 8. O-O
Nbd7 9. g4 Be6 10. Ng5 Ne8 11. Bg3 Nc7 12. f4 f5 13. Nxe6 Nxe6 14. g5 Nb6 15.
Nb1 c5 16. c3 Nc4 17. Bxc4 dxc4 18. Nd2 Qd5 19. Qf3 Qxf3 20. Nxf3 Rfd8 21. a4
Kf7 22. Rfc1 Rac8 23. Be1 Rc7 24. Kf1 Rd6 25. Nd2 cxd4 26. cxd4 Nf8 27. Rxc4
Rxc4 28. Nxc4 Rc6 29. b3 Nd7 30. Ke2 Ke6 31. Kd3 Kd5 32. Bb4 Nb6 33. Bxe7 Nxc4
34. bxc4+ Rxc4 35. Rb1 Rxa4 36. Rxb7 Ra1 37. Bc5 Rd1+ 38. Ke2 Rh1 39. Rxg7 a5
40. Rxh7 a4 41. Ra7 Ke4 42. Re7+ Kd5 43. Kd3 1-0

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 17th April"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.07"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Petrosyan, Manuel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D39"]
[WhiteElo "2626"]
[BlackElo "3033"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2017.04.17"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e4 b5 7. a4 c5 8. axb5
cxd4 9. Bxf6 Qxf6 10. Qxd4 Qxd4 11. Nxd4 Bb7 12. f3 Ke7 13. Ra4 a5 14. bxa6
Nxa6 15. Bxc4 Bc5 16. Nb3 Bd6 17. Ke2 Rhb8 18. Rha1 Bxh2 19. Bxa6 Bxa6+ 20.
Rxa6 Rxa6 21. Rxa6 Rxb3 22. Ra2 Be5 23. Kd3 Rb4 24. Kc2 h5 25. Ra7+ Kf6 26. Ra6
Kg5 27. Ra7 f5 28. exf5 exf5 29. Ra5 Bd4 30. Kd3 Bf6 31. Ne4+ Kf4 32. g3+ Kxf3
33. Rxf5+ Kg2 34. Nxf6 gxf6 35. Rxh5 Kxg3 36. Rf5 Rb6 37. Rf1 Kg4 38. Rg1+ Kf4
39. Rf1+ Ke5 40. Re1+ Kd5 41. Rf1 Ke6 42. Re1+ Kf7 43. Kc3 f5 44. b4 Kf6 45.
Kc4 f4 46. b5 Kf5 47. Kc5 Rb8 48. b6 f3 49. Kc6 Kf4 50. Kc7 Rxb6 51. Kxb6 f2
52. Rf1 Ke3 53. Rxf2 Kxf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 17th April"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.07"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Moskalenko, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "3035"]
[BlackElo "2689"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2017.04.17"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. c4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 e6 7. Nc3 Bc5 8. Nxc6
bxc6 9. Qg4 Ne7 10. Bd3 O-O 11. O-O Ng6 12. Na4 Nxe5 13. Bxh7+ Kxh7 14. Qh5+
Kg8 15. Nxc5 Nxc4 16. b3 Nd6 17. Bb2 f6 18. f4 Qe8 19. Qe2 Qg6 20. Rae1 Re8 21.
Rf3 Nf5 22. Qf2 a5 23. h3 Kf7 24. Kh2 Nd6 25. Rfe3 Nf5 26. R3e2 Nd6 27. Bc3 Nb7
28. f5 Qg5 29. Bd2 Qh5 30. g4 Qh7 31. Nxb7 Bxb7 32. Qb6 Ba6 33. Rxe6 Qh4 34.
Qc7+ Kf8 35. Qd6+ Kf7 36. Qd7+ Kg8 1-0

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 17th April"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.07"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Wan Kenobi, Tobi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E16"]
[WhiteElo "2494"]
[BlackElo "3036"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2017.04.17"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 a5 7. O-O O-O 8. Bg5
Be7 9. Nc3 Ne4 10. Nxe4 Bxe4 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 12. Qd2 d6 13. Rac1 Nd7 14. Rfd1 f5
15. Qe3 Rae8 16. b3 h6 17. Nh4 Qf7 18. f3 Bb7 19. f4 Bxg2 20. Kxg2 Nf6 21. Nf3
Qh5 22. h3 Qg6 23. c5 Ne4 24. Nh4 Qf7 25. cxb6 cxb6 26. Nf3 Qb7 27. Kh2 Nf6 28.
Rc2 Nd5 29. Qd2 Rc8 30. Rdc1 Nf6 31. Qe3 Kf7 32. Kg1 Rxc2 33. Rxc2 Rc8 34. Rc4
b5 35. Rxc8 Qxc8 36. Qd2 b4 37. Ne1 Ne4 38. Qe3 Qc3 39. Nd3 Qa1+ 40. Kg2 Qxa2
41. d5 exd5 42. g4 d4 43. Qf3 g6 44. gxf5 gxf5 45. Qh5+ Kg7 46. Nf2 Qxb3 47.
Nxe4 Qd5 48. Kf2 Qxe4 49. Qh4 b3 50. Qg3+ Kf6 51. Qh4+ Kg6 52. Qg3+ Kh5 53.
Qxb3 Qe3+ 54. Kg2 Qxb3 0-1

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 17th April"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.07"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Salem, AR Saleh"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "3040"]
[BlackElo "2793"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2017.04.17"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. Be2 Bg4 7. Ne5 Bxe2 8.
Qxe2 c6 9. h4 h5 10. g4 Nbd7 11. f3 e6 12. O-O-O Qe7 13. Rdg1 hxg4 14. fxg4
Nxe5 15. Bxe5 Nd7 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. g5 Rh8 18. e4 c5 19. Qf2 dxe4 20. Nxe4 cxd4
21. Qxd4+ e5 22. Qe3 Rac8 23. Kb1 Rc4 24. Qe2 Qb4 25. Re1 Rc6 26. a3 Qe7 27. h5
Rcc8 28. h6+ Kh7 29. Rhf1 Rhf8 30. Qb5 Rc7 31. Rd1 Nc5 32. Nf6+ Kh8 33. Nd5 a6
34. Qb6 1-0

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 17th April"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.07"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Bordi, Kevin Claude"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2513"]
[BlackElo "3032"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2017.04.17"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. g4 d5 2. Bg2 c6 3. g5 e5 4. d4 e4 5. c4 Bd6 6. Nc3 Ne7 7. Qb3 O-O 8. h4 Na6
9. a3 Rb8 10. Nh3 Be6 11. c5 Bc7 12. Nf4 b6 13. Qa4 Qc8 14. b4 bxc5 15. bxc5
Nf5 16. Nxe6 fxe6 17. e3 Ra8 18. Bd2 Nb8 19. Rb1 a5 20. Kd1 Ra7 21. Kc2 e5 22.
Ne2 Qa6 23. Bf1 Ne7 24. Nf4 Qc8 25. Bh3 Qe8 26. Ne6 Rxf2 27. Nxc7 Rxc7 28. Qxa5
Na6 29. Rhf1 Rxf1 30. Rxf1 Ra7 31. dxe5 Ra8 32. Bc3 d4 33. Bxd4 Nd5 34. Qe1
Nac7 35. Qf2 Rxa3 36. e6 Ra2+ 37. Bb2 Nb4+ 38. Kb1 Rxb2+ 39. Qxb2 Nbd5 40. Qe5
Qb8+ 41. Kc1 Qb4 42. Qd6 Qc4+ 43. Kb2 Qb4+ 44. Kc1 Qc3+ 45. Kb1 Qb3+ 46. Kc1
Qxe3+ 47. Kb2 Qc3+ 48. Kb1 Qb3+ 49. Kc1 Qc4+ 50. Kb2 Qc3+ 51. Kb1 Qb3+ 52. Kc1
Qc3+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 17th April"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.07"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Terry, Renato"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E16"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "3034"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2017.04.17"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 a5 7. O-O O-O 8. Nc3
d6 9. Qc2 Nbd7 10. b3 h6 11. Rfe1 Bxc3 12. Bxc3 Be4 13. Qb2 a4 14. Bh3 Qb8 15.
Nd2 Bg6 16. Bg2 Ra7 17. Bc6 a3 18. Qc1 e5 19. e3 Qc8 20. Bb4 e4 21. Qc2 Nb8 22.
Ba4 Rd8 23. Kg2 c6 24. Rac1 Qb7 25. d5 b5 26. cxb5 cxb5 27. Bxa3 bxa4 28. b4
Qxd5 29. Nc4 Bh5 30. h3 Bf3+ 31. Kh2 Qh5 32. h4 Ng4+ 33. Kg1 g5 34. Nxd6 gxh4
35. Qc5 Qxc5 36. bxc5 h3 37. Kf1 h2 0-1

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 2nd May"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.05.02"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Janaszak, Dawid"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A84"]
[WhiteElo "2964"]
[BlackElo "2398"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2017.05.02"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 f5 3. Bf4 Nf6 4. e3 d5 5. c4 c6 6. Nc3 Bd6 7. Bd3 O-O 8. O-O
Ne4 9. Ne2 Be7 10. h3 Nd7 11. Bh2 Bd6 12. Bxd6 Nxd6 13. Rc1 Qe7 14. Qb3 Kh8 15.
Qa3 Re8 16. Rfd1 Ne4 17. Qxe7 Rxe7 18. b4 Nb6 19. Ne5 dxc4 20. Bxe4 fxe4 21.
Nxc4 Nxc4 22. Rxc4 a5 23. bxa5 Rxa5 24. Nc3 e5 25. d5 Bd7 26. dxc6 bxc6 27. Rb4
h6 28. Rb7 Ra3 29. Nxe4 Bg4 30. Rd8+ 1-0

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 2nd May"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.05.02"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Olafsson, Helgi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2503"]
[BlackElo "2968"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2017.05.02"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 a6 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bf4 Bd6 7. Bg3 Bf5 8. e3
O-O 9. Rc1 Re8 10. Be2 c6 11. O-O Bxg3 12. hxg3 Nbd7 13. b4 Qe7 14. a3 b5 15.
Nd2 a5 16. g4 axb4 17. axb4 Bg6 18. g5 Ne4 19. Ncxe4 dxe4 20. Rxc6 Qxg5 21. Rc7
Bf5 22. Qb3 Bh3 23. g3 h5 24. Rfc1 h4 25. Kh2 Be6 26. Qc2 hxg3+ 27. fxg3 Nf6
28. Nf1 Ra2 29. Qd1 Qh5+ 0-1

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 2nd May"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.05.02"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Tristan, Leonardo"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C50"]
[WhiteElo "2972"]
[BlackElo "2540"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2017.05.02"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 d6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 g6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Be3 Nf6 8. f3
O-O 9. Qd2 Ne5 10. Be2 a6 11. O-O c5 12. Nb3 b5 13. Rad1 Nc4 14. Bxc4 bxc4 15.
Nc1 Qb6 16. N1e2 Be6 17. b3 Rfd8 18. Nf4 Qb4 19. Na4 Qxd2 20. Rxd2 cxb3 21.
axb3 Bh6 22. Kf2 c4 23. Nxe6 Bxe3+ 24. Kxe3 fxe6 25. Nb6 c3 26. Rd3 Rab8 27.
Na4 d5 28. Rfd1 Rdc8 29. h3 Rb4 30. Rxc3 Rd8 31. Rc6 Re8 32. Nc5 dxe4 33. fxe4
Nh5 34. Nxe6 Rb5 35. Rd5 Rbb8 36. Rxa6 Nf6 37. Rd4 Rbc8 38. Kd3 Nh5 39. e5 Rxe6
40. Rxe6 Rf8 41. Ke3 Rf1 42. Re7 Re1+ 43. Kd2 1-0

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 2nd May"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.05.02"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Vysochin, Spartak"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2590"]
[BlackElo "2977"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2017.05.02"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nf5 8.
c3 Nxe5 9. Rxe5 d6 10. Re1 O-O 11. d4 d5 12. Bf4 Bd6 13. Bxd6 Nxd6 14. Nd2 Bf5
15. Qf3 Qg5 16. Qe3 Qxe3 17. Rxe3 Rfe8 18. Rae1 Rxe3 19. Rxe3 Kf8 20. f3 a5 21.
g4 Bg6 22. Kf2 a4 23. a3 b5 24. f4 Bc2 25. Bg2 c6 26. f5 Rb8 27. Ke1 h6 28. h3
g6 29. fxg6 fxg6 30. Nf3 Nc4 31. Re2 Bd3 32. Rf2 Re8+ 33. Kd1 Kg7 34. Kc1 Re3
35. Bf1 Bxf1 36. Rxf1 Re2 37. Re1 Rxb2 38. Re7+ Kf8 39. Rc7 Rb3 40. Nh4 Rxc3+
41. Kb1 Nxa3+ 42. Kb2 b4 43. Nxg6+ Ke8 44. Nf4 Rc2+ 45. Ka1 b3 46. Ne6 Ra2# 0-1

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 2nd May"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.05.02"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Banusz, Tamas"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C50"]
[WhiteElo "2982"]
[BlackElo "2596"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2017.05.02"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. h3 a6 7. c3 Ba7 8. a4 h6
9. Re1 d6 10. Na3 Ne7 11. Nc2 Ng6 12. Be3 c6 13. Bxa7 Rxa7 14. d4 a5 15. dxe5
dxe5 16. Qxd8 Rxd8 17. Rad1 Bd7 18. Ne3 Raa8 19. Nf5 Ne8 20. Rd2 Be6 21. Bxe6
fxe6 22. Ne3 Nd6 23. Red1 Nf7 24. Rxd8+ Rxd8 25. Rxd8+ Nxd8 26. Nc4 b5 27. axb5
cxb5 28. Nxa5 Kf7 29. g3 Ke7 30. Ne1 Kd6 31. Nd3 Ne7 32. Kf1 Nc8 33. c4 1-0

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 2nd May"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.05.02"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Iturrizaga Bonelli, Eduardo"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2674"]
[BlackElo "2989"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2017.05.02"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 b6 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O Bg7 6. Nc3 O-O 7. Re1 c5 8. e4
Nc6 9. d3 d6 10. h3 Nd7 11. Be3 Nde5 12. Nh2 Nd4 13. f4 Nec6 14. g4 e6 15. Nf3
Qd7 16. Qd2 Nxf3+ 17. Bxf3 Nd4 18. Bg2 f5 19. Rf1 Rae8 20. Rae1 a6 21. Ne2 b5
22. Bxd4 cxd4 23. cxb5 Qxb5 24. Ng3 fxg4 25. hxg4 a5 26. Rf2 Ba6 27. Rf3 Rc8
28. g5 Rc5 29. Bh3 Bc8 30. Ref1 Qc6 31. R3f2 Qc7 32. Qe2 a4 33. Qd1 Bd7 34. Bg4
Qd8 35. Qd2 Qe7 36. Rh2 Rfc8 37. Bd1 Bb5 38. Rh1 Rc1 39. Qh2 Bh8 40. Qd2 Rb1
41. Kg2 Rbc1 42. Rh2 a3 43. bxa3 R1c3 44. Rf3 Qd7 45. Bb3 Ba4 46. Bxa4 Qxa4 47.
Rf2 Qxa3 48. f5 Rxd3 49. Qf4 Be5 0-1

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 2nd May"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.05.02"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bok, Benjamin"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A12"]
[WhiteElo "2974"]
[BlackElo "2677"]
[PlyCount "178"]
[EventDate "2017.05.02"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 d5 2. Bb2 Bg4 3. g3 e6 4. Bg2 Nf6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. c4 c6 7. O-O Bd6 8. d3
O-O 9. Nbd2 Qe7 10. h3 Bh5 11. a3 a5 12. Re1 Rfe8 13. Qc2 h6 14. e4 dxe4 15.
Nxe4 Nxe4 16. Rxe4 Bg6 17. Re3 Bc5 18. Qc3 Qf6 19. d4 Bf8 20. Rae1 Bh5 21. Qd2
Bxf3 22. Bxf3 Qd8 23. d5 cxd5 24. cxd5 Nb6 25. Qd1 Bc5 26. R3e2 Qg5 27. Kg2
Red8 28. Re5 Qg6 29. Qc1 Rac8 30. Qf4 Nxd5 31. Bxd5 exd5 32. Qf3 b6 33. Rxd5
Rxd5 34. Qxd5 Qc2 35. Bd4 Bxd4 36. Qxd4 Qxb3 37. Re3 Qb5 38. h4 Qc6+ 39. Kh2 b5
40. Re5 Qb7 41. Qd3 b4 42. Rxa5 bxa3 43. Rxa3 Qb6 44. Ra2 Qc6 45. Rd2 Qe6 46.
Qf3 Qf6 47. Qe4 Qe6 48. Qxe6 fxe6 49. Rd7 Rf8 50. Kg2 Rf5 51. Re7 Rf6 52. g4
Kf8 53. Rb7 Rf4 54. Kg3 Rd4 55. f3 Rc4 56. Kf2 Rc3 57. Ke2 Ra3 58. Rd7 Rb3 59.
Rd3 Rb2+ 60. Ke3 Kf7 61. Ra3 Kf6 62. Ra4 Rh2 63. Rf4+ Ke7 64. h5 Ra2 65. Rb4
Kf6 66. Kf4 Rc2 67. Rb8 Rc4+ 68. Kg3 Kf7 69. Rb3 Kf6 70. f4 Rd4 71. Rb5 Rd3+
72. Kf2 Rh3 73. Kg2 Rd3 74. g5+ hxg5 75. fxg5+ Kf7 76. Rb7+ Kf8 77. Rb8+ Kf7
78. Rb5 Rc3 79. Rb7+ Kf8 80. Rb8+ Kf7 81. Rb7+ Kf8 82. g6 Rc5 83. Rf7+ Kg8 84.
Re7 Kf8 85. Rxe6 Rxh5 86. Kf3 Rh4 87. Ke3 Rg4 88. Kf3 Ra4 89. Ke3 Rb4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 2nd May"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.05.02"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Bellahcene, Bilel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C20"]
[WhiteElo "2427"]
[BlackElo "2976"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2017.05.02"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 Nc6 3. Bc4 g6 4. Qf3 Nf6 5. Ne2 Bg7 6. d3 d6 7. h3 Na5 8. Nbc3
Nxc4 9. dxc4 h6 10. b3 Be6 11. Qd3 O-O 12. g4 c6 13. g5 hxg5 14. Bxg5 Qa5 15.
O-O-O b5 16. cxb5 d5 17. Kb1 d4 18. Na4 Qxb5 19. Qxb5 cxb5 20. Nc5 Rac8 21.
Nxe6 fxe6 22. f3 Nh5 23. Rd3 Rc7 24. Rf1 Kh7 25. Kb2 Bh6 26. h4 Rfc8 27. c3 a5
28. Rc1 Bg7 29. Bd2 a4 30. cxd4 exd4 31. Rxc7 Rxc7 32. f4 e5 33. fxe5 Bxe5 34.
bxa4 bxa4 35. Nxd4 Rc4 36. Bc3 Nf4 37. Rd2 Ne6 38. Ne2 Rxe4 39. Bxe5 Rxe5 40.
Nc3 Kh6 41. Nxa4 Kh5 42. Rh2 Nd4 43. Nc3 Nf3 44. Rh1 Nxh4 45. a4 g5 46. Kb3 g4
47. Kb4 g3 48. a5 g2 49. Ra1 Nf3 50. a6 Ne1 51. a7 g1=Q 52. a8=Q Nc2+ 53. Kc4
Qc5+ 54. Kd3 Nb4+ 55. Kd2 Qe3+ 0-1

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 2nd May"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.05.02"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Chandra, Akshat"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2985"]
[BlackElo "2755"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2017.05.02"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. e3 d5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Nbd2 Bd6 7. Bg3 O-O 8. Bb5
Bxg3 9. hxg3 Qb6 10. a4 h6 11. O-O Bd7 12. Qe2 Ne7 13. Ne5 Bxb5 14. Qxb5 Rfc8
15. Rfc1 Qc7 16. a5 a6 17. Qa4 Nc6 18. Nd3 c4 19. Nc5 Nd7 20. Nxd7 Qxd7 21. b3
cxb3 22. Nxb3 Qe7 23. Nc5 Na7 24. c4 dxc4 25. Rxc4 Nb5 26. Rac1 Rc7 27. Nd3
Rac8 28. g4 Rxc4 29. Rxc4 Rxc4 30. Qxc4 Kh7 31. Ne5 g6 32. Qc8 Kg7 33. Nd7 Nd6
34. Qc7 f6 35. f3 Kf7 36. Kf2 h5 37. gxh5 gxh5 38. e4 Ke8 39. Nxf6+ Qxf6 40.
Qxd6 Qh4+ 41. Ke2 Qg5 42. Qxe6+ Kd8 43. Qd6+ Ke8 44. Qe5+ 1-0

[Event "Titled Tuesday intern op 2nd May"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.05.02"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Sevian, Samuel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2692"]
[BlackElo "2992"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2017.05.02"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Bxc6
bxc6 9. d4 exd4 10. cxd4 Bb6 11. h3 h6 12. Bxf6 Qxf6 13. Nc3 Re8 14. Rc1 Qf4
15. Re1 Bd7 16. Re3 Re7 17. b4 a5 18. b5 Qf6 19. Qb3 Be6 20. Qb2 cxb5 21. Qxb5
Rae8 22. Nd5 Bxd5 23. Qxd5 Qe6 24. Qxe6 Rxe6 25. Rce1 a4 26. a3 Ba5 27. R1e2
Rb8 28. g3 Rb1+ 29. Kg2 Bb6 30. Rc3 d5 31. e5 f6 32. Rd2 Ba5 33. Rc5 Bxd2 34.
Nxd2 Rb2 35. Nf3 fxe5 36. Nxe5 Rf6 37. Ng4 Rf5 38. Rxc7 h5 39. Ne3 Rfxf2+ 40.
Kg1 Rf3 41. Nxd5 Rxg3+ 42. Kf1 Rxh3 43. Kg1 Rxa3 44. Rc1 Rab3 45. Rc5 a3 46.
Ne7+ Kf7 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.18"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A21"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2 d6 4. O-O e5 5. c4 f5 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. d3 O-O 8. b4 Nh5
9. Bg5 Qe8 10. Nd5 Rf7 11. b5 f4 12. h3 fxg3 13. Be3 gxf2+ 14. Rxf2 c6 15. bxc6
bxc6 16. Nc3 Nf4 17. Ne4 Qd8 18. c5 dxc5 19. Nfg5 Rf8 20. Qb3+ Kh8 21. Nf7+
Rxf7 22. Qxf7 Be6 23. Ng5 Qxg5 24. Qe8+ Bg8 25. Bxf4 exf4 26. Rb1 Bd4 27. Kf1
Qg3 28. Rf3 Qh2 29. e3 fxe3 30. Rf8 e2+ 31. Ke1 Bc3+ 32. Kf2 Bd4+ 33. Kf3 Kg7
34. Qe7+ Kh8 35. Qf7 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.19"]
[White "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 Na6 3. Nc3 Nc7 4. Nf3 d5 5. Bd3 Bg4 6. O-O e6 7. Be3 Bd6 8. h3
Bh5 9. e5 Be7 10. Be2 Nh6 11. Bxh6 gxh6 12. Ne1 Bg6 13. f4 Qd7 14. Nd3 O-O-O
15. b4 Bxd3 16. Bxd3 Bxb4 17. Na4 c5 18. Nxc5 Bxc5 19. dxc5 Qc6 20. Qh5 Qxc5+
21. Kh1 Rd7 22. Qxh6 Kb8 23. Qg7 Qf8 24. Qf6 h5 25. Rab1 Rg8 26. Qh4 Qg7 27.
Rf2 Qg3 28. Qxg3 Rxg3 29. Be2 h4 30. f5 a6 31. Rf4 Re3 32. Bf3 Rxe5 33. fxe6
Nxe6 34. Rxh4 Rc7 35. Rd1 Rxc2 36. Bxd5 Ka7 37. Rh7 Rc7 38. Bxe6 Rxe6 39. h4
Re2 40. a3 Rcc2 41. Rg1 Rf2 42. Kh2 Rf3 43. Ra1 b5 44. Rg7 Kb6 45. a4 b4 46.
a5+ Kb5 47. Rg5+ Kc4 48. Rg4+ Kc3 49. Ra4 b3 50. Rgc4+ Kb2 51. Rg4 Rf5 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.20"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A01"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 e5 2. Bb2 d6 3. e3 Nd7 4. d4 g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. dxe5 dxe5 7. h4 h5 8. Nc3
Ne7 9. Qd2 O-O 10. O-O-O a5 11. a4 c6 12. Ng5 b5 13. axb5 a4 14. Nxa4 Qe8 15.
bxc6 Nxc6 16. Bb5 Ndb8 17. Qd6 Ra7 18. Qxb8 Nxb8 19. Bxe8 Rxe8 20. Ne4 Ba6 21.
Nd6 Rd8 22. Rd2 Nc6 23. Rhd1 Bf6 24. g3 Kg7 25. Nc5 Bc8 26. Nxc8 Rxc8 27. Rd7
Ra5 28. Ne4 Nb4 29. c4 Ra2 30. Kb1 Raa8 31. R1d6 Bd8 32. Bxe5+ Kg8 33. Bc3 Nc6
34. b4 Rab8 35. b5 Ba5 36. Kb2 Nb4 37. Bxb4 Bxb4 38. Rd4 Bf8 39. Kb3 Bg7 40.
R4d5 Ra8 41. Nd6 Rf8 42. c5 Ra1 43. b6 Rb1+ 44. Kc4 Ra8 45. b7 Ra4+ 46. Kd3
Rb3+ 47. Ke2 Ra2+ 48. Rd2 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.21"]
[White "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Bd3 e5 5. c3 g6 6. O-O Bg7 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3
Re8 9. Nbd2 h6 10. Nf1 Bd7 11. Ng3 Qe7 12. Be3 Kh7 13. Qd2 a5 14. Rad1 a4 15.
d5 Na5 16. c4 b6 17. Qc3 Nb7 18. b4 axb3 19. axb3 h5 20. b4 Bh6 21. Ng5+ Kg7
22. f4 Nh7 23. h4 Kg8 24. Qc1 exf4 25. Bxf4 Nxg5 26. hxg5 Bg7 27. Nf5 gxf5 28.
exf5 Bd4+ 29. Kh2 Qf8 30. f6 Bg4 31. Bb1 Bxd1 32. Qxd1 Rxe1 33. Qxh5 Rxb1 34.
g6 fxg6 35. Qxg6+ Kh8 36. Qh5+ Kg8 37. Qg6+ Kh8 38. Qh5+ Kg8 39. Qg6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.22"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 g6 3. h4 h5 4. Bc4 Bg7 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Ng5 Nh6 7. a3 d6 8. d3 Bg4
9. f3 Bd7 10. Be3 Nd4 11. Qd2 f6 12. Nh3 Nf7 13. Nf4 Ne5 14. Ba2 Bh6 15. Nce2
Nexf3+ 16. gxf3 Nxf3+ 17. Kd1 Nxd2 18. Kxd2 Qa5+ 19. c3 O-O-O 20. Nxg6 Bxe3+
21. Kxe3 e6 22. Nxh8 Rxh8 23. Nf4 Qb6 24. Rh2 d5 25. exd5 exd5 26. Nxd5 Qd6 27.
Rg2 Bc6 28. c4 Qe5+ 29. Kf3 Re8 30. Rf2 Qe3+ 31. Kg2 Rg8+ 32. Kf1 Qxd3+ 33. Re2
Qf3+ 34. Rf2 Qd3+ 35. Re2 Bxd5 36. cxd5 Qf3+ 37. Rf2 Qh1+ 38. Ke2 Qxa1 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.23"]
[White "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. Nf3 a6 5. Be2 b5 6. O-O Nd7 7. Re1 Bb7 8. Bd3
e5 9. d5 Ne7 10. a4 b4 11. Na2 a5 12. c3 bxc3 13. Nxc3 O-O 14. Be3 h6 15. Rc1
f5 16. Nb5 Rc8 17. Qb3 Ba8 18. Bd2 fxe4 19. Bxe4 Nf6 20. Bd3 Bxd5 21. Bc4 c6
22. Na7 Rb8 23. Qa2 Kh7 24. Bxd5 cxd5 25. Nb5 d4 26. Qe6 Ne8 27. Bxa5 Qxa5 28.
Qxe7 Qxa4 29. Nxd6 Nxd6 30. Qxd6 Rbd8 31. Qe6 Rfe8 32. Qg4 Qa5 33. Rc6 e4 34.
Qxg6+ Kh8 35. b4 Qa7 36. Nh4 e3 37. Nf5 exf2+ 38. Kxf2 d3+ 39. Kf3 Rxe1 40.
Nxh6 Qe3+ 41. Kg4 Rd4+ 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.24"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A01"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 e5 2. Bb2 Nc6 3. e3 d6 4. d4 exd4 5. exd4 Nf6 6. Qd2 Be7 7. Nc3 O-O 8.
O-O-O d5 9. Kb1 a5 10. a4 Nb4 11. f3 Bf5 12. Rc1 c6 13. g4 Bd7 14. h4 b5 15.
Nh3 bxa4 16. Nxa4 Rb8 17. Nf4 c5 18. Nxc5 a4 19. c3 Nc6 20. b4 Bxc5 21. dxc5 d4
22. b5 Na5 23. c4 Nb3 24. Qd3 Nxc5 25. Qxd4 Nb3 26. Qc3 Nxc1 27. Kxc1 Rc8 28.
g5 Ne8 29. Ba3 Nc7 30. Bxf8 Qxf8 31. b6 Nb5 32. Qd3 Bf5 33. Qxf5 Qa3+ 34. Kd1
Qa1+ 35. Kd2 Qc3+ 36. Kd1 Qa1+ 37. Kd2 Qc3+ 38. Kd1 Qa1+ 39. Kd2 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.25"]
[White "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "179"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 c6 6. h3 Nbd7 7. Bd3 g6 8.
O-O Bg7 9. Re1 O-O 10. Qe2 e6 11. Bg5 b6 12. Rad1 Bb7 13. Ne5 c5 14. dxc5 Qxe5
15. Qxe5 Nxe5 16. Rxe5 Nd5 17. Ree1 Nxc3 18. bxc3 Bxc3 19. Re3 bxc5 20. Be4
Bxe4 21. Rxc3 Rac8 22. Bf6 Bd5 23. a3 c4 24. h4 h6 25. Rb1 Rb8 26. Rb4 a5 27.
Rxb8 Rxb8 28. f3 Kh7 29. Kf2 Rb1 30. Re3 Rc1 31. Re2 g5 32. hxg5 Kg6 33. Bb2
Rb1 34. Bc3 hxg5 35. Bxa5 Ra1 36. Bb4 f5 37. Ke3 Rd1 38. Rd2 Rg1 39. a4 f4+ 40.
Kf2 Rb1 41. Bc3 Kf5 42. Re2 Rc1 43. a5 Rh1 44. Re5+ Kg6 45. Re1 Rh7 46. Ra1 Ra7
47. Bd4 Ra6 48. Bb6 Kf5 49. Rh1 Ra8 50. c3 e5 51. Rd1 Ke6 52. Ra1 g4 53. Rh1
g3+ 54. Ke2 e4 55. Rh6+ Kf7 56. fxe4 Bxe4 57. Rh4 Bxg2 58. Rxf4+ Ke6 59. Rg4
Bb7 60. Rxg3 Kd5 61. Rg7 Re8+ 62. Kd2 Ba6 63. Ra7 Bc8 64. Rc7 Ba6 65. Rc5+ Kd6
66. Rg5 Kc6 67. Bd4 Rd8 68. Rg7 Kb5 69. Kc2 Ka4 70. Bb6 Re8 71. Rg2 Bb7 72. Rf2
Be4+ 73. Kd2 Re5 74. Ke3 Bd3+ 75. Kd4 Re8 76. Kc5 Re5+ 77. Kd6 Rh5 78. a6 Kb5
79. a7 Be4 80. Rb2+ Ka6 81. Bd4 Rh6+ 82. Ke5 Bc6 83. Ra2+ Kb5 84. a8=Q Bxa8 85.
Rxa8 Rh5+ 86. Kd6 Rh4 87. Kd5 Rh5+ 88. Be5 Rh1 89. Rb8+ Ka6 90. Rb4 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.21"]
[Round "3.18"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A24"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O O-O 5. c4 d6 6. Nc3 e5 7. d3 Re8 8. Rb1
Nbd7 9. b4 a5 10. b5 Nc5 11. Ba3 Rb8 12. Nd2 h5 13. b6 cxb6 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15.
Bxd5 h4 16. Bxc5 bxc5 17. Ne4 Be6 18. Bxe6 Rxe6 19. Nc3 Re8 20. e4 Qd7 21. Qf3
Rf8 22. Rb6 f5 23. Rfb1 hxg3 24. hxg3 f4 25. g4 Bf6 26. Nd5 Bd8 27. R6b5 Kg7
28. Kg2 Rh8 29. Qd1 Rh4 30. f3 Kh6 31. Qb3 b6 32. Nxb6 Qh7 33. Nd5 Kg5 34. Rxb8
Rh2+ 35. Kf1 Qh3+ 36. Ke1 Qg3+ 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.21"]
[Round "3.19"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C51"]
[WhiteElo "2750"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bb6 5. a4 a5 6. b5 Nd4 7. Nc3 d6 8. Nd5
Bg4 9. c3 Nxf3+ 10. gxf3 Bh5 11. Rg1 Ne7 12. Nxb6 cxb6 13. Rxg7 d5 14. exd5 Nf5
15. Rg1 Qh4 16. Qe2 Qxh2 17. Rg5 Qh1+ 18. Qf1 Qxf3 19. Be2 Qxe2+ 20. Qxe2 Bxe2
21. Kxe2 Nd6 22. Rxe5+ Kd7 23. Ba3 Rae8 24. Rxe8 Rxe8+ 25. Kd3 Ne4 26. f3 Nf2+
27. Kd4 h5 28. Rg1 Re2 29. d3 h4 30. Rg7 Ke8 31. Rg8+ Kd7 32. Rf8 h3 33. Rxf7+
Ke8 34. Rf8+ Kd7 35. Rf7+ Ke8 36. Rh7 Rd2 37. Ke3 Ra2 38. Bd6 Nd1+ 39. Kd4
Rxa4+ 40. c4 Ra2 41. Bc7 a4 42. d6 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.21"]
[Round "3.20"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C13"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Be7 6. Bxf6 gxf6 7. Nf3 f5 8.
Nc3 a6 9. Qd2 b5 10. O-O-O b4 11. Na4 Qd5 12. b3 Bd7 13. Bc4 Qd6 14. d5 e5 15.
Rhe1 e4 16. Nd4 O-O 17. f3 exf3 18. gxf3 Kh8 19. f4 Bf6 20. Kb1 Bxa4 21. bxa4
Nd7 22. Nxf5 Qc5 23. Qd3 b3 24. cxb3 Nb6 25. d6 Qa3 26. Re2 Rad8 27. Bxa6 cxd6
28. Bb5 d5 29. Nd4 Rc8 30. Rc2 Rxc2 31. Qxc2 Rc8 32. Nc6 d4 33. Qf5 Bg7 34. a5
d3 35. Rd2 Re8 36. Ne5 Rxe5 37. fxe5 Qxa5 38. Qxd3 Bxe5 39. Qd8+ Kg7 40. Qg5+
1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.21"]
[Round "3.21"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2750"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. Bd3 Nf6 5. O-O O-O 6. Re1 Nc6 7. d5 Nb8 8. h3
Nbd7 9. c4 Nc5 10. Bc2 a5 11. Nc3 e5 12. Bg5 Qe8 13. Nb5 Qe7 14. b3 Kh8 15. a3
Na6 16. b4 Bd7 17. Qd2 Qe8 18. Bd3 Nh5 19. Rab1 f5 20. exf5 gxf5 21. Be2 Nf6
22. Nc3 Qf7 23. c5 Ne4 24. Qc1 Nxc3 25. Qxc3 axb4 26. axb4 e4 27. Nd4 f4 28. c6
bxc6 29. dxc6 Bf5 30. Bxf4 e3 31. Bxe3 Bxb1 32. Rxb1 Nb8 33. b5 Qg6 34. Rd1 Be5
35. Bg4 Ra4 36. Qb3 Ra8 37. Ne6 Qf7 38. Qd5 Re8 39. f4 Bf6 40. f5 Ra3 41. Bd4
Ra4 42. Bxf6+ Qxf6 43. Nxc7 Re5 44. Qd2 Rae4 45. Nd5 Qh4 46. c7 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.21"]
[Round "3.22"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E60"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. b3 Bg7 4. Bb2 d6 5. d4 O-O 6. Bg2 Nbd7 7. O-O Re8 8. c4
e5 9. dxe5 Ng4 10. Nc3 dxe5 11. e4 c6 12. Qc2 Qe7 13. Rad1 Nc5 14. Ba3 b6 15.
Na4 f5 16. Nxc5 bxc5 17. Ne1 f4 18. Nd3 Qf7 19. Bxc5 g5 20. f3 Nf6 21. g4 h5
22. h3 hxg4 23. hxg4 Nxg4 24. fxg4 Bxg4 25. Nf2 Be6 26. Qe2 Qg6 27. Bf3 a5 28.
Bh5 Qh7 29. Kg2 g4 30. Bxg4 Qg6 31. Rg1 a4 32. Kf1 axb3 33. axb3 Reb8 34. Bxe6+
Qxe6 35. Qg4 Qxg4 36. Rxg4 Rb7 37. b4 Kf7 38. Rd6 Bf8 39. Rxc6 Bxc5 40. Rxc5
Rxb4 41. Rxe5 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.21"]
[Round "3.23"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C51"]
[WhiteElo "2750"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bb6 5. a4 a6 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. Nd5 d6 8. Nxb6
cxb6 9. d3 O-O 10. O-O Nxb4 11. c3 Nc6 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bh4 Be6 14. Bxe6 fxe6 15.
Rb1 Na5 16. d4 Qc7 17. Qd3 Rac8 18. Rfc1 Nh5 19. Bg3 Nf4 20. Bxf4 exf4 21. c4
Nxc4 22. d5 e5 23. Qb3 Qc5 24. h3 b5 25. axb5 axb5 26. Qxb5 Qxb5 27. Rxb5 Rc7
28. Nh4 Rfc8 29. Nf5 Nd2 30. Rxc7 Rxc7 31. f3 Nc4 32. Kf2 h5 33. Ke2 g6 34. Nh4
Kg7 35. Kd3 Kf6 36. Rb4 b5 37. Rxb5 Kg5 38. Rb4 Kxh4 39. Rxc4 Rxc4 40. Kxc4 Kg3
41. Kb5 Kxg2 42. Kc6 Kxf3 43. Kxd6 Kxe4 44. Kc6 f3 45. d6 f2 46. d7 f1=Q 47.
d8=Q Qc4+ 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.21"]
[Round "3.24"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bd3 Bd6 6. Qe2+ Be6 7. c4 dxc4 8.
Bxc4 Qe7 9. O-O O-O 10. Nc3 Re8 11. Bg5 h6 12. Bh4 Nbd7 13. Rfe1 Qf8 14. Bxe6
Rxe6 15. Qb5 a6 16. Qxb7 Rb8 17. Qa7 Ra8 18. Qb7 Rb8 19. Qa7 Qc8 20. Bxf6 Ra8
21. Qxa8 Qxa8 22. Rxe6 fxe6 23. Be5 Qb7 24. b3 Bb4 25. Rc1 Qc6 26. Ne2 Qb5 27.
Ng3 c5 28. h4 Ba3 29. Rc4 Nb6 30. Rc2 c4 31. Nd2 cxb3 32. axb3 Bf8 33. Nge4 a5
34. g3 Qd3 35. Rc3 Qb5 36. Rf3 Nd5 37. Kg2 Be7 38. Nc4 a4 39. Ncd6 Qa6 40. bxa4
Qxa4 41. Rf7 Bf8 42. Rb7 Qc2 43. Rb8 Ne3+ 44. Kh3 Nf5 45. Kg2 Qe2 46. Kg1 Qd1+
47. Kg2 Qe2 48. Kg1 Qf3 49. Nxf5 exf5 50. Nd6 f4 51. Bxf4 Qd1+ 52. Kg2 Qxd4 53.
Nf5 Qd5+ 54. Kh2 Qxf5 55. Bd6 Qxf2+ 56. Kh3 Qf1+ 57. Kh2 Qe2+ 58. Kh3 Qe6+ 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.25"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. Be3 a6 5. Nf3 b5 6. Bd3 Nd7 7. e5 e6 8. Ne4 d5
9. Ng3 c5 10. c3 Ne7 11. Qe2 Nc6 12. Qd2 c4 13. Bc2 a5 14. Bh6 Bf8 15. h4 b4
16. h5 Rg8 17. hxg6 hxg6 18. Ng5 Bxh6 19. Rxh6 Nf8 20. Qf4 Ra7 21. Kd2 a4 22.
a3 bxc3+ 23. bxc3 Qe7 24. Rah1 Qxa3 25. Rh8 Rxh8 26. Rxh8 Na5 27. Nh7 Nb3+ 28.
Ke2 Kd7 29. Qxf7+ Kc6 30. Qxa7 Qb2 31. Qxa4+ Kc7 32. Rxf8 Qxc2+ 33. Kf3 Nxd4+
34. cxd4 Qxa4 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.21"]
[Round "3.25"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C02"]
[WhiteElo "2750"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bd7 6. Be2 Nge7 7. O-O Ng6 8. g3
Be7 9. h4 O-O 10. h5 Nh8 11. h6 g6 12. c4 cxd4 13. cxd5 exd5 14. Na3 f6 15.
exf6 Bxf6 16. Nb5 Nf7 17. Bf4 g5 18. Bc7 Qe7 19. Re1 Rae8 20. Rc1 a6 21. Nbxd4
Bxd4 22. Nxd4 Qf6 23. Bb6 Nxh6 24. Nxc6 Bxc6 25. Bd4 Qg6 26. Qd2 Nf5 27. Bg4
Nxd4 28. Qxd4 Qf6 29. Qxf6 Rxf6 30. Rxe8+ Bxe8 31. Rc8 Rf8 32. Rc7 Bc6 33. Be6+
Kh8 34. Kf1 d4 35. Bc4 h5 36. Bxa6 h4 37. gxh4 gxh4 38. Bd3 Rf4 39. b4 Kg8 40.
b5 Bd5 41. Rd7 Bxa2 42. Rxb7 h3 43. Kg1 Rg4+ 44. Kh2 Be6 45. Bf1 Rf4 46. Kg3
Rg4+ 47. Kh2 Rf4 48. Kg3 Rg4+ 49. Kh2 Rf4 50. Bxh3 Rh4 51. Kg3 Rxh3+ 52. Kf4 d3
53. Rb8+ Kf7 54. Rd8 Ke7 55. Ra8 d2 56. Ra1 Rd3 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.26"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 b6 3. Bg2 Bb7 4. O-O c5 5. d3 g6 6. e4 Bg7 7. a4 O-O 8. Re1
Nc6 9. Nbd2 d6 10. Nc4 a6 11. e5 Nxe5 12. Nfxe5 Bxg2 13. Kxg2 dxe5 14. Nxe5 e6
15. Qf3 Nd5 16. Bd2 Qc7 17. Nc4 b5 18. axb5 axb5 19. Rxa8 Rxa8 20. Ne3 Rd8 21.
Nxd5 Rxd5 22. Qxd5 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.27"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 d5 4. e3 Bg4 5. d4 e6 6. h3 Bxf3 7. Qxf3 Nbd7 8. Bd3
Bb4 9. O-O O-O 10. Qd1 Re8 11. Bd2 dxc4 12. Bxc4 Qe7 13. a3 Bd6 14. Qc2 Rad8
15. Rfd1 h5 16. b4 h4 17. b5 e5 18. bxc6 bxc6 19. Be2 exd4 20. exd4 c5 21. dxc5
Bxc5 22. Bb5 Qe5 23. Re1 Qg3 24. Rxe8+ Rxe8 25. Qf5 Re5 26. Qf4 Nb6 27. Bc6 Nc4
28. Rf1 Re6 29. Bf3 Nxd2 30. Qxd2 Qe5 31. Rd1 Bd6 32. Kf1 Qh2 33. Ne2 Qh1+ 34.
Ng1 Bh2 35. Qd8+ 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.28"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D27"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 Nf6 4. Nc3 c5 5. e3 dxc4 6. Bxc4 a6 7. O-O b5 8. Be2
Bb7 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Qxd8+ Kxd8 11. Nd2 Ke7 12. Nb3 Bb6 13. a4 b4 14. a5 Bc7
15. Na4 Nbd7 16. Bd2 Bd6 17. Rfc1 Rhc8 18. Nb6 Rxc1+ 19. Rxc1 Nxb6 20. axb6 a5
21. Nc5 Rb8 22. Nxb7 Rxb7 23. Ra1 Rxb6 24. Rxa5 Rb7 25. Bd3 Rd7 26. Kf1 Bxh2
27. Bxb4+ Bd6 28. Bc3 g6 29. Ke2 Nd5 30. Bd2 Bb4 31. Rxd5 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.29"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "42"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d6 2. b3 e5 3. Bb2 f5 4. c4 Nf6 5. e3 g6 6. Be2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. Nc3
Nc6 9. d4 e4 10. Ne1 Ne7 11. d5 g5 12. Nc2 Ng6 13. Rc1 f4 14. Nd4 Qe7 15. Re1
Nh4 16. Bf1 Ng4 17. Rc2 Qe5 18. h3 fxe3 19. hxg4 exf2+ 20. Rxf2 Rxf2 21. Rxe4
Qg3 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.30"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B10"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. Bc4 d5 3. Bb3 e6 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. d3 dxe4 6. Nxe4 Nxe4 7. dxe4 Qxd1+
8. Kxd1 Nd7 9. c3 Nc5 10. Bc2 a5 11. Nf3 b6 12. Be3 Ba6 13. Ne5 Rc8 14. b4 Nd7
15. Nxd7 Kxd7 16. bxa5 bxa5 17. Kc1 Ba3+ 18. Kd2 Rhd8 19. Bb6 Re8 20. Rhd1 Rb8
21. Rab1 Bc4 22. Bxa5 Rxb1 23. Rxb1 Ra8 24. Rb7+ Kc8 25. Rc7+ Kb8 26. Rxc6 Rxa5
27. Rxc4 Bd6 28. Ra4 Rxa4 29. Bxa4 Bxh2 30. g3 h5 31. Be8 h4 32. gxh4 f6 33.
Bf7 e5 34. Kd3 Kb7 35. Ke2 Bf4 36. Kf3 Kb6 37. Kg4 Bd2 38. Kf5 Kc5 39. Kg6 Bh6
40. h5 Kb5 41. Bb3 Ka5 42. a4 Kb6 43. c4 Kc5 44. a5 Kc6 45. Ba4+ Kc5 46. Bb5
1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.31"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "138"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Bf5 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 Bd6 5. Bg3 Ne7 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. Nh4 c5 8. c3
Nbc6 9. Nxf5 Nxf5 10. Bd3 Nxg3 11. hxg3 h6 12. Nf3 cxd4 13. exd4 Re8 14. O-O e5
15. dxe5 Nxe5 16. Nxe5 Rxe5 17. Bc2 Qf6 18. Qd3 g6 19. Rae1 Rae8 20. Rxe5 Rxe5
21. Bb3 Qe6 22. Rd1 Re1+ 23. Kh2 Rxd1 24. Qxd1 Bc5 25. Bxd5 Qf5 26. f4 b6 27.
b4 Bf2 28. Qf3 Qh5+ 29. Qxh5 gxh5 30. c4 h4 31. gxh4 Bxh4 32. c5 bxc5 33. bxc5
Be7 34. c6 Bd6 35. g3 Kg7 36. Kh3 Bc7 37. a4 a5 38. Kg4 Bd6 39. Kf5 Bc7 40. Bf3
Bd6 41. Bh5 Bc7 42. Ke4 Kf6 43. Kd5 Ke7 44. Kc5 f6 45. Kd5 Bb6 46. Bg4 Bc7 47.
Bh3 Bb6 48. Bg4 Bd8 49. Be2 Bb6 50. Ke4 Bf2 51. g4 Kd6 52. Kf5 Be3 53. Bf3 Kc7
54. Bd5 Bd2 55. Be4 Bc1 56. Bd5 Bd2 57. Ke4 Bc1 58. Kf3 Kd6 59. Kg3 Bd2 60. Be4
Bc1 61. Kf3 Bd2 62. f5 Bc3 63. Ke2 Be5 64. Kd3 Kc5 65. Bf3 Bc7 66. Kc3 Be5+ 67.
Kd3 Bc7 68. Kc3 Be5+ 69. Kd3 Bc7 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.32"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 c5 7. Rb1 Be7 8.
Nf3 O-O 9. Bc4 Qc7 10. Qe2 a6 11. O-O b5 12. Bd3 Bb7 13. a4 bxa4 14. Bf4 Qc8
15. d5 exd5 16. exd5 Bf6 17. Bg5 Re8 18. Qc2 Bxg5 19. Bxh7+ Kf8 20. Bf5 Qc7 21.
Nxg5 Bxd5 22. Qxa4 Qe5 23. Qh4 Qxf5 24. Qh8+ Ke7 25. Rfe1+ Be6 26. Qxg7 Kd6 27.
Nxe6 Rxe6 28. Qf8+ Kc7 29. Red1 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.33"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 b5 2. c4 bxc4 3. e4 Bb7 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bxc4 c5 6. O-O Nf6 7. Re1 Nc6 8. e5
Ng4 9. h3 Nh6 10. d4 cxd4 11. Nxd4 Nxd4 12. Qxd4 Nf5 13. Qd1 Bc5 14. Bd3 Qh4
15. Qe2 Nd4 16. Qf1 Nf3+ 17. gxf3 Qg3+ 18. Qg2 Bxf2+ 19. Kf1 Bxe1 20. Nb5 Bxf3
21. Nc7+ Ke7 22. Qc2 Bb4 23. Be3 Qxh3+ 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.34"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. f4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. e4 e6 4. Nc3 Nge7 5. g3 d5 6. d3 dxe4 7. dxe4 Qxd1+ 8.
Nxd1 b6 9. c3 Bb7 10. Nf2 h5 11. Be3 Ng8 12. O-O-O Nf6 13. Bb5 a6 14. Ba4 Be7
15. Ne5 b5 16. Nxc6 Bxc6 17. Bc2 Ng4 18. Nxg4 hxg4 19. Rd2 Rd8 20. Rhd1 Rxd2
21. Rxd2 Rh5 22. e5 Rh8 23. Bd1 Bf3 24. Bxf3 gxf3 25. Rf2 f5 26. exf6 gxf6 27.
h4 Kf7 28. Rxf3 Kg6 29. Bf2 Kf5 30. Kd2 c4 31. Ke2 Rd8 32. Re3 Bc5 33. g4+ Kxg4
34. Rg3+ Kxf4 35. Rf3+ Kg4 36. Bxc5 f5 37. Bd4 Re8 38. Re3 Kxh4 39. Kf3 Kg5 40.
Re1 a5 41. Rg1+ 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.35"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 c5 2. Bb2 Nc6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Bxf6 gxf6 5. c4 f5 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Rc1 b6 8. g3
Bb7 9. Bg2 e6 10. e3 Qe7 11. O-O h5 12. h4 O-O-O 13. d4 Kb8 14. d5 Ne5 15. d6
Qf8 16. Nxe5 Bxe5 17. Bxb7 Kxb7 18. Nb5 a6 19. Qf3+ Kb8 20. Nc7 Qxd6 21. Nxa6+
Ka7 22. b4 Kxa6 23. Rfd1 Qc7 24. bxc5 Qxc5 25. Rd3 Qc6 26. Qe2 Kb7 27. c5 bxc5
28. Rb3+ Kc7 29. Qd2 Ra8 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.36"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "129"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. d4 c6 6. Bf4 Bd6 7. Bxd6 Qxd6 8.
e3 Bf5 9. Nh4 Bg6 10. h3 Nbd7 11. Nxg6 hxg6 12. Bd3 O-O 13. O-O Rfe8 14. Rb1 a5
15. a3 b5 16. Qc2 Nb6 17. Rfc1 a4 18. Na2 Nc4 19. Nb4 Re6 20. Qd1 Rae8 21. b3
axb3 22. Rxb3 Ra8 23. Rbc3 Nd7 24. Ra1 Ndb6 25. Rcc1 Qe7 26. Qe1 Qd7 27. Bf1
Rxa3 28. Rxa3 Nxa3 29. Ra1 Nac4 30. Ra6 Qd6 31. Nd3 Re8 32. Qa1 Na4 33. Ne5
Nxe5 34. Bxb5 Qb4 35. Bxa4 Nd3 36. Bxc6 Rb8 37. Ra8 Rxa8 38. Qxa8+ Kh7 39. Qa1
Qd2 40. Qf1 Nb4 41. Be8 f5 42. g3 g5 43. h4 gxh4 44. gxh4 f4 45. Qh3 Nd3 46.
Qf5+ Kh8 47. Qh5+ Kg8 48. Qxd5+ Kh8 49. Qf3 fxe3 50. Qxe3 Qd1+ 51. Kh2 Qf1 52.
Bg6 Qxf2+ 53. Qxf2 Nxf2 54. Kg3 Nd1 55. d5 Nc3 56. d6 Ne2+ 57. Kf3 Nd4+ 58. Ke4
Ne6 59. Kd5 Nd8 60. d7 Kg8 61. Kd6 Kf8 62. h5 Nb7+ 63. Kc7 Ke7 64. Be4 Nd8 65.
Bd5 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.18"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O e5 5. d3 Ne7 6. e4 O-O 7. exd5 Nxd5 8. Re1
Nc6 9. Nc3 Nde7 10. Rb1 a5 11. a3 Re8 12. b4 axb4 13. axb4 Nf5 14. Bg5 f6 15.
Bd2 Be6 16. b5 Nce7 17. g4 Nd4 18. Nxd4 Qxd4 19. Bxb7 Bxg4 20. Bf3 Bxf3 21.
Qxf3 Ra3 22. b6 c6 23. Ne4 Nf5 24. Bb4 Ra2 25. Bc5 Qd7 26. Ra1 Rxc2 27. Ra7 Qd5
28. Rb1 Rxc5 29. b7 g5 30. b8=Q 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.19"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B35"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "187"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 g6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O 8.
Bb3 Re8 9. O-O d6 10. h3 Bd7 11. f4 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 Bc6 13. e5 dxe5 14. fxe5 Nd5
15. Qf3 Nxc3 16. Bxf7+ Kh8 17. Qxc3 Rf8 18. Rad1 e6 19. Bxe6 Qg5 20. Bg4 Rxf1+
21. Rxf1 Rd8 22. Bxa7 Bxe5 23. Be3 Qe7 24. Qb3 h5 25. Bf3 Bxf3 26. Rxf3 Rd1+
27. Kf2 Kg7 28. Ke2 Rd7 29. c3 Bf6 30. Kf1 Qe4 31. Bd4 Bxd4 32. cxd4 Qxd4 33.
Qc3 Qxc3 34. Rxc3 h4 35. Rb3 Kh6 36. Rb5 g5 37. a4 Kh5 38. Kf2 Rf7+ 39. Kg1 Re7
40. Rb6 Re1+ 41. Kf2 Re7 42. a5 Rf7+ 43. Ke3 Re7+ 44. Kf2 Rf7+ 45. Kg1 Re7 46.
b4 Rd7 47. Kf2 Rf7+ 48. Ke3 Re7+ 49. Kd3 Rd7+ 50. Ke4 Re7+ 51. Kf5 Rf7+ 52. Rf6
Rd7 53. Rb6 Rf7+ 54. Ke5 Re7+ 55. Kd6 Rg7 56. Ke5 g4 57. Kf6 Rg6+ 58. Kf5 Rg5+
59. Kf4 gxh3 60. gxh3 Rg7 61. Rb5+ Kh6 62. Rf5 Rg3 63. Rf6+ Kh5 64. Rf5+ Kg6
65. Rb5 Rxh3 66. Rb6+ Kh5 67. Rb5+ Kg6 68. Kg4 Rd3 69. Kxh4 Rd7 70. Kg4 Kf6 71.
Kf4 Ke7 72. Ke4 Kd8 73. Rd5 Kc7 74. Rxd7+ Kxd7 75. Kd5 Kc7 76. b5 Kd7 77. Ke5
Kc7 78. Ke6 Kc8 79. Ke7 Kc7 80. Ke8 Kc8 81. Ke7 Kc7 82. Ke6 Kc8 83. Kd5 Kd7 84.
Kc4 Kc7 85. Kd4 Kc8 86. Kd5 Kc7 87. Kd4 Kc8 88. b6 Kb8 89. Kc5 Ka8 90. Kd6 Kb8
91. Kd7 Ka8 92. a6 Kb8 93. a7+ Ka8 94. Kc7 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.20"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2 d6 4. O-O Bd7 5. c4 Qc8 6. Nc3 Nc6 7. d4 Bh3 8. Qa4
Bd7 9. d5 Ne5 10. Qb3 h5 11. h4 Ng4 12. c5 dxc5 13. Bf4 N8f6 14. Nb5 Nxd5 15.
Ng5 e6 16. Bxd5 Bxb5 17. Bxe6 fxe6 18. Qxb5+ c6 19. Qxc5 e5 20. Qc4 Qf5 21. e4
Qf6 22. Be3 O-O-O 23. Bxa7 Rd7 24. Bb6 Bh6 25. Qa4 Rd3 26. Rad1 Rd4 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.21"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 c6 3. c4 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. Bf4 dxc4 6. e3 b5 7. Be2 Bb7 8. b3
cxb3 9. Qxb3 e6 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Ng5 Be7 12. a4 O-O 13. Bf3 Nd5 14. Nh3 Nxc3
15. Qxc3 Nb6 16. Qb3 Qd7 17. Ng5 Bxg5 18. Bxg5 Nxa4 19. Rxa4 bxa4 20. Qxa4 a5
21. Rc1 Rfc8 22. h4 h6 23. Bf4 Qe7 24. h5 c5 25. Bd6 Qxd6 26. Bxb7 c4 27. Bxa8
Rxa8 28. Rxc4 Qd5 29. Rc5 Qd8 30. Rb5 Qe8 31. g3 f5 32. Qc4 a4 33. Rb6 a3 34.
Ra6 Kh7 35. g4 Rxa6 36. Qxa6 fxg4 37. Qd3+ Kg8 38. Qxa3 Qxh5 39. Qd6 Qd5 40.
Qe7 Qf5 41. Qe8+ Kh7 42. Qd7 Qe4 43. Qf7 g3 44. Qc7 gxf2+ 45. Kxf2 Qf5+ 46. Ke2
h5 47. e4 Qxe4+ 48. Kf2 Qxd4+ 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.22"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Nxd7 5. O-O Ngf6 6. d3 e6 7. Ng5 Be7 8.
f4 O-O 9. c4 Nb8 10. Nc3 Nc6 11. Be3 d5 12. Bf2 h6 13. Nf3 dxe4 14. dxe4 e5 15.
f5 Re8 16. Re1 Nd4 17. Nxe5 Bd6 18. Nf3 Ng4 19. h3 Nxf2 20. Kxf2 Qb6 21. b3
Nxf3 22. Qxf3 Be5 23. Nd5 Qa5 24. Rad1 Qxa2+ 25. Re2 Qa5 26. f6 Re6 27. fxg7
Rae8 28. Kg1 Rg6 29. Rf1 Rxg7 30. Kh1 Qd8 31. Qe3 Qd6 32. Rf5 Qg6 33. Qf3 Re6
34. Rd2 Kh7 35. Rxe5 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.23"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B11"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. h3 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 e6 6. d3 Nf6 7. g3 Bb4 8. a3
Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 dxe4 10. dxe4 Nbd7 11. Bg2 O-O 12. O-O Qa5 13. a4 Rfd8 14. Qe3
Nb6 15. f4 Nc4 16. Qf3 Nd2 17. Bxd2 Rxd2 18. Rab1 b6 19. Rfd1 Rad8 20. Rxd2
Rxd2 21. Rd1 Nxe4 22. Rxd2 Nxd2 23. Qd3 Qc5+ 24. Kh2 Nc4 25. Qd8+ Qf8 26. Qc7
g6 27. Qxa7 Qd8 28. Qa6 Nb2 29. Bxc6 Nd1 30. Qd3 Qxd3 31. cxd3 Nxc3 32. Kg2 Kf8
33. Kf3 Ke7 34. Ke3 Kd6 35. Be8 f6 36. Kd2 Nd5 37. d4 Nc7 38. Bf7 Ke7 39. Bg8
h6 40. Kc3 Kf8 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.24"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. c4 Qd8 6. Nc3 Be7 7. Bd3 O-O 8.
O-O b6 9. Bf4 Bb7 10. Qe2 Nc6 11. Rad1 Bd6 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bh4 Be7 14. d5 exd5
15. cxd5 Nb4 16. Rfe1 Nxd3 17. Qxd3 Re8 18. Ne5 Nxd5 19. Bxe7 Rxe7 20. Nxd5
Qxd5 21. Qxd5 Bxd5 22. Rxd5 Rae8 23. Re3 Re6 24. Nc4 c6 25. Rxe6 Rxe6 26. Rd8+
1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.25"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A01"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "31"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 a5 2. Bb2 a4 3. e3 e6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Nc3 a3 6. Bc1 d5 7. d4 Bb4 8. Bd2 O-O
9. Bd3 Re8 10. Ne2 Bxd2+ 11. Qxd2 Nbd7 12. c4 e5 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Nxe5 Rxe5
15. O-O dxc4 16. Bxh7+ 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.26"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Nxd7 5. O-O Ngf6 6. d3 g6 7. Ng5 Bg7 8.
f4 O-O 9. c4 Nb8 10. Nc3 Nc6 11. Be3 a6 12. a4 e6 13. Kh1 Qe7 14. Qe1 Rad8 15.
Rd1 d5 16. e5 d4 17. exf6 Bxf6 18. Qh4 h5 19. g4 dxe3 20. gxh5 Nd4 21. Rde1 Nf5
22. Qh3 Bxg5 23. fxg5 Qxg5 24. hxg6 fxg6 25. Rg1 Qf6 26. Ne4 Qg7 27. Nxc5 Rfe8
28. a5 Kf7 29. Qg2 Re7 30. Rgf1 Qd4 31. b4 Rh8 32. Re2 Kg7 33. Rg1 Rh6 34. Qe4
e5 35. Qxf5 Qf4 36. Qg4 Kh7 37. Ne4 Kg7 38. Qg3 Re8 39. Rxe3 Rxh2+ 40. Kxh2 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm Chess960 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.26"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rbknqnbr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RBKNQNBR w HAha - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "31"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nc6 2. f3 e5 3. Nc3 a6 4. Ne3 f6 5. Ned5 Ne6 6. a3 Ne7 7. Ba2 d6 8. Qd1
Ba7 9. Bxa7 Rxa7 10. e3 Ra8 11. d4 Nc6 12. Re1 Bf7 13. f4 Qd7 14. dxe5 dxe5 15.
b4 O-O 16. Nxf6+ 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm Chess960 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.21"]
[Round "3.26"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm Chess960 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.37"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 1m+1spm Chess960 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.27"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A21"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2 d6 4. Nc3 e5 5. e4 f5 6. Nge2 Nf6 7. d3 O-O 8. O-O c6
9. exf5 Bxf5 10. h3 h5 11. Bg5 Na6 12. Qd2 Qd7 13. Kh2 Rae8 14. Rad1 Nc5 15.
Qe3 Ne6 16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17. Ne4 Bg7 18. Qxa7 Ra8 19. Qb6 Rxa2 20. Ra1 Rxa1 21.
Rxa1 Nc5 22. Nxc5 dxc5 23. Ra7 Rf7 24. Qxc5 Bxd3 25. Qe3 Bxe2 26. Qxe2 Qd4 27.
Ra8+ Bf8 28. Kg1 Kg7 29. Re8 Bc5 30. Bf3 Rf5 31. b4 Bxb4 32. Be4 Rf6 33. Kg2
Bc5 34. Bf3 Bd6 35. h4 Rf7 36. Re6 Rf6 37. Rxf6 Kxf6 38. Be4 Bc5 39. Qc2 b5 40.
cxb5 cxb5 41. Bxg6 Qxf2+ 42. Qxf2+ Bxf2 43. Bxh5 Bxg3 44. Kxg3 b4 45. Bd1
1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.11"]
[White "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C60"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. d4 exd4 5. Bg5 Be7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. Bxc6 dxc6
8. Qxd4 Nf6 9. Nc3 Bg4 10. Nd2 c5 11. Qe3 O-O-O 12. f3 Be6 13. O-O-O b6 14. g4
Nd7 15. h3 Ne5 16. f4 Nc6 17. Nf3 h5 18. f5 hxg4 19. hxg4 Rxh1 20. Rxh1 Bc4 21.
b3 Ba6 22. Rd1 Rxd1+ 23. Kxd1 Qd6+ 24. Nd2 Qh2 25. Kc1 Nd4 26. fxg6 fxg6 27.
Nd5 Qh1+ 28. Kb2 Qd1 29. Qc3 Ne2 30. Qh8+ Kb7 31. Nb1 Qc1+ 32. Ka1 Nd4 33. Nb4
Bb5 34. a4 a5 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B20"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. f4 d6 2. Nf3 c5 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 g6 5. O-O Bg7 6. d3 e5 7. e4 Nge7 8. c3 O-O
9. Na3 f5 10. fxe5 dxe5 11. Be3 b6 12. exf5 Bxf5 13. Ng5 Qxd3 14. Qb3+ Kh8 15.
Rfe1 Bg4 16. Nf7+ Rxf7 17. Qxf7 Rf8 18. Qc4 Qd7 19. Rf1 Re8 20. Qf7 Be6 21.
Rad1 Bxf7 22. Rxd7 Bxa2 23. Nb5 Be6 24. Rxe7 Nxe7 25. Nc7 Nf5 26. Bg5 h6 27.
Nxe8 hxg5 28. Re1 Bf7 29. Nxg7 Kxg7 30. Rxe5 Kf6 31. Re1 Nd6 32. Bf1 a5 33. Kf2
b5 34. Bd3 a4 35. Ke3 b4 36. Ra1 a3 37. bxa3 b3 38. a4 c4 39. Bb1 Ke5 40. a5
Nb5 41. Kd2 Bd5 42. a6 Kd6 43. a7 Ba8 44. h4 gxh4 45. gxh4 Kc5 46. Bxg6 b2 47.
Ra2 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.13"]
[White "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c6 4. Nf3 d6 5. Be2 Nf6 6. O-O O-O 7. Be3 Nbd7 8. Nd2
b6 9. f4 Bb7 10. e5 Ne8 11. Bf3 Nc7 12. Nde4 c5 13. exd6 exd6 14. Nxd6 Qe7 15.
Nxb7 Qxe3+ 16. Kh1 cxd4 17. Ne4 Qxf4 18. Ned6 Ne5 19. Bd5 Qh4 20. g3 Qe7 21.
Bb3 Ne6 22. Qe2 Rab8 23. Qe4 h5 24. Rae1 Kh7 25. h3 Ng5 26. Qd5 Nxh3 27. Kg2
Ng5 28. Qxd4 Rxb7 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 g6 3. e3 Bg7 4. Nf3 b6 5. h3 Bb7 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O d6 8. a4
Nbd7 9. a5 bxa5 10. Nbd2 c5 11. Nc4 Ba6 12. Nxa5 Bxe2 13. Qxe2 Qb6 14. c3 Ne4
15. Qc2 d5 16. Nd2 Nxd2 17. Qxd2 Rfd8 18. Rfd1 c4 19. b3 cxb3 20. Rdb1 e5 21.
Rxb3 Qe6 22. Bg3 Nb6 23. Nb7 Nc4 24. Qa2 Rdc8 25. Nc5 Qc6 26. Qa6 Bf8 27. Nd3
Qxa6 28. Rxa6 e4 29. Ne5 Nd2 30. Rb2 Nc4 31. Nxc4 Rxc4 32. Rb5 Rxc3 33. Rxd5
Ra3 34. Rxa3 Bxa3 35. Ra5 Bb4 36. Ra6 f5 37. Be5 Kf7 38. g4 Be7 39. Kg2 Bh4 40.
f3 h5 41. gxf5 gxf5 42. fxe4 fxe4 43. d5 Rg8+ 44. Kh1 Rc8 45. Rxa7+ Kg6 46. d6
Kf5 47. Bf4 Rc1+ 48. Kg2 Rc2+ 49. Kf1 Rf2+ 50. Kg1 Rd2 51. Ra5+ Kg6 52. Ra8 Bf6
53. Kf1 h4 54. Ra5 Rd3 55. Ke2 Kf7 56. Ra4 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.15"]
[White "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C10"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 b6 5. Nf3 Bb7 6. Bd3 Nd7 7. Qe2 Ngf6 8.
Neg5 Qe7 9. Ne5 Nxe5 10. dxe5 Nd5 11. c4 Nb4 12. Be4 O-O-O 13. O-O Rd7 14. a3
Nc6 15. Qf3 Nd8 16. Bxb7+ Nxb7 17. b4 Kb8 18. c5 Nd8 19. Be3 h6 20. Ne4 Nc6 21.
Qg3 Rd5 22. Nc3 Rd3 23. Rac1 Qd7 24. Rfd1 g5 25. b5 Ne7 26. c6 Qd8 27. Bxb6
Rxd1+ 28. Rxd1 Nd5 29. Nxd5 axb6 30. Qf3 exd5 31. Rxd5 Qe8 32. Qd1 Bc5 33. g3
Qc8 34. a4 Re8 35. a5 Qf5 36. Rd8+ Rxd8 37. Qxd8+ Qc8 38. Qd5 Ka7 39. Qd7 Qxd7
40. cxd7 Be7 41. a6 c6 42. bxc6 Bd8 43. f4 gxf4 44. gxf4 Kxa6 45. f5 Kb5 46. e6
fxe6 47. f6 Kxc6 48. f7 Kxd7 49. f8=Q Bg5 50. Kf1 Kc6 51. Ke2 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.16"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B36"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 Nxd4 7. Qxd4 d6 8.
f3 Bg7 9. Be3 O-O 10. Qd2 Qa5 11. Rc1 Be6 12. Nd5 Qxa2 13. Nxe7+ Kh8 14. Bd4
Rae8 15. Qc3 Nh5 16. Bxg7+ Nxg7 17. b4 Qa4 18. b5 a5 19. Nd5 Bxd5 20. cxd5 f5
21. Ra1 Qb4 22. Qxb4 axb4 23. Bd3 Nh5 24. Kd2 fxe4 25. Bxe4 Nf6 26. Rhe1 Re5
27. Ra7 Rf7 28. Bd3 Rxe1 29. Kxe1 Nxd5 30. Kd2 Nf4 31. Bf1 Ne6 32. Bc4 d5 33.
Bd3 Nc5 34. Ra8+ Kg7 35. Rd8 Rd7 36. Rc8 b6 37. Rc6 Ra7 38. Bb1 Ra1 39. Kc1
Nd3+ 40. Kc2 b3+ 41. Kxd3 Rxb1 42. Kc3 Kf7 43. Rxb6 d4+ 44. Kb4 Ke7 45. Rc6 d3
46. b6 d2 47. b7 d1=Q 48. b8=Q Qd4+ 49. Kb5 Qd3+ 50. Kb6 Qd4+ 51. Kb7 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.21"]
[Round "3.9"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2750"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Be7 6. Qe2 Nd6 7. Bxc6 bxc6 8.
dxe5 Nb7 9. Nd4 O-O 10. Re1 Re8 11. Nc3 Bc5 12. Qd3 Bxd4 13. Qxd4 d5 14. Na4
Bf5 15. Qc3 d4 16. Qxc6 Qd7 17. Qxb7 Qxa4 18. b3 Qa5 19. Bb2 c5 20. Qd5 Rad8
21. Qc4 h6 22. h3 Qb4 23. Qxb4 cxb4 24. Rad1 Bxc2 25. Rxd4 a5 26. Rc1 Bf5 27.
Rc5 Rc8 28. Rdd5 Rxc5 29. Rxc5 Ra8 30. g4 Bb1 31. a3 Ba2 32. axb4 axb4 33. Rb5
Bxb3 34. Rxb4 Be6 35. f4 g6 36. Kf2 Rd8 37. Bd4 Ra8 38. Bb2 Rd8 39. Ke3 h5 40.
f5 gxf5 41. gxh5 Kh7 42. Bc1 Rd1 43. Bd2 Rh1 44. Ke2 Rh2+ 45. Ke1 Rxh3 46. h6
Rg3 47. Bf4 Rb3 48. Rxb3 Bxb3 49. Kf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.21"]
[Round "3.10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D32"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. e3 e6 5. d4 d5 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Bb5 cxd4 8.
Nxd4 Bd7 9. O-O Bd6 10. Nf3 Be6 11. b3 O-O 12. Bb2 a6 13. Bd3 Bg4 14. h3 Bh5
15. Be2 Re8 16. Nh4 Bg6 17. Nxg6 hxg6 18. Bf3 Be5 19. Rb1 d4 20. exd4 Nxd4 21.
Bxb7 Ra7 22. Bf3 Rd7 23. Na4 Bb8 24. Bxd4 Rxd4 25. Qc2 Qd6 26. g3 Ba7 27. Qc6
Qxc6 28. Bxc6 Re2 29. Rb2 Rxb2 30. Nxb2 Rd2 31. Nc4 Rxa2 32. Ne5 Rb2 33. Kg2
Rxb3 34. Rd1 Bb6 35. Nc4 Rc3 36. Nxb6 Rxc6 37. Rd8+ Kh7 38. Nd7 Nxd7 39. Rxd7
f6 40. h4 a5 41. Ra7 Rc5 42. f4 g5 43. hxg5 fxg5 44. Kf3 gxf4 45. gxf4 Rc3+ 46.
Kg4 Ra3 47. f5 Kg8 48. f6 gxf6 49. Kf5 a4 50. Kxf6 Ra1 51. Ke5 a3 52. Kd4 a2
53. Kc3 Rc1+ 54. Kb2 a1=Q+ 55. Rxa1 Rxa1 56. Kxa1 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.21"]
[Round "3.11"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2750"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a3
O-O 9. Nc3 Na5 10. Ba2 Be6 11. b4 Bxa2 12. Nxa2 Nc6 13. c4 Nd4 14. Nc3 Nxf3+
15. Qxf3 c6 16. Be3 Qd7 17. a4 d5 18. exd5 cxd5 19. Nxd5 Nxd5 20. Qxd5 Qxd5 21.
cxd5 Rad8 22. Rfc1 Rxd5 23. axb5 axb5 24. Bc5 Bxc5 25. Rxc5 Rxc5 26. bxc5 Rc8
27. Ra5 b4 28. Rb5 f6 29. Kf1 b3 30. Ke2 b2 31. Rxb2 Rxc5 32. h4 Rd5 33. g3
1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.21"]
[Round "3.12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d3 Nc6 4. g3 Nge7 5. Bg2 g6 6. O-O Bg7 7. c3 O-O 8. Re1
e5 9. a3 d6 10. b4 Be6 11. b5 Nb8 12. c4 h6 13. Nc3 Nd7 14. Nd5 a6 15. Rb1 axb5
16. Rxb5 b6 17. Qb3 Ra6 18. Bd2 Nc6 19. Rb1 Na7 20. Bc3 Nxb5 21. cxb5 Bxd5 22.
exd5 c4 23. Qxc4 Rxa3 24. Bb4 Ra4 25. Qb3 Rxb4 26. Qxb4 Nc5 27. Qa3 Qa8 28.
Qxa8 Rxa8 29. Nd2 Nxd3 30. Nc4 Ra2 31. Nxb6 e4 32. Nc4 Bd4 33. b6 Rxf2 34. Kh1
Rc2 35. b7 Nf2+ 36. Kg1 Nd3+ 37. Kh1 Nf2+ 38. Kg1 Nd3+ 39. Kh1 Nf2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.21"]
[Round "3.13"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2750"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 d6 7. c3 O-O 8. Re1
Re8 9. Nbd2 Bf8 10. h3 Bd7 11. Nf1 Ne7 12. Bb3 Ng6 13. Ng3 h6 14. d4 c5 15. Bc2
b5 16. Be3 Rc8 17. a4 b4 18. d5 a5 19. Nd2 c4 20. cxb4 axb4 21. b3 c3 22. Nc4
Nf4 23. Qf3 Rxc4 24. bxc4 Qa5 25. Bxf4 exf4 26. Qxf4 Qc5 27. Bb3 Bc8 28. e5
dxe5 29. Rxe5 Qd6 30. Rae1 Nd7 31. Nf5 Qxe5 32. Rxe5 Nxe5 33. d6 Nd3 34. Qf3
Re1+ 35. Kh2 Ne5 36. Qf4 g5 37. Qd4 Bxf5 38. c5 Nc6 39. Qd5 Be6 40. Qxc6 Bxb3
41. d7 Rd1 42. Qb6 c2 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.21"]
[Round "3.14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E68"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nf3 d6 6. O-O Nbd7 7. Nc3 e5 8. b3
exd4 9. Nxd4 Re8 10. e4 Nc5 11. f3 c6 12. Be3 d5 13. Nxc6 bxc6 14. Bxc5 dxc4
15. Qxd8 Rxd8 16. Rfd1 Be6 17. bxc4 Nd7 18. Bd4 Ne5 19. Nd5 cxd5 20. cxd5 Bd7
21. f4 Nc4 22. e5 a5 23. Rdc1 Rac8 24. Rc3 Nd6 25. Rxc8 Rxc8 26. Rb1 h5 27. Bf2
Nf5 28. Be4 Rc4 29. Bd3 Rc3 30. Rb3 Rxb3 31. axb3 a4 32. bxa4 Bxa4 33. Bc5 Bd7
34. Kf2 Bf8 35. d6 Bg7 36. Bc4 Kf8 37. Bd5 Ke8 38. Kf3 Bh6 39. h3 Ng7 40. g4
hxg4+ 41. hxg4 Ne6 42. Be3 Nd8 43. Be4 Bg7 44. Bd5 g5 45. f5 Bxe5 46. Bxg5 Nc6
47. Bf4 Bg7 48. Ke4 Nb4 49. Bb7 Ba4 50. Be5 Bh6 51. Kf3 Kd7 52. Be4 Nc6 53. Bf4
Bf8 54. Bd5 f6 55. g5 fxg5 56. Bxg5 Kxd6 57. Bxc6 Bxc6+ 58. Kg3 Ke5 59. Bf4+
Kxf5 60. Bb8 Bc5 61. Bc7 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.15"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C10"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bd7 5. Nf3 Bc6 6. Bd3 Nd7 7. O-O Ngf6 8.
Ng3 g6 9. Qe2 Bg7 10. Ne5 Nxe5 11. dxe5 Nd7 12. f4 O-O 13. Be4 Bxe4 14. Nxe4
Qe7 15. Be3 Rfd8 16. Rad1 f5 17. exf6 Nxf6 18. Bc5 Qe8 19. Ng5 b6 20. Ba3 c5
21. Nxe6 Rxd1 22. Rxd1 Qe7 23. Qf3 Re8 24. Nxg7 Kxg7 25. b3 Kf7 26. Bb2 Qe2 27.
Bxf6 Qxf3 28. gxf3 Kxf6 29. Kf2 Re7 30. Rd5 Ke6 31. Re5+ Kf6 32. Rxe7 Kxe7 33.
Ke3 Ke6 34. Ke4 b5 35. c4 b4 36. Kd3 Kf5 37. Ke3 h6 38. Kd3 Kxf4 39. Ke2 g5 40.
Kf2 h5 41. Ke2 g4 42. fxg4 Kxg4 43. Kf2 Kf4 44. Kg2 Ke3 45. Kg3 Kd3 46. Kh4 Kc3
47. Kxh5 Kb2 48. h4 Kxa2 49. Kg4 Kxb3 50. h5 Kxc4 51. h6 b3 52. h7 b2 53. h8=Q
b1=Q 54. Qg8+ Kc3 55. Qg7+ Kc2 56. Qh7+ Kc1 57. Qh1+ Kb2 58. Qb7+ Kc2 59. Qe4+
Kb2 60. Qb7+ Kc1 61. Qh1+ Kb2 62. Qb7+ Kc1 63. Qh1+ Kb2 64. Qb7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.21"]
[Round "3.15"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2750"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. h3 h6 10. Rd1+ Ke8 11. Nc3 Ne7 12. b3 Ng6 13. Bb2 Be7 14. Ne4
c5 15. Nc3 Nf4 16. e6 f6 17. Re1 Nxe6 18. Nd5 Kf7 19. Nh4 Rd8 20. Nxe7 Kxe7 21.
Nf5+ Kf7 22. Re2 Nf4 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.16"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Qc7 6. Ne2 Nf6 7. Bf4 e5 8.
dxe5 Nxe5 9. Bb5+ Kd8 10. O-O Bd6 11. Nd2 Be6 12. Nd4 a6 13. Re1 axb5 14. Nxb5
Qd7 15. Nxd6 Nd3 16. Bg3 Nxe1 17. Qxe1 Nh5 18. Qe5 Nxg3 19. Qxg3 Ke7 20. N2c4
dxc4 21. Rd1 Qc6 22. h4 Rhd8 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.21"]
[Round "3.16"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Bd3 b5 8. O-O
Bb7 9. Re1 Nf6 10. Nxc6 Qxc6 11. Bd4 Be7 12. Qf3 d6 13. a3 O-O 14. Qg3 Rad8 15.
Rad1 Nh5 16. Qf3 Nf6 17. Qh3 Ne8 18. Nd5 Qd7 19. e5 g6 20. Nf6+ Bxf6 21. exf6
e5 22. Qh4 Qe6 23. f4 Qxf6 24. Qxf6 Nxf6 25. fxe5 dxe5 26. Bxe5 Nd5 27. c4 bxc4
28. Bxc4 Rfe8 29. b4 Re6 30. Bb2 Rxe1+ 31. Rxe1 Kf8 32. Bd4 Nf4 33. Bc5+ Kg7
34. Re7 Bd5 35. Bxa6 Bxg2 36. Be3 Nd5 37. Bd4+ Kf8 38. Re2 Bf3 39. Bc5+ Kg7 40.
Rd2 Re8 41. Bb7 Rd8 42. a4 Kf6 43. a5 Ke5 44. a6 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.17"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D05"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 d5 4. Bd3 Bd6 5. b3 O-O 6. O-O c5 7. Bb2 cxd4 8. exd4
Nc6 9. Nbd2 Nb4 10. Be2 b6 11. Ne5 Bb7 12. a3 Nc6 13. Bd3 Rc8 14. Re1 Ne7 15.
Qe2 Ng6 16. g3 b5 17. Rac1 a6 18. b4 Bxe5 19. dxe5 Ne4 20. Bd4 Qg5 21. Nf3 Qf5
22. c3 Rc4 23. Nd2 Nxe5 24. Bxe5 Qxe5 25. Bxc4 bxc4 26. Nxe4 Qxe4 27. Qxe4 dxe4
28. Kf1 Bd5 29. Ke2 f5 30. a4 Rb8 31. Rb1 Kf7 32. b5 a5 33. b6 Ke7 34. Red1 Bb7
35. Rb5 Bc6 36. Rxa5 Rxb6 37. Ra7+ Kf6 38. Ke3 Rb3 39. Kd4 Rb2 40. Rf1 Bd5 41.
a5 Rd2+ 42. Kc5 Rc2 43. Kd4 Rd2+ 44. Kc5 Rc2 45. a6 Rxc3 46. Ra1 Rd3 47. Rd7 c3
48. a7 c2 49. Rc1 Rc3+ 50. Kb4 Rc8 51. Ka5 g5 52. Kb6 f4 53. gxf4 gxf4 54. Rc7
Rxc7 55. Kxc7 e3 56. fxe3 fxe3 57. Rxc2 Ke5 58. Rc5 e2 59. Rxd5+ exd5 60. a8=Q
Ke4 61. Kd6 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.18"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "153"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 Bf5 4. e3 e6 5. c4 Bxb1 6. Qxb1 Bb4+ 7. Kd1 Bd6 8.
Bg5 h6 9. Bh4 g5 10. Bg3 Ne4 11. Qc2 g4 12. Nd2 Bxg3 13. Nxe4 dxe4 14. hxg3 f5
15. Qb3 Nd7 16. c5 Ke7 17. Bc4 e5 18. Rh5 exd4 19. Rxf5 Rf8 20. Rxf8 Kxf8 21.
exd4 Ne5 22. Qc3 Nxc4 23. Qxc4 b5 24. cxb6 cxb6 25. Rc1 Qd6 26. Ke2 Rd8 27. Ke3
Qf6 28. Rc3 Qg5+ 29. Ke2 Qf6 30. d5 Qe5 31. Qc6 Qxd5 32. Qxd5 Rxd5 33. Rc4 h5
34. Rxe4 Rc5 35. Kd3 Kf7 36. f3 Rg5 37. fxg4 hxg4 38. Ke3 Kf6 39. Kf4 Rf5+ 40.
Kxg4 Rd5 41. Kf3 Kf5 42. g4+ Kg5 43. a4 b5 44. Rf4 bxa4 45. Rf5+ Rxf5+ 46. gxf5
Kxf5 47. g4+ Kg5 48. Kg3 a5 49. Kf3 Kg6 50. Kf4 Kf6 51. g5+ Kg6 52. Kg4 a3 53.
bxa3 a4 54. Kf4 Kg7 55. Kf5 Kf7 56. Kg4 Kg6 57. Kh4 Kg7 58. Kg3 Kg6 59. Kf4 Kg7
60. Kf5 Kf7 61. g6+ Kg7 62. Kg5 Kg8 63. Kf6 Kf8 64. Ke6 Kg7 65. Kf5 Kg8 66. Kf6
Kf8 67. Ke6 Kg7 68. Kd5 Kxg6 69. Kc6 Kf7 70. Kb5 Ke8 71. Kxa4 Kd8 72. Kb5 Kc8
73. Kb6 Kb8 74. a4 Ka8 75. a5 Kb8 76. a6 Ka8 77. a7 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.19"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A14"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 e6 2. b3 Nf6 3. Bb2 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 d5 6. c4 dxc4 7. bxc4 c5 8. O-O
Be7 9. d3 O-O 10. Nbd2 Nc6 11. Ne5 Qc7 12. Ndf3 Nxe5 13. Bxe5 Qd7 14. a4 Qc8
15. a5 Nd7 16. Bc3 Bc6 17. Qc2 Bf6 18. Bxf6 Nxf6 19. Rfb1 Qc7 20. Qc3 Nd7 21.
Nd2 Bxg2 22. Kxg2 h6 23. Ra3 Rab8 24. axb6 axb6 25. Rba1 Ne5 26. Ra7 Rb7 27.
Ra8 Rbb8 28. R8a7 Rb7 29. Ra8 Rbb8 30. R8a7 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.20"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Bd3 Nf6 6. Bf4 Bg4 7. Qb3 Qc8 8.
Nd2 e6 9. Ngf3 Be7 10. O-O Bh5 11. Rae1 Bg6 12. Bxg6 hxg6 13. h4 a6 14. a4 Nh5
15. Bh2 Nf6 16. Bf4 Nh5 17. Bg5 Bxg5 18. hxg5 Qc7 19. Qxd5 Nf4 20. Qe4 O-O-O
21. g3 Nh3+ 22. Kg2 Rh5 23. Qg4 Rdh8 24. Ne4 Ne7 25. Rh1 Nd5 26. Ne5 Kb8 27.
Qf3 f5 28. gxf6 gxf6 29. Nxg6 R8h6 30. Nxf6 Nxf6 31. Qxf6 Rf5 32. Qxf5 exf5 33.
Re8+ Ka7 34. Ne7 Qd7 35. Nc8+ Kb8 36. Rhe1 Nf4+ 37. Kf3 Ne6 38. Rg8 Nxd4+ 39.
Kf4 Ne6+ 40. Ke5 Nd8 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.21"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. b3 c5 3. Bb2 Nc6 4. e3 g6 5. c4 Bg7 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O d5 8. cxd5
Qxd5 9. Nc3 Qf5 10. Rc1 Rd8 11. Na4 b6 12. d4 Bb7 13. Bd3 Qh5 14. Be2 Qf5 15.
Bd3 Qd7 16. Bb5 Ne4 17. Qe2 Qf5 18. dxc5 Bxb2 19. Nxb2 bxc5 20. Ba6 Bxa6 21.
Qxa6 Nb4 22. Qa5 Qf6 23. Na4 Nxa2 24. Ra1 Nac3 25. Nxc5 Nd2 26. Nxd2 Rxd2 27.
Rac1 Ne2+ 28. Kh1 Rd5 29. Rc2 Qxf2 30. Qe1 Ng3+ 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.22"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. dxc5 e6 5. Nb3 Nbd7 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 Nxc5 8.
Nxc5 Bxc5 9. Nf3 O-O 10. Bd3 b6 11. O-O Bb7 12. c3 Be7 13. Qa4 Ne4 14. Bxe7
Qxe7 15. Bxe4 dxe4 16. Nd4 e5 17. Ne2 f5 18. Rad1 Rf7 19. g3 Raf8 20. Qxa7 f4
21. Qxb6 f3 22. Nc1 Qg5 23. Rfe1 Qh5 24. Qb5 Rf6 25. h4 Rg6 26. Kh2 Rg4 27. Qf1
Bc8 28. Qh1 Rxh4+ 29. gxh4 Qxh4+ 30. Kg1 Qg4+ 31. Kf1 Ba6+ 32. Nd3 Rd8 33. b3
Bxd3+ 34. Rxd3 exd3 35. Rd1 d2 36. c4 Qf5 37. Qh4 Kh7 38. e4 Qd7 39. Kg1 Qd3
40. Kh2 Qe2 41. Rg1 d1=Q 42. Rxg7+ Kxg7 43. Qe7+ Kg6 44. Qe6+ Kg7 45. Qe7+ Kg6
46. Qe6+ Kg7 47. Qe7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.23"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 e6 5. Nbd2 Bd6 6. Bg3 O-O 7. c3 Qc7 8. Bd3
Nbd7 9. O-O b6 10. e4 Bxg3 11. hxg3 dxe4 12. Nxe4 Bb7 13. Qe2 Rfd8 14. Rad1
cxd4 15. Nxd4 a6 16. Rfe1 h6 17. Rd2 Nxe4 18. Bxe4 Bxe4 19. Qxe4 Nf6 20. Qe2
Rd5 21. Red1 b5 22. Nc2 Rad8 23. Ne3 Rxd2 24. Rxd2 Rxd2 25. Qxd2 Ne4 26. Qd4
Nd6 27. a4 Nc4 28. axb5 axb5 29. b3 Ne5 30. c4 bxc4 31. Nxc4 Nc6 32. Qc5 Qd8
33. Qxc6 Qd1+ 34. Kh2 Qh5+ 35. Kg1 Qd1+ 36. Kh2 Qh5+ 37. Kg1 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bxd7+ Nbxd7 7. d4 cxd4 8.
Nxd4 Rc8 9. Qe2 Qc7 10. b3 b5 11. Nd5 Nxd5 12. exd5 bxc4 13. O-O Nf6 14. Bg5
Nxd5 15. Rac1 c3 16. Qxa6 e6 17. Rfd1 Qd7 18. Nb5 f6 19. Be3 Be7 20. Rxd5 exd5
21. Nxc3 Kf7 22. Qd3 d4 23. Bxd4 d5 24. Rd1 Bb4 25. Ne2 Qc6 26. Be3 Rhd8 27.
Qxh7 Qc2 28. Qh5+ Kg8 29. Nd4 Qe4 30. h3 Bc5 31. a4 Bxd4 32. Rxd4 Qb1+ 33. Qd1
Qxd1+ 34. Rxd1 Rc3 35. b4 Rc4 36. Bb6 Ra8 37. a5 Rxb4 38. Rxd5 Rc8 39. g3 Ra4
40. Kg2 Rc2 41. h4 Raa2 42. h5 Kh7 43. Be3 Rc3 44. Bb6 Rb3 45. Kh3 Rb1 46. Be3
Rh1+ 47. Kg2 Re1 48. Kf3 Ra3 49. g4 Rea1 50. Rd7 Kg8 51. g5 fxg5 52. Kg2 Rxa5
53. Bd4 Rd1 54. Rxg7+ Kf8 55. Bf6 Rf5 56. Bc3 Rc5 57. Bf6 Rf5 58. Bc3 Rd3 59.
Rc7 Rdf3 60. Bd4 Rf7 61. Rc8+ Ke7 62. Rg8 R3f5 63. Be3 Rh7 64. Rxg5 Rxh5 65.
Rxh5 Rxh5 66. Kf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.11"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 Nf6 2. Bb2 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. e3 O-O 5. d4 c5 6. dxc5 Qa5+ 7. c3 Qc7 8. b4
b6 9. cxb6 axb6 10. c4 Bb7 11. Nbd2 Rd8 12. a3 Nc6 13. Rc1 d6 14. Qb3 Ne5 15.
Be2 Bc6 16. O-O Ba4 17. Qa2 Ned7 18. Nd4 Rdc8 19. Nb1 Ne5 20. Nc3 Bd7 21. Nd5
Qd8 22. Qb3 h5 23. Nxf6+ Bxf6 24. Nb5 Be6 25. Nd4 Bd7 26. f4 Ng4 27. h3 Nh6 28.
Bf3 Ba4 29. Qd3 Ra7 30. b5 Nf5 31. g4 hxg4 32. hxg4 Nxd4 33. Bxd4 e5 34. Bc3
exf4 35. exf4 Bxc3 36. Rxc3 Qf6 37. Bc6 Re7 38. Qd2 Re2 39. Qxe2 Qxc3 40. Rf3
Qd4+ 41. Kh2 Bd1 42. Qe3 Qxc4 43. Rg3 Kg7 44. Kg1 Rh8 45. g5 Rh4 46. Qc3+ Qxc3
47. Rxc3 Rxf4 48. Rd3 Ba4 49. Rxd6 Rg4+ 50. Bg2 Rxg5 51. Rxb6 Bxb5 52. Kf2 Bd7
53. Rb7 Be6 54. Ra7 Rc5 55. a4 Rc2+ 56. Kg3 Ra2 57. a5 Ra3+ 58. Kf2 g5 59. Bc6
g4 60. a6 Kf6 61. Ra8 Ke5 62. Bb7 Kf4 63. Rf8 g3+ 64. Ke2 f5 65. Rf6 Bc4+ 66.
Kd2 Bxa6 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E60"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. b4 d6 5. e3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. Nc3 e4 8. Nd2 Re8
9. Bb2 h5 10. h3 h4 11. b5 c6 12. a4 Bf5 13. a5 a6 14. bxc6 bxc6 15. O-O Nbd7
16. Na4 Qxa5 17. c5 Qc7 18. cxd6 Qxd6 19. Nc4 Qc7 20. Nc5 a5 21. Bc3 Nxc5 22.
dxc5 Nd5 23. Bxg7 Kxg7 24. Qd4+ Kg8 25. Nd6 Reb8 26. Bc4 Rb4 27. Rfb1 Rab8 28.
Rxb4 axb4 29. Bxd5 cxd5 30. Qxd5 Be6 31. Qd4 f5 32. Qf6 Bf7 33. c6 b3 34. Rb1
Rb6 35. Ra1 Rb8 36. Nxf7 Qxf7 37. Qd6 Rc8 38. Ra5 Qe8 39. Ra7 Rxc6 40. Qd4 Rc1+
41. Kh2 Qb8+ 42. g3 hxg3+ 43. Kg2 Rc7 44. Qd5+ Kh7 45. Ra8 Qb7 46. Qd8 Kh6 47.
Qh4+ Kg7 48. Qh8+ Kf7 49. Rf8+ Ke6 50. Rf6+ Kd5 51. Qd8+ Kc4 52. Qd4+ Kb5 53.
Rd6 Rc4 54. Rd5+ Kb4 55. Qd2+ Ka3 56. Ra5+ Ra4 57. Qc1+ b2 58. Qc3+ Qb3 59.
Rxa4+ Kxa4 60. Qc6+ Qb5 61. Qc2+ Ka3 62. Qc3+ Ka2 63. Qc2 Qb3 64. Qd2 gxf2 65.
Kxf2 Qd3 66. Qa5+ Kb3 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.13"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "129"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 Nf6 2. Bb2 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. e3 c5 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 b6 7. Qf3 d5 8. Bb5+
Bd7 9. O-O e5 10. Bxd7+ Qxd7 11. Ne2 e4 12. Qh3 Qxh3 13. gxh3 Nc6 14. Rd1 O-O-O
15. Nbc3 Ne8 16. Rab1 Nc7 17. Nf4 Bxc3 18. Bxc3 Rhe8 19. Rd2 Rd7 20. Rbd1 Ne5
21. Bxe5 Rxe5 22. c4 Rd6 23. a4 a5 24. Nxd5 Nxd5 25. cxd5 Kd7 26. Rd4 Rf6 27.
Rc1 Rd6 28. Rcd1 Rf6 29. Kg2 Rg5+ 30. Kf1 Re5 31. b4 Rd6 32. bxa5 bxa5 33. Kg2
Ke7 34. Rc4 Rexd5 35. Rxd5 Rxd5 36. Rxe4+ Kd6 37. h4 Rd2 38. Kf3 Rb2 39. Rd4+
Ke6 40. Kg3 Rb4 41. Kf4 Rb2 42. Kf3 h5 43. Re4+ Kd6 44. Rd4+ Ke6 45. h3 Ra2 46.
Kg3 Rb2 47. f3 Rb4 48. Kf4 Rb3 49. e4 Ra3 50. Rc4 f6 51. Rc6+ Ke7 52. Rc7+ Kf8
53. Rc4 Kf7 54. Kg3 Ke6 55. Rc6+ Ke7 56. Rc7+ Kf8 57. Rc4 Ke7 58. Kf2 Kd6 59.
Rd4+ Ke5 60. Rc4 Kf4 61. e5+ Kxe5 62. Rc5+ Kf4 63. Rc4+ Ke5 64. Rc5+ Kf4 65.
Rc4+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. a3 g6 7. Be3 Bg7 8. f3
Nc6 9. Qd2 d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bd4 Bxd4 13. Qxd4 O-O 14. O-O-O
Qc7 15. Bc4 e5 16. Qd2 Be6 17. Ne4 Rfd8 18. Qg5 Nf4 19. Bxe6 Nxe6 20. Qf6 Rd5
21. h4 Rad8 22. Rde1 Nc5 23. Nc3 R8d6 24. Qg5 f6 25. Qe3 Rd4 26. g4 Qa5 27. Kb1
Na4 28. Ne4 Rd8 29. Nxf6+ Kg7 30. Nh5+ Kg8 31. Qb3+ Kh8 32. Qf7 gxh5 33. Qf6+
Kg8 34. gxh5 Nc3+ 35. Ka1 Rd1+ 36. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 37. Rxd1 Nxd1 38. Qe6+ Kf8 39.
Qd6+ Kf7 40. Qxd1 Qd5 41. Qxd5+ cxd5 42. b4 Ke6 43. Kb2 Kf5 44. a4 e4 45. fxe4+
dxe4 46. Kc3 Kf4 47. Kd2 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.15"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E61"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 e5 2. Bb2 d6 3. e3 g6 4. d4 Bg7 5. dxe5 Nd7 6. c4 dxe5 7. Nc3 Ngf6 8. Ba3
Bf8 9. Bb2 Bg7 10. Nf3 O-O 11. Be2 c6 12. O-O Re8 13. b4 e4 14. Nd2 Ne5 15.
Ndxe4 Nxe4 16. Nxe4 Nf3+ 17. Bxf3 Bxb2 18. Nd6 Re6 19. Nxc8 Rxc8 20. Rb1 Be5
21. c5 Qe7 22. Qc2 a5 23. a3 axb4 24. axb4 Rd8 25. Rfd1 Rxd1+ 26. Qxd1 h5 27.
Qd3 Qf6 28. b5 Kg7 29. h3 Re7 30. bxc6 bxc6 31. Qa6 Re6 32. Be2 Bc7 33. Bc4 Qe5
34. Bxe6 Qh2+ 35. Kf1 Qh1+ 36. Ke2 Qxb1 37. Qa2 Qxa2+ 38. Bxa2 Kf6 39. Bb3 Ke7
40. f4 h4 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.16"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B72"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "154"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. Be2 Nc6 8.
Qd2 O-O 9. O-O-O Ng4 10. Bxg4 Bxg4 11. f3 Be6 12. Kb1 Rc8 13. h4 Qa5 14. Nd5
Bxd5 15. Qxa5 Nxa5 16. exd5 Nc4 17. Bc1 Nb6 18. Nb3 a5 19. Nxa5 Rc5 20. Nb3
Rxd5 21. Rxd5 Nxd5 22. h5 Rc8 23. hxg6 hxg6 24. Bd2 b5 25. c3 f5 26. a3 Nb6 27.
Bg5 e6 28. Rh4 Nc4 29. Nd4 Bxd4 30. Rxd4 Kf7 31. b3 Na5 32. Kb2 d5 33. Rb4 Rb8
34. a4 e5 35. Rxb5 Rxb5 36. axb5 Ke6 37. Ka3 f4 38. Kb4 Nb7 39. b6 Kf5 40. Bh4
g5 41. Be1 Ke6 42. Kb5 e4 43. Kc6 Na5+ 44. Kb5 Nb7 45. b4 Kd7 46. Ka6 Kc8 47.
Ka7 Nd6 48. c4 dxc4 49. fxe4 g4 50. e5 Nb5+ 51. Ka8 Nc7+ 52. bxc7 f3 53. gxf3
gxf3 54. b5 Kxc7 55. Ka7 c3 56. b6+ Kd7 57. b7 c2 58. b8=Q c1=Q 59. Qd6+ Ke8
60. Qe6+ Kf8 61. Bb4+ Kg7 62. Qf6+ Kh7 63. Qe7+ Kg6 64. Bc5 Kf5 65. e6 Qa1+ 66.
Kb7 Qb2+ 67. Kc8 Qc3 68. Kd7 Qd3+ 69. Ke8 Qd5 70. Kf7 Qe5 71. Bd6 Qh8 72. Bg3
Qh7+ 73. Ke8 Qg8+ 74. Qf8+ Qxf8+ 75. Kxf8 Kxe6 76. Bf2 Kd7 77. Kf7 Kc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm Chess960 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.17"]
[White "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "bbqrnkrn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BBQRNKRN w GDgd - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 c5 2. Ng3 Ng6 3. c4 Nf6 4. Nf3 b6 5. d3 d5 6. cxd5 Bxd5 7. O-O O-O 8. d4
c4 9. e4 Bf4 10. Qc2 Bb7 11. e5 Bxf3 12. gxf3 Nd5 13. bxc4 Nb4 14. Qb3 Nh4 15.
Kh1 Qh3 16. Rg1 Nc6 17. Be4 Na5 18. Qd3 g6 19. Qf1 Qxf1 20. Rgxf1 Nxc4 21. Ne2
Bh6 22. d5 Nd2 23. Rxd2 Bxd2 24. f4 Rc8 25. Rd1 Bb4 26. Bb2 Rfd8 27. h3 Rc4 28.
f3 Bc5 29. Kh2 Nf5 30. Rc1 Ne3 31. Rxc4 Nxc4 32. Bc3 Ne3 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm Chess960 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.21"]
[Round "3.17"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2750"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm Chess960 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.24"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 3m+2spm Chess960 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.17"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "142"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. Be2 Nf6 5. Nc3 O-O 6. O-O Nc6 7. Be3 e5 8. dxe5
dxe5 9. Qxd8 Rxd8 10. Rfd1 Bg4 11. Kf1 Bxf3 12. Bxf3 Nd4 13. Rac1 a6 14. Nd5
Nxd5 15. exd5 Rd7 16. Bxd4 exd4 17. Re1 Kf8 18. Ke2 Rad8 19. Kd3 Rd6 20. c4
dxc3 21. bxc3 c5 22. a4 b5 23. axb5 axb5 24. Rb1 c4+ 25. Kc2 Rb8 26. Rb2 Rdb6
27. Reb1 Be5 28. Be2 Bc7 29. d6 Bxd6 30. Bxc4 Rc8 31. Bxb5 Be5 32. Rb3 Rf6 33.
f3 Bxh2 34. Rh1 Bf4 35. Rxh7 Rc5 36. Rh8+ Kg7 37. Re8 Be5 38. Bd3 Rd6 39. c4
Ra5 40. Rb5 Ra2+ 41. Kb1 Rxg2 42. Rexe5 Rxd3 43. Re1 Rxf3 44. Rc1 Rf6 45. c5
Rc6 46. Rb6 Rc8 47. c6 Re2 48. c7 Re7 49. Rbc6 g5 50. Kb2 g4 51. Kb3 g3 52.
R1c3 Kf8 53. Rxg3 Rexc7 54. Rb6 Rc6 55. Rb4 Rg6 56. Rf3 Rc7 57. Kb2 Kg7 58. Kb3
Rg5 59. Rc4 Rgc5 60. Rg4+ Kf8 61. Rb4 f5 62. Rbf4 Rb5+ 63. Ka4 Rcc5 64. Rh3 Kg7
65. Rfh4 Rb1 66. Rh7+ Kf6 67. R7h6+ Ke5 68. Re3+ Kf4 69. Rhh3 Rc8 70. Ref3+ Ke5
71. Re3+ Kf6 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B20"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. a3 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Bc4 Nc6 5. d3 d6 6. h4 Nf6 7. Nge2 h5 8. Bg5
Nd4 9. Nxd4 cxd4 10. Nd5 Nxd5 11. Bxd5 Qb6 12. O-O O-O 13. Bxe7 Re8 14. Bg5
Qxb2 15. Rb1 Qxa3 16. Qf3 Be6 17. Rxb7 Bxd5 18. exd5 Rf8 19. Be7 Rab8 20. Rd7
Qa4 21. Rxd6 Rfe8 22. Bf6 Bf8 23. Rc6 Rbc8 24. g3 a5 25. c4 dxc3 26. Bxc3 Bg7
27. Bxg7 Kxg7 28. Qf6+ Kg8 29. Rfc1 Rb8 30. d6 Qg4 31. Rc7 Rf8 32. d7 Rbd8 33.
Qe7 Qe6 34. Qxe6 fxe6 35. R1c6 Kf7 36. Ra6 Ke7 37. Rxa5 Rxd7 38. Rxd7+ Kxd7 39.
Ra7+ Kd6 40. Rg7 Rf6 41. Kg2 e5 42. f3 Kd5 43. Kf2 Ra6 44. Ke3 Rb6 45. g4 hxg4
46. fxg4 Ra6 47. Rg8 Rb6 48. h5 gxh5 49. gxh5 Rh6 50. Rg5 Ra6 51. Rg1 Rh6 52.
Rh1 Kd6 53. Ke4 Ke6 54. Rh4 Kf6 55. Rh2 Ke6 56. Rh1 Kf6 57. Kd5 Rh8 58. h6 Rd8+
59. Ke4 Rd4+ 60. Ke3 Rd8 61. h7 Kg7 62. h8=Q+ 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B00"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Bd3 e5 5. d5 Nb4 6. Be2 a5 7. O-O Be7 8. Nbd2
O-O 9. a3 Na6 10. b4 c6 11. c4 Bd7 12. Rb1 axb4 13. axb4 c5 14. b5 Nb4 15. Bb2
g6 16. Qb3 Nh5 17. Rfe1 Nf4 18. Bf1 f5 19. Ba3 Nc2 20. Qxc2 Rxa3 21. Ra1 Rxa1
22. Rxa1 g5 23. exf5 g4 24. Ne1 Bxf5 25. Qd1 Bg5 26. Ra3 Qf6 27. g3 Nh3+ 28.
Bxh3 gxh3 29. Qe2 e4 30. Ra2 Qd4 31. Nf1 Bd7 32. Ne3 Bxe3 33. Qxe3 Qxe3 34.
fxe3 Bg4 35. Rf2 Ra8 36. Rf4 h5 37. Rxe4 Ra1 38. Kf1 Ra2 39. Kg1 Re2 40. Nd3
Rg2+ 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. O-O Bg4 7. Be3 Nc6 8. Qc1
e5 9. dxe5 dxe5 10. Rd1 Qe7 11. Bg5 Qc5 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. Nd5 Bg7 14. c3 Bxf3
15. Bxf3 Ne7 16. Qe3 Qd6 17. Nb4 Qe6 18. Qc5 a5 19. Nc2 Rfc8 20. Be2 b6 21. Qb5
Rd8 22. Ne3 h5 23. g3 Bh6 24. Nc4 Bg7 25. a4 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.5"]
[White "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C41"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7 6. g3 Nc6 7. Bg2 Nxd4 8.
Qxd4 O-O 9. O-O Re8 10. Re1 Be6 11. e5 dxe5 12. Qxd8 Rexd8 13. Bxb7 Rab8 14.
Bg2 Bb4 15. Be3 a5 16. Ba7 Bxc3 17. bxc3 Rb2 18. a4 e4 19. Bd4 Rxc2 20. h3 h6
21. g4 Rb8 22. Bxe4 Nxe4 23. Rxe4 Bd5 24. Re7 c5 25. Bxc5 Rxc3 26. Be3 Rcb3 27.
Kh2 Rb1 28. Rxb1 Rxb1 29. Ra7 g5 30. Rxa5 Rh1+ 31. Kg3 Rg1+ 32. Kh2 Rg2+ 33.
Kh1 Be4 34. Re5 Rxg4+ 35. Kh2 Rg2+ 36. Kh1 Bf3 37. Rf5 Rxf2+ 38. Kg1 Rg2+ 39.
Kf1 Be4 40. Re5 Bc6 41. Rc5 Bf3 42. Rf5 Rg3 43. Kf2 Be4 44. Kxg3 Bxf5 45. h4 f6
46. Bb6 Kf7 47. Bd8 Bc8 48. a5 Kg6 49. Be7 f5 50. hxg5 hxg5 51. Bd6 Kf7 52. Bc7
Ba6 53. Bd8 Kg6 54. Bc7 Bc4 55. Bd6 Be2 56. Bc7 Kf7 57. Bd8 Kg6 58. Bc7 Bc4 59.
Bd6 Kf6 60. Bc7 Ke6 61. Bd8 f4+ 62. Kg4 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A01"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 e5 2. Bb2 d6 3. e3 g6 4. d4 Bg7 5. dxe5 Nd7 6. h4 h5 7. Nf3 Nxe5 8. Nc3
Bg4 9. Be2 Nxf3+ 10. gxf3 Be6 11. Qd2 Ne7 12. O-O-O Nc6 13. Ne4 Bxb2+ 14. Kxb2
Qe7 15. Bb5 Bd7 16. Qc3 O-O-O 17. Nf6 Qe5 18. Bxc6 Bxc6 19. e4 Qf4 20. Rd5 Bxd5
21. Nxd5 Qe5 22. Nf6 c6 23. Rg1 Kb8 24. a4 Qh2 25. Rg5 Qxh4 26. Qe3 d5 27. exd5
cxd5 28. Qe5+ Ka8 29. Nxd5 a6 30. Nc7+ Ka7 31. Qc5+ Kb8 32. Nxa6+ Ka8 33. Nc7+
Kb8 34. Nb5 Qf4 35. Re5 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.7"]
[White "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B15"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Qc7 5. Bc4 Nf6 6. Ng5 e6 7. Qe2 h6 8.
N5f3 Bd6 9. Ne5 c5 10. Ngf3 cxd4 11. Bf4 Nc6 12. h4 Bd7 13. O-O O-O-O 14. c3 g5
15. Nxd7 Rxd7 16. Bxd6 Qxd6 17. cxd4 Kb8 18. Bb5 Rc7 19. Bxc6 Rxc6 20. Ne5 Rc7
21. Qf3 Qe7 22. Rac1 Rhc8 23. Rxc7 Rxc7 24. hxg5 hxg5 25. Qg3 Nd5 26. Re1 a6
27. Nf3 f6 28. Qg4 Rc6 29. Qe4 Qc7 30. g3 Ka7 31. a3 Qb6 32. Qe2 Qb3 33. Nh2
Rb6 34. Ng4 f5 35. Ne3 Qxb2 36. Qxb2 Rxb2 37. Nxd5 exd5 38. Re5 f4 39. Rxg5
fxg3 40. Rxg3 Rd2 41. f4 Rxd4 42. Rf3 Kb6 43. f5 Kc5 44. f6 Rg4+ 45. Kf2 Rg8
46. Ke3 Rf8 47. Kd3 Rf7 48. a4 b5 49. axb5 axb5 50. Rf5 b4 51. Rf4 Kd6 52. Rxb4
Ke5 53. Rh4 Rxf6 54. Rh5+ Kd6 55. Rh8 Rf3+ 56. Kd4 Rf4+ 57. Kd3 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E91"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Be3 c6 7. Nf3 e5 8. dxe5
dxe5 9. O-O Qe7 10. h3 Na6 11. Qc2 Nh5 12. Rfd1 Nf4 13. Bf1 Nc5 14. b4 Nce6 15.
c5 a5 16. b5 Qf6 17. bxc6 bxc6 18. Rd6 Nxh3+ 19. Kh1 Nhf4 20. Rxc6 Nd4 21. Nxd4
Qh4+ 22. Kg1 exd4 23. Bxf4 Qxf4 24. Nd5 Qh4 25. g3 Qg5 26. Qc1 Qe5 27. Qf4 Rb8
28. Rc1 Be6 29. Rb6 Rxb6 30. cxb6 Qxf4 31. Nxf4 Bxa2 32. b7 Be5 33. Ra1 Bb3 34.
Rxa5 Bb8 35. Rc5 Kg7 36. Rc8 Ba4 37. Nd5 Bd7 38. Nb6 Bg4 39. Bc4 Ba7 40. Kg2
1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E16"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 e6 2. c4 b6 3. g3 Bb7 4. Bg2 g6 5. O-O Bg7 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. d4 Ne4 8. Bd2
O-O 9. Rc1 c5 10. d5 exd5 11. cxd5 Nxd2 12. Nxd2 d6 13. Nc4 Ba6 14. b3 b5 15.
Nd2 Nd7 16. a4 b4 17. Nce4 Ne5 18. Nc4 Nxc4 19. bxc4 Re8 20. Re1 f5 21. Nd2 Bc3
22. e3 Qf6 23. Re2 Re7 24. Qb3 Rae8 25. Nb1 Be5 26. f4 Bd4 27. Rce1 Bxe3+ 28.
Rxe3 Rxe3 29. Rxe3 Qd4 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.21"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2750"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Bg4 3. Bg2 c6 4. O-O Nd7 5. d3 e6 6. e4 Bd6 7. h3 Bh5 8. exd5
exd5 9. Qe1+ Ne7 10. Nh4 O-O 11. g4 Re8 12. gxh5 Nc8 13. Qd1 Qxh4 14. Qg4 Qd8
15. h6 g6 16. c4 Ne5 17. Qd1 dxc4 18. dxc4 Nb6 19. Nc3 Nexc4 20. Ne4 Be5 21.
Qf3 f5 22. Ng5 Bxb2 23. Bf4 Bxa1 24. Rxa1 Qf6 25. Rc1 Rad8 26. h4 Rd4 27. Qc3
Rd1+ 28. Kh2 Qxc3 29. Rxc3 Rd4 30. Kg3 Red8 31. Bf1 Rxf4 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D32"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. Nc3 e6 4. e3 Nc6 5. d4 d5 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Bb5 cxd4 8.
Nxd4 Bd7 9. O-O Bd6 10. Nf3 a6 11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. e4 Bb4 13. exd5 O-O 14. Bg5
Bxc3 15. bxc3 cxd5 16. Qd4 Rc8 17. Ne5 Be6 18. Rab1 h6 19. Bxf6 Qxf6 20. Rb6 a5
21. f4 Rb8 22. Rfb1 Rxb6 23. Rxb6 Qf5 24. h3 Qc2 25. Nc6 Kh7 26. Ne7 Re8 27.
Rb7 Bf5 28. Nxf5 Qxf5 29. Rb5 Re2 30. Qxd5 Qxd5 31. Rxd5 Rxa2 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "140"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nd2 e6 5. Nb3 Nd7 6. Nf3 Ne7 7. Be2 h6 8. O-O
Qc7 9. c3 Bh7 10. Bd3 Bxd3 11. Qxd3 c5 12. Nxc5 Nxc5 13. dxc5 Qxc5 14. Be3 Qc7
15. Qd4 Nf5 16. Qa4+ Qd7 17. Qg4 h5 18. Qf4 g6 19. Nd4 Bh6 20. Qf3 Nxe3 21.
fxe3 Bg7 22. e4 Bxe5 23. exd5 O-O 24. dxe6 Bxd4+ 25. cxd4 Qxd4+ 26. Kh1 fxe6
27. Qxb7 Rxf1+ 28. Rxf1 Rf8 29. Rg1 Rf2 30. Qe7 Qd5 31. Qxa7 Rxb2 32. a4 Ra2
33. h3 e5 34. Qe7 Kh8 35. Qg5 Kg7 36. Rf1 Qd6 37. Rb1 Rxa4 38. Rb7+ Kg8 39. Qc1
Ra8 40. Qc4+ Kh8 41. Qc1 Kg8 42. Qc4+ Kh8 43. Qc1 Qf8 44. Qg5 Qf1+ 45. Kh2 Qf4+
46. Qxf4 exf4 47. Rf7 Ra4 48. Kg1 Kg8 49. Rb7 Ra5 50. Rb4 Rf5 51. h4 f3 52. g3
f2+ 53. Kf1 Rf3 54. g4 hxg4 55. Rxg4 Kh7 56. Rg2 Kh6 57. Rxf2 Rh3 58. Rf4 Kh5
59. Kg2 Rxh4 60. Rf8 Rg4+ 61. Kh3 Rh4+ 62. Kg3 Ra4 63. Rb8 Ra3+ 64. Kg2 g5 65.
Rb4 g4 66. Rb8 Ra2+ 67. Kg3 Ra3+ 68. Kg2 Ra2+ 69. Kg3 Ra3+ 70. Kg2 Ra2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.2"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D39"]
[WhiteElo "2750"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e4 b5 7. a4 c5 8. axb5
cxd4 9. Nxd4 h6 10. Bxf6 Qxf6 11. b6 a5 12. Bxc4 O-O 13. O-O Bxc3 14. bxc3 Nd7
15. Nxe6 fxe6 16. b7 Bxb7 17. Qxd7 Bxe4 18. Qxe6+ Qxe6 19. Bxe6+ Kh7 20. f3 Rf6
21. Bb3 Rb6 22. Ra3 Bc6 23. Rfa1 Rb5 24. Bc2+ Kg8 25. Ba4 Rc5 26. Bxc6 Rxc6 27.
Rxa5 Rxa5 28. Rxa5 Rxc3 29. h3 Rc4 30. Kh2 Kh7 31. Ra6 g5 32. Kg3 Kg7 33. Re6
Ra4 34. Re4 Ra2 35. h4 Kg6 36. Re6+ Kh5 37. Kh3 gxh4 38. Re4 Kg6 39. Rg4+ Kf6
40. Kxh4 Ra5 41. Rb4 Ra2 42. Rb6+ Kg7 43. g3 Rh2+ 44. Kg4 Ra2 45. f4 Ra5 46.
Kh4 Ra1 47. f5 Rh1+ 48. Kg4 Rf1 49. Rg6+ Kh7 50. Re6 Kg7 51. Re7+ Kf6 52. Re6+
Kg7 53. Re4 Kf6 54. Rf4 h5+ 55. Kxh5 Rxf4 56. gxf4 Kxf5 57. Kh6 Kxf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.3"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D05"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 e6 4. b3 b6 5. Bb2 Ba6 6. Bxa6 Nxa6 7. O-O Be7 8. c4
O-O 9. Qe2 Qc8 10. cxd5 exd5 11. Rc1 Qb7 12. Ne5 c5 13. Nd2 Rac8 14. Ndf3 Ne4
15. Qb5 f6 16. dxc5 Naxc5 17. Nd3 Ne6 18. Nd4 a6 19. Qa4 N6c5 20. Nxc5 Nxc5 21.
Rxc5 bxc5 22. Nf5 c4 23. Nxe7+ Qxe7 24. Ba3 Qe8 25. Bxf8 Qxa4 26. bxa4 Kxf8 27.
Kf1 Ke7 28. Rb1 Kd6 29. Ke2 Kc5 30. Rb7 g5 31. Kd2 d4 32. exd4+ Kxd4 33. Rd7+
Kc5 34. Kc3 Re8 35. Rc7+ Kd5 36. Rd7+ Kc5 37. Rc7+ Kd5 38. Rd7+ Kc5 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B10"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d3 d5 3. Nd2 e5 4. Ngf3 Bd6 5. d4 exd4 6. exd5 Nf6 7. Nc4 Bb4+ 8.
Bd2 Bxd2+ 9. Qxd2 cxd5 10. Nce5 O-O 11. O-O-O Nc6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Qxd4 Bg4
14. Bd3 Qb6 15. Qxb6 axb6 16. a3 Rfe8 17. Rhe1 Kf8 18. Be2 Ne4 19. Nd4 Bd7 20.
f3 Nd6 21. Bf1 g5 22. Rxe8+ Rxe8 23. b4 Ra8 24. Kb2 Ke7 25. Nb3 Bc8 26. b5 Bd7
27. bxc6 Bxc6 28. Nd4 Bb7 29. Bd3 h6 30. h4 Ra4 31. c3 Ba6 32. Kb3 b5 33. hxg5
hxg5 34. Nxb5 Bxb5 35. Bxb5 Rh4 36. Rxd5 f5 37. a4 Rh2 38. c4 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.21"]
[Round "3.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A34"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. e3 e5 5. Be2 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. O-O Nc7 8.
Qc2 Be7 9. Rd1 O-O 10. a3 Be6 11. b3 Rc8 12. Bb2 b6 13. Bc4 Kh8 14. h4 f6 15.
h5 Bg4 16. h6 gxh6 17. Qe4 Qd7 18. Nb5 Nxb5 19. Bxb5 Qe6 20. d4 exd4 21. Qxe6
Bxe6 22. exd4 Bxb3 23. Re1 Bd6 24. d5 Ne5 25. Nxe5 Bxe5 26. Rxe5 fxe5 27. Bxe5+
Kg8 28. d6 Rcd8 29. Re1 Rf5 30. f4 Rf7 31. Bc6 Kf8 32. Re3 Be6 33. Kh2 Rc8 34.
d7 Rxd7 35. Bxd7 Bxd7 36. Bd6+ Kg8 37. Re7 Bf5 38. Be5 c4 39. g4 Bd3 40. Bc3
Kf8 41. Rxa7 Re8 42. f5 Re2+ 43. Kg3 Re3+ 44. Kf2 Re2+ 45. Kf3 Rc2 46. Bb4+ Ke8
47. f6 Bg6 48. f7+ Bxf7 49. Re7+ Kd8 50. Rxf7 c3 51. Rxh7 Rc1 52. Ke2 Rg1 53.
Kd3 Rxg4 54. Kxc3 Kc8 55. Kb3 h5 56. Rxh5 Kb7 57. Rh6 Rd4 58. Re6 Rg4 59. Bd2
Rg5 60. Bxg5 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.5"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A06"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 e6 2. b3 d5 3. Bb2 Nf6 4. g3 g6 5. c4 Bg7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O c5 8. cxd5
exd5 9. d4 Ne4 10. Qc1 Nc6 11. dxc5 d4 12. Rd1 Qf6 13. Nbd2 Nc3 14. Bxc3 dxc3
15. Ne4 Qe7 16. Nxc3 Qf6 17. Ne4 Qxa1 18. Qxa1 Bxa1 19. Rxa1 Rd8 20. Nd6 Rb8
21. Ng5 f6 22. Nge4 Kg7 23. e3 Be6 24. Nc3 Rd7 25. Ncb5 Rbd8 26. Bxc6 bxc6 27.
Nd4 Bh3 28. Nxc6 Ra8 29. Nd4 a5 30. Rc1 Re7 31. c6 Rd8 32. N4b5 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.21"]
[Round "3.5"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C49"]
[WhiteElo "2750"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bb4 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 Bxc3 7. bxc3 d6 8.
Re1 Bd7 9. d4 Re8 10. Bd3 Bg4 11. d5 Nb8 12. h3 Bxf3 13. Qxf3 Nbd7 14. Rb1 Nc5
15. Be3 Rb8 16. g4 Nfd7 17. g5 Nf8 18. Bb5 Re7 19. Kh2 Ng6 20. Rg1 Nf4 21. Rg4
Qf8 22. Bxf4 exf4 23. Rxf4 Re5 24. Rg1 Qe7 25. Bd3 Re8 26. Rgg4 a6 27. c4 Nd7
28. Qg3 Nc5 29. h4 Rf8 30. Kg2 Nd7 31. Rf5 f6 32. gxf6 Rxf6 33. Rfg5 Rf7 34. f4
Rxg5 35. hxg5 Nc5 36. e5 Nxd3 37. cxd3 dxe5 38. fxe5 Qa3 39. Rf4 Qxa2+ 40. Kh3
Qb1 41. Rxf7 Qh1+ 42. Kg4 Kxf7 43. e6+ Ke8 44. Qxc7 Qg2+ 45. Qg3 Qxg3+ 46. Kxg3
a5 47. c5 Ke7 48. Kf4 a4 49. Ke5 a3 50. d6+ Ke8 51. e7 Kd7 52. Kd5 a2 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Nf6 6. Bf4 Bg4 7. Qb3 Qc8 8.
Nd2 e6 9. Ngf3 Be7 10. O-O Bh5 11. Rae1 Bg6 12. Bxg6 hxg6 13. h3 a6 14. a4 Nd7
15. Re3 O-O 16. h4 Nf6 17. Qd1 b5 18. Ne5 b4 19. Bg5 Re8 20. Rh3 Qc7 21. Ndf3
bxc3 22. bxc3 Rac8 23. Nxc6 Qxc6 24. Ne5 Qc7 25. Qf3 Bd8 26. h5 Nxh5 27. Bxd8
Rexd8 28. g4 Nf6 29. Kg2 g5 30. Qe3 Ne4 31. f3 Nf6 32. Rfh1 Kf8 33. Qxg5 Qxc3
34. Rh8+ Ke7 35. Rxd8 Rxd8 36. Qxg7 Qc2+ 37. Kg3 Rf8 38. Rh6 Ne8 39. Qg5+ f6
40. Qg6 Qxa4 41. Rh7+ Kd8 42. Qb1 Qb5 43. Nc6+ Qxc6 44. Qb8+ Qc8 45. Qb6+ 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.21"]
[Round "3.6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B40"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d3 Nc6 4. g3 g6 5. h4 Nf6 6. Bg2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. Re1 d5
9. Nbd2 b5 10. exd5 exd5 11. Nb3 c4 12. Nbd4 Nxd4 13. Nxd4 Qb6 14. Be3 Ng4 15.
Nf5 Nxe3 16. Nxe3 Bb7 17. Nxd5 Bxd5 18. Bxd5 Rad8 19. dxc4 bxc4 20. Qf3 Qxb2
21. Rad1 Qxc2 22. Bxf7+ Kh8 23. Rxd8 Rxd8 24. Qc6 Rf8 25. Re8 Qf5 26. Rxf8+
Bxf8 27. Qxc4 Qf6 28. h5 Kg7 29. Be8 Bd6 30. Kg2 Be5 31. Qe4 Bd4 32. f4 Bc5 33.
Ba4 Qb2+ 34. Bc2 Qf6 35. Qb7+ Kh6 36. hxg6 hxg6 37. Qe4 Kg7 38. Kf3 Bb6 39. Kg4
Kh6 40. Qe8 Kg7 41. a4 Bd4 42. a5 Bg1 43. Bd3 Bf2 44. a6 Bb6 45. Kf3 Qf7 46.
Qe4 Qf6 47. Bc2 Qc3+ 48. Kg2 Qf6 49. Kh3 Bg1 50. Qb7+ Kh6 51. Qc8 Bb6 52. Qg8
Qg7 53. Qe6 Bd4 54. g4 Kh7 55. g5 Kh8 56. Bxg6 Qf8 57. Kg4 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.7"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D04"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. e3 c5 4. dxc5 e6 5. b4 a5 6. c3 axb4 7. cxb4 b6 8. a4
bxc5 9. b5 c4 10. Be2 Nbd7 11. O-O Bb4 12. Bd2 Qa5 13. Qc2 O-O 14. Nc3 Qc7 15.
Rfb1 Ba5 16. e4 Bb7 17. exd5 exd5 18. Be3 Rfe8 19. Bd4 Nc5 20. Ra2 Ne6 21. Be5
Qc5 22. Bxf6 gxf6 23. Bf1 f5 24. Nd1 f4 25. Qf5 Qf8 26. Ne5 Qg7 27. Nc6 Bxc6
28. bxc6 Rad8 29. Rb5 Nd4 30. Qxf4 Nxb5 31. axb5 Bb6 32. Ra6 Re4 33. c7 Rxf4
0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.21"]
[Round "3.7"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2750"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "160"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bb7 7. d3 Be7 8. Re1
O-O 9. a4 Re8 10. c3 h6 11. Ba2 b4 12. Nbd2 Bc5 13. Nc4 Ba7 14. Be3 Bxe3 15.
Nxe3 Rb8 16. a5 d6 17. Bc4 bxc3 18. bxc3 Bc8 19. Qa4 Ne7 20. Qa2 Rf8 21. Rab1
Ra8 22. Nh4 c6 23. g3 d5 24. exd5 cxd5 25. Bb3 Be6 26. Nf3 Ng6 27. d4 e4 28.
Ne5 Nxe5 29. dxe5 Nd7 30. Nxd5 Nxe5 31. Rxe4 Nf3+ 32. Kg2 Ng5 33. Rh4 Rc8 34.
Rd1 Rc5 35. Rdd4 Rxa5 36. Qd2 Ra1 37. Qe3 Qd7 38. Nf6+ gxf6 39. Rxd7 Bxd7 40.
f4 Re8 41. Qxe8+ Bxe8 42. fxg5 hxg5 43. Rb4 Kg7 44. Kf2 a5 45. Rb8 Bc6 46. Rb6
Be4 47. Ra6 Ra3 48. Bd1 Ra2+ 49. Ke3 Bd5 50. h4 Rg2 51. hxg5 fxg5 52. g4 Rg1
53. Be2 Re1 54. Kd4 Bb7 55. Ra7 Rxe2 56. Rxb7 Rg2 57. c4 Rxg4+ 58. Kd5 Rg1 59.
c5 Rd1+ 60. Ke5 Rc1 61. Kd6 g4 62. c6 a4 63. c7 g3 64. Rb5 Kf6 65. Rc5 Rxc5 66.
Kxc5 g2 67. c8=Q g1=Q+ 68. Kb4 Qd4+ 69. Ka3 Kg7 70. Qc1 f6 71. Qc7+ Kg6 72.
Qg3+ Kf7 73. Qc7+ Ke6 74. Qc8+ Qd7 75. Qc4+ Ke7 76. Qe4+ Qe6 77. Qb7+ Kd6 78.
Qb6+ Ke7 79. Qb7+ Ke8 80. Qb8+ Kf7 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D04"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "29"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 c5 4. Nbd2 Nc6 5. dxc5 e6 6. a3 a5 7. b3 Bxc5 8. Bb2
O-O 9. Bb5 d4 10. Bxc6 dxe3 11. Ne4 exf2+ 12. Kf1 Qb6 13. Nxf6+ gxf6 14. Be4
Rd8 15. Qe2 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.9"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A43"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "33"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. Bg5 Qb6 5. Bxf6 Qxf6 6. c3 g6 7. e3 b4 8. Nbd2
Bg7 9. Rc1 O-O 10. Be2 bxc3 11. bxc3 d6 12. O-O Nd7 13. Ne4 Qf5 14. Ng3 Qf6 15.
Ne4 Qf5 16. Ng3 Qf6 17. Ne4 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D04"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 c5 4. Nbd2 cxd4 5. exd4 Nc6 6. Bb5 Bg4 7. c4 dxc4 8.
Qa4 Bd7 9. Ne5 Nxe5 10. dxe5 Bxb5 11. Qxb5+ Qd7 12. Qxc4 Nd5 13. O-O Rc8 14.
Qd4 e6 15. Ne4 a6 16. Bg5 h6 17. Bh4 Nf4 18. Nf6+ gxf6 19. Qxf4 fxe5 20. Qxe5
Rg8 21. Rfd1 Qc6 22. g3 Be7 23. Bxe7 Kxe7 24. Qf4 Qb6 25. Qxh6 Rc2 26. Rd2 Qxb2
27. Qh4+ 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.11"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A38"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. b3 g6 3. Bb2 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. c4 d6 6. Bg2 e5 7. O-O c5 8. Nc3
Nc6 9. d3 Ne8 10. Nd2 Nc7 11. a3 a5 12. Nd5 Be6 13. e3 Rb8 14. Rb1 b5 15. cxb5
Bxd5 16. bxc6 Bxg2 17. Kxg2 Qe8 18. Nc4 Qxc6+ 19. e4 d5 20. Nxe5 Bxe5 21. Bxe5
dxe4 22. Bxc7 exd3+ 23. Kg1 Qxc7 24. Qxd3 Rfd8 25. Qc3 Rd4 26. Rbc1 Qb6 27.
Qxc5 Qxc5 28. Rxc5 Rxb3 29. Rxa5 Rd2 30. a4 Ra2 31. Rb5 Rxb5 32. axb5 Rb2 33.
b6 Rxb6 34. h4 h5 35. Kg2 Kg7 36. Re1 Kf6 37. Re3 Re6 38. Rf3+ Kg7 39. Rd3 Rf6
40. Re3 Rf5 41. Rd3 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 Bf5 4. e3 e6 5. c4 Bxb1 6. Qxb1 Bb4+ 7. Kd1 Bd6 8.
Bg5 h6 9. Bh4 Nbd7 10. cxd5 exd5 11. Bd3 c6 12. Ke2 Be7 13. b4 a6 14. Rc1 O-O
15. a4 Ne4 16. Bxe4 Bxh4 17. Bh7+ Kh8 18. Bf5 Nb6 19. b5 cxb5 20. axb5 a5 21.
g3 Be7 22. Kf1 a4 23. h4 Ra5 24. h5 Nc4 25. Bd3 Qd7 26. Bf5 Qd6 27. Kg2 Qb6 28.
Bd7 Qd6 29. Qf5 Nb6 30. Bc8 Rxb5 31. Bxb7 Rb2 32. Rc6 Qb8 33. Ba6 Qa8 34. Bd3
g6 35. hxg6 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.13"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2815"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c3 d5 3. d4 e6 4. Bf4 Bd6 5. Bg3 Nf6 6. e3 O-O 7. Nbd2 Qc7 8. Bd3
Nbd7 9. e4 cxd4 10. cxd4 dxe4 11. Nxe4 Nxe4 12. Bxe4 Nf6 13. Bd3 Qa5+ 14. Ke2
Rd8 15. Bh4 Bd7 16. Bxf6 gxf6 17. Qd2 Qxd2+ 18. Nxd2 f5 19. h3 Bc6 20. Nf3 Bc7
21. g4 Bxf3+ 22. Kxf3 Rxd4 23. Rad1 Rad8 24. Ke2 fxg4 25. hxg4 Rxg4 26. Bxh7+
Kf8 27. Rdg1 Rxg1 28. Rxg1 Ke7 29. Be4 b6 30. Rd1 Rg8 31. Kf3 Be5 32. Bc6 Bd6
33. b4 Rc8 34. b5 a5 35. a4 Rh8 36. Rd4 f5 37. Ke2 Rh2 38. Kf1 Rxf2+ 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A47"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 b6 3. Nf3 Bb7 4. e3 e6 5. h3 Bd6 6. Bxd6 cxd6 7. Nbd2 O-O 8.
Bd3 d5 9. c3 d6 10. O-O Ba6 11. Bxa6 Nxa6 12. a4 Nc7 13. Qe2 h6 14. Rfc1 Qd7
15. c4 dxc4 16. Rxc4 Rac8 17. Rac1 Ncd5 18. Ne1 Nb4 19. Nd3 Rxc4 20. Rxc4 Nxd3
21. Qxd3 d5 22. Rc1 Qxa4 23. Qc3 Qb5 24. b3 Qe2 25. Qc2 a5 26. Ne4 Qxc2 27.
Nxf6+ gxf6 28. Rxc2 b5 29. Kf1 Ra8 30. Ke2 a4 31. b4 a3 32. Ra2 Ra4 33. Kd2
Rxb4 34. Rxa3 Rb2+ 35. Ke1 b4 36. Ra8+ Kg7 37. Rb8 h5 38. g4 h4 39. Kf1 b3 40.
Kg2 Rb1 41. Kf3 e5 42. Kg2 b2 43. Rb5 Kf8 44. Rb7 Ke8 45. g5 exd4 46. exd4 fxg5
47. Rb8+ Kd7 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A09"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. c4 dxc4 4. Na3 Nc6 5. Nxc4 Bg7 6. Bg2 e5 7. d3 e4 8. dxe4
Qxd1+ 9. Kxd1 Nf6 10. Ne3 Nxe4 11. Ke1 Be6 12. Nd2 Nd6 13. Bxc6+ bxc6 14. Nb3
Rb8 15. f3 O-O 16. Kf2 Bxb3 17. axb3 Rxb3 18. Rd1 Ra8 19. Rd2 a5 20. Nd1 c5 21.
Rc2 c4 22. Bd2 a4 23. Bc3 Bxc3 24. Nxc3 a3 25. Nb1 Nb5 26. Nxa3 c3 27. Nxb5
Rxa1 28. Nxc3 Rh1 29. h4 Kg7 30. Ne4 h6 31. Nc5 Rb6 32. Nd3 Re6 33. Kg2 Rb1 34.
Kf2 Re7 35. b4 Rh1 36. Kg2 Rb1 37. Kf2 Rb3 38. Kf1 Ra3 39. Kf2 Ra1 40. Kg2 Rd1
41. Kf2 Ra1 42. Kg2 Ra6 43. Kf2 Rf6 44. Nf4 Rd6 45. Nd3 c6 46. Rc4 Rde6 47. Nf4
Rd6 48. Nd3 Ra7 49. Rc2 Re6 50. Nc5 Rd6 51. Nd3 Ra1 52. Kg2 Ra6 53. Kf2 Rb6 54.
Rc4 Re6 55. Nc5 Re7 56. Nd3 Re6 57. Nc5 Re8 58. Nd3 Ra6 59. Rc2 Ra3 60. Rxc6
Ra2 61. Nc1 Rb2 62. Rc4 Rd8 63. Re4 Rd1 64. Rc4 g5 65. hxg5 hxg5 66. g4 Rd8
1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.3"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. c5 Ne4 8. Rc1
Nxc3 9. Rxc3 b6 10. c6 Nf6 11. a3 Ne4 12. Rc2 a5 13. Bd3 f6 14. Qe2 g5 15. Bg3
Bd6 16. O-O Nxg3 17. fxg3 g4 18. Nd2 f5 19. a4 Qe7 20. Bb5 e5 21. dxe5 Qxe5 22.
Nb3 Be6 23. Nd4 Rae8 24. Qd3 Bc8 25. Re2 Bc5 26. Rd1 Kg7 27. Qc3 Qf6 28. Rf2
Re4 29. Rf4 Rfe8 30. Rxe4 Rxe4 31. Kf2 Kg6 32. Rd3 f4 33. gxf4 Qh4+ 34. Kg1 g3
35. Nf3 Qxf4 36. Qxc5 gxh2+ 37. Kh1 bxc5 38. exf4 d4 39. g3 Be6 40. Rd2 Re3 41.
Ne5+ Kf6 42. Kxh2 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O e5 5. d3 Ne7 6. e4 O-O 7. Nc3 dxe4 8. dxe4
c6 9. Qe2 h6 10. a4 a5 11. Rd1 Qc7 12. Be3 Na6 13. Nd2 Be6 14. Nc4 Nc8 15. Rd2
Rb8 16. Rad1 Kh7 17. h4 h5 18. Kh2 b5 19. Nd6 Nxd6 20. Rxd6 Qb7 21. Bh3 Bxh3
22. Kxh3 Nc7 23. Rd7 Qc8 24. Kh2 Ne6 25. R1d6 Nd4 26. Qd1 Rb7 27. Rxb7 Qxb7 28.
axb5 Nxb5 29. Nxb5 Qxb5 30. b3 a4 31. bxa4 Qxa4 32. Qd3 Rb8 33. c4 Bh6 34. Bxh6
Kxh6 35. Rd7 Kg7 36. Kg2 Re8 37. Rc7 Rf8 38. Re7 Qa1 39. Qd6 Qd4 40. Qxe5+ Qxe5
41. Rxe5 Ra8 42. Rc5 Ra6 43. Kf3 Kf6 44. Kf4 Ke6 45. Re5+ Kf6 46. f3 Ra4 47.
Rc5 Ra6 48. g4 hxg4 49. fxg4 Ke6 50. h5 Kd6 51. hxg6 fxg6 52. Rg5 Ra8 53. c5+
1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.5"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. Bd3 Bg4 6. Nbd2 e6 7. h3 Bh5 8. Qc2
dxc4 9. Nxc4 Bxf3 10. gxf3 c5 11. dxc5 Bxc5 12. a3 Nc6 13. b4 Be7 14. Bb2 Rc8
15. Qb3 Qd5 16. Nd2 Qh5 17. f4 O-O 18. Be2 Qf5 19. Bd3 Qh5 20. Be2 Qh6 21. Bf3
Rfd8 22. Ke2 Nd5 23. Rad1 Bf6 24. Ne4 Bxb2 25. Qxb2 Nce7 26. Rhg1 Ng6 27. Rg3
Qh4 28. Ng5 Nc3+ 29. Qxc3 Rxc3 30. Rxd8+ Nf8 31. Rg4 Qh6 32. Ne4 Rc2+ 33. Ke1
f5 34. Ng5 fxg4 35. Bxg4 Rc6 36. Re8 Qg6 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "150"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O e5 5. d3 Ne7 6. e4 O-O 7. Nc3 d4 8. Ne2 c5
9. Nd2 Nbc6 10. f4 Be6 11. Nf3 exf4 12. Nxf4 Bg4 13. h3 Bxf3 14. Qxf3 Ne5 15.
Qe2 Qd7 16. Bd2 Rae8 17. b3 N5c6 18. h4 h5 19. Bh3 Qd6 20. g4 hxg4 21. Qxg4 f5
22. exf5 Ne5 23. Qg2 Nxf5 24. Bxf5 Rxf5 25. Nh3 Ref8 26. Rxf5 Rxf5 27. Rf1
Rxf1+ 28. Kxf1 Qf6+ 29. Nf4 Kh7 30. Qxb7 Qxh4 31. Qg2 Qf6 32. Ke2 Bh6 33. Qe4
Bxf4 34. Bxf4 Nc6 35. a3 Qh4 36. Bd6 Qh5+ 37. Kd2 Qg5+ 38. Kd1 Qg1+ 39. Qe1 Qg2
40. Kc1 Qd5 41. Bf8 g5 42. Kb2 Ne5 43. Qa5 Nxd3+ 44. cxd3 Qg2+ 45. Kc1 Qf1+ 46.
Kc2 Qxf8 47. Qxa7+ Kg6 48. b4 cxb4 49. Qb6+ Kh5 50. axb4 Qf2+ 51. Kb3 g4 52.
Qc5+ Kh4 53. Qe7+ Kh5 54. b5 g3 55. b6 g2 56. Qh7+ Kg4 57. Qe4+ Kg5 58. Qe5+
Kg6 59. Qe6+ Kg5 60. Qe5+ Kg4 61. Qe4+ Kg5 62. Qe5+ Qf5 63. Qg3+ Qg4 64. Qe5+
Kh4 65. Qh2+ Kg5 66. Qe5+ Kg6 67. Qd6+ Kf7 68. Qc7+ Kf6 69. Qd8+ Kf5 70. Qd7+
Kg5 71. Qg7+ Kf4 72. Qxd4+ Kf3 73. Qd5+ Ke2 74. Qe5+ Kf2 75. Qc5+ Kf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.7"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "140"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bb4+ 5. c3 Bc5 6. Nf5 g6 7. Be3 Bf8 8.
Nd4 Bg7 9. g3 Nf6 10. Bg2 O-O 11. O-O Re8 12. Nd2 d6 13. h3 Ne5 14. f4 Ned7 15.
Bf2 Nc5 16. Qc2 Bd7 17. Rfe1 a5 18. Rad1 Qc8 19. Kh2 h5 20. N4f3 Ne6 21. e5
dxe5 22. Nxe5 h4 23. Nxd7 Nxd7 24. f5 Nef8 25. g4 Be5+ 26. Kh1 Bg3 27. Bxg3
hxg3 28. Ne4 gxf5 29. gxf5 Ra6 30. Qd3 Kh8 31. Qxg3 Nh7 32. Qh4 Ndf6 33. Nxf6
Rxe1+ 34. Rxe1 Rxf6 35. Be4 b6 36. Qf4 Qd8 37. Rg1 Qd6 38. Qg4 Qf8 39. Bd5 Rh6
40. Qd4+ Nf6 41. Bg2 Qe7 42. Qd2 Ng4 43. Re1 Qh4 44. Re8+ Kh7 45. Qd4 Nf2+ 46.
Kh2 Qxd4 47. cxd4 Rd6 48. Re7 Kg7 49. d5 Nd3 50. Rxc7 Nb4 51. Rc3 Rd7 52. f6+
Kxf6 53. a3 Nxd5 54. Rd3 Ke5 55. Rxd5+ Rxd5 56. Bxd5 Kxd5 57. h4 Ke4 58. Kg3 f5
59. h5 Ke3 60. h6 f4+ 61. Kg4 f3 62. h7 f2 63. h8=Q f1=Q 64. Qc3+ Qd3 65. Qc1+
Ke2 66. Qc6 Qd4+ 67. Kf5 Kd3 68. Ke6 Qxb2 69. a4 Qb4 70. Qf3+ Kc2 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E90"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. h3 e5 7. d5 a5 8. Be3 Na6
9. g4 Nd7 10. Nd2 Ndc5 11. Rg1 Kh8 12. a3 Bd7 13. Qc2 c6 14. O-O-O cxd5 15.
cxd5 Rc8 16. Kb1 a4 17. h4 f5 18. h5 f4 19. Bxc5 Nxc5 20. hxg6 hxg6 21. g5 Rf7
22. Bb5 Kg8 23. Bxd7 Qxd7 24. Nc4 Qd8 25. Nb5 Bf8 26. Rh1 Qd7 27. Nc3 Rc7 28.
Nb6 Qe8 29. f3 Nb3 30. Nbxa4 Nd4 31. Qh2 Rh7 32. Qf2 b5 33. Rxh7 Rxh7 34. Nb6
Qd8 35. Nxb5 Nxb5 36. Nc4 Nd4 37. Qg2 Rc7 38. Rc1 Qc8 39. Qf1 Nb3 40. Rc3 Nd4
41. Ka2 Qa6 42. Qd3 Qa7 43. Nd2 Be7 44. Rxc7 Qxc7 45. Nb3 Qc2 46. Qxc2 Nxc2 47.
Na5 Bxg5 48. Nc6 Kf7 49. a4 Bh4 50. a5 Bf2 51. b4 Ke8 52. b5 Kd7 53. b6 Kc8 54.
Kb3 Nd4+ 55. Kc4 Kb7 56. Nd8+ Ka6 57. b7 Ka7 58. a6 g5 59. Nf7 Bh4 60. Nxd6 g4
61. Nc8+ Kb8 62. Nb6 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm Chess960 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.10.04"]
[Round "1.9"]
[White "Guseinov, Gadir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "nrbknbqr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NRBKNBQR w HBhb - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2018"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.10.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 f5 2. Nb3 Nf6 3. d3 b6 4. g3 c5 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. Ne5 Qe6 7. Bxb7 Rxb7 8.
Qg2 Kc8 9. Nf3 Nc7 10. O-O Qxe2 11. Re1 Qxc2 12. Be3 Qxd3 13. Bxc5 bxc5 14.
Nxc5 Qb5 15. Nxb7 Qxb7 16. Re3 e6 17. Rc1 Bd6 18. Rb3 Qa6 19. Ne5 Nfd5 20. Nc4
Rf8 21. Qf1 Kd8 22. Qh3 h6 23. Qh4+ Nf6 24. Qd4 Ncd5 25. Nxd6 Qxd6 26. Qxa7 Ke7
27. a4 f4 28. Qc5 Qxc5 29. Rxc5 Ne4 30. Rc2 Ra8 31. Ra3 Ra5 32. b4 Ra8 33. b5
Nd6 34. Rb2 Nc4 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm Chess960 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.21"]
[Round "3.8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 0-1

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm Chess960 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.11.18"]
[Round "3.14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2815"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 1-0

[Event "chess.com Speed 5m+2spm Chess960 2017"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.03"]
[Round "4.9"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[EventDate "2017.05.03"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

 1-0

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 5th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2017.06.05"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2785"]
[PlyCount "133"]
[EventDate "2017.06.05"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nc3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. Bf4 a6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Bd3 Bxd3 6. cxd3 e6 7. Nf3 Bd6 8.
Bg5 Nbd7 9. O-O h6 10. Bh4 O-O 11. e4 Be7 12. Qb3 Nb6 13. Rac1 c6 14. Rfe1 Rc8
15. h3 Nfd7 16. Bg3 Re8 17. a3 Bf8 18. Qa2 Nf6 19. b4 Ra8 20. Qb2 Nh5 21. Bh2
Nf6 22. Red1 Qe7 23. Nd2 Rec8 24. Nb3 Nfd7 25. Re1 Qd8 26. Nc5 Ra7 27. a4 Nxc5
28. dxc5 Nd7 29. exd5 exd5 30. d4 b6 31. b5 axb5 32. axb5 bxc5 33. bxc6 Rxc6
34. Nxd5 Rg6 35. Qb5 Ra5 36. Qb7 Ra2 37. Bc7 Qa8 38. Qxa8 Rxa8 39. Ne7+ Bxe7
40. Rxe7 Nf6 41. dxc5 Nd5 42. Rd7 Rc6 43. Rxd5 Rxc7 44. c6 Rac8 45. Rdc5 Kf8
46. Kh2 Ke7 47. R5c3 Kd6 48. Rg3 g5 49. Rf3 Ke7 50. Rfc3 Kd6 51. Kg3 f5 52. h4
Rxc6 53. Rxc6+ Rxc6 54. Rxc6+ Kxc6 55. hxg5 hxg5 56. f4 g4 57. Kh4 Kd5 58. Kg5
Ke4 59. g3 Kf3 60. Kxf5 Kxg3 61. Ke5 Kh2 62. f5 g3 63. f6 g2 64. f7 g1=Q 65.
f8=Q Qg3+ 66. Qf4 Qxf4+ 67. Kxf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 5th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2017.06.05"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B56"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2017.06.05"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bd7 6. f3 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Be3
O-O 9. Qd2 a5 10. a4 Na6 11. Bb5 Be6 12. Nd5 Bxd5 13. exd5 Nb4 14. c4 b6 15.
O-O Rb8 16. Qe2 Nd7 17. Bd2 Nc5 18. Nxc5 bxc5 19. Bc3 f5 20. Kh1 Bf6 21. Rad1
Qe7 22. Bxb4 axb4 23. a5 e4 24. a6 e3 25. f4 Qe4 26. b3 Rf7 27. Rde1 Re7 28.
Rf3 Bd4 29. h3 g6 30. Bc6 Rb6 31. Bb7 Rbxb7 32. axb7 Rxb7 33. Rxe3 Bxe3 34.
Qxe3 Qxe3 35. Rxe3 Ra7 36. Kh2 Ra3 37. Kg3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 5th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2017.06.05"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2771"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2017.06.05"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nc3 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. e4 g6 4. Bb5 Bg7 5. O-O d6 6. Re1 Bd7 7. a4 Rc8 8. d3
Nf6 9. Nd5 O-O 10. Bg5 a6 11. Bxf6 exf6 12. Bc4 f5 13. c3 fxe4 14. dxe4 Na5 15.
Qd3 Re8 16. Ne3 Bc6 17. Bd5 Qb6 18. Qc2 Re7 19. Rad1 Rce8 20. Bxc6 bxc6 21.
Rxd6 Rxe4 22. Red1 Bh6 23. Nd5 Qb3 24. Nf6+ Kg7 25. Nxe8+ Rxe8 26. Qxb3 Nxb3
27. Rxc6 Re2 28. g3 Rxb2 29. Rd7 1-0

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 5th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2017.06.05"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E17"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2793"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2017.06.05"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. O-O Be7 5. d4 O-O 6. Nbd2 b6 7. c4 Bb7 8. b3
c5 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Bb2 dxc4 11. Nxc4 Qe7 12. a3 a5 13. Qb1 Nbd7 14. Ng5 Bxg2
15. Kxg2 h6 16. Ne4 Rac8 17. Rd1 Nxe4 18. Qxe4 Nf6 19. Qf3 Rfd8 20. h4 Nd5 21.
Rd3 a4 22. e4 Nf6 23. Rxd8+ Qxd8 24. Rd1 Qe7 25. b4 Bxf2 26. Qe2 Bxg3 27. Kxg3
Qc7+ 28. Nd6 Qc2 29. Qxc2 Nh5+ 30. Kf3 Rxc2 31. Bd4 g5 32. hxg5 hxg5 33. Rg1 f6
34. e5 1-0

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 5th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2017.06.05"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A90"]
[WhiteElo "2781"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2017.06.05"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. c4 d5 5. Nd2 Bd6 6. Nh3 O-O 7. O-O Nc6 8. e3 b6
9. b3 a5 10. Bb2 Ba6 11. Nf4 Bxf4 12. exf4 Ne4 13. Re1 Re8 14. Re3 Qd7 15. Nxe4
fxe4 16. f3 dxc4 17. fxe4 cxb3 18. d5 exd5 19. Qxb3 a4 20. Qxa4 Bf1 21. Qd1
Bxg2 22. Kxg2 Na5 23. Rc3 d4 24. e5 Nc4 25. Rf3 c5 26. Bc1 Qd5 27. Kh3 Rad8 28.
Rd3 Re6 29. Qf3 Qxf3 30. Rxf3 d3 31. Be3 d2 32. Rd1 Rd3 33. f5 Rxe5 0-1

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 5th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2017.06.05"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E61"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2796"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2017.06.05"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 b6 3. c4 Bb7 4. e3 g6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. Be2 d6 8. O-O
Nbd7 9. h3 e6 10. b4 a5 11. a3 Ne4 12. Nxe4 Bxe4 13. Nd2 Bb7 14. Bf3 Bxf3 15.
Nxf3 e5 16. dxe5 Nxe5 17. Rc1 axb4 18. axb4 Qe7 19. Nd4 Ra2 20. b5 Rfa8 21.
Bxe5 Bxe5 22. Nc6 Qe6 23. Nb4 R2a3 24. Nd5 R8a7 25. f4 Bb2 26. Rb1 Bg7 27. f5
gxf5 28. Rxf5 Ra1 29. Rf1 Qe4 30. Rxa1 Rxa1 31. Qg4 Qxg4 32. hxg4 Ra7 33. g5
Be5 34. Kf2 Kg7 35. Kf3 Kg6 36. Kg4 Ra4 37. Rc1 Ra2 38. Nxc7 Rxg2+ 39. Kf3 Rxg5
40. Nd5 h5 41. Nxb6 h4 42. Rh1 Rg3+ 43. Ke2 h3 44. Nd5 Rg2+ 45. Kf3 Rg3+ 46.
Ke4 Rg4+ 47. Nf4+ Kg5 48. Rxh3 Bxf4 49. exf4+ Rxf4+ 50. Kd5 1-0

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 5th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2017.06.05"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "2808"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "144"]
[EventDate "2017.06.05"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 g6 2. e4 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. Be2 O-O 6. O-O a6 7. Re1 Nc6 8. d5
Na7 9. Bg5 h6 10. Be3 b5 11. a3 Bb7 12. Qd2 Kh7 13. Rad1 c6 14. Bxa7 Rxa7 15.
dxc6 Bxc6 16. e5 Ne8 17. Qe3 Rb7 18. Nd4 Bd7 19. Bf3 Rc7 20. exd6 exd6 21. Nd5
Rc5 22. c3 Nf6 23. Nxf6+ Qxf6 24. Qe7 Rd8 25. Nb3 Qxe7 26. Rxe7 Re5 27. Rxe5
Bxe5 28. Na5 Rc8 29. g3 Kg7 30. Kg2 Rc7 31. Nb7 Kf8 32. Nxd6 a5 33. Nxb5 Bxb5
34. Rd5 Bxc3 35. bxc3 Bc6 36. Rd3 Bxf3+ 37. Kxf3 Rc4 38. Ke3 Ke7 39. Kd2 Ra4
40. Kc2 Rxa3 41. Kb2 Ra4 42. Kb3 Ra1 43. h4 g5 44. hxg5 hxg5 45. Rd5 f6 46. Rf5
Ke6 47. g4 Rb1+ 48. Ka4 Ra1+ 49. Kb3 Rb1+ 50. Kc2 Rf1 51. f3 a4 52. Kb2 Rf2+
53. Ka3 Rc2 54. Kb4 a3 55. Ra5 a2 56. Kb3 Rf2 57. Rxa2 Rxf3 58. Re2+ Kd5 59.
Rd2+ Ke5 60. Rg2 Ke4 61. Kb4 Rf4 62. c4 Kf3 63. Rg1 Kf2 64. Rc1 Rxg4 65. Kb5
Re4 66. c5 g4 67. c6 Re8 68. Rc5 Rf8 69. c7 g3 70. Rf5+ Ke3 71. Rxf6 Rc8 72.
Kc6 Rxc7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 5th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2017.06.05"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2808"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2017.06.05"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 d5 3. Nc3 a6 4. e3 e6 5. g4 c5 6. g5 Nfd7 7. Nf3 Nc6 8. a3 b5
9. h4 Bb7 10. h5 Nb6 11. Ne5 Nxe5 12. Bxe5 Nc4 13. Bxc4 dxc4 14. Rg1 f6 15. Bf4
Qd7 16. h6 O-O-O 17. Qe2 cxd4 18. exd4 Qxd4 19. Rd1 Qxf4 20. Qxe6+ Kc7 21. Qf7+
Be7 22. Qxe7+ Kc8 23. hxg7 Rxd1+ 24. Nxd1 Rg8 25. Qf8+ Kc7 26. Qxg8 1-0

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 5th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2017.06.05"]
[Round "9"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A90"]
[WhiteElo "2812"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2017.06.05"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 e6 2. d4 f5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 d5 5. c4 Bd6 6. Nc3 c6 7. Bf4 Bxf4 8. gxf4
O-O 9. e3 Nbd7 10. Qb3 b6 11. Ng5 Nb8 12. O-O-O Kh8 13. Kb1 Qe7 14. Rc1 h6 15.
Nf3 Nbd7 16. cxd5 cxd5 17. Ne5 Nxe5 18. fxe5 Ne4 19. Rc2 Ba6 20. Bf1 Bxf1 21.
Rxf1 Rac8 22. f4 Nxc3+ 23. Rxc3 Rxc3 24. Qxc3 Qh4 25. Qa3 Rc8 26. Qxa7 Qxh2 27.
a3 Qg2 28. Re1 Qf2 29. Rh1 Qxe3 30. Ka2 Qxd4 31. Qd7 Qc4+ 32. Ka1 d4 33. Rg1
Rg8 34. Rd1 d3 35. Rxd3 Qxf4 36. Qd6 Qc1+ 37. Ka2 Qc4+ 38. Ka1 f4 39. Rc3 Qd5
40. Qxb6 Qxe5 41. a4 Rf8 42. Qb4 Kg8 43. Rf3 Qf5 44. Qc4 Kh7 0-1

[Event "Norway Chess 5th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2017.06.06"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2812"]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "2017.06.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. h3 d6 7. c3 a6 8. a4 Be6
9. Bxe6 fxe6 10. b4 Ba7 11. Be3 Bxe3 12. fxe3 Ne7 13. Nbd2 Ng6 14. d4 Qe7 15.
Qb3 Kh8 16. b5 axb5 17. axb5 exd4 18. cxd4 e5 19. Rxa8 Rxa8 20. Rc1 exd4 21.
exd4 Nxe4 22. Nxe4 Qxe4 23. Rxc7 Rf8 24. Qc2 Qd5 25. Qc4 Qxc4 26. Rxc4 Kg8 27.
b6 h6 28. Nd2 Nf4 29. Rc7 Rf7 30. Nc4 Nd5 31. Rc8+ Rf8 32. Rxf8+ Kxf8 33. Nxd6
Nxb6 34. Nxb7 Ke7 35. Kf2 Ke6 36. Ke3 Kd5 37. Na5 Na4 38. Nb3 Nb2 39. Nd2 Nd1+
40. Ke2 Nb2 41. Nb3 Kc4 42. Nc5 Kxd4 43. Ne6+ Ke4 44. Nxg7 Nc4 45. Kf2 Kf4 46.
g3+ Ke4 47. g4 Kf4 48. Nh5+ Kg5 49. Kg3 Ne5 50. Nf4 Kf6 51. Kh4 Ng6+ 52. Kg3
Nxf4 53. Kxf4 Kg6 54. h4 Kf6 55. Kf3 Kf7 56. Ke3 Ke7 57. Kd3 Kd7 58. Kc4 Ke6
59. Kd4 Kd6 60. Ke4 Ke6 61. Kf4 Kf6 62. Ke4 Ke6 63. Kf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 5th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2017.06.07"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2808"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2017.06.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4
Bb7 9. d3 d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nbd2 f6 12. c3 Kh8 13. axb5 axb5 14. Rxa8 Bxa8
15. Ne4 b4 16. d4 bxc3 17. bxc3 exd4 18. Nxd4 Nxd4 19. cxd4 Bb4 20. Bd2 Bxd2
21. Qxd2 Re8 22. h3 Nb6 23. Nc5 Bd5 24. Bxd5 Nxd5 25. Ne6 Qd7 26. Nc5 Qf7 27.
Re2 Rb8 28. Re1 Re8 29. Re4 Rxe4 30. Nxe4 h6 31. Nc3 Qe6 32. Nxd5 Qxd5 33. Qe3
Kg8 34. Qe8+ Kh7 35. Qe3 c6 36. h4 Kg6 37. Qe8+ Kh7 38. h5 Qxd4 39. Qg6+ Kg8
40. Qe8+ Kh7 41. Qg6+ Kg8 42. Qe8+ Kh7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 5th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2017.06.08"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2785"]
[Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,A"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2017.06.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 g6 {The reason that
this move is not very popular is that many consider 6.h3 to be more useful
generally than 6...a6 in the normal Dragon. That, however, is truly up for
debate.} 7. g3 Nc6 8. Be3 {An example of h3 being useful, normally this runs
into ...Ng4.} Bg7 9. Bg2 O-O 10. O-O Nd7 11. b3 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 Bxd4 13. Qxd4 {
Black plays unambitiously, hoping to defend a solid though slightly worse
position.} b6 14. Nd5 Bb7 15. c4 e5 {The weakness on d6 is not easy to target,
while Black hopes to use the break b5 and the control over the dark squares to
create counterplay.} (15... b5 {immediately was also possible.}) 16. Qe3 (16.
Qd2 {keeping pressure on d6 rather than on b6, seemed more logical. Black is
going to play b5 anyway.}) 16... b5 17. Rac1 bxc4 18. Rxc4 Bxd5 19. exd5 {
The eternal fight between the bishop and the knight. In this instance the
knight doesn't have many good anchor squares (it will get kicked out of c5 if
it goes there), on the other hand the bishop on g2 creates no great impression.
} a5 20. Rfc1 Nc5 21. a3 f5 $6 {Black gains space, but truly he simply weakens
his position.} (21... a4 {it's strange Nakamura did not go for this option} 22.
bxa4 $1 (22. b4 {strategically Black usually does not want to allow this, but
after} Nb3 {the knight heads for the d4-square}) 22... Qd7 {and the knight is
superb on c5.}) 22. b4 axb4 23. axb4 Nd7 24. Rc6 f4 25. gxf4 $1 {Black has to
decide how to lose a pawn.} exf4 (25... Rxf4 26. Rxd6 Qe7 27. Re6 $1 Qxb4 28.
d6 $1 {and with the bishop activated Black's position is difficult, but not
without resources:} (28. Rc7 {might be more precise}) 28... Ra3 29. Qe2 Qd4 {
with counterplay.}) 26. Qe6+ Rf7 27. Qxd6 Qg5 {Again Black finds resources.
Thanks to the exchange of the g-pawn, White's king is exposed and Nakamura
clings on to this as his hope to battle White's passed pawns.} 28. Kh1 (28.
Rc8+ Rxc8 (28... Kg7 29. h4 $1 {doesn't work for Black}) 29. Rxc8+ Kg7 30. Kh1
f3 31. Bf1 {was a better version of the game.}) 28... f3 29. Bf1 Nf6 {The game
is certainly sharp. White is up material but his king is weak, and so are his
pawns. Black's king isn't particularly safe either, and any move can prove to
be a fatal mistake.} 30. Qe6 $6 {Now Nakamura finds strong counterplay.} (30.
Qg3 Qxg3 31. fxg3 Ra2 32. b5 Rb2 {is better for White, despite the passed
position of the f2-pawn.}) 30... Kg7 {Unpinning the rook is an obvious start.}
31. Rc7 Rxc7 $1 32. Rxc7+ Kh6 $1 {Black's king now hides on h6, where it is
much safer than on g8. With the weakness of White's king it is Carlsen who has
to be careful.} 33. Qe1 Ra2 34. Re7 Ng4 {Forcing the result.} (34... Qxd5 {
and Black isn't in much danger, but he is not better either.}) 35. hxg4 Qh4+
36. Kg1 Qxg4+ 37. Kh1 Qh4+ 38. Kg1 Qg4+ 39. Kh1 Qh4+ 40. Kg1 Qg4+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 5th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2017.06.10"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2793"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[Annotator "Aronian,L"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2017.06.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 a6 {This move was not what I was
expecting, but of late my opponent has been playing the Slav Defence
frequently, so that it is easy to explain his choice. The ratio of predicting
the opening choices of my opponents is in my case one in three. Dieser Zug kam
für mich unerwartet, aber mein Gegner spielt in der letzten Zeit oft die
Slawische Verteidigung, sodass sich seine Wahl leicht erklären lässt. Die
Quote bei der Voraussage der Eröffnungswahl meiner Gegner ist bei mir etwa
eins zu drei.} 6. b3 {In 2013 I played four games with this variation (none
since then), but on every occasion I had the black pieces.. 2013 spielte ich
vier Partien mit dieser Variante (und seitdem nicht mehr), hatte dabei aber
immer Schwarz.} ({On those occasions Gelfand, Nakamura and Ding Liren
preferred the continuation with Gelfand, Nakamura und Ding Liren haben gegen
mich damals die Fortsetzung} 6. c5 {which leads to a murky strategic battle.
The move in the game is considered less "hard", but I wanted to obtain a
lively game. bevorzugt, die zu einem zähflüssigen strategischen Kampf führt.
Der Partiezug gilt als weniger "hart", aber ich wollte ein lebendiges Spiel
bekommen.}) 6... Bb4 ({I have never been able to understand the popularity of
Die Popularität von} 6... c5 {, Black has developed only one knight and yet
he makes another pawn move. A really Romantic way of playing... konnte ich nie
verstehen. Schwarz hat nur einen Springer entwickelt und trotzdem macht er
einen weiteren Bauernzug. Eine echt romantische Spielweise...}) 7. Bd2 Nbd7 8.
Bd3 O-O 9. O-O Qe7 {The second most frequently played continuation, which
offers more room for creativity. Die zweithäufigste Fortsetzung, die mehr
Raum für Kreativität bietet.} ({In the 2012 world championship the move
Anand chose against Gelfand was In der Weltmeisterschaft 2012 spielte Anand
gegen Gelfand} 9... Bd6) 10. Bc2 ({I found this in 2005 or 2006. The idea is
actually typical. Even in the variation with Das fand ich 2005 oder 2006.
Eigentlich ist diese Idee typisch, sogar in der Variante} 10. Qe1 a5 {the move
ist} 11. Bc2 {is a good option.  The move 10.Bc2 is useful for e3-e4, and in
addition it is aimed against e6-e5 (see below). eine gute Möglichkeit.  Der
Zug 10.Bc2 ist für e3-e4 nützlich, außerdem ist er gegen e6-e5 gerichtet (s.
weiter unten).}) 10... Rd8 {This logical contiuation has a hidden but
important disadvantage. Black has available to him other sound moves such as
10...b6 or 10...Re8. Then White's play would be linked either to the pawn
sacrifice 11.a3 Bxa3 12.e4 or to the preparation of the advance e3-e4 by means
of 11.Re1. Diese logische Fortsetzung hat einen versteckten, aber wesentlichen
Nachteil. Schwarz verfügte über andere gesunde Züge wie 10...b6 oder 10...
Re8 - dann wäre das weiße Spiel entweder mit dem Bauernopfer 11.a3 Bxa3 12.
e4 oder mit der Vorbereitung des Vorstoßes e3-e4 mittels 11.Re1 verbunden.} (
10... b6 11. a3 (11. Re1 {[%cal Ye3e4]}) 11... Bxa3 12. e4) (10... Re8 11. a3 (
11. Re1 {[%cal Ye3e4]}) 11... Bxa3 12. e4) ({But Auf} 10... e5 {is met by the
strong reply folgt die starke Erwiderung} 11. Nxd5 cxd5 12. Bxb4 Qxb4 13. dxe5
{with the advantage. mit Vorteil.}) 11. a3 {After thinking things over for 17
minutes I came to the conclusion that apart from 11.a3 there are few good
moves here. In doing so I assumed that it is very dangeous for Black to take
on a3. Nach 17 Minuten Nachdenken kam ich zum Schluss, dass es hier außer 11.
a3 wenige gute Züge gibt. Dabei vermutete ich, dass es für Schwarz sehr
gefährlich ist, auf a3 zu nehmen.} Bxa3 ({The lesser evil was probably Das
kleinere Übel war wahrscheinlich} 11... Bd6 12. e4 dxe4 13. Nxe4 Nxe4 14. Bxe4
Nf6 15. Bg5 {, after which Black gets a passive but solid position. But this
variation would mean that 10...Rd8 was not a good idea. , wonach Schwarz eine
passive, aber feste Stellung bekäme. Diese Variante würde aber bedeuten,
dass 10...Rd8 keine gute Idee war.}) 12. Rxa3 (12. e4 {would lead to a
position in which White would have compensation for the pawn he has sacrificed,
but one should not miss the chance to raise the stakes führte zu einer
Stellung, in der Weiß Kompensation für den geopferten Bauern hätte, aber
man darf nicht die Chance verpassen, den Einsatz zu erhöhen.}) 12... Qxa3 13.
c5 b6 ({Whilst my opponent was pondering the position, I turned my attention
to the continuation Während mein Gegner über die Stellung sinnierte, widmete
ich mich der Fortsetzung} 13... e5 {, which I considered to be the strngest. ,
die ich für die stärkste hielt.} {After the further moves Nach den weiteren
Zügen} 14. Nb1 Qa2 15. Bb4 a5 16. Nc3 Qxc2 17. Qxc2 axb4 18. Na2 {it is White
who has the advantage. gehört der Vorteil dem Weißen.}) 14. b4 {A mistake.
Ein Fehler.} ({Instead of that White had at his disposal a way to gain the
upper hand, but which simply did not occur to me: Stattdessen verfügte Weiß
über einen Weg, die Oberhand zu gewinnen, der mir aber gar nicht in den Sinn
kam:} 14. Nb1 Qa2 15. Qc1 ({I overlooked the fact that I had this option and
considered only ich habe übersehen, dass ich diese Option besitze und habe nur
} 15. Bb4 {which would lead to sharp play. in Betracht gezogen, was zu
scharfem Spiel führen würde}) 15... bxc5 16. Nc3 Qa5 17. Nxd5 Qb5 18. Nc7 Qb8
19. Nxa8 Qxa8 20. Ba5 Re8 21. dxc5 {and there is no way to heal the wounds in
the black position. und die Wunden in der schwarzen Stellung sind unheilbar.})
14... Ne4 ({The only possibility of maintaining the tension was the amazing
Die einzige Möglichkeit, die Spannung aufrechtzuerhalten, war das
verblüffende} 14... Qb2 $1 {This is actually logical - in order to save
yourself from wild animals you have to get closer to them and show that you
are not afraid of them. Easier said than done. Eigentlich ist es logisch - um
sich vor wilden Tieren zu retten, muss man ihnen näherkommen und zeigen, dass
man sie nicht fürchtet. Leichter gesagt, als getan...}) 15. Nxe4 dxe4 16. Bxe4
Rb8 {This came after a long period of thought. Simpler moves led to unpleasant
endgames in which the white pawns d4-c5 represent important trump cards.  Das
folgte nach langem Nachdenken. Einfachere Züge führten zu unangenehmen
Endspielen, in denen die weißen Bauern d4-c5 wichtige Trümpfe darstellen.}
17. Bxh7+ ({The consequences of Die Folgen von} 17. Bxc6 a5 {were not really
clear to me. waren mir nicht ganz klar.}) ({I also considered (the stronger)
Ich habe auch (das stärkere)} 17. Qc2 {but what worried me about it was the
possibility of betrachtet, aber dabei störte mich die Möglichkeit} Nf6 {
; If the continuation in the game had not been so tempting, I would perhaps
have taken a closer look and found the reply ; wäre die Partiefortsetzung
nicht so verlockend gewesen, hätte ich vielleicht genauer hingeschaut und die
Erwiderung} 18. Bxh7+ Nxh7 19. Ne5 {with the terrible threat of Nc4. mit der
schrecklichen Drohung Nc4 gefunden.}) 17... Kxh7 ({In the event of Im Falle von
} 17... Kf8 {there is the very strong ist} 18. Qc2 bxc5 19. Ne5 {when White's
attack brings in material dividends. sehr stark - der weiße Angriff bringt
materielle Dividenden.}) 18. Ng5+ Kg8 {The only move, after which the moves
are forced for a while. Der einzige Zug, nach dem sich das Spiel eine Zeit
lang forciert entwickelt.} ({In the event of Im Falle von} 18... Kg6 19. Qg4 f5
20. Qg3 Kf6 (20... f4 21. Qxf4 Rf8 22. Qh4 {with a decisive attack. mit
entscheidendem Angriff}) 21. d5 {the black pieces are too passive to be able
to completely defend their king. sind die schwarzen Figuren zu passiv, um
ihren König vollwertig verteidigen zu können.}) 19. Qh5 Nf6 20. Qxf7+ Kh8 21.
Qc7 Bd7 22. Nf7+ Kh7 {I too thought that the king was worse placed on g8 than
on h7. Auch ich dachte, dass der König auf g8 schlechter steht, als auf h7.}
23. Nxd8 Rc8 24. Qxb6 ({When the situation of the opposing king on h7 is taken
into account, White has the interesting option of In Anbetracht der Lage des
gegnerischen Königs auf h7 verfügte Weiß über die interessante Möglichkeit
} 24. Qf4 Rxd8 25. e4 {with the threat of 26.e5, but I steered a course
towards the position which I had calcualted in advance. mit der Drohung 26.e5,
aber ich steuerte auf die Stellung aus meiner Vorausberechnung los.}) 24... Nd5
25. Qa7 Rxd8 26. e4 Qd3 {We both considered this move to be the strongest
continuation; but in reality it is a mistake. Diesen Zug hielten wir beide
für die stärkste Fortsetzung, in Wirklichkeit aber ist es ein Fehler.} ({
When calculating 17.Bxh7+ I reached the position which would now appear after
Beim Berechnen von 17.Bxh7+ kam ich zur Position, die nun nach} 26... Nf6 27.
Bg5 Qxb4 (27... Kg6 {is bad on account of ist schlecht wegen} 28. Bxf6 Kxf6 29.
Qc7 Ke7 30. d5) 28. e5 Qxd4 29. exf6 gxf6 {and I thought I would be able to
find something in it for White. To my amazement I am obliged to admit that in
this case after aufs Brett kommen würde, und dachte, dass sich dort für
Weiß etwas finden ließe. Zu meiner Verwunderung muss ich zugeben, dass der
Anziehende in diesem Fall nach} 30. Qc7 Rf8 31. Be3 {White is only slightly
better. nur etwas besser steht.}) 27. exd5 Qxd2 28. Qc7 Qg5 29. dxc6 {It is
astonishing, but this natural move turns out to be a blunder which costs White
all of his advantage. Erstaunlich, aber dieser natürliche Zug erweist sich
als ein grober Fehler, der den Weißen seinen ganzen Vorteil kostet.} ({
After the best move Nach dem besten} 29. d6 {Black has only a few
possibilities for counterplay, so that White would be able to gradually
activate his rook and decide the game in his favour. hat Schwarz nur wenige
Gegenspielmöglichkeiten, sodass der Anziehende imstande sein würde, seinen
Turm allmählich zu aktivieren und die Partie für sich zu entscheiden.} {
As he does so, however, he must see that Dabei muss man übrigens sehen, dass}
e5 30. dxe5 Bh3 {does not work on account of wegen} 31. Qxc6 {. In the final
position the white queen has everything under control. nicht funktioniert - in
der Endstellung hält die weiße Dame alles unter Kontrolle.}) 29... Bc8 (29...
Be8 {loses material after verliert Material nach} 30. Qb7) 30. h3 Qd5 ({
After Auf} 30... e5 {then gewinnt} 31. f4 exf4 32. Qxf4 {wins, because the
white queen and rook get into the game. , weil die weißen Dame und Turm ins
Spiel kommen.}) 31. Rd1 e5 {This delay costs Black the game. Diese
Verzögerung kostet den Schwarzen die Partie.} ({He could save himself by
attacking the f2-square by means of Die Rettung bestand im Angriff auf den
Punkt f2 mittels} 31... Rf8 {- after - nach} 32. Qd6 ({or oder} 32. Rd3 Qe4)
32... Qb3 33. Qxf8 Qxd1+ 34. Kh2 Qxd4 {The struggle would end in a draw.
würde der Kampf unentschieden enden.}) 32. Rd3 {The rook disrupts the black
position. Der Turm bringt Dissonanz in die schwarze Stellung.} exd4 33. Qe7 Bf5
({There was the more resilient Zäher wäre} 33... Rg8) 34. Rg3 Bg6 35. Qh4+ {
Of course, there are several mistakes in this game but the content is worthy
of study. Natürlich gibt es in dieser Partie mehrere Fehler, dafür aber
einen würdigen Inhalt.} 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 5th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2017.06.11"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2771"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2017.06.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. h3 d6 7. c3 a6 8. a4 Ba7
9. Re1 h6 10. Nbd2 Be6 11. b4 Nh5 12. Nf1 Qf6 13. Ne3 Bxc4 14. Nxc4 Nf4 15. Be3
Bxe3 16. fxe3 Ng6 17. b5 axb5 18. axb5 Nce7 19. Qb3 d5 20. Rxa8 Rxa8 21. Ncd2
c6 22. d4 Qd6 23. Qb2 dxe4 24. Nxe4 Qd5 25. Ned2 cxb5 26. e4 Qc6 27. Kh1 Rc8
28. d5 Qxc3 29. Qxb5 Qc7 30. Rb1 f5 31. Qb4 fxe4 32. d6 Nd5 33. dxc7 Nxb4 34.
Rxb4 exf3 35. Rxb7 f2 36. g3 Kh7 37. Kg2 Ne7 38. Kxf2 Nd5 39. Nc4 Rxc7 40. Rxc7
Nxc7 41. Nxe5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 5th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2017.06.12"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2795"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2017.06.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. e3 O-O 5. Be2 d6 6. h3 c5 7. O-O Qb6 8. Nbd2
cxd4 9. Nc4 Qc7 10. exd4 Nd5 11. Bg3 b5 12. Ncd2 a6 13. c3 Nc6 14. a4 Rb8 15.
axb5 axb5 16. Re1 Na5 17. Qb1 Nc4 18. Qa2 Ndb6 19. b3 Nxd2 20. Qxd2 Be6 21.
Bxb5 Bxb3 22. Qe2 Bd5 23. Ra3 Bf6 24. Nd2 Rfc8 25. Rea1 Ra8 26. Ba6 Nc4 27.
Bxc4 Rxa3 28. Rxa3 Bxc4 29. Qxc4 Qxc4 30. Nxc4 Rxc4 31. Kf1 e5 32. Ra6 exd4 33.
cxd4 Rxd4 34. Rxd6 Rxd6 35. Bxd6 h5 36. g4 hxg4 37. hxg4 Bd8 38. Ke2 f5 39. Kf3
fxg4+ 40. Kxg4 Kf7 41. f4 Be7 42. Bxe7 Kxe7 43. f5 gxf5+ 44. Kxf5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 5th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2017.06.14"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2808"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2017.06.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. O-O a6 7. Re1 Ba7 8. a4
O-O 9. h3 Ne7 10. d4 Ng6 11. Nbd2 c6 12. Bd3 Re8 13. Bc2 h6 14. Nf1 exd4 15.
cxd4 c5 16. d5 b5 17. axb5 axb5 18. Ng3 Bd7 19. Be3 Bb6 20. Rxa8 Qxa8 21. b4
Qa7 22. Qa1 Qc7 23. Bxh6 cxb4 24. Bxg7 Qxc2 25. Qxf6 Qxf2+ 26. Kh2 Bd8 27. Qxd6
Nh4 28. Nxh4 Bxh4 29. Nh5 Bxh3 30. Rg1 Bg5 31. Bf6 Bg4 32. Bxg5 Bxh5 33. Qh6
Rxe4 34. Qxh5 Qf5 35. Qh6 b3 36. Bf6 Qf4+ 37. Qxf4 Rxf4 38. d6 Rxf6 39. Rd1
Rh6+ 40. Kg1 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 5th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2017.06.15"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E48"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[Annotator "Yermolinsky,A"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2017.06.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Nge2 {
A modest system, but not without venom. White plans a classic Botvinnik Pawn
Roller, made famous by his win over Capablanca, AVRO 1938.} Re8 8. Bd2 Bf8 {
The most solid choice.} ({Unlike in similar lines of the QGD, where the white
bishop goes to g5, here White's K-side seems a bit vulnerable, so} 8... Bd6 {
has been tried on numerous occasions.} 9. O-O c6 10. Rc1 {Khismatullin-Anand,
World Rapid 2015.} {Vishy chose} Ng4 $5 ({The tempting} 10... Bxh2+ {doesn't
quite work here:} 11. Kxh2 Ng4+ 12. Kg3 $1 Qd6+ 13. f4 ({White can also
contemplate} 13. Nf4 $5 g5 14. Rh1 f5 15. f3 $1 Nxe3 16. Bxe3 Rxe3 17. Ncxd5 $1
gxf4+ 18. Nxf4 {where he will soon get his turn to take potshots at the enemy
king.}) 13... Rxe3+ 14. Bxe3 Nxe3 15. Qd2 $18) 11. h3 $2 (11. g3 {is normal})
11... Nh2 12. Re1 Nf3+ 13. gxf3 Qg5+ 14. Kh1 {and should have won the game,
but for some reason he rejected the obvious} Bxh3 ({The game went} 14... Qh4
15. Nf4 Bxh3 16. Ng2 Qxf2 17. Bf1 Re6 18. e4 Qg3 $2 19. e5 Bxg2+ 20. Bxg2 Qh4+
21. Kg1 Qxd4+ 22. Be3 {and White eventually won})) 9. O-O b6 (9... c6 10. Rc1
a5 11. f3 b5 $5 12. Ng3 Ba6 13. Nce2 b4 14. Bxa6 Rxa6 {Jobava-Mareco, World
Rapid 2016, Two of my favourite players slugging it out!}) 10. Rc1 c5 11. Nf4
Bb7 (11... Ba6 {appears a bit risky because of the d5-pawn coming under
assault after} 12. dxc5 Bxd3 13. Nxd3 bxc5 14. Na4 c4 15. Nf4 Nc6 16. Bc3 {
but, perhaps, Black can just give it away:} d4 17. exd4 Rc8 18. d5 Nb4 $44) 12.
Qf3 Na6 {Dull, standard play.} ({Ivan Saric tried to uphold Black's colors 
(Jolly Roger?) a couple of times. One of his efforts saw} 12... Nc6 $5 13.
Ncxd5 Nxd5 14. Nxd5 Ne5 15. dxe5 Qxd5 16. Qxd5 Bxd5 17. Bc3 Bxa2 {
Martinovic-Saric, 2017. Black doesn't look to be worse at all.}) ({I like} 
12... Bc6 $5 {There's no white knight anywhere near e5, and Black is planning
to follow up c5-c4 with b6-b5!}) 13. Rfd1 cxd4 {True to his newfound identity
of "MInister of Defence" Sergey dutifully accepts a slightly worse position.} (
{Truth be told,} 13... Nc7 $6 14. dxc5 $1 bxc5 15. Na4 Ne4 16. Ba5 Qe7 17. b4
$1 {would have been a much worse outcome.}) 14. exd4 Nc7 15. Bc2 Bd6 16. Be3
Ne4 $1 17. Ba4 Re7 18. Bb3 Qd7 19. h3 Nxc3 20. bxc3 $5 {Magnus is desperate to
unbalance the position. Actually, the resulting pawn structure is not that bad:
with d4 defended White can concentrate on the d5-pawn.} (20. Rxc3 Rae8 21. Rdc1
g6 {doesn't lead White anywhere.}) 20... Bc6 21. Nh5 Re6 22. Bc2 $2 {Oh,
Magnus...} ({First} 22. Re1 $1 {then Bc2 to keep that bishop alive!}) 22... Ba4
$1 {Being Magnus at this moment in time: no wins to his credit, no chance to
contend for first place, the media demanding explanations, the chess internet
swirling with rumours, the damned glasses make his head ache... He just had to
do something about it.} 23. c4 $5 dxc4 24. d5 Rg6 $1 {So far Sergey is showing
himself up to the task.} 25. Bd4 (25. Bxg6 fxg6 26. Ng3 Bxd1 27. Rxd1 Qf7 $17)
({Objectively best was} 25. Bxa4 Qxa4 26. Nf4 Rf6 27. Qg4) 25... Bxc2 26. Rxc2
Qa4 27. Rcc1 Qxa2 $2 {I love the concrete approach to positions, but every
once in a while we should think like Petrosian.} ({The natural defensive move} 
27... Ne8 $1 {would leave Carlsen staring at the dreadful possibility of a
third defeat in this tournament and the loss of the Number One position in the
Live Ratings list for the first time since 2011.}) 28. Nxg7 $1 Rxg7 29. Bxg7
Kxg7 30. Qg4+ Kf8 31. Qh4 Qb2 32. Rxc4 $2 {In looming time trouble Magnus lets
the black king escape.} (32. Qh6+ Ke7 33. Rxc4 Qe5 34. Kf1 {White's intiative
should net him more pawns, such as is the case in} Kd7 35. Qxh7 Re8 36. Qxf7+
Kd8 37. Qf3 Qh2 38. g4 {although he's hardly better here.}) 32... Ne8 $2 ({
The position after the obvious} 32... Kg7 33. g3 Kh8 {favours Black}) 33. Re1
Qf6 34. Qxh7 Qg7 35. Qc2 Qf6 36. Rg4 Bc5 37. Re2 Qh6 38. g3 Nf6 39. Rh4 Qg7 40.
Kg2 Qg5 $6 ({If only Sergey had another minute to calculate} 40... Nxd5 {
as completely safe he would have never lost this game.} 41. Qf5 Rd8 42. Re6 a5
43. Reh6 Bd4 {etc.}) 41. Qc3 Bd6 $2 {This howler was a product of a 25 minute
think.} ({Still,} 41... Qg7 $11) 42. Rh8+ Ng8 43. Re4 Qg7 44. Rxg8+ $1 (44.
Rxg8+ Qxg8 45. Qf6 Bc5 46. Rg4 Qh7 47. d6 $18) 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 5th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2017.06.16"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[Annotator "Yermolinsky,A"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2017.06.06"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. O-O a6 7. a4 Ba7 8. Re1
O-O 9. h3 h6 10. Nbd2 Be6 11. Bxe6 fxe6 12. b4 Nh5 13. Ra2 Qf6 14. Nc4 {
This Italian Giuoco Piano/Anti-Berlin Ruy Lopez is a staple of top level chess
these days. Between the two of them Anand and Carlsen must have played it a
hundred times, including many battles against one another.} b5 $6 {I don't
particularly like this move and I suspect Magnus didn't much fancy it either.}
({The thing is, the normal} 14... Ne7 {allows} 15. d4 $1 {and even if Black
can hold his own after} exd4 16. cxd4 Ng6 17. e5 $1 Qf5 {which is not a fact
yet, the position after} 18. exd6 Qd5 19. Rc2 cxd6 {offers White a chance to
wrap it up with repetition:} 20. Ne3 Qe4 21. Nc4) 15. Ne3 ({White has to be
slightly careful not to walk into} 15. axb5 axb5 16. Ne3 $2 Bxe3 17. Rxa8 Bxf2+
) 15... Bb6 16. Ng4 Qe7 17. Be3 Bxe3 18. fxe3 {In the resulting symmetrical
structure White holds two advantages: pressure against b5 and better posts for
his knights. Granted, it's not much yet, but White's prospects look much
brighter.} Rab8 {Concession no.1} 19. axb5 axb5 20. Ra6 Nd8 {Concession no.2
of the same} 21. d4 exd4 22. cxd4 Nf7 23. Qc2 $2 {Not a bad move in itself,
but I mark it down for a missed opportunity.} (23. e5 $1 Ng3 24. Qc2 Nf5 (24...
Ng5 {offers no compensation whatsoever:} 25. Nxg5 Qxg5 26. exd6 cxd6 27. Rxd6
h5 28. Ne5 $16) 25. e4 Ng3 (25... Nh4 26. Nf6+ gxf6 27. Nxh4 Kg7 28. exd6 cxd6
29. d5 {is disastrous for Black.}) 26. Rc6 {would put Magnus on the ropes yet
again. We are used to his indifference to playing for an opening advantage
with White because we know of his ability to win from equal positions. Getting
in trouble with Black, as consistently happened to Carlsen in this tournament,
is another kettle of fish.}) 23... Nf6 $1 {At the last moment the hapless
knight escapes.} 24. Nxf6+ Qxf6 25. Rc6 Ng5 $1 {Now Carlsen has a clear path
to counterplay.} 26. Nxg5 Qxg5 27. Rxc7 Qg3 $1 28. Qe2 ({Still,} 28. Re2 Ra8
29. Qc1 Ra4 30. Qe1 {was worth trying.}) 28... Ra8 29. Rcc1 Ra3 30. Ra1 Rb3 31.
Rab1 Ra3 32. Ra1 Rb3 33. Rab1 Ra3 34. Ra1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Paris GCT Blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.24"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2808"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Nf6 3. e3 e6 4. Nf3 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Nbd2 Bd6 7. Bg3 O-O 8. Bb5
Bxg3 9. hxg3 Qb6 10. a4 h6 11. O-O Ne7 12. Qb3 Qc7 13. a5 Bd7 14. Be2 Ng6 15.
Qa3 c4 16. b3 cxb3 17. Nxb3 Ne4 18. Rfc1 Bc6 19. c4 dxc4 20. Rxc4 Qd8 21. Nc5
Nd6 22. Rc2 Bd5 23. Bd3 b6 24. e4 bxc5 25. exd5 exd5 26. dxc5 Ne4 27. c6 Qc7
28. Qb3 Rfd8 29. Qb7 Rac8 30. Rb1 Qxa5 31. c7 Rf8 32. Qb5 Qa3 33. Qxd5 Nc3 34.
Rxc3 Qxc3 35. Bxg6 Rxc7 36. Ne5 Qc5 37. Bxf7+ Rfxf7 38. Rb8+ 1-0

[Event "Paris GCT Blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.24"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Bacrot, Etienne"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2708"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. c4 e5 6. Nc3 Nc6 7. d3 Be7 8.
a3 Bd8 9. O-O Nge7 10. b4 cxb4 11. axb4 Nxb4 12. Ba3 Nbc6 13. d4 exd4 14. Nxd4
Nxd4 15. Qxd4 O-O 16. e5 Nc6 17. Qxd6 Qxd6 18. exd6 Bf6 19. Rac1 Bxc3 20. Rxc3
Rfd8 21. Rb1 Rd7 22. Re3 f6 23. c5 Kf7 24. Reb3 Nd8 25. Kf1 Rc8 26. Ke2 Rc6 27.
Rb5 Ra6 28. R1b3 Ra4 29. Ke3 Ke6 30. R5b4 Rxb4 31. Rxb4 Kd5 32. Re4 Nc6 33. Rh4
h6 34. Rh5+ Ne5 35. f4 g6 36. fxe5 gxh5 37. exf6 Rf7 38. Bb2 Kxc5 0-1

[Event "Paris GCT Blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.24"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2749"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 c5 3. e3 Nc6 4. c3 e6 5. Nf3 Bd6 6. Bg3 Nge7 7. Bd3 h6 8. dxc5
Bxc5 9. Nbd2 O-O 10. O-O Nf5 11. Bxf5 exf5 12. Nb3 Bb6 13. Qd3 Be6 14. Rfd1 Qf6
15. Qb5 Qe7 16. a4 Rfc8 17. a5 Bd8 18. a6 Bb6 19. axb7 Qxb7 20. Nc5 Qe7 21. Nd3
g5 22. Nde5 Nd8 23. h4 f6 24. Nd3 Nc6 25. Ra6 Qe8 26. Rda1 f4 27. exf4 g4 28.
f5 Bxf5 29. Nd2 Qf7 30. Nf4 Ne7 31. Re1 Re8 32. c4 Rad8 33. c5 Bd7 34. Qb4 Nc6
35. Rxe8+ Rxe8 36. Qc3 d4 37. Qc1 Bd8 38. Nc4 Bc7 39. Nd6 Bxd6 40. cxd6 d3 41.
Nxd3 Nd4 42. Nf4 Bb5 43. Ra3 a6 44. Kh2 Nf5 45. Qc7 Nd4 46. Rc3 Ne6 47. Nxe6
Qxe6 48. Bf4 Qf5 49. Kg3 h5 50. Rc5 Qd3+ 51. Kh2 Qg6 52. d7 1-0

[Event "Paris GCT Blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.24"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2800"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Qc2 g6 5. g3 Bg7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. Nbd2 Bf5 8. Qb3
Qb6 9. O-O Rd8 10. Qa3 Na6 11. c5 Qb5 12. e3 Nb4 13. Qc3 a5 14. a4 Qa6 15. b3
Nd3 16. Rd1 Ng4 17. Rf1 Bh6 18. Nb1 e5 19. Bd2 Bg7 20. Na3 Nf6 21. Ne1 Ne4 22.
Bxe4 dxe4 23. Nxd3 exd4 24. Qb2 Qxd3 0-1

[Event "Paris GCT Blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.24"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2761"]
[PlyCount "171"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 c6 4. O-O Bf5 5. c4 e6 6. d3 dxc4 7. dxc4 Qxd1 8.
Rxd1 Bc2 9. Rf1 Nbd7 10. Nc3 Bb4 11. Bd2 a5 12. a3 Bxc3 13. Bxc3 a4 14. Rac1
Be4 15. Rfd1 Ke7 16. Bf1 c5 17. Ne1 Bc6 18. f3 Rhd8 19. Nd3 b6 20. Kf2 Ne8 21.
e4 Bb7 22. Ke3 Ba6 23. h4 Rac8 24. Nf4 f6 25. Rd2 Nd6 26. Nh5 Ne8 27. Rcd1 Ne5
28. Rxd8 Rxd8 29. Rxd8 Kxd8 30. Bxe5 fxe5 31. g4 Ke7 32. Kd2 g6 33. Ng3 Nd6 34.
Kc3 Nb7 35. Bd3 Na5 36. Nf1 Bc8 37. Nd2 Bd7 38. Bc2 h6 39. g5 hxg5 40. hxg5 Nb7
41. Nf1 Nd6 42. Ne3 Nf7 43. Ng4 Bc6 44. Kd2 Kd6 45. Ke3 Nxg5 46. Nf2 Nh7 47.
Nd1 Nf6 48. Nc3 Nh5 49. Bxa4 Bb7 50. Bd1 Nf4 51. Be2 Ng2+ 52. Kf2 Nf4 53. Bf1
Bc6 54. b4 cxb4 55. axb4 Be8 56. Ke3 g5 57. b5 Kc7 58. Na4 Bh5 59. Be2 Ng2+ 60.
Kf2 Nf4 61. Bf1 g4 62. fxg4 Bxg4 63. Ke3 Bd1 64. Nb2 Bc2 65. Bd3 Bb3 66. Kd2
Kd6 67. Kc3 Ba2 68. Nd1 Kc5 69. Nf2 Kd6 70. Kb4 Kc7 71. Bf1 Kd6 72. Nd1 Bb1 73.
Nf2 Kc7 74. c5 bxc5+ 75. Kxc5 Bc2 76. b6+ Kb7 77. Bb5 Bb1 78. Bc6+ Ka6 79. b7
Ka7 80. Kd6 Kb8 81. Kxe5 Ne2 82. Kxe6 Kc7 83. Bd5 Nc3 84. Ke5 Nxd5 85. exd5
Kxb7 86. d6 0-1

[Event "Paris GCT Blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.24"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[PlyCount "126"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 d5 3. e3 c5 4. Nc3 e6 5. Nf3 Be7 6. Nb5 Na6 7. c3 O-O 8. a4
Bd7 9. Ne5 Be8 10. Bd3 Nb8 11. dxc5 Bxc5 12. O-O Nc6 13. Qf3 a6 14. Nxc6 Bxc6
15. Nd4 Bd6 16. Bxd6 Qxd6 17. Qg3 Qxg3 18. hxg3 Rfc8 19. a5 Ne8 20. e4 Nd6 21.
e5 Nc4 22. Bxc4 dxc4 23. g4 Be4 24. Rfe1 Bd3 25. Ra4 Rc7 26. f4 Rd8 27. Kf2 Rd5
28. Ke3 g5 29. g3 h6 30. b4 Rc8 31. Rh1 Kg7 32. Ra2 Rh8 33. Rd2 Rh7 34. Nf3 Rh8
35. Rhh2 Rhd8 36. Nd4 Rh8 37. Rh1 Rh7 38. Nf3 Rh8 39. Rhd1 Rhd8 40. Ne1 Be4 41.
Rxd5 Bxd5 42. Nf3 Rh8 43. f5 h5 44. Nxg5 hxg4 45. Kf4 Rh2 46. fxe6 fxe6 47. Ne4
Kg6 48. Rd2 Rh1 49. Nf6 Rf1+ 50. Ke3 Rf3+ 51. Kd4 Rxg3 52. Nxd5 exd5 53. Kc5
Rxc3 54. Re2 Rf3 55. e6 Rf8 56. e7 Re8 57. Kxd5 c3 58. Kd6 g3 59. Re3 g2 60.
Rg3+ Kf7 61. Rf3+ Kg6 62. Rg3+ Kf7 63. Rf3+ Kg6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Paris GCT Blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.24"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2796"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "141"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 a6 6. O-O d6 7. a4 Ba7 8. Re1
O-O 9. h3 h6 10. Nbd2 Re8 11. b4 Be6 12. Bxe6 Rxe6 13. Nf1 Ne7 14. Ng3 Ng6 15.
d4 Qd7 16. d5 Ree8 17. a5 c6 18. c4 cxd5 19. cxd5 Rac8 20. Qd3 Rc7 21. Bd2 Rec8
22. Nf5 Rc4 23. Rac1 Rxe4 24. Rxc8+ Qxc8 25. Nxd6 Rxe1+ 26. Nxe1 Qd7 27. Ne4
Nxd5 28. Bxh6 Bd4 29. Qc4 Qc6 30. Qxc6 bxc6 31. Bd2 f5 32. Nd6 Nge7 33. Nf3 Ba1
34. Nb7 e4 35. Ng5 Nc7 36. Nc5 Bd4 37. Nge6 Nxe6 38. Nxe6 Ba7 39. Nc7 Nd5 40.
Nxa6 Kf7 41. Nc5 Bxc5 42. bxc5 Nc7 43. h4 Na6 44. Be3 g6 45. g4 fxg4 46. Kg2
Ke6 47. Kg3 Kf5 48. Bd4 Nb4 49. Kg2 Na6 50. Be3 Ke5 51. Kh2 Ke6 52. Kg3 Kf5 53.
Bd4 Nb4 54. Bb2 Na6 55. Ba3 Nc7 56. Kg2 Na6 57. Kf1 Ke5 58. Ke2 Kd4 59. Bb2+
Kxc5 60. Ke3 Kd5 61. Kf4 Nc5 62. Kxg4 Kc4 63. Ba3 Kb5 64. Bxc5 Kxc5 65. Kf4 Kb5
66. Kxe4 Kxa5 67. f4 c5 68. h5 gxh5 69. f5 h4 70. f6 h3 71. Kf3 1-0

[Event "Paris GCT Blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.24"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2785"]
[PlyCount "220"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 a6 7. a4 O-O 8. h3 Ba7
9. Re1 Ne7 10. d4 Ng6 11. Bb3 Bd7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nbd2 Bc6 14. a5 h6 15. Ra3
Qc8 16. b4 Bd7 17. Nf1 b6 18. Ng3 bxa5 19. bxa5 Rb8 20. Be3 Qb7 21. Rb3 Qa8 22.
Rxb8 Qxb8 23. dxe5 dxe5 24. Bxa7 Qxa7 25. Nh5 Nxh5 26. Qxd7 Nf6 27. Qc6 Re6 28.
Qc4 Ne8 29. g3 Nd6 30. Qd3 Kh7 31. Kg2 Qc5 32. Bb3 Rf6 33. h4 Qxa5 34. Nh2 Qb6
35. Qc2 Rxf2+ 36. Qxf2 Qxb3 37. Nf3 Qxc3 38. Qe3 Qxe3 39. Rxe3 h5 40. Nd2 Nf8
41. Ra3 Ne6 42. Rxa6 f6 43. Kf3 Nd4+ 44. Kf2 Kg6 45. Ra8 Ne6 46. Ke3 Nd4 47.
Ra2 Kf7 48. Kd3 Ne6 49. Rc2 Ke7 50. Nf1 Nb7 51. Ra2 g6 52. Ra8 Nd6 53. Ra5 Nb7
54. Ra8 Nd6 55. Ra5 Nb7 56. Ra8 Nec5+ 57. Ke3 Nd6 58. Nd2 f5 59. exf5 Nxf5+ 60.
Kf3 Nd4+ 61. Ke3 Nf5+ 62. Kf3 Nd4+ 63. Kf2 Nf5 64. Rg8 e4 65. Nc4 Nd3+ 66. Ke2
Nxg3+ 67. Ke3 Kf6 68. Rc8 Nc5 69. Rxc7 Nf5+ 70. Kf2 Nd3+ 71. Ke2 Nf4+ 72. Kf2
Nd3+ 73. Ke2 Nf4+ 74. Kf2 Nxh4 75. Rc6+ Kg5 76. Nd6 e3+ 77. Kxe3 Nf5+ 78. Nxf5
Kxf5 79. Kf3 g5 80. Rc5+ Kf6 81. Ke4 h4 82. Rc6+ Kf7 83. Kf5 h3 84. Kxg5 Ne2
85. Rh6 Ng1 86. Kg4 Kg7 87. Rh4 Kg6 88. Kg3 Ne2+ 89. Kf3 Nc3 90. Rxh3 Nd5 91.
Ke4 Nf6+ 92. Ke5 Ng4+ 93. Kf4 Nf6 94. Rd3 Kf7 95. Ke5 Ke7 96. Rb3 Nd7+ 97. Kd5
Nf6+ 98. Kc6 Ke6 99. Rf3 Ke5 100. Rf1 Ke6 101. Re1+ Kf5 102. Kd6 Ne4+ 103. Kd5
Nf6+ 104. Kd4 Ng4 105. Rf1+ Ke6 106. Rg1 Kf5 107. Ra1 Ke6 108. Ra5 Nf6 109.
Ra6+ Kf5 110. Rxf6+ Kxf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Paris GCT Blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.24"]
[Round "9"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2812"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 O-O 5. Qc2 d5 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Bg5 h6 8.
Bh4 c5 9. dxc5 Nbd7 10. e3 Qa5 11. Bd3 Ne4 12. O-O Bxc3 13. bxc3 Ndxc5 14. Nd4
Nxd3 15. Qxd3 Re8 16. Rfc1 Bd7 17. c4 dxc4 18. Rxc4 Qd5 19. Rcc1 Rac8 20. Qa3
a6 21. f3 Nd6 22. Bf2 Nc4 23. Qd3 b5 24. e4 Qd6 25. Qb3 Qg6 26. Rd1 Nb6 27. Ne2
Be6 28. Qb4 Na4 29. a3 Rc2 30. Rd2 Rec8 31. Rad1 Kh7 32. h4 Qf6 33. Qd6 Qb2 34.
Rxc2 Qxc2 35. Nf4 Nb2 36. Re1 Qc6 37. Qd4 Nc4 38. Rd1 f6 39. h5 Bf7 40. Qd7 Qc7
41. Qf5+ Kg8 42. Rd7 Qe5 43. Qg4 Qa1+ 44. Kh2 Ne5 45. Qf5 Nxd7 46. Qxd7 Re8 47.
Nd5 Qe5+ 48. Bg3 Qxh5+ 0-1

[Event "Paris GCT Blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.25"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2808"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 Bg4 4. O-O e6 5. d3 Be7 6. h3 Bh5 7. Nbd2 c5 8. e4
Nc6 9. Re1 dxe4 10. dxe4 O-O 11. e5 Nd7 12. g4 Bg6 13. Nc4 Nb4 14. Ne3 Nb6 15.
Qe2 N6d5 16. Rd1 Qc7 17. Nxd5 Nxd5 18. a3 c4 19. Nd4 Rfd8 20. Kh1 c3 21. b4 Qb6
22. Nb3 Rd7 23. f4 Rad8 24. Rf1 h6 25. f5 Bh7 26. Na5 Qc7 27. Nc4 b5 28. Na5 a6
29. Nb3 Nb6 30. Bf4 Nc4 31. Bg3 Bg5 32. Rf3 Rd2 33. Nxd2 cxd2 34. h4 Ne3 35.
hxg5 d1=Q+ 36. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 37. Kh2 Nxg4+ 38. Kh3 Rd4 39. g6 fxg6 40. fxe6 g5 41.
Rf7 Qc8 42. Qf3 Bg6 43. Re7 Nxe5 44. Qf2 Qd8 45. Rxg7+ Kxg7 46. Bxe5+ Kg8 47.
Bxd4 Qd6 48. Qf6 g4+ 49. Kxg4 1-0

[Event "Paris GCT Blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.25"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bacrot, Etienne"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2708"]
[PlyCount "175"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 a6 7. Bb3 O-O 8. h3 h6
9. Re1 Re8 10. Nbd2 Be6 11. Nf1 Bxb3 12. Qxb3 Qd7 13. Be3 Bxe3 14. Nxe3 Ne7 15.
Nh2 Ng6 16. Nhg4 Nh7 17. Qd1 Nf4 18. h4 d5 19. g3 dxe4 20. dxe4 Qxd1 21. Raxd1
Ne6 22. Nd5 f6 23. h5 Rad8 24. Kg2 Kf7 25. Nge3 Nhf8 26. Nf5 Rd7 27. Nde3 Red8
28. Rxd7+ Rxd7 29. Rd1 Rxd1 30. Nxd1 Nc5 31. f3 a5 32. Kf1 Nfe6 33. Ke2 Ke8 34.
Nde3 Kd7 35. b4 Na4 36. Kd3 axb4 37. cxb4 b5 38. Nd5 Nb2+ 39. Kc3 Na4+ 40. Kd2
c6 41. Nde3 Nb6 42. Kd3 Na4 43. Nd1 Kc7 44. Ke3 Nb6 45. Nb2 Kd7 46. Nd3 Nc4+
47. Ke2 Ke8 48. Nc5 Nxc5 49. bxc5 Kf7 50. Kd3 Nb2+ 51. Kc3 Na4+ 52. Kb4 Kf8 53.
Nd6 Ke7 54. Nc8+ Kd8 55. Nd6 Ke7 56. a3 Ke6 57. Nf5 Kf7 58. f4 Kf8 59. Nh4 Kf7
60. Ng2 g6 61. hxg6+ Kxg6 62. Nh4+ Kf7 63. fxe5 fxe5 64. Nf3 Kf6 65. g4 Ke6 66.
Ne1 Kf6 67. Nd3 Ke6 68. Ka5 Nc3 69. Kb6 Nxe4 70. Kxc6 Nc3 71. Kb7 e4 72. Nf4+
Ke5 73. c6 e3 74. c7 Ne4 75. Ne2 Nd6+ 76. Kc6 Ke6 77. Nd4+ Ke5 78. Nxb5 Nc8 79.
Nc3 Kd4 80. Ne2+ Kd3 81. Ng3 Kd4 82. Nf5+ Ke4 83. a4 Kf4 84. Nxe3 Kxe3 85. a5
Kf4 86. Kb7 Nd6+ 87. Kb8 Kxg4 88. a6 1-0

[Event "Paris GCT Blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.25"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2749"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. Nc3 e6 6. b3 Bb4 7. Bd2 Nbd7 8. Bd3
O-O 9. Qc2 Qe7 10. Ne5 Nxe5 11. dxe5 Ng4 12. f4 f5 13. g3 Rd8 14. h3 Nxe3 15.
Bxe3 d4 16. Bd2 dxc3 17. Bxc3 Bxc3+ 18. Qxc3 c5 19. O-O-O b6 20. g4 Bb7 21.
Rhg1 Qh4 22. Bc2 Rxd1+ 23. Bxd1 Qf2 24. Qg3 Qxa2 25. Qc3 Qf2 26. Qg3 Qd4 27.
gxf5 Qa1+ 28. Kd2 Rd8+ 29. Ke2 Qb2+ 0-1

[Event "Paris GCT Blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.25"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2800"]
[PlyCount "126"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 a6 7. a4 Ba7 8. Re1 h6
9. Nbd2 O-O 10. Nf1 Re8 11. Qb3 Qe7 12. a5 Rb8 13. Be3 Be6 14. Bxe6 Qxe6 15.
Qxe6 Rxe6 16. Bxa7 Nxa7 17. Ne3 Rd8 18. b4 d5 19. Rad1 dxe4 20. dxe4 Rxd1 21.
Rxd1 Nxe4 22. Rd8+ Kh7 23. Rd7 Nxc3 24. Rxc7 Nc6 25. Rxf7 e4 26. Nd2 Re7 27.
Rxe7 Nxe7 28. Nec4 Nc6 29. Nd6 Nxb4 30. Nxb7 Nc6 31. Nc4 Ne2+ 32. Kf1 Ned4 33.
Nc5 Kg6 34. Nxe4 Nb3 35. Ke2 Kf5 36. Kd3 Ncxa5 37. Nxa5 Nxa5 38. Nc5 Nc6 39.
Nxa6 Ne5+ 40. Ke2 g5 41. Nc5 h5 42. Nd3 Ng4 43. h3 Nf6 44. Ke3 Nd5+ 45. Kd4 Ne7
46. Nb4 Ng6 47. Nd5 g4 48. Ke3 Nh4 49. Nf4 Kg5 50. Ke4 gxh3 51. gxh3 Kh6 52.
Ne6 Kg6 53. Nf4+ Kg5 54. Nd5 Ng6 55. f4+ Kh4 56. f5 Nf8 57. Nf4 Nd7 58. Ng6+
Kxh3 59. Kf4 h4 60. Kg5 Nc5 61. Nxh4 Ne4+ 62. Kf4 Nd6 63. Nf3 Nxf5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Paris GCT Blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.25"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D52"]
[WhiteElo "2779"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[Annotator "Yermolinsky,A"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. e3 Qa5 7. Nd2 dxc4 8.
Bxf6 Nxf6 9. Nxc4 Qc7 10. Rc1 Be7 11. g3 O-O 12. Bg2 Rd8 13. O-O Bd7 14. Qb3
Rac8 15. Rfd1 Be8 16. Ne4 Nxe4 17. Bxe4 b5 18. Nd2 h6 19. Bg2 {Nothing special
here, just a regular Catalan type of position.} c5 $5 ({The alternative} 19...
e5 {could even qualify as a winning attempt.}) 20. dxc5 Bc6 $6 {Positionally
sound, but Magnus missed one tactical detail.} ({Instead,} 20... Qb8 {would
have likely gotten the pawn back without any surprises.} 21. Ne4 (21. c6 Qb6)
21... Rxd1+ 22. Qxd1 f5 $11) 21. Bxc6 Qxc6 22. Qa3 Rd5 23. Nb3 Rxd1+ 24. Rxd1
Bxc5 25. Nxc5 Qxc5 26. Rd8+ $1 {Here it is!} Kh7 27. Qd3+ f5 {Magnus really
had no choice.} ({In case of} 27... g6 {White could even think of} 28. Qd7 $5 (
28. Rxc8 Qxc8 29. Qxb5 {is similar to the game. White retains good winning
chances.}) 28... Qc1+ (28... Rxd8 29. Qxf7+ Kh8 30. Qf6+ Kh7 31. Qxd8 Kg7 32.
Qe8 {is a very difficult endgame for Black. His king is forever exposed to
checks, thus increasing the power of the white queen.}) 29. Kg2 Qc6+ 30. Qxc6
Rxc6 31. Rd7 Kg7 32. Rxa7 Rc2 33. b4 {and Black has to fight for a draw.}) 28.
Rxc8 Qxc8 29. Qxb5 Qc1+ 30. Kg2 Qb1 31. Qa4 $1 Qd3 (31... Qxb2 32. Qxa7 Qc2 33.
Qa8 $1 $18 {He who controls the long diagonal will prevail.} e5 34. a4 e4 35.
Qa5 Kg6 36. Qb6+ Kh7 37. a5 Qd1 38. Qd4 Qe2 39. Qd5) 32. Qd4 $2 {A big misstep.
} ({Keeping own king safe is the key to success in queen endgames. Therefore,} 
32. Qc6 $1 e5 33. b4 Qd1 34. Qf3 Qc2 35. b5 $18) 32... Qa6 33. a3 Qc6+ 34. Kg1
Qc1+ 35. Kg2 Qc6+ 36. e4 {White's only chance to play on.} fxe4 37. Qe3 a6 38.
b4 Kg8 39. g4 Qd5 40. h3 Qc4 $6 {There was no need to move the queen away.} (
40... Kf7 41. f3 Qa2+ 42. Kg3 exf3 43. Qxf3+ Kg6 $11) 41. Qc5 Qd3 42. Qc8+ {
Sasha just about ran out of time.} ({I can't see a perpetual after} 42. a4 Qf3+
43. Kh2 Qf4+ 44. Kg1 $16) 42... Kf7 43. Qc7+ Kg8 44. Qc8+ Kf7 45. Qc7+ Kg8 46.
Qc8+ Kf7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Paris GCT Blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.25"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[Annotator "Yermolinsky,A"]
[PlyCount "171"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 a6 6. c3 d6 7. a4 Ba7 8. Nbd2
O-O 9. h3 h6 10. Re1 Re8 11. b4 Be6 12. Bxe6 Rxe6 13. Qc2 Ne7 $6 {Not the best
idea here, as White might have different intentions instead of the standard
plan with d3-d4.} (13... Qd7) 14. Nf1 Ng6 15. c4 $5 {Here it is, only possible
because the black knights are far away from the d4-square.} a5 16. bxa5 Ne7 17.
Rb1 Rb8 18. Bd2 Nc6 19. Ng3 Nd7 20. Rb5 Nc5 21. Reb1 Qc8 22. Be3 Re8 23. Nf5
Ne6 {It is not often that we see Carlsen being outplayed in his favorite pawn
structure.} 24. Qd2 ({More energetic was} 24. a6 bxa6 25. Rxb8 Bxb8 26. c5 $16)
24... h5 $6 {Carlsen's plan was to evict the knight from f5 by g7-g6, but he
won't get the time to do it.} 25. d4 $1 exd4 (25... g6 26. d5 gxf5 27. exf5 Nc5
28. Bxc5 Qxf5 29. Bxa7 Nxa7 30. Rxb7 $18) 26. N3xd4 Nexd4 27. Nxd4 Bxd4 28.
Bxd4 {Now the h5-pawn is sticking out like a sore thumb.} Rxe4 (28... Qe6 29.
Rxb7 Rxb7 30. Rxb7 Qxc4 31. Bc3 Ne5 32. f3 {looks pretty bad for Black, but at
least he isn't getting mated.}) ({Same goes for the very depressing position
after} 28... Nxd4 29. Qxd4 g6 30. f4) 29. Bc3 Rxc4 30. Rxh5 {Do you spot a
threat?} Qe6 {Carlsen did.} (30... Rc5 31. Rh8+ $1 Kxh8 32. Qh6+) 31. Re1 Qg6
32. Rg5 {but it cost him his queen to defend the king.} Qxg5 33. Qxg5 Rxc3 34.
Re4 Rc5 35. Qg3 Rxa5 36. Rg4 g6 37. Qb3 Kf8 38. Rh4 Ke7 39. Rf4 Nd8 40. Re4+ $2
{The only mistake Sergey made in this game.} ({Instead,} 40. Qc3 Rc5 41. Qf6+
Kd7 42. Re4 {would wrap it up rather quickly.}) 40... Kd7 $2 ({It would be
hard for White to break through after} 40... Ne6) 41. Qe3 (41. Qc3 Ra6 42. Qf6)
41... Nc6 (41... Ne6 $1) 42. Qf3 Rf8 43. Qf6 Re5 44. Rxe5 Nxe5 45. f4 Nc6 46.
g4 {The h-pawn is going to cost Black dearly. It took Karjakin another 40
moves to force resignation, but the issue was never in doubt.} Nd8 47. h4 Re8
48. h5 gxh5 49. gxh5 Re6 50. Qg7 d5 51. h6 Rg6+ 52. Kf2 Ke7 53. f5 Rf6 54. h7
Rxf5+ 55. Ke1 Ne6 56. Qh6 Re5+ 57. Kd1 Re4 58. h8=Q Rxa4 59. Qh2 Kd7 60. Qf6
Kc6 61. Qc2+ Rc4 62. Qxf7 Nc5 63. Qxc4 $5 dxc4 64. Qxc4 b5 65. Qh4 Nb7 66. Qe4+
Kb6 67. Qg6+ Nd6 68. Kc2 Kc5 69. Kb3 Nc4 70. Qg1+ Kc6 71. Kb4 Nd6 72. Qc5+ Kd7
73. Qd5 c6 74. Qg8 Kc7 75. Qg7+ Kb6 76. Qd4+ Kc7 77. Ka5 Nb7+ 78. Ka6 Nd6 79.
Qa7+ Kd8 80. Qh7 Nc8 81. Kb7 Ne7 82. Kb6 Kd7 83. Kc5 Ke6 84. Qh6+ Kd7 85. Qd6+
Ke8 86. Qe6 1-0

[Event "Paris GCT Blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.25"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2796"]
[Annotator "Yermolinsky,A"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nf3 h6 {
Common, but perhaps unnecessary.} (7... Be7 8. Bg5 Be6 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. O-O O-O
11. Nd5 Nd7 $11) 8. Nd2 b5 (8... Be6 {allows the white knight to continue the
journey to the d5-square.} 9. Nc4 b5 10. Ne3) 9. Nf1 $1 {Magnus finds a back
door entrance.} Bb7 10. Bf3 Nbd7 11. Ne3 Nb6 12. O-O Rc8 13. Qd3 g6 14. Rd1 Be7
15. a4 $1 b4 16. Na2 a5 17. c3 $2 ({There wasn't much wrong with the greedy} 
17. Qb5+ Bc6 18. Qxa5 Ra8 19. Qxb4 Rxa4 20. Qb3) 17... b3 18. Nb4 {One can
tell Magnus is trying to muscle his way through. While he's pretty good at
that too, still, this isn't how he normally plays.} axb4 19. a5 bxc3 $5 {
Maxime values the initiative above material. It's admirable under any
circumstances, but it also happens to be a pretty good strategy in blitz,
where active play is often rewarded.} (19... Nbd7 20. cxb4 O-O {Objectively
speaking Black is better here.}) 20. axb6 c2 21. Rd2 Qxb6 22. Ra3 O-O 23. Rxb3
Qa7 $6 ({The tournament situation called for trying to win at any cost, so} 
23... Qa6 24. Qxa6 Bxa6 25. Rxc2 Rxc2 26. Nxc2 Rc8 27. Rc3 Rxc3 28. bxc3 Kg7
29. Nb4 Bb7 {seemed too bland.}) 24. Ra3 Qd4 $6 25. Qb3 $1 Qxd2 26. Bxd2 c1=Q+
27. Bxc1 Rxc1+ 28. Nf1 Bxe4 {Black has compensation, but it's hard to see him
winning this.} 29. Qe3 $1 Rc4 30. Qxh6 d5 31. Bxe4 $1 {For a while Carlsen
played it right.} Ng4 (31... Bxa3 32. Bxg6 fxg6 33. Qxg6+ Kh8 34. bxa3 d4 35.
h4 {is practically hopeless for Black - see MVL-Nakamura from the rapid.}) 32.
Qh3 Rxe4 33. Rc3 Rb4 34. Rc2 Kg7 35. Qd3 Nf6 36. Qg3 e4 37. Qe5 Re8 {Under
better circumstances it would be hard to bet on Magnus losing this game, but
the combination of time trouble and frustration ultimately made it possible.}
38. Ne3 $6 (38. Ng3 d4 39. Qg5 d3 40. Nf5+ Kg8 41. Rc8 {leads White nowhere in
terms of obtaining winning chances} Rxc8 42. Nxe7+ Kg7 43. Nxc8 $4 (43. Nf5+ {
may still be enough for a draw}) 43... Rxb2 {and the back rank weakness kills.}
) ({The most practical would have been to play} 38. h4) 38... d4 39. Ng4 d3 40.
Rc1 Bd8 41. Qc3 Rb7 42. Ne3 Rc7 43. Qd2 Rxc1+ 44. Qxc1 Bb6 45. Kf1 Bxe3 46.
Qxe3 Rb8 47. Qd4 Rb5 48. Ke1 Rg5 49. g3 Rd5 50. Qc3 d2+ 51. Kd1 Rd3 52. Qe5 Rd5
53. Qf4 g5 $2 (53... Rd3 {strongly threatening e4-e3 would have forced
repetition:} 54. Qe5 Rd5 55. Qc3 Rd3) 54. Qe3 Kg6 55. h3 (55. h4 gxh4 56. gxh4)
55... Rd3 56. Qb6 Kg7 57. b4 $4 {Oh, horror.} Nd5 {Blunders aside, one has to
give credit to Maxime for uncompromising play. He sensed Magnus wasn't at his
best at the moment and seized his chance.} 0-1

[Event "Paris GCT Blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.25"]
[Round "17"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2785"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[Annotator "Yermolinsky,A"]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. d4 a6 5. Bd3 Bg4 6. Nbd2 e6 7. h3 Bh5 8. b3
Nbd7 9. Bb2 Bg6 10. Bxg6 hxg6 11. Qc2 Bb4 12. O-O O-O 13. Bc3 Bxc3 14. Qxc3 c5
15. Rfd1 Rc8 16. Rac1 Qe7 17. Qb2 cxd4 18. Nxd4 Ne5 19. N2f3 Nxf3+ 20. Nxf3
dxc4 21. Rxc4 Rxc4 22. bxc4 {While the position on the board doesn't promise
White much, Hikaru's game plan was just to keep the game going.} Rc8 (22... Ne4
$1 23. Ne5 Nc5 {was the most solid way to handle this.}) 23. Ne5 g5 (23... Ne4
$2 24. Rd7) 24. Qb6 g6 25. a4 (25. Rd6 $1 Qc7 26. Qd4 $16) 25... Qc7 $1 26. Qb2
Qe7 27. Qb6 $1 {Exclamation mark for psychology. By repeating the moves once
Nakamura probes Carlsen's resolve.} Kg7 (27... Qc7 {It's an open question what
Hikaru would do in reply to a silent draw offer. I think he would have gone on:
} 28. Qd4 Qc5 29. Rb1 {etc.}) 28. g3 Rc7 29. Qb2 Kg8 30. Rd4 Rc5 31. Rd1 Rc7
32. Kg2 Rc8 33. Rd3 Rc7 34. Rd1 Rc8 35. a5 Rc7 36. Qb6 Rc8 37. Rb1 Rc7 38. Rb2
Qc5 39. f4 gxf4 40. gxf4 Ne4 41. Kf3 Nd6 42. Rb4 Kg7 43. Ke2 $6 {Both players
were extremely low on time.} (43. Qxc5 Rxc5 44. e4 f6 45. Nd3 {keeps the
balance, as now White has} Rxa5 46. e5) 43... f6 44. Qxc5 Rxc5 45. Nd3 Rxc4 $2
{Hikaru's risky strategy begins to pay dividends.} (45... Rxa5 46. Rb6 Ra2+ (
46... Nxc4 47. Rxb7+ Kh6 48. Nf2 Ra2+ 49. Kd3 Rxf2 50. Kxc4 {is closer to a
draw than a win for Black.}) 47. Kf3 Nxc4 48. Rxb7+ Kh6 49. Nc5 Ra3 50. Nd7 g5
51. Nxf6 {Same story here - White will survive down a pawn.}) 46. Rb6 Ne4 47.
Rxb7+ Kh6 48. Nb4 Rc3 (48... Nc5 {was the last chance for Black to keep the
game even.} 49. Rb6 Na4 50. Rb8 Rc5) 49. Rb6 Ra3 {For the rest of the game
Hikaru kept on finding best moves, while Magnus was missing with his shots -
not the kind of scenario anybody would envision.} 50. Rxa6 Ra4 51. Nc6 Ra2+ 52.
Kd1 Nc3+ 53. Ke1 Nd5 (53... Kh5 $1) 54. Ra8 $16 Ra1+ (54... e5 $1) 55. Kd2 Ra2+
56. Kd3 Ra3+ 57. Kd4 Nxe3 58. a6 Nf5+ 59. Kc5 Rc3+ 60. Kb6 Nd6 61. a7 Rb3+ 62.
Kc5 Ne4+ 63. Kd4 1-0

[Event "Paris GCT Blitz"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.25"]
[Round "18"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2812"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 d5 3. e3 c5 4. Nc3 a6 5. dxc5 e6 6. Na4 Bxc5 7. Nxc5 Qa5+ 8.
c3 Qxc5 9. Nf3 Nc6 10. Bd3 h6 11. Ne5 O-O 12. O-O Qe7 13. c4 Nxe5 14. Bxe5 dxc4
15. Bxc4 Rd8 16. Qf3 Nd5 17. e4 Nb6 18. Bb3 f6 19. Bc3 a5 20. a3 Kh8 21. Qe3
Ra6 22. Rad1 e5 23. Bxa5 Rxd1 24. Rxd1 Be6 25. Bxb6 1-0

[Event "Paris GCT Rapid"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.21"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D10"]
[WhiteElo "2761"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Bg5 Nc6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bxf6 gxf6 7. e3 a6 8.
Rc1 Bf5 9. Bd3 Bg6 10. f4 f5 11. h4 h5 12. Nf3 e6 13. Na4 f6 14. Nc5 Bxc5 15.
Rxc5 Rh7 16. Qb3 Na7 17. Rh3 Re7 18. Kf2 Nc8 19. Rh1 Nd6 20. Rhc1 Kf8 21. Qc2
Be8 22. Nd2 Bb5 23. a4 Bxd3 24. Qxd3 a5 25. Qe2 Qe8 26. Rc7 Rxc7 27. Rxc7 Rc8
28. Rxc8 Qxc8 29. Qxh5 Qc2 30. Ke1 Qc1+ 31. Ke2 Qxb2 32. Qh8+ Ke7 33. Qg7+ Ke8
34. Qc7 Qb4 35. h5 Nf7 36. Qc8+ Ke7 37. Qc7+ Ke8 38. Qc8+ Ke7 39. Qc7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Paris GCT Rapid"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.21"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B14"]
[WhiteElo "2800"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[Annotator "Yermolinsky,A"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 O-O 5. Bg5 c5 6. e3 cxd4 7. exd4 d5 8.
cxd5 exd5 9. Be2 h6 10. Bxf6 Qxf6 11. O-O Bxc3 12. bxc3 Nc6 13. Re1 b6 14. Nd2
Be6 15. Nf1 Na5 16. Ne3 Rac8 17. Rc1 Rfd8 18. Bd3 Rc7 19. g3 g6 20. Ng2 Nc4 21.
Rc2 Re7 22. Qc1 {It appears that Black is in some trouble due to a possible
pin on the e-file. Carlsen finds the best answer.} Bf5 $1 ({Not} 22... Kg7 23.
Nf4 Bg4 24. Rxe7 Qxe7 25. Nxd5 Rxd5 26. Bxc4 $16) (22... g5 23. f4 $1 {can
also become dangerous for Black.}) 23. Rxe7 Bxd3 24. Rxa7 {Shak saw no reason
not to take a free pawn.} (24. Rce2 Bxe2 25. Rxe2 g5 $11) 24... g5 $1 {The key
move to restrict the white knight as the rook cannot escape.} 25. Rd2 (25. f4
Bxc2 26. Qxc2 Nd6 $44) 25... Nxd2 26. Qxd2 Be4 27. Ne1 Re8 28. a4 $4 {
Mamedyarov had 9 minutes on his clock to recognize Black's rather transparent
threat.} (28. f4 g4 $15) (28. Qd1 $142 {White holds easily, but not more than
that.}) 28... Bf3 {There it is. Nothing left to do but resign.} (28... Bf3 29.
a5 Re2 30. Qd1 Bg4 31. f3 Qe6) 0-1

[Event "Paris GCT Rapid"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.21"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2796"]
[Annotator "Yermolinsky,A"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bg5
Nbd7 9. a4 b6 10. Nd2 h6 11. Bxf6 Nxf6 12. Nc4 Bb7 13. a5 $1 {A new idea.} (13.
Qd3 O-O 14. Ne3 Rc8 $11) 13... b5 14. Nb6 Nxe4 {MVL is not the kind of guy to
back down.} ({Objectively speaking there wasn't much worng with the simple} 
14... Rb8) 15. Nxe4 Bxe4 16. Bf3 Bxf3 17. Qxf3 Ra7 18. c4 $1 (18. Qc6+ Kf8 19.
O-O g6 {Black's devopment problems are easily solved, and} 20. c4 {is no
longer effective on account of} Rc7) 18... d5 $1 {Both players are on top of
their game.} (18... bxc4 19. Qc6+ Kf8 20. Qxc4 g6 21. O-O Kg7 22. Rfd1 {
offers White a nice, long-term compensation.}) 19. cxb5 Bb4+ 20. Ke2 Bxa5 21.
Nxd5 axb5 {This only seems dangerous for Black. Maxime has everything under
control.} (21... O-O 22. b4 Bb6 23. bxa6 Bd4) 22. b4 Bb6 23. Rxa7 Bxa7 24. Ra1
Bb8 25. Qd3 O-O {Finally!} 26. Qxb5 e4 {Not a bad move in itself, but, perhaps,
unnecessary.} ({After the logical sequence,} 26... Qh4 27. g3 (27. h3 Rd8 28.
Ne3 Bd6) 27... Qh5+ 28. Kf1 Qxh2 29. Ra8 Bd6 30. Rxf8+ Bxf8 31. Qc6 {one way
or another Black would deliver perpetual check}) 27. g3 Be5 $2 {Strangely
enough, the bishop is more vulnerable here.} 28. Rd1 Qg5 29. Kf1 $1 f5 (29...
Qh5 30. Ne3) 30. Qe2 $5 {A sneaky move that MVL failed to read.} Kh8 $4 (30...
Bb8 31. b5 Kh8 {still aiming at f5-f4.}) (30... f4 31. Qxe4 fxg3 32. hxg3 Bxg3
{gets hit by} 33. Ne7+ Kh8 34. Ng6+) 31. f4 $1 {Just like that White wins a
piece and the game is over.} exf3 32. Qxe5 Qh5 33. Nf4 Qxh2 34. Ng6+ Kh7 35.
Nxf8+ Kh8 36. Ng6+ Kh7 37. Nh4 Qh1+ 38. Kf2 Qxd1 39. Qxf5+ 1-0

[Event "Paris GCT Rapid"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.22"]
[Round "4"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2812"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[Annotator "Yermolinsky,A"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. c3 d6 7. Re1 a6 8. Bb3
Re8 9. h3 h6 10. Nbd2 Be6 11. Nf1 Bxb3 12. Qxb3 d5 {I'm no expert on this
structure, but it seems to me Black has fully equalized here.} 13. Be3 {
Not sure about this one either} (13. Ng3 Qd7 14. Bd2 Bb6 15. Rad1 Rad8 16. Bc1
$11) 13... Bf8 $1 14. Rad1 Na5 $1 (14... d4 $6 15. cxd4 exd4 16. Bd2 {is quite
fine for White.}) 15. Qc2 c5 16. exd5 {Understandable.} ({Wesley wasn't keen
on giving Magnus tons of space after} 16. Ng3 Nc6 17. Bc1 d4 {as White's play
on the K-side is going nowhere:} 18. Nf5 Kh7 19. g4 g6 20. Ng3 b5 21. g5 Nd7
22. gxh6 Bxh6 23. h4 Nf8 {etc.}) 16... Qxd5 17. Bd2 Nc6 18. Ne3 Qd7 $15 {
The Classic Maroczy Bind of a Bogo-Indian variety. White is very short of
ideas here.} 19. Nc4 Qc7 20. a4 b5 21. axb5 axb5 22. Na3 Qb7 23. c4 b4 24. Nb5
Rad8 25. Ra1 $6 (25. Bc1 Re6 26. b3 g6 27. Bb2 Qe7 28. Re3 Bg7 29. Rde1 Nh5 30.
g3 $15 {I realize this is no great shakes, but I see nothing better for White
but stay put.}) 25... Qd7 26. Ra6 Re6 27. Qa4 {Fishing for chances.} ({Instead,
} 27. Rea1 {was tactically sound:} Qxd3 28. Qxd3 Rxd3 29. Nc7 Red6 30. Nb5)
27... Qxd3 $1 {No hesitation from Magnus. The King is back.} 28. Bxh6 $5 {
This is a clever try, the best Wesley could come up with.} ({On} 28. Nc7 {
Magnus would flex his muscles with} Nd4 $1 29. Nxe6 (29. Nxd4 Rxa6 30. Qxa6
cxd4 {is just plain hopeless.}) 29... Nxf3+ 30. gxf3 Qxd2 $1 31. Nxd8 Qxe1+ 32.
Kg2 Nh5 {[#] The finish is very instructive:} 33. Qa1 Nf4+ 34. Kg3 Qd2 35. Nc6
Nd3 36. Qf1 Ne1 37. Nxe5 g5 $1 38. Rf6 Bd6 {Look at the pathetic role played
by the white queen.}) 28... gxh6 {Carlsen goes materialistic.} (28... e4 $5 29.
Ng5 Re5 30. Rxc6 gxh6 31. Rxf6 Rxg5 {would not yet gain Black any extra pawns
or pieces, but with the white forces scattered all over, the spoils of war
wouldn't be long in coming.}) 29. Nc7 Nd4 {In Rapid (and even more in Blitz!)
it's essentual to trust your calculations and go all the way.} ({Magnus
refused to get distracted by} 29... Red6 30. Rxc6 e4 31. Nh2 Qd2 $19) 30. Nxd4
Rxa6 31. Qxa6 Rd6 $1 32. Nc6 Qf5 $1 33. Nd5 (33. Qa8 Qd7 {hits both knights.})
33... Qe6 {This is how far Carlsen had to calculate, and no one can find a
fault in his work. Impressive.} 34. Qa8 Rxc6 35. Re3 Ne8 36. Rg3+ Kh7 37. Rf3
e4 38. Rf4 Ra6 39. Rxf7+ Qxf7 40. Qxa6 Bg7 41. Qc6 Bd4 42. Kh2 Ng7 43. Ne3 Qf4+
0-1

[Event "Paris GCT Rapid"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.22"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D76"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2749"]
[Annotator "Yermolinsky,A"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. O-O Nb6 8.
Nc3 Nc6 9. d5 Na5 10. e4 c6 11. Bf4 Nac4 12. Qe2 Bg4 13. h3 Bxf3 14. Bxf3 cxd5
15. exd5 {A fairly common Grünfeld structure.} Re8 (15... Nd6 {Carlsen-Wei Yi,
2016}) 16. Rac1 e5 $2 {An unfortunate idea. Helping White's Bf3 into the game
is not recommended.} 17. dxe6 Rxe6 18. Qc2 g5 19. Rfd1 Qe7 20. Bd2 Rd8 ({
The only way to justify g6-g5 seemed} 20... Nxd2 21. Qxd2 {but in a few moves,}
Re5 22. Kg2 Rf8 23. b3 f5 24. a4 a5 {the game would turn into a typical
Carlsen endgame. I wouldn't rate Black's chances of survival too
optimistically.} 25. Qd6 $16) 21. Nd5 $1 Nxd5 22. Qxc4 Red6 23. Re1 Qf6 24. Qg4
h6 25. Rc8 $1 Bf8 26. Bxd5 ({Magnus didn't seem to trust} 26. Re8 Rxc8 27. Qxc8
Qxf3 28. Rxf8+ Kg7 29. Rh8 Rg6 {although White stands better after} 30. Rg8+
Kh7 31. Re8 Qd1+ 32. Be1 {as Black's problems with his king seem permanent.})
26... Rxd5 27. Bc3 Qg6 (27... Qd6 $142) 28. Re8 $2 (28. Qf3 Rxc8 29. Qxd5 {
is still much better for White.}) 28... Rxe8 $2 {Veselin was really low on
time.} ({He missed his only chance:} 28... Rd1+ 29. Kh2 Rxe8 30. Rxe8 Qd3 $1 {
as} 31. Qb4 Rh1+ $1 {draws by perpetual.}) 29. Rxe8 Qb1+ 30. Kh2 Qf1 31. Be1
Kg7 32. Qf3 1-0

[Event "Paris GCT Rapid"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.22"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2785"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "1500"]

1. d4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} d5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 2. c4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} c6 {[%emt 0:
00:00]} 3. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 4. e3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} a6
{[%emt 0:00:00]} 5. Bd3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Bg4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 6. Nbd2 {[%emt 0:
00:00]} e6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 7. h3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Bf5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 8. Bxf5
{[%emt 0:00:00]} exf5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 9. Qb3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Ra7 {[%emt 0:00:
06]} 10. cxd5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} cxd5 {[%emt 0:00:42]} 11. Ne5 {[%emt 0:00:00]}
Bd6 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 12. O-O {[%emt 0:00:00]} O-O {[%emt 0:00:29]} 13. Ndf3 {
[%emt 0:00:00]} Nc6 {[%emt 0:00:19]} 14. Bd2 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Ne4 {[%emt 0:03:
14]} 15. Rfd1 {[%emt 0:00:21]} Ne7 {[%emt 0:03:49]} 16. Rac1 {[%emt 0:00:22]}
f6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 17. Nd3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} b6 {[%emt 0:02:37]} 18. Bb4 {
[%emt 0:00:08]} a5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 19. Bxd6 {[%emt 0:02:16]} Qxd6 {[%emt 0:00:
00]} 20. Rc2 {[%emt 0:00:00]} g5 {[%emt 0:00:19]} 21. Rdc1 {[%emt 0:00:08]} Rb8
{[%emt 0:00:00]} 22. Qb5 {[%emt 0:01:36]} Qd7 {[%emt 0:00:48]} 23. Qxd7 {
[%emt 0:01:46]} Rxd7 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 24. Nd2 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Kf7 {[%emt 0:00:
14]} 25. Nb1 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Nd6 {[%emt 0:02:19]} 26. Nd2 {[%emt 0:00:06]} Ng6
{[%emt 0:01:00]} 27. Nb1 {[%emt 0:01:37]} Ne7 {[%emt 0:01:47]} 28. b3 {[%emt 0:
00:33]} Rc8 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 29. Rxc8 {[%emt 0:00:02]} Ndxc8 {[%emt 0:00:00]}
30. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:07]} Nd6 {[%emt 0:01:34]} 31. Na4 {[%emt 0:00:08]} Rb7 {
[%emt 0:00:00]} 32. Kf1 {[%emt 0:00:10]} h6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 33. Nc3 {[%emt 0:
00:35]} Rc7 {[%emt 0:00:32]} 34. Na4 {[%emt 0:00:02]} Rb7 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 35.
Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Rc7 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 36. Na4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Paris GCT Rapid"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.23"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C24"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "1500"]

1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} e5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 2. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Nc6 {
[%emt 0:00:00]} 3. Bc4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Bc5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 4. O-O {[%emt 0:
00:00]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 5. d3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} O-O {[%emt 0:00:00]} 6. h3
{[%emt 0:00:00]} d5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 7. exd5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Nxd5 {[%emt 0:00:
00]} 8. a4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} f6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 9. Nbd2 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Be6 {
[%emt 0:00:25]} 10. Nb3 {[%emt 0:00:22]} Be7 {[%emt 0:00:12]} 11. Re1 {[%emt 0:
00:07]} Kh8 {[%emt 0:00:58]} 12. Bd2 {[%emt 0:00:17]} Bg8 {[%emt 0:00:22]} 13.
d4 {[%emt 0:00:52]} exd4 {[%emt 0:01:19]} 14. Nbxd4 {[%emt 0:00:47]} Nxd4 {
[%emt 0:01:04]} 15. Nxd4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Qd7 {[%emt 0:00:34]} 16. Qf3 {
[%emt 0:03:52]} Rfe8 {[%emt 0:01:11]} 17. Re4 {[%emt 0:02:28]} Bf8 {[%emt 0:03:
56]} 18. Rh4 {[%emt 0:01:09]} Re5 {[%emt 0:00:23]} 19. Bd3 {[%emt 0:00:19]} Rd8
{[%emt 0:04:02]} 20. Bf5 {[%emt 0:03:01]} Qe8 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 21. Qd3 {
[%emt 0:01:02]} Ne7 {[%emt 0:03:22]} 22. Bxh7 {[%emt 0:00:04]} Rh5 {[%emt 0:00:
35]} 23. Rxh5 {[%emt 0:00:42]} Qxh5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 24. Bxg8 {[%emt 0:00:00]}
Kxg8 {[%emt 0:00:28]} 25. Be3 {[%emt 0:00:49]} c5 {[%emt 0:00:26]} 26. Qb3+ {
[%emt 0:02:53]} Qd5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 27. c4 {[%emt 0:01:32]} Qe4 {[%emt 0:00:
00]} 28. Ne2 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Rd3 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 29. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Nf5
{[%emt 0:01:23]} 30. Nxe4 {[%emt 0:00:38]} Rxb3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 31. Bxc5 {
[%emt 0:00:00]} Bxc5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 32. Nxc5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Rxb2 {[%emt 0:
00:00]} 33. Rd1 {[%emt 0:00:03]} Rb4 {[%emt 0:02:50]} 34. Rd5 {[%emt 0:00:00]}
b6 {[%emt 0:01:01]} 35. Nd3 {[%emt 0:02:17]} Rb1+ {[%emt 0:00:00]} 36. Kh2 {
[%emt 0:00:00]} Rd1 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 37. c5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Ne7 {[%emt 0:00:
10]} 38. Rd8+ {[%emt 0:00:00]} Kh7 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 39. cxb6 {[%emt 0:00:00]}
axb6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 40. Rd7 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Nc8 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 41. g4 {
[%emt 0:00:06]} Ra1 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 42. Nf4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Rxa4 {[%emt 0:00:
00]} 43. Nh5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Ra7 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 44. Nxf6+ {[%emt 0:00:00]}
Kg6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 45. Rxa7 {[%emt 0:00:11]} Nxa7 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 46. Nd5 {
[%emt 0:00:00]} b5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 47. Nb4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Kf6 {[%emt 0:00:
00]} 48. f4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Ke6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 49. h4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Kd6 {
[%emt 0:00:00]} 50. h5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Nc6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 51. Nxc6 {[%emt 0:
00:26]} Kxc6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 52. g5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} b4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 53.
h6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} gxh6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 54. gxh6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} b3 {
[%emt 0:00:00]} 55. h7 {[%emt 0:00:00]} b2 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 56. h8=Q {[%emt 0:
00:00]} b1=Q {[%emt 0:00:00]} 57. Qe5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Qd3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 58.
Qe6+ {[%emt 0:00:24]} Qd6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 59. Qc8+ {[%emt 0:00:00]} Kd5 {
[%emt 0:00:00]} 60. Kg3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Qg6+ {[%emt 0:00:00]} 61. Qg4 {
[%emt 0:00:00]} Qf6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 62. Qh5+ {[%emt 0:00:16]} Kd6 {[%emt 0:00:
00]} 63. Kg4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Ke7 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 64. Qh7+ {[%emt 0:00:00]}
Kf8 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 65. Qe4 {[%emt 0:00:03]} Kg7 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 66. Qe8 {
[%emt 0:00:00]} Qg6+ {[%emt 0:00:00]} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Paris GCT Rapid"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.23"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2808"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "158"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "1500"]

1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} e5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 2. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Nc6 {
[%emt 0:00:00]} 3. Bb5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} a6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 4. Ba4 {[%emt 0:00:
00]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 5. O-O {[%emt 0:00:00]} Be7 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 6. d3 {
[%emt 0:00:00]} b5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 7. Bb3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} d6 {[%emt 0:00:00]}
8. a4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Bd7 {[%emt 0:00:34]} 9. c3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} O-O {
[%emt 0:00:05]} 10. Bc2 {[%emt 0:00:00]} b4 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 11. Re1 {[%emt 0:
00:00]} Re8 {[%emt 0:00:27]} 12. a5 {[%emt 0:01:05]} Rb8 {[%emt 0:00:15]} 13.
Nbd2 {[%emt 0:00:02]} Bf8 {[%emt 0:00:48]} 14. Bb3 {[%emt 0:00:37]} bxc3 {
[%emt 0:00:35]} 15. bxc3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} h6 {[%emt 0:00:16]} 16. h3 {[%emt 0:
00:09]} Be6 {[%emt 0:00:15]} 17. Ba4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Bd7 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 18.
Nc4 {[%emt 0:00:34]} Ne7 {[%emt 0:00:20]} 19. Bc2 {[%emt 0:00:07]} Ng6 {
[%emt 0:00:00]} 20. d4 {[%emt 0:00:21]} exd4 {[%emt 0:01:03]} 21. cxd4 {
[%emt 0:00:00]} d5 {[%emt 0:01:31]} 22. exd5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Rxe1+ {[%emt 0:
00:00]} 23. Qxe1 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Nxd5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 24. Bxg6 {[%emt 0:01:
20]} fxg6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 25. Nce5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Be8 {[%emt 0:01:38]} 26.
Ba3 {[%emt 0:00:50]} Bd6 {[%emt 0:01:05]} 27. Bc5 {[%emt 0:01:02]} g5 {[%emt 0:
02:33]} 28. Rc1 {[%emt 0:01:57]} Nf4 {[%emt 0:02:01]} 29. Qe4 {[%emt 0:01:57]}
Bxe5 {[%emt 0:00:47]} 30. Nxe5 {[%emt 0:01:37]} Qd5 {[%emt 0:00:16]} 31. Qxd5+
{[%emt 0:01:59]} Nxd5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 32. Re1 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Rb5 {[%emt 0:
00:26]} 33. Kh2 {[%emt 0:00:18]} Bf7 {[%emt 0:00:53]} 34. Nxf7 {[%emt 0:01:35]}
Kxf7 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 35. Re5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} c6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 36. Rf5+ {
[%emt 0:00:00]} Ke6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 37. Re5+ {[%emt 0:00:00]} Kf7 {[%emt 0:00:
41]} 38. Rf5+ {[%emt 0:00:00]} Kg6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 39. Re5 {[%emt 0:00:00]}
Rxa5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 40. Re6+ {[%emt 0:00:00]} Kf5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 41. Rxc6 {
[%emt 0:00:12]} Ra2 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 42. Rd6 {[%emt 0:00:35]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:
43]} 43. d5 {[%emt 0:01:04]} Ke4 {[%emt 0:03:17]} 44. Rd8 {[%emt 0:02:51]} Nxd5
{[%emt 0:00:00]} 45. Re8+ {[%emt 0:00:07]} Kf5 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 46. Bd4 {
[%emt 0:00:52]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 47. Re7 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Rd2 {[%emt 0:00:
00]} 48. Be3 {[%emt 0:00:35]} Rd7 {[%emt 0:00:35]} 49. g4+ {[%emt 0:00:00]} Kg6
{[%emt 0:00:00]} 50. Re6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} a5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 51. Ra6 {[%emt 0:
00:00]} Rd5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 52. Kg3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Kh7 {[%emt 0:00:09]} 53.
Kf3 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Rb5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 54. Bd4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Rb3+ {
[%emt 0:00:00]} 55. Kg2 {[%emt 0:00:22]} Nd5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 56. Be5 {[%emt 0:
00:00]} Rb5 {[%emt 0:00:13]} 57. Ra7 {[%emt 0:00:40]} Ne3+ {[%emt 0:00:00]} 58.
fxe3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Rxe5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 59. Kf3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Kg6 {
[%emt 0:00:25]} 60. Ra6+ {[%emt 0:00:00]} Kf7 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 61. Ra7+ {
[%emt 0:00:00]} Kf6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 62. Ra6+ {[%emt 0:00:00]} Ke7 {[%emt 0:00:
00]} 63. Ra7+ {[%emt 0:00:00]} Kd6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 64. Rxg7 {[%emt 0:00:37]}
Kc5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 65. Rg6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} a4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 66. Rxh6 {
[%emt 0:00:00]} a3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 67. h4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} gxh4 {[%emt 0:00:
56]} 68. Rxh4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} a2 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 69. Rh1 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Kc4
{[%emt 0:00:26]} 70. Kf4 {[%emt 0:00:01]} Ra5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 71. Ra1 {
[%emt 0:00:00]} Kb3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 72. g5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Kb2 {[%emt 0:00:
00]} 73. Rxa2+ {[%emt 0:00:20]} Rxa2 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 74. g6 {[%emt 0:00:00]}
Kc3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 75. Kf5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Rf2+ {[%emt 0:00:00]} 76. Ke6 {
[%emt 0:00:00]} Rg2 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 77. Kf7 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Kd3 {[%emt 0:00:
00]} 78. g7 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Rxg7+ {[%emt 0:00:00]} 79. Kxg7 {[%emt 0:00:00]}
Kxe3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Paris GCT Rapid"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.23"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bacrot, Etienne"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2708"]
[Annotator "Yermolinsky,A"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2017.06.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 a6 7. a4 O-O 8. Re1 h6
9. h3 Be6 {Just like in the Vachier-Lagrave vs Nakamura game shown above, I'm
not too big on this move.} 10. Bxe6 fxe6 11. b4 Ba7 12. Nbd2 Ne7 13. Nf1 Ng6
14. Ra2 Nh5 15. Be3 Bxe3 16. Rxe3 Nhf4 17. d4 Qf6 18. Kh2 exd4 19. cxd4 $14 e5
20. d5 {Bacrot knew if his knight were evicted from f4 the weakness on c7
would seal his fate.} c6 $1 {Despite shortage of points in his scoreline I
admire the fighting spirit showed by Etienne in this event. It is not easy to
to compete against World's best.} 21. g3 cxd5 22. gxf4 d4 23. Rea3 Nxf4 24. Ne1
d5 $2 {This one, however, is an error in judgement. Black's compensation is of
a long-term variety, largely based on a superior pawn structure, so there was
no need to be desperate and destroy his own position.} (24... Rac8 25. Ng3 g6
26. Ne2 Kh7 27. Rf3 g5 {would have been good enough to keep things interesting.
}) 25. Ng3 $1 {[%csl Ge4]} Rac8 26. Ng2 Kh8 27. Qg4 d3 $2 {Same here.} (27...
g6 28. exd5 Nxd5 29. Ne4 Qf5 30. Qh4 {is already looking bad for Black, but
the game would continue.}) 28. Nxf4 exf4 29. Nh5 Qg5 30. Rxd3 dxe4 (30... Qxg4
$142 31. hxg4 g6 32. Rxd5 gxh5 33. Rxh5 Kg7 34. b5 Rc4 35. f3 Rb4 {There's
always a ray of hope in rook endgames.}) 31. Rd6 Qxg4 32. hxg4 Rf7 33. Re6 Rcf8
$2 ({After} 33... Rc4 34. Rb2 e3 35. fxe3 fxe3 36. Kg3 Kg8 {White is still
experiencing some technical difficulties, as} 37. Rxe3 g6 {traps the knight.
Of course, one would expect Magnus to get the job done somehow, some way.}) 34.
Rd2 Kh7 35. Rdd6 e3 36. fxe3 f3 37. Nf4 1-0

[Event "Paris GCT playoff"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.25"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2796"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2017.06.25"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 180"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.09.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.09.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Day 5 of the Grand Chess tour was supposed to be a duel between leaders
Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, but while 9 rounds seems too little to
catch a 3 point lead, for MVL actually it was 1 too many, as it allowed Magnus
with a last rounds win vs. So to catch up, and force a tiebreak.} 1. d4 Nf6 2.
Bf4 $5 {The time when we stopped rolling our eyes seeing this move is long
gone, and nowadays its not even played to avoid theory, but rather it has
become a topical discussion on its own.} g6 3. e3 Bg7 4. Nf3 d6 5. Be2 Nh5 $5 {
In Stavanger Maxime had played 4...0-0, but here his 4th move gave Black this
extra option, which, had Magnus feared it, 5.h3 would have prevented.} 6. Bg5
h6 7. Bh4 g5 8. Nfd2 Nf4 {A very human move, intending to weaken the white
pawn structure, but it's noteworthy that the computer prefers just ...gxh4.} 9.
exf4 gxh4 10. c3 c5 11. dxc5 dxc5 12. Na3 O-O 13. O-O (13. Qc2 {intending 14.
0-0-0 also was relevant, but Magnus aims at exploiting Black's weakened
structure in a more positional manner.}) 13... Nc6 14. Re1 h3 15. g3 e5 16.
fxe5 Nxe5 17. Nf3 Nxf3+ 18. Bxf3 Qf6 19. Nc4 Rd8 20. Qe2 Be6 21. Bg4 $6 {
Looks textbook, but surprisingly allows sufficient counterplay.} (21. Ne3 {
controlling the white squares, leaves a pleasant edge after} Rd7 22. a4 Rad8
23. Rad1 {when White keeps considerable pressure.}) 21... Bxg4 {Good,} ({
but even better was the direct} 21... b5 {as} 22. Bxe6 ({White would play} 22.
Ne3 {, but then Black has an improved version of the game.}) 22... Qxe6 23.
Qxe6 $6 fxe6 {leaves Black way too active with ...b4 and ...Rd2 to follow.})
22. Qxg4 b5 23. Ne3 Rd2 24. Re2 Rad8 25. Rae1 Rxe2 26. Rxe2 Qe6 $1 {Just in
time, saving the pawn on h3 and forcing a holdable ending.} 27. Qxe6 fxe6 28.
Kf1 b4 29. cxb4 cxb4 30. Rc2 b3 $1 31. axb3 Rb8 32. Rc6 Rxb3 33. Rxe6 Rxb2 34.
Nf5 Bf8 35. Nxh6+ Kg7 36. Ng4 a5 37. Ra6 Ra2 {The day certainly hasn't gone
well for Carlsen, a 3 point lead, as well as the opening advantage in this
game are gone, in other words: It's time to save the day!} 38. f4 $1 {
Obviously risky, Black's plan of pushing the pawn to a3, then going ...Rb2 and
...a2 threatening ...Rb1+ followed by a1=Q is close to unstoppable, but Magnus
judged that his own trumps would arrive just in time.} a4 39. f5 Bb4 $1 {
Black has to vacate the f8-square for his king, as} (39... a3 $2 40. Ra7+ $1
Kh8 41. Nf6 {wins, even if the line is complex, but} Bg7 42. Ra8+ Bf8 43. Rxf8+
Kg7 44. Nd7 Ra1+ 45. Ke2 a2 46. f6+ $1 {which wins as after} Kg6 47. Ne5+ $1 {
it becomes trivial as 48.Ra8 will happen next, and the black motif of 48...Rh1
49.Rxa2 Rxh2+ now is insufficient as the f-pawn will queen or if ...Kxf6, the
knight joins the defence with Ng4+.}) 40. Ra7+ Kf8 41. f6 Ra1+ $6 {Not a
mistake in the sense of changing the objective evaluation of the position, but
after} (41... a3 $1 {it is White who has to be careful} {and e.g. avoid} 42.
Ne5 $4 {losing to} (42. Ra6 {still holds, but it's not obvious, it's White who
then plays for the win.}) 42... Ra1+ $1 {when White would lose a piece.}) 42.
Ke2 a3 43. Nh6 Re1+ $6 {Dealing with the threat of Ra8 mate, but} (43... Ke8 {
would have been an easier road to the draw as White's best would be} 44. f7+ {
, but as the game shows, White prefers his pawn on f6 to create threats.}) 44.
Kd3 Re6 $2 {An important square for the black rook, but paradoxically
occupying it immediately, means losing control over it!} (44... Bd6 $1 {
would prevent what happens next:}) 45. Ra8+ Re8 46. Ra6 $1 Rc8 $2 ({The
absolutely last chance was} 46... Re5 {intending 47...Ra5, even if White keeps
serious winning chances after} 47. Ra4) 47. g4 $1 Rd8+ 48. Ke4 Ke8 49. g5 Bf8
50. Kf5 Rd2 51. Ra8+ Rd8 52. Rxd8+ Kxd8 53. g6 $1 a2 54. g7 Bxg7 55. fxg7 a1=Q
56. g8=Q+ Kc7 57. Qg3+ Kd7 58. Qxh3 Qg7 59. Kf4+ Kc7 60. Nf5 Qb2 61. Qh7+ Kc8
62. Qg8+ {And with 63.Qg7+ exchanging off the queens happening next, Maxime
resigned. Not in any way a fantastic game, especially for Carlsen's standards,
but some days things just do not work, and then getting the job done anyway is
very much part of a successful sporting career. A draw was still to be made to
clinch the Paris title, and with solid defensive moves the World Champion
forced his opponent to take risks, and agreed to a repetition of moves in a
superior position putting an end to a rollercoaster of a day.} 1-0

[Event "Paris GCT playoff"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "2017.06.25"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C89"]
[WhiteElo "2796"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2017.06.25"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "FRA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3
d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. d3 Bd6 13. Re1 Bf5 14. Qf3 Qh4
15. g3 Qh3 16. Be3 Bxd3 17. Nd2 Qf5 18. Bd4 Rfe8 19. a4 Kf8 20. h4 Rxe1+ 21.
Rxe1 f6 22. Qxf5 Bxf5 23. c4 Nb4 24. axb5 axb5 25. cxb5 cxb5 26. Rc1 Nd3 27.
Rc6 Be5 28. Be3 Ra1+ 29. Kh2 Bd7 30. Rc2 Ne1 31. Rc5 Nd3 32. Rc2 Ne1 33. Rc5
Nd3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leuven GCT rapid"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.06.28"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E49"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2780"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2017.06.28"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 dxc4 8.
Bxc4 c5 9. Ne2 Qc7 10. Ba2 b6 11. O-O Ba6 12. Bb2 Nc6 13. Rc1 Rfd8 14. c4 cxd4
15. exd4 Ng4 16. Ng3 Qf4 17. h3 Nf6 18. Ne2 Qh4 19. d5 exd5 20. cxd5 Ne7 21.
Re1 Nexd5 22. Nd4 Bb7 23. Nf3 Qh6 24. Ne5 Rf8 25. Nc6 Bxc6 26. Rxc6 Rad8 27.
Qf3 Qd2 28. Re2 Qf4 29. Rxf6 gxf6 30. Bxd5 Qxf3 31. Bxf3 Rfe8 32. Rc2 Rc8 33.
Rxc8 Rxc8 34. Bxf6 b5 35. Kf1 a5 36. Ke2 b4 37. axb4 axb4 38. Bd5 Rc5 39. Bb3
Rc6 40. Bd4 Kf8 41. Kd3 Ke7 42. Ke4 Rc1 43. Kd5 Kd7 44. h4 Re1 45. g3 f5 46.
Be3 Ke7 47. Kc4 Kf6 48. Kxb4 Ke5 49. Bc2 1-0

[Event "Leuven GCT rapid"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.06.28"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C89"]
[WhiteElo "2757"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2017.06.28"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3
d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. d4 Bd6 13. Re1 Qh4 14. g3 Qh3 15.
Be3 Bg4 16. Qd3 f5 17. f4 Rae8 18. Nd2 g5 19. Qf1 Qh5 20. Qg2 gxf4 21. Bxd5+
cxd5 22. Qxd5+ Kg7 23. Bxf4 Bxf4 24. gxf4 Kh8 25. Nf1 Bf3 26. Ng3 Qg4 27. Rxe8
Bxd5 28. Rxf8+ Kg7 29. Rxf5 Qf3 30. Rg5+ Kf8 31. Rf5+ Kg8 32. Rg5+ Kf8 33. Rf5+
1/2-1/2

[Event "Leuven GCT rapid"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.06.28"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E53"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2789"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2017.06.28"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Nf3 c5 6. Bd3 d5 7. cxd5 exd5 8.
dxc5 Bg4 9. O-O Nbd7 10. Bd2 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Nxc5 12. Bc2 Nce4 13. Bxe4 Nxe4 14.
Rfd1 Qa5 15. Nxe4 dxe4 16. Bxb4 Qxb4 17. Qe2 Rfd8 18. h3 g6 19. Rac1 Rxd1+ 20.
Rxd1 Rc8 21. b3 h5 22. g4 Qc5 23. Kg2 Qe5 24. Rd4 Kg7 25. Qd1 hxg4 26. Qxg4 Rc2
27. Qxe4 Qg5+ 28. Kf1 Rxa2 29. Ra4 Rd2 30. Ke1 Rd5 31. Rd4 Rb5 32. b4 a5 33. h4
Qg1+ 34. Ke2 Rf5 35. f4 Qg4+ 36. Kd3 Qd1+ 37. Kc3 Qc1+ 38. Kd3 a4 39. Ke2 a3
40. Rd2 Qg1 41. Qc4 Rf6 42. Qd4 a2 43. Rd1 Qg2+ 44. Kd3 Qc6 45. h5 Kh7 46.
hxg6+ Rxg6 47. b5 Qxb5+ 48. Kc2 Rg2+ 49. Kc3 Qb2+ 50. Kc4 Rc2+ 51. Kd5 Qb3+ 0-1

[Event "Leuven GCT rapid"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.06.29"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B11"]
[WhiteElo "2783"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2017.06.28"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Qe2 Bf5 6. Nxf6+ gxf6 7. d3 Nd7
8. g3 Ne5 9. Nxe5 Qa5+ 10. Bd2 Qxe5 11. Qxe5 fxe5 12. Bg2 h5 13. O-O h4 14.
Rae1 f6 15. f4 hxg3 16. hxg3 exf4 17. Rxf4 Bh6 18. Rh4 Bg7 19. Rb4 Bc8 20. d4
Bf8 21. Rc4 Bh3 22. Bf3 Rd8 23. d5 cxd5 24. Rc7 Rd7 25. Rxd7 Bxd7 26. Bxd5 b6
27. c4 e5 28. b4 Ke7 29. c5 Be6 30. Bf3 Bh6 31. Bxh6 Rxh6 32. cxb6 axb6 33. a4
Rh7 34. Rc1 f5 35. Rc6 Bd7 36. Rxb6 Bxa4 37. b5 Rh8 38. Bd5 Rc8 39. Re6+ Kd7
40. Rxe5 Bxb5 41. Rxf5 Rc1+ 42. Kg2 Kd6 43. Be4 Bd7 44. Rf2 Ke5 45. Bf3 Bf5 46.
g4 Rc2 47. gxf5 Rxf2+ 48. Kxf2 Kxf5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leuven GCT rapid"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.06.29"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A03"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2808"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2017.06.28"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 180"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.09.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.09.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{In an interview Nigel Short referred to an interesting dinner conversation he
had about this game with participants at the closing of the Stavanger
Tournament. Speaking about influences Magnus warmly mentioned Larsen, which
made Kramnik immediately intervene with the remark, we dont study Larsen in
Russia as we consider him a "coffee-house" player. At a visit in Buenos Aires
Larsen himself mentioned to me, that he felt somewhat misportrayed
stylistically in Kasparov's books. As I see it Larsen was a positional player,
who tried to create situations where he could rely on his ability to outplay
his opponents.} 1. f4 $5 {Despite Magnus' flirtations with the Dutch Defence,
playing the Bird was a first.} d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 $5 {Even in such backyard alleys
as this, Kramnik seems to have thoughts of his own. Against Vovk he had played
2...Bg4, generally considered to be a good antidote, but Henrik Danielsen, in
his 1.f4 videos dubbed the "Polar bear system" recommends 3.e3 Nd7 4.h3! Bxf3
5.Qxf3 followed by g4.} 3. g3 {Aiming for a Leningrad structure. Larsen was
successful in the 1964 Amsterdam interzonal beating Spassky after 3.e3 g6 4.
b4!?, but Kramnik most likely would have prevented queenside expansion with 3..
.e6.} e6 $5 {The "normal" way is to financhietto Black's darks-quared bishop,
but in the 2014 candidates Kramnik played 1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3!? vs. Svidler,
and here tries a similar approach a tempo down.} 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O b5 $5 {
In his youth Kramnik played similar things with White, however with the bishop
on g2. It might look less solid than ...b6, but why not grab space as well as
preparing ...Bb7?} 6. d3 Bb7 7. Qe1 $6 c5 8. c3 O-O 9. a4 b4 10. cxb4 cxb4 11.
Kh1 Nc6 12. Be3 {A typical plan, as now ...Ng4 can be answered by Bg1.} Nd7 13.
Nbd2 Bf6 14. Rb1 Re8 $6 {A good common sense move, but not enough to keep
Black's opening advantage. 14...Qa5! threatens the a4-pawn highlighting the
drawback of White's 7th move. Magnus intended 15.Qd1! which would have
minimized the damage, still leaving a playable position for White.} 15. Nb3 a5
16. g4 g6 17. Qf2 {White has now comfortably equalised.} Bg7 18. Nbd4 Nxd4 19.
Bxd4 Rc8 20. Rbc1 Bxd4 21. Nxd4 Rxc1 22. Rxc1 Qb6 {The position has clarified,
and Black is ready to exchange rooks in the c-file with a draw as the likely
result. Magnus' play till now can be fairly evaluated based on one's
subjective opinion, whether one likes his approach or not. From here onwards
however it's undisputably in a class of its own:} 23. Rf1 $1 {Vacating the
open file, which anyway was only suitable for exchanges, White hints at the
posibility of playing f5 next.} f6 $6 {Profylaxis against a white f5, now
having the perfectly safe reply ...e5, but it weakens the black structure.} ({
After} 23... Rc8 24. f5 (24. h4 $5) 24... gxf5 25. gxf5 (25. Bh3 $5) 25... e5 {
the computer upholds the black position, but only with complex tactics:} 26. f6
Qxd4 27. Qf5 Rd8 28. Qg5+ Kf8 29. Bh3 Ke8 (29... Qe3 $5) 30. Be6 Nf8 $1 31.
Bxf7+ Kd7 $1 {But 25.Bh3!? or the calmer 24.h4!? are very playable for White
in a more non-forcing manner.}) 24. h4 $5 {Grabbing space and hinting at
playing either h5 or g5.} Rf8 25. Kg1 $1 {My favourite move of the game 
(except maybe move 1!) White's previous moves very much indicated kingside
action, now however when the game unfolds it feels like Black's queenside has
been critically weak.} e5 {Consistent.} (25... Rc8 {would have been fine with
the black pawn being on f7, but here} 26. g5 {creates strategic problems.}) 26.
Nb3 $1 Qxf2+ $2 {The losing mistake.} (26... Ba8 $1 {still puts up a good
fight, even if} 27. Rc1 e4 {obviously is pleasant for White, but maybe is not
as bad for Black as it looks, now however that the statement is very much
reversed:}) 27. Kxf2 exf4 28. Nxa5 Ba8 29. Rc1 Ne5 {Materially equal and g4
under attack things might not look that hopeless at first sight, but after
White's next move matters are clarified:} 30. Bf3 $1 {Sealing off the kingside,
making Black's two extra pawns there considereably less mobile than White's
a-pawn. Rc7, Nb3-d4 followed by pushing the a-pawn become easy automatic moves,
so Kramnik tries his last chance of complicating things:} d4 31. Nc4 (31. Nc6
$5 {is the computer line, winning after:} Bxc6 32. Bxc6 Nxg4+ 33. Kf3 Ne5+ 34.
Kxf4 {when Black can't go 35...Rc8 due to 36.Bd5+ and if 35...Nxc6 36.Rxc6 the
rook ending is an easy win despite being momentarily materially equal. b4 and
d4 are weak, and the white a-pawn is the passed pawn with potential.}) 31...
Bxf3 32. Nxe5 Bxe2 33. Nd7 Rf7 34. Nxf6+ Rxf6 35. Kxe2 Re6+ 36. Kf2 {As in the
comment above, all the factors are in White's favour, making it a trivial win.}
Kf7 37. a5 g5 38. hxg5 Kg6 39. Rc5 f3 40. Kxf3 Re3+ 41. Kf4 Rxd3 42. a6 Rd1 43.
Ra5 d3 44. Ke3 {And here Kramnik resigned.} 1-0

[Event "Leuven GCT rapid"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.06.29"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Jobava, Baadur"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E68"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2703"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2017.06.28"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 d6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. O-O e5 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Qc2
c6 9. Rd1 Qc7 10. e4 a5 11. h3 Re8 12. Be3 exd4 13. Bxd4 Nc5 14. e5 Bf5 15. Qc1
Nfe4 16. exd6 Qb6 17. d7 Red8 18. Nxe4 Bxd4 19. Rxd4 Nxe4 20. g4 c5 21. Rd1
Bxd7 22. Qf4 f5 23. Ne5 Ba4 24. b3 Bc6 25. Nxc6 bxc6 26. gxf5 Rxd1+ 27. Rxd1
Nc3 28. Re1 Qd8 29. fxg6 hxg6 30. Re6 Qd3 31. Qg5 Ra7 32. Rxg6+ Kh8 33. Qh6+
1-0

[Event "Leuven GCT rapid"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.06.30"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E91"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2017.06.28"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 c5 7. O-O Re8 8. Be3
Ng4 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bc1 Nd7 11. h3 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Ngf6 13. Be3 b6 14. Qd2 h5 15.
Bh6 Bb7 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Qe3 Nc5 18. e5 dxe5 19. Qxe5 Qd6 20. Qxd6 exd6 21.
Rfd1 d5 22. cxd5 Nxd5 23. Nxd5 Bxd5 24. Bxh5 Bxg2 25. Kxg2 gxh5 26. Rd2 Kf6 27.
Rad1 Re4 28. b4 Ne6 29. Nxe6 fxe6 30. Rd4 Rxd4 31. Rxd4 Rc8 32. a4 a5 33. Rd6
Rc4 34. Rxb6 Rxb4 35. Rxb4 axb4 36. a5 b3 37. a6 b2 38. a7 b1=Q 39. a8=Q Qg6+
40. Kh2 Qf5 41. Qh8+ Ke7 42. Qd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leuven GCT rapid"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.06.30"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "122"]
[EventDate "2017.06.28"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. e3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nge2 c6 5. a3 Ba5 6. b4 Bc7 7. d4 O-O 8. d5 d6
9. Ng3 a5 10. Rb1 axb4 11. axb4 Nbd7 12. Bd3 c5 13. b5 Ba5 14. Bb2 Re8 15. O-O
Nf8 16. Qc2 Ng6 17. Nce4 Ng4 18. h3 Nh6 19. Nh5 f5 20. Neg3 Nh4 21. f4 g6 22.
e4 gxh5 23. exf5 e4 24. Bxe4 Rxe4 25. Qxe4 Bxf5 26. Nxf5 N4xf5 27. Ra1 b6 28.
g4 hxg4 29. hxg4 Nd4 30. Bxd4 cxd4 31. g5 Nf7 32. Rf3 Bd2 33. Rxa8 Qxa8 34.
Qxd4 Bb4 35. Qe4 Qa2 36. Kh1 Bc5 37. Rf1 Qd2 38. Qf3 Qc2 39. Re1 Qxc4 40. Kg2
Qxb5 41. Re7 Qb2+ 42. Kg3 Qd4 43. Re4 Qg1+ 44. Kh3 h6 45. Re6 hxg5 46. Rg6+ Kf8
47. fxg5 Qe3 48. Rf6 Qxf3+ 49. Rxf3 Kg7 50. Kh4 b5 51. Kh5 b4 52. Rf1 Bd4 53.
Rf4 Bc5 54. Rf1 Ne5 55. Ra1 Nd3 56. Rd1 Nf4+ 57. Kg4 Ne2 58. Re1 Nc3 59. Re7+
Kf8 60. Rb7 Nxd5 61. g6 Ne7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leuven GCT rapid"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.06.30"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2766"]
[BlackElo "2851"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2017.06.28"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nxc6 Qf6 6. Qf3 dxc6 7. Nc3 Be6
8. Qg3 O-O-O 9. Be3 Bxe3 10. Qxe3 Kb8 11. f4 Qe7 12. Bd3 Nh6 13. O-O-O f6 14.
g3 Nf7 15. Rhe1 Rhe8 16. a3 h6 17. Be2 Rxd1+ 18. Bxd1 Nd6 19. e5 Nc4 20. exf6
Qxf6 21. Qc5 Rd8 22. Be2 Nd6 23. Bd3 Qf7 24. b3 Bd7 25. Re5 b6 26. Qe3 Qf6 27.
Ne4 Qf8 28. Nxd6 cxd6 29. Re7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.07.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2017.07.01"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. O-O Qe7 7. Nbd2 Bg4 8.
Nc4 Nd7 9. a3 a5 10. Be3 f6 11. Bxc5 Nxc5 12. Ne3 Bxf3 13. Qxf3 O-O 14. h4 Ne6
15. h5 a4 16. g3 Qd7 17. Qg4 Rad8 18. Rad1 c5 19. f4 exf4 20. gxf4 f5 21. Nxf5
Nd4 22. Nh6+ Kh8 23. Qxd7 Rxd7 24. Ng4 Nxc2 25. Rc1 Nd4 26. Rxc5 Kg8 27. Ne5
Re7 28. Kg2 Ne6 29. Ra5 Nxf4+ 30. Kh2 Nxh5 31. Rxf8+ Kxf8 32. d4 Nf6 33. Rxa4
Nxe4 34. Kg2 Nd6 35. Rb4 g5 36. a4 Kg7 37. a5 Kf6 38. Nd3 g4 39. Nc5 c6 40. Rb6
Re2+ 41. Kf1 Rc2 42. Nxb7 Nc4 43. Rxc6+ Kg5 44. Rc5+ Kf4 45. Nd6 Ne3+ 46. Ke1
Rxb2 47. Nc4 Ra2 48. Nxe3 Kxe3 49. Re5+ Kf4 50. Rh5 Kf3 51. Rxh7 g3 52. Rf7+
Kg2 53. d5 Rxa5 54. d6 Re5+ 0-1

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.07.01"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2808"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2017.07.01"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 d5 6. Nbd2 dxe4 7. dxe4 O-O 8.
O-O a5 9. Qc2 Qe7 10. a4 Nb8 11. Bd3 h6 12. Nc4 Nc6 13. h3 Rd8 14. Re1 Nh5 15.
Bf1 Qf6 16. Be3 Bf8 17. Kh2 Be6 18. Rad1 g5 19. Rxd8 Rxd8 20. Nfd2 b6 21. g3
Nf4 22. b3 Ng6 23. Be2 Nd4 24. cxd4 exd4 25. e5 Qf5 26. Qxf5 Bxf5 27. Bxg5 hxg5
28. Bg4 Bxg4 29. hxg4 Bb4 30. Rd1 Bxd2 31. Rxd2 Rd5 32. Kg2 Kg7 33. Kf3 Nxe5+
34. Ke4 Nxc4 35. bxc4 Rc5 36. Rxd4 Kf6 37. f4 Ke6 38. Kd3 c6 39. Re4+ Kd6 40.
Rd4+ Ke6 41. Re4+ Kd6 42. Rd4+ Ke6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.07.01"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2796"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2017.07.01"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Be7 6. Re1 Nd6 7. Bxc6 dxc6 8.
dxe5 Nf5 9. Qxd8+ Bxd8 10. Bg5 Bxg5 11. Nxg5 Nd4 12. Na3 h6 13. Ne4 Bf5 14. c3
Ne6 15. Rad1 Ke7 16. Ng3 Bh7 17. Nc4 Rad8 18. Na5 Rxd1 19. Rxd1 Rb8 20. Ne2 c5
21. f3 Rd8 22. Rxd8 Nxd8 23. Kf2 Bb1 24. a3 Ke6 25. Nc4 g5 26. Ke3 Nc6 27. f4
Ba2 28. Nd2 Bd5 29. g3 b6 30. Ne4 Ne7 31. g4 Bc6 32. fxg5 Kxe5 33. N2g3 Nd5+
34. Kd2 Nf4 35. Ke3 Ng2+ 36. Kd3 Bxe4+ 37. Nxe4 c4+ 38. Kxc4 Kxe4 39. gxh6 Nf4
40. h4 Ng6 41. h5 Nf8 42. g5 c6 43. b4 Kf5 44. g6 fxg6 45. hxg6 Nxg6 46. b5
Ne5+ 47. Kd4 Ke6 48. bxc6 Nxc6+ 49. Kc4 a6 50. h7 Ne5+ 51. Kd4 Nf7 52. a4 Kd6
53. c4 a5 54. Kd3 Kc5 55. Kc3 Nh8 56. Kd3 Kb4 57. Kd4 Kxa4 58. Ke5 Kb3 59. Kf6
a4 60. Kg7 a3 0-1

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.07.01"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2738"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2017.07.01"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. c4 g6 5. cxb5 a6 6. e3 Bg7 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Nf3 d6
9. Nd2 Nbd7 10. e4 Ne8 11. a4 Nc7 12. Be2 axb5 13. axb5 Rxa1 14. Qxa1 f5 15.
exf5 Rxf5 16. Be3 Nb6 17. Qa5 Bxc3 18. Qxb6 Bxb2 19. O-O Rf8 20. Qa7 Bf5 21. b6
Nxd5 22. Qa2 1-0

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.07.01"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C22"]
[WhiteElo "2732"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "38"]
[EventDate "2017.07.01"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qe3 Bb4+ 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bd2 O-O 7. O-O-O Re8
8. Qf4 Bxc3 9. Bxc3 Rxe4 10. Qg3 d5 11. f3 Re8 12. Ne2 a5 13. Nf4 Nb4 14. Bxf6
Qxf6 15. a3 Bf5 16. axb4 axb4 17. Nxd5 Ra1+ 18. Kd2 Qxb2 19. Qxc7 Rxd1+ 0-1

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.07.01"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2793"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2017.07.01"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 c5 3. d5 d6 4. Nc3 e5 5. Bd2 Be7 6. e4 O-O 7. Be2 Nbd7 8. Nf3
Ne8 9. a4 g6 10. Bh6 Ng7 11. Nd2 Kh8 12. h4 Nf6 13. h5 Nfxh5 14. Bxh5 Nxh5 15.
Bxf8 Qxf8 16. g3 Nf6 17. Qe2 Kg7 18. Nc4 b6 19. a5 Ba6 20. axb6 axb6 21. O-O h5
22. Rxa6 Rxa6 23. Nxd6 Ra8 24. Nc4 Qb8 25. Rd1 b5 26. d6 bxc4 27. dxe7 Qc7 28.
Qxc4 Qxe7 29. Nd5 Nxd5 30. Rxd5 Qf6 31. Qc3 h4 32. Qxe5 hxg3 33. fxg3 Ra2 34.
Qxf6+ Kxf6 35. Rxc5 Rxb2 36. Kf2 Ke6 37. Ke3 f5 38. Kd4 fxe4 39. Kxe4 Rb4+ 40.
c4 Rb3 41. g4 Rg3 42. Rc6+ Kf7 43. Kf4 Ra3 44. Kg5 Ra5+ 45. c5 Ra4 46. Rf6+ Ke7
47. Rxg6 Rc4 48. Rc6 Kd7 49. Rd6+ Ke7 50. Rd5 Ke6 51. Rf5 Ke7 52. Kh4 Ke6 53.
Kh5 Rd4 54. Rf1 Rd5+ 55. g5 Rxc5 56. Kh6 Rc2 57. g6 Rh2+ 58. Kg7 Rg2 59. Kh7
Rh2+ 60. Kg8 1-0

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.07.01"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2771"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2017.07.01"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Be7 6. Nf3 c6 7. O-O O-O 8. Qc2
Nbd7 9. Rd1 Ne4 10. Bf4 g5 11. Be3 f5 12. Nc3 Nd6 13. b3 Bf6 14. Qc1 h6 15. h4
Nf7 16. hxg5 hxg5 17. Na4 Qe7 18. Nb2 b6 19. Nd3 Bb7 20. Rb1 a5 21. Nde5 Ndxe5
22. dxe5 Nxe5 23. Nxe5 Bxe5 24. Bxg5 Bf6 25. Bxf6 Rxf6 26. Qe3 Kf7 27. Qxb6 Ra6
28. Qe3 Ra8 29. Rd4 Rh8 30. cxd5 cxd5 31. Rc1 Rfh6 32. Qe5 Rc8 33. Rxc8 Bxc8
34. Rd3 Bd7 35. Rc3 Rh8 36. Qxh8 1-0

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.07.01"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Jobava, Baadur"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B25"]
[WhiteElo "2707"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2017.07.01"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. Nge2 Nf6 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. d3 Nc6 7. O-O O-O 8. h3
e5 9. f4 Nd4 10. f5 b5 11. Nxd4 cxd4 12. Ne2 d5 13. g4 dxe4 14. Ng3 Rb8 15. g5
e3 16. gxf6 Bxf6 17. Be4 Bg5 18. b4 Rb6 19. a4 Kh8 20. Bb2 Bf4 21. Qg4 h5 22.
Qf3 gxf5 23. Nxf5 Qg5+ 24. Qg2 Rg8 25. Nxd4 Qxg2+ 26. Bxg2 Rbg6 27. Rxf4 Rxg2+
28. Kh1 exf4 29. axb5 Kh7 0-1

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.07.01"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2812"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2017.07.01"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 c5 3. e3 Nc6 4. c3 Qb6 5. Qb3 Nf6 6. Nd2 c4 7. Qc2 Nh5 8. Bg5
h6 9. Bh4 g5 10. Be2 Ng7 11. Bg3 Bf5 12. Qc1 e6 13. Ngf3 Qa5 14. e4 Bh7 15. O-O
Be7 16. Re1 O-O 17. Ne5 Nxe5 18. Bxe5 f6 19. Bg3 Rfe8 20. h4 b5 21. b4 Qd8 22.
a4 a5 23. axb5 axb4 24. Rxa8 Qxa8 25. exd5 exd5 26. Bf3 Qd8 27. hxg5 hxg5 28.
b6 bxc3 29. Qxc3 Qxb6 30. Bxd5+ Kf8 31. Nxc4 Qb5 32. Ne3 Rd8 33. Qc7 Qd7 34.
Qa5 Nh5 35. Bc7 Rc8 36. Bh2 Nf4 37. Bxf4 gxf4 38. Nc4 Qf5 39. Qa7 Qxd5 40.
Qxe7+ Kg8 41. Nb6 1-0

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.07.02"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2017.07.01"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 Bd6 5. Nbd2 O-O 6. Bxd6 Qxd6 7. c4 c5 8.
dxc5 Qxc5 9. cxd5 Qxd5 10. Bc4 Qd6 11. O-O Bd7 12. Be2 Bc6 13. Nc4 Qe7 14. Qd6
Qxd6 15. Nxd6 Ne4 16. Rfd1 Nxd6 17. Rxd6 Rc8 18. Rc1 Kf8 19. Ne5 Ke7 20. Rd2 f6
21. Nxc6+ Nxc6 22. Rdc2 Kd8 23. Bf3 Rab8 24. Bxc6 Rxc6 25. Rxc6 bxc6 26. b3 Kc7
27. Kf1 a5 28. Rc4 Rb4 29. Ke2 Rxc4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.07.02"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C55"]
[WhiteElo "2808"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2017.07.01"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Qe7 5. Nc3 Na5 6. O-O c6 7. a4 Nxc4 8.
dxc4 d6 9. b3 Qc7 10. Bg5 Be7 11. a5 O-O 12. Qd3 h6 13. Bh4 Be6 14. Rfd1 Rfd8
15. Qe3 b6 16. axb6 axb6 17. h3 g5 18. Nxg5 Rxa1 19. Rxa1 hxg5 20. Qxg5+ Kh7
21. Qe3 Rg8 22. f4 Nh5 23. fxe5 Bxh4 24. Qf3 Rg5 25. exd6 Qxd6 26. Ne2 Ng3 27.
Nc3 Qd4+ 28. Kh2 Qe5 29. Kg1 Qxc3 0-1

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.07.02"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A25"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2796"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2017.07.01"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 180"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.09.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.09.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{A look at the tournament standings, as well as keeping day 5 in Paris in mind,
this might have been the perfect moment for solidity and protecting one's lead.
But the World Champion said that in Leuven he wanted to loosen up a bit, so
here we go!} 1. c4 e5 2. e3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 {In the rapids Anand had played 3...
Bb4 here. Magnus was about to play an excellent game, but lost the thread
after Black defended well, and had to count himself lucky that he saved that
game.} 4. g4 $5 {If you ever should want to play the Grob, this is probably as
good as it gets. Not exactly a recommendation.} Bb4 {Aronian has played 4...h6
5.Bg2 d6 against Rapport, and Short-Docx went 4...d5 5.g5 d4 6.gxf6 dxc3 both
leading to atypical and balanced positions.} 5. g5 Bxc3 6. bxc3 Ng8 {MVL's
concept has a definite logic, the g5-pawn is weak and e.g. 7.h4 h6 is
excellent for Black. White's pieces are in their starting positions, but
Carlsen now unleashes them with amazing energy over the following moves.} 7. d4
$1 Qxg5 8. d5 Nd8 9. d6 c6 10. Nf3 Qf5 11. Rg1 Ne6 {This is the kind of
position where one of the sides will end up busted. Give Black the time to
consolidate, say ...Nf6 ...b6 ...Bb7 and White is doomed. Alas:} 12. e4 $1 {
Speed matters more than material, and being already a pawn down Magnus
accelerates his development by shedding another.} Qxe4+ 13. Be3 {Now 14.Bd3
trapping the black queen is threatened, and if 13...Nf4 then 14.Rg5 f6 15.Nd2
Nd3+ 16.Bxd3 Qxd3 17.Rxg7 gives White a winning attack, so Maxime has to
retreat:} Qf5 (13... Nf4 14. Rg5 f6 15. Nd2 Nd3+ 16. Bxd3 Qxd3 17. Rxg7 $18)
14. Ng5 Nf4 {A logical move stopping 15.Bd3 as well as the threat of Nxe6
followed by Rxg7.} 15. Bxf4 $1 {Again, its not a matter of "small" factors
like number of pawns or the pair of bishops. Black is not allowed to
consolidate whatever that costs in traditional values.} Qxf4 16. Rg4 Qf6 17.
Ne4 Qh6 18. Qf3 {The game has his first "slow" moment in a while, with White
not having a direct threat. Quite logically Black uses it to catch up in
development and trying to swap off the dominating knight on e4, but oddly the
better move would be 18...g6!? intending to put the queen on g7.} Nf6 ({
My computer comes up with the following line:} 18... g6 19. Rg5 Qg7 20. Qg3 Kf8
21. Rxe5 f6 22. Ra5 b6 23. Ra3 {which is a strange mix of logic and absurdity.}
) 19. Rxg7 {Tempting, and very much in the style of this game.} ({Even so} 19.
Nxf6+ {was objectively better as after} Qxf6 20. Qxf6 gxf6 21. c5 $1 {White
has excellent compensation for the 2 sacrificed pawns,} b6 22. Bc4 Bb7 23. Rb1
$1 {being an instructive sample line, if} b5 24. Bb3 {Black's bishop ends up
locked in, and White will eventually collect a number of black pawns.}) 19...
Qxg7 $2 (19... Kf8 $1 {was better,} {Less fancy, but better would be} 20. Rg3 (
{as} 20. Nxf6 Kxg7 21. Nh5+ Kf8 22. c5 (22. Nf6 Qf4) 22... e4 $1 {defends well,
e.g.} 23. Qf5 Rg8 {when it's difficult to sufficiently strengthen the white
attack.}) 20... Nxe4 21. Qxe4 Qxd6 22. Qh4 {keeping sufficient counterplay to
balance the position.}) 20. Nxf6+ Kd8 21. Qf5 {Now however Black's position is
hopeless.} Re8 $5 ({If} 21... Qf8 {then} 22. Rd1 $1 {is completely paralysing,
making Black practically unable to move any piece.} (22. Qxe5 $6 Qe8 $1 {fights
})) 22. Nxe8 Kxe8 23. c5 {Logical, hemming in Black's position,} ({but the
more direct} 23. f4 exf4 24. Kd2 {followed by Re1+! would have been just as
strong.}) 23... b5 24. Bd3 f6 25. Ke2 Kf7 26. Rh1 $3 {White has numerous ways
to win, the game-move however has beauty to it, almost in mathematical fashion
solving the puzzle of how to get a white rook in the g-file as fast as
possible.} Rb8 27. Kf1 $1 Qg6 28. Qf3 Qh6 29. Rg1 Ba6 30. Qg4 $1 {Not allowing
...Rg8, as well as nailing Black down to the defence of the d7-pawn.} Rd8 31.
Rg3 e4 32. Qxe4 Re8 33. Qg4 Bc8 34. Kg2 (34. Bc2 $1 {would have ended things
here and now, but the result is never in doubt anyway.}) 34... Qg5 35. Qf3 Qd5
36. Qxd5+ cxd5 37. Bxh7 Re5 38. f4 Re2+ 39. Kf1 Rxh2 40. Bg8+ Kf8 41. Bxd5 Rh8
42. Kf2 Ba6 43. Ke3 Ke8 44. Kd4 Kd8 45. Rg7 Bc8 46. c6 dxc6 47. Bxc6 a5 48. Kc5
{An extraordinary game, in which the sequence from move 7 to 27 is
impressively energetic and creative in itself, but being from a blitz game
obviously makes it something quite special.} 1-0

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.07.02"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2738"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2017.07.01"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Ne2 d5 3. exd5 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. Qxd4 Qxd5 6. Nbc3 Qxd4 7. Nxd4 Bc5
8. Ndb5 Na6 9. Bf4 O-O 10. f3 Re8+ 11. Be2 Be6 12. O-O-O Bxa2 13. Rhe1 Nh5 14.
Bd2 Be6 15. Ne4 Be7 16. Nd4 Bd7 17. Bxa6 bxa6 18. Bg5 Bxg5+ 19. Nxg5 Nf6 20.
Nb3 h6 21. Ne4 Nxe4 22. Rxd7 Nf6 23. Rdd1 Kf8 24. Nc5 Rxe1 25. Rxe1 Re8 26.
Rxe8+ Kxe8 27. Nxa6 Kd7 28. Nc5+ Kd6 29. Nd3 c5 30. Kd2 c4 31. Nf4 Kc5 32. h4
a5 33. g4 Nd5 34. Ne2 g6 35. c3 Kd6 36. f4 h5 37. g5 a4 38. Ke1 Ne3 39. Ng3
Ng2+ 0-1

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.07.02"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2732"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2017.07.01"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bg5
Nbd7 9. a4 O-O 10. Nd2 Nc5 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. Nc4 Be7 13. O-O Be6 14. a5 Rc8 15.
Nb6 Rc6 16. b4 Nd7 17. Nbd5 Bg5 18. Na4 Bxd5 19. exd5 Rc7 20. c4 e4 21. c5 dxc5
22. d6 Rc8 23. Bg4 cxb4 24. Bxd7 Qxd7 25. Nb6 Qc6 26. Nxc8 Rxc8 27. Rb1 e3 28.
fxe3 Rd8 29. Qb3 Qd7 30. Qxb4 Qxd6 31. Qxb7 Bxe3+ 32. Kh1 Rf8 33. Rbd1 Qh6 34.
Qxf7+ 1-0

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.07.02"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2793"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2017.07.01"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Nbd2 d6 5. g3 c5 6. Bg2 Nc6 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8.
O-O O-O 9. Nb3 Bb6 10. Qc2 h6 11. Rd1 Qe7 12. Nbd4 Nxd4 13. Nxd4 Rd8 14. b3 d5
15. cxd5 Nxd5 16. Bb2 Bd7 17. e3 Rac8 18. Qe2 Be8 19. Nf5 exf5 20. Rxd5 Bc6 21.
Rxd8+ Qxd8 22. Rd1 Qe8 23. Bxc6 Rxc6 24. Qd3 Qe6 25. Rd2 h5 26. h4 Kh7 27. Kg2
Kg6 28. Bd4 Qd5+ 29. f3 Bxd4 30. Qxd4 Qxd4 31. exd4 Kf6 32. f4 Rc3 33. Kf2 Ke6
34. Re2+ Kd6 35. Re3 Rc1 36. a4 g6 37. Ke2 Kd5 38. Re7 Rc3 39. Rxb7 a5 40. Kf2
Kxd4 41. b4 Rc2+ 42. Kf3 Rc3+ 43. Kg2 Rc2+ 44. Kh3 axb4 45. Rxb4+ Kd5 46. Rb7
Ke6 47. a5 Ra2 48. Rb6+ Kd5 49. Rb7 Rxa5 50. Rxf7 Ke6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.07.02"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2771"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2017.07.01"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 Bf5 4. e3 e6 5. a3 Bd6 6. Bg3 O-O 7. c4 dxc4 8. Bxc4
c5 9. Nc3 Bxg3 10. hxg3 Nbd7 11. O-O Rc8 12. Be2 Bg4 13. Rc1 cxd4 14. Qxd4 Qb6
15. Qxb6 Nxb6 16. Rfd1 h6 17. Nb5 Rxc1 18. Rxc1 Rc8 19. Rxc8+ Nxc8 20. Kf1 Kf8
21. Ne5 Bxe2+ 22. Kxe2 h5 23. f3 Ke7 24. e4 a6 25. Nc3 Nb6 26. b3 Nfd7 27. Nd3
Kd6 28. Ke3 e5 29. Nd1 Nc5 30. Nxc5 Kxc5 31. Nf2 Kd6 32. f4 Nd7 33. Nd3 f6 34.
Nb2 g5 35. Nc4+ Kc6 36. fxe5 Nxe5 37. Nxe5+ fxe5 38. g4 h4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.07.02"]
[Round "17"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Jobava, Baadur"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2707"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2017.07.01"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nf3 Bd6 5. c4 c6 6. Nc3 Ne7 7. Bd3 dxc4 8.
Bxc4 O-O 9. h3 Nd7 10. O-O Nb6 11. Bb3 Ned5 12. Re1 Bf5 13. Ne5 Bxe5 14. Rxe5
Qd7 15. Qf3 Be6 16. Ne4 Rae8 17. a4 Ne7 18. Nf6+ gxf6 19. Qxf6 Qd8 20. Rxe6
Nbd5 21. Qg5+ Kh8 22. Re1 Rg8 23. Qh5 Qb6 24. Bxd5 Nxd5 25. Bh6 Qc7 26. Qf5 f6
27. Qf3 Qb6 28. Re4 Qxb2 29. Rae1 Rxe4 30. Qxe4 Qa3 31. Qe6 Qd3 32. Re4 Qd1+
33. Kh2 Qh5 34. Bd2 Qg6 35. Rg4 Qe8 36. Rxg8+ Qxg8 37. Qd7 Qb8+ 38. g3 Qc7 39.
Qe8+ Kg7 40. a5 b5 41. axb6 axb6 42. h4 b5 43. h5 Qe7 44. h6# 1-0

[Event "Leuven GCT blitz"]
[Site "Leuven"]
[Date "2017.07.02"]
[Round "18"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B83"]
[WhiteElo "2812"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2017.07.01"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "BEL"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 179"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.07.12"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bd7 6. Be2 Nc6 7. Be3 e6 8. g4
h6 9. f4 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 e5 11. fxe5 Nxg4 12. O-O-O Nxe3 13. Qxe3 Qg5 14. Qxg5
hxg5 15. exd6 O-O-O 16. e5 Re8 17. Rhf1 f6 18. exf6 gxf6 19. Rxf6 Bg7 20. Rf7
Bxc3 21. Rxd7 Kxd7 22. Bb5+ Kd8 23. Bxe8 Be5 24. Bg6 Rxh2 25. Bf5 Rf2 26. Bh3
Rf4 27. Rd5 Re4 28. Bf5 Bf4+ 29. Kd1 Re5 30. Rxe5 Bxe5 31. d7 Bxb2 32. Ke2
1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 5th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.08.02"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2807"]
[BlackElo "2822"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2017.08.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 180"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.09.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.09.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a4 b4
9. a5 O-O 10. Nbd2 Rb8 11. Re1 Be6 12. Bxe6 fxe6 13. Nb3 Qc8 14. Qe2 Nd8 15. d4
exd4 16. Nbxd4 c5 17. Nb3 e5 18. Nbd2 Ne6 19. Nc4 Nd4 20. Nxd4 cxd4 21. Nb6 Qc6
22. Bg5 Bd8 23. Bxf6 Bxb6 24. axb6 Rxf6 25. Rxa6 h6 26. Qd3 Rxb6 27. Rea1 Rxa6
28. Rxa6 Qc5 29. Ra8+ Kh7 30. h3 b3 31. Qxb3 d3 32. cxd3 Qxf2+ 33. Kh2 Qf4+ 34.
Kh1 Qc1+ 35. Kh2 Qf4+ 36. Kh1 Qg3 37. Qg8+ Kg6 38. Rf8 Qxd3 39. Rxf6+ Kxf6 40.
Qf8+ Ke6 41. Qe8+ Kf6 42. Qf8+ Ke6 43. Qe8+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 5th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.08.03"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "2822"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2017.08.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 180"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.09.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.09.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. O-O e5 5. e4 d6 6. d3 g6 7. a3 Bg7 8. c3 O-O
9. b4 a6 10. Nbd2 b5 11. Rb1 Nd7 12. Nb3 cxb4 13. axb4 Nb6 14. Be3 Be6 15. Qd2
Rc8 16. Rfc1 Re8 17. h4 Na4 18. c4 h5 19. Kh2 Bg4 20. cxb5 axb5 21. Na5 Nd4 22.
Rxc8 Qxc8 23. Rc1 Qd7 24. Nxd4 exd4 25. Bh6 Bh8 26. Rc6 Nc3 27. f3 Be6 28. Bf4
Be5 29. Bxe5 dxe5 30. f4 Qe7 31. Rc5 Rc8 32. Rxc8+ Bxc8 33. Nc6 Qd6 34. Nxe5
Qxb4 35. f5 Qd6 36. Nf3 gxf5 37. Qg5+ Kh7 38. e5 Qg6 39. Qd8 Be6 40. Ng5+ Kg7
41. Qxd4 Na4 42. Nh3 1-0

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 5th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.08.04"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2783"]
[BlackElo "2822"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[EventDate "2017.08.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 180"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.09.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.09.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. Nc3 O-O 8. d3
d6 9. Nd5 h6 10. c3 Rb8 11. Re1 Ba7 12. Be3 Bxe3 13. Nxe3 Re8 14. a4 b4 15. a5
bxc3 16. bxc3 Be6 17. Bxe6 Rxe6 18. Nd5 Ne7 19. Nxf6+ Rxf6 20. d4 Ng6 21. g3
Qc8 22. Re3 Rb5 23. Nd2 h5 24. h4 Qh3 25. Qf1 Qg4 26. Qe2 Qxe2 27. Rxe2 Re6 28.
Nf1 Nf8 29. Rc2 exd4 30. cxd4 c5 31. dxc5 dxc5 32. Nd2 Rd6 33. Nc4 Rd4 34. Kg2
Ne6 35. Ra3 g6 36. Nd2 Kg7 37. Rac3 Rdb4 38. Ra2 Rd4 39. Rac2 Ra4 40. Nb3 Rxb3
41. Rxb3 Nd4 42. Rcb2 Nxb3 43. Rxb3 Rxe4 44. Rb6 Re6 45. Rb7 c4 46. Rc7 Re5 47.
Rxc4 Rxa5 48. Rc6 Ra2 49. Kf3 a5 50. Ra6 a4 51. Ke3 a3 52. Kf3 f6 53. Ra7+ Kf8
54. Kg2 Ra1 55. Kf3 Ke8 56. Ra6 Ke7 57. Kg2 Kf7 58. Kf3 Ra2 59. Kg2 g5 60. g4
gxh4 61. gxh5 Ra1 62. Ra7+ Kg8 63. h6 Kh8 64. Kh2 f5 65. f4 a2 66. Kg2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 5th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.08.05"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A34"]
[WhiteElo "2822"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[Annotator "Quintiliano,R"]
[PlyCount "142"]
[EventDate "2017.08.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 180"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.09.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.09.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{This very had fought game had a decisive influence in the final standings, as
Vachier-Lagrave finished half point ahead of Carlsen and Anand, winning the
Sinquefield Cup!} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e3 Nxc3 6. dxc3
{As usual, Carlsen deviates to the less played lines and aims just to get a
game.} ({In the first round, Aronian played} 6. bxc3 g6 7. h4 $5 Bg7 8. h5 Nc6
9. Ba3 Qa5 {and now} 10. Rh4 $1 {Aronian,L (2809)-Nepomniachtchi,I (2742) 5th
Sinquefield Cup 2017 (1.3) 1-0 an amusing way to develop the rook and at the
same time indirectly to protect the a3-bishop, even Kasparov praised this
idea! The exclamation point is for Aronian's wonderful imagination to find
such ideas in his preparations -}) 6... Qxd1+ 7. Kxd1 {This position reminds
us of one which can be reached in an Anti-Grünfeld, but in that line the pawn
is oin e4. Such positions are, of course, objectively equal, but there are
many plans to follow for each side, which means a strategic battle ahead. In
his time, Ulf Andersson used to outplay strong opponents from these positions,
providing nice examples of positional play.} Bf5 {Pretty natural, avoiding e4.}
8. Nd2 Nc6 9. e4 Bg6 $146 ({We have a nice recent example of how White can get
an advantage in this apparently harmless position:} 9... Be6 10. Kc2 g6 11. Bc4
Bd7 $6 (11... Bxc4 $142 12. Nxc4 b5 $1) 12. Nb3 b6 13. a4 $1 Ne5 14. Bb5 a6 $6
(14... O-O-O $142 15. Bf4 Bg7 16. Ba6+ Kc7 17. a5 $36 Kc6 $5) 15. Bxd7+ Nxd7 (
15... Kxd7 16. Bf4 Bg7 17. Rhd1+ Kc6 18. a5 $1 b5 19. Rd5 Nd7 20. Rad1 Ra7 21.
Nxc5 $1 $18) 16. Be3 {[%cal Ga4a5] Now Black should always have to worry about
a5} e6 (16... a5 17. Nd2 {[%csl Gb6][%cal Yd2c4]}) 17. Rhd1 O-O-O 18. Nd2 $1 {
[%cal Yd2c4] after provoking b6, the knight come back to improve its position
by manoeuvring to c4} Be7 19. Nc4 Kb7 20. a5 $16 {Radjabov,T (2724)-Svidler,P 
(2749) Geneva Grand Prix 2017 (7.2) 1-0}) 10. Bb5 Rc8 11. h4 h5 {This move is
probably the best, avoiding White winning space on the kingside.} 12. Re1 e6
13. a4 $5 {One thing that seems remarkable to me in Magnus Carlsen's games, is
how often he uses his rook pawns in order to generate ideas and try to force
his opponents to make concessions.} Be7 ({For example, if Black rushes with} 
13... a6 14. Bf1 $5 Be7 15. g3 O-O 16. a5 $1 Rfd8 (16... Bd8 17. Nc4) 17. Kc2
f6 18. Nc4 Bf7 19. Be3 $14) 14. g3 O-O 15. a5 Rfd8 {Vachier-Lagrave cleverly
avoisd forceful or committal moves, and finishes the development with a good
position.} 16. a6 (16. f4 $5 {[%cal Yf4f5]} Kf8 17. Ke2 {[%cal Ye2f2] was a
good way to find a safe place for White's king.}) 16... b6 {Black has achieved
a solid structure on the queenside, but White also has a stable position for
his Bb5 and expects to exploit the a7-pawn in the future, as well as create
pressure with the pieces on Black's pawns.} 17. Kc2 Ne5 $1 {This move makes
White's development difficult, avoiding Nc4.} 18. f4 (18. Nc4 Nf3 19. Re2 Rd4
$3 {I don't know if the players saw this sacrifice, but the engine yes, and it
is very beautiful!} 20. cxd4 Nxd4+ 21. Kd1 Nxb5 {Black has a great
compensation here, for example} 22. f3 Nd4 23. Rf2 Rd8 24. Ke1 Nb3 25. Rb1 f5
$1 $36) 18... Ng4 {[%csl Yg4] The Black knight finds a nice post on g4.} 19.
Kb3 {Again necessary to prepare Nc4.} (19. Nc4 Nf6 $1) 19... f6 {A good move
to prevent another threat: f4-f5.} 20. Nc4 Nf2 (20... e5 {looks playable} 21.
Bd2 Bf7 22. Kc2 Bd6 {with a good position.}) 21. e5 (21. f5 $5 {was another
idea} Bf7 (21... Be8 22. Ka4 $5) 22. fxe6 Bxe6 23. e5 $5 {this is one way to
try to open lines and get some initiative, but after} f5 {Black's position
still looks pretty solid} (23... Kf7 {is also possible, but after} 24. exf6
gxf6 25. Re2 Nd3 26. Bh6 $1 {the only safe square for the bishop} Ne5 27. Rf1
Kg6 28. Bf4 Bd6 29. Bxe5 Bxe5 30. Ka4 Bxc4 31. Bxc4 $14 {it is clearly White
who can play for a win in this endgame, with the better minor piece and the
better pawn structure.})) 21... Ne4 22. Be3 Bf5 ({Of course not} 22... Nxg3 $2
23. Rg1) 23. Rg1 {The pawns are more or less blocked on both sides, and looks
the sort of position where it is difficult for both players to make progress.}
Rd5 24. Rae1 Kf7 25. Bc1 {[%csl Ge4][%cal Yc4e3] With his usual ability to
keep improving his position, Magnus tries to disturb Black's setup by
threating Ne3 or attacking the e4-knight, which is kind of trapped in e4.} Bh7
26. Re3 (26. g4 $1 {would be a timely opening of kingside} hxg4 27. Rxg4 Nf2 (
27... Rcd8 28. Reg1 Bf8 29. Ne3 {[%csl Rd5] suddenly the rook has no squares!}
c4+ $8 30. Bxc4 Ra5 31. f5 $1) 28. Rg3 Nd3 29. Reg1 Rg8 30. h5 $1 {and White's
position is easier, for example} fxe5 31. fxe5 Nxe5 32. h6 $1 Bf6 (32... gxh6
33. Nxe5+ Rxe5 34. Rxg8 Bxg8 35. Bxh6 {[%cal Yg1g7]} Bf6 36. Bf4 $1 {[%cal
Yf4b8]}) 33. hxg7 Rxg7 34. Rxg7+ Bxg7 35. Rf1+ Kg8 36. Nxe5 Bxe5 37. Re1 $16 {
[%cal Yb5c4] Black's situation looks difficult, although maybe it is
defensible.}) 26... Rcd8 {After this move, action begins!} (26... Nf2 {was
safer} 27. Re2 Nd3 28. Be3 Bf5 $11) 27. Bc6 Nf2 $1 (27... Rd1 $2 28. Rxd1 Rxd1
29. Bxe4 Bxe4 30. Rxe4 Rxc1 31. Nxb6 $1 {reveals a nice point about the a6-pawn
} axb6 32. Ra4 $1 (32. a7 $2 Ra1 33. Ra4 c4+ $1) 32... b5 33. a7 bxa4+ 34. Ka2
$18 {[%cal Ga7a8]}) 28. Re2 $1 {Magnus correctly refuses the Greek gift.} (28.
Bxd5 $2 {gives a very active position for Black with the central pawns
advancing strongly, and White's remaining pieces stay badly placed} exd5 29.
Na3 (29. Nd2 Nd3 {[%cal Yc5c4,Ye7c5]} 30. Nf3 d4 31. Re2 c4+ $1 32. Kxc4 dxc3
33. exf6 (33. bxc3 Nxc1 34. Rxc1 Bd3+ $19) (33. Kxc3 Rc8+ 34. Kd2 Bb4+ $19)
33... Bxf6 34. bxc3 Nxc1 35. Ne5+ Bxe5 36. Rxe5 Nd3 $17) 29... Ng4 30. Ree1 Bd3
$17 {[%csl Ga6]}) 28... Nd3 29. exf6 (29. Bxd5 {is still bad} exd5 30. Na3 b5
$1 31. Ka2 (31. Nxb5 Nxc1+ 32. Rxc1 Bd3 $19) 31... Rb8 $17 {[%cal Yb8b6]})
29... gxf6 30. Bb5 {Kind of a sad admission that the rook never can be
accepted.} Rg8 31. Bd2 Rgd8 32. Be3 Be4 33. Rd2 Rg8 34. Ka4 Rgd8 35. Kb3 Rg8
36. Ka2 {Carlsen avoids repetition, but it still seems difficult to create
something, as Black is very solid.} f5 {[%cal Ye7h4]} 37. Rh2 Rc8 38. Rd2 Rg8
39. Re2 $5 Bf3 {Vachier-Lagrave doesn't accept the provocation.} ({But he
could have played} 39... Bxh4 40. Rh2 Bxg3 41. Rxh5 Rg7 $1 (41... Bxf4 $2 42.
Rh7+ Kf8 43. Rxg8+ Kxg8 44. Rxa7 $16) 42. Rh8 {[%cal Yh8a8]} Bxf4 43. Ra8 {
Black has a nice resource now} Rd7 $1 {[%cal Ye4a8]} 44. Bxd7 Bxa8 45. Bxe6+ $1
Kf6 46. Rxg7 Kxg7 47. Bxf5 Bxe3 48. Nxe3 (48. Bxd3 Bd5 $11) 48... Ne5 $11) 40.
Rh2 Bf6 $6 {This move is careless, as now White can disturb the harmony of
Black's position.} (40... Be4 $142 $11) 41. Nd2 $1 Bg4 (41... Be4 42. Nxe4 fxe4
43. Bc6 {now is a better version for White} Rc8 44. Bb7 $1 Rcd8 45. Kb1 $1 {
[%cal Yc3c4] the point is that White is not forced to take on d5, but Black
cannot retreat the rook without terrible consequences because of the e4-pawn}
b5 46. g4 hxg4 47. Rxg4 b4 48. cxb4 Nxb4 49. Bxd5 exd5 50. Bxc5 Nxa6 51. Bxa7
d4 52. f5 $1 e3 53. Re4 $16 {[%csl Yf5,Yh4] Despite the material advantage,
White has two healthy passed pawns.}) 42. Rf1 $1 {[%csl Gg4][%cal Yd2c4]
Another strong move, leaving the g4-bishop with no moves and freeing again the
Nd2.} Rgd8 43. Nc4 e5 $1 {Vachier-Lagrave is fighting on and tries to
complicate matters.} (43... Kg6 44. Bc6 Kf7 45. Rd2 $16 {already looks very
good for White.}) 44. fxe5 (44. Bc6 e4 $1 45. Bxd5+ Rxd5 {again gives enough
compensation for Black, as White's rooks doesn't have open files to operate
and all Black pieces are well placed.}) 44... Bxe5 $2 {But this move involves
a variation which actually is a losing one for Black.} (44... Nxe5 {was the
right move, but Black needs to find a very delicate variation} 45. Bf4 {
[%cal Yc4e5,Gb5c4]} Kg7 $1 46. Ne3 c4 $1 47. Nxd5 (47. Bxc4 Ra5+ 48. Kb3 Nxc4
49. Kxc4 Rxa6 50. Nxg4 fxg4 51. Rhf2 $14) 47... Rxd5 48. Bxe5 Bxe5 49. Bxc4
Ra5+ 50. Kb1 Bxg3 51. Rd2 f4 {[%cal Yg4f5]} 52. b4 Re5 53. Rd8 $14 {White
keeps chances to win, but Black is fighting.}) 45. Bg5 Bxg3 {The best
practical chance.} (45... Rc8 46. Nxb6 $1 axb6 47. Bc4 Ke6 48. Rd2 $18) (45...
Bf6 46. Bxf6 Kxf6 47. Bc6 $18 {[%csl Gd5]}) 46. Rg2 $2 {But this imprecision
throws victory away.} (46. Rd2 $1 {was winning, Black has pratically no moves,
for example} Rf8 (46... Bc7 47. Ka1 f4 48. Bxd8 Rxd8 49. Ne3 {[%csl Rd3,Rg4]}
Bh3 50. Bxd3 Bxf1 51. Nxf1 $18) 47. Ka3 $1 {[%cal Yc4e3] preparing the simple
Ne3, for example} (47. Ne3 Nc1+ 48. Rxc1 Rxd2 49. Nxg4 $18) 47... f4 48. Rxd3
Rxd3 49. Ne5+ $18) 46... Bh3 47. Rxg3 Bxf1 48. Rf3 $4 {But this is already
losing.} (48. Bxd8 {still is a draw} Rxd8 (48... f4 $2 49. Rg1) 49. Rf3 Be2 50.
Rxf5+ Kg6 51. Rg5+ Kf6 52. Na3 $11) 48... Be2 49. Bxd8 ({In the interview
after the game, Vachier-Lagrave said Carlsen was counting on} 49. Re3 {now,
which looks winning, but then Black has} f4 $1 50. Re7+ (50. Rxe2 Nc1+ {
is the detail, as now the Bg5 is not guarding c1}) 50... Kg6 51. Rxa7 (51. Re6+
Kf5 52. Rf6+ Kg4 $19) 51... Rxg5 $1 52. hxg5 f3 53. Rb7 h4 {and after Black to
eliminate the a7-pawn, the remaining passed pawns in kingside are unstoppable}
54. a7 Ra8 55. Nxb6 Rxa7+ 56. Rxa7 Nc1+ $1 57. Kb1 Bxb5 58. Kxc1 f2 $19) 49...
Bxf3 {This endgame is winning for Black, although White still has some tricks
to try.} 50. Bxb6 (50. Bc7 {[%csl Ga7][%cal Yc7b8] was the slow way} Ke6 51.
Bb8 Nc1+ 52. Ka3 (52. Kb1 Rd1 53. Kc2 Rh1 {[%cal Gf3e4]} 54. Nd6 f4 $19) 52...
Rd1 53. Bxa7 Nd3 $1 {[%cal Yd1a1,Yf3d1] suddenly creating a mating net around
White's king} 54. Ka2 Bd5 55. b3 f4 56. Bxb6 f3 57. a7 f2 58. Ne3 Ba8 $1 $18 {
[%cal Yd1e1]}) 50... axb6 51. Bc6 Be4 $1 {Again accurate, eliminating the pin.}
52. a7 (52. Nxb6 Rd8 53. Bxe4 fxe4 54. a7 e3 $19) 52... Rd8 53. Nd6+ {Carlsen
tries all his chances in this desperate position.} Rxd6 $1 54. Bxe4 (54. a8=Q
Rxc6 $19 {is totally hopeless for White.}) 54... Rd8 55. a8=Q Rxa8+ 56. Bxa8
$19 {This endgame is an easy win for Black and Vachier-Lagrave has no problems
to convert the advantage.} Ne5 57. Kb3 f4 58. Kc2 Kg7 59. Kd2 Ng6 60. Kd3 Nxh4
61. Ke4 f3 62. Ke3 Kf6 63. b4 c4 $1 {The last precise move for Black,
deflecting the bishop from the main diagonal.} (63... cxb4 64. cxb4 Kf5 65. Bb7
Kg4 66. Kf2 {could have offered serious chances for White, as is not possible
to manoeuvre the knight without losing the f3-pawn.}) (63... Kg5 64. bxc5 bxc5
65. Bd5 Kg4 66. Kf2 {is the same as 63...cxb4.}) 64. Bd5 Kf5 65. Bxc4 Kg4 66.
Kf2 Ng6 $1 {This move is possible now because the bishop is not attacking the
f3-pawn anymore.} 67. Be6+ Kf4 68. Bf7 Ne5 69. Bxh5 Nd3+ 70. Kf1 Kg3 71. Bf7
Nf2 {A complicated strategic battle, where the World Champion was about to
finish another memorable game, when the tactical nuances drastically turned
the table, and Vachier-Lagrave, with great vision sfor the available resources,
took his chances immediately and scored a crucial win.} 0-1

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 5th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.08.06"]
[Round "5"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2810"]
[BlackElo "2822"]
[Annotator "Mekhitarian,K"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2017.08.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 180"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.09.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.09.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 {It is kind of funny that Carlsen has
played only 4 classical games in the Scotch Game since he became a grandmaster.
Probably another reason for Wesley So to try it against the reigning World
Champion.} Bb4+ $5 {An off-beat variation, forcing White to play c3, and
removing that ideal square for the b1-knight. Magnus himself said he wasn't
expecting the Scotch and just thought about playing some variation to try and
develop his pieces.} (4... Nf6 {is the most popular response, with well-known
variations after the most ambitious 5.Nxc6 followed by 6.e5, or the simpler 5.
Nc3.}) (4... Bc5 {when White has options between the old moves Nxc6 and Be3,
or the more fashionable Nb3 followed by Nc3, Qe2, Be3 or Bg5 and possibly
castling queenside.}) 5. c3 Be7 $6 {should be inferior for Black. We arrive in
a Philidor-type position, where White has sound pieces and a space advantage.}
(5... Bc5 $5 {is also possible, now in the Nxc6 and Nb3 variations, the
b1-knight would like to go to c3.} 6. Be3 Bb6 {and here White would be happy
to play Nc3-Nd5 as well, justifying the ...Bb4+ and ...Bc5 manoeuvre.} (6...
Qf6 $2 {now this wouldn't make any sense, since the pawn is already on c3 
(this is played in the line after 4...Bc5 where White still has the pawn on c2)
}) 7. Nf5 $1 g6 8. Bxb6 axb6 9. Ne3 Nf6 10. f3 Qe7 (10... O-O 11. c4 {and
White tries to keep a positional advantage. Black has an interesting piece
sacrifice with ...d5 now:} d5 12. cxd5 Nxe4 13. fxe4 Qh4+ 14. Kd2 Qxe4 15. Bd3
Qd4 16. Qb3 Re8 17. Re1 Ne5 18. Na3 Nxd3 $2 (18... Bd7 $5 $40) 19. Qxd3 $6 (19.
Nac2 $1 $18) 19... Qxb2+ 20. Nac2 Bd7 (20... Qe5 $1 $132) 21. Qc3 $16 {1-0 (30)
Danin,A (2581)-Zeller,F (2402) Wunsiedel 2016}) 11. Be2 $5 (11. c4 Qb4+ 12. Qd2
Qxd2+ 13. Kxd2 {with a pleasant endgame} d6 14. Nc3 Kd8 15. Be2 Re8 16. Rac1
$14 {1-0 (40) Yu,Y (2662)-Salem,A (2570) Kocaeli 2013}) 11... Qc5 12. Qd2 h5 $6
13. Na3 Qe7 $2 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15. exd5 Ne5 16. d6 $1 Qxd6 17. Qxd6 cxd6 18. Nb5
Ke7 19. a4 $18 {1-0 (47) Duda,J (2693)-Degraeve,J (2592) Chartres 2017}) 6.
Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 (7. Bc4 $5 Nf6 8. e5 $36) 7... d6 8. O-O Nf6 9. Re1 O-O 10.
Nd2 {I like White's position here, the knight will be well placed on f3, Black
has to be watching for moves like e5.} Re8 11. Nf3 Nd7 {A natural reaction -
the knight stands well on c5 in these kind of structures, but this will be the
start of his problems as well.} 12. Bf4 Nc5 13. Bc2 Bg4 $6 (13... Ne6 $5 14.
Be3 c5 {followed by ...Rb8 and ...a5} 15. b4 $5 {trying to avoid that plan}
cxb4 16. cxb4 $14) 14. h3 Bh5 15. Be3 $1 {Threatening to destroy Black's
structure; this is the key move to look for an advantage. Carlsen said in the
post-mortem that his position started to deteriorate now, after this and 16.
Ba4!, that he missed.} Nd7 (15... Qb8 16. Bxc5 dxc5 17. Rb1 $16 {has to be
ugly for Black.}) 16. Ba4 $1 c5 (16... Ne5 $2 17. g4 $1 Nxf3+ 18. Qxf3 Bg6 19.
Bxc6 $18 {is simply lost for Black.}) 17. g4 $5 (17. e5 $1 {was a very
interesting pawn sacrifice:} Bxf3 (17... Nxe5 18. g4 $1 Bg6 19. Nxe5 dxe5 20.
Bxe8 $18) (17... Rb8 18. b3 Bxf3 19. Qxf3 Nxe5 20. Qe4 Rf8 21. Rad1 $44) 18.
Qxf3 Nxe5 19. Qe4 {hitting the e8-rook} Rf8 20. Rad1 {threatening to take on c5
} Qc8 21. Bxc5 (21. b4 $5 cxb4 22. cxb4 $44 {trying to maintain the pressure,
without exchanging anything.}) 21... dxc5 22. Qxe5 Bd6 23. Qe4 $16 {with good
prospects.}) 17... Bg6 18. e5 (18. Bc6 $1 Rb8 19. b4 {was a very strong hidden
idea} h5 $1 {with a double-edged position, that should be safe enough for White
} (19... cxb4 $2 20. Qa4 $1 {winning the e8 exchange by force, because now b6
is under control} (20. Bxa7 $6 Ra8 $1 21. Bxa8 $2 Qxa8 22. Be3 Bxe4 $19 {
is horrible for White}) 20... Nb6 21. Bxb6 axb6 22. Bxe8 Qxe8 23. Qxe8+ Rxe8
24. cxb4 $18 {should be simply winning}) 20. bxc5 hxg4 21. hxg4 $16) 18... Rb8
19. Bf4 $2 {Now many simplifications take place, Carlsen equalises and gets
the initiative suddenly.} (19. b3 $1 $16 {was simple and strong, Black still
has to solve many problems.}) 19... Rxb2 $1 20. exd6 $2 (20. Bxd7 $1 {was the
best chance to equalise} Qxd7 21. exd6 cxd6 22. Ne5 Qc7 (22... Qc8 23. Nxg6
hxg6 24. Bxd6 $11) 23. Nc4 $11) 20... Bxd6 $1 21. Rxe8+ Qxe8 22. Bxd6 cxd6 23.
Qxd6 (23. Nd2 {the computer suggests this very sad idea to survive, a hard
decision to make after giving away a pawn. On the other hand, there is a Nc4
threat} d5 24. Nb3 Qe7 25. Bxd7 Qxd7 26. Nxc5 Qd6 27. Qd4 h5 $36) 23... Qe2 $1
{Maybe So missed this move.} 24. Qg3 Nf8 $1 $17 {White has many problems now,
with the weak king, weak pawns and having to control Black's initiative.} 25.
Re1 Rb1 $1 26. Rxb1 Bxb1 {At least the a2-pawn will be lost, White is in deep
trouble.} 27. Bc6 (27. a3 Be4 $1 {with mating ideas as well} 28. Nh2 Qe1+ 29.
Nf1 Qb1 $1 {threatening the unstoppable ...Bd3} 30. f4 Bd3 31. Qf3 c4 $19 {
Black will take on c3 at the proper time and win the game.}) 27... Bxa2 $19 28.
Qd6 Qc4 $1 29. Ne5 Qxc3 {With no counterplay left, and two pawns down, White
had to resign.} 0-1

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 5th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.08.08"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2822"]
[BlackElo "2792"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "188"]
[EventDate "2017.08.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 180"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.09.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.09.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8.
cxd5 Nxd5 9. Nxd5 exd5 10. Bd3 Bb4+ 11. Nd2 {This doesn't look like a
dangerous continuation. The knight will return to f3 losing precious time.
Still, Black's isolated d5 pawn requires accurate play from him.} (11. Ke2 {
is the main line.}) 11... Nc6 12. O-O Be7 (12... Be6 13. Nf3 (13. Nb3 Qf6 14.
a3 Be7 15. Qd2 Rfd8 16. Nd4 Nxd4 17. exd4 Bf5 $11 {1/2 (21) Yu,Y (2738)
-Nakamura,H (2785) Caleta 2017}) 13... Be7 (13... Bg4 14. h3 Bh5 15. Be2 Re8
16. Rc1 Be7 17. Ne5 Bxe2 18. Qxe2 Qb6 19. Rfd1 Rad8 20. Qc2 Nxe5 21. Bxe5 Rd7
22. Rd3 $14 {1-0 (54) Gabriel,R (2255)-Klovans,J (2440) Schwaebisch Gmuend 1993
}) 14. Rc1 Bf6 15. a3 Qe7 16. b4 a6 17. h3 Rac8 18. Rc5 a5 19. Qb1 axb4 20.
axb4 {1-0 (33) Nepomniachtchi,I (2742)-Nakamura,H (2792) Saint Louis 2017} h6
$11) 13. Rc1 (13. Nb3 Bf6 14. Qd2 Be6 15. Rac1 Rc8 16. Nc5 Qe7 17. Rc2 Ne5 18.
Nxe6 Qxe6 19. Bxe5 Bxe5 20. Rfc1 Rxc2 21. Qxc2 g6 $11 {1/2 (34) Lputian,S 
(2495)-Timoscenko,G (2440) Irkutsk 1983}) (13. a3 Bf6 14. Nf3 (14. Rc1 g6 15.
b4 a5 16. b5 Ne5 17. Be2 Be6 18. Nb3 Qe7 19. a4 Rfd8 20. Nd4 Nc4 21. b6 {
1/2 (41) Kalinitschew,S (2426)-Meier,G (2644) Apolda 2017} Nb2 22. Qb3 Bxd4 23.
exd4 Nc4 $11) (14. Qc2 g6 (14... h6 15. Nb3 Re8 16. Rab1 Qe7 17. Qc5 Ne5 18.
Qxe7 Rxe7 19. Bxe5 Bxe5 20. Rfc1 Be6 $11 {1/2 (24) Blagojevic,N (2300)
-Abramovic,B (2500) Niksic 1997}) 15. Rac1 Be6 16. Nb3 Rc8 17. Nc5 Ne5 18. Bxe5
Bxe5 19. f4 Bg7 20. Nxe6 {1/2 (20) Korchnoi V (2634)-Kasimdzhanov R (2653)
Bled (ol) 2002 2003}) 14... Qe7 15. h3 g6 16. Qd2 Be6 17. Rac1 Rfd8 18. b4 a6
19. Rc2 Qd7 20. Rfc1 Bf5 21. Bxf5 Qxf5 22. Bc7 Rd7 23. Bb6 Qe4 24. Rd1 Bd8 25.
Bc5 Bc7 26. Qd3 Rad8 27. Rcd2 Qxd3 28. Rxd3 f6 $11 {1/2 (76) Giri,A (2771)
-Karjakin,S (2781) Stavanger 2017}) 13... Bf6 14. Nf3 (14. Qb3 Qb6 15. Qxd5 Nb4
16. Qe4 Nxd3 17. Qxd3 Rd8 18. Qc2 Qxb2 19. Ne4 Qxc2 20. Nxf6+ gxf6 21. Rxc2 Be6
22. Rfc1 {1/2 (22) Nyback,T (2639)-Solozhenkin,E (2511) Finland 2009}) 14...
Qe7 (14... Bxb2 15. Bxh7+ Kxh7 16. Qc2+ Kg8 17. Qxb2 {is favourable for White:
the isolani is still on the board, and the position of Black's king is now
weak.}) ({but} 14... Re8 15. h3 Qb6 {was probably more active.}) (14... Be6 $5
{transposes to Nepomniachtchi - Nakamura (see above).}) 15. h3 g6 16. Bb5 $5
Bd7 (16... Bxb2 17. Bxc6 Bxc1 (17... bxc6 18. Rxc6 $14) 18. Bxd5 {[%cal Rd1c1,
Rf4d6]} Ba3 19. Bh6 {[%cal Rd1d4]} Be6 20. Qd4 f6 21. Bxf8 Kxf8 22. Bxe6 Qxe6
23. Rd1 $14 {[%csl Rf8]}) 17. Qxd5 Be6 (17... Bxb2 18. Rb1 Be6 19. Qd2 Ba3 20.
Bh6 Rfc8 21. Ng5 $36) 18. Qe4 (18. Qc5 $5 Qxc5 19. Rxc5 Bxa2 (19... Bxb2 20.
Ng5) 20. Bxc6 bxc6 21. Rxc6 $14 {, and Black should hold this ending with
accurate defence.}) 18... Bxb2 (18... Bxa2 19. Bxc6 bxc6 20. Qxe7 Bxe7 21. Nd4
$16) 19. Bxc6 f5 $1 {An excellent defence.} (19... Bxc1 $2 20. Bxb7 $16) (19...
bxc6 20. Rxc6 $16) 20. Bg5 (20. Qb1 Bxc1 21. Qxb7 (21. Bxb7 Bxe3 $1 22. fxe3
Rab8 $11) 21... Qxb7 22. Bxb7 Rac8 23. Bxc8 Rxc8 {, and Black should not lose.}
) 20... fxe4 21. Bxe7 Bxc1 22. Bxb7 (22. Bxf8 bxc6 23. Nd4 Bxa2 24. Rxc1 Kxf8
25. Nxc6 Bd5 26. Nb4 Be6 27. Na6 Rc8 28. Rxc8+ Bxc8 29. Nc5 a5 $11) 22... Bxe3
$1 23. Bxf8 Rxf8 24. fxe3 exf3 25. Bxf3 Rb8 $14 {[%mdl 4096] White's extra
e3-pawn (rather weak than passed) can hardly be converted but the World
Champion manages to create good chances from nothing.} 26. a4 Rb4 27. Bc6 Rc4
28. Bb5 Re4 29. Rd1 a6 30. Bxa6 Rxa4 31. Bb7 Kf7 32. Kf2 Kf6 33. Bd5 Bf5 34. g4
Be6 35. Kf3 Ra5 36. Bxe6 Kxe6 37. h4 Ra2 (37... h5 $5 38. g5 Ra2 {[%cal Ya2h2]}
) 38. Rb1 Ra7 39. Kf4 Ra4+ $2 {It was necessary to prevent the invasion of
White's king:} (39... h6) 40. e4 Ra7 (40... h6 {is too late now:} 41. Rb6+ Kf7
42. h5 gxh5 43. gxh5 Kg7 44. Rg6+ Kh7 45. Kf5 $18) 41. Rb6+ $2 {The time
control is over so Magnus Carlsen's indecision is strange.} (41. Kg5 $1 Ke5 42.
Rf1 $1 Kxe4 43. Kh6 $18 {[%cal Yg4g5,Yf1f8,Yf8h8] (indicated by GM Sergey
Grigoriants)}) 41... Kf7 42. Rc6 Rd7 43. g5 $2 {Closing the way for his own
king, after which Black successfully defends without major problems.} ({
According to various commentators,} 43. h5 $1 {was still winning - in a much
more complicated way, though.}) 43... Ra7 44. Ke5 Re7+ 45. Kd5 Rd7+ 46. Rd6 Ra7
47. Rf6+ Ke7 48. Rc6 Rd7+ 49. Ke5 Ra7 50. Rc5 Rd7 51. Ra5 Kf7 52. Ra1 Re7+ 53.
Kf4 Rb7 54. Ra6 Rc7 55. Kg4 Re7 56. Rf6+ Ke8 57. Kf4 Ra7 58. Rb6 Kf7 59. Ke5
Re7+ 60. Kd5 Rd7+ 61. Rd6 Ra7 62. Rd8 Ra5+ 63. Kd4 Ra4+ 64. Ke5 Ra5+ 65. Kf4
Ra7 66. Rd4 Ke6 67. Rb4 Rf7+ 68. Ke3 Ra7 69. Rb8 Re7 70. Rh8 Ra7 71. Re8+ Kf7
72. Rb8 Ke6 73. Rb6+ Kf7 74. Kf4 Re7 75. Rf6+ Ke8 76. h5 {The last attempt.}
gxh5 77. e5 Rf7 $1 78. Ke4 (78. Kg3 Re7 79. e6 Ra7 80. Kh4 Ra1 81. Kxh5 Rh1+
82. Kg4 Ke7 $11) 78... Rg7 79. Kf5 Rf7 80. Kf4 h4 81. Kg4 Re7 82. e6 Ra7 83.
Rh6 (83. Kxh4 Ra1) 83... Kf8 84. Kxh4 Ra4+ 85. Kh5 (85. Kg3 Ke7) 85... Re4 86.
Rf6+ Kg7 87. Rf7+ Kg8 88. Re7 Kf8 89. Rxh7 Rxe6 90. Rh6 Re1 91. Ra6 Kg7 92.
Ra7+ Kg8 93. Kh6 Re6+ 94. g6 Re8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 5th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.08.09"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2749"]
[BlackElo "2822"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2017.08.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 180"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.09.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.09.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8.
c4 Ba6 9. b3 g6 10. f4 d6 11. Qf2 Nf6 12. Ba3 Qe6 13. Be2 dxe5 14. Bxf8 Kxf8
15. O-O exf4 16. Qxf4 Kg7 17. Nc3 Rae8 18. Bf3 Qe3+ 19. Qxe3 Rxe3 20. Na4 Bc8
21. Bxc6 Rd8 22. Rae1 Rxe1 23. Rxe1 Rd2 24. Nc3 Rc2 25. Nb5 Rxa2 26. Nxc7 Rb2
27. Ne8+ Nxe8 28. Rxe8 Be6 29. Bd5 Bxd5 30. cxd5 Rxb3 31. d6 Rd3 32. Ra8 Rxd6
33. Rxa7 Rd2 34. Ra6 g5 35. h3 h5 36. Ra5 Kg6 37. Rb5 Ra2 38. Kf1 Ra6 39. Kf2
f5 40. Rb8 Ra2+ 41. Kf3 Ra3+ 42. Kf2 g4 43. hxg4 hxg4 44. g3 Ra2+ 45. Kf1 Ra1+
46. Kf2 Ra2+ 47. Kf1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 5th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.08.10"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2742"]
[BlackElo "2822"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2017.08.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 180"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.09.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.09.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 g6 5. d4 exd4 6. Nxd4 Bg7 7. Bg2 O-O 8.
Bf4 Nh5 9. Nxc6 dxc6 10. Qxd8 Rxd8 11. Bxc7 Rd4 12. c5 Rc4 13. O-O Rxc5 14.
Rfc1 Nf6 15. Bd6 Rh5 16. Rd1 Be6 17. Bf3 Ra5 18. Rd2 h6 19. Rad1 Ra6 20. e4 Bg4
21. Bxg4 Nxg4 22. Kg2 Ne5 23. b3 Nc4 24. bxc4 Bxc3 25. Rc2 Bg7 26. c5 Re8 27.
e5 b5 28. cxb6 axb6 29. Rxc6 Rxa2 30. Re1 b5 31. Rb6 Rd2 32. Rxb5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 5th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.08.11"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2822"]
[BlackElo "2809"]
[Annotator "Szabo,Kr"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2017.08.02"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 180"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.09.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.09.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4
b4 9. a5 d6 10. d3 Be6 11. Bxe6 {A relatively new idea. White exchanges the
bishops, opens the f-file for Black, but he hopes that the double-pawns on the
e-file will be a weakness for Black.} (11. Nbd2 {is the another main move.})
11... fxe6 12. Nbd2 Rb8 13. c3 ({In the first round Carlsen had this line with
Black too,} 13. Nb3 Qc8 14. Qe2 Nd8 15. d4 exd4 16. Nbxd4 c5 17. Nb3 e5 18.
Nbd2 Ne6 19. Nc4 Nd4 20. Nxd4 cxd4 21. Nb6 Qc6 22. Bg5 Bd8 23. Bxf6 Bxb6 24.
axb6 Rxf6 25. Rxa6 h6 26. Qd3 Rxb6 $11 {Caruana-Carlsen, Saint Louis 2017,
with an equal position.}) 13... Qe8 14. Nc4 $146 {A novelty by Carlsen.} ({
Recently} 14. d4 {was played by Topalov,} bxc3 15. bxc3 exd4 16. cxd4 Rb5 17.
Nc4 Qg6 18. Qe2 Nd7 $13 {Topalov-Adams, Shamkir 2017, with an unclear
middlegame.}) 14... Qg6 15. h3 Nd7 {A typical continuation, Black prepares for
...d5.} ({Nevertheless I prefer} 15... Nh5 $5 {like an active move to play for
...Nf4.}) 16. Be3 d5 17. Ncd2 {Of course White doesn't exchange. The e5- and
e6-pawns became weaker.} bxc3 18. bxc3 Nc5 19. Bxc5 $1 {At first this seems a
strange move. Why does White give up his nice bishop? The knight was exerting
pressure on d3; moreover after removing the knight White has an extra
possibility on the next move.} Bxc5 20. Qa4 $1 {This was the point of White's
previous move.} Rb2 $5 {Ambitious reply!} 21. Rf1 $1 {Very deep move! Carlsen
protects his f2-pawn in advance, now the c6-knight is hanging already.} ({
The careless} 21. Qxc6 $2 {loses immediately, because of} Bxf2+ $1 22. Kxf2
Rxd2+ $19 {and Black is winning.}) 21... Na7 $6 {Too passive a move!} (21...
Qe8 {should have been played, however} 22. Rab1 Rxb1 23. Rxb1 $14 {and White
is more comfortable.}) 22. Nxe5 Qh6 23. Ndf3 Nb5 24. Rae1 $1 {White doesn't
protect the c3-pawn and he solves the problem with a nice idea.} ({Moreover} 
24. Rac1 $2 {could have been met by} Rxf2 $1 25. Rxf2 Qxc1+ $19 {and Black
wins.}) 24... Nxc3 ({In the event of} 24... Bd6 25. exd5 exd5 (25... Nxc3 26.
Qa1 $1 $16 {important tempo!}) 26. Qa1 $1 Rc2 27. c4 $1 $16 {White is better
too.}) 25. Qc6 $1 {Suddenly Black has a lot of weaknesses on the queenside.
White is safe, his pieces are active, the white queen is threatening to take
the pawns.} Bb4 26. Kh1 {Probably this is not the strongest move, but a good
practical prophylactic reply. The king moves away from a possible ...Ne2+.}
dxe4 (26... Ne2 27. Rb1 $16 {is similar to the text move.}) 27. dxe4 Ne2 28.
Rb1 {White simplifies the position, so Black's pressure is decreasing.} Rxb1
29. Rxb1 Bd6 30. Qxa6 {Carlsen starts to eat the pawns.} Nf4 31. Qb5 c5 32. a6
{It's time to advance the passed pawn.} Bxe5 33. Nxe5 Qg5 34. Ng4 h5 35. Ne3 {
White is safe.} Nxg2 {Still the best practical chance, otherwise White
promotes his a-pawn without any counterplay.} 36. Nxg2 Rxf2 37. Rg1 Kh7 38. Qd3
{It is important to come back with the queen especially in time pressure.} Qe5
39. Qe3 Ra2 40. Qf4 {The best practical move. White doesn't protect his a-pawn,
he wants to exchange the queens and then he can win without any difficulties.}
Qc3 41. Ne3 Qf6 ({Or} 41... Rxa6 42. Qg5 $18 {and Black has no hope.}) 42. Qxf6
gxf6 43. Rc1 Rxa6 44. Kg2 $1 {Correct reply!} ({The greedy} 44. Rxc5 {could
have been met by} Ra3 {and Black wins the h3-pawn and he survives.}) 44... Ra2+
45. Rc2 Ra5 46. Kf3 Kg6 47. h4 Rb5 48. Ra2 Rb1 49. Rc2 Rb5 50. Rc3 f5 (50...
Ra5 51. Ng2 $18 {is also hopeless for Black.}) 51. exf5+ exf5 52. Rd3 {A very
nice victory by Carlsen!} 1-0

[Event "FIDE World Cup"]
[Site "Tbilisi"]
[Date "2017.09.03"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Balogun, Oluwafemi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2827"]
[BlackElo "2255"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2017.09.03"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GEO"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 181"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]

1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} d6 {[%emt 0:01:19]} 2. d4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} g6 {[%emt 0:
00:29]} 3. Bc4 {[%emt 0:00:50] Magnus goes for something that the opponent
would not have prepared.} Nf6 {[%emt 0:02:38]} 4. Qe2 {[%emt 0:00:12] Mikhail
Tal played this before, Carlsen must know this game as he has adopted similar
plan in his game.} Nc6 {[%emt 0:02:59]} 5. Nf3 {[%emt 0:03:23]} Bg7 {[%emt 0:
04:46]} (5... Bg4 6. Bb5 (6. c3 $14) 6... Nd7 7. c3 e5 8. d5 Ncb8 9. h3 Bxf3
10. Qxf3 Be7 11. g3 Bg5 12. Nd2 h5 13. h4 Bh6 14. Nf1 Bxc1 15. Rxc1 a6 16. Ba4
Kf8 17. Ne3 Nf6 18. O-O Nbd7 19. b4 Kg7 20. Bc2 a5 21. a3 axb4 22. cxb4 Nb6 23.
Ra1 Qd7 24. Rfc1 Ra7 25. Bd3 Rha8 26. Rc3 Na4 27. Rc2 Nb6 28. Rc3 Na4 29. Rc2
Nb6 {1/2-1/2 (29) Tal,M (2625)-Matulovic,M (2525) Skopje 1972}) 6. O-O {
[%emt 0:20:34]} Bg4 {[%emt 0:07:18]} 7. c3 {[%emt 0:01:32] Because White has
not developed his knight to c3, he gets to bolster his centre.} O-O {[%emt 0:
09:31]} 8. h3 {[%emt 0:06:29]} Bxf3 {[%emt 0:06:29]} 9. Qxf3 {[%emt 0:00:35] I
would say such positions are a nightmare against Magnus. Not only does he have
the centre, but also the bishop pair.} e5 {[%emt 0:00:22]} 10. Rd1 {[%emt 0:05:
32]} Qe8 {[%emt 0:08:42][%csl Ge4] Getting away from the rook's fire and
threatening to capture the pawn on e4.} 11. d5 {[%emt 0:11:41][%csl Gc4,Gd5]
[%cal Rc4d5] Shutting down your own bishop is not ideal. However, it closes
the centre and gives White the much needed time to complete his development.
Other choices like Be3 or Nd2 did not work as in both cases one of the central
pawns would fall.} Ne7 {[%emt 0:01:46]} 12. Qe2 $14 {[%emt 0:01:25][%csl Gc1,
Gc4,Gd5,Ge4] The position is similar to the King's Indian Defence but the
major difference is that Black is missing the light-squared bishop which is
usually a very important piece.} Nh5 {[%emt 0:06:07]} 13. Bb5 {[%emt 0:07:30]}
Qc8 {[%emt 0:05:59]} 14. Na3 {[%emt 0:01:29]} a6 {[%emt 0:02:55]} 15. Ba4 {
[%emt 0:01:07]} f5 {[%emt 0:08:06] Good strong play by Balogun. He realises
that he must do something active before White can finish his development.} 16.
Bc2 {[%emt 0:03:53]} f4 $6 {[%emt 0:06:42] Closing the position wasn't the
best idea.} (16... fxe4 $5 {looks more reasonable} 17. Bxe4 Nf6 18. Bf3 Qd7 19.
Bg5 Rae8 $11) 17. Qg4 $1 {[%emt 0:04:09] A really good decision, Black's
threat was to play f3 and shatter White's kingside. Now if Black exchanges
queens then White will have a small edge as he has the bishop pair and if
Black doesn't exchange then White will be in a good position to repel Black's
attack.} Qxg4 {[%emt 0:04:06]} (17... Nf6 18. Qxc8 Rfxc8 $14 {gives White a
small edge like in the game.}) (17... Qd8 $5 {keeping the queens on should
have been preferred.}) 18. hxg4 {[%emt 0:01:14]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:10]} 19. g5 {
[%emt 0:00:28]} (19. f3 $6 h5 $1 $11) 19... Nd7 {[%emt 0:04:27]} 20. Nc4 {
[%emt 0:00:07]} b6 {[%emt 0:00:38]} 21. b4 {[%emt 0:00:29] As the kingside is
closed White is in a good position to start his activity on the queenside.} h6
{[%emt 0:01:51]} 22. gxh6 {[%emt 0:01:42]} Bxh6 {[%emt 0:00:55]} 23. g4 $5 {
[%emt 0:01:22]} (23. a4 $14 {was also slightly better for White.}) 23... Nf6 {
[%emt 0:01:09]} 24. f3 {[%emt 0:00:04] The kingside is now under control. Over
to the queenside.} Bg5 {[%emt 0:00:15]} 25. Kg2 {[%emt 0:01:38]} Kg7 {[%emt 0:
01:27]} 26. a4 {[%emt 0:00:54]} Bh4 {[%emt 0:01:43][%cal Gh4g3,Gf8h8] Trying
to create counterplay on the kingside with ...Bg3, ...Rh8 and ...Rh2.} 27. Bd2
{[%emt 0:01:32]} g5 {[%emt 0:00:53]} 28. Rh1 {[%emt 0:03:59]} Ng6 {[%emt 0:02:
05]} 29. Kf1 {[%emt 0:00:44][%cal Gh4g3,Gg6h4] Getting away from the line of
fire as ...Bg3 and ...Nh4 was threatened.} Rh8 {[%emt 0:01:37]} 30. Ke2 {
[%emt 0:00:12]} Bg3 {[%emt 0:00:50]} 31. a5 $1 {[%emt 0:01:16]} b5 $6 {[%emt 0:
00:57]} (31... bxa5 {looks odd but this was the best choice as after} 32. Nxa5
Rh4 $1 33. c4 (33. Nc6 Rah8 {and Black will have control over the h-file and
good counterplay.} 34. Rxh4 gxh4 {[%cal Gh4h2]} 35. c4 h3 $11) 33... Rah8 34.
Rxh4 Nxh4 {[%cal Gh4f3] and now White needs to be careful as ...Nxf3 is a nice
tactical idea hanging in there.} 35. Rg1 $11 (35. c5 $2 {will fail to the nice}
Nxf3 $1 36. Kxf3 Rh2 37. Rf1 Rxd2 $19) 35... Nxf3 {is still possible} 36. Kxf3
Rh2 37. Rg2 Rh3 38. Rg1 Rh2 39. Rg2 $11) 32. Na3 {[%emt 0:00:01] White's plan
is very clear. Play c4, then b5-break and finally get a passed a-pawn.} Ne7 {
[%emt 0:00:56]} 33. c4 {[%emt 0:02:22]} c6 {[%emt 0:00:53]} 34. dxc6 {[%emt 0:
01:03]} Nxc6 {[%emt 0:00:09]} 35. Bc3 $1 {[%emt 0:00:05][%csl Rd4][%cal Rc6d4]}
Rxh1 {[%emt 0:05:35]} 36. Rxh1 {[%emt 0:00:02]} bxc4 {[%emt 0:00:43]} 37. Nxc4
{[%emt 0:00:03] Now it's over.} Rb8 {[%emt 0:01:00]} (37... Rd8 38. Nb6 $18 {
[%cal Gc2d3,Gd3a6]}) 38. Nxd6 {[%emt 0:00:29]} Kg6 {[%emt 0:00:30]} (38... Nxb4
39. Nf5+ Kg6 40. Rh6+ Kf7 41. Bb3+ $18) 39. Nf5 {[%emt 0:00:25] White is in
control and Black's king is close to getting mated. Magnus scored his first
win of the event.} 1-0

[Event "FIDE World Cup"]
[Site "Tbilisi"]
[Date "2017.09.04"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Balogun, Oluwafemi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "2255"]
[BlackElo "2822"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2017.09.03"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GEO"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 181"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. d3 Nc6 5. c3 e5 6. a3 Nge7 7. O-O a6 8. b4 d6
9. Nfd2 O-O 10. Nb3 cxb4 11. axb4 Be6 12. e4 Qd7 13. N1d2 b5 14. Re1 Bh3 15.
Bh1 Bg4 16. f3 Be6 17. Nf1 f5 18. Be3 f4 19. Bf2 g5 20. g4 Ng6 21. h3 Qf7 22.
Nfd2 Bf6 23. Bg2 Rfc8 24. Qb1 Bd8 25. Rc1 Qb7 26. d4 exd4 27. Nxd4 Nxd4 28.
cxd4 Rxc1+ 29. Qxc1 Bb6 30. Qb2 Rc8 31. Rc1 Rxc1+ 32. Qxc1 Qa7 33. Qc3 Kf7 34.
Bf1 Ke7 35. Be2 Kd7 36. Kf1 Ne5 37. Qa1 Ng6 38. Qc3 Bf7 39. Bd1 Qc7 40. Qxc7+
Kxc7 41. Bb3 Be8 42. Bg8 h6 43. Nb3 Ne7 44. Be6 Nc6 45. Be1 Bxd4 46. Bd5 Bb2
47. Ke2 Ne5 48. Bd2 Bf7 49. Bxf7 Nxf7 50. Nc1 Nd8 51. Nd3 Bg7 52. e5 Bxe5 53.
Nxe5 dxe5 54. Kd3 Kd6 55. Ke4 Ke6 56. Bc3 Nf7 0-1

[Event "FIDE World Cup"]
[Site "Tbilisi"]
[Date "2017.09.06"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Dreev, Alexey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2648"]
[BlackElo "2827"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2017.09.03"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GEO"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 181"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} d5 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 2. c4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} e6 {[%emt 0:
00:09]} 3. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:57]} Bb4 $5 {[%emt 0:00:07] Dreev is a well known
expert in the Qc2 variation in the Nimzo Indian. With this move order Magnus
avoids that opening.} 4. Nf3 {[%emt 0:04:20]} (4. Qc2 dxc4 {is good for Black.}
) 4... Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:33]} 5. Bg5 {[%emt 0:01:45]} h6 {[%emt 0:00:14]} 6. Bxf6
{[%emt 0:00:32]} Qxf6 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 7. Qb3 {[%emt 0:00:54]} c5 {[%emt 0:00:
28]} 8. cxd5 {[%emt 0:00:31]} exd5 {[%emt 0:00:10]} 9. a3 {[%emt 0:00:31]}
Bxc3+ {[%emt 0:00:09]} 10. Qxc3 {[%emt 0:00:05]} c4 {[%emt 0:03:51] This is a
relatively new idea.} 11. b3 {[%emt 0:03:34]} Be6 {[%emt 0:00:47]} (11... b5
12. a4) 12. Ne5 $6 {[%emt 0:16:57] This move was condemned by Magnus.} (12. e3
O-O 13. Be2 Rc8 14. O-O Nc6 15. a4 cxb3 16. a5 Qd8 17. a6 b6 18. Qxb3 Qd6 19.
Rfb1 Rc7 20. h3 Rac8 21. Bd3 Kf8 22. Qb2 Qe7 23. Kf1 Na5 24. Ke2 Nc4 25. Qb4
Qxb4 26. Rxb4 Nd6 27. g4 g5 28. Nd2 Ke7 29. f3 f6 30. Nf1 Rc1 31. Rbb1 Rxb1 32.
Rxb1 Rc3 33. Ra1 Nc4 34. Nd2 Nb2 35. Bb5 Bd7 36. Bxd7 Kxd7 37. Ra2 Rc2 38. e4
b5 39. Ra3 Rxd2+ 40. Kxd2 Nc4+ 41. Kc3 Nxa3 {0-1 (41) Skrondal,I (2277)-Hammer,
J (2628) Sandefjord 2017}) (12. bxc4 dxc4 13. e4 {is the critical line, but
here it seems Black is holding his own.} O-O 14. Be2 Nc6 $13) 12... O-O {
[%emt 0:05:27]} 13. e3 {[%emt 0:11:59]} Nc6 {[%emt 0:16:21]} 14. Be2 {[%emt 0:
20:19]} (14. Nxc6 bxc6 15. bxc4 Qg6 $1 {This key move gives Black the
advantage.}) (14. bxc4 Nxe5 15. dxe5 Qg6 $1 $15) 14... Nxe5 {[%emt 0:02:59]}
15. dxe5 {[%emt 0:00:37]} Qg6 {[%emt 0:02:20]} 16. O-O {[%emt 0:03:25]} d4 $5 {
[%emt 0:04:40]} 17. exd4 {[%emt 0:00:21]} cxb3 {[%emt 0:00:03] The b3-pawn is
very strong.} 18. Bf3 {[%emt 0:08:07]} Rac8 {[%emt 0:03:21]} 19. Qe3 {[%emt 0:
01:39]} Qg5 $1 {[%emt 0:02:23] With this queen exchange the b3-pawn gains in
strength.} 20. Rab1 {[%emt 0:12:47]} (20. d5 Qxe3 21. fxe3 Bd7 {Black has a
good position, but this might have been the best way to play.}) 20... Qxe3 {
[%emt 0:01:20]} 21. fxe3 {[%emt 0:00:04]} Rfd8 {[%emt 0:05:50]} 22. Bxb7 {
[%emt 0:02:15]} Rc3 {[%emt 0:03:49]} 23. d5 {[%emt 0:00:49]} Bd7 {[%emt 0:01:
22]} 24. Rf4 {[%emt 0:03:25]} a5 {[%emt 0:02:59] Stopping Rb4.} 25. Kf2 $2 {
[%emt 0:03:07]} (25. d6 {and the game goes on.}) 25... Rb8 $1 {[%emt 0:01:58]}
26. Bc6 {[%emt 0:00:51]} Bxc6 {[%emt 0:00:19]} 27. dxc6 {[%emt 0:00:02]} Rxc6 {
[%emt 0:00:11]} 28. Rd4 {[%emt 0:00:38]} Rc2+ {[%emt 0:00:10]} 29. Kf3 {
[%emt 0:00:39]} b2 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 30. Rdd1 {[%emt 0:00:30]} Rb5 {[%emt 0:02:
46]} 31. a4 {[%emt 0:01:23]} Rxe5 {[%emt 0:00:32]} 32. Rd8+ {[%emt 0:00:58]}
Kh7 {[%emt 0:00:02] And Dreev, who is already a pawn down with a hopeless
position, resigned the game.} 0-1

[Event "FIDE World Cup"]
[Site "Tbilisi"]
[Date "2017.09.07"]
[Round "2.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dreev, Alexey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2822"]
[BlackElo "2648"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2017.09.03"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GEO"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 181"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. a4 Ngf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. a5 Bg7 7. a6 O-O 8. O-O
e6 9. d3 Qb6 10. axb7 Bxb7 11. Re1 Rfd8 12. Ba4 h6 13. h3 d5 14. e5 Nh7 15.
Bxd7 Rxd7 16. d4 cxd4 17. Ne2 d3 18. Qxd3 d4 19. Nexd4 g5 20. c3 Nf8 21. Nh2
Ng6 22. Qg3 Nh4 23. Nhf3 Nxf3+ 24. Nxf3 Rd3 25. h4 gxh4 26. Qxh4 Bxf3 27. gxf3
Rxf3 28. Bxh6 f5 29. Bxg7 Kxg7 30. Kh1 1-0

[Event "FIDE World Cup"]
[Site "Tbilisi"]
[Date "2017.09.09"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bu, Xiangzhi"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C55"]
[WhiteElo "2822"]
[BlackElo "2710"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2017.09.03"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GEO"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 181"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 Nc6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. Bb3 $5 {A comparatively
rare variation.} ({The main line goes} 6. Re1 d6 7. a4) 6... d6 {I may be
wrong, but after this slow move both players were on their own, without
previous home preparation.} ({The alternative is} 6... d5 {in the spirit of
the Marshall attack:} 7. exd5 Nxd5 8. h3 a5 9. a4 (9. a3 Nd4 {Radjabov,T (2740)
-Ponomariov,R (2733) Medias 2010 CBM 137 [Rogozenco,D] (½-½, 30)}) 9... Nd4 {
Karjakin,S (2723)-Gelfand,B (2758) Khanty-Mansiysk 2009 CBM 134 [Gelfand,B] 
(0-1, 33)}) 7. c3 Be6 {A natural developing move, but in the long run the
bishop may be exposed to the threat d3-d4-d5.} ({Playing in the spirit of the
Chigorin Ruy Lopez looks entirely viable:} 7... Na5 8. Bc2 c5 9. d4 (9. h3 Nc6
10. Re1 Qc7 11. Nbd2 Be6 12. Nf1 Nd7 13. Ng5 Bxg5 14. Bxg5 d5 $132 {Bortnyk,O 
(2588)-Wang,H (2712) Abu Dhabi 2016 (0-1, 23)}) 9... cxd4 10. cxd4 Nc6 11. d5
Nb4 12. Bb3 a5 13. a3 Na6 14. Bc2 Bd7 15. Bd2 a4 16. Re1 b5 $11 {Tiviakov,S 
(2639)-Nikolic,P (2601) Leiden 2015 (0-1, 48)}) 8. Re1 (8. Bxe6 fxe6 9. Qb3 Qc8
{stops the white initiative for instance} 10. Ng5 $6 Nd8) 8... Qd7 9. Nbd2 Rab8
$5 $146 {A mysterious move. At first I thought it was aimed at defending b7,
but it looks more probable that it was a way of preparing ..b7-b5 in one of
the lines below.} ({After the natural} 9... Rad8 {Black has to reckon with} 10.
d4 $146 exd4 11. cxd4 Bg4 ({The discussion about the b7-pawn does not make
sense. After} 11... Bxb3 12. Qxb3 d5 13. e5 Ne4 14. Nxe4 dxe4 15. Rxe4 Qd5 {
with just some compensation, the rook is needed on d8, of course.}) 12. Ba4 $1
$14) (9... Bxb3 10. Qxb3 (10. axb3 a5 $5) 10... Nd8 $146 {[%cal Gc7c6,Gd8e6]
looks like the most flexible way of freeing Black's position. For instance} 11.
d4 exd4 12. cxd4 d5 13. e5 Nh5 14. g3 c6 {The control on the light squares
offers Black good manoeuvring possibilities.}) ({What is not very clear to me
is why did Black prefer the game move over} 9... a6 {with similar ideas.}) 10.
Bc2 (10. d4 {runs into} exd4 11. cxd4 Bg4 12. h3 (12. Ba4 b5 $1) 12... Bh5 {
and White does not have adequate ways of maintaining his central pawns intact.}
13. Qc2 (13. g4 Nxg4 14. hxg4 Qxg4+ 15. Kh1 Nxd4 16. Re3 Qf4 17. Kg2 Bg5 18.
Rd3 Qg4+ 19. Kf1 Qh3+ 20. Kg1 Bxd2 21. Nxd4 Qxd3 22. Qxd2 Qxe4 $19) 13... Na5
$11) (10. Nf1 {looks like a constructive alternative.}) 10... d5 $5 {Very
provocative and eventually successful!} 11. h3 ({I assume Carlsen considered
that after the imemdiate pawn grabbing} 11. exd5 Bxd5 12. Nxe5 ({Actually I
find Black's position a bit artificial after} 12. h3 Bd6 13. Nf1) 12... Nxe5
13. Rxe5 Bd6 14. Re1 Rbe8 {offers Black too much initiative, partly because of
the lack of defence of the g4-square. Here are a couple of lines sustaining
this point of view.} 15. Nf1 (15. Nc4 Qg4 $1 $19) 15... Qg4 16. Qxg4 Bxh2+ $1
17. Kh1 (17. Nxh2 Rxe1+ 18. Nf1 Nxg4 $19) (17. Kxh2 Nxg4+ 18. Kg3 Rxe1 $19)
17... Nxg4 18. Rxe8 Rxe8 19. f3 Bd6 20. fxg4 Re2 $44 21. Ba4 $3 {[%csl Gc6]} (
21. Bb3 Bc6 $1 22. d4 Be4 $1) 21... Rxg2 22. Ne3 Rh2+ 23. Kg1 Rh1+ 24. Kf2 Rh2+
{with a perpetual.}) 11... h6 {Preventing Ng5 and reckoning with the fact that
after h2-h3 Black gets attacking chances in another way than in the lines
above.} 12. exd5 {Picking up the gauntlet. Being a world champion creates
certain obligations.} Nxd5 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. Rxe5 Bd6 15. Re1 Bxh3 $1 {Due to
his advance in development, Black gets full compensation for the sacrifced
piece.} 16. gxh3 Qxh3 17. Nf1 {The most consistent move.} (17. Qf3 {would have
allowed (and forced!) a draw by perpetual:} Bh2+ 18. Kh1 Bg3+) (17. Nf3 $2 {
runs into problems:} Rbe8 18. Bd2 (18. d4 Rxe1+ 19. Qxe1 Qxf3) (18. Rxe8 Rxe8
19. d4 Re6 $19 {[%cal Gf7f5,Ge6g6]}) 18... Rxe1+ 19. Bxe1 Nf4 $19) 17... Rbe8 {
Black's play flows naturally, in a similar way to the Marshall attack main
lines. For White, there are small choices on each step and the correct answer
is not always obvious. This slightly speaks against Carlsen's decision to
allow the sacrifice.} 18. d4 (18. Bb3 c6 19. Bd2 Re6 20. Rxe6 fxe6 21. Qe1 Rf6
22. Qe4 Kf7 $44) 18... f5 19. Bb3 c6 20. f4 Kh7 (20... g5 $5 {, immedoately
putting pressure on f4, may have been even stronger:} 21. Re2 ({The point is
that} 21. fxg5 $2 {clears the fourth rank for the rook:} Re4 $19) 21... Kg7 22.
Rf2 Nxf4 23. Bxf4 Bxf4 24. Qf3 Qxf3 25. Rxf3 Re7 26. Rd1 h5 {Black has only
two pawns for the piece but the compact kingside mass is threatening.}) {
Black has a strong attack for the piece and White faces the threat on f4.
Carlsen decides on parrying it in a simplistic way.} 21. Bxd5 $2 {This bishop
was important because it now only was ready taking on d5 when really needed
but also defended the queen.} (21. Re2 $1 {was the only way of staying out of
troubles. Black would have retained compensation for the piece, even though
not necessarily entirely adequate.} Nxf4 (21... Rxe2 22. Qxe2 Rf6 23. Bxd5 cxd5
24. Nh2 Rg6+ 25. Kh1 Rg4 26. Bd2 Bxf4 27. Bxf4 Rxf4 28. Rf1 $44) (21... Qg4+
22. Rg2 $16 {[%cal Gb3d1]}) 22. Rh2 Qg4+ 23. Qxg4 fxg4 $44 {/+/=}) 21... cxd5
22. Re3 (22. Re2 {does not work anymore:} Qg4+ {[%csl Gd1]} 23. Kf2 g5 24. fxg5
Re4 $40) 22... Rxe3 23. Bxe3 g5 $19 {Being incompletely developed, White is
helpless now against the combined attack of Black's pieces and pawns.} 24. Kf2
(24. fxg5 f4 25. Qc2+ Rf5 {[%cal Gf4f3]} (25... Kh8 26. Qg6) 26. Bf2 f3 27. Be3
Kh8 28. c4 Qg4+ 29. Kh1 Qh4+ 30. Kg1 f2+ 31. Bxf2 Rxg5+) 24... gxf4 25. Qf3 (
25. Bd2 Qh4+ 26. Kf3 Rg8 $19) 25... fxe3+ 26. Nxe3 Qh2+ 27. Kf1 Rg8 {Black is
attacking with equal material already.} 28. Qxf5+ Rg6 $1 ({The only way to
avoid the repetition. If} 28... Kh8 29. Qf6+ Rg7 30. Nf5 $11 {it is Black
already who needs to look for a perpetual.}) 29. Ke1 h5 $6 {This could have
spoiled the win, as it is by one tempo too slow.} ({Black should have unpinned
the rook at once. He would escape from perpetual with a curious manoeuvre:} 
29... Kg7 $1 30. Qd7+ Kh8 31. Qd8+ Kh7 32. Qd7+ Rg7 33. Qf5+ Kh8 34. Qc8+ Rg8
$19) 30. Kd1 $2 ({Missing his chance with:} 30. Rd1 $1 {Good or bad, White
needs to complete his development. Even great players tend to forget simple
things under the pressure.} Kh6 31. Rd2 Rg1+ 32. Nf1 Qh4+ 33. Rf2 {and White
is entirely safe already.}) 30... Kh6 31. Nc2 h4 {The rest is agony. There is
no perpetual, the white king is in danger and the h-pawn unstoppable.} 32. Ne1
h3 33. Nf3 Qg2 34. Ne1 Qg4+ 35. Qxg4 Rxg4 36. Nf3 Rg1+ $5 (36... Rg1+ 37. Nxg1
h2) 0-1

[Event "FIDE World Cup"]
[Site "Tbilisi"]
[Date "2017.09.10"]
[Round "3.2"]
[White "Bu, Xiangzhi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2710"]
[BlackElo "2822"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2017.09.03"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GEO"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 181"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 {Bu chooses the most solid way to start a game.} e6 2. c4 d5 {Many
strong players did not like Magnus' opening choice. According to them, he
should have gone for something non-symmetrical and much more non-theoretical.}
3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 c6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 {Now we are in the main line of the
Meran. Although it is well known for being a complex opening, White has many
ways to go for a very safe and uncomplicated position.} b6 (6... Bd6 {is the
main line.}) 7. Be2 Bb7 8. O-O Bd6 9. e4 Nxe4 10. Nxe4 dxe4 11. Qxe4 Nf6 12.
Qc2 {White is threatening c5.} c5 $1 {A good move by Magnus who has activated
his light squared bishop, which is more often than not a problem in this
opening.} 13. Qa4+ Nd7 14. Rd1 O-O $6 (14... Qc7 $1 $15 {Magnus was not on the
top of his game. Otherwise he would have surely chosen this move.}) 15. Ne5 $1
$16 {Once Bu Xiangzhi made this move, he became very comfortable about his
position.} (15. dxc5 Nxc5 $15) 15... Nf6 16. dxc5 bxc5 17. Nd7 $1 {A move
which Magnus most probably missed.} Ne4 18. Rxd6 $1 (18. Nxf8 $2 Bxh2+ 19. Kxh2
Qh4+ 20. Kg1 Qxf2+ 21. Kh2 Nd2 $19) 18... Nxd6 19. Nxf8 Qxf8 20. Be3 $6 (20.
Bd3 $14 {A highly pleasant position for White, who not only has the bishop
pair, but also a superior pawn structure. This move stops Nf5-d4.}) 20... Nf5
$1 $11 21. Rd1 Nxe3 22. fxe3 {Although the position is equal now, Black is in
big trouble because he is in a must win situation and with every exchange, his
chances diminishing.} h6 23. Rd7 Be4 24. Rxa7 Rb8 25. b3 Qd8 26. Qd7 Qf6 27.
Rc7 Qa1+ 28. Kf2 Kh7 {Magnus gets desperate. But how else is he going to
create his chances?} 29. Qxf7 Qb2 30. Qf4 (30. Qxe6 Rf8+ 31. Rf7 $16) 30... Bd3
31. Rxg7+ $1 {Of course, Bu Xiangzhi had seen this from quite a distance.} Kxg7
32. Qc7+ Kg6 33. Qg3+ {There is no way to get out of the perpetual.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Douglas IoM op"]
[Site "Douglas"]
[Date "2017.09.23"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Birkisson, Bardur Orn"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E52"]
[WhiteElo "2827"]
[BlackElo "2164"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2017.09.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IOM"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 181"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. d4 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Nf3 b6 6. Bd3 Bb7 7. O-O d5 8. cxd5
exd5 9. Ne5 Nbd7 10. f4 Ne4 11. Nxe4 dxe4 12. Bc4 Qe7 13. a3 Bd6 14. b4 Nf6 15.
Bb2 c6 16. Qc2 b5 17. Bb3 a5 18. h3 axb4 19. axb4 Bxb4 20. Rxa8 Bxa8 21. Ra1
Nd5 22. Rxa8 Rxa8 23. Qxc6 Nc7 24. Bxf7+ Kh8 25. Qxe4 Rf8 26. d5 Rxf7 27. Nxf7+
Qxf7 28. Qxb4 Nxd5 29. Qxb5 Nxe3 30. Qb8+ Qg8 31. Bxg7+ Kxg7 32. Qe5+ Kf7 33.
Qxe3 Qg6 34. Kh2 h5 35. Qb3+ Kf8 36. Qb8+ Kg7 37. Qe5+ 1-0

[Event "Douglas IoM op"]
[Site "Douglas"]
[Date "2017.09.24"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Perelshteyn, Eugene"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2524"]
[BlackElo "2827"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2017.09.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IOM"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 181"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 g6 2. e4 d6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Be3 a6 5. Nf3 b5 6. Bd3 Nd7 7. e5 {Black has
invested lot of time in pawn moves, so White feels entitled to start active
play.} Bb7 (7... e6 8. Bg5 Ne7 9. a4 bxa4 10. exd6 cxd6 11. Rxa4 O-O 12. O-O
Bb7 13. Be4 d5 14. Bd3 f6 15. Bh4 Nf5 16. Qe2 Qb6 17. Bxf5 exf5 18. Bg3 g5 $15
{0-1 (59) Fishbein,A (2465)-Hansen,C (2565) Kerteminde 1991}) (7... dxe5 8. Be4
Rb8 9. dxe5 {/\10.Ba7,10.e6}) (7... Nb6 8. Qe2 (8. O-O Nh6 9. Re1 O-O 10. Qe2
Bb7 11. Rad1 Qc8 12. h3 Nf5 13. Ne4 Nxe3 14. Qxe3 f6 15. exf6 exf6 16. c3 Qd7
17. Qf4 Rae8 18. Ned2 f5 $17 {1/2-1/2 (18) Blomqvist,E (2508)-Hillarp Persson,
T (2541) Gothenburg 2015}) 8... Nh6 9. O-O-O Nf5 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bd2 dxe5 12.
dxe5 c5 13. Be4 Ra7 14. Bf4 Qc7 15. g4 Nd4 16. Nxd4 cxd4 17. Rxd4 Nc4 18. Bd5
Bxe5 19. Bxe5 Nxe5 20. Re4 $16 {0-1 (69) Tkachiev,V (2615)-Spraggett,K (2575)
Ponferrada 1997}) 8. e6 $5 {The pawn sacrifice is controversial, Black will
have to play good moves to minimise White's compensation.} (8. exd6 cxd6 9. O-O
Ngf6 $15) 8... fxe6 9. Ng5 (9. a4 b4 10. Ne4 Ngf6 11. Nfd2 Nxe4 12. Nxe4 Bxe4
13. Bxe4 d5 14. Bf3 c5 15. c3 bxc3 16. bxc3 cxd4 17. cxd4 Qa5+ 18. Kf1 O-O 19.
h4 Nf6 20. h5 Rac8 21. hxg6 hxg6 22. g3 Kf7 $11 {1/2-1/2 (48) Rizouk,A (2489)
-Moskalenko,V (2506) Barcelona 2017}) 9... Nf8 10. O-O (10. Qe2 Bxg2 $17) 10...
Qd7 {Carlsen has probably prepared the line, but it is questionable to claim
that his move is the best solution.} (10... e5 11. dxe5 Bxe5 12. Be4 $11) (
10... Nf6 11. f3 (11. f4 Qd7 12. Qe2 b4 13. Nd1 h6 14. Nf3 Nd5 15. Bd2 c5 16.
dxc5 Qc6 17. cxd6 exd6 18. c4 bxc3 19. Nxc3 Nxc3 20. bxc3 Qc5+ 21. Kh1 $16 {
1-0 (27) Sedlak,N (2564)-Gallagher,J (2530) Turin 2006}) (11. a4 $142 $14 {
Svidler}) 11... h6 (11... Nd5 12. Nxd5 exd5 13. Qe2 Qd7 14. f4 Ne6 15. Nxe6
Qxe6 16. f5 Qd7 17. fxg6 hxg6 18. Bxg6+ Kd8 19. c3 Bf6 20. a4 c6 21. axb5 cxb5
22. Bd2 $16 {0-1 (35) Najer,E (2658)-Malakhov,V (2694) Moscow 2015}) 12. Nge4
Nd5 13. Nxd5 exd5 14. Ng3 e5 15. c3 Qf6 16. f4 e4 17. Be2 Bc8 18. a4 b4 19. f5
gxf5 20. Bg4 h5 21. Bxf5 Bxf5 22. Rxf5 $16 {1-0 (38) Najer,E (2679)
-Mchedlishvili,M (2601) Doha 2016}) (10... Nh6 $1 {[%cal Gh6f5] For some
reason this natural move aas never been tried before, even though the black
knight is perfectly placed on f5 putting pressure on d4 and protecting Black's
kingside.} 11. a4 (11. Re1 Nf5 12. Be4 Bxe4 13. Ncxe4 h6 14. Nf3 Nd7 $15) 11...
b4 12. Ne2 $6 (12. Na2 a5 13. c3 $13 {winning back the pawn or regaining the
c3-square for the knight.}) (12. Nce4 Nf5 13. c3 Qd7 14. g4 h6 15. Nxe6 Qxe6
16. gxf5 Qf7 17. fxg6 Nxg6 18. Qh5 Rg8 19. Ng3 Bf6 20. f4 Kd8 $15 {0-1 (23)
Almiron,A (2307)-Bachmann,A (2610) Asuncion 2015}) 12... Nf5 13. Nf4 Qd7 14.
Qd2 $6 (14. Be4 Bxe4 15. Nxe4 e5 16. dxe5 Bxe5 17. Nd3 Bg7 $13) 14... Bf6 $1 (
14... Bxd4 $6 15. Bxf5 (15. Bxd4 Nxd4 16. Qxb4 c5 $17) 15... Bxe3 16. Bxg6+
hxg6 (16... Nxg6 17. fxe3 Nxf4 18. exf4 O-O-O $17) 17. fxe3 e5 18. Nd5 Nh7 $15)
15. Ne4 Bxd4 16. Bxd4 Nxd4 17. Qxb4 c5 $17 18. Qe1 e5 19. c3 Nfe6 $1 (19...
Nde6 20. Nh3 d5 $2 21. Nd2 e4 22. Bc2 $44 {[%cal Gc3c4,Gf2f3]}) 20. Nh3 (20.
Nxe6 Nxe6 21. Bc4 Nf4 $19 {[%cal Gd6d5,Gd7g4]}) 20... Nf5 21. Nd2 O-O $17 {
1/2-1/2 (81) Agrest,E (2592)-Azmaiparashvili,Z (2672) Gothenburg 2005}) (10...
h6 $2 11. Bxg6+ Nxg6 12. Nxe6 Qd7 13. Nxg7+ Kf7 14. Nh5 Nf6 (14... b4 $5 15.
Nb1 Qb5 16. Nd2 Nf6 17. Nxf6 exf6 $16 {[%csl Gh5]}) 15. Nxf6 exf6 16. Qh5 (16.
f3 $5) 16... Rag8 17. d5 Re8 (17... b4 18. Ne2 Ke7 19. Ng3 Kd8 20. c4 $1 $16)
18. Bd4 Bc8 19. f3 (19. Nd1 Re4 20. c3 Rh4 21. Qf3 Ne5 22. Bxe5 dxe5 23. Ne3
$16) 19... Qf5 20. Qxf5 Bxf5 $14 {1-0 (32) Svidler,P (2738)-McNab,C (2451)
Gothenburg 2005}) 11. Re1 Nf6 {The knight might be better positioned on h6 as
from f5 it will be more active.} (11... Nh6 12. Nce4 (12. a4 b4 13. Nce4 Nf5
14. Qf3 Rb8 (14... Bd5 15. c4 Bc6 16. d5 exd5 17. cxd5 Bb7 18. Ne6 Nxe6 19.
dxe6 Qxe6 20. Ng5 Bxf3 21. Nxe6 Nxe3 22. Rxe3 $16) 15. c3 h6 16. Nh3 $44 {
Waitzkin,J-Burnett,R/Agency 1998}) (12. Be4 Bxe4 13. Ncxe4 Nf5 14. a4 $14)
12... Nf5 13. c3 h6 14. Nf3 g5 15. a4 bxa4 16. Rxa4 Ng6 17. Qb3 O-O $36 {
Duer,W-Horvath,J/AUT-chT9798}) 12. a4 {Attacking Black at the moment of stress
is a very attractive idea as the defender's pieces are not well coordinated.} (
12. Bd2 h6 {[%csl Rg6]} 13. Nf3 (13. Nge4 Nxe4 14. Bxe4 d5 15. Bf3 Bxd4 $17)
13... Rb8 (13... g5 14. a4 (14. Qe2 Kf7 15. a4 c6 16. Ne4 Nxe4 17. Bxe4 Bf6 18.
Ra3 Rg8 19. Ne5+ dxe5 20. dxe5 Bxe5 21. Qh5+ Ng6 22. Rd3 $16 {0-1 (32) Kovalev,
A (2533)-Shoker,S (2448) Vienna 2009}) (14. h3 Rg8 15. a4 b4 16. Ne4 Nxe4 17.
Bxe4 Bxe4 18. Rxe4 Qc6 19. Qe2 a5 20. c3 bxc3 21. bxc3 Bf6 22. c4 $14 {1-0 (34)
Magem Badals,J (2545)-Movsziszian,K (2483) Catalunya 2012}) 14... b4 15. Ne4 g4
(15... Nxe4 16. Bxe4 Bxe4 17. Rxe4 a5 (17... Qc6 18. Qe2 Rb8 19. c3 bxc3 20.
bxc3 Bf6 21. c4 Rb2 22. Re1 Qxa4 23. d5 e5 $16 {0-1 (32) Levin,F (2535)-Rausis,
I (2500) Hamburg 2001}) 18. c3 Qc6 19. Qc2 bxc3 20. bxc3 Bf6 21. Rb1 Rg8 22.
Rb5 $16 {1-0 (29) Yudasin,L (2540)-Kantsler,B (2535) Israel 1998}) 16. Nh4) (
13... Rc8 $5 14. a4 b4 15. Ne4 Nxe4 16. Bxe4 Bxe4 17. Rxe4 a5 18. c3 c5 19. Qe1
$6 (19. dxc5 dxc5 20. Qe2) 19... cxd4 20. cxb4 $6 (20. cxd4) 20... e5 $1 21. b5
$6 (21. bxa5 Ne6 22. b4 O-O) 21... Ne6 $17 {0-1 (36) Magomedov,M (2604)-Urban,
K (2463) Koszalin 1999}) 14. a4 (14. Qe2 Kf7 15. a4 b4 16. Nd1 a5 17. Ne3 Bd5
18. c3 g5 19. h3 Bxf3 20. Qxf3 h5 21. Qe2 Bh6 22. Nc4 bxc3 23. bxc3 $16 {
1-0 (35) Fressinet,L (2677)-Buchal,S (2338) Helsingor 2016}) 14... b4 15. Ne4
Nxe4 16. Bxe4 Bxe4 17. Rxe4 Qc6 $5 18. Re3 Qc4 (18... Qd5 {Yudasin,L} 19. c3 b3
20. Qe2) (18... g5 19. c3 bxc3 20. Bxc3 Qd5 21. Qd3 a5 22. Nd2 {/\Nc4-a5,/\Nc4,
Rf3,Ne3}) 19. c3 (19. b3 $6 Qd5) (19. Rb3 Nd7 20. c3 O-O 21. cxb4 c6 $13) 19...
b3 20. Re1 $11 {[%csl Rb3][%cal Yd2e3,Yf3d2,Ya1a3] 1-0 (42) Anand,V (2770)
-Svidler,P (2690) Linares 1998}) (12. Qe2 h6 13. Nge4 $11) (12. f3 h6 13. Nh3
b4 14. Ne2 g5 15. Ng3 Rg8 16. a3 Nd5 17. Bf2 a5 18. c4 bxc3 19. bxc3 Ba6 20. c4
Nf6 21. Rb1 Bh8 22. Rb2 $16 {1-0 (40) Spraggett,K (2526)-Vassallo Barroche,M 
(2440) Maia 2003}) 12... b4 13. Na2 (13. Nce4 h6 14. Nxf6+ exf6 $13) 13... Qxa4
(13... h6 14. Nf3 a5 15. Bd2 g5 16. c3 $14) 14. Qe2 h6 $2 {Carlsen is
concerned about the active knight on g5, but instead of this passive move the
champion had to find the active idea 14....c5!} (14... c5 $1 15. dxc5 Qc6 16.
Nf3 (16. f3 dxc5 17. Bf4 Qb6 18. Bc4 Bd5 19. Bxd5 Nxd5 $15) 16... dxc5 17. c3
N8d7 18. cxb4 Ne5 19. b5 Nxf3+ 20. gxf3 Qxf3 21. Qxf3 Bxf3 22. bxa6 Nd5 $15)
15. Nf3 Kf7 (15... Nd5 16. Bd2 $16) 16. Bd2 b3 17. Nc3 ({Perelshteyn could
have postponed the win of the b-pawn and preserved a sounder pawn structure
with} 17. Nb4 Qd7 18. c3 Nd5 19. Nxd5 exd5 20. Qd1 c5 21. dxc5 dxc5 22. c4 $16)
17... Qd7 18. cxb3 Rb8 (18... g5 19. h3 Nd5 20. Be4 $14) 19. Ra3 Nd5 {Black
has to be inventive to turn the tables in the difficult position. It would
have been nice to get counterplay.} (19... Kg8 20. h3 Rh7 21. Bxa6 Bxa6 22.
Qxa6 g5 23. Qc4 $16) 20. Ne4 (20. Nxd5 exd5 21. h3 $14) 20... Kg8 21. h4 Qe8
22. Bxa6 Bxa6 23. Qxa6 Bf6 $2 {For better or worse Black should have tried the
proactive 23...g5!} (23... g5 $1 24. hxg5 hxg5 25. Bxg5 Bh6 $14) 24. Qc4 Nd7
25. Nc3 (25. b4 N7b6 26. Qe2 Rh7 27. Rc1 $16) 25... N7b6 26. Qe2 Qf7 27. Ne4 (
27. Qxe6 Qxe6 28. Rxe6 Kf7 $11) 27... Rf8 (27... Nd7 28. b4 Rh7 29. Rea1 $16)
28. Nxf6+ $2 {The nerves have worked against the US player, it was much better
to keep the tension and not take the pawn on e6 yet.} (28. b4 $5 Rh7 29. Ra7
$16) 28... exf6 29. Qxe6 Qxe6 30. Rxe6 Kf7 31. Re1 Rb8 32. Rc1 Nc8 33. Ne1 {
White has lost all the advantage despite the extra pawn on the b-file.} (33. b4
Nce7 34. Ne1 Nxb4 35. Rxc7 Nbd5 36. Rc2 g5 $11) 33... Nce7 34. Nd3 g5 35. hxg5
(35. b4 $5 gxh4 36. f3 Rhg8 37. Kh2 $11) 35... hxg5 36. b4 Rh4 37. Bc3 $6 {
Step by step White's ship has started to sink. It was time to think about
damage limitation as now Carlsen manages to ccordinate all his pieces
perfectly.} (37. f3 Nf5 38. Be1 Nxd4 39. Bxh4 Ne2+ 40. Kf2 Nxc1 41. Nxc1 gxh4
$15) 37... Rbh8 38. g3 (38. f3 Nf4 39. Nxf4 Rh1+ 40. Kf2 Rxc1 $19) 38... Rh1+
39. Kg2 R8h2+ 40. Kf3 g4+ $1 41. Kxg4 (41. Ke2 Nf5 42. Re1 Nxg3+ 43. Kd1 Ne4
$19) 41... Rxc1 42. Nxc1 Rxf2 43. Be1 {White's king feels very lonely on g4,
the position is extremely dangerous for him.} (43. Kh3 Nf5 44. Be1 Rxb2 $17)
43... f5+ 44. Kh3 (44. Kh4 Rh2+ 45. Kg5 Nf6 46. Kf4 Ned5+ 47. Kf3 Ne4 $19)
44... Rxb2 (44... Rc2 45. Nd3 Nf6 46. Bf2 Ne4 47. Kg2 Nxf2 48. Nxf2 Rxb2 $17)
45. Nd3 Rc2 46. b5 Nf6 47. Rb3 Re2 (47... Ned5 48. Rb2 Rc4 49. Bf2 Ra4 $17) 48.
b6 $2 {Every chessplayer knows the situation of playing under pressure. No
wonder White could not bear it and cracks against the world champion.} (48. Ba5
Ned5 49. Nf4 Nxf4+ 50. gxf4 Nd5 51. Kg3 Ra2 52. b6 cxb6 53. Bxb6 Ke7 $17) 48...
cxb6 49. Rxb6 Ne4 (49... Ne4 50. Rb2 (50. Rb7 Ng5+ 51. Kh4 Nf3+ 52. Kh3 Rh2#)
50... Ng5+ 51. Kh4 Nf3+ 52. Kh3 Rxb2 53. Nxb2 Nxe1 $19) 0-1

[Event "Douglas IoM op"]
[Site "Douglas"]
[Date "2017.09.25"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D03"]
[WhiteElo "2827"]
[BlackElo "2633"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2017.09.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IOM"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 181"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. d4 e6 4. Bg5 d5 5. e3 h6 6. Bh4 Nc6 7. Nbd2 a6 {A rare
move, not very useful for Black. Jeffery Xiong probably wanted to avoid
theoretical lines} (7... Be7) ({or} 7... Bd6) 8. Bd3 Be7 9. O-O Nd7 $146 (9...
b5 {is premature:} 10. dxc5 Bxc5 11. b4 Be7 12. a4 bxa4 13. Qxa4 Bb7 14. Ne5
Qc8 15. Ndf3 (15. Nxc6 $5 Bxc6 16. Bxa6) 15... O-O 16. Rfc1 Qc7 17. Bg3 Nxe5
18. Bxe5 Bd6 19. Bxf6 gxf6 20. c4 $14 {1-0 (43) Gausel,E (2490)-Djurhuus,R 
(2495) Gausdal 1995}) 10. Bxe7 {This exchange makes Black's development task
easier.} (10. Bg3 $5 {looks more logical.}) 10... Nxe7 {Looks like an
unnatural recapture but} (10... Qxe7 {is met with} 11. e4 $1 dxe4 $140 12. Bxe4
O-O 13. Re1 {[%cal Ge1e7] , and Black's queen becomes vulnerable on e7.}) 11.
Ne5 {Hardly a good continuation but after, say,} (11. a4 b6 {[%cal Yc8b7]
White has no plus whatsoever.}) 11... cxd4 $6 (11... Nxe5 $142 $1 12. dxe5 Nc6
13. Qg4 (13. f4 {loses a pawn after} c4 14. Bc2 Qb6) 13... Qg5 $1 14. Qxg5 hxg5
15. f4 gxf4 16. exf4 Bd7 $11) 12. exd4 Nxe5 13. dxe5 Bd7 14. Re1 $14 {Now we
have a typical position, slighly superior for White due to his better bishop.}
Rc8 {Black starts a pawn attack on the queenside; however, it is too slow.} (
14... Qb6 15. Rb1 O-O 16. Nf3 f5 17. exf6 Rxf6 {is probably better. Black
weakens the e5-square and the e6-pawn but activates his pieces.}) 15. Nf3 b5
16. h4 a5 17. a3 Qb6 18. Qd2 b4 $6 ({In the event of} 18... O-O {Black's king
can easily come under attack:} 19. Re3 {then h4-h5, possibly Bd3-c2 and Qd2-d3
etc. But the pawn sacrifice is clearly incorrect.}) 19. cxb4 axb4 20. a4 {
White declines the offer and prefers to attack Black's king.} ({Magnus Carlsen
was probably unsure of the endgame after} 20. Qxb4 Qxb4 21. axb4 Nc6 (21... Rb8
$143 22. Rec1 Kd8 23. b5 $18) 22. Rec1 Ke7 23. b5 Nb4 24. Bf1 Rxc1 25. Rxc1 Rc8
26. Rxc8 Bxc8 27. Nd4 {. It should be winning, though.}) 20... Ra8 21. b3 O-O
22. Rac1 Rfc8 23. h5 $6 {Premature.} (23. Nd4 $16 {, stopping Black's
counterplay, is more accurate.}) (23. Bb5 Bxb5 24. Qxb4 {is less clear due to}
Rab8 25. Qxe7 (25. Rxc8+ Nxc8) 25... Bd3 26. Rxc8+ Rxc8 27. b4 Rc2 28. Re3 Bg6
$132) 23... Kf8 $6 {Missing} (23... Rc3 $1 24. Rxc3 bxc3 25. Qxc3 Rc8 {Black
regains the pawn with good drawing chances.}) 24. g4 $6 ({Here} 24. Bb5 $1 Bxb5
25. Qxb4 {was very strong. White won a pawn without any compensation. The text
move, continuing White's kingside assault, is less convincing.}) 24... Rc3 {
(a bit late)} 25. g5 {[%mdl 128]} hxg5 (25... Nf5 $1 {was a better defence
although Black's position remained dangerous.}) 26. Rxc3 bxc3 27. Qxg5 Nf5 (
27... Ng8 28. Kh1 {[%cal Ye1g1]} Qd8 29. Qg3 $40) 28. Bxf5 exf5 29. e6 $1 Bxe6
30. h6 $1 gxh6 31. Qf6 Kg8 $4 {[%mdl 8192] This error leads to an immediate
defeat but after} (31... Qd8 $1 32. Qxc3 $1 {White retains strong pressure
anyway.}) 32. Qxh6 {[%cal Rg1h1] Unexpectedly, Black has no defence.} Qb4 33.
Kh1 1-0

[Event "Douglas IoM op"]
[Site "Douglas"]
[Date "2017.09.26"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Kasimdzhanov, Rustam"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2676"]
[BlackElo "2827"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "144"]
[EventDate "2017.09.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IOM"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 181"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nc6 {Carlsen's opening surprises do not... surprise anybody anymore.
Usually, it is a about a rare move or line in the early phase of the game, but
it seems that he also intends trying out all the openings, one by one!
Apparently, he has never played this opening before.} 2. Nf3 ({We can only
speculate about what he had in mind after} 2. d4 {Possibly the "main line"} d5
3. e5 Bf5 {with some sort of Advance Caro Kann structure.}) 2... d6 3. d4 Nf6 {
Black's intention is to transpose to a classical Pirc, where due to the early
commitment of the queen's knight he will have to play ...Bg4, but this is one
of Black's main weapons anyway.} 4. d5 {With both central pawns under pressure,
this is the only way of transposing to some sort of King's Indian, where the
pawn will stand on c4 instead of c2.} ({It is worth mentioning that Carlsen
had twice played} 4. Nc3 Bg4 5. d5 ({If} 5. Be2 g6 6. O-O Bg7 {play is not far
from transposing to a genuine Pirc.}) 5... Nb8 (5... Bxf3 {is premature:} 6.
Qxf3 Ne5 7. Qg3 c6 8. f4 Ned7 9. dxc6 bxc6 10. e5 Nd5 11. exd6 exd6 12. Nxd5
cxd5 13. Bd2 $16 {Carlsen,M (2385)-Kiik,K (2439) Rethymno 2003 (1-0, 27)}) 6.
h3 Bxf3 7. Qxf3 Nbd7 (7... g6 {may be more flexible, leaving the d7-square
available for the king's knight.}) 8. g4 {A logical way to try taking
advantage of the unusual move order.} g6 9. Be3 Bg7 10. O-O-O c5 11. Qe2 (11.
Qg2 {may have slowed down a bit the queenside counter-attack.} b5 12. Bxb5 $5)
11... b5 12. g5 (12. Qxb5 Rb8 {may be less dangerous than it seems, but in
blitz this is not an easy decision to take.}) (12. Nxb5 Nxe4) 12... Nh5 13.
Nxb5 Rb8 14. c3 Qa5 15. a4 Nb6 (15... O-O 16. Qc2 Nb6 $11) 16. Nc7+ Kd8 17. Qa6
Qxa4 (17... Bxc3 $5 18. Qxa5 Bxa5 19. Na6 Rc8 20. Bb5) 18. Bb5 Qxa6 19. Nxa6
Rb7 20. Bc6 $16 {Carlsen,M (2851)-Petrosian,T (2611) chess.com INT (blitz)
2016 (1-0, 34)}) (4. Bb5 a6 (4... Nxe4 $2 5. d5 a6 6. Bd3 {wins a piece}) (4...
Bd7 $5 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 {or 6...Bg4}) 5. Ba4 (5. Bxc6+ bxc6 6. Qe2) 5... b5
6. Bb3 Nxe4 $2 (6... Bg4) (6... Bb7) (6... Na5) 7. Bd5 {1-0 De Jong,T (2258)
-Lindeman,J (1985) Utrecht 2017}) 4... Nb8 5. Bd3 g6 ({In view of the line
examined below it makes sense to play} 5... Bg4 {at once. But probably Carlsen
thought it would be better avoiding the same kind of treatment as in his games
with White, based on an early h2-h3.}) 6. O-O Bg7 7. c4 O-O 8. Nc3 (8. h3 $5 e5
$2 {This transposes to a King's Indian with two tempi less for Black.} (8...
Na6 {is more flexible:} 9. Nc3 Nc5 10. Bc2 a5) 9. Nc3 Na6 10. a3 Nh5 11. Re1
Qe8 12. b4 h6 13. c5 f5 14. Bd2 Nf6 15. exf5 gxf5 16. Nh4 e4 17. c6 bxc6 18.
Bxa6 Bxa6 19. Nxf5 cxd5 20. Bxh6 Bxh6 21. Nxh6+ Kh7 22. Ng4 $18 {Tabatabaei,M 
(2509)-Maghsoodloo,P (2584) Teheran 2017 (½-½, 59)}) 8... Bg4 9. Be2 ({
After castling short White does not get much with} 9. h3 Bxf3 10. Qxf3 Nbd7 11.
Qe2 c6 12. Bd2 a5 13. b3 Nc5 14. Bc2 e6 (14... Re8 {[%cal Ge7e6]}) 15. dxe6 (
15. Rad1 $5) 15... Nxe6 16. Rad1 Nd7 17. Qd3 {Poniaev,R (2265)-Nikolaev,N 
(2411) Dagomys 2010 (1-0, 53)} a4 $1 18. Nxa4 (18. Qxd6 axb3 19. axb3 Nd4 20.
Rc1 Be5 21. Qb4 b6 $17 {[%csl Gb4]}) 18... Ndc5 19. Nxc5 Nxc5 20. Qg3 Rxa2 21.
Bb1 Rb2 22. b4 Ne6 $132) 9... Nfd7 {In the first phase, Black consolidates his
control on the dark squares. Later he will break on the light squares. Quite
logical and consistent. White has more space but cannot create threats easily.}
10. Bg5 a5 11. Nd2 Bxe2 12. Qxe2 c6 13. Kh1 a4 14. a3 {Botvinnik,M-Geller,E
Budapest Maroczy Memorial 1952 (2) 0-1 Frankly, I am very much against such
self-blocking moves if they do not lead to something concrete, for instance
winning the a4-pawn. The first time I was puzzled by such a move was when I
saw the game} (14. Rac1 {is a more flexible way of neutralising the effects of
...a4-a3.} Na6 15. f4 (15. Nxa4 Nb4) 15... Nac5 16. Nf3 Re8 {[%cal Gd8a5,Ge7e6]
Maybe White wanted to prevent the immediate ...Na6, but freezing the queenside
offers Black comfortable play.}) 14... Nc5 15. f4 Nbd7 16. Nf3 Qc7 17. Rad1 (
17. Bxe7 $2 Rfe8 18. Bh4 Bxc3 19. bxc3 Nxe4 20. Qc2 cxd5 21. cxd5 Qxc3 $17) {
Later Carlsen will change the rooks' placement.} 17... Rae8 {[%cal Ge7e6]} ({
He might have refrained from} 17... Rfe8 {due to} 18. e5 f6 (18... dxe5 19.
fxe5 Nxe5 20. Bf4 f6 21. dxc6 bxc6 22. Ne4 Nxe4 23. Qxe4 $44) 19. e6 fxg5 20.
exd7 Qxd7 21. Nxg5 {when it would be of course better having the other rook on
f8. But even this looks acceptable for Black after} e6) 18. f5 {The only way
to fight against the planned ...e7-e6, turning the e4-pawn vulnerable. But now
the weakness of the e5-square increases Black's stability and manoeuvring
possibilities, while White does not have real attacking chances due to his
strategic problems on other sectors of the board.} Qa5 (18... e6 $6 19. dxe6
fxe6 20. fxg6 hxg6 21. Be3 $14 {[%csl Gg6][%cal Gf3g5]}) 19. Na2 {Heading for
b4 but weakening e4.} Nf6 20. Nd2 Ncd7 21. Nf3 Nc5 22. Nd2 Ncd7 23. Nf3 Rc8 {
Carlsen of course plays on. Black's position is too pleasant to agree to a
draw by repetition.} 24. Nb4 Rfe8 {SLightly careless.} (24... cxd5 25. cxd5 Rc5
$132) 25. Bd2 ({Missing a good chance for activity.} 25. e5 $1 Nxe5 (25... dxe5
26. dxc6 bxc6 27. Bxf6 Nxf6 28. Nxe5 $16 {The c6-pawn is hanging but there is
also a surprising kingside threat:} Qb6 $6 29. Nxf7 $1 Kxf7 30. Qe6+ Kf8 31.
fxg6 hxg6 32. Nd3 $18 {[%cal Gd3e5]}) 26. Nxe5 dxe5 27. d6 $16 {Black is
suddenly hanging.}) 25... Qc7 26. dxc6 {White could not stand the pressure
anymore.} (26. Bc3 cxd5 27. cxd5 Qc4 28. Rfe1 Qxe2 29. Rxe2 Nc5 30. e5 Nfe4 $15
) 26... bxc6 27. Bc3 e5 $11 {Blck has stabilised the centre with good play,
but White is not without chances either due to the pressure along the f-file.}
(27... e6 28. fxg6 hxg6 29. e5 $36) 28. Nd2 (28. fxe6 Rxe6 $17) (28. fxg6 hxg6
{[%csl Gd4][%cal Gd7c5,Gc5e6] clears the queen's knight's path to d4.} 29. Ng5
Nc5 30. Qe1 Nh7) 28... Nc5 29. Rf3 Nh5 30. g3 Bh6 31. Rdf1 Qe7 32. Nd3 Nxd3 {
After this natural exchange Black loses stability in the centre.} (32... Nd7 $5
{[%cal Gh5f6,Gd6d5]}) 33. Rxd3 Nf6 34. Rdf3 Rf8 35. c5 {The idea is right, but
White could have prepared it} (35. Nb1 $5 $14 {[%csl Ga4][%cal Gc3d2,Gb1c3]
This not only prepares the regrouping illustrated with arrows but also removes
the knight from the attacked square, making the pressure on e5 real.} Rb8 36.
c5 d5 37. exd5 Nxd5 38. Qxe5 $16) 35... d5 36. exd5 cxd5 37. fxg6 (37. c6 $5 {
wins an exchange but with good compensation for Black.} g5 $5 (37... Rxc6 38.
Bb4 {forces} Rd6 {due to the pressure on the f-file but Black seems to be
doing well.} 39. Rd3 Rfd8) 38. Bb4 (38. Qxe5 Qxe5 39. Bxe5 Rxc6 40. Bxf6 Rxf6
41. Rd3 Rb6 {is also playable for Black.}) 38... Qe8 39. Bxf8 Kxf8 40. Rc3 g4
$44) 37... fxg6 38. Qxe5 Qxe5 39. Bxe5 Nd7 40. Rxf8+ Bxf8 {Black's endgame is
slightly more pleasant already due to the queenside configuration. But a draw
is the most probable result.} 41. Bd4 (41. Bd6 $11) 41... Nxc5 42. Rc1 Bh6 43.
Bxc5 (43. Rxc5 Rxc5 44. Bxc5 Bxd2 45. Kg2 $11) 43... Bxd2 44. Rd1 Rxc5 45. Rxd2
Kf7 46. Rd4 Ke6 47. Rxa4 Rc2 48. Kg1 Rxb2 49. Rh4 Rb7 (49... h5 50. g4 hxg4 51.
Rxg4 Kf5 52. Rd4 Ke5 53. Rg4 d4 54. Kf1 d3 55. Ke1 $11) 50. Kf2 Kd6 51. Ke3 Kc5
52. Kd3 Rb3+ 53. Kc2 Rxa3 54. Rxh7 Kc4 55. Rc7+ Kd4 56. Rc6 Ra2+ 57. Kb3 Rxh2
58. Rxg6 Kd3 59. g4 d4 60. g5 Rg2 61. Rh6 Ke2 (61... Rxg5 62. Rh3+ {is similar
to the game.}) 62. Rh1 Rg3+ 63. Kb2 Rxg5 64. Rh2+ Kd3 65. Rh3+ Kc4 66. Kc2 Rg2+
67. Kd1 Rb2 68. Rg3 Rh2 69. Rf3 Rh1+ 70. Kd2 Rh2+ 71. Kd1 Rh1+ 72. Kd2 Rh2+
1/2-1/2

[Event "Douglas IoM op"]
[Site "Douglas"]
[Date "2017.09.27"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Granda Zuniga, Julio E"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2827"]
[BlackElo "2653"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2017.09.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IOM"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 181"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. c4
Nf6 9. Nc3 Nc6 10. cxd5 Nb4 11. Re1 Nbxd5 12. h3 c6 13. a3 Re8 14. Qc2 h6 15.
Nxd5 Nxd5 16. Ne5 Bd6 17. Bh7+ Kf8 18. Bd2 Be6 19. Re2 Nf6 20. Rae1 Qc7 21.
Ng6+ fxg6 22. Rxe6 Nxh7 23. Rxe8+ Rxe8 24. Rxe8+ Kxe8 25. Qxg6+ Kd8 26. Qxh7
Qe7 27. g3 Kc7 28. Qg6 1-0

[Event "Douglas IoM op"]
[Site "Douglas"]
[Date "2017.09.28"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Eljanov, Pavel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B00"]
[WhiteElo "2734"]
[BlackElo "2827"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2017.09.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IOM"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 181"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 b6 $5 {After 1.d4 g6 and 1.e4 Nc6 in the previous rounds, Carlsen goes
for another non-standard opening.} (1... b5 2. e4 Bb7 3. Bxb5 $5 Bxe4 4. O-O
Nf6 5. d4 e6 6. c4 Be7 7. Nc3 Bb7 8. d5 O-O 9. Bf4 Na6 10. Re1 Qc8 11. Nd4 Bb4
12. Bg5 Ne8 13. Re3 (13. Qa4 $1 $16) 13... c6 (13... e5 $5 $14) 14. Bxa6 Bxa6
15. Qh5 f6 16. Rh3 fxg5 17. Qxh7+ Kf7 18. Qh5+ Kg8 19. Qh7+ Kf7 20. Ne4 Bxc4
21. Qh5+ Ke7 22. Qxg5+ Kf7 23. Qh5+ Ke7 24. Qg5+ Kf7 25. dxe6+ dxe6 26. Nf3 Kg8
27. Qh4 Rxf3 28. Qh7+ {1-0, Kramnik,V (2791)-Carlsen,M (2823) Moscow rpd 2011
This is certainly a game Carlsen isn't willing to cherish - check the notes by
Marin in CBM 144. Therefore this time he chooses a more modest version of the
queenside fianchetto.}) 2. e4 {The most principled reaction, which attempts to
profit from Black's chosen move order.} (2. d4 Bb7 3. c4 e6 {might transpose
into a Queen's Indian, while}) (2. c4 Bb7 3. Nc3 Nf6 {could still lead to a
Hedgehog English as well.}) ({Surprisingly, the most often played move in this
position is} 2. g3 {, which hardly attempts to refute Black's setup:} Bb7 3.
Bg2 {After} e6 ({An interesting independent option is} 3... e5 $5 4. c4 (4. d3
g6 {can be similar.}) 4... g6 5. O-O (5. d4 exd4 6. Qxd4 Nf6 7. Nc3 Bg7 8. O-O
Nc6 9. Qe3+ Qe7 10. Qxe7+ Kxe7 11. Bg5 Na5 12. Nd2 Bxg2 13. Kxg2 Ke6 14. Rac1
h6 15. Bxf6 Bxf6 16. Nd5 Bxb2 17. Nxc7+ Kd6 18. Nxa8 Bxc1 19. c5+ Ke7 20. Rxc1
Rxa8 21. cxb6 axb6 22. Rc3 Nc6 $11 {Topalov,V (2801)-Aronian,L (2752) Monte
Carlo rpd 2006}) 5... Bg7 6. Nc3 Ne7 7. e4 c5 8. a3 O-O 9. d3 h6 10. b4 d6 11.
Rb1 Nd7 12. Nd5 Kh7 13. Nh4 Rb8 14. Bh3 Bc8 15. Ng2 Nf6 16. Bxc8 Rxc8 17. bxc5
bxc5 18. Nxe7 Qxe7 19. Qa4 Rc7 20. Qa6 Rfc8 21. Bd2 Rc6 22. Qa4 h5 23. Rb5 Bh6
$11 {Shchekachev,A (2555)-Degraeve,J (2551) Saint-Quentin 2015}) 4. O-O Nf6 {
play can again transpose into the aforementioned openings, with an extra
option being a King's Indian Attack setup} 5. d3 $5 d5 6. Nbd2 Be7 7. e4) 2...
Bb7 3. Nc3 e6 4. d4 Bb4 ({Attemtpting a Hippo with} 4... g6 {allows the
unpleasant} 5. Bg5 $5 Be7 6. Be3 d6 7. Bd3 Nd7 8. Qd2 a6 9. O-O-O b5 10. Kb1
Nb6 11. h4 Nf6 12. e5 Nfd5 13. Ne4 h5 14. Bg5 $16 {Kramnik,V (2801)-McShane,L 
(2706) Moscow blitz 2012}) (4... Nf6 5. e5 (5. Bd3 Bb4 {transposes to the game}
) 5... Ne4 6. Nxe4 (6. Bd3 Bb4 {see below}) 6... Bxe4 7. Bg5 (7. Bd3 $5 Bxd3 8.
Qxd3 {()}) 7... Be7 8. Bxe7 Qxe7 9. Nd2 Bb7 10. Qg4 f5 11. Qh5+ g6 12. Qh6 Nc6
13. c3 O-O-O 14. f4 Rdg8 15. Nf3 Nd8 16. Ng5 Qg7 17. Qxg7 Rxg7 18. h4 Rhg8 19.
Kf2 h6 20. Nf3 Nf7 21. Rh2 g5 22. hxg5 hxg5 $36 {Zezulkin,J (2530)-Stocek,J 
(2537) CZE 2001}) 5. Bd3 Nf6 (5... Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 d6 7. O-O Nd7 8. Re1 (8. Bg5
Ne7 (8... f6 9. Be3 Qe7 10. Nd2 Qf7 11. c4 Ne7 12. Nb3 O-O 13. f3 f5 14. Qe2
Qg6 15. Nd2 Nf6 16. exf5 exf5 17. Rae1 Rae8 18. Qd1 Qh5 19. c3 Ng6 20. Qc2 Bc8
21. Re2 Re7 22. Rfe1 Rfe8 23. Nf1 {Alekseev,E (2636)-Rozum,I (2590) Sochi
blitz 2016} f4 $1 $11) 9. Nd2 h6 10. Qh5 O-O 11. Bh4 Qe8 12. f4 f6 13. Qxe8
Raxe8 14. a4 a5 15. Bc4 d5 16. Bb5 Bc6 17. Bxc6 Nxc6 18. f5 exf5 19. exd5 Ne7
20. c4 f4 $1 21. Bf2 Nf5 $132 {/=/+, Kramnik,V (2784)-Ivanchuk,V (2731)
Tromsoe 2013}) 8... Ne7 9. a4 a5 10. e5 $1 Bxf3 $6 (10... dxe5 11. Nxe5 Nxe5
12. Rxe5 $14) 11. Qxf3 dxe5 12. dxe5 Ng6 13. Ba3 c5 14. Rad1 Ra7 15. Bb5 Qc8
16. Qd3 Qc7 17. Qe4 Qc8 18. f4 O-O 19. Rd6 Ne7 20. Red1 Nd5 21. Qf3 Nb8 22. c4
$18 {Sergejev,R (2349)-Psakhis,L (2598) ICC blitz 2001}) (5... Ne7 6. O-O O-O
7. Ne2 $1 f5 8. Ng3 fxe4 9. Nxe4 Nf5 10. c3 Bd6 11. Nxd6 cxd6 12. Re1 Na6 13.
d5 (13. Ng5 $1 $36) 13... Nc5 $132 14. c4 Qf6 15. Bc2 b5 $1 $13 {Hansen,E 
(2573)-Antipov,M (2569) Berlin blitz 2015}) 6. Qe2 {The most natural move, but
White has other alternatives.} (6. Nd2 $5 {is tricky, the Q aims directly for
g4 or h5. White should get at least a slight initiative:} O-O $142 (6... d5 7.
e5 Nfd7 (7... Ne4 8. Qg4 Kf8 (8... Nxc3 9. Qxg7 Rf8 10. a3 $16) 9. Ncxe4 $5 (9.
Bxe4 dxe4 10. Ncxe4 h5 11. Qf4 Bxd2+ 12. Nxd2 Nc6 (12... Bxg2 13. Rg1 Bb7 14.
c3 Nc6 15. b3 Ne7 16. Ba3 Rg8 17. Rg5 g6 18. O-O-O $16 {Saint Amour,P (1963)
-Garibaldi,L (1876) email 2002}) 13. c3 Ne7 14. Nf3 Ng6 15. Qe3 h4 16. h3 Rh5
17. O-O Qd5 18. Qe2 c5 19. Be3 Qe4 $132 {Buss,R (2318)-Filipovic,B (2425)
Switzerland 2004}) 9... dxe4 10. Bxe4 Bxd2+ 11. Bxd2 Qxd4 12. f3 Qxb2 (12...
Bxe4 13. O-O-O $40) 13. O-O $32 {|^}) 8. O-O (8. Qg4 $5) 8... c5 9. Qg4 g6 10.
Nb5 cxd4 11. Nf3 Nc6 12. Qf4 Bc5 13. Re1 Ba6 14. a3 Bxb5 15. Bxb5 Qc7 16. b4
Be7 17. Bb2 O-O 18. Nxd4 Nxd4 19. Bxd4 a6 20. Bd3 f5 21. c3 Nb8 22. h4 $14 {
Kramnik,V (2803)-Andreikin,D (2713) Moscow 2013}) (6... c5 7. dxc5 (7. Nb5 cxd4
8. e5 Nd5 {/\} 9. a3 Be7 10. Ne4 O-O 11. Qh5 g6 12. Qh6 Nc6 13. Ng5 Bxg5 14.
Bxg5 Qb8 15. f4 Nxe5 $1 $44) 7... Bxc5 (7... Bxc3 8. bxc3 bxc5 9. e5 Bxg2 10.
Rg1 Bc6 11. Rxg7 d5 12. exf6 Qxf6 13. Rg3 Qxc3 14. Rb1 Qe5+ 15. Kf1 $18 {
Kulik,V-Woods,R email 2003}) 8. e5 Nd5 9. Qg4 (9. Nce4 $36) 9... O-O 10. Nxd5
exd5 11. Nf3 Re8 12. O-O Nc6 13. Bh6 Bf8 14. Rfe1 Re6 15. Bg5 Qc7 16. Bf4 h6
17. Bf5 Ne7 18. Bxe6 dxe6 19. Nd4 Ng6 20. Bg3 Bc5 21. c3 $16 {Buss,R (2303)
-Scherer,M (2305) Germany 2005}) 7. O-O (7. e5 $5) 7... Nc6 8. e5 $5 (8. Ne2
Nh5 9. c3 Be7 10. f4 f5 11. exf5 exf5 12. Kh1 g6 13. b3 Bf6 14. Ba3 d6 15. Qc2
Qd7 16. Rae1 Nd8 17. c4 Ne6 18. d5 Nc5 19. Ng3 Nxg3+ 20. hxg3 c6 $36 {Beckhuis,
G (2303)-Polak,T (2507) Austria 2010}) 8... Ne8 (8... Bxc3 9. bxc3 Nd5 10. Ne4)
9. Ne2 Be7 10. c3 d6 (10... Na5 11. Nf4 c5 12. Qh5 h6 13. Rd1 Qc7 14. Nf3 cxd4
15. cxd4 d6 16. Bd2 Nc6 17. Rac1 Rc8 18. d5 $1 $18 {Tiedemann,J (2097)
-Strohmeier,J (1962) email 2012}) 11. Nf3 $14) (6. e5 Ne4 {and now:} {Black is
OK after} 7. Bd2 ({The pawn sacrifice} 7. O-O {is rather vague after} Nxc3 8.
bxc3 Bxc3 (8... Be7 9. Nd2 d6 10. Qg4 g6 11. Ne4 dxe5 12. dxe5 Nc6 13. Rd1 Qd5
14. Ba6 Nxe5 15. Rxd5 Nxg4 16. Bxb7 exd5 17. Bxa8 dxe4 18. Bc6+ Kf8 19. h3 Ne5
20. Bh6+ Kg8 21. Bxe4 Bf8 22. Bf4 Bd6 23. Bh6 Bf8 {½, Akopian,V (2655)
-Speelman,J (2600) Elista 1998}) 9. Rb1 Nc6 (9... d6 10. Rb3 Ba5 11. Bg5 Qd7
12. Qe2 Nc6 13. d5 Nxe5 14. Nxe5 dxe5 15. Bb5 c6 16. dxe6 Qxe6 17. Bc4 Qf5 18.
Bxf7+ $1 Kd7 {Simonian,H (2468)-Nakamura,H (2774) ICC blitz 2011} 19. Rd1+ Kc7
20. Be7 $18) 10. Be4 (10. Bg5 Ne7 11. Be2 (11. Rb3 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 Bxd4 13. Bxe7
Kxe7 $15) 11... h6 12. Bh4 g5 13. Bg3 Nf5 14. Qd3 Ba5 15. Nd2 h5 16. f3 Nxg3
17. hxg3 Bxd2 18. Qxd2 Qe7 19. a4 h4 20. g4 {1/2-1/2 (66) Rublevsky,S (2676)
-Bacrot,E (2695) Moscow 2007} O-O-O $17 (20... h3 $5)) 10... d5 11. exd6 cxd6
12. Rb3 (12. d5 {Popovic,A (2255)-Markovic,M (2269) Belgrade 2017} Ne7 $1 $17)
12... d5 13. Bxh7 Bxd4 $13 {/=/+}) 7... Nxd2 8. Qxd2 Bxf3 $5 9. gxf3 Nc6 10.
Be4 f5 11. Bxc6 (11. exf6 Qxf6 12. a3 d5 13. axb4 dxe4 14. Nxe4 Qxf3 15. Ng3
O-O-O 16. c3 e5 17. b5 exd4 18. bxc6 dxc3 19. Qxc3 Qg2 20. Rf1 Rhe8+ 21. Ne2
Qe4 22. Qh3+ Kb8 $19 {Houska,M (2385)-Baker,C (2340) Newport 1998}) 11... dxc6
12. a3 Be7 13. Rg1 g5 14. O-O-O Qd7 15. Qe2 O-O-O 16. Kb1 Kb8 17. Na2 Rhg8 18.
c4 Rg6 $11 {Velikic,A (2107)-Meszaros,A (2250) Novi Sad 2014}) (6. Bg5 h6 7.
Bxf6 Qxf6 8. O-O Bxc3 (8... g5 9. Nb5 Qd8 10. c3 Be7 11. a4 g4 12. Nd2 Rg8 13.
f4 a6 14. Na3 c5 15. Nc2 cxd4 16. cxd4 Nc6 17. Qe2 Qb8 18. e5 h5 19. f5 Qa7 20.
Rac1 O-O-O 21. b4 Kb8 22. b5 axb5 23. axb5 Na5 24. Ra1 Bd5 25. fxe6 fxe6 26.
Rf7 Rde8 27. Ne3 $16 {Shchekachev,A (2592)-Bacrot,E (2708) Calatrava rpd 2006})
9. bxc3 d6 (9... d5 10. exd5 (10. e5 Qe7 $13) 10... Bxd5 11. Ne5 O-O 12. Qh5
Qd8 13. c4 Bb7 14. d5 Qd6 15. Rae1 exd5 16. Qf5 g6 17. Qh3 Kg7 $2 (17... h5
$142 {/\} 18. Nxg6 fxg6 19. Re6 Bc8 $1) 18. Nxf7 $1 Kxf7 19. Qxh6 Rg8 20. f4 (
20. Re3 $1 $40) 20... Nd7 21. f5 Rh8 22. fxg6+ Kg8 23. Qf4 Qxf4 $13 {½,
Kramnik,V (2725)-Ehlvest,J (2600) Moscow olm 1994}) 10. Nd2 e5 11. f4 exf4 (
11... Qe7 12. fxe5 dxe5 13. Nc4 Nd7 14. Ne3 $14) 12. g3 g5 13. a4 Nc6 14. Qe2
O-O-O (14... Ne7 15. a5 Ng6 16. h4 Rg8 17. h5 Ne7 18. Ba6 Bc6 19. d5 Bd7 20.
axb6 axb6 21. Bb5 Ra5 22. Bxd7+ Kxd7 23. Rxa5 bxa5 24. Qb5+ Kd8 $11 {Taylor,T 
(2344)-Rooms,T (2343) email 2011}) 15. a5 Nxa5 16. Ba6 Bxa6 17. Qxa6+ Kd7 18.
Nc4 Nxc4 19. Qb5+ Ke7 20. Qxc4 Qe6 21. Qxc7+ Rd7 22. Qc6 h5 23. gxf4 gxf4 24.
Rxf4 Rg8+ 25. Kh1 Rg4 $11 {Spassky,B (2605)-Miles,A (2585) Niksic 1983}) 6...
d5 7. exd5 {This opens up the position.} (7. e5 Ne4 {gives Black reasonable
counterplay:} 8. Bd2 (8. O-O Nxc3 9. bxc3 Bxc3 10. Rb1 Nc6 11. Be3 (11. Qe3 Bb4
12. Qf4 h6 13. Bb5 Be7 14. Qg4 g6 15. c3 Qd7 16. Ne1 a6 17. Ba4 b5 18. Bd1 Na5
19. Nd3 Qc6 20. Qe2 Qxc3 (20... Nc4 $15) (20... Kf8 $15 {[%cal Yf8g7]}) 21. Bd2
Qa3 22. Bc1 Qc3 23. Bd2 Qa3 24. Bc1 $11 {½, Nakamura,H (2798)-Gareev,T (2604)
Saint Louis 2015}) 11... Nb4 (11... Bb4 12. Ng5 Be7 13. Qg4 g6 14. c3 Qd7 15.
h4 h5 16. Qf3 Bxg5 17. Bxg5 Ne7 18. Qf6 Rh7 19. f3 Ng8 20. Qf4 $36 {Kosic,D 
(2521)-Filipovic,B (2435) Jahorina 2000}) 12. Bb5+ c6 13. a3 cxb5 14. axb4 Qd7
15. Rb3 Rc8 16. Bd2 Bxd2 17. Qxd2 Rc4 18. Ra1 a6 19. Ne1 Qe7 20. Rab1 O-O 21.
Rg3 f5 22. exf6 Qxf6 23. c3 e5 24. Nd3 e4 25. Ne5 $44 {/=, Radjabov,T (2792)
-Ivanchuk,V (2771) Eilat 2012}) 8... Bxc3 (8... Nxd2 9. Qxd2 Be7 10. h4 Ba6 11.
Qf4 Bxd3 12. cxd3 c5 13. O-O Nc6 14. Ne2 Nb4 15. Rfd1 c4 16. dxc4 dxc4 17. d5
exd5 18. Qg4 g6 19. Nf4 Qc8 20. Qg3 Qf5 21. a3 Nd3 22. Nxd3 cxd3 23. Nd4 Qe4
24. Qxd3 Qxe5 25. Nc6 Qf6 26. Nxe7 Kxe7 27. Re1+ Kf8 28. Qxd5 Rd8 29. Qe5 Kg7
30. Rac1 Rhe8 $11 {Berg,E (2527)-Blatny,P (2475) Bermuda 2003}) 9. bxc3 c5 $5 (
9... Nxd2 10. Nxd2 c5 11. Qg4 (11. dxc5 Nd7 $44) 11... O-O $132) 10. dxc5 Nxc5
11. h4 Nbd7 12. Rh3 Qc7 13. Kf1 Ne4 14. Re1 Nxe5 15. Nxe5 Qxe5 16. Bb5+ Kf8 17.
Bc1 Rc8 18. Bd3 {Bachmann,A (2646)-Donchenko,A (2563) Chartres 2017} Qf6 $13 {
/=/+}) 7... Qxd5 $5 {Black wants to retain the N on f6 to defend his kingside.}
({The text move is stronger than} 7... Nxd5 8. O-O $1 (8. Bd2 Nxc3 9. bxc3 Be7
10. O-O O-O 11. a4 Nd7 12. a5 Bd6 13. a6 Bc6 14. Ng5 Nf6 15. f3 Qd7 16. Rae1
Rae8 17. f4 Qc8 18. Nf3 Bxf3 19. Qxf3 c5 20. Bb5 Re7 21. Qd3 Rc7 $132 {
Highendman,R (2766)-Kirbyy,R (2723) blitz 3m + 0s, rated 2009}) 8... O-O (8...
Nxc3 9. bxc3 Bxc3 10. Rb1 $32 Nd7 (10... O-O $2 11. Bxh7+ Kxh7 12. Ng5+ $18)
11. Rb3 Ba5 (11... Bxf3 12. Qxf3 Bxd4 13. Rd1 $16) 12. Ba3 Qf6 13. Ba6 Bxa6 14.
Qxa6 c6 15. Qb7 Qd8 16. Qxc6 Rc8 17. Qb5 Qc7 18. Qg5 Qd8 19. Qxg7 Qf6 20. Qg3
$16 {kulgan,h (2566)-knowware,r (2356) Engine Room 2011}) 9. Nxd5 Qxd5 (9...
exd5 10. c3 Bd6 11. Ne5 $36) 10. c4 Qh5 11. Be4 (11. c5 $5 $16) 11... Bxe4 12.
Qxe4 c6 13. Bf4 Qg6 14. Qxg6 hxg6 15. c5 bxc5 16. a3 Ba5 17. dxc5 Nd7 18. b4
Bd8 19. Rfd1 Nf6 20. Bd6 Re8 21. Ne5 Rc8 22. Nc4 Nd5 23. Be5 Bc7 24. Bd6 Red8
25. g3 Bxd6 26. Nxd6 $14 {Werle,J (2527)-Jonkman,H (2402) Haarlem 2017}) 8. O-O
(8. Bd2 Bxc3 9. bxc3 (9. Bxc3 Nbd7 10. O-O Ne4 11. Bxe4 Qxe4 12. Qxe4 Bxe4 13.
Ne1 Nf6 14. f3 Bg6 15. b3 O-O-O 16. Rf2 Rd7 17. Bb2 Rhd8 18. Re2 Kb7 19. Kf2 a5
20. a4 Nd5 21. g3 Nb4 22. c3 Nc6 23. g4 f6 24. f4 h5 25. h3 hxg4 26. hxg4 Bf7
$15 {[%cal Ye6e5] Mikhalchishin,A (2535)-Gurgenidze,B (2490) Volgodonsk 1981})
9... Nbd7 10. c4 Qd6 11. O-O O-O-O ({More circumspect is} 11... O-O 12. Bc3 c5
$13) 12. a4 c5 13. Ne5 Rhf8 14. Nxd7 (14. a5 $1 Qxd4 15. Nxd7 Nxd7 16. Rfe1 $44
) 14... Nxd7 15. dxc5 Nxc5 16. a5 e5 $6 (16... Nxd3 17. cxd3 Qxd3 18. Qxd3 Rxd3
19. Be3 bxa5 $11) 17. Bf5+ Kb8 18. Bc3 f6 19. axb6 axb6 20. Bxh7 g6 21. f3 Ne6
22. Qd3 Rh8 23. Bxg6 Nf4 {½, Drazic,S (2441)-Ipatov,A (2635) Al Ain 2013} 24.
Qxd6+ Rxd6 25. Bb4 $1 $16) 8... Bxc3 9. bxc3 Nbd7 {[%csl Gc1,Rc2,Rc3,Gd3][%mdl
32] Flexible development. We have reached an interesting position, in which
White has the bishop pair and active piece play, but Black's setup is solid
and once he is fully consolidated, he can profit from his better pawn
structure.} (9... O-O {is also possible. By attacking the Pc7 White can force
Black to either open the position with an early c5 before he is fully
developed, or put the other R on c8. However, in practice White hasn't really
been able to get anything concrete here:} 10. Bf4 (10. Re1 Nbd7 11. a4 Qh5 12.
Nd2 Qxe2 13. Bxe2 Ne4 14. Nxe4 Bxe4 15. Bd1 Nf6 16. a5 b5 17. Ba3 Rfb8 18. a6
Bd5 19. Bc5 Nd7 20. Bb4 Rb6 21. Be2 c6 22. Ra5 h6 $11 {Zhang,Z (2619)
-Zvjaginsev,V (2660) Berlin rpd 2015}) (10. a4 a5 (10... Nbd7 11. a5 c5 12. c4
Qh5 13. c3 Bxf3 14. Qxf3 Qxf3 15. gxf3 Rac8 16. Rd1 Rfd8 17. Kg2 h6 18. h4 Nb8
19. dxc5 bxc5 20. Be3 a6 21. Kf1 Rd7 22. f4 Rb7 23. Rab1 Rxb1 24. Rxb1 Nc6 25.
Rb6 Nxa5 26. Rxa6 $14 {Giroux,M (2076)-Becker,C (2161) email 2014}) 11. Bf4 Qh5
$5 12. Bxc7 Bxf3 13. Qxf3 Qxf3 14. gxf3 Nd5 15. Bxb8 Raxb8 16. c4 Nb4 17. Rfc1
Nxd3 18. cxd3 Rfd8 19. Rab1 Kf8 20. c5 bxc5 21. dxc5 Rxb1 22. Rxb1 Rxd3 23. Rb5
Rxf3 24. Rxa5 h5 $11 {Tossutti,J (2182)-Saglione,E (2546) email 2010}) (10. Qe5
c5 (10... Qxe5 11. Nxe5 Be4 $11) 11. dxc5 bxc5 (11... Nbd7 $5 $44) 12. Rd1 Nbd7
13. Bxh7+ Kxh7 14. Rxd5 Nxe5 15. Rxe5 Bxf3 16. gxf3 c4 17. Rc5 Rfc8 18. Rxc8
Rxc8 19. Rb1 Nd5 $44 {Ketola,V (2121)-Polak,T (2511) Brno 2014}) 10... Rc8 (
10... c5 11. c4 Qh5 12. dxc5 Qxc5 13. Rad1 Rc8 14. Nd4 Nbd7 15. Nb5 Rd8 16.
Rfe1 e5 17. Be3 Qc6 18. f3 Nc5 19. Bf5 a6 20. Nc3 Rxd1 21. Rxd1 Re8 22. Qf2 Na4
23. Nxa4 Qxa4 24. Bg5 Bc8 25. Bd3 Nd7 26. Be3 Qc6 $11 {Dumitrescu,F (2042)
-Thompson,E (2011) email 2014}) 11. Rfe1 c5 12. dxc5 Qxc5 13. c4 Nbd7 14. a4
Re8 15. a5 e5 16. Be3 Qc7 17. Bf5 $6 (17. axb6 axb6 $11) 17... bxa5 18. Bd2 e4
19. Nd4 Nb6 20. Bg5 Qxc4 21. Qxc4 Nxc4 22. Reb1 {Bareev,E (2709)-Bauer,C (2612)
Enghien les Bains 2001} Rad8 $15) (9... Qh5 10. Qe5 $5 (10. Bf4 Bxf3 11. gxf3
Nd5 12. Bg3 Nxc3 13. Qd2 Nd5 14. c4 Nf6 15. Qe3 O-O 16. Bxc7 Nc6 17. Rad1 Rac8
18. Bg3 Rfd8 19. Be2 Na5 20. Rc1 Qf5 21. Rfd1 h6 {Hracek,Z (2615)-Laznicka,V 
(2674) Prague blitz 2012}) 10... Qxe5 11. Nxe5 $14 Nbd7 12. Nxd7 Kxd7 13. Re1
Rac8 14. c4 Rcd8 15. Bb2 Rhe8 16. f3 Kc8 17. Kf2 h6 18. Rab1 Rd6 19. a4 Red8
20. a5 Nd7 21. h4 g6 22. Ra1 c5 23. axb6 axb6 24. d5 exd5 25. cxd5 Bxd5 26. Bc1
$36 {Voiculescu,C (2520)-Taras,I (1945) email 2009}) 10. c4 (10. a4 a5 (10...
Qh5 11. Bf4 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 Qxf3 13. gxf3 O-O 14. a5 Nd5 15. Bg3 c5 16. Ra3 bxa5
17. Rxa5 Nxc3 18. dxc5 Rfc8 19. Bd6 Nb8 20. Rfa1 a6 21. Kg2 g6 22. f4 h6 23. h4
h5 24. Kf3 Nd5 25. Be4 $16 {Mlynarcik,S (2002)-Van den Braak,J (1906) email
2005}) 11. Bf4 Rc8 12. Rfe1 Qh5 13. Ne5 Qxe2 14. Rxe2 Nd5 15. Bd2 Nxe5 16. Rxe5
O-O 17. c4 (17. Rh5 h6 18. f3 Rfd8 19. Rh4 Ne7 20. Kf2 f6 21. Bc4 Kf7 22. Re1
Rd6 23. Kg1 Nf5 24. Rh5 g5 $15 {[%csl Rh5] bubble bridge,h (2501)-celestica,h 
(2528) Engine Room 2012}) 17... Nf6 18. f3 c5 $132) 10... Qh5 11. Bf4 {
Continuing his development and retaining the tension.} ({The text move is more
natural than} 11. Nd2 Qxe2 12. Bxe2 O-O 13. a4 e5 14. d5 c6 15. dxc6 Bxc6 16.
a5 Nc5 17. Re1 Rfd8 18. Nb3 Nfd7 19. Nxc5 Nxc5 20. Be3 f6 21. Reb1 Rab8 22.
axb6 axb6 23. Bf1 Rb7 24. Rb2 Kf7 25. Rab1 Rdb8 26. f3 g5 27. h3 h5 28. Be2 Ke6
$11 {goga2,h (2486)-donmez,h (2630) Engine Room 2012}) 11... Rc8 (11... c5 $143
12. d5 $36) 12. a4 (12. d5 O-O $5 (12... Nc5 $132) 13. dxe6 Bxf3 14. exf7+ (14.
gxf3 Nc5 15. e7 Rfe8 $15) 14... Rxf7 15. Qxf3 Qxf3 16. gxf3 Nh5 $11) ({
Moradiabadi suggests} 12. Ne5 $5 {While White is doing OK in the endgame after}
Qxe2 13. Bxe2 Nxe5 14. Bxe5 O-O {[%cal Yf8d8,Yc7c5]} 15. f3 ({, or} 15. a4 $5
$11 {/+/= , simplification has also helped Black and he can get his
counterplay going.})) 12... a5 13. Rab1 $146 {[%mdl 8]} (13. Nd2 Qxe2 14. Bxe2
O-O 15. Rfe1 h6 16. f3 Rfd8 17. Be3 Nf8 18. c3 Ng6 19. Rab1 Ne7 20. Bf2 Ba6 21.
Bd1 g6 22. Rb2 Re8 23. h4 Nh5 24. Bc2 Kg7 25. Kh2 Rcd8 26. g3 Nc6 27. Be4 Ne7
28. Bb1 Nc6 29. Ba2 Nf6 30. g4 e5 $132 {alerich,h (2561)-omriomri (2495)
Engine Room 2012}) ({Another way to simplify the position is the aforementioned
} 13. Ne5) ({Eljanov decides to keep the tension, retain the queens and make
Qh5 feel uncomfortable. However, the text move has a drawback in making the
Pa4 more vulnerable.} 13. Rfe1 $13 {deserves attention.}) 13... O-O 14. Rb5 c5
{[%cal Rb7c6]} 15. dxc5 {White can't retain the rook on its outpost, so he
changes the character of the position.} (15. Bd6 {is roughly equal:} Rfd8 (
15... Bc6 16. Bxf8 Bxb5 (16... Kxf8 $5 17. Rbb1 Bxf3 18. Qxf3 Qxf3 19. gxf3
cxd4 $44) 17. Bxc5 Bxc4 18. Bxc4 bxc5 $11) 16. dxc5 Nxc5 17. Bxc5 Rxc5 18. Rxb6
Bc6 $44 {/=}) (15. c3 Bc6 16. Rfb1 $5 Bxb5 (16... e5 $5 17. dxe5 Qg4 $13) 17.
Rxb5 $44 {is an engine suggestion (!), but not many GMs would sacrifice an
exchange out of the blue...}) 15... Rxc5 {A step in the wrong direction.} 16.
Bd6 $6 ({still holds the balance, e.g.} 16. Ne5 Qxe2 17. Bxe2 Ba6 18. Rxc5 Nxc5
19. Rb1 Nfd7 (19... Nxa4 20. Bf3 Rc8 21. Nc6 Kf8 22. Bd6+ Ke8 23. c5 Nd7 $1 24.
Ra1 Naxc5 25. Na7 Rd8 26. Bc7 e5 27. Bc6 Bb7 $11) 20. Nxd7 Nxd7 21. Be3 $11)
16... Rxb5 17. cxb5 (17. axb5 $142 $5 Rc8 $15 {is very comfortable for Black,
but the a5-pawn still still isn't playing a major role and at least White has
no weakness on a4.}) 17... Rc8 {[%csl Gd5]} 18. c4 {[%csl Ra4,Rc4] Covers d5,
but now both c4 and a4 are potentially vulnerable.} Nc5 19. Bc2 Nce4 {Putting
the bishop on an unprotected square is a more serious, tactical mistake.} 20.
Bf4 $2 ({He had to play} 20. Bg3 $8 {White's position is unpleasant, but he
can fight after} Ng5 (20... Nxg3 21. hxg3 g6 $15) 21. Bd1 Nxf3+ 22. gxf3 Nd7
$15 {/\} 23. Qd2 Nc5 24. Qd6 Bxf3 25. Bxf3 Qxf3 26. Qxb6 h5 $40) 20... Nc3 21.
Qd3 Qg4 (21... Bxf3 $142 $1 22. gxf3 (22. Qxf3 $4 Ne2+) (22. Qxc3 Nd5 23. Qxf3
(23. Qd2 Qg4 24. Bg3 Qxc4 25. Bd3 Qc3 26. Qxc3 (26. Bf4 Bxg2 $1 27. Kxg2 Qxd3
$19) 26... Rxc3 $19) 23... Qxf3 24. gxf3 Nxf4) 22... Qg6+ $1 23. Qxg6 (23. Kh1
Qxd3 24. Bxd3 Nxa4 $17) 23... hxg6 {[%cal Rc8c4,Rc3e2]} 24. Be3 Rxc4 25. Bd3
Rxa4 26. Bxb6 Nxb5 (26... Nd7 $5 27. Be3 Nd5) 27. Bxb5 Rb4 28. Bxa5 Rxb5 $17)
22. Be5 $2 {The final mistake, after which Eljanov doesn't get back into the
game.} (22. Qxc3 {I suspect Carlsen would have preferred the simple} Qxf4 (
22... Nd5 {is more complex:} 23. Bxh7+ (23. Ne5 Qxg2+ 24. Kxg2 Nxf4+ 25. Kg3
Ne2+ 26. Kh3 Nxc3 27. Rc1 f6 28. Nd7 Ne2 $19) (23. h3 Nxc3 $1 (23... Qxf4 24.
Qd3 $15) (23... Nxf4 24. hxg4 Ne2+ 25. Kh2 Nxc3 26. Ne5 $132 {[%csl Rb6]}) 24.
hxg4 Ne2+ 25. Kh2 Nxf4 26. Ne5 (26. Rd1 Bxf3 27. gxf3 Kf8 $17) 26... f6 27. Nd7
Rxc4 28. Bb3 Rb4 29. g3 Nd5 30. Bxd5 exd5 31. Nxb6 d4 $17) 23... Kh8 24. h3 $8
Nxf4 (24... Qxf4 25. Qe5 Rxc4 26. Bd3 $15) 25. hxg4 Ne2+ 26. Kh2 Nxc3 27. Rc1 (
27. Bc2 Bxf3 28. gxf3 Rxc4 $17) 27... Ne2 28. Re1 Bxf3 29. gxf3 Nd4 30. Be4
Rxc4 31. Ra1 g5 $17) 23. Nd2 Ng4 24. g3 Qe5 $1 25. Qxe5 Nxe5 26. Rd1 g5 {
Black has a clear positional plus, but material still remains equal and White
can plod on.} 27. Bb3 $17) 22... Qxc4 23. Qxc4 Rxc4 $19 {[%cal Rc3e2] Carlsen
has an extra pawn and his pieces dominate the board - the game is decided.} 24.
Bd3 (24. Bb3 Rb4 25. Bxc3 Rxb3 $19) 24... Rc8 25. Ra1 (25. Bxc3 Rxc3 $19 {
is hopeless, but even retaining more pieces doesn't help to create
counterchances.}) 25... Nfd5 26. Nd2 f6 27. Bd6 (27. Bxc3 Rxc3 28. Bf1 {
allows White to suffer longer, but the outcome is in no doubt after} Kf8 29.
Ne4 Rc7) 27... Nb4 28. Bc4 Bd5 29. Bf1 Nba2 $1 {[%csl Ra4] White loses another
pawn and any compensation is still non-existent.} 0-1

[Event "Douglas IoM op"]
[Site "Douglas"]
[Date "2017.09.29"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2827"]
[BlackElo "2702"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2017.09.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IOM"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 181"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O e5 5. d3 Ne7 6. e4 O-O 7. exd5 Nxd5 8. Re1
Nc6 9. Nc3 Nde7 10. Rb1 a5 11. b3 Re8 12. Bb2 Nf5 13. Nb5 a4 14. c4 axb3 15.
axb3 Nd6 16. Ra1 Rxa1 17. Bxa1 Nxb5 18. cxb5 Nd4 19. Bxd4 exd4 20. Rxe8+ Qxe8
21. Qc1 Bd7 22. Qxc7 Bxb5 23. Bf1 Bc6 24. Qf4 Bxf3 25. Qxf3 Qc6 26. Qd1 b6 27.
Bg2 Qe6 28. Bb7 Bf8 29. Qf3 Kg7 30. Qf4 Qf6 31. Qxf6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Douglas IoM op"]
[Site "Douglas"]
[Date "2017.09.30"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2799"]
[BlackElo "2827"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2017.09.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IOM"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 181"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{While many players had planned their "exit-strategy" from the World Cup with
the Isle of Man's organisers in advance, Magnus after the unexpected loss in
round 3 to Bu, wanted to quickly wash a way the defeat, and an open tournament
with most of the worlds elite present seemed like an excellent opportunity.
The early rounds had the expected scares with risktaking and unusual openings
in the end Magnus was rewarded with a half point lead before this game in the
penultimate round:} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3
Bc5 {Magnus played the Moeller in the crucial game 9 of the match in New York,
and had to pull of a spectacular save after getting into troubles out of the
opening, and thus had parked the line until this game:} 7. c3 d6 8. a4 Rb8 9.
d4 Bb6 10. a5 Ba7 11. h3 O-O 12. Be3 Ra8 13. Re1 h6 14. Nbd2 {Caruana had this
exact position the day before also with the white pieces against Gawain Jones,
who preferred 14...exd4.} Re8 {Curiously Magnus prefers the move Caruana
himself played against Karjakin in 2013! That game continued with the pawn
sacrifice 15.Nf1, but the American had prepared an even more cunning idea:} (
14... exd4 15. cxd4 Nb4 {From a positional point of view Black is doing well,
but Fabiano launched a well prepared attack with} 16. e5 $1 Nfd5 17. Ne4 Nxe3
18. Rxe3 Bb7 19. e6 Nd5 20. exf7+ Kh8 21. Re1 Rxf7 22. Rc1 Rc8 23. Nfg5 $1 {
winning excellently. The depth of White's play is shown after} Re7 $1 (23...
Rf5 $2 {was the game}) 24. Qg4 Qe8 25. Kh2 $1 Rd8 26. Qf5 $1 g6 27. Qg4 $1 {
when the computer shows White has a very promising attack.}) 15. g4 $5 {
The idea of attacking a pawn on h6 with g4 is not exactly new but, ideally
White would prefer a rook and not his king on g1! Here however White's control
of the centre means that it is difficult for Black to launch an attack against
White's now somewhat weakened king, and more pressingly it's not easy to see
how White develops next. There is no point in hiding that the move took the
World Champion by surprise, as he now thought for more than half an hour
coming up with a common sense reply:} Qe7 $6 {The computer indicates two ways
for Black:} (15... exd4 16. cxd4 Nb4 {in the style of Jones is logical, now
however with the rook on e8,} 17. Bxf7+ (17. g5 $5 {also deserves attention
with wild tactics emerging after} c5 $1 18. e5 $5 Nfd5 19. Ne4 {with a
complete mess, where Caruana certainly would be prepared.}) 17... Kxf7 18. Qb3+
{is possible, allthough} Nbd5 19. exd5 Bb7 20. Qd3 Qd7 $1 {as indicated by the
computers seems to hold.}) (15... Qd7 $5 {is very interesting, combining
defending the knight on c6 (and thus threatening 16...exd4 17.cxd4 Nxe4 18.
Nxe4 Rxe4 as 19.Bd5 does not threaten on c6.) with ...Nxg4 motives cropping up.
} {White can play it slow with} 16. Qc2 {but then} ({White can try and force
events with} 16. g5 $5 {but Black can still play} exd4 17. cxd4 Nxe4 18. Nxe4
Rxe4 19. Bd5 {and while now} Re8 {loses to both 20.gxh6 or 20.g6,} (19... Qxh3
$1 {forces a draw, as} 20. Bxe4 Qg4+ {both 21.Kf1 and 21.Kh1 leave White's
king exposed after 21...Qxe4 and} 21. Kh2 Qh5+ {is a perpetual.})) 16... Nd8 {
is a good way to regroup.}) 16. Nf1 $1 {A very strong move, leaving Black in a
strategically very difficult position.} Nd8 ({Tactically the problem is that} 
16... exd4 17. cxd4 Nxe4 {loses a piece to} 18. d5 $1 Bxe3 19. Rxe3 Ne5 20.
Nxe5 Qxe5 21. f3 {which means that Black has to play it slow.}) 17. Ng3 c5 18.
Qd2 c4 19. Bc2 Nh7 20. b4 {An interesting moment. The computers at first
indicate that 20.b3! is the move, and 20.b4 somewhat lets Black off the hook,
but obviously both players seemed to think that sealing off the queenside is
to White's advantage, and after a while the machine somewhat agrees with that
after 20...Qf6!? 21.Kg2 Ne6 22.h4! still means White has a considerable
advantage as Black's intended 22...Nhg5 is prevented.} cxb3 (20... Qf6 $5 21.
Kg2 Ne6 22. h4 $1) 21. Bxb3 Be6 {Till here Caruana has turned in a powerful
performance, but things are about to take a dramatic shift.} 22. Bc2 $2 ({After
} 22. Nf5 $1 Qc7 {maybe at first it looks like White has made no progress, but}
23. Bd5 $1 {leaves White close to strategically winning:} Bxd5 (23... Rc8 24.
Rac1 {also leaves Black stuck for moves, and biting the bullet and taking on
f5, e.g. already in move 22 means White has a basically unstoppable attack
down the g-file.}) 24. exd5 f6 {loses tactically to} 25. Bxh6 {as White's
attack is unstoppable after} gxh6 26. Qxh6 Kh8 27. g5 fxg5 28. Nxd6 $18) 22...
Rc8 23. Bd3 Nb7 24. Rec1 {Not managing to follow through on his aggressive
intentions, Caruana has shifted to a defensive setup keeping a5 and c3
protected, and planning d5 and c4 should Black place his queen on the obvious
square c7, but Black does have another way of pressurising the a-pawn:} Qd8 $1
{Short of time, White now collapses.} 25. Qb2 (25. d5 $1 {still was the best
move, as after} Bxe3 26. Qxe3 Bd7 27. c4 $1 Nxa5 28. cxb5 Rxc1+ 29. Rxc1 axb5
30. Qa7 $1 {it seems like Black's best is} Nb3 {when White gets the pawn back
with} 31. Rb1 Nc5 32. Bxb5 {and should be able to save the draw. In time
pressure, however, Caruana goes astray.}) 25... Nxa5 26. Nd2 d5 $1 {Not only
is Black a pawn up, but also the white centre is collapsing.} 27. Re1 Bb8 28.
exd5 Bxd5 29. Bf5 Rc6 30. Qa3 Nb7 31. Rad1 exd4 32. Bxd4 Ng5 33. c4 Rxe1+ 34.
Rxe1 Be6 35. Qe3 Bf4 $1 {The bishop, who White went to great length excluding
from the game has returned efficiently and fittingly delivers the final blow.
And as 36.Qxf4 loses to 36...Nxh3+ and 36.Qe2 Bxd2 37.Qxd2 to 37...Nf3+
Caruana resigned. Another American however kept the pase, meaning Magnus had a
half point lead over Nakamura and a full point over the remaining field.
Playing Hikaru as White the World Champion found inspiration from the French
Championship, copying a recent game and effectively forcing a draw to clinch
tournament victory.} 0-1

[Event "Douglas IoM op"]
[Site "Douglas"]
[Date "2017.10.01"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2827"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[PlyCount "36"]
[EventDate "2017.09.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IOM"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 181"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2017.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. a3
Nc6 9. Qc2 Qa5 10. Rd1 Re8 11. Nd2 e5 12. Bg5 Nd4 13. Qc1 Bf5 14. Bxf6 Nc2+ 15.
Ke2 Nd4+ 16. Ke1 Nc2+ 17. Ke2 Nd4+ 18. Ke1 Nc2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G30"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.11"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C90"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2017.11.11"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. Re1 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. Nbd2 Re8 12. Nf1 Nc6 13. Ne3 Bf8 14. a4 b4 15.
Bb3 h6 16. Nd5 Rb8 17. a5 Nxd5 18. Bxd5 Qc7 19. Nh4 Be6 20. Bxe6 Rxe6 21. Nf5
Rb5 22. Ne3 Rxa5 23. Nd5 Qd8 24. Be3 Rxa1 25. Qxa1 a5 26. Qa4 Ne7 27. Ra1 Nxd5
28. exd5 Re7 29. Qxa5 Qxa5 30. Rxa5 bxc3 31. bxc3 Rb7 32. Kf1 f5 33. Ke2 Kf7
34. Kd1 Be7 35. Kc2 g5 36. Ra6 h5 37. Bd2 g4 38. c4 h4 39. h3 Rb8 40. Ra7 Rg8
41. Kd1 f4 42. f3 gxf3 43. gxf3 Rg1+ 44. Be1 Rh1 45. Ke2 Rxh3 46. Bf2 Kf6 47.
Kf1 Rxf3 48. Kg2 Rg3+ 49. Bxg3 hxg3 50. Kf3 Bf8 51. Ke4 Be7 52. Kf3 Bf8 53. Ke4
Be7 54. Kf3 Bf8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G30"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.11"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2774"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "169"]
[EventDate "2017.11.11"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4 5. h3 Bh5 6. Nc3 e6 7. g4 Bg6 8. Ne5
Nbd7 9. Nxg6 hxg6 10. g5 Ng8 11. h4 Bb4 12. Qb3 Bxc3+ 13. bxc3 Ne7 14. Ba3 Nb6
15. Bxe7 Qxe7 16. c5 Nc8 17. c4 Qc7 18. cxd5 exd5 19. Bd3 Ne7 20. a4 b6 21. Rc1
bxc5 22. Rxc5 Rb8 23. Qd1 Rb4 24. Kf1 Qd7 25. Kg2 Qe6 26. Ra5 Rb7 27. Qf3 Qd6
28. Qg3 Qxg3+ 29. Kxg3 Kd7 30. Rb1 Kc7 31. Rxb7+ Kxb7 32. Rc5 Kc7 33. Rc1 Rb8
34. Rb1 Rxb1 35. Bxb1 a5 36. Kf4 Kd6 37. Bd3 Nc8 38. e4 dxe4 39. Kxe4 Nb6 40.
Bc2 c5 41. dxc5+ Kxc5 42. Bb3 Nc4 43. Kd3 Nd6 44. Kc3 Ne4+ 45. Kc2 f6 46. gxf6
Nxf6 47. Bf7 Kb4 48. Bxg6 Kxa4 49. Kc3 Kb5 50. Bd3+ Kc5 51. Kb3 Nd5 52. Ka4 Nf4
53. Bf5 Kb6 54. f3 Ng2 55. h5 Nf4 56. Bg4 Nd3 57. Kb3 Kb5 58. Bd7+ Kc5 59. Ka4
Kb6 60. Bf5 Nc5+ 61. Ka3 Kb5 62. Bg6 Kc4 63. f4 Kd4 64. f5 Ke5 65. Bh7 Kf6 66.
Bg6 Kg5 67. Ka2 Ne4 68. Kb3 Ng3 69. Ka4 Nxh5 70. Kxa5 Ng3 71. Kb4 Nxf5 72. Be8
Kf4 73. Kc3 Ke3 74. Bd7 Nd4 75. Kc4 Ke4 76. Kc3 Nf3 77. Bc8 g5 78. Bd7 Ke3 79.
Bc8 Nd2 80. Kc2 Ne4 81. Kd1 Kf2 82. Kc2 Nd6 83. Bd7 Nf7 84. Kd2 Ne5 85. Bc8
1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G30"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.11"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2017.11.11"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a4
Bd7 9. c3 Na5 10. Ba2 bxa4 11. Nbd2 O-O 12. Bb1 Bb5 13. Bc2 Nb7 14. c4 Bd7 15.
Bxa4 Bxa4 16. Qxa4 Nc5 17. Qc2 a5 18. b3 Ne6 19. Bb2 c5 20. Ra4 Nd7 21. Rfa1
Nb8 22. Nf1 Nc6 23. Ne3 Qd7 24. Bc3 Bd8 25. Qd1 Rb8 26. R4a2 g6 27. g3 f5 28.
exf5 gxf5 29. Nd5 Rb7 30. Nd2 Qe8 31. f4 Qg6 32. Kh1 Nb4 33. Bxb4 cxb4 34. Nf3
exf4 35. gxf4 Rg7 36. Qe2 Re8 37. Rg1 Qh5 38. Rxg7+ Kxg7 39. Qf1 h6 40. Rg2+
Kh7 41. d4 Nc7 42. Qd1 Qf7 43. Nxc7 Bxc7 44. Qd3 Bd8 45. c5 Re4 46. cxd6 Rxf4
47. Ne5 Qd5 48. Qa6 Bb6 49. Nd7 Qf7 50. Qc4 Qxc4 51. Nf8+ Kh8 52. Ng6+ Kh7 53.
Nf8+ Kh8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G30"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.11"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E06"]
[WhiteElo "2774"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2017.11.11"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Qc2 c5 7. O-O cxd4 8. Nxd4
Nc6 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Rd1 Ba6 11. b3 Qb6 12. Nd2 Rfd8 13. Bb2 Rac8 14. Rac1 h6
15. e3 c5 16. cxd5 exd5 17. Nf3 d4 18. Qd2 Ne4 19. Qe1 d3 20. Nd2 Nxd2 21. Qxd2
c4 22. bxc4 Bb4 23. Bc3 Rxc4 24. Bxb4 Qxb4 25. Qxb4 Rxb4 26. Rd2 Rc4 27. Rcd1
Rc3 28. f4 Bc4 29. Kf2 Ra3 30. Bf1 a5 31. Ke1 a4 32. Rc1 Be6 33. Ra1 Kf8 34.
Rb2 Rc3 35. Rd2 a3 36. Rb1 Bc4 37. Rb4 Rc1+ 38. Kf2 Bxa2 39. Ra4 Rc3 40. Rxa2
Rc2+ 0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G20"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.12"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B14"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2017.11.12"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 O-O 5. Bg5 c5 6. e3 cxd4 7. exd4 d5 8. Be2
dxc4 9. O-O h6 10. Bh4 b6 11. Ne5 Bxc3 12. bxc3 Bb7 13. Nxc4 Nbd7 14. Nd6 Bc6
15. c4 Qe7 16. Bg3 Rfd8 17. d5 exd5 18. Nf5 Qe8 19. Bc7 dxc4 20. Bxd8 Rxd8 21.
Bf3 Ne5 22. Bxc6 Nxc6 23. Qa4 Ne5 24. Qxa7 Qe6 25. Qc7 Re8 26. Ne3 Rc8 27. Qb7
Nd3 28. Rad1 Ne4 29. Qd5 b5 30. h3 Qe8 31. Rxd3 cxd3 32. Qxd3 Rd8 33. Nd5 Qe5
34. Nf6+ Qxf6 35. Qxe4 g6 36. a4 bxa4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G20"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.12"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E53"]
[WhiteElo "2774"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2017.11.12"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 dxc4 8.
Bxc4 c5 9. Nf3 Qc7 10. Be2 b6 11. Bb2 Ba6 12. c4 cxd4 13. Nxd4 Nbd7 14. O-O
Rac8 15. Nb5 Qb8 16. a4 Rfd8 17. Qd6 Bxb5 18. Qxb8 Nxb8 19. axb5 Rd2 20. Bxf6
gxf6 21. Rfe1 Rc7 22. Rad1 Rxd1 23. Rxd1 Nd7 24. g4 Kf8 25. Kg2 Ke7 26. Kg3 Nc5
27. f3 a5 28. bxa6 Nxa6 29. Ra1 Nc5 30. Ra8 Nd7 31. h4 Ne5 32. Ra4 h6 33. f4
Nc6 34. h5 Ra7 35. Rxa7+ Nxa7 36. Kh4 Kf8 37. g5 Kg7 38. gxh6+ Kxh6 39. Kg3 Nc8
40. Kf2 Nd6 41. Ke1 Ne4 42. Bf3 f5 43. Ke2 Nf6 44. Kd3 Ng4 45. Kc3 Kxh5 46. Kb4
Kh4 47. Kb5 Kg3 48. Bd1 Nxe3 49. Bb3 e5 50. Kxb6 exf4 51. c5 f3 52. c6 f2 53.
c7 f1=Q 54. c8=Q f6 55. Qc7+ Qf4 56. Qxf4+ Kxf4 57. Kc5 Ke4 58. Ba4 f4 59. Bc6+
Kd3 60. Kd6 Nf5+ 61. Kd7 Nd4 62. Bb7 Ke3 63. Ke7 f5 64. Kf6 f3 65. Kg5 f2 66.
Bg2 Nf3+ 67. Kf6 f4 0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G20"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.12"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2017.11.12"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. O-O O-O 6. h3 d6 7. c3 a5 8. Re1 h6
9. Nbd2 Be6 10. Bb5 Qb8 11. Nf1 Qa7 12. Be3 Bxe3 13. Nxe3 Ne7 14. a4 Ng6 15.
Bc4 Bxc4 16. Nxc4 Qa6 17. g3 Rfe8 18. Qb3 Nf8 19. Qb5 Ne6 20. d4 exd4 21. cxd4
Qxb5 22. axb5 b6 23. Ncd2 a4 24. Nb1 d5 25. exd5 Ng5 26. Rxe8+ Rxe8 27. Nbd2
Nxf3+ 28. Nxf3 Re2 29. Rxa4 Rxb2 30. Ra8+ Kh7 31. Ne5 Rxb5 32. Nxf7 Rxd5 33. g4
g5 34. Rc8 Rxd4 35. Rxc7 Rd7 36. Rxd7 Nxd7 37. Nd6 Kg6 38. Kg2 Ne5 39. Kg3 Nd3
40. f3 h5 41. h4 hxg4 42. fxg4 gxh4+ 43. Kxh4 Ne5 44. Kg3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G20"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.12"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2774"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2017.11.12"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e3 Bb4 5. Qc2 d6 6. Nd5 Ba5 7. a3 Nxd5 8.
cxd5 Ne7 9. b4 Bb6 10. Bc4 O-O 11. Bb2 Bf5 12. d3 Ng6 13. h4 h6 14. h5 Ne7 15.
Nd2 Rc8 16. e4 Bg4 17. d4 exd4 18. f3 Bd7 19. Qd3 c6 20. dxc6 Bxc6 21. b5 Bd7
22. O-O d5 23. exd5 Bf5 24. Ne4 Nxd5 25. Bxd5 Qxd5 26. Rad1 Rfd8 27. Rfe1 Rc3
0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G20"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.12"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2017.11.12"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a3
O-O 9. Nc3 Na5 10. Ba2 Be6 11. b4 Bxa2 12. Rxa2 Nc6 13. Bg5 Qd7 14. Bxf6 Bxf6
15. Nd5 a5 16. c4 Ne7 17. Rc2 Nxd5 18. cxd5 axb4 19. axb4 Ra4 20. Qd2 Rfa8 21.
Rfc1 Bd8 22. h3 Ra1 23. Rxa1 Rxa1+ 24. Rc1 Ra4 25. d4 exd4 26. Nxd4 Bf6 27. Nc6
Qc8 28. e5 dxe5 29. d6 Ra8 30. Ne7+ Bxe7 31. dxe7 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G20"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.12"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E05"]
[WhiteElo "2774"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2017.11.12"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. a4
Bd7 9. Qxc4 Bc6 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. Nc3 Bxf3 13. Bxf3 c6 14. e3 a5 15.
b4 axb4 16. Qxb4 Ra7 17. a5 Nd7 18. a6 Be7 19. Qc4 bxa6 20. Rxa6 Nb6 21. Qa2
Rxa6 22. Qxa6 c5 23. Nb5 cxd4 24. Nxd4 Nd7 25. Nc6 Nb8 26. Nxd8 Nxa6 27. Nc6
Bf6 28. Rc1 Nb8 29. Kg2 Nxc6 30. Rxc6 g6 31. Ra6 Kg7 32. Ra8 Rxa8 33. Bxa8 Be7
1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G10"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2017.11.13"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. a3 b5 8. Nxc6
Qxc6 9. Bd3 Bb7 10. O-O Nf6 11. Re1 Rc8 12. Qf3 Bd6 13. Bd4 Qc7 14. Bxf6 gxf6
15. Qh5 Be5 16. Nd1 Ke7 17. c3 Rcg8 18. Ne3 Rg5 19. Qh3 h5 20. Qh4 Rhg8 21. g3
f5 22. exf5 Qc6 23. Nd5+ Qxd5 24. Be4 Qc4 25. b3 Qxc3 26. Bxb7 Bf6 27. Rac1
Qxb3 28. Qe4 Rg4 29. Qe2 h4 30. fxe6 fxe6 31. Rcd1 hxg3 32. fxg3 Rd4 33. Kg2
Rxd1 34. Rxd1 Qxa3 35. Qd2 Qb2 36. Qxb2 Bxb2 37. Bxa6 b4 38. Bd3 d5 39. Kf3 e5
40. Bc2 e4+ 41. Ke2 Rc8 42. Bb3 d4 43. Bd5 Rc2+ 44. Kf1 e3 45. Re1 Rf2+ 46. Kg1
Bc3 47. Rf1 Rxf1+ 0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G10"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.13"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D78"]
[WhiteElo "2774"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2017.11.13"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. d4 c6 5. O-O Nf6 6. b3 O-O 7. Bb2 Bf5 8. c4
Nbd7 9. e3 Ne4 10. Nfd2 Ndf6 11. Nxe4 Bxe4 12. Bh3 Qb6 13. f3 Bxb1 14. Rxb1 e6
15. Qd3 Rfe8 16. c5 Qc7 17. e4 b6 18. e5 Nd7 19. b4 a5 20. a3 Reb8 21. Bc3 Bf8
22. Rfc1 axb4 23. axb4 bxc5 24. bxc5 Ra3 25. Bf1 Nxc5 26. dxc5 Bxc5+ 27. Kh1 d4
28. Rxb8+ Qxb8 29. Qc4 Rxc3 30. Rxc3 dxc3 31. Qxc5 Qb1 32. Kg2 c2 33. Qd6 Qd1
34. Bd3 Qd2+ 35. Kh3 Qh6+ 0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G10"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.13"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C00"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2017.11.13"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. Qe2 Nf6 6. Bg2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. e5
Nd7 9. c4 d4 10. Re1 Rb8 11. h4 b5 12. cxb5 Rxb5 13. Na3 Rb8 14. Nc4 Nb6 15. b3
Nxc4 16. bxc4 Rb6 17. Ng5 h6 18. Nh3 Bb7 19. Qg4 Kh8 20. Qh5 Qe8 21. Bxh6 f5
22. Qxe8 Rxe8 23. Bd2 Kg8 24. Nf4 Kf7 25. Bf3 g6 26. Rab1 Rxb1 27. Rxb1 Ba8 28.
h5 g5 29. Ng6 Bd8 30. Rb5 g4 31. Bg2 Bb6 32. a4 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G10"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.13"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2774"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "144"]
[EventDate "2017.11.13"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Be7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O Nbd7 8.
Bc3 b6 9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. e4 Nxc3 11. Nxc3 Bb7 12. Re1 Re8 13. Qc2 c6 14. Rad1
Qc7 15. e5 Rad8 16. h4 h6 17. Qe4 Qb8 18. Qg4 Bb4 19. Nd2 c5 20. Bxb7 Qxb7 21.
Nde4 cxd4 22. Rxd4 Be7 23. Nd6 Bxd6 24. exd6 Nf6 25. Qe2 Rd7 26. Qe5 Rc8 27.
Red1 Rc5 28. Qe2 Qc6 29. a3 Kf8 30. R4d3 Rc4 31. Qe1 Ne4 32. Nxe4 Rxe4 33. Qd2
Rc4 34. b3 Rc2 35. Qe3 Qc5 36. Qf3 Qc6 37. Qe3 Rc5 38. a4 a5 39. Qf4 Kg8 40.
Qe3 Rc2 41. R3d2 Rc3 42. Rd3 Rc5 43. Qf4 Rd5 44. Rxd5 exd5 45. Rc1 Qxd6 46.
Rc8+ Kh7 47. Qd4 Qe6 48. Qd3+ Qe4 49. Qxe4+ dxe4 50. Rc6 Rb7 51. Kf1 g6 52. Ke2
Kg7 53. Ke3 b5 54. Rc5 bxa4 55. bxa4 Rb3+ 56. Ke2 Rb2+ 57. Kf1 Ra2 58. Rxa5 Kf6
59. Ke1 Ke6 60. Kf1 f6 61. Ke1 g5 62. hxg5 hxg5 63. g4 e3 64. fxe3 Rg2 65. Ra6+
Kf7 66. a5 Rxg4 67. Rb6 Rg2 68. a6 Ra2 69. e4 Ra4 70. e5 Re4+ 71. Kd2 Rxe5 72.
Kc3 Ra5 0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G10"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.13"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C90"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2017.11.13"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. Re1 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. Nbd2 Re8 12. Nf1 Nc6 13. Ne3 Bf8 14. a4 b4 15.
Nd5 h6 16. a5 Nxd5 17. exd5 Nxa5 18. Ba4 Re7 19. Nd2 Rb8 20. c4 Nb7 21. Ne4 f5
22. Ng3 f4 23. Ne4 Rf7 24. Bd2 Qb6 25. Be8 Re7 26. Qh5 Bf5 27. Qxf5 Rbxe8 28.
Qg6 Kh8 29. g3 Na5 30. Nxd6 Kg8 31. Rxa5 Rd8 32. Rea1 Rxd6 33. Qe4 Qb7 34. Rxc5
Rf7 35. Rc6 Rxc6 36. dxc6 Qb6 37. gxf4 Bc5 38. Kh1 Bd4 39. fxe5 Rxf2 40. Bf4
Bxb2 41. Be3 Qb8 42. Rg1 Rf8 43. d4 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G10"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.13"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2774"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2017.11.13"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Nbd2 O-O 5. a3 Be7 6. e4 d6 7. Be2 c5 8. d5
e5 9. Qc2 Nbd7 10. Nf1 a6 11. Bd2 Nh5 12. g3 g6 13. Ne3 Ng7 14. Bd3 Nf6 15. O-O
Ng4 16. b4 b6 17. bxc5 bxc5 18. Rab1 Nxe3 19. Bxe3 Bh3 20. Rfe1 f5 21. exf5
gxf5 22. Bf1 Bxf1 23. Rxf1 Qd7 24. Bg5 e4 25. Bxe7 Qxe7 26. Nh4 f4 27. Ng2 Nf5
28. Nxf4 Nd4 29. Qb2 Qg5 30. Ne6 Nf3+ 31. Kg2 Qg4 32. h3 Nh4+ 33. Kh2 Nf3+ 34.
Kg2 Nh4+ 35. Kh2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G10"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.13"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[PlyCount "170"]
[EventDate "2017.11.13"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a3
O-O 9. Nbd2 Na5 10. Ba2 c5 11. Re1 Nc6 12. c3 Re8 13. Nf1 h6 14. Ne3 Bf8 15. b4
Be6 16. Nd5 Rc8 17. Bd2 Bxd5 18. exd5 Ne7 19. c4 Nf5 20. a4 bxa4 21. bxc5 Rxc5
22. Qxa4 e4 23. dxe4 Nxe4 24. Bb4 Rc8 25. Qc2 Qf6 26. h3 Nd4 27. Nxd4 Qxd4 28.
Rad1 Qb6 29. Rb1 Qd4 30. Rbd1 Qb6 31. Ba3 Qa5 32. Re3 Nf6 33. Rdd3 Rxe3 34.
Rxe3 Re8 35. Bc1 Rxe3 36. Bxe3 Qe1+ 37. Kh2 Qa1 38. g3 a5 39. Kg2 Qe5 40. Bb1
g6 41. Bb6 Qe1 42. Bd4 Nd7 43. Bc3 Qe7 44. Bxa5 Bg7 45. Bd2 h5 46. Be3 Be5 47.
Qd2 Nc5 48. Bc2 Kg7 49. Qe2 Qf6 50. Qf3 Qxf3+ 51. Kxf3 f5 52. Ke2 Kf6 53. Kd2
g5 54. f4 gxf4 55. gxf4 Bb2 56. Bf2 Kg6 57. Kd1 Bc3 58. Bh4 Bf6 59. Be1 Bd4 60.
Ke2 Bb2 61. Ba5 Bc1 62. Kf3 Ba3 63. Bc7 Nd7 64. Ke2 Nf6 65. Bd3 Bc5 66. Kd1 Ne4
67. Kc2 Nf2 68. Bf1 Ne4 69. Bg2 Ng3 70. Bf3 Ne4 71. Bg2 Ng3 72. Kd3 h4 73. Bd8
Nh5 74. Bg5 Bf2 75. Bf3 Nf6 76. Ke2 Bg3 77. Ke3 Kf7 78. Kd3 Nh7 79. Bh5+ Kg7
80. Be7 Nf6 81. c5 dxc5 82. Bf3 Bxf4 83. Bxc5 Ne8 84. Be7 Nd6 85. Bxh4 Kg6 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G10"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.13"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2774"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "130"]
[EventDate "2017.11.13"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 a6 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be6 7. e3 Nbd7 8.
Bd3 h6 9. Bh4 Bd6 10. O-O O-O 11. Rc1 Re8 12. a3 c6 13. Bg3 Bxg3 14. hxg3 Bg4
15. Ne2 Ne4 16. Nf4 Ndf6 17. Be2 Nd6 18. Ne5 Bxe2 19. Qxe2 Nfe4 20. g4 Qg5 21.
g3 f5 22. Kg2 fxg4 23. Rh1 Nf6 24. Rh4 Rxe5 25. dxe5 Qxe5 26. Rhh1 Qe4+ 27. Kg1
Nc4 28. Qc2 Ne5 29. Qxe4 Nxe4 30. Kg2 Rf8 31. Rc2 Rf6 32. Rd1 g5 33. Nd3 Nxd3
34. Rxd3 h5 35. b4 h4 36. a4 Kg7 37. b5 axb5 38. axb5 Kg6 39. bxc6 bxc6 40. Ra3
c5 41. Rd3 h3+ 42. Kg1 Rd6 43. Rd1 Kf5 44. Rb2 c4 45. Rb8 c3 46. Rf8+ Ke5 47.
Re8+ Re6 48. Rd8 Rd6 49. Re8+ Kf5 50. Rf8+ Ke6 51. Re8+ Kd7 52. Ra8 Nd2 53. Rc1
Rc6 54. Ra3 Ne4 55. Rd1 Ke6 56. Rc1 Rb6 57. Raxc3 Nxc3 58. Rxc3 Rb1+ 59. Kh2
Rf1 60. Rc2 Kf5 61. Rb2 Ke4 62. Ra2 Kf3 63. e4 Kxe4 64. Re2+ Kd3 65. Re3+ Kc4
0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G05"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2017.11.14"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. e3 Nf6 3. d4 e6 4. c4 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bb5+ Bd7 7. Bxd7+ Nbxd7
8. O-O c4 9. a4 a6 10. a5 Bd6 11. b3 Rc8 12. bxc4 dxc4 13. Qa4 O-O 14. Ba3 b5
15. axb6 Nxb6 16. Qc2 Nbd5 17. Nc3 Nxc3 18. Qxc3 Rc6 19. Bxd6 Qxd6 20. Ne5 Rc7
21. Qa3 Qxa3 22. Rxa3 c3 23. Rc1 c2 24. Kf1 Rb8 25. Rxa6 h5 26. Ra2 Rb1 27. Nd3
Rc3 28. Raxc2 Rxc1+ 29. Rxc1 Rxd3 30. Ke2 Ra3 31. Rc2 g6 32. Kf3 Kg7 33. h3 g5
34. Rc5 Kg6 35. Rc6 h4 36. g4 hxg3 37. Kxg3 Kf5 38. Rc5+ Kg6 39. Rc6 Kg7 40. h4
g4 41. h5 Nxh5+ 42. Kxg4 Nf6+ 43. Kf3 Nd5 44. Rc5 Nb4 45. Rb5 Nc6 46. Ke4 Ne7
47. Rb7 Kf6 48. Rb6+ Kg7 49. Rb7 Kf6 50. Rb6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G05"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.14"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E62"]
[WhiteElo "2774"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2017.11.14"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nc3 d6 6. Nf3 c6 7. O-O Bf5 8. Ne1
Be6 9. d5 cxd5 10. cxd5 Bd7 11. Be3 a5 12. Bd4 Na6 13. Nd3 b5 14. a3 b4 15.
axb4 Nxb4 16. Qd2 Rb8 17. Nxb4 Rxb4 18. e3 Qb8 19. Ne2 a4 20. Bc3 Rb5 21. Nd4
Rxd5 22. Bxd5 Nxd5 23. Rfc1 Qb7 24. Ne2 Nxc3 25. Nxc3 Rb8 26. Nd5 Bxb2 27. Rc7
Qxc7 28. Nxc7 Bxa1 29. Nd5 Kf8 30. Qa5 Bc6 31. Nb4 Bc3 32. Qc7 Rxb4 33. Qxc6
Bf6 34. Qa8+ Kg7 35. Qa5 Rb1+ 36. Kg2 Ra1 37. f4 a3 38. e4 Bb2 39. Qb4 Re1 40.
Qb3 Rxe4 41. Kf3 Re1 42. h4 h5 43. Qc4 e6 44. Qb3 d5 45. Qa2 Ra1 46. Qb3 Rc1
47. Kg2 Rc3 48. Qa4 Rc4 49. Qa7 Rc2+ 50. Kf3 d4 51. Qa5 d3 52. Qa4 Rc1 53. Qb4
Rc8 54. g4 hxg4+ 55. Kxg4 Rd8 56. Qd2 Bf6 57. h5 a2 0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G05"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.14"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B25"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2017.11.14"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. Nge2 Nf6 4. g3 Nc6 5. Bg2 g6 6. d3 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. h3
e6 9. Be3 b6 10. Qd2 d5 11. Bh6 Bxh6 12. Qxh6 Nd4 13. exd5 Nxe2+ 14. Nxe2 exd5
15. Rfe1 Bb7 16. g4 Re8 17. Ng3 Qd6 18. g5 Rxe1+ 19. Rxe1 Re8 20. Rxe8+ Nxe8
21. Nf1 Bc8 22. Qh4 d4 23. Qg3 Be6 24. a3 Kg7 25. Nd2 Qxg3 26. fxg3 Nd6 27. Kf2
Nf5 28. Nf1 f6 29. gxf6+ Kxf6 30. g4 Nd6 31. Nd2 h5 32. gxh5 gxh5 33. Kg3 Nf5+
34. Kf4 Ne3 35. Bf3 h4 36. Ne4+ Ke7 37. Ng5 Nxc2 38. Nxe6 Kxe6 39. Kg5 Ke5 40.
Kxh4 Kf4 41. Bc6 Ne1 42. Bb5 Ke3 43. Kg5 Nxd3 44. h4 Nf4 45. Kf5 Kf3 46. Bc6+
Kg3 47. Bb5 Kf3 48. Bc6+ Ke3 49. Bb5 Nh5 50. Kg5 Ng3 51. Kg4 Ne4 52. h5 Nf6+
53. Kg5 Nxh5 54. Kxh5 d3 55. Kg4 d2 56. Ba4 Ke2 57. Kf4 d1=Q 0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G05"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.14"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2774"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2017.11.14"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 e6 4. g3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O a6 7. Re1 d6 8. e4 Be7
9. d4 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Qc7 11. Be3 Nbd7 12. Rc1 Rc8 13. f4 Qb8 14. g4 h5 15. g5
Ng4 16. g6 Rxc4 17. gxf7+ Kxf7 18. Bf1 Nxe3 19. Rxe3 Rxd4 20. Qxd4 b5 21. Rg3
Bf6 22. e5 Bd8 23. Ne4 Bb6 0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G05"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.14"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[PlyCount "169"]
[EventDate "2017.11.14"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. e3 Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 c5 7. O-O cxd4 8.
exd4 Bg4 9. h3 Bxf3 10. Bxf3 Nc6 11. Ne2 b5 12. c3 e6 13. a3 a5 14. Nc1 b4 15.
a4 Ne4 16. Bxe4 dxe4 17. Nb3 e5 18. dxe5 bxc3 19. bxc3 Nxe5 20. Bxe5 Bxe5 21.
Rc1 Qg5 22. Qe2 e3 23. fxe3 Rae8 24. Rf3 Bc7 25. Nd4 Re4 26. Rcf1 Qe5 27. Qd3
Re8 28. Kf2 Qg5 29. Rb1 Qh4+ 30. Kf1 Qg5 31. Rb5 Qe7 32. Rb7 Qc5 33. Nb5 R4e7
34. c4 Be5 35. Rxe7 Qxe7 36. Nc3 Qa3 37. e4 Qc1+ 38. Qd1 Qxd1+ 39. Nxd1 Rb8 40.
Rd3 Rb4 41. Rd5 f6 42. Rxa5 Rxc4 43. Ra8+ Kg7 44. Ra7+ Kh6 45. Ne3 Rxe4 46.
Ng4+ Kg5 47. Nxe5 fxe5 48. a5 Ra4 49. a6 Kf4 50. Rxh7 Rxa6 51. Rh4+ Ke3 52. Kg1
e4 53. Rh8 Ke2 54. Rb8 e3 55. Rb2+ Kd1 56. Rb1+ Kc2 57. Rb8 Ra1+ 58. Kh2 e2 59.
Rc8+ Kd3 60. Rd8+ Kc4 61. Rc8+ Kd5 62. Rd8+ Kc6 63. Re8 e1=Q 64. Rxe1 Rxe1 65.
Kg3 Re4 66. Kf3 Kd5 67. h4 Ke5 68. g3 Rd4 69. Ke3 g5 70. hxg5 Rg4 71. Kf3 Rxg5
72. g4 Kf6 73. Kf4 Kg6 74. Kg3 Re5 75. Kf4 Kf6 76. Kf3 Kg5 77. Kg3 Re4 78. Kf3
Rxg4 79. Ke3 Rf4 80. Kd3 Kf5 81. Ke3 Re4+ 82. Kd3 Ke5 83. Kc3 Rd4 84. Kc2 Kd5
85. Kc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G05"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.14"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E91"]
[WhiteElo "2774"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2017.11.14"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. e4 d6 6. Nf3 O-O 7. Be2 e6 8. Nd2 Re8
9. O-O Na6 10. f3 Nc7 11. a4 Na6 12. Ndb1 Nh5 13. Be3 e5 14. Na3 f5 15. Nc2 Nf4
16. exf5 gxf5 17. Qd2 Nb4 18. Bd1 Nbd3 19. Ne1 Nb4 20. Nc2 Bd7 21. Nxb4 cxb4
22. Ne2 Rc8 23. b3 a5 24. Nxf4 exf4 25. Bd4 Qg5 26. Bxg7 Qxg7 27. Bc2 Re3 28.
Rae1 Rce8 29. Rxe3 fxe3 30. Qe2 f4 31. Rd1 b6 32. Kf1 Qh6 33. Kg1 Qf6 34. g4 h5
35. gxh5 Re5 36. Kh1 Rxh5 37. Rg1+ Rg5 38. Rxg5+ Qxg5 39. Qd3 Kf8 40. Qd4 e2
41. Qf2 Qe5 42. Qe1 Bh3 43. Bb1 Qc3 0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G05"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.14"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A25"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2017.11.14"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2 e5 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. e3 Nge7 6. Nge2 O-O 7. O-O d6 8. d3
Be6 9. Nd5 Qd7 10. Nec3 Rae8 11. b4 e4 12. dxe4 Bxd5 13. exd5 Nxb4 14. Bd2 Nd3
15. Rb1 Nc5 16. Ne2 Nf5 17. Qc2 h5 18. Nc1 b6 19. Nb3 h4 20. Nxc5 dxc5 21. Bh3
Re7 22. Rfe1 hxg3 23. hxg3 Nd4 24. exd4 Rxe1+ 25. Rxe1 Qxh3 26. dxc5 bxc5 27.
Bf4 Bd4 28. Bxc7 Rc8 29. Bf4 Kg7 30. Qe4 Rh8 31. Be5+ Bxe5 32. Qxe5+ Kg8 33.
Qe4 Kg7 34. Qg2 Qf5 35. Qe4 Qh3 36. d6 Qh2+ 37. Kf1 Qh1+ 38. Qxh1 Rxh1+ 39. Ke2
Rxe1+ 40. Kxe1 Kf6 41. Ke2 Ke6 42. Ke3 Kxd6 43. Kf4 f6 44. g4 Ke6 45. f3 Kd6
46. Ke4 Ke6 47. f4 f5+ 48. Kf3 Kf6 49. Kg3 g5 50. fxg5+ Kxg5 51. gxf5 Kxf5 52.
Kf3 Ke5 53. Ke3 Kf5 54. Kf3 Ke5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G05"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.14"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E70"]
[WhiteElo "2774"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "156"]
[EventDate "2017.11.14"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. e4 d6 6. Nge2 O-O 7. Ng3 a6 8. a4 h5
9. Be2 e5 10. Bg5 Qe8 11. Qd2 Nbd7 12. O-O Nh7 13. Bh6 h4 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. Nh1
f5 16. exf5 gxf5 17. f4 Qg6 18. Nf2 e4 19. a5 Ndf6 20. Ncd1 Rb8 21. b4 cxb4 22.
Qxb4 Nd7 23. Ne3 b6 24. Rfb1 Qf6 25. axb6 Rxb6 26. Qd2 Rxb1+ 27. Rxb1 Nc5 28.
Rb6 Bd7 29. g3 hxg3 30. hxg3 Kh8 31. Kg2 Rg8 32. Nfd1 Qf8 33. Nf1 Nf6 34. Nde3
Qe7 35. Qd4 Kh7 36. Qd2 Ra8 37. Rb1 a5 38. g4 fxg4 39. Ng3 a4 40. Rh1+ Kg8 41.
Qd4 Nb3 42. Qc3 Nc5 43. Ngf5 Bxf5 44. Nxf5 Qf8 45. Rh6 Ncd7 46. c5 a3 47. Rg6+
Kf7 48. Rg7+ Qxg7 49. Nxg7 Kxg7 50. c6 a2 51. cxd7 a1=Q 52. Qxa1 Rxa1 53. d8=Q
Ra2 54. Kf2 g3+ 55. Ke3 g2 56. Qe7+ Kg6 57. f5+ Kxf5 58. Qg7 Nxd5+ 59. Kd4 Rxe2
60. Kxd5 Rd2+ 61. Kc4 e3 62. Qf7+ Ke4 63. Qg6+ Kf3 64. Qf5+ Ke2 65. Qg4+ Kf2
66. Qf4+ Ke2 67. Qg4+ Ke1 68. Qg3+ Rf2 69. Qxe3+ Re2 70. Qg3+ Kf1 71. Qf3+ Ke1
72. Qg3+ Kd1 73. Kd3 Rd2+ 74. Ke3 Re2+ 75. Kf3 Rd2 76. Ke3 Kc2 77. Ke4 d5+ 78.
Ke3 Rd3+ 0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G05"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.14"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2017.11.14"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. a4 Ngf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bxd7+ Bxd7 7. a5 g6 8.
O-O Bg7 9. e5 dxe5 10. Nxe5 O-O 11. d3 Be6 12. Re1 Nd5 13. Bd2 Qc7 14. Nxd5
Bxd5 15. Bc3 Rad8 16. Qe2 f6 17. Nc4 e5 18. b3 Rfe8 19. f3 Bf8 20. Qf2 Bc6 21.
Re2 Qf7 22. Rae1 g5 23. Bd2 h6 24. Be3 Qd5 25. Nd2 f5 26. Nc4 e4 27. dxe4 fxe4
28. f4 gxf4 29. Qxf4 Bg7 30. Qh4 Kh7 31. Rd2 Qg8 32. Rxd8 Rxd8 33. Ne5 Re8 34.
Ng4 Qe6 35. h3 Rf8 36. Bxc5 Rf5 37. Be3 h5 38. Nf2 Bf6 39. Qg3 Be5 40. Qh4 Bf6
41. Qg3 Be5 42. Qh4 Bf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G05"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.14"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E70"]
[WhiteElo "2774"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2017.11.14"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c5 4. d5 d6 5. e4 Nf6 6. Nge2 O-O 7. Ng3 a6 8. a4 h5
9. Be2 e5 10. Bg5 Qe8 11. Qd2 Nbd7 12. a5 Nh7 13. Bh6 Rb8 14. Bxh5 Bxh6 15.
Qxh6 b6 16. Bd1 bxa5 17. b3 Qd8 18. h4 Ndf6 19. Qd2 Bd7 20. Nf1 a4 21. bxa4 Rb4
22. Ne3 Qa5 23. f3 Qb6 24. a5 Qb7 25. Ra2 Nh5 26. Ne2 Rb8 27. g4 Nf4 28. Nxf4
exf4 29. Ng2 Rxc4 30. Nxf4 Rd4 31. Qc2 Qb4+ 32. Kf2 c4 33. Ne2 Rd3 34. Nf4 Rb3
35. Be2 c3 36. Kg3 Qd4 37. Nd3 Nf6 38. Rd1 Bxg4 39. fxg4 Nxe4+ 40. Kg2 Rb2 41.
Ra4 Qe3 0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G05"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.14"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E60"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2017.11.14"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. b3 Bg7 4. Bb2 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. d4 c5 7. c4 Qa5+ 8. Bc3
Qc7 9. Nbd2 Re8 10. O-O e5 11. d5 e4 12. Ng5 Bf5 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Ngxe4 Bxa1
15. Qxa1 Bxe4 16. Nxe4 Nd7 17. f4 Re7 18. g4 Rae8 19. Ng3 b5 20. e4 bxc4 21.
bxc4 Qa5 22. Qc1 Nf6 23. e5 dxe5 24. f5 Nxg4 25. Qg5 e4 26. d6 Re5 27. Qxg4 Qc3
28. fxg6 hxg6 29. d7 Rd8 30. Nxe4 Qd4+ 31. Kh1 Kg7 32. Nf6 Qxg4 33. Nxg4 Rg5
34. Nf6 Rf5 35. Rxf5 gxf5 36. Ne8+ Kf8 37. Bc6 Ke7 38. h4 Rb8 39. h5 Rb4 40.
Nd6 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Carlsen-Ding Showdown G05"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2017.11.14"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2774"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2017.11.14"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 a6 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be6 7. e3 Nbd7 8.
Bd3 Bd6 9. O-O O-O 10. h3 h6 11. Bf4 Qe7 12. Re1 Rfe8 13. a3 c6 14. Qc2 a5 15.
Na4 Ne4 16. Bxe4 dxe4 17. Qxe4 Nf6 18. Bxd6 Qxd6 19. Qe5 Qd8 20. Qf4 Bd5 21.
Nc3 Ne4 22. Nxd5 Qxd5 23. Ne5 c5 24. Rad1 cxd4 25. exd4 Nf6 26. Qf3 Qxf3 27.
Nxf3 Nd5 28. Re5 Red8 29. Rc1 f6 30. Re2 g5 31. g3 Kf7 32. Rec2 Rd7 33. Nd2 Ne7
34. Rc7 Rad8 35. Nb3 b6 36. a4 h5 37. R1c4 Nd5 38. Rxd7+ Rxd7 39. Nc1 Ke6 40.
Ne2 h4 41. Nc3 Kf5 42. g4+ Kg6 43. Nxd5 Rxd5 44. Kg2 f5 45. Rc6+ Kf7 46. gxf5
Rxd4 47. Rxb6 Rxa4 48. Ra6 Rb4 49. Rxa5 Kf6 50. Rc5 Rxb2 51. Rd5 Rb4 52. Rc5
Rf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 9th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2017.12.01"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D27"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2799"]
[Annotator "Yermolinsky,A"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2017.12.01"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 {Caruana successfully relied on the Queen's Gambit
Accepted in his match with Grischuk, Champions Showdown, St. Louis 2017.} 3. e3
{The quietest line. White makes sure to get his pawn back.} ({Alexander
focussed on} 3. e4) 3... Nf6 4. Bxc4 e6 5. Nf3 c5 6. O-O a6 7. Be2 $5 {Typical
Magnus. This move is way down the list of White's options.} Nbd7 {Caruana is
careful to sidestep Carlsen's preparation.} (7... cxd4 8. exd4 Nc6 9. Nc3 Be7
10. Be3 {was seen in Aronian-Caruana, Sinquefield Cup 2017. While the position
of Be2 doesn't lend a hand to White's usual attacking ambition on the kingside,
he can choose a different plan. Fabiano reacted quickly} Ng4 $5 ({not allowing
White to expand after} 10... O-O 11. Ne5) 11. Bf4 Nf6 {defended a slightly
worse position very successfully, and later took advantage of Levon's blunder.
The whole affair took 110 moves!}) 8. Nc3 b6 $5 (8... b5 {seems obvious, but
there lies the point of Carlsen's idea.} 9. e4 b4 10. e5 bxc3 11. exf6 Nxf6 ({
But} 11... cxb2 $6 {is much worse:} 12. fxg7 bxa1=Q $2 13. gxh8=Q {The same as
in the similar position of the Meran Variation: the four queens on the board
make the weak black king the decisive factor in the battle.}) 12. bxc3 {
With his bishop on e2, instead of d3, White is much better suited for
subsequent play with Ne5 and Bf3.}) 9. e4 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Bb7 11. Be3 $5 {
Still in Magnus's preparation. Now he offers a pawn sac.} ({The immediate} 11.
f3 {would have pointed Black in the right direction:} Qb8 $1 12. Be3 Bd6 13. g3
h5 $5) 11... Bc5 {With this move Caruana accepts a slightly worse position.} ({
One wonders about} 11... Nxe4 12. Nxe4 Bxe4 13. Bf3 Bxf3 14. Qxf3 Bc5 {Clearly,
White has some play, but is it enough to claim an advantage? Practical testing
is awaited.}) 12. f3 $14 {There are many classical examples, some from
Kramnik's games, of White benefiting from his g2-f3-e4 pawn chain. Black's Nf6
and Bb7 are restricted.} O-O 13. Qe1 ({The more direct} 13. Qd2 Rc8 14. Na4 Be7
15. b4 b5 16. Nb2 {would leave Black searching for a suitable square for his
queen, while a2-a4 won't be long in coming.}) 13... Rc8 14. Qf2 b5 15. Rac1 Qe7
{Now possible, as the Bc5 can retreat along the other diagonal.} 16. a4 ({
I figure Kramnik would have preferred} 16. Nb3 Bxe3 17. Qxe3 {eyeing that
a5-square.}) 16... bxa4 17. Nxa4 Bd6 $6 {A surprising choice.} (17... Ba7 {
was safe, as} 18. Nf5 $2 exf5 19. Bxa7 fxe4 {loses a pawn for White.}) 18. Nb3
Bc6 19. Nc3 Rb8 20. Na5 Ba8 21. Nc4 Bc5 22. Rfd1 Rfc8 23. Na4 $6 {True to his
style of play, Magnus seeks some clarification, but taking his knight to the
edge of the board cost him a big chunk of his advantage.} ({The logical choice
would have been} 23. Ra1 {to hit the weak pawn. White can also have plans for
central expansion, such as in} Bxe3 24. Qxe3 Nc5 25. Nd6 Rc6 26. e5 Nfd7 27. f4
) 23... Bxe3 24. Qxe3 Qb4 $1 {A timely activity to interfere with White's
plans.} 25. Qa3 {This was expected from Magnus Carlsen.} (25. Nc3) 25... h6 26.
Kf1 ({White could have accomplished more simplification with the help of a
little tactic} 26. Ncb6 $5 Qxa3 27. Rxc8+ Rxc8 28. bxa3 Nxb6 29. Nxb6 Rb8 30.
Nxa8 Rxa8 31. Rc1 $14) 26... g5 27. Rc3 a5 28. Qxb4 axb4 {A welcome pawn
structure change if you're a Caruana fan. Still, White is a little better, and
Magnus is Magnus.} 29. Rcc1 Kf8 30. Na5 Ke7 31. Kf2 Rxc1 32. Rxc1 Ne8 33. Ke3
Nd6 34. Nc5 Rc8 35. Nab3 f5 $6 (35... Ne5 {would have prevented White from
trading rooks, which he needs to accomplish if he's serious about hitting that
b4-pawn.}) 36. Nxd7 Rxc1 37. Nxc1 Kxd7 38. Nd3 $6 ({It is surprising to see
Carlsen neglecting a chance to win a clean pawn after} 38. Bd3 fxe4 39. fxe4 {
and there's no stopping the threat of Na2. Truth to tell, White would still be
a long ways from winning the game.} e5 40. Na2 Kc7 41. Nxb4 Kb6) 38... fxe4 39.
fxe4 Ke7 40. e5 ({Another option was} 40. Bf3 g4 41. Bxg4 Bxe4 42. Bf3 Bxd3 43.
Kxd3 e5 $14) 40... Nf5+ 41. Kf2 Nd4 42. Bd1 b3 43. Nb4 Bd5 44. g3 (44. Nxd5+
exd5 45. Ke3 Nf5+ 46. Kd3 Ke6 47. Bxb3 Kxe5 {An outside passer is always
useful in B vs N endgames, but here Black is well centralised and therefore
should hold.}) 44... Bc4 45. Ke3 Nf5+ 46. Ke4 $6 (46. Kd2 {seemed more
promising:} Kd7 47. Bf3 Kc7 48. Kc3) 46... Kd7 47. g4 {This pawn will be a
target for Black's counterplay.} Ne7 48. Kd4 Bf1 49. Bxb3 Be2 50. h3 Bf1 51.
Nd3 Nc6+ 52. Kc5 $5 {A fancy way to reach a draw that seened inevitable anyhow.
} Bxd3 53. Ba4 Be4 54. Kb6 Bd5 {Of course Black cannot unpin, but he can wait
for the white pawn to come to b5, and then his knight can move away.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 9th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2017.12.03"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2760"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2017.12.01"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 a6 7. a4 Ba7 8. Re1 h6
9. Nbd2 g5 10. b4 Nh5 11. Nb3 g4 12. b5 gxf3 13. Qxf3 Qf6 14. Qxf6 Nxf6 15.
bxc6 bxc6 16. d4 Be6 17. Bxe6 fxe6 18. Be3 exd4 19. Bxd4 e5 20. Bxa7 Rxa7 21.
Na5 Kd7 22. Rab1 Raa8 23. f3 Rab8 24. Kf2 h5 25. h4 Rhf8 26. Ke3 Rg8 27. Kf2
Rgf8 28. Ke3 Rg8 29. Kf2 Rgf8 30. Ke3 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 9th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2017.12.04"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2874"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[Annotator "Yermolinsky,A"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2017.12.01"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. Nf3 c5 {Anand likes straighforward
lines in his preparation to play with black pieces.} 6. O-O Nc6 7. Na3 $5 ({
A similar version of the same idea is} 7. Ne5 Bd7 8. Na3 cxd4 9. Naxc4 Bc5) ({
while, of course,} 7. Qa4 {remains White's top choice.}) 7... cxd4 8. Nxc4 Bc5
9. b3 $5 (9. a3 a5 10. Bd2 O-O 11. Rc1 a4 12. Nce5 {Artemiev-Zvjaginsev, 2015})
(9. Qc2 O-O 10. Nce5 {Nakamura-Kaidanov, 2012}) 9... Qe7 10. Nfe5 {It seems
Carlsen wasn't sure about his preparation.} ({A logical follow-up has to be} 
10. Bb2 e5 11. b4 $1 {where Black's best may be} Nxb4 (11... Bxb4 12. Nfxe5
Nxe5 13. Nxe5 Bc3 14. Bxc3 dxc3 15. Qa4+ Nd7 16. Nc4 {quickly rounding up the
c3-pawn and keeping some edge due to the vastly superior bishop.}) 12. Nfxe5
O-O 13. a3 Na6 {White then gets his pawn back and plays on.} 14. Bxd4 Bxd4 15.
Qxd4 Rd8 16. Qf4 {etc.}) 10... Nxe5 11. Nxe5 {In such positions the key issue
is to prevent Black from connecting his pawns.} Nd7 $1 {Vishy cuts to the
chase. The issue of a strong white knight has to be addressed immediately.} (
11... O-O 12. Bb2 Rd8 13. Rc1 Rb8 14. Qc2 Bb6 15. Rfd1 Nd7 16. Nc4 $1 {turned
out to be better for White in Melkumian-Grachev, World Cup 2017.}) 12. Bf4 O-O
13. Rc1 Rd8 ({A more direct way was} 13... f6 14. Nxd7 Bxd7 15. Bxb7 Rae8 16.
Qd3 Kh8) 14. Nd3 $6 {Magnus takes it a bit too far.} ({Perhaps he was not
entirely satisfied with White's chances after} 14. Nxd7 Rxd7 (14... Bxd7 15.
Bxb7 e5 {is enterprising.}) 15. Rc4 e5 16. Qc2 exf4 17. Rxc5 Rd8 {but
nevertheless, it was the way to go.}) 14... Bb6 15. Bc7 Re8 16. Qc2 e5 {
Black has accomplished his goal, and now it's up to White not to get worse.}
17. Rfd1 Nf8 18. a4 Bg4 19. Bxb6 axb6 20. h3 Rac8 21. Qd2 {Here we have it:
Black is a clean pawn up.} Be6 $2 {One can only feel disappointment seeing the
former World Champ settling for a draw.} (21... Bh5 22. Rc4 f6 23. Rdc1 Rxc4
24. bxc4 Bf7 $15) 22. Nxe5 Rxc1 23. Rxc1 Bxb3 24. Nf3 Bxa4 25. Nxd4 Ne6 26. Nf5
Qf6 27. Ne3 Qd4 28. Qa2 Nc5 29. Rc4 Bb3 30. Rxd4 Bxa2 31. Rb4 Re6 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 9th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2017.12.05"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2789"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2017.12.01"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. O-O O-O 7. Re1 Ne7 8. d4
Bb6 9. a4 c6 10. dxe5 Ng4 11. Rf1 dxe5 12. Qxd8 Bxd8 13. h3 Nf6 14. Nxe5 Nxe4
15. Re1 Nd6 16. Bb3 Re8 17. Nf3 Nd5 18. Rd1 Ne4 19. Bxd5 cxd5 20. Rxd5 Be6 21.
Re5 Nf6 22. Re1 Bc7 23. Na3 a6 24. Nc2 Nd5 25. c4 Nf4 26. Bxf4 Bxf4 27. b3 Rad8
28. Rad1 Kf8 29. Nb4 Bc7 30. Nd3 Bf5 31. Rxe8+ Kxe8 32. Re1+ Kf8 33. Nc5 Bc8
34. Kf1 Ba5 35. Re3 Rd1+ 36. Ke2 Rb1 37. Ne4 Rb2+ 38. Kf1 Bf5 39. Nd6 Rb1+ 40.
Ke2 Rb2+ 41. Kf1 Rb1+ 42. Ke2 Rb2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 9th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2017.12.06"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2788"]
[PlyCount "136"]
[EventDate "2017.12.01"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bg5 Nd4 6. Nxd4 Bxd4 7. c3 Bb6 8.
Nd2 c6 9. Ba4 h6 10. Bh4 d6 11. Nc4 Bc7 12. Ne3 Bb6 13. Bb3 g5 14. Bg3 Bxe3 15.
fxe3 Bg4 16. Qd2 Nh5 17. O-O O-O 18. Be1 Qe7 19. h3 Be6 20. Qe2 Bxb3 21. Qxh5
Bc2 22. Qe2 Ba4 23. b3 Bb5 24. a4 Ba6 25. b4 b6 26. c4 Bb7 27. a5 f6 28. d4 Qh7
29. c5 bxc5 30. bxc5 Qxe4 31. cxd6 exd4 32. Qc4+ Kg7 33. a6 Bc8 34. Qxd4 Qxd4
35. exd4 Rb8 36. Bf2 Rf7 37. d5 cxd5 38. Rfc1 d4 39. Bxd4 Bf5 40. Rc7 Rd8 41.
Bc5 Rdd7 42. Rxd7 Rxd7 43. Kf2 Be4 44. g4 f5 45. Ke3 Kf6 46. Ra5 Bc2 47. Rb5
Ke6 48. Rb2 f4+ 49. Kd4 Bd1 50. Rb8 f3 51. Ke3 Kd5 52. Ba3 Be2 53. Rh8 Kc4 54.
Rxh6 Kb3 55. Bc5 Kc4 56. Bd4 Kd5 57. Rg6 Rxd6 58. Rxg5+ Ke6 59. Bxa7 Rxa6 60.
Bc5 Ra2 61. Kf4 f2 62. Re5+ Kf7 63. Rf5+ Kg8 64. Bxf2 Bf1 65. Kg3 Ra3+ 66. Rf3
Rxf3+ 67. Kxf3 Bxh3 68. Kf4 Bxg4 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 9th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2017.12.08"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2781"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[Annotator "Yermolinsky,A"]
[PlyCount "145"]
[EventDate "2017.12.01"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8.
h4 Bb7 9. c4 Nb6 10. Rh3 Qe6 11. f4 O-O-O 12. a4 d5 13. a5 Nxc4 14. b3 Bb4+ 15.
Kf2 Nxa5 16. Bd2 c5 17. Rxa5 Bxa5 18. Bxa5 Qf5 19. Nc3 Qxf4+ 20. Kg1 Rhe8 21.
Nb5 a6 22. Rf3 Qxe5 23. Qxe5 Rxe5 24. Bxc7 Ree8 25. Bxd8 Rxd8 26. Na3 Rd7 27.
Bd3 Kd8 28. Bxh7 g6 29. h5 gxh5 30. Rf6 Ke7 31. Rb6 Rc7 32. Nc2 a5 33. Ne3 c4
34. Bc2 Bc6 35. bxc4 dxc4 36. Ra6 a4 37. Bxa4 Be4 38. Ra5 Ke6 39. Rxh5 c3 40.
Bb3+ Kd6 41. Bc2 Bxc2 42. Nxc2 Ke6 43. Kf2 f5 44. Rh3 {Hikaru's choice shows
his desire to stabilise the situation.} ({He had a direct plan of bringing his
king up, but there were many tactics to calculate.} 44. Ke3 $1 {is a very
human move, in reply to which} Kf6 {is the toughest defence.} (44... Rc8 45.
Nd4+ Kd7 46. Rh7+ Kd6 47. Kd3 $1 f4 (47... Rg8 48. Nxf5+ Ke5 49. Ne3) 48. Rh6+
$1 Ke5 49. Re6+ Kd5 {and finally,} 50. Rg6 $1 {puts Black in zugzwang.} Ke5 (
50... Rc7 51. Rg5+ Kd6 52. Nb5+) 51. Nc6+ Kf5 52. Ne7+) 45. Kd4 Rc8 $1 (45...
Rg7 {gets turned away by} 46. Ne3 f4 47. Nd5+ Kf7 48. Nxf4 $18) (45... f4 $5 {
is a try, but the black king can never support the pawn, so White should be
able to navigate his way to a win after} 46. Ke4 Rc4+ (46... Rg7 47. Rf5+ Ke6
48. Nd4+ Ke7 49. Kf3 Rg3+ 50. Kf2 Rd3 51. Ne2 $18) 47. Kf3 Kg6 48. Rh4 $1 Kg5
49. g3 $18) 46. Rh6+ (46. Rh3 Rg8 47. Ne1 c2 48. Rc3 Re8 49. Nxc2 Re2 $11)
46... Kg5 47. Rh3 {the c3-pawn drops, and it has to be all over now, right?} f4
{Well, not quite.} (47... Kg4 48. Ne3+ Kg5 49. Rg3+ Kh5 50. Nc2 {is an
important step forward, as the black king is now cut off on the h-file.}) 48.
Rxc3 {We're making progress now, but there's still a lot of work to be done.}
Rd8+ 49. Ke4 Kg4 50. Nd4 (50. Rf3 Rh8 $3 {is surprisingly a draw.}) 50... Re8+
51. Kd5 Rd8+ 52. Ke5 Ra8 {I must admit I don't see a forced win here.
Nevertheless, I would have gone for this position, hoping to find a solution
over the board.}) ({There was also a rather mechanical plan of rounding up the
c-pawn:} 44. Rh1 Ke5 45. Rc1 f4 $1 (45... Ke4 46. Na3 $1 Rc5 47. Nb1 c2 48. Na3
{aiming for a pawn ending:} Kd3 (48... Rc3 49. Nxc2 Kf4 {would have been nice
for Black if it wasn't for knight forks:} 50. Ne1 $18) 49. Rxc2 Rxc2+ 50. Nxc2
Kxc2 51. Ke3 $18) 46. Na3 Rc5 47. Nb1 c2 {Look out!} 48. Nd2 {is the only way
to win.} ({Not} 48. Na3 {because Black has the amazing resource} f3 $3 49. gxf3
Rc3 50. Nxc2 Kf6 {staying away from the forks and keeping White tied up.})
48... Rc8 49. Nf3+ Ke4 50. Ne1 $18 {Remember this position, it represents
White's ultimate goal in this entire endgame.}) 44... Ke5 45. Rd3 Kf4 46. Rd4+
Kg5 47. Kf3 Rc8 48. Ra4 Rc7 49. Ra8 Kf6 50. Ra6+ Kg5 {Carlsen's defensive plan
is taking shape. He avoids playing his pawn to f4, while keeping his king
ready for a counter-attack should White attempt to move his king to the Q-side.
Hikaru has to regroup.} 51. Nd4 $3 Rc4 $1 ({Magnus avoids a devilish trap:} 
51... c2 $2 {loses to a mating attack!} 52. Ne6+ Kh4 (52... Kh5 53. Nf4+ Kg5
54. Rg6+ Kh4 55. g3#) 53. g3+ Kh3 54. Nf4+ Kh2 55. Rh6+ Kg1 56. Ne2+ Kf1 57.
Rh1# {The knight, as an extra piece, still has its limitations when it comes
to playing on both sides of the board. It's strength, however, is in tactical
motifs.}) 52. Ne6+ ({A good chance to get on the winning track was} 52. Ne2 $1
c2 53. Ra1 Kf6 54. Rc1 Kg5 55. Kf2 Kg4 {and now the final knight transfer:} 56.
Ng1 Kf4 57. Nf3 Rc8 58. Ne1 $18) 52... Kf6 53. Nf4+ Ke5 54. Nd3+ Kd5 55. Ra2 (
55. Ra5+ Kd4 56. Nf4 {was an idea, as} c2 57. Ne2+ Kd3 58. Rd5+ {ends in mate.
This and similar lines illustrate the difficulty of playing such endgames. One
has to calculate variations all the time!}) 55... Kd4 56. Nc1 c2 57. Ra5 Rc3+
58. Kf4 Rc8 59. Rxf5 $2 {A tragic miss.} (59. Ra3 Rc5 60. Rd3+ Kc4 61. Re3 Rc7
62. Kxf5 {would have clinched it for Nakamura.}) 59... Re8 60. Rf7 (60. Ra5 Re1
61. Ra1 Rd1 62. g4 Kc3 63. g5 Kb2 $11) 60... Re1 {Black will attack the knight,
which cannot leave the c-pawn unattended.} 61. Rd7+ Kc3 62. Rc7+ Kd2 63. Nb3+
Kd3 64. Nc5+ Kd4 65. Nb3+ Kd3 66. Nc5+ Kd4 67. Nb3+ Kd3 68. g4 Rf1+ 69. Kg5 Rb1
70. Nc5+ Ke3 71. Nb3 Kd3 72. Nc5+ Ke3 73. Nb3 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 9th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2017.12.09"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Adams, Michael"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A03"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2715"]
[Annotator "Yermolinsky,A"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2017.12.01"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. f4 {Magnus has played the Bird before, but still his choice smacks of
desperation - win at any cost!} d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. O-O O-O 6.
d3 c5 7. c3 Nc6 8. Na3 Re8 9. Nh4 b6 ({White was prepared to meet} 9... e5 {
with} 10. f5) 10. e4 dxe4 11. Qa4 $2 {This looks like an over-the-board
novelty.} ({The move previously seen was} 11. dxe4 Qxd1 12. Rxd1 e5) 11... Qxd3
$3 {A brilliant refutation!} (11... Bd7 12. dxe4 Qc8 13. Qc2 Bh3 14. e5 $14 {
is what Magnus had his eyes on.}) 12. Qxc6 ({White cannot bail out with
repetition after} 12. Rd1 Qe2 13. Rd2 (13. Bf1 Qg4) 13... Qe3+ 14. Rf2 Qe1+ 15.
Rf1 Qe2 16. Rf2 {because Black then has} Qa6 $1 {and} 17. Qxc6 Bd7 18. Qc7 Rac8
19. Qe5 Bc6 {is winning, similar to a variation that could (and should) have
happened in the game.}) 12... Bd7 13. Qc7 Ng4 $2 {Mickey's shot is way off the
mark.} ({He needed to invite the white queen to nestle in the middle of the
board.} 13... Rec8 $1 14. Qe5 Bc6 {There's no escape for the lady, as seen from
} 15. Re1 (15. Qxe7 Re8 16. Qc7 Rac8 17. Qxa7 Nd5 {followed by ...Re7, ...Rc7
or ...Ra8.}) 15... Qd7 16. h3 {played to give support to the g4-square should
Black go after the queen right away, but} h6 $1 {shuts the cage, and White has
to shed tons of material,} 17. Nxg6 fxg6 18. f5 gxf5 {leading to a hopeless
position.}) 14. Re1 Bd4+ ({Still, Black had} 14... Rac8 $1 15. Qxa7 Bd4+ 16.
cxd4 Qxd4+ 17. Be3 Nxe3 {Now with the white queen out of play Black would have
had promising middlegame play, such as} 18. Kh1 Ng4 19. h3 Nf2+ 20. Kh2 e5 $1 {
going after the stray Nh4.}) 15. cxd4 Qxd4+ 16. Be3 Nxe3 17. Qe5 $1 {This one
saves the bacon.} f5 $2 {Another blunder.} ({Both} 17... Nxg2+ 18. Qxd4 cxd4
19. Nxg2 f5 20. Red1 d3 21. Nc4 $14) ({and particularly} 17... Bc6 $1 {would
have kept Black in the game.}) 18. Bh3 $2 {Shockingly Magnus immediately
returns the favour.} ({Both players missed} 18. Nf3 $1 {which would force a
transition to a choice of near winning endgames for White.} exf3 19. Bxf3 {
Under the circumstances the most resilient is} Nc2+ (19... Qxe5 20. fxe5 f4 21.
gxf4 Nf5 {is not the end of Black's problems, as next comes} 22. e6 $1) 20.
Qxd4 Nxd4 21. Bxa8 Rxa8 22. Rxe7 Rd8 23. Kf2 $16 {Surely Magnus is the guy to
bet on in such situations.}) 18... Nc2+ 19. Qxd4 Nxd4 20. Rxe4 $5 {This goes
to show how unhappy Carlsen was with his position.} fxe4 21. Bxd7 Red8 22. Ba4
e5 23. Re1 exf4 24. gxf4 a6 25. Bd1 b5 26. Nb1 {All forced up to this point.
Black has to be fine here, maybe even a bit better.} Nf5 $2 {It all started to
go wrong from here. I don't like the idea behind this move, which did nothing
but play into Carlsen's hand.} ({Instead of stabilising the position, Mickey
would have been much better off keeping it sharp.} 26... e3 27. Nc3 Re8 $17 {
answers the call. Given Magnus's struggles with tactics in this game, the same
as yesterday against Hikaru, playing like this would have been the right
decision from the psychological point of view as well.}) 27. Nxf5 gxf5 28. Kf2
Kf7 ({Perhaps,} 28... Rd3 29. Be2 Rh3 30. Kg2 Rh6 {would have been a bit more
annoying for White.}) 29. Be2 Rd6 30. h4 $1 {Carlsen is in his element!
Restricting the opponent's counterplay is always a high priority in his play.}
c4 31. a4 Rc8 $6 (31... Kf6 32. Na3 Rb8 33. axb5 axb5) 32. axb5 axb5 33. Na3
Rd5 34. Rc1 Rdc5 35. Nc2 Ra8 36. Ne3 {The engines show all zeroes, but the
tide of the game has certainly turned in Carlsen's favour.} Rac8 $2 {It is not
clear to me what Adams was playing for at this stage.} ({Shedding a pawn with} 
36... Ra2 37. b3 Rb2 38. bxc4 bxc4 39. Nxc4 Kf6 $11 {cannot be viewed as a
winning attempt, but the activity of the black rooks pretty much eliminates
any danger of losing.}) 37. h5 Ke6 38. h6 Kf6 39. Ra1 b4 40. Ra6+ Ke7 41. Ra7+
Kf6 42. Ke1 b3 $2 {I cannot explain this, and I doubt Mickey can either.} (
42... c3 43. bxc3 bxc3 44. Kd1 Rb8 {makes a passer and opens up the b-file.
What's not to like?}) 43. Rb7 Ke6 44. Rb6+ Ke7 45. Rb4 R8c6 46. Bxc4 Rxh6 47.
Rxb3 $16 Kd8 $1 {A good move.} (47... Rh2 48. Rb7+ Kd8 49. b4 {looks dangerous
for Black.}) 48. Rb8+ $2 {I think after all the success he had in Rapid and
Blitz Magnus is struggling a bit with his decision-making in classical chess.
His play seems mainly intuition-driven, to the point of being impulsive; the
ideas are there, but they're not backed up by precise calculation.} (48. Ra3
Rh2 49. b4 Rc6 50. b5 Rg6 51. Be2 {was better.}) 48... Kc7 49. Rf8 Rh3 50. Nd5+
Kb7 51. Rf7+ Kb8 $2 {Oh, Mickey, you break my heart. The king should never be
cut off like this in the endgame.} (51... Kc6 52. Rf6+ Kb7 53. b3 Ra5 54. Rf7+
Kc6 $1 {Always back in the middle!} 55. Rxf5 Ra1+ 56. Kf2 Ra2+ 57. Kg1 Rb2 {
There's enough counterplay here to force a draw, I suppose.}) 52. b3 Rh2 ({Now
} 52... Ra5 {meets with} 53. Nb4 {and it's the black king that is likely to be
mated.}) 53. Nb4 $18 Kc8 54. Na6 Rc6 55. Rf8+ Kb7 56. Bd5 Kxa6 57. Bxc6 Kb6 58.
Bd7 1-0

[Event "London Classic 9th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2017.12.10"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D13"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2729"]
[Annotator "Hillarp Persson,T"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2017.12.01"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 ({After 4...Nc6 in today's game, we get a position that is similar to} 
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Nc3 Nf6 {but there is actually a big
difference here, as the knight is more aggressively positioned on c3, than one
would be on f3. One reason is that} 5. Bf4 Nc6 6. e3 a6 {can be met with} 7.
Be2 $5 ({rather than} 7. Nf3 {when} Bg4 {is comfortable for Black.})) 1... c5
2. c3 {At such a high level, this move has mostly been played in blitz games.
It is a I'm-inviting-you-to-a-Slav-with-opposite-colours-move, that is to say
a tricky move against those who don't have the Slav in their repertoire with
either White or Black. Nepomniachtchi hasn't played the Slav for almost a
decade, so it makes a lot of sense for Carlsen to play like this.} d5 {This
move is the equivalent of "calling" in poker. Saying: -So, you want to play
the Slav a tempo up? Go ahead, please.} ({The other respectable continuation is
} 2... Nf6 3. d4 e6 {a setup that Carlsen had a close encounter with only a
short time ago:} 4. Bg5 d5 5. e3 h6 6. Bh4 Nc6 7. Nbd2 a6 8. Bd3 Be7 9. O-O Nd7
10. Bxe7 Nxe7 11. Ne5 cxd4 12. exd4 Nxe5 13. dxe5 Bd7 14. Re1 Rc8 15. Nf3 {
Carlsen,M (2825)-Xiong,J (2630) chess.com IoM Masters 2017, with a promising
position for White,.}) 3. d4 cxd4 {And Black calls again, forcing White to
enter an Exchange Slav, where he is unable to play the most critical lines 
(due to the early development of the knight to f3).} 4. cxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6.
Bf4 Nh5 $5 {Black chooses a rather rare line, probably wanting to avoid a
theoretical battle after} (6... Bf5) ({or} 6... a6) 7. Bd2 Nf6 8. e3 {I often
complain that Bc1-d2 and Bc8-d7 are sad excuses for moves, but here White got
it for free and it does free the c1-square for the rook.} e6 ({Ideally, Black
would like to play} 8... Bf5 {but after} 9. Ne5 $1 {Black has to deal with a
number of annoying ideas, of which g2-g4 is only one.}) 9. Bd3 $1 {If White is
to gain a promising game, then there is no way around playing e3-e4.} (9. Bb5
Bd7 10. O-O Bd6 {and there is no way to make headway on the queenside.}) 9...
Bd6 10. e4 dxe4 11. Nxe4 Be7 {Although this leads to a standard setup for
Black, it was somewhat surprising to me, as it seems that White has gained a
tempo in the process (Bd2).} ({Karpov was one of the greatest handlers of this
structure and I believe that he might have chosen} 11... Nxe4 12. Bxe4 Ne7 $5
13. O-O O-O {After} 14. Qc2 (14. Bxh7+ $2 Kxh7 15. Ng5+ Kg6 16. Qg4 f5) (14.
Ne5 h6 15. Re1 {might be a better setup aiming to lift the rook to the third
rank.}) 14... h6 15. Ne5 Rb8 {, followed by ...b5 and ...Bb7, or just ...Bd7,
Black is doing fine.}) 12. O-O O-O 13. Qc2 {I would not place my queen here,
but Magnus has a 300 ELO-point margin over me, so I guess it is good. Possibly
he wanted to force Black into some kind of concession on the kingside.} (13.
Qe2 {is the natural place for the queen in this structure (as I see it).})
13... h6 ({With the bishop on e7 Black ususally plays} 13... g6 {If White
continues like in the game with} 14. Rad1 Bd7 15. a3 Rc8 16. Nc3 a6 {then it
seems to me that it is harder for White to create threats against Black's king.
} (16... Nd5)) (13... Nxe4 14. Bxe4 f5 $2 (14... g6 15. Bh6 Re8 16. Rad1) 15.
Bxc6 bxc6 16. Rfe1 $16) 14. Rad1 Bd7 (14... Nxd4 15. Nxd4 Qxd4 16. Bc3 Qb6 17.
Nxf6+ Bxf6 18. Bxf6 gxf6 19. Qd2 Kg7 20. Bb1 {leaves White with a nasty
initiative on the diagonal.}) 15. a3 Rc8 {Black has no complaints after the
opening. The queen seems to be misplaced on c2.} 16. Nc3 $1 a6 {Black is
obviously happy with his position and chooses to play an ambitious plan,
involving b7-b5-b4. Other possibilities were} (16... Nd5) (16... Na5) ({
and my favourite (Karpov-inspired) plan:} 16... Bd6 {intending ...Ne7 and ...
Bc6.}) 17. Qc1 $5 {Magnus finds a way to make the queen's position count for
something. Perhaps he had the whole setup planned and this is indeed the most
challenging idea against h7-h6!?? It seems far-fetched.} Re8 18. Rfe1 Bf8 19.
Bf4 {White has managed to get coordinated and it is time for Black to act
before White starts attacking.} b5 $1 20. Qd2 b4 21. axb4 Nxb4 22. Ne5 $1 ({
Most mortals would hang on to the bishop with} 22. Bb1 {but Carlsen correctly
assesses that it is the dark squares that matter most in the attack.} Nbd5 23.
Ne5 Bb5 {and Black is more than comfortable.}) 22... Nxd3 23. Qxd3 a5 {This is
either a very confident move or a wish to play with fire. White can continue
to build up on the kingside as long as he hasn't lost all control of d5, so
Black's simplest defence is to challenge that:} (23... Bb5 $5 24. Nxb5 (24. Qf3
Bc4 $1) 24... axb5 25. Qxb5 Nd5 {holds no danger for Black. The knight on d5
is wonderful, while White's extra pawn on b2, is a target.}) 24. Qf3 $1 {
Suddenly Black is faced with a series of more serious threats. Both Bf4-g3-h4
and h4 followed by Bg5 can become annoying. The biggest tactical weakness in
Black's position is the pawn on f7, so the best defence probably involves
protecting that pawn once more...} Bb4 $2 {This leaves the king far too
exposed.} (24... Qe7 $1 {, is the right move, in order to be able to move the
knight from f6 without inviting a catastrophe on f7:} 25. Nxd7 Nxd7 (25... Qxd7
$5 26. Bxh6 a4 {followed by ...Nd5, leads to a position that is very hard for
White to win (since all the pawns are on the "wrong colour").}) 26. d5 Nc5 {
is balanced.}) 25. Re3 ({Carlsen's move is not bad at all, but possibly a
stronger one was} 25. Bxh6 $1 {It is quite untypical for such a strong player
to miss such a shot (so perhaps he didn't). The point is that after} Bxc3 26.
bxc3 gxh6 27. Qg3+ {Black cannot go to f8:} Kh7 (27... Kf8 $2 28. Rd3 $1 Bc6 (
28... Ke7 29. Qg7 Rf8 30. d5 $1) 29. Qf4 Ke7 30. c4 {and Black has no defence
against d4-d5.}) 28. Nxf7 Qe7 29. Qd3+ Kg7 (29... Kg8 30. Qg6+) 30. Ne5 {
and Black has no way to avoid giving back material. For instance} Rf8 31. Qg6+
Kh8 32. Qxh6+ Qh7 {and the best way to take the exchange is} 33. Ng6+ Kg8 34.
Qg5 Qh5 35. Qxh5 Nxh5 36. Nxf8 Kxf8 {followed by} 37. d5 $1 {when Black will
not be able to create enough counterplay with the a-pawn. Perhaps Carlsen saw
some of this and decided that he didn't like the look of that a-pawn and that
it was just as good to just build.}) 25... Bxc3 26. bxc3 {This positional
transformation favours White. Now, not only are the threats on the kingside,
but also c4/d5 becomes a factor.} Ba4 $1 {Usually I don't watch the comments
or the inteviews with the players, but this time I was sent a short piece
where Carlsen talked about the game. He was searching to explain his feeling
about the game and he said: "I failed to predict a single one of his moves",
which is a strong indication that he was not his normal self today. Especially
the next few moves are puzzling.} 27. Ra1 $6 {This allows Black to get the
bishop back in the defence.} ({A much stronger move was} 27. Rc1 $1 {when the
bishop is rather weird on a4, whereas} Qxd4 {, doesn't work due to} (27... Rf8
$1 28. Rd3 Nd5 29. c4 $1 (29. Bd2 f6 30. Ng6 Re8 {is not so clear.}) 29... f6
30. Ng4 Nxf4 31. Qxf4 {and the central pawns, combined with Black's awkward
pawn structure, leave White with an advantage.}) 28. Ra1 $1 Qb6 29. Bxh6 $1 {
with disastrous concequences for Black.}) 27... Bc2 $1 28. h3 $5 {Many are
reluctant to play such a move since the rook might go there later. However,
giving the king some breathing space, means that White is more free to use the
rook on a1, as there are no more back rank mates.} Bf5 $2 ({The most tenacious
defence could have led to serious complications:} 28... Nd5 $5 29. Bxh6 Qe7 $1
(29... Bg6 30. c4 Nxe3 31. Bxe3 Bf5 32. c5 Qd5 33. Qh5 Re7 34. Rxa5 f6 35. Ng6
Bxg6 36. Qxg6 Ra8 {is the kind of line that the engines give as "=", but where
it is far easier to play the White side.}) (29... f6 30. Bxg7 fxe5 31. Bxe5 $40
) 30. Bxg7 (30. Qg3 f6 31. Re2 Rxc3 32. Nf3 Qc7 33. Bd2 Qxg3 34. fxg3 Rc6 35.
Rxa5 {is a position where White's extra pawn doesn't count for much.}) 30...
Kxg7 31. Qg4+ Bg6 (31... Kh6 32. Rf3 Bg6 $1 33. c4 Bh5 34. Nxf7+ Qxf7 35. Rxf7
Bxg4 36. cxd5 Bh5 37. Ra7 exd5 38. R1xa5 $11) 32. Rf3 Nf6 33. Qg3 {and White
has dangerous compensation for the piece. Still, it is not clear that White
has a way forward.}) (28... Rf8 29. Rc1) 29. g4 $1 {There were probably a few
who thought that Magnus would win at this stage and I/he would have thought so
too.} Bh7 30. c4 $6 ({It is truly strange that Carlsen didn't play} 30. g5 Nd5
31. Nxf7 $1 {Suffice to say, that White gets a huge attack. After} Qb6 32. Nd6
Nxe3 $1 (32... Rf8 33. Nxc8) 33. Qxe3 h5 34. c4 {White is dominating. It is
quite out of character for Carlsen to miss something like this. It seems like
he wasn't able to think clearly today.}) 30... Nd7 {Although this doesn't
solve all of Black's problems, it is clearly an improvement to be able to
exhange the menace on e5.} 31. Nc6 $2 (31. c5 $1 Nxe5 32. Bxe5 f6 33. Bd6 Ra8
34. Qc6 {would have kept a rather large advantage for White.}) 31... Qf6 32.
Nxa5 Nb6 {Now White's pieces are all in the wrong places. If only one could
play c5 and Na5-c4-d6...} 33. c5 $2 Rxc5 $1 {Missing such a move is truly
demoralizing.} 34. dxc5 $2 {Here Carlsen seems to lose his will to fight. Now
one mistake follows another.} (34. Be5 Qxf3 35. Rxf3 Rc2 {is very unpleasant
for White, but was nethertheless necessary.}) 34... Qxa1+ 35. Kh2 Qxa5 36. Qc6
$2 (36. cxb6 Qxb6 {is no fun for White, but not quite lost yet.}) 36... Qa4 {
Forking the queen and the bishop and the game is over.} 37. Qxa4 Nxa4 38. c6
Nb6 39. c7 f6 40. Rb3 Nc8 {A good day for Nepomniachtchi. He was lucky to
escape and win, but luck usually comes to those who deserve it.} 0-1

[Event "London Classic 9th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2017.12.11"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A43"]
[WhiteElo "2805"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2017.12.01"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 {Earlier on in the Festival, in the open tournament, I employed this
move order rather than ...Nf6 so as to permit the wrinkle 2.c4 Bb4+ followed
by an ...f5 setup. The order also dodges the Nc3 Dutch and allows a quick ...
c5 against Nf3 or g3. However, of course, the French must be in your
repertoire.} 2. Nf3 c5 3. g3 (3. e4 {Some kind of Sicilian that is not the
Dragon or Classical must also be in your repertoire. If you are a Najdorf
player, you must be willing to play ...e6 rather than ...e5 setups.}) 3... cxd4
4. Nxd4 Qb6 (4... d5 {is main, and seems to equalise straightforwardly since
White cannot really arrange to play c4 under desirable circumstances.}) 5. Bg2
Bc5 6. e3 (6. c3 Nf6 7. O-O d5 8. Nd2 {intending e4 is another valid way to
play, though it sacrifices a pawn in various ways}) 6... d5 7. Qg4 $6 $11 {
e3 goes with c4. In spite of this move appearing to force some concessions,
maybe White should have stuck to the plan.} (7. O-O Nf6 8. c4 $36 {was
probably the way to ask some probing questions.}) 7... Bf8 {Trying to play
without weaknesses.} (7... g6 {is not ridiculous either.}) 8. O-O Nf6 9. Qe2 e5
(9... Nc6 {avoids the doubled pawn scenario.}) 10. Qb5+ Bd7 11. Qxb6 axb6 12.
Nb3 Nc6 13. Bd2 Bd6 14. Nc3 Ne7 15. a4 O-O (15... Rc8 $11 {delays Nb5 by a
tempo which may be important. Certainly since the rook came here anyway in the
end this was a more internally consistent order.}) 16. Nb5 Bxb5 17. axb5 $14 {
It seems to me that White has nevertheless managed to get a little something,
though the position continues to be strategically confusing.} Rac8 18. Bc3 h5
19. Rfd1 Rfd8 20. Nd2 {White has an advantage, but as so often with the bishop
pair in closed positions it is hard to work with it. White chooses a logical
plan of trying to get the knight to g5.} (20. Ra7 {appeals somewhere round
here; as White I would probably like to double rooks on the a-file, exchange
one pair of them, arrange the bishops on e1 and d1 and maybe play toward g4. 
(As every grandmaster knows, the bishops control most squares from the back
rank. Thus, you will often see them win the bishop pair and then store the two
boys away on e1 and f1.)}) 20... h4 (20... Ne8 21. Nf3 f6 {deserved
consideration.}) 21. Nf3 hxg3 22. hxg3 e4 {Keeping the game strategically
messy.} (22... Ne4 $14 {was playable, but admits to being worse.}) 23. Ng5 (23.
Nd4 $14 {was a much better move, not being constrained by his own previous
plan of putting the knight on g5. For instance} Be5 24. Bh3 Rb8 25. Ra4 {
and White will ultimately play for c4.}) 23... Ng6 24. Ra7 $14 {So White has
acheived what I wanted anyway. It would have been much more fitting to
annotate this game as a White win, but Black reminds us that there is still a
lot going on in the game strategically (e.g. the idea of ...Be5.)} Rb8 25. Bd4
Bc5 26. Bxc5 bxc5 27. c4 Ne7 (27... Re8 $14 {was better according to the
engine, but would be depressing to play. As a human you want all your pieces
to be doing some work, and here the knight on g6 isn't performing well.}) 28.
cxd5 Nc8 29. Ra4 Nb6 30. Ra3 Nc4 31. Rc3 Nd6 32. Rxc5 Ra8 33. Bh3 {Probably a
step in the wrong direction, even if the computer sees no problem. The problem
is that White is now playing for strings of (albeit high level) tactical
tricks.} (33. Nh3 $14 {was the right idea, if not the right implementation:
this knight should be on f4 or d4 or something, not playing for tricks on the
kingside.}) 33... Re8 {Playing with the motif of trapping the knight.} 34. Rc7
Kf8 (34... Re5 $4 {runs into a forced piece sacrifice:} 35. Nxf7 Nxf7 36. Be6
Rf8 37. Rxb7 $18) 35. b6 (35. Be6 {was tempting but Black will just ignore it.}
Re7 36. Rxe7 Kxe7 37. Bh3 Rh8 $11) 35... Re5 36. Ne6+ (36. Nxf7 $11 {was a
better way to give up the piece and now White probably keeps dynamic equality})
36... fxe6 37. dxe6 Nfe8 38. Rd7 Raa5 {Now Black has completely turned the
tables and gets to finish the event above 50%!} 39. b4 (39. R1xd6 Nxd6 40. Rxd6
Rad5 {was objectively best but in a human game this ending would be absolute
hell to defend.}) 39... Rad5 40. Ra1 Rb5 $17 {Now the knights and e5-rook hold
White's play back while the b5-rook takes stuff.} 41. Ra8 Rxb6 42. Bg4 Rd5 43.
Kg2 Rxb4 44. Ra1 Rbb5 45. Be2 Rb2 46. Bg4 Rdd2 47. Kh3 Rxf2 48. Kh4 Rh2+ 49.
Bh3 g5+ 50. Kh5 Rxh3+ 51. Kg6 Rf2 52. e7+ Kg8 53. Rxd6 Rh7 {Finally either
taking the pawn or setting up mating tactics (...Rg7 and either ...g4 or ...
Kf7)} 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.26"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bu, Xiangzhi"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2730"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2017.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. e3 Nc6 4. a3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Qc2 Be7 7. Nf3 O-O 8. b4
Nxc3 9. dxc3 Qd6 10. Bd3 f5 11. e4 f4 12. h3 a5 13. Bb2 Bf6 14. Rd1 Qe7 15. O-O
Be6 16. Qe2 Qf7 17. Rd2 g5 18. b5 Ne7 19. c4 Ng6 20. Nh2 Rad8 21. Rfd1 Qe7 22.
Qh5 Rd7 23. Ng4 Rfd8 24. Nh6+ Kh8 25. Nf5 Qc5 26. Qe2 Nh4 27. Nxh4 gxh4 28. Qh5
Rg8 29. Bf1 Rdg7 30. Kh1 Qe7 31. Qf3 Rg5 32. a4 Bf7 33. Rd7 Qe6 34. Qe2 Bh5 35.
f3 Rg3 36. Kh2 Qb6 37. c5 Qxc5 38. Kh1 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.26"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Dobrov, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E16"]
[WhiteElo "2515"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2017.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Nbd2 O-O 6. Bg2 b6 7. O-O Bb7 8. Ne5
Qc8 9. cxd5 Bxd5 10. e4 Bb7 11. Qc2 c5 12. Ndc4 cxd4 13. Bd2 Be7 14. Qd3 Na6
15. Rac1 Qd8 16. Qb1 Nc5 17. Rfe1 d3 18. f3 b5 19. b4 bxc4 20. bxc5 Bxc5+ 21.
Kh1 Ba6 22. Nxd3 Ba3 23. Rc3 Be7 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.26"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Eljanov, Pavel"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2711"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2017.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 Be7 7. O-O d6 8. d4
O-O 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. dxe5 Nxe4 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 12. Re1 d5 13. Nbd2 Nxd2 14. Qxd2
Be6 15. b4 c5 16. bxc5 Qxc5 17. Nd4 Rab8 18. h3 Rb4 19. c3 Rb6 20. Qe3 Qe7 21.
Nb3 Rc8 22. Nc5 c6 23. a4 Rcb8 24. Qd4 a5 25. Re3 Kh8 26. Rae1 Rb2 27. Rf3 Rc2
28. Nxe6 fxe6 29. Qd3 Rcb2 30. Qg6 Rf8 31. Ree3 Rbb8 32. Qd3 Qa3 33. Qd4 Qe7
34. Rxf8+ Rxf8 35. Qb6 Qh4 36. Rg3 Qxa4 37. Qc7 Rg8 38. Rf3 Qb5 39. Qd6 a4 40.
Kh2 Qb8 41. c4 Qxd6 42. exd6 dxc4 43. Ra3 Rd8 44. Rxa4 Rxd6 45. Rxc4 Kg8 46. h4
Kf7 47. h5 e5 48. f3 Ke6 49. Rc5 Kd7 50. Rxe5 Rd5 51. Rxd5+ cxd5 52. Kg3 Kd6
53. Kf4 Kc5 54. Ke3 Kc4 55. Kd2 Kd4 56. g3 Kc4 57. Kc2 d4 58. Kd2 d3 59. g4 Kd4
60. f4 Ke4 61. g5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.26"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Salem, AR Saleh"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D58"]
[WhiteElo "2638"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2017.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 b6 8. Bd3
Bb7 9. O-O Nbd7 10. Qe2 c5 11. Rfd1 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Nc5 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. cxd5
Bxd4 15. exd4 Nxd3 16. Qxd3 Bxd5 17. Re1 Rc8 18. Rad1 Rc7 19. Qg3 Rd7 20. h3
Qe7 21. Rd2 Rfd8 22. Red1 Bc6 23. Qe3 Qf6 24. Kh2 Qf5 25. a3 Bd5 26. Rc1 Bc4
27. Ne4 Ba6 28. Rcd1 Bb7 29. Nc3 Qg6 30. Qg3 Qf6 31. Qe3 Bc6 32. Kg1 Qg6 33. f3
Bd5 34. Ne4 Rc8 35. Nc3 Qf6 36. Qe5 Qd8 37. Re1 Rc6 38. Qf4 Qc8 39. h4 Rc4 40.
Red1 Qd8 41. Rd3 a6 42. R1d2 b5 43. Nd1 Rc6 44. Ne3 Rcd6 45. Rd1 Bc4 46. Nxc4
bxc4 47. R3d2 Rd5 48. Qe4 e5 49. Rc1 Rxd4 50. Rxd4 exd4 51. Rxc4 d3 52. Rc1 Re7
53. Qb4 d2 54. Rd1 Re2 55. Qc3 Qb6+ 56. Kh2 Qg6 57. Qc8+ Kh7 58. Qg4 Qc2 59. f4
Qe4 60. b4 f5 61. Qg3 Qc2 62. Qh3 Kh8 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.26"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kasimdzhanov, Rustam"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B47"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2683"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2017.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. g4 a6 7. h4 b5 8. Nxc6
dxc6 9. Qf3 e5 10. g5 Be6 11. Bh3 Bxh3 12. Rxh3 Bc5 13. Bd2 O-O-O 14. O-O-O f6
15. h5 fxg5 16. Bxg5 Rxd1+ 17. Nxd1 Qd7 18. Qb3 Nf6 19. Rd3 Qg4 20. Be3 Bxe3+
21. Nxe3 Qxe4 22. Qe6+ Kb8 23. h6 Qh1+ 24. Rd1 Qxh6 25. Qxc6 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.27"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Movsesian, Sergei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "2647"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2017.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 g6 5. h3 Bg7 6. Be3 O-O 7. Qd2 a6 8. Bd3
e5 9. d5 Ne7 10. g4 c6 11. dxc6 bxc6 12. O-O-O d5 13. Nxe5 Nxe4 14. Bxe4 Bxe5
15. Bg2 Rb8 16. Rhe1 Be6 17. Na4 Qd6 18. c3 Rb5 19. f4 Bg7 20. Bf1 Ra5 21. Qc2
c5 22. c4 Rb8 23. Bd2 Rxa4 24. Qxa4 Bxb2+ 25. Kc2 Bd7 26. Qb3 Rxb3 27. axb3 Bd4
0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.27"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wang, Yue"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C24"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2017.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 c6 4. Nf3 d5 5. Bb3 Qc7 6. Nc3 dxe4 7. Nxe4 Nxe4 8.
dxe4 Be7 9. Ng5 Bxg5 10. Bxg5 Na6 11. Be3 O-O 12. Qd2 Qe7 13. Qc3 Re8 14. O-O-O
Nc7 15. Rd3 Qf6 16. f3 Ne6 17. Rd6 g6 18. Rhd1 Qg7 19. Qd2 h5 20. g3 Nc7 21.
Bh6 Qh7 22. Rd8 Bh3 23. Rxa8 Nxa8 24. Bg5 Nc7 25. Qa5 Ne6 26. Bxe6 Bxe6 27. Rd8
1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.27"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2017.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 g6 2. e4 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. Be2 O-O 6. O-O Nc6 7. d5 Nb8 8. h3
c6 9. a4 b6 10. Nd4 Bb7 11. a5 c5 12. Nb3 Na6 13. Bf4 Nc7 14. Qd2 Rb8 15. axb6
axb6 16. Rfe1 Re8 17. Bf1 Ra8 18. Rxa8 Qxa8 19. Nb5 Qc8 20. c3 Qd7 21. Nxc7
Qxc7 22. Bb5 Ra8 23. Qe2 Qc8 24. Nd2 Ba6 25. Ra1 Bxb5 26. Rxa8 Qxa8 27. Qxb5
Qa7 28. Bg5 h6 29. Be3 Kh7 30. g4 Qa1+ 31. Kg2 Qd1 32. Qxb6 Nxg4 33. hxg4 Qxg4+
34. Kf1 Qd1+ 35. Kg2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.27"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E53"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2782"]
[Annotator "Anand,V"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2017.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 dxc4 8.
Bxc4 c5 9. Nf3 Qc7 10. Be2 b6 11. Bb2 {So far, following his game with Ding
Liren.} Bb7 12. O-O Nbd7 13. c4 Rac8 (13... Ng4 {premature} 14. d5 exd5 15.
cxd5 Ngf6 16. d6 {is unpleasant for Black.}) 14. Rc1 Rfd8 15. Qb3 Ng4 16. g3 (
16. d5 exd5 17. cxd5 Ndf6) 16... Ngf6 {It is useful to have the long diagonal
open. It turned out to be very important!} 17. Rfd1 Ne4 18. Ne1 Nd6 $2 {
Having provoked g3, I could have just played...} (18... Ndf6 $1 19. f3 Nxg3 20.
hxg3 Qxg3+ 21. Kf1 Nh5 $1 {winning.}) 19. d5 exd5 20. cxd5 {Still, I felt that
his centre would need time to roll.} c4 21. Qc2 b5 {Now I am ready with ...Nc5.
} 22. Ng2 (22. e4 Re8 23. f3 f5 24. exf5 Nxf5 $17 (24... Nb6)) 22... Nc5 23.
Nf4 Qe7 24. Bg4 {Now the game gets very sharp.} Rc7 25. Qc3 (25. Re1 Nde4 $1 (
25... Bc8 26. Bxc8 Rcxc8 27. e4 $1) 26. f3 Nf6 {is fine for Black.}) 25... f5 {
Black's king is weakened, but at least I get the e4-square.} (25... f6 26. Be6+
Kh8 27. Qc2 Bc8 28. Bc3) 26. Bf3 Rcd7 (26... Nde4 27. Qb4 a6 28. h4 {wasn't
very clear. I still wasn't sure where the Nd6 belonged.}) 27. Qb4 Nb3 (27...
Na6 28. Qa5 Nc5) 28. Ne6 (28. Rc2 a5 29. Qe1 Ne4) 28... Nxc1 29. Rxc1 Nc8 {
The move I was happy to have seen.} (29... a5 {The computer points this one
out:} 30. Qe1 (30. Qxa5 Ra8) 30... Ne4 31. Bxe4 fxe4 32. Nxd8 Qxd8 33. a4 Rxd5
{is about equal, since the dark-squared bishop gives enough compensation for
the pawn.}) 30. Qxb5 Rxd5 31. Bxd5 Rxd5 32. Qb4 Nd6 {Black has nothing better.}
33. Nc5 $2 {At this point, we both felt that this led to a draw. Since I had 4
minutes left, I was able to spend some time looking for more. After about 2
minutes, I suddenly saw the winning line.} (33. Nf4 $1 Rb5 (33... Qe4 34. Nxd5
Qxd5 $1 35. Kf1 c3 $1 (35... Qh1+ $2 36. Ke2) (35... Qd3+ $2 36. Ke1 Bf3 37.
Qd2 $18) 36. Qxc3 Qh1+ 37. Ke2 Qf3+ 38. Ke1 Qh1+ 39. Kd2 Ne4+ $11) 34. Qc3 Rb3
35. Qd4 h6 36. h4 Kh7 {it seems that neither side can really improve.}) 33...
Rxc5 34. Qxc5 Qe4 {A hugely important victory, both for my morale as well as
my score.} (34... Qe4 35. Kf1 Qh1+ $1 (35... Qd3+ 36. Kg1 (36. Ke1 Bf3 {
here the Qb4 would be able to come to d2, but the Qc5 is helpless.}) 36... Qe4
{was what we had both seen originally}) 36. Ke2 Bf3+ {The point} 37. Kd2 Ne4+ {
wins a piece.}) 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.27"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2729"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2017.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. b3 d6 3. e3 e5 4. Bb5+ Nc6 5. O-O a6 6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. c4 Nf6 8.
Nc3 Be7 9. d3 O-O 10. Bb2 h6 11. Nd2 Be6 12. Qe2 Nd7 13. f4 exf4 14. exf4 Bf5
15. Nde4 Re8 16. Qf3 Nf6 17. Rae1 Qd7 18. Na4 Rab8 19. Nxf6+ Bxf6 20. Bxf6 gxf6
21. Nc3 Rxe1 22. Rxe1 Re8 23. Rxe8+ Qxe8 24. Kf2 Kg7 25. g4 Bd7 26. Ne4 Qe7 27.
Ng3 Kf8 28. f5 Qe5 29. Qe3 Qb2+ 30. Qe2 Qd4+ 31. Kf3 Qa1 32. Nh5 Qh1+ 33. Kg3
Qg1+ 34. Kh3 Qd4 35. Kg2 d5 36. Kf3 Qa1 37. Qe3 Kg8 38. Kg3 Kh7 39. h3 Bc8 40.
Qe8 Be6 41. Kf2 Qb2+ 42. Kf3 Qa1 43. Ng3 Qd1+ 44. Kf2 Qxd3 45. Ne2 d4 46. fxe6
Qe3+ 47. Kf1 Qxh3+ 48. Ke1 Qh4+ 49. Kd1 fxe6 50. Qxe6 d3 51. Qf5+ Kg7 52. Nf4
Qh1+ 53. Kd2 Qa1 54. Qd7+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.28"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Pantsulaia, Levan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2612"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2017.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Bg4 3. Bg2 e6 4. c4 c6 5. O-O Nf6 6. d3 Bd6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Be3
Nbd7 9. Qb3 Qb8 10. a3 Re8 11. Rfc1 Bh5 12. Qc2 a5 13. b3 h6 14. Qb2 Ne5 15.
Nxe5 Bxe5 16. d4 Bd6 17. Bd2 Bg6 18. Na4 Qd8 19. Bf4 Bxf4 20. gxf4 Ne4 21. e3
Nd6 22. Nc3 Bd3 23. c5 Nf5 24. Ne2 Nh4 25. Ng3 f5 26. f3 g5 27. Qd2 Ba6 28. Kf2
gxf4 29. exf4 Ng6 30. Kg1 Qh4 31. Qxa5 Nxf4 32. Qd2 Nd3 33. f4 Nxf4 34. Bf1 Qg5
35. Kh1 Nd3 36. Rc2 Qxd2 37. Rxd2 Nf4 38. Rf2 Ng6 39. Bxa6 bxa6 40. b4 a5 41.
b5 cxb5 42. Rb1 Reb8 43. Rfb2 b4 44. axb4 Rxb4 45. Rxb4 axb4 46. Rxb4 Nf4 47.
Rb1 Ra4 48. Rd1 Kf7 49. Kg1 Kf6 50. Kf2 Ra3 51. Rb1 Rd3 52. Rb4 Kg5 53. Nf1 Rc3
54. Rb8 Kf6 55. Nd2 Nh3+ 56. Ke2 f4 57. Rf8+ Ke7 58. Rh8 Ng5 59. Rxh6 f3+ 60.
Kf2 Rd3 61. Nf1 Ne4+ 62. Kg1 Rxd4 63. Rh7+ Kf6 64. c6 Rc4 65. c7 Rc2 66. Ne3
Rc1+ 67. Nf1 Nd2 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.28"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Fedoseev, Vladimir1"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C91"]
[WhiteElo "2718"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "168"]
[EventDate "2017.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. d4 Bg4 10. Be3 exd4 11. cxd4 Na5 12. Nbd2 Nxb3 13. axb3 c5 14. Qc2 Nd7
15. e5 cxd4 16. Bxd4 dxe5 17. Nxe5 Nxe5 18. Bxe5 Re8 19. Bc3 Bf8 20. h3 Bh5 21.
Qf5 Bg6 22. Qf4 Rxe1+ 23. Rxe1 Qd7 24. Nf3 f6 25. Bb4 Re8 26. Rxe8 Bxe8 27.
Bxf8 Kxf8 28. b4 Qe7 29. Nd4 Kf7 30. Qd2 Qd6 31. Qc3 Bd7 32. Qb3+ Be6 33. Qc3
Bd7 34. Qb3+ Ke7 35. Qc3 Qe5 36. Qd2 g5 37. Ne2 Bc6 38. Nd4 Bd5 39. Qc3 Kf7 40.
Qd3 Kf8 41. Qc3 h5 42. f3 h4 43. Kf2 Kf7 44. Qe3 Qxe3+ 45. Kxe3 Ke7 46. Nc2 Bb3
47. Nd4 Bd5 48. Nc2 Ke6 49. Ne1 Bc4 50. f4 Kf5 51. fxg5 fxg5 52. Nf3 Bd5 53.
Nd4+ Kf6 54. Nf3 Bb7 55. Kf2 Kf5 56. g3 hxg3+ 57. Kxg3 Bc8 58. Nd2 Bb7 59. Nf3
Bd5 60. Nd2 Bf7 61. Nf3 Be8 62. Nd2 Bf7 63. Nf3 Bh5 64. Nd4+ Ke5 65. Nf3+ Kd5
66. Nxg5 Kc4 67. Ne4 Kxb4 68. Kf4 a5 69. Nd2 a4 70. Ke4 Kc5 71. Ke3 b4 72. Ne4+
Kd5 73. Nd2 Bg6 74. Ke2 a3 75. bxa3 bxa3 76. Kd1 a2 77. Nb3 Kc4 78. Na1 Kc3 79.
Kc1 Bf5 80. h4 Bg6 81. h5 Bxh5 82. Nc2 Be8 83. Na1 Ba4 84. Nc2 Kb3 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.28"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wang, Hao"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2709"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2017.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5
8. Rxe5 O-O 9. d4 Bf6 10. Re1 Re8 11. Bf4 Rxe1 12. Qxe1 Ne8 13. Bd3 d5 14. Be5
g6 15. Bxf6 Nxf6 16. Nd2 Qe8 17. Qc1 Bg4 18. Qe1 Qxe1+ 19. Rxe1 Re8 20. Kf1 Kf8
21. f3 Bc8 22. Kf2 Rxe1 23. Kxe1 Nh5 24. g3 Ng7 25. c3 Bf5 26. Be2 g5 27. Nf1
c6 28. Kd2 Ke7 29. a3 Be6 30. b3 h6 31. Ne3 Ne8 32. c4 Nd6 33. c5 Nf5 34. Nc2
Ng7 35. b4 Bf5 36. Ne3 Bg6 37. Kc3 Ne6 38. Ng2 Kd7 39. a4 Kc7 40. Ne3 h5 41.
Ng2 b6 42. a5 b5 43. h4 f6 44. Bf1 Kd8 45. Ne3 gxh4 46. gxh4 Nf4 47. Ng2 Nxg2
48. Bxg2 f5 49. f4 a6 50. Bxd5 cxd5 51. Kd2 Be8 52. Ke3 Bc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.28"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Artemiev, Vladislav"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C47"]
[WhiteElo "2691"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2017.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 O-O
8. O-O d5 9. exd5 cxd5 10. Bg5 c6 11. Na4 h6 12. Bh4 Re8 13. c4 dxc4 14. Bxc4
Qxd1 15. Rfxd1 g5 16. Bg3 Ne4 17. a3 Bf8 18. Rac1 Nxg3 19. hxg3 Rb8 20. b4 Bf5
21. Bd3 Bxd3 22. Rxd3 a5 23. bxa5 Rb5 24. Nb6 Rxa5 25. Rxc6 Rxa3 26. Rxa3 Re1+
27. Kh2 Bxa3 28. Nd5 Re6 29. Rxe6 fxe6 30. Nf6+ Kf7 31. Ne4 g4 32. Kg1 Kg6 33.
Kf1 Kf5 34. Nd2 h5 35. Ke2 Bc5 36. f3 Ke5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.28"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E67"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2017.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. b3 Bg7 4. Bb2 d6 5. d4 O-O 6. Bg2 Nbd7 7. O-O Re8 8. c4
c6 9. Nc3 e5 10. d5 cxd5 11. cxd5 e4 12. Nd4 e3 13. f4 Ng4 14. Nc2 Ndf6 15. Qe1
Bf5 16. Nd4 Be4 17. Nxe4 Nxe4 18. Ne6 fxe6 19. Bxg7 Nd2 20. Bb2 Nxf1 21. Qxf1
e5 22. Qf3 h5 23. h3 e4 24. Qf1 Nh6 25. Kh2 Rc8 26. Rc1 Nf5 27. Qe1 Qe7 28. Rc4
Rxc4 29. bxc4 Rc8 30. Qc3 Kh7 31. a4 b6 32. Ba1 a6 33. Qb2 g5 34. Qb1 Rxc4 35.
Qb2 Rc8 36. Bxe4 Qxe4 37. Qf6 Rg8 38. fxg5 h4 39. Kg1 Qb1+ 40. Kg2 Qe4+ 41. Kg1
hxg3 42. h4 Qb1+ 43. Kg2 Qe4+ 44. Kg1 Qb1+ 45. Kg2 Nxh4+ 46. Kxg3 Qe1+ 47. Kh3
Qh1+ 48. Kg4 Qe4+ 49. Kh5 Qg6+ 50. Kxh4 Qxf6 51. Bxf6 Kg6 52. Kg4 b5 53. axb5
axb5 54. Kf4 Re8 55. Bc3 Rc8 56. Bf6 Rc5 57. Kxe3 Rxd5 58. Ke4 Rd1 59. Kf3 b4
60. e4 Re1 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.29"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Inarkiev, Ernesto"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B20"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2689"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2017.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. a3 Nc6 3. b4 cxb4 4. axb4 Nxb4 5. d4 d5 6. c3 Nc6 7. exd5 Qxd5 8.
Na3 Bf5 9. Nb5 Rc8 10. Nxa7 Nxa7 11. Rxa7 e5 12. Nf3 exd4 13. Nxd4 Bd7 14. Nb5
Qxd1+ 15. Kxd1 Bc6 16. Bd3 Bc5 17. Re1+ Ne7 18. Ba3 Bxa3 19. Rxa3 Rd8 20. Nd4
Kd7 21. Ra7 Rhe8 22. Kc2 Kc7 23. Rb1 Rb8 24. f3 Nd5 25. Nxc6 Kxc6 26. Bb5+ Kb6
27. Rxb7+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.29"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Sjugirov, Sanan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2650"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "129"]
[EventDate "2017.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2 e5 4. d3 d5 5. O-O Ne7 6. e4 O-O 7. Nc3 dxe4 8. dxe4
c6 9. Be3 f6 10. Qe2 Be6 11. Rad1 Qe8 12. a4 Nd7 13. a5 Nc8 14. b3 Qe7 15. Na4
b5 16. axb6 axb6 17. c4 Qb4 18. Qc2 Rf7 19. Bd2 Qe7 20. Be3 Bf8 21. Rd3 Qe8 22.
Rfd1 Rb8 23. h4 h5 24. Nc3 Kh7 25. Qd2 Rb7 26. Ne1 Be7 27. f4 Nc5 28. Bxc5
Bxc5+ 29. Kh2 Rbd7 30. Qe2 Bd4 31. f5 gxf5 32. exf5 Bxf5 33. Qxh5+ Kg7 34. Qxf5
Nd6 35. Qg4+ Kf8 36. Bxc6 Rg7 37. Bxd7 Rxd7 38. Rxd4 exd4 39. Qxd4 Qe6 40. Nf3
Qf5 41. Qf4 Qc2+ 42. Qd2 Qg6 43. Qf2 Ne4 44. Nxe4 Rxd1 45. Nc3 Rc1 46. Ne2 Rc2
47. Nfd4 Ra2 48. Qf3 Qf7 49. h5 Kg8 50. Kh3 Qd7+ 51. Qg4+ Qxg4+ 52. Kxg4 Rd2
53. Kf5 Kf7 54. g4 Rd3 55. b4 Ra3 56. c5 bxc5 57. bxc5 Ra5 58. Nb3 Ra2 59. Ned4
Rf2+ 60. Ke4 Rg2 61. Kf3 Ra2 62. c6 Ra4 63. Ke4 Ke7 64. Kd5 Ra8 65. Nf5+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.29"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kryvoruchko, Yuriy"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2689"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2017.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 e6 3. e3 d5 4. Nf3 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Nbd2 Be7 7. Bd3 Nh5 8. Be5
f6 9. Bg3 g6 10. Qe2 Bd7 11. dxc5 Bxc5 12. e4 Nxg3 13. hxg3 dxe4 14. Bxe4 Kf7
15. O-O-O Qc7 16. Nc4 Rad8 17. Qd2 Bc8 18. Qh6 Rxd1+ 19. Rxd1 Kg8 20. g4 Bxf2
21. Bxc6 bxc6 22. g5 Qf4+ 23. Kb1 Qxc4 24. gxf6 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.29"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Anton Guijarro, David"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2666"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2017.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 b6 2. g3 Bb7 3. Bg2 c5 4. O-O g6 5. d3 Bg7 6. e4 d6 7. c3 Nf6 8. Nbd2
O-O 9. Re1 Nc6 10. a3 Nd7 11. Nb3 b5 12. d4 a5 13. Be3 a4 14. Nbd2 Qb6 15. d5
Nce5 16. Nxe5 Nxe5 17. Qe2 Ba6 18. f4 b4 19. c4 Nd7 20. Rab1 Rab8 21. Bh3 Rfd8
22. Rf1 Qa5 23. e5 dxe5 24. Ne4 Nb6 25. Rbc1 bxa3 26. bxa3 Nxd5 27. Bf2 exf4
28. Nxc5 Ne3 29. Nxa6 Qxa6 30. Rfe1 Rb2 31. Qf3 Rdd2 32. Bxe3 fxe3 33. c5 Rf2
34. Qd5 e6 35. Qd8+ Bf8 36. c6 Rbc2 37. c7 Qc6 38. Rxc2 Rxc2 39. Rxe3 Qxc7 40.
Qxc7 Rxc7 41. Re4 Ra7 42. Bf1 Bxa3 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.29"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Akobian, Varuzhan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A47"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2647"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2017.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 e6 3. e3 c5 4. c3 b6 5. Nf3 Be7 6. h3 O-O 7. Nbd2 cxd4 8. exd4
Bb7 9. Bd3 d6 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Qe2 a6 12. a4 Re8 13. Bh2 h6 14. Rfe1 Bf8 15.
Nc4 Qc7 16. Ne3 Nd5 17. Nxd5 Bxd5 18. Bxa6 Bxf3 19. gxf3 Nf6 20. Bb5 Rec8 21.
c4 Qb7 22. b4 g6 23. a5 bxa5 24. bxa5 Qa7 25. Qe3 Rd8 26. a6 Bg7 27. d5 exd5
28. Bc6 dxc4 29. Bxa8 Qxa8 30. Ra5 d5 31. Qb6 d4 32. a7 Rc8 33. Qb8 c3 34.
Qxc8+ Qxc8 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.29"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Bortnyk, Olexandr"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "2610"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "249"]
[EventDate "2017.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 g6 5. Be2 Bg7 6. O-O O-O 7. d5 Nb8 8. Re1
c6 9. Bf1 Bg4 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Nbd7 12. Qd1 Rc8 13. Be3 a6 14. a4 Qa5 15.
Qd2 Rfe8 16. b4 Qc7 17. Ra3 cxd5 18. exd5 Ne5 19. Rb3 Nc4 20. Bxc4 Qxc4 21. Bd4
Bh6 22. Be3 Bxe3 23. Rxe3 Qf4 24. Qd3 Rc7 25. b5 a5 26. b6 Rc5 27. Rb5 Nd7 28.
Rxc5 Nxc5 29. Qb5 Ra8 30. Rxe7 Qc1+ 31. Kh2 Qxc2 32. Ne2 Qf5 33. Qc4 Qxf2 34.
Nc3 Qf6 35. Re2 Nd7 36. Ne4 Qf4+ 37. g3 Qe5 38. Qb5 Rd8 39. Qxa5 Nc5 40. Nc3
Qd4 41. Nb5 Qxd5 42. Qb4 Qf3 43. Qd2 Nxa4 44. Rf2 Qc6 45. Qf4 Rf8 46. Qxa4 Qxb6
47. Rd2 d5 48. Nc3 Qe3 49. Qd4 Qxd4 50. Rxd4 Kg7 51. Rxd5 Rc8 52. Nb5 Rc2+ 53.
Kg1 Rc1+ 54. Kf2 Rb1 55. h4 Rb2+ 56. Ke3 Rb3+ 57. Kf4 Rb4+ 58. Kf3 Rb3+ 59. Kf4
Rb4+ 60. Nd4 Kf6 61. Rd7 h6 62. g4 Kg7 63. g5 hxg5+ 64. hxg5 Ra4 65. Ke4 Rb4
66. Ke5 Rb6 67. Rc7 Kg8 68. Re7 Kg7 69. Rd7 Kg8 70. Rd6 Rb2 71. Rd8+ Kg7 72.
Rd7 Rb6 73. Rc7 Kf8 74. Kd5 Kg8 75. Rd7 Rb1 76. Ke4 Re1+ 77. Kf4 Rb1 78. Nf3
Kg7 79. Ne5 Rf1+ 80. Kg4 Rg1+ 81. Kh4 Rh1+ 82. Kg3 Rg1+ 83. Kf4 Rf1+ 84. Nf3
Rb1 85. Rc7 Rb4+ 86. Ke3 Rb3+ 87. Ke4 Rb5 88. Nd4 Rb6 89. Kd5 Kg8 90. Nf3 Rb5+
91. Ke4 Rb4+ 92. Nd4 Rb1 93. Nf3 Rb4+ 94. Ke5 Rb5+ 95. Ke4 Rb4+ 96. Nd4 Rb1 97.
Ke5 Re1+ 98. Kf4 Rf1+ 99. Nf3 Rb1 100. Ne5 Rf1+ 101. Ke4 Rf5 102. Nf3 b5 103.
Re7 Kg7 104. Rb7 Kg8 105. Rc7 Kg7 106. Nd4 Rf1 107. Rb7 Kg8 108. Rxb5 f6 109.
Rb8+ Kf7 110. Rb7+ Kg8 111. gxf6 Rxf6 112. Ke5 Rf7 113. Rb6 Kh7 114. Ne6 Rf5+
115. Ke4 Kh6 116. Nf4 Rg5 117. Ra6 Rg1 118. Ra8 Re1+ 119. Kf3 Rf1+ 120. Kg3
Rg1+ 121. Kf2 Rg4 122. Kf3 Rg1 123. Ne6 g5 124. Nd4 Kg6 125. Kf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.29"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wang, Hao"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2709"]
[PlyCount "128"]
[EventDate "2017.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 e6 3. e3 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nd2 d5 6. Ngf3 Bd6 7. Bg3 O-O 8. Bb5
Be7 9. Bd3 b6 10. O-O Bb7 11. h3 Bd6 12. Bh4 Be7 13. Qb1 h6 14. a3 Nh5 15. Bxe7
Qxe7 16. Ne5 cxd4 17. Nxc6 Bxc6 18. cxd4 Nf6 19. Nf3 Rfc8 20. Qd1 Bb7 21. Qe2
Rc7 22. Rac1 Rac8 23. Rxc7 Qxc7 24. Nd2 Ne4 25. Nb1 Nd6 26. Nc3 Qe7 27. Rc1 g6
28. f3 e5 29. dxe5 Qxe5 30. Re1 Re8 31. Nd1 Bc8 32. Qd2 Bf5 33. Bf1 h5 34. Nf2
Nc4 35. Bxc4 dxc4 36. e4 Be6 37. f4 Qc5 38. f5 Bc8 39. Qh6 Bxf5 40. Qf4 Be6 41.
Qf6 Qe7 42. Qxe7 Rxe7 43. Nd1 Rd7 44. Nc3 Rd2 45. Re2 Rxe2 46. Nxe2 Kg7 47. Kf2
Kf6 48. Ke3 Ke5 49. Ng1 b5 50. Nf3+ Kd6 51. Kd4 a5 52. h4 b4 53. axb4 axb4 54.
Nd2 c3 55. bxc3 bxc3 56. Kxc3 Ke5 57. g3 f5 58. Nf3+ Kxe4 59. Ng5+ Ke5 60. Kd3
Bd5 61. Ke3 f4+ 62. Kf2 Kf5 63. Nh3 fxg3+ 64. Kxg3 Bb7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.29"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "2782"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2017.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. d5 Nb8 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. Re1
c6 9. Bf4 b5 10. a3 a6 11. Qd2 Bb7 12. Rad1 Nbd7 13. dxc6 Bxc6 14. e5 dxe5 15.
Nxe5 Nxe5 16. Bxe5 Qxd2 17. Rxd2 Rfd8 18. Rxd8+ Rxd8 19. Rd1 Rc8 20. Na2 Bb7
21. c3 Ne8 22. Bg3 Nf6 23. Be5 Ne4 24. Bxg7 Kxg7 25. Rd7 Nc5 26. Rxe7 Kf6 27.
Re3 Rd8 28. c4 bxc4 29. Bxc4 Rd1+ 30. Bf1 Rd2 31. Re2 Rd1 32. Nc3 Rc1 33. f3 a5
34. Kf2 Ba6 35. Re1 Rc2+ 36. Kg3 Bxf1 37. Nd5+ Kg7 38. Rxf1 Rxb2 39. Rc1 Nd3
40. Rc3 Ne1 41. Ne3 Re2 42. f4 h5 43. h3 h4+ 44. Kg4 f5+ 45. Kg5 Kf7 46. a4
Nxg2 47. Nxg2 Rxg2+ 48. Kxh4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.29"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grigoriants, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2561"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2017.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e3 Bb4 4. Nge2 O-O 5. a3 Be7 6. d4 exd4 7. Qxd4 Nc6 8.
Qd1 Ne5 9. Nf4 c6 10. Be2 Ng6 11. Nh5 Nxh5 12. Bxh5 d6 13. O-O Be6 14. b3 Bf6
15. Bb2 d5 16. cxd5 Bxd5 17. Qc2 Be6 18. Be2 a5 19. Na4 Bxb2 20. Qxb2 Qe7 21.
Qc3 Rfd8 22. Nb6 Ra7 23. Rfd1 h6 24. Bc4 Bxc4 25. Nxc4 Qc7 26. h3 Raa8 27. a4
b5 28. Rxd8+ Qxd8 29. axb5 cxb5 30. Nxa5 Qd5 31. b4 Nh4 32. f3 Qg5 33. Ra2
Nxf3+ 34. Kh1 Ne5 35. Rd2 Qf5 36. Rd5 Qf1+ 37. Kh2 Nf3+ 38. Kg3 Ng5 39. Qd3
Qe1+ 40. Kh2 Qxb4 41. Nc6 Qe4 42. Rd8+ Rxd8 43. Qxd8+ Kh7 44. Ne7 Qe5+ 45. Kh1
Qa1+ 46. Kh2 Qe5+ 47. Kg1 Qa1+ 48. Kf2 Qf6+ 49. Ke2 Qb2+ 50. Kd3 Qb3+ 51. Ke2
Qb2+ 52. Ke1 Qc1+ 53. Kf2 Qb2+ 54. Kg1 Qa1+ 55. Kh2 Qe5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.29"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Melkumyan, Hrant"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D13"]
[WhiteElo "2633"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2017.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bf4 a6 7. e3 Bg4 8. Be2
e6 9. O-O Be7 10. Rc1 Nd7 11. h3 Bh5 12. Qb3 Qb6 13. Nd2 Bxe2 14. Nxe2 Qxb3 15.
Nxb3 f6 16. a3 Kf7 17. Rc2 Nb6 18. Rfc1 Nc4 19. Bg3 g5 20. e4 Rhd8 21. exd5
exd5 22. Nc3 b5 23. Ne2 f5 24. Be5 a5 25. f4 a4 26. Nd2 N6a5 27. Nxc4 Nxc4 28.
Nc3 Ra7 29. Nxb5 Rb7 30. Nc3 Nxb2 31. Rb1 Rc8 32. Rbxb2 Rxb2 33. Rxb2 Rxc3 34.
Rb7 Ke6 35. Rb6+ Kd7 36. Rb7+ Kd8 37. Rb8+ Rc8 38. Rb5 Rc3 39. Rxd5+ Kc8 40.
fxg5 Rxa3 41. Ra5 Bxg5 42. d5 Be3+ 43. Kf1 Ra2 44. d6 a3 45. Ra8+ Kd7 46. Ra6
Rf2+ 47. Ke1 a2 48. Ra3 Bc5 49. Ra5 Bb4+ 50. Kxf2 Bxa5 51. Ke2 Bb4 52. Kd3 Bxd6
53. Ba1 Ke6 54. Kc2 Be5 55. Bxe5 Kxe5 56. Kb2 Kf4 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.29"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Yu, Yangyi"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C25"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2751"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2017.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 exf4 4. Nf3 Bb4 5. Nd5 Ba5 6. c3 Nge7 7. d4 O-O 8.
Nxf4 d5 9. Bd3 dxe4 10. Bxe4 Bf5 11. Bxf5 Nxf5 12. O-O Bb6 13. Qd3 Nce7 14. g4
Nd6 15. Ng5 Ng6 16. Nxg6 fxg6 17. Bd2 Qd7 18. h3 c5 19. dxc5 Bxc5+ 20. Kh2 Qc6
21. Ne6 Rxf1 22. Rxf1 Ne4 23. Nxc5 Nxd2 24. Qxd2 Qxc5 25. Qf4 h6 26. Qe4 Qb6
27. Qe2 Rd8 28. Kg2 Kh7 29. Rf3 Qc6 30. Kg1 Rd6 31. a3 a5 32. Re3 a4 33. Re4 b5
34. Rd4 Re6 35. Qf2 Qe8 36. Kf1 Re3 37. Rd8 Qe4 38. Qg2 Re1+ 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.30"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2017.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. c5 Ne4 8. Qa4
Nxc3 9. bxc3 c6 10. Bd3 Re8 11. O-O Bf6 12. e4 e5 13. Nxe5 Bxe5 14. Bxe5 dxe4
15. Bxe4 Nxe5 16. dxe5 Rxe5 17. Rfe1 Qe7 18. f4 Qxc5+ 19. Kh1 Re7 20. Qc2 g6
21. h3 Bd7 22. Bf3 Rae8 23. Rxe7 Rxe7 24. Qd2 Qe3 25. Qd6 Qxc3 26. Rd1 Re1+ 27.
Rxe1 Qxe1+ 28. Kh2 Qe8 29. h4 Be6 30. h5 Bxa2 31. Qd4 Qe7 32. Qxa7 Bd5 33. Bxd5
cxd5 34. hxg6 hxg6 35. Kg3 Qe1+ 36. Kh3 Qe6+ 37. Kg3 b6 38. Qb8+ Kg7 39. Qc7
Qe3+ 40. Kh2 b5 41. Qd6 d4 42. g3 d3 43. Qa3 Qd4 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.30"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2744"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2017.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 c5 6. O-O Nc6 7. dxc5 Qxd1 8.
Rxd1 Bxc5 9. Nfd2 Na5 10. Na3 Bxa3 11. bxa3 Nd5 12. Ne4 O-O 13. Bd2 b6 14. Rac1
Ba6 15. Bxa5 bxa5 16. Nc5 Bb5 17. Bxd5 exd5 18. Rxd5 Rfd8 19. Rxd8+ Rxd8 20.
Ne4 f5 21. Nc3 Bc6 22. f3 Kf7 23. Kf2 g5 24. Ke3 Rd6 25. Rd1 Re6+ 26. Kf2 Rh6
27. h4 gxh4 28. gxh4 Rxh4 29. Rd6 Be8 30. Kg2 a4 31. Ra6 Rd4 32. Rxa7+ Ke6 33.
Rxh7 Rd2 34. Rc7 Rc2 35. Rxc4 Bb5 36. Rc5 Bxe2 37. Kg3 Bd3 38. Kf4 Kd6 39. Rd5+
1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.30"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2799"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2017.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. a3 c5 8. cxd5
Nxd5 9. Nxd5 exd5 10. dxc5 Nxc5 11. Be5 Bf5 12. Be2 Bf6 13. O-O Be4 14. Rc1 Ne6
15. Bc3 Rc8 16. Qd2 Bxc3 17. Rxc3 Rxc3 18. Qxc3 Bxf3 19. Bxf3 d4 20. exd4 Nxd4
21. Rd1 Nxf3+ 22. Qxf3 Qe7 23. h3 h6 24. b4 Rc8 25. g3 b6 26. h4 Qe6 27. Kg2
Re8 28. Rd3 Qe7 29. Qd5 Qc7 30. Qd7 Re7 31. Qd5 Re8 32. b5 Qe5 33. Qd7 Qe4+ 34.
Kg1 Re5 35. Rd1 Qf3 36. a4 Re4 37. Qd8+ Kh7 38. Qd5 Re1+ 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.30"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C48"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2760"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2017.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nc3 O-O 7. Be3 Bd6 8.
Bg5 Re8 9. h3 c5 10. Nd5 Be7 11. Nxe7+ Qxe7 12. O-O h6 13. Be3 Nd7 14. Nd2 Nb8
15. f4 exf4 16. Rxf4 Nc6 17. Qh5 b6 18. Raf1 Rf8 19. Nf3 Be6 20. Rh4 f6 21. Qg6
Qf7 22. Qg3 Nb4 23. Bxh6 Nxc2 24. Ne5 fxe5 25. Rxf7 Rxf7 26. Qg6 Bxa2 27. Bg5
Rff8 28. Rh7 Rf7 29. Bf6 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.30"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A34"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2789"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2017.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 e5 4. e3 Nf6 5. Be2 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. O-O Be7 8.
Bb5 Nxc3 9. dxc3 Qxd1 10. Rxd1 f6 11. e4 Be6 12. Be3 Kf7 13. Nd2 Na5 14. Kf1
Rhd8 15. Be2 a6 16. h3 Rd7 17. Bg4 Rad8 18. Ke2 g6 19. Bxe6+ Kxe6 20. b3 f5 21.
f3 b5 22. Rab1 Rd3 23. Rbc1 R8d7 24. Nf1 Rxd1 25. Rxd1 Rxd1 26. Kxd1 c4 27. Nd2
cxb3 28. axb3 Nb7 29. b4 a5 30. bxa5 Nxa5 31. Kc2 Nc4 32. Nxc4 bxc4 33. g4 f4
34. Bf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.30"]
[Round "17"]
[White "Petrosian, Tigran L"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "2601"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2017.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O Nc6 5. e4 d6 6. d3 e5 7. c3 Nge7 8. a3 O-O
9. b4 a6 10. Nbd2 Be6 11. Ng5 Bd7 12. Nc4 h6 13. Nxd6 hxg5 14. Nxb7 Qc8 15.
Nxc5 g4 16. Bg5 Re8 17. Qb3 Nd8 18. Be3 Ne6 19. Rfd1 Nxc5 20. Bxc5 Be6 21. Qa4
Nc6 22. d4 Bc4 23. d5 Nb8 24. Bf1 Bxf1 25. Rxf1 Nd7 26. Be3 Nf6 27. Qb3 Nxe4
28. c4 Qf5 29. Rac1 Bf6 30. c5 Kg7 31. f3 Ng5 32. Bxg5 Bxg5 33. Rce1 gxf3 34.
Rxf3 Qd7 35. d6 e4 36. Qc3+ Kg8 37. Rf2 e3 38. Rf3 Qc6 39. Kg2 Qd5 40. Re2 a5
41. h4 axb4 42. axb4 Ra2 43. Qe1 Rxe2+ 44. Qxe2 Ra8 45. Kh3 Ra2 46. Qf1 e2 47.
Qf2 Qe6+ 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.30"]
[Round "18"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E16"]
[WhiteElo "2777"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2017.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Bb4+ 5. Nd2 O-O 6. Ngf3 b6 7. O-O Bb7 8. b3
c5 9. Bb2 Nbd7 10. a3 Bxd2 11. Nxd2 cxd4 12. Bxd4 Rc8 13. b4 Qe7 14. Rc1 Rfd8
15. Qb3 dxc4 16. Nxc4 Bxg2 17. Kxg2 e5 18. Bb2 Qe6 19. Rfd1 Nf8 20. Rxd8 Rxd8
21. Qf3 Rc8 22. Ne3 Rxc1 23. Bxc1 e4 24. Qf4 Qa2 25. Qc7 Qxe2 26. Qxa7 h5 27.
Qxb6 h4 28. Qc6 Ng4 29. Nxg4 Qxg4 30. Qc4 h3+ 31. Kg1 Ng6 32. Be3 Ne5 33. Qf1
Nf3+ 34. Kh1 Ne5 35. b5 Nc4 36. Kg1 Nxe3 37. fxe3 Qe6 38. a4 Qb3 39. Qe1 Qxa4
40. Qb1 Qa5 41. b6 Qd2 42. Qf1 Qxe3+ 43. Qf2 Qc1+ 44. Qf1 Qc5+ 45. Qf2 e3 46.
Qe2 Qxb6 47. Kf1 Qb1+ 48. Qe1 Qe4 49. Ke2 Qg2+ 50. Kxe3 Qxh2 51. Kf4 Qc2 52. g4
Qc7+ 53. Kf3 Qc6+ 54. Kg3 Qg2+ 55. Kf4 h2 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.30"]
[Round "19"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Artemiev, Vladislav"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D76"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2691"]
[PlyCount "129"]
[EventDate "2017.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Nf3 Nb6 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. e3
O-O 9. O-O Bd7 10. b3 Qc8 11. Bb2 Bh3 12. Qe2 Bxg2 13. Kxg2 a5 14. Ne4 a4 15.
Rac1 Rd8 16. Rfd1 Rd5 17. h3 Rh5 18. g4 Rd5 19. Nc5 axb3 20. axb3 Ra2 21. Ra1
Rxa1 22. Bxa1 Nd7 23. e4 Rd6 24. Nxd7 Rxd7 25. d5 Nb8 26. Bxg7 Kxg7 27. Qb2+
Kg8 28. Ra1 Rd6 29. b4 e6 30. dxe6 Rxe6 31. Ng5 Ra6 32. Qb3 Qe8 33. Rd1 Rd6 34.
Rxd6 cxd6 35. Qd5 Qe7 36. b5 b6 37. Qa8 Qc7 38. Nf3 Kg7 39. Qa1+ Kg8 40. Qf6
Qd7 41. Nd4 Qe8 42. Qxd6 Qxe4+ 43. Nf3 Qb7 44. h4 Nd7 45. Qc6 Qa7 46. Qc8+ Kg7
47. Qc3+ Kg8 48. h5 gxh5 49. gxh5 h6 50. Qc6 Kh7 51. Nd4 Nc5 52. Nf5 Ne6 53.
Qc1 Qb7+ 54. f3 Ng5 55. Qc6 Qxc6 56. bxc6 Ne6 57. Kf2 b5 58. Ke3 f6 59. Kd2 Kg8
60. Kc3 Kf8 61. Kb4 Nc7 62. Nxh6 Ke7 63. Nf5+ Kf7 64. Kc5 Kf8 65. Nd4 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.30"]
[Round "20"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Korobov, Anton"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A46"]
[WhiteElo "2837"]
[BlackElo "2652"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2017.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bg5 c5 4. c3 h6 5. Bh4 b6 6. e3 Bb7 7. Nbd2 Be7 8. Bd3
Nc6 9. a3 O-O 10. O-O cxd4 11. cxd4 Rc8 12. Qe2 Nh5 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Rac1 Nf6
15. Rc2 Nb8 16. Rfc1 Rxc2 17. Rxc2 Rc8 18. Rxc8+ Bxc8 19. e4 Bb7 20. e5 Nh7 21.
Nc4 Nf8 22. Nd6 Bxf3 23. Qxf3 Nc6 24. Qe4 f5 25. Qe3 Qh4 26. f4 g5 27. g3 gxf4
28. gxf4 Ng6 29. Qg3 Kh7 30. d5 Nce7 31. dxe6 dxe6 32. Qxh4 Nxh4 33. Bc4 Nhg6
34. Bxe6 Nxf4 35. Bxf5+ Nxf5 36. Nxf5 Kg6 37. Nd6 Nd3 38. Nc8 Nxe5 39. Nxa7 Nc4
40. Nc8 b5 41. Na7 Nxb2 42. Nxb5 Kf5 43. Kg2 h5 44. Kg3 Kg5 45. Nc3 Nc4 46. a4
Na5 47. Ne4+ Kg6 48. Kf4 Nc4 49. Nc5 Na5 50. h4 Kf6 51. Ne4+ Kg6 52. Ng3 Nb7
53. Ke3 Nd6 54. Kd4 Nb7 55. Kc4 Kf6 56. Kb4 Ke5 57. Nxh5 Kf5 58. Ng3+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Riadh"]
[Date "2017.12.30"]
[Round "21"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2805"]
[BlackElo "2837"]
[PlyCount "23"]
[EventDate "2017.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "SAU"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 a6 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be6 7. e3 Nbd7 8.
Bd3 Bd6 9. Bf4 Qe7 10. O-O O-O 11. h3 Rfe8 12. Qc2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 80th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2018.01.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2811"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2018.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]

1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} e5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 2. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Nf6 {
[%emt 0:00:00]} 3. Nxe5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} d6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 4. Nf3 {[%emt 0:
00:00]} Nxe4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 5. Qe2 {[%emt 0:00:00] A minor choice, generally
renowned for leading to a drawish ending.'} Qe7 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 6. d3 {
[%emt 0:00:00]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 7. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Qxe2+ {[%emt 0:06:
40]} 8. Bxe2 {[%emt 0:00:00]} g6 {[%emt 0:00:12]} ({On schematic grounds, I
might have preferred} 8... c6 {[%csl Rc3] to close off all options of Nb5 and
'dominate' the c3-knight. The followup could then be ...d5 and ...Bg4, with
the idea of trying to exchange the light-squared bishop for anything, and
exchange the pair of dark-squared bishops.}) 9. Nd4 {[%emt 0:05:37]} a6 {
[%emt 0:04:25]} 10. Bf4 {[%emt 0:05:06] Now this pressures the d6-pawn, so as
to prevent ...c6 following a fianchetto. Black has little choice but to play ..
.Nc6 one way or another, and he will be left with doubled pawns.'} Bg7 {
[%emt 0:00:33]} (10... Nbd7 {is the maximalist move, trying to prevent Bf3
altogether.}) 11. h3 {[%emt 0:00:43]} Bd7 {[%emt 0:06:15]} 12. Bf3 {[%emt 0:00:
36]} Nc6 {[%emt 0:00:15]} 13. Nxc6 {[%emt 0:00:14]} Bxc6 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 14.
Bxc6+ {[%emt 0:00:13]} bxc6 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 15. O-O-O {[%emt 0:00:50]} Kd7 {
[%emt 0:06:33] Objectively, there is nothing whatsoever wrong with Black's
position, and as long as one doesn't get carried away with premonitions of
White kings appearing on a5 after the rooks come off (echoes of Rubinstein)
then it is also easy enough to play.'} 16. Rhe1 {[%emt 0:01:14]} Rhe8 {[%emt 0:
04:33]} 17. Ne4 {[%emt 0:00:42]} (17. Bd2 {[%cal Ge1e8,Gd1e1] may have been
wisest, focusing on the task of exchanging all the rooks as quickly as
possible and then placing pawns on light squares.}) 17... Nd5 {[%emt 0:07:57]}
(17... Nxe4 18. dxe4 Re6 19. f3 Rae8 20. Bd2 {[%cal Gc2c4,Gc1c2] is also fine
but now White's moves are definitely easier to find, starting with c4, Kc2, b3.
}) 18. Bd2 {[%emt 0:00:11]} f5 {[%emt 0:02:42]} 19. Ng5 {[%emt 0:00:11]} h6 {
[%emt 0:00:09]} 20. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:09]} g5 {[%emt 0:04:07]} 21. c3 {[%emt 0:
02:59]} c5 {[%emt 0:07:56]} 22. Kc2 {[%emt 0:02:16]} Bf6 {[%emt 0:00:30]} ({
The computer wants} 22... a5 {but it can never be good to allow this pawn to
be fixed.}) 23. Rxe8 {[%emt 0:01:08]} Rxe8 {[%emt 0:01:29]} 24. Re1 {[%emt 0:
00:11]} Rf8 {[%emt 0:05:21]} 25. Rh1 {[%emt 0:01:51]} Re8 {[%emt 0:06:55]} 26.
g3 {[%emt 0:01:59]} g4 {[%emt 0:09:09]} 27. Ng1 {[%emt 0:00:38]} Bg5 {[%emt 0:
00:14]} 28. Kd1 {[%emt 0:06:20]} a5 {[%emt 0:11:46]} 29. Ne2 {[%emt 0:02:30]
One of several acceptable moves.} (29. a4 Rb8 $1 $15 {was the point and White
is being stretched a bit thin.}) 29... a4 {[%emt 0:00:13]} (29... Rb8 $5 30. b3
a4 31. Bxg5 hxg5 {is a little bit testing, perhaps}) 30. Bxg5 {[%emt 0:05:53]}
hxg5 {[%emt 0:00:15]} 31. hxg4 {[%emt 0:00:09]} fxg4 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 32. Rh5 {
[%emt 0:00:22]} Re5 {[%emt 0:01:40]} 33. Rh7+ {[%emt 0:00:31]} Ke6 {[%emt 0:07:
59]} 34. a3 {[%emt 0:13:54]} (34. d4 {screams out to be played, but there is
nothing much going on here either:} Rf5 35. c4 Nb6 36. b3 axb3 37. axb3 Rf3 $11
{Nevertheless, this was marginally safer for White than the game.}) 34... Rf5 {
[%emt 0:00:09]} 35. c4 {[%emt 0:02:06]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:05:21]} 36. Rh2 {[%emt 0:
00:45] It looks slightly dangerous to a human to allow ...Rxf2, because ...
Nd7-e5 with pressure will follow soon.'} Rf3 {[%emt 0:00:52]} 37. Kc2 {[%emt 0:
00:51]} Nd7 {[%emt 0:00:45]} 38. d4 {[%emt 0:05:54] Else White is in very
obvious difficulties.} Nb6 {[%emt 0:00:17]} (38... Rf5 {is a sensible engine
suggestion; this keeps a bit of pressure by not clarifying the situation of
the d4-pawn.} 39. Kd3 (39. Rh7 Nb6 40. dxc5 Rxc5 $36) 39... Rf7 {An engine
move; what was your first clue?} 40. Rh6+ $6 Ke7 41. Rh2 cxd4 42. Nxd4 Ne5+ 43.
Kc3 c5 $15) 39. dxc5 {[%emt 0:00:42]} dxc5 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 40. Nc3 {[%emt 0:
00:00]} Ke5 (40... Ke5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} {Presumably the expected continuation
was:} 41. Nd1 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Nxc4 42. Rh5 Kd4 43. Rxg5 Ne5 44. Rg7 {when
White is completely out of the woods.}) 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 80th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2018.01.14"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Adhiban, Baskaran"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C47"]
[WhiteElo "2655"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2018.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:07]} e5 {[%emt 0:00:10]} 2. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:39]} Nc6 {
[%emt 0:00:09]} 3. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:51]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:25]} 4. d4 {[%emt 0:00:
07]} exd4 {[%emt 0:00:22]} 5. Nxd4 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Bb4 {[%emt 0:00:19]} 6.
Nxc6 {[%emt 0:00:13]} bxc6 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 7. Bd3 {[%emt 0:00:16]} d5 {
[%emt 0:01:36]} 8. exd5 {[%emt 0:00:15]} O-O {[%emt 0:00:10]} 9. O-O {[%emt 0:
00:03]} cxd5 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 10. Bg5 {[%emt 0:01:31]} c6 {[%emt 0:00:14]} 11.
Qf3 {[%emt 0:00:39] It is interesting how these things change. In 2008 this
line was taught to me from the White side by Ukrainian-Israeli GM Boris
Alterman; shortly after becoming an IM (in 2011) I viewed it as primarily a
drawing weapon and now I think it's just a way to get a long and strategically
messy game which the better player will probably win. That is in fact what
occurred.} Bd6 {[%emt 0:02:48]} (11... Rb8 12. h3 {probably brings White a
little bit closer to his dream of Na4, b3, c4, Bf4 and Rad1.}) (11... Be7 {
is more played and is most solid, but the doubled f-pawns are not something to
get that scared about.}) 12. Rae1 {[%emt 0:01:50] Possibly preparation, but in
any case quite logical to take the e5-square from Black's bishop.} (12. h3 {
is main, and now a tactic worth knowing is} Rb8 13. b3 Be5 14. Bf4 $5 {
although it doesn't necessarily promise White anything after} Bxc3 15. Bxb8
Bxa1 16. Rxa1 Bg4 17. hxg4 Qxb8 $11 {Morozevich,A-Kramnik,V Moscow 2013.
However, we were not destined to see another bishop-vs-
knight-and-solid-d5-centre draw this round.}) 12... Rb8 {[%emt 0:06:40]} 13. b3
{[%emt 0:02:24] Keeping equality.} (13. Na4 h6 $1 $15) 13... a5 {[%emt 0:13:26]
} (13... Bb4 {tries to take advantage of White's tactically vulnerable pieces.
There could follow:} 14. Qg3 Bd7 {and I assume Carlsen saw this and steered
clear due to the drawing line} 15. Qh4 $1 h6 16. Bxh6 $11) 14. h3 {[%emt 0:05:
11]} h6 {[%emt 0:05:20]} 15. Bxf6 {[%emt 0:00:12]} Qxf6 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 16.
Qxf6 {[%emt 0:00:07]} gxf6 {[%emt 0:00:19]} 17. Ne2 {[%emt 0:00:07]} c5 {
[%emt 0:08:27]} 18. Ng3 {[%emt 0:02:40]} Rd8 {[%emt 0:00:40]} 19. Nf5 {[%emt 0:
02:17] So White has emerged with a marginally more comfortable position from
the opening, but Black isn't giving up on trying to win just yet.} Bf8 $1 {
[%emt 0:03:03] Bishops of the same colour always offer more imbalance, and in
this case White needs to be concerned about the ...c4 push too.} (19... Bxf5
20. Bxf5 a4 21. g3 axb3 22. axb3 Be5 $11 {would be a reasonably solid way to
make a draw.}) 20. Ne7+ {[%emt 0:14:20]} Bxe7 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 21. Rxe7 {
[%emt 0:00:06]} Be6 {[%emt 0:01:18]} 22. Rd1 {[%emt 0:06:01]} (22. Ra7 $1 {
As always, White should exchange precisely one pair of rooks, and this poses
Black some significant problems.} Ra8 (22... c4 23. Be2 {is inconvenient for
Black as he doesn't obtain enough in the event of ...c4, but} Ra8 {is also bad:
} 24. Rxa8 Rxa8 25. f4 $14) 23. Rxa8 Rxa8 24. f4 (24. g4 h5 $11) 24... f5 $1 (
24... Kf8 25. Kf2 Ke7 26. g4 $14 {leads to the same problem as in Giri-Hou
yesterday, and a Rubinstein game about 100 years ago: the isolated rook's pawn
is often a major weakness.}) 25. g4 fxg4 26. f5 Bd7 27. hxg4 Re8 $11) 22... c4
{[%emt 0:09:45]} 23. Be2 {[%emt 0:20:23]} a4 {[%emt 0:00:23] Now Black is
having some fun: possibly Adhiban missed from afar that ...Rxc2 can pin a
bishop to a c7-rook a few moves into certain lines.} 24. bxa4 {[%emt 0:01:35]}
Bf5 $6 {[%emt 0:03:32] Either an inaccuracy or a slight gamble. Either way, it
makes the game look a bit less 'smooth' given that it is a win in the end, but
also increased the likelihood of that being the result.} (24... Kf8 25. Rc7 Rb2
$132 {was for instance one reasonable continuation for Black.}) 25. Bf3 $2 {
[%emt 0:20:41] Missing the accidental chance.} (25. c3 $1 Ra8 (25... d4 26.
Bxc4 dxc3 27. Rxd8+ Rxd8 28. Bb3 $14) 26. Rc7 $1 {The point is that White can
use the pin on the d-file, and for this reason Black is unable to take on a4.
For instance:} Be6 27. f4 f5 28. Rd2 $14) 25... d4 $1 $15 {[%emt 0:01:40]} 26.
a5 $2 {[%emt 0:08:52]} (26. Re2 Rb2 27. Red2 {is the engine suggestion but
following} d3 $5 {it is also a bit depressing, e.g.} 28. cxd3 (28. c3 Rb6 29.
a5 Ra6 $15) 28... c3 29. Rxb2 cxb2 30. Rb1 Rb8 31. Be4 Be6 32. a5 Bxa2 33. Rxb2
Rxb2 34. a6 Rb1+ 35. Kh2 Ra1 36. a7 Bd5 37. Bxd5 Rxa7 $15 {and the endgame
should be held, especially at this level: bishop goes to f5 and is supported
by g4, for instance, but it requires a certain appetite for suffering to go in
for this.}) 26... Bxc2 $19 {[%emt 0:01:45]} 27. Rc1 {[%emt 0:00:36]} Rb1 {
[%emt 0:06:42]} 28. Rxb1 {[%emt 0:09:46]} Bxb1 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 29. Rc7 {
[%emt 0:03:43]} c3 {[%emt 0:00:49] The engine takes a while to realise, but
White is toast.} 30. Bd1 {[%emt 0:02:52]} (30. Kf1 Re8 {snares the a5-pawn in
a reasonably funny way.}) 30... Ra8 {[%emt 0:02:33]} 31. Rc5 {[%emt 0:00:56]}
Bxa2 {[%emt 0:00:47]} 32. Bc2 {[%emt 0:00:16]} Be6 {[%emt 0:01:47]} 33. Kf1 {
[%emt 0:02:06]} Rc8 {[%emt 0:00:59]} 34. Rxc8+ {[%emt 0:00:10]} Bxc8 {[%emt 0:
00:02]} 35. Ke2 {[%emt 0:03:28]} Ba6+ {[%emt 0:00:03]} 36. Kf3 {[%emt 0:00:11]}
d3 {[%emt 0:00:19] A very well played game!} 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel-A 80th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2018.01.15"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wei, Yi"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E06"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2743"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2018.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"]

1. d4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:16]} 2. c4 {[%emt 0:00:50]} e6 {[%emt 0:
00:15]} 3. g3 {[%emt 0:00:48]} d5 {[%emt 0:00:25]} 4. Bg2 {[%emt 0:00:07]} Be7
{[%emt 0:00:33]} 5. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:11]} O-O {[%emt 0:00:18]} 6. Qc2 {[%emt 0:
00:16]} c5 {[%emt 0:01:18]} 7. O-O {[%emt 0:00:27]} cxd4 {[%emt 0:09:56]} 8.
Nxd4 {[%emt 0:00:27]} Na6 {[%emt 0:00:12]} 9. cxd5 {[%emt 0:08:56]} Nb4 {
[%emt 0:00:19]} 10. Qb3 {[%emt 0:02:10]} e5 {[%emt 0:00:58]} 11. Nb5 {[%emt 0:
06:17]} Nbxd5 {[%emt 0:00:27]} 12. N1c3 {[%emt 0:02:42]} Be6 {[%emt 0:02:21]}
13. Nxd5 {[%emt 0:00:20]} Bxd5 {[%emt 0:00:33]} 14. Bxd5 {[%emt 0:00:12]} Qxd5
{[%emt 0:00:06]} 15. Bg5 {[%emt 0:00:21]} Qxb3 {[%emt 0:15:51]} 16. axb3 {
[%emt 0:00:02]} a6 {[%emt 0:00:22]} 17. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:38]} h6 {[%emt 0:02:44]
} 18. Bxf6 {[%emt 0:00:16]} Bxf6 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 19. Nd5 {[%emt 0:01:24]} Rac8
{[%emt 0:01:28]} 20. Rac1 {[%emt 0:02:14]} e4 {[%emt 0:08:15]} 21. Rc4 {
[%emt 0:00:59]} Rxc4 {[%emt 0:03:47]} 22. bxc4 {[%emt 0:00:01]} Bxb2 {[%emt 0:
08:30]} 23. Rb1 {[%emt 0:00:10]} Ba3 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 24. Rxb7 {[%emt 0:00:14]}
Rc8 {[%emt 0:00:12]} 25. Ra7 {[%emt 0:02:45]} Rxc4 {[%emt 0:04:35]} 26. Rxa6 {
[%emt 0:00:08]} Bf8 {[%emt 0:05:13]} 27. Ra8 {[%emt 0:05:36]} g6 {[%emt 0:00:
05]} 28. e3 {[%emt 0:00:44]} Kg7 {[%emt 0:00:39]} 29. Kg2 {[%emt 0:01:00]} h5 {
[%emt 0:00:46]} 30. h3 {[%emt 0:00:36]} Bd6 {[%emt 0:03:06]} 31. Rd8 {[%emt 0:
03:26]} Be5 {[%emt 0:00:25]} 32. Re8 {[%emt 0:01:12]} Bd6 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 33.
Rd8 {[%emt 0:00:40]} Be5 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 34. g4 {[%emt 0:00:57]} hxg4 {
[%emt 0:00:14]} 35. hxg4 {[%emt 0:00:03]} Rc5 {[%emt 0:07:13]} 36. g5 {[%emt 0:
00:48]} Rb5 {[%emt 0:01:08]} 37. Kh3 {[%emt 0:00:29]} Rc5 {[%emt 0:00:45]} 38.
Ne7 {[%emt 0:01:02]} Rc2 {[%emt 0:06:06]} 39. Kg2 {[%emt 0:00:32]} Rc7 {
[%emt 0:00:10]} 40. Rg8+ {[%emt 0:00:00]} Kh7 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 41. Re8 {
[%emt 0:00:47]} Rc5 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 42. Rc8 {[%emt 0:01:17]} Rb5 {[%emt 0:02:
27]} 43. Rf8 {[%emt 0:01:06]} Kg7 {[%emt 0:00:11]} 44. Rg8+ {[%emt 0:00:08]}
Kh7 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 45. Rf8 {[%emt 0:00:12]} Kg7 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 46. Rg8+ {
[%emt 0:00:13]} Kh7 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 80th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2018.01.16"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C18"]
[WhiteElo "2752"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2018.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"]

1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} e6 {[%emt 0:00:23]} 2. d4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} d5 {[%emt 0:
00:07]} 3. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Bb4 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 4. e5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Ne7
{[%emt 0:00:11]} 5. a3 {[%emt 0:00:27]} Bxc3+ {[%emt 0:00:10]} 6. bxc3 {
[%emt 0:00:03]} c5 {[%emt 0:00:15]} 7. Qg4 {[%emt 0:00:52]} cxd4 {[%emt 0:00:
09]} 8. Qxg7 {[%emt 0:03:29]} Rg8 {[%emt 0:00:09]} 9. Qxh7 {[%emt 0:00:03]} Qc7
{[%emt 0:00:17]} 10. Ne2 {[%emt 0:00:15]} Nbc6 {[%emt 0:00:23]} 11. f4 {
[%emt 0:00:19]} dxc3 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 12. Nxc3 {[%emt 0:05:59]} Nd4 {[%emt 0:
00:25]} 13. Bb2 {[%emt 0:09:42]} Bd7 {[%emt 0:02:15]} 14. O-O-O {[%emt 0:00:58]
} Qb6 {[%emt 0:00:45]} 15. Qd3 {[%emt 0:13:31]} Ndf5 {[%emt 0:00:19]} 16. Rd2 {
[%emt 0:01:11]} Rc8 {[%emt 0:06:56]} 17. g3 {[%emt 0:03:47]} Ne3 {[%emt 0:10:
51]} 18. Ne4 {[%emt 0:14:49]} Rxc2+ {[%emt 0:07:35]} 19. Rxc2 {[%emt 0:00:54]}
dxe4 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 20. Qxe4 {[%emt 0:05:59]} Nxc2 {[%emt 0:01:38]} 21. Qxc2
{[%emt 0:00:07]} Bc6 {[%emt 0:01:54]} 22. Bg2 {[%emt 0:00:20]} Bxg2 {[%emt 0:
00:29]} 23. Qxg2 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Nd5 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 24. Kb1 {[%emt 0:09:31]}
Nc3+ {[%emt 0:00:31]} 25. Ka1 {[%emt 0:00:24]} Qb3 {[%emt 0:00:28]} 26. Bxc3 {
[%emt 0:00:05]} Qxa3+ {[%emt 0:00:09]} 27. Kb1 {[%emt 0:00:18]} Qxc3 {[%emt 0:
00:04]} 28. Rc1 {[%emt 0:10:34]} Qb4+ {[%emt 0:00:15]} 29. Qb2 {[%emt 0:00:54]}
Qe4+ {[%emt 0:00:09]} 30. Qc2 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Qb4+ {[%emt 0:00:11]} 31. Qb2 {
[%emt 0:00:05]} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 80th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2018.01.17"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
[PlyCount "126"]
[EventDate "2018.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"]

{Especially dramatic was the match between Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Kramnik.
In an Italian game Kramnik reached easy equality with Black} 1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:
00]} e5 {[%emt 0:00:09]} 2. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Nc6 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 3. Bc4 {
[%emt 0:00:00]} Bc5 {[%emt 0:00:16]} 4. O-O {[%emt 0:00:01]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:
22]} 5. d3 {[%emt 0:00:07]} d6 {[%emt 0:01:10]} 6. c3 {[%emt 0:00:19]} a6 {
[%emt 0:00:11]} 7. a4 {[%emt 0:00:17]} O-O {[%emt 0:01:12]} 8. h3 {[%emt 0:00:
18]} h6 {[%emt 0:02:17]} 9. Re1 {[%emt 0:02:41]} Re8 {[%emt 0:00:58]} 10. Nbd2
{[%emt 0:03:42]} Be6 {[%emt 0:01:14]} 11. Bxe6 {[%emt 0:01:26]} Rxe6 {[%emt 0:
00:25]} 12. b4 {[%emt 0:00:06]} Ba7 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 13. Qc2 {[%emt 0:06:43]}
Qd7 {[%emt 0:00:13]} 14. Nf1 {[%emt 0:06:09]} d5 {[%emt 0:01:00]} 15. Ng3 {
[%emt 0:14:26]} Rd8 {[%emt 0:04:39]} 16. exd5 {[%emt 0:16:32]} Qxd5 {[%emt 0:
14:05]} 17. Be3 {[%emt 0:00:09]} Qxd3 {[%emt 0:19:40]} 18. Qxd3 {[%emt 0:00:07]
} Rxd3 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 19. Bxa7 {[%emt 0:09:11]} Nxa7 {[%emt 0:01:24]} 20.
Nxe5 {[%emt 0:00:04]} Rd5 {[%emt 0:02:26]} 21. Ng4 {[%emt 0:00:20]} Nxg4 {
[%emt 0:06:14]} 22. Rxe6 {[%emt 0:00:04]} fxe6 {[%emt 0:00:09]} 23. hxg4 {
[%emt 0:00:04]} a5 {[%emt 0:01:58]} 24. f3 {[%emt 0:02:26]} Nc6 {[%emt 0:07:20]
} 25. Rb1 {[%emt 0:07:16]} b6 {[%emt 0:08:27]} 26. Ne4 {[%emt 0:00:46]} axb4 {
[%emt 0:04:39]} 27. cxb4 {[%emt 0:00:12]} Rd4 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 28. b5 $6 {
[%emt 0:01:15] After one "impulsive" move (28.b5) — as Carlsen said after
the game — the Norwegian even came under pressure and had to save himself in
a rook ending, where black had two pawns extra — although doubled on the
g-line. With only one g-pawn it would be a theoretical draw, but the second
g-pawn made the matter "tricky" to quote Carlsen. But Carlsen defended himself
precisely and saved the draw} Ne5 {[%emt 0:01:27]} 29. Rc1 {[%emt 0:11:02]}
Nxg4 {[%emt 0:07:22]} 30. fxg4 {[%emt 0:02:50]} Rxe4 {[%emt 0:00:35]} 31. Rxc7
{[%emt 0:00:09]} Rxa4 {[%emt 0:02:44]} 32. Rc6 {[%emt 0:02:10]} Kf7 {[%emt 0:
02:36]} 33. g5 {[%emt 0:01:35]} hxg5 {[%emt 0:00:22]} 34. Rxb6 {[%emt 0:00:02]}
Rb4 {[%emt 0:01:28]} 35. Rb8 {[%emt 0:04:45]} Kf6 {[%emt 0:04:54]} 36. b6 {
[%emt 0:00:21]} Ke5 {[%emt 0:02:25]} 37. Kh2 {[%emt 0:09:23]} Rb3 {[%emt 0:00:
59]} 38. g4 {[%emt 0:08:53]} Kf4 {[%emt 0:07:48]} 39. b7 {[%emt 0:00:04]} Kxg4
{[%emt 0:02:10]} 40. Re8 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Rxb7 {[%emt 0:01:14]} 41. Rxe6 {
[%emt 0:01:39]} Rb2+ {[%emt 0:08:12]} 42. Kg1 {[%emt 0:00:03]} Kf3 {[%emt 0:02:
35]} 43. Ra6 {[%emt 0:00:44]} Rg2+ {[%emt 0:04:59]} 44. Kh1 {[%emt 0:00:52]}
Re2 {[%emt 0:02:48]} 45. Kg1 {[%emt 0:08:27]} g4 {[%emt 0:02:28]} 46. Ra1 {
[%emt 0:01:24]} Re8 {[%emt 0:08:00]} 47. Rb1 {[%emt 0:03:54]} g3 {[%emt 0:09:
01]} 48. Rb3+ {[%emt 0:00:40]} Re3 {[%emt 0:03:29]} 49. Rb1 {[%emt 0:00:02]}
Re8 {[%emt 0:04:24]} 50. Rb3+ {[%emt 0:00:05]} Kg4 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 51. Rb5 {
[%emt 0:00:11]} Re1+ {[%emt 0:05:22]} 52. Kg2 {[%emt 0:00:01]} Re2+ {[%emt 0:
00:18]} 53. Kg1 {[%emt 0:00:02]} g5 {[%emt 0:05:15]} 54. Rb8 {[%emt 0:00:12]}
Re1+ {[%emt 0:00:24]} 55. Kg2 {[%emt 0:00:03]} Re2+ {[%emt 0:00:04]} 56. Kg1 {
[%emt 0:00:10]} Ra2 {[%emt 0:00:42]} 57. Rc8 {[%emt 0:00:10]} Ra1+ {[%emt 0:01:
28]} 58. Kg2 {[%emt 0:00:02]} Ra2+ {[%emt 0:00:04]} 59. Kg1 {[%emt 0:00:07]} g2
{[%emt 0:02:18]} 60. Rc4+ {[%emt 0:00:00]} Kh3 {[%emt 0:00:53]} 61. Rc3+ {
[%emt 0:00:18]} Kh4 {[%emt 0:00:09]} 62. Rc4+ {[%emt 0:00:08]} g4 {[%emt 0:00:
35]} 63. Rc3 {[%emt 0:00:04]} Kh5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 80th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2018.01.19"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "2768"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[Annotator "Yermolinsky,A"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2018.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} e6 {[%emt 0:00:58]} 2. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:06]} Bb4 $5 {
[%emt 0:00:08] Back in the day we used to call it a Poor Man's Nimzo, but, in
fact, it is a fully playable line.} 3. Qb3 {[%emt 0:01:20]} c5 {[%emt 0:00:20]}
({The more solid} 3... Ba5 {was seen in Giri-Kramnik earlier in this
tournament.}) 4. Nb5 $5 {[%emt 0:07:54] This extravagant move has been known
for some time. I'm sure Carlsen counted on it in his preparation.} Nc6 {
[%emt 0:07:15]} 5. Nd6+ {[%emt 0:00:58]} Kf8 {[%emt 0:02:27]} (5... Ke7 $5 6.
Qg3 Kf8 {is an interesting nuance. The white queen may find itself not
supported by other pieces, and therefore, out of place on the kingside.}) 6.
Nf3 $6 {[%emt 0:01:10] It is funny to even question this natural developing
move, but the thing is, that knight is going to be driven back!} ({Instead,
let's take a look at one possible alternative:} 6. g3 Qe7 7. Nxc8 Rxc8 8. Bg2
Nf6 9. Nf3 e5 10. O-O e4 $6 ({A more reasonable move is} 10... g6 11. d3 Kg7
$14) 11. Ne1 Nd4 12. Qd1 {It may seem from a casual glance that Black has made
some progress, but his position has a rotten foundation. The absence of a
light-squared bishop, a stray bishop on b4, uncastled king and disconnected
rooks do not inspire confidence in his success in the long run. One thing left
to do is to play} h5 {and hope for the best.}) 6... Qe7 {[%emt 0:01:30]} 7.
Nxc8 {[%emt 0:01:26]} Rxc8 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 8. e3 {[%emt 0:12:28]} e5 $5 {
[%emt 0:02:03] Carlsen is absolutely right: Black must act fast and disrupt
White's smooth development.} ({In that respect} 8... g5 $5 {also comes into
consideration.}) 9. Qc2 {[%emt 0:01:00]} e4 {[%emt 0:09:34]} 10. Ng1 {[%emt 0:
00:22]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:02:12]} 11. Ne2 {[%emt 0:03:05]} Ba5 {[%emt 0:02:12]} 12.
a3 {[%emt 0:05:21]} h5 $1 {[%emt 0:13:39] A remarkable move. It serves as a
deterrent against White's idea of fianchettoing his light-squared bishop, and
prepares a possibility of development for the h8-rook.} (12... d5 13. cxd5 Nxd5
14. Ng3) 13. b3 {[%emt 0:09:03]} (13. g3 $2 h4) 13... Rd8 {[%emt 0:03:20]
Magnus prepares to open the d-file to pressurise d2.} ({He could have done so
right away,} 13... d5 14. cxd5 Nxd5 15. Ng3 (15. Bb2 Ncb4 16. axb4 Nxb4 17. Qb1
Nd3+ 18. Kd1 Nxf2+ 19. Ke1 Nd3+ 20. Kd1 {would give Black a choice between a
draw by repetition, and a more ambitious try} Bb4 $5) 15... Nf6 16. h4 {
and play} Rd8 {then. Either way, Black is getting some play, and possibly,
more!}) 14. Bb2 {[%emt 0:10:30]} d5 {[%emt 0:12:59]} 15. cxd5 {[%emt 0:00:22]}
Rxd5 {[%emt 0:02:49]} 16. O-O-O $1 {[%emt 0:05:09] Excellent play by Svidler.
With the black rook off the c-file he is safe against all ...Nb4 tricks.} Ng4
$1 {[%emt 0:01:25] Once again Carlsen shows his deep understanding of dynamic
factors.} ({A slow approach, such as} 16... h4 17. Nf4 Rd8 {would allow White
to switch to positional tracks with} 18. Bb5 $5 Bc7 19. Bxc6 bxc6 20. d3 $14)
17. Ng3 $5 {[%emt 0:23:27] Peter Svidler is no stranger to tactical battles.
He knows the value of being the one in the driver's seat.} ({He rejected} 17.
Nf4 Rf5 18. Nh3 {most likely on account of} c4 $1 ({Not} 18... Nxf2 19. Nxf2
Rxf2 20. Bc4 f6 21. Bd5 $14) 19. b4 (19. Bxc4 b5 {look out for that rook
coming to c5!}) 19... Bxb4 20. axb4 Nxb4 21. Qa4 b5 {with a big intiative for
Black.}) 17... Nxf2 {[%emt 0:00:47]} 18. Bc4 {[%emt 0:01:33]} Nxd1 {[%emt 0:10:
24]} 19. Rxd1 {[%emt 0:00:17]} Rg5 $1 {[%emt 0:09:43] The white knight had to
be kept off f5.} 20. Rf1 {[%emt 0:00:35] This looks very difficult to defend,
but no worries, it's Magnus at the controls.} Nd8 $1 {[%emt 0:00:09]} (20... f6
$2 21. Nxe4 Rxg2 22. Nxf6 $1 $18) 21. Nf5 {[%emt 0:07:57]} ({With no target
present on f6} 21. Nxe4 {is pointless:} Rxg2 $15) 21... Qd7 {[%emt 0:00:09]}
22. Qxe4 {[%emt 0:00:08]} Rg4 {[%emt 0:02:30] Carlsen's move forces White's
hand.} (22... b5 23. Bd5 h4 24. Qf3 {is very much unclear.}) 23. Bxg7+ {
[%emt 0:06:21] After some consideration Svidler decided to wrap up this
exciting game.} ({I can't blame him for taking a draw, as} 23. Qc2 Rxg2 24.
Bxg7+ Rxg7 25. Nxg7 {would have led to an ending,} Qxd2+ ({no need to allow} 
25... Kxg7 $6 26. b4 $1) 26. Qxd2 Bxd2+ 27. Kxd2 Kxg7 28. Ke2 b6 29. Rd1 Nc6
30. Rd7 Ne5 31. Rxa7 Rh6 {where chances are about even.}) 23... Rxg7 {[%emt 0:
04:05]} 24. Nxg7 {[%emt 0:00:09]} Qxd2+ {[%emt 0:01:03] All is forced now.} 25.
Kb1 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Bc3 {[%emt 0:00:37]} 26. Rxf7+ {[%emt 0:00:31]} Nxf7 {
[%emt 0:00:03]} 27. Qe8+ {[%emt 0:01:37]} Kxg7 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 28. Qxf7+ {
[%emt 0:00:04]} Kh6 {[%emt 0:00:12]} 29. Qf4+ {[%emt 0:00:06]} Kg6 {[%emt 0:00:
14]} 30. Qf7+ {[%emt 0:00:04]} Kh6 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 31. Qf4+ {[%emt 0:00:04]
With draws like this, who needs decisive games?} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 80th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2018.01.20"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hou, Yifan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2680"]
[Annotator "Golubev,M"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2018.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. cxd5 Nxd5 $5 5. e3 ({Principled lines are
connected with e2-e4 (as Magnus twice successfully played in 2016 in the short
control games against Kramnik) or} 5. Nf3 {first.}) 5... c5 $1 6. Bd3 ({
A rare continuation, which was used by Geller sixty years ago but was not seen
often after that. More standard is} 6. Nf3 {transposing to Carlsen's own 2010
rapid game against Hammer.}) 6... cxd4 7. exd4 Nxc3 $5 {Indeed, there were
alternatives for Black here and on the previous move.} 8. bxc3 Qc7 9. Bd2 Nd7
$1 10. Qg4 $5 {This is probably new.} Nf6 ({Also} 10... g6 {is playable.}) 11.
Qg3 $1 Qxg3 12. hxg3 {The world champion obtained a slightly better endgame.
Surely nothing special, but often he does not need much.} Bd6 13. Nf3 ({
Curious and probably deserving mention is} 13. Rh4 $5 {, preparing g3-g4. While
} e5 {can be met by} 14. dxe5 Bxe5 15. Nf3 {followed by 16.Kf1!. But
developing a knight, as Carlsen did, is very natural.}) 13... b6 {Black could
have tried to do without this move, developing the bishop to d7. But generally
there's nothing wrong with Hou Yifan's approach.} 14. a4 $1 Bb7 15. a5 Ke7 16.
Ke2 Ne4 17. Be1 $5 {Otherwise White can't preserve her bishop pair.} h6 18. c4
Nf6 $6 {I do not like this retreat, after which White activates easily.} ({
Instead,} 18... f5 $5 {looks OK, with decent counterchances for Black.}) 19.
Bc3 $1 Be4 {Also this is somewhat illogical. Now White quickly develops strong
pressure.} 20. Rhb1 Bxd3+ 21. Kxd3 Nd7 22. Nd2 $5 Rhd8 ({The alternative} 22...
f5 {has serious drawbacks because it weakens the e6-pawn.}) 23. Ne4 Bc7 24.
Bb4+ Ke8 {Black's position is passive and nearly critical. But, somewhat
strangely, it's also hard to offer something absolutely convincing for White.}
25. f4 ({Instead,} 25. Kc3 $5 f5 26. Bd6 $1 Bxd6 27. Nxd6+ Ke7 28. Nb5 {
also deserved attention, probably, and can be better than it looks.}) 25...
Rac8 26. axb6 axb6 27. Ra7 {Essentially, White goes for a promising looking
exchange sacrifice.} ({He also could have played the quieter:} 27. Nc3 $5 Nc5+
({or} 27... Bb8 28. Ra8 Nc5+ 29. Bxc5 bxc5 30. Rb7 $1 {with the idea of} Rxd4+
31. Ke2 Rdd8 32. Nb5 g5 33. Na7 Bxa7 34. Raxa7 {, etc.}) 28. Ke3 Nd7 29. Re1 $1
Bb8 30. Kd3 {and Black is worse after} Nc5+ $5 31. Bxc5 bxc5 32. d5 Kf8 {
as well as in other lines.}) 27... Nb8 $1 28. Rxc7 $1 Rxc7 29. Nd6+ Kd7 30.
Nxf7 Rdc8 {White has more than enough for the sacrificed exchange, but is it
enough for a win? Possibly not.} 31. Ne5+ ({Or} 31. Bd6 $5 Ra7 (31... Rb7 $6
32. Be5 $1) 32. Rxb6 ({Black also should be able to survive the bizarre} 32. f5
$5 exf5 33. d5) 32... Ke8 33. Ne5 Nd7 34. Nxd7 Kxd7 35. Bc5 $5 Re8 $1 {and
it's not clear how White can make progress.}) 31... Ke8 32. Bd6 Rb7 $1 33. c5
Nc6 $1 34. Rxb6 Rxb6 35. cxb6 {Further, Hou Yifan continued to defend a
not-so-simple ending well, until her fatal mistake on the 50th move,} Nd8 $5
36. Bc7 Ra8 37. Kc4 Nb7 ({Also possible was} 37... Ra2 $5 {where White should
avoid} 38. Kc5 ({other options:} 38. Kb5 $5) (38. g4 $5) 38... Ra5+ 39. Kd6 $4
{(well, Magnus would not play this even in bullet)} Rd5#) 38. Kb5 Ra2 39. g4
Ke7 $5 40. g3 $5 Nd6+ $1 41. Bxd6+ Kxd6 42. Nc4+ Kd7 43. Kc5 Rc2 $1 44. f5 exf5
45. gxf5 Rf2 46. Nd6 $1 ({After} 46. g4 {,} h5 $1 47. gxh5 Rxf5+ 48. Ne5+ Kc8
49. Kc6 Rf6+ {is an easy draw for Black.}) 46... Rg2 ({She could have tried} 
46... h5 $5 {(not allowing White to connect his g- and f-pawns), which seems
to be an easier way to the desired result for Black.}) 47. Ne4 Rb2 48. g4 $1
Rb1 49. Nd2 $1 Rh1 $5 50. d5 h5 $2 {It was necessary to abstain from this
advance.} ({The waiting strategy was correct. For example,} 50... Rc1+ 51. Nc4
Rb1 $5 52. Ne5+ Ke7 ({but not} 52... Kd8 $2 53. Kc6 $1 $18 {and after} Rc1+ {
White has} 54. Kd6) 53. d6+ Kd8 54. Kc6 Rc1+ {and if} 55. Kd5 Rb1 $1 {. But
it's difficult to understand that Black can save a game by playing like this.})
51. d6 $1 $18 {Now it's over.} Kc8 ({Or} 51... hxg4 52. b7 Rh8 53. Nc4 $1 Rb8
54. Ne5+ $1 Ke8 ({if} 54... Kd8 55. Nc6+) 55. Kc6 g3 56. Kc7 Rxb7+ 57. Kxb7 g2
58. Kc7 g1=Q 59. d7+ Ke7 60. d8=Q#) 52. gxh5 Rxh5 53. Kc6 {The black rook is
misplaced.} Kb8 54. Ne4 Rxf5 55. Nc5 {One may feel sorry for the Chinese star
who made so many strong moves but still lost this game.} 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 80th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2018.01.21"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Jones, Gawain C B"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B76"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2640"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2018.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 {Golubev,M} c5 {A slight surprise as recently Jones have preferred the
indeed more solid 1...e5. But as these days publicity is what matters even
Nakamura played the Dragon in order just to get in one funny tweet, why
wouldn't Jones use his opportunity at the stage vs. the World Champion to
advertise his two books on the subject?} 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 $5 {Somewhat
impratical, as one could argue Magnus would be an even bigger favourite if a
theoretical battle was out of the picture with any random move like 3.Bb5+,
but again, that would indeed be predictable.} cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3
Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2 O-O 9. O-O-O {A few years back when Magnus himself played
the Dragon as Black 9.Bc4 was the line he was most tested in, but Leko did
play this move agianst him in their match at Miskolic 2008.} d5 10. Qe1 $5 {
This is the pet-line that Leko used to cause get opening advantages yet no
wins against Magnus in the match, but later both did collect the full point
against Lawrence Trent at Isle of Mans.} e5 {On my own repertoire DVD I
recommended 10...e6 for Black, but since then White has found improvements and
in his book Jones rightfully preferred 10...e5.} 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. exd5 Nxd5 {
Magnus took with the c-pawn - 12...cxd5 - but after 13.Bg5 Be6 14.Bc4 it has
now been established that Black just suffers, which the games illustrated well.
} 13. Bc4 Be6 14. Kb1 $5 {Especially two games by Wei Yi in 2013 made this
particular move popular as Black just seemed to suffer. In his book Jones
recommends 14...Rb8 which even was played shortly after this game in Gibraltar
against Duda. Gawain however cunningly deviates from his own recommendation,
obviously taking the World Champion by surprise, as he now started spending
considerable amounts of times for his next moves:} Re8 $5 15. Ne4 f5 $1 {
A strong novelty.} 16. Ng5 Bc8 $1 {This is the point. Surprisingly there is no
way White can really exploit Black's loss of time.  From a practical point of
view its tempting for White to try and find a move that might push Black out
of his preparations and force "man vs. man" situations, and after a few
minutes Magnus lashed out with:} 17. g4 $4 {This is logical, as after 17...h6
18.Ne4 why wouldn't it be better that White immediately threatened to open the
gfile? However 17.h4 was not only an aggressive move, it also had the
advantage of protecting the knight at g5, which means that after...} ({The
computer indicates the logical} 17. h4 {but concluding that after} Rb8 $5 {
willingly sacrificing the a7-pawn, Black has sufficient counterplay:} 18. Bb3
h6 19. c4 hxg5 20. cxd5 Rxb3 $1 {being a principled line.}) ({One more idea is
} 17. Bb3 $5 {Golubev,M} f4 18. h4 ({Black should be able to survive also} 18.
Ne4 fxe3 19. c4 Be6 $1 20. cxd5 cxd5 21. Qxe3 $11) 18... fxe3 19. c4 e4 $5 20.
cxd5 Qf6 {and White has an easy draw, for example,} 21. dxc6+ Kh8 22. Nf7+ Kg8
23. Ng5+ {(where Black should avoid} Be6 $2 24. Bxe6+ Rxe6 25. Qb4 $1 $18 {
) but probably no more. Hopefully, Black is OK everywhere. But before entering
all these lines in a practical game, the safest is to check them with
AlphaZero. One way or another, one can see how dangerous is to play the Dragon
these days, if your opponent isn't a lazy world champ but someone who is well
prepared.}) 17... f4 $1 {...the shocking reality is that Black is winning a
piece! Magnus in an interview afterwards admitting to that simply having
blundered.} 18. h4 $5 {After all Fischer had a point. It's all about h4-h5 and
mate against the Dragon!} ({Else a possible explanation could be invented that
} 18. Bxf4 exf4 19. Rxd5 cxd5 $1 ({but not} 19... Rxe1+ 20. Rd1+ $1) 20. Bxd5+
Qxd5 21. Qxe8+ Bf8 {is sufficient as Black's queen covers the f7-square thus
leaving White with no effective follow up. Even more interesting, online
spectators where speculating that Magnus was inspired by the sensational
attacking games of Alphazero where material considerations seemed to be less
important to artificial intelligence that humans so far had seemed to
appreciate. Still right now that's a stretch, Black is just a piece up and
resignation would in principle be a viable option for White, but as the World
Champion stated in the post game interview that the psychological situation
had completely changed. White has indeed lost a piece, but also any kind of
expectations for a result, while for Jones obviously the reverse must have
been true. All pressure is now on the Englishman:}) 18... fxe3 19. Qxe3 h6 20.
Qc5 Bb7 $1 {Objectively the strongest move,} ({but} 20... hxg5 {was worth
considering. White gets back one piece with some interest after} 21. Qxc6 Be6
22. Bxd5 Bxd5 23. Rxd5 {but} Qb6 24. Qc4 Qe6 $1 {while being less advantages
based on engine-evalution still should be plenty to win the game as after} 25.
hxg5 e4 {the black Dragon bishop comes to life and after all, is an extra
piece!}) 21. Ne4 Re6 22. h5 Qb6 $2 {Somewhat understandably Gawain wants ot
exchange queens, and simultaneously puts it on a logical square eying the
b-pawn in the open b-line.} ({However} 22... g5 $1 {would effectively shut
down White's counterplay on the kingside, and while it does weaken the
f5-square and the white squares in general, its not nearly enough for a piece.}
) {Now however:} 23. g5 $1 {Norwegian Grandmaster Johan Salomon got it spot on
here, while tweeting that things has turned 180 degrees predicting a white win,
while the engines indeed still shows Black is safely winning. Black is still a
piece up, but he has gone from having the kingside under control, to now
entering chaos.} hxg5 $2 ({The primary problem of course is that} 23... Qxc5 {
while it does exchange the queens, does lose material immediately after} 24.
Nxc5 {as} Re7 25. Nxb7 Rxb7 26. Rxd5 $1 {wins.}) (23... Bf8 $1 {would have
prevented White's next move, and while} 24. Qg1 $1 Qxg1 25. Rdxg1 {still is a
decent initiative for White, the lack of queens does make a noticeable
difference.}) 24. Qa3 Rb8 25. b3 $1 {A great move. Sure it blocks White's
queen from the 3rd rank, but it can be regrouped via c1 if neccesary, and
mainly now it's all about king safety: Black's will be exposed, while White
now having removed the weakness of b2, to the safely defended b3, will not
have to bother in the sligthest about a black counterattack in the process.
Stockfish despite being a piece down already gives 0.00 indicating equality,
but I'm sure, were Alphazero not busy with new important research projects, it
would tell us White already is winning as his long-term initiative is
unstoppable.} Qd8 {Technically the losing move. 25...gxh5 or 25...g4 was a
better chance.} 26. Qxa7 $1 {It's not so much the pawn, but more the attack
along the 7th rank that matters, as well as again the queen could go to g1
attacking along the g-file if need be.} gxh5 27. Rxh5 Rg6 28. Rxg5 Rxg5 29.
Nxg5 {Exploiting that the rook on b8 is unprotected should Black take the
knight on g5.} Qc8 30. Rg1 Ra8 31. Qb6 Ra6 32. Qc5 Qd7 33. Ne4 Kh8 34. Qf2 Qe7
35. Bxa6 {Direct attack also would have decided the game, but almost with a
touch of irony, Magnus gets materialistic in the end.} Bxa6 36. Qh2+ Kg8 37.
Qh6 Qa7 38. Qe6+ Kf8 39. Rg5 Ne3 40. Qd6+ Kf7 41. Nc5 Bc8 42. Rxg7+ {As 42...
Kxg7 43.Qxe5+ followed by 44.Qxe3 leaves White a healthy 3 pawns up, Black
resigned.} 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 80th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2018.01.23"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2767"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2018.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"]

1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} e5 {[%emt 0:00:58]} 2. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Nc6 {
[%emt 0:00:06]} 3. Bb5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} a6 {[%emt 0:00:15]} 4. Ba4 {[%emt 0:00:
00]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:44]} 5. O-O {[%emt 0:00:15]} Be7 {[%emt 0:00:09]} 6. Re1 {
[%emt 0:00:07]} b5 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 7. Bb3 {[%emt 0:00:07]} d6 {[%emt 0:00:07]}
8. c3 {[%emt 0:00:31]} O-O {[%emt 0:00:07]} 9. h3 {[%emt 0:00:07]} Nb8 {
[%emt 0:00:08] The famously solid Breyer variation! Similar in character to
some games of mine that began with the move 1.d4 b5, Black's play in this line
is extremely formulaic and rarely deviates from well-established and easily
understood plans. A good sign of mastery is to be able to combine elements
from different plans as the game dictates.} 10. d4 {[%emt 0:00:23]} (10. d3 $5
{is another move, recently used against Mamedyarov by the young Spanish GM
David Anton. The logic is that Black has spent time on ...Nb8 that he probably
wouldn't have done against an earlier d3-system. For instance:} Nbd7 11. Nbd2
Bb7 12. Nf1 Re8 13. Ng3 $132 {and White can contemplate playing with Nh2-g4 in
place of the standard d4, Bc2 stuff.}) 10... Nbd7 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 11. Nbd2 {
[%emt 0:00:09]} Bb7 {[%emt 0:00:11]} (11... c5 {The reason this move order is
not played, is that Black would like White to have to play a4 before Black
goes c4.} 12. Nf1 Re8 13. Ng3 Bf8 14. Ng5 {The point. Now there is no real
choice other than c4, and then Black has to go for tricks.} c4 15. Bc2 exd4 $5
(15... h6 16. Nf3 Bb7 17. d5 g6 18. Be3 {is exactly what Black doesn't want:
counterplay is slow to arrive because White doesn't have a4 yet, and White may
continue with Nh2-g4 or Qd2, etc.}) 16. cxd4 Bb7 17. Bd2 g6 $132 {Black's play
now is aimed at making the knight on g5 feel silly. Nevertheless, he doesn't
have quite enough pressure on e4 and the feeling is that White must be better
somehow, perhaps with a4 under the now-different circumstances.}) 12. Bc2 {
[%emt 0:07:27]} Re8 {[%emt 0:00:11]} 13. Nf1 {[%emt 0:01:09]} Bf8 {[%emt 0:00:
09]} 14. Ng3 {[%emt 0:00:06]} g6 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 15. a4 {[%emt 0:00:05]} (15.
Nh2 {is an interesting creative move:} exd4 16. cxd4 c5 17. d5 $11 {In this
kind of position it's hard to know how much weight to give to the opinion of
the machine, but Black should not be worse if he follows normal plans (...Bg7,
...c4, ...Nc5, possibly ...h5.) See Motycakova,M-Nemcova,K Frydek Mistek 2009.}
) (15. b3 $5 {A conceptually challenging line. White wants to get d5 without
a4, and not have it punished by ...c6 and detonation of the centre. Black must
react carefully, and I am not sure quite how to equalise here, though there is
a very interesting piece sacrifice which gives excellent compensation.} Bg7 (
15... c5 16. d5 $14) (15... d5 16. Bg5 h6 17. Bh4 $14 {seems to have been
pioneered by Mamedyarov and analysed down to a draw, but cloud engines
disagree! The consensus will probably change soon...}) 16. d5 Rc8 17. c4 {
This was White's point.} c6 18. Be3 (18. dxc6 Rxc6 19. cxb5 axb5 20. Bd3 b4 $11
{Berg,E-Butnorius,A Gibraltar 2008}) 18... Nb6 $1 {Now for concrete reasons
this is best.} (18... Qa5 {is suggested by the engine, but following} 19. a3
bxc4 20. bxc4 Nc5 21. Qd2 Qxd2 22. Nxd2 Nfd7 23. Rab1 $14 {the queens have
come off and Black is quite passive}) 19. Qe2 $1 {Other moves have been tried,
but this is the most convincing for White.} cxd5 20. cxd5 Nbxd5 {If not for
this move White would be trivially better.} 21. exd5 Nxd5 22. Rac1 $1 {The
only way to take back on e3 with a piece.} (22. Qd2 Nxe3 23. fxe3 e4 24. Nd4
Bxd4 25. exd4 e3 26. Qe2 Qh4 27. Kh2 Qxd4 {is not what White was looking for
from the opening}) 22... Nxe3 (22... Nc3 23. Qd2 $14) 23. Qxe3 d5 $44 {Black
has good compensation based on the big centre.}) 15... Nb6 $5 {[%emt 0:00:51]
Not a move I had seen before, but perhaps it will be seen more in light of the
present game.} (15... c5 {This is the main line. White is only given liberty
to close the centre after he has played a4. Here I have some quite detailed
analysis but suffice it to say in summary that Black faces some slight
problems according to the present theory, largely depending on how fast he
allows tripling on the a-file.} 16. d5 c4 17. Bg5 $1 {White is trying to cross
or delay Black's usual knight redeployment of Nc5, Nfd7.} Bg7 $1 (17... h6 $6 {
is less strong, and a simple plan for White can be formulated, involving...
tripling on the a-file. Far from gaining a tempo, ...h6 in fact loses one. I
will give some sample lines.} 18. Be3 Nc5 19. Qd2 h5 20. Ra3 Qc7 (20... Nfd7
21. Rea1 Nb6 {Else just R1a2, Qc1-a1, etc.} 22. a5 Nba4 {Interesting idea, but
probably bad.} 23. Rb1 $1 Bg7 24. Nf1 $14 {The idea is just Qd1, N1d2, Nxc4
and there is not a lot Black can do about it.}) 21. Rea1 Rab8 22. Qd1 Bc8 23.
axb5 axb5 24. Ra5 Rb7 25. R1a2 Bd7 26. Bg5 Nh7 27. Bd2 Nf6 28. Ng5 Reb8 29. Nf1
{White has gained a marginally more pleasant position and will be able to
triple on the a-file if desired, however if Black plays completely precisely
the advantage will grow, and as we all know, with almost nothing on the board
0.3 is a draw!}) 18. Qd2 Nc5 19. Ra3 (19. Nh2 Qc7 20. Ng4 Nxg4 21. hxg4 Bc8 22.
f3 Bd7 $11) 19... Qc7 20. Rea1 Reb8 21. Qc1 Nfd7 {Black is just about in time,
for instance:} 22. R1a2 Nd3 $132) (15... Bg7 $5 {is an interesting attempt to
dodge the main line - Black is fine to play with ...c6 in place of ...c5, and
keep the position compact and solid in a Philidor-like way.} 16. Bd3 {
Otherwise Black gets ...c5, free of the problems outlined above.} c6 17. Be3 (
17. Bg5 {encourages Black's concept:} Nf8 18. Qd2 Ne6 19. Be3 Nd7 $11 {Black
is fine as in Hou,Y-Sasikiran,K New Delhi 2011.}) 17... Qc7 $132 {Black is
playing for ...d5 and whether White has an edge depends heavily on whether he
can sufficiently discourage this move in the coming phase. One motif to pay
attention to is the dark-square complex. Anand has been on the White side of
this: Anand,V-Baramidze,D Baden-Baden 2015}) 16. axb5 {[%emt 0:06:22]} (16. a5
Nbd7 17. b4 $5 {Caruana,F-Roiz,M Bilbao 2014 , An audacious concept . White is
trying to play d5, lock down the centre as well as the queenside and only
subsequently (and extremely slowly) make progress with the kingside attack.
The idea could, however, have come slightly unstuck against the principled}
exd4 18. cxd4 c5 19. bxc5 dxc5 20. d5 c4 $132) (16. b3 $5 {is possibly more
ambitious than the text - White wants Bd3, c4, d5.} bxa4 {may be the best way
to counter this:} 17. bxa4 a5 18. Bd3 Qc8 $132 {Adams,M-Tan,J Bournemouth 2016,
Black has reasonable play according to current knowledge, but Black's position
looks slightly looser than usual, so there may be an incisive way for White to
get an edge.}) 16... axb5 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 17. Bg5 {[%emt 0:00:13]} Bg7 {
[%emt 0:06:43]} 18. Bd3 {[%emt 0:05:49]} Rxa1 {[%emt 0:06:36]} 19. Qxa1 {
[%emt 0:00:16]} c6 {[%emt 0:00:49]} 20. Be3 {[%emt 0:02:51]} (20. Qc1 {
followed by Bh6 is the engine idea, but Black is solid in any case.}) 20... Qc7
{[%emt 0:07:19]} 21. dxe5 {[%emt 0:01:00]} dxe5 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 22. Qc1 {
[%emt 0:00:52]} Bc8 {[%emt 0:05:35]} 23. Qc2 {[%emt 0:01:39] The last two
moves do not create a great impression, but White has a very wide margin of
error in such positions.} Nfd7 {[%emt 0:05:08]} 24. c4 {[%emt 0:05:31] This
move looks like White has reconciled himself to offering a draw soon.} Nxc4 {
[%emt 0:01:03]} 25. Bxc4 {[%emt 0:00:13]} bxc4 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 26. Qxc4 {
[%emt 0:00:10]} Nf8 {[%emt 0:01:19]} 27. Rc1 {[%emt 0:00:30]} Bb7 {[%emt 0:04:
33]} (27... Rd8 $5 {is a nice wrinkle: after} 28. Qxc6 Rd1+ 29. Kh2 Rxc1 30.
Qxc1 Qxc1 31. Bxc1 Ne6 $36 {Black has full compensation for the pawn despite
the reduced material and his bishop pair means his game is more pleasant.}) 28.
Nf1 {[%emt 0:04:57]} Ne6 {[%emt 0:00:17]} 29. N1d2 {[%emt 0:00:12]} Qa5 {
[%emt 0:10:37]} 30. Ng5 {[%emt 0:16:57]} Nxg5 {[%emt 0:01:18]} 31. Bxg5 {
[%emt 0:00:11]} Bf8 {[%emt 0:08:28]} 32. Be3 {[%emt 0:05:44] With a draw offer
which was accepted.} (32. Nb3 Qb5 33. Qc3 {was maybe worth considering, as on
strategic purity White is still marginally ahead. Definitely below super-GM
level there is a strong chance that White will consolidate a dark-square bind,
e.g. Be3-c5, Nd2, b4, f3, Kh2.}) 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 80th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2018.01.24"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2792"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "149"]
[EventDate "2018.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. Bf4 Bf5 4. e3 e6 5. c4 Bxb1 6. Qxb1 (6. Rxb1 {- see
Karjakin-Wei Yi in CBM 174.}) 6... Bb4+ 7. Kd1 {A very unusual line but Magnus
Carlsen regularly proves that White's king in the centre is less a problem for
him than it might seem.} Bd6 (7... O-O 8. c5 c6 9. Bd3 Nbd7 10. Ke2 Ba5 11. g4
g6 {0-1 (26) Caruana,F (2807)-Karjakin,S (2773) Saint Louis 2017} 12. h4 $40) (
7... Ne4 8. Qc2 Bd6 (8... c6 9. Bd3 f5 10. Ke2 (10. cxd5 $5 exd5 11. g4 $36)
10... Nd7 (10... Bd6 $142) 11. Qb3 Qe7 12. c5 Bxc5 {1-0 (23) Rambaldi,F (2574)
-Sanchez Alvarez,R (2402) Panama City PAN 2017} 13. Qxb7 $16) 9. Bxd6 Qxd6 10.
Bd3 f5 {0-1 (75) Demidov,M (2523)-Kovalenko,I (2635) chess.com INT 2018} 11.
cxd5 exd5 12. Ne5 $14) (7... Be7 8. c5 b6 9. b4 Ne4 10. Qc2 O-O 11. Bd3 {
1-0 (75) Margvelashvili,G (2547)-Gerzhoy,L (2489) Saint Louis 2012} f5 $13) (
7... c5 8. a3 Ba5 9. b4 cxb4 10. axb4 Bc7 11. Bxc7 Qxc7 12. c5 O-O 13. Bb5 Ne4
14. Qb2 Nc6 15. Ke2 f5 $13 {1-0 (33) Olbrich,M (2302)-Stettler,M (2291)
Germany 2002}) (7... dxc4 8. Bxc4 Bd6 9. Bg3 Nbd7 10. Ke2 Qe7 11. Qc2 O-O 12.
Rhd1 e5 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Nxe5 Bxe5 15. Kf1 Bxg3 16. hxg3 Qe5 $11 {1/2 (23)
Wirthensohn,H (2361)-Mathonia,C (2197) Germany 2002}) 8. Bg5 (8. c5 Bxf4 9.
exf4 Ne4 10. Qc2 Qf6 11. g3 O-O 12. Bb5 a6 13. Ba4 b5 14. cxb6 cxb6 15. Ke2 b5
16. Bb3 a5 $17 {0-1 (30) Nikolic,Z-Djukic,Z Nis 1981}) (8. Bxd6 Qxd6 9. Qc2 (9.
cxd5 exd5 10. Bd3 O-O 11. Ke2 Nbd7 12. b4 a5 13. b5 c5 14. bxc6 bxc6 15. Rd1 c5
16. dxc5 Nxc5 17. Kf1 Rfc8 $15 {0-1 (49) Hauge,L (2436)-Vaibhav,S (2542) chess.
com INT 2018}) 9... O-O 10. Bd3 dxc4 11. Qxc4 Nbd7 12. Ke2 c6 13. Rhd1 Qe7 14.
Rac1 e5 $11 {1/2 (18) Demidov,M (2523)-Andriasian,Z (2585) chess.com INT 2018})
8... h6 (8... c5 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Bb5+ Nc6 11. dxc5 Bxc5 (11... Be7 $142 $14)
12. Bxc6+ bxc6 13. Qc2 $16 {1-0 (26) Carlsen,M (2838)-Finegold,B (2481) chess.
com INT 2017}) (8... c6 9. Bd3 Nbd7 10. Ke2 Qe7 11. Rd1 h6 12. Bh4 O-O 13. Kf1
e5 14. dxe5 Nxe5 15. Nxe5 Qxe5 16. Bg3 Qe6 17. cxd5 cxd5 18. Bf5 Qe7 19. Qc2
$14 {1-0 (74) Kobo,O (2489)-Taylor,A (2256) Barcelona 2016}) 9. Bxf6 (9. Bh4 {
was played in two online games between Carlsen and So:} Nbd7 (9... g5 10. Bg3
Ne4 11. Qc2 g4 12. Nd2 Bxg3 13. Nxe4 dxe4 14. hxg3 f5 15. Qb3 $14 {1/2 (77)
Carlsen,M (2832)-So,W (2815) chess.com INT 2017}) 10. cxd5 exd5 11. Bd3 c6 12.
Ke2 Be7 13. b4 a6 14. Rc1 O-O 15. a4 Ne4 16. Bxe4 Bxh4 17. Bh7+ Kh8 18. Bf5 Nb6
19. b5 cxb5 20. axb5 a5 $11 {1-0 (35) Carlsen,M (2832)-So,W (2815) chess.com
INT 2017}) 9... Qxf6 10. cxd5 $146 {[%mdl 8]} (10. c5 Bf8 ({there is nothing
wrong with} 10... Be7) 11. Qc2 c6 12. b4 a6 13. Bd3 Nd7 14. Ke2 g5 15. h3 Bg7
16. a4 Qe7 17. Rad1 O-O 18. g4 e5 $13 {1/2 (40) So,W (2822)-Wojtaszek,R (2745)
Shamkir 2017}) 10... exd5 11. e4 $1 {Unusual: White attacks in the centre when
his uncastled king is there! Moreover, he has no development advantage or
other positional trumps. The justification of his action is purely tactical: a
favourable constellation of pieces at this particular moment. And surprisingly
it works!} Be7 (11... Qe6 $5 12. e5 Be7 13. Bb5+ Nd7) 12. Bb5+ $5 ({Of course,
not} 12. exd5 Nd7 {followed by 0-0-0.}) ({The immediate} 12. e5 {allows Black
to activate his queen:} Qb6) 12... c6 13. e5 Qf4 14. Bd3 c5 {Black must get
access to White's king.} 15. dxc5 Nc6 16. Qc1 {Of course, the exchange of
queens is favourable for White.} Qb4 17. a3 $1 (17. Ke2 Bxc5 18. Rd1 Qb6 19. a4
a6 20. b4 Nxb4 21. Rb1 O-O 22. Kf1 Qc6 23. a5 Rac8 24. Qd2 Nxd3 25. Qxd3 {
0-1 (68) Sadzikowski,D (2584)-Bai,J (2575) Neustadt an der Weinstrasse G 2018}
Rfd8 $15) 17... Qxc5 18. Ke2 {...but Magnus Carlsen doesn't hurry!} ({After} 
18. Qxc5 Bxc5 19. Ke2 O-O {[%csl Re5] Black should equalize.}) 18... Nd4+ (
18... Qb6 $5 {[%cal Re7c5]}) 19. Nxd4 Qxd4 20. f4 O-O 21. Qd2 Qb6 22. Rhe1 f6
23. e6 $1 {[%mdl 512]} Qxe6+ 24. Kf3 {White has sacrificed a pawn but his king
is now safe, and the weakness of light squares in Black's position becomes
critical.} Qd7 (24... Qf7 {[%cal Yf7h5]} 25. Bf5 Kh8 26. Rad1 {is very
unpleasant, too.}) 25. Rad1 Rad8 26. Qe3 Bd6 27. Bg6 f5 28. Qe6+ Qxe6 29. Rxe6
Bc5 {This move allows White to regain material while keeping a big positional
advantage} ({but after} 29... Bb8 30. h4 {Black's position is completely
passive.}) 30. Re5 (30. g3 $142 {protecting the f4-pawn, and then Re6-e5.})
30... Rf6 (30... Bd6 $142 $1 31. Rxf5 (31. Rexd5 Rf6 $1 32. Bxf5 g6 {regaining
the f4-pawn is the point of Black's defence}) 31... Bc7 32. Rxf8+ Kxf8 {
, and Black keeps good drawing chances.}) 31. Bxf5 Bd6 32. Rdxd5 Kf7 33. Re4 g6
34. Bg4 {As a result, White has won a pawn.} h5 35. Bh3 Re8 36. Red4 Be5 37.
Rb4 g5 38. g3 (38. Rxb7+ Kf8 39. g3 gxf4 40. g4 {was not clear due to} hxg4+
41. Bxg4 Rd6 $1 {with drawing chances for Black. If} 42. Rxd6 Bxd6 43. Rxa7 {
then} Re3+ 44. Kg2 Rb3) 38... b6 39. Rd7+ Kf8 40. Rh7 {White goes for a
position with 3 pawns vs. bishop. He had a good alternative:} (40. Rxa7 Bd6 41.
Rc4 gxf4 42. gxf4 b5 43. Re4 Rxe4 44. Kxe4 Rxf4+ 45. Kd5 $16) 40... g4+ 41.
Bxg4 hxg4+ 42. Kxg4 {Computers usually evaluate such positions as nearly equal
but in fact, they are quite difficult to defend. Wesley So fails to hold his
ground.} Bd6 43. Rc4 a5 (43... Rg6+ $142 44. Kf5 Rg7 {exchanging White's
active rook.}) 44. Rc6 Kg8 {Black now loses a fourth pawn but} ({if} 44... Be7
{then} 45. Rh8+ Kf7 46. Rxf6+ Bxf6 47. Rxe8 Kxe8 48. b3 {. After the exchange
of both pairs of rooks the endgame is winning for White.}) 45. Rb7 Be5 46.
Rcxb6 Rxb6 47. Rxb6 {[%mdl 4096] The rest is a matter of technique, which the
World Champion hardly lacks.} Bd4 48. Rb5 Re2 49. b3 Rxh2 50. Rxa5 Re2 51. Rd5
Bb2 52. a4 Bc3 53. Kf5 Re8 54. g4 Rf8+ 55. Ke4 Rb8 56. Rb5 Re8+ 57. Kd3 Be1 58.
a5 Bf2 59. b4 Re3+ 60. Kc4 Re4+ 61. Kb3 Kf7 62. Re5 Rd4 (62... Rxf4 63. Rf5+
Rxf5 64. gxf5 $18) 63. b5 Rd3+ 64. Kc2 Rg3 65. g5 Bd4 66. Rd5 Be3 67. Rd3 Rg2+
68. Kb3 Bc1 69. b6 Ke6 70. Rd4 Rb2+ 71. Ka4 Kf5 72. Rb4 Ra2+ 73. Kb5 Bxf4 74.
Rxf4+ Kxf4 75. b7 {A fantastic game, a real gem of chess strategy of the
future. It is very difficult to say where Black committed mistakes leading to
his defeat!} 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 80th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2018.01.26"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E34"]
[WhiteElo "2804"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2018.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"]

1. d4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:25]} 2. c4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} e6 {[%emt 0:
00:06]} 3. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Bb4 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 4. Qc2 {[%emt 0:00:00]} d5
{[%emt 0:00:20]} 5. cxd5 {[%emt 0:00:07]} (5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 {is another big
main line, e.g.} O-O 7. Nf3 dxc4 8. Qxc4 b6 9. Bg5 $11 {, which was the path
followed by Ivanchuk,V-Harikrishna,P Huaian 2017}) 5... Qxd5 {[%emt 0:00:09]}
6. e3 {[%emt 0:01:56]} (6. Nf3 Qf5 $1 $11 {has now become famous, and after
some wrangling it has become clear that only Black can actually have a
positional edge in the endgame, despite his doubled f-pawns!}) 6... c5 {
[%emt 0:01:00]} 7. Bd2 {[%emt 0:00:08]} Bxc3 {[%emt 0:00:22]} 8. Bxc3 {[%emt 0:
00:05]} cxd4 {[%emt 0:00:44]} 9. Bxd4 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Nc6 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 10.
Bc3 {[%emt 0:00:04]} (10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Ne2 {is the initial computer
recommendation, but this really isn't that good after say} Bd7 12. a3 Qa5+ 13.
Nc3 Ne7 $11 {Dreev,A -Fedoseev,V Moscow 2014}) 10... O-O {[%emt 0:00:54]} 11.
Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:20]} Rd8 {[%emt 0:18:24] Else Rd1 is slightly annoying.} 12.
Be2 {[%emt 0:12:37]} (12. Rd1 Qxd1+ 13. Qxd1 Rxd1+ 14. Kxd1 Ne4 15. Be1 e5 $11
{is another equal position, where White's bishop pair isn't yet active enough
to give him any advantage.}) 12... Qe4 {[%emt 0:03:03]} 13. Rc1 {[%emt 0:05:05]
} Qxc2 {[%emt 0:01:48]} 14. Rxc2 {[%emt 0:00:08]} Nd5 {[%emt 0:00:07]} (14...
Bd7 15. Nd4 Ne7 $11 {could be worth considering for the future; White's bishop
pair is a lot less scary when there is an extra pair of knights on the board.})
15. Ne5 {[%emt 0:21:44]} Bd7 {[%emt 0:03:44] This is the novelty!} (15... Nxe5
16. Bxe5 b6 17. a3 f6 18. Bg3 Bb7 19. O-O Rac8 20. Rfc1 e5 21. Rxc8 Rxc8 22.
Rxc8+ Bxc8 23. Kf1 {Grachev,B-Karjakin,S Antalya 2017. This somehow led to one
of the world's best defensive players being ground down; the problem is that
White can keep trying things and never runs any risk at all.}) 16. Nxc6 {
[%emt 0:15:26]} Bxc6 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 17. Bd2 {[%emt 0:00:40]} Ne7 {[%emt 0:22:
33]} 18. f3 {[%emt 0:01:06]} Rac8 {[%emt 0:00:37]} 19. e4 {[%emt 0:02:52]} (19.
Ba5 $5 b6 20. Bb4 Nd5 21. Bd2 $14 {prevents Black from playing ... a6 and ...
Bb5.}) 19... f6 {[%emt 0:00:57]} 20. Be3 {[%emt 0:02:47]} a6 {[%emt 0:00:46]}
21. Kf2 {[%emt 0:02:19]} (21. Bc4 $5 Kf7 22. Bb3 Bb5 23. Kf2 {and we can still
talk about a White edge based on the bishop pair.}) 21... Bb5 $1 {[%emt 0:01:
00] Black has equalised again.} 22. Rhc1 {[%emt 0:07:13]} Rxc2 {[%emt 0:01:24]}
23. Rxc2 {[%emt 0:00:08]} Bxe2 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 24. Kxe2 {[%emt 0:04:18]} Nc6
$11 {[%emt 0:00:28] There is nothing really left to play for. Black can choose
between an ...e5 based plan, and a rook-exchange based plan.} 25. b4 {[%emt 0:
01:04]} Rc8 {[%emt 0:01:52]} 26. Rc5 {[%emt 0:05:57]} b5 {[%emt 0:02:19]} 27.
f4 {[%emt 0:05:40]} Kf7 {[%emt 0:00:19]} 28. a3 {[%emt 0:00:16]} Ne7 {[%emt 0:
06:52]} 29. Rxc8 {[%emt 0:00:12]} Nxc8 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 30. Bc5 Ne7 {[%emt 0:
00:00]} 31. Bxe7 {[%emt 0:01:32]} Kxe7 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 32. Kf3 {[%emt 0:01:50]
} Kd6 33. Ke3 e5 {[%emt 0:00:40]} 34. f5 {[%emt 0:04:27]} Ke7 {[%emt 0:00:07]}
35. g4 {[%emt 0:00:39]} Kf7 {[%emt 0:00:31]} 36. h4 {[%emt 0:00:12]} Kg8 {
[%emt 0:00:13]} 37. Kf3 {[%emt 0:00:13]} h6 {[%emt 0:00:18]} 38. h5 {[%emt 0:
00:18]} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 80th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2018.01.27"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Matlakov, Maxim"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2718"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2018.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"]

1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} c5 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 2. Nf3 {[%emt 0:01:09]} e6 {[%emt 0:
00:12]} 3. d4 {[%emt 0:02:08]} cxd4 {[%emt 0:00:17]} 4. Nxd4 {[%emt 0:00:02]}
Nc6 {[%emt 0:00:10]} 5. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:12]} Qc7 {[%emt 0:00:31] Another
pull-no-punches opening choice from Matlakov, who in his Black games against
the other 2 world champions in this event (yep, quite a tough draw!) chose
innovative systems in the Italian and Ruy Lopez involving knights moving to
the edge. Maybe this is something of a habit for him, as in this game the
c6-knight soon makes its way to a5...} 6. Be3 {[%emt 0:01:25]} a6 {[%emt 0:00:
30]} (6... Nf6 7. f4 Bb4 $5 {is an interesting attempt to make do without ...
a6 for at least a few moves:} 8. Ndb5 Qa5 9. e5 Nd5 10. Bd2 Nxc3 11. Bxc3 O-O
12. Qd2 a6 (12... f6 $5 $132) 13. Bxb4 Qxb4 14. Qxb4 Nxb4 15. Nd4 $132 {
1/2-1/2 (15) Motylev,A (2656)-Svidler,P (2751) Tallinn 2016}) 7. Qd2 {[%emt 0:
01:04]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:53]} 8. f4 {[%emt 0:00:24]} (8. O-O-O Be7 (8... Bb4 9.
f3 {is the absolute main line:} Ne5 (9... Na5 {is also a thing here, but White
must be slightly better in the ending after a3}) 10. Nb3 b5 (10... d6 11. Bd4
$16 {was the unfortunate opening outcome (for Black) of one game from the 2016
British Championships}) 11. Qf2 $5 {Main is 11.Qe1 but this is an interesting
new idea.} Be7 $6 12. g4 d6 13. Rg1 Rb8 14. g5 $14 {Dominguez Perez,L-Vachier
Lagrave,M Berlin 2015}) 9. f3 h5 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Bf4 e5 12. Bg5 a5 13. Bc4 a4
14. a3 d6 15. f4 O-O 16. Rhf1 Bg4 17. Rde1 Rfd8 18. Qe3 Rab8 19. fxe5 dxe5 20.
Bxf6 Bxf6 21. h3 Rd4 22. hxg4 Rxc4 23. gxh5 Be7 24. Rf3 Rd4 25. Nd1 Qb6 26. h6
Qd8 27. Rg3 g6 28. Rf1 Rb7 29. Nf2 Bh4 30. Rg4 Bxf2 31. Qxf2 Rbd7 32. Qf3 Kh7
33. Kb1 Qe7 34. Rg3 Qh4 35. Rg4 Qe7 36. Rg3 Qd6 37. Rc1 Rd1 {Grischuk,A (2783)
-Cori Tello,J (2641) Tbilisi 2017 1/2-1/2}) 8... Bb4 {[%emt 0:02:08]} 9. Bd3 {
[%emt 0:00:41]} Na5 {[%emt 0:00:36]} (9... Ne7 $5 {tries to play ...d5 under
favourable circumstances, but just ends up looking slow after the same move}
10. a3 $14) 10. a3 {[%emt 0:00:31]} Bxc3 {[%emt 0:00:32]} 11. Qxc3 {[%emt 0:00:
02]} Qxc3+ {[%emt 0:00:18]} 12. bxc3 {[%emt 0:00:04]} d5 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 13.
exd5 {[%emt 0:00:05]} (13. e5 Ne4 14. Nb3 Nc4 $11 {led to an interesting game
with a sidelined White knight:} 15. Bxc4 dxc4 16. Na5 Bd7 17. Bd4 Rc8 18. Nxb7
Bc6 19. Na5 Bd5 $44 {Volokitin,A-Giri,A Germany 2014}) 13... exd5 {[%emt 0:01:
03]} 14. Nb3 {[%emt 0:00:09]} Nc4 {[%emt 0:00:47]} 15. Bd4 {[%emt 0:00:02]} Ne4
{[%emt 0:04:13]} 16. Nc5 {[%emt 0:01:07]} Nxc5 {[%emt 0:25:42]} 17. Bxc5 {
[%emt 0:00:05]} Bd7 {[%emt 0:00:25] The position is similar in essence to
Mamedyarov-Carlsen from yesterday - the only difference being that Carlsen
held nearly effortlessly there, but Matlakov is not able to do the same today.}
18. O-O-O {[%emt 0:02:34]} O-O-O {[%emt 0:01:38]} 19. Bxc4 {[%emt 0:00:53]}
dxc4 {[%emt 0:00:24]} 20. Bb6 {[%emt 0:00:02]} Rde8 {[%emt 0:01:07]} 21. Rd4 {
[%emt 0:00:11]} Re6 {[%emt 0:07:55] Dropping a healthy pawn by force.} (21...
Bb5 $5 22. Rhd1 Kb8 {looks a bit passive, but avoids going in for
hard-to-calculate forced lines. Black's idea is ...Rc8-c6.}) 22. Rxc4+ {
[%emt 0:00:24]} Rc6 {[%emt 0:00:48]} (22... Kb8 23. Rd1 $5 Bb5 24. Rb4 Rxb6 25.
c4 $14 {is unlikely to be much more pleasant, since Black now ends up with
doubled pawns himself.}) 23. Rxc6+ {[%emt 0:00:44]} Bxc6 {[%emt 0:00:26]} 24.
Rd1 {[%emt 0:00:25]} Bxg2 {[%emt 0:18:10]} 25. Rg1 {[%emt 0:00:14]} Be4 {
[%emt 0:12:19]} 26. Rxg7 {[%emt 0:00:44]} Bg6 {[%emt 0:00:18]} 27. a4 {[%emt 0:
12:05]} (27. f5 {immediately was also possible, and Black's drawing chances
may not be as good as they immediately seem.}) 27... Rf8 {[%emt 0:05:24]} 28.
Kb2 {[%emt 0:04:57]} Kd7 {[%emt 0:02:12]} (28... h5 {could also have been
played, since it is not clear, especially given the further course of the game,
whether having the king out helps or hinders Black's drawing efforts.}) 29. f5
{[%emt 0:00:34]} Bxf5 {[%emt 0:00:17]} 30. Bc5 {[%emt 0:00:02]} Rc8 {[%emt 0:
00:20]} 31. Rxf7+ {[%emt 0:00:07]} Ke6 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 32. Re7+ {[%emt 0:00:
03]} Kf6 {[%emt 0:00:17]} 33. Bb4 $14 {[%emt 0:00:53] Now White has a healthy
nibble, and he coaxes ...a5.} a5 {[%emt 0:09:19]} (33... b5 34. axb5 axb5 35.
Rb7 Re8 36. Rxb5 Re2 $14 {was a marginally better version of the same thing.})
34. Ba3 {[%emt 0:00:21]} Rc4 {[%emt 0:00:43]} 35. Rxb7 {[%emt 0:00:41]} Rxa4 {
[%emt 0:00:12]} 36. Ra7 {[%emt 0:05:14]} Re4 {[%emt 0:09:40]} 37. Rxa5 {
[%emt 0:00:11]} Re2 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 38. Bd6 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Bxc2 {[%emt 0:02:
20]} 39. c4 $16 {[%emt 0:00:55] Eventually Carlsen had to be able to swap one
of his doubled pawns for another pawn. The position is now completely
thankless - the best Black can hope for is not even a straight draw, but to
have to defend rook and bishop against rook!} Ke6 {[%emt 0:02:00]} 40. Ra6 {
[%emt 0:00:00]} Bf5+ {[%emt 0:05:14]} 41. Kc3 {[%emt 0:01:48]} Be4 {[%emt 0:11:
24]} 42. Kd4 {[%emt 0:06:19]} Kf5 {[%emt 0:02:03]} 43. Ra5+ {[%emt 0:00:29]}
Kg4 {[%emt 0:03:26]} 44. c5 {[%emt 0:05:32]} Bf3 {[%emt 0:05:04]} 45. Ra7 {
[%emt 0:01:20]} h6 {[%emt 0:04:19]} 46. Rh7 {[%emt 0:03:14]} Re4+ {[%emt 0:04:
33]} 47. Kd3 {[%emt 0:01:05]} Re6 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 48. Kc4 {[%emt 0:00:11]} Bc6
{[%emt 0:02:48]} 49. Rc7 {[%emt 0:00:51]} Bh1 {[%emt 0:00:47]} 50. Kb5 {
[%emt 0:01:16]} h5 {[%emt 0:02:17]} (50... Re1 $16 {keeps the game going a bit
better.}) 51. Rg7+ {[%emt 0:01:38]} Kh4 $6 {[%emt 0:01:02] Walking into all
kinds of mating motifs.} (51... Kf5 52. Rg1 Bf3 53. Rf1 {might have been a
line Black was afraid of, but he survives by defending with the rook:} Re3 $16)
52. Rg1 {[%emt 0:16:52]} Ba8 {[%emt 0:01:23]} 53. Kb6 {[%emt 0:06:28]} Re2 {
[%emt 0:01:29]} 54. Kc7 {[%emt 0:01:04]} Bd5 {[%emt 0:03:57]} 55. Rg3 {[%emt 0:
03:30]} Bh1 {[%emt 0:00:35]} (55... Rxh2 56. Rd3 {is a nice small tactic.}) 56.
Rc3 {[%emt 0:07:56]} Kg4 {[%emt 0:03:34]} 57. c6 {[%emt 0:01:07] So White has
managed everything he needs to and he will win the bishop without the need for
a h-pawn swap. In a game Sowray-Harvey, Bedford 2013, the weaker side
continued even after the win of a similar piece, but ultimately even after
some inspired resistance was unable to save half a point.} 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 80th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2018.01.28"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2753"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2018.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"]

1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} e5 {[%emt 0:00:10]} 2. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Nc6 {
[%emt 0:00:04]} 3. Bb5 {[%emt 0:00:00]} a6 {[%emt 0:00:19]} 4. Ba4 {[%emt 0:00:
00]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 5. O-O {[%emt 0:00:00]} Be7 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 6. Re1 {
[%emt 0:00:00]} b5 {[%emt 0:00:10]} 7. Bb3 {[%emt 0:00:02]} O-O {[%emt 0:00:06]
} 8. a4 {[%emt 0:00:07] No Breyer today.} b4 {[%emt 0:00:05]} (8... Bb7 {
is more popular, but I have never understood the appeal of developing the
bishop to a diagonal that will remain closed, in the case when the Breyeresque
...c5-c4 is still some moves off.} 9. d3 d6 10. Nc3 {is White's point; Black's
queenside pawns will not be permitted to advance abreast. The best he might be
able to do is} Na5 11. Ba2 b4 12. Ne2 c5 13. Ng3 g6 (13... Bc8 14. c3 Rb8 15.
d4 $36 {Duda,J-Najer,E Czech Republic 2017}) 14. h3 {when White appears to
have extra tempi in his kingside attack, compared to most systems with an
early d3.}) (8... Rb8 {is slightly compliant: after} 9. axb5 axb5 10. c3 d6 11.
d4 {Black lacks the usual recourse of ...Na5 in the line} exd4 12. cxd4 Bg4 13.
Be3 {so might have to make do with} d5 14. e5 Ne4 15. h3 Bh5 16. Nc3 $36 {
; furthermore, 13.Nc3!? might be unexpectedly strong in spite of the doubled
f-pawns.}) 9. d4 {[%emt 0:01:17]} (9. a5 d6 10. d3 Be6 11. Bxe6 fxe6 12. Nbd2 {
led to a nice win for Magnus himself in Carlsen,M-Aronian,L Saint Louis 2017;
one wonders where the improvement was?}) (9. d3 d6 10. Nbd2 Na5 11. Ba2 c5 12.
c3 Rb8 {is now fine for Black, who has not wasted time on ...Bb7 unlike in the
8...Bb7 line.}) 9... d6 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 10. dxe5 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Nxe5 {
[%emt 0:00:08]} 11. Nxe5 {[%emt 0:05:48]} (11. Nbd2 Ned7 $5 {was an unusual
method of pressuring e4, but a successful one:} 12. Nd4 Bb7 13. c3 bxc3 14.
bxc3 Nc5 15. Bc2 Re8 16. f3 Nfd7 17. a5 d5 $11 {Nakamura, H-Svidler,P Saint
Louis 2017}) 11... dxe5 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 12. Qe2 {[%emt 0:00:04]} a5 {[%emt 0:
00:49] Possibly still affected by his own experience on the White side,
Carlsen decides to avoid White's a5-ideas.} (12... Bc5 {is of course fine
immediately.}) 13. Nd2 {[%emt 0:10:03]} Bc5 {[%emt 0:01:05]} 14. Nf3 {[%emt 0:
06:46]} Qe7 {[%emt 0:02:23]} 15. Be3 {[%emt 0:12:57]} Ba6 {[%emt 0:19:41]} 16.
Bxc5 {[%emt 0:02:31]} Qxc5 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 17. Qe3 {[%emt 0:00:04]} Qxe3 {
[%emt 0:00:52]} 18. Rxe3 {[%emt 0:00:01]} Rfe8 $11 {[%emt 0:02:35] Initially
this position looked to me to be slightly nicer for White, but this isn't
really the case. In fact, Black may have more ideas in the position, and in
the long term has the better bishop, so it would not surprise me if he was
vaguely thinking about winning here.} 19. c3 {[%emt 0:02:40]} (19. h3 c5 20.
Rd1 c4 21. Ba2 Kf8 $132 {is hard to get enthused about from the White side,
especially if we remember Adhiban-Carlsen from round 2.}) 19... Ng4 {[%emt 0:
01:23]} 20. Ng5 {[%emt 0:06:14] Simplifying quickly lest he end up worse.} Nxe3
{[%emt 0:02:28]} 21. Bxf7+ {[%emt 0:00:14]} Kf8 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 22. Bxe8 {
[%emt 0:00:43]} Rxe8 {[%emt 0:01:06]} 23. fxe3 {[%emt 0:00:07]} bxc3 {[%emt 0:
01:57]} 24. bxc3 {[%emt 0:00:09]} h6 {[%emt 0:00:20]} 25. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:55]}
Bd3 {[%emt 0:01:30]} 26. Rd1 {[%emt 0:01:54]} Bxe4 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 27. Rd7 {
[%emt 0:00:11] Continuing to force pieces off, because if White plays slowly
the bishop will be superior.} Re7 {[%emt 0:03:06]} 28. Rd8+ {[%emt 0:00:23]} (
28. Rxe7 Kxe7 29. Nxe5 Ke6 30. Nc4 Kd5 31. Nxa5 Bc2 {leads to an odd position
where White is a pawn up but only he is taking risks.}) 28... Kf7 {[%emt 0:00:
43]} 29. Nd2 {[%emt 0:00:41]} Bc6 {[%emt 0:00:19]} 30. Nc4 {[%emt 0:00:38]} Ke6
{[%emt 0:01:41]} 31. Nxa5 {[%emt 0:02:20]} Bxa4 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 32. Nb7 {
[%emt 0:00:59]} Re8 {[%emt 0:03:30]} (32... Bd7 {might be a try if Black is
desperate to play on.} 33. e4 (33. Nc5+ Kd6 34. Ne4+ Kc6 35. Kf2 Be8 $132)
33... Rf7 34. Nc5+ Kd6 35. Nd3 c5 $132 {Objectively this might be nothing for
Black, and so there is no reason to go for it, especially if one has looked at
Anish Giri's game and concluded he is unlikely to win.}) 33. Nc5+ {[%emt 0:00:
14]} Kf6 {[%emt 0:00:28]} 34. Rxe8 $11 {[%emt 0:01:04] Unlike the previous
note, here White gets to play Na6 immediately, and thus seal up the whole
position.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.18"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gorozhanin, Mikhail"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C00"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2435"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Volga Stormbringers"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "RUS"]

1. e4 e6 2. d3 d5 3. Qe2 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. g3 c5 6. Bg2 Nc6 7. O-O b6 8. e5 Nd7
9. c4 dxc4 10. dxc4 Bb7 11. Nc3 h6 12. Rd1 a6 13. h4 Qc7 14. h5 O-O-O 15. Bf4
g5 16. hxg6 fxg6 17. Nd5 Qb8 18. Bh3 exd5 19. e6 Nf6 20. Bxb8 Kxb8 21. cxd5
Nxd5 22. Rd2 Rd6 23. Rad1 Rhd8 24. Ne5 Nd4 25. Rxd4 cxd4 26. Nf7 d3 27. Qe5 Nc7
28. Nxd6 Rxd6 29. Qg7 Nd5 30. Rxd3 Rc6 31. Rxd5 Rc1+ 32. Kh2 Bxd5 33. Qe5+ Rc7
34. Qxd5 1-0

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.18"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sharafiev, Azat"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C48"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2432"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Volga Stormbringers"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "RUS"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bd6 5. d3 a6 6. Ba4 O-O 7. g4 Nxg4 8. Rg1
Nf6 9. Bg5 Be7 10. Bxc6 dxc6 11. Nxe5 Qd4 12. Nf3 Qb4 13. Qc1 Re8 14. a3 Qb6
15. Qf4 Kh8 16. O-O-O Be6 17. Qh4 c5 18. Rg3 Ng8 19. Bxe7 Rxe7 20. Ng5 h6 21.
f4 f6 22. Nf3 Qa5 23. f5 Bd7 24. Nd5 Rf7 25. Rdg1 b5 26. Nxf6 gxf6 27. Rxg8+
Rxg8 28. Qxh6+ Rh7 29. Qxf6+ Rhg7 30. Rg6 1-0

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.18"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Dudukin, Ilya"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2396"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Volga Stormbringers"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 a6 3. a4 Bf5 4. g3 e6 5. Bg2 Nf6 6. O-O h6 7. Nbd2 c5 8. c4 Nc6
9. cxd5 exd5 10. dxc5 Bxc5 11. Nb3 Ba7 12. Nbd4 Nxd4 13. Nxd4 Be4 14. b3 O-O
15. Bb2 Re8 16. Rc1 Rc8 17. e3 Qd7 18. Qe2 Bb6 19. Rfd1 Rxc1 20. Rxc1 Rc8 21.
Qd1 Bxg2 22. Kxg2 Rxc1 23. Qxc1 Bxd4 24. Bxd4 Ne4 25. Qb2 Ng5 26. Qe2 Qh3+ 27.
Kg1 h5 28. Bc5 Qg4 29. Qxg4 hxg4 30. Bb4 Kh7 31. h4 gxh3 32. Kh2 Kg6 33. f4
Nf3+ 34. Kxh3 Kf5 35. Kg2 Ke4 36. Kf2 g6 37. Ba5 d4 38. Bb6 d3 39. Ba5 Nh2 40.
Bb6 Ng4+ 41. Ke1 Nxe3 42. Kf2 d2 0-1

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.18"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Grigoriants, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C60"]
[WhiteElo "2568"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Volga Stormbringers"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bb4 4. c3 Ba5 5. O-O Nge7 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 d5 8.
exd5 Qxd5 9. Qa4 O-O 10. Nc3 Qh5 11. Bf4 Bb6 12. Bxc6 Nxc6 13. d5 Ne7 14. d6
Ng6 15. dxc7 Nxf4 16. Qxf4 Qc5 17. Rac1 Bxc7 18. Qe4 Qf5 19. Qc4 Qf4 20. Nd5
Qxc4 21. Ne7+ Kh8 22. Rxc4 Bb6 23. Nxc8 Raxc8 24. Rfc1 Rxc4 25. Rxc4 Rd8 26.
Kf1 g6 27. Ke2 Kg7 28. b4 Rd7 29. a4 a6 30. g4 h6 31. h3 Kf6 32. Rf4+ Ke6 33.
g5 Bc7 34. Re4+ Kf5 35. Rc4 hxg5 36. Rc5+ Kf6 37. Nxg5 Bb6 38. Ne4+ Ke6 39.
Ng5+ Ke7 40. Re5+ Kf6 41. f4 Bc7 42. Ne4+ Kg7 43. Re8 Bxf4 44. Nc5 Rd4 45. b5
axb5 46. axb5 b6 47. Nd3 Bh2 48. Ne1 Rd5 49. Nf3 Bg3 0-1

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.31"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Holm, Kristian Stuvik"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2436"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Oslo Trolls"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. a3 g6 2. h4 h5 3. e4 c5 4. Bc4 Bg7 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Nf3 d6 7. Ng5 e6 8. d3 Nge7
9. Ba2 Nd4 10. Ne2 Nec6 11. Nf4 Ne5 12. c3 Ndc6 13. f3 Qb6 14. Qe2 Qa5 15. Bd2
Qb5 16. Be3 b6 17. O-O O-O 18. a4 Qa6 19. Qd2 Qa5 20. Qf2 Qa6 21. Rfd1 Ne7 22.
d4 cxd4 23. cxd4 Nc4 24. Bxc4 Qxc4 25. Rdc1 Qa6 26. Rc7 Re8 27. Nxf7 Kxf7 28.
Qg3 Kf6 29. Qg5+ Kf7 30. Nxg6 Bf6 31. Qxh5 Kg7 32. Bh6+ Kg8 33. Nxe7+ Rxe7 34.
Qg6+ 1-0

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.31"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Urkedal, Frode Olav Olsen"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2572"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Oslo Trolls"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. Nc3 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 c5 7. Bf4 Nc6 8. Ne5
Nd4 9. Qd2 Be6 10. e3 Nf5 11. Nf3 d4 12. exd4 cxd4 13. Ne2 Bd5 14. Be5 Rc8 15.
Nexd4 Nxd4 16. Nxd4 Bxg2 17. Kxg2 Qd5+ 18. Nf3 Rfd8 19. Rfe1 e6 20. Qe2 b5 21.
a3 Nd7 22. Bxg7 Kxg7 23. Rad1 Nb6 24. Rd2 Kg8 25. Qe3 Qa2 26. c3 Qd5 27. Qf4
Rd7 28. h4 h5 29. Kg1 Qb7 30. Ne5 Rd5 31. Qf6 Rf8 32. Re4 Rd6 33. Qg5 Nd5 34.
Rd4 Rfd8 35. Re2 Qe7 36. Qxe7 Nxe7 37. Rxd6 Rxd6 38. d4 f6 39. Nd3 Kf7 40. Nc5
Nd5 41. Kf1 Rc6 42. Re1 e5 43. Nb3 exd4 44. Nxd4 Rb6 45. Ke2 g5 46. Kf3 Ne7 47.
hxg5 fxg5 48. Re5 g4+ 49. Kg2 h4 50. gxh4 1-0

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.31"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Kaasen, Tor Fredrik"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C10"]
[WhiteElo "2340"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Oslo Trolls"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. e5 Ne4 6. Bd3 Nxc3 7. bxc3 h6 8. O-O
Na5 9. Be3 Bd7 10. Nd2 c5 11. c4 cxd4 12. Bxd4 dxc4 13. Nxc4 Nxc4 14. Bxc4 Bc6
15. Qg4 Qg5 16. Qxg5 hxg5 17. Rab1 Rh4 18. c3 a6 19. Be2 Be7 20. g3 Rh8 21. f4
gxf4 22. gxf4 g6 23. Bf3 Bxf3 24. Rxf3 O-O-O 25. a4 Rd5 26. Rf2 Rhd8 27. Rfb2
R8d7 28. Bf2 Ra5 29. c4 Rxa4 30. c5 Rc4 31. Rb4 Rxc5 32. R4b3 Rc4 33. Rh3 b5
34. Be3 Kb7 35. Rh7 Bc5 0-1

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.01.31"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Pruijssers, Roeland"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C50"]
[WhiteElo "2536"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Oslo Trolls"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Be7 4. d4 d6 5. Nc3 Bg4 6. h3 Bxf3 7. Qxf3 Nf6 8. d5
Nd4 9. Qd1 c6 10. dxc6 bxc6 11. O-O O-O 12. f4 Ne6 13. Bxe6 fxe6 14. fxe5 Qb6+
15. Kh2 dxe5 16. Qe2 Rad8 17. b3 Qd4 18. Bb2 Qd2 19. Rad1 Qxe2 20. Nxe2 Nxe4
21. Rxf8+ Rxf8 22. Bxe5 Rf2 23. Nd4 Bf6 24. Bxf6 gxf6 25. Nxe6 Rxc2 26. Rd8+
Kf7 27. Nd4 Rxa2 28. Nxc6 a6 29. Rd7+ Kg6 30. Ne7+ Kg5 31. Nd5 h5 32. Re7 Nd2
33. Rg7+ Kf5 34. Ne3+ Ke6 35. Kg3 Nxb3 36. Kh4 Ra5 37. Ra7 Nd4 38. Nc4 Ra4 39.
Nb6 Nf5+ 40. Kxh5 Rh4+ 41. Kg6 Rh6# 0-1

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.02.03"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Spoelman, Wouter"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C00"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2578"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Amsterdam Mosquitos"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NED"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. Qe2 Nge7 6. Bg2 g6 7. h4 h5 8. O-O Bg7
9. e5 Nf5 10. c3 b6 11. Bg5 Qc7 12. Re1 Ba6 13. a4 Nh6 14. Na3 Ng4 15. Bf4 O-O
16. Bh3 Qd7 17. Nc2 d4 18. c4 Bb7 19. Bxg4 hxg4 20. Nh2 Nxe5 21. Bxe5 Qc6 22.
f3 gxf3 23. Qf2 f6 24. Bxd4 cxd4 25. Nxd4 Qd7 26. Nxe6 Rfe8 27. Nxg7 Kxg7 28.
d4 Re2 29. Rxe2 fxe2 30. Re1 Qc6 31. d5 Qxc4 32. Rxe2 Qxd5 33. Re7+ Kg8 34. Kf1
Ba6+ 35. Kg1 Bb7 36. Kf1 Rc8 37. Re1 Qh1+ 38. Ke2 Rc2+ 39. Kd3 Rxf2 40. Rxh1
Bxh1 0-1

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.02.03"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Fontaine, Robert"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "2563"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Cannes Blockbusters"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "FRA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Bd3 c5 4. exd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. O-O c4 7. Re1+ Be7 8.
Be2 O-O 9. b3 cxb3 10. axb3 Nc6 11. c3 Re8 12. Nbd2 Bd6 13. Bd3 Bg4 14. Rxe8+
Qxe8 15. Nf1 Ne4 16. Bb2 Bf4 17. Be2 Qe6 18. b4 Ne7 19. Ng5 Bxh2+ 20. Nxh2 Bxe2
21. Nxe6 Bxd1 22. Nxg7 Kxg7 23. Rxd1 Rc8 24. Rd3 Nf5 25. Nf1 h5 26. f3 Ned6 27.
g4 hxg4 28. fxg4 Ne7 29. Ne3 Nc4 30. Nxc4 dxc4 31. Rf3 Nd5 32. Bc1 Rc6 33. Bd2
Rf6 34. Rh3 Rg6 35. Rh5 Nf6 36. Ra5 Ne4 37. Be1 Rxg4+ 38. Kf1 a6 39. Re5 Nf6
40. Re7 Rf4+ 41. Kg2 Re4 42. Rxe4 Nxe4 43. Kf3 Nd6 44. Kf4 Kf6 45. d5 Ke7 46.
Bh4+ f6 47. Bf2 Nb5 48. Be1 Kd6 49. Ke4 b6 50. Bg3+ Kd7 51. d6 Nxc3+ 52. Kd4
Ne2+ 0-1

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.02.03"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Lenic, Luka"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2662"]
[PlyCount "154"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Ljubljana Turtles"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "SLO"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Nf3 a6 5. Bd3 Nc6 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nf6 8. d3
Be7 9. Bg5 d6 10. Nd2 O-O 11. Nc4 Be6 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. Ne3 Bg5 14. Ncd5 Ne7
15. Nxe7+ Qxe7 16. Nf5 Qd8 17. Ne3 Bxe3 18. fxe3 Qg5 19. Qd2 h5 20. a3 a5 21.
Rf3 h4 22. Raf1 g6 23. c3 Kg7 24. h3 Rad8 25. Qe1 f5 26. Qf2 Rf7 27. d4 Rdf8
28. exf5 Rxf5 29. dxe5 Bd5 30. Kh2 Bxf3 31. gxf3 Rxe5 32. f4 Qg3+ 33. Qxg3
hxg3+ 34. Kxg3 Rxe3+ 35. Bf3 b5 36. Kg4 Re6 37. h4 Ref6 38. Be4 Re8 39. Bf3 Rb8
40. Bd5 Re8 41. Bf3 Re7 42. Kg3 Re3 43. Rd1 Kf8 44. Kf2 Re7 45. Kg3 Ra7 46. Bd5
Ra6 47. Kg4 Ra7 48. Be4 Re7 49. Bc6 Re2 50. Bxb5 Rf2 51. Kg3 Rxb2 52. a4 Rc2
53. Rd3 Rc1 54. Re3 Rg1+ 55. Kf3 Rh1 56. Kg3 Rg1+ 57. Kf3 Rh1 58. Kg3 Rc1 59.
Kg4 Kf7 60. Bc4+ Kf8 61. Bb5 d5 62. Re5 Rd6 63. f5 Rg1+ 64. Kf4 gxf5 65. Rxf5+
Ke7 66. Rh5 d4 67. Rh7+ Kd8 68. Ke5 Rgg6 69. cxd4 Rge6+ 70. Kf5 cxd4 71. Bc4
Re1 72. Rh8+ Kc7 73. Rh7+ Kb6 74. Bd3 Re3 75. Be4 d3 76. Ke5 Rxe4+ 77. Kxd6 d2
0-1

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.02.03"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Tran, Tuan Minh"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E46"]
[WhiteElo "2548"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "London Lions"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "ENG"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Nge2 Re8 6. a3 Bf8 7. Nf4 d6 8. Bd3
e5 9. Nfe2 c6 10. O-O Nbd7 11. b4 e4 12. Bc2 d5 13. b5 Nb6 14. c5 Nc4 15. Rb1
h5 16. Rb4 h4 17. h3 cxb5 18. Rxb5 b6 19. Bb3 Bd7 20. Bxc4 dxc4 21. Rb4 bxc5
22. dxc5 Be6 23. Qd4 Rc8 24. Na4 Qc7 25. Bb2 Red8 26. Qe5 Qxe5 27. Bxe5 Nd7 28.
Bd4 Nxc5 29. Nxc5 Bxc5 30. Bxc5 Rxc5 31. Rc1 Rd2 32. Nd4 c3 33. Nxe6 fxe6 34.
Rxe4 c2 35. Rd4 Rd5 0-1

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.02.03"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Yanchenko, Roman"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D90"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2436"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "London Towers"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "ENG"]

1. h3 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 g6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. d4 Bg7 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. Bf4 Nc6 8. e3
O-O 9. Be2 a6 10. O-O Bf5 11. Rc1 Rc8 12. Qb3 b5 13. Ne5 Nxe5 14. Bxe5 Ne4 15.
Nxe4 Bxe4 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Rc5 e5 18. Rfc1 Rxc5 19. dxc5 Bf5 20. Rd1 Be6 21.
Qc3 Qc7 22. b4 Rd8 23. Qa1 d4 24. exd4 exd4 25. Rxd4 Qe5 26. Rd1 Rxd1+ 27. Qxd1
Bxa2 28. Bf3 Qc3 29. c6 Be6 30. Qd6 h5 31. c7 Kh7 32. Kh2 Qc1 33. Bb7 h4 34.
Bxa6 Qc2 35. Qc5 Qe4 36. c8=Q Bxc8 37. Bxc8 f5 38. Ba6 f4 39. f3 1-0

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.02.03"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2793"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Marseille Migraines"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "FRA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nf5 8.
Nf3 O-O 9. d4 d5 10. c3 Bd6 11. Nbd2 Nce7 12. Bd3 Ng6 13. g3 c6 14. Nf1 Bd7 15.
Qc2 Qc8 16. h4 Nfe7 17. Ne3 Re8 18. Bd2 Nf8 19. Re2 f6 20. Rae1 Be6 21. c4 Qd7
22. c5 Bc7 23. b4 Bf7 24. Nf5 Nxf5 25. Bxf5 Qd8 26. Rxe8 Bxe8 27. Qb3 Bd7 28.
Bxd7 Qxd7 29. a4 Re8 30. Rxe8 Qxe8 31. b5 Qe4 32. bxc6 bxc6 33. Kg2 Ne6 34. Qb7
Bd8 35. Qd7 g5 36. hxg5 fxg5 37. Kg1 Qb1+ 38. Be1 Qe4 39. Bd2 Qb1+ 40. Ne1 Qe4
41. Nf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.02.03"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Olafsson, Helgi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2508"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Reykjavik Puffins"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "ISL"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. e3 c5 5. a3 Nc6 6. dxc5 Bxc5 7. b4 Be7 8. Bb2
O-O 9. Nbd2 a5 10. b5 Nb8 11. g4 Nbd7 12. g5 Ne8 13. h4 Nc5 14. Qc2 b6 15. cxd5
Bb7 16. dxe6 fxe6 17. Rh3 Rc8 18. Rd1 Nd6 19. Qc3 Nf5 20. Bc4 Qe8 21. e4 Na4
22. Qe5 Nxb2 23. Qxb2 Rxc4 24. Nxc4 Bxe4 25. Qe2 Bxf3 26. Rxf3 Bc5 27. Qe4 Qxb5
28. Qxe6+ Kh8 29. Rxf5 Re8 30. Re5 1-0

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.02.03"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Meier, Georg"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2647"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[PlyCount "130"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 182 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.02.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Stockholm Snowballs"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "SWE"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bb4 4. O-O Nge7 5. c3 Ba5 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 d5 8.
Bxc6+ Nxc6 9. exd5 Qxd5 10. Nc3 Bxc3 11. bxc3 O-O 12. Bf4 Bg4 13. Bxc7 Rac8 14.
Bg3 Na5 15. Re1 Rfe8 16. Qa4 Bd7 17. Qa3 Bc6 18. Qc5 b6 19. Qxd5 Bxd5 20. a4
Rxe1+ 21. Rxe1 f6 22. Re3 Nc4 23. Re7 a5 24. h4 Nb2 25. h5 Bxf3 26. gxf3 Nxa4
27. d5 Nxc3 28. d6 Nd5 29. Ra7 Rd8 30. Kf1 Nc3 31. Ra6 Nd5 32. Ra7 Kf8 33. Ke2
Nc3+ 34. Ke1 Nb5 35. Rb7 Nxd6 36. Rxb6 Nf5 37. Rb5 Nxg3 38. fxg3 Ra8 39. Kd2 a4
40. Kc2 a3 41. Kb1 a2+ 42. Ka1 Ra7 43. g4 h6 44. f4 Kf7 45. g5 Ke6 46. g6 Kd6
47. f5 Kc6 48. Rb8 Kd5 49. Re8 Kd4 50. Re6 Kd5 51. Re8 Kd6 52. Re2 Ra5 53. Re6+
Kd7 54. Rb6 Rxf5 55. Rb7+ Ke6 56. Rxg7 Rxh5 57. Kxa2 Kf5 58. Kb3 Rh1 59. Kc3
Re1 60. Kd2 Re8 61. Kd3 Kg5 62. Kd4 h5 63. Kd3 f5 64. Kd2 Kf6 65. Rb7 Kxg6 0-1

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.02.24"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Miroshnichenko, Evgenij"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B28"]
[WhiteElo "2606"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[PlyCount "38"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Australia Kangaroos"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "AUS"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. Nf3 b5 2. e4 a6 3. d4 Bb7 4. Bd3 e6 5. O-O c5 6. c3 Nf6 7. Re1 Be7 8. a4
cxd4 9. cxd4 Nc6 10. Nc3 Nb4 11. Bf1 bxa4 12. Qxa4 O-O 13. Bg5 Bc6 14. Qa5 Nc2
15. Qxd8 Rfxd8 16. d5 Bb7 17. Rac1 Nxe1 18. Rxe1 h6 19. Bh4 Bb4 0-1

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.02.24"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Azarov, Sergei Nikolaevich"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2567"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Las Vegas Desert Rats"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d3 c5 3. g3 b6 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O g6 6. e4 d6 7. Ng5 Nc6 8. f4 Qc7
9. Nc3 Bg7 10. Be3 h6 11. Nh3 a6 12. Nf2 h5 13. h3 e6 14. Ne2 b5 15. c3 O-O 16.
d4 cxd4 17. cxd4 d5 18. e5 Ne4 19. Nxe4 dxe4 20. Rc1 Qd7 21. Nc3 Nb4 22. Nxe4
Bxe4 23. Bxe4 Nd5 24. Qb3 Nxe3 25. Qxe3 Rac8 26. Rcd1 Rfd8 27. g4 hxg4 28. hxg4
Qa7 29. Rd2 g5 30. f5 Rc4 31. f6 Bh6 32. Rfd1 b4 33. Bb1 Kf8 34. Qh3 Rdxd4 35.
Qxh6+ Ke8 36. Kh2 Qc5 37. Qxg5 1-0

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.02.24"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Iturrizaga Bonelli, Eduardo"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B20"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2650"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Miami Champions"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]

1. e4 c5 2. Ne2 g6 3. h4 Nf6 4. Nbc3 d6 5. h5 Nxh5 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Nf6 8.
Bh6 Bxh6 9. Rxh6 Nc6 10. Bb5 Bd7 11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. Qd2 Qa5 13. O-O-O Ng4 14.
Rhh1 h5 15. Nb3 Qb6 16. Rhf1 a5 17. Nd4 a4 18. Qe2 c5 19. Nd5 Qb7 20. Nf3 Bc6
21. Ng5 Bxd5 22. exd5 a3 23. b3 Qb4 24. Ne4 O-O 25. f3 Nf6 26. c3 Qa5 27. Kc2
Kg7 28. g4 hxg4 29. fxg4 Nxe4 30. Qxe4 Qc7 31. Qf4 Qd7 32. Rde1 Rae8 33. Re3 f6
34. Re6 g5 35. Qe4 Rh8 36. Rf2 Rh3 37. Re2 Kf7 38. Qf5 Qb7 39. R6e4 Qc8 40.
Rxe7+ 1-0

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.02.24"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Flores Rios, Mauricio"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2529"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Minnesota Blizzard"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]

1. b4 d5 2. Bb2 Nf6 3. e3 Bf5 4. Bd3 Bxd3 5. cxd3 e6 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. a3 c6 8.
Nc3 a5 9. b5 Qb6 10. Nd4 e5 11. Na4 Qc7 12. bxc6 bxc6 13. Nf3 Bd6 14. Qc2 O-O
15. Rc1 Rac8 16. h3 Rfe8 17. O-O h6 18. Rb1 Rb8 19. Rfc1 Rec8 20. d4 e4 21. Ne5
Nxe5 22. dxe5 Bxe5 23. Bxe5 Qxe5 24. Rxb8 Qxb8 25. Nc5 Qa7 26. Qa4 Qb6 27. Qd4
Rb8 28. Kh2 Qb2 29. Rc3 Qa1 30. Rb3 1-0

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.02.24"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Hansen, Eric"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "2629"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Montreal ChessBrahs"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "CAN"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. Be2 Nf6 5. Nc3 O-O 6. O-O Nc6 7. Be3 Bg4 8. h3
Bxf3 9. Bxf3 e5 10. d5 Ne7 11. Nb5 a6 12. Na3 Nd7 13. c4 f5 14. Rc1 Kh8 15. b4
a5 16. c5 axb4 17. cxd6 cxd6 18. Nb5 fxe4 19. Bg4 Nf5 20. Nc7 Nxe3 21. fxe3
Rxf1+ 22. Qxf1 Bh6 23. Nxa8 Bxe3+ 24. Kh1 Bxc1 25. Qxc1 Nc5 26. Qf1 Kg7 27. Be6
e3 28. Qf7+ Kh6 29. Nb6 e2 30. Qf2 Ne4 31. Qe1 Qg5 32. Bg4 Ng3+ 33. Kh2 Qf4 34.
Kg1 Qf1+ 0-1

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.02.24"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dreev, Alexey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2653"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "San Diego Surfers"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]

1. Nh3 Nh6 2. f4 d5 3. Nf2 Ng4 4. e3 Nxf2 5. Kxf2 c5 6. b3 Nc6 7. Bb5 Bd7 8.
Bb2 a6 9. Bd3 Qc7 10. Nc3 e6 11. Qh5 Be7 12. Rhf1 Bf6 13. Kg1 Nb4 14. Rac1 Nxa2
15. Rce1 Nb4 16. f5 e5 17. e4 c4 18. Nxd5 Nxd5 19. Bxc4 Nb4 20. c3 Nc6 21.
Qxf7+ Kd8 22. Ba3 Be8 23. Qd5+ Qd7 24. Bd6 Be7 25. Bxe7+ Kxe7 26. Qc5+ Qd6 27.
Qb6 Bd7 28. d4 Nd8 29. Qa5 Nc6 30. Qa2 Kd8 31. Rd1 Kc7 32. Qf2 Rad8 33. b4 Rhf8
34. b5 axb5 35. Bxb5 g6 36. f6 Kb8 37. Bc4 Bc8 38. Bd5 Be6 39. Bxe6 Qxe6 40. d5
Qd6 41. Ra1 Kc7 42. dxc6 Qxc6 43. Ra5 Kb8 44. Qa7+ 1-0

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.02.24"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2709"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "San Jose Hackers"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 4. d4 Nf6 5. a3 c6 6. Bc4 Be6 7. Bxe6 Qxe6+ 8.
Nge2 Qd7 9. O-O e6 10. Ng3 Be7 11. Nce4 Nxe4 12. Nxe4 Qd5 13. Nc3 Qf5 14. Qe2
Nd7 15. Ne4 Nf6 16. Ng3 Qg4 17. Qxg4 Nxg4 18. Re1 O-O-O 19. h3 Nf6 20. Be3 Nd5
21. Bc1 b5 22. c3 a5 23. Ne4 a4 24. Bg5 f6 25. Bc1 Rhe8 26. Kf1 Bf8 27. Bd2 e5
28. Rad1 Nb6 29. dxe5 Rxe5 30. f3 Red5 31. Ke2 f5 32. Ng3 Bd6 33. Nf1 Nc4 34.
Bc1 Re8+ 35. Kf2 Bc5+ 36. Kg3 Rxd1 37. Rxd1 Re2 38. Bd2 0-1

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.02.24"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Shimanov, Aleksandr"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A80"]
[WhiteElo "2641"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Webster Windmills"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 f5 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bf4 a6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Bd3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. O-O
Nc6 9. Ne2 Qe7 10. Ned4 Bd7 11. c4 O-O 12. Rc1 Rac8 13. cxd5 Nxd5 14. Nxf5 exf5
15. Bc4 Ncb4 16. a3 Be6 17. axb4 Nxb4 18. Qb3 Bxc4 19. Rxc4 Kh8 20. Ne5 b6 21.
Bg3 Rf6 22. Rd1 Nc6 23. Nxc6 Rfxc6 24. Qc2 Qe6 25. Rc1 a5 26. h4 h6 27. b3 Rd8
28. Rd1 Rcc8 29. Rc3 Rxd1+ 30. Qxd1 Be7 31. Rd3 b5 32. Rd5 Rc1 33. Qxc1 Qxd5
34. Qc8+ Kh7 35. Qc2 Qe4 36. Qa2 a4 37. bxa4 bxa4 38. h5 a3 39. Qf7 f4 40. Bxf4
Qb1+ 41. Kh2 Bf6 42. Qd5 a2 43. e4 Qb6 44. Qxa2 Qd4 45. Qe2 Qc5 46. Bg3 Bd4 47.
e5 Kg8 48. e6 Kf8 49. Qf3+ Bf6 50. Qb7 Qxh5+ 51. Kg1 Qd1+ 52. Kh2 Qh5+ 53. Kg1
Qd1+ 54. Kh2 Qh5+ 55. Kg1 1/2-1/2

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.02.28"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grover, Sahaj"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2484"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Delhi Dynamite"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "IND"]

1. Na3 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O c5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. d4
Nc6 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Nc4 b6 11. Bd2 Bb7 12. Rc1 Rc8 13. a3 a5 14. e4 Nde7 15.
Be3 Bxe3 16. Nxe3 Ba6 17. Re1 Qxd1 18. Rexd1 Be2 19. Rd7 Bxf3 20. Bxf3 Ne5 21.
Rcc7 Nxf3+ 22. Kg2 Ne1+ 23. Kf1 Rxc7 24. Rxc7 Nd3 25. Rxe7 Nxb2 26. Rb7 Na4 27.
Nc4 g6 28. e5 Rc8 29. Nd6 Rc3 30. h4 Rxa3 31. Rb8+ Kg7 32. Ne8+ Kh6 33. Nf6 Rf3
34. g4 g5 35. Rg8 1-0

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.02.28"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Lalith, Babu MR"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2542"]
[PlyCount "172"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Delhi Dynamite"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "IND"]

1. f3 e5 2. Nh3 d5 3. Nf2 Nf6 4. g3 Bc5 5. Bg2 Bxf2+ 6. Kxf2 Nc6 7. d3 Be6 8.
e4 Qe7 9. Re1 O-O-O 10. Kg1 dxe4 11. fxe4 Ng4 12. Be3 Nxe3 13. Rxe3 h5 14. h3
h4 15. g4 Qc5 16. Qd2 Ne7 17. Nc3 Ng6 18. Qf2 Kb8 19. Rf3 Qb4 20. Nd1 Nf4 21.
a3 Qb5 22. Bf1 Qd7 23. Ne3 g6 24. Ng2 Nxg2 25. Bxg2 f5 26. exf5 gxf5 27. Re1
fxg4 28. hxg4 Bxg4 29. Rf7 Qd6 30. Rf6 Qe7 31. Rf7 Qe8 32. Qf6 Rg8 33. Rxe5 Qa4
34. Rc5 Bh3 35. Rg7 Bxg2 36. Kxg2 Rxg7+ 37. Qxg7 Qf4 38. Rc4 h3+ 39. Kh1 Qf3+
40. Kh2 Qf2+ 41. Kxh3 Qf3+ 42. Kh2 Qf2+ 43. Kh3 Qf3+ 44. Kh2 Rc8 45. Qe5 Qf2+
46. Kh3 Qf3+ 47. Kh2 a6 48. Rf4 Qc6 49. Rc4 Qh6+ 50. Kg3 Qh1 51. Kf2 Rf8+ 52.
Rf4 Rg8 53. Ke2 Qh2+ 54. Ke3 Qxc2 55. Rc4 Qg2 56. Qxc7+ Ka8 57. Rc2 Re8+ 58.
Kd4 Qg4+ 59. Kc3 Rc8 60. Qc4 Rxc4+ 61. dxc4 Qf3+ 62. Kb4 Kb8 63. Rc3 Qd1 64. a4
Kc7 65. c5 Kc6 66. Ka3 a5 67. Rc4 Kd5 68. Rc3 Qd4 69. c6 Qb4+ 70. Ka2 Qxa4+ 71.
Kb1 bxc6 72. Rh3 Kc5 73. Rc3+ Kb5 74. Re3 Qd4 75. Rb3+ Kc4 76. Ra3 Kb4 77. Ka1
a4 78. Kb1 Qd1+ 79. Ka2 Qd5+ 80. Kb1 Qb3 81. Rxb3+ Kxb3 82. Ka1 Kc4 83. Ka2 Kb4
84. Ka1 a3 85. bxa3+ Kxa3 86. Kb1 Kb3 0-1

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.02.28"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Hemant, Sharma"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2348"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Delhi Dynamite"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "IND"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 c6 3. Bg2 d5 4. b3 e5 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Bb2 Nc6 7. Nf3 Bd6 8. O-O
O-O 9. d3 Be6 10. Nbd2 Rc8 11. b4 a6 12. a3 Nd7 13. Rc1 Qe7 14. Nb3 f6 15. Nfd2
b5 16. e3 Nb6 17. Ba1 Na4 18. d4 e4 19. Nxe4 dxe4 20. d5 Nxb4 21. axb4 Rxc1 22.
Nxc1 Bf7 23. Qc2 Bxd5 24. Rd1 Bb7 25. Ne2 Bxb4 26. Qb3+ Kh8 27. Nf4 Bd6 28. h4
Nc5 29. Qb1 Bxf4 30. gxf4 Nd3 31. Bd4 h6 32. Qa1 Rc8 33. Qa2 b4 34. Qa5 Qe6 35.
Qh5 Rc7 36. f5 Qf7 37. Qg4 Rc2 38. Rf1 h5 39. Qg3 b3 40. Qb8+ Kh7 41. Qa7 Qc7
42. Bb6 Qc6 0-1

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.02.28"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Vaibhav, Suri"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2542"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Delhi Dynamite"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "IND"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Bg4 4. f3 Bf5 5. c4 e6 6. dxe6 Nc6 7. exf7+ Kxf7 8.
Be3 Bb4+ 9. Kf2 Re8 10. Nc3 Rxe3 11. Kxe3 Nxd4 12. Kf2 Bc5 13. Na4 Bc2 14. Nxc5
Bxd1 15. Rxd1 Qe7 16. b4 Re8 17. Bd3 Qe3+ 18. Kf1 b6 19. Ne4 Nxe4 20. Bxe4 c5
21. bxc5 Rxe4 22. fxe4 Qf4+ 23. Ke1 Qxe4+ 24. Kf2 Qc2+ 25. Ke1 bxc5 0-1

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.03.07"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Boruchovsky, Avital"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E08"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2542"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Estonia Horses"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "EST"]

1. g3 d5 2. Bg2 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nf3 Nbd7 5. Qc2 c5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Nc3 Nb4 8.
Qd1 Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. d4 Nf6 11. a3 cxd4 12. axb4 dxc3 13. bxc3 Nd5 14. Qb3
Qc7 15. Bd2 Nb6 16. Bf4 Qc4 17. Qxc4 Nxc4 18. Nd2 Nb6 19. Be3 Nd5 20. Bxd5 exd5
21. Bxa7 Bd7 22. Bd4 Bb5 23. Rfe1 f6 24. f3 Kf7 25. Kf2 Bd6 26. Nf1 h5 27. Ne3
Ke6 28. Red1 Bc7 29. Bc5 Rxa1 30. Rxa1 Rb8 31. Bd4 Ba6 32. f4 Rc8 33. f5+ Kd6
34. Rg1 Kc6 35. h4 Re8 36. g4 hxg4 37. Rxg4 Re7 38. h5 b6 39. h6 gxh6 40. Rg6
Kb7 41. Rxf6 h5 42. Rh6 Rg7 43. Bxg7 1-0

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.03.07"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ehlvest, Jaan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B20"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2536"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[BlackTeam "Estonia Horses"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "EST"]

1. e4 c5 2. b3 Nc6 3. Bb2 d6 4. Bb5 Bd7 5. f4 a6 6. Bxc6 Bxc6 7. Nc3 e6 8. Nf3
Nf6 9. Qe2 Be7 10. O-O-O O-O 11. d4 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Qc7 13. g4 Rfe8 14. g5 Nd7
15. h4 b5 16. g6 hxg6 17. h5 Bf6 18. hxg6 fxg6 19. e5 Bxh1 20. exf6 Bb7 21.
fxg7 Nc5 22. Ndxb5 axb5 23. Nxb5 Qe7 24. Nxd6 Red8 25. Be5 Rxd6 26. Rxd6 Rxa2
27. Qh2 Ra8 28. f5 Qg5+ 29. Kb2 Qxf5 30. Qh8+ Kf7 31. g8=Q+ Rxg8 32. Qh7+ 1-0

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.03.07"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Kukk, Sander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A01"]
[WhiteElo "2178"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Estonia Horses"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "EST"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. b3 a5 2. a4 e5 3. Bb2 f6 4. e3 d5 5. d3 Nc6 6. Nf3 Be6 7. Be2 Nh6 8. O-O Be7
9. e4 d4 10. Bc1 Nf7 11. Nh4 Qd7 12. Nf5 Bf8 13. f4 g6 14. Ng3 exf4 15. Bxf4 h5
16. Na3 Bxa3 17. Rxa3 O-O-O 18. Ra1 h4 19. Nh1 g5 20. Bd2 Rh6 21. Nf2 Nfe5 22.
h3 b6 23. Kh2 Kb7 24. Ng4 Nxg4+ 25. Bxg4 Bxg4 26. Qxg4 Qxg4 27. hxg4 h3 28.
gxh3 Rdh8 29. Rf3 Ne5 30. Rg3 Nxg4+ 31. Kg2 Ne5 32. Rf1 Kc6 33. Rf5 Kd6 34. c3
c5 35. cxd4 cxd4 36. Bc1 Ke6 37. Bb2 Rd8 38. Rf2 Rh7 39. Rc2 Rb7 40. Kf2 b5 41.
Ke2 bxa4 42. bxa4 Rb4 43. h4 Rh8 44. hxg5 Rh2+ 45. Kd1 Rxb2 0-1

[Event "PRO League Stage"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2018.03.07"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Ladva, Ottomar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2522"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[PlyCount "205"]
[EventDate "2018.01.18"]
[EventType "team-swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2019"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.10.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Estonia Horses"]
[BlackTeam "Norway Gnomes"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "EST"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 c6 2. Nf3 Na6 3. e4 g6 4. Nc3 Nc7 5. Bf4 Bg7 6. Bc4 d6 7. O-O Nf6 8. a4
O-O 9. h3 Nxe4 10. Nxe4 d5 11. Bd3 Ne6 12. Be5 Bxe5 13. dxe5 dxe4 14. Bxe4 Qxd1
15. Rfxd1 Nc5 16. Nd2 Rd8 17. b4 Nxe4 18. Nxe4 Bf5 19. f3 Bxe4 20. fxe4 Rxd1+
21. Rxd1 a5 22. Rd7 axb4 23. Rxe7 Rxa4 24. Rxb7 c5 25. Rb5 Ra1+ 26. Kh2 Rc1 27.
Rxc5 b3 28. Rb5 bxc2 29. Rc5 Kf8 30. Kg3 Ke7 31. Kg4 h6 32. Kg3 Kd7 33. Kg4 Ke6
34. Kg3 Re1 35. Rxc2 Rxe4 36. Rc6+ Kxe5 37. Rc7 Kf6 38. h4 Ra4 39. Rb7 Re4 40.
Rb6+ Re6 41. Rb7 Re7 42. Rb6+ Kg7 43. Kf3 Ra7 44. g3 Ra3+ 45. Kf4 Ra1 46. Kf3
Rf1+ 47. Kg2 Rf6 48. Rb7 Re6 49. Rb5 Kf6 50. Kf3 Ra6 51. Kf4 Ke6 52. Re5+ Kd6
53. Re8 Ra4+ 54. Kf3 Ra5 55. Rh8 Rh5 56. Re8 Rf5+ 57. Kg2 Kd7 58. Rh8 h5 59.
Ra8 Rd5 60. Ra6 Rd6 61. Ra7+ Ke6 62. Kf3 Rd3+ 63. Kf4 Rd4+ 64. Kf3 Rd5 65. Kf4
Rf5+ 66. Ke4 Rf1 67. Ra6+ Ke7 68. Ra7+ Kf6 69. Ra6+ Kg7 70. Ke3 f6 71. Ra7+ Kh6
72. Ra5 g5 73. Ke2 Rb1 74. hxg5+ fxg5 75. Ra6+ Kg7 76. Kf3 Rb3+ 77. Kf2 Rb5 78.
Kf3 Rf5+ 79. Kg2 Rf6 80. Ra7+ Kg6 81. Ra8 Rb6 82. Kh3 Re6 83. Rg8+ Kf5 84. g4+
hxg4+ 85. Kg2 Re2+ 86. Kg3 Re3+ 87. Kg2 g3 88. Ra8 Kg4 89. Ra4+ Kh5 90. Rb4 Ra3
91. Rc4 Re3 92. Ra4 Kg6 93. Rb4 Kf5 94. Rb5+ Kf4 95. Rb4+ Re4 96. Rxe4+ Kxe4
97. Kxg3 Kf5 98. Kf3 g4+ 99. Kg3 Kg5 100. Kg2 Kf4 101. Kf2 Ke5 102. Kg3 Kd6
103. Kxg4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A playoff 80th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2018.01.28"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "2834"]
[BlackElo "2752"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2018.01.29"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 2. c4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} e6 {
[%emt 0:00:01]} 3. b3 {[%emt 0:00:09]} d5 {[%emt 0:00:01]} 4. Bb2 {[%emt 0:00:
03]} Be7 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 5. e3 {[%emt 0:00:03] Sparing me another annotation
of a b3 Catalan.} O-O {[%emt 0:00:16]} 6. Nc3 {[%emt 0:00:03]} c5 {[%emt 0:00:
03]} (6... b6 $1 $11 {would have been more in keeping with the logic of
Anish's main game today- avoiding potentially awkward hanging-pawns formations.
}) 7. cxd5 {[%emt 0:00:07] Just as theorised in the notes to the main game,
this is the way White should play. Obviously d4 is fine immediately, but why
not make Black play with a central structure he doesn't like?} Nxd5 {[%emt 0:
00:01]} 8. Nxd5 {[%emt 0:00:09]} exd5 {[%emt 0:00:03]} (8... Qxd5 9. Bc4 Qd6
10. O-O Nc6 $11 {still looks fine for Black, if a bit passive.}) 9. d4 {
[%emt 0:00:04]} Qa5+ {[%emt 0:00:10] Technically the novelty.} (9... Nc6 10.
dxc5 Bxc5 11. a3 Bg4 12. Be2 a5 13. O-O Qd6 14. Qd3 Bh5 15. Rfd1 Rfd8 16. Nh4
Bxe2 17. Qxe2 Qe6 18. Nf3 $14 {Votava,J-Froewis,G Austria 2016}) 10. Qd2 {
[%emt 0:00:03]} Qxd2+ {[%emt 0:00:03]} 11. Kxd2 {[%emt 0:00:04]} Nc6 {[%emt 0:
00:00]} 12. dxc5 {[%emt 0:00:12]} Bxc5 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 13. Bb5 {[%emt 0:00:02]
So the position is still fine for Black, but White is taking no risks, and can
choose to play against the IQP 'as is' or maybe with some kind of Bxc6, Rfc1,
Bd4-c5 thing. Ideal for blitz.} Bb4+ {[%emt 0:00:15]} 14. Ke2 {[%emt 0:00:02]}
Be6 {[%emt 0:00:12]} (14... Ne7 $14 {might not have been a terrible idea under
the circumstances.}) 15. Rac1 {[%emt 0:00:10]} Rac8 {[%emt 0:00:01]} 16. Rhd1 {
[%emt 0:00:12]} (16. Bxc6 bxc6 17. Ne5 {was a useful tactical chance: Black
can either sacrifice the pawn or allow} c5 18. Nd3 {but in either case he is
definitely suffering.}) 16... Be7 {[%emt 0:00:20]} 17. h3 {[%emt 0:00:16]} a6 {
[%emt 0:00:06]} 18. Bd3 {[%emt 0:00:01]} Nb4 {[%emt 0:00:01]} 19. Bb1 {[%emt 0:
00:02]} Rxc1 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 20. Rxc1 {[%emt 0:00:02]} Rc8 {[%emt 0:00:01]}
21. Rd1 {[%emt 0:00:13]} Nc6 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 22. g4 {[%emt 0:00:07] Thinking
about Bf5, and also restricting Black's kingside pawns, allowing for a future
f4-f5 thrust.} h6 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 23. Nd4 {[%emt 0:00:02]} Nxd4+ {[%emt 0:00:
06]} 24. Bxd4 {[%emt 0:00:01]} Ba3 {[%emt 0:00:10]} 25. f4 {[%emt 0:00:21]
Like that.} f6 {[%emt 0:00:09]} 26. Bg6 {[%emt 0:00:07]} (26. e4 dxe4 27. Bxe4
$14 {looked quite convincing, even though it liquidates the most immediate
target of White's pressure.}) 26... Kf8 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 27. Kf3 {[%emt 0:00:
02]} Ke7 {[%emt 0:00:09]} 28. h4 {[%emt 0:00:06]} (28. b4 $5 {was worth
noticing, but after} Bxb4 29. Rb1 a5 30. a3 Bd6 31. Rxb7+ Rc7 32. Rb8 Rc8 33.
Rb5 a4 $11 {it all just fizzles out a bit.}) 28... Bb4 {[%emt 0:00:16]} 29. Bd3
{[%emt 0:00:21]} Bd7 {[%emt 0:00:21]} 30. e4 {[%emt 0:00:37] Eventually White
had to make this break, though he has spent enough time in the process that
Black is probably objectively fine again.} Bc3 $6 {[%emt 0:00:26]} (30... dxe4+
31. Bxe4 Bc6 32. h5 Bxe4+ 33. Kxe4 Ke6 $1 $11 (33... Rc2 $2 34. Kf5 $36)) 31.
Bf2 {[%emt 0:00:12]} Bc6 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 32. exd5 {[%emt 0:00:01]} Bxd5+ {
[%emt 0:00:01]} 33. Be4 {[%emt 0:00:02]} Bxe4+ {[%emt 0:00:04]} 34. Kxe4 {
[%emt 0:00:01]} Ke6 $6 {[%emt 0:00:11] Just like the previous note, except
Black's pieces are now out of sync.} (34... Bb4 35. Be3 (35. Kf5 Rc2 36. Bd4
Kf7 $1 $11) 35... Ke6 36. a4 $14 {Black has not completely equalised here, but
it's better than the game.}) 35. f5+ {[%emt 0:00:11]} Ke7 {[%emt 0:00:01]} 36.
Rc1 {[%emt 0:00:02] Forcing a favourable bishop endgame.} Rc6 $2 {[%emt 0:00:
21] Definitely losing and almost certainly the decisive mistake.} (36... Kd7
37. Kd3 Bb4 38. Rxc8 Kxc8 39. Kc4 Bd6 40. Kd5 Kd7 41. a4 $16 {might also be
winning, or it might not - but White can play with various ideas, like Bd4 and
then g5, or Bc5 at the right moment. I suspect Black has just enough answers.})
37. Kd3 {[%emt 0:00:07]} Bb4 {[%emt 0:00:21]} 38. Rxc6 {[%emt 0:00:02]} bxc6 {
[%emt 0:00:01]} 39. Kc4 {[%emt 0:00:01]} Bd6 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 40. Bc5 {[%emt 0:
00:45]} Kd7 {[%emt 0:00:00]} 41. h5 {[%emt 0:00:16]} Bf4 {[%emt 0:00:05]} (
41... Kc7 42. Bxd6+ Kxd6 43. b4 $18) 42. Bf8 {[%emt 0:00:02]} Ke8 {[%emt 0:00:
04] The last idea is to try and trap this bishop, but White can just go back
and pick a better time for the incursion.} 43. Bc5 {[%emt 0:00:12]} Kd7 {
[%emt 0:00:03]} (43... Bc7 {was another place to try and defend from.} 44. Kb4
Bd8 (44... a5+ 45. Ka4 Bd8 46. b4 axb4 47. Kxb4 Bc7 48. a4 $18) 45. Bd6 Bb6 46.
a4 {However, it is now zugwang. Black has to play ...a5, and then the game is
almost over.} a5+ 47. Kc4 Be3 48. b4 axb4 49. Kxb4 {White can walk the pawn to
a6 and then play Bc5.}) 44. Kb4 {[%emt 0:00:09]} Bd2+ {[%emt 0:00:09]} 45. Ka4
{[%emt 0:00:01]} Kc7 {[%emt 0:00:12]} 46. b4 {[%emt 0:00:07] The black king is
now caught trying to do two jobs at the same time.} Bf4 {[%emt 0:00:43]} 47.
Bf8 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Kb6 {[%emt 0:00:07]} ({of course, after} 47... Kd7 48. Ka5
Ke8 {White is not obliged to take on g7, but can conserve his bishop with} 49.
Bc5 $18) 48. Bxg7 {[%emt 0:00:02]} Bg5 {[%emt 0:00:01]} 49. Bf8 {[%emt 0:00:02]
} Bf4 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 50. Be7 {[%emt 0:00:04]} Bg5 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 51. Kb3 {
[%emt 0:00:08] Heading back to win with Be3.} (51. Bd8+ Kb7 52. Ka5 Bh4 53. Be7
Bg5 54. Bc5 Bf4 55. Bd4 Bg5 56. a3 $18 {is another zugzwang idea to win.})
51... Kc7 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 52. Kc4 {[%emt 0:00:02]} Kd7 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 53.
Bc5 {[%emt 0:00:01]} Kc7 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 54. Kd3 {[%emt 0:00:11]} Kd7 {
[%emt 0:00:19]} 55. Be3 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A playoff 80th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2018.01.28"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2752"]
[BlackElo "2834"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2018.01.29"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "300+3"]

1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} e5 {[%emt 0:00:05] Carlsen had white in the first game,
and went for a quick queen trade. He maintained a tiny advantage until
liquidating into a winning bishop endgame. "A very clean technical win," noted
live commentator GM Eric Hansen. That meant that Giri was forced to strike
back in his white game} 2. Nf3 {[%emt 0:00:00]} Nc6 {[%emt 0:00:01]} 3. Bc4 {
[%emt 0:00:01]} Bc5 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 4. c3 {[%emt 0:00:01]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:02]
} 5. d3 {[%emt 0:00:01]} d6 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 6. O-O {[%emt 0:00:04]} a6 {
[%emt 0:00:02]} 7. Re1 {[%emt 0:00:14]} Ba7 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 8. Bb3 {[%emt 0:
00:04]} O-O {[%emt 0:00:05]} 9. h3 {[%emt 0:00:01]} h6 {[%emt 0:00:36]} 10.
Nbd2 {[%emt 0:00:03]} Re8 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 11. Nf1 {[%emt 0:00:02]} Be6 {
[%emt 0:00:01]} 12. Bc2 {[%emt 0:00:01]} d5 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 13. Qe2 {[%emt 0:
00:03]} dxe4 {[%emt 0:00:09]} 14. dxe4 {[%emt 0:00:02]} Qe7 {[%emt 0:00:05]}
15. Ng3 {[%emt 0:00:12]} Rad8 {[%emt 0:00:01]} 16. Nh4 {[%emt 0:00:20]} Qf8 {
[%emt 0:00:41]} 17. Nhf5 {[%emt 0:00:09]} Ne7 {[%emt 0:00:04]} 18. Ne3 {
[%emt 0:01:23]} Ng6 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 19. Ngf5 {[%emt 0:00:04]} Nf4 {[%emt 0:00:
35]} 20. Qf3 {[%emt 0:00:01]} c6 {[%emt 0:00:16]} 21. Ng4 {[%emt 0:00:12]} Nxg4
{[%emt 0:00:04]} 22. hxg4 {[%emt 0:00:07]} g6 {[%emt 0:00:23]} 23. Bxf4 {
[%emt 0:00:06]} exf4 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 24. Qxf4 {[%emt 0:00:01]} gxf5 {[%emt 0:
00:13]} 25. gxf5 {[%emt 0:00:02]} Qg7 {[%emt 0:00:39]} 26. fxe6 {[%emt 0:00:07]
} Rxe6 {[%emt 0:00:16]} 27. Rad1 {[%emt 0:00:33]} Rde8 {[%emt 0:00:23]} 28. Re2
{[%emt 0:01:20]} Qg5 {[%emt 0:00:10]} 29. Qf3 {[%emt 0:00:32]} Rf6 {[%emt 0:00:
02]} 30. Qh3 {[%emt 0:00:01]} Qf4 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 31. Rf1 {[%emt 0:00:06]} Re5
{[%emt 0:00:02]} 32. Qh2 {[%emt 0:00:18]} Qg5 {[%emt 0:00:29]} 33. g3 {[%emt 0:
00:11]} Qg4 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 34. Rd2 {[%emt 0:00:04]} Rg5 {[%emt 0:00:18]} 35.
e5 {[%emt 0:00:11]} Rxe5 {[%emt 0:00:08]} 36. Bd1 {[%emt 0:00:01]} Qg5 {
[%emt 0:00:03]} 37. Rd3 {[%emt 0:00:04]} Ref5 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 38. Qh4 {
[%emt 0:00:04]} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Baerum Fischer Random Rapid "]
[Site "Baerum"]
[Date "2018.02.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "nnqrbbkr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NNQRBBKR w HDhd - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2018.02.09"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nc2 Nb6 4. e3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. d4 {At this point,
other than the rooks in the corners, there is no real indication that this
wasn't a normal chess game. The exchanges over the next few moves tell us all
we need to know, i.e. that the game is essentially going to be symmetrical and
stay that way.} cxd4 7. Nxd4 Nc6 8. Nxd5 Rxd5 9. Nf3 Qd8 10. Rxd5 Qxd5 11. a3
Bd6 12. Be2 O-O 13. O-O Ne7 14. Bc3 (14. Bb4 {springs to my mind, and
doubtless it occurred to Magnus as well, but it may be that following} Bxb4 15.
axb4 Bb5 $1 {there is also no advantage. An optimistic try would be:} 16. Rd1
Qh5 17. Bxb5 Qxb5 18. Qc5 Qxc5 19. bxc5 {looking for Rd7 next, but} Nd5 $1 $11
{keeps comfortable equality.}) 14... Ba4 15. Qb1 Rc8 16. Rc1 Ng6 17. h3 b6 18.
Bd3 Be7 19. Be4 Qd7 20. Ne5 Nxe5 21. Bxe5 Rxc1+ 22. Qxc1 Qd1+ 23. Qxd1 Bxd1 24.
Bc6 {True to form, Magnus tries to make something out of this position, but it
never really gets off the ground.} Bb3 25. Kf1 Bf6 26. Bxf6 Bc4+ 27. Ke1 gxf6
28. Kd2 (28. g4 $5 {was a different plan, trying to limit the number of pawn
moves Black has and then perhaps even head for a pawn ending later.} Kg7 29. f4
Kg6 30. Be4+ Kg7 31. Kf2 h6 32. Bc2 Kf8 33. b3 Ba6 $11 {It remains hard to
think of what White could do by way of continuation (Kh4 is always met by ...
Bf1) but he seems to slowly be gaining practical chances.}) 28... Kf8 29. Kc3
Bf1 30. f4 Ke7 31. Kd4 Kd6 32. Bf3 f5 33. e4 fxe4 34. Kxe4 f5+ {Maybe as a
matter of principle this could have waited until after White's h4, but it is
hardly important.} 35. Kd4 h6 36. b4 Bb5 37. g4 Bf1 {Not giving White g5 ideas,
even if they don't work.} 38. gxf5 exf5 39. h4 Bb5 40. Bd1 Bd7 41. Bb3 Bc8 42.
Bc2 Be6 43. Bb1 Bc8 44. Bd3 Bd7 45. Kc4 Kc6 46. Bf1 Be6+ 47. Kd4 Kd6 48. Bg2
Bc8 49. Bd5 Bd7 50. Bb7 Be6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Baerum Fischer Random Rapid "]
[Site "Baerum"]
[Date "2018.02.09"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2781"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "nnqrbbkr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NNQRBBKR w HDhd - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2018.02.09"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Rxd4 d6 4. c4 {One thing which is quite interesting for
me is that within four moves, we have a Maroczy-type structure, and this
dictates the play so much that it can be of some use in understanding how to
play those positions in normal games too.} b5 $1 {Black is able to execute a
favourite Maroczy push immediately. Normally, this occurs around move 15, or
even is not allowed.} (4... g6 {would have been more 'faithful'}) 5. Nb3 Nc6 6.
Rd1 bxc4 7. Bxc4 Nb6 8. Be2 g6 9. Bc3 f6 (9... Bg7 {could have been played
anyway; Black has a slight structural edge in Sicilian positions (hence 'all
Sicilian endgames are better for Black') so it makes sense to get pieces off.}
10. O-O O-O 11. Bxg7 Kxg7 12. Nc3 f6 $11) 10. h4 h5 (10... d5 $5 {was
'thematic for the Sicilian'.}) 11. Rh3 Bf7 12. Rg3 (12. Bd2 $5 {is something
of a one-mover, but it's not completely clear what Black should do to dodge
Rc3. Maybe the awkward} Qa8 $5) 12... Ne5 $1 {Black has now at least
completely equalised; the idea is ...Bh6 and White will face difficulties.} 13.
Bxe5 dxe5 14. Rc3 Rxd1+ 15. Qxd1 Qa8 16. N1d2 Bh6 {Completing development. It
is hard to offer White advice, since his pieces are already reasonably well
placed, but this also means he lacks ideas.} 17. Rc7 Qb8 (17... O-O {could
have been played already, and this was maybe marginally more accurate.} 18.
Rxe7 a5 $1 $44 {and Black obtains full compensation, based on White's
tactically vulnerable pieces as well as the obvious bishop pair.}) 18. Qc2 O-O
19. Ba6 $1 {For tactical reasons, Black is now best advised to give back the
bishop pair.} (19. Rxe7 Rc8 $1 {and the rook gets trapped on the next move by .
..B(K)f8.}) 19... Bxd2 20. Nxd2 Rd8 $6 (20... Na8 21. Rb7 Qd6 22. Bc4 Nb6 23.
Bxf7+ Kxf7 24. Rxa7 Rc8 $44 {and Black still keeps quite good compensation
thanks to the back-rank and rook-trap motifs.}) 21. Nf1 $2 {Missing a latent
resource.} (21. Rxe7 $1 Qd6 22. Rxa7 Qxd2 23. Qc7 $1 {was a freak tactical
option; Black now has nothing better than} Qe1+ 24. Kh2 Rd7 25. Qxb6 Rxa7 26.
Qxa7 Qxe4 {or similar (White could also interpose Qb8+ at some point.) But now
White is clearly better.} 27. Bf1 Qxh4+ 28. Kg1 $16 {and the queenside pawns
run}) 21... Rd7 {Now this equalises.} 22. Rxd7 Nxd7 23. Bc4 Qd6 24. Ne3 Qd4 25.
b4 $6 {This can only risk being worse.} (25. Bxf7+ Kxf7 26. Qc4+ Qxc4 27. Nxc4
Nc5 28. f3 $11) 25... Nb6 26. Bxf7+ Kxf7 27. Qb3+ Kf8 28. Qb1 Nc8 29. Nf1 Nd6
30. Ng3 Nb5 31. a3 Qc4 (31... Nxa3 $6 32. Qc1 Qxb4 33. Qh6+ $132) (31... Qc3 $1
32. a4 Nd4 $17) 32. Qd1 Nd4 33. Qd2 Kg7 34. Kh2 Qc2 35. Qe3 a6 36. f4 exf4 37.
Qxd4 fxg3+ 38. Kxg3 Qb3+ {Black had one last try, but it was hard to spot and
perhaps he had already reconciled himself to the draw.} (38... Qe2 $1 {is an
odd 'immobilising move' pointed out by the engine. Black wins a pawn under
better circumstances than in the game.} 39. Kh2 Qg4 40. g3 $2 Qe2+ 41. Kg1 Qf3
$17) 39. Kh2 Qxa3 40. Qc5 Kf8 41. Qc8+ Kf7 42. Qc4+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Baerum Fischer Random Rapid "]
[Site "Baerum"]
[Date "2018.02.10"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2781"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rbqnnkbr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RBQNNKBR w HAha - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2018.02.09"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. f3 c6 {Possibly not occupying enough of the centre - the Caro-Kann is a
normal enough opening in regular chess, but here Black lacks a way to gain
back space with the following moves.} (1... c5 2. c4 b6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Bxd4 f6
5. Bd3 Nc6 {would probably have been the continuation if I were playing myself}
) 2. c4 e5 (2... f6 3. d4 d5 {might have been a slightly better central break
to play for, but it is hard to shake the feeling that White has a little
something here.}) 3. d4 d6 4. Bd3 Ne6 5. e3 {Just like that, White has a plus.
This wasn't maybe the fairest position to start from.} Nf6 6. Qc3 exd4 7. exd4
h5 8. Be3 Bh7 (8... Qd7 9. O-O d5 10. f4 $5 {could have been another
continuation, and now maybe} dxc4 11. Bxc4 Ng4 {when Black can hope for a
bulwark in the centre to counteract the increasing pressure along the f-file.})
9. d5 (9. Bxh7 Rxh7 10. d5 $14 {came to the same thing.}) 9... cxd5 10. cxd5
Qxc3 11. Nxc3 Nc5 12. Bxh7 Rxh7 13. Rc1 (13. Rd1 {and Nd3 is the plan that
suggests itself to me, having watched many an experienced ex-Yugoslav
grandmaster play 'light square only' chess against the King's Indian.}) 13...
a6 14. Bg5 {Not the most precise idea.} h4 {With the idea of ...Rh5,
presumably, but Black then doesn't follow up with that move.} 15. Bxf6 gxf6 16.
Ne4 Kg7 (16... Rh5 $1 {equalised immediately. It might appear that Black loses
a pawn, but in fact White is unable to take it in either of the obvious ways.}
17. b4 $5 {The real most critical move.} (17. Nxc5 $2 dxc5 18. Rxc5 Ba7 $17) (
17. Nxf6 Rf5 18. b4 Rxf6 19. bxc5 dxc5 20. Rxc5 Ba7 21. Rc4 Rd8 $15) 17... Nd7
18. Rc8+ Ke7 $1 $11 {Black is untangling very soon, e.g.} 19. Nd3 Nb6 20. Re8+
(20. Rg8 Ba7 $15) 20... Kxe8 21. Nxf6+ Kd8 22. Nxh5 Nxd5 23. Nhf4 Ne3+ 24. Ke2
Ba7 {There is nothing for Black to really worry about here.}) 17. Nxc5 {
Taking this pawn always seems to free Black's game, just as in the previous
note.} (17. g4 $1 {continues the structural constriction of Black's position.
The idea is Ng2-e3-f5.} hxg3 18. Nxg3 Ba7 19. h4 $14) 17... dxc5 18. Rxc5 Ba7
19. Rc3 Rh5 {Black is completely fine again.} 20. Rd3 Re5 (20... Rd8 21. d6 Rd7
$11 {with ...Rb5 and ...Bb8xd6 to come is also fine}) 21. f4 $6 {This is a bit
ambitious and may hand Black an advantage.} Re4 22. Nf3 Rc8 $1 (22... Rxf4 23.
g3 hxg3 24. hxg3 Rc4 25. Kg2 {is not something Black has to get into; White
wants Nh4-f5 with an initiative.}) 23. Rc3 Rce8 $1 {With the idea of ...Re2-f2.
} 24. Rc2 Rxf4 25. d6 $6 (25. h3 $15 {was apparently the way to untangle,
keeping Black's edge to a minimum.}) 25... Rd8 (25... Re6 $1 {would have kept
White in real danger: now defending the pawn runs into further tempo moves.}
26. Rd2 Rc4 $1 27. Rd1 Ree4 $3 {Cutting out the interference move Nd4, and
thus cuing up ...Rc2 in earnest.} 28. Re1 (28. Ng1 Rc2 29. Nh3 Bb6 30. d7 Ra4
$19) 28... f5 29. d7 Bb6 $17 {The d-pawn will drop for free and White still
won't be developed. His position is close to lost.}) 26. Rd2 Re4 27. d7 f5 28.
g3 {Forcing his way out of the cage, since ...h3 meets Ng5.} hxg3 29. hxg3 Re7
30. Rdh2 Rexd7 31. Rh7+ Kf6 32. Kg2 {White can't really get any tactical
pressure against the Black king and has to reconcile himself to just being a
pawn down.} (32. R1h6+ Ke7 33. Ng5 $4 {only gets White mated:} Rd1+ 34. Kg2
R8d2+ 35. Kh3 Rh1#) 32... Be3 $15 {Black is now safe, but only slightly better
and White manages to whip up play.} 33. Rf1 Rg8 34. Kh3 Rd5 35. Nh4 Rg5 36. g4
$1 f4 (36... Rxg4 37. Nxf5 Rxf5 38. Rxf7+ $1 $18) 37. Ng2 Rd3 38. Kh4 Rg7 (
38... Rd2 39. Nxf4 $1 Bf2+ 40. Rxf2 Rxf2 41. Nh3 $11) 39. g5+ $1 {The final
drawing move.} Rxg5 40. Nxe3 Rxe3 41. Rxf4+ Kg6 42. Rhxf7 {Threatening mate
and the b7-pawn, so Black forces perpetual check.} Rh5+ 43. Kg4 Rg5+ 44. Kh4 {
Neither side has any way to play on.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Baerum Fischer Random Rapid "]
[Site "Baerum"]
[Date "2018.02.10"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rbqnnkbr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RBQNNKBR w HAha - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "135"]
[EventDate "2018.02.09"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 c5 (1... d5 {looks to me the most solid answer, but it makes little
sense to go into theoretical speculations about 960 positions.}) 2. dxc5 Qxc5
3. f3 Qc7 4. Qd2 {Trying to play with e4, Ne3, c4 et cetera: a kind of Maroczy
plan.} f5 (4... Nc6 5. e4 f6 6. Ne3 Nd6 7. b3 Bf7 8. c4 {looks slightly
unpleasant for Black; the follow-up could be Bd3, Bf2, 0-0.}) 5. c4 $1 {
The maximalist move.} Bxc4 6. Bxf5 Nd6 $1 (6... e6 7. Bc2 d5 8. Rc1 {is
probably humanly hard to play as well as being slightly worse; the c4-bishop
finds itself awkwardly situated outside an unusually shaped pawn chain.}) 7.
Bc2 Nc6 8. Rc1 Bf7 9. Bb3 O-O 10. Bxf7+ Nxf7 {Black has done well to get into
a normal-looking position and exchange the light-squared bishops.
Unfortunately, his d-pawn is still a bit backward, which is why White probably
mentally awarded himself a small nibble here.} 11. e4 e6 12. Ne3 a6 (12... Qb6
$1 13. Bf2 Qa6+ {generated sufficient counterplay against the white king to
compensate for the backward d-pawn.} 14. Nd3 Nfe5 $132) 13. Bf2 (13. Nc4 $5 {
deserved consideration, but here thanks to the position of the knight on f7,
White lacks a toe-hold in Black's structure and following the slightly unusual
bishop exchange} Ba7 14. Bxa7 Rxa7 $11 {White will end up being driven back
with ...b5}) 13... Nfe5 14. Nd3 Nxd3 15. Qxd3 b5 16. Qd2 Qb7 17. O-O {The
position has now normalised and is more or less equal, but thanks to the
backward d7-pawn, Black needs to watch out as long as there are major pieces
on the board.} Bf4 18. Bg3 Bxg3 19. hxg3 Rac8 20. Ng4 (20. Qd6 {looks
positionally desirable to me, but maybe White didn't like} Qa7 $5) 20... Ne7 {
Trying to play ...d5.} 21. Qg5 {Preventing the idea in a slightly roundabout
manner.} (21. Qd6 $14) 21... Ng6 (21... d5 22. Rxc8 $1 Nxc8 23. exd5 Qxd5 24.
Qxd5 exd5 25. Rc1 $14 {is exactly the sort of thing everyone dreads against
the present World Champion}) (21... d6 $5 $11 {deserved consideration, taking
away the dark-squared outposts from White's pieces.}) 22. Rxc8 (22. Rfd1 Rxc1
23. Qxc1 Qb6+ 24. Qe3 $14 {continues the cat-and-mouse game without ceding the
c-file}) 22... Rxc8 23. Rd1 Rc2 {Now Black gets play and the potential to take
some pawns, though White keeps it under control and retains an advantage
thanks to a superior king and queen.} 24. Qd8+ Nf8 25. Kh2 $1 Rc5 (25... Qa7 {
is the engine suggestion, but after} 26. Qg5 $14 {Black is still in trouble.
The threat is Nh6+ and Qe7.}) 26. Rd6 (26. b4 Rh5+ 27. Kg1 Qa7+ 28. Nf2 $14 {
throws Black's major pieces a bit more out of position; White can now play g4
or try and use the c-file himself.}) 26... b4 27. Rb6 Qa7 28. e5 {Not the most
precise. A new tactical motif now appears in the position- the trapping of
White's g4-knight.} Rc8 (28... Rb5 $1 $11 {forces the trade of rooks since} 29.
Rd6 h5 {ends up trapping White's knight.}) 29. Qe7 Ng6 30. Qxb4 h5 31. Rb7 Qc5
$14 (31... Rc4 $1 $11 {was a random move that happens to keep complete
equality.}) 32. Qe4 hxg4 33. Qxg6 Qd5 34. Rb3 gxf3 35. Rxf3 Rf8 36. Rd3 $1 {
Black will probably offer the rook swap again; what is important is to effect
a favourable trade before accepting it.} Qxe5 37. Rxd7 Rf5 38. Rd8+ Rf8 39. Rd7
Rf5 40. Rd8+ Rf8 41. Rxf8+ Kxf8 42. b4 {This queen endgame is now pretty much
impossible to play for Black.} Qe2 (42... Qd5 43. Qc2 (43. a4 Qb3 $11) 43...
Kf7 $132 {might have been a start, trying to push ...e5 without further delays.
}) 43. a4 Qa2 44. a5 Qc4 45. Qb1 Kg8 46. Qe1 {White just has to keep playing
with small tactical motifs until Black misses one.} Kh7 47. Qe3 {Threatening
Qc5, but if this hadn't been possible White could have played Qd2-d6-c5
instead.} Qxb4 48. Qd3+ g6 49. Qxa6 Qc5 50. Qb6 {Now with best play White
should obtain a doubled-g-pawn position with queens.} Qh5+ 51. Kg1 Qd1+ 52. Kf2
Qd2+ 53. Kf3 g5 (53... Qd5+ 54. Ke3 Qxg2 55. Qc7+ Kh6 56. Qd6 $16 {might have
been a better try, even though White's king will get to join his a-pawn.}) 54.
Qxe6 Qxa5 55. Kg4 Qa8 56. Qf7+ Kh8 57. Qh5+ Kg7 58. Qxg5+ Kh8 59. Kh3 Qa1 60.
Qd8+ Kg7 61. Qe7+ Kg8 62. g4 {Now the position is technically winning, but of
course in practice it will be decided by a mistake by one or other side. Black
almost never has perpetual, so it is much easier for him to make the mistake
and then White will have a straightforward win. This is what happens in a few
moves.} Qc3+ 63. Kh4 Qb2 64. Qe8+ Kg7 65. Qd7+ Kg6 66. Qd6+ Kg7 67. Qd5 Kg6 $2
{A forced error in a lost position.} (67... Qf2+ 68. Kh5 {and the checks end})
68. Qg8+ {Queens will be swapped next.} 1-0

[Event "Baerum Fischer Random Rapid "]
[Site "Baerum"]
[Date "2018.02.11"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "nqbnrbkr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NQBNRBKR w HEhe - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2018.02.09"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nb3 (2. e4 {suggests itself, thanks to the hint from Black's next 
(and the central positions of the rooks.)}) 2... e5 {A hard move to understand
properly. It is much better than it might initially appear - philosophically,
there is some similarity with the line 1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nc6 in regular chess.} 3.
dxe5 Rxe5 4. Bf4 (4. g3 {possibly improved, trying to play e4 within the next
few moves.}) 4... Re8 5. Nc3 Bb4 $1 6. Bd2 (6. e3 {is not such a catastrophe,
but it is understandable that White would prefer to play without doubled pawns.
For instance:} Ne6 7. Bg3 Nb6 8. Rd1 Bxc3 9. bxc3 O-O $11) 6... Nb6 7. e4 Bxc3
8. Bxc3 (8. exd5 $5 {was an interesting freak tactical possibility which lends
validity to White's last.} Be5 9. f4 Nxd5 10. Rxe5 Rxe5 11. fxe5 b6 $11) 8...
dxe4 {Now White must either take his pawn back or prove compensation. He
chooses the second but it doesn't quite work.} 9. Qd1 (9. Bd3 $11) (9. f3 e3
10. Bd4 $11) 9... f5 10. Qd4 Ne6 11. Qe5 O-O {Now Black has caught up in
development, he should not be in any kind of trouble at all and White should
in fact take urgent measures to not end up worse.} 12. Nc5 Re7 13. Rd1 (13. Be2
Rff7 14. O-O-O $44) 13... Rff7 {Now Black consolidates.} 14. Be2 Nf8 15. Qf4
Ng6 16. Qg3 (16. Rd8+ Rf8 17. Rxf8+ Kxf8 18. Qd2 c6 $15 {is also not quite
enough.}) 16... f4 17. Rd8+ Rf8 18. Rxf8+ Kxf8 19. Qg5 c6 20. h4 f3 (20... Nd5
$17 {was also fine, giving back the pawn but tying White in some awkward knots.
} 21. h5 Ne5 22. Nxe4 h6 23. Qh4 Bf5) 21. gxf3 Nf4 22. Bf1 (22. Kf1 $5 {
could have been tried, keeping the re-sacrificed pawn by hook or by crook. Now
Black should accept this and play} Nbd5 $17 (22... Nxe2 $6 23. Bf6 $3 gxf6 24.
Qxf6+ Ke8 25. Qh8+ $11)) 22... exf3 {Not the best here either, and White is
nearly able to wriggle away.} 23. Nd3 Nxd3 24. Bxd3 h6 (24... Nd5 $15) 25. Qg3
Qxg3+ 26. fxg3 Na4 27. Bd2 {Now Black gets to rebuild his advantage.} (27. Bb4
$1 c5 28. Ba3 Re1+ (28... b6 29. O-O $14 {with Bb5-c6 to come and only White
can be better}) 29. Kh2 Re5 30. b3 Nb6 31. Bb2 Re7 32. Ba3 $11) 27... Kg8 28.
b3 Nb2 $1 $17 29. Bg6 Nd1 30. O-O Bg4 $1 {An unusual domination motif. Black
will just sit with Bg4, Pf2, Nd1 and bring his king and pawns closer until
something crops up or White gets frustrated and sacrifices an exchange.} 31.
Bd3 f2+ 32. Kg2 b5 33. a4 a6 34. axb5 axb5 35. Bb4 Re5 36. Bd2 Re8 37. Bf4 b4 (
37... Kf7 {was a better way to creep closer - the next move can be ...Kf6 and
then ...g5.}) 38. Bd2 (38. Bc4+ Kh8 39. Ba6 {with the idea of Bb7 might have
offered some practical chances}) 38... c5 39. Bf4 Kf7 40. Bd6 {Here it is -
the frustration. The rest is not difficult really:} Ne3+ 41. Kxf2 Nxf1 42. Bxf1
Rc8 43. Be5 Bf5 44. Bc4+ Kg6 45. Ke3 Bxc2 46. g4 Re8 47. Kf4 Rf8+ 48. Ke3 Re8
49. Kf4 Rd8 {A really good conversion overall by Nakamura, considering the
unfamiliarity of the position type and the time control.} 0-1

[Event "Baerum Fischer Random Rapid "]
[Site "Baerum"]
[Date "2018.02.11"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2781"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "nqbnrbkr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NQBNRBKR w HEhe - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2018.02.09"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 {Not allowing Black ...d5, but it transpires that occupying the centre
with other pawns - any will do-is just as well.} e5 2. Nb3 c5 3. Ne3 Nc6 4. h4
{Presumably trying for g3, Bh3 against Black's ...d6 rather than making a
genuine attempt at a kingside pawn storm!} h5 5. g3 b5 6. d3 d6 7. Bg2 (7. Bh3
Bxh3 8. Rxh3 Nb6 9. Nd2 $11 {was actually a reasonable way to play - the game
now takes on a rather strange Italianesque feel.}) 7... Be6 8. f4 $6 {
Prematurely opening the centre. Combined with the lack of castling this is to
blame for a lot of White's future problems.} (8. Nd5 $11 {was more consistent.}
) 8... exf4 9. gxf4 Nb6 {Now the centre is open and Black is better prepared
for this. There will follow ...c4, or under certain circumstances even ...d5.}
10. c3 c4 11. Nd4 (11. Nd2 cxd3 12. Qxd3 Nd7 13. O-O $132 {was a reasonable
attempt to turn things around.}) 11... Nxd4 12. cxd4 Be7 13. d5 Bd7 14. d4 Qd8
{Just winning a pawn, for which White now tries to find some compensation.} 15.
Bd2 Bxh4 16. Rf1 Bg3 17. e5 h4 18. Rf3 Bc8 19. Nf1 $2 {Not the best try in a
bad position, and possibly missing the impact of Black's 20th.} (19. Qe4 $15 {
kept Black's advantage to a minimum. There is genuinely a fair bit of
compensation here, though Black should keep something after for instance} Nd7 {
trying for ...Nf6.}) 19... Bg4 $1 20. Ra3 b4 $1 21. Rxa7 (21. Bxb4 Bxf4 $19 {
is even worse.}) 21... Qb8 (21... c3 22. bxc3 bxc3 23. Bc1 dxe5 24. fxe5 Nxd5
$17 {was probably a better continuation, and Black's c3-pawn and much better
co-ordination will be a huge headache going forward.}) 22. Ra6 (22. Rxf7 $5
Kxf7 23. e6+ {was worth a try, since Black runs into tactical problems trying
to keep all the material.} Bxe6 $1 (23... Kf6 24. Ne3 $40) (23... Kg8 $2 24.
Nxg3 hxg3 25. Rxh8+ Kxh8 26. Qg6 $14) 24. dxe6+ Rxe6 25. Rh3 $17) 22... Qb7 23.
Nxg3 {This way, White has still lost the exchange but has not been able to
open any lines against the black king.} Qxa6 24. Ne4 c3 (24... h3 {could have
been an even better move, but it is all much of a muchness right now.}) 25.
bxc3 Nc4 26. Bf1 Nxd2 27. Nxd2 Qc8 28. Rh2 (28. c4 $5 {tries to generate some
counterplay based on the pawn mass, even if White is still close to lost.
Possibly, the problem White saw with this was the rook sacrifice:} dxe5 29.
fxe5 Rxe5 $3 {which, if Black manages to find, is winning on the spot after
some tactics. Nevertheless, in a lost position I would want to make my
opponent take this risk-in a game between humans, trying a move like this is
always a risk.}) 28... bxc3 29. Nc4 Bf3 30. Ne3 dxe5 31. fxe5 Qd8 {Winning the
d5-pawn thanks to the threat of ...Qg5. The rest could really have been spared.
} 32. Qf5 Bxd5 33. Qf4 Be6 34. Bh3 Rh6 35. Bxe6 fxe6 36. Ng4 Rg6 37. Rg2 Rf8
38. Qe4 Rf5 39. Nf6+ Rfxf6 0-1

[Event "Baerum Fischer Random Rapid "]
[Site "Baerum"]
[Date "2018.02.12"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2781"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnknqbbr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNKNQBBR w HAha - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2018.02.09"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. f4 f6 2. e4 e5 {Both players have abandoned any kind of hypermodern
approach- when there is no theory, or you don't know the theory, you can't go
for the equivalent of a Grünfeld, there is simply no choice but to play
classically as that is the most reliable style. Put pawns in the centre, and
pieces behind them.} 3. fxe5 fxe5 4. Nbc3 Ne6 5. Nd5 {It's not clear to me
what White wanted to achieve by this knight move, except if he wanted c3 and
d4 (and if so, then why his 4th?)} (5. Bc4 {was a good 'classical' move.}) 5...
c6 6. N5e3 d6 7. g3 Nd7 {The initial position used this time was quite an
equal one, and White has played a bit lackadaisically, so maybe Black is more
comfortable already.} 8. Bh3 O-O-O 9. d3 Kb8 $15 10. Qf2 Ndc5 11. Nc3 Nd4 {
Thinking of ...d5.} 12. Ne2 (12. O-O-O g6 {doesn't really help; here Black
probably changes tack and plays without ...d5.}) 12... Nxe2+ 13. Qxe2 d5 14.
exd5 cxd5 15. Ng4 (15. O-O-O {could have been a good try with the centre
opening up, though Black is better after say} Qa4 $5 $15) 15... d4 16. Bg2 Bd6
17. h3 Rc8 18. Bf2 {Trying to evacuate the king, which in this case is quite a
creative defence!} (18. Nf2 {was consistent, but too slow:} Qb5 {with the idea
of ...Na4 forces major concessions and Black is close to winning.}) 18... h5
19. Nh2 e4 $1 (19... Qb5 20. O-O $3 {is the point, and while Black's position
is still more pleasant he has no real attack as such.}) 20. O-O (20. dxe4 $6 d3
$19) (20. Bxe4 {can be met with either the ambitious ...Bd5 or just simple
chess, e.g.} Nxe4 21. Qxe4 Qxe4 22. dxe4 d3 23. c3 (23. O-O h4 $19) 23... Bh7
$17) 20... e3 21. Be1 Ne6 22. Nf3 g5 {With so much of a space advantage, Black
finds that his forces re-route themselves easily.} 23. c3 {Basically obliging
Black to at least sacrifice a pawn for his attack.} g4 24. Nxd4 (24. hxg4 $2
hxg4 25. Nxd4 Qh5 {is of course close to mate}) 24... Nxd4 25. cxd4 gxh3 26.
Be4 h4 27. Qxe3 Bh7 (27... Bd5 28. Rf3 Qg8 {is better implementation, just
because d5 is a better square for the bishop.}) 28. Rf3 (28. g4 $5 Qe6 29. Qxh3
Rcg8 $19 {doesn't seem like a fully conclusive attack just yet, but Black is
of course close to winning.}) 28... Qh5 29. Bf2 Rhf8 30. Rxf8 Rxf8 31. Bxh7
Qxh7 32. g4 {The best practical chance.} h2+ 33. Kh1 Qg8 34. Bxh4 (34. Re1 Qxg4
35. d5 {might oblige Black to do more work, since he doesn't have obvious
attacking moves now.}) 34... Qxg4 35. Bf2 Qg8 36. Bh4 Qd5+ 37. Qe4 Qf7 38. Qg2
Qf4 39. Bg5 Qxd4 {Restoring the material parity, not that that has mattered
for a while. Eventually, White's chronically insecure g5-bishop and long
diagonal will combine in some decisive way.} 40. Bh6 Re8 41. Rd1 Qxd3 42. Rf1
Ka8 43. Rc1 Bb8 44. Qd2 Qe4+ 45. Qg2 Qe1+ 46. Qf1 Qe6 {White didn't see a
point continuing with the dance; at any rate, ...Rg8-g3 will force the White
queen off the long diagonal.} 0-1

[Event "Baerum Fischer Random Rapid "]
[Site "Baerum"]
[Date "2018.02.12"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnknqbbr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNKNQBBR w HAha - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "238"]
[EventDate "2018.02.09"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 f5 2. f4 g5 $5 {An interesting 'Benko Gambit'!} 3. fxg5 h6 4. Ndc3 (4. g6
$5 {It is interesting, perhaps, to see how far we can take the analogy to the
Benko.} Qxg6 5. h4 $5 e5 $1 {Here Black doesn't need to get involved in the
struggle for the squares g5 and g6 - a theme which reminds me of the American
puzzle game 'connect 4'. Instead, he can hit back in the centre, using the
fact that in this Benko, the kings are already more or less safe.} 6. Nbc3 (6.
dxe5 $6 Nbc6 $15) 6... Nbc6 7. d5 $132) 4... d5 $5 {An ambitious and maybe not
entirely correct move.} (4... hxg5 5. e4 f4 $132 {gives Black play of full
value.}) 5. g4 $1 {The centre is much more important than some flank pawn.} (5.
gxh6 e5 $1 {Here, since e3 is not possible, the White centre instantly loses
all its solidity.}) 5... fxg4 6. e4 {White seems to have won the opening
battle, but of course the position remains messy and unstereotyped enough that
almost anything can happen at short notice.} dxe4 7. Nd2 hxg5 8. O-O-O Nd7 9.
Ndxe4 Nf7 10. d5 $14 a6 (10... Nfe5 {immediately deserved attention.}) 11. Bd4
Rh6 12. Be2 (12. Qg3 O-O-O 13. Be2 Nd6 14. Nxd6+ exd6 15. Bxg4 $14 {was
another way to consolidate the advantage, but probably that chosen in the game
was better.}) 12... Nfe5 13. Nxg5 Rg6 14. Ne6 (14. h4 {would likely have ended
up winning a pawn, since Black cannot really take en passant. White can
continue Be3-f4, Qg3, etc, and take on g4 with a position that must be close
to winning.}) 14... Bxe6 (14... Nf3 $6 15. Bxf3 gxf3 16. Rf1 $16 {looks like
it makes the position interesting, but in fact the clarification is only to
White's advantage.}) 15. dxe6 Rxe6 {Logically, the only way Black can try and
hang on is to take a pawn for his troubles.} 16. Bxe5 Rxe5 17. Qg3 Bh6+ 18. Kb1
Re3 19. Qxg4 O-O-O $1 {Black has played the last 5 moves perfectly and it
seems that things are gradually becoming less clear.} 20. Nd5 Re5 21. Bxa6 (21.
Qg3 $5 {is a hard move to spot. The point is} e6 22. Nxc7 $1 Kxc7 23. Rxd7+ {
and White emerges with an extra pawn.}) 21... c6 (21... bxa6 22. Qc4 Rxd5 23.
Qxa6+ Kb8 24. Rxd5 Nb6 25. Rxd8+ Qxd8 $14 {is not curtains, but White would
likely have enjoyed this a fair bit.}) 22. Nb6+ Kc7 23. Nxd7 Rxd7 24. Rxd7+
Qxd7 25. Qxd7+ Kxd7 26. Bxb7 $1 {Maximalist and... correct.} (26. Bd3 {is more
conservative and White could have tried to press here instead, although in
fairness it does seem to me that Black can hold the balance with active play.}
Kd6 27. a3 Re3 $14 {and next there may follow ...e5 and ...Bf4.}) 26... Ra5 27.
Re1 (27. Rg1 $1 {was playable immediately, based on Bxc6-type tactics.} Bf4 28.
Rg4 $1 (28. Rg6 Bd6 {is less clear}) 28... Bxh2 29. Rc4 $16 {White has managed
to extricate the bishop.}) 27... Bg5 28. Rg1 {Now White still gains a tempo,
but it is the wrong one, and ...Rb5 will gain it back later.} Bf6 29. Rg8 Rb5
30. Bc8+ Kc7 31. b3 Re5 32. Kc1 Re2 {The idea of ...Bc3 means that White's
pieces are still just about tactically unfortunate enough to generate some
counterchances for his opponent.} 33. h3 (33. Bg4 Rxh2 34. a4 $14 {is of
course a try but not really what White wants to do if there is a choice}) 33...
e6 $6 (33... Bc3 {leads to White holding both pawns, even if the resulting
position looks nearly impossible for him to win:} 34. Bg4 Re1+ 35. Bd1 Rh1 36.
Rg3 Be5 37. Rd3 $14) 34. Ba6 (34. Kd1 $1 Re3 35. Kd2 Rxh3 36. Bxe6 $16) 34...
Re3 35. Kd2 Rxh3 36. Bd3 Rh2+ 37. Ke3 Bc3 38. a4 $14 {White has played
slightly inaccurately and had to give back one of the pawns, but his king is
now out of any danger.} Kd6 39. Rg6 Rh3+ 40. Ke4 Rh4+ 41. Kf3 Rh3+ 42. Kg2 Rh7
$5 {Trying to swap rooks, even at the cost of a pawn.} 43. Rg4 (43. Rxe6+ Kxe6
44. Bxh7 Kd5 45. Kf3 Kd4 46. Be4 c5 47. Bd3 Ba5 48. Kf4 Kd5 $11 {is a draw:
Black meets Ke2 with ...Kd4 and Ke8 with ...Kd6, then White has no way in.})
43... Rg7 44. Bg6 c5 45. Kf3 Ba5 46. Ke2 c4 {Reasonable active defence,
although it was also possible to sit and ask White what he intends to do about
the pin on the g-file.} 47. Rd4+ Ke7 48. Be4 cxb3 49. cxb3 Rg3 50. Bf3 Rg1 51.
b4 Bc7 52. Rc4 Bd6 53. Be4 (53. b5 {and I suspect the position is now
technically winning.}) 53... Rg3 54. Kd2 Rb3 55. b5 Be5 56. Bc2 Rb2 57. Rc6 Kd7
58. Ra6 Bd6 59. Kc3 Be5+ 60. Kd3 Bf4 61. a5 Bc7 $1 {Avoiding the cheap tactic;
now sooner or later White has to consent to the swap of two pawns for a bishop.
} 62. Ra7 Kd6 63. Ra6+ Kd7 64. b6 Bxb6 65. axb6 Kc6 66. Ba4+ Kb7 67. Ra7+ Kxb6
68. Re7 Kc5 69. Rxe6 {Now, White tried for 50 moves to win with rook and
bishop against rook, but it didn't exactly work out. Incredibly, Carlsen
played the position until his clock simply ran out.} Rb4 70. Bc2 Rd4+ 71. Ke3
Rd8 72. Be4 Rd6 73. Re5+ Kb6 74. Bd5 Kc5 75. Ke4 Rd8 76. Bf7+ Kc6 77. Rh5 Rd1
78. Bb3 Rd2 79. Bd5+ Kc5 80. Bf7+ Kc6 81. Bb3 Kd6 82. Ke3 Rb2 83. Bc4 Rg2 84.
Bd3 Rg1 85. Kd4 Rd1 86. Rh6+ Ke7 87. Ra6 Kd7 88. Ke4 Ke7 89. Bc4 Rd6 90. Ra7+
Rd7 91. Ra5 Rd1 92. Ke5 Re1+ 93. Kd4 Rd1+ 94. Bd3 Kd6 95. Ra6+ Ke7 96. Ke4 Rd2
97. Ke3 Rd1 98. Ke4 Rd2 99. Bc4 Rd6 100. Ra5 Rd1 101. Ke5 Re1+ 102. Kd5 Rd1+
103. Kc5 Kf6 104. Ra6+ Kf5 105. Re6 Rc1 106. Re2 Rd1 107. Bb3 Rd8 108. Bc2+ Kf4
109. Re4+ Kf3 110. Rc4 Rf8 111. Kb4 Ke2 112. Kc3 Ke3 113. Re4+ Kf3 114. Rd4
Rc8+ 115. Rc4 Re8 116. Rb4 Re3+ 117. Kb2 Re2 118. Rb3+ Kf2 119. Rc3 Re7 0-1

[Event "Baerum Fischer Random blitz m"]
[Site "Baerum"]
[Date "2018.02.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "qrknbbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/QRKNBBNR w HBhb - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2018.02.13"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. a4 e6 2. a5 a6 3. e4 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. Nf3 f6 6. exf6 gxf6 7. Ne3 Nxe3 8.
fxe3 Bg6 9. b4 Be7 10. Bh4 Rf8 11. Be2 Nc6 12. Qc3 b5 13. O-O O-O-O 14. d4 Bh5
15. Qd2 d5 16. c3 Bxf3 17. Rxf3 f5 18. Rh3 Rd7 19. Bg3 Bg5 20. Bf4 h6 21. Bxg5
hxg5 22. Rh6 Re7 23. e4 dxe4 24. Qxg5 Kb7 25. d5 exd5 26. Rxc6 Ref7 27. Rc5 Rd7
28. Qg6 Qd8 29. Qc6+ Ka7 30. Bxb5 axb5 31. Rxb5 Qc8 32. a6 1-0

[Event "Baerum Fischer Random blitz m"]
[Site "Baerum"]
[Date "2018.02.13"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2781"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "qrknbbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/QRKNBBNR w HBhb - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "133"]
[EventDate "2018.02.13"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e3 f5 2. b4 Nf6 3. a4 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. a5 d6 6. d4 Bc6 7. Be2 b5 8. axb6
axb6 9. Qb2 b5 10. c4 bxc4 11. Ra1 Qb7 12. Bxc4 Bb5 13. Bxb5 Qxb5 14. Qb3 Qd5
15. Qc2 Qc6 16. Nb2 Qxc2+ 17. Kxc2 Nc6 18. Nd3 Nd5 19. Rb1 Kd7 20. h4 Bf6 21.
Bc3 Rb5 22. Rb3 Ra8 23. Rhb1 Ra4 24. Bd2 h6 25. g3 Ra8 26. Bc3 Rab8 27. Nf4
Nxf4 28. gxf4 Ke6 29. Kd3 Kf7 30. Bd2 Nd8 31. Kc2 Ne6 32. Bc3 Nf8 33. Ra1 Nd7
34. Ra7 R5b7 35. Rxb7 Rxb7 36. b5 Ra7 37. Bb2 Ke6 38. Ra3 Rxa3 39. Bxa3 Kd5 40.
Kd3 Nb6 41. Bb4 Nc4 42. Kc3 e5 43. dxe5 dxe5 44. fxe5 Nxe5 45. Nxe5 Bxe5+ 46.
Kd3 Bf6 47. h5 gxh5 48. f3 h4 49. e4+ Ke6 50. Ba5 fxe4+ 51. fxe4 h3 52. Bxc7
Be5 53. Bxe5 Kxe5 54. b6 Kd6 55. e5+ Kd7 56. b7 Kc7 57. e6 h2 58. b8=Q+ Kxb8
59. e7 h1=Q 60. e8=Q+ Ka7 61. Qe7+ Qb7 62. Qxb7+ Kxb7 63. Ke2 Kc6 64. Kf3 Kd5
65. Kg4 Ke6 66. Kh5 Kf7 67. Kxh6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Baerum Fischer Random blitz m"]
[Site "Baerum"]
[Date "2018.02.13"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2781"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "nbbrqkrn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NBBRQKRN w GDgd - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "275"]
[EventDate "2018.02.13"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. O-O O-O 2. e4 c5 3. d4 cxd4 4. Rxd4 a6 5. Ng3 Ba7 6. Rd3 d6 7. b3 Nc7 8. Bb2
f6 9. c4 Ng6 10. Nc2 Nf4 11. Rd2 e5 12. Ne3 g6 13. Ne2 Nce6 14. Nxf4 Nxf4 15.
g3 Ne6 16. f4 Nd4 17. Kg2 b5 18. Nd5 Qd7 19. f5 bxc4 20. bxc4 g5 21. h4 g4 22.
Bxd4 Bxd4 23. Qd1 Qg7 24. h5 Bb7 25. h6 Qxh6 26. Rh1 Qg5 27. Rh4 h5 28. Rxd4
exd4 29. Nf4 Qxf5 30. Rxh5 Bxe4+ 31. Kf2 Bxb1 32. Rxf5 Bxf5 33. Qxd4 Bc8 34.
Qd5+ Kg7 35. Qe4 Rf7 36. Qg6+ Kf8 37. Qd3 Ke8 38. Qd5 f5 39. Qd4 Re7 40. Nd5
Re5 41. Qa7 Rxd5 42. cxd5 Rd7 43. Qb8 Kd8 44. Ke3 Rc7 45. Kf4 Rc4+ 46. Kg5 Kd7
47. Qa7+ Rc7 48. Qe3 Rc5 49. Kf6 Kc7 50. Qd3 Bb7 51. Qxf5 Bxd5 52. Qxg4 Bxa2
53. Qa4 Bc4 54. g4 a5 55. g5 Bd3 56. g6 Rf5+ 57. Ke7 Re5+ 58. Kf7 Bxg6+ 59.
Kxg6 Rc5 60. Kf6 Re5 61. Qc4+ Kd7 62. Qg8 Kc7 63. Qa8 Kb6 64. Qc8 Kb5 65. Qc7
Rc5 66. Qb7+ Kc4 67. Ke6 a4 68. Kxd6 Rb5 69. Qe4+ Kb3 70. Qd3+ Kb4 71. Qd4+ Ka3
72. Kc6 Rb3 73. Kc5 Rb2 74. Qe4 Rb3 75. Qd4 Rb2 76. Qe4 Rb3 77. Qc4 Rb2 78. Qd4
Rb1 79. Qc3+ Ka2 80. Qc2+ Ka3 81. Qd2 Rb2 82. Qf4 Rb1 83. Qf6 Ka2 84. Qe6+ Rb3
85. Kc4 Ka3 86. Qe1 Ka2 87. Qd2+ Rb2 88. Qd5 a3 89. Qd3 Rb1 90. Qd5 Rb2 91.
Kc3+ Ka1 92. Qh1+ Ka2 93. Qd1 Rb1 94. Qd4 Rb3+ 95. Kc4 Rb1 96. Qe4 Rb3 97. Qf5
Rb2 98. Kc3 Rb3+ 99. Kc2 Rb2+ 100. Kc1 Ka1 101. Qe5 Ka2 102. Qe4 Ka1 103. Qd3
Ka2 104. Qc4+ Ka1 105. Qc3 Ka2 106. Qd3 Rb8 107. Qf5 Rb2 108. Qg6 Ka1 109. Qe6
Rb1+ 110. Kc2 Rb2+ 111. Kc3 Kb1 112. Qf7 Ka1 113. Qa7 Ka2 114. Qa4 Rb1 115. Qe4
Rb2 116. Qe1 Rb3+ 117. Kc4 Rb2 118. Qh1 Rb3 119. Qh8 Rb2 120. Qc3 Rb1 121. Qd3
Rb2 122. Qg6 Rb3 123. Qh7 Rb2 124. Kc3 Rb3+ 125. Kc2 Rb2+ 126. Kc1 Ka1 127. Qd3
Ka2 128. Qd5+ Ka1 129. Qe4 Ka2 130. Qd3 Rb8 131. Qd5+ Ka1 132. Qe5+ Rb2 133.
Qc3 Ka2 134. Qc4+ Ka1 135. Qe4 Ka2 136. Qh7 Ka1 137. Qe4 Ka2 138. Qd3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Baerum Fischer Random blitz m"]
[Site "Baerum"]
[Date "2018.02.13"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "nbbrqkrn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NBBRQKRN w GDgd - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "122"]
[EventDate "2018.02.13"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 O-O 2. O-O e5 3. d4 d6 4. e4 Nb6 5. b3 c6 6. Nc2 f6 7. f4 exf4 8. Bxf4
Ng6 9. Bc1 f5 10. Bg5 f4 11. Bxd8 Qxd8 12. e5 dxe5 13. dxe5 Qg5 14. Nd4 Nxe5
15. Qe4 Qh5 16. Nf2 f3 17. g3 c5 18. Nb5 Bd7 19. Nd6 Bc6 20. Qh4 Qxh4 21. gxh4
Rf4 22. Rfe1 Nbd7 23. Be4 Nf6 24. Bxh7+ Kxh7 25. Rxe5 Rxh4 26. Rg5 Ne8 27. Nxe8
Bxh2+ 28. Kf1 Bxe8 29. Rg4 Rh6 30. Ne4 Bc7 31. Rd5 Bc6 32. Rdg5 g6 33. Kf2 Bd8
34. Re5 Rh2+ 35. Kxf3 Rxa2 36. Re6 Bd7 37. Rgxg6 Bxe6 38. Rxe6 Rb2 39. Nxc5 b6
40. Rd6 Bh4 41. Rd7+ Kg6 42. Nd3 Rxb3 43. Kg4 Bg5 44. Rd6+ Bf6 45. Nf4+ Kf7 46.
Rd7+ Ke8 47. Rxa7 Rc3 48. Ra4 Bd4 49. Nd5 Rc1 50. Kf5 Kd7 51. Ke4 Bc5 52. Kd3
Kc6 53. Ra8 Rh1 54. Rc8+ Kd7 55. Rg8 Rh3+ 56. Kc2 Kd6 57. Rg6+ Ke5 58. Rg5+ Kd4
59. Rg4+ Ke5 60. Rg5+ Kd4 61. Rg4+ Ke5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Baerum Fischer Random blitz m"]
[Site "Baerum"]
[Date "2018.02.13"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnkrnqbb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNKRNQBB w DAda - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2018.02.13"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. g3 f5 2. f4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. d4 c6 5. Nd3 Nd6 6. e3 Nd7 7. Bf2 Nf6 8. Be1 Ng4
9. Qe2 Qh6 10. h4 Nf6 11. Ne5 Be6 12. Bf3 Nfe4 13. Bxe4 fxe4 14. Na4 O-O 15. g4
Nf7 16. Nc5 Bc8 17. a4 Nxe5 18. dxe5 b6 19. Nb3 g5 20. hxg5 Qh3 21. f5 Bxe5 22.
Nd4 Bxd4 23. exd4 e6 24. Ra3 Qh1 25. Bb4 Qh4 26. Bxf8 Qxg5+ 27. Qd2 Qxd2+ 28.
Kxd2 Kxf8 29. Rh1 Kg7 30. Rah3 exf5 31. Rxh7+ Kg6 32. Ke3 1-0

[Event "Baerum Fischer Random blitz m"]
[Site "Baerum"]
[Date "2018.02.13"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2781"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnkrnqbb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNKRNQBB w DAda - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2018.02.13"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 f5 2. e5 g5 3. d4 d6 4. exd6 Nxd6 5. f4 Bc4 6. Qf3 g4 7. Qe3 Nd7 8. g3 e6
9. Bg2 Nf6 10. Nd3 Bd5 11. Bf1 Nc4 12. Qe1 Ne4 13. b3 Ncd6 14. c4 Bc6 15. Ne5
Bxe5 16. fxe5 Nf7 17. Kb2 Nfg5 18. Be3 Nf3 19. Qe2 a5 20. a3 Rd7 21. Bg2 O-O-O
22. Bxf3 gxf3 23. Qe1 f4 24. Bf2 Qh6 25. Nc3 Nxf2 26. Qxf2 Rxd4 27. Rxd4 Rxd4
28. Nd5 Re4 29. Nxf4 Qg7 30. Qxf3 Qxe5+ 31. Qc3 Qxc3+ 32. Kxc3 Re3+ 33. Kd4
Rxb3 34. Nxe6 b6 35. c5 b5 36. Rf1 Rxa3 37. Rf7 Ra4+ 38. Kd3 Be4+ 39. Kd2 c6
40. Ng5 Bg6 41. Rf6 Rd4+ 42. Ke3 Rd5 43. Rf8+ Kd7 44. h4 b4 45. Rb8 0-1

[Event "Baerum Fischer Random blitz m"]
[Site "Baerum"]
[Date "2018.02.13"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2781"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rkbbqrnn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RKBBQRNN w FAfa - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2018.02.13"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Ng3 Nf6 3. d4 d6 4. f4 exd4 5. Nf3 c5 6. e5 dxe5 7. fxe5 Nd5 8. Ne4
Be7 9. e6 Bxe6 10. Qg3+ Kc8 11. Be2 Ng6 12. Nfg5 Qc6 13. Nxh7 Rd8 14. Nhg5 Bxg5
15. Nxg5 Qc7 16. Qa3 c4 17. Nxe6 fxe6 18. Bg4 Rd6 19. Bg5 c3 20. O-O cxb2 21.
Qxb2 Ne3 22. Bxe3 dxe3 23. Rae1 a5 24. Rxe3 Raa6 25. Bh5 Ne7 26. Qxg7 Kb8 27.
Rb3 Rac6 28. Bf3 Nd5 29. Qxc7+ Kxc7 30. Be4 Rd7 31. h4 Rc4 32. Re1 b6 33. h5 a4
34. Rf3 Nc3 35. Bd3 Rh4 36. Bg6 Nxa2 37. Ra1 Nb4 38. Rxa4 Rd1+ 39. Rf1 Rd2 40.
Ra3 Nd5 41. Raf3 b5 42. R3f2 Rdd4 43. g3 Rhg4 44. Kh2 Rg5 45. Rf7+ Kd6 46. Kh3
Ne3 47. R1f3 Nf5 48. Rh7 Rdg4 49. Bxf5 exf5 50. h6 Rh5+ 51. Kg2 Rg6 52. Ra3 Kc5
53. Rf3 Rgxh6 54. Rxh6 Rxh6 55. Rxf5+ Kc4 56. g4 b4 57. Kg3 Rc6 58. Kh4 Kc3 59.
Rf4 Ra6 60. g5 Ra2 61. g6 Ra7 62. Kh5 Rb7 63. Rf2 Re7 64. Rg2 1-0

[Event "Baerum Fischer Random blitz m"]
[Site "Baerum"]
[Date "2018.02.13"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rkbbqrnn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RKBBQRNN w FAfa - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2018.02.13"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "8"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 183"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d3 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Bxf4 f5 4. Nf3 Ng6 5. Bd2 d5 6. e3 c6 7. Ng3 Bc7 8. Nh5
Nf6 9. Nxf6 Rxf6 10. Bc3 Re6 11. Bxg7 Rxe3 12. Qf2 f4 13. Bd4 Re7 14. Bc5 Rf7
15. Re1 Qd8 16. c3 b6 17. Bd4 Bf5 18. Bc2 Kb7 19. O-O-O Qd7 20. h3 Re8 21. Qd2
Rfe7 22. Rxe7 Rxe7 23. Re1 Qe8 24. Rxe7 Qxe7 25. Bf2 Ne5 26. Qe2 Ng6 27. Qxe7
Nxe7 28. Nh4 h6 29. Nxf5 Nxf5 30. Kd2 Ne3 31. g4 Kc8 32. d4 Nc4+ 33. Kc1 Bd8
34. b3 Ne3 35. Bd3 Ng2 36. Kd2 Bh4 37. Ke2 Bxf2 38. Kxf2 Nh4 39. c4 Kc7 40.
cxd5 cxd5 41. Be2 Kc6 42. Bf3 a5 43. a4 Kd6 44. Bh1 Kc6 45. Bf3 Kd6 46. Bh1 Kc6
47. Bf3 Kd6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 5th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2018.03.31"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E61"]
[WhiteElo "2784"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2018.03.31"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%mdl 2] Prematch games between the challenger and the title-holder always
have an increased psychological significance. In this case Carlsen did put his
opponent under serious pressure, but in the end Caruana escaped and went on to
score a resounding tournament victory.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 {Already a slight
surprise.} ({Carlsen more often plays} 2... e6 {, this appeared in round 5.
After} 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Be7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O Nbd7 8. Qc2 c6 9. Bf4
Ne4 10. h4 $5 ({Magnus undoubtedly wouldn't mind repeating} 10. Nc3 g5 $1 11.
Be3 Nd6 12. b3 Nf5 13. g4 Nxe3 14. fxe3 b5 $1 15. e4 b4 16. exd5 bxc3 17. dxc6
Nb8 18. Qe4 f5 19. gxf5 exf5 20. Qd5+ Qxd5 21. cxd5 Na6 $17 {Eljanov,P (2760)
-Carlsen,M (2844) Wijk aan Zee 2016.}) 10... Ndf6 ({Black has also tested} 
10... h6 {, or the immediate}) (10... f5) 11. Nbd2 Nxd2 12. Nxd2 Nh5 13. Be3 f5
14. Bf3 Qe8 (14... f4 15. Bxh5 fxe3 16. fxe3 Qd6 17. Rxf8+ Bxf8 18. Kf2 e5 $44
{gives Black some compensation, but certainly not more than that.}) 15. Bg5 Nf6
16. e3 b6 17. Rac1 Ba6 18. a3 Ne4 19. Bxe7 Qxe7 20. Be2 Bb7 21. b4 Rac8 22. c5
e5 23. dxe5 Qxe5 24. Nxe4 fxe4 25. Qc3 Qf5 $132 {Meier,G (2648)-Carlsen,M 
(2843) Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden 2018 Black had reasonable >><=>, but
overestimated his chances, got into serious trouble and escaped only due to
Meier's inaccuracy.}) 3. Nf3 {The World Champion plays the Grünfeld from time
to time, but Fabiano is not interested.} ({However, after} 3. Nc3 {in round 3
we saw} Bg7 {After} 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. Be3 exd4 8. Nxd4 Re8 9. f3
c6 10. Bf2 d5 11. exd5 cxd5 12. O-O Nc6 13. c5 a6 14. Qd2 Qa5 15. Rfe1 Qxc5 16.
Ne6 Qa5 17. Nxg7 Kxg7 18. a3 d4 19. Bxd4 Nxd4 20. Qxd4 Rd8 21. Qe3 Bd7 22. Rad1
Be6 23. Rxd8 Rxd8 24. Rd1 Rxd1+ 25. Bxd1 Qd8 26. Be2 Qd6 27. f4 Bd7 28. Bf3 Bc6
29. Bxc6 Ng4 30. Qg3 Qc5+ 31. Kf1 Ne3+ 32. Ke2 Nf5 33. Qf2 Qxc6 34. g4 Qc4+ 35.
Kd2 Nd4 36. Qe3 $11 {Bluebaum,M (2631)-Carlsen,M (2843) Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden
2018. Black even despite protracted efforts couldn't manage to disrupt the
balance.}) 3... Bg7 4. e3 ({Caruana has already played} 4. Nc3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5
6. e4 {in the past, this time he opts for the Anti-Grünfeld he had prepared
already for the Berlin candidates.}) 4... O-O 5. Be2 d6 {Black puts his pawns
on the dark squares in King's Indian fashion. This is an important moment,
deciding the character of the game and he also had other options:} ({
Transposing into a Benoni} 5... c5 6. d5 e6 7. Nc3 exd5 8. cxd5 d6 {was long
considered a good solution:} {However, after} 9. Nd2 $5 (9. O-O Bg4 10. h3 Bxf3
11. Bxf3 Nbd7 12. a4 a6 13. g4 c4 (13... h6 $13) 14. Be2 Rc8 $6 (14... Ne5 15.
f4 Nd3 16. Bxd3 cxd3 17. Qxd3 h5 $44) 15. g5 Ne8 16. f4 Qe7 17. Ra3 Rc5 18. Bf3
Ra5 19. Bd2 Nc5 20. Qe2 Nb3 21. Ne4 Nxd2 22. Qxd2 Qd8 23. Qb4 b5 24. axb5 Rxb5
25. Qxc4 Qb6 26. Qc6 Bxb2 27. Qxb6 Rxb6 28. Ra2 $16 {Morozevich,A (2758)
-Kramnik,V (2769) Mexico City 2007. For details see the notes to this game in
CBM 120 by Marin.}) 9... Na6 ({Black can play the setup with} 9... Nbd7 {
, but then White has no reason to hurry with e4.}) 10. O-O Nc7 11. e4 {Black
even despite his extra tempo due to e3-e4 still has his problems:} Re8 12. a4
Rb8 ({After the more usual} 12... b6 13. Re1 Rb8 {Black has to reckon with} 14.
Bb5 $5) 13. f3 a6 14. a5 Bd7 15. Nc4 Bb5 16. Bg5 Bxc4 (16... h6 17. Bh4 Bxc4
18. Bxc4 b5 19. axb6 Rxb6 20. Qd2 $2 (20. Qc2 $13 {/+/= is similar to the
following note}) 20... Nxe4 $1 21. Bxd8 Nxd2 22. Bxc7 Rb7 $17 {Granda Zuniga,J
(2646)-Lopez Martinez,J (2508) Ayamonte 2006}) 17. Bxc4 b5 18. axb6 Rxb6 19.
Na4 (19. Qc2 h6 20. Bh4 $13 {/+/= is similar to the following note} g5 21. Bf2
Nd7 22. Ra2 Qf6 {Hamitevici,V (2430)-Jumabayev,R (2599) London 2015} 23. Nd1 $1
$36 {[%cal Yd1e3,Ye3f5]}) 19... Rb4 20. b3 (20. Qd3 $5) 20... Qc8 21. Bf4 Qd7
22. Ra2 Nh5 23. Be3 (23. Bd2 {is more natural}) 23... Rbb8 24. Qd2 Nb5 25. g4
Nf6 26. Nb2 Qc8 (26... h5 27. g5 Nxe4 $1 28. fxe4 Nc3 29. Rxa6 Qh3 $1 $44 {
is a fully valid engine suggestion, but even a strong human GM would hardly
dare to play like this...}) 27. Bf4 Nd7 28. Bxb5 axb5 29. Bxd6 Rb6 30. Bg3 c4
31. bxc4 (31. Qc2 $5) 31... bxc4 32. Qe2 Rb4 33. Bd6 Rb6 34. Bg3 Rb4 {½,
Caruana,F (2784)-Grischuk,A (2767) Berlin ct 2018}) ({Grünfeld intentions are
represented by} 5... d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 {and now:} {More direct and energetic is}
7. e4 (7. O-O Nb6 (7... c5 $5 8. dxc5 (8. e4 Nf6 9. e5 Nd5 10. dxc5 Nc6 11. Bc4
e6 12. Qe2 Qa5 13. a3 Qxc5 14. b4 Qe7 15. Bb2 a6 16. Nbd2 b5 17. Bxd5 exd5 18.
Rac1 Bd7 19. Nb3 Rfc8 20. Rfe1 Bg4 21. h3 Bxf3 22. Qxf3 Nxe5 23. Qxd5 Qd7 $11 {
Ginsburg,G (2526)-Ftacnik,L (2568) Nuremberg 2010}) 8... Na6 (8... Nf6 $6 9.
Nbd2 Qc7 10. Nb3 Rd8 11. Nfd4 e5 12. Nb5 Qe7 13. Nd6 Ne4 14. Nxc8 Rxc8 15. Bf3
Nxc5 16. Nxc5 Rxc5 17. Qa4 Rc7 18. Bd2 Na6 19. Ba5 Rcc8 20. Bd5 Nc5 21. Qa3 e4
22. f3 $16 {[%csl Ga5,Gd5] Laznicka,V (2666)-Naumann,A (2560) Germany 2014}) 9.
Bxa6 bxa6 10. e4 Nb4 11. Qxd8 Rxd8 12. Nc3 Bb7 13. Bg5 Kf8 14. Rad1 Nd3 15. Nd5
Bxd5 16. Rxd3 Bxa2 17. Rfd1 Rxd3 18. Rxd3 Ke8 19. c6 Rc8 20. Rd7 Bf6 21. Bxf6
exf6 22. Rxa7 Rxc6 $11 {Novkovic,M (2373)-Mesaros,F (2266) Austria 2014}) 8.
Nc3 (8. e4 {transposes to 7.e4 and is still more usual.}) 8... Nc6 9. h3 a5 {
is slightly similar to index D76, but here White's bishop is not fianchettoed
and this lessens his chances to get an opening pull:} 10. Qd2 (10. Re1 a4 11.
Bb5 a3 (11... e5 $5 12. Bxc6 exd4 $13) 12. bxa3 e5 13. Bxc6 exd4 14. exd4 bxc6
15. Bg5 f6 16. Qb3+ Kh8 17. Bf4 Bf5 18. Ne4 Nd5 19. Bg3 Bxe4 {½, Shengelia,D 
(2547)-Rustemov,A (2520) Germany 2009} 20. Rxe4 Qd7 $11 {[%cal Yf8b8]}) 10...
e5 11. d5 Nb4 12. e4 f5 13. Ng5 fxe4 14. Ne6 Bxe6 15. dxe6 Qe7 16. Nxe4 Qxe6
17. Bg4 Qc6 18. Ng5 Rae8 19. Qc3 h6 20. Qxc6 Nxc6 21. Ne6 Rf7 22. Be3 Nc4 23.
Rac1 Nxe3 24. fxe3 Rxf1+ 25. Kxf1 h5 26. Nxg7 Kxg7 27. Bd7 Rf8+ 28. Ke2 Nb8 29.
Ba4 c6 30. Rc5 $11 {Laznicka,V (2672)-Ragger,M (2680) Chartres 2017 White's
compensation was sufficient only to hold the balance.}) 7... Nb6 8. O-O {
and now: transposes to 7.e4 and is still more usual.} Nc6 $5 (8... Bg4 9. Nbd2
Nc6 ({But} 9... e6 $6 {is too passive:} 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Nxf3 Nc6 12. Be3 Qe7
13. Qb3 Rad8 14. Rfd1 a6 15. Rac1 Qe8 16. Bf1 h6 17. d5 $16 {Grischuk,A (2785)
-Nepomniachtchi,I (2717) Riga rpd 2013}) 10. d5 Nb8 (10... Bxf3 11. Nxf3 Ne5
12. Nxe5 Bxe5 13. f4 Bg7 14. a4 a5 15. Qb3 Qd6 16. Be3 Qb4 17. Qxb4 axb4 18. a5
Nd7 19. e5 b6 20. Bb5 Nc5 21. Bc6 Ra7 22. axb6 Rxa1 23. Rxa1 cxb6 24. Ra7 $16 {
/+-, Ivanchuk,V (2710)-Tabatabaei,M (2482) Doha 2015}) 11. a4 c6 12. a5 N6d7 (
12... Nc8 13. Re1 $6 (13. h3 $142) (13. Qb3 $5) 13... cxd5 14. Qb3 Nd6 15. e5
Ne8 16. Nd4 (16. Qxb7 Nc7 $11) 16... Bc8 17. N2f3 Nc6 18. a6 Nxd4 19. Nxd4 bxa6
20. Nc6 Qc7 21. Qxd5 Bb7 22. Bf3 Rb8 23. Qc4 Bxc6 24. Qxc6 Qxc6 25. Bxc6 Rb6
26. Ba4 Nc7 $15 {Belanoff,S (2049)-Koch,C (2141) Chessfriend.com 2003}) 13. h3
Bxf3 14. Nxf3 Nf6 15. Qb3 Qc8 16. Bg5 (16. dxc6 $1 Nxc6 17. e5 $36) 16... Nxe4
17. Bxe7 Re8 18. d6 Nxd6 19. Bxd6 Rxe2 20. Ng5 Qd7 $2 ({Black should have
fought for the open file with} 20... Qe8 $1 21. Qxb7 Nd7 $132) 21. Rae1 Rxb2
22. Qc4 Na6 23. Re7 Qf5 24. Rxf7 Qd5 25. Rxg7+ Kxg7 {Grischuk,A (2785)
-Nepomniachtchi,I (2717) Riga rpd 2013} 26. Be5+ $1 Qxe5 27. Qf7+ Kh6 28. Qxh7+
Kxg5 29. f4+ Qxf4 30. Qe7+ $18) 9. Be3 (9. d5 Ne5 10. Nxe5 Bxe5 11. a4 a5 12.
Qb3 e6 13. Bf3 exd5 14. exd5 Qh4 15. g3 Qb4 16. Qxb4 axb4 17. Re1 {Krishna,C 
(2401)-Puranik,A (2469) Abu Dhabi 2016} Nc4 $1 $36) 9... Bg4 (9... f5 10. exf5
Bxf5 11. Nc3 Qd6 12. Qd2 Rad8 13. Rad1 Qb4 14. Qc1 Bg4 15. d5 Bxf3 16. Bxf3 Nd4
17. Bxd4 Bxd4 18. Rfe1 Qc5 19. Re2 Nd7 20. Ne4 Qxc1 21. Rxc1 Bb6 22. Ng5 Nc5
23. b4 Nd3 24. Rd1 h6 25. Ne6 Nf4 26. Re4 Nxe6 27. Rxe6 Rd6 28. Rxe7 Rf4 $44 {
/+/=,Akdag,M (2560)-Cruzado Duenas,C (2595) email 2013}) 10. Nbd2 e5 $5 11. d5
Nd4 12. h3 Bd7 13. Nb3 Qe7 $6 (13... Nxf3+ 14. Bxf3 Nc4 $11) 14. Nfxd4 exd4 15.
Bxd4 Qxe4 16. Bf3 Qf4 17. g3 Qg5 18. h4 Qf5 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. Nc5 Rab8 21. Re1
$14 {Dimakiling,O (2353)-Laylo,D (2497) Jakarta 2013}) ({There is also the
interesting and flexible} 5... b6 6. O-O Bb7 7. Nc3 {, but here Black should
already show his cards:} d5 (7... e6 8. b3 (8. d5 $5) 8... d5 9. Bb2 Nbd7 10.
cxd5 (10. Qc2 {or}) (10. Rc1 {give White better chances for an edge.}) 10...
exd5 11. a4 a5 12. Ba3 Re8 13. Nb5 Ne4 14. Nd2 Ndf6 15. Nxe4 Nxe4 16. Bd3 Re6
17. Rc1 c6 18. Nc3 Nxc3 19. Rxc3 c5 20. Bb5 cxd4 21. exd4 Re4 $11 {/=/+,
Caruana,F (2795)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2788) chess.com blitz INT 2016}) 8. cxd5
Nxd5 9. Bd2 (9. Qb3 e6 10. Rd1 Nd7 11. Bd2 c5 12. Rac1 Qe7 13. Nxd5 Bxd5 14.
Qa3 Rfc8 15. Bc3 a5 16. dxc5 Bxc3 17. Rxc3 Rxc5 18. Bb5 Rd8 19. Bxd7 Bxf3 20.
gxf3 Rxd7 21. Rxd7 Rg5+ 22. Kf1 Qxd7 23. Rd3 Rd5 24. Rxd5 Qxd5 $11 {Dubov,D 
(2629)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2751) Doha 2014}) 9... Nd7 (9... c5 $6 10. dxc5 Nxc3
11. Bxc3 Bxc3 12. bxc3 Nd7 (12... bxc5 13. Qa4 $36) 13. cxb6 axb6 14. Qd4 Qc7
15. Rfb1 Ra5 16. Qb4 e6 17. Qe7 Qd8 18. Qxd8 Rxd8 19. Rd1 Bc6 20. Nd4 Ba4 21.
Rdb1 e5 22. Nb3 $14 {/+/-, Giri,A (2793)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2744) Baku 2015
For more details see the notes to this game in CBM 169 by Marin.}) 10. Nxd5
Bxd5 11. Bc3 (11. Qc2 $142 $1 {/\} c5 12. e4 Bb7 13. d5) 11... c5 12. Rc1 e6
13. Qa4 a6 ({This complicates the issue; a simpler way was} 13... Qe7 $1 14.
Rfd1 Rfc8 $11 {as in Dubov - Vachier Lagrave above.}) 14. Qa3 Qb8 15. dxc5 Bxc3
16. Qxc3 bxc5 $6 (16... Rc8 $142 $1 {is still close to equality.}) 17. Nd2 a5
18. a4 Qb7 19. e4 Bc6 20. b3 Rfb8 21. Qe3 Qc7 22. Rfd1 Rb4 23. Nc4 Rab8 24. Rc3
Nf6 25. f3 $16 {Nakamura,H (2793)-Nepomniachtchi,I (2751) Zuerich 2017}) 6. Nc3
Nc6 $5 ({Black more often plays} 6... Nbd7 7. O-O (7. d5 e5 8. dxe6 fxe6 9. O-O
e5 10. b3 Kh8 11. Bb2 Qe7 12. Rc1 Nc5 13. b4 Nce4 14. Nxe4 Nxe4 15. Nd2 Nxd2
16. Qxd2 {Harikrishna,P (2763)-Nakamura,H (2787) chess.com blitz INT 2016} Be6
$11) 7... e5 {, but this is practically the King's Indian Attack (C00) with
opposite colours. I wrote an article about this line in CBM 181, the extra
tempo should favour White. After} 8. Qc2 (8. b4 $5 {deserves attention now and
on move 9.}) 8... Re8 9. Rd1 e4 10. Nd2 Qe7 11. b4 Nf8 12. Bb2 h5 13. Rac1 Bf5
14. Nb3 N8h7 15. d5 h4 16. Nd4 Bd7 17. c5 (17. h3 $5) 17... dxc5 $6 (17... h3
$1 $132 {[%csl Rg1]}) 18. bxc5 Qxc5 19. Qb3 Qb6 20. Ncb5 c5 21. dxc6 bxc6 22.
Nd6 Rf8 23. Ba3 Qxb3 24. axb3 Rfb8 25. Nxc6 Bxc6 26. Rxc6 Rxb3 27. Bc5 $44 {
|^, Grischuk,A (2785)-Caruana,F (2779) Elancourt 2013. White has more than
enough for the P and Black must tread with great care. For details see the
notes to this game in CBM 157 by Krasenkow.}) 7. d5 ({After} 7. O-O e5 {
the pressure against d4 makes it more difficult for White to retain the
central tension as in the 6...Nbd7 lines. The advance} 8. d5 (8. Qc2 Re8 9.
dxe5 dxe5 10. Rd1 Bd7 11. e4 Qc8 12. h3 Be6 13. Nd5 Nd7 14. b4 Nd4 15. Nxd4
exd4 16. Bb2 c6 17. Nf4 c5 18. bxc5 Qxc5 19. Qd2 Bxc4 20. Rac1 b5 21. Bxc4 bxc4
22. Bxd4 Bxd4 23. Qxd4 Qxd4 24. Rxd4 Nb6 25. Nd5 Red8 26. Nxb6 axb6 $11 {
Ragger,M (2632)-Onischuk,V (2594) Dubai blitz 2014}) 8... Ne7 9. b4 (9. e4 {
is the Classical KID, but White is a tempo down - normally it's his move here.}
) 9... a5 10. bxa5 Rxa5 11. Nd2 Nd7 12. Nb3 Ra8 13. a4 f5 14. Ba3 e4 15. Qc2 b6
16. Bb4 Nc5 17. a5 {Kuzubov,Y (2638)-Onischuk,V (2614) Lvov rpd 2016} Na6 18.
Ba3 bxa5 $11 {/\} 19. Nxa5 c5 $1) 7... Nb4 {Here we are gradually entering
uncharted territory.} ({The passive} 7... Nb8 8. O-O Na6 {gave White a
distinct pull after} 9. Nd4 e5 10. dxe6 fxe6 11. Rb1 e5 12. Nc2 Be6 13. b4 Nb8
14. e4 Nc6 15. Be3 Nh5 16. Bxh5 gxh5 17. Nd5 h4 18. h3 Kh8 19. Qh5 a5 20. Bg5
Qd7 21. b5 Bxd5 22. cxd5 $16 {Hoffmeyer,F (2377)-Paehtz,E (2453) Germany 2018})
8. a3 {Yermolinsky criticises this move and he is probably right.} (8. O-O $142
e6 $5 (8... c6 9. e4 a5 10. e5 dxe5 11. a3 e4 12. axb4 exf3 13. Bxf3 cxd5 14.
cxd5 (14. Nxd5 $142 $5 Nxd5 15. Bxd5 $11 {/+/=}) 14... Bf5 15. bxa5 Rxa5 16.
Rxa5 Qxa5 17. Qb3 Nd7 18. Be3 Nc5 19. Bxc5 $6 (19. Qb5 $11) 19... Qxc5 20. Qxb7
Be5 $44 {Barcza,G-Taimanov,M Copenhagen 1965}) (8... a5 9. e4 e6 10. dxe6 (10.
h3 $6 Re8 11. dxe6 Bxe6 12. Re1 Bd7 13. Bd3 a4 14. a3 Nxd3 15. Qxd3 Be6 16. Nd5
Nd7 17. Bg5 Ne5 18. Nxe5 Qxg5 19. Nf3 Qd8 20. Rad1 c6 21. Nf4 Qa5 22. Nxe6 Rxe6
23. Re2 Rae8 $11 {/=/+, Lobron,E (2485)-Romanishin,O (2560) Reggio Emilia 1986}
) 10... Bxe6 11. Nd4 $14) 9. e4 Re8 10. a3 Na6 11. Be3 (11. dxe6 $5 {followed
by Nd4 is still a better position, than Caruana got in our game.}) 11... exd5
12. exd5 Nc5 13. Bd4 a5 14. b3 Bd7 15. Nd2 Nfe4 16. Ndxe4 Nxe4 17. Nxe4 Rxe4
18. Bxg7 Kxg7 $11 {Vrolijk,L (2433)-Heimann,A (2574) Karlsruhe 2018 Black has
comfortable equality and it's White, who must tread with care.}) 8... Na6 9.
Nd4 (9. O-O Nc5 10. Nd4 a5 11. b3 e5 12. dxe6 fxe6 13. Bb2 e5 14. Nf3 Be6 15.
b4 Nce4 16. Nd2 Nxd2 17. Qxd2 Qd7 18. Nd5 Qf7 19. Nxf6+ Bxf6 20. Qc2 Bg7 21.
Bd3 c6 22. e4 $11 h5 (22... Rfc8 $5 {[%cal Yd6d5]}) 23. c5 dxc5 24. bxc5 a4 25.
Bc1 Rad8 26. Be3 Bb3 {½, Ginsburg,G (2443)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2794) Germany
2018 This game was played a month later, than ours.}) 9... e5 10. dxe6 $146 {
A novelty, Caruana feels it's necessary to open the centre.} (10. Nc2 Nc5 11.
b4 Nb3 12. Rb1 Nxc1 13. Rxc1 Nd7 14. O-O f5 15. Na4 a5 16. c5 axb4 17. Nxb4
dxc5 18. Nxc5 Nxc5 19. Rxc5 e4 20. Qb3 Kh8 21. Rfc1 Be5 $36 {Breutigam,M (2340)
-Brendel,O (2375) Germany 1996}) (10. Nb3 Nd7 11. O-O f5 {is also a pleasant
version of the King's Indian for Black.}) 10... fxe6 11. O-O e5 12. Nb3 ({
White wants to keep his central pawns mobile. However, a more natural move was
} 12. Nf3 $5 c6 (12... Nc5 13. b4 {and as the knight can't go to e4, Black is
almost forced to play the adventurous} e4 $5 14. Nd4 $14) 13. b4 $13 {with
similarities to Ginsburg-MVL above.}) 12... c6 13. e4 Nc7 14. f4 $5 {
Continuing in the spirit of 10.dxe6, Caruana seeks activity even if it weakens
his setup.} (14. Be3 Ne6 $15 {[%cal Yc6c5,Ye6d4] is unattractive for White.})
14... Ne6 {While the text move is very logical, even} (14... Nfe8 $5 $13 {
makes good sense; Black wants to activate his Bg7.}) 15. f5 (15. fxe5 dxe5 {
[%cal Ye6d4] is pleasant for Black, so Caruana continues to seek complications.
}) 15... Nd4 ({The main alternative is} 15... Qb6+ $5 {However, Magnus maybe
didn't like} 16. c5 $5 (16. Kh1 Nd4 17. Nxd4 (17. c5 Qxb3 18. Qxb3+ Nxb3 19.
Bc4+ d5 20. Bxb3 Nxe4 $1 21. Nxe4 Bxf5 22. Ng3 Bd3 $36 {[%csl Gd5,Ge5]}) 17...
exd4 18. Na4 Qa5 19. b4 Qd8 $15 {[%csl Gd4,Re4]}) 16... Nxc5 17. Bc4+ d5 ({
Complications after} 17... Be6 18. fxe6 Nxb3+ 19. Kh1 Nxa1 20. e7+ Kh8 21.
exf8=Q+ Rxf8 22. Ba2 $44 {[%csl Ra1]}) ({or} 17... Ne6+ 18. Kh1 d5 19. exd5
cxd5 20. Nxd5 Nxd5 21. Qxd5 gxf5 22. Bd2 $1 (22. Nc5 $2 Rd8 23. Na4 Qc7 24. Qc5
Qf7 $17) 22... Kh8 23. Ba5 Qc6 24. Qxc6 bxc6 25. Bb4 $13 {/+/= rather favour
White.}) 18. Be3 dxc4 19. Nxc5 Qc7 (19... Qxb2 $2 20. N5a4 Qb3 21. Qc1 {
[%csl Rb3][%cal Ra1b1]}) 20. Qe2 Qf7 21. g4 b6 22. N5a4 $15 {/~~ Although here
the engine gives Black an advantage, the issue is not quite clear, as the
extra pawn isn't making itself felt and White has kingside counterplay.}) 16.
Be3 $2 {Only this definitely tips the scales in Black's favour.} (16. Nxd4 $6
exd4 17. Qxd4 Ng4 18. Qd3 (18. Qd2 Qb6+ 19. c5 Qxc5+ 20. Kh1 gxf5 $15) 18...
Qb6+ 19. Kh1 Nf2+ 20. Rxf2 Qxf2 21. Be3 Qh4 22. g3 Qe7 (22... Qh3 $6 23. Bf1 {
with repetition.}) 23. Bf4 Be5 $15 {also isn't ideal, White doesn't have
enough for the exchange,}) ({The best was} 16. Bd3 $142 $1 Qb6 17. Nxd4 exd4 $5
(17... Qxd4+ $143 18. Kh1 gxf5 19. exf5 e4 20. Bc2 Qxd1 21. Bxd1 $11 {and
White has nothing to fear}) 18. Na4 (18. Ne2 Ng4 (18... Nxe4 19. fxg6 $1 Rxf1+
20. Qxf1 hxg6 21. Bxe4 d3+ 22. Kh1 dxe2 23. Qxe2 Qd4 24. Bxg6 Bg4 $132) 19. Rb1
$13) 18... Qd8 19. b4 $13) 16... Nxe2+ {Now Black's central pawns get moving.}
(16... c5 $6 17. g4 $36 {suits White.}) 17. Qxe2 gxf5 18. exf5 d5 19. cxd5 cxd5
20. Rad1 d4 21. Bg5 {More or less forced.} ({The piece sacrifice} 21. Nxd4 exd4
22. Bxd4 Qe8 ({or} 22... Bd7 $15 {/-/+ doesn't give sufficient compensation
and is more suitable for shorter time-controls.})) 21... Qb6 22. Qc4+ Rf7 $1
23. Na4 (23. Nd5 Nxd5 24. Qxd5 Bd7 $17 {[%cal Rd7c6] only helps Black to get
out his forces.}) 23... Qc7 24. Qxc7 (24. Nac5 Ne4 $17) 24... Rxc7 25. Nac5 b6
26. Bxf6 ({Relatively best, after} 26. Nd3 Ba6 27. Rfe1 Nd7 28. f6 Bxd3 29.
Rxd3 Bf8 $17 {[%csl Gd4,Ge5,Rf6] Black's pawns are far more dangerous and have
better support, than the lone warrior on f6.}) 26... bxc5 {[%csl Gc5,Gd4,Ge5]}
(26... Bxf6 $143 27. Ne4 $132) 27. Bxg7 Kxg7 28. Nd2 $6 {The N won't gain a
foothold on e4.} ({A more resilient way was} 28. Rc1 c4 29. Nd2 Ba6 30. f6+ Kf7
31. Rf5 Ke6 32. Rh5 $15 {/<=>}) (28. f6+ {might transpose into the above line.}
) 28... Bb7 29. f6+ Kf8 ({Carlsen wants to avoid complications, but} 29... Kf7
$5 {[%cal Ya8g8]} 30. Nc4 Ke6 $17 {is possibly even stronger.}) 30. Rde1 (30.
Nc4 {gives Black a pleasant choice between} Ba6 ({and} 30... e4)) 30... Re8 31.
Ne4 {[%cal Gf6f7]} Bxe4 (31... c4 $2 32. f7 $18 {indicates the threat, so
Black chops off the Ne4.}) 32. Rxe4 c4 33. g4 Rb8 {Good, but Black was already
spoilt for choice.} ({Both} 33... Kf7 $17 {and}) (33... d3 $17 {give him
excellent winning chances. Yermolinsky gives the pretty line} 34. h4 Kf7 35. g5
Ke6 36. h5 Rg8 37. Rg4 Rb7 38. g6 hxg6 39. hxg6 Rf7 $1 $19 {and White's pawns
drop off.}) 34. Rxe5 (34. Rf2 Rcb7 $19 {doesn't help, White must seek active
counterplay.}) 34... Rxb2 35. Rd5 c3 36. Rd8+ Kf7 37. Rh8 $1 Rbb7 $1 38. Rxh7+
Kg6 39. Rxc7 Rxc7 40. Kf2 c2 (40... d3 $2 41. Ke3 d2 42. Kd3 $11 {and White
retains the Pf6.}) 41. Rc1 d3 42. Ke3 Rd7 43. Kd2 Kxf6 {[%mdl 4096] A longer
series of logical and more or less forced moves led to an interesting R
endgame. Black has a distinct advantage, as his pawns are further advanced and
can be quickly supported by his K, but bringing home the full point still
requires precision, as the position is already very simplified.} 44. h4 Ke5 45.
Rf1 Kd4 46. h5 Re7 {Straightforward and should have been sufficient.} ({
Even stronger was} 46... a5 $1 {, taking away the b4-square from White's R.
After} 47. h6 Re7 48. Rf4+ Kd5 49. Rf1 Kc4 50. Rf4+ Kb3 {White has to return}
51. Rf1 {and} Re2+ 52. Kxd3 Rh2 53. g5 Rh5 {disarms White's pawns, so the Pc2
will decide the issue.}) 47. Rf4+ Kd5 48. Rf1 Kc4 49. Rf4+ Kd5 50. Rf1 Kc4 51.
Rf4+ Kb3 52. Rb4+ Kxa3 53. Rc4 Kb3 54. Rc8 (54. Rc5 a5 55. h6 a4 56. g5 Kb4 $1
({Black's K is misplaced after} 56... a3 $2 57. g6 a2 58. g7 {so he improves
it with tempo.}) 57. Rc8 a3 58. Kxd3 a2 59. Rb8+ Kc5 60. Ra8 Re8 $1 61. Rxe8
a1=Q 62. Rc8+ Kb6 63. Rxc2 Qe5 $19 {and the mobile queen picks up White's
pawns.}) 54... a5 $2 {Here this advance doesn't have the idea from move 46,
it's too slow and throws away the win.} ({This could be achieved only by the
paradoxical prophylaxis} 54... Rh7 $3 {, but after} 55. Kxd3 ({Other moves
don't help either:} 55. Rd8 Rc7 56. Kc1 Kc3 57. g5 Rb7 $19) (55. Rb8+ Ka2 56.
Rc8 a5 57. Kxd3 Kb1 58. Rb8+ Kc1 59. Rc8 Kd1 $1 60. Rxc2 Rd7+ $19) (55. Rc5 {
allows} a5 $1 {/\} 56. Rxa5 Rc7 57. Ra1 Kb2 58. Rh1 Rg7 $1 59. h6 Rxg4 60. h7
Rh4 $19) 55... Rd7+ 56. Ke4 a5 57. h6 a4 58. g5 a3 59. g6 {Black must in
advance see another only move} Rd8 $1 60. Rxc2 (60. Rxd8 c1=Q) 60... Kxc2 61.
g7 a2 62. h7 a1=Q 63. g8=Q Qa8+ $19 {Unlike for an engine, calculating this
over the board would be really a great feat. Right after the game the players
themselves were not aware of this "simple" win, thinking that Black had
already squandered his chances earlier.}) 55. h6 Re2+ ({The golden moment is
already gone,} 55... a4 56. g5 a3 (56... Rh7 57. Rb8+ Kc4 58. Ra8 $11) 57. g6
Kb2 (57... a2 $2 58. g7 $18 {[%csl Rb3] turns the tables}) 58. h7 Re8 59. Rc7
a2 60. Rb7+ $11 {leads only to repetition.}) 56. Kxd3 Rh2 57. g5 Rh3+ 58. Kd2
Rh2+ 59. Kd3 {White's pawns are too far advanced and Black must give a
perpetual.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 5th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2018.04.01"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Hou, Yifan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C24"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2654"]
[Annotator "Roiz,M"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2018.03.31"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 c6 4. Qe2 {As often happens, Magnus prefers to take
the game into relatively unexplored territory at an early stage.} Be7 {A
somewhat modest choice.} ({The more ambitious way of development would be:} 
4... Bc5 $5 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O d5 7. Bb3 h6 {Black isn't worse, to say the
least.}) ({Possibly, the most principled was} 4... d5 $5 5. exd5 cxd5 6. Bb5+
Nc6 7. Qxe5+ Be7 8. Nf3 O-O 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. O-O Bd6 $44 {The powerful bishops
provide Black excellent compensation for the pawn.}) 5. Nf3 d6 {There is
nothing wrong with this natural move, but now the early queen's move is sort
of justified.} ({I guess, more challenging for Magnus would be} 5... O-O 6. O-O
d5 7. Bb3 dxe4 8. dxe4 Nbd7 {and Black is fine, though a long strategic
struggle lies ahead.}) 6. c3 Nbd7 7. Bb3 O-O 8. O-O a5 9. d4 $146 {This
natural move is a novelty.} ({The previously played} 9. a4 {didn't pose Black
serious problems:} b5 10. Bc2 Ba6 11. axb5 cxb5 12. Nbd2 Qc7 $132 {Polgar,J -
Gelfand,B Khanty-Mansiysk 2009}) 9... a4 ({It made sense to postpone the a5-a4
advance:} 9... Re8 $5 10. Nbd2 ({Toothless is} 10. Ng5 d5 11. exd5 Nxd5) 10...
Bf8 $132 {with decent pressure on the e4-pawn.}) 10. Bc2 {Black has managed to
seize some space on the q-side, but White's centre is well protected now.} Re8
{The standard way of relocating the pieces.} (10... b5 11. Re1 Ba6 12. Nbd2 Re8
$132) 11. Re1 Bf8 12. Qd1 {Indeed, the Qe2 is somewhat misplaced, so White to
has to remove it sooner or later.} b5 13. Nbd2 {No doubt, in comparison to the
Classical Ruy Lopez, Black managed to make a lot of progress on the queenside,
so White has no advantage. However, all the pieces are on the board, so the
World Champion can still be satisfied with what he got.} Qc7 ({Once again, Hou
Yifan is deviating from the most ambitious way of handling the position:} 13...
Bb7 $5 14. Nf1 exd4 15. cxd4 c5 16. d5 g6 $132) 14. Nf1 g6 15. Bg5 h6 {A
somewhat weakening move, though Black mostly can do with it.} (15... Bg7 $5 16.
Ng3 c5 17. d5 c4 $132) 16. Bd2 Bg7 17. Ng3 Nb6 18. b3 {This advance is
inviting simplifications, but what else?} (18. Bd3 Nc4 19. Bxc4 bxc4 {would
offer Black an excellent play along the b-file.}) 18... axb3 19. axb3 Rxa1 20.
Qxa1 Bg4 {Both sides have mobilised their forces, so the position is about
equal.} 21. Qc1 $5 {An interesting choice! Magnus is inviting his opponent to
enter into an unbalanced position.} (21. Nh4 exd4 22. cxd4 c5 $132) 21... Bxf3
{Accepting the challenge! Now the position is getting much more complex.} (
21... Kh7 {also looks perfectly playable:} 22. Nh4 c5 23. h3 Bd7 24. d5 Ra8
$132) 22. gxf3 {The change of pawn structure is double-edged: The Kg1 is
getting less safe, but White can use the f-pawn for attacking the opponent's
centre.} h5 23. Bh6 {This move clearly illustrates White's attacking ambitions.
} Qe7 {Not fearing ghosts!} ({Another possibility was} 23... Bh8 $5 24. Kh1 c5
25. d5 Ra8 $132) 24. Bxg7 Kxg7 25. Qg5 Kh7 ({A seemingly more precise move was
} 25... Kh8 $1 {, and then} 26. Ra1 Ra8 27. Rxa8+ Nxa8 28. f4 exf4 29. Qxf4 Nc7
{looks acceptable for Black.}) 26. f4 (26. Ra1 $5 Nfd7 (26... Ra8 $6 {runs into
} 27. Rxa8 Nxa8 28. f4 exd4 29. e5 dxe5 30. f5 $36) 27. Qxe7 Rxe7 28. Ne2 {
would have secured White a small advantage due to control over the open a-file,
but Magnus lays claim to more.}) 26... Nfd7 {I guess, liquidating into an
endgame isn't the best practical decision, even though Black's position isn't
bad at all.} (26... exf4 $5 {deserved serious attention:} 27. Qxf4 b4 $1 28. c4
({After} 28. cxb4 $6 Nbd5 29. Qd2 h4 30. Nf1 Nh5 $15 {Black takes full control
over the dark squares.}) 28... Nbd7 29. Ra1 c5 $132 {and the resulting complex
position contains definite strategic risk for both sides.}) 27. Qxe7 Rxe7 28.
fxe5 dxe5 {Now White's position looks somewhat better due to superiority in
the centre.} 29. Rd1 (29. Ra1 $5 exd4 30. cxd4 c5 31. Ne2 cxd4 32. Nxd4 {
would offer White a tiny advantage, even though the simplifications favour
Black.}) 29... Re8 30. dxe5 {The most consistent. Still, releasing the tension
makes Black's knights much more mobile.} Nxe5 ({Another decent way of handling
the position was} 30... h4 $5 31. Ne2 (31. e6 Rxe6 32. Ne2 Kg7 33. f4 Nf6 34.
e5 Nfd5 $11) 31... Nxe5 32. f4 Ng4 33. Rd6 Ra8 $1 {with sufficient counterplay.
}) 31. f4 Ng4 32. Rd6 Re6 {This is a definite concession - Black loses access
to the open file.} ({The active defence would most likely secure a draw:} 32...
Ra8 $1 33. Rxc6 Ra2 34. Bd3 h4 $1 35. Rxb6 hxg3 36. hxg3 Nh2 37. Rxb5 Nf3+ 38.
Kf1 Nh2+ $11) 33. Rd8 Kg7 34. Nf1 {Till now Hou Yifan has been defending well,
but her next move invites serious troubles.} ({White achieves nothing special
with} 34. h3 Ne3 35. Bd3 Re7 36. Rb8 Nd7 37. Rb7 Kf8 $11) 34... Rf6 $2 {
Alas, after locking the f6-spot Black's position lacks harmony.} ({After the
correct} 34... Nf6 35. Nd2 Re7 36. Rd6 Ra7 37. Bd3 (37. Rxc6 Ra2 $11) 37... Rd7
38. Rxd7 Nbxd7 {White hardly would have real winning chances.}) 35. h3 Nh6 36.
f5 $1 gxf5 37. Ng3 Rg6 38. Kf2 $2 {This inaccurate move oculd have spoiled all
the advantage!} ({A much better one is} 38. Kh2 $1 Rg5 (38... fxe4 39. Nxh5+
Kh7 40. Nf4 Rg5 41. Bxe4+ Kg7 42. Bxc6 {, and White is winning, since the pawn
is untouchable:} Rc5 43. Be4 Rxc3 44. Nh5#) 39. h4 Rg4 40. Kh3 $1 fxe4 41. Bxe4
$18 {and Black cannot avoid the major loss of material.}) 38... fxe4 $2 {
Luckily for Carlsen, his opponent doesn't take her chance!} ({Had she played} 
38... Rg5 $1 {Black's problems would be solved. For instance,} 39. h4 Rg4 {
, and White isn't better.}) 39. Nxh5+ Kh7 40. Bxe4 f5 41. Bg2 {Despite the
limited material balance, Black's position is lost - there are too many
weaknesses.} Nf7 42. Rf8 Ne5 43. Nf4 $1 (43. Rxf5 $6 {is weaker:} Nd3+ 44. Kf1
Re6 {, and Black is getting active.}) 43... Rd6 44. Rxf5 Nbd7 45. Ke2 $18 {
Neutralising any counterplay.} Kg7 46. h4 Nf7 47. Be4 Nde5 48. Nh5+ Kh6 49. Ng3
Re6 50. Ke3 {White is slowly improving his position.} Kg7 51. Rf1 Kf8 (51...
Ng4+ 52. Kd4 Nf6 53. Bg2 Rd6+ 54. Kc5 Nd7+ 55. Kb4 $18 {wouldn't change much,})
52. Nf5 Ng4+ 53. Kf4 Nf6 54. Bf3 Nd5+ {That makes White's task easier.} (54...
Nd7 55. Ra1 Nfe5 56. Bh5 Kg8 57. Ra8+ Kh7 58. Ra7 $18) 55. Bxd5 cxd5 56. Ra1
Kg8 57. Ra8+ Kh7 58. Ra7 Rf6 59. h5 {Black is almost paralysed.} Kg8 60. Rd7 b4
61. cxb4 1-0

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 5th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2018.04.02"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Bluebaum, Matthias"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E92"]
[WhiteElo "2631"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2018.03.31"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. Be3 exd4 8. Nxd4
Re8 9. f3 c6 10. Bf2 d5 11. exd5 cxd5 12. O-O Nc6 13. c5 a6 14. Qd2 Qa5 15.
Rfe1 Qxc5 16. Ne6 Qa5 17. Nxg7 Kxg7 18. a3 d4 19. Bxd4 Nxd4 20. Qxd4 Rd8 21.
Qe3 Bd7 22. Rad1 Be6 23. Rxd8 Rxd8 24. Rd1 Rxd1+ 25. Bxd1 Qd8 26. Be2 Qd6 27.
f4 Bd7 28. Bf3 Bc6 29. Bxc6 Ng4 30. Qg3 Qc5+ 31. Kf1 Ne3+ 32. Ke2 Nf5 33. Qf2
Qxc6 34. g4 Qc4+ 35. Kd2 Nd4 36. Qe3 Nc6 37. Ne2 h5 38. h3 hxg4 39. hxg4 g5 40.
fxg5 Qxg4 41. Qc3+ Kg8 42. Qf6 Qg2 43. Ke3 Qh3+ 44. Kd2 Qd7+ 45. Kc2 Ne7 46.
Nc3 Ng6 47. b4 Nf8 48. Qe5 Qe6 49. Qxe6 Nxe6 50. Ne4 Kg7 51. a4 b6 52. Kc3 Kg6
53. Kc4 Nxg5 54. Nd6 f5 55. Nxf5 Kxf5 56. Kd5 Nf3 57. Kc6 b5 58. axb5 Nd4+ 59.
Kc5 Nxb5 60. Kb6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 5th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2018.04.04"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A34"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2789"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2018.03.31"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 e5 4. e3 Nf6 5. d4 e4 6. d5 exf3 7. dxc6 fxg2 8.
cxd7+ Bxd7 9. Bxg2 g6 10. b3 Bg7 11. Qd6 Qb6 12. Qxb6 axb6 13. Bb2 Bc6 14. O-O
Ke7 15. Nd5+ Bxd5 16. cxd5 Rhg8 17. d6+ Kxd6 18. Rad1+ Ke7 19. Be5 Rgd8 20.
Bxb7 Rxd1 21. Rxd1 Rd8 22. Rxd8 Kxd8 23. Kf1 Ne8 24. Bg3 Kd7 25. a4 f5 26. f3
Ke6 27. Bc8+ Kd5 28. Bb7+ Ke6 29. Bc6 Nd6 30. Bf2 Be5 31. h4 f4 32. exf4 Bxf4
33. a5 bxa5 34. Bxc5 Nf5 35. Bb6 Bd2 36. Bd8 Nd4 37. Ba4 Kd6 38. Kg2 Ne6 39.
Bb6 Nc5 40. Bxc5+ Kxc5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 5th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2018.04.05"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Meier, Georg"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E08"]
[WhiteElo "2648"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2018.03.31"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Be7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O Nbd7 8.
Qc2 c6 9. Bf4 Ne4 10. h4 Ndf6 11. Nbd2 Nxd2 12. Nxd2 Nh5 13. Be3 f5 14. Bf3 Qe8
15. Bg5 Nf6 16. e3 b6 17. Rac1 Ba6 18. a3 Ne4 19. Bxe7 Qxe7 20. Be2 Bb7 21. b4
Rac8 22. c5 e5 23. dxe5 Qxe5 24. Nxe4 fxe4 25. Qc3 Qf5 26. a4 g5 27. hxg5 Qxg5
28. Kg2 Rc7 29. Rh1 Rg7 30. Rcg1 Qf5 31. Rf1 Ba6 32. b5 cxb5 33. Rh5 Qf7 34.
Qe5 Bb7 35. cxb6 bxa4 36. bxa7 Ba8 37. Rg5 Qxa7 38. Bg4 Kh8 39. Ra1 Qe7 40.
Qxg7+ Qxg7 41. Rxg7 Kxg7 42. Rxa4 Bc6 43. Rb4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 5th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2018.04.06"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A18"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2794"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2018.03.31"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. e4 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. e5 Ne4 6. Nf3 Bf5 7. d3 Nxc3 8.
bxc3 c5 9. d4 c4 10. g3 Be7 11. Bg2 Bd3 12. Ng1 Qa5 13. Bd2 Nc6 14. Ne2 Ba3 15.
O-O O-O 16. Re1 Rad8 17. Bg5 Bb2 18. Bxd8 Rxd8 19. Rc1 Bxe2 20. Qxe2 Bxc1 21.
Rxc1 Qa3 22. Qe3 b5 23. e6 f6 24. h4 Ne7 25. Rb1 a6 26. Qd2 Qd6 27. a4 bxa4 28.
Qa2 a3 29. Rb4 h5 30. Qxa3 Nc6 31. Ra4 Qxa3 32. Rxa3 a5 33. e7 Nxe7 34. Rxa5
Rb8 35. Bxd5+ Nxd5 36. Rxd5 Rb3 37. Rxh5 Rxc3 38. Rc5 Rc1+ 39. Kg2 c3 40. Kf3
c2 41. Kf4 Rd1 42. Rxc2 Rxd4+ 43. Kf5 Kh7 44. f4 Ra4 45. Rc5 Kh6 46. Rd5 Ra6
47. g4 g6+ 48. Ke4 Ra4+ 49. Rd4 Ra5 50. Rd5 Ra4+ 51. Ke3 Ra3+ 52. Rd3 Ra6
1/2-1/2

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 5th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2018.04.07"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B91"]
[WhiteElo "2701"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[Annotator "Quintiliano,R"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2018.03.31"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. g3 {For some reason,
games between Carlsen and Naiditsch tend to be very interesting and
complicated. This time, however, Naiditsch aims for a more quiet, positional
struggle.} e5 7. Nb3 {A less played, but still interesting option.} (7. Nde2 {
is the main move, White plans to improve this knight by means of Nd5 followed
by Nec3 or h3-g4-Ng3.}) 7... Be7 8. Bg2 (8. a4 {a normal move to keep Black's
queenside under control, but not a good one in this case, as Black can play}
Nc6 $1 {[%csl Gb4][%cal Yc6b4] and with the b4-square available to this knight,
Black establishes a firm control over d5} 9. Bg2 Nb4 10. Bg5 Be6 11. O-O Rc8 {
Black's development not only protects the important point d5, but exerts
pressure against the c-file; Nd5 is also prevented} 12. a5 {[%cal Ya1a4]} Qd7
$1 {Guo,A (2219)-Quintiliano Pinto,R (2451) SPICE Cup Open 2017 (4.18) 0-1 and
Black is fine -} 13. Ra4 $2 Nxc2 $1) 8... O-O 9. O-O Be6 ({Some recent games
proved that} 9... b5 $5 {is also playable} 10. Nd5 $5 (10. a4 {used to be
considered favourable for White, but times and evaluations change} b4 11. Nd5
Nxd5 12. Qxd5 Ra7 13. Be3 Be6 14. Qd3 Ra8 $5 {the best way to avoid problems
with the a6-pawn under attack in many variations} 15. f4 Qc7 16. Nd2 a5 $1 {
[%cal Yb8a6,Ya6c5];Hou,Y (2652)-Grischuk,A (2750) Moscow FIDE GP 2017 (5) 0-1
and Black is ok -}) 10... Nxd5 11. Qxd5 Ra7 12. Be3 Be6 13. Qd2 Ra8 14. a4 (14.
Na5 $5) 14... Nc6 15. axb5 axb5 16. Rxa8 Qxa8 17. Ra1 Qb7 $11 {Naiditsch,A 
(2710)-Vidit,S (2693) ESP-chT CECLUB Honor 2017 (6.2) 1/2}) 10. Re1 {[%csl Gd5]
[%cal Yb3d2,Yd2f1,Yf1e3] Preparing the standard manoeuvre Nd2-f1-e3, typical
in such positions.} ({Naiditsch had also played the main move} 10. a4 Nbd7 (
10... Nc6 $6 {is not so strong now due to the direct} 11. Nd5 $1) 11. Re1 {
now White goes for the same plan without the queenside expansion for Black,
but the time spent on the move a4 allows a good idea. It is nice to remember
the line} (11. a5 {doesn't really prevent Black's counterplay on the queenside}
Qc7 12. Re1 Rfc8 13. h3 h6 14. Be3 b5 $1 15. axb6 Nxb6 {[%cal Yb6c4]} 16. Na5
Nc4 17. Nxc4 Bxc4 $11 {Leko,P (2740)-Topalov,V (2801) Corus Wijk aan Zee 2006 
(13) 1/2}) 11... Qc7 12. Nd2 Bd8 $1 {[%cal Yd8a5,Ya5e1] a very nice plan,
Black is improving his bad bishop and at the same time preventing White from
using the d5-square} 13. Nf1 Qc5 14. Ne3 ({Naiditsch's game went} 14. h3 Ba5
15. Be3 Qc7 16. Bd2 Rac8 17. Ne3 {Naiditsch,A (2684)-Sunilduth Lyna,N (2536)
Douglas IoM op 2016 (8) 1-0} Bxc3 $1 18. Bxc3 Nc5 {[%csl Ye4] and Black is
fine, for example} 19. Nd5 $2 Nxd5 20. exd5 Bd7 {[%csl Ya4]} 21. a5 Na4 22. Re3
f5 $1 $36) 14... Ba5 15. Bd2 Rac8 {Wei,Y (2706)-Giri,A (2798) Tata Steel-A
78th 2016 (5) 1/2 and Black had no problems in}) 10... Nbd7 11. Nd2 ({White
had the chance to transpose to the last move's previous lines with} 11. a4)
11... b5 $1 {Although in the positions in which White avoids this move Black
is also ok, allowing it looks even worse for me. Black simply has no problems
and now has more space and possibilities on the queenside.} 12. Nf1 Bg4 $1 $146
{Carlsen shows excellent understanding of this position, this move provokes
weaknesses in the dark squares in White's camp, besides making the Bg2 (even
more) bad.} (12... Nb6 {was played by a Najdorf specialist and also gave a
nice position to Black} 13. Ne3 b4 14. Ncd5 Nfxd5 15. exd5 Bd7 16. Bd2 a5 17.
a3 bxa3 18. Rxa3 a4 19. Bb4 Qb8 20. c3 Bg5 21. Ra1 f5 $36 {Balogh,C (2648)
-Wojtaszek,R (2715) HUN-POL m Budapest 2014 (4.6) 0-1}) 13. f3 (13. Qd2 {
looks very unnatural, but it is probably better as White keeps his position
untouched, and Ne3 is coming in the next move, then he will be able to
correctly replace the queen.}) 13... Be6 14. Ne3 Rc8 15. a3 (15. a4 $5 b4 16.
Ncd5 Bxd5 17. exd5 (17. Nxd5 Nxd5 18. exd5 Bg5 $1 {is a typical idea, looking
to endgames in which the knight will be much superior to the light-squared
bishop}) 17... Rc5 $132 {[%cal Yd7b6,Gd8c7,Yd8a8]}) 15... Nb6 {Black has
solved the positional problem of d5: White is not able to place his knights
there and recapture with a piece, which would be the ideal plan.} 16. f4 $5 {
Necessary to prevent d5.} (16. Bd2 d5 $1 17. exd5 Nfxd5 18. Nexd5 Nxd5 19. Rxe5
Bf6 {[%csl Yc3] and Black regains the pawn with a better structure} 20. Re1
Qb6+ 21. Kh1 Nxc3 22. bxc3 Bxc3 23. Bxc3 Rxc3 $17 {[%csl Ga3,Gc2][%cal Yf8d8]})
16... Re8 (16... exf4 17. gxf4 Re8 $15 {also seems easier for Black due to
White's unstable centre.}) 17. Kh1 Bf8 18. f5 $1 {Black was ready to take on
f4 and exert pressure against White's centre.} Bd7 19. Qd3 {White should keep
an eye on d5. The position remains balanced.} (19. Bd2 Bc6 20. Rc1 d5 $1 {
is very good for Black.}) 19... h6 20. b3 ({Against the direct} 20. Bd2 {
Naiditsch was maybe worried about} Nc4) 20... Bc6 21. Bd2 Qc7 22. Rac1 Qb7 {
Carlsen has improved the queen and is looking for ideas with d6-d5 or pressure
against the e4-pawn.} 23. Ned5 (23. Rcd1 Nbd7 $1 {[%cal Yd7c5] would force a
similar position to the game} 24. Ncd5 Bxd5 25. exd5 (25. Nxd5 Nxd5 26. exd5
Be7 $1 {[%cal Ye7g5]}) {but here Blackalso has the interesting idea} 25... Be7
$5 {[%cal Ye7d8,Yd8b6]}) 23... Bxd5 24. exd5 Nbd7 $1 {[%cal Yd7c5] After the
exchange on d5 the kinight is misplaced on b6, so Carlsen hurries to improve
it, via c5.} 25. Nd1 {[%cal Yd2b4,Gd1e3] White is also trying to improve his
pieces.} (25. Ne4 $5) 25... e4 $5 {Looking for complications, although Black
had another idea which was very good.} (25... Be7 $1 {[%cal Ye7d8,Yd8b6] would
be simple and good} 26. Nf2 (26. Bb4 e4 $1 {[%csl Yd5]} 27. Bxe4 a5 $1 $19 {
[%cal Gd7c5]}) 26... Bd8 27. g4 $5 Bb6 $1 28. Ne4 Nxe4 29. Bxe4 Bf2 $1 30. Re2
Bh4 $15 {[%cal Yh4g5,Gd7c5,Yb7e7] with a pleasant position.}) 26. Qd4 (26. Bxe4
$4 Nc5 $19) 26... Ne5 {The only continuation that makes sense for Black.} (
26... Qxd5 {is harmless} 27. Qxd5 Nxd5 28. Bxe4 N5f6 29. Bb7 Rxe1+ 30. Bxe1 Rb8
31. Bg2 $11 (31. Bxa6 $2 Nc5 {[%csl Ga6]})) 27. Nf2 $2 {After this move White
has problems.} (27. Nc3 $1 {would be better, keeping d5 protected} Nf3 $1 28.
Bxf3 exf3 29. Rxe8 Rxe8 30. Qf4 $1 a5 {[%cal Yb5b4]} 31. b4 $1 (31. Qxf3 b4 32.
axb4 axb4 33. Na2 Ne4 $1 34. Bxb4 Qxd5 35. Rf1 Qb7 $44 {[%cal Yd6d5]}) 31...
axb4 32. axb4 Rc8 $1 33. Qxf3 Rc4 $132 {and the position is unclear}) 27... Nf3
$1 28. Bxf3 exf3 {[%csl Yd5] The d5-pawn hanging forces White to expose his
structure even more.} 29. c4 bxc4 30. bxc4 Re5 $1 {A very practical and strong
move.} (30... Rxe1+ 31. Bxe1 (31. Rxe1 Qb3 {[%csl Ra3,Rc4]}) 31... Re8 32. Kg1
Nd7 $17 {[%cal Yd7e5] is also very unpleasant for White.}) 31. Re3 (31. Rxe5 $2
dxe5 32. Qxe5 Bxa3 $19) 31... Rxe3 (31... Rxf5 32. Qd3 {[%cal Ye3f3]}) 32. Qxe3
(32. Bxe3 Re8 {with the dangerous threat Qb3} 33. Qc3 Qe7 34. Re1 {Black has a
beautiful idea here} Ne4 $3 {seemingly falling into a trap} 35. Nxe4 Qxe4 36.
Bf2 Qxf5 $1 37. Rxe8 Qh3 $1 {[%csl Rg2] and it is mate} 38. Qxf3 Qf1+ 39. Bg1
Qxf3#) 32... Qb2 $1 {The queen's invasion is very unpleasant and puts White
under serious pressure. Nxd5 is already a threat.} 33. Nd3 (33. Qc3 Qa2 34. Qd3
(34. Kg1 Nxd5 $1 35. Qxf3 Qxd2 36. Rd1 Qc3 37. Qxd5 Rxc4 $17) 34... Rb8 $19 {
[%cal Yb8b3,Yb8b2] the rook also comes and White can't avoid material losses.})
33... Qxa3 34. Qxf3 Qa2 $17 {White's position is collapsing, and the time
trouble is just an additional problem.} 35. Bc3 (35. Qd1 {is not better:} Rxc4
36. Ra1 Qc2) 35... Rxc4 (35... Nd7 $5) 36. Ra1 Qb3 37. Bxf6 gxf6 38. Kg2 $2 (
38. Qd1 $1 {would had offered better chances:} Qb5 39. Nf4 a5 $17) 38... Rc3
39. Rd1 (39. Qg4+ Bg7 40. Nf4 {doesn't work:} Qb2+ 41. Kh3 Qxa1 42. Nh5 Qf1+
43. Kh4 Rc4 $19) 39... h5 $1 {One last touch of precision by the World
Champion: Qg4+ is not possible now.} 40. Kh3 Bh6 $19 {The time control was
reached, but it just enough to realise that White's position is hopeless and
lost.} 41. Re1 (41. Qxh5 Rxd3 42. Rxd3 Qxd3 43. Qxh6 Qxf5+ 44. Kg2 (44. Kh4
Qg5+ $1 45. Qxg5+ fxg5+ 46. Kxg5 a5 $19) 44... Qg5 45. Qh3 Qxd5+ 46. Kf2 Qd4+
47. Ke2 a5 $19 {the endgame is a simple win for Black.}) 41... Rxd3 42. Qxh5
Re3 {If 43. Rc1 Rxg3! A typical strategic win by Carlsen, building a sound
position, taking the right opportunity to create some complications that lead
to new weaknesses in his opponent's camp, then exploiting them very
convincingly.} 0-1

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 5th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2018.04.08"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vitiugov, Nikita"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2735"]
[PlyCount "129"]
[EventDate "2018.03.31"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. c3 O-O 8. O-O
Re8 9. Re1 h6 10. Nbd2 Bb6 11. Nf1 d6 12. Ng3 Be6 13. h3 Bxb3 14. axb3 d5 15.
Qe2 Bc5 16. b4 Bf8 17. Nd2 a5 18. bxa5 Rxa5 19. Rxa5 Nxa5 20. exd5 Qxd5 21.
Nde4 Nxe4 22. dxe4 Qc4 23. Qf3 Qe6 24. Nf5 Nc4 25. h4 Kh7 26. h5 g6 27. Ne3
Nxe3 28. hxg6+ fxg6 29. Bxe3 Bd6 30. Qe2 Qc4 31. Qxc4 bxc4 32. Ra1 Rb8 33. Bc1
Rb6 34. Ra4 Rc6 35. Be3 h5 36. Kf1 Kg7 37. Ke2 Kf6 38. Kd1 Ke6 39. Kc2 Be7 40.
f3 Bh4 41. Ra5 Bg3 42. Bc5 g5 43. Bb4 g4 44. fxg4 hxg4 45. Ra8 Kf7 46. Rc8 Bf4
47. Kd1 Kg7 48. Ke2 Kf7 49. Rf8+ Kg7 50. Rd8 Kf7 51. Kf2 Kg7 52. Rd7+ Kf6 53.
g3 Bc1 54. Rd1 Bg5 55. Ke2 Ke6 56. Rh1 Ra6 57. Ba3 Rb6 58. Rh7 Rb7 59. Kd1 Rb8
60. Kc2 Rd8 61. Rg7 Rd2+ 62. Kc1 Bf6 63. Kxd2 Bxg7 64. Bc5 Kd7 65. Be3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 5th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2018.04.09"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B67"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2018.03.31"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8.
O-O-O Bd7 9. f3 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 Be7 11. Kb1 b5 12. Bxf6 gxf6 13. Ne2 Rc8 14. Qd2
Qb6 15. Nf4 h5 16. g3 Rc7 17. Bd3 Kd8 18. c3 Kc8 19. Bc2 Kb8 20. a3 a5 21. Bb3
Rb7 22. Nd3 Bc6 23. Rhe1 Rd8 24. f4 d5 25. exd5 exd5 26. Ka1 Bf8 27. Rc1 Ka7
28. Ba2 Rc7 29. Red1 Bb7 30. Ne1 d4 31. Nc2 d3 32. Nd4 Bc5 33. Qxd3 Bxd4 34.
cxd4 Rxd4 35. Qe2 Rxc1+ 36. Rxc1 b4 37. Bxf7 h4 38. Qe3 Rd7 39. Qxb6+ Kxb6 40.
Be6 Rd2 41. gxh4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 5th"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2018.04.19"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D74"]
[WhiteElo "2814"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2018.04.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 Nc6 6. Nf3 d5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
O-O e5 9. Nxe5 Nxc3 10. Nxc6 Nxd1 11. Nxd8 Rxd8 12. Rxd1 Rxd4 13. Be3 Rxd1+ 14.
Rxd1 Bf6 15. Bd4 Bxd4 16. Rxd4 Be6 17. f4 c6 18. Rb4 b6 19. Bxc6 Rc8 20. Bb5
Bxa2 21. Ra4 Be6 22. Rxa7 Rc1+ 23. Kf2 Rb1 24. Bd7 Bxd7 25. Rxd7 Rxb2 26. g4 b5
27. Rb7 b4 28. g5 b3 29. Kf3 Rb1 30. Ke4 Kg7 31. Ke5 Rb2 32. e4 Rxh2 33. Rxb3
h6 34. gxh6+ Rxh6 35. Rg3 Rh8 36. Rb3 Re8+ 37. Kd4 Ra8 38. Ke3 Ra7 39. Kf3 Ra8
40. Kg4 Ra7 41. Rc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 5th"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2018.04.20"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Navara, David"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2745"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2018.04.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nd2 e6 5. Nb3 Nd7 6. Nf3 a6 7. Be2 c5 8. c3 h6
9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Nxc5 Nxc5 11. Be3 Nd7 12. Nd4 Ne7 13. f4 Be4 14. O-O Nc6 15.
Nxc6 bxc6 16. c4 O-O 17. cxd5 cxd5 18. b4 f6 19. exf6 Qxf6 20. Rc1 e5 21. Bd3
Qg6 22. Bxe4 Qxe4 23. Re1 d4 24. Qb3+ Kh8 25. Bd2 Qf5 26. Qh3 Qxh3 27. gxh3
exf4 28. Rc4 Rad8 29. Re6 Rf6 30. Re4 Nb6 31. Rcxd4 Rxd4 32. Rxd4 g5 33. h4 Kg7
34. hxg5 hxg5 35. h4 Kg6 36. Kg2 gxh4 37. Bxf4 Rc6 38. Kf3 Kf5 39. Be3 Rc3 40.
Rf4+ Ke5 41. Rxh4 Nc4 42. Re4+ Kd5 43. Kf4 Nxe3 44. Rxe3 Rxe3 45. Kxe3 Kc4 46.
a3 Kb3 47. Kd4 Kxa3 48. Kc5 Kb3 49. b5 axb5 50. Kxb5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 5th"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2018.04.21"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B09"]
[WhiteElo "2704"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2018.04.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. f4 Bg7 5. Nf3 c5 6. Bb5+ Bd7 7. e5 Ng4 8. Bxd7+
Qxd7 9. d5 dxe5 10. h3 e4 11. Nxe4 Nf6 12. Nxf6+ Bxf6 13. O-O O-O 14. c4 e6 15.
Be3 exd5 16. cxd5 Rd8 17. Qc2 Na6 18. Rad1 Nb4 19. Qxc5 Nxd5 20. Bd4 Rac8 21.
Qa3 Qf5 22. Bxf6 Qxf6 23. Qxa7 Nxf4 24. Rxd8+ Rxd8 25. Qe3 Nd5 26. Qb3 Nf4 27.
Qe3 Nd5 28. Qb3 b6 29. Rd1 Nf4 30. Rxd8+ Qxd8 31. Qe3 g5 32. Kh2 h6 33. h4 Ne6
34. hxg5 hxg5 35. Qe4 Qf6 36. Qe5 Qg6 37. g4 Qd3 38. Kg3 b5 39. Kf2 Kf8 40. Qe2
Nf4 41. Qxd3 Nxd3+ 42. Ke3 Nxb2 43. Nxg5 Nd1+ 44. Kd4 Nf2 45. Nxf7 Kxf7 46. Kc5
Ne4+ 47. Kxb5 Nc3+ 48. Kc4 Nxa2 49. g5 Kg7 50. g6 Nb4 51. Kxb4 Kxg6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 5th"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2018.04.22"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2748"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[PlyCount "38"]
[EventDate "2018.04.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. b3 O-O 8. Be2
b6 9. O-O Bb7 10. Bb2 Qe7 11. Rad1 Rad8 12. Rfe1 Rfe8 13. e4 Nxe4 14. Nxe4 dxe4
15. Qxe4 Bb4 16. Rf1 Bd6 17. Rfe1 Bb4 18. Rf1 Bd6 19. Rfe1 Bb4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 5th"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2018.04.23"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wojtaszek, Radoslaw"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2744"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2018.04.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{The tournament in general, but for Magnus especially had a very quiet start
with Topalov's win over Navara being the only deceisive game. The pairings
gave Magnus 3 Blacks vs. the Azeri players not leaving much scope for
creativity, however in round 5 things were about to change:} 1. e4 {
Quintiliano,R} c5 {Radek stays loyal to his compratiot inviting his favourite
Najdorf variation.} 2. Nc3 d6 {Najdorf players have to use this move order as
e.g.} (2... Nc6 {can be met by} 3. Nf3 $1 {intending 4.d4.}) 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4
{A nice and fitting touch, as this move order vs. the Sicilian was favoured by
Vugar Gashimov.} Nc6 5. Qd2 $5 {Magnus unleashes a rare and original concept,
completely novel at top level. During Wijk Aan Zee 2017 I received an email
from Greek IM Ioannis Simeonidis suggesting this setup as an interesting
anti-Najdorf concept and offered it to Magnus to test his concept! At first it
reminded me of Greek hubris. After all how likely is it that you can come up
with a meaningful and new setup at move 5 in one of the most tested openings
historically in chess? GM, Khenkin, the commentator at the event formulated it
with classic Soviet iron chess logic: "Chess-wisdom suggests only moving each
piece once in the opening, especially the queen, however the World Champion
seem to have his own rules". First sight however is deceptive: White has an
interesting concept in mind, and very similarly to Fischer-Random chess the
players now have to adapt to problems completely untested previously in
practice.} Nf6 {Logical and common-sense, but Ofitserian took a much more
concrete approach when facing Paravyan in the Russian Junior championship 4
days later harassing the white queen with} (5... g6 6. b3 Bh6 $5 {White
however did not budge and went} 7. f4 Nf6 8. Bb2 e5 {Quintiliano,R: '?!'} (8...
O-O $142 {Quintiliano,R} 9. O-O-O a5 10. Bb5 Qb6 $132) 9. g3 O-O 10. O-O-O {
and won a complex fight. This is what fascinates the most with Simeonidis
variation, that an oasis of creativity existed in territory believed to have
been long mapped out.}) 6. b3 e6 {On the same day in the Budapest Spring Open
but 3 hours later due to the time difference, Kotronias faced} (6... g6 {
but got an excellent position after} 7. Bb2 Bg7 8. O-O-O O-O 9. f3 Qa5 10. Kb1
Be6 11. Nge2 {As in the actual game it's noteworthy that the surprised player
acts with typical Sicilian moves, while in the game played 4 days later,
Ofitserian most likely influenced by the computer, tried a setup aimed
specifically at the possible defects of White's concept.}) 7. Bb2 a6 {Again
typical Sicilian style.} ({Quintiliano,R: 'Knowing how the game goes,'} 7... d5
$5 {intending ...Bb4 was a more concrete approach. Quintiliano,R: 'maybe is a
worthy try'} 8. exd5 {Quintiliano,R} exd5 9. O-O-O Be6 10. Nge2 Qa5 {The point
is that despite the isolated pawn, Black has open lines and more freedom to
develop the pieces} 11. Kb1 Bc5 12. Nf4 O-O-O $13) 8. O-O-O b5 9. f3 {The
position reminds one of a Rauzer, however the white bishop being on b2 and the
knight on g1 instead of d4! At first this sounds considerably more passive
from whites perspective, but the bishop on b2 not only attacks in the long
diagonal but also provides additional safety for the white king. While a
knight on d4 would just be exchanged now on g1 it can consider various routes
of attack.} h5 $6 {Preventing g4 makes perfect sense, but} (9... Be7 10. Kb1 {
is the obvious reply, but then after} (10. g4 Nxg4 $1 {is a nice trick as} 11.
fxg4 Bg5 {wins the white queen.}) 10... h5 {Black has a slightly improved
version of the game.} (10... O-O {Quintiliano,R} 11. g4 Bb7 {with typical and
double-edged Sicilian positions, despite there are some differences of normal
lines, the Bb2 being the most clear one, Black should have the usual
counterplay ideas.})) 10. Nh3 $1 {Till this move, the general concept was
mapped out in preparation, but here the World Champion demonstrates his level,
adopting to the specifics of the position excellently. The g5-square very
rarely being a relevant square for a white knight in the Scheveningen style
Sicilian is of no importance. Like in chess 960 what matters is adapting to
the new situation, and the combination of Black's last move weakening the
g5-square and White's knight being on g1 prompted this unusual approach.} Be7
11. Ng5 h4 $6 {Again logical and typical, however for this specific position
just not very relevant.} 12. f4 Bb7 13. Kb1 Rc8 14. Be2 $1 Qc7 15. Rhe1 $1 {
While White's two last moves might appear unimpressive, Be2 almost feeling
passive, looks are again deceptive. White quietly finishes his development in
essence claiming he can improve his position meaningfully before the eventual
confrontation, while Black cannot. Black's position is much worse than it
looks. Normally ...Nb4 and ...Qa5 would create counterplay, exchange
sacrifices on c3 being part of the equation, but with the white bishop being
on b2 such action by Black would be completely pointless, and ...Nb4 simply
being answered by a white a3. Especially the knight at c6 seems misplaced
blocking both the bishop on b7 and the rook on c8. The relevant question would
be, why did Black put it there? But who could resist free development
harassing the opponent's queen at move 4?} Nh7 16. Nxh7 Rxh7 17. g4 $6 {
At the press conference Magnus explained that he saw the indeed crushing 17.
Nd5! but thought his position so dominating that sacrifices were not even
neccesary.} (17. Nd5 $1 {Still the knight sacrifice was the best way, as after}
exd5 18. exd5 {Black's position is close to hopeless as giving back the piece
is positional bankruptcy, but} Nb8 {loses instantly to} 19. Bd3 $1 {with} Rh5
20. Rxe7+ $1 {being the principal tactical point.}) 17... hxg3 18. hxg3 Bf6 19.
Bd3 Rh8 20. g4 $6 {A strange coincidence. Magnus' only inaccuracy in the game
was g4; unfortunately it was possible to play twice! Unlike move 17 here
simplicity was in order, figthing for the open file with} (20. Rh1 $1 {would
have given an overwhelming edge.}) 20... Nd4 21. Re3 Kf8 22. Ne2 $1 Nxe2 23.
Rxe2 {Despite the exchanges of minor pieces, the difference in king safety
still gives White the much more pleasant position.} Bc3 $2 (23... Bxb2 24. Kxb2
Qc5 $1 {was Black's best chance to minimise the damage, but in time pressure
Radek finally goes astray.} (24... Rh4 $1 {Quintiliano,R} 25. g5 Qc5 {[%cal
Yc5d4]} 26. Kb1 (26. Rh2 Rxh2 27. Qxh2 Ke7 28. Kb1 Qe3 $132) 26... d5 $5 27.
exd5 Bxd5 28. Rh2 Rxh2 29. Qxh2 g6 $14 {despite White's position still looking
easier, Black is fighting well and has real chances to equalise.})) 24. Bxc3
Qxc3 25. Qe3 Rc5 {Allows a tactical blow, but after} (25... Qc5 26. Qg3 {
Black is passive without counterplay while f5 and g5 follow for White with an
overwhelming edge.}) 26. e5 $1 dxe5 27. fxe5 Rh1 28. Rxh1 Bxh1 29. Rh2 Rxe5 ({
If} 29... Bb7 {then} 30. Rh8+ Ke7 31. Qg5+ {mates.}) 30. Rh8+ $1 Ke7 31. Qa7+ {
And with 32.Rxh1 following next, Black being a piece down resigned. Magnus'
shift of pace not only lasted to the upcoming free day's soccer tournament
scoring all 6 six goals for the winning team, but also for the remainder of
the tournament with crucial wins over first the leader Topalov and then with
the black pieces against Anish Giri eventually securing overall victory.} 1-0

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 5th"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2018.04.25"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C89"]
[WhiteElo "2778"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2018.04.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3
d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. d3 Bd6 13. Re1 Bf5 14. Qf3 Qh4
15. g3 Qh3 16. Be3 Bxd3 17. Nd2 Qf5 18. Bd4 Rfe8 19. a4 Kf8 20. h4 h6 21. Qxf5
Bxf5 22. Rxe8+ Rxe8 23. axb5 axb5 24. Ra6 Ne7 25. Be3 Kg8 26. Ba2 Rd8 27. Bb6
Re8 28. Be3 Rd8 29. Bb6 Re8 30. Be3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 5th"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2018.04.26"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2749"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2018.04.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e3 $5 ({In the remote past this was a
reasonably frequent alternative to the absolute main line} 4. g3 {but then it
almost disappeared for a long while. Nowadays there seems to be some interest
in it again.}) 4... Bb4 5. Qc2 Bxc3 {This apparent concession, exchanging the
bishop before White attacks it, is considered Black's safest way of "drying
up" the position and depriving White of any chance for an initiative. The
point is that WHite has to either expose his queen or somewhat spoil his
structure.} (5... O-O {leads to more lively play as for instance:} 6. Nd5 Re8
7. Qf5 d6 8. Nxf6+ Qxf6 9. Qxf6 gxf6 {Grischuk,A (2785)-Giri,A (2737)
Elancourt 2013 CBM 157 [ChessBase Website] (1-0, 34)}) 6. bxc3 $5 {
Strategically this is the most consistent. White strengthens his centre aiming
at placing his pawns on d3 and e4. This would be fine in the 4.g3 systems, but
here White has committed his queen very early and needs to waste a tempo with
e3-e4.} (6. Qxc3 Qe7 7. Be2 d5 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. Qb3 Nb6 10. d3 Bg4 11. Bd2 O-O-O
12. Rc1 f5 {Oleksienko,M (2615)-Navara,D (2726) Germany 2018 (0-1, 52), with
active play for Black.}) 6... d6 (6... O-O {may lead to a transposition but in
the following game White reserved a different fate for his bishop than Carlsen:
} 7. d3 d6 8. Be2 Re8 9. e4 {Aronian,L (2799)-Matlakov,M (2728) Tbilisi 2017
CBM 181 [Mekhitarian,K] (1-0, 40)}) 7. e4 O-O 8. g3 $5 {Strategically the most
ambitious plan, but due to the two wasted tempi (Qc2 and e3-e4) completely
inoffensive.} Ne8 $5 $146 {The knight is temporarily passive on e8 but keeping
the bishop's diagonal open ensures the carrying out of the thematic break ...
f7-f5.} (8... Nd7 9. Bg2 Nc5 {looks a bit more harmoniousd, though.} 10. Nh4 (
10. O-O f5 $15) (10. d4 exd4 11. cxd4 Bg4 $5 $15 12. dxc5 $6 Bxf3 13. Bxf3 Qf6
$17) 10... a6 ({Preparing to undermine the centre with ...b7-b5. The same
manoeuvre as in the game} 10... Ne7 {does not work due to} 11. d4 $14 {and
Black can complain about not having placed the knight safely on e8.}) 11. O-O (
11. a4 Na5 12. d3 Nab3 $11) 11... b5 12. d4 exd4 13. cxd4 Nxd4 14. Qd2 Nc6 15.
e5 Bb7 16. exd6 Qxd6 17. Qxd6 cxd6 18. Nf5 {½-½ Khairullin,I (2662)-Svidler,
P (2739) Chita 2015 CBM 168 [Sagar Shah]} Ne5 $11) 9. Nh4 Ne7 10. d3 ({
Queenside queen activity is premature with incomplete kingside development. I
was watching the following game from the next board and was surprised by the
superficiality of such a great English expert like Suba:} 10. Qb3 Rb8 (10... f5
$5) 11. d4 c5 12. dxc5 dxc5 13. Qa3 b6 14. Qxa7 Bb7 $17 {Suba,M (2535)-Komarov,
D (2580) Sovata 1998 EXT 1999 [Bulletin] (½-½, 40)}) 10... f5 11. exf5 Nxf5
12. Nxf5 Bxf5 {It goes without saying that Black has solved all his opening
problems.} 13. Bg2 c6 {Preparing to re-activate the knight.} 14. h3 Nc7 15. O-O
Ne6 $11 {If on the white side there were any other player, we could say
Black's position is comfortable and safe. But this is never the case when you
face Carlsen. And to do justice to Topalov, he is also in permanent search for
ways to complicate the fight.} 16. Be3 Nc5 {This is already a sign that
something may change in the position soon, in view of the possible exchange on
c5. But since White planned Rad1-d2, Qd1 and d3-d4, Black should activate his
knight before it is too late.} 17. Rad1 (17. Bxc5 {is slightly premature as
WHite is not too well prepared to defend the d3-pawn:} dxc5 18. Rad1 Qd7 19.
Kh2 Rad8 20. Qc1 Qe6 21. Qe3 Qg6 $11) 17... Qd7 18. Kh2 Bg6 $6 {A somewhat
inconsistent move, losing a tempo and disabling the regrouping with ...Qg6.} (
18... Rad8 19. Rd2 Rfe8 {would have kept the rhythm of development.}) ({
But also} 18... b6 {was good, with possible transposition to the game.}) 19.
Rd2 ({White could have tried using the tempo offered by Black with} 19. Bxc5 $5
dxc5 20. Rfe1 Rfe8 (20... Rae8 21. Re3 $14) 21. Re3 Rad8 22. Qe2 $14 {and
White is better regrouped, to take advantage of the opponent's weaknesses.})
19... Rae8 20. Qd1 b6 $1 $11 {Topalov consolidates his knight, but later he
will not make use of the main virtues of his last move.} 21. Re1 (21. Bxc5 bxc5
22. d4 cxd4 23. cxd4 e4 $13) 21... h6 22. Bxc5 {It is hard to say whether
Carlsen still hoped to obtain an advantage when playing this. In principle he
would have liked to carryi out d3-d4 but this is not easy to achieve under
favourable circumstances:} (22. d4 Ne4 $11) (22. f3 Nb7 $1 {Carlsen} (22... Ne6
23. d4 exd4 24. cxd4 d5 25. cxd5 Qxd5 {Topalov} 26. f4 Be4 27. Bxe4 Qxe4 28. d5
$16) 23. d4 $6 Na5 $15) 22... dxc5 $6 ({And it is even harder to say why did
Topalov weaken his centre when he had the simple and good} 22... bxc5 $11 {
at his disposal.}) 23. Re3 $14 {We now get a similar position as in some lines
above. The d3-pawn is much more solidly defended than the e5-pawn and c6 is
also hanging sometimes.} Re6 24. Kg1 $5 {A typical mysterious Carlsen move. He
probably wanted to keep f2 overdefended should his rooks get busy winning the
e5-pawn.} ({But} 24. h4 $5 $14 {may be a bit more to the point.}) 24... Rd6 25.
h4 Rd8 $6 {Another curious decision. It looks as if Topalov had lost his
patience. Or maybe he simply blundered something in the ensuing tactical line.}
(25... Re8 {completes the regrouping in a better way, by defending e5.}) {
But even after the last small inaccuracy Black remains close to equality.} 26.
Rxe5 Bxd3 (26... Rxd3 $2 {runs into} 27. Bd5+ $1 cxd5 28. Rxd3 ({or} 28. Rxd5 {
Topalov}) 28... Bxd3 29. Rxd5 $16 {Carlsen.}) 27. Be4 Bxc4 $2 {Along his
career Topalov probably sacrificed more exchanges and queens than any of his
contemporaries. But in this case the last move puts him on the verge of defeat.
} ({Ljubojevic suggested} 27... Bc2 {but Black loses a pawn without
compensation:} 28. Rxd6 Bxd1 29. Rxd7 Rxd7 30. Bxc6) ({Carlsen was mainly
worried about his chances for an advantage after} 27... Kf8 $1 {, defending e8
and avoiding any combination based on Re8+. Topalov considered this move but
"did not dare playing it" True, White could win a pawn with} 28. Qf3+ Kg8 (
28... Rf6 $2 29. Qe3 Rd6 30. Rxd3 Rxd3 31. Bxd3 Qxd3 32. Re8+ $1 $18) 29. Bxc6
Qxc6 30. Qxc6 Rxc6 31. Rd5 $1 {Not an easy move to find in advance.} Rxd5 32.
cxd5 Rd6 33. Rxd3 {But after} b5 $14 {Black is in no real danger of losing.})
28. Rxd6 Qxd6 29. Re8+ $1 Rxe8 30. Qxd6 Rxe4 31. Qxc6 Re1+ 32. Kh2 Bxa2 {
Material is about equal but the black king is vulnerable and his pieces are
not coordinated, making them comfortable targets for the queen.} 33. g4 {
White's best plan is weakening the enemy king, of course.} Kh7 34. f4 $18 h5 {
Logical but insufficient.} 35. f5 $6 {This weakens the f-pawn and offers Black
saving chances.} (35. Qd7 $1 {[%csl Ra2,Re1][%cal Gd7d2] would have more or
less won:} Bc4 (35... Re2+ 36. Kg3 {[%cal Gd7d3] does not change anything.})
36. Qf5+ g6 37. Qd7+ Kg8 38. gxh5 gxh5 39. Qxa7 $18 {The combined attack of
the queen, king and f-pawn wins easily.}) 35... hxg4 36. h5 (36. Qg6+ Kh8 37.
f6 g3+ ({During the post mortem} 37... gxf6 {was also considered satiosfactory
but probably both players overlooked that after} 38. Qxf6+ Kh7 {White wins a
piece with} 39. Qf2 $1 Ra1 40. Qb2 $18) 38. Qxg3 Re2+ 39. Kg1 gxf6 {with
reasonable drawing chances.}) (36. Qb7 $5 {[%cal Gf5f6]} Kh8 37. Qxa7 Bb1 38.
Qxb6 Bxf5 39. Qxc5 $18) 36... Bf7 37. Qb7 Kg8 $14 {Black has partly stabilised
and has two targets on f5 and h5.} 38. Qxa7 (38. f6 {is parried with} Re6)
38... Bxh5 $2 {This exposes the bishop in one of the lines below, once again
turning the position into critical for Black.} (38... Rf1 $14 {or}) (38... Re3
$14 {[%cal Ge3f3] would have retrieved the kingside pawns maintaining the
stability at the same time.}) 39. Qxb6 c4 40. Qd8+ Be8 ({A sad necessity such
as} 40... Kh7 {allows} 41. Qh4 {with a very unpleasant pin. For instance} Re2+
42. Kg3 Re3+ 43. Kf4 Rf3+ 44. Kg5 Rh3 45. Qf2 {with a similar attack as in the
game.}) 41. Kg3 Kh7 ({As pointed out by Carlsen} 41... g6 {fails to free Black
after} 42. Kf2 Re5 43. fxg6 Rf5+ 44. Kg3 Rf8 45. Qd6 {folowed by the king's
advance.}) 42. Qc7 Kg8 43. Qxc4+ Bf7 44. Qd4 Re8 45. c4 {White is winning
already and Carlsen will display the needed accuracy until the end.} Rf8 46. c5
Be8 47. Qd5+ Kh7 48. Qe6 (48. Qe4 $5 Bd7 49. f6+ Kg8 50. Qd5+ Rf7 51. fxg7 Kxg7
52. c6 Bc8 (52... Bf5 53. c7 $18) 53. Qg5+ Kh7 54. Qd8 Be6 55. c7 $18) 48...
Bb5 49. c6 Bxc6 (49... Ba6 50. c7 (50. Kxg4 Bc8 51. Qe5 $18 {Carlsen}) 50...
Bc8 51. Qg6+ Kg8 52. Kxg4 Rf7 53. Kg5 Rxc7 54. Qe8+ Kh7 55. f6 gxf6+ (55...
Rc5+ 56. Kh4 $18) 56. Kxf6 $18 {Carlsen.  Black loses one of his pieces soon.})
50. Qg6+ Kg8 51. Qxc6 Rf6 52. Qe8+ Kh7 53. Kxg4 {With pawns on f7 and g5 the
game would be drawn, but the way it is White has a simple winning plan, known
since the earliest endgame books.} Rh6 54. Kf4 Rf6 55. Ke5 Rh6 56. Qe6 1-0

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 5th"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2018.04.27"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2777"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[Annotator "Stohl,I"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2018.04.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 ({The immediate fianchetto} 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 {gives some extra
options:} d5 (3... c6 {is another topical line, the direct} 4. d4 {seems
harmless;} (4. Nf3 {is the main try to fight for an advantage}) {a recent
example went} 4... e4 5. Nc3 d5 6. Bg5 Bb4 7. Qb3 Bxc3+ 8. Qxc3 O-O 9. f3 dxc4
10. Bxf6 Qxf6 11. fxe4 c5 12. e5 cxd4 13. exf6 dxc3 14. fxg7 Re8 15. bxc3 Nc6
16. Rb1 Re3 17. Kd2 Re7 18. Nf3 Bf5 19. Rb5 Rd8+ 20. Nd4 Nxd4 21. cxd4 Be4 22.
Bxe4 Rxd4+ 23. Bd3 Red7 $11 {McShane,L (2647)-Anand,V (2783) Germany 2018 The
resulting endgame is drawish.}) 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. O-O Nb6 7. d3 Be7 8.
a3 O-O 9. Nbd2 {develops the Nb1 differently, but this is also no novelty.} a5
10. b3 Be6 11. Bb2 f6 12. Qc2 Qd7 {and now:} 13. Nc4 (13. e3 Rfd8 14. d4 exd4
15. Nxd4 Nxd4 16. Bxd4 c5 17. Bxc5 Rac8 18. b4 Nd5 $1 19. Qd3 (19. Nb3 b6 20.
e4 Nxb4 21. axb4 axb4 22. Rfd1 Qc7 23. Rxd8+ Rxd8 24. Bf1 Bxc5 $17 {Thiede,L 
(2416)-Graf,A (2624) Germany 2003}) 19... b6 20. Bxd5 bxc5 21. Bxe6+ Qxe6 22.
Qb3 Qf7 $5 23. Qxf7+ Kxf7 24. Nb3 cxb4 25. axb4 axb4 26. Ra7 Ke8 27. Nd4 Rd7
28. Rxd7 Kxd7 29. Rd1 g6 30. Kf1 Rc4 {½, Kuhn,C (1981)-Avdeev,S (2032) email
2011}) 13... Rfd8 14. Rfc1 (14. Rfd1 Qe8 15. d4 $6 a4 $15 {Ponomariov,R (2723)
-Vachier Lagrave,M (2710) Beijing blitz 2011.}) 14... Qe8 15. Nxb6 cxb6 16. Nd2
Rac8 17. a4 Bc5 18. Qd1 h5 19. Nc4 Qe7 20. e3 Bg4 21. Qf1 Nb4 22. Rd1 $5 Bxd1
23. Rxd1 Qf7 {Gordievsky,D (2622)-Vidit,S (2718) Wijk aan Zee 2018} 24. d4 exd4
25. exd4 Bf8 26. Nxb6 Rc2 27. Nc4 b5 28. axb5 a4 29. Rb1 $1 axb3 30. Ne3 $44)
2... Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 ({The Dragon with reversed colours is very
popular, but} 4... Bb4 5. Bg2 {only somewhat less so:} O-O ({Less usual, but
also playable is} 5... d6 6. O-O O-O 7. d3 Re8 8. Bd2 (8. Nd5 $5 Nxd5 9. cxd5
Ne7 10. d4 e4 11. Ng5 {is perhaps more promising}) 8... Nd4 9. a3 Nxf3+ 10.
Bxf3 Bxc3 11. Bxc3 c6 12. e4 Bh3 13. Re1 c5 14. b4 b6 15. a4 Nd7 16. a5 Be6 17.
Ra3 Rb8 18. b5 Qc8 19. axb6 axb6 20. Re2 Ra8 21. Rea2 Rxa3 22. Rxa3 Qc7 23. Bg2
Nf8 24. f4 f6 25. f5 Bc8 26. Bd2 Bb7 27. g4 h6 28. h4 Nh7 $11 {Ding,L (2778)
-Wojtaszek,R (2744) Shamkir 2018 With patient defence Black held his fortress.}
) 6. O-O e4 7. Ng5 Bxc3 8. bxc3 Re8 {featured some recent experiments with} 9.
Qc2 (9. f3 {is the main line of this branch}) {, but they didn't bring White
success after} 9... d5 $5 ({More active, than} 9... Qe7 10. d3 exd3 11. exd3 d6
) 10. cxd5 Qxd5 11. d3 (11. Nxe4 Nxe4 12. d3 Bf5 13. Bf4 Qe6 14. dxe4 Bxe4 15.
Bxe4 Qxe4 16. Qb2 b6 17. Rfe1 Rac8 18. Qb5 Ne7 19. Rad1 c6 20. Qa6 Nd5 $15 {
Dimitrov,R (2493)-Georgiev,K (2596) Skopje 2018}) 11... Bf5 12. Bf4 h6 13. Nxe4
Nxe4 14. Qb2 b6 15. Rfd1 Qc5 16. dxe4 Bxe4 17. Bf1 Re7 18. a4 Rae8 19. Rac1 $2
(19. Qb5 $1 $11 {is still roughly equal.}) 19... g5 $1 20. Bd2 Qf5 21. f3 Qc5+
22. Kh1 Bd5 23. Be1 Bc4 24. e4 Bxf1 25. Bf2 Qc4 26. Rxf1 Qxa4 27. c4 Ne5 28.
Bd4 g4 $17 {Vachier Lagrave,M (2789)-Caruana,F (2784) Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden
2018}) 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Nb6 (6... Bc5 $5 {is also viable, Illingworth wrote
an article about this novel line in CBM 181. Since then there haven't been too
many new games, after} 7. O-O O-O 8. d3 {Black also has} Re8 ({Illingworth
concentrated on} 8... Bb6 {proving Black holds his own in the tactical
labyrinth of Dubov-Karjakin, WCup Tbilisi 2017. Black also equalises after} 9.
Bd2 Nxc3 10. Bxc3 Re8 11. b4 Bg4 12. Nd2 Nd4 13. Bxd4 exd4 14. Re1 c6 15. a4 a6
16. Nb3 Qf6 17. Qd2 Re7 18. h3 Be6 19. Nc5 Rae8 20. Nxe6 Qxe6 21. b5 axb5 22.
axb5 c5 $11 {Nepomniachtchi,I (2751)-Aronian,L (2789) chess.com blitz 2017}) 9.
Ng5 Nf6 10. Qb3 Qe7 11. Nd5 Nxd5 12. Bxd5 Nd8 13. Qc4 Bd4 14. Bg2 h6 15. Nf3
Nc6 16. Be3 $5 Bxe3 17. fxe3 e4 18. dxe4 a5 $1 19. a3 Ra6 20. Rac1 Rb6 21. Rc2
Be6 22. Qc3 Rb3 23. Qd2 Rd8 24. Qc1 a4 $44 {The tripled pawns are comical and
Black would have enough compensation even without trying to undertake anything.
As it is, he allowed White to untangle with} 25. Rc5 Rd7 26. h3 Qd8 27. g4 g6
28. Kh1 Kg7 29. e5 Bd5 30. Kg1 Be6 31. Kf2 Qe7 32. Kg1 Rd5 33. Rc4 Ra5 34. Rc2
Bd5 $6 35. Nd4 $1 Nxd4 36. exd4 Rg3 37. Rf3 $1 Bxf3 38. exf3 $16 {Caruana,F 
(2799)-Adams,M (2715) London 2017 After regaining the exchange by trapping the
Rg3 White already had a healthy extra pawn. For more details see the notes to
this game in CBM 182 by Fernandez.}) 7. O-O Be7 8. a3 (8. d3 O-O 9. Be3 {
was played in Kamsky-Svidler, Thessaloniki 2013, which I annotated for CBM 155:
} Be6 (9... Re8 10. Rc1 Bf8 11. Na4 Nd4 12. Nc5 {gives Black also the sharper
option} a5 $5 (12... Bxc5 13. Rxc5 Bg4 {and}) (12... Nxf3+ 13. Bxf3 c6 {
are restrained continuations, leading to approximate equality.}) 13. Bxd4 exd4
14. Nb3 g5 $1 15. Qd2 g4 $13 {Granda Zuniga,J (2648)-So,W (2794) Douglas 2016})
10. Rc1 Qd7 ({Svidler's choice} 10... f5 {is perhaps not bad, but more risky.})
11. Re1 (11. Ne4 f6 12. Nc5 Bxc5 13. Bxc5 Rfd8 14. Qc2 Qf7 $5 15. Nd2 Nd5 {
Kashlinskaya,A (2201)-Bukavshin,I (2350) Pardubice 2008} 16. a3 $11) (11. a3
Bh3 12. b4 Bxg2 13. Kxg2 Qe6 14. Ne4 Nd5 15. Bc5 b6 16. Bxe7 Ncxe7 17. Neg5 Qd6
18. Ne4 Qe6 $11 {Carlstedt,J (2432)-Volokitin,A (2632) Berlin blitz 2018})
11... f6 12. a3 Rfd8 (12... Rad8 13. Na4 Rfe8 14. Nc5 Bxc5 15. Rxc5 Nd4 16.
Bxd4 exd4 17. Qc2 c6 18. b4 {Martinez,R (2422)-Sanchez,J (2529) Civitanova
Marche 2012} a6 $11) 13. b4 Nd5 14. Nxd5 Bxd5 15. Bc5 b6 ({Possible
improvements are} 15... Bxc5 16. Rxc5 Ne7 17. e4 Bf7 18. d4 Nc6 $5 $13 {
or the simpler}) (15... a6 $5 $11) 16. e4 $1 Bf7 17. Bxe7 Nxe7 18. d4 exd4 19.
e5 d3 20. exf6 gxf6 21. Nd2 $44 {Lagarde,M (2594)-Fressinet,L (2660) Caleta
2017} (21. Re4 $5)) 8... a5 $5 {This prophylactic move was considered
weakening and long had a dubious reputation. However, there might be more to
it than meets the eye...} ({Far more usual is} 8... O-O 9. b4 Be6 {After} 10.
Rb1 f6 {White has lately tested} 11. b5 (11. d3 {has long been the main move
and I mentioned} a5 {as Black's main reaction in the notes to So-Navara,
Prague 2015 in CBM 167.}) 11... Nd4 12. e3 Nxf3+ 13. Bxf3 {and now:} {And
finally there is} Qc8 $5 (13... Rb8 14. d4 exd4 15. exd4 Re8 (15... Qd7 $6 16.
Re1 Rfe8 17. a4 Bf7 18. a5 Nd5 19. Nxd5 Bxd5 20. Bf4 Rbc8 21. Bg4 $1 f5 22. Bf3
Bf6 23. Be5 Bxe5 24. dxe5 Rcd8 25. Bxd5+ Qxd5 26. Qc2 Qf7 27. a6 $16 {Gelfand,
B (2737)-Edouard,R (2607) Heraklio 2017}) 16. Re1 Bf7 17. a4 Bf8 18. Rxe8 Qxe8
19. Bf4 Qd7 20. a5 Nc4 21. b6 axb6 22. axb6 Bd6 {and White found nothing
better than liquidating with} 23. bxc7 Bxc7 24. Bxc7 Qxc7 25. Nd5 Qd7 26. Nb6
Nxb6 27. Rxb6 Bd5 {½, Nepomniachtchi,I (2751)-Karjakin,S (2783) chess.com
blitz INT 2017}) ({Black can also hold the balance with} 13... Nd5 14. Ne2 (14.
Bb2 a6 $1 15. a4 axb5 16. axb5 Nxc3 17. Bxc3 Bd5 18. Bxd5+ Qxd5 19. Qb3 Rfd8
20. d4 Qxb3 21. Rxb3 exd4 22. Bxd4 Rd5 23. Kg2 Ra5 $11 {Gordon,S (2528)-Alsina
Leal,D (2507) England 2017}) 14... Qd7 15. d4 Rad8 16. Qc2 Kh8 17. Bg2 Bh3 18.
Bxh3 Qxh3 19. e4 Nb6 20. Be3 (20. Qxc7 Rd7 21. Qc2 Qh5 $1 $44) 20... Qe6 $5 21.
d5 Qd7 22. a4 f5 23. f3 fxe4 24. fxe4 Qg4 25. Kg2 Qg6 $132 {Edouard,R (2612)
-Xiong,J (2640) Saint Louis 2018}) 14. Qc2 Rd8 (14... Bf5 15. d3 Rd8 16. e4 Be6
17. a4 Qd7 18. Rd1 a5 19. bxa6 Rxa6 20. Be3 Qc6 21. Qb2 Nxa4 22. Nxa4 Qxa4 23.
Qxb7 Qc6 $11 {Polatel,A (2243)-Guaimare,C (2113) email 2017}) 15. d4 (15. Rd1
Bf5 16. d3 Kh8 17. e4 Bd7 18. a4 c6 19. Be3 cxb5 20. axb5 Be6 21. Qb2 Bc5 22.
Bxc5 Qxc5 $11 {Svoboda,F (2406)-Betker,J (2451) email 2015}) 15... Bf5 16. Qb3+
(16. Be4 Bxe4 17. Qxe4 f5 $1 18. Qxe5 Bd6 19. Nd5 Kh8 20. Nxb6 axb6 21. Qd5
Bxg3 $15 {[%csl Rg1]}) (16. e4 Bh3 17. Rd1 Rxd4 18. Rxd4 exd4 19. Ne2 Qd7 $13)
16... Be6 (16... Kh8 $5) 17. Qc2 Bf5 18. Qb3+ Be6 19. Qc2 Bf5 {1/2-1/2 (19)
Nihal,S (2534)-Vaibhav,S (2544) Reykjavik 2018}) 9. d3 O-O 10. Be3 Be6 11. Rc1
{Natural, but we'll check also the alternatives:} ({Considering Black's
following move,} 11. Na4 {certainly deserves attention:} {Later Black's
efforts concentrated on} Nd5 (11... e4 12. Ne1 exd3 13. Nxd3 Nd5 14. Bc5 b6 15.
Bxe7 Ndxe7 16. Rc1 (16. Nc3 $142 $5 $14) 16... Bd5 17. Bxd5 Qxd5 18. Nc3 Qc4
19. b3 Qg4 ({An enterprising idea is} 19... Qe6 $5 20. Nb5 Rad8 21. Nxc7 Qf5
$44) 20. e3 Qd7 $6 (20... Qf5 $142 $5) 21. Nf4 $1 Rad8 22. Qh5 Ng6 23. Nfd5
Nce7 24. Rfd1 Nxd5 25. Nxd5 $36 {Vidit,S (2723)-Petrosyan,M (2569) Moscow 2018}
) (11... Nxa4 12. Qxa4 Bd5 13. Rfc1 Re8 14. Rc2 Bf6 $5 (14... Bf8 $2 15. Rac1
Nb8 16. Rxc7 Bc6 17. R1xc6 bxc6 18. Rxf7 $1 h6 19. Rb7 Qc8 20. Qc4+ Kh8 21. Nh4
$1 Qxb7 22. Ng6+ Kh7 23. Be4 Bd6 24. Nxe5+ g6 25. Bxg6+ Kg7 26. Bxh6+ {1-0,
Botvinnik,M-Portisch,L Monte Carlo 1968 This beautiful and famous game
discouraged people from playing 8...a5 for quite a while.}) 15. Rac1 (15. Rc5
$5 $14) 15... Nd4 16. Nxd4 Bxg2 17. Nb5 Bc6 18. Rxc6 $5 bxc6 19. Rxc6 $44 {/+/=
}) 12. Bc5 {and now:} {In mail practice Black has been holding his own with} b6
$5 (12... Bd6 13. Rc1 h6 14. d4 $5 (14. Nd2 Rc8 (14... Rb8 15. Ne4 f5 $132) 15.
Ne4 b6 $6 16. Nxd6 cxd6 17. Bxb6 Nxb6 18. Rxc6 (18. Bxc6 $142 $1 $14) 18... Rb8
19. Nxb6 Rxb6 20. Qc2 Qb8 21. Rxb6 Qxb6 22. Rb1 Bb3 23. Qd2 Rb8 24. Rc1 Be6 25.
Rc2 d5 $44 {Kasparov,G (2750)-Georgiev,K (2595) Saint John blitz 1988}) 14...
e4 $142 $5 (14... exd4 15. Nxd4 Nxd4 16. Qxd4 b6 17. Bxd6 Qxd6 18. Rfd1 Rfd8
19. e4 Ne7 20. Qxd6 Rxd6 21. Rxd6 cxd6 22. f4 (22. Nc3 $5 $36) 22... b5 23. Nc3
b4 24. Nb5 bxa3 25. bxa3 $14 {Kasparov,G (2750)-Georgiev,K (2595) Saint John
blitz 1988}) 15. Ne5 f5 16. Nxc6 bxc6 17. Bxd6 cxd6 $5 18. Rxc6 Qb8 $44 (18...
Qd7 $5)) 13. Bxe7 Ndxe7 14. Nc3 (14. Rc1 Qd7 15. Nc3 f6 16. Qa4 Rac8 17. Rfd1
Rfd8 18. e3 Qe8 19. d4 exd4 20. Nxd4 Nxd4 21. Qxe8+ Rxe8 22. exd4 c6 23. b4
axb4 24. axb4 Kf7 25. b5 $11 {½, Vidit,S (2723)-Melkumyan,H (2664) chess.com
rpd INT 2018}) 14... Qd7 15. Qa4 Rab8 16. Qb5 (16. Rfc1 f6 17. b4 Rfd8 18. b5
Na7 19. Rab1 Kh8 20. Qc2 Nf5 21. Qd2 Nc8 22. Rd1 Nce7 23. Qb2 Nd6 24. a4 Bg8
25. Nd2 Qe8 $11 {Degerhammar,R (2475)-Rogos,J (2518) email 2014}) 16... f6 17.
e3 Rbd8 18. Rfd1 Nd5 19. Rac1 Nxc3 20. bxc3 Na7 21. Qxd7 Bxd7 22. d4 Nc6 23.
dxe5 fxe5 24. Ng5 Ne7 25. Bf1 g6 26. Be2 h6 27. Nf3 Ba4 28. Rxd8 Rxd8 29. Nxe5
Rd2 $44 {Kazantsev,R (2376)-Brugger,A (2528) email 2015}) ({Nor can one ignore
} 11. Bxb6 cxb6 12. Nd2 f5 (12... Rc8 13. Nc4 f6 14. e3 Na7 15. Bxb7 Rc7 16.
Bg2 Rd7 17. Qa4 Rxd3 18. Rfd1 Bc5 19. Be4 Rd7 20. b4 $16 {Van Wely,L (2675)
-Mosadeghpour,M (2469) Bandar e Anzali 2017}) 13. Nc4 e4 (13... Bxc4 $5 14.
dxc4 e4 {is more solid, Black is close to full equality.}) 14. Ne3 exd3 15.
Ned5 $1 dxe2 16. Qxe2 Bxd5 17. Nxd5 Bf6 {½, Opocensky,K-Flohr,S Podebrady
1936 Despite the quick draw in this historic game White has obvious
compensation and pressure here.} 18. Rad1 Kh8 19. Rfe1 (19. Rd2 $5) (19. Qb5 $5
) 19... Re8 20. Qxe8+ Qxe8 21. Rxe8+ Rxe8 22. Nxf6 gxf6 23. Kf1 Re5 24. Bd5 f4
$1 25. gxf4 Rf5 $132 {Mueller,H (1764)-Mair,E (1643) email 2013}) 11... a4 $5 {
[%mdl 512] A positional sacrifice, to take this pawn White will have to give
up his important dark-squared B.} ({Otherwise White occupies the a4-square
himself, a model example is} 11... Re8 12. Na4 Nxa4 13. Qxa4 f6 $6 ({We had} 
13... Bd5 $142 $5 {above, only the other rook was on c1.}) 14. Nd2 Bd5 15. Qb5
Bxg2 16. Kxg2 Qc8 17. Rc4 Bf8 18. Rfc1 Ra6 19. R1c2 Kh8 20. Nf3 Qa8 21. Ra4 Na7
22. Qb3 b5 23. Rh4 a4 24. Qf7 Re7 25. Qg6 h6 26. Bc5 Rd7 27. Bxf8 Qxf8 28. Nxe5
$1 $18 {Hracek,Z (2625)-Simacek,P (2508) Czechia 2010}) ({In practice Black
also had to fight for equality after} 11... Nd5 12. Nxd5 Bxd5 13. Qa4 $14 {, or
}) (11... f5 12. Na4 $14) 12. Nd2 ({The immediate} 12. Bxb6 cxb6 13. Nxa4 e4
14. Ne1 (14. Nd2 {is also met by} Bg5 $1 $44 {, when} 15. Rxc6 bxc6 16. Nxe4
Be7 $13 {is at best unclear.}) 14... Bg5 $142 $1 (14... Nd4 $2 15. Nc3 Bg5 16.
e3 Nb3 17. Bxe4 (17. Rc2 $5 $16) 17... Nxc1 18. Qxc1 Qd7 19. d4 $40 Qxd4 $2 20.
f4 $18 {Nepomniachtchi,I (2730)-Bocharov,D (2609) Apatity rpd 2011}) (14... e3
15. fxe3 $5 Bg5 {again allows an exchange sacrifice} 16. Rf4 $14) 15. Rc3 (15.
e3 $6 exd3 16. Nxd3 Rxa4 17. Qxa4 Qxd3 18. Be4 b5 19. Qc2 Qxc2 20. Rxc2 Bf6 $15
{Deneuville,C (2206)-Weber,K (2313) email 2014}) (15. Rxc6 bxc6 16. Bxe4 f5 $1
17. Bg2 (17. Bxc6 $6 Rc8 18. f4 Bf6 $17) 17... Ra7 $15) 15... e3 ({Apart from} 
15... Bf6 16. Rc1 Bg5 $11 {Black has other interesting options, namely}) (15...
f5 {and}) (15... Qd4 $5 $44) 16. f4 Bf6 17. f5 Bd7 18. Rc1 Nd4 19. Nc3 Ra5 20.
Bxb7 Bxf5 $44 {Zielinski,S (2159)-Kuzmin,K (2167) LSS email 2014}) 12... f5 ({
Ambitious, but Black can change his mind about the sacrifice. Roughly equal is
} 12... Nd5 $5 13. Nxd5 Bxd5 14. Qc2 f5 15. Bxd5+ Qxd5 16. Qc4 Ra5 17. Nb1 Qxc4
18. Rxc4 Bd6 19. Rfc1 Rfa8 20. h3 Nd8 21. g4 f4 22. Bd2 Rb5 23. Bb4 Bxb4 24.
axb4 Nc6 25. Kg2 Rf8 $11 {Leal,P (2343)-Genga,S (2400) email 2013}) 13. Bxb6
cxb6 14. Nxa4 (14. Re1 Bg5 15. e3 Qxd3 16. Bf1 Qd7 17. Nc4 Qf7 18. Nxb6 Rad8
19. Qe2 f4 20. Nbxa4 Bf5 21. Nc5 fxe3 22. fxe3 b6 23. N5e4 Nd4 $1 24. exd4 Bxc1
25. Rxc1 exd4 26. Ng5 Qg6 27. Qe7 b5 $1 28. Bxb5 {½, Recasens Sanchez,J (2048)
-Gudkov,A email 2012} dxc3 29. Bc4+ Kh8 30. Nf7+ Qxf7 31. Bxf7 cxb2 32. Re1
b1=Q 33. Rxb1 Bxb1 $11) 14... Bg5 15. Nc3 e4 16. Kh1 $146 {[%mdl 8] A novelty,
but not necesarily an improvement.} ({This position is not new at the highest
level, last year featured a game with} 16. Rb1 Rf7 $5 (16... Ne5 17. Nb3 Ng4
18. Qc2 (18. h3 $142 $1) 18... Be3 19. dxe4 $2 (19. Bh3 $1 {was already
necessary, although} Nxf2 20. Rxf2 Qd7 21. Rbf1 f4 $1 22. Bxe6+ Qxe6 $44 {
gives Black enough play.}) 19... Qg5 $2 (19... Nxf2 $1 20. Rxf2 fxe4 21. Rbf1
Qc7 22. Bxe4 Rxf2 23. Rxf2 Qf7 24. Bf3 Bxb3 $15) 20. fxe3 Qxe3+ 21. Kh1 Qh6 {
Nepomniachtchi,I (2742)-Aronian,L (2809) Geneva 2017} 22. h4 $1 Ne3 23. Qc1 f4
24. Rf3 Bxb3 25. gxf4 Nxg2 26. Kxg2 Qxh4 27. f5 $16 {For more details see the
notes to this game in CBM 180 by Yuffa.}) 17. Nc4 $5 (17. Nb3 Rd7 $36) 17...
Rd7 18. b3 {[%cal Yc3b5]} Bf6 (18... exd3 19. exd3 Rxd3 20. Qc2 $14) 19. Nb5
Nd4 20. Nxd4 Bxd4 $44) 16... Qd7 {Natural, Carlsen connects his rooks asap.} ({
However, considering the following note, the prophylactic} 16... g6 $13 {or}) (
16... Rf7 $13 {also deserved consideration} {/\} 17. g4 g6 18. gxf5 gxf5 19.
Rg1 Rg7) 17. Rb1 {Unpins the Rc1 after all.} ({However, the active} 17. g4 $142
$1 {would better profit from the previous move:} Bxd2 (17... g6 18. gxf5 gxf5
19. e3 $1 Qxd3 20. Rg1 $36) (17... exd3 18. f4 dxe2 19. Qxe2 Bf6 20. g5 $11)
18. Qxd2 exd3 19. gxf5 dxe2 20. Qxe2 Rxf5 21. f4 $5 $13 {All White's pieces
are active and the position is roughly equal.}) 17... Rad8 18. Nc4 $6 {Black
will easily parry the threat against Pb6.} ({It was stronger to win back some
space with} 18. f4 $1 {, although Black has indisputable compensation after}
Bf6 $44) 18... Qf7 $1 19. b3 (19. Nxb6 $2 Bb3 20. Qe1 exd3 {[%csl Gd3] and the
Pd3 is taboo:} 21. exd3 Rfe8 22. Ne2 Rxd3 $19) 19... exd3 20. exd3 f4 21. Ne4 (
{The engine briefly prefers} 21. Re1 f3 22. Bf1 {, but still doesn't relish
White's position after} Nd4 $36) 21... Be7 22. gxf4 Qxf4 {[%csl Rd3,Ge6,Ge7,
Rf2,Rh2][%mdl 2048] Giri has managed to prevent the f3 advance, but defending
the numerous white weaknesses against Black's active pieces is very difficult.
Carlsen has strong long-term pressure.} 23. a4 {Prevents b5, but allows Black
to activate his knight.} Nb4 24. Qe2 Qh6 $1 {A strong manoeuvre, freeing f4
for other pieces.} 25. Rbd1 (25. d4 $5 $15 {was probably more resilient}) 25...
Nd5 26. Rg1 Kh8 (26... Nf4 27. Qe3 {helps the defence, but a more energetic
try was the immediate}) (26... Rf4 $1 $36) 27. Bf1 ({White could have begun
with} 27. d4 Rf4 28. f3 Rh4 29. Bf1 $15 {The position is unpleasant, but there
is no direct tactical refutation.}) 27... Rf4 28. Ne5 $6 (28. f3 $142 Rh4 29.
d4 {transposes to the previous note.}) 28... Rdf8 $2 ({Carlsen hesitates,
after the stronger} 28... Rh4 $1 29. f3 Ne3 30. Rd2 Nf5 $17 {the knight aims
for d4 and the defence is under great strain.}) 29. f3 Rh4 30. d4 Nf4 (30...
Ne3 {is unconvincing:} 31. Rd3 $15) ({as is} 30... Bf5 31. Ng5 $1 {/\} Bxg5 $4
32. Nf7+ $18) 31. Qd2 Bxb3 {Although White couldn't hang on to his extra pawn,
he has activated his forces and clawed his way back into the game. In the
final phase probably time trouble played an important role.} 32. Rb1 $2 {
Why give up a pawn?} ({After} 32. Rc1 {the outcome of the game remains open;
the greedy} Bxa4 $2 {runs into} 33. Rc7) 32... Bxa4 33. Bb5 (33. Bc4 Be8 $15)
33... Bxb5 34. Rxb5 Qe6 35. Qb2 ({Engines also mention the passive, but more
solid} 35. Rb2 $15) 35... Bd8 36. Ng5 ({Here} 36. d5 $5 {deserves attention,
after} Nxd5 37. Ng5 Bxg5 38. Rxg5 {Black faces serious technical problems.})
36... Qe8 37. Rb3 Bxg5 $6 ({A cleaner solution is the tactical} 37... Rf5 $1
38. Ne4 Rxh2+ $1 39. Qxh2 Rh5 {and Black should gradually win.}) 38. Rxg5 Ne6
39. Rg4 $6 ({White should have avoided the R swap, after} 39. Rg1 $1 Nxd4 40.
Re3 $15 {Black must still work hard for the full point.}) 39... Rxg4 40. fxg4 (
40. Nxg4 Qa4 $17 {doesn't help much.}) 40... Qd8 41. Rh3 $6 ({Hastens the end,
but even after the better} 41. Rf3 Rxf3 42. Nxf3 Qd5 $17 {Black should prevail
in the long run.}) 41... Qd5+ 42. Kg1 Qe4 43. Qb4 Rf6 {The Rf8 has left its
vulnerable square and the N is ready to pounce either on d4, or f4. Further
resistance is futile.} 0-1

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 5th"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2018.04.28"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C48"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2778"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2018.04.19"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 184"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.05.16"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Nd4 5. Nxd4 exd4 6. e5 dxc3 7. exf6 Qxf6
8. Qe2+ Qe7 9. dxc3 Qxe2+ 10. Kxe2 Bc5 11. Be3 Bxe3 12. Kxe3 c6 13. Bd3 d5 14.
Rae1 Ke7 15. c4 dxc4 16. Bxc4 Rd8 17. Rd1 Be6 18. Bxe6 Kxe6 19. Rhe1 Rxd1 20.
Rxd1 Re8 21. f4 f5 22. Kf3 Re7 23. Re1+ Kf6 24. Rd1 Ke6 25. Re1+ Kf6 26. Rd1
Ke6 27. Re1+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 6th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2018.05.27"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2782"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2018.05.27"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 185"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Be7 5. b3 O-O 6. Bb2 b6 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
Nxd5 exd5 9. Qc2 c5 10. a3 Nc6 11. Bb5 Bb7 12. O-O Rc8 13. Rac1 a6 14. Be2 d4
15. Qb1 Qd7 16. Rfe1 g6 17. Ba1 Rfd8 18. h3 a5 19. Bb5 Bf6 20. b4 axb4 21. axb4
Qd6 22. bxc5 bxc5 23. Bc4 Rc7 24. exd4 Nxd4 25. Bxd4 Bxd4 26. Nxd4 Qxd4 27. Qb6
Qf4 28. Rcd1 Kg7 29. Bf1 Rd4 30. Re3 c4 31. g3 Qd6 32. Qxd6 Rxd6 33. Rc3 Rcd7
34. Rxc4 Rxd2 35. Rxd2 Rxd2 36. Rc1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 6th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2018.05.27"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E61"]
[WhiteElo "2808"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2018.05.27"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 185"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Nf3 O-O 5. Bg5 d6 6. Qd2 Bf5 7. Nh4 Bd7 8. Nf3
Nc6 9. d5 Nb4 10. e4 a5 11. Be2 Bg4 12. O-O c6 13. Rfe1 Bxf3 14. Bxf3 Nd7 15.
Rad1 Nc5 16. a3 Nbd3 17. Re3 Ne5 18. Be2 Re8 19. Rh3 Qb6 20. Bh6 Bf6 21. Be3
Qb3 22. Bxc5 dxc5 23. dxc6 Nxc6 24. Nd5 Qxb2 25. Qxb2 Bxb2 26. Nc7 Be5 27. Nxa8
Rxa8 28. Rb1 Nd4 29. Kf1 Rb8 30. Bd1 b6 31. Rd3 Bc7 32. Ba4 Kg7 33. g3 Rd8 34.
Rbd1 e5 35. Kg2 Rd6 36. Re3 Rf6 37. Rd2 Bd6 38. Rd1 Bc7 39. Red3 Bb8 40. Rb1
Bc7 41. Rb2 Bb8 42. f3 Bc7 43. Bd7 Rd6 44. Bh3 Rd8 45. Kf2 Re8 46. Bd7 Rd8 47.
Bh3 Re8 48. Bd7 Rd8 49. Bh3 Re8 50. Bd7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 6th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2018.05.27"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2778"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2018.05.27"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 185"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Bg4 3. Bg2 e6 4. O-O Nf6 5. d4 Be7 6. c4 c6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Qb3
Qb6 9. Ne5 Bh5 10. Bf4 Nbd7 11. Nxd7 Nxd7 12. e4 dxe4 13. Nxe4 Rfd8 14. Rfe1
Nf6 15. Nc5 Qxb3 16. axb3 Bxc5 17. dxc5 a6 18. b4 Rac8 19. Be5 Bg6 20. Red1 Bd3
21. b3 Bc2 22. Rxd8+ Rxd8 23. b5 Bxb3 24. bxa6 bxa6 25. Bxc6 Bxc4 26. Bb7 Bd5
27. c6 Rf8 28. Bxf6 gxf6 29. Rxa6 Kg7 30. f4 f5 31. Kf2 Kf6 32. Ke3 Ke7 33. Kd4
Kd6 34. c7+ Kxc7 35. Bxd5 Rd8 36. Ra5 Kb6 37. Rc5 f6 38. Rc6+ 1-0

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 6th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2018.05.27"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2789"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2018.05.27"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 185"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. d4 Nd7 5. O-O Ngf6 6. a4 a5 7. Bf4 O-O 8. c3
b6 9. Re1 Bb7 10. Na3 Ne4 11. Nd2 e5 12. dxe5 Nxe5 13. Nxe4 dxe4 14. Qc2 f5 15.
Rad1 Qe7 16. Nb5 Rae8 17. b4 Qf7 18. bxa5 bxa5 19. c4 h6 20. c5 Re7 21. Bxe5
Bxe5 22. e3 Bd5 23. Bf1 Bb3 24. Qc1 Kg7 25. Rd2 Bxa4 26. Nd4 Be8 27. Qa3 a4 28.
c6 Bxd4 29. Rxd4 Bxc6 30. Rc1 Be8 31. Rc5 Qf6 32. Bb5 Bf7 33. Rc6 Qe5 34. Rc5
Qf6 35. Rc6 Qe5 36. Rc5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 6th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2018.05.27"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A23"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2018.05.27"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 185"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 Bc5 4. Nc3 c6 5. e3 O-O 6. Nge2 d5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. d4
exd4 9. Nxd5 cxd5 10. Nxd4 Nc6 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. O-O Be6 13. Qc2 Qb6 14. b3 d4
15. exd4 Bxd4 16. Bb2 Bxb2 17. Qxb2 Rac8 18. Rac1 c5 19. Rc2 c4 20. bxc4 Rxc4
21. Qxb6 axb6 22. Rxc4 Bxc4 23. Rb1 Bxa2 24. Rxb6 Be6 25. Ra6 g6 26. Ra8 Rxa8
27. Bxa8 Kg7 28. f4 Kf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 6th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2018.05.27"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2760"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2018.05.27"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 185"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. h3 Bb6 8. Nbd2
Ne7 9. Re1 c6 10. Ba4 Ng6 11. Nf1 d5 12. Ng3 dxe4 13. Nxe4 Nxe4 14. dxe4 Be6
15. Bb3 Qe7 16. Bxe6 Qxe6 17. Qb3 Qxb3 18. axb3 f6 19. g3 Rfd8 20. Nd2 Nf8 21.
Nc4 Ne6 22. Nxb6 axb6 23. Be3 Rxa1 24. Rxa1 b5 25. Kf1 g6 26. Ke2 Kf7 27. Ra7
Rd7 28. Ra8 Rd8 29. Ra7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 6th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2018.05.27"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E48"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2822"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2018.05.27"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 185"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 c5 6. Nge2 d5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. a3
Ba5 9. O-O cxd4 10. exd4 Nc6 11. Bc2 Nce7 12. Qd3 Ng6 13. Nxd5 exd5 14. Bd2 Bc7
15. Bf4 Re8 16. Bxc7 Qxc7 17. Rae1 Bd7 18. Nc3 Qd6 19. Qg3 Qxg3 20. hxg3 Bc6
21. Bxg6 hxg6 22. f3 f6 23. Rxe8+ Rxe8 24. Kf2 Kf7 25. Rc1 g5 26. g4 Rd8 27.
Nd1 g6 28. Ne3 Rh8 29. a4 Ke6 30. a5 Kd6 31. Nc2 Bb5 32. Nb4 b6 33. axb6 axb6
34. Na2 Bd7 35. Nc3 Rc8 36. Ra1 Rc4 37. Ke3 Rb4 38. Rb1 f5 39. b3 fxg4 40. Na2
Rb5 41. b4 gxf3 42. Kxf3 Bf5 43. Rb2 Kd7 44. Nc3 Kc6 45. Ke3 Be6 46. Kd2 Bf5
47. Rb3 Be6 48. Kc1 Bf5 49. Kb2 Be4 50. g3 Bf5 51. Ka3 Bc2 52. Rb2 Bd3 53. Rf2
1-0

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 6th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2018.05.27"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2018.05.27"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 185"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Qe2 Qe7 7. Nbd2 Bg4 8.
h3 Bh5 9. a3 Nd7 10. b4 Bb6 11. Nc4 a5 12. Rb1 axb4 13. axb4 Ra2 14. O-O O-O
15. Rb2 Rfa8 16. c3 Ra1 17. Rc2 f6 18. Rd1 Nf8 19. Nxb6 cxb6 20. Be3 Ne6 21.
Rcd2 b5 22. Rxa1 Rxa1+ 23. Rd1 Ra3 24. Qb2 Bxf3 25. gxf3 Ra4 26. Qb3 Kh8 27. d4
exd4 28. cxd4 Rxb4 29. Qd3 Ng5 30. Bxg5 fxg5 31. d5 cxd5 32. Qxd5 h6 33. Qf5
Rc4 34. Rd7 Qf6 35. Qd5 Rc8 36. Kg2 Rf8 37. Qd3 Qc6 38. Rd5 b4 39. Rb5 Qc3 40.
Qxc3 bxc3 41. Rc5 b5 42. Rxc3 b4 43. Rb3 Rb8 44. Kf1 Kg8 45. Ke2 Kf7 46. Kd3
Ke6 47. Kc4 Ke5 48. Rxb4 Rxb4+ 49. Kxb4 Kd4 50. Kb3 h5 51. Kc2 g4 52. hxg4 h4
0-1

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 6th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2018.05.27"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B09"]
[WhiteElo "2769"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2018.05.27"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 185"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 g6 2. e4 d6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. f4 Nf6 5. Nf3 c5 6. Bb5+ Bd7 7. e5 Ng4 8. e6
Bxb5 9. exf7+ Kf8 10. Nxb5 Qa5+ 11. Nc3 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Kxf7 13. Qxg4 Bxd4 14.
Bd2 Qf5 15. Qxf5+ gxf5 16. Nb5 Bb6 17. O-O-O Nd7 18. Rhe1 a6 19. Nc3 Nf6 20.
Be3 Bxe3+ 21. Rxe3 Rad8 22. Nd5 Nxd5 23. Rxd5 e6 24. Rd2 h5 25. Rde2 Rh6 26.
Rc3 Rd7 27. a4 h4 28. b4 Kf6 29. b5 axb5 30. axb5 Rh8 31. Kb2 Ra8 32. Rh3 Rh7
33. Rhe3 Re8 34. Rd3 Rd8 35. Rde3 Re8 36. Rd3 Rd8 37. Rde3 Re8 38. Rd3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 6th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2018.05.28"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C24"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2822"]
[Annotator "Mekhitarian,K"]
[PlyCount "153"]
[EventDate "2018.05.28"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 185"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 {The Bishop's Opening, played five times by Magnus Carlsen in
classical games. It fits his style, since a positional battle begins, and
there is not much theory. In 2014, the very same Fabiano Caruana with Black
beat Carlsen in the Sinquefield Cup.} Nf6 3. d3 c6 4. Nf3 (4. Qe2 Be7 (4... d5
$1 $36 {is the best way to deal with Qe2}) 5. Nf3 d6 6. c3 Nbd7 7. Bb3 O-O 8.
O-O a5 9. d4 a4 10. Bc2 Re8 11. Re1 Bf8 12. Qd1 b5 $17 {with a balanced
middlegame, the reigning world champion scored a win over world's number 1
woman, Hou Yifan. 1-0 (61) Carlsen,M (2843)-Hou,Y (2654) Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden
2018}) 4... d5 5. Bb3 Bb4+ $1 {The main move here. Black provokes the c2-c3
advance, so White loses the option to play Nc3 at a later stage. Carlsen
played 6.c3 in the aforementioned game.} 6. Bd2 {This is another way to play
it.} (6. c3 {happened in the aforementioned game, between these two players
back in 2014.} Bd6 7. Bg5 dxe4 8. dxe4 h6 9. Bh4 Qe7 10. Nbd2 Nbd7 11. Bg3 Bc7
12. O-O Nh5 13. h3 $6 Nxg3 14. fxg3 Nc5 15. Bxf7+ {Black was able to stop this
pseudo-initiative and converted the game on move 34} Kxf7 16. Nxe5+ Kg8 17. Ng6
Qg5 18. Rf8+ Kh7 19. Nxh8 Bg4 20. Qf1 Nd3 21. Qxd3 Rxf8 22. hxg4 Qxg4 $17 {
Carlsen,M (2877)-Caruana,F (2801) Sinquefield Cup 2nd 2014 (3) 0-1}) 6... Bxd2+
7. Nbxd2 a5 {Threatening the old and good bishop trap with ...a4. I only found
one high-level reference in classical games here, where White played 8.a3.} 8.
c3 (8. a3 a4 9. Ba2 Nbd7 10. O-O O-O 11. Re1 Re8 12. d4 {Trying to start
central play did not lead to any advantage for White:} exd4 13. exd5 Rxe1+ 14.
Qxe1 cxd5 {Black has the isolated pawn, but has well placed pieces (...Nf8-e6
is a possible plan) and a b2-pawn to attack with ...Qb6} 15. Nb1 $2 {too slow}
(15. Nxd4 {was possible} Qb6 16. Nf5 Qxb2 17. Ne7+ Kf8 18. Nxd5 Nxd5 19. Bxd5
Qd4 $11 {followed by ...Nf6}) 15... d3 $6 (15... Nb8 $1 16. Nxd4 Nc6 $17 {
would give a nice advantage for Black}) 16. cxd3 Nc5 17. d4 Nce4 18. Nc3 Be6
$11 {½-½ (27) Shirov,A (2713)-Rodshtein,M (2641) Rogaska Slatina 2011}) 8...
Nbd7 9. exd5 {A typical reaction, when Back develops his knight to d7. It is
logical, because now Black can not play ...Nc6 anymore, an ideal move whenever
the c6-pawn goes to d5.} cxd5 {[%csl Rd7][%cal Rb8c6]} 10. O-O O-O 11. Re1 Re8
12. Nf1 b5 13. a4 $5 b4 14. cxb4 axb4 {We have already reached a very
imbalaced position, starting from a very modest opening.} 15. Ne3 Bb7 16. d4 $1
{A very nice concept from the World Champion, as we shall see:} e4 17. Ne5 Nxe5
(17... Rxe5 $5 {was playable, but it hardly looks like Black is already in
need to give away an exchange.} 18. dxe5 Nxe5 19. Qd4 Nc6 20. Qd2 d4 21. Nf5
Ra5 $1 22. Ng3 Re5 $44 {With a very original position. It looks very shaky for
Black, but the central pawns are strong, giving good compensation.}) 18. dxe5
Rxe5 19. Qd4 Re7 20. Rac1 $1 {Getting the pawn back with 20.Qxb4 was possible,
but the whole concept of sacrificing a pawn in a seemingly normal position
just goes to show how brilliant Carlsen is sometimes.} (20. Qxb4 Bc6 {[%cal
Re7b7] The main downside for taking the pawn is the bishop on b3 that becomes
loose now. Ideally, you want to place your minor pieces in a way they can't be
attacked easily.} 21. Qd4 Rb7 22. Rec1 {We have a similar position compared to
the game, but here Black is in full control of the b-file and should equalise:}
Qb6 23. Qxb6 Rxb6 24. a5 Rxb3 25. Rxc6 Rxb2 26. Rd6 $11 {Black is a pawn up,
but he will soon lose it, when the endgame will be simply equal.}) 20... Rd7
21. Red1 (21. Qxb4 $2 {doesn't make sense now:} d4 $17) 21... h6 22. Rc5 $44 {
I feel that here White wants to make small improvements, like Rdc1 and h3, and
only then think about taking any decisive action. The d5-pawn is weak, and
Black always has to count on the a4-pawn advancing at some point.} Ra5 23. Rxa5
(23. Rdc1 $5 {would be similar}) 23... Qxa5 24. h3 Kh7 25. Rc1 Rc7 $2 {In the
post-mortem, Caruana mentioned that he simply misevaluated the following
position, thinking he would have good activity with his queen, but soon he
realised it was a bad idea. Now White is in full control.} (25... Qa6 $1 {
would be a smart move, anticipating White's Rc5 followed by a5, with ...Qe2!}
26. Rc5 Qe2 $132) 26. Rxc7 Qxc7 27. Qxb4 $16 Qc1+ 28. Bd1 Ba6 29. Qd4 {We have
the same position as before, without the b4-pawn. Now, compared with the
middlegame, it is way more valuable to take the pawn back and start advancing
the passed a and b-pawns, since they are free and very frightening! Also,
there are no rooks to create direct counterplay against them.} Be2 30. Kh2 Bxd1
$6 (30... Qc7+ $1 {forcing White to weaken a little bit} 31. g3 (31. Kg1 Qc1 {
repeats the position.}) 31... Bxd1 32. Nxd1 h5 {Being able to play ...h4 at
some point and create threats against your opponent's king is usually good.
Here it could have been a nice way to look for counterplay.} 33. Kg1 Qc1 $36 {
with ...e3 ideas.}) 31. Nxd1 Qc7+ 32. Kg1 $1 {Now there is no need to play g3,
like in the 30...Qc7+ line.} Qc1 33. b4 e3 {The same idea I mentioned earlier,
but the big difference is that with the pawn on g2, White's king is much safer.
} 34. fxe3 $18 {White is winning. With flawless technique, Carlsen converts
the full point:} Ne4 35. Qxd5 Nd2 36. Qf5+ Kh8 37. Qg4 f5 38. Qe2 Ne4 39. Qe1
Qa1 40. a5 Nd6 41. Qd2 {Slowly untangling the position. That is common when
you have a lot of additional material but your opponent is active. You have to
find space for small improvements and soon the position will play itself.} Nc4
42. Qd4 Qc1 43. Kf1 {Trying to bring the king closer so White can advance his
pawns further.} Nxe3+ {Caruana goes for the queen endgame, that should also be
hopeless, but the position is very bad anyway.} 44. Qxe3 Qxd1+ 45. Kf2 Qc2+ 46.
Kg3 g5 {Black does not want to weaken his king, but he's lost otherwise, so he
has to try something like this.} 47. Qe5+ Kh7 48. Kh2 $1 {King safety always
in first place in queen endgames!} f4 49. Qd5 Qa4 50. Qf7+ Kh8 51. Qg6 $1 {
Simplifying into a clear win:} Qxb4 52. Qxh6+ Kg8 53. Qxg5+ Kh7 54. Qh5+ Kg7
55. Qg5+ Kh7 56. h4 Qd6 57. Qh5+ Kg7 58. Qg5+ Kh7 59. h5 {Somewhat
cold-blooded to allow ...f3+, but it's all good for White. The good thing is
that Qg6+ is a very strong threat now.} f3+ 60. g3 f2 61. Qg6+ Kh8 (61... Qxg6
62. hxg6+ Kxg6 63. Kg2 $18 {and the game ends immediately.}) 62. Qxd6 f1=Q 63.
Qh6+ Kg8 64. Qe6+ (64. Qg6+ Kh8 65. h6 $4 {would be a way to mess up the
position!} Qg2+ $1 {forcing stalemate} 66. Kxg2 $11) 64... Kh8 65. Qe3 {
With three pawns up, White has to be just a little bit careful.} Qb5 66. Qc3+ {
Finding a good square for the queen.} Kh7 67. g4 Qd5 68. Qc7+ Kg8 69. Kg3 {
[%cal Gc7g3]} Qe6 (69... Qd3+ 70. Kh4 $18 {and Black has no more checks
already.}) 70. Qd8+ Kh7 71. Qd3+ Kh8 72. a6 Qe5+ 73. Kh3 Qa1 74. Qd8+ Kh7 75.
Qe7+ Kh6 76. Qe3+ Kh7 77. a7 {It is nice to see that Carlsen used the same
technique always - defending the pawn from the diagonal (a5, Qc3 - a6, Qd3 -
a7, Qe3). Now Black resigned, since it's impossible to avoid White giving a
check somewhere and then queening that pawn. A superb win from the World
Champion!} 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 6th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2018.05.29"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2782"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2018.05.28"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 185"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Bc5 6. c3 O-O 7. d4 Ba7 8. dxe5
Nxe4 9. Qd5 Nc5 10. Bc2 Ne7 11. Qd1 d5 12. exd6 Qxd6 13. Qxd6 cxd6 14. Rd1 Bg4
15. Rxd6 Bf5 16. Na3 Ne4 17. Bxe4 Bxe4 18. Rd1 Nf5 19. Nc4 Rfe8 20. Be3 Bxe3
21. Nxe3 Nxe3 22. fxe3 Bxf3 23. gxf3 Rxe3 24. Rd7 Rb8 25. Rad1 Kf8 26. Kf2 Re7
27. Rd8+ Re8 28. Rxb8 Rxb8 29. Rd7 Ke8 30. Rc7 b5 31. Rc6 Ra8 32. c4 Kd7 33.
cxb5 axb5 34. Rb6 Rxa2 35. Rxb5 Ra4 36. Kg3 Rd4 37. Rb7+ Ke6 38. Rb6+ Kf5 39.
Rb5+ Ke6 40. Rb6+ Kf5 41. Rb5+ Ke6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 6th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2018.05.30"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2018.05.28"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 185"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 {In round one Magnus won a good game against Fabiano Caruana
with 2.Bc4, but that move at top level is almost exclusively seen as an
anti-Petroff move order.} Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 $5 4. O-O ({In round one Anand
continued} 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 d5 6. Bd2 O-O 7. O-O Re8 8. exd5 a6 $1 {when while
not only springing an excellent novelty, Aronian also managed to amuse in the
confession booth saying he forgot to play it at move 3, and now seemed at good
moment to correct the mistake! Even so, his switch from Marshall to Berlin
seemed more than just a fling.}) 4... Nxe4 5. Re1 {The most solid of lines,
suiting well that Magnus actually was the sole leader at this point.} Nd6 6.
Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5 8. Rxe5 O-O 9. d4 Bf6 10. Re1 {By far the main move, but
in the New York match vs. Karjakin, Magnus did put the rook on e2, an idea of
Caruana's second Kasimdzhanov, and had some pressure before the game was
eventually drawn.} Nf5 $5 {Also the latest trend.} ({People used to go} 10...
Re8 {and while that still makes a solid apperance, the preference by the
experts has been for this slightly more aggressive move.}) 11. d5 {Grabbing
space, or from Black's perspective, slightly weakening White's pawn chain.
Less ambitious but more solid is 11.c3 d5, with numerous games being drawn
shortly thereafter.} Re8 {Here everybody routinely played the standard move,
till Caruana in Baden tried 12.Bd3 against Aronian. Magnus' next move was
intended to be a novelty:} 12. Rxe8+ $5 {But to my surprise this had already
been played by Palac in 2005, against me! The unimpressive continuation being
12...Qxe8 13.Nd2 d6 draw agreed.} Qxe8 13. Qd3 $5 {Putting the bishop on d3
similar to Caruana looks like a normal move, while this somewhat goes against
chess principles. First developing your queen, and only then figuring out how
to proceed next is not excactly what is recommended in the beginners' books.
But apart from the primitive threats of taking the knight on f5, more
relevantly it supports the e4-square planning to transfer the knight there
eventually as well and in general having much more scope. Aronian seemed
surprised but after some thought played the obvious reply.} d6 14. Nd2 {
Intending Ne4, followed by c3 Bd2 Re1. The good thing about White's position
is that it has a lot of room for improvement! For Black it's more difficult,
and probably, especially in light of White not being fully developed, 14...
c6!? switching the position to an isolani-style type after a white dxc6 or a
black ...cxd5 would assure counterplay. But Black has an almost perfect pawn
structure so voluntarily ruining it is not an easy over the board decision.}
Bg5 $6 {A very logical move, assuring the exchange of the dark-squared bishops
and at the same time eliminating the Ne4 threat.} 15. Nf3 {A case (the
engines!) could be made for including g3+h4 to gain a bit of time, but Magnus
Magnus either wanted to assure himself of the following favourable exchanges,
or perhaps as the games later shows the relevance of, rather would not lose
the flexibilty on how to put his pawns on the kingside.} Bxc1 16. Rxc1 Bd7 17.
Re1 {At first sight it looks like a typical quick Re1 Berlin draw is in
progress. Rooks will be exchanged in the e-line and White has absolutely
nothing constructive to do with his moderate space advantage. But details do
matter! After 17...Qf8 White will immediately attack Black's queenside with
moves like 18.Qb3 or 18.Qc4, when Black face a passive defence using his rook
to defend the weakness on especially c7. Perhaps a small difference, but with
a huge effect. Black has no way of getting the neccesary echanges and is
doomed to passive defence. His position is so solid that the chances of sucess
obviously is there, but White's edge, as indicated by the engines, is
certainly larger than it looks at first sight.} Qd8 18. Qc4 g6 19. h3 Ng7 20.
Re3 {A nice setup, the rook might be used to attack the vulnerable spots on
the queenside, or more directely, the black kingside as in the game. It does
however give Aronian a chance to change the structure play with an isolani.} a5
({After} 20... c5 $1 21. dxc6 Bxc6 {Black obviously is slightly worse, but in
a less suffocating way than the game.}) 21. a4 {Now ...c5 would leave the
b5-square weak, thus 21...c6!} Ne8 22. Qd4 {An ideal square for White's queen.
Normally ...Qf6 would chase it away, but with the pawn already on g6, White
always has the small tactic Rxe8+! meaning Black will never achieve a Qf6+Kg7
setup.} Ng7 23. g4 $5 {Logical and strong. Magnus cntrols the f5-square, not
allowing ...Nf5 attacking his queen. Weakening his own king is not a concern
due to Black's passivity, but even so the engine does seem to think White
would optimize his edge with the less compromising 23.Bd3.} c6 {At last, and
with the logical justification that White's last move has changed the battle
from a positional one to a tactical, Aronian stops caring about his pawn
structure but tries creating counterplay.} (23... Qf8 {intending 24...Re8
looks solid and logical, but} 24. Ng5 $1 {becomes alarming as if} Re8 ({
Suffice it to say that the engines suggests} 24... Qd8 $1) {then} 25. Ne4 $1 {
gets access to the f6-square with immediate disaster for Black.}) 24. c4 Ne8 {
With all this suffering , why not at least have a pawn for it?} (24... c5 25.
Qf4 Bxa4 {is possible, when White has excellent compensation in numerous ways,
the engines preferring} 26. Ra3 $5 Bd7 27. Rb3 {eyeing the b6-square!}) 25. Qf4
Kg7 {Adding to his misery, Levon was also now desperately short of time, and
Magnus now pulls off an almost basketball like trick, first looking to one
side, but the attacking fiercly on the other:} 26. Rb3 {Just a decoy.} Rb8 27.
Ng5 $1 Nf6 $2 (27... Qf6 {still defends, as while} 28. Qd2 {does attack the
a5-pawn Black can defend with} h6 29. Ne4 Qd8 {without facing disaster. Now
however swift tactics decide.}) 28. Rf3 $1 h6 {Not even a blunder, as Black
has no meaningful defence anyway.} ({The d6-pawn is attacked, and} 28... Qe7
29. Re3 Qf8 {leaves White so many options that the engine does not even
mention that 30.Qxf6+?! followed by Nxh7+ wins a pawn. Easiest is} 30. Qd4 $1 {
with a crushing pin.}) 29. Ne4 $1 Nxe4 30. Qxf7+ Kh8 31. Qxg6 {And with the
combined threats to the knight in e4 and the h6-pawn as well as Rf7 mating,
Aronian resigned.} 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 6th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2018.06.01"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D60"]
[WhiteElo "2769"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[Annotator "Yermolinsky,A"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2018.05.28"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 185"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 Nbd7 {
The Orthodox Defence to the Queens Gambit was more popular in the 1910's than
in the 2010's, but King Magnus can play anything he wants.} 8. Be2 {There's
hardly any difference between the text} ({and the other bishop move} 8. Bd3) ({
while} 8. Rc1 c5 9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. Bxe7 Nxe7 {is currently considered a
reliable defense, thanks to the pioneering efforts of Vladimir Kramnik.
Although, Nakamura himself beat Fressinet in 2016 by going to the endgame:} 11.
dxc5 Nxc5 12. Qxd8 Rxd8 13. b4 Nd7 14. Bd3) 8... dxc4 9. Bxc4 a6 10. a4 c5 11.
O-O cxd4 12. Nxd4 {Hikaru goes safety first.} ({The more principled} 12. exd4 {
is met by the solid defence} Nb6 13. Bb3 Bd7 14. Ne5 Bc6 {It's very hard for
White to break through, while Carlsen would surely be looking to lay siege to
the IQP.}) 12... Nb6 13. Be2 (13. Bb3 Nbd5 14. Nxd5 Nxd5 15. Bxe7 Nxe7 16. Bc2
Bd7 17. Qd3 g6 {Salem-Karjakin, World Rapid 2017, and Black eventually
prevailed.}) 13... Nbd5 14. Nxd5 Nxd5 15. Bxe7 Qxe7 16. Qb3 b6 17. Bf3 Bb7 {
There's nothing White can do in terms of playing on, and Hikaru forces total
liquidation.} 18. Nf5 exf5 19. Bxd5 Bxd5 20. Qxd5 Qf6 21. Qb3 Rad8 22. Rfd1
Rxd1+ 23. Rxd1 Rd8 24. Rxd8+ Qxd8 25. g3 g6 26. h4 h5 27. Qc4 a5 28. b3 Qd1+
29. Kg2 Qd7 30. Kf1 Qd1+ 31. Kg2 Qd7 32. Kf1 Qd1+ 33. Kg2 Qd7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 6th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2018.06.02"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A33"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2760"]
[Annotator "Yermolinsky,A"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2018.05.28"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 185"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. a3 {Introduced into
tournament practice in the 1990's this little move shows White's big ambition
to build up a big centre by preventing the black bishop from coming to b4.} Be7
{The d7-d5 break can be delayed.} ({In the past Anand and some members of his
coaching staff relied on} 6... d5 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bg5 Bc5 9. e3 Bxd4 {which is
a dull but reliable way to equalise.}) 7. e4 ({Carlsen-Gelfand, 2009 saw a
different plan:} 7. g3 Qb6 8. Nf3 O-O 9. Bg2 Rd8 10. O-O d5 11. cxd5 exd5 {
the resulting position looks like it came from the Tarrasch Defence, possibly
with an extra tempo for Black thanks to White's Nf3-d4-f3.}) 7... O-O 8. Nf3 {
Normally White wouldn't retreat with that knight,} ({but} 8. Be2 d5 {is known
to be equal.}) 8... Qa5 $5 {Still a relatively fresh idea. Black insists on
his central break.} ({A Hedgehog-like formation can be reached via the standard
} 8... Qc7 9. Be2 b6 10. O-O Bb7 {Anand had this position with Black against
Vallejo back in 2005!}) 9. Bd2 {I'm rather surprised with this one.} ({One
would think the endgame up a pawn after the semi-forced} 9. Bd3 d5 10. exd5
exd5 11. cxd5 Nxd5 12. Bxh7+ Kxh7 13. Qxd5 Qa6 14. Bg5 Be6 15. Qb5 {would be
right up Carlsen's alley.}) 9... Qh5 10. Be2 d5 {So, the break goes through.}
11. cxd5 exd5 12. exd5 Nxd5 13. O-O ({Black absolutely doesn't mind the split
pawns after} 13. Nd4 Qe5 14. Nxc6 bxc6 {as his pawn formation provides support
to his Nd5, as seen in Huzman-Timofeev, 2016 and Inarkiev-Gelfand 2017}) 13...
Nf6 $5 {A novelty and improvement from Vishy, which was rather predictable.} ({
We talked about the c6-pawn in the note above, but here things take a bit of a
different shape after} 13... Rd8 14. Nd4 Qg6 15. Nxd5 Rxd5 16. Nxc6 bxc6 17.
Bf3 {as White got himself a free ride in Wojtaszek-Borisek, 2015. Naturally,
Carlsen wouldn't mind a repeat of such a scenario, but this being a Wojtaszek
game made it very unlikely to escape a careful examination in Anand's lab.})
14. Nd4 Qc5 15. Nxc6 Qxc6 16. Bf3 {White's only hope in this dry desert type
of position is the pressure against b7, but Black's next takes care of that.}
Qa6 $1 17. Re1 Be6 18. Qe2 Qxe2 19. Nxe2 Bg4 $1 20. Bxg4 Nxg4 {Dead equal. One
last thing left to do was to honour the 30-move rule.} 21. h3 Ne5 22. Nf4 Nc6
23. Nd5 Bd6 24. Bc3 f6 25. Rad1 Rad8 26. Rd2 Kf7 27. Red1 Bb8 28. Kf1 Rfe8 29.
Nb4 Rxd2 30. Rxd2 Bf4 31. Rd1 Rd8 32. Rxd8 Nxd8 33. Ke2 Bd6 34. Nc2 Nc6 35. Nd4
Nxd4+ 36. Bxd4 a6 37. Kd3 Ke6 38. Be3 Kd5 39. f3 b5 40. Bd2 f5 41. Be1 g6 42.
Bd2 Be7 43. Be1 Bd6 44. Bd2 Be7 45. Be1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 6th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2018.06.03"]
[Round "6"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D13"]
[WhiteElo "2778"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[Annotator "So,Wesley"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2018.05.28"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 185"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{People like to say that I don't play my best against Carlsen. Don't think I
hadn't noticed that, but it took my dad Renato to explain it to me.   He told
me it is like being a very young and talented soccer player and having
pictures of Pele all over your room and knowing by heart every game he ever
played. You think about him, dream about him, grow up wanting to be as good as
him and when playing by yourself even pretend you are him. And then one day
Pele suddenly appears on the field. You can’t move. You can't breathe.
Everything is a blur. Which goal posts are yours? You feel like you might
faint. Or die. You are overwhelmed because he is older, bigger and has years
of experience on you. You see that you are a kid with over size dreams.  
Playing Carlsen in Norway is probably like playing Pele in Brazil. It has good
points in that the focus is always on him and no one really cares about your
games unless you lose to him. You can be sure of a dismissive attitude from
the Norwegian commentators and a local audience who only came to see one
player (who is that brown boy anyway?).   I appreciate this because it’s
very freeing not to carry the burden of expectation. It allows me to focus on
the excellence of the Altibox Norway Chess experience (which is one of the
best organized events in Europe - a professional chess players dream
tournament).   I really love Stavanger and after a meal of my favorite food 
(salmon), I went to play my game against the favored son of Norway, whom in my
3.5 years of professional play, I had never beaten in a classical game.} 1. d4
{Considering how well prepared Magnus is in the opening these days, I decided
to stick to normal lines and not challenge him on the intricacies of the Ruy
Lopez.} d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 (3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 {is usually how my games with
Magnus go. I've had this position against him with both colors.}) 3... cxd5 {
Apparently the commentators announced I was playing for a draw by taking on d5.
.. A shocking analysis, as we'd only traded one pawn!} 4. Bf4 Nf6 ({I thought
he'd start with} 4... Nc6 5. Nc3 {and now he has the extra option:} e5 $5 (5...
Bf5 6. e4 $5)) 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Nf3 a6 ({I was expecting} 6... Nh5 7. Bd2 Nf6 {
which seems to be the most solid variation, but Magnus went for the sideline.})
(6... Bf5 7. e3 e6 8. Qb3 Bb4 9. Ne5 {has become very fashionable lately.
Yaroslav Zherebukh beat Ray Robson with it just a couple of months ago in the
US Championships.}) 7. Rc1 Bf5 8. e3 {I had a little experience with this
variation, having played it against Ivanchuk almost a decade ago when I was
thirteen!} Rc8 (8... e6 9. Qb3 Ra7 {is how my game with Ivanchuk went, in
World Cup 2009.}) 9. Be2 e6 10. O-O Nd7 {He played this quite fast, so I
assumed he was still following his opening ideas.} (10... Be7 11. Qb3 $1 Na5
12. Qa4+ {is supposed to be better for White due to} Nc6 13. Bxa6 $1) (10...
Bd6 11. Bxd6 Qxd6 12. Na4 {is not a nice position for Black. Usually he
wouldn't want to trade his dark-squared bishop in the Exchange Slav.}) 11. Na4
Be7 {This quietly threatens to attack on the kingside with ...g5-h5.} 12. h3 {
Prophylaxis against the aforementioned idea.} O-O ({Magnus castled quite fast.
Apparently still} 12... g5 $5 {is very good here. I won't give it an
exclamation mark since the position remains very unclear, but it is definitely
a good alternative.} 13. Bh2 h5 {Now the kingside pawns look threatening. The
position is quite weird and analysis shows it's not easy to play for both
sides:} 14. Nd2 (14. Ne1 g4 15. Bd3 Bxd3 16. Nxd3 Rg8 17. Kh1 $13) 14... g4 (
14... b5 15. Nc3 Nf6 16. a4 b4 17. Ncb1) 15. hxg4 hxg4 16. Bxg4 Bd3 $1 17. Be2
Bb4 $1 18. Nf3 Be4 $132) 13. a3 {Preparing to push my pawns forward. White is
simply faster and better equipped to seize the initiative on the queenside.}
Na5 (13... b5 14. Nc5 Nxc5 15. dxc5 Bf6 16. Nd4 Bxd4 17. exd4 Qf6 18. Be3 e5
19. dxe5 Qxe5 20. Qd2 $14 {is a long forcing line that favors White.}) 14. Nc5
$1 Nc4 15. b4 Nxc5 (15... b5 16. Nxa6 Nxa3 17. Nc5 Nc4 18. Ra1 $14) 16. dxc5 ({
And not} 16. bxc5 b6 $11) 16... Nxa3 $6 (16... b6 17. Bxc4 dxc4 18. Qxd8 Bxd8
19. Bd6 $16) ({With hindsight} 16... b5 $1 {bolsters the knight and it might
be the best defense.} 17. a4 Nb2 18. Qd2 Nxa4 19. Nd4 Bg6 {is very unclear.
White has compensation for the pawn but perhaps not much more.}) 17. Nd4 Be4
18. f3 Bg6 19. Qb3 {I wasn't really worried about sacrificing the a-pawn since
his knight is sidelined in many lines.} Nc4 20. Bxc4 dxc4 21. Qxc4 Qe8 $5 {
Interesting option and one I could hardly expect. Black keeps the bishop pair
for now and he wants to kick my knight away from its central outpost by making
the ...e6-e5 break work.} ({I thought he would go for} 21... Bg5 {which is the
most natural move, and now} 22. Bxg5 Qxg5 {since I am slightly better, but not
much more than that. In fact during the game I couldn't see anything clearly.
My dark squares are a little vulnerable and Black is ready to fight for
control of the d-file.} 23. Qc3 {is what I was thinking to play, and then:}
Rfd8 24. Rfd1 h5 (24... Qe5 25. Kf2 Qf6 26. Ne2 $14) 25. Nb3 Bf5 26. Kh1 $1 Qg3
27. Qe1 $14 {with a few accurate moves White will manage to keep a nagging
edge, but over the board the position is never really crystal clear.}) 22. Bg3
{Just a quiet non-commital move, because I couldn't find anything definitive.
I decided to just make a move and see what Magnus intended to do next.} (22. c6
$5 e5 $1 (22... b5 23. Qc3 $18 {is just winning for White, the c-pawn is
simply too strong.}) 23. Bxe5 bxc6 24. Nxc6 Bxb4 {was the line that Magnus
calculated. Black holds here.}) (22. e4 e5 23. Bxe5 Bxc5 24. bxc5 Qxe5 {
is better for White, as the bishop on g6 is buried for the time being, but I
think Black can hold here too.}) 22... e5 (22... Bg5 {is better.} 23. Rfe1 Qd7
$14 {it's not that easy to break Black's defenses.}) 23. Nb3 Bd8 $2 {This just
blunders a pawn. Magnus missed 26.Bd6 in the variation below.} (23... e4 {
is an option but I suppose he wasn't attracted to it.} 24. f4 Bf5 25. Nd4 Bd7
26. f5 $16) (23... Bf5 {also does not fully equalize:} 24. Bxe5 Be6 25. Qc3
Bxb3 26. Qxb3 Bxc5 27. Rxc5 Rxc5 28. Bxg7 $1 $36) (23... h6 $1 {is the best
defense, but over the board it is hard to see why.}) 24. Qd5 {Grabbing the
gift.} Qb5 $6 {Another mistake.} (24... Bc7 {is perhaps a better defense.} 25.
Na5 (25. Qxb7 Bd3 26. Rfd1 Bb5 27. Nd2 $16) 25... Bxa5 26. bxa5 Qe7 27. Qxe5
Qxe5 28. Bxe5 Bd3 29. Rfd1 Bb5 {White is a clear pawn up, but the presence of
opposite colored bishops give Black good holding chances. I would estimate
Black's chances to draw around 30-40%.}) 25. Bxe5 Be7 (25... Qxb4 26. Bd6 {
is what he overlooked.}) 26. Qd2 {I consolidate the pawn of course. Here I was
very much delighted with my position.} (26. Na5 $1 b6 27. Nb7 {is the
computer's fastest way to destroy any Black resistance. Suffice to say that I
did not even see 27.Nb7 during the game.}) 26... Rfd8 27. Bd6 Bf6 28. e4 h6 {
White is definitely winning now. The only question is how to convert my
advantage. Having a winning position does not mean a thing unless you can
carefully nurse your advantage to a win. As a famous player once pointed out:
'Anyone can get an advantage, but only the BEST players convert them.'} 29. Nd4
Bxd4+ 30. Qxd4 Re8 ({Trading pawns does not help at all:} 30... a5 31. bxa5
Qxa5 32. Ra1 $18 {when the b7 pawn is going to fall.}) 31. Rfe1 Kh7 32. g4 $1 {
We were already quite short on time here that's why I didn't hesitate to
attack!} (32. f4 f5 {is what I wanted to prevent. The last thing we want is
for Black to have some sort of a light-square blockade.}) 32... f6 33. f4 Qc6
$2 {After this blunder Black should be totally 100% lost.} (33... Bf7 {is
clearly a better defense. The queen is just better placed on b5.} 34. f5 a5 35.
bxa5 Ra8 {and if Black can activate a rook along the a-file he has some saving
chances.}) 34. f5 Bf7 35. h4 {Here I knew for a fact that I was winning,
however converting advantages is never easy, as you can see from the past
games. For example there is a famous game of Magnus back in 2014, in a 4.f3
Nimzo. His opponent was totally winning for many moves, even reaching 
(computer evaluation) +15 at some point, but nevertheless he managed to find
all the worst moves and in the end succeeded in losing the game.} Ra8 36. Rc2 (
36. Rc3 {was my first intention and would be very strong. I rejected it
because of} a5 37. g5 axb4 (37... Bh5 38. Rg3 {and compared with the rook on
g2 there is a big difference: Black has no 38...Bf3! counterplay.}) 38. g6+
Bxg6 39. fxg6+ Kxg6 {and Black has two pawns but hey, a piece is a piece!})
36... a5 37. g5 Bh5 $1 {A very good sneaky last try, and one which I
underestimated.} 38. g6+ {In Norway there is no time increment or delay until
move 60, so time trouble is definitely an issue. Here I used up all my time
calculating until I found a series of moves that would bring me to move 40
safely.} ({I was hesitant to open the g-file, but simplest is} 38. gxf6 gxf6
39. b5 $1 {(A very important move, closing the a-file and opening the b-file
for White.)} Qxb5 40. Rb2 Qd7 41. Qxf6 Rg8+ 42. Kh2 {when Black has absolutely
no counterplay.}) 38... Kh8 39. b5 $1 Qxb5 40. Rb2 Qc6 $2 {Magnus used up
almost all of his remaining time and made another mistake. This makes the game
very easy to convert.} (40... Qd7 {would have made the game harder for me, but
as my friend Anish Giri pointed out White still wins easily with the right
moves:} 41. Qd5 $1 (41. Reb1 Bf3 42. Rxb7 Qc6 43. e5 Qc8 $1 {is what I missed
in my calculations back in move 37.}) 41... Qc6 42. Qd3 a4 43. Rb6 Qc8 44. Qd5
$1 {White just plays the same position a tempo down as in the game. No worries.
} a3 (44... Ra7 45. Qf7 $1 a3 46. c6 a2 47. Rxb7 $18) 45. Rxb7 Rg8 (45... a2
46. Rxg7) 46. c6 a2 47. Ra1 $18) 41. Rb6 Qc8 42. Qd5 a4 (42... Ra7 43. Qf7 {
threatens c6 and wins. Due to back rank issues Black's counterplay comes way
too late.} Bf3 44. c6 Rxe4 45. Rxe4 Bxe4 46. Bf8 $18 {and mate next move.}) 43.
Rxb7 Rg8 (43... Bxg6 44. fxg6 Qg4+ 45. Kf2 {does not do much either, as I have
Bg3 to counter his check on h4.}) 44. c6 {Threatening c7 and Rb8, therefore
Magnus finally resigned! This was a clear big win for me, being my first
victory against him in classical chess, and it also evened up the standings in
the tournament since we were now co=leaders with +1, and only three games to
go.} (44. Rc7 Qe8 45. Qd2 a3 $2 46. Qxh6+ $3 {is another way to win. In the
after game interview, Ian Rogers asked me if I played especially focused
because I was provoked by a statement my opponent made before the game. It
seems he said that I am a player who makes boring draws and he could draw me
at will. Actually, having no interest in social media I was completely unaware
of the comments. When they told me, I burst out laughing because after all, so
what? Sometimes I do make boring draws. Sometimes.}) 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 6th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2018.06.06"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C83"]
[WhiteElo "2843"]
[BlackElo "2808"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2018.05.28"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 185"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. c3 Be7 10. Re1 O-O 11. Nbd2 Nxd2 12. Qxd2 Qd7 13. Qd3 Rad8 14. Bc2 g6
15. Bh6 Rfe8 16. Rad1 d4 17. Nxd4 Nxd4 18. Qxd4 Qxd4 19. Rxd4 Rxd4 20. cxd4 c5
21. dxc5 Bxc5 22. b3 a5 23. h3 b4 24. Rd1 Rc8 25. Rd2 Be7 26. Bd1 Rc5 27. Bf4
g5 28. Bg3 Kg7 29. f4 Rc1 30. Kh2 Bc5 31. fxg5 Be3 32. Rd3 Bxg5 33. h4 Bf5 34.
Rf3 Bg4 35. hxg5 Rxd1 36. Rf2 Be6 37. Bf4 Rd3 38. Rf3 Rxf3 39. gxf3 Bf5 40. e6
fxe6 41. Bc7 Bb1 42. Bxa5 Bxa2 43. Bxb4 Bxb3 44. Bc3+ Kg6 45. f4 Kf7 46. Kg3
Kg6 47. Be5 Kf7 48. Bc3 Kg6 49. Be5 Kf7 50. Bc3 Kg6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 6th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2018.06.07"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2789"]
[BlackElo "2843"]
[PlyCount "33"]
[EventDate "2018.05.28"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 185"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.07.13"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a3
O-O 9. Nc3 Na5 10. Ba2 Be6 11. b4 Bxa2 12. Rxa2 Nc6 13. Bg5 Ng4 14. Bd2 Nf6 15.
Bg5 Ng4 16. Bd2 Nf6 17. Bg5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM 51st"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2018.07.22"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Navara, David"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2842"]
[BlackElo "2741"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2018.07.22"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 186"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Bg5 Bb4+ 5. Nc3 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e3 O-O 8.
Rc1 dxc4 9. Bxc4 c5 10. dxc5 Nd7 (10... Bxc5 11. O-O Qe7 {looks like a simpler
equaliser.}) 11. O-O (11. c6 {is not too dangerous:} bxc6 (11... Ne5 $6 12.
Nxe5 Qxe5 13. Qb3 $1 (13. O-O bxc6 14. Qe2 Rd8 15. Rfd1 Bb7 16. Rxd8+ Rxd8 17.
Rd1 Rxd1+ 18. Qxd1 Qc7 19. h3 Bxc3 20. bxc3 c5 $11 {1/2 (37) Giri,A (2790)
-Carlsen,M (2863) Shamkir 2015}) 13... Ba5 $5 14. Qb5 (14. cxb7 $5 Rb8 15. Ba6
$1 {looks strong, too} ({but not} 15. bxc8=Q Rfxc8 {, and Black regains
material}) {e.g.} 15... Bxb7 16. Bxb7 Qc7 17. O-O Rxb7 18. Qa3 $16) 14... Qxb5
15. Bxb5 bxc6 16. Bd3 Rb8 17. b3 c5 18. Ke2 Bb7 19. f3 $14 {1/2 (30) Abasov,N 
(2623)-Cheparinov,I (2712) Ankara 2018}) (11... Nb6 12. Bd3 (12. Qb3 $5) (12.
Be2 $5) 12... bxc6 13. O-O Bxc3 14. Rxc3 Nd5 15. Rb3 a5 16. Qc1 a4 17. Ra3 Ba6
18. Bxa6 Rxa6 19. Nd4 $14 {1/2 (45) Ruck,R (2571)-Petkov,V (2564) Gabicce Mare
2013}) 12. O-O Ne5 (12... Nb6 13. Be2 Bb7 14. Qc2 c5 15. a3 Bxc3 16. Qxc3 Rac8
17. Qxf6 gxf6 18. Rfd1 Rc7 19. Nd2 Rd8 20. Nb1 Rxd1+ 21. Rxd1 Na4 22. b3 Nb6
23. Nc3 Bd5 24. Rb1 a5 25. e4 Bc6 26. f3 $14 {1/2 (84) Chuchelov,V (2553)
-Dragun,K (2547) Germany 2013}) 13. Be2 Rb8 (13... Nxf3+ 14. Bxf3 Ba6 15. Re1
Rab8 16. Qa4 Rb6 17. Red1 Bxc3 18. bxc3 Rd8 19. Qa3 g6 20. h3 Kg7 21. Rd4 $14 {
1/2-1/2 (54) Sasikiran,K (2658)-Sandipan,C (2478) Mumbai 2003}) 14. Qa4 Bxc3
15. bxc3 c5 $1 16. Qxa7 Bb7 17. Nxe5 Qxe5 18. Rfd1 Be4 19. Rd2 {1/2 (19)
Gelfand,B (2735)-Matlakov,M (2682) Moscow 2016 CBM 171 [Besenthal,K]} Rfd8 $132
) (11. Qc2 Nxc5 12. a3 Bxc3+ 13. Qxc3 Qxc3+ 14. Rxc3 Bd7 (14... b6 $5 $11) 15.
Ne5 Rfc8 16. Nxd7 Nxd7 17. Ke2 Nb6 18. Rhc1 Kf8 19. f4 Ke7 20. h4 Nxc4 21. Rxc4
Rxc4 22. Rxc4 Kd7 $11 {1-0 (38) Salem,A (2591)-Berescu,A (2458) Abu Dhabi 2014}
) 11... Nxc5 (11... Rd8 $5 12. Qc2 (12. Ne4 $5) 12... Bxc3 13. Qxc3 Qxc3 14.
Rxc3 Nxc5 15. Be2 b6 16. Rfc1 {1/2 (29) Wang,Y (2737)-Yu,Y (2725) Shenzhen 2016
} a5 $11) (11... Bxc3 $5 12. Rxc3 Nxc5 13. Be2 b6 14. Qd4 Qxd4 15. Nxd4 a5 16.
Bf3 Ba6 17. Bxa8 Bxf1 $11 {1/2 (25) Krassowizkij,J (2439)-Ochsner,B (2462)
Illertissen 2018}) 12. Nb5 {White tries to exploit the vulnerable position of
Black's b4-bishop but it is not too painful for Black.} (12. a3 Bxc3 13. Rxc3
Rd8 14. Qe2 b6 $11 {0-1 (42) El Gindy,E (2486)-Ni,H (2666) Tromsoe 2014}) 12...
a6 13. Nbd4 b5 (13... Ba5 $5 14. a3 Bb6 15. b4 Ne4 16. Qd3 Ng5 17. Nxg5 hxg5
18. Qe4 {1-0 (36) Salem,A (2638)-Peralta,F (2556) Sitges 2017} Bxd4 19. exd4
Rd8 20. Rfd1 Rb8 $11) 14. Be2 (14. a3 $5 bxc4 15. Rxc4 Bb7 (15... Bxa3 $6 16.
bxa3 Ne4 17. Nc6 Bb7 18. Nfe5 $16 {1-0 (30) Jakovenko,D (2749)-Cheparinov,I 
(2712) Ankara TUR 2018}) 16. Rxb4 Bd5 $44) 14... e5 15. Nc2 $5 {[%mdl 512] An
unexpected queen sacrifice.} (15. a3 exd4 16. axb4 Ne6 17. Nxd4 Rd8 18. Bf3 Rb8
$11) 15... Rd8 16. Nxb4 Rxd1 17. Rfxd1 $44 {White has a development advantage
and controls central files; besides, there are weaknesses in Black's camp 
(e5-pawn, d5-square). Still, one can hardly believe that Black can lose this
game.} a5 (17... Nd7 $5 18. Rc6 ({or} 18. Nd5 Qd8) 18... Qe7 {was quite
possible but not easy to play.}) (17... e4 $5 18. Rxc5 exf3 19. Bxf3 Qe7 $1 {
[%cal Yc8b7]}) 18. Nd5 Qd6 19. Nxe5 (19. Nc3 Qe7 20. Nxb5 Bb7 {, and Black
comfortably develops his pieces. If} 21. Nd6 {then} Ba6 $5) 19... Bb7 20. Bf3
Rc8 21. Ng4 Qf8 22. h4 Nd7 23. Rxc8 Bxc8 24. a3 h5 25. Nh2 g6 26. Be2 Ne5 {
There was no need to give up a second pawn:} (26... b4 $5 $11) {However, Black
wants to activate his pieces as soon as possible.} 27. Bxb5 Bb7 28. Nc3 Qe7 29.
Rd4 Qe6 30. Nf1 Qb3 31. Rd2 Nc4 32. Rd7 Nxb2 33. Rxb7 Qxc3 34. Be8 Kf8 35. Bxf7
Qc6 36. Rxb2 Kxf7 {[%mdl 4096]} 37. Rd2 {[%cal Yd2d4,Ya3a4]} Qa4 38. Rd3 Qxh4 {
As a result of complications, Black has avoided material losses, and the game
should end in a draw.} 39. Rd7+ Kg8 40. Rd4 Qe7 41. a4 Qa3 42. g3 Qa1 43. Kg2
g5 44. Nd2 g4 45. Ne4 Qc1 $2 {Black gives up a pawn once again.} (45... Kg7 $11
) 46. Nf6+ Kf7 47. Nxh5 Qc6+ 48. Kg1 Qc1+ 49. Kh2 Kg6 50. Nf4+ Kf6 51. Ng2 Kg5
{It is very difficult to defend now, and Black quickly sinks.} (51... Qc8 $142)
52. Rf4 Qd1 53. Nh4 Qc2 $2 (53... Kh6 $1 54. Nf5+ Kh7 $1 {, and Black holds on.
}) 54. Nf5 Qd3 55. e4 Qd7 56. e5 Qh7+ 57. Kg1 Qg6 58. Nd6 Qe6 $2 (58... Qb1+
$142 {but after} 59. Kh2 Qh7+ 60. Kg2 {White should gradually win.}) 59. Rf5+
Qxf5 60. Nxf5 Kxf5 {The pawn endgame is easily winning for White.} 61. f4 gxf3
62. Kf2 Kxe5 63. Kxf3 Kf5 64. Ke3 {White's g-pawn is below the crucial h3-c8
diagonal, and Black's king, after capturing it, can't get to c8.} 1-0

[Event "Biel GM 51st"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2018.07.23"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "2779"]
[BlackElo "2842"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "158"]
[EventDate "2018.07.22"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 186"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d6 {The players also faced each other in the last round of the Stavanger
tournament, where both tried to bluff the other by following joint
preparations for the 2016 World Championship match. As neither "blinked", the
game came to a quick conclusion with a repetition. In Biel however, inspired
by his win in the first round, Magnus immediately tries taking the game to
uncharted waters by playing the Pirc:} 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Bf4 $5 {Maxime
varies from his usual 4.Be3, afterwards at the press conference saying that he
knew this line, having studied it from Black's perspective via the 1.d4 Nf6 2.
Bf4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 move order.} c6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. Qd2 O-O 7. h3 {Played
after some hesitation. A solid positional approach, even thought from the
agressive Frenchman, one might have expected h4, Bh6 and mate!} Qa5 8. e5 $6 {
A somewhat pessimistic decision, forcing an equal ending, instead of a
slightly better middlegame with e.g. 8.Bd3.} dxe5 9. dxe5 Nd5 10. Nxd5 Qxd2+
11. Bxd2 cxd5 12. O-O-O Nc6 13. Bc3 {White's plan takes form. He protects the
pawn on e5 stabilising the centre, and claiming that in the upcoming race
White is quicker on the kingside than Black is on the queenside.} e6 14. h4 h6
{Precaution against White's plan of h5, but the engines suggest a more
provocative alternative just playing 14...Bd7 and if 15.h5 then answering with
...h6! as now Black threatens ...g5 and if 16.hxg6 fxg6 he gets counterplay in
the f-file as well as a possible ...g5.} 15. Bd3 Bd7 16. Rhe1 Rfc8 17. Rd2 $6 {
A miscalculation.} ({White needed to be more careful,} 17. Bd2 $1 {being the
correct plan, intending after} Rab8 18. Kb1 b5 {to play} 19. a3 $1 a5 20. b3 $1
{effectively shutting down the queenside being ready to answer ...a4 with b4,
and ...b4 with a4! One could argue that White then would have a free hand on
the kingside, but Black's solidity there still makes the position rather equal,
even so a much better scenario compared to what happens now:}) 17... Rab8 18.
Rde2 b5 19. Nd4 b4 20. Nxc6 Bxc6 21. Bd4 Bb5 $1 {Black starts exerting
pressure. MVL admitted he underestimated this move, expecting Black first to
protect his a7-pawn by moving it to a5, but forgetting that Bxa7 with a2
unprotected allows Black to just play ...Ra8 and win back the pawn under
favourable circumstances.} 22. Kd2 h5 23. f4 Bf8 24. g4 $5 {A very temporary
pawn sacrifice, speeding up White's counterplay, trying to get to Black's king
first:} hxg4 25. Rg1 Bc5 26. Bxc5 Rxc5 27. Rxg4 Kf8 $1 {King-safety being the
main concern, evacuating the danger area just in time.} 28. Rh2 Bxd3 29. Kxd3
Rc4 $1 {Another key moment, MVL mentioned this as a crucial move he missed and
Black is now better as he combines exerting pressure along the 4th rank and
the c-file. From a practical point of view correct, but White still has a
hidden defence:} 30. h5 gxh5 31. Rxh5 Ke7 32. Rgh4 $2 {An outright blunder
finally changing Black's position from practically better, to a real
substantial edge.} (32. Rh6 $1 {with the idea of} Rbc8 33. Rf6 $1 Rxc2 $2 34.
Rg7 $1 {shows that Black's attack is not as dangerous as it might seem at
first sight, as here White's king remains safe, and White gets to attack just
in time.}) 32... Rg8 33. f5 Rg3+ 34. Kd2 Rg2+ 35. Kd1 Rcxc2 36. f6+ {MVL had
pinned his hopes on this, but while he does get some counterplay, the
difference in king-safety is a huge difference. In the above line the white
king felt at least somewhat safe at d3, while now on d1 mating threats are
imminent.} Kd7 37. Rxb4 a5 38. Rb8 Rcf2 39. Ke1 Kc6 $1 (39... Rxb2 40. Rxb2
Rxb2 41. Rh7 $1 {creates counterplay, so Black's trick is to keep the mating
threats against the white king, while trying to walk his own into safety.}) 40.
Rc8+ Kb5 $6 {The computer points to this logical move made just before the
time-control as being inaccurate!} (40... Kb6 41. Rh7 Re2+ 42. Kf1 Rgf2+ 43.
Kg1 Rf4 44. Rxf7 Rxe5 {winning for Black, as unlike in the game White now has
no efficient 45.Rb7+.}) 41. Rh7 d4 42. Rg8 $5 {Resourceful and creative as
ever, even in the most dire of situations, the Frenchman manages to cause
confusion.} Re2+ $1 43. Kf1 Rgf2+ $1 44. Kg1 Rf4 $1 45. Rxf7 Rxe5 46. Rc7 Rxf6
$6 {Technically still winning, but} (46... d3 $1 {pushing the passed pawn was
a much cleaner solution.} 47. Rb8+ Ka4 $1 48. Rc3 {might have felt threatening,
but} Rg5+ $1 {mates in two!}) 47. Rb8+ Ka6 48. Rc6+ Ka7 49. Rg8 Rf7 50. Rg6
Re1+ 51. Kg2 d3 $2 (51... Re2+ 52. Kg3 Re3+ 53. Kg2 e5 $19) 52. Rd6 $1 Re2+ 53.
Kh3 d2 54. Rg8 $1 {White simply wants to double in the d-file making sure the
d-pawn goes nowhere as well as if Black starts defending with both rooks on
the 2nd, then there is an easy perpetual on d7 and d8. It is no longer a
matter of Black being winning, but about finding any practical chances.} Kb7
55. Rgd8 d1=Q $5 56. Rxd1 Rxb2 57. Re1 Rf6 58. Rd6 Rxa2 59. Kg3 $5 (59. Rdxe6
Rxe6 60. Rxe6 {then} Rf2 $1 {cutting the white king off as well as 60...Rb2!?
leads to a tablebase win.}) (59. Rb1+ $145 Kc7 60. Ra6 Rg6 $15) 59... Rb2 60.
Re5 Rb3+ 61. Kg2 a4 62. Ra5 $2 (62. Rh5 Rf7 63. Rxe6 $17) 62... a3 63. Rda6
Rff3 $1 64. Ra7+ $5 {At least it looks like counterplay, even if Black's king
easily zig-zags out of the danger zone.} (64. Rxe6 Rfc3 $1 {sets up an
interesting formation, where Black threatens a mating attack on the 2nd and
1st ranks, while if} 65. Re2 {then} Rc6 $1 {followed by ...Ra6 or ...Rb2 wins
easily.}) 64... Kc6 65. R7a6+ Kd7 66. Ra7+ Kd6 67. R7a6+ Ke7 68. Re5 Rfc3 $1 {
Again not caring about the e6-pawn.} 69. Rexe6+ Kd7 70. Kf2 Rb2+ 71. Re2 Rh3
72. Kg2 Rxe2+ 73. Kxh3 a2 74. Kg3 Kc7 75. Kf3 Kb7 76. Ra4 Rh2 77. Ke3 Kb6 78.
Kd3 Kb5 79. Ra8 Kb4 {And as Magnus' king was just in time, MVL resigned.} 0-1

[Event "Biel GM 51st"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2018.07.24"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B94"]
[WhiteElo "2842"]
[BlackElo "2753"]
[Annotator "Ftacnik,L"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[EventDate "2018.07.22"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 186"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 Nbd7 {Svidler is
putting his trust in a modern variation 6...Nbd7 which presents White with
bigger challenges than the older 6...e6.} 7. Qe2 h6 8. Bh4 g6 9. f4 Qc7 {
Black is abstaining from advancing the e pawn as the level of risk is much
higher in a direct fight with better developed white pieces.} (9... e5 10. fxe5
dxe5 11. O-O-O (11. Nf3 Qc7 12. O-O-O b5 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 Bd6 15. Qe3 Bb7
16. Bd3 f5 $6 (16... Rc8 $11) 17. Nd4 Qb6 18. Bxf5 gxf5 19. Qg3 Nf8 20. Nxf5
$18 {1-0 (38) Khader,S (2392)-Karjakin,S (2760) Riadh 2017}) 11... Qc7 12. Nd5
(12. Nb3 b5 13. Qf3 (13. g4 Be7 14. Qf3 Bb7 15. a3 Nxe4 16. Nxe4 Bxh4 17. Rxd7
Qxd7 18. Nbc5 Bg5+ 19. Kb1 Bxe4 20. Qxe4 Qd1+ 21. Ka2 O-O 22. Bd3 Qd2 $15 {
0-1 (44) Savchenko,B (2550)-Sarana,A (2577) Moscow 2018}) (13. Rxd7 Nxd7 14.
Nd5 Qb8 15. Bf6 Nxf6 16. Nxf6+ Ke7 17. Nd5+ Ke8 18. Nf6+ Ke7 19. Nd5+ Ke8 20.
Nf6+ Ke7 {1/2-1/2 (20) Sarana,A (2613)-Khanin,S (2494) Ekaterinburg 2018})
13... Bg7 14. Kb1 O-O 15. g4 Bb7 16. a3 Rac8 17. Bd3 Qb6 18. Be1 Qe6 19. Rg1
Nb6 20. h4 $14 {0-1 (41) Wan,Y (2500)-Cheparinov,I (2702) China 2018}) 12...
Nxd5 13. exd5 Bd6 14. Nb3 b5 15. Qd2 (15. g4 h5 16. g5 Nb6 17. h3 O-O 18. Na5
Bf5 19. Bg2 e4 20. Rhf1 Bf4+ 21. Kb1 Rad8 $19 {0-1 (48) Yankelevich,L (2442)
-Jakovenko,D (2710) Germany 2017}) 15... g5 (15... f5 16. g4 f4 17. Bd3 Kf7 18.
Qe2 g5 19. Qe4 gxh4 20. Qg6+ Kf8 $11 {1-0 (35) Pichot,A (2552)-Asis Gargatagli,
H (2529) Barcelona 2018}) 16. Be1 Nc5 17. Nxc5 Qxc5 18. h4 g4 19. Bg3 Bd7 20.
Re1 f6 21. Bd3 O-O-O 22. Rhf1 Rdf8 23. Bf5 $16 {1-0 (39) Naiditsch,A (2697)
-Hamdouchi,H (2580) Brest 2018}) 10. O-O-O {Carlsen most likely did not like
10.Nf3 because after the best 10...e5! the knight may turn out to be somewhat
misplaced on f3.} (10. Nf3 Bg7 $6 (10... e5 $1) 11. O-O-O (11. e5 $1 dxe5 12.
fxe5 Ng4 13. O-O-O e6 14. Bg3 h5 15. Ne4 $16) 11... Nb6 12. e5 dxe5 13. fxe5
Nh5 14. Bf2 Be6 15. Qe4 g5 16. Nd4 Bc8 17. g3 Bxe5 18. Nc6 Bd6 19. Bxb6 Qxc6
20. Qd4 Nf6 {0-1 (29) Levrand,R (2156)-Bauer,C (2647) Zuerich 2017} 21. Rg1 $1
Be6 22. Bg2 Qc4 23. Ne4 $16) 10... Bg7 (10... e5 11. fxe5 dxe5 12. Nb3 Bg7 13.
Qc4 $1 Qb8 14. Nc5 O-O 15. Nxd7 Nxd7 16. Nd5 b5 17. Qc6 $16 {1-0 (56) Smirnov,
P (2569)-Bocharov,D (2610) Vladivostok 2016}) 11. g4 {Surprisingly enough
there have been as good as no games played from this position; the players
have to invent theory.} (11. Kb1 O-O 12. Nf3 e5 13. f5 b5 14. g4 b4 15. Nd5
Nxd5 16. exd5 a5 17. g5 e4 18. Nd4 hxg5 $2 (18... Bxd4 $1 19. Rxd4 Ne5 20. fxg6
Bg4 21. Qe3 fxg6 $15) 19. Bxg5 $16 {1-0 (39) Melia,S (2400)-Travkina,A (2287)
Riga 2017}) 11... e5 12. fxe5 Nxe5 (12... dxe5 13. Nb3 O-O $14) 13. h3 Be6 {
We can safely presume, that this move was most likely part of Black's
preparation. Immediate castling has the drawback of a vulnerable f6-knight
that has to defend the sensitive d5-square.} (13... O-O 14. Qf2 g5 15. Bg3 b5
16. Kb1 $16) 14. Qf2 Nfd7 15. Bb5 $5 {The world champion must have tried to
guess which line of attack will turn out to be more efficient - the text move
or the unpleasant 15.Qd2.} (15. Qd2 O-O (15... Nc5 16. Nxe6 fxe6 17. Qxd6 Qxd6
18. Rxd6 O-O 19. b4 Ncd7 20. Ne2 $14) 16. Be7 Rfc8 17. Nxe6 fxe6 18. Qxd6 Nc5
19. Qxc5 Qxc5 20. Bxc5 Rxc5 21. Ne2 $14) 15... O-O (15... axb5 $4 16. Ncxb5 Qa5
17. Nxe6 $18) 16. Bxd7 Qxd7 (16... Nxd7 17. Be7 Rfc8 18. Nxe6 fxe6 19. Bxd6 $14
) 17. Nf5 $6 {[%mdl 32] The temptation to play a flashy attacking move proved
to be too strong. The engine is not so emotional and clearly prefers the
modest positional exchange of the g7-bishop with some advantage.} (17. Bf6 $1
Rac8 (17... Bxf6 18. Qxf6 Qd8 19. Qf4 Kh7 20. Kb1 $14) 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. Kb1
$14) 17... gxf5 18. gxf5 Kh7 19. Rhg1 Bh8 {It makes sense to show some respect
to the best player in the world even though objectively even 19...Qc7 with the
knight retreat to g6 was good enough for keeping the balance.} (19... Qc7 20.
Rg3 Ng6 21. Qg2 Rg8 22. fxg6+ fxg6 23. Rgd3 Rac8 $11) 20. Bg3 Rac8 21. Bf4 (21.
fxe6 fxe6 22. Qe2 Rg8 $11) 21... Qe7 $1 {The queen prevents aggression via h4
and prepares to create counterplay on the a1-h8 diagonal.} (21... Bc4 $2 22.
Qh4 Bg7 23. Rxg7+ Kxg7 24. Rg1+ Ng6 25. f6+ $18) 22. fxe6 (22. Kb1 Qf6 (22...
Bc4 23. Bxh6 Kxh6 24. Rxd6+ Kh7 25. f6 Bxf6 26. Rxf6 Ng6 27. h4 $16) 23. fxe6
fxe6 24. Rdf1 Ng6 25. Qg3 Nxf4 26. Rxf4 Rg8 $11) 22... fxe6 23. Qg3 Rg8 {
The disappointed champion must have realised that White has not even a hint of
any advantage.} 24. Qf2 Rgf8 (24... Bg7 25. Rdf1 Nc4 $11) 25. Qg3 Rg8 26. Qf2
Rgf8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM 51st"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2018.07.25"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Georgiadis, Nico"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C18"]
[WhiteElo "2526"]
[BlackElo "2842"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2018.07.22"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 186"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Ba5 6. b4 cxd4 7. Qg4 Kf8 8. Nb5
Bc7 9. Qxd4 Nc6 10. Qc5+ Nge7 11. Nxc7 Qxc7 12. Nf3 b6 13. Qd6 Qxd6 14. exd6
Nf5 15. Bf4 f6 16. g4 Nfd4 17. Nxd4 Nxd4 18. O-O-O e5 19. Rxd4 exd4 20. Bb5
Bxg4 21. Re1 g5 22. Bg3 Rd8 23. Re7 h5 24. h4 gxh4 25. Bf4 Bf5 26. Rxa7 Rh7 27.
Rc7 Bd7 28. Bc6 h3 29. Kd2 Rg7 30. Bh6 Bxc6 31. Rxg7 Rxd6 32. Rg5+ Kf7 33. Rxh5
Bb5 34. Rxh3 Re6 35. Rf3 Kg6 36. Bf4 Rc6 37. Bg3 Rc4 38. Rd3 Kf5 39. Rf3+ Ke6
40. Rd3 f5 41. f3 f4 42. Bf2 Ke5 43. c3 Rc6 44. Rxd4 Rh6 45. Kc1 Rh3 46. Rd2
Rxf3 47. Bd4+ Ke4 48. Kb2 Rd3 49. Rxd3 Kxd3 50. Bxb6 Ba4 51. Ba7 f3 52. Bg1 Kd2
53. Ba7 Bd1 54. Bc5 Ba4 55. Ba7 Ke2 56. c4 d4 57. Bxd4 Kd3 58. Ba7 Kxc4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM 51st"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2018.07.26"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2842"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "133"]
[EventDate "2018.07.22"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 186"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. c3 d6 8. Bg5 h6
9. Bh4 O-O 10. Nbd2 Be6 11. O-O Bb6 12. Re1 Bxb3 13. Nxb3 Nb8 14. d4 Nbd7 15.
a4 Re8 16. Qc2 Qe7 17. h3 Rab8 18. axb5 axb5 19. Na5 Bxa5 20. Rxa5 c6 21. Ra7
Qe6 22. Rd1 Nf8 23. Rc7 Rec8 24. Rxc6 Rxc6 25. d5 Qc8 26. dxc6 Ne8 27. Be7 Qxc6
28. Nh4 Ng6 29. Nf5 Rb7 30. Bxd6 Rd7 31. Ba3 Rxd1+ 32. Qxd1 Qxe4 33. Ne3 Nf6
34. g3 h5 35. h4 Qc6 36. Bb4 Kh7 37. b3 Qa8 38. c4 bxc4 39. bxc4 Qc6 40. Bd6
Kg8 41. c5 Qe4 42. Qf1 Nd5 43. Nxd5 Qxd5 44. Qc1 f6 45. Qc2 e4 46. Kf1 Kf7 47.
Qa4 Qd3+ 48. Kg1 Kg8 49. Qa2+ Kh7 50. Kh2 Qd1 51. Qa3 Qd2 52. Qe3 Qd5 53. Qc1
Kg8 54. Kg1 Kf7 55. Qa1 Kg8 56. Qc1 Kf7 57. Qb1 Ne7 58. Bxe7 Kxe7 59. Qb6 Qd1+
60. Kh2 Qd4 61. Qb7+ Ke6 62. Qc6+ Ke7 63. Kg2 e3 64. Qb7+ Ke6 65. Qc8+ Kd5 66.
fxe3 Qg4 67. Qd8+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM 51st"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2018.07.27"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Navara, David"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D41"]
[WhiteElo "2741"]
[BlackElo "2842"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2018.07.22"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 186"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 cxd4 8.
cxd4 Bb4+ 9. Bd2 Bxd2+ 10. Qxd2 O-O 11. Rc1 b6 12. Bd3 Ba6 13. Bxa6 Nxa6 14.
O-O Rc8 15. Rxc8 Qxc8 16. Rc1 Qb7 17. Qc2 Nb4 18. Qc4 a5 19. a3 b5 20. Qc7 Qxc7
21. Rxc7 Nd3 22. g3 Rb8 23. Rc3 Nb2 24. Ne5 f6 25. Nc6 Ra8 26. Rb3 Nc4 27. Rxb5
a4 28. d5 exd5 29. exd5 Nxa3 30. Rc5 Kf7 31. Nd4 Ke7 32. Rc3 Nb1 33. Rc7+ Kd6
34. Nb5+ Kxd5 35. Rc1 a3 36. Rxb1 a2 37. Nc3+ Kd4 38. Nxa2 Rxa2 39. Rb7 Ke4 40.
Kg2 g5 41. Rxh7 Kf5 42. Rg7 g4 43. Rh7 Kg6 44. Rh4 f5 45. h3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM 51st"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2018.07.29"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2842"]
[BlackElo "2779"]
[Annotator "Szabo,Kr"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2018.07.22"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 186"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Be3
h5 (8... Be7 {is the other main line.}) 9. Qd2 Nbd7 10. Nd5 Bxd5 11. exd5 g6
12. Be2 Bg7 13. O-O a5 {A rare move, probably Black wants to avoid the Na5
variation.} (13... O-O {is the most popular move with a lot of top games.}) 14.
a4 O-O 15. Bb5 $146 {The first new move in the game. It is very logical to put
the B on this square.} (15. Nc1 $6 {(Palekha-Kovchan, Serpukhov 2003) was
weaker, because} Nb6 $1 16. c4 e4 $1 $36 {with good activity for Black.}) 15...
Qc7 16. c4 b6 17. h3 {A useful move to control the g4-square.} ({In the event
of} 17. Rae1 Nc5 18. Nc1 e4 $132 {with some counterplay for Black.}) 17... Nc5
(17... e4 $6 {is dubious, as} 18. f4 $16 {and White has avoided ...Ng4; he is
clearly better.}) 18. Nxc5 bxc5 19. Ra3 $1 {A smart move! White prepares for
Rb3, Bc6, Rb5 and attack the a5-P.} Nh7 20. Rb3 f5 21. Bc6 Rab8 (21... Ra7 $5 {
was the alternative,} 22. Qe1 ({The immediate} 22. Rb5 {could have been met by}
f4 23. Bf2 Ng5 $36 {threatening ...e4 and Black looks nicely placed.}) 22... f4
23. Bd2 Ng5 24. Rb5 e4 $1 {This break-through is the point!} 25. fxe4 $6 Bd4+
26. Kh1 Qc8 $1 {Threatening ...Nxh3.} 27. Bxf4 Nxh3 28. Bxd6 (28. gxh3 $2 Qxh3+
$19) 28... Nf2+ 29. Rxf2 ({If} 29. Kh2 Qg4 $19 {and mate soon.}) 29... Bxf2 30.
Qxf2 Rxf2 31. Rb8 Qxb8 32. Bxb8 Rh7 $17 {at first sight this is a very strange
position, hard to evaluate. The engine gives winning for Black, but by human
measures especially in a practical game this is complicated enough.}) 22. Rb5
f4 23. Bf2 e4 $1 {A great P-sacrifice to create counterplay on the kingside.}
24. Qc2 $1 {A very high-level reply! White doesn't take, just plays a quiet
move.} ({In the event of} 24. fxe4 Qe7 25. Qd3 (25. Qc2 f3 $40) 25... Qe5 $44 {
with good compensation for the P.}) 24... Qe7 (24... exf3 $2 25. gxf3 $16) (
24... e3 $5 {would be interesting,} 25. Be1 Rxb5 26. axb5 Kf7 $132 {followed
by ...Bd4 with a double-edged fight.}) 25. Qxe4 Qxe4 26. fxe4 Ng5 {Suddenly
they have exchanged the Qs; White is a P up, but Black has some counterplay
for it.} 27. Re1 Nf7 28. Rb1 ({In the event of} 28. b3 Bc3 29. Rc1 Bb4 {
and it's not clear how White can improve his position.}) 28... Ng5 29. Rxa5 (
29. Re1 $11 {would be a repetition.}) 29... Rb3 $1 {A great move to create
counterplay!} (29... Nxe4 $2 {could have been met by} 30. Rb5 $1 $16 {and the
a-P is unstoppable.}) 30. Rb5 Rd3 31. Re1 $2 {The most natural move, but this
is a decisive mistake!} (31. a5 $2 {is too slow, because of} f3 $1 32. a6 fxg2
33. a7 Nxh3+ 34. Kxg2 Rxf2+ 35. Kh1 Rdd2 $1 36. a8=Q+ Kh7 $19 {and White can't
avoid the mate!}) ({The brilliant} 31. e5 $3 {can only hold the position,} Bxe5
32. Re1 f3 33. h4 $1 fxg2 34. hxg5 Rd2 35. Rxe5 $1 dxe5 36. d6 $1 Rfxf2 37.
Bd5+ Kf8 38. Rb8+ $11 {and perpetual checks.}) 31... f3 $1 {Black has a strong
attack even without Qs too.} 32. h4 Nf7 $6 {Black is missing the chance.} (
32... fxg2 $1 {was the winning move,} 33. hxg5 Rd2 34. Be3 Rc2 $19 {and White
can't avoid the ...Be5, ...Rf1 followed by ...Bh2 winning plan. Of course in a
practical game, it isn't so easy to find.}) 33. a5 Ne5 34. a6 Rd2 $1 {The
correct reply!} ({The immediate} 34... fxg2 $2 {could have been met by} 35. Re2
$1 $18 {and White has protected his position and the a-P is unstoppable.}) 35.
a7 fxg2 36. a8=Q Nf3+ 37. Kxg2 Nxe1+ 38. Kf1 Rdxf2+ 39. Kxe1 Rxa8 40. Kxf2 Rf8+
41. Ke2 Rf4 {The position is simplifying, still White needs some accurate
moves to reach the draw, but for Carlsen it is not a difficult task.} 42. b4 $1
{The best way!} cxb4 43. c5 Be5 ({The greedy} 43... dxc5 $6 {is dubious, as}
44. d6 $1 {and suddenly the white Ps are becoming fast.}) (43... Rxe4+ 44. Kf3
Rxh4 45. cxd6 $11) 44. cxd6 Bxd6 45. Kd3 Kf7 46. Rb6 Bc5 47. Rb5 Bd6 48. Rb6
Bc5 49. Rb5 {What a great fight!} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM 51st"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2018.07.30"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2753"]
[BlackElo "2842"]
[Annotator "Golubev,M"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2018.07.22"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 186"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 $8 6. Nbd2 {This is the
most common move, but no less than five other options also have been tried in
the practice of these players.} Be6 ({Instead,} 6... Bg4 7. h3 Bh5 {had been
played by Carlsen in his 2013 world championship match against Anand.}) 7. Qe2
$5 Nd7 8. Nb3 {Introduced by Caruana in a game against Navara in 2013.} Bb6 $5
9. Ng5 Nf8 $5 10. Be3 $146 ({In Caruana-Nakamura, Internet blitz 2017 there was
} 10. O-O Bxb3 11. axb3 f6 12. Nf3 Ne6 {, transposing also to Caruana-Kramnik,
Leuven blitz 2016.}) ({There is also} 10. Nxe6 Nxe6 $11) 10... Qe7 ({Engines
suggest} 10... Bd7 $5 {planning ...Ng6.}) 11. g3 ({Probably more accurate is} 
11. Nxe6 Nxe6 12. Qh5) 11... Bxb3 $5 12. axb3 f6 13. Nf3 Ne6 14. Bxb6 cxb6 15.
O-O a6 $1 {Instead of the banal 15...0-0, Carlsen prepares to castle long.} 16.
c3 ({Maybe} 16. Qe3 $5 {was worth trying.}) 16... O-O-O {If White had not
prepared d4 now, Black could get some attacking prospects on the kingside.} 17.
Rad1 Kb8 18. Qe3 Ka7 {True magic. The black king is completely safe on the
queenside. Black gradually gained some chances from what seemed to be a
completely equal position.} 19. d4 exd4 20. Nxd4 ({After} 20. cxd4 $6 Rhe8 {
White's pawns are vulnerable.}) 20... Nxd4 21. Rxd4 h5 $5 22. Rfd1 $5 Rxd4 23.
cxd4 ({After} 23. Rxd4 {Black plays} h4 ({or} 23... Qe6 24. b4 h4)) 23... h4
24. d5 ({A serious alternative was} 24. g4 {but there too some initiative is
with Black.}) 24... hxg3 25. hxg3 Qe5 (25... cxd5 $5 {is curious:} 26. exd5 (
26. Rxd5 g5 $1) 26... Qxe3 27. fxe3 Kb8 $1 {though I am not sure that Black
has any significant winning chances after} 28. d6 $5) 26. Qf3 ({Not} 26. dxc6
$4 Qh5 $1 $19) 26... cxd5 27. exd5 Qxb2 $6 ({Here} 27... Rd8 $1 28. Qd3 Qxb2
29. d6 Qe5 ({if} 29... Rd7 {, White plays} 30. Qf5 $1 Qxb3 31. Qxd7 Qxd1+ 32.
Kg2 $11 {with the inevitable draw, because the d6-pawn is too dangerous}) 30.
d7 Qe6 {was a better practical chance: Black plans to play, approximately, ...
Qc6, b5, b6, Kb7 at some point threatening with ...Rh8, or .. .a5-a4. At least,
White would have had to work for a draw.}) 28. d6 $1 Rd8 29. d7 Qc2 {Now White
uses the opportunity to place his rook actively, equalising.} 30. Rd6 $1 Qc5
31. Qd1 $1 $11 Qf5 32. Rd5 Qe4 33. Rd4 Qc6 34. Rd6 Qe4 35. Rd4 Qc6 36. Rd6 Qe4
1/2-1/2

[Event "Biel GM 51st"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2018.07.31"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E65"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2842"]
[Annotator "Mamedyarov,S"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2018.07.22"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 186"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{The tournament situation obliged Carlsen to play for the full point. As fror
me conversely, I was hoping that this situation would give me additional
prospects and thus early on the hope of winning the tournament and I waited
for my chance...   Die Turniersituation verpflichtete Carlsen, auf den vollen
Punkt zu spielen. Ich meinerseits hoffte im Umkehrschluss darauf, dass diese
Lage mir zusätzliche Aussichten geben wird, diese Partie und somit vorzeitig
auch das Turnier zu gewinnen, und wartete auf meine Chance...} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4
g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nc3 d6 6. Nf3 c5 7. O-O Nc6 8. e3 d5 9. cxd5 Nxd5
10. Nxd5 Qxd5 11. Ne5 Qd6 12. Nc4 $1 {With this move White maintains the
tension (both on the board and also psychologically) .  Mit diesem Zug hält
Weiß die Spannung (sowohl auf dem Brett, als auch die psychologische)
aufrecht.} Qc7 13. d5 Rd8 ({The move Der Zug} 13... Ne5 {is quieter and safer 
(after the game Carlsen expressed the same opinion), but Black had to take
something of a risk. ist ruhiger und sicherer (nach der Partie äußerte
Carlsen die gleiche Meinung), aber Schwarz musste etwas riskieren.} 14. Qc2 Bd7
15. Nxe5 Bxe5 16. Bd2) 14. Bd2 $1 Nb4 $6 ({The correct move is Richtig ist} 
14... Ne5 {and after und nach} 15. Nxe5 Bxe5 16. Bc3 {the position is more or
less level. ist die Stellung etwa ausgeglichen.}) 15. Bxb4 ({During the game I
invested a lot of time in In der Partie investierte ich sehr viel Zeit in} 15.
e4 $1 {I felt that it should lead to an advantage for White, but in the long
run I did not manage to evaluate the position which arose after it - Ich
fühlte, dass es zum weißen Vorteil führen soll, aber letztendlich ist es
mir nicht gelungen, die daraus resultierende Stellung einzuschätzen -} b5 16.
Bf4 $1 e5 (16... Qb7 17. Ne5 g5 (17... f6 18. Nd3 $16) (17... c4 18. a3 Bxe5
19. Bxe5 Nd3 20. Bc3 $16) 18. Nxf7 $1 Kxf7 19. Bxg5 Qb6 (19... c4 20. e5 Bf5
21. Qf3 $1 Kg6 22. g4 Bd3 23. e6 Rf8 24. Qh3 h6 25. Rad1 $1 Kxg5 26. Qh5+ Kf4
27. Rde1 Nc2 28. g5 Nxe1 29. Rxe1 Qb6 30. Qh4+ Kf5 31. Qh5 Kf4 32. Bf3 $1 (32.
h3 Qxf2+ 33. Kxf2 Bd4+ 34. Re3 Bxe3+ 35. Ke1 Ke5)) 20. a3 Na6 21. e5) 17. d6
$16 {- this is precisely the move I missed when calculating. Pity! - gerade
dieser Zug ist mir bei dem Berechnen entgangen. Schade!}) 15... cxb4 16. Rc1 a5
(16... Bd7 17. Qd2 a5 18. e4 {and White had no problems. und Weiß hat keine
Probleme.}) 17. a3 bxa3 18. bxa3 a4 $1 {A very strong reply! Black prevents
a3-a4. Sehr starke Erwiderung! Schwarz unterbindet a3-a4.} 19. Qd3 ({Playing
Zu Spielvereinfachung und Ausgleich hätte} 19. Qd2 $1 Qc5 20. Qa2 Bd7 21. Ne5
Qd6 22. Nxd7 Qxd7 23. Rfd1 {would have sufficed to simplify the game and
equalise. But I found a more interesting idea which also better suited my
style. gereicht. Aber ich fand eine interessantere Idee, die auch meinem Stil
besser entspricht.}) 19... Bf5 {After this move White gets more active play.
After the game Carlsen explained that he had overlooked 21.Qe3. Nach diesem
Zug bekommt Weiß aktiveres Spiel. Nach der Partie erklärte Carlsen, dass er
21.Qe3 übersah.} ({There was the very strong Sehr stark war} 19... Rb8 $1 {
and after und nach} 20. f4 Bd7 21. Ne5 Qd6 22. Nxd7 Qxd7 23. e4 {the position
is close to equality. ist die Stellung dem Ausgleich nahe.}) 20. e4 Bd7 21. Qe3
Ra6 22. e5 $1 {Now Black has to be very prcise so as not to fall into a bad
position. Jetzt muss Schwarz sehr genau agieren, um nicht in eine schlechte
Lage zu geraten.} b5 $1 23. d6 Qb8 $1 (23... exd6 24. Nxd6 Qa7 25. Qg5 Rf8 26.
Bd5 {with a powerful attack. mit gewaltigem Angriff.}) 24. dxe7 Re8 25. Rfd1 $1
Rxe7 26. Qc5 $1 {Magnus obviously missed this move. At this moment he began to
feel ill at ease, because his position appeared unpleasant to him.  What do
you think: which reply would now allow Black to hold his position? Dieser Zug
ist Magnus offensichtlich entgangen. In diesem Moment fing er an, sich unwohl
zu fühlen, weil ihm seine Stellung unangenehm schien.  Was meinen Sie: welche
Antwort würde dem Schwarzen jetzt erlauben, seine Stellung zu halten?} Qf8 (
26... Qd8 $2 27. Qxb5 $1) (26... Qe8 27. Nd6) (26... Bf8 $1 {The only move
which preserves Black from a bad position. Der einzige Zug, der den
Nachziehenden vor einer schlechten Position bewahrt.} 27. Nd6 Re8 $1 28. Bd5
Bxd6 29. exd6 Rc8 (29... Rxd6 $4 30. Bxf7+ $18 (30. Qxd6 $2 Re1+ $1) 30... Kxf7
31. Rxd6 $18) 30. Bxf7+ (30. Qc7 Rxc7 31. dxc7 Qf8 $1 (31... Qc8 32. Bb7) 32.
Bxf7+ Qxf7 33. Rxd7 Qxd7 34. c8=Q+ Qxc8 35. Rxc8+ Kg7 36. Rb8 Rd6 37. Rxb5 Rd3)
30... Kxf7 31. Qd5+ Kf8 32. Qe5 Rxc1 (32... Kg8 33. Rc7) 33. Qh8+ Kf7 34. Qxh7+
Kf8 35. Qh8+ $11 {Of course it is anything but simple to find all this over
the board. Selbstverständlich ist es alles andere als leicht, das alles am
Brett zu finden.}) 27. Ne3 $1 {Magnus had also overlooked this continuation.
Auch diese Fortsetzung hat Magnus übersehen.} (27. Nb6 Bg4 28. Re1 Rea7) 27...
Be6 (27... Bxe5 $2 28. Rxd7) 28. Qxb5 Raa7 29. Nd5 Bxd5 30. Rxd5 Reb7 31. Qd3
Rb8 32. h4 Qe8 33. Qd4 (33. Bh3 $1 {This option, which I did not notice during
the game, gives White a clear advantage. Diese Option, die ich während der
Partie nicht bemerkte, gibt dem Weißen klaren Vorteil.} Bxe5 (33... Qe7 34. h5
$16) 34. Re1 Re7 (34... f6 35. f4 Bd4+ 36. Kf1) 35. Bd7 Bb2 36. Bxe8 Rxe1+ 37.
Kg2 Rexe8 38. h5 $16) 33... Qe7 34. f4 $6 {I felt a strong desire to win this
game and decided to play sharply, but by doing so reduced White's advantage.
Ich verspürte den starken Wunsch, diese Partie zu gewinnen, und habe mich
entschlossen, scharf zu spielen, aber dabei reduziert sich der weiße Vorteil.}
({The correct way was the simple continuation Richtig war die einfache
Fortsetzung} 34. Rc4 Bf8 35. Kh2 {and White is clearly superior. und der
Anziehende steht klar überlegen.}) 34... Bf8 35. Kh2 Rab7 ({The best defence
consisted of Die beste Verteidung bestand in} 35... Rc7 $1 {but it was not so
easy to find in time trouble: , die aber in Zeitnot nicht so leicht zu finden
war:} 36. Rxc7 Qxc7 37. Rd7 Qc2 38. Qd5 Qf5 $1 {(the point behind Black's idea
- the rook is brought to the second rank) (die Pointe der schwarzen Idee - der
Turm wird auf die zweite Reihe gebracht)} 39. Rc7 Rb2 40. Qc4 Bxa3 41. Qxa4 Bb4
{with good drawing chances, e.g. mit guten Remisaussichten, z. B.} 42. Qa8+ Kg7
43. Qa1 Rd2 44. e6+ Kh6 45. exf7 (45. Rxf7 Rxg2+ $1 46. Kxg2 Qe4+ $11) 45...
Qd5 46. Qf1 Bf8 47. Kh1 Qd6 48. Rc6 Rd1 49. Rxd6 Rxf1+ 50. Bxf1 Bxd6 $11 {
- to calculate all this to the end you need to have a brain like a computer :)
- um das alles bis zum Ende auszurechnen, muss man funktionieren wie ein
Computer :)}) 36. Qxa4 {I was already short of time here and did not want to
take any risks, so I simply cashed in on the a4-pawn - it is not easy for
Black to hold this position. But objectively speaking my decision was wrong.
Hier hatte ich bereits wenig Zeit und wollte kein Risiko eingehen, somit
kassierte ich einfach den Bauern a4 - es ist für Schwarz nicht einfach, diese
Position zu halten. Aber objektiv gesehen war meine Entscheidung falsch.} ({
But there was the very strong Sehr stark war aber} 36. Rd6 $1 Rb2 (36... Rc7
37. Rxc7 Qxc7 38. Rc6 $1 Qd8 39. Bd5 Bxa3 40. e6 $18) 37. Kh3 $1 $18 {
(unfortunately I did not discover this move when calcualting the variations) 
(diesen Zug habe ich bei dem Variantenberechnen leider nicht entdeckt)} R8b3
38. Rc8 Re2 39. Rxf8+ $1 Kxf8 40. e6 f6 41. Rd8+ Kg7 42. Rd7 $18) 36... Qxa3
37. Qxa3 Bxa3 38. Rcd1 Be7 39. Kh3 (39. h5 gxh5) 39... Rc7 40. h5 $1 {The
strongest continuation which gives my opponent the maximum of defensive
difficulties to overcome. Die stärkste Fortsetzung, die dem Gegner maximale
Verteidigungsschwierigkeiten bereitet.} gxh5 $1 41. f5 f6 42. e6 $1 (42. Rd7
Rxd7 43. Rxd7 Kf8 44. e6 {- here Black hangs on easily. - hier behauptet sich
Schwarz leicht.}) 42... Rb3 $1 {Carlsen chooses the best defence. Carlsen
verteidigt sich optimal.} 43. Rd7 Rbc3 44. Ra1 Kg7 45. Ra8 Kh6 {Black can hold
by playing only moves. In my calculations I thought that this position is won
for White, but in reality that does not seem to be the case.  Schwarz hält
sich mit einzigen Zügen. Bei meiner Vorausberechnung dachte ich, dass diese
Stellung für Weiß gewonnen ist, aber in Wirklichkeit scheint es nicht der
Fall zu sein.} 46. Re8 (46. Be4 Re3 47. Rxc7 Bd6 48. Rd7) 46... Bb4 47. Rb8 Be7
48. Be4 {By this point I had already understood that the position, objectively
speaking, is drawn; nevertheless I kept on looking for chances to win the game.
Zu diesem Zeitpunkt hatte ich bereits verstanden, dass die Position objektiv
gesehen Remis ist, nichtsdestotrotz suchte ich weiterhin nach Chancen, die
Partie zu gewinnen.} R3c4 {This does not yet throw away the draw. Das wirft
das Unentschieden noch nicht weg.} (48... Re3 $3 49. Rxc7 Bd6 50. e7 Rxg3+ $11
51. Kh4 Rg4+ 52. Kh3 Rg3+ $11) 49. Bd5 R4c5 50. Rb7 Rxd7 51. Rxd7 Ra5 (51...
Bf8 $1 52. Kg2 (52. Rf7 Bd6 53. Ba8 Re5) 52... Rb5 $1 (52... Ra5 53. Be4 Ba3
54. Rf7 $16) 53. Kf3 (53. Be4 Ba3) 53... Ba3 $1 54. Ke4 Rb4+ 55. Kd3 Rg4 $11
56. e7 Rxg3+ 57. Kc2 Bxe7 58. Rxe7 h4 $11) 52. Bc6 $2 (52. Bc4 $1 $18 Rc5 53.
Bd3 Rc3 54. Rxe7 $3 Rxd3 55. Re8 {- it is hard to believe but this position is
a win - - kaum zu glauben, aber diese Position ist gewonnen -} Re3 (55... Kg7
56. Rc8 Re3 57. Kh4 Re5 58. Ra8 Re1 59. Kxh5) 56. Rg8 Re2 57. g4 hxg4+ 58. Kg3
Kh5 59. Rxg4 Re1 60. Kf3 Rb1 61. Rg7) 52... Ba3 53. Rf7 Re5 (53... Rxf5 $1 {
Magnus suggested this reply after the game. He was probably correct - the
position which arises in this case appears rather to be drawn. Diese Antwort
schlug Magnus nach der Partie vor. Wahrscheinlich hatte er recht - die in
diesem Fall entstehende Position scheint eher Remis zu sein.} 54. e7 Bxe7 55.
Rxe7 Rc5 56. Be4 f5 57. Bd3 Rd5 58. Re3 Kg6 59. Rf3 Kg5 60. Bc2 Ra5 61. Rf1 Rd5
) 54. Kh4 $1 {Carlsen did not consider this possibility. Diese Möglichkeit
hat Carlsen nicht in Betracht gezogen.} Bc1 $4 (54... Bb4 $1 55. Rxf6+ Kg7 56.
Rf7+ Kh6 $1 {- it is hard to believe but this position is probably a draw -  -
schwer zu glauben, aber diese Stellung ist wahrscheinlich Remis -} 57. Bd7 Re3
58. f6 Kg6 {and White can make no further progress. und Weiß kommt nicht
weiter.}) 55. e7 {1-0 (55) Mamedyarov,S (2801)-Carlsen,M (2802) Biel 2018 EXT
2019 [Mamedyarov,S]} 1-0

[Event "Biel GM 51st"]
[Site "Biel"]
[Date "2018.08.01"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Georgiadis, Nico"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2842"]
[BlackElo "2526"]
[Annotator "Golubev,M"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2018.07.22"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 186"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Na3 $5 {This move remained virtually unknown until Zvjaginsev used
it three times in the Russian Superfinal 2005. Still, there were almost no
followers among the strong GMs afterwards. By using such an offbeat move, the
world champion probably expressed his disappointment with the loss in the
previous round - and also avoided the main theory, indeed.} g6 ({Quite a
decent recipe is} 2... d6 3. c3 Nf6 4. g3 Nc6 5. Bg2 e5 $1 $11 {
Welling-Swinkels, Hilversum 2008.}) 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. c3 $1 d5 ({An alternative is
} 4... Nc6 $5 5. d4 cxd4 6. cxd4 Nf6 $1 7. d5 Nb4 8. Bd3 ({or} 8. Qa4 a5) 8...
O-O {Zvjaginsev-Bocharov, Tomsk 2006.}) 5. exd5 Qxd5 {Now it has transposed to
a sideline of the Alapin System, where Na3 is a useful/typical move.} 6. Bc4 ({
After the rare} 6. Qb3 {Black can play} Nf6 $5 ({but not} 6... Be6 $2 7. Bc4 $1
Qe4+ 8. Kd1 $1 {and if} Bxc4 9. Nxc4 Qd5 10. Nb6 $3 $18 {Smyslov-Zhu Chen,
Amsterdam 2001})) ({A sensible alternative is} 6. d4 cxd4 7. Bc4 ({or} 7. Nb5
Na6 8. Nbxd4 Nf6 9. Bb5+ Bd7 {where GM Karpatchev advocated} 10. Bxa6 $5 bxa6
11. O-O O-O 12. Re1 {and if} Rfe8 13. Ne5) 7... Qe4+ 8. Be3 {and now} Nh6 $1 ({
avoiding the trap} 8... dxe3 $4 9. Bxf7+)) 6... Qe4+ 7. Kf1 $5 ({In a number
of games the "Alapin" expert GM Sveshnikov preferred} 7. Be2 Nf6 8. O-O {
, which is a more common choice generally. Now it makes sense to play} Nc6 $1 {
first} ({avoiding the line} 8... O-O 9. d4 cxd4 10. Nxd4 $1 {Sveshnikov-Miezis,
ch-LAT Riga 2005})) 7... Be6 $1 {Clearly the best way to parry the Bxf7+
threat.} ({Instead} 7... e6 $4 8. d3 Qf5 9. Nb5 $18 {Cherniaev-Vasquez
Schroder, Wch blitz Khanty-Mansiysk 2013, was already lost for Black.}) 8. Qa4+
$6 $146 ({After} 8. Bb5+ Bd7 9. d3 (9. Bc4 Be6 $11 {repeats}) 9... Bxb5 10.
Nxb5 Qc6 $8 11. Qa4 {(Peptan-Uta, ROM-ch wom Amara 2007)} Nd7 12. Bf4 Kf8 $1 {
Black is fine.}) (8. Qe2 $5 $11 {can not be overly attractive.}) ({But White
can also try} 8. Be2 $5 {where Black, likely, has to allow Ng5 by} Nf6 ({or} 
8... Nc6)) 8... Nd7 ({There was nothing wrong with} 8... Nc6 $5 {as well.}) 9.
d4 $6 {Another overly optimistic move.} Ngf6 10. Bg5 Bxc4+ 11. Qxc4 Qd5 $6 ({
A more promising move was} 11... Qf5 $1 {and Black is somewhat better.}) 12.
Re1 e6 13. Bxf6 $5 Nxf6 $1 14. Qb5+ $6 ({After} 14. Qxc5 Qxc5 15. dxc5 {
Black is fine, but at least White can hope to be no worse.}) 14... Nd7 $1 15.
Ne5 $6 a6 $2 ({A sharp, principled continuation was} 15... Bxe5 16. dxe5 Qxa2
$1 {which looks very risky, but Black is doing well here.} 17. Rd1 ({or} 17.
Nc4 O-O $1 $17 {and then, for example,} 18. b3 Rfd8 19. h4 Rab8 {with the idea
of 20...a6}) 17... O-O-O $1 ({rather than} 17... O-O 18. Qxd7 Rad8 19. Qxd8
Rxd8 20. Rxd8+ Kg7 21. Nc2 $1 {etc. where White probably holds}) 18. Nc4 {
(otherwise 18...a6)} Nxe5 $1 19. Qxc5+ Nc6 $17) 16. Qc4 $6 ({Normally, White
had to play} 16. Qxd7+ Qxd7 17. Nxd7 Kxd7 18. Nc4 $11 {. While after Carlsen's
move Black is better.}) 16... Nxe5 17. dxe5 Rd8 18. Qxd5 Rxd5 19. f4 g5 $6 ({
Two stronger moves were} 19... Bh6 $5 20. g3 g5) ({and} 19... O-O $5 {
preparing ...f6}) 20. fxg5 $8 Ke7 21. h4 $1 Rxe5 ({If} 21... Rhd8 $5 22. Rh3 $1
({rather than} 22. Nc4 b5 23. Na5 Rc8 $1)) 22. Rxe5 Bxe5 {The ending is equal,
more or less.} 23. Ke2 b5 24. Nc2 Rd8 25. Ne1 c4 26. Nf3 Bg7 27. Nd2 $6 h6 28.
Ne4 hxg5 29. hxg5 Rd5 30. a3 a5 31. Re1 Be5 32. g3 $6 Kf8 $1 33. Kf3 $6 Kg7 {
After several inaccurate moves, the world champion's position has become
unpleasant.} 34. Kg4 Kg6 35. Rf1 Rd3 ({The Swiss grandmaster could have tried} 
35... Bg7 $5 {. The following illustrative lines show some ideas:} 36. Rf2 Re5
37. Kf4 Rf5+ 38. Kg4 Rxf2 39. Nxf2 a4 (39... Bf8 $5 40. Nh3 Bd6 41. Nf4+ Bxf4
42. gxf4 a4 43. Kg3 Kf5 44. Kf3 e5 45. fxe5 Kxe5 46. Kg4 Ke4 47. Kh5 Kd3 48.
Kh6 Kc2 49. Kg7 Kxb2 50. Kxf7 b4) 40. Ne4 (40. Nh3 b4 $1) 40... Bf8 $1 41. Kf4
Be7 42. Kg4 $2 (42. Ke5 $1) 42... e5 $1 {(Zugzwang)} 43. Kf3 Bxg5 44. Nd6 Bc1
45. Ke4 Bxb2 46. Nxb5 f6 $1 47. Kd5 Kg5 48. Kxc4 Kg4 49. Kd3 Kxg3 50. Kc2 Ba1
$1 51. Kb1 f5 $1 52. Kxa1 f4 53. c4 f3 54. Nc3 Kf4 $1 55. Nd1 e4 {and wins.})
36. Rf3 Rd1 37. Rf2 Rd5 $2 {Georgiadis allows White to regroup.} 38. Nd2 $5 (
38. Nf6 $1 Bxf6 {(otherwise White can play 39.Nh5)} 39. Rxf6+ Kg7 40. Rf2 {
is drawish.}) 38... Bc7 39. Nf3 Bd8 40. Nh4+ Kg7 41. Nf3 Bb6 ({Avoiding the
repetition,} 41... Kg6 {. But White is already OK.}) 42. Re2 Bc7 43. Re4 $1 Bd6
44. Rd4 $1 Rxd4+ 45. Nxd4 b4 46. a4 {The position is a draw, after many of
Black's moves. But he blunders terribly.} b3 $4 ({Quite normal would have been,
for example,} 46... Be5 47. Nc2 $1 (47. Nb5 $2 Kg6 $1 48. cxb4 axb4 49. a5 Bxb2
50. a6 c3 51. Nd4 c2 52. Nxc2 b3) 47... bxc3 48. bxc3 Bxc3 49. Ne3 $11) 47. Nf3
$1 $18 {Threatening 48.Nd2.} ({Instead of giving up (after quite a long think)
after} 47. Nf3 {Black could have tried} Ba3 48. bxa3 b2 49. Nd2 {and now} Kg6 {
but there are not many practical chances for him. For example,} 50. Kf4 Kh5 51.
Ke3 Kxg5 52. Kd4 (52. Ke2 Kg4 53. Kd1 $1 Kxg3 54. Kc2 {wins as well}) 52... Kg4
53. Kxc4 e5 54. Kb3 ({after} 54. Kd5 $4 Kxg3 55. Kxe5 Kf2 {Black saves the game
}) 54... e4 55. Kxb2 e3 56. Nc4 e2 57. Ne3+ Kxg3 58. Nc2 f5 59. c4 f4 60. Kc3
f3 61. Kd2 $18 {. I suspect that this Carlsen's win will never be included in
his best games collections. He played quite poorly and was just very lucky in
the end.}) 1-0

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 6th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2018.08.18"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2779"]
[BlackElo "2842"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2018.08.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 186"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Bc4 g6 5. h4 h6 6. h5 g5 7. Nh2 Nf6 8. d3 d6
9. Nf1 Bg4 10. f3 Be6 11. Ne3 Bg7 12. Ncd5 O-O 13. c3 Rb8 14. a4 a6 15. g4 b5
16. axb5 axb5 17. Bb3 Ne7 18. Nxe7+ Qxe7 19. O-O Qb7 20. Bxe6 fxe6 21. c4 b4
22. b3 Nd7 23. Qe2 Rbd8 24. Nc2 Nb8 25. Be3 Nc6 26. Kg2 Rf7 27. Ra4 Rdf8 28.
Bg1 Bf6 29. Rfa1 Bd8 30. Ra8 Rxf3 31. Qxf3 Rxf3 32. Kxf3 Kg7 33. Ke2 Bb6 34.
R8a6 Kf7 35. Ra8 Kg7 36. R8a6 Kf7 37. Ra8 Kg7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 6th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2018.08.19"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A17"]
[WhiteElo "2842"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[Annotator "Marin,M"]
[PlyCount "175"]
[EventDate "2018.08.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 186"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 ({It is useful to compare the game variation with the
classical way of reaching almost the same position:} 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. Nf3
Be7 5. d4 O-O 6. Nc3 dxc4 7. Ne5 Nc6 8. Bxc6 bxc6 9. Nxc6 Qe8 10. Nxe7+ Qxe7
11. Qa4 c5 12. dxc5 Qxc5 13. Be3 Qc7 14. Rd1 Nd5 15. Bd4 Rd8 {Since nobody so
far has played Nxd5 here, Carlsen's 17th move can be considered the real true
novelty.}) 2... Bb4 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nf3 d5 6. a3 (6. d4 {would lead to
a fianchetto Nimzo-Indian tabiya, which White usually sidesteps by playing 4.
Nf3 and only after 4...c5 5.g3.}) 6... Be7 ({The alternative is} 6... Bxc3 {
At a high level,} 7. dxc3 {is the main move, clearing the path for the bishop.}
({Instinctively, I would think of strengthening my centre with} 7. bxc3) {
Here are two examples:} 7... Nbd7 (7... c5 {exposes the c5-pawn a bit too soon.
} 8. O-O Nc6 9. Bg5 dxc4 10. Qa4 h6 11. Bxf6 Qxf6 12. Qxc4 Qe7 13. Ne1 Ne5 14.
Qf4 Ng6 15. Qe3 c4 $6 16. Nf3 $14 {Ivanchuk,V (2752)-Bologan,V (2700) Saint
Vincent 2005 (1-0, 71)}) 8. cxd5 exd5 9. O-O Nc5 10. Be3 Nce4 11. Rc1 {
Objectively Black should be doing fine, but the bishop pair is a latent danger
for Black.} Be6 12. Nd4 Bd7 13. Bf4 c5 14. Nf3 Re8 15. c4 d4 16. e3 Bg4 $6 (
16... dxe3 17. Bxe3 {would offer White a purely symbolic advantage.}) 17. exd4
Bxf3 18. Bxf3 cxd4 19. Qd3 $14 {(Wojtaszek,R (2614)-Bartel,M (2613) Lublin
2008 1-0, 50)}) 7. d4 {We have reached a known Catalan tabiya with the extra
tempo for White a2-a3.} dxc4 8. Ne5 Nc6 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. Nxc6 Qe8 11. Nxe7+
Qxe7 12. Qa4 c5 13. dxc5 $146 ({It is interesting that Karjakin had had this
position twice. The games continued with} 13. Qxc4 cxd4 14. Qxd4 e5 15. Qb4 (
15. Qh4 Qe6 16. O-O Bb7 17. Bg5 Nd5 18. Nxd5 Qxd5 19. f3 Qb5 $6 (19... h6 20.
Be3 Qb5 21. Qb4 Qxe2 $11) 20. Qb4 $1 {This is one of the moments when the
extra tempo a2-a3 proves useful.} Qa6 21. Rac1 (21. e4 $5) 21... e4 $44 {
(Moiseenko,A-Karjakin,S Eurasian blitz 2016 ½-½, 51)}) 15... Qe6 16. Bg5 a5
17. Qh4 Nd5 $44 {Aronian,L (2737)-Karjakin,S (2727) Sochi 2008 (½-½, 34)})
13... Qxc5 14. Be3 Qc7 {Despite the presence of opposite-coloured bishops,
White's position remains more pleasant because of the perfect blockade on c3.
In many endings this would yield him a small but lasting advantage. This
applies to both positions, with or without a2-a3.} 15. Rd1 Nd5 16. Bd4 Rd8 17.
Nxd5 $146 {I know that indicating two novelties in the same game rarely makes
sense, but as explained above this is one of them. Actually the move is
logical because it forces Black to obstruct the long diagonal and it extends
White's area of blockade by one square (d4).} exd5 18. Qc2 Qe7 (18... Bh3 {
is not dangerous as after} 19. f3 Rd7 20. Kf2 {followed by Rhe1 White
completes his development harmoniously.}) 19. O-O Bh3 20. Rfe1 Rd7 21. Bc3 {
[%cal Gd1d4,Gc2d2] Starting a coherent regrouping.} Re8 22. Rd4 Qg5 {The plan
of exchanging queens mainly plays into White's hands, as his king has better
prospects for centralising.} (22... h5 $5 23. Qd2 f6 {might have been better as
} 24. Rxd5 $2 {loses to} Qe4 $19) 23. Qd2 Qxd2 24. Rxd2 $14 {With his king in
absolute safety after the queen exchange White can play at his leisure. True,
his winning chances are not very clear yet.} Be6 25. Red1 Rde7 26. f3 h5 27.
Kf2 f6 28. Rd4 Kh7 29. R1d2 Bf7 30. h3 ({WHite could have obtained an active
ending with} 30. e4 dxe4 31. Rxe4 Rxe4 32. fxe4 Re7 33. Ke3 {for instance} Bg6
34. Rd4 Bf7 35. Bb4 Rb7 36. Rd6 $14 {, but Carlsen was probably looking for a
good moment to eliminate the d5-pawn by other means.}) 30... a6 31. Rf4 Kg8 32.
Bd4 Kh7 33. Bc3 {Typical waiting moves when one is not entirely sure about how
to proceed, or when one wants to confuse one's opponent.} Kg8 34. g4 hxg4 35.
hxg4 Kh7 36. Rf5 Rb7 ({I cannot imagine that Karjakin did not understand
Carlsen's intentions. But he probably refrained from over defending the pawn
with} 36... Rd7 {due to} 37. e4 {In fact, this would not be too dangerous for
Black:} Red8 38. e5 fxe5 (38... Bg6 39. e6 $1 Bxf5 40. gxf5 {offers White
ample compensation for the exchange.}) 39. Bxe5 d4 40. Rxd4 Rxd4 41. Bxd4 Rxd4
42. Rxf7 Rd2+ 43. Kg3 Rxb2 $11) 37. Rfxd5 $1 {Now White knows what he will be
playing for. The c4-pawn is weak, the c3-bishop as strong as earlier and he
will have the plan of advancing his kingside majority. Objectively, the
position may still be equal, but from a practical point of view it remains
very unpleasant for Black.} Bxd5 38. Rxd5 Kg6 {A strange decision. Black gives
up the c4-pawn without a fight.} ({True, after} 38... Rc8 39. Rd6 Ra7 40. e4
Rcc7 41. Rd4 Rc6 42. f4 {White has some kingside initiative. But giving up the
pawn will not avoid that, either!}) 39. Rc5 Rh8 40. Kg3 $1 (40. Rxc4 $2 Rh2+
41. Ke1 Re7 42. e4 Rd7 $15 {[%csl Ge1]}) 40... Rb6 41. Rxc4 Rh1 42. Rc7 Rc1 43.
Rd7 Rc6 {Karjakin must have looked for a moment to return the exchange, and
reach a draw in a symbolically worse rook ending, but somehow this will not
work.} 44. a4 Rg1+ (44... R1xc3 45. bxc3 Rc4 46. Rd4 $1 Rxc3 47. Rd6 $18) 45.
Kf2 Ra1 46. a5 Ra4 (46... Rxc3 47. bxc3 Rxa5 48. Ke3 {remains dangerous for
Black, as exchanging the a- and c-pawns is by no means trivial.}) 47. Kg3 Rac4
48. Ra7 $1 ({If} 48. e4 Rc7 $1 ({But not} 48... Rxc3 $2 49. bxc3 {[%cal Gd7a7]}
Rc5 50. Rd5 $1) 49. Rd6 R7c6 {and the rook will have to retreat. In the event
of an exchange White would lose any chance to put Black under pressure.}) 48...
Re6 49. e4 Rc8 50. Rd7 Rec6 (50... Rce8 51. Kf4 R8e7 52. Rd5 Rc6 53. g5 $14)
51. f4 R8c7 ({Once again returning the exchange looks risky:} 51... Rxc3+ 52.
bxc3 Rxc3+ 53. Kh4 Ra3 54. f5+ Kh6 55. g5+ (55. Rd5 g5+ $5) (55. e5 g5+ 56.
fxg6 fxe5) 55... fxg5+ 56. Kg4 Rxa5 57. Rd6+ Kh7 58. Kxg5 {One would not go
willingly to such an ending. The a6-pawn is more of a problem for Black, who
cannot check from a distance when the king will intrude through the centre.}
Ra1 59. e5 Rg1+ 60. Kf4 Rf1+ (60... Kg8 61. Ke4 a5 62. Kd5 {is not all roses
either.}) 61. Ke4 Re1+ 62. Kd5 Rf1 63. Ke6 Rb1 (63... a5 64. Kd7) 64. Kd7 Rb7+
65. Kc6 Re7 66. e6 $18) 52. f5+ Kh7 {The safest square for the king.} (52...
Kg5 $2 53. Bd2#) (52... Kh6 53. Rd1 Kh7 (53... Rxc3+ 54. bxc3 Rxc3+ 55. Kf4 $18
{[%cal Gd1h1,Gd1d6] The vulnerability of the black king is decisive.}) 54. Kf4
$14 {[%cal Gg4g5]}) 53. Rd8 Rc8 54. Rd3 ({Apparently Carlsen was not entirely
sure about the aforementioned ending resulting after} 54. Rd1 Rxc3+ 55. bxc3
Rxc3+ 56. Kf4 Ra3 57. g5 fxg5+ 58. Kxg5 Rxa5 59. Rd6) 54... Re8 55. Rd4 Rc7 56.
Kf4 {White has made considerable progress, but nothing is clear yet.} Rce7 57.
Rc4 Kh6 58. Kf3 Rd7 59. Bd4 Kh7 60. b4 Rd6 61. Ke3 Kh6 62. Rc1 Kh7 63. Bb6 Rd7
64. Bc5 {White has gained space on the queenside, too.} Red8 ({Black could
have taken advantage of the bishop's departure from the long diagonal with} 
64... g6 $5 {somewhat freeing his position.}) 65. Rh1+ ({The long awaited break
} 65. g5 {does not bring in anything concrete:} fxg5 66. e5 Rd1 67. Rxd1 Rxd1
68. e6 Re1+ 69. Kf3 {[%cal Ge6e7,Gc5e3]} Kg8 70. Kg4 Re2 71. Kxg5 Rg2+ 72. Kf4
Re2 $11) 65... Kg8 66. Kf4 Re8 67. Re1 g5+ {Better late than never.} 68. fxg6
Kg7 69. g5 Kxg6 70. gxf6 Kxf6 71. Rh1 {[%cal Gh1h6]} Rf7 $1 {The best defence,
keeping the king centralised.} (71... Kg6 72. e5 $14) 72. Ke3 (72. Rh6+ $2 Kg7+
) 72... Ke6 73. Rh4 Rf6 74. Rh7 Rf7 75. Rh5 Kd7 76. e5 Rf1 77. Ke4 Kc6 $2 {
A terrible blunder after a difficult defence.} (77... Re1+ 78. Kd5 Rd1+ 79. Bd4
Rd8 $11) (77... Re6 78. Kd5 Rd1+ $11) 78. Rh6+ Kb5 (78... Kb7 79. Rb6+ Kc7 (
79... Ka7 80. Re6+) 80. Rxa6 Re1+ 81. Kd3 R1xe5 82. Bd6+ Kb7 83. Rb6+ Ka7 84.
Bxe5 $18) (78... Kd7 79. Rd6+ Kc7 (79... Kc8 80. e6 $18) 80. Rxa6 Re1+ 81. Kd3
R1xe5 82. Bd6+ Kb7 83. Rb6+ Ka7 84. Bxe5 $18) 79. Rb6+ Kc4 80. e6 $18 {The
e-pawn is strong and safe now and the pawn on a6 is doomed. To make things
worse, the black king is out of play.} Re1+ 81. Kf5 Rf1+ 82. Ke5 Re1+ 83. Kf6
Rf1+ 84. Kg7 Ra8 (84... Re1 85. Kf7) 85. e7 Re1 86. Kf7 Re4 (86... Rf1+ 87. Rf6
Re1 88. Re6 Rf1+ 89. Kg7 Re8 90. Rxa6) 87. Rd6 Rh8 88. Rxa6 (88. Rd8 $18) 1-0

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 6th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2018.08.20"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2767"]
[BlackElo "2842"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2018.08.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 186"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 Nf6 5. O-O d6 6. c3 a6 7. Re1 h6 8. b4 Ba7
9. a4 O-O 10. Nbd2 Re8 11. Nf1 Be6 12. Bxe6 Rxe6 13. Ng3 Ne7 14. d4 Ng6 15. Qc2
c6 16. h3 Qc7 17. Be3 d5 18. Nxe5 Nxe5 19. dxe5 Qxe5 20. exd5 cxd5 21. Rad1
Bxe3 22. Rxe3 Qc7 23. Nf5 Rae8 24. Qd3 Qf4 25. g3 Qc7 26. a5 Rxe3 27. Nxe3 Qc6
28. Nxd5 Nxd5 29. Qxd5 Re1+ 30. Kh2 Rxd1 31. Qxd1 Qxc3 32. Qd8+ Kh7 33. Qd5
Qxb4 34. Qf5+ Kg8 35. Qc8+ Kh7 36. Qf5+ Kg8 37. Qc8+ Kh7 38. Qf5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 6th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2018.08.21"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2768"]
[BlackElo "2842"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2018.08.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 186"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 Nf6 7. Nc3 O-O 8.
Be3 b6 9. Qd2 e5 10. Bh6 Qd6 11. Bxg7 Kxg7 12. a4 Ne8 13. Nh2 Nc7 14. Ng4 f6
15. f3 Ne6 16. h4 Nd4 17. h5 g5 18. Ne3 Be6 19. Ne2 Kh8 20. Ng3 Rad8 21. Kf2
Qe7 22. Qd1 c4 23. dxc4 f5 24. exf5 Nxf5 25. Ngxf5 Bxf5 26. Qe2 g4 27. Kg1 gxf3
28. Qxf3 Bxc2 29. Qg3 Bd3 30. Rh4 Rd4 31. Rg4 Rxg4 32. Nxg4 e4 33. Qe5+ Qxe5
34. Nxe5 Kg7 35. Rd1 Rd8 36. Nxc6 Re8 37. Kf2 e3+ 38. Ke1 Bxc4 39. Rd4 Bf7 40.
g4 a5 41. b4 axb4 42. Rxb4 Be6 43. g5 Bf7 44. h6+ Kg6 45. Rb5 Ba2 46. Re5 Rxe5
47. Nxe5+ Kxg5 48. Nd7 Bb3 49. Nxb6 Bxa4 50. Nxa4 Kxh6 51. Nc3 e2 52. Nxe2 Kg5
53. Ng3 h5 54. Nxh5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 6th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2018.08.22"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E14"]
[WhiteElo "2842"]
[BlackElo "2780"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2018.08.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 186"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. e3 Nc6 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bd3 Be7 8. O-O
O-O 9. Qe2 b6 10. Rd1 cxd4 11. Nxd5 Qxd5 12. exd4 Bb7 13. Be4 Qd6 14. g3 Bf6
15. Bg5 Qe7 16. Bxf6 Qxf6 17. Ne5 Rfc8 18. Qb5 Na5 19. Bxb7 Nxb7 20. Qd7 Nc5
21. dxc5 Qxe5 22. c6 h5 23. Rd6 Qxb2 24. Rad1 Qc2 25. h4 Rd8 26. Qxd8+ Rxd8 27.
Rxd8+ Kh7 28. R8d7 a5 29. c7 b5 30. R1d2 Qc1+ 31. Rd1 Qc2 32. R1d4 f6 33. Rd2
Qc1+ 34. Rd1 Qc2 35. R1d6 Qb1+ 36. Rd1 Qc2 37. R1d6 Qb1+ 38. Kg2 Qe4+ 39. Kh2
Qc2 40. Rd2 Qc3 41. R2d6 Qc2 42. Rd2 Qc3 43. Re2 e5 44. Red2 b4 45. R2d6 Kg6
46. Kg2 Qc2 47. Re7 Qe4+ 48. Kg1 Qe1+ 49. Kg2 Qe4+ 50. Kg1 Qe1+ 51. Kg2 Qe4+
1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 6th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2018.08.24"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E60"]
[WhiteElo "2766"]
[BlackElo "2842"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2018.08.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 186"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 {The Fianchetto King's Indian isn't one of White's
most ambitious openings, as even the standard ...c6/...d5 setup leads to
equality. However, against an enterprising Black player, it can lead to
interesting chess.} Bg7 4. c4 O-O 5. d4 d6 6. O-O c5 {A first sign that we are
going to get an interesting game.} (6... Nbd7 {is the Kotronias recommendation,
and by and large I agree with his findings.}) (6... Nc6 {is probably the most
played move, but for various reasons I am suspicious of it.}) 7. d5 (7. Nc3
cxd4 8. Nxd4 Nc6 $5 {is the famous 'ICC gambit' favoured by Melkumyan.} 9. Nxc6
bxc6 10. Bxc6 Rb8 {Now I examine the two most-played moves.} 11. Bg2 (11. Qa4
Bh3 $1 12. Bg2 (12. Rd1 a5 {Threatening ...Rb4.} 13. a3 Nd7 $11) 12... Bxg2 13.
Kxg2 Qd7 $1 {Bringing about adequate Benko-type compensation for Black.} 14.
Qxd7 Nxd7 15. Nd5 $5 Bxb2 16. Nxe7+ Kg7 17. Rb1 Bxc1 18. Rfxc1 Rbe8 $11) (11.
b3 Bh3 12. Re1 $4 (12. Bd2 $44) 12... Ng4 13. Bb2 Qb6 $19) (11. Bf3 {Now the
play isn't that forcing, but one interesting line leading to equality is} Ng4
12. Bg2 Bb7 13. Qc2 Bxg2 14. Kxg2 Rc8 15. b3 d5 $1 $11) 11... Qa5 12. Qd2 $5 (
12. Nb5 {This is most-played but probably not most critical.} Bb7 13. Bxb7 Rxb7
14. Bd2 Qa6 15. Bc3 Rc8 16. b3 d5 $1 $11 {Black equalised quickly in Zhigalko,
A-Melkumyan,H Warsaw 2014}) 12... Bb7 (12... Be6 {is also possible, and after
the obligatory} 13. b3 Rxb3 14. axb3 Qxa1 15. Nb5 {then a few more well-chosen
moves should neutralise whatever White has left.}) 13. Bxb7 (13. e4 Qa6 $11)
13... Rxb7 14. Rb1 Ng4 15. Qd5 Qa6 $13 {The debate over 'Benko compensation'
continues.}) 7... b5 {Of course.} 8. cxb5 a6 9. bxa6 Bf5 (9... e6 10. dxe6 fxe6
{is favoured by the engine, but this structure tends not to be so great for
Black due to the strength of a possible e4-push by White.}) 10. Nfd2 (10. Nh4
$5 {deserves attention, trying to make Black either swap bishops or give some
tempi to White's e4-e5 efforts.}) 10... Nxa6 11. Nc3 (11. e4 Bg4 12. f3 Bc8 13.
Nc4 $44) 11... Nb4 12. Nc4 $1 {A very good, but risky decision.} Nc2 $6 (12...
Bc2 13. Qd2 Bb3 14. Na3 Bxd5 15. Nxd5 Nfxd5 16. Nc4 (16. Bxd5 Nxd5 17. Qxd5
Rxa3 18. bxa3 Bxa1 $15) 16... Nc7 $44 {Black has to sacrifice an exchange in
one way or another, but there seems to be sufficent compensation for it.}) 13.
g4 $5 {Entering huge complications.} (13. Rb1 $1 {gives White good chances of
simply consolidating the pawn, e.g.} Nb4 14. e4 Bg4 15. f3 Bc8 16. a3 Ba6 17.
b3 $14) 13... Nxg4 14. e4 Nxa1 15. exf5 Bxc3 $6 {Neither natural nor
particularly good.} (15... gxf5 16. Qd3 $14) (15... Ne5 16. Nxe5 Bxe5 17. fxg6
hxg6 18. Bd2 Bxc3 19. Bxc3 Rxa2 20. f4 $13) 16. bxc3 Nf6 (16... gxf5 17. h3 Nf6
18. Bh6 $16) 17. Qe2 Re8 18. Bg5 $16 {Objectively, White is very close to
winning, but now strange things begin to happen.} Qd7 19. fxg6 hxg6 20. Rxa1
Qf5 21. Bxf6 $2 {A weird and frankly almost unintelligible decision.} ({After} 
21. h4 $16 {it is difficult to imagine that the dark-squared bishop could ever
be inferior to the Black knight, though of course the time pressure makes this
position nevertheless somewhat difficult.}) 21... Qxf6 22. Qf3 Qh4 23. Qe4 Qf6
24. Qf3 Qh4 25. Qe4 Qf6 26. Qd3 $6 (26. a4 Qxc3 27. Ra3 Qc1+ 28. Bf1 $14 {
would be a reasonable technical decision at this point, trying to reach some
kind of endgame where the passed a-pawn can show its strength.}) 26... Reb8 27.
a3 Rb3 28. Rc1 Ra4 {Now it is not totally clear who is playing on, so White
forces a draw.} (28... Kg7 {followed by ...Rh8 might have been an intelligent
way to play on White's time trouble.}) 29. Qc2 Qf4 30. Qxb3 Qxc1+ 31. Bf1 Qg5+
$11 32. Bg2 Qc1+ 33. Bf1 Qg5+ 34. Bg2 Qc1+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 6th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2018.08.25"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2842"]
[BlackElo "2822"]
[Annotator "Roiz,M"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2018.08.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 186"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 Nc6
8. Bc4 $5 {This move is almost unexplored on a high level.} O-O ({After} 8...
Bf6 9. Qe2 O-O 10. O-O-O Re8 11. h3 Be6 12. Bxe6 Rxe6 13. g4 {Dubov,D -
Fridman,D Tbilisi 2017, White had a definite initiative on the k-side and
eventually won.}) (8... Be6 9. Bxe6 fxe6 {, as was checked in a few games
doesn't seem to fully solve Black's problems in view of} 10. h4 $1 Qd7 11. Ng5
e5 12. Qd5 Bxg5 13. hxg5 $14) 9. Qd2 ({Another possibility was} 9. Qe2 Re8 10.
O-O-O Bg4 {, though White's queen is placed rather awkwardly here. For
instance,} 11. h3 Bxf3 12. gxf3 Bg5 13. f4 Bxf4 14. Bxf7+ Kxf7 15. Qc4+ Kf8 16.
Qxf4+ Qf6 $11) 9... Bf5 ({A move deserving serious attention is} 9... Ne5 $5
10. Nxe5 dxe5 11. O-O-O Qxd2+ 12. Rxd2 Bf5 13. Re1 Rfe8 {, and then in 1
correspondence game Black managed to slowly liquidate White's pressure along
central files. However, play of such a character would most likely suit Magnus.
}) 10. O-O-O Qd7 11. Kb1 $146 {This typical prophylactic move is a novelty.} ({
The previously played} 11. Rhe1 Rae8 12. Bd5 Be6 13. c4 Bf6 14. Bg5 Bxg5 15.
Qxg5 h6 {led to equal position in Takacs,B - Horvath,I Hungary 2008}) ({
Another interesting try was} 11. h3 $5 Na5 12. Bd3 {, and the effect} Qa4 13.
Kb1 Nc4 {doesn't lead to full equality:} 14. Bxc4 Qxc4 15. b3 Qa6 16. Nd4 Bd7
17. c4 $14) 11... Rfe8 12. h4 {The most aggressive. Magnus is intending to
push his kingside pawns as soon as possible.} (12. h3 Be4 13. Bd5 Bf6 14. g4 g6
{looks very solid for Black.}) 12... Bf8 {This move looks somewhat passive,
but Fabiano searches for counterplay along the e-file.} (12... Bf6 13. Bg5 $1
Be5 14. Nd4 Bxd4 15. cxd4 d5 16. Bf1 {would have yielded White a definite
advantage due to the pair of bishops.}) 13. h5 h6 14. Be2 $1 {After this move
Black can hardly stop g2-g4} Bg4 (14... a6 15. Nh2 Be4 16. Rhg1 $36) 15. Nh2
Bxe2 16. Qxe2 Ne5 {This move is connected with loss of time, since White is
going to push the k-side pawns and attack the knight.} ({A safer one was} 16...
Re4 $5 17. Nf1 (17. g4 {is well met by} Rae8 18. Qd3 d5 $1 19. Qxd5 Qxd5 20.
Rxd5 Bd6 $132) 17... Rae8 18. Nd2 R4e5 19. g4 Qe6 {White is still somewhat
better, but Black's counterplay shouldn't be underestimated.}) 17. Bc1 Qc6 18.
f4 (18. g4 $5 Qc4 19. Qxc4 Nxc4 20. b3 Ne5 21. c4 $14 {also would have kept
Black under long-lasting pressure.}) 18... Nc4 19. Qd3 Qe4 {Black manages to
liquidate into the endgame, but it doesn't fully solve his problems.} 20. g4
Ne3 21. Rde1 Qxd3 22. cxd3 Nd5 23. Reg1 $1 {White reasonably prefers to keep
both rooks on the board.} (23. g5 $6 {would be premature:} Rxe1 24. Rxe1 g6 $1
{and the initiative is almost gone.}) 23... Re6 $6 ({Much better was} 23... Re2
$1 24. g5 Kh7 25. Ng4 Rae8 {, and the activity of rooks offers Black definite
counter-play. For instance,} 26. g6+ (26. f5 hxg5 27. Bxg5 Be7 28. Bxe7 R8xe7
29. c4 Nf6 $11) 26... Kg8 27. f5 f6 28. c4 Nb4 $132) 24. g5 Ne7 $6 {This is
too passive.} ({After} 24... Kh7 25. Ng4 Re2 26. f5 hxg5 27. Bxg5 Be7 28. Bxe7
Rxe7 29. h6 g6 30. fxg6+ fxg6 31. Rf1 $16 {The h-passer also would have put
Black in danger, but it was the lesser evil.}) 25. gxh6 Rxh6 26. f5 Rh7 27. Ng4
(27. f6 $1 {was stronger:} Nd5 28. fxg7 Rxg7 29. Rf1 Re8 30. h6 Rg6 31. Nf3 $18
{and Black doesn't seem to withstand the pressure.}) 27... Kh8 28. f6 Ng8 29.
fxg7+ {This inaccuracy enables Black to activate the pieces.} ({More energetic
was} 29. h6 $1 Nxf6 ({Black is almost paralysed also after} 29... gxf6 30. Rf1
Re8 31. Be3 c5 32. c4) 30. Nxf6 gxf6 31. Re1 {White is dominating over the
board, and he should be able to win.}) 29... Rxg7 30. Be3 c5 $1 {It's
necessary to cover the d4-square.} 31. Bf4 $6 {Another step in the wrong
direction.} ({A much stronger move was} 31. Bd2 $1 Re8 (31... Kh7 32. Nf2 $16)
32. c4 Re6 33. Bc3 f6 34. Rg3 $16 {and Black is still doomed to passive
defence.}) 31... Re8 $1 32. Ne3 Rxg1+ 33. Rxg1 Re6 {Black's pieces are slowly
getting out now.} 34. Nd5 Nf6 35. Nc7 Re2 36. Nb5 Re6 $1 {A cool-blooded reply,
that makes it difficult for White to make real progress.} 37. Rf1 $6 {Spoiling
all the advantage.} ({The last chance was} 37. Nxa7 Kh7 38. Rh1 Ng4 39. Nb5 Nf2
40. Rf1 Nxd3 41. Bxd6 $1 Bxd6 42. Rxf7+ Kh6 43. Rd7 Re1+ 44. Kc2 c4 45. Rxd6+
Kxh5 $14 {Black is very active, but the draw isn't guaranteed yet.}) 37... Kg8
38. Nc7 {Accepting a draw by repetition.} (38. Nxa7 Nxh5 39. Bc1 Rf6 40. Rg1+
Rg6 {is fine for Black.}) 38... Re2 39. Nb5 Re6 40. Nc7 Re2 41. Nb5 Re6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 6th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2018.08.26"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D73"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2842"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2018.08.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 186"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 c6 5. Bg2 d5 {Black indicates that he is
fine with a draw, by entering the infamous ...c6, ...d5 setup against the
Fianchetto KID.} 6. Nbd2 (6. O-O O-O 7. cxd5 cxd5 8. Nc3 {brings us to 'the
big position', where Black decides between, in the first instance, ...Nc6, ...
e6 or ...Ne4. My personal favourite, and the most commonly played, is ...e6.}
e6 9. Ne5 {This is most testing.} (9. b3 Nc6 10. Ne5 (10. Ba3 Re8 11. e3 Qa5
12. Bb2 Bd7) 10... Nxe5 11. dxe5 Ng4 12. e4) (9. Bf4 Nc6 10. Ne5 Nh5 $132) 9...
Bd7 $5 {Used in a previous Mamedyarov game.} (9... Nfd7 {is a common choice,
inviting the repetition. An independent line now is:} 10. f4 $1 Nxe5 $5 (10...
Nc6 11. b3 $1 Ndxe5 (11... Re8 12. Ba3 Qa5 13. Bb2 Ne7 14. Qd3 {is also nice
for White.}) 12. dxe5 f6 13. exf6 Bxf6 14. Bb2 $14) 11. fxe5 f6 12. e4 $5 {
A new idea of mine, as far as I know.} fxe5 13. Rxf8+ Qxf8 14. exd5 exd4 (14...
exd5 15. Nxd5 Nc6 $14) 15. Ne4 exd5 16. Ng5 $1 h6 (16... Nc6 $2 17. Bxd5+ Kh8
18. Nf7+ Kg8 19. Qf3 h5 20. Bf4 $32) 17. Bxd5+ Kh8 18. Nf7+ Kh7 19. Bxh6 $1
Bxh6 20. Nxh6 Qxh6 21. Qxd4 $40 {Black has to find a series of precise moves
to survive.}) 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bf4 Nc6 12. Qd2 Kh7 13. Rfd1 Nh5 14. e4 Nxf4 15.
Qxf4 dxe4 16. Nxe4 Qe7 17. h4 Rad8 $1 $11 {Mamedyarov,S-Artemiev,V Moscow 2017}
) 6... a5 7. b3 a4 8. Ba3 axb3 $5 {I don't always understand why Black players
are so keen to resolve this tension, because the pawn on a4 is so rarely
edible.} (8... O-O 9. O-O Ne4 $132) 9. axb3 O-O 10. O-O Re8 11. e3 ({The most
direct way is} 11. Bb2 Na6 12. Ne5 Bf5 13. f3 {but here Black can take care of
himself, for instance after} Qb6 $11 {. Therefore White leaves the bishop on
a3, which represents a form of tension.}) 11... Bf5 12. Qe2 {How very subtle.}
Na6 {This move tries to be too careful, and gives White a couple of
interesting possibilities for play over the next 5 moves or so.} (12... Nbd7 {
was also possible, but maybe Black was concerned about} 13. cxd5 cxd5 14. Qb5
$36 {and White has a brief burst of activity.}) 13. Ne5 Ne4 14. cxd5 cxd5 15.
Nxe4 (15. Rfc1 $5) 15... Bxe4 16. Bxe4 (16. Qb5 $5) 16... dxe4 17. Qb5 Rb8 18.
Qc4 Bxe5 $1 $11 {Fully equalising the game, even if this is not obvious yet.}
19. dxe5 Qd3 20. Rac1 (20. Qxd3 exd3 21. Rad1 b5 $3 {is one of the points,
even if it doesn't get any objective advantage after} 22. Bb2 $11) 20... Qxc4
21. Rxc4 b5 {As in the previous note, Black targets b3.} 22. Rc6 (22. Rxe4 b4
23. Bb2 Nc5 24. Rc4 Nxb3 25. Rd1 Rec8 $1 $15) 22... Ra8 23. Rfc1 Nb8 24. Rc8
Kf8 25. Bb4 Na6 26. Rxa8 Rxa8 27. Ba5 Ke8 28. Rc6 Kd7 29. Rb6 Nc5 30. b4 (30.
Rxb5 {requires either superhuman calculation or an appetite for suffering.}
Nxb3 31. e6+ $1 (31. Rxb3 Rxa5 $15 {is certainly drawable, but definitely will
not be fun.}) 31... Kxe6 32. Bb4 Nc1 33. Rb6+ {Black cannot escape with the
pawn, but if you saw this position from afar, you would still be a lot more
concerned than the engine is about White's survival chances after} Kd7 34. Rb7+
Kc6 35. Rxe7 Nd3 36. Bc3 f5 $5 $13) 30... Nd3 31. e6+ (31. Rxb5 Kc6 32. Rb6+
Kd5 33. Rb7 $1 {White keeps enough activity.}) 31... fxe6 32. Rxb5 Rc8 33. Rb7+
Kd6 34. b5 Rc1+ 35. Kg2 Rc2 36. Kg1 {A sign that the position has become
practically difficult, and indeed, inaccuracies begin to creep in.} g5 37. Rb8
Rb2 (37... e5 $5) 38. Rd8+ Kc5 39. b6 Rb5 40. Kg2 $6 (40. g4 {still keeps the
game level, because Black doesn't have any easy mating configurations.}) 40...
g4 41. h3 h5 42. hxg4 hxg4 {Now it is a little bit troublesome to draw this.}
43. Bc3 e5 44. Rg8 Kc4 {One way to initiate the last roll of the dice.} (44...
Rxb6 $5 45. Rxg4 Rb3 46. Ba5 Rb2 47. Rxe4 Rxf2+ 48. Kg1 Re2 $15 {White still
has quite significant issues to surmount.}) 45. Rc8+ Kd5 46. Rd8+ Kc5 47. Rc8+
({Why not} 47. Rg8 {?}) 47... Kxb6 48. Rb8+ Kc5 49. Rxb5+ {Clearly, White
backed his intuition that this endgame would be drawn.} Kxb5 50. Kf1 Ka4 51.
Ke2 e6 52. Kf1 Kb3 53. Ba5 Kc2 54. Ke2 Nc1+ 55. Ke1 Nd3+ (55... Kd3 $11 {
is possible, but Black doesn't get anywhere near the progress that he needs,
which is, very simply, forcing the White king to f1 at such a moment that ...
Kd1/d2 is then possible.}) 56. Ke2 Nc1+ 57. Ke1 Nd3+ 58. Ke2 Nc1+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 6th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2018.08.27"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2842"]
[BlackElo "2777"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "193"]
[EventDate "2018.08.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 186"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.09.14"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 e6 3. c4 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 b6 {A surprise.
Nakamura was favouring 6...Nbd7 until the candidates tournament of 2016 when
he introduced 6...c5 into his repertoire and now in this game he gives Black's
3rd alternative a go.} 7. Bd3 dxc4 8. Bxc4 Ba6 $5 {A popular move of recent,
which I very much would like to criticise on general grounds. Why try
exchanging pieces and leaving the c6-square weak, when putting the bishop on
the beautiful long diagonal at b7 instead is possible? However the game-move
was actually introduced by Magnus himself! Against Ding in Wijk 2015 leading
to a not too eventful draw.} 9. Qe2 Bxc4 $5 {Magnus played 9...Qc8, but
Nakamura tries a more active approach.} 10. Qxc4 c5 11. dxc5 bxc5 $5 {An
interesting and principled decision. Instead of accepting to be slightly worse
in a symmetrical position, Black makes the bold statement: Sure I do have an
isolated pawn and give you the c4-square, but my position is so robust that
it's of insignificant value. To an extent the game confirms Nakamura's
statement.} 12. O-O Nc6 13. Rac1 Rc8 14. Ne5 Qb6 15. Nxc6 (15. Na4 Qb7 16. Nxc6
Qxc6 17. Bg5 {followed by 18.Bxf6 would lead to a very typical position very
much in the spirit of this line. White will claim a strategic edge, Black that
it is not relevant!}) 15... Rxc6 16. b3 h6 17. Rfd1 Qb7 (17... Qa6 {also was
interesting, as while endgames in principle favour White due to his better
structure, Black in most likelihood will manage to force through ...c4,
equalising.}) 18. h3 Rfc8 19. Na4 Nd7 $6 {Somewhat too cautious.
Overprotecting the c5-pawn really is unneccesary so using the more active
d5-square en route to eventually b6 only has upsides compared to the game.} 20.
Rd2 Nb6 21. Nxb6 Rxb6 22. Rcd1 {Very tempting, attacking as quickly as
possible in the d-file, but as Black seems to have sufficient defensive
resources the more positional 22.Be5!? might have been the better way of
keeping long-term pressure.} Bf6 23. Rd7 Qa6 24. Qe4 {Playing for an attack.} (
{If} 24. Qc2 {then} c4 {and Black starts liquidating his only weakness,
equalising the position.}) 24... e5 $5 {At first looking like a tactical
blunder, but in reality just a well-calculated sequence.} ({So would have been
} 24... Qxa2 $5 25. Be5 Rb4 $1 26. Qf3 Bxe5 27. Qxf7+ Kh7 28. Qxe6 Rf8 $1 29.
Qxe5 Qxf2+ {with a drawish position.}) 25. Bxh6 Re8 $5 (25... gxh6 $2 26. Rxf7
$1 {wins, as} Kxf7 27. Qh7+ {mates on the 7th rank.}) ({Not taking the bishop,
but only a pawn however works, as after} 25... Qxa2 $5 26. Qg4 Qxb3 27. R7d6 {
White does look winning, threatening to take on c8 and f6, but:} Rcb8 $1 {
defends due to} 28. Rxf6 $2 Qxd1+ $1 29. Qxd1 Rb1 $1 $17) 26. Qg4 Qxa2 27. e4
Qxb3 28. Be3 Rb7 $1 {White's initiative is fading, Black is managing well to
neutralise to a draw.} 29. R7d6 Be7 30. R6d5 Bf8 31. Bxc5 Bxc5 32. Rxc5 Qe6 33.
Qe2 Rd7 34. Rxd7 Qxd7 35. Rd5 Qc7 {A good time to agree to a draw, was it not
for the fact that Magnus desperately needed to win in order to catch up with
the leaders, as well as the tournament is played after Corsican rules, meaning
no draw-offers were allowed.} 36. Qd2 Ra8 37. Rd7 Qc4 38. f3 Qc5+ 39. Kh2 Qc6 (
{A computer would happily have pushed} 39... a5 $1 {as after} 40. Qa2 Qf8 41.
Qd5 a4 $1 42. Rxf7 Qxf7 43. Qxa8+ Kh7 44. Qxa4 Qf4+ $1 {Black gives perpetual
check.}) 40. Rd6 Qc5 41. Ra6 Qe7 42. Qe3 Kh7 43. Kg3 Qb7 44. Qa3 f6 45. Kh2 $1
{Walking up the board with the king, or starting to push the pawns is only an
attempt to lose, so magnus shows dicipline and retracts his steps.} Qc7 46. Qa1
Qb7 47. Qa5 Qd7 48. Qa2 Qe7 49. Qf2 Qb7 50. Qa2 Qe7 51. Qd5 $5 {An interesting
idea. At first it looks like it allows black just to activate his passive rook,
but it does have some hidden point.} Rb8 52. Qa5 Rb7 ({Nothing was wrong with} 
52... Ra8 {but Nakamura wants to "punish" White's seeming inaccuracy.}) 53. Qe1
Qd7 54. Qh4+ Kg8 55. Qf2 Qf7 $6 56. Qa2 $5 {An interesting idea only made
possible as the rook is now on b7 and not a8. At first it seems absurd to
offer the trade of queens, but that does however allow White more freedom in
activating his king as well as starting to push his kingside pawns. Having
said that, even without the a7-pawn the ensuing ending would be considered a
trivial draw.} Qxa2 57. Rxa2 {Had Black's rook been on a8, then...a5! would
have been possible.} Kh7 58. Ra6 Kg6 59. h4 Kh5 60. Kh3 Rf7 61. g4+ Kh6 62. Kg3
{White has made some progress and starts "threatening" g5+. What should Black
do about it?} g5 $6 ({The answer is: Absolutely nothing!, after} 62... Kg6 63.
g5 {the threat of 64.Kg4 is easily parried by} Kh5 $1 {when White can make no
progress, meaning a trivial draw.}) 63. h5 Kg7 64. Kf2 Rb7 65. Ra3 Kh6 66. Ke3
{Nakamura starts feeling the pressure, as the draw no longer is as trivial as
expected. Black's idea of a fortress just blocking the d-line, does not work,
as due to the protected passed pawn on h5, a rook-exchange leads to a
trivially won pawn ending for White.} a5 $4 (66... Rd7 $1 67. Rd3 Rb7 $1 {
is still a relatively easy and concrete draw. If} 68. Kd2 a5 {Similarly} 69.
Ra3 (69. Kc3 a4 70. Kc4 Kg7 71. Ra3 {then} Rd7 $1 {is a key point, as} 72. Rxa4
Rd4+ $1 {allows 73...Rd3 next with an instant draw.}) 69... Rb5 70. Kc3 Kh7 71.
Kc4 Rb4+ 72. Kc5 Rd4 $1 73. Rxa5 Rd3 74. Ra7+ Kh6 75. Rf7 Rxf3 76. Kd5 Rf4 $1 {
is just in time to secure the draw.  Still now we are analysing concrete
varations with Black drawing by a tempo. Not what Black was expecting just a
few moves back, and Nakamura has not made the mental shift yet, and still is
under the impression he has an impregnable fortress.}) 67. Rxa5 {The idea of
annotating this game, was to write a detailed analysis of the ensuing ending.
However, all there is to say is that White is winning! Unknown to most of us,
including me, but the plan was demonstrated already in the game Gajewski (who
was present in St. Louis as Anands second) vs MVL (who sat next to this game,
still playing vs. Karjakin!).} Rb3+ 68. Kf2 Rb2+ 69. Kg3 Kg7 {The intended
fortress. But as all pawn endings are won for White, offering continuous
rook-swaps will break down the black fortress.} 70. Ra7+ $6 {In principle
perfectionism. As 70...Kh6 71Rf7! wins immediately, White now forces the black
king to lose a tempo. However, much more relevantly Black gets 1 move closer
to a draw by 50 moves without a pawn-push!} Kg8 71. Ra1 Kg7 72. Rf1 Ra2 73. Rf2
$1 {The principal idea, offering an exchange of rook to gain acces for White's
king.} Ra3 74. Rd2 Ra7 75. Kf2 Kf7 76. Ke2 Rb7 77. Rd3 Ra7 78. Kd2 Ke6 79. Kc3
Ke7 80. Kc4 Rc7+ 81. Kb5 Rc1 82. Rb3 Kf7 83. Kb6 Rc2 84. Kb7 Rc1 85. Kb8 $1 {
The target position. Now Rb7-c7 is the way of bridging the way for White's
king.} Kg8 $5 86. Rb6 $1 {Forcing the king to defend the f-pawn, thus ensuring
Rb7 will be with check.} Kg7 87. Rb7+ Kg8 ({If} 87... Kh6 {then} 88. Rf7 $1 Rc6
89. Kb7 {is a trivial win.}) 88. Rc7 $1 Rb1+ 89. Kc8 Rb3 90. Kd7 $1 {The only
slightly complex moment, in an else very mechanical way to win this endgame.
Black will win a couple of pawns but White's king will take a dominat position
combining mating threats with creating another decisive passed pawn.} Rxf3 91.
Ke6 Rf4 92. h6 Kh8 93. Rb7 Kg8 94. Rg7+ $1 {As 94...Kf8 95.Rg6+! followed by
96.h7 mates instantly, Black now has to allow the white king to access the
g6-square.} Kh8 95. Kf7 Rxe4 96. Kg6 Ra4 97. Rh7+ {97.Re7 also was sufficient,
but this makes sure that an eventual h7 will be with check and thus win a
tempo in the ensuing positions where White has taken the f- and g-pawn with
his king and will start advancing his own pawns. Nakamura had seen enough and
resigned.} 1-0

[Event "EU-Cup 34th"]
[Site "Porto Carras"]
[Date "2018.10.13"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Potkin, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2839"]
[BlackElo "2597"]
[Annotator "Mikhalchishin,A"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2018.10.12"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Valerenga"]
[BlackTeam "Molodezhka"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "RUS"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. b4 Bb6 8. Bb3
(8. a4 {is also typical, but it can't harm Black:} a5 9. b5 Ne7 $13) 8... Ne7 {
A typical improving manouevre à la Karpov.} 9. Nc4 ({It is also possible to
start flank activity faster:} 9. a4 c6 $1 10. Nc4 Bc7 11. Bg5 (11. O-O Ng6 12.
Re1 Re8 13. Qc2 d5 14. Ncd2 Nf4 $13 {Goetz-Neunhoeffer, Germany 1995} (14... h6
$5 {/\ ...Be6, ...Qd7})) 11... Ng6 $1 (11... d5 $5) 12. Nh4 (12. O-O h6 13. Be3
d5 $13 {with a good position} (13... Be6 $13 {is also good.})) 12... Kh8 (12...
d5 $1 {is even better.} 13. exd5 cxd5 14. Ne3 Nf4 $15) 13. Nxg6+ fxg6 14. Ne3
h6 15. Bh4 (15. Bxf6 Qxf6 $132) 15... Bb6 $1 {Activating the bishop.} (15... a5
$5 {or}) (15... g5 $5 {is also good.}) 16. Qe2 a5 $1 {with counterplay,
Fressinet,L (2711)-Hammer,J (2638) Malmo 2014.}) 9... Ng6 10. O-O ({In my
opinion more interesting here is} 10. a4 c6 11. Nxb6 axb6 12. Be3 d5 13. Bc2
Qc7 14. h3 Rd8 15. Qb1 dxe4 16. dxe4 Be6 17. O-O h6 18. a5 Nd7 19. Rd1 bxa5 20.
bxa5 Rxa5 21. Rxa5 Qxa5 22. Bb6 $1 {winning material, Onischuk,V (2627)
-Buckels,V (2363) Dresden GER 2018}) 10... c6 ({An even preciser equalizing
way was demonstrated in an old game:} 10... Be6 11. Re1 h6 12. Nxb6 Bxb3 13.
Qxb3 axb6 14. b5 Re8 15. Bd2 Qd7 16. a4 d5 {1/2 (16) Nunn,J (2610)
-Azmaiparashvili,Z (2575) Amsterdam 1990}) 11. Nxb6 axb6 12. a4 Re8 ({Not bad
was to exchange the double pawn with} 12... b5 13. Re1 bxa4 14. Rxa4 Rxa4 15.
Bxa4 Be6) 13. Be3 Be6 14. Bc2 {White must retreat with this important bishop
since after the Black is very comfortable.} (14. Bxe6 Rxe6 15. Qc2 d5) 14... d5
15. h3 Qc7 16. Re1 h6 17. exd5 Nxd5 ({A more risky, but very much playable
approach would be} 17... Bxd5 18. d4 exd4 19. Bxd4 Nf4 20. Bxf6 gxf6) 18. Bd2
Bf5 19. d4 {Now forced play starts for some moves.} Bxc2 20. Qxc2 exd4 21. Nxd4
c5 22. bxc5 bxc5 23. Nf5 ({Much weaker was another position of the knight:} 23.
Nb5 Qc6) 23... Qc6 24. c4 Ndf4 25. Rxe8+ Rxe8 26. Bxf4 Nxf4 27. Ne3 Rd8 (27...
b6 28. Rb1 Qd6) 28. Rb1 ({Nothing promised} 28. a5 Ra8 $1) 28... h5 ({It was
possible to keep the pawn structure more compact:} 28... b6 29. Rb5 Qf6) 29. a5
h4 30. Rb6 ({More energetic was} 30. Qf5 Qc7 31. Rb5 Ne2+ 32. Kh1 Nd4 33. Rxc5)
30... Qd7 31. Qb2 Nd3 ({A bit more precise was the defence} 31... Qc7 32. Rxb7
Qxa5 33. Nf5 Qe1+ 34. Kh2 Ne6) 32. Qb1 {[#]} Nb4 $2 ({It was necessary to keep
counterattacking with} 32... Qa4 33. Rb5 g6) 33. Qe4 Qd4 {Black's best chance
seems to be pawn sacrifice transferring to a rook ending, but Carlsen shows
great technique.} 34. Qxd4 cxd4 35. Rxb4 dxe3 36. fxe3 Rd1+ 37. Kf2 Ra1 38. Rb5
Ra2+ 39. Kf3 g6 (39... Ra4 40. c5 Kf8 41. e4 Ke8 42. Kf4 g6 (42... Kd8 43. Rxb7
Rxa5 44. Rxf7 Rxc5 45. Rxg7) 43. Ke5 {with decisive activation of the king.})
40. c5 Kg7 41. Ke4 Rxg2 ({Also no rescue was} 41... Kf6 42. Rb6+ Ke7 43. Rxb7+
Ke6 44. Rb6+ Kd7 45. a6 Rxg2 46. a7 Ra2 47. Rb7+ Kc6 48. Rxf7 Kxc5 49. Ke5 Ra6
50. e4) 42. Rxb7 g5 ({Black has no real chances for a defence:} 42... Ra2 43.
c6 Rxa5 44. Kd4 Ra2 45. Rb4 Ra8 46. Kc5 Rc8 47. Kd6 Rd8+ 48. Ke7 Rd3 49. c7 Rc3
50. Kd6 Kh6 51. Rb5 g5 52. Rc5) 43. c6 {Now the win is very simple.} g4 44. c7
Rc2 45. Kd3 Rc1 46. Kd2 Rc6 47. a6 gxh3 48. a7 h2 49. Rb1 1-0

[Event "EU-Cup 34th"]
[Site "Porto Carras"]
[Date "2018.10.14"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Wojtaszek, Radoslaw"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D79"]
[WhiteElo "2727"]
[BlackElo "2839"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2018.10.12"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Novy Bor"]
[BlackTeam "Valerenga"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "CZE"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 c6 6. Nc3 d5 7. cxd5 cxd5 8. Ne5
b6 9. O-O Bb7 10. Bf4 Nc6 11. Rc1 Rc8 12. Qd2 e6 13. Rc2 Nxe5 14. Bxe5 Ne8 15.
Bxg7 Kxg7 16. Rfc1 Nd6 17. b3 Qf6 18. e3 Ba6 19. a4 Qe7 20. Na2 Rxc2 21. Rxc2
Rc8 22. Rxc8 Bxc8 23. a5 Qc7 24. axb6 Qxb6 25. Qb4 Ba6 26. Qxb6 axb6 27. Nc3
Bd3 28. Bf1 Bc2 29. b4 Ne4 30. Nb5 Bd1 31. Bd3 Nd2 32. Nc3 Bb3 33. Kg2 Bc4 34.
Bc2 Bf1+ 35. Kg1 Bc4 36. Kg2 g5 37. g4 Bf1+ 38. Kg3 Nc4 39. h4 h6 40. hxg5 hxg5
41. Ba4 Nb2 42. Bc2 Kf6 43. f4 Bd3 44. Bb3 Bc4 45. Bc2 Bd3 46. Bb3 Bc4 47. Bc2
1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-Cup 34th"]
[Site "Porto Carras"]
[Date "2018.10.15"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Donchenko, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D04"]
[WhiteElo "2839"]
[BlackElo "2610"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2018.10.12"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Valerenga"]
[BlackTeam "Aachen Aufwaerts"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "GER"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 c5 4. Nbd2 cxd4 5. exd4 Nc6 6. Bb5 Qb6 7. c4 dxc4 8.
a4 a6 9. Nxc4 Qc7 10. Bxc6+ Qxc6 11. Nce5 Qd5 12. O-O Bg4 13. Nxg4 Nxg4 14. a5
Nf6 15. Bg5 e6 16. Ne5 Be7 17. Bxf6 gxf6 18. Ng4 Rd8 19. Ra4 Qb5 20. b3 f5 21.
Ne3 f4 22. Nc4 Bf6 23. Nb6 Qf5 24. d5 f3 25. g3 Be5 26. Rc4 h5 27. Re1 Rh6 28.
Rh4 Bc3 29. Rf4 Qh3 30. Rxf3 Bxe1 31. Qxe1 h4 32. Qe4 hxg3 33. Qa4+ Kf8 34.
Qb4+ Ke8 35. Qa4+ Kf8 36. Qb4+ Ke8 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-Cup 34th"]
[Site "Porto Carras"]
[Date "2018.10.16"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2820"]
[BlackElo "2839"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2018.10.12"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Odlar Yurdu"]
[BlackTeam "Valerenga"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "AZE"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 O-O 8. e3
Bf5 9. Qb3 Bxc3+ 10. Qxc3 Nbd7 11. Be2 c6 12. Nd2 Ne4 13. Nxe4 Qxh4 14. Nd6 Bg4
15. g3 Qf6 16. Bxg4 Qxd6 17. Qa3 Qc7 18. Rc1 Nf6 19. Bf3 a5 20. O-O Rfe8 21.
Rc2 Qd7 22. Rc5 Qd8 23. b4 axb4 24. Qxb4 Ra7 25. a4 Ne4 26. Bxe4 Rxe4 27. a5
Re7 28. Rb1 Ra6 29. Qd2 Rd7 30. Rb3 g6 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-Cup 34th"]
[Site "Porto Carras"]
[Date "2018.10.17"]
[Round "6.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C47"]
[WhiteElo "2839"]
[BlackElo "2804"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2018.10.12"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Valerenga"]
[BlackTeam "Alkaloid"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "NOR"]
[BlackTeamCountry "MKD"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 d5 8.
exd5 O-O 9. O-O cxd5 10. Bg5 c6 11. Qf3 Bd6 12. h3 h6 13. Bf4 Rb8 14. b3 Rb4
15. Bxd6 Qxd6 16. Rfe1 a5 17. Rad1 Bd7 18. Qe3 Rc8 19. Qa7 Rh4 20. Re3 Qc7 21.
Qxc7 Rxc7 22. Na4 c5 23. g4 d4 24. Rf3 Nxg4 25. Re1 Nf6 26. Nb6 Bc6 27. Rg3 g5
28. Re5 Nh5 29. Bf5 Rf4 30. Rg4 Bf3 31. Rxf4 Nxf4 32. Nd7 c4 33. bxc4 Rxc4 34.
Rxa5 Rb4 35. Kh2 Rb1 36. Ne5 Rh1+ 37. Kg3 Bd5 38. f3 Re1 39. Nd3 Rg1+ 40. Kf2
Rg2+ 41. Ke1 Re2+ 42. Kf1 Bc4 43. Kg1 Rg2+ 44. Kh1 Bxd3 45. Bxd3 Rg3 46. h4
Rh3+ 47. Kg1 Rxh4 48. Bf1 Kg7 49. a4 Ng6 50. Rc5 d3 51. a5 dxc2 52. Rxc2 Ra4
53. a6 h5 54. Rc5 Kf6 55. Rc6+ Kg7 56. Rc5 Kf6 57. Rc6+ Kg7 1/2-1/2

[Event "EU-Cup 34th"]
[Site "Porto Carras"]
[Date "2018.10.18"]
[Round "7.1"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B15"]
[WhiteElo "2756"]
[BlackElo "2839"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2018.10.12"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "GRE"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "St Petersburg Bronze Horseman"]
[BlackTeam "Valerenga"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Nxf6+ exf6 6. c3 Bd6 7. Bd3 O-O 8.
Qc2 Re8+ 9. Be3 h6 10. Ne2 Na6 11. O-O Nc7 12. c4 Bg4 13. h3 Bxe2 14. Bxe2 Ne6
15. Rad1 Qc7 16. Bg4 Rad8 17. Rfe1 Bf4 18. Bxf4 Nxf4 19. Rxe8+ Rxe8 20. h4 Qa5
21. g3 f5 22. Bf3 Re1+ 23. Kh2 Rxd1 24. Qxd1 Ng6 25. a3 f4 26. Be4 fxg3+ 27.
fxg3 Nf8 28. d5 cxd5 29. Qxd5 Qxd5 30. Bxd5 b6 31. b4 Nd7 32. Kg2 Kf8 33. Kf2
Nf6 34. Bf3 Ke7 35. Ke3 Kd6 36. Kd4 Ng8 37. c5+ bxc5+ 38. bxc5+ Kc7 39. Bd5 Ne7
40. Ke5 Nxd5 41. Kxd5 h5 42. c6 a6 43. a4 a5 44. Kc5 f6 45. Kd5 g5 46. Ke6 Kxc6
47. Kxf6 gxh4 48. gxh4 Kd6 49. Kg5 Ke5 50. Kxh5 Kf5 51. Kh6 Kf6 52. h5 Kf7 53.
Kg5 Kg7 54. h6+ Kh7 55. Kh5 Kh8 56. Kg6 Kg8 57. h7+ Kh8 58. Kh6 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Caruana"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2018.11.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[Annotator "Duda,Jan Krzysztof"]
[PlyCount "229"]
[EventDate "2018.11.09"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 $5 {A minor surprise, as early as on move 1. Normally people tend to
play relatively solid openings at the beginning of the WCC matches. Magnus
decided however to play in a principled way, instead of choosing a Ruy Lopez /
Italian torture.} 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {The Rossolimo Variation, a favourite of
the Challenger. Even though he lost beautiful game in the Wijk Ann Zee to
Carlsen some years ago, everyone keeps in mind many of his masterpieces
against strong opposition. And probably all kibitzers were happy - there is no
easy draw in sight.} g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 {Lately the favourite of Magnus.} 5. d3
Bg7 6. h3 {Not allowing ...Bg4, which would ease Black's play.} Nf6 7. Nc3 Nd7
(7... b6 {was played between the same opponents 3 years ago. White was
probably better after the opening, but the game became very tense, and
eventually the Black player won} 8. Be3 e5 9. O-O O-O 10. a3 Qe7 11. Qb1 Nh5
12. b4 f5 13. bxc5 f4 14. Bd2 bxc5 15. Qb3+ Be6 16. Qa4 $36 {0-1 (39) Caruana,
F (2820)-Carlsen,M (2862) Wijk aan Zee NED 2015}) (7... O-O {is the most
popular move.}) 8. Be3 e5 ({In a similar way played Nakamura against Caruana
some years ago:} 8... b6 9. Qd2 h6 10. O-O e5 11. Nh2 g5 $13 {Here Hikaru
didn't allow White to go for f4. The position becomes a pretty manoeuvre one,
where a stronger player is likely to win. Computers give modest edge for White,
but Black has also an easy play on his own: to re-route the knight and then
start the pawn offensive on the kingside: 1/2 (44) Caruana,F (2787)-Nakamura,H
(2793) Saint Louis USA 2015}) 9. O-O ({Usually White starts with} 9. Qd2 h6 {
not allowing Bh6. After a sample line:} 10. O-O b6 11. Nh2 Nf8 12. f4 exf4 13.
Rxf4 Be6 14. Rf2 {there is the same position as in the game, but obviously
both sides are flexible and can change something basically on every move}) 9...
b6 (9... Qe7 {It's a much more common way to free the d7-knight. I am not an
expert in this kind of positions, and can hardly say which way to over-protect
the c5 pawn is better.} 10. Qd2 Nf8) 10. Nh2 Nf8 {A typical maneouvre started
with Nd7} 11. f4 exf4 12. Rxf4 Be6 $5 {Interesting set-up. I thought he was
going to play Ne6-Nd4 asap, but this is even nicer, as it controls all
important squares.} 13. Rf2 h6 14. Qd2 g5 $5 {Restraining white pieces.
Honestly, I don't know what is White's best bet here, as he lacks visible
improvements. It would be lovely to get the h2-knight to f5, but how? Also
loosening Black's queenside is not at all that easy. a4 can always be parried
by a5, while it's not easy to achieve b4 in a comfortable way. Therefore I
think Magnus won the opening duel, and now the challenger move by move was
using a large amount of time.} 15. Raf1 (15. Nf1 Qd6 16. Rf3 $2 Ng6 {and White
is not in time with Ng3-Nf5.}) (15. a4 a5 $5 (15... Ng6 16. a5 O-O)) (15. a3
Qd6 16. Rb1 Ng6 17. b4 cxb4 18. axb4 O-O $11) 15... Qd6 16. Ng4 {The American
decides to improve his worst piece, the h2-knight. Even though the computer
doesn't like it, it's still better to have a faulty plan than any.} O-O-O {
The king is safe on the queenside for the time being, and now Black is having
all the fun on the kingside.} 17. Nf6 {Other plans are:} (17. a4 Nd7 (17... a5
$5) 18. a5 Qc7 {even here profits are not visible. Black intends b5, and if
White opens the a-file, Black is always on time with Kb7-Ra8.}) (17. e5 {
is an easy-to-play sacrifice for everyone but White player. White gets some
minute activity, but it may evaporate easily, and pawn down is pawn down.} Bxe5
(17... Qc7 18. Ne4 {and White is likely to take on e5 anyway.}) 18. b4 $5 (18.
Ne4 Qc7 19. Nxe5 Qxe5) 18... c4 {Locking down the queenside.} (18... cxb4 19.
Ne4 Qc7 20. Nxe5 Qxe5 21. Qxb4 Qc7 22. a4 $44) 19. Nxe5 Qxe5 20. d4 Qc7 $15 {
and I don't see any advantages for White for the missing pawn.}) 17... Nd7 18.
Nh5 {Not exchanging the knight which made so many moves.} Be5 19. g4 {Such
moves were unthinkable some 60 years ago, but now are standard. The kingside
is so far locked, and White gains space.} f6 20. b3 Bf7 21. Nd1 ({I would
prefer} 21. Ne2 {defending some vital squares, but it's true that Black is in
the driving seat, while White is solid but very passive at the same time.} Bxh5
22. gxh5 Kb7 23. Kg2 Nf8 $17 {and Black may go for the h5 pawn}) 21... Nf8 {
Imaginative, but not neccesary. Black could part with his light-square bishop,
and try to gain the h5-pawn or break with g4. An important note is that in
that case White would remain even more passive than in the game.} (21... Kb7
22. c3 Bxh5 23. gxh5 Qe7 24. Qe2 Rhg8 $17 {and Black has many ideas like
Nf8-Ne6.}) 22. Nxf6 Ne6 23. Nh5 (23. Nd7 Rxd7 {was probably the idea.} (23...
Bf4 24. Nf6 Bg3 {Comps think that Black is slightly better here, but White
might try to complicate the position with some timely exchange sacrifice.}) 24.
Rxf7 h5 25. Qg2 {and engine show its usual 0.00, but over the board Black for
sure is having fun and White is being under considerable pressure.}) 23... Bxh5
24. gxh5 Nf4 25. Bxf4 gxf4 26. Rg2 (26. Rxf4 $1 {was a good way to cut the
Gordian knot. Suprisingly it seems that Black can't stop White's d1-knight
from reaching f5-square, from where it has a dominant position.} Bxf4 27. Qxf4
Qd4+ 28. Ne3 Kb7 (28... Rdf8 29. Qxf8+ Rxf8 30. Rxf8+ Kb7 31. Rf7+ Ka6 32. Rf3
$11) 29. Kh1 Rdf8 30. Nf5 Qc3 31. Qc1 $5 $13) 26... Rhg8 $36 {White's king is
open, and Black is enjoying a long-lasting initiative.} 27. Qe2 {The position
is not easy to analyse, and even harder to play. Both sides have many ideas,
which sometimes are similar to each other. From now on I will focus on the
most critical positions.} Rxg2+ 28. Qxg2 Qe6 29. Nf2 Rg8 30. Ng4 Qe8 $1 {
Going after h5-pawn, and then kicking White's knight with h5.} 31. Qf3 Qxh5 32.
Kf2 {The least place where White's king is safe is the kingside, so logically
Fabiano removes it to the center.} Bc7 33. Ke2 (33. e5 Kb7 34. Nf6 Qh4+ 35. Ke2
Rg3 36. Qxf4 Qxh3 37. Rf2 {doesn't look any good, but in the game after a
couple of moves the a1-h8 diagonal was wide open for Black's pieces.}) 33...
Qg5 34. Nh2 $6 {Looks strange, because White gives away the control of the big
diagonal without even gaining a tempo which Black has to spend on h5. Still
there is no good enough preparatory move, and I think Black is winning already.
} (34. Kd2 h5 35. Nh2 Qe5 36. Qf2 Qb2 37. Rg1 Rg3 {It would be very odd that
White can defend here.}) 34... h5 $2 ({Why not} 34... Qf6 {with ...Qb2 coming,
penetrating the queenside? White would be lost in that case.}) 35. Rf2 Qg1 {
The wrong direction!} 36. Nf1 h4 $2 (36... Qg7 $1 $19) 37. Kd2 $2 (37. e5 $1
Rg5 (37... Bxe5 38. Qxc6+ Kb8 39. a4 {Paradoxically White can allow himself
luxury of playing such a slow move. But there is nothing really threatening
Black can do.}) 38. Kd2 Kb7 39. e6 Re5 40. Re2 Qg6 41. Qg4 {and White got his
own play.}) 37... Kb7 {The position is still dead lost for White, because of
the threat Qg7-Qa1, there is one more, namely Rg3! It's really amazing that
Caruana survived this storm!} 38. c3 Be5 (38... Rg3 $1 39. Nxg3 hxg3 40. Rg2
Qa1 $19 {is game over. It transpires than in zeitnot, even the World Champion
plays far below his normal strength!}) 39. Kc2 Qg7 $6 {This would be a serious
blunder, if not the fact that Black can repeat his position.} (39... b5 $1 {
with b4 next would create too many holes in White's position.}) 40. Nh2 (40.
Qh5 Ka6 $1 {It's very important to avoid eventual checks on f7.} 41. Qe2 b5 42.
a4) 40... Bxc3 $4 {Actually this move lets all the advantage go. Black still
could win by means of} (40... Qg1 $1 41. Nf1 b5 $1 $19 {with transposition to
the position, which is mentioned in the earlier comment.}) 41. Qxf4 Bd4 {
Now by force White can save himself in an rook endgame with pawn down. Other
alternatives also failed to win:} (41... Ka6 42. Nf3 Ba1 43. e5 $11) 42. Qf7+
Ka6 43. Qxg7 Rxg7 44. Re2 Rg3 45. Ng4 Rxh3 46. e5 Rf3 47. e6 Rf8 48. e7 Re8 49.
Nh6 h3 50. Nf5 Bf6 {Initially when I first saw this position, I thought Black
has nearly 50/50 chances, but on the closer inspection I understood that White
is going to play either d4 or b4, and 2 vs 3 pawns on the queenside is a draw.}
51. a3 b5 ({Being in Magnus' place I would have tried to play with the pawn on
b6, but still this should be an easy draw.} 51... Bxe7 52. Nxe7 h2 53. Rxh2
Rxe7 54. Rh5) 52. b4 cxb4 53. axb4 Bxe7 {Otherwise Black runs out of moves} 54.
Nxe7 h2 55. Rxh2 Rxe7 56. Rh6 Kb6 57. Kc3 Rd7 58. Rg6 $11 {The endgame is a
draw, although White needs to be a bit careful not to allow Black to get two
rolling pawns. Magnus tries to win for another 60 moves, but the draw is
trivial.} Kc7 59. Rh6 Rd6 60. Rh8 Rg6 61. Ra8 Kb7 62. Rh8 Rg5 63. Rh7+ Kb6 64.
Rh6 Rg1 65. Kc2 Rf1 66. Rg6 Rh1 67. Rf6 Rh8 68. Kc3 Ra8 69. d4 Rd8 70. Rh6 Rd7
71. Rg6 Kc7 72. Rg5 Rd6 73. Rg8 Rh6 74. Ra8 Rh3+ 75. Kc2 Ra3 (75... Kd6 76.
Rxa7 Kd5 77. Rc7 $11) 76. Kb2 Ra4 77. Kc3 a6 78. Rh8 Ra3+ 79. Kb2 Rg3 80. Kc2
Rg5 81. Rh6 Rd5 82. Kc3 Rd6 83. Rh8 Rg6 84. Kc2 Kb7 85. Kc3 Rg3+ 86. Kc2 Rg1
87. Rh5 Rg2+ 88. Kc3 Rg3+ 89. Kc2 Rg4 90. Kc3 Kb6 91. Rh6 Rg5 92. Rf6 Rh5 93.
Rg6 Rh3+ 94. Kc2 Rh5 95. Kc3 Rd5 96. Rh6 Kc7 97. Rh7+ Rd7 98. Rh5 Rd6 99. Rh8
Rg6 100. Rf8 Rg3+ 101. Kc2 Ra3 102. Rf7+ Kd6 103. Ra7 {One of possible
defensive set-ups for White} Kd5 104. Kb2 Rd3 (104... Ra4 105. Kc3 Ra1 106.
Rd7+ Ke6 107. Ra7 $11) 105. Rxa6 Rxd4 106. Kb3 Re4 107. Kc3 Rc4+ 108. Kb3 Kd4
109. Rb6 Kd3 110. Ra6 Rc2 111. Rb6 Rc3+ 112. Kb2 Rc4 113. Kb3 Kd4 114. Ra6 Kd5
115. Ra8 {A fighting, nerve-racking, and unpleasant game for both players.
Fabiano Caruana didn't manage to get even the slightest of an opening
initiative, and quickly had to defend himself. Magnus Carlsen on the other
hand was winning several times before the 40th move, but in time trouble he
spoiled, what looked like an easy win, and had to settle for the endgame which
was drawn. Still 11 games to come, and it seems it will be entertaining match!}
1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Caruana"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2018.11.10"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[Annotator "Duda,Jan Krzysztof"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2018.11.09"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 {The ever solid Queen's Gambit
Declined. Even though the challenger recently played a lot of games in the
Vienna Game, the QGD must have been one of the top piorities of Magnus' team.}
5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 c5 {This is a small surprise. It's the first time, when
Fabiano chooses this line in his life. In that way Nakamura drew quite
recently 2 games against Carlsen, so it was kind of expected though. The real
surprise will come later.} (6... Nbd7 {is the most common move, and the way
Caruana played before this game. Perhaps he wasn't keen facing} 7. c5 {where
White is enjoying some space advantage, and it might be kind of Carlsen-type
position. Of course it's just a beginning of far-advanced theory.}) 7. dxc5
Bxc5 8. Qc2 {This is the main move, but White also may wish to play against
the isolani with} (8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. Nxd5 exd5 10. Bd3 Bb4+ 11. Nd2 Nc6 {This is
one of the tabiyas in the QGD with 6...c5. Usually Black gets enough
counterplay for his isolani, for example Vishy Anand drew all three of his
games with Black in this position in the Sinquefield Cup this year. In 2017,
Carlsen was about outplaying Nakamura in this line, but the American managed
to save himself. Now it's obvious to everyone that Caruana had some
improvements, awaiting their hour.}) 8... Nc6 9. a3 Qa5 10. Rd1 {Again, one of
the tabiyas, known since the infamous '78 Karpov-Korchnoi match. In contrast
to the} (10. O-O-O {line which is slightly more popular, but can lead to an
amazing mess, where either side can collapse easily, White is playing purely
positionally. He just wants to develop with Be2 and 0-0, and is asking Black
what he is going to do with his poor c8-bishop. Now Black has many choices,
but what Caruana played was hardly predictible.}) 10... Rd8 $5 {Some time ago,
this was considered dubious, because it isn't in any way preparing the freeing
move e5. But of course computers change modern opening theory, also the effect
of surprise these days is something everyone is trying for. The other lines
are:} (10... Re8 $5 {is having a boost of popularity, the position can quickly
become quite complicated:} 11. Nd2 e5 12. Bg5 Nd4 13. Qb1 (13. Qc1 {was
basically a draw offer:} Bf5 14. Bxf6 Nc2+ 15. Ke2 Nd4+ 16. Ke1 Nc2+ 17. Ke2
Nd4+ 18. Ke1 Nc2+ {1/2 (18) Carlsen,M (2827)-Nakamura,H (2781) Douglas ENG 2017
}) 13... Bf5 14. Bd3 Bxd3 (14... e4 $2 {was played in the famous 21st game in
aforementioned K-K match. White is better after both} 15. Bc2 {(the game
continuation. Even stronger is} (15. Bf1 $1 {where objectively Black is lost.})
15... Nxc2+ 16. Qxc2 Qa6 17. Bxf6 Qxf6 18. Nb3 Bd6 19. Rxd5 $1 $16 {1-0 (60)
Kortschnoj,V (2665)-Karpov,A (2725) Baguio City 1978}) 15. Qxd3 Ne4 {where as
far as I am concerned Black is doing fine after both} 16. Nxd5 ({and} 16. Ncxe4
)) (10... Ne4 $6 {is probably wrong. After} 11. cxd5 Nxc3 12. bxc3 exd5 13. Ng5
$1 g6 14. Rxd5 Qxa3 15. Bc4 $36 {White develops dangerous initiative}) (10...
Be7 {is the classical main line. After} 11. Be2 Ne4 (11... dxc4) 12. cxd5 Nxc3
13. Qxc3 Qxc3+ 14. bxc3 exd5 15. Rxd5 Bxa3 16. Nd4 $36 {White has initiative 1/
2 (95) Carlsen,M (2853)-Nakamura,H (2814) Saint Louis USA 2015}) 11. Be2 (11.
Nd2 {is the most popular, with the idea to harass Black's queen. But this is
the first thing Fabiano's team had a look at, so the Norwegian decides to
deviate.} d4 {might be something like what the American prepared. The position
is a mess after} (11... dxc4 12. Nxc4 Rxd1+ 13. Qxd1 Qd8 14. Qxd8+ Nxd8 15. Be2
$14) 12. Nb3 Qb6 13. Na4 Bb4+ 14. axb4 Qxb4+ 15. Nd2 $13 {but the computer not
surprisingly is keen on White.}) 11... Ne4 {Now, where the d5-pawn is not
hanging, this exchange maneouvre should gradually equalise the position} 12.
O-O (12. Nd2 $5 Nxc3 13. Nb3 Qa4 14. Qxc3 Be7 15. cxd5 exd5 16. Nc5 Bxc5 17.
Qxc5 Be6 18. O-O Rac8) 12... Nxc3 13. bxc3 h6 {Defending against any Ng5.} 14.
a4 Ne7 $11 {I think Black equalised. Now not to become worse with his shaky
queenside, the World Champion has to play actively.} 15. Ne5 Bd6 (15... f6 16.
Ng6 e5 17. Bg3 Be6 {is one of the favourites of the engine, but in such cases,
when the game is at stake, players tend to avoid such committal decisions. The
move Caruana played is fine.}) 16. cxd5 {From now on, there will be many
exchanges, when Black gets developed finally, but White is too active to have
any real issues} Nxd5 17. Bf3 {White goes the route of an interesting
possibility, which looks risky but gets my approval.} (17. Nxf7 $5 Kxf7 18.
Bxd6 (18. Bh5+ Kg8 19. Bxd6 Rxd6 {is the same thing}) 18... Rxd6 19. Bh5+ Kg8
20. e4 (20. c4 {It seems that White has to play precisely to hold the position.
} Bd7 (20... Rc6) (20... Nb4) (20... Qc7) 21. cxd5 Bxa4 22. Qa2 $8 Rxd5 23. Bg4
Rxd1 24. Rxd1 Qb4 25. Bxe6+ Kh8 26. Rb1 Rd8 $13) 20... Bd7 (20... Nf4 $5 {
is a winning try.} 21. Rxd6 Qxh5 22. Rd8+ Kf7 23. Rfd1 e5 $13 {with an unclear,
but roughly equal position.}) 21. exd5 Qxa4 {One of many possibilities.} 22.
Qb1 Rxd5 23. Qxb7 Qc6 $11) 17... Nxf4 {The simplest.} (17... Qc7 18. c4 Nxf4
19. exf4 {can only create difficulties for Black.}) 18. exf4 Bxe5 19. Rxd8+
Qxd8 20. fxe5 Qc7 (20... Bd7 $5 {Black has the luxury of not being afraid of
losing the b7-pawn.} 21. Bxb7 Rb8 22. Bf3 Qa5 {and Black recaptures the
missing pawn with equality.}) 21. Rb1 Rb8 22. Qd3 Bd7 (22... b6 $5 {was a nice
try for Black, I think.} 23. a5 $1 {otherwise White may be worse with his bad
pawn structure.} Bb7 (23... Qxe5 24. a6 $1 $44 {is a key White must have
foreseen beforehand.}) 24. axb6 axb6 25. Bxb7 Rxb7 26. Qd4 $11 {with a drawn
position.}) 23. a5 Bc6 24. Qd6 {White knows that the best he can do is
exchange everything and make a draw - not very pleasing when the onus is on
White to score, but that's life.} Qxd6 25. exd6 Bxf3 26. gxf3 Kf8 27. c4 Ke8
28. a6 $1 {From the human viewpoint the simplest. White exchanges all pawns on
the queenside, and defends in a 3 vs 4 on the same wing rook endgame.} b6 29.
c5 Kd7 30. cxb6 axb6 31. a7 Ra8 32. Rxb6 Rxa7 33. Kg2 e5 34. Rb4 f5 35. Rb6 Ke6
36. d7+ Kxd7 37. Rb5 $11 {The endgame is dead drawn. The doubled pawns are
actually a strengh here, because Black is unable to create a passed pawn. Now
White can just do nothing and marks time. Black has no meaningful plan
available.} Ke6 38. Rb6+ Kf7 39. Rb5 Kf6 40. Rb6+ Kg5 41. Rb5 Kf4 42. Rb4+ e4
43. fxe4 fxe4 44. h3 {Funny, another 3 vs 2 rook endgame, but now Fabiano is
the one with the pawn up. This means the game will last 60 moves shorter :)}
Ra5 45. Rb7 Rg5+ 46. Kf1 Rg6 47. Rb4 Rg5 48. Rb7 Rg6 49. Rb4 {So, a relatively
easy draw today by Fabiano Caruana. Perhaps the World Champion was frustrated
a bit with yesterday's game, and decided to play a simple game today. My guess
is that the day after tomorrow we will have quite a tense game in the 'Spanish
torture', unless the challenger changes his first move. Of course, it's just a
shot in the dark, but sometimes you are happy when you guess the right opening.
} 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Caruana"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2018.11.12"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[Annotator "Duda,Jan Krzysztof"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2018.11.09"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 {So it turned out that my guess was wrong, and Magnus repeats the
Rossolimo Sicilian once more. After a little reflection, I realised that it's
a perfect opening for Magnus - no theory, no repetitions, no super-sharp
positions and a complex strategic game ahead - everything he needs.} 2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. O-O {This time Caruana allows Black to
play Bg4. Magnus instead chooses a sideline, in order to get a non-theoritical
position as quickly as possible.} Qc7 $5 (6... Nf6 {is of course the main move.
}) 7. Re1 {A useful move, with the intention to see what Black is going to do.}
e5 {An interesting move, played when the White rook is on e1, from where it
can't help to achieve f4. On the other hand, this move is strategically risky
because now a break with b4 is on the agenda.} 8. a3 {A logical push once
Black played e5. The preference of the engine is} (8. Be3 {forcing Black to
play b6, and only then start the minority attack.} b6 9. a3 Nf6 (9... a5 $5 10.
Nbd2 Nf6 11. b4 Ng4 12. Bg5 (12. bxc5 Nxe3 13. Rxe3 b5 $5 {with decent chances.
}) 12... axb4 (12... cxb4 13. axb4 a4 14. c4 b5 {looks risky for Black, but
the comp holds on.} 15. h3 f6 16. Bh4 Nh6 17. Nb3 $5) 13. axb4 Rxa1 14. Qxa1
cxb4 15. Qa4 O-O 16. Qxb4 c5 17. Qb2 f6 18. Bh4 Be6 $13 {and Black can regroup
his forces easily, while White's pieces on the kingside are stuck.}) 10. b4 (
10. Nbd2 $5 O-O (10... Ng4 11. Bg5 f6 12. Bh4) 11. b4 cxb4 (11... Ng4 12. Bg5)
12. axb4 Ng4 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bh4 Nf6 $13) 10... c4 11. Nbd2 cxd3 12. cxd3 O-O
13. Rc1 $36 {with easier play for White.}) (8. b4 $2 {is not working:} cxb4 9.
a3 bxa3 10. Bxa3 Ne7 11. Nbd2 O-O 12. Nc4 c5 $17 {with a clear plus pawn for
Black.}) 8... Nf6 9. b4 O-O 10. Nbd2 (10. bxc5 $5 {I think this deserves
attention. Black can postpone recapturing the pawn, but then White has chances
to exploit the d6-square with one of his knights. Black can also take the pawn
by means of} Nd7 11. Be3 f5 12. a4 f4 13. Bc1 Nxc5 {but White gets the upper
hands after} 14. Ba3 b6 15. Nbd2 {with some initiative.}) (10. Be3 c4 {is
completely toothless for White.}) 10... Bg4 {Only now does Magnus decide to
part with his light-squared bishop. A smart decision, because this piece has a
very high potential to become a bad piece in the future.} 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Nxf3
cxb4 (12... Nd7 13. Be3 cxb4 14. axb4 a5 {was another way to play.}) 13. axb4
a5 14. bxa5 Rxa5 15. Bd2 (15. Rxa5 $1 {I think this is stronger, because White
gets control of the open a-line.} Qxa5 16. Bd2 Qc7 17. Qa1 Nd7 18. Qa7 Rc8 {
with the idea to play b5, e.g.} 19. Ra1 Bf8 20. Be3 b5 21. g4 $36 {and White
has pressure.}) 15... Raa8 {Of course Black doesn't allow White to get the
a-file for free.} 16. Qb1 Nd7 {At first sight this position looks nice for
White, but there is no obvious way to pose even slightest challenge for Black.
He is going to play b5 and exchange everything down the a-file.} 17. Qb4 (17.
Qb2 b5 18. Rxa8 Rxa8 19. Ra1 Qb7 {looks drawish.}) (17. Qb3 Nc5 18. Qc4 Ne6 {
only improves Black's position}) (17. Be3 $1 b5 18. Qb3 Rfb8 19. Ra2 Rxa2 20.
Qxa2 {was probably the only way to play for 'something'.}) 17... Rfe8 18. Bc3
b5 19. Rxa8 Rxa8 20. Ra1 Rxa1+ 21. Bxa1 Qa7 22. Bc3 Qa2 23. Qb2 Qxb2 24. Bxb2
f6 $11 {Now Black has easy equality, and Magnus as usual tries to squeeze his
opponent in the endgame. This time the challenger was very alert though.} 25.
Kf1 Kf7 26. Ke2 Nc5 27. Bc3 Ne6 28. g3 Bf8 29. Nd2 {It looks sensible to bring
the knight to b3.} (29. d4 {was also possible, exchanging knights, but on the
other hand Black may get 'the passer' on the queenside, which is always
threating.} exd4 30. Nxd4 Nxd4+ 31. Bxd4 c5 32. Bb2 c4 33. f4 b4 34. g4 Bd6 35.
f5 $11) 29... Ng5 $1 {Forcing White to play h4, which later might be used as a
'hook'.} 30. h4 Ne6 31. Nb3 h5 {Fixing the pawns on the wrong color.} 32. Bd2
Bd6 33. c3 c5 34. Be3 Ke7 35. Kd1 Kd7 36. Kc2 f5 {The top preference of the
engine. I also thought about} (36... g5 {but after} 37. f3 gxh4 38. gxh4 {
is harmless for White, because Black can never get to the h4-pawn.}) 37. Kd1
fxe4 {Objectively it was better to keep the tension with} (37... Kc6 38. Na5+
Kb6 39. Nb3 Be7 {and now Black has a choice between f4 and fxe4, depending on
circumstances. But of course the position is still close to equal.}) 38. dxe4
c4 39. Nd2 Nc5 40. Bxc5 $1 {At first to me this felt counter-intuitive, but in
fact it is a good move. White eliminates Black's strong knight, and all his
weakness can be protected by his king.} Bxc5 41. Ke2 Kc6 42. Nf1 b4 {Otherwise
White plays Ne3, where the pawn endgame is dead drawn.} 43. cxb4 Bxb4 44. Ne3
Kc5 45. f4 {Exchanging as many pawns as possible.} exf4 46. gxf4 Ba5 47. f5
gxf5 48. Nxc4 $1 {A nice interlude move, using the classical theme of the
wrong corner.} Kxc4 49. exf5 {and White moves his king to h1, from where it
can't be chased. Today we have seen yet another Rossolimo Sicilian, where
Magnus gradually equalised, and even tried to take over in the endgame.
Caruana managed to draw with ease though. I am interested if in case of
another 2...Nc6 Sicilian, Caruana will play 3.d4!? Or perhaps he will switch
to another opening? The future will tell, but before reaching it, tomorrow he
has to defend with Black first.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Caruana"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2018.11.13"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[Annotator "Adams,M"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2018.11.09"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{After the second game, Carlsen would have been very keen to avoid Caruana
demonstrating how good his preparation is again, but despite a slightly
unexpected first move, he had another frustrating day with the White pieces.} 
1. c4 e5 (1... e6 {would be an option to try to steer the game back towards
the QGD of game 2.}) 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 {Although we haven't seen
an Open Sicilian when Caruana is White (yet), here we get one with reversed
colours.} 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Bc5 7. O-O O-O 8. d3 Re8 (8... Bb6 $5 {was
played by Alexander Grischuk against Pavel Eljanov in the Geneva Grand Prix
last year which brought this line to prominence. Since then many players have
picked up the idea, including myself.}) 9. Bd2 ({Fabiano played the White side
of this position against me!} 9. Ng5 $5 Nf6 10. Qb3 Qe7 11. Nd5 Nxd5 12. Bxd5
Nd8 {Now it's hard to intensify the pressure and Black is not doing badly.} 13.
Qc4 Bd4 $1 {preventing the queen transferring to e4.} (13... Bb6 14. Qe4) 14.
Bg2 h6 15. Nf3 Nc6 16. Be3 Bxe3 17. fxe3 e4 18. dxe4 {The Irish pawn centre as
Tony Miles dubbed tripled pawns is often not as bad as it looks - here the
position is roughly balanced.} a5 19. a3 Ra6 20. Rac1 Rb6 21. Rc2 Be6 22. Qc3
Rb3 23. Qd2 Rd8 24. Qc1 a4 25. Rc5 Rd7 26. h3 Qd8 27. g4 g6 28. Kh1 Kg7 29. e5
Bd5 30. Kg1 Be6 31. Kf2 Qe7 32. Kg1 Rd5 $6 ({After} 32... Qd8 {it's hard for
either side to do anything, now things went wrong for me.}) 33. Rc4 Ra5 34. Rc2
Bd5 35. Nd4 Nxd4 36. exd4 Rg3 37. Rf3 Bxf3 38. exf3 c6 39. Kh2 Rxg2+ 40. Kxg2
Rd5 41. Rc4 c5 42. Rxc5 Rxd4 43. Qc3 Qd8 44. Rc8 Qb6 45. Re8 g5 46. Re7 Kg8 47.
e6 fxe6 48. Qc2 Kf8 49. Rh7 Qc6 50. Qxc6 bxc6 51. Rxh6 Kf7 52. Kg3 Rd2 53. Rh7+
Kf6 54. Rb7 Ke5 55. h4 gxh4+ 56. Kxh4 Kf4 57. Rf7+ Ke3 58. Kg3 Rd1 59. g5 Rg1+
60. Kh4 Rg2 61. Rf6 e5 62. g6 Rxb2 63. Kg5 Rg2+ 64. Kh6 Rh2+ 65. Kg7 c5 66. Kf7
c4 67. g7 Rh7 68. Ra6 {1-0 (68) Caruana,F (2799)-Adams,M (2715) London 2017})
9... Nxc3 10. Bxc3 ({It looks more natural to capture towards the centre} 10.
bxc3 {but then White's minor pieces are in each other's way after} h6 $5 (10...
e4 $5 11. dxe4 Qe7 {could also be interesting.})) 10... Nd4 ({Not the only
move, but it counters White's threat:} 10... a5 11. Nxe5 Nxe5 12. d4 $14) 11.
b4 ({Magnus was already thinking a bit here, somewhat surprisingly given
Caruana played this only five months ago, in almost his last game against the
English!} 11. Rc1 Bb6 12. Re1 Bg4 13. Bxd4 exd4 14. a3 c6 15. Nd2 a5 {Black
was comfortable here in the blitz game So - Caruana. Magnus chooses a more
critical move, gaining some queenside space.}) 11... Bd6 ({This unnatural move
was played quickly} 11... Bf8 {allows White the option of} 12. Nxe5 Rxe5 13. e3
) (11... Bb6 12. a4 {is also not straightforward.}) 12. Rb1 (12. Nxd4 $5 exd4
13. Bxd4 Bxg3 (13... Bxb4) 14. hxg3 Qxd4 {looks like it could be interesting,
but with home analysis no doubt Black survives.}) (12. e3 $5) 12... Nxf3+ 13.
Bxf3 a6 14. a4 c6 15. Re1 $5 (15. Qc2 $5) ({The critical move must be} 15. b5
$1 {Could} cxb5 $5 (15... axb5 16. axb5 Bd7 (16... Bh3 $2 17. bxc6 bxc6 18.
Bxc6 $16) 17. bxc6 Bxc6 18. Bxc6 bxc6 19. Qc2 $14 {looks no fun at all for
Black. Perhaps Magnus was concerned 15.b5 would still be within his opponent's
homework.}) 16. axb5 a5 {be Black's idea?}) 15... Bd7 {Preventing the b5 break
for now.} 16. e3 Qf6 (16... Qe7 $5 {was also possible.}) 17. Be4 Bf5 ({A
forcing option} 17... Rad8 $5 {still looks sensible to me.}) 18. Qf3 {Magnus
is also happy to swap material.} Bxe4 19. Qxf6 gxf6 20. dxe4 {Black's kingside
structure is ugly but it won't be easy to get at it.} b5 {Fixing the pawn on
b4 as a target for the black bishop.} 21. Red1 ({Another fast move.} 21. Rb2 $5
{was another option.}) 21... Bf8 22. axb5 axb5 (22... cxb5 {is met by} 23. Be1
Rec8 24. Rdc1 {preventing the black rook getting to c4.}) 23. Kg2 {White's
king would like to get to f5 but that's not going to happen.} Red8 24. Rdc1 Kg7
25. Be1 Rdc8 26. Rc2 Ra4 {It's hard for White to improve as he is tied to the
b4 pawn.} 27. Kf3 (27. g4 $5) 27... h5 {A good move taking some space on the
kingside.} 28. Ke2 Kg6 29. h3 f5 {Getting rid of the doubled pawns and
improving the Black king position.} 30. exf5+ Kxf5 31. f3 Be7 {The position is
fairly dead and the players bring proceedings to a swift conclusion.} 32. e4+
Ke6 33. Bd2 (33. Rbc1 {can be met by} Kd7 {or} (33... Bxb4 {as in the next
note.})) 33... Bd6 34. Rbc1 {Draw agreed as} Kd7 ({Even} 34... Bxb4 35. Bxb4
Rxb4 36. Rxc6+ Rxc6 37. Rxc6+ Ke7 38. Rh6 Rb2+ {is fine as there is no way to
hide from the checks.}) 35. Rb1 {repeats} 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Caruana"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2018.11.15"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[Annotator "Anand,V"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2018.11.09"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,63,18,18,53,58,49,26,51,37,37,22,52,-11,22,3,24,24,2,6,62,37,80,83,86,
71,77,72,70,18,78,66,75,83,188,111,111,130,133,62,125,76,103,119,112,112,107,
150,171,197,184,198,178,185,176,167,190,172,200,205,276,227,241,232,291,300]} 
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {The 3rd Rossolimo in a row. Both players seem
happy to continue the discussion. Magnus is looking for unbalanced positions
with Black and is comfortable assuming some risk, while Fabiano has a clear
target as well. Switching to a main line Sicilian is getting harder. Fabi may
end up wasting a White to gain some info on Magnus's choice of subvariation
though many people (myself included!) assume its the Sveshnikov.} g6 4. O-O {
Switching from 4.Bxc6.} Bg7 5. Re1 e5 (5... Nf6 6. e5 Nd5 7. Nc3 Nc7 8. Bxc6
dxc6 {is playable, but is simply not the kind of position Magnus is looking
for with Black.}) 6. b4 Nxb4 (6... cxb4 7. a3 b3 {was Grischuk's sensible
response when surprised by Bacrot in a rapid game. It would be amazing if
Carlsen was unprepared for 6.b4 (hardly a rare move) and he has a more
concrete response in mind.}) 7. Bb2 {Carlsen did spend some time on his
decisions, but I did this as well quite often just remember things with
clarity. After all they must have revised lots of different options in the
morning.} a6 (7... Qc7 8. d4 {is a surprising suggestion of the computer.} (8.
c3 Nc6 9. d4 d6 10. d5 a6 11. Na3 Ke7 {is the by now famous game
Rapport-Granda 2013.}) 8... a6 9. Bc4 (9. Bf1 exd4 10. Qd2 (10. c3 d3 11. Na3 {
also looks reasonable for a mere pawn})) 9... cxd4 10. Bb3 Nc6 11. c3 {The
position is very rich in possibilities, but I won't second-guess their
conclusions since Magnus certainly studied this line.}) 8. a3 axb5 (8... Nc6 9.
Bxc6 dxc6 10. Nxe5 Qc7 11. Nc4 Bxb2 12. Nxb2 Nf6 13. d4 {seems pleasant for
White.}) 9. axb4 Rxa1 10. Bxa1 d6 (10... cxb4 {is playable, but Magnus move
seems more natural to me.} 11. Bxe5 Bxe5 12. Nxe5 Ne7 13. Qe2 Qb6 14. c3 bxc3 (
14... Nc6 15. Ng4) 15. Nxc3 b4 $1 16. Nc4 (16. Nd5 Nxd5 17. exd5 O-O 18. Qe3
Qd6) 16... Qe6 {otherwise Nd5} 17. Nb5 O-O 18. Ncd6 b6) 11. bxc5 Ne7 12. Qe2 (
12. cxd6 Qxd6 13. d4 {doesnt give very much.}) 12... b4 {The only move. All
Black's hopes in this position are connected with this pawn, both restricting
the Nb1 as well as potentially becoming passed once c2 drops.} 13. Qc4 (13. c3
bxc3 14. Qb5+ Nc6 $11) (13. Qb5+ Nc6 14. cxd6 Qxd6 15. d3 O-O 16. Nbd2 Be6 $1 {
The pawn on b4 is more valuable than b7.} 17. Nc4 (17. Qxb7 Qc5 {is suddenly
better for Black.}) 17... Bxc4 18. Qxc4 Ra8 {looks fine to me.}) 13... Qa5 $1 {
Precise.} (13... Nc6 14. d4 exd4 15. Nxd4 Bxd4 16. Bxd4 Be6 17. Qb5 O-O 18. Be3
{Black is ok here, but White runs no risk anymore while in the game, Black
keeps chances.}) 14. cxd6 Be6 15. Qc7 (15. d7+ $2 Kd8 {loses the piece.}) 15...
Qxc7 16. dxc7 Nc6 17. c3 (17. Rd1 {is the critical try but here both king
moves work} Ke7 (17... Kd7 18. d4 Bg4 (18... b3 {equalises, but its possible
to miss this move....}) 19. d5 Nd4 20. Nbd2 Bxf3 21. gxf3 Rc8 22. Nb3 (22. Nc4
Rxc7 23. Nxe5+ Bxe5 24. Bxd4 Bf4 25. Rb1 Rc4 26. Be3 Bxe3 27. fxe3 Kd6 28. Kf1
f5 $11) 22... Nxc2 23. d6 b6 24. Rd5 f6 (24... Nxa1 25. Nxa1 Bh6 $1 (25... Bf8
26. f4 f6 27. fxe5 fxe5 28. f4 exf4 29. Nb3 Re8 30. Nd4 b3 $1 {just in time}
31. Nxb3 Bxd6 32. c8=Q+ Rxc8 33. e5 Ke6 34. Rxd6+ Kxe5 35. Rxb6 Rc2 {is drawn})
26. Nb3 f6 $1 27. Kf1 Bf8 28. Nd2 b5 $1 29. Rxb5 Bxd6 30. Nc4 $11) 25. Nd2 $3 {
is a very nice trick}) 18. d4 Ra8 19. d5 (19. Bb2 Nxd4 20. Nxd4 exd4 21. Bxd4
Bxd4 22. Rxd4 Ra2 23. Rxb4 Rxc2 {is a draw}) 19... Rxa1 20. dxe6 Ra8 21. exf7
Rc8 22. Nbd2 Rxc7 23. Rb1 Kxf7 24. Kf1 $11) 17... Kd7 18. cxb4 Ra8 19. Bc3 {
played after a long think. Clearly Fabi wanted to not only play Bc3 (which is
obvious) but also tried to evaluate the position exactly before continuing.}
Kxc7 {Black should win the b-pawn and in fact White should be precise here. I
think its easier to play Black over the board.} 20. d3 (20. Ng5 $1 {was
correct, but I would not have trusted my eyes if I had to figure this out over
the board.}) 20... Kb6 $6 {After Fabi's exact response, this fizzles out.} (
20... b5 {This is more precise, but one has to be phenomenally accurate for
many moves to extract anything. Without an engine, one could be forgiven for
missing it.} 21. Kf1 (21. Nbd2 Kb6 (21... Rd8 22. Rc1 $1 {An important trick.}
Kb6 23. Ne1 Bf8 24. Rb1) 22. Ra1 Rxa1+ 23. Bxa1 Nxb4 24. Nxe5 Nxd3 25. Nec4+
bxc4 26. Bxg7 Nc5 27. f3 (27. Kf1 Kb5 28. Ke2 Kb4) 27... Kb5 28. Nb1 Na4 29.
Nc3+ Nxc3 30. Bxc3 Ka4 31. Kf2 Kb3 32. Bf6 c3 33. Ke3 {this is as much as I
managed to get for Black and its not enough.}) 21... Kb7 $1 {I kept trying Kb6,
but the comp insists...Apparently a later Bxd4 with check...}) 21. Bd2 $1 {
Dealing with ...Kb5 by freeing the c3-square for the knight.} Rd8 22. Be3+ Kb5
23. Nc3+ Kxb4 24. Nd5+ Bxd5 25. exd5 Rxd5 26. Rb1+ Kc3 27. Rxb7 Nd8 28. Rc7+
Kxd3 29. Kf1 {No way Black can use his extra pawn.} h5 30. h3 Ke4 31. Ng5+ Kf5
32. Nxf7 Nxf7 33. Rxf7+ Bf6 34. g4+ {A fascinating game.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Caruana"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2018.11.16"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[Annotator "Grivas,E"]
[PlyCount "160"]
[EventDate "2018.11.09"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 {So, the WC seems quite unpredictable! In game 2 he chose 1.d4, in game
3 1.c4 and now 1.e4!} e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 {Nothing less to be expected by the
Challenger - he has made his living by the 'Petroff Defence'!} 3. Nxe5 d6 {
(D) [#]} 4. Nd3 ({A quite unusual line. Their most recent game went} 4. Nf3
Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 Nc6 8. Bc4 O-O 9. Qd2 Bf5 10. O-O-O Qd7 11.
Kb1 Rfe8 12. h4 Bf8 13. h5 h6 14. Be2 Bg4 15. Nh2 Bxe2 16. Qxe2 Ne5 17. Bc1 Qc6
18. f4 Nc4 19. Qd3 Qe4 20. g4 Ne3 21. Rde1 Qxd3 22. cxd3 Nd5 23. Reg1 Re6 24.
g5 Ne7 25. gxh6 Rxh6 26. f5 Rh7 27. Ng4 Kh8 28. f6 Ng8 29. fxg7+ Rxg7 30. Be3
c5 31. Bf4 Re8 32. Ne3 Rxg1+ 33. Rxg1 Re6 {½-½ Carlsen,M-Caruana,F Saint
Louis 2018. But it was expected that M.Carlsen will come with something new,
but not that early... I would say that M.Carlsen is more interesting to his
physical strength and stamina than to try to get something in the opening from
his very well-prepared opponent…}) 4... Nxe4 5. Qe2 Qe7 {(D) [#]} 6. Nf4 ({
Another rare line chosen by the WC. There are quite a few games with} 6. Nc3
Nf6 7. Nf4 (7. b3 Nc6 8. Bb2 Bf5 9. Nf4 O-O-O 10. Qxe7 Nxe7 11. O-O-O Ng6 $11 {
So, W-Caruana,F Saint Louis 2018}) 7... c6 8. f3 g5 9. Nd3 $11 {Ganguly,
S-Abasov,N Ulaanbaatar 2018.}) 6... Nc6 (6... Nf6 {seems also safe:} 7. d4
Qxe2+ 8. Bxe2 Nc6 9. c3 g6 10. f3 Bg7 11. h4 h5 12. Na3 Ne7 13. Nb5 Kd8 14. Kf2
a6 $11 {Motylev,A-Rakhmanov,A Yaroslavl 2018.}) 7. Nd5 Nd4 $1 8. Nxe7 Nxe2 9.
Nd5 (9. Bxe2 Bxe7 {promises nothing to both sides!}) 9... Nd4 {(D) [#]} 10. Na3
({A novelty upon} 10. Bd3 Nc5 $1 (10... Nxf2 $2 11. Kxf2 Kd8 12. b3 $18 {
Seyb, A-Gaier,R Willingen 2001}) 11. Nxc7+ Kd7 12. Nxa8 Nxd3+ 13. cxd3 Nc2+ 14.
Kd1 Nxa1 $13 {.}) 10... Ne6 11. f3 N4c5 12. d4 Nd7 13. c3 c6 14. Nf4 Nb6 {
(D) [#] Black seems to have solved with success all his opening 'problems',
for the sixth time in 6 games in this match! Probably all seconds of both
players should be sent on vacation, as they do not really seem to be needed!
It is the first WC that I am following, without any strong 'feelings' in the
opening phase! Well, this is a well-known pawn structure, mainly coming from
the ‘Exchange Variation’ of the ‘French Defence’ (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.
exd5 exd5). There is a clear drawn tendency, mainly because there are not many
good pawn breaks and as some pieces can rapidly be exchanged, there is not
much play left. But of course we must keep I mind that an equal position is
not necessary a drawn one; mistakes need to be made and explored in order to
have a decisive result. And this can happen in any position…} 15. Bd3 d5 16.
Nc2 Bd6 17. Nxe6 Bxe6 18. Kf2 {(D) [#]} h5 ({A good reaction. White could be
slightly better after} 18... f5 $6 19. Re1 Kf7 20. g3 Rhe8 21. b3 g6 22. Ne3
$14 {.}) 19. h4 Nc8 {Planning the simple ...Ne7 and ...Bf5, with full equality.
} 20. Ne3 Ne7 21. g3 {(D) [#]} c5 $1 {Active and good play by Black.} 22. Bc2 (
22. dxc5 Bxc5 23. Kg2 d4 24. cxd4 Bxd4 {, is fine for Black.}) 22... O-O 23.
Rd1 Rfd8 24. Ng2 cxd4 25. cxd4 Rac8 26. Bb3 Nc6 {Again a fine idea, trying to
harass the b3-bishop.} 27. Bf4 Na5 28. Rdc1 {White is dreaming of getting a
better ending with the knight vs the e6-bishop, but Black of course is not
interested!} Bb4 $1 {Preserving the dark-squared bishops is essential.} 29. Bd1
({White cannot go for} 29. Bc7 Nxb3 30. axb3 Re8 31. Rxa7 Bd6 32. Rxb7 Re7 33.
Bxd6 Rxb7 34. Rxc8+ Bxc8 35. b4 Rd7 36. Bc5 Ba6 {, as only Black can have
winning chances here.}) 29... Nc4 30. b3 Na3 31. Rxc8 Rxc8 32. Rc1 Nb5 33.
Rxc8+ Bxc8 {(D) [#] The position seems to be dead equal, but from now on M.
Carlsen is not at his best...} 34. Ne3 $6 ({Troubles start! Good is} 34. Bb8 a6
35. Nf4 $11 {.}) 34... Nc3 35. Bc2 {(D) [#]} Ba3 $1 {White's queenside pawn
structure seems to be in trouble...} 36. Bb8 $6 ({Black seems to be doing good
after} 36. Bd3 Be6 (36... Nxa2 $6 37. Nxd5 Nb4 38. Nxb4 Bxb4 39. Ke2 $11) 37.
Nc2 Bb2 38. a4 Na2 $15 {.}) 36... a6 37. f4 {(D) [#]} Bd7 $1 38. f5 Bc6 ({
Obviously better than} 38... Nb5 $6 39. Nxd5 Nxd4 40. Bd1 $11 {.}) 39. Bd1 Bb2
({With hindsight I would have gone for an ending with the bishop pair after} 
39... Nxd1+ 40. Nxd1 f6 $15 {. Well, the presence of the central pawns is not
helping Black, but White will have to defend accurately. But Black's move is
stronger.}) 40. Bxh5 {(D) [#]} Ne4+ $2 ({The notorious 40th move!} 40... Nxa2
$1 {can be dangerous:} 41. Ba7 Nc3 42. Bb6 Nb5 43. Nc2 Nd6 $1 (43... Bd7 $2 44.
Bg4 Nd6 45. Ne3 Nc8 46. Bc7 Bxd4 47. Bf3 Bxf5 48. Bxd5 b5 49. Bb7 Bg4 50. Bxa6
Ne7 51. Be5 Ba7 52. Bb7 Nf5 53. Bf4 $11) 44. Bf3 (44. g4 Ne4+ 45. Ke2 Nf6 $17)
44... Nxf5 45. Bg4 Nd6 46. Nb4 Ne4+ $17 {.}) 41. Kg2 Bxd4 42. Bf4 Bc5 {(D) [#]
Black still seems to be doing better, but White finds a radical, and quite far
from obvious, solution.} 43. Bf3 $1 Nd2 {(D) [#]} 44. Bxd5 $1 ({An incredible
solution to White's problems. Endless suffering is the passive} 44. Nf1 Nxf3
45. Kxf3 d4+ 46. Ke2 Bb5+ 47. Ke1 Bd3 $15 {. For me it is more than obvious
that M.Carlsen's extreme and deep knowledge on various endings is the key
point here - how else can you make such a radical decision?}) 44... Bxe3 45.
Bxc6 Bxf4 46. Bxb7 Bd6 47. Bxa6 Ne4 {(D) [#] A consequence of forced moves
after White's 44th.} 48. g4 {(D) [#]} (48. Kf3 Nxg3 49. Bd3 Nh5 50. a4 Bb4 51.
Ke4 {is another great story! The analysis is extremely difficult and in
general I would say that White should hold here, but I can be proven wrong by
some powerful engine!}) 48... Ba3 $1 {The only move - Black's wins one of the
two connected white queenside pawns.} 49. Bc4 Kf8 50. g5 Nc3 51. b4 $1 {
It is important to retain an as far as possible outside pawn.} Bxb4 52. Kf3 Na4
53. Bb5 Nc5 54. a4 {(D) [#] So, White has just two pawns for the piece and he
doesn't seem able to make any progress. But can Black win? And if yes, how? He
will obviously need his king to capture the white a-pawn, but in the meantime
White will exchange the kingside pawns. I think that White can hold.} f6 55.
Kg4 $1 {The white king has to stay on the kingside, protecting his pawns.} Ne4
56. Kh5 Be1 57. Bd3 Nd6 {White can also wait here - I cannot see how Black
will radically improve, but M.Carlsen creates with his next a marvelous
position - the straightest way to gain a fortress! This kind of thinking is of
a legend player!} 58. a5 $1 Bxa5 59. gxf6 gxf6 60. Kg6 Bd8 61. Kh7 $1 {(D) [#]
A very nice position for White! Some facts to understand it: 1) The white
h-pawn shouldn’t move to h6. 2) The white king should be able to be retained
to g6- and h7-squares. 3) The white bishop should be able to check the black
king if he goes to f7. 4) Black can win if his king enters the h8- or
f7-squares.} Nf7 62. Bc4 Ne5 63. Bd5 Ba5 64. h5 Bd2 65. Ba2 Nf3 66. Bd5 Nd4 {
(D) [#]} 67. Kg6 $2 ({White blunders! Correct is} 67. Bc4 Bc3 68. Bd3 $11 {.})
67... Bg5 68. Bc4 {(D) [#]} ({What else? If} 68. h6 Ne2 69. Kh7 Nf4 70. Be4 Nh3
71. Bh1 (71. Kg6 Kg8 $19) 71... Nf2 72. Bf3 Nd3 73. Be2 Ne5 74. Bh5 Nf7 $19 {
, or}) (68. Be4 Kg8 $19 {.}) 68... Nf3 $2 ({And the favour is returned! Black
could cash the point with some delicate manoeuvres:} 68... Bh4 $1 69. Bd5 Ne2
70. Bf3 Ng1 $1 71. Bd5 Bg5 72. Kh7 Ne2 73. Bf3 Ng3 74. Bg4 {(the bishop 'lost'
the important a2-g8 diagonal)} Kf7 75. Kh8 Be3 76. Kh7 Bc5 77. Kh8 (77. Bd1
Nxf5 78. Bb3+ Ke7 79. Kg6 Nh4+ 80. Kg7 Bd4 $19) 77... Bf8 78. Kh7 Ne4 $19 {.})
69. Kh7 {Back to business!} Ne5 70. Bb3 Ng4 71. Bc4 Ne3 72. Bd3 $1 ({But not} 
72. Be6 $2 Bh4 73. Bd7 Nf1 74. Ba4 Ng3 75. Kg6 Kg8 $19 {. White must always
keep in mind the notes after the 61st move and never fall into a zugzwang!
Easier said than done!}) 72... Ng4 73. Bc4 Nh6 74. Kg6 {(D) [#] Black cannot
make progress, so he decides to move with the king.} Ke7 75. Bb3 Kd6 76. Bc2
Ke5 77. Bd3 Kf4 78. Bc2 Ng4 79. Bb3 Ne3 80. h6 Bxh6 (80... Bxh6 {Draw agreed.
White can draw with either} 81. Kxf6 {, or} (81. Kxh6 Nxf5+ 82. Kg6 Ke5 83. Bc2
{[%emt 3:12:44] . The game looked as another dull case in the start, but
quickly moved to a classic one! And what an endgame surprise by the great
Magnus!})) 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Caruana"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2018.11.18"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2018.11.09"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 c5 {Straight into one
of the thematic battlegrounds of the world champions! This is an opening that
seems to be very much beloved by Nakamura, Anand, and more recently Caruana
himself.} 7. dxc5 (7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Nxd5 Qxd5 {holds less venom and was the
battleground for an encounter between a Topalov second and a Carlsen second...
Edouard,R -Hammer,J Drancy 2016}) 7... Bxc5 8. Qc2 (8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. Nxd5 exd5
10. a3 Nc6 11. Bd3 {To be honest, I am a little surprised Carlsen didn't
choose this. He tends to like playing against the IQP, and while it might
appear that Black can play ...d4, this is a mirage: either there will be some
trick yielding an edge (like exd4 followed by Be3) or else White will simply
push past with e4. The textbook encounter features a commentator from this
match:} Bb6 12. O-O Bg4 13. h3 Bh5 14. b4 a6 15. Rc1 d4 16. g4 Bg6 17. e4 Re8
18. Re1 Rc8 19. Bc4 $1 $14 {Svidler,P-Harikrishna,P Shenzhen 2017}) 8... Nc6 9.
a3 {During Norway Chess 2018, when I last looked at this variation, I
commented that I did not believe the present move to be White's most critical,
but I am now revising this assessment.} Qa5 10. Nd2 {On this move, my only
earlier comment was that it "might be an interesting try for an advantage, but
that it ultimately fails"- giving 10...Bb4. The challenger, however, did not
play that move, indicating that neither player reads the details on chessbase.
com!} (10. O-O-O $5 {See my detailed notes on this in Karjakin-Anand, Norway
Chess 2018.} Ne4 $1 11. Nxe4 (11. Nb5 a6 12. Nc7 e5 $1 $40 {Originally played
by Karjakin, but ultimately used against him by Anand in the above-mentioned
encounter.}) 11... dxe4 12. Qxe4 Bxa3 $1 {There follows a forced line.} 13.
bxa3 Qxa3+ 14. Kd2 Rd8+ 15. Ke2 Qb2+ 16. Rd2 Rxd2+ 17. Nxd2 e5 18. Bg3 Bg4+ $3
{New and detailed analysis now reveals that White needs to accept first the
bishop and then the perpetual check which results after best play.}) ({Of
course,} 10. Rd1 {is also possible. It is impossible to annotate the present
game without paying attention to what occurred in the 2nd match game, and also
more generally one of the defining decisions White faces in such games is the
choice between long-castling and playing Rd1.} Re8 $1 (10... Be7 {is more
common, but mistaken. In January 2018 I wrote that White has an edge after} 11.
Be2 Ne4 12. cxd5 Nxc3 13. bxc3 exd5 14. O-O $14 {and I see no reason to change
this verdict.}) (10... Rd8 {was what happened in the 2nd game. I wonder what
Fabi has in mind following 11.Nd2 here?} 11. Nd2 $5 (11. Be2 Ne4 12. O-O Nxc3
13. bxc3 h6 14. a4 Ne7 15. Ne5 Bd6 $1 $11 {Carlsen, M-Caruana,F London WC (2)
2018}) 11... dxc4 12. Bxc4 (12. Nxc4 $5 Rxd1+ 13. Qxd1 Qd8 14. Qxd8+ Nxd8 $14 {
Caruana might have intended to defend this position, or a similar one, and
make the structure into 'his Berlin'. Certainly, with the centre nearly bereft
of pawns, it is difficult to turn the engine's '0.4' into something a human
would recognise as a clear and lasting plus.}) 12... Be7 13. O-O Qh5 14. Nde4
Rxd1 15. Qxd1 Qxd1 16. Rxd1 Nxe4 17. Nxe4 e5 $1 $11 {Roiz,M-Khamrakulov,D
Tashkent 2011}) 11. Nd2 (11. Be2 e5 $15 {is the point}) 11... e5 12. Bg5 Nd4
13. Qb1 $1 (13. Qc1 Bf5 {is liable to lead to a forced draw.} 14. Bxf6 Nc2+ 15.
Ke2 Nd4+ $11 {Carlsen, M-Nakamura,H Douglas 2017}) 13... Bf5 14. Bd3 {White
might have had a tiny something in Mamedyarov-Anand, Tata Steel 2018, but this
was ultimately neutralised.}) (10. Ra2 $5 {This move is nice and experimental,
but after the accurate retreats} Be7 11. b4 Qd8 12. h3 {Black should deviate
from a Topalov game and play} d4 $1 $11) 10... Qd8 {Perhaps Caruana is getting
some kind of thrill out of playing this kind of thing: personally I don't
consider Nd2 anywhere near the size of concession Black needs to extract to
merit the 2 tempi. 10.Ra2, on the other hand, would do. The question was asked
by a perplexed Anna Rudolf of exactly what Black has gained by these
perambulations, as White always seems to win at least one tempo during them.} (
10... Bb4 $5 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Nb3 Bxc3+ 13. bxc3 Qd8 $132 {This continuation
was seen in Topalov,V-Nakamura,H Paris 2017, and perhaps slightly biased by
the fact that Black won the game, I concluded it was unlikely anyone would
play 10.Nd2 for an advantage. To be honest, I still don't know what White
would do here.}) (10... Be7 {This move was the majority choice in the 'live
commentary' room helmed by GM Judit Polgar, as well as among grandmasters who
have reached this position.} 11. Rd1 {is main and now England's fast-rising
talent Shreyas Royal opined, completely correctly, that Black has to go ...e5!
and let the pawns take care of themselves!} (11. Bg3 $5 {is an interesting
idea that may give chances}) 11... e5 12. Bg5 (12. Nb3 Qb6 {gives White an
extra tempo, but there is still nothing after} 13. Bg5 d4 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15. Nd5
Qd8 $11) 12... d4 $8 13. Nb3 Qd8 14. exd4 Nxd4 15. Nxd4 exd4 16. Nb5 {Now, in
my considered opinion, Black has to know about, and play, the ultra-precise}
Bd7 $1 {and only then does he stand equal.}) 11. Nb3 Bb6 (11... Be7 {is maybe
just a little bit too easy for White to play, as there isn't any idea of ...d4
left.} 12. cxd5 (12. Rd1 e5 {should again be fine}) 12... Nxd5 13. Rd1 $14) 12.
Be2 {Giving up on an opening advantage.} (12. Rd1 {This move springs to mind
immediately for anyone with even a passing knowledge of the structure, and
doesn't run the risks of castling. A process of logical elimination tells us
that Carlsen must have seen, and disliked, the Black idea of} a5 $5 13. Bg5 a4
14. Nd2 d4 $5 $14 {when the battle for loss of frivolous tempi might actually
be won by White. Certainly, over the board this could be difficult to assess.})
({In this position, after} 12. O-O-O Bd7 $1 13. g4 $1 {the incredibly messy
complications can be analysed almost to a forced draw.}) 12... Qe7 $11 {
One last time: are you SURE you don't want me to have an IQP?} 13. Bg5 (13.
cxd5 Nxd5 14. Nxd5 exd5 $11 {is nothing though; White's pieces are poorly
placed to cope with Black's forthcoming ideas like ...Be6, ...Rac8, ...Rfd8.})
13... dxc4 {This exchange made sense on the previous turn too, but here it is
close to being forced.} 14. Nd2 ({Carlsen thought for some time about} 14. Bxc4
{,clearly wondering whether it was actually such an amazing idea to move the
knight another 2 times. A bit of analysis, though, indicates that it is with
the direct recapture that White risks becoming worse.} Bd7 15. O-O Ne5 16. Be2
Rfc8 $5 {Here, in a bizarre echo of the 6.Be3 Najdorf, Black is intending to
put his opponent in a highly annoying double-pin with ...Ba4.} 17. Nd4 h6 $1
18. Bxf6 gxf6 $5 {and play is for 3 results.}) 14... Ne5 15. O-O (15. Nxc4 $2
Nxc4 16. Bxc4 Qc5 $1 $17 {simply gains the bishop pair for nothing.}) (15. Nce4
$5 {is a meaningful alternative, and Magnus said it was his 'main chance to
play dynamically' but, as above, Black doesn't need to tremble in fear at the
prospect of being left with doubled f-pawns. Indeed, neither player
particularly believed it.} Bd7 16. Nxc4 (16. Qc3 $5 {was the move both players
suggested in the press conference.} Nxe4 $1 17. Nxe4 f6 18. Qxe5 fxg5 19. Bxc4
Rac8 20. Bb3 h6 $132 {with a dynamically balanced game.}) 16... Nxc4 17. Bxc4
Rac8 18. O-O Bc6 $11 {The tactical issues faced by each side more or less
balance each other out, and the most likely scenario is that all the pieces,
save either 1 or 2 pairs of rooks, will be vacuumed off the board quite soon,
leaving a draw.}) 15... Bd7 $1 16. Bf4 $1 {White should hurry to take back the
pawn, in whichever way he chooses to do that.} (16. Rfd1 Rac8 17. Nde4 {
is plausible, but without the engine around we don't actually know whether
White will regain the pawn or not.} Bc6 (17... Bc7 $5 18. Bxc4 $1 Bc6 19. Bb5
Bxe4 20. Qxe4 a6 21. Be2 Nxe4 22. Bxe7 Nxc3 23. bxc3 Rfe8 $11 {and both sides
play for a win. The position is reminiscent of my game against Gawain Jones in
the British Championships 2018.}) 18. Nd6 Rcd8 19. Nce4 (19. Nxc4 Nxc4 20. Bxc4
Qc5 21. Bxf6 gxf6 22. Bd3 f5 $11 {Now White has to trade off light-squared
bishops with some urgency, or else simply stand worse.}) 19... h6 $1 20. Bh4 g5
21. Nxf6+ Qxf6 22. Bg3 Bc7 23. Nxc4 Nxc4 $1 24. Bxc7 Rc8 25. Bxc4 Rxc7 $11 {
The position is ever so slightly more comfortable for Black, but is still well
within the 'equal' band in objective terms.}) (16. Nxc4 Nxc4 17. Bxc4 Qc5 18.
Bxf6 Qxc4 19. Rfd1 Bc6 20. Bd4 $1 $11) 16... Ng6 $1 (16... Qc5 {is a hard move
to make, because of all White's Ne4/b4 tactical ideas. Nevertheless, the
computer sees it as best, and then obliges White to take the pawn back
immediately:} 17. Bxe5 Qxe5 18. Nxc4 Qc7 19. b4 $5 (19. Rac1 Bc5 20. b4 Be7 $11
{is an equal position where Black might stand better after a few moves}) 19...
Rac8 20. Rac1 Rfd8 21. Nxb6 Qxb6 22. Rfd1 $11) 17. Bg3 $1 {With their last
moves, both players have shown that they appreciate the full value of the
bishop pair in this position- even where the two flanks are largely distinct
from each other and the engine doesn't mind White giving it up.} Bc6 {A
correct response from Caruana, who understands that White's dark-squared
bishop is better than his own, and takes steps to trade them off.} 18. Nxc4 Bc7
19. Rfd1 Rfd8 20. Rxd8+ {This move smacks of boredom; surely normally Magnus
would ask himself whether it's impossible to gain some other minor edge while
Black is troubling himself with the exact mechanics of the double-rook trade?}
Rxd8 21. Rd1 {Possibly, somewhere at the back of Magnus' mind, there might
have been an idea of eventually making an edge like 'slightly better
light-squared bishop' or 'slightly better knight' count; however, as it turned
out there wasn't a concrete opportunity to play for a win. From this point
onwards, the objective evaluation never veered from complete equality, but I
have tried to point out marginally more ambitious ideas for each side.} Rxd1+
22. Qxd1 Nd5 23. Qd4 Nxc3 24. Qxc3 Bxg3 {My own personal feeling about this
move was that it gives White unnecessary chances. After all, White's pawn
structure is improved and furthermore there's a possibility that Black's
kingside could become very cramped indeed. The engine, of course, doesn't
think this is a problem.} (24... Bb5 {seemed a lot more normal to me.}) 25.
hxg3 Qd7 26. Bd3 {At this point, White decided his plan, which was to make it
inconvenient for Black to play ...f6/...e5, and to go for Bxg6, f3, e4 himself.
} ({Otherwise there is a chance he might have seen the idea of} 26. f4 {
followed by g4-g5 (if allowed) as being more auspicious.}) 26... b6 ({This was
Black's chance to play} 26... f6 {but possibly he just found ideas like} 27.
Qc2 Kf7 28. Na5 {to be a little annoying.}) 27. f3 Bb7 (27... f6 $5 28. g4 Kf7
29. g5 Bd5 $11 {Black's construction looks a little loose, but there is
nothing objectively wrong with it. I would personally think of it as a
reasonable choice if Black wanted to retain the possibility of perhaps one day
winning the game.}) 28. Bxg6 $5 {This had been coming for a while- White was
hardly going to play e4 without it- but I do wonder if maybe it could have
been delayed a further move.} (28. g4 Qc7 29. f4 $11 {is quite ambitious.})
28... hxg6 29. e4 Qc7 $1 {From a human perspective, this looks clearly correct.
Black needs to make the queen trade White seeks as inefficient as possible.} (
29... f6 30. e5 $1 {has become, practically speaking, a little difficult.}) 30.
e5 Qc5+ 31. Kh2 (31. Ne3 Qxc3 32. bxc3 Ba6 $11 {One of the hardest things for
a human player to realise in this position (and related ones which we shall
come to) is that if Black can come with his king to c6, then in spite of his
awful bishop, which possesses a grand total of no targets to aim at, he is the
one playing for a win!}) 31... Ba6 (31... f6 $5 {leads to the same thing:} 32.
Nd6 Qxc3 33. bxc3 Ba6) 32. Nd6 Qxc3 33. bxc3 f6 34. f4 ({The next note is the
move suggested by a friend with whom I was watching the games, live and in
person. Around this time, we made a bet (which I won) about the sequence of
moves that would finish the game...} 34. Kh3 $6 fxe5 35. Kg4 Kf8 36. Kg5 Bd3 {
It is White treading on thin ice here (though the position is still a draw.)
It is not clear to me how White regains a pawn without suffocating his own
knight, and g2 is also weak.}) 34... Kf8 35. Kg1 Ke7 36. Kf2 Kd7 {With Black's
king active, it is difficult to be ambitious.} 37. Ke3 Bf1 ({I did wonder
whether Black could play for a win:} 37... fxe5 $5 38. fxe5 Kc6 39. c4 Kc5 40.
Kd3 b5 41. Ne4+ Kc6 {Now White has a choice of ways to draw, which differ only
in the multiplicity of the choice that he has thereafter.} 42. Kd4 $1 (42.
cxb5+ Bxb5+ 43. Kd4 Be2 (43... Bf1) 44. Nc5 Bg4 $11 {Both sides have
fortresses, despite the World Champion's skepticism about the concept, but it
is still easier for White to go wrong.}) 42... bxc4 43. g4 c3 44. Nxc3 g5 45.
g3 Bf1 46. Ne4 Be2 47. Nxg5 Bxg4 48. a4 $11) 38. Kf2 Ba6 39. Ke3 Bf1 40. Kf2 {
Here Caruana claimed a draw, by the approved method.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Caruana"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2018.11.19"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[Annotator "So,Wesley"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2018.11.09"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Game 8 of the Carlsen-Caruana match. Many questions are in the air. Are we
going to see the same Sicilian Rossolimo or will we finally see 1.e4 e5? Will
they break the drawing streak and someone draw first blood?} 1. e4 {Fabiano
sticks to his openings as you can see from his games so far. With White he
plays 1.e4 and with Black he does not change his lines. This is not really
surprising as this flow is recommended in many top matches. Plus, Leinier
Dominguez being one of his assistants and a fan of this same system himself, I
think it's safe to assume we will see 1.e4 whenever Fabiano is White here in
London.} c5 {I can't help wondering though why Magnus sticks to the Sicilian
in these games. Against Sergey Karjakin two years ago he only played 1...e5
and had absolutely no problems. I suppose it's a matter of fashion and
personal preference. Before this Championship match the Sicilian was never
really the main opening of Magnus even less so the Sveshnikov.} 2. Nf3 Nc6 3.
d4 {Checking what Magnus had prepared against the Open Sicilian, I must say I
am surprised that Fabiano avoided going for 3.Bb5. He must have run out of
good ideas there.} cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 {Now we see the long-awaited
Sicilian Sveshnikov! This opening became very popular during the late 90s and
early 2000s thanks to the effort of Kasparov, Kramnik and Leko. These days it
has a rock solid reputation and is often employed as a barricade to any White
attempts at an advantage. It is obvious Fabiano expected this and accordingly
prepared a special idea. The Sveshnikov holds good memories for me as back in
the days of my youth it was my one and only opening against 1.e4. One of my
first ever chess books was by Mikhail Krasenkow published in 1996! I also had
books by Yuri Yakovich and Dorian Rogozenco on this specific opening. It is
always a pleasure for me to annotate a game on an opening that has good vibes
for me.} 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Nd5 Nxd5 8. exd5 Nb8 {This is the main retreat, the
knight will be transferred to the kingside via d7 later on. Even though I have
not checked the most updated theory here recently, it is known that this is
the most solid option for Black.} ({Retreating to e7 is possible} 8... Ne7 {
where Black's plan next consists of Nf5 followed by ...g6-Bg7.}) 9. a4 {
This is the first surprise. 9.c4 is the main move here. I wonder if Magnus'
team preparation anticipated this. It is not clear yet if this idea poses any
serious threat to the Sveshnikov. I am sure over the board it can be difficult
to face.} ({The normal continuation for most games here is} 9. c4 Be7 10. Be2
O-O 11. O-O a6 12. Nc3 f5 {where we have a typical position. White has a grip
on the queenside while Black has more space on the other flank. The position
should be close to equal. I had this position in some of my games many years
ago. One of them went} 13. f3 Nd7 14. Rb1 Bg5 15. b4 b6 16. a3 $14 {when White
seems slightly better but the game ended in a draw later on. ½-½ (58) Wan,Y 
(2471)-So,W (2577) Manila 2008}) 9... Be7 10. Be2 O-O 11. O-O Nd7 (11... f5 12.
Bd2 f4) 12. Bd2 {Quiet, refined and dangerous moves like this one are very
much Caruana! Remember 9.Bd2 in the Ruy Lopez against Aronian in the
Candidates? (Though to be fair Grischuk played it first.) Anyway my point is,
there is more to this move than meets the eye.} f5 {This looks like a most
natural response.} (12... Nf6 {Seems like a good move that requires further
research. After} 13. Be3 a6 14. Na3 Qa5 $5 {A funny instance that could work.}
15. c4 Qd8 $5 {The idea is to blockade the queenside dark-squares with a5 and
b6.} 16. Nc2 (16. b4 a5) 16... a5 17. Na3 b6 {Black has accomplished his
strategy and the position now looks very interesting to me.}) 13. a5 a6 (13...
f4 $5 14. Bb4 Nf6 15. c4 a6 16. Nc3 Bf5 17. f3) 14. Na3 e4 {I think Magnus is
playing all the most logical moves here. He fixes the problem of needing more
space for his pieces by securing the e5 post for his knight.} (14... f4 {
is one of the suggestions I saw on the live book.} 15. Nc4 Rf6 {The idea is to
attack on the kingside with Rh6 while keeping the b6 square protected for the
moment.}) (14... Nf6 15. Bb4 Bd7 16. Nc4 Bb5 17. Nb6 Bxe2 18. Qxe2 Rb8 19. f4
$14) 15. Nc4 Ne5 16. Nb6 {Keeping the queenside in check. This protected
knight is very annoying on b6 and it controls many squares. Now White can
always grab the bishop pair if need be.} (16. Nxe5 dxe5 17. Bc4 Bd6 18. Re1 Bd7
19. Bf1) 16... Rb8 17. f4 exf3 18. Bxf3 g5 $6 {The best word to describe my
thoughts when I first saw this move is "shocking"! This looks at first sight
like utter desperation. With a powerful knight on b6 tying down Black's
queenside and significantly more space, it looks like White's opportunities
have a substantially higher chance to succeed.} ({It seems to me that much
stronger is} 18... Bf6 19. c3 Nd7 {to get rid of the annoying White knight.
The f6 bishop can then be posted on e5.} 20. Be3 Be5) ({Or Black can also
start with} 18... Nd7) 19. c4 {While watching this game live I thought Magnus
was in deep danger here. His attack does not seem to be going anywhere. At the
same time Black has to be careful not to weaken his king's position. And
White's play on the queenside is definitely faster. We might finally see a
decisive result today!} f4 20. Bc3 ({Trading the light-squared bishops with} 
20. Be4 {is a serious option too.} Bf5 21. Bxf5 Rxf5 22. Bc3 {White has a
stable advantage.}) 20... Bf5 (20... Bf6 {is met by the same c5} 21. c5 $1 {
it is incredible how powerful this pawn sacrifice can be.} dxc5 22. d6 Nxf3+
23. gxf3 Bxc3 24. bxc3 Be6 25. Re1 $18 {when White is just totally winning.
The knight on b6 and the pawn on d6 totally bind up Black's forces.}) 21. c5 $1
{Fabiano is playing accurately and powerfully. White wastes no time in
mobilizing his forces at the cost of a pawn.} Nxf3+ (21... Bf6 22. c6 $16) 22.
Qxf3 dxc5 23. Rad1 {This seems like a most natual move. What can be more
instinctive than putting a rook behind a passed pawn? But here White had two
great opportunities that would almost certainly lead to a win.} (23. g4 $1 {
is an enormously powerful move. It kicks away Black's bishop from its ideal
square on f5. After} Bg6 (23... fxg3 24. Qxg3 {leads to a winning attack. After
} Bd6 {White has Be5, with irresistible threats.}) 24. Rad1 Bd6 (24... Bf6 25.
d6 $18 {Once the d-pawn reaches d6, it is over.}) 25. Rfe1 {White is cruising
to the win. Black cannot defend against the rook infiltration on e6. Nc4 is
another huge threat.} c4 26. Re6 Qc7 27. Qh3 $18) (23. Rae1 Bf6 (23... Bd6 24.
Nc4) 24. h4 {also looks absolutely dominating. After} h6 25. hxg5 hxg5 {
We have the now familiar motif} 26. g4 {which just crushes Black's defences.
Of course although in both cases the lines are totally winning for White, lets
be fair. It's easy to see it with a coffee in one hand, a sandwich in the
other, and an incredibly powerful computer analyzing lines right in front of
you. Poor Carlsen and Caruana have to do all the calculating in their heads
over a board.}) 23... Bd6 24. h3 $2 {I suppose Fabiano panicked a little in
the face of the threat of g4. White can opt for more active possibilities at
his disposal.} (24. Qh5 {looks like a natural move to me. If White is afraid
of the g4 push then he can play this.} Qe8 (24... Bg6 {is met by} 25. Qh3 {Now}
Bf5 {can be replied to by the typical} 26. g4 $1 {gaining time and dislodging
the Black bishop.} Bg6 27. Rfe1 f3 28. Re6 {and now Rxg6 is a threat. It seems
that once a White rook gets to e6 Black's defences fall apart.}) 25. Qxg5+ Qg6
26. Qxg6+ hxg6 27. Nc4 {White still maintains a clear advantage in the ending.}
) (24. Nc4 {could be stronger still. Albeit the lines look a bit more like
computer variations. It is probably too hard for a human to find them over the
board.} g4 25. Qf2 f3 (25... g3 26. Qd2 Qh4 27. h3 $18) 26. Rfe1 fxg2 27. Qxg2
{Black's king turns out to be much more vulnerable than White's.}) 24... Qe8 $1
{Black more or less equalizes now and does not give White any second chance
after his mistake.} 25. Nc4 Qg6 {Black manages to mobilize his forces very
comfortably. Now he is ready to fight for control in the center and he is a
pawn up. So Fabiano decides its time to trade pieces.} 26. Nxd6 (26. Rfe1 Rbe8)
26... Qxd6 27. h4 (27. Qh5 Qg6 28. Qxg6+ hxg6 {does not lead anywhere for
White.} 29. d6 {could just be met by} Rbd8) 27... gxh4 28. Qxf4 Qxf4 29. Rxf4
h5 {The last accurate move. It secures the g4 square.} 30. Re1 (30. d6 Bg4 31.
Rxf8+ Rxf8 32. Rd5 Rf5 $11) 30... Bg4 31. Rf6 Rxf6 32. Bxf6 Kf7 33. Bxh4 Re8
34. Rf1+ Kg8 35. Rf6 (35. d6 Re2 $11) 35... Re2 36. Rg6+ Kf8 37. d6 Rd2 38. Rg5
1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Caruana"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2018.11.21"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[Annotator "Navara,D"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2018.11.09"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{While the Women’s World Championship Cycle is going to imitate the overall
World Championship, it might also hold the other way around. After eight
rounds, there remained four games and an eventual tie-break to be played to
determine the winner. The finale of the Women’s World Championship looks
quite similar in this respect, doesn’t it? The match has been quite tense,
both players have been fighting hard and it is therefore surprising that all
the games finished in draws. This shows high class of both players as well as
their superb defensive abilities. Moreover, the permanent progress of the
opening theory makes it increasingly difficult to achieve an advantage with
White against a well-prepared opponent. We all have probably hoped to see more
decisive games, but it is really very hard to beat a 2800-rated player.} 1. c4
e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Bc5 {This is currently
the most fashionable continuation. It had been played by club players many
times before GM Grischuk introduced it to a top level.} 7. O-O ({White could
win a pawn by means of} 7. Nxe5 Nxc3 8. Bxc6+ (8. bxc3 Nxe5 9. d4 Bd6 $11) 8...
bxc6 9. bxc3 {, but Black would get an ample compensation after} (9. dxc3 Qxd1+
10. Kxd1 Bxf2 11. Rf1 Bc5 12. Rxf7 Bd6 13. Rf3 Bxe5 14. Re3 O-O $1 15. Rxe5
Rf1+ {should be fine for Black as well according to GM Marin and IM Stoica 
(NIC Yearbook 125).}) 9... Qd5 10. Nf3 Bh3 {owing to his better development.})
7... O-O 8. d3 ({A funny-looking continuation} 8. Nxd5 Qxd5 9. Ng5 Qd8 10. Nxh7
Re8 11. Ng5 Qxg5 12. d4 Qh5 13. dxc5 Rd8 14. Bd2 Nd4 {gives Black a decent
counterplay according to GM Marin and IM Stoica.}) (8. Nxe5 Nxc3 9. Nxc6 $2 {
is not to be recommended in view of} Nxd1 10. Nxd8 Bxf2+ $1 11. Kh1 Bg4 $1 {.})
8... Re8 {This variation has already been played in the 4th round.} ({A bishop
retreat} 8... Bb6 {is equally playable, but it enables White to play b2-b4 in
certain lines.}) 9. Bg5 $5 {This motif has been known from the Sicilian Dragon
(with reversed colours).} Nxc3 ({It it also possible to play} 9... Nde7 {
, but retreating the centralized knight contradicts the spirit of this
variation (if there is any).}) ({Black would like to play} 9... f6 $6 {, but
it allows} 10. Qb3 Be6 11. Qxb7 {, when White seems to be better, e.g.} Ndb4 $6
12. Qb5 $1 {and the queen escapes.}) 10. bxc3 f6 11. Bc1 {If any piece belongs
to d2, it is the knight. Black players have been doing very well in this match.
Magnus therefore sort of "switched colours" by losing time with his bishop.
Well, he has slightly improved his pawn structure in return. Black can no
longer claim the d4-square.} Be6 {Pushing e5-e4 with an undeveloped queenside
would be clearly inferior to this healthy developing move.} 12. Bb2 Bb6 ({
Here my computer likes} 12... e4 $5 {for some reason.} 13. Nd4 (13. dxe4 Qxd1
14. Rfxd1 Bc4 15. e3 Rad8 {gives Black a good compensation owing to White's
queenside weaknesses.}) 13... Nxd4 14. cxd4 Bxd4 15. Bxd4 Qxd4 16. Bxe4 c6 ({
or even} 16... Bd5 17. e3 Qe5 {should not be too dangerous for Black.})) ({
I expected} 12... Qe7 {, when} 13. d4 {allows Black to play} Rad8 {.}) 13. d4
Bd5 {Black neutralizes White's kingside bishop.} 14. Qc2 exd4 15. cxd4 Be4 16.
Qb3+ Bd5 ({The endgame arising after} 16... Qd5 17. Qxd5+ Bxd5 18. e3 {is
somewhat more pleasant for White. Not much, but it is hard to achieve more,
nowadays.}) 17. Qd1 {Magnus played quickly up to this moment. I like his
opening choice. This seemingly unambitious variation with few long forced
lines gives him decent chances to outplay his opponent in the subsequent
course of the game. The b6-bishop might remain out of play after e2-e3, Nf3-d2.
True, Fabiano Caruana is quite hard to be outplayed.} (17. Qc2 Be4 {would not
be very inspiring.}) 17... Bxf3 $6 {Watching the game, I also considered this
move. It is a logical and straightforward one. While it is certainly not bad,
it leads to a position where White can play for the win without any risk.} ({
I like} 17... Qd7 {. Black can complete his development and play Na5, c5 later
on.}) (17... Na5 $5 {was another option.}) 18. Qb3+ {This limits Black's
options.} (18. Bxf3 Nxd4 19. Bxd4 Qxd4 20. Qb3+ Kh8 {is a mere transposition} (
{, while} 20... Kf8 $5 {was not possible in the game.})) 18... Kh8 19. Bxf3
Nxd4 20. Bxd4 Qxd4 21. e3 $1 Qe5 {Black would like to exchange the queens, but
it is not that simple.} (21... Qd6 22. Bxb7 Rab8 {is also slightly better for
White after} 23. Rad1 Qf8 24. Bc6 {, as} Bxe3 $2 {loses an exchange after
almost any queen retreat.}) 22. Bxb7 Rad8 23. Rad1 $14 {White has achieved a
small but stable advantage. His king is safer and his bishop is more active
than its counterpart. He should keep the queens on the board to maintain
attacking chances. Magnus Carlsen has already won many equal-looking positions
with rooks and opposite-coloured bishops on the board. On the other hand,
Black's position is quite solid and the drawing margin is quite broad unless
White launches a mating attack. Black can sometimes sacrifice a pawn to
exchange the major pieces and achieve a drawish bishop endgame.} Qe7 24. h4 $1
{White needs to weaken his opponent's king.} g6 25. h5 $6 (25. Bc6 {looks
better in hindsight, but Black's defensive resources should be sufficient
anyway. Still, some accuracy is needed, as} Rxd1 $6 26. Rxd1 Rd8 27. Rxd8+ Qxd8
28. Qf7 {would be fairly unpleasant for Black.}) 25... gxh5 $1 {A brave
decision. Instead of defending an inferior position after 25...Kg7, Black
launches counterplay. GM Mihail Marin has recently written an article on such
an unexpected recapture for a German magazine "Schach".} ({White would keep
his trumps after} 25... Kg7 26. Bf3 $14 {.}) 26. Qc4 f5 $1 {Another good move.
Black prepares h5-h4, after which both kings would be equally weak. Black has
equalized, but the fight continues.} 27. Bf3 h4 28. Rxd8 Rxd8 29. gxh4 Rg8+ 30.
Kh1 Qf6 31. Qf4 Bc5 $1 {The bishop joins the play.} 32. Rg1 Rxg1+ ({It was
safer to play} 32... Bd6 33. Rxg8+ Kxg8 {, as the h4-pawn would then be
hanging with check in many lines. Still, Black's continuation does not spoil
anything.}) 33. Kxg1 Bd6 34. Qa4 {Fabiano Caruana was a bit short of time, but
he kept everything under control.} f4 $1 35. Qxa7 fxe3 36. Qxe3 Qxh4 {All
Black needs to do is to exchange the queens without losing the pawns.} 37. a4
Qf6 38. Bd1 Qe5 {The bishop endgame is drawn.} 39. Qxe5+ Bxe5 40. a5 Kg7 41. a6
Bd4 42. Kg2 Kf6 43. f4 Bb6 44. Kf3 h6 {Black does not advance his pawns to far
to be able to protect them. Watching this endgame, I recalled an important
game Aronian - Bacrot from the World Cup 2005 semifinal, where Black gave up
in a similar position without his c-pawn and with White's bishop on h3 and
pawn on f5. It looks like a dream scenario for White, but the final position
of that game was still drawn! Needless to say, White cannot achieve it now.}
45. Ke4 Ba7 46. Bg4 {From here White's bishop blocks the h-pawn and protects
the f4-pawn. White can win a bishop for the a-pawn, but then Black's c-pawn
could run forward to save a draw (at least).} Bg1 47. Kd5 Bb6 48. Kc6 Be3 {
The c7-pawn can also be protected indirectly. There is nothing to be done.} 49.
Kb7 Bb6 50. Bh3 Be3 51. Kc6 Bb6 52. Kd5 Ba7 53. Ke4 Bb6 54. Bf1 Ke6 55. Bc4+
Kf6 56. Bd3 Ke6 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Caruana"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2018.11.22"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[Annotator "Shankland,S"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2018.11.09"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{The 10th game of the World Championship match was the most back and forth
affair of any game thus far. There were plenty of games where one side did not
make the most of their chances, but this has been the only one where I thought
both players at some point had very real winning chances.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6
{Magnus stays true to his Rossolimo/Sveshnikov repertoire for the 5th time in
a row. Starting from game 5, I have expected him to pivot every single game,
and been wrong every single time. Perhaps he will just play this the whole way
through?} 3. d4 {Caruana eschews Bb5, which he chose in his first 3 White
games.} cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Nd5 {I was a bit surprised to
see Caruana enter the same line as game 8. Even though he got an excellent
position in that game, he had to figure Magnus would have come with
improvements, and the line is supposed to be okay for Black.} (7. Bg5 {Leads
to the mainline Sveshnikov.}) 7... Nxd5 8. exd5 Nb8 9. a4 Be7 10. Be2 O-O 11.
O-O Nd7 12. b4 $5 {The first major deviation. Caruana chose Bd2 in the
previous game. Still, the move does not look too impressive to me.} (12. Bd2 {
Carlsen misplayed the position and quickly ended up worse.}) 12... a6 13. Na3
a5 $5 {A very commital decision, but not a bad one. Magnus forces the
queenside open right away, a fearless decision against a prepared opponent,
but he had other options.} (13... b6 {Appeals the most to me. Black tries to
keep the queenside closed and will look for his own counterplay with f7-f5. In
fact, I actually prefer Black in a practical game here.}) 14. bxa5 Rxa5 15. Nc4
Ra8 16. Be3 {Caruana was still playing very fast. He probably was in his
preparation.} f5 $1 {Black absolutely needs counterplay, and f5-f4 is coming.
However, unlike game 8, here White cannot comfortabll play f2-f4 himself to
keep his kingside secure.} 17. a5 (17. f4 {Black is absolutely fine after} exf4
18. Bxf4 Nb6 (18... g5 $5 {If Black is in a feisty mood})) 17... f4 $1 18. Bb6
Qe8 {The battle lines are drawn. White clearly has an edge on the queenside,
Black's pieces (particularly the c8-bishop and d7-knight) look a little clumsy,
and the b6 square could prove to be a problem. But Black's kingside pawn mass
promises him decent counterplay.} 19. Ra3 {A not so mysterious rook move. It
looks pointless now but Black's plan is clearly to launch a kingside attack,
and the rook will be a good defender laterally along the third rank.} (19. Re1
{This is the computer's recommendation by a wide margin, but I don't really
understand the move? I guess it just serves as some vague prophylaxis against
e5-e4. It claims white is better but I am unconvinced because after} Rf6 $1 {
Black is ready to challenge the b6-bishop via Be7-d8.}) 19... Qg6 20. Bc7 e4 $1
{Carlsen is in burn the bridges mode. His pawns are vulnerable and could
quickly fall if the center were to open at an inopportune moment, but he is
looking for direct counterplay against White's king, truly in the style of the
Sveshnikov.} (20... Ra6 {A quiet defensive move like this one was surely fine,
but I think the World Champion was right to go for it.}) (20... b5 $5 {It was
also possible to play in the same manner as the game, only without committing
to e5-e4. This could make some sense as the central pawns proved weak.} 21. Nb6
(21. axb6 $2 {It's possible this move annoyed Magnus since e5-e4 no longer
works, but it is also insufficient.} Rxa3 22. Nxa3 {The problem is here Black
needs a new attacking plan since e5-e4 fails to bring its desired returns.} Nc5
$1 {The b-pawn is well under control, and most importantly, White's pieces are
totally unprepared to defend his king. How will the c7-bishop ever contribute
to a proper defense? Rf6-h6 is coming and Black should win.} (22... e4 23. Bh5
$1 Qg5 24. Qg4 $1 {White is doing well. Getting his queen to g4 will really
lesse any attacking chances Black can hope for})) 21... Nxb6 22. Bxb6 {This
leads to a similar position to the game, but Black does not need to play e5-e4
if he so desires. For instance, he seems to have a good position after} b4 23.
Rb3 Bf5 $1 {When it is clear there are reasons the pawn is good on e5 as well.}
) 21. Kh1 b5 $5 {A very commital move, but not a bad one.} (21... Qh6 {The
machines prefer a slower buildup with something like this. Black certainly
will have attacking chances by lifting the f8-rook, but I don't mind Magnus's
decision either.}) 22. Nb6 $1 (22. axb6 $2 {This would be asking for trouble.
I find it unlikely White will survive after the energetic} Rxa3 23. Nxa3 f3 $1
24. gxf3 Ne5 $1 {Black's attack looks devastating.}) 22... Nxb6 23. Bxb6 Qg5 $6
{Technically, this move loses the game against best play, but it comes with a
very nasty idea of playing Rf6-h6 and delivering mate on the h-file. A machine
with its nerves of steel would have no trouble grabbing h5, but for a human,
it looks absurdly dangerous.} 24. g3 {Caruana's move makes a lot of sense.
Taking on f4 and bringing the rook to g3 should dispel any mating dreams.} (24.
Bxb5 $1 {White could have gotten away with this.} Rf6 {Extreme precision is
needed to beat back the attack, but it is possible.} 25. Re1 $1 {An important
move. White hits the e4-pawn while simultaneously clearing f1 for the bishop.}
Bf5 (25... Rh6 26. Rxe4) (25... Rg6 26. Bf1 Bf5 (26... Ba6 27. Rxe4 $1 $18) 27.
a6 Rh6 28. a7 Qh4 29. h3 f3 {This loks absolutely terrifying for a human, but
apparently White wins with another only move:} 30. Qd4 $1 $18 {The point is to
defend against the threat of Bxh3 followed by Qg4.} Bxh3 31. gxh3 Qg4 32. Rxf3
$1 {No more exf3 thanks to the pin exerted by the queen being on d4. After}
Qxf3+ 33. Bg2 {The a-pawn will carry the day. One certainly cannot fault
Caruana for not seeing all of this.}) 26. f3 $1 e3 27. a6 Rh6 28. Re2 $3 {
An incredibly difficult only move that would have to have been prepared in
advance. White is ready to play Qg1 and hold the position together. Even then,
the variation continues.} Qh5 29. Qg1 Bh4 30. g4 $1 fxg3 31. Raxe3 $1 {White
wins. But this is really just a machine line, and outside of human capability.}
) 24... b4 25. Rb3 (25. gxf4 {I would have been tempted to clear the 3rd rank
for defensive purposes, and this probably is an easier route to equality.
Still, while Caruana's choice gives him some only moves to find, he did find
the moves and he objectively was not worse.}) 25... Bh3 26. Rg1 $1 {The rook
is needed for defensive purposes.} (26. Re1 Bf6 $1 {Moves like Bc3 or Be5
could come next. White is in trouble.}) 26... f3 {White is under a lot of
pressure. Around here I thought Caruana might crack and give Magnus the first
decisive result, but he defended very well.} 27. Bf1 $1 {This is a tough move.
I would have been tempted to just let the bishop stay on h3, since White can
always sacrifice an exchange on g2 very happily and otherwise it's not clear
what active role the bishop plays. But it was absolutely critical to play Bf1.}
(27. Bb5 $2 {A move like this looks sensible...} Rf6 $1 {Until you realize
White will simply be mated on the h-file! Rh6 and Qh5 is coming, and there is
nothing to be done.}) 27... Bxf1 $1 (27... Qh5 {Caveman play does not work
here since White is in better shape to keep the h-file under control. The
queen coming to f1 is very important, for instance after} 28. Rxb4 Rf6 29. Bxh3
Qxh3 30. Be3 $1 {Black will not get Rh6 very easily, and e4 is hanging to boot.
White should win.}) 28. Qxf1 $1 {Another important decision. White cannot
allow a disaster on the h-file. His position looks awful with the queen and
the rook so passively placed and the d5-pawn falling, but he remains solid and
can rely on the a5-pawn for counterplay.} (28. Rxf1 $2 {Keeping active pieces
comes at a heavy price. After} Qg4 $1 29. Rxb4 Rf5 $1 {White will promptly be
mated by Rh5 and Qh3.}) 28... Qxd5 29. Rxb4 Qe6 30. Rb5 $11 {The position is
dynamically balanced, but White has to be more careful than Black. He managed
without a ton of trouble.} Bd8 31. Qe1 $1 {The queen returns to life.} Bxb6 32.
axb6 Rab8 33. Qe3 Qc4 34. Rb2 Rb7 35. Rd1 Qe2 $1 {Setting a devilish trap,
though it is not enough to claim an advantage.} 36. Re1 $1 {Far from the only
holding move, but I am awarding an exclamation point for not falling for
Black's idea.} (36. Qb3+ $2 Kh8 37. c4 {Looks like it traps Black's queen. But
the nasty response} Rxb6 $1 $19 {Would promptly turn the tables!}) 36... Qxe3
37. Rxe3 d5 {The position is balanced as neither side can easily mobilize
their pawn majority. Black's center looks impressive, but he can't do anything
with it so long as he is left with a passive rook on b7.} 38. h4 Rc8 39. Ra3
Kf7 40. Kh2 Ke6 41. g4 Rc6 42. Ra6 Ke5 43. Kg3 h6 44. h5 {The position is some
kind of mutual stalemate where neither side can do anything. Magnus tried to
make something happen with} Kd4 $2 {But only made trouble for himself after
the strong response} 45. Rb5 $1 {When Black has to be somewhat accurate to not
get into trouble. Still, he has more than one route to a draw, and Magnus
found a very easy one.} Rd6 $1 {Overprotecting the d5-pawn White was planning
to harass with Raa5.} 46. Ra4+ Ke5 47. Rab4 Ke6 {Nice and easy. White has no
good way to challenge Black's central pawn mass without allowing liquidation.}
48. c4 dxc4 49. Rxc4 Rdxb6 50. Rxe4+ Kf7 51. Rf5+ Rf6 {Black loses a pawn but
simplifies into an easily drawn 3 vs 2 on the kingside. Caruana did not even
bother trying. His winning chances are approximately zero.} 52. Rxf6+ Kxf6 53.
Kxf3 Kf7 54. Kg3 {With only 2 games to go, each player has only one game to
try with White. Carlsen gets to go first, and I'll be interested to see what
first move he chooses, as well as if we will see a 6th 2.Nf3 Nc6 Sicilian in
the final game.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Caruana"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2018.11.24"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[Annotator "Gelfand,B"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2018.11.09"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 {It is noteworthy that Magnus shuffles beetween 1.d4, 1.c4 and 1.e4,
while Fabiano had always started his games with 1.e4.The reason is a totally
different attitude to opening preparation by world champion and the challenger.
} e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 {I am happy to see that Fabiano sticks to a Petroff, which
served him well this year (especially in the Candidates,where he didn't face
any problems in this opening) I had successfully used this opening for many
years and during World Cup 2009 which I won it was my only weapon. However,
before my World Championship match vs Vishy Anand in 2012, I switched to the
Sveshnikov (Magnus' choice in this match!) in order to surprise my opponent.
It seems that Fabiano has even more trust in Petroff than I had!} 3. Nxe5 d6 4.
Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 {One of the most popular systems nowadays.} Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7.
Be3 O-O {Here, two schools of thoughts exist. Vladimir Kramnik and myself had
always castled short, which is a more ambitious try. More popular is 7...Nc6,
followed by Be6, Qd7 and long castle with a solid, but passive position.
Fabiano tried it both, but had chosen a more principled approach in this
important game.} 8. Qd2 Nd7 9. O-O-O Nf6 (9... Ne5 {was a system I advocated
with quite a success, but since then some new, interesting ideas have been
found.}) (9... c6 {was Fabiano's choice earlier this year. He equalized
convincingly against Levon Aronian.} 10. h4 (10. Kb1 d5 11. c4 Nb6 12. cxd5
Nxd5 13. Bc4 Bf5 14. Bxd5 cxd5 15. Qxd5 Qc8 16. Nd4 Bg6 17. Ka1 Re8 18. Rhe1
Bf6 19. c3 Re5 20. Qb3 a6 21. Bf4 Rxe1 22. Rxe1 Qd7 23. Be5 Re8 24. f4 Bd8 25.
a4 h6 26. Rd1 Qg4 27. Rd2 b5 28. axb5 axb5 29. Qd1 Qd7 30. f5 Bg5 31. Rd3 Bxf5
32. Nxf5 Qxf5 33. Bg3 Ra8+ 34. Kb1 Rd8 35. Kc2 b4 36. cxb4 Rc8+ 37. Kb3 Qe6+
38. Rd5 Rd8 39. Kc4 Qc6+ {0-1 (39) Robson,R (2660)-Caruana,F (2804) Saint
Louis 2018}) 10... d5 11. Kb1 Re8 12. Bd3 Bc5 13. Rde1 Bxe3 14. Rxe3 Rxe3 15.
Qxe3 Nf6 16. Re1 Qd6 17. Qe8+ Qf8 18. Qxf8+ Kxf8 19. Kc1 Bd7 20. c4 dxc4 21.
Bxc4 Re8 22. Rxe8+ Bxe8 23. Kd2 Ke7 24. Ne5 Nd7 25. Nf3 Nf6 26. Ne5 Nd7 27. Nf3
Nf6 28. Ne5 {1/2-1/2 (28) Aronian,L (2780)-Caruana,F (2827) Batumi 2018}) 10.
Bd3 ({Fabiano failed to equalize with White in the following game} 10. h3 c5
11. Bf4 Be6 12. a3 d5 13. Ng5 Bd7 14. g4 Bc6 15. Bg2 Re8 16. Qd3 Bd6 {1/2-1/2 
(98) Caruana,F (2784)-Hou,Y (2654) Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden 2018}) 10... c5 11.
Rhe1 Be6 {Ex-women's world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk is the main advocate
of this setup.} 12. Kb1 (12. Bg5 {White won a beautiful game after} h6 $2 13.
Bxh6 c4 14. Bxg7 $1 cxd3 15. Qg5 Ne4 16. Qh6 Bg5+ 17. Nxg5 Qxg5+ 18. Qxg5 Nxg5
19. Bxf8 dxc2 20. Rxd6 Kxf8 21. h4 Nh7 22. Kxc2 {1-0 (62) Karjakin,S (2779)
-Harikrishna,P (2763) Shamkir 2016 CBM 173 [Mekhitarian,K]}) 12... Qa5 13. c4
Qxd2 14. Bxd2 {Black's position is extremely solid and I believe he has solved
all the opening problems. Either Magnus trusted in his ability to exploit
minimal advantages or he was not well prepared for this game. I would tend to
believe the first option.} h6 {A small deviation from an earlier game.} (14...
Rfe8 15. Ng5 Bd7 16. f3 Bc6 17. a3 h6 18. Ne4 Nxe4 19. Bxe4 Bxe4 20. Rxe4 Bf8
21. Bf4 g5 22. Bg3 f5 23. Ree1 Kf7 24. Kc1 Rxe1 25. Rxe1 Re8 26. Rxe8 Kxe8 {
1/2-1/2 (48) Sasikiran,K (2671)-Miroshnichenko,E (2606) Saint Louis USA 2018})
15. Nh4 (15. h3 $5 {would prevent Ng4-e5 ,but give Black time to prepare d6-d5}
) 15... Rfe8 16. Ng6 Ng4 17. Nxe7+ Rxe7 18. Re2 Ne5 19. Bf4 (19. Bc3 {was the
last attempt to spice things up:} Nxd3 $140 ({Safer is} 19... f6 20. Bxe5 dxe5
21. Bg6 Rd7 $11) 20. Rxd3 Rd7 21. Rg3 g6 22. Rxe6 (22. Bf6 $5) 22... fxe6 23.
Rxg6+ Kh7 24. Rxe6 {with a complicated endgame.}) 19... Nxd3 20. Rxd3 Rd7 {
The rest of the game is hardly interesting.} 21. Rxd6 Rxd6 22. Bxd6 Rd8 23. Rd2
Bxc4 24. Kc1 b6 25. Bf4 Rxd2 26. Kxd2 a6 ({Avoiding a cute trap:} 26... Bxa2 $2
27. b3 c4 28. Kc3 cxb3 29. Kb2) 27. a3 Kf8 28. Bc7 b5 29. Bd6+ Ke8 30. Bxc5 {
Even though White is a full pawn up, this is a dead draw.} h5 31. Ke3 Kd7 32.
Kd4 g6 33. g3 Be2 34. Bf8 Kc6 35. b3 Bd1 36. Kd3 Bg4 37. c4 Be6 38. Kd4 bxc4
39. bxc4 Bg4 40. c5 Be6 41. Bh6 Bd5 42. Be3 Be6 43. Ke5 Bd5 44. Kf4 Be6 45. Kg5
Bd5 46. g4 hxg4 47. Kxg4 Ba2 48. Kg5 Bb3 49. Kf6 Ba2 50. h4 Bb3 51. f4 Ba2 52.
Ke7 Bb3 53. Kf6 Ba2 54. f5 Bb1 $1 {The only finesse Black should know.} 55. Bf2
Bc2 (55... Bxf5 $4 56. h5) 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Caruana"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2018.11.26"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[Annotator "So,Wesley"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2018.11.09"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{The last game, where so much is at stake. If Fabiano wins he'll become the
17th world champion. All his tournaments, all the work of his life has been
aimed at reaching this point. After accomplishing everything necessary to
reach the goal of playing for the World Championship, Fabiano has survived
eleven tough rounds to get to this last game. I cannot think of any game where
there's so much to play for. Will we see Fabiano win the biggest game of his
life? Or will we see Carlsen defend his title once again?} 1. e4 $1 {In the
last few months and in tournaments before this one, Fabiano had been
experimenting with 1.d4 or 1.c4. Although he had great results with White in
some games in the Catalan or the Nimzo, that was just a distraction for Magnus
to ponder. In this match of all matches, Fabiano will stick to his main
opening 1.e4!} c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 {Shelving 3.Bb5, which has been played
three times in this tournament.} cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 {
As predicted by many people including myself, we see the Sveshnikov Sicilian
for the last game. I'm sure many people were pleased to see such a sharp
opening for the final game of the match. Magnus has strongh nerves. In order
to be able to play such a sharp opening you have to come very well prepared;
there are many pitfalls and traps that Black can easily fall into in the
Sveshnikov. You have to have complete trust in your ability to calculate and
assess the arising positions. Part of me wonders what would happen if Magnus
employed 1...e5 in a game in this match.} 7. Nd5 (7. Bg5 {is the main move
here by far. Fabiano has played this many times before, his most recent being
a big win against Gata Kamsky in the 2017 US Championships.} a6 8. Na3 b5 9.
Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 {Now Black can play both 10...f5 or 10...Bg7. This complex
variation used to be very popular. Just a few years ago Boris Gelfand and
Teimour Radjabov were staunch defenders of this line. These days we'll
probably see 7.Nd5 grow into popularity since everyone copies the top player's
games.}) 7... Nxd5 8. exd5 Ne7 {While annotating game 8 for ChessBase, I
wondered what would happen if Magnus chose 8...Ne7. Today we'll see exactly
that.} ({The usual move} 8... Nb8 {was played in games 8 and 10.}) 9. c4 ({
Many years ago while reading Rogozenco's The Sveshnikov Reloaded book, I
remember that 9.c3 was considered White's best. It gives White some extra
options on the queenside.} 9. c3 {Now Black should probably play 9...Nf5 to
keep d6 defended. If he tries} Ng6 $2 {it's a mistake since} (9... f5 $5 10.
Qa4 Kf7 {is playable too, though White might be a bit better after} 11. Qb4)
10. Qa4 Bd7 11. Qc4 {is unpleasant. Especially after} Rc8 12. Qb4 {hitting the
d6 and a7 pawns.}) 9... Ng6 10. Qa4 Bd7 {is a quick way to decide the last
round game and head for the rapid playoffs. But if this happens we might see
protesters and rioters in London, and the fans who paid tickets would
definitely want a full refund. Playing top level chess is not easy, but
fortunately Fabiano comes well prepared and ready to fight for an advantage.}
11. Qb4 Bf5 {The best move, I'm sure Magnus is still following his prep.} ({
The most natural move is} 11... Qb8 {It has been played 13 times in the past
according to the ChessBase Live Book. Still it doesn't seem to equalize. White
just has too much space.} 12. h4 h5 13. Be2 a6 14. Nc3 Be7 15. g3 $14 {for
example here. I still like White, after making natural moves for both sides.
It seems to me that White has an easier game and the knight on g6 is misplaced.
}) ({Needless to say} 11... Bxb5 12. Qxb5+ Qd7 {has to be avoided. No one
should give up the bishop pair without getting someting concrete in return.})
12. h4 h5 $146 {Black pushes back and does not give White any more space to
work with. Fabiano likes playing with a lot of space and it's dangerous to
give him too much ground to work with. Coincidentally this is also a novelty
according to my database.} (12... Be7 13. h5 Nf4 14. Be3 a6 15. Nc3 Nd3+ 16.
Bxd3 Bxd3 17. Rd1) (12... a6 13. h5) 13. Qa4 {A provocative move and a typical
strategy. By repeating the position twice a player can move the game closer to
the time control on move 40. This allows him or her to have more time to think
on critical positions. This makes more sense in complicated or unfamiliar
openings like the Sveshnikov. In a Berlin 5.Re1 or a symmetrical Petroff it is
perhaps unnecessary. But in this game it could be beneficial as we are in
foreign territory at such an early stage of the game.} Bd7 14. Qb4 Bf5 15. Be3
{White gains time from creating threats on the queenside. I suppose he has to
act quickly or else Black comfortably finishes his development. Then the
construction of Black active pieces on the kingside guarantees counterplay. In
that regard 15.Bg5 looks interesting too.} ({A slow move like} 15. Be2 {
will not cut it, if White is looking for an advantage. After} Be7 16. g3 a6 17.
Nc3 e4 {Black creates strong counterplay with Bf6 and Ne5 coming next.}) ({
It is tempting to disrupt Black's development with} 15. Bg5 {and with
hindsight I would recommend this move. Black does not really want to play f6,
and Be7 loses so} Qb8 {has to be played.} (15... Be7 $2 16. Bxe7 Kxe7 17. c5 {
is bad for Black. Now his king is forced unto f6} dxc5 18. Qxc5+ Kf6 {And now
19.Nd6 leaves Black's king in a tough spot.} 19. Nd6 $16) 16. g3 (16. Qa5 $5 {
is a deep computer move. The fun idea is that} b6 17. Qa4 Bd7 18. Bd3 {White
wants to win quickly with Bf5 but} Be7 $1 {equalizes and takes out the fun.} (
18... a6 19. Bf5 $1 {is tough to meet for Black.}) 19. Bxg6 fxg6 20. Bxe7 Kxe7
21. Qc2 Kf7 $11) 16... a6 17. Nc3 Be7 18. Be2 Qc7 {now we get a line very
similar to the game, but Black has to spend two tempi moving his queen from b8
to c7. Also Fabiano avoids the possibility of 15...Be7 as could happen in his
game. It does not look like there is much difference to the untrained eye, but
in top level chess little things like this matter.}) 15... a6 {I wonder where
both players preparation ended. I suspect it was a move ago. Here Black has
another seemingly better (albeit more risky) option.} ({I like here} 15... Be7
{Black is going to get fast development and piece play for his pawn.} 16. Nxa7
(16. Bxa7 O-O 17. g3 b6 {the bishop on a7 is in a tricky spot.}) (16. g3 {
Black can finish his development by castling or go 16...Be4 and 17...Bf3.})
16... O-O {White has many possibilities now. It is not simple to defend over
the board against Black's initiative. Perhaps} 17. Bb6 (17. g3 Be4 18. Rh2 Bf3
19. Nb5 f5 $1 {with attack.}) (17. Qxb7 $2 Qa5+ 18. b4 Qa3 $19) (17. Nb5 Nxh4)
(17. Be2 Nf4) (17. a4 Nxh4 $13) 17... Qd7 18. Qb5 {is the safest in order to
trade queens. The position is very complex.} Bd8 19. Qxd7 Bxd7 20. Bxd8 Rfxd8
21. Nb5 Bxb5 22. cxb5 Ra4 23. g3 Rc8 $13) 16. Nc3 Qc7 {Solid and simple.} ({
There is no need to go for assymetrical positions} 16... Be7 17. Qxb7 O-O 18.
O-O-O Nxh4 19. Qb6 $14 {it feels that the h4 pawn is not as important as
Black's b7 pawn.}) 17. g3 (17. Qa4+ Bd7 18. Qd1 Ne7) 17... Be7 18. f3 (18. Qa4+
Bd7 19. Qd1 Bg4 20. Be2 Bxe2 21. Qxe2) (18. Be2 Nf8) 18... Nf8 $1 {Optimal
rearrangement of the pieces. In these kinds of positions you want to delay
castling until White shows his hand. Castling short now will only tempt White
to go for a full frontal kingside attack with Be2, and g4/f4 etc.} (18... O-O
19. Be2 Bd7 20. a4 $1 {With the queenside closed, White can focus on planning
his kingside attack.} f5 21. f4 exf4 22. gxf4 {the position is complex, but it
should be in White's favour.}) 19. Ne4 Nd7 (19... Bxe4 20. fxe4 Nd7 21. Bh3 $14
) 20. Bd3 O-O ({Watching this game live I expected} 20... Bg6 {although
perhaps it does not make much difference since Black has to castle sooner or
later.}) 21. Rh2 $2 {No doubt the enormous tension of the last round of the
World Championship match takes its toll on everyone. Both players start making
mistakes. This has a nice idea to it, but it's too ambitious and simply does
not work. White wants to play Rc2 and castle long, but this gives Magnus more
than enough time and options to meet this plan. Fabiano gives the impression
that he likes positions of opposite castled kings. Therefore this move does
not come as a big surprise from him. It's just too ambitious.} ({White has to
acquiesce and play the calmer} 21. O-O Bg6 22. Qd2 {when f5 is always met by
Ng5. White can still try to fight for an advantage if Magnus is not careful.})
(21. O-O-O b5 $15 {castling queenside is unrealistic at this point.}) 21...
Rac8 ({Or} 21... Bg6) 22. O-O-O Bg6 {Now f5 is coming and its unpleasant to
meet it as White has no good way to prevent it. His best option now is to play
calmly and brace for the coming storm.} 23. Rc2 ({I thought at first} 23. Kb1 {
was better to keep the rook on the h-file for now.} f5 24. Ng5 Bxg5 25. hxg5 e4
26. fxe4 Ne5 27. Be2 {but still both Ng4 or fxe4 now is in Black's favour.})
23... f5 24. Nf2 (24. Ng5 Bxg5 25. hxg5 e4) 24... Nc5 $17 {Black has seized a
powerful initiative and is slowly taking over.} 25. f4 {Desperation, but what
else? White hopes to at least keep the g6-bishop away from action.} (25. Bxc5
dxc5 26. Qe1 Rfe8 {as I said earlier no one really wants to give up the bishop
pair unless necessary.}) 25... a5 {An automatic move in conjuction with a
piece outpost on c5. I wonder if Magnus thought of or even considered b5 ideas
here.} (25... exf4 26. Bxf4 b5 {looks powerful, and might be just close to
winning.} 27. Qd2 {is the sternest defence, when Black can go 27...Bf6, or 27..
.Qb6. White's position is tough to defend and his consolation (asleep bishop
on g6) is not enough to save him objectively. His pieces are just badly placed
especially the knight on f2. Not to mention shaky king safety.} (27. Kb1 a5 {
when taking on b5 will lead to a queen trap after Be8.} 28. Qxb5 $2 Be8) 27...
Bf6) (25... b5 {is perfectly good too with the same ideas.}) 26. Qd2 {I
expected Bf6 now to keep the tension on the kingside open for a while, but
Magnus has no qualms about closing it right away.} e4 (26... Bf6 27. Be2 {
is possible, and now Black can think whether to take on f4 or play like Magnus
with e4. The computer gives a large advantage for Black after taking on f4,
but it is definitely far from clear over the board.} exf4 28. gxf4 Rfe8 29. Rg1
(29. Bd4 Qe7) 29... Bf7 30. Kb1 a4 {Black has Nb3 ideas and even positional
exchange sacrifices on e3.} 31. Bf3 Rxe3 32. Qxe3 Re8 33. Qa3 Bd4 {these are
computer lines of course. I cannot imagine anyone finding any of these in a
tournament game.}) 27. Be2 Be8 {Still even after not playing the best way on
move 25 Magnus keeps hopes alive by maintaining a stable advantage. White has
to solve the small issue of his vulnerable king.} 28. Kb1 Bf6 (28... Ba4 {
is possible, White can sac the exchange with} 29. Bxh5 {now} b5 {is an out of
this world move. Black is clearly better here by the way.}) 29. Re1 ({White's
best defense is} 29. Nh3 $1 {posting the knight on g5. From there it always
has the option to jump on e6 and create distraction.} Ba4 $5 30. b3 {looks
scary for White, though he probably just survives the onslaught.} Bxb3 31. axb3
Nxb3 32. Qe1 b5 33. c5) 29... a4 {Magnus misses a great opportunity to try to
seal the deal.} (29... Ba4 $1 {is incredibly powerful. Black's attack is
simply much faster in all lines. Here are some ChessBase engine analysis:} 30.
Rcc1 (30. b3 Bxb3 31. axb3 Nxb3 32. Qd1 a4 $1 {Is a steady but sure way to win
as White cannot defend against all the threats. Qa5 is Black's main idea.} 33.
Bxh5 (33. Ka2 Qa5 34. Qb1 b5) 33... Qa5 34. Bg6 Qb4 {Now a possible line is}
35. Qh5 (35. Ka2 Nc1+) 35... Rfd8 36. Bxf5 Nd4+ 37. Rb2 Qxe1+ 38. Ka2 Nxf5 39.
Qxf5 Bxb2 {when White loses all his pieces.}) (30. Bxh5 Bxc2+ 31. Qxc2 b5 32.
cxb5 Qd7 33. Qe2 Na4 $19) 30... b5 $1 {An important follow up.} 31. cxb5 (31.
Bxh5 Qb7) (31. Bd4 Bxd4 32. Qxd4 bxc4 33. Rxc4 Rb8) 31... Qb6 32. Bd4 Bxd4 33.
Qxd4 Bxb5 34. Bxh5 a4 {basically Black is almost winning after 29...Ba4. I
think though it is unrealistic to expect a person to find it over the board.
Just reading the reports on ChessBase I can only imagine how much tension the
players are going through to perform well. Pressure, pressure pressure from
every side.}) 30. Qb4 g6 31. Rd1 {When I first saw this move I thought it was
an internet glitch. I expected Fabiano to improve the position of his knight
with 31.Nd1.} (31. Nd1 {White will hopefully unravel and take a solid stance
with Qd2 and Nc3.}) 31... Ra8 {Draw agreed. A big surprise, considering that
Black still had a stable advantage in the position and on the clock. (If I
remember correctly Magnus had 50 minutes left here compared to Fabiano's 20
minutes.) I guess Nh3 followed by Ng5 gives White a solid position, so Magnus
decided to call it a day.  Magnus must be really looking forward to the rapid
tiebreaks, as he did two years ago against Sergey Karjakin. He missed great
winning opportunities on move 25 and move 29 and I sort of suspect he came
into the game with an eye on the tiebreaks. It's also posisble that he just
wnated to make a lot of people happy (including myself). As two years ago we
again get to see a four game rapid playoff! I am very excited to watch this
match live. My prediction is that Fabiano will give Magnus a run for his money.
That said, rapid games are a totally different kind of chess. Usually the
player with the better nerves wins. Let's see what happens.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Caruana Tiebreak"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2018.11.28"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2018.11.28"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 Bb4 4. e4 $5 {This move is extremely rare, and
judging by the time situations that followed, it seems this came as a surprise
to the Challenger.} O-O (4... Bxc3 {is possible, but super-GM opinion
coalesced against White's position in the line} 5. dxc3 Nxe4 6. Qd5 Ng5 7.
Qxe5+ Ne6 $14 {Black's position is slightly worse, even if from my modest
perspective I consider it to be relatively easy to play!}) 5. Nge2 c6 {This
move makes sense in conjunction with ...Ba5-c7, or alternatively...} 6. Bg2 a6
$5 {At this point, if not on the move before, Black commits to a plan which
might be practically interesting, but doesn't particularly inspire confidence
on an objective level.} (6... d6 7. O-O a5 8. d3 Nbd7 {is a more 'traditional'
English follow-up.}) 7. O-O b5 8. d4 $1 {This has to be critical. White is a
little better, but with the murky strategic situation and the rapid time
control anything could happen.} d6 9. a3 (9. f4 $6 exd4 10. Nxd4 bxc4 $15) 9...
Bxc3 (9... Ba5 10. b4 Bc7 11. cxb5 axb5 12. d5 {may simply be a strategic
disadvantage, so it's wise to try and avoid this.}) 10. Nxc3 bxc4 11. dxe5 ({
It is not yet time for} 11. f4 {:} Bg4 $1 12. Qd2 Qb6) 11... dxe5 12. Na4 (12.
Qe2 {was the engine suggestion, and it seems to me that Black has to play
another unusual move in order to avoid being clearly worse.} a5 (12... Qd3 $2
13. Qxd3 cxd3 14. Rd1 $16) (12... Be6 13. f4 $16) 13. Na4 $1 Ba6 14. Nc5 Qb6
15. Nxa6 Qxa6 $14 {White should be a little better, but nothing is too clear
yet.}) 12... Be6 $1 {Black has to play this cold-blooded move in my opinion-
recognising that Nc5 isn't quite the dramatic positional masterstroke that it
seems.} (12... Nbd7 13. Qc2 Nb6 14. Nxb6 Qxb6 15. Qxc4 $14 {is miserable.}) 13.
Qxd8 (13. Nc5 Qe7 14. Nxe6 Qxe6 15. Be3 Rc8 $1 {With ...c5 and ...Nc6-d4 to
come; Black seems to be emerging from his difficulties now.}) 13... Rxd8 14.
Be3 Nbd7 15. f3 {White opts for a steady approach, seemingly convinced of
having some kind of edge. Indeed, in practical games between ordinary mortals
this would be the case.} Rab8 16. Rac1 Rb3 17. Rfe1 Ne8 $6 {This move is
strategically desirable, but only if Black can also get ...f6, ...Nd6 and ...
Kf7 without being interrupted. Now, he probably risks being somewhat worse
again.} (17... Rdb8 $1 {is better, intending to give back the pawn in a way
that makes White's structure a little weaker.} 18. Bf1 c3 19. Rxc3 Rxc3 20.
bxc3 Rb3 21. Ra1 a5 $11) 18. Bf1 Nd6 19. Rcd1 Nb5 $2 (19... Nb7 $1 {was
required, followed by the cold-blooded sequence} 20. f4 g6 21. f5 gxf5 22. exf5
Bd5 23. Nc3 Nf6 {when despite the strange location of some of Black's pieces,
there is no objective problem. I suspect that Fabiano saw this, didn't notice
that the Nb7 defended the Rd8 and opted for a move that stopped Nc3.}) 20. Nc5
$1 {This is a key move for White to see, after which he is clearly better.}
Rxb2 21. Nxe6 fxe6 22. Bxc4 Nd4 23. Bxd4 exd4 24. Bxe6+ ({The engine suggests
the brutal and unfindable} 24. Rxd4 Kf7 25. Kh1 $3 $18 {when Black has no
defence against Red1 and Rd6; White will probably come out 2 pawns ahead.})
24... Kf8 25. Rxd4 Ke7 26. Rxd7+ Rxd7 27. Bxd7 Kxd7 28. Rd1+ Ke6 29. f4 c5 {
Watching this position live in the 'kibitzing' area, I was shocked to discover
that barely anyone else thought the position was closer to a draw than a win.}
30. Rd5 $6 (30. Rc1 Kd6 31. a4 $5 {is the engine opinion. Almost all these
positions will come down to some version of 3v2 on the kingside with an extra
a-pawn each to confuse the players; the point is to identify which versions
entail Black having a worse rook! For instance, see the line} Rd2 $6 32. e5+
Kd5 33. e6 Kxe6 34. Rxc5 g6 35. Re5+ Kf6 36. Ra5 Ke6 37. h3 Rd6 38. Kf2 $18 {
when White is close to winning.}) 30... Rc2 31. h4 c4 32. f5+ Kf6 33. Rc5 h5
34. Kf1 Rc3 $6 {Not losing, but a bad idea.} ({Following} 34... c3 35. Ke1 Rg2
36. Rxc3 Ke5 $11 {Black would have very comfortably held this ending even two
pawns down.}) 35. Kg2 Rxa3 36. Rxc4 Ke5 37. Rc7 Kxe4 $2 {Based on a flawed
trick. This is probably the decisive error.} (37... Ra2+ $1 {could have been
played first, and then the trick works as in the next note:} 38. Kh3 Kxe4 39.
Rxg7 Ra1 {and since White has to think about getting mated, he is not able to
stay in position to deliver Rg5+.}) 38. Re7+ (38. Rxg7 Ra2+ 39. Kh3 Ra1 $1 $11
{is the tricky point.}) 38... Kxf5 39. Rxg7 Kf6 40. Rg5 a5 41. Rxh5 $18 {
Now the position is winning for Carlsen. Sometimes, a flank pawn can hold off
two central pawns in such cases, but definitely not when the opponent's two
pawns are both on the opposite side of the board.} a4 42. Ra5 Ra1 43. Kf3 a3
44. Ra6+ Kg7 45. Kg2 Ra2+ 46. Kh3 Ra1 47. h5 Kh7 48. g4 Kg7 49. Kh4 a2 50. Kg5
Kf7 51. h6 Rb1 52. Ra7+ Kg8 53. Rxa2 Rb5+ 54. Kg6 Rb6+ 55. Kh5 1-0

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Caruana Tiebreak"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2018.11.28"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2832"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2018.11.28"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Nd5 $5 {
I didn't completely understand Fabiano's insistence on trying this move again
in game 12, and I certainly don't understand it now, given his apparent lack
of comfort with the resulting positions.} Nxd5 8. exd5 Ne7 ({In the 10th game,
} 8... Nb8 {was chosen, and while Black developed thematic play on the
kingside, it never looked like he was going to give mate.} 9. a4 Be7 10. Be2
O-O 11. O-O Nd7 12. b4 a6 13. Na3 a5 14. bxa5 Rxa5 15. Nc4 Ra8 16. Be3 f5 17.
a5 f4 $13 {Caruana,F-Carlsen,M WC(10) London 2018}) 9. c4 Ng6 10. Qa4 Bd7 11.
Qb4 Qb8 (11... Bf5 {was played in the 12th standard game, and after some
messing around play took an independent trajectory:} 12. h4 h5 13. Qa4 Bd7 14.
Qb4 Bf5 15. Be3 a6 16. Nc3 Qc7 17. g3 Be7 18. f3 Nf8 $1 $132 {Caruana,
F-Carlsen,M WC(12) London 2018}) 12. h4 h5 13. Be3 a6 14. Nc3 a5 {With the
text move, Magnus makes it clear that he doesn't want a White knight to appear
on b6, which is understandable, but may leave him worse.} (14... f5 {would
nevertheless be playable, since a line like} 15. Na4 (15. g3 Be7 16. Be2 Kf7
17. Na4 f4 $40) 15... f4 16. Bd3 Nxh4 17. Rxh4 fxe3 18. Nb6 $13 {is simply a
mess rather than necessarily favouring one side or another.}) 15. Qb3 (15. Qa3
f5 16. g3 Be7 17. Be2 Kf7 18. Na4 $14 {would be logical, when it seems that
Black's ...a5 has left the b6-square more rather than less weak.}) 15... a4 16.
Qd1 Be7 (16... Ne7 $5 {is one way to get an approximately equal position.}) 17.
g3 Qc8 18. Be2 Bg4 19. Rc1 Bxe2 20. Qxe2 Qf5 $5 {This move is interesting in
that it commits in some sense to a long-term regrouping. Black delays ...f5,
preferring to think about that push only after establishing his knight on d7
and queen on g6.} ({The engine suggests} 20... O-O {and only after} 21. b3 {
then} (21. O-O Qh3 22. Qxh5 Nxh4 23. gxh4 Bxh4 $11) 21... axb3 22. axb3 Qf5 $11
) 21. c5 $6 {This move is based on the flawed idea that White's advantage is
large enough to justify big-picture, light-square based play.} (21. O-O O-O 22.
Kg2 {was perfectly possible and was indeed suggested by Malcolm Pein in the
press room. Black needs to do quite a bit more thematic re-arrangement before
he is ready with ...f5, for instance} Rfc8 23. f3 Nf8 $5 24. f4 $3 $14) 21...
O-O {Now Black is at least equal and White goes on to provide a perfect
example of why we usually castle in chess.} 22. c6 bxc6 23. dxc6 Rfc8 24. Qc4
Bd8 25. Nd5 {Automatic, but there was better.} (25. Ne4 Bc7 26. O-O $11) 25...
e4 {Now Black has probably gained somewhat the upper hand. White took some
minutes to think about the question of whether allowing Black's knight to
assume its 'favourite Sveshnikov post' on e5 was worth a piece, eventually
coming up with the wrong answer.} 26. c7 $2 {The losing mistake.} (26. Bd4 {
was probably correct, notwithstanding that after} Ba5+ 27. Bc3 Bxc3+ 28. Rxc3
Ra5 $40 {Black will get the thrust ...d5 through.}) 26... Bxc7 27. Nxc7 Ne5 28.
Nd5 {Finishing the game.} ({Concretely, I couldn't see anything after} 28. Qd5
{and would have said Black simply has to play} Rab8 {with good compensation.
Just how good was only revealed by subsequent engine checks: -2.7! White is
unable to castle due to the trick} 29. O-O Rxc7 $1 $19) 28... Kh7 $1 (28...
Nxc4 $4 29. Ne7+ Kh7 30. Nxf5 Nxe3 31. Rxc8 $1 Rxc8 32. Nxe3 Rc1+ 33. Nd1 $1 {
would be embarrassing.}) (28... Kh7 29. Ne7 Qf3 $1 {was the point, and White
can only solve 2 out of the 4 problems faced by his major pieces.}) 0-1

[Event "World-ch Carlsen-Caruana Tiebreak"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2018.11.28"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B44"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2018.11.28"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bc5 {Enough with the Berlin
and the Petroff, now that Caruana needs to win, it's an Open Sicilian!
Interestingly, Magnus opts for as similar a formation as possible to the one
he used to clinch the 2016 tiebreak...} 6. Nc2 Nf6 (6... Qb6 $5 {is probably
the most obvious test of White's slow setup. Notwithstanding which, it was
only played in one game, between 1900-level players, so we may as well just
analyse without reference to praxis.} 7. Qd2 $5 (7. Qe2 d6 8. Nc3 Bd7 9. Rb1
Nf6 10. Be3 Bxe3 11. Nxe3 {seems easy enough, but it's also possible to
imagine White getting outplayed on the dark squares.}) 7... Nf6 8. Nc3 Ng4 9.
f3 Nf2 10. Na4 Qc7 11. Nxc5 Nxh1 12. f4 $13 {With a horrifically messy
position where the prepared player wins: White intends Be2, Kf1-g1, but Black
can play ...d5 and open the centre.}) 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Be3 b6 9. Be2 Bb7 10. O-O
Qe7 11. Qd2 Rfd8 12. Rfd1 $6 {This may be a little inaccurate and Black seems
to have ways to make his equality clearer.} (12. a3 a5 13. Rad1 {seems
preferable, securing the right to transfer a knight via b5 at will.}) 12... Ne5
{In this way Black is forcing through ...d5, though for some reason he
ultimately decided not to play it.} 13. Bxc5 (13. Bd4 d6 {and the tension
doesn't help White, as (e.g.) ...Rac8 and ...h6 can be played before Black
needs to do any further thinking, while White's pushes b4 and f4 require some
serious thought.}) 13... bxc5 14. f4 Ng6 15. Qe3 d6 (15... d5 {seemed clever
to me, but it's worth pointing out that the simplifications would not have
been useful in the match situation.} 16. exd5 exd5 17. Qxe7 Nxe7 18. cxd5 Nexd5
19. Nxd5 Rxd5 20. Ne3 $11 {It is hard to imagine Magnus losing this as White,
but maybe...?}) 16. Rd2 a6 17. Rad1 Qc7 18. b3 h6 19. g3 Rd7 20. Bf3 Re8 {
White has a small something around here, even if engines disagree, because
Black simply has no way to execute either ...e5 or ...d5.} 21. Qf2 {The first
of a few moves that tempted Black to play ...d5 and accept drawishness; while
these weren't the most exact for White they may have been the least risky.} Ne7
22. h3 Red8 23. Bg2 Nc6 (23... d5 {again seems to give safe equality, but
that's not good enough.} 24. cxd5 exd5 25. e5 Ne4 26. Nxe4 dxe4 27. Ne3 $11)
24. g4 Qa5 25. Na4 Qc7 {An ill omen: Black doesn't know what to do.} 26. e5 $6
{Seeking simplification and possibly a bishop-vs-knight situation, but maybe
this is too quick.} (26. Nc3 $14 {was perfectly possible, challenging Black to
do better!}) 26... dxe5 27. Nxc5 Rxd2 28. Rxd2 Rxd2 29. Qxd2 Ba8 {This is not
a bad move, but White is able to pretty much kill the game now, whereas after
the alternative Black could have played for 3 results.} ({I'm not sure if
Black thought he was worse after} 29... exf4 30. Nxb7 Qxb7 31. Qxf4 $13 {
but I don't think he is, and neither does the engine; the practical chances
look quite alright.}) 30. fxe5 Qxe5 31. Nd7 Qb2 32. Qd6 Nxd7 33. Qxd7 Qxc2 {
Around here, there are of course tons of ways for Black to deliver perpetual
check, but it is extremely difficult to think of how he could do more.} 34.
Qe8+ Kh7 35. Qxa8 Qd1+ 36. Kh2 Qd6+ 37. Kh1 Nd4 38. Qe4+ f5 39. gxf5 exf5 40.
Qe3 Ne6 41. b4 Ng5 $6 {Now Black is more likely to lose, but of course he may
not have minded this.} (41... g5 {tries to keep something in the position, but
after} 42. c5 Qd1+ 43. Kh2 {it transpires that Black can't generate anything
without allowing White to deliver perpetual:} Nf4 44. Qe7+ Kg6 $11) 42. c5 Qf6
43. c6 $16 Ne6 $2 {This is where the 3rd game, and hence the match, were lost.}
(43... Qd6 44. Qc1 Ne6 45. Qc4 {is passive for Black, but there are a few more
tricks than in the game.}) 44. a4 Nc7 45. Qf4 Ne6 46. Qd6 {You could see
Magnus wondering whether to give one last tease and play Qe3, either for the
draw or for the trolling effect. In the end he chose this way, which is very
simply winning.} Qa1+ 47. Kh2 Nd4 48. c7 Qc3 49. Qc5 Qe3 50. c8=Q f4 51. Qg4 {
And it was all over.} 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.26"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Tukhaev, Adam"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2527"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "144"]
[EventDate "2018.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 O-O 12. Be2 Bg5 13. Nc2 Ne7 14. Nxe7+
Qxe7 15. O-O Bb7 16. Qd3 d5 17. exd5 Rad8 18. c4 bxc4 19. Qa3 Qc7 20. Rfd1 Bxd5
21. Qxa6 Ra8 22. Qb5 Be6 23. Qb4 Rab8 24. Qc3 Bf6 25. Rab1 e4 26. Nd4 Qa7 27.
Qe3 Bxd4 28. Qxd4 Qxa2 29. Rbc1 Rxb2 30. Bxc4 Bxc4 31. Qxc4 Rxf2 32. Qxe4 Rf6
33. Rf1 Re6 34. Qc4 Qd2 35. Qc3 Qg5 36. Qc5 Re5 37. Qc4 g6 38. Rc3 Qd8 39. Rcf3
Qe7 40. Rf4 Kg7 41. Qc3 f6 42. Rc4 Rf7 43. Rc6 Re2 44. Qd4 h5 45. Qd3 Qe5 46.
Qf3 Qd4+ 47. Kh1 Re3 48. Qd1 Qe4 49. Rd6 Re2 50. Rg1 Re3 51. Rd4 Qb7 52. Rd3
Re5 53. Qf3 Qe7 54. Rd5 Re3 55. Qd1 h4 56. Qg4 g5 57. Qd4 Re4 58. Qc3 Kh6 59.
Rf5 Qe6 60. Rgf1 Kg6 61. Qd3 Qxf5 62. Rxf5 Kxf5 63. g4+ Ke5 64. Qb5+ Kf4 65.
Qf5+ Ke3 66. Qc5+ Rd4 67. Qc1+ Ke4 68. Qc2+ Ke5 69. Qf5+ Kd6 70. Kg2 Rd5 71.
Qg6 Ke6 72. Kh3 Rfd7 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.26"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vokhidov, Shamsiddin"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C20"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2480"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2018.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 Nc6 3. Bc4 g6 4. Qf3 Qe7 5. Ne2 Nf6 6. d3 Bg7 7. Nbc3 h6 8. Nd5
Nxd5 9. exd5 Na5 10. d6 cxd6 11. Bd5 Nc6 12. Bd2 Qf6 13. Qe4 O-O 14. O-O Ne7
15. Nc3 Qf5 16. Qb4 Nxd5 17. Nxd5 Kh7 18. Nc7 Rb8 19. Qxd6 b6 20. f3 Bb7 21.
Rae1 Rfc8 22. Bc3 Bf8 23. Nb5 Bxd6 24. Nxd6 Qe6 25. Nxc8 Rxc8 26. Rxe5 Qd6 27.
Rfe1 Bd5 28. a4 Be6 29. a5 bxa5 30. Kf1 Rc5 31. Rxc5 Qxc5 32. Ra1 d5 33. Rxa5
Qc7 34. Ra4 Qxh2 35. Rxa7 Qh1+ 36. Kf2 d4 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.26"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Pogosyan, Stefan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E97"]
[WhiteElo "2365"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2018.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5
Ne7 9. b4 a5 10. Ba3 b6 11. bxa5 Rxa5 12. Bb4 Ra8 13. a4 Ne8 14. Nd2 f5 15. Nb3
Nf6 16. f3 Bh6 17. Qd3 Nh5 18. g3 fxe4 19. fxe4 Nf6 20. a5 Bh3 21. Rf2 bxa5 22.
Bxa5 Qd7 23. c5 Ng4 24. Rxf8+ Rxf8 25. Nd1 Nc8 26. Bd2 Bxd2 27. Qxd2 Qf7 28.
Qe1 c6 29. Bxg4 Qf1+ 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.26"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vlassov, Nikolai"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2401"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2018.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 f5 2. b4 d6 3. Bb2 e5 4. e3 Nf6 5. d4 e4 6. d5 g6 7. Ne2 Bg7 8. Nf4 O-O
9. h4 Qe8 10. Be2 a5 11. b5 Nh5 12. Bxg7 Nxg7 13. b6 cxb6 14. Nc3 Na6 15. Rb1
Nc5 16. Rxb6 Ra6 17. Rb2 Bd7 18. Qd4 Qe7 19. g3 Be8 20. h5 g5 21. h6 gxf4 22.
Qxg7+ Qxg7 23. hxg7 Kxg7 24. exf4 Rf6 25. Kd2 Rh6 26. Rhb1 Kf8 27. Ke3 Ke7 28.
Rxb7+ Nxb7 29. Rxb7+ Kd8 30. c5 Ra8 31. c6 Rc8 32. Nb5 Bxc6 33. dxc6 Rxc6 34.
Ra7 Rh1 35. Rxa5 Rb1 36. Nd4 Rcb6 37. Rxf5 R6b2 38. Rb5 Rxb5 39. Nxb5 d5 40.
Nc3 Rb2 41. Nxd5 Rxa2 42. Nf6 h6 43. g4 Ke7 44. Nxe4 Ra3+ 45. Bd3 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.26"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Tang, Andrew"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D03"]
[WhiteElo "2487"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2018.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Nf6 3. e3 e6 4. Nf3 Bd6 5. Nbd2 b6 6. Bd3 O-O 7. Ne5 c5 8. Qf3
Qc7 9. c3 Ba6 10. Bxa6 Nxa6 11. O-O Qb7 12. Ng4 Be7 13. Nxf6+ Bxf6 14. Nc4 Be7
15. Ne5 f6 16. Nc4 Qd7 17. Nd2 e5 18. Bg3 cxd4 19. exd4 e4 20. Qe2 Nc7 21. f3
f5 22. Be5 Bd6 23. Bxd6 Qxd6 24. fxe4 dxe4 25. Nc4 Qe6 26. Ne5 Nd5 27. a4 a5
28. Rae1 Kh8 29. Qf2 Rf6 30. Qg3 Raf8 31. Qh4 Qe8 32. Ra1 f4 33. Ng4 Rf5 34.
Rae1 Rh5 35. Qf2 Rg5 36. Ne5 Rxe5 37. dxe5 Qxe5 38. Rd1 f3 39. Qg3 Nf4 40. Rde1
Qc5+ 41. Qf2 fxg2 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.27"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Salgado Lopez, Ivan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A37"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2629"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2018.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6. O-O Bf5 7. h3 Nf6 8. d3
O-O 9. Rb1 a6 10. a3 Rb8 11. b4 cxb4 12. axb4 b5 13. e4 Bd7 14. cxb5 axb5 15.
Bd2 Ne5 16. Nxe5 dxe5 17. Kh2 Ne8 18. Be3 Nc7 19. Qd2 Bc6 20. Rfc1 Qd7 21. Ra1
Ne6 22. Nd5 Bxd5 23. exd5 Nd4 24. Bxd4 exd4 25. Qf4 Qf5 26. Qxf5 gxf5 27. d6
exd6 28. Ra7 Rbc8 29. Rxc8 Rxc8 30. Bd5 f4 31. gxf4 Bh6 32. Rxf7 Rc3 33. f5 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.27"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Zubov, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E40"]
[WhiteElo "2597"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[EventDate "2018.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 Nf6 5. Nge2 c6 6. a3 Ba5 7. Ng3 O-O 8. Bd3
dxc4 9. Bxc4 e5 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Ba2 Bc7 12. d5 cxd5 13. Bxd5 Nxd5 14. Nxd5 Nb6
15. Nxc7 Qxc7 16. Bd2 Rd8 17. Rc1 Qe7 18. Bb4 Rxd1 19. Bxe7 Rd2 20. Rfd1 Rxd1+
21. Rxd1 Be6 22. Ne4 f6 23. Nc5 Kf7 24. Bd6 Nc4 25. Nxb7 Nxb2 26. Rc1 Nc4 27.
Bc5 Kg6 28. h3 a5 29. Nd6 Nb2 30. Bb6 Ra6 31. Bc7 h5 32. h4 Ra7 33. Rc5 a4 34.
Kf1 Nd3 35. Rc3 Bb3 36. Nc8 Ra6 37. Ke2 Nb2 38. Nd6 Kh7 39. Rc5 Kg6 40. e4 Ra7
41. g3 Bd1+ 42. Ke3 Kh7 43. f3 Bb3 44. f4 Be6 45. fxe5 fxe5 46. Kd2 Bg4 47. Nf7
Nd1 48. Ng5+ Kg8 49. Bxe5 Nf2 50. Rb5 Rd7+ 51. Kc3 Kf8 52. Rb8+ Ke7 53. Rg8
Rd3+ 54. Kb4 Rb3+ 55. Kxa4 Bd1 56. Rxg7+ Ke8 57. Ka5 Rxa3+ 58. Kb6 Rb3+ 59. Kc7
Ng4 60. Bd4 Rb5 61. Kd6 Bb3 62. Ra7 Rb8 63. Ne6 Bxe6 64. Kxe6 Kf8 65. Rh7 Re8+
66. Kf5 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.27"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Petrov, Nikita"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2593"]
[PlyCount "135"]
[EventDate "2018.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e4 Bxc3 5. dxc3 d6 6. f3 Be6 7. Nh3 h6 8. Nf2
a5 9. f4 Na6 10. f5 Bd7 11. Bg2 b5 12. cxb5 Bxb5 13. b3 a4 14. c4 Bc6 15. Be3
axb3 16. axb3 Nc5 17. Bxc5 dxc5 18. Qxd8+ Kxd8 19. Rxa8+ Bxa8 20. Kd2 Ke7 21.
Kc3 Bc6 22. Re1 Ra8 23. Nd3 Nd7 24. Kb2 Kd6 25. Bf3 Ke7 26. h4 Rh8 27. g4 g5
28. Rh1 Rg8 29. hxg5 hxg5 30. Rh6 f6 31. Kc3 Kf7 32. Rh7+ Rg7 33. Rh2 Rg8 34.
Ne1 Kg7 35. Nc2 Rh8 36. Rxh8 Kxh8 37. Ne3 Kg7 38. Nd5 Bxd5 39. cxd5 Kf7 40. Kc4
Ke7 41. Kb5 Kd6 42. Be2 Nb6 43. Ka6 Nd7 44. Bc4 Nb6 45. Kb7 Kd7 46. Bb5+ Kd6
47. Kb8 Nd7+ 48. Bxd7 Kxd7 49. Kb7 Kd6 50. Kc8 c6 51. dxc6 Kxc6 52. Kd8 Kb5 53.
Ke7 Kb4 54. Kxf6 Kxb3 55. Kxe5 c4 56. f6 c3 57. f7 c2 58. f8=Q c1=Q 59. Qf7+
Kb2 60. Qf5 Qc7+ 61. Kf6 Qd8+ 62. Kg6 Qg8+ 63. Kh6 Kc3 64. Qc5+ Kb2 65. Qb6+
Ka1 66. Qf6+ Kb1 67. e5 Qc4 68. Kxg5 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.27"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Melkumyan, Hrant"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2670"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "130"]
[EventDate "2018.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 a6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nc3 h6 6. Bf4 Nf6 7. Qb3 Bd6 8.
Bxd6 Qxd6 9. e3 O-O 10. Bd3 b6 11. O-O Nbd7 12. Rfd1 Bb7 13. Rac1 Rfd8 14. Qc2
c5 15. dxc5 bxc5 16. Bf5 Rac8 17. Ne2 Qe7 18. Qb3 Rc7 19. Bxd7 Rdxd7 20. Ng3
Qe6 21. Qa3 Qb6 22. Ne5 Rd8 23. Nc4 Qb5 24. Na5 Ba8 25. Nb3 Rdc8 26. Qa5 g6 27.
Qxb5 axb5 28. a3 h5 29. h3 h4 30. Ne2 Kg7 31. Rc2 c4 32. Nbd4 Rb8 33. b4 Ra7
34. Ra2 Ne4 35. f3 Nd6 36. Nc3 Kf6 37. Kf2 Rb6 38. Raa1 Ke5 39. Nc2 Rba6 40.
Rd2 Bc6 41. Rad1 Nf5 42. Nxb5 Bxb5 43. Rxd5+ Kf6 44. Rxb5 Rxa3 45. Nxa3 Rxa3
46. Rd2 Rb3 47. e4 c3 48. Rb6+ Kg7 49. exf5 cxd2 50. Ke2 g5 51. b5 Rd3 52. Kd1
Rd5 53. Rb7 Kf6 54. b6 Rd6 55. Rb8 Kxf5 56. b7 Rd7 57. Rf8 Rxb7 58. Kxd2 Kf4
59. Ke2 Kg3 60. Rg8 f6 61. Rg6 Rb6 62. f4 Kxf4 63. Kf2 Rb2+ 64. Kf1 Kg3 65.
Rxf6 Rxg2 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.27"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Amonatov, Farrukh"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2614"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2018.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Nbd2 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Bb5+ c6 6. Bd3 O-O 7. O-O Qc7 8.
Re1 e5 9. c3 Nbd7 10. a4 b6 11. Nf1 Bb7 12. h3 Rfe8 13. Ng3 a6 14. Bg5 h6 15.
Bd2 b5 16. b4 Nb6 17. a5 Nbd7 18. Qc1 Kh7 19. c4 Rac8 20. dxe5 dxe5 21. Be3 Qb8
22. Rd1 Nf8 23. Bb6 N6d7 24. c5 Ne6 25. Bb1 Nd4 26. Ra3 Nf8 27. Nxd4 exd4 28.
f4 Re7 29. e5 Rce8 30. Ne4 Ne6 31. Nd6 Nxf4 32. Qxf4 Bxe5 33. Qf2 Bxd6 34. cxd6
Qxd6 35. Bc5 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.28"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A90"]
[WhiteElo "2703"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2018.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. d4 c6 4. Nbd2 f5 5. g3 Nf6 6. Bg2 Bd6 7. Ne5 O-O 8. O-O
b6 9. Qc2 Bb7 10. cxd5 cxd5 11. Ndf3 Ne4 12. h4 Nd7 13. Bf4 Ndf6 14. Rac1 Ba6
15. Rfe1 Ng4 16. Qa4 Bb7 17. Ng5 Nxg5 18. Bxg5 Qe8 19. Qxe8 Rfxe8 20. Nxg4 fxg4
21. Bf4 Bxf4 22. gxf4 Rac8 23. Kh2 Kf7 24. Kg3 h5 25. f3 gxf3 26. Bxf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.28"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B44"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2018.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. e4 Bb4 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8.
Bd3 e5 9. O-O O-O 10. Qe2 Bxc3 11. bxc3 d6 12. c5 dxc5 13. f3 Be6 14. Be3 Qe7
15. a4 Rfb8 16. Rfb1 Nd7 17. a5 Qd8 18. Rd1 Qe7 19. Bc4 Nf8 20. Ba6 Rb3 21. Qd2
Rab8 22. Bf1 Nd7 23. Bf2 h6 24. Qd6 Qxd6 25. Rxd6 Rb1 26. Rxb1 Rxb1 27. g4 Bc4
28. Rxd7 Rxf1+ 29. Kg2 a6 30. Re7 f6 31. h4 Rc1 32. g5 hxg5 33. hxg5 fxg5 34.
Rxe5 g4 35. fxg4 Bf1+ 36. Kf3 Rxc3+ 37. Kf4 Be2 38. Bxc5 Rf3+ 39. Kg5 Rg3 40.
Re8+ Kh7 41. Kf5 Rxg4 42. Bd4 Rg6 43. Re7 Bd3 44. Kf4 Kg8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.28"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Oparin, Grigoriy"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2613"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2018.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c6 3. Bg2 Bf5 4. O-O e6 5. c4 Nf6 6. cxd5 exd5 7. d3 Bc5 8. Qb3
Bb6 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Na4 Re8 11. Nxb6 axb6 12. Qc2 h6 13. b3 c5 14. Bb2 Nc6 15.
a3 d4 16. b4 Qd6 17. Rfc1 Nd7 18. Qd2 Re7 19. Re1 Rae8 20. Rad1 Nde5 21. Nh4
Bh7 22. h3 Qe6 23. b5 Na5 24. e4 g5 25. Nf3 Nxf3+ 26. Bxf3 Qxh3 27. Bg2 Qg4 28.
Kh2 f5 29. exf5 Re2 30. Qc1 Qxf5 31. Rxe2 Rxe2 32. Re1 Qxf2 33. Rxe2 Qxe2 34.
Bxd4 Bxd3 35. Qe3 cxd4 36. Qxd4 Bxb5 37. Qd8+ Be8 38. Qxb6 Bc6 39. Qd8+ Kf7 40.
Qc7+ Kg6 41. Qd6+ Kh5 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.28"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Andreikin, Dmitry"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2719"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2018.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Ba4 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. c3 Bb6 8. Nbd2
Ne7 9. Nc4 Ng6 10. h3 h6 11. Bc2 Be6 12. Nxb6 axb6 13. d4 b5 14. Be3 c6 15. Re1
Qc7 16. a3 Rad8 17. Qd2 Rfe8 18. Rad1 Qe7 19. Qc1 Nh5 20. dxe5 dxe5 21. Rxd8
Rxd8 22. Rd1 Nhf4 23. Kh2 f6 24. Rxd8+ Qxd8 25. Qd2 Qc8 26. Ng1 Bf7 27. g3 Ne6
28. h4 Qd8 29. Qxd8+ Nxd8 30. Nf3 Nf8 31. Nd2 g5 32. f4 gxf4 33. gxf4 exf4 34.
Bxf4 Ng6 35. Kg3 Nxf4 36. Kxf4 Kf8 37. e5 Ke7 38. exf6+ Kxf6 39. Ne4+ Ke7 40.
Nf2 Be6 41. Bf5 Nf7 42. Ng4 h5 43. Ne3 Kf6 44. Bxe6 Kxe6 45. Nf5 Kf6 46. Ng3
Kg6 47. b3 Nh6 48. Ke5 Ng4+ 49. Kd6 Ne3 50. Kc7 c5 51. Kxb7 c4 52. b4 Nd1 53.
Ne2 Kf5 54. Kc6 Kg4 55. Kxb5 Kxh4 56. a4 Kg4 57. a5 Ne3 58. a6 Nd5 59. a7 h4
60. Kc6 h3 61. a8=Q 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.28"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2746"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2018.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 a6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Bxe7 Nxe7 6. e3 O-O 7. Nc3 Nd7 8. Rc1
dxc4 9. Bxc4 c5 10. dxc5 Nxc5 11. b4 Qxd1+ 12. Rxd1 Nd7 13. O-O b5 14. Bb3 Nf6
15. Ne5 Ra7 16. Nd3 Bb7 17. Nc5 Bd5 18. Nxd5 Nfxd5 19. a3 a5 20. e4 Nc3 21. Rd2
axb4 22. axb4 Rfa8 23. Rc2 Na2 24. Bxa2 Rxa2 25. Rxa2 Rxa2 26. g3 Nc6 27. Rc1
Nxb4 28. Rb1 Rc2 29. Nxe6 Rc4 30. Nc7 Rxc7 31. Rxb4 Rb7 32. Kf1 Kf8 33. Ke2 Ke7
34. e5 Ke6 35. f4 Kd5 36. Kd3 Kc5 37. Re4 b4 38. Kc2 Ra7 39. Kb2 Rd7 40. Re2 g6
41. g4 Ra7 42. f5 Kd5 43. e6 fxe6 44. Rxe6 gxf5 45. gxf5 Rf7 46. Kb3 h5 47.
Kxb4 Rxf5 48. Re3 Kd4 49. Rh3 Re5 50. Kb3 Re3+ 51. Rxe3 Kxe3 52. h4 Kf3 53. Kc2
Kg3 54. Kd2 Kxh4 55. Ke1 Kg3 56. Kf1 h4 57. Kg1 h3 58. Kh1 h2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.29"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Popov, Ivan1"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B29"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2592"]
[PlyCount "153"]
[EventDate "2018.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. Nc3 Nxc3 5. dxc3 Nc6 6. Bf4 e6 7. Qd2 h6 8. h4
a6 9. h5 b5 10. a4 b4 11. Bd3 Bb7 12. Be4 Qc7 13. O-O bxc3 14. bxc3 Ne7 15.
Bxb7 Qxb7 16. c4 Nf5 17. Rab1 Qc6 18. a5 Be7 19. Rfd1 Rd8 20. Rb6 Qe4 21. Rxa6
O-O 22. Rb6 Qxc4 23. a6 Ra8 24. Ra1 Bd8 25. Rb7 Rxa6 26. Rxa6 Qxa6 27. Rxd7 Ba5
28. Qd3 Qc6 29. c4 Nd4 30. Rd6 Nxf3+ 31. gxf3 Qb7 32. Kg2 Bc7 33. Rd7 Qc6 34.
Bg3 Re8 35. Kh2 Bb8 36. f4 Rf8 37. Bh4 Bc7 38. Qd1 Bb8 39. Rd8 Bc7 40. Rxf8+
Kxf8 41. Qd3 Kg8 42. Bg3 Qe8 43. f5 Qd8 44. Qxd8+ Bxd8 45. fxe6 fxe6 46. Kh3
Kf7 47. Kg4 g6 48. Bf4 g5 49. Be3 Be7 50. f4 gxf4 51. Bxf4 Bf8 52. Be3 Ke8 53.
Kf3 Kd7 54. Ke4 Kc6 55. Kd3 Kb6 56. Kc3 Bg7 57. Kb3 Bf8 58. Ka4 Bg7 59. Bd2 Ka6
60. Bc3 Kb6 61. Ba5+ Kc6 62. Bc3 Kb6 63. Kb3 Bf8 64. Kc2 Bg7 65. Kd3 Bf8 66.
Ke4 Bg7 67. Be1 Kc6 68. Bh4 Kd7 69. Kf4 Ke8 70. Bf6 Bxf6 71. exf6 Kf8 72. Ke5
Kf7 73. Kd6 Kxf6 74. Kxc5 Ke7 75. Kc6 e5 76. Kd5 Kf6 77. c5 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.29"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Grigoriants, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2540"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "137"]
[EventDate "2018.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 a6 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 Bd6 5. Bd3 Nf6 6. O-O O-O 7. Nbd2 b6 8. Bxd6
cxd6 9. c4 dxc4 10. Nxc4 Bb7 11. Rc1 Nc6 12. a3 b5 13. Ncd2 Qb6 14. Qe2 Rac8
15. Rc2 Rc7 16. Rfc1 Rfc8 17. b4 Ne7 18. Nb3 Be4 19. Ne1 h6 20. Rxc7 Rxc7 21.
Rxc7 Qxc7 22. Qc2 Qxc2 23. Bxc2 Bxc2 24. Nxc2 Ned5 25. Na5 Kf8 26. Kf1 Nb6 27.
Ke2 Ke7 28. f3 Nfd5 29. Kd3 f5 30. g3 Nf6 31. Ke2 g5 32. Ne1 g4 33. Nd3 gxf3+
34. Kxf3 Ne4 35. Nf4 Nd2+ 36. Ke2 Ndc4 37. Nc6+ Kd7 38. Nb8+ Kc7 39. Nxa6+ Kb7
40. Nxe6 Kxa6 41. Nc7+ Kb7 42. Nxb5 Kc6 43. Na7+ Kd7 44. Nb5 Nd5 45. Kf3 Ncxe3
46. Nc3 Nxc3 47. Kxe3 Kc6 48. Kf4 Kd5 49. Kxf5 Kxd4 50. g4 Ke3 51. h4 d5 52. g5
hxg5 53. h5 g4 54. h6 g3 55. h7 g2 56. h8=Q g1=Q 57. Qxc3+ Ke2 58. Qe5+ Qe3 59.
Qxd5 Qxa3 60. b5 Kf2 61. Qd4+ Kg2 62. b6 Qb3 63. Qe4+ Kg1 64. b7 Qf7+ 65. Kg4
Qg7+ 66. Kh3 Qh6+ 67. Qh4 Qe3+ 68. Qg3+ Kh1 69. Qxe3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.29"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Teterev, Vitaly"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2486"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2018.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Nbd2 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Bb5+ c6 6. Bd3 O-O 7. O-O Nbd7 8.
c3 e5 9. Re1 Re8 10. Nc4 Qc7 11. a4 exd4 12. cxd4 d5 13. exd5 Rxe1+ 14. Qxe1
Nxd5 15. Qe8+ Nf8 16. Bd2 Nf6 17. Qe5 Qd8 18. Nd6 Nd5 19. Qg3 Ne6 20. Re1 Bf8
21. Ne4 Qc7 22. Qh4 Qd8 23. Qxd8 Nxd8 24. Nc3 Nb4 25. Be4 Be6 26. h4 a5 27. h5
Bc4 28. Ne5 Be6 29. Bg5 Bg7 30. hxg6 hxg6 31. Bf4 Bb3 32. Nf3 Ne6 33. Be5 Bc2
34. Bxg7 Kxg7 35. Bxc2 Nxc2 36. Rd1 Rd8 37. d5 cxd5 38. Rxd5 Rxd5 39. Nxd5 Nc5
40. Nc3 Nb4 41. Ne5 Nbd3 42. Nc4 Kf6 43. Kf1 Ke6 44. Ke2 Nc1+ 45. Ke3 N1b3 46.
g4 f5 47. g5 Nd7 48. f4 Ndc5 49. Ne5 Na1 50. Nxg6 Nc2+ 51. Kd2 Nd4 52. Ne5 Na6
53. Kd3 Nb3 54. Kc4 Nd2+ 55. Kb5 Ne4 56. g6 Nac5 57. Nxe4 Nxe4 58. g7 Nf6 59.
Kxa5 Kd5 60. Kb6 Ke4 61. Ng6 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.29"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Bosiocic, Marin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2599"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "42"]
[EventDate "2018.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 Nf6 7. Nc3 Nd7 8.
Be3 e5 9. Qd2 h6 10. O-O-O b6 11. h4 Nf8 12. h5 g5 13. Ne2 Ne6 14. Ng3 Nf4 15.
Ne1 Be6 16. Kb1 Qd7 17. Nf1 O-O-O 18. g3 f5 19. f3 fxe4 20. dxe4 Qf7 21. Qc1
Ne2 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.29"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Shirov, Alexei"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2643"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2018.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 g6 7. O-O Bg7 8. Re1
O-O 9. Nbd2 Nh5 10. Nf1 f5 11. Bb3+ Kh8 12. Ng5 Qf6 13. exf5 Bxf5 14. Be3 Nf4
15. Bxf4 exf4 16. Ne4 Bxe4 17. Rxe4 f3 18. g3 Rae8 19. Rxe8 Rxe8 20. Ne3 h5 21.
Bd5 Bh6 22. Qxf3 Qxf3 23. Bxf3 Bxe3 24. fxe3 Rxe3 25. Kf2 Re8 26. d4 Kg7 27.
Re1 Rxe1 28. Kxe1 Nd8 29. Kf2 Kf6 30. Ke3 c6 31. h4 d5 32. a4 Nf7 33. Bg2 Nd6
34. b3 a5 35. Kf4 b6 36. c4 dxc4 37. bxc4 c5 38. dxc5 bxc5 39. Bf1 Nc8 40. Bd3
Nb6 41. Bc2 Nxc4 42. Ke4 Nb6 43. Bb3 g5 44. Bd1 gxh4 45. gxh4 Nxa4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.29"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Zhigalko, Sergei"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2604"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2018.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. Bc4 Nb6 6. Bb3 c4 7. Bc2 d6 8. exd6
Qxd6 9. O-O Bg4 10. Re1 e6 11. b3 Be7 12. Na3 cxb3 13. axb3 Qd7 14. Nc4 Nxc4
15. bxc4 O-O 16. d4 Rfd8 17. Be4 Bh5 18. Bf4 Bg6 19. Bxc6 Qxc6 20. Ne5 Qc8 21.
Qf3 Bd6 22. c5 Bxe5 23. Bxe5 f6 24. Bd6 a5 25. h4 h5 26. c4 a4 27. Re3 b6 28.
cxb6 Qxc4 29. b7 Qxd4 30. Rd1 Qxd1+ 31. Qxd1 Rab8 32. Rxe6 Rxb7 33. Qxa4 Bf7
34. Be7 Re8 35. Re3 Rbxe7 36. Rxe7 Rxe7 37. f3 Re8 38. Kf2 Re5 39. Qc6 Re6 40.
Qc8+ Re8 41. Qf5 Re5 42. Qd3 Rd5 43. Qe3 Re5 44. Qd4 Kh7 45. Qd7 Bg6 46. Qd6
Rb5 47. Qd4 Re5 48. Qc4 Rf5 49. Qd4 Re5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.29"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Duda, Jan Krzysztof"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2738"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2018.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bb4 5. Nd5 Bc5 6. Bg2 d6 7. O-O O-O 8. e3
Bb6 9. Nxb6 axb6 10. b3 Bf5 11. d3 Qd7 12. Nh4 Bh3 13. e4 Bxg2 14. Kxg2 Nd4 15.
Be3 b5 16. Bxd4 exd4 17. cxb5 Qxb5 18. Nf5 Qb6 19. Qd2 h6 20. Qf4 d5 21. e5 Nh7
22. Qg4 g6 23. Nxh6+ Kh8 24. h4 c5 25. h5 g5 26. Nf5 Qe6 27. Rfe1 b6 28. Re2
Rg8 29. Rae1 Ra7 30. f3 Rga8 31. a4 Rg8 32. Nd6 Qxg4 33. fxg4 Nf8 34. Rf2 Kg7
35. Ref1 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.29"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E62"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2607"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2018.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. Nc3 O-O 5. Nf3 d6 6. d4 Nc6 7. O-O e5 8. dxe5
dxe5 9. Bg5 Be6 10. Qa4 Qb8 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. Nd2 Bg7 13. Rfd1 Rd8 14. Nb3 Nd4
15. Nc5 c6 16. e3 Bg4 17. exd4 exd4 18. N3e4 Bxd1 19. Rxd1 Qc7 20. Qb3 b6 21.
Nd3 Rab8 22. c5 bxc5 23. Qc4 Qa5 24. Nexc5 Bf8 25. b4 Qa3 26. Ne5 Qxb4 27.
Qxf7+ Kh8 28. Qf6+ Bg7 29. Qg5 Re8 30. Nxc6 Qc4 31. Nxb8 Qe2 32. Qd2 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.29"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Andreikin, Dmitry"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "2719"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "152"]
[EventDate "2018.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Nf3 a6 5. Bd3 Nc6 6. O-O d6 7. b3 g6 8. Bb2
Bg7 9. h3 e6 10. Na4 e5 11. Nc3 Nge7 12. a4 O-O 13. Bc4 h6 14. Nd5 Kh7 15. Nxe7
Qxe7 16. Re1 f5 17. d3 Bd7 18. Bd5 Nb4 19. Bxb7 Rab8 20. Bd5 Nxd5 21. exd5 Qf7
22. c4 g5 23. Nxe5 dxe5 24. Bxe5 Bxe5 25. Rxe5 Qf6 26. d4 cxd4 27. Qxd4 Rfe8
28. Rae1 Rxe5 29. Qxe5 Qxe5 30. Rxe5 Kg6 31. Re7 Rd8 32. c5 Kf6 33. d6 a5 34.
f3 f4 35. Kf2 Be6 36. Rb7 Ke5 37. Rb5 Ra8 38. d7 Kd5 39. Rb6 Bxd7 40. Rd6+ Kxc5
41. Rxd7 Rb8 42. Rd3 Rb6 43. g3 Re6 44. gxf4 gxf4 45. Rc3+ Kb4 46. Rc4+ Kxb3
47. Rxf4 Rb6 48. Rh4 Ka3 49. Re4 Rb2+ 50. Ke3 h5 51. h4 Rb3+ 52. Ke2 Rb2+ 53.
Ke3 Rb3+ 54. Kf2 Rc3 55. f4 Rc5 56. Ke3 Kb3 57. Rd4 Kc3 58. Ke4 Rc8 59. Rd3+
Kb4 60. Rd4+ Kc3 61. Rd3+ Kb4 62. f5 Kxa4 63. f6 Kb4 64. Kf5 a4 65. f7 a3 66.
Kg6 a2 67. Rd1 Kb3 68. Ra1 Kb2 69. Rxa2+ Kxa2 70. Kxh5 Kb3 71. Kg6 Kc4 72. Kg7
Kd5 73. h5 Ke6 74. f8=Q Rxf8 75. Kxf8 Kf6 76. h6 Kg6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.29"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A37"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2737"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2018.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 g6 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6. O-O e6 7. e3 Nge7 8. d4
O-O 9. Re1 Rb8 10. b3 cxd4 11. Nxd4 Nxd4 12. exd4 Nf5 13. Be3 Nxe3 14. Rxe3 a6
15. Rc1 Bh6 16. f4 Bg7 17. Rd3 b6 18. Qd2 Bd7 19. h4 Qe7 20. Kh2 Rfc8 21. a4
Be8 22. Re1 b5 23. axb5 axb5 24. Nxb5 Bxb5 25. cxb5 Rxb5 26. d5 e5 27. f5 Rcb8
28. Qc2 gxf5 29. Rf3 f4 30. Rxf4 Rxb3 31. Qf5 Rb1 32. Rxb1 Rxb1 33. Rg4 Rb2 34.
Kh3 h5 35. Rg5 Qa7 36. Be4 Qg1 37. Qc8# 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.29"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "178"]
[EventDate "2018.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Bc4 Be7 5. d3 d6 6. O-O Nf6 7. h3 O-O 8. Ne2
a6 9. a3 b5 10. Ba2 Be6 11. Bxe6 fxe6 12. Ng3 d5 13. Re1 d4 14. c3 Kh8 15. Qe2
Nd7 16. Bd2 Na5 17. cxd4 Nb3 18. dxe5 Rxf3 19. gxf3 Nxd2 20. Qxd2 Nxe5 21. Qe3
Nxd3 22. Rad1 c4 23. Rxd3 Qxd3 24. Qxd3 cxd3 25. Rd1 Rd8 26. f4 b4 27. axb4
Bxb4 28. Kg2 d2 29. Kf3 Rd3+ 30. Ke2 Rb3 31. Rb1 Kg8 32. Nf1 d1=Q+ 33. Kxd1 Rf3
34. Ke2 Rxf4 35. Ng3 Bc5 36. f3 Rh4 37. Rh1 Kf7 38. Nf1 Kf6 39. Nd2 Ke5 40. Nb3
Bb6 41. Nc1 Kf6 42. Nd3 a5 43. f4 g5 44. Kf3 gxf4 45. Nxf4 Bc7 46. Nd3 Rh5 47.
Rf1 Ke7 48. Kg4 Rb5 49. Rc1 h5+ 50. Kf3 Bd6 51. Rc3 Rg5 52. Kf2 h4 53. Rb3 Rg3
54. Nc1 Bc5+ 55. Ke2 Bd4 56. Rb7+ Kf6 57. Nb3 Bxb2 58. Nxa5 Rxh3 59. Nc4 Bd4
60. Rd7 e5 61. Nd2 Re3+ 62. Kf1 h3 63. Rh7 Kg5 64. Nc4 Rf3+ 65. Ke2 Rf2+ 66.
Ke1 Rh2 67. Nd6 Kf4 68. Rf7+ Ke3 69. Nf5+ Kxe4 70. Ng3+ Kd5 71. Ne2 Rh1+ 72.
Kd2 Ra1 73. Rh7 Ra2+ 74. Kd1 Ra3 75. Rh5 Ke6 76. Kd2 Kf6 77. Rh8 Kg5 78. Rg8+
Kf5 79. Ng3+ Ke6 80. Ne2 h2 81. Rh8 Be3+ 82. Kc2 Ra2+ 83. Kd3 Bf4 84. Nxf4+
exf4 85. Ke4 Rf2 86. Rh3 Kf6 87. Rh8 Kg5 88. Rh7 Kg4 89. Rg7+ Kh3 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.29"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Artemiev, Vladislav"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A38"]
[WhiteElo "2709"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "139"]
[EventDate "2018.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 g6 2. Bb2 Nf6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nf3 c5 6. c4 d6 7. O-O e5 8. d3 Nc6
9. Nc3 Ne8 10. Nd2 Nc7 11. a3 a5 12. e3 Rb8 13. Nd5 b5 14. Qc2 Be6 15. Rae1 f5
16. f4 bxc4 17. dxc4 e4 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. Nc3 Ne8 20. g4 h6 21. gxf5 gxf5 22.
Ndxe4 fxe4 23. Nxe4 Ne7 24. Rd1 Qc7 25. Ng3 Nf5 26. Nxf5+ Bxf5 27. e4 Bh7 28.
Qc3+ Kg8 29. e5 dxe5 30. fxe5 Ng7 31. Bd5+ Kh8 32. e6 Qe7 33. Rf7 Rxf7 34. exf7
Rf8 35. Re1 Qg5+ 36. Kh1 Bg6 37. Rg1 Qf5 38. Qe3 Kh7 39. Qe7 Rxf7 40. Bxf7 Qf3+
41. Rg2 Bxf7 42. h4 Bg6 43. Kh2 Qf4+ 44. Kg1 Qd4+ 45. Kh2 Qf4+ 46. Kg1 Qd4+ 47.
Kh2 Bf5 48. Rg3 Bg4 49. Rg2 h5 50. Qg5 Qd6+ 51. Kg1 Ne6 52. Qf6 Qd4+ 53. Qxd4
Nxd4 54. Rb2 Bd1 55. b4 cxb4 56. axb4 a4 57. b5 Bb3 58. b6 a3 59. Rb1 a2 60.
Ra1 Bxc4 61. b7 Nc6 62. Kf2 Kg6 63. Ke3 Kf5 64. Kd2 Ke5 65. Kc3 Kd5 66. Kb2 Kc5
67. Rg1 Kb6 68. Rc1 Kb5 69. Rg1 Kb6 70. Rc1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.30"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2783"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2018.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{"There are many who have fantasies as to what is the best way to start the
day. This is mine"} 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e4 $5 {In the London
WC-match, or by Giri himself vs. Magnus in Shamkir 2018, 4.g3 was the
preferred move. Nost certainly Giri also has mapped this area out at home, but
to remember how in a blitz game is a different matter.} Bc5 {The most
principal move, forcing events as else black will just have a pleasant
position with control of the d4-square. 4...Bb4 is the main, but basically any
reasonable move is acceptable for Black.} 5. Nxe5 Nxe5 6. d4 Bb4 7. dxe5 Nxe4
8. Qf3 $5 (8. Qd4 {being the more often played move, but like this White keeps
the optione between putting the queen on either g4 or g3, when attacking the
g7-pawn.}) 8... Nxc3 9. bxc3 Be7 {With the queen on d4, this would be the
correct move, and e.g. played by Caruana; here, however, the small details are
in White's favour:} 10. Qg3 $1 g6 {Again similar to Caruana's approach, but as
...d6 next now does not threaten White's queen, the difference is a full tempo.
} (10... O-O 11. Bh6 g6 {but} 12. h4 $1 {leaves White with a huge attack.}) 11.
Bh6 d6 12. Be2 Be6 13. Rd1 Qd7 14. exd6 cxd6 15. O-O O-O-O {With a bit of good
will, one could consider the structure similar to a wellknown line of the 5
Nc3 Petroff, but here the floodgates are open to Black's kingside and Magnus
takes immediate action:} 16. Be3 Qa4 {As both 16...b6 or 16...Kb8 is strongly
answered by 17 c5! this is the only way to defend the pawn at a7.} 17. Qf3 Qc6
18. Qf4 {Obviously not exchanging queens, and renewing the threat to the
a7-pawn.} b6 19. a4 $1 {Exploiting the fact that 19...Qxa4 20 Ra1 Qd7 21 c5!
is devastating, White now uses the a-pawn to break through to Black's
vulnerable king.} Rd7 (19... Qxa4 20. Ra1 Qd7 21. c5 $1 $18) 20. a5 bxa5 21.
Rb1 Rc7 22. c5 dxc5 23. Bf3 $6 {With his opponent short of time, Magnus
commits a mistake. 23 Bb5! was crushing, following it up with 24 Qa4 when
blacks queenside collapses. Now Giri could have fought back with 23...g5! whem
white suddenly lacks a good square for his queen as 24 Qg3 is met by 24...Qd6!
Best would be 24 Bxc6 gxf4 25 Bxf4 Rxc6 26 Rb8+ Kd7 27 Rxh8 but after 27...
Rb6! 28 Ra8 Rb7! black has very decent counterplay. Giris mind however was
maybe already at the upcoming interview, and things now finishes quickly:} (23.
Bb5 $1 {was crushing, following it up with 24.Qa4 when Black's queenside
collapses.}) 23... Qd6 $2 ({Now Giri could have fought back with} 23... g5 $1 {
when White suddenly lacks a good square for his queen as 24.Qg3 is met by 24...
Qd6!} {Best would be} 24. Bxc6 gxf4 25. Bxf4 Rxc6 26. Rb8+ Kd7 27. Rxh8 {
but after} Rb6 $1 28. Ra8 Rb7 $1 {Black has very decent counterplay.}) {
Giri's mind, however. was maybe already at the upcoming interview, and things
now finishes quickly:} 24. Qe4 Rd8 {But here Black lost on time, not that it
mattered as 25 Rb8+! wins on the spot as Black can't take the rook due to mate
on a8, and 25...Kd7 26 Qa4+ also quickly ends the game.  While the performance
at the board was somewhat sub-par, one has to respect Giri for using the break
before the next round to give an interview to Norwegian channel NRK being his
usual combattve self. Magnus on the other hand stayed quiet, getting himself
ready for round 14. There was still a tournament to be won.} (24... Rd8 25.
Rb8+ $1 Kd7 (25... Kxb8 26. Qa8#) 26. Qa4+ $18) 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.30"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Wang, Hao"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2730"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2018.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{The 2016 and 2018 WC-match, and the 2017&18 blitz all would look average from
a player of Magnus caliber, was it not for the final day. Each time at a very
critical situation, the champion delivered the performance needed with a total
score of the overwhelming 21½/25 equalling 86 %! Next in line was Wang Hao:} 
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 {As in game 1 of
the recent WC-match, Wang plays the most common move, thus not trying to
follow Caruana's thought of improving with 6.0-0 in order to avoid Black's
upcoming knight manoeuvre.} Nf6 7. Nc3 Nd7 8. Be3 e5 9. Qd2 {Caruana omitted
this typical inclusion, but Wang follows the main line.} h6 10. O-O b6 $5 ({
Much less common than the standard} 10... Qe7 {but similar to game 1 from
London.}) 11. a3 Nf8 12. b4 Ne6 13. bxc5 f5 {Due to the inclusion of Qd2/h6
Black now threatens ...f4 winning a piece. His play is very ambitious, having
the pair of bishops, trying to seize space in the centre and on the kingside.
The price is a serious lack in development and risks of a quick white
counterattack.} 14. exf5 gxf5 15. Qe1 ({The computer suggests ideas like} 15.
Rae1 f4 16. Nxe5 {, assessing the position as equal.}) 15... O-O 16. Rb1 e4 $5
{A good idea, but with a tactical issue.} (16... bxc5 {simply regaining the
pawn while keeping Black's trumps was strong, but somewhat unimaginative.}) 17.
dxe4 f4 18. Rd1 $2 {Logical, but wrong.} ({Actually the rook served a much
more inportant function on b1, as} 18. cxb6 $1 {was possible due to} fxe3 19.
b7 $1 {regaining the piece with an edge. Black can play 18...Rf7!? still with
a messy position, and decent chances especially with this being a blitz game,
but objectively White would be better.}) (18. Bc1 Ng5 19. Qe2 $5 {also looks
interesting exploiting the fact that 20.Qc4+ is possible after 19...Bxc3, but
the computers suggests the interesting} Nxh3+ (19... Bxc3 20. Qc4+) 20. gxh3
Qd7 {with a strong attack!}) 18... Qe7 19. Bd4 Nxd4 20. Nxd4 Ba6 {Both players
holds big trumps. Black has sacrificed 2 pawns, but has the pair of bishops,
and aims at winning the exchange on f1. White needs to consolidate, also, the
f5-square looks inviting for his knight. Wang, however, sees a tactical
possibility, but missed Black's reply to it!} 21. Nxc6 $2 Qxc5 22. Nd5 Rae8 $1
{By controlling the e7 square, Black threatens the knight on c6 as its no
longer indirectly defended due to the fork on e7, meaning it has to retreat
when Black safely can take the exchange on f1.} ({White's idea was} 22... Bxf1
23. Nde7+ Kh7 24. e5 $1 {when suddenly the b1-h7 diagonal gives him a huge
attack as} Qxc2 {can be replied to by} 25. Rd2 $1) 23. Ncb4 Bxf1 24. Kxf1 Qc4+
{To make things even worse for White, not only did 22...Rae8! defend, it also
attacked the e4 pawn.} 25. Qe2 Rxe4 26. Qxc4 Rxc4 {Black has an exchange and a
easily winning ending:} 27. Ke2 a5 28. Nd3 Rxc2+ 29. Kf3 Ra2 30. Nxb6 Rxa3 31.
Nc4 Rc3 32. Nxa5 Rd8 33. Ke2 Rd5 34. Nb7 Bf8 35. Rd2 Rb3 36. Nbc5 Bxc5 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.30"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Tsydypov, Zhamsaran"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2529"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2018.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e4 Bb4 5. d3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 d6 7. Be2 O-O 8.
O-O h6 9. Rb1 b6 10. Ne1 Ne7 11. f4 exf4 12. Bxf4 Ng6 13. Bg3 Re8 14. Nc2 Bb7
15. Ne3 c6 16. Nf5 Re6 17. Qd2 d5 18. exd5 cxd5 19. c5 Qc8 20. cxb6 Rxb6 21.
Rxb6 axb6 22. Nxh6+ gxh6 23. Rxf6 d4 24. Qxh6 Qe8 25. Bd1 Bd5 26. c4 Bc6 27.
Bb3 Ba4 28. Bxa4 Rxa4 29. Rxb6 Ra8 30. h4 Qe7 31. h5 Nf8 32. Rb5 Ne6 33. Be5
Qh4 34. Qh8# 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.30"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Golubov, Saveliy"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2482"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2018.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 Bd6 5. Bg3 c5 6. c3 Qc7 7. Nbd2 Nbd7 8. Bd3
b6 9. Qe2 Bb7 10. Bxd6 Qxd6 11. e4 dxe4 12. Nxe4 Qc7 13. Nxf6+ Nxf6 14. dxc5
Qxc5 15. O-O O-O 16. Rad1 Rfd8 17. h3 h6 18. Bc2 a5 19. Rxd8+ Rxd8 20. Rd1
Rxd1+ 21. Qxd1 Qd5 22. Qxd5 Bxd5 23. a3 Bxf3 24. gxf3 Nd5 25. Be4 Nf4 26. h4 f5
27. Bc6 Kf7 28. b4 Ne2+ 29. Kg2 Nxc3 30. bxa5 bxa5 31. f4 Ke7 32. Kf3 Kd6 33.
Be8 Nb1 34. a4 Nc3 35. Ke3 Nd5+ 36. Kf3 Nc7 37. Bh5 Kc5 38. Ke3 Nd5+ 39. Kf3
Kb4 40. Be8 Nb6 41. Bf7 Nxa4 42. Bxe6 Nc5 43. Bxf5 a4 44. Bb1 a3 45. Ba2 Kc3
46. f5 Kb2 47. Bd5 Nb3 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.30"]
[Round "17"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2746"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2018.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. d4 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 b6 7. Bd3 dxc4 8. Bxc4
Ba6 9. Bxa6 Nxa6 10. Qe2 Qc8 11. O-O c5 12. Nb5 Qb7 13. a3 Ne4 14. Rac1 Rac8
15. Ne5 Nd6 16. Nxd6 Bxd6 17. Qg4 cxd4 18. Rxc8 Rxc8 19. Nxf7 Bxf4 20. Qxe6 Nc5
21. Nh6+ Kh8 22. Nf7+ Kg8 23. Nh6+ Kh8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.30"]
[Round "18"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B44"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2673"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2018.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 e6 6. e4 Bb4 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8.
Bd3 e5 9. O-O O-O 10. Qe2 Re8 11. Na4 d5 12. a3 Bd6 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bxf6 Qxf6
15. cxd5 cxd5 16. Nc3 d4 17. Nd5 Qg5 18. Rac1 Bh3 19. Qf3 Be6 20. Rc6 Rad8 21.
Bc4 Kh8 22. Ra6 Bb8 23. b3 Rf8 24. Qg3 Qd2 25. h3 Bc8 26. Ra4 Bd7 27. Ra6 Bc8
28. Ra4 Bd7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.30"]
[Round "19"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D26"]
[WhiteElo "2817"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2018.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 a6 4. e3 Nf6 5. Nc3 dxc4 6. Bxc4 b5 7. Be2 Bb7 8. O-O
Nbd7 9. b3 c5 10. Bb2 Be7 11. Rc1 O-O 12. Qc2 Rc8 13. Qb1 Qb6 14. Rfd1 Rfd8 15.
h3 h6 16. dxc5 Nxc5 17. Rxd8+ Rxd8 18. Rd1 b4 19. Rxd8+ Qxd8 20. Na4 Nxa4 21.
bxa4 Qd5 22. Bxf6 gxf6 23. Qb3 a5 24. Qc2 Qc6 25. Qxc6 Bxc6 26. Bd1 f5 27. Nd4
Bd5 28. Bb3 Bb7 29. Bc4 Bc5 30. Kf1 Bxd4 31. exd4 Bc6 32. Bb3 f4 33. g3 fxg3
34. fxg3 Kf8 35. Kf2 Ke7 36. g4 f6 37. Ke3 Kd6 38. Kf4 Bd5 39. h4 Bxb3 40. axb3
Kd5 41. Ke3 e5 42. dxe5 Kxe5 43. Kf3 Kd4 44. Kf4 Kc3 45. Kf5 Kxb3 46. Kxf6 Kxa4
47. g5 hxg5 48. hxg5 b3 49. g6 b2 50. g7 b1=Q 51. g8=Q Qb2+ 52. Kf5 Qd4 53.
Qa2+ Kb4 54. Qb1+ Kc5 55. Qc2+ Kd6 56. Qe4 Kc5 57. Qc2+ Qc4 58. Qf2+ Kc6 59.
Ke5 Qc5+ 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.30"]
[Round "20"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2763"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "25"]
[EventDate "2018.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c4 b4 12. Nc2 a5 13. g3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "2018.12.30"]
[Round "21"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Korobov, Anton"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A46"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2698"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2018.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 187 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.11.04"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bg5 h6 4. Bh4 d6 5. c3 g5 6. Bg3 Nh5 7. e4 Bg7 8. Bd3
Nd7 9. Nbd2 b6 10. Qe2 Bb7 11. Nc4 Qe7 12. Nfd2 Nxg3 13. hxg3 a6 14. f4 d5 15.
exd5 Bxd5 16. Ne3 Bb7 17. Be4 Bxe4 18. Nxe4 f5 19. Nd2 Nf6 20. O-O-O O-O 21.
Nxf5 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 81st"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2019.01.12"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A46"]
[WhiteElo "2813"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2019.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 188"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 b5 3. d4 e6 4. Bg5 c5 5. d5 Qa5+ 6. Bd2 Qb6 7. dxe6 fxe6 8. a4
b4 9. a5 Qd8 10. Bg2 Nc6 11. Ne5 Nxe5 12. Bxa8 d5 13. a6 Bd7 14. Bb7 Bd6 15.
Bg5 Nf7 16. Bxf6 Qxf6 17. Nd2 O-O 18. O-O Qxb2 19. e4 Qd4 20. exd5 e5 21. Nb3
Qe4 22. Qd3 Qg4 23. f3 Qh5 24. Nd2 Ng5 25. Bc6 Bh3 26. Bb5 Bxf1 27. Rxf1 Rxf3
28. Nxf3 e4 29. Qe3 Nxf3+ 30. Rxf3 Qxf3 31. Qxf3 exf3 32. Kf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 81st"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2019.01.13"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A65"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2763"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2019.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 188"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 e6 4. e4 c5 5. d5 d6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Nge2 exd5 8. cxd5
a6 9. a4 O-O 10. Ng3 Nbd7 11. Be2 Ne8 12. Bf4 Rb8 13. O-O c4 14. Bxc4 Qb6+ 15.
Rf2 Bd4 16. Qd2 Ne5 17. Bf1 Bxf2+ 18. Qxf2 Qxf2+ 19. Kxf2 Bd7 20. Be3 f5 21.
exf5 gxf5 22. Bd4 Nf6 23. Kg1 Rbc8 24. Ra3 Nc4 25. Rb3 b5 26. axb5 Nd2 27. Rb4
Nxf1 28. bxa6 Nxg3 29. hxg3 Rb8 30. Rxb8 Rxb8 31. Bxf6 Ra8 32. Nd1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 81st"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2019.01.14"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E64"]
[WhiteElo "2695"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[PlyCount "261"]
[EventDate "2019.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 188"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nc3 c5 6. d4 d6 7. dxc5 (7. O-O {
is the main move and now most people prefer} Nc6 {over the 'ICC Gambit' line
of ...cxd4 and only then ...Nc6, although the latter is fully playable.
Carlsen has lost a game on the Black side of this, albeit after playing some
rather strange moves. 1-0 (55) Mamedyarov,S-Carlsen,M Biel 2018}) 7... dxc5 8.
Qxd8 Rxd8 9. Ne5 Ne8 10. Nd3 Nd6 11. Bf4 (11. Nxc5 Nc6 12. O-O Nxc4 {is an
excellent position for calculators, as the possibility of getting a +1
advantage with either side is quite strong.}) 11... Na6 (11... Nxc4 12. Rc1 {
now virtually obliges} Nc6 {in order to keep attacking b2 but defend against
the threat of Nd5. However Black could be slightly worse after} 13. Bxc6 bxc6
14. Na4 $14 {and certainly Carlsen wouldn't enjoy the static disadvantage here.
}) 12. Rc1 {Safest. White's play gives the impression that he's content with a
draw, and to be honest, most players under 2750 would agree with him.} (12. Nd5
Kf8 {covers all bases and Black can continue with ... Bf5 next, completing
development.}) (12. Bxd6 exd6 (12... Bxc3+ $5 13. bxc3 Rxd6 $13 {could well be
a position the engine doesn't get. I wouldn't be surprised if Black were
slightly better here, due to some unstoppable chain of untangling moves.}) 13.
Nd5 Bd7 14. O-O Rab8 $11) 12... Bf5 13. O-O (13. Na4 {sensibly keeps the
a6-knight in place for now, but with so many pieces on the board it isn't
totally surprising that the game would continue, for instance after} Be4 14.
Bxe4 Nxe4 15. O-O Nb4 $11) 13... Bxd3 14. exd3 Nb4 15. Rfd1 Rac8 16. a3 Nc6 17.
Bxd6 (17. g4 {is possible, if rather maximalist. White would like to take on
c6, exchange a pair of rooks, and then play b4 deep into some rook and minor
piece ending. Unfortunately, Black has a few answers, like} e6 18. Bxc6 Rxc6
19. Ne4 Nxe4 20. dxe4 Rxd1+ 21. Rxd1 Bd4 $1 $11) 17... Rxd6 18. Ne4 Re6 19.
Nxc5 (19. Rb1 {It isn't yet advisable to go passive with this many pieces on
the board.} Nd4 20. Nc3 Rc7 21. b4 Ne2+ 22. Nxe2 Rxe2 23. bxc5 Bd4 24. Rxb7
Rxc5 {could still be protractedly unpleasant.}) 19... Re2 20. b4 b6 21. Bxc6
Rxc6 22. Nb3 (22. Ne4 Bd4 {leaves White tied up: Rd2 loses the pawn back, ...
Ra2 follows most moves, and} 23. Re1 {may simply be ignored.} Rb2 $1 $15 (23...
Ra2 24. Nc3 $1 Rxa3 25. Nb5 Rxd3 26. Nxa7 Rf6 27. Re2 $132 {and both sides are
playing on.})) 22... Ra2 23. d4 (23. c5 {was the simplest way to do things:}
Rxa3 24. cxb6 Rxc1 25. Rxc1 $1 axb6 26. Rc8+ Bf8 27. Nd4 Rxd3 28. Nc6 e6 (28...
b5 29. Nxe7+ Kg7 30. Nc6 Rc3 31. Na7 Rxc8 32. Nxc8 Bxb4 33. Na7 $11) 29. Rb8
$11) 23... Rxa3 24. d5 Rc7 25. Nd4 Bxd4 26. Rxd4 Ra4 27. c5 $15 {Leading
almost by force to the 4-v-3 ending that arose in the game.} (27. Rb1 $11 {
is possible, if passive. That being said, the rook on a4 doesn't contribute
much right now.}) 27... bxc5 28. Rdc4 Rd7 29. bxc5 Rxc4 30. Rxc4 Rxd5 31. c6
Rd8 32. Ra4 Ra8 33. c7 {White hurries to take the a-pawn, else it might not be
there any longer.} Rc8 34. Rxa7 Kf8 35. g4 f6 36. Kg2 (36. h4 Ke8 37. g5 fxg5
38. hxg5 Kd7 39. Kg2 Rxc7 40. Ra8 {is perhaps the easiest way of setting up a
drawing construct}) 36... Ke8 37. Ra3 Rxc7 38. Ra8+ Kf7 39. Rh8 Kg7 40. Re8 h6
41. Kg3 Ra7 42. Kg2 h5 ({One possibility is to try and arrange to take on h5
with a rook instead. The timeline is roughly as in the main line I give.} 42...
Kf7 43. Rh8 Ra4 $5 44. Kg3 (44. f3 $1 {could be better.} Ra2+ 45. Kg3 Kg7 46.
Re8 Re2 47. h4 {and Black has no time for ...Re5- instead he has to play ...h5
as in the game.}) 44... Kg7 45. Re8 Re4 46. f3 Re5 47. h3 h5 48. gxh5 $2 (48.
Ra8 Rb5 49. Re8 Kf7 50. Rh8 Ke6 $15 {Black has freed his pieces without
structural concessions.}) 48... Kf7 $1 $17 {The position is still a draw, but
has now become difficult.}) 43. gxh5 gxh5 44. h4 e5 45. Rb8 Ra4 46. Kg3 Ra3+
47. Kg2 Kg6 48. f3 Rd3 49. Rb6 Kf5 50. Ra6 Rd8 51. Kg3 Rg8+ 52. Kf2 Re8 53. Kg3
Rd8 54. Kg2 Re8 55. Kg3 Re6 56. Ra8 Rd6 57. Rh8 Kg6 58. Rg8+ Kh7 59. Re8 Kg7
60. Re7+ Kg6 61. Kh3 Kf5 62. Kg3 Rd3 63. Re8 Rc3 64. Re7 Re3 65. Rh7 Kg6 66.
Re7 Rd3 67. Kf2 Kf5 68. Kg3 Rb3 69. Re8 Ra3 70. Re7 Rd3 71. Re8 Rd7 72. Ra8
Rg7+ 73. Kf2 Re7 74. Kg3 Rb7 75. Rc8 Rb1 76. Rc6 Rg1+ 77. Kf2 Rg8 78. Ra6 Rb8
79. Kg3 Kg6 80. Kg2 Rb2+ 81. Kg3 Rd2 82. Kh3 Kf7 83. Ra7+ Ke6 84. Ra6+ Rd6 85.
Ra8 Rd3 86. Kg2 Kf5 87. Ra6 Rd4 88. Kg3 Rb4 89. Ra8 e4 {At some point Black
had to make the decision to transform the game in this way.} 90. fxe4+ Rxe4 91.
Rh8 Kg6 92. Rg8+ Kh7 93. Ra8 Rb4 94. Rc8 Rg4+ 95. Kh3 Rg8 96. Rc1 Ra8 97. Rg1
Rg8 98. Ra1 Kg6 99. Ra5 Rb8 100. Kg3 Rb3+ 101. Kg2 Re3 102. Rb5 Re5 103. Rb8
Kf5 104. Kf3 Ra5 105. Rb3 Ra4 106. Rb5+ Kg6 107. Kg3 Rg4+ 108. Kh3 Re4 109. Kg3
Rg4+ 110. Kh3 Rg1 111. Kh2 Re1 112. Kg3 Re5 113. Rb3 Kf5 114. Kf3 Ra5 115. Rc3
Ra4 116. Rc5+ Kg6 117. Kg3 Rg4+ 118. Kh3 Re4 119. Kg3 f5 120. Rc6+ Kg7 121.
Rc7+ Kf6 122. Rc6+ Re6 123. Rc4 Ke5 124. Rc5+ Ke4 125. Rc4+ Ke3 126. Rc3+ Kd4
127. Rc8 Re4 128. Ra8 Rg4+ 129. Kf3 Ke5 130. Ra5+ Kf6 131. Ra6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 81st"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2019.01.15"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C00"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2777"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2019.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 188"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 d5 6. Nbd2 dxe4 7. dxe4 O-O 8.
O-O Qe7 9. b4 Bd6 10. a3 a5 11. Rb1 axb4 12. axb4 Be6 13. Re1 Rfd8 14. Qc2 h6
15. Bf1 Ra2 16. Bb2 Qe8 17. Nc4 b5 18. Ne3 Ne7 19. Ra1 Rda8 20. Rxa2 Rxa2 21.
Ra1 Rxa1 22. Bxa1 Qa8 23. Bb2 Qxe4 24. Qxe4 Nxe4 25. Bxb5 f5 26. Bd3 Nf6 27.
Bf1 g5 28. Nc4 Bxc4 29. Bxc4+ Kg7 30. Nd2 e4 31. Bb3 c6 32. h3 h5 33. Kf1 Kg6
34. Nc4 Bc7 35. Na5 Nd7 36. Ba4 Nb6 37. Bxc6 Nxc6 38. Nxc6 Nc4 39. Bc1 f4 40.
f3 exf3 41. gxf3 g4 42. Kg2 Kg5 43. b5 g3 44. Nb4 Ne3+ 45. Bxe3 fxe3 46. Nd3 e2
47. f4+ Bxf4 48. b6 Kf5 49. Kf3 g2 50. Kxg2 Ke4 51. Ne1 Ke3 52. b7 h4 53. c4
Bg3 54. c5 Kd2 55. Nf3+ Kd1 56. c6 Kc1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 81st"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2019.01.16"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Van Foreest, Jorden"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2612"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[Annotator "Howell,David"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2019.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 188"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 {Carlsen sticks to his repertoire from the recent World
Championship match.} 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Nd5 {
The first surprise of the game. Van Foreest is a very principled player who
often favours direct openings, especially with White. However it seems
excessively brave to take on Carlsen in this line. While Van Foreest might
have spent several hours preparing this position, it is likely that Carlsen
and his team (assisted by powerful engines) had spent many weeks analysing the
following labyrinthine varitions for the World Championship. In hindsight it
would have been wiser to choose something which would have been less fresh in
Carlsen's memory.} (7. Bg5 {is the main line of the Sveshnikov Sicilian. Play
could then continue:} a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Nd5 (9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 {leads to many
long complex variations with chances for both sides.}) 9... Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6
11. c4 ({or} 11. c3) 11... b4 12. Nc2 {with a strategic battle ahead.}) 7...
Nxd5 8. exd5 Ne7 {This was played twice by Carlsen in his recent match against
Caruana.} (8... Nb8 {also featured in two games from the World Championship
match.}) 9. c4 Ng6 10. Qa4 Bd7 11. Qb4 Qb8 {Carlsen shows his ambitious
intentions.} (11... Bf5 {featured in Game 12 of the World Championship, but it
allows a repetition of moves:} 12. Qa4 Bd7 13. Qb4 Bf5 14. Qa4 (14. h4 {
was Caruana's choice in the aforementioned game and was also played by Kramnik
at the 2018 Olympiad.})) 12. h4 h5 {With the inclusion of the h-pawn moves it
appears that neither king will find a safe haven on this side of the board.}
13. Be3 a6 14. Nc3 f5 $5 {Not quite a novelty, but Carlsen displays his
opening expertise by unleashing a rare idea.} (14... a5 {was Carlsen's choice
in one of the decisive tie-break games against Caruana:} 15. Qb3 a4 16. Qd1 Be7
17. g3 Qc8 18. Be2 Bg4 19. Rc1 Bxe2 20. Qxe2 Qf5 {and despite Carlsen's
victory, White holds the upper hand.} 21. c5 (21. O-O $14 {would have left
White with a long-term edge due to his structural superiority on the queenside.
}) 21... O-O $1 22. c6 bxc6 23. dxc6 Rfc8 24. Qc4 Bd8 25. Nd5 e4 $2 26. c7 Bxc7
$1 27. Nxc7 Ne5 28. Nd5 $2 Kh7 $1 {0-1, Caruana-Carlsen, London 2018.}) 15.
O-O-O $146 {A natural choice, if somewhat risky.} (15. g3 {looks like a safe
option}) ({while} 15. Be2 {is also playable.}) (15. Na4 $5 {was mentioned by
Van Foreest after the game, and indeed this move would have led to interesting
positions which would have suited his style:} f4 $1 16. Bd3 Nxh4 $1 {
(apparently this was suggested by Carlsen in the post mortem. Further proof of
the depth of his preparation)} 17. Rxh4 fxe3 18. Bg6+ Kd8 {with a very
double-edged position. As usual, the engine eventually assesses this as 0.00
but neither king is safe and fireworks are likely to ensue.}) 15... Be7 16. g3
O-O $5 {An interesting pawn sacrifice, most likely still part of Carlsen's
preparation.} (16... e4 {would have been my first thought. Black intends to
land the knight on e5 as quickly as possible.}) ({Meanwhile the immediate} 
16... b5 $5 {is also worthy of consideration.}) 17. Be2 {Now the h5-pawn is
indefensible.} e4 18. Bd4 $6 {A step in the wrong direction.} ({Snatching the
pawn with} 18. Bxh5 {was of course critical:} Ne5 19. Be2 b5 20. cxb5 axb5 $44
{it is clear that Black has compensation here. There is a simple plan of ...
Rf8-c8 and ...Be7-d8-a5 while the white king is a target. However, the b5-pawn
will soon fall and if an attack fails then White should convert his extra pawn.
} 21. Bg5 $1 {looks like White's most accurate move to nullify the black
initiative.}) ({If White was too afraid to capture on h5, then} 18. f4 {
was another option:} exf3 19. Bxf3 Ne5 20. Be2 b5 21. cxb5 axb5 22. Bd4 $132 {
and, compared to the game, Black's e5-knight lacks stability.}) 18... Bf6 19.
Bxf6 Rxf6 20. Qb6 $2 {Van Foreest's plan is understandable; he wishes to
prevent Black from opening the queenside. Unfortunately queens are known to be
poor blockaders, and this short-term measure soon fails.} (20. Bxh5 {was now
essential. Play could continue:} Ne5 21. Be2 b5 22. cxb5 Bxb5 $1 {(forcing the
exchange of White's strong knight)} 23. Nxb5 axb5 24. a3 (24. Kb1 $6 Qa7 $15)
24... Rf8 25. Bxb5 Qc7+ 26. Kb1 Rfb8 $44 {with yet another position that is
difficult to evaluate. Objectively chances are still equal, although in
practical terms it feels easier to play Black.}) 20... Ne5 21. Kb1 Be8 $1 $15 {
Black re-routes the bishop and intends to kick the white queen away from b6.}
22. Rd2 Nd7 23. Qd4 Qc7 24. Nd1 {The start of a poor manoeuvre, but it is not
easy to offer any constructive alternatives. White's position is strategically
dubious - it lacks purpose, while Black can slowly prepare the b7-b5 or f5-f4
pawn breaks.} Ne5 {Black's knight is incredibly powerful here. It simply
cannot be challenged.} 25. Ne3 f4 $1 {Simple and strong.} 26. gxf4 Rxf4 27. Rg1
(27. Ng2 {does not help:} Rf8 28. Qe3 Qf7 29. Rf1 (29. Qxe4 Qxf2 $19) 29... Rc8
$17 {and Black holds an obvious advantage.}) 27... Bg6 28. Ka1 ({It is a sad
situation when the engine suggests jettisoning material with moves such as} 28.
Rxg6 {although Black's conversion task is not so easy:} Nxg6 29. Ng2 Rf5 $17
30. Qxe4 Qf7 31. Bd3 {and the game continues.}) 28... Raf8 29. c5 {Desperation,
but otherwise f2 falls without compensation.} Rxf2 {Black simply gobbles the
pawn.} (29... dxc5 {is also sufficient:} 30. Qc3 Qd6 $17) 30. Qc3 (30. c6 $5 {
would have been my final attempt at creating confusion.}) 30... Qxc5 31. Qxc5
dxc5 32. d6 Kh7 33. d7 Nf3 {Winning material. A brutal victory from Carlsen,
who pounced upon his opponent's indecisiveness to score his first win of the
tournament.} 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel-A 81st"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2019.01.18"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D27"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2817"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2019.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 188"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 dxc4 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 c5 6. O-O a6 7. b3 b6 (7...
cxd4 {might be my choice, since (as the next note indicates) it might soon be
too late to play this.}) 8. dxc5 ({In this relative theoretical backwater, the
engines are rather fond of} 8. Ba3 $5 {trying to force an isolated c-pawn on
Black (or else remove his castling rights.)} Nbd7 (8... Bb7 9. dxc5 Qxd1 10.
Rxd1 Bxc5 11. Bxc5 bxc5 12. Be2 $1 $14) (8... cxd4 9. Bxf8 Kxf8 10. Nxd4 Qe7
$14) (8... Qc7 9. Nbd2 Be7 10. Rc1 Nbd7 11. dxc5 bxc5 12. Bb2 $14) 9. d5 exd5
10. Bxd5 Nxd5 11. Qxd5 Ra7 12. Bb2 $14 {Smirnov,P-Kozionov,K Kazan 2017}) 8...
Qxd1 9. Rxd1 Bxc5 10. Bb2 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Be2 O-O 13. Nc4 Rfd8 14. Ne1
Bd5 15. Rac1 Rac8 16. Nd3 Be7 17. Nce5 ({White avoids the
structure-for-bishop-pair imbalance resulting from} 17. Bd4 Bxc4 18. bxc4 Ne4
$132) 17... Bb7 18. Nc4 Bd5 19. Nd2 Bb7 20. Kf1 h6 21. Bf3 Nd5 22. Nc4 b5 23.
Na5 Ba8 24. a3 ({There was another interesting option for an imbalance, albeit
the other way than before, in} 24. Bxd5 $5 Bxd5 (24... exd5 $1 25. g3 $132) 25.
Nf4 Rxc1 26. Rxc1 Bf6 27. Bxf6 Nxf6 28. Ke2 $14) 24... g5 25. h3 f5 26. b4 Kf7
27. Nb3 Bf6 (27... N5b6 {is a lot more natural than the text for me; White
needs to think seriously about why c4 isn't just a weakness.}) 28. Bxf6 Kxf6
29. Nbc5 N5b6 30. Be2 Nc4 (30... Nxc5 31. Nxc5 Bd5 $5 {was possible, inviting
massive simplifications.} 32. Nxa6 Nc4 33. Ra1 Ra8 34. Nc7 Rxa3 35. Nxb5 Rxa1
36. Rxa1 Rb8 37. Nc7 Rxb4 38. Nxd5+ exd5 $11) 31. a4 Ndb6 32. a5 Nd5 33. Nxa6 (
{Svidler mentioned in his commentary that the supercomputers were giving} 33.
Kg1 $5 {which leads to some imbalance as well:} Nxb4 (33... Nc7 34. g4 $14) 34.
Nxb4 Rxd1+ 35. Rxd1 Rxc5 36. Nxa6 Rc8 37. Ra1 {with interesting play.}) 33...
Ndxe3+ 34. fxe3 Nxe3+ 35. Kg1 {Avoiding the 2nd rank pin.} (35. Kf2 Nxd1+ 36.
Rxd1 Rc2 $132) 35... Nxd1 36. Rxd1 Rc2 37. Bf3 Be4 $1 {Black has recognised
that the two knights work together quite well, and chooses to swap one of them
off.} 38. Nac5 (38. Bxe4 fxe4 39. Rf1+ Ke7 {will be what Magnus wanted to make
work first, but it doesn't and he must settle for a deeply unnatural draw after
} 40. Ndc5 Rdd2 41. Re1 Rxg2+ 42. Kh1 $11) 38... Bxd3 39. Rxd3 Rxd3 40. Nxd3 e5
41. Bb7 e4 42. Nc5 Ke5 43. a6 Ra2 44. Bc6 ({It is also possible to try and
block the a-file with} 44. Nb3 e3 45. Kf1 {but Black can simply deliver
perpetual check.} f4 46. Na5 Ra1+ 47. Ke2 Ra2+ 48. Ke1 $11 (48. Kf3 $4 g4+ $3))
44... h5 $4 {Black gets ambitious: the spectre of a back-rank mate was just
too tempting. This loses the game after accurate play.} (44... e3 {was more
than enough to draw.} 45. Bxb5 Kd4 {and White will be unable to sustainably
block the a-file, meaning that lines like} 46. Kf1 f4 47. Ke1 h5 48. Be2 Ra1+
49. Bd1 Kc4 50. Na4 Kd3 51. Nc5+ Kc4 $11 {are likely.}) 45. Bxb5 g4 46. hxg4
hxg4 47. Bc4 $1 {An accurate if not especially intuitive move. One of its
chief points is that with the rook on a1, Black isn't able to play ...Kd4.} (
47. Kh2 e3 48. Nd3+ Ke4 $16) 47... Ra1+ 48. Kh2 $1 f4 49. b5 f3 50. b6 Kf4 51.
Nxe4 {Eliminating the ghost of Black's mate-motifs.} 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 81st"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2019.01.19"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Fedoseev, Vladimir1"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D90"]
[WhiteElo "2724"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "147"]
[EventDate "2019.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 188"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. h4 c6 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. Bf4 Nc6 8. e3
O-O 9. Qb3 Na5 10. Qa3 Nc4 11. Bxc4 dxc4 12. O-O Bd7 13. Ne5 b5 14. Qa6 Qc8 15.
Qa5 Qd8 16. Qxd8 Rfxd8 17. Nxd7 Nxd7 18. Nxb5 e5 19. dxe5 Nxe5 20. Rac1 a6 21.
Na3 Nd3 22. Rc2 Rac8 23. Bg5 Re8 24. Nxc4 h6 25. Bf4 Nb4 26. Rcc1 Nxa2 27. Ra1
Rxc4 28. Rxa2 Be5 29. b3 Rb4 30. Bxe5 Rxe5 31. Rxa6 Rxb3 32. Rd1 Rb4 33. Rd7
Kg7 34. Raa7 Rf5 35. f3 Rb2 36. e4 Rf4 37. e5 Re2 38. Re7 Rf5 39. e6 Kf8 40.
Rxf7+ Rxf7 41. Rxf7+ Kg8 42. Re7 Kf8 43. Rf7+ Kg8 44. h5 gxh5 45. Rf5 Rxe6 46.
Rxh5 Kg7 47. Kf2 Ra6 48. g4 Ra2+ 49. Kg3 Ra3 50. Rd5 Kf6 51. Kf4 Ra4+ 52. Ke3
Ra1 53. f4 Rg1 54. Rd6+ Kg7 55. Kf3 Re1 56. Rb6 Rg1 57. Re6 Ra1 58. Ke4 Ra4+
59. Kf5 Ra5+ 60. Re5 Ra7 61. Rd5 Rf7+ 62. Ke4 Re7+ 63. Kd4 Re1 64. Rd7+ Kf6 65.
Rd6+ Kg7 66. Kd5 Rg1 67. Ke6 Rxg4 68. Rd7+ Kg8 69. f5 Rf4 70. Kf6 Rf1 71. Rd8+
Kh7 72. Rd7+ Kg8 73. Rd8+ Kh7 74. Rd7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 81st"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2019.01.20"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Rapport, Richard"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B80"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2731"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2019.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 188"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. g3 a6 7. Bg2 Nf6 8. O-O
d6 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Na4 Rb8 11. c4 c5 12. b3 Be7 13. Bb2 O-O 14. Qe1 Nd7 15.
Rd1 Bb7 16. Qc3 Bf6 17. Qd2 Be7 18. Qc3 Bf6 19. Qd2 Be7 20. f4 e5 21. Bc3 Bc6
22. Ba5 Qb7 23. Nc3 exf4 24. gxf4 Rfe8 25. e5 Bxg2 26. Qxg2 dxe5 27. Nd5 e4 28.
Bc3 f6 29. Kh1 Kh8 30. Rg1 Bf8 31. Ne3 Qc6 32. Rd5 Qe6 33. Rh5 Qf7 34. Qh3 g6
35. Rh4 Rb6 36. f5 Ne5 37. Nd5 Rd6 38. fxg6 Nxg6 39. Bxf6+ Rxf6 40. Rxh7+ 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 81st"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2019.01.22"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Shankland, Samuel L"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2725"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[Annotator "Fernandez,D"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2019.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 188"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 a6 {A relatively major trend of the 2010's. Black
threatens to take on d5 and obliges his opponent to enter a Carlsbad structure
in which ...a6 will be useful rather than committal.} 4. cxd5 (4. Nf3 {is of
course playable, but after} dxc4 5. a4 Nc6 6. e4 Na5 7. Be3 $44 {or similar,
the compensation is less clear-cut than in a standard Moscow Gambit.}) (4. e4 {
attempts a favourable comparison to the 3...c6 4.e4!? gambit, but} dxe4 5. Nxe4
Nf6 $11 {was just fine for Black in Roubalik,J-Zilka,S Czech Republic 2018})
4... exd5 5. Nf3 h6 {This is maximalist, and provocative.} ({There isn't much
reason why the} 5... Nf6 6. Bg5 Be6 7. e3 Nbd7 8. Bd3 h6 9. Bf4 {of Karjakin,
S-Caruana,F Saint Louis 2018 should scare Black, but if the text can be played,
then it should be.}) 6. Bf4 (6. Qb3 Nf6 7. e4 $5 Nxe4 $1 (7... dxe4 8. Ne5 Be6
9. Qxb7 $18) 8. Qxd5 Qxd5 9. Nxd5 Bd6 10. Bd3 Nf6 11. Nxf6+ gxf6 12. O-O Nc6
13. Re1+ Kf8 14. Be3 $11 {Here a draw was agreed in Parligras,M-Rakhmanov,A
Banja Vrujci 2017, on the premise that in the absence of queens, the isolated
d-pawn is as weak as the doubled f-pawns.}) 6... Nf6 7. e3 Bd6 8. Bxd6 Qxd6 9.
Qc2 O-O 10. Bd3 Re8 11. h3 {It might turn out that this move is unnecessary,
because Black wasn't planning ...Bg4 for some time yet.} ({Let us examine:} 11.
O-O Bg4 ({If Black plays} 11... Be6 {with the idea of ... Nbd7 as in the game,
then h3 could have been saved. For instance,} 12. b4 $14) 12. Ne5 c5 $1 (12...
Nc6 13. f4 {should be something for White}) 13. Qa4 $5 (13. Qd2 b5 14. f4 Nc6
15. h3 cxd4 16. exd4 Be6 $132 {with play on both sides of the board}) 13... Be6
14. Qa3 b6 $14 {I think White has a nibble in this Barry-type position. The
computer likes 13...Rxe5, but then Black is really playing for tricks.}) 11...
Be6 12. O-O Nbd7 ({It is reasonable to ask, given the game continuation, why
Black didn't go for} 12... c5 $5 {immediately, so that his knight could use
the c6-square and (probably) ...b5 would still be an option?} 13. dxc5 Qxc5 14.
Rac1 Nc6 15. Rfd1 $14) (12... c6 {is a more aggressive way to handle the
position, inviting White to play b4 at some moment if he wishes, but reserving
options like ...Nd7-b6 in that eventuality. For instance:} 13. a3 Nbd7 14. b4
a5 15. Qb2 b6 $5 $132 {Or ...Nb6.}) 13. a4 (13. Na4 Ne4 $1 {This thematic
counter-blow at first looks impossible, but in fact it's necessary to stop
White developing a choke-hold on c5.}) 13... Rac8 14. Rfc1 c5 {On one hand,
this move usually hands over a slight plus to White for the foreseeable future,
but on the other, Black seems uniquely well placed in this case to carry out
the standard mitigating procedures.} 15. dxc5 Nxc5 16. Nd4 Bd7 17. Qd1 {
In case of any ...Nce4xf2 type ideas.} (17. Bf5 $5 {seeks to clarify matters a
bit.} Nce4 (17... Ne6 $1 {seems best. Now say} 18. Rd1 {With e4 ideas in the
pipeline.}) (17... Bxf5 18. Qxf5 g6 19. Qc2 Qe5 20. Nce2 $14) 18. Bxe4 Nxe4 19.
Qb3 $14) 17... Rc7 18. Bc2 Rec8 19. Nde2 Ne6 20. Bb3 Bc6 21. Nd4 {White
suffers in this phase from a lack of obvious plans, being that d5 is defended
as many times as Black needs. He ends up not finding one, and Black gets to
consolidate further.} Qb4 22. Nce2 Bd7 23. Rxc7 Rxc7 {This is now just dead
equal.} 24. Qe1 Qxe1+ 25. Rxe1 Nc5 (25... Kf8 {Playing this first presents
White with a small strategic problem. If he marks time, then ...Nc5 will come
next.} 26. Rd1 Nc5 27. a5 Ke7 $11) 26. Rc1 a5 27. Bc2 Kf8 28. b3 Na6 29. f3 Nb4
{Starting to give White things to think about. There needs to be, for instance,
a serious response to ...b5, both immediately and in the future.} 30. Kf2 Ne8
31. Ke1 Nd6 32. Bb1 {And this is a tacit offer of a draw.} (32. Kd2 b5 33. axb5
Bxb5 $132 {Black has his targets too.}) 32... Rxc1+ 33. Nxc1 Ke7 34. Bd3 Kf6
35. h4 b6 36. Kd2 Ke5 37. g4 g5 38. hxg5 hxg5 39. Nce2 Nxd3 40. Kxd3 Nb7 ({
The attempt} 40... f5 $4 {is hugely ill-advised due to the tactic} 41. f4+ Kf6
42. fxg5+ Kxg5 43. Nf3+ $3 {and White is basically winning.}) (40... b5 $5 {
is playable, though knights tend to be good in close combat such as this.} 41.
f4+ Kf6 42. Nc3 bxa4 43. Nxd5+ Kg7 44. Nb6 $1 (44. bxa4 $6 Bxa4 45. fxg5 Kg6
$15 {is still a draw, but with Black having a very active king and passed
a-pawn it could go wrong.}) 44... Bxg4 45. Nxa4 gxf4 46. exf4 $11 {and there
isn't much left to play for.}) 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 81st"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2019.01.23"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[Annotator "Hillarp Persson,T"]
[PlyCount "151"]
[EventDate "2019.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 188"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Nc3 $5 {This move takes an
immediate step off the Ruy Lopez main road. The conventional wisdom is that
the knight should go to d2, and then after 0-0, Re1 and Nd2-f1, it is within
reach of the kingside meadows. If such a move was played by a beginner in the
90s, a stronger opponent would probably have pointed out that it is a mistake 
(although it clearly is not). Still, Spassky used to play this way and in the
last decade, Dominguez Perez has kept it among his big guns.} Bc5 {Black faces
an important choice already here. Should b5 be played or not? Should the
bishop go to c5 or not? 5.Nc3 is obviously not a slower move than the usual 5.
0-0, so Black doesn't have time for extravagant alternatives. When you start
playing chess you clearly prefer c5 to e7, if you are to plonk down the bishop
somewhere, but then later you become aware that the bishop could be vulnerable
to c3/d4 and Nxe5/d4-tricks, so you turn a bit more philosophical about which
"the right square" is for the bishop, and might even swing over to the e7-side.
I sometimes get the feeling that really strong GMs have had the pendulum swing
back to where c5 is the "right square".} ({The other main line goes} 5... b5 6.
Bb3 Be7 (6... Bc5 {Ah, anyway! Clearly the better move order if you prefer to
avoid the exchange on c6.} 7. d3 h6 8. Nd5 Rb8 (8... O-O) 9. c3 d6 10. O-O O-O
{and we come to a position where White has a wide choice. When Carlsen and
Anand played each other in Sinquefield Cup 2017, with opposite colours, their
game reached this position and continued:} 11. Re1 Ba7 12. Be3 Bxe3 13. Nxe3
Re8 14. a4 b4 15. a5 bxc3 16. bxc3 Be6 17. Bxe6 Rxe6 18. Nd5 Ne7 19. Nxf6+ Rxf6
20. d4 Ng6 21. g3 Qc8 22. Re3 Rb5 23. Nd2 h5 $1 24. h4 Qh3 25. Qf1 Qg4 26. Qe2
Qxe2 27. Rxe2 Re6 {with a balanced game.}) 7. d3 d6 {Black is threatening to
pick up the bishop pair with Na5 next, so White must do something about it.
The usual way is...} 8. a3 O-O (8... Na5 9. Ba2 c5 10. b4 Nc6 11. Nd5 O-O 12.
Be3 cxb4 13. axb4 Bb7 14. O-O Nxd5 15. Bxd5 Qd7 16. Qb1 {and although White is
not significantly better, this seems like the kind of position White is
striving for, Rapport,R (2715)-Kollars,D (2530) GRENKE Chess Open 2018.}) 9.
Nd5 Na5 10. Ba2 Nxd5 11. Bxd5 c6 12. Ba2 {This position is hard to avoid for
White in the 5.Nc3-line, so if you intend to play it you should have a look at
it. I'm not entirely clear about what went on in the following game:} Bf6 13.
O-O Re8 14. b4 Nb7 15. c4 Be6 16. Bb2 c5 17. Bc3 Qd7 18. cxb5 axb5 19. Bxe6
Qxe6 20. a4 Qd7 21. axb5 Rxa1 22. Qxa1 Qxb5 23. Qb1 Rb8 {1/2-1/2 (23) Rapport,
R (2690)-Aronian,L (2785) Sharjah Grand Prix 2017}) ({A third option is to play
} 5... Bb4 {, in analogy to the four knights opening.} 6. O-O (6. Nd5 $5) 6...
O-O 7. d3 {...a6 is not, generally speaking, a move that Black would play in
the four knights, since White would take on c6, but it is not clear to me that
Black has anything to be unhappy about here.} Bxc3 8. bxc3 d6 9. Nd2 (9. Bg5 {
is standard in this position, but then it is usual for Black to play Bd7 in
order to prepare for a6, so one might argue that a6 actually is a slight gain
for Black here.} Qe7 10. Re1 (10. Nd2 $5) 10... Nd8 {and suddenly we are in
two-knights-land, by a long detour:} 11. Bb3 Ne6 12. Bh4 Nf4 13. Nd2 b5 14. Nf1
Ng6 15. Bg3 c5 16. Ne3 Qc7 17. h4 Be6 18. h5 Nf4 19. Bxf4 exf4 20. Nd5 Bxd5 21.
Bxd5 Rae8 22. h6 Re5 $5 23. hxg7 Kxg7 24. Qd2 Rfe8 {and Black eventually won
this rather unclear position, in Artemiev,V (2705)-Andreikin,D (2715) World
Rapid 2018.}) 9... Re8 10. c4 Bd7 11. f4 Nd4 12. Bxd7 Qxd7 13. c3 Ne6 14. f5
Nc5 15. Nb3 b5 {and Black had managed to land himself in a situation where a6
actually makes sense, in Adhiban,B (2680) -Stevic,H (2585) Tournament of Peace
2018.}) 6. Bxc6 {How very Magnus.} ({After} 6. O-O b5 (6... O-O 7. Nxe5 Nxe5 8.
d4 Bd6 9. f4 Neg4 10. h3 Bb4 11. e5 d6 12. exf6 Nxf6 13. Qf3 Bxc3 14. Qxc3 b5
15. Bb3 Bb7 16. f5 Re8 17. Bg5 Re2 18. d5 {and instead of taking the pawn, as
in Vishnu,P (2535)-Grandelius,N (2640) CellaVision Cup 2017, Black could have
played} c5 $1 19. Qd3 Qe7 20. Bxf6 gxf6 21. Rae1 Re5 {with a balanced game.
I'm prone to put some thought into this move order as (my compatriot) Nils
usually knows what he is doing.}) 7. Bb3 O-O 8. Nd5 $5 {is a spectacular way
to try to make more sense of the 0-0 move order...} ({After} 8. d3 {we soon
end up in a position that we looked at after 5...b5 6.Bb3 Bc5.}) 8... Nxe4 (
8... h6 9. c3 $1 {and White's d-pawn doesn't have to 'refuel' on d3.}) 9. d3
Nf6 10. Bg5 Be7 11. Nxe7+ Qxe7 12. Re1 $44 {Anand,V (2785)-Kramnik,V (2805)
Norway 2017}) 6... dxc6 7. d3 {This position is very similar to one of the
main lines of the Berlin Defence (of the Ruy Lopez); the only difference is
that the pawn is on a6. Usually strong GMs have prefered to play h3, Qe2, or
Nbd2, rather than Nc3, in this position, but Magnus has played a blitz game
earlier where he had exactly the same position (minus a6):} Qd6 {I presume
Vishy was aiming to apply a similar set-up to the one Jakovenko used to win
against Motylev (see comment after 9.0-0).} (7... O-O 8. Be3 (8. Qe2 Re8 9. h3
Nd7 10. Nd1 {can hardly be the hidden meaning behind Nc3...} Nf8 11. Ne3 {
Rapport,R (2675)-Ding Liren (2770) FIDE World Cup 2017}) 8... Bd6 9. Bg5 Re8 (
9... h6 10. Bd2) 10. h3 c5 11. Nd5 Be7 12. Nxe7+ Qxe7 13. O-O h6 14. Be3 Nd7
15. Nd2 Nb8 16. f4 exf4 17. Rxf4 Nc6 18. Qh5 b6 19. Raf1 Rf8 20. Nf3 Be6 21.
Rh4 f6 22. Qg6 Qf7 23. Qg3 Nb4 24. Bxh6 Nxc2 25. Ne5 fxe5 26. Rxf7 Rxf7 27. Qg6
Bxa2 28. Bg5 Rff8 29. Rh7 Rf7 30. Bf6 {1-0 Carlsen,M (2835)-Karjakin,S (2760)
World Blitz 2017 (with pawn on a7 instead of a6).}) 8. h3 Be6 9. Be3 $1 {
Like I mentioned before; Black's bishop is on the "best square" and White's
bishop has nowhere to go. It's simple maths that White wants them exchanged. 
(Magnus thought about the move for more than 10 minutes, so I guess my logic
is somewhat over simplified...)} (9. O-O O-O-O 10. Ng5 Nd7 11. Kh1 f6 12. Nxe6
Qxe6 13. Ne2 Rhf8 (13... g6 $5) 14. Qe1 g6 15. b4 Bd6 16. Be3 f5 17. f3 f4 18.
Bg1 g5 19. Qf2 b6 20. Rfb1 h5 21. a4 g4 {and Black went on to win, in Motylev,
A (2686)-Jakovenko,D (2747) Yaroslavl 2014 (again with a pawn on a7, rather
than on a6).}) 9... Nd7 10. Bxc5 Nxc5 11. Qd2 {This position seems like
nothing special for White and if Black gets to play Nd7 and c5, then White has
nothing. So the next two moves seem like the only ambitious alternative.} ({
After} 11. O-O O-O-O {White regrets having played h3 when Black launches the
g-pawn.}) 11... Nd7 12. d4 $5 ({I don't see a good way for White to change the
pawn structure after} 12. O-O-O c5 {One can try a plan with Nf3-somewhere,
followed by f4, but it will only give Black a good square for the knight on e5.
}) 12... exd4 13. Nxd4 c5 {Slightly surprising and the kind of move one
regrets after losing. It could be taken as a statement, that: "I will take the
d5-square from your knight and then you have nothing." (Although Anand most
certainly would not put it like that.)} 14. Nxe6 fxe6 {Ergo, no d5-square for
White's knight.} 15. O-O-O Qxd2+ 16. Kxd2 $1 {The king belongs on e3 where it
is centrally placed and can support White's extra kingside pawn.} (16. Rxd2 {
is not completely bonkers either, since} Ke7 (16... O-O-O $1 {looks sensible,
intending} 17. Rhd1 g5 18. b3 Rhg8 19. Ne2 Rg7 {, followed by Rd8-f8. With
both pairs of rooks still on the board, White's extra kingside pawn doesn't
mean as much.}) 17. Rhd1 Rhd8 18. f4 {, forces Black to play a less than
comfortable endgame.}) 16... Ne5 17. f4 $1 {Only by unsettling this knight,
before it becomes a permanent feature on e5, can Black be challenged.} (17. b3
g5 $1 18. f3 Ke7 19. h4 h6 {is comfortable for Black. White cannot get a
passed pawn without giving Black a ton of activity.}) 17... Nc4+ 18. Kc1 {
King is back where it came from, but the knight is floating without a strong
point.} Ke7 19. b3 Nd6 $1 20. e5 Nf5 21. Ne4 ({There is something to be said
for} 21. g4 $1 {, since it forces Black's hand:} Nd4 (21... Nh4 $2 {fails to
tactics:} 22. f5 $1 exf5 23. Nd5+ Kf7 24. e6+ $1 $18 Kg6 25. Nxc7) 22. Rhf1 (
22. Ne4 Ne2+ 23. Kb2 Nxf4 24. Nxc5 b6 25. Rd7+ Ke8 26. Rd4 Rf8 27. Nd7 Rf7 28.
Nf6+ gxf6 29. Rxf4 Ke7 {is a position that Black can hold, if I haven't missed
something.}) 22... Rhf8 23. Rf2 b6 24. Rdf1 $36 {This looks promising for
White, but I feel that it could be one of those positions that habitual
Berlin-defenders could have all figured out (no, no, that's the position when
the knight is on h4!). Still, Anand avoided something very similar on the
second next move...}) 21... b6 22. g4 Nh4 $1 {The advantage of hanging out on
h4, is that there are no pieces that can push it away. The downside is, you
know, knight on the rim...} (22... Nd4 23. Rhf1 {is similar to the line above,
which means that 21.g4 probably was stronger than 21.Ne4, at least from
Anand's point of view. Perhaps Magnus didn't bother to stop the knight from
going to h4.}) 23. Rhf1 {From now on, life will be hard for Black.} Rad8 $6 ({
Instead,} 23... Rhf8 {holds the balance without too much difficulty:} 24. Rf2 (
24. Rd2 h6 25. Kd1 Rad8) 24... h6 {and I wonder how White will continue?} 25.
Rfd2 (25. Ng3 Rad8 26. Nh5 Rxd1+ 27. Kxd1 g5) 25... Rad8 $1 26. Rxd8 Rxd8 27.
Rxd8 Kxd8 28. Kd2 Ng2 29. f5 exf5 30. gxf5 Nh4 31. Ng3 Nf3+ 32. Ke3 Nxe5 33.
Kf4 Nc6 34. Nh5 Ke7 35. Nxg7 Nb4 {and White should force a draw before things
get out of hand.}) 24. Rxd8 Rxd8 25. f5 $1 {It seems that White got to play e5,
f4, g4 and f5 a bit too easily. Considering what happens later, I wonder if
Black felt the same thing here?} exf5 26. gxf5 Rf8 (26... Rd5 $5 27. Rf4 Ng2
28. f6+ gxf6 29. exf6+ Kf8 $1 (29... Kf7 30. Rg4 Re5 31. Rg7+ Ke8 32. Ng5 $18)
30. Rg4 Rd4 31. Rxg2 Rxe4 32. Rg7 c4 33. Rxc7 cxb3 34. axb3 Rh4 35. Rc6 b5 36.
Rxa6 Rxh3 {and although Black is struggling, it seems that he has good chances
to hold.}) 27. f6+ gxf6 28. exf6+ Kf7 $6 {This looks natural and Ng5+ can be
met with Kg6. There is only one (well, actually two) problem(s) .} (28... Kd7
29. Rg1 h6 30. Rg7+ Kc6 31. Rh7 Kd5 32. Nc3+ Kd4 33. Na4 Rxf6 34. Rxc7) 29. Rf4
$5 {Forcing Black to block the king's road to the kingside.} (29. Rg1 $5 {
looks even better. The point is that} Rg8 (29... Nf5 30. Ng5+ Ke8 31. Re1+ Kd7
32. Nxh7 Rf7 33. Rf1 Ng3 34. Rf2 Ne4 35. Rf4 Ng3 36. Kd1 Nh5 37. Rf5 Ng3 38.
Rg5 $18) (29... Ng6 30. Ng5+ Ke8 31. Nxh7 Rf7 32. Rxg6 Rxh7 33. Rg8+ Kf7 34.
Rg7+ Rxg7 35. fxg7 Kxg7 36. Kd2 $18) 30. Ng5+ Kxf6 31. Nxh7+ Kf7 32. Rxg8 Kxg8
33. Nf6+ Kf7 34. Nd5 {should win for White.}) 29... Ng6 30. Ng5+ Ke8 31. Rf1 h6
32. Ne6 Rf7 33. Rd1 $1 Rxf6 34. Nxc7+ Kf8 35. Nxa6 Nf4 36. h4 Ng6 37. Rh1 Rf7
38. h5 $2 {I cannot see how this helps White. The knight becomes more active
on f4, so why force it to go there?} (38. a4 $1 {One way to make sense of h5
is that Magnus was worried about} Ra7 (38... h5 39. Kb2 Kg7 40. Rd1 Nxh4 41.
Rh1 Nf5 42. Rxh5 {and White has a hard defence ahead.}) 39. Nb8 Rb7 40. Nc6 Rc7
{, but after} 41. Rf1+ Rf7 42. Re1 Nxh4 43. Rh1 {there is no good way to hold
on to the pawn:} Nf5 (43... Rf4 44. Ne5 Kg7 45. Nc4 $18) 44. Ne5 Rg7 45. Nc4 $1
Rg6 $2 46. Rf1 $18) 38... Nf4 39. a4 Ke7 40. Nc7 Kf6 41. Nb5 Kg5 {Black has
almost managed to equalize, or, wait, is it only a mirage? Has the king been
deviously lured away from the queenside, so that White can continue with his
insidious ways? No, not really, but it is still more difficult to play Black.
White's knight is a bit more jumpy for the time being.} 42. Nd6 Re7 43. Kb2 Re6
(43... Nxh5 $1 44. Rg1+ Kf6 45. Rh1 Kg6 46. Rg1+ Kf6 {is very equal indeed.})
44. Nf7+ Kf5 45. Rd1 $1 {To help the knights return to the queenside.} Kg4 46.
Kc3 Kxh5 47. Rh1+ Kg6 48. Nxh6 {So, White is a pawn up again, but the knight
is misplaced. Black needs to find a way to make a net that will keep it from
getting out.} Re4 $1 {This stops the king from advancing further and keeps an
eye on g4, from where Nh6 will try to stage its reentry into the game.} 49. Kb2
(49. Rh2 Nd5+ 50. Kb2 c4 $11) 49... Re2 $1 50. Ng4 Nd3+ $6 {Another slight
mistake puts Black under pressure again.} (50... Kf5 $1 {was the way to keep
the knight in the cage:} 51. Nh6+ Kg6 52. Kb1 Nd5 53. Ng4 Kg5 54. Rg1 Kf4 {
and there is not way for White to gain coordination.}) 51. Kc3 Nb4 $6 {And
with this the pressure becomes quite hard to bear, again.} (51... Ne1 $1 52.
Rh2 Re4 53. Nf2 Re2 54. Kc4 Rxc2+ 55. Kb5 c4 56. bxc4 Rb2+ 57. Kc6 Nf3 58. Rg2+
Kf7 59. Kb7 Ne5 $11) 52. Rh2 $1 Rxh2 53. Nxh2 Kf5 54. Nf3 Ke4 55. Ne1 Kd5 56.
Nd3 Nc6 (56... Na2+ 57. Kb2 Nb4 58. c4+ $1 (58. Nxb4+ $2 cxb4 59. c3 bxc3+ 60.
Kxc3 Kc5 $11) 58... Ke4 59. Nxb4 cxb4 60. Kc2 Kd4 61. Kd2 Ke4 62. Ke2 Kd4 63.
Kf3 Kc3 64. a5 $1 bxa5 65. c5 Kxb3 66. c6 {and White wins.}) 57. Nf4+ $1 Kd6 (
57... Ke5 $2 {loses to} 58. Kc4 $1 Kxf4 (58... Na7 59. Nd5) 59. Kb5 Nb4 60.
Kxb6 Nxc2 61. a5 Nb4 62. Kxc5 {and the knight is unable to stop both pawns.})
58. Kc4 Na7 59. Nd5 Kc6 60. Ne7+ Kd6 61. Nf5+ Kc6 62. Kd3 Kc7 (62... b5 $1 {
is a good start, exchanging one of the pawns.}) 63. Ke4 Nc6 64. Ne3 Kd6 65.
Nc4+ Kc7 66. c3 Ne7 67. Ke5 Ng6+ 68. Kf5 Ne7+ 69. Ke6 Ng6 {On one hand,
Black's position is awful, but on the other; there is no way for White to go
forward.} 70. a5 b5 $4 {A terrible blunder in a drawn position.} (70... bxa5 $1
71. Kd5 (71. Nxa5 Nf4+ 72. Ke5 Ne2 73. c4 Kb6 $11 74. b4) 71... Nf4+ 72. Kxc5
Ne2 73. Na3 Nc1 74. Kc4 Kb6 75. Nc2 Ne2 76. Nd4 (76. Ne3 Nc1) 76... Nf4 77. Nf5
Ne6 {and there is no way for White to make progress.}) 71. Ne3 Nf4+ 72. Ke5 Ne2
73. Nd5+ Kc6 74. b4 Nxc3 75. Nxc3 cxb4 76. Ne2 {a rather tragic end to an
exciting game.} 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 81st"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2019.01.25"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2757"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2019.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 188"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 O-O 12. Nc2 Rb8 13. Be2 Bg5 14. O-O Kh8
15. a3 Ne7 16. Ncb4 Nxd5 17. Nxd5 Be6 18. Qd3 Qc8 19. Rad1 a5 20. Qg3 h6 21. h3
Qc6 22. Qd3 Qd7 23. Qg3 Qc6 24. Qd3 Qd7 25. Qg3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 81st"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2019.01.26"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Duda, Jan Krzysztof"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D24"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2738"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "141"]
[EventDate "2019.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 188"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,141,19,31,14,-14,-11,0,0,6,43,66,55,20,15,4,22,24,11,11,35,6,7,-10,
-13,5,0,1,-12,-21,9,1,-9,-23,-23,-122,65,83,83,86,61,95,90,105,90,104,97,105,
112,95,109,105,105,106,110,102,111,77,111,93,100,98,81,71,108,109,90,90,70,61,
51,86,99,72,60,84,113,85,84,92,93,81,88,68,66,55,47,55,55,55,67,43,66,45,62,47,
68,54,74,76,171,102,137,135,135,152,153,179,197,193,271,271,277,277,266,256,
256,243,256,211,320,298,301,255,269,259,309,256,298,308,302,310,329,313,313,
278,276,287,271,235,295,587,587,587]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4
{Duda stays loyal to his tournament preparation, the Vienna had netted him 2
effortless draws in the tournament already.} 5. e4 Bb4 6. Bxc4 $5 {In the
first round Vidit played the traditional 6 Bg5 whereafter Duda surprised with
6...b5!? 7.a4 c5. Magnus follows Duda's game with Mamedyarov, where White
played the now popular pure pawn sacrifice, aiming for quick development.} Nxe4
7. O-O Nf6 $5 (7... Bxc3 8. bxc3 Nxc3 {gives Black even 2 extra pawns, but the
white initiative becomes overwhelming. Danish IM Steffen Pedersen and Swedish
GM Tiger Hillarp Pedersen showed me this idea way before it became popular,
and I managed to win a blitz game agasnt Van Wely in the German Team
Championship before forgetting about it, and being completely lost against
Pedersen himself in an blindfold event in Denmark 2007. Won by Magnus himself,
as it was organised in order to give him training for his first appearance in
the Melody Amber Tournament.} 9. Qb3 Nd5 10. Ba3 Nc6 11. Rfe1 Nce7 12. Bxe7
Nxe7 13. d5 exd5 14. Bxd5 O-O 15. Bxf7+ $1 Rxf7 16. Rad1 Qf8 17. Ng5 {is the
basic tactical point, and my game against Pedersen from 2007.}) 8. Qa4+ Nc6 9.
Ne5 Rb8 {Obviously the line has evolved, and Black found more sensible
solutions than the early greedy attempts. 9...Rb8 is Caruana's choice against
Aronian from the Norway Chess tournament 2018, but obviously part of the
American's preparation for the candidates tournament. Funnily it was already
played by Magnus' second Laurent Fressinet in 2010, whose loss had nothing to
do with his position after the opening.} 10. Rd1 $5 {Aronian took on c6, and
Halkias played 10.d5. Magnus plays a less direct approach, but blitzed out the
following moves obviously still in his preparation. Duda knew the risks.
Playing Caruana's favourite line, which Magnus obviously must have prepared,
with hindsight might seem like a bad idea, but the young Pole showed numerous
times in Wijk that he is not afraid of a challenge.} O-O 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Qxa7
{Quite a typical scenario in modern chess: White threatened a blitz attack by
sacrificing a pawn, Black choose a solid continuation, and now suddenly White
changes gears, now playing for a better pawn structure and a potentially
passed a-pawn.} Bd7 {Threatening a "perpetual" against White's queen with ...
Ra8/...Rb8.} 13. Qa4 c5 14. Qc2 {This is why White included 10.Rd1 0-0, he
needed the rook to protect the d4-pawn.} cxd4 15. Rxd4 Bc5 $6 {Magnus
mentioned in a video interview after the tournament that he recalled asking
some of his second trying to sell him on this concept and he asked why can
black not just go 15...Bc5 followed by 16...h6? Somebody switched on the
engine, and said 17.Bxh6 and 18.Qd2 is +1. But no one told me what this +1
consisted of.} 16. Rh4 $5 {It was notheworthy that the Norwegian supercomputer
"sesse" preferred 16.Rd1, aiming for more positional methods.} h6 $2 {Played
quickly, but walking straight into preparation. Or sort of preparation at
least:} 17. Bxh6 $1 gxh6 18. Qd2 {Blacks problem is that h6 cannot be
protected, and losing it basically leads to mate on h8.} Nh7 $1 {Or 18...Ne8
leading to the same thing.} (18... h5 19. Qg5+ Kh8 20. Ne4 $1 {also causes the
game to end immediately, so Black has to praise himself lucky things are
actually not worse than they are.}) 19. Qxh6 Bxf2+ $1 {Black sacrifices the
bishop to force an exchange of queens. White cannot decline with 20.Kh1 as the
bishop on f2 also threatens the white rook on h4.} 20. Kxf2 Qf6+ 21. Qxf6 Rxb2+
$1 {Not only did Black have a saving check forcing off the queens, but he even
manages to pick up a pawn as well with this intermezzo equalling the material
balance.} 22. Kg1 Nxf6 23. Rf1 $1 {Maybe this position does not look as much,
but White's initiative still is very threatening. As Magnus knew the machines
evaluated the sacrifice on h6 as advantageous for White, and he (correctly)
saw no better option than this, it meant he could enter this seemingly
innocent position with confidence.} Kg7 $5 {Duda realized his problems, and
went for a practical solution.} (23... Ne8 24. Rf3 f5 25. Rg3+ Ng7 {is the
computer's preferred line, but showing a considerable initiative for White
after} 26. Ne2 {followed by 27.Nf4 or 27.Nd4.}) 24. Rf3 {Black's problem is
the safety of his king. Rg3+ basically mating is the immediate threat.} Rg8 25.
Rhf4 $1 {Blacks last move has a dual purpose of providing an escape route via
f8 for the king, as well as then attacking g2 with the rook. White, however,
is just in time to start his own attack in the f-line and Duda is now forced
to give up material.} Bc6 26. Rxf6 $1 ({If} 26. Rg3+ $2 Kf8 27. Rxf6 {Black has
} Rxg3 28. hxg3 Rxg2+ {followed by ...Rc2 winning back the piece.}) 26... Bxf3
27. Rxf3 Rd8 {White has 2 minor pieces for the rook, but the reduced remaining
material as well as Black's activity makes it a kind of 50-50 situation if
Black can manage the draw or not.} 28. Rf2 Rb4 29. Bb5 $6 {Too ambitious. More
stable was 29.Bb3, but Magnus underestimated Black's strong resource at move
30.} Ra8 30. a4 c6 $1 31. Be2 ({Due to} 31. Bxc6 Rc8 $1 {winning a piece, Duda
now manages to push White's bishop away from b5, meaning the knight is forces
to stay at c3 to defend the pawn at a4.}) 31... Ra5 32. Rf3 f5 33. Kf2 Rc5 34.
Bd1 {Defending the pawn on a4, and thus releasing the knight on c3 of its
defensive duties.} e5 $6 {Logical, advancing the pawn exploiting that 35.Rxf5
can be met by 35...Rc3. However, it does weaken the f5 pawn, meaning Black
will have to advance it further and thus allow White's knight to permanently
settle on f4.} 35. Ne2 Kf6 36. Ra3 Rb1 37. Ke1 $1 {A good retreat, defending
the d1 bishop and not fearing 37...Rcd5 due to 38 Nc3! forking the black rooks.
} e4 38. g3 $1 ({Not falling for the trick} 38. a5 $2 Rbb5 39. a6 Ra5 $1 {
winning the white a-pawn.}) 38... Ke5 39. h4 Ra5 40. h5 c5 41. Kd2 c4 42. Kc2
Rb8 43. Kc3 Rb1 44. Kc2 Rb8 45. Kc1 Rb6 46. Bc2 Rd6 47. Nf4 {White's pieces
start landing on their ideal squares, even so breaking Black's resistance is
not at all easy.} Rc5 48. Re3 Kd4 49. Re1 Rh6 $6 {Here Duda did not realize it
was a crucial moment of the game, and just played a common sense move.} ({
He had his chance, as} 49... Kc3 $1 {would ensure counterplay sufficient for
serious drawing chances as after} 50. Ne2+ Kb4 {Black makes it much more
difficult for White to improve his position than in the game.}) 50. Kd2 $1 {
A very strong move either luring Black's pawn to c3, meaning b3 becomes
available for the white bishop, or as in the game, White's king gets to c3.}
Re5 51. Ne2+ Kc5 52. Rh1 $1 {Covering the h5-pawn and thus getting ready for
Kc3.} Re8 (52... Kb4 53. Ke3 $1 {intending Kd4 and Rb1+ becomes decisive.}) 53.
Kc3 Rg8 54. Rb1 $1 Rxh5 55. Bxe4 $1 Re8 56. Nf4 $1 {A fascinating tactical
sequence, despite the limited amount of material. Its end result is just the
elimination of the kingside pawns.} Rg5 57. Rb5+ Kd6 58. Bxf5 Rxg3+ 59. Kd4 $5
{Taking on c4 was also possible, but Magnus' idea with the previous moves was
aiming exactly for this position: material has been reduced even further, but
Black's king suddenly surprisingly finds itself under a devastating attack!}
Rg1 60. Rb6+ Ke7 $1 {The good thing from Black's perspective is that he avoids
getting mated. The problem is that the king ends up too far away from a8.} 61.
Ng6+ Kf7 62. Ne5+ Kg8 63. Nxc4 {Materialistic, at last.} Ra8 64. a5 Ra1 65. Rb5
Ra7 66. Be4 Rc7 67. Rf5 Kg7 68. Bc2 Rc1 69. Kc3 Rf7 70. Rxf7+ $1 Kxf7 {An
interesting observation was being made by the spectators following the game in
the live chat. This ending is generally a draw as proved by Tablebases. Here,
however, the black king is not close enough to a7, and with his next move
Magnus shuts down any black hope of stopping the a-pawn with his rook from a1:}
71. Na3 $1 {Now White's a-pawn queens trivially, and not wanting the world
champion to end the game by showing his skills mating with knight and bishop,
Duda resigned.} 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 81st"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2019.01.27"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2783"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2019.01.12"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 188"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.12.21"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 Bg5 12. Nc2 Rb8 13. Be2 O-O 14. O-O Kh8
15. Bg4 Bb7 16. Ncb4 Nxb4 17. cxb4 g6 18. a4 bxa4 19. Rxa4 Bc6 20. Be2 Bxa4 21.
Qxa4 f5 22. exf5 Rxf5 23. Bd3 Rf8 24. Qxa6 Bd2 25. Qc4 Qc8 26. Qe4 Bxb4 27.
Nxb4 Rf4 28. Qc6 Rfxb4 29. Qxd6 Qf8 30. Qxe5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 6th"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2019.03.31"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C55"]
[WhiteElo "2756"]
[BlackElo "2845"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2019.03.31"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. h3 d6 7. a4 a5 8. Nbd2
Nd7 9. Re1 Nb6 10. Bb3 Kh8 11. c3 f5 12. exf5 Bxf5 13. Nf1 Bg6 14. Ng3 Bf6 15.
Ne4 d5 16. Nxf6 Qxf6 17. Bg5 Qf5 18. Qd2 Rae8 19. Be3 Bh5 20. Bd1 Qd7 21. Bxb6
cxb6 22. Qg5 Qf7 23. Qh4 Bg6 24. Bb3 Qd7 25. Qg3 d4 26. Nxe5 Nxe5 27. Rxe5 dxc3
28. Rxe8 Rxe8 29. bxc3 Qxd3 30. Qxd3 Bxd3 31. Rd1 Be4 32. Rd6 Bc6 33. Bd5 Bxd5
34. Rxd5 Re1+ 35. Kh2 h6 36. Rd7 Rc1 37. Rxb7 Rxc3 38. Rxb6 Rc4 39. Ra6 Rxa4
40. f4 Rxf4 41. Rxa5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 6th"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2019.04.01"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2845"]
[BlackElo "2779"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2019.03.31"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. Qc2
Nc6 9. a3 Qa5 10. Rd1 Rd8 11. Be2 Ne4 12. cxd5 Nxc3 13. bxc3 exd5 14. O-O h6
15. a4 Bd6 16. Bxd6 Rxd6 17. c4 Be6 18. c5 Rdd8 19. Rb1 Qc7 20. Qb2 Rab8 21.
Nd4 Nxd4 22. Qxd4 b6 23. cxb6 Rxb6 24. h3 Rc8 25. Rfd1 Qc3 26. Qxc3 Rxc3 27. a5
Rxb1 28. Rxb1 Rc5 29. a6 g6 30. Rb7 Rc1+ 31. Kh2 Rc2 32. Bb5 Rb2 33. Kg3 Bc8
34. Rb8 Kg7 35. Rxc8 Rxb5 36. Rc7 Ra5 37. Rxa7 Kf6 38. Ra8 Ra3 39. Kh2 h5 40.
a7 Ra2 41. h4 Kf5 42. f3 Ra1 43. g3 1-0

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 6th"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2019.04.02"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Navara, David"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2845"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2019.03.31"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Nd5 Nxd5 8.
exd5 Nb8 9. a4 Be7 10. Be2 O-O 11. O-O Nd7 12. Kh1 a6 13. Na3 a5 14. f4 f5 15.
Nc4 b6 16. Ra3 exf4 17. Bxf4 Nc5 18. Re3 g5 19. Rxe7 gxf4 20. Re6 Nxe6 21. dxe6
Bxe6 22. Rxf4 Bxc4 23. Bxc4+ Kh8 24. g4 Qf6 25. c3 Qe5 26. Qf1 Rae8 27. gxf5
Rf6 28. Qf2 Qc5 29. Kg2 Qc6+ 30. Kh3 Qc5 31. Kg2 Qxf2+ 32. Rxf2 Re4 33. Be6
Rxa4 34. Kf3 Kg7 35. Rd2 Kh6 36. Rxd6 Kg5 37. Rd8 Rh6 38. Rg8+ Kf6 39. Rb8 Rxh2
40. Rxb6 Kg5 41. f6 Rf4+ 42. Kg3 Rhf2 43. Rb5+ Kxf6 44. Bg4 a4 45. c4 Kg6 46.
c5 a3 47. bxa3 h5 48. Rb4 Rf8 49. Bd1 Rd2 50. Bf3 Rd3 51. Rf4 h4+ 52. Kg4 Rxf4+
53. Kxf4 Rxa3 54. c6 Rc3 55. Bd5 h3 56. Ke5 Rc5 57. Kd6 Rxd5+ 58. Kxd5 h2 0-1

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 6th"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2019.04.03"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2740"]
[BlackElo "2845"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2019.03.31"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 O-O 8. e3
Bf5 9. Ne5 c5 10. Bd3 cxd4 11. exd4 Bxd3 12. Qxd3 Qd6 13. Bxf6 Qxf6 14. O-O
Bxc3 15. Qxc3 Re8 16. Rac1 Nc6 17. Nxc6 Qxc6 18. Qxc6 bxc6 19. Rxc6 Re2 20. Ra6
Rxb2 21. g3 Re8 22. Rxa7 Ree2 23. Ra5 Rxa2 24. Rxd5 Red2 25. h4 Ra4 26. Kg2
Raxd4 27. Rxd4 Rxd4 28. Kf3 h5 29. Kg2 g6 30. Kf3 Kg7 31. Kg2 Rd5 32. Kf3 Rf5+
33. Kg2 Rd5 34. Kf3 Rf5+ 35. Kg2 Rd5 36. Kf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 6th"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2019.04.04"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D40"]
[WhiteElo "2845"]
[BlackElo "2790"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2019.03.31"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 c5 4. e3 Nf6 5. Nf3 a6 6. cxd5 exd5 7. g3 Nc6 8. Bg2
c4 9. Ne5 Bb4 10. Bd2 O-O 11. O-O Re8 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. b3 a5 14. Qc2 cxb3 15.
axb3 g6 16. Rfc1 Bf5 17. Qd1 Qd6 18. Ra2 h5 19. Na4 h4 20. Nc5 Kg7 21. Bxb4
axb4 22. Rxa8 Rxa8 23. Ra1 Rh8 24. Qe1 hxg3 25. hxg3 Ne4 26. Nxe4 Bxe4 27. Bxe4
dxe4 28. Ra5 Rh5 29. Rxh5 gxh5 30. Kg2 c5 31. dxc5 Qxc5 32. Qd1 Qc3 33. Qd5 Kf6
34. Qd6+ Kg7 35. Qd5 Kf6 36. Qd6+ Kg7 37. Qd5 Kf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 6th"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2019.04.06"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D79"]
[WhiteElo "2812"]
[BlackElo "2845"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2019.03.31"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 c6 4. Bg2 d5 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Nf3 Bg7 7. Ne5 O-O 8. Nc3
Bf5 9. O-O Ne4 10. Bf4 Nxc3 11. bxc3 Nc6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Qa4 e6 14. Qxc6 Rc8
15. Qa4 Rxc3 16. Rfc1 Rxc1+ 17. Rxc1 Qb6 18. e3 Qb2 19. Qd1 h5 20. a4 Bg4 21.
Qe1 Be2 22. Bf1 Bxf1 23. Kxf1 Re8 24. Qc3 Qxc3 25. Rxc3 e5 26. dxe5 Bxe5 27.
Rd3 Bxf4 28. gxf4 Rd8 29. a5 Kf8 30. Ke2 Ke7 31. Rb3 Kd6 32. Kd3 Rd7 33. h4 Rc7
34. Rb8 Rc5 35. Rb7 Rxa5 36. Rxf7 Ra3+ 37. Kd4 Ra4+ 38. Kd3 Ra3+ 39. Kd4 Ra4+
1/2-1/2

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 6th"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2019.04.07"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2845"]
[BlackElo "2797"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2019.03.31"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,76,80,-17,-10,-11,-19,-19,-12,-32,-39,-37,-25,-51,41,-8,4,10,2,-4,16,
1,22,-16,-7,3,13,-7,64,49,51,60,47,43,38,40,30,-69,-66,-71,-79,-30,-24,-29,-29,
-25,47,-11,56,17,234,36,111,18,155,167,167,157,148,148,153,136,136,136,140,136,
183,151,223,234,216,221,299,306,306,335,337,328,334]} 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3.
Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Bc5 7. O-O O-O 8. d3 {A very popular line
recently.} h6 {Black prevents Nf3-g5 and Bc1-g5. This move is new in GM
practice. Alternatives:} (8... Nxc3) (8... Re8) (8... Be6) (8... Bb6) 9. Nxd5 (
9. Bd2 Be6 10. Rc1 (10. Na4 Bb6 11. a3 f5 12. Qc2 Qd6 13. Rac1 Rad8 14. Nxb6
axb6 15. e3 f4 $132 {0-1 (24) Zupe,M (2260)-Fenil,S (2346) Skopje 2018}) 10...
Bb6 (10... Nxc3 11. Bxc3 Bd6 12. d4 e4 13. d5 exf3 14. Bxf3 Ne5 15. dxe6 Nxf3+
16. exf3 fxe6 17. Qb3 $16 {1-0 (65) Stanec,N (2512)-Sucher,J (2234) Aschach
2001}) 11. a3 Qd7 $11) 9... Qxd5 10. a3 a5 11. Bd2 Qe6 12. Rc1 Qe7 (12... Bb6
13. Bc3 {[%cal Yf3d2,Yd2c4]}) 13. Bc3 Nd4 (13... a4 $5 14. Nd2 (14. e3 Rd8)
14... Be6 {as} 15. Bxc6 bxc6 {is hardly dangerous for Black}) 14. e3 Nxf3+ 15.
Qxf3 Bd6 16. Qh5 c6 17. f4 $1 $36 {[%mdl 512]} exf4 18. gxf4 Qxe3+ $2 {This
acceptance of White's pawn sacrifice leads to a surprisingly fast defeat.} (
18... Kh7 $14 {[%cal Yg7g6]}) 19. Kh1 Rd8 $2 (19... f6 $8 20. Be4 {[%cal Rh5g6,
Rf1g1]} Qh3 21. Qg6 Bg4 $1 22. Qh7+ Kf7 23. Bg6+ Ke6 24. Rce1+ Kd7 25. Qxg7+
Kc8 {, and Black avoids disaster, although after} 26. Be4 {White keeps strong
pressure.}) 20. Rce1 Qc5 (20... Qxd3 21. f5 {etc.}) 21. f5 {[%mdl 128]} Bf8 22.
Be4 Rd5 {Of course, White doesn't accept this exchange sacrifice. Instead, he
continues his attack.} 23. Rf3 $1 b5 24. Rg1 Ra7 25. Bf6 (25. Rfg3 {was
already possible but a line like this is too hard to calculate:} Bxf5 26. Rxg7+
Bxg7 27. Rxg7+ Kf8 28. Qxh6 Ke8 29. Qh8+ Ke7 30. Qh4+ Kd6 (30... Ke8 31. Rg8+)
31. Qf6+ Be6 (31... Kc7 32. Bxf5 Rxf5 33. Rxf7+ $18) 32. b4 $1 Qe3 33. Bxd5
cxd5 34. Bd4 $18) 25... g6 26. Qh3 (26. Rxg6+ $5 fxg6 27. Qxg6+ Bg7 (27... Rg7
28. Bxg7 Bxg7 29. Rg3 $18) 28. Bc3 $18 {[%cal Rf5f6]}) 26... Rd6 27. Qh4 Rxf6
28. Qxf6 Be7 29. Qxc6 Qxc6 30. Bxc6 $18 {Black has avoided direct mate but
this endgame is technically winning for White.} Kg7 31. fxg6 fxg6 32. d4 a4 33.
d5 b4 34. Be8 Bg5 35. h4 Bxh4 36. Rxg6+ Kh7 37. Rc6 Bg4 38. Rf4 Rg7 (38... Rg7
39. Bg6+ $18) 1-0

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 6th"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2019.04.08"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2753"]
[BlackElo "2845"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2019.03.31"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 $5 {Considering the tournament standings, maybe made this a somewhat
surprising move. Magnus was leading the tournament by ½ a point ahead of
Karjakin who then had a further 1 point to the rest of the field. Meaning for
Karjakin this was almost a " must-win" situation as if the game was drawn he
would need not only to score half a point more in the final round, but also to
win a playoff. Even so Magnus stayed loyal to the Sveshnikov which generally
does promise solidity, but as shown in the London WC match does allow one way
for White to get a very complex battle:} 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5.
Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Nd5 $5 {Karjakin takes up the gauntlet and follow in
Caruanas footsteps. After London Magnus won with the black pieces against Van
Forest in Wijk aan Zee as well as Navara earlier in Shamkir. Magnus said after
the game that he was indeed exited to see 7.Nd5 on the board as it always
leads to very exiting positions. And that while the engines indeed seems to
give a preference for White, people tend to underestimate the human factor and
that Black's position is easier to play, as he generally tries to aim for the
opponent's king, while White has to balance positional gains on the queenside
with also caring about the security of his own king.} Nxd5 8. exd5 Ne7 $5 {
The move from game 12 of the match as well as the tiebreaker and vs. Van
Forest. 8...Nb8 is of equal value and was seen in game 8 & 10 as well as vs.
Narvara, meaning for Karjakin it was impossible to know for sure which move to
expect.} 9. c4 Ng6 10. Qa4 Bd7 11. Qb4 Bf5 {The move from game 12, later
Magnus preferred 11...Qb8. Anyway this is very much a theoretical debate in
progress where the status very much is unsettled. Actually a rare occurence
these days that suddenly an oasis of almost untouched but very interesting
positions suddenly occurs in a popular opening variation at the highest level.}
12. Qa4 Bd7 13. Qb4 Bf5 14. h4 h5 15. Bg5 $5 {Karjakin of course comes
prepared and plays the critical move. Caruana went 15.Be3 but got into trouble
before the game controversially ended in a sudden draw.} Qb8 16. Be2 a6 17. Nc3
Qc7 {In principle only this is the novelty, as 17...Nf4 18 Bf1 Be7 19 Bxe7
Kxe7 20 g3 Ng6 21 Qb6 was played in the game Houdini- Stockfish which Grischuk
pointed out during his interesting live commentary during game 12 of the WC
match. Magnus' idea, however, is very different and much more human. He does
not want to leave his king vulnerable in the centre, on the contrary it will
be hidden safely away before he launches an attack on the enemy king. That the
price is the h5-pawn is of no significance. Black is playing for mate!} (17...
Nf4 18. Bf1 Be7 19. Bxe7 Kxe7 20. g3 Ng6 21. Qb6 {Houdini- Stockfish.}) 18. g3
Be7 19. Be3 e4 $1 {That's the key point. Playing ...Nf8-d7 and covering h5
before castling of course is possible, but this is so much more temptin, as
the knight on e5 touches vital squares at f3 and d3 and starts making the
"aggressive" h4 and g3 by White look like weaknesses.} 20. O-O O-O 21. Bxh5 Ne5
22. Be2 Qd7 {White won a pawn, but Black immediately zooms in on the sore
spots in White's position, immediately threatening 23...Bg4 followed by a
deadly invasion on the f3 square.} 23. Qa4 Qc8 $1 {Obviously not allowing the
exchange of queens, while still upholding the threat of ...Bg4, meaning
Karjakin has to act.} 24. c5 $6 {Too ambitious, and now tipping the game in
Black's favour.} (24. Qd1 $1 {was the right move, controlling g4. Indeed Black
is perfectly fine} Nxc4 {when} 25. Bxc4 Qxc4 26. Bd4 {leads to an equal
position.}) {That is, however, the best White's position had on offer, as now
things are only to get worse. Much worse.} 24... dxc5 25. Nxe4 c4 $5 {Magnus
was happy with this move after the game. 25...b5 also was possible, forcing
White to "self-pin" with 26 Qc2. But as the computer shows, after 25...c4 26
Qc2! is still the best move, so why "force" White in the right direction?} 26.
Nc3 b5 $1 {Magnus said that he saw 26...Bd3 27.Bxd3 Nf3+ 28.Kg2 Nxh4+ forcing
a draw by perpetual, but that while for the tournament situation this would
indeed be a good result, Black's attacking options are just too tempting to
pass on.} (26... Bd3 27. Bxd3 Nf3+ 28. Kg2 Nxh4+ $11) 27. Qd1 b4 $1 {Another
forceful move. Sure it does ruin the solidity of Black's pawnstructure, but
much more importantly it forces White's knight basically as far away as
possible from the kingside where the game is going to be decided, as well as
it allows Black's bishop access to the e4 square.} 28. Na4 Be4 29. Qd4 ({If} 
29. f3 {then} Qh3 $1 {decides.}) 29... Qf5 30. f4 $2 {Logical, but leaving
Black with a winning position.} ({The absolutely last chance was} 30. f3 $1 {
when after} Nxf3+ (30... Bxf3 31. Rae1 $1 {and White very much fights on}) 31.
Bxf3 Bxf3 32. Qf4 {White defends.}) {While now with a couple of powerful moves,
Magnus shows his attacking skills.} 30... Qg6 $1 {A great intermezzo. By
attacking g3, Black forces White into unprotecting the f4 pawn.} (30... Nd3 31.
g4 $1 Qh7 32. h5 {is much less clear.}) 31. Bf2 Nd3 32. h5 Qf5 $1 {This is the
big difference, the basic point being that 33.g4 Qxf4 now is possible due to
the bishop on f2 blocking the rook on f1.} (32... Nxf4 {might look tempting,
but after} 33. Rae1 Qf5 34. Bg4 $3 {the tables are completely turned as} Qxg4
35. Rxe4 Ne2+ 36. Kg2 $1 {wins for White.}) 33. Bg4 {Better was 33.Bxd3, still
however leading to a winning position for Black after either recapture.} Qxg4
34. Qxe4 Bd6 {Of course threatening to take on f4, but while that is possible
to prevent, the main theme is that Black's knight on d3 protects the e1-square
meaning that his rooks can penetrate unopposed in the e-file.} 35. Qg2 Rae8 $1
36. Bd4 Qxh5 $1 {Precision to the end.} (36... Re2 37. Qf3 $1 {would force off
the queens, leaving White with some hope in an indeed bad ending.}) {Now,
however, 37...Re2 is a deadly threat as 38.Qf3 would then allow mate on h2.}
37. Qf3 Qg6 $1 {Again seemingly slow, but like in move 34 Black uses the
threat to the f4 pawn to gain time for his real aims.} 38. Kh1 Re4 $1 39. Bf2
Rfe8 {Blacks threats are numerous. 39...Nxf4, 39...Re2 or 39...Nxf2+ followed
by 40...Re3. Karjakin had seen enough and resigned meaning Magnus won the
Shamkir tournament with a round to spare, but also scored his 4th (!) win in a
row vs. 7.Nd5. Similarities to Kasparov's dominance tournament-wise as well as
his Kings Indian come to mind.} 0-1

[Event "Gashimov Memorial 6th"]
[Site "Shamkir"]
[Date "2019.04.09"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2845"]
[BlackElo "2771"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2019.03.31"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "AZE"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 {Trailing Magnus by 1½ point meant Grischuk
had instead to care about the fight for 2nd place which he before the round
was sharing with Ding and Karjakin. And thus he chooses the Berlin's solidity
over the Najdorf's aggressiveness.} 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 O-O {Earlier in the
tournament Grischuk had played the popular 5...d5 vs. Vishy, but now reverts
to the main line.} 6. O-O d6 7. Ba4 $5 {A move that by itself should explain
the popularity of the Berlin. If White anyway voluntarily will play Ba4, then
3...a6 must be really a bad move! More seriously this is the kind of position
where White anyway would make "half-moves" like 7.h3 or 7.Re1 meaning Ba4
can't be that much more worse as a waiting move. Still, it does look odd
indeed!} Ne7 8. Bc2 Ng6 9. d4 Bb6 10. a4 $5 {Apart from the obvous threat of
11.a5 winning a piece, White's general concept is that he will push his pawn
as forward as possible, then create confusion on the other side of the board,
and use that to then queen his a-pawn. If that sounds like a fairytale, have a
look at the remainder of the game!} c6 11. dxe5 $5 {Very simplistic. White has
just gotten the advantage in the centre, but now immediately creates a
symmetrical structure only for the sake of being able to push the a-pawn.} Nxe5
{Going by logic, Black does very little wrong in this game, but should
something be mentioned, it's this. Black now exchanges a knight he has spent
several tempi relocating to g6, against its white counterpart that only had
moved once so far.} 12. Nxe5 dxe5 13. Qxd8 Rxd8 14. a5 {For what it's worth,
Magnus achieved his aim.} Bc5 {The active choice. 14...Bc7 is obviously more
passive, but does have an important idea in mind: After 15 Be3 Be6 16 f3 b6!?
Black forces White into a decision on the queenside. 17 a6!? obviously being
the critical move, but as Black has not played ...b5 it means that a7 is now
not a target and that its very unclear if White's pawn on a6 is a weakness or
an asset. Of course 17 axb6 is possible, but then Black's operation has been a
sucess in the sense that White's queenside pressure has evaporised.} (14... Bc7
15. Be3 Be6 16. f3 b6 $5 17. a6 $5) 15. Nd2 Be6 16. Re1 {As 16.Nb3 Nxe4! is
possible, White first has to consolidate before continuing with his plan. Now
16...Nd7 17.Nb3 Be7 is possible, but after 18.Be3, at least by sight, White
does have a small edge due to the vulnerability of Black's queenside structure.
And with Black obviously having playing solidly and logically till now, why
should Grischuk start making concession?} b5 $5 {Grabbing space and
potentially threatening ...a6, when Black might even start claiming that
White's pawn is a weakness. White on the other hand is not that thrilled about
pushing a6 himself too early, as it would give Black access to the b6 square
for his bishop.} 17. Nb3 Bxb3 {Obviously a debatable move, but also typical of
Grischuks "high-level" style. Not limiting himself to just general
considerations like " White now has the pair of bishops", Grischuk goes beyond
that and claims that yes, White of course gets the pair of bishops, but in
return I get control of the d-line and avoid the else moderately akward
pressure against my queenside. As well my minor piece are immediately active,
while White's pair of bishops indeed struggle to find squares to develop to
naturally. 17...Nd7!? however might have been the better way. 18.Nxc5 Nxc5 19.
Be3 Bb3! forces an interesting opposite colored bishop postion after 20.Bxc5
Bxc2 21.a6. The human perspective is that Black's pawn on a7 will be an
eternal weakness, and rook exchanges will not magnify that problematic.
However, Black can argue that as he controls the d-file White has no way to
make progress, while Black will just double his rooks on d7 and d8, solidly
covering the a7-pawn, basically with an impregnable fortress, at least if the
engines are to be believed.} (17... Nd7 $5 18. Nxc5 Nxc5 19. Be3 Bb3 $1 20.
Bxc5 Bxc2 21. a6) 18. Bxb3 Ng4 {Active, but not really creating more than an
easily parried threat. 18...Rab8!? 19..Kf1 b4 means both black rooks will be
in control of the open files, but after 20.Ba4!? White does limit Black's
immediate actitivy and at the same time starts attacking Black's weaknesses.} (
18... Rab8 $5 19. Kf1 b4 20. Ba4 $5) 19. Re2 Rd6 {Creating the threat of 20...
Nxf2 21.Rxf2 Rf6!} 20. Bg5 Kf8 21. Rf1 $1 {Putting pressure on f2, Grischuk
might have forced this "passive" move, but actually only the first part of the
sentence is true. White indeed had no choice, but to put his rook on f1, but
happily does so, as it fits very well with the next part of his expansion
plans:} Nf6 22. g3 $1 {Another beautiful move combining the neccesary with the
useful. With f4 potentially being White's way to progress, removing his king
from the pin in the g1-a7 diagonal is mandatory and this also adds the option
of recapturing with the g-pawn on f4, as well as opening a route towards the
centre for White's king via g2 and later f3.} a6 23. Kg2 Nd7 24. Bc1 $1 {
Answering the question to which square White should develop his bishop. The
key part was getting his a1 rook into play, and with that accomplished White's
dark-squared bishop happily returns to its original square where its safely
"out of the way", while still being ready to join the battle immediately at
any given opportunity.} Ba7 25. f4 f6 26. h4 $1 {My first acquaintance with
Magnus was a guest lecture at a youth camp for the youngest group of Norwegian
talents. I spoke of Larsen, and obviously had a set of exercices where the
correct answer always was to push the h-pawn! Natasha Regan and Matthew
Sadler's fascinating "Gamechanger" devotes a full chapter to Alphazero's
preference compared to normal engines in pushing its flank pawns much more
agressively. It would have warmed the Danish giant's heart to know that a
theme he consistently wrote of being underestimated in chess, now is being
uphold and refined by the cutting-edge technology. If a5 and h5 looks odd to
you in this game, just think of the importance of having the black weak pawn
at a6, and the access to g6 for White's bishop. It's those details that make
Black's position collapse, and they are created exactly by advancing White's
flank pawns.} Re8 27. h5 h6 28. Ba2 c5 {With hindsight a very easy move to
criticise, but as Grischuk pointed out at the press conference, this exactly
should be the one. To him it looked like now was the perfect timing, as White
due to the weakness of the e4-pawn still seemingly needs a move to consolidate
before taking agressive measures. That premise being wrong, Black's best would
have been to seek counterplay with 28...exf4 29.gxf4 Nc5, the idea being 30.e5
Nd3! with Black still being in the game.} (28... exf4 29. gxf4 Nc5 30. e5 Nd3
$1) 29. Be3 $1 {An easy move to miss, as it indeed sacrifices a full central
pawn. 29.c4 is the alternative given by the computers which funnily at the
same time blocks both Black's bishop on a7, but also White's at a2! White is
better, but in a much less spectacular way than in the game.} exf4 30. gxf4
Rxe4 31. Bb1 Re7 32. Rfe1 {White has given away a full pawn, but has the
killing threat of 33.Bg6 when 34.Bxc5 becomes deadly due to mating motifs on
the e8 square.} f5 $2 {The surprising 32...Nb8! was the way to fight on, with
the hope of ...Nc6, Rdd7 and c4. Obviously white will prevent this liberation
attempt, most forcefully with 33 Kf3 Nc6 34 Bf5!? stopping the rook entering
d7, and replying to 34...c4? with 35.Bxa7 Rxe2 36.Rxe2 Nxa7 37.Bg6! Rd8 38.
Re6! picking up the pawn on a6 and winning easily.} (32... Nb8 $5 33. Kf3 Nc6
34. Bf5 $5 c4 $2 35. Bxa7 Rxe2 36. Rxe2 Nxa7 37. Bg6 Rd8 38. Re6 $1 $18 {
[%cal Ge6a6]}) 33. Bxf5 Nf6 34. Kf3 Nd5 {Grischuk said that at sight this move
looked like counterplay to him, but Magnus' next move was a cold shower:} 35.
Rd2 $1 {White was better anyway, but as often in favourable positions the
tactics also works in your favour. 35...Nxe3 36 Rxd6 Nxf5 37.Rxe7 is just
winning for White, as the rook and passed pawn easily outmanoeuvre Black's 2
minor pieces, 37...Nxe7 38 Rxa6 Bb8 39 Ra8! Nc6 40.a6 followed by 41.Rxb8 Nxb8
42.a7 being a sample line. 35...Bb8 was a line the players both looked at, but
discareded due to 36.Bxc5! Rxe1 37.Rxd5 when 37...Ke7 is met with the pretty
38.Re5+! as after 38...Rxe5 39.fxe5 White ends up with an extra piece.} Rd8 (
35... Nxe3 36. Rxd6 Nxf5 37. Rxe7 Nxe7 38. Rxa6 Bb8 39. Ra8 $1 Nc6 40. a6 Z0
41. Rxb8+ Nxb8 42. a7) (35... Bb8 36. Bxc5 $1 Rxe1 37. Rxd5 Ke7 38. Re5+ $1
Rxe5 39. fxe5 $18) 36. Be4 Red7 37. Red1 {No tactical magic is needed anymore.
Despite being nominally a pawn down, White aims for general exchanges!} Nf6 38.
Rxd7 Nxd7 {38...Rxd7 maybe was more illustrative as after 39.Rxd7 Nxd7 40.Bb7
Nb8 41.Ke4 black is completely tied up with the bishop unable as the knight
needs to block its only aviable square in order to defend the pawn at a6.} (
38... Rxd7 39. Rxd7 Nxd7 40. Bb7 Nb8 41. Ke4) 39. Rd6 $1 {[%cal Gd6a6] And
here Grischuk resigned. White will win the a-pawn and then basically
mechanically queen it after Rxa6 Bb8 Ra8 followed by a6+a7.  In many ways an
amazing game. White got nothing out of the opening, and Black's moves from
there all looked healthy and with logic. To use the words of Grischuk himself:
"Magnus played incredibly well."} (39. Rd6 $1 {[%cal Gd6a6]} Z0 40. Rxa6 Bb8
41. Ra8 {[%cal Ga5a8]}) 1-0

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 6th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden Baden"]
[Date "2019.04.20"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Keymer, Vincent"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E92"]
[WhiteElo "2516"]
[BlackElo "2845"]
[PlyCount "162"]
[EventDate "2019.04.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 g6 4. Nc3 d6 5. e4 Bg7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. Be2 e5 8. O-O Ne8
9. Ne1 f5 10. exf5 gxf5 11. f4 Nd7 12. Nd3 e4 13. Nf2 Bxc3 14. bxc3 Ndf6 15.
Be3 Ng7 16. Qe1 Bd7 17. Nd1 Ba4 18. h3 Bxd1 19. Qxd1 Qe8 20. Kf2 Qg6 21. Rg1
Kh8 22. a4 Rg8 23. Qf1 Nfh5 24. g3 Raf8 25. Qg2 Qf6 26. Rac1 Qd8 27. Qh2 Nf6
28. g4 Nd7 29. g5 Qa5 30. g6 h6 31. Rb1 Rb8 32. Qg3 Qd8 33. Ke1 Ne8 34. Kd2 Nf8
35. Bf2 Qe7 36. Ke3 Qf6 37. Kd2 Nxg6 38. h4 Ne7 39. Qh3 Rxg1 40. Rxg1 Qf7 41.
h5 Nf6 42. Bh4 b6 43. Rb1 Qf8 44. Rg1 Qf7 45. Rb1 Qg7 46. Rg1 Qf8 47. Kc2 Nfg8
48. Kd2 Qf7 49. Kc2 Rf8 50. Kd2 Qe8 51. Ra1 Rf7 52. a5 bxa5 53. Rxa5 Nc8 54.
Ra1 Qf8 55. Rb1 Nb6 56. Rg1 Rg7 57. Rxg7 Kxg7 58. Qg3+ Kh8 59. Qg6 a5 60. Bf1
a4 61. Kc2 a3 62. Kb3 Na4 63. Bh3 Qg7 64. Qxg7+ Kxg7 65. Bxf5 Nf6 66. Kxa3 Nxc3
67. Bf2 Ne2 68. Ka4 Nxh5 69. Ka5 Nf6 70. Kb6 Kf7 71. Kc7 Ke7 72. Be3 Nd4 73.
Bg6 h5 74. Bf2 Nf3 75. Bf5 Nd2 76. Bh4 e3 77. Bd3 Nf3 78. Bxf6+ Kxf6 79. Kxd6
h4 80. Kc7 Nd4 81. Kc8 e2 0-1

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 6th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden Baden"]
[Date "2019.04.21"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Vallejo Pons, Francisco"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2693"]
[BlackElo "2845"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "146"]
[EventDate "2019.04.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,146,38,42,40,11,25,8,16,3,-12,10,11,12,74,44,24,24,17,23,5,12,21,-3,
18,16,9,4,2,22,27,19,19,25,16,26,14,16,16,34,43,-8,27,-4,7,9,10,15,17,-4,0,-6,
-16,-20,5,-1,25,19,11,31,25,34,66,48,52,67,48,-17,-26,-26,-16,-31,-29,-50,-20,
-200,-72,-89,-109,-174,-194,-198,-171,-110,-103,-101,-85,-96,-103,-93,-93,-162,
-173,-208,-193,-187,-171,-208,-193,-196,-196,-204,-200,-195,-192,-208,-211,
-207,-197,-206,-207,-209,-207,-207,-216,-222,-208,-233,-229,-229,-222,-222,
-222,-222,-204,-222,-206,-193,-194,-204,-188,-249,-251,-203,-246,-517,-517,
-517,-517,-517,-517,-517,-517,-517,-517,-29992,-29978,-29979,-797]} 1. e4 e5 2.
Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Bc5 6. c3 O-O 7. d4 Ba7 8. dxe5 Nxe4 9. Bc2
(9. Qd5 {is the main move in this position. A recent example from the World
Champion's practice:} Nc5 10. Bc2 Ne7 11. Qd1 d5 12. exd6 Qxd6 13. Qxd6 cxd6
14. Rd1 (14. Re1 Re8 15. Be3 Bf5 16. Na3 Bxc2 17. Bxc5 dxc5 18. Nxc2 Nc6 $11 {
1/2 (84) Vachier Lagrave,M (2780)-Fressinet,L (2640) Brest 2019}) 14... Bg4 $5
15. Rxd6 Bf5 $1 16. Na3 Ne4 17. Bxe4 Bxe4 18. Rd1 Nf5 19. Nc4 Rfe8 20. Be3 Bxe3
21. Nxe3 Nxe3 22. fxe3 Bxf3 23. gxf3 Rxe3 24. Rd7 Rb8 $11 {1/2 (41) Karjakin,S
(2782)-Carlsen,M (2843) Stavanger 2018}) 9... d5 10. exd6 Nxd6 11. Bg5 f6 12.
Bf4 g5 $5 $146 {A curious concept. Magnus Carlsen complicates (disbalances)
the position. There have been two old games which continued:} (12... Bg4 13.
Qd3 Bf5 14. Qd5+ Kh8 15. Bxf5 Ne7 16. Qb3 Nexf5 17. Nbd2 Qd7 18. Rad1 Qc6 $11 {
1-0 (62) Gurnhill,C-Blake,J Edinburgh 1926}) (12... Kh8 13. Bxd6 cxd6 14. Qd5
Ne5 15. Nbd2 Bd7 $6 (15... Qc7) 16. Qxd6 $6 (16. Nxe5 fxe5 (16... dxe5 17. Qxb7
Bb5 18. Rfd1 Be2 $2 19. Qe4) 17. Qxb7 $16 Bb5 $140 $2 18. c4) 16... Bb5 17.
Qxd8 Raxd8 18. Rfe1 Ng4 19. Nd4 Rxd4 $1 20. cxd4 Bxd4 $44 {0-1 (35) Horn,
C-Gabinara,A San Marino 1950}) 13. Bxd6 (13. Bg3 f5 $5 14. Qd5+ Nf7 $1 15. Qxd8
Rxd8 16. Bxc7 $140 $2 Rd7 17. Bg3 f4) 13... Qxd6 14. Qxd6 cxd6 15. Nbd2 (15.
Bb3+ $5 Kg7 16. Na3 {preventing ...d6-d5} Bg4 $1 17. Bd5 Rae8 $13) 15... g4 (
15... d5 $142 $13) 16. Nh4 d5 17. Nf5 (17. Rfe1 $142 d4 (17... Bd7 18. Bb3) 18.
Rad1 {creating a kind of domination in the centre but that was not easy to
evaluate!}) 17... d4 18. Nc4 Bxf5 19. Bxf5 h5 $11 {The position is roughly
equal but complicated enough for the World Champion to outplay his opponent.}
20. Rad1 Rfd8 21. a4 Ne7 22. Be6+ Kg7 23. Rfe1 f5 24. Na5 Rab8 25. Kf1 Kf6 26.
Bb3 Ng6 27. Re6+ Kg5 28. g3 dxc3 29. bxc3 Rxd1+ 30. Bxd1 {[%mdl 4096]} Rd8 31.
f4+ $5 gxf3 32. Bxf3 h4 33. Nc4 (33. Bxb7 Rd2 34. gxh4+ Nxh4 35. Rxa6 $13 {
looked too risky to White but after the text move the initiative firmly
belongs to Black.}) 33... hxg3 34. hxg3 Bb8 35. Kg2 b5 36. axb5 axb5 37. Ne3 $2
(37. Na3 $1 f4 38. Be4 Nf8 39. Rb6 fxg3 40. Rxb5+ Kf4 41. Rd5 Re8 42. Bf3 Ng6
43. Rd4+ Kf5 44. Nc4 $11) 37... Rd2+ (37... f4 $1 38. Be4 Nf8 39. gxf4+ Bxf4
40. Rb6 Bxe3 41. Rxb5+ Kf4 $17) 38. Kh3 Rd3 39. Be2 Rxc3 40. Bxb5 f4 41. Be8
Nf8 42. Rb6 Be5 (42... fxe3 43. Rxb8 e2 44. Rb1 Re3 45. Re1 Rxe8 46. Kg2 $11 {
[%cal Yg2f2,Ye1e2]}) 43. Nf1 fxg3 44. Rc6 Ra3 45. Rb6 Ra2 46. Rb4 Ne6 47. Rg4+
Kf6 48. Bc6 $2 (48. Rxg3 $1 Bxg3 (48... Ng5+ 49. Kg4) 49. Kxg3 {is a
theoretical draw while "R+B vs B+N" is theoretically won in case of
opposite-coloured bishops. True, that position is very difficult. I failed to
score a victory against GM Kivanc Haznedaroglu in a similar situation but
Magnus Carlsen manages it much better.}) 48... g2 $1 49. Bxg2 Nf4+ 50. Rxf4+
Bxf4 51. Bf3 Bb8 52. Ng3 Kg5 53. Ne2 Bc7 54. Kg2 Kh4 55. Kf2 Bb6+ 56. Ke1 Be3
57. Kd1 Kg5 58. Be4 Kf6 59. Bf3 Ke5 60. Bg2 Kd6 61. Be4 Kc5 62. Bf5 Rd2+ 63.
Ke1 Rd8 64. Be4 Kc4 65. Kf1 $6 ({This endgame is almost impossible to explain.
For some reason,} 65. Ng3 {was better. If} Re8 {then} 66. Bg6) 65... Rf8+ 66.
Ke1 $2 ({And here the stalemate trick} 66. Kg2 $3 Rf2+ 67. Kh1 $3 {was White's
last chance to continue resistance.} Rxe2 $4 68. Bd3+ $1 Kxd3 $11) 66... Bf2+
$1 {Black forces White's king to the a1 corner and mates it there.} 67. Kd2 (
67. Kf1 Bc5+ 68. Ke1 Bb4+ 69. Kd1 Rd8+ 70. Kc1 Bd2+ 71. Kc2 Be3 {leads to the
same outcome.}) 67... Rd8+ 68. Kc2 Be3 69. Bf3 Rd2+ 70. Kb1 Kb3 71. Nc1+ Ka3
72. Ne2 Rb2+ 73. Ka1 Rb8 {[%cal Re3g5,Rg5f6]} 0-1

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 6th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden Baden"]
[Date "2019.04.22"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2845"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[PlyCount "126"]
[EventDate "2019.04.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e4 Bxc3 5. dxc3 d6 6. f3 a5 7. Nh3 a4 8. Nf2
Be6 9. Bd3 Nbd7 10. Qe2 c6 11. f4 Nb6 12. Be3 c5 13. O-O-O Qe7 14. f5 Bd7 15.
g4 h6 16. h4 O-O-O 17. g5 Ne8 18. Bd2 hxg5 19. hxg5 Nc7 20. Ng4 Rdg8 21. Rh2
Qf8 22. Rdh1 Kb8 23. b4 axb3 24. axb3 Nc8 25. Kb2 Qd8 26. Rh7 Rxh7 27. Rxh7 Rh8
28. Qh2 Rxh7 29. Qxh7 Qf8 30. Ne3 Ne7 31. Kc2 Qg8 32. Qh4 Qf8 33. Kd1 Nc6 34.
Qh7 Ne7 35. Ke2 Nc8 36. Kf2 Ne7 37. Be2 Qg8 38. Qh1 g6 39. Qh6 Ne8 40. f6 Nc6
41. b4 Nc7 42. bxc5 dxc5 43. Nd5 Ne6 44. Be3 Ka7 45. Bg4 b6 46. Nc7 Qc8 47.
Nb5+ Kb8 48. Nd6 Qg8 49. Qh1 Qf8 50. Qd1 Ncd8 51. Nb5 Bc6 52. Kg1 Nc7 53. Bf2
Nb7 54. Bg3 Bxb5 55. cxb5 Qd6 56. Qe2 Ne6 57. Bxe6 Qxe6 58. Qh2 Qg4 59. Kf2
Qxe4 60. Bxe5+ Kc8 61. Qh3+ Kd8 62. Qh8+ Kd7 63. Qh3+ Kd8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 6th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden Baden"]
[Date "2019.04.23"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2819"]
[BlackElo "2845"]
[PlyCount "142"]
[EventDate "2019.04.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Nd5 Nxd5 8.
exd5 Ne7 9. c4 Ng6 10. Qa4 Bd7 11. Qb4 Bf5 12. h4 h5 13. Bg5 Qb8 14. Qa4 Bd7
15. Qc2 Bxb5 16. cxb5 Be7 17. Bd3 Nf8 18. b6 Nd7 19. bxa7 Qxa7 20. O-O Bxg5 21.
hxg5 O-O 22. Bf5 Rad8 23. b4 Qd4 24. Qc7 Nb6 25. Rad1 Qf4 26. Bh3 Na4 27. g6
fxg6 28. Qc2 b5 29. Qxg6 Rf6 30. Qxh5 g6 31. Qg4 Qxg4 32. Bxg4 Rf4 33. Be6+ Kg7
34. Rc1 Rxb4 35. Rc7+ Kh6 36. g3 Nc5 37. f4 exf4 38. Rxf4 Rxf4 39. gxf4 Ra8 40.
Rc6 Ne4 41. Bh3 Rxa2 42. Bg2 Ng3 43. Rxd6 Ne2+ 44. Kf1 Nxf4 45. Be4 Ra4 46.
Bxg6 Nxg6 47. Rb6 Rf4+ 48. Ke1 b4 49. d6 Rd4 50. d7 Rxd7 51. Rxb4 Kg5 52. Ke2
Re7+ 53. Kd2 Kf5 54. Rb5+ Ne5 55. Rb4 Rd7+ 56. Ke2 Nd3 57. Ra4 Nf4+ 58. Ke1 Kg4
59. Ra3 Rd8 60. Rc3 Rh8 61. Ra3 Rh2 62. Kd1 Kf5 63. Re3 Nd5 64. Re8 Kf4 65. Kc1
Nc3 66. Re7 Ne4 67. Re8 Ke3 68. Re7 Rh6 69. Rc7 Kd3 70. Rd7+ Rd6 71. Rxd6+ Nxd6
1/2-1/2

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 6th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden Baden"]
[Date "2019.04.24"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2845"]
[BlackElo "2695"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2019.04.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bb4 5. Nd5 a5 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O Re8 8. d3
Nxd5 9. cxd5 Nd4 10. Nxd4 exd4 11. e4 c6 12. Bf4 cxd5 13. a3 Bc5 14. b4 Bf8 15.
exd5 d6 16. bxa5 Qxa5 17. Bd2 Qa6 18. Qf3 g6 19. Bb4 Bf5 20. Rad1 Re5 21. g4
Bd7 22. Qf4 h5 23. h3 hxg4 24. hxg4 Qb6 25. Bf3 Ba4 26. Rc1 Bg7 27. Kg2 Bb3 28.
Rh1 Bxd5 29. Bxd5 Rxd5 30. Rh3 Qd8 31. Qf3 Rb5 32. Qg3 Qg5 33. Rc7 Rd8 34. Rh1
Qd5+ 35. Qf3 Qxf3+ 36. Kxf3 d5 37. Rhc1 Be5 38. Rc8 Rxc8 39. Rxc8+ Kg7 40. g5
f6 41. Re8 Rb6 42. Re7+ Kg8 43. Kg4 f5+ 44. Kf3 Bh2 45. Rd7 Rb5 46. Bd6 Bxd6
47. Rxd6 Rb3 48. Rxg6+ Kh7 49. Rh6+ Kg7 50. Kf4 Rxd3 51. a4 Rc3 52. Rd6 Rc5 53.
Rd7+ Kg6 54. Rxb7 Rc6 55. a5 d3 56. Ke3 Rc5 57. f4 d2 58. Kxd2 Rxa5 59. Rd7 Kh5
60. Ke3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 6th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden Baden"]
[Date "2019.04.26"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Meier, Georg"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A49"]
[WhiteElo "2628"]
[BlackElo "2845"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2019.04.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,61,28,12,25,-15,24,23,23,15,23,23,37,-12,22,7,3,-2,12,11,20,29,29,26,
24,15,17,19,45,-2,15,-31,-20,-24,-14,-40,-30,-41,1,-2,14,-40,0,-44,-44,-62,-62,
-19,-49,-49,-43,-44,-44,-60,-64,-115,-100,-101,-101,-93,-36,-34,-41,-144]} 1.
Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O O-O 5. d4 d6 6. b3 b5 {A very rare but
logical move: Black gains space on the queenside and prepares to bother
White's c4 pawn in case of c2-c4 b5xc4 b3xc4.} 7. Bb2 (7. Ne1 $5 c6 8. c4 bxc4
9. bxc4 Be6 10. Nd2 Qc8 11. e4 Bg4 12. Nef3 Na6 13. Rb1 c5 14. e5 dxe5 15. dxe5
Nd7 (15... Ne8 $5) 16. e6 $14 Ne5 17. exf7+ Rxf7 $2 18. h3 $1 $16 {1-0 (24)
Bai,J (2568)-Yanayt,E (2122) Las Vegas 2018}) (7. c4 $5 {was a normal
continuation after all.}) 7... Bb7 8. Nbd2 Nbd7 9. c4 bxc4 10. Nxc4 (10. bxc4
$142 {capturing towards the centre.}) 10... a5 $1 (10... c5 11. dxc5 Nxc5 12.
b4 Nce4 13. Rc1 Qd7 14. Na5 Bh6 15. Rc2 Bd5 16. Bxf6 Nxf6 17. Nd4 Rac8 18. Bxd5
Nxd5 19. Ndc6 $14 {0-1 (34) Bistric,F (2325)-Tosic,M (2345) Medulin 1983}) 11.
Rc1 c5 12. dxc5 Nxc5 $11 13. Bd4 Ncd7 14. a4 $6 {[%mdl 32] White wants to fix
Black's a5 pawn as a potential weakness but it survives, and White's queenside
pawns become motionless.} (14. Qd2 $11) 14... Ra6 15. Na3 Qa8 16. Nb5 Rc6 17.
Rxc6 Bxc6 18. Ne1 Bxg2 19. Nxg2 Rc8 20. Na7 $6 (20. f3 $5) 20... Rd8 21. Qc2 e5
22. Be3 d5 23. Nc6 Re8 24. Bd2 Ne4 25. Nxa5 {White has finally won the pawn
but his pieces are disorganized.} Rc8 26. Qa2 Ndf6 {[%csl Ra5]} 27. Be1 (27. b4
d4 $17) 27... Nc3 $1 28. Bxc3 Rxc3 29. b4 Bf8 (29... d4 $5 $17) 30. Qb2 d4 31.
e3 (31. Ne3 $142 $5 Ne4 $1 32. Nec4 d3 $1 33. exd3 Ng5 34. f3 Rxd3 35. Nxe5
Nxf3+ 36. Nxf3 Rxf3 37. Rxf3 Qxf3 38. Qb3 {keeping drawing chances.}) 31... Ne4
$1 32. exd4 exd4 33. Nb3 d3 34. Rc1 Rxc1+ 35. Qxc1 Qxa4 36. Qc4 Nc5 $5 {
Nice but} (36... d2 {was winning, too:} 37. Ne3 Qd7 38. Qd4 (38. Nd1 Qg4) 38...
Qxd4 39. Nxd4 Nc3 $19) 37. Nd2 Qa1+ (37... Bh6 $1 38. Nf1 (38. Qxc5 Qa1+ 39.
Nf1 d2) 38... d2 39. Nxd2 Bxd2 40. Qxc5 Qa1+ $19) 38. Nf1 d2 39. Nge3 Ne6 40.
Qb3 Qe1 41. Kg2 Bxb4 {It is still difficult for Black to convert his extra
pawn.} 42. Qb2 h5 43. h4 Ba5 44. Qb8+ Nf8 45. Qa8 Bc3 46. Qc6 Qc1 47. Qd5 Ne6
48. Qc4 Ba5 49. Qd5 Bb4 50. Qb5 Qc3 51. Qd5 Qc1 52. Qb5 Bc3 53. Qa4 Bd4 54. Nd1
Kg7 55. Kf3 Bf6 56. Ke2 $2 (56. Nfe3 {, and White can tenaciously defend.})
56... Nd4+ 57. Kd3 Qb1+ $1 58. Kxd2 (58. Ke3 $142 $5 {but after} Qf5 59. Nxd2
Be5 $1 {White's king in the centre can hardly survive.}) 58... Qe4 $1 {[%cal
Rd4f3]} 0-1

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 6th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden Baden"]
[Date "2019.04.27"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D39"]
[WhiteElo "2845"]
[BlackElo "2763"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2019.04.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,75,19,8,20,-14,3,4,4,4,64,46,44,54,68,58,43,17,35,35,82,-20,28,51,39,
6,23,22,37,38,37,30,33,29,17,17,24,19,23,5,27,0,1,0,0,-16,-13,-1,0,-1,2,16,26,
31,76,95,88,76,77,82,132,125,128,117,117,108,163,165,174,167,198,176,270,170,
223,229,256,249]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e4 Bb4 6. Bg5 c5
7. Bxc4 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 Qa5 10. Bd2 $5 $146 {[%mdl 8] An absolutely
new move in this well-known position!} (10. Bb5+) (10. Bxf6) (10. Nb5 {have
been seen in hundreds or even thousands of games.}) 10... O-O (10... Nxe4 11.
Qg4 $1 Nxd2 12. Qxg7 {is White's idea although the position after} Rf8 (12...
Nxc4 13. Qxh8+ Ke7 $1 14. O-O {[%csl Re7] with good attacking prospects for
White}) 13. Kxd2 Qc5 {is far from clear}) 11. Qe2 e5 12. Nb3 Qc7 13. O-O Bg4 $6
{Black has a lot of other options like} (13... Re8 {[%cal Yc8e6]}) ({or} 13...
b6) {The position he goes for is strategically risky.} 14. f3 Rc8 15. Bd5 Nxd5
16. exd5 {[%csl Gd5]} Bh5 (16... Bf5 17. Rac1 {[%cal Yc3c4]}) 17. c4 $1 {
The pointe! This pawn is invulnerable, and White's protected d5 passer becomes
strong.} Nd7 18. Rfc1 b6 19. a4 $36 {<<} a5 {[%csl Rb6]} (19... Qd6 $5 20. a5
$140 $6 b5) 20. Qf2 Qd6 21. Be3 Bg6 22. Qd2 f6 23. Qb2 Rc7 24. Nd2 Nc5 25. Qa3
Rd8 $6 (25... Qf8 $1 26. Rc3 Rb8 $14 {A.Tukhaev}) 26. Rc3 f5 $6 {This wrong
advance weakens Black's position.} (26... Rb7) 27. Re1 $1 {[%csl Re5]} e4 28.
fxe4 fxe4 29. Bxc5 Rxc5 30. Nxe4 Qe5 31. Rce3 {Black has lost a pawn without
compensation.} Rcc8 (31... Rxc4 32. Nd2 $18) 32. h3 Qc7 (32... Qd4 33. Nd6) 33.
Nd2 Re8 34. Re7 $1 Rxe7 35. Rxe7 Qd8 (35... Qf4 36. Qc3 Bf7 {was better but
hopeless enough.}) 36. Qe3 Rc7 37. Re6 Rc5 38. Qb3 {[%csl Rb6]} 1-0

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 6th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden Baden"]
[Date "2019.04.28"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2735"]
[BlackElo "2845"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2019.04.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,178,28,10,41,41,41,41,50,36,38,33,73,31,31,33,31,-3,-3,-28,-15,-11,0,
-30,-12,-37,-18,-26,6,-18,11,-19,-19,-19,-4,-14,-13,-20,-28,-26,37,76,70,42,46,
-8,-3,-61,-67,-83,-67,-59,-48,-52,-47,-50,-46,-45,-35,-41,-25,-14,-20,-42,-51,
-51,-34,-28,-32,-26,-25,-34,-12,-10,-18,-19,-20,-17,-4,-13,0,-33,-35,-30,-12,
-19,-24,-23,-35,-32,-36,-30,-46,-61,-35,-30,-37,-15,-21,-22,0,-16,-6,-42,-54,
-99,-69,-111,-106,-170,-168,-169,-169,-169,-169,-179,-187,-180,-180,-183,-153,
-199,-199,-255,-249,-241,-216,-239,-230,-239,-233,-234,-260,-260,-288,-326,
-347,-410,-480,-517,-331,-325,-327,-448,-399,-399,-329,-338,-353,-352,-349,
-346,-346,-349,-349,-349,-374,-389,-411,-403,-405,-405,-376,-383,-387,-388,
-387,-388,-255,-192,-184,-183,-157,-507,-527,-537,-537,-537,-557,-567,-567]} 1.
e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 {Magnus favourite opening of late, obviously played in the
World Championship but actually starting already from the 2018 Sinquefield Cup.
There MVL played 3.Nc3, but since then the focus has been on first 3.Bb5 and
then the popular 7.Nd5 in the Sveshnikov where Caruana earlier in the
tournament continued his theoretical discusion vs. Magnus.} 3. Nc3 {Svidler
copies MVL, staying away from the most principal battles.} e5 4. Bc4 Be7 $5 {
Absolutely the standard move, but in St. Louis Magnus choose the more
surprising 4...g6, but here reverts to the standard.} 5. d3 d6 6. Nd2 $5 {
Kasparov's favourite move, aiming for the control of d5. Later attention
switched to 6.0-0 Nf6 7.Ng5 leading to a much sharper battle, but the
positional approach both has logic and venom.} Nf6 {The modest 6...Bg5 was the
choice in the early encounters, but modern theory has started to focus on this
natural development move.} 7. Nf1 Nd7 $5 {This, however, is much less played,
but does follow in the footsteps of both Kramnik and Gelfand and was also
employed twice by Lenic in his 2917 World Cup match vs. Magnus' French second
Laurent Fressinet. The idea is to exchange White's strong knight on d5, and
while obviously this also could be done from f6, and thus by logic Black just
throws away 2 tempi, the point is doing it on Black's terms, trying to force
White to take on b6.} 8. Nd5 (8. Ne3 {was Fressinet and Kasparov's choice, and
while White does keep a nominal edge, neither managed to break down the
solidity of Black's position.}) 8... Nb6 9. Nxb6 $5 axb6 10. c3 {This is the
point of White's play, creating a somewhat akward double pawn, and now not
allowing 10.Ne3 b5! removing the weakness due to 11.Bxb5 Qa5+! losing a piece.}
(10. Ne3 b5 $1 11. Bxb5 Qa5+ $1 {[%cal Ga5e1,Ga5b5]}) 10... O-O 11. Ne3 Bg5 12.
O-O {Here Kramnik took on e3 followed by ...Qe7 and Be6 equalising, and the
engines verify similar thoughts, suggesting 12...Be6. But how do you actually
play for a win?} Kh8 $5 {At least posing the question if ...f5 next is a
"threat" as well as generally safeguarding the king.} 13. a3 $6 (13. Nd5 {
now ould have been safer as after} Bxc1 14. Qxc1 f5 15. exf5 Bxf5 16. Qe3 {
White does keep a pleasant position with b4 or f4 next.}) {Svidler however
indicates that ...f5 does not worry him, and Magnus follows with maybe you
should be?} 13... f5 $1 14. Nxf5 Bxc1 15. Rxc1 Bxf5 16. exf5 d5 $1 {White got
bishop vs knight, but black has the f-file and more pawns in the centre.} 17.
Ba2 {Svidler plays ambitiously eyeing the d5-pawn as a potential weakness.} ({
but safer would be the liquidating} 17. Bb5 $5 Rxf5 18. Bxc6 {simplifying with
a likely draw.}) {Not the battle focuses around if White's bishop on a2 will
be in or out of play:} 17... Rxf5 18. Qg4 Rf6 19. f4 $6 {The wish to exchange
as well as annulate the pressure in the f-line is understandable, but the
ensuing tactics turns out (very) well for Black. Common sense chess with 19.
Rce1 Qd6 20.Qd1 brings some harmony into White's positions, and while his
aggressive prospects are not huge, he does have a solid position. After the
game move, however, not so much.} (19. Rce1 Qd6 20. Qd1) 19... exf4 20. Qg5 {
A neccesary intermediate move} ({as} 20. Rxf4 $2 {loses material immediately to
} Ne5 21. Qg3 Rxf4 22. Qxf4 Nxd3) 20... Qf8 $1 {While the early phase of this
game of Magnus has seen standard moves combined with a bit of provocation, the
rest is another serious matter, developing a strong attack and finishing it
off in style. Keeping the f4 pawn is crucial in his attacking concept, and
readmitting the bishop on a2 into the game of much lesser importance, as the
game will show its just shooting into thin air.} 21. Qxd5 {21.Bxd5 rerouting
the bishop to e4 would have been ideal strategically, but unfortunately drops
a pieces due to 21...Rf5!} (21. Bxd5 Rf5 $1) 21... Rd8 $1 22. Qf3 $6 {Logical
and consequent, but giving Black everything he wants.} (22. Qg5 h6 23. Qh5 Rxd3
24. Rce1 {is indeed a pawn down, but with decent compensation with good
chances of a draw.}) 22... Ne5 23. Qe4 $5 {Svidler maybe pinned his hopes on
this move, kicking the knight and thus not allowing ...f3 which would be
lethal after the direct 23.Qxb7.} (23. Qxb7 f3 $1) 23... Ng4 $1 {Magnus is in
the zone, both mentally but also with the knight invading next on e3 where it
becomes the fix-point of the black attack.} (23... Nxd3 {would leave Black a
pawn up but the attack would then evaporate.}) 24. Rce1 Ne3 25. Rf2 Re8 $1 26.
Qxb7 g5 $1 {First a pawn sac and then followed up by this key move. The knight
on e3 and the pawn on f4 completely block White's rooks, and the bishop on a2
basically is on an empty diagonal as Black's attack will happen on the dark
squares. White's position might look sufficiently solid, but the march of the
g-pawn drastically changes that. White'ss position is actually so bad that
there is nothing he can do, and Svidler decides to literally do that, going
back and forth:} 27. Rfe2 $6 {I guess should be criticised on principle, but I
cannot offer any reasonable alternative.} g4 28. Rf2 Qh6 $1 {Simply
threatening ...g3 and then mate on h2.} 29. Qc7 {X-raying the g3 square.} Ref8
$1 {Renewing the threat of... g3, with hxg3 Ng4+! now being the followup, and
there is no longer a rook hanging on e8 against which White can do absolutely
nothing.} 30. h3 $5 {One might think that Svidler decided to be a good sport
and allow a very spectacular finish, but actually his position is just dead
lost.} ({The computer wants tragic moves like} 30. Qe5 g3 31. hxg3 Ng4 32.
Qxf6+) ({or} 30. g3 fxg3 31. Qxg3 {allowing} Rxf2 {just to illustrate how
desperate the situation actually is.}) 30... gxh3 31. g3 fxg3 32. Rxf6 $5 {
The idea is that after 32...Qxf6 33 Qxg3 white does fight on, but also that
after:} h2+ $1 33. Kh1 g2# {We have a mate that just speak for itself in its
beauty:} 0-1

[Event "Grenke Chess Classic 6th"]
[Site "Karlsruhe/Baden Baden"]
[Date "2019.04.29"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A37"]
[WhiteElo "2845"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2019.04.20"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6. O-O Bf5 7. h3 Nf6 8. d3
O-O 9. Be3 a6 10. Qd2 b5 11. cxb5 axb5 12. Nxb5 Qa5 13. Nc3 Rab8 14. Rfc1 Rfc8
15. b3 e5 16. Bh6 Nd4 17. Bxg7 Nxf3+ 18. exf3 Kxg7 19. f4 Qa6 20. fxe5 dxe5 21.
Na4 Nd7 22. Rc3 Rb4 23. g4 Be6 24. Nxc5 Nxc5 25. Rxc5 Rxb3 26. Rxc8 Bxc8 27.
Rc1 Rxd3 28. Qe2 Be6 29. Qxe5+ Kg8 30. Rb1 Rd8 31. Rb8 Rxb8 32. Qxb8+ Kg7 33.
Bd5 Bxd5 34. Qe5+ f6 35. Qxd5 h5 36. gxh5 gxh5 37. Qd7+ Kg6 38. a4 Qe2 39. Qd5
f5 40. a5 f4 41. Kg2 Kh6 42. Qf5 Qc4 43. Kf3 1-0

[Event "Abidjan GCT rapid"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.08"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2754"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2019.05.08"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 c5 7. Rb1 Be7 8.
Nf3 O-O 9. Be2 b6 10. O-O Bb7 11. Qd3 Nd7 12. Re1 Rc8 13. Bf4 Nf6 14. Bd1 Nh5
15. Bd2 Qc7 16. Ng5 Nf4 17. Qg3 Ng6 18. Qg4 Bxg5 19. Bxg5 cxd4 20. cxd4 Qc3 21.
Bb3 Qxd4 22. Rbd1 Qe5 23. h4 h6 24. Bc1 h5 25. Qg5 Qxg5 26. Bxg5 Rc7 27. f4 Bc8
28. Rc1 Rb7 29. Rc3 Kh7 30. Rec1 Bd7 31. Rc7 Rxc7 32. Rxc7 f6 33. Rxd7 fxg5 34.
fxg5 Nxh4 35. Bxe6 Kg6 36. Rxa7 Kxg5 37. Rxg7+ Kf6 38. Rg8 Ng6 39. Rxf8+ Nxf8
40. Bf5 1-0

[Event "Abidjan GCT rapid"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.08"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B32"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2861"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2019.05.08"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 $5 {After using the Sveshnikov
Variation in the WCh match and frequently in tournaments, afterwards Magnus
now switched to the "Kalashnikov", curiously named after the Russian machine
gun. This game explains why!} 5. Nb5 d6 6. N1c3 a6 7. Na3 Be7 8. g3 Nf6 9. Bg2
b5 $6 {This being a rapid game, criticising the players' opening accuraccy
seems too harsh.} ({But here Carlsen had the excellent} 9... Bg4 $1 {with the
idea of} 10. f3 $6 Be6 11. Nd5 Nxd5 12. exd5 Qa5+ {followed by 13...Qxd5 as
now the bishop on g2 is blocked by its own f3-pawn.}) 10. Nd5 Nxd5 11. exd5 Nb8
12. O-O Nd7 13. c4 O-O {Played in the true Kalashnikov spirit. Black is not
trying to defend his queenside with moves like ...b4, but hopes that the
attack on the kingside will be sufficient.} 14. cxb5 axb5 15. Nc2 {15.Nxb5 was
met by 15...Ba6 but Nepomniachtchi eyes the c6 square instead.} f5 16. Nb4 Bf6
17. Nc6 Qe8 18. a4 Nc5 19. Be3 Nxa4 20. Qc2 Bd7 21. b3 {Commenting on every
move of a rapid game is not fair, the computer will of course suggest a number
of improvements. White's play is logical, trying to force Black's knight to
retreat to c5 when after taking it White keeps a promising position. But from
here Magnus just plays the following complications perfectly:} f4 $1 22. bxa4
fxe3 23. axb5 Rxa1 24. Rxa1 Bg5 $1 {White's passed b-pawn obviously is a huge
asset, so Black has to hurry. This threatens on f2, and if White plays 25 fxe3
then 25...Bxe3+ followed by 26...Rf2 and 27...Bb6 gives Black a dominant
position. Ian replies with the logical and critical} 25. b6 exf2+ 26. Kh1 Bc8
27. Rf1 Qf7 28. Qe2 {At first sight there are reasons for White to be
optimistic. The f2-pawn is securely blockaded, and while White has no imminent
counter threats, he can improve the situation with h4 and Kh2 next,
safeguarding his king. By logic, Black should act immediately, but how?} e4 $1
{The idea is 29 Qxe4 Ba6, attacking the rook on f1, and thus breaking the
bloackade. Nepoom spots an ingenious counter-resource:} 29. h4 $5 {The point
is that after 29...Bh6 30.Bxe4 Bh3 White now has 31.Ne7+!! as the black bishop
no longer defends e7. 31...Qxe7 loses to 32 Bxh7+ and after 31...Kh8 32 Bg2 is
now possible, the point being that 32...Bxg2 33 Kxg2 Qxd5+no longer is
possible as the knight from e7 protects the d5-pawn!} e3 $3 {An amazing
counter! Black just calmly gives up a piece, what matters is to keep his
connected passed pawns and advance them.} (29... Bh6 30. Bxe4 Bh3 31. Ne7+ $3 {
[%csl Ge7,Yh6]} Kh8 (31... Qxe7 32. Bxh7+) 32. Bg2 Bxg2+ 33. Kxg2 {[%csl Ge7]
[%cal Yf7d5]}) 30. hxg5 Re8 $1 {Protects e3 and calmly prepares ...Qg6xg5
followed by a deadly check in the h-file.} 31. Kh2 $1 {With the idea of 31...
Qg6 32 Bh3!, White again forces Black to show his attacking ceativity. And
once again he does not fear further material losses to advance his pawns:} Bg4
$3 32. Qxg4 e2 {Like Labourdonnais! Magnus' idea is not just to win a rook,
but to actually queen the pawns! Black's threat is 33...e1Q, however, with the
detail that 33.Nd8!? is met by 33...exf1N+!  White has no reasonable defence,
so Nepo tries fighthing it with two pieces for the queen, but loses in the
long run of course.} 33. b7 Qxb7 34. Rxf2 e1=Q 35. Qf5 Qe3 36. Rf3 Qe2 37. Nd4
Qe5 38. Qg4 Qbxd5 39. Nf5 Qde6 40. Qh5 Qg6 41. Qg4 h5 42. Qc4+ d5 43. Qb5 Qxg5
44. Qd7 h4 45. Rf1 hxg3+ 46. Kg1 g6 47. Bxd5+ Kh8 {And having run out of
reasonable checks, White resigned.} 0-1

[Event "Abidjan GCT rapid"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.08"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A18"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2761"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2019.05.08"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. e4 d5 4. e5 d4 5. exf6 dxc3 6. fxg7 cxd2+ 7. Bxd2 Bxg7
8. Qb3 Nc6 9. Nf3 Qe7 10. Bd3 O-O 11. O-O-O a5 12. a3 e5 13. Bc3 f5 14. c5+ Kh8
15. Bb5 Be6 16. Qc2 Qxc5 17. Bxc6 Qxc6 18. Nxe5 Qe4 19. Qd2 Ba2 20. Nd3 Qc4 21.
Rhe1 Rae8 22. Rxe8 Rxe8 23. Re1 Rxe1+ 24. Nxe1 Qc6 25. Nf3 Bxc3 26. bxc3 Bd5
27. Qd4+ Kg8 28. Nh4 Qe6 29. Kd2 b6 30. f3 Bc4 31. Nxf5 Qe2+ 32. Kc1 Qe1+
1/2-1/2

[Event "Abidjan GCT rapid"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.09"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2752"]
[BlackElo "2861"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2019.05.08"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Bc4 Be7 5. d3 d6 6. Nd2 Nf6 7. Nf1 Nd7 8. a3
Nb6 9. Ba2 O-O 10. Ne3 Be6 11. Ncd5 Bg5 12. O-O Bxe3 13. fxe3 Ne7 14. c4 f5 15.
Bd2 Bxd5 16. exd5 Nd7 17. b4 b6 18. Bb3 Ng6 19. Ba4 Qe7 20. Bc6 Rad8 21. Qa4
Nf6 22. bxc5 bxc5 23. Rxf5 e4 24. Qc2 Ng4 25. Raf1 Rxf5 26. Rxf5 Qh4 27. h3
Nxe3 28. Bxe3 Qe1+ 29. Kh2 Qxe3 30. dxe4 Nf4 31. Qb2 Qxe4 32. Bd7 g6 33. Rf6
Nd3 34. Qc3 Rxd7 35. Re6 Qf4+ 0-1

[Event "Abidjan GCT rapid"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.09"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2780"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2019.05.08"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4
g5 9. Bg3 Bg7 10. Qd2 Nc6 11. Nb3 Be6 12. h4 gxh4 13. Bxh4 b5 14. f4 b4 15. Na4
Qc7 16. O-O-O Rb8 17. Kb1 Na5 18. Nxa5 Qxa5 19. b3 Qc7 20. Be2 h5 21. f5 Bd7
22. Bxg4 hxg4 23. Qg5 Bf6 24. Qxg4 Bxa4 25. Bxf6 Rxh1 26. Rxh1 exf6 27. bxa4
Ke7 28. Qf3 Rc8 29. Qd3 a5 30. Rd1 Rg8 31. Qe2 Rg3 32. Qf2 Ra3 33. g4 Rxa4 34.
g5 fxg5 35. f6+ Ke8 36. Qe2 b3 37. axb3 Rb4 38. e5 dxe5 39. Rd5 Kf8 40. Qh5 Rh4
41. Qxg5 Rh7 42. Qd2 1-0

[Event "Abidjan GCT rapid"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.09"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C47"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2740"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2019.05.08"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 O-O
8. O-O d5 9. exd5 cxd5 10. Bg5 c6 11. Qf3 h6 12. Bf4 g5 13. Be5 Ng4 14. Bd4 Qd6
15. Qg3 Qxg3 16. hxg3 f6 17. Na4 Re8 18. f4 Kf7 19. Nc5 a5 20. Rf3 Bxc5 21.
Bxc5 Ba6 22. Bf5 Bc8 23. Bd3 Ba6 24. Bf5 Bc8 25. Bxg4 Bxg4 26. Rf2 a4 27. Raf1
f5 28. Rd2 Re4 29. b3 Kg6 30. Bd4 Be2 31. Rc1 gxf4 32. gxf4 Rxf4 33. Rxe2 Rxd4
34. Re6+ Kg5 35. Rxc6 axb3 36. axb3 Rd2 37. Rf1 Ra2 38. Rf2 Ra1+ 39. Rf1 Ra2
40. Rf2 Ra1+ 41. Rf1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Abidjan GCT rapid"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.10"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Amin, Bassem"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2704"]
[BlackElo "2861"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2019.05.08"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 e5 7. Be3 b6 8. a3
f5 9. b4 cxb4 10. axb4 Nh6 11. Na3 Nf7 12. Qc1 O-O 13. Ng5 Nd6 14. Bd2 h6 15.
Nf3 fxe4 16. dxe4 Kh7 17. Be3 Nxe4 18. Nc4 Be6 19. Ncxe5 Qd6 20. Nd3 Bc3+ 21.
Ke2 Bxa1 22. Qxa1 a5 23. Qe5 Qxe5 24. Nfxe5 axb4 25. Nxc6 b3 26. Rc1 Bc4 27.
Bd4 Rae8 28. Nce5 Nxf2 29. Kd2 Ne4+ 30. Ke3 Nc5 31. Kd2 Bxd3 32. cxd3 b2 0-1

[Event "Abidjan GCT rapid"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.10"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D41"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2805"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2019.05.08"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 cxd4 8.
cxd4 Bb4+ 9. Bd2 Bxd2+ 10. Qxd2 O-O 11. Bd3 Nc6 12. Bc2 Qa5 13. Qxa5 Nxa5 14.
Bd3 Bd7 15. Ke2 Rac8 16. Rhc1 Rxc1 17. Rxc1 Rc8 18. Rxc8+ Bxc8 19. Kd2 Kf8 20.
Kc3 Bd7 21. Ne5 Be8 22. f4 Ke7 23. Ng4 Nc6 24. Ne3 f6 25. d5 Nd8 26. e5 fxe5
27. fxe5 exd5 28. Nxd5+ Kf8 29. Nc7 Bf7 30. a3 Ke7 31. Be4 Bg6 32. Bf3 Kd7 33.
Nb5 Nc6 34. Bd5 a6 35. Nd4 Nxd4 36. Kxd4 b6 37. Bc4 a5 38. Bb5+ Ke6 39. Bc6 Bh5
40. h4 h6 41. g3 Bd1 42. Bd5+ Ke7 43. Bc4 Ba4 44. Kd5 b5 45. Bd3 b4 46. axb4
axb4 47. Kc4 Ke6 48. Kxb4 Be8 49. Kc3 Kxe5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Abidjan GCT rapid"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.10"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Wei, Yi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2861"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2019.05.08"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 Qa5 4. Na3 e6 5. Nc4 Qd8 6. d4 d5 7. exd5 exd5 8.
Nce5 Bd6 9. Be3 c4 10. b3 cxb3 11. axb3 Nge7 12. Bd3 Bf5 13. O-O O-O 14. Bf4
Bxe5 15. Nxe5 Nxe5 16. Bxf5 N5g6 17. Bg5 Qc7 18. Bxg6 Nxg6 19. Qf3 Qd7 20. Ra5
b5 21. Rfa1 h6 22. Bd2 Rfe8 23. Qd3 a6 24. Rxa6 Rxa6 25. Rxa6 Nf4 26. Qf3 Qf5
27. Ra1 Ne2+ 28. Kf1 Qc2 29. Qxe2 Rxe2 30. Kxe2 Qe4+ 31. Kf1 Qc2 32. Ke2 Qxb3
33. Rc1 Qc4+ 34. Ke3 Qc7 35. f4 Qe7+ 36. Kf2 Qe4 37. Re1 Qd3 38. Re2 f6 39. Ke1
Kf7 40. Re3 Qb1+ 41. Kf2 h5 42. h3 h4 43. Be1 Kg6 44. Rf3 Kf5 45. Ke2 Qe4+ 46.
Kf1 b4 47. cxb4 Qxd4 48. Bxh4 Qc4+ 49. Kg1 Qxb4 50. Kf1 Qc4+ 51. Kg1 Qe2 52.
Bf2 d4 53. Bxd4 Qd1+ 54. Kh2 Qxd4 55. Rf1 g6 56. Rf3 Qd2 57. Rf1 Ke4 58. Rf3
Qe2 59. Rg3 Qh5 60. Rg4 Ke3 0-1

[Event "Abidjan GCT blitz"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.11"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Amin, Bassem"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2704"]
[BlackElo "2861"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2019.05.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 e5 7. a4 a5 8. Be3
b6 9. Na3 Qc7 10. O-O Ne7 11. Nc4 Be6 12. Ng5 Bxc4 13. dxc4 h6 14. Nf3 Nc8 15.
Nd2 O-O 16. Qe2 Nd6 17. Rad1 Rae8 18. b3 f5 19. f3 Kh7 20. Bf2 Nf7 21. Bh4 Nd8
22. Bxd8 Rxd8 23. Rfe1 f4 24. Nb1 Bf6 25. Rxd8 Rxd8 26. Rd1 Bh4 27. Rxd8 Qxd8
28. Qd3 Qxd3 29. cxd3 Be1 30. Na3 Kg7 31. Nc2 Bc3 32. Kh2 Kf6 33. h4 h5 34. Kh3
Ke6 35. Kh2 Kd6 36. Kh3 Bd2 37. Kh2 Kc7 38. Kh3 Kb7 39. Kh2 Bc1 40. Kg1 Bb2 41.
Kf2 Kc7 42. Kf1 b5 43. Kf2 Kd6 44. Ne1 Bd4+ 45. Kf1 b4 46. Nc2 Bc3 47. Kg1 Ke6
48. Kh2 Kf6 49. Kh3 g5 50. Kh2 gxh4 51. Kh3 Kg6 52. Kh2 h3 53. gxh3 Kg5 54. Kg2
Kh4 55. Kh2 Kg5 56. Kg2 h4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Abidjan GCT blitz"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.11"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2780"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2019.05.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bc4
O-O 9. O-O Be6 10. Bb3 b5 11. Bg5 Nbd7 12. Re1 Rc8 13. a3 h6 14. Bxf6 Nxf6 15.
Nd2 Bg4 16. f3 Qb6+ 17. Kh1 Be6 18. Nf1 Rc5 19. Ne3 Rfc8 20. Re2 Rxc3 21. bxc3
Rxc3 22. Qe1 Qc6 23. a4 b4 24. Nd1 Bxb3 25. Nxc3 Bc4 26. Nd1 Bxe2 27. Qxe2 d5
28. exd5 Nxd5 29. Qe4 Qe6 30. Ne3 Nc3 31. Qc4 Qg6 32. a5 Kh7 33. Re1 e4 34.
fxe4 Nxe4 35. Nd5 Nf2+ 36. Kg1 Nh3+ 37. Kf1 Qf5+ 38. Ke2 Qe5+ 39. Ne3 Nf4+ 40.
Kf1 Ne6 41. Qxa6 Qxh2 42. Qd3+ Kg8 43. a6 Bh4 44. Qd2 Nf4 0-1

[Event "Abidjan GCT blitz"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.11"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D39"]
[WhiteElo "2805"]
[BlackElo "2861"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2019.05.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e4 h6 7. Bxf6 Qxf6 8.
Bxc4 c5 9. O-O cxd4 10. Nb5 Qe7 11. Qxd4 O-O 12. Nxa7 Bc5 13. Nxc8 Rxc8 14. Qd3
Nc6 15. Qe2 Rd8 16. Rad1 Qf6 17. e5 Qe7 18. Qe4 Rxd1 19. Rxd1 Rd8 20. Rxd8+
Qxd8 21. g3 Qb6 22. Qe2 Nd4 23. Nxd4 Bxd4 24. b3 Qc5 25. a4 Bxe5 26. Kg2 Bd4
27. h4 g6 28. f4 Kg7 29. Qe4 b6 30. Qf3 Bf6 31. Qe4 Qa3 32. Qe2 Qa1 33. Qf1 Qd4
34. Qd3 Qc5 35. Qd7 Kf8 36. Qd3 Ke7 37. Bb5 g5 38. hxg5 hxg5 39. Qc4 Qd6 40.
Qd3 Qc7 41. Qc4 Qd6 42. Qd3 Qa3 43. f5 Qb2+ 44. Kf3 exf5 45. Qxf5 Qxb3+ 46. Qd3
Qe6 47. Qa3+ Kd8 48. Qd3+ Ke7 49. Qa3+ Kd8 50. Qd3+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Abidjan GCT blitz"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.11"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2740"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2019.05.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Nb6 7. O-O Be7 8.
a3 Be6 9. b4 O-O 10. Rb1 f6 11. b5 Nd4 12. e3 Nxf3+ 13. Bxf3 Rb8 14. d4 Bd6 15.
a4 exd4 16. exd4 Bf7 17. Qc2 Kh8 18. a5 Nc4 19. a6 bxa6 20. bxa6 Qd7 21. Rb7
Rxb7 22. axb7 c6 23. Ne4 Be7 24. Be2 Na5 25. Nc5 Bxc5 26. Qxc5 Qe8 27. b8=Q 1-0

[Event "Abidjan GCT blitz"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.11"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2752"]
[BlackElo "2861"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[EventDate "2019.05.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. d4 cxd4 6. cxd4 d6 7. Bc4 Nb6 8. Bb5
Bd7 9. exd6 e6 10. Bg5 f6 11. Bh4 Bxd6 12. Nc3 Nb4 13. O-O O-O 14. Qb3 Re8 15.
Bg3 Bxb5 16. Nxb5 Bxg3 17. Qxb4 Nd5 18. Qb3 Bc7 19. Nc3 Bb6 20. Rfe1 Rc8 21. g3
Nxc3 22. Rxe6 Rxe6 23. Qxe6+ Kf8 24. bxc3 Rxc3 25. Kg2 Qe8 26. Qf5 Qg6 27. Qd5
Qf7 28. Qf5 g6 29. Qf4 Kg7 30. Re1 Rc7 31. a4 Qd5 32. Re4 Rf7 33. h4 Bc7 34.
Qe3 Bd6 35. Re8 a6 36. Kg1 b5 37. axb5 axb5 38. Rd8 Qc6 39. h5 Bf8 40. h6+ Kg8
41. Nd2 b4 42. Nb3 Qc7 43. Ra8 Re7 44. Qf3 Qb7 45. Rxf8+ Kxf8 46. Qxf6+ Kg8 47.
Kh2 Rf7 48. Qe6 Qd7 49. Qc4 Qf5 50. f4 g5 51. Qxb4 gxf4 52. Qb8+ Rf8 53. Qc7
Qh5+ 54. Kg1 Qxh6 55. gxf4 Qxf4 56. Qxf4 Rxf4 57. Kg2 h5 58. Kg3 Rg4+ 59. Kf3
Kf7 60. d5 Kf6 61. Nc5 Rd4 62. d6 Rd5 63. d7 Ke7 64. Ne4 Rxd7 65. Ng3 Rd5 66.
Kf4 Kf6 0-1

[Event "Abidjan GCT blitz"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.11"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2019.05.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e4 Bc5 5. Nxe5 Nxe5 6. d4 Bb4 7. dxe5 Nxe4 8.
Qf3 Nxc3 9. bxc3 Be7 10. Qg3 g6 11. Bh6 d6 12. Be2 Be6 13. Rd1 Qd7 14. exd6
cxd6 15. O-O O-O-O 16. Be3 Qa4 17. Rb1 d5 18. Qf3 Qc6 19. Bxa7 dxc4 20. Qe3
Rhe8 21. Rb6 Qd7 22. Bf3 Bd5 23. Qe5 Qc7 24. Qxc7+ Kxc7 25. Bxd5 Rxd5 26. Rfb1
Ra8 27. Rxb7+ Kd8 28. g3 Rd7 29. Rxd7+ Kxd7 30. Rb7+ Ke6 31. a4 Bd8 32. Kg2 h5
33. Kf3 Bf6 34. Rb6+ Kf5 35. Rb7 Ke6 36. a5 Bxc3 37. a6 Ba5 38. Ke2 c3 39. Kd3
Rd8+ 40. Kc2 Rd6 41. Rb3 Rxa6 42. Bd4 Rd6 43. Bxc3 Rc6 44. Kd3 Bxc3 45. Rxc3
Rxc3+ 46. Kxc3 Kf5 47. f3 g5 48. Kd4 Ke6 49. Ke4 f6 50. h4 f5+ 51. Ke3 f4+ 52.
gxf4 gxh4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Abidjan GCT blitz"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.11"]
[Round "7"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B32"]
[WhiteElo "2754"]
[BlackElo "2861"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2019.05.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. N1c3 a6 7. Na3 Be7 8.
Nc4 b5 9. Ne3 Nf6 10. g3 h5 11. h4 Nd4 12. Bg2 Be6 13. Ncd5 Nxd5 14. Nxd5 Bxd5
15. exd5 g6 16. c3 Nf5 17. a4 O-O 18. Qd3 Rb8 19. axb5 axb5 20. O-O b4 21. Bd2
bxc3 22. Bxc3 Ng7 23. Ra7 f5 24. Ba5 Qe8 25. b4 Rf7 26. Rc1 Bd8 27. Rxf7 Qxf7
28. Bxd8 Rxd8 29. Qa6 f4 30. Rc8 Rxc8 31. Qxc8+ Kh7 32. b5 fxg3 33. fxg3 Qa7+
34. Kh2 Nf5 35. Qf8 Nh6 36. Qxd6 Ng4+ 37. Kh3 Nf2+ 38. Kh2 Ng4+ 39. Kh3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Abidjan GCT blitz"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.11"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Wei, Yi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2861"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2019.05.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. d4 cxd4 6. cxd4 d6 7. Bc4 e6 8. O-O
Be7 9. exd6 Qxd6 10. Nc3 O-O 11. Re1 Rd8 12. a3 Nb6 13. Ba2 Nxd4 14. Ne4 Nxf3+
15. Qxf3 Qe5 16. Bd2 Bd7 17. Bc3 Qf5 18. Qg3 Qg6 19. Qh3 Bc6 20. Bb1 f5 21. Ng3
Nd5 22. Be5 Bf6 23. Ba2 Kh8 24. Nh5 Bxe5 25. Rxe5 Qh6 26. Rae1 Rd6 27. b4 Rad8
28. Bb3 Qg5 29. g3 g6 30. Bxd5 Bxd5 31. Nf4 Bc4 32. Nxe6 Bxe6 33. Rxe6 Rxe6 34.
Rxe6 Qc1+ 35. Kg2 Qc4 36. Re1 Qc6+ 37. Kg1 Re8 38. Qf1 Rxe1 39. Qxe1 a6 40.
Qe5+ Kg8 41. Qe7 b5 42. h4 Qc1+ 43. Kg2 Qxa3 44. Qe8+ Kg7 45. Qe7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Abidjan GCT blitz"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.11"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C47"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2761"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2019.05.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 O-O
8. O-O d5 9. exd5 Bg4 10. Be2 Bxe2 11. Nxe2 cxd5 12. Bg5 Be7 13. Nd4 Qd7 14.
Qd3 Rfe8 15. Rad1 Ne4 16. Bxe7 Rxe7 17. c4 Rae8 18. cxd5 Qxd5 19. Qb5 Qxb5 20.
Nxb5 a6 21. Nd4 g6 22. f3 Nd6 23. Rf2 Nb5 24. Nc2 h5 25. Rfd2 Kg7 26. Nb4 Re6
27. a4 Na7 28. Nd5 Rc6 29. Kf2 Rb8 30. Re1 Rd6 31. Red1 Rbd8 32. Ke1 Re8+ 33.
Re2 Red8 34. Ne3 Nc6 35. Rxd6 Rxd6 36. Rd2 Re6 37. Kf2 Ne5 38. b3 Rb6 39. f4
Nc6 40. Rd3 Na5 41. Nd5 Rxb3 42. Rxb3 Nxb3 43. Nxc7 Nc5 44. a5 Nb7 45. Nxa6
Nxa5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Abidjan GCT blitz"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.12"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Amin, Bassem"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2704"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2019.05.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nf1 Bf8 14. Ng3 g6 15.
Bg5 h6 16. Bd2 exd4 17. cxd4 c5 18. d5 Bg7 19. Bf4 Qe7 20. a4 Nb6 21. b3 bxa4
22. bxa4 a5 23. Rb1 Nfd7 24. Qc1 Kh7 25. h4 Ba6 26. h5 Nc4 27. Nf1 Rab8 28.
Rxb8 Rxb8 29. Bd3 Rb4 30. N1h2 Rxa4 31. hxg6+ fxg6 32. e5 Ndxe5 33. Bxg6+ Nxg6
34. Rxe7 Nxe7 35. Qc2+ Ng6 36. Qxa4 Nxf4 37. Qc6 Ne2+ 38. Kh1 1-0

[Event "Abidjan GCT blitz"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.12"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2780"]
[BlackElo "2861"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2019.05.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 e6 4. g3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O Be7 7. b3 O-O 8. Bb2
d6 9. e3 Nbd7 10. Qe2 a6 11. d4 Ne4 12. Rfd1 Nxc3 13. Bxc3 Be4 14. Rac1 Re8 15.
Bh3 Qc7 16. Nd2 Bb7 17. e4 Bf6 18. Nf3 b5 19. cxb5 axb5 20. dxc5 Bxc3 21. Rxc3
b4 22. Rc2 dxc5 23. Qe3 h6 24. Bf1 Ba6 25. Rcd2 Nf6 26. Bxa6 Rxa6 27. Rc1 Rea8
28. Rxc5 Qa7 29. Rdc2 Rxa2 30. Rc8+ Kh7 31. Qxa7 R8xa7 32. Nd2 Ng4 33. Kg2 Ne5
34. f4 Nd3 35. Kf1 Ra1+ 36. Ke2 Rd7 37. Nf3 Rb1 38. Rd2 Rb2 39. Rxb2 Nxb2 40.
Ne5 Rd4 41. Ke3 Rd1 42. Nxf7 Re1+ 43. Kd4 Re2 44. h4 Kg6 45. Ne5+ Kh5 46. Rg8
Rd2+ 47. Ke3 Rc2 48. Rxg7 Rc3+ 49. Ke2 Nd1 50. g4+ Kxh4 51. Kxd1 Kg3 52. f5 Kf4
53. Ng6+ Kxe4 54. f6 Rf3 55. f7 1-0

[Event "Abidjan GCT blitz"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.12"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B05"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2805"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2019.05.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 Nc6 5. Be2 cxd4 6. exd4 Bg4 7. c3 e6 8.
Nbd2 Bd6 9. Ne5 Bxe2 10. Qxe2 O-O 11. O-O Qc7 12. Rfe1 Nd7 13. Nxd7 Qxd7 14.
Bxd6 Qxd6 15. Nb3 Rab8 16. Nc1 b5 17. a3 a5 18. b4 Ne7 19. Nb3 a4 20. Nc5 Qc6
21. Rad1 Nf5 22. Rd3 Nd6 23. Rh3 Nc4 24. Qh5 h6 25. Rg3 Kh8 26. f4 Rbe8 27. Nd3
f6 28. Nc5 Re7 29. Qg4 f5 30. Qh5 Qe8 31. Qxe8 Rfxe8 32. Ra1 Kh7 33. h4 g6 34.
Kf2 Nd6 35. Ke2 Ne4 36. Rh3 h5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Abidjan GCT blitz"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.12"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2740"]
[BlackElo "2861"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2019.05.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 Bg7 11. c3 f5 12. exf5 Bxf5 13. Nc2 O-O 14. Nce3
Be6 15. Bd3 f5 16. O-O e4 17. Nf4 Bf7 18. Bc2 Be5 19. Nfd5 Kh8 20. f4 exf3 21.
Qxf3 Bxd5 22. Nxd5 Qh4 23. g3 Rg8 24. Nf4 Qh6 25. Bxf5 Raf8 26. Ne6 Bxg3 27.
hxg3 Rxf5 28. Qxf5 Rxg3+ 0-1

[Event "Abidjan GCT blitz"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.12"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2752"]
[PlyCount "135"]
[EventDate "2019.05.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. g3 Bb4 4. e4 Bxc3 5. dxc3 d6 6. f3 O-O 7. Nh3 a6 8. a4
Nbd7 9. Nf2 a5 10. Be2 Nc5 11. O-O Bd7 12. Be3 b6 13. Kh1 Kh8 14. b3 Ng8 15. g4
Ne7 16. Rb1 Ng6 17. Qd2 Ne6 18. Nd3 Nc5 19. Rg1 Nxd3 20. Bxd3 Bc6 21. Rg3 Qe7
22. Rbg1 Kg8 23. Bc2 Kh8 24. Kg2 Kg8 25. Kf2 f6 26. Ke1 Kf7 27. g5 Ke8 28. Kd1
Bd7 29. gxf6 Qxf6 30. Bg5 Qe6 31. h4 Rf7 32. h5 Nf8 33. Kc1 g6 34. f4 exf4 35.
Bxf4 Bc6 36. e5 dxe5 37. Bxe5 Re7 38. hxg6 hxg6 39. Bxg6+ Nxg6 40. Rxg6 Qxe5
41. Rg8+ Kf7 42. Qf2+ Ke6 43. R1g6+ Kd7 44. Qd2+ Bd5 45. Rxa8 Qe1+ 46. Qxe1
Rxe1+ 47. Kd2 Bxa8 48. Kxe1 Be4 49. Rg7+ Kd6 50. Kd2 c5 51. Kc1 Kc6 52. Kb2 Bd3
53. Rg4 Be2 54. Rf4 Bd3 55. Rh4 Be2 56. Kc2 Bf3 57. Rf4 Bh5 58. Rf6+ Kc7 59. b4
Bg4 60. bxc5 bxc5 61. Kd3 Bd1 62. Ke4 Bxa4 63. Kd5 Bb3 64. Kxc5 a4 65. Kb4 Kb7
66. c5 Kc7 67. Ra6 Kb7 68. Rxa4 1-0

[Event "Abidjan GCT blitz"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.12"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2861"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2019.05.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Nd5 Nxd5 8.
exd5 Nb8 9. a4 Be7 10. Be2 O-O 11. O-O f5 12. f4 a6 13. Na3 Nd7 14. Nc4 b6 15.
fxe5 Nxe5 16. Be3 Nxc4 17. Bxc4 Bf6 18. Bd4 Bd7 19. Kh1 Re8 20. c3 Bxd4 21.
Qxd4 Re4 22. Qd3 Qc8 23. b3 Qc5 24. Bxa6 Re3 25. Qc4 Rxc3 26. Qxc5 Rxc5 27. Bb7
Ra7 28. Bc6 Bxc6 29. dxc6 g6 30. Rfc1 Rc7 31. b4 R5xc6 32. Rxc6 Rxc6 33. a5
bxa5 34. bxa5 Ra6 35. Kg1 Kf7 36. Kf2 Ke6 37. Ke3 Kd5 38. Kf4 h6 39. h4 Ke6 40.
g4 fxg4 41. Kxg4 Ke5 42. Kf3 Kd4 43. Kf4 Kc4 44. Ke4 Kc5 45. Rc1+ Kb4 46. Rg1
h5 47. Kd4 Rxa5 48. Rb1+ Ka4 49. Ra1+ Kb5 50. Rxa5+ Kxa5 51. Kd5 Kb4 52. Kxd6
g5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Abidjan GCT blitz"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.12"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A37"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2754"]
[PlyCount "148"]
[EventDate "2019.05.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 e6 6. h4 h6 7. e3 Nge7 8. d4
cxd4 9. Nxd4 d5 10. cxd5 Nxd4 11. exd4 Nxd5 12. O-O O-O 13. Qb3 Ne7 14. Rd1 Nf5
15. Ne2 a5 16. Bf4 a4 17. Qa3 Qb6 18. Rac1 Bd7 19. Be5 Rfc8 20. Bxg7 Kxg7 21.
d5 Rxc1 22. Rxc1 e5 23. Qc3 Qd6 24. a3 Bb5 25. Qd2 Bxe2 26. Qxe2 Nd4 27. Qc4
Rd8 28. Kh2 b5 29. Qc7 Qf6 30. Re1 Rd6 31. Kg1 g5 32. hxg5 hxg5 33. Qc8 Rd8 34.
Qg4 Re8 35. Be4 Rd8 36. Kg2 Rh8 37. d6 Ne6 38. d7 Rd8 39. Rd1 Qe7 40. Qf5 Qf6
41. Qh7+ Kf8 42. Rd5 Nd4 43. Qh5 Ke7 44. Qg4 Ne6 45. Rxb5 Rxd7 46. Qf5 Qxf5 47.
Bxf5 Kf6 48. Bc2 Rd4 49. Rb4 Nc5 50. Kf3 Ke6 51. Ke3 Kd5 52. Rb6 Rc4 53. Bd1
Rc1 54. Be2 Rc2 55. Bd1 Rc1 56. Kd2 Ra1 57. Rb4 Ne4+ 58. Ke2 Nxf2 59. Bxa4 Nh1
60. Bb3+ Kd6 61. g4 f5 62. gxf5 Ng3+ 63. Kf3 Nxf5 64. Kg4 Nd4 65. Kxg5 Rg1+ 66.
Kh4 Nxb3 67. Rxb3 e4 68. Rg3 Rb1 69. Rb3 Rg1 70. a4 Ra1 71. Rb4 e3 72. Re4 e2
73. Rxe2 Rxa4+ 74. Kg3 Kc5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Abidjan GCT blitz"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.12"]
[Round "17"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wei, Yi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2019.05.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 d5 3. e3 c5 4. Nd2 cxd4 5. exd4 Qb6 6. Ngf3 Nc6 7. Nb3 Ne4 8.
Bf4 Bg4 9. Be2 e6 10. O-O Be7 11. c3 O-O 12. a4 a6 13. a5 Qd8 14. Nfd2 Bxe2 15.
Qxe2 Nxd2 16. Qxd2 Rc8 17. Rfe1 Re8 18. Re3 Bd6 19. Bxd6 Qxd6 20. Nc5 Rc7 21.
b4 Ne7 22. Rae1 Nf5 23. Re5 Qd8 24. Qf4 Rce7 25. R1e2 Kh8 26. Nxb7 Rxb7 27.
Qxf5 Rc7 28. Qd3 Qc8 29. R5e3 Rc6 30. Rh3 h6 31. Qd2 Kh7 32. Re5 Re7 33. Reh5
Qf8 34. f4 f5 35. Re3 Qf7 36. Rhh3 Rec7 37. Re5 Qf8 38. Rd3 Qc8 39. Ree3 Rc4
40. h3 Qf8 41. Rxe6 1-0

[Event "Abidjan GCT blitz"]
[Site "Abidjan"]
[Date "2019.05.12"]
[Round "18"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2761"]
[BlackElo "2861"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2019.05.11"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IVO"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 a6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Bxe7 Qxe7 6. e3 Nf6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Rc1
Rd8 9. Qc2 dxc4 10. Bxc4 c5 11. dxc5 Qxc5 12. Bd3 Nc6 13. a3 Ne5 14. Nxe5 Qxe5
15. Ne4 Bd7 16. Nxf6+ Qxf6 17. O-O Rac8 18. Qb1 Rxc1 19. Rxc1 g6 20. Be4 Bb5
21. Qc2 b6 22. g3 Qe5 23. Bf3 a5 24. h4 h6 25. Qc7 Qxc7 26. Rxc7 Rd6 27. Rb7
Kg7 28. Kg2 Kf6 29. g4 g5 30. hxg5+ hxg5 31. Kg3 a4 32. Bg2 Bc4 33. Be4 b5 34.
f4 e5 35. Rc7 exf4+ 36. exf4 Rd2 37. Rc6+ Kg7 38. fxg5 Rxb2 39. g6 Rb3+ 40. Kf4
Rxa3 41. gxf7 Ra1 42. Rc8 Bxf7 43. Rc7 a3 44. Kg5 Rd1 45. Bc2 Rc1 0-1

[Event "Copenhagen Energi Danmark m"]
[Site "Copenhagen"]
[Date "2019.05.23"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Bjerre, Jonas Buhl"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C76"]
[WhiteElo "2494"]
[BlackElo "2869"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2019.05.23"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 g6 5. O-O Bg7 6. c3 d6 7. d4 Bd7 8. Re1
Nge7 9. d5 Nb8 10. Bxd7+ Nxd7 11. c4 h6 12. Nc3 O-O 13. Rb1 f5 14. b4 Nf6 15.
Nd2 c6 16. Bb2 Rc8 17. Qb3 cxd5 18. cxd5 b5 19. a4 Qb6 20. axb5 axb5 21. Ra1
fxe4 22. Ndxe4 Nxe4 23. Nxe4 Rc4 24. Qg3 Rf4 25. Qd3 Rcxe4 26. Rxe4 Qxf2+ 27.
Kh1 Qxb2 28. Rxf4 exf4 29. Re1 Nf5 30. Qxb5 Ne3 31. Qe2 Qxb4 32. Rc1 Qe4 33.
Qf3 Qxf3 34. gxf3 Be5 35. Rc8+ Kf7 0-1

[Event "Copenhagen Energi Danmark m"]
[Site "Copenhagen"]
[Date "2019.05.23"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bjerre, Jonas Buhl"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2869"]
[BlackElo "2494"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2019.05.23"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "DEN"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. a4 Nf6 5. d3 g6 6. O-O Bg7 7. Re1 Nc6 8. Nbd2
O-O 9. Nc4 a6 10. Bxc6 Bxc6 11. e5 dxe5 12. Nfxe5 Rc8 13. Nxc6 Rxc6 14. a5 Nd5
15. Bd2 Re8 16. Qf3 e5 17. Re2 Rce6 18. Rae1 Qd7 19. g3 Qc6 20. Qg2 h6 21. h3
Kh7 22. Kh2 Qd7 23. Kg1 Qc6 24. Bc3 Nxc3 25. bxc3 Qxg2+ 26. Kxg2 e4 27. Rxe4
Rxe4 28. dxe4 Bxc3 29. Re3 Bd4 30. Re2 Kg7 31. f4 Bc3 32. Kf3 Rd8 33. Re3 Bf6
34. e5 Be7 35. Rb3 Rd4 36. Ne3 Rd7 37. c3 Bd8 38. Nc4 Kf8 39. Ke4 Ke7 40. g4 f6
41. Nb6 Bxb6 42. Rxb6 fxe5 43. Rxg6 exf4 44. Rg7+ Ke6 45. Rxd7 Kxd7 46. h4 b5
47. axb6 a5 48. b7 Kc7 49. b8=Q+ Kxb8 50. g5 hxg5 51. hxg5 a4 52. g6 a3 53. g7
a2 54. g8=Q+ 1-0

[Event "Lindores Abbey Stars"]
[Site "Cupar"]
[Date "2019.05.25"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E24"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2805"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2019.05.25"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "SCO"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 b6 6. f3 Nc6 7. e4 Ba6 8. Bg5
h6 9. Bh4 Na5 10. e5 g5 11. Bf2 Nh5 12. c5 Bxf1 13. Kxf1 d6 14. exd6 cxd6 15.
h4 gxh4 16. Rxh4 Nf6 17. c4 dxc5 18. dxc5 Qxd1+ 19. Rxd1 Nd7 20. cxb6 axb6 21.
Ne2 Rc8 22. Nc3 Rxc4 23. Ne4 Rc7 24. Nd6+ Kf8 25. Bg3 e5 26. Nf5 f6 27. Be1 Nb7
28. Rg4 Rh7 29. Ra4 Nbc5 30. Ra8+ Kf7 31. Bb4 h5 32. Rd8 Ke6 33. Nd6 Rc6 34.
Nc8 Kf5 35. Re8 Kg6 36. Kg1 Kf7 37. Rd8 Kg6 38. Kh2 Rg7 39. Re8 Kh7 40. Nd6 Rg8
41. Re7+ Rg7 42. Re8 Rg8 43. Re7+ Rg7 44. Re8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lindores Abbey Stars"]
[Site "Cupar"]
[Date "2019.05.25"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E94"]
[WhiteElo "2752"]
[BlackElo "2861"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2019.05.25"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "SCO"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Na6 8. Re1
c6 9. d5 Nc5 10. Qc2 Qb6 11. h3 cxd5 12. cxd5 Bd7 13. Be3 Rfc8 14. Rac1 Qd8 15.
Qb1 a5 16. Nd2 Nh5 17. Nc4 Bf8 18. Bg4 Bxg4 19. hxg4 Nf4 20. Bxf4 exf4 21. e5
dxe5 22. Nxe5 Bg7 23. Nf3 Bxc3 24. Rxc3 Qxd5 25. Re5 Qd6 26. Qc1 b6 27. Qxf4
Ne6 28. Qe4 Rab8 29. Rd5 Qf4 30. Qxf4 Nxf4 31. Rxc8+ Rxc8 32. Rd6 b5 33. g3
Rc1+ 34. Kh2 Ne6 35. Kg2 Rc2 36. Rd2 Rc5 37. a3 a4 38. Nd4 Rd5 39. Nf3 Rc5 40.
Nd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lindores Abbey Stars"]
[Site "Cupar"]
[Date "2019.05.25"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E48"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2019.05.25"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "SCO"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Nge2 Re8 8.
Bd2 b6 9. O-O Bd6 10. Rc1 c5 11. Nb5 Bf8 12. f3 Nc6 13. Kh1 Bb7 14. a3 g6 15.
Bb1 Rc8 16. Ba2 a6 17. Nbc3 Bg7 18. dxc5 bxc5 19. Be1 d4 20. Na4 Nd7 21. Bxf7+
Kxf7 22. Qb3+ Kf8 23. Qxb7 Rxe3 24. Ng3 Nce5 25. Bd2 Rd3 26. Ne4 Rb8 27. Qd5
Rxd2 28. Nxd2 Nd3 29. Rc2 Qe7 30. Ne4 Nf4 31. Qc4 1-0

[Event "Lindores Abbey Stars"]
[Site "Cupar"]
[Date "2019.05.26"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "2774"]
[BlackElo "2861"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2019.05.25"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "SCO"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. h3 a6 6. a4 O-O 7. Be3 Nc6 8. Bc4 e6
9. d5 exd5 10. exd5 Ne7 11. O-O b6 12. Re1 Bb7 13. Qd2 b5 14. axb5 axb5 15.
Rxa8 Bxa8 16. Bxb5 Nexd5 17. Nxd5 Bxd5 18. Be2 Re8 19. c3 Bb7 20. Qd1 Qb8 21.
Bc1 Qa8 22. Bf1 Rxe1 23. Nxe1 Nd7 24. Be3 Nf8 25. Nc2 Qa4 26. Be2 Ne6 27. Nd4
Qxd1+ 28. Bxd1 Nxd4 29. Bxd4 Bxd4 30. cxd4 g5 31. g3 Kg7 32. f4 gxf4 33. gxf4
Kf6 34. Kf2 Bc8 35. h4 Kf5 36. Ke3 h6 37. Bf3 Bd7 38. Bd1 Bc8 39. Bf3 Bd7 40.
Bd1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lindores Abbey Stars"]
[Site "Cupar"]
[Date "2019.05.26"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2861"]
[BlackElo "2752"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2019.05.25"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "SCO"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. O-O O-O 6. c3 Nbd7 7. Bf4 c5 8. Ne5
Qb6 9. Qb3 cxd4 10. Qxb6 Nxb6 11. cxd4 Ne4 12. Rc1 Nd6 13. Nc3 Be6 14. a4 a5
15. h4 Rfc8 16. b3 Rc7 17. Nb5 Rxc1+ 18. Rxc1 Nxb5 19. axb5 Rc8 20. Rc5 Kf8 21.
e4 a4 22. exd5 Rxc5 23. dxc5 a3 24. dxe6 a2 25. Nd7+ Ke8 26. Nxb6 a1=Q+ 27. Kh2
Be5 28. Be3 fxe6 29. Bxb7 Bd4 30. Nc4 Bxe3 31. Nxe3 Qb2 32. Kg2 Qxb3 33. b6 Qb5
34. Bf3 Kd8 35. b7 Kc7 36. c6 Qb4 37. g4 Qd4 38. Nf1 h5 39. gxh5 gxh5 40. Ng3
e5 41. Ne4 Qc4 42. Ng5 Kb8 43. Be4 Qe2 44. Bf5 e4 45. Nxe4 Qc4 46. Ng3 Qxc6+
47. Be4 Qf6 48. Nxh5 Qxh4 49. Ng3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lindores Abbey Stars"]
[Site "Cupar"]
[Date "2019.05.26"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2805"]
[BlackElo "2861"]
[PlyCount "130"]
[EventDate "2019.05.25"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "SCO"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 a6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Bxe7 Qxe7 6. Nbd2 Nf6 7. g3 O-O 8.
Bg2 b6 9. cxd5 exd5 10. O-O Bb7 11. Rc1 a5 12. Re1 c5 13. dxc5 bxc5 14. e4 Nxe4
15. Nh4 Qf6 16. Nxe4 dxe4 17. Rxc5 Na6 18. Rxa5 Qxb2 19. Bxe4 Bxe4 20. Rxe4
Rad8 21. Rd5 Rxd5 22. Qxd5 Nb4 23. Qb3 Qxb3 24. axb3 Rb8 25. Nf3 Kf8 26. Kf1
Nd5 27. Nd2 g6 28. Rd4 Nb4 29. Ke2 Ke7 30. Re4+ Kd7 31. Ke3 Rb5 32. Kd4 Rd5+
33. Kc3 Rd3+ 34. Kxb4 Rxd2 35. Rf4 f5 36. Kc5 Kc7 37. b4 Kb7 38. h4 h5 39. Rf3
Rc2+ 40. Kd5 Re2 41. Kc5 Rc2+ 42. Kd4 Re2 43. Kd5 Kb6 44. Rf4 Kb5 45. Kd6 Kb6
46. f3 Kb5 47. Kd5 Rg2 48. Ke5 Rxg3 49. Kf6 Ka4 50. Kg7 Kb5 51. Kh6 Ka4 52. Rd4
Kb5 53. Rd6 Kxb4 54. Rxg6 Rxf3 55. Kxh5 Kc5 56. Rf6 Kd5 57. Kg6 Ke5 58. h5 Rg3+
59. Kf7 f4 60. h6 Rh3 61. Kg7 f3 62. Rf8 Rg3+ 63. Kh8 Ke4 64. h7 Ke3 65. Rxf3+
Kxf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.03"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2752"]
[BlackElo "2875"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2019.06.03"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 g6 2. e4 d6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Bd3 Bg7 5. O-O O-O 6. c3 Nc6 7. Re1 e5 8. h3
Re8 9. d5 Nb8 10. c4 a5 11. Nc3 Na6 12. a3 Bd7 13. Rb1 Nc5 14. Bc2 a4 15. Be3
Nb3 16. Bxb3 axb3 17. c5 c6 18. Qxb3 cxd5 19. exd5 dxc5 20. Bxc5 Bf5 21. Rbd1
Nd7 22. Be3 e4 23. Nd4 Nc5 24. Qc2 Nd3 25. Rf1 Rc8 26. Qd2 h5 27. f3 Ne5 28.
Nxf5 Nc4 29. Qf2 gxf5 30. fxe4 Nxb2 31. Qxb2 Bxc3 32. Qf2 Rxe4 33. Qxf5 Rxe3
34. Qxf7+ Kh8 35. Qxh5+ Kg8 36. Qf7+ Kh8 37. Rf5 1-0

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.03"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2875"]
[BlackElo "2805"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2019.06.03"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e3 Bb4 5. Nd5 e4 6. Ng1 O-O 7. a3 Bd6 8.
Nxf6+ Qxf6 9. f4 exf3 10. Nxf3 Ne5 11. d4 Nxf3+ 12. Qxf3 Qxf3 13. gxf3 c5 14.
dxc5 Bxc5 15. b4 Bb6 16. c5 Bc7 17. Bb2 d6 18. cxd6 Bxd6 19. Rd1 Be7 20. Bc4
Be6 21. Bxe6 fxe6 22. Rd7 Rf7 23. Ke2 Bf6 24. Rxf7 Kxf7 25. Bxf6 Kxf6 26. Rc1
Re8 27. a4 Re7 28. Kd3 Rd7+ 29. Ke4 b6 30. b5 g5 31. h3 h5 32. Rc8 h4 33. Rf8+
Kg7 34. Ra8 Kf6 35. f4 gxf4 36. exf4 Rc7 37. Kf3 Kf5 38. Rf8+ Kg6 39. Rg8+ Kf6
40. Kg4 Rc4 41. Rf8+ Kg6 42. Kxh4 Rxa4 43. Kg4 Rb4 44. h4 Rxb5 45. Rg8+ Kf7 46.
Ra8 a5 47. h5 Rb1 48. Ra7+ Kf6 49. h6 Rg1+ 50. Kf3 Rh1 51. h7 Kg6 52. Re7 Kf6
53. Ra7 Rh2 54. Ke4 Rh1 55. Kf3 a4 56. Rxa4 Rxh7 57. Rb4 Rb7 58. Rb5 Ke7 59.
Ke4 Kd6 60. Kd4 Kc6 61. Re5 Rd7+ 62. Kc4 Rd6 63. f5 exf5 64. Rxf5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.03"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Yu, Yangyi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E90"]
[WhiteElo "2738"]
[BlackElo "2875"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2019.06.03"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. e4 d6 6. Bd3 O-O 7. Nf3 e5 8. O-O Nh5
9. Ne1 Nd7 10. Bc2 Nf4 11. Nd3 Nxd3 12. Qxd3 f5 13. exf5 gxf5 14. f4 e4 15. Qe2
Nf6 16. Nd1 b5 17. cxb5 a6 18. b6 Ng4 19. Ne3 Bd4 20. h3 Nf6 21. Kh1 Rb8 22.
Rb1 Rxb6 23. Bd2 Rb7 24. Bc3 Qe8 25. Rbd1 Nh5 26. Qe1 Qg6 27. Kh2 Qf6 28. Qd2
Qh4 29. Qe1 Qf6 30. Qd2 Rg7 31. Bxd4 cxd4 32. Qxd4 Qh4 33. Qd2 Qg3+ 34. Kh1
Nxf4 35. Qf2 Nh5 36. Rde1 f4 37. Nc4 e3 38. Nxe3 Bxh3 39. Qxg3 Nxg3+ 40. Kh2
Nxf1+ 41. Nxf1 Bxg2 42. Nd2 f3 43. Rg1 Rf6 0-1

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.03"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2767"]
[BlackElo "2875"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2019.06.03"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. e5 Ne4 5. Nce2 f6 6. f3 Ng5 7. Bxg5 fxg5 8. Qd2
c5 9. Qxg5 Nc6 10. c3 Qb6 11. Qd2 cxd4 12. cxd4 Bf5 13. g4 Bd7 14. Rd1 O-O-O
15. Nc3 e6 16. Nge2 Kb8 17. f4 Be7 18. h4 Na5 19. b3 Bb4 20. Kf2 Rhf8 21. Rh3
Bb5 22. Qe3 Bxe2 23. Nxe2 Rc8 24. Rc1 Rxc1 25. Qxc1 Nc6 26. Qe3 Nxd4 27. Nxd4
Bc5 28. Kg2 Bxd4 29. Qd2 a5 30. Rf3 Bc5 31. Bd3 Qd8 32. g5 Bb6 33. Kg3 Qe7 34.
Rf1 Qc5 35. Rc1 Qd4 36. Rd1 Bc7 37. Re1 a4 38. Qe3 Qb4 39. bxa4 Bb6 40. Qc1 Qd4
41. Qd2 Ba5 42. Qxa5 Qxd3+ 43. Kg4 Qf5+ 0-1

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.03"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C56"]
[WhiteElo "2875"]
[BlackElo "2754"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[EventDate "2019.06.03"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. e5 d5 6. Bb5 Ne4 7. Nxd4 Bc5 8.
Be3 O-O 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. O-O Bxd4 11. Qxd4 c5 12. Qd3 Bf5 13. Qe2 d4 14. f3 Ng5
15. Bxg5 Qxg5 16. Na3 Rfe8 17. Rae1 Rad8 18. Rf2 Rd5 19. Qb5 Bd7 20. Qa5 Rdxe5
21. Ref1 Re2 22. Qxc7 Rxf2 23. Kxf2 Qe3+ 24. Kg3 Qg5+ 25. Kf2 Qe3+ 26. Kg3 Qg5+
1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.03"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A43"]
[WhiteElo "2774"]
[BlackElo "2875"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2019.06.03"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 g6 2. Nf3 Bg7 3. c4 c5 4. d5 d6 5. e4 e6 6. Bd3 Ne7 7. Nc3 O-O 8. O-O
exd5 9. cxd5 Bg4 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Nd7 12. Qe2 a6 13. a4 Re8 14. Qc2 Rc8 15.
Be2 c4 16. a5 Rc5 17. Be3 Rxa5 18. Bxc4 Rxa1 19. Rxa1 Qc7 20. Be2 Nc8 21. Rc1
Ncb6 22. Qb3 Nc5 23. Qb4 h5 24. Nb1 Nbd7 25. Nd2 Qd8 26. Rc2 b5 27. Qa3 Kh7 28.
Bf3 Ne5 29. Be2 Ned7 30. Bf3 Bh6 31. b4 Bxe3 32. Qxe3 Na4 33. Qa7 Ne5 34. Qxa6
Qg5 35. Qxb5 Ra8 36. Qb7 Qd8 37. Be2 Rb8 38. Qa7 Rxb4 39. f4 Nd7 40. Rc7 Nac5
41. Rc6 Rb2 42. Rxd6 Rxd2 43. Qxc5 Nxc5 44. Rxd8 Rxe2 45. e5 Nd3 46. Rd7 Kg8
47. Rd8+ Kg7 48. Rd7 Kf8 49. g3 h4 50. Rd8+ Ke7 51. d6+ Kxd8 0-1

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.03"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C00"]
[WhiteElo "2875"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2019.06.03"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. f4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. c3 Nh6 6. Na3 Nf5 7. Nc2 Be7 8. d4 Qb6
9. Bd3 cxd4 10. cxd4 Bd7 11. O-O Nb4 12. Nxb4 Qxb4 13. Kh1 h5 14. Bxf5 exf5 15.
a4 Rc8 16. b3 Qc3 17. Ba3 Qc2 18. Qe1 Bxa3 19. Rxa3 Qb2 20. Ra1 Rc2 21. Rb1 Qc3
22. Qg3 g6 23. Qg5 Qc6 24. h3 Kf8 25. Qf6 Qxf6 26. exf6 Rc6 27. Ne5 Rd6 28.
Rbc1 Bc6 29. b4 Rxf6 30. b5 Be8 31. Rc7 Rb6 32. Re1 Kg7 33. Nd3 a6 34. Nc5 axb5
35. a5 Rc6 36. Rxb7 Rc8 37. Ree7 b4 38. a6 Kh6 39. Rxb4 Bc6 40. a7 Rhe8 41.
Rxe8 Rxe8 42. Rb6 1-0

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.03"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2819"]
[BlackElo "2875"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2019.06.03"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. e5 Nh5 4. Be2 d6 5. exd6 Qxd6 6. Nc3 a6 7. Be3 Nf6 8. Qd2
Bg7 9. O-O-O O-O 10. Nf3 b5 11. Bf4 Qb6 12. Kb1 c5 13. dxc5 Qxc5 14. Ne5 Bb7
15. f3 Nc6 16. Nd3 Qb6 17. Be3 Qc7 18. Nc5 Rfd8 19. Qc1 Rdc8 20. g4 Nb4 21.
Nxb7 Qxb7 22. Bd4 Nc6 23. Be3 Ne5 24. Rhf1 Rxc3 25. bxc3 Nd5 26. Bd4 Rc8 27. f4
Nc4 28. Bxg7 Kxg7 29. Bxc4 Nxc3+ 30. Ka1 Rxc4 31. Rd3 Qg2 32. f5 Nxa2 33. Qe1
Nb4 34. Qe5+ Kh6 35. Rfd1 Nxd3 36. Rxd3 Rxc2 37. Qf4+ g5 38. Rd6+ f6 0-1

[Event "Norway Masters blitz 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.03"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B50"]
[WhiteElo "2875"]
[BlackElo "2779"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2019.06.03"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 190 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.07.15"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. b4 cxb4 4. d4 Nf6 5. Bd3 e5 6. a3 exd4 7. Nxd4 bxa3 8.
O-O Be7 9. Bxa3 O-O 10. Nc3 Nc6 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. f4 d5 13. e5 Bxa3 14. Rxa3
Qb6+ 15. Kh1 Ng4 16. Qe1 Qc5 17. Rb3 f5 18. h3 Nh6 19. Na4 Qe7 20. Qc3 Qc7 21.
Nc5 Nf7 22. e6 Nd6 23. Qe5 Qe7 24. Rfb1 Ne4 25. Bxe4 fxe4 26. Rb8 Rxb8 27. Rxb8
Re8 28. f5 Qxc5 29. Qc7 Qf8 30. Qxc6 Bd7 31. Qxd7 Rxb8 32. e7 Qe8 33. Qxd5+ Kh8
34. Qe5 Rb6 35. Qxe4 Rf6 0-1

[Event "Norway Chess 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.04"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D39"]
[WhiteElo "2875"]
[BlackElo "2767"]
[Annotator "Lupulescu,C"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2019.06.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4 {Compared to other QGD positions, the
Vienna has been a rather rare guest in supertournaments lately.} 5. e4 Bb4 6.
Bg5 c5 7. Bxc4 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 Qa5 10. Nb5 {An interesting sideline.
} (10. Bd2 {was almost a novelty when the world champion employed it
succesfully against Aronian:} O-O 11. Qe2 e5 12. Nb3 Qc7 {with a complex
struggle in: Carlsen,M (2845)-Aronian,L (2763) Karlsruhe/Baden Baden GER 2019,
1-0 (38).}) (10. Bb5+ {it is the most common move with many forced variations
to follow.}) 10... Nxe4 11. Qd4 O-O 12. Qxe4 a6 13. O-O (13. Bd3 f5 14. Qe2
axb5 15. O-O {is a more usual move order.}) 13... axb5 14. Bd3 f5 15. Qe2 Nc6 (
15... Bd7 {was also played quite often.}) 16. Bd2 Qc7 {The first new move of
the game.} (16... e5 17. Bxb5 Be6 18. a4 Qc7) 17. Bxb5 f4 {An interesting move,
playing against White's dark-squared bishop while also preparing to enhance
his own bishop's scope. However, it implies a strategic risk by handing White
the e4 square.} (17... e5 {was a more conservative approach with the idea} 18.
f3 Be6 19. Rfe1 (19. a4 Na5 $13 {[%cal Ga5b3]}) 19... e4 $1) 18. f3 {Obviously
White cannot allow f4-f3.} e5 19. Rfe1 Bd7 20. a4 $1 {We can say that the
World Champion got the position he wanted from the opening: not so much to
begin with, but plenty of play left to outplay his impressive opponent.} (20.
Bxc6 {would most likely have called it a day even with Carlsen's fantastic
technical abilities:} Bxc6 21. Qxe5 Qf7 $1 {The most precise as Black's queen
will be more useful than White's.} (21... Qxe5 {is also possible:} 22. Rxe5
Rad8 {Black also has good drawing chances in view of White's split queenside
pawns and the drawing tendencies of the opposite coloured bishops.}) 22. Qe6
Rad8 23. Qxf7+ Rxf7 24. Re2 g5 $44) 20... Kh8 21. Rad1 (21. Bxc6 Bxc6 22. Qxe5
Qxe5 23. Rxe5 Rxa4 24. Rxa4 Bxa4 {would not give many winning chances as the
only way to get f4 would be via a rook swap:} 25. Re4 (25. h4 Bc6 26. Rc5 h6
$11 {[%cal Gg7g5]}) 25... Bc6 26. Rxf4 Rxf4 27. Bxf4 Kg8 {with a trivial draw.}
) 21... Rae8 (21... h6 {to defend against back rank threats was safer for
Black:} 22. Bc1 Bf5 23. Ba3 Rf6 $13) 22. Bc1 {Now it is not that easy to find
a good plan for Black.} e4 {Here this thematic idea doesn't achieve its aim as
the game is too open.} 23. fxe4 Ne5 24. Bxd7 Nxd7 25. Rf1 $1 {White shows that
also f4 can be a weakness.} Nc5 26. Ba3 $1 {The point of the World Champion's
idea.} Rxe4 27. Qb5 $6 {A very natural move but it allows Black to escape to
an easily drawn endgame.} (27. Qh5 $1 {would give good winning chances:} Re5 (
27... b6 28. a5 $16) 28. Rxf4 Rg8 (28... Rfe8 29. Rdf1 $1 {White needed to see
this in advance.} Kg8 30. Qg4 $16) 29. Qf3 (29. Rf7 Rxh5 30. Rxc7 Nxa4 31. c4
b5 (31... b6 32. Rd5 $16 {again puts Black in trouble.}) 32. Rd5 $16) 29... Ne6
30. Bd6 Qb6+ 31. Qf2 Qb3 32. Bxe5 Qxd1+ 33. Qf1 Qd5 34. Rf5 $16) 27... Re5 28.
Rde1 (28. Bxc5 Qxc5+ $1 (28... Rxc5 29. Rxf4 Rg8 30. Rf7 $1 Rxb5 (30... Qxf7
31. Qxc5 {With queens on Black is in trouble.}) 31. Rxc7 $16 {A different
version as White's rooks are now very active.}) 29. Qxc5 Rxc5 30. Rxf4 Kg8 31.
Rb4 (31. Rxf8+ Kxf8 {is very similar to the game.}) 31... Rxc3 32. Rxb7 h6 {
Thanks to his very active rooks Black shouldn't have much trouble drawing.})
28... Rc8 29. Rxe5 Qxe5 30. Bxc5 Qxc5+ 31. Qxc5 Rxc5 32. Rxf4 h6 33. Rf3 (33.
Rb4 Rxc3 34. Rxb7 Ra3 {would also be trivial for Black.}) 33... Kg8 {Anand
confidently shows the endgame is an easy draw.} 34. Rd3 Ra5 35. Rd7 Rxa4 36.
Rxb7 Ra2 37. h4 Kh7 38. Kh2 Rd2 39. Rc7 Kg6 40. Kg3 (40. Kh3 {would not change
much, for example} h5 41. Kg3 Kf6 42. Kf3 g6 43. g3 Rd3+ 44. Kf4 Ke6 {and
White can hardly make any progress.}) 40... Kh5 41. Rc5+ g5 42. Kh3 Rd3+ 43. g3
Re3 44. Kg2 Rd3 45. Rc4 Re3 46. hxg5 hxg5 47. Kh3 Rd3 48. Rc8 g4+ 49. Kg2 Rd2+
50. Kf1 Rc2 51. c4 Kg5 52. c5 Kf6 53. c6 Ke7 54. c7 Kd6 55. Rd8+ Kxc7 56. Rd4
Kc6 57. Kg1 Kc5 58. Rxg4 Kd5 {The longest game of the first round that
probably left the World Champion thinking he could have achieved more.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.05"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2752"]
[BlackElo "2875"]
[Annotator "Lupulescu,C"]
[PlyCount "136"]
[EventDate "2019.06.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 {when faced with this move against the same opponent in a
blitz game in 2018 Aronian chose 3.Nc3} 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 {Carlsen has
had quite an extensive experience in this positions from his match with Caruana
} 5. d3 Qc7 {Black's idea is to play a quick e5 and then perhaps Nf6-h5 to
prevent in advance f4 ideas. Compared to the previous game where he chose 6...
Qc7, he keeps his B on f8 to protect c5} (5... Bg7 6. O-O Qc7 {was the similar
idea played in the World Championship match} 7. Re1 e5 8. a3 Nf6 9. b4 O-O 10.
Nbd2 Bg4 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Nxf3 cxb4 13. axb4 a5 14. bxa5 Rxa5 15. Bd2 (15. Rxa5
Qxa5 16. Bd2 {was at least interesting}) 15... Raa8 16. Qb1 Nd7 17. Qb4 Rfe8
18. Bc3 b5 $11 {1/2-1/2 (49) Caruana,F (2832)-Carlsen,M (2835) London 2018}) 6.
O-O e5 7. Be3 Nf6 8. Qe1 $5 {practically a novelty. White's idea is the
typical Qc3 putting some pressure on e5.} (8. Nbd2 $6 Ng4 {White has to give
up his pride and joy}) (8. h3 {was possible as well}) 8... Bg4 {of course
Carlsen doesn't allow his opponent to execute his idea} (8... Be7 $143 9. Qc3
Nd7 10. a4 {[%cal Gb1d2] White has a harmonious position}) 9. Nbd2 Nh5 $1 {
a strong move that is keeping an eye of f4 breaks while also preparing f6} (
9... Be7 $6 10. h3 Bxf3 (10... Be6 11. Ng5 $16) 11. Nxf3 O-O 12. Nh2) 10. a3 (
10. h3 Be6 11. Ng5 Bd7) 10... Be7 $2 ({a move like} 10... f6 $1 {to
consolidate e5 was needed for exemple} 11. Qb1 (11. h3 Be6 12. Qe2 {does not
make a lot of use of 8.Qe1}) 11... a5 12. b4 cxb4 13. axb4 Bxb4 14. Qb3 (14.
Qxb4 {it's interesting but doesn't give White more than compensation} axb4 15.
Rxa8+ Bc8 16. Nc4 Kf7 17. Bc5 Kg7 $15 {Black's K is quite safe}) 14... Qc8 $13
{[%cal Gg4e6]}) 11. Qb1 $1 {not only original but also very strong. Now Black
cannot stop the thematic b4 and he faces serious problems} (11. Rb1 a5 {
goes nowhere}) 11... Nf4 {Black is also trying to get some counterplay} ({
we can see White idea after} 11... a5 12. b4 axb4 (12... cxb4 13. axb4 a4 14.
Qb2 f6 15. d4 $16) 13. axb4 Rxa1 14. Qxa1 cxb4 15. Nxe5 Bf6 16. Bd4 $16) 12. b4
Ne2+ (12... b6 13. bxc5 bxc5 {the engine claims just a small edge but I am
pretty sure nobody would really enjoy his time as Black in this position.
However, it was probably the lesser evil as Black's activity after 12...Ne2
will not amount to much}) 13. Kh1 Nd4 14. Ng1 $1 {Also introducing c3 ideas
and the N cannot go back to e6} (14. bxc5 Nxf3 15. Nxf3 Bxf3 16. gxf3 {was
also possible but it is understandable that Aronian didn't want to spoil the
pawn strucuture around his K}) 14... g5 {since his strategical position is
compromised Black needs to try something} (14... cxb4 15. axb4 g5 {preventing
f4} (15... O-O 16. f4 $36) 16. c3 Ne6 {would for exemple keep the material
equal but Black is still facing a difficult struggle} 17. Nc4 b5 (17... O-O 18.
Bxa7 {is already possible} b5 19. Bb6 Rxa1 20. Qxa1 Qb8 21. Ne3 Bh5 22. Qa6 $16
) 18. Na5 $16) 15. bxc5 Bxc5 16. Bxg5 {White needs to accept the gift one way
or the other. However it's not at all clear how Black will take advantage of
the opening of the g file} Rg8 17. Bh4 Be7 18. Bg3 (18. Bxe7 Qxe7 19. f3 Be6 (
19... Bh5 20. Nb3 Qg5 21. Rf2 Qe3 22. Nh3 {Black's attack ends here}) 20. c3
$16 {also looked grim for Black}) 18... O-O-O {Black needs also a shelter for
his K} 19. Nc4 f6 20. a4 (20. f4 Be6 21. fxe5 Rxg3 {even though White would
still be close to winning, it would create some unnecessary mess}) 20... Ne6 (
20... h5 {was perhaps worth a try to muddy the waters a little for exemple} 21.
f3 Be6 22. c3 Bxc4 23. cxd4 Ba6 {and at least Black has some active play}) 21.
f3 Bh5 22. Bf2 {now, after all the dust has settled, White is a clear pawn up
with easier play} Bc5 (22... Kb8 23. a5 {doesn't make Black's life any easier})
23. Bxc5 Nxc5 24. Ne2 {getting the second N back into play} Bf7 25. Ne3 Qa5 (
25... h5 26. a5 h4 {is not doing much after} 27. h3 {White's two N around his
K assure him against any attacking Black options}) 26. Qe1 Qxe1 {the Q swap
was the only chance for Black to create some resemblance of counterplay on the
queenside} 27. Rfxe1 a5 28. Kg1 {White continues the logical play activating
his K} h5 29. h4 {White could allow the pawn to get to h4 but it is more
logical to block in on a light square} Kc7 30. Kf2 Be6 {now White makes a few
passing moves with the R before returning to the right plan of the d4 break}
31. Rg1 Rh8 32. Rh1 Rd7 33. Rhd1 Bf7 (33... Rhd8 34. Ng3 Bf7 {it was an idea
to make it harder for White to achieve the central break although it would
still be a rather desperate fight} 35. Ngf5 Ne6 36. Rdb1 {now White can play
at his leisure combining play on the queenside with a g4 break at the right
moment}) 34. d4 exd4 35. Rxd4 Rxd4 36. Nxd4 Rd8 37. Ne2 {a good regrouping} (
37. Nef5 Bg6 38. Ke3 {was also nice for White}) 37... Rd2 38. Ke1 Rd8 39. Nf5
Ra8 {Black tries to activate his R via a6, b6} 40. Nc3 Be6 41. Ne3 Kd6 {
Black take his K closer to the kingside to be better place against g4 ideas} (
41... Ra6 {doesn't achieve its aim} 42. Kf2 Rb6 43. Rh1 $1 $18 {[%cal Gg2g4]
the White Knights are doing a very good job protecting White's weaknesses and
now g4 become unstoppable} (43. g4 hxg4 44. fxg4 Rb4 45. Kf3 Bg8 {would give
Black some chances})) 42. Rd1+ Ke7 43. Rd4 {White has centralised his pieces
and is ready for the winning Nf5 following by g4} Ra6 44. Kd2 Rb6 45. Nf5+ {
this is also winning} (45. Rd5 $1 {would finish off the world champion in style
} cxd5 46. Nexd5+) 45... Bxf5 46. exf5 Rb2 47. Rc4 Kd6 48. Ne4+ {here it is, I
believe, where things started to go wrong for Aronian. Objectively 48.Ne4 was
the best choice. However, playing with such a demanding time control, it feels
like he invested too much of his remaining time on this move} (48. g4 {was
also a valid choice} b5 (48... Rb4 49. Rxb4 axb4 50. Na2 Nxa4 51. Nxb4 {
also White looks totally winning}) 49. axb5 cxb5 50. Rd4+ Ke7 51. Rd5 $18)
48... Nxe4+ 49. Rxe4 Ra2 50. g4 hxg4 51. fxg4 Kd5 52. Kd3 Ra3+ 53. c3 b5 54. h5
$2 {left with just a few minutes on the clock White goes wrong} (54. g5 b4 55.
Rg4 $1 b3 56. g6 Ra1 57. g7 {perhaps Aronian forgot he would be queening with
check?!}) 54... b4 $2 {very tempting but giving White chances again} (54... Ra1
55. axb5 cxb5 56. Re6 (56. Re8 Rd1+ 57. Ke2 Rh1 58. Kf3 a4 {Black has enough
activity to draw}) 56... Rg1 57. Rxf6 Rxg4 58. Rb6 Rg3+ 59. Kd2 b4 60. cxb4
axb4 61. f6 Ra3 62. Ke2 Ra7 63. Kf3 Kc5 $8 64. Re6 b3 65. Kg4 b2 66. Re1 Kd5 (
66... Ra1 $2 67. f7 $18) 67. Rb1 Ke6 {was not such a trivial draw}) 55. Rd4+
Ke5 56. Rc4 Rxa4 (56... b3 57. Re4+ Kd6 58. h6 Ra1 59. Re2 Rh1 60. Kc4 Rxh6 61.
Re6+ Kc7 62. Kxb3 {would be very difficult for Black}) 57. h6 $6 {White misses
his last winning chance} (57. Re4+ $1 Kd5 58. g5 Ra3 (58... fxg5 59. f6 $18)
59. Re3 $3 $18 {would be not that easy to find even with time on the clock} (
59. gxf6 $4 Rxc3+ 60. Kd2 Kxe4 61. f7 Rd3+ 62. Kc2 Rd8 {would end tragic for
White})) 57... Ra1 58. cxb4 (58. Re4+ $1 {was the last practical chance that
would still be a draw if both players found amazing resources} Kd5 59. g5 b3 (
59... fxg5 60. c4+ Kd6 61. f6 $18) 60. Re2 fxg5 61. c4+ Kd6 62. c5+ Kd5 63. f6
b2 64. Rxb2 Ke6 65. Rb6 Kxf6 66. Rxc6+ Kf5 (66... Ke5 $2 {allows White to push
his h pawn to the 7th rank} 67. Rg6 Kf5 68. h7 Rh1 69. Rg7 $18) 67. Rd6 Rh1 68.
Kd2 Rh2+ 69. Kc3 Ke5 (69... Rh1 $2 70. Kb3 Rh4 71. c6 $18) 70. Kb3 Rh4 71. Rg6
Kf5 72. c6 Kxg6 73. c7 Rxh6 (73... Rh3+ 74. Kc2 Rh2+ $11) 74. c8=Q Rh4 $1 {
would still be a draw}) 58... axb4 59. Rxc6 {now is very easy for Black} (59.
Re4+ Kd5 60. g5 fxg5 61. f6 $4 Ra3+ $19 {is where we see the difference with
58.cb4 included}) 59... Ra3+ 60. Kc4 Rc3+ 61. Kb5 Rh3 62. Kxb4 Rxh6 63. Kc5 Rh1
64. Re6+ Kf4 65. Rxf6 Kxg4 66. Kd6 Kg5 67. Ke7 Ra1 68. Rf8 Ra7+ {After
Aronian's brilliant 11.Qb1! the World champion looked in very big danger. To
say he managed a miraculous escape it would probably be a small understatement.
} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.06"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2875"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2019.06.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 $1 {A curious moment. Norway Chess have for some
years used a " Confession booth", intended for the players to give messages to
the spectators during the games. Magnus took it a step further: "This is a
small shout-out to Peter Heine, who thought Grischuk would play the Kings
Indian, and not the Grunfeld: Clown!" The Norwegian media, as usual on the
search for stories, took it seriously and as journalistic fairness dictates,
contacted me during the game asking for a rebuttal!} 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6.
bxc3 Bg7 7. Be3 c5 8. Rc1 Qa5 {Grischuks stays loyal to his preferred move.} ({
But in the next round Mamedyarov tried} 8... O-O {vs. Magnus both in the
classical and the Armageddon game.} 9. Nf3 Nd7 10. Be2 Qa5 11. O-O Qxa2 12. Nd2
Qa5 13. h4 $5 b5 14. h5 Bb7 15. h6 $1 {was the classical game. I recently
attributed the modern understanding of flank pawn attacks to Alphazero, and
some pointed out to me that opening the h-file and giving mate is not exactly
a new concept in chess! It's a fair point, so this diagram is a good
opportunity to point to what Alphazero has a preference for according to
Sadler and Regan in "Gamechanger": Exactly not going for the direct assualt in
the h-line but instead the slow and more cunning putrting the pawn on h6,
effectively closing the h-line but instead aiming for a slower and more
longterm attack. The benefits are numerous: especially it controls space at
the critical area next to Blacks king, and cramping his defence, like in the
game forcing the bishop to h8 where it blocks the king's potential retreat. As
well in tactical sequences the pawn is only 2 squares from promoting. Not at
all as direct as the typical hxg6 and mate in the h-line, but at times, much
more powerful the game being a good illustration.} Bh8 16. e5 Qc7 17. Bxb5 $1
Bxg2 18. Kxg2 Qb7+ 19. Qf3 Qxb5 20. Rb1 Qa6 21. Ne4 cxd4 22. cxd4 f6 23. Ng5 $1
{The "cramped" nature of Black's kingside is making itself felt with 24.Qd5+
being a deadly threat.} {Mamedyarov succesfully confused with} e6 ({After} 
23... fxg5 24. Qd5+ e6 25. Qxd7 {Blacks position is hopeless with the bishop
on h8 practically being dead due to the pawns on d4, e5 and h6.}) {upon which
Magnus blundered with} 24. Ra1 $2 ({Instead,} 24. Qb7 $1 {would have been
deadly, as after after the exchanges of queens with} Qxb7+ ({If} 24... Qe2 25.
Qxd7 {wins as there is no perpetual after} Qg4+ 26. Kh2 fxg5 27. f3 $1 {
as if Black takes twice on f3, Qxe6+ afterwards forces an eaisly winning
ending, again due to the bishop being locked at h8.}) 25. Rxb7 Nxe5 {there is
the strong} 26. Nxe6 $1) {having missed} 24... Qb6 $1) 9. Qd2 O-O 10. Nf3 Bg4
$5 {Grischuk's pet line, which he used twice at Norway Chess 2014.} 11. d5 {
Karjakin tried 11 Ng5, but Magnus instead follows in the footsteps of Kramnik:}
b5 $1 ({Despite winning the game vs. Kramnik} 11... Nd7 12. c4 Qa3 13. Be2 Bxf3
14. Bxf3 Bd4 $1 {Grischuk decides to avoid Magnus' preparation (!) and springs
his new idea first.}) 12. Be2 ({Critical might be to take the pawn on c5, but
after} 12. Bxc5 Bxf3 13. gxf3 Rc8 14. Bb4 (14. Bd4 Bxd4 15. Qxd4 Nd7 {is just
fine for Black.}) 14... Qc7 {leaves an uncoordinated impression from White, so
Magnus instead reverts to common-sense development}) 12... Nd7 13. O-O Bxf3 $6
{Grischuk after the game said that 11...b5 was old prep and that his
recollection was that the computers back then said Black was better, meaning
he was in "refutation mode", playing principled decisions to expose the flaws
of the white position. Modern engines, however, have modified their views, and
think Black is fine but not more.} 14. Bxf3 {Common sense, but 14.gxf3
followed by either f4, or h4 has definite potential too.} c4 15. Be2 {One does
not have to be Alphazero to suggest 15 h4! here, Stockfish prefers it too!
Magnus, however, goes for first setting up a broad centre, and then develop
his attack on the wing.} (15. h4 $5) 15... Rfd8 $6 {As in move 13, Grischuk is
too colored by the idea of having a good position and thus plays too
ambitiously aiming for rooks on d8 and c8.} (15... Rad8 $1 {however was more
to the point, caring about defensive details like the rook leaving tha
a8-square this not being targeted by a white bishop on f3m but especially
leaving the rook on f8, where it defends the upcoming assult in the f-line, as
well as being ready to counter there itself.} 16. f4 Qa3 17. Bf3 {when now} Nc5
18. e5 f6 $1 {makes a considerable difference to the game.}) 16. f4 $1 Nb6 ({
The big difference now is that} 16... Qa3 17. Bf3 Nc5 18. e5 f6 19. d6 $1 {
hitting a8 is possible, when after} Rac8 20. Bd5+ e6 21. f5 $1 {Whites attack
just crashes through.}) 17. Bf3 Qa3 18. h4 $5 {In a later interview Magnus
mentioned Alphazero and Danil Dubov as his current chess heroes! One does see
the inspiration, with the optimistic and untamed long-term aggression. There
is no immediate threat, and Black's counterplay might even get there first,
but White does aim after the king, and will hit substantially harder than
Black's smaller threats when the attack arrives at the intended target.} e6 (
18... b4 $5 {aims at distracting white immediately, but he will just ignore
with} 19. h5 $1 {as} Bxc3 20. Qf2 {might have won Black a pawn and created two
passed pawns on the queenside, but White couldn't care less as he intends to
finish the game way before such becomes decisive. After} Bg7 21. hxg6 hxg6 {
both} 22. Bg4 ({and} 22. f5 Rf8 23. e5 $5) 22... b3 23. f5 g5 24. f6 exf6 25.
axb3 cxb3 26. Rc7 {gives White a very promising attack.}) 19. h5 $1 Na4 ({
Grischuk's problem is that} 19... exd5 20. e5 $1 {just makes things even worse
as again Black gets an useless extra pawn while speeding up Whites' attack,
with Bd4, f5, Bg4 etc. being the next wave.}) 20. hxg6 {Not h6! this time but
hxg6. Yes, White has thus spent two tempi opening the h-line, apparantly to
little effect!? Partly it does weaken the g6 pawn, later being a subject to a
possible attack, but as we soon will see, the open h-line very much do has
relevance.} hxg6 21. f5 exf5 (21... Bxc3 {obviously is critical, but apart
from just sidestepping with his queen, White has this even mightier exchange
sac:} 22. Rxc3 $1 {when his attack becomes just unstoppable.} Qxc3 23. Qf2 {
Now 24.Bd4 is a deadly threat, and} Qg7 24. fxe6 fxe6 25. Bg4 $1 {highlights
why the h-line being open does make a major difference, with B(x)e6+ followed
by Qh4+ as the deadly threat.}) 22. exf5 Qd6 23. Bf4 Qb6+ 24. Kh1 gxf5 25. d6
$1 {Grischuk staved off immediate defeat, but the next wave of attack he is
helpless against.} Rab8 26. Bd5 Nc5 27. Bg3 Ne6 28. Rxf5 {Now Rxf7 is a threat.
} Rxd6 29. Bxd6 Qxd6 30. Qe3 Qb6 31. Qf3 Rf8 32. Rf1 Nd8 33. Rh5 Qc7 34. Qe4 {
And where fittingly the open h-line gets the final word. Mate on h7 is
unavoidable so Grischuk resigned.} 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.08"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2875"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2019.06.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Be3 c5 8.
Rc1 O-O 9. Nf3 Nd7 10. Be2 Qa5 11. O-O Qxa2 12. Nd2 Qa5 13. h4 b5 14. h5 Bb7
15. h6 Bh8 16. e5 Qc7 17. Bxb5 Bxg2 18. Kxg2 Qb7+ 19. Qf3 Qxb5 20. Rb1 Qa6 21.
Ne4 cxd4 22. cxd4 f6 23. Ng5 e6 24. Ra1 Qb6 25. exf6 Bxf6 26. Qe4 Bxg5 27. Bxg5
Qd6 28. Rfe1 Qd5 29. Qxd5 exd5 30. Ra5 Rf5 31. f4 Nf6 32. Re7 Ne4 33. Rg7+ Kh8
34. Raxa7 Rxa7 35. Rxa7 Kg8 36. Rg7+ Kf8 37. Be7+ Ke8 38. Rxh7 Rf7 39. Rxf7
Kxf7 40. Kf3 Kg8 41. Kg4 Kh7 42. Bf8 Nf6+ 43. Kh4 Ne4 44. Bg7 Nd6 45. Kg5 Ne4+
46. Kg4 Nd6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.09"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2779"]
[BlackElo "2875"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2019.06.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Nd5 Nxd5 8.
exd5 Nb8 9. a4 Be7 10. Be2 O-O 11. O-O Nd7 12. Kh1 a6 13. Na3 Nc5 14. Nc4 a5
15. f4 exf4 16. Bxf4 f5 17. Bd3 b6 18. Qe2 Ba6 19. Nxb6 Nxd3 20. cxd3 Qxb6 21.
Qxe7 Bxd3 22. Qe6+ Kh8 23. Qxd6 Qxd6 24. Bxd6 Bxf1 25. Bxf8 Bc4 26. Be7 Bxd5
27. Rd1 Bb3 28. Rd8+ Rxd8 29. Bxd8 Bxa4 30. Bxa5 Kg8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.10"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A20"]
[WhiteElo "2875"]
[BlackElo "2805"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2019.06.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 e5 3. Bg2 c6 4. d4 e4 5. Qb3 d5 6. Nc3 dxc4 7. Qxc4 b5 8. Qb3
Qxd4 9. Be3 Qb4 10. Bd2 Qxb3 11. axb3 Bf5 12. g4 Bxg4 13. Nxe4 Nxe4 14. Bxe4 g6
15. Bc3 Rg8 16. b4 a6 17. e3 Bg7 18. Ne2 Bxe2 19. Kxe2 Ra7 20. Bxg7 Rxg7 21.
Rhc1 Rc7 22. h4 Kd8 23. h5 Kc8 24. hxg6 fxg6 25. Rd1 Rge7 26. f3 Re6 27. Rh1
Kb7 28. Rh6 Rf7 29. Rah1 Ree7 30. Rc1 Kb6 31. Rh2 Re6 32. Rch1 Nd7 33. Rxh7
Rxh7 34. Rxh7 Nf6 35. Rh4 Nxe4 36. fxe4 c5 37. bxc5+ Kxc5 38. Kd3 g5 39. Rg4
Rg6 40. Kc3 a5 41. b4+ axb4+ 42. Kc2 Kc4 43. e5+ Kd5 44. Rxb4 g4 45. Rxb5+ Ke4
46. Rb4+ Kxe3 47. e6 Kf3 48. Rb3+ Kf2 49. Rb4 Kf3 50. Rb3+ Kf4 51. Rb4+ Kf5 52.
Rb5+ Kxe6 53. Kd3 g3 54. Rb6+ Kf5 55. Rxg6 Kxg6 56. Ke2 Kg5 57. Kf3 Kh4 58. Kg2
Kg4 59. Kg1 Kh3 60. Kh1 g2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.12"]
[Round "7"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2754"]
[BlackElo "2875"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2019.06.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 O-O 12. Nc2 Rb8 13. h4 g6 14. g3 Bg7 15.
h5 Ne7 16. Nce3 Nxd5 17. Nxd5 Be6 18. Bh3 Bxd5 19. Qxd5 b4 20. c4 Qc7 21. O-O
Rb6 22. b3 Rd8 23. a4 bxa3 24. hxg6 hxg6 25. Rxa3 Qc5 26. Rfa1 Qxd5 27. cxd5
Bh6 28. Rxa6 Rxb3 29. Ra8 Rxa8 30. Rxa8+ Bf8 31. Bd7 Rb4 32. Ra4 Rb2 33. Ra7
Be7 34. Bc6 Kf8 35. Rb7 Rxb7 36. Bxb7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.13"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Yu, Yangyi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2875"]
[BlackElo "2738"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2019.06.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e4 b5 6. Be2 b4 7. e5 bxc3 8. exf6
exf6 9. bxc3 Bd6 10. O-O O-O 11. Nd2 Re8 12. Re1 Nd7 13. Nxc4 Bc7 14. Bf3 Ba6
15. Ne3 Nb6 16. Ba3 Nc4 17. Qd3 Rxe3 18. Rxe3 Nxe3 19. Qxa6 Nc2 20. Rd1 Nxa3
21. Qxa3 Qd6 22. Qxd6 Bxd6 23. c4 Rc8 24. c5 Be7 25. Kf1 f5 26. Ke2 g5 27. h3
Kg7 28. Kd3 Kg6 29. Rb1 h5 30. Rb7 Bf6 31. Rd7 g4 32. Bd1 Kg5 33. Ba4 f4 34. f3
Re8 35. fxg4 hxg4 36. hxg4 Re6 37. Bd1 Re3+ 38. Kc4 a5 39. Bf3 Ra3 40. Bxc6
Rxa2 41. Be4 a4 42. c6 Ra1 43. c7 a3 44. Kb3 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.14"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2819"]
[BlackElo "2875"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2019.06.04"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 e5 7. O-O Qc7 8. a3
Nf6 9. Be3 c4 10. Nc3 cxd3 11. Qxd3 O-O 12. Rfd1 Re8 13. Bc5 Bf8 14. Bxf8 Kxf8
15. Rd2 Be6 16. Rad1 Rad8 17. Qxd8 Rxd8 18. Rxd8+ Kg7 19. R8d3 h6 20. b4 a5 21.
Re3 Nd7 22. Na4 b5 23. Nb2 c5 24. c3 c4 25. Rd2 axb4 26. axb4 Nf6 27. Nd1 Bd7
28. Nh2 Qa7 29. h4 Bc6 30. f3 Bd7 31. Nf1 Be6 32. Kh2 Nh5 33. g3 g5 34. hxg5
hxg5 35. Nf2 g4 36. Nxg4 Bxg4 37. fxg4 Nf6 38. Kg2 Nxg4 39. Rf3 Qa8 40. Re2 Kg6
41. Rf5 f6 42. Nh2 Nh6 43. Rf1 Kg7 44. Rd1 Qa3 45. Rd7+ Kg6 46. Nf3 Qxc3 47.
Nh4+ Kh5 48. Rh7 Qd3 49. Re1 c3 50. Nf3 Qc2+ 51. Kh3 Kg6 52. Rc7 Nf7 53. Nh4+
Kg7 54. Nf5+ Kg6 55. Nh4+ Kg7 56. Nf5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess Armageddon 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.04"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A21"]
[WhiteElo "2875"]
[BlackElo "2767"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2019.06.04"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Bb4 3. Nd5 Be7 4. d4 exd4 5. Qxd4 Nf6 6. Nxe7 Qxe7 7. Bg5 Nc6
8. Qc3 Ne5 9. Nf3 d6 10. e3 h6 11. Bh4 g5 12. Nxe5 dxe5 13. Bg3 Nd7 14. h4 g4
15. c5 h5 16. Rc1 c6 17. Bd3 O-O 18. O-O Re8 19. Rfd1 Nf6 20. Bb1 Nd5 21. Qc2
e4 22. Rd4 f5 23. a3 Be6 24. Rcd1 Rad8 25. Ba2 Rd7 26. b4 a6 27. a4 Red8 28. b5
axb5 29. axb5 Nf6 30. Rd6 Bxa2 31. Qxa2+ Qf7 32. Qa5 Rxd6 33. cxd6 Qd7 34. bxc6
bxc6 35. Rb1 Rf8 36. Qc7 Rf7 37. Rb8+ Kh7 38. Be5 Nd5 39. Rh8+ Kg6 40. Qb8 Nf6
41. Bxf6 Kxf6 42. Rh6+ Ke5 43. Qh8+ 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess Armageddon 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.05"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2752"]
[BlackElo "2875"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2019.06.04"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Armageddon was an interesting experiment, posing lots of challenges to the
players. Less than 30 minutes after often, like in this example, a gruelling
classical game with emotional ups and downs, the players have to re-adjust and
get ready for completely new circumstances.The slow pace of the previous game
is changed to a much faster format, the scoring of the game has changed in the
sense that only 2 results are possible, White winning the game, or Black
taking the full point with either a draw or a win, and as well the colors are
not reversed meaning often a repetition of the opening duel from the classical
might be repeated with the players either haven gotten a few pointers from
their on-site or online seconds, or rush to their rooms to briefly check it
wth their engines. Considerig the players also have basic human needs, like
getting something to eat in the brief break between games, despite the focus
on the Armageddon blunders, one can only be impressed with the level of play
in general, and this game specifically.} 1. e4 $5 {Aronian has been known as a
1 d4/c4/Nf3 player, but has recently managed to add 1 e4 succesfully to his
repertoire.} c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {Caruana's choice in the first 3 white games
in the WCh match. As Black did well against it in the match, the pendulum
swung to 3 d4. but now in Norway Chess both Aronian and later Caruana managed
to pose Magnus opening problems.} g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 $5 {By far the
main move.} ({But in the classical game Magnus had experimented with the much
rarer} 5... Qc7 $5 6. O-O e5 {The point of omitting 5...Bg7 is exactly that
Blacks bishop thus keeps a choice, and, like in the game, gives Black the
flexibility of using it on the f8-a3 diagonal. But Aronian manages to put his
finger at a sore spot:} 7. Be3 Nf6 8. Qe1 Bg4 9. Nbd2 Nh5 10. a3 Be7 {Around
here Magnus went to the confession booth, saying he quite liked his position,
as it wasn't really clear what White could do next?} 11. Qb1 $1 {However,
convincingly answered that question. The problem with the bishop not being on
g7 is highlighted after} a5 12. b4 $1 axb4 ({even worse,} 12... cxb4 13. axb4
Bxb4 $2 14. Qxb4 $1 axb4 15. Rxa8+ {wins also the rook on h8 again due to the
bishop missing on g7.}) 13. axb4 Rxa1 {when} 14. Qxa1 {now attacks the e5 pawn.
}) 6. h3 e5 7. O-O Qc7 $5 {Different timing, but the same idea. Black wants to
protect the e5-pawn, giving himself the option of putting the knight on f6.
Aronian had to battle it twice, but seemed to like it so much that he actually
tried it out with colors reversed against Caruana!} 8. Be3 ({Not only having 2
hours for the whole game, unlike Aronian's 10 minutes, Caruana in round 9 came
up with} 8. a3 $5 {against Magnus. It seems innocent, but after} Nf6 9. Be3 c4
10. Nc3 cxd3 11. Qxd3 O-O 12. Rfd1 Re8 13. Bc5 Bf8 14. Bxf8 Kxf8 15. Rd2 {
Caruana did pose some opening problems.}) 8... b6 9. Nbd2 Ne7 $1 {This might
seem illogical, but as White has set himself up for attacking the e5-pawn
after a black ...Nf6 with Nc4, Magnus switches plans, aiming for an attack
with ...f5, as Whites misplaced bishop on e3 will win him some time based on
the ...f4 threat.} 10. a3 O-O 11. b4 cxb4 12. axb4 f5 13. Nc4 Be6 14. Ng5 Bd7
15. Qe2 $6 {My main point is that this game generally very much have the
quality of a classical game, but this move might still illustrate some
difference. While looking logical, it serves no specific purpose and plays
into Black's hands.} ({Given more time Aronian would likely have played} 15.
Ra3 $1 {when Qa1 next both puts pressure on e5, as well along the a-line. And
if} h6 16. Nf3 f4 17. Bd2 g5 18. Bc3 Ng6 {then} 19. d4 {has quite more force
than in the game.}) 15... h6 16. Nf3 f4 17. Bd2 g5 18. Bc3 Ng6 19. d4 {The
passive 19.Nh2 was to be considered, but Aronian logically plays in the centre
to counter Black's attack on the flank.} exd4 20. Bxd4 g4 $1 {In an ideal
world Black would like ...h5 and ...g4, but in a sharp battle very every tempo
counts, one cannot care about trifles such as pawn structure, so the World
Champion hurries to create some threats.} 21. hxg4 Bxg4 22. c3 $6 {Like in
move 15 a logical move, covering the d4 bishop.} ({However,} 22. Ncd2 $1 {
while looking like a retreat, protects the colleague on f3 and meets} Bxd4 {
with} 23. Qc4+ $1) 22... c5 23. bxc5 bxc5 24. Bxg7 Qxg7 25. Nd6 {The point of
White's play is that 25...Nh4? now is met by 26.Qc4+, and after} Kh8 $1 26. Nf5
$5 {This pawn sacrifice seem to deflect Black's attention from the kingside
just in time, as after 26...Bxf5 27 exf5 Rxf5 Black's threats have dissapeared
and e.g. 28 Qd3 gives full compensation.} Rxf5 $1 {This, however, is a cold
awakening. Black now keeps the bishop on g4 instead of the rook on f8, which
means imminent threats to the white king, with 28...Bxf3 as the obvious, but
hard to prevent threat.} 27. exf5 Nh4 28. f6 $1 {Objectively the best move, but
} (28. Rxa7 $5 {deserves to be mentioned, as} Bxf3 $1 29. Rxa8+ Kh7 {while
looking crushing, actually allows the funny} 30. Ra7 $1 {when White very much
stays in the game, even if Black is better after} Qxa7 31. Qd3 $5 (31. gxf3 $2
Qg7+ {mates.})) 28... Qxf6 29. Ra6 $6 {Black again threatens ...Bxf3 followed
by mating in the g-line, and Aronian tries to maximise his counterplay as
quickly as possible.} ({Objectively better, however, was} 29. Rfe1 $1 Bxf3 30.
Ra6 $3 {Now easiest is} Bxe2 (30... Qg7) ({or} 30... Qg5 31. Qe5+ {keeps White
very much in the game.}) 31. Rxf6 Kg7 32. Rxf4 Ng6 33. Rf5 Bd3 34. Rxc5 a5 {
when stopping Black's passed pawn will take so much effort that White has no
realistic hopes of winning - asking the question of is it even relevant to
discuss lines where White saves a draw in an Armageddon game!?}) 29... Qg7 30.
Rxh6+ Qxh6 31. Qe5+ Qg7 32. Qxg7+ $6 ({Much better was} 32. Nxh4 {as after}
Qxe5 33. Ng6+ Kg7 34. Nxe5 {unlike in the game, White's knight will not get
into trouble, but nevertheless Black easily will get the desired draw anyway.})
32... Kxg7 33. Nxh4 a5 $1 34. Ra1 a4 35. Ra3 Kf6 36. Kf1 ({The computer says
that White's best chance by far is} 36. Nf3 {, but that's a chance to make a
worthless draw as after} Bxf3 37. gxf3 {obviously Whites winning chances are
zero. Aronian does what one has to do, but so does Magnus.}) 36... Ke5 37. Ke1
Kd5 38. f3 Bh5 39. Kd2 Be8 40. Kc1 Kc4 41. Nf5 Ra6 42. Ng7 Bg6 43. Kd2 Kd5 {
The confusion he tried to create only got his knight trapped, and White
resigned.  The question is to what standard we should just evaluate such
games? That it was great television Norwegian TV2 had no doubts about during
their national broadcast.} 0-1

[Event "Norway Chess Armageddon 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.08"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2875"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2019.06.04"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Be3 c5 8.
Rc1 O-O 9. Nf3 Qa5 10. Qd2 cxd4 11. cxd4 Qxd2+ 12. Nxd2 Rd8 13. Nf3 Nc6 14. d5
Nb4 15. Bd2 Na6 16. Bg5 Kf8 17. Bxa6 bxa6 18. O-O Rb8 19. Rc7 Rd7 20. Rc6 Rdb7
21. Bf4 Ra8 22. Rfc1 Bd7 23. Rc7 Rxc7 24. Rxc7 Ke8 25. h3 h6 26. Ne5 Bxe5 27.
Bxe5 f5 28. exf5 Bxf5 29. a3 Rd8 30. d6 exd6 31. Bf4 g5 32. Be3 Rd7 33. Rc6 Kf7
34. Rxa6 Bd3 35. Ra4 a6 36. h4 d5 37. hxg5 hxg5 38. Rd4 Bc4 39. Bxg5 Rb7 40.
Rf4+ Ke6 41. g4 Rb3 42. Bh4 Rxa3 43. g5 Ra1+ 44. Kh2 d4 45. g6 Bd5 46. f3 d3
47. g7 Ke5 48. Bg3 Ra2+ 49. Kh3 d2 50. Rf7+ Kd4 51. g8=Q d1=Q 52. Qg7+ Kd3 53.
Qg6+ Kd4 54. Qf6+ Kd3 55. Qf5+ Kc4 56. Rc7+ Kb5 57. Qd7+ Kb4 58. Qd6+ 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess Armageddon 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.09"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2779"]
[BlackElo "2875"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2019.06.04"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Bc5 7. O-O O-O 8.
d3 h6 9. Bd2 Nf6 10. Na4 Bb6 11. Rc1 Re8 12. Bc3 e4 13. dxe4 Nxe4 14. Qxd8 Rxd8
15. Be5 Re8 16. Nxb6 axb6 17. Bxc7 Rxa2 18. Ne5 Bf5 19. Nxc6 bxc6 20. f3 Nd2
21. Rf2 Rxb2 22. e4 Be6 23. Be5 Rb5 24. Rxd2 Rxe5 25. Rxc6 Rb5 26. f4 g6 27. e5
Kg7 28. Be4 Rb4 29. Bf3 Ra8 30. Kf2 Ra2 31. Rxa2 Bxa2 32. Bg4 h5 33. Bd7 Rb2+
34. Ke3 Rxh2 35. Rc7 Kf8 36. Rc8+ Kg7 37. Rc7 Kf8 38. f5 gxf5 39. Bxf5 Be6 40.
Bxe6 fxe6 41. Rb7 Rb2 42. Kf4 Rf2+ 43. Ke4 Re2+ 44. Kf4 Rf2+ 45. Ke4 Re2+
1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess Armageddon 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.10"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2875"]
[BlackElo "2805"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2019.06.04"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. c3 d6 8. Bg5 h6
9. Bh4 g5 10. Bg3 Bb6 11. Nbd2 Na5 12. Bc2 Nh5 13. a4 Rb8 14. b4 Nxg3 15. hxg3
Nc6 16. Nf1 Qf6 17. Qe2 Ne7 18. Ne3 h5 19. Bb3 c6 20. axb5 axb5 21. d4 g4 22.
dxe5 dxe5 23. Nh4 Qg5 24. O-O O-O 25. Rad1 Ra8 26. Kh2 Ra3 27. Qb2 Ra7 28. Rd6
Kg7 29. c4 Bc7 30. f4 gxf3 31. Rd3 fxg2 32. Kxg2 f6 33. c5 Rd8 34. Rxd8 Bxd8
35. Qe2 Ra3 36. Qd3 Bc7 37. Nef5+ Nxf5 38. Nxf5+ Kf8 39. Qc2 Qg4 40. Rf3 Bxf5
41. Rxf5 h4 42. Rxf6+ Kg7 43. Rf7+ Kg6 44. Qf2 Qxg3+ 45. Qxg3+ hxg3 46. Be6 Bd8
47. Kh3 Bg5 48. Rc7 Bf4 49. Rxc6 Kg5 50. Bf7 Bd2 51. Rg6+ Kf4 52. Rg4+ 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess Armageddon 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.12"]
[Round "7"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D70"]
[WhiteElo "2754"]
[BlackElo "2875"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2019.06.04"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nb6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Be3 O-O 8. Qd2
Nc6 9. O-O-O f5 10. e5 f4 11. Bf2 Nb4 12. a3 a5 13. h4 Be6 14. Nh3 Na2+ 15.
Nxa2 Bxa2 16. d5 Qxd5 17. Qxd5+ Nxd5 18. Re1 Rf5 19. Bd3 Rxe5 20. Rxe5 Bxe5 21.
h5 gxh5 22. Ng5 Nf6 23. Nxh7 Rd8 24. Bc2 Bf7 25. Ng5 Bd4 26. Be1 b6 27. Bh4
Be3+ 28. Kb1 Rd2 29. Nxf7 Kxf7 30. Bxf6 Kxf6 31. Rxh5 Rxg2 32. Rh6+ Ke5 33.
Rh5+ Kd6 34. Rh6+ Ke5 35. Rh5+ Kd6 36. Rh6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess Armageddon 7th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2019.06.14"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2819"]
[BlackElo "2875"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2019.06.04"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. Nc3 Nd4 5. e5 Nxb5 6. Nxb5 Nd5 7. Ng5 f6 8.
Ne4 f5 9. Nbc3 Nxc3 10. Nxc3 d6 11. O-O dxe5 12. Qe2 e6 13. Qxe5 Qd6 14. Qe2
Be7 15. b3 O-O 16. Bb2 Bd7 17. Rae1 Rae8 18. Nd1 Bf6 19. Bxf6 Rxf6 20. Nb2 Rh6
21. Qe5 Qxe5 22. Rxe5 b6 23. a4 Bc6 24. a5 Rd8 25. axb6 axb6 26. d3 Rd5 27. Nc4
Bb5 28. Rxd5 exd5 29. Ne3 d4 30. Nxf5 Re6 31. Ra1 Kf7 32. f3 Kf6 33. Ng3 Re7
34. Ne4+ Ke6 35. Ra8 Bc6 36. Ra6 Bxe4 37. Rxb6+ Bc6 38. Rxc6+ Kd5 39. Ra6 Re2
40. Ra2 Kc6 41. h4 h5 42. Kh2 Kb6 43. Kg3 Rd2 44. f4 g6 45. Kf3 Kb7 46. b4 c4
47. dxc4 d3 48. Ke3 Rxg2 49. Kxd3 Rg4 50. Ra5 Rxf4 51. Rg5 Rxh4 52. Rxg6 Rh1
1-0

[Event "Croatia GCT"]
[Site "Zagreb"]
[Date "2019.06.26"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2779"]
[BlackElo "2875"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2019.06.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "CRO"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. d3 Ne7 6. h4 h5 7. e5 d6 8. exd6
Ng6 9. Nfd2 Bxd6 10. Nc4 Be7 11. Nc3 Ba6 12. Qf3 Bxc4 13. Qxc6+ Kf8 14. dxc4
Nxh4 15. O-O Nf5 16. Ne2 Rc8 17. Qa4 Rc7 18. Bf4 Rd7 19. c3 g5 20. Rad1 Rxd1
21. Rxd1 Qa8 22. Bc7 h4 23. f3 h3 0-1

[Event "Croatia GCT"]
[Site "Zagreb"]
[Date "2019.06.27"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D39"]
[WhiteElo "2875"]
[BlackElo "2767"]
[Annotator "Pelletier,Y"]
[PlyCount "155"]
[EventDate "2019.06.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "CRO"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4 {Magnus Carlsen has had to face the
Vienna Variation of the Queen's Gambit several times in 2019. In each game he
came up with a different poisonous idea, which he had probably all prepared
for his World Championship match against Fabiano Caruana.} 5. e4 Bb4 6. Bg5 ({
In Wijk aan Zee, he tried the dangerous pawn sacrifice} 6. Bxc4) 6... c5 7.
Bxc4 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 Qa5 10. Bb5+ ({Some months later against Levon
Aronian, he came up with the "hit and run" novelty} 10. Bd2) ({Finally, a few
weeks before the present game, Carlsen tried} 10. Nb5 Nxe4 11. Qd4 {against
the same opponent, and tortured him for quite a long time.}) 10... Bd7 ({
Who would like to test the World Champion in the main line} 10... Nbd7 {?}) 11.
Bxf6 gxf6 12. Bxd7+ Nxd7 13. O-O Qxc3 ({This has been tried a few times by
Alexander Morozevich and Radoslaw Wojtaszek in the past, and more recently by
Wei Yi and Alexander Bluebaum. The main move} 13... a6 14. Rb1 {is considered
holdable for Black, though not without considerable suffering.}) 14. Qa4 O-O
15. Nxe6 (15. Qxd7 $6 Rad8 16. Qxb7 Qxd4 $11 {let Black equalize too easily in
Leitao-Morozevich, World Teams Championship Bursa 2010}) 15... Nb6 16. Qd4 Rfc8
(16... Qxd4 17. Nxd4 $14 {Antic-Zontakh, Jagodina 1998}) 17. Qxc3 Rxc3 {
My own preparation simply ended on an equal sign here. However correct this
assessment may objectively be, Magnus Carlsen understands that Black will have
to solve practical problems. Indeed, in endgames with rook(s) and knight,
activity and king safety are important factors.} 18. Nf4 (18. Nd4 Rc4 19. Rfd1
Na4 $1 $11 {Gajewski,G (2616)-Wojtaszek,R (2706) Warsaw 2012}) 18... Rc5 19.
Rfd1 ({Black held the balance after} 19. g4 Kf8 20. Nh5 Ke7 21. Ng3 Rd8 22.
Rfc1 Na4 23. Rd1 Nc3 $11 {Ponomariov,R (2758)-Morozevich,A (2737) Saratov 2011}
) 19... f5 20. exf5 Rac8 ({I do not quite get Anand's logic behind delaying
the capture on f5, as he actually slightly worsens his position compared with
the line} 20... Rxf5 21. g3 (21. Rd4 Rc8) 21... Rc8 22. Rd3 Rc2 23. Ra3 a6 $11)
21. f6 $1 Rf5 22. g3 Rxf6 23. Rd3 {Now the difference is clear: the Rc8 cannot
leave the back rank because of Rd8+ and Nh5+. This nuance allows White to grab
the initiative.} Rfc6 24. Ra3 Rc1+ 25. Rxc1 Rxc1+ 26. Kg2 Nc8 ({After} 26... a6
27. Rb3 Rc6 28. Kf3 $14 {, both black pieces have difficulties to move.}) 27.
Rd3 Rc7 28. Rd8+ Kg7 29. h4 Ne7 30. Nh5+ Kh6 $6 ({It is understandable that
Vishy Anand rejected} 30... Kg6 {because of the dangerous line} 31. g4 f5 32.
Nf4+ (32. Rd6+ Kf7 33. gxf5 Rc5 34. Rf6+ Kg8 35. Ng3 Ra5 $11) 32... Kf7 33. Rh8
fxg4 (33... Kg7 34. Rb8 Kf7 35. g5 $14) 34. Rxh7+ Kg8 35. Rh5 {. But Black
should actually be able to hold after} Rc2 36. Ra5 b6 37. Rxa7 Nf5 $13 {
The game continuation is definitely more unpleasant for him.}) 31. Nf6 Kg6 $6 (
{Anand starts drifting and the position gets from unpleasant to worse.
Obviously, no one will teach him that activity is paramount in endings. There
must be something he did not like in the line} 31... Rc2 32. Rd7 Nf5 33. Ne4
Kg7 {, for instance} 34. Kf3 Rxa2 35. Kf4 Ra5 36. h5 {, but he should
certainly have preferred this over the game continuation.}) 32. Ne8 Rc6 33. Rd7
Re6 (33... Nc8 34. f4 $16) 34. h5+ $1 ({Remember what I wrote about activity?} 
34. Rxb7 Nc8 35. Nc7 Re7 {paralyzes both white pieces. White can still try to
disentangle with} 36. g4 {, but after} h5 $1 {, things are anything but clear.}
) 34... Kh6 35. Nd6 f5 (35... Kxh5 36. Nxf7 $16) 36. Nxb7 (36. Rxe7 $2 Rxd6 37.
Rxb7 Ra6 $11) 36... Ng8 37. Nd6 Nf6 38. Nxf5+ Kg5 39. Nd4 (39. Ng7 Ra6 {
is less convincing}) 39... Nxd7 ({It is always difficult to choose between
variations which all lead to a worse position. Anand decides to exchange rooks
right away in order to reduce his opponent's activity. The alternative} 39...
Ra6 40. f4+ $1 Kxh5 41. Rg7 Rxa2+ 42. Kh3 Ra5 43. Nc6 Kh6 44. Rxh7+ Kxh7 45.
Nxa5 {would lead to another knight ending where White is a clear pawn up.
Assessing over the board whether it is winning is very difficult. I believe
that Anand's feeling was right, and that the game continuation offers better
practical chances.}) 40. Nxe6+ Kxh5 41. Kf3 Kg6 42. Kf4 $6 (42. Ke4 Kf6 43. Nd8
h5 44. Nc6 a6 45. Kd5 Kf5 46. f3 {was perhaps more unpleasant for Black, as
his king is restricted.}) 42... Kf6 43. Ng5 h6 44. Ne4+ Ke6 45. Kg4 Ke5 46. f3
Kd4 $1 {This surprising idea might have been underestimated by Carlsen when he
chose his 42nd move.} 47. Kf5 (47. Kf4 a5 $1 48. g4 Ne5 $132) 47... Ke3 $1 48.
f4 h5 49. Ng5 (49. Nf6 $2 Nxf6 50. Kxf6 Kf3 51. Kg5 Kxg3 52. f5 h4 53. f6 h3
54. f7 h2 55. f8=Q h1=Q $11) 49... Nc5 (49... Kf2 50. g4 hxg4 51. Kxg4 Ke3 {
is a draw as well.}) 50. Kg6 Kf2 51. f5 Kxg3 52. Ne6 $5 (52. Kxh5 Kf4 53. Kg6
Nd7 $11) 52... Nd7 53. Kxh5 Kf3 54. Kg5 Ke4 55. Nc7 a5 56. Nb5 Kd3 57. Kg6 a4
58. Kf7 Ne5+ 59. Kf6 Nf3 60. Ke7 Kc2 61. f6 Ng5 (61... Kb2 62. a3 Ng5 $11 {
would have been possible as well}) 62. Nd4+ {My engine now proudly shows an
evaluation of around +8 ... Evidently a case for programmers to work on! The
position is still a draw.} Kb2 63. Ne6 Nh7 64. f7 Kxa2 65. Ng5 a3 66. Nxh7 Kb1
67. f8=Q a2 {Well done, Vishy! The white knight is so far away that this
endgame can be evaluated exactly as a queen ending.} 68. Qf5+ Kb2 69. Qe5+ Kb1
70. Qe4+ Kb2 71. Qe2+ Kb1 72. Nf6 a1=Q 73. Nd5 Qg7+ 74. Kd6 Qf8+ 75. Ke5 Qe8+
76. Kd4 Qxe2 77. Nc3+ Ka1 78. Nxe2 {A formidable battle, where Magnus Carlsen
was close to inflicting yet another endgame defeat to Vishy Anand. But this
time, the Indian managed to hold a draw. With hindsight, it is hard to point
out a moment where White missed a win. Perhaps the alternative on move 42
would have been more difficult to deal with for Black.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Croatia GCT"]
[Site "Zagreb"]
[Date "2019.06.28"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2819"]
[BlackElo "2875"]
[PlyCount "135"]
[EventDate "2019.06.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "CRO"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 Be7 7. Re1 b5 8.
Rxe4 d5 9. Nxe5 Nxe5 10. Rxe5 bxa4 11. Nc3 O-O 12. Re1 Bd6 13. Qh5 a3 14. Nxd5
axb2 15. Bxb2 Rb8 16. Rab1 Re8 17. Ne3 Bf4 18. d5 Rb4 19. c4 Bxe3 20. Rxe3 Rxe3
21. fxe3 Rxc4 22. Bd4 c5 23. Ba1 f6 24. h3 Qe7 25. Qf3 h6 26. Re1 Re4 27. Kf2
Bd7 28. Rd1 Kh7 29. Rd2 Qe8 30. Bb2 Ra4 31. a3 Rc4 32. Re2 Qg6 33. e4 Ba4 34.
d6 Bc6 35. Qg3 Qxg3+ 36. Kxg3 Kg6 37. e5 fxe5 38. Bxe5 h5 39. Bb2 h4+ 40. Kh2
Kf5 41. Bxg7 Re4 42. Rxe4 Kxe4 43. Bf6 c4 44. Bxh4 c3 45. Bf6 c2 46. Bb2 Kd5
47. g4 Kxd6 48. Kg3 Bb5 49. Kf3 Ke7 50. h4 Kf8 51. h5 Be8 52. Kg3 Kg8 53. Kh4
Kh7 54. Kg5 Bd7 55. Kf4 a5 56. Kg5 a4 57. Kf4 Be6 58. g5 Bf7 59. g6+ Bxg6 60.
hxg6+ Kxg6 61. Ke5 Kf7 62. Kd6 Ke8 63. Bc1 Kd8 64. Kc6 Kc8 65. Bf4 c1=Q+ 66.
Bxc1 Kb8 67. Kb6 Ka8 68. Bf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Croatia GCT"]
[Site "Zagreb"]
[Date "2019.06.29"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A16"]
[WhiteElo "2875"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2019.06.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "CRO"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. h4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. h5 c5 8.
Rb1 b6 9. e4 O-O 10. hxg6 hxg6 11. d4 Bb7 12. Ng5 cxd4 13. Qg4 Nd7 14. Qh3 Nf6
15. e5 Nh5 16. e6 Qd5 17. exf7+ Rxf7 18. Bd3 Qe5+ 19. Kd1 dxc3 20. Nxf7 Kxf7
21. Re1 c2+ 22. Bxc2 Rd8+ 23. Bd2 Qd6 24. Qe3 Nf4 25. Kc1 Bh6 26. Kb2 Rc8 27.
Rbc1 e6 28. Kb1 Bxg2 29. Bb3 Rxc1+ 30. Bxc1 Bh3 31. Bb2 Bf5+ 32. Ka1 Bg7 33.
Bxg7 Kxg7 34. Rd1 Nd3 35. Bc4 Qe5+ 36. Qxe5+ Nxe5 37. Be2 g5 38. Rc1 Kf6 39.
Rc7 Bd3 40. Bxd3 Nxd3 41. Rxa7 Nxf2 42. Rb7 g4 43. Rxb6 g3 44. a4 Ne4 45. Rb1
Nc5 46. a5 Ke5 47. Kb2 Kf4 48. Kc3 g2 49. Kc4 Na6 50. Kb5 Nb8 51. Kc4 Na6 52.
Kb5 Nb8 53. Kc4 Na6 54. Rg1 Kg3 55. Kd4 Kf2 56. Rxg2+ Kxg2 57. Ke5 Nc5 58. a6
Nxa6 59. Kxe6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Croatia GCT"]
[Site "Zagreb"]
[Date "2019.06.30"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2748"]
[BlackElo "2875"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2019.06.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "CRO"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 a6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nc3 h6 6. Bf4 Nf6 7. e3 Bd6 8. Be5
Be6 9. Qb3 Ra7 10. Bd3 Bxe5 11. Nxe5 O-O 12. O-O Nbd7 13. f4 c5 14. f5 c4 15.
Qa3 cxd3 16. fxe6 fxe6 17. Nxd3 Ra8 18. Qd6 Qb6 19. Qxb6 Nxb6 20. Nc5 Rf7 21.
b3 Re8 22. Rac1 e5 23. h3 Nc8 24. Nd3 exd4 25. exd4 Na7 26. Nf4 Nc6 27. Nfxd5
Nxd5 28. Nxd5 Rd7 29. Rc5 Nxd4 30. Rd1 Ne6 31. Rc4 Red8 32. Re1 Rxd5 33. Rxe6
R8d6 34. Rxd6 Rxd6 35. a4 b6 36. b4 Rd1+ 37. Kf2 Ra1 38. Rc6 Ra2+ 39. Kf3 Ra3+
40. Kf2 Ra2+ 41. Kf3 Ra3+ 42. Kf2 Ra2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Croatia GCT"]
[Site "Zagreb"]
[Date "2019.07.01"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2875"]
[BlackElo "2754"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2019.06.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "CRO"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. a3
Nc6 9. Qc2 Re8 10. Bg5 Be7 11. Rd1 Qa5 12. Bd3 dxc4 13. Bxc4 h6 14. Bf4 Bd7 15.
O-O Rac8 16. e4 e5 17. Be3 Nd4 18. Bxd4 Rxc4 19. Bxe5 Ba4 20. b3 Nxe4 21. Rd3
Rec8 22. Qb2 Nc5 23. Re3 Bxb3 24. Bxg7 Rg4 25. Bxh6 Bf6 26. Ne5 Bxe5 27. Rxe5
Qb6 28. Qd2 Rg6 29. Be3 Qc6 30. Nd5 Bxd5 31. Qxd5 b6 32. g3 Nd7 33. Qxc6 Rgxc6
34. Rd5 Nf8 35. Rfd1 Ne6 36. a4 Rc4 37. a5 Rb4 38. Rd7 bxa5 39. Rxa7 a4 40.
Rdd7 Nd8 41. Rd5 Ne6 42. Rda5 Rcc4 43. Kg2 1-0

[Event "Croatia GCT"]
[Site "Zagreb"]
[Date "2019.07.03"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2875"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2019.06.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "CRO"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Bc4 g6 5. d3 h6 6. h4 d6 7. h5 g5 8. Nh2 Bg7
9. Ng4 Nge7 10. Ne3 O-O 11. Bd2 Kh8 12. g4 Rb8 13. a4 Nd4 14. Ncd5 Nxd5 15.
Nxd5 Ne6 16. f3 Nf4 17. Qb1 Be6 18. Qa2 Qd7 19. Rg1 b6 20. Bc3 Bxd5 21. Bxd5 a6
22. Bd2 Qe7 23. Rf1 b5 24. axb5 axb5 25. Kf2 c4 26. Bxf4 exf4 27. Rad1 f5 28.
gxf5 g4 29. d4 Qh4+ 30. Ke2 Qh2+ 31. Rf2 gxf3+ 0-1

[Event "Croatia GCT"]
[Site "Zagreb"]
[Date "2019.07.04"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E05"]
[WhiteElo "2805"]
[BlackElo "2875"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2019.06.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "CRO"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,47,19,31,14,-14,-11,0,0,-24,1,16,14,12,2,6,28,28,23,10,18,24,38,44,
107,125,94,109,97,126,197,145,87,89,105,-11,-37,-25,-10,-10,-31,-23,-8,0,30,
-27,-16,-10,3,2]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4
7. Qc2 {Ding as often shows a great loyalty to his opening systems, and plays
his favourite line in the catalan.} b5 $5 {Until a few years back, 7...a6 was
considered mandatory, but now both 7 ...b6 and 7...c6 as well as the game move
have gained in popularity.} 8. a4 b4 9. Nfd2 $5 {White's most critical move,
intending to play a positional pawn sacrifice.} ({Interestingly, Magnus'
second for the 2018WC-match, the World Rapid Champion Daniil Dubov, as White
tried} 9. Nbd2 Bb7 10. Nxc4 c5 11. dxc5 Be4 12. Qd2 $5 {gaining a small
endgame edge vs. Nakamura in the Moscow Grand Prix.}) 9... Nd5 $5 {This is
however very rare, and stylistically very different from the main line.} (9...
c6 {when} 10. Nxc4 Qxd4 11. Rd1 Qc5 {gives White good compensation for the
pawn, again the recent action being from the Moscow Grand Prix with Grischuk
beating Nakamura as White.}) 10. Nxc4 c5 11. dxc5 Ba6 $1 {Technically the
novelty, Black used to take back on c5 in the few existing games. Magnus
afterwards admitted that this was preparations for the WC-match and it is
indeed typical "computer" chess where one pushes the position to its absolute
maximum relying on tactics.} 12. Ne3 {Ding, not having the comfort of having
checked this position with a computer, faced a difficult task evaluating the
numerous options. Many ideas looks tempting for White, but the assumption
being that the World Champion does not just play bad lines, one has to tread
very carefully.} (12. Rd1 {is very logical, but after} Nd7 13. c6 Rc8 14. Ne3
Ne5 $1 {Black has excellent counterplay.}) 12... Nd7 13. Nxd5 exd5 14. c6 (14.
Bxd5 Rc8 15. c6 Ne5 16. Rd1 {is just transposing to the line below.}) 14... Rc8
15. Bf4 {Ding keeps finding good moves.} (15. Rd1 Ne5 16. Bxd5 Nxc6 $1 17.
Bxf7+ Rxf7 18. Rxd8+ Bxd8 {is a strong queen sacrifice giving excellent
practical compensation, where the computer says White should better try
forcing a draw straightaway in order not to be worse.}) 15... Nc5 16. c7 Qd7
17. Nd2 g5 $5 {Continuing in the modern computer style, not caring for common
sense chess like17...Bd6 trying to round up the c7-pawn restoring material
equality, but again instead pushing the position to its limits.} 18. Be5 f6 19.
Bd4 Rxc7 20. Qd1 {Carlsen later said that while obviously he was happy being
in prep when his opponent was not, still his position did not leave him with
that much confidence.Objectively Black is OK, ()but White's position is easier
to play due to Black's weakened king and numerous pawn structure defects. So
Black has to keep putting maximum pressure before White consolidates.} Ne6 21.
Nb3 Bc4 $1 {An important move, disturbing just in time.} 22. Na5 ({If now} 22.
Be3 {, then} d4 $1 23. Nxd4 Nxd4 24. Bxd4 Rd8 {wins back the temporarily
sacrificed pawn with equality.}) 22... Nxd4 23. Qxd4 Kg7 $1 {A nice move,
removing the king from the light squares meaning that e.g. Bxd5 will now never
be a check, but noteworthy is that Magnus chooses the more active position on
g7 instead of the by sight safer place at h8. However, in the game
continuation it is obvious that protecting f6, and later being closer to the
centrum, are important factors.} 24. Rfc1 Bxe2 25. Rxc7 Qxc7 26. Re1 Bc5 27.
Qxd5 Re8 {White has no way of exploiting the pin in the e-line, and Ding has
to start caring about safety. Here, however, he miscalculates.} 28. Qb7 $6 (28.
Qc6 $1 {would be the correct way, the difference being after} Qxc6 29. Nxc6 Bh5
{White has} 30. Rc1 $1 {when he will manage to liquidate the queenside and
make a draw.}) 28... Qxb7 29. Nxb7 Bf8 {Now, however ,it is another matter, as
the game shows Black has excellent chances due to the queenside targets if the
rooks are exchanged.} 30. Bc6 $2 ({Magnus thus during the game felt that} 30.
Nd8 {was by far White's best move, and while} Rxd8 31. Rxe2 Rd1+ 32. Bf1 Bc5 {
still is not excactly pleasant for White, he seems to make a draw by exact
play, like} 33. Re4 b3 34. Rc4 Bd4 35. Rb4 Rd2 36. Rxb3 Bxf2+ 37. Kh1 {as
while Black obviously has some initiative, it should not be enough for the win.
}) 30... Re7 31. f3 Bc4 32. Rxe7+ Bxe7 {Blacks advantage is obvious, pair of
bishops, and targets on both wings to attack. Is it enough to win? I assume
its borderline, but to quote Larsen, practically what matters is if there is
winning chances.} 33. Kf2 f5 34. Ke3 Bg8 $1 {A beautiful move, that even
managed to get a praising Tweet from Giri. It exploits the whole board, and
thus exemplifies the difference between the knight and the bishop in mobility.}
35. Kd3 g4 $5 {35...Bf6 is met by 36 Nd6 securing sufficient counterplay. Now,
however, Magnus starts creating targets on the kingside, when ...h5 ...h4 will
be next. White's choice is between which kind of fortress to go for. Playing
f4 keeps the position closed, but risks the bishop landing on g1, while fxg4
exchanging pawns feels logical, but then leaves the black king a much easier
path to the opponent camp via the center.} 36. Na5 (36. fxg4 fxg4 37. Bb5 Bd5
38. Na5 Bc5 39. Bd7 h5 40. Nc6 Kf6) ({The right decision would actually have
been keeping positive thoughts and pushing the a-pawn to a6, starting with} 36.
a5 $1 {After} h5 37. a6 {not only is the white pawn much closer to queening
and thus Black has to be a bit more careful, but also is the knight stably
protected on b7. Black has several tries keeping practical chances, but
objectively the position seems drawn.}) 36... Bc5 {White's knight does get
rerouted back to the defences, but at the huge price of allowing the bishop to
penetrate on g1.} 37. Nc4 Bg1 38. Ne3 Be6 39. fxg4 fxg4 40. Ke2 {Tactically
White is OK, as 40...Bxh2 41.Kf2 threatens 42.Nf1, but Black of course instead
just increases the pressure having passified White completely.} h5 $1 41. Bd5
Bd7 42. Bb3 Bxh2 43. Kf2 h4 $1 44. gxh4 Be5 {In principle every exchange
should get White closer to the draw, but Black creating a passed pawn is a
much bigger factor.} 45. Nc4 g3+ 46. Kg1 Bf4 {It's been a common quote of
Magnus that he does not really believe in fortresses, a feeling letting him
down e.g.in the WC-game 4 vs Karjakin, but here everything is in order.
Black's king will enter easily.} 47. Bd1 Bc6 48. b3 Kh6 49. a5 Be4 50. Kf1 Kg7
51. Kg1 Kf6 52. Kf1 Ke6 53. h5 Kd5 54. a6 Kd4 55. Bg4 Kc3 56. Be6 (56. Bd1 {
only defends very temporarily as} g2+ 57. Kg1 Bd5 {puts White in a complete
zugzwang.}) 56... Bc2 57. Na5 Bc7 58. Nb7 Bd3+ 59. Kg1 Bxa6 $5 {My computer
says 59...Be4 is mate in 7, but criticising a move that forces instant
resignation is too much. An excellent game from Magnus, showing his skills in
all 3 phases of the game.} 0-1

[Event "Croatia GCT"]
[Site "Zagreb"]
[Date "2019.07.05"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D39"]
[WhiteElo "2875"]
[BlackElo "2752"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2019.06.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "CRO"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e4 c5 7. e5 cxd4 8. Nxd4
Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 Qa5 10. exf6 Qxg5 11. fxg7 Qxg7 12. Qd2 O-O 13. Bxc4 Rd8 14. Qe3
Bd7 15. O-O-O Nc6 16. Bb3 Be8 17. Nxc6 Bxc6 18. h4 Qf6 19. Rh3 b5 20. Rg3+ Kh8
21. Rg4 a5 22. Rf4 Qg7 23. Rxd8+ Rxd8 24. g4 b4 25. g5 bxc3 26. Bc2 Bd5 27. Rf6
Qf8 28. Qxc3 Rc8 29. Qd3 Qg7 30. f4 Kg8 31. Kd2 h6 32. a3 hxg5 33. fxg5 Rc4 34.
Qg3 Be4 35. Bb3 Rd4+ 36. Ke1 Bf5 37. h5 Rd3 38. Qb8+ Qf8 39. Qxf8+ Kxf8 40. Bc2
Rh3 41. Bxf5 exf5 42. h6 Kg8 43. a4 Rh4 44. Rxf5 Rxa4 45. Kf2 Rg4 46. Kf3 Rg1
47. Kf2 Rg4 48. Kf3 Rg1 49. Kf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Croatia GCT"]
[Site "Zagreb"]
[Date "2019.07.06"]
[Round "10"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E34"]
[WhiteElo "2754"]
[BlackElo "2875"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2019.06.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "CRO"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. cxd5 Qxd5 6. e3 c5 7. Bd2 Bxc3 8.
Bxc3 cxd4 9. Bxd4 Nc6 10. Bc3 O-O 11. Nf3 Rd8 12. Be2 Qe4 13. Rc1 Qxc2 14. Rxc2
Bd7 15. Ne5 Nxe5 16. Bxe5 Rac8 17. Rxc8 Rxc8 18. O-O Nd5 19. Rd1 f6 20. Bd4 Ba4
21. b3 Be8 22. Bc4 b5 23. Bxd5 exd5 24. Bxa7 Ra8 25. Bc5 Rxa2 26. h4 Bf7 27. e4
Ra8 28. exd5 Rd8 29. b4 Rxd5 30. Rxd5 Bxd5 31. f3 h5 32. Bd4 Bc6 33. Bc3 Bd5
34. Bd4 Bc6 35. Bc3 Bd5 36. Bd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Croatia GCT"]
[Site "Zagreb"]
[Date "2019.07.07"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2875"]
[BlackElo "2779"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2019.06.26"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "CRO"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.08.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 c5 8.
Be3 Qa5 9. Qd2 Nc6 10. Rb1 cxd4 11. cxd4 O-O 12. Qxa5 Nxa5 13. Bd3 Bg4 14. O-O
Bxf3 15. gxf3 e6 16. Rfd1 Rfd8 17. Bf1 b6 18. Ba6 Rd6 19. Rbc1 Rad8 20. Bg5 f6
21. Be3 h6 22. Bb5 f5 23. d5 g5 24. Bd2 fxe4 25. fxe4 a6 26. Ba4 exd5 27. Bb4
Re6 28. Rxd5 Rxd5 29. exd5 Re4 30. Rc8+ Kf7 31. a3 Be5 32. Be8+ Kg7 33. d6 Rd4
34. d7 Nb7 35. Be7 Re4 36. Rc6 Bd4 37. Rc7 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E60"]
[WhiteElo "2882"]
[BlackElo "2778"]
[PlyCount "179"]
[EventDate "2019.08.08"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. h4 Bg7 4. Nc3 c5 5. d5 e6 6. e4 exd5 7. exd5 O-O 8. Be2
Re8 9. Kf1 a6 10. a4 d6 11. h5 Ne4 12. Nxe4 Rxe4 13. hxg6 hxg6 14. Nf3 Bg4 15.
Bg5 Bf6 16. Be3 Nd7 17. Nd2 Rxe3 18. fxe3 Bxe2+ 19. Qxe2 Qe7 20. Rh3 Re8 21.
Rb1 Bg5 22. Re1 Qf6+ 23. Qf2 Qxb2 24. Nf3 Qxf2+ 25. Kxf2 Bf6 26. Rb1 b6 27. Ke2
Re4 28. Kd3 Rg4 29. g3 Kf8 30. a5 bxa5 31. Rb7 Ke7 32. Ra7 a4 33. Rxa6 Ne5+ 34.
Nxe5 Bxe5 35. Ra7+ Kf6 36. Rh7 Rxg3 37. Rhxf7+ Kg5 38. Rxa4 Rg1 39. Ra2 Kg4 40.
Re7 Bg3 41. Re6 g5 42. Ra6 Rd1+ 43. Ke4 Rc1 44. Raxd6 Bxd6 45. Rxd6 Rxc4+ 46.
Kd3 Rc1 47. Rf6 c4+ 48. Kd2 Ra1 49. d6 Ra3 50. e4 Rd3+ 51. Kc2 Kh3 52. e5 g4
53. Rh6+ Kg2 54. Rh7 g3 55. d7 Kf2 56. e6 g2 57. Rf7+ Ke2 58. Rg7 Kf2 59. Rxg2+
Kxg2 60. e7 Rxd7 61. e8=Q Rd3 62. Qe4+ Kf2 63. Qxc4 Rf3 64. Kd2 Kg3 65. Qe4 Rf4
66. Qg6+ Kf2 67. Qg5 Rf3 68. Qg4 Ra3 69. Qd4+ Kf1 70. Qf6+ Kg2 71. Ke2 Rg3 72.
Qf5 Kh2 73. Qh5+ Kg1 74. Qh4 Kg2 75. Qe4+ Kg1 76. Qd5 Rg6 77. Qd4+ Kh2 78. Qh4+
Kg1 79. Kf3 Rg2 80. Qe1+ Kh2 81. Qe5+ Kh1 82. Qh8+ Kg1 83. Qh4 Rg8 84. Qd4+ Kh1
85. Qh4+ Kg1 86. Qe1+ Kh2 87. Qd2+ Kh1 88. Qc1+ Kh2 89. Qc2+ Kh1 90. Qh7+ 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.13"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2750"]
[BlackElo "2882"]
[PlyCount "129"]
[EventDate "2019.08.08"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. e4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 cxd4 8. Nxd4
Bc5 9. Qd2 Bxd4 10. Bxd4 Nxd4 11. Qxd4 Qb6 12. Qxb6 Nxb6 13. h4 Bd7 14. h5 h6
15. O-O-O Ke7 16. Bd3 a6 17. Rh3 Na4 18. Ne2 Nc5 19. Nd4 Rac8 20. Rg3 Rhg8 21.
Kd2 Bb5 22. f5 Bd7 23. fxe6 Bxe6 24. Ke3 Nd7 25. Bh7 Rh8 26. Rxg7 Nxe5 27. Rf1
Rce8 28. Nxe6 Kxe6 29. Kd4 Kd6 30. Bd3 Nc6+ 31. Kc3 Ne5 32. Kd4 Re6 33. Bf5 Rf6
34. Bd3 Nc6+ 35. Ke3 Rxf1 36. Bxf1 Ke6 37. Rg4 Re8 38. Bd3 Ne5 39. Rb4 Re7 40.
Kf4 Nc6 41. Rb6 Kd6 42. g4 Kc5 43. Rb3 Nd4 44. Rc3+ Kd6 45. Rc8 Re1 46. Rh8
Ne6+ 47. Kg3 Ke5 48. Rxh6 Re3+ 49. Kf2 d4 50. Rh8 Ng5 51. Re8+ Kf4 52. Rxe3
dxe3+ 53. Ke2 Kxg4 54. h6 f5 55. Kxe3 a5 56. a4 b6 57. c3 Kh5 58. Bxf5 Kxh6 59.
Kd4 Kg7 60. Kd5 Kf6 61. Bc2 Nf3 62. Kc6 Ne5+ 63. Kxb6 Nc4+ 64. Kc5 Nxb2 65. Kd4
1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.13"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E16"]
[WhiteElo "2882"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2019.08.08"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 b6 3. Nc3 Bb7 4. Nf3 e6 5. g3 Bb4 6. Bd2 Bxc3 7. Bxc3 Ne4 8.
Rc1 O-O 9. Bg2 d6 10. O-O Nxc3 11. Rxc3 Nd7 12. d5 Nf6 13. Ne1 exd5 14. cxd5
Re8 15. Nc2 Qd7 16. Ne3 Re7 17. Qc2 g6 18. Rc1 Rc8 19. Qd3 Ng4 20. Nxg4 Qxg4
21. e3 Qd7 22. Qd4 f5 23. h4 Qe8 24. e4 fxe4 25. Bh3 c5 26. dxc6 Rxc6 27. Qd5+
1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.13"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2805"]
[BlackElo "2882"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2019.08.08"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 b6 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
Nxd5 exd5 9. Bd3 c5 10. b3 Nc6 11. O-O Be6 12. Rc1 a5 13. h3 g6 14. Bb5 Qc8 15.
dxc5 bxc5 16. Nd4 Nxd4 17. exd4 Qb7 18. a4 Rfc8 19. Re1 cxd4 20. Qxd4 Rxc1 21.
Rxc1 Rc8 22. Rxc8+ Qxc8 23. Bd2 Qc7 24. Bc3 f6 25. b4 axb4 26. Bxb4 Bxb4 27.
Qxb4 Kg7 28. a5 d4 29. a6 Qb6 30. Qe7+ Kh6 31. a7 Bd5 32. Bc4 Bb7 33. a8=Q Bxa8
34. Qf8+ Kg5 35. Qxa8 f5 36. Qd5 Kh6 37. g3 Qf6 38. Kg2 Qb6 39. h4 Qf6 40. Qe6
Qd8 41. Qe5 Qb6 42. Qd5 Qf6 43. Bd3 Qb6 44. Qf3 Kg7 45. Qf4 Qc6+ 46. Kh2 Qc5
47. h5 Kf6 48. h6 g5 49. Qb8 Kg6 50. g4 Kxh6 51. gxf5 g4 52. Kg3 Qd5 53. Qf8+
Kh5 54. Qe8+ Kg5 55. Qe7+ 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.13"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2882"]
[BlackElo "2818"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2019.08.08"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 g6 7. Bg5 Bg7 8. Nbd2
h6 9. Bh4 O-O 10. O-O b5 11. Bc2 Qe8 12. Re1 Nh5 13. Nf1 Nf4 14. Ne3 Bb7 15. a4
Nd8 16. d4 Nde6 17. b4 exd4 18. cxd4 a5 19. d5 Ng5 20. Nxg5 hxg5 21. Bxg5 Qe5
22. Qg4 Nh5 23. Rab1 Bc8 24. Nf5 bxa4 25. Qh4 Bxf5 26. exf5 Qd4 27. Qxd4 Bxd4
28. Re4 Bf6 29. Bxf6 Nxf6 30. Rc4 axb4 31. Rcxb4 Nxd5 32. Rc4 a3 33. fxg6 c5
34. gxf7+ Kxf7 35. Bb3 Kf6 36. Rd1 Rfb8 37. Ba2 Rb2 38. Rxd5 Rxa2 39. Rxd6+ Ke7
40. Rd1 Ra5 41. h4 Rb2 42. Re4+ Kf6 43. Rd6+ Kf7 44. Rd7+ Kf6 45. Rd6+ Kf7 46.
Rd7+ Kf6 47. Rd6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.13"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Yu, Yangyi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B72"]
[WhiteElo "2752"]
[BlackElo "2882"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2019.08.08"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bd7 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Bc1 Nc6 8.
Be2 Nf6 9. Be3 g6 10. Qd2 Bg7 11. O-O-O h5 12. f3 Rc8 13. Kb1 Ne5 14. Rhe1 O-O
15. h3 a6 16. g4 b5 17. Nd5 Nc4 18. Bxc4 bxc4 19. Nxf6+ Bxf6 20. gxh5 c3 21.
Qg2 Kh7 22. hxg6+ fxg6 23. b3 Qa5 24. f4 Rc4 25. e5 dxe5 26. fxe5 Bxe5 27. Qg5
Rc7 28. Rg1 Rf6 29. Nf3 Bf5 30. Qh6+ 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.13"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C20"]
[WhiteElo "2882"]
[BlackElo "2763"]
[PlyCount "126"]
[EventDate "2019.08.08"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 Nc6 3. Bc4 g6 4. Qf3 Nf6 5. Ne2 Bg7 6. d3 d6 7. h3 Na5 8. Nbc3
Nxc4 9. dxc4 Be6 10. Qd3 Nd7 11. b3 O-O 12. Be3 f5 13. f3 Qh4+ 14. Bf2 Qg5 15.
Rg1 Nc5 16. Qe3 Qxe3 17. Bxe3 fxe4 18. Nxe4 Nxe4 19. fxe4 a6 20. Nc3 h5 21. Ke2
Kh7 22. Rgf1 Bh6 23. Bg1 Kg7 24. Nd5 Bxd5 25. cxd5 Rxf1 26. Rxf1 Rf8 27. Rxf8
Kxf8 28. Kd3 Ke8 29. Bf2 Bg5 30. Kc4 Kd7 31. a4 Kc8 32. b4 Kd7 33. b5 axb5+ 34.
Kxb5 Bd2 35. c4 b6 36. Ka6 Kc8 37. g4 hxg4 38. hxg4 Bc3 39. Be3 Be1 40. Kb5 Kb7
41. Bc1 Bc3 42. Ba3 Be1 43. a5 Bxa5 44. c5 dxc5 45. Bb2 Be1 46. Bxe5 Bf2 47.
Bf6 c4 48. Kxc4 c6 49. Be5 b5+ 50. Kb4 Kb6 51. Bd6 Be1+ 52. Kb3 cxd5 53. exd5
Kb7 54. Kc2 Kc8 55. Kd3 Kd7 56. Bc5 Bg3 57. Ke4 Bd6 58. Bd4 Ke7 59. Be3 Kd7 60.
Kd4 Kc7 61. Bd2 Kb7 62. Kd3 Kb6 63. Kd4 Kb7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.13"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A36"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2882"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2019.08.08"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 Ne7 5. e4 c5 6. d3 Nbc6 7. Be3 d6 8. h4 h6
9. f4 h5 10. Nf3 Nd4 11. O-O Nec6 12. Rb1 b6 13. Ne2 Nxf3+ 14. Bxf3 e5 15. Bf2
exf4 16. gxf4 Bg4 17. Nc3 Bd4 18. e5 Rc8 19. exd6 Qxh4 20. Qe1+ Kd7 21. Bxc6+
Rxc6 22. Bxd4 Qxe1 23. Rbxe1 cxd4 24. Nb5 a6 25. Re7+ Kd8 26. Nc7 Rxd6 27. Rxf7
Bf5 28. Re1 Rd7 29. Rxd7+ Kxd7 30. Nd5 Bxd3 31. Rd1 Bf5 32. Rxd4 Kd6 33. b4 Kc6
34. Ne7+ Kc7 35. Nxf5 gxf5 36. Rd5 Re8 37. Rxf5 Re4 38. c5 Rxb4 39. cxb6+ Kxb6
40. Kg2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.13"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Rapport, Richard"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C00"]
[WhiteElo "2882"]
[BlackElo "2747"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2019.08.08"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. f4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. Nf3 Nh6 5. Na3 Nc6 6. c3 Nf5 7. Nc2 Nh4 8. Nxh4
Qxh4+ 9. g3 Qd8 10. d4 Bd7 11. Be3 Qb6 12. Rb1 cxd4 13. Nxd4 Bc5 14. Be2 Nxd4
15. Bxd4 Bxd4 16. Qxd4 Qxd4 17. cxd4 Ke7 18. Kd2 Rac8 19. Rbc1 Rxc1 20. Rxc1
Rc8 21. Rf1 Rc6 22. Rf3 Rb6 23. b3 Bb5 24. Bd1 Ra6 25. a4 Bd7 26. g4 h6 27. h4
Rb6 28. Bc2 a5 29. Rf1 Rc6 30. Rb1 Rb6 31. Re1 Rc6 32. Rg1 Rc8 33. Bd3 Rc7 34.
Rb1 Rc8 35. b4 b6 36. bxa5 bxa5 37. Rb7 Kd8 38. Ra7 Rb8 39. Rxa5 Rb4 40. Ra8+
Kc7 41. Ra7+ Kc8 42. Kc3 Rxa4 43. Ba6+ Kb8 44. Rxd7 Rxa6 45. Rxf7 h5 46. Rxg7
hxg4 47. h5 Ra3+ 48. Kb4 Rh3 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.14"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2778"]
[BlackElo "2882"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2019.08.08"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. Bc4 Nb6 6. Bb3 d5 7. exd6 Qxd6 8.
O-O Be6 9. d4 cxd4 10. Na3 Bxb3 11. axb3 a6 12. Nxd4 Nxd4 13. Be3 Nf5 14. Qxd6
Nxd6 15. Bxb6 Rc8 16. Rad1 Rc6 17. Be3 e5 18. Rd5 f6 19. Rfd1 Kf7 20. Nc2 Ke6
21. f4 Be7 22. fxe5 fxe5 23. c4 Ne4 24. Ne1 Rd6 25. Nd3 Rxd5 26. cxd5+ Kd6 27.
b4 Rb8 28. Bb6 Bd8 29. Bxd8 Rxd8 30. Re1 Kxd5 31. Nf4+ Kc6 32. Ne6 Rd6 33. Nxg7
Rd4 34. Nf5 Rxb4 35. Re2 a5 36. g4 Ng5 37. Kf2 Rxg4 38. Rxe5 Rb4 39. Rxa5 Rxb2+
40. Kg3 Ne4+ 41. Kf4 Nc5 42. h4 Kd5 43. Ne3+ Kc6 44. Nf5 b6 45. Ra7 Rb4+ 46.
Kg5 Ne4+ 47. Kh6 Nd6 48. Ne7+ Kb5 49. h5 Rh4 50. Nd5 Ne4 51. Rxh7 Kc6 52. Nxb6
Rxh5+ 53. Kxh5 Nf6+ 54. Kg6 Nxh7 55. Kxh7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.14"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E24"]
[WhiteElo "2882"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2019.08.08"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 O-O 6. f3 c5 7. e4 Nc6 8. Be3
b6 9. Bd3 Ba6 10. Nh3 Na5 11. Bg5 h6 12. Bh4 Qc7 13. Bxf6 gxf6 14. Qd2 Kg7 15.
Nf4 Rh8 16. Nh5+ Kf8 17. Qf2 Bxc4 18. Bxc4 Nxc4 19. O-O Rg8 20. Nxf6 Rg6 21. e5
d6 22. f4 Kg7 23. Rae1 cxd4 24. cxd4 Rc8 25. f5 exf5 26. Qxf5 dxe5 27. dxe5
Qc5+ 28. Kh1 Rc7 29. Ne8+ 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.14"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C25"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2882"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2019.08.08"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 Bc5 4. Bg2 d6 5. Nge2 a6 6. Nd5 Nge7 7. c3 Nxd5 8.
exd5 Ne7 9. d4 Ba7 10. O-O O-O 11. dxe5 dxe5 12. c4 Nf5 13. b3 Re8 14. Bb2 h5
15. Rc1 Bc5 16. Qd2 a5 17. Kh1 h4 18. a3 hxg3 19. hxg3 Ra6 20. b4 axb4 21. axb4
Rh6+ 22. Kg1 Bf8 23. Rfe1 e4 24. c5 e3 25. fxe3 Qg5 26. Rc4 Rxe3 27. Rf4 Rb3
28. Ref1 Nxg3 29. Nxg3 Qxg3 30. R1f2 Qh2+ 31. Kf1 Bh3 32. d6 cxd6 33. Qd5 Bxg2+
34. Qxg2 Qxg2+ 35. Kxg2 f6 36. Bd4 dxc5 37. bxc5 Rh5 38. Rc2 Rg5+ 39. Kf1 Rb5
40. c6 bxc6 41. Rxc6 Rgf5 42. Rxf5 Rxf5+ 43. Ke2 Kf7 44. Kd3 Rb5 45. Rc7+ Kg6
46. Rc8 Bd6 47. Rc6 Be5 48. Bc5 Kf5 49. Be3 0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.14"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2882"]
[BlackElo "2805"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2019.08.08"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e3 Be7 7. Be2 O-O 8.
O-O Be6 9. Bd2 Qd7 10. a3 a5 11. Rc1 Rfd8 12. Ne4 f6 13. Nc5 Bxc5 14. Rxc5 a4
15. Qb1 Nde7 16. h3 Bf5 17. e4 Be6 18. Be3 Na5 19. d4 Nb3 20. dxe5 Nxc5 21.
Bxc5 fxe5 22. Nxe5 Qe8 23. f4 Ra5 24. Bb4 Rxe5 25. fxe5 b6 26. Bxe7 Qxe7 27.
Qc2 Rd4 28. Qc6 Qd7 29. Bb5 Qxc6 30. Bxc6 h5 31. Kf2 Rd2+ 32. Ke3 Rxg2 33. Bd5
Rg6 34. h4 c5 35. Rf5 b5 36. Rg5 Rh6 37. Rg1 Kf7 38. Rc1 c4 39. Rg1 Rh8 40. Kd4
Rc8 41. Rg5 Rb8 42. Kc5 Rc8+ 43. Kxb5 Rb8+ 44. Kxc4 Rxb2 45. Kc5 Rb1 46. Rxh5
Rb3 47. Rf5+ Ke7 48. Bxb3 Bxf5 49. Bxa4 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.14"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C63"]
[WhiteElo "2818"]
[BlackElo "2882"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2019.08.08"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 4. d3 fxe4 5. dxe4 Nf6 6. O-O d6 7. Bc4 Bg4 8. h3
Bh5 9. Nc3 Qd7 10. Be3 Be7 11. a4 Rf8 12. Be2 Bxf3 13. Bxf3 Kf7 14. Nd5 Kg8 15.
a5 a6 16. c3 Kh8 17. Qb3 Nd8 18. Rad1 Nxd5 19. Bg4 Qb5 20. Qxd5 Qxb2 21. Qc4 c6
22. Rb1 Qa3 23. Bb6 Nf7 24. Ra1 Qb2 25. Rfb1 d5 26. Qd3 dxe4 27. Qd7 Qxc3 28.
Qxe7 Nh6 29. Be3 Rf7 30. Qe6 Raf8 31. Ra2 Nxg4 32. hxg4 Qd3 33. Qb3 Qd7 34. Qd1
Qe6 35. Rd2 h6 36. Rbb2 Kh7 37. Rd6 Qe7 38. g5 hxg5 39. Rbd2 Kg8 40. Qg4 Qc7
41. Bb6 Qe7 42. Be3 Qc7 43. Rd7 Qc8 44. Qe6 c5 45. Qc4 Qe8 46. Rxb7 Kh7 47.
Rxf7 Rxf7 48. Qxa6 Qa4 49. Qe6 Qa1+ 50. Kh2 Rf6 51. Qg4 Qxa5 52. Qxe4+ Kh6 53.
Qh4+ Kg6 54. Qxg5+ Kh7 55. Qh5+ Kg8 56. Qe8+ Kh7 57. Rd8 Rf5 58. Qg8+ Kg6 59.
Rd6+ Rf6 60. Qe8+ Kf5 61. Qh5+ Ke4 62. Qg4+ 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.14"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Yu, Yangyi"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2882"]
[BlackElo "2752"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2019.08.08"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nxf7 Kxf7 5. d4 c5 6. Nc3 cxd4 7. Bc4+ Ke8 8.
Qxd4 Nc6 9. Qe3 Qb6 10. Qg3 Nd4 11. O-O Be6 12. Bxe6 Nxe6 13. Nd5 Qc6 14. Nxf6+
gxf6 15. Qg4 Ke7 16. Bd2 h5 17. Qg6 Bh6 18. Bc3 Raf8 19. Rfe1 Bf4 20. Rad1 Be5
21. Re3 Rfg8 22. Qf5 Nf4 23. Bxe5 dxe5 24. h4 Nxg2 25. Rg3 Ne3 0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.14"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2763"]
[BlackElo "2882"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2019.08.08"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 Ne7 12. Nxf6+ gxf6 13. Bd3 d5 14. Qe2
Bb7 15. O-O-O Qb6 16. Nc2 O-O-O 17. exd5 Bxd5 18. Nb4 Be6 19. Qf3 a5 20. Qa8+
Kc7 21. Na6+ Kd6 22. Be4+ Nd5 23. Rxd5+ Ke7 24. Rxd8 Rxd8 25. Qb7+ Qxb7 26.
Bxb7 Bxa2 27. Rd1 Rg8 28. Nc5 f5 29. b3 a4 30. Kb2 Bxb3 31. Nxb3 axb3 32. Kxb3
e4 33. g3 h5 34. Rd5 Kf6 35. Rxb5 h4 36. c4 hxg3 37. hxg3 e3 38. fxe3 Rxg3 39.
Bc8 Rxe3+ 40. Kb4 Rf3 41. c5 Ke5 42. Rb7 f4 43. Rxf7 Rf1 44. Kb5 f3 45. Kc6 Kd4
46. Kd6 f2 47. Bg4 Ke3 48. c6 Rg1 49. Bh3 Rh1 50. c7 Rxh3 51. c8=Q Rh6+ 52. Kc5
Rh5+ 53. Kc4 Rh4+ 54. Kb3 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.14"]
[Round "17"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E24"]
[WhiteElo "2882"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2019.08.08"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 b6 6. f3 Nc6 7. e4 Na5 8. Bd3
d6 9. Nh3 Ba6 10. Qe2 e5 11. Be3 Qd7 12. a4 Qc6 13. d5 Qd7 14. O-O Qe7 15. Nf2
Nd7 16. Rab1 O-O 17. g4 Rac8 18. Nh1 c6 19. Ng3 g6 20. c5 Bxd3 21. cxd6 Bxe2
22. dxe7 Bxf1 23. exf8=Q+ Kxf8 24. Kxf1 cxd5 25. exd5 Rxc3 26. Bd2 Rxf3+ 27.
Ke2 Rb3 28. Rc1 Rb2 29. Rc7 Nf6 30. Kd3 Nxd5 31. Bh6+ Ke8 32. Rxa7 Rb3+ 33. Kc2
Ne3+ 34. Bxe3 Rxe3 35. g5 Nc6 36. Rb7 Nb4+ 37. Kd2 Rd3+ 38. Ke2 Rd4 39. Rxb6
Nd5 40. Ra6 Nc3+ 41. Ke3 Nxa4 42. Ra5 Rb4 43. Ne4 Nb6 44. Rxe5+ Kf8 45. Rc5 Rc4
46. Rb5 Nd7 47. h4 Ra4 48. Kf4 Rc4 49. Ra5 Rb4 50. Ra8+ Ke7 51. Ra7 Ke6 52.
Ra6+ Ke7 53. Ra7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.14"]
[Round "18"]
[White "Rapport, Richard"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A80"]
[WhiteElo "2747"]
[BlackElo "2882"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2019.08.08"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 f5 2. b3 Nf6 3. Bb2 e6 4. e3 b6 5. Nf3 Bb7 6. Be2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. c4
Ne4 9. Nfd2 Nxd2 10. Qxd2 d6 11. Nc3 Nd7 12. f4 c5 13. d5 e5 14. e4 exf4 15.
Qxf4 fxe4 16. Qxe4 Bf6 17. Bd3 Bd4+ 18. Kh1 Rxf1+ 19. Rxf1 Nf6 20. Qe2 Qe8 21.
Qd2 Qe5 22. Re1 Qh5 23. Be2 Qh4 24. g3 Qh3 25. Bf3 Rf8 26. Qe2 Bc8 27. Bg2 Qh6
28. Bc1 Qg6 29. Nb5 Be5 30. Bb2 Bxb2 31. Qxb2 Ng4 32. Qe2 a6 33. Nc7 Qh6 34. h4
Ne5 35. Ne6 Rf6 36. Rf1 Bd7 37. Rxf6 Qxf6 38. Bh3 b5 39. Nf4 Bxh3 40. Nxh3 bxc4
41. bxc4 Qf3+ 42. Qxf3 Nxf3 43. Kg2 Ne5 44. Ng5 Nxc4 45. Ne4 Kf7 46. Kf3 Ke7
47. Ng5 Nb6 48. Ke4 h6 49. Ne6 g6 50. g4 Nd7 51. g5 h5 52. Nc7 a5 53. Ne6 a4
54. Nf4 Ne5 55. Ne2 a3 56. Nc3 Kd7 57. Nb5 Nc4 58. Kd3 Nb6 59. Ke4 Na4 60. Kd3
Nb6 61. Ke4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Rapid"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.10"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D39"]
[WhiteElo "2805"]
[BlackElo "2882"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2019.08.10"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e4 b5 7. a4 c5 8. axb5
cxd4 9. Nxd4 h6 10. Be3 Nxe4 11. Qc2 Bb7 12. Bxc4 Qc7 13. Qb3 Bxc3+ 14. bxc3
O-O 15. O-O Rc8 16. Bd3 Nc5 17. Qb1 Nxd3 18. Qxd3 Nd7 19. Qe2 Nb6 20. Qg4 Kh7
21. Bf4 Qc5 22. Rfe1 Nc4 23. Rad1 Rd8 24. Rd3 Qe7 25. Nc6 Bxc6 26. Rxd8 Rxd8
27. bxc6 Nb6 28. Be5 Qg5 29. c7 Rd5 30. Qe4+ Qg6 31. Qb4 Qd3 32. h3 Qb5 33.
Qe4+ f5 34. Qf4 Qd7 35. Bd4 Nc8 36. Qg3 Rd6 37. h4 Rc6 38. h5 Qf7 39. Be5 Nb6
40. Ra1 Nc4 41. Rxa7 Nxe5 42. Qxe5 Qxh5 43. Qxg7+ Kxg7 44. c8=Q+ Kf6 45. Qd8+
1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Rapid"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.10"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Rapport, Richard"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2747"]
[BlackElo "2882"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2019.08.10"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Bg4 3. Bg2 e6 4. c4 c6 5. O-O Nf6 6. cxd5 Bxf3 7. Bxf3 cxd5 8.
d4 Nc6 9. e3 Be7 10. Nc3 O-O 11. Qe2 Rc8 12. Rd1 Qd7 13. Bd2 Rfd8 14. Be1 Ne8
15. Rac1 f5 16. Bg2 Nf6 17. Na4 b6 18. Nc3 Na5 19. Nb1 Nc4 20. Rc2 g5 21. Rdc1
g4 22. Bf1 Ne4 23. b3 Ncd6 24. Qa6 Rxc2 25. Rxc2 Kf7 26. a4 h5 27. a5 Rb8 28.
axb6 Rxb6 29. Qa2 Qb7 30. Ba5 Rxb3 31. Rc7 Qb8 32. Nd2 Rb2 33. Qa4 Nxd2 34. Qd7
Nf3+ 35. Kh1 Qxc7 0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Rapid"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.10"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2882"]
[BlackElo "2763"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2019.08.10"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 c5 7. Rb1 Be7 8.
h4 O-O 9. h5 h6 10. Qg4 f5 11. Qg3 Kh8 12. Nh3 cxd4 13. Nf4 Kh7 14. Bc4 Bg5 15.
O-O Nc6 16. Ng6 Re8 17. Rd1 Bxc1 18. Rbxc1 Qg5 19. exf5 exf5 20. cxd4 Bd7 21.
Qc7 Rad8 22. d5 Nd4 23. Qg3 Re4 24. Qxg5 hxg5 25. f3 Ne2+ 26. Kf2 Nxc1 27. fxe4
Rc8 28. Rxc1 b5 29. e5 Be8 30. d6 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Rapid"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.11"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2818"]
[BlackElo "2882"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2019.08.10"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. d3 Ne7 6. b3 Ng6 7. h4 h5 8. e5
f6 9. Nbd2 d6 10. exd6 e5 11. Bb2 Bg4 12. Qe2 Qxd6 13. g3 Be7 14. O-O-O Nf8 15.
Rde1 Ne6 16. Qe4 Qd5 17. Nxe5 Qxe4 18. dxe4 fxe5 19. f3 Nd4 20. fxg4 hxg4 21.
Nc4 O-O 22. Kb1 Rf2 23. Nxe5 Nxc2 24. Nxg4 Rg2 25. Reg1 Re2 26. h5 c4 27. h6 c3
28. h7+ Kf7 29. Rf1+ Bf6 30. Bc1 Nb4 31. e5 Rxa2 32. Ne3 Rh8 33. exf6 g5 34.
Rd1 a5 35. Rd4 c2+ 36. Nxc2 Rxc2 37. Rxb4 Rxc1+ 38. Kxc1 axb4 39. Rh6 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Rapid"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.11"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2882"]
[BlackElo "2765"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2019.08.10"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 Bd6 5. Bg3 O-O 6. Nbd2 b6 7. c3 Bb7 8. Bd3
Nbd7 9. Qc2 Bxg3 10. hxg3 h6 11. Rh4 c5 12. Ne5 Rc8 13. f4 a6 14. a4 cxd4 15.
exd4 Nxe5 16. fxe5 Nd7 17. Nf3 f6 18. exf6 Qxf6 19. Rf4 Qe7 20. Bh7+ Kh8 21.
Nh4 Rxf4 22. Ng6+ Kxh7 23. Nxe7+ Re4+ 24. Qxe4+ dxe4 25. Nxc8 Bxc8 26. b4 Kg6
27. c4 Kf7 28. b5 e5 29. dxe5 a5 30. Rd1 Nxe5 31. Rd4 Be6 32. Rxe4 Nxc4 33. Ke2
Nd6 34. Rf4+ Ke7 35. Kd3 Nb7 0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Rapid"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.11"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Yu, Yangyi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "2752"]
[BlackElo "2882"]
[PlyCount "138"]
[EventDate "2019.08.10"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Be2 O-O 6. O-O c6 7. a4 Nbd7 8. a5
Qc7 9. h3 e5 10. Be3 Re8 11. Bc4 exd4 12. Bxd4 Ne5 13. Nxe5 dxe5 14. Be3 Nh5
15. Na4 Nf4 16. Nc5 Qe7 17. Qf3 Ne6 18. c3 Bf8 19. Rfd1 Qc7 20. Bxe6 Bxe6 21.
b4 Bc8 22. Rd2 Rd8 23. Rxd8 Qxd8 24. Rd1 Qe7 25. Na4 Qc7 26. Bg5 Be6 27. Nc5
Re8 28. Nxe6 Rxe6 29. Rd8 h6 30. Bf6 c5 31. Ra8 cxb4 32. cxb4 Qd6 33. Bh4 Qxb4
34. Rxa7 Ra6 35. Rxa6 bxa6 36. Bd8 Bc5 37. g4 Qd4 38. Bc7 Kg7 39. Kg2 f6 40.
Qe2 Kf7 41. Bd8 g5 42. Qa2+ Kg7 43. Qc2 Kg6 44. Bc7 h5 45. Qe2 hxg4 46. hxg4
Kg7 47. Qc2 Kf8 48. Bd8 Kg7 49. Bc7 Ba7 50. Kf3 Kg6 51. Kg3 Qb4 52. Kg2 Qc5 53.
Qxc5 Bxc5 54. Bb6 Be7 55. Kf3 Kf7 56. Ke2 Ke6 57. Kd3 Kd7 58. Kc4 Ke6 59. f3
Bd6 60. Bd8 Bf8 61. Bb6 Bd6 62. Bd8 Bf8 63. Bc7 Bd6 64. Bb6 Be7 65. Bc7 Kd7 66.
Bb6 Kc6 67. Be3 Bd8 68. Bd2 Be7 69. Bc3 Bc5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Rapid"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.12"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D97"]
[WhiteElo "2882"]
[BlackElo "2778"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2019.08.10"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 O-O 7. e4 Nc6 8. h3
Nd7 9. Be3 Nb6 10. Qc5 a5 11. Rc1 Nd7 12. Qa3 e5 13. d5 Nd4 14. Nb5 c5 15. dxc6
Nxc6 16. Be2 Nf6 17. Rd1 Bd7 18. Bc5 Nxe4 19. Bxf8 Bxf8 20. Qe3 Nc5 21. O-O Qf6
22. Nc7 Rd8 23. Nd5 Qg7 24. Nb6 e4 25. Nd4 Be8 26. Nxc6 Rxd1 27. Rxd1 Bxc6 28.
Bc4 Qe5 29. Qd4 Qg5 30. Nd5 Bxd5 31. Bxd5 Nd3 32. Qxe4 Nxb2 33. Rb1 Qf6 34.
Bxf7+ 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Rapid"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.12"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2750"]
[BlackElo "2882"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2019.08.10"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Nbd2 O-O 5. a3 Be7 6. e4 d6 7. Be2 Nbd7 8.
Qc2 c5 9. d5 e5 10. Nf1 a6 11. Ng3 g6 12. O-O Ne8 13. b4 Ng7 14. Bh6 b6 15.
Rab1 a5 16. h3 Kh8 17. Rb2 axb4 18. axb4 Nf6 19. bxc5 bxc5 20. Rfb1 Ng8 21. Bd2
f5 22. Rb8 Rxb8 23. Rxb8 f4 24. Nf1 g5 25. Qa4 h6 26. Ba5 Qd7 27. Qc6 Nf6 28.
N1d2 Qxc6 29. dxc6 Ne6 30. Ra8 Bd8 31. Bxd8 Rxd8 32. Bd1 Nc7 33. Ra7 Nfe8 34.
Nh2 Be6 35. Bh5 Rc8 36. Ng4 Bxg4 37. Bxg4 Ra8 38. Rb7 Kg7 39. Bd7 Kf6 40. Nb1
Na6 41. Nc3 Nec7 42. Nb5 Ne6 43. Bxe6 Kxe6 44. Na7 h5 45. f3 g4 46. hxg4 hxg4
47. fxg4 Rg8 48. Kf2 Rxg4 49. Rb6 Nc7 50. Nb5 Rg7 51. Rb7 Ne8 52. Rb8 Nc7 53.
Rd8 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Rapid"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.12"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D06"]
[WhiteElo "2882"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2019.08.10"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 191 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c5 3. cxd5 Qxd5 4. Nf3 cxd4 5. Qxd4 Qxd4 6. Nxd4 Bd7 7. e4 Nc6
8. Be3 e5 9. Nb5 Rc8 10. Nd2 Nf6 11. f3 a6 12. Nc3 b5 13. a4 Nd4 14. Bd3 bxa4
15. Bxd4 exd4 16. Ne2 Bb4 17. Nxd4 a3 18. Ke2 axb2 19. Rxa6 Rc1 20. Rd1 O-O 21.
N4b3 Rfc8 22. Rb6 Bf8 23. Na5 Ba4 24. Rf1 Ba3 25. Nac4 Nd7 26. Ra6 Rxf1 27.
Kxf1 Nc5 28. Nxa3 Nxa6 29. Bxa6 Rc1+ 30. Kf2 Ra1 31. Nac4 Bc6 32. Bc8 Bb5 33.
Nxb2 Ra2 34. Ke3 Rxb2 35. h4 Kf8 36. Bb7 Bf1 37. Nxf1 Rxb7 38. Kf4 Ke7 39. Ne3
Rb2 40. Nf5+ Kf8 41. g4 g6 42. Ne3 f6 43. g5 Kf7 44. Nd5 fxg5+ 45. hxg5 Ke6 46.
Nc7+ Kd6 47. Nd5 Rb7 48. Ke3 Kc5 49. Nf6 Kd6 50. Ng4 Rb5 51. Kf4 Ke6 52. Ne3
Rb7 53. Ng4 Rf7+ 54. Ke3 Kd6 55. Nh6 Ra7 56. Ng4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 7th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.17"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2882"]
[BlackElo "2779"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2019.08.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 192"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.10.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.10.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e4 Bb4 5. d3 d6 6. Be2 Bg4 7. a3 Bc5 8. b4
Bb6 9. Be3 Bxf3 10. Bxf3 Nd4 11. Na4 Nxf3+ 12. Qxf3 Bxe3 13. Qxe3 O-O 14. O-O
Re8 15. Nc3 a5 16. b5 c6 17. Rab1 d5 18. Na4 Qe7 19. bxc6 bxc6 20. cxd5 cxd5
21. Nb6 Rad8 22. Rb5 Qxa3 23. exd5 e4 24. dxe4 Qxe3 25. fxe3 Rxe4 26. Rxa5 Rb4
27. Ra8 Rxa8 28. Nxa8 Nxd5 29. Rd1 Rb8 30. Rxd5 Rxa8 31. Kf2 Kf8 32. Kf3 h6 33.
Kf2 Ra2+ 34. Kf3 Ra8 35. Kf2 Ra2+ 36. Kf3 Ra8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 7th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.18"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2756"]
[BlackElo "2882"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2019.08.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 192"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.10.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.10.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. d4 Bg7 6. dxc5 Qa5+ 7. Nbd2 Qxc5
8. O-O d6 9. Re1 f6 10. a3 Nh6 11. b4 Qh5 12. c4 O-O 13. Qa4 Bd7 14. Nf1 Nf7
15. Ng3 Qg4 16. c5 e5 17. cxd6 c5 18. Qb3 cxb4 19. axb4 Qe6 20. Qxe6 Bxe6 21.
Be3 a6 22. Rec1 Rfd8 23. Nd2 Bf8 24. Nc4 Rac8 25. Bc5 Bxc4 26. Rxc4 Nxd6 27.
Rcc1 Rc6 28. f3 Nb5 29. Bxf8 Rxc1+ 30. Rxc1 Kxf8 31. Nf1 Nd4 32. Rc4 Ke7 33.
Ne3 Kd6 34. Rc5 Nc6 35. Rd5+ Ke7 36. b5 axb5 37. Rxb5 Rb8 38. Rxb8 Nxb8 39. Kf2
Ke6 40. g3 Nd7 41. Nc4 Nc5 42. Ke3 Nd7 43. Kf2 Nc5 44. Ke3 Nd7 45. Kf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 7th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.19"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D24"]
[WhiteElo "2882"]
[BlackElo "2818"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2019.08.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 192"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.10.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.10.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e4 Bb4 6. Bxc4 Nxe4 7. O-O Nf6 8.
Qa4+ Nc6 9. Ne5 Bd6 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Qxc6+ Bd7 12. Qf3 O-O 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bh4
Rb8 15. b3 Rb6 16. Ne4 Be7 17. Nxf6+ Bxf6 18. Bxf6 Qxf6 19. Qxf6 gxf6 20. d5 e5
21. Rfc1 a5 22. Be2 c6 23. dxc6 Rxc6 24. Rxc6 Bxc6 25. Rc1 Bd7 26. Rc5 Ra8 27.
f4 exf4 28. Bf3 Ra6 29. Kf2 Be6 30. Be2 Ra8 31. Bf3 Ra6 32. Bb7 Ra7 33. Be4 Kg7
34. Kf3 a4 35. Bc2 axb3 36. Bxb3 Rb7 37. Kxf4 Bxb3 38. axb3 Rxb3 39. g3 Rb4+
40. Kf3 Rb3+ 41. Kf4 Rb4+ 42. Kf3 Rb3+ 43. Kf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 7th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.20"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D46"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2882"]
[PlyCount "135"]
[EventDate "2019.08.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 192"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.10.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.10.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. Bd3 dxc4 8.
Bxc4 b5 9. Be2 O-O 10. O-O a6 11. Rd1 Qc7 12. e4 e5 13. g3 Re8 14. a3 exd4 15.
Nxd4 Be5 16. Bf3 c5 17. Nde2 Bb7 18. Be3 c4 19. b4 cxb3 20. Qxb3 Nc5 21. Bxc5
Qxc5 22. Rac1 Qb6 23. Na4 Qa7 24. Nc5 Rac8 25. Nd7 Rxc1 26. Nxc1 h6 27. Nxf6+
Bxf6 28. Rd7 Re7 29. Rd8+ Kh7 30. Qd3 Be5 31. Rh8+ Kxh8 32. Qd8+ Kh7 33. Qxe7
Bd4 34. Qxf7 Bxf2+ 35. Kg2 Bc8 36. Qa2 Bb6 37. e5 Bf5 38. g4 Bg6 39. Ne2 Qc7
40. Nf4 Qc2+ 41. Qxc2 Bxc2 42. Nd5 Bc5 43. Nb4 Bb3 44. Nxa6 Bxa3 45. Nc7 Bc4
46. e6 Bd6 47. Bc6 b4 48. Nd5 Kg6 49. e7 Bxd5+ 50. Bxd5 Bxe7 51. Kf3 Kf6 52.
Ke4 Kg5 53. Kf3 Kh4 54. Be6 Bg5 55. Kg2 Bf4 56. h3 Kg5 57. Kf3 Kf6 58. Bg8 Ke5
59. h4 g5 60. hxg5 hxg5 61. Ke2 Kd4 62. Kd1 Kc3 63. Bf7 b3 64. Be6 Be3 65. Bf7
Bf4 66. Be6 Be3 67. Bf7 Bf4 68. Be6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 7th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.21"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2882"]
[BlackElo "2750"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2019.08.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 192"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.10.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.10.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 b6 7. Bd3 dxc4 8. Bxc4
Ba6 9. Qe2 Bxc4 10. Qxc4 c5 11. dxc5 Bxc5 12. O-O Qc8 13. Rfd1 Nbd7 14. Qe2 Re8
15. Nd2 Qb7 16. Qf3 Qxf3 17. gxf3 Rec8 18. Nde4 Bf8 19. Nd6 Rc6 20. Bg3 a6 21.
Rac1 Bxd6 22. Rxd6 Rxd6 23. Bxd6 Rc8 24. Rd1 h6 25. f4 b5 26. Be7 Rc6 27. Kg2
Nb6 28. e4 Nc4 29. Rd8+ Kh7 30. Bxf6 gxf6 31. Nd1 Kg6 32. b3 Rd6 33. Rxd6 Nxd6
34. f3 Kh5 35. Kg3 b4 36. Ne3 f5 37. exf5 Nxf5+ 38. Nxf5 exf5 39. Kf2 Kh4 40.
Kg2 a5 41. Kf2 Kh3 42. Kg1 h5 43. Kh1 h4 44. Kg1 f6 45. Kh1 a4 46. bxa4 b3 47.
axb3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 7th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.23"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2743"]
[BlackElo "2882"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2019.08.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 192"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.10.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.10.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. Re1 e5 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. d3 Qc7 8.
Be3 b6 9. a3 a5 10. Nbd2 Nf6 11. b4 Ng4 12. bxc5 Nxe3 13. fxe3 bxc5 14. Nc4 Be6
15. Nfd2 O-O 16. Rf1 Rab8 17. Qe2 a4 18. Rf2 Rb7 19. Raf1 Qd8 20. Qe1 h5 21.
Qa1 f6 22. h3 Bh6 23. Qd1 Kh7 24. Qe2 Rb8 25. Rd1 Qc7 26. Rff1 Kg7 27. Rb1 Rb5
28. Rbd1 Rbb8 29. Rb1 Rb5 30. Rbd1 Rbb8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 7th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.24"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2882"]
[BlackElo "2774"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2019.08.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 192"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.10.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.10.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Qa4+ Nd7 8.
Nf3 c5 9. Be2 O-O 10. O-O Nb6 11. Qa3 cxd4 12. cxd4 Bg4 13. Rd1 Bxf3 14. Bxf3
Bxd4 15. e5 Nc4 16. Qb4 Rc8 17. Bh6 Bxa1 18. Rxd8 Rfxd8 19. e6 Ne5 20. exf7+
Nxf7 21. Be3 Bd4 22. Qxe7 Re8 23. Qa3 b6 24. Bd5 Rc5 25. Bxf7+ Kxf7 26. Qxa7+
Re7 27. Qa6 b5 28. h3 Bxe3 29. fxe3 Rce5 30. Qb6 R7e6 31. Qb7+ Re7 32. Qb6 R7e6
33. Qb7+ Re7 34. Qb6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 7th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.25"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E21"]
[WhiteElo "2882"]
[BlackElo "2805"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2019.08.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 192"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.10.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.10.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 O-O 5. Bg5 c5 6. Rc1 h6 7. Bh4 cxd4 8.
Nxd4 d5 9. cxd5 g5 10. Bg3 Qxd5 11. e3 Qxa2 12. Qc2 Nd5 13. h4 Nxc3 14. bxc3
Qxc2 15. Rxc2 Be7 16. hxg5 hxg5 17. f4 Nc6 18. fxg5 Bxg5 19. Rh5 f6 20. Nf3
Bxe3 21. Re2 Bc1 22. Re4 e5 23. Bc4+ Kg7 24. Reh4 Kg6 25. Rh7 Bg4 26. Bd3+ f5
27. Nxe5+ Nxe5 28. Bxe5 Kg5 29. g3 Rg8 30. Rxb7 Rae8 31. Rb5 Rg6 32. Kf2 Rb6
33. Rxb6 axb6 34. Rh1 Rxe5 35. Rxc1 f4 36. gxf4+ Kxf4 37. Rb1 Rc5 38. Rb4+ Kg5
39. Rxb6 Rxc3 40. Ke3 Bf5 41. Rd6 Rxd3+ 42. Rxd3 Bxd3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 7th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.26"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2882"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2019.08.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 192"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.10.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.10.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. c3 Nf6 5. Qe2 Bg7 6. O-O O-O 7. d4 cxd4 8.
cxd4 d6 9. h3 Nd7 10. Rd1 a6 11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. Be3 a5 13. Qc2 c5 14. Nc3 cxd4
15. Bxd4 Bb7 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Nd4 Rc8 18. Qd2 Re8 19. Qe3 Qb6 20. e5 dxe5 21.
Nb3 Nc5 22. Qxe5+ Kg8 23. Qe3 Qc6 24. Nd5 Nxb3 25. axb3 Qc5 26. Rac1 Qxe3 27.
Nxe3 Rxc1 28. Rxc1 Rb8 29. Rc5 Bc8 30. Nd5 Be6 31. Nxe7+ Kf8 32. Nc6 Rxb3 33.
Nd4 Rxb2 34. Nxe6+ fxe6 35. Rxa5 h5 36. Ra6 Kf7 37. Ra5 Rb1+ 38. Kh2 Rb2 39.
Kg1 Rb1+ 40. Kh2 Rb2 41. Kg1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 7th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.27"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2882"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2019.08.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 192"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.10.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.10.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,57,19,38,25,7,30,27,27,7,3,9,16,2,13,-5,17,-8,10,0,24,2,3,-8,3,13,26,
24,27,27,22,19,4,5,6,-13,-24,-17,-24,-13,0,-34,-42,-5,0,-13,-19,7,53,53,44,-12,
8,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]} 1. e4 $5 {Starting off with 9 draws the strategic situation
for the world champion was pretty simple, nothing short of 2 wins would leave
any chance of first place. This being his 6th white, it was still the first
game where Magnus opened with the king's pawn, having recently preferred a
more 1.d4 based approach, but in the moment of need, it felt like time for a
surprise.} e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 {Wesley is loyal to his solid approach, inviting to a
Berlin.} 3. Bc4 {This used to be considered basically inferior to 3.Bb5 and
the Ruy Lopez, but as this position appeared 10(!) times in the Sinquefield
Cup, it indicates the present preferences of the top players. Compared to 3.
Bb5 it has the advantage of leading to less forced lines.} Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3
O-O 6. c3 d6 7. h3 h6 $5 ({Earlier in the tournament Wesley had tried the more
extravagant} 7... a6 8. a4 Ba7 9. Re1 Kh8 $5 {ambitiously aiming for ...Ng8
and ...f5, but fearing Magnus preparation he sensibly chooses one of the main
lines.}) 8. Re1 a6 9. a4 a5 $5 {Obviously a strange looking move, moving the
a-pawn continiously. But there is logic behind it:} ({After the immediate} 9...
Be6 {, then} 10. Bxe6 fxe6 11. b4 Ba7 12. Nbd2 {leads to troubles for Black
like in e.g. Anand-Carlsen from Stavanger 2017 as White's expansion on the
queenside makes a lot of difference in the ...fxe6 structures. The space
itself obviously, but also that a rook on a2 will defend the f2-pawn
eventually.}) {Now, however, Black uses the possibility to fix the queenside
structure. One could argue why not 8...a5 then? It is a reasonable move,
played by Ding, but there potentially White has the option of a3+b4, while now
the b4-square is definitely under Black's control.} 10. Nbd2 Be6 {As explained
previously, the benefit of having played ...a5 is that Black now can play ...
Be6 without fearing the ...Bxe6 fxe6 structures, and So obviously exploits
that:} 11. Bb5 $5 Na7 12. d4 Nxb5 13. dxc5 $5 {Earlier this year in Wijk Aan
Zee, Giri took back on b5 against Anand, with the game ending in a quick draw.}
Na7 14. b3 Re8 {Still common ground, White's concept is that 14...Nc6 is met
by 15 cxd6 cxd6 ( 15...Qxd6? 16 Ba3! wins an exchange, and is the point of 14
b3) 16Ba3 Re8 17 c4! when the resulting pawn structure heavily favours White,
explaining why So had to put his rook on e8, in order to be able to take back
on d6 with the queen.} 15. cxd6 Qxd6 16. Ba3 c5 {Grischuk played 16...Qa6
against MVL in the 2017 World Cup, but while he got a good position in the
game, the computer very much prefers 16...c5.} 17. Nc4 $5 {Over the board
inspiration, and making the inclusion of b3 having a positive effect. MVL had
a later game with Karjakin in 2019 where he continued 17.Qe2, but Magnus' move
is, despite the exchange of queens, somewhat more aggressive.} Qxd1 18. Raxd1
Bxc4 {For a human, an obvious choice, but the computers actually insists that
18...Nd7 also is a reasonable move as after 19 Ne3, which seems to nicely give
White control over the d5 square, after 19...Red8 20 Nd5 Rb8, it indeed is
difficult for White to make any reasonable progress. Being a human being, So,
however, obviously took the knight.} 19. bxc4 {Explaining the games to the
commentators, Magnus said that this was paying a bit of hommage to Mikhail
Botvinnik who in numerous games showed the dynamic potential of this exact
pawn structure where the doubled pawns obviously are potential weaknesses and
thus the position is much sharper than it appears at first sight: Black needs
to hurry, as seen in the game White's potential is huge if the position
stabilizes.} b6 $6 ({The computers strongly suggest} 19... Rac8 $1 {the idea
being to protect the b7-pawn from c7, and then regrouping with ...Nc8/d6
immediately attacking White's fragile c4-pawn. At first the computers says
Black is better, but after a while settles on} 20. Nh2 (20. Nh4 g6 21. f3 {
followed by g4/Ng2-e3 leads to similar positions.}) 20... Rc7 21. Nf1 Nc8 22.
Ne3 Nb6 23. Rb1 Nxa4 24. f3 {when White has sacrificed a pawn, and offers a
second on c3, but as compensation gets serious initiative combing threats via
the b-line with the knight landing on d5. White is neither better nor worse,
but the position is very interesting with rich possibilities for both to
outplay the opponent.}) {So instead chooses solidity, but this permanently
places the initiative with White.} 20. Nh4 Rad8 21. f3 g6 22. g3 {22.g4
intending the same knight regrouping as in the game, but at the same time
stopping Black's ...Nh5 had merits, but Magnus wanted to keep his own kingside
structure as flexible as possible.} Nh5 23. Kf2 Nc6 $6 {Again Wesley's choice
is more solid than good.} (23... Nc8 {23...Nc8!? would reroute the knight to
d6, attacking the c-pawn and after} 24. Ng2 Nd6 25. Ne3 f5 {create some
counterplay.}) {But So believes in the solidity of his position.} 24. Bc1 Kg7
25. Be3 Rxd1 ({Once again} 25... Ne7 26. Ng2 f5 $1 {was called for, creating
some counterplay, but its repeating the previous remark, as Black's play is
based on the wrong assumption that he has an impregnable fortress.}) 26. Rxd1
Rd8 27. Rb1 $1 {Keeping a pair of rooks is an absolute neccesity.} Rb8 28. Ng2
Nf6 29. Ke2 Ne8 30. Bf2 Nd6 31. Ne3 Ne7 $2 {Blacks position was bad, much
worse than it looks, but with this it becomes just plainly lost. But again:
Black thinks he has a fortress.} 32. Nd5 $1 Nxd5 33. cxd5 Rb7 34. Kd3 {One
could argue a slight inaccuracy, the computer prefers 34 c4!?.} f5 {This
created a weakness on e5, but as White anyway could force that with f4xe5
after a black ...f6, it makes no difference.} ({But even after} 34... c4+ 35.
Kd2 Nc8 36. Bc5 $1 {followed by the f4 break, Blacks position will collapse
rather quickly.}) 35. c4 fxe4+ $5 {Facing reality, So alternates his plan,
tries to complicate.} ({The problem is, as Magnus happily explained after the
game, that the "fortress" after} 35... Kf6 36. g4 f4 37. Be1 g5 38. Bc3 $1 {
has one problem: Yes, everything is solididly protected and White can do no
harm to Black's position on his own. But as Black is not allowed to "pass",
Zugzwang here plays its deadly consequence. Black has to make a move, and that
makes his position instantly collapse. The rook needs to protect the b-pawn,
but if it goes to b8, it allows Bxa5. The knight on d6 is needed there to
protect the rook on b7, else Bxa5 again is possible, and as the king is stuck
on f6 protecting e5, and Black has run out of pawn moves, this is a pure and
illustrative zugzwang. Black's position will fall like a cardhouse, when
removing one bit, will eventually make it all fall.}) 36. fxe4 Rf7 {A good try,
even allowing the hope for the trap below.} 37. Rxb6 (37. Be3 Rf3 38. Rxb6 $4
Rxe3+ $1) 37... Rxf2 38. Rxd6 Rf3+ 39. Ke2 $6 {Sloppy technique.} (39. Kd2 Rf2+
40. Ke3 Rc2 41. Kd3 Ra2 42. Rc6 {was a very trivial win. as White gets
connected passed pawns while keeping Black's counterplay to a minimum.}) 39...
Rc3 40. Re6 Rxc4 41. Rxe5 Rxa4 42. Re7+ Kf6 $2 {Returning the favour and
making the win trivial.} (42... Kf8 $1 {would surprisingly force a huge degree
of precision on White's part.} 43. Re6 $1 {is the only winning move.} ({After} 
43. d6 $2 Rd4 44. e5 a4 45. Ke3 a3 46. Ra7 Rd5 $1 {White cannot successfully
advance his connected passed pawns, as after} 47. Ke4 ({or} 47. Kf4) 47... Rd4+
$1 {the king is forced back, and Black will just return the rook to d5, again
attacking the e5 pawn forcing a repetition.}) 43... Rb4 {again forces
precision, as} 44. Kf3 $1 {is needed. The difference is that after} a4 45. Rxg6
a3 46. Ra6 Rb3+ {now} 47. Kg4 $1 {is available, the point being that after} c4
48. d6 c3 49. Ra8+ Kf7 50. d7 c2 {White simply plays} 51. d8=Q {soon mating
the black king, but if the white king were on f4, then 51...c1Q would be a
check, reversing the table.  Very much a line that the World Champion would be
able to calculate, but still an unneccesary risk to take indeed.}) 43. d6 {
44.e5+ follows next, and the pawns marches through.} 1-0

[Event "Sinquefield Cup 7th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.28"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2778"]
[BlackElo "2882"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2019.08.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 192"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.10.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.10.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,71,19,38,40,41,51,32,72,38,11,13,23,27,60,54,57,30,35,5,0,-29,1,1,0,
-7,-1,-22,-16,-33,-9,-35,-38,-28,-30,-30,-14,-31,-46,-50,-53,-65,-68,-92,-92,
-135,-135,-141,-125,-251,-242,-242,-206,-216,-210,-224,-224,-233,-243,-222,
-202,-213,-200,-190,-200,-222,-209,-215,-232,-236,-246,-253,-288,-271] Having
started the tournament with 9 draws, Magnus chances of competing for first
place seemed theoretical, yet in the 10th round he got the exact results he
needed, not only winning his own game vs. So, but also the leaders faltering
meaning suddenly going into the last round there was actually a real chance!
Still, apart from Ding not winning his game, beating MVL with the black pieces
was not exactly an easy task, but at least the Frenchman also needed a win as
this was the only chance he had left for being in the top 4 of the Grand Chess
Tour standings meaning we had two players both willing to fight and take risks!
} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {Maxime for many years was a big fan of 3.Nc3,
but recently seemed to have shifted to the Rossolimo. The popular choice among
the elite, Magnus faced it no less than 4(!) times in the Sinquefield Cup!} g6
4. Bxc6 bxc6 $5 {In the WC-match but also the previous tournaments Magnus went
for the more solid 4...dxc6, but earlier in the tournament he did experiment
with capturing towards the centre against Anand, so this more ambitious more
hardly came as a surprise to Vachier.} 5. d4 $5 {The main line, at least if
you look at number of games is 5 0-0, but Anand also played this more direct
approach against Magnus.} cxd4 ({Vishy was better after} 5... Bg7 6. dxc5 Qa5+
7. Nbd2 Qxc5 8. O-O d6 9. Re1 f6 10. a3 Nh6 11. b4 Qh5 12. c4 {, even if the
game ended in a solid draw.}) {Magnus, however, had not lost faith in Black's
positional potential, but alters the move order while striving for a similar
structure.} 6. Qxd4 f6 7. O-O d6 8. c4 c5 {The Indian prodigy Praggnanandhaa
played like this earlier this year in the B-group of Wijk Aan Zee, earning a
draw against the higher rated Kovalev. It's easy to see the attraction: Black
has a broad stabilised centre and the pair of bishops, in many ways leaving
the bigger burden on White, having to prove that his initiative is not only
temporary.} 9. Qd3 Bg7 10. b3 {Its hard to see why MVL did not play 10.Nc3
first.} Nh6 {But Magnus does not pick up the gauntlet, yet.} ({Maybe he just
wanted to tempt Black to play} 10... f5 {when} 11. e5 Bb7 12. Bb2 Nh6 13. Ng5
$5 {is an interesting pawn sacrifice aiming for the e6 square, before Black
manages to stabilize with ...Nf7.}) 11. Nc3 Rb8 12. Bd2 {At first sight maybe
a strange looking move, but not much action is expected on the long diagonal,
as Black plans to keep it close, while instead MVL has ambitions on the
kingside.} O-O 13. Rae1 Nf7 {A fascinating position. Modern chess suffers from
symmetry and too much balance, while here there is so much life and complexity.
Stockfish somewhat prefers White, suggesting moves like 14.Nh4!? preparing 15.
f4, when Black should either respond with ...e6 planning ...f5, or reroute the
knight to d4, via e5-c6. Its just a very interesting position, and Maxime adds
his own flavour, playing the ever so popular flank-pawn push!} 14. h4 $6 (14.
Nh4 $5 {[%cal Gf2f4]} e6 {[%cal Gf6f5]} (14... Ne5 {[%cal Ge5c6,Gc6d4]})) 14...
Rb7 $5 {As White did not want the bishop on the diagonal, Black chooses not to
financhetto his bishop but instead the rook! But there is logic: as Black
wants his bishop remaining on c8, eying the kingside and a potential ...f5,
why not just improve the rook's prospects? Still it is an extraordinary move,
at least to me. It's "mysterious" in many ways, illustrating perhaps that in
standard positions we have a good understanding based on experience of where
the pieces belong, while under extraordinary circumstances like this one, one
gets a more polarised view of the difference between an average grandmaster
and the World Champion. ...Rb7 never would have entered my mind, while the
game shows it makes sense, a lot of sense!} 15. h5 g5 {15...f5 also has logic,
but Magnus keeps the position closed for the moment, also the pawn at h5 can
now become a target, forcing White to act.} 16. Nh2 $6 {Probably like 14 h4?!
a step in the wrong direction.} ({The computer seems to indidate} 16. Ne2 {
[%cal Ge2g3,Gg3f5] rerouting the knight to the kingside and the f5 square
especially. Still the position is so complex and unfamiliar that both for the
players and commentators it is very hard to say. Black could then either
continioue with ...e6 covering the f5 square, ...Be6 intending ...Qd7 and ...
a5 but maybe best, just like with 14...Rb7!?, improving the position while
remaining flexible is the key, meaning} Kh8 $1 (16... Be6 {[%cal Gd8d7]}) (
16... e6 {[%csl Ge6][%cal Ge6f5]})) 16... Ne5 17. Qg3 Kh8 18. f4 {With
hindsight this is easy to criticize based on the result, but MVL is just
consistently following his planned concept.} gxf4 19. Bxf4 Rg8 20. Re3 Nc6 {
Vacating the diagonal as preparation for ...f5 when the e5 and d4 squares not
only become relevant for Black's knight, but certainly now also the bishop.} ({
The computer, however, prefers} 20... Qf8 $5 21. Qh4 Bh6 22. Rg3 Bxf4 23. Rxg8+
Kxg8 24. Qxf4 Nf7 $5 {with ...Qh6 or ...Qg7-g5 as the follow-up.}) 21. Qf2 f5
22. Nf3 $2 {Speaking with MVL just after the game, the Frenchman said he
thought his position here was already very bad. It is easy to understand why
one would think so, Black's position has enormous potential and the pieces are
about to spring to life.} ({But the computer does not suffer from such
generalisation, and just states that} 22. exf5 $1 Bxf5 (22... Bd4 23. Ne2 Bxe3
24. Bxe3 {gives White sufficient compensation for the exchange.}) 23. Rg3 {
really is no big deal.} {After} Qe8 (23... Bd4 {is now parried by} 24. Be3) {
White can play} 24. Ne2 $1 (24. h6 Bxc3 25. Rxc3 e5 {shows why the rook is
excellently placed on b7.}) 24... Qxh5 25. Rg5 Qf7 26. Be3 {with sufficient
compensation for the pawn, leading to an equal position.}) {Yet to stress it
once again: these positions are so unfamiliar, meaning the complexity of
playing them is uncomparable to more standard positions where one can rely on
experience.} 22... Bxc3 $1 {Exchanging the strong bishop for a knight that is
out of play!? Perhaps, but that just goes to show how one can easily create
false narratives in chess. In reality Black speeds up the attack by removing a
bishop that is A) in the way when Black wants to attack via the g-file, and B)
would be locked in behind its own pawns, when Black now in the following wants
to play ...e5 and ...f4.} 23. Rxc3 e5 24. Rd3 $5 {Maxime realises the severity
of his troubles, and tries complicating.} (24. Bh2 f4 {would be a positional
tragedy with Black doubling in the g-file, the knight reaching d4 etc. etc.
The computer instantly evaluates it as -4! indicating the hopelessness.}) 24...
exf4 $1 {Praising a World Champion for taking a piece is maybe to much, but
this does involve selfpinning his rook to be taken by a white pawn. Magnus
took his time reassuring himself that while at first sight it looks dangerous,
Black's king is safe and White's not:} 25. Qb2+ Rbg7 26. h6 fxe4 27. Rd2 ({
No tactics are working, the funniest try being} 27. hxg7+ Rxg7 28. Ne5 $5 {
, but} Nxe5 29. Qxe5 exd3 $1 {wins easily, not that it is the only way either.}
) 27... exf3 28. hxg7+ Rxg7 29. Rxf3 Qg5 {Generally the game is over. Magnus
has two minor pieces for the rook, and in the following reroutes the bishop
cleverly to the g8 square safeguarding his king.} 30. Rdf2 Nd4 31. Rxf4 Bf5 32.
b4 Be6 $1 33. Rf8+ Bg8 34. bxc5 dxc5 35. Qb8 Qe3 36. Qd6 {Threatening 37.Rxg8+
Rxg8 38 Qf6+ with a perpetual.} Qc1+ 37. Kh2 Qg5 38. Qd5 Qh4+ 39. Kg1 Qe7 {
Controlling e5, so there is no perpetual, also, Black creates threats of his
own.} 40. Qh5 Qe3 41. Qh4 Ne2+ 42. Kh1 (42. Kh2 Qe5+ {also instantly finishes
the game.}) 42... Qc1+ 43. Rf1 Ng3+ 44. Kg1 ({If} 44. Qxg3 {then Black
interpolates} Qxf1+ {before taking White's queen.}) 44... Qe3+ {And as 45 R1f2
Qe1+ 46 Rf1 Ne2+! wins the queen and mates at the same time, Maxime resigned.
This earned Magnus a what just 2 days earlier seemed a completely unlikely
playoff. A dicipline he has dominated to the extend that it almost became
mythical like he could never lose with his last loss dating back more than 10
years tgo his teenage days. yet Ding won, and did it in a convincing way.
While the result on the day was bad, it does however also put into perspective
what an achievement Magnus playoff streak was. It takes you to show up every
time giving your absolute best, even when a World Championship is at stake.}
0-1

[Event "Sinquefield Cup playoff1 7th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.29"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E01"]
[WhiteElo "2882"]
[BlackElo "2805"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2019.08.29"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2020"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.10.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.10.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. g3 dxc4 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 b5 8. Ne5
Nxe5 9. dxe5 Qxd1+ 10. Kxd1 Nd5 11. Ne4 Bb7 12. Bg2 c5 13. Bd2 Be7 14. Rc1 c4
15. Kc2 O-O-O 16. Rhd1 f5 17. Nd6+ Bxd6 18. exd6 Rxd6 19. Bxd5 exd5 20. Bc3 Re8
21. e3 g5 22. Rd4 Re4 23. Rh1 Rh6 24. h4 Kd7 25. a3 g4 26. Rxe4 fxe4 27. b4 Ra6
28. Kb2 h5 29. Rd1 Ke6 30. Rd2 Bc6 31. Bd4 Be8 32. Bc3 Bc6 33. Bd4 Be8 34. Bc3
Bc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup playoff1 7th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.29"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E03"]
[WhiteElo "2805"]
[BlackElo "2882"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2019.08.29"]
[EventType "match (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2020"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.10.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.10.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. Qa4+ Nbd7 6. Qxc4 a6 7. Be3 Bd6 8.
Nh3 O-O 9. O-O h6 10. Nc3 b5 11. Qb3 Rb8 12. Nf4 Bb7 13. Bxb7 Rxb7 14. Nd3 Qe7
15. Rac1 Rbb8 16. Rfd1 Rfc8 17. a3 c5 18. dxc5 Nxc5 19. Bxc5 Bxc5 20. Nxc5 Rxc5
21. Na2 a5 22. Qe3 Rxc1 23. Nxc1 b4 24. axb4 Qxb4 25. Nd3 Qd6 26. Rc1 Nd5 27.
Qd4 Qb6 28. Rc5 Qb3 29. Kg2 Qb7 30. f3 Qa6 31. Kf2 a4 32. Qc4 Qa7 33. Qd4 Qa6
34. Qc4 Qa7 35. Qd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Sinquefield Cup playoff2 7th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.29"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "2805"]
[BlackElo "2882"]
[PlyCount "174"]
[EventDate "2019.08.29"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2020"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.10.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.10.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 e6 3. Bg2 d5 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. Qa4+ Nbd7 6. Qxc4 a6 7. Qc2 c5 8.
Nc3 Qc7 9. d4 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Bc5 11. Nb3 Bd6 12. O-O O-O 13. Rd1 Be5 14. Be3 Nd5
15. Bxd5 exd5 16. Rac1 Nf6 17. Nxd5 Nxd5 18. Rxd5 Qxc2 19. Rxc2 Bf6 20. Nc5 Re8
21. Bd4 Be7 22. Re5 f6 23. Re3 Bf5 24. Rd2 Bxc5 25. Rxe8+ Rxe8 26. Bxc5 Rc8 27.
b4 a5 28. a3 axb4 29. axb4 Rc7 30. f3 Rd7 31. Ra2 h5 32. Kf2 Kf7 33. h4 Be6 34.
Ra8 b5 35. e4 Bc4 36. Ke3 Rd3+ 37. Kf4 Rd7 38. Rh8 Kg6 39. g4 hxg4 40. fxg4 Kf7
41. h5 Bb3 42. e5 fxe5+ 43. Kxe5 Rd5+ 44. Kf4 Rd1 45. Rf8+ Ke6 46. Re8+ Kf7 47.
Rf8+ Ke6 48. Kg5 Bc2 49. Re8+ Kf7 50. Re7+ Kg8 51. Rb7 Rd5+ 52. Kh4 Bd3 53. g5
Rd8 54. g6 Bc4 55. Kg5 Rd5+ 56. Kf4 Rd8 57. Bd6 Be2 58. Be5 Bxh5 59. Kg5 Be2
60. Rxg7+ Kf8 61. Rf7+ Ke8 62. Kf6 Bc4 63. Rh7 Rd1 64. Re7+ Kd8 65. Ra7 Rf1+
66. Kg7 Ke8 67. Bf6 Re1 68. Kh8 Rh1+ 69. Kg7 Re1 70. Rb7 Re2 71. Ra7 Re1 72.
Rc7 Re2 73. Ra7 Re1 74. Ra3 Re2 75. Ra8+ Kd7 76. Kf8 Rf2 77. Kg7 Rg2 78. Rd8+
Ke6 79. Re8+ Kd7 80. Re5 Kd6 81. Re3 Kd7 82. Re7+ Kd6 83. Re3 Kd7 84. Kh6 Rh2+
85. Kg7 Rg2 86. Bd4 Rg4 87. Bc5 Rg2 1-0

[Event "Sinquefield Cup playoff2 7th"]
[Site "Saint Louis"]
[Date "2019.08.29"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2882"]
[BlackElo "2805"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2019.08.29"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2020"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.10.17"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.10.17"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
Na5 9. Bc2 c5 10. d4 cxd4 11. cxd4 O-O 12. h3 Re8 13. d5 Bd7 14. Nc3 Qb8 15.
Bd3 Rc8 16. Ne2 Nb7 17. g4 Nc5 18. Ng3 Nxd3 19. Qxd3 b4 20. Re1 Qb5 21. Qd1 Rc7
22. Be3 Rac8 23. Nd2 g6 24. b3 Qb7 25. Nc4 Bb5 26. Na5 Qb8 27. Qd2 Rc3 28. a3
bxa3 29. Nc6 Bxc6 30. Qxc3 Bxd5 31. Qa5 Bxe4 32. g5 Ba8 33. Qxa6 Nd5 34. Ba7
Qc7 35. Rec1 Qxc1+ 36. Rxc1 Rxc1+ 37. Kh2 Bc6 38. Qxa3 Bxg5 39. Qxd6 Bf4 40.
Bc5 Ne7 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2019.10.08"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Pichot, Alan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2590"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 O-O 12. Nc2 Rb8 13. g3 Bg5 14. h4 Bh6
15. Bh3 Bb7 16. O-O a5 17. Qd3 Ne7 18. Nce3 Bxe3 19. Nxe3 Qb6 20. Rad1 Rfd8 21.
Rd2 d5 22. exd5 Nxd5 23. Nxd5 Rxd5 24. Qe2 Rxd2 25. Qxd2 Rd8 26. Qe2 Qc6 27.
Kh2 Qd5 28. b3 g6 29. Re1 Qd2 30. Bg2 e4 31. Bxe4 Bxe4 32. Qxd2 Rxd2 33. Rxe4
Rxf2+ 34. Kh3 Rxa2 35. Re5 Rc2 36. Rxb5 Rxc3 37. Rxa5 Rxb3 38. Ra8+ Kg7 39. Ra6
Rb7 40. Kg2 f5 41. Kh3 Kh6 42. Kg2 Rb3 43. Ra7 Kh5 44. Ra4 Re3 45. Kf2 Re4 46.
Ra7 h6 47. Ra6 Rb4 48. Kf3 Rb3+ 49. Kg2 Rb2+ 50. Kf3 Rb4 51. Kg2 g5 52. hxg5
hxg5 53. Rf6 Kg4 54. Rf8 Rb2+ 55. Kf1 Rb3 56. Kf2 Rf3+ 57. Ke2 Rxg3 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2019.10.08"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Pichot, Alan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2590"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Na3 g6 3. h4 d5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. h5 Bg7 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Bc4 Qd8 8. d3
Nh6 9. c3 Nf5 10. Nc2 Nd6 11. Bb3 Na5 12. Bf4 Nxb3 13. axb3 b6 14. d4 cxd4 15.
Ncxd4 Bb7 16. Qe2 O-O 17. hxg6 hxg6 18. Be5 Ne4 19. Qe3 f6 20. Ne6 Qd5 21. Nxg7
fxe5 22. Qh6 Rxf3 23. gxf3 Kf7 24. Rg1 Qc6 25. fxe4 Qxe4+ 26. Kd2 Rd8+ 27. Kc1
Qd3 28. Ne6 Kxe6 29. Qxg6+ Qxg6 30. Rxg6+ Kf5 31. Rg7 Bf3 32. Rxa7 Rd1+ 33. Kc2
Rf1 34. c4 Rxf2+ 35. Kc3 e4 36. Raxe7 Kf4 37. Rgf7+ Ke3 38. Rf6 Rf1 39. Rxb6
Rc1+ 40. Kb4 Rh1 41. Rbe6 Rh2 42. c5 Rxb2 43. c6 Rc2 44. c7 Ke2 45. Rxe4+ Bxe4
46. Rxe4+ 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2019.10.08"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Pichot, Alan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "2590"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 h6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bd3 Bb4 6. exd5 exd5 7. O-O O-O 8.
Ne2 Bd6 9. h3 Re8 10. Bf4 c6 11. Bxd6 Qxd6 12. Ne5 c5 13. c3 Nc6 14. f4 cxd4
15. cxd4 Ne4 16. Rc1 Bf5 17. Qa4 Ne7 18. Qa3 Qxa3 19. bxa3 f6 20. Nf3 Nd2 21.
Bxf5 Nxf5 22. Nxd2 Rxe2 23. Rf2 Nxd4 24. Rc5 Rae8 25. Nb3 Nf5 26. g4 Re1+ 27.
Kh2 Ne3 28. Nd4 Re4 29. Nf3 Rd1 30. f5 d4 31. Rc8+ Kh7 32. Nh4 h5 33. Ng6 Kh6
34. Rh8+ Kg5 35. Rxh5# 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2019.10.08"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Pichot, Alan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E24"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2590"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 b6 6. f3 Nc6 7. e4 d6 8. Bg5
h6 9. Bh4 Na5 10. Bd3 g5 11. Bf2 Ba6 12. h4 Rg8 13. hxg5 hxg5 14. Ne2 Qd7 15.
e5 dxe5 16. dxe5 O-O-O 17. Nd4 Ne8 18. c5 Bxd3 19. Qxd3 Qd5 20. Qa6+ Qb7 21.
Qe2 Qd5 22. O-O g4 23. fxg4 Kb8 24. Rfd1 Qb7 25. Nxe6 Rxd1+ 26. Rxd1 Qc6 27.
Rd8+ Kb7 28. Rd6 Qa4 29. Qf3+ 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2019.10.08"]
[Round "1.5"]
[White "Pichot, Alan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "2590"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 g6 5. d5 Nb8 6. Be2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. a4
e6 9. dxe6 Bxe6 10. Nd4 Bd7 11. Re1 Re8 12. Bf1 Nc6 13. Nb3 a5 14. Bf4 Nb4 15.
Qd2 Bc6 16. Bg5 d5 17. e5 d4 18. exf6 dxc3 19. Qxd8 Raxd8 20. fxg7 cxb2 21.
Bxd8 Rxd8 22. Rab1 b6 23. Rxb2 Bxa4 24. c3 Nd5 25. Rd1 Rd7 26. c4 Nc3 27. Rxd7
Bxd7 28. Rc2 Ne4 29. f3 Nf6 30. c5 Kxg7 31. cxb6 cxb6 32. Rc7 Be6 33. Bc4 Bxc4
34. Rxc4 Nd5 35. Rd4 Nb4 36. Rd6 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2019.10.08"]
[Round "1.6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Pichot, Alan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2590"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 d5 3. e3 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nd2 e6 6. Ngf3 Nh5 7. Bg5 f6 8. Bh4
g6 9. Bd3 Bd6 10. Qe2 O-O 11. Bg3 e5 12. dxe5 fxe5 13. e4 d4 14. Bc4+ Kg7 15.
Bd5 Ne7 16. Nc4 Nxd5 17. exd5 Nxg3 18. hxg3 e4 19. Nxd6 Qxd6 20. Qxe4 Bf5 21.
Qe5+ Qxe5+ 22. Nxe5 Rfe8 23. f4 Rad8 24. c4 b5 25. b3 bxc4 26. bxc4 Rb8 27. O-O
Rb2 28. Rfe1 Rc2 29. g4 Bc8 30. Rab1 d3 31. Nxd3 Rxe1+ 32. Rxe1 Rxc4 33. Re7+
Kf6 34. Rxa7 Bxg4 35. g3 Rd4 36. Ne5 Kf5 37. Rf7+ Ke4 38. Nxg4 Kf3 39. Nh2+
Kxg3 40. Nf1+ Kf3 41. Rxh7 Rxd5 42. Rh3+ Kxf4 43. a4 c4 44. Ra3 Ra5 45. Kf2 Ke5
46. Ke3 Kd5 47. Kd2 Kd4 48. Ne3 c3+ 49. Rxc3 Rxa4 50. Nc2+ Ke4 51. Ke2 Kf5 52.
Ne3+ Kf6 53. Kf3 Re4 54. Kxe4 Kg7 55. Kf4 Kh6 56. Ng4+ Kh5 57. Rh3# 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2019.10.08"]
[Round "1.7"]
[White "Pichot, Alan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B09"]
[WhiteElo "2590"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. f4 Bg7 5. Nf3 c5 6. Bb5+ Bd7 7. e5 Ng4 8. Bxd7+
Qxd7 9. d5 dxe5 10. h3 e4 11. hxg4 exf3 12. Qxf3 Na6 13. Bd2 O-O-O 14. O-O-O
Nc7 15. Be1 f5 16. gxf5 gxf5 17. Bf2 b6 18. Rhe1 Rhe8 19. a3 Bf6 20. Qh3 Kb8
21. Qf3 h5 22. Qh3 Bxc3 23. Qxc3 Nb5 24. Qe5+ Nd6 25. Bh4 Kb7 26. Bxe7 Ne4 27.
d6 Rc8 28. Rxe4 fxe4 29. Qxe4+ Ka6 30. f5 Rg8 31. f6 Rg4 32. Qe2+ c4 33. f7 Rf4
34. Rf1 Qg4 35. Qxg4 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2019.10.08"]
[Round "1.8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Pichot, Alan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2590"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. c3 Nf6 5. Qe2 Bg7 6. O-O O-O 7. d4 cxd4 8.
cxd4 d5 9. e5 Ne4 10. Nc3 Bg4 11. Be3 Nxc3 12. bxc3 a6 13. Bxc6 bxc6 14. h3 Bf5
15. Nd2 Qa5 16. Nb3 Qb5 17. Qd2 a5 18. Nc5 Rfb8 19. g4 Bc8 20. Rfb1 Qxb1+ 21.
Rxb1 Rxb1+ 22. Kg2 a4 23. a3 Rab8 24. Bh6 R8b2 25. Qg5 Bxh6 26. Qxh6 Rc2 27.
Qg5 Kf8 28. Nxa4 Rd1 29. Nc5 Rdd2 30. Qf4 Kg7 31. a4 Rd1 32. a5 Rcc1 33. e6
Rg1+ 34. Kf3 Rxc3+ 35. Ke2 Bxe6 36. Qe5+ Kg8 37. Nxe6 fxe6 38. Qxe6+ Kf8 39.
Qe5 Rc2+ 40. Kf3 Rc3+ 41. Kf4 Rf1 42. Qh8+ Kf7 43. Qxh7+ Ke8 44. Qxg6+ Kd7 45.
Qf5+ Kc7 46. Kg5 Kb7 47. h4 Rh1 48. h5 Re1 49. h6 e6 50. Qf7+ Ka6 51. h7 Rh1
52. Qh5 Rxh5+ 53. gxh5 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2019.10.08"]
[Round "1.9"]
[White "Pichot, Alan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2590"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "136"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Nd5 Nxd5 8.
exd5 Nb8 9. a4 Be7 10. Be2 O-O 11. O-O f5 12. Bd2 f4 13. a5 Bf5 14. Bb4 a6 15.
Na3 Nd7 16. Bg4 Qc8 17. Bxf5 Rxf5 18. Qd3 Nf6 19. Nc4 e4 20. Qh3 Rh5 21. Qxc8+
Rxc8 22. Bxd6 Rxc4 23. Bxe7 Nxd5 24. Bd6 Rxc2 25. g3 f3 26. Rac1 Ne3 27. Rfe1
Rxa5 28. h4 Rd5 29. Rxc2 Nxc2 30. Rc1 e3 31. Rxc2 Rd1+ 32. Kh2 Rxd6 33. fxe3
Re6 34. Kg1 Rxe3 35. Rc8+ Kf7 36. Rc7+ Re7 37. Rc3 Re1+ 38. Kf2 Re2+ 39. Kxf3
Rxb2 40. Rc7+ Kf6 41. Kg4 Rb4+ 42. Kh3 h5 43. Rc5 g6 44. Rc8 a5 45. Rc1 a4 46.
Rf1+ Kg7 47. Rc1 b5 48. Rc7+ Kf6 49. Ra7 Rc4 50. Ra6+ Kf5 51. Rb6 Rc5 52. Ra6
Ke4 53. Ra8 Kd3 54. Re8 Kc3 55. Rd8 b4 56. Rg8 a3 57. Rxg6 a2 58. Ra6 b3 59. g4
Kb4 60. gxh5 Ra5 61. Rb6+ Ka3 62. Rg6 a1=Q 63. h6 Qc3+ 64. Kg4 Ra4+ 65. Kh5
Qf3+ 66. Kg5 Rg4+ 67. Kh5 Rg3+ 68. Rg4 Qxg4# 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2019.10.08"]
[Round "1.10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Pichot, Alan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A14"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2590"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 e6 3. Bg2 d5 4. Nf3 Be7 5. b3 d4 6. e3 c5 7. exd4 cxd4 8. O-O
O-O 9. d3 Nc6 10. Re1 Nd7 11. Na3 e5 12. Nc2 f6 13. Nh4 g6 14. Bd5+ Kh8 15. Qg4
f5 16. Nxg6+ hxg6 17. Qh3+ Bh4 18. Ba3 Re8 19. Bf7 Rf8 20. Bxf8 Nxf8 21. Qxh4+
Qxh4 22. gxh4 Be6 23. Bxe6 Nxe6 24. b4 e4 25. dxe4 f4 26. Red1 Ne5 27. Ne1 Rd8
28. Nd3 Nxc4 29. Rac1 b5 30. a4 a6 31. axb5 axb5 32. Ra1 Kg7 33. Ra6 Kf7 34.
Rda1 Rd7 35. Rc6 Nd2 36. Ne5+ 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2019.10.08"]
[Round "1.11"]
[White "Pichot, Alan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B56"]
[WhiteElo "2590"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bd7 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8.
O-O-O h6 9. Bh4 Nxe4 10. Nxe4 Qxh4 11. Qe3 Be7 12. Nf3 Qh5 13. Nxd6+ Bxd6 14.
Rxd6 Qa5 15. a3 O-O 16. Ne5 Qc7 17. Nxd7 Nxd7 18. Rd2 Nf6 19. Be2 Rfd8 20. Bf3
Rxd2 21. Qxd2 Rd8 22. Qe3 b6 23. g3 a5 24. Rd1 Rxd1+ 25. Kxd1 Nd7 26. Qd4 Kf8
27. b4 Ne5 28. Be2 Nc6 29. Qd2 Ke7 30. c3 Ne5 31. Qd4 g5 32. f4 Nd7 33. Kc2
gxf4 34. gxf4 axb4 35. axb4 Nf6 36. Bf3 Ne8 37. Kb3 Nd6 38. c4 Nf5 39. Qe4 Qd6
40. Bg4 Nd4+ 41. Kc3 Nc6 42. c5 bxc5 43. b5 Nb4 44. Bh5 Nd5+ 45. Kb3 Nf6 46.
Qb7+ Nd7 47. Be2 Qxf4 48. b6 Qb4+ 49. Kc2 Qxb6 50. Qxb6 Nxb6 51. Kd3 Kd6 52.
Ke3 f5 53. Kf3 Nd5 54. Kg3 e5 55. Bf3 e4 56. Bd1 f4+ 57. Kh4 Ke5 58. Kh5 f3 59.
Kxh6 Nf4 60. h4 f2 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2019.10.08"]
[Round "1.12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Pichot, Alan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B21"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2590"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. f4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. e4 d5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. Nc3 Qd8 6. Bb5 Bd7 7. b3 Nf6 8.
Bb2 a6 9. Bxc6 Bxc6 10. Qe2 g6 11. Ne5 Rc8 12. O-O-O Bg7 13. Rhe1 e6 14. g4 O-O
15. g5 Nh5 16. Qe3 Qd4 17. Ne2 Qxe3 18. dxe3 Bxe5 19. Bxe5 Rfd8 20. Ng3 Nxg3
21. hxg3 Bf3 22. Rd3 Be4 23. Rxd8+ Rxd8 24. Bf6 Rd7 25. Re2 b5 26. Rh2 Bf3 27.
Kb2 Be4 28. Be5 Bf5 29. c4 b4 30. a3 a5 31. a4 Be4 32. Kc1 h5 33. gxh6 Kh7 34.
Rd2 Bd3 35. Bg7 Rd8 36. g4 Rd7 37. g5 Rd8 38. Be5 Rd7 39. e4 Kg8 40. Kd1 Kh7
41. Ke1 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.01.04"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Cuenca Jimenez, Jose Fernando"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2523"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.03.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.03.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 d5 3. Nd2 e6 4. e3 Be7 5. c3 O-O 6. Bd3 b6 7. f4 Bb7 8. Bxf6
Bxf6 9. Ngf3 c5 10. h4 h6 11. g4 Be7 12. g5 h5 13. g6 fxg6 14. Bxg6 Nd7 15. Ng5
Nf6 16. Bxh5 Qd6 17. Bg6 Bc6 18. h5 Be8 19. Qb1 cxd4 20. cxd4 Rc8 21. h6 Rc1+
22. Qxc1 Bxg6 23. hxg7 Kxg7 24. Ndf3 Qb4+ 25. Kf2 Ng4+ 26. Kg3 Nh6 27. Nxe6+
1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.01.04"]
[Round "2.2"]
[White "Cuenca Jimenez, Jose Fernando"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E94"]
[WhiteElo "2523"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.03.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.03.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. d4 d6 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O Na6 8. Be3
e5 9. Re1 exd4 10. Bxd4 Re8 11. Bf1 Bg4 12. h3 Bxf3 13. Qxf3 Re6 14. Rad1 Qe7
15. Bd3 Nc5 16. Bb1 a5 17. b3 Re8 18. Qg3 Nfxe4 19. Nxe4 Bxd4 20. Rxd4 f5 21.
Red1 fxe4 22. Rxd6 Rxd6 23. Qxd6 Qxd6 24. Rxd6 e3 25. Kf1 exf2 26. Kxf2 Kg7 27.
Rd2 Kf6 28. Bc2 Re6 29. a3 Ke5 30. b4 axb4 31. axb4 Na6 32. b5 Nc5 33. Ke3 Kf6+
34. Kd4 Rd6+ 35. Kc3 Rxd2 36. Kxd2 cxb5 37. cxb5 b6 38. Kc3 Ke5 39. Kc4 Nb7 40.
h4 Nd6+ 41. Kb4 Kd4 42. h5 gxh5 43. Bxh7 h4 44. Bg6 Nc4 45. Bf7 Ne3 46. Be8
Nxg2 47. Bd7 Nf4 48. Kb3 h3 49. Bc6 h2 50. Kc2 Nd5 51. Bxd5 Kxd5 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.01.04"]
[Round "2.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Cuenca Jimenez, Jose Fernando"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C41"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2523"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.03.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.03.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Nf3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. a4 c6 8. Re1
b6 9. b3 Bb7 10. Bb2 a6 11. Bd3 Re8 12. Ne2 Bf8 13. Ng3 g6 14. Qd2 Qc7 15. h4
b5 16. h5 Rad8 17. Qg5 Bg7 18. axb5 axb5 19. Rad1 Bc8 20. Bf1 h6 21. Qc1 Ng4
22. hxg6 fxg6 23. c4 bxc4 24. Bxc4+ Kh7 25. Bd5 Nb8 26. dxe5 dxe5 27. Bc4 Rxd1
28. Rxd1 Rd8 29. Bc3 Qb6 30. Be1 Qc7 31. Nh2 Nxh2 32. Kxh2 Nd7 33. Qd2 Rf8 34.
Qd6 Qxd6 35. Rxd6 Rf6 36. Rd3 Bf8 37. f3 Rd6 38. Rc3 Nb6 39. Be2 Be6 40. Bf2
Nc8 41. Bc4 Bxc4 42. Rxc4 Be7 43. Nf1 Re6 44. Ne3 Kg7 45. b4 Rf6 46. b5 Na7 47.
Ng4 cxb5 48. Rc7 Rd6 49. Rxe7+ 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.01.04"]
[Round "2.4"]
[White "Cuenca Jimenez, Jose Fernando"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2523"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.03.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.03.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 c6 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. f4 g6 8. g4
e6 9. Bg2 Bg7 10. O-O Qe7 11. a4 O-O 12. b3 Qb4 13. Qd3 Nxe5 14. fxe5 Nxg4 15.
Ba3 Qb6 16. Bc5 Nxe5 17. Qe3 Ng4 18. Qd2 Qc7 19. Bf3 Bh6 20. Qe2 Ne3 21. Bxf8
Kxf8 22. Rf2 Nf5 23. Be4 Be3 24. Bxf5 Bxf2+ 25. Qxf2 exf5 26. d5 Qe5 27. Qf3
cxd5 28. Rd1 Be6 29. Ne2 Qe4 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.01.04"]
[Round "2.5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Cuenca Jimenez, Jose Fernando"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D36"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2523"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.03.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.03.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 c6 7. Bd3 Nbd7 8.
Nge2 Nf8 9. O-O Ne6 10. Bh4 O-O 11. Qc2 g6 12. f3 b6 13. Rad1 Bb7 14. Kh1 Rc8
15. Qd2 Nh5 16. Bxe7 Qxe7 17. e4 Nhg7 18. e5 f5 19. f4 c5 20. Nb5 c4 21. Bc2
Ne8 22. Nxa7 Ra8 23. Nb5 Rxa2 24. Rb1 Ra5 25. Nbc3 Qb4 26. Qe3 b5 27. b3 Qe7
28. b4 Ra3 29. Qc1 Rxc3 30. Nxc3 Nxd4 31. Rd1 Nxc2 32. Qxc2 Nc7 33. Qf2 Rd8 34.
h3 Ne6 35. Nxb5 Ba6 36. Nd6 d4 37. Rxd4 Nxd4 38. Qxd4 Qe6 39. b5 Bc8 40. Qc5
Bd7 41. b6 g5 42. b7 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.01.04"]
[Round "2.6"]
[White "Cuenca Jimenez, Jose Fernando"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B08"]
[WhiteElo "2523"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.03.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.03.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. h3 a6 6. a4 O-O 7. Be3 Nc6 8. d5 Nb4
9. Be2 e6 10. dxe6 Bxe6 11. O-O Re8 12. a5 Bd7 13. Nd2 Bc6 14. Bf3 Nd7 15. Re1
Nc5 16. Bf4 Qf6 17. Bg3 h5 18. Rb1 Re7 19. h4 Rae8 20. Re2 Ne6 21. Nd5 Bxd5 22.
exd5 Nc5 23. Rxe7 Rxe7 24. c3 Nbd3 25. Qc2 Ne1 26. Qd1 Ncd3 27. Ne4 Qf5 28. Ng5
Bf6 29. Qd2 Nxf3+ 30. Nxf3 Nxf2 31. Rf1 Ne4 32. Qe1 Nxc3 33. Qf2 Ne2+ 34. Kh2
Qxd5 35. Re1 Nxg3 36. Rxe7 Bxe7 37. Qxg3 Bf6 38. Kh1 Qd1+ 39. Kh2 Bxb2 40. Qf2
Qd5 41. Qxb2 Qxa5 42. Qf6 Qf5 43. Qd8+ Kg7 44. Qxc7 Qf4+ 45. Kh1 b5 46. Qd7 b4
47. Ng5 Qxh4+ 48. Kg1 Qxg5 49. Qxd6 Qc1+ 50. Qd1 Qxd1+ 51. Kh2 Qd6+ 52. Kh3 b3
0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.01.04"]
[Round "2.7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Cuenca Jimenez, Jose Fernando"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2523"]
[PlyCount "133"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.03.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.03.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 c6 7. Bd3 Nbd7 8.
Nge2 Nf8 9. O-O Ne6 10. Bh4 O-O 11. f3 b6 12. Kh1 Bb7 13. Qd2 g6 14. Rad1 Rc8
15. Bb1 Nh5 16. Bxe7 Qxe7 17. e4 Nhg7 18. a3 f5 19. exd5 cxd5 20. Ba2 Qd6 21.
Rfe1 a6 22. Nc1 Rfe8 23. Re5 Nc7 24. Nd3 Nge6 25. Nb4 Kg7 26. Nbxd5 Nxd5 27.
Bxd5 Bxd5 28. Rxd5 Qc7 29. Re5 Nf8 30. Rxe8 Rxe8 31. d5 Qe5 32. d6 Nd7 33. h3
Re6 34. f4 Qe3 35. Qxe3 Rxe3 36. Nd5 Re2 37. b4 Kf7 38. Nxb6 Nxb6 39. d7 Nxd7
40. Rxd7+ Kf6 41. Rd6+ Re6 42. Rd5 Rc6 43. Kh2 h6 44. Ra5 g5 45. Kg3 Kg6 46.
Kf3 Rc3+ 47. Kf2 Rc2+ 48. Kg3 Rc3+ 49. Kh2 Rc6 50. Rc5 Rd6 51. Rc4 Kh5 52. a4
Rd3 53. Rc5 Rb3 54. b5 axb5 55. Rxb5 Ra3 56. a5 Kg6 57. Rb6+ Kh5 58. Rb5 Kg6
59. fxg5 hxg5 60. Rb6+ Kh5 61. Ra6 f4 62. Ra8 Ra2 63. a6 f3 64. Kg1 fxg2 65. a7
Kh4 66. Rh8+ Kg3 67. a8=Q 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.01.04"]
[Round "2.8"]
[White "Cuenca Jimenez, Jose Fernando"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2523"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "157"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.03.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.03.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Bf5 3. e3 e6 4. c4 c6 5. Nc3 Nd7 6. Bd3 Bxd3 7. Qxd3 f5 8. O-O
Bd6 9. b3 Ngf6 10. cxd5 cxd5 11. Nb5 Bb8 12. Ba3 Ne4 13. g3 a6 14. Nc3 g5 15.
Nd2 h5 16. f3 Nxc3 17. Qxc3 Nf6 18. e4 dxe4 19. fxe4 Ba7 20. Bc5 b6 21. Ba3 Rc8
22. Qe3 Ng4 23. Qd3 b5 24. Nf3 Ne5 25. Nxe5 Bxd4+ 26. Kh1 Bxe5 27. Rad1 Qxd3
28. Rxd3 f4 29. Bc1 fxg3 30. hxg3 h4 31. g4 Rg8 32. Be3 Rc2 33. Rd2 Rc3 34. Re2
Ke7 35. Kg2 h3+ 36. Kxh3 Bf4 37. Rf3 Rh8+ 38. Kg2 Rh2+ 39. Kf1 Rxe2 40. Kxe2
Bxe3 41. Rxe3 Rc2+ 42. Kd3 Rxa2 43. Kd4 Rg2 44. Ke5 Rc2 45. Rh3 Rc5+ 46. Kd4
Kd6 47. Rh8 e5+ 48. Kd3 b4 49. Rd8+ Kc7 50. Re8 Rc3+ 51. Kd2 Kd6 52. Rd8+ Ke7
53. Rd5 Ke6 54. Ra5 Rxb3 55. Rxa6+ Kd7 56. Ra5 Kd6 57. Ra6+ Kc5 58. Ra5+ Kd4
59. Kc2 Rc3+ 60. Kb2 Kxe4 61. Ra7 Rg3 62. Rg7 Rxg4 63. Kb3 Rg2 64. Kxb4 g4 65.
Rf7 g3 66. Rg7 Kf3 67. Kc3 Re2 68. Kd3 e4+ 69. Kd4 g2 70. Kd5 Kf2 71. Rf7+ Ke1
72. Ke5 g1=Q 73. Rf6 Qh2+ 74. Ke6 Qh5 75. Rf7 Rf2 76. Ke7 Rxf7+ 77. Ke8 Qf5 78.
Kd8 Rd7+ 79. Kc8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.01.04"]
[Round "2.9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Cuenca Jimenez, Jose Fernando"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2523"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.03.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.03.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Nf6 3. e3 e6 4. Nf3 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Nbd2 Bd6 7. Bg3 O-O 8. Bb5
Be7 9. Ne5 Qb6 10. Qa4 Nxe5 11. dxe5 Nh5 12. Rb1 Qc7 13. Bd3 g6 14. Nf3 a6 15.
Qg4 b5 16. Bh4 Rb8 17. O-O c4 18. Bc2 b4 19. Bxe7 Qxe7 20. Nd4 Bd7 21. Qe2 f6
22. exf6 Qxf6 23. Qd2 a5 24. f4 Ng7 25. Nf3 Rfd8 26. Ne5 Be8 27. g4 Qe7 28. Kg2
Rb6 29. Qd4 Rdb8 30. cxb4 axb4 31. b3 c3 32. a3 bxa3 33. Ra1 Qb4 34. Qxb4 Rxb4
35. Rxa3 d4 36. Nd3 Bc6+ 37. Kg3 R4b6 38. exd4 Rd8 39. Ne5 Rxd4 40. Rd1 Rxd1
41. Bxd1 Be8 42. Ra8 Rd6 43. Bf3 Kf8 44. Rc8 h5 45. h3 hxg4 46. hxg4 Rd4 47.
Rxc3 Ke7 48. Rc7+ Kf8 49. Rb7 Rd2 50. Kh4 Rf2 51. Kg5 Rh2 52. Kf6 Nh5+ 53. gxh5
gxh5 54. Kxe6 h4 55. Kf6 Rf2 56. Rh7 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.02.01"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "176"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e4 b5 6. Be2 Bg4 7. O-O e6 8. a4 b4
9. e5 bxc3 10. exf6 cxb2 11. fxg7 Bxg7 12. Bxb2 O-O 13. Ne5 Bf5 14. Nxc4 c5 15.
Bf3 Nd7 16. Bxa8 Qxa8 17. dxc5 Bxb2 18. Nxb2 Nxc5 19. Rc1 Rd8 20. Qe2 Nb3 21.
Rcd1 Nd4 22. Qe3 Qd5 23. h3 Bg6 24. Kh1 e5 25. f4 Rb8 26. Qxe5 Qxe5 27. fxe5
Nf5 28. Rf2 Ng3+ 29. Kh2 Ne4 30. Rc2 Ng5 31. Rcd2 Kg7 32. Nc4 Rb4 33. Nd6 Rxa4
34. Ne8+ Kh6 35. Nf6 Ne6 36. Rf2 Kg5 37. Rd7 h5 38. Rf3 h4 39. Ng4 Ra2 40. Rf2
Ra4 41. Rdd2 Ra3 42. Ra2 Rb3 43. Rxa7 Rc3 44. Ra8 Rb3 45. Rg8 Rb7 46. Rf6 Re7
47. Nf2 Kh6 48. Rh8+ Kg7 49. Rxh4 Nc5 50. Ng4 Nd7 51. Rf3 Nxe5 52. Nxe5 Rxe5
53. Rg3 Rc5 54. Rhg4 Kh6 55. Rf4 Rc2 56. Rgf3 Rb2 57. Rf2 Rb3 58. g4 Rb7 59.
Kg3 Rb1 60. R2f3 Rb2 61. Rxf7 Bxf7 62. Rxf7 Kg6 63. Rf3 Rb1 64. h4 Rg1+ 65. Kf4
Ra1 66. h5+ Kf6 67. Re3 Rf1+ 68. Kg3 Rg1+ 69. Kh4 Rh1+ 70. Rh3 Rg1 71. Rf3+ Ke6
72. Rf5 Ra1 73. Kg5 Ra8 74. h6 Rg8+ 75. Kf4 Rh8 76. g5 Rc8 77. Kg4 Rc1 78. Rf4
Rg1+ 79. Kh5 Rh1+ 80. Kg6 Rg1 81. Rf6+ Ke5 82. h7 Kd4 83. Kg7 Ke3 84. g6 Kd2
85. h8=Q Rg2 86. Qd8+ Ke1 87. Rc6 Re2 88. Re6 Re5 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.02.01"]
[Round "3.2"]
[White "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "155"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qe6+ 4. Be2 Qg6 5. Bf3 Nc6 6. Nge2 Bg4 7. Bxg4
Qxg4 8. O-O O-O-O 9. d3 e5 10. h3 Qd7 11. a3 f5 12. b4 Nf6 13. b5 Nd4 14. a4
Bc5 15. Rb1 f4 16. Nxd4 Bxd4 17. Bd2 g5 18. b6 Bxb6 19. Nb5 a6 20. Na3 Bc5 21.
Nc4 Qd5 22. Bc3 Rhe8 23. Re1 Bd4 24. Bxd4 Qxd4 25. c3 Qxc3 26. Qe2 e4 27. Rec1
Qd4 28. Qc2 exd3 29. Qb3 Kd7 30. Qxb7 Ke6 31. Na5 Qd5 32. Nc6 Rd6 33. Qxc7 Kf5
34. Ne7+ Rxe7 35. Qxe7 d2 36. Rd1 Kg6 37. Qe2 Qe4 38. Qxe4+ Nxe4 39. Rb2 Rd4
40. f3 Ng3 41. Rdxd2 Rxa4 42. Rd1 Kh5 43. Kf2 Kh4 44. Ke1 h5 45. Kd2 Nf5 46.
Rc1 Ne3 47. Kd3 Ra5 48. Rc7 Kg3 49. Rg7 h4 50. Rb6 Nxg2 51. Rbg6 Ne1+ 52. Kc3
Nxf3 53. Kb4 Rb5+ 54. Kc4 Re5 55. Kd3 Kxh3 56. Rh6 Re3+ 57. Kc4 g4 58. Rf7 g3
59. Rxf4 g2 60. Rg6 g1=Q 61. Rxf3+ Rxf3 62. Rxg1 Rg3 63. Rh1+ Kg4 64. Ra1 h3
65. Ra4 h2 66. Kd5+ Kh3 67. Ke5 Rg5+ 68. Kf6 Rg4 69. Ra3+ Rg3 70. Ra5 Rg1 71.
Rh5+ Kg2 72. Rg5+ Kf1 73. Rf5+ Ke2 74. Re5+ Kd3 75. Rd5+ Ke4 76. Rg5 h1=Q 77.
Re5+ Kf4 78. Rf5+ 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.02.01"]
[Round "3.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. h4 h5 5. Bc4 Bg7 6. Ng5 Nh6 7. d3 d6 8. a3 e6
9. Ba2 a6 10. Ne2 b5 11. c3 O-O 12. f3 Rb8 13. Nf4 b4 14. axb4 cxb4 15. d4 bxc3
16. bxc3 Qc7 17. O-O Ne7 18. Qd3 Bd7 19. Bxe6 fxe6 20. Nfxe6 Qc8 21. Nxf8 Bb5
22. Qd2 Bxf1 23. Nfe6 Bc4 24. Nxg7 Kxg7 25. d5 Neg8 26. Qd4+ Kf8 27. Ba3 Nf7
28. Ne6+ Ke7 29. Nf4 Ke8 30. Nxg6 Ne7 31. Nxe7 Kxe7 32. e5 Rb5 33. exd6+ Kd7
34. Qa7+ Qb7 35. Qe3 Rb1+ 36. Rxb1 Qxb1+ 37. Kh2 Nxd6 38. Qe6+ 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.02.01"]
[Round "3.4"]
[White "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qe6+ 4. Nge2 Nf6 5. d4 b6 6. d5 Qd7 7. Nf4 Bb7 8.
Bc4 c6 9. O-O cxd5 10. Nfxd5 Nxd5 11. Nxd5 Nc6 12. Bf4 O-O-O 13. Nc3 Nd4 14. f3
Qc6 15. Bd3 Qc5 16. Kh1 e5 17. Be3 Kb8 18. Qe1 f6 19. a4 a5 20. Nb5 Qc6 21. Be4
Qd7 22. Bxb7 Nxc2 23. Qc3 Nxe3 24. Bc6 Bb4 25. Qxe3 Qxc6 26. Rac1 Bc5 27. Qc3
Rd7 28. Qc4 Qd5 29. Qg4 Rhd8 30. h3 Qd2 31. Nc3 Qxb2 32. Ne4 Be3 33. Rb1 Qc2
34. Qe6 Ka7 35. Qg4 Rd1 36. Rbxd1 Rxd1 37. Qxg7+ Ka6 38. Rxd1 Qxd1+ 39. Kh2
Bf4+ 40. g3 Qe2+ 41. Kh1 Qxf3+ 42. Kg1 Be3+ 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.02.01"]
[Round "3.5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D32"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "136"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. dxc5 d4 7. Na4 Bxc5 8.
Nxc5 Qa5+ 9. Bd2 Qxc5 10. e3 dxe3 11. Bxe3 Qb4+ 12. Bd2 Qe7+ 13. Be2 Nf6 14.
O-O O-O 15. Re1 Be6 16. Ng5 Bd5 17. Bc3 Qc5 18. Bd3 Rfe8 19. Rxe8+ Rxe8 20.
Bxf6 gxf6 21. Nxh7 Qd4 22. Qh5 Kg7 23. Nxf6 Kxf6 24. Qh6+ Ke7 25. Re1+ Be6 26.
Bf5 Qf6 27. Qh5 Kf8 28. Bxe6 Rxe6 29. Rf1 Qxb2 30. Qc5+ Kg8 31. a4 Qd4 32. Qb5
Ne5 33. Qxb7 Ng4 34. Qf3 Ne5 35. Qf5 Ng6 36. h3 Qxa4 37. Qc5 Qd7 38. Ra1 a6 39.
Qc3 Rd6 40. Kh2 Rc6 41. Qb4 Qd6+ 42. Qxd6 Rxd6 43. g3 Ne7 44. Kg2 Nd5 45. h4
Kg7 46. Kf3 Nc7 47. g4 Rf6+ 48. Kg3 Rc6 49. f3 Rc3 50. h5 Rc5 51. Rd1 Ne6 52.
Rd7 Rc3 53. Ra7 Ng5 54. Kh4 Nxf3+ 55. Kg3 Ne5+ 56. Kf4 Nxg4 57. Kxg4 Rc4+ 58.
Kf5 Rc5+ 59. Kg4 Ra5 60. h6+ Kg6 61. Rxf7 Ra4+ 62. Rf4 Rxf4+ 63. Kxf4 a5 64.
Ke4 a4 65. Kd4 a3 66. Kc3 a2 67. Kb2 a1=Q+ 68. Kxa1 Kxh6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.02.01"]
[Round "3.6"]
[White "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qe5+ 4. Be2 c6 5. Nf3 Qc7 6. d4 Nf6 7. Ne5 Bf5 8.
Bf4 Qc8 9. O-O h6 10. Re1 e6 11. Bd3 Bxd3 12. Qxd3 Nbd7 13. Ng6 Rg8 14. Ne5 Be7
15. Rad1 Nxe5 16. Bxe5 Qd7 17. Bxf6 Bxf6 18. Ne4 Be7 19. c3 O-O-O 20. a3 Kb8
21. Qf3 Rgf8 22. g3 Ka8 23. Nd2 Qd5 24. Qe2 h5 25. Nc4 h4 26. Ne3 Qg5 27. Qg4
hxg3 28. hxg3 Qb5 29. Qe2 Qb6 30. Nc4 Qc7 31. Kg2 c5 32. dxc5 Bxc5 33. Ne5 Bd6
34. Nf3 Qc6 35. Qe4 Qb6 36. b4 Bb8 37. c4 Rxd1 38. Rxd1 Rd8 39. c5 Qc7 40. Rxd8
Qxd8 41. c6 Qc7 42. b5 a6 43. cxb7+ Qxb7 44. Qxb7+ Kxb7 45. bxa6+ Kxa6 46. Ng5
Bd6 47. a4 Ka5 48. Nxf7 Be7 49. Kf3 Kxa4 50. Ke4 Bf6 51. f4 Kb5 52. Ng5 Bxg5
53. Ke5 Bf6+ 54. Kxe6 Kc4 55. g4 Bc3 56. g5 Kd3 57. f5 Ke4 58. f6 g6 59. f7 Bg7
60. f8=Q Bxf8 61. Kf6 Be7+ 62. Kxg6 Bxg5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.02.01"]
[Round "3.7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B50"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. h4 Nc6 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Bd7 7. f3 Rc8 8. g4
h6 9. Nb3 Ne5 10. Be3 a6 11. Rg1 Be6 12. g5 hxg5 13. hxg5 Nfd7 14. f4 Nc4 15.
Bxc4 Bxc4 16. Qf3 g6 17. O-O-O Bxb3 18. axb3 Bg7 19. Rh1 Rxh1 20. Rxh1 Qa5 21.
e5 dxe5 22. Qxb7 Rb8 23. Qc6 Qa1+ 24. Nb1 exf4 25. Bxf4 Qxb2+ 26. Kd1 Rd8 27.
Nd2 Qd4 28. Rf1 Kf8 29. Ke2 Ne5 30. Qe4 Qc3 31. Be3 Kg8 32. Rd1 Rc8 33. Rc1 e6
34. Nf3 Nxf3 35. Kxf3 a5 36. Rd1 Qxc2 37. Rd8+ Bf8 38. Qxc2 Rxc2 39. Bd4 Rc6
40. Bf6 Rb6 41. Be7 f5 42. Rxf8+ Kg7 43. Rf6 Rxb3+ 44. Kf4 Rb4+ 45. Ke5 Re4+
46. Kd6 f4 47. Bf8+ Kg8 48. Ke7 f3 49. Rxg6+ Kh7 50. Rf6 Kg8 51. Rg6+ Kh7 52.
Kf7 Rf4+ 53. Rf6 Rxf6+ 54. gxf6 f2 55. Be7 f1=Q 56. Ke8 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.02.01"]
[Round "3.8"]
[White "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 a6 6. Ne5 Nc6 7. Nxc6 Qxc6 8.
d5 Qd6 9. Bc4 b5 10. Bb3 Bb7 11. Qf3 b4 12. Bf4 e5 13. Ne4 Nxe4 14. Qxe4 O-O-O
15. Be3 Bxd5 16. Qg4+ Qe6 17. Qe2 Be7 18. O-O Kb7 19. Rfd1 Bxb3 20. axb3 Rxd1+
21. Rxd1 Rd8 22. Ra1 f5 23. g3 g5 24. c4 Qc6 25. Ra5 f4 26. Bd2 Bc5 27. Be1 f3
28. Qxe5 Re8 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.02.01"]
[Round "3.9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. e3 Bg7 5. h4 h5 6. Nf3 c6 7. Ne5 Nbd7 8. Bd3
Nf8 9. Qd2 Ne6 10. Bg3 Nd7 11. Nf3 b5 12. Ne2 Nb6 13. O-O O-O 14. b3 Nc4 15.
bxc4 bxc4 16. Rfc1 cxd3 17. cxd3 c5 18. Rab1 cxd4 19. Nexd4 Nxd4 20. Nxd4 Bd7
21. Rb7 e5 22. Nc6 Bxc6 23. Rxc6 a5 24. Rcc7 Qf6 25. Rd7 Qc6 26. Rbc7 Qb6 27.
Qc2 d4 28. exd4 Rae8 29. Qc4 Re6 30. d5 Ree8 31. d6 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.02.01"]
[Round "3.10"]
[White "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 a6 6. g3 Bg4 7. Bg2 c6 8. h3
Bh5 9. g4 Bg6 10. Ne5 Nbd7 11. f4 e6 12. Qe2 Be7 13. Be3 Nd5 14. Nxd5 cxd5 15.
O-O Be4 16. Bxe4 dxe4 17. Qg2 Nf6 18. c4 O-O 19. f5 Nd7 20. Qxe4 Nxe5 21. dxe5
Qb4 22. a3 Qxb2 23. Rab1 Qxa3 24. Rxb7 Bc5 25. Bxc5 Qxc5+ 26. Kg2 Rad8 27. Rf2
Rd4 28. Qf3 Qxc4 29. Re7 Rd3 30. Qf4 Qd5+ 31. Kh2 Rd4 32. Qg3 a5 33. Ra7 Qc5
34. Ra6 a4 35. f6 g6 36. Qe3 Rc4 37. Qxc5 Rxc5 38. Re2 Rc4 39. Kg3 g5 40. Re3
Rd8 41. h4 h6 42. h5 Rdd4 43. Ra8+ Kh7 44. Ra7 Rxg4+ 45. Kf2 Rgf4+ 46. Ke2 Rce4
47. Rxf7+ Kg8 48. Re7 Kf8 49. Rxe6 a3 50. Ra6 Rh4 51. Ra7 Rh2+ 52. Kd3 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.02.01"]
[Round "3.11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "152"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. Re1 e5 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. d3 Qe7 8. a3
Nf6 9. b4 O-O 10. bxc5 Qxc5 11. a4 Rd8 12. Ba3 Qa5 13. Nbd2 Be6 14. Qb1 Qc7 15.
Ng5 Re8 16. Nxe6 Rxe6 17. Qb3 b6 18. Nf3 h6 19. h3 Nd7 20. Reb1 Rb8 21. Qc4 a5
22. Bc1 Bf8 23. Be3 Qd8 24. Ra2 Qc7 25. Rab2 Ba3 26. Rb3 Bc5 27. Bxh6 Qa7 28.
c3 Bxf2+ 29. Kh1 b5 30. axb5 Nb6 31. bxc6 Nxc4 32. Rxb8+ Kh7 33. R1b7 Qxb8 34.
Rxb8 Kxh6 35. c7 Nd6 36. Rd8 Re7 37. Rxd6 Rxc7 38. Kh2 Ra7 39. Rd8 a4 40. Rb8
a3 41. Rb1 f6 42. Ra1 Bc5 43. Kg3 Rd7 44. d4 exd4 45. cxd4 Bb4 46. Kf4 Rc7 47.
e5 fxe5+ 48. dxe5 Rc2 49. g4 a2 50. Nd4 Rh2 51. Nb3 Bc3 52. Rc1 Bb2 53. g5+ Kh5
54. Rc7 Rf2+ 55. Ke3 Rf5 56. Ra7 Kxg5 57. Kd3 Rxe5 58. Rxa2 Rd5+ 59. Kc4 Rf5
60. Rxb2 Rf4+ 61. Nd4 Rf3 62. Nxf3+ Kf4 63. Nd4 Kg3 64. Rb6 g5 65. Rg6 Kh4 66.
Rxg5 Kxg5 67. Nf3+ Kf4 68. Ng1 Kg3 69. Kd4 Kh2 70. Ke5 Kg2 71. h4 Kxg1 72. h5
Kg2 73. h6 Kf2 74. h7 Ke2 75. h8=Q Kd2 76. Qf6 Ke2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.02.01"]
[Round "3.12"]
[White "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 a6 6. g3 Bf5 7. Bg2 c6 8. Bf4
Qb4 9. O-O e6 10. Ne5 Nbd7 11. Nxd7 Nxd7 12. Rb1 Be7 13. a3 Qb6 14. Re1 Rd8 15.
Na4 Qa5 16. b3 O-O 17. Bd2 Qc7 18. Bf4 Qc8 19. Qc1 b5 20. Nc3 Nf6 21. Ne2 c5
22. Qb2 Be4 23. Bxe4 Nxe4 24. Rbd1 Bf6 25. Be3 c4 26. h4 Qc6 27. bxc4 Qxc4 28.
Rd3 Rc8 29. Rc1 h6 30. Qb4 Rfd8 31. Qa5 Qc6 32. a4 Nd6 33. axb5 axb5 34. Qb4
Nc4 35. Rb1 Rd5 36. Nc3 Rf5 37. d5 Bxc3 38. dxc6 Bxb4 39. Rxb4 Rxc6 40. Bd4 Rd5
41. Ba1 Rxd3 42. cxd3 Nd6 43. Be5 Nf5 44. Rxb5 h5 45. Kg2 f6 46. Bf4 Kh7 47.
Kf3 Nd4+ 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.02.01"]
[Round "3.13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2645"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. c4 Nc6 5. Nc3 g6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Bg7 8.
Be3 Nf6 9. h3 O-O 10. O-O a6 11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. Rc1 c5 13. Nde2 Bc6 14. f3 Nd7
15. b3 Re8 16. Qd2 Rb8 17. Bh6 Bh8 18. Rb1 Nf6 19. Nf4 Qa5 20. Rfc1 Qa3 21.
Nfd5 Bxd5 22. exd5 Qa5 23. Re1 Ng4 24. Na4 Bd4+ 25. Kf1 Qxd2 26. Bxd2 Ne5 27.
Ba5 Rb7 28. Rbd1 Nd7 29. g4 f6 30. Kg2 Kf7 31. Re4 h5 32. Bc3 Be5 33. f4 f5 34.
fxe5 Nxe5 35. Rxe5 dxe5 36. Nxc5 Rc7 37. Ne6 Rcc8 38. Bxe5 hxg4 39. hxg4 a5 40.
Rh1 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.03.11"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Cheparinov, Ivan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A43"]
[WhiteElo "2670"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. d5 b5 4. Bg5 Qb6 5. e3 Bb7 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. Nc3 b4 8. Ne4
Qxb2 9. Bc4 g6 10. Rb1 Qg7 11. O-O d6 12. c3 a5 13. Qa4+ Kd8 14. Qb5 Kc7 15.
Nxc5 dxc5 16. Qxc5+ Kd8 17. Qb6+ Kc8 18. cxb4 Nd7 19. Qb5 a4 20. Rfc1 Ra7 21.
Bd3+ Kd8 22. Nd4 Qe5 23. Nc6+ Bxc6 24. Rxc6 Bg7 25. Rbc1 Ra8 26. Qa5+ 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.03.11"]
[Round "4.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Cheparinov, Ivan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2670"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. c4 b4 5. Nd2 g6 6. e4 Bg7 7. Ngf3 d6 8. Qc2 O-O
9. Bd3 e5 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bh4 a5 12. h3 a4 13. g4 b3 14. axb3 axb3 15. Qd1 Rxa1
16. Qxa1 Na6 17. Ke2 Nb4 18. Qa3 Qb6 19. Ra1 h5 20. Bxf6 Bxf6 21. gxh5 Bxh3 22.
Rg1 Kg7 23. Qxb3 Ra8 24. Bb1 Qc7 25. hxg6 fxg6 26. Nxe5 Bxe5 27. Qxh3 Rh8 28.
Qf5 Qf7 29. Nf3 Bxb2 30. e5 Qxf5 31. Bxf5 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.03.11"]
[Round "4.3"]
[White "Cheparinov, Ivan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2670"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 a6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nc3 h6 6. Qb3 Nf6 7. e4 Nxe4 8.
Qxd5 Nxc3 9. Qxd8+ Kxd8 10. bxc3 Be6 11. Bd3 Nd7 12. c4 Bb4+ 13. Bd2 Bxd2+ 14.
Kxd2 c6 15. a4 a5 16. Rab1 Kc7 17. h3 Rad8 18. Rhc1 Nb6 19. Ra1 Rhe8 20. Kc3 c5
21. dxc5 Nd7 22. Nd4 Nxc5 23. Nb5+ Kb8 24. Bc2 Bd7 25. Re1 Bc6 26. f3 Bxb5 27.
cxb5 Kc7 28. h4 Kb6 29. Rad1 Rxd1 30. Rxd1 Kc7 31. Rd2 b6 32. Kc4 Re1 33. Kc3
Ra1 34. Rd4 Rg1 35. Rg4 g6 36. h5 g5 37. f4 f6 38. fxg5 fxg5 39. Rg3 Rh1 40.
Rf3 Rxh5 41. Rf7+ Kd8 42. Rf8+ Ke7 43. Rb8 Nd7 44. Bf5 Nxb8 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.03.11"]
[Round "4.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Cheparinov, Ivan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2670"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. a3 e5 7. Nf5 d5 8. Bg5
d4 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Ne2 Qb6 11. Rb1 Nd7 12. Neg3 Nc5 13. Bc4 Be6 14. Bxe6 fxe6
15. Qh5+ Kd8 16. Nh6 Bxh6 17. Qxh6 Nd7 18. O-O Kc7 19. c3 Rag8 20. cxd4 exd4
21. Qf4+ e5 22. Qf5 Qd6 23. Qf3 Kb8 24. Nf5 Qe6 25. b4 Rc8 26. b5 a5 27. b6 Rc3
28. Qg4 Rhc8 29. Qg7 Nxb6 30. Qxh7 d3 31. h4 d2 32. Ne3 Rc1 33. Kh2 Rxf1 34.
Nxf1 Rd8 35. Rd1 Nc4 36. a4 Rd4 37. h5 Qg4 38. Rb1 Nd6 39. Ne3 Qxe4 40. Qxe4
Rxe4 41. g4 Nc4 42. Rd1 Nxe3 43. fxe3 Rxg4 44. Kh3 Rg5 45. Kh4 Rg2 46. Kh3 Rg5
47. Kh4 Rg2 48. Kh3 Re2 49. h6 Rxe3+ 50. Kg4 Rd3 51. h7 Rd8 52. Rxd2 Rh8 53.
Rh2 b5 54. Kf5 bxa4 55. Kxf6 a3 56. Kg7 a2 57. Rb2+ Ka7 58. Rxa2 Ka6 59. Rxa5+
1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.03.11"]
[Round "4.5"]
[White "Cheparinov, Ivan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A59"]
[WhiteElo "2670"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bxa6 7. Nf3 d6 8. e4
Bxf1 9. Kxf1 Qc8 10. g3 Qh3+ 11. Kg1 Bg7 12. Ng5 Qg4 13. Kg2 Qxd1 14. Rxd1 Na6
15. f4 Nd7 16. Nf3 O-O 17. Bd2 Rfb8 18. Rab1 Nb4 19. a4 f5 20. exf5 gxf5 21. b3
Nb6 22. Be1 Bxc3 23. Bxc3 N6xd5 24. Bd2 Nc6 25. Kf2 Rb7 26. Be1 Nf6 27. Nh4 e6
28. Kf1 Ne4 29. Nf3 Rab8 30. a5 Rxb3 31. Rxb3 Rxb3 32. Nd2 Nxd2+ 33. Rxd2 d5
34. Ra2 Rb7 35. a6 Ra7 36. Ke2 Kf7 37. Bf2 d4 38. Be1 Nb8 39. Rb2 Nxa6 40. Ra2
Ke7 41. h3 Kd6 42. g4 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.03.11"]
[Round "4.6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Cheparinov, Ivan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2670"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. c4 b4 5. a3 g6 6. axb4 cxb4 7. e4 Nxe4 8. Qd4
Nf6 9. Rxa7 Rxa7 10. Qxa7 Na6 11. Nf3 Bg7 12. Be2 O-O 13. O-O Nh5 14. Be5 Bxe5
15. Nxe5 Nf4 16. Bf3 f6 17. Ng4 d6 18. Re1 Re8 19. Qd4 Nh5 20. Nd2 Nc5 21. h3
Kf8 22. Ne3 Ng7 23. Ne4 Nxe4 24. Bxe4 Qc7 25. Ra1 Bb7 26. Qd2 Qc5 27. Ra4 e5
28. Rxb4 Qa5 29. Nc2 f5 30. Bd3 Bc8 31. Qg5 Qd8 32. Qxd8 Rxd8 33. Rb8 Ke7 34.
b4 Bd7 35. Rb7 Ra8 36. c5 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.03.11"]
[Round "4.7"]
[White "Cheparinov, Ivan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A50"]
[WhiteElo "2670"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 b6 3. g3 Bb7 4. c4 g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. Nc3 Ne4 7. Qc2 Nxc3 8.
bxc3 Nc6 9. e4 Na5 10. Nd2 O-O 11. h4 c5 12. d5 Ba6 13. Qd3 e6 14. d6 Rc8 15.
f4 e5 16. h5 Rc6 17. hxg6 hxg6 18. f5 Qf6 19. g4 Re8 20. Qh3 gxf5 21. gxf5 Qxd6
22. Bf1 Kf8 23. Qh7 Qh6 24. Rxh6 Rxh6 25. Qxh6 Bxh6 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.03.11"]
[Round "4.8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Cheparinov, Ivan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C70"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2670"]
[PlyCount "45"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 g6 5. c3 Bg7 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 b5 8. Bc2
d5 9. exd5 Nce7 10. O-O Nf6 11. Re1 O-O 12. Bg5 Nexd5 13. Nc3 h6 14. Nxd5 hxg5
15. Ne7+ Kh8 16. Nxg5 Bg4 17. Qd3 Bh6 18. h4 Qd6 19. Nxg6+ fxg6 20. Qxg6 Bg7
21. Re5 Qxd4 22. Re7 Rg8 23. Nf7# 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.03.11"]
[Round "4.9"]
[White "Cheparinov, Ivan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2670"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 Qb6 5. Qb3 Bf5 6. c5 Qc7 7. g3 h6 8. Bf4
Qc8 9. Bg2 e6 10. O-O Be7 11. Nd2 Nbd7 12. e4 dxe4 13. Ndxe4 Nxe4 14. Nxe4 Bxe4
15. Bxe4 Nf6 16. Bf3 O-O 17. Rad1 Rd8 18. h4 Rd7 19. Kg2 Nd5 20. Bc1 Bf6 21.
Rd3 Qc7 22. Rfd1 Rad8 23. a3 Ne7 24. Bf4 Qc8 25. Qc4 Nf5 26. Be5 Bxe5 27. dxe5
Rxd3 28. Rxd3 Qc7 29. Rd6 Nxd6 30. exd6 Qa5 31. Qd4 a6 32. Qe3 Qb5 33. b4 Qc4
34. Be4 Kf8 35. Bf3 Ra8 36. Be2 Qd5+ 37. Bf3 Qf5 38. Be2 a5 39. b5 cxb5 40.
Bxb5 Rc8 41. d7 Qd5+ 42. Kh2 Rd8 43. Qc3 b6 44. c6 Qxb5 45. c7 Qxd7 46. cxd8=Q+
Qxd8 47. Qc6 h5 48. a4 g5 49. hxg5 Qxg5 50. Qxb6 h4 51. Qb8+ Kg7 52. Qb2+ Kg6
53. Qc2+ f5 54. Qc6 hxg3+ 55. fxg3 Qd2+ 56. Kh3 Qe1 57. Qe8+ Kf6 58. Qh8+ Ke7
59. Qg7+ Kd6 60. Qd4+ Kc6 61. Qc4+ Kd6 62. Qd4+ Ke7 63. Qg7+ Kd6 64. Qd4+
1/2-1/2

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.03.11"]
[Round "4.10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Cheparinov, Ivan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A33"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2670"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Bg5 Be7 7. e3 O-O 8.
Be2 Qb6 9. Rb1 h6 10. Bh4 d5 11. cxd5 Nxd4 12. exd4 g5 13. Bg3 Nxd5 14. O-O Bf6
15. Bf3 Qxd4 16. Bxd5 exd5 17. Nxd5 Be6 18. Nxf6+ Qxf6 19. Qa4 Rfd8 20. Rfe1
Qd4 21. Qa3 Rd7 22. Be5 Qg4 23. h3 Qf5 24. Rbc1 Bd5 25. Bc3 Bc6 26. Re5 Qg6 27.
Rce1 Kh7 28. Qb3 Rad8 29. f3 Qd6 30. Qc2+ Qg6 31. Qf2 Rd5 32. Qxa7 Rxe5 33.
Bxe5 Re8 34. Qf2 Qf5 35. Bc3 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.02"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Grandelius, Nils"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2691"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nbd2 Bf5 5. Nh4 Be4 6. Qb3 Qb6 7. f3 Bg6 8.
Nxg6 hxg6 9. e3 e6 10. Bd3 Nbd7 11. Qxb6 axb6 12. f4 dxc4 13. Nxc4 b5 14. Ne5
Nd5 15. Ke2 Bd6 16. Bd2 Bb4 17. h3 Ke7 18. a3 Bxd2 19. Kxd2 Nxe5 20. fxe5 g5
21. Rhf1 f6 22. exf6+ gxf6 23. Be2 Rad8 24. Bf3 Nb6 25. Ke2 Nc4 26. b3 Nd6 27.
a4 Ra8 28. Rfb1 bxa4 29. bxa4 Ra5 30. e4 Rha8 31. Kf2 e5 32. dxe5 fxe5 33. Kg3
Rxa4 34. Rxa4 Rxa4 35. Kg4 Kf6 36. g3 b5 37. Rc1 Rc4 38. Rd1 Nxe4 39. Bxe4
Rxe4+ 40. Kh5 Re3 41. Rf1+ Ke6 42. Kg4 b4 43. h4 gxh4 44. gxh4 Re4+ 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.02"]
[Round "5.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grandelius, Nils"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B81"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2691"]
[PlyCount "163"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. a3 e6 7. g4 b5 8. g5
Nfd7 9. h4 Bb7 10. Be3 Nc6 11. Nxc6 Bxc6 12. Qd4 Rb8 13. O-O-O a5 14. b4 axb4
15. axb4 Qc7 16. f4 e5 17. Nd5 exd4 18. Nxc7+ Kd8 19. Na6 dxe3 20. Nxb8 Nxb8
21. Rh3 Bxe4 22. Bxb5 d5 23. Rxe3 Kc7 24. Bd3 Bd6 25. Rf1 Re8 26. c3 Nd7 27.
Kc2 f5 28. gxf6 Nxf6 29. Kb3 Bxd3 30. Rxd3 Re4 31. Rdf3 d4 32. c4 Re3+ 33. Rxe3
dxe3 34. c5 Be7 35. Kc4 Ng4 36. h5 Bh4 37. Kd3 Kc6 38. Rg1 Nf6 39. Rxg7 Bf2 40.
h6 Nd5 41. Kc4 Nxb4 42. Rxh7 Nd5 43. Kd3 Nxf4+ 44. Kc2 e2 45. Re7 e1=Q 46. Rxe1
Bxe1 47. h7 Ng6 48. Kd3 Kxc5 49. Ke4 Bc3 50. Kf5 Nh8 51. Ke6 Kc6 52. Kf5 Kd7
53. Ke4 Ke8 54. Kd5 Bg7 55. Ke4 Kf8 56. Kd3 Kf7 57. Ke4 Kg6 58. Kd5 Kxh7 59.
Ke6 Kg6 60. Kd5 Nf7 61. Ke4 Be5 62. Kd3 Kf6 63. Ke2 Ke6 64. Kd3 Kd5 65. Ke3 Nd6
66. Kd3 Bd4 67. Ke2 Ke4 68. Kf1 Nf5 69. Kg2 Be3 70. Kh1 Kf4 71. Kg2 Ng3 72. Kh3
Bd4 73. Kh2 Be5 74. Kg2 Kg4 75. Kf2 Bd4+ 76. Kg2 Kf4 77. Kh2 Kf3 78. Kh3 Bg1
79. Kh4 Ne4 80. Kh3 Kf4 81. Kg2 Bd4 82. Kf1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.02"]
[Round "5.3"]
[White "Grandelius, Nils"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E62"]
[WhiteElo "2691"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. c4 O-O 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. O-O e5 7. d4 d6 8. dxe5
dxe5 9. Qxd8 Rxd8 10. Bg5 Be6 11. Nd2 h6 12. Bxf6 Rxd2 13. Bxg7 Kxg7 14. Bxc6
bxc6 15. b3 f5 16. Rfd1 Rd6 17. f3 Rad8 18. Kf2 Kf6 19. Ke1 g5 20. Na4 h5 21.
Nc5 Bc8 22. Nd3 f4 23. Nc5 Bf5 24. gxf4 exf4 25. Nb7 Rxd1+ 26. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 27.
Kxd1 g4 28. fxg4 hxg4 29. Ke1 Ke5 30. Nc5 Kd4 31. Na6 Ke3 32. Nb4 f3 33. exf3
gxf3 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.02"]
[Round "5.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grandelius, Nils"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2691"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 d5 3. e3 Ne4 4. Bf4 Bf5 5. f3 Nd6 6. g4 Bg6 7. h4 h5 8. g5 c6
9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 Qb6 11. Bxd6 exd6 12. Nc3 g6 13. O-O-O Qa6 14. Qd2 Nd7 15.
e4 dxe4 16. fxe4 Bg7 17. Qf4 O-O 18. Nf3 Rad8 19. Kb1 Nb6 20. e5 Nc4 21. Ne4
dxe5 22. dxe5 Qb5 23. b3 Nxe5 24. Nf6+ Bxf6 25. gxf6 Ng4 26. Rhe1 Qc5 27. Rxd8
Rxd8 28. Ng5 Qc3 29. Rf1 Nxf6 30. Nxf7 Rd2 31. Qb8+ Kxf7 32. Qxb7+ Kg8 33. Qb8+
Kg7 34. Qxa7+ Nd7 35. Rc1 Qd4 36. Qc7 Rd1 37. Qxc6 Rxc1+ 38. Kxc1 Ne5 39. Qc7+
Kf6 40. a4 Qxh4 41. Qd8+ Kf5 42. Qxh4 g5 43. Qxh5 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.02"]
[Round "5.5"]
[White "Grandelius, Nils"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A37"]
[WhiteElo "2691"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "126"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. c4 c5 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O e6 7. e3 Nge7 8. d4
O-O 9. Re1 Rb8 10. b3 cxd4 11. exd4 Nf5 12. Bg5 Qa5 13. Ne4 Nfxd4 14. Nxd4 Bxd4
15. Nf6+ Kg7 16. Bxc6 Bxf2+ 17. Kxf2 Qxg5 18. Ne8+ Kg8 19. Qd4 e5 20. Qxd6 bxc6
21. Rxe5 Bf5 22. Nf6+ Kh8 23. h4 Qh6 24. Rae1 Rbd8 25. Qc5 Qd2+ 26. R1e2 Qd6
27. Qxd6 Rxd6 28. Ne8 Rd8 29. Nf6 Kg7 30. Ne4 Bxe4 31. R5xe4 Rd7 32. Re5 Rfd8
33. Rc5 Rd6 34. Ra5 R8d7 35. Rae5 f5 36. Re7+ Kh6 37. Rxd7 Rxd7 38. Kf3 Kh5 39.
Re6 Rd3+ 40. Kf2 c5 41. Re7 h6 42. Rxa7 Kg4 43. Ra6 g5 44. Rxh6 Rf3+ 45. Ke2
Rxg3 46. hxg5 Kxg5 47. Rc6 Rg2+ 48. Kf3 Rxa2 49. Rxc5 Rb2 50. Rb5 Rc2 51. c5
Rc3+ 52. Ke2 Kf4 53. Kd2 Rh3 54. Rb4+ Ke5 55. Rc4 Kd5 56. c6 Rh8 57. c7 Rc8 58.
Rc3 Kd6 59. b4 Rxc7 60. Rxc7 Kxc7 61. Ke3 Kb6 62. Kf4 Kb5 63. Kxf5 Kxb4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.02"]
[Round "5.6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grandelius, Nils"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A49"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2691"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. g3 g6 3. c3 Bg7 4. d4 Nf6 5. Bg2 O-O 6. dxc5 a5 7. O-O Na6 8. Be3
Ng4 9. Bd4 e5 10. h3 exd4 11. hxg4 dxc3 12. Nxc3 Nxc5 13. g5 d6 14. Qd2 Rb8 15.
Rfd1 b5 16. Nd4 Bd7 17. Nd5 Re8 18. Qf4 Re5 19. Nf6+ Bxf6 20. gxf6 g5 21. Qxe5
dxe5 22. Nc6 Qxf6 23. Nxb8 Be6 24. Rac1 Na4 25. Nd7 Qe7 26. b3 Nb2 27. Rd2 Qa3
28. Nc5 Nc4 29. Rd8+ Kg7 30. Nxe6+ fxe6 31. Rc2 Nb6 32. Rc7+ Kh6 33. Be4 g4 34.
Rg8 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.02"]
[Round "5.7"]
[White "Grandelius, Nils"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A31"]
[WhiteElo "2691"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 b6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bb7 6. Bg5 e6 7. Ndb5 d6 8.
Bxf6 gxf6 9. e4 a6 10. Nd4 Nd7 11. Qh5 Qe7 12. O-O-O O-O-O 13. Kb1 Kb8 14. Be2
f5 15. exf5 Nf6 16. Qh4 e5 17. Nc2 Bxg2 18. Rhg1 Bb7 19. Ne3 h5 20. a3 Bh6 21.
Nc2 Nd5 22. Qxe7 Nxe7 23. f6 Ng8 24. Bxh5 Nxf6 25. Bxf7 Bf4 26. Bd5 Nxd5 27.
cxd5 Rxh2 28. Nb4 Kc7 29. Rg7+ Rd7 30. Rxd7+ Kxd7 31. Rg1 Rh7 32. Rg6 a5 33.
Nd3 Ba6 34. Nxf4 exf4 35. Kc2 Re7 36. Rf6 Bf1 37. Rxf4 b5 38. b4 a4 39. Ne4 Bc4
40. f3 Bxd5 41. Nf6+ Kc6 42. Nxd5 Kxd5 43. Rf5+ Kc4 44. Rf4+ Kd5 45. Rf5+ Kc6
46. Kd3 Re1 47. Rf8 Ra1 48. Rc8+ Kd5 49. Rb8 Rxa3+ 50. Kc2 Kc4 51. f4 Rf3 52.
f5 Rf2+ 53. Kd1 Rxf5 54. Ke2 Kxb4 55. Kd2 Rc5 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.02"]
[Round "5.8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grandelius, Nils"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D87"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2691"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8.
Ne2 O-O 9. h4 cxd4 10. cxd4 Nc6 11. Be3 Qa5+ 12. Kf1 b6 13. Rc1 Bb7 14. h5 Rac8
15. f3 Ba6 16. h6 Bh8 17. Bxa6 Qxa6 18. Kf2 Nb4 19. Rxc8 Rxc8 20. Qb3 Nc2 21.
e5 Nxe3 22. Kxe3 e6 23. Rc1 Rxc1 24. Nxc1 Qf1 25. Qc2 Qg1+ 26. Kd3 Kf8 27. Ne2
Qxg2 28. Qc8+ Ke7 29. Qxh8 Qxf3+ 30. Kd2 Qa3 31. Qxh7 Qxa2+ 32. Ke3 Qa3+ 33.
Kf2 Qd3 34. Qg7 Qf5+ 35. Ke3 Qg5+ 36. Kd3 Qf5+ 37. Kd2 Qg5+ 38. Kd1 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.02"]
[Round "5.9"]
[White "Grandelius, Nils"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B36"]
[WhiteElo "2691"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. e4 Nxd4 7. e5 Ne6 8.
exf6 exf6 9. Be2 Bg7 10. O-O O-O 11. Be3 f5 12. Qd2 b6 13. Bf3 Rb8 14. Rfd1 Bb7
15. Nd5 Re8 16. Rac1 Rc8 17. b3 f4 18. Bxf4 Nd4 19. Qd3 Bxd5 20. cxd5 Qf6 21.
Rxc8 Rxc8 22. Bg3 h5 23. h3 h4 24. Bh2 Rc3 25. Qe4 Nxf3+ 26. gxf3 Rxf3 27. Qe8+
Kh7 28. Qxd7 Rxf2 29. Qg4 Rxa2 30. Rf1 Qd4+ 31. Qxd4 Bxd4+ 32. Kh1 Kg7 33. Rd1
Ra1 34. Bc7 Rxd1+ 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.02"]
[Round "5.10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grandelius, Nils"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2691"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bf4 a6 4. e3 e6 5. g4 c5 6. g5 Nfd7 7. Nf3 Nc6 8. h4 b5
9. Ne2 Nb6 10. c3 Bd6 11. h5 Bb7 12. Bh3 Qe7 13. Bxd6 Qxd6 14. dxc5 Qxc5 15. g6
hxg6 16. hxg6 f6 17. Ned4 e5 18. Nf5 Bc8 19. N3h4 Ra7 20. Qf3 Na4 21. Nxg7+
Rxg7 22. Qxf6 Rhg8 23. Bxc8 Nxb2 24. Be6 Qxc3+ 25. Ke2 Qc2+ 26. Kf1 Qd3+ 27.
Ke1 Qc3+ 28. Ke2 Qc4+ 29. Ke1 Nd3+ 30. Kd2 Qb4+ 31. Kxd3 Qc4+ 32. Kd2 Qb4+ 33.
Kd1 Qa4+ 34. Ke1 Qb4+ 35. Kf1 Qc4+ 36. Kg1 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.07"]
[Round "6.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sjugirov, Sanan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2662"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Rg1 e5 7. Nb3 Bg4 8. Be2
Be6 9. Be3 Be7 10. g4 b5 11. g5 Nfd7 12. Nd5 Nc5 13. Nxc5 dxc5 14. a4 bxa4 15.
c3 O-O 16. Qxa4 Bxd5 17. exd5 Bd6 18. h4 Nd7 19. h5 Rb8 20. Qg4 e4 21. g6 h6
22. Bxh6 Ne5 23. gxf7+ Rxf7 24. Qe6 Kf8 25. Rxa6 Rb6 26. Rxg7 Rxg7 27. Bxg7+
Kxg7 28. Ra7+ Kh8 29. Qh6+ Kg8 30. Qg7# 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.07"]
[Round "6.2"]
[White "Sjugirov, Sanan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2662"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "130"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 Bc5 6. c3 d6 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4
Ba7 9. Nbd2 Bd7 10. Nf1 g5 11. Bg3 Nh5 12. Qd2 Nf4 13. Ne3 Bxe3 14. fxe3 Ng6
15. O-O g4 16. Ne1 h5 17. Bb3 Rh7 18. Nc2 h4 19. Be1 Qg5 20. Qe2 O-O-O 21. Bd2
Rf8 22. Nb4 Nce7 23. Nd5 Nxd5 24. Bxd5 Ne7 25. Bb3 Qg6 26. a3 Rhh8 27. Ba2 Kb8
28. b4 h3 29. g3 Be6 30. c4 f5 31. exf5 Bxf5 32. e4 Be6 33. Be3 Nc6 34. Rxf8+
Rxf8 35. Rf1 Rf7 36. Rf2 Nd4 37. Bxd4 exd4 38. Rxf7 Qxf7 39. Qf2 Qxf2+ 40. Kxf2
b5 41. Ke2 c5 42. Kd2 Kc7 43. Bb3 a5 44. bxa5 bxc4 45. dxc4 Kb7 46. Ba4 Bxc4
47. Bd7 Bf1 48. Bxg4 c4 49. Be6 c3+ 50. Kc2 Ka6 51. Bb3 Kxa5 52. Be6 Be2 53. e5
dxe5 54. Bf5 Ka4 55. Be4 Kxa3 56. Bf5 Kb4 57. Be4 d3+ 58. Bxd3 Bxd3+ 59. Kxd3
Kb3 60. Ke3 c2 61. Ke4 c1=Q 62. Kf5 Qc2+ 63. Kf6 Qxh2 64. Kf7 Qg2 65. Kg8 Qf3
0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.07"]
[Round "6.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sjugirov, Sanan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2662"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Rg1 b5 7. g4 Bb7 8. f3
g6 9. a3 Bg7 10. Be3 Nbd7 11. Qd2 Rc8 12. O-O-O Ne5 13. Be2 Nc4 14. Bxc4 Rxc4
15. Kb1 O-O 16. h4 Nd7 17. h5 Ne5 18. hxg6 fxg6 19. f4 Rxd4 20. Qxd4 Nc4 21.
Qd3 Nxe3 22. Qxe3 a5 23. e5 b4 24. Nd5 bxa3 25. Qxa3 Bxd5 26. Rxd5 Qb6 27. Rgd1
Rxf4 28. exd6 exd6 29. Rxd6 Qf2 30. Qb3+ 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.07"]
[Round "6.4"]
[White "Sjugirov, Sanan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B56"]
[WhiteElo "2662"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "126"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bd7 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8.
O-O-O h6 9. Be3 Ng4 10. f4 Nxe3 11. Qxe3 Nc6 12. Bc4 Be7 13. Kb1 Qb6 14. Nce2
Bf6 15. Bb3 O-O-O 16. Qd2 Kb8 17. Rhe1 Na5 18. Nc3 Qxd4 19. Qxd4 Bxd4 20. Rxd4
Nxb3 21. axb3 Bc6 22. Red1 Kc7 23. g3 g5 24. Rf1 Rh7 25. Rd2 Rg8 26. Rdf2 gxf4
27. Rxf4 Rgg7 28. Kc1 Kd7 29. Kd2 h5 30. Rh4 Ke7 31. Ke3 Rg4 32. Rf4 Rg5 33.
Rf2 Rhg7 34. Rhf4 Re5 35. Kd3 a5 36. Ne2 d5 37. exd5 Rxd5+ 38. Rd4 h4 39. Rxd5
Bxd5 40. Ke3 hxg3 41. hxg3 e5 42. Rf5 f6 43. Rh5 Be6 44. Rh8 Bg4 45. Nc3 Bf5
46. Kf2 Bxc2 47. Rb8 Ke6 48. Re8+ Kf5 49. Nd5 Bxb3 50. Ne3+ Ke4 51. Ra8 a4 52.
Rc8 Rd7 53. Ke2 Rd3 54. Ng4 Bd1+ 55. Kf2 Bxg4 56. Rc4+ Rd4 57. Rc3 Rd2+ 58. Ke1
Rxb2 59. Rc4+ Kf3 60. Rxa4 Re2+ 61. Kf1 e4 62. Ra3+ Re3 63. Ra4 Kxg3 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.07"]
[Round "6.5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sjugirov, Sanan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2662"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Nf6 3. Nc3 a6 4. e3 e6 5. g4 Bb4 6. Nge2 O-O 7. a3 Be7 8. g5
Nh5 9. h4 c5 10. Bxb8 Rxb8 11. dxc5 Bxc5 12. Nd4 Bxd4 13. Qxd4 g6 14. Be2 Ng7
15. O-O-O Qc7 16. h5 b5 17. h6 Nf5 18. Qf6 Qe7 19. Qe5 Qd6 20. Qxd6 Nxd6 21. e4
b4 22. axb4 Rxb4 23. exd5 Bb7 24. dxe6 Bxh1 25. e7 Re8 26. Rxd6 Rb7 27. Bxa6
Rbxe7 28. b4 Re6 29. Rxe6 Rxe6 30. Bd3 Kf8 31. b5 Ke7 32. Kb2 Kd6 33. Kb3 Re5
34. f4 Re8 35. Kb4 Rf8 36. Na4 f6 37. c4 fxg5 38. c5+ Kd5 39. fxg5 Rf4+ 40. Ka5
Kd4 41. Bxg6 hxg6 42. c6 Rf8 43. Nb6 Kc5 44. Nd7+ 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.07"]
[Round "6.6"]
[White "Sjugirov, Sanan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B96"]
[WhiteElo "2662"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qc7 8. Bxf6
gxf6 9. Qd2 h5 10. Be2 b5 11. Bf3 Bb7 12. O-O Nd7 13. f5 e5 14. Nb3 Bh6 15. Qd1
h4 16. Kh1 Rc8 17. a3 Nb6 18. Na5 Ba8 19. Qd3 Ke7 20. Rad1 Bf4 21. h3 Rhd8 22.
Qe2 Na4 23. Nxa4 bxa4 24. Qxa6 Qxc2 25. Rd5 Bxd5 26. exd5 Kf8 27. Nc6 Re8 28.
Qb7 Qd3 29. Rd1 Qb3 30. Qd7 Kg7 31. Qxd6 Bg3 32. Qd7 e4 33. Bh5 Rf8 34. Nd4
Qxb2 35. Ne6+ Kh6 36. Nxf8 Rxf8 37. Qe7 Kg7 38. Bg4 Qe5 39. Qb4 e3 40. Be2 Rd8
41. Qf4 Qxf4 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.07"]
[Round "6.7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sjugirov, Sanan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2662"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Rg1 e5 7. Nb3 h5 8. h3
Be6 9. Be3 d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxd5 Qxd5 12. Qxd5 Bxd5 13. O-O-O Be6 14. Na5
Nc6 15. Nxb7 Nb4 16. Nd6+ Bxd6 17. Rxd6 Nxa2+ 18. Kb1 Nb4 19. Bc5 Rb8 20. c3
Bf5+ 21. Ka1 Nc2+ 22. Ka2 Rh6 23. Rxh6 gxh6 24. Bc4 a5 25. Rd1 f6 26. Bb3 Rc8
27. Bb6 a4 28. Bxa4+ Kf7 29. Rd8 Be6+ 30. Kb1 Rxd8 31. Bxd8 Ne1 32. Bc6 Nd3 33.
Bb6 f5 34. b4 e4 35. h4 f4 36. Bxe4 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.07"]
[Round "6.8"]
[White "Sjugirov, Sanan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2662"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bb7 7. d3 Bc5 8. c3
d6 9. Nbd2 h6 10. Re1 Bb6 11. Nf1 Ne7 12. Ng3 Ng6 13. a4 O-O 14. h3 Re8 15. Nf5
d5 16. axb5 axb5 17. Rxa8 Bxa8 18. Bxh6 gxh6 19. Qd2 Nf4 20. Nxe5 N6h5 21.
Nxh6+ Kf8 22. Nhxf7 Qh4 23. d4 Rxe5 24. dxe5 Qg3 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.07"]
[Round "6.9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sjugirov, Sanan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C51"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2662"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Be7 6. d4 Na5 7. Be2 d5 8. Qa4+
c6 9. dxe5 b5 10. Qc2 Nh6 11. Bxh6 gxh6 12. Nbd2 Be6 13. O-O O-O 14. Nd4 Qc7
15. f4 dxe4 16. Nxe4 c5 17. Nxb5 Qc6 18. Nbd6 f5 19. Ng3 Bxd6 20. Bf3 Bd5 21.
Bxd5+ Qxd5 22. Rad1 Qf7 23. Rxd6 Nc4 24. Rf6 Qd7 25. Qe2 Rxf6 26. exf6 Nd6 27.
Rd1 Rd8 28. Qe7 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.15"]
[Round "7.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2702"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 O-O 7. e3 h6 8. Bh4
Bf5 9. Qb3 Bxc3+ 10. Qxc3 g5 11. Bg3 Ne4 12. Qa3 Nc6 13. Bb5 Ne7 14. Nd2 c6 15.
Bd3 Nxd2 16. Kxd2 Bxd3 17. Qxd3 Qa5+ 18. Ke2 f5 19. Bd6 Rae8 20. g4 Rf6 21. Be5
Ng6 22. h4 Nxe5 23. dxe5 Rxe5 24. hxg5 hxg5 25. Rh5 Qb4 26. Rxg5+ Kf7 27. b3
Qf4 28. Qxf5 Qxg5 29. Qxg5 Rxg5 30. Rg1 Rg8 31. f4 Re6 32. Kd3 Rge8 33. Rg3 Re4
34. Rh3 Kg7 35. g5 d4 36. exd4 Rxf4 37. Kc3 Rd8 38. Re3 Rd7 39. Rd3 Rg4 40. Kc4
Rxg5 41. Kc3 Rgd5 42. Rg3+ Kf7 43. Rg4 Ke7 44. Re4+ Kd8 45. Rh4 Kc7 46. a4 b6
47. Kc4 Kb7 48. Kc3 a5 49. Re4 b5 50. axb5 cxb5 51. Kd3 R5d6 52. Kc3 Kb6 53.
Kd3 a4 54. bxa4 bxa4 55. Kc4 a3 56. Kb3 Rxd4 57. Re1 Rd3+ 58. Ka2 Kb5 59. Rb1+
Ka4 60. Rc1 Rd2+ 61. Ka1 Kb3 62. Rb1+ Rb2 63. Rc1 Ra2+ 64. Kb1 Rad2 65. Ka1 Rd1
66. Rb1+ Rxb1+ 67. Kxb1 Rd1# 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.15"]
[Round "7.2"]
[White "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2702"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 g6 6. Be2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. c3
c5 9. Bf3 cxd4 10. Qxd4 Nc6 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Qh4 e5 13. Qxd8 Rxd8 14. Na3 f5
15. Bg5 Re8 16. Rad1 h6 17. Bc1 Ba6 18. Rfe1 e4 19. Be2 Bxe2 20. Rxe2 Kf7 21.
Nc4 Rad8 22. Ree1 Re6 23. Be3 Rd7 24. Bc5 Bf8 25. Bxf8 Kxf8 26. f3 Ke7 27. Kf2
exf3 28. Rxe6+ Kxe6 29. Kxf3 Nf6 30. Rxd7 Nxd7 31. Ke3 g5 32. b4 Kd5 33. Na5
f4+ 34. Ke2 Ne5 35. Nb3 g4 36. Nd4 Ke4 37. a4 f3+ 38. gxf3+ gxf3+ 39. Kf2 Kd3
40. b5 cxb5 41. axb5 Ke4 42. h3 Nd3+ 43. Kg3 f2 44. Kg2 Kd5 45. Nc6 Kc5 46.
Nxa7 Nf4+ 47. Kxf2 Nxh3+ 48. Ke3 Ng5 49. Nc6 Kxb5 50. Nd4+ Kc4 51. Nf5 Kxc3 52.
Nxh6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.15"]
[Round "7.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2702"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. c3 d6 8. Bg5 h6
9. Bh4 Bb6 10. Nbd2 Rb8 11. Nf1 Ne7 12. Bxf6 gxf6 13. Nh4 Be6 14. Qh5 Kd7 15.
Ne3 Qg8 16. g3 Qg5 17. Qe2 a5 18. Nf3 Qg6 19. Nh4 Qg5 20. d4 exd4 21. cxd4 Bxd4
22. Nf3 Qc5 23. O-O Bxe3 24. fxe3 a4 25. Rac1 Qb4 26. Bxe6+ fxe6 27. Nd4 c5 28.
a3 Qa5 29. Rxf6 cxd4 30. Qg4 Qd2 31. Qxe6+ Ke8 32. Rc7 Qxe3+ 33. Kg2 Rh7 34.
Qd7# 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.15"]
[Round "7.4"]
[White "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2702"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 g6 6. Bd3 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8.
Re1 Nd7 9. Nf3 c5 10. c4 Nb4 11. d5 b5 12. Be4 Nf6 13. a3 Nxe4 14. axb4 Nd6 15.
bxc5 Nxc4 16. Nc3 b4 17. Na4 e6 18. d6 Bb7 19. Bg5 Bxf3 20. Qc1 f6 21. gxf3
Nxd6 22. cxd6 fxg5 23. Rxe6 Rc8 24. Qd1 Qa5 25. Qb3 Kh8 26. Rd1 Qf5 27. d7 Rcd8
28. Qd5 Qf4 29. Qe4 Qc7 30. Qc6 Qxc6 31. Rxc6 Bf6 32. b3 Be7 33. Re6 Rf7 34.
Rd5 Kg7 35. Ra6 Bf8 36. Rxa7 Kf6 37. Ra6+ Kg7 38. Nb6 Rf6 39. Ra8 Be7 40. Rxd8
Bxd8 41. Nc8 Rc6 42. Rd3 Rc1+ 43. Kg2 Rc3 44. Rd4 Rxb3 45. Nd6 Rc3 46. Nb7 Bf6
47. d8=Q Bxd8 48. Nxd8 b3 49. Ne6+ Kf6 50. Nc7 Ke5 51. Re4+ Kd6 52. Nb5+ Kc5
53. Nxc3 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.15"]
[Round "7.5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2702"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 g6 7. O-O Bg7 8. Re1
O-O 9. Nbd2 Bd7 10. Nf1 Qe8 11. Ng3 Nd4 12. cxd4 Bxa4 13. b3 Bb5 14. a4 Bd7 15.
dxe5 Ng4 16. d4 dxe5 17. h3 Nh6 18. dxe5 Rd8 19. Bg5 f6 20. exf6 Bxf6 21. Bxh6
Bxa1 22. Qxa1 Rf7 23. Ng5 Re7 24. e5 Bc6 25. N3e4 Bxe4 26. Nxe4 Qc6 27. e6 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.15"]
[Round "7.6"]
[White "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B50"]
[WhiteElo "2702"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "133"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 a6 3. Nf3 d6 4. g3 Bg4 5. h3 Bxf3 6. Qxf3 Nc6 7. Bg2 g6 8. O-O
Bg7 9. Ne2 Nf6 10. c3 Nd7 11. Rd1 Nde5 12. Qe3 c4 13. b3 O-O 14. f4 Nd3 15.
bxc4 Nxc1 16. Raxc1 Rc8 17. Rb1 Qa5 18. Rxb7 Qxa2 19. d3 Rb8 20. Rxb8 Rxb8 21.
e5 Qa4 22. Rf1 dxe5 23. Qe4 Rc8 24. f5 Qc2 25. g4 Bf6 26. Qe3 g5 27. Rc1 Qb2
28. Ng3 Na5 29. Ne4 h6 30. Rf1 Nb3 31. Qb6 Kg7 32. Qb7 Rf8 33. Nc5 Qxc3 34.
Nxb3 Qxd3 35. Na5 Rd8 36. Qe4 Qc3 37. Nc6 Rd2 38. Kh1 a5 39. Na7 a4 40. Nb5 Qb2
41. Qf3 a3 42. Nxa3 e4 43. Qxe4 Qxa3 44. Qf3 Qb2 45. Qe4 Rc2 46. c5 Rxc5 47.
Qf3 Rc1 48. Qe4 Rxf1+ 49. Bxf1 Be5 50. Qg2 Qc1 51. Qe2 Qf4 52. Qg2 h5 53. gxh5
Qxf5 54. Qe2 Qf4 55. Qg2 Kh6 56. Qe2 f5 57. Qg2 Qe4 58. Qxe4 fxe4 59. Be2 Bf4
60. Bg4 e5 61. Kg2 e3 62. Kf1 e4 63. Ke2 Be5 64. Kf1 Bf4 65. Ke2 Be5 66. Kd1
Bf4 67. Ke2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.15"]
[Round "7.7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C00"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2702"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 Nf6 5. d3 d5 6. Qe2 Be7 7. e5 Nd7 8. c4 Qc7
9. cxd5 exd5 10. Nc3 Nb6 11. Bf4 Be6 12. h4 Qd7 13. O-O h6 14. Qd2 O-O-O 15. a4
a5 16. Nb5 g5 17. hxg5 hxg5 18. Nxg5 Bxg5 19. Bxg5 Bh3 20. f4 Bxg2 21. Qxg2
Rdg8 22. Bf6 Rh6 23. Kf2 Rhg6 24. Bh4 Kb8 25. Rac1 Nb4 26. Qf3 Nxa4 27. Nd6
Nxb2 28. Rc3 Rxd6 29. exd6 Qxd6 30. Rb3 Na4 31. Ra1 b5 32. Qe2 c4 33. dxc4 dxc4
34. Re3 Nc5 35. Rxa5 Ncd3+ 36. Kf1 Qc6 37. Qf3 Nd5 38. Rxd3 cxd3 39. Qxd3 Nc7
40. Kf2 Qb6+ 41. Kg2 Qxa5 42. Bf6 Qa8+ 43. Kf2 Qc6 44. Be5 Kb7 45. Qb3 Nd5 46.
Qa3 Rc8 47. Qf3 Qc2+ 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.15"]
[Round "7.8"]
[White "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2702"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 g6 6. Bd3 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8.
Re1 Nd7 9. Nf3 c5 10. c4 Nb4 11. d5 Nxd3 12. Qxd3 b5 13. cxb5 Nb6 14. Nc3 Bb7
15. Bg5 Nxd5 16. Na4 Rc8 17. Bxe7 c4 18. Qe4 Qxe7 19. Qxe7 Nxe7 20. Rxe7 Bxf3
21. gxf3 Rb8 22. Rc1 Rxb5 23. Rxc4 a5 24. b3 Rg5+ 25. Kf1 Rh5 26. Kg2 Rg5+ 27.
Kf1 Rh5 28. h4 Bf6 29. Ree4 Rd8 30. Ke2 Rhd5 31. Rc2 Rh5 32. Rcc4 Kg7 33. Rc5
Rdd5 34. Rxd5 Rxd5 35. Nb6 Rh5 36. Nc4 Bxh4 37. Re8 Rg5 38. Kf1 Rd5 39. Ra8 Bd8
40. Ne3 Rd7 41. Nc4 Rd5 42. Ne3 Rd4 43. Nc4 h5 44. Nxa5 h4 45. Nc6 Rd1+ 46. Kg2
Bb6 47. Ra6 Bc5 48. b4 Bd6 49. b5 Rd2 50. Ra4 Bc5 51. Rxh4 Rxf2+ 52. Kh3 Rxa2
53. Rc4 Bb6 54. Ne5 Rb2 55. Rc6 Rxb5 56. Nc4 Bd4 57. Nd6 Rd5 58. Ne4 Kh6 59.
Rc7 f5 60. Ng3 Be5 61. Rb7 Rd3 62. Kg2 Rd2+ 63. Kh3 Rf2 64. Rb3 Kg5 65. Ra3 Kf4
66. Nh1 Rxf3+ 67. Ng3 Rxa3 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.15"]
[Round "7.9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2702"]
[PlyCount "142"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 Bd6 5. Bg3 c5 6. Nbd2 Qc7 7. dxc5 Qxc5 8.
c4 dxc4 9. Rc1 Bxg3 10. hxg3 O-O 11. Bxc4 Qb6 12. Bb3 Bd7 13. Nc4 Qb4+ 14. Qd2
Qxd2+ 15. Nfxd2 Na6 16. Nd6 Bc6 17. f3 Rfd8 18. N6c4 Nb4 19. Ke2 Bb5 20. a3 Nd3
21. Rc2 Rac8 22. Rd1 Nc5 23. Ba2 Ba4 24. b3 Bb5 25. Nb1 Rxd1 26. Kxd1 Nd5 27.
Nbd2 f5 28. Ke2 Kf8 29. e4 fxe4 30. fxe4 Nf6 31. Ke3 Ke7 32. Ne5 Kd6 33. Ndf3
Rc7 34. b4 Ncxe4 35. Rxc7 Kxc7 36. g4 h6 37. Bxe6 Kd6 38. Bf5 Nc3 39. Nf7+ Ke7
40. N7e5 Be8 41. Kd4 Nb5+ 42. Kc4 Nxa3+ 43. Kb3 Nb5 44. Bd3 Nd6 45. Kc3 Bd7 46.
g5 Nfe4+ 47. Kd4 Nxg5 48. Nxg5 hxg5 49. Nxd7 Kxd7 50. Kd5 Ne8 51. Bb5+ Ke7 52.
Ke5 Nd6 53. Bd3 Nf7+ 54. Kf5 g6+ 55. Ke4 Ke6 56. Kd4 Ne5 57. Be4 Kd6 58. Bd5 b6
59. Be4 Nd7 60. b5 Ne5 61. Bc2 Nd7 62. Bxg6 Nc5 63. Bc2 Ne6+ 64. Ke4 Ke7 65.
Ke5 Nc5 66. Be4 Nd7+ 67. Kf5 Nf6 68. Bc6 g4 69. g3 Ng8 70. Kg5 Nf6 71. Kf5 Kf7
0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.15"]
[Round "7.10"]
[White "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2702"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 g6 6. Bd3 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8.
Re1 Nd7 9. Nf3 c5 10. c4 Nb4 11. d5 Nxd3 12. Qxd3 b5 13. cxb5 Nb6 14. Nc3 Bb7
15. Bg5 Nxd5 16. Na4 Nb6 17. Qxd8 Rfxd8 18. Nxc5 Bxf3 19. gxf3 Rd5 20. Bxe7
Bxb2 21. Rab1 Ba3 22. Na6 Bxe7 23. Rxe7 Rf5 24. Rb3 Nd5 25. Nc7 Nxe7 26. Nxa8
Rc5 27. b6 axb6 28. Nxb6 Nf5 29. Rb4 Rc3 30. a4 Ra3 31. Nc4 Ra2 32. Ne3 Nxe3
33. fxe3 Kg7 34. Rc4 g5 35. Rb4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.15"]
[Round "7.11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2702"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. a3 e6 7. g4 h6 8. h4 Nc6
9. Rg1 h5 10. gxh5 Nxh5 11. Bg5 Qb6 12. Nb3 Bd7 13. Be2 g6 14. Qd2 Rc8 15. Be3
Qc7 16. O-O-O b5 17. f4 Na5 18. Nxa5 Qxa5 19. Bd4 Rh7 20. Kb1 b4 21. Na2 Nxf4
22. Qxf4 e5 23. Qf2 exd4 24. Nxb4 Rb8 25. h5 gxh5 26. Rg8 Qb6 27. Bc4 a5 28.
Nd3 Rg7 29. Rxg7 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.15"]
[Round "7.12"]
[White "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C90"]
[WhiteElo "2702"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. c3 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nbd2 Re8 8. Re1
a6 9. Ba4 Bf8 10. Nf1 b5 11. Bb3 h6 12. Ng3 Be6 13. Bc2 d5 14. exd5 Bxd5 15.
Qe2 g6 16. h3 Bg7 17. Be3 Nd7 18. Bb3 Bxb3 19. axb3 f5 20. Nf1 Nf6 21. b4 Qd7
22. Qc2 Kh7 23. Bc5 Nd5 24. Ng3 Qf7 25. Ra3 a5 26. bxa5 Rxa5 27. Rxa5 Nxa5 28.
Nf1 Nb7 29. Be3 Nxe3 30. Nxe3 Nd6 31. Ra1 Rd8 32. Nd2 Rd7 33. Nb3 f4 34. Nf1 f3
35. g3 Qf5 36. Kh2 Nf7 37. Ne3 Qxd3 38. Qxd3 Rxd3 39. Ra7 Rd7 40. Nc5 Rd2 41.
Ne4 Rxb2 42. Rxc7 Ng5 43. Nf6+ Kh8 44. Rc8+ Bf8 45. Neg4 h5 46. h4 hxg4 47.
Nxg4 Kg7 48. hxg5 Be7 49. Rc7 Kf7 50. Nxe5+ Ke6 51. Ng4 Bxg5 52. Rc6+ Kf5 53.
Kh3 Bd2 54. Rc5+ Ke4 55. Re5+ Kd3 56. c4 bxc4 57. Rd5+ Ke2 58. Re5+ Kf1 59.
Nh2+ Kxf2 60. Ng4+ Kf1 61. Rd5 Bf4 62. Nh2+ Rxh2+ 63. Kxh2 f2 64. gxf4 Ke2 65.
Re5+ Kf3 66. f5 f1=Q 67. fxg6 Qg2# 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.15"]
[Round "7.13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B40"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2702"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. b3 Nc6 4. Bb2 d5 5. exd5 exd5 6. Bb5 Nge7 7. O-O a6 8.
Bxc6+ Nxc6 9. Re1+ Be7 10. Bxg7 Rg8 11. Bf6 Be6 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. d4 O-O-O 14.
Nbd2 cxd4 15. Nf1 Qf6 16. Ng3 Bg4 17. Qd3 h5 18. h4 Bxf3 19. Qxf3 Qxf3 20. gxf3
Rd6 21. Kg2 Rf6 22. Rh1 Ne5 23. Rad1 Rf4 24. Kf1 Rxf3 25. Nxh5 Rf5 26. Rxd4 Nc6
27. Rf4 Rxh5 28. Rxf7 Rg4 29. Rh3 Rhxh4 30. Rhf3 Rh1+ 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.15"]
[Round "7.14"]
[White "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C28"]
[WhiteElo "2702"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bc4 Nc6 4. d3 Na5 5. Bb3 Nxb3 6. axb3 d5 7. Nf3 dxe4 8.
Nxe5 exd3 9. O-O Be7 10. Nxd3 O-O 11. Qf3 c6 12. h3 Re8 13. Rd1 Be6 14. Be3 Qc7
15. Bf4 Qc8 16. Be5 Nd7 17. Bd4 b6 18. Ne4 c5 19. Bc3 f6 20. Nf4 Bf7 21. Rd2
Nf8 22. Rad1 Qc7 23. Qg3 Qc6 24. Nxf6+ Bxf6 25. Rd6 Qe4 26. Bxf6 Ng6 27. Nh5
Qxc2 28. Bxg7 Bxb3 29. Bc3 Re7 30. Nf6+ Kf7 31. Nxh7 Rae8 32. Ng5+ Kg8 33. Ne4
Qxe4 34. Rxg6+ Kf8 35. Rdd6 Rf7 36. Rgf6 Ke7 37. Rxf7+ 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.15"]
[Round "7.15"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E48"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2702"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 c5 6. Nge2 d5 7. cxd5 cxd4 8.
exd4 exd5 9. O-O h6 10. a3 Ba5 11. f3 Nc6 12. g4 Bb6 13. Bc2 Re8 14. Kh1 Nh7
15. Qd3 Nf8 16. Rg1 Ng6 17. Bd2 Be6 18. f4 Bd7 19. Raf1 Nf8 20. f5 Qh4 21. g5
Bc7 22. Bf4 Bxf4 23. Rxf4 Qh5 24. gxh6 Qxh6 25. Rfg4 Nh7 26. Rxg7+ Qxg7 27.
Rxg7+ Kxg7 28. Qg3+ Kh8 29. f6 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.15"]
[Round "7.16"]
[White "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B50"]
[WhiteElo "2702"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "129"]
[EventDate "2019.09.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 195 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.05.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 a6 3. Nf3 d6 4. g3 Bg4 5. Bg2 Nc6 6. h3 Bxf3 7. Qxf3 g6 8. O-O
Bg7 9. Ne2 Nf6 10. c3 Nd7 11. Rd1 Qb6 12. Qe3 O-O 13. d4 cxd4 14. cxd4 Rac8 15.
Rb1 Rc7 16. h4 Rfc8 17. Bh3 h5 18. Qd2 e6 19. d5 exd5 20. Qxd5 Nf6 21. Qd3 Ne5
22. Qe3 Qxe3 23. Bxe3 Re8 24. Nc3 Nc4 25. Bd4 Ng4 26. Nd5 Rc6 27. f3 Bxd4+ 28.
Rxd4 Nge5 29. Kf2 Kg7 30. Bf1 Rd8 31. b3 Nb6 32. Ne3 Kf6 33. Rbd1 Ke7 34. Be2
Rdc8 35. R1d2 R8c7 36. f4 Ned7 37. Bf3 Nf8 38. R4d3 Ne6 39. e5 dxe5 40. Bxc6
Rxc6 41. fxe5 Nc5 42. Rd4 Ke6 43. Rd6+ Kxe5 44. Rxc6 bxc6 45. Rc2 Ne4+ 46. Kf3
c5 47. Re2 f5 48. Ng2 Nd5 49. Nf4 Nxf4 50. gxf4+ Kd4 51. Rg2 Nc3 52. Rxg6 Nxa2
53. Rg5 Nc1 54. Rxh5 Nxb3 55. Rh8 c4 56. Rd8+ Kc3 57. h5 Nd4+ 58. Rxd4 Kxd4 59.
h6 c3 60. h7 Kd3 61. h8=Q c2 62. Qb2 Kd2 63. Qd4+ Kc1 64. Ke2 a5 65. Qa1# 1-0

[Event "World Fischer Random"]
[Site "Hovikodden"]
[Date "2019.10.27"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2812"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rbknbnqr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RBKNBNQR w HAha - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2019.10.04"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 f6 2. e4 d5 3. f3 c6 4. Bg3 Bxg3 5. Nxg3 Nde6 6. exd5 cxd5 7. c4 O-O-O 8.
Nc3 Nc7 9. Qe3 dxc4 10. Qxe7 Ng6 11. Bf5+ Bd7 12. Qe4 Qf7 13. O-O Rhe8 14. Qg4
Kb8 15. Rfe1 Bc6 16. Rad1 Rxe1+ 17. Rxe1 Ne7 18. d5 Bxd5 19. Nxd5 Qxd5 20. Bxh7
g6 21. Qe4 Qc5+ 22. Kh1 f5 23. Qh4 Rd7 24. Qh6 Qe5 25. Qc1 Qg7 26. Bxg6 Qxg6
27. Qxc4 a6 28. Qf4 Qe6 29. Qb4 Qxa2 30. Nxf5 Ncd5 31. Qd4 Qa5 32. Qe5+ Qc7 33.
Nxe7 Rxe7 34. Qh8+ Ka7 35. Qd4+ Qb6 36. Qxb6+ Kxb6 37. Rxe7 Nxe7 38. g4 Kc5 39.
Kg2 a5 40. h4 a4 41. f4 b5 42. f5 Kd6 43. h5 Ke5 44. h6 Kf6 45. Kf3 b4 46. Ke4
a3 47. g5+ Kf7 48. h7 Ng6 0-1

[Event "World Fischer Random"]
[Site "Hovikodden"]
[Date "2019.10.27"]
[Round "2.2"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2812"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rbknbnqr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RBKNBNQR w HAha - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2019.10.04"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 f5 2. Nd2 Nc6 3. c3 Bg6 4. f4 d5 5. g4 e6 6. Ne3 fxg4 7. Qxg4 Bxb1 8.
Rxb1 Ne7 9. Bh4 Nfg6 10. Bxe7 Nxe7 11. f5 c6 12. O-O g5 13. f6 h5 14. f7 hxg4
15. fxg8=Q+ Nxg8 16. Nxg4 Bd6 17. Nf3 Nh6 18. Nxh6 Rxh6 19. Ne5 Kc7 20. Rf7+
Kb6 21. Rbf1 Bxe5 22. dxe5 Rah8 23. R1f2 g4 24. R7f6 Rh3 25. Rg2 Re3 26. Rxe6
a5 27. Kf2 Re4 28. Re7 Rh5 29. Ke1 Rh3 30. e6 a4 31. a3 Ka6 32. Re8 Kb5 33. e7
Rh7 34. Rg8 Rhxe7 35. R8xg4 Kc4 36. Rxe4+ dxe4 37. h4 e3 38. Rg4+ Kb3 39. Rb4+
Kc2 40. Rxa4 Kxb2 41. h5 Kxc3 42. h6 Rh7 43. Rh4 b5 44. Kf1 c5 45. Rh5 c4 46.
Kg2 Kd2 47. Kf3 c3 48. Rd5+ Kc1 49. Rd6 c2 50. Rb6 Kd2 51. Rd6+ Kc3 0-1

[Event "World Fischer Random"]
[Site "Hovikodden"]
[Date "2019.10.28"]
[Round "2.3"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2812"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "nrbbkrqn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NRBBKRQN w FBfb - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2019.10.04"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. f4 b6 2. f5 f6 3. Nb3 c5 4. d3 d5 5. Ng3 e5 6. fxe6 Qxe6 7. Qf2 O-O 8. O-O
Ng6 9. e4 dxe4 10. Nxe4 Nc7 11. Bh5 Qd5 12. Bf3 Qd7 13. Ng3 Ne6 14. Be4 Bc7 15.
Bd2 Bb7 16. Bxb7 Rxb7 17. Rbe1 Rbb8 18. Re4 f5 19. Ree1 Rbe8 20. Bc3 Nef4 21.
Bd2 Rxe1 22. Rxe1 Nd5 23. c4 Nde7 24. d4 f4 25. Nf1 f3 26. gxf3 Nf5 27. Re4
cxd4 28. Nxd4 Ne5 29. Nb5 Nh4 30. f4 Nef3+ 31. Kh1 Qc6 32. Nc3 Ng5 33. Ng3 Nxe4
34. Ngxe4 Qxc4 35. h3 Ng6 36. f5 Qd3 37. Be3 Be5 0-1

[Event "World Fischer Random"]
[Site "Hovikodden"]
[Date "2019.10.28"]
[Round "2.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2812"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "nrbbkrqn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NRBBKRQN w FBfb - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "139"]
[EventDate "2019.10.04"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. f4 b6 2. f5 Bb7 3. g4 e6 4. Ng3 Bh4 5. e3 O-O-O 6. Bf3 d5 7. d4 f6 8. Bd2 e5
9. O-O-O Nf7 10. Nb3 Rfe8 11. Be1 Bg5 12. Kb1 Nd6 13. dxe5 fxe5 14. h4 Bxh4 15.
Qh1 Bxg3 16. Bxg3 Nc4 17. Rfe1 c5 18. Nd2 Nd6 19. Qh2 Nf7 20. g5 Nxg5 21. Bg4
Bc6 22. Bxe5 Kb7 23. Bf4 h6 24. Bxg5 hxg5 25. Nf3 Qh8 26. Qxh8 Rxh8 27. Nxg5
Rh4 28. Bf3 Nc7 29. Nf7 Rf8 30. Nd6+ Kb8 31. e4 dxe4 32. Bxe4 Bxe4 33. Nxe4 Nb5
34. Nd6 Nxd6 35. Rxd6 Rxf5 36. Rd7 Re4 37. Rh1 Rfe5 38. b4 Re1+ 39. Rxe1 Rxe1+
40. Kb2 cxb4 41. Rxg7 Re3 42. Rh7 a5 43. Rg7 Rc3 44. Rh7 Rc7 45. Rh3 Kb7 46. a3
bxa3+ 47. Rxa3 Rc4 48. Rh3 Kc6 49. c3 Rc5 50. Rh6+ Kb5 51. Kb3 Rg5 52. Rh4 Kc6
53. Rc4+ Kb7 54. Rh4 Rg6 55. Rf4 b5 56. Rf5 Kb6 57. Rf8 Rd6 58. Rb8+ Kc5 59.
Rc8+ Rc6 60. Rh8 a4+ 61. Kb2 Rg6 62. Rc8+ Kb6 63. Rb8+ Kc6 64. c4 bxc4 65. Kc3
a3 66. Kxc4 Rg1 67. Ra8 Ra1 68. Kb3 Kb7 69. Rxa3 Rxa3+ 70. Kxa3 1/2-1/2

[Event "World Fischer Random"]
[Site "Hovikodden"]
[Date "2019.10.29"]
[Round "2.5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2812"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "bnnrkqrb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BNNRKQRB w GDgd - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2019.10.04"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 g6 2. e3 b6 3. Qe2 Nd6 4. d4 Qh6 5. O-O O-O 6. Nc3 e6 7. b3 Nc6 8. d5
exd5 9. cxd5 Ne7 10. g3 Rde8 11. Qd3 a5 12. N1e2 Bb7 13. Bb2 f5 14. Ba3 Be5 15.
Nd4 Qg7 16. f4 Bf6 17. Bxd6 cxd6 18. Rfe1 Rc8 19. Ncb5 Ba6 20. Qb1 Bxd4 21.
Nxd4 Rc5 22. b4 axb4 23. Qxb4 Bc4 24. Qxb6 Qf6 25. Qb7 Rd8 26. a4 Kg7 27. a5
Nxd5 28. a6 Nc7 29. Nc6 dxc6 30. Qxc7+ Kh6 31. a7 Ra8 32. Qb7 Qf8 33. Bxc6 Rxa7
34. Qxa7 Rxc6 35. Qd4 d5 36. Ra1 Rc7 37. Ra7 Qb4 38. Rea1 Rxa7 39. Qxa7 Qd2 40.
Qe7 d4 41. Qh4+ Kg7 42. Qe7+ Kh6 43. Qg5+ Kg7 44. Qe7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "World Fischer Random"]
[Site "Hovikodden"]
[Date "2019.10.29"]
[Round "2.6"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2812"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "bnnrkqrb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BNNRKQRB w GDgd - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2019.10.04"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. g3 d5 2. b3 e6 3. Qh3 g5 4. Bxh8 Rxh8 5. O-O h5 6. c4 d4 7. e3 Nc6 8. Ne2 d3
9. Nec3 N8e7 10. Ne4 Qh6 11. f4 g4 12. Qg2 h4 13. Nbc3 O-O-O 14. Ng5 Rdf8 15.
b4 hxg3 16. hxg3 Nxb4 17. Rb1 Nbc6 18. Kf2 f5 19. Rb3 e5 20. Nd5 e4 21. Nxe4
fxe4 22. Qxe4 Qh2+ 23. Bg2 Nf5 24. Qe6+ Kd8 25. Rxd3 Qxg3+ 26. Kg1 Ncd4 27.
Rxd4 Qh2+ 28. Kf2 Qh4+ 29. Kg1 Nxd4 30. exd4 b6 31. Qe5 Rh7 32. f5 g3 33. Re1
Rhf7 34. Re4 Qh2+ 35. Kf1 Rxf5+ 36. Rf4 Rxf4+ 0-1

[Event "World Fischer Random"]
[Site "Hovikodden"]
[Date "2019.10.29"]
[Round "2.7"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2812"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "brnkrbqn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BRNKRBQN w EBeb - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2019.10.04"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. b3 b6 3. f3 Ng6 4. Ng3 f6 5. d4 Bb4 6. Re3 d5 7. Bb5 c6 8. Ba6 exd4
9. Bxd4 Nd6 10. Nd3 Ba3 11. b4 dxe4 12. Nxe4 Nf5 13. Re2 Qd5 14. Bxf6+ Kc7 15.
Rb3 Bxb4 16. Rxb4 gxf6 17. Nxf6 Qf7 18. Nxe8+ Rxe8 19. Rxe8 Qxe8 20. Re4 Qh8
21. Qe1 Qa1+ 22. Nc1 c5 23. Re8 Qd4+ 24. Nd3 Bd5 25. Rc8+ Kd6 26. Qe8 Qg1+ 27.
Kd2 Nfe7 28. Rd8+ Ke6 29. Rxd5 Qxg2+ 30. Kc3 Qxf3 31. Bc8+ Kf6 32. Rd6+ Kg5 33.
Qd8 Kh5 34. h3 Qf7 35. Bg4+ Kh6 36. Re6 Qg7+ 37. Ne5 Kg5 38. Qd2+ Kh4 39. Qf2+
Kg5 40. Qe3+ Kh4 41. Kb3 Nd5 42. Nf3+ Kg3 43. Qg1+ 1-0

[Event "World Fischer Random"]
[Site "Hovikodden"]
[Date "2019.10.29"]
[Round "2.8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2812"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "brnkrbqn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BRNKRBQN w EBeb - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2019.10.04"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 f5 2. b3 Ng6 3. Nd3 b6 4. O-O-O Nd6 5. f3 O-O-O 6. Ng3 f4 7. Nh5 Qd5 8.
Nhxf4 Nxf4 9. Nxf4 Qa5 10. e4 e5 11. dxe5 Nf7 12. Kb1 Bb4 13. Re2 Nxe5 14. Qe3
Bc5 15. Qd2 Bb4 16. Qc1 Ba3 17. Bb2 Bxb2 18. Qxb2 Qc5 19. Red2 a5 20. Nd5 Bc6
21. a3 Kb7 22. b4 axb4 23. axb4 Qf8 24. Ne3 d6 25. Nc4 Ra8 26. b5 Bd7 27. Nxd6+
cxd6 28. Rxd6 Ra7 29. Rxd7+ Nxd7 30. Rxd7+ Kb8 31. Rxa7 Kxa7 32. Bc4 Qc5 33.
Bd5 Re7 34. Qa2+ Kb8 35. Qa8+ Kc7 36. Qc6+ Qxc6 37. bxc6 Re5 38. f4 Rh5 39. h3
Rh4 40. f5 Rf4 41. g4 h6 42. c4 Rf3 43. e5 Rxh3 44. f6 gxf6 45. exf6 Re3 46. f7
Re1+ 47. Kc2 Rf1 48. Kd3 Kd6 49. Ke4 Rf6 50. c7 Kxc7 51. Ke5 Rf1 52. Ke6 Kd8
53. Be4 1-0

[Event "World Fischer Random"]
[Site "Hovikodden"]
[Date "2019.10.31"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2767"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "qnbrkbrn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/QNBRKBRN w GDgd - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "191"]
[EventDate "2019.10.04"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 dxc4 4. e3 a6 5. a4 b6 6. Bxc4 Bb7 7. Qb1 Ng6 8. e4
Bb4 9. Ng3 c5 10. d5 exd5 11. exd5 O-O 12. O-O Ne5 13. Ba2 c4 14. Qe4 Bxc3 15.
bxc3 Rfe8 16. Bxc4 Nbd7 17. Nf5 Nf6 18. Qh4 Bxd5 19. Bxd5 Rxd5 20. Rxd5 Nxd5
21. Nxg7 Kxg7 22. c4 Re6 23. Qg3+ Ng6 24. cxd5 Qxd5 25. h3 Re2 26. Be3 b5 27.
Rc1 h5 28. axb5 axb5 29. Kh2 Qe5 30. Qxe5+ Nxe5 31. Rc5 Nd3 32. Rxh5 Nxf2 33.
Bd4+ Kg6 34. Rxb5 Ne4 35. h4 f5 36. Kh3 Rd2 37. Rb6+ Kh5 38. Be3 Rd6 39. Rb5
Kg6 40. Rb3 Rd1 41. g3 Rh1+ 42. Kg2 Re1 43. Rb6+ Kf7 44. Bf4 Re2+ 45. Kf3 Rf2+
46. Ke3 Ra2 47. Rb3 Nf6 48. Bb8 Ra6 49. Kf3 Kg6 50. Be5 Re6 51. Rb5 Ra6 52. Bb2
Nh5 53. Rb8 Ra5 54. Rg8+ Kf7 55. Rg5 Nf6 56. Kf4 Rb5 57. Be5 Ke6 58. Ba1 Ra5
59. Bxf6 Kxf6 60. Rg8 Ra4+ 61. Kf3 Ra3+ 62. Kg2 Ra2+ 63. Kh3 Ra1 64. Rb8 Ra2
65. Rb6+ Kg7 66. Rb4 Kg6 67. Rf4 Rb2 68. Rf1 Ra2 69. Rb1 Rc2 70. Rb6+ Kh5 71.
Rf6 Rf2 72. Rf8 Kg6 73. Rg8+ Kf7 74. Ra8 Rb2 75. h5 Kg7 76. Ra6 Rb4 77. Rg6+
Kf7 78. Kg2 Rb2+ 79. Kh3 Rb4 80. Rc6 Kg7 81. Ra6 Rc4 82. h6+ Kh7 83. Rf6 Ra4
84. Kg2 Ra3 85. Rxf5 Kxh6 86. Rf3 Rxf3 87. Kxf3 Kg5 88. g4 Kg6 89. Kf4 Kf6 90.
g5+ Kg6 91. Kg4 Kf7 92. Kf5 Kg7 93. g6 Kg8 94. Kf6 Kf8 95. g7+ Kg8 96. Kg6
1/2-1/2

[Event "World Fischer Random"]
[Site "Hovikodden"]
[Date "2019.10.31"]
[Round "3.2"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2767"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "qnbrkbrn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/QNBRKBRN w GDgd - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "143"]
[EventDate "2019.10.04"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 b6 2. Ng3 Ba6 3. b3 e6 4. c4 d5 5. e3 Be7 6. Nc3 Ng6 7. Bd3 O-O 8. O-O
Nd7 9. cxd5 Bxd3 10. Rxd3 exd5 11. Nf5 Rfe8 12. Nxe7+ Rxe7 13. b4 Nf6 14. b5 c6
15. a4 h5 16. h3 Qc8 17. bxc6 Re6 18. f3 Rxc6 19. e4 dxe4 20. fxe4 Ne5 21. Re3
Nc4 22. Ref3 Rxd4 23. Nd5 Rxe4 24. Bh6 Ne8 25. Bxg7 Nd2 26. Rxf7 Nxf1 27. Rf8+
Kh7 28. Be5 Rc1 29. Rh8+ Kg6 30. Ne7+ Kf7 31. Rh7+ Ke6 32. Nxc8 Rxa1 33. Bxa1
Ng3 34. Rxa7 Nf5 35. Bh8 Re2 36. g4 hxg4 37. hxg4 Ne3 38. Re7+ Kd5 39. Rxe8
Rg2+ 40. Kh1 Rxg4 41. Rxe3 Rh4+ 42. Kg2 Rxh8 43. Nxb6+ Kc5 44. Rb3 Rh4 45. Rb5+
Kc6 46. Rb1 Rh5 47. Nc4 Rh4 48. Nb6 Rh5 49. Nc4 Rh4 50. Nb2 Kb6 51. Kg3 Rd4 52.
Kf3 Ka5 53. Ke3 Rd8 54. Rh1 Rd5 55. Rh4 Rg5 56. Kd3 Rc5 57. Rc4 Rh5 58. Kc2 Rh3
59. Rc3 Rh6 60. Kb3 Rb6+ 61. Ka3 Rc6 62. Rc4 Rh6 63. Rc5+ Ka6 64. Kb4 Rh1 65.
Rc6+ Ka7 66. Nc4 Kb7 67. Rb6+ Ka7 68. Rg6 Rb1+ 69. Ka5 Rh1 70. Rg7+ Kb8 71. Ka6
Rh5 72. Rg8+ 1-0

[Event "World Fischer Random"]
[Site "Hovikodden"]
[Date "2019.11.01"]
[Round "3.3"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2767"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rknbbqnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RKNBBQNR w HAha - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2019.10.04"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. dxc5 Qxc5 5. Nb3 Qc7 6. f4 Nb6 7. Be2 Ne7 8. Nf3
Nc4 9. Bd3 Nc8 10. a4 N8b6 11. a5 Na4 12. Bxc4 Qxc4 13. Qxc4 dxc4 14. Nbd4 Be7
15. Bh4 Bxh4 16. Nxh4 O-O-O 17. Nhf3 Rd5 18. b3 cxb3 19. cxb3 Nc5 20. Kc2 Bd7
21. b4 Na6 22. Kb3 Rd8 23. Rhc1+ Kb8 24. Rc4 Be8 25. Rac1 h6 26. h4 b5 27. R4c2
Kb7 28. Rd2 Nb8 29. Rcd1 Rc8 30. Ne2 Bc6 31. Nfd4 g5 32. Nxc6 Rxd2 33. Rxd2
Nxc6 34. Nc3 gxf4 35. Nxb5 Kb8 36. Rd7 a6 37. Nd6 Nd4+ 38. Ka4 Rg8 39. Nxf7 Nf5
40. Nd6 Nxh4 41. Rb7+ Ka8 42. Rb6 Nxg2 43. Rxa6+ Kb8 44. Rb6+ Ka8 45. Ra6+ Kb8
46. Rb6+ Ka8 47. Nb5 Ne3 48. Ra6+ Kb8 49. Rb6+ Ka8 50. Nc7+ Ka7 51. Rxe6 f3 52.
Rf6 Ng4 53. Nb5+ Kb8 54. Rxf3 Nxe5 55. Rf5 Rg5 56. Rf8+ Kb7 57. Nd6+ Kc6 58.
Nf7 Nxf7 59. Rxf7 h5 60. b5+ 1-0

[Event "World Fischer Random"]
[Site "Hovikodden"]
[Date "2019.11.01"]
[Round "3.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2767"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rknbbqnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RKNBBQNR w HAha - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2019.10.04"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. a4 e5 2. a5 d5 3. a6 b6 4. d3 Nd6 5. e4 dxe4 6. dxe4 Nxe4 7. Qe2 f5 8. f3
Nd6 9. Qxe5 Bf6 10. Qf4 O-O-O 11. Nge2 g5 12. Qe3 Bxb2 13. Bc3 Bxc3 14. Nxc3
Qf6 15. h4 Nc4 16. hxg5 Nxe3 17. gxf6 Nxf6 18. Nd3 Rg8 19. Be2 Rxg2 20. Nf4 Rg8
21. Bd3 Rd4 22. Nce2 Rd6 23. Kb2 c5 24. Rae1 c4 25. Nc3 cxd3 26. Rxe3 dxc2 27.
Rc1 Kb8 28. Rxc2 Bd7 29. Re7 b5 30. Rf7 Rxa6 31. Ncd5 Nxd5 32. Nxd5 Rd6 33. Ne7
Rh8 34. Rc5 a6 35. Nxf5 Bxf5 36. Rcxf5 h5 37. Re5 h4 38. Ree7 Rb6 39. Kc3 h3
40. Rh7 Rxh7 41. Rxh7 Rf6 42. Rxh3 Kb7 43. Kd4 Kb6 44. Ke5 Rf8 45. f4 b4 46. f5
a5 47. Rf3 a4 48. Kd4 Kb5 49. Kd3 Rc8 50. f6 b3 0-1

[Event "World Fischer Random"]
[Site "Hovikodden"]
[Date "2019.11.02"]
[Round "3.5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2767"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "nrkbqnbr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NRKBQNBR w HBhb - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2019.10.04"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nb3 f5 2. f3 Nb6 3. e4 fxe4 4. fxe4 e5 5. Ne3 Ne6 6. c3 Bg5 7. Bc2 O-O-O 8.
O-O-O Bf7 9. Kb1 Bh5 10. Rc1 Rf8 11. h4 Bxe3 12. Bxe3 Nf4 13. Rg1 Bg4 14. Bxf4
Rxf4 15. g3 Rf6 16. d4 d6 17. Bd3 Kb8 18. Ka1 Qf7 19. d5 Rf3 20. Bb1 Rf8 21. c4
Nd7 22. Qb4 b6 23. Na5 Nc5 24. Nc6+ Kb7 25. Na5+ Ka8 26. Nc6 Kb7 27. Na5+ Ka8
28. Nc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "World Fischer Random"]
[Site "Hovikodden"]
[Date "2019.11.02"]
[Round "3.6"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2767"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "nrkbqnbr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NRKBQNBR w HBhb - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2019.10.04"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. f4 Nb6 2. Nb3 d5 3. e4 dxe4 4. Qxe4 Nfd7 5. Ne3 c6 6. Bf2 Bc7 7. Nf5 e6 8.
Nxg7 Qf8 9. Nh5 h6 10. Be2 Bh7 11. Qf3 Rg8 12. Bd3 Bg6 13. Bxg6 fxg6 14. Ng3
Bxf4 15. O-O g5 16. Ne2 e5 17. g3 O-O-O 18. gxf4 exf4 19. Bxb6 axb6 20. Rbe1
Ne5 21. Qc3 Qd6 22. Ned4 g4 23. Nf5 Nf3+ 24. Kh1 Qd7 25. Ne7+ Kb8 26. Nxg8 Nxe1
27. Qe5+ Ka8 28. Nf6 Qf7 29. Rxf4 1-0

[Event "FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss"]
[Site "Douglas"]
[Date "2019.10.10"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kuzubov, Yuriy"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D51"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2636"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2019.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IOM"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.12.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.12.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 c6 7. Qc2 h6 8.
Bh4 g5 9. Bg3 Nh5 10. O-O-O Nxg3 11. hxg3 Nb6 12. e4 Be6 13. Bd3 Qf6 14. e5 Qg7
15. Nh2 g4 16. Ne2 O-O-O 17. Nf4 Qg5 18. Kb1 h5 19. Nf1 Rh6 20. Ne3 Kb8 21. Nf5
Bxf5 22. Bxf5 h4 23. Ne2 hxg3 24. Rxh6 Bxh6 25. Nxg3 Nc4 26. Bd3 Nd2+ 27. Ka1
Qf4 28. Nf5 Bg5 29. Nd6 Qxf2 30. Qc3 Rd7 31. Qb4 a5 32. Qxa5 Qxd4 33. Rxd2 Bxd2
34. Qxd2 Qxe5 35. Nf5 c5 36. Bb1 d4 37. Qd3 Qd5 38. Qg3+ Ka7 39. Qxg4 d3 40.
Ne3 Qd4 41. Qf3 d2 42. Nd1 Qc4 43. Qe3 Rd4 44. a3 Qc1 45. Qb3 Rd6 46. Ka2 c4
47. Qf3 Rb6 48. Bf5 Rb5 49. Qe3+ Ka6 50. Bg4 Qc2 51. Qc3 Qb3+ 52. Kb1 Rd5 1-0

[Event "FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss"]
[Site "Douglas"]
[Date "2019.10.11"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Sarana, Alexey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2655"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2019.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IOM"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.12.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.12.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 Bg7 11. Bd3 Ne7 12. Nxe7 Qxe7 13. c4 f5 14. O-O O-O
15. Qh5 d5 16. cxd5 Qd8 17. exf5 Qxd5 18. Rad1 e4 19. Bxb5 Qxf5 20. Qxf5 Bxf5
21. Bd7 Bxd7 22. Rxd7 Bxb2 23. Nc4 Bg7 24. g3 Rfd8 25. Rfd1 Rxd7 26. Rxd7 Rc8
27. Nd6 Rc1+ 28. Kg2 Rc2 29. Nxe4 Rxa2 30. Rd8+ Bf8 31. Nf6+ Kg7 32. Nh5+ Kg8
33. g4 a5 34. g5 a4 35. h4 Rb2 36. Nf6+ Kg7 37. h5 Rb5 38. f4 h6 39. Ng4 Ba3
40. Nxh6 Be7 41. Rd7 Bxg5 42. Nxf7 Rb2+ 43. Kf3 Bxf4 44. Ne5+ Kh6 45. Kxf4 a3
46. Rd5 Rb4+ 47. Kg3 a2 48. Ra5 a1=Q 49. Rxa1 Kxh5 50. Ra5 Rb1 51. Kf4 Rf1+ 52.
Nf3+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss"]
[Site "Douglas"]
[Date "2019.10.12"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kasimdzhanov, Rustam"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A37"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2657"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2019.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IOM"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.12.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.12.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 e6 6. h4 Nf6 7. d4 cxd4 8. Nxd4
O-O 9. O-O d5 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Bg5 Qa5 12. Nb3 Nxc3 13. Nxa5 Nxd1 14. Nxc6
Nxb2 15. Ne7+ Kh8 16. Rac1 Bd7 17. Bxb7 Rab8 18. Rc7 Bb5 19. Bf3 a6 20. Rfc1 h6
21. Be3 Rbd8 22. Kg2 Kh7 23. Nc6 Rc8 24. Na7 Rxc7 25. Rxc7 Kg8 26. Nxb5 axb5
27. h5 g5 28. Rb7 Nc4 29. Bc5 Ra8 30. Be4 Be5 31. Bb1 Bd6 32. Ba7 Bf8 33. f4
gxf4 34. gxf4 Na5 35. Rd7 Nc6 36. Bf2 Nb4 37. f5 exf5 38. Rd2 Be7 39. Be1 f4
40. Rd7 Bf8 41. Kf1 Bc5 42. Rb7 Nxa2 43. Rxb5 Bd4 44. Rb3 Kg7 45. Rd3 Bf6 46.
Bd2 Ra4 47. Rd7 Kg8 48. Rc7 Rd4 49. Bxa2 Rxd2 50. Bxf7+ Kf8 51. Bc4 Bg5 52. Kf2
Rc2 53. Kf3 Rc3+ 54. Ke4 f3 55. exf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss"]
[Site "Douglas"]
[Date "2019.10.13"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Kovalev, Vladislav"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2661"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2019.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IOM"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.12.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.12.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. c4 e5 6. Nc3 Nc6 7. d3 Be7 8.
a3 Bd8 9. O-O Nge7 10. b4 O-O 11. bxc5 dxc5 12. Nd5 Ng6 13. Be3 b6 14. Nd2 f5
15. exf5 Qxf5 16. Ne4 Nf4 17. g3 Qg6 18. Kh1 Nxd5 19. cxd5 Ne7 20. d6 Nf5 21.
Qb3+ Kh8 22. Qd5 Bf6 23. Rae1 Rad8 24. f4 Nxe3 25. Rxe3 exf4 26. Rxf4 h6 27. d7
Be7 28. Ref3 Rxf4 29. Rxf4 b5 30. Nxc5 Bxc5 31. Qxc5 Kh7 32. Qd5 Qg5 33. Qe4+
Qg6 34. Qd5 Qg5 35. Qd6 Qg6 36. Qc7 Qg5 37. Qd6 Qg6 38. Qc7 Qg5 39. Qc6 Qe7 40.
Qxb5 Rxd7 41. Qf5+ g6 42. Qf8 Qxf8 43. Rxf8 Kg7 44. Ra8 Kf6 45. Kg2 Rxd3 46.
Rxa7 Rd2+ 47. Kg1 1/2-1/2

[Event "FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss"]
[Site "Douglas"]
[Date "2019.10.14"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ganguly, Surya Shekhar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2658"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2019.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IOM"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.12.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.12.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. g4
h6 9. Be3 Nbd7 10. a4 b6 11. f3 Qc7 12. h4 Nf8 13. Rg1 Be6 14. g5 hxg5 15. hxg5
N6d7 16. Nd5 Qc6 17. Qd2 Ng6 18. a5 b5 19. O-O-O Rc8 20. Kb1 Nc5 21. Be2 Bd8
22. Nxc5 dxc5 23. f4 exf4 24. Bxf4 Be7 25. Nxe7 Kxe7 26. Bd6+ Ke8 27. Qc3 Rh7
28. Bg3 b4 29. Qd3 c4 30. Qd6 Qxe4 31. Rd4 Qb7 32. Qb6 Qa8 33. Rgd1 Rh1 34. Be1
Ne5 35. Bxb4 Rxd1+ 36. Rxd1 Qc6 37. Qe3 Qb5 38. Bc3 Rc5 39. b4 Nd3 40. cxd3 Rd5
41. dxc4 1-0

[Event "FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss"]
[Site "Douglas"]
[Date "2019.10.15"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Shirov, Alexei"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C43"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2664"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2019.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IOM"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.12.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.12.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3 d5 5. Nxe5 Nd7 6. Nc3 Nxe5 7. dxe5 Nxc3
8. bxc3 Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. f4 f5 11. Be3 c5 12. Be2 Be6 13. Bf3 Qd7 14. a4 Rad8
15. Qe2 Qc7 16. Rfb1 b6 17. Rd1 g5 18. h3 Rd7 19. Rd2 Rfd8 20. Rad1 gxf4 21.
Bxf4 d4 22. Qf2 Kh8 23. Kh1 Qc8 24. Kh2 Rg8 25. cxd4 cxd4 26. Rxd4 Rxd4 27.
Rxd4 Bc5 28. c3 Bxd4 29. cxd4 Qd7 30. Qd2 Bd5 31. e6 Qxe6 32. Be5+ Rg7 33. Qc3
Bxf3 34. Qxf3 Qe8 35. Qxf5 Kg8 36. Bxg7 Kxg7 37. Qg5+ Kf8 38. Qf4+ Ke7 39. Qe4+
Kf8 40. Qxh7 Qxa4 41. Qf5+ Kg7 42. Qe5+ Kf7 43. h4 1-0

[Event "FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss"]
[Site "Douglas"]
[Date "2019.10.17"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Alekseenko, Kirill"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2674"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2019.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IOM"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.12.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.12.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O
O-O 9. Kh1 b5 10. a4 Bb7 11. Nd5 b4 12. Nxf6+ Bxf6 13. f3 Qc7 14. Bd2 Nc6 15.
a5 Bc8 16. Bc4 Be6 17. Bxe6 fxe6 18. Qe2 Rfc8 19. Rfd1 Nd4 20. Nxd4 exd4 21.
Bxb4 Qxc2 22. Qxc2 Rxc2 23. Bxd6 Rxb2 24. e5 Bd8 25. h3 Rc8 26. Rxd4 h5 27. Bb4
Bg5 28. f4 Bh4 29. Be1 Bxe1 30. Rxe1 Rcc2 31. Rg1 Ra2 32. Rd6 Rxa5 33. Rxe6 Rf2
34. Rc1 Kh7 35. Re1 Raa2 36. f5 Rxg2 37. Rxa6 Rh2+ 38. Kg1 Rag2+ 39. Kf1 Rf2+
40. Kg1 Rfg2+ 41. Kf1 Rg5 42. Ra3 Rh1+ 43. Ke2 Rxe1+ 44. Kxe1 Rxf5 45. e6 Re5+
46. Kf2 Rxe6 47. Kg3 g5 48. Ra8 Rd6 49. Rb8 Kg7 50. Ra8 Kf6 51. Rf8+ Ke5 52.
Re8+ Kf5 53. Rf8+ Rf6 54. Ra8 h4+ 55. Kg2 Rb6 1/2-1/2

[Event "FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss"]
[Site "Douglas"]
[Date "2019.10.18"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Wang, Hao"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2726"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2019.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IOM"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.12.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.12.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qb3 a5 6. Bg5 c5 7. dxc5 Na6 8. a3
Nxc5 9. Qc2 Bxc3+ 10. Qxc3 Nce4 11. Bxf6 Qxf6 12. Qxf6 Nxf6 13. cxd5 Nxd5 14.
e4 Nf6 15. Bd3 Bd7 16. Ne5 Ke7 17. Rc1 Rhc8 18. Kd2 Be8 19. f4 Nd7 20. Nxd7
Bxd7 21. Rxc8 Rxc8 22. Rc1 Rxc1 23. Kxc1 e5 24. fxe5 Ke6 25. Kd2 Kxe5 26. Ke3
Bc6 27. g3 f6 28. Bc2 b6 29. Bd3 h6 30. Bc2 Bb7 31. Bd3 1/2-1/2

[Event "FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss"]
[Site "Douglas"]
[Date "2019.10.19"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2812"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2019.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IOM"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.12.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.12.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e4 Bc5 5. Nxe5 Nxe5 6. d4 Bb4 7. dxe5 Nxe4 8.
Qf3 Nxc3 9. bxc3 Ba5 10. Bf4 O-O 11. O-O-O Qe7 12. Kb2 Rb8 13. Bd3 b5 14. cxb5
Bb7 15. Qh3 g6 16. Qe3 Rfe8 17. Rhe1 Bc6 18. a4 a6 19. Bg5 Bxc3+ 20. Kxc3 Qa3+
21. Kd2 Qb4+ 22. Ke2 Qg4+ 23. Kd2 Qb4+ 24. Ke2 Qg4+ 25. Kd2 Qb4+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss"]
[Site "Douglas"]
[Date "2019.10.20"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Matlakov, Maxim"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D43"]
[WhiteElo "2876"]
[BlackElo "2716"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "159"]
[EventDate "2019.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IOM"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.12.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.12.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,113,40,28,28,26,24,-21,6,6,31,23,47,-27,-18,-18,-2,-13,-9,-52,-11,-12,
27,-60,-6,-7,-14,-26,-18,-34,-20,-23,-12,-32,-30,-34,-3,-46,-40,-40,-43,-67,
-85,-52,-44,-70,-75,-75,-73,-102,-72,-79,-77,-82,-73,-78,-79,-114,-23,-90,-77,
-66,-15,-15,-14,0,8,-26,1,0,64,20,36,55,131,75,39,52,110,93,100,85,107,108,97,
90,110,110,140,125,125,125,151,149,145,163,174,169,196,188,214,217,208,228,238,
215,215,233,238,230,227,227,237,225,213,198]} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 d5 3. c4 e6 4.
Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 {[%mdl 2048]} dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5 9. h4 {I
seconded Vishy Anand in the 2007 World Championship in Mexico where the
Anti-Moscow gambit was the huge rage. Yet White would then either push h4 a
bit later or not at all, but Alphazero adds its own flavour...} g4 10. Ne5 Nbd7
11. Be2 Bb7 ({In the Alphazero-Stockfish game a different move order appeared:
} 11... Nxe5 12. Bxe5 Rg8 13. O-O Bb7 14. Re1 a6 15. g3 {What was striking in
the Alphazero game was the absolute calmness in the style of play, believing
that the long-term compensation is sufficient and thus gradually improving the
position like there is absolutely no hurry at all, proving that White's
initiative compensates for the investment.} h5 16. Qc2 Nd7 17. Bf4 Rg6 18. b3
b4 19. Na4 c3 {Black gets a protected passed pawn, but that also seems not to
worry Alphazero the slighest as it instead gets access to the b1-h7 diagonal
for its bishop and thus can keep slowly improving its position.} 20. e5 Qc7 21.
Bd3 Rg8 22. Bh7 Rh8 23. Be4 a5 24. a3 Be7 25. Bg2 Rd8 26. axb4 axb4 27. Qe4 Rb8
28. Red1 $1 {A strategic gem has materialized.} Rd8 ({Black is basically
committed to passively awaiting White's trying to break through, as} 28... c5 {
now strongly is met by} 29. d5 Bxd5 30. Rxd5 exd5 31. Qxd5 {when the exchange
sac turns White's long-term prospects into an immediate tactical win.}) 29. Kh2
Ra8 30. Be3 Nb6 31. Nxb6 Rxa1 32. Rxa1 Qxb6 33. Qf4 Qc7 34. Be4 Qd8 35. f3 $1 {
Breaking Black's "fortress"} Rg8 36. Qh6 Kd7 37. Qxh5 Qe8 38. Qh6 Qb8 39. Qf4
f5 40. exf6 Qxf4 41. Bxf4 Bxf6 42. fxg4 Kc8 43. Ra4 Bxh4 44. Rxb4 Bf6 45. Rc4
Kd8 46. Rxc3 Rxg4 47. Rc4 Rg7 48. Bxc6 Ba6 49. Rb4 Bc8 50. Kg2 Ra7 51. Kf3 Ke7
52. Be5 Bxe5 53. dxe5 Rc7 54. Be4 Rc3+ 55. Kf4 Rc1 56. Rc4 Rf1+ 57. Kg5) 12.
Nxd7 Qxd7 13. Be5 Qe7 {Had Matlakov retreated to d8, then after 13...Qd8 14
0-0 Rg8 it would have been a straight transposition to the Alphazero game!} 14.
b3 $5 {Magnus immediately pokes the queenside, inviting Black to get his
protected passed pawn on c3.} Rg8 {Matlakov's idea is that 15.bxc4 b4 now
allows a black 16...Nxe4 trading his queenside pawn for a central pawn. That
would also lead to interesting complications, but Magnus stays loyal to the
Alphazero concept and protects his e4 pawn.} 15. Qc2 b4 16. Na4 c3 17. a3 {
The inclusion of a3/a5 is generally favourable for White, not only due to the
potential of opening the a-line, but also access to the b6 square. As 17...a5?
18 Nb6! is very favourable for White, Matlakov has to make a couple of
intermidiate moves first, before protecting the b4-pawn.} Nd7 (17... a5 $2 18.
Nb6 $1) 18. Bg3 Bg7 19. Rd1 {A neccessary precaution as} (19. e5 c5 $1 {
would be grim for White as his centre then crumbles.}) 19... a5 20. O-O Bf6 $5
(20... e5 21. Bxg4 Rd8 $5 {would also be interesting, trying to undermine the
centre hoping to withstand the direct attacking possibilities White would get
in the process.}) {But Matlakov's move is obviously critical, trying to simply
pick up the h4-pawn, and thus forcing Magnus to show his hand:} 21. Nc5 $6 {
The right mindset, but the wrong execution!} ({White indeed has to give up
more pawns, but the incredible} 21. Bc7 $3 {was the way when} Bxh4 (21... Rc8 {
would be logical, but the a3/a5 inclusion means that} 22. Bxa5 $1 {is possible!
}) 22. e5 {gives White a huge initiative for the 2 sacrificed pawns.}) 21...
Nxc5 22. dxc5 e5 23. Rd6 {Magnus' play does look like the original 10
Alphazero games, with initiative being the more important factor than the
number of pawns. Even so, objectively speaking Black is fine, but short of
time the practical task of Matlakov indeed is difficult.} Bxh4 24. Bc4 Bg5 25.
Qd3 Rg6 26. f4 exf4 $2 {This logical move ruins Black's position.} (26... gxf3
27. Qxf3 Rg7 {holds, but does depend on finding} 28. Bxe5 Qxe5 29. Bxf7+ Kf8 $5
30. Bc4+ Bf4 $1 {when in the ensuing ending Black's passed pawn on c3 finally
will show its relevance.}) 27. Bxf4 $2 ({In the postgame Magnus said he
actually intended the crushing} 27. e5 $1 {but then somehow forgot!}) 27...
Bxf4 28. Rxf4 c2 29. Qxc2 Rxd6 30. cxd6 Qxd6 31. e5 $1 Qc5+ 32. Kh1 Qe3 33. Qf5
{Black's king is caught in the centre, and while Magnus could have won quicker,
the result never was in doubt.} Kd8 34. Qxf7 Kc8 35. axb4 Qxe5 36. Qf8+ Kc7 37.
Rf7+ Kb6 38. bxa5+ Qxa5 39. Qe7 Qh5+ 40. Kg1 Ra1+ 41. Bf1 Qxf7 42. Qxf7 Ba6 43.
Qf2+ Kb7 44. Qd4 Rxf1+ 45. Kh2 h5 46. Qc5 Rb1 47. Qxh5 Kb6 48. Qxg4 Rxb3 49.
Qg8 Rd3 50. g4 Rd5 51. g5 Bd3 52. g6 Bxg6 53. Qxg6 Kc7 54. Qf7+ Kb8 55. Kg3
Rg5+ 56. Kf4 Rd5 57. Qf8+ Kb7 58. Qb4+ Kc7 59. Ke4 Kc8 60. Qb6 Kd7 61. Qb7+ Kd6
62. Qc8 Kc5 63. Qb8 Rh5 64. Kf4 Rd5 65. Kg4 Kc4 66. Qb6 Rd4+ 67. Kf5 c5 68. Qa5
Rd5+ 69. Ke6 Rd4 70. Qa4+ Kc3 71. Qa3+ Kc4 72. Qa5 Rd3 73. Qa4+ Kc3 74. Qa3+
Kc4 75. Qc1+ Kb4 76. Qb2+ Kc4 77. Qc2+ Kd4 78. Kd6 c4 79. Qf2+ Re3 80. Qd2+ 1-0

[Event "FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss"]
[Site "Douglas"]
[Date "2019.10.21"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2758"]
[BlackElo "2876"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2019.10.10"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IOM"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2019.12.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.12.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 c5 5. d5 b5 6. e4 d6 7. Bd2 Bxc3 8. Bxc3 b4
9. Bd2 O-O 10. Be3 exd5 11. cxd5 Nfd7 12. Ne2 f5 13. exf5 Rxf5 14. Ng3 Re5 15.
Kf2 Qh4 16. Qd2 Nf6 17. Rc1 Ba6 18. b3 Nxd5 19. Rc4 Qe7 20. Re4 Qe6 21. Bf4
Nxf4 22. Qxf4 Bxf1 23. Rxe5 dxe5 24. Qe4 Nc6 25. Rxf1 c4 26. Nf5 cxb3 27. Qxc6
Qxc6 28. Ne7+ Kf8 29. Nxc6 bxa2 30. Nxb4 Rb8 31. Ra1 Rxb4 32. Rxa2 Rb7 33. Ke3
Ke7 34. Ra6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel India rapid"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.22"]
[Round "1"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2760"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2019.11.22"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. g4
h6 9. Be3 b5 10. a4 bxa4 11. Rxa4 Bd7 12. Ra1 Nc6 13. Nd5 O-O 14. Nb6 Rb8 15.
Nxd7 Qxd7 16. Bg2 a5 17. O-O Bd8 18. Qf3 Nb4 19. Qe2 a4 20. Nc1 Qc6 21. c3 Na6
22. Nd3 Bb6 23. Nxe5 dxe5 24. Qxa6 Rfc8 25. Bxb6 Rxb6 26. Qxa4 Rxb2 27. Qxc6
Rxc6 28. Ra5 Nd7 29. Rd5 Rb7 30. Rfd1 Nf8 31. Rxe5 Ne6 32. Rc1 Rbc7 33. h4 g5
34. hxg5 hxg5 35. Rf5 Rxc3 36. Rxc3 Rxc3 37. e5 Rc4 38. Bd5 Rxg4+ 39. Kh2 Rd4
40. Bxe6 fxe6 41. Rf6 Rd5 42. Rg6+ Kf7 43. Rxg5 Rd1 44. f4 Rd3 45. Kg2 Ra3 46.
Rg3 Ra4 47. Kf3 Ra1 48. Kg4 Kg6 49. Kf3+ Kf7 50. Rg2 Ra3+ 51. Kg4 Ra1 52. Rb2
Rg1+ 53. Kf3 Rf1+ 54. Ke3 Re1+ 55. Kf2 Ra1 56. Rb8 Ra3 57. Rb6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel India rapid"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.22"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2019.11.22"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 a6 6. Be2 Ngf6 7. O-O e5 8.
Qe3 Nc5 9. Nfd2 b5 10. c4 bxc4 11. Nc3 Bb7 12. Bxc4 Be7 13. b4 Ne6 14. Nb3 Rc8
15. Na5 Qd7 16. Qd3 O-O 17. Be3 Bd8 18. Nxb7 Qxb7 19. Nd5 Nc7 20. Nxf6+ Bxf6
21. Rab1 Rfd8 22. Rfd1 h6 23. f3 Qc6 24. Qb3 Qe8 25. a4 Rb8 26. b5 axb5 27.
axb5 Ne6 28. b6 Bg5 29. Bf2 Nd4 30. Bxd4 exd4 31. Rxd4 Rdc8 32. b7 Rc5 33. Bd5
Qe7 34. Rc4 Qc7 35. Rxc5 dxc5 36. g3 Bf6 37. Kg2 Qe7 38. Qb6 Be5 39. Qc6 Kh7
40. f4 Bd4 41. Qc8 Qd6 42. Qf5+ Kh8 43. Kh3 Qa6 44. e5 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel India rapid"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.22"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[PlyCount "136"]
[EventDate "2019.11.22"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Be3
Nbd7 9. g4 Be7 10. Qd2 O-O 11. O-O-O b5 12. g5 Nh5 13. Kb1 Nb6 14. Na5 Rc8 15.
a3 g6 16. h4 Ng3 17. Rg1 Nxf1 18. Rgxf1 Na4 19. Nxa4 bxa4 20. h5 Qd7 21. Rh1
Rfe8 22. Qh2 Bf8 23. Bd2 Rc7 24. Bb4 Rb8 25. Rd3 Qb5 26. Rc3 Rbc8 27. Rxc7 Rxc7
28. Rd1 Rd7 29. Rd3 Be7 30. hxg6 fxg6 31. Qd2 Qb6 32. Qc1 Bd8 33. c4 Qf2 34.
Nc6 Bxg5 35. Qxg5 Qf1+ 36. Kc2 Bxc4 37. Qe3 Bxd3+ 38. Qxd3 Qxd3+ 39. Kxd3 h5
40. Ke3 Kf7 41. Bc3 Ke6 42. Nb4 g5 43. Kf2 Rf7 44. Kg2 g4 45. fxg4 Rg7 46. Nd5
Rxg4+ 47. Kf3 Rg1 48. Kf2 Rg7 49. Kf3 h4 50. Be1 h3 51. Bg3 Rb7 52. Nb4 a5 53.
Nd3 Rb3 54. Ke2 Kf6 55. Bh2 Kg5 56. Bg3 Kg4 57. Bh2 Rxd3 58. Kxd3 Kf3 59. Kd2
Kxe4 60. Ke2 d5 61. Bg3 d4 62. Bh2 Kd5 63. Kd2 e4 64. Ke2 Kc4 65. Be5 Kb3 66.
Kd2 d3 67. Kd1 e3 68. Kc1 Kc4 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel India rapid"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.23"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2741"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2019.11.22"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nf4 7. Bxf4 exf4 8.
d4 Bd6 9. h3 O-O 10. a3 a6 11. Bc4 Kh8 12. e5 Be7 13. d5 Na5 14. Ba2 b5 15. O-O
f6 16. b4 Nc4 17. Bxc4 bxc4 18. e6 Bb7 19. Qd4 c6 20. Qxc4 cxd5 21. Qxf4 Rc8
22. Ne2 Bd6 23. Qe3 a5 24. Ned4 Re8 25. Nf5 Bb8 26. Rac1 Rc4 27. N5d4 axb4 28.
axb4 Ba7 29. b5 Bc5 30. Qd3 Qb6 31. Rxc4 dxc4 32. Qxc4 Bxf3 33. Nxf3 Rxe6 34.
g3 Re8 35. Kg2 Rb8 36. Rc1 Bf8 37. Nd4 h5 38. Ne6 Ba3 39. Rc3 Bb4 40. Qxb4 Qxe6
41. Rc5 Qf7 42. Qf4 Rd8 43. Qf3 g6 44. b6 Rd7 45. Rc8+ Kg7 46. Qc6 Kh6 47. h4
f5 48. Rc7 Qd5+ 49. Qxd5 Rxd5 50. b7 Rb5 51. f4 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel India rapid"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.23"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2019.11.22"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. Bxc6 bxc6 6. Re1 Qc7 7. h3 d6 8. c3
Nf6 9. d4 cxd4 10. cxd4 O-O 11. Nc3 Bb7 12. e5 dxe5 13. dxe5 Rfd8 14. Qc2 Nd5
15. Nxd5 Rxd5 16. e6 f6 17. Be3 a5 18. Bc5 Ba6 19. Rac1 Bh6 20. Be3 Bxe3 21.
Rxe3 c5 22. Rd1 Rad8 23. Rxd5 Rxd5 24. Qa4 Qd8 25. Re1 Kg7 26. Qc6 Bd3 27. Nd2
g5 28. Nb3 c4 29. Nc5 Qd6 30. Qxd6 Rxd6 31. Rd1 f5 32. f3 Rd5 33. Nxd3 cxd3 34.
Kf2 f4 35. Ke1 Re5+ 36. Kf1 Re3 37. Re1 Kf6 38. Kf2 Rxe6 39. Rxe6+ Kxe6 40. Ke1
Kd5 41. b3 Kd4 42. Kd2 e5 43. a3 h6 44. b4 a4 45. Kd1 Kc4 46. Kd2 h5 47. Kd1
Kd4 48. Kd2 h4 49. b5 Kc5 50. Kxd3 Kxb5 51. Ke4 Kc4 52. Kxe5 Kb3 53. Kd4 Kxa3
54. Kc3 Ka2 55. Kc2 a3 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel India rapid"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.23"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D32"]
[WhiteElo "2722"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[PlyCount "148"]
[EventDate "2019.11.22"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Bg5 Be6 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8.
e3 O-O 9. Be2 h6 10. Bh4 Nc6 11. O-O Rc8 12. Rc1 Be7 13. Nd4 a6 14. Nxc6 Rxc6
15. Bf3 Rc4 16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17. Nxd5 Rxc1 18. Nxf6+ Qxf6 19. Qxc1 Bxa2 20. Bxb7
Rb8 21. Qc7 Qd8 22. Rc1 Bc4 23. Qxc4 Rxb7 24. b4 Qf8 25. Qxa6 Rxb4 26. h3 Rb8
27. Qc4 Qd6 28. Qg4 g6 29. Rc8+ Rxc8 30. Qxc8+ Kg7 31. Qc3+ Kg8 32. Qd4 Qe6 33.
g4 Qc6 34. Qf4 Kg7 35. Kh2 Qb5 36. Qd4+ Kg8 37. Qe4 h5 38. Kg2 hxg4 39. hxg4
Kg7 40. Qd4+ Kg8 41. Kg3 Qb8+ 42. f4 g5 43. Qe5 gxf4+ 44. exf4 Qb6 45. Kh4 Qh6+
46. Kg3 Qb6 47. g5 Qg1+ 48. Kf3 Qf1+ 49. Ke3 Qe1+ 50. Kd4 Qb4+ 51. Kd3 Qb1+ 52.
Kc4 Qd1 53. Kc5 Qd8 54. Qd6 Qc8+ 55. Kd4 Qc1 56. Ke5 Qc3+ 57. Kf5 Qc8+ 58. Kf6
Qc3+ 59. Ke7 Qe3+ 60. Kd8 Qe4 61. Qb8 f6 62. gxf6 Kf7 63. Qe5 Qa8+ 64. Kc7 Qa7+
65. Kd6 Qb6+ 66. Kd5 Qxf6 67. Qh5+ Kg7 68. Qg4+ Kf8 69. Qc8+ Kg7 70. Qd7+ Qf7+
71. Qxf7+ Kxf7 72. Ke5 Ke7 73. f5 Kf7 74. f6 Kf8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel India rapid"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.24"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2757"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2019.11.22"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 O-O 8. e3
Bf5 9. Nd2 g5 10. Bg3 c5 11. a3 Bxc3 12. bxc3 c4 13. h4 g4 14. h5 Nbd7 15. Bf4
Qa5 16. Qc1 Nb6 17. Bxh6 Na4 18. Bxf8 Rxf8 19. f3 Re8 20. Kf2 b5 21. e4 dxe4
22. Nxc4 bxc4 23. Qg5+ Kh7 24. Qxf6 e3+ 25. Kg1 Be6 26. d5 Qxd5 27. Re1 Qd2 28.
Re2 Qc1 29. Qd4 gxf3 30. Qxe3 Qxc3 31. gxf3 Rg8+ 32. Kf2 Qg7 33. Qe4+ Kh6 34.
Qf4+ Kh7 35. Qe5 Qh6 36. Rg1 Rc8 37. Qe4+ Kh8 38. Qd4+ Kh7 39. Rxe6 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel India rapid"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.24"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D10"]
[WhiteElo "2731"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[PlyCount "149"]
[EventDate "2019.11.22"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Bf4 Nc6 6. e3 Bf5 7. Qb3 Na5 8.
Qa4+ Bd7 9. Qc2 e6 10. Bd3 Nc6 11. Qe2 Bb4 12. Nf3 Nh5 13. Bg5 Qa5 14. O-O h6
15. Bh4 g5 16. Bg3 Nxg3 17. fxg3 g4 18. Nh4 Rg8 19. Rac1 f5 20. a3 Bxc3 21.
Rxc3 Ne7 22. Rfc1 Rc8 23. Qf2 Rxc3 24. Rxc3 Qb6 25. h3 h5 26. Kh2 Qd6 27. Qf4
Qxf4 28. gxf4 Nc8 29. g3 Nd6 30. Ng2 Kd8 31. Ne1 Rg7 32. Kg2 Bb5 33. Bxb5 Nxb5
34. Rc2 Nd6 35. Nd3 Nc4 36. Re2 Rc7 37. hxg4 hxg4 38. Kf1 Ke7 39. Ke1 Nd6 40.
Kd1 Ne4 41. Rg2 Kd6 42. Nf2 Rh7 43. Ke2 Kc6 44. Kd3 Kb5 45. b3 a5 46. Nxe4
dxe4+ 47. Kc3 Kc6 48. a4 Rh1 49. b4 Re1 50. Rc2 Kd6 51. Kd2 Rg1 52. bxa5 Rg2+
53. Kd1 Rxg3 54. Rc3 Rf3 55. Ke2 g3 56. Rc8 Rf2+ 57. Ke1 Ra2 58. Kf1 Ra3 59.
Rb8 Rxe3 60. Rxb7 Ra3 61. Rb4 e3 62. Rb2 Kd5 63. Kg2 Rxa4 64. Kxg3 Ke4 65. Rb6
Ra1 66. Rxe6+ Kd3 67. a6 e2 68. a7 Rxa7 69. Kf2 Rh7 70. Re3+ Kxd4 71. Rxe2 Rh2+
72. Ke1 Rxe2+ 73. Kxe2 Ke4 74. Kf1 Kxf4 75. Kf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel India rapid"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.24"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C89"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2019.11.22"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3
d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. d3 Bd6 13. Re1 Bf5 14. Qf3 Qh4
15. g3 Qh3 16. Be3 Bxd3 17. Bxd5 cxd5 18. Qxd5 Rad8 19. Qg2 Qc8 20. Nd2 Bf5 21.
Bd4 Rfe8 22. f3 Bf8 23. a3 Re6 24. Rxe6 Qxe6 25. Qf2 Re8 26. Nf1 h5 27. Ne3 Bh3
28. Re1 Qc6 29. Ng2 Rxe1+ 30. Nxe1 Qg6 31. Qc2 Bf5 32. Qd2 Be6 33. Qd3 Bf5 34.
Qe3 Be6 35. Bc5 Bxc5 36. Qxc5 Qb1 37. Qf2 Bd5 38. Kg2 a5 39. Qe2 Qf5 40. Kf2
Be6 41. Nc2 Qh3 42. Kg1 Bc4 43. Qe8+ Kh7 44. Ne3 Qe6 45. Qxe6 Bxe6 46. b4 axb4
47. axb4 g5 48. h4 gxh4 49. gxh4 Kg6 50. Kf2 Kf6 51. Nf1 Ke5 52. Ng3 f5 53.
Nxh5 f4 54. Ng7 Bf7 55. h5 Kf6 56. h6 Kg6 57. Nh5 Kxh6 58. Nxf4 Kg5 59. Ne2 Kf5
1-0

[Event "Tata Steel India blitz"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.25"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2722"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2019.11.25"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 Nbd7 6. O-O Rb8 7. a4 b6 8. Nbd2
Ba6 9. Qc2 c3 10. bxc3 Bxe2 11. Re1 Ba6 12. c4 Be7 13. d5 Nc5 14. Ne5 Bb7 15.
dxe6 fxe6 16. Nc6 Bxc6 17. Bxc6+ Nfd7 18. Bb2 O-O 19. Rad1 Bd6 20. Ne4 Qe7 21.
Kg2 Rbd8 22. Nxc5 Nxc5 23. f4 Qf7 24. Re2 Be7 25. Ba3 Rxd1 26. Qxd1 Rd8 27. Rd2
Rxd2+ 28. Qxd2 Qf5 29. Qe2 Kf7 30. Bxc5 Qxc5 31. Bf3 Bf6 32. Be4 h6 33. h4 Ke7
34. h5 Qd4 35. Bd5 e5 36. Qg4 Kd6 37. Qe6+ Kc5 38. fxe5 Qxe5 39. Qd7 Qe2+ 40.
Kg1 Bd4+ 41. Kh1 Qf1+ 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel India blitz"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.25"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2019.11.25"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Nxd7 5. O-O Ngf6 6. Qe2 e6 7. b3 Be7 8.
c4 O-O 9. Bb2 Rc8 10. d4 d5 11. cxd5 exd5 12. e5 Ne4 13. Nc3 Nxc3 14. Bxc3 Qb6
15. dxc5 Nxc5 16. Bd4 Qg6 17. Bxc5 Bxc5 18. Rad1 Rfd8 19. Rd3 Qe4 20. Qd1 d4
21. Re1 Qd5 22. h4 Rc6 23. Qe2 h6 24. h5 Re6 25. Qd2 a6 26. Qf4 Bb6 27. Red1
Rde8 28. Qg4 Qa5 29. a4 Qd5 30. Rc1 Rc6 31. Rcd1 Rce6 32. Qf4 Rc6 33. Nxd4 Bxd4
34. Qxd4 Qxd4 35. Rxd4 Rxe5 36. Rd8+ Kh7 37. R8d7 b5 38. Rxf7 bxa4 39. bxa4
Rxh5 40. Rf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel India blitz"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.25"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2741"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2019.11.25"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nbd2 b6 6. Bd3 Bb7 7. O-O Nbd7 8. e4
dxe4 9. Nxe4 Nxe4 10. Bxe4 Bd6 11. Qe2 Qc7 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bh4 O-O 14. Rad1 Rfe8
15. Bg3 Bxg3 16. fxg3 Rad8 17. c5 bxc5 18. g4 cxd4 19. g5 c5 20. gxh6 gxh6 21.
Nd2 f5 22. Qh5 Nf8 23. Bxb7 Qxb7 24. Rf3 Kh7 25. Ne4 Re7 26. Ng5+ Kg7 27. Rg3
hxg5 28. Qxg5+ Kf7 29. Qh5+ Kf6 30. Qh8+ Kf7 31. Qh5+ Kf6 32. Qh8+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel India blitz"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.25"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E51"]
[WhiteElo "2731"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2019.11.25"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bd2 Nf6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 Be7 8. Qc2
a6 9. a4 c5 10. cxd5 exd5 11. Be2 b6 12. O-O Bb7 13. Rfd1 Re8 14. Ne5 Rc8 15.
Bf3 Bd6 16. Nxd7 Qxd7 17. dxc5 bxc5 18. Be1 d4 19. Bxb7 Qxb7 20. exd4 Qb8 21.
d5 Bxh2+ 22. Kf1 Be5 23. Rd3 Bd4 24. Rcd1 h6 25. Rg3 Rcd8 26. Bd2 Kh8 27. Bc1
Qe5 28. Qd2 Bxc3 29. Rxc3 Ne4 30. Qd3 Nxc3 31. bxc3 c4 32. Qf3 Qe4 33. Qxe4
Rxe4 34. Ba3 Re5 35. d6 Rd7 36. Rd4 Kg8 37. Rxc4 f6 38. Rc6 Ra5 39. Rc7 Rd8 40.
c4 Rxa4 41. d7 Kf7 42. c5 Rxa3 43. c6 Rc3 44. Ke2 Ke7 45. Kd2 Rc5 46. Kd3 a5
47. Kd4 Rc1 48. Kd5 a4 49. Ra7 Rd1+ 50. Kc5 R8xd7 51. cxd7 Rxd7 52. Rxa4 Rd2
53. Rf4 g5 54. Rf3 h5 55. Kc4 Ke6 56. Kc3 Ra2 57. Re3+ Kf5 58. Rf3+ Kg6 59. Kd4
f5 60. g3 Re2 61. Kd3 Re4 62. Kd2 h4 63. gxh4 gxh4 64. Ra3 Kg5 65. f3 Re8 66.
Ra7 Kf4 67. Rh7 Kg3 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel India blitz"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.25"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C85"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2801"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2019.11.25"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. d3 Nd7 8.
Nbd2 O-O 9. a4 a5 10. b3 f6 11. Nh4 Nc5 12. Nf5 Ne6 13. Nc4 b6 14. Nxe7+ Qxe7
15. Ne3 g6 16. Bb2 c5 17. Qd2 Bb7 18. Rae1 Rad8 19. f3 Kf7 20. Qf2 Ke8 21. Qh4
Kd7 22. f4 Nxf4 23. Rxf4 exf4 24. Ng4 g5 25. Qh6 Qe6 26. Nxf6+ Kc8 27. Qxg5 f3
28. Rf1 Rg8 29. Nxg8 Rxg8 30. Qe5 Rxg2+ 31. Kh1 Qg6 32. h4 Bc6 33. Qf4 Rxc2 34.
Rg1 Rg2 35. Qe3 Qg3 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel India blitz"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.25"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2019.11.25"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 c6 6. Bc4 Bg4 7. Be3 e6 8. h3
Bh5 9. g4 Bg6 10. Qe2 Nbd7 11. O-O-O Be7 12. Ne5 Nxe5 13. dxe5 Qxe5 14. f4 Qc7
15. Rhf1 b5 16. Bb3 b4 17. Na4 O-O 18. h4 Be4 19. g5 Nd5 20. Bd4 Bf5 21. h5
Nxf4 22. Qe3 Bxg5 23. Kb1 Rfd8 24. Be5 Rxd1+ 25. Rxd1 Nd5 26. Qd4 Qe7 27. Bxg7
Rd8 28. h6 Nc3+ 29. bxc3 Rxd4 30. Rxd4 Bf6 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel India blitz"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.25"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2019.11.25"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nb6 7. Be2 Be7 8.
Be3 O-O 9. O-O Be6 10. a4 a6 11. a5 Nd7 12. d4 exd4 13. Nxd4 Nxd4 14. Bxd4 Nc5
15. Be3 Qxd1 16. Rfxd1 Rfd8 17. Nd5 Bxd5 18. exd5 Nd7 19. Bf4 Bd6 20. Bxd6 cxd6
21. Rac1 Nf6 22. Rc7 Rab8 23. Bf3 b6 24. b4 bxa5 25. bxa5 Rb5 26. Ra1 Nxd5 27.
Bxd5 Rxd5 28. Ra7 g6 29. h3 Rb8 30. Rxa6 Kg7 31. Rc6 Rb2 32. a6 Rdd2 33. a7
Rxf2 34. Rc2 Rbxc2 35. a8=Q h5 36. Qe4 Rce2 37. Qd4+ Rf6 38. Rf1 Re5 39. Rxf6
Kxf6 40. Qxd6+ Re6 41. Qf8 Re5 42. Kf2 Rf5+ 43. Ke3 Re5+ 44. Kd4 Re2 45. g4
hxg4 46. hxg4 Rg2 47. Qh8+ Ke7 48. Qh3 Rd2+ 49. Ke5 Re2+ 50. Kf4 Re6 51. Kg5
Re5+ 52. Kh6 g5 53. Kg7 Re6 54. Qa3+ Ke8 55. Qa8+ Ke7 56. Qb7+ 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel India blitz"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.25"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2757"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2019.11.25"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. d4 c6 6. Bd3 Bg4 7. Ne4 Nxe4 8.
Bxe4 Nd7 9. c3 Nf6 10. Bc2 Qd5 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 Qxf3 13. gxf3 e6 14. Bg5
Nd5 15. Be4 Bd6 16. Ke2 Kd7 17. Be3 g6 18. Rad1 b5 19. Rc1 a5 20. c4 bxc4 21.
Rxc4 Rhb8 22. Rb1 Rb4 23. Rxb4 axb4 24. Ra1 Nxe3 25. fxe3 Ra5 26. f4 c5 27.
dxc5 Bxc5 28. a3 bxa3 29. bxa3 Bxa3 30. Kf3 Ke7 31. Bd3 Kf6 32. Ra2 e5 33. Bc4
exf4 34. exf4 Rc5 35. Rc2 Rc7 36. Bb3 Rd7 37. Rc3 Bb4 38. Rc6+ Kg7 39. Bc4 f5
40. Be2 Ra7 41. Ba6 Kh6 42. Rb6 Bc5 43. Rc6 Bg1 44. Kg2 Bd4 45. Kg3 Re7 46. Rc4
Re3+ 47. Kg2 Bf6 48. Bb7 Bh4 49. Bf3 Rb3 50. Bd1 Rg3+ 51. Kh2 Rd3 52. Ba4 Rd2+
53. Kg1 Bg3 54. Bc6 Kh5 55. Bg2 Kh4 56. Ra4 Bf2+ 57. Kh2 Be3 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel India blitz"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.25"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2760"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2019.11.25"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 c5 5. g3 cxd4 6. Nxd4 O-O 7. Bg2 d5 8.
cxd5 Nxd5 9. Qb3 Qa5 10. O-O Nxc3 11. a3 Be7 12. Qxc3 Qxc3 13. bxc3 e5 14. Nb5
Nc6 15. Nc7 Rb8 16. Be3 Bg4 17. Nd5 Bd6 18. Rfe1 Rfc8 19. h3 Be6 20. Red1 Bf8
21. Nb4 Na5 22. Bxa7 Ra8 23. Be3 Rxc3 24. Nd5 Bxd5 25. Bxd5 Nc4 26. Bc1 Ra7 27.
a4 b5 28. a5 Rxa5 29. Rxa5 Nxa5 30. Bd2 Ra3 31. Bxa5 Rxa5 32. Rc1 Ra7 33. Rc8
g6 34. Re8 Re7 35. Rb8 Rc7 36. Bb3 b4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel India blitz"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.26"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C44"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2722"]
[PlyCount "9"]
[EventDate "2019.11.25"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d4 exd4 5. Ng5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel India blitz"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.26"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D46"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2019.11.25"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. Bd3 dxc4 8.
Bxc4 b5 9. Bd3 Bb7 10. O-O a6 11. a4 O-O 12. e4 e5 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Nxe5 Bxe5
15. h3 b4 16. Ne2 c5 17. f3 Rc8 18. Bc4 Nd7 19. Rd1 Qe7 20. a5 Bb8 21. Bf4 Ne5
22. Rd2 Qf6 23. Bg3 h5 24. Rad1 h4 25. Bh2 Nxc4 26. Qxc4 Bxh2+ 27. Kxh2 Bc6 28.
Qxa6 c4 29. Kh1 c3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel India blitz"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.26"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2741"]
[PlyCount "40"]
[EventDate "2019.11.25"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5
8. Rxe5 O-O 9. d4 Ne8 10. Re1 d5 11. Bf4 Bd6 12. Be5 c6 13. c3 Bxe5 14. Rxe5
Nd6 15. Bd3 g6 16. Nd2 f6 17. Re3 Bf5 18. Nb3 b6 19. Bxf5 Nxf5 20. Re2 Qd7
1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel India blitz"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.26"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D42"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2731"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[EventDate "2019.11.25"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. e3 Nc6 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bd3 Be7 8. O-O
O-O 9. Qe2 cxd4 10. exd4 Nf6 11. Rd1 b6 12. a3 Bb7 13. Bg5 Re8 14. h4 g6 15.
Rac1 Rc8 16. Bb1 Na5 17. Ne5 Nd7 18. b4 Bxg5 19. hxg5 Nb3 20. Rc2 Na1 21. Nxd7
Qxd7 22. Ne4 Bxe4 23. Rxc8 Rxc8 24. Bxe4 Nb3 25. Qe3 Qa4 26. Rb1 Nxd4 27. Qxd4
Qxa3 28. b5 Rc1+ 29. Kh2 Rxb1 30. Bxb1 Qc1 31. Qd8+ Kg7 32. Bd3 Qf4+ 33. Kg1 h6
34. gxh6+ Qxh6 35. Qd4+ Kg8 36. Bf1 Qc1 37. Qd7 Qa1 38. g3 Kg7 39. Kg2 Qa4 40.
Qd2 Qe4+ 41. Kg1 Qa4 42. Be2 Kg8 43. Kg2 Kg7 44. Qb2+ Kg8 45. Bf3 a6 46. bxa6
Qxa6 47. Bc6 Qa7 48. Qe5 Qa6 49. Qc7 Kg7 50. Kh2 Kf8 51. Qd8+ Kg7 52. Qd4+ Kg8
53. Be8 Qa7 54. Qd7 Qxd7 55. Bxd7 Kf8 56. Kg2 Ke7 57. Ba4 Kd6 58. Kf3 g5 59.
Kg4 f6 60. Kh5 Ke5 61. Kg6 g4 62. Bd7 f5 63. Kf7 Ke4 64. Kxe6 b5 65. Bxb5 Kf3
66. Kxf5 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel India blitz"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.26"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A90"]
[WhiteElo "2801"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2019.11.25"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 f5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 d5 5. Nf3 Bd6 6. Bf4 Bxf4 7. gxf4 O-O 8. Nc3
c6 9. e3 b6 10. Ne5 Bb7 11. Rc1 Nbd7 12. Qa4 Nxe5 13. fxe5 Ne4 14. cxd5 cxd5
15. Ne2 Rc8 16. Rxc8 Qxc8 17. f3 Bc6 18. Qb4 Ng5 19. Kd2 Qd7 20. Rc1 Rc8 21.
Nf4 Nf7 22. Bf1 Nd8 23. Ba6 Bb7 24. Bb5 Bc6 25. Ba6 Bb7 26. Rxc8 Bxc8 27. Bxc8
Qxc8 28. Qe7 h6 29. Qe8+ Kh7 30. Ng6 Qc4 31. Nf8+ Kg8 32. Nxe6+ Kh7 33. Nf8+
Kg8 34. Ng6+ Kh7 35. Ne7 Qb4+ 36. Ke2 Qxb2+ 37. Kf1 Qc1+ 38. Kg2 Qd2+ 39. Kh3
1-0

[Event "Tata Steel India blitz"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.26"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D13"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[PlyCount "19"]
[EventDate "2019.11.25"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c3 d5 3. d4 cxd4 4. cxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bf4 Nh5 7. Bd2 Nf6 8.
Bf4 Nh5 9. Bd2 Nf6 10. Bf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel India blitz"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.26"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A36"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2019.11.25"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 g6 2. Nc3 c5 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. d3 d6 6. Qd2 e5 7. b3 Nge7 8. Bb2
Be6 9. Nd5 Qd7 10. e3 O-O 11. Ne2 Bh3 12. Bxh3 Qxh3 13. Nec3 Rab8 14. O-O-O
Nxd5 15. Nxd5 b5 16. f4 a5 17. Rhf1 a4 18. f5 axb3 19. axb3 bxc4 20. bxc4 Rb3
21. f6 Bh6 22. Kc2 Rfb8 23. Bc3 Qd7 24. Ra1 Nd4+ 25. Bxd4 cxd4 26. Ra2 Qb7 27.
Qc1 Rc3+ 28. Nxc3 Qb3+ 29. Kd2 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel India blitz"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.26"]
[Round "17"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2757"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2019.11.25"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 Bd6 5. Nbd2 Bxf4 6. exf4 Qd6 7. g3 b6 8. c3
O-O 9. Bd3 Ba6 10. Bxa6 Nxa6 11. Qe2 Nb8 12. Ne5 c5 13. Ndf3 Ne4 14. O-O f6 15.
Ng4 Nc6 16. dxc5 bxc5 17. Rad1 f5 18. Nge5 Rab8 19. c4 Nxe5 20. Nxe5 Rfd8 21.
Rfe1 Qa6 22. f3 Nf6 23. b3 Rbc8 24. Rc1 d4 25. Nd3 Rd6 26. Rc2 Nd7 27. Qg2 Qb6
28. Rce2 a5 29. Rb2 Rb8 30. Qd2 Qc7 31. Qd1 h6 32. Rbe2 Qb6 33. h4 a4 34. Rb2
axb3 35. axb3 Qa7 36. Kh2 Ra6 37. Qe2 Rab6 38. g4 fxg4 39. fxg4 Qc7 40. g5 hxg5
41. hxg5 e5 42. fxe5 Re6 43. Qe4 Rbe8 44. Qd5 Nb6 45. Qxc5 Qd8 46. Rg2 Rf8 47.
Qb5 Rf3 48. Nc5 Rg6 49. e6 Qd6+ 50. Kg1 Rxg5 51. Ne4 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel India blitz"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2019.11.26"]
[Round "18"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E90"]
[WhiteElo "2760"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2019.11.25"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. e4 d6 6. Nf3 O-O 7. h3 e6 8. Bd3 Nbd7
9. O-O e5 10. a3 h6 11. b4 Nh7 12. Qc2 b6 13. Rb1 Ndf6 14. bxc5 bxc5 15. Re1
Nh5 16. Bf1 Ng5 17. Nxg5 hxg5 18. g3 g4 19. hxg4 Bxg4 20. Be2 Bd7 21. Qd1 Nf4
22. gxf4 exf4 23. Qd3 Qh4 24. Nb5 Be5 25. Qf3 Kg7 26. Rb3 Rh8 27. Bd1 Rh6 28.
Kf1 Rah8 29. Nxd6 Bxd6 30. Bb2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 11th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2019.12.02"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B95"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2780"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2019.12.02"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f3 $5 h6 8.
Be3 {An interesting idea, similar to another idea that Grischuk had used
several times against MVL: 6.Be3 Ng4 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bc1!?. Basically, the idea is
that in opposite castle attacks, Black's kingside might be more fragile if the
pawn stands on h6 instead of h7 (notably after White plays g4-g5).} b5 9. a3 $5
{A useful move, as Black is going to aim for ...b4 sooner or later.} Nbd7 10.
Qd2 Bb7 11. O-O-O (11. g4 $6 d5 $1 $15) 11... h5 $5 {A very logical move.
Maxime judged that his "extra tempo" ...h6 wasn't bringing anything positive
and went ...h5 just as if his pawn came from h7.} (11... Rc8 $5 {or 11...Be7!?
were two very natural options.}) ({Whereas} 11... d5 $6 12. exd5 Nxd5 13. Nxd5
Bxd5 14. Nf5 {looks very dangerous for Black.} (14. Kb1 $5)) 12. Kb1 Be7 13.
Qe1 $6 {A dubious one, as the game will prove.} (13. Rg1 $1 $146 {was Magnus'
improvement in their next encounter in this line... just two days later! See
annotations of Game 9 (rapid) of the match.}) 13... Rc8 14. Rg1 Qc7 15. g3 $6 (
15. Be2 d5 $132) 15... Ne5 (15... d5 $5 {could lead to crazy lines:} 16. Bf4 (
16. exd5 Nxd5 17. Nxd5 Bxd5 18. Nf5 $2 {fails to} Qxc2+ $19) 16... e5 17. exd5
Nxd5 18. Nxd5 Bxd5 19. Rg2 $5 (19. Bh3 O-O $1 20. Bxd7 Qxd7 21. Bxe5 Bc5 $44)
19... exf4 20. Nf5 Nf6 21. Re2 Be6 22. Nxg7+ Kf8 23. Nxe6+ fxe6 24. Bh3 Rd8 {
and Black should be at least no worse.}) 16. Rg2 {A fun manoeuvre, which I had
never seen in this exact setup. The rook on the second rank will proove useful.
On the other hand, this is far too slow in such a complex position.} O-O (16...
Nfd7 $5) 17. h3 d5 18. f4 Nc4 19. e5 (19. Bxc4 $6 dxc4 $17) 19... Nxe3 $1 {
MVL correctly judged that he should swap his knight for the dark-squared
bishop.} 20. Qxe3 Ne4 21. Nxe4 dxe4 22. Re2 ({A direct attack would just fail:
} 22. h4 $2 Rfd8 23. g4 Bc5 24. c3 (24. gxh5 Bxd4 25. Rxd4 Rxd4 26. Qxd4 e3 $1
27. Re2 Rd8 $19) 24... Bxd4 25. cxd4 hxg4 $17) 22... Bd5 $5 (22... Rfd8 23. Bg2
b4 $1 24. axb4 Bxb4 {would have given Black great compensation as well.}) 23.
Bg2 Qc4 24. Nb3 Bc5 $1 25. Nxc5 Qa2+ 26. Kc1 Rfd8 $1 {What a tactical
continuation! White should be very careful now.} 27. c4 $1 (27. Bxe4 {leads to
a draw:} Qa1+ 28. Kd2 Bxe4+ 29. Nd3 Qxb2 30. Qxe4 Rc4 31. Qf3 Qc3+ (31... Rxd3+
$5 32. Qxd3 Rd4 $11) 32. Ke3 Qd4+ $11) ({But} 27. c3 $4 {is bad due to} Qa1+
28. Kc2 Bb3+ $3 29. Kxb3 Qxd1+ 30. Ka2 Rxc5 $17) 27... bxc4 $3 (27... Bxc4 {
fails to} 28. Rxd8+ Rxd8 29. Rd2 $18) 28. Red2 (28. Na4 $5 {leads to
incredibly fun lines:} Bc6 $1 29. Rxd8+ Rxd8 30. Nc3 Qa1+ 31. Nb1 (31. Kc2 $4
Ba4+ 32. Nxa4 Qd1+ 33. Kc3 Qb3#) 31... Rd3 32. Qg1 Ba4 33. Bxe4 Bb3 34. Bxd3
cxd3 35. Re1 (35. Rd2 $2 Ba2 $17) 35... Ba2 36. Qd4 Qxb1+ 37. Kd2 Qc2+ 38. Ke3
Bd5 39. Qxd3 Qg2 {and Black should be able to make a draw.}) (28. b4 {is a
cute way to force a draw:} Qa1+ 29. Kc2 Qa2+ $11) 28... Qa1+ $5 (28... Rxc5 29.
Qxc5 Rb8 {was another good option:} 30. Bxe4 (30. Rc2 e3 $1 31. Qxe3 Bxg2 $17)
30... Bxe4 31. Rd8+ Rxd8 32. Rxd8+ Kh7 33. Qb4 Qb1+ 34. Kd2 Qc2+ 35. Ke1 $11)
29. Kc2 Qa2 30. Kc1 (30. Na4 $4 c3 $1 $19) 30... Qa1+ 31. Kc2 Qa2 32. Kc1 {
An unusual move repetition!} 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 11th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2019.12.03"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2780"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2019.12.02"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 Be7 $5 {Recent
fashion!} (6... b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 {is the main line.}) 7. Re1 ({
Practice has shown that} 7. Qe2 {doesn't bring much:} b5 8. Bb3 (8. Nxe5 Nd6 $5
9. Nxc6 dxc6 10. Bb3 O-O 11. Bf4 Nf5 12. c3 c5 13. dxc5 Bxc5 14. Nd2 Bd6 15.
Bxd6 Nxd6 16. Ne4 Bb7 17. Nxd6 Qxd6 18. Rad1 Qg6 $11 {1-0 (59) Shirov,A (2673)
-Dubov,D (2660) Moscow 2016}) 8... d5 9. dxe5 Be6 10. Rd1 O-O (10... Nc5 $5 11.
c4 Nxb3 12. axb3 b4 13. cxd5 Bxd5 14. Rxa6 Rxa6 15. Qxa6 O-O 16. Qb5 Bc4 17.
Rxd8 Bxb5 18. Rxf8+ Kxf8 $44 {0-1 (40) Vokhidov,S (2526)-Khanin,S (2500)
Moscow 2019}) 11. c4 bxc4 12. Bxc4 Bc5 13. Be3 Bxe3 14. Qxe3 Qb8 $1 15. Bb3 Na5
(15... Qb6 $5) 16. Nbd2 Qa7 17. Qxa7 Rxa7 18. Rac1 Rb8 19. Nd4 (19. Nxe4 $5
Nxb3 20. axb3 dxe4 21. Nd4 Bd5 22. Rc5 c6 23. Rxc6 h6 $5 $11) 19... c5 20. Nxe6
fxe6 21. Nxe4 Nxb3 22. axb3 dxe4 $11 {½-½ (73) Smeets,J (2596)-Ernst,S (2553)
Amstelveen 2019}) 7... b5 8. Rxe4 $1 {Definitely the best try.} (8. Bb3 d5 9.
dxe5 Be6 {transposes into a regular Open Spanish with 9.Re1 Be7, which theory
claims is fine for Black.}) (8. d5 Nc5 9. dxc6 (9. Bb3 $5 Na5 10. Nxe5 d6 11.
Nc6 Nxc6 12. dxc6 O-O 13. Nc3 Bf6 14. Nd5 Nxb3 15. axb3 Be6 16. c3 Re8 $11)
9... Nxa4 10. cxd7+ Qxd7 $15 {½-½ (13) Negi,P (2642)-Radjabov,T (2744)
Khanty-Mansiysk 2011}) 8... d5 9. Nxe5 Nxe5 10. Rxe5 bxa4 11. b3 {A natural
move, as White wants to play Ba3, but not the most ambitious one.} (11. Qe2 $1
{could be the best move - see the analysis of the fifth game of that same
match: Vachier Lagrave,M (2780)-Carlsen,M (2872) London 2019, ½-½ (46).}) ({
Practice has shown Black to be fine after other moves so far:} 11. Nc3 O-O (
11... Be6 $2 12. Qh5 $1 g6 $2 13. Qf3 $1 Bf6 14. Rxd5 $1 Bxd5 15. Nxd5 Bg7 16.
Bg5 Qxg5 17. Nxc7+ Kd8 18. Nxa8 {1-0 Lasker,E-Tarrasch,S Berlin 1916}) 12. Re1
(12. Nxa4 Bd6 13. Re1 Bf5 14. c3 Qh4 15. g3 Qh3 {would give Black typical
compensation, similar to what we see in the Marshall Gambit.}) (12. Nxd5 Bd6 {
is also quite unclear, since if Black retracts his rook on the e-file Black
has got ...Bxh2+ regaining the pawn.}) (12. Rxd5 Bd6 13. Bf4 Be6 $1 14. Bxd6
cxd6 15. Rh5 g6 16. Rh6 a3 $1 17. bxa3 Rc8 $44 {0-1 (29) Sidorenko,I (2395)
-Mikhalevski,V (2581) Israel 2019}) 12... Bd6 13. Qh5 a3 $5 (13... c6 14. Nxa4
Qa5 15. Nc3 Rb8 $44 {1-0 (39) Preotu,R (2524)-Mikhalevski,V (2581) chess.com
2019}) 14. Nxd5 axb2 15. Bxb2 Rb8 16. Rab1 Re8 (16... Be6 $5 17. c4 g6 18. Qe2
Bxd5 19. cxd5 Qg5 $11) 17. Ne3 Bf4 18. d5 (18. c4 g6 19. Qe2 Bf5 20. Rbd1 Qd6
$44) (18. Qf3 Bxe3 19. fxe3 Be6 $44) 18... Rb4 (18... Re4 $5 19. Qf3 Qe8 {
also makes sense, according to the engine.}) 19. c4 Bxe3 20. Rxe3 Rxe3 21. fxe3
Rxc4 22. Bd4 c5 23. Ba1 f6 24. h3 Qe7 25. Qf3 h6 26. Re1 Re4 $15 {½-½ (68)
Caruana,F (2819)-Carlsen,M (2875) Zagreb 2019}) (11. Qe1 f6 $1 (11... Be6 12.
f4 $40) 12. Re2 (12. Re3 c5 $5 (12... Kf7 $5) 13. Qd1 (13. dxc5 d4 14. Re2 Kf7
$44) 13... O-O 14. Nc3 Rb8 15. b3 cxd4 16. Qxd4 Bd6 $6 {Very inspired - but
probably not correct.} (16... axb3 17. axb3 Bb7 {shouldn't be much for White.})
17. Qxd5+ Kh8 18. Rd3 Qe8 19. Bb2 Be5 20. Nxa4 Rb5 21. Qf3 (21. Qc4 $5) 21...
Bb7 22. Qe3 Be4 $1 23. Rd2 Bxg2 $1 24. Kxg2 (24. f4 $5) 24... Qg6+ 25. Kf1 Bxh2
26. Re1 Rg5 27. Ke2 $2 Re8 28. Kd1 Rg1 $1 $19 {Not a fully correct game from
Black, but an incredibly inspired one! 0-1 (48) Aronian,L (2780)-Mamedyarov,S 
(2820) Batumi 2018}) 12... Kf7 {This leads to drawish positions.} 13. Nc3 Bb4 (
13... Re8 $5 14. Nxa4 Bd7 15. Nc3 Bb4 16. Rxe8 Qxe8 17. Bf4 Qxe1+ 18. Rxe1 Bxc3
19. bxc3 Re8 20. Rxe8 Bxe8 21. Bxc7 Bb5 22. f3 {½-½ Van Kampen,R (2637)
-L'Ami,E (2630) Netherlands 2014}) 14. a3 Ba5 15. Bd2 Bxc3 16. Bxc3 Bf5 17. Bb4
(17. Qd2 Qd7 18. Rae1 Rhe8 19. f3 Rxe2 20. Qxe2 Re8 21. Qxa6 Rxe1+ 22. Bxe1
Bxc2 $11 {½-½ (31) Tari,A (2614)-Ernst,S (2535) Kiel 2018}) 17... Re8 18.
Rxe8 Qxe8 19. Qxe8+ Rxe8 20. Re1 Rxe1+ 21. Bxe1 Bxc2 $11 {½-½ (32) Santos
Ruiz,M (2583)-Vallejo Pons,F (2694) Marbella 2019}) 11... O-O ({So far} 11...
Be6 {didn't prove to be bad either, but the game move looks more natural.} 12.
Ba3 Bxa3 13. Nxa3 O-O 14. Nb1 Qd6 15. Nc3 axb3 16. axb3 c5 17. Ne2 (17. Re3
Rfc8 18. Rg3 Rab8 19. dxc5 Qxc5 20. h3 g6 21. Rxa6 d4 22. Ne4 Qe5 23. Ng5 d3
24. Qxd3 Bf5 25. Qf3 $6 f6 $1 26. Nxh7 Kxh7 27. Ra7+ Rc7 $15 {½-½ (43) Saric,
I (2689)-Kapnisis,S (2456) Greece 2018}) 17... f6 18. Re3 c4 19. Ng3 cxb3 20.
cxb3 g6 21. Qf3 Bf7 $11 {½-½ (43) Nakamura,H (2743)-Caruana,F (2818) Saint
Louis 2019}) 12. Ba3 (12. Rxe7 Qxe7 13. Ba3 Qg5 14. Bxf8 Bh3 $1 15. Qf1 Kxf8
16. Nc3 Re8 17. Kh1 Qd2 $5 18. Nxd5 Bxg2+ $1 19. Qxg2 Re1+ 20. Rxe1 Qxe1+ 21.
Qg1 Qe4+ {½-½ Relange,E (2490)-Benjamin,J (2595) Mermaid Beach 1998}) 12...
Bxa3 13. Nxa3 {The only way White can be better in these positions is to bring
the a3-knight to c5 (Nb1, Nc3, Na4, Nc5) but he never succeeds.} Re8 $1 {
The "clearest" way to equalize.} (13... Qd6 14. Nb1 f6 15. Re3 Bd7 16. Nc3 Rfe8
{was played by Radjabov, and is also very solid.}) 14. Rxe8+ Qxe8 15. Qd2 (15.
Nb1 axb3 16. axb3 Bf5 (16... Qc6 $5) 17. Nc3 Qc6 (17... Qe6 $5) 18. Qd2 Re8 19.
Rc1 Qe6 20. f3 h5 $11 {½-½ (36) Balogh,C (2630)-Radjabov,T (2715) Poland 2013
}) 15... Bf5 16. Re1 (16. Nb1 $2 Bxc2 $15) 16... Qc6 {This setup paralyzes the
white knight on a3. With his next move, White just tries to exchange
everything and forces a draw.} 17. c4 axb3 18. axb3 h6 19. cxd5 Qxd5 20. Nc4
Be6 21. Re5 Qd7 22. d5 Rd8 $1 23. dxe6 (23. Ne3 $2 c6 $17) 23... Qxd2 24. Nxd2
Rxd2 25. g3 fxe6 26. Rxe6 Ra2 27. Rc6 Ra3 28. Rxc7 Rxb3 29. Ra7 Ra3 30. g4 h5
$5 {Not necessary, but anyway a good move to disturb White's pawn chain.} 31.
gxh5 (31. g5 $6 Kh7 $15) 31... Kh7 32. Kg2 Ra5 33. f4 Ra3 34. Ra8 a5 35. Ra6 a4
36. f5 Rb3 $1 {Simplest.} 37. Rxa4 Rb5 38. Rf4 Kh6 39. f6 gxf6 40. Rxf6+ Kxh5
41. h4 Rb2+ 42. Rf2 Rxf2+ 43. Kxf2 Kxh4 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 11th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2019.12.04"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2780"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2019.12.02"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Bc5 6. c3 O-O 7. d4 Ba7 8. dxe5
Nxe4 9. Qd5 Nc5 10. Bc2 Ne7 11. Qd1 d5 12. exd6 Qxd6 13. Qxd6 cxd6 14. Re1 Re8
15. Na3 Bg4 16. Bf4 Bxf3 17. gxf3 d5 18. Rad1 Ne6 19. Be3 g6 20. Bb3 d4 21.
cxd4 Nf5 22. d5 Ned4 23. Bxd4 Rxe1+ 24. Rxe1 Bxd4 25. Nc4 b5 26. Ne3 Nd6 27.
Rc1 Bxb2 28. Rc6 Be5 29. Ng4 Bf4 30. Nf6+ Kg7 31. Ne4 Nf5 32. d6 Ra7 33. Bd1
Nd4 34. Rb6 Rd7 35. Rxa6 f5 36. Nc5 Rxd6 37. Rxd6 Bxd6 38. Nb3 Ne6 39. Be2 b4
40. Bc4 Nf4 41. Nc1 Kf6 42. Nd3 Nxd3 43. Bxd3 Bf4 44. Bc4 Bd6 45. Bd3 Bf4 46.
Bc4 Bd6 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 11th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2019.12.04"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D87"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2780"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2019.12.02"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8.
Ne2 O-O 9. Be3 Nc6 10. h4 cxd4 11. cxd4 Qa5+ 12. Kf1 Bd7 13. h5 Rac8 14. hxg6
hxg6 15. Bb3 Qa6 16. Kg1 Na5 17. Nf4 Rfe8 18. e5 Bf5 19. Kh2 Nxb3 20. axb3 Qc6
21. Rxa7 Red8 22. Qf3 Qxf3 23. gxf3 f6 24. Rxb7 fxe5 25. dxe5 Bxe5 26. Rxe7 Re8
27. Rxe8+ Rxe8 28. Kg2 Rb8 29. Nd5 Rxb3 30. Bf4 Bxf4 31. Nxf4 Kg7 32. Nd5 Rb5
33. Rd1 Be6 34. Ne3 Rg5+ 35. Kh2 Kf6 36. Rd6 Ke7 37. Rb6 Kf7 38. f4 Rc5 39. Kg3
g5 40. fxg5 Rxg5+ 41. Kf4 Ra5 42. f3 Ra4+ 43. Kg3 Ra3 44. Nc2 Ra4 45. Nb4 Ra3
46. Nc6 Bd5 47. Ne5+ Ke7 48. Kg4 Bxf3+ 49. Nxf3 Ra5 50. Kf4 Ra1 51. Nd4 Rf1+
52. Ke5 Re1+ 53. Kd5 Rd1 54. Re6+ Kf7 55. Re4 Kf6 56. Kd6 Rf1 57. Re6+ Kf7 58.
Rh6 Rf6+ 59. Rxf6+ Kxf6 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 11th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2019.12.04"]
[Round "1.5"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2780"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2019.12.02"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 Be7 7. Re1 b5 8.
Rxe4 d5 9. Nxe5 Nxe5 10. Rxe5 bxa4 11. Qe2 c6 (11... Be6 12. f4 g6 {The
inclusion of the moves ...f4 and g6 gives White a strong option of sacrificing
an exchange on e5 (when Black plays ...Bd6) after what the black position will
be disastrous on the dark squares.} 13. Nc3 a3 14. b3 Bb4 15. Na4 O-O 16. Bd2 (
16. c3 $5 Bd6 17. Nc5 {may be stronger}) 16... Bd6 17. Nc5 Bf5 18. Bb4 $5 (18.
Rxd5 Re8 $132) 18... Bxe5 19. fxe5 Qh4 20. c3 a5 21. Bxa3 $44 {1-0 (33)
Alekseenko,K (2637)-Ernst,S (2540) Gibraltar 2019.}) 12. Bd2 (12. Nc3 Ra7 (
12... Be6 13. f4 $1 g6 14. Nxa4 $16) 13. Bf4 $1 $146 {This could be a serious
attempt at refuting the whole line.} (13. Nxa4 O-O 14. Bd2 $6 Bd6 $13 {½-½ 
(65) Saric,I (2695)-Ragger,M (2687) St Petersburg 2018}) 13... O-O (13... a3
14. b3 $16) 14. Re1 Be6 (14... Bd6 $2 15. Re8 $1 $18) 15. Re3 a3 16. bxa3 $1
Bxa3 (16... c5 17. Be5 $16) 17. Nxd5 Qxd5 18. Rxa3 Qxd4 19. Be5 $16 {/\Rg3})
12... Be6 (12... a5 $2 13. Nc3 $16) 13. f4 g6 (13... Qb6 $5 {is the other
option:} 14. f5 (14. Bc3 g6 $13) 14... a3 $1 (14... Qxd4+ $2 15. Kh1 Qxb2 (
15... a3 $2 16. Bc3 $18) 16. fxe6 O-O (16... Qxa1 $2 17. exf7+ Kf8 18. Rxe7
Qxb1+ 19. Be1 $18) 17. Bc3 Qc1+ 18. Qe1 $18) 15. Nxa3 (15. Nc3 axb2 16. Re1
Qxd4+ 17. Kh1 O-O 18. fxe6 fxe6 $44) (15. b3 $4 Qxd4+ $19) 15... Qxb2 16. Re1
Qxd4+ 17. Kh1 Bxa3 18. Rxe6+ fxe6 19. Qxe6+ Kf8 20. Bg5 h6 21. Be7+ Bxe7 22.
Qxe7+ Kg8 23. Qe6+ $11) 14. Nc3 a3 15. b3 ({The move chosen by MVL is the most
natural one, but actually} 15. bxa3 $5 {may be stronger. The idea is simple:
play in similar fashion as in the game, while the queenside is already open.
Black will have to castle kingside, and a pawn is pawn, after all.}) 15... Bd6
$1 (15... O-O 16. f5 gxf5 17. Bh6 $40) 16. f5 $1 gxf5 17. Rf1 Bxe5 $6 {A
poisoned gift!} (17... O-O $1 {was the tough but right decision.} 18. Bf4 (18.
Bh6 Qh4 $132) 18... Bxe5 19. Qxe5 Qe8 20. Bh6 f6 21. Qg3+ Qg6 22. Bxf8 Qxg3 23.
hxg3 Kxf8 $11) 18. Qxe5 Rg8 19. Na4 Qb8 20. Qe3 Rg4 (20... Rg6 {followed with .
..Kf8 and ...Kg8 might be playable, but Carlsen's continuation is more human.})
21. Nc5 Re4 22. Nxe4 {That wasn't mandatory. White could also have played 22.
Qh6 right away, for example.} fxe4 23. Qh6 Qa7 24. Qg7 (24. c3 {followed with
Qxh7 would have guaranteed White a great advantage.}) (24. Qf6 $5 {to prevent .
..0-0-0 also made a lot of sense.}) 24... O-O-O 25. Bb4 $6 (25. c3 {was a
better move - the white bishop is more useful on the c1-h6 diagonal, as it may
go to f4 while defending against ...e3.}) 25... Re8 26. Bxa3 h5 27. Bc5 Qd7 28.
Qg5 e3 29. Qxe3 Bf5 30. Qf2 $6 {The white queen should aim at the other side.}
(30. Qd2 $1 Bg6 (30... Be4 31. Qe2 $1 Kb7 32. Qxh5 $18) 31. Qa5 Qb7 32. Bd6 Re2
33. Re1 {and Black's position is just lost.}) 30... Bg6 31. c4 $2 {A huge
blunder, surely missing Black's next move.} (31. h3 {would have kept a clear
advantage.}) 31... Bd3 $1 32. Re1 (32. Rc1 Re2 $44) 32... Rxe1+ 33. Qxe1 dxc4
34. bxc4 Bxc4 35. h3 Qe6 36. Qxe6+ Bxe6 {And the rest was just played for the
audience!} 37. a3 Bd5 38. Kf2 Kd7 39. g3 Be6 40. h4 Bg4 41. Ke3 Ke6 42. Kf4 Kd5
43. Ke3 Ke6 44. Kf4 Kd5 45. Ke3 Ke6 46. Kf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 11th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2019.12.04"]
[Round "1.6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2780"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2019.12.02"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Nbd2 d5 4. b3 Bg7 5. Bb2 a5 6. a4 O-O 7. e3 Bf5 8. Be2
Nc6 9. O-O Nb4 10. Ne1 Ne4 11. c3 Nxd2 12. Qxd2 Nc6 13. Nd3 e5 14. Nxe5 Nxe5
15. dxe5 Bxe5 16. Rfd1 Qd6 17. Ba3 c5 18. Qxd5 Qxd5 19. Rxd5 Bxc3 20. Rad1 Bb4
21. Bxb4 cxb4 22. Bc4 Be6 23. Rb5 Rfd8 24. Rd4 Rac8 25. Rxd8+ Rxd8 26. Kf1
Bxc4+ 27. bxc4 Rd2 28. Rxb7 Ra2 29. c5 Rxa4 30. Ke2 Ra3 31. c6 Rc3 32. c7 Kg7
33. Ra7 b3 34. Rxa5 Rxc7 35. Rb5 Rc2+ 36. Kf3 b2 37. Rb6 h5 38. h3 Kf8 39. g4
h4 40. g5 Ke7 41. e4 Kd7 42. Ke3 Kc7 43. Rb5 Kc6 44. Rb8 Kc5 45. f4 Kc4 46. f5
Kc3 47. Kf4 Rg2 48. fxg6 fxg6 49. e5 Re2 50. Rb6 Kc2 51. Rc6+ Kd1 52. Rd6+ Kc1
53. Rc6+ Rc2 54. Rb6 Rc4+ 0-1

[Event "London Classic 11th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2019.12.04"]
[Round "1.7"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B56"]
[WhiteElo "2780"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2019.12.02"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bd7 6. Bg5 e6 7. Ndb5 Bxb5 8.
Bxb5+ Nc6 9. Qf3 Be7 10. e5 dxe5 11. Bxc6+ bxc6 12. Qxc6+ Kf8 13. O-O Qc8 14.
Qf3 Rb8 15. Rab1 h6 16. Bxf6 gxf6 17. Rfd1 f5 18. Qe3 Qc7 19. Na4 Kg7 20. b3
Qxc2 21. Qxe5+ Bf6 22. Qg3+ Kh7 23. Qd3 Rhc8 24. Qd2 Rc7 25. g3 Rbc8 26. a3 Kg6
27. Qxc2 Rxc2 28. b4 R8c4 29. Nc5 Bd4 30. Nd3 Ra2 31. Rbc1 Rxc1 32. Rxc1 Rxa3
33. Nf4+ Kf6 34. Kf1 Ra2 35. Ne2 Bb6 36. f4 Rb2 37. Rc4 Ke7 38. h4 Kd6 39. Nc3
Rf2+ 40. Ke1 Rf3 41. Ne2 Kd5 42. Rc8 Rb3 43. Kd2 Ke4 44. Nc3+ Kf3 45. Rh8 Bd4
0-1

[Event "London Classic 11th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2019.12.04"]
[Round "1.8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A37"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2780"]
[PlyCount "144"]
[EventDate "2019.12.02"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6. O-O Bf5 7. h3 Nf6 8. d3
O-O 9. a3 a6 10. Rb1 Rb8 11. b4 cxb4 12. axb4 b5 13. cxb5 axb5 14. e4 Be6 15.
Bd2 Nd7 16. Kh2 Nde5 17. Nxe5 dxe5 18. Be3 Nd4 19. Nd5 Bxd5 20. exd5 Qd6 21.
Qd2 Rfc8 22. Rfc1 e6 23. Bxd4 exd4 24. Rc6 Rxc6 25. dxc6 h5 26. h4 Bf6 27. Kg1
Ra8 28. Qc2 Be7 29. Qc5 Qxc5 30. bxc5 Rb8 31. c7 Rc8 32. Rxb5 Rxc7 33. c6 Kg7
34. Ra5 Bd6 35. Ra8 Kf6 36. Be4 Ke7 37. Kg2 Bc5 38. Kh3 Kd6 39. Kg2 Ra7 40.
Rd8+ Ke7 41. Rb8 Rc7 42. Kf1 Kd6 43. Ke2 Ba7 44. Rd8+ Ke7 45. Ra8 Bc5 46. Kd1
Bb4 47. Ke2 Bc3 48. Kf1 Bb4 49. Kg2 Bc3 50. Ra4 Kd6 51. Kh3 Ke7 52. Bg2 Be1 53.
Ra2 Bb4 54. g4 hxg4+ 55. Kxg4 Bd6 56. Rb2 Kf6 57. Rb7 Kg7 58. Rb5 f5+ 59. Kh3
g5 60. hxg5 Kg6 61. Rb7 Kxg5 62. Rxc7 Bxc7 63. Bf3 Bd6 64. Bd1 Kf4 65. Kg2 e5
66. Kf1 e4 67. Ke2 Bc7 68. Bb3 Bd6 69. Be6 Bc7 70. Bd7 Bd6 71. Be6 Bc7 72. Bd7
Bd6 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 11th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2019.12.04"]
[Round "1.9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B95"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2780"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "164"]
[EventDate "2019.12.02"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f3 h6 8. Be3
b5 9. a3 $5 Nbd7 10. Qd2 Bb7 11. O-O-O h5 12. Kb1 Be7 13. Rg1 $1 $146 {A huge
improvement on 13.Qe1, previously played by Carlsen.} Rc8 14. Be2 Nb6 (14...
Ne5 $5 {is definitely worth consideration.}) 15. Qe1 $1 {Now that move makes
sense - as White already threatens to push e5.} Nfd7 (15... Qc7 {definitely
makes sense too. A logical follow-up would be} 16. Qg3 Nc4 17. Bxc4 bxc4 {while
} 18. Qxg7 $2 {would allow} Rg8 19. Qh6 e5 $1 {with the idea} 20. Nf5 Rg6 21.
Qh8+ Kd7 $19) 16. g4 {Logical, once the knight is gone from f6 - so White can
recapture on g4 with his rook.} hxg4 17. Rxg4 Bf8 $6 {It is rarely very good
to set your pieces ready for the next game! Several moves lead to unclear
positions here.} (17... g6 $5 18. Rxg6 {(the move MVL admitted to have
overlooked beforehand)} Rxc3 $1 (18... e5 19. Qg1 $1 exd4 20. Bxd4 Rf8 21. e5 {
is also a mess, but could go wrong for Black}) (18... fxg6 $4 19. Nxe6 $18) 19.
Nxe6 (19. Qxc3 Na4 $1 20. Qd2 fxg6 21. Nxe6 Qc8 $13) 19... Qc8 $8 {And now the
engine suggests a fun drawing line:} 20. Ng7+ Kf8 21. Rh6 Rxh6 22. Bxh6 Rxc2
23. Nf5+ Ke8 24. Nxe7 Kxe7 25. Qh4+ f6 26. Bf4 Rxb2+ 27. Kxb2 Na4+ 28. Kb1 Nc3+
29. Kb2 Na4+ $11) (17... Rh7 $5 {also looks playable. Any time the queen
leaves its protection of the c3-knight, Black will sac on c3 and play ...Na4.})
(17... Kf8 $5 {also looks reasonable, if} 18. Qg3 {then} Nf6 $1 19. Rxg7 Nh5
20. Bh6 $8 Nxg3 21. Rh7+ Kg8 22. Rg7+ Kf8 $11 {is another fun draw!}) ({Even} 
17... g5 {is suggested by the engine, but it looks somewhat more suspicious.})
18. Rg2 {Not the most percussive move, although Black's position remains
unpleasant to play.} (18. Bg5 $1 Qc7 19. Rh4 {exchanging Black's very
important h8-rook (that had both an attacking and defensive role) was very
disturbing.}) 18... Ne5 19. f4 (19. Bc1 $5 {was an interesting way to wait for
Black to put a piece on the c-file, so ...Rxc3 becomes impossible.} Qc7 (19...
Nec4 $2 20. b3 $16) 20. Qg1 $1 Nbc4 21. b3 Nxa3+ 22. Bxa3 Qxc3 23. Rxg7 $1 $40)
19... Nec4 20. Bc1 Qc7 21. Bxc4 (21. Rd3 $5) 21... Nxc4 22. Rd3 g6 $5 {Black
needs to activate his f8-bishop!} 23. b3 Bg7 {It is important to keep the
tension. Retracting the c4-knight would allow Bb2, after which White would
have no attacking prospects.} (23... Nb6 24. Bb2) 24. Qd1 (24. bxc4 bxc4 {
(/\...Qb6+)} 25. Nxe6 $8 {(or 24.Nxe6 first)} fxe6 26. Rdg3 {would be another
critical line.}) 24... Qa5 $6 {Tempting but wrong.} ({Black had to play the
more quiet} 24... Qb6 {to "defend" the c4-knight.}) 25. f5 $2 {Bluff? But it
did work!} (25. Nxe6 $1 {was powerful:} fxe6 (25... Bxc3 26. bxc4 bxc4 27. Rxc3
Qxc3 28. Qxd6 $1 $18) 26. bxc4 $1 Bxc3 (26... bxc4 27. Rxd6 Qxc3 28. Rxe6+ Kf7
29. Qd7+ Kg8 30. Re5 $1 $18) 27. Rxd6 {and Black may survive the attack, but
will remain worse, e.g.} Rc6 28. Rxg6 Rxd6 29. Qxd6 Bc8 30. Qb8 Qd8 31. f5 bxc4
32. fxe6 Bxe6 33. Qxd8+ Kxd8 34. Rxe6 Rxh2 35. Bb2 $1 $16) 25... Ne5 $2 ({
Black should have taken the offered pawn with} 25... exf5 $1 {- after} 26. Re2
f4 $5 {it would be difficult for White to continue his attack.}) ({Of course
not} 25... Nxa3+ $2 26. Bxa3 Qxa3 27. fxg6 $40) 26. b4 (26. fxg6 {was strong
as well, if} Rxc3 27. gxf7+ Kxf7 {White has several wins, for example} 28.
Rxg7+ $1 Kxg7 29. Nxe6+ Kf7 30. Rxd6 $18) 26... Qb6 27. fxg6 $1 {After that
move, Black's position collapses. Maxime's best chance then was the clock:
with around 8 minutes vs. 3.} Nxg6 (27... Nxd3 28. gxf7+ Kxf7 29. Rxg7+ $1 Kxg7
30. Qg4+ {with a devastating attack.}) 28. Be3 {The easy option.} (28. Nxe6 {
was the hard one:} Bxc3 29. Rxd6 Rc6 (29... Bc6 30. Rxg6 $1 fxg6 31. Ng5 $5 $18
) 30. Rd8+ Ke7 31. Bg5+ {followed with Qd7#.}) 28... Bh6 29. Ndxb5 {Logical,
but not the strongest.} (29. Bg1 {was the simple option, keeping bishops alive.
}) (29. Nxe6 $1 {was again the hard one:} Bxe3 30. Rxd6 Rc6 (30... Bc6 31. Nd5
$18) 31. Rd8+ Ke7 32. Qd7+ Kf6 33. e5+ $1 {and mate to follow.}) 29... Bxe3 30.
Nxd6+ Ke7 31. Nxb7 $2 {Slowly Magnus is giving Black practical chances.} ({
The strongest move was pretty hard to find:} 31. Nxf7 $1 Kxf7 32. Rd7+ Kf6 33.
Qf3+ Bf4 34. Ne2 $1 e5 35. Nxf4 exf4 (35... Nxf4 36. Qg4 $18) 36. Rxb7 $1 Qxb7
37. e5+ {and wins.}) 31... Ne5 $5 {A good practical try.} ({After} 31... Qxb7
32. Rxe3 {Black wouldn't be without chances, but objectively he shouldn't be
able to prove compensation for the two pawns.}) 32. Rxe3 Nc4 $1 {That was the
idea behind 31...Ne5.} ({Of course not} 32... Qxe3 $2 33. Qd6+ Kf6 $2 34. Nd5#)
33. Rd3 $6 (33. Rf3 $1 Qxb7 34. Qd4 {would probably have finished off the game
quickly.}) 33... Qxb7 34. Na4 {White had other ways to defend the a3-pawn,
like 34.Qc1, but that one isn't bad.} Rhd8 35. Nc5 $4 {Finally a serious
mistake by White! Magnus blunders his two extra pawns in just one move.} (35.
Rxd8 Rxd8 36. Qe1 Nxa3+ 37. Ka2 {and White is just winning.}) 35... Rxd3 36.
Nxd3 (36. Qxd3 Rxc5 {was surely missed by the Norwegian.}) 36... Nxa3+ 37. Kc1
$2 ({Better was} 37. Ka2 Nb5 38. Qg4 Qxe4 {which is around equal.}) 37... Qxe4
{Suddenly, material is equal and White's king is in trouble!} 38. Rf2 Qe3+ $2 (
38... Qd4 $1 {would have won the game: White is defenseless against 39...Qa1+.}
) 39. Kb2 Nc4+ 40. Ka2 Nd6 41. Qh5 {The white king could escape and White is
more or less fine again.} Nf5 42. Re2 Qg1 43. Qf3 ({Of course not} 43. Qxf5 $4
Rxc2+ $1 {deflecting the white rook.}) 43... Qb6 44. Ne5 Qb5 {Black's position
remains much easier to play.} 45. c4 $2 (45. Qe4 $1 {was necessary.}) 45...
Qa4+ 46. Qa3 Qxa3+ 47. Kxa3 f6 {The c4-pawn falls and Black is technically
winning. What a turnover in game 9 of the match!} 48. Nd3 Rxc4 49. Nc5 Nd4 50.
Re4 a5 $5 51. Ka2 Rxb4 (51... axb4 $2 52. Nxe6 $1 {was the last trick to avoid.
}) 52. Nd3 Nb5 $1 {A cute way to exchange rooks.} 53. Rxb4 (53. Nxb4 Nc3+ $19)
53... axb4 54. Nxb4 f5 55. Kb2 Kf6 56. Kc2 Nd4+ 57. Kd3 Nf3 58. h3 e5 59. Ke3
Nh4 60. Nd5+ Kg5 61. Ne7 Ng6 62. Nc8 Nf4 {Black's technical has been
irreprochable. Now the h3-pawn falls as well.} 63. h4+ Kxh4 64. Ne7 Kg5 65. Kf3
Ng6 66. Nd5 e4+ 67. Ke3 Ne5 68. Kd4 Ng4 69. Nc7 Nh2 70. Ke3 Nf1+ 71. Kf2 Nd2
72. Ke3 Nc4+ 73. Kd4 Nd6 74. Ne6+ Kg4 75. Ke3 Kg3 76. Nd4 (76. Nf4 $2 Nc4+ $19)
76... f4+ 77. Ke2 Kg2 78. Ne6 f3+ 79. Ke3 Kg3 80. Nf4 Nc4+ $1 81. Kxe4 f2 82.
Ne2+ Kg4 0-1

[Event "London Classic 11th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2019.12.04"]
[Round "1.10"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2780"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2019.12.02"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 a6 6. Bxd7+ Qxd7 7. Nc3 e5 8.
Qd3 Qc6 9. O-O Be6 10. Rd1 Rc8 11. a4 h6 12. Nd2 Nf6 13. Nf1 Be7 14. Ne3 O-O
15. Ncd5 Bxd5 16. exd5 Qd7 17. Nf5 Kh8 18. c4 e4 19. Qh3 Nh7 20. b3 Bf6 21. Ra2
b5 22. axb5 axb5 23. cxb5 Ng5 24. Qg4 Qxb5 25. Bxg5 hxg5 26. Nxd6 Qxb3 27. Nxc8
Qxa2 28. Nd6 e3 29. Qh3+ Kg8 30. Qxe3 Rd8 31. Ne4 Rxd5 32. Nxf6+ gxf6 33. Rf1
Kg7 34. h3 Qc4 35. Qf3 Qd3 36. Qxd3 Rxd3 37. Re1 Rd6 38. Rf1 Rd7 39. Re1 Rd8
40. g4 Rd7 41. Kg2 Rd8 42. Kg1 Rd7 43. Kg2 Rd8 44. Kg1 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 11th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2019.12.06"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[EventDate "2019.12.02"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 Nc6 5. Nbd2 $5 {An interesting move order,
threatening to take on c5.} cxd4 {Let's see two major nuances between the
moves 5.c3 and 5.Nbd2.} (5... Qb6 6. dxc5 $1 Qxb2 (6... Qxc5 7. c4 e6 8. a3 Be7
9. b4 Qb6 10. Bd3 $14 {1-0 (39) Wei Yi (2748)-Le Tuan Minh (2485) Ashgabat 2017
}) 7. Rb1 Qc3 (7... Qa3 8. Bb5 (8. Nd4 $2 e5 9. Nb5 Qa5 10. Bg3 Bxc5 $19 {
0-1 (36) Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (2630)-Sethuraman,S (2646) Riyadh 2017}) 8...
a6 9. Bxc6+ bxc6 10. O-O g6 11. c4 $1 $146 Bg7 (11... Qxc5 12. Qa4 $16) 12.
cxd5 Nxd5 13. Be5 O-O 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. Qc2 $14) 8. Bb5 (8. Rb3 Qxc5 9. Qb1 e6
10. Rxb7 Bd6 11. Rb5 Qa3 12. Rb3 Qc5 $11 {½-½ (44) Gupta,A (2626)-Kollars,D 
(2503) Zalakaros 2017}) 8... e6 (8... Bd7 9. O-O e6 10. Be2 Na5 11. Ne5 Bxc5
12. Nb3 $36 {0-1 (49) Harikrishna,P (2726)-Caruana,F (2828) Saint Louis 2019})
9. O-O Be7 (9... Qxc5 $6 10. c4 Be7 (10... a6 11. Bxc6+ bxc6 12. Ne5 Bd6 13.
Nd3 {1-0 (13) Mikaelyan,A (2474)-Tabatabaei,M (2548) Yerevan ARM 2017}) 11. Nb3
Qa3 12. Ne5 a6 13. Bxc6+ bxc6 14. Nxc6 Bd7 15. Nxe7 Qxe7 16. Be5 O-O 17. cxd5
Nxd5 18. e4 f6 19. Bd4 Nf4 20. Bc5 $16 {1-0 (29) Naiditsch,A (2702)-Wells,P 
(2447) Antalya 2017}) (9... Bxc5 $6 10. Be5 Qa3 11. Bb2 Qa5 12. Bxf6 gxf6 13.
c4 $44 {1-0 (54) Deac,B (2549)-Schnider,G (2430) Graz 2018}) 10. Ne5 (10. Nd4
Qxc5 11. N2b3 Qb6 12. Nd2 Qc5 13. N2b3 Qb6 14. Nd2 Qc5 $11 {½-½ (15) Li
Shilong (2495)-Harikrishna,P (2734) China 2018}) 10... Bd7 11. Nd3 {The latest
trend.} (11. Ndf3 Qxc5 (11... O-O 12. e4 Rfd8 13. Nxd7 Nxd7 14. exd5 exd5 15.
Re1 Qxc5 16. Bd3 Nb6 17. Rb5 Qa3 18. Rb3 Qc5 19. Ne5 $36 {1-0 (24) Kravtsiv,M 
(2655)-Ghosh,D (2536) Bhubaneswar 2018}) 12. c4 Nxe5 13. Nxe5 Bxb5 14. Rxb5 Qc8
15. Qb1 O-O 16. Rxb7 Bc5 $11 {½-½ (38) Kravtsiv,M (2635)-Csonka,B (2481)
Hungary 2019}) (11. Nxd7 Nxd7 12. e4 O-O $6 (12... a6 $1 $13) 13. exd5 exd5 14.
Ne4 dxe4 15. Qxd7 Qxc5 16. Qxb7 Nd4 17. Be3 $14 {½-½ (49) Livaic,L (2474)
-Loiseau,Q (2443) Zadar 2018}) 11... O-O (11... Rc8 12. Nb3 O-O 13. a3 $5 $146
{avoiding ...Nb4; White wants to go 14.f3 with the idea Bg3-Be1.}) 12. Bc7 $1 {
White is trying to trap the black queen!} b6 $1 {With this move, Black seems
to hold.} (12... Ne8 $6 13. Rb3 Qf6 14. Bg3 $1 {is already bad for Black, and
was played in many games.}) (12... Rac8 $2 13. Rb3 $18) 13. a4 $5 Ne8 14. Be5
$5 (14. Rb3 $6 Qa5 15. Nb2 Nxc7 16. Ndc4 {White gets the black queen, but at
the cost of too many pieces.} dxc4 17. Nxc4 Be8 18. Nxa5 Nxa5 19. Rb1 Nxb5 20.
axb5 Bxc5 $15 {0-1 (41) Tang,A (2507)-Balakrishnan,P (2411) Saint Louis 2018})
14... Nxe5 15. Rb3 Qa5 16. Nxe5 Bxb5 17. axb5 Bxc5 (17... bxc5 18. Nd7 c4 $44)
18. Nd7 Nd6 19. Nxf8 Rxf8 20. c3 Nxb5 21. Qa1 Na3 (21... Nd6 $1 $11) 22. Qb2
Nc4 23. Nxc4 dxc4 24. Rb5 Qa6 25. Ra1 Rd8 26. h4 Qc8 27. Qa2 a5 28. Qxc4 $14 {
1-0 (54) Nabaty,T (2639)-Fridman,D (2627) Bremen 2019}) (5... Nh5 6. dxc5 Nxf4
7. exf4 Qa5 (7... e6 8. Nb3 Bxc5 9. Nxc5 Qa5+ 10. c3 Qxc5 11. Bd3 g6 12. g3 Bd7
13. Qe2 d4 14. Rc1 O-O 15. O-O $14 {½-½ (56) Blohberger,F (2447)-Blagojevic,
D (2497) Skopje 2018}) 8. c4 $5 $146 (8. Bd3 Qxc5 9. O-O g6 $132 {0-1 (33)
Gajewski,G (2623)-Santos Ruiz,M (2583) Dresden 2019}) 8... Qxc5 9. a3 e6 10.
Bd3 Be7 11. O-O O-O 12. Rc1 Qd6 13. g3 {and White's position looks more
pleasant.}) 6. exd4 Qb6 $5 {Why not!? Against almost any move, White would
follow with c3 and transpose into a regular London opening position.} 7. Nb3
Bg4 ({Later in the match, Aronian tried to improve on this game with} 7... a6 {
but also failed to equalize:} 8. Be2 Bg4 9. a4 e6 10. a5 Qd8 11. Ne5 Bxe2 12.
Qxe2 Rc8 13. c3 $36 {1-0 (36) Carlsen,M (2872)-Aronian,L (2775) London 2019}) (
7... Bf5 8. a4 $5 a6 9. a5 Qd8 10. c3 (10. Bd3 Bxd3 11. Qxd3 e6 12. O-O Be7 13.
Ne5 O-O 14. Nxc6 bxc6 15. Rfc1 Qd7 16. c4 Qb7 $11 {0-1 (45) Kravtsiv,M (2685)
-Bok,B (2622) Batumi 2018}) 10... e6 11. Ne5 Be7 12. Be2 O-O 13. O-O Nd7 14.
Nd3 {could be the kind of positions Magnus wanted to play.}) 8. a4 $5 a6 (8...
a5 $6 9. Bb5 e6 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Bb4+ 12. c3 Be7 13. Nd2 $14 {1-0 (66)
Unuk,L (2343)-Pychova,N (2201) Rymanow-Zdroj 2017}) 9. a5 Qa7 $6 (9... Qd8 {
was certainly a bit more natural.}) 10. c3 e6 11. Be2 ({I couldn't see a good
reason not to play} 11. h3 $5 {except that after} Bxf3 12. Qxf3 b5 13. axb6
Qxb6 {the b3-knight is unprotected, but it isn't a big deal:} 14. Qd1 {and
White is definitely better.}) 11... Nh5 12. Be3 (12. Be5 $5 $14) 12... Qb8 13.
h3 Bxf3 14. Bxf3 Nf6 15. Be2 Bd6 16. Bd3 O-O 17. O-O Qc7 18. Re1 {Black's
position is almost equal, but he's simply running out of useful moves. In
order to get counterplay, he should play ...b6 or ...e5 at some point, but in
the game he could never do it under good conditions.} Kh8 19. Qf3 Rae8 (19...
e5 20. dxe5 Nxe5 21. Qf5 $14) 20. Bg5 Ng8 21. Re2 Nge7 (21... f6 22. Bd2 f5 $5
{is a good try.} (22... e5 $2 23. Qxd5 $18) 23. Rae1 Nf6 $1 24. Rxe6 Rxe6 25.
Rxe6 Ne4 26. Bxe4 $1 dxe4 27. Qh5 Qd7 28. d5 Nd8 29. Rxd6 Qxd6 30. c4 $14) 22.
Qh5 Ng6 23. Bc2 Kg8 24. Bd2 $5 {Not giving Black time for ...f6 and ...Qf7.}
Nb4 25. Bb1 Nc6 26. Bd3 Rb8 (26... e5 27. Rae1 $1 e4 $2 28. Qxd5 $18) 27. Be3
Rfe8 $6 (27... b6 28. axb6 Rxb6 29. Nc5 $16) (27... Rbe8 $1 28. g3 f5 $1 29.
Rae1 Rf7 30. Bd2 Nf8 $132 {The f-rook is important to prevent Bxf5 ideas.}) 28.
g3 $1 {White slowly makes progress.} Nf8 (28... f5 29. Rae1 $16) 29. Bc2 b6 {
Aronian probably felt like he had waited enough!} (29... Re7 30. h4 $14) 30.
axb6 Rxb6 31. Bc1 $5 (31. Nc5 $5) 31... Reb8 32. Nc5 e5 {Again - this looks
like desperation! But White's position is no longer that easy to play.} (32...
a5 33. Nd3 $16) 33. Nxa6 Qa7 34. dxe5 g6 35. Qg4 Nxe5 36. Qa4 Rc8 37. Be3 d4 $1
38. Bxd4 $2 {And Carlsen blunders with an extra hour on the clock!} (38. Nc5 $1
{was the right move, with the idea of 39.cxd4, while} Qxa4 39. Nxa4 {is just
bad for Black.}) (38. cxd4 $2 Nf3+ 39. Kh1 Qb7 $44) 38... Nf3+ $2 ({Missing} 
38... Rc4 $1 39. b4 (39. Qa2 Nf3+ 40. Kg2 Nxd4 41. cxd4 Rxd4 42. Be4 Ne6 $44)
39... Nf3+ 40. Kg2 Nxd4 41. cxd4 Rxd4 $11) 39. Kg2 Nxd4 40. Qxd4 Ne6 41. Rxe6
$5 (41. Qe3 {is close to a win, but Black seems to hold with a series of only
moves:} Bc5 $8 42. Nxc5 Qxa1 43. Nd7 Rxb2 44. Qh6 Kh8 45. Nf6 Nf8 46. Ne8 Qa8+
$8 47. Be4 Rxe8 48. Bxa8 Rbxe2 {with serious drawing chances for Black.}) 41...
fxe6 42. Be4 Rf8 43. Ra2 Rb7 44. Qxa7 Rxa7 45. b4 Rb8 $2 {In time trouble,
Aronian couldn't find how to limit the damage of the white pawns.} (45... Rc8
$1 {would have made White's task far more difficult:} 46. b5 Rxc3 47. b6 Rf7
48. Rd2 Rc4 $8 49. Bf3 Rc3 $8 {and there is no win for White, e.g.} 50. Bg4 Rc6
51. Bxe6 Rxb6 52. Bxf7+ Kxf7 $14) 46. c4 $1 {Now White pushes his pawn and
wins.} Rb6 (46... Bxb4 47. Nxb4 $18) 47. b5 Kf7 48. Rc2 (48. Ra4 {with the
idea Bc6 and c5 might have been stronger. A very instructive manoeuvre by the
way!}) 48... Rbxa6 49. bxa6 Rxa6 50. c5 Be5 51. c6 Ra7 52. h4 {With a few
minutes left and an hour less against the World Champion, chances to hold this
endgame are close to zero.} Kf6 53. Rd2 Bc3 54. Rd3 Bb4 55. Kh3 Be7 56. f3 e5
57. Rc3 Bd6 58. Rc1 h6 59. Rd1 Be7 60. Kg4 Kf7 (60... h5+ 61. Kh3 {would be a
success for White: he managed to get the black pawns on light squares and will
now go the other way around with his king, or push g4.}) 61. Rb1 Bd6 62. h5 $1
{This is even worse for Black.} gxh5+ 63. Kxh5 Kg7 64. Rd1 Bb4 65. Rd5 Re7 66.
Bf5 {The bishop goes to d7 and the gave is over.} 1-0

[Event "London Classic 11th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2019.12.07"]
[Round "2.2"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E60"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "162"]
[EventDate "2019.12.02"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 Nc6 $5 4. d5 Ne5 5. e4 d6 6. Nc3 Bg7 (6... c6 7. f4
Ned7 8. Nh3 Nc5 9. Nf2 Bg7 10. Be2 O-O 11. Be3 cxd5 12. cxd5 Qa5 13. O-O $14 {
wasn't satisfying for Black in the game Ding Liren (2804)-Svidler,P (2756)
Porto Carras 2018, 1-0 (41).}) 7. f4 Ned7 8. Be3 $5 (8. Nh3 O-O 9. Be2 Nc5 10.
Nf2 {used to be the main line, but then Black found} e5 $5 11. fxe5 (11. dxe6
fxe6 12. Be3 b6 13. Qc2 Bb7 14. O-O-O Nfd7 $13 {½-½ (51) Cheparinov,I (2703)
-Najer,E (2706) Kocaeli 2017}) 11... Ne8 $1 12. Bf4 (12. exd6 Nxd6 $44 {
0-1 (32) Laznicka,V (2679)-Salgado Lopez,I (2622) Dubai 2014}) 12... Qe7 $1 13.
Rc1 Bxe5 14. Bxe5 Qxe5 15. b4 Nd7 16. O-O a5 17. a3 axb4 18. axb4 c5 $5 19.
dxc6 bxc6 $13 {½-½ (33) Moiseenko,A (2635)-Baron,T (2531) Douglas 2019.})
8... O-O 9. Be2 e6 10. dxe6 fxe6 11. h4 $5 ({Black could never prove equality
after} 11. Nh3 {- so I actually wonder what was Magnus' idea.} b6 12. O-O Bb7
13. Qc2 (13. Bf3 $5 Rb8 14. Qc2 Qe7 15. Rad1 a6 16. b4 Ba8 17. a3 Bh6 18. Bc1
$14 {0-1 (50) Vocaturo,D (2607)-Svidler,P (2760) Antalya 2017}) 13... Nc5 14.
Bf3 e5 (14... Nfd7 15. b4 Na6 16. a3 Qe7 17. Rad1 $16 {½-½ (58) Dziuba,M 
(2556)-Tomczak,J (2615) Poland 2017}) (14... Rb8 15. b4 Ncd7 16. Rae1 Qe7 17.
a3 $14 {½-½ (35) Baldauf,M (2493)-Esipenko,A (2616) Karlsruhe 2019}) 15. f5
a5 16. g4 h6 17. Rad1 Nh7 18. Qg2 g5 19. Nf2 Bf6 20. Nh1 Bc6 21. Ng3 $16 {
1-0 (69) Fedoseev,V (2680)-Trjapishko,A (2512) Yaroslavl 2019}) 11... b5 $146 (
11... b6 12. h5 Bb7 (12... Nxh5 13. Bxh5 gxh5 14. Qxh5 Bxc3+ 15. bxc3 Qe7 {
may be playable}) 13. hxg6 hxg6 14. Qc2 e5 15. f5 Nc5 16. Bxc5 dxc5 17. Rd1 Qe7
18. g4 Ne8 19. Nf3 $16 {1-0 (28) De Jong,J (2454)-Wagner,D (2490) Netherlands
2014}) (11... e5 $6 12. f5 $16) (11... Qe7 $5 $146 {may also be playable:} 12.
h5 (12. g4 $5) 12... gxh5 13. Bxh5 Nxh5 14. Qxh5 Bxc3+ 15. bxc3 Rf7 $132) 12.
cxb5 Bb7 13. Qb3 $1 Kh8 (13... Nxe4 $4 14. Nxe4 Bxe4 15. Qxe6+ $18) 14. Bf3 e5
15. Nh3 $1 {Black has practical compensation for the pawn, but not enough of
it objectively.} Nh5 (15... a6 {looked natural. After} 16. O-O-O $5 (16. Ng5
exf4 17. Ne6 Qe7 18. Nxf8 fxe3 19. Ne6 Ne5 $44) 16... axb5 17. h5 gxh5 18. f5 {
Black's position remains difficult.}) 16. Bxh5 gxh5 ({Better may have been} 
16... exf4 17. Nxf4 Nc5 $1 18. Bxc5 Rxf4 19. g3 Rf8 20. O-O-O gxh5 $16) 17. f5
Nf6 18. Nf2 {A good but timid move.} ({When watching the game, I was thinking
Aronian would definitely have dared to play} 18. Ng5 {if his opponent wasn't
Magnus Calsen!}) 18... a6 19. b6 $5 (19. bxa6 Bxa6 {opens columns and
diagonals, which White prefer to avoid.}) 19... cxb6 20. Bxb6 (20. Rd1 b5 21.
O-O {was enough for a clear advantage.}) 20... Qd7 21. Rd1 Rac8 (21... Rfb8 22.
Qe6 $5 (22. Qc2 $5) 22... Qxe6 23. fxe6 Re8 24. Bc7 Rxe6 25. Rxd6 Rxd6 26. Bxd6
Rd8 27. Bxe5 Re8 28. Bd4 Bxe4 29. O-O {and Black is far from equalizing, for
example:} Bg6 30. Nh3 Ne4 31. Bxg7+ Kxg7 32. Nxe4 Rxe4 33. Rf4 Re2 34. Rf2 Re4
35. Nf4 $16) (21... Rab8 22. Ba7 Rbc8 23. Be3 $16) (21... d5 22. exd5 Qxf5 23.
O-O {doesn't bring Black enough compensation either.}) 22. Be3 h6 23. Rh3 d5 $5
(23... Ba8 24. Qe6 $16) 24. exd5 Ba8 25. Rf3 Rb8 26. Qc2 Rfc8 27. Qe2 (27. Qd2
Kh7 28. Nfe4 Nxe4 29. Nxe4 {looked winning to me, but after} Rb5 $1 {Black
does keep some chances.}) 27... Qf7 28. Qd2 (28. Rg3 $1 {would have won the
game:} Nxd5 (28... Bxd5 29. Qd2 $18) 29. Nxd5 Bxd5 30. Bxh6 $1 Bxh6 31. Rg6 $1
$18) 28... Kh7 29. Nfe4 Nxe4 30. Nxe4 Rd8 31. f6 Bf8 32. Qc2 Kh8 33. Nc3 Rb4
34. Qf2 Bxd5 35. Bc5 $2 {Tempting, but bad!} (35. Rf5 $5 {was strong.}) ({
So was the clever} 35. Bb6 $5 Rd7 36. Bc5 $1 Bxf3 (36... Rd4 {no longer works
due to} 37. Bxf8 $18) 37. Rxd7 Qxd7 38. Bxb4 Bxb4 39. Qxf3 Qd4 40. Qg3 $18)
35... Rd4 $3 {Suddenly Black is back in the game.} 36. Bxd4 Bxf3 37. gxf3 exd4
38. Rxd4 Rb8 $2 (38... Qxf6 39. Rxd8 Qxd8 {with great drawing chances for
Black, due to the weakness of the h4-pawn.}) 39. Qh2 Rb6 40. Nd5 Qe6+ 41. Qe2
Qg8 42. Kf1 Re6 43. f7 $2 {At first, that looked to me like an amazing shot -
but it is a bad move!} (43. Qh2 Rc6 44. Rd1 {and Black doesn't have any
compensation.}) 43... Qxf7 44. Rf4 Qg6 $1 {Probably the ressource overlooked
by Aronian.} 45. Rxf8+ (45. Re4 Rc6 $132) 45... Kg7 46. Qd1 (46. Rg8+ Kxg8 47.
Ne7+ Rxe7 48. Qxe7 Qb1+ $11) 46... Kxf8 47. Nf4 Qe8 48. Nxe6+ Qxe6 {White has
an extra pawn, but can't pary both of Black's threats: ...Qxa2 and ...Qh3+.}
49. Qd8+ Kf7 50. Qc7+ Ke8 51. Qb8+ Kd7 52. Qb7+ Kd8 53. Qb8+ Kd7 54. Qa7+ Ke8
55. b3 Qh3+ 56. Ke2 Qxh4 {The only thing Black should be careful of is not to
exchange queens under bad circumstances. But it is certainly not going to
happen!} 57. Qb8+ (57. Qxa6 Qh2+ 58. Kd3 h4 $11) 57... Ke7 58. Qc7+ Kf8 59.
Qc5+ Kg7 60. Qe5+ Kg8 61. a4 Qh1 62. Qb8+ Kf7 63. Qf4+ Ke8 64. Qb8+ Kd7 65.
Qa7+ Kd8 66. Qd4+ Ke8 67. Qe5+ Kd7 68. Qd4+ Ke8 69. b4 Qg2+ $5 ({There was
nothing wrong with} 69... h4 {either.}) 70. Qf2 Qg5 $1 {Now it's an easy draw.}
71. f4 (71. Qe3+ Kd7 $11) 71... Qd5 72. Qe3+ Kf7 73. Qa7+ Ke8 74. Qc5 Qa2+ 75.
Kf3 Qxa4 76. Qxh5+ Ke7 77. Qe5+ Kf7 78. Qd5+ Kg7 79. Qd4+ Kf7 80. Qd5+ Kg7 81.
Qd4+ Kf7 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 11th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2019.12.08"]
[Round "2.3"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A09"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2019.12.02"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 d4 3. b4 c5 4. g3 cxb4 5. a3 b3 6. d3 Nc6 7. Nbd2 a5 8. Qxb3 a4
9. Qc2 e5 10. Bg2 Nf6 11. O-O Be7 12. Rb1 O-O 13. Rb5 Nd7 14. Bb2 Nc5 15. Rb1
Qc7 16. Bc1 Na5 17. R5b2 Bd7 18. Qd1 Bc6 19. Ne1 Bxg2 20. Kxg2 Ncb3 21. Nc2 b5
22. cxb5 Rfb8 23. Nxb3 axb3 24. Nb4 Rxb5 25. e4 dxe3 26. Qf3 Rd8 27. Bxe3 Qd7
28. Rc1 f5 29. Rbb1 Qe6 30. Bd2 e4 31. Qe3 Bxb4 32. Bxb4 Rxd3 33. Qa7 Nc4 34.
Rxc4 Qxc4 35. Qa8+ Kf7 36. Qf8+ Kg6 37. Rc1 Qxc1 38. Qe8+ Kh6 39. Qe6+ g6 40.
Bf8+ Kh5 41. Qe7 1-0

[Event "London Classic 11th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2019.12.08"]
[Round "2.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2019.12.02"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 Nc6 5. Nbd2 cxd4 6. exd4 Qb6 7. Nb3 a6 8.
Be2 Bg4 9. a4 e6 10. a5 Qd8 11. Ne5 Bxe2 12. Qxe2 Rc8 13. c3 Be7 14. h4 Nxe5
15. Bxe5 Nd7 16. h5 Nxe5 17. dxe5 O-O 18. Ra4 Qd7 19. Rg4 f5 20. exf6 Bxf6 21.
O-O e5 22. h6 Kh8 23. hxg7+ Bxg7 24. Rd1 Qf7 25. Rd3 e4 26. Rh3 Rc6 27. Rgh4 h6
28. Qe3 Rf6 29. Nd4 Rxf2 30. Rxh6+ Kg8 31. Qg3 Rf1+ 32. Kh2 Qf4 33. Ne6 Qxg3+
34. Rxg3 R8f7 35. Rhg6 e3 36. Rxe3 1-0

[Event "London Classic 11th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2019.12.08"]
[Round "2.5"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2019.12.02"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 a6 5. Qc2 Bg4 6. Ne5 e6 7. cxd5 exd5 8.
Nxg4 Nxg4 9. h3 Nf6 10. g3 g6 11. Bg2 Bg7 12. Ne2 O-O 13. b3 Nbd7 14. Bb2 Re8
15. d3 Nh5 16. O-O Bxb2 17. Qxb2 Qf6 18. Qc2 a5 19. e4 dxe4 20. dxe4 Qe7 21.
Rad1 Nc5 22. Nc3 Rad8 23. Rxd8 Rxd8 24. Rd1 Ng7 25. Rxd8+ Qxd8 26. Qd1 Qf6 27.
Qd2 Nge6 28. f4 h5 29. h4 Kg7 30. Kf2 Nd7 31. Ne2 Ne5 32. Ke1 Ng4 33. Qc3 Qxc3+
34. Nxc3 Ne3 35. Bh3 Nc2+ 36. Kd2 Ncd4 37. Ke3 f5 38. e5 Kf7 39. Bf1 Ke7 40.
Bd3 b5 41. Nb1 Kd7 42. Nd2 Kc7 43. Bf1 Kb6 44. Kd3 Kc5 45. Kc3 Nc7 46. a3 Nd5+
47. Kd3 b4 48. a4 Nc7 49. Ke3 Nd5+ 50. Kd3 Nc7 51. Ke3 Nd5+ 52. Kd3 Nc7 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 11th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2019.12.08"]
[Round "2.6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2019.12.02"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. a3 g6 7. f3 Bg7 8. Be3
b5 9. Qd2 h5 10. a4 b4 11. Na2 a5 12. c3 bxc3 13. Bb5+ Bd7 14. Nxc3 O-O 15. O-O
Na6 16. Nc6 Bxc6 17. Bxc6 Rb8 18. Bb5 Nc5 19. Rad1 Qc7 20. Kh1 Rfd8 21. Bg5 Qa7
22. Qf2 Rdc8 23. Be3 Qc7 24. e5 Nh7 25. Nd5 Qa7 26. Nxe7+ Qxe7 27. exd6 Qe5 28.
f4 Qf5 29. d7 Ne4 30. dxc8=Q+ Qxc8 31. Qf3 Nhf6 32. Bd4 Qf8 33. Rfe1 Qb4 34. b3
Rd8 35. Bxf6 Rxd1 36. Rxd1 Bxf6 37. Bc4 Nd6 38. Qd5 Be7 39. Bd3 Kg7 40. g3 Qc3
41. Qe5+ Qxe5 42. fxe5 Nb7 43. Bc4 Nc5 44. Rf1 f5 45. exf6+ Bxf6 46. Rd1 Be7
47. Rd5 g5 48. Kg2 Kf6 49. Kf3 Kg6 50. Ke3 Kf6 51. h3 Kg6 52. g4 hxg4 53. hxg4
Kf6 54. Rf5+ Kg6 55. Kd4 1-0

[Event "London Classic 11th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2019.12.08"]
[Round "2.7"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C16"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2019.12.02"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 e6 2. e4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Qd7 5. Nh3 b6 6. Nf4 Ba6 7. Bxa6 Nxa6 8. O-O
Bxc3 9. bxc3 Ne7 10. Nh5 Kf8 11. a4 Nb8 12. g4 Nbc6 13. f4 Rg8 14. Qd3 Ke8 15.
f5 exf5 16. gxf5 Kd8 17. Kh1 Kc8 18. f6 g6 19. Ng3 Nf5 20. Nxf5 gxf5 21. Qxf5
Nd8 22. Qxd7+ Kxd7 23. Rf3 Ne6 24. Rh3 Rh8 25. Be3 Rag8 26. Rg1 Rxg1+ 27. Kxg1
h5 28. Kf2 c5 29. Ke2 a5 30. Rg3 Kc6 31. dxc5 bxc5 32. Kd3 h4 33. Rg4 h3 34. c4
Rb8 35. Bd2 Rb1 36. Rh4 dxc4+ 37. Kxc4 Ra1 38. Kd3 Ra3+ 39. c3 Kd5 40. Rxh3 c4+
41. Ke3 Rxa4 42. Rh7 Kxe5 43. Rxf7 Ra1 44. h4 a4 45. h5 a3 46. Ra7 Kxf6 47. h6
Rh1 48. Rxa3 Rxh6 49. Ke4 Rh5 50. Be3 Re5+ 51. Kf3 Rf5+ 52. Ke2 Ke5 53. Ra5+
Ke4 54. Ra4 Kd5 55. Ra5+ Ke4 56. Ra4 Kd5 1/2-1/2

[Event "London Classic 11th"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2019.12.08"]
[Round "2.8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C44"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[PlyCount "128"]
[EventDate "2019.12.02"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. g3 d5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. Nc3 Qd6 6. Bg2 Bg4 7. h3 Bh5 8. g4
Bg6 9. Nh4 O-O-O 10. d3 Nd4 11. Nxg6 hxg6 12. Ne4 Qd7 13. c3 Ne6 14. Qb3 Qxd3
15. Be3 Qa6 16. Bf1 Qc6 17. Bg2 Qa6 18. Bf1 Qc6 19. Qc4 Nf6 20. Qxc6 bxc6 21.
Ba6+ Kb8 22. Ng5 Nxg5 23. Bxg5 Bc5 24. Ke2 Rd6 25. f3 Nd5 26. Rad1 f6 27. Bc1
g5 28. Rd3 Nf4+ 29. Bxf4 exf4 30. Kd2 Be3+ 31. Kc2 c5 32. Rxd6 cxd6 33. Bc4 Kc7
34. Bd5 a5 35. Kd3 Kb6 36. Kc4 Bf2 37. Rh2 Be3 38. Be4 Bg1 39. Rd2 Kc7 40. Kb5
Rxh3 41. Kxa5 g6 42. Rd1 Be3 43. Rf1 Rh2 44. b4 Rxa2+ 45. Kb5 cxb4 46. cxb4 f5
47. gxf5 gxf5 48. Bxf5 d5 49. Rh1 Kd6 50. Rh5 Rb2 51. Rxg5 Bd2 52. Rg6+ Ke5 53.
Bd3 Kd4 54. Bf5 Bxb4 55. Kc6 Ra2 56. Rg4 Bd2 57. Rg1 Ra6+ 58. Kb5 Ra3 59. Bg4
Rc3 60. Rh1 Ke3 61. Rh8 d4 62. Rd8 d3 63. Bf5 Be1 64. Re8+ Kf2 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.26"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Utegaliev, Azamat"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2502"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2019.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 4. d4 c6 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nc4 Qc7 8.
a4 a5 9. Qf3 Nb6 10. Bf4 Qd8 11. Be5 Nbd5 12. Nxd5 Nxd5 13. c3 Nf6 14. Bd3 Be6
15. O-O Bxc4 16. Bxc4 e6 17. Qg3 g6 18. f4 Bg7 19. f5 exf5 20. Bc7 Qc8 21. Qd6
Ne4 22. Rae1 Qd7 23. Rxe4+ fxe4 24. Bxf7+ Qxf7 25. Rxf7 Kxf7 26. Qd7+ 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.26"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Melkumyan, Hrant"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D33"]
[WhiteElo "2668"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2019.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. g3 Nc6 7. Bg2 cxd4 8.
Nxd4 Bc5 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. O-O O-O 11. Qc2 Bb6 12. Na4 Bd7 13. Nxb6 axb6 14. b4
b5 15. Bb2 Re8 16. e3 h5 17. Qc3 Qc8 18. Rfd1 Bh3 19. Bh1 Qf5 20. Rd4 Re6 21.
Rf4 Qg6 22. a3 Ne4 23. Qd4 Nd6 24. Bf3 f6 25. Qd1 Bg4 26. Bxg4 hxg4 27. Rxg4
Qf5 28. Rf4 Qg6 29. Bd4 Re4 30. Qc2 Qe8 31. Rxe4 Nxe4 32. Kg2 Nd6 33. a4 Rxa4
34. Rxa4 bxa4 35. Qxa4 Qe4+ 36. f3 Qd3 37. Qxc6 Qe2+ 38. Kg1 Qe1+ 39. Kg2
1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.26"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Savchenko, Boris"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2577"]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "2019.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 c5 3. e3 cxd4 4. exd4 Nc6 5. Bb5 Bg4 6. c4 Nf6 7. Nc3 g6 8. h3
Bxf3 9. Qxf3 a6 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Qxd5 axb5 12. Qxb5 Bg7 13. Qxb7 Nxd4 14. O-O
O-O 15. Rd1 Qb8 16. Qe4 f5 17. Qd3 e5 18. Rb1 Qb4 19. Be3 Rfd8 20. a3 Qb3 21.
Bxd4 Rxd4 22. Qb5 Rb8 23. Qc5 Qc4 24. Qxc4+ Rxc4 25. Nd5 Rb3 26. Rd2 e4 27. g3
Kf7 28. Kg2 Rd4 29. Rbd1 Rxd2 30. Rxd2 Bxb2 31. a4 Be5 32. Ra2 Ke6 33. Nf4+ Kd6
34. a5 Bd4 35. a6 Ba7 36. h4 e3 37. fxe3 Rxe3 38. Rd2+ Kc6 39. Rc2+ Kd6 40. Rc8
Re7 41. Kh3 Be3 42. Rd8+ Kc7 43. Rd3 Bxf4 44. gxf4 Kb6 45. Ra3 Ka7 46. h5 Re4
47. Rf3 Kxa6 48. Kh4 Kb6 49. Kg5 Re6 50. Rc3 Rd6 51. h6 Rc6 52. Re3 Rc4 53. Re7
Rc7 54. Rg7 Kc6 55. Kf6 Rd7 56. Ke6 Rd4 57. Rxh7 Rxf4 58. Rh8 Rh4 59. h7 Kb7
60. Kf6 f4 61. Kxg6 Rg4+ 62. Kh5 Rg1 63. Rf8 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.26"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2659"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2019.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 c6 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nc4 Qc7 8.
g3 Nb6 9. Ne5 Be6 10. Bg2 g6 11. Bf4 Qc8 12. Qd2 Bg7 13. Bh6 Bxh6 14. Qxh6 Qc7
15. O-O-O O-O-O 16. Bh3 Bxh3 17. Qxh3+ e6 18. Rhe1 Nbd5 19. Nxd5 Nxd5 20. Qh6
Kb8 21. a3 f6 22. Nd3 Rhe8 23. Re2 Qf7 24. h4 b6 25. Rde1 Kb7 26. Kb1 Nc7 27.
Qe3 Rd6 28. Qf3 Rf8 29. c3 a5 30. g4 h6 31. g5 fxg5 32. Qxf7 Rxf7 33. hxg5 hxg5
34. Ne5 Rh7 35. Rg1 Rh5 36. Nxg6 Rd8 37. Re5 Rd5 38. a4 c5 39. dxc5 bxc5 40.
Re2 Rf5 41. Ne5 Rh4 42. Ng4 Rf4 43. Ne5 Rf5 44. Ng4 Rf4 45. Ne5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.26"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Shimanov, Aleksandr"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2587"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2019.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Qc7 6. h3 Nf6 7. Nf3 e6 8. O-O
Bd6 9. Re1 b6 10. Nbd2 Bb7 11. Qe2 O-O 12. Ne5 Rae8 13. Bb1 Nd7 14. Ndf3 f6 15.
Qd3 f5 16. Bf4 Nf6 17. Bh2 Nd8 18. a4 a5 19. Qe2 Ne4 20. Bd3 f4 21. c4 Re7 22.
Rac1 Qb8 23. cxd5 exd5 24. Bb5 Bxe5 25. Nxe5 Qd6 26. f3 Ng3 27. Bxg3 fxg3 28.
Qe3 Ne6 29. Nc6 Ree8 30. Qe5 Qxe5 31. Rxe5 Kh8 32. Nxa5 bxa5 33. Bxe8 Rxe8 34.
Rce1 Bc8 35. Rxd5 Rf8 36. Rxa5 Nxd4 37. Ra8 Kg8 38. b4 Rd8 39. b5 Kf7 40. b6
Nc2 41. b7 Nxe1 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.27"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wang, Hao"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2756"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2019.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 Bd6 5. Nbd2 Bxf4 6. exf4 O-O 7. Bd3 Qd6 8.
g3 b6 9. Qe2 a5 10. a4 c5 11. c3 Ba6 12. Bxa6 Nxa6 13. O-O Nb8 14. Ne5 Nc6 15.
Ndf3 Rac8 16. Rfe1 Ne4 17. Rad1 Qc7 18. Kg2 cxd4 19. Nxd4 Nxd4 20. Rxd4 Nd6 21.
h4 Qb7 22. Kh2 Rb8 23. b3 Qc7 24. c4 Nf5 25. Rd3 dxc4 26. bxc4 Rbd8 27. Red1
Rxd3 28. Qxd3 f6 29. Ng4 Rc8 30. Ne3 Qc5 31. Nxf5 exf5 32. Qe2 Qc6 33. Rd5 h6
34. Qd3 Qxa4 35. Rd7 Kh8 36. Rd6 Qb4 37. Qd5 Qe1 38. Kg2 Qe4+ 39. Qxe4 fxe4 40.
Rxb6 Rxc4 41. Rb5 a4 42. Rb8+ Kh7 43. h5 Rc2 44. Ra8 Ra2 45. Kf1 g5 46. Ra7+
Kg8 47. fxg5 hxg5 48. g4 Ra3 49. Ke2 Rf3 50. Rxa4 Rf4 51. Ke3 Rf3+ 52. Ke2 Rf4
1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.27"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Rakhmanov, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2645"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2019.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. g3 g6 7. Bg2 Bg7 8.
Nc3 O-O 9. O-O Rb8 10. Qa4 a6 11. c5 Qe7 12. Qa5 Nd5 13. Nxd5 cxd5 14. Qxc7 Be5
15. Qa5 Rb5 16. Qa3 Bb7 17. Rb1 Qxc5 18. Qxc5 Rxc5 19. Rd1 Rb8 20. Be3 d4 21.
Bxd4 Bxd4 22. Rxd4 Bxg2 23. Kxg2 Rc2 24. Rxd7 Rbxb2 25. Rxb2 Rxb2 26. a3 Ra2
27. Rd3 Rxe2 28. Rd6 Rb2 29. g4 Rb3 30. Rxa6 h5 31. gxh5 gxh5 32. h4 Kg7 33. f3
f6 34. Kg3 Kg6 35. Kf4 Rc3 36. a4 Rc4+ 37. Kg3 Rb4 38. a5 Ra4 39. Ra8 Kf5 40.
Rh8 Kg6 41. Ra8 Kf5 42. a6 Ra2 43. a7 Ra3 44. Rh8 Rxa7 45. Rxh5+ Kg6 46. Rb5
Ra1 47. h5+ Kh6 48. Rf5 Kg7 49. f4 Rg1+ 50. Kh3 Kh6 51. Rd5 Kg7 52. Kh4 Kh6 53.
Rd6 Rh1+ 54. Kg4 Rxh5 55. Rxf6+ Kg7 56. Kxh5 Kxf6 57. f5 Kxf5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.27"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Laznicka, Viktor"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2648"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2019.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 Bf5 4. e3 e6 5. Nbd2 Be7 6. Ne5 h5 7. Bd3 Bxd3 8.
Nxd3 Nbd7 9. Qe2 Ne4 10. h3 Nxd2 11. Qxd2 Bd6 12. Bxd6 cxd6 13. O-O-O h4 14.
Kb1 Nf6 15. f3 Qb6 16. Rhe1 O-O-O 17. c3 Kb8 18. e4 Qc7 19. Qg5 Rdg8 20. Rc1
Rh5 21. Qe3 e5 22. dxe5 dxe5 23. c4 d4 24. Qd2 Nd7 25. c5 Rh6 26. b4 Qc6 27.
Qb2 Qb5 28. Qb3 Ra6 29. Nb2 Rf6 30. a4 Qc6 31. b5 Qe6 32. Qb4 Rc8 33. c6 Nb6
34. a5 Na8 35. cxb7 Kxb7 36. Rxc8 Qxc8 37. Rc1 Qd8 38. Nd3 Nc7 39. Nc5+ Ka8 40.
b6 axb6 41. axb6 Na6 42. b7+ Ka7 43. Nxa6 Rxa6 44. Rc8 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.27"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Zubov, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2601"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2019.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. e3 a6 5. b3 c5 6. Bb2 cxd4 7. exd4 Nc6 8. Nbd2
g6 9. Bd3 Bg7 10. Qe2 O-O 11. O-O b6 12. Rad1 Bb7 13. Rfe1 dxc4 14. bxc4 b5 15.
c5 Qc7 16. Ne4 Nxe4 17. Bxe4 Ne7 18. Bxb7 Qxb7 19. d5 Nxd5 20. Bxg7 Kxg7 21.
Qb2+ Kg8 22. Ne5 Rfd8 23. c6 Qc7 24. h4 h5 25. Rd4 Nb6 26. g4 Rxd4 27. Qxd4 Rd8
28. Qe4 hxg4 29. h5 g3 30. fxg3 Nc4 31. Nxc4 Qxg3+ 32. Kf1 bxc4 33. hxg6 Rd2
34. gxf7+ Kf8 35. Re2 Rd1+ 36. Re1 Rxe1+ 37. Qxe1 Qf3+ 38. Qf2 Qxc6 39. Qf6 Qe4
40. Kg1 Qg4+ 41. Kh2 a5 42. Qd8+ Kxf7 43. Qxa5 Qe2+ 44. Kg3 Qe3+ 45. Kg4 c3 46.
Qc7+ Kg6 47. Qc4 Qe5 48. a4 Qf5+ 49. Kg3 c2 0-1

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.27"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Le, Quang Liem"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D20"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2713"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2019.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. Bxc4 Nb6 6. Bb3 Bf5 7. Nf3 e6 8. Nc3
Nc6 9. Be3 Be7 10. O-O O-O 11. a3 Na5 12. Bc2 Qd7 13. Bxf5 exf5 14. d5 Nac4 15.
Bxb6 Nxb6 16. Qb3 Rad8 17. Rad1 Rfe8 18. Rfe1 g6 19. h4 Kg7 20. h5 Bc5 21. Qc2
a5 22. Qc1 Qe7 23. Qf4 Nd7 24. b4 axb4 25. axb4 Bb6 26. h6+ Kg8 27. d6 Qf8 28.
e6 fxe6 29. dxc7 Rc8 30. Rxd7 Re7 31. Rxe7 Qxe7 32. Nd5 1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.28"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2780"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2019.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Nd5 Nxd5 8.
exd5 Ne7 9. c4 Ng6 10. Qa4 Bd7 11. Qb4 Qb8 12. h4 h5 13. Bd3 a6 14. Nc3 f5 15.
Be3 Be7 16. Na4 Qc7 17. Nb6 Rd8 18. g3 e4 19. Be2 Ne5 20. O-O-O O-O 21. Kb1 Be8
22. Rc1 Bg6 23. Ka1 Kh7 24. Rhd1 Rfe8 25. Na4 Rc8 26. Qb6 Qb8 27. Qb3 Bf6 28.
c5 Bf7 29. Nb6 Rcd8 30. Rd2 dxc5 31. Bxc5 Nd7 32. Be3 Nxb6 33. Bxb6 Rd7 34. Qd1
Qe5 35. Bc4 f4 36. Bd4 Qf5 37. Bxf6 Qxf6 38. gxf4 Qxf4 39. d6 Bg6 40. Be2 Red8
41. Bxh5 Bf5 42. Qe1 Rxd6 43. Rxd6 Rxd6 44. Be2 Qd2 45. a3 Qxe1 46. Rxe1 Rd2
47. Ka2 Be6+ 48. Kb1 Bb3 49. Kc1 Rc2+ 50. Kb1 Rc6 51. Bd1 Bxd1 52. Rxd1 Rh6 53.
Rd7 b5 54. Kc2 Rxh4 55. Kd2 Rf4 56. Ke2 Kh6 57. Ra7 Rf6 58. Re7 Rc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.28"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2019.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. d4 Nbd7 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be7 7. e3 c6 8.
Qc2 O-O 9. Bd3 Re8 10. Bf4 Nf8 11. h3 Bd6 12. Bxd6 Qxd6 13. O-O Ng6 14. Rab1
Bd7 15. b4 Rac8 16. Rfc1 Qe7 17. b5 cxb5 18. Bxb5 Bxb5 19. Rxb5 Ne4 20. Qb2 Nd6
21. Nxd5 Rxc1+ 22. Qxc1 Qe6 23. Rc5 Rd8 24. Nc3 h6 25. Qa3 a6 26. Qa5 Qe8 27.
Qb6 Kh7 28. Rd5 Rc8 29. Rxd6 Rxc3 30. Qxb7 Rc1+ 31. Kh2 Rc2 32. Rd7 Kg8 33. Rc7
1-0

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.28"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B14"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2758"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2019.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. e3 cxd4 6. exd4 Bb4 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
Qc2 Nc6 9. Bd3 Ba5 10. a3 h6 11. O-O O-O 12. Rd1 Bd7 13. Bh7+ Kh8 14. Be4 Nce7
15. Bd2 Rc8 16. Ne5 Be8 17. Rac1 f6 18. Nd3 Bb6 19. Nc5 Bxc5 20. dxc5 Rxc5 21.
Qb3 Rc7 22. Nxd5 Nxd5 23. Rxc7 Qxc7 24. Bxd5 exd5 25. Be3 a6 26. Qxd5 Bc6 27.
Qd6 Qxd6 28. Rxd6 Rf7 29. f3 Rd7 30. Rxd7 Bxd7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Rapid"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.28"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2019.12.26"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. Re1 e5 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. d3 Qc7 8.
Be3 b6 9. a3 a5 10. Nbd2 Nf6 11. b4 Ng4 12. bxc5 Nxe3 13. fxe3 bxc5 14. Nc4 Be6
15. Nfd2 O-O 16. Rb1 Rfb8 17. Rxb8+ Rxb8 18. Qa1 a4 19. Qc3 Rb5 20. Rf1 f6 21.
h3 h5 22. Qa1 1/2-1/2

[Event "World Rapid 2019"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.28"]
[Round "12.1"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D33"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2019.12.26"]
[EventType "rapid"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,118,43,27,27,15,15,15,10,20,38,31,30,8,11,17,30,15,14,-17,-17,-21,-14,
-14,-5,-5,-4,-7,-4,-9,34,7,19,19,38,42,7,7,55,63,59,44,58,52,65,51,51,55,44,49,
49,16,50,30,51,51,54,68,57,8,59,65,69,-101,-101,-93,-118,-118,-118,-144,-144,
-140,-137,-150,-137,-137,-148,-148,-151,-151,-159,-268,-287,-287,-270,-270,
-270,-270,-200,-234,-277,-256,-258,-253,-253,-284,-324,-324,-205,-205,-175,
-175,-227,-181,-173,-279,-73,-73,0,0,0,-26,-23,-103,-77,-132,-161,-198,-160,
-29989,-29990]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 exd5 $5 {
Generally known to be a mistaken move order, but as the world champion played
it 4 times recently in rapid and blitz games, he might not fully agree. The
"refutation" is supposed to be 6.Bg5, but against Vidit and Wojtaszek Magnus
scored 1½/2 even if both times he was somewhat worse after the opening.
Aronian, like his compratiot and second Melkumyan, chooses just to transpose
to the standard lines of the Tarrasch defence.} 6. g3 Nc6 7. Bg2 cxd4 $5 {
Kasparov, and thus everybody else following him, used to play 7...Be7 back in
the days, but recently Dubov has brought attention to this rare idea,
employing it in numerous games.} 8. Nxd4 Bc5 9. Nxc6 (9. Nb3 {is also a
relevant move, as after} Bb6 {White can win a pawn in numerous way, but with
Black always getting good practical compensation. Even so, Magnus played like
this as White excactly against Dubov on the final day of the blitz, managing
to tame the black initiative and eventually win the game.}) 9... bxc6 10. O-O
O-O 11. Qc2 Bb6 12. Na4 Bd7 13. b3 $5 {Melkumyan took on b6 followed by b4,
but Levon has a different concept in mind, just playing very logical
common-sense moves.} Re8 14. Bb2 {It would be easy to describe this position
as just pleasant for White. Finachettoed bishops, the knight well placed
dominating Black's bishop and controlling the weak square on c5. Black has
"hanging" pawns, and even should he get ready for e.g. ...Rc8 and ...c5, there
will be Bxf6 followed by Bxd5. Pleasant position for White, with no real
counterplay for Black? Well, these days we know better:} h5 $1 15. h4 $5 {
Aronian take measures to prevent the black pawn from reaching h3.} (15. Rfd1 h4
16. Nxb6 axb6 17. Rd4 h3 18. Bf3 {was another interesting option, with the
computer suggesting} c5 $5 19. Rxd5 Nxd5 20. Bxd5 Qg5 21. Bxa8 Rxa8 {as the
optimal line of play, with Black having just about sufficient compensation for
the pawn.}) 15... Ne4 16. e3 Rc8 17. Nxb6 axb6 18. Qd1 $1 {Taking White's
perspective, one might say that first he fixed Black's weak pawn, and now he
attacks it! As 18... g6 is out of the question due to the a1-h8 diagonal,
Black has to find a tactical way to justify his play.} Bf5 $5 ({The computers
suggest} 18... Bg4 19. f3 Nxg3 20. fxg4 Qxh4 21. Qf3 f5 {which indeed leads to
an interesting positions, but Magnus has another idea in mind.}) 19. Qxh5 Qd7 {
Ulf Andersson once jokingly stated that if you have an isolated pawn and
blunder it, the good news is that you have no more weaknesses! While if you
blunder one of your hanging pawns, then things are indeed really bad.....
Maybe there is a similar logic to attacking with your flank pawn, in the sense
that if you lose it, no big deal, it was after all just a flank pawn! White
now indeed is a full pawn up, but the knnight on e4 is dominating, with h4
having weakened the g3 pawn, meaning f3 never really is possible.} 20. Qd1 (20.
Bxe4 {would lead to a very interesting position after} dxe4 $5 21. Qg5 f6 $1
22. Bxf6 Bg4 $1 {White now is two full pawns up, but the white squares around
his own king are permanently damaged, and the bishop on g4 also making sure d1
is covered, meaning White can not really access the d-line. The computer calls
it slightly better for White, but from a practical point of view, it could be
easier to play for Black.}) 20... c5 21. Re1 Rcd8 $6 {Too much common sense!} (
21... Rc6 $1 {was stronger, caveman style, swinging the rook to g6 or even h6
attacking the weakened structure. With the computer saying Black is already
better!}) 22. Rc1 Bh3 23. Qf3 f6 24. Bxh3 Qxh3 25. Rcd1 b5 $5 {Just to sit and
wait was also fine, but Magnus, as always, has bigger ambitions than just
splitting the point.} 26. Qg2 Qe6 27. f3 Nd6 28. g4 d4 29. Qd2 ({At first the
engines says that Aronian missed} 29. Qc2 $1 {with a major edge, but then
moderates its statement to Black having quite decent compensation after} Qd5
30. Kg2 f5 $1 31. g5 f4 $1 32. e4 Qe5 {where indeed his prospects again seem
no worse.}) 29... Qd5 30. exd4 c4 31. Ba3 $2 {A peculiar blunder, but most
likely Aronian thought the f3 pawn untouchable as Bxd6 would then win a piece,
having confused that Black can just exchange on e1 first, and then retake on
d6.} (31. Kf2 $1 {was the better move, leading to equality and a likely draw.})
31... Qxf3 32. Qg2 Rxe1+ 33. Rxe1 Qc3 $1 34. Rd1 b4 35. Bb2 {The obvious move,
but} (35. Bc1 $1 {covering e3 would put up a better fight.}) 35... Qe3+ 36. Qf2
Qh3 37. Qg2 Qe3+ 38. Qf2 Qe4 39. Qg2 c3 40. Bc1 c2 $1 41. Rf1 Qxd4+ 42. Kh2
Qe5+ 43. Kg1 Qc5+ 44. Kh2 Nf7 {Materially technically its equal, but the
c2-pawn is such a big trump that Black is winning.} 45. g5 Qe5+ 46. Kh1 Rd1 47.
g6 Nd8 48. Qf3 Rxf1+ 49. Qxf1 Qe4+ 50. Qg2 Qxh4+ 51. Kg1 Qd4+ 52. Kh2 Qd1 $2
53. Qe4 $1 {Following the game online, the spectators suddenly got a surprise
here, as from Magnus for a while being around +5, the engine-evaluation
dropped to 0.00!White threatens mate on e8, and retreating the queen, would
mean losing the c2-pawn so Magnus only chance is taking his king for a walk.}
Kf8 54. Qxb4+ Ke8 55. Qb5+ $6 {Nothing wrong with the move itself, but
complicating things.} (55. Qa4+ Ke7 56. Ba3+ Ke6 57. Qe4+ $1 {would eventually
lead to a draw by perpetual check.}) 55... Ke7 56. Qc5+ $2 Ke6 57. Qc8+ Ke5 58.
Bb2+ $2 Ke4 {Things have gotten difficult, but 59 a4! might still actually
hold. However, the game came to a for Aronian very brutal end:} 59. Qb7+ $4 (
59. a4 $1) 59... Nxb7 $1 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.29"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Predke, Alexandr"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B02"]
[WhiteElo "2676"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2019.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. exd5 Nxd5 5. Nf3 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Be2 O-O 8.
O-O c5 9. Be3 Qc7 10. Qd2 Rd8 11. Bh6 Nc6 12. Bxg7 Kxg7 13. Qe3 cxd4 14. cxd4
Bg4 15. c3 Rac8 16. h3 Bxf3 17. Bxf3 Na5 18. Rac1 b6 19. Rfe1 e6 20. h4 Nc4 21.
Qe2 Qf4 22. g3 Qf6 23. Kg2 Rc7 24. Be4 e5 25. Bd3 exd4 26. Bxc4 Qc6+ 27. Qe4
Qxe4+ 28. Rxe4 Rxc4 29. Re7 Rxc3 30. Rd1 Ra3 31. Rd2 h5 32. Rc7 b5 33. Kf1 d3
34. Kg2 a5 35. Kf3 Rxa2 36. Rxa2 d2 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.29"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Belov, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2598"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2019.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Nf6 6. Bf4 Bg4 7. Qb3 Qd7 8.
Nd2 e6 9. Ngf3 Bd6 10. Ne5 Qc7 11. O-O O-O 12. Rae1 Bh5 13. Bg3 Bg6 14. Nxg6
hxg6 15. Nf3 Rab8 16. Qc2 Rfc8 17. Qe2 Ne7 18. Bxd6 Qxd6 19. Ne5 Nf5 20. g4 Ne7
21. f4 a6 22. Qg2 b5 23. f5 exf5 24. gxf5 Nxf5 25. Bxf5 gxf5 26. Rxf5 b4 27.
Ref1 Kf8 28. Rg5 bxc3 29. Rxg7 cxb2 30. Rxf7+ Ke8 31. Qg6 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.29"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Salem, AR Saleh"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2019.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6 6. e3 Bd6 7. Bd3 O-O 8.
Nge2 Re8 9. Qc2 h6 10. Bh4 a5 11. a3 Na6 12. h3 Nc7 13. O-O Ne6 14. f4 g5 15.
Bg3 g4 16. Bh4 gxh3 17. Ng3 Ng7 18. Rae1 Be7 19. f5 h2+ 20. Kh1 Ng4 21. f6 Nxf6
22. Bxf6 Bxf6 23. Qf2 Re6 24. e4 Qe7 25. exd5 Rxe1 26. Rxe1 Bxd4 27. Rxe7 Bxf2
28. Nge4 Bh4 29. Re5 f6 30. Re7 f5 31. Rc7 fxe4 32. Bc4 cxd5 33. Nxd5 Be6 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.29"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Jakovenko, Dmitrij"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A36"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2698"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2019.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. d3 d6 6. Qd2 Qd7 7. b3 b6 8. Bb2 Bb7
9. Nd5 Bxb2 10. Qxb2 e5 11. f4 O-O-O 12. Nf3 f6 13. O-O Nce7 14. e4 Nxd5 15.
exd5 Ne7 16. fxe5 dxe5 17. Nd2 Rhf8 18. Ne4 Ng8 19. b4 cxb4 20. Qxb4 f5 21. Ng5
Qd6 22. Qxd6 Rxd6 23. Rae1 h6 24. Ne6 Re8 25. Rxe5 Nf6 26. Rfe1 Kb8 27. Nf4
Rxe5 28. Rxe5 Ng4 29. Re8+ Bc8 30. d4 g5 31. c5 Rd7 32. Ng6 Nf6 33. Rf8 Nxd5
34. Ne5 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.29"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Wojtaszek, Radoslaw"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D32"]
[WhiteElo "2725"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2019.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be6 7. e3 c4 8. Ne5
Be7 9. Be2 O-O 10. O-O Nfd7 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 12. Bf3 Nxe5 13. dxe5 Rd8 14. Nxd5
Bxd5 15. Bxd5 Nc6 16. e4 Nb4 17. Rc1 Rac8 18. Qd4 b5 19. f4 Rc5 20. Rfd1 Kf8
21. a3 Nxd5 22. exd5 Rcxd5 23. Qxd5 Rxd5 24. Rxd5 a6 25. Rcd1 g6 26. g3 c3 27.
bxc3 Qxa3 28. R1d3 Qb2 29. Rd7 Qe2 30. R3d6 a5 31. Ra6 Qe1+ 32. Kg2 Qe4+ 33.
Kg1 a4 34. Raa7 Qc4 35. Kf2 Kg7 36. Rdc7 Qd5 37. Ke3 g5 38. Re7 gxf4+ 39. gxf4
Qc5+ 40. Kd3 Qc4+ 41. Ke3 Qxc3+ 42. Ke4 Qc4+ 43. Kf5 Qc2+ 44. Kg4 Qg6+ 45. Kf3
Qd3+ 46. Kg4 Kg6 47. Ra6+ Kg7 48. Raa7 h5+ 49. Kh4 Qf5 50. Kg3 Qg4+ 51. Kf2
Qxf4+ 52. Ke2 Kg6 53. Ra6+ Kg5 54. Rf6 Qe4+ 55. Kf2 a3 56. Rfxf7 a2 57. Rg7+
Kh4 58. Ra7 Qxe5 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.29"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Abdusattorov, Nodirbek"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2635"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2019.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bg5 d5 4. e3 Be7 5. c4 O-O 6. Qc2 h6 7. Bxf6 Bxf6 8. h4
g6 9. Nc3 Bg7 10. O-O-O c6 11. g4 Nd7 12. g5 h5 13. Kb1 Qe7 14. cxd5 exd5 15.
Bd3 Nb6 16. Rc1 Be6 17. Ne2 Bg4 18. Nh2 Bxe2 19. Qxe2 Rac8 20. f4 Rfe8 21. Rhe1
Nc4 22. Bxc4 dxc4 23. Qxc4 Qe4+ 24. Qc2 Qd5 25. Rcd1 Rcd8 26. e4 Qe6 27. Qf2
Rd7 28. f5 Qc4 29. f6 Bf8 30. Nf3 Rd6 31. Ne5 Qe6 32. Nd3 Qg4 33. Nf4 Rxe4 34.
Rf1 Qf5 35. Ka1 c5 36. d5 c4 37. Rde1 Rxe1+ 38. Qxe1 c3 39. Qxc3 Rxd5 40. a3
Rc5 41. Qd4 Rc2 42. Rd1 Rc8 43. Nd5 Re8 44. Qxa7 Qg4 45. Qd4 Re4 46. Ne7+ Kh7
47. Qd5 Re6 48. Qd7 Bxe7 49. fxe7 Rxe7 50. Qxe7 Qxd1+ 51. Ka2 Qd5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.29"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Andreikin, Dmitry"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2724"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2019.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qa4+ Nc6 6. e3 O-O 7. Bd2 dxc4 8.
Bxc4 Bd6 9. Qc2 e5 10. dxe5 Nxe5 11. Nxe5 Bxe5 12. f4 Bxc3 13. Bxc3 Ng4 14. Bd4
c5 15. Bxc5 Re8 16. O-O Nxe3 17. Bxe3 Rxe3 18. Qf2 Re8 19. Rad1 Qc7 20. Rc1 Qd6
21. f5 Qf6 22. Bb3 Bd7 23. Rc7 Re7 24. Rxb7 a5 25. Rb6 Qg5 26. f6 gxf6 27. Rxf6
Be8 28. Bxf7+ Bxf7 29. Rxf7 Rxf7 30. Qxf7+ Kh8 31. Qf6+ Qxf6 32. Rxf6 Rd8 33.
g3 Kg7 34. Rf2 a4 35. Kg2 a3 36. bxa3 Rd3 37. Kf1 Rxa3 38. Ke1 h5 39. Kd1 h4
40. gxh4 Kg6 41. Kc1 Ra8 42. Kb2 Rb8+ 43. Kc3 Rc8+ 44. Kd4 Ra8 45. Kc4 Rc8+ 46.
Kb3 Rb8+ 47. Kc3 Ra8 48. Kb2 Rb8+ 49. Ka1 Ra8 50. Rf4 Ra3 51. Kb2 Rh3 52. a4
Rxh2+ 53. Kb3 Rh3+ 54. Kb4 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.29"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D36"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2019.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. d4 Nbd7 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 c6 7. Qc2 Be7 8.
e3 O-O 9. Bd3 Re8 10. Bf4 Nf8 11. h3 Ng6 12. Bh2 Bd6 13. Bxd6 Qxd6 14. O-O-O b5
15. Kb1 a5 16. g4 a4 17. g5 Nd7 18. h4 Nb6 19. h5 Nf8 20. Ne5 Nc4 21. Bxc4 bxc4
22. a3 Rb8 23. Ka2 Rb3 24. Nxa4 Nd7 25. Nxd7 Bxd7 26. Nc5 Reb8 27. Rb1 g6 28.
hxg6 fxg6 29. e4 Bg4 30. Rhe1 Qf4 31. Ka1 Rf3 32. Qa4 Qd2 33. exd5 c3 34. dxc6
cxb2+ 35. Ka2 Bf5 36. c7 Rf8 37. Qc4+ Kh8 38. Ne6 Rxa3+ 39. Kxa3 Ra8+ 40. Kb3
1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.29"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Jobava, Baadur"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A01"]
[WhiteElo "2604"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2019.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 g6 2. Bb2 Nf6 3. Bxf6 exf6 4. c4 d5 5. cxd5 Qxd5 6. Nc3 Qa5 7. a3 c6 8.
e3 f5 9. g3 Bd6 10. Bg2 Nd7 11. Nge2 Nf6 12. O-O O-O 13. b4 Qd8 14. d4 Qe7 15.
Rb1 a5 16. b5 Bxa3 17. bxc6 bxc6 18. Bxc6 Ra6 19. Nd5 Nxd5 20. Bxd5 Bb4 21. Nf4
Bd6 22. Qf3 a4 23. Rfc1 a3 24. Ba2 Ra7 25. Nd5 Qd8 26. h4 Be6 27. Kg2 h5 28.
Nc3 Bxa2 29. Nxa2 Rc7 30. Qd5 Qa8 31. Qxa8 Rxa8 32. Rxc7 Bxc7 33. Kf3 Kf8 34.
Ke2 Bd6 35. Kd3 Ke7 36. Rb7+ Ke6 37. Rb6 Ra7 38. Kc2 Kd7 39. Kb1 Kc7 40. Rb3
Rb7 41. Kc2 Rxb3 42. Kxb3 Kc6 43. Nc3 f6 44. Kc4 g5 45. f4 g4 46. Kb3 Bf8 47.
Nb1 Bb4 48. Nc3 a2 49. Nxa2 Be1 50. Kc4 Bxg3 51. Nb4+ Kd6 52. Kd3 Bxh4 53. e4
fxe4+ 54. Kxe4 Bg3 55. f5 h4 56. Nd5 h3 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.29"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Socko, Bartosz"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E16"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2618"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2019.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 c5 6. d5 exd5 7. cxd5 Bxd5 8. Nc3
Bxf3 9. Bxf3 Nc6 10. Bf4 Be7 11. O-O O-O 12. e3 Ne8 13. h4 h6 14. h5 Nc7 15.
Qa4 Ne6 16. Rad1 Rc8 17. Nd5 Nxf4 18. gxf4 Re8 19. Kg2 Bf8 20. Rg1 Ne7 21. Nf6+
gxf6 22. Rxd7 b5 23. Qxa7 Ra8 24. Rxd8 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.29"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2019.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Bc5 6. c3 O-O 7. d4 Ba7 8. Re1
b5 9. Bc2 d6 10. h3 h6 11. Be3 Re8 12. Nbd2 Bb7 13. dxe5 Bxe3 14. exf6 Bxd2 15.
Qxd2 Qxf6 16. a4 Ne5 17. Nxe5 Qxe5 18. f4 Qe7 19. e5 dxe5 20. Rxe5 Qf6 21. axb5
Rxe5 22. fxe5 Qb6+ 23. Qd4 Qxd4+ 24. cxd4 axb5 25. Rxa8+ Bxa8 26. b4 Bd5 27. g3
1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.30"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Matlakov, Maxim"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D52"]
[WhiteElo "2699"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2019.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. e3 Qa5 7. Nd2 Bb4 8. Rc1
Ne4 9. Ndxe4 dxe4 10. Bh4 Qxa2 11. Qc2 Qa5 12. Qxe4 Qf5 13. Qxf5 exf5 14. Bd3
Nb6 15. O-O Be6 16. d5 Bxc3 17. dxe6 Bxb2 18. Rb1 Ba3 19. Bxf5 g6 20. Bh3 fxe6
21. Bxe6 Be7 22. Bg3 Na4 23. Be5 Rf8 24. Bg7 Nc5 25. Bxf8 Bxf8 26. Bg4 a5 27.
f4 a4 28. f5 a3 29. Ra1 Ne4 30. fxg6 hxg6 31. Be6 Bg7 32. Ra2 Nc3 33. Rc2 a2
34. Ra1 Ke7 35. Bg4 Ne2+ 36. Bxe2 Bxa1 0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.30"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D87"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2767"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2019.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8.
Ne2 O-O 9. Be3 Nc6 10. h4 Qa5 11. O-O Rd8 12. Qb3 e6 13. d5 exd5 14. Bxd5 Ne5
15. Rad1 c4 16. Qb1 Qc7 17. h5 Ng4 18. Bf4 Be5 19. Qc1 Be6 20. Bxe6 fxe6 21.
hxg6 hxg6 22. Bxe5 Qxe5 23. Qf4 Qxf4 24. Nxf4 Kf7 25. f3 Ne3 26. Rxd8 Rxd8 27.
Rb1 b6 28. Kf2 Nd1+ 29. Ke1 Nxc3 30. Rc1 g5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.30"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2780"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2019.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 c6 6. h3 g6 7. Ne5 Nbd7 8.
Nc4 Qc7 9. Be2 Bg7 10. O-O b5 11. Nd2 O-O 12. Bf3 Bb7 13. Nde4 Rad8 14. Re1 b4
15. Nxf6+ Bxf6 16. Ne4 c5 17. Nxf6+ Nxf6 18. Bxb7 Qxb7 19. c3 cxd4 20. cxd4 Rd7
21. Be3 Nd5 22. Bh6 Rc8 23. Rc1 Rxc1 24. Qxc1 Rc7 25. Qd1 Qc6 26. Qf3 f6 27.
Rc1 Qb5 28. Re1 Kf7 29. h4 Qd7 30. h5 Qf5 31. hxg6+ hxg6 32. Qxf5 gxf5 33. Rc1
Rxc1+ 34. Bxc1 Ke6 35. Kf1 Nc7 36. Bd2 a5 37. Ke2 Kd5 38. Kd3 Ne6 39. Be3 f4
40. Bd2 f3 41. gxf3 Nxd4 42. f4 Ne6 43. Be3 Nc5+ 44. Bxc5 Kxc5 45. b3 Kd5 46.
Ke3 e5 47. fxe5 Kxe5 48. f4+ Kd5 49. Kd3 f5 50. Ke3 Kc5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.30"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D33"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2690"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2019.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. g3 e6 4. Nf3 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. d4 Nc6 7. Bg2 cxd4 8.
Nxd4 Bc5 9. Nb3 Bb6 10. O-O d4 11. Na4 O-O 12. Bg5 Re8 13. Re1 h6 14. Nxb6 axb6
15. Bxc6 bxc6 16. Bxf6 Qxf6 17. Qxd4 Qd8 18. Qc3 c5 19. Rad1 Qe7 20. Nc1 h5 21.
a3 h4 22. Nd3 Ra4 23. Nf4 Bb7 24. Rd3 Re4 25. f3 hxg3 26. fxe4 gxh2+ 27. Kxh2
Qh4+ 28. Nh3 Rxe4 29. Rg3 f6 30. Qb3+ Kh7 31. Qf7 Rg4 32. Rxg4 Qxg4 33. Qxb7
1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.30"]
[Round "17"]
[White "Duda, Jan Krzysztof"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2758"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2019.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 O-O 12. Nc2 Rb8 13. h4 g6 14. g3 Bg7 15.
Bh3 Bb7 16. h5 Ne7 17. Nce3 Nxd5 18. Nxd5 Bh6 19. Qd3 Kg7 20. Rd1 a5 21. a3 Bg5
22. Kf1 b4 23. cxb4 Bxd5 24. Qxd5 axb4 25. Qxd6 Qxd6 26. Rxd6 bxa3 27. bxa3 Ra8
28. Rd3 Rfd8 29. Rxd8 Bxd8 30. hxg6 hxg6 31. Kg2 Rxa3 32. Rd1 Bb6 33. Rd2 Ra4
34. Re2 Bd4 35. Bd7 Rb4 36. Bc6 Rb2 37. Rxb2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.30"]
[Round "18"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2753"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2019.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 Nc6 5. Nbd2 cxd4 6. exd4 Qb6 7. Nb3 Bf5 8.
Be2 e6 9. O-O Be7 10. a4 a6 11. a5 Qd8 12. Ne5 Rc8 13. c3 O-O 14. Re1 Ne4 15.
Bd3 Nxe5 16. Bxe5 Bg6 17. Bf4 Nd6 18. Bxg6 hxg6 19. Bxd6 Bxd6 20. g3 b5 21.
axb6 Qxb6 22. Re2 Rb8 23. Nc1 a5 24. Nd3 Qb5 25. h4 Rfc8 26. Rd2 Ra8 27. h5
gxh5 28. Qxh5 g6 29. Qh6 a4 30. Kg2 Bf8 31. Qf4 Bg7 32. Ne5 Qe8 33. Rd3 f6 34.
Ng4 Qf8 35. Rf3 a3 36. bxa3 f5 37. Qg5 Kf7 38. Rh1 Rxa3 39. Rh7 Rcxc3 40. Nh6+
Ke8 41. Qxg6+ Kd8 1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.30"]
[Round "19"]
[White "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C79"]
[WhiteElo "2723"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[EventDate "2019.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. O-O Bd7 6. c3 g6 7. d4 Bg7 8. h3 Nf6
9. Bc2 O-O 10. Re1 Re8 11. Nbd2 Qe7 12. Nf1 Qf8 13. Ng3 Bh6 14. Ng5 Nd8 15. Bb3
Ne6 16. h4 Rad8 17. Be3 Bg7 18. h5 Bh6 19. Qc1 Ng4 20. Nxe6 fxe6 21. Rf1 Nxe3
22. fxe3 Qe7 23. hxg6 hxg6 24. Qd2 exd4 25. cxd4 Kg7 26. Rf3 Rf8 27. Raf1 Rxf3
28. Rxf3 Rf8 29. Qc3 c6 30. Nf1 e5 31. Rxf8 Kxf8 32. Qc4 Qf6 33. dxe5 dxe5 34.
Qb4+ c5 35. Qxb7 Bb5 36. Qc8+ Ke7 37. Qxc5+ Qd6 38. Qxd6+ Kxd6 39. Bf7 Bxf1 40.
Kxf1 g5 41. Ke2 Bf8 42. Kf3 Ke7 43. Bc4 a5 44. Ke2 Kd6 45. Bd5 Be7 46. Kf3 Bd8
47. Kg4 Be7 48. Kf5 Bd8 49. g4 Be7 50. a3 Bd8 51. b4 axb4 52. axb4 Be7 53. b5
Bd8 54. Kg6 Kc5 55. Kf5 Kxb5 56. Kxe5 Kc5 57. Ke6 Ba5 58. e5 Bd2 59. e4 Bc3 60.
Kf5 Kb6 61. e6 Kc7 62. Kg6 Kd8 63. Kxg5 Ke7 64. Kh5 Bd2 65. g5 Bf4 66. Kg4 Bd2
0-1

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.30"]
[Round "20"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E97"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2777"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2019.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. dxe5
dxe5 9. Qxd8 Nxd8 10. Be3 Ne6 11. h3 c6 12. Nxe5 Nxe4 13. Nxc6 bxc6 14. Nxe4
Bxb2 15. Rad1 Ba6 16. Rd7 f5 17. Nc5 Nxc5 18. Bxc5 Rf7 19. Rfd1 Rxd7 20. Rxd7
Re8 21. Kf1 Re5 22. Rxa7 Rxc5 23. Rxa6 Bc3 24. g3 Ra5 25. Rxc6 Rxa2 26. c5 Rc2
27. Bd3 Rc1+ 28. Kg2 Bd4 29. Rc8+ Kg7 30. c6 Bb6 31. h4 Rc3 32. Bb5 Rc2 33. Rb8
Bxf2 34. Rb7+ Kf6 35. Ba4 Ra2 36. Bb3 Rb2 37. Kf3 Bd4 38. g4 Rf2+ 39. Kg3 f4+
40. Kh3 Rf3+ 41. Kg2 Rf2+ 42. Kh3 Rf3+ 43. Kg2 Rf2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.30"]
[Round "21"]
[White "Yu, Yangyi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2738"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2019.12.29"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 O-O 12. Nc2 Rb8 13. a3 Bg5 14. Ncb4 Bb7
15. Be2 a5 16. Nxc6 Bxc6 17. O-O g6 18. Qd3 Bd7 19. Rad1 Be6 20. Bf3 Kg7 21.
Rfe1 Qc8 22. h3 h5 23. Be2 Rb7 24. Qg3 Qd8 25. Qd3 Qc8 26. Qg3 Qd8 27. Qd3
1/2-1/2

[Event "World Blitz 2019"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.29"]
[Round "12.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Artemiev, Vladislav"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D87"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2731"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2019.12.29"]
[EventType "blitz"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,77,19,31,14,-14,43,38,70,78,78,59,57,55,44,51,51,15,36,47,41,22,40,57,
61,50,48,46,46,77,108,83,107,86,106,78,120,130,114,115,121,131,127,113,148,127,
136,83,104,109,127,104,92,66,199,222,210,220,207,264,271,241,206,245,245,250,
363,212,257,160,229,166,274,313,289,304,537,1259,2466,2809]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6
3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O
10. h4 $5 {A funny idea hat Magnus also played in the GCT semi-final vs. MVL
as well as on the final day of the blitz vs. Nepomniachtchi.} (10. O-O b6 11.
h4 $5 {Dubov-Svidler, Hamburg 2019.}) 10... Qa5 ({MVL first took on d4, meaning
} 10... cxd4 11. cxd4 Qa5+ {then was check, but after} 12. Kf1 Bd7 13. h5 {
Magnus had quite a promising position eventually being drawn.}) 11. O-O $1 {
After the standard 10.0-0 b6, Dubov played 11 h4!? vs. Svidler in the Hamburg
Grand Prix. And here Magnus has got the same position, just with Black having
played ...Qa5 instead of ...b6, basically meaning White "faked" an attack in
the h-line to get Black taking measures against it only to revert to standard
play, but having forced a concession. At least if one considers ...Qa5 such.
In the game, it clearly is.} Bd7 ({Ian played} 11... Rd8 {but after} 12. Qb3 $1
e6 13. d5 {Magnus had the better position.}) 12. Rb1 Qc7 {With the pawn on h2,
this would be a normal theoretical position, with Black having played ...Qc7
directly. Magnus of course uses the extra tempo to maximum effect:} 13. h5 $1
cxd4 14. cxd4 Rad8 15. h6 $1 Bh8 16. Qc1 {It is interesting that the engines
think White is just winning here. It might take some moves, but his attack is
basically unstoppable already.} Rc8 17. Qd2 Na5 (17... Nxd4 {looks tactically
possible, but runs into a beautiful refutation as after} 18. Bxd4 Bxd4 {
White has} 19. Rfc1 $1 (19. Qxd4 e5 $1) 19... Bc5 20. Qc3 e5 {and now} 21. Rxb7
$1 {wins as} Qxb7 22. Qxe5 {mates.}) 18. Bd3 b6 19. Rbc1 Qb7 20. Bg5 Rfe8 21.
Rxc8 Qxc8 22. Rc1 Qb7 23. d5 Be5 24. Bf4 Qb8 25. Bxe5 Qxe5 26. f4 Qh5 {
Artemiev finally eyes the chance of getting rid of the annoying pawn at h6,
only to get hit from the other side:} 27. Rc7 $1 Bg4 28. Bb5 Rf8 29. Rxe7 Qxh6
30. d6 Qh4 31. Nd4 Rd8 32. e5 Qg3 33. Qf2 $1 {Exchanging queens only favours
White, as by now his passed pawns are unstoppable.} Qc3 34. f5 gxf5 35. Nxf5
Bxf5 36. Qxf5 Qd4+ 37. Qf2 Qd5 38. d7 Qd1+ 39. Bf1 {And here Black resigned.}
1-0

[Event "Wch Blitz playoff"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.30"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2019.12.30"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. h3 a6 8. Ba4 b5
9. Bc2 h6 10. Re1 Re8 11. b4 Bb6 12. a4 Bd7 13. Nbd2 Ne7 14. Nf1 a5 15. bxa5
Rxa5 16. Be3 Bxe3 17. Nxe3 Ng6 18. axb5 Rxb5 19. Ba4 Rb8 20. Bxd7 Qxd7 21. Qc2
Nf4 22. Kh2 Qb5 23. Red1 Qb2 24. Ra2 Qxc2 25. Rxc2 Rb3 26. g3 Ne6 27. Nd2 Rb7
28. Ndc4 Ra8 29. Kg2 Ra4 30. f3 Nd7 31. d4 f6 32. h4 h5 33. Kf2 Kf8 34. Rdd2
Rb1 35. d5 Nec5 36. Ra2 Rc1 37. Rdc2 Kf7 38. Ke2 Rxc2+ 39. Rxc2 g6 40. Rb2 f5
41. exf5 gxf5 42. f4 exf4 43. gxf4 Nf6 44. Rb8 Nxd5 45. Nxd6+ cxd6 46. Nxd5 Ke6
47. Nb4 Ne4 48. Kd3 Ra3 49. Rc8 Kd7 50. Rh8 Nxc3 51. Rh7+ Ke6 52. Rh6+ Kf7 53.
Kc4 Ne2 54. Nd5 Nxf4 55. Nxf4 Ra4+ 56. Kd5 Rxf4 57. Rxh5 Kg6 58. Rh8 Re4 59.
h5+ Kg5 60. h6 Rh4 61. h7 Kg6 62. Kxd6 Rxh7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Wch Blitz playoff"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2019.12.30"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2019.12.30"]
[EventType "match (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 193 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 e6 5. Nbd2 Bd6 6. Bxd6 Qxd6 7. dxc5 Qxc5 8.
c4 dxc4 9. Bxc4 O-O 10. Rc1 Qe7 11. O-O b6 12. Qe2 Bb7 13. Rfd1 Nbd7 14. Ba6
Nc5 15. Bxb7 Qxb7 16. Ne5 Ncd7 17. Qf3 Qa6 18. Nc6 Kh8 19. Nc4 Qxa2 20. g4 Nc5
21. Nd6 Nb3 22. Rc2 Qa4 23. Rc4 Qa6 24. g5 Nd7 25. Rh4 Nbc5 26. Nxf7+ Rxf7 27.
Qxf7 Qe2 28. Rxd7 Nxd7 29. Qxd7 Rf8 30. Rf4 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 82nd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2020.01.11"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A25"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2768"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2020.01.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. e3 Nc6 4. Qb3 g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. d4 exd4 7. exd4 O-O 8.
Be2 d6 9. O-O Re8 10. h3 Ne4 11. Nxe4 Rxe4 12. Be3 Nxd4 13. Nxd4 Bxd4 14. Bf3
Rh4 15. Bxd4 Rxd4 16. Bxb7 Bxb7 17. Qxb7 Rxc4 18. Rac1 Rxc1 19. Rxc1 c5 20. Rd1
Rb8 21. Qxa7 Rxb2 22. Qxc5 dxc5 23. Rxd8+ Kg7 24. Rc8 Rxa2 25. Rxc5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 82nd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2020.01.12"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Yu, Yangyi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B56"]
[WhiteElo "2726"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2020.01.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bc4
O-O 9. O-O Nc6 10. Bb3 Na5 11. Bg5 Nxb3 12. axb3 Be6 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Nd5 Rc8
15. c4 Bg5 16. Nxg5 Qxg5 17. Qd3 Bxd5 18. Qxd5 Rc6 19. Rfd1 Rfc8 20. Rd3 Qe7
21. g3 g6 22. Rad1 Qc7 23. Rc3 Kg7 24. Kg2 Re8 25. Qd3 Rb8 26. Rdc1 h5 27. h4
Qe7 28. Rd1 Qc7 29. Rdc1 Qe7 30. Rd1 Qc7 31. Rdc1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 82nd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2020.01.13"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D41"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2712"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2020.01.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 cxd4 8.
cxd4 Bb4+ 9. Bd2 Bxd2+ 10. Qxd2 O-O 11. Bd3 Nc6 12. Bc2 Qe7 13. O-O Rd8 14. Qe3
b6 15. Rfd1 Bb7 16. Rac1 Rac8 17. h4 Na5 18. Bd3 h6 19. g4 Nc6 20. Bb1 Qd7 21.
Kh2 Qd6+ 22. Kg1 Na5 23. Bd3 Rxc1 24. Rxc1 Nc6 25. Bb5 Nxd4 26. Qxd4 Qxd4 27.
Nxd4 Rxd4 28. f3 a6 29. Bf1 Rd7 30. a4 Kf8 31. Kf2 Ke7 32. Rb1 Rd6 33. e5 Rc6
34. Bd3 g5 35. h5 Bc8 36. Ke3 Rc5 37. f4 Ra5 38. Rxb6 gxf4+ 39. Kxf4 Rxa4+ 40.
Kf3 Ra3 41. Ke4 f6 42. Rb8 Bd7 43. Rb7 fxe5 44. g5 hxg5 45. h6 Kd6 46. Rb6+
Bc6+ 47. Rxc6+ Kxc6 48. h7 Ra4+ 49. Kxe5 Rh4 50. Kf6 g4 51. Kg5 Rh2 52. Kxg4
Kd5 53. Bg6 Rh6 54. Kg5 Rxh7 55. Bxh7 e5 56. Kg4 Kd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 82nd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2020.01.14"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Van Foreest, Jorden"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C58"]
[WhiteElo "2644"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2020.01.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8.
Bd3 Nd5 9. Nf3 Bd6 10. Nc3 O-O 11. Be2 Nf4 12. O-O Bg4 13. d3 Nxe2+ 14. Qxe2 f5
15. h3 Bh5 16. g4 fxg4 17. Ng5 Qd7 18. Nce4 Be7 19. Ng3 Bg6 20. Qxg4 Qxg4 21.
hxg4 c5 22. N5e4 Nc6 23. Be3 Nd4 24. Rac1 Rac8 25. Kg2 c4 26. Bxd4 exd4 27. f3
Rc6 28. b3 Ba3 29. Rce1 cxd3 30. cxd3 a5 31. Rf2 Bc1 32. Nd2 Bxd3 33. Nc4 Bf4
34. Ne5 Rc3 35. Nxd3 Rxd3 36. Nf5 g6 37. Re4 Bg5 38. Ne7+ Kh8 39. Nc6 Be3 40.
Re2 Rd1 41. Nxa5 Rg1+ 42. Kh2 Rc1 43. Kg2 Rg1+ 44. Kh2 Rc1 45. Kg2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 82nd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2020.01.16"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2683"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2020.01.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. Re1 e5 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. d3 Qe7 8. a4
Nf6 9. Bg5 h6 10. Be3 O-O 11. h3 b6 12. a5 Ba6 13. Qd2 Kh7 14. Qc3 Nd7 15. axb6
axb6 16. Nbd2 f5 17. Nc4 Qe6 18. Qb3 fxe4 19. Nfd2 exd3 20. cxd3 e4 21. Nxe4
Bxc4 22. Qxc4 Qd5 23. Rxa8 Rxa8 24. Qc2 Ne5 25. Rd1 Rd8 26. Nc3 Qd7 27. b3 Qf5
28. Ne4 Rd5 29. Nc3 Rxd3 30. Rxd3 Qxd3 31. Qxd3 Nxd3 32. Na4 c4 33. bxc4 b5 34.
cxb5 cxb5 35. Nc5 Nxc5 36. Bxc5 Kg8 37. Kf1 Kf7 38. Ke2 Ke6 39. Kd3 Kd5 40. Bb4
Bd4 41. f4 Bc5 42. Bd2 Bf8 43. g4 b4 44. h4 h5 45. gxh5 gxh5 46. Bxb4 Bxb4 47.
Ke3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 82nd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2020.01.17"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D53"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2822"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2020.01.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e3 c5 8. Bxc4
cxd4 9. Nxd4 Bd7 10. O-O O-O 11. Rc1 Nc6 12. Nb3 Rc8 13. Be2 Nd5 14. Bg3 Nxc3
15. Rxc3 Nb4 16. Rxc8 Qxc8 17. Bd6 Nd5 18. Bxe7 Nxe7 19. Qd6 Nf5 20. Qa3 Qb8
21. e4 Qe5 22. exf5 Qxe2 23. Nd4 Qe5 24. fxe6 Qxd4 25. exd7 Rd8 26. g3 Rxd7 27.
Re1 Kh7 28. Qf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 82nd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2020.01.18"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2758"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2020.01.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. c3 Nf6 6. Re1 O-O 7. d4 a6 8. Bd3
d5 9. e5 Ne8 10. dxc5 Bg4 11. Be2 Nc7 12. Nbd2 a5 13. h3 Bc8 14. Bd3 Ne6 15.
Nb3 a4 16. Nbd4 Nxc5 17. Bc2 Qa5 18. Bd2 Rd8 19. Qc1 Ne6 20. b4 Qc7 21. Nxc6
bxc6 22. Be3 c5 23. bxc5 Nxc5 24. Qa3 Ne6 25. Rab1 d4 26. Nxd4 Bxe5 27. Nb5 Qc6
28. Rb4 Bb7 29. Be4 Qd7 30. Bxb7 Qxb7 31. Rxa4 Bf4 32. Rxa8 Rxa8 33. Qb3 Bxe3
34. Rxe3 Nf4 35. Rf3 Qe4 36. Kh2 Nd5 37. c4 Qe5+ 38. g3 Nf6 39. a3 Ne4 40. Qc2
Ng5 41. Re3 Qc5 42. h4 Ne6 43. Qe2 Rc8 44. Rc3 h5 45. Kg2 Kf8 46. Qe4 Kg8 47.
Qd5 Qb6 48. a4 Qa6 49. c5 Qxa4 50. c6 Rd8 51. Qc4 Qxc4 52. Rxc4 Rb8 53. c7 Rc8
54. Rc1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 82nd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2020.01.19"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vitiugov, Nikita"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2747"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2020.01.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. Bd2
O-O 9. h3 h6 10. Re1 Re8 11. a3 Bf8 12. Nc3 Rb8 13. Ba2 Ne7 14. Nh4 g5 15. Nf3
Ng6 16. Nh2 c6 17. Ne2 d5 18. Ng3 dxe4 19. dxe4 Rb7 20. Qf3 Nf4 21. Rad1 Rd7
22. Be3 Rxd1 23. Rxd1 Qe7 24. Ng4 Nxg4 25. hxg4 Rd8 26. Re1 c5 27. Nf5 Qc7 28.
g3 Ne6 29. Qh1 f6 30. Bd5 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 82nd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2020.01.21"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C92"]
[WhiteElo "2723"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2020.01.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,8,34,37,37,10,25,12,12,12,22] Firouzja had made a marked impression,
at this point leading the tournament with 5 rounds to go. It could be said
that someone experienced should have told Alireza to take it easy and aim for
a draw, but that would ruin the chance to gain experience and the young
Iranian ( FIDE?) stays true to his aggressive instincts and goes for it!} 1. e4
e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 {Aiming for a battle.} (4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 {
would be going in the other direction.}) 4... d6 $5 {4...Bc5 by far being the
main-line these days, Magnus chooses a solid line known to give White a
moderate edge, but keeping all the pieces on the board.} 5. c3 {In the World
blitz he had played 5.c4, but here he chooses the main line.} a6 6. Ba4 Be7 7.
O-O O-O 8. Re1 Re8 9. Nbd2 Bf8 10. h3 b5 11. Bc2 {After a lot of typical
"Spanish" moves, its worth noting the bishop going to c2 instead of b3, as
that would allow ...Na5 followed by ...c5.} Bb7 12. d4 {Would Magnus now play
12...h6, then after 13.a4 a famous position from the Kasparov-Karpov matches
would arise by transposition, with white having played d4 in 2 moves, but Bc2
instead of Bb3-c2. The line has gone out of fashion, except for the detail
that Firouzja brought it back to people's attention by beating Kovalev with it
in the first round! Magnus, however, knows his classics, and that Karpov had
exploited that White now has no threat of Ng5 meaning ...h6 is unneccesary,
and thus makes a more useful move:} g6 $5 {Quite interestingly Karpov in 2019
in the legends rapid tournament deviated agianst Ljubojevic, and played 12...
Nb8. Or maybe he exactly remembered that he had lost against the same player
with 12...g6 28 years earlier!} 13. a3 $6 {The move in itself is good enough,
but the plan is wrong.} (13. d5 Nb8 14. b3 c6 15. c4 Nbd7 16. a4 Qc7 {has been
played numerous times, and transposes into the game, with the exception that
here it is White to move!}) 13... Nb8 14. d5 {[%emt 0:00:14]} (14. Nb3 $5 {
[%cal Gb3a5] would be an interesting move, threatening Na5.} exd4 {is the
typical reply, as now e4 is hanging, but} 15. Bg5 $5 {renews the threat of Na5,
and} dxc3 $2 (15... h6 $1 {, however, is fine for Black.}) 16. e5 $1 {wins a
piece.}) (14. b4 {would be more in line with 13.a3, when after} Nbd7 15. Bb2 {
we have a typical Breyer position.}) 14... c6 15. c4 Nbd7 16. a4 Qc7 $1 17. b3
{The above-mentioned position, but with Black to move. Magnus uses the given
extra tempo to regroup.} Rec8 $1 18. Ra2 bxc4 19. bxc4 a5 $1 20. Nf1 $2 {
A logical and typical move, but a mistake.The problem for White is that
optically we would tend to asses it as White being slightly better. After all,
he has the centre, and can regroup behind it. The game exemplifies why that is
very far from the truth, and thus} (20. Nb1 $1 {, strange as it looks, would
be a much better move, trying to land the knight on b5, and at least put up
some resistance to Black's plans.}) 20... Ba6 $1 21. Ne3 Nc5 22. Nd2 cxd5 23.
cxd5 Rab8 24. Ba3 Qd8 $5 {A good move, also for illustrative purposes, as
Magnus retreats his queen to the back rank but clears the c-line for his rook.}
25. Qf3 h5 $1 26. Raa1 Bh6 $1 {A beautiful geometrical motif, with Black's
bishops literally playing around White's centre. The a5 and h5 pawns provide
excellent cover, meaning the bishops becomes untouchable, and dominate till
the end.} 27. Rab1 Rxb1 28. Rxb1 Kg7 $1 29. Nef1 h4 $1 {Black just keeps
improving his postion, as White can literally not do anything active without
immediately losing material.} 30. Ne3 Bf4 31. Nef1 Qc7 32. g3 $6 {Alireza
loses patience, an in order " to do something", just weakens his position.} (
32. Ne3 {, staying loyal to the back and forth concept, could have led to this
beautiful line:} Ncd7 33. Rc1 Qc3 34. Nb1 Qa1 $1 {when White is completely
dominated and loses material!}) 32... hxg3 33. fxg3 Bh6 34. h4 Qd7 {Simplicity
at its best, eyeing the a4 pawn, which white really can do nothing about.} 35.
Kg2 Nxa4 36. Bxa4 Qxa4 37. Bxd6 Qd4 $1 {The knight on d2 is hanging, there is
a threat of 38...Ne8 as bxa3 Rc3 then wins a piece, etc. White position is
collapsing.} 38. Qf2 (38. Z0 Ne8 39. Ba3 Rc3) 38... Qxf2+ 39. Kxf2 Bxf1 {
And here Alireza, being very short of time resigned, as 40.Nxf1 Nxe4+ loses
the bishop on d6. However, with 40.Kxf1 Bxd2 41 Bxe5 he could have prolonged
the game somewhat. Magnus was planning 41...Bc3 42.Rc1! Bxe5 43.Rxc8 Nxe4, and
while the win will take some moves, the result is not in doubt. A great
strategical game by Magnus, outplaying his young opponent by positional means.
One could even make the statement that absolutely no tactical remedies were
used by Black at all in tis game, he only further and further strengthened his
own position until his opponent's camp collapsed!} (39... Bxf1 40. Kxf1 (40.
Nxf1 Nxe4+) 40... Bxd2 41. Bxe5 Bc3 42. Rc1 $1 Bxe5 43. Rxc8 Nxe4 $19) 0-1

[Event "Tata Steel-A 82nd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2020.01.22"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kovalev, Vladislav"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D55"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2660"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2020.01.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 h6 7. Bf4 c5 8. dxc5
Bxc5 9. a3 Nc6 10. Qc2 Nh5 11. Bg3 dxc4 12. Bxc4 Be7 13. Ba2 a6 14. Rd1 Qa5 15.
Bb1 f5 16. O-O Nxg3 17. hxg3 Bf6 18. e4 Bxc3 19. bxc3 Qxa3 20. exf5 exf5 21.
Rfe1 Qa5 22. g4 Qc7 23. Nh4 g5 24. Nxf5 Bxf5 25. gxf5 Rf6 26. Re6 Raf8 27. Rxf6
Rxf6 28. Ba2+ Kf8 29. Qd3 Ne5 30. Qe4 Rd6 31. Qb4 Ke7 32. f6+ Kd7 33. Re1 Rxf6
34. Qd4+ Qd6 35. Qxe5 Qxe5 36. Rxe5 Rc6 37. Re3 1-0

[Event "Tata Steel-A 82nd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2020.01.24"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Duda, Jan Krzysztof"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2758"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[Annotator "Duda,Jan Krzysztof"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2020.01.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{The game was played on 11th round, and after a free day which felt no fun at
all. Magnus had just overcome a drawing crisis and had scored 3/3 in the last
rounds. Still he was down to Caruana by half a point, so I assumed he would go
for an even higher winning streak. Furthermore the free day made me paranoic
about his opening preparation. After much thought I decided to stay loyal to
my 1.e4 and see what happens, without certainity though.} 1. e4 e5 {So after
all this hours spend on repeating all kinds of Sicilian variations, French
Defence, Modern, Scandinavian and even Alekhine Defence, he just played 1...e5.
A true surprise.} 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 ({Not even going for} 3... Nf6 {
as he played against Van Foreest a couple of rounds earlier}) 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3
d6 {So the Italian game. The only prep I had done was that I wasn't going to
play a set up with Bg5. Not a brilliant stuff, but at least I had played the
Italian 32 times in my recent years.} 6. Nbd2 a6 7. Nf1 {Pretending to save a
tempo on Re1 later on, but most importantly avoid ...Ng4/...f5 stuff.} (7. Bb3
h6 8. Nf1 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Ng3 O-O 11. O-O Re8 12. Re1 Nf6 13. h3 Be6 14.
Bc2 Bd5 15. Nh4 Qd7 16. Nhf5 Bf8 $1 {That's the point!} 17. f4 Rad8 18. fxe5
Nxe5 19. d4 Ng6 20. Rf1 Qc6 21. Rf2 Ne4 $11 {1/2 (43) Duda,J (2739)-Mamedyarov,
S (2820) Batumi 2018; with comfortable equality for Black.}) 7... h6 8. Ng3 O-O
9. O-O {I didn't remember the exact move order from my game against Mamedyarov.
Obviously I wasn't willing to allow Bf8 anymore. Luckily here Black can hardly
play d5, because his e5-pawn would be too weak. My opponent's next move
deprives him of this option once and for all.} Ba7 10. Bb3 {I spent some time
choosing between the game continuation and the more positional 10.a4.} Re8 11.
h3 Be6 12. Bc2 d5 13. exd5 {By transposition we have arrived to a position
which is quite tricky for unprepared Black player to face, and was popular
some time ago. The good thing was I had analysed this stuff a couple of years
ago, back in times, when setups with a4 or Bg5 hadn't been yet so well known.
The bad thing was that I couldn't have recalled anything and I was facing the
World Champion} Nxd5 {Black has other recaptures as well:} (13... Qxd5 14. Re1
Rad8) (13... Bxd5 14. Re1 Qd7 15. Nh4 (15. Be3 $5 {is a slower approach}) 15...
Rad8 16. Nhf5 Kh8 17. d4 {this is a 'forced draw' when Black defends right}
exd4 18. Nxg7 Rxe1+ (18... Kxg7 $2 19. Bxh6+ Kh8 20. Qd2 $40 {with a very
powerful attack 1-0 (29) Ganguly,S (2660)-Kollars,D (2436) Caleta 2016}) 19.
Qxe1 Kxg7 (19... Bxg2 $5 20. Kxg2 Qd5+ (20... d3) 21. Kf1 Qb5+ 22. Kg2 Qd5+ 23.
Kf1 {1/2 (23) Laine,J (2311)-Gerhards,G (2304) ICCF email 2018}) (19... d3 $5)
20. Bxh6+ Kh8 (20... Kxh6 $2 21. Qd2+) 21. Qd2 (21. Bg5) 21... Rg8 (21... Nh7)
22. Qf4 Qd6 $4 {Vishy didn't handle it well, but it was a blitz game after all.
} (22... Nh5 $1 23. Bg7+ Kxg7 24. Nxh5+ Kf8 25. Qh6+ Ke7 26. Re1+ Kd8 27. Nf6
Rxg2+ 28. Kf1 Rxf2+ 29. Kxf2 d3+ 30. Re3 Bxe3+ 31. Kxe3 Qe6+ 32. Kxd3 $11) 23.
Qh4 Qxg3 24. fxg3 {1-0 (26) Giri,A (2773)-Anand,V (2804) Stavanger 2015}) 14.
Re1 Qd6 15. Nh4 Qe7 16. Nhf5 ({On the correspondence level, the following
endgame is quite common:} 16. Qh5 Rad8 17. d4 Nf4 (17... exd4 $2 18. Bxh6 gxh6
19. Qxh6 $40) (17... Nf6 18. Qf3 Bd5 (18... exd4 19. Nhf5 Qf8 20. Nxh6+) 19.
Qd3 $36) 18. Bxf4 exf4 19. Nf1 (19. Ngf5 Qg5 20. Qxg5 hxg5 21. Nf3 g6 22. Nh6+
Kg7 23. Ng4 f6) 19... Rd5 20. Qxd5 Bxd5 21. Rxe7 Nxe7 {Maybe in corr chess
this is an easy draw, but to my eyes it looks as comfortable edge for White,
at least in terms of OTB chess.}) 16... Qf6 17. Qf3 $2 {As it turned out - the
bluff. But in the game I was pretty confident, I guess I mixed up variations.
The other logical continuation is probably better, but it involves a queen sac.
} (17. Qg4 {with the following line in mind:} g6 18. Nxh6+ Kf8 19. Ne4 $1 Bxf2+
20. Nxf2 Bxg4 21. Nhxg4 {with a crazy game ahead. Objectively my choice was
bad, but it's refutation was anything but easy.}) 17... g6 $2 {Frankly I
didn't see this. But both alternatives are better:} (17... Kh7 18. d4 g6 {
and the engine suggests} 19. Ne4 {which feels entirely wrong} (19. Be4 exd4)
19... Qxf5 20. Ng5+ Qxg5 21. Bxg5 hxg5 22. dxe5 {and in general terms three
pieces should be better than the queen, but thanks to Qh5+ White is only
marginally worse.}) ({or} 17... Kh8 $1 18. d4 (18. Re4 g6 19. Nh4 {is a
disaster. After} Qg7 {the black pawns will start rolling.}) 18... g6 19. Be4 {
Magnus calculated this far, but he either didn't see or misevaluated the next
move} exd4 $1 {The refutation. White has to go for a sad endgame after} 20.
Nxh6 Qxf3 21. Bxf3 Kg7 22. Bd2 {which might be holdable but no more than that.}
) 18. Nxh6+ Kg7 19. Qxf6+ Nxf6 20. Ne4 (20. Bd1 {is the alternative mentioned
by Magnus, but Black obviously has some compensation for the missing pawn:}
Rad8 21. Be2 Nd5 22. Ng4 Nf4 $5 (22... f5 23. Nh2 Nf4 24. Bxf4 exf4 25. Ngf1
$14 {1/2 (74) Harikrishna,P (2737)-Sethuraman,S (2640) Baku 2015})) 20... Nh7 (
{In the game I also wasn't entirely sure about} 20... Nxe4 21. dxe4 Rh8 22. Ng4
Bxg4 23. hxg4 Rh4 {but here both} 24. Kf1 ({and} 24. Bd1 {should lead to some
edge for White})) 21. g4 (21. h4 {is probably better, but I was a bit unease
about my h6-knight.} Rf8 $5 {A sophisticated move.} (21... f5 22. Ng5 Bd5 23.
Nxh7 Kxh7 24. g4) (21... Rad8 22. g4 f5 23. gxf5 gxf5 {1-0 (75) Rabiega,R 
(2498)-Feller,S (2573) Germany 2017} 24. Ng3 $1 {is a far better version of my
game.}) 22. g4 f5 {Now with the f5-pawn safely guarded, White has to go Ng5
and the position becomes a complicated one with h6-knight indeed being hanging.
}) 21... f5 22. gxf5 gxf5 23. Ng3 f4 24. Ngf5+ Kg6 {For some reason I was
expecting only} (24... Kf6 {which according to engine doesn't change much:} 25.
d4 Ng5 26. Ng4+ Kf7 27. Kg2 Bd5+ 28. Kf1 {with similar equality.}) 25. d4 Ng5
26. Kg2 $1 Bd5+ 27. Kf1 {Black has a perpetual but apparently nothing better.
Of course at this moment I didn't expect Magnus to take repetition.} Nf3 28.
Rd1 (28. Re2 {I calculated this valid alternative as well, but it felt a bit
unnatural with the potential ...Bc4 in the air.}) 28... Rad8 29. Ne7+ $1 {
The simplest, and I think he missed it} Kxh6 30. Nxd5 Nfxd4 $1 {Luckily for
Magnus he had this escape. Now the game should peter out to a draw.} 31. cxd4
Rxd5 32. dxe5 Rxd1+ 33. Bxd1 Kg5 34. h4+ Kf5 35. Bc2+ $6 {Played based on a
miscalculation.} ({After the normal} 35. Bd2 {it's Black who would have to
work for a draw.} Bd4) 35... Kg4 36. Bd1+ $6 (36. Bd2 {was still a lesser evil.
}) 36... f3 37. Bg5 Nxe5 38. Bc2 $1 {Luckily I have this move, which with a
correct follow-up guarantees draw.} ({In the intended variation} 38. Rc1 Nd3
39. Rc4+ {I completely forgot Black has} Kh3 $1 {and he is already winning now.
}) 38... Nc4 39. Re1 Rxe1+ 40. Kxe1 Nxb2 41. Bf6 $1 Nc4 42. Bg6 Bc5 {It seems
as if Black is going to stop the h-pawn, but my next move disturbs his
coordination.} 43. Bf7 $1 (43. h5 Bf8 $15 {would be very unpleasant to defend
even if defensible.}) 43... Kf5 {Offering a draw.} (43... Bb4+ 44. Kd1 $1 Nd6
45. Be6+ Kh5 (45... Kf4 46. h5 Ne4 47. Bd4 Kg5 48. Bd5 $11) 46. Bd5 Kg4 47.
Be6+ {with a draw.  An interesting battle, and my first draw in classical
chess against Magnus!}) 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 82nd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2020.01.25"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Artemiev, Vladislav"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2872"]
[BlackElo "2731"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2020.01.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Be3 c5 8.
Rc1 Qa5 9. Qd2 O-O 10. Nf3 Rd8 11. Be2 cxd4 12. cxd4 Qxd2+ 13. Bxd2 Na6 14. Be3
Bg4 15. Ne5 Bxe2 16. Kxe2 f5 17. Kf3 Rac8 18. h4 Nb4 19. exf5 gxf5 20. Rxc8
Rxc8 21. Rb1 a5 22. a3 Nd5 23. Rb5 e6 24. Rxa5 Bxe5 25. dxe5 Rc3 26. Ke2 Nxe3
27. fxe3 Rb3 28. Kf3 Kg7 29. g3 Kg6 30. a4 Rb4 31. Ra7 h6 32. Ra8 Re4 33. Ra5
Rb4 34. Ra7 Kh5 35. Ra8 Re4 36. Ra5 Rc4 37. Ra7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Tata Steel-A 82nd"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2020.01.26"]
[Round "13"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C47"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2872"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2020.01.11"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 194"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.01.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 d5 8.
Bd2 O-O 9. O-O Bxc3 10. Bxc3 dxe4 11. Bxf6 Qxf6 12. Bxe4 Qxb2 13. Bxc6 Rb8 14.
Rb1 Qxb1 15. Qxb1 Rxb1 16. Rxb1 Rd8 17. Bf3 Kf8 18. Rb8 Re8 19. h4 Ba6 20. Rb3
Be2 21. Bxe2 Rxe2 22. Rc3 Re7 23. f3 Ke8 24. Kf2 Kd7 25. Ra3 Re5 26. Rxa7 Rc5
27. Ke3 Rxc2 28. g4 h5 29. gxh5 Rc4 30. Ra5 Rxh4 31. Rg5 Ke6 32. Rc5 Ra4 33. h6
gxh6 34. Rxc7 Kf6 35. Rc6+ Kg7 36. Rc2 Kg6 37. Kf2 h5 38. Kg3 Kg5 39. Rc7 h4+
40. Kh3 f5 41. Rh7 Rc4 42. Rh8 Rc1 43. a3 Kf4 44. Rh5 Ra1 45. a4 Ra2 46. Rxh4+
Kxf3 47. Rb4 f4 48. Rb3+ Kf2 49. Kg4 Rxa4 50. Rf3+ Kg2 51. Rxf4 Rxf4+ 52. Kxf4
1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.18"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "133"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. c5 c6 8. h3 b6
9. b4 a5 10. a3 h6 11. Bd3 Bb7 12. O-O Qc8 13. Re1 Ba6 14. Bc2 Re8 15. Rc1 axb4
16. axb4 bxc5 17. bxc5 Bd8 18. Ra1 Bc7 19. Qd2 e5 20. dxe5 Nxe5 21. Nxe5 Bxe5
22. Bxe5 Rxe5 23. Qd4 Re8 24. e4 dxe4 25. Nxe4 Nxe4 26. Rxe4 Rd8 27. Qc3 Rd5
28. Rea4 Bb7 29. Rxa8 Bxa8 30. Qa5 Bb7 31. Qb6 g6 32. Be4 Rd7 33. Bf3 h5 34.
Re1 Qd8 35. Qxd8+ Rxd8 36. Re7 Ba6 37. Bxc6 Rc8 38. Re8+ Rxe8 39. Bxe8 Kf8 40.
Bc6 h4 41. f4 Ke7 42. Kf2 f6 43. Ke3 Ke6 44. Be4 g5 45. Kd4 gxf4 46. Bd5+ Ke7
47. Ke4 Bc8 48. Kxf4 Bd7 49. g3 hxg3 50. Kxg3 Kf8 51. h4 Kg7 52. Kf4 Kh6 53.
Bf3 Kg7 54. Ke4 Bc6+ 55. Ke3 Bb5 56. Kd4 Kf7 57. Kd5 Ke7 58. Bg4 Bd3 59. c6 f5
60. Bf3 Bb5 61. c7 Kd7 62. Ke5 f4 63. h5 Bc4 64. h6 Bg8 65. Bd5 Bh7 66. Be4 Bg8
67. Kxf4 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.18"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,79,19,38,25,16,14,23,25,0,10,12,12,16,22,22,49,4,53,47,47,32,32,39,60,
69,106,67,86,10,15,-16,-3,-12,-2,10,12,20,15,15,-2,-4,32,-7,-1,-15,-10,-13,-16,
-37,-22,-22,-19,54,16,43,28,46,30,60,63,63,63,53,123,107,118,165,194,206,189,
232,851,1000,1181,1203,29995,29996,29997,29998,29999,-30000]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3
Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. a4 Rb8 8. Nxe5 Nxe5 9. d4 Bxd4
10. Qxd4 d6 11. f4 Nc6 12. Qc3 Ne7 (12... Bb7 {has been played in a couple of
games, but after} 13. axb5 axb5 14. e5 Ne4 15. Qe3 Ne7 16. Nd2 Nxd2 17. Bxd2
O-O 18. e6 {Black is in trouble.}) 13. axb5 axb5 14. e5 Ne4 15. Qf3 $5 (15. Qe1
{had been play a little more often.}) 15... Nc5 (15... d5 $2 16. Nc3 Nxc3 17.
Qxc3 O-O 18. Be3 $16 {½-½ (40) Lobanov,S (2372)-Grigorjev,I (2203) St
Petersburg 2014}) 16. Ba2 O-O 17. Be3 Bb7 $146 {A good novelty by the World
Champion - but Hikaru Nakamura knew how to react to it!} (17... Nf5 18. Bf2 Be6
19. Rd1 Qe7 20. Nc3 $14 {½-½ (47) Milman,L (2462)-Mulyar,M (2410) New York
2011}) 18. Qh3 Ne4 19. Nc3 Nxc3 20. bxc3 Bd5 (20... Nd5 $5 {was also playable
- but it's so much more logical to exchange the light-squared bishops.}) 21. f5
$1 Bxa2 22. Rxa2 dxe5 23. f6 {A very tricky position.} gxf6 (23... Ng6 24. fxg7
(24. Bh6 Qd5 25. Raa1 Rfd8 {can't be an improvement for White}) 24... Re8 25.
Qf5 Nf4 $1 {should be close to a draw.}) 24. Bh6 Re8 ({After} 24... Qd6 $5 25.
Qg4+ Ng6 26. h4 {Black has a choice between two unbalanced slightly worse
endgames:} Rfe8 (26... Qe6 27. Qxe6 fxe6 28. Bxf8 Rxf8 29. Ra7 Rf7 $132) 27. h5
Qe6 28. Qxe6 Rxe6 29. hxg6 hxg6 $132) 25. Ra6 $5 Rb6 (25... c6 $5 {may have
been better:} 26. Rxc6 $1 Rb6 (26... Nxc6 $4 27. Qg4+) 27. Qg4+ Ng6 28. Rfxf6
Rxc6 29. Rxc6 $14) 26. Rxb6 cxb6 27. Qg3+ Ng6 28. h4 f5 29. h5 f4 (29... Qh4
30. Qxh4 Nxh4 31. Bg5 {and the knight is trapped.}) 30. hxg6 $1 hxg6 (30...
fxg3 $2 31. gxf7+ Kh8 32. fxe8=Q+ Qxe8 33. Rf8+ $18) 31. Qg4 Qc8 $2 (31... Qe7
$8 {was necessary, keeping good control of the dark squares.}) 32. Qh4 $1 {
Now Black is lost as Bg5/f6 or Rf3/h3 is coming.} Qc5+ (32... Qd8 33. Bg5 $18)
(32... Qe6 33. Bg5 Kg7 34. Qh6+ Kg8 35. Rf3 $18) 33. Kh2 Qd6 34. Bg5 $1 f5 35.
Rf3 $1 e4 36. Rh3 f3+ 37. Bf4 Qd7 38. Qh8+ Kf7 39. Rh7+ Ke6 40. Qe5# {And mate!
} 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.18"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. c5 c6 8. h3 b6
9. b4 a5 10. a3 h6 11. Bd3 Ba6 12. O-O Qc8 13. Qc2 Bxd3 14. Qxd3 Qb7 15. Qc2
Rfc8 16. Rfb1 axb4 17. axb4 Bd8 18. Qc1 Bc7 19. Rxa8 Rxa8 20. Bxc7 Qxc7 21. Ra1
Qb7 22. Ra3 Ne8 23. Ne2 Rxa3 24. Qxa3 Nc7 25. Nf4 Qa6 26. Qxa6 Nxa6 27. Nd3 f6
28. Nd2 Kf7 29. f4 Nc7 30. Kf2 Nb5 31. Kf3 Nc3 32. g4 g5 33. f5 e5 34. Nc1 e4+
35. Kf2 Ke7 36. Nf1 Na4 37. Ke2 Nb2 38. Kd2 Nc4+ 39. Kc3 Nb8 40. Nb3 Na6 41.
cxb6 Nxb6 42. Na5 Kd7 43. Ng3 Kc7 44. Nh5 Nd7 45. Nb3 Kd8 46. Nc5 Nab8 47. b5
cxb5 48. Kb4 Nc6+ 49. Kxb5 Na7+ 50. Ka6 Nxc5+ 51. Kxa7 Nb3 52. Kb6 Kd7 53.
Nxf6+ Kd6 54. Ne8+ Kd7 55. Nc7 Nxd4 56. exd4 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.18"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B82"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be3 Be7 7. f4 Nc6 8. Qf3
e5 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Bc4 Ng4 11. Bd2 exf4 12. Bxf4 O-O 13. O-O Bf6 14. Bb3 Re8
15. Rad1 Ne5 16. Qg3 Ba6 17. Bxe5 Bxe5 18. Bxf7+ Kh8 19. Bxe8 Qb6+ 20. Qf2 Rxe8
21. Qxb6 axb6 22. Rf7 h6 23. Rc7 c5 24. Rc6 Bd4+ 25. Kh1 Bxc3 26. bxc3 Rxe4 27.
Rxb6 Bc4 28. a4 Re2 29. Rbxd6 Rxc2 30. Ra1 Rxc3 31. a5 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.18"]
[Round "1.5"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B83"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be3 Be7 7. Be2 Nc6 8. f4
O-O 9. Nb3 a6 10. a4 b6 11. O-O Bb7 12. Bf3 Nd7 13. g4 Na5 14. g5 Nc4 15. Bc1
e5 16. Be2 Rc8 17. h4 exf4 18. Rxf4 Nde5 19. Nd5 Ng6 20. Rf2 Bxd5 21. exd5 Nxh4
22. Qd4 Bxg5 23. Bxc4 Bxc1 24. Rxc1 Qg5+ 25. Kf1 Nf5 26. Rxf5 Qxf5+ 27. Kg2
Qg5+ 28. Kf3 Qf5+ 29. Kg2 Qg5+ 30. Kf3 Qf5+ 31. Ke2 Rfe8+ 32. Kd2 Re4 0-1

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.20"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2728"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,67,21,22,33,-9,0,-4,13,13,33,-2,8,-20,-25,-24,-3,-71,-46,-51,2,-2,4,
10,46,14,19,-7,-10,12,13,-16,-7,-7,-16,-27,-19,-67,1,-56,-18,-22,-22,-41,-50,
-37,9,-28,-26,0,29,21,51,34,56,26,26,57,61,43,43,33,75,88,93,121,302,303,306,
321]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bf4 Nc6 7. Rc1
Ne4 8. Nd2 g5 9. Be3 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Ba3 {The latest fashion.} (10... Bd6 {
has been played in several other games:} 11. h4 Bf4 12. Bxf4 gxf4 13. e3 fxe3
14. Qe2 O-O (14... Qe7 15. Qxe3 Qxe3+ 16. fxe3 Ne7 17. Bd3 Bf5 18. e4 dxe4 19.
Nxe4 O-O-O 20. O-O Rhg8 21. Rf3 $14 {½-½ (54) Erenberg,A (2442)-Gavrilescu,D
(2473) Pardubice 2019}) 15. fxe3 Ne7 16. Qf3 Nf5 17. e4 dxe4 18. Nxe4 Qe7 19.
Bd3 Nd6 20. O-O $16 {1-0 (45) Xiong,J (2691)-Burke,J (2562) Philadelphia 2019.}
) 11. Rb1 f5 12. g3 (12. f4 $5 {is worth a look too:} Qe7 13. Bf2 gxf4 14. g3
$1 fxg3 (14... b6 $5 {might be a good try:} 15. c4 $5 Bd7 $5 16. cxd5 fxg3 17.
hxg3 Na5 $13) 15. hxg3 O-O 16. Bg2 Be6 17. Rxb7 Rab8 18. Rxb8 Rxb8 19. Qa4 Rb6
20. O-O Bb2 21. Nc4 $1 dxc4 22. d5 Bf7 23. Bxb6 axb6 24. Qxc6 Bxc3 25. Qxc4
Qe3+ 26. Kh2 $18 {1-0 (50) Nyzhnyk,I (2665)-Grischuk,A (2777) chess.com 2020})
12... O-O (12... Bd6 {is considered critical here as well:} 13. Rg1 $5 O-O 14.
h4 f4 15. gxf4 g4 16. Rb5 (16. c4 $5) 16... Ne7 17. f5 (17. Nf3 $5) 17... h5
18. Bg5 c6 19. Rb2 Rxf5 20. e4 Rxg5 21. hxg5 Ng6 22. e5 Bf8 23. Bd3 Nf4 24. Nf1
Qxg5 25. f3 $4 Nxd3+ 26. Qxd3 Qc1+ $19 {0-1 (33) Carlsen,M (2863)-Giri,A (2764)
chess24.com 2020}) 13. Qb3 Be7 14. f4 Na5 15. Qc2 c6 16. Bg2 (16. fxg5 Bxg5
$132) 16... Bd6 17. c4 $5 {White needs to react in the centre.} gxf4 {A very
risky move.} (17... Qe7 $5 18. Bf2 Be6 $5 19. c5 (19. cxd5 Bxd5 20. Bxd5+ cxd5
21. fxg5 Rac8 $36) 19... Bc7 20. e3 Rab8 $11) 18. gxf4 (18. Bxf4 $5 {could
have led to very wild positions:} Bxf4 19. gxf4 Qh4+ 20. Kd1 Qf2 $1 (20... Qxf4
21. Qc3 Nxc4 22. Nxc4 dxc4 23. Rg1 $1 $40) 21. Qc3 $1 (21. Bf3 Qxd4 22. cxd5
Rd8 $13) 21... Nxc4 (21... Qxg2 22. Kc2 $40) 22. Nxc4 Qxg2 23. Kd2 Qe4 24.
Rhg1+ Kh8 25. Rbf1 $1 Qe7 (25... dxc4 $4 26. d5+ $18) 26. Ne5 $14) 18... Be6
19. cxd5 cxd5 20. O-O Kh8 21. Nf3 Nc4 22. Qd3 b6 23. Kh1 Qe7 $6 {A loss of
time.} (23... Rg8 24. Ne5 Bxe5 25. fxe5 Nxe3 26. Qxe3 Qh4 $132) 24. Ne5 Bxe5 $6
25. fxe5 Rg8 (25... Nxe3 26. Qxe3 Qh4 27. Qf4 $14) 26. Bf4 Rg6 27. Bh3 Rf8 28.
Rf3 Qh4 29. Rbf1 {Now Carlsen has got all he wanted!} Qh5 30. Bc1 Rfg8 $2 {
Giving away a pawn... for free!} (30... Rf7 $142) 31. Bxf5 Rg2 32. Bh3 $1 Rxe2
(32... Bxh3 33. Rxh3 $18) 33. Qxe2 Bxh3 34. Rg1 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.20"]
[Round "2.2"]
[White "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2728"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. d3 Qc7 6. Qe2 e5 7. Nbd2 Ne7 8.
Nc4 Ng6 9. h4 h5 10. g3 d6 11. Bd2 f6 12. Ne3 Be7 13. Ng1 Bd8 14. Qf3 Nf8 15.
Ne2 Ne6 16. Qg2 a5 17. a4 Nd4 18. f4 Be6 19. b3 Qd7 20. f5 Bf7 21. Nc1 d5 22.
O-O c4 23. bxc4 dxc4 24. dxc4 Bb6 25. Rb1 Qa7 26. Kh2 Rd8 27. Rb2 O-O 28. g4
Ne2 29. Qxe2 Rxd2 30. Qxd2 Bxe3 31. Qe2 Qd4 32. Nd3 Qxe4 33. Re1 Bf4+ 34. Kh3
Qxc4 35. gxh5 Bh6 36. Rb7 Qxa4 37. Rg1 Rd8 38. Rg3 Qa1 39. Nf2 Rd2 40. Rb8+ Kh7
41. Qg4 Qf1+ 42. Rg2 Qxg2+ 43. Kxg2 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.20"]
[Round "2.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2728"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bf4 O-O 7. e3 Bf5 8.
Qb3 Nc6 9. Nh4 Be6 10. Bd3 a5 11. O-O Nh5 12. Bg3 Nxg3 13. hxg3 Be7 14. Nf3 Nb4
15. Be2 c5 16. a3 c4 17. Qd1 Na6 18. b3 Nc7 19. bxc4 dxc4 20. a4 Bb4 21. Qc2
Bxc3 22. Qxc3 Nd5 23. Qa3 Rc8 24. Rfc1 Nb4 25. Rc3 Nd5 26. Rcc1 Nb4 27. Ne5 c3
28. Nd3 Qb6 29. Rab1 Bf5 30. Rb3 Bxd3 31. Bxd3 c2 32. Rxc2 Rxc2 33. Bxc2 Qc6
34. Bf5 Qd5 35. Bg4 Nc2 36. Qb2 Nb4 37. Rc3 b6 38. Be2 Qf5 39. Rc1 g6 40. Bb5
Rc8 41. Rxc8+ Qxc8 42. Qd2 Qf5 43. f3 Qg5 44. Kf2 Nd5 45. Qd3 h5 46. e4 Nb4 47.
Qe3 Qf6 48. Qc3 Kh7 49. f4 Qe6 50. Qc4 Qxe4 51. Qxf7+ Kh6 52. Qf6 Kh7 53. Qe5
Qc2+ 54. Kg1 Qd2 55. Kh2 Nc2 56. Qe7+ Kh6 57. Qf8+ Kh7 58. Bc4 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.20"]
[Round "2.4"]
[White "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C48"]
[WhiteElo "2728"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bxf6 Qxf6 8.
Nd5 Qd8 9. b4 Bb6 10. c3 a6 11. Nxb6 cxb6 12. Bc4 b5 13. Bb3 O-O 14. O-O Qf6
15. Re1 Be6 16. a4 Rac8 17. axb5 axb5 18. Bxe6 Qxe6 19. Qe2 Rfd8 20. h3 d5 21.
exd5 Rxd5 22. Rad1 Rcd8 23. Rd2 Qd6 24. Red1 Qg6 25. Ne1 Kh7 26. Nc2 R8d7 27.
Ne3 R5d6 28. Nf1 Rd5 29. Qf3 Nd8 30. h4 h5 31. Ng3 Qg4 32. Nxh5 Qxf3 33. gxf3
Ne6 34. Ng3 Nf4 35. Ne4 b6 36. c4 Rd4 37. c5 Rxb4 38. cxb6 Rb7 39. Nd6 Rxb6 40.
Nxf7 Ng6 41. h5 Rf4 42. Ng5+ Kh6 43. Ne4 Nh4 44. Kf1 Nxf3 45. Rc2 Kxh5 46. Rc8
b4 47. Ke2 b3 48. Rb1 b2 49. Rc5 Nd4+ 50. Kf1 Nf3 51. Rc2 Rb3 52. Nc5 Nd4 53.
Nxb3 Nxc2 54. Rxb2 Ne3+ 55. Ke2 Rxf2+ 56. Kxf2 Nd1+ 57. Kf3 Nxb2 58. Ke4 g5 59.
d4 exd4 60. Nxd4 g4 61. Nf3 g3 62. Kf4 g2 63. Kg3 Nd3 64. Kxg2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.22"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B03"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. f4 g6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Be3 Be6 8. Nf3
O-O 9. b3 dxe5 10. dxe5 Nc6 11. Ne4 f6 12. Nc5 Qc8 13. exf6 Bxf6 14. Be2 Rd8
15. Qc1 Bf5 16. O-O Nd7 17. Nd3 Bxa1 18. Qxa1 Nf6 19. Nde5 Nxe5 20. Nxe5 Qe6
21. Bd4 Nd7 22. h3 Nxe5 23. Bxe5 c6 24. Qc3 h5 25. Re1 Kf7 26. Qg3 Rd2 27. Bf3
Rd3 28. Qg5 Rad8 29. Kf2 Rd2+ 30. Kg3 R8d3 31. Qh6 Bxh3 32. Kh4 Rxg2 0-1

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.22"]
[Round "3.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D27"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e3 a6 6. a4 c5 7. Bxc4 Nc6 8. O-O
cxd4 9. exd4 Be7 10. Be3 O-O 11. Ne5 Bd7 12. Nxd7 Qxd7 13. d5 exd5 14. Nxd5
Nxd5 15. Qxd5 Qxd5 16. Bxd5 Bf6 17. Rfd1 Rfd8 18. Kf1 Rd7 19. Bf3 Rad8 20. Rxd7
Rxd7 21. Rc1 Rd6 22. b4 g5 23. Rc5 Nxb4 24. Rc8+ Rd8 25. Rxd8+ Bxd8 26. Bxb7
Kg7 27. Ke2 a5 28. Kd2 f5 29. Kc3 Kf6 30. Kc4 Bc7 31. h3 g4 32. Kb5 Ke5 33.
hxg4 fxg4 34. Bb6 Kd6 35. Bxc7+ Kxc7 36. Be4 h5 37. Kxa5 Na2 38. g3 Nc3 39. Bc2
Ne2 40. Bg6 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.22"]
[Round "3.3"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "128"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. a4 Rb8 8. axb5
axb5 9. Nxe5 Nxe5 10. d4 Bxd4 11. Qxd4 d6 12. f4 Nc6 13. Qc3 Ne7 14. Ra7 c5 15.
e5 Ne4 16. Qf3 d5 17. c3 c4 18. Bc2 Bg4 19. Rxe7+ Qxe7 20. Qxg4 Qc5+ 21. Kh1
Nf2+ 22. Rxf2 Qxf2 23. Qd1 O-O 24. Bd2 d4 25. cxd4 Rfd8 26. Qc1 b4 27. Be3 Qe2
28. Bg1 c3 29. bxc3 bxc3 30. Nxc3 Qc4 31. Nd1 Rbc8 32. Ne3 Qxd4 33. Qf1 Qd2 34.
Qb1 h6 35. h3 Rc3 36. Qb6 Qd4 37. Qa5 Rc5 38. Qa7 Rxc2 39. Nxc2 Qxf4 40. Nd4
Qe4 41. Qb6 Rd5 42. Nf3 Rd3 43. Qb8+ Kh7 44. Qb1 Re3 45. Qf1 Rd3 46. Bf2 Rb3
47. Kh2 Rb1 48. Qa6 Rb2 49. Qa7 Qf4+ 50. Kh1 Qc1+ 51. Bg1 Qc2 52. Nh4 Qe4 53.
Qe7 Rb7 54. Qd8 Rb3 55. Nf3 Rxf3 56. gxf3 Qxf3+ 57. Kh2 Qf4+ 58. Kg2 Qe4+ 59.
Kf1 Qf3+ 60. Bf2 Qxh3+ 61. Kg1 Qg4+ 62. Kf1 Qh3+ 63. Kg1 Qg4+ 64. Kf1 Qh3+
1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.22"]
[Round "3.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C47"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. h3 Bb4 5. Nd5 Bc5 6. Nxf6+ gxf6 7. Bc4 d6 8.
d3 Be6 9. Be3 Qd7 10. Qe2 O-O-O 11. Bxc5 dxc5 12. c3 Bxc4 13. dxc4 f5 14. Rd1
Qxd1+ 15. Qxd1 Rxd1+ 16. Kxd1 fxe4 17. Nd2 f5 18. g4 Rf8 19. Ke2 Ne7 20. gxf5
Rxf5 21. Nxe4 b6 22. Rg1 Ng6 23. Ke3 Kd7 24. Ng5 h6 25. Nf3 Nf4 26. Rg7+ Ke6
27. h4 Kf6 28. Ke4 Nd3 29. Rf7+ Ke6 30. Re7+ Kf6 31. Rf7+ Ke6 32. Rxf5 Nxf2+
33. Ke3 Ng4+ 34. Ke4 Nf2+ 35. Ke3 Ng4+ 36. Ke4 Nf2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.24"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B55"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2778"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Bc4 e6 6. O-O Be7 7. Bd3 Nc6 8.
Nxc6 bxc6 9. c4 O-O 10. Nc3 e5 11. Be3 Be6 12. Qe2 Nd7 13. Rfd1 Qc7 14. b4 a5
15. a3 axb4 16. axb4 Rxa1 17. Rxa1 Rb8 18. Rb1 Nf6 19. h3 d5 20. cxd5 cxd5 21.
exd5 Nxd5 22. Nxd5 Bxd5 23. b5 e4 24. Qh5 exd3 25. Qxd5 Rd8 26. Qe4 Bf8 27. b6
Qc2 28. Rc1 Qb3 29. Qf3 d2 30. Rd1 h6 31. b7 Rb8 32. Rxd2 Rxb7 33. g4 Rb8 34.
Kg2 Re8 35. Rd7 Qe6 36. Qd5 Qxd5+ 37. Rxd5 g6 38. h4 Bg7 39. h5 g5 40. Kf3 Bf6
41. Ke2 Kg7 42. Kd3 Ra8 43. f4 gxf4 44. Bxf4 Ra3+ 45. Ke4 Ra6 46. Kf5 Bb2 47.
Rb5 Rf6+ 48. Ke4 Re6+ 49. Kf5 Rf6+ 50. Ke4 Re6+ 51. Kf5 Rf6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.24"]
[Round "4.2"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E73"]
[WhiteElo "2778"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "122"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. h4 Bg7 4. Nc3 d6 5. e4 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. dxe5 dxe5 8. Qxd8
Rxd8 9. h5 c6 10. Bg5 Na6 11. Nf3 Nc5 12. hxg6 hxg6 13. Rh4 Ne6 14. Be3 Nd4 15.
Nxd4 exd4 16. O-O-O Ng4 17. Bxg4 Bxg4 18. Rxg4 dxe3 19. fxe3 Bxc3 20. bxc3
Rxd1+ 21. Kxd1 Re8 22. Kc2 Re5 23. Rf4 Ra5 24. Kb3 Kf8 25. Rh4 Kg7 26. Rf4 Rg5
27. Rf2 Kf8 28. Kc2 Ke7 29. Kd3 b6 30. Kd4 Ke6 31. Kd3 f6 32. Rd2 Ra5 33. Rf2
Rh5 34. Rb2 Ra5 35. Rf2 Ra4 36. g4 Ra5 37. Rh2 g5 38. Rf2 a6 39. Rh2 b5 40. c5
Ra4 41. Rh7 Rc4 42. Ra7 Rxc5 43. Rxa6 Kd6 44. a4 bxa4 45. c4 Re5 46. Kd4 a3 47.
Rxa3 c5+ 48. Kd3 Re8 49. Ra6+ Ke5 50. Rc6 Rd8+ 51. Ke2 Rh8 52. Rxc5+ Kxe4 53.
Rf5 Rh2+ 54. Rf2 Rh3 55. Kd2 Rxe3 56. Rxf6 Rg3 57. c5 Rxg4 58. c6 Kd5 59. c7
Rc4 60. Rf5+ Ke4 61. Rxg5 Rxc7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.24"]
[Round "4.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D12"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2778"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,63,29,29,32,-9,33,42,35,32,32,10,21,9,13,22,15,-2,32,23,30,30,20,-6,4,
7,28,32,33,7,17,30,17,17,29,-85,-49,-120,-37,0,12,39,114,115,138,133,130,128,
134,142,155,103,106,124,124,126,182,185,181,172,192,191,192,195,194,196]} 1. d4
d5 2. c4 c6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bf5 5. Nf3 e6 6. Nh4 Be4 7. f3 Bg6 8. Bd2 Be7 (
8... Nbd7 {is Black's other main option.}) 9. Nxg6 hxg6 10. Qb3 Qc7 (10... Qb6
11. Qxb6 axb6 12. Kf2 $14) 11. O-O-O $1 {It is difficult to come up with
another move here. As long as Black's knight stands on b8, exchanging pawns on
d5 isn't a great idea due to ...cxd5 and ...Nc6.} dxc4 (11... a6 {should be
critical, I believe. White has several options:} 12. Kb1 $5 (12. g4 $5) (12. c5
$5 Nbd7 13. Kb1 b6 14. cxb6 Nxb6 15. h4 a5 16. Qc2 a4 17. e4 Qb7 18. a3 $36) (
12. cxd5 cxd5 13. Kb1 Nc6 14. Ne2 b5 15. Rc1 Qb6 $11 {1-0 (67) Ghaem Maghami,E
(2596)-Schneider,I (2481) Berlin 2015}) 12... dxc4 (12... b5 13. cxd5 cxd5 14.
Rc1 $14) 13. Qxc4 b5 14. Qd3 Nbd7 (14... c5 15. dxc5 Nbd7 16. b4 $14) 15. e4
$44) 12. Bxc4 b5 13. Be2 a6 14. Ne4 $1 (14. Kb1 c5 15. dxc5 Nbd7 $11) 14...
Nxe4 (14... O-O 15. Nxf6+ Bxf6 16. Kb1 Nd7 17. Rc1 $14) 15. fxe4 c5 16. Kb1 Nc6
(16... Nd7 17. h4 $1 {is also quite unpleasant for Black.} (17. e5 $5)) (16...
c4 17. Qc2 Nc6 18. h4 Nb4 19. Bxb4 Bxb4 20. e5 Rc8 21. h5 $40) 17. e5 $5 {
Opening the h1-a8 diagonal for White's light-squared bishop.} ({Still, I'm not
sure} 17. d5 exd5 18. exd5 Ne5 19. Qc2 Qd6 20. e4 {with the idea of h4 would
be part of fun for Black.}) 17... cxd4 {Risky!} (17... Rc8 {looked helpful
before Black takes on d4:} 18. Bf3 O-O 19. Rc1 Na5 20. Bxa5 Qxa5 {and I think
Black should manage to survive White's attack, since at least one pair of
rooks will be exchanged in case of 21.h4 cxd4.}) (17... Qb6 $5) 18. Bf3 Rc8 19.
Rc1 Qd7 $2 {The losing move.} (19... Qb6 $8 {would probably have saved the day:
} 20. Qc2 O-O $1 21. exd4 (21. Bxc6 $2 dxe3 22. Be1 Rc7 $19) 21... Nxe5 $1 22.
Qxc8 Nxf3 23. Qc2 Nxd2+ 24. Qxd2 Qd6 $44) 20. Qc2 $1 Na7 21. Qxc8+ $1 Nxc8 22.
Bc6 {Now it's piece of cake for the World Champion.} Nb6 23. Bxd7+ Kxd7 24.
exd4 Nd5 25. h4 $1 {Opening up the h-file at the cost of a pawn.} Rxh4 26. Rxh4
Bxh4 27. Rh1 Be7 28. Rh7 Bf8 29. Rh8 Ke7 30. Kc2 f6 31. exf6+ gxf6 32. Rh7+ (
32. Rh7+ Kd6 33. Ra7 {is hopeless for Black.}) 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.24"]
[Round "4.4"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D78"]
[WhiteElo "2778"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "145"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Qc2 dxc4 5. Qxc4 g6 6. g3 Bg7 7. Bg2 O-O 8. O-O
b5 9. Qc2 Bf5 10. Qd1 c5 11. Nc3 Nc6 12. Nh4 cxd4 13. Nxf5 gxf5 14. Bxc6 Rc8
15. Nxb5 Rxc6 16. Qxd4 a6 17. Qxd8 Rxd8 18. Na3 Ne4 19. Kg2 Rxc1 20. Raxc1 Bxb2
21. Nb1 Bxc1 22. Rxc1 Rd4 23. f3 Nf6 24. Kf2 Ra4 25. a3 Kg7 26. Rc3 Nd5 27. Rb3
Rc4 28. Nd2 Rc2 29. Rd3 Nc3 30. f4 e6 31. Kf3 Ne4 32. Nxe4 fxe4+ 33. Kxe4 Rxe2+
34. Kf3 Rxh2 35. Rd6 a5 36. Ra6 Rh5 37. a4 Rc5 38. Ra8 h5 39. Ra6 Kg6 40. Kg2
Kf5 41. Ra7 f6 42. Kh3 Rd5 43. Ra8 e5 44. fxe5 fxe5 45. Rh8 Kg5 46. Ra8 e4 47.
Kg2 Kg4 48. Rg8+ Kf5 49. Ra8 Ke5 50. Kf2 Kd4 51. Ke2 Rg5 52. Rd8+ Kc3 53. Re8
Rxg3 54. Rxe4 Rg4 55. Re5 Rxa4 56. Kf3 Ra2 57. Kg3 a4 58. Re4 Kd3 59. Rf4 Ke3
60. Rf3+ Ke4 61. Rf4+ Ke5 62. Rb4 Ra1 63. Kh2 a3 64. Rb3 Kd4 65. Rf3 Kc4 66.
Rf4+ Kd3 67. Rf3+ Ke4 68. Rb3 h4 69. Rc3 Ra2+ 70. Kh1 Ra1+ 71. Kh2 Ra2+ 72. Kh1
Ra1+ 73. Kh2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.26"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 a5 7. a3 Bd6 8. Qa4+
Bd7 9. Qxc4 Bc6 10. Bg5 Nbd7 11. O-O O-O 12. Nc3 h6 13. Bxf6 Nxf6 14. Rfe1 Bd5
15. Qd3 Bxf3 16. Bxf3 c6 17. Qc2 Qe7 18. Red1 Rfd8 19. Rac1 g6 20. e3 Kg7 21.
Kg2 h5 22. h4 Rac8 23. Qa4 Bc7 24. Qb3 Rb8 25. Rc2 e5 26. dxe5 Bxe5 27. Rcd2
Rxd2 28. Rxd2 Qc7 29. Ne4 Nxe4 30. Bxe4 Re8 31. Bf3 Re7 32. a4 Rd7 33. Rxd7
Qxd7 34. Qc2 Qe7 35. b3 Qb4 36. Qd3 Qd6 37. Qxd6 Bxd6 38. Be2 f5 39. Bc4 Kf6
40. Kf3 Bb4 41. Ke2 Bd6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.26"]
[Round "5.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[Annotator "Giri,A"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,66,30,29,20,-4,-11,6,6,6,33,7,6,-35,-21,-68,-14,-86,-14,-29,-25,-3,21,
14,23,37,17,-19,57,0,10,-6,10,28,-4,-13,42,23,74,85,72,57,50,44,47,64,65,38,44,
18,14,-418,-421,-458,-467,-459,-454,-541,-568,-578,-621,-502,-359,-464,-482,
-561,-580,-726,-809]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. cxd5 exd5 6.
Bf4 Ne4 7. Rc1 Nc6 8. Nd2 g5 9. Be3 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Ba3 11. Rb1 f5 12. g3 {
The position might seem the most random and obscure to an average atheoretical
observer, but in fact it already featured in the same tournament. Here
Firouzja, playing Black, erred with 12...0-0?! allowing 13.f4! where Magnus
could have gotten a massive edge. He went 13.Qb3 first and later won anyway as
well. Die Stellung könnte einem durchschnittlichen atheoretischen Beobachter
höchst zufällig und undurchsichtig erscheinen, tatsächlich aber kam sie in
demselben Turnier schon vor. Dort spielte Firouzja, als Schwarzer, fehlerhaft
12...0-0?!, was 13.f4! erlaubte, womit Magnus ein massives Plus hätte
erhalten können. Er wählte erst 13.Db3 und gewann später auch so.} Bd6 {
An easy improvement, ready to meet f4 with capture and ...Qh4+!. It has
actually already been played before as well, in a game Gaehwiler-Georgiadis in
2019.  Eine einfache Verbesserung, bereit, f4 mit Schlagen und ...Dh4+! zu
begegnen. So wurde ebenfalls zuvor schon gespielt, in einer Partie
Gaehwiler-Georgiadis 2019.} 13. Rg1 $5 {A peculiar novelty and a rather deep
one too. Now obviously the critical response is f5-f4 winning a piece, but the
resulting position did not seem like the most practical choice. Being a rapid
game I didn't have much time to weigh all the options, but I did spend half of
my time here to make sure the game takes a reasonable course. Eine sonderbare
Neuerung, und eine ziemlich tiefsinnige dazu. Nun lautet die kritische
Erwiderung offensichlich f5-f4 mit Figurengewinn, aber die entstehende
Stellung schien nicht die praktischste Wahl zu sein. Da es eine Schnellpartie
war, hatte ich nicht viel Muße, alle Optionen abzuwägen, verbrauchte hier
aber doch die Hälfte meiner Zeit, um sicherzustellen, dass die Partie einen
vernünftigen Kurs nimmt.} (13. Nf3 f4 14. Bc1 Qf6 {is how the Georgiadis game
went. war der Verlauf der Georgiadis-Partie.} (14... O-O $1 {is not a
difficult improvement. ist keine schwierige Verbesserung.})) 13... O-O $5 {
After this extremely natural move Magnus sank into thought. It is an
unavoidable consequence of preparing with the computer that sometimes the most
natural moves, if not entering the engine tab, are dismissed. No matter how
much we (chess professionals) try to avoid that and analyse the human moves,
they still slip away. Noone is immune to that.  Nach diesem extrem
natürlichen Zug versank Magnus ins Nachdenken. Es ist eine zwangsläufige
Konsequenz des Vorbereitens mit dem Computer, dass manchmal die natürlichsten
Züge, wenn nicht mit dem Engine-Tab eingegeben, ausgeblendet werden. So sehr
wir (Schachprofis) auch versuchen, dies zu vermeiden und die menschlichen
Züge zu analysieren, gehen sie doch durch die Lappen. Niemand ist dagegen
immun.} (13... f4 14. gxf4 gxf4 15. Bxf4 Bxf4 16. e3 Qe7 $1 {Important move to
see, but here it continues - Diesen wichtigen Zug gilt es zu sehen, aber hier
geht die Sache noch weiter -} 17. Qh5+ Kd8 18. Qxd5+ Bd6 {when Black won a
piece for two pawns and has a reasonably stable position, but being unprepared,
I didn't fancy the difference in the king's safety. , wonach Schwarz eine
Figur für zwei Bauern gewonnen hat und eine halbwegs stabile Stellung besitzt,
aber, so unvorbereitet, missfiel mir die unterschiedliche Sicherheit der
Könige.}) (13... Qe7 {is met with wird beantwortet mit} 14. Nf3 {when the
queen is somewhat misplaced on e7 and would rather stand on f6. , wonach die
Dame auf e7 etwas deplaziert ist und lieber auf f6 stehen würde.}) (13... Qf6
14. f4 $1 gxf4 15. gxf4 Qh4+ {is a sound tempo for White, compared to 13.f4.
ist ein fettes Tempo für Weiß verglichen mit 13.f4.}) 14. h4 $1 {
Nevertheless, Magnus found the best reply. Frankly it didn't enter my radar
when I played ...0-0 and once I saw it I immediately realised that of course
it was the one. Trotzdem fand Magnus die beste Erwiderung. Offen gestanden war
der Zug nicht auf meinem Radar, als ich ...0-0 spielte, und sobald ich ihn sah,
begriff ich sofort, dass es der richtige war.} (14. Nf3 {can be met with ...g4,
or ...h6 first, which was what I had intended. kann mit ...g4 beantwortet
werden oder zuerst ...h6, was ich beabsichtigt hatte.}) (14. Qb3 $2 {was
tempting but here I had a strong reply ready - war verlockend, aber hier hatte
ich eine starke Antwort parat -} Kh8 $1) (14. f4 {was the most obvious move,
but here I have war der offensichtlichste Zug, aber hier habe ich} Qe7 $1 15.
Bf2 Na5 $5 16. e3 {with a very unclear position. Black doesn't have to fear
Nf3-Ne5 that much, because of play on the light squares with ...Nc4 and so on.
Very messy. mit einer sehr unklaren Stellung. Sf3-Se5 braucht Schwarz nicht
sonderlich zu fürchten wegen Spiel auf den hellen Feldern mit ...Sc4 und so
weiter. Ziemlich chaotisch.}) 14... f4 $1 {A choice between 14...f4 and 14...
g4 is a good test. I am glad I passed. Eine Wahl zwischen 14...f4 und 14...g4
ist ein guter Test. Ich bin froh, dass ich bestanden habe.} (14... g4 15. Bg5 {
White's kingside structure is a rock and he will sooner rather than later
break Black's centre with c4, so unless a miracle happens here, Black is
doomed. Die Königsflügelstruktur von Weiß ist ein Fels, und er wird eher
früher als später mit c4 das schwarze Zentrum aufhebeln, also falls hier
kein Wunder geschieht, ist Schwarz verloren.}) 15. gxf4 g4 {With the king
still on g8 it felt at the very least as dubious as it felt cool. In fact,
while White has many interesting options, the position remains balanced, so
surprisingly my reaction to the novelty seems to have been very fine, also
from an objective point of view.  Mit dem König noch auf g8 fühlte sich dies
mindestens ebenso zweifelhaft an wie cool. Tatsächlich hat Weiß zwar viele
interessante Optionen, doch bleibt die Stellung im Gleichgewicht, also scheint
überraschenderweise meine Reaktion auf die Neuerung absolut in Ordnung
gewesen zu sein, auch objektiv gesehen.} 16. Rb5 $2 {Doesn't feel like the
best practical decision. In some sense logical though. White wants to meet ...
Bxf4 with takes and e3/c4, while intending to meet ...Ne7 with a flashy f5!?.
Fühlt sich nicht wie die beste praktische Entscheidung an. In gewisser
Hinsicht aber logisch. Weiß will ..Lxf4 mit Schlagen und e3/ c4 begegnen,
während er besichtigt, ...Se7 mit spektakulärem f5!? zu beantworten.} (16. c4
{felt very right. Here I saw the right idea, but it is the engine that sees
the right excecution. fühlte sich sehr richtig an. Hier sah ich zwar die
richtige Idee, die richtige Ausführung aber sieht die Engine.} Kh8 $1 {
Keeping all options open - ...Bxf4 as well as ...Nb4 and ...Ne7. Hält alle
Optionen offen - ...Lxf4 wie auch ...Sb4 und ...Se7.} (16... Bf5 {followed by .
..Nb4 looks tempting, but the computer points out the flaw here - nebst ...Sb4
wirkt verlockend, aber der Computer zeigt hier die Schwachstelle auf -} 17. Bg2
$1 {Taking the exchange is sinful with all the light squares gaping, and then
it's not clear what ...Bf5 was for. Das Schlagen der Qualität ist frevelhaft
angesichts all der klaffenden weißen Felder, und dann ist nicht klar, was ...
Lf5 eigentlich sollte.}) 17. cxd5 (17. Bg2 $5 Bxf4 18. Bxf4 Rxf4 19. e3 Rf8 20.
cxd5 Ne7 {Here Black eventually holds, but this would be possibly the most
testing. Hier hält sich Schwarz eventuell, aber dies wäre wohl am
kritischsten.}) 17... Nb4 $5 {Probably ...Ne7 also has some merits, but this
gives fine counterchances. The position is insane, but more or less balanced.
Vermutlich hat auch ...Se7 ein paar Vorzüge, aber dies gibt schöne
Gegenchancen. Die Stellung ist verrückt, aber mehr oder weniger ausgewogen.})
(16. Bg2 {is nicely met with wird fein beantwortet mit} Ne7 $1 {which is even
stronger than capturing on f4 immediately. , was sogar noch stärker ist als
das sofortige Schlagen auf f4.}) (16. Nf3 {Also very testing, when after
Ebenfalls sehr kritisch, worauf nach} Bxf4 17. Bxf4 Rxf4 18. e3 Rf7 19. c4 Rg7
20. cxd5 Qxd5 21. Nd2 Kh8 {Black's position looks strategically suspect,
having lost the fight for the pawn centre but White's potentially weak king
ensures that Black has adequate counterplay. die Stellung von Schwarz zwar
strategisch suspekt wirkt, da er den Kampf um das Bauernzentrum verloren hat,
aber der potentiell schwache weiße König dafür sorgt, dass Schwarz
ausreichendes Gegenspiel hat.}) 16... Ne7 {Again, my choice wasn't too hard.
One doesn't want White to rid himself of the ugly e3 bishop and give him easy
play, so ...Bxf4 wasn't an attractive alternative.  Wieder war meine Wahl
nicht allzu schwer. Man will ja nicht, dass Weiß den hässlichen Läufer e3
loswird und leichtes Spiel bekommt, daher war ...Lxf4 keine attraktive
Alternative.} 17. f5 $5 {Spectacular and clever. Here I started feeling the
time pressure a little, because of an abundance of options and all of them
being highly vague. Spektakulär und clever. Hier begann ich, den Zeitdruck
ein wenig zu spüren, wegen der Fülle an Möglichkeiten, die obendrein alle
höchst vage waren.} h5 $5 (17... Nxf5 {Simplest and pretty strong, but I
wanted to have none of the Rxd5-Rxd6 sacrifices. Am einfachsten und ziemlich
stark, aber ich wollte keines von den Txd5-Txd6-Opfern.} 18. Rxg4+ (18. Bg5 $5
{bothered me, but after beunruhigte mich, aber nach} Qe8 19. Rxd5 Qf7 {the
exchange sac is a fine version for Black, because he kept the g4 pawn and gets
a tempo as f2 is hanging. Still, very double edged of course. ist das
Qualitätsopfer eine feine Version für Schwarz, weil er den g4-Bauern
behalten hat ein Tempo gewinnt, da f2 hängt. Trotzdem, natürlich sehr
zweischneidig.}) 18... Kh8 19. Bg5 Ne3 $3 {Of course I didn't see this trick.
Diesen Trick sah ich natürlich nicht.} (19... Qe8 20. Rxd5 Be6 21. Rxd6 {
seemed like something I should really be trying to avoid. schien etwas zu sein,
was ich wirklich tunlichst vermeiden sollte.}) 20. Qb1 $3 {Stockfish says -0.
20. I'm outta here. Stockfish sagt -0.20. Ich bin dann mal weg.}) (17... g3 {
is a flashy move, which combined with the fact that it was the first line of a
weak engine on the website prompted some to ask me why I didn't play it. Many
reasons, starting with that I didn't see it was possible. And frankly many
more. ist ein spektakulärer Zug, welcher, kombiniert mit der Tatsache, dass
die erste Variante einer schwachen Engine auf der Webseite war, manche dazu
brachte, mich zu fragen, warum ich ihn nicht spielte. Viele Gründe, beginnend
damit, dass ich nicht sah, dass er möglich war. Und offen gestanden, noch
viele weitere.} 18. Bh6 Nxf5 19. Bxf8 Kxf8 20. Nf3 gxf2+ 21. Kxf2 Bf4 22. Bh3 {
with a mess, which is objectively balanced. mit einem Chaos, welches objektiv
ausgeglichen ist.}) (17... Kh8 $5 {I also considered very seriously, I don't
even remember with what point, but at some point I realised I should stop with
all the creative nonsense and just make a move. erwog ich ebenfalls sehr
ernsthaft, ich weiß nicht mal mehr genau, mit welcher Pointe, aber an
irgendeiner Stelle begriff ich, dass ich mit all dem kreativen Unsinn
aufhören und einfach einen Zug machen sollte.}) 18. Bg5 (18. f6 $5 {could
transpose to the game, but could also not do so. könnte zur Partie
überleiten, aber auch nicht.} Rxf6 19. Bg5 Rf5 (19... Qf8 $5 {is a cool way
to sac the exchange as well. ist ebenfalls ein cooler Weg, die Qualität zu
opfern.}) 20. e4 Rxg5 21. hxg5 c6 22. Rb2 {and we'd transpose to the game. und
wir würden in der Partie landen.}) 18... c6 {Again, the time factor made me
pick this one. I was very much into ...Qe8 at this point, but this seemed more
direct and spirited. Auch für diese Entscheidung war wieder der Zeitfaktor
ausschlaggebend. An dieser Stelle liebäugelte ich sehr mit ...De8, aber dies
schien direkter und schwungvoller.} (18... Qe8 $5 19. e4 {is a total chaos.
ist ein totales Chaos.} (19. Bxe7 Qxe7 20. Rxd5 Bxf5) 19... c6 20. Rb2 Nxf5 21.
Qe2 {Black is doing quite well, he can for example sac a piece with Schwarz
steht ganz gut, er kann zum Beispiel eine Figur opfern mit} Qg6 $5 {but after
the obvious , aber nach dem offensichtlichen} 22. Kd1 {the fight continues.
geht der Kampf weiter.}) 19. Rb2 Rxf5 {Intending the exchange sac.
Beabsichtigt das Qualitätsopfer.} (19... Bxf5 $5 {is strong apparently. ist
scheinbar stark.} 20. e4 $1 (20. Rxb7 Bc8 21. Rb2 Qc7 {is suddenly very good
for Black. Indeed the knight will go to g6, bishop to f5, Black can take the
b-file or break the g5 bishop by offering a trade. White's queenside is yet to
be developed and his rook on g1 has no future, because trying to open the
g-file with f3 will only backfire on his own king. ist plötzlich sehr gut
für Schwarz. Der Springer wird nach g6 gehen, Läufer nach f5, Schwarz kann
die b-Linie besetzen oder durch Tauschangebot den g5-Läufer beseitigen. Der
Damenflügel von Weiß harrt noch der Entwicklung, und sein Turm auf g1 hat
keine Zukunft, da der Versuch, mit f3 die g-Linie zu öffnen, nur auf seinen
eigenen König zurückfallen wird.}) 20... dxe4 21. Rxb7 Rb8 22. Bc4+ Kh8 23.
Rxa7 Qe8 24. Bh6 {and Black can choose to repeat with ...Rf6 or sac the
exchange with, for example ...Bg6!? und Schwarz kann entweder mit ...Tf6 die
Züge wiederholen oder die Qualität opfern mit, zum Beispiel, ...Lg6!?}) 20.
e4 Rxg5 $1 {The point, otherwise the last 5 moves would have made no sense. 
Die Pointe, andernfalls hätten die letzten 5 Züge keinen Sinn ergeben.} 21.
hxg5 {Premoved. :) Premoved. :)} Ng6 {I honestly had no idea how to evaluate
this in the heat of the battle, but I thought for sure, practically speaking I
am very much in the game. Which might have been a modest assessment in
hindsight. White was of course not thrilled at having to be on the defensive
side after unleashing a strong opening novelty.  Im Eifer des Gefechts hatte
ich ehrlich keine Ahnung, wie dies einzuschätzen ist, aber ich war sicher,
dass ich praktisch gesehen voll in der Partie war. Was nachträglich
womöglich tiefgestapelt war. Weiß war natürlich nicht begeistert, nach
Bringen einer starken Eröffnungsneuerung in der Defensive zu sein.} 22. e5 Bf8
{I was well aware of the fact that it is possible to spend half an hour
thinking here choosing between ...Ba3, ...Bc7, ...Be7 and ...Bf8 (not sure ...
Bb8 has an merit, but time can be spent thinking about that philosophical
question too). Enough is enough, however and with the clock ticking I played
this move instantly.  Ich war mir durchaus der Tatsache bewusst, dass man hier
bei der Wahl zwischen ...La3, ...Lc7, ...Le7 und ...Lf8 (nicht sicher, ob ...
Lb8 irgendwas für sich hat, aber auch beim Nachdenken über diese
philosophische Frage kann man Zeit verbringen) eine halbe Stunde verbrauchen
kann. Aber genug ist genug, und bei tickender Uhr spielte ich diesen Zug
sofort.} 23. Bd3 $6 {This actually felt wrong, inviting ...Nf4, but I suspect
already at this point Magnus had the Nf1 f3 idea in mind, which while
positionally sound has a minor tactical flaw. Dies fühlte sich wirklich
falsch an, da es zu ...Sf4 einlädt, aber ich vermute, dass Magnus bereits an
dieser Stelle die Idee Sf1/f3 im Sinn hatte, die zwar positionell gesund ist,
aber einen kleinen taktischen Schwachpunkt hat.} (23. c4 Qxg5 24. Qb3 {is
natural, trying to get to the d5 pawn, though it is a little loose. Black has
many intesting options, for example ist natürlich, im Versuch, den Bauer d5
anzugehen, obwohl es ein wenig lockert. Schwarz hat viele interessante
Optionen, etwa} Kh8 $5 {when White is better off trying to trade queens than
actually grabbing that central pawn. wonach Weiß gut beraten ist, den
Damentausch anzustreben, statt sich diesen Zentralbauern wirklich zu schnappen.
.} 25. Qe3 (25. cxd5 cxd5 26. Qxd5 Bf5 {and with a8 rook joining, Black will
develop a very dangerous initiative. und wenn der a8-Turm mitmacht, wird
Schwarz eine brandgefährliche Initiative entwickeln})) ({My personal
favourite here is Mein persönlicher Favorit hier ist} 23. Nf3 $1 {, an
absolutely sick move, offering the knight for just one pawn. Black in fact
should ignore it. , ein absolut kranker Zug, der den Springer für nur einen
Bauern anbietet. Tatsächlich sollte Schwarz ihn ignorieren.} b5 (23... gxf3
24. Qxf3 {is simply very dangerous. The Bg4 will be chopped off too and then
White will just enter on the weak light squares. ist einfach sehr gefährlich.
Lg4 wird auch rausgehackt, und dann wird Weiß einfach auf den schwachen
hellen Feldern eindringen.} Bg4 25. Rxg4 hxg4 26. Qf5 Qe8 27. Rxb7 {etc. etc.})
24. Bd3 Nf4 25. Qd2 $5 {White insists on the piece sac. Weiß beharrt auf dem
Figurenopfer.} Nxd3+ 26. Qxd3 gxf3 27. Qxf3 Bg4 28. Rxg4 hxg4 29. Qxg4 {
and here the computer maintains balance thanks to some ...b4!? counterplay,
but I would take White any day. und hier behauptet der Computer die Balance
dank irgendwelchem ...b4!?-Gegenspiel-, aber ich würde jederzeit Weiß nehmen.
} Qc8 30. e6 b4 31. cxb4 Rb8) 23... Nf4 $1 24. Nf1 Qxg5 25. f3 $4 {This
blunder is in a way a logical consequence of White's play, but on the other
hand it would all still make some sense if he first withdraws the d3 bishop to
b1. Dieser Bock ist in gewisser Weise eine logische Konsequenz des Spiels von
Weiß, aber andererseits würde alles noch einigen Sinn ergeben, wenn er erst
den d3-Läufer nach b1 zurückzieht.} (25. Ne3 b5 {is just good for Black, who
is now in time with ...a5, ...Ra7. ist einfach gut für Schwarz, der jetzt
rechtzeitig zu a5/Ta7 kommt.} (25... Ba3 $5 26. Rb3 Bc1 $1 {is another strong
resource. Also cool. ist eine weitere starke Ressource. Auch cool.})) (25. Bb1
$5 {This is best. Dies ist das Beste.} Nh3 {Just one of the moves.The engine
also suggests activating the bishop with ...Bh6 or ...Ba3. Nur einer der Züge.
Die Engine empfiehlt auch die Läuferaktivierung mit ...Lh6 oder ...La3.} (
25... b5 26. f3 a5 27. fxg4 Ra7 {is mayhem. If I would see this idea, I would
like be tempted to go for it. ist Chaos. Wenn ich diese Idee sehen würde,
wäre ich versucht.}) 26. Rh1 Bh6 27. Ne3 g3 28. Qf3 Nxf2 29. Rxf2 gxf2+ 30.
Kxf2 Bg4 31. Nxg4 hxg4 32. Qd3 Qd2+ 33. Qxd2 Bxd2 {is one of the random ways
how the computer makes sense of this position. Here White ends up a pawn down,
but should hold due to the rest of the position being good. ist einer der
Zufallswege, wie der Computer dieser Stellung Sinn einhaucht. Hier hat Weß am
Ende einen Bauern weniger, sollte sich aber halten, da der Rest der Stellung
gut ist.}) 25... Nxd3+ $1 26. Qxd3 Qc1+ 27. Kf2 Qxb2+ 28. Nd2 Bf5 {In the heat
of battle I didn't immediately realize how completely winning this is, but the
moment I saw that the incoming check on g6 is just a check it became clear. 
Im Eifer des Gefechts begriff ich nicht sofort, wie komplett gewonnen das ist,
aber in dem Moment, als ich sah, dass das etwaige Schach auf g6 nur ein Schach
ist, wurde es klar.} 29. Qxf5 Qxd2+ 30. Kg3 Qxc3 {It may seem like a perpetual
is on the cards, but White only has 2 checks, whether he starts from e6 or
from g6, and so he is just dead lost here.  Es könnte scheinen, als wäre ein
Dauerschach in der Trommel, aber Weiß hat nur zwei Schachs, ob er nun auf e6
oder g6 beginnt, und daher steht er hier einfach völlig platt.} 31. Kh4 Qxd4
32. Rg3 Bg7 33. f4 Rf8 0-1

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.26"]
[Round "5.3"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D87"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[Annotator "Giri,A"]
[PlyCount "139"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,139,29,20,26,-11,35,37,64,52,64,59,59,59,45,45,51,52,36,52,46,29,63,
57,71,62,34,51,51,40,59,60,8,22,28,18,38,45,34,43,56,52,63,63,42,43,43,44,138,
-1,36,0,82,72,53,-13,1,0,0,0,0,7,0,3,1,-22,-22,-12,-12,-18,-19,-9,0,0,0,0,-9,0,
-9,-17,-16,-20,-16,-26,-34,-45,-51,-61,-62,-102,-26,-61,-70,-64,-64,-64,0,-64,
-65,-62,-55,-54,-56,-55,-55,-82,-70,-66,-39,-70,-71,-90,-87,-81,-83,-88,-91,
-92,-92,-87,-92,-87,-87,-87,-87,-87,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]} 1. d4 Nf6
2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 Nc6 9.
Be3 O-O 10. O-O Bg4 11. f3 Na5 12. Bxf7+ {In my previous blitz games I have
mostly gone for the exchange sac with Bd3, which I suspect is what Magnus may
have been aiming for. This is an even older system, heavily debated in the
ancient Karpov-Kasparov battles.} Rxf7 13. fxg4 Rxf1+ 14. Kxf1 Qd6 15. e5 {
At some point I was aware of the chronological development of theory in this
line, but by this point I have already forgotten all that and only remember
what the engine says here.} Qd5 16. Ng1 $5 {Relatively rare apparently. I
guess it surprised my opponent. Back in the day they were going for Bf2 or g5.}
Nc4 17. Qe2 cxd4 {The way Black played in this game is very natural, but both
sides have options along the way really.} 18. cxd4 b5 19. Nf3 a5 20. Bg5 {
Often the bishop ends up on f2 in this system, but I kind of liked this active
move with idea of going h4-h5.} Rf8 $1 {Good response, threatening Qxd4.} 21.
Rd1 e6 $2 {A huge mistake suddenly- a critical loss of time. The pawn still
wasn't hanging apparently.} (21... h6 $1 22. Bxe7 (22. Bc1 Rc8 23. h4 b4 {
here Black gets real counterplay with a4-b3 incoming, but not less importantly
he slowed down white's play as h5 can be met with g5.}) 22... Rf4 $1 23. Kg1
Re4 $1 24. Qf2 Nxe5 $1 {with equality.}) 22. h4 a4 23. Kg1 $1 {Strong move,
getting out of the way in case of some h6 Be7 Rf4 scenarios.} b4 (23... h6 {
doesn't help, as} 24. Bc1 b4 25. Qd3 {is trouble. g6 is falling and Black is
not at all in time with any counterplay.}) 24. h5 b3 {24...h6 is met with Be7,
so Black tries this desperate attempt at counterplay, which really shouldn't
have helped.} 25. axb3 axb3 26. hxg6 $2 {This felt just winning by force, but
it really doesn't. Instead, I should have definitely gone for the position 26.
h6 with an absolutely winning position strategically. I suspected some
queenside counterplay with the far advanced b3 pawn supported by the c4 knight,
but White really has enough pieces to stop it.} (26. h6 $1 Bh8 {There are many
ways to win this position: White can either sent the bishop around to c5 via
e7, or just drop it back to c1 and if Black tries to get b2 in, just deliver
mate with a well timed Ng5 and a major piece.} 27. Be7 (27. Bc1 Ra8 (27... Rb8
28. Bb2 {Black is helpless, he is basically a piece down, as the h8 guy really
doesn't count.}) 28. Rf1 Ra2 29. Qe1 b2 30. Qb4 {is lights out.}) 27... Rb8 28.
Bc5 b2 29. Rb1 {is complete domination too. After my game was over, while on
my break I realised how incredibly lost this position was for Black. Pity!})
26... h6 $2 {Decent practical attempt, but the simple hxg6 actually was simply
fine.} (26... hxg6 $1 {Here 27.Qd3 clearly isn't mating, but I had my hopes
pinned on Nh4, where I missed a few important resources.} 27. Nh4 (27. Kh2 b2
28. Rb1 Rxf3 29. gxf3 Qxd4 {is clearly fine for Black.}) (27. Qd3 Nb2 28. Qxg6
Nxd1 29. Bh6 Rf7 {is only a draw for White, as Ng5 is not an option because of
Qxd4+.} 30. Bxg7 Rxg7 31. Qe8+) 27... b2 (27... Kh7 {There is even a second
defense!} 28. Qd3 Nxe5 $1 29. dxe5 Qxd3 30. Rxd3 Rb8 {and white has to return
a piece.}) 28. Nxg6 (28. Qc2 {is better, but it's clearly slow and Black has a
few ways to equalise, for example} Rb8 29. Nxg6 b1=Q 30. Rxb1 Rxb1+ 31. Qxb1
Qxd4+) 28... Qxd4+ $1 {ouch.}) 27. Bf6 $2 {Not good, as it allows Black to
escape.} (27. Be7 $1 {actually just wins.} Ra8 {was the one that suddenly had
me confused and understandbly so, but here White has a very strong response-}
28. Kh2 $1 Ra2 (28... b2 29. Rb1) 29. Qd3 {when} Nb2 {Nb2 is met with} 30. Qc3
{[%cal Gc3c8]}) 27... Bxf6 28. exf6 Rxf6 29. Ne5 Nxe5 30. dxe5 Qc5+ {
Everything worked out for Black and the rest of the game is drawn, with at
some point Black even being on the more comfortable side.} 31. Kh1 Rf8 32. Rf1
Rxf1+ 33. Qxf1 Qe7 34. Qb5 Kg7 35. Qxb3 Qh4+ 36. Kg1 Qxg4 37. Qd3 h5 38. Qd8
Qf5 39. Qd6 Kxg6 40. g3 Qb1+ 41. Kh2 Qc2+ 42. Kh3 Qc4 {Not a very pleasant
endgame as it is hard to force a draw and giving up a pawn for a perpetual
could also suddenly not be a perpetual. Yet, as long as nothing major is
blundered, such a position generally doesn't lose itself.} 43. Qd1 Qe4 44. Qa1
Kf5 45. Qd1 Kg6 46. g4 {Eliminating one more pawn, when the result really
shouldn't be in doubt.} Qe3+ 47. Kh4 Qf2+ 48. Kh3 Qe3+ 49. Kh4 Qg5+ 50. Kh3
Qxe5 51. Qd3+ Kh6 52. gxh5 Kxh5 53. Kg2 Kg4 54. Qf3+ Kg5 55. Qg3+ Kf5 56. Qf3+
Qf4 57. Qh5+ Ke4 58. Qe2+ Qe3 59. Qc4+ Kf5 60. Qb5+ Kf4 61. Qf1+ Kg5 62. Qc4 {
There is no direct perpetual yet, but as long as White doesn't blunder into a
lost pawn endgame, winning this position is not on the cards for Black. With
his next move he allows an immediate perpetual.} e5 63. Qg8+ Kf4 64. Qf7+ Ke4
65. Qb7+ Kd3 66. Qb3+ Ke2 67. Qb2+ Kd3 68. Qb3+ Ke4 69. Qb7+ Kd3 70. Qb3+
1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.26"]
[Round "5.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B95"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[Annotator "Giri,A"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,50,29,16,65,49,83,62,64,33,26,25,60,44,66,55,30,17,37,-2,3,-12,-15,-4,
-7,-14,-30,-9,26,-47,-10,-142,-110,-184,-181,-113,-114,-104,-95,-92,-86,-92,
-94,-130,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3
a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f3 {Magnus has played this twice against MVL. Honestly, it's a
fine system, but the last few games of Maxime after 6.f3 were with e6, so this
choice of line is really quite hilarious. It only makes sense against people
who play 6...e5 against the English Attack, as the bishop on g5 can always be
chased back to e3 with h6 if need be.} Be7 {There are countless ways of
playing against White's setup. I decided to first play 0-0 and then see.} 8.
Qd2 O-O 9. O-O-O b5 {It's also possible to go for the Nc6 setups, like in the
Classical Sicilian, here or even after b5 Bb7, but I chose to go for the
standard Najdorf setup with Nbd7.} 10. a3 {I think Magnus mixed up the move
order in this game like three times, so let's not delve too much into it. :)}
Bb7 11. Kb1 Nbd7 12. Qe1 $2 {This move is part of the plan, but clearly not in
this order.} Rc8 $2 {Returning the favour. Rapid & blitz encourages such
mutual slips, as it teaches you not to think about finesses when natural moves
are available.} (12... Nxe4 $1 {would be strong here. Fortunately, I got this
chance later in the game too, where I grabbed it.} 13. Nxe4 Bxg5 14. Nxd6 Bd5 {
Black is just positionally winning, having an unopposed dark-squared bishop.})
13. h4 Qc7 {Amongst other ideas, controlling e5 square and hinting at d5 break.
} 14. Rh3 $2 {And another mixup. This move is great after 13...h5 (which is
the first line). There it would prepare g4, but here white could just go g4
immediately. It is good to see that despite the Carlsen-Nielsen PR machine
trying to convince us that the World Champion's preparation methods are any
different, it is clear that just like the rest of humans, they are clicking
moves looking at the engine screen and occasionally not getting the point of
some of them. It just can't be different in modern times.} (14. g4 {is
critical, when Black will prepare d5 and White is in time to get Bxf6 or Bc1
and g5, with a very unclear position.}) 14... Rfe8 {Very useful move,
introducing the idea of d5!. I would have gone for it after 14.g4 too, but
here it is even easier to make, when White is not even in time to go g5 after
d5.} 15. h5 $2 {This move is odd positionally too, but now the undefended g5
bishop is screaming for Nxe4 tactics.} (15. g4 d5 {is already not good for
White, but it would have still been better than the game.}) 15... Nxe4 $1 {
This time I saw it.} 16. Bxe7 ({White could have been pinning his hopes on
this counter-shot but there is an issue with it-} 16. Ncxb5 axb5 17. Bxe7 e5 $1
{and White loses material after all.}) (16. Nxe4 Bxe4 17. Bxe7 Bxc2+ 18. Nxc2
Qxc2+ 19. Ka2 Rxe7 20. h6 {is quite hopeless for a must win too.}) 16... Nxc3+
17. bxc3 Rxe7 18. Nf5 {White wins an exchange, but for the doubled c-pawns and
e4 pawn too, Black is obviously giving this exchange any day.} exf5 {I was
tempted to go Nb6 instead and in fact the best move is even stronger- Kf8!!.
But with a draw clinching the match, it wasn't possible to resist exf5 with
all the perpetuals incoming.} 19. Qxe7 Qxc3 20. Bd3 Nc5 {The only intrigue
here left was that Black may blunder with b4 Qxd7 b3, as it allows Qa4!!.
Otherwise Nc5 or Nb6 just secure a perpetual.} 21. Bxf5 Nb3 {Na4 also leads to
a perpetual, albeit a little longer one.} 22. Ka2 Nc1+ {Frankly I noticed 22...
Bd5 here and wanted to be nasty and win this game by checkmate, but then I
realised there is 23.Qxd6 and I have to settle for a perpetual anyway. First
world problems.} 23. Kb1 Nb3 24. Ka2 Nc1+ 25. Kb1 Nb3 {A smooth way to seal
the match victory!} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.28"]
[Round "6.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B55"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2784"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Bc4 Nxe4 6. Qh5 e6 7. Nxe6 Bxe6 8.
Bxe6 Qe7 9. Bxf7+ Qxf7 10. Qe2 Qe7 11. O-O Nf6 12. Be3 Nc6 13. Nc3 d5 14. Qf3
O-O-O 15. Rfe1 Qd7 16. Nb5 a6 17. a4 Qg4 18. Qxg4+ Nxg4 19. Bb6 axb5 20. axb5
Nb8 21. Bxd8 Kxd8 22. h3 Nf6 23. Ra7 Kc7 24. Re6 Bc5 25. b6+ Bxb6 26. Re7+ Kd6
27. Raxb7 Nbd7 28. Rxg7 Kc6 0-1

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.28"]
[Round "6.2"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B00"]
[WhiteElo "2784"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,109,27,18,26,33,33,35,39,14,14,14,17,23,36,41,40,20,20,39,48,2,0,30,7,
9,5,-16,27,20,42,1,40,34,34,-135,-83,-89,-60,-82,-97,-89,77,90,-3,58,51,49,65,
17,44,58,58,54,85,68,140,93,111,107,49,75,89,55,63,44,91,41,73,39,82,44,44,81,
98,21,23,18,23,-50,-20,-69,0,-174,-205,-215,-205,-217,-218,-218,-230,-232,-208,
-202,-202,-202,-207,-207,-207,-625,12,8,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]} 1. e4 Nc6 {
Magnus came with this "new weapon" to his own Invitational event.} 2. d4 d5 3.
e5 Bf5 4. c3 e6 5. Nf3 Qd7 (5... Nge7 {was tried by GM Maghsoodloo, without
big success:} 6. Nh4 Bg6 7. Nd2 f6 8. exf6 gxf6 9. Nxg6 Nxg6 10. Qb3 a6 11. g3
$14 {1-0 (34) Karjakin,S (2753)-Maghsoodloo,P (2688) St Petersburg 2018}) 6.
Nh4 Be4 $1 $146 {An interesting novelty, avoiding a simply worse position.} (
6... Bg6 7. Nxg6 hxg6 8. Bb5 Nge7 9. Nd2 a6 10. Ba4 Nf5 11. Nf3 $14 {0-1 (43)
Korchnoi,V (2645)-Welling,G Eindhoven 1982}) 7. Nd2 O-O-O 8. Bb5 $5 ({White
should watch out for} 8. Nxe4 $6 dxe4 9. Qe2 $6 Nxd4 $1 10. cxd4 Bb4+ $40) 8...
a6 9. Ba4 f6 (9... Nge7 10. Nxe4 dxe4 11. Qe2 $16) 10. Nhf3 Nge7 $6 (10... Bd3
$5 {could be the way to play for Black!} 11. Nb3 Be4 12. Na5 (12. Nbd2 $11)
12... Nge7 13. O-O b6 $1 (13... Kb8 $2 {is the first engine recommendation,
but it's just bad:} 14. Nd2 Bf5 15. Ndb3 $1 b5 (15... b6 $2 16. Nc5 $1 $18) 16.
Nc5 Qc8 17. Bxb5 $1 axb5 18. Nab7 $1 {[%cal Gb2b4,Ga1a4] followed by b4, a4,
with a crushing attack.}) 14. Nxc6 Nxc6 {and Black will put his king on b7 and
has a relatively solid setup.}) 11. O-O Ng6 12. Re1 Bf5 13. b4 {Now that White
has castled he has a free hand to attack on the queenside.} fxe5 14. dxe5 b5 {
Surely not something Black is happy to do, but he had to prevent White from
pushing b5 himself.} 15. Bc2 d4 16. Bxf5 exf5 17. c4 $1 {Played a tempo by
White - typical Nepo! Obviously, it is a very logical move, just opening up
everything in front of the black king.} Bxb4 (17... bxc4 18. Nxc4 Bxb4 19. Bd2
$40) 18. cxb5 $6 (18. e6 $1 {was better right away, as the d5-square is not
available for the black queen, e.g.} Qd6 19. cxb5 axb5 20. a4 Bc3 21. axb5 $1
Bxa1 22. Qa4 $1 Nb8 23. Ba3 Qd5 24. Rxa1 Qxe6 25. b6 $1 Qc6 26. Rc1 $1 Qxb6 27.
Rb1 Qe6 28. Nxd4 Rxd4 29. Qxd4 $16) 18... axb5 19. Rb1 Rhe8 (19... Qd5 20. a4
Bxd2 21. Bxd2 b4 22. Bxb4 {also looks very unpleasant for Black.}) 20. a4 Qd5
21. axb5 Bxd2 22. Bxd2 Ncxe5 23. Nxe5 Rxe5 24. b6 Rxe1+ 25. Qxe1 Kd7 $1 26.
bxc7 Rc8 {Black has survived the worst part of the game, but his position is
still no fun to play.} 27. Rb4 $6 (27. Qd1 $1 {would be stronger according to
the engine, with ideas like} Rxc7 28. Qa4+ Ke7 29. h4 $1 {- and Black has to
be very careful.}) 27... Rxc7 (27... Nf8 $1 {followed by ...Ne6 would have
been a strong equaliser.}) 28. Qa1 $1 {Thanks to this little move, the
pressure goes on.} Ke8 29. Rxd4 Qe6 30. h4 Rd7 31. Qa4 Ne5 {Still, it is too
little for White to achieve anything.} 32. Bf4 Nc6 33. Rc4 Ne7 34. Rc7 Nd5 35.
Rc6 Qe1+ 36. Kh2 Kf7 $1 (36... Qxf2 $4 37. Re6+ Kd8 38. Qa8#) 37. Qa2 Qe4 38.
g3 h6 39. h5 $6 {White now tries to be worse!} Qf3 40. Kg1 Kg8 41. Rc8+ $2 {
And manages!} (41. Qa8+ Kh7 42. Qe8 Qd1+ 43. Kh2 Nxf4 44. gxf4 Rd8 $11) 41...
Kh7 {Suddenly White's position is turning to a nightmare.} 42. Qa8 Qd1+ 43. Kh2
Qxh5+ 44. Kg1 Qd1+ 45. Kh2 Nxf4 46. Rh8+ Kg6 47. Qe8+ Kg5 48. gxf4+ Kxf4 49.
Rf8 (49. Qe3+ Kg4 50. Qg3+ Kh5 $19) 49... Kg5 $4 {An incredible blunder under
time pressure.} ({Amongst the many winning moves,} 49... Rd3 $1 {was strongest,
with a deadly threat of 50...Rh3+!}) 50. Qe3+ Kg6 51. Qe6+ Kh7 52. Qg8+ Kg6 53.
Qe6+ Kh7 54. Qg8+ Kg6 55. Qe6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.28"]
[Round "6.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2784"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 c5 3. d5 d6 4. Nc3 a6 5. a4 e5 6. Bd2 e4 7. h3 h5 8. Bf4 Bf5
9. e3 Nbd7 10. a5 h4 11. Nge2 Ne5 12. Nc1 Nfd7 13. Nb3 Bg6 14. Nd2 f5 15. f3
exf3 16. gxf3 Bh5 17. Rg1 Nf7 18. Be2 Qf6 19. Nc4 g6 20. Bh2 Nde5 21. Nb6 Rd8
22. f4 Nd7 23. Bxh5 Rxh5 24. Nc4 Bg7 25. Qd3 Kf8 26. O-O-O Re8 27. Rg2 Kg8 28.
e4 fxe4 29. Nxe4 Qe7 30. Re1 Kh8 31. Rxg6 Nf6 32. Qc3 Rh7 33. Qf3 Nxd5 34. f5
Nf6 35. Bxd6 Qd8 36. Kb1 Rxe4 37. Rxe4 Nxd6 38. Nxd6 Qxd6 39. Re6 Qf8 40. Qxb7
Ng8 41. Qe4 Qf7 42. Re8 Rh6 43. Rxh6+ Bxh6 44. Qe6 Kg7 45. Qxf7+ Kxf7 46. Re6
Bd2 47. Rxa6 Ne7 48. c3 c4 49. f6 Ng6 50. Rc6 Ne5 51. Rc7+ Kxf6 52. a6 Be3 53.
a7 Bxa7 54. Rxa7 Kg5 55. Rg7+ Kf4 56. Ka2 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.28"]
[Round "6.4"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2784"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Bc4 Be7 5. d3 d6 6. Nd2 Nf6 7. Nf1 Bg4 8. f3
Be6 9. Ne3 O-O 10. O-O Nd7 11. Ncd5 Bg5 12. f4 exf4 13. Nxf4 Bxc4 14. Nxc4 Nde5
15. Ne3 Ne7 16. b3 Qd7 17. Qh5 f6 18. Bb2 N5g6 19. g3 Bxf4 20. gxf4 f5 21. Rae1
Rf7 22. Qg5 d5 23. exd5 Nxd5 24. Nxd5 Qxd5 25. h4 Qd7 26. h5 Nf8 27. h6 Ne6 28.
Qg2 Nd4 29. Re5 Qd6 30. b4 Qxh6 31. bxc5 Nc6 32. Re3 Rd8 33. Rfe1 Rdd7 34. Rg3
Rde7 35. Rxe7 Rxe7 36. Qd5+ Kh8 37. Be5 Qh5 38. Qd6 Qd1+ 39. Kh2 Qh5+ 40. Kg1
Qd1+ 41. Kh2 Qh5+ 42. Kg1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.28"]
[Round "6.5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2784"]
[PlyCount "157"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. Nbd2 O-O 5. c3 d6 6. h3 c5 7. dxc5 dxc5 8. e4
Nc6 9. Be2 b6 10. O-O Bb7 11. Re1 Qd7 12. Qc2 Rad8 13. Rad1 Qc8 14. e5 Nd5 15.
Bg3 Nc7 16. Qa4 Ne6 17. Qh4 Ba6 18. Bxa6 Qxa6 19. Qe4 Qb7 20. Nc4 Rxd1 21. Rxd1
Rd8 22. Rxd8+ Ncxd8 23. Qxb7 Nxb7 24. a4 Kf8 25. Kf1 Ke8 26. Ke2 Kd7 27. Kd3
Nbd8 28. Ng1 Nc6 29. Ke4 h5 30. f4 f5+ 31. exf6 exf6 32. f5 Ng5+ 33. Kd3 gxf5
34. Ne3 Ne7 35. Ne2 Ne6 36. Kc4 Kc6 37. b4 cxb4 38. cxb4 Bh6 39. b5+ Kd7 40.
Nd5 Nxd5 41. Kxd5 f4 42. Bf2 Bf8 43. Nd4 Nc5 44. Nc6 Nxa4 45. Nxa7 Nc3+ 46. Kc4
Nd1 47. Bxb6 Ne3+ 48. Bxe3 fxe3 49. Kd3 Bc5 50. Nc6 Kd6 51. Na5 Ke5 52. Ke2 Kf4
53. Nc4 Kg3 54. Nxe3 h4 55. Kd3 Ba7 56. Ke4 f5+ 57. Nxf5+ Kxg2 58. Nxh4+ Kxh3
59. Nf5 Kg4 60. Ne7 Kg5 61. Ke5 Kh6 62. Ke6 Kg7 63. Nc8 Bf2 64. Nd6 Kf8 65. Kd7
Bg1 66. Ne4 Kf7 67. Kc6 Ke7 68. Nc5 Kd8 69. b6 Bh2 70. b7 Bb8 71. Na6 Bf4 72.
Nc5 Bb8 73. Ne6+ Ke7 74. Nc7 Kd8 75. Nd5 Bg3 76. Nf6 Bh2 77. Ne4 Bb8 78. Nc5
Bh2 79. Ne6+ 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.30"]
[Round "7.1"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,58,19,38,41,14,47,68,68,64,74,62,76,42,33,51,44,35,35,14,41,12,1,14,
14,20,27,17,18,2,24,52,89,58,58,63,45,33,98,86,218,64,332,81,196,181,246,239,
342,366,323,347,474,515,511,621,621,641,636,643,1526]} 1. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3 {
Changing from 2.d4, as in the previous game. Black has several possibilities
here: 2...d6 (playing some sort of Pirc Defence when White already played Nf3),
2...e5 (transposing into 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6), or the Scandinavian way as in the
game.} d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. Nc3 Qa5 5. d4 Bg4 6. Bb5 O-O-O 7. Bxc6 bxc6 8. h3 Qh5
9. Be3 $5 (9. Qe2 {can lead to very weird games:} Bxf3 10. gxf3 e6 11. Ne4 Rxd4
12. Be3 Qa5+ 13. c3 Ra4 14. O-O Qb5 15. Qc2 Nf6 16. b3 Ra5 17. b4 Qa4 18. Qe2
Rh5 19. Ng3 Rxh3 20. Kg2 Rh4 21. Bg5 Nd5 22. Rfd1 h6 23. Rxd5 Rh2+ $1 {0-1
Riff,J (2469)-Bauer,C (2625) SUI 2009}) 9... Nf6 (9... Bxf3 10. gxf3 e5 11. Qe2
$1 exd4 12. Qa6+ Kb8 13. O-O-O Qc5 14. Qa4 $16 {1-0 (30) Muzychuk,A (2558)
-Zhao Xue (2504) Doha 2016}) 10. Qe2 Bxf3 11. gxf3 e6 12. O-O-O Kb7 13. Rhg1 $1
$146 (13. Rd3 Rb8 14. Rg1 h6 $6 15. Bf4 Qf5 16. Be5 $16 {0-1 (56) Guseinov,G 
(2613)-Bacrot,E (2720) Dubai 2014}) 13... h6 (13... Qxh3 14. Ne4 Nd5 15. Kb1
Rb8 16. c4 Nxe3 17. fxe3 $40) (13... Nd5 14. Ne4 $40) (13... Qa5 14. Kb1 h6 15.
Ne4 $14) 14. Rd3 $1 {Let's be clear: Ding is just crushing Carlsen's line.} Rg8
$6 {Difficult to think of a worse move, as after White's next move, the knight
on f6 will be hanging.} (14... Rb8 $142) 15. Ne4 Be7 (15... Nxe4 16. Rb3+ Kc8
17. Qa6+ Kd7 18. fxe4 $18) 16. Rb3+ Kc8 17. Qa6+ Kd7 18. Rd1 $1 Qxf3 (18... Qf5
19. d5 $1 exd5 (19... cxd5 20. Qa4+ $18) (19... Nxd5 20. c4 $18) 20. Rc3 Qe6
21. Bxa7 Ra8 22. Qb7 $18) 19. Nd2 (19. d5 $3 {was a crusher:} exd5 (19... Nxd5
20. Nc5+ $1 Bxc5 21. Bxc5 Qf4+ 22. Be3 Qd6 23. c4 $18) (19... cxd5 20. Qa4+ c6
21. Rb7+ Ke8 22. Nxf6+ Qxf6 23. Qxc6+ Kf8 24. Rxe7 $1 $18) 20. Rc3 $1 Ke8 21.
Qxc6+ Kf8 22. Nxf6 Qxf6 23. Qxc7 $18) 19... Qxh3 $2 (19... Qd5 {was necessary,
but Black's position remains terrible.}) 20. Nc4 $1 Ke8 21. Ne5 Bd6 22. Nxc6
Ra8 23. Qb7 Kd7 24. Ne5+ Ke7 25. Bf4 $1 {The game is over.} Qf5 26. Nc6+ Kd7
27. Bxd6 Kxd6 28. Ne5 Qf4+ 29. Kb1 Rgf8 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.30"]
[Round "7.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B21"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. f4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 Nc6 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O b5 8. a3 d6
9. Kh1 a5 10. Be3 Bb7 11. Nbd2 b4 12. Qc2 e6 13. axb4 axb4 14. Rxa8 Qxa8 15.
Nc4 Qb8 16. e5 Nd5 17. Bg1 dxe5 18. Bxc5 Nxf4 19. Bxf8 Bxf8 20. Re1 g5 21. Bf1
f6 22. Qf2 Ne7 23. Nfd2 Nf5 24. Ne4 Qd8 25. Qb6 Qxb6 26. Nxb6 Kg7 27. Nc4 Nh4
28. Ra1 Kg6 29. Ra7 Bd5 30. g3 f5 31. Nxe5+ Kh6 32. c4 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.30"]
[Round "7.3"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 h5 4. h3 e6 5. c3 Nf6 6. e5 Nd5 7. d4 cxd4 8. O-O
dxc3 9. Nxc3 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Qc7 11. Re1 b6 12. Ng5 Bb7 13. Qf3 Nxe5 14. Qf4 Bd6
15. Rxe5 Bxe5 16. Qxf7+ Kd8 17. Ba3 a6 18. Rd1 Kc8 19. Rxd7 Bh2+ 20. Kh1 axb5
21. Rxc7+ Bxc7 22. Nxe6 Be5 23. Bf8 Bc6 24. Bxg7 Bd6 25. Bxh8 Rxa2 26. Qg8+ Kd7
27. Nf8+ 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Inv Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.04.30"]
[Round "7.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C34"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2020.04.18"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e5 Nh5 5. Qe2 Be7 6. d4 O-O 7. Nc3 d6 8. Bd2
Bg4 9. O-O-O Nd7 10. Qe1 c6 11. Be2 Re8 12. g3 dxe5 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. dxe5 f3
15. Bd3 Qd4 16. Qe4 Qxe4 17. Nxe4 f2 18. Rdf1 Bf3 19. g4 Bh4 20. gxh5 Rxe5 21.
Ng3 Rae8 22. Bc3 Bg5+ 23. Kb1 Bxh1 0-1

[Event "Carlsen Inv Final 4"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.02"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D03"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2020.05.01"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 e6 4. Nbd2 Bd6 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 O-O 7. Bd3 b6 8. Qe2
Bb7 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. h4 Nd7 11. Ng5 h6 12. f4 c5 13. c3 Be7 14. g4 Nf6 15. a3
Rc8 16. Qg2 Bd6 17. Ngf3 cxd4 18. cxd4 Ne4 19. g5 h5 20. Ne5 Nxd2 21. Qxd2 g6
22. Kf2 Kg7 23. Rac1 Qe7 24. Qe2 Rc7 25. Rxc7 Qxc7 26. Rd1 Rc8 27. Rd2 Qc1 28.
Qd1 Qxd1 29. Rxd1 Bxe5 30. fxe5 Kf8 31. Ke2 Ke7 32. Kd2 Rc7 33. b4 a6 34. a4
Rc8 35. Rf1 Rd8 36. Rf6 Rg8 37. a5 b5 38. Rf1 Rc8 39. Rc1 Rxc1 40. Kxc1 Bc6 41.
Kd2 Kd7 42. Ke2 Ke7 43. Bxg6 fxg6 44. Kd2 Bd7 45. Ke1 Bc6 46. Kd2 Bd7 47. Ke1
Bc6 48. Kd2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Inv Final 4"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.02"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2020.05.01"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 h6 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3
Re8 9. Nbd2 a6 10. a4 Be6 11. Bxe6 Rxe6 12. b4 Ba7 13. Qc2 Qd7 14. Nf1 d5 15.
Be3 Bxe3 16. Nxe3 Ne7 17. a5 Ng6 18. g3 Rd8 19. Kg2 Qc6 20. Nf5 Ne7 21. Nxe7+
Rxe7 22. c4 dxe4 23. dxe4 Qe8 24. Rad1 c5 25. bxc5 Rc8 26. Nh4 Rxc5 27. Nf5 Rd7
28. Rxd7 Qxd7 29. Rd1 Qc7 30. Rd6 Rxc4 31. Qd3 Kh7 32. Rxf6 gxf6 33. Qe3 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Inv Final 4"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.02"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2020.05.01"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 e6 4. Nbd2 c5 5. e3 Qb6 6. Rb1 Bd6 7. c3 cxd4 8.
cxd4 Bxf4 9. exf4 Nc6 10. Nb3 a5 11. a3 a4 12. Nc1 Bd7 13. Na2 Ne4 14. Nc3 Qc7
15. g3 Nxc3 16. bxc3 Na5 17. Rc1 Nb3 18. Rc2 Qd6 19. Bd3 Qxa3 20. O-O f6 21.
Re1 O-O 22. Qb1 Qd6 23. Rce2 h6 24. f5 exf5 25. Nh4 Rae8 26. Nxf5 Bxf5 27. Rxe8
Nd2 28. Rxf8+ Kxf8 29. Qxb7 Nf3+ 30. Kh1 Nxe1 31. Bxf5 Nf3 32. Bg6 Ng5 33. Qc8+
1-0

[Event "Carlsen Inv Final 4"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.02"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2020.05.01"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Be2 Bd6 7. O-O O-O 8. b3
b6 9. Bb2 Bb7 10. a4 a5 11. Bd3 Rc8 12. Qe2 c5 13. Nb5 Bb8 14. Ne5 Qe7 15. f4
dxc4 16. bxc4 Ne4 17. Rad1 Rcd8 18. Ba3 Nxe5 19. fxe5 f5 20. Rb1 Qg5 21. Rb2
Rf7 22. Qe1 Rfd7 23. Re2 h6 24. Bb2 Bc6 25. Bc2 Kh8 26. Rf3 Qg6 27. Rh3 Qg5 28.
Rf3 Nc3 29. d5 Nxe2+ 30. Qxe2 Bb7 31. Rg3 Qh4 32. d6 Be4 33. Bd1 Bc6 34. Rh3
Qg5 35. Rg3 Qh4 36. Rh3 Qg5 37. Nc3 Rf8 38. Qf2 Qd8 39. Ne2 Kh7 40. Nf4 Bxd6
41. Nxe6 Qe8 42. Nxf8+ Bxf8 43. Qxf5+ g6 44. Qf1 Bg7 45. Bc2 Rd2 0-1

[Event "Carlsen Inv Final 4"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.03"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "167"]
[EventDate "2020.05.01"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Nb6 7. O-O Be7 8.
d3 O-O 9. Be3 Be6 10. Rc1 Nd5 11. Nxd5 Bxd5 12. a3 Re8 13. Qc2 Bf6 14. Nd2 Nd4
15. Bxd4 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 exd4 17. Qxc7 Rxe2 18. Qxd8+ Rxd8 19. Nc4 Rde8 20. Kf3
Bg5 21. Rb1 R2e6 22. a4 h5 23. b4 g6 24. b5 Kg7 25. Rb2 Be7 26. Rc1 g5 27. Kg2
g4 28. Rcc2 Bg5 29. b6 axb6 30. Rb5 Kg6 31. f4 gxf3+ 32. Kxf3 Bd8 33. Rd5 Bf6
34. Rb2 Ra8 35. Rxb6 Rxa4 36. Rxe6 fxe6 37. Rb5 Ra1 38. Rxb7 Rf1+ 39. Ke2 Rh1
40. h4 Rg1 41. Kf2 Rd1 42. Rb3 Ra1 43. Nd6 Be5 44. Ne4 Ra5 45. Kf3 Kf5 46. Nd2
Bf6 47. Nc4 Ra1 48. Nd6+ Kg6 49. Ne4 Re1 50. Kf2 Re3 51. Nd2 Re5 52. Ne4 Rf5+
53. Ke2 Ra5 54. Rb6 Kf5 55. Kf3 Be5 56. Rb3 Ra1 57. Rb5 Re1 58. Nd6+ Kg6 59.
Nc4 Bf6 60. Rb6 Kf5 61. Kf2 Rd1 62. Nd6+ Kg4 63. Ne4 Be5 64. Rxe6 Kf5 65. Ke2
Rg1 66. Rh6 Bxg3 67. Rxh5+ Kf4 68. Rh8 Re1+ 69. Kd2 Re3 70. h5 Be1+ 71. Kc2 Rh3
72. h6 Kf5 73. h7 Kg6 74. Rg8+ Kxh7 75. Nf6+ Kh6 76. Rh8+ Kg6 77. Rxh3 Kxf6 78.
Kb3 Ke5 79. Kc4 Bf2 80. Rf3 Be3 81. Rf8 Ke6 82. Kc5 Bg1 83. Kc6 Be3 84. Re8+
1-0

[Event "Carlsen Inv Final 4"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.03"]
[Round "2.2"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2020.05.01"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. c5 Nh5 8. Bd3
Nxf4 9. exf4 b6 10. b4 a5 11. a3 c6 12. O-O Ba6 13. Qe2 Bxd3 14. Qxd3 g6 15.
Rfc1 Qc7 16. g3 axb4 17. axb4 Qb7 18. Rab1 Ra3 19. Qc2 Rfa8 20. Kg2 Bf6 21. Ne2
Ra2 22. Qd1 bxc5 23. bxc5 Qa6 24. Rc2 Rxc2 25. Qxc2 Rb8 26. Rxb8+ Nxb8 27. Nc1
Nd7 28. Nd3 Qb5 29. Qc3 h5 30. Qa3 Kg7 31. Nde5 Bxe5 32. fxe5 Qe2 33. Ng5 Qg4
34. h4 Nf8 35. Qd3 Qf5 36. Qxf5 exf5 37. Kf3 f6 38. exf6+ Kxf6 39. Ke3 Nd7 40.
Nf3 Ke6 41. Ne1 Nb8 42. Nd3 Kf6 43. f4 Nd7 44. Ne5 Nf8 45. Nxc6 Ke6 46. Ne5 Ke7
47. Kd3 Kd8 48. Kc3 Kc7 49. Nd3 Nd7 50. Nb4 Nf6 51. Kb3 Kb7 52. Ka4 Ne4 53.
Nxd5 Nxg3 54. Kb5 Ne4 55. c6+ Kc8 56. Kb6 Nd6 57. Ne7+ 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Inv Final 4"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.03"]
[Round "2.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2020.05.01"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,103,14,30,23,3,-4,6,6,10,13,2,26,-2,50,27,27,12,35,42,48,58,24,-1,-14,
0,-12,-27,15,1,23,0,35,25,37,36,40,36,35,34,42,19,44,45,26,18,43,43,37,42,35,
37,46,57,56,46,63,61,74,81,60,69,68,65,88,50,63,60,50,52,138,133,154,143,199,
153,169,163,152,209,201,197,236,154,213,162,166,166,199,218,268,310,310,619,
653,675,623,699,815,1028,1142,1152,1242,1272,1396,1568]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3.
Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Be2 dxc4 8. O-O c5 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10.
Bxc4 a6 11. Ng5 $5 b5 $2 ({Later, at the Nations Cup, Nakamura improved on his
play with} 11... h6 12. Nge4 Be7 13. a4 Nxe4 14. Nxe4 Nf6 {and eventually made
a draw against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Still, even in that game he was
suffering:} 15. Qf3 $1 (15. Nd6 Bd7 $1 $132) 15... Bd7 16. Nxf6+ Bxf6 17. Qxb7
Qc8 18. Qb3 Ra7 (18... Bxb2 19. Qxb2 Qxc4 20. Rfd1 Bxa4 21. Bxh6 $1 gxh6 $2 22.
Rd4 {could have been a fun way for the game to finish}) 19. Qa2 $6 {White had
several good tries instead.} (19. Rac1 $5) (19. Rab1 $5) (19. e4 $5) 19... Bxb2
20. Rab1 Bf6 21. Rfc1 Qa8 22. a5 Rc8 23. Bf1 Rxc1 24. Rxc1 Bb5 $11 {½-½ (31)
Vachier Lagrave,M (2778)-Nakamura,H (2736) chess.com 2020}) 12. Bxe6 $1 fxe6
13. Nxe6 Qe7 (13... Qe8 {isn't satisfactory for Black either:} 14. Nxf8 Bxf8
15. Bd6 Bb7 16. Bxf8 Nxf8 (16... Qxf8 17. Qd4 $16) 17. a4 b4 18. Qb3+ Ne6 19.
Qxb4 Rb8 20. Qc4 (20. Qh4 $5) 20... Rc8 21. Qb3 {(bringing his queen to the
wrong side of the board allowed Black to take the initiative)} Rb8 22. Qc2 Ng5
23. Rae1 Bf3 $3 24. Qf5 Qh5 25. h4 Qxh4 26. Qf4 Nh3+ 27. gxh3 Qxh3 28. Qxb8+
Kf7 29. Qc7+ Kg8 $11 {½-½ (36) Wojtaszek,R (2725)-Andreikin,D (2724)
Jerusalem 2019}) 14. Nxf8 Qxf8 15. Ne4 $1 {White is going to grab the bishop
pair and will have a better position thanks to his fantastic centre,
especially once he manages to push f3 and e4.} Bb7 (15... Nxe4 $2 16. Qd5+ $18)
(15... Be7 16. Nd6 $16) 16. Nxc5 Qxc5 17. Rc1 $1 Qd5 18. f3 $1 {White gives
away one of his pawns to take a huge initiative.} Qxa2 19. e4 Nf8 (19... Qxb2
$2 20. Rc7 $18) 20. Rf2 Rc8 21. Rxc8 Bxc8 22. Qd8 Qe6 23. Bd6 Qe8 (23... Ne8
24. Bb4 $16) 24. Qxe8 Nxe8 25. Bb4 $1 {The b4-bishop dominates the black
queenside pawns, and White is superior and not worse on the kingside.} Ne6 26.
Rd2 Kf7 27. Kf2 Nf6 28. Ke3 g5 29. Rd6 Nd7 30. g3 {Just a lesson in technique.
Black has two knights, but he can't do much with them.} Ne5 31. b3 h5 32. h4 $1
gxh4 33. gxh4 Ng6 34. Be1 {Calmly.} a5 35. Rd5 $1 {White is not in a hurry to
capture the a5-pawn (at all!).} a4 36. Rxh5 Nef4 (36... axb3 37. Rxb5 $18) 37.
Rg5 $1 (37. Rxb5 Ng2+ 38. Kf2 Nxe1 39. Kxe1 Nxh4 40. Kf2 axb3 41. Rxb3 {
may also win, as Black shouldn't be able to sac one of his pieces for the two
white pawns, but there was no reason for White to enter such an endgame.})
37... axb3 38. h5 Nf8 (38... b2 $2 39. hxg6+ Nxg6 40. Rxb5 $18) 39. Bc3 {
Black has taken another pawn on the queenside, but the result remains the same:
the white bishop blocks them all!} ({Of course not} 39. Kxf4 $4 Ne6+ $19) 39...
b4 40. Bb2 N8e6 (40... N4e6 41. Rb5 $18) 41. Rf5+ Kg8 42. Rxf4 $1 {The right
choice - the opposite coloured bishops endgame is hopeless for Black.} (42. Ra5
$5) 42... Nxf4 43. Kxf4 Ba6 (43... Kh7 44. Ke5 Kh6 45. f4 Kxh5 46. f5 $18) 44.
Kg5 Bd3 45. Kg6 Bb5 46. f4 Be8+ 47. Kg5 Bc6 48. e5 Bd5 49. f5 Kh7 50. e6 Bc4
51. Kf6 Be2 52. Ke7 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Inv Final 4"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.03"]
[Round "2.4"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D52"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2020.05.01"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.06.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. e3 Qa5 7. Nd2 dxc4 8.
Bxf6 Nxf6 9. Nxc4 Qc7 10. Be2 Be7 11. a3 O-O 12. b4 Rd8 13. O-O b6 14. Bf3 Ba6
15. Qb3 Rac8 16. Rac1 c5 17. dxc5 Bxc4 18. Qxc4 bxc5 19. Na4 Nd7 20. Qb5 Qb8
21. Qxb8 Rxb8 22. bxc5 Rdc8 23. c6 Ne5 24. Rc3 Nxf3+ 25. gxf3 Kf8 26. Rd1 Ke8
27. Rd7 Bf6 28. Rc5 Rxc6 29. Rxa7 Rxc5 30. Nxc5 Be7 31. Ne4 f5 32. Ng3 g6 33.
a4 Kf7 34. Ne2 Kf6 35. Ra6 Rb2 36. Nf4 Kf7 37. Nd3 Ra2 38. Ra7 Kf6 39. f4 Bd6
40. Ra6 Ke7 41. Ne5 Bxe5 42. fxe5 Kd7 43. Kg2 g5 44. Rd6+ Ke7 45. Ra6 Kd7 46.
a5 h5 47. Rd6+ Ke7 48. a6 h4 49. Rb6 Kd7 50. Rd6+ Ke7 51. h3 Ra5 52. f4 g4 53.
Rb6 Ra2+ 54. Kh1 Ra1+ 55. Kg2 Ra2+ 56. Kf1 Ra1+ 57. Kg2 Ra2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "FIDE Steinitz Memorial"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.15"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2723"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2020.05.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c3 e5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. h4 O-O 5. e3 c6 6. g4 d5 7. g5 Ne8 8. a3 Be7
9. cxd5 cxd5 10. d4 exd4 11. exd4 Nc6 12. Bg2 Nc7 13. Nge2 Bf5 14. Ng3 Be6 15.
O-O Qd7 16. Bf4 Rad8 17. Re1 Rfe8 18. Qd3 Bd6 19. Nh5 Bg4 20. Rxe8+ Rxe8 21.
Bxd6 Qxd6 22. Qg3 Qxg3 23. Nxg3 Nxd4 24. Nxd5 Nxd5 25. Bxd5 Kf8 26. Bxb7 Rb8
27. Be4 Rxb2 28. Rc1 Rb3 29. Rc4 Nf3+ 30. Bxf3 Bxf3 31. Nf5 Ke8 32. Rc7 Bd5 33.
Nxg7+ Kd8 34. Rc5 Bb7 35. Ra5 Rh3 36. Kf1 Rxh4 37. Rxa7 Kc7 38. Ra5 h6 39. gxh6
Rxh6 40. Rf5 Ba6+ 41. Ke1 Rh3 42. Rxf7+ Kb6 43. f3 Rh1+ 44. Kf2 Ra1 45. Rf6+
Ka5 46. Ne6 Rxa3 47. Nd4 Bc4 48. Kg3 Kb4 49. Kf4 Kc3 50. Ke4 Ra8 51. Nc6 Be2
52. f4 Ra4+ 53. Ke5 Bf3 54. f5 Ra6 55. Nd4 Rxf6 56. Nb5+ Kd2 57. Kxf6 Bg4 58.
Ke5 Bxf5 1/2-1/2

[Event "FIDE Steinitz Memorial"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.15"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Le, Quang Liem"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E16"]
[WhiteElo "2709"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2020.05.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Nbd2 O-O 6. Bg2 b6 7. O-O Bb7 8. b3
a5 9. Bb2 a4 10. a3 Bxd2 11. Nxd2 axb3 12. Nxb3 Qc8 13. Rc1 dxc4 14. Bxb7 Qxb7
15. Rxc4 Nbd7 16. Qc2 Rfc8 17. Rc1 Ne8 18. a4 h6 19. Nd2 Qa6 20. e3 Ra7 21. Ne4
Rca8 22. h4 Qb7 23. Bc3 Nd6 24. Nxd6 cxd6 25. Be1 d5 26. Rb4 Qa6 27. Qc6 Qe2
28. Kg2 Nf6 29. Qc2 Qxc2 30. Rxc2 Rxa4 31. Rxb6 Ra2 32. Rbc6 g5 33. hxg5 hxg5
34. f3 R8a3 35. Bf2 g4 36. fxg4 Nxg4 37. Kf3 Rxc2 38. Rxc2 Nf6 39. g4 Ra1 40.
Bg3 Ne4 41. Be5 Kh7 42. Kg2 Kg6 43. Bf4 f6 44. Rb2 Rd1 45. Rc2 Rd3 46. Re2 Nd2
47. Kf2 Nc4 48. Bg3 Kg5 49. Kf3 Nd2+ 50. Kg2 Kxg4 51. Bf4 Nc4 52. Kf2 Kf5 53.
Kf3 e5 54. dxe5 fxe5 55. Bg3 d4 56. Bf2 Rb3 57. Re1 e4+ 58. Kg2 d3 59. Rc1 d2
60. Rd1 Kg4 0-1

[Event "FIDE Steinitz Memorial"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.15"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2020.05.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Nf6 3. e3 e6 4. Nf3 Bd6 5. Nbd2 O-O 6. c3 b6 7. Ne5 c5 8. Bd3
Bb7 9. h4 Nc6 10. Qf3 Rc8 11. h5 h6 12. Qg3 Ne8 13. Bxh6 cxd4 14. Bxg7 Nxg7 15.
h6 Qf6 16. hxg7 Qxg7 17. Bh7+ Kh8 18. Nxf7+ Rxf7 19. Bg6+ Kg8 20. Bxf7+ Kxf7
21. Qxd6 dxc3 22. bxc3 Ne5 23. O-O d4 24. f3 dxe3 25. Ne4 e2 26. Rf2 Kg8 27.
Qxe6+ Kh8 28. Qh3+ Kg8 29. Rxe2 Rf8 30. Qe6+ Kh8 31. Ng5 Nxf3+ 32. Nxf3 Bxf3
33. Rf2 Qxc3 34. Raf1 1-0

[Event "FIDE Steinitz Memorial"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.15"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Korobov, Anton"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2688"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2020.05.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 b6 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
Nxd5 Qxd5 9. a3 c5 10. dxc5 Qxd1+ 11. Rxd1 Bxc5 12. Bd3 Bb7 13. Ng5 h6 14. Ne4
Be7 15. O-O Rd8 16. Bb1 Nd7 17. Bc7 Bd5 18. Bxd8 Rxd8 19. Nc3 Bb3 20. Rd2 Nc5
21. Rxd8+ Bxd8 22. Ba2 Bc2 23. Rc1 Bg6 24. Bb1 Bh5 25. Ne4 Be7 26. Nxc5 bxc5
27. b4 cxb4 28. Rc8+ Bf8 29. axb4 g5 30. Bd3 Kg7 31. b5 Bd6 32. f3 g4 33. f4 g3
34. hxg3 Bg4 35. Kf2 e5 36. Rc6 Bb8 37. f5 h5 38. e4 Bd1 39. Be2 Ba4 40. Ra6
Bc2 41. Ke3 Bc7 42. Rc6 Bb6+ 43. Kf3 Ba4 44. g4 hxg4+ 45. Kxg4 Bb3 46. Kf3 f6
47. g4 Bf7 48. Bc4 Be8 49. Re6 1-0

[Event "FIDE Steinitz Memorial"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.15"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anton Guijarro, David"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2703"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2020.05.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 Bc5 6. c3 d6 7. Nbd2 O-O 8. Nf1
d5 9. Qe2 b5 10. Bb3 d4 11. Ng3 a5 12. a3 Rb8 13. O-O dxc3 14. bxc3 b4 15. Ba4
Rb6 16. Bxc6 Rxc6 17. cxb4 axb4 18. axb4 Bxb4 19. Nxe5 Re6 20. Bb2 c5 21. Nf5
Rfe8 22. f4 Rb6 23. Ne3 Ba6 24. N3c4 Bxc4 25. Nxc4 Rb8 26. Ra7 Nd7 27. Bxg7
Kxg7 28. Qg4+ Kf8 29. Rxd7 Qf6 30. e5 Qg6 31. Qf3 Rbd8 32. f5 Qg5 33. Rxd8 Rxd8
34. e6 Bc3 35. Kh1 Qf6 36. exf7 Qxf7 37. h3 Bd4 38. Qe4 Qe7 39. Qg4 Qf7 40. f6
Bxf6 41. Ne5 Qg7 42. Qe6 1-0

[Event "FIDE Steinitz Memorial"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.15"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2777"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2020.05.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 b6 7. Bd3 dxc4 8. Bxc4
Ba6 9. Qe2 Bxc4 10. Qxc4 c5 11. dxc5 Bxc5 12. O-O Nbd7 13. Rac1 Qc8 14. Ne5 Qb7
15. Nxd7 Nxd7 16. Rfd1 Rfc8 17. Qe4 Qxe4 18. Nxe4 Be7 19. g4 Nf6 20. Nxf6+ Bxf6
21. b3 h6 22. Bc7 Kf8 23. Kg2 Ke8 24. f4 Bb2 25. Rc4 b5 26. Rc6 a6 27. Rd2 Ba3
28. Rdc2 Kd7 29. R6c3 Bb4 30. Rd3+ Ke8 31. Rd1 Ba3 32. Rdd2 Bb4 33. Re2 f6 34.
Kf3 Kd7 35. Bb6 Rxc2 36. Rxc2 Rc8 37. Rxc8 Kxc8 38. f5 Kd7 39. Ke4 Bd6 40. h4
Kc6 41. Bd4 e5 42. Bc3 b4 43. Be1 a5 44. Bg3 Bc5 45. g5 h5 46. g6 Bd6 47. Bf2
Bc5 48. Be1 Bd6 49. Kd3 Bc5 50. Bd2 Kb5 51. Ke4 Kc6 52. Bc1 Bf8 53. Kd3 Kb5 54.
Bb2 Bd6 55. Ke4 Kc6 56. Kd3 Kd5 57. e4+ Kc5 58. Bc1 Kb5 59. Bh6 Bf8 60. Bd2 Bc5
61. Bh6 Bf8 62. Bd2 Bc5 1/2-1/2

[Event "FIDE Steinitz Memorial"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.16"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Bu, Xiangzhi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2705"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2020.05.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nxe5 O-O 5. Nd3 Bxc3 6. dxc3 Nxe4 7. Nf4 Re8
8. Be2 d6 9. O-O Nd7 10. c4 Ndc5 11. f3 Nf6 12. b3 Qe7 13. Rf2 Qe5 14. Rb1 a5
15. Qd2 h6 16. Bb2 Qg5 17. Bf1 Ne6 18. Nd5 Nxd5 19. cxd5 Nf4 20. Kh1 Nxd5 21.
f4 Qf5 22. g4 Qe6 23. Re2 Ne3 24. Bg2 Qxg4 25. Rxe3 Rxe3 26. Qxe3 Bf5 27. Rg1
Qh5 28. Bxb7 Rb8 29. Bf3 Qh4 30. Bxg7 Bg6 31. Bc3 Qh3 32. Rxg6+ 1-0

[Event "FIDE Steinitz Memorial"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.16"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2709"]
[PlyCount "135"]
[EventDate "2020.05.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 Bf5 4. e3 e6 5. Ne5 Nfd7 6. c4 Nxe5 7. Bxe5 Nc6 8.
Bg3 Nb4 9. Na3 c6 10. Be2 Be7 11. O-O O-O 12. Qd2 a5 13. Rfc1 b6 14. cxd5 exd5
15. Nb1 Qd7 16. Nc3 Na6 17. a3 Qb7 18. Bd3 Bxd3 19. Qxd3 Rfc8 20. Rc2 Nc7 21.
Bxc7 Rxc7 22. Rac1 Rac8 23. Qf5 Bd6 24. g3 b5 25. a4 b4 26. Ne2 b3 27. Rc3 Qb4
28. Qd3 Qxa4 29. Rxb3 Bb4 30. Nf4 g6 31. h4 Rd7 32. Kg2 Kg7 33. h5 Rb8 34. Rh1
Rd6 35. Qd1 Rf6 36. Nd3 Qb5 37. h6+ Kg8 38. Qc2 Qc4 39. Rc1 Qa6 40. Ne5 Rc8 41.
Qd3 Qb7 42. Qd1 Qe7 43. Qg4 Rc7 44. Nd3 Rf5 45. Nxb4 axb4 46. Rc5 Qf6 47. Qe2
Rb7 48. Ra5 Qd8 49. Ra4 Rh5 50. Raxb4 Rxb4 51. Rxb4 Rxh6 52. Qf3 Kg7 53. Qf4
Qd7 54. Qe5+ f6 55. Qb8 Qh3+ 56. Kf3 Qf5+ 57. Ke2 Qc2+ 58. Kf3 Qd1+ 59. Kf4 g5+
60. Kf5 Qd3+ 61. Ke6 Qe4+ 62. Kd7 f5 63. Qe5+ Kf7 64. Rb8 Qxe5 65. dxe5 Re6 66.
Rf8+ Kxf8 67. Kxe6 f4 68. Kd7 1-0

[Event "FIDE Steinitz Memorial"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.16"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E90"]
[WhiteElo "2699"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2020.05.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. d4 O-O 6. Bd3 Bg4 7. Be2 Nfd7 8. Be3
e5 9. d5 a5 10. Nd2 Bxe2 11. Qxe2 f5 12. f3 Na6 13. O-O-O Nac5 14. Kb1 a4 15.
a3 Rf7 16. exf5 gxf5 17. g4 Qf6 18. gxf5 Qxf5+ 19. Ka2 Qc2 20. Rc1 Qd3 21. Qxd3
Nxd3 22. Rcg1 N7c5 23. Rg3 Kh8 24. Rhg1 Bf6 25. Nde4 Nxe4 26. Nxe4 Nf4 27. Bxf4
exf4 28. Rg4 Raf8 29. Kb1 b6 30. Kc2 Be7 31. Kd3 Bf6 32. R1g2 h6 33. Rg6 Bg7
34. Re6 Kh7 35. Nc3 Bxc3 36. Kxc3 Rg7 37. Rxg7+ Kxg7 38. Re7+ Kf6 39. Rxc7 Re8
40. Rd7 Re3+ 41. Kd4 Rxf3 42. Rxd6+ Kf5 43. Rxb6 Rf1 44. Rb8 Rd1+ 45. Kc5 f3
46. Rf8+ Ke4 47. d6 Rd2 48. Kc6 Rxh2 49. d7 Rd2 50. d8=Q Rxd8 51. Rxd8 h5 52.
c5 h4 53. Kb5 f2 54. Rd1 1-0

[Event "FIDE Steinitz Memorial"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.16"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C91"]
[WhiteElo "2723"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2020.05.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. O-O Be7 6. c3 O-O 7. Re1 a6 8. Ba4
Re8 9. Nbd2 b5 10. Bc2 Bf8 11. d4 Bb7 12. a4 Nb8 13. Bd3 c6 14. b3 Nbd7 15. Qc2
Qc7 16. Bb2 Nh5 17. Bf1 Nf4 18. g3 Ne6 19. b4 Nb6 20. axb5 cxb5 21. d5 Nd4 22.
Nxd4 exd4 23. c4 Rac8 24. Bxd4 Nxc4 25. Nxc4 bxc4 26. Rac1 f5 27. Bh3 fxe4 28.
Bxc8 Rxc8 29. Qxe4 Qf7 30. Qg4 Qxd5 31. Qe6+ Qxe6 32. Rxe6 Kf7 33. Re3 Bd5 34.
Bc3 Bc6 35. Ra1 Ra8 36. Rae1 d5 37. Rf3+ Kg8 38. Re6 Rc8 39. Rf4 Bb5 40. h4 Rd8
41. Rb6 Bd6 42. Rg4 Rd7 43. h5 h6 44. Rg6 Bf8 45. Bd4 Bxb4 46. Rb8+ Kh7 47. f4
c3 48. Rxh6+ 1-0

[Event "FIDE Steinitz Memorial"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.16"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Le, Quang Liem"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C47"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2709"]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "2020.05.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. h3 Bb4 5. Nd5 Bc5 6. c3 O-O 7. b4 Bb6 8. Nxb6
axb6 9. d3 d5 10. Qc2 h6 11. Be2 b5 12. O-O Be6 13. Be3 Qd7 14. Rfd1 Rfd8 15.
a4 bxa4 16. b5 Ne7 17. Rxa4 Qxb5 18. Rb4 Qa6 19. Nxe5 dxe4 20. dxe4 Rxd1+ 21.
Qxd1 Qa1 22. Rb1 Qa3 23. Qd4 b6 24. f3 Qa2 25. Qd1 Qa5 26. Qd4 Qa2 27. Qd3 Nd7
28. Nxd7 Bxd7 29. Bf1 Be6 30. Rd1 Ng6 31. f4 Bb3 32. Rd2 Qa1 33. Kh2 Qe1 34.
Bf2 Qc1 35. Bg3 Bc4 36. Qxc4 Qxd2 37. Qxc7 Qd8 38. Qb7 Rb8 39. Qa6 Ra8 40. Qb5
Rc8 41. f5 Ne7 42. Bc4 Qe8 43. Qb3 Nc6 44. Bd5 Ne5 45. Qxb6 Kh8 46. Qd4 f6 47.
c4 Qe7 48. Bxe5 fxe5 49. Qe3 Qg5 50. Qxg5 hxg5 51. Kg3 Kh7 52. Kg4 Kh6 53. h4
gxh4 54. Kxh4 g5+ 55. Kg4 Rc7 56. f6 Kg6 57. f7 Rc8 58. c5 Kf6 59. c6 Kg6 60.
Be6 Rh8 61. c7 Kf6 62. c8=Q Rxc8 63. Bxc8 1-0

[Event "FIDE Steinitz Memorial"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.16"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "149"]
[EventDate "2020.05.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Qb3 e6 5. Bf4 dxc4 6. Qxc4 b5 7. Qb3 Bb7 8. e3
Nbd7 9. Nbd2 Be7 10. Be2 a6 11. a4 c5 12. axb5 Bd5 13. Qc2 axb5 14. Rxa8 Qxa8
15. Bxb5 cxd4 16. exd4 O-O 17. O-O Rc8 18. Qd3 Nf8 19. b3 Ng6 20. Bg3 Ne4 21.
Nxe4 Bxe4 22. Qe3 Bd5 23. h3 h6 24. Bc4 Bxc4 25. bxc4 Rxc4 26. Ne5 Nxe5 27.
Bxe5 Qd5 28. Qg3 f6 29. Bf4 Kf7 30. Be3 Bd6 31. Qg4 f5 32. Qh5+ Kf8 33. Qh4 Kg8
34. Rb1 Kh7 35. Rd1 f4 36. Bc1 Rxd4 37. Rxd4 Qxd4 38. Qg4 Qe4 39. Qd1 Bc5 40.
Bd2 Bd4 41. Qf3 Qb1+ 42. Kh2 e5 43. g3 Qc2 44. Be1 fxg3+ 45. Kxg3 Qg6+ 46. Kh2
e4 47. Qg4 Qxg4 48. hxg4 Kg6 49. Kg3 Be5+ 50. f4 Bd6 51. Bd2 Kf6 52. Kf2 Ke6
53. Ke3 Kd5 54. f5 Be7 55. Ke2 Bg5 56. Bc3 Bf6 57. Bd2 Ke5 58. Bc1 Kd4 59. Be3+
Kd5 60. Bc1 Ke5 61. Bd2 Kd4 62. Be3+ Kc3 63. Bc1 Kc4 64. Bf4 Kd5 65. Bc1 Bd4
66. Bf4 Bc3 67. Be3 Ke5 68. Bc1 Kf6 69. Bf4 Be5 70. Ke3 h5 71. Kxe4 Bxf4 72.
Kxf4 g5+ 73. fxg6 hxg4 74. g7 Kxg7 75. Kxg4 1/2-1/2

[Event "FIDE Steinitz Memorial"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.17"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Korobov, Anton"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E90"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2688"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2020.05.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 d6 5. e4 O-O 6. h3 a6 7. Be3 c6 8. c5 Nbd7
9. a3 b5 10. Be2 a5 11. O-O Bb7 12. Qc2 dxc5 13. dxc5 Qc7 14. Rfd1 Rfd8 15.
Rac1 Nh5 16. Bf1 Nf8 17. a4 b4 18. Nb1 e5 19. Nbd2 Ne6 20. Nc4 Nd4 21. Bxd4
exd4 22. e5 Ba6 23. Nd6 Bxf1 24. Kxf1 Nf4 25. Qe4 Ne6 26. Nxd4 Nxd4 27. Rxd4
Qe7 28. Re1 Qe6 29. Qxc6 Qb3 30. Qd5 Qxb2 31. Qxf7+ Kh8 32. Qd5 Rf8 33. Rd2 Qc3
34. e6 b3 35. e7 b2 36. exf8=Q+ 1-0

[Event "FIDE Steinitz Memorial"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.17"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Anton Guijarro, David"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2703"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2020.05.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. b3 Bf5 3. Bb2 e6 4. g3 Nf6 5. Bg2 h6 6. d3 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. Nbd2
a5 9. a4 Na6 10. Re1 Bh7 11. e4 dxe4 12. dxe4 Nb4 13. Nd4 Bc5 14. Nc4 Bxd4 15.
Bxd4 Nxc2 16. Bxf6 Qxd1 17. Rexd1 gxf6 18. Rac1 Nb4 19. Rd7 Rfc8 20. Bf3 Bg6
21. e5 Nd3 22. Rc3 Nc5 23. Re7 Kg7 24. Nd2 Rd8 25. Rxc5 Rxd2 26. exf6+ Kxf6 27.
Rexc7 Rd3 28. Bxb7 Rb8 29. Bc6 Rbxb3 30. Kg2 Rdc3 31. Ba8 Rxc5 32. Rxc5 Rb8 33.
Bf3 e5 34. Rxa5 e4 35. Bg4 Rb2 36. Kf1 e3 37. fxe3 Rxh2 38. Rc5 Ra2 39. a5 Be4
40. Be2 Ra3 41. Kf2 Ra2 42. Ke1 Ra1+ 43. Kd2 Ra2+ 44. Kd1 Ra1+ 45. Kd2 Ra2+ 46.
Ke1 Ra1+ 47. Kf2 Ra2 48. Ke1 1/2-1/2

[Event "FIDE Steinitz Memorial"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.17"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2777"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2020.05.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. c3 Ngf6 5. Qe2 a6 6. Ba4 b5 7. Bc2 Bb7 8. O-O
g6 9. d4 Bg7 10. b3 O-O 11. Bb2 e5 12. d5 Nh5 13. g3 Nb6 14. a4 f5 15. c4 bxc4
16. bxc4 f4 17. a5 Nd7 18. g4 Nhf6 19. g5 Nh5 20. Kh1 Rf7 21. Nbd2 h6 22. Rg1
Nf8 23. gxh6 Bxh6 24. Nxe5 f3 25. Nxf7 fxe2 26. Nxd8 Rxd8 27. Nf3 Bc8 28. Rae1
Nf4 29. Bc1 Kf7 30. Ng5+ Bxg5 31. Rxg5 Nh3 32. Rg3 Nxf2+ 33. Kg2 Ng4 34. Bb2
Re8 35. Rxe2 Ne5 36. Rf2+ Kg7 37. Rgf3 Nfd7 38. Ba4 Kh6 39. Rh3+ Kg7 40. Bxd7
Bxd7 41. Rhf3 Kh6 42. Bxe5 Rxe5 43. Rf4 Ba4 44. Rb2 Kh5 45. Rb8 g5 46. Rf6 Rxe4
47. Rh8+ 1-0

[Event "FIDE Steinitz Memorial"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.17"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Bu, Xiangzhi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D46"]
[WhiteElo "2705"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2020.05.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. Be2 dxc4 8.
Bxc4 b5 9. Be2 Bb7 10. O-O O-O 11. b3 a6 12. Bb2 c5 13. dxc5 Bxc5 14. Rfd1 Rc8
15. a3 Qe7 16. b4 Bd6 17. Qb3 Ng4 18. h3 Nge5 19. Nxe5 Nxe5 20. Rd4 Bb8 21. Ne4
Bd5 22. Qd1 Nc6 23. Rxd5 exd5 24. Qxd5 Rfd8 25. Qf5 Be5 26. Bxe5 Nxe5 27. Nc5
g6 28. Qe4 Qf6 29. Re1 Rd2 30. f4 Nc4 31. Bxc4 bxc4 32. Qxc4 Qc6 33. Re2 Rcd8
34. Kf2 a5 35. b5 Rxe2+ 36. Kxe2 Qxg2+ 37. Ke1 Qd2+ 38. Kf1 Qxe3 39. Ne4 Rd1+
40. Kg2 Rd4 41. Qc8+ Kg7 42. Nf2 Rd2 0-1

[Event "FIDE Steinitz Memorial"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.17"]
[Round "17"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C41"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2699"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2020.05.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7 6. g3 O-O 7. Bg2 Re8 8.
O-O Nbd7 9. Re1 a5 10. Bf4 Bf8 11. Qd2 Ne5 12. b3 Ng6 13. Be3 h6 14. h3 Bd7 15.
f4 c6 16. a4 Qc7 17. Rad1 Rad8 18. Bf2 Qc8 19. Kh2 Qc7 20. Nf3 d5 21. exd5 Rxe1
22. Bxe1 Be6 23. Nd4 Bxd5 24. Nxd5 Nxd5 25. Nf5 Qc8 26. Qxa5 b6 27. Qd2 Qxf5
28. c4 Bb4 29. Qf2 Bxe1 30. Qxe1 Qc2 31. cxd5 cxd5 32. b4 d4 33. a5 bxa5 34.
bxa5 d3 35. Qd2 Qa4 36. Bf1 Rd5 37. Bxd3 Qxa5 38. Qxa5 Rxa5 39. Bxg6 fxg6 40.
h4 h5 1/2-1/2

[Event "FIDE Steinitz Memorial"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.17"]
[Round "18"]
[White "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2709"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "140"]
[EventDate "2020.05.15"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 g6 2. Nf3 d6 3. e4 Nf6 4. Bd3 Bg7 5. O-O O-O 6. c3 c5 7. dxc5 dxc5 8. Qe2
Nc6 9. h3 Qc7 10. Re1 b6 11. Na3 Nd7 12. Nc4 Bb7 13. Bg5 b5 14. Ne3 c4 15. Bc2
e6 16. Ng4 h5 17. Ngh2 b4 18. Qxc4 bxc3 19. bxc3 Rac8 20. Rab1 Nce5 21. Qxc7
Rxc7 22. Be7 Rfc8 23. Bd6 Rxc3 24. Rxb7 Rxc2 25. Rxa7 Rc1 26. Ba3 Rxe1+ 27.
Nxe1 Nc5 28. Bxc5 Rxc5 29. Ra8+ Kh7 30. Nhf3 Rc1 31. Kh2 Bf6 32. g3 Nxf3+ 33.
Nxf3 Rc2 34. Kg2 Kg7 35. Ra7 g5 36. e5 Bd8 37. Rd7 Bb6 38. Rd2 Rc5 39. Nxg5
Rxe5 40. h4 Kg6 41. Rd7 f6 42. Nh3 Ra5 43. Nf4+ Kf5 44. Rd2 Bc7 45. Nxh5 Kg6
46. g4 f5 47. f3 fxg4 48. fxg4 Ra4 49. Kf3 Ra3+ 50. Ke2 Ra4 51. Rd7 Rxg4 52.
Rxc7 Kxh5 53. Kd3 Ra4 54. Rc2 e5 55. Re2 Ra5 56. Kc4 Kxh4 57. Kb4 Rd5 58. Kc4
Ra5 59. Kb4 Ra8 60. a4 Re8 61. a5 e4 62. a6 Kg3 63. Kc5 Kf3 64. Ra2 e3 65. a7
e2 66. Ra1 Ra8 67. Kb6 Kf2 68. Kb7 Rxa7+ 69. Kxa7 e1=Q 70. Rxe1 Kxe1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lindores Abbey Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.19"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C48"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2777"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2020.05.19"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nc3 O-O 7. Be3 Bd6 8.
Bg5 Qe7 9. h3 Re8 10. g4 Qe6 11. Nh4 Nd7 12. Nf5 Nc5 13. h4 Bf8 14. h5 f6 15.
Be3 Qf7 16. f4 exf4 17. Bxf4 b5 18. Qf3 Ne6 19. Be3 Bb7 20. O-O-O b4 21. Na4 c5
22. h6 g6 23. Ng7 Bxg7 24. hxg7 c4 25. Nc5 Nxc5 26. Bxc5 cxd3 27. cxd3 a5 28.
Bf8 Rxf8 29. gxf8=Q+ Rxf8 30. Kb1 Qd7 31. Rc1 a4 32. Qe3 Rf7 33. Rc4 b3 34. a3
Qxg4 35. Rxa4 f5 36. Rd4 fxe4 37. Rd8+ Rf8 38. Rxf8+ Kxf8 39. Qc5+ Ke8 40. Qxc7
Bc8 41. Qe5+ Kd8 42. Qh8+ Kc7 43. Rxh7+ Kc6 44. Qc3+ Kd6 45. Qd4+ Ke6 46. dxe4
1-0

[Event "Lindores Abbey Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.19"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2020.05.19"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 O-O
8. Qd2 Nd7 9. O-O-O c6 10. h4 d5 11. Bd3 Re8 12. Rde1 Nf6 13. Ng5 c5 14. c4 h6
15. cxd5 c4 16. Bxc4 hxg5 17. hxg5 Ne4 18. Qd1 Bxg5 19. Qh5 Bxe3+ 20. Rxe3 f5
21. d6+ Be6 22. Qh7+ 1-0

[Event "Lindores Abbey Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.19"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2020.05.19"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 a5 6. Nf3 dxc4 7. Qc2 b6 8. Ne5
Ra7 9. O-O Bxd2 10. Qxd2 Bb7 11. Bxb7 Rxb7 12. Nxc4 Nc6 13. Rd1 O-O 14. Nc3 Qa8
15. d5 exd5 16. Nxd5 Nxd5 17. Qxd5 Rbb8 18. Rac1 Rfd8 19. Qe4 Nb4 20. Rxd8+
Rxd8 21. Qxa8 Rxa8 22. a3 Na6 23. Rd1 Nc5 24. f3 a4 25. Kf2 f6 26. g4 Kf7 27.
h4 Ke6 28. h5 g6 29. Ne3 gxh5 30. gxh5 Rg8 31. Nd5 Rg7 32. Nf4+ Ke7 33. h6 Rf7
34. Nd5+ Ke6 35. Nf4+ Ke7 36. e4 c6 37. Ke3 Nd7 38. Ne2 f5 39. Nd4 fxe4 40.
fxe4 Ne5 41. Nf5+ Kf6 42. Rd6+ Kg5 43. Kd4 Kf4 44. Ng7 Nf3+ 45. Kc3 Ne5 46. Kd4
Nf3+ 47. Kc3 Ne5 48. Kd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lindores Abbey Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.19"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2020.05.19"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bf4 c6 7. Qc2 g6 8. e3
Bf5 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 Nbd7 11. h4 Nb6 12. Ne5 Qc8 13. O-O-O Qe6 14. Kb1 Ne4
15. Qc2 Bb4 16. Nxe4 dxe4 17. h5 g5 18. Bxg5 f6 19. Rh4 fxg5 20. Rxe4 O-O 21.
Ng6 Qf7 22. Nxf8 Rxf8 23. Re5 h6 24. g4 Bd6 25. Rf5 Qe6 26. e4 Re8 27. f3 Bf4
28. Rd3 Nc4 29. Qc3 Nd6 30. d5 Qe7 31. Rf6 Be5 32. Rg6+ Kh7 33. Qc2 c5 34. Re6
Qc7 35. Rxe8 Nxe8 36. d6 Nxd6 37. Rd5 Nf7 38. Rxc5 Qb6 39. a4 a6 40. a5 Qe6 41.
Rd5 Kg7 42. Qc5 Qf6 43. Rd7 Bxb2 44. Rxb7 Bc3 45. Kc2 Be1 46. Qd5 Qxf3 47. Qe5+
Kg8 48. Qe8+ Kg7 49. Qe5+ Kg8 50. Qe8+ Kg7 51. Qe5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lindores Abbey Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.20"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Yu, Yangyi"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2709"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2020.05.19"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 a5 7. a4 Bd6 8. Be2
O-O 9. O-O dxc4 10. Bxc4 e5 11. Ba2 Qe7 12. h3 Bb4 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Nd4 c5 15.
Ndb5 Be6 16. Bxe6 fxe6 17. e4 Nh5 18. Ne2 g5 19. Be3 g4 20. Ng3 Qh4 21. Nxh5
Qxh5 22. f4 gxf3 23. Nc7 fxg2 24. Qxg2+ Kh8 25. Nxe6 Rg8 26. Bg5 Rxg5 27. Qxg5
Qxg5+ 28. Nxg5 Rg8 29. h4 h6 30. Rf5 Nd3 31. b3 hxg5 32. hxg5 Kg7 33. Rd1 c4
34. bxc4 Nc5 35. Re5 Rc8 36. Kg2 Rc7 37. Rd8 Nxa4 38. Ree8 Nc5 39. Kf3 a4 40.
Kg4 a3 41. Rg8+ Kf7 42. Kf5 Nd7 43. g6+ Ke7 44. e5 1-0

[Event "Lindores Abbey Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.20"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Wei, Yi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2732"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2020.05.19"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. a4 Ngf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 b6 7. d4 cxd4 8.
Qxd4 Bb7 9. O-O e6 10. Rd1 Qc7 11. Be3 Be7 12. Nd2 O-O 13. Nc4 d5 14. exd5 Nxd5
15. Nxd5 Bxd5 16. Bf4 Qb7 17. Nd6 Bxd6 18. Bxd6 Rfc8 19. Ra3 Qc6 20. Rg3 g6 21.
Bf4 Qxc2 22. Bh6 f6 23. Re1 Qe4 24. Qd1 Qc2 25. Qd4 Qe4 26. Qd1 Qc2 27. Qa1 Ne5
28. h4 Nf7 29. Be3 Nd6 30. Bxb6 Qc6 31. a5 Nf5 32. Rc3 Qb7 33. f3 Nxh4 34. b4
e5 35. Rec1 Rxc3 36. Qxc3 Nf5 37. Qc7 Nd4 38. Bxd4 Qxc7 39. Rxc7 exd4 40. Rd7
Bc6 41. Rxd4 Kf7 42. Rd6 1-0

[Event "Lindores Abbey Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.20"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Duda, Jan Krzysztof"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2753"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[Annotator "Duda,Jan Krzysztof"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2020.05.19"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.09.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,36,25,-23,-11,-19,-19,-15,-15,-14,-13,-24,-14,-28,-38,-70,-44,-47,-47,
-47,0,-33,-6,-54,-8,-6,-17,-34,-11,-34,-12,35,60,49,69,66,72,84,81]} {Playing
Magnus is always a remarkable event for me, and I'm very happy I got invited
to one of those Magnus' tournaments. This very win made a huge impact on chess
popularization in Poland, as sport media were eager for new sensations,
because most of the sports were frozen at the time due to pandemic. I gave an
enormous number of interviews in almost all polish mainstream media, being
lucky that there was no football coverage yet. Sometimes my win was used even
a political context, as one of the heavy presidential candindates (current
president) is also named Duda. At the moment Poland is divided into halves in
this topic, so I won't go any further, but for sure the win did a great job
for our beautiful discipline in Poland :)} 1. c4 {Mueller,Karsten} e5 2. Nc3
Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e3 Bb4 5. Qc2 O-O $5 {An invitation for a sharp play,} ({
rather than the dull and ultra-solid} 5... Bxc3 6. Qxc3 Qe7) 6. Nd5 Re8 7. Qf5
{A nice idea thought up back in late 70's by Raymond Keene. White sets out to
damage Black's kingside while Black gets an advantage in development, which
often leads to sharp play.} d6 8. Nxf6+ gxf6 (8... Qxf6 9. Qxf6 gxf6 10. a3 Ba5
11. b4 Bb6 12. Bb2 $14 {is slightly better for White. Playing Black beware the
following trick:} a5 13. b5 Nd8 14. d4 Bg4 $2 (14... a4) 15. c5 $1 dxc5 (15...
Ba7 16. b6 $1 {is an essence}) 16. dxe5 $16 {and White is close to winning
already 1-0 (44) Karpov,A (2696)-Bacrot,E (2594) Cannes 2000}) 9. Qh5 (9. Qc2 {
is an option.}) 9... d5 (9... e4 {is another alternative, which requires some
knowledge.}) 10. a3 (10. Bd3 {is perhaps a more challenging move order for
Black.} e4 (10... h6 11. cxd5 Qxd5 12. Bc2 $36) 11. cxd5 Bf8 $1 {Clearly the
strongest} (11... exd3 12. dxc6 bxc6 13. Qh4 $1 {with b3 coming next, makes
the difference.}) 12. a3 exd3 13. dxc6 bxc6 {and the same position as in the
game occurs.}) 10... Bf8 11. Bd3 e4 (11... h6 $5 {is an additional possibility
in this move order which equalizes easily, e.g.} 12. cxd5 Qxd5 13. Bb1 Be6 14.
d3 f5 15. O-O e4 16. Nd4 Nxd4 17. exd4 $11 {.}) 12. cxd5 exd3 (12... Nd4 $5 13.
Nxd4 Re5 14. Qh4 exd3 15. Nf3 Rxd5 16. b4 Bg7 17. Bb2 Rg5 $5 {is a funny trick}
18. O-O Rg4 19. Qh5 Rg6 20. Qc5 Bh3 21. Ne1 {White should be better here.}) 13.
dxc6 bxc6 14. b4 a5 (14... Qd5 $5 {is a far better version of the endgame
Black later got in the game.} 15. Qxd5 $8 cxd5 16. Bb2 a5 17. O-O (17. bxa5
Rxa5 18. Bxf6 Bg7 $5 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. O-O Bg4 $11) 17... axb4 18. axb4 Rxa1
19. Rxa1 Bxb4 20. Bxf6 c5 $11 {should be equal.}) (14... Re4 15. Bb2 Bg4 16.
Qh4 {is promising for White.}) 15. Bb2 Re4 $6 (15... axb4 $1 {was the simplest
and the best, although perhaps Magnus wanted to get me out of the book.} 16.
axb4 Rxa1+ 17. Bxa1 Re4 18. O-O (18. Nd4 {is not great in this version:} Rg4 $1
19. Nxc6 $4 Qd6 20. b5 Rg5 21. Qf3 Rxb5 22. O-O Bb7 $19) 18... Rxb4 $11 {
where White has enough compensation, but Black's play shouldn't be troublesome
at all.}) 16. Nd4 $1 {My first own move, and in hindsight the best} Qd5 $6 {
Magnus was clearly not comfortable here, as he spent what felt like ages to
make this sad move, leaving himself only with 2,5 minutes left.} (16... Rg4 17.
Nxc6 (17. g3 $2) 17... Qd7 18. b5 Rxg2 19. Qf3 Rg6 20. h4 $36 {is also
extremely unpleasant for Black to play.}) (16... Bg4 17. Qh4) (16... axb4 17.
Nxc6 Qd6 18. Nxb4 {is clearly better for White}) 17. Qxd5 cxd5 18. f3 $16 {
Now White has a dream endgame, which is close to winning already.} Re8 (18...
Re7 19. b5 a4 20. Kf2 {Here Black is not on time to attack the b5-pawn by
means of Bd7-Bd6-Reb8 etc., so White is much better.}) 19. Nb5 $1 (19. b5 $2 a4
$1 $14 {White has always to watch out for this little annoying move, which
creates two targets on White's queenside at once.}) 19... Re7 $8 20. Bxf6 Rd7
21. Kf2 Ba6 (21... c6 22. Nc3 Ra6 23. bxa5 c5 24. Be5 f6 25. Bf4 Rxa5 26. Rhb1
$16) 22. Nd4 Bc4 23. Rhb1 $2 {A fruit of a pathetic omitting, as I somehow
missed Black's 25th move.} ({The correct} 23. Nf5 $1 $18 {would be a simple &
wise choice, aiming to put the bishop on c3, so that the entire queenside
would be under control.}) 23... Ra6 24. Be5 $6 (24. Bh4 {is objectively better,
but obviously it's an achievement for Black to expel the dark-squared bishop
from the a1-h8 diagonal.}) 24... f6 25. b5 Rb6 ({I was only calculating} 25...
fxe5 26. bxa6 exd4 27. a7 dxe3+ 28. dxe3 Rd8 29. Rb8 $18) ({or} 25... Bxb5 26.
Bxc7 {where White is on his way to convert the advantage. Now, however, most
part of White's advantage is gone}) 26. Bf4 a4 $16 {Not only I managed to lose
coordination between my pieces, I also got fixed with two pernament weaknesses
on a3 and b5. By this stage of the game I thought a draw is a likely outcome,
as I couldn't see any way to make meaningful progress.} 27. g4 Bc5 28. h4 Kf7
29. Kg3 (29. g5) 29... Bxd4 {During the game I was wondering how I would have
made progress if Black had adopted a waiting strategy? Apparently with the
help of the engines it seems White can activate his rooks, generating a bunch
of threats in each case, no matter how Black reacts} (29... Rb7 30. g5 Rd8 (
30... Rb6 31. Kg4 Ke8 32. Rc1) 31. Kg4 $5 Re8 (31... Rg8 32. Kf5) 32. Nf5 Reb8
33. Rc1 Rc8 34. e4 $16) (29... Kg6 30. g5 Rg7 31. Kf2 Rd7 32. h5+ Kf7 33. Rg1
fxg5 34. Rxg5 $18 {However I think it was worth going this path, as many of
White's move look bizzare to me, and I seriously doubt I would keep the
position under control.}) 30. exd4 Bxb5 31. Rb4 {Mueller,Karsten: 'Bishops of
opposite colours favour the attacking side Pure opposite coloured bishop
endings have a high tendency to be drawn. But when other pieces, e.g., rooks
are added to the mix, this favours (as it does in the middlegame) the
attacking side and the endings are in no way drawish:' Mueller,Karsten:
'Ungleichfarbige Läufer begünstigen den Angreifer Reine ungleichfarbige
Läuferendspiele haben eine hohe Remistendenz. Wenn aber noch weitere Figuren
wie zum Beispiel Türme hinzukommen, begünstigen sie wie im Mittelspiel den
Angreifer und haben mit Remis nicht viel zu tun:'} Re7 $2 {Actually the losing
mistake. Mueller,Karsten: 'After this the floodgates open.' Mueller,Karsten:
'Danach brechen die Dämme.'} (31... c6 {Mueller,Karsten: '!' Mueller,Karsten:
'was the final option to offer chances of a draw.' Mueller,Karsten: 'war die
letzte Option mit praktischen Remischancen.'} 32. Re1 Rbb7 33. Rbb1 Re7 34.
Rxe7+ Rxe7 35. g5 Re2 36. Kg4 $16 {is better for White, but it's difficult to
assess how big his chances are.}) 32. Rab1 {Mueller,Karsten: '+-'} Bc4 (32...
c6 33. Rxa4 {is what Magnus missed.}) 33. Rxb6 cxb6 34. Rxb6 $18 {The
opposite-coloured bishops only make up for a drawing chances. In fact it's
hard to imagine a more useless minor piece than Black's light-squared bishop
here. Sensing that I was winning, I got tense, which affected on my play a bit,
even though I didn't spoil my position. It's not everyday that you get a
chance to beat a 3-times World Champion, even if only in an online game.} Bb3
35. Bd6 Rd7 36. f4 {With the lovely idea of f5-Be5 in mind!} f5 37. g5 (37. Be5
$1 {was basically an instant clincher, but I refused the idea of breaking my
kingside phalanx on subconscious level}) 37... Bd1 38. Bc5 (38. Be5 $5 {
Mueller,Karsten} Bg4 39. Rh6 Kg8 40. h5 Rb7 41. g6 Rd7 42. Kh4 $18) 38... Kg7
39. Kf2 Rd8 40. Rb7+ Kg6 41. Re7 Rb8 42. Re6+ Kh5 $6 (42... Kg7 43. Bd6 {
is terribly bad, but at least is not an immediate resigns.} Rb2 {Mueller,
Karsten} 44. Be5+ Kf7 45. Rf6+ Kg8 46. Rd6 Ra2 47. Ke3 Rxa3 48. Rd8+ Kf7 49.
Rd7+ Kg8 50. Rg7+ Kf8 51. Rxh7 $18) 43. Kg3 {with the unstoppable Rh6# to
follow. What a beautiful moment it was! Mueller,Karsten: 'Duda's king closes
the mating net.' Mueller,Karsten: 'Dudas König schließt das Mattnetz.'} 1-0

[Event "Lindores Abbey Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.20"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D87"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[EventDate "2020.05.19"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8.
Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. h4 cxd4 11. cxd4 Na5 12. Bd3 Nc6 13. Bc4 Na5 14. Bb3 h5
15. O-O Nxb3 16. axb3 e5 17. Bg5 Qd6 18. d5 Bd7 19. Qd2 Rfc8 20. Rfc1 Rxc1+ 21.
Rxc1 a5 22. Ra1 b6 23. Be3 Bf6 24. Bg5 Bg7 25. Be3 Bf6 26. Bg5 Bg7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lindores Abbey Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.21"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B81"]
[WhiteElo "2709"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[Annotator "Mueller,Karsten"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2020.05.19"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,116,25,33,41,71,37,33,36,26,47,25,86,43,19,40,39,39,71,76,69,67,31,29,
53,66,51,32,64,53,50,18,18,36,52,69,67,56,62,65,42,43,43,-1,0,0,-23,-42,-35,
-31,-27,-33,-30,-26,-42,-23,-15,-17,4,-22,-26,-24,-25,-21,-21,-16,-21,-28,-20,
-23,-23,-23,-12,-12,-12,-6,22,52,22,48,53,43,38,35,43,26,87,-10,-1,0,0,-31,-32,
0,0,0,0,0,7,6,6,5,5,5,5,4,3,3,3,3,3,2,2,2,4,2,4,0,0]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4
cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. g4 e5 7. Bb5+ Bd7 8. Bxd7+ Qxd7 9. Nf5 h5 10.
gxh5 Nxh5 11. Nd5 Nc6 12. Bg5 g6 13. Ng3 Bg7 14. c3 Nf4 15. h4 Nxd5 16. Qxd5
Bh6 17. Bf6 Ne7 18. Qd3 Rh7 19. Rd1 Rd8 20. h5 Bf4 21. hxg6 Rxh1+ 22. Nxh1 fxg6
23. Ng3 Qe6 24. Qb5+ Rd7 25. Bxe7 Kxe7 26. Ne2 Bg5 27. Qd5 Qxd5 28. Rxd5 Ke6
29. Rd3 Rh7 30. Rg3 Rh1+ 31. Rg1 Rxg1+ 32. Nxg1 d5 33. f3 b5 34. Ke2 dxe4 35.
fxe4 Bc1 36. b3 Bb2 37. Kd3 g5 38. Kc2 Ba3 39. b4 a5 {Black immediately breaks
out of prison. Schwarz sprengt das Gefängnis sofort auf.} ({Surprisingly
Überraschenderweise hält auch} 39... Kf6 {also holds the draw: remis:} 40.
Ne2 Kg6 41. Kb3 Kh5 42. Kxa3 Kg4 43. Ng1 Kg3 44. Kb2 Kg2 45. Ne2 Kf3 46. Nc1
Kxe4 47. a4 g4 48. axb5 Ke3 49. Kc2 g3 50. Kd1 g2 51. Ne2 Kd3 52. Ke1 g1=Q+ 53.
Nxg1 Kxc3 $11) 40. Kb3 Bc1 41. bxa5 Be3 42. Ne2 Kd6 43. c4 (43. Ng3 Kc6 44. Nf5
Bc5 45. Nh6 Kb7 46. Ng4 Bd6 47. a4 Ka6 48. axb5+ Kxb5 $11) 43... Kc5 44. cxb5
Kxb5 45. Kc3 g4 46. Kd3 Bf2 47. Nc3+ Kxa5 48. Ke2 Bh4 49. Nd5 Ka4 50. Ne3 g3
51. Kf3 Ka3 52. Nc4+ Kxa2 53. Nxe5 Kb3 54. Ng6 Bf6 55. Kxg3 Kc4 56. Kf4 Kd4 57.
Kf5 Ke3 58. Kxf6 Kxe4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lindores Abbey Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.21"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C41"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2699"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2020.05.19"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7 6. g3 O-O 7. Bg2 Re8 8.
O-O c6 9. a4 a5 10. h3 Na6 11. Re1 Bf8 12. Bf4 Nc5 13. Qd2 h6 14. g4 Qb6 15.
Rad1 Bd7 16. b3 Rad8 17. Bg3 Bc8 18. Kh2 g6 19. f3 Bg7 20. Qf2 h5 21. g5 h4 22.
Bxh4 Nh5 23. Nce2 d5 24. exd5 Rxd5 25. f4 Rdd8 26. Nf3 Rxd1 27. Rxd1 Qc7 28.
Nfg1 Ne4 29. Qe3 Bf5 30. Bf3 Re7 31. Qc1 Qb6 32. Bxh5 gxh5 33. Rf1 Re6 34. Nf3
Qc5 35. Re1 Nc3 36. Neg1 Na2 37. Qd2 Qxc2 38. Rxe6 Qxd2+ 39. Nxd2 Bxe6 40. Ne2
Nc3 41. Bf2 Nxe2 0-1

[Event "Lindores Abbey Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.21"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A09"]
[WhiteElo "2728"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2020.05.19"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. c4 dxc4 4. Na3 Bg7 5. Nxc4 Nc6 6. d3 e5 7. Bd2 Nge7 8. h4
h6 9. Bc3 f6 10. Bg2 Be6 11. O-O O-O 12. Rc1 a5 13. Qa4 Qd7 14. Rfd1 Rfd8 15.
a3 b6 16. e3 Rab8 17. Qc2 a4 18. Ne1 b5 19. Nd2 Bg4 20. Ndf3 Be6 21. Qb1 Bb3
22. Nc2 Qe6 23. Nd2 Bd5 24. Ne4 f5 25. Nc5 Qf7 26. e4 fxe4 27. dxe4 Ba2 28. Qa1
Bc4 29. Ne3 Nd4 30. Bxd4 exd4 31. Nxc4 bxc4 32. Bh3 Rd6 33. Qa2 Rb3 34. Nxa4 d3
35. Nc5 Bd4 36. Nxb3 Qxf2+ 37. Kh1 Qxg3 38. Rd2 Qxh3+ 39. Rh2 Qf3+ 40. Rg2 cxb3
41. Qxb3+ Kg7 42. Qd1 Qxe4 43. Qe1 Qxe1+ 44. Rxe1 Nf5 45. h5 Be3 46. hxg6 d2
47. Rd1 Bg5 48. Rf2 Kxg6 49. a4 Rd4 50. a5 Ra4 0-1

[Event "Lindores Abbey Final 8"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.24"]
[Round "1.11"]
[White "Carlsen, M."]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E21"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2020.05.23"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 O-O 5. Bg5 c5 6. Rc1 cxd4 7. Nxd4 h6 8.
Bh4 d5 9. cxd5 g5 10. Bg3 Qxd5 11. e3 Qxa2 12. Qc2 Bxc3+ $5 $146 {An
interesting idea.} ({As far as I know, there is nothing wrong with the main
move} 12... Nd5 {except it's a bit easier to play as White:} 13. h4 Nxc3 14.
bxc3 (14. hxg5 Na4+ 15. Kd1 Qxb2 16. Qxb2 Nxb2+ 17. Kc2 hxg5 18. Kxb2 Be7 19.
Be5 (19. Bd3 Nd7 20. Rh6 Bf6 21. Rc7 Bd8 22. Rc1 Bf6 23. Rc7 Bd8 24. Rc1 {
½-½ Nechaeva,M (2410)-Kovanova,B (2369) Yaroslavl 2018}) 19... f6 20. Bg3 Nc6
21. Nxc6 bxc6 22. Rxc6 Rf7 23. Bc4 Bd7 24. Rxe6 Bxe6 25. Bxe6 Kg7 26. Bxf7 Kxf7
$11 {½-½ (38) Brunner,N (2462)-Leko,P (2709) Germany 2017}) 14... Qxc2 15.
Rxc2 Be7 16. hxg5 hxg5 17. f4 $1 Nc6 18. fxg5 Bxg5 19. Rh5 $1 f6 (19... Bxe3
20. Nxc6 bxc6 21. Bd6 $36) 20. Nf3 Bxe3 21. Re2 Bc1 22. Re4 e5 23. Bc4+ Kg7 24.
Reh4 Kg6 25. Rh7 e4 $5 (25... Bg4 26. Bd3+ f5 27. Nxe5+ Nxe5 28. Bxe5 Kg5 $8
29. g3 Rg8 30. Rxb7 Rae8 31. Rb5 Rg6 32. Kf2 Rb6 $11 {½-½ (42) Carlsen,M 
(2882)-Ding Liren (2805) Saint Louis 2019}) 26. Nd2 Ne5 27. R7h6+ Kg7 28. Rh7+
Kg6 29. R4h6+ Kf5 30. Rh5+ Kg6 31. R7h6+ Kg7 32. Rh7+ Kg6 33. R7h6+ Kg7 34.
Bxe5 fxe5 35. Rh7+ Kg6 36. R7h6+ Kg7 37. Rh7+ Kg6 38. R7h6+ {½-½ Sevian,S 
(2654)-Narayanan,S (2611) Douglas 2019}) 13. Qxc3 Ne4 14. Qc2 $5 (14. Qb4 $5 {
is the first computer choice, but Black is just fine:} Na6 (14... a5 $5 15. Qb5
Bd7 16. Qxb7 Nc6 $1 17. Bd3 (17. Qxd7 $2 Qxb2 $19) 17... Nxg3 18. hxg3 Rab8 19.
Qxd7 Ne5 20. Bb1 Qxb2 21. Qc7 Rb7 22. Qc2 Nd3+ 23. Kd2 Nxc1 24. Rxc1 Rc8 25.
Qxb2 Rxb2+ 26. Bc2 Ra2 {with an easy draw.}) 15. Bxa6 Qxa6 16. Nb5 (16. Nf3
Nxg3 17. hxg3 e5 18. Qe4 Rd8 19. Nxe5 Qf6 {should be fine for Black}) (16. f3
Nxg3 17. hxg3 e5 18. Ne2 Qe6 $132) 16... b6 $1 17. O-O (17. Nc7 $2 Qd3 $1 $17)
17... Nxg3 18. fxg3 $1 Qa5 19. Qe4 Ba6 20. Rxf7 $1 Rxf7 21. Qg6+ Kf8 22. Qxh6+
Kg8 23. Qg6+ $11 {A very nice forced draw.}) 14... Qa5+ 15. Ke2 Nxg3+ (15...
Nf6 16. h4 {would give White huge compensation, but maybe not enough for an
advantage. For example:} g4 (16... Nc6 17. hxg5 Nxd4+ 18. exd4 Qxg5 19. Bh4 $1
{looks dangerous for Black.}) 17. f3 Nc6 18. Nxc6 bxc6 19. Kf2 Rd8 $132) (15...
e5 16. Qxe4 exd4 17. Qxd4 Nc6 18. Qc3 $14) (15... f5 $6 16. f3 Nxg3+ 17. hxg3
Nc6 18. Nxc6 bxc6 19. Kf2 $1 {is quite ugly for Black.}) 16. hxg3 Kg7 17. f4 {
White has a big threat there: b2-b4!} Bd7 $6 (17... Nc6 $1 {was a much better
move, and I believe Black is fine:} 18. Nxc6 (18. Nb3 Qf5 19. Qc3+ e5 $132)
18... bxc6 19. Kf2 (19. b4 Qxb4 20. fxg5 Qg4+ 21. Kf2 Qxg5 $15) 19... Rd8 20.
Rd1 Rxd1 21. Qxd1 Qf5 {and Black is definitely not worse.}) (17... gxf4 18.
gxf4 {just looks ugly for Black - opening up the g-file.}) 18. b4 $1 {A very
nice blow!} Qxb4 (18... Qd8 {would allow the white queen to the a1-h8 diagonal,
which looks very dangerous for Black:} 19. Qb2 (19. Nf3 $5) (19. b5 $5) (19.
Qc3 $5) 19... Qf6 $2 (19... e5 {is necessary}) 20. fxg5 hxg5 21. Nf5+ $1 $18)
19. fxg5 Rc8 $2 ({It may be that it wasn't too late to play} 19... Nc6 {
- some crazy computer line going:} 20. Nf3 (20. gxh6+ Kh8 $132) 20... Rfc8 21.
gxh6+ Kh8 22. Qd1 Ne5 23. Rxc8+ Rxc8 24. Nxe5 Qb2+ 25. Kf3 Qxe5 26. Qxd7 Qf6+
27. Ke2 Qb2+ $11) (19... Rh8 20. Qe4 $1 {looks very dangerous for Black.}) 20.
gxh6+ Kh8 21. Qxc8+ $1 Bxc8 22. Rxc8+ Kh7 23. Nf3 $1 {Another brilliant move.
Black is completely paralyzed.} (23. Kf2 {would allow} Qd2+ 24. Be2 Nc6 $1 25.
Rxa8 Nxd4 $11) 23... f6 (23... Qb2+ {doesn't help:} 24. Ke1 Qb1+ 25. Kf2 Qb2+
26. Be2 $18) 24. Kf2 (24. Rc7+ Kh8 25. Nh4 Nd7 26. Ng6+ Kg8 27. h7+ Kg7 28.
h8=Q+ Rxh8 29. Rxd7+ Kxg6 30. Rxh8 Qb5+ 31. Rd3 {was winning as well, but the
text move is stronger.}) 24... Qb2+ 25. Be2 Na6 {Black has no choice but to
sacrfice his a8-rook.} (25... a5 26. Rc7+ Kh8 27. Nh4 $18) 26. Rxa8 Nc5 27. Rd1
$5 (27. Rh4 $5) 27... Ne4+ 28. Kg1 $1 {Again, brilliant!} f5 (28... Qxe2 29.
Rd7+ {runs into a forced mate:} Kg6 30. Rg8+ Kh5 31. g4+ Kxh6 32. Rh8+ Kg6 33.
Nh4+ Kg5 34. Rg7#) ({So does} 28... Nxg3 29. Rd7+ Kxh6 30. Rh8+ Kg6 31. Nh4+
Kg5 32. Rg7#) 29. Bd3 $5 Qf2+ (29... Nf2 $2 30. Rd2 $18) 30. Kh1 Qxe3 31. Bxe4
fxe4 32. Rd7+ {Now it's easy.} Kg6 (32... Kxh6 33. Rh8+ Kg6 34. Rg8+ Kf6 35.
Rf8+ Kg6 36. Ne5+ Kg5 37. Rg7+ Kh6 38. Rfg8 $18) 33. Rg8+ 1-0

[Event "Lindores Abbey Final 8"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.24"]
[Round "1.12"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2741"]
[BlackElo "2881"]
[Annotator "Mueller,Karsten"]
[PlyCount "128"]
[EventDate "2020.05.23"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,128,30,26,26,22,25,25,25,25,11,1,12,15,16,10,6,26,37,33,24,12,30,24,
27,26,33,30,23,22,41,24,32,26,26,19,31,30,28,34,45,37,42,49,38,40,42,39,32,38,
50,10,53,45,62,4,47,38,45,39,19,25,43,53,55,55,63,61,68,70,85,63,67,93,129,64,
72,98,81,105,102,80,80,80,87,87,87,11,-4,0,37,-87,-12,-23,-25,-25,-18,-18,-13,
0,-73,-2,-1,-3,-16,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,-51,-62,-73,-14,-14,0,-324,-302,
-307,-308,-302,-294,-327,-333]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5.
Bxc6 dxc6 6. O-O Qe7 7. Nbd2 Bg4 8. h3 Bh5 9. Nc4 Nd7 10. a3 a6 11. b4 Ba7 12.
Be3 Bxe3 13. Nxe3 f6 14. Nf5 Qf8 15. Ng3 Bf7 16. Qd2 g6 17. Nh2 h5 18. f4 exf4
19. Qxf4 O-O-O 20. e5 f5 21. Nf3 Qe7 22. Rae1 Rde8 23. h4 Bd5 24. Ng5 c5 25.
Re3 b5 26. Ne2 Bb7 27. Nc3 cxb4 28. axb4 Nf6 29. Rfe1 Ng4 30. R3e2 c5 31. e6
cxb4 32. Nf7 Qc7 33. Qxc7+ Kxc7 34. Nxh8 Rxh8 35. Nd1 Re8 36. e7 Bd5 37. Ne3
Nxe3 38. Rxe3 a5 39. Kf2 a4 40. Kg3 a3 41. Kf4 b3 42. cxb3 b4 43. d4 Kd6 44.
Re5 a2 45. Ra1 Bxb3 46. Rb5 Rxe7 47. Rxb4 Re4+ 48. Kg5 Rg4+ 49. Kf6 Rg3 50. Rb5
Bc4 51. Rc5 Bd5 52. Ra5 Bb3 53. Rc1 Rxg2 54. Rcc5 Rg1 55. Ra6+ Kd7 56. Ra7+ Kd6
57. Ra6+ Kd7 58. Rca5 Bc4 59. Ra7+ Kd6 60. Ra8 f4 {The cheeky passed pawn Part
2 White must play very carefully on account of the dangerous black passed
pawns. Der freche f-Freibauer Teil 2 Weiß muss aufgrund der gefährlichen
schwarzen Freibauern sehr genau agieren:} 61. Rd8+ $2 ({This misses the mate
or the amusing perpetual. Das verpasst den Matt bzw Dauerschachwitz} 61. Rc5 $1
{[%cal Ga8d8]} Kd7 (61... a1=Q $4 62. Rd8#) 62. Ra7+ $11) 61... Kc7 62. Rda8 (
62. Rf8 a1=Q 63. Rxa1 Rxa1 64. Kxg6 Rf1 65. Kxh5 f3 $19) 62... f3 63. Rxa2 Bxa2
64. Rxa2 Kd6 (64... Kd6 65. Rf2 Rg3 66. Rf1 Kd5 67. Rd1 f2 68. Rf1 Rg2 69. Ke7
Kxd4 $19) 0-1

[Event "Lindores Abbey Final 8"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.24"]
[Round "1.13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "35"]
[EventDate "2020.05.23"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Nf6 6. Bf4 Bg4 7. Qb3 Qc8 8.
Nd2 e6 9. Ngf3 Be7 10. O-O Bh5 11. Rae1 Bg6 12. Bxg6 hxg6 13. h4 a6 14. a4 Nh5
15. Bh2 Nf6 16. Bf4 Nh5 17. Bh2 Nf6 18. Bf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lindores Abbey Final 8"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.26"]
[Round "1.21"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "122"]
[EventDate "2020.05.23"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. h3 a6 8. Ba4 b5
9. Bc2 Bb6 10. Re1 Ne7 11. d4 Ng6 12. Nbd2 Re8 13. Nf1 Bb7 14. Ng3 h6 15. Bd2
c5 16. dxe5 dxe5 17. Qc1 c4 18. Nf5 Re6 19. Be3 Bxe3 20. Qxe3 Qc7 21. Rad1 Rae8
22. Rd2 Nf4 23. Kh2 Rd8 24. Rxd8+ Qxd8 25. Nxe5 Nxg2 26. Qg3 Nh5 27. Qxg2 Rxe5
28. Nxh6+ Kf8 29. Ng4 Re6 30. Qf3 Qd2 31. Re2 Qd6+ 32. Kg1 Nf4 33. Re1 f5 34.
Ne3 fxe4 35. Qg3 Nd3 36. Qxd6+ Rxd6 37. Rd1 Rg6+ 38. Kf1 Bc8 39. h4 Bh3+ 40.
Ke2 Rf6 41. Bxd3 exd3+ 42. Ke1 Rf4 43. b3 Be6 44. bxc4 Bxc4 45. a4 Rxh4 46.
axb5 axb5 47. Kd2 Kf7 48. Ra1 Rf4 49. Ra7+ Kf6 50. Ra6+ Kg5 51. Ke1 d2+ 52.
Kxd2 Rxf2+ 53. Kd1 Rf4 54. Rc6 Kh5 55. Rc8 g5 56. Rh8+ Kg6 57. Ke1 g4 58. Rh4
Kg5 59. Rh7 Rf3 60. Kd2 Rf2+ 61. Kd1 g3 0-1

[Event "Lindores Abbey Final 8"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.26"]
[Round "1.22"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2020.05.23"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5
8. Rxe5 O-O 9. d4 Bf6 10. Re1 Re8 11. c3 Rxe1 12. Qxe1 Ne8 13. Bf4 d5 14. Bd3
g6 15. Nd2 Ng7 16. Nf3 Bf5 17. Bxf5 Nxf5 18. Qe2 c6 19. Re1 Ng7 20. Be5 Bxe5
21. Nxe5 Qd6 22. Qf3 f6 23. Nd3 Re8 24. Rxe8+ Nxe8 25. Qe3 Kf7 26. Qh6 Kg8 27.
Qe3 Kf7 28. Qh6 Kg8 29. Qe3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lindores Abbey Final 8"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.26"]
[Round "1.23"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, M."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2020.05.23"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 a5 $5 7. O-O $5 (7.
Qc2 {and 7.a3 are also possible - and were both played against Carlsen, by
Ding Liren and Giri (two draws).}) 7... O-O 8. Na3 $5 {An aggressive choice.} (
8. e3 Nc6 9. Qe2 e5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. dxe5 Ng4 12. a3 Bxd2 13. Nxd2 Nxe5 14.
Nxc4 Nxc4 15. Qxc4 c6 $11 {0-1 (39) Matlakov,M (2685)-Gelfand,B (2676) chess.
com 2020}) (8. Qc2 $5 Bxd2 9. Nbxd2 (9. Qxd2 b5 10. a4 c6 11. Ne5 Ra6 12. Na3
Bd7 13. e4 Be8 14. Rfd1 Nbd7 $13 {1-0 (103) Le Quang Liem (2737)-Wang Hao 
(2709) Huai'an 2017}) 9... b5 10. a4 c6 11. b3 cxb3 12. Nxb3 b4 {and that's
just the beginning of complications: White can play 13.e4 or 13.Ne5, for
example.}) (8. Bg5 $5 {is another choice, giving Black a possiblity between
the solid 8...h6, the risy 8...b5, or even 8...Nc6!? played by Nakamura.}) 8...
Bxa3 9. bxa3 b5 {Now, time to have a look at Wesley's idea.} 10. Qb1 $5 $146 {
Almost a new move.} (10. Rb1 c6 11. Qc2 Qe7 12. Ne5 Nd5 13. e4 Nb6 14. Qc3 f6
15. Nf3 N8d7 $36 {0-1 (37) Carron,J (2314)-Bartel,M (2513) Instanbul 2005})
10... c6 ({The only existing game continued} 10... Ba6 11. e4 (11. Rd1 $5)
11... Nc6 $5 (11... h6 $5) 12. e5 Nd5 13. Ng5 g6 14. Qe4 c3 15. Qh4 h5 16. g4
$2 cxd2 17. gxh5 Qe7 $19 {and White's attack failed: 0-1 (27) Prydun,A (2224)
-Lagashin,P (2066) Lviv 2018. Surely in the game Wesley So would have come up
with a better idea!}) 11. e4 h6 12. g4 $6 {In the spirit of the position - but
it doesn't seem to work too well.} Nh7 $5 ({Obviously} 12... Nxg4 $2 13. e5 {
would be no fun for Black, as he would have to play} h5 14. h3 Nh6 {which
seems quite ugly.}) (12... Nbd7 $5 13. g5 hxg5 14. Nxg5 (14. e5 Nh7 $17) 14...
e5 {also seems to work pretty well for Black.}) (12... e5 $5 {works as well:}
13. g5 (13. dxe5 Bxg4 $1 14. exf6 Bxf3 15. fxg7 Re8 $17) 13... Nh7 14. gxh6
exd4 15. hxg7 Re8 $132) 13. h4 e5 $1 {Excellent reaction!} 14. Nxe5 (14. d5 f6
$15) (14. dxe5 $2 Bxg4 $19) 14... Qxd4 15. Bf4 Re8 16. Qc1 Qc5 $1 (16... Rxe5
$2 17. Rd1 $16) 17. Rd1 Na6 {Black had several good moves at his disposal.} (
17... Nf8 $5) (17... f6 $5 18. Nf3 Bxg4 19. a4 Qh5 20. Qc3 b4 21. Qxc4+ Be6 $15
) (17... Nf6 $5 18. g5 hxg5 19. hxg5 Ng4 20. Nxg4 Bxg4 21. Bd6 Qb6 22. Re1 Nd7
23. Qf4 Qd4 $1 $15) 18. Nxc6 Qxc6 (18... Nf6 $5 {seemed even better.}) (18...
Bxg4 $2 19. Rd6 $44) 19. e5 Qc5 20. Bxa8 Bxg4 21. Be3 $1 Qxe5 22. Rd4 {White
is getting counter chances.} Nf6 $6 (22... Qh5 {could have led to fun
positions:} 23. Bg2 Nf6 24. a4 Nc5 25. axb5 Nd3 26. Qc2 Bf3 27. Bxf3 Qxf3 28.
Rxc4 Ne5 29. Rf4 Qh3 30. b6 Neg4 31. Qc6 Qh2+ 32. Kf1 Nxe3+ 33. fxe3 Qh3+ 34.
Qg2 Qxe3 35. Qf3 Qxb6 $17) (22... Bf5 $5 {looks excellent for Black.}) 23. Bc6
Re6 24. Bg2 (24. Qb2 $1 {would have leveled up the game! It seems like both
players have missed it.}) 24... Nc5 25. Qc3 Kh7 26. Qxa5 Nd3 $2 (26... Rd6 $1
27. Qc7 Ne8 28. Qb8 Bf3 $1 $19 {Beautiful!}) 27. Rb1 Qf5 28. Rxb5 Qg6 29. Qa8
$2 (29. Kh2 $1 $13) 29... Ne5 $2 (29... Re8 30. Rb8 Bf3 $1 31. Qxf3 Rxb8 $19)
30. Rd8 Ne8 $5 (30... Nf3+ 31. Kh1 Qe4 {should be playable, but it is
definitely White who plays for a win.}) 31. Rxe8 $4 (31. Kh1 $13) 31... Rxe8
32. Qxe8 Nf3+ 33. Kh1 Qd3 $1 {And White gets mated or else has to give away
almost all of his pieces.} 34. Bd2 Qxd2 0-1

[Event "Lindores Abbey Final 8"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.28"]
[Round "2.11"]
[White "Carlsen, M."]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2020.05.23"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nxc6 Qf6 6. Qf3 {An interesting
line, willing to play an endgam with a slightly better structure.} dxc6 7. Nc3
Be6 8. Be3 Bb4 ({Mostly Black went} 8... Qxf3 9. gxf3 Bxe3 10. fxe3 {and White
has a symbolic advantage, though here Black can play 10...Nf6, 10...Ne7, 10...
0-0-0, which are all playable.}) ({Blac can also try to keep queens, but he
will stand slightly worse:} 8... Qe7 9. O-O-O (9. Bxc5 $5 Qxc5 10. O-O-O Nf6
11. h3 O-O 12. Kb1 b5 13. Bd3 $36 {1-0 (34) Savchenko,B (2583)-Mamedyarov,S 
(2752) Moscow RUS 2007}) 9... Nf6 10. h3 Nd7 11. Qg3 O-O-O 12. Qxg7 Bxe3+ 13.
fxe3 $14 {1-0 (49) Sulskis,S (2503)-Kantans,T (2510) Tallinn 2018}) 9. O-O-O $1
(9. Bd2 O-O-O 10. O-O-O (10. a3 Bc5 11. Bd3 Qxf3 12. gxf3 Bd4 13. f4 f5 14.
exf5 Bd7 15. Be3 Bxc3+ 16. bxc3 Nh6 17. f6 gxf6 18. Bxa7 Bf5 $44 {½-½ (60)
Jones,G (2667)-Howell,D (2644) London 2016}) 10... Qg6 11. Qg3 f5 12. Bd3 Nf6
$13 {0-1 (73) Yu Yangyi (2738)-Nakamura,H (2785) Gibraltar 2017}) 9... Qxf3
$146 (9... Qe7 10. Bd4 Nf6 11. Be2 Bc5 12. Bxc5 Qxc5 13. Qg3 O-O 14. f4 $14 {
0-1 (49) Chigaev,M (2616)-Chen,Q (2432) Gibraltar 2020}) (9... Bxc3 10. bxc3
Qxc3 11. Bd4 Qxf3 12. gxf3 f6 13. f4 {would give White very pleasant
compensation.}) 10. gxf3 Ne7 11. h4 Bxc3 {Not sure that's a good choice for
Black, although anyway White is a bit better.} (11... f6 12. h5 Kf7 13. f4 f5
14. f3 $36) 12. bxc3 Rd8 13. Rxd8+ Kxd8 14. h5 f5 15. c4 Rf8 16. Rg1 Rf7 17. a4
a6 18. a5 $6 ({After} 18. c5 {or 18.Kb2 White would be clearly better.}) 18...
g6 (18... c5 $1 19. Bxc5 Nc6 $132) 19. Rg5 Rf6 20. hxg6 (20. Bd4 Rf7 21. Kd2
$16) 20... Rxg6 21. c5 Ke8 22. Bd3 Rxg5 (22... Kf7 $2 23. Rh5 $16) 23. Bxg5 h5
24. Kd2 Kf8 $6 (24... Ng6 $5 25. exf5 Ne5 26. Be4 Bd5 (26... Bxf5 27. Bxf5
Nxf3+ 28. Ke3 Nxg5 29. Bc8 h4 30. Bxb7 h3 31. Bxc6+ {and White should be
winning}) 27. Ke3 Nc4+ 28. Kd4 Nxa5 {with some chances for Black.}) 25. Ke3 Kf7
26. Bxe7 $1 {Excellent assessment by the World Champion!} (26. Bf4 {was good
as well, but would allow some counterplay with} h4 27. Bxc7 Kf6 $132) 26...
Kxe7 27. e5 h4 (27... f4+ $6 {doesn't work:} 28. Kxf4 h4 29. Bf1 Kf7 30. Kg5 $1
h3 31. Kh4 h2 32. Bg2 $18) 28. f4 Kd7 29. f3 b6 (29... Ke7 30. Kf2 Kf7 31. Kg2
Kg6 32. Kh3 Kh5 33. c3 $22 Kg6 $1 (33... Bd7 34. Bc4 $18) 34. Kxh4 Kh6 {
and White will bring his king to d4, play Bc4, and should be winning.}) 30.
axb6 cxb6 31. Bxa6 $3 (31. cxb6 h3 32. Kf2 a5 $132) 31... b5 (31... bxc5 {
shouldn't hold a draw, for example:} 32. Be2 Ke7 33. Kf2 Kf7 34. Kg2 Kg6 35.
Kh3 Kh5 36. Ba6 c4 37. c3 Bd5 38. Bc8 Kg6 39. Kxh4 Bxf3 40. Be6 Be2 41. Bd7 Bf3
42. Be8+ Kg7 43. Kg5 $18) 32. Kf2 Kc7 33. Kg2 Kb8 34. Kh3 Ka7 35. Kxh4 Kxa6 36.
Kg5 {And it is just an easy win for White.} Kb7 (36... Ka5 37. Kf6 Bc8 38. e6
Kb4 39. Kxf5 Kc3 40. Ke5 Kxc2 41. f5 b4 42. e7 Bd7 43. f6 Be8 44. Ke6 b3 45. f7
Bxf7+ 46. Kxf7 b2 47. e8=Q b1=Q 48. Qe4+ $18) 37. Kf6 Bd5 38. c3 $5 {Not
necessary - but putting the pawn on a dark-square when Black has a
light-square bishop doesn't hurt.} (38. e6 Kc7 39. Kxf5 $18) 38... Kc7 39. Kxf5
Kd7 40. Kf6 Bxf3 41. e6+ Ke8 42. Ke5 Bg4 43. f5 Bh3 44. f6 Bg4 45. Kd6 Bh3 46.
e7 $1 (46. f7+ $4 Kf8 $11) 46... Kf7 47. Kxc6 1-0

[Event "Lindores Abbey Final 8"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.28"]
[Round "2.12"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2020.05.23"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nbd2 Bg4 7. h3 Bh5 8.
a3 Nd7 9. g4 Bg6 10. b4 Bd6 11. Nc4 f6 12. Na5 Qc8 13. Nh4 Nf8 14. Nf5 Ne6 15.
Be3 Kf7 16. c3 Re8 17. h4 Kg8 18. h5 Bf7 19. Qf3 b6 20. Nc4 Bf8 21. O-O a5 22.
Qg3 axb4 23. cxb4 h6 24. Rfd1 b5 25. Nd2 c5 26. bxc5 Bxc5 27. Bxc5 Nxc5 28. Nf3
Qd7 29. Kh2 Be6 30. Rac1 Nb3 31. Rc3 Rxa3 32. d4 b4 33. Rcd3 Nxd4 34. N3xd4
exd4 35. Rxa3 bxa3 36. Rxd4 Qb5 37. Qxc7 Bxf5 38. exf5 Qb2 39. Qc4+ Kh8 40. Kg3
a2 41. Qa4 Qb8+ 0-1

[Event "Lindores Abbey Final 8"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.28"]
[Round "2.13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2020.05.23"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 d6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. Be2 e6 5. O-O h6 6. c4 g5 7. Nc3 Ne7 8. h4 g4
9. Ne1 h5 10. Bg5 f6 11. Be3 O-O 12. d5 f5 13. Bg5 Qe8 14. c5 fxe4 15. cxd6
cxd6 16. dxe6 Bxe6 17. Nxe4 Nf5 18. Nd3 Nc6 19. Nf4 Ncd4 20. Bd3 Be5 21. Re1
Qf7 22. Nxd6 Bxd6 23. Bxf5 Nxf5 24. Nxe6 Rfe8 25. Qb3 g3 26. fxg3 Nxg3 27. Re3
Rac8 28. Rae1 Rc6 29. Rf3 Qg6 30. Nc7+ 1-0

[Event "Lindores Abbey Final 8"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.29"]
[Round "2.21"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2020.05.23"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. O-O Bg4 7. h3 Bh5 8.
g4 Nxg4 9. hxg4 Bxg4 10. Be3 Be7 11. Kh1 f5 12. Rg1 h5 13. Nc3 f4 14. Bd2 g5
15. Nb1 Bc5 16. Bc3 Bxf2 17. Nbd2 Qe7 18. Qf1 Bxg1 19. Qxg1 Bxf3+ 20. Nxf3 g4
21. Nxe5 Rg8 22. Rf1 Qg5 23. Qd4 Qh4+ 24. Kg1 Qg3+ 25. Kh1 Qh3+ 26. Kg1 g3 27.
Nf3 g2 28. Re1 Qxf3 29. Qe5+ Kd8 30. Qf6+ Ke8 31. Bb4 c5 32. Bxc5 Kd7 33. Qf7+
1-0

[Event "Lindores Abbey Final 8"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.29"]
[Round "2.22"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "142"]
[EventDate "2020.05.23"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nb3 Bb6 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. Bg5 O-O 8.
Qe2 Nd4 9. Qd2 Nxb3 10. axb3 Re8 11. O-O-O h6 12. h4 c6 13. Bxf6 Qxf6 14. f3 d5
15. Kb1 Be6 16. exd5 Bxd5 17. Nxd5 cxd5 18. Bb5 Red8 19. g4 Qxf3 20. g5 Qf2 21.
Qb4 Qc5 22. Qa4 h5 23. g6 fxg6 24. Bd3 Rd6 25. Rde1 Qc6 26. Qf4 Rf8 27. Qe5
Rdf6 28. Qg5 Bf2 29. Re5 d4 30. Be4 Qd6 31. Rd5 Qe6 32. Rxd4 Kh8 33. Rc4 Bb6
34. Bd3 Qe3 35. Qg2 Bd4 36. Qxb7 Qe5 37. c3 Bb6 38. Qg2 Qd6 39. Bc2 Qe6 40. Rd1
Bf2 41. Re4 Qf7 42. Qg5 Rf5 43. Qd2 Bb6 44. Re2 Rf4 45. Qd6 Rf6 46. Qg3 Qc7 47.
Qg5 Qf4 48. Qxf4 Rxf4 49. Bxg6 Rxh4 50. Rdd2 Rh1+ 51. Ka2 Rg1 52. Bxh5 g6 53.
Bxg6 Rxg6 54. Rh2+ Kg7 55. Rhg2 Rd8 56. Rxg6+ Kxg6 57. Re2 Rf8 58. b4 Rf2 59.
Rxf2 Bxf2 60. Kb3 Kf5 61. Kc4 Ke6 62. Kb5 Kd7 63. Ka6 Kc7 64. b5 Be3 65. b4 Bd2
66. Kxa7 Bxc3 67. b6+ Kc6 68. b7 Be5 69. b8=Q Bxb8+ 70. Kxb8 Kb5 71. Kb7 Kxb4
1/2-1/2

[Event "Lindores Abbey Final 8"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.29"]
[Round "2.23"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2020.05.23"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. dxe5 Nxb5 7. a4 Nbd4 8.
Nxd4 d5 9. exd6 Bxd6 10. Re1+ Be7 11. Nxc6 Qxd1 12. Rxd1 bxc6 13. Bf4 Bf5 14.
Na3 Rd8 15. Bxc7 Rd7 16. Bf4 Rxd1+ 17. Rxd1 Bxa3 18. bxa3 Bxc2 19. Rd4 O-O 20.
Rc4 Re8 21. f3 Bd3 22. Rxc6 f6 23. Rc3 Rd8 24. Rb3 a6 25. Rb8 Rxb8 26. Bxb8 Bc2
27. a5 Bd3 28. Bc7 Bc4 29. Bb6 Bd3 30. Ba7 Bc4 31. Bb6 Bd3 32. Ba7 Bc4 33. Bb6
1/2-1/2

[Event "Lindores Abbey Final 8"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.29"]
[Round "2.24"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2020.05.23"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. O-O h6 7. Re1 O-O 8. Nbd2
a5 9. Nf1 Be6 10. Bb5 Ne7 11. d4 exd4 12. cxd4 Bb6 13. Ng3 d5 14. e5 Ne4 15.
Be3 Nf5 16. Nxf5 Bxf5 17. Nd2 Nxd2 18. Qxd2 a4 19. b4 axb3 20. axb3 c6 21. Be2
Qe7 22. h3 Ra3 23. b4 Rfa8 24. Rxa3 Rxa3 25. Rc1 Rb3 26. b5 Qb4 27. Qd1 Rb1 28.
Rxb1 Qxb1 29. Qxb1 Bxb1 30. bxc6 bxc6 31. Bd1 Bd3 32. f4 f6 33. Kf2 Kf7 34. Ba4
fxe5 35. fxe5 Bb5 36. Bc2 Ba5 37. g4 Bc3 38. Bf5 c5 39. e6+ Kf6 40. dxc5 g6 41.
Bc2 g5 42. Bf5 d4 43. Bc1 Bb4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lindores Abbey Final 8"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.30"]
[Round "2.31"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C47"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2020.05.23"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 O-O
8. O-O d5 9. exd5 Bg4 10. f3 Bh5 11. dxc6 Qd4+ 12. Kh1 Bxc3 13. bxc3 Qxc3 14.
Bf4 Qxc6 15. h3 Bg6 16. Re1 Rad8 17. Qe2 Nd5 18. Bg3 Nb4 19. Be4 Qc3 20. Rad1
Rde8 21. Qd2 Qxd2 22. Rxd2 Bxe4 23. fxe4 Nxa2 24. Re3 Rd8 25. Rxd8 Rxd8 26. Ra3
Nb4 27. c3 Nc6 28. Ra6 Rd3 29. Rxc6 Rxg3 30. Rxc7 h5 31. Kh2 Re3 32. Rxa7 Rxc3
33. Ra5 g6 34. Ra8+ Kg7 35. h4 Re3 36. Ra4 Kf6 37. g3 Ke5 38. Ra7 Kf6 39. Ra6+
Ke5 40. Ra7 Kf6 41. Ra6+ Ke5 42. Ra7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lindores Abbey Final 8"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.30"]
[Round "2.32"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C81"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2020.05.23"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. Qe2 Be7 10. Rd1 O-O 11. c4 bxc4 12. Bxc4 Bc5 13. Be3 Bxe3 14. Qxe3 Qb8
15. Bb3 Na5 16. Nd4 c5 17. Nxe6 fxe6 18. f3 c4 19. fxe4 cxb3 20. exd5 bxa2 21.
Rxa2 Nc4 22. Qd4 Qb3 23. Nc3 Nxb2 24. Rb1 Qc4 25. Qxc4 Nxc4 26. dxe6 Rf5 27.
Nd5 Rxe5 28. Rxa6 Re8 29. Nc7 Rd8 30. Rc6 Ne3 31. Rd6 Rc8 32. Rd7 h6 33. e7 Kh7
34. Re1 1-0

[Event "Lindores Abbey Final 8"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.30"]
[Round "2.33"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2020.05.23"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Be2 dxc4 8.
O-O Nb6 9. Qc2 Nfd5 10. Bg3 c5 11. dxc5 Bxc5 12. Rfd1 Bd7 13. Ne5 Rc8 14. Rac1
Nb4 15. Qe4 N4d5 16. Qf3 Ba4 17. Nxa4 Nxa4 18. e4 Nxb2 19. exd5 Nxd1 20. Rxd1
exd5 21. Bxc4 Qe7 22. Bxd5 Bd6 23. Bxf7+ Kh8 24. Qh5 Bxe5 25. Bg6 h6 26. Bxe5
Qg5 27. Qxg5 hxg5 28. h4 Rc5 29. Bb2 Rb5 30. Ba3 Rc8 31. h5 Ra5 32. Bb2 Rxa2
33. Rd2 Kg8 34. Bb1 Ra5 35. Rd7 Rb5 36. Ba2+ Kh7 37. Bxg7 g4 38. Be5+ Kh6 39.
Bf4+ Kxh5 40. Bf7+ Kh4 41. Kh2 g3+ 42. fxg3+ Kg4 43. Be6+ Kh5 44. Rh7+ Kg6 45.
Rh6+ Kg7 46. Bxc8 1-0

[Event "Lindores Abbey Final 8"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.30"]
[Round "2.34"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C88"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2020.05.23"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. h3
Bb7 9. d3 d6 10. a3 Nb8 11. Nbd2 Nbd7 12. Nf1 Re8 13. Ng5 d5 14. exd5 Bxd5 15.
Bxd5 Nxd5 16. Qh5 Bxg5 17. Bxg5 f6 18. Bd2 Qe7 19. Ng3 Qf7 20. Qf3 Nf8 21. Nf5
Ne7 22. Nxe7+ Qxe7 23. a4 Rab8 24. axb5 axb5 25. Ra6 Qd7 26. Rea1 Ne6 27. Be3
Rbd8 28. Qc6 Qxc6 29. Rxc6 Kf7 30. Ra5 Rb8 31. Raa6 Rb7 32. g3 Nd8 33. Rc5 Ne6
34. Rcc6 Nd8 35. Rc5 Ne6 36. Rcc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Lindores Abbey Final 8"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.05.30"]
[Round "2.35"]
[White "Carlsen, M."]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2020.05.23"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Be2 dxc4 8.
O-O (8. Bxc4 {is less precise, as after} a6 9. a4 c5 10. d5 $2 {Black would
have} Nb6 $132) 8... a6 $5 {Nakamura's favourite move, while other players
prefer 8...c5 or 8...Nb6.} 9. a4 Nd5 (9... c5 10. d5 $1 {is supposed to give
White a slight advantage.}) 10. Bg3 {Almost a novelty!} (10. Bxc4 Nxf4 11. exf4
c5 12. dxc5 Bxc5 13. Qe2 {was the game Ding Liren (2801)-Aronian,L (2775)
London 2019, 1-0 (35), game which I definitely advise to see if you haven't!})
10... c5 $146 ({The only high level game played in that position continued} 
10... b6 11. Bxc4 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Bb7 13. Bd3 Bd6 {and Black was close to
equality: Navara,D (2734)-Ivanchuk,V (2726) Berlin 2015, ½-½ (65).}) 11. Bxc4
cxd4 12. exd4 N7b6 $5 (12... N7f6 {was the alternative.}) 13. Bb3 a5 14. Ne5
Bd7 15. Ne4 Bc6 $6 (15... Rc8 {followed by ...Nb4 seemed quite fine for Black.}
) 16. Nxc6 bxc6 17. Rc1 Nb4 18. Qe2 $1 {Thanks to the bishop pair, White has a
slight advantage. Now he manages to link his rooks.} N6d5 (18... Qxd4 $4 19.
Rfd1 $18) 19. Rfd1 $6 (19. Rfe1 {may have been a better move against possible .
..f5 complications.}) 19... Re8 $6 (19... f5 $1 20. Nd6 $1 Qd7 $1 (20... f4 21.
Qxe6+ Kh8 22. Nf7+ Rxf7 23. Qxf7 fxg3 24. hxg3 $14) 21. Nc4 $8 f4 22. Nb6 $8
Qd6 23. Nxa8 fxg3 24. hxg3 Rxa8 25. Re1 $13 {Awesome line!}) 20. Qf3 (20. h3 $5
{making space for the g3-bishop also made sense.}) 20... Ra7 (20... f5 $5 {
again deserved attention.}) 21. Be5 {Magnus definitely wants Hikaru to move
his f-pawn, to create a weakness on e6.} Bf8 {But Nakamura doesn't want to do
it!} ({However, after} 21... f6 22. Bg3 f5 23. Nc5 Bxc5 (23... Bg5 $5) 24. Rxc5
f4 25. Bxf4 Rf7 {the position looks unclear.}) 22. Qg3 f6 23. Bd6 Bxd6 24. Nxd6
{Now that these bishops are gone, White has a stable plus!} Rf8 25. Ne4 $5 {
Keeping as many pieces as possible.} (25. Re1 $5 Nd3 26. Qxd3 Qxd6 27. Rc5 $14)
(25. Rc5 $5) 25... Qb8 26. Qf3 Re8 27. g3 Kh8 28. Nc5 Rae7 29. Bc4 e5 {A
natural follow-up, although Black was solid if he didn't touch anything.} 30.
dxe5 Qxe5 31. Rd2 Qg5 $6 (31... Nb6 $1 {seemed more urgent than leaving the
e-file. Still, after} 32. Bf1 {White is a bit better.}) 32. Nb3 $1 {Now Black
has problems with his a5-pawn.} Nb6 33. h4 Qe5 34. Re2 Qc7 35. Rxe7 Qxe7 36.
Nxa5 Qe5 {The best practical chance - let's remind that this game was an
Armageddon!} (36... Nxa4 37. b3 Nc5 38. Nxc6 {would be too easy for White.})
37. Nb3 $2 (37. Bf7 $1 Rf8 38. Nxc6 Nxc6 39. Qxc6 {was the most direct win.}) (
37. Nxc6 $5 {worked as well:} Qxb2 38. Rd1 Nxc4 39. Qe4 $3 {collecting the
piece back!}) 37... Nxa4 38. Bf7 Rf8 39. Rc4 Rxf7 40. Rxb4 $4 {What a blunder!}
(40. Re4 {(or 40.Qe4, or even 40.Qg4) was about equal. But Magnus needed to
win since that game, as I've just mentioned, was an Armageddon.}) 40... Qe1+ {
Now it's all over.} 41. Kh2 Qxb4 42. Qxc6 Rf8 0-1

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.06"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B14"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2709"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 g6 3. e3 Nf6 4. d4 cxd4 5. exd4 d5 6. Qb3 Bg7 7. cxd5 O-O 8.
Be2 Na6 9. Bf3 b5 10. Nge2 Rb8 11. Bf4 Rb6 12. Nxb5 g5 13. Bxg5 Nc7 14. a4 a6
15. d6 exd6 16. O-O axb5 17. a5 Rb8 18. Ng3 Ne6 19. Be3 Nc7 20. Bg5 Ne6 21. Be3
Nc7 22. Rfc1 Be6 23. Qd1 Nfd5 24. a6 Ra8 25. a7 Qe7 26. Nh5 Nxe3 27. fxe3 Bh6
28. Bxa8 Bxe3+ 29. Kh1 Bxc1 30. Qxc1 Rxa8 31. Qc3 Nd5 32. Qc6 Nc7 33. Qb7 Bg4
34. Qb8+ Qf8 35. Nf6+ Kg7 36. Qxf8+ Kxf8 37. Nxg4 Ke7 38. Ne3 Kd7 39. d5 Kc8
40. Nf5 Kd7 41. h4 Nxd5 42. Ra6 Nc7 43. Rxd6+ Ke8 44. Rh6 Rxa7 45. Rxh7 Ne6 46.
h5 b4 47. h6 Ra5 48. g4 Ra1+ 49. Kh2 Ra2 50. Rh8+ Kd7 51. Kg3 Rxb2 52. h7 Rb3+
53. Kh4 Rb1 54. g5 b3 55. Ng3 Nf4 56. Kg4 Ng6 57. Rg8 b2 58. Rxg6 Rh1 59. Rb6
1-0

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.06"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2709"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "136"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 Ne7 5. Qc2 dxc4 6. e4 b5 7. a4 c6 8. Bd2
O-O 9. Be2 Bb7 10. O-O a6 11. Rfd1 Nd7 12. Nxb5 Bxd2 13. Nd6 Bb4 14. Nxb7 Qc7
15. Nc5 Nxc5 16. dxc5 c3 17. bxc3 Bxc5 18. g3 a5 19. Kg2 Ng6 20. Rab1 Rfd8 21.
Ne1 Rxd1 22. Rxd1 Ne5 23. Nd3 Nd7 24. Rb1 g6 25. Qa2 Be7 26. Qc4 Nb6 27. Qb3
Rb8 28. Bf3 c5 29. Qc2 c4 30. Nb2 Qc6 31. Nd1 Nd7 32. e5 Qc5 33. Rxb8+ Nxb8 34.
Ne3 Nd7 35. Qe4 Nxe5 36. Be2 f5 37. Qa8+ Kf7 38. Qa6 Qc6+ 39. Qxc6 Nxc6 40.
Bxc4 Nd8 41. Kf1 Bf6 42. Nd1 Nb7 43. Bb3 Nc5 44. Bc2 e5 45. f3 Ke6 46. Ke2 e4
47. fxe4 fxe4 48. Nf2 Kd5 49. Ke3 Bg5+ 50. Ke2 Bh6 51. h4 Bc1 52. g4 Bf4 53. h5
Bg3 54. hxg6 hxg6 55. Nxe4 Nxe4 56. c4+ Kd4 57. Kf3 Nd2+ 58. Kxg3 g5 59. c5
Kxc5 60. Kf2 Kd4 61. Ke2 Ne4 62. Kf3 Nc5 63. Ke2 Kc3 64. Bd1 Kb4 65. Ke3 Nxa4
66. Kd4 Nc5 67. Bc2 Nb3+ 68. Ke5 a4 0-1

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.06"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2709"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. e4 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Nxd7 5. O-O Ngf6 6. Re1 Rc8 7. c3 e6 8.
d4 cxd4 9. cxd4 d5 10. e5 Ne4 11. Nbd2 Nxd2 12. Qxd2 Be7 13. Qf4 O-O 14. Qg4
Re8 15. h4 Qc7 16. Bh6 g6 17. Qf4 Qc2 18. g4 b6 19. b3 Ba3 20. Kg2 Qb2 21. Ng5
Re7 22. Rad1 Rc2 23. Re3 Rc3 24. h5 Qc2 25. Rxc3 Qxc3 26. Nxh7 Kxh7 27. Bg5 Kg8
28. Bxe7 Bxe7 29. Rc1 Qb4 30. Rc8+ Nf8 31. h6 g5 32. h7+ Kg7 33. h8=Q+ Kxh8 34.
Qxf7 Qxd4 35. Rxf8+ Bxf8 36. Qxf8+ Kh7 37. Qf7+ Kh8 38. Qh5+ Kg7 39. Qxg5+ Kh7
40. Qe7+ Kh8 41. Qf6+ Kh7 42. Qxe6 Qd1 43. Qf5+ Kg8 44. e6 1-0

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.06"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2709"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 e5 4. d4 cxd4 5. cxd4 exd4 6. Nxd4 Nf6 7. Nc3 Bb4 8.
Nxc6 bxc6 9. Bd3 O-O 10. O-O Re8 11. Bg5 h6 12. Bh4 Bxc3 13. bxc3 g5 14. Bg3
Nxe4 15. Bxe4 Rxe4 16. f4 Ba6 17. Rf2 Qe7 18. fxg5 hxg5 19. Bd6 Qe6 20. Qd2 Qg6
21. Bc5 Rae8 22. h3 d5 23. Bxa7 Re2 24. Qc1 Bd3 25. a4 R8e4 26. Bd4 Rxf2 27.
Bxf2 g4 28. Qb2 gxh3 29. Qb8+ Kg7 30. Qh2 Qxg2+ 31. Qxg2+ hxg2 32. a5 Ba6 33.
Kxg2 Kg6 34. Bd4 Kf5 35. Kf3 Rh4 36. Rb1 Rh3+ 37. Kg2 Rd3 38. Rb6 Bb5 39. a6
Rd2+ 40. Kf3 Ra2 41. Rb7 Bxa6 42. Rxf7+ Ke6 43. Rf6+ Kd7 44. Rf7+ Ke8 45. Ra7
Be2+ 46. Kf4 Rxa7 47. Bxa7 Bb5 48. Ke5 Kd7 49. Bc5 Bc4 50. Bd4 Bb5 51. Bc5 Bc4
52. Bd4 Bb5 53. Bc5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.06"]
[Round "1.5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B41"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2709"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. e4 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 Qc7 7. a3 b6 8. Be2
Bb7 9. f3 Be7 10. Be3 O-O 11. O-O d6 12. Rc1 Nbd7 13. b4 Rfc8 14. Kh1 Qd8 15.
Nb3 Ne5 16. Na4 Nfd7 17. Qd4 b5 18. Na5 Nc6 19. Nxc6 Bxc6 20. cxb5 Bxb5 21.
Rxc8 Rxc8 22. Qd1 Qc7 23. Bd4 Qc2 24. Bxb5 axb5 25. Nb6 Nxb6 26. Bxb6 Qxd1 27.
Rxd1 Rc3 28. Ra1 Bf6 29. Rd1 Rxa3 30. Kg1 Ra6 31. Bc7 Be5 32. Rc1 Kf8 33. Ba5
d5 34. exd5 exd5 35. Kf1 Bxh2 36. Rc5 Re6 37. g4 d4 38. Rxb5 d3 39. Rd5 Rd6 40.
Rxd6 Bxd6 41. b5 g6 42. b6 Ke8 43. b7 Kd7 44. Bb4 Bb8 45. Kf2 h5 46. gxh5 gxh5
47. Be1 h4 48. Kg2 Kc6 49. Kh3 Kxb7 50. Kg4 Bg3 0-1

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.06"]
[Round "1.6"]
[White "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2709"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c6 4. e4 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Bb4+ 6. Nc3 c5 7. a3 Ba5 8. Be3
Nf6 9. Nge2 cxd4 10. Qxd4 Qxd4 11. Bxd4 Nc6 12. Bc5 Ne4 13. Be3 Nxc3 14. Nxc3
Bxc3+ 15. bxc3 e5 16. Rb1 Kd8 17. f4 Re8 18. Kf2 Kc7 19. Bd3 h6 20. Rb5 f6 21.
Rhb1 Re7 22. Be4 Kd8 23. Rd5+ Kc7 24. fxe5 Nxe5 25. Bf4 Rb8 26. Ke3 Bd7 27.
Rc5+ Bc6 28. Bxc6 b6 29. Bxe5+ fxe5 30. Rd5 Kxc6 31. Rf1 Rc8 32. Rf5 Kb7 33.
Rfxe5 Rxe5+ 34. Rxe5 Rxc4 35. Kd3 Rg4 36. g3 Kc6 37. c4 Rg5 38. Re7 a5 39. Kd4
Kd6 40. Rb7 Rg4+ 41. Kd3 Kc6 42. Re7 h5 43. Re6+ Kc7 44. Re5 g6 45. Re6 Rg5 46.
Kd4 Kb7 47. Rf6 h4 48. gxh4 Rg4+ 49. Kc3 Rxh4 50. Rxg6 Rxh2 51. c5 Rh3+ 52. Kc4
bxc5 53. Kxc5 Rxa3 54. Kb5 a4 55. Rg7+ Kc8 56. Rg4 Kc7 57. Rxa4 Rxa4 58. Kxa4
1/2-1/2

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.08"]
[Round "1.7"]
[White "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2709"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Be3 Qf6 6. c3 Nge7 7. Bb5 O-O 8.
O-O Bb6 9. a4 Qg6 10. Bd3 Bxd4 11. cxd4 Nb4 12. Nc3 Nxd3 13. Qxd3 d5 14. f3 c6
15. Qd2 Be6 16. Rae1 Rae8 17. Ne2 f6 18. e5 fxe5 19. dxe5 b6 20. b4 Rc8 21. Rc1
Rfd8 22. Nd4 h6 23. a5 Rd7 24. Rfe1 Rb7 25. axb6 axb6 26. Qe2 Rbb8 27. Bf2 Bh3
28. Bg3 c5 29. Nb5 Be6 30. Nd6 Rc6 31. Qb5 Ra8 32. bxc5 Ra5 33. Qb4 Raxc5 34.
Rxc5 bxc5 35. Qb7 c4 36. Qxe7 c3 37. Qb7 Rc5 38. Qb6 1-0

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.08"]
[Round "1.8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C00"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2709"]
[PlyCount "208"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. Qe2 c5 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. O-O Nge7 7. c3 e5 8. a3
O-O 9. b4 d6 10. d3 a6 11. Be3 cxb4 12. axb4 Be6 13. Ng5 Bd7 14. Nd2 h6 15.
Ngf3 Be6 16. Rfb1 f5 17. Nf1 f4 18. Bd2 g5 19. h3 Qd7 20. g4 Rfc8 21. Qd1 b5
22. N1h2 d5 23. Ne1 d4 24. Nhf3 dxc3 25. Bxc3 Nd4 26. Bxd4 exd4 27. h4 gxh4 28.
Nxh4 Bxg4 29. Qb3+ Kh8 30. Qf7 Re8 31. e5 Be6 32. Qxf4 Rg8 33. Qh2 Bd5 34. f4
Qg4 35. Rb2 h5 36. Kh1 Bh6 37. Bxd5 Nxd5 38. Rg2 Qxf4 39. Ng6+ Rxg6 40. Rxg6
Qxh2+ 41. Kxh2 Bf4+ 42. Kh1 Nxb4 43. e6 Kh7 44. Rf6 Be3 45. Rf7+ Kg6 46. Ng2
Nxd3 47. Nxe3 dxe3 48. Rg1+ Kh6 49. Rf6+ Kh7 50. e7 Re8 51. Rf7+ Kh6 52. Rf6+
Kh7 53. Re6 Nf2+ 54. Kg2 Ng4 55. Rf1 Kg7 56. Rf5 b4 57. Kf3 b3 58. Rxh5 Kf7 59.
Rb6 e2 60. Kxe2 Rxe7+ 61. Kd2 Nf6 62. Rh1 Ne4+ 63. Kc1 Nc5 64. Rh7+ Ke8 65. Rh5
b2+ 66. Kd2 Rb7 67. Rxb7 Nxb7 68. Kc2 Kd7 69. Kxb2 Kc6 70. Kb3 Kb6 71. Kb4 a5+
72. Kc4 Nd6+ 73. Kd5 Nb7 74. Rh8 Kb5 75. Ra8 Kb6 76. Rb8 Kc7 77. Rh8 Kb6 78.
Kd4 Kc6 79. Rh5 Kb6 80. Kd5 Kb5 81. Rh1 Kb6 82. Rb1+ Kc7 83. Rb5 a4 84. Rb4 Nd6
85. Rxa4 Nb7 86. Ra6 Nd8 87. Rh6 Nb7 88. Rh7+ Kb6 89. Rg7 Na5 90. Rg1 Nb7 91.
Rc1 Na5 92. Rb1+ Kc7 93. Ke6 Nb7 94. Rc1+ Kb6 95. Rc2 Nc5+ 96. Kd6 Nb7+ 97. Kd5
Na5 98. Rb2+ Kc7 99. Kc5 Nb7+ 100. Kb5 Nd6+ 101. Ka6 Kc6 102. Rc2+ Kd5 103. Rc1
Nc4 104. Rxc4 Kxc4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.08"]
[Round "1.9"]
[White "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B72"]
[WhiteElo "2709"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bd3 g6 7. f3 Bg7 8. Be3
Nc6 9. Qd2 Bd7 10. O-O-O Rc8 11. Nxc6 Rxc6 12. Bh6 Bxh6 13. Qxh6 Rxc3 14. bxc3
Qa5 15. Kd2 Bc6 16. h4 Qxa2 17. Rb1 Qa3 18. Qe3 Qa5 19. g4 Nd7 20. Ra1 Qc5 21.
f4 e5 22. Qxc5 dxc5 23. Rhf1 Ke7 24. Ra5 h6 25. fxe5 Nxe5 26. Rxc5 Nxg4 27. e5
Rd8 28. Rf4 h5 29. Rd4 Re8 30. Bxa6 Kf8 31. Bb5 Nxe5 32. Bxc6 bxc6 33. Re4 f6
34. Ke3 Kf7 35. Kf4 Ra8 36. Rexe5 fxe5+ 37. Kxe5 Re8+ 38. Kf4 Re6 39. c4 Rf6+
40. Ke4 Kg7 41. Re5 Rf1 42. Kd4 Rf4+ 43. Re4 Rxe4+ 44. Kxe4 Kf6 45. Kf4 c5 46.
c3 g5+ 47. hxg5+ Kg6 0-1

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.08"]
[Round "1.10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2709"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 Bb4 5. Nge2 O-O 6. a3 Be7 7. Ng1 c5 8. Nf3
Nh5 9. dxc5 Nxf4 10. exf4 Bxc5 11. Bd3 g6 12. h4 Nc6 13. h5 Qf6 14. Qd2 e5 15.
Nxd5 Qd6 16. Bc4 b5 17. Ba2 exf4 18. O-O-O b4 19. hxg6 hxg6 20. Ng5 Bf5 21. Nh7
Rfd8 22. Nhf6+ Kf8 23. Rh8+ Kg7 24. Rh7+ Kf8 25. Rdh1 1-0

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.08"]
[Round "1.11"]
[White "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2709"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "145"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 Bg7 11. Bd3 Ne7 12. Nxe7 Qxe7 13. c4 f5 14. O-O O-O
15. Qh5 d5 16. cxd5 Qd8 17. exf5 Qxd5 18. Rad1 e4 19. Bxb5 Qxf5 20. Qxf5 Bxf5
21. Bd7 Bxd7 22. Rxd7 Bxb2 23. Nc4 Bg7 24. Rfd1 Rac8 25. Ne3 Rc5 26. g4 Ra5 27.
R1d2 Bh6 28. Re7 Bxe3 29. fxe3 Rg5 30. Rxe4 f5 31. Ra4 Rxg4+ 32. Rxg4+ fxg4 33.
Rd4 h5 34. Rd5 Rf3 35. Rxh5 Rxe3 36. Rg5+ Kh7 37. Rxg4 Ra3 38. Rg2 a5 39. Kf1
a4 40. Ke1 Rh3 41. Kd2 Ra3 42. Kc1 Rh3 43. Kb2 Kh6 44. Rg3 Rxh2+ 45. Ka3 Kh5
46. Rg8 Rd2 47. Ra8 Kg5 48. Rxa4 Kf5 49. Rc4 Ke5 50. Kb3 Kd6 51. a4 Kd7 52. Kb4
Rb2+ 53. Ka5 Rb1 54. Ka6 Rb2 55. a5 Rb1 56. Ka7 Rb5 57. a6 Rb1 58. Rh4 Kc7 59.
Rh7+ Kc8 60. Rb7 Rh1 61. Rb2 Rc1 62. Rh2 Rb1 63. Rh6 Kc7 64. Rh7+ Kc8 65. Rb7
Rh1 66. Ka8 Ra1 67. Rb6 Kc7 68. Rh6 Rb1 69. Rh7+ Kc8 70. Rh8+ Kc7 71. Rh7+ Kc8
72. Rh8+ Kc7 73. Rh7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.08"]
[Round "1.12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2709"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c3 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. Bc4 Nb6 6. Bb3 d6 7. d4 cxd4 8. cxd4
dxe5 9. Nxe5 Nc6 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. O-O Be7 12. Nc3 O-O 13. Qf3 Ba6 14. Rd1 Nd5
15. Ne4 Qb6 16. Qg3 Qb8 17. Bg5 f6 18. Bd2 Qxg3 19. hxg3 Bd3 20. Nc3 Rfc8 21.
Rac1 Kf7 22. Na4 Bb5 23. Nc5 Bxc5 24. Rxc5 Nb6 25. Re1 Re8 26. Ra1 Red8 27. a4
Bc4 28. Bxc4 Rxd4 29. a5 Rxc4 30. axb6 1-0

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.11"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. O-O Be7 5. d3 O-O 6. Nbd2 a5 7. c4 a4 8. Ne5
Nbd7 9. Ndf3 c5 10. Bf4 d4 11. Nxd7 Nxd7 12. e4 b5 13. b3 Qb6 14. Rb1 axb3 15.
axb3 Bb7 16. h4 Bc6 17. h5 Ra2 18. Bh3 Rfa8 19. Ne5 Nxe5 20. Bxe5 Bd7 21. h6 g6
22. Qf3 Qd8 23. Bg7 b4 24. e5 Bf8 25. Bxf8 Kxf8 26. Bg2 R8a6 27. Qf4 Bc6 28.
Bxc6 Rxc6 29. Rfe1 Rca6 30. Re4 Rc2 31. Qf3 Raa2 32. Rf1 Rcb2 33. Rf4 Qc7 34.
Rg4 Qxe5 35. Re4 Qh5 36. Qf6 Qxh6 37. Rxe6 1-0

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.11"]
[Round "2.2"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. c4 Nb6 4. d4 d6 5. exd6 cxd6 6. Nc3 g6 7. Be3 Bg7 8. h3
O-O 9. Nf3 Nc6 10. d5 Na5 11. Bd4 Bxd4 12. Qxd4 e5 13. dxe6 Bxe6 14. Ne4 Nc6
15. Nf6+ Kh8 16. Qf4 Bf5 17. Ng4 Re8+ 18. Be2 Bd3 19. Ne3 Bxe2 20. Kxe2 d5 21.
Ng5 Qe7 22. Rhe1 d4 23. Kf1 dxe3 24. Rxe3 Qd7 25. Nxf7+ Kg7 26. Rf3 Qd4 27. Nd6
Re7 28. Qxd4+ Nxd4 29. Rd3 Nc6 30. b3 Nd7 31. Rad1 Nc5 32. R3d2 a5 33. g3 a4
34. Rb2 Nb4 35. bxa4 Rxa4 36. a3 Nbd3 37. Rb3 Nxb3 0-1

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.11"]
[Round "2.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[PlyCount "139"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. g3 Bb4 4. e4 Bxc3 5. bxc3 O-O 6. f3 Re8 7. Nh3 c6 8. Nf2
d5 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. Bg2 b6 11. O-O Ba6 12. Re1 Nc6 13. d3 h6 14. exd5 Nxd5 15.
f4 Rc8 16. c4 Nf6 17. fxe5 Rxe5 18. Rxe5 Nxe5 19. Bb2 Ned7 20. Qa4 Nc5 21. Qa3
Bb7 22. Bxb7 Nxb7 23. Qxa7 Nc5 24. Qa3 h5 25. Re1 Ng4 26. Nxg4 hxg4 27. Qc3 f6
28. Re3 Qd7 29. Qd4 Rd8 30. Qxd7 Rxd7 31. d4 Na4 32. Ba1 Rc7 33. c5 bxc5 34.
Ra3 cxd4 35. Bxd4 Rc4 36. Be3 Nc3 37. Kf1 Kh7 38. Ke1 Kg6 39. Ra7 Rb4 40. Kd2
Nd5 41. Bc5 Rb2+ 42. Kd3 Rxh2 43. Rd7 Rh5 44. Bf8 Re5 45. Kd4 Nb6 46. Rxg7+ Kf5
47. Ra7 Re4+ 48. Kd3 Nc4 49. Bh6 Ne5+ 50. Kc3 Rc4+ 51. Kb3 Rd4 52. Rc7 Ke4 53.
a4 Rd3+ 54. Rc3 Rxc3+ 55. Kxc3 Kd5 56. Bg7 Nf3 57. Bxf6 Nh2 58. Kb4 Kc6 59. Bd4
Kb7 60. Bg1 Nf3 61. Bf2 Nh2 62. Kb5 Ka8 63. a5 Kb7 64. a6+ Ka8 65. Kc6 Nf1 66.
Kd5 Nxg3 67. Bxg3 Ka7 68. Ke4 Kxa6 69. Kf4 Kb5 70. Kxg4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.11"]
[Round "2.4"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. O-O Nge7 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 a6 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8.
Be2 Ng6 9. c4 Bc5 10. Nc3 Ba7 11. Kh1 O-O 12. f4 f5 13. e5 Qc7 14. Qd3 Rd8 15.
Rd1 Bb7 16. Be3 c5 17. Qd6 Qc8 18. Na4 Bc6 19. b3 Qb7 20. Bf1 Rac8 21. Qd2 Bxa4
22. bxa4 Qc6 23. Rab1 Bb8 24. Be2 Nh4 25. Bh5 Qxa4 26. Qf2 Ng6 27. Bxg6 hxg6
28. Bxc5 Qxc4 29. Bb6 Bc7 30. h3 Bxb6 31. Rxb6 a5 32. Rbd6 Qa4 33. Kh2 g5 34.
R1d4 Rc4 35. fxg5 Kf7 36. g6+ Kxg6 37. Qh4 Rxd4 38. Rxd4 Qb5 39. Qg3+ Kf7 40.
Rh4 Qc5 41. Rh7 Rg8 42. h4 Qd4 43. h5 Kf8 44. Kh3 a4 45. Qa3+ Kf7 46. Qg3 Kf8
47. Qa3+ Ke8 48. Qg3 f4 49. Qg6+ Kf8 50. Qg5 Qd3+ 51. Kh4 Qxh7 52. Qd8+ Kf7 53.
Qxd7+ Kf8 54. Qd8+ Kf7 55. Qd7+ Kf8 56. Qd8+ Kf7 57. Qd7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.11"]
[Round "2.5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. g3 Bb4 4. e4 Bxc3 5. dxc3 d6 6. f3 Be6 7. Nh3 a5 8. a4
O-O 9. b3 Na6 10. Ng5 Bd7 11. Be3 Nc5 12. Ra2 Ra6 13. Rd2 Rb6 14. Bxc5 dxc5 15.
Bh3 h6 16. Bxd7 hxg5 17. h4 Rd6 18. Rxd6 cxd6 19. Bf5 Nh5 20. Kf2 g6 21. Bg4
Nf6 22. Qd2 Nxg4+ 23. fxg4 Kg7 24. h5 Rh8 25. Ke2 f6 26. Kd1 Qd7 27. Qe2 b6 28.
Qf3 Rh6 29. Kc2 Qe6 30. Kb2 Qd7 31. Ka3 Qe6 32. Rd1 Rh8 33. Rd5 Rd8 34. Rd2 Rd7
35. Rh2 Rd8 36. hxg6 Kxg6 37. Qh1 Qg8 38. Rh6+ Kf7 39. Qh5+ Ke6 40. Rg6 Qf7 41.
Qxg5 Ke7 42. Qf5 Rg8 43. Rh6 Rg5 44. Qc8 Rg8 45. Qc7+ Ke6 46. Qc6 Re8 1-0

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.11"]
[Round "2.6"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. O-O Nge7 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Qb6 7. Nxc6 bxc6
8. Be2 Ng6 9. c4 Be7 10. Nc3 O-O 11. b3 c5 12. f4 Bb7 13. Bd3 d5 14. e5 Nh4 15.
g3 d4 16. Ne4 Nf5 17. g4 Ne3 18. Bxe3 dxe3 19. Qe2 Qc6 20. Ng3 f5 21. exf6 Bxf6
22. Be4 Qc7 23. Rad1 Bxe4 24. Nxe4 Bd4 25. b4 e5 26. f5 cxb4 27. Ng5 Rac8 28.
Rc1 Qc6 29. c5 Qd5 30. Ne6 Rf6 31. h3 a5 32. Kh2 Rxe6 33. fxe6 Qxe6 34. c6 h6
35. g5 hxg5 36. c7 a4 37. Qb5 Qxa2+ 38. Kg3 e2 39. Qd7 exf1=N+ 40. Rxf1 Rxc7
41. Qe8+ Kh7 42. Qh5+ Kg8 43. Qe8+ Kh7 44. Qh5+ Kg8 45. Qe8+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.12"]
[Round "2.7"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B01"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. Nc3 Qa5 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. O-O a6 7. Ba4 Nf6 8.
d3 O-O-O 9. Ng5 Bg4 10. Qd2 Bh5 11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. Qe1 h6 13. Nge4 e6 14. Bd2
Be7 15. b3 Bg6 16. Na4 Qd5 17. Ng3 c5 18. Be3 Ng4 19. Qa5 Nxe3 20. Qxa6+ Qb7
21. Qxb7+ Kxb7 22. fxe3 Ra8 23. Rf4 Bg5 24. Rf3 c4 25. dxc4 Kc6 26. Ne2 Rxa4
27. bxa4 Ra8 28. Nd4+ Kc5 29. Nb3+ Kxc4 30. h4 Bf6 31. Rd1 Be5 32. a5 Bh5 33.
Rd7 Bxf3 34. gxf3 Rf8 35. f4 Bd6 36. a6 Ra8 37. Rxf7 Rxa6 38. Rxg7 Rxa2 39. Rg2
e5 40. f5 Kc3 41. Nd2 Ra1+ 42. Kh2 Kxc2 43. Ne4+ Kd3 44. Nxd6 cxd6 45. Rg6 d5
46. Rxh6 Kxe3 47. h5 d4 48. Re6 e4 49. f6 d3 50. Kg2 d2 0-1

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.12"]
[Round "2.8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. g3 Bb4 4. e4 O-O 5. Nge2 d6 6. h3 Nc6 7. Bg2 a6 8. O-O
b5 9. d3 bxc4 10. dxc4 Bc5 11. Kh2 Rb8 12. b3 a5 13. Nd5 a4 14. Be3 axb3 15.
axb3 Bxe3 16. fxe3 Nd7 17. Nec3 Nc5 18. Nb5 Ne6 19. h4 Bd7 20. Bh3 Rb7 21. b4
Ne7 22. Ra2 Nc8 23. Ra8 Kh8 24. Qh5 Qe8 25. Bf5 h6 26. Bh3 c6 27. Nxd6 Nxd6 28.
Rxe8 Rxe8 29. Nf6 Re7 30. c5 Nc4 31. Nxd7 Rbxd7 32. Rxf7 Rxf7 33. Bxe6 Rf2+ 34.
Kh3 1-0

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.12"]
[Round "2.9"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. O-O Nge7 5. Re1 Nd4 6. Nxd4 cxd4 7. c3 Nc6 8.
d3 a6 9. Bxc6 dxc6 10. cxd4 Qxd4 11. Be3 Qd8 12. d4 Be7 13. Nd2 O-O 14. Rc1 f5
15. f4 Bb4 16. Qb3 a5 17. a3 Bxd2 18. Bxd2 Qxd4+ 19. Be3 a4 20. Qxe6+ Bxe6 21.
Bxd4 fxe4 22. Rxe4 Bd5 23. Re7 Rf7 24. Rce1 Raf8 25. Rxf7 Kxf7 26. Bc5 Re8 27.
Rxe8 Kxe8 28. Kf2 h5 29. h3 g6 30. g4 hxg4 31. hxg4 Be6 32. f5 gxf5 33. gxf5
Bxf5 34. Ke3 Bc2 35. Kd4 Bb3 36. Bb6 Kd7 37. Kc5 Bd5 38. Ba5 Bb3 39. Bb6 Bd5
40. Ba5 Bb3 41. Bb6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.12"]
[Round "2.10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. O-O Be7 5. d3 O-O 6. Nbd2 a5 7. e4 a4 8. a3 c5
9. Re1 Nc6 10. e5 Nd7 11. Nf1 f6 12. exf6 Nxf6 13. c3 Bd6 14. d4 cxd4 15. cxd4
Bd7 16. Ne5 Bxe5 17. dxe5 Ne4 18. f4 Be8 19. Bxe4 dxe4 20. Qxd8 Rxd8 21. Be3
Rd5 22. Rac1 g5 23. Bc5 Rf7 24. Rxe4 gxf4 25. gxf4 Na5 26. Bb4 Bc6 27. Re3 Nb3
28. Rg3+ Kh8 29. Re1 Nd4 30. Ne3 Rdd7 31. f5 Nxf5 32. Nxf5 Rxf5 33. Rf1 Rxf1+
34. Kxf1 Rg7 35. Rxg7 Kxg7 36. Ke2 Kg6 37. Be1 Kf5 38. Bg3 Ke4 39. Kd2 Kd4 40.
Kc2 Be4+ 41. Kd2 Bc6 42. Bf4 Be4 43. Bg3 Bc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.12"]
[Round "2.11"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. O-O Nge7 5. Re1 a6 6. Bf1 d5 7. exd5 Nxd5 8.
d4 Nf6 9. Be3 Be7 10. c4 O-O 11. Nc3 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Ne5 13. h3 Bd7 14. Bf4 Ng6
15. Bg3 Qb6 16. Nb3 Bc6 17. Qd4 Qb4 18. Rad1 a5 19. Bd6 Bxd6 20. Qxd6 Rfd8 21.
Qxd8+ Rxd8 22. Rxd8+ Nf8 23. Rd2 a4 24. Nc1 a3 25. Nd3 Qxc4 26. Rc1 axb2 27.
Rxb2 Qd4 28. Nb5 Bxb5 29. Rxb5 b6 30. a4 Nd5 31. a5 bxa5 32. Rxa5 g5 33. Rac5
Ng6 34. R5c4 Qa7 35. Nb4 Nxb4 36. Rxb4 Kg7 37. Rb5 Kf6 38. Rc3 h6 39. Rf3+ Kg7
40. g3 Ne7 41. Re5 Nc6 42. Re4 Qc5 43. h4 Nd4 44. Rd3 e5 45. hxg5 hxg5 46.
Rexd4 exd4 47. g4 Kf6 48. Rf3+ Ke7 49. Rg3 Qc1 50. Kg2 Qc6+ 51. Kg1 Qc1 52. Kg2
Qd1 53. Bd3 Kd6 54. Bf5 Kc5 55. Rh3 Kc4 56. Rg3 d3 57. Rxd3 Qxd3 58. Bxd3+ Kxd3
59. f4 gxf4 60. Kf3 f6 61. Kxf4 Ke2 62. g5 fxg5+ 63. Kxg5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.12"]
[Round "2.12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5
8. Rxe5 O-O 9. d4 Bf6 10. Re1 Re8 11. c3 Rxe1 12. Qxe1 Ne8 13. Bf4 d5 14. Bd3
g6 15. Nd2 Ng7 16. Nf3 c6 17. Qe2 Nh5 18. Bh6 Bg4 19. Re1 Bxf3 20. Qxf3 Bg5 21.
Bxg5 Qxg5 22. g3 Rf8 23. h4 Qd8 24. Qe3 Nf6 25. Qe7 Re8 26. Qxd8 Rxd8 27. Re7
Rd7 28. Re5 Kf8 29. Kg2 Ng4 30. Re2 Re7 31. Kf3 Nf6 32. Rxe7 Kxe7 33. Kf4 h6
34. g4 Ne8 35. g5 hxg5+ 36. hxg5 Kd6 37. Kg4 Ng7 38. f4 Ke6 39. b4 b5 40. Bc2
f5+ 41. Kf3 Ne8 42. Ke3 Nd6 43. Bd1 Ne4 44. Kd3 Nf2+ 45. Kd2 Nxd1 46. Kxd1 Kd7
47. Kc2 Kc7 48. Kb3 Kb6 49. a3 a6 50. Kb2 Kb7 51. Kb1 Kb8 52. Kb2 Kb7 53. Kb1
Kb8 54. Kb2 Kb7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.13"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "133"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 Bb4 4. e4 Bxc3 5. bxc3 O-O 6. f3 Re8 7. Kf2 c6 8. d4
d5 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. dxe5 Rxe5 11. c4 d4 12. Ne2 Nc6 13. Nf4 Nd7 14. Nd5 Re8 15.
Bf4 Nde5 16. Bxe5 Rxe5 17. Bd3 f5 18. Re1 fxe4 19. Bxe4 Bf5 20. Bxf5 Rxf5 21.
f4 Qd7 22. Rb1 Raf8 23. Kg1 R5f7 24. Rb2 Re8 25. Rbe2 Rff8 26. a4 Qf7 27. Qd3
Rxe2 28. Qxe2 Rd8 29. Qe4 g6 30. g4 Kf8 31. Kf2 Kg7 32. Kg3 Kf8 33. h3 a6 34.
Kf3 Kg7 35. Qe6 Qxe6 36. Rxe6 Kf7 37. f5 gxf5 38. gxf5 Rg8 39. Rh6 Kg7 40. Rd6
Rf8 41. Kf4 d3 42. Nc7 Rc8 43. Ne6+ Kf7 44. Rxd3 Ne7 45. Ng5+ Ke8 46. Ke5 Rc5+
47. Ke6 Nxf5 48. Ne4 Ng7+ 49. Kd6 Rxc4 50. Ke5 Rxa4 51. Nd6+ Ke7 52. Nxb7 Rh4
53. Ra3 Rh6 54. Nc5 Rh5+ 55. Kd4 a5 56. Rxa5 Ne6+ 57. Kc4 Nxc5 58. Rxc5 Rxh3
59. Kd4 Kf6 60. Ke4 Kg6 61. Kf4 Rh5 62. Rxh5 Kxh5 63. Kg3 Kg5 64. Kh2 Kh5 65.
Kh1 Kg5 66. Kg1 Kh5 67. Kh1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.13"]
[Round "3.2"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. h3 a6 8. Ba4 b5
9. Bc2 Bb6 10. a4 Bd7 11. Re1 Ne7 12. Nbd2 Ng6 13. Nf1 h6 14. Ng3 Re8 15. d4
bxa4 16. Bxa4 exd4 17. cxd4 Bxa4 18. Qxa4 Qd7 19. Qxd7 Nxd7 20. Be3 d5 21. exd5
Nf6 22. d6 cxd6 23. Nf5 Re6 24. Rec1 Bd8 25. Bd2 d5 26. Ne1 Ne4 27. Be3 Ne7 28.
Nxe7+ Bxe7 29. Nd3 Rb6 30. Kf1 Rb5 31. Rc2 Bf6 32. b4 Be7 33. Ra4 Rab8 34. Bf4
R8b7 35. f3 Ng5 36. Bxg5 hxg5 37. Rxa6 Bxb4 38. Nxb4 Rxb4 39. Rd2 Rb1+ 40. Kf2
R7b2 41. Ra2 Rxa2 42. Rxa2 Rd1 43. Ke3 f5 44. f4 gxf4+ 45. Kxf4 Rxd4+ 46. Kxf5
Kh7 47. g4 Rd1 48. Kg5 d4 49. Ra4 d3 50. Rd4 d2 51. h4 Ra1 52. Rxd2 Ra5+ 53.
Kf4 g5+ 54. hxg5 Kg6 55. Rd6+ Kg7 56. Re6 Rb5 57. Re5 Rb1 58. Re6 Rf1+ 59. Kg3
Rg1+ 60. Kf3 Rf1+ 61. Kg2 Ra1 62. g6 Ra3 63. Kf2 Rb3 64. Re3 Rxe3 65. Kxe3 Kxg6
66. g5 Kxg5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.13"]
[Round "3.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 d5 3. e3 c5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Nbd2 Nh5 6. dxc5 Nxf4 7. exf4 Qa5 8.
Bd3 Qxc5 9. O-O g6 10. Nb3 Qd6 11. Qd2 Bg7 12. c3 O-O 13. Rfe1 Bg4 14. Qe3 Bxf3
15. Qxf3 e6 16. h4 h5 17. g3 Rfe8 18. Rad1 a6 19. Nd2 b5 20. Ne4 Qd7 21. Ng5
Rad8 22. Bc2 b4 23. Ba4 bxc3 24. bxc3 Qc8 25. f5 gxf5 26. c4 Nd4 27. Rxd4 Bxd4
28. Bxe8 Rxe8 29. Qxh5 Qc7 30. cxd5 Re7 31. dxe6 f6 32. Qg6+ Kf8 33. Nf3 Bc3
34. Rc1 Rxe6 35. Nd4 Rb6 36. Qh6+ Kg8 37. Qe3 1-0

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.13"]
[Round "3.4"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. d3 Qc7 6. O-O Ne7 7. h4 e5 8. h5
d6 9. Nh2 Ng8 10. f4 Nf6 11. fxe5 dxe5 12. h6 Be6 13. hxg7 Bxg7 14. Bg5 Nd7 15.
Nd2 h5 16. Qe1 f6 17. Bh4 O-O-O 18. Kh1 Bh6 19. Nc4 Bf4 20. b4 Bxc4 21. dxc4
Rhg8 22. Nf3 cxb4 23. Qxb4 Be3 24. Rab1 a5 25. Qe7 Rde8 26. Qh7 Nc5 27. Qf5+
Qd7 28. Bxf6 Qxf5 29. exf5 Nd7 30. Rbe1 Nxf6 31. Rxe3 Ng4 32. Re4 Rgf8 33. Ne1
Nh6 34. f6 Ng4 35. Nd3 Nxf6 36. Rxe5 Ng4 37. Rxf8 Rxf8 38. Re1 Rd8 39. Re4 Kc7
40. g3 Rf8 41. Kg2 Rf5 42. Nf4 Kd6 43. Nxh5 Rxh5 44. Rxg4 Kc5 45. a3 a4 46. Re4
Rh8 47. g4 Rd8 48. g5 Rd2+ 49. Kf3 Rxc2 50. g6 Rc3+ 1-0

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.13"]
[Round "3.5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 O-O
8. Qd2 Nd7 9. O-O-O Nf6 10. Bd3 Re8 11. Rhe1 Bg4 12. Bg5 Qd7 13. a3 Bf5 14. Nd4
Bxd3 15. Qxd3 Nd5 16. Bxe7 Nxe7 17. h4 Ng6 18. h5 Ne5 19. Qg3 h6 20. Re4 Nc6
21. Rg4 Nxd4 22. Rxg7+ Kh8 23. cxd4 Qf5 24. f3 Re2 25. Rd2 Rxd2 26. Kxd2 Re8
27. Rg4 Qa5+ 28. Kd1 Qb5 29. Re4 Rxe4 30. fxe4 Qxb2 31. Qe3 Kg7 32. e5 Qb5 33.
Qg3+ Kh7 34. Qf3 Qc4 35. Qe4+ Kg7 36. exd6 cxd6 37. Kd2 Qb5 38. Qf3 Qg5+ 39.
Kc3 d5 40. g4 b6 41. Kb2 Kf8 42. a4 Ke7 43. Qe2+ Kd6 44. a5 bxa5 45. Qa6+ Ke7
46. Qxa7+ Kf6 47. Qxa5 Kg7 48. c4 Qxg4 49. Qxd5 f5 50. Qe5+ Kf7 51. c5 f4 52.
Qd5+ Kf6 53. Qd6+ Kg5 54. Qg6+ Kh4 55. Qxg4+ Kxg4 56. c6 f3 57. c7 1-0

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.13"]
[Round "3.6"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. d3 Qc7 6. O-O Ne7 7. h4 e5 8. h5
Ng8 9. Nh2 Nf6 10. f4 Be7 11. Nc3 d6 12. h6 gxh6 13. f5 Rg8 14. Bxh6 c4 15. Kh1
Ba6 16. b3 cxd3 17. cxd3 d5 18. exd5 O-O-O 19. Rc1 Nxd5 20. Qf3 Ba3 21. Ne4
Bxc1 22. Rxc1 Nb4 23. Nc5 Bxd3 24. f6 Bb5 25. a4 Ba6 26. Ng4 Kb8 27. Nxa6+ Nxa6
28. Nxe5 Qb7 29. Nxc6+ Ka8 30. Nxd8 Rxd8 31. Qe2 Nb8 32. Bf4 Qd5 33. Rc7 Nd7
34. Be3 Nxf6 35. Rxa7+ Kb8 36. Re7 Rd7 37. Bf4+ Kb7 38. Rxd7+ Nxd7 39. b4 Nb6
40. Qe7+ Nd7 41. Qd6 Qxd6 42. Bxd6 Kc6 43. Be7 Nb6 44. a5 Nd5 45. Bf8 Kb5 46.
Kh2 f5 47. Kg3 h5 48. Bc5 Ka6 49. Kh4 Nf4 50. g3 Ne2 51. Bd6 Kb5 52. Kxh5 Nc3
53. Kg6 Ne4 54. Bf4 1-0

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.14"]
[Round "3.7"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "130"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e5 4. O-O Bd6 5. d3 Nf6 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 a6 8. Bc4
Be7 9. c3 O-O 10. Nbd2 d6 11. a4 Nh5 12. Bg3 g6 13. Re1 Nxg3 14. hxg3 Kg7 15.
Nf1 h5 16. Ne3 h4 17. gxh4 Bxh4 18. g3 Bg5 19. Nxg5 Qxg5 20. Qf3 f5 21. exf5
Bxf5 22. Nxf5+ Rxf5 23. Qg2 Raf8 24. Re2 Rf3 25. Rae1 e4 26. dxe4 Ne5 27. Be6
Nd3 28. Bf5 Nxe1 29. Rxe1 Rd3 30. f4 Qxg3 31. Qxg3 Rxg3+ 32. Kf2 Rd3 33. Ke2 c4
34. Rg1 Rf6 35. Rg4 d5 36. a5 b6 37. axb6 Rxb6 38. b4 cxb3 39. Kxd3 b2 40.
Rxg6+ Rxg6 41. Kc2 Rb6 42. Kb1 Kf6 43. Bh7 dxe4 44. Bxe4 a5 45. Bc2 Ke6 46. c4
Kd6 47. f5 Kc5 48. f6 Rxf6 49. Kxb2 Kxc4 50. Bh7 Rf8 51. Be4 Re8 52. Bg6 Re7
53. Bh5 Kb4 54. Bf3 Rd7 55. Bg4 Rd2+ 56. Kb1 Rd6 57. Kb2 a4 58. Bh5 a3+ 59. Kb1
Rd7 60. Bg6 Rd1+ 61. Ka2 Rd2+ 62. Kb1 a2+ 63. Ka1 Ka3 64. Bc2 Re2 65. Bd1 Rg2
0-1

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.14"]
[Round "3.8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 a6 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be6 7. e3 Nbd7 8. h3
Bd6 9. Bd3 c6 10. Bf4 Qc7 11. Bxd6 Qxd6 12. O-O O-O 13. Qc2 g6 14. Rfc1 Qe7 15.
Na4 Ne8 16. b4 Nd6 17. Nc5 Nb6 18. Nxe6 Qxe6 19. Nd2 f5 20. Re1 Nbc4 21. Nf3 b5
22. a4 Ne4 23. axb5 axb5 24. Bxe4 fxe4 25. Ne5 Qd6 26. Qc3 Qf6 27. Rf1 Qe6 28.
Rfc1 Kg7 29. Rc2 Kg8 30. Rca2 Rxa2 31. Rxa2 Nxe5 32. dxe5 d4 33. Qb2 d3 34. Ra1
Rd8 35. Rc1 Qd5 36. Qa1 d2 37. Rd1 Qb3 38. e6 Qxe6 39. Qb2 Qd5 40. Qc3 Kf7 41.
Qa3 Rd7 42. Qc3 Rd8 43. Qa3 Ke6 44. Qb2 Qd3 45. Qa2+ Kf6 46. Qb2+ Kf7 47. Qa2+
Rd5 48. Qa7+ Rd7 49. Qa2+ Ke7 50. Qa1 Kd6 51. Kh2 Qd5 52. Kg1 Ke6 53. Qh8 Kd6
54. Qb8+ Ke7 55. Qh8 Qb3 56. Qe5+ Kf7 57. Qf4+ Kg7 58. Qe5+ Kf8 59. Qf4+ Kg8
60. Qb8+ Kf7 61. Qf4+ Ke8 62. Qe5+ Kf7 63. Qf4+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.14"]
[Round "3.9"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e5 4. O-O Bd6 5. c3 a6 6. Ba4 b5 7. Bc2 Nge7 8. d3
O-O 9. Be3 Bb7 10. Nh4 Re8 11. Nd2 Ng6 12. Nf5 Bf8 13. Qg4 d6 14. h4 Kh8 15.
Bb3 Qc7 16. Nf3 Na5 17. Bd5 Bxd5 18. exd5 f6 19. h5 Ne7 20. Nxe7 Qxe7 21. Nh4
Qf7 22. c4 bxc4 23. dxc4 e4 24. b3 Kg8 25. Bd2 Nb7 26. Bc3 Re5 27. Bxe5 dxe5
28. Rae1 Nd6 29. Nf5 g6 30. Nxd6 Bxd6 31. Qxe4 f5 32. Qh4 Re8 33. f3 gxh5 34.
Re3 Kh8 35. Rfe1 Qg6 36. Qh3 a5 37. Kh1 Qf7 38. a3 Re7 39. Qh4 Qg6 40. b4 Rg7
41. R1e2 cxb4 42. axb4 axb4 43. c5 f4 44. Re4 Bxc5 45. Rxe5 Be3 46. Re6 Qb1+
47. Re1 Qb2 48. Re8+ Rg8 49. Rxg8+ Kxg8 50. Qd8+ Kf7 51. Qd7+ Kg6 52. Qe8+ Kg7
53. Qe7+ Kg6 54. d6 Qd2 55. Rb1 b3 56. d7 b2 57. d8=Q 1-0

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.14"]
[Round "3.10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nc4 Nxe4 5. Qe2 Qe7 6. Ne3 Nc6 7. Nd5 Nd4 8.
Nxe7 Nxe2 9. Nd5 c6 10. Bxe2 cxd5 11. Nc3 Be6 12. Nb5 Kd7 13. d3 Nc5 14. Bf3
Be7 15. Nc3 d4 16. Ne2 Bf6 17. b3 Bf5 18. Kd1 Rab8 19. Bb2 Ne6 20. Bd5 a6 21.
Re1 h5 22. a4 h4 23. h3 Bg6 24. a5 Rh5 25. Bf3 Rc5 26. Ra4 Rbc8 27. Bxd4 Nxd4
28. Nxd4 Bxd4 29. Rxd4 Rxc2 30. Rc4 Bxd3 31. Rxc8 Rxc8 32. Re3 Bc2+ 33. Kd2 Bf5
34. Bxb7 Rc2+ 35. Kd1 Rc5 36. b4 Rb5 37. Bxa6 Rxb4 38. Ra3 Be4 39. f3 Ba8 40.
Kc2 d5 41. Kc3 Rf4 42. Bd3 Kc7 43. a6 g5 44. Rb3 f5 45. Rb4 Rxb4 46. Kxb4 Kb6
47. Bxf5 Kxa6 48. Kc5 Ka5 49. Be6 d4 50. Kxd4 Bc6 51. Ke5 Bb5 52. Kf6 Bf1 53.
Kxg5 Bxg2 54. f4 Kb6 55. Kxh4 Kc5 56. Kg5 Kd6 57. Kf6 1-0

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.14"]
[Round "3.11"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,80,28,41,46,44,44,25,49,52,65,19,19,19,19,9,25,28,53,53,58,47,47,45,
43,38,65,62,72,72,47,47,73,93,27,45,86,95,112,112,119,120,126,113,133,117,127,
89,121,117,147,127,158,112,108,119,149,84,172,160,167,137,174,161,134,103,265,
226,299,156,226,231,381,352,476,304,411,260,531,529,544,503,503]} 1. e4 c5 2.
Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e5 $6 4. O-O Bd6 {Not 3...h5, of course (which Magnus tried in
some other games), but odd enough.} 5. c3 {[%cal Yd2d4] The most logical plan.}
a6 6. Ba4 b5 7. Bc2 (7. Bb3 Bb7 8. d4 exd4 9. cxd4 c4 10. Bc2 Nb4 11. Nc3 Nxc2
12. Qxc2 Ne7 $13 {1/2 (48) Xu,Y (2545)-Zhou,W (2588) China 2019}) 7... Nge7 8.
d3 {This move is hardly ambitious.} (8. d4 cxd4 9. cxd4 exd4 10. Nxd4 Nxd4 11.
Qxd4 Qc7 12. Qd3 Bxh2+ 13. Kh1 Bf4 $13 {1-0 (29) Jones,G (2702)-Vidit,S (2707)
Hengshui 2019}) (8. a4 $5 Rb8 (8... b4 9. d4 cxd4 10. cxd4 exd4 (10... Nxd4 11.
Nxd4 exd4 12. Nd2) 11. Nbd2 $1 (11. Nxd4 Nxd4 12. Qxd4 Qc7 13. h3 a5 $13 {
1-0 (44) Saydaliev,S (2384)-Nigmatov,O (2447) Tashkent 2020}) 11... Bc5 (11...
Qc7 $5) 12. Nb3 d6 13. Nfxd4 Ne5 14. Bg5 f6 15. Bh4 O-O 16. f4 N5g6 17. Bg3 $16
{1/2 (38) Mammadova,G (2355)-Khukhashvili,S (2301) Batumi 2018}) 9. axb5 axb5
10. d4 cxd4 11. cxd4 Nxd4 12. Nxd4 exd4 13. Nd2 (13. Qxd4 $5 Qc7 14. h3) 13...
O-O 14. e5 Bxe5 15. Bxh7+ Kxh7 16. Qh5+ Kg8 17. Qxe5 Rb6 {0-1 (44) Bologan,V 
(2640)-Korobov,A (2695) Poikovsky 2017} 18. Nf3 $14) 8... Ng6 {Preventing
Nf3-h4.} (8... O-O 9. Be3 Bb7 10. Nh4 Re8 11. Nd2 Ng6 12. Nf5 Bf8 13. Qg4 $14 {
1-0 (57) Caruana,F (2835)-Carlsen,M (2863) lichess.org INT 2020}) 9. Be3 O-O
10. Nbd2 Be7 11. Bb3 d6 {A normal position, quite solid for Black, has arisen.}
12. Bd5 Qe8 (12... Qc7 {was more natural. If} 13. d4 {then} exd4 14. cxd4 Bb7)
13. d4 exd4 14. cxd4 Rb8 15. Rc1 (15. a3 cxd4 16. Nxd4 Nxd4 17. Bxd4 Be6 $11)
15... Nb4 $5 {[%mdl 512] A correct pawn sacrifice.} (15... c4 $143 $6 16. Bxc6
Qxc6 17. d5 {[%cal Yb2b3]}) 16. dxc5 dxc5 17. Bxc5 Nxd5 (17... Bxc5 $142 $1 18.
Rxc5 Nf4 $44) 18. exd5 Bxc5 19. Rxc5 {Black has no sufficient compensation now.
} Bb7 (19... Nf4 20. Re1 Qd8 21. Ne4 $16) 20. Nb3 {This knight had a better
route:} (20. Re1 $142 $1 Qd7 21. Nf1 Rbd8 22. Ne5 (22. Ne3 $143 Ne7) 22... Qd6
23. Nxg6 fxg6 (23... Qxc5 24. Nxf8 Kxf8 25. Ne3 Bxd5 $2 26. Qd3 {[%cal Rd3h7,
Re1d1]}) 24. Qd4 Rf4 25. Qe3 Rf5 26. Rd1 {, and Black can't regain the pawn.})
20... Qd7 $6 (20... Rd8 $1 21. Na5 Ba8 {[%csl Rd5][%cal Yd8d6,Ye8d7] , and
Black should regain the d5 pawn.}) 21. Na5 Ba8 22. Nc6 Rbe8 23. Nfd4 $16 {
White has kept his extra pawn and got perfect centralization.} Qd6 24. b4 Re4
25. Qf3 Rfe8 26. Nf5 Qd7 27. g3 h6 28. h4 Kh8 29. Ne3 Kg8 30. Rfc1 Nf8 31. Nf5
Nh7 32. Kg2 $2 (32. Nb8 $1 Qd8 33. Qxe4 Rxe4 34. Rc8 Re8 35. Rxd8 Rxd8 36. Nc6
$18) 32... Kh8 $2 (32... Bb7 $142 $16) 33. Nb8 $1 $18 Qd8 34. Nc6 Qd7 35. Nb8
Qd8 36. Nxa6 Bxd5 37. Nc7 Bb7 38. Nxe8 Re7 39. Qxb7 Rxb7 40. Ned6 Nf8 1-0

[Event "Clutch-ch June"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.06.14"]
[Round "3.12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[Annotator "Krasenkow,M"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2020.06.06"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 196 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.31"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,61,19,-12,-27,-33,-27,-42,-31,-47,-19,-19,-9,-17,57,42,42,62,21,23,23,
16,65,70,103,20,30,11,4,22,19,17,62,11,11,48,108,162,328,234,234,224,250,281,
272,252,324,338,616,474,322,346,538,569,1152,1394,1598,1526,1939,28516,28521,
29982,29983,29984]} 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 Bb4 4. e4 Bxc3 5. bxc3 O-O 6. f3
$6 {One of the controversial ideas tested by Magnus Carlsen in online chess.} (
6. Bg2 {leads to a normal theoretical position.}) 6... b5 $5 {This pawn
sacrifice is typical when White's light-squared bishop is already on g2, and
after cxb5 a6 bxa6 Bxa6 its black counterpart can take a powerful position.
Here White's bishop is more active, the position opens up, and White's bishop
pair can become powerful.} (6... Re8 {[%csl Yc6][%cal Yc7c6,Yd7d5] is more
normal, and now Carlsen has tried two plans:} 7. Nh3 ({and} 7. Kf2 $5 c6 8. d4
d5 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. dxe5 Rxe5 11. c4 $1 d4 12. Ne2 Nc6 13. Nf4 Nd7 14. Nd5 {
1/2 (67) Carlsen,M (2863)-Caruana,F (2835) lichess.org INT 2020} f5 $132) 7...
c6 8. Nf2 d5 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. Bg2 b6 11. O-O Ba6 12. Re1 Nc6 $13 {1/2 (70)
Carlsen,M (2863)-Aronian,L (2773) lichess.org INT 2020}) 7. d4 $1 {[%mdl 32]} (
7. cxb5 d5 $5 $44) 7... exd4 8. cxd4 bxc4 9. e5 Nd5 10. Bxc4 Bb7 {A bit too
passive.} (10... Nb6 11. Bd3 (11. Bb3 d6) 11... Bb7 $13 {[%cal Yd7d6] was more
accurate.}) 11. Nh3 d6 (11... Nb6 {gives White a nice possibility to weaken
Black's kingside:} 12. Qd3 $5 Nxc4 13. Ng5 $1 g6 14. Qxc4 $36) 12. O-O ({
Here, too,} 12. Qd3 $1 {was appropriate.}) 12... Nd7 13. Re1 dxe5 14. dxe5 N7b6
(14... N5b6 $5 15. e6 $1 (15. Bf1 $2 Nxe5 $1) 15... Ne5 $1 16. exf7+ Kh8 17.
Be2 Qf6 (17... Qxd1 18. Bxd1 Nxf3+ 19. Bxf3 Bxf3 20. Ng5 $18 {[%cal Rc1a3]})
18. Nf4 Qxf7 19. Bb2 $36) 15. Bb3 Qe7 (15... c5 $5 16. Ba3 $1 $36) 16. e6 $1
fxe6 {After this capture White's knight powerfully enters the game.} (16... f6
$1 {was relatively better although White kept advantage due to his strong e6
pawn.}) 17. Ng5 Rf6 18. Qc2 Rg6 $2 {Black loses at once.} (18... g6 19. Bb2 c5
{, giving up an exchange, was a lesser evil. White should win in any case, e.g.
} 20. Bxf6 Qxf6 21. Ne4 $1 ({but not} 21. Nxe6 $2 c4 22. Bxc4 Rc8) 21... Qd4+ (
21... Qxf3 22. Qxc5 Rc8 23. Qd4 $18 {[%cal Re4g5]}) 22. Qf2 Qxf2+ 23. Kxf2 c4
24. Bd1 {etc.}) 19. Rxe6 $1 $18 Qxe6 20. Nxe6 Rxe6 21. Bb2 Rae8 22. Bd4 Kh8 23.
Qf5 Bc8 24. Qh5 c5 25. Bxc5 Re5 26. Qf7 Bh3 27. Bf8 Re1+ 28. Rxe1 Rxe1+ 29. Kf2
Rf1+ 30. Ke2 Nc3+ 31. Kd3 1-0

[Event "Chessable Masters GpA"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.06.20"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "145"]
[EventDate "2020.06.20"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 e5 4. d4 cxd4 5. cxd4 exd4 6. Nxd4 Nf6 7. Nxc6 bxc6
8. Bd3 Bd6 9. O-O O-O 10. Nc3 Re8 11. h3 Be5 12. Qc2 h6 13. Bd2 d5 14. exd5
cxd5 15. Rfe1 Bd7 16. Rad1 Rc8 17. Qb1 Qb6 18. Re2 Bd4 19. Rde1 Re6 20. Bf5
Rxe2 21. Rxe2 Bxf5 22. Qxf5 Qa6 23. Re7 Rd8 24. a3 Qb6 25. b4 Qd6 26. Re1 Qa6
27. a4 Qc4 28. Nb5 Ne4 29. Nxd4 Qxd4 30. Be3 Qxb4 31. Rc1 Nc3 32. Qf3 d4 33.
Bxd4 Qxd4 34. Rxc3 Qxa4 35. Kh2 Qd7 36. Ra3 a5 37. g3 Qd5 38. Qc3 Ra8 39. h4 a4
40. Qb4 Qc6 41. Qd4 h5 42. Qb4 g6 43. Qd4 Kh7 44. Qf4 Qd7 45. Qb4 Ra6 46. Qf4
Ra5 47. Qb4 Rf5 48. Qb2 Qa7 49. Re3 Qc5 50. Kg1 Qc6 51. Qa2 Kg7 52. Kh2 Kh7 53.
Ra3 Qc5 54. Kg2 Qc6+ 55. Kh2 Qc5 56. Kg2 Rxf2+ 57. Qxf2 Qxa3 58. Qxf7+ Kh6 59.
Qg8 Qb2+ 60. Kh3 Qg7 61. Qe8 Qd4 62. Qe7 Qd5 63. Kh2 Qa2+ 64. Kh3 Qd5 65. Kh2
Qd4 66. Kh3 Qa1 67. Kh2 Qa2+ 68. Kh3 Qc4 69. Kh2 Qc2+ 70. Kh3 Qf5+ 71. Kh2 Qc8
72. Qe3+ Kh7 73. Qa7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chessable Masters GpA"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.06.20"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2719"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "170"]
[EventDate "2020.06.20"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c4 b4 12. Nc2 a5 13. g3 g6 14. Nxf6+ Qxf6
15. Bg2 O-O 16. O-O Bb7 17. Qd2 Nb8 18. Rfd1 Ra6 19. Qe3 Nd7 20. a3 Rb6 21.
axb4 axb4 22. Ra4 b3 23. Ne1 Nc5 24. Ra3 Ra6 25. Rxa6 Bxa6 26. Bf1 Rc8 27. Nf3
Bb7 28. Nd2 Bc6 29. Ra1 Rb8 30. Ra3 Ba4 31. h4 h5 32. Be2 Kg7 33. Nb1 Qd8 34.
Nd2 Ra8 35. Kh2 Ne6 36. Nf3 Bc6 37. Rxa8 Qxa8 38. Qxb3 Bxe4 39. Qe3 Bb7 40. c5
Nxc5 41. Nxe5 Qa1 42. Nf3 Qxb2 43. Ng5 Bd5 44. Bf3 Bxf3 45. Qxf3 Qf6 46. Qe3
Ne6 47. Nf3 Qf5 48. Kg2 Qd5 49. Kg1 Kf6 50. Qc3+ Ke7 51. Qe3 Qc5 52. Qd3 Qc1+
53. Kg2 Qc6 54. Kg1 Nc5 55. Qe3+ Qe4 56. Qc3 Ne6 57. Qa3 Ke8 58. Kg2 g5 59. Kg1
g4 60. Ng5 Nxg5 61. hxg5 Qe1+ 62. Kg2 Qe5 63. Qa8+ Ke7 64. Qg8 Qe4+ 65. Kg1 Qg6
66. Qc8 Qb1+ 67. Kh2 Qb6 68. Kg2 Qc5 69. Qg8 Qf5 70. Qb8 Qe4+ 71. Kg1 d5 72.
Qc7+ Kf8 73. Qd8+ Kg7 74. Qf6+ Kg8 75. Qd8+ Kh7 76. Qf6 Qg6 77. Qf4 Qe6 78. Qd4
Kg6 79. Kf1 Kxg5 80. Qg7+ Kf5 81. Qh8 Ke4 82. Qxh5 Kd3 83. Qh7+ Qe4 84. Qh6 Kc2
85. Qc6+ Qc4+ 0-1

[Event "Chessable Masters GpA"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.06.20"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B14"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2777"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2020.06.20"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 O-O 5. Bg5 c5 6. e3 cxd4 7. exd4 d5 8.
cxd5 exd5 9. Be2 h6 10. Bxf6 Qxf6 11. O-O Bxc3 12. bxc3 Nc6 13. Nd2 Be6 14. Re1
Rfc8 15. Nf1 Na5 16. Rc1 Nc4 17. Qb3 b6 18. Bxc4 Rxc4 19. Ne3 Rc6 20. Qa3 Qd8
21. c4 dxc4 22. d5 Bxd5 23. Rcd1 Rc5 24. Qc3 Qd7 25. Rd4 Re8 26. Red1 Rxe3 27.
Qxe3 c3 28. f3 Qc6 29. Qd3 c2 30. Rc1 Rc3 31. Qf5 Qe8 32. Qf4 Bxa2 33. Qd2 Qc6
34. Ra4 Qc5+ 35. Kh1 Be6 36. Rxa7 b5 37. Ra5 Rc4 38. h3 Qc6 39. Qd8+ Kh7 40.
Qd3+ g6 41. Qd8 b4 42. Ra8 Bc8 43. Rb8 Kg7 44. Rb6 Qc7 45. Qxc7 Rxc7 46. Rxb4
g5 47. g4 Rc3 48. Kg2 Bd7 49. Rb2 Bc6 50. Rbxc2 Bxf3+ 51. Kg3 Rxc2 52. Rxc2 Bd5
53. Rc5 Be6 54. h4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chessable Masters GpA"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.06.20"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2699"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2020.06.20"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,92,24,26,26,12,70,32,46,15,47,16,63,29,56,34,41,22,73,1,28,7,22,21,21,
32,32,30,28,24,17,-79,-65,-60,-64,-72,-15,-20,5,0,7,-10,-6,-11,2,-60,45,31,141,
15,8,-13,-35,-85,-121,-179,86,-199,-205,-280,-277,-279,-291,-312,-196,-157,-90,
-108,-108,-120,-120,-120,-93,-172,-159,-153,-138,-153,-62,-143,-123,-180,-192,
-149,-130,-168,-182,-209,-295,-469,-469,-655,-749,-749,-749]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3
c6 3. h3 $5 {A funny way to prepare Bf4, as the move h3 is useful against
future ...Nh5 ideas. By delaying Bf4, White also delays a possible ...Qb6 to
attack the b2-pawn.} d6 4. Bf4 Nbd7 ({In the event of} 4... Qb6 {White could
sac a pawn with} 5. Nbd2 {and e2-e4. Note a logical answer if the pawn was on
d7 would be ...d5, but to play ...d6 and then ...d5 makes little sense.
Another advantage of 3.h3!}) 5. e3 g6 6. Be2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. c4 ({Older
games went} 8. Nbd2 {- definitely more efficient against 8...Ne4, but also
less aggressive!}) 8... Ne4 9. Qc2 e5 $1 $146 {An excellent novelty!} (9... f5
{was always played so far, but Black almost always ended up having a "bad
Dutch" position.}) 10. Bh2 ({Black would be happy to sac a pawn with} 10. Qxe4
$6 Nf6 11. Qc2 exf4 12. exf4 Nh5 $36) (10. dxe5 dxe5 11. Qxe4 $2 exf4 {is even
worse as b2 is hanging.}) 10... Ng5 11. Nbd2 Nxf3+ 12. Nxf3 Re8 {With the move
9...e5 Black managed not to weaken anything.} 13. Rfd1 Qe7 14. Rac1 exd4 15.
exd4 $5 {Difficult to say if Magnus missed Dubov's next move winning an
exchange to deliverately sacced it - although knowing Magnus, option 2 is a
bit more likely!} (15. Nxd4 {would be safe but Black would be fine after} Be5
$1 {neutralizing the h2-bishop.} (15... a5 16. Nf3 Ne5 {is possible as well.}))
15... Bh6 (15... Qxe2 $2 16. Re1 $18) 16. Bd3 Bxc1 17. Qxc1 Qf6 {According to
the engine, this move is unprecise. Later, f6 is rather a square for the
f7-pawn to consolidate the dark squares.} (17... Nb6 $5 {with the idea of ...
Be6 made a lot of sense. White has compensation, but he isn't better!}) 18. Bf4
$1 Nf8 (18... d5 {- preventing White's 20th move - was better, it seems. It
isn't a logical move against Bf4 systems, but somehow the last moves changed
the nature of the position and now White's bishop is trying to change his
diagonal. After 19.Ne5 or 19.Nh2 White has compensation for equality.}) 19. Bg5
Qh8 20. d5 $1 {With this move, White paralyzes a bit Black's pieces, and his
initiative starts to be good enough to play for an advantage. The main
explication is that is gains space, and that the d6-pawn will remain a
weakness.} cxd5 21. cxd5 Nd7 22. Bb5 Qg7 ({Black probably didn't play} 22... a6
{due to} 23. Bxd7 Bxd7 24. Qf4 {threatening Bf6 and Qxd6; however, here Black
can equalize in an elegant maneer:} f6 $1 25. Bxf6 Rf8 26. Qxd6 Qxf6 27. Qxd7
Rf7 $13) 23. Bh6 Qf6 24. Rd4 $2 {Magnus is right to play for a win, but he
chose the wrong move.} (24. Qc7 $1 {was pausing great problems:} Qd8 (24... Qe7
25. Qc3 $1 f6 26. Re1 $18) 25. Qxd6 (25. Qc3 $5 f6 26. Nd4 {is pretty annoying
as well}) 25... Ne5 $1 (25... Nf6 26. Qb4 Bd7 27. Bxd7 Nxd7 28. d6 $16) 26. Qb4
$5 Nxf3+ 27. gxf3 Re5 28. Qd4 f6 29. Bf4 $16) 24... a6 25. Rf4 $5 ({Again,
Magnus refuses to make a draw with} 25. Bg5 Qg7 26. Bh6 {and perpetual check...
on the queen!}) 25... Qe7 26. Bxd7 Bxd7 27. Bg5 Rac8 $1 (27... Qe2 28. Qc7 {
should be problematic for Black.}) 28. Qa1 $2 (28. Qxc8 {would lead to a dry
equality. Thus Magnus found another way to continue the game - but this time
took a wrong decision.}) 28... Qe2 29. b3 Rc2 30. Bh4 Rb2 ({There was nothing
wrong with} 30... Rxa2 {as} 31. Qf6 {is answered with} Qd1+ 32. Kh2 Qxd5 $19)
31. Kh2 {A fun way to paralyze the White queen.} Qc2 (31... h6 {was good as
well.}) 32. Rc4 Qb1 {Dubov is right about that - without queens on the board,
he's definitely better.} 33. Qxb1 Rxb1 34. Rc7 Bf5 35. Bf6 h6 36. Nd2 (36. Rxb7
Be4 37. Nd4 Bxd5 $17) 36... Rd1 37. Nc4 Rxd5 38. Rxb7 Be6 39. Ra7 Rd1 40. Nb2
$2 (40. Rxa6 {was necessarg to keep some chances.}) 40... Rd2 41. Kg3 g5 $1 {
Now it's all over. White became passve the the black king has nothing to fear
any more.} 42. Rxa6 Rc8 43. h4 gxh4+ 44. Kf3 Rcc2 45. Na4 Rxf2+ 46. Ke3 Rxf6
0-1

[Event "Chessable Masters GpA"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.06.20"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Artemiev, Vladislav"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A06"]
[WhiteElo "2716"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "155"]
[EventDate "2020.06.20"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. e3 c5 3. b3 a6 4. Bb2 Nc6 5. d4 Bg4 6. Be2 Bxf3 7. Bxf3 cxd4 8.
exd4 e6 9. O-O Nf6 10. c4 Be7 11. Na3 O-O 12. Nc2 Qd7 13. Qe2 Rfd8 14. Rfd1 Bf8
15. Ne3 g6 16. a3 a5 17. Rac1 Ne7 18. g3 Bg7 19. Rc2 a4 20. b4 dxc4 21. Nxc4
Nfd5 22. Ne5 Qe8 23. Be4 Rac8 24. Rdc1 Rxc2 25. Rxc2 Nf5 26. Bd3 Nd6 27. Rc5 b6
28. Rc2 Rc8 29. b5 Ne7 30. Rxc8 Qxc8 31. Qd1 Qa8 32. Qc2 Nd5 33. Be2 Qa5 34.
Nc6 Qe1+ 35. Bf1 Nxb5 36. Qxa4 Nbc3 37. Bxc3 Qxc3 38. Nd8 Qc7 39. Nc6 Bf8 40.
Ne5 Kg7 41. Nc4 Be7 42. Qb3 Bf6 43. Ne3 Qc3 44. Qxc3 Nxc3 45. Nc2 Be7 46. Bc4
g5 47. Kf1 Nb1 48. Ba2 Nxa3 49. Nxa3 Bxa3 50. g4 b5 51. Ke2 h5 52. gxh5 Bd6 53.
h3 Kh6 54. d5 e5 55. Bb1 Kxh5 56. Bf5 Kh4 57. Kd3 Bc5 58. Ke4 f6 59. Kf3 b4 60.
Kg2 b3 61. Kf1 b2 62. Kg2 Bd6 63. f3 Kh5 64. Kf1 Bc5 65. Be4 Kh6 66. Ke2 Kg7
67. Kd2 Kf7 68. Kc3 Bd4+ 69. Kc4 Ke7 70. Bf5 Kd6 71. Be4 Kc7 72. Kb5 Bf2 73.
Bf5 Kd6 74. Kc4 e4 75. Bxe4 Ke5 76. Kb3 Bd4 77. Kc2 Kd6 78. Kb1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chessable Masters GpA"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.06.22"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2020.06.20"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,55,26,25,30,-9,-9,3,3,-13,15,15,31,1,31,22,39,65,61,63,123,119,113,78,
123,99,121,97,135,91,103,86,109,43,170,89,173,187,171,173,173,168,168,195,199,
193,224,89,192,136,232,262,222,273,303,297,721,721]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3
d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. a3 $5 Nbd7 ({The main move here is} 6... b6 {
but Nakamura decided otherwise.}) 7. Nb5 Ne8 {By playing this move, Black
slows down his play, but of course White is also losing time with his
b5-knight.} (7... c6 $2 {loses to} 8. Bc7 Qe8 9. Nd6 $18) 8. e3 dxc4 {Probably
not the best move, but Black has been struggling to equalize with other moves
as well.} (8... a6 9. Nc3 Nef6 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Nxd5 exd5 12. Bd3 c5 13. Rc1 (
13. O-O $5) (13. dxc5 Nxc5 14. O-O {is possible as well.}) 13... cxd4 $6 (13...
Qa5+ {looked much more natural, but here Blac can try the interesting} 14. b4
$5 cxb4 15. Bc7 b6 16. axb4 Qxb4+ 17. Ke2 {with full compensation.}) (13... c4
14. Bb1 Qa5+ {might be best.}) 14. Nxd4 (14. Bc7 $5) 14... Qa5+ 15. Kf1 Qd8 16.
g4 $5 Nc5 17. Bb1 Ne4 18. Kg2 Bg5 19. f3 Nd6 20. Re1 $14 {½-½ (67)
Mamedyarov,S (2772)-Zvjaginsev,V (2627) Moscow 2019}) (8... Ndf6 9. Rc1 c6 (
9... Nh5 10. Bg3 g6 11. Be2 dxc4 12. Bxc4 Nd6 13. Qe2 Bd7 14. O-O a6 15. Nc3
Rc8 16. b4 $14 {1-0 (33) Fressinet,L (2670)-Aleksandrov,A (2601) Rijeka 2010})
10. Nc3 b6 11. Qa4 Bb7 12. cxd5 exd5 13. Ne5 b5 14. Qc2 $14 {½-½ (36)
Vitiugov,N (2709)-Yu Yangyi (2764) Shenzhen 2018}) (8... c6 {was played the
most often:} 9. Nc3 f5 10. h3 (10. h4 $5) 10... Nd6 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Bd3 Nf6
13. Ne5 {and there were several games, but White is a bit better.}) 9. Bxc4 c5
$6 $146 {This just seems like a poor (and surely decided over-the-board)
novelty. Black had two tries to equalize.} (9... a6 10. Nc3 b5 11. Be2 $5 (11.
Bd3 Bb7 12. b4 $5 a5 13. Rb1 axb4 14. axb4 Bxf3 15. Qxf3 Ra3 16. Kd2 {was
played in the game Sanikidze,T (2527)-Maghalashvili,D (2504) GEO 2015, 0-1 (65)
, but Black after} Bd6 $5 $146 {the position is unclear.}) 11... c5 12. O-O Bb7
13. d5 (13. dxc5 Nxc5 14. b4 Ne4 15. Nxe4 Bxe4 {shouldn't promise White
anything.}) 13... exd5 14. Nxd5 Bd6 15. a4 c4 (15... Ndf6 $5) (15... Nb6 $5)
16. Bg5 f6 17. Bh4 Nc5 18. axb5 axb5 19. Nc3 Rxa1 20. Qxa1 Bxf3 (20... Nb3 $5)
21. gxf3 Qb8 22. Bg3 Bxg3 23. hxg3 $14 {1-0 (32) Mamedyarov,S (2772)-Jakovenko,
D (2698) Jerusalem 2019}) (9... Nd6 10. Qc2 $5 (10. Nxd6 Bxd6 11. Bxd6 cxd6 12.
O-O b6 (12... Nf6 $5) 13. Rc1 Bb7 14. d5 $1 e5 15. Bb5 Nf6 (15... Rc8 $1 16.
Bc6 $6 Ba6 17. Re1 Nc5 $132) 16. Bc6 Qe7 17. Nxe5 $1 dxe5 18. d6 Qe6 19. Bxb7
Rad8 20. Qa4 a5 21. Rfd1 Rxd6 22. Rc6 Rxc6 23. Qxc6 Qb3 24. Rd2 $16 {1-0 (57)
Xiong,J (2707)-Tabatabaei,M (2642) Khanty-Mansiysk RUS 2019}) (10. Bd3 $5 Nxb5
11. Bxb5 a6 12. Bd3 c5 13. Qc2 $1 Qa5+ (13... h6 14. O-O cxd4 15. Bc7 Qe8 16.
Nxd4 $14) 14. b4 $1 cxb4 15. O-O $1 bxa3 16. Bxh7+ Kh8 17. Bd3 Nf6 18. Rfb1 $36
) (10. Be2 $5 {with the same idea is 10.Bd3.}) 10... a6 11. Nxd6 cxd6 12. Bd3
h6 13. O-O Nb6 14. e4 Bd7 15. Qe2 $14 {½-½ (50) Wojtaszek,R (2701)-Neverov,V
(2489) Legnica 2013}) 10. dxc5 a6 11. Nbd4 Bxc5 ({After} 11... Nxc5 12. O-O {
Black also have difficulties to organize his pieces as} b5 $2 {loses to} 13.
Nc6 $18) 12. O-O Qe7 13. Rc1 Bd6 14. Ba2 $1 {Black's postion is even worse
than it looks. Black could never manage to play ...b5.} Ndf6 (14... Bxf4 15.
exf4 $16) 15. Ne5 Nd7 $2 (15... Nd5 16. Bg3 $16) 16. Ndc6 $1 {A nice tactics!}
Qh4 (16... bxc6 17. Nxc6) 17. Bg3 Qg5 18. h4 Qf6 19. Ng4 Qxb2 20. Bxd6 bxc6 (
20... Nxd6 21. Ne7+ Kh8 22. Qxd6 Qxa2 23. Nxc8 $18) 21. Rc2 Qb5 22. Bxf8 Nxf8
23. h5 $6 (23. Qd8 {or 23.Qd4 were stronger according to the engine.}) 23... h6
({Black could simply take on h5. After} 23... Qxh5 {White should still be
winning:} 24. Qd8 (24. Qd4 $5) 24... Bb7 25. Qb6 Rb8 26. Qa7 Rd8 27. Qxb7 Qxg4
28. Rxc6 {White is just winning.}) 24. Qf3 Qxh5 {Now it's too late!} 25. Qxc6
Nc7 26. Qf3 Nd5 27. e4 e5 28. Nxh6+ $1 1-0

[Event "Chessable Masters GpA"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.06.22"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2719"]
[PlyCount "133"]
[EventDate "2020.06.20"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. e3 O-O 5. Be2 d6 6. O-O Nfd7 7. c4 e5 8. Bg3
Nc6 9. Nc3 exd4 10. exd4 Nf6 11. h3 Bf5 12. d5 Ne7 13. Nd4 Ne4 14. Nxf5 gxf5
15. Bd3 Bxc3 16. bxc3 Ng6 17. Qf3 Qg5 18. h4 Nxh4 19. Bxh4 Qxh4 20. Qxf5 Nf6
21. g3 Qh6 22. Kg2 Rfe8 23. Rh1 Qg7 24. Qf4 h5 25. c5 Re5 26. cxd6 cxd6 27.
Rae1 Nxd5 28. Qf3 Qg4 29. Rxe5 Qxf3+ 30. Kxf3 dxe5 31. Rxh5 Re8 32. c4 Nc3 33.
Be4 b6 34. a3 Nxe4 35. Kxe4 Rc8 36. Kd3 Rc5 37. Kc3 Kg7 38. a4 f6 39. Rh1 Rc7
40. Rd1 Kg6 41. Rd5 Kf5 42. a5 bxa5 43. Rxa5 Ke4 44. Ra6 Rf7 45. Rd6 Kf3 46.
Rd2 Rc7 47. Kb4 Rb7+ 48. Kc5 e4 49. Kd6 Rh7 50. c5 Rh2 51. Rd5 Rxf2 52. Rf5+
Kxg3 53. Rxf2 Kxf2 54. c6 e3 55. c7 e2 56. c8=Q e1=Q 57. Qf5+ Kg2 58. Qxf6 Qb4+
59. Kd5 a5 60. Qd4 Qb3+ 61. Qc4 a4 62. Kd4 Qb2+ 63. Kd3 a3 64. Qc2+ Qxc2+ 65.
Kxc2 a2 66. Kb2 a1=Q+ 67. Kxa1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chessable Masters GpA"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.06.22"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2777"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2020.06.20"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e5 4. O-O Bd6 5. d4 exd4 6. c3 a6 7. Bc4 b5 8. e5
Bc7 9. Bd5 Nge7 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 12. cxd4 cxd4 13. Nbd2 O-O 14. Nb3 Bb7
15. Re1 Bb6 16. Nfxd4 Nxd4 17. Bxb7 Nxb3 18. Qxb3 Ra7 19. Bd5 Kh8 20. a4 d6 21.
exd6 Qxd6 22. axb5 axb5 23. Rxa7 Bxa7 24. Qxb5 Qf4 25. Qe2 Rd8 26. Rd1 Qf5 27.
Bf3 Rxd1+ 28. Qxd1 Qc5 29. Qe1 g6 30. g3 Kg7 31. Kg2 Qc2 32. Qe5+ Kg8 33. Qe2
Qxe2 34. Bxe2 Bc5 35. g4 g5 36. Bc4 Kf8 37. Kf3 Ke7 38. Ke2 f6 39. Kf3 Kd6 40.
h3 Ke5 41. b3 Kd4 42. Bg8 Bb4 43. Bc4 Bc5 44. Bg8 Bb4 45. Bc4 Bc5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chessable Masters GpA"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.06.22"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E07"]
[WhiteElo "2699"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2020.06.20"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 e6 5. g3 Nbd7 6. Bg2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. b3
b6 9. Re1 Ba6 10. Nd2 Rc8 11. Bb2 c5 12. dxc5 Nxc5 13. b4 Nce4 14. Ncxe4 dxe4
15. b5 Bb7 16. e3 Bb4 17. Re2 Qd3 18. Rb1 Bc3 19. Ba3 Rfd8 20. Rb3 Qxc4 21. Qe1
Qd5 22. Bb4 Qxb3 23. axb3 Bxb4 24. Bf1 a5 25. Qd1 h6 0-1

[Event "Chessable Masters GpA"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.06.22"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Artemiev, Vladislav"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A16"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2716"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2020.06.20"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. h4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. h5 O-O 8.
hxg6 hxg6 9. Ba3 Re8 10. e4 Nd7 11. Bc4 c5 12. d4 b5 13. Bxb5 Qa5 14. Qa4 Qxc3+
15. Ke2 Nb6 16. Qb3 Qxb3 17. axb3 Bd7 18. Bxd7 Nxd7 19. Rhd1 Rab8 20. Rab1 cxd4
21. Nxd4 Rb6 22. b4 Nf6 23. f3 Nh5 24. b5 Bxd4 25. Rxd4 a6 26. Rd7 e5 27. Ke3
Rxb5 28. Rxb5 axb5 29. Rb7 Rc8 30. Bb4 Rc2 31. Rxb5 Rb2 32. Rb8+ Kh7 33. Bd6
Rxb8 34. Bxb8 f6 35. g4 Nf4 36. g5 Kg7 37. gxf6+ Kxf6 38. Bc7 Ne6 39. Bb8 Nf4
40. Bc7 Ne6 41. Bb8 Nf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.06.25"]
[Round "1.11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 a6 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be6 7. e3 Nbd7 8. h3
Bd6 9. Bd3 c6 10. Bf4 Qc7 11. Bxd6 Qxd6 12. O-O O-O 13. Qb3 Rab8 14. a4 Rfe8
15. Qa3 Qc7 16. Rfc1 Nb6 17. b4 Ra8 18. a5 Nc8 19. b5 axb5 20. Nxb5 Qd8 21. Nc3
Nd6 22. Qb4 Qe7 23. a6 bxa6 24. Rxa6 Rxa6 25. Bxa6 Ra8 26. Bf1 Nc8 27. Qb2 Nd7
28. Ne2 Rb8 29. Qc3 Rb6 30. Qa5 Qd6 31. Nf4 Ne7 32. Nxe6 fxe6 33. Ne5 Rb8 34.
Qa7 Nxe5 35. dxe5 Qd8 36. Be2 Kh8 37. Bg4 Ng6 38. f4 Ra8 39. Qc5 Qe8 40. Qxc6
Qxc6 41. Rxc6 d4 42. exd4 Nxf4 43. g3 Nd3 44. Bxe6 Ra1+ 45. Kg2 g6 46. Bc4 Nb4
47. Rc8+ Kg7 48. d5 1-0

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.06.25"]
[Round "1.12"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "128"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. a4 a5 7. O-O h6 8. Re1 O-O
9. h3 Be6 10. Bb5 Na7 11. d4 exd4 12. cxd4 Nxb5 13. dxc5 Na7 14. cxd6 Qxd6 15.
Qxd6 cxd6 16. Nc3 Nc6 17. Bf4 d5 18. e5 Ne4 19. Nxe4 dxe4 20. Rxe4 Rfd8 21. Rc1
Rd3 22. Re3 Rad8 23. Rxd3 Rxd3 24. Be3 Rb3 25. Nd4 Nxd4 26. Bxd4 Rb4 27. Bc3
Rxa4 28. g4 b5 29. Kg2 b4 30. Bd4 b3 31. Bc3 Ra2 32. Rd1 a4 33. Kf3 a3 34. Rd2
axb2 35. Bxb2 g5 36. Ke3 Kh7 37. f4 gxf4+ 38. Kxf4 Kg6 39. h4 h5 40. gxh5+ Kxh5
41. Rh2 Ra4+ 42. Ke3 Kg4 43. h5 Kg3 44. Rh1 Kg2 45. Rd1 Rh4 46. Rd2+ Kg3 47.
Rd8 Rxh5 48. Rg8+ Kh3 49. Kd2 Rf5 50. Bd4 Rf3 51. Be3 f5 52. Re8 f4 53. Bd4 Bc4
54. Kc1 Rd3 55. Ba7 Rc3+ 56. Kb1 Rc2 57. Rc8 Kg4 58. Rc6 Bd3 59. Rxc2 bxc2+ 60.
Kc1 Kf5 61. Bb8 f3 62. Ba7 Kxe5 63. Kd2 Kf4 64. Be3+ Kg3 0-1

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.06.25"]
[Round "1.13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nc6 4. O-O Bd7 5. Re1 Nf6 6. h3 a6 7. Bf1 g5 8. d4
g4 9. d5 gxf3 10. dxc6 Bxc6 11. Qxf3 Nd7 12. Nc3 e6 13. Qg3 Qe7 14. Nd5 Bxd5
15. exd5 e5 16. b4 cxb4 17. Rb1 a5 18. a3 f5 19. axb4 a4 20. Bb5 Bg7 21. Ra1
O-O 22. Rxa4 Rac8 23. Ra7 Nf6 24. c4 Kh8 25. Qg5 Qc7 26. Qxf5 Nxd5 27. Qd7 Qxd7
28. Bxd7 Rxc4 29. Be6 Rd4 30. Bxd5 Rxd5 31. Rxb7 Rd3 32. Be3 d5 33. Bc5 Rc8 34.
b5 e4 35. b6 Rc3 36. Rxg7 R3xc5 37. Rd7 Rb5 38. b7 Rb8 39. Rd1 R8xb7 40. Rxb7
Rxb7 41. Rxd5 Kg7 42. Re5 Rb4 43. g4 Kf6 44. Rh5 Rb7 45. Kg2 Re7 46. Kf1 Kg6
47. Ke2 Rf7 48. Re5 Rf4 49. Re6+ Kg5 50. Re5+ Kg6 51. Re6+ Kg5 52. Re5+ Kg6
1/2-1/2

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.06.27"]
[Round "1.21"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E51"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd2 d5 6. Nf3 b6 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bd3
Ba6 9. Bxa6 Nxa6 10. Qa4 Qc8 11. Rc1 Re8 12. O-O Bf8 13. Ne2 c5 14. dxc5 Nxc5
15. Qc2 Qa6 16. Bc3 Nfe4 17. a3 Rac8 18. Rcd1 Na4 19. Rxd5 Naxc3 20. Nxc3 Nxc3
21. bxc3 Qxa3 22. c4 Red8 23. Rxd8 Rxd8 24. Nd4 g6 25. g3 Rc8 26. Rb1 Bg7 27.
Nb5 Qe7 28. Qa4 a5 29. Nd4 Qd6 30. Qb3 Bxd4 31. exd4 Qxd4 32. Qxb6 Qxb6 33.
Rxb6 Rxc4 34. Ra6 a4 35. h4 Kf8 36. Ra7 Kg7 37. Ra6 Rc1+ 38. Kg2 Ra1 39. g4 a3
40. g5 Kf8 41. Ra7 Ke8 42. Kh2 Kd8 43. Rxf7 Rf1 44. Ra7 Rxf2+ 45. Kg3 Ra2 46.
Rxh7 Ra1 47. Ra7 a2 48. Kg2 Ke8 49. Kh2 Kf8 50. Kg2 Kg8 51. Kh2 Kh8 52. Kg2 Kg8
53. Kh2 Kh8 54. Kg2 Kg8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.06.27"]
[Round "1.22"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. e3 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bb5+ Bd7 7. Bxd7+ Qxd7 8.
O-O Nc6 9. b3 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Nxd4 11. Qxd4 Bd6 12. Bb2 O-O 13. Nc3 Rfe8 14. Nxd5
Bxh2+ 15. Kxh2 Qxd5 16. Qxd5 Nxd5 17. Rfd1 Red8 18. Rac1 f6 19. Rd4 Ne7 20. Rc7
Nf5 21. Rg4 h5 22. Rg6 Re8 23. Bxf6 Re6 24. e4 Rxe4 25. Rg5 Rh4+ 26. Kg1 Re8
27. g3 Rg4 28. Rxf5 gxf6 29. Rxb7 h4 30. Rf4 Rxf4 31. gxf4 Ra8 32. Kg2 a5 33.
Kh3 a4 34. Kxh4 axb3 35. axb3 Ra5 36. Kg4 Rd5 37. b4 Kf8 38. b5 Ke8 39. f5 Kf8
40. b6 Rb5 41. f3 Ke8 42. f4 Kf8 43. Kh5 Rxf5+ 44. Kg6 Rxf4 45. Rc7 1-0

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.06.27"]
[Round "1.23"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E25"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
dxc5 Qa5 9. e4 Nf6 10. Be3 O-O 11. a4 Nfd7 12. Kf2 Nxc5 13. Qd6 b6 14. Bb5 Bd7
15. Ne2 Bxb5 16. Bxc5 bxc5 17. Qxc5 Nd7 18. Qxb5 Qc7 19. Rhd1 Ne5 20. f4 Ng4+
21. Kf3 Nf6 22. Qe5 Qe7 23. Rd4 Rac8 24. Rb1 Rfd8 25. Rxd8+ Qxd8 26. Qd4 Qc7
27. Rd1 h6 28. g4 Re8 29. Qd6 Qc4 30. Qb4 Qc8 31. Ng3 e5 32. f5 Rd8 33. Rxd8+
Qxd8 34. Ke2 Nxg4 35. Nf1 a5 36. Qb5 Qh4 37. Nd2 Qxh2+ 38. Kd3 Qg3+ 39. Kc2
Ne3+ 40. Kb3 Qe1 41. Qd3 Qd1+ 42. Ka2 Qxa4+ 43. Kb2 Ng4 44. Nb3 Nf6 45. Nc5 Qc6
46. Qd8+ Kh7 47. Qe7 Qb5+ 48. Kc2 a4 49. Qxe5 a3 50. Nd3 Qa4+ 0-1

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.06.30"]
[Round "2.11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. Qb3 c5 8.
cxd5 exd5 9. e3 O-O 10. dxc5 Bxc3+ 11. Qxc3 Qxc3+ 12. bxc3 Nd7 13. Rd1 Nf6 14.
Nd4 Bd7 15. f3 Rfc8 16. Nb3 Ba4 17. Rd4 Bxb3 18. axb3 Rxc5 19. Kd2 Ra5 20. Bd3
Nd7 21. Kc1 Rc5 22. Kb2 Re8 23. Re1 Ne5 24. b4 Nxd3+ 25. Rxd3 Rb5 26. Kb3 Kf8
27. Ra1 a6 28. Ra5 Rxa5 29. bxa5 Re5 30. Kb4 Ke7 31. f4 Re4+ 32. Kc5 Ra4 33.
Kb6 Ke6 34. Rd4 Ra3 35. e4 Rb3+ 36. Kc7 dxe4 37. Rxe4+ Kf5 38. Rb4 Rxc3+ 39.
Kxb7 Rc2 40. g3 Rxh2 41. Kxa6 Kg4 42. Rb3 Ra2 43. Kb6 1-0

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.06.30"]
[Round "2.12"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "7"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e6 2. g3 Qg5 3. Bg2 Qxd2+ 4. Qxd2 1-0

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.06.30"]
[Round "2.13"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Be3 c5 8.
Rc1 Qa5 9. Qd2 cxd4 10. cxd4 Qxd2+ 11. Bxd2 O-O 12. Nf3 Bg4 13. Be3 Nc6 14. d5
Bxf3 15. gxf3 Nd4 16. Bh3 f5 17. Rc7 Nxf3+ 18. Ke2 Nd4+ 19. Bxd4 Bxd4 20. exf5
gxf5 21. Rg1+ Kh8 22. Rxe7 Rae8 23. Re6 Rxe6+ 24. dxe6 Rf6 25. Kd3 Bxf2 26. Rf1
Bc5 27. Bxf5 Kg7 28. Ke4 Rh6 29. h3 Rh4+ 30. Kd5 b6 31. Bg4 h5 32. Rf7+ Kg6 33.
Bf5+ Kg5 34. Be4 Rxh3 35. e7 Bxe7 36. Rxe7 Ra3 37. Ke5 Rxa2 38. Rg7+ Kh4 39.
Kf4 Kh3 40. Rg1 b5 41. Rh1+ Rh2 42. Rb1 a6 43. Rb3+ Kh4 44. Ra3 Rf2+ 45. Bf3
Kh3 46. Rxa6 Rf1 47. Ra2 h4 48. Rb2 b4 49. Rxb4 Rg1 50. Rb3 Rf1 51. Kg5 Rf2 52.
Bd5+ Kh2 53. Kxh4 Rf4+ 54. Kg5 Rd4 55. Rb2+ Kg1 56. Kf5 Rxd5+ 57. Ke4 Rg5 58.
Kf3 Rf5+ 59. Kg4 Rf8 60. Kg3 Rg8+ 61. Kf3 Rf8+ 62. Kg3 Rg8+ 63. Kf3 Rf8+ 64.
Kg3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.06.30"]
[Round "2.14"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E94"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. d4 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O exd4 8. Nxd4
Re8 9. f3 c6 10. Kh1 d5 11. cxd5 cxd5 12. Bg5 Nc6 13. Bb5 h6 14. Nxc6 bxc6 15.
Bxc6 hxg5 16. Bxa8 d4 17. Nd5 Ba6 18. Bc6 Re6 19. Rc1 Bxf1 20. Qxf1 g4 21. Nf4
Re7 22. Nd3 gxf3 23. Qxf3 Nd7 24. Bd5 Ne5 25. Nxe5 Bxe5 26. g3 Kg7 27. Kg2 Rc7
28. Rc4 d3 29. Qxd3 Rxc4 30. Qxc4 Bxb2 31. Bxf7 Qd2+ 32. Kh3 Qh6+ 33. Kg2 Qd2+
34. Kh3 Qh6+ 35. Kg2 Qd2+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.06.30"]
[Round "2.15"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "166"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qa4+ Nc6 6. Bd2 O-O 7. a3 Bxc3 8.
Bxc3 Bd7 9. Qb3 dxc4 10. Qxc4 Ne7 11. e3 Bc6 12. Be2 Bd5 13. Qa4 Ne4 14. Rc1
Ng6 15. O-O c6 16. Qc2 f5 17. Rfd1 Nh4 18. Bb4 Nxf3+ 19. Bxf3 Rf6 20. Bxe4 fxe4
21. a4 Rg6 22. Qe2 Qg5 23. Qf1 Rd8 24. Kh1 Rd7 25. a5 a6 26. Qg1 Rh6 27. h3 Qd8
28. Qh2 Rf6 29. Rd2 h6 30. Ra1 Kh7 31. Bc5 Rf5 32. Bb6 Qe7 33. Kg1 Bc4 34. Rc2
Bd5 35. Bc5 Qd8 36. b4 Qc7 37. Qxc7 Rxc7 38. Bd6 Rcf7 39. Be5 h5 40. h4 g5 41.
hxg5 Rxg5 42. Kh2 Rgf5 43. Bf4 Rg7 44. Rh1 Rg4 45. Kg1 Kg6 46. Kf1 h4 47. Rh3
Kf7 48. f3 Rgxf4 49. exf4 Rxf4 50. Rd2 e3 51. Rc2 Rxd4 52. Ke2 Rxb4 53. Kxe3
Kf6 54. Rh1 e5 55. Re2 Kf5 56. Kf2 Kf6 57. Rhe1 e4 58. fxe4 Be6 59. e5+ Kf5 60.
Re3 Rb2+ 61. R1e2 Rb5 62. Rf3+ Kg5 63. Rf6 Bg4 64. Re1 Rxa5 65. Rd6 Ra2+ 66.
Kg1 Re2 67. Rxe2 Bxe2 68. Rd7 b5 69. Rc7 Kf5 70. Rxc6 Kxe5 71. Rxa6 Kd4 72. Kf2
Bc4 73. Rh6 Kc3 74. Rxh4 b4 75. Rh1 b3 76. Rc1+ Kd3 77. g4 b2 78. Rb1 Kc2 79.
Rxb2+ Kxb2 80. g5 Kc3 81. g6 Kd4 82. g7 Ke5 83. g8=Q Bxg8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.06.30"]
[Round "2.16"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 Bc5 4. d3 O-O 5. Nc3 h6 6. Nf3 Re8 7. O-O d6 8. d4
exd4 9. Nxd4 c6 10. b3 a5 11. Bb2 Na6 12. Qd2 Qe7 13. Rad1 Bd7 14. h3 Bb6 15.
e4 Nc5 16. Rfe1 Rad8 17. Kh2 Bc8 18. Nf5 Bxf5 19. exf5 Qc7 20. Rxe8+ Nxe8 21.
Ne2 Nd7 22. Nf4 Ndf6 23. Qc2 Qe7 24. Rd2 Rd7 25. Bf3 Qd8 26. Qd1 Bc7 27. Nd3
Re7 28. Kg2 Qc8 29. g4 Nh7 30. Re2 Qd8 31. Rxe7 Qxe7 32. Qe2 Qd8 33. Kg1 Nef6
34. Bg2 Nf8 35. Bd4 N8d7 36. Qe3 Bb6 37. Bxb6 Qxb6 38. Qxb6 Nxb6 39. f4 Nfd7
40. Kf2 Kf8 41. g5 f6 42. h4 Nc5 43. Ke3 Nxd3 44. Kxd3 Ke7 45. Kd4 Na8 46. Be4
Nc7 47. a3 Kd7 48. b4 axb4 49. axb4 b5 50. c5 Na6 51. cxd6 Kxd6 52. Kc3 c5 53.
bxc5+ Kxc5 54. Bc2 Nb4 55. Bb3 Nd5+ 0-1

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.01"]
[Round "2.21"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E90"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. h3 e5 7. d5 Na6 8. Bg5 Bd7
9. Nd2 c6 10. Be2 Qb6 11. Rb1 Kh8 12. O-O c5 13. a3 Qd8 14. b4 b6 15. Nb5 Qe7
16. Re1 h6 17. Bh4 Rfc8 18. Bd3 Qf8 19. Nf1 Nh5 20. Ne3 Bf6 21. Bxf6+ Nxf6 22.
Nc3 Qe7 23. Bc2 Nb8 24. Qd2 Kg7 25. Kh2 cxb4 26. axb4 a5 27. Ra1 Na6 28. bxa5
bxa5 29. Rxa5 Nc5 30. Rea1 Rxa5 31. Rxa5 Qd8 32. Ra3 Rb8 33. f3 Nh7 34. Ne2 Qh4
35. Ra1 Nf6 36. Qe1 Qg5 37. Ra3 Nh5 38. g3 Qd8 39. Qa1 Nf6 40. f4 Qe7 41. Nc3
Kh7 42. f5 Kg7 43. Ra7 g5 44. Kg2 Qd8 45. Kf3 h5 46. Qc1 Qb6 47. Ra1 Rg8 48.
Qd2 Qd8 49. Rg1 Rh8 50. h4 g4+ 51. Ke2 Kh7 52. Rb1 Qa5 53. Ned1 Rg8 54. Nf2 Qa6
55. Nb5 Rb8 56. Bd3 Bxb5 57. cxb5 Qa4 58. Qb4 Qa2+ 59. Qb2 Qa4 60. Qb4 Qa2+ 61.
Rb2 Qa1 62. Rb1 Qa7 63. Qd2 Nxd3 64. Qxd3 Qa2+ 65. Kf1 Rc8 66. Qb3 Rc1+ 0-1

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.01"]
[Round "2.22"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qa4+ Nc6 6. e3 O-O 7. Qc2 Re8 8. Bd2
Bf8 9. Be2 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Nb4 11. Qb1 b6 12. O-O Bb7 13. Rd1 Qc8 14. a3 Nbd5 15.
Bd3 c5 16. dxc5 Qxc5 17. Nxd5 Qxd5 18. Bc3 Qh5 19. Bxf6 Bxf3 20. gxf3 gxf6 21.
f4 f5 22. Bf1 Bg7 23. Bg2 Rac8 24. Rd2 Red8 25. Rxd8+ Rxd8 26. Qc2 Bxb2 27.
Qxb2 Rd1+ 28. Rxd1 Qxd1+ 29. Bf1 Qg4+ 30. Bg2 Qd1+ 31. Bf1 Qg4+ 32. Kh1 Qf3+
33. Kg1 Qg4+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.01"]
[Round "2.23"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 d5 3. cxd5 Qxd5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qd8 6. Bg2 Nf6 7. O-O h6 8. d3
Bd6 9. a3 a5 10. b3 O-O 11. Bb2 Re8 12. Rc1 Bf5 13. h3 Qd7 14. Kh2 Nd4 15. Nd2
c6 16. e3 Nb5 17. Nxb5 cxb5 18. Nf3 Rad8 19. e4 Be6 20. Bxe5 Bxe5 21. Nxe5 Qd6
22. f4 Qxa3 23. d4 Bxb3 24. Qd3 Qb4 25. d5 Rc8 26. d6 Rcd8 27. d7 Nxd7 28. Nxd7
Bc4 29. Qd1 Qe7 0-1

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.03"]
[Round "3.11"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E06"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c6 4. Nbd2 Nf6 5. g3 Be7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O b6 8. Qc2
Bb7 9. e4 Na6 10. e5 Nd7 11. a3 Nc7 12. cxd5 Nxd5 13. Ne4 h6 14. g4 c5 15. g5
cxd4 16. gxh6 g6 17. Neg5 Rc8 18. Qd1 Ba6 19. Re1 d3 20. h4 Nc5 21. Nd4 Nf4 22.
Bxf4 Qxd4 23. Qg4 d2 24. Red1 Nd3 25. Ne4 Nxf4 26. Qxf4 Qxb2 27. Rab1 Qc2 28.
Nf6+ Kh8 29. Be4 Bd3 30. Bxd3 Qxd3 31. Qxd2 Qxd2 32. Rxd2 Rc7 33. Rbd1 Bxf6 34.
exf6 Kh7 35. Rd8 Rxd8 36. Rxd8 a5 37. Kg2 e5 38. Rf8 b5 39. Rb8 b4 40. axb4
axb4 41. Rxb4 Rc6 42. Re4 Re6 43. Kg3 Kxh6 44. f3 g5 45. hxg5+ Kxg5 46. f4+
exf4+ 47. Rxf4 Re3+ 48. Rf3 Rxf3+ 49. Kxf3 Kxf6 50. Kf4 Kg6 51. Kg4 Kf6 52. Kf4
Kg6 53. Kg4 Kf6 54. Kf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.03"]
[Round "3.12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C48"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nc3 Qe7 7. h3 b6 8. a3
h6 9. Qe2 Bd7 10. Be3 Bxe3 11. fxe3 O-O-O 12. Qf2 Ne8 13. Qg3 f6 14. Nh4 Rg8
15. Nf5 Bxf5 16. exf5 Nd6 17. e4 Qf7 18. Qf2 g6 19. fxg6 Qxg6 20. g4 h5 21.
O-O-O hxg4 22. hxg4 Qxg4 23. Qxf6 Qg5+ 24. Qxg5 Rxg5 25. a4 a5 26. Rdg1 Rdg8
27. Rxg5 Rxg5 28. Nb1 b5 29. Nd2 Rg3 30. b3 bxa4 31. bxa4 c5 32. Nf1 Rf3 33.
Kd1 c4 34. Ke2 Rf7 35. Nd2 Rg7 36. Kf3 Kd7 37. Rh5 Rg1 38. Rxe5 Rc1 39. Nxc4
Nxc4 40. dxc4 Rxc2 41. Rxa5 Rxc4 42. Rd5+ Ke6 43. a5 Rc1 44. Rd8 Rf1+ 45. Ke2
Ra1 46. Ra8 Kd6 47. a6 Kc6 48. Ke3 Re1+ 49. Kf4 Kb6 50. e5 c5 51. Rc8 Rf1+ 52.
Kg5 Rg1+ 53. Kf6 Rf1+ 54. Ke7 Rc1 55. e6 c4 56. Kd7 Rd1+ 57. Ke8 Rc1 58. e7 c3
59. Kf7 Rf1+ 60. Kg6 Rg1+ 61. Kf5 Rf1+ 62. Kg4 1-0

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.03"]
[Round "3.13"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 c6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. b3 O-O 8. Be2
e5 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. Nb5 Bb4+ 11. Bd2 Bxd2+ 12. Nxd2 a6 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Nd4
Bg4 15. Bxg4 Nfxg4 16. O-O Rc8 17. Qf5 Qe7 18. N2f3 g6 19. Qf4 Nxf3+ 20. Qxf3
Nf6 21. Rfc1 Ne4 22. Qd1 Qf6 23. Qe2 Rfd8 24. h3 h5 25. Rc2 Rxc2 26. Qxc2 Nd6
27. Rc1 Rc8 28. Qd1 Rxc1 29. Qxc1 Kg7 30. Qc7 Nb5 31. Nxb5 axb5 32. g3 Qf5 33.
h4 Qb1+ 34. Kg2 Qe4+ 35. Kg1 Qb1+ 36. Kg2 Qe4+ 37. Kg1 Qb1+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.03"]
[Round "3.14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. a4 Ngf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. a5 Bg7 7. O-O a6 8. Be2
O-O 9. Re1 b5 10. axb6 Bb7 11. d3 Nxb6 12. e5 Nfd5 13. Nxd5 Nxd5 14. exd6 exd6
15. c3 Re8 16. Bd2 Qb6 17. Qc2 a5 18. h3 Bc6 19. d4 cxd4 20. Nxd4 Nb4 21. cxb4
Bxd4 22. bxa5 Bxf2+ 23. Kf1 Qd4 24. Qxc6 Bxe1 25. Bxe1 Qxb2 26. Bf3 0-1

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.03"]
[Round "3.15"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "162"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 c6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. b3 O-O 8. Be2
b6 9. O-O Bb7 10. Bb2 Qe7 11. Rad1 Rad8 12. Rfe1 Rfe8 13. Bf1 c5 14. cxd5 exd5
15. dxc5 Nxc5 16. Qf5 Nce4 17. Nxe4 Nxe4 18. Bb5 Rf8 19. Bd3 g6 20. Qh3 Bb4 21.
Qh6 f6 22. Rf1 Rc8 23. h4 Bc3 24. Bxc3 Rxc3 25. Nd4 Rxd3 26. Rxd3 Ba6 27. Rdd1
Bxf1 28. Rxf1 Rc8 29. Qf4 Qe5 30. Qg4 Rc7 31. Qe2 Kf7 32. Qd3 Nc5 33. Qb5 Ne6
34. Nf3 Qd6 35. Rd1 Qc5 36. Qd3 Rd7 37. h5 Kg7 38. hxg6 hxg6 39. g3 d4 40. Nxd4
Nxd4 41. exd4 Qd5 42. Qe3 Rc7 43. Re1 g5 44. Qd3 b5 45. Qe3 b4 46. g4 a5 47. f3
Rd7 48. Rd1 Rc7 49. Re1 Rd7 50. Rd1 Rc7 51. Kf2 Qd6 52. Kg2 Re7 53. Qd2 Qd5 54.
Rc1 Qe6 55. Rc2 Qe3 56. Qxe3 Rxe3 57. Kf2 Rd3 58. Ke2 Rxd4 59. Rc5 Kf7 60. Rxa5
Rd7 61. Rb5 Ra7 62. Rxb4 Rxa2+ 63. Ke3 Ke6 64. Rb6+ Ke5 65. Rb5+ Ke6 66. b4 Ra1
67. Rb8 Ra3+ 68. Ke4 Rb3 69. f4 gxf4 70. Kxf4 Rb1 71. Rb6+ Kf7 72. b5 Kg6 73.
Rb8 Rb4+ 74. Kf3 f5 75. gxf5+ Kxf5 76. b6 Ke6 77. Rh8 Kd7 78. Rh6 Kc8 79. Ke3
Kb7 80. Kd3 Rxb6 81. Rxb6+ Kxb6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.03"]
[Round "3.16"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E26"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 c5 6. e3 Nc6 7. Bd3 d6 8. Ne2
e5 9. Ng3 h5 10. h4 Qe7 11. d5 Nb8 12. e4 Bg4 13. f3 Bc8 14. Bg5 Qc7 15. Bxf6
gxf6 16. O-O Nd7 17. f4 exf4 18. Nxh5 Ne5 19. Nxf6+ Kd8 20. Rxf4 Ng6 21. Qf3
Qe7 22. h5 Nxf4 23. Qxf4 Qe5 24. Qxe5 dxe5 25. g4 a5 26. g5 Ra6 27. Rb1 Rxf6
28. gxf6 Rxh5 29. Rb5 Rh3 30. Be2 Rxc3 31. Rxa5 Re3 32. Bh5 Rxe4 33. Ra8 Kc7
34. d6+ Kd7 35. Bxf7 Rg4+ 36. Kh2 Rf4 37. Kg3 Rxf6 38. Bh5 Rf4 39. Bg4+ Kxd6
40. Bxc8 Rxc4 41. Bxb7 Rc3+ 42. Kg4 c4 43. Be4 Rc1 44. Ra5 Rf1 45. Kg3 Rf4 46.
Bf3 Rd4 47. Kf2 Rd3 48. Be4 Rb3 49. Ke2 Rb2+ 50. Ke3 Rb3+ 51. Kd2 Kc7 52. a4
Kb6 53. Rxe5 Rb4 54. Bc2 1-0

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.04"]
[Round "3.21"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D41"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,67,13,13,35,-24,-12,-17,-5,-11,45,46,103,87,87,59,81,41,84,84,84,89,
77,72,62,52,52,33,33,17,13,9,21,-3,-2,-18,2,-29,-14,-86,-14,-106,-64,-107,-50,
-50,-59,-75,-52,-101,-92,-92,67,-10,6,6,6,-34,-10,3,138,118,118,118,123,177,
563,798,1199,958]} {Magnus won the first "set", but one of the advantages of
the system is that even when ahead, you cannot sit on your lead and cruise to
victory:} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 $5 {While its "only" rapid,
clearly the players treat it like a serious event, with opening preparation
trying to surprise the opponent. Giri here chooses the Semi-Tarrasch, an
opening having a renaissance due to Kramnik making it an efficient "blocking"
weapon, most recently in the 2018 Candidates where Anish was his second!} 5.
cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 cxd4 8. cxd4 Bb4+ 9. Bd2 Bxd2+ 10. Qxd2 O-O 11.
Bc4 {Recently Magnus has tried 11 Bd3, but Giri certainly can be trusted to
have solved that problem.} Nd7 {The modern way. In the old days 11...Nc6
looked more natural, but while at fist it appears more active, the knight
tends to end up at a5 leaving the black king more exposed, illustrated by the
beautiful classic Polugaevsky- Tal from the 1969 Soviet Championship.} 12. O-O
b6 13. Rad1 Bb7 14. Rfe1 Rc8 15. Bb3 Re8 {While Magnus earlier tried a more
positional plan with a4-a5, all this is pretty standard with Kramnik having
had this position as black several times. Black stays flexible, ready to make
exchanges in the e-line after a possible d5 exd5 exd5. Making a useful more
for White is not trivial, themost popular choice being 16.h3 passing the move
back to Black.} 16. Re3 $5 {An odd looking move, as arranging an attack via g3
certainly not is possible, but it has a more subtle hidden point.} Nf6 {
The point of the modern Semi-Tarrasch, instead of a5 the knight ends up at f6,
not only attacking the white centre but also providing protection for the
black kingside ( no Bxh7+ sacrifice!)} 17. d5 {Technically speaking only this
is the novelty.} exd5 18. e5 Ne4 19. Qe1 {This is the point of White's opening
concept. At first sight it might look like a pawn down and a strong black
knight at e4, but due to tactics in the e-file White indirectly protects the
pawn on e5, thus having the unstoppable plan of Nd4 and f3, forcing the black
knight to retreat.} Qc7 {Giri thought for a while. After the match he said he
was aware of the white concept, but obviously had troubles recalling the right
antidote. Black's move is logical, but has the downside that Nb5 wins a tempo
aiming for the d6 square, but similar could be said of 19...Qe7 with a then
possible Nf5.} 20. Nd4 a6 {Stopping Nb5.} (20... Qxe5 21. f3 f5 22. fxe4 fxe4 {
is 3 pawns for the piece, but while by the classic scale that is just enough
for a knight, then A) modern computers does give numbers like 3.1 or 3.2
instead of the traditional 3, but more importantly B) the white knight on d4
makes it intolerable for Black.}) 21. h4 $5 {Magnus later admitted that his
preparation ended around here.} (21. f3 {also was logical, but given the
chance why not stay on brand and add some Alphazero flavor.}) 21... Rcd8 22. f3
Nc5 23. h5 {Whites position is starting to make sense. E5 is now well
protected and the h-pawn does a great job of discouraging ...g6 keeping the
white knight away from f5, as then apart from hxg6 and attack down the h-line,
the Alphazero h6!? very much becomes an option. Black really has his hands
full already, not to mention this is a 15 minute game and Anish having spent
quite some of the precious minutes already.} Ne6 24. Nf5 d4 {Giri said that
this move gave him hope, as optically the bishop on b7 springs to life, and
Black appears to have some activity.} 25. Red3 $1 {A "slow" looking move, but
White now threatens the trivial Nd6 followed by Bxe6 and Rxd4 getting the pawn
back, but keeping a dominant position.} Nc5 {Life is not really fair towards
Giri here.} (25... Bd5 {should bring relieving exchanges, but} 26. Nd6 Bxb3 27.
Nxe8 {works tactically, when despite Black having a pawn and solidity for the
exchange, White's win is just a matter of technique.}) {And now it looks like
White's e-pawn is en prise, but back rank tactics also makes that an illusion.}
26. Rxd4 Rxd4 27. Rxd4 Nxb3 28. Qg3 {Material being equal (when White
recaptures on b3) and all Black's pieces being on seemingly optinal squares,
it is hard to believe that Black is just lost. However, another Alphazero
theme comes to mind: Black's king is confined to g8, while White's has space
around it, making it easily escape the black back rank threats on the safe
haven h2. The black king, however, is caught in a mating net.} g6 ({If} 28...
f6 {then} 29. Rg4 $1 {immediately wins, with} Qxe5 30. Rxg7+ Kh8 31. Rxh7+ {
the principal point mating on g7 next move.}) 29. axb3 Rd8 $6 {Allows a very
beautiful finish, making the difference between a great game and a classic.} (
29... Bxf3 {was better way to muddy the waters, when White has several ways to
keep a winning edge, but by far most convincingly by} 30. Rc4 $1 {when} Bc6 31.
Nd4 {cynically ends the game.}) 30. e6 $3 {Hitting where it hurts the most.}
Qc1+ ({Black's queen is overloaded as} 30... Qxg3 {is met by} 31. Rxd8#) 31.
Kh2 Rxd4 32. e7 $3 {The true moment of beauty, it is the least valued piece
that breaks Black's resistance.} Qc8 ({The key idea is that} 32... Bc6 {
stopping promotions fails to the back rank mate after} 33. Qb8+) 33. Qe5 $1 {
Threatening mate on g7 as well as queening the pawn. All that is left for
Black is to give a check.} Rh4+ 34. Kg3 $1 {A fitting end, illustrating the
difference in king safety, the white monarch safely steps forward, even
attacking the rook on h4, while Black's king is caught on its castling square.
If 34...gxf5 promoting with check and the collecting the rook on h4 wins
trivially. It might still feel like classical chess should produce more
interesting opening concepts, higher quality in games but these "youngsters"
playing Clutch chess or Chessable Masters do a very impressive job of making
that point of view sound old and grumpy. The World Champion plays close to
prefection, and Giri forces him to illustrate both positional sacrifices and
sharp tactics by putting up strong resistance. All in the space of half an
hour.} 1-0

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.04"]
[Round "3.22"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bd2 Bg7 6. e4 Nxc3 7. Bxc3 O-O 8.
Qd2 c5 9. d5 e6 10. Bc4 Bxc3 11. bxc3 exd5 12. Bxd5 Nd7 13. Nf3 Nb6 14. O-O Be6
15. Bxe6 Qxd2 16. Bxf7+ Rxf7 17. Nxd2 Rd8 18. Nb3 c4 19. Nc5 Re8 20. a4 Rc7 21.
a5 Nc8 22. Na4 Rxe4 23. Rfe1 Rxe1+ 24. Rxe1 b5 25. axb6 axb6 26. g4 b5 27. Nb2
Kf7 28. Re5 Nd6 29. Kg2 Re7 30. Rxe7+ Kxe7 31. f4 h5 32. h3 hxg4 33. hxg4 g5
34. Kf3 Kf6 35. Nd1 gxf4 36. Kxf4 Nc8 37. Ne3 Nb6 38. g5+ Kg6 39. Kg4 Nd7 40.
Kf4 Nc5 41. Ke5 Kxg5 42. Nxc4 bxc4 43. Kd4 Na4 44. Kxc4 Nxc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.04"]
[Round "3.23"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e4 Bb4 5. d3 d6 6. h3 Bc5 7. Be2 Nd4 8. Rb1
a5 9. a3 h6 10. b4 axb4 11. axb4 Bb6 12. O-O O-O 13. Be3 Nxf3+ 14. Bxf3 Bxe3
15. fxe3 Be6 16. Qd2 c6 17. Ra1 Qb6 18. b5 Rfb8 19. Rfb1 Qd8 20. Rxa8 Rxa8 21.
bxc6 bxc6 22. Nd1 Ra3 23. Nf2 g6 24. d4 Qc7 25. d5 Bd7 26. Kh2 cxd5 27. cxd5
Kg7 28. Nd1 h5 29. Qc1 Qa5 30. Rb7 h4 31. Qb2 Ra4 32. Qc3 Qxc3 33. Nxc3 Ra3 34.
Nd1 Kf8 35. Rb6 Ke7 36. Rb7 g5 37. Nf2 Kd8 38. Rb8+ Ke7 39. Rb7 Kd8 40. Rb8+
Ke7 41. Rb7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chessable Masters Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.04"]
[Round "3.24"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D52"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[Annotator "Edouard,R"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2020.06.25"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,82,32,22,35,-11,-11,-9,-9,-9,30,25,17,8,26,-11,18,44,61,53,53,33,62,
32,34,22,60,49,71,47,29,37,59,30,41,18,54,36,49,41,63,73,84,73,67,53,69,62,99,
35,35,28,21,16,16,60,111,6,117,68,109,124,199,214,224,114,158,160,191,179,179,
0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5
Nbd7 6. e3 Qa5 7. Nd2 $5 dxc4 8. Bxf6 Nxf6 9. Nxc4 Qc7 10. Rc1 Be7 11. g3 $5 {
The most aggressive system.} O-O (11... Nd5 12. a3 Nxc3 13. Rxc3 O-O 14. Bg2
Rd8 15. b4 Bd7 $14 {½-½ (30) Khademalsharieh,S (2419)-Tan Zhongyi (2523)
China 2017}) 12. Bg2 Rd8 (12... c5 13. Nb5 (13. O-O cxd4 14. Nb5 Qc5 15. Nxd4
Rd8 16. Qe2 e5 17. b4 Qc7 18. Nb5 Qb8 19. Qb2 Bd7 20. a4 $14 {½-½ (30)
Khademalsharieh,S (2481)-Naiditsch,A (2681) Changsha 2019}) 13... Qb8 14. dxc5
Bxc5 15. O-O Bd7 16. Qb3 $14) 13. O-O Bd7 (13... Nd5 14. a3 (14. Qb3 $5) 14...
Nxc3 (14... Bd7 15. b4 Be8 16. Qb3 Rac8 17. Ne5 Qb8 18. Nd3 $14 {1-0 (46)
L'Ami,E (2611)-Naiditsch,A (2702) Aachen 2018}) 15. Rxc3 a5 16. Qc2 Bd7 17. h4
$14 {½-½ (57) Vidit,S (2707)-Bu Xiangzhi (2729) Hengshui 2019}) 14. e4 $1 b5
(14... Be8 $5 15. e5 Nd7 16. Ne4 Nb6 17. Ncd6 Nc8 18. Nxe8 $5 (18. Nc4 Nb6 $11
{1-0 (71) Ding Liren (2811)-Shankland,S (2705) chess.com 2019}) 18... Rxe8 19.
f4 Nb6 20. Qf3 Qd7 (20... Rad8 21. f5 $16 {1-0 (40) Yilmaz,M (2567)-Stern,R 
(2513) GER 2014}) 21. Rcd1 $14 {1/2-1/2 (41) Eljanov,P (2753)-Blagojevic,D 
(2481) ISL 2015}) (14... Rac8 15. e5 Ne8 16. Ne4 c5 17. dxc5 Bb5 18. Qb3 Bxc4
19. Rxc4 Qxe5 20. Qxb7 Bxc5 $2 21. b4 {1-0 (21) Gozzoli,Y (2587)-Flear,G (2451)
Espalion 2018}) 15. Ne3 $1 {The right place for the knight!} Qb6 (15... Qa5 16.
a3 Rab8 17. e5 Nd5 18. Ne4 Be8 19. Nc5 Nxe3 20. fxe3 $16 {1/2-1/2 (40) Giri,A 
(2732)-Hansen,S (2563) POL 2013}) 16. e5 Nd5 17. Ne4 Be8 18. a3 $1 $146 (18.
Nc5 Bxc5 19. Nxd5 cxd5 (19... Rxd5 $1 $146 20. Bxd5 Bxd4 21. Be4 Rd8 $44) 20.
Rxc5 b4 21. Qd2 Rac8 22. Rfc1 $14 {1-0 (43) Wojtaszek,R (2745)-Banusz,T (2611)
Linares 2017}) 18... a5 19. Qd3 Ra7 20. Nc5 a4 21. Be4 h6 22. Rfd1 Qb8 23. Qe2
b4 24. Ng4 $1 {Black was already dominated, now White tries to mate!} bxa3 (
24... Ra5 {was a better move.}) 25. bxa3 Bxc5 $2 {You should normally accept
this exchange only if it changes White's structure - or if you have really no
other choice!} (25... Ra5 {was again a better move.}) 26. Rxc5 Rb7 27. Bc2 {
Everything's wrong in Black's position!} Ne7 28. Nf6+ $5 Kf8 (28... gxf6 29.
exf6 Ng6 30. Qe3 Qd6 31. h4 $18) 29. Qg4 Rb5 (29... gxf6 30. exf6 Ng6 31. Qh5
$18) 30. Nh5 g6 31. Qf4 Nf5 32. Rxb5 Qxb5 33. Bxf5 g5 34. Qf3 (34. Qe3 $5 {
was even stronger:} exf5 35. e6 $18) 34... exf5 35. Qxf5 $4 {A model game
spoiled by one blunder!} (35. Nf6 Qb3 36. Rd3 $18) 35... Qe2 36. Rc1 {Luckily
White has this move and saves a draw!} Qxh5 37. Qf6 $1 Rxd4 38. Qh8+ Ke7 39.
Qf6+ Kf8 40. Qh8+ Ke7 41. Qf6+ Kf8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.21"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D66"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Bd3 h6 8. Bh4
dxc4 9. Bxc4 b5 10. Bd3 O-O 11. O-O Bb7 12. Rc1 Rc8 13. Qe2 b4 14. Bxf6 Nxf6
15. Ne4 c5 16. Nxf6+ Bxf6 17. dxc5 Qa5 18. Nd4 Bd5 19. Bb5 a6 20. Bxa6 Rxc5 21.
Nb3 Bxb3 22. Rxc5 Qxc5 23. axb3 Rd8 24. Rd1 Rxd1+ 25. Qxd1 Bxb2 26. g3 g6 27.
Bc4 Bf6 28. Qf3 Kg7 29. h4 h5 30. Kg2 Qc7 31. Qe4 Qe5 32. Qxe5 Bxe5 33. Bd3 Bc3
34. Bc4 Bb2 35. Bd3 Bc3 36. Bc4 Bb2 37. Bd3 Bc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.21"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bd2 O-O 7. g4 Bxc3 8. Bxc3
Ne4 9. Qc2 c5 10. dxc5 b6 11. g5 hxg5 12. h4 g4 13. Ng5 f5 14. Bg2 bxc5 15.
O-O-O Nxg5 16. hxg5 Qxg5+ 17. Kb1 Nd7 18. cxd5 Nb6 19. dxe6 Bxe6 20. Bxa8 Rxa8
21. Qd2 Qg6 22. Qd6 f4+ 23. Ka1 Rf8 24. Qe5 g3 25. fxg3 Nc4 26. Qh5 Qxh5 27.
Rxh5 Ne3 28. Rg1 Bf5 29. b3 fxg3 30. Rxg3 Bg4 31. Rxc5 Rf1+ 32. Kb2 Nd1+ 33.
Ka3 Nxc3 34. Rxg4 1-0

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.21"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 a6 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be6 7. e3 Nbd7 8. h3
Bd6 9. Bd3 c6 10. Bf4 Qc7 11. Bxd6 Qxd6 12. O-O O-O 13. Qb3 Rfb8 14. a4 a5 15.
Rfc1 g6 16. Nd2 Ne8 17. Ne2 Qe7 18. Nf4 Nd6 19. Qa3 Bf5 20. Rab1 Bxd3 21. Nxd3
Nf6 22. Ne5 Re8 23. Rc2 Nfe4 24. Nxe4 Nxe4 25. Qxe7 Rxe7 26. Nd3 Nd6 27. h4 Kg7
28. g3 Nc4 29. Re1 h5 30. b3 Nd6 31. Rb1 Kf6 32. Nc5 Kg7 33. Rc3 Ne4 34. Nxe4
Rxe4 35. b4 axb4 36. Rxb4 Re7 37. Rcb3 Ra7 38. a5 Rxa5 39. Rxb7 Rxb7 40. Rxb7
c5 41. dxc5 Rxc5 42. Kg2 Kf6 43. Rd7 Ke6 44. Rd8 Rc2 45. Kf3 Ra2 46. Re8+ Kf6
47. Rb8 Ke6 48. Rb6+ Ke7 49. Rb4 Ke6 50. Rb6+ Ke7 51. Rb4 Ke6 52. Rb6+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.21"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E68"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. Nc3 Nbd7 7. O-O e5 8. e4
exd4 9. Nxd4 Nc5 10. h3 Re8 11. Re1 Bd7 12. Bf4 Nh5 13. Be3 c6 14. Qc2 a5 15.
Rad1 Qc7 16. Qd2 a4 17. Nde2 Be6 18. Qxd6 Qxd6 19. Rxd6 Ra5 20. Rc1 Bf8 21. Rd4
Raa8 22. g4 Nf6 23. f4 Nfd7 24. Nd1 f6 25. Nf2 Bf7 26. h4 h6 27. Ng3 g5 28.
hxg5 hxg5 29. fxg5 fxg5 30. Bxg5 Ne5 31. Be3 Red8 32. Nf5 Rxd4 33. Bxd4 Re8 34.
Rc3 Ng6 35. b3 Nf4 36. Bf1 Nce6 37. Be3 a3 38. e5 Rd8 39. Ne4 Rd1 40. Nf6+ Kh8
41. Rc2 Nh3+ 42. Kg2 Neg5 43. Rc1 Rd8 44. Kg3 1-0

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.22"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E29"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2753"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 c5 6. e3 Nc6 7. Bd3 e5 8. Ne2
O-O 9. O-O d6 10. Ng3 Re8 11. d5 e4 12. Nxe4 Nxe4 13. dxc6 bxc6 14. f3 Nf6 15.
e4 d5 16. cxd5 cxd5 17. exd5 Qxd5 18. Bb5 Rd8 19. Bg5 Be6 20. Qxd5 Bxd5 21.
Rfd1 Bb3 22. Rxd8+ Rxd8 23. Be3 Nd5 24. Bxc5 Nxc3 25. Bf1 a5 26. Bb6 Ra8 27.
Rc1 Na2 28. Rc7 a4 29. Bd3 h6 30. Be4 Rb8 31. Ba5 g6 32. g4 Be6 33. Bc2 Nc1 34.
Bxa4 Ra8 35. Rxc1 Rxa5 36. Bc6 Rxa3 37. Kf2 g5 38. Kg3 Kg7 39. h4 Ra5 40. Be4
Kf6 41. Rc6 Kg7 42. Rc1 Kf6 43. Rc6 Kg7 44. Rc1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.22"]
[Round "2.2"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C64"]
[WhiteElo "2753"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 4. c3 Nge7 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb4+ 7. Bd2 Bxd2+
8. Qxd2 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Bxc6+ bxc6 11. O-O O-O 12. Nc3 Nxc3 13. Qxc3 Be6
14. Ne5 Bd5 15. Nxc6 Bxc6 16. Qxc6 Qxd4 17. b3 Qb6 18. Rac1 Rac8 19. Rfe1 Rfd8
20. g3 g6 21. Re7 Rd1+ 22. Kg2 Rxc1 23. Qxc1 Qd6 24. Qe3 a5 25. Qe5 Qc6+ 26.
Qe4 Qxe4+ 27. Rxe4 Rd8 28. Rc4 Rd2 29. a4 Rd3 30. Rxc7 Rxb3 31. Rc5 Ra3 32.
Rxa5 h5 33. h4 Kg7 34. Ra6 Kf8 35. a5 Kg7 36. Ra8 Kf6 37. Ra6+ Kg7 38. Ra8 Kf6
39. Ra6+ Kg7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.22"]
[Round "2.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2753"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qa4+ Nc6 6. e3 O-O 7. Qc2 Re8 8. Bd2
Bf8 9. a3 e5 10. dxe5 Nxe5 11. cxd5 Nxf3+ 12. gxf3 Nxd5 13. h4 Nxc3 14. Bxc3
Qd5 15. Be2 Bf5 16. Qa4 Bd7 17. Rd1 Qxf3 18. Bxf3 Bxa4 19. Bxb7 Bxd1 20. Bxa8
Bg4 21. Bc6 Rd8 22. f3 Be6 23. Bd4 a6 24. Kf2 g6 25. Rc1 Bg7 26. Bxg7 Kxg7 27.
Ke2 a5 28. a4 Kh6 29. Rc5 Rb8 30. Kf2 Rxb2+ 31. Kg3 Rb6 32. Bd5 Bxd5 33. Rxd5
Rb4 34. Rxa5 c5 35. Rxc5 Rxa4 36. e4 Kg7 37. Rc7 Ra5 38. Rd7 Rb5 39. Rc7 Ra5
40. Rd7 Rb5 41. Rc7 Ra5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.22"]
[Round "2.4"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2753"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nbd2 Bg4 7. h3 Bh5 8.
Nc4 Nd7 9. Be3 f6 10. Qe2 Qe7 11. O-O-O O-O-O 12. Kb1 Kb8 13. Ncd2 Bb6 14. Nc4
Bc5 15. g4 Bf7 16. Nfd2 Nf8 17. f4 Bxe3 18. Qxe3 Ng6 19. fxe5 fxe5 20. Rdf1 Be6
21. Qg3 Rhf8 22. Ne3 Qc5 23. Rxf8 Rxf8 24. Nf5 Bxa2+ 25. Kxa2 Qa5+ 26. Kb1 Qxd2
27. h4 Rf7 28. h5 Nf4 29. g5 a5 30. Ne3 Qb4 31. Nc4 a4 32. g6 hxg6 33. hxg6 Rf6
34. Rh8+ Ka7 35. Qg4 Nxg6 36. Re8 Qe1+ 37. Ka2 Rf1 38. Ka3 c5 0-1

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.23"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Leko, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E66"]
[WhiteElo "2663"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nc3 d6 6. Nf3 c5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5
Na5 9. Nd2 e6 10. Qc2 exd5 11. cxd5 Bd7 12. b3 b5 13. Bb2 Rc8 14. Nce4 Nb7 15.
Nxf6+ Bxf6 16. a4 b4 17. Bxf6 Qxf6 18. Nc4 Qg7 19. a5 a6 20. Nb6 Rc7 21. Nxd7
Rxd7 22. Qc4 Ra8 23. e4 Qd4 24. Qxd4 cxd4 25. Ra4 Rc7 26. Rd1 Rc3 27. Rxd4 Nc5
28. Raxb4 Nxb3 29. Rdc4 Rxc4 30. Rxc4 Nxa5 31. Rc7 Kf8 32. f4 Nb3 33. e5 a5 34.
exd6 Rd8 35. Rc6 Nd4 36. Ra6 Nb5 37. Rxa5 Nxd6 38. Ra6 Ke7 39. Ra7+ Rd7 40.
Rxd7+ Kxd7 41. Kf2 Nc4 42. Ke2 Kd6 43. Kd3 Kc5 44. Bf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.23"]
[Round "3.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Leko, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D42"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2663"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. e3 e6 5. d4 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bd3 Be7 8. O-O
O-O 9. Qe2 cxd4 10. exd4 Bd7 11. Qe4 g6 12. Bh6 Re8 13. Nxd5 exd5 14. Qf4 Qb8
15. Ne5 Nxe5 16. dxe5 Bd8 17. Qb4 a5 18. Qb3 Qxe5 19. Rae1 Qxe1 20. Rxe1 Rxe1+
21. Bf1 Re6 22. Qxd5 Bc6 23. Qd2 Bf6 24. h3 a4 25. Bc4 Rd8 26. Qc1 Re4 27. b3
Rde8 28. Bd2 axb3 29. Bxb3 Bd4 30. Bc3 Bxc3 31. Qxc3 Rf4 32. f3 h5 33. Qd2 Rf5
34. Qd4 Rfe5 35. Kh2 R8e7 36. h4 Re8 37. Kg3 Rf5 38. Qd6 Kg7 39. Qd4+ Kg8 40.
Qd6 Kg7 41. Qd4+ Kg8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.23"]
[Round "3.3"]
[White "Leko, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D46"]
[WhiteElo "2663"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c6 4. e3 Nf6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. Bd3 dxc4 8.
Bxc4 b5 9. Be2 O-O 10. O-O a6 11. Ng5 Be7 12. e4 Ne8 13. Nf3 c5 14. d5 exd5 15.
Nxd5 Nef6 16. a4 Nxd5 17. exd5 Bb7 18. Rd1 c4 19. Nd4 Qb6 20. d6 Bf6 21. Be3
Ne5 22. Nf5 Qc6 23. Bf1 Kh8 24. Ne7 Qd7 25. Nd5 Qxd6 26. Nb6 Qb8 27. h3 b4 28.
Rac1 b3 29. Qf5 Bc8 30. Qf4 Be6 31. Nxa8 Qxa8 32. Bd4 Qb8 33. Re1 Nf3+ 34. Qxf3
Bxd4 35. Rxc4 Bxb2 36. Rb1 Bxc4 37. Bxc4 Bd4 38. Rxb3 Qe8 39. Bxa6 Qxa4 40. Bf1
g6 41. Rb7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.23"]
[Round "3.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Leko, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B14"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2663"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. e3 Nf6 4. d4 cxd4 5. exd4 d5 6. Nf3 Bg4 7. Bg5 e6 8.
cxd5 exd5 9. Be2 Be7 10. O-O O-O 11. h3 Bh5 12. Re1 h6 13. Bh4 Rc8 14. Ne5 Bxe2
15. Rxe2 g5 16. Bg3 Bb4 17. Rc1 Bxc3 18. Rxc3 Ne4 19. Rcc2 Re8 20. Nxc6 Rxc6
21. Rxc6 bxc6 22. Bh2 Re6 23. f3 Nd6 24. Rxe6 fxe6 25. Qa4 Qd7 26. Qb4 Nc8 27.
Qb8 Kf7 28. Be5 Kg8 29. b4 Kf7 30. a4 Ke7 31. a5 Kd8 32. a6 Ke8 33. Kh2 Kf7 34.
Qb7 Ke8 35. g4 Ne7 36. Qb8+ Nc8 37. Kg3 Kd8 38. Qb7 Nd6 39. Qxd7+ Kxd7 40. Bxd6
Kxd6 41. f4 Ke7 42. h4 Kf6 43. hxg5+ hxg5 44. fxg5+ Kxg5 45. Kf3 Kg6 46. Kf4
Kf6 47. g5+ Kg6 48. Ke5 Kxg5 49. Kxe6 Kf4 50. Kd6 Ke4 51. Kxc6 Kxd4 52. b5 1-0

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.24"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2676"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Nd5 Nxd5 8.
exd5 Ne7 9. c4 Ng6 10. Qa4 Bd7 11. Qb4 Qb8 12. h4 h5 13. Be3 b6 14. Be2 Be7 15.
g3 a6 16. Nc3 b5 17. cxb5 axb5 18. O-O O-O 19. Bxh5 Bd8 20. Ne4 Bf5 21. Nxd6
Be7 22. Bc5 Bh3 23. Bxg6 fxg6 24. Ne4 Bxc5 25. Qxc5 Bxf1 26. Rxf1 Qc8 27. Qxb5
Qg4 28. Qc4 Rf4 29. d6+ Kh8 30. Qd5 Raf8 31. d7 Rxe4 32. d8=Q Rxd8 33. Qxd8+
Kh7 34. Qd1 Qf5 35. Qd3 Qg4 36. h5 Kh6 37. Qd2+ g5 38. Qd6+ Kxh5 39. Kg2 Qf5
40. Rh1+ Rh4 41. Qd1+ 1-0

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.24"]
[Round "4.2"]
[White "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D87"]
[WhiteElo "2676"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "38"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8.
Ne2 O-O 9. O-O Nc6 10. Be3 e6 11. dxc5 Qa5 12. f4 Rd8 13. Qe1 Bd7 14. Bb3 Qc7
15. Nd4 Nxd4 16. cxd4 Bb5 17. Qf2 Bxf1 18. Rxf1 Qc6 19. Qf3 Bxd4 0-1

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.24"]
[Round "4.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2676"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Qb6 5. Nb3 Nf6 6. Nc3 e6 7. Qe2 Bb4 8.
Bd2 O-O 9. O-O-O d5 10. e5 Nd7 11. f4 a6 12. Qh5 Rd8 13. Bd3 Nf8 14. Rhf1 Be7
15. Rf3 f5 16. g4 g6 17. Qh3 d4 18. Ne2 a5 19. a4 Nb4 20. Bxb4 Qxb4 21. Bb5 Bd7
22. Rxd4 Bxb5 23. Rxb4 fxg4 24. Qxg4 Bxe2 25. Rd4 Bc5 26. Rxd8 Rxd8 27. Kb1
Rd1+ 28. Ka2 Rg1 29. Qh3 1-0

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.25"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2678"]
[PlyCount "148"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Nbd2 O-O 5. a3 Be7 6. e4 d6 7. Be2 Nfd7 8.
Nb1 d5 9. Nc3 dxe4 10. Nxe4 Nf6 11. Qc2 Nbd7 12. Neg5 c5 13. Be3 Qa5+ 14. Kf1
Qc7 15. Rd1 b6 16. Ne5 Nxe5 17. dxe5 Qxe5 18. Bf3 Rb8 19. h4 Qc7 20. Rh3 Bb7
21. Re1 Rbd8 22. Bxb7 Qxb7 23. Bd2 h6 24. Bc3 Rfe8 25. Kg1 Rd7 26. Nf3 Bd6 27.
Ne5 Bxe5 28. Bxe5 Red8 29. Bc3 Qc7 30. Qc1 Ne4 31. Rf3 Nxc3 32. Qxc3 Rd4 33. g3
R8d7 34. b3 Qc6 35. Rfe3 a5 36. a4 Qd6 37. Qc2 Qc6 38. Qe2 R7d6 39. Qh5 Qd7 40.
Qf3 Qd8 41. Kh2 Rd2 42. R1e2 Rxe2 43. Qxe2 Rd2 44. Qe1 h5 45. Rf3 g6 46. Qe4
Rd4 47. Qb7 Rd7 48. Qc6 Kg7 49. Kg2 Rd6 50. Qb7 Qd7 51. Qe4 f6 52. Re3 e5 53.
Kh2 Rd2 54. Re2 Rd4 55. Qa8 Rd3 56. Rb2 f5 57. Qb8 Qd6 58. Qb7+ Kh6 59. Qc8 Qf6
60. Qc7 f4 61. Re2 fxg3+ 62. fxg3 e4 63. Qb8 Rxb3 64. Qe8 e3 65. Kg2 Rc3 66.
Rxe3 Rxc4 67. Rf3 Qg7 68. Qe3+ Kh7 69. Qe6 Rc2+ 70. Kh3 Kh6 71. Qe3+ Kh7 72.
Qe8 Kh6 73. Qe3+ Kh7 74. Qb3 Qd7+ 0-1

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.25"]
[Round "5.2"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D26"]
[WhiteElo "2678"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "121"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 a6 5. e3 dxc4 6. a4 c5 7. Bxc4 Nc6 8. O-O
cxd4 9. exd4 Be7 10. Re1 O-O 11. Bf4 Nd5 12. Bg3 Bb4 13. Rc1 Nce7 14. Qb3 a5
15. Bh4 f6 16. Bg3 Bd7 17. Re2 Rc8 18. Rcc2 Kh8 19. Nb5 Qb6 20. Bd3 Rfd8 21. h3
Be8 22. Rxc8 Rxc8 23. Rc2 Rxc2 24. Qxc2 Qc6 25. Qxc6 Bxc6 26. b3 Nf5 27. Bb8
Kg8 28. Na7 Bd7 29. Bb5 Bxb5 30. Nxb5 g5 31. Kf1 Kf7 32. Ke2 h5 33. Kd3 Kg6 34.
g3 Kf7 35. Nd2 Bxd2 36. Kxd2 Ke7 37. g4 hxg4 38. hxg4 Nh4 39. Bg3 Kd7 40. Ke2
Ng6 41. f3 Ngf4+ 42. Kd2 f5 43. Na3 fxg4 44. fxg4 Nf6 45. Ke3 Nxg4+ 46. Kf3 Nh6
47. Bxf4 gxf4 48. Kxf4 Nf5 49. Ke5 Ne7 50. Nc4 Nc6+ 51. Ke4 Kc7 52. Ne3 Kd6 53.
Nc4+ Kc7 54. d5 exd5+ 55. Kxd5 b6 56. Ke4 Nb4 57. Kd4 Nc6+ 58. Kc3 Nb4 59. Kd4
Nc6+ 60. Kc3 Nb4 61. Kd4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.25"]
[Round "5.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2678"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Nbd2 O-O 5. a3 Be7 6. e4 d6 7. Be2 Nfd7 8.
Nb1 d5 9. Nc3 dxe4 10. Nxe4 Nf6 11. Qc2 Nbd7 12. Nxf6+ Nxf6 13. O-O b6 14. Rd1
Bb7 15. b4 Be4 16. Qb3 Qc8 17. Ne5 Nd7 18. Qe3 Bb7 19. Nf3 Bf6 20. Bb2 Rd8 21.
Rd2 Nf8 22. h4 Ng6 23. h5 Ne7 24. d5 Bxb2 25. Rxb2 Nf5 26. Qf4 exd5 27. Bd3 Nh6
28. c5 bxc5 29. bxc5 Ba6 30. Bxa6 Qxa6 31. Nd4 Re8 32. f3 c6 33. Kh2 Rac8 34.
Rb3 Qa5 35. Rc1 f6 36. Rb7 Re5 37. Qh4 Qd2 38. Rc2 Qd3 39. Rcb2 Nf5 40. Nxf5
Qxf5 41. h6 g5 42. Rg7+ Kh8 43. Qg4 Qf4+ 44. g3 Qxg4 45. fxg4 Rg8 46. Rxa7 1-0

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.25"]
[Round "5.4"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D27"]
[WhiteElo "2678"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 a6 5. e3 dxc4 6. a4 c5 7. Bxc4 Nc6 8. O-O
Be7 9. Qe2 cxd4 10. Rd1 e5 11. exd4 exd4 12. Nxd4 Nxd4 13. Qe5 Qd6 14. Qxd4
Qxd4 15. Rxd4 Bc5 16. Rd1 Be6 17. Bxe6 fxe6 18. Kf1 Kf7 19. Ke2 Rhd8 20. Be3
Bxe3 21. Kxe3 e5 22. f3 Ke6 23. Rac1 Rxd1 24. Rxd1 Rc8 25. Rd3 Rc4 26. b3 Rb4
27. Ne4 Nxe4 28. fxe4 a5 29. h4 h5 30. g3 b6 31. Kf3 Kf6 32. Ke3 g5 33. Kf3 g4+
34. Ke3 Ke6 35. Rc3 b5 36. axb5 Rxb5 37. Kd3 Kd6 38. Ke3 Rc5 39. Rxc5 Kxc5 40.
Kd3 Kb4 41. Kc2 a4 42. bxa4 Kxa4 43. Kc3 Kb5 44. Kb3 Kc5 45. Kc3 Kb5 46. Kb3
Kc5 47. Kc3 Kb5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.25"]
[Round "5.5"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E00"]
[WhiteElo "2678"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Bg5 h6 4. Bh4 Be7 5. e3 b6 6. Be2 Bb7 7. Bf3 Bxf3 8. Nxf3
Ne4 9. Qc2 f5 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. Ne5 O-O 12. O-O Qe8 13. f3 Nf6 14. Nc3 d6 15.
Nd3 Nbd7 16. Rae1 Qf7 17. e4 fxe4 18. fxe4 e5 19. d5 Qg6 20. Nb5 Rfc8 21. Nb4
a6 22. Nc6 Kh8 23. Nc3 Rf8 24. b4 Rf7 25. Rf3 Raf8 26. Ref1 Nb8 27. Nxb8 Rxb8
28. Qa4 Ra8 29. c5 bxc5 30. bxc5 dxc5 31. Qc6 Rb8 32. Rg3 Qh7 33. Rf5 Rbf8 34.
Rgf3 Qg6 35. Qxc5 Rb8 36. Qf2 Nxe4 0-1

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.26"]
[Round "6.1"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 b5 3. d3 e6 4. e4 d5 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Bb7 7. O-O Nf6 8. a4
b4 9. Nbd2 Be7 10. Nc4 O-O 11. Nfe5 Bxg2 12. Kxg2 c5 13. b3 Qd5+ 14. Qf3 Qxf3+
15. Kxf3 Nd5 16. Bb2 f6 17. Ng4 Nc6 18. Nge3 Kf7 19. Kg2 Rfd8 20. Rae1 h5 21.
f4 f5 22. Ne5+ Nxe5 23. Bxe5 Nxe3+ 24. Rxe3 Rd5 25. h4 Bf6 26. Rfe1 Re8 27. Kf3
Re7 28. R1e2 Re8 29. Re1 Re7 30. R1e2 Re8 31. Re1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.26"]
[Round "6.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D43"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5
9. Be2 Bb7 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Nd2 Qb6 12. a4 a6 13. e5 Nd5 14. Nde4 c5 15. Nxd5
Bxd5 16. Nc3 cxd4 17. Nxd5 exd5 18. Bh5 Nc5 19. Qxd4 Qe6 20. Bg4 Nb3 21. Qd1
Qc6 22. axb5 Qxb5 23. e6 fxe6 24. Bxe6 Ra7 25. Bxd5 Nxa1 26. Qf3 1-0

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.26"]
[Round "6.3"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D78"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. d4 Nf6 5. O-O O-O 6. c4 c6 7. Qb3 dxc4 8. Qxc4
b5 9. Qc3 Bb7 10. Ne5 Nd5 11. Qc2 Na6 12. Nxc6 Qd7 13. Bxd5 Rac8 14. Qb3 Bxc6
15. Bxc6 Rxc6 16. Be3 Bxd4 17. Rd1 Rd6 18. Bxd4 Rxd4 19. Nc3 Nc7 20. Rxd4 Qxd4
21. Nxb5 Nxb5 22. Qxb5 Rc8 23. Qb7 Rc2 24. Qxe7 Kg7 25. Rb1 a5 26. a4 Rxb2 27.
Rxb2 Qxb2 28. Qe4 Qb4 29. Qc2 h5 30. h4 Kg8 31. Kf1 Kg7 32. e3 Kg8 33. Ke2 Kg7
34. Qc6 Qb2+ 35. Kf3 Qb4 36. Qd7 Qb3 37. Qd4+ Kh7 38. Kg2 Qb7+ 39. Kf1 Qb1+ 40.
Ke2 Qc2+ 41. Kf3 Qb3 42. Qe4 Qd1+ 43. Kg2 Qb3 44. g4 hxg4 45. Qxg4 Qd5+ 46. Qf3
Qc4 47. h5 g5 48. Qf5+ Kh6 49. e4 Qe6 50. Qxe6+ fxe6 51. Kg3 Kxh5 52. f4 Kg6
53. Kg4 gxf4 54. Kxf4 Kf6 55. e5+ Kg6 56. Kg4 Kh6 57. Kh4 Kg6 58. Kg4 Kh6 59.
Kh4 Kg6 60. Kg4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.26"]
[Round "6.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 a6 6. Bxd7+ Bxd7 7. c4 Nf6 8.
Nc3 g6 9. O-O Bg7 10. a4 Bc6 11. Qd3 Nd7 12. Be3 Nc5 13. Qc2 O-O 14. Nd4 Rc8
15. a5 Ne6 16. Rfd1 Bxd4 17. Bxd4 f5 18. e5 f4 19. f3 Rf5 20. Bb6 Qf8 21. exd6
exd6 22. Qd3 Ng5 23. Qxd6 Qh6 24. Rd3 Nf7 25. Qd4 Rh5 26. h3 Ng5 27. Qf6 Nxh3+
28. Kf1 Ng5 29. Rd8+ Rxd8 30. Qxd8+ Qf8 31. Qxf8+ Kxf8 32. b4 Ne6 33. Rd1 Kf7
34. b5 axb5 35. cxb5 Bxb5+ 36. Nxb5 Rxb5 37. Rd7+ Kf6 38. Rxb7 Rb1+ 39. Ke2
Rb2+ 40. Kf1 Rb1+ 41. Ke2 Rb2+ 42. Kf1 Rb1+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.27"]
[Round "7.1"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2723"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Qb3 Nc6 7. Bxc6+ bxc6
8. Nf3 Bd6 9. d4 exd4 10. Nxd4 O-O 11. Qc4 Qd7 12. Bg5 Nd5 13. Ne4 Nb6 14. Qd3
Bb4+ 15. Bd2 Ba6 16. Qxa6 Qxd4 17. Qd3 Qxb2 18. Qb1 Bxd2+ 19. Nxd2 Qe5 20. Nf3
Qc3+ 21. Kf1 Rfe8 22. e3 Qf6 23. Kg2 c5 24. Qc2 c4 25. Rhd1 Rad8 26. Rac1 Qc6
27. Rxd8 Rxd8 28. e4 Qe6 29. Rd1 Rd6 30. a4 Rxd1 31. Qxd1 Qd6 32. Qxd6 cxd6 33.
a5 Na4 34. Nd4 Nc5 35. Kf3 a6 36. Ke3 Kf8 37. Nc6 c3 38. Nb4 Ke8 39. Kd4 Kd7
40. f3 c2 41. Nxc2 Nb3+ 42. Kd5 Nxa5 43. Nb4 Nb3 44. Nxa6 Nd2 45. f4 Nf1 46.
Nb8+ Kc7 47. Na6+ Kd7 48. Nb8+ Ke8 49. Kxd6 Nxh2 50. Nc6 h5 51. Nd4 Nf1 52. Ne2
g6 53. e5 Ne3 54. Nd4 Nf1 55. Ne2 Ne3 56. Nd4 Nf1 57. Ne2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.27"]
[Round "7.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C90"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2723"]
[PlyCount "138"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. Re1 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Nd7 12. dxc5 dxc5 13. Nbd2 Bb7 14. b3 Qc7 15.
Nf1 Rfd8 16. Qe2 Nb6 17. Ne3 g6 18. h4 Nc6 19. h5 b4 20. c4 Nd4 21. Nxd4 exd4
22. Nd5 Nxd5 23. exd5 Bf6 24. Bd3 Qd7 25. Qf3 Bg7 26. Bg5 Re8 27. Qf4 Bf8 28.
Bf6 Rxe1+ 29. Rxe1 Re8 30. Rxe8 Qxe8 31. Kf1 Bc8 32. Be5 Qd8 33. Bf6 Qd6 34.
Qg5 h6 35. Qh4 Bg7 36. Be7 Qe5 37. hxg6 Bf5 38. gxf7+ Kxf7 39. Qh5+ Kxe7 40.
Qxf5 Qxf5 41. Bxf5 Be5 42. g3 a5 43. Kg2 Kf6 44. Bd3 Bd6 45. Kh3 Kg5 46. f4+
Kf6 47. Kg4 Bc7 48. Kh4 Bd6 49. Kg4 Bc7 50. Kf3 Bd6 51. Ke4 Kg6 52. Be2 Kf6 53.
Bh5 Bf8 54. Bg4 Bd6 55. Kd3 Bf8 56. Kc2 Kg6 57. Kb2 h5 58. Bd7 h4 59. gxh4 Kh5
60. Kc2 Kxh4 61. Kd3 Kg3 62. f5 Kf4 63. f6 Ke5 64. f7 Kf4 65. Be6 Bd6 66. Bd7
Bf8 67. Be6 Bd6 68. Ke2 Kg3 69. Kd3 Kf4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.27"]
[Round "7.3"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2723"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. g3 Bb4 4. e4 O-O 5. Nge2 b5 6. cxb5 a6 7. b6 cxb6 8. Bg2
Nc6 9. O-O Bc5 10. d3 d6 11. h3 Bd7 12. Be3 Bxe3 13. fxe3 Ne7 14. d4 b5 15.
dxe5 dxe5 16. Qd6 Ng6 17. Nd5 Be6 18. Qxd8 Rfxd8 19. Nec3 Ne8 20. a4 Nd6 21. h4
Bg4 22. Rfc1 h5 23. Bf1 Rac8 24. axb5 axb5 25. Bd3 Nc4 26. Nxb5 Nxb2 27. Bf1
Rxc1 28. Rxc1 Rc8 29. Rxc8+ Bxc8 30. Be2 Bg4 31. Bxg4 hxg4 32. Nd6 Nd3 33. h5
Nh8 34. h6 gxh6 35. Nf5 Kh7 36. Nf6+ Kg6 37. Nxg4 h5 38. Nf2 Nxf2 39. Kxf2 f6
40. Kf3 Nf7 41. Kg2 Ng5 42. Nd6 Kg7 43. g4 hxg4 44. Kg3 Nxe4+ 45. Nxe4 f5 46.
Nf2 f4+ 47. exf4 exf4+ 48. Kxf4 g3 49. Kf3 gxf2 50. Kxf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.27"]
[Round "7.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2723"]
[Annotator "Kasimdzhanov,R"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,28,19,28,20,30,49,35,35,28,30,11,22,34,54,25,18,10,10,-9,-8,-5,-32,
-29,-35,-40,-30,-21,-25,-19,-16] This is the fourth game of the match in a
preliminary stage of the tournament. First 3 games were drawn, with Svidler
defending some pretty shaky positions.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. e3
O-O 5. Be2 c5 6. O-O Qb6 7. Nbd2 d5 (7... Qxb2 {was surprisingly possible, but
nobody does that in rapid, of course -} 8. Nc4 Qb5 $1) 8. Qc1 {a bit passive.
After} (8. dxc5 {White would have more chances to fight for initiative, for
instance} Qxb2 9. Be5 Qa3 10. c4 Qxc5 11. Nb3 Qc6 12. Rc1) 8... Nc6 9. c3 Nh5
$1 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bh4 g5 12. Bg3 Nxg3 13. hxg3 {White played the opening as if
he were playing with the black pieces. A similar strategy was often employed
by Gata Kamsky.} e5 {Not the only way to continue.} (13... Bf5 14. Nb3 c4 15.
Nbd2 Rac8 16. b3 cxb3 17. axb3 a6 18. b4 {[%cal Gd2b3] White keeps his fair
share of chances here.}) 14. Nxe5 Nxe5 15. dxe5 Bxe5 16. e4 dxe4 17. Nc4 $5 {
Magnus starts a very brave attempt at complicating matters.} (17. Nxe4 Bf5 18.
Nd2 Rad8 19. Nc4 Qc7 $11 {is much more simple.}) 17... Qe6 (17... Qc7 18. Qe3
Bf5 19. Rad1 Rad8 20. Nxe5 Qxe5 21. f4 {the point} gxf4 22. gxf4 Qg7 {with a
mess}) 18. Qe3 Bg7 $6 {Maybe slightly inaccurate.} ({After} 18... Bc7 $1 {
Black controls d6, and feels much safer.} 19. Qxc5 Qc6 $1 20. Qxc6 bxc6 {
and only Black could be better here, though White should be able to hold, of
course.} 21. g4 Be6 22. Nd2 f5 23. gxf5 Bxf5) 19. Qxc5 (19. Rad1 $5 {Not a bad
idea, actually.} b6 20. Nd6 Qe5 21. Nxc8 Raxc8 22. Rd7 Rc7 (22... Qe6 23. Rxa7)
23. Rfd1 {and White has a lasting compensation for the pawn.}) 19... b6 (19...
Qc6 $5 {was maybe simpler:} 20. Qxc6 bxc6 21. Rfd1 Be6 {probably leads to
equality after} 22. Na5 Rab8 23. Rd2 Rb6 ({or} 23... Rxb2 24. Rxb2 Bxc3 25.
Rab1 Bxa5 $44)) 20. Qa3 f5 $6 {Very natural, but does create weaknesses and
ignores the development a bit too much.} ({After} 20... Qc6 21. Rad1 Be6 22.
Ne3 Rfd8 {Black keeps his king very safe and has a full share of chances:} 23.
Qa6 (23. Rxd8+ Rxd8 24. Qxa7 Bf8 25. Rd1 Ra8 26. Bb5 Rxa7 27. Bxc6 Rxa2) 23...
f5 24. g4 f4 25. Nf5 Kh8) 21. Rad1 {Now Black has to solve some serious
tactical problems.} Bd7 {Maybe not the best.} (21... Qg6 22. g4 $5 (22. Rd6 Be6
23. Ne3 Kh8 24. Bc4 Rf6 {Black hangs on in this slightly awkward manner.} 25.
Qb3 Re8 26. Bxe6 Rfxe6 27. Rxe6 Rxe6 28. Qd5 f4 29. Nf5 Re5 30. Qd8+ Re8 31.
Qd7 Bf8 $13) 22... fxg4 23. Rd6 Qe8 24. g3 Kh8 25. Ne3 Be6 26. Qb4 Bg8 27. Bc4
$44) (21... f4 22. Nd6 (22. Rd6 Qe7 23. Nxb6 axb6 24. Bc4+ Be6 $1 25. Rxe6 Qxa3
26. bxa3 Kh8 $14) 22... Kh8 23. gxf4 Rxf4 (23... gxf4 24. Nxe4 $1 Bb7 25. Bf3
$1 $16) 24. Bc4 Qe7 25. Bd5 Rb8 26. Bxe4 $14) (21... Kh8 22. Rd6 Qf7 23. Nxb6
$16) 22. Rd6 (22. Ne3 $1 {was already very strong:} Kh8 23. g4 (23. Rd6 $5 Qe8
{transposes, see below.}) 23... f4 24. Nf5 Be5 (24... Rxf5 25. gxf5 Qxf5 26.
Qe7 $16) 25. Bc4 Qe8 26. Bd5 $16) 22... Qe8 (22... Qe7 23. Ne3 (23. Nxb6 {
is too cheap:} axb6 24. Bc4+ Be6 25. Rxe6 Qxa3 $14) 23... Rf6 24. Rfd1 {
White keeps quite some pressure.}) 23. Bh5 $6 {Not the best, but finding the
right line would be tough under any circumctances.} (23. Ne3 $1 Kh8 (23... Be6
24. Rxe6 $1) (23... f4 24. Nd5 f3 25. gxf3 exf3 26. Bc4 Kh8 27. Ne7 $16) 24.
Nd5 Qf7 25. Bh5 $1 {Now!} Qxh5 26. Rxd7 Rf7 27. Qa4 Rxd7 28. Qxd7 Rf8 29. Ne7
$1 Qf7 30. Rd1 f4 31. gxf4 gxf4 32. Qd6 Kh7 33. Re1 $16) (23. Rfd1 {allows
some play:} Bb5 (23... Be6 24. Ne3 Kh8) 24. R6d5 e3) 23... Qe7 (23... Qxh5 24.
Rxd7 Rf7 25. Rfd1 f4 26. gxf4 gxf4 27. Qb3 Rxd7 28. Rxd7 Kh8 29. Qd1 {is still
a bit better for White.}) 24. Ne3 (24. Rfd1 Be6 25. Qa4 Rad8 26. Qc6 Rxd6 27.
Rxd6 Rf6 {doesn't feel clear}) 24... Be6 25. Bd1 $1 {Undoubtedly, the point
behind the plan with Bh5. Now Black has a choice.} (25. g4 f4 26. Nf5 Bxf5 27.
gxf5 Rad8 28. Rfd1 Rxd6 29. Rxd6 g4 $1 30. Bxg4 Qh4) 25... f4 {This leads to
what looks like a draw, but things are very deceptive here...} (25... Rae8 $5 {
looks wrong, but in fact very solid.} 26. Bb3 (26. Rxe6 Qxa3 27. bxa3 Rxe6 28.
Bb3 Kf7 29. Nxf5 Bxc3 {White really has nothing to gain out of the pin, and
even has to be careful.} 30. Nxh6+ Ke7 31. Bxe6 Kxe6) 26... Bxb3 27. Qxb3+ Kh8
28. Rd5 f4 29. Nf5 Qe6 30. g4 e3 {looks very complex.}) (25... Kh8 26. Bb3 $1
f4 27. Nd5 (27. gxf4 gxf4 28. Rxe6 Qxa3 29. bxa3 fxe3 30. fxe3 Rac8 $1) 27...
Qf7 28. Nxf4 Bxb3 29. Ng6+ Kg8 30. Qxb3 Qxb3 31. axb3 Rfe8 32. f4 {Here White
keeps some winning chances though.}) 26. Rxe6 $1 (26. gxf4 gxf4 27. Rxe6 Qxa3
28. bxa3 fxe3 29. fxe3 {leaves less pawns on the board and probably favors
Black.}) 26... Qxa3 27. bxa3 fxe3 28. fxe3 Rxf1+ 29. Kxf1 {This endgame looks
like it shouldn't be too difficult, but Magnus is especially dangerous in
these positions. The rest of the game is deeply impressive.} Kf8 (29... Bxc3
30. Bb3 Kg7 31. Rxe4 $14) (29... Rd8 $5 30. Bb3 Kf8 {This type of finesse is
beyond humans.} 31. Ke2 (31. Rxe4 Re8 $1) 31... Bxc3 32. Rxe4 Rd2+ 33. Kf3 h5
34. g4 h4 35. Re6 Rb2 36. Rg6 Be1 {The brilliant point of Black's counterplay.}
37. Rxg5 Rf2+ 38. Ke4 Rxg2) 30. Ke2 Rc8 31. Bb3 Rxc3 32. Rxe4 Rc5 $6 {Natural,
but not the best.} (32... Rc6 $1 {A great idea, playing for the domination of
white rook. Now even Magnus would find it difficult to generate chances.} 33.
g4 (33. Kf3 Bb2 34. a4 h5 35. g4 h4) (33. Ba4 Rc3 34. Re8+ Kf7 35. Ra8 Rxa3 $11
) 33... Bb2 $1 34. a4 a5 {[%csl Ge4] a unique picture, with a "trapped" rook
in the center of the board.}) 33. Re6 $1 Re5 {More decisive measures were
called for.} (33... h5 $1 {[%cal Gg5g4]} 34. Kd3 (34. g4 hxg4 35. Re4 Bb2 36.
a4 Re5 37. Rxg4 Bc1) 34... g4 35. Ke4 Bb2 {[%cal Gc5c7,Gc7e7] with chances for
counterplay.}) 34. Rd6 (34. Rc6 Rc5 35. Rd6 {has a point, too.}) 34... Ke7 {
Svidler plans on holding the game by staying solid, but perhaps he should have
grabbed the chance for some activity.} (34... g4 $1 {[%csl Gg3][%cal Gh6h5]})
35. Rg6 Kf8 (35... Bf8 $5 {with the same theme, trying to limit White's rook
activity, was the best defence.} 36. a4 (36. g4 Kd7) 36... Kd7 37. Kd3 {
[%cal Ge3e4,Gb3d5] but still tough, of course.}) 36. g4 $1 {Now the World
Champion turns into a well-tuned machine.} Rc5 37. a4 $1 {We'll see soon
enough why.} Re5 38. Kd3 Rc5 39. Bc4 Re5 40. Rc6 Rc5 41. Rd6 Ke7 42. Rg6 Kf8
43. e4 $1 {Actually, zugzwang.} Rc7 44. a5 $1 bxa5 45. Ra6 Ke7 $2 {A loss of
focus, but Svidler was badly pressed on time.} ({After the better} 45... Rd7+
46. Bd5 Rc7 47. Rxa5 Bb2 {Black still has some chances, but his task is not
enviable.}) 46. e5 $1 {Magnus is very focused and grabs his chance.} Kf8 (46...
a4 47. Bd5 Kf8 48. Ke4 {doesn't change much.}) 47. Rxa5 Ke7 48. Bb3 Rb7 49. Ke4
Bf8 50. Kf5 Rc7 51. Ra6 Ke8 52. Kg6 Rb7 53. Re6+ {A slight slip.} (53. e6 $1
Rc7 54. Ra5 {[%cal Ga5f5] was game over.}) 53... Kd8 $2 (53... Be7 {and
there's still a bit of work to be done.} 54. Bd5 (54. Kxh6 Rb6 $1) 54... Rb4
55. Bc6+ Kf8 56. Kxh6 Rxg4 57. Kg6 Rb4) 54. Rf6 Be7 55. Kxh6 $1 Rb5 56. Rf5 Rb4
57. e6 Rxg4 58. Rd5+ Ke8 59. Kg6 Rf4 60. Ra5 Kf8 61. Rxa7 Rf6+ 62. Kh7 Bd6 63.
Rf7+ Rxf7+ 64. exf7 {One of those games that, despite visual simplicity, have
a lot of content, especially for the theme of choosing between varying
defensive formations under pressure. At the end of this game Magnus still had
about 10 minutes, having started with 15. I can't think of many players in
history capable of this level at this speed. Very, very impressive stuff.} 1-0

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.28"]
[Round "8.1"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2784"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 c6 3. Bg2 d5 4. Nf3 Bf5 5. Qb3 Qb6 6. d3 e6 7. Be3 Qxb3 8. axb3
a6 9. Bd4 Nbd7 10. Bc3 Bd6 11. Nh4 Bg4 12. h3 Bh5 13. g4 Bg6 14. Nd2 Ke7 15.
O-O Bf4 16. e3 Bd6 17. g5 Ne8 18. Nxg6+ hxg6 19. b4 Rc8 20. f4 f6 21. Nf3 Bb8
22. b3 Nd6 23. Rae1 Nf5 24. Rf2 Ba7 25. c5 Bb8 26. e4 dxe4 27. dxe4 Nh4 28.
gxf6+ gxf6 29. Nd2 g5 30. fxg5 Bg3 31. gxf6+ Kf7 32. Nc4 Rcg8 33. Nd6+ Kf8 34.
Rfe2 Nf3+ 35. Kf1 Nh2+ 36. Kg1 Bxe1 37. Bxe1 Rxh3 38. Nxb7 Ne5 39. Nd8 Rh6 40.
Nxe6+ Kf7 41. Ng7 Nhf3+ 42. Bxf3 Nxf3+ 43. Kf2 Ne5 44. Bc3 Kxf6 45. Nf5 Rh2+
46. Ke3 Rxe2+ 47. Kxe2 Rg2+ 48. Ke3 Ke6 49. Bxe5 Kxe5 50. Nd4 Rg6 51. Nf3+ Ke6
52. Nd4+ Ke5 53. Nf3+ Ke6 54. Nd4+ Ke5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.28"]
[Round "8.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2784"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 c5 8.
Rb1 O-O 9. Be2 cxd4 10. cxd4 Qa5+ 11. Bd2 Qxa2 12. O-O Bg4 13. Be3 Nc6 14. d5
Na5 15. Bg5 Qa3 16. Re1 Bc3 17. Qd3 Rfc8 18. Red1 b6 19. h3 Bd7 20. Rdc1 f6 21.
Bd2 Bb2 22. Rxc8+ Rxc8 23. Qa6 Qa2 24. Rxb2 Qxb2 25. Qxa7 Qa1+ 26. Kh2 Qa4 27.
Bd1 Qxd1 28. Qxd7 Qc2 29. Qe6+ Kh8 30. d6 exd6 31. Qxf6+ Kg8 32. Bh6 Qc7 33.
Qe6+ Kh8 34. Ng5 1-0

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.28"]
[Round "8.3"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2784"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. d4 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 a5 6. Bg2 dxc4 7. O-O O-O 8. Qc2
Bxd2 9. Nbxd2 b5 10. a4 c6 11. e4 Na6 12. b3 Nb4 13. Qc3 cxb3 14. Qxb3 Ba6 15.
Rfc1 bxa4 16. Rxa4 Bb5 17. Ra3 e5 18. dxe5 Nd3 19. Rc3 Nxe5 20. Nxe5 Qxd2 21.
Nf3 Qd7 22. Ne5 Qd4 23. Nxc6 Bxc6 24. Rxc6 Rab8 25. Qc4 Rb1+ 26. Bf1 Qd1 27.
Kg2 Nxe4 28. Qd3 Nd2 29. Rd6 Qxf1+ 30. Qxf1 Nxf1 31. Rxa5 Re1 32. h4 h6 33. Rd7
Rb8 34. Raa7 Nxg3 35. Kxg3 Rb3+ 36. f3 Rg1+ 37. Kf2 Rg6 38. Rxf7 Rb5 39. Rf4
Kh7 40. Rg4 Rxg4 41. fxg4 Rb2+ 42. Kg3 Rb3+ 43. Kf4 Rb4+ 44. Kg3 Rb3+ 45. Kf4
Rb4+ 46. Kg3 Rb3+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.28"]
[Round "8.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B07"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2784"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d6 2. e4 g6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Bd3 Bg7 5. O-O O-O 6. Re1 c5 7. c3 cxd4 8. cxd4
Bg4 9. Nbd2 Nc6 10. h3 Bh5 11. g4 Nxg4 12. hxg4 Bxg4 13. Be2 Rc8 14. a3 Qd7 15.
d5 Bxf3 16. Nxf3 Qg4+ 17. Kh2 Ne5 18. Ng5 Qh4+ 19. Kg2 Bf6 20. Rh1 Rxc1 21.
Rxh4 Rxd1 22. Rxd1 Bxg5 23. Rh3 Rc8 24. Rc3 Rxc3 25. bxc3 Nd7 26. Rb1 Nc5 27.
e5 dxe5 28. a4 Nxa4 29. Rxb7 Nxc3 30. d6 exd6 31. Ba6 e4 32. Rxa7 e3 33. fxe3
Bxe3 34. Rc7 Bd4 35. Bc4 d5 36. Bb3 Kg7 37. Rd7 Kf6 38. Kf3 Be5 39. Bxd5 Nxd5
40. Rxd5 Kf5 41. Rd7 Ke6 42. Ra7 h5 43. Ra6+ Kf5 44. Ra7 f6 45. Rh7 Bc3 46. Rh8
Be1 47. Re8 Bc3 48. Rh8 Kg5 49. Rc8 Be5 50. Rh8 Kh4 51. Kg2 g5 52. Ra8 Kg4 53.
Ra4+ Bf4 54. Ra3 h4 55. Rb3 f5 56. Rb4 h3+ 57. Kf2 Kh5 58. Rb5 Kg6 59. Rb6+ Kf7
60. Kf3 Be5 0-1

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.28"]
[Round "8.5"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A20"]
[WhiteElo "2784"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "160"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 d5 3. cxd5 Qxd5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qd8 6. Bg2 Nf6 7. b4 a6 8. a3
Bd6 9. Bb2 O-O 10. d3 Re8 11. O-O h6 12. Rc1 Bf5 13. Nd2 Qd7 14. Re1 Rab8 15.
Nde4 Nxe4 16. Nxe4 Bh3 17. Bh1 Nd4 18. Nc5 Bxc5 19. Rxc5 Bg4 20. Rd5 Qe6 21.
Bxd4 exd4 22. Rxd4 Bxe2 23. Qd2 Qb6 24. Rh4 g5 25. Re4 Rxe4 26. dxe4 Bg4 27. e5
Be6 28. h4 gxh4 29. Qxh6 hxg3 30. Re3 gxf2+ 31. Kxf2 Bf5 32. e6 fxe6 33. Qg5+
Kf7 34. Bf3 Qd4 35. Bh5+ Kf8 36. Kf1 Rd8 37. Rg3 Qa1+ 38. Kf2 Qd4+ 39. Kf1 Qa1+
40. Kg2 Qb2+ 41. Kg1 Qa1+ 42. Kh2 Qb2+ 43. Kh1 Qb1+ 44. Rg1 Qe4+ 45. Rg2 Qe1+
46. Kh2 Qe5+ 47. Rg3 Qb2+ 48. Kh1 Qb1+ 49. Rg1 Qe4+ 50. Rg2 Qe1+ 51. Kh2 Qe5+
52. Qg3 Qxg3+ 53. Kxg3 Rd3+ 54. Kf4 Ke7 55. Ke5 Rd5+ 56. Kf4 Kd6 57. Rg8 Rd4+
58. Ke3 Ke5 59. Rb8 Rd3+ 60. Kf2 Rxa3 61. Rxb7 c6 62. Rb6 Be4 63. Be2 Bd5 64.
Rb8 Kd4 65. Rh8 e5 66. Rh4+ e4 67. Rg4 Ra2 68. Ke1 Ke3 69. Rg3+ Kd4 70. Rg4 Ke3
71. Rg3+ Kd4 72. Rh3 Ra1+ 73. Kf2 Ra2 74. Kf1 Ra1+ 75. Kf2 Ra2 76. Ke1 Ra1+ 77.
Bd1 e3 78. Rh4+ Kd3 79. Rh6 Bf3 80. Rd6+ Kc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.29"]
[Round "9.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2753"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 a6 7. a4 h6 8. Re1 O-O
9. Nbd2 Ba7 10. Nf1 Re8 11. Be3 Bxe3 12. Nxe3 Be6 13. Bxe6 Rxe6 14. b4 a5 15.
b5 Ne7 16. Qc2 Ng6 17. g3 d5 18. c4 c6 19. cxd5 cxd5 20. Rac1 Re7 21. Qb3 Rd7
22. exd5 Nxd5 23. Nc4 f6 24. d4 exd4 25. Nxd4 Nf8 26. Rcd1 Kh7 27. Nc6 Qc7 28.
N6xa5 Ng6 29. h4 Rxa5 30. Nxa5 Qxa5 31. Qd3 Nb6 32. Qb1 Rxd1 33. Rxd1 h5 34.
Rd4 Qc3 35. Rd6 Nc4 36. Rd3 Qe5 37. Rd7 b6 38. Qd1 Qf5 39. Qd3 Qh3 40. Qd1 Qf5
41. Qd3 Qe6 42. Qd1 Qf5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.29"]
[Round "9.2"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B92"]
[WhiteElo "2753"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "152"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Bg5
Be6 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. Bg4 O-O 11. O-O Be7 12. Bxe6 fxe6 13. Qg4 Rf6 14. Rad1 Nd7
15. Ne2 Qb6 16. Nec1 Qc6 17. Qe2 a5 18. Nd3 b5 19. Nd2 Bd8 20. c3 Bb6 21. g3
Raf8 22. Kg2 R6f7 23. a3 Nf6 24. f4 exf4 25. Nxf4 Re8 26. Nh5 Bd8 27. h4 Nxh5
28. Rxf7 Nf6 29. Rxf6 Bxf6 30. Nf3 b4 31. axb4 axb4 32. cxb4 Rb8 33. Nd4 Qb7
34. Nxe6 Qxb4 35. Kh3 Re8 36. Qg4 Qxb2 37. Rxd6 Qa1 38. Qf3 Qe5 39. Qb3 Kh8 40.
Qd5 Qa1 41. e5 Qf1+ 42. Kh2 Qe2+ 43. Kh3 Bxe5 44. Rd8 Qf1+ 45. Kh2 Qf2+ 46. Qg2
Bxg3+ 47. Kh3 Qxg2+ 48. Kxg2 Rxd8 49. Nxd8 Bxh4 50. Ne6 g6 51. Nf4 Kg7 52. Kh3
Be7 53. Kg4 Bd6 54. Nd5 h5+ 55. Kg5 Ba3 56. Nc3 Bc1+ 57. Kh4 Bb2 58. Ne4 Bf6+
59. Kh3 Kf7 60. Ng3 h4 61. Ne4 Ke6 62. Kg4 Ke5 63. Nf2 Kd4 64. Kf3 Be5 65. Nh3
Bg3 66. Ng5 Ke5 67. Kg4 Bf2 68. Nh7 Ke4 69. Nf8 g5 70. Ne6 Be3 71. Nxg5+ Bxg5
72. Kh3 Kf3 73. Kh2 Bf4+ 74. Kh1 h3 75. Kg1 h2+ 76. Kh1 Kg3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.29"]
[Round "9.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2753"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 Be7 8. Bd3
O-O 9. Nge2 Re8 10. O-O Nh5 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 12. Qd2 Nd7 13. Rae1 Nf8 14. Nc1 Nf6
15. f3 Ne6 16. N1e2 b5 17. Ng3 a5 18. Qf2 Ba6 19. Nf5 Qd8 20. Ne2 c5 21. Qg3 c4
22. Bc2 Nh5 23. Qh3 g6 24. Nxh6+ Kg7 25. Nf5+ Kg8 26. Neg3 Nxg3 27. Qxg3 b4 28.
Nh6+ Kg7 29. Nxf7 Kxf7 30. Bxg6+ Ke7 31. Bxe8 Kxe8 32. e4 c3 33. Rf2 Kf7 34.
bxc3 bxc3 35. f4 dxe4 36. f5 Nf8 37. Rxe4 Rb8 38. h3 Rb1+ 39. Kh2 Qb8 40. Qxb8
Rxb8 41. Re3 Bc4 42. Rxc3 Bd5 43. Rc5 Rd8 44. Rxa5 Rd7 45. g4 Nh7 46. Kg3 Nf6
47. Rc2 Re7 48. Kh4 Be4 49. Rb2 Nd5 50. Kg5 Rd7 51. Ra6 Rc7 52. Re6 Nc3 53.
Rf6+ Kg7 54. Rg6+ Kf7 55. Kh6 Rc8 56. Rg7+ Kf8 57. Rb6 Bd5 58. Rh7 Ne4 59. Rh8+
Bg8 60. Rg6 Kf7 61. Rg7+ Kf6 62. Rhxg8 1-0

[Event "Legends of Chess Prelim"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.29"]
[Round "9.4"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B87"]
[WhiteElo "2753"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2020.07.21"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bc4 b5 7. Bb3 e6 8. Be3
Be7 9. Qe2 O-O 10. f3 Qc7 11. g4 Nc6 12. Nxc6 Qxc6 13. g5 Nd7 14. h4 Nc5 15. h5
Rb8 16. g6 h6 17. Nd5 exd5 18. Bxd5 Qe8 19. Bxh6 gxh6 20. Rg1 Bh4+ 21. Kd1 Qe5
22. c3 Be6 23. f4 Qxf4 24. gxf7+ Kh7 0-1

[Event "Legends of Chess Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.31"]
[Round "1.11"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2723"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2020.07.31"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. g3 Bb4 4. e4 Bxc3 5. bxc3 O-O 6. f3 Re8 7. d4 d6 8. Bd3
Nc6 9. Ne2 b6 10. g4 Nd7 11. O-O Ba6 12. Ng3 exd4 13. cxd4 Nxd4 14. Bb2 Ne6 15.
f4 g5 16. fxg5 Qxg5 17. Rf5 Qe3+ 18. Kh1 Ne5 19. Be2 Bb7 20. Qc2 Nc5 21. Bc1
Bxe4+ 22. Nxe4 Qxe4+ 23. Qxe4 Nxe4 24. Bb2 Re6 25. Raf1 Rae8 26. g5 Nd2 27.
R1f2 Nexc4 0-1

[Event "Legends of Chess Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.31"]
[Round "1.12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B80"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2723"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2020.07.31"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. f3 b5 8. a3
Bb7 9. Qd2 h5 10. O-O-O Nbd7 11. Rg1 Rc8 12. Be2 Be7 13. Kb1 Qc7 14. Bg5 Qb6
15. Be3 Qa5 16. g3 Rxc3 17. Nb3 Qc7 18. Qxc3 Qxc3 19. bxc3 d5 20. exd5 Nxd5 21.
Bd2 Bxa3 22. c4 bxc4 23. Bxc4 N7b6 24. Na5 Nxc4 25. Nxc4 Bc5 26. Rge1 h4 27. f4
hxg3 28. hxg3 Ke7 29. f5 Rb8 30. Ka2 Nb4+ 31. Bxb4 Bxb4 32. Re3 Rc8 33. Ne5
Rxc2+ 34. Kb3 Rd2 35. Rxd2 Bxd2 36. Re2 Bd5+ 37. Ka4 Bc3 38. fxe6 Bxe6 39. Re3
Bxe5 40. Rxe5 Kf6 41. Rc5 Bd7+ 42. Kb4 Bb5 43. Kc3 Ke6 44. Kd4 f6 45. Rc7 g5
46. Rb7 Kf5 47. Rb6 Kg4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.07.31"]
[Round "1.13"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E14"]
[WhiteElo "2723"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2020.07.31"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 b6 4. b3 Bb7 5. Bb2 Be7 6. d4 O-O 7. Bd3 c5 8. O-O
cxd4 9. exd4 d5 10. Nc3 Nc6 11. Qe2 Re8 12. Rad1 Rc8 13. Rfe1 g6 14. Bb1 Bf8
15. Ne5 Bg7 16. f4 dxc4 17. bxc4 Na5 18. d5 exd5 19. Nxd5 Bxd5 20. cxd5 Nc4 21.
d6 Nd7 22. Bd3 Nxb2 23. Qxb2 Rc5 24. Bb5 Nxe5 25. fxe5 Rexe5 26. Rxe5 Bxe5 27.
Qb3 Bxd6 0-1

[Event "Legends of Chess Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.01"]
[Round "1.21"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B84"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2723"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2020.07.31"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. Be2 Qc7 8. Qd2
b5 9. a3 Bb7 10. f3 Nbd7 11. O-O-O d5 12. exd5 Bxd5 13. Bf4 Qb6 14. Rhe1 O-O-O
15. Be3 Qb7 16. a4 b4 17. Nxd5 Nxd5 18. Nb3 Qc6 19. Qd4 Bd6 20. Na5 Qc5 21.
Bxa6+ Kc7 22. Nb7 Qxd4 23. Rxd4 Ra8 24. Nxd6 Kxd6 25. Bb5 N7f6 26. Bd2 1-0

[Event "Legends of Chess Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.01"]
[Round "1.22"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A11"]
[WhiteElo "2723"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2020.07.31"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c6 3. Bg2 Bg4 4. c4 e6 5. O-O Nf6 6. d3 Bd6 7. Qb3 Qe7 8. Nc3
Na6 9. cxd5 exd5 10. e4 dxe4 11. dxe4 O-O 12. e5 Bxe5 13. Nxe5 Qxe5 14. Qxb7
Nc5 15. Bf4 Qh5 16. Qxc6 Rac8 17. Qb5 a6 18. Qa5 Rfe8 19. f3 Nd3 20. Qxh5 Bxh5
21. Bg5 Nxb2 22. Bxf6 gxf6 23. Ne4 Rc6 24. Rac1 Ree6 25. Nc5 Re7 26. f4 Rb6 27.
Bd5 Kg7 28. Rf2 Nd1 29. Bb3 Nxf2 30. Kxf2 Re2+ 31. Kg1 Bf3 32. Rc3 Bd5 0-1

[Event "Legends of Chess Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.01"]
[Round "1.23"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2723"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2020.07.31"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 a6 6. Bxd7+ Bxd7 7. c4 e5 8.
Qd3 b5 9. Nc3 bxc4 10. Qxc4 Qc8 11. Qd3 Qb7 12. O-O h6 13. Nd2 Be6 14. Nc4 Qc6
15. b3 Nf6 16. Ne3 Rc8 17. Bd2 Be7 18. Rac1 Qb7 19. Ncd5 O-O 20. Nxe7+ Qxe7 21.
Rxc8 Rxc8 22. Rc1 Rxc1+ 23. Bxc1 Qc7 24. Bd2 Qc6 25. f3 d5 26. exd5 Nxd5 27.
Nxd5 Bxd5 28. Qc3 Qe6 29. Qc5 f6 30. h3 Qd7 31. Be3 Qe6 32. Qb6 Qxb6 33. Bxb6
Kf7 34. Bc5 g5 35. Kf2 h5 36. Bb6 h4 37. Bd8 Ke6 38. Ke3 Kf5 39. Kf2 Ke6 40.
Ke3 Kf5 41. Kf2 Ke6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.03"]
[Round "2.11"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2784"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2020.07.31"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Rg1 b5 7. g4 Bb7 8. g5
Nfd7 9. a3 g6 10. h4 Bg7 11. h5 Nc6 12. Be3 Nc5 13. f3 O-O 14. hxg6 fxg6 15.
Nxc6 Bxc6 16. Bh3 Bxc3+ 17. bxc3 e5 18. Bg4 Qe7 19. Qd2 Rad8 20. c4 bxc4 21.
O-O-O Ne6 22. Qc3 Bd7 23. Qxc4 Kg7 24. Qb4 Nf4 25. Bxf4 Bxg4 26. Rxg4 Rxf4 27.
Rxf4 Qxg5 28. Rxd6 Qxf4+ 29. Kb1 Rxd6 30. Qxd6 h5 31. c4 Qxf3 32. Qxe5+ Qf6 33.
Qd5 h4 34. c5 Qf1+ 35. Ka2 Qg2+ 36. Kb3 Qg3+ 37. Ka4 h3 38. c6 h2 39. Qd7+ Kh6
40. Qd8 Qe5 41. Qh4+ Kg7 42. Kb3 Qb5+ 43. Kc3 Qxc6+ 44. Kd3 Qd6+ 45. Ke2 Qxa3
46. Kf2 Qb2+ 47. Kg3 Qf6 48. Qh3 Qc3+ 0-1

[Event "Legends of Chess Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.03"]
[Round "2.12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2784"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2020.07.31"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Be3 c5 8.
Rc1 Qa5 9. Qd2 O-O 10. Nf3 Bg4 11. d5 b5 12. Be2 Nd7 13. O-O Rac8 14. Rfd1 Nb6
15. Bh6 Bxf3 16. gxf3 b4 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. cxb4 cxb4 19. Rc6 Rxc6 20. dxc6 Rc8
21. Rc1 Na4 22. Rc4 Nc3 23. Bf1 Qb6 24. a3 Rxc6 25. Rxc6 Qxc6 26. axb4 Nb5 27.
Bxb5 Qxb5 28. Qd4+ e5 29. Qxa7 Qxb4 30. Qc7 Qd4 31. Qe7 h5 32. h4 Qc3 33. Kg2
Qd4 34. Kg1 Qc3 35. Kg2 Qd4 36. Kg1 Qc3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.03"]
[Round "2.13"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2784"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "42"]
[EventDate "2020.07.31"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Rg1 b5 7. g4 Bb7 8. g5
Nxe4 9. Nxe4 Bxe4 10. a4 e5 11. axb5 Be7 12. Rg4 axb5 13. Bxb5+ Nd7 14. Bd2 Bb7
15. Nf5 O-O 16. Rxa8 Bxa8 17. Rh4 g6 18. Qg4 Nc5 19. Qh3 h5 20. Rxh5 gxh5 21.
Qxh5 Ne6 1-0

[Event "Legends of Chess Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.03"]
[Round "2.14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D78"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2784"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2020.07.31"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 c6 4. Bg2 d5 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Nf3 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. Ne5
Ne4 9. Nd2 Nxd2 10. Bxd2 Nd7 11. Nxd7 Bxd7 12. e3 e6 13. Qb3 Qb6 14. Qxb6 axb6
15. Rfc1 Rfc8 16. Rxc8+ Rxc8 17. Rc1 Rxc1+ 18. Bxc1 Bb5 19. Bd2 Bf8 20. Bf1
Bxf1 21. Kxf1 f5 22. a4 Kf7 23. f4 h5 24. h4 Ke8 25. b4 Kd7 26. b5 Be7 27. Ke2
Bf8 28. Kd3 Be7 29. Kc2 Bf8 30. Kb3 Be7 31. Bb4 Bd8 32. Bf8 Ke8 33. Bd6 Kd7 34.
Bb4 Bc7 35. Ba3 Bd8 36. Bb4 Bc7 37. Ba3 Bd8 38. Bb4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Legends of Chess Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.03"]
[Round "2.15"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2784"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2020.07.31"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 g6 7. g4 Bg7 8. Bg2
O-O 9. Be3 Nc6 10. Qd2 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 b5 12. g5 Nh5 13. Bxg7 Nxg7 14. e5 Ra7 15.
O-O-O Rd7 16. Bc6 Rc7 17. Bf3 Bf5 18. exd6 exd6 19. Ne4 Ne6 20. h4 Rc4 21. Nf6+
Kh8 22. Bd5 Rxc2+ 23. Qxc2 Bxc2 24. Kxc2 Nf4 25. Kb1 Kg7 26. Rd4 Nxd5 27. Rxd5
h6 28. Rhd1 Qc8 29. a3 Qh3 30. R1d4 Qf1+ 31. Ka2 Qxf2 32. Rxd6 hxg5 33. hxg5
Qg3 34. R6d5 Rc8 35. Rd3 Qf4 36. R3d4 Qh2 37. Rd2 Qc7 38. R2d4 Rh8 39. Rd7 Qe5
40. R7d5 Qe3 41. Rd3 Qc1 42. Rc3 Qf4 43. Rc2 b4 44. a4 b3+ 45. Kxb3 Rb8+ 46.
Ka2 Qxa4+ 47. Kb1 Rh8 48. Rc1 Qb3 49. Rd2 Qe6 50. Rc5 a5 51. Rcd5 a4 52. Ka2
Qe3 53. R2d3 Qb6 54. Rd6 Qg1 55. R6d5 Rh1 56. Ka3 Qa1+ 57. Kb4 Qxb2+ 58. Ka5
Rh8 59. Rb5 Ra8+ 0-1

[Event "Legends of Chess Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.03"]
[Round "2.16"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2784"]
[PlyCount "183"]
[EventDate "2020.07.31"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d6 2. d4 g6 3. e4 Bg7 4. Nc3 a6 5. Be3 b5 6. Bd3 Bb7 7. a4 b4 8. Ne2 Nf6
9. Ng3 a5 10. c3 Na6 11. O-O O-O 12. h3 c5 13. Qe2 bxc3 14. bxc3 cxd4 15. cxd4
Nb4 16. Rfc1 Rc8 17. Bd2 Rxc1+ 18. Rxc1 Qa8 19. Bb1 Bc6 20. Bxb4 axb4 21. Qc4
Bxa4 22. Qxb4 Bc6 23. Qb6 Rc8 24. Bd3 Bd7 25. Rxc8+ Qxc8 26. Qb2 h5 27. Qd2 Qa8
28. e5 dxe5 29. dxe5 Nd5 30. Be4 Bc6 31. e6 f5 32. Bxd5 Bxd5 33. Nh4 Kh7 34.
Ngxf5 gxf5 35. Qg5 Qa1+ 36. Kh2 Qe5+ 37. f4 Qxe6 38. Qxh5+ Kg8 39. Nxf5 Bf8 40.
Qg5+ Kf7 41. Qh5+ Qg6 42. Nh6+ Bxh6 43. Qxd5+ e6 44. Qb7+ Kg8 45. Qc8+ Kh7 46.
Qb7+ Bg7 47. Qf3 Qf6 48. Qe4+ Kg8 49. Qa8+ Bf8 50. Qe4 Kg7 51. g3 Qb2+ 52. Qg2
Qb3 53. Qe2 Bd6 54. h4 Kf6 55. Qd2 Qd5 56. Qb2+ Kf7 57. Qe2 Qd4 58. Kh3 Qc5 59.
Qe4 Qh5 60. Qb7+ Be7 61. Qe4 Qd5 62. Qh7+ Ke8 63. h5 Qh1+ 64. Kg4 Qd1+ 65. Kh3
Qh1+ 66. Kg4 Qd1+ 67. Kh3 Qd5 68. Qg6+ Kd7 69. h6 Qh1+ 70. Kg4 Qd1+ 71. Kh3 Qd4
72. h7 Bf6 73. Qf7+ Kd6 74. Qf8+ Kd5 75. Qg8 Qa1 76. Qf7 Qh1+ 77. Kg4 Qd1+ 78.
Kh3 Qf1+ 79. Kg4 Qe2+ 80. Kh3 Qb2 81. Qd7+ Ke4 82. Qxe6+ Kf3 83. Qd5+ Ke3 84.
Kg4 Bh8 85. Qf3+ Kd4 86. Qd1+ Kc5 87. Qd7 Qf6 88. Qf5+ Kd6 89. Qxf6+ Bxf6 90.
Kf5 Ke7 91. Kg6 Bh8 92. g4 1-0

[Event "Legends of Chess Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.04"]
[Round "2.21"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2784"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2020.07.31"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. e3 O-O 5. Be2 d6 6. O-O Nh5 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4
g5 9. Nfd2 Nf6 10. Bg3 Nc6 11. Nc3 e5 12. dxe5 Nxe5 13. f4 Neg4 14. Rf3 Re8 15.
Nf1 Nh5 16. Be1 f5 17. Bc4+ Be6 18. Bxe6+ Rxe6 19. h3 Ngf6 20. fxg5 hxg5 21.
Rxf5 Bh6 22. g4 Ng7 23. Rf3 Qd7 24. Ng3 Rae8 25. Bf2 Qc6 26. e4 Nd7 27. Nd5 1-0

[Event "Legends of Chess Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.04"]
[Round "2.22"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2784"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "152"]
[EventDate "2020.07.31"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. g4
h6 9. Be3 Nbd7 10. a4 Nf8 11. Bc4 Ng6 12. Qe2 Bd7 13. f3 Rc8 14. h4 Nh7 15. h5
Bh4+ 16. Rxh4 Nxh4 17. O-O-O Nxf3 18. Rxd6 Qe7 19. Rb6 Bxg4 20. Bd5 O-O 21. Qg2
Qh4 22. Rg6 Nhg5 23. Kb1 Be6 24. Rxe6 fxe6 25. Bxb7 Qe1+ 26. Bc1 Rxc3 27. bxc3
Nxe4 28. Bxe4 Qxe4 29. Bxh6 Rf7 30. Bc1 Qf5 31. Qe2 Rc7 32. Kb2 Qxh5 33. Qxa6
Qe8 34. Qb5 Qc6 35. c4 Kf7 36. c5 Nd4 37. Qf1+ Kg8 38. Be3 Qxa4 39. Bxd4 exd4
40. Qf4 Qd7 41. Qe5 Rb7 42. Qe4 Rb8 43. Qe5 Rb4 44. Qe4 Qd5 45. Qg4 Rc4 46. Qf4
Rb4 47. Qg4 Qf5 48. Qh4 Rc4 49. Qd8+ Kh7 50. Qh4+ Kg6 51. Nxd4 Qe5 52. Qg4+ Kh7
53. Qh4+ Kg8 54. Qd8+ Kf7 55. Qd7+ Kf6 56. c3 Rxc5 57. Qd8+ Kg6 58. Qe8+ Kh7
59. Qd8 Rd5 60. Qh4+ Kg8 61. Qg4 Rd6 62. Qh4 Qf6 63. Qe4 Rb6+ 64. Kc2 Kf7 65.
Qa8 Qg6+ 66. Kd2 Rb2+ 67. Ke3 Qg1+ 68. Kd3 Qf1+ 69. Ke3 Qf2+ 70. Kd3 Qg2 71.
Nf3 Qe2+ 72. Kd4 Qd1+ 73. Ke3 Re2+ 74. Kf4 Qd6+ 75. Kg4 Rg2+ 76. Kh5 g6+ 0-1

[Event "Legends of Chess Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.04"]
[Round "2.23"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2784"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2020.07.31"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 197"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.07.27"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d6 2. e4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. Be2 Nc6 5. O-O e5 6. dxe5 dxe5 7. Qxd8+ Nxd8 8.
Nc3 Ne6 9. Bc4 c6 10. Ng5 Nd8 11. Rd1 Nh6 12. a4 f6 13. Nf3 Nhf7 14. a5 Be6 15.
Be2 Bf8 16. Be3 Nd6 17. Nd2 N8f7 18. f3 Bh6 19. Bf2 Rd8 20. Nb3 Bxb3 21. cxb3
a6 22. Na4 Nc8 23. Nc5 Rxd1+ 24. Rxd1 Nfd6 25. Nxb7 Nxb7 26. Bxa6 Nbd6 27. Bxc8
Nxc8 28. a6 Rf8 29. a7 Nxa7 30. Bxa7 Rf7 31. Bc5 Rb7 32. b4 Bf8 33. Bxf8 Kxf8
34. Rd6 Ke7 35. Rxc6 Rxb4 36. Rc7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.09"]
[Round "1.11"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B80"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 e6 7. Be3 h5 8. Qd2
Be7 9. O-O-O b5 10. a3 Bd7 11. Kb1 Nc6 12. Nxc6 Bxc6 13. Bf4 e5 14. Bg5 Qb6 15.
Bxf6 Bxf6 16. Nd5 Bxd5 17. Qxd5 Ke7 18. c4 Rac8 19. cxb5 Rc5 20. Qb3 axb5 21.
a4 Rhc8 22. Bxb5 Bg5 23. Rd3 h4 24. Rhd1 Rc1+ 25. Ka2 Rxd1 26. Rxd1 Bf4 27. h3
Be3 28. Bc4 Qxb3+ 29. Kxb3 Bd4 30. Rd2 f5 31. Rc2 fxe4 32. fxe4 Kf6 33. Bb5 Rb8
34. Kb4 Kg5 35. a5 Kf4 36. Re2 Rc8 37. a6 Bc5+ 38. Ka5 Ba7 39. b3 Rc1 40. Bc4
Ra1+ 41. Kb5 Rb1 42. Kc6 Bc5 43. Kb7 Ra1 44. b4 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.09"]
[Round "1.12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 e6 5. c3 Bd6 6. Nbd2 cxd4 7. Bxd6 dxe3 8.
Ba3 exd2+ 9. Qxd2 Nc6 10. Qg5 Rg8 11. Bd3 h6 12. Qe3 Qb6 13. Qe2 Bd7 14. O-O
O-O-O 15. b4 Kb8 16. b5 Na5 17. Ne5 Be8 18. Bb4 Rc8 19. a4 Ne4 20. Bxe4 dxe4
21. Qxe4 f6 22. Qh7 Nb3 23. Qxg8 Nxa1 24. Qxe8 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.09"]
[Round "1.13"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Nf6 6. Bf4 Bg4 7. Qb3 Qc8 8.
Nd2 e6 9. Ngf3 Be7 10. O-O Bh5 11. Rae1 Bg6 12. Bxg6 hxg6 13. h4 Nh5 14. Bh2
Nf6 15. Bf4 Nh5 16. Bg5 f6 17. Be3 Qc7 18. c4 Rd8 19. cxd5 exd5 20. Nb1 Qd7 21.
Nh2 Kf7 22. g4 Na5 23. Qd1 Bd6 24. gxh5 Rxh5 25. f4 Rxh4 26. Re2 Rdh8 27. Nd2
Nc4 28. Nxc4 dxc4 29. Qc2 b5 30. Qe4 Re8 31. Qd5+ Qe6 32. Qxe6+ Rxe6 33. Nf3
Rg4+ 34. Kf2 g5 35. fxg5 Bg3+ 36. Kg2 f5 37. Kh3 Bf4 38. Ne5+ Rxe5 39. dxe5
Rg3+ 40. Kh4 Rg4+ 41. Kh3 Rg3+ 42. Kh4 Rg4+ 43. Kh3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.09"]
[Round "1.14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5
8. Rxe5 O-O 9. d4 Bf6 10. Re1 Re8 11. c3 Rxe1 12. Qxe1 Ne8 13. Bf4 d5 14. Bd3
g6 15. Nd2 Ng7 16. Nf3 Bf5 17. Bxf5 Nxf5 18. Qe2 c6 19. Re1 Ng7 20. Be5 Ne6 21.
Bxf6 Qxf6 22. Ne5 Re8 23. Ng4 Qd8 24. Qe5 Ng7 25. Qxe8+ Nxe8 26. Rxe8+ Qxe8 27.
Nf6+ Kf8 28. Nxe8 Kxe8 29. f4 f5 30. b4 b5 31. Kf2 Kf7 32. Kf3 Kf6 33. h4 h5
34. Ke3 Ke6 35. Ke2 Ke7 36. Ke1 Ke6 37. Ke2 Ke7 38. Ke3 Ke6 39. Ke2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.09"]
[Round "1.15"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Nf6 6. Bf4 Bg4 7. Qb3 Qc8 8.
Nd2 e6 9. Ngf3 Be7 10. O-O Bh5 11. Rae1 Bg6 12. Bxg6 hxg6 13. h4 Nh5 14. Bg5 f6
15. Be3 Qc7 16. Qc2 Kf7 17. Nb3 Bd6 18. Nc1 Rae8 19. Re2 Ne7 20. Nd3 Nf5 21.
Bc1 Nf4 22. Bxf4 Bxf4 23. g3 Bd6 24. Qd2 Re7 25. a3 Ke8 26. Qe1 Kd7 27. Kg2 Kc8
28. Rh1 Rhe8 29. Nb4 Kb8 30. Nc2 Qb6 31. Qc1 a5 32. Ne3 Qc6 33. Rd1 Bc7 34. Qc2
Bb6 35. Qd3 a4 36. Nc2 Bc7 37. Nb4 Qd6 38. Rg1 Qd7 39. Rge1 Rh8 40. c4 dxc4 41.
Qxc4 Bd6 42. Rxe6 Bxb4 43. axb4 Rxe6 44. Qxe6 Qxe6 45. Rxe6 Rd8 46. Re4 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.09"]
[Round "1.16"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 e6 5. c3 Bd6 6. Bd3 Bxf4 7. exf4 Qb6 8. Qc2
cxd4 9. Nxd4 Nc6 10. Nf3 O-O 11. O-O Bd7 12. Nbd2 Rac8 13. a3 Rfd8 14. Rfe1 h6
15. Ne5 Nxe5 16. fxe5 Ne8 17. Nf3 Bb5 18. Bh7+ Kh8 19. a4 Ba6 20. Qb1 g6 21.
Bxg6 fxg6 22. Qxg6 Qc7 23. Qxh6+ Qh7 24. Qxh7+ Kxh7 25. Ng5+ Kg8 26. Nxe6 Rd7
27. Re3 Ng7 28. Nd4 Rf8 29. e6 Re7 30. g4 b6 31. Rae1 Bc8 32. Kg2 Rfe8 33. Kg3
Bxe6 34. h4 Kf8 35. h5 Bg8 36. Rxe7 Rxe7 37. Rxe7 Kxe7 38. Kf4 Ne6+ 39. Nxe6
Bxe6 40. Kg5 Kf7 41. a5 bxa5 42. f4 Kg7 43. f5 Bd7 44. h6+ Kh7 45. Kf6 Kxh6 46.
Ke7 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.09"]
[Round "1.17"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. e3 O-O 5. Be2 d6 6. h3 c5 7. Nbd2 cxd4 8.
exd4 Nc6 9. c3 e5 10. dxe5 dxe5 11. Bg5 h6 12. Bxf6 Qxf6 13. O-O Rd8 14. Qb3
Qe7 15. Rad1 e4 16. Nh2 e3 17. Ndf3 exf2+ 18. Rxf2 Be6 19. Qa4 a6 20. Re1 b5
21. Qf4 Qc5 22. a3 Ne5 23. Bf1 Nxf3+ 24. Nxf3 Ra7 25. Nd2 Rad7 26. Ne4 Qb6 27.
Nf6+ Bxf6 28. Qxf6 Rd2 29. Qf4 Rxb2 30. Re3 Rxf2 31. Qxf2 Kg7 32. Qe1 Rd1 33.
Qxd1 Qxe3+ 34. Kh2 Qxc3 35. Qd6 Bc4 36. Bxc4 bxc4 37. Qxa6 Qe5+ 38. Kg1 Qe1+
39. Kh2 Qe5+ 40. Kg1 Qe1+ 41. Kh2 Qe5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.10"]
[Round "1.21"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D41"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 cxd4 6. Qxd4 exd5 7. e4 Nc6 8.
Bb5 dxe4 9. Qxd8+ Kxd8 10. Ng5 Be6 11. Bf4 Bb4 12. O-O-O+ Ke7 13. a3 Bxc3 14.
Bd6+ Ke8 15. bxc3 h6 16. Nxe6 fxe6 17. Bxc6+ bxc6 18. Rd4 Kf7 19. Rhd1 Rhd8 20.
c4 a5 21. Bc5 Rdb8 22. Kc2 Rb7 23. Rb1 Rab8 24. Rxb7+ Rxb7 25. Rd6 Nd7 26. Rxc6
Ne5 27. Ra6 Nxc4 28. Kc3 Nb2 29. Rxa5 Nd3 30. Bd4 Rc7+ 31. Kd2 Rc4 32. Ra7+ Kg6
33. Rxg7+ Kf5 34. Be3 Nc5 35. g4+ Ke5 36. Ra7 Nb3+ 37. Kd1 Rc3 38. Bxh6 Rd3+
39. Kc2 Nd4+ 40. Kb2 Kd5 41. Be3 e5 42. h4 Rb3+ 43. Ka2 Rc3 44. h5 Rc2+ 45. Kb1
Re2 46. Rc7 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.10"]
[Round "1.22"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 a6 7. Re1 h6 8. a4 O-O
9. Nbd2 Re8 10. h3 Be6 11. Bxe6 Rxe6 12. b4 Ba7 13. Bb2 Ne7 14. c4 a5 15. bxa5
Nc6 16. Bc3 Nd7 17. Rb1 Nc5 18. Nf1 Rg6 19. Ne3 Ne6 20. Nd5 Rb8 21. Rb2 Ng5 22.
Nxg5 Qxg5 23. Qf3 Bd4 24. Reb1 Bxc3 25. Nxc3 Nxa5 26. Nd5 Nc6 27. Ne3 b6 28.
Nf5 Ra8 29. h4 Qf4 30. Qxf4 exf4 31. d4 Rxa4 32. d5 Ne5 33. Ne7+ Kh7 34. Nxg6
Kxg6 35. c5 bxc5 36. Rb8 0-1

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.10"]
[Round "1.23"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E94"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 O-O 5. Nf3 d6 6. Be2 Na6 7. O-O e5 8. Be3
c6 9. dxe5 dxe5 10. Qxd8 Rxd8 11. Rfd1 Re8 12. c5 Bf8 13. Bxa6 bxa6 14. h3 Rb8
15. b3 Nd7 16. Nd2 Bxc5 17. Bxc5 Nxc5 18. Nc4 Be6 19. Na5 Rec8 20. Rac1 Kf8 21.
f3 Ke7 22. Ne2 Rb5 23. b4 Na4 24. Nxc6+ Kf6 25. a3 Nb2 26. Nxa7 Rxc1 27. Rxc1
Rb7 28. Nc8 Rb8 29. Nd6 Ke7 30. Rc2 Nd3 31. Nc4 Ne1 32. Rc1 Nd3 33. Rc2 Ne1 34.
Rc1 Nd3 35. Rc2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.11"]
[Round "1.31"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E62"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. c4 O-O 5. d4 d6 6. Nc3 c6 7. O-O Bf5 8. Ng5
d5 9. Qb3 Qb6 10. cxd5 Qxb3 11. axb3 cxd5 12. Nxd5 Nxd5 13. Bxd5 Nc6 14. e3 h6
15. Ne4 Rfd8 16. Nc3 e5 17. dxe5 Bxe5 18. e4 Bh3 19. Rd1 Bg4 20. Rf1 Bh3 21.
Rd1 Bg4 22. Rf1 Bh3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.11"]
[Round "1.32"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Qd2
Be7 9. f3 h5 10. Be2 Nbd7 11. Nd5 Bxd5 12. exd5 b6 13. O-O-O Qc7 14. Kb1 b5 15.
Na5 Nb6 16. Bxb6 Qxb6 17. Nc6 Bd8 18. c4 bxc4 19. Bxc4 O-O 20. Rhe1 Nd7 21. g4
hxg4 22. fxg4 Bh4 23. g5 g6 24. Rf1 Kg7 25. Qg2 Rh8 26. Qg4 Qc7 27. Rf3 f5 28.
gxf6+ Nxf6 29. Qg2 Qd7 30. Rg1 Rh6 31. a3 Nh5 32. Rb3 Nf4 33. Qc2 Kh8 34. Ka2
Qf5 35. Qd2 Qe4 36. Rc1 Bg5 37. Rcc3 Ne6 38. Qc2 Qxc2 39. Rxc2 Nd4 40. Nxd4
exd4 41. Rb6 Bf4 42. Rxa6 Rxa6 43. Bxa6 Rh3 44. a4 Kg7 45. Rf2 Be3 46. Bf1 Rh5
47. Rg2 Rxd5 48. Bd3 Rg5 49. Rxg5 Bxg5 50. a5 Bd8 51. a6 Bb6 52. Kb3 Kf6 53.
Kc4 Ke5 54. Kb5 Ba7 55. Kc6 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.11"]
[Round "1.33"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B80"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. e4 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. f3 b5 8. a3
Bb7 9. g4 h6 10. Qd2 Nbd7 11. O-O-O Rc8 12. Kb1 d5 13. exd5 Nxd5 14. Nxd5 Bxd5
15. Rg1 Bc5 16. f4 Nf6 17. Bd3 Qc7 18. Qe1 Ne4 19. h4 Qb7 20. c3 Bxa3 21. f5 b4
22. c4 Nc3+ 23. Ka1 Bxc4 24. fxe6 O-O 25. Bxc4 Rxc4 26. Rd2 Bxb2+ 27. Kxb2 b3
28. exf7+ Qxf7 29. Nxb3 Rb4 0-1

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.12"]
[Round "1.41"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D43"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5
9. Be2 b4 10. Na4 Nxe4 11. Be5 Nf6 12. Nc5 c3 13. bxc3 bxc3 14. O-O Nbd7 15.
Nxd7 Bxd7 16. Qb3 Bg7 17. Qa3 g4 18. Ne1 c5 19. dxc5 O-O 20. Bxc3 h5 21. Rd1
Nd5 22. Bxg7 Kxg7 23. Bc4 Bc6 24. Nc2 Qf6 25. Nd4 Ne7 26. f3 g3 27. hxg3 Rfd8
28. Nxc6 Nxc6 29. Qe3 Nd4 30. g4 Rac8 31. g5 Qf5 32. Rxd4 Qxc5 33. Bxe6 Rc6 34.
Re4 Qxe3+ 35. Rxe3 Rxe6 36. Rxe6 fxe6 37. Re1 Rd6 38. Kh2 Kg6 39. f4 Kf5 40.
Kg3 h4+ 41. Kxh4 Kxf4 42. g6 Rd8 43. Rf1+ Ke3 44. Kg5 e5 45. g7 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.12"]
[Round "1.42"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E62"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nc3 d6 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. O-O e5 8. d5
Ne7 9. e4 b6 10. Rb1 a5 11. Re1 Nd7 12. a3 h6 13. Nh4 f5 14. exf5 gxf5 15. Qc2
Nf6 16. b4 Bd7 17. c5 axb4 18. axb4 e4 19. c6 Be8 20. f3 Nfxd5 21. Nxd5 Nxd5
22. fxe4 fxe4 23. Bxe4 Nc3 24. Bxh6 Qf6 25. Bh7+ Kh8 26. Rxe8 Rfxe8 27. Ng6+
Kxh7 28. Nf8+ Kxh6 29. Qh7+ Kg5 30. Qh4+ Kf5 31. Qf4# 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.12"]
[Round "1.43"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D27"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e3 a6 6. a4 c5 7. Bxc4 Nc6 8. O-O
Be7 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Qxd8+ Kxd8 11. Bd2 Ke7 12. a5 Bb4 13. Nb1 Bd7 14. Rc1 Rhc8
15. Bf1 Ne4 16. Bxb4+ Nxb4 17. Nbd2 Nxd2 18. Nxd2 Rxc1 19. Rxc1 Rc8 20. Rxc8
Bxc8 21. f4 e5 22. fxe5 Nc6 23. Nc4 Be6 24. Kf2 Bxc4 25. Bxc4 Nxa5 26. Bd5 Nc6
27. Kg3 Nxe5 28. Bxb7 a5 29. Ba6 g5 30. h4 h6 31. hxg5 hxg5 32. Kf2 Kd6 33. Ke2
Kc5 34. Bb7 a4 35. Kd2 Nc4+ 36. Kc3 Nxe3 37. g3 Nf5 38. g4 Ne3 39. Bf3 f6 40.
Kd3 Nc4 41. Kc3 Nd6 42. Bg2 Nb5+ 43. Kd3 Kb4 44. Bc6 Nd6 45. Kd4 Nf7 46. Bf3
Nh6 47. Bd1 f5 48. gxf5 Nxf5+ 49. Ke5 Ne3 50. Bxa4 Kxa4 51. Ke4 Nc4 52. Kf5
Nxb2 53. Kxg5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.12"]
[Round "1.44"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E60"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 c5 4. dxc5 Qa5+ 5. Nc3 Qxc5 6. Be3 Qa5 7. Bg2 Bg7 8.
Bd2 O-O 9. Rc1 d6 10. Nh3 Nc6 11. Nf4 Bd7 12. O-O Rfc8 13. b3 Qd8 14. Ncd5 Nxd5
15. Nxd5 Ne5 16. Bg5 Nc6 17. Qd2 Be6 18. Rfd1 Qf8 19. b4 h6 20. Be3 Kh7 21. b5
Ne5 22. c5 dxc5 23. Bxc5 Qe8 24. Qb4 Bxd5 25. Bxd5 Rc7 26. Rb1 e6 27. Bg2 Bf8
28. Bxf8 Qxf8 29. Qf4 Qg7 30. Rbc1 Re7 31. Rc5 f6 32. Qc1 Rae8 33. h3 b6 34.
Rc8 Qf8 35. Rxe8 Qxe8 36. f4 Nf7 37. Qc6 Qxc6 38. bxc6 Kg7 39. Kf2 Kf8 40. Ke3
Rc7 41. Kd4 Nd8 42. Rc1 Ke7 43. Ke3 Kd6 44. Rd1+ Ke7 45. Rc1 Kd6 46. Rd1+ Ke7
47. Rc1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.12"]
[Round "1.45"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Ding, Liren"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2791"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 Nc6 5. Nbd2 Qb6 6. dxc5 Qxb2 7. Rb1 Qc3 8.
Bb5 g6 9. O-O Bg7 10. Nb3 O-O 11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. Be5 Qc4 13. Nfd4 Bd7 14. Qd3
Ne4 15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. Qxc4 dxc4 17. Na5 Nd2 18. Rb7 Bc8 19. Rxe7 Nxf1 20. Kxf1
Rd8 21. Naxc6 Rd7 22. Re5 Rc7 23. Na5 Kf6 24. f4 Re7 25. Rxe7 Kxe7 26. Ke2 Be6
27. e4 Rc8 28. c6 Kd6 29. Nb7+ Kc7 30. Nc5 Kd6 31. Nb7+ Kc7 32. Nc5 Kd6 33.
Nb7+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.12"]
[Round "1.46"]
[White "Ding, Liren"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2791"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Be7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. O-O c6 8. Qc2
b6 9. Ne5 Bb7 10. cxd5 cxd5 11. Rc1 Nfd7 12. Nd3 Nc6 13. e3 Rc8 14. Nc3 Na5 15.
Qd1 Nc4 16. Be1 Nd6 17. a4 a5 18. Nb5 Rxc1 19. Rxc1 Qb8 20. b4 Nc4 21. bxa5
bxa5 22. e4 Ndb6 23. exd5 Bxd5 24. Bxd5 exd5 25. Ne5 Qb7 26. Bxa5 Bg5 27. Bxb6
Bxc1 28. Bc5 Ra8 29. Nxc4 dxc4 30. Qxc1 Rxa4 31. Nc3 Ra5 32. h4 Qa8 33. Qb2
Ra1+ 34. Nb1 c3 35. Qb3 h6 36. d5 Qc8 37. Kg2 Qxc5 38. Nxc3 Ra8 39. Ne2 Rd8 40.
Nf4 Qd4 41. h5 Qe5 42. Qb6 Rb8 43. Qc5 Qe4+ 44. Kh3 Rb1 45. Kg4 f5+ 0-1

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.14"]
[Round "2.11"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Be3
Be7 9. Qd2 h5 10. Nd5 Nxd5 11. exd5 Bf5 12. Be2 Bh4+ 13. g3 Be7 14. c4 a5 15.
Bd3 Bh3 16. O-O-O Nd7 17. Kb1 a4 18. Nc1 Qa5 19. Qxa5 Rxa5 20. Rhg1 f5 21. Ne2
O-O 22. Nc3 e4 23. fxe4 Ne5 24. Bb6 Ra6 25. Bd4 Nf3 26. c5 dxc5 27. Be3 Raf6
28. Rh1 Bg2 29. exf5 Bxh1 30. Rxh1 a3 31. b3 Nd4 32. Rf1 Nxf5 33. Bg5 Nd6 34.
Bxf6 Rxf6 35. Rxf6 Bxf6 36. Ne4 Nxe4 37. Bxe4 Be5 38. Bg6 h4 39. gxh4 Bxh2 40.
Kc2 Kf8 41. Kd3 b5 42. Kc2 Ke7 43. Bd3 b4 44. h5 Kd6 45. Bg6 Be5 46. Kb1 Bf6
47. Kc2 Be5 48. Kb1 Bf6 49. Kc2 Be5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.14"]
[Round "2.12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D24"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e4 b5 6. e5 Nd5 7. Nxb5 Nb6 8. a3
Nc6 9. Be3 Na5 10. Qc2 a6 11. Nc3 Be7 12. Rd1 Bb7 13. Be2 Qd7 14. h4 Bc6 15.
Rh3 Rb8 16. Rg3 Ba4 17. Nxa4 Qxa4 18. Rc1 Nb3 19. Rxg7 Nxc1 20. Qxc1 c3 21.
Qxc3 Nd5 22. Qc1 Nxe3 23. fxe3 Kf8 24. Rg4 Qb3 25. Qxc7 Qxb2 26. Kf2 Qb7 27.
Qa5 Rg8 28. Rf4 Qc6 29. Qd2 h6 30. Qd3 Rg7 31. Qxa6 Qxa6 32. Bxa6 Rb2+ 33. Be2
Bxa3 34. g4 Be7 35. Re4 Rg8 36. Rf4 Kg7 37. g5 hxg5 38. Nxg5 Bxg5 39. hxg5 Rh8
40. Kf3 Rh3+ 41. Kg4 Rxe3 42. Bf3 Rd2 43. Kh4 Red3 44. d5 exd5 45. Rf6 Re3 46.
Rf5 Rd4+ 47. Kh5 Rb4 48. e6 fxe6 49. Rf6 Re5 50. Rg6+ Kf7 51. Rf6+ Ke7 52. Kh6
Rb8 53. Rf4 Rf8 54. Rxf8 Kxf8 55. g6 Kg8 56. g7 Re1 0-1

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.14"]
[Round "2.13"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Be3
Be7 9. Qd2 h5 10. Nd5 Nxd5 11. exd5 Bf5 12. Be2 Bh4+ 13. g3 Be7 14. Na5 Nd7 15.
a4 O-O 16. Nxb7 Qb8 17. Na5 Qxb2 18. Rc1 Rfc8 19. Nc6 Bf6 20. c4 Qb7 21. O-O
Re8 22. g4 Bg6 23. g5 Bd8 24. a5 Rc8 25. Bd3 Nf8 26. Be4 Qd7 27. Kh1 h4 28. Qd3
Qh3 29. Rb1 Bh5 30. Bb6 Bxg5 31. Bf5 Bg6 32. Bxh3 Bxd3 33. Bxc8 Rxc8 34. Be3
Bf6 35. Rfc1 e4 36. Rb3 Ng6 37. fxe4 Bxe4+ 38. Kg1 Ne5 39. Rb8 Rxb8 40. Nxb8
Nf3+ 41. Kf2 Nxh2 42. Bf4 Ng4+ 43. Ke2 Be5 44. Bxe5 Nxe5 45. Ke3 f5 46. c5 dxc5
47. d6 h3 48. d7 Nf7 49. Nxa6 h2 50. Nxc5 h1=Q 51. Rxh1 Bxh1 52. Ne6 Bd5 53.
d8=Q+ Nxd8 54. Nxd8 Kf8 55. a6 Ke7 56. Nb7 g5 57. Kd4 Ke6 58. Nd8+ Kd6 59. a7
Ba8 60. Nf7+ Kc7 61. Nxg5 Kb6 62. Ke5 Kxa7 63. Kxf5 Be4+ 64. Nxe4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.14"]
[Round "2.14"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "142"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bb5 Nxc3 7. bxc3 Bd6 8.
d4 Qf6 9. Qc2 O-O 10. Bxc6 bxc6 11. O-O Re8 12. dxe5 Bxe5 13. Nxe5 Qxe5 14. f3
f5 15. Re1 Rb8 16. Bd2 Be6 17. e4 fxe4 18. Rxe4 Bf5 19. Qb3+ Qd5 20. Rxe8+ Rxe8
21. Bf4 Be6 22. Qa3 a6 23. Re1 Bf7 24. Rxe8+ Bxe8 25. h3 a5 26. Bxc7 Bf7 27.
Qe7 a4 28. a3 Qe6 29. Qd8+ Qe8 30. Qd4 Bb3 31. Kh2 h6 32. Be5 Qe7 33. g4 Bd5
34. Kg3 Qf8 35. f4 Qxa3 36. Bxg7 Qc1 37. Be5 a3 38. c4 Qe1+ 39. Qf2 Qxf2+ 40.
Kxf2 Bxc4 41. f5 a2 42. Kg3 Kh7 43. Kf4 Bb3 44. h4 Bc2 45. Bc3 Bd3 46. Ke5 Kg8
47. Kf6 Be2 48. g5 hxg5 49. hxg5 Bd3 50. g6 Bc2 51. Kg5 Bd3 52. f6 Bc4 53. Kf4
c5 54. Bb2 Bb3 55. Be5 Bd5 56. Ke3 Bc4 57. Kd2 Kf8 58. Kc2 Bd5 59. Kb2 Kg8 60.
Bd6 Be6 61. Bxc5 Bd5 62. Bd6 Be6 63. Be5 Bd5 64. Ka3 Be6 65. Kb4 Kf8 66. Kc5
a1=Q 67. Bxa1 Bf5 68. g7+ Kg8 69. f7+ Kxf7 70. g8=Q+ Kxg8 71. Bh8 Kxh8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.15"]
[Round "2.21"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D24"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e4 b5 6. e5 Nd5 7. Nxb5 Nb6 8. a4
Qd7 9. Be2 Nc6 10. O-O Na5 11. Ng5 h6 12. Ne4 Bb7 13. Nc5 Bxc5 14. dxc5 Nd5 15.
Ra3 a6 16. Nd4 Ne7 17. Qd2 Qd5 18. Rg3 Qxc5 19. b4 cxb3 20. Ba3 Qxa3 21. Qxa5
Bd5 22. Rxg7 c5 23. Bh5 cxd4 24. Rxf7 Kd7 25. Bg4 Kc6 26. Bxe6 Bxe6 27. Rf6 Kd7
28. Qb6 Bd5 29. Rd6+ Ke8 30. Rxd5 Nxd5 31. Qc6+ Ke7 32. Qb7+ Ke6 33. Qc6+ Ke7
34. Qb7+ Ke6 35. Qc6+ Kf5 36. Qxd5 Qe7 37. e6+ Kg6 38. Qe4+ Kg7 39. Qxd4+ Kg8
40. Qg4+ Qg7 41. Qc4 b2 42. f4 Rb8 43. Qe4 Rh7 44. Rb1 Qb7 45. Qe2 Rc7 0-1

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.15"]
[Round "2.22"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "28"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. dxe5 Nxb5 7. a4 Nbd4 8.
Nxd4 d5 9. exd6 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 Qxd6 11. Qe4+ Qe6 12. Qd4 Qd6 13. Qe4+ Qe6 14.
Qd4 Qd6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.15"]
[Round "2.23"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A20"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. O-O Nb6 7. b3 Be6 8.
Qc2 Qd7 9. Rd1 O-O-O 10. Nc3 f6 11. d4 exd4 12. Bb2 Bf5 13. Qc1 d3 14. exd3 Bh3
15. Bh1 Bg4 16. d4 Bb4 17. d5 Bxc3 18. Qxc3 Nxd5 19. Qc4 Be6 20. Nd4 Bf7 21.
Nxc6 Qxc6 22. Qg4+ Qe6 23. Qxg7 Rhg8 24. Qh6 Qf5 25. Bg2 Kb8 26. Rd4 Rde8 27.
Qd2 c6 28. b4 Qh5 29. Re1 Rxe1+ 30. Qxe1 Re8 31. Re4 Rxe4 32. Bxe4 Bg6 33. Bg2
Qf5 34. a3 Qd3 35. h4 Kc7 36. Kh2 Qb1 37. Qd2 Be4 38. Bxf6 Bxg2 39. Kxg2 Kb6
40. Bd4+ Kb5 41. Bxa7 Ka4 42. Bc5 b5 43. Qe2 Kxa3 44. Qe6 Qd3 45. Qxc6 Kb3 46.
Qe6 Qc4 47. Qf5 Nxb4 48. Bxb4 Kxb4 49. Qxh7 Qd5+ 50. Kh2 Ka3 51. Qa7+ Kb2 52.
Qg7+ Ka2 53. Qg5 Qd3 54. Qc5 Qe2 55. h5 Qb2 56. h6 b4 57. h7 Qf6 58. Kg2 b3 59.
Qa7+ 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.15"]
[Round "2.24"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "28"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. dxe5 Nxb5 7. a4 Nbd4 8.
Nxd4 d5 9. exd6 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 Qxd6 11. Qe4+ Qe6 12. Qd4 Qd6 13. Qe4+ Qe6 14.
Qd4 Qd6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.15"]
[Round "2.25"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D30"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "149"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Bg5 dxc4 5. e4 c5 6. Bxc4 cxd4 7. O-O Be7 8. e5
Nd5 9. Bxe7 Nxe7 10. Nbd2 O-O 11. Re1 b6 12. Ne4 Ba6 13. Bxa6 Nxa6 14. Nd6 Qd7
15. Qxd4 Rad8 16. Rad1 Nc7 17. Qe4 h6 18. Nd4 Ncd5 19. f4 Nc8 20. Nxc8 Qxc8 21.
f5 Qc5 22. fxe6 fxe6 23. Rc1 Nf6 24. exf6 Qxd4+ 25. Qxd4 Rxd4 26. fxg7 Rf6 27.
Rc7 Rd2 28. g3 Rxb2 29. Rxa7 Rf7 30. Rxf7 Kxf7 31. Rxe6 Kxg7 32. Re7+ Kg6 33.
Ra7 b5 34. Ra6+ Kg7 35. h4 b4 36. Rb6 Rxa2 37. Rxb4 h5 38. Rf4 Kg6 39. Rf2 Ra3
40. Kg2 Ra4 41. Rb2 Ra3 42. Rb6+ Kg7 43. Rb5 Kg6 44. Rg5+ Kh6 45. Re5 Kg6 46.
Re6+ Kg7 47. Kf2 Rb3 48. Re3 Rb5 49. Kf3 Kf6 50. Ra3 Rf5+ 51. Kg2 Rb5 52. Ra6+
Kg7 53. Re6 Rb3 54. Kf2 Ra3 55. Re3 Ra5 56. Kf3 Kf6 57. Re4 Kf5 58. Rf4+ Kg6
59. Rb4 Kf5 60. Rb6 Ra3+ 61. Kg2 Ra5 62. Rh6 Ke4 63. Rf6 Rf5 64. Ra6 Rc5 65.
Re6+ Re5 66. Rxe5+ Kxe5 67. Kf3 Kf5 68. g4+ hxg4+ 69. Kg3 Kg6 70. Kxg4 Kh6 71.
h5 Kh7 72. Kg5 Kh8 73. h6 Kg8 74. Kg6 Kh8 75. h7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.15"]
[Round "2.26"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bd6 6. Nbd2 Bg4 7. h3 Bh5 8.
Nc4 Nd7 9. Ne3 Nf8 10. Nf5 Ne6 11. g4 Bg6 12. Be3 c5 13. c3 Qd7 14. Qc2 O-O-O
15. O-O-O f6 16. Kb1 Kb8 17. d4 cxd4 18. cxd4 exd4 19. N3xd4 Nxd4 20. Rxd4 Bxf5
21. exf5 h5 22. Rhd1 hxg4 23. hxg4 Qe7 24. Qa4 b6 25. Qc6 Be5 26. Rd7 Rxd7 27.
Rxd7 Qb4 28. Bd4 Bd6 29. Qe4 Qa4 0-1

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.16"]
[Round "2.31"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. Nc4 Nd7 8.
O-O f6 9. a4 a5 10. Be3 b6 11. h4 Qe8 12. g3 Be7 13. Ne1 Nc5 14. Ng2 Be6 15. b3
Qd7 16. Qe2 Rae8 17. f3 Bxc4 18. dxc4 Qh3 19. Kf2 Qe6 20. Kg1 f5 21. exf5 Qxf5
22. Rad1 Qh3 23. Bf2 Bd6 24. Rfe1 Re7 25. Qe3 Ref7 26. f4 exf4 27. gxf4 Qg4 28.
Qe2 Rxf4 29. Qxg4 Rxg4 30. Rd4 Rg6 31. h5 Rh6 32. Rh4 Rf5 33. Be3 Rhxh5 34.
Rxh5 Rxh5 35. Bf4 Bxf4 36. Nxf4 Rf5 37. Ne6 Nxe6 38. Rxe6 c5 39. Re7 h5 40.
Rxc7 Kh7 41. Kg2 Kh6 42. c3 Rf6 43. Rc8 Kg5 44. Rd8 Kg4 45. b4 h4 0-1

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.16"]
[Round "2.32"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "33"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nf5 8.
c3 Nxe5 9. Rxe5 d6 10. Re1 d5 11. d4 O-O 12. Bf4 Bd6 13. Qf3 Nh4 14. Qg3 Nf5
15. Qf3 Nh4 16. Qg3 Nf5 17. Qf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.16"]
[Round "2.33"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. Qe2 Re8 8.
Nc4 Nd7 9. h4 a5 10. h5 b5 11. Ne3 Nf8 12. Bd2 Ne6 13. a4 b4 14. b3 Ba6 15. g3
Bxe3 16. Bxe3 f5 17. Rh4 f4 18. Bd2 Nd4 19. Nxd4 Qxd4 20. Rc1 fxg3 21. fxg3
Qg1+ 22. Qf1 Qxg3+ 23. Qf2 Qxf2+ 24. Kxf2 Re6 25. Rg1 Rf8+ 26. Ke1 Bc8 27. h6
g6 28. Bg5 Ree8 29. Rh2 Rf3 30. Rf2 Rxf2 31. Kxf2 Rf8+ 32. Ke3 Kf7 33. Rf1+ Ke8
34. Rxf8+ Kxf8 35. Bd8 c5 36. Bxc7 Ke7 37. Bxe5 Kd7 38. Bf6 Bb7 39. Kf4 Bc6 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.16"]
[Round "2.34"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 Qb6 5. Nc3 Bd7 6. Rb1 e6 7. a3 Nc6 8. Be2
Nh5 9. Be5 cxd4 10. Bxd4 Nxd4 11. Qxd4 Qxd4 12. exd4 Nf4 13. Bf1 Bd6 14. h4 h5
15. g3 Ng6 16. Bb5 Rc8 17. Kd2 a6 18. Bxd7+ Kxd7 19. Nd1 f6 20. Ne3 Ne7 21. c3
Rc6 22. Ne1 Nc8 23. Nd3 Nb6 24. b4 Rb8 25. Nc5+ Ke7 26. a4 Bxc5 27. bxc5 Nxa4
28. Rb3 b5 29. Ra1 Rd8 30. Nc2 e5 31. f4 Kf7 32. Rf1 exf4 33. gxf4 f5 34. Nb4
Rg6 35. Rf2 Ra8 36. Rb1 Rg3 37. Nd3 Re8 38. Ne5+ Kg8 39. Rc1 a5 40. Re2 b4 41.
cxb4 axb4 42. Re3 Rg2+ 43. Re2 Rg3 44. Re3 Rg2+ 45. Re2 Rg3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.16"]
[Round "2.35"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. Qe2 Re8 8.
Nc4 Nd7 9. Bd2 b5 10. Ne3 Nf8 11. h4 Ne6 12. Nxe5 a5 13. Qh5 g6 14. Qf3 f6 15.
Nxc6 Qd7 16. Qxf6 Qxc6 17. Bc3 Rf8 18. Qh8+ Kf7 19. Qxh7+ Ke8 20. Qxg6+ Kd7 21.
d4 b4 22. dxc5 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.16"]
[Round "2.36"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A20"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "146"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. O-O Nb6 7. b3 Be6 8.
Nc3 Qd7 9. d4 exd4 10. Nb5 d3 11. Bb2 f6 12. Nbd4 Nxd4 13. Nxd4 Bd5 14. Bxd5
Qxd5 15. Qxd3 c5 16. Qb5+ Qd7 17. Qxd7+ Kxd7 18. Nf5 Ke6 19. e4 Rc8 20. Rac1 c4
21. Rfd1 g6 22. Nd4+ Kf7 23. Nb5 Be7 24. Nxa7 Ra8 25. Nb5 Rxa2 26. Bd4 Nc8 27.
Rxc4 Rd8 28. Rc7 b6 29. Nc3 Rc2 30. Kg2 Ke8 31. Nd5 Rxc7 32. Nxc7+ Kf7 33. Nd5
f5 34. f3 Bc5 35. Bxc5 bxc5 36. Rc1 fxe4 37. fxe4 Nd6 38. Rxc5 Nxe4 39. Rc7+
Ke6 40. Nf4+ Kf6 41. Kf3 Nd2+ 42. Kg4 Nxb3 43. Rxh7 Nd4 44. Ra7 Rd6 45. Ra8 Nf5
46. Rf8+ Kg7 47. Ra8 Kf6 48. Ra2 Nh6+ 49. Kf3 g5 50. Ng2 Nf5 51. Ne1 Kg6 52.
Kf2 Rf6 53. Ra4 Rb6 54. Nf3 Rb2+ 55. Kg1 Ne3 56. Re4 Rb1+ 57. Kf2 Nd1+ 58. Kg2
Rb2+ 59. Kg1 Rb3 60. Re6+ Kh5 61. Ne5 Ne3 62. h3 Rb2 63. Re8 Kh6 64. g4 Rg2+
65. Kh1 Rg3 66. Rh8+ Kg7 67. Rh5 Kf6 68. Nd3 Nxg4 69. Nc5 Nf2+ 70. Kh2 Rxh3+
71. Rxh3 Nxh3 72. Ne4+ Ke7 73. Nxg5 Nxg5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.17"]
[Round "2.41"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A20"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. O-O Nb6 7. b3 Be6 8.
Bb2 f6 9. Nc3 Qd7 10. Qc1 Nd4 11. Nxd4 exd4 12. Ne4 O-O-O 13. a4 d3 14. a5 Nd5
15. Nc5 Bxc5 16. Qxc5 Kb8 17. Bd4 b6 18. axb6 cxb6 19. Qa3 dxe2 20. Rfe1 Rc8
21. Rxe2 Rc7 22. Rae1 Bh3 23. Bxb6 Nxb6 24. Re7 Qxd2 25. Bxh3 Rd8 26. Qa6 Rxe7
27. Rxe7 Qd1+ 28. Bf1 Rd7 29. Re8+ Rd8 30. Re3 h5 31. h4 g5 32. hxg5 fxg5 33.
Re7 Rd7 34. Re5 Rd5 35. Re8+ Rd8 36. Qb5 h4 37. Qe5+ Kc8 38. Re6 hxg3 39. Rc6+
Kb7 40. Qc7+ Ka8 41. Qxg3 Nd5 42. Qxg5 Nf4 43. Qxf4 Rg8+ 44. Kh2 Qxf1 45. Qf3
Kb8 46. Qf4+ Ka8 47. Qf3 Kb8 48. Rh6 Qg1+ 49. Kh3 Qf1+ 50. Kh4 Qg1 51. Qf4+ Ka8
52. Qe4+ Kb8 53. Qe5+ Ka8 54. Qd5+ Kb8 55. Qb5+ Ka8 56. Qc6+ Kb8 57. Qd6+ Ka8
58. Qd5+ Kb8 59. Qe5+ Ka8 60. Qe4+ Kb8 61. Qf4+ Ka8 62. Qf3+ Kb8 63. Qf4+
1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.17"]
[Round "2.42"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. c3 g6 6. d4 Bd7 7. dxe5 Nxe5 8. Nxe5
dxe5 9. Bxd7+ Qxd7 10. Qxd7+ Nxd7 11. Be3 Bc5 12. Ke2 Bxe3 13. Kxe3 Ke7 14. Rd1
Rhd8 15. Na3 Nc5 16. Nc4 Ke6 17. b3 b6 18. Nb2 a5 19. Rxd8 Rxd8 20. Rd1 Rxd1
21. Nxd1 f5 22. f3 f4+ 23. Ke2 g5 24. Nf2 h5 25. Nd3 Kd6 26. Nxc5 Kxc5 27. Kd3
Kb5 28. a3 c6 29. c4+ Kc5 30. Kc3 b5 31. b4+ axb4+ 32. axb4+ Kd6 33. cxb5 cxb5
34. h3 h4 35. Kc2 Ke6 36. Kc3 Kd6 37. Kc2 Ke6 38. Kc3 Kd6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.17"]
[Round "2.43"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 h6 7. Re1 O-O 8. Nbd2
a5 9. Nf1 Be6 10. Bb5 Ne7 11. d4 exd4 12. cxd4 Bb6 13. Ng3 d5 14. e5 Ne4 15.
Bd3 Nxg3 16. hxg3 a4 17. Bc2 a3 18. bxa3 Bg4 19. a4 Qd7 20. Ba3 Rfe8 21. Bxe7
Qxe7 22. Qd3 g6 23. Nh4 Qb4 24. Nxg6 Qxd4 25. Ne7+ Kf8 26. Nxd5 Qxf2+ 27. Kh2
Rad8 28. Rf1 Rxe5 29. Rxf2 Rdxd5 30. Rxf7+ Ke8 31. Qxd5 Rxd5 32. Bg6 Kd8 33.
Re1 c6 34. Rxb7 Bc7 35. Re8+ Kd7 36. Rh8 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.17"]
[Round "2.44"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. c3 g6 6. d4 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. Re1
exd4 9. cxd4 Bg4 10. Bxc6 bxc6 11. Nbd2 Re8 12. Qc2 c5 13. dxc5 d5 14. h3 Bxf3
15. Nxf3 dxe4 16. Nh2 Qd3 17. Qa4 a6 18. Rd1 Qb5 19. Qc2 Rad8 20. Be3 Nd5 21.
Bg5 f6 22. a4 Qc6 23. Bd2 f5 24. Rab1 f4 25. Qc4 Kh8 26. Be1 e3 27. b4 exf2+
28. Bxf2 Ne3 29. Bxe3 Rxd1+ 30. Rxd1 fxe3 31. b5 axb5 32. axb5 e2 33. Qxe2
Qxc5+ 34. Qf2 Re1+ 35. Rxe1 Bd4 36. Re8+ Kg7 37. Re7+ Kg8 38. Re8+ Kg7 39. Re7+
Kg8 40. Re8+ Kg7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.18"]
[Round "2.51"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nf5 8.
Nf3 O-O 9. d4 d5 10. Nc3 Bb4 11. a3 Bxc3 12. bxc3 Nd6 13. h3 Bf5 14. Bf4 Re8
15. Rxe8+ Qxe8 16. Nh4 Be4 17. f3 Bg6 18. Nxg6 hxg6 19. Bd3 Na5 20. Bxd6 cxd6
21. Qd2 Nc4 22. Bxc4 dxc4 23. Re1 Qa4 24. Qc1 Re8 25. Rxe8+ Qxe8 26. Kf2 Qa4
27. Qb2 b6 28. h4 Kf8 29. Qb4 Qc6 30. g4 Ke7 31. Kg3 Qd5 32. Qb1 Qe6 33. Qc1
Kd7 34. Kf2 Kc6 35. Qg5 Kb7 36. Qd8 f5 37. Qf8 fxg4 38. fxg4 Ka6 39. Kf3 d5 40.
Kf4 g5+ 41. hxg5 Qe4+ 42. Kg3 Qe1+ 43. Qf2 Qxc3+ 44. Kf4 Qxa3 45. Ke5 Qe7+ 46.
Kxd5 Kb5 47. Qf5 a5 48. c3 a4 49. Qb1+ Ka5 50. Kc6 Qe6+ 51. Kc7 Qe7+ 52. Kc6
Qe8+ 53. Kc7 Qe7+ 54. Kc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.18"]
[Round "2.52"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 h6 7. Re1 O-O 8. Nbd2
a5 9. Nf1 Be6 10. Bb5 Ne7 11. d4 exd4 12. cxd4 Bb6 13. Ng3 d5 14. e5 Ne4 15.
Bd3 Nxg3 16. hxg3 Bg4 17. Bc2 c5 18. Be3 cxd4 19. Bxd4 Rc8 20. Rc1 Rc4 21. Bxb6
Qxb6 22. b3 Rc7 23. Bb1 Rfc8 24. Rxc7 Qxc7 25. Qd4 Be6 26. Qd3 Bf5 27. Qe3 Qc3
28. Qf4 Bxb1 29. Rxb1 Ng6 30. Qf5 Qc2 31. Nd4 Qxf5 32. Nxf5 Kf8 33. f4 Ne7 34.
Nd6 Rc2 35. a4 d4 36. Rd1 Nc6 37. Nb5 Rb2 38. Rd3 Ke7 39. Kh2 Ke6 40. Nxd4+
Nxd4 41. Rxd4 Rxb3 42. Rd6+ Ke7 43. Rd5 b6 44. Rd6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.18"]
[Round "2.53"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nf5 8.
Nf3 O-O 9. d4 d5 10. Nc3 Bb4 11. Bg5 f6 12. Bc1 Nce7 13. a3 Bxc3 14. bxc3 Nd6
15. Nd2 Bf5 16. c4 c6 17. a4 Re8 18. c5 Nf7 19. Nb3 Qd7 20. Bf4 Ng6 21. Rxe8+
Rxe8 22. Bg3 h5 23. h4 Bg4 24. f3 Bf5 25. a5 a6 26. Qd2 Nh6 27. Re1 Rxe1 28.
Bxe1 Be6 29. Bd3 Bf5 30. Bf1 Be6 31. Bd3 Bf5 32. Bf1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.18"]
[Round "2.54"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 Qb6 5. c4 cxd4 6. Qxd4 Nbd7 7. Nc3 Qxd4 8.
exd4 dxc4 9. Bxc4 Nb6 10. Bb3 e6 11. Ke2 Bb4 12. Rac1 O-O 13. Ne5 Rd8 14. Rhd1
Bd7 15. Nxd7 Rxd7 16. a3 Be7 17. Be5 Ng4 18. Bg3 Nf6 19. Na4 Nxa4 20. Bxa4 b5
21. Bxb5 Rb7 22. a4 a6 23. Bc6 Rxb2+ 24. Rd2 Rxd2+ 25. Kxd2 Rd8 26. Kd3 Rc8 27.
Rc4 Nh5 28. Be5 f6 29. Bg3 Nxg3 30. hxg3 a5 31. Bd7 Rxc4 32. Bxe6+ Kf8 33. Kxc4
Bb4 34. g4 Ke7 35. Bg8 h6 36. Kd5 Be1 37. f3 Bc3 38. Ke4 Bb2 39. Bc4 Bc3 40. d5
Bb4 41. Kf5 Bc5 42. Kg6 Kf8 43. f4 Bd6 44. g5 hxg5 45. fxg5 fxg5 46. Kxg5 Bb4
1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.18"]
[Round "2.55"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B03"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. f4 dxe5 6. fxe5 Bf5 7. Nc3 e6 8. Nf3
Bb4 9. Be2 c5 10. a3 Bxc3+ 11. bxc3 Nc6 12. O-O O-O 13. Be3 Na5 14. Nd2 Bg6 15.
Qe1 Na4 16. Nf3 Nb2 17. Bg5 Qd7 18. Qh4 cxd4 19. cxd4 Nbxc4 20. Qg4 Qd5 21.
Rae1 Rac8 22. h4 h5 23. Qg3 Nxa3 24. Bf6 Nc2 25. Bd3 Nxe1 26. Rxe1 Qd7 27. d5
Rc3 28. Re3 Rxd3 29. Rxd3 exd5 30. e6 Qxe6 31. Bd4 Nc6 32. Rd2 Qg4 33. Qf2 Be4
34. Ne5 Nxe5 35. Bxe5 Rc8 36. Kh2 f6 37. Bd4 b6 38. Ra2 Rc2 39. Rxc2 Bxc2 40.
Bxf6 gxf6 41. Qxc2 Qxh4+ 42. Kg1 Qe1+ 43. Kh2 Qe5+ 44. Kh1 Kg7 45. Qc6 d4 46.
Qb7+ Kh6 47. Qxa7 d3 48. Qd7 Qe1+ 49. Kh2 d2 50. Qd8 Qh4+ 51. Kg1 Qf4 52. Qh8+
Kg5 53. Qg8+ Kh4 54. Qd5 Qe3+ 55. Kh2 Qe5+ 56. g3+ Qxg3+ 57. Kh1 Qe1+ 58. Kg2
Qe2+ 0-1

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.18"]
[Round "2.56"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E94"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "160"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 O-O 5. e4 d6 6. Be2 Nbd7 7. O-O e5 8. Be3
Ng4 9. Bg5 f6 10. Bh4 h5 11. h3 Nh6 12. Bg3 Kh7 13. Qc2 c6 14. Rad1 Qe7 15. c5
dxc5 16. d5 Nb6 17. dxc6 bxc6 18. Na4 Nxa4 19. Qxa4 Rb8 20. b3 Rb4 21. Qxc6 Bb7
22. Qd7 Rf7 23. Qxe7 Rxe7 24. Nd2 Bxe4 25. Nxe4 Rxe4 26. Bc4 Rd4 27. f3 Red7
28. Ra1 Nf5 29. Bf2 Bh6 30. Rfe1 Bd2 31. Bxd4 cxd4 32. Red1 Be3+ 33. Kh2 h4 34.
b4 Bf4+ 35. Kg1 Ne3 36. Rdc1 d3 37. Bb5 Rd4 38. Rc7+ Kh6 39. Rd7 Rxb4 40. Bxd3
Rb2 41. Bf1 Nf5 42. a4 Be3+ 43. Kh2 Bd4 44. Rc1 Ne3 45. a5 Rf2 46. Kg1 Ra2 47.
a6 Nxf1+ 48. Kxf1 Rf2+ 49. Ke1 Rxg2 50. f4 Rg1+ 51. Kd2 Be3+ 52. Kxe3 Rxc1 53.
fxe5 Re1+ 54. Kf3 Rxe5 55. Rxa7 Ra5 56. Ra8 Ra3+ 57. Kg4 Ra4+ 58. Kf3 Kg5 59.
a7 Ra1 60. Ke3 Ra3+ 61. Ke4 Ra2 62. Kf3 Ra6 63. Ke4 Ra3 64. Kd5 Kf4 65. Rh8
Rxa7 66. Rxh4+ Kf5 67. Rh8 Rd7+ 68. Kc5 g5 69. Rh6 Ke5 70. h4 gxh4 71. Rxh4
Rc7+ 72. Kb6 Rc2 73. Rh1 f5 74. Re1+ Kf4 75. Rf1+ Ke4 76. Re1+ Kf3 77. Rf1+ Rf2
78. Rd1 f4 79. Kc5 Kg2 80. Kd4 f3 0-1

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.18"]
[Round "2.57"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E29"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 c5 6. e3 Nc6 7. Bd3 O-O 8.
Ne2 b6 9. e4 Ne8 10. O-O Ba6 11. f4 f5 12. exf5 exf5 13. dxc5 bxc5 14. Be3 d6
15. Ng3 g6 16. Re1 Nf6 17. Bf2 Qd7 18. Nf1 Na5 19. Bh4 Rae8 20. Rxe8 Qxe8 21.
Bxf6 Rxf6 22. Qf3 Re6 23. Rb1 Bxc4 24. Bxc4 Nxc4 25. a4 Kg7 26. Qb7+ Qf7 27.
Qa6 Re7 28. Rb8 Kh6 29. h3 Qe6 30. Ra8 Nd2 31. Rd8 Nxf1 32. Qxf1 Qe3+ 33. Kh2
Re4 34. Rxd6 Qxf4+ 35. Qxf4+ Rxf4 36. a5 Rc4 37. Ra6 Rxc3 38. Rxa7 Ra3 39. Kg1
c4 40. Kf2 Ra2+ 41. Ke3 Rxg2 42. Kd4 Rh2 43. a6 Rxh3 44. Kxc4 Rh1 45. Rd7 Ra1
46. Kb5 Kg5 47. Rd4 f4 48. Ra4 Rxa4 49. Kxa4 f3 50. a7 f2 51. a8=Q f1=Q 52.
Qd5+ Qf5 53. Qd2+ Qf4+ 0-1

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.19"]
[Round "2.61"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E49"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 c5 6. Nge2 d5 7. a3 Bxc3+ 8.
bxc3 dxc4 9. Bxc4 Qc7 10. Ba2 b6 11. O-O Ba6 12. Bb2 Nc6 13. Rc1 Rac8 14. c4
cxd4 15. exd4 Qe7 16. d5 exd5 17. Re1 Bxc4 18. Ng3 Qd8 19. Bb1 b5 20. Nf5 d4
21. Qd2 Be6 22. Rc5 a6 23. Nxg7 Kxg7 24. Qg5+ Kh8 25. Qh4 Rg8 26. Rxc6 Rxc6 27.
Bxd4 Kg7 28. Qxh7+ Kf8 29. Qh6+ Ke8 30. Bxf6 Qa5 31. Qe3 Qb6 32. Rd1 Rd6 33.
Bd4 Qc6 34. Be4 Qc4 35. h3 Kd7 36. Rd2 Re8 37. Kh2 Bd5 38. Bf5+ Be6 39. Bd3 Qa4
40. Be5 Rd5 41. Qa7+ 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.19"]
[Round "2.62"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "140"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. O-O Be7 6. c3 a6 7. Ba4 O-O 8. Re1
Re8 9. Nbd2 Bf8 10. Nf1 h6 11. Ng3 b5 12. Bc2 d5 13. a4 Rb8 14. axb5 axb5 15.
h3 dxe4 16. dxe4 Qxd1 17. Rxd1 b4 18. Ba4 Bb7 19. cxb4 Bxb4 20. Be3 Ra8 21. b3
Red8 22. Rac1 Rxd1+ 23. Rxd1 Bd6 24. Nd2 Nb4 25. Rc1 Nd3 26. Rc2 Nb4 27. Rc4
Ba6 28. Rc1 Bd3 29. Rc3 Rd8 30. Nc4 Bxc4 31. Rxc4 Nd3 32. Rc2 Nf4 33. f3 g6 34.
Nf1 Nd7 35. Nd2 Bc5 36. Nf1 Ne6 37. Bxd7 Bxe3+ 38. Nxe3 Rxd7 39. Ng4 Re7 40.
Nxh6+ Kg7 41. Ng4 Nd4 42. Rc5 f6 43. b4 c6 44. Kh2 Rb7 45. Rc4 g5 46. Ne3 Kg6
47. Kg3 Ra7 48. Nc2 Nxc2 49. Rxc2 Ra4 50. Rb2 Ra3 51. Kf2 Kh5 52. Rc2 Ra6 53.
Ke2 Kh4 54. Kd3 Kg3 55. Kc4 Ra1 56. Kc5 Rb1 57. Re2 Rc1+ 58. Kd6 Rb1 59. Ke6
Rxb4 60. Kxf6 Kf4 61. Rc2 c5 62. Rc3 Rb6+ 63. Ke7 Rb2 64. Ke6 Rxg2 65. Rxc5 Rg3
66. Rxe5 Rxf3 67. Rf5+ Kxe4 68. Rxf3 Kxf3 69. Kf5 Kg3 70. Kxg5 Kxh3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.19"]
[Round "2.63"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "33"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nf5 8.
c3 Nxe5 9. Rxe5 d6 10. Re1 d5 11. d4 O-O 12. Bf4 Bd6 13. Qf3 Nh4 14. Qg3 Nf5
15. Qf3 Nh4 16. Qg3 Nf5 17. Qf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.19"]
[Round "2.64"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C66"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. c3 g6 6. O-O Bg7 7. Re1 O-O 8. Nbd2
Re8 9. Nf1 a6 10. Ba4 h6 11. Ng3 d5 12. h3 b5 13. Bc2 Be6 14. Bd2 Qd7 15. a4
Rad8 16. axb5 axb5 17. b4 d4 18. Qc1 dxc3 19. Bxc3 Nh7 20. Qb2 Qd6 21. Ne2 Ng5
22. Nd2 Bc8 23. Ra8 Bf8 24. Rb1 Bd7 25. Ra6 Ra8 26. Rxa8 Rxa8 27. h4 Ne6 28.
Nf3 Bg7 29. Bb3 Ncd4 30. Nfxd4 Nxd4 31. Bxd4 exd4 32. f4 Bg4 33. e5 Qe7 34.
Nxd4 Qxh4 35. Rc1 Rd8 36. Qc3 Qg3 37. Qxc7 Rd7 38. Qc8+ Kh7 39. Ra1 Rxd4 40. e6
Rxf4 0-1

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.20"]
[Round "2.71"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. h3 Nd7 8.
Nc4 a5 9. Be3 f6 10. O-O b5 11. Ncd2 Bxe3 12. fxe3 a4 13. Nh4 c5 14. Nf5 Nb6
15. Qe2 Be6 16. Nf3 Qd7 17. N3h4 Rad8 18. Rfd1 Kh8 19. d4 cxd4 20. exd4 exd4
21. Rxd4 Qc6 22. Rad1 Qc5 23. Qf2 Rxd4 24. Nxd4 Bxa2 25. b3 Rd8 26. Nhf5 axb3
27. cxb3 Bxb3 28. Nxg7 Rxd4 29. Rxd4 Kxg7 30. Qg3+ Kf8 31. Qe3 Nd7 32. Kh1 Ke8
33. Qd2 Be6 34. e5 Qxe5 35. Rh4 Nf8 36. Qb4 Kf7 37. Re4 c5 38. Qb1 Qd5 39. Rf4
b4 40. Qa1 Nd7 41. Qb1 Kg7 42. Qe1 b3 43. Qg3+ Qg5 0-1

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.20"]
[Round "2.72"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "147"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. c3 Nf6 6. Re1 O-O 7. d4 cxd4 8.
cxd4 d5 9. e5 Ne4 10. Be3 Bd7 11. Ba4 Na5 12. Bxd7 Qxd7 13. Nfd2 Nxd2 14. Nxd2
Nc4 15. Nxc4 dxc4 16. a4 Qd5 17. Qf3 Qxf3 18. gxf3 e6 19. Rec1 Rfc8 20. Rc3 Rc6
21. b3 Rac8 22. bxc4 Rxc4 23. Rb3 R4c7 24. Rab1 b6 25. a5 bxa5 26. Ra3 f6 27.
Rxa5 g5 28. Kg2 h6 29. h4 Rd7 30. Ra6 Re8 31. Rb5 Kf7 32. h5 Ree7 33. Kg3 fxe5
34. dxe5 Rd5 35. Rxd5 exd5 36. Kg4 Rxe5 37. Rxa7+ Re7 38. Rxe7+ Kxe7 39. Kf5
Kf7 40. f4 gxf4 41. Bxf4 d4 42. Bd2 d3 43. Ke4 Ke6 44. Kxd3 Kf5 45. f3 Bf8 46.
Kc4 Ke5 47. Be3 Bg7 48. Kc5 Ke6 49. Kc6 Kf7 50. Kd5 Bf8 51. Bd4 Ba3 52. Bc5 Bc1
53. Ke4 Bb2 54. Be3 Bg7 55. f4 Ke6 56. f5+ Kf7 57. Bc5 Bb2 58. Bd4 Ba3 59. Ke5
Be7 60. Be3 Bf6+ 61. Kd5 Bg7 62. Bd4 Bf8 63. f6 Ba3 64. Ke5 Bc1 65. Kf5 Bg5 66.
Be5 Bh4 67. Bf4 Bxf6 68. Bxh6 Bg7 69. Bxg7 Kxg7 70. Kg5 Kh7 71. h6 Kh8 72. Kg6
Kg8 73. h7+ Kh8 74. Kh6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.20"]
[Round "2.73"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. h3 Nd7 8.
Nc4 a5 9. g4 Re8 10. Rg1 a4 11. Ne3 Bxe3 12. Bxe3 Nf8 13. h4 Qd6 14. Qd2 c5 15.
h5 b5 16. Nh4 Qc6 17. Nf5 c4 18. Qb4 a3 19. b3 cxd3 20. cxd3 Qc2 21. h6 g6 22.
Rc1 Qxd3 23. Rd1 Qc2 24. Ng7 Bb7 25. Nxe8 Rxe8 26. f3 Qxa2 27. Rd2 Qb1+ 28. Kf2
a2 29. Qc3 Ra8 30. Rxb1 axb1=Q 31. Qxe5 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.20"]
[Round "2.74"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "133"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nc3 Nb6 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8.
d3 O-O 9. Be3 Be6 10. Rc1 Nd5 11. Nxd5 Bxd5 12. Qc2 Re8 13. a3 Qd7 14. Nd2 Rad8
15. Bxd5 Qxd5 16. Qc4 a5 17. Rc2 f5 18. Rfc1 Qxc4 19. Rxc4 Rd5 20. R1c2 Bd6 21.
Kg2 f4 22. Bc5 b5 23. R4c3 Nd4 24. Bxd4 exd4 25. Rc6 fxg3 26. hxg3 Rxe2 27. Kf3
Re6 28. Ne4 a4 29. Ra6 Re8 30. Ra7 h5 31. Kg2 Rf8 32. Rb7 Kh7 33. f4 h4 34.
Nxd6 Rxd6 35. Rxb5 hxg3 36. Kxg3 Rdf6 37. Rh2+ Kg8 38. Rbh5 Re6 39. Kg4 Re3 40.
R2h3 Rxh3 41. Rxh3 Re8 42. Rh5 Re3 43. Rc5 Rxd3 44. Rxc7 Rd1 45. Rd7 Rd2 46.
Rb7 d3 47. Kf3 Rh2 48. Ke3 d2 49. Rd7 d1=N+ 50. Rxd1 Rxb2 51. Ke4 Rb3 52. Rd3
Rxd3 53. Kxd3 Kf7 54. Ke4 Kf6 55. f5 g6 56. fxg6 Kxg6 57. Kd5 Kf6 58. Kc6 Ke6
59. Kb5 Kd6 60. Kxa4 Kc7 61. Kb5 Kb8 62. Ka6 Ka8 63. Kb6 Kb8 64. a4 Ka8 65. a5
Kb8 66. a6 Ka8 67. a7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.20"]
[Round "2.75"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C73"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. O-O a6 6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. d4 exd4 8.
Qxd4 Be7 9. e5 c5 10. Qf4 dxe5 11. Nxe5 O-O 12. Nc6 Qd6 13. Nxe7+ Qxe7 14. Nc3
Bb7 15. Be3 Rfe8 16. Qg5 Qe6 17. h3 Qc6 18. f3 h6 19. Qxc5 Nd5 20. Nxd5 Qxd5
21. Qxd5 Bxd5 22. Kf2 Be6 23. Bf4 c5 24. Rfd1 a5 25. Rd2 a4 26. a3 Ra6 27. Re1
Rb6 28. Be5 Bf5 29. Bc3 Rxe1 30. Kxe1 f6 31. g4 Bg6 32. Rd8+ Kh7 33. Kd2 Rb7
34. Rc8 Rd7+ 35. Kc1 Re7 36. Rxc5 Re3 37. b4 axb3 38. cxb3 Rxf3 39. a4 Rxh3 40.
a5 Rh2 41. a6 Ra2 42. Ba5 Be4 43. a7 g5 44. b4 Kg6 45. Rc8 f5 46. Re8 Bf3 47.
gxf5+ Kf7 48. a8=Q Bxa8 49. Rxa8 g4 50. Ra7+ Kf8 51. Bb6 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.20"]
[Round "2.76"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A28"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Qc2 Ndb4 7. Qb1 f5 8.
a3 Nd5 9. d3 Be6 10. Be2 Be7 11. O-O O-O 12. Nxd5 Bxd5 13. b4 a6 14. Bb2 Bd6
15. e4 Be6 16. Bc3 fxe4 17. dxe4 Bg4 18. Qa2+ Kh8 19. Ne1 Bd7 20. Rd1 Qf6 21.
Nd3 Qh4 22. f3 Rae8 23. g3 Qe7 24. Rf2 Be6 25. Qd2 Bb3 26. Rc1 Rd8 27. Qe3 a5
28. Nc5 axb4 29. axb4 Bxc5 30. Qxc5 Qxc5 31. bxc5 Nd4 32. Kg2 Nxe2 33. Rxe2 Rd3
34. Bxe5 Rdxf3 35. Rb2 Ba4 36. Rxb7 R3f7 37. c6 h5 38. Bxc7 Kh7 39. Bd6 Rf2+
40. Kg1 R8f6 41. c7 Bd7 42. Bf4 Bc8 43. Rb8 1-0

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.20"]
[Round "2.77"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2020.08.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nbd2 Be6 7. h3 Nd7 8.
Nf1 f6 9. g4 Qe7 10. Ng3 O-O-O 11. Qe2 Kb8 12. a3 Bb6 13. Be3 Nf8 14. O-O-O Ng6
15. Nh5 Bxe3+ 16. Qxe3 c5 17. Nd2 b6 18. Nb1 Nh4 19. Rhg1 g5 20. Nc3 Ng6 21.
Kb1 Nf4 22. Nxf4 gxf4 23. Qe2 h5 24. f3 hxg4 25. hxg4 Rh3 26. Rg2 Rdh8 27. Rdg1
Rh1 28. b3 c4 29. dxc4 Qxa3 30. g5 fxg5 31. Rxg5 a5 32. Qd3 Kb7 33. Rg7 Rxg1+
34. Rxg1 Rh7 35. Na4 Qd6 36. Qc3 Bd7 37. Nb2 Rh3 38. Rd1 Qe7 39. Nd3 Rxf3 40.
Qxe5 Rxd3 41. Qxe7 Rxd1+ 42. Kb2 Bc6 43. e5 f3 44. Qf6 Rd2 45. e6 f2 46. e7 Re2
47. Qf7 Rxe7 48. Qxf2 Rg7 49. Qf4 Rg2 50. Qe5 Rg6 51. c3 Rg2+ 52. Kc1 Rg4 53.
Qe6 Re4 54. Qf7 Re1+ 55. Kd2 Re4 56. b4 axb4 57. cxb4 b5 58. cxb5 Bxb5 59. Qd5+
Bc6 60. Qc5 Re6 61. Kc3 Rd6 62. b5 Bd7 63. Qe5 Bc8 64. Kc4 Rb6 65. Kc5 Kb8 66.
Qe8 Rd6 67. Qf8 Rb6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svane, Rasmus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B15"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2613"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Nxf6+ exf6 6. c3 Bd6 7. Bd3 O-O 8.
Ne2 Re8 9. O-O Nd7 10. Bf4 Nf8 11. Bxd6 Qxd6 12. Re1 g6 13. Ng3 Rxe1+ 14. Qxe1
f5 15. Qe8 Rb8 16. Qe2 Be6 17. Bc4 Re8 18. Re1 Bd7 19. Qd2 Rxe1+ 20. Qxe1 Be6
21. Bxe6 Nxe6 22. Nf1 Qd5 23. b3 Nf4 24. f3 Ne6 25. Qe3 f4 26. Qe4 Qd6 27. Nd2
b5 28. Kf2 a5 29. Qe5 Qxe5 30. dxe5 Kf8 31. Ke2 Ke7 32. Kd3 f5 33. exf6+ Kxf6
34. Ke4 g5 35. b4 a4 36. a3 h5 37. c4 Nf8 38. cxb5 cxb5 39. Kd5 Ne6 40. Ne4+
Kf5 41. Nd6+ Kf6 42. Nxb5 g4 43. Nd6 gxf3 44. gxf3 Ng5 45. Ne4+ Kf5 46. Nxg5
Kxg5 47. b5 Kh4 48. b6 Kh3 49. b7 Kxh2 50. b8=Q h4 51. Qxf4+ 1-0

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Svane, Rasmus"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "2613"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2 f6 4. O-O Nh6 5. d4 Nf7 6. c4 O-O 7. Nc3 d6 8. e4 e5
9. Re1 Nc6 10. h3 f5 11. dxe5 dxe5 12. Qxd8 Ncxd8 13. exf5 gxf5 14. Ng5 c6 15.
Nxf7 Rxf7 16. Be3 Ne6 17. Rad1 f4 18. Bc1 Nd4 19. Ne4 Be6 20. Ng5 Bxc4 21. Nxf7
Bxf7 22. gxf4 exf4 23. Bxf4 Bxa2 24. Be5 Bxe5 25. Rxe5 Rd8 26. Rde1 Bf7 27. Re7
Rb8 28. Rd7 Nf5 29. Be4 Re8 30. Kf1 Nh6 31. Bxh7+ Kf8 32. Rxe8+ Bxe8 33. Rxb7
Nf7 34. Bg6 Nd6 35. Rb8 Ke7 36. Bxe8 Nxe8 37. Rb7+ 1-0

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svane, Rasmus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B10"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2613"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. d3 dxe4 4. dxe4 Qxd1+ 5. Kxd1 Nf6 6. Nfd2 h5 7. h4 Be6 8.
f3 Nfd7 9. Bc4 Bxc4 10. Nxc4 e5 11. a4 f6 12. Ke2 Na6 13. Rd1 O-O-O 14. c3 Ndc5
15. Rxd8+ Kxd8 16. Be3 b6 17. b4 Ne6 18. Nbd2 Kc7 19. Nb2 Be7 20. a5 Ra8 21.
axb6+ axb6 22. Ndc4 c5 23. b5 Kb7 24. bxa6+ Rxa6 25. Rxa6 Kxa6 26. Nd2 b5 27.
c4 b4 28. Nb3 Kb6 29. Nd3 Kc6 30. g3 g6 31. f4 Bd6 32. f5 gxf5 33. exf5 Ng7 34.
Bxc5 Bxc5 35. Ndxc5 Nxf5 36. Ne4 Kd7 37. Kd3 Ke6 38. c5 Ne7 39. Kc4 Nc6 40. Kb5
Ne7 41. Kxb4 f5 42. Ng5+ Kd5 43. Kb5 e4 44. Nd2 e3 45. Ndf3 Nc6 46. Nh3 e2 47.
Nf4+ Ke4 48. Kxc6 Kxf3 49. Nxe2 Kxe2 50. Kd5 f4 51. c6 f3 52. c7 f2 53. c8=Q
f1=Q 54. Qc4+ Kf2 55. Qxf1+ Kxf1 56. Ke4 Kg2 57. Kf4 Kh3 58. Kf3 Kh2 59. g4
hxg4+ 60. Kxg4 Kg2 61. h5 Kf2 62. h6 Ke3 63. h7 Ke4 64. h8=Q 1-0

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Svane, Rasmus"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2613"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. O-O e5 5. d3 Be7 6. a3 a5 7. b3 O-O 8. Bb2 e4
9. Ne5 e3 10. Nxc6 exf2+ 11. Rxf2 bxc6 12. h3 Bc5 13. d4 Bd6 14. Nd2 Bxg3 15.
Rf1 Re8 16. Rf3 Bd6 17. Qf1 Qe7 18. Re1 Ne4 19. Nxe4 dxe4 20. Re3 f5 21. Rc3
Qh4 22. Rxc6 Qg3 23. Rxd6 cxd6 24. d5 f4 25. Bd4 Bxh3 26. Bf2 Qg5 27. Kh2 Bxg2
28. Qxg2 Qxg2+ 29. Kxg2 e3 30. Bh4 a4 31. b4 Rac8 32. Rc1 Rc3 33. Kf3 h6 0-1

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "1.5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svane, Rasmus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B10"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2613"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. d3 Bg4 4. h3 Bh5 5. g4 Bg6 6. Qe2 e6 7. Ne5 Nd7 8. Nxg6
hxg6 9. exd5 cxd5 10. Bg2 Be7 11. c4 Nb6 12. Nc3 Nf6 13. g5 Nh5 14. cxd5 Nxd5
15. Nxd5 exd5 16. h4 O-O 17. O-O Re8 18. Qf3 Bd6 19. Bd2 Qb6 20. Rfe1 Be5 21.
Qxd5 Bd4 22. Rxe8+ Rxe8 23. Rf1 Ng3 24. Rd1 Bxf2+ 25. Kh2 Nh5 26. Kh3 Re3+ 27.
Bxe3 Qxe3+ 28. Qf3 Qe6+ 29. Kh2 Qe5+ 30. Kh1 Ng3+ 31. Kh2 Nf1+ 32. Kh1 Qh2# 0-1

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "1.6"]
[White "Svane, Rasmus"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2613"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "141"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nc6 3. d4 Bf5 4. Bg2 e6 5. O-O Nf6 6. c4 Be7 7. cxd5 exd5 8.
Nc3 Ne4 9. Bf4 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Na5 11. Qa4+ c6 12. Nd2 b5 13. Qd1 O-O 14. e4 dxe4
15. Nxe4 Nc4 16. Nd2 Nxd2 17. Qxd2 Qd7 18. Rfe1 Rfe8 19. h4 Bf8 20. Be5 f6 21.
Bf4 a5 22. Rxe8 Rxe8 23. Re1 Rxe1+ 24. Qxe1 Be6 25. Qe2 a4 26. Be4 a3 27. Qh5
g6 28. Qe2 Bc4 29. Bd3 Bf7 30. h5 Qd5 31. hxg6 hxg6 32. Bb1 b4 33. cxb4 Qxd4
34. Qg4 g5 35. Qf5 Bxb4 36. Be3 Qd5 37. Qxf6 Qd1+ 38. Kh2 Qxb1 39. Bd4 Qh7+ 40.
Kg1 Bf8 41. Qxg5+ Qg6 42. Qe5 Bg7 43. Qb8+ Kh7 44. Qf4 Bxd4 45. Qxd4 Bd5 46.
Qh4+ Kg8 47. Qe7 Qf7 48. Qd8+ Kg7 49. Qg5+ Kh7 50. Qe3 Qg6 51. Qe7+ Qf7 52.
Qh4+ Kg6 53. Qg4+ Kf6 54. Qh4+ Ke6 55. Qf4 Qxf4 56. Kf1 Kf5 57. Ke1 Bxa2 58.
gxf4 Bd5 59. f3 a2 60. Kf2 a1=Q 61. Ke3 Qc3+ 62. Kf2 Qxf3+ 63. Ke1 Qxf4 64. Kd1
c5 65. Kc2 Qg3 66. Kd2 Qe3+ 67. Kc2 Ke5 68. Kd1 Kd4 69. Kc2 Qf2+ 70. Kb1 Kc3
71. Ka1 1/2-1/2

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "1.7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svane, Rasmus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2613"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 Bd6 5. Bg3 O-O 6. c4 c5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Nc3
Nxc3 9. bxc3 b6 10. Bd3 Bb7 11. e4 cxd4 12. cxd4 Bb4+ 13. Kf1 Nd7 14. h4 h6 15.
e5 Rc8 16. Kg1 Bc3 17. Rb1 Bxf3 18. Qxf3 Bxd4 19. Qe4 f5 20. exf6 Nxf6 21.
Qxe6+ Kh8 22. Rd1 Re8 23. Qf5 Qe7 24. Kh2 Be5 25. Rhe1 Bxg3+ 26. fxg3 Qxe1 27.
Rxe1 Rxe1 28. g4 Rc5 29. Qg6 Ree5 30. Bf5 Kg8 31. Bc2 Kf8 32. Bb3 Re7 33. g5
hxg5 34. hxg5 Ne4 35. Qh7 Re8 36. Qg8+ Ke7 37. Qxg7+ Kd8 38. g6 Rh5+ 39. Kg1
Rg5 40. Qd4+ Kc7 41. g7 Nd6 42. g8=Q Rgxg8 43. Bxg8 Rxg8 44. g4 Rd8 45. Kg2 Rd7
46. g5 Nf7 47. Qc3+ Kd8 48. g6 Nd6 49. Qf6+ Kc7 50. g7 Ne8 51. Qe5+ Kd8 52.
g8=Q 1-0

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "1.8"]
[White "Svane, Rasmus"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2613"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nc6 3. d4 Bf5 4. Bg2 e6 5. O-O Nf6 6. c4 Be7 7. Nc3 Ne4 8. cxd5
exd5 9. Bf4 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Na5 11. Ne5 O-O 12. Re1 Bd6 13. e4 Bxe4 14. Bxe4 dxe4
15. Rxe4 Bxe5 16. Bxe5 f6 17. Bf4 Qd7 18. Qe2 Rae8 19. Re1 Rxe4 20. Qxe4 c6 21.
h4 Nc4 22. h5 b5 23. h6 g5 24. Bc1 Qd5 25. Qe7 Rf7 26. Qe8+ Rf8 27. Qe7 Rf7 28.
Qe2 a5 29. Qg4 Qd7 30. Qf3 Re7 31. Rxe7 Qxe7 32. Qxc6 Kf7 33. Qxb5 Qe1+ 34. Kg2
Qe4+ 35. Kg1 Qe1+ 36. Kg2 Qe4+ 37. Kh2 Qe2 38. Kg1 Qe1+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "1.9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svane, Rasmus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2613"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 e6 3. e3 Bd6 4. Bg3 Nf6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Nbd2 c5 7. c3 Qc7 8. Bd3
Nbd7 9. e4 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Bxg3 11. hxg3 dxe4 12. Nxe4 Nxe4 13. Bxe4 h6 14. Bc2
Nf6 15. Qd3 Rd8 16. Rd1 Bd7 17. O-O e5 18. Nf5 Bc6 19. Qe3 Rxd1 20. Rxd1 Rd8
21. Qxa7 Rxd1+ 22. Bxd1 Qd7 23. Bc2 Ne4 24. Bxe4 Bxe4 25. Ne3 Bc6 26. Qb8+ Kh7
27. Qxe5 Qd2 28. Qf5+ Kg8 29. Qc2 Qe1+ 30. Kh2 g6 31. b4 h5 32. a4 Bd7 33. a5
Be6 34. Qd3 Qa1 35. Qd8+ Kg7 36. Qd4+ Kg8 37. Nd5 Bxd5 38. Qxd5 Qxc3 39. Qxb7
h4 40. gxh4 Qe5+ 41. g3 Qd4 42. Kg2 g5 43. hxg5 Kg7 44. a6 Qxb4 1-0

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "1.10"]
[White "Svane, Rasmus"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "2613"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 f6 2. d4 c6 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. e4 Qh5 5. Bd3 Kd8 6. Be3 Qe8 7. Qe2 d6 8.
O-O-O Nd7 9. Rhe1 e5 10. Kb1 Ne7 11. Bc4 Ng6 12. h4 h5 13. g3 Kc7 14. Bb3 Nb6
15. Qd2 Bg4 16. Qe2 Rd8 17. d5 Kb8 18. a4 c5 19. a5 Na8 20. Ba4 Bd7 21. Bxd7
Qxd7 22. a6 b6 23. Nb5 Nc7 24. Nxc7 Qxc7 25. Nd2 Rc8 26. Nc4 Be7 27. Na3 Qd7
28. Qc4 f5 29. exf5 Qxf5 30. Nb5 Rhf8 31. Re2 Qg4 32. Qxg4 hxg4 33. h5 Nh8 34.
Rh1 Nf7 35. Nc3 Nh6 36. Ne4 Rf5 37. Bxh6 gxh6 38. c3 Rg8 39. Kc2 Kc7 40. Kd3 b5
41. c4 b4 42. b3 Kb6 43. Rf1 Rf3+ 44. Re3 Rgf8 45. Ke2 Rxe3+ 46. Kxe3 Rxf2 47.
Rxf2 1-0

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "1.11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svane, Rasmus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B10"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2613"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. d3 Bg4 4. h3 Bh5 5. Be2 e6 6. Ne5 Bxe2 7. Qxe2 Bd6 8. Nf3
Nd7 9. e5 Bc7 10. O-O Ne7 11. c4 O-O 12. Nc3 Rc8 13. d4 dxc4 14. Qxc4 Nb6 15.
Qb3 Nbd5 16. Ne4 Bb6 17. Bg5 h6 18. Bxe7 Qxe7 19. Rfd1 Rfd8 20. a4 a5 21. Nd6
Rc7 22. Nc4 Qb4 23. Qxb4 axb4 24. a5 Ba7 25. Kf1 Ra8 26. g3 Kf8 27. Nfd2 Ke7
28. Nb3 f6 29. Ke2 Rcc8 30. Nd6 Rc7 31. f4 g5 32. fxg5 hxg5 33. Nc5 fxe5 34.
Ndxb7 exd4 35. a6 Bxc5 36. Nxc5 e5 37. Kd3 Kd6 38. Ne4+ Ke6 39. Rf1 Ne3 40.
Rf6+ Ke7 41. Rh6 c5 42. Rh7+ Kd8 43. Rh8+ Kd7 44. Rxa8 c4+ 45. Ke2 c3 46. bxc3
bxc3 47. a7 c2 48. Rd8+ Kxd8 49. a8=Q+ Kd7 50. Rc1 Ke6 51. Qa6+ Kd7 52. Qd6+
Kc8 53. Nxg5 Nc4 54. Qe6+ Kb7 55. Rxc2 e4 56. Qxe4+ Kb6 57. Qxd4+ 1-0

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B26"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2654"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 g6 5. Nge2 Bg7 6. O-O Nf6 7. d3 O-O 8. Be3
Rb8 9. h3 b5 10. a3 a5 11. a4 bxa4 12. Nxa4 Nd7 13. Qd2 Nb6 14. Nac3 Bb7 15. b3
Nd4 16. Rfc1 Nxe2+ 17. Nxe2 Bxa1 18. Rxa1 Ra8 19. Rxa5 Rxa5 20. Qxa5 Qc7 21.
Qc3 Ra8 22. Kh2 Nd7 23. Nf4 Qa5 24. Qxa5 Rxa5 25. Bf3 Ra2 26. Bd1 Ne5 27. Kg2
Nc6 28. Nd5 e6 29. Nf6+ Kf8 30. Nxh7+ Ke7 31. c3 Ne5 32. Bg5+ Kd7 33. Nf6+ Kc8
34. d4 cxd4 35. cxd4 Nd7 36. Bf3 Nxf6 37. Bxf6 Rb2 38. h4 Rxb3 39. g4 Ba6 40.
h5 gxh5 41. gxh5 Bf1+ 42. Kxf1 Rxf3 43. Bg7 Rh3 44. h6 f5 45. Kg2 Rh5 46. exf5
exf5 47. Kg3 Kd7 48. d5 Ke7 49. Kf4 Kf7 50. Ke3 Kg6 51. f4 Rh3+ 52. Kd4 Rh4 53.
Ke3 Rh3+ 54. Kd4 Rh4 55. Bf8 Rh3 56. Bxd6 Rxh6 57. Be5 Rh4 58. Kc5 Kf7 59. Kd6
Rh6+ 60. Kd7 Rh1 61. d6 Rd1 62. Kd8 Rd2 63. Kc7 Ke6 64. Kd8 Rd5 65. Ke8 Rxd6
66. Kf8 1-0

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "2.2"]
[White "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2654"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 d5 2. Nc3 dxe4 3. Nxe4 Nf6 4. Nxf6+ exf6 5. d4 Bd6 6. c3 O-O 7. Bd3 Re8+
8. Ne2 Nd7 9. Be3 Nf8 10. Qc2 c6 11. O-O-O a5 12. Kb1 Be6 13. Ng3 a4 14. Nf5 b5
15. g4 Bc7 16. Be4 Qd7 17. Rhg1 Bxa2+ 18. Kxa2 Qe6+ 19. d5 Qxe4 20. Qxe4 Rxe4
21. dxc6 Rc4 22. Rd7 Bxh2 23. Rgd1 Nxd7 24. cxd7 Rd8 25. f4 Rc7 26. Bc1 Rcxd7
27. Rh1 Rd1 28. Rxh2 Rxc1 29. Ne7+ Kf8 30. Nc6 Rdd1 31. Ka3 h6 32. Nd4 Rxd4 33.
cxd4 Rd1 34. Kb4 Rxd4+ 0-1

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "2.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2654"]
[PlyCount "45"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. g3 Nf6 2. Bg2 g6 3. e3 Bg7 4. Ne2 d5 5. O-O h5 6. c4 h4 7. cxd5 hxg3 8. fxg3
Nxd5 9. Nbc3 c6 10. d4 Bh3 11. Bxh3 Rxh3 12. Qb3 Qd7 13. e4 Nf6 14. e5 Nd5 15.
Nxd5 cxd5 16. Nf4 Rh8 17. e6 fxe6 18. Qd3 Bf6 19. Qxg6+ Kd8 20. Qf7 Nc6 21.
Nxe6+ Kc8 22. Be3 b6 23. Rac1 1-0

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "2.4"]
[White "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2654"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 O-O 6. Bb3 a5 7. Nbd2 d6 8. Nf1
Be6 9. h3 Bxb3 10. axb3 d5 11. Qe2 dxe4 12. dxe4 Qd7 13. g4 Qe6 14. Bg5 Ne8 15.
N1d2 Nd6 16. O-O h5 17. Nh4 hxg4 18. Qxg4 f6 19. Qxe6+ 1-0

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "2.5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E92"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2654"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 O-O 5. Be2 d6 6. Nf3 e5 7. d5 a5 8. Bg5 Qe8
9. Nd2 h6 10. Be3 Na6 11. g4 Nc5 12. h4 Nh7 13. h5 g5 14. Nf1 Nf6 15. Ng3 c6
16. dxc6 Qxc6 17. O-O Nfxe4 18. Ncxe4 Nxe4 19. Bf3 Nxf2 20. Rxf2 Qxc4 21. Rc1
Qxa2 22. Bd5 1-0

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "2.6"]
[White "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2654"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 g6 6. Bc4 Be6 7. O-O Bg7 8.
Re1 O-O 9. Bb3 Nd7 10. Nf3 c6 11. Rxe6 fxe6 12. Qe2 e5 13. dxe5 Nc5 14. Nbd2
Nxb3 15. axb3 Nf4 16. Qc4+ Qd5 17. Ne4 Qxc4 18. bxc4 Rad8 19. Be3 a6 20. Nfg5
h6 21. Nf3 Ne6 22. Kf1 g5 23. h3 Kh7 24. Ke2 Kg6 25. c3 Rf5 26. g4 Nf4+ 27.
Bxf4 Rxf4 28. Ned2 e6 29. c5 Rd5 30. b4 Bxe5 31. Ra3 Bf6 32. Nf1 Rc4 33. Ne3
Rxc3 34. Rxc3 Bxc3 35. Nxd5 exd5 36. Kd3 Bxb4 37. Ne5+ Kf6 38. Nd7+ Ke7 0-1

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "2.7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A01"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2654"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 Nf6 2. Bb2 g6 3. Bxf6 exf6 4. c4 Bg7 5. Nc3 f5 6. g3 h5 7. Bg2 h4 8. e3
d6 9. Nge2 Nd7 10. d4 Nf6 11. Rc1 O-O 12. Nf4 Re8 13. Kf1 Ng4 14. Qf3 c6 15. h3
Nh6 16. Nce2 Bd7 17. gxh4 Qxh4 18. Qg3 Qxg3 19. Nxg3 a5 20. Bf3 a4 21. Kg2 axb3
22. axb3 Ra2 23. Rhe1 Rea8 24. b4 Kf8 25. b5 Ng8 26. bxc6 bxc6 27. Rb1 Nf6 28.
Rb7 Bh6 29. Nd3 Rd2 30. Rd1 Rc2 31. c5 Bxe3 32. cxd6 Raa2 33. Ne2 Rxe2 34. Bxe2
Rxe2 35. Kf3 Rd2 36. Rxd2 Bxd2 37. Ne5 Be6 38. d7 Ba5 39. Rb8+ Kg7 40. d8=Q
Bxd8 41. Rxd8 Bd5+ 42. Ke3 Ne4 43. f3 Ng5 44. h4 f4+ 45. Kf2 Ne6 46. Rd6 Nxd4
47. Nxc6 Nxc6 48. Rxd5 Ne7 49. Rd4 Nf5 50. Rxf4 Kh6 51. Kg2 Kh5 52. Kh3 f6 53.
Ra4 Kh6 54. Ra6 Nd4 55. Rxf6 Kg7 56. Rf4 Nf5 57. Kg4 Kf6 58. Rxf5+ gxf5+ 59.
Kh5 1-0

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "2.8"]
[White "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B11"]
[WhiteElo "2654"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Qe2 Nxe4 6. Qxe4 Qa5 7. Bc4 Bf5
8. Qf4 e6 9. O-O Nd7 10. d3 Be7 11. Bd2 Qd8 12. Bc3 O-O 13. Rfe1 Nb6 14. Bb3
Nd5 15. Qg3 Nxc3 16. bxc3 Bd6 17. Qh4 h6 18. Rad1 Qxh4 19. Nxh4 Bh7 20. Nf3
Rfd8 21. d4 a5 22. a4 b5 23. Ne5 Rac8 24. f3 b4 25. Nc4 bxc3 26. Nxa5 Bf4 27.
Nc4 c5 28. dxc5 Rxd1 29. Rxd1 Bg6 30. a5 Rxc5 31. a6 Rc8 32. g3 Bb8 33. Rd7 Kf8
34. a7 Bxa7+ 35. Rxa7 Bxc2 36. Nd6 Rd8 37. Rxf7+ Kg8 38. Bxc2 Rxd6 39. Rc7 1-0

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "2.9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2654"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. cxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. h3 Bg7 7. Nf3 O-O 8. Be2
Nc6 9. O-O d5 10. e5 Ne4 11. Bd3 Bf5 12. Re1 Rc8 13. Nxe4 Bxe4 14. Bxe4 dxe4
15. Rxe4 Qd5 16. Re1 Rfd8 17. Be3 Nb4 18. Re2 Nc6 19. Rd2 Na5 20. Rc2 Nc4 21.
Rac1 b5 22. b3 Nxe3 23. fxe3 Rxc2 24. Qxc2 Bh6 25. Kf2 b4 26. Qc6 Qa5 27. Qc7
Qd5 28. Qxe7 Rf8 29. Qxb4 a5 30. Qc4 Qe4 31. Qe2 a4 32. b4 Rb8 33. a3 Qd5 34.
Rc3 Re8 35. Qc2 Kg7 36. Qxa4 Re6 37. Qb3 Qe4 38. d5 Ra6 39. Qc4 Bxe3+ 40. Kf1
Qb1+ 41. Ke2 Bh6 42. Qxa6 Qb2+ 43. Kd3 Qb1+ 44. Kd4 Qd1+ 45. Qd3 Qa4 46. d6
Qa7+ 47. Kc4 1-0

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Tang, Andrew"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C60"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2538"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. c3 a6 5. d4 axb5 6. d5 Nce7 7. Nxe5 d6 8. Nf3
Bg7 9. O-O Nf6 10. Re1 O-O 11. h3 c6 12. Bg5 cxd5 13. exd5 Nexd5 14. Nbd2 h6
15. Bh4 g5 16. Bg3 Bf5 17. Nb3 Bg6 18. Nbd4 b4 19. c4 Nb6 20. b3 Ne4 21. Nb5
Nxg3 22. fxg3 Bxa1 23. Qxa1 d5 24. c5 Nd7 25. Qd4 Qf6 26. Qxd5 Rad8 27. Nd6
Nxc5 0-1

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "3.2"]
[White "Tang, Andrew"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A50"]
[WhiteElo "2538"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "19"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Bf4 Nh5 4. Bd2 d5 5. e4 g6 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. exd5 Nc6 8.
dxc6 bxc6 9. Nf3 Bh6 10. Nc3 1-0

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "3.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Tang, Andrew"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C60"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2538"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. d4 exd4 5. c3 a6 6. Ba4 Bg7 7. cxd4 b5 8. Bc2
d6 9. O-O Bg4 10. Be3 Bxf3 11. gxf3 Qf6 12. e5 dxe5 13. Be4 Nge7 14. dxe5 Qxe5
15. Qc2 Qf6 16. Rc1 Nb4 17. Qb3 Qxb2 18. Bxa8 Qxb3 19. axb3 Bxa1 20. Rxc7 Be5
21. Ra7 Bb8 22. Nc3 Bxa7 23. Bxa7 Kd7 24. Be4 f5 25. Bb1 Rc8 26. Ne2 Ned5 27.
Kg2 Nc3 28. Nxc3 Rxc3 0-1

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "3.4"]
[White "Tang, Andrew"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E61"]
[WhiteElo "2538"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 c6 3. e3 d6 4. c4 g6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. h3 Nbd7 8. Be2
Re8 9. O-O b6 10. Bh2 Bb7 11. b4 c5 12. bxc5 bxc5 13. Rb1 Ba6 14. Qa4 Qc8 15.
Qa5 cxd4 16. Nxd4 Bxc4 17. Bxc4 Qxc4 18. Ncb5 Rec8 19. Nxa7 Rc5 20. Ndb5 h5 21.
a4 Ne4 22. Bf4 Nc3 23. Qa6 Nxb1 24. Qb7 Rxa7 25. Nxa7 Rc7 26. Qa8+ Kh7 27. Rxb1
Qxa4 28. Rb7 Nb6 29. Qb8 Rc1+ 30. Kh2 Nd5 31. Nb5 Qd1 32. Kg3 Bf6 33. Qd8 h4+
34. Kh2 Qh1# 0-1

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "3.5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Tang, Andrew"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2538"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 Nf6 5. O-O a6 6. c3 Ba7 7. a4 d6 8. h3 O-O
9. Re1 Be6 10. Nbd2 h6 11. b4 Nh5 12. Ra2 Qf6 13. Nf1 Nf4 14. Bxe6 fxe6 15.
Bxf4 Qxf4 16. b5 axb5 17. axb5 Ne7 18. Qa1 Nc8 19. b6 cxb6 20. Qb2 b5 21. Rea1
Qf7 22. Qxb5 Qc7 23. Qb3 Qd7 24. Ng3 b5 25. d4 exd4 26. cxd4 Kh7 27. Kh1 Ne7
28. e5 d5 29. Nh4 g6 30. Qd3 b4 31. Ra6 Rfb8 32. Qf3 Rf8 33. Qg4 b3 34. Rxe6 b2
35. Rb1 Bxd4 36. Rxe7+ Qxe7 37. Qxd4 Rab8 38. Nf3 Qa3 39. Qxd5 Qa1 40. Nd2 Rfd8
41. Qf7+ Kh8 42. Nge4 1-0

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "3.6"]
[White "Tang, Andrew"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A50"]
[WhiteElo "2538"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Bf4 Qb6 4. Qd2 Ne4 5. Qc2 Qxd4 6. e3 Qf6 7. Nf3 Nc5 8.
Nc3 Qg6 9. e4 d6 10. Be3 e5 11. Bxc5 dxc5 12. Nxe5 Qf6 13. Nd3 Be6 14. f4 Bxc4
15. e5 Qf5 16. O-O-O Na6 17. Be2 O-O-O 18. g4 Qe6 19. f5 Qe8 20. Nf4 Qxe5 21.
Rhf1 Rxd1+ 22. Qxd1 Bxe2 23. Nfxe2 Be7 24. Qd3 Rd8 25. Qc4 Bg5+ 26. Kb1 Nb4 27.
a3 Nd5 28. Ka2 Ne3 0-1

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "3.7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Tang, Andrew"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C60"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2538"]
[PlyCount "126"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. d4 exd4 5. c3 a6 6. Ba4 Bg7 7. cxd4 b5 8. Bc2
d6 9. h3 Nf6 10. O-O O-O 11. Re1 Bb7 12. Nc3 Re8 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bf4 Ne7 15. Qd2
g5 16. Nxg5 hxg5 17. Bxg5 b4 18. Ne2 Nxe4 19. Bxe4 Bxe4 20. Ng3 Bg6 21. h4 Qd7
22. h5 Bh7 23. h6 Bh8 24. Nh5 Nd5 25. Bf6 Qf5 26. Bxh8 Qxh5 27. Bg7 Bg6 28. f3
Qf5 29. a3 b3 30. Rac1 Kh7 31. Qa5 Rxe1+ 32. Rxe1 Nf4 33. Qxf5 Bxf5 34. Re7 Be6
35. Rxc7 Nd3 36. d5 Bxd5 37. Rd7 Be6 38. Rxd6 Nc5 39. g4 Rc8 40. Kf2 a5 41. Kg3
Na4 42. f4 Bc4 43. f5 Nc5 44. Kf4 Re8 45. Bd4 Nd3+ 46. Kg5 Rg8+ 47. Kh4 Nf4 48.
g5 Ng2+ 49. Kg4 Be2+ 50. Kh3 Rxg5 51. Rd8 Nf4+ 52. Kh2 Rg2+ 53. Kh1 Kxh6 54.
Be3 Rg4 55. Kh2 Kg5 56. Rd5 Rg2+ 57. Kh1 Bf3 58. Rd4 Rxb2+ 59. Kg1 Rg2+ 60. Kf1
Rg4 61. Kf2 Kxf5 62. Rxf4+ Rxf4 63. Bxf4 Kxf4 0-1

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "3.8"]
[White "Tang, Andrew"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2538"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 d5 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Be7 7. Be2 O-O 8. O-O
b6 9. b3 Bb7 10. Bb2 c5 11. Rfd1 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Rc8 13. Rac1 dxc4 14. Bxc4 Qc7
15. h3 Qb8 16. Bf1 Rfd8 17. a3 h6 18. Qb1 Ne5 19. Nce2 Be4 20. Qa1 Nd3 21. Rxc8
Rxc8 22. Bc3 Nd5 23. Bd2 Bf6 24. f3 Bg6 25. Qa2 e5 26. Nb5 e4 27. f4 a6 28.
Nbd4 b5 29. b4 Nb6 30. Nc1 Nc4 31. Nxd3 exd3 32. f5 Bh5 33. Re1 Qg3 34. Bc3
Nxe3 35. Qd2 Nxf1 36. Kxf1 Be2+ 37. Kg1 Rxc3 38. Nxe2 dxe2 39. Rxe2 Bd4+ 0-1

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "3.9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Tang, Andrew"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C50"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2538"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 f6 5. c3 Nge7 6. d4 Bb6 7. d5 Nb8 8. d6
cxd6 9. Qxd6 Qc7 10. Qd3 d6 11. Na3 a6 12. Bb3 Bc5 13. Nc4 b5 14. Ne3 Bb7 15.
O-O Nd7 16. Nh4 O-O-O 17. Nhf5 Nxf5 18. Nxf5 Nb6 19. a4 bxa4 20. Bxa4 Nxa4 21.
Rxa4 d5 22. Rxa6 dxe4 23. Qb5 Bxa6 24. Qxa6+ Qb7 25. Qc4 Qc7 26. Qxe4 g6 27.
Ne3 Bxe3 28. Bxe3 Qb7 29. Qc4+ Kb8 30. Ra1 Qxb2 31. Ba7+ Kb7 32. Qe4+ Kc7 33.
Rb1 Ra8 34. Qc4+ Kd7 35. Qd5+ Ke7 36. Bc5+ Ke8 37. Qxa8+ 1-0

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "3.10"]
[White "Tang, Andrew"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A47"]
[WhiteElo "2538"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 e6 3. e3 b6 4. Nf3 Bb7 5. Nbd2 Be7 6. h3 O-O 7. Bd3 c5 8. c3
cxd4 9. exd4 d6 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Re1 a6 12. a4 Re8 13. Nc4 Qc7 14. Nfd2 Bf8 15.
Qe2 e5 16. dxe5 dxe5 17. Nxe5 Bd6 18. Ndc4 Nxe5 19. Nxd6 Nf3+ 20. Qxf3 Rxe1+
21. Rxe1 Bxf3 22. gxf3 Rd8 23. Rd1 g6 24. Bxa6 Ne8 0-1

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "3.11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Tang, Andrew"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C00"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2538"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e5 c5 4. b4 cxb4 5. a3 Nc6 6. d4 a5 7. axb4 axb4 8. Rxa8
Nge7 9. Bd3 h6 10. O-O g6 11. Nbd2 Bg7 12. Nb3 O-O 13. h4 Qc7 14. Be3 Nf5 15.
Bxf5 gxf5 16. Qd2 Kh7 17. h5 Rg8 18. Rfa1 b6 19. g3 Bf8 20. Kg2 Ne7 21. R1a7
Bb7 22. Re8 Qd7 23. Rb8 f4 24. Bxf4 Qb5 25. Rbxb7 1-0

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Naroditsky, Daniel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A14"]
[WhiteElo "2621"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 Nf6 2. Bb2 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O c5 7. d3 Nc6 8. c4 d4
9. Nbd2 e5 10. Qc2 a5 11. a3 Re8 12. Ne4 h6 13. Nxf6+ Bxf6 14. Nd2 Be6 15. Ne4
Be7 16. e3 Qd7 17. exd4 exd4 18. f4 Bh3 19. Rae1 Bxg2 20. Kxg2 f5 21. Nd2 Bf6
22. Nf3 b6 23. Bc1 Rxe1 24. Rxe1 Re8 25. Qf2 Rxe1 26. Qxe1 Kf7 27. Bd2 Qe6 28.
Qxe6+ Kxe6 29. a4 Be7 30. h3 Kf6 31. Kf2 Bd6 32. Kg2 Nd8 33. Kf2 Ne6 34. h4 Kg6
35. Ne1 Kh5 36. Kf3 Be7 37. Ng2 Bf6 38. Ne1 g5 39. hxg5 hxg5 40. Ng2 g4+ 41.
Kf2 Kg6 42. Ke2 Kf7 43. Kf2 Ke8 44. Ke2 Kd7 45. Kf2 Nd8 46. Ke2 Nc6 47. Ne1 Ke6
48. Ng2 Ne7 49. Ne1 Nc6 50. Ng2 Ne7 51. Ne1 Nc6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "4.2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Naroditsky, Daniel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A46"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2621"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bf4 Bg4 4. c3 Nbd7 5. h3 Bh5 6. e3 e6 7. Be2 Be7 8. Nbd2
O-O 9. O-O c6 10. Ne1 Bxe2 11. Qxe2 e5 12. Bh2 Re8 13. Nd3 Bf8 14. dxe5 dxe5
15. Rfd1 Qe7 16. e4 Rad8 17. g4 g6 18. Kg2 Qe6 19. f3 Bd6 20. Bg1 Bc7 21. a4
Bb6 22. Bh2 Bc7 23. b4 Nb6 24. Nc5 Qc8 25. a5 Nbd7 26. Nd3 b5 27. axb6 axb6 28.
Nc4 b5 29. Na5 Bxa5 30. bxa5 Nb8 31. Nxe5 Rxd1 32. Rxd1 Qe6 33. Nd3 Qc4 34. Qd2
Na6 35. Nb4 Nc5 36. Qd4 Qe2+ 37. Kg1 Qxf3 38. Rf1 Qxh3 39. Qxf6 Qxg4+ 40. Kh1
Qxe4+ 41. Qf3 Qe6 42. Qxc6 Qe2 43. Qf3 Qc4 44. a6 Ne4 45. a7 Ra8 46. Bg1 Ng3+
47. Qxg3 Qxf1 48. Qg2 Qxg2+ 49. Kxg2 Kg7 50. Nd5 b4 51. Bd4+ Kf8 52. cxb4 Ke8
53. Nc7+ 1-0

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "4.3"]
[White "Naroditsky, Daniel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B11"]
[WhiteElo "2621"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Qf3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Bc4 Nbd7 6. d4 Nb6 7. Nxf6+ exf6
8. Bb3 Qxd4 9. Ne2 Qe5 10. Bf4 Qa5+ 11. c3 Be7 12. O-O O-O 13. Nd4 Bc5 14. Rad1
Re8 15. Bxf7+ Kxf7 16. Qh5+ Kf8 17. Bd6+ Bxd6 18. Qxa5 Re5 19. Nb3 Rxa5 20.
Nxa5 Bc7 21. Nb3 Be6 22. Rfe1 Bxb3 23. axb3 Rd8 24. Rxd8+ Bxd8 25. f3 Nd5 26.
Kf2 Bb6+ 27. Ke2 Nf4+ 28. Kf1 Nd3 29. Re2 Nc1 30. Rc2 Nxb3 31. Ke2 a5 32. Kd3
a4 33. Kc4 Bc5 34. Re2 b5+ 35. Kd3 Kf7 36. Kc2 Bd6 37. g3 c5 38. f4 b4 39. cxb4
cxb4 40. Kd3 Nc1+ 0-1

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "4.4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Naroditsky, Daniel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2621"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 g6 7. Nbd2 Bg7 8. Nf1
O-O 9. Bg5 Bd7 10. Ne3 Ne7 11. Bxd7 Nxd7 12. h4 h6 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. h5 c6 15.
Qe2 Nc5 16. O-O-O Qe6 17. Kb1 d5 18. exd5 cxd5 19. d4 exd4 20. Nxd4 Bxd4 21.
Rxd4 g5 22. Rxd5 Ne4 23. Rhd1 Rae8 24. R5d3 f5 25. Qc2 f4 26. Nd5 Nf6 27. Nc7
Qf7 28. Nxe8 Rxe8 29. Rd8 Qxh5 30. Qb3+ Kf8 31. Rxe8+ Qxe8 32. Qxb7 Qe2 33.
Rd8+ Ne8 34. Qf3 Qe6 35. Qd5 Qe1+ 36. Qd1 Qe4+ 37. Ka1 Qe6 38. a3 a5 39. Qd5
Qe1+ 40. Ka2 Qe7 41. Rd7 Qf6 42. Qc5+ Kg8 43. Qd5+ Kf8 44. c4 h5 45. c5 g4 46.
c6 a4 47. c7 Nxc7 48. Rxc7 1-0

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "4.5"]
[White "Naroditsky, Daniel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2621"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 Nb6 4. Nf3 d6 5. Bd3 Bg4 6. exd6 cxd6 7. h3 Bh5 8. c4
Nc6 9. Be3 d5 10. c5 Nd7 11. Nc3 e6 12. Rb1 a5 13. a3 Bxf3 14. Qxf3 g6 15. b4
Bg7 16. Ne2 axb4 17. axb4 O-O 18. O-O Nde5 19. dxe5 Nxe5 20. Qg3 Nxd3 21. Bg5
f6 22. Bxf6 Qxf6 23. Qxd3 Ra2 24. b5 Qf5 25. Qxf5 gxf5 26. Nf4 Kf7 27. Rfe1 Re8
28. c6 Bh6 29. Nd3 bxc6 30. bxc6 Rc2 31. Rb7+ Re7 32. Ne5+ Kf6 33. Nd7+ Kg7 34.
c7 Rxd7 35. c8=Q Rxc8 36. Rxd7+ Kf6 37. Rxh7 Bd2 38. Re2 Rc2 39. g3 d4 40. Rd7
Rc1+ 41. Kg2 e5 42. Rxd2 1-0

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "4.6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Naroditsky, Daniel"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2621"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. Be3 Nd7 6. h3 Bxf3 7. Qxf3 c6 8.
O-O-O Qa5 9. Kb1 b5 10. e5 d5 11. Bxb5 cxb5 12. Nxd5 Rc8 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bh4 b4
15. Rhe1 e6 16. Nf6+ Ngxf6 17. exf6 Bf8 18. d5 e5 19. Qg4 Bd6 20. f4 Qc7 21.
Rd2 O-O 22. f5 Kh7 23. Rf1 e4 24. fxg6+ fxg6 25. Qxe4 Rce8 26. Qd3 Ne5 27. Qb3
Qc4 28. Qxc4 Nxc4 29. Rd4 Ne3 30. Rc1 Nf5 31. Rc4 Nxh4 32. Rxh4 Rxf6 33. Rc4
Re5 34. Rd1 Rxd5 0-1

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "4.7"]
[White "Naroditsky, Daniel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B15"]
[WhiteElo "2621"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Ng3 h5 6. h4 Bg4 7. Be2 e6 8. d4
Nbd7 9. c3 Bd6 10. Qb3 Qc7 11. Nf1 O-O-O 12. Ne3 e5 13. Nxg4 hxg4 14. Ng5 exd4
15. Nxf7 Nc5 16. Qc4 d3 17. Bxg4+ Kb8 18. Nxh8 Re8+ 19. Be3 Re4 20. Qf7 Nxg4
21. Qxc7+ Kxc7 22. Rh3 Bf4 23. Kd2 Nxf2 24. Bxf4+ Rxf4 25. Rf3 Nce4+ 26. Ke3
Rg4 27. Rxf2 Nxf2 28. Kxf2 Rxh4 29. Ng6 Rg4 30. Ne5 Rf4+ 31. Ke3 1-0

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "4.8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Naroditsky, Daniel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2621"]
[PlyCount "35"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c5 4. Be3 cxd4 5. Bxd4 Nf6 6. e5 Nh5 7. Nf3 Nc6 8.
Bb5 Nxd4 9. Qxd4 a6 10. Ba4 f5 11. O-O-O O-O 12. Bb3+ Kh8 13. Ng5 Qe8 14. Nd5
Bh6 15. f4 Bxg5 16. fxg5 Qd8 17. e6+ Ng7 18. Nb6 1-0

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "4.9"]
[White "Naroditsky, Daniel"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2621"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Ba4 exd4 7. c3 d3 8.
Qxd3 Be7 9. Bc2 g6 10. Bh6 Nf5 11. Bf4 O-O 12. Nbd2 d5 13. Rae1 Bd6 14. Bg5 f6
15. Qxd5+ Kg7 16. Bb3 fxg5 17. Ne4 g4 18. Nfg5 h6 19. Ne6+ Bxe6 20. Qxe6 Re8
21. Qf7+ Kh8 22. Nf6 Re7 23. Qxg6 Qf8 24. Qxf5 Be5 25. Rxe5 Nxe5 26. Bc2 Rd8
27. h3 Rd6 28. Nxg4 Qxf5 29. Bxf5 Nxg4 30. hxg4 Re2 31. b4 Rdd2 32. a4 Kg7 33.
a5 b6 34. axb6 cxb6 35. g3 a5 36. bxa5 bxa5 37. Kg2 a4 38. Kf3 a3 39. Ra1 Rxf2+
40. Ke3 a2 41. Bd3 Rg2 42. Bc4 Rb2 43. Kf3 Rgc2 44. Ke3 Rxc3+ 45. Kd4 Rcc2 46.
Bd3 Rb1 47. Ke3 Rxa1 48. Bxc2 Re1+ 49. Kd2 a1=Q 0-1

[Event "Katara Bullet Final"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.08.26"]
[Round "4.10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Naroditsky, Daniel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A48"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2621"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2020.08.26"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bg5 Bg7 4. Nbd2 d6 5. e4 O-O 6. c3 c5 7. dxc5 dxc5 8.
Bc4 Nc6 9. O-O Qc7 10. Qe2 Nh5 11. Rfe1 b6 12. e5 h6 13. Bh4 Nf4 14. Qe3 Ne6
15. Bg3 Bd7 16. h4 Rad8 17. Ne4 Kh7 18. Bd3 Bc8 19. Bc2 Bb7 20. h5 Kh8 21. Nf6
Qc8 22. Ng4 Ned4 23. cxd4 Qxg4 24. dxc5 Qxh5 25. cxb6 axb6 26. Be4 Na5 27. Bxb7
Nxb7 28. Qxb6 Rd7 29. Rad1 Rfd8 30. Rxd7 Rxd7 31. e6 fxe6 32. Qxe6 Nc5 33. Qf7
e5 34. Qe8+ Kh7 35. Nxe5 Rd1 36. Nf3 Rxe1+ 37. Qxe1 Bxb2 38. Qe7+ Kg8 39. Be5
Bxe5 40. Qxe5 Qxe5 41. Nxe5 Kg7 42. f4 Kf6 43. Kf2 Kf5 44. Kf3 h5 45. g4+ hxg4+
46. Nxg4 Na4 47. Ne3+ Ke6 48. Kg4 Nc3 49. a3 Kf6 50. Nc4 Ne4 51. a4 g5 52. a5
Nf2+ 53. Kh5 gxf4 54. a6 Ne4 55. a7 f3 56. a8=Q f2 57. Qf8+ Ke6 58. Ne3 1-0

[Event "Champ Showdown 9LX"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.11"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Vachier Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2778"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "nnbrkqrb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NNBRKQRB w GDgd - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[EventDate "2020.09.11"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nb3 b6 3. Qe2 g6 4. O-O Ba6 5. d3 Nc6 6. g3 Nc7 7. Nc3 Bxc3 8. bxc3
g5 9. f4 gxf4 10. Bxf4 Ne6 11. e5 Qg7 12. Rde1 Rh8 13. Qh5 c4 14. Nc1 cxd3 15.
cxd3 Qg6 16. Qd1 h5 17. Re3 h4 18. Ne2 O-O-O 19. d4 Na5 20. Be4 Qg7 21. Rf2
Rdg8 22. Bg2 Bb7 23. d5 Nxf4 24. Rxf4 hxg3 25. hxg3 Kb8 26. Qd3 Qh7 27. Qxh7
Rxh7 28. Nc1 Rc8 29. Nb3 Nc4 30. Re2 e6 31. d6 Rg7 32. Bxb7 Kxb7 33. Kg2 Rg5
34. Rfe4 Ka6 35. g4 b5 36. a4 bxa4 37. Ra2 a3 38. Nd2 Nxd2 39. Rxa3+ Kb6 40.
Rb4+ Kc6 41. Ra6+ Kd5 42. Ra5+ Rc5 43. Rd4+ Kc6 44. Rxa7 Nc4 45. Rc7+ Kb5 46.
Rxd7 Nxe5 47. Rb7+ Kc6 48. Rc7+ Kb6 49. Rb4+ Rb5 50. Rxb5+ Kxb5 51. d7 Nxd7 52.
Rxd7 Rxg4+ 53. Kf3 f5 54. Re7 Re4 55. Rc7 Rc4 56. Re7 Rxc3+ 57. Kf4 Rc4+ 58.
Kf3 Re4 59. Rc7 e5 60. Rc8 Rc4 61. Re8 Rf4+ 62. Kg3 Re4 63. Kf3 Kc5 64. Ra8 Kd5
65. Ra5+ Ke6 66. Ra6+ Ke7 0-1

[Event "Champ Showdown 9LX"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.11"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Kasparov, Garry"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2812"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnkqbbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNKQBBNR w HAha - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2020.09.11"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. Nf3 e6 4. c4 a6 5. Nc3 dxc4 6. Bxc4 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8.
Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Bd3 Ke7 10. O-O-O Nc6 11. Ng5 Rd8 12. Nge4 Nxe4 13. Nxe4 Bb6 14.
Bc3 f6 15. g4 Ba5 16. Bxa5 Nxa5 17. Bc2 Bc6 18. Rhg1 Nc4 19. Rxd8 Rxd8 20. g5
f5 21. Nc3 Ne5 22. f4 Nf3 23. Rg2 g6 24. Rf2 e5 25. e4 fxe4 26. Nxe4 Nd4 27.
Ng3 Nxc2 28. Kxc2 Rf8 29. Ne2 Ke6 30. Kd2 Bb5 31. Rf3 Rf7 32. Re3 Bxe2 33.
Rxe5+ Kd6 34. Rxe2 Rxf4 35. Ke3 Rg4 36. Rd2+ Ke6 37. Rc2 Rxg5 38. Rc7 Rb5 39.
Rxh7 Rxb2 40. a4 a5 41. h4 Rb4 42. Rh6 Kf7 43. h5 gxh5 44. Rxh5 b6 45. Re5 Kf6
46. Re4 Rb3+ 47. Kd2 Kf5 48. Rh4 Ke5 49. Kc2 Rf3 50. Rh6 Rf6 51. Rxf6 Kxf6 52.
Kd3 Ke5 53. Ke3 Kd6 54. Kd4 Kc6 55. Kc4 b5+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Champ Showdown 9LX"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.11"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2835"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "qnrkbrnb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/QNRKBRNB w FCfc - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2020.09.11"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 g6 2. g3 c5 3. d3 Nc6 4. Bc3 Nf6 5. O-O d6 6. Nbd2 Bd7 7. b3 e5 8. Nc4
Qb8 9. a4 O-O 10. e3 Bh3 11. Rfe1 h6 12. Nfd2 Rcd8 13. Rb1 Qc7 14. e4 Nd4 15.
Ne3 Be6 16. Ndc4 Nh7 17. Bxd4 cxd4 18. Nd5 Bxd5 19. exd5 f5 20. c3 dxc3 21.
Qxc3 Qf7 22. Qd2 f4 23. Be4 Ng5 24. Qe2 Qd7 25. Kh1 Rf6 26. Rg1 Rdf8 27. g4 Nh3
28. f3 Nxg1 29. Rxg1 g5 30. h4 gxh4 31. Qf2 Qg7 32. Qxa7 Qe7 33. Kh2 R6f7 34.
Qb6 Rd8 35. Rc1 Bf6 36. Nd2 Rg7 37. Bf5 h5 38. gxh5 e4 39. Nxe4 Bb2 40. Rc2 Ba3
41. h6 Rg3 42. Rc7 Qf8 43. Bh7+ Kh8 44. Qd4+ 1-0

[Event "Champ Showdown 9LX"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.12"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "bbrqnknr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BBRQNKNR w HChc - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2020.09.11"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. b3 b6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 d5 5. Rd1 Ngf6 6. Ngf3 Qc7 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
e4 Nf4 9. Qe3 Qc5 10. Qxc5 bxc5 11. Ne5 Bxe5 12. Bxe5 Ne6 13. f3 f6 14. Bg3 c4
15. O-O cxb3 16. axb3 Bc6 17. Rf2 Bb5 18. Nc2 N8c7 19. Na3 Kf7 20. Ba2 Rhd8 21.
Rfd2 Rxd2 22. Rxd2 Ba6 23. Rc2 Rd8 24. b4 Rd1+ 25. Kf2 Bd3 26. Rb2 Nb5 27. Bb3
Ra1 28. Nxb5 Bxb5 29. Bb8 Bd7 30. Ra2 Rb1 31. Bd5 Rxb4 32. Bxa7 Ke8 33. Rd2 Nf4
34. Bg8 h6 35. g3 Nh3+ 36. Kg2 Ng5 37. h4 Be6 38. hxg5 Bxg8 39. gxh6 gxh6 40.
Be3 h5 41. Rc2 Be6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Champ Showdown 9LX"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.12"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "nnrkrqbb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NNRKRQBB w ECec - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2020.09.11"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. g3 Nc6 2. c4 f5 3. d3 g6 4. Nc3 e5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. e4 O-O-O 7. O-O-O Nb6 8.
f3 Nd7 9. Nb3 b6 10. Be3 f4 11. Bd2 g5 12. Ne2 Bf6 13. Bc3 a5 14. Kb1 Kb7 15.
a3 Re7 16. Qf2 a4 17. Nbc1 Re6 18. gxf4 gxf4 19. d4 exd4 20. Bxd4 Rd6 21. Bxf6
Qxf6 22. Rxd6 cxd6 23. Nc3 Ra8 24. Qc2 Ne5 25. Nxa4 Nxc4 26. Rg1 Qd4 27. Rd1
Qe5 28. Rg1 Bf7 29. Qc3 0-1

[Event "Champ Showdown 9LX"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.12"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2728"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnkbbrnq/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNKBBRNQ w FAfa - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2020.09.11"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nc6 2. f4 f5 3. exf5 Rxf5 4. g4 Rf8 5. Nc3 h5 6. g5 e6 7. Nge2 Nge7 8.
Bf2 h4 9. a3 Nf5 10. Ne4 Be7 11. N2c3 b6 12. d3 d5 13. Nd2 Bd6 14. Bg1 O-O-O
15. Nb5 Be7 16. Bg4 a6 17. Nc3 Bh5 18. Bxh5 Qxh5 19. O-O-O Bd6 20. Rde1 Nfe7
21. Ne2 Ng6 22. Be3 Nge7 23. Kb1 Nf5 24. Bg1 Kb7 25. Nb3 h3 26. Bf2 Rde8 27.
Nd2 Nfe7 28. Be3 Ng6 29. Ka1 Nh4 30. Ng3 Qg4 31. c4 Ng2 32. c5 Nxe1 33. Rxe1
Bxf4 0-1

[Event "Champ Showdown 9LX"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.13"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2723"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbnqkrb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBNQKRB w GAga - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2020.09.11"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nbc3 c6 3. e4 b6 4. O-O Ba6 5. exd5 Bxf1 6. Qxf1 O-O 7. g3 e6 8.
dxc6 Nbxc6 9. d5 exd5 10. Nxd5 Ne6 11. N1e3 Rd8 12. Qc4 Ne7 13. Nxe7+ Qxe7 14.
Nd5 Qd7 15. Be3 Rfe8 16. a4 g6 17. c3 Bg7 18. Bf3 Rc8 19. Qb5 Red8 20. Qb4 Nc5
21. a5 Nd3 22. Qh4 Ne5 23. Bg2 Rc4 24. Qe7 Qxe7 25. Nxe7+ Kf8 26. Nd5 Nd7 27.
axb6 Nxb6 28. Nxb6 axb6 29. Bxb6 Rb8 30. Bd5 Rcc8 31. Ra7 Rb7 1-0

[Event "Champ Showdown 9LX"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.13"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2758"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "bnrknbrq/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BNRKNBRQ w GCgc - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2020.09.11"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 b6 2. e3 d5 3. d4 e6 4. h4 Nd6 5. Nd2 Ne4 6. Nxe4 dxe4 7. O-O-O O-O-O 8.
g4 Nd7 9. Nd3 Bd6 10. Ne5 Nxe5 11. Ba6+ Kb8 12. dxe5 Ba3+ 13. Kb1 h5 14. g5 g6
15. Be2 a5 16. Rxd8+ Rxd8 17. Rd1 Bc6 18. Rxd8+ Qxd8 19. Qd1 Qe7 20. c4 a4 21.
Bc3 Bb4 22. Qd2 Bxc3 23. Qxc3 Qa3 24. Qc1 Qb4 25. Kb2 a3+ 26. Kc2 b5 27. Qd2
Qxd2+ 28. Kxd2 b4 29. Ke1 Bb7 30. Kf1 c5 31. Kg2 Kc7 32. Kg3 Kd7 33. Kf4 Ke7
34. Bd1 Bc6 35. Bc2 Bb7 36. Bxe4 Bxe4 37. Kxe4 Kd7 38. f4 Ke7 39. Kf3 Kd7 40.
e4 Ke7 41. Ke3 Kd7 42. Kf3 Ke7 43. Ke3 Kd7 44. Kf3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Champ Showdown 9LX"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.12"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[Variant "chess 960"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rkbqrbnn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RKBQRBNN w EAea - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2020.09.11"]
[EventType "tourn (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "22"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Qf6 4. Qd1 Bb4 5. c3 Bc5 6. Bd3 d6 7. f4 Ng6 8. g3
Qd8 9. Be3 Bxe3 10. Rxe3 d5 11. Bc2 dxe4 12. Qxd8 Rxd8 13. Rxe4 Bf5 14. Re1 Nh6
15. Nf3 a6 16. Nf2 Rd7 17. O-O-O O-O-O 18. Rxd7 Rxd7 19. Ne4 Re7 20. Nd4 Bg4
21. Kd2 f6 22. b4 Nf7 23. a4 Nd8 24. Bb3 Bd7 25. Bg8 Bxa4 26. Bxh7 Nf8 27. Bg8
Kb8 28. Re3 b6 29. Bc4 Ka7 30. Nf5 Rd7+ 31. Rd3 Nfe6 32. h4 Rxd3+ 33. Kxd3 Be8
34. Ne7 a5 35. f5 Nf8 36. g4 Nd7 37. Kd2 Ne5 38. Be2 Bf7 39. g5 fxg5 40. hxg5
axb4 41. cxb4 Ndc6 42. g6 Nxe7 43. gxf7 Nxf7 44. f6 gxf6 45. Nxf6 Nd6 46. Kc3
b5 47. Bf3 c6 48. Kd4 Kb6 49. Nd7+ Kc7 50. Ne5 Nb7 51. Bg2 Kd6 52. Nf7+ Ke6 53.
Ne5 Nd8 54. Nxc6 Ndxc6+ 55. Kc5 Na7 56. Bf1 Nd5 57. Bxb5 Nxb5 58. Kxb5 Nxb4
1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Rapid"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.15"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2020.09.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. h4 h5 5. Bd3 Bxd3 6. Qxd3 e6 7. Bg5 Qa5+ 8. Nd2
Qa6 9. c4 Ne7 10. Ngf3 Nf5 11. O-O Nd7 12. b3 Bb4 13. Rfd1 Nb6 14. Rac1 O-O 15.
Nf1 c5 16. dxc5 dxc4 17. Qb1 Bxc5 18. b4 Be7 19. Ng3 Nxg3 20. fxg3 Rae8 21.
Bxe7 Rxe7 22. Ng5 g6 23. Qe4 Nd5 24. Kh1 c3 25. Rc2 Rc8 26. Qf3 Qa4 27. Rf2 c2
28. Rc1 Rc3 29. Qe2 Qxb4 30. Kh2 Rxg3 31. Kxg3 Qa3+ 32. Kh2 Qxc1 33. Qc4 Rc7
34. Qb5 Qxg5 0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Rapid"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.15"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A20"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2784"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2020.09.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nc6 3. Bg2 h5 4. Nc3 h4 5. e3 Nf6 6. Nge2 h3 7. Bf3 e4 8. Nxe4
Ne5 9. N2c3 Nxc4 10. Nxf6+ Qxf6 11. Nd5 Qd6 12. d4 c6 13. Nc3 Qb4 14. a3 Qa5
15. O-O d5 16. e4 dxe4 17. Bxe4 Be6 18. d5 cxd5 19. Bxd5 Rd8 20. Qe2 Rxd5 21.
Qxc4 Re5 22. Qd3 Qc5 23. Qf3 Qc8 24. Bf4 Rc5 25. Ne4 Rc6 26. Ng5 Be7 27. Nxe6
fxe6 28. Be5 Bf6 29. Bxf6 O-O 30. Qg4 Rxf6 31. Qxh3 Rc2 32. b4 Qc6 33. Rad1 Qb6
34. Qg2 Rc3 35. Qe4 Rxa3 36. Rd2 Raf3 37. Kg2 a6 38. Rc2 Rf8 0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Rapid"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.15"]
[Round "3"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2020.09.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. a4 Ngf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 b6 7. d4 cxd4 8.
Qxd4 Bb7 9. O-O e6 10. Rd1 Qc7 11. Be3 Ng4 12. Bg5 Rc8 13. Bh4 Ngf6 14. Nd2 Ne5
15. Nf3 Nc6 16. Qd2 Be7 17. Bxf6 Bxf6 18. Qxd6 Qxd6 19. Rxd6 Rd8 20. Rxd8+ Kxd8
21. Nd1 Kc7 22. c3 Rd8 23. Ne3 Ne5 24. Nxe5 Bxe5 25. Nc4 Bf6 26. e5 Be7 27. Rd1
Rxd1+ 28. Bxd1 b5 29. axb5 axb5 30. Nd6 Bxd6 31. exd6+ Kxd6 32. f4 Kc5 33. Kf2
b4 34. cxb4+ Kxb4 35. g3 Kc4 36. Ke3 Bc6 37. h4 h6 38. g4 f6 39. g5 hxg5 40.
hxg5 Kc5 41. Bb3 Bd7 42. gxf6 gxf6 43. Bd1 e5 44. fxe5 fxe5 45. b4+ Kxb4 46.
Ke4 Bf5+ 47. Kxf5 e4 48. Bb3 Kxb3 49. Kxe4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Rapid"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.16"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D97"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2020.09.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 O-O 7. e4 a6 8. e5
b5 9. Qb3 Ng4 10. h3 Nh6 11. Bd3 Be6 12. d5 Nd7 13. Bb1 Bf5 14. Bxh6 Bxh6 15.
Bxf5 gxf5 16. O-O e6 17. dxe6 Nc5 18. exf7+ Rxf7 19. Qa3 Ne6 20. Rad1 Qf8 21.
Qb3 Re8 22. Nd5 Bg7 23. Rfe1 c5 24. Qa3 Ra7 25. Qa5 c4 26. a4 b4 27. Nf6+ Bxf6
28. exf6 Qxf6 29. Qxb4 Rg7 30. Qxc4 Kh8 31. Rd6 Reg8 32. Rexe6 Rxg2+ 33. Kf1
Qxb2 34. Qd4+ 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Rapid"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.16"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C41"]
[WhiteElo "2758"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2020.09.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7 6. Bf4 O-O 7. Qd2 c6 8.
O-O-O b5 9. f3 b4 10. Nb1 a5 11. g4 a4 12. h4 c5 13. Nf5 Bxf5 14. gxf5 Nc6 15.
h5 Nd4 16. Qg2 Kh8 17. Be3 h6 18. Bd3 Nd7 19. Rhg1 Bf6 20. f4 Re8 21. Bxd4 cxd4
22. Nd2 Nc5 23. Nc4 b3 24. Kb1 bxc2+ 25. Bxc2 Rb8 26. Bd3 Rb4 27. a3 Rb3 28.
Bc2 Rb8 29. e5 dxe5 30. fxe5 Rxe5 31. Nxe5 Bxe5 32. Bd3 Bf6 33. Qc2 Qa5 34. Rg2
Nxd3 35. Qxd3 Qd5 36. Re2 Kh7 37. Qe4 Rxb2+ 38. Kxb2 d3+ 39. Kc1 Qc5+ 40. Kd2
Qc2+ 41. Ke1 Bh4+ 0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Rapid"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.16"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2732"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2020.09.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 c5 6. O-O Nc6 7. c3 cxd4 8. Nxd4
Nge7 9. Nxf5 Nxf5 10. Bd3 g6 11. Qe2 Bg7 12. f4 O-O 13. Nd2 f6 14. exf6 Qxf6
15. Nf3 Rae8 16. Bb5 Qd8 17. Bd2 Nd6 18. Bd3 e5 19. fxe5 Nxe5 20. Nxe5 Rxe5 21.
Rxf8+ Qxf8 22. Qg4 Ne4 23. Be3 Nc5 24. Rf1 Rxe3 25. Rxf8+ Bxf8 26. Bc2 Re1+ 27.
Kf2 Re5 28. Qc8 b6 29. b4 Ne6 30. Bb3 Ng5 31. Bxd5+ 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Rapid"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.17"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2728"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[EventDate "2020.09.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c6 7. a4 Qa5 8. Qd2
O-O 9. e3 Re8 10. Bd3 dxc4 11. Bxc4 b6 12. Bd3 Ba6 13. c4 c5 14. Ne2 Nc6 15.
Kf2 Nb4 16. Bb2 cxd4 17. Nxd4 Rad8 18. Bc3 Nxd3+ 19. Qxd3 Qc5 20. Qc2 Bxc4 21.
Rhd1 Nd5 22. Bd2 e5 23. Nf5 Nf4 24. Kg3 Nd3 25. Qc3 Be6 26. Qxc5 Nxc5 0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Rapid"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.17"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C19"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2709"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2020.09.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Ne7 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. Nf3 Bd7 8. a4
Qa5 9. Bd2 c4 10. h4 Bxa4 11. h5 h6 12. g3 Nbc6 13. Bh3 Bxc2 14. Qc1 Ba4 15.
O-O b5 16. Nh4 Qb6 17. Be3 Bb3 18. f4 b4 19. f5 exf5 20. Bxf5 bxc3 21. Qxc3 O-O
22. Qd2 Qb4 23. Qf2 c3 24. Qf4 c2 25. Rac1 Qc3 26. Rf2 Rab8 27. Kh2 Ba4 28.
Bxc2 Bxc2 29. Rcxc2 Qd3 30. Rfd2 Qe4 31. Qxe4 dxe4 32. d5 Nxe5 33. Bf4 e3 34.
Re2 f6 35. d6 Nd5 36. Rc5 Nxf4 37. gxf4 Nd3 38. Rc4 Rb2 39. Rxb2 Nxb2 40. Re4
f5 41. Re7 Nc4 42. d7 Nb6 43. Kg2 Kh7 44. Ng6 Rb8 45. Kf3 a5 46. Ne5 Rd8 47.
Ke2 a4 48. Re6 Nxd7 49. Rd6 a3 50. Nxd7 a2 51. Nf6+ gxf6 52. Ra6 Rd2+ 53. Kxe3
Rh2 54. Ra7+ Kg8 55. Kd4 Re2 56. Kd5 Kf8 57. Kd6 Kg8 58. Ra8+ Kf7 59. Ra7+ Kf8
60. Ra8+ Kf7 61. Ra7+ Kf8 62. Ra8+ Kf7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Rapid"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.17"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B75"]
[WhiteElo "2777"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2020.09.15"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 a6 8. Qd2
h5 9. Bc4 Nbd7 10. Bb3 Nc5 11. O-O-O b5 12. Kb1 Bb7 13. a3 Nxb3 14. cxb3 Rc8
15. Nc2 Qc7 16. Bd4 O-O 17. Qf2 e5 18. Bb6 Qd7 19. Nb4 Rxc3 20. bxc3 Qe6 21.
Kb2 Rc8 22. Ba5 d5 23. Qa7 Ba8 24. Nxa6 Bf8 25. Nc7 Qe7 26. Nxb5 Qe8 27. Nc7
Qe7 28. Bb6 dxe4 29. Nxa8 Qxa7 30. Bxa7 Rxa8 31. Bf2 Bxa3+ 32. Kc2 Be7 33. Ra1
Rc8 34. Rhd1 exf3 35. gxf3 e4 36. fxe4 Nxe4 37. Bd4 f5 38. Kb2 Kf7 39. b4 g5
40. Kb3 g4 41. Ra7 Ke6 42. Ra6+ Kf7 43. c4 Bd6 44. Bg1 Ke7 45. c5 Be5 46. Rd5
1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.18"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2020.09.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Qh5 Nc6 6. Bb5 Ndb4 7. Qxe5+ Be6
8. Qe4 a6 9. Be2 Be7 10. a3 Nd5 11. Nf3 O-O 12. O-O Na5 13. Nd4 Nxc3 14. dxc3
Bd5 15. Qg4 Nb3 16. Nxb3 Bxb3 17. e4 Bc5 18. Bg5 Qd6 19. Bf4 Qe7 20. Qg3 Rad8
21. e5 Qe6 22. h4 Kh8 23. h5 h6 24. Bg4 Qc6 25. Bf3 Bd5 26. Rad1 Bxf3 27. Qxf3
Qxf3 28. gxf3 c6 29. Kg2 Rfe8 30. Bg3 Kg8 31. f4 Be7 32. f5 Bc5 33. Kf3 a5 34.
Ke4 a4 35. f4 Be7 36. Bf2 b5 37. Rg1 Kf8 38. Bb6 Rb8 39. Bc7 Rb7 40. Bd6 c5 41.
Bxe7+ Rbxe7 42. Rxg7 Kxg7 43. f6+ Kf8 44. fxe7+ Kxe7 45. Rd5 Rc8 46. f5 Rc6 47.
f6+ Ke8 48. Rd6 Rc8 49. Rb6 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.18"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B46"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2709"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2020.09.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. e5 Qc7 8.
Bf4 Ne7 9. Bd3 Ng6 10. Bxg6 hxg6 11. Bg3 c5 12. O-O Bb7 13. Re1 Be7 14. Ne4 Rb8
15. b3 c4 16. Qd4 cxb3 17. cxb3 Bxe4 18. Qxe4 O-O 19. Rad1 Rfc8 20. h4 Rb4 21.
Qd3 a5 22. Qxd7 Bxh4 23. Qxc7 Rxc7 24. a3 Rg4 25. Bxh4 Rxh4 26. g3 Rh5 27. b4
Rb7 28. Re4 Rb5 29. Rd8+ Kh7 30. Rf8 axb4 31. axb4 Rf5 32. Rh4+ Rh5 33. Rc4 Rf5
34. g4 Rf3 35. g5 Rh3 36. Rcc8 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.18"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B50"]
[WhiteElo "2732"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "2020.09.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c3 Nf6 4. Be2 Bd7 5. Qc2 Bc6 6. d3 Nbd7 7. O-O e6 8. Nbd2
Rc8 9. d4 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Be7 11. Nxc6 Rxc6 12. Nb3 O-O 13. Be3 a6 14. Rad1 Rc8
15. f4 Qc7 16. Kh1 b5 17. Bd3 g6 18. Qe2 Nb6 19. f5 gxf5 20. exf5 e5 21. Nd2
Kh8 22. Ne4 Nbd5 23. Nxf6 Nxf6 24. Bg5 d5 25. Bc2 Rcd8 26. Bb3 e4 27. Bxf6+
Bxf6 28. Bxd5 Rfe8 29. Bxe4 Rxd1 30. Rxd1 b4 31. Qxa6 Kg7 32. Qd3 bxc3 33. bxc3
Qe5 34. Bf3 Qe1+ 35. Qf1 Qxc3 36. Qf2 Qe5 37. Qg3+ Qxg3 38. hxg3 Re5 39. g4 Ra5
40. Bd5 Ra4 41. Bb3 Rxg4 42. Rd7 Kh6 43. Rxf7 Rh4+ 44. Kg1 Kg5 45. Be6 h5 46.
Kf2 Rb4 47. Rf8 h4 48. Ke3 Bd4+ 49. Kf3 Bc5 50. Rg8+ Kf6 51. Rg6+ Ke5 52. Rg4
Rb1 53. Re4+ Kf6 54. Rxh4 Rf1+ 55. Ke4 Kg5 56. Rh8 Re1+ 57. Kd5 Ba3 58. Rg8+
Kf4 59. g3+ Kf3 60. f6 Rd1+ 61. Kc4 Rd6 62. Bd5+ Ke3 63. Ra8 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.18"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[PlyCount "159"]
[EventDate "2020.09.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. e3 Bb4 4. Nge2 O-O 5. a3 Be7 6. d4 exd4 7. Qxd4 Nc6 8.
Qd1 Re8 9. Nf4 Bd6 10. Nfd5 Be5 11. Be2 Nxd5 12. cxd5 Bxc3+ 13. bxc3 Ne5 14.
O-O d6 15. c4 Qh4 16. Qc2 b6 17. Bb2 Qh6 18. e4 Nd7 19. Rae1 Nc5 20. Bd1 Qg6
21. Re3 Nxe4 22. Rfe1 Bf5 23. g4 Bxg4 24. Bxg4 Qxg4+ 25. Kh1 f5 26. f3 Qh4 27.
fxe4 f4 28. Qg2 Re7 29. R3e2 Qh5 30. Rf2 Rf8 31. Rg1 Rff7 32. Bd4 f3 33. Qg4
Qxg4 34. Rxg4 h5 35. Rh4 g6 36. Kg1 Kh7 37. Rd2 Kh6 38. e5 dxe5 39. Be3+ g5 40.
Re4 Kg6 41. c5 Kf5 42. Rc4 bxc5 43. Rxc5 Re8 44. Kf2 g4 45. Rc6 Rh8 46. Bxa7 h4
47. Be3 Rg7 48. a4 e4 49. d6 g3+ 50. Kf1 cxd6 51. h3 Rd8 52. Rd5+ Ke6 53. Rh5
Rb7 54. Rh6+ Kd5 55. Rc1 Rb3 56. Bg5 Re8 57. Bxh4 g2+ 58. Kg1 e3 59. Rd1+ Kc4
60. Rhxd6 f2+ 61. Kxg2 Rg8+ 62. Kf3 Rg1 63. R6d4+ Kc3 64. Bxf2 exf2 65. Kxf2
Rxd1 66. Rxd1 Kc2 67. Rh1 Ra3 68. h4 Kd3 69. Kf3 Kd4+ 70. Kf4 Rxa4 71. h5 Kd5+
72. Kf5 Ra2 73. h6 Rf2+ 74. Kg6 Rg2+ 75. Kf6 Rf2+ 76. Ke7 Re2+ 77. Kd7 Ra2 78.
Rh5+ Ke4 79. h7 Ra7+ 80. Ke6 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.18"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A01"]
[WhiteElo "2784"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2020.09.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 g6 2. Bb2 Nf6 3. e4 c5 4. f4 Bg7 5. Qf3 d6 6. Bb5+ Bd7 7. Bxd7+ Qxd7 8.
Ne2 O-O 9. O-O Nc6 10. d3 b5 11. c4 b4 12. h3 a5 13. a4 bxa3 14. Rxa3 Rab8 15.
Bc3 Ne8 16. Qe3 f5 17. exf5 gxf5 18. Bxg7 Nxg7 19. Nbc3 Ne6 20. Nb5 Rf6 21. Rf3
Rg6 22. Rg3 Kf7 23. Kh2 Qd8 24. Qf3 Rc8 25. Qh5 Ng7 26. Qxh7 Rxg3 27. Kxg3 Qg8
28. Qxg8+ Rxg8 29. Kf3 Ne6 30. Ra1 Kf6 31. g4 Rh8 32. g5+ Kg6 33. Kg3 Nb4 34.
d4 cxd4 35. Nbxd4 Nc5 36. Rxa5 Ne4+ 37. Kg2 Nc5 38. Rb5 Nbd3 39. b4 Ne4 40.
Nxf5 Ne1+ 41. Kf1 Rxh3 42. Kxe1 Rh1+ 43. Ng1 Rxg1+ 44. Ke2 e5 45. Nh4+ Kh5 46.
Nf3 Rg4 47. Ke3 Nc3 48. Rb6 Rxf4 49. Rxd6 Rxc4 50. Rh6+ Kg4 51. Rh4+ 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.18"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2777"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2020.09.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bf4 Ne4 7. Rc1 Nc6 8.
Nd2 g5 9. Be3 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Ba3 11. Rb1 f5 12. g3 O-O 13. f4 Qe7 14. Bf2 gxf4
15. Bg2 Bd6 16. Bxd5+ Kh8 17. Nf3 Nd8 18. Qd2 c6 19. Bb3 Ne6 20. d5 cxd5 21.
Bxd5 fxg3 22. hxg3 f4 23. gxf4 Bxf4 24. Qd3 Rf7 25. Rb4 Bd6 26. Rbh4 Kg8 27.
Nd4 Qf6 28. Nxe6 Bxe6 29. Bd4 Be5 30. Rh6 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.18"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2728"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "140"]
[EventDate "2020.09.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. O-O Bg4 7. h3 Bh5 8.
Nbd2 Nd7 9. Nc4 f6 10. Rb1 a5 11. Bd2 b6 12. Be3 Be7 13. b3 Nc5 14. a4 Ne6 15.
Qe2 c5 16. c3 Qd7 17. Rfd1 Rd8 18. Rb2 Qc8 19. Rbd2 O-O 20. g4 Bf7 21. Nh4 g6
22. Ng2 g5 23. f3 h5 24. Bf2 Kh7 25. Nce3 Rh8 26. Nf5 Bf8 27. d4 cxd4 28. cxd4
hxg4 29. hxg4 Bb4 30. d5 Ng7 31. Rc2 Nxf5 32. gxf5 Qd7 33. Ne3 Kg7 34. Rdc1 Rc8
35. Rc6 Rh3 36. Kg2 Rch8 37. Ng4 Bd6 38. Bg3 R3h7 39. Qb2 Qe7 40. R1c4 Bh5 41.
Qc3 Bxg4 42. Rxc7 Bh3+ 43. Kf2 Bxc7 44. Rxc7 Kh6 45. Rxe7 Rxe7 46. d6 Rd7 47.
Bxe5 fxe5 48. Qxe5 Kh7 49. Qf6 Rg8 50. e5 Rgg7 51. Kg3 Rdf7 52. Qd8 Bxf5 53.
Qe8 Bd7 54. Qa8 Rg6 55. Qb7 Re6 56. Qe4+ Kg7 57. Qe3 Rf5 58. Qxb6 Rexe5 59. Qa7
Rf7 60. Qd4 Kf6 61. b4 axb4 62. Qxb4 Kg6 63. a5 Re3 64. a6 Rexf3+ 65. Kg2 Rf2+
66. Kg1 Rf1+ 67. Kg2 Bc6+ 68. Kg3 R7f3+ 69. Kh2 R3f2+ 70. Kg3 Rg2+ 0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.18"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2758"]
[PlyCount "157"]
[EventDate "2020.09.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 e6 4. Nbd2 Bd6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e4 Qd8 8.
e5 Be7 9. c3 c5 10. Bd3 cxd4 11. Nxd4 Nc6 12. N2f3 Qb6 13. Qe2 Bd7 14. O-O g5
15. Nxc6 bxc6 16. b3 g4 17. Nd2 h5 18. Kh1 f5 19. exf6 Bxf6 20. Rac1 Qc7 21. f4
O-O 22. Bg6 Be8 23. Qxe6+ Kg7 24. Bb1 Bd7 25. Qe3 Rae8 26. Qd3 Rf7 27. Qg6+ Kf8
28. Qxh5 Re2 29. Bg6 Rg7 30. Rce1 Re6 31. Qh8+ Rg8 32. Qh6+ Bg7 33. Qh5 Rh8 34.
Qf5+ Rf6 35. Qg5 Qd6 36. Bd3 Bh6 37. Qe5 Qxe5 38. fxe5 Rxf1+ 39. Nxf1 Be6 40.
Ne3 Ke7 41. Nf5+ Bxf5 42. Bxf5 g3 43. Re2 Bf4 44. h3 Rh5 45. Bg4 Rxe5 46. c4
dxc4 47. bxc4 c5 48. Rxe5+ Bxe5 49. Kg1 Kf6 50. Kf1 Kg5 51. Ke2 Kf4 52. Bf3 Bf6
53. Kd3 Ke5 54. Kc3 Kd6+ 55. Kb3 Kc7 56. Bd5 Bg5 57. Kc3 Kd6 58. Ba8 Bf6+ 59.
Kd3 Ke5 60. Ke3 Kf5 61. Kf3 Be5 62. h4 Bd6 63. Be4+ Kf6 64. Kg4 Be5 65. h5 Bd6
66. h6 Bc7 67. h7 Kg7 68. Kf3 a5 69. Bc2 Be5 70. Ke4 Bc3 71. Kf4 Be1 72. Ke5
Kh8 73. Kd5 Bb4 74. Kc6 Kg7 75. Kb5 Kh8 76. Ka4 Kg7 77. a3 Bd2 78. Kb5 Bc1 79.
a4 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.18"]
[Round "9"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2020.09.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Bc5 6. c3 O-O 7. d4 Ba7 8. dxe5
Nxe4 9. Qd5 Nc5 10. Bc2 Ne7 11. Qd1 d5 12. exd6 Qxd6 13. Qxd6 cxd6 14. Rd1 Bg4
15. Be3 Bxf3 16. gxf3 d5 17. Nd2 Ne6 18. Nb3 Rfd8 19. Rd2 d4 20. Nxd4 Bxd4 21.
Bxd4 Nxd4 22. Rxd4 Rxd4 23. cxd4 Rd8 24. Be4 Rd7 25. Rd1 f5 26. Bb1 Kf7 27. a3
Kf6 28. Ba2 Nc6 29. d5 Ne5 30. Kg2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.19"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B42"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "45"]
[EventDate "2020.09.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Bc5 6. Nb3 Ba7 7. Qe2 Nc6 8.
Be3 d6 9. O-O Nf6 10. Nc3 O-O 11. Rad1 b5 12. f4 e5 13. Bxa7 Rxa7 14. f5 Rd7
15. Nd5 Bb7 16. c4 bxc4 17. Bxc4 Ne7 18. Nxf6+ gxf6 19. Kh1 Kh8 20. Rd3 Bxe4
21. Qxe4 d5 22. Qh4 Ng8 23. Rg3 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.19"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2784"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2020.09.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bg2 Nb6 6. b3 Nc6 7. Bb2 Be6 8.
Bxc6+ bxc6 9. Nf3 Bd6 10. d4 exd4 11. Qxd4 f6 12. Qe4 Kf7 13. Qxc6 Qe8 14. Qe4
h5 15. Nd4 Bd7 16. Qxe8+ Rhxe8 17. f3 c5 18. Nc2 Be5 19. Nd1 Bxb2 20. Nxb2 Bb5
21. e4 f5 22. Ne3 fxe4 23. f4 Red8 24. Rd1 Rd4 25. Nf5 Rad8 26. Nxd4 cxd4 27.
a4 Ba6 28. a5 Nc8 29. Nc4 Ne7 30. Kf2 Nf5 31. Rhe1 e3+ 32. Kf3 Bb7+ 33. Ke2 Ke6
34. Rg1 Be4 35. Ne5 Rb8 36. Nf3 Bxf3+ 37. Kxf3 Rxb3 38. Ke4 e2 39. Rd3 Rb5 40.
Re1 Rxa5 41. Rxe2 g6 42. Kf3+ Kd6 43. h3 Ra4 44. g4 hxg4+ 45. hxg4 Ne7 46. Ke4
Nc6 47. Rh2 Ra1 48. Rh6 Re1+ 49. Kf3 Rf1+ 50. Kg3 Rg1+ 51. Kh4 Rh1+ 52. Kg5
Rxh6 53. Kxh6 Kd5 54. Kxg6 Ke4 55. Rd1 Kxf4 56. g5 Ne5+ 57. Kh5 Ke4 58. Re1+
Kf5 59. Rf1+ Ke4 60. Re1+ Kf5 61. Kh6 Nf7+ 62. Kh5 Ne5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.19"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2020.09.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Be2 dxc4 8.
O-O c5 9. dxc5 Nxc5 10. Bxc4 Qxd1 11. Rfxd1 b6 12. Ne5 Bb7 13. f3 Nh5 14. b4
Na6 15. a3 Bf6 16. Bxa6 Bxa6 17. Ne4 Rfd8 18. Rxd8+ Rxd8 19. Rc1 Bb5 20. g4
Nxf4 21. exf4 Bh4 22. Kg2 f5 23. Ng5 fxg4 24. fxg4 Rd2+ 25. Kh3 Bxg5 26. fxg5
Kf8 27. Rc7 Re2 28. g6 h5 29. Nd7+ Ke7 30. Nxb6+ Kf6 31. Rxa7 Re3+ 32. Kh4 hxg4
33. Kxg4 Kxg6 34. a4 Re4+ 35. Kg3 Rxb4 36. axb5 Rxb5 37. Nc4 Rb3+ 38. Kg2 Rc3
39. Ne5+ Kf6 40. Ra5 Kf5 41. Nf3+ Kf4 42. Ra4+ Kf5 43. Ra7 Kf6 44. Ra6 Rc4 45.
Kg3 Rb4 46. h4 Rb3 47. Kg4 Rb4+ 48. Kg3 Rb3 49. Ra4 e5 50. Kg4 Rb6 51. Ng5 Rc6
52. h5 Rb6 53. Ne4+ Ke6 54. Ra7 Kd5 55. Ng5 e4 56. Rxg7 e3 57. Re7 Kd4 58. Ne6+
Kc3 59. Nf4 Kd2 60. Kf3 Rb3 61. Rd7+ Ke1 62. Ng2+ 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.19"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[EventDate "2020.09.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. e5 d5 7. Bb5 Ne4 8. cxd4
Bb6 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Be3 Bg4 11. h3 Bh5 12. Qc2 f5 13. Nxd5 Ba5+ 14. Ke2 Nxd4+
15. Bxd4 Nd2 16. Qc5 Ne4 17. Qc2 Nd2 18. Qc5 Ne4 19. Qc2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.19"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C60"]
[WhiteElo "2758"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2020.09.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nge7 4. Nc3 Ng6 5. d4 exd4 6. Nxd4 Nxd4 7. Qxd4 c6
8. Be2 Qb6 9. Qd3 d6 10. O-O Be7 11. Be3 Qxb2 12. f4 Qa3 13. Bd4 O-O 14. Rad1
Qa5 15. Qg3 Bh4 16. Qf3 c5 17. Bf2 Bxf2+ 18. Rxf2 Nxf4 19. Rxd6 Nxe2+ 20. Nxe2
Qxa2 21. Nc3 Qa5 22. Nd5 h6 23. Rxh6 Qa1+ 24. Rf1 Qd4+ 25. Kh1 gxh6 26. Nf6+
Kg7 27. Qg3+ Kh8 28. Qf4 Kg7 29. Qg3+ Kh8 30. Qf4 Kg7 31. Qg3+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.19"]
[Round "15"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C02"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2732"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2020.09.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Qb6 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Bd3 cxd4 7. O-O Bd7 8. Nbd2
Rc8 9. Nb3 dxc3 10. bxc3 Qc7 11. Re1 Nge7 12. h4 Ng6 13. Qe2 Be7 14. h5 Ngxe5
15. Nxe5 Qxe5 16. Qxe5 Nxe5 17. Rxe5 Bf6 18. Re3 Rxc3 19. Rb1 d4 20. Rg3 O-O
21. Bb2 Rfc8 22. Bxc3 dxc3 23. Rd1 Bc6 24. Bc2 Kf8 25. Re3 b6 26. Nd4 Bd5 27.
a4 g6 28. hxg6 hxg6 29. Nb5 Rc4 30. Nxa7 Rb4 31. Nb5 Rb2 32. Rc1 Bg5 33. Nxc3
Bxe3 34. fxe3 Bc6 35. Be4 Bd7 36. Bd3 Bc6 37. Rc2 Rb4 38. Bb5 Bxb5 39. axb5 Rc4
40. Kf2 Ke7 41. Ke2 f5 42. Kd3 Rb4 43. Ra2 Kf6 44. Ra6 Rb2 45. Rxb6 Rxg2 46.
Nd5+ Ke5 47. Nf4 1-0

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.19"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2728"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2020.09.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Nf6 6. Bf4 Bg4 7. Qb3 Qd7 8.
Nd2 e6 9. Ngf3 Bd6 10. Bxd6 Qxd6 11. O-O O-O 12. Rfe1 Ne7 13. Ne5 Bf5 14. a4
Bxd3 15. Nxd3 Rab8 16. a5 Ng6 17. g3 Rfc8 18. Qb4 Qxb4 19. Nxb4 Ne7 20. Nd3 Nf5
21. Ra4 Nd6 22. Kf1 Rc7 23. Ke2 g6 24. Rb4 Kg7 25. Ra1 Nfe4 26. Nxe4 Nxe4 27.
Ra3 Nd6 28. Nc5 Re8 29. Rab3 Ree7 30. f4 h6 31. Kf3 Kf6 32. g4 Kg7 33. Kg3 Kf6
34. h3 Kg7 35. Kg2 Kf6 36. Kg3 Kg7 37. Kg2 Kf6 38. Kg3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.19"]
[Round "17"]
[White "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A01"]
[WhiteElo "2709"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2020.09.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. b3 e5 2. Bb2 Nc6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Nf3 d6 5. d4 e4 6. Nfd2 d5 7. c4 Ne7 8. Be2 h5
9. Ba3 c6 10. Nc3 Nf5 11. Bxf8 Kxf8 12. Qc1 g6 13. Qa3+ Kg7 14. h3 Be6 15. Rc1
a6 16. Qb4 Rb8 17. cxd5 cxd5 18. Na4 Nd7 19. Nc5 Nxc5 20. dxc5 Qg5 21. g3 Qf6
22. Qc3 a5 23. O-O Ne7 24. Kg2 Qxc3 25. Rxc3 h4 26. g4 f5 27. f3 d4 28. exd4
Nd5 29. Nb1 Nf4+ 30. Kf2 Nxh3+ 31. Ke1 exf3 32. Rfxf3 fxg4 33. Rfe3 Bf5 34. Nd2
Nf4 35. Bc4 Ng2+ 0-1

[Event "Saint Louis Blitz"]
[Site "Lichess.org INT"]
[Date "2020.09.19"]
[Round "18"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2777"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "28"]
[EventDate "2020.09.18"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. dxe5 Nxb5 7. a4 Nbd4 8.
Nxd4 d5 9. exd6 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 Qxd6 11. Qe4+ Qe6 12. Qd4 Qd6 13. Qe4+ Qe6 14.
Qd4 Qd6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.22"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sunilduth Lyna, Narayanan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D38"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2618"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. Qa4+ Nc6 8.
e3 O-O 9. Rc1 Rd8 10. a3 Bf8 11. Be2 a6 12. O-O Rb8 13. Rfd1 dxc4 14. Qxc4 Bd7
15. Ne4 Qf5 16. Nc5 Be8 17. Bd3 Qd5 18. Qc2 Bxc5 19. Be4 Qd6 20. Qxc5 Rbc8 21.
h4 f5 22. Bb1 Bh5 23. Ba2 Bxf3 24. gxf3 Kh8 25. Qxd6 Rxd6 26. Rc5 g6 27. Rdc1
Kg7 28. Bb3 Kf6 29. Ba4 Rb8 30. b4 g5 31. hxg5+ hxg5 32. Bxc6 bxc6 33. Rxc6 a5
34. bxa5 Ra8 35. Rxc7 Rxa5 36. Rh7 Rxa3 37. Rcc7 Kg6 38. Rcg7+ Kf6 39. Rg8 f4
40. e4 Rxd4 41. Kg2 Rdd3 42. Rh6+ Kf7 43. Rxg5 Rxf3 44. Rgg6 Rfd3 45. Rf6+ Kg7
46. Rhg6+ Kh7 47. Rxe6 Rd4 48. Rgf6 Kg7 49. Rxf4 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.22"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Sunilduth Lyna, Narayanan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2618"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. e5 Ne4 6. O-O a6 7. Bc4 d5 8. exd6
Nxd6 9. Bb3 Bg4 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Be7 12. Bf4 O-O 13. Rd1 Bg5 14. Bg3 Qd7
15. Nd2 Rae8 16. Nc4 Ne4 17. Ne5 Nxe5 18. Qxe4 Nc6 19. Qf3 Re7 20. Bd5 Rfe8 21.
Bxc6 bxc6 22. Qd3 c5 23. Qxa6 h5 24. Qc4 h4 25. Bh2 Qf5 26. Qd3 Qf6 27. a4 Re2
28. Rf1 Rd2 29. Qf3 Qxf3 30. gxf3 Rxc2 31. Bxc7 Rxb2 32. a5 d3 33. a6 Ra8 34.
a7 c4 35. Be5 Rb7 36. f4 Bf6 37. Bxf6 gxf6 38. Ra4 c3 39. Rd4 d2 40. Rc4 Rb3
41. Ra1 Rxa7 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.22"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sunilduth Lyna, Narayanan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2618"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. Qe2 Re8 8.
Nc4 Nd7 9. h4 a5 10. Bg5 f6 11. Bd2 a4 12. g4 Nb6 13. Nxb6 cxb6 14. Rg1 b5 15.
a3 Bf8 16. h5 c5 17. Nh4 h6 18. Nf5 Be6 19. Kf1 Qd7 20. Kg2 c4 21. dxc4 Bxc4
22. Qe3 Red8 23. Rgd1 Be6 24. Ba5 Qxd1 25. Rxd1 Rxd1 26. Qb6 Bxf5 27. gxf5 Rd4
28. Qxb5 Kh8 29. Bc3 Rd1 30. Qxb7 Rad8 31. Qc6 Rc1 32. Qxa4 Bc5 33. Qc4 Bd4 34.
Bd2 Rd1 35. Ba5 Rb8 36. c3 Bxf2 37. Kxf2 Rxb2+ 38. Kf3 Rh1 39. Qf7 Rh3+ 40. Kg4
Re3 41. Qe8+ Kh7 42. Qg6+ Kh8 43. Qe8+ Kh7 44. Qg6+ Kh8 45. Qe8+ 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.22"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Sunilduth Lyna, Narayanan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2618"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 h6 5. Bf4 Bd6 6. Bg3 O-O 7. e3 Bxg3 8. hxg3
Qe7 9. Qc2 Rd8 10. cxd5 exd5 11. Bd3 c5 12. O-O Nc6 13. dxc5 Qxc5 14. Nb5 Qb6
15. Nbd4 Bd7 16. Qb3 Qxb3 17. Nxb3 Rac8 18. a3 Kf8 19. Rac1 Ke7 20. Rfd1 Bg4
21. Nc5 Ne5 22. Be2 b6 23. Nd3 Nxd3 24. Bxd3 Rxc1 25. Rxc1 Rc8 26. Rxc8 Bxc8
27. Nd4 Bd7 28. f3 h5 29. Kf2 g6 30. b4 Ne8 31. e4 dxe4 32. Bxe4 Nd6 33. Bd3
Kf6 34. Ke3 Ke5 35. Be2 Kd5 36. Nc2 Ba4 37. Nd4 Nc4+ 38. Bxc4+ Kxc4 39. f4 Bd7
40. Ke4 a5 41. bxa5 bxa5 42. Ke5 a4 43. Ke4 f6 44. Ke3 Bc8 45. Nc6 Kb3 46. Kd4
Kxa3 47. Kc3 Bb7 48. Ne7 g5 49. f5 Bxg2 50. Ng8 h4 51. gxh4 gxh4 52. Nxf6 Bh3
53. Ne4 Bxf5 54. Ng5 h3 55. Nf3 Bg4 56. Nh2 Be2 57. Kc2 Ka2 58. Kc1 Kb3 59. Kb1
Kc3 60. Ka2 Kd3 61. Ka3 Ke3 62. Kxa4 Kf2 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.22"]
[Round "1.5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Sunilduth Lyna, Narayanan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2618"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 Bd6 5. Nbd2 O-O 6. c3 c5 7. Bd3 Qc7 8. Bxd6
Qxd6 9. Ne5 b6 10. f4 Ba6 11. Bc2 Nc6 12. g4 Rac8 13. Rg1 Nd7 14. Ndf3 f6 15.
Nxc6 Rxc6 16. g5 f5 17. Kf2 cxd4 18. cxd4 Rfc8 19. Ba4 R6c7 20. Qd2 Bb5 21. Bb3
a5 22. Rgc1 Bc4 23. Bd1 Ba6 24. Rxc7 Qxc7 25. a3 Bb5 26. a4 Ba6 27. b4 axb4 28.
Qxb4 Nf8 29. a5 bxa5 30. Qxa5 Bd3 31. Qxc7 Rxc7 32. Ne5 Be4 33. Ra8 g6 34. Ba4
Kg7 35. Bc6 Re7 36. h4 Rc7 37. Ke1 Re7 38. Kd2 Rc7 39. Kc3 Nd7 40. Nxd7 Rxc6+
41. Nc5 Rb6 42. Ra7+ Kg8 43. Nd7 Rb1 44. Nf6+ Kf8 45. Nxh7+ Ke8 46. Nf6+ Kd8
47. h5 gxh5 48. g6 Rg1 49. g7 h4 50. g8=Q+ Rxg8 51. Nxg8 h3 52. Rh7 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.22"]
[Round "1.6"]
[White "Sunilduth Lyna, Narayanan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C90"]
[WhiteElo "2618"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 d6 7. c3 O-O 8. Nbd2
Re8 9. Re1 Bf8 10. Nf1 h6 11. Ng3 b5 12. Bb3 Na5 13. Bc2 c5 14. d4 exd4 15.
cxd4 Bg4 16. d5 Nc4 17. h3 Bxf3 18. gxf3 Nd7 19. b3 Ncb6 20. Kh2 g6 21. Rb1 Qh4
22. Be3 Bg7 23. f4 Rac8 24. Rg1 Kh8 25. Qf3 c4 26. b4 c3 27. e5 dxe5 28. f5 e4
29. Nxe4 Ne5 30. Qg2 Nxd5 31. Nd6 Nxe3 32. fxe3 Rcd8 33. Rbd1 Rf8 34. fxg6 fxg6
35. Rgf1 Rxf1 36. Qxf1 Ng4+ 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.25"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E38"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. e3 O-O 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 c5 8. Qc2
Nc6 9. a4 Re8 10. cxd5 exd5 11. dxc5 Ne4 12. Bd3 h6 13. Ba3 Qa5 14. O-O Nxc5
15. Bb5 Ne4 16. c4 a6 17. Bxc6 bxc6 18. cxd5 cxd5 19. Rfc1 Bd7 20. Bb2 Rac8 21.
Qd1 Rxc1 22. Qxc1 Rc8 23. Qd1 Qb4 24. Be5 Bxa4 25. Qxd5 Bc6 26. Qa2 Bb5 27. h3
Qc4 28. Qxc4 Bxc4 29. Nd4 Nc5 30. Nf5 Re8 31. Bxg7 Be6 32. Nd6 Rd8 33. Be5 Kh7
34. Ra5 Nd3 35. Bg3 Nb4 36. Ra4 Nd5 37. Rxa6 Nc3 38. Kh2 Rd7 39. Be5 Nd5 40. e4
Ne7 41. Ne8 Ng8 42. Ra8 f5 43. Nc7 Re7 44. Bd6 Rd7 45. Nxe6 Rxd6 46. exf5 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.25"]
[Round "2.2"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 a6 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be6 7. e3 Nbd7 8. h3
c6 9. Bd3 Bd6 10. Bf4 Qb8 11. Bxd6 Qxd6 12. O-O O-O 13. Qc2 g6 14. Rfe1 a5 15.
a3 Rfe8 16. Rac1 Rac8 17. Na4 Ne4 18. Bxe4 dxe4 19. Nd2 f5 20. Nc5 Nxc5 21.
Qxc5 Qxc5 22. Rxc5 b6 23. Rc2 c5 24. dxc5 Rxc5 25. Rxc5 bxc5 26. Rc1 Rb8 27.
Rc2 Kf7 28. Kf1 Ke7 29. Ke1 Kd6 30. Kd1 Kc6 31. Kc1 a4 32. Nb1 g5 33. Nc3 Bb3
34. Rd2 h5 35. Ne2 h4 36. Nc3 g4 37. hxg4 Rg8 38. f3 exf3 39. gxf3 fxg4 40.
fxg4 Rxg4 41. Rh2 Kd6 42. Kd2 Ke5 43. Ke2 Kf5 44. Kf2 Kg5 45. Rh1 Be6 46. Rh2
Rc4 47. Rg2+ Kf6 48. Rg1 h3 49. Rh1 Rh4 50. Rh2 Ke5 51. Kg3 Rh8 52. Kf3 Rd8 53.
Ke2 Bd7 54. Kf2 Rg8 55. Kf3 Bc6+ 56. e4 Bd7 57. Rd2 Be6 58. Rh2 Rd8 59. Ke3 c4
60. Ke2 Kf4 61. Rf2+ Kg3 62. Rf6 Bg4+ 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.25"]
[Round "2.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E51"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. e3 O-O 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 c6 8. a4
b6 9. a5 Ba6 10. axb6 axb6 11. Bd3 Qc8 12. O-O Nbd7 13. Ba3 Re8 14. Nd2 c5 15.
Bb2 dxc4 16. Nxc4 Qc7 17. Nd6 Qxd6 18. Bxa6 Red8 19. Be2 e5 20. Rxa8 Rxa8 21.
Qb3 h5 22. h3 cxd4 23. cxd4 exd4 24. Bxd4 Nc5 25. Qb2 h4 26. Rd1 Qe6 27. Bf3
Ra2 28. Qb1 Ra5 29. Bc3 Ra3 30. Rd8+ Ne8 31. Qb5 Kf8 32. Bc6 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.25"]
[Round "2.4"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D32"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. e3 d5 5. d4 a6 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Be2 Nc6 8. O-O
Bg4 9. b3 Rc8 10. dxc5 Bxc5 11. Bb2 O-O 12. h3 Bh5 13. Nh4 Bg6 14. Nxg6 hxg6
15. Bf3 d4 16. Na4 Ba7 17. Bxc6 Rxc6 18. Bxd4 Bxd4 19. exd4 Rd6 20. Qf3 b5 21.
Nc5 Rxd4 22. Rad1 Rxd1 23. Rxd1 Qb6 24. Ne4 Nxe4 25. Qxe4 Rd8 26. Rc1 b4 27. g3
a5 28. Kg2 Qd6 29. Rc6 Qd5 30. Qxd5 Rxd5 31. Ra6 g5 32. Kf3 f6 33. Ke3 Kf7 34.
Ra7+ Kg6 35. g4 Rc5 36. f3 f5 37. Ra6+ Kh7 38. gxf5 Rxf5 39. Kf2 g6 40. Ra7+
Kh6 41. Kg3 Rc5 42. Ra8 Rf5 43. Ra7 Rc5 44. Ra8 Rf5 45. Ra7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.25"]
[Round "2.5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 Bf5 4. e3 e6 5. c4 Bxb1 6. Rxb1 Bb4+ 7. Ke2 dxc4 8.
Qa4+ Nc6 9. Ne5 a5 10. Nxc6 Qd7 11. a3 Bd6 12. g3 Qxc6 13. Qxc6+ bxc6 14. Bg2
Kd7 15. Rhc1 Rhb8 16. Rxc4 Nd5 17. Be4 h6 18. h4 Rb6 19. Kd2 Rab8 20. Kc1 Rb3
21. Ra4 R3b5 22. Bd3 Rb3 23. Bc2 R3b5 24. Bxd6 cxd6 25. Bd3 Rb3 26. Bc4 R3b7
27. Bxd5 cxd5 28. Rxa5 Rc8+ 29. Kd1 Rbc7 30. b4 Ke7 31. b5 Rc2 32. Ra7+ Kf6 33.
b6 Rxf2 34. Rc7 Ra8 35. b7 Rxa3 36. b8=Q Raa2 37. Qb5 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.25"]
[Round "2.6"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 d6 5. d3 Nf6 6. O-O h6 7. Nbd2 O-O 8. Re1
Re8 9. b4 Bb6 10. a4 a5 11. b5 Ne7 12. Qb3 Rf8 13. d4 Ng6 14. h3 Nh5 15. Bf1
Qf6 16. Qd1 exd4 17. cxd4 Bxd4 18. e5 Bxf2+ 19. Kxf2 Nxe5 20. Ra3 Bf5 21. Kg1
Rae8 22. Nxe5 Rxe5 23. Rxe5 Qxe5 24. Nc4 Qc5+ 25. Be3 Qb4 26. Qxh5 Be6 27. Bd2
Qb1 28. Rc3 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.25"]
[Round "2.7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E38"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2764"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. e3 O-O 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 c5 8. Qc2
Nc6 9. a4 Re8 10. cxd5 exd5 11. dxc5 Qa5 12. Be2 Bf5 13. Qb2 d4 14. Nxd4 Nxd4
15. exd4 Bd3 16. Be3 Bxe2 17. Kxe2 Nd5 18. Rhe1 Qa6+ 19. Kd2 h6 20. Qb5 Qf6 21.
a5 Qf5 22. Qd3 Qg4 23. g3 Rad8 24. Kc2 Re6 25. Bd2 Nf6 26. Rxe6 Qxe6 27. c4 Qc6
28. Be3 Nd7 29. d5 Qc7 30. Qd4 Rc8 31. a6 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.26"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D90"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. h4 c6 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. Bf4 Nc6 8. e3
O-O 9. Qb3 b6 10. Be2 Bb7 11. O-O Ne4 12. Rfc1 e6 13. Bd3 Nd6 14. Nb5 Nc4 15.
Bxc4 Na5 16. Qd1 dxc4 17. Nd6 Bd5 18. e4 Bc6 19. b4 Nb7 20. b5 Bd5 21. exd5
Nxd6 22. dxe6 Nxb5 23. a4 Nxd4 24. Bg5 Nxf3+ 25. Qxf3 fxe6 26. Bxd8 Rxf3 27.
gxf3 Bxa1 28. Bg5 Bd4 29. Rxc4 Bc5 30. Be3 Rc8 31. a5 Kf7 32. axb6 axb6 33. Kg2
Ke7 34. h5 gxh5 35. Rh4 Rg8+ 36. Kh3 Rf8 37. Bxc5+ bxc5 38. Rxh5 Rxf3+ 39. Kg4
Rf5 40. Rxh7+ Kd6 41. f4 c4 42. Rh8 c3 43. Rd8+ Kc5 44. Kf3 Kc4 45. Ke3 Rd5 46.
Rc8+ Rc5 47. Rb8 Rc6 48. Ke2 Rd6 49. Rc8+ Kb3 50. Rb8+ Ka2 51. Ra8+ Kb2 52.
Rb8+ Kc1 53. Rc8 c2 54. Rb8 Rd4 55. Ke3 Rc4 56. Rb6 Kd1 57. Rd6+ Ke1 58. Rxe6
c1=Q+ 59. Kd3+ Kd1 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.26"]
[Round "3.2"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B53"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Qe3 g6 7. Bc4 Bg7 8. h3
O-O 9. O-O Nd7 10. Rd1 b6 11. Nd5 Bb7 12. c3 Rc8 13. Bb3 Nc5 14. Bc2 e6 15. Nf4
Qe7 16. Qe2 Rfd8 17. Rb1 Ne5 18. Nd4 a6 19. a4 h5 20. f3 Qf6 21. Qf2 h4 22. b3
d5 23. exd5 Bxd5 24. Nxd5 exd5 25. Be3 Nc6 26. b4 Nd7 27. Bb3 Ne7 28. Ne2 a5
29. Bd4 Qg5 30. Bxg7 Kxg7 31. f4 Qf6 32. Bxd5 Nxd5 33. Rxd5 Nf8 34. Rbd1 Rxd5
35. Rxd5 axb4 36. cxb4 Rc2 37. Qe3 Ne6 38. Qe5 Rb2 39. a5 Rxb4 40. axb6 Rxb6
41. Qxf6+ Kxf6 42. Rd2 Rb4 43. Kf2 Nc5 44. Rc2 Ne4+ 45. Ke3 Nd6 46. Kf2 Nf5 47.
Rd2 Ra4 48. Rc2 Nd6 49. Rc6 Ke6 50. Rc2 Ne4+ 51. Ke3 f5 52. Nd4+ Kd5 53. Nf3
Ra3+ 54. Ke2 Nc3+ 55. Kf2 Nd1+ 56. Kg1 Ne3 57. Rd2+ Ke4 58. Rd4# 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.26"]
[Round "3.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A46"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. e3 c5 5. c3 cxd4 6. cxd4 O-O 7. Nc3 d6 8. Be2
Nc6 9. O-O Nh5 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bh4 g5 12. d5 gxh4 13. Nxh4 Nf6 14. dxc6 bxc6 15.
Rc1 Rb8 16. b3 Qa5 17. Na4 c5 18. Qd3 Rd8 19. Rfd1 Bd7 20. Nf5 c4 21. Nxe7+ Kf8
22. Rxc4 Kxe7 23. Qxd6+ Ke8 24. Rc5 Qb4 25. Re5+ Be6 26. Bb5+ Qxb5 27. Rxb5
Rxd6 28. Rxb8+ Ke7 29. Rb7+ Nd7 30. Rxd6 Kxd6 31. Rxa7 Bd5 32. Kf1 h5 33. Rxd7+
Kxd7 34. Nb6+ Kc6 35. Nxd5 Kxd5 36. Ke2 Bf8 37. Kd3 f5 38. f3 Ba3 39. g3 Bd6
40. a4 Bb4 41. h3 Be1 42. g4 fxg4 43. fxg4 h4 44. e4+ Ke5 45. g5 Ba5 46. Kc4
Bd2 47. g6 Kf6 48. b4 Kxg6 49. a5 Kg5 50. a6 Be3 51. e5 Kf4 52. e6 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.26"]
[Round "3.4"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B53"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Qe3 a6 7. Nd5 e6 8.
Nxf6+ Qxf6 9. c3 Qd8 10. Bd3 Be7 11. O-O O-O 12. Rd1 Qc7 13. a4 b6 14. Qe2 Bb7
15. Bf4 Rfd8 16. h4 h6 17. g4 Ne5 18. Nxe5 dxe5 19. Bg3 Bc6 20. f3 b5 21. axb5
axb5 22. Rxa8 Rxa8 23. b4 Be8 24. Qb2 Rc8 25. Rc1 Qd8 26. Rd1 Bxh4 27. Bxe5 Bf6
28. Be2 Qe7 29. Bd6 Qa7+ 30. Bc5 Qc7 31. Kg2 h5 32. gxh5 Qe5 33. Qd2 Qxh5 34.
Rh1 Qg6+ 35. Kf2 Be5 36. Rg1 Qf6 37. Qg5 Qxg5 38. Rxg5 Bxc3 39. Be7 Bd4+ 40.
Ke1 Be3 41. Rg2 Rc1+ 42. Bd1 f5 43. Rc2 Ra1 44. Rc8 Kf7 45. Rc7 Kg6 46. Ke2 Bf4
47. Rc5 fxe4 48. Bc2 Ra2 49. fxe4 Kf7 50. Bd8 Bd6 51. Rc3 Bxb4 52. Rc7+ Kg8 53.
Kf3 Ba5 54. Rc8 Bxd8 55. Rxd8 Rxc2 56. Rxe8+ Kf7 57. Rb8 Rc5 58. Kf4 g5+ 59.
Kg4 Kf6 60. Rg8 Ke5 61. Rxg5+ Kd4 62. Rg6 Kxe4 63. Rxe6+ Kd3 64. Kf3 b4 65.
Rd6+ Kc2 66. Ke3 Rc3+ 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.26"]
[Round "3.5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A37"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[PlyCount "126"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 g6 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6. O-O e6 7. e3 Nge7 8. d4
O-O 9. Bd2 a6 10. d5 Na5 11. b3 b5 12. dxe6 fxe6 13. Ne4 bxc4 14. Bxa5 Qxa5 15.
Qxd6 Nf5 16. Qxc5 Qxc5 17. Nxc5 Bxa1 18. Rxa1 cxb3 19. axb3 Rb8 20. Ne5 Rb5 21.
Rc1 Rd8 22. Nc6 Re8 23. Ne4 Rf8 24. g4 Nh4 25. Ne7+ Kh8 26. Nxc8 Rxb3 27. Ncd6
a5 28. Ra1 a4 29. Rxa4 Rb1+ 30. Bf1 Nf3+ 31. Kg2 g5 32. Ra7 Nh4+ 33. Kh3 Rf3+
34. Ng3 Rxf1 35. Nf7+ Kg8 36. Nxg5 R1xf2 37. Nxf3 Nxf3 38. Ne4 Re2 39. Kg3 Nxh2
40. Nf6+ Kf8 41. Nxh7+ Ke8 42. Nf6+ Kf8 43. e4 Nf1+ 44. Kf4 Ne3 45. Kg5 Nc4 46.
Nd7+ Ke8 47. Nc5 Nd6 48. Kf6 Nxe4+ 49. Nxe4 Rxe4 50. g5 Rf4+ 51. Kg7 e5 52. g6
e4 53. Kh6 e3 54. g7 Rg4 55. Ra8+ Kf7 56. Rf8+ Ke6 57. g8=Q+ Rxg8 58. Rxg8 Kf5
59. Kh5 Kf4 60. Kh4 e2 61. Re8 Kf3 62. Kh3 Kf2 63. Rxe2+ Kxe2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.26"]
[Round "3.6"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. e5 d5 7. Bb5 Ne4 8. cxd4
Bb6 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Be3 Bg4 11. h3 Bh5 12. Qc2 Bg6 13. Qb3 Ne7 14. O-O c6 15.
Bd3 Qd7 16. Rfe1 Nxc3 17. Qxc3 Bxd3 18. Qxd3 Ng6 19. Bd2 f6 20. e6 Qd6 21. Re2
Rfe8 22. Rae1 Re7 23. Qb3 Nf4 24. Bxf4 Qxf4 25. g3 Qd6 26. a3 Ba5 27. Rd1 Rae8
28. Nh4 Qb8 29. Qa4 Qd8 30. b4 Bb6 31. Rde1 g6 32. b5 Qd6 33. bxc6 bxc6 34. Ng2
Rxe6 35. Rxe6 Rxe6 36. Rxe6 Qxe6 37. Nf4 Qe1+ 38. Kg2 Qe4+ 39. Kg1 Qxd4 40. Qc2
Kf7 41. Qe2 Qe4 42. Qd1 Ke7 43. h4 Kd6 44. h5 g5 45. Nd3 c5 46. Qd2 c4 47. Qb4+
Kc6 48. Qa4+ Kc7 49. Nb4 Qe1+ 50. Kg2 Qxf2+ 51. Kh3 Qf1+ 52. Kg4 Qe2+ 53. Kf5
Qe5+ 54. Kg4 Qe6+ 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.26"]
[Round "3.7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D86"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[PlyCount "129"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 O-O 8.
Ne2 Nc6 9. O-O e5 10. Be3 Qe7 11. Qc2 Rd8 12. d5 Na5 13. Bd3 b6 14. Rad1 Bd7
15. f4 exf4 16. Nxf4 c5 17. c4 Nb7 18. Bd2 Nd6 19. Rde1 Be5 20. a4 a5 21. Kh1
Re8 22. Ne2 Qh4 23. Bf4 f6 24. Bxe5 fxe5 25. Ng1 Qe7 26. Nf3 Bg4 27. Nd2 Rf8
28. Qb2 Rxf1+ 29. Rxf1 Rb8 30. h3 Bd7 31. Nf3 Nf7 32. Bc2 Qd6 33. Ne1 Re8 34.
Nd3 Kg7 35. Rb1 Rb8 36. Qc3 h5 37. Kg1 Qe7 38. Rf1 Re8 39. Qb2 Qd6 40. Rf3 Ng5
41. Re3 Nf7 42. Bd1 Rb8 43. Ne1 Re8 44. Rg3 Kh7 45. Qf2 Rf8 46. Rf3 Kg7 47. Nd3
Qe7 48. Bc2 h4 49. Bd1 g5 50. Qb2 Qd6 51. Rf1 Re8 52. Bh5 Re7 53. Bxf7 Rxf7 54.
Rxf7+ Kxf7 55. Nxe5+ Ke8 56. Nxd7 Kxd7 57. e5 Qg6 58. e6+ Ke7 59. Qxb6 Qe4 60.
Qxc5+ Kf6 61. Qf8+ Kg6 62. Qf7+ Kh6 63. Qf6+ Kh7 64. Qxg5 Qe1+ 65. Kh2 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.26"]
[Round "3.8"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B53"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Qe3 e6 7. b3 d5 8. exd5
Nxd5 9. Nxd5 Qxd5 10. Bc4 Qc5 11. Qe2 Qa5+ 12. Kf1 Be7 13. Bb2 Bf6 14. Bxf6
gxf6 15. Nd2 Bd7 16. Ne4 Ke7 17. Qe3 Rad8 18. Ke2 Rhg8 19. g3 Ne5 20. Qf4 Rg6
21. Rhd1 Nxc4 22. bxc4 Qe5 23. Qe3 f5 24. Nd6 Qxe3+ 25. Kxe3 Bc6 26. c5 Rh6 27.
h4 f4+ 28. Kxf4 Rf6+ 29. Ke3 Rf3+ 30. Kd4 Rxf2 31. Rf1 Rxf1 32. Rxf1 f6 33. g4
e5+ 34. Kc4 Ke6 35. g5 Rf8 36. gxf6 Rxf6 37. Rxf6+ Kxf6 38. Kd3 Kg6 39. Ke3 Kh5
40. Nc4 Kxh4 41. Nxe5 Kg3 42. Nc4 h5 43. Nd6 h4 44. Nf5+ Kg4 45. Nh6+ Kg5 46.
Nf7+ Kf6 47. Nh6 Kg5 48. Nf7+ Kg6 49. Ne5+ Kf5 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.29"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "159"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. f3 e5 2. Kf2 d5 3. e3 Nc6 4. Bb5 Nge7 5. d4 a6 6. Ba4 exd4 7. exd4 Nf5 8.
Ne2 Bd6 9. c3 O-O 10. Nd2 Re8 11. Nf1 Bd7 12. Bc2 Qh4+ 13. g3 Qf6 14. Bf4 Nce7
15. Bxd6 Nxd6 16. Ne3 Bf5 17. Nf4 c6 18. Re1 Qh6 19. h4 Qf6 20. Bxf5 Nexf5 21.
Ng4 Qd8 22. Qd3 Qb6 23. b3 Qb5 24. a4 Qxb3 25. Reb1 Qc4 26. Qd2 a5 27. Ne5 Qa6
28. h5 f6 29. Ned3 Nc4 30. Qa2 b6 31. g4 Nfd6 32. Re1 Qb7 33. Ne6 Qd7 34. Ndf4
Re7 35. Re2 Rae8 36. Rae1 Nf7 37. Qb1 Ng5 38. Nxg5 fxg5 39. Rxe7 Rxe7 40. Nd3
Re6 41. Ne5 Qe7 42. Re2 h6 43. Qf5 Rf6 44. Qc8+ Qf8 45. Qxf8+ Rxf8 46. Nxc6 Kf7
47. Re7+ Kf6 48. Rd7 Rc8 49. Ne7 Ke6 50. Ra7 Rf8 51. Nf5 Rf7 52. Nxg7+ Kf6 53.
Rxf7+ Kxf7 54. Nf5 Nb2 55. Ke2 Nxa4 56. Nxh6+ Kf6 57. Kd3 Nb2+ 58. Kc2 Nc4 59.
Nf5 b5 60. h6 Kg6 61. Ne7+ Kxh6 62. Nxd5 Kg6 63. Nc7 Nd6 64. Kb3 Kf6 65. Nd5+
Ke6 66. Ne3 Kd7 67. Ng2 Kc6 68. f4 Ne4 69. fxg5 Nxg5 70. Nf4 Ne4 71. Nh3 a4+
72. Kb4 a3 73. Kxa3 Nxc3 74. g5 Kd5 75. g6 Ne4 76. Ng5 Nf6 77. Nf3 Ke4 78. g7
Kf5 79. Ne5 Kg5 80. Kb4 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.29"]
[Round "4.2"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "128"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 g6 6. Bc4 Be6 7. O-O Nd7 8.
Re1 Nxe5 9. Rxe5 Bg7 10. Re1 O-O 11. Bb3 a5 12. a4 c5 13. dxc5 Nb4 14. Bxe6
Qxd1 15. Rxd1 Nxc2 16. Ra2 fxe6 17. b3 Rfd8 18. Rf1 Nd4 19. Nd2 Rac8 20. Ba3
Bh6 21. Nc4 Nxb3 22. g3 Rd4 23. Rc2 Nd2 24. Nxd2 Bxd2 25. Rb1 Rc7 26. Rb3 Kf7
27. Rcb2 Bc1 28. Rb1 Bxa3 29. Rxa3 e5 30. Rb5 Rc4 31. Rxa5 R7xc5 32. Rxc5 Rxc5
33. a5 h5 34. h4 Kf6 35. a6 bxa6 36. Rxa6+ e6 37. Ra4 Kf5 38. Ra2 e4 39. Kg2 e5
40. Ra3 Rc2 41. Rb3 Rd2 42. Kf1 Rd3 43. Rb1 e3 44. Ke2 Ra3 45. f3 Ra2+ 46. Kxe3
Rg2 47. Rb8 Rxg3 48. Rf8+ Ke6 49. Ke4 Rh3 50. Re8+ Kf6 51. Rf8+ Kg7 52. Ra8
Rxh4+ 53. Kxe5 Rb4 54. f4 h4 55. Rc8 h3 56. Rc2 Rb5+ 57. Ke4 Rh5 58. Rh2 Kf6
59. Kf3 Kf5 60. Kg3 Rh8 61. Kf3 Ra8 62. Kg3 Ra3+ 63. Kh4 Kxf4 64. Rf2+ Rf3 0-1

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.29"]
[Round "4.3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A32"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Nxd5 7. Bd2 Be7 8.
e4 Nxc3 9. Bxc3 O-O 10. Be2 Qb6 11. O-O Rd8 12. Qb3 Na6 13. Qxb6 axb6 14. Bxa6
Rxa6 15. a3 Bd7 16. Rfd1 Kf8 17. Nc2 Raa8 18. Kf1 Bb5+ 19. Ke1 Bd3 20. Ne3 Bxe4
21. f3 Bc6 22. Nc4 b5 23. Ne5 Bd5 24. Rac1 f6 25. Nd3 Bb3 26. Rd2 Rac8 27. Bb4
Bxb4 28. axb4 Rxc1+ 29. Nxc1 Rxd2 30. Kxd2 Bc4 31. b3 Bd5 32. Ne2 Bxb3 33. Nc3
Bc4 34. f4 h5 35. Ke3 Kf7 36. g3 Kg6 37. Ne4 Kf5 38. Nd6+ Kg4 39. Ne8 g6 40.
Nxf6+ Kh3 41. Nd7 Kxh2 42. Kf2 Bd5 43. Nf8 e5 44. fxe5 g5 45. e6 h4 46. g4 Kh3
47. e7 Bc6 48. Ng6 Bd7 49. Ne5 Be8 50. Kf3 Kh2 51. Kf2 Kh3 52. Kf3 Kh2 53. Kf2
Kh3 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.29"]
[Round "4.4"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. O-O h6 7. Re1 a6 8. a4 O-O
9. h3 Re8 10. Nbd2 Ba7 11. b4 Be6 12. Bxe6 Rxe6 13. Bb2 Ne7 14. d4 Ng6 15. c4
a5 16. b5 exd4 17. Nxd4 Re8 18. Ra3 Bxd4 19. Bxd4 Re6 20. Rae3 b6 21. g3 Nd7
22. f4 Re8 23. Qg4 Nc5 24. Nf3 Qd7 25. Bxc5 Qxg4 26. hxg4 dxc5 27. Rd1 Rad8 28.
Rd5 Ne7 29. Rdd3 f6 30. e5 f5 31. g5 Ng6 32. gxh6 gxh6 33. Kf2 Kf7 34. Ke2 h5
35. Rd5 Rxd5 36. cxd5 Rd8 37. Rd3 Ne7 38. Ng5+ Kg6 39. d6 cxd6 40. Rxd6+ 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.29"]
[Round "4.5"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. e3 Bb4 4. Nge2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3 6. Nxc3 d5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
Qc2 c5 9. Bd3 h6 10. Nxd5 Qxd5 11. Bh7+ Kh8 12. Be4 Qd6 13. b4 Na6 14. b5 Nc7
15. a4 Rb8 16. O-O b6 17. Bb2 f5 18. Bc6 Bb7 19. Bxb7 Rxb7 20. d4 exd4 21. exd4
Ne6 22. dxc5 Nxc5 23. Rad1 Qg6 24. Rfe1 Kh7 25. Rd5 f4 26. Qxg6+ Kxg6 27. Ba3
Rf5 28. Rd4 Rc7 29. Rc4 Rd5 30. Bxc5 Rdxc5 31. Rxf4 Rc4 32. Rxc4 Rxc4 33. Ra1
Rc5 34. f3 a6 35. bxa6 Ra5 36. Rb1 Rxa6 37. Rb4 Kf5 38. g4+ Ke5 39. Kf2 g5 40.
Kg3 Kd5 41. h4 Kc6 42. hxg5 hxg5 43. f4 gxf4+ 44. Rxf4 Kd5 45. g5 Ke5 46. Kg4
Ra8 47. g6 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.29"]
[Round "4.6"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 Ne7 6. O-O h6 7. Nbd2 Nd7 8. Nb3
Nc8 9. a4 Ncb6 10. a5 Nc4 11. Bd3 Be7 12. Bxf5 exf5 13. e6 fxe6 14. Re1 Kf7 15.
Qe2 Nf8 16. Nc5 Qc8 17. Bf4 g5 18. b3 Nd6 19. Bxd6 Bxd6 20. Ne5+ Kg7 21. Qh5
Bxe5 22. Rxe5 b6 23. Nd3 Ng6 24. Re3 Qd7 25. Qxg6+ 1-0

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.29"]
[Round "4.7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A25"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. e3 Nc6 4. a3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Qc2 Be6 7. Nf3 Bd6 8.
Nxd5 Bxd5 9. Bc4 Bxc4 10. Qxc4 O-O 11. d3 Qe7 12. Bd2 a5 13. Bc3 a4 14. h4 Rfe8
15. h5 Qe6 16. Rh4 Qxc4 17. Rxc4 Nd8 18. g4 f6 19. g5 b5 20. Rg4 f5 21. Rg1 c5
22. g6 h6 23. Nh4 Rf8 24. e4 fxe4 25. dxe4 Ne6 26. Nf5 Bc7 27. O-O-O Nd4 28. f4
Ne2+ 29. Kc2 Nxg1 30. Rd7 Rxf5 31. exf5 Ne2 32. Rxc7 Nxc3 33. Kxc3 exf4 34.
Rxc5 f3 35. f6 gxf6 36. Rxb5 Rc8+ 37. Kd3 Re8 38. Rf5 Re5 39. Rxf3 Rxh5 40.
Rxf6 Rb5 41. Kc3 Rc5+ 42. Kd3 Rb5 43. Kc2 Rc5+ 44. Kd3 Rb5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.29"]
[Round "4.8"]
[White "So, Wesley"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Nd4 5. e5 Nxb5 6. Nxb5 Nd5 7. Ng5 f6 8.
Qf3 Nc7 9. exf6 exf6 10. Qh5+ g6 11. Qe2+ Ne6 12. Nxe6 dxe6 13. b3 Bd7 14. Bb2
Kf7 15. O-O-O a6 16. Nc3 Bc6 17. Ne4 Be7 18. Rhe1 Qd5 19. f3 h5 20. d4 cxd4 21.
Rxd4 Qf5 22. Ng3 Qg5+ 23. Kb1 Qe5 24. Re4 Qb5 25. Qxb5 axb5 26. Rxe6 Rae8 27.
h4 Bd8 28. Rxe8 Rxe8 29. Rxe8 Kxe8 30. Ne4 Bxe4 31. fxe4 f5 32. exf5 gxf5 33.
c4 bxc4 34. bxc4 Bxh4 35. Kc2 Kd7 36. Kd3 Kc6 37. a4 Bg3 38. Bd4 Bd6 39. Bf2
Bc7 40. Be3 Bd6 41. Bf2 Bc7 42. Be3 Bd6 43. Bf2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup Final"]
[Site "chess24.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.29"]
[Round "4.9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A37"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 e6 6. h4 h6 7. e3 Nge7 8. d4
cxd4 9. Nxd4 d5 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. O-O O-O 12. Bd2 Nxd4 13. exd4 Ne7 14. Bf4 Nf5
15. Ne2 Qb6 16. Qb3 Bd7 17. Bxb7 Rae8 18. Qxb6 axb6 19. Rfd1 Re7 20. Bg2 Ba4
21. b3 Bb5 22. Nc3 Ba6 23. Be5 f6 24. Bf4 Rd8 25. d5 e5 26. Bc1 Nd4 27. Be3 f5
28. Rac1 Bb7 29. Kh2 Rc7 30. Na4 Rxc1 31. Rxc1 b5 32. Nc5 Bxd5 33. Bxd4 Bxg2
34. Bxe5 Bxe5 35. Kxg2 Rd2 36. Ne6 Kf7 37. Rc6 Rxa2 38. Nd8+ Kg7 39. Rc5 Kf6
40. Nc6 Bd6 41. Rxb5 f4 42. g4 Rd2 43. Kf3 Rd3+ 44. Ke4 Rh3 45. g5+ hxg5 46.
hxg5+ Ke6 47. Nd4+ Kd7 48. Rb7+ 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 8th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2020.10.05"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E51"]
[WhiteElo "2767"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2020.10.05"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. e3 O-O 6. Bd2 b6 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Rc1
Re8 9. Bd3 Ba6 10. Bxa6 Nxa6 11. O-O Bf8 12. Ne2 Qc8 13. Qa4 c5 14. Ng3 Qb7 15.
dxc5 Nxc5 16. Qb5 Rac8 17. Rfd1 a6 18. Qf1 Nfe4 19. Be1 g6 20. Ne2 Na4 21. Rb1
Bg7 22. Nfd4 Nac5 23. Nf3 Ne6 24. Ned4 Nxd4 25. Nxd4 Rc4 26. b3 Rc7 27. Qd3 Nc5
28. Qd2 Ne4 29. Qd3 Nc5 30. Qd2 Ne4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 8th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2020.10.06"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2728"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[EventDate "2020.10.05"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 Be7 8. Bd3
O-O 9. Nge2 Re8 10. O-O Nbd7 11. f3 b5 12. Bf2 Bb7 13. Ng3 b4 14. Na4 c5 15.
Nf5 Bf8 16. Nxc5 Nxc5 17. dxc5 Bxc5 18. Rc1 Qb6 19. Qa4 Bc8 20. Nd4 Bd7 21. Qa6
Re7 22. Rfd1 Ne8 23. Qxb6 axb6 24. Bb1 Ba4 25. b3 Bd7 26. Ne2 Nc7 27. Rd2 Bc6
28. Nd4 Bb7 29. g4 Ne6 30. Nf5 Rc7 31. h4 Rac8 32. Rcd1 Bf8 33. Bg3 Rc3 34. Kf2
Bc5 35. Bd3 d4 36. e4 Ra8 37. Bc4 Rc2 38. Bd3 Rcxa2 39. Be5 Rxd2+ 40. Rxd2 Ra5
41. Kg3 Ba6 42. Bxa6 Rxa6 43. Nxd4 Bxd4 44. Bxd4 Ra3 45. Rd3 Nxd4 46. Rxd4 Rxb3
47. Rd8+ Kh7 48. h5 Ra3 49. Rd4 Ra4 50. e5 Ra5 51. Rxb4 Rxe5 52. Rxb6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 8th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2020.10.07"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Tari, Aryan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B69"]
[WhiteElo "2633"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2020.10.05"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 Bd7 7. Qd2 a6 8.
O-O-O e6 9. f4 Be7 10. Nf3 b5 11. Bxf6 gxf6 12. Kb1 Qb6 13. f5 O-O-O 14. Bd3
Kb8 15. Ne2 Bc8 16. Nf4 Ne5 17. Be2 d5 18. exd5 exf5 19. Nd4 Bc5 20. Rhf1 Rhe8
21. a3 Ka8 22. h3 Bd7 23. Nh5 Nc4 24. Bxc4 bxc4 25. Qc3 Rb8 26. Rf3 Re1 27.
Rxe1 Bxd4 28. Qb4 Qc7 29. d6 Qc6 30. Qa5 Bxb2 31. Ka2 Be5 32. Rb1 Rxb1 33. Kxb1
Qxd6 34. Kc1 Qd4 35. Qxa6+ Kb8 36. c3 Qg1+ 37. Kd2 Qxg2+ 38. Ke3 f4+ 39. Nxf4
Bxf4+ 40. Rxf4 Qg3+ 41. Rf3 Qe1+ 42. Kd4 Qe5+ 43. Kxc4 Qe4+ 44. Kc5 Qxf3 45.
Kd6 Bc8 0-1

[Event "Norway Chess 8th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2020.10.08"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E36"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2828"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2020.10.05"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 d5 7. Bg5 dxc4 8.
Qxc4 b6 9. Rd1 Ba6 10. Qa4 h6 11. Bh4 Qd7 12. Qc2 Qc6 13. Qxc6 Nxc6 14. Bxf6
gxf6 15. e3 Bxf1 16. Kxf1 Na5 17. Nf3 Nc4 18. Rb1 c5 19. Ke2 Rfc8 20. Rhc1 Nd6
21. dxc5 bxc5 22. Rc2 Kf8 23. Nd2 c4 24. Rbc1 Rab8 25. Kf3 c3 26. bxc3 Rc5 27.
c4 f5 28. Ke2 Ke7 29. Kd3 Kd7 30. Rc3 Rc6 31. c5 Ne8 32. Nf3 Ra6 33. Ne5+ Ke7
34. Ke2 Nf6 35. R1c2 Nd5 36. Rd3 Rc8 37. Rb3 Rc7 38. Rc4 Ra5 39. Nd3 e5 40.
Nxe5 Raxc5 41. Rxc5 Rxc5 42. Rb7+ Ke6 43. Nxf7 Ra5 44. Nd8+ Kd6 45. Rb3 Ra6 46.
Nf7+ Kc5 47. Ne5 h5 48. Kd2 h4 49. Nd3+ Kc4 50. Kc2 Rd6 51. Nf4 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 8th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2020.10.10"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Duda, Jan Krzysztof"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B15"]
[WhiteElo "2757"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "2020.10.05"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Nxf6+ exf6 6. c3 Bd6 7. Bd3 O-O 8.
Qc2 Re8+ 9. Ne2 h5 10. Be3 Nd7 11. O-O-O b5 12. d5 c5 13. Bxb5 Rb8 14. c4 a6
15. Ba4 Re7 16. Ng3 Ne5 17. Ne4 Reb7 18. b3 Rb4 19. Bd2 Rxa4 20. bxa4 Bf5 21.
Rde1 h4 22. h3 Ng6 23. Re3 Nf4 24. g4 Bg6 25. Kd1 f5 26. Nxd6 Qxd6 27. gxf5
Bh5+ 28. f3 Qf6 29. Bc3 Qg5 30. Qe4 Qg2 31. Rhe1 Qxa2 32. Qc2 Qxc4 33. Re8+ Kh7
34. Rxb8 Qxd5+ 35. Qd2 Bxf3+ 36. Kc1 Qxf5 37. Re3 Ne2+ 38. Kb2 Nxc3 39. Qxc3
Qf4 40. Qd3+ f5 41. Rf8 Qb4+ 42. Kc1 Be4 43. Qb3 Qd4 44. Qc3 Qd6 45. Rf7 Qg6
46. Rd7 Qg1+ 47. Kb2 c4 48. Rxe4 fxe4 49. Rd4 Qf2+ 50. Qd2 c3+ 51. Kxc3 Qg3+
52. Kb2 Qxh3 53. Rxe4 Qg3 54. Qd4 Qg2+ 55. Kc3 Qf3+ 56. Kb4 Qf8+ 57. Ka5 Qf5+
58. Kxa6 g5 59. a5 h3 60. Re7+ Kg6 61. Qg7+ Kh5 62. Qh7+ Kg4 63. Re4+ 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 8th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2020.10.11"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Duda, Jan Krzysztof"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2757"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2020.10.05"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. b3 b6 6. Bb2 Bb7 7. Bd3 Nbd7 8. Nge2
Bd6 9. O-O O-O 10. Ng3 c5 11. cxd5 cxd4 12. Nce4 Bxg3 13. Nxg3 dxe3 14. dxe6
exf2+ 15. Rxf2 fxe6 16. Qe2 Nc5 17. Bc2 Ba6 18. Qe1 Qe8 19. Rd1 Rc8 20. b4 Nb7
21. Ne4 Nd5 22. Rxf8+ Qxf8 23. Bb1 Qxb4 24. Nf6+ Kh8 25. Qxe6 Ra8 26. Qxd5 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 8th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2020.10.12"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B31"]
[WhiteElo "2828"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2020.10.05"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. c3 e5 6. d4 cxd4 7. cxd4 exd4 8.
Bf4 a6 9. Ba4 Nge7 10. Bd6 b5 11. Bb3 Bb7 12. Re1 Nc8 13. e5 Nxd6 14. exd6+ Kf8
15. h4 Bf6 16. Nbd2 Kg7 17. Bd5 Na5 18. Bxb7 Nxb7 19. Ne4 Re8 20. h5 Rc8 21.
Rc1 Rxc1 22. Qxc1 h6 23. hxg6 fxg6 24. Qd2 d3 25. b4 Re6 26. Qxd3 Qb6 27. Rd1
Qc6 28. Nxf6 Rxf6 29. Ne5 Qc8 30. Qd5 Re6 31. Ng4 Kh7 32. Qd4 Qf8 33. Qa7 Rxd6
34. Re1 Nd8 35. Ne5 Qe7 36. Nf3 Re6 37. Rd1 Rd6 38. Re1 Re6 39. Rd1 Rd6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Norway Chess 8th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2020.10.13"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Tari, Aryan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2633"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2020.10.05"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a4
Bd7 9. c3 Na5 10. Ba2 c5 11. Bg5 O-O 12. Nbd2 Rb8 13. axb5 axb5 14. Re1 b4 15.
Nc4 Nxc4 16. Bxc4 bxc3 17. bxc3 Qc7 18. Qc2 Bb5 19. Bxb5 Rxb5 20. Bxf6 Bxf6 21.
Nd2 Qc6 22. Qa4 Rfb8 23. Nc4 Be7 24. g3 Qc8 25. Qd1 g6 26. Kg2 Bf8 27. Qf3 Rb3
28. Rec1 Qe6 29. Ra7 R8b7 30. Rxb7 Rxb7 31. Ra1 h5 32. Ra8 Kg7 33. Ne3 Rc7 34.
Nd5 Rc8 35. Ra7 Rb8 36. h3 Rd8 37. g4 hxg4 38. hxg4 Rd7 39. Ra8 f6 40. g5 f5
41. Qh3 Rf7 42. Re8 Qxe8 43. Qh6+ Kg8 44. Qxg6+ Kh8 45. Nf6 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess 8th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2020.10.15"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "2728"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "138"]
[EventDate "2020.10.05"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. O-O e5 5. e4 d6 6. c3 g6 7. d4 cxd4 8. cxd4
Bg4 9. dxe5 dxe5 10. Nc3 Bg7 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Qxd8+ Rxd8 13. Bxf3 O-O 14. Kg2
Nd4 15. Bg5 h6 16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17. Nd5 Rd6 18. Rac1 Bd8 19. Rfd1 Kg7 20. Ne3 Ra6
21. a3 h5 22. Nc4 Bf6 23. h4 Rc8 24. Ne3 Rac6 25. Rxc6 Rxc6 26. Rd3 Bd8 27. Bd1
Rc1 28. Bb3 b5 29. Rd1 Rc8 30. Ba2 a5 31. Rd3 a4 32. Kf1 Bb6 33. Rc3 Rxc3 34.
bxc3 Nb3 35. Ke1 Bc5 36. Nc2 Nc1 37. Bd5 Nd3+ 38. Ke2 Nxf2 39. Bc6 f6 40. Ne3
Nh1 41. Nf1 Bxa3 42. Bxb5 Bb2 43. Bxa4 Bxc3 44. Kf3 Bd4 45. g4 hxg4+ 46. Kxg4
Nf2+ 47. Kf3 Kh6 48. Ng3 Nd3 49. Be8 Nf4 50. Ne2 Ne6 51. Bf7 Nc5 52. Ng3 Bc3
53. h5 Be1 54. Bxg6 Bxg3 55. Kxg3 Kg5 56. Kf3 Nb3 57. Bf7 Nd4+ 58. Kg3 Ne2+ 59.
Kf3 Nf4 60. Kg3 Nxh5+ 61. Bxh5 Kxh5 62. Kh3 Kh6 63. Kh4 Kg7 64. Kg3 Kf8 65. Kf2
Ke7 66. Ke2 Ke8 67. Ke3 Kd7 68. Kd3 Kd6 69. Kc3 Kc5 0-1

[Event "Norway Chess 8th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2020.10.16"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D35"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2767"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2020.10.05"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bf4 c6 7. Qc2 g6 8. e3
Bf5 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 Nbd7 11. h4 a5 12. Kf1 a4 13. a3 Qb6 14. Qc2 h5 15.
Bg5 O-O 16. Ne5 Rfe8 17. Bxf6 Nxf6 18. Rh3 Qb3 19. Qb1 Ne4 20. Nxe4 dxe4 21.
Qxe4 Bd6 22. Rg3 Bxe5 23. dxe5 Qb5+ 24. Kg1 Rxe5 25. Qd4 Rd5 26. Qf6 Rf5 27.
Qd4 Qe2 28. e4 Rb5 29. Rb1 Qc2 30. Qd3 Rc5 31. Qxc2 Rxc2 32. b3 b5 33. Rd3 axb3
34. Rbxb3 Ra4 35. Rdc3 Rc4 36. Rxc2 Rxc2 37. f3 Kf8 38. Kh2 Ke7 39. Kh3 Ke6 40.
Rd3 Rc4 41. Kg3 Ke5 42. Rd7 Rc3 43. Ra7 f6 44. Ra8 Kd6 45. Kf4 Kc7 46. g4 Kb7
47. Rg8 hxg4 48. fxg4 Rxa3 49. Rxg6 b4 50. Rxf6 b3 51. Rf7+ Kb6 52. Rf8 Ra7 53.
Rb8+ Rb7 54. Rd8 c5 55. Ke3 c4 56. Rd1 c3 57. Rb1 Kc5 58. Kd3 0-1

[Event "Norway Chess Armageddon 8th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2020.10.05"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2767"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2020.10.05"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 a6 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be6 7. Bxf6 Qxf6 8.
Qb3 b6 9. g3 Qd8 10. h4 Be7 11. Bh3 O-O 12. O-O-O Bxh3 13. Rxh3 c6 14. e4 dxe4
15. Nxe4 Nd7 16. Qc2 Nf6 17. Ne5 Nxe4 18. Qxe4 Bf6 19. g4 Re8 20. g5 Bxe5 21.
dxe5 Qe7 22. f4 Rad8 23. Rhd3 Rxd3 24. Qxd3 Qe6 25. b3 Qg4 26. Qe4 g6 27. Rd2
c5 28. Qc6 Rf8 29. Qf6 Qxh4 30. Kc2 Qe1 31. Qc6 Qe3 32. Qf6 b5 33. Rd3 Qe2+ 34.
Rd2 Qe4+ 35. Kb2 c4 36. bxc4 bxc4 37. Ka3 Qe3+ 0-1

[Event "Norway Chess Armageddon 8th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2020.10.06"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D36"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2728"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2020.10.05"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 Be7 8. Qc2
O-O 9. Nf3 Re8 10. Bd3 Ne4 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 12. Bxe4 dxe4 13. Nd2 f5 14. O-O-O Nd7
15. g4 fxg4 16. Ndxe4 Nb6 17. Ng3 Be6 18. Kb1 Rf8 19. e4 Rad8 20. Rhe1 Qf6 21.
f4 gxf3 22. Qf2 Nc4 23. Rg1 Qh4 24. b3 Nd6 25. Kb2 Rf7 26. Rd2 Rdf8 27. Re1 Kh8
28. Rd3 Rf4 29. e5 Nf5 30. Nce4 Bd5 31. Rxf3 Nxg3 32. hxg3 Rxf3 33. Qxf3 Rxf3
34. gxh4 Bxe4 35. Rxe4 Kg8 36. Ka3 Kf7 37. Kb4 h5 38. a4 Ke6 39. a5 Rg3 40. a6
b6 41. Kc4 Rg4 42. Kd3 Rg3+ 43. Re3 Rg4 44. Rf3 c5 45. dxc5 bxc5 46. Rf8 Kxe5
47. Rf7 1-0

[Event "Norway Chess Armageddon 8th"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2020.10.12"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2828"]
[BlackElo "2863"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2020.10.05"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "NOR"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2021"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.23"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5
8. Rxe5 O-O 9. Nc3 Ne8 10. Nd5 Bd6 11. Re1 c6 12. Ne3 Be7 13. c4 Nc7 14. b3 Bf6
15. Ba3 Re8 16. Bd6 Re6 17. c5 Ne8 18. Bc4 Nxd6 19. cxd6 Bxa1 20. Qxa1 Rxd6 21.
Qe5 Re6 22. Bxe6 dxe6 23. d4 b6 24. h4 Ba6 25. Qf4 Qd7 26. Ng4 Rd8 27. Ne5 Qc7
28. Qg4 c5 29. Rc1 Qd6 30. Qh5 Qc7 31. Qg4 h6 32. b4 Rd5 33. Rc3 Qe7 34. bxc5
bxc5 35. Rg3 f5 36. Qh5 cxd4 37. Nc6 Qf7 38. Qxh6 d3 39. Qd2 Qf6 40. Nb4 Rd6
41. Nxa6 Rxa6 42. Qxd3 Rxa2 43. Qc4 Rd2 44. h5 Rd1+ 45. Kh2 Rd4 46. Qc8+ Kh7
47. Qc1 Rg4 48. Rxg4 fxg4 49. Qc5 Qf5 50. Qxa7 Qe5+ 51. g3 Qxh5+ 52. Kg1 Qf5
0-1

